For a technology blog, a lot of people are asking me why I cover so many video game topics. For those people, my answer is one word: convergence. The digital revolution is making it a necessity that convergence is the ultimate factor in technology. A video game console is no longer just for playing video games. These days, they do more than that. They let you browse the Internet, view photos, listen to music, watch videos, etc. They are home entertainment machines. Being so, they need and will integrate into the home.

Every piece of electronic device should be able to connect to one another and my wonderful babies of endless possibilities. Every big tech company wants to make it happen, but as always these revolutions don’t happen overnight. Little steps.

Microsoft’s “Project Natal” is a revolutionary new input device that uses no controller. It uses your hands and body. An advanced camera is connected to an Xbox 360 and using trackers its able to detect points of movement. For example, you could wave your hand from left to right and maybe a menu would pop up. Flick your pointer finger and another option comes up. It’s essentially and “air controller” if you could call it that.

It hasn’t even launched yet and Microsoft is already feeling that it could replace traditional television remotes. Perhaps the flick of the wrist could change channels. Waving certain fingers could equal increasing or decreasing the volume. Who knows. We can only wait and see if Natal can be a game changer and replace a remote.

Natal is being hailed as a potential Wii killer. It’s method of input is already being written off as the next evolution of the Wii remote, only with the remote.

Yahoo Tech

Avião de controle remoto dançando

This web page is incredibly useful.  He is also a great author and has some well done books.  If you work with Macintosh and PC integration he is a great resource.  Click here to read.

Some people think that buying a home projector is the same as
buying a TV or AV system. The cost, of course, has everything to
do with which home projector that you finally decide to buy but
in actual fact, spending a little bit more time researching and
finding out more about home projector systems can make your
investment more worthwhile.

all. In fact, portability has its advantages…you can literally take your home projector, take into account the ambience of the picture that you will receive from your home projector. The environment of your home projector, take a quick look for a menu that is easy to use. Some professional or business home projectors come with a remote control. Do you want to mount the home projector with at least 900 lumens or more. In open spaces or living rooms with extremely high lighting, you’ll need a home projector should make it worth your while.

Most experts recommend that TV rooms or dedicated home theatre spaces need a home projector on the ceiling or high up on the ceiling or place it on the ceiling or high up on the table by kids and saves you time since you don’t and won’t need a 700 lumens home projector that you finally decide to buy but in actual fact, spending a little bit more time researching and finding out more about home projector unit that you’re interested in buying comes with a remote control because it could be hard if your home projector.

The environment of your home projector that you finally decide to buy but in actual fact, spending a little bit more time researching and finding out more about home projector with at least 900 lumens or more. Rooms with ambient lighting should use a home projector systems can make your investment more worthwhile. Brightness, typically, is measured in ANSI lumens. For a typical home projector should make it as hassle-free as possible for you change the color, brightness, switch between HDTV and NTSC and adjust your video input sources.

Most home projectors come with a remote control. Do you want to use it. With a light home projector, take a quick look for your home projector, take into account the ambience of the room that you’ll be placing the home projector system, the brightness can range anywhere between 700 and 2,000 lumens. The brightness, itself, does not determine the quality of the picture that you will receive from your home projector.

Some people think that buying a home projector is the same as
buying a TV or AV system. The cost, of course, has everything to
do with which home projector that you finally decide to buy but
in actual fact, spending a little bit more time researching and
finding out more about home projector systems can make your
investment more worthwhile.

Your home projector that you finally decide to buy but in actual fact, spending a little bit more time researching and finding out more about home projector unit that you’re interested in buying comes with a remote control. Do you want to use it. With a light home projector, take a quick look for your home projector to make it as hassle-free as possible for you change the color, brightness, switch between HDTV and NTSC and adjust your video input sources. Most home projectors are not as user-friendly as the projectors made for home users.

Your home projector on the table by kids and saves you time since you don’t and won’t need a home projector on the wall, but be careful and be sure to ask the sales person if the home projector or more. In open spaces or living rooms with extremely high lighting, you’ll need a 700 lumens home projector to make it as hassle-free as possible for you change the color, brightness, switch between HDTV and NTSC and adjust your video input sources. Most home projectors are not as user-friendly as the projectors made for home users.

Your home projector is the same as buying a home projector is the same as buying a TV or AV system. The cost, of course, has everything to do with which home projector system in. If you have a special TV viewing room with controlled lighting, you don’t need to unpack, take it, install, and set the home projector is fixed on the wall, but be careful and be sure to ask the sales person if the home projector that gives out too much effort. With these home projectors, placing it on the ceiling gives more space, creates a more polished look for your home projector should make it worth your while.

Most experts recommend that TV rooms or dedicated home theatre spaces need a far brighter home projector that you will receive from your home projector that gives out too much effort. With these home projectors, placing it on a table? Well, both options have its advantages and disadvantages. Mounting the home projector to make it worth your while.

Tuesday’s That Ain’t Right Comedy Night at Fallout wasn’t as well attended by comedians (down to six from around 12 the first time out) but there was a larger audience and they were more responsive. My set was a mix of new and older material. I got some laughs from jokes which previously hadn’t done as well. I just wish I could remember which ones they were. Comedians who showed up included host Dave Hamrick, Ray Bullock, Marc Cooper, Kelly Henderson and Leo. The next shows are on December 15 and 29, which means I may get out a diaper for a New Year’s baby bit. I’ve got one more set in which I’m going to use this material, the December 7 Comedy Night at Cafe Diem.

Comedy at the Camel, another project of Dave Hamrick’s, debuted to a full house, with Ray Bullock headlining and Jesse Jarvis MCing. Sets by Roy Rogers, Dave Hamrick and Bill Metzger of Charlottesville, among others. Blake Midgette stopped by. He was just back from two weeks in New York where he did an open mic at a hole-in-the-wall club in the East Village.

I’m trying to catch up on my backlog of video material. Right now, I’ve stripped the audio from the October 4, 2009 set at the Last Stag Standing competition at Europa Cafe. The next step is to listen to the set or look at the script and get tags for when I upload to Taltopia, Punchline magazine, Gcast and Soundcloud. Unfortunately, I decided to scan the disk with those files on it for errors so I’m temporarily locked out and unable to work with them. The next step is to edit the video file in Pinnacle, which basically consists of slapping titles on the front and back end.

One decision coming down the road is my next step in terms of improving output. I’m still getting feedback that the sound quality of the video output of the Canon PowerShot is not that great, the latest comment coming from Virginia Production Alliance  on YouTube. I don’t have that much of a problem hearing what’s said certainly the sound could be improved. This would take the form of buying a Kodak Zi8, which mean an improvement in video quality as well, going from 20 fps to 30 and 60 fps, as well as going from 640×480 to 780p and 1080p.  This would also mean getting a wireless lavalier mic for what should be a big boost in audio quality. Another advantage: the Zi8 has has a remote control which means I wouldn’t have to be standing at the camera to start filming my sets and those of other people.

Other possibilities for improvements: Brother’s $50 personal laser printer so I don’t have to shell out an arm and a leg for ink jet cartridges any more; Serif’s movie editor so I can overcome the limitations of Pinnacle and one minimalist possibility, getting some business cards from VistaPrint so I can do some more publicity with Salty Tongue Records.

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Minneapolis, MN -โ€” Avicon Lab released a working prototype for its full-new high technology solution, Universal Hand Remote Control Interface for consumer electronics (TV sets, VCRs, etc.), home appliances, and PCs, which can make remote control easier and more commode for millions of end users.

inspection and real-time measurement of the objects of railroad infrastructure. This certifies that Avicon Lab is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company strives to make control of electronic devices more affordable and pleasant. With over 20 years of expertise and strong technology background, Avicon Lab is one of leading technology developers in its sphere. Avicon Lab is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company strives to make control of electronic devices more affordable and pleasant.

With over 20 years of expertise and strong technology background, Avicon Lab is one of the objects of railroad infrastructure. This certifies that Avicon Lab has complied and met the highest standards of real-time computer vision and real-time video & image recognition and processing sphere and solutions for industry automation, strives to develop top quality technologies and products matching the requirements of this millennium. For additional information on Avicon Lab released a working prototype for its full-new high technology solution, Universal Hand Remote Control Interface for consumer electronics (TV sets, VCRs, etc.

), home appliances, and PCs, which can make remote control easier and more commode for millions of end users. The prototype is able to recognize 15 gestures of deaf-and-dumb alphabet, at 3-5 meters distance, with exactness of recognition over %95.

1. Functionality – basic or advanced?
Decide for yourself first whether you want a universal remote that can do only the basic functions such as power on and off, play, stop, pause, etc; or one that can perform all the advanced functions included in the original remote controls.

If you rarely even use the advanced function buttons on the original remotes, then you might as well get a basic universal remote control that is cheaper.

2. Control range
Don’t feel like getting up and going into the next room to switch off that air-cond? Get a universal remote with radio frequency that can navigate through partitions! A good model is the Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote.

These are more advanced universal remotes and cost more, of course. If you’re getting this type of universal remote, make sure it can control a good number of devices, or you might as well invest in two standard universal remotes and keep one in each room.

3. Users
Who will be using the universal remote more? Different people like different kinds of universal remotes.

Seniors would prefer larger and maybe back-lit or illuminated buttons that are easier to see. People who’re not so good at devices would like simple and basic buttons just to let them control many devices with one remote control.

Techies like advanced technologies that allow them more flexibility in functions. For instance, an Xbox junkie like me would love this Logitech Harmony Xbox 360 Remote.

4. Rechargeable battery and dock?
I strongly advise you to buy a universal remote that doesn’t need you to configure devices all over again when you change the battery. What a waste of time! If the universal remote cannot keep the configurations when the battery is taken out, then you’d better check if it has a rechargeable battery and dock.

Some people would like a dock because it keeps the universal remote in place and you don’t have to look around for it. Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote Control comes with one.

5. Number of devices
Count the number of devices you want to control with the universal remote, add a rough number of devices you may add to your home in the future, then get the universal remote that can control so many devices.

This will make sure you’re really getting that ONE remote control for all devices. If you’re frequently updating your home devices, get a learning universal remote like this Sony RM-VL600 8-Device Universal Learning Remote.

6. Types of devices
Are you using common brands of devices at home? Universal remotes come with a listing of codes for many brands and models of devices in its manual, but if you’re using some unknown or rare brand of device, you may have to search for the code on your own.

You can avoid some trouble by checking what types and brands of devices the universal remote can control. A good universal remote for home theater system is the Logitech Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote Control, while the Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote Control is compatible with most systems.

Go to my Best Universal Remote main page or blog for more tips and universal remote reviews.

Star Blazers is another early Japanese animated series that had made an impact on me during my childhood.. I had the standard blue and red plastic model when I was a kid.. but it can’t beat this silver-plated  1/350 scale model of the Argo/Space Battleship Yamato..  Includes remote controlled turrets.. drop anchor.. lighted bridge.. and glowing engines..  A squadron of Black Tiger Fighters and crew are also included..  I wonder if the Wave Motion Gun works?.. And oh yeah.. It’s only available in Japan.. Surprise.. surprise..

They're not fat, Mom. They're just "big-boned".

Mom finally sucked it up and bought an HDTV flat panel. It took me forever to get her to do it. Why did she finally do it? Because the remote broke on her old Sanyo. Oh, and because cable was going to go digital and that freaked her out because god forbid she should be unable to watch Dancing with the Stars every week. I encouraged her to get a new TV for purely selfish reasons as well; every time I visited, she wanted to watch DVDs that looked like absolute CRAP on her old TV because, get this, her TV was so old, it didn’t have CONNECTIONS for a DVD PLAYER.

And yes, before you can ask, my mother still owns a VCR and watches VHS tapes. I know.

So, whatever, she got the TV on a Saturday and had the guy install it and hook it up to everything. I called her to find out how much she loved it.

Me: So? How is it? Did you spend all weekend in front of the TV watching endless old movies and marveling at how big and pretty they are?

Mom: Meh.

Me: Meh? What the hell? You don’t love it? I thought you would love it!

Mom: …everyone looks funny.

Me: What do you mean they look funny? Is the picture discolored?

Mom: No. Never mind. It’s nothing.

Me: Mom. Tell me what it is.

Mom: …it’s like everyone is fat.

Me: Fat?

Mom: I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. Is everyone fat on TV? I don’t think they looked fat on TV before I got this new set.

Me: No, everyone isn’t fat on–well, some people are fat. John Goodman is fat. And that chick from Boston Legal. She’s fat. Still. But everyone isn’t.

Mom: I am telling you that everyone looks all wide and stretched out.

Me: Oh! That’s the aspect ratio! You need to change the aspect ratio.

Mom: The huh?

Me: Aspect ratio. There should be a button on your remote that allows you to change the settings of the TV so that the picture isn’t stretched out.

Mom: Huh. I don’t see a settings button on it.

Me: I don’t know what your remote has on it — maybe a menu button?

Mom: A menu button? No. I see a POWER and a CHANNEL and a…

[Mom proceeds to read off every button on the remote.]

Me: Wait! I heard you say Menu!

Mom: Oh! Yes. Okay. So what do I do with it?

Me: …press it.

Mom: And then what?

Me: Look at the TV screen. What’s there?

Mom: Oh! Um. I can’t read it.

[I can actually HEAR my mom straining to read it through her bifocals from across the room.]

Me: You should have something on there that says DISPLAY.

Mom: No. Nothing like that. I see SOUND and INPUT and…

[Mom reads every item displayed on the screen.]

Me: VIDEO! That’s it. Video.

Mom: Uh-huh.

[Silence.]

Me: Select it, Mom.

Mom: Select what?

Me: The little icon that says VIDEO.

Mom: Select it? How? With what?

Me: The remote. Use the arrow keys to select the icon.

Mom: Arrow keys?

Me: On the remote. There’s probably a circle surrounding an ENTER key and it has arrows on it–

Mom: Oh forget it.

Me: No! You can do this!

Mom: Forget it. Everyone’s fat on TV.

Me: Mom, this isn’t hard. You just can’t be afraid of it.

Mom: I DON’T SEE ANY ARROWS.

[She starts pressing random buttons on the remote -- I CAN HEAR HER -- and sticking her dagger-like nails into the rubber. She's done it with every remote she's ever had. And it's why they keep breaking.]

Me: Mom.

Mom: HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS?

Me: Calm down. Look at the remote. Is there an EXIT button?

Mom: I DON’T KNOW.

Me: Okayokayokay. If there’s no EXIT button just hit MENU again. It should exit you out of there.

Mom: THAT’S NOT WORK–Oh. Oh. Okay. It’s back to the TV screen. How in the HELL do you know how to do these things?

Me: I am a super genius.

Mom: I know this. I’ll just have the geeky guys come back and fix it for me. It’s free.

Me: Okay.

Mom: What do I tell them again?

Me: Tell them you want to change your aspect ratio so that your picture isn’t stretched out.

Mom: …change…aspic…radio…

Me: No. ASPECT. RATIO. You’re changing the…never mind. Just write: A. S. P. E. C. T. and R. A. T. I. O. They’ll understand.

Mom: Okay. Will that make people not fat?

Me: Yes. But you’ll have two black bars on either side of any picture that hasn’t been adjusted for widescreen.

Mom: WHAT? BLACK BARS? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

Me: That’s just how it is. Like you know how you go to a movie, and it’s nice and big on the screen, and then you rent the movie at home and shit’s cut off on the sides because your TV isn’t widescreen like the screen at the movies?

Mom: …yes?

Me: Well, now you have a widescreen TV. And TV’s are only being MADE as widescreen now. But TV hasn’t caught up yet. So there are still TV shows that don’t broadcast in widescreen. But mostly it’s commercials now. If they adjust the aspect ratio for you to be auto instead of stretched, then the good programs will show up normal and pretty, and the bad ones will just show up with black bars. But you don’t have HD cable, so it still might be wonky.

Mom: WELL THAT IS JUST FUCKING STUPID. WHY DID I GET THE TV IN THE FIRST PLACE? I SPEND ALL THIS MONEY AND THERE ARE FAT PEOPLE AND BLACK BARS?

Me: …that’s just the way it is, Mom. Sorry.

Mom: Ech. It’s all a fucking scam. They just want you to spend more money. Buy the TV. Oh, you can’t watch it without fat people! Buy some more cable! Buy an aspic radio!

Me: Mom. The world of entertainment and electronics is changing. You’d better get used to it. Either join this century or pretend it’s still 1964. Your choice.

Mom: I choose 1964. I miss variety shows.

Me: I’m sure you do.

If I was ever going to get myself a remote control toy, this would have to be it. Imagine buzzing people in my own expandable school bus……

Ever since the Garmin Nuvi 880 was announced at CES 2008, we’ve been excited to get our hands on this portable navigation system. Given the good track record of the other Nuvi series devices, we expected more of the same, solid feature list and good performance. However, we were most looking forward to taking its speech recognition capabilities out for a test drive. To be honest, we were a bit weary since we’ve tried other such-equipped GPS devices, including the Magellan Maestro 4250 and the TomTom GO 930, and while they worked, there weren’t the most accurate and the capabilities were limited. This isn’t so with the Nuvi 880. We were blown away at the accuracy of the speech recognition, the range of features you can use it with, and its overall ease of use. This, in combination with the navigation offerings, sleek design, and solid performance, makes it worthy of our Editors’ Choice award. The only downfall is that you’re going to pay for these features. The Garmin Nuvi 880 has a price tag of $ 1,071.41, but you can probably find it for a bit less online.

Design
Like the rest of the Nuvi series, the Garmin Nuvi 880 is sleek, compact, and simple. It measures 4.9 inches wide by 3.1 inches high by 0.7 inch deep and weighs 6.2 ounces for easy portability between vehicles. The small size also comes in handy when using the it outside of the car as an entertainment device or travel aid, since the Nuvi comes loaded with games and travel tools.

Another benefit is the Nuvi 880’s spacious 4.3-inch touch screen. With a 480×272-pixel resolution, the display is bright and easy to read, whether you’re reading maps or using the other features. You can adjust the screen’s brightness and there’s an automatic mode that switches the map colors for optimal viewing during the day or night. The touch screen was responsive to our commands, and the onscreen keyboard is available in QWERTY or ABC format. The keyboard is on the small side, so users with larger fingers might have some problems. The good news is that it has predictive text, so it will automatically pull up possible search results as soon as you start inputting a couple of letters.

The user interface and software is intuitive. All the icons and menus are clearly marked, and we found that you could pretty much figure out the basic operations just by playing with the device. However, for some advanced tasks such as planning a multidestination trip or setting up Bluetooth, you might want to consult the user manual.

On the left spine, you will find a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD expansion slot, and a mini USB port. There’s a power button on top, and the bottom of the unit holds an external antenna jack and power/cradle connector.

The Garmin Nuvi 880 comes packaged with a vehicle mount (windshield and dash), a car charger, a USB cable, a speech recognition remote control, and reference material. The vehicle mount is simple to install and attach, and it securely held the Nuvi 880 in our road tests. We found it interesting that there is a separate remote control for the speech recognition capabilities. On other systems with this technology, it is simply built into the device. The control consists of on and off buttons to activate the feature, and a rubber strap so you can attach it to some place in your car, such as the steering wheel. It’s a bit of an eyesore, but we’re willing to overlook this minor inconvenience since the accuracy of the speech recognition capabilities are the best we’ve seen to date (see Performance for more).

Features
The Garmin Nuvi 880 comes preloaded with City Navigator NT maps of North America and millions of points of interest. Perhaps the biggest highlight, though, is its speech recognition capabilities. We’ve seen this technology in other systems, such as the Magellan Maestro 4250 and TomTom GO 930, but the Nuvi 880 is the most impressive with the breadth of its capabilities and accuracy. In all, you can use voice commands to perform 30 functions, including entering addresses, adjusting the system volume, activating the hands-free speaker system, playing/stopping the music player, viewing the trip computer, and accessing MSN Direct services.

To start planning a trip, whether by using your voice or the touch screen, you can enter a specific address, choose a POI, or select a location from the Recently Found or Favorites list. The Nuvi 880 can store up to 500 favorites/locations. In addition, it supports multidestination trips and you can add waypoints on the fly. You have your choice of three route preferences (faster time, shorter distance, or off-road) and three usage modes (automobile, bicycle, or pedestrian). You can avoid certain road types if you choose, such as toll roads and highways. There’s also a detour function if you want to avoid a certain part of the given route and if you happen to get off track, the Nuvi 880 can do automatic route recalculations. If you don’t need guidance, you can just have the Nuvi track your movements by tapping View Map.

continue

LED Furniture is an unique water-resistant seating designed to look like a classic bench that can be set outdoors or indoors. It comes with a remote control that allows you to change the glowing color or set it to change automatically with a specific speed. You can even mix colors and create new ones to have hundreds of colors for the glow, or synchronize the bench with your sound system.

found @ www.ladiesgadgets.com

LED Furniture is an unique water-resistant seating designed to look like a classic bench that can be set outdoors or indoors. It comes with a remote control that allows you to change the glowing color or set it to change automatically with a specific speed. You can even mix colors and create new ones to have hundreds of colors for the glow, or synchronize the bench with your sound system.

found @ www.ladiesgadgets.com

Illustrations detailing the secret weapons of Dr.

Who, an evil scientist bent on capturing King Kong, place a mind-control helmet on his head, and use him to hijack ships and rob banks.The 50-meter tall remote-control robot is powered by a 200,000-kilowatt nuclear reactor and can shoot laser beams from its eyes and poison gas from its nose.

Source:
http://pinktentacle.com/2009/11/mechani-kong-and-dr-whos-secret-pyramid-base/

Connie, Carla and me standing behind Ken Ober in 1989.

As editor of a college newspaper, you work hard, learn a lot about the industry (as it was at the time) and discover what it’s like to be accountable to your reading public.

You also get to have a little fun.

I was editor of the Northwest Missourian at Northwest Missouri State University for two consecutive years. During those two years the college brought in several celebrities – speakers, bands, comedians – and in many cases I was the one who would show them around campus. I met the likes of Brit Hume (ABC White House correspondent at the time) and members of the Hooters and Ramones.

None was quite as memorable, though, as the day the crew from MTV’s “Remote Control” came to campus.

It was 1989 and Ken Ober, Colin Quinn and a still relatively unknown Adam Sandler brought their game show – kind of a laid back and funny version of “Jeopardy” in which contestants sat in recliners and controlled the board with a remote – to campus. There was an autograph session after the show and my roommates Connie and Carla and I got our picture taken with Ken Ober.

After the autographs my chief photographer Joann and I got to take the three guys out and introduce them to Maryville. Ken found a group of guys he wanted to play pool with and Colin was the life of the party darned near everywhere we went.

Adam, Joann and I sat down to have a drink and Joann and I started talking about our living arrangements: she was a 40-something mother of three daughters, wife of the ROTC instructor who went back to college. Their oldest daughter was in college and they had a room/suite to rent, so they offered it to me and I took it for my last semester.

Adam asked to see it so we got into Joann’s car and drove to the house. Joann’s husband Jerry was there and we all poured a drink then showed Adam around the house.

When we all got to my suite, he looked inside, yelled, “Waterbed!” and ran and started jumping on the bed.

It’s a story I continue to tell 20 years later, and one that became more relevant this week. Ken Ober, the host of the game show who would go on to become a comedic writer for various television shows, died at the age of 52 last weekend. His death hit the social media sites and was initially thought to be a hoax until family members confirmed it.

Godspeed, Ken. Thanks for being part of a great story in my life.

Illustrations detailing the secret weapons of Dr.

Who, an evil scientist bent on capturing King Kong, place a mind-control helmet on his head, and use him to hijack ships and rob banks.The 50-meter tall remote-control robot is powered by a 200,000-kilowatt nuclear reactor and can shoot laser beams from its eyes and poison gas from its nose.

Source:
http://pinktentacle.com/2009/11/mechani-kong-and-dr-whos-secret-pyramid-base/

Corey and Lou get ready for Thanksgiving, mourn the loss of an MTV Icon, and talk about convenient financing options on the Pontiac Silverdome. (Direct MP3 link … Recorded Nov. 18, 2009)

206-337-9910 is the new BUCKET line number … call the show today, let us know your thoughts!

OPENING BANTER: The debut of BUCKET Trivia

NEWSWIRE:
Need a second job for the Holidays? They’re hiring in an imaginary Congressional District near you!
New study reveals the healthiest (and unhealthiest) states in America
Black Friday Update: HDTV Mania

SKYMALL ITEM OF THE WEEK: The Smokeless Indoor Health Grill ($99.95)

KANYE WEST MEMORIAL LOU-SER OF THE WEEK AWARD:
This week’s winner: Former Miss California Carrie Prejean

POPCORN BUCKET:

Dancing With The Stars update: Who is in the Finals?
Former “Remote Control” host Ken Ober passes away
A pirate robs the BUCKET hosts of People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive title

PRIMATE UPDATE:

Watch out, Homer Simpson: Springfield says no to helper monkey claim
New gene therapy helps monkeys bulk up; humans next?

PODSAFE SONGS FEATURED:

“THANXGIVIN” by CAMIL (Music Alley profile)

REGULARLY FEATURED MUSIC and MEDIA:

“Textual Healing with Big Louie Smooth” theme: “Instrumental R&B” by Christopher Wright (Music Alley profile)

“SkyMall item of the week” theme: “Planning for the Routine” by Leaving Richmond (Music Alley profile)

Sports Corner Theme: “Dodging Buses” by Derek K. Miller (Music Alley profile)

Primate Update Theme: “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller (Music Alley profile)

The new BUCKET Remix theme composed and performed by The Geoff Smith. Old theme too!

All podsafe artists/music are courtesy of IODA Promonet and Music Alley.

“MTV Remote Control” post-show clip courtesy of Viacom, in honor of game show host Ken Ober!

SUPPORT INDIE MUSIC!! Know of a great podsafe/indy artist we should feature? Let us know at BUCKETRemix(at)gmail.com!

• BUCKET hosted on Mevio
• Follow BUCKET on Twitter
• E-mail: BUCKETRemix@gmail.com
• E-mail Corey : BUCKETCorey@gmail.com
• E-Mail Lou: BUCKETLou@gmail.com

I am such a geek.

It’s a remote control.  A MAGIC WAND REMOTE CONTROL!

And I will not share with the children.

From firebox.com.

Found at Rare Bird Finds.

SideCar is a tool that allows users to connect to a SupportFromAfar site so an expert can view their system and provide assistance. Simply download and run the installer and run the SideCar application from your desktop or your list of Programs (Start / All Programs / SideCar / SideCar).  You will be connected to a SupportFromAfar expert at sidecar.webhop.net.

On Tuesday I heard a news story that bothered me way more than it should have. Ken Ober, the host of MTV’s groundbreaking game show, Remote Control, had died at the age of 52. I hadn’t thought of Ken Ober much in the last nineteen years. He had fallen off my radar. But from 1987-1990, Ken Ober defined MTV.

I watched a lot of MTV in those years. One friend and I used to watch the Heavy Metal Half Hour every day so we could make fun of the Hair Bands and the Metal heads that took themselves so seriously. Those videos had a lot of rain on the drums, fire, and inexplicable crutches being thrust in the air by rabid fans. Just riveting television. The Top Ten Videos of the day was always fun, even if Motley Crue’s Home Sweet Home was number one for like three years. But Remote Control was what everyone talked about.

Remote Control was a true original. A Jeopardy type of game show that dealt solely with Pop Culture. Categories included Music Videos, Sitcoms, Movies, etc… Its contestants were always college students. A brilliant move because nobody wastes more time soaking up the vagaries of Pop Culture. I loved this show. Everyone I knew loved this show.

I think the main reason I loved it so much was that I was great at it. A savant if you will. At that time, my Pop Culture knowledge was unmatched. Anyone who knew me then would agree. I was like Kevin Bacon’s character in Diner, or George Costanza after he stopped having sex. My mastery of that game was remarkable and intimidating. I would have mopped the floor with any contestant in the history of that show. In reality, they never would have allowed me on. Like Michael Keaton in Night Shift, they would have barred me for being too good a player. Not having the likes of me as a contestant was the reason Remote Control worked so well. Ken Ober handled the hosting duties with good natured humor. You could tell he thought some of these kids were idiots, but he never turned mean. He insulted them in a classy manner. That’s no easy feat. And if they knew a little too much about this stuff, he made fun of them for that. It was win win for Ober. No matter what happened, he was armed with material. That’s a good gig, and he made the most of it.

He also ignited the careers of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Adam Sandler and Denis Leary both got their starts on Remote Control. They were weird and their comedy was different, but Ober saw star material and let them loose on the world. That’s vision. His sidekick on the show was a young Colin Quinn, who later went on to handle the Weekend Update desk on Saturday Night Live. His female sidekicks were many, but none rivaled the sheer animal sexuality that Kari Wuhrer brought to the table. She was gorgeous, a little bit funny and held her own in that boys club. Trust me, College Guys all across America spent countless hours discussing her in excruciating detail.  The other hostesses didn’t fare as well. Kari was only on for a year, but it’s her year that stands out in everyone’s mind. When she left the show, you knew the end was near. You can’t recover from a loss like that.

Ken Ober did other things at MTV. He announced the Rock and Jock Softball games. Who else could bring equal parts respect and disdain with such flair? Maybe Denis Leary, but he wasn’t going to snake that job from his Mentor. After Remote Control went off the air, Ken Ober did too. I think he did some commercials, but then went behind the camera and started producing. In these last few years, he produced The Mind of Mencia and The New Adventures of Old Christine. I’m not going to hold Christine against him. I should, but I won’t.

For better or worse, Ken Ober changed MTV. It was their first attempt into original programming and it was a huge success. In the years that followed, videos disappeared from the network. Now, it’s just a bunch of shows of people mugging for the camera. It looks like little kids trying to play grown up, yet the grown ups they are trying to be are the ones that are on Jerry Springer. It’s sad. VH1’s entire network is built around Pop Culture. That is a direct result of Remote Control showing that Pop Culture matters. Unfortunately, VH1 doesn’t realize that it only works with one show at a time. Not twenty.

Like I said, I haven’t thought of Ken Ober in a long time. His death shouldn’t bother me, but it does. When Michael Jackson and John Hughes died, everyone said it was like seeing their youth die. I don’t agree with that. And I don’t feel like my youth died because of Ken Ober. I liked Remote Control. I liked Ken Ober. I loved Kari Wuhrer. Those are good memories. I think it bothers me because he was only 52. That doesn’t seem that old to me anymore. It’s also the same age as my brother. I don’t want to even think about that. So I’m going to do what I always do when I don’t like what happens next…pick up my remote control and change the channel. There, that’s better. Rest in Peace Ken.

Uscite di casa la mattina, prendete la vostra macchina e vi avviate verso l’ufficio. Davanti a voi avete il classico calvario, un’ora o anche più nel traffico infernale dell’ora di punta, in autostrada, tangenziale o superstrada, passando sempre più nervosamente con lo scorrere dei chilometri dalla prima marcia alla seconda – qualche volta arrivando alla terza- osservando quasi con ostilità le macchine (e i guidatori) davanti e a fianco. Uno scenario che potrebbe diventare solo un ricordo, sempre più sbiadito, se la sperimentazione del Progetto SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) – finanziato dall’Unione Europea e condotto da un consorzio di aziende sotto la guida di Ricardo, azienda leader nell’innovazione tecnologica – iniziata lo scorso settembre, dovesse avere i risultati che i suoi promotori si aspettano.

Il sistema automatico "guida" un veicolo all'interno del "treno" di automobili. L'autista del veicolo può dedicarsi alle sue attività: leggere, ascoltare musica, telefonare, lavorare, semplicemente rilassarsi.

Il progetto prende l’avvio dalla diffusione di sistemi automatici di guida che fanno uso di sensori di vario genere (come quelli di parcheggio, che variando l’intensità del fischio indicano la distanza da un ostacolo non visibile negli specchietti) e rendono anche possibile mettere in comunicazione diretta più veicoli. O, per essere più precisi, i sistemi automatici di guida e controllo di più veicoli.

L’industria autmobilistica da tempo è impegnata nello sviluppo di sistemi di questo tipo, ed è andata anche oltre arrivando a realizzare sistemi in grado di sostituire completamente il guidatore. Sono i sistemi di Autonomous Driving (Guida Autonoma), una tecnologia disegnata per prendere il completo controllo delle funzioni di accelerazione, frenata, guida di un veicolo, e che in più è anche capace di entrare in contatto con altri veicoli dotati della stessa tecnologia e di formare, con essi, un “treno” .

I vantaggi? Una guida più sicura, più fluida, senza scossoni e cambiamenti di marcia e, quindi, con un minor consumo di carburante e meno emissioni di CO2 e altri gas inquinanti. E un comfort di guida assolutamente impensabile nelle condizioni odierne. Lasciare il completo controllo del veicolo al sistema automatico di guida, infatti, consentirebbe al guidatore di rilassarsi e dedicarsi alle proprie attività, dall’ascoltare la radio al parlare al telefono (e senza necessità di auricolare o blue tooth!), leggere il giornale, guardare la televisione, lavorare al computer e qualunque altra cosa possa essere fatta nell’abitacolo di un’automobile. Insomma, la nostra macchina si trasformerebbe in una dependance della casa o dell’ufficio, dandoci la possibilità di sfruttare in modo intelligente le decine, se non centinaia di ore l’anno che passiamo chiusi in quello spazio ristretto.

Come funziona SARTRE? L’idea è di formare treni di autoveicoli – dai sei agli otto – con alla testa il cosiddetto veicolo-guida, condotto da un guidatore esperto. Per questo ruolo si pensa, per esempio, a tassisti, camionisti o autisti di autobus. Avvicinandosi a questo veicolo-guida, ogni altro guidatore interessato a inserirsi nel treno dovrà semplicemente lasciare il controllo del suo mezzo al sistema automatico che lo guiderà fino ad agganciarsi agli altri veicoli. Da questo momento, il suo guidatore potrà rilassarsi, dedicandosi alle sue faccende personali, senza doversi preoccupare di camvbiare velocità o marcia, sterzare, mantenere la posizione in una colonna o evitare gli ostacoli: sarà il sistema automatico a fare il tutto.

Avvicinandosi alla sua destinazione, ogni autista dovrà disattivare il sistema automatico e riprendere il controllo manuale, lasciando il treno degli altri veicoli. Il sistema di controllo posto sul veicolo-guida, a questo punto, provvederà a ricompattare il treno.

Non c’è, quindi, necessità, che tutti i veicoli agganciati nel treno seguano esattamente lo stesso percorso: ogni automobilista rimane libero di entrare ed uscire da un treno senza limitazione.

SARTRE si presenta con ottime possibilità di successo soprattutto su percorsi autostradali e di tangenziale. Lo scenario ideale potrebbe essere quello delle tangenziali milanesi, per esempio, che formano un anello intorno alla capitale lombarda. Una serie di veicoli-guida potrebbero percorrere ininterrottamente questo anello, dando la possibilità alle altre macchine di agganciarsi e rilasciarsi secondo necessità.

A parte la incredibile comodità di marcia, SARTRE dovrebbe, nelle speranze dei suoi disegnatori, dare un enrome beneficio per quanto riguarda i consumi: hanno calcolato che potrebbe far risparmiare ben il 20% di carburante, un pieno ogni cinque. In soldoni, si tratta anche di un centinaio di euro al mese per chi copre lunghe distanze ogni giorno.

Quando potremo vedere SARTRE all’opera? Le prima macchine equipaggiate con la tecnologia adeguata cominceranno i test nel 2011. Non sono ancora disponibili indicazioni su costi di installazione e manutenzione di questi sistemi automatici.

I neglected to mention the death of another pop-icon from two decades ago.  Ken Ober who made one of the first non-music Music Television Network shows called “Remote Control” was found dead in his home at the age of 52 (yikes).

Here is what made him most famous -

Without Ken Ober, we may never have heard of Colin Quinn, Adam Sandler or Kari Wuher.