GarageBand Frequency (Maybe iTunes)?

I've been working on some music in GarageBand and I've been listening to the music in iTunes with a Graphic EQ and noticed that the highest frequencies are all but missing. I'm one of those people who can hear when a tube tv is whining, even though I am getting to the stage in life where I won't be able to do that for too much longer.

I believe it to be Garageband because the missing frequencies are very obvious compared to a file downloaded from iTunes. Anyone else seen this issue?

Apple TV Sales Triple Last Year...

Yes, and I'm one of them. ATV with Boxee, as noted has replaced cable and the rental store for me (maybe even regular Best Buy DVD sales). No Boxee, no sale though. Apple should either buy Boxee or make sure any update to the ATV software works with Boxee. For real though.

Disappearing shows

Fully a week into basic cable and Boxee I feel compelled to discuss the problem of the disappearing shows and movies. Yesterday it was reported on how Hulu on demand from FX, pulled all past episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia which cause a great deal of grief to Hulu users. The consensus seems to be that FX wants people to purchase the DVD set. Not that I watch Sunny but really this "buy the DVD" thing is in my opinion silly. When I saw the price for the box set of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. I passed on it. I have the choice of watching re-runs on cable and sit through commercials or buy a box set and perhaps be motivated to pop in a DVD. Or I could watch it via boxee (if it were available) commercials and all, at my convenience, without having to store a DVD, case and all or a ripped version on my NAS (taking up valuable storage capacity). Of course since I can't get DS9 on Boxee or any other legal means on the net, I simply don't watch. Lost money for Viacom. Speaking of DS9, Where is Star Trek on Hulu or Joost or Boxee? Seriously people. Yes the classic ones are there but I want my DS9, TNG and Voyager please.

Now previously I had found Spenser for Hire on AOL tv. Then not two days after finding it did it disappear. Now I've found it on Joost via boxee, though it's missing many episodes (but has no adverts).

In the end, these companies need to realize that internet delivery "on demand" is the future. With products like Boxee, I don't care whether they are in a Hulu or a channel branded site. So long as I can access it through the TV set I'm satisfied.

Sun VirtualBox

A little request to Sun Microsystems about Virtualbox: It would be nice to have the windows task bar disappear in "seamless mode" That it floats there above the OS X dock is kind of ridiculous.

NJ Drivers

I always thought there was something not quite right with NJ drivers. The NY Times has now confirmed my suspicions

You know, the latest thing that I have observed here in NJ are people who are so impatient to make left turns that they will actually go around you to make a left turn. This is especially true of SUV drivers. Never mind that people usually do not look to see if the person BEHIND them is making the left turn at the same time they are so that's a huge accident waiting to happen. There ought to be huge huge fines for that kind of behavior.

“There was a lot of traffic, and I couldn’t figure out when it was my turn to go into the other lane,” she said. “I guess I wasn’t doing it quickly enough for my husband because he started yelling: ‘Merge! Merge!’ I just pulled the car over, got out, and handed him the keys..."

Turn? It's your turn to get into the other lane when there's enough space between oncoming vehicles for your car to fit and accelerate to the speed of traffic.Please someone revoke this woman's license. Seriously nervous drivers are the worst. They hit their brakes for no other reason than that they are scared.

“I had to drive on Route 46 to take my New Jersey driver’s test,” said Ms. McClenahan, who is in her early 40s. “That was really traumatic — all the cars were whizzing by. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. After that experience I said, I am never going on Route 46 again.”

And please, do stay off 46. Personally I think she ought to have failed the test. Perhaps it's just me, but while I was anxious about my driving test, It was not traumatic. And I took my test in Michigan. I did most of my practicing on highways. Personally I think there ought to be a confidence score. If a person is really shook, they ought not be licensed.

Oh and this..this is classic:

“I’m afraid of simultaneously keeping my eye on the speedometer, merging, and looking at signs to see where I’m going,” said Ms. Schneider, 40, who got her license at age 34 after she and her family moved to the suburbs...She said she has driven on highways about five times so far, mostly using a GPS device in her minivan, but doesn’t plan to hit Route 3 again anytime soon."

Hey stupid. When merging you don't look at your speed. there's no need. You can't be merging AND looking for signs at the same time. Looking for signs means you're trying to get off. If you're trying to get off, then you ought to be in the rightmost lane ANYWAY (for right sided exits). And although she's confused by the array of things she has to look at she's got the GPS in the car. I'l lay odds that this one also has a phone. I will put money on it.

Then there's this:

Ms. Kelly has also sworn off highways for good. “I’m not going to be a highway driver; that won’t be happening,” she said. “I have no clue how people merge at high speeds. I can’t even imagine it. I mean, are you people nuts?”

No seriously, did she really ask HOW people merge at high speeds? FIrst and foremost there's this thing called relativity. If Were both moving in the same direction and I'm going 80 and you're going 70, I'm moving faster than you are by 10 MPH. really It's not that hard to merge with a 10 MPH gap. What you do is press that thing called an accelerator as much as you need to to get up to speed. If you have to press hard enough you'll trip what is called the "kick down" response in the computer and the car will down shift for more acceleration. You should try it. It's what you're expected to do. If my 20 year old car can make it, your relatively new one can

I do have to agree with one thing on though, there are plenty of people in NJ who seem not to understand that when there is a merge up ahead and there are cars looking to enter, one ought to change lanes to give them space if you can. It would be even more polite to give a flash to let them know that you see them and are letting them in.

New Year, New Modes of Living

And so this year I have a few resolutions:

1) To be more fit. Anyone who knows me knows I'm already way fit. Not built. Fit. I'm trying to get stronger and faster. Not the easiest thing for someone running up to 40 years old but a goal I can reach.

2) Stop wasting money. Yes thought I am fortunate at this time to be employed (and seeing the recent unemployment stats that is saying a lot). But this year I'm doing my best to leverage frugality. So first thing is that my 88 325i died. So I had the opportunity to replace it with a '97 318i which gets about 50% more useful gas mileage as my other vehicle, a '97 Z3 2.8. When you're pumping premium, that matters. Not that when gas prices hit $5 I was sweating all that much as I live within my means (and I had been biking to work), but why spend the money if you don't have to?

So I'm looking at a minimum of a 20% reduction in my gas usage this year, without changing my habits. That's about $300 bucks for the year. I'm not keeping full tabs on my gas usage because it comes out of my weekly allowance.

Next is the reduction in land line phone service. Why do I still have a land line? DSL and legacy. I've had my phone number for ever. Don't want to give it up. Sue me. Anyway. I have a Gizmo number which I can get mad minutes for 20 bucks. I don't make a lot of phone calls. So the biggest money waster is actually my cell phone, but I prefer to be available and I'm not clear that a pay-go plan will work for me for when I do use the phone heavily. In any event, between my Gizmo number and my Google Grand Central number, Vocito on the Mac and Dial Central on the Nokia Internet Tablet, I don't pay for phone calls. Nothing. Nada. Not even long distance. If I was convinced that both Gizmo and Grand Central will remain free I would probably drop the land line altogether. But as of now I'm saving $20/month. It's possible that I can go lower but these phone companies have so many fees and such. I may end up going with Vonage or something when it begins to annoy me enough. But as of now I'm looking at $240 for the year in savings.

Next up: Apple TV and Boxee. I've reduced my CableVision to basic cable. I just bought an Apple TV and installed Boxee on it. I get CNN news. I get all those reruns that Spike, FX, TNT, and everyone one else broadcasts and then some. Of course we have torrents but you know, that wouldn't be legal. I realized I was ready for this when I was willing to sit at my computer and watch Spenser for Hire at my laptop. I suppose my Spenser watching caught the attention of AOL because not 48 hours after I discovered their monster stash of Spenser, then they took it down. Next time, I use my browser plugin and rip that stuff. Note to media companies: suddenly making stuff unavailable is a bad idea. Not that I'm threatening to do anything illegal. So my Cable bill was just cut by $30/month. In July I'll have to pony up for Versus so I can watch Le Tour (unless it ends up online somewhere). But for now that's $360 for the year. The Apple TV of course will eat into that particular saving but I still come out ahead by $140 if you include it's cost. However since I had an Airport Express that died on New Years, I'm not going to include it in the cost because I would have paid for a replacement anyway.

So what we have is a possible $900 savings for the year if it all works out as planned ($75/month). Not too shabby for cutting expenses without really impacting my life. If I wasn't attached to my land line phone number I'd probably be able to reach a grand. Well lets see how this goes.