And so it begins.

I went into this show cranky this evening. I found myself buying into the complaints that perhaps we see too many bad auditions. I had convinced myself that this is just a phase we have to get through.

While I do think they devote way too much time to this process, I still had a good time watching two hours of it tonight. But, honestly, Idol Producers. We’ve seen this six times before. Every other reality talent competition has ripped this bit off. While its funny, it’s going to the same well too many times for far too long. It’s time to cut this part down to two weeks, tops.

Since there’s no real narrative here and analyzing every last minute of the show would be tedious, let’s go straight to the bullet points and highlights:

• Randy Jackson had an odd set of sideburns and a goatee this year. He’s been replaced with the “Mirror, Mirror” Universe version of himself!

• When I bought the Sony HDTV that sits so proudly in our living room today, American Idol was one of the shows I looked forward to seeing in high definition. As the rest of that list is delayed or canceled pending the writers strike, I’m very happy to see AI in HD this season. Every single hour of it.

• I was in tears with, “If I were Columbo, I’d Peter Falk you.” Don’t get me wrong - that guy was creepy and I hope to the highest heavens the producers wrote down his license plate number on the way out and sent it to the cops. But using Peter Falk’s name as a verb like that made me cry.

• Udgeet was way too Sanjaya to win.

• Alexis Cohen — Glitter Girl — deserved to get kicked out on her butt for attributing “Allentown” to Bon Jovi instead of Billy Joel. For shame! It would blow her mind, I’d bet, to learn the song was actually written about Levittown, Long Island. And isn’t she a character played by Tracey Ullman? She sounds like one.

• Paraphrasing Simon: “You’re genuinely happy when someone you know does well [in this country.” I’m speechless.

• If Angela Martin can “de-weddify” herself, she’s perfect for this season. They want stories and people you can love, how can you deny her and her child with Rett Syndrome? It may sound harsh, but it’s true — people love to vote for that kind of reality TV show character.

• I just hope she learns to open her eyes when she sings.

• We only had one contestant choose the wrong door on the way out tonight. We’re off to a good start.

What were your favorite moments? Who stood out to you?

Tomorrow: We head to Texas.

I won’t be able to update this site until later tonight, but in the meantime, I’ll leave this thread open for you to all comment on whatever it is Steve Jobs is announcing Right This Very Minute.

For your amusement, I now provide a link to my on-the-fly coverage of the iPhone announcement last January. Ah, memories. . .

I didn’t hear any serious Beatles rumors this year, unlike last. . .

Yeah, yeah, the Stevenote is today, I know. But here are some cheaper things you can buy:

• Good Luck Chuck

I told you they were cheaper. I didn’t say they were better.

• Extras: The Complete Series

Ricky Gervais had a big podcast hit a couple years back. And the American version of his THE OFFICE was a tremendous iTunes hit, until NBC took their toys and went home.

• Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest

It’s like a compilation of iPod commercial parodies. (Yes, I’m stretching already.)

This was a very funny hour of animated television. I’m not sure I want to buy the boxed deluxe edition for $25, though, that comes with the 3D glasses, collector’s booklet, t-shirt, and more. (Wait, 3D glasses? I’m in!)

• Mr. Woodcock

It’s the iPod HiFi of Billy Bob Thornton’s career.

• She’s Gotta Have It

That’s what they said of the iPod Nano for my wife a couple weeks back.

• Strays

That’s the PC people who accidentally wander into the Moscone Center this week. Pity them.

• The Rockford Files, Season Five

Greg Rucka loves this show. I know that has nothing to do with Macworld, but it piques my interest.

Is Steve Jobs still interested in gaming for the Mac?

Coming to the Mac in 2008: ‘Spore’ | CNET News.com

In its early stages, Electronic Arts’ forthcoming and much-anticipated game Spore was code-named Sim Everything, a play on its heritage as the newest game by The Sims creator Will Wright.But now, “sim everything” has another meaning for the company: EA is set to announce Tuesday it will release Spore later this year simultaneously for PCs and Macs.

They’ll be showing it off on the show floor this week.

A nation sighs a breath of relief that the drought is over, and the new season is beginning. Two hours tonight, one hour tomorrow.

It’s Fox’s ‘Idol’ to the rescue - Entertainment News, Weekly TV, Media - Variety

Having come to Fox’s rescue on more than one occasion, “American Idol” this year faces a far tougher mission: keeping the lights on in TV land during one of the medium’s darkest hours.A one-two punch of lower fall ratings and a crippling writers strike has pretty much put the season in turnaround. Now, just like the return of the latenight talkers, industryites are praying the reappearance of “Idol” will be a shot in the arm for all the nets, not just Fox.

I plan on covering the whole season again this year. Full coverage will begin in Hollywood, but I’ll try to have open lines here after each new episode before that, so we can chat on the hilarity as it goes along. Maybe we’ll get a bonus this year and have a saleable star come out of this.

Can this year’s Idol make it to his or her second record? It’s the question everyone is asking. . .

If you want to replace your mono-sound Guitar Hero III game with the proper stereo sound version, Activision is going to let you. Eventually. Soon. They promise!

Right now, you can go to their website (linked below) to fill out a form for the replacement disc. But there’s a catch, with emphasis mine:

Guitar Hero III Wii Replacement Disc Pre-Registration Website

Once the replacement discs are available, the replacement program will begin. We will send you a disc replacement package which will consist of exchange instructions, a replacement disc claim form, and a postage paid envelope for you to return your current copy of the Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Once you receive your package, please complete the claim form and return your original game as directed. Once we receive your game, we will mail you the free replacement disc.

There’s no guarantee yet as to how quickly they’ll turn around the replacement disc, but you won’t be able to play the game while the exchange is happening. You have to send in your game disc first. Then pray the USPS gets it to Activision. They hope Activision’s worker drones do their job properly and quickly, and then pray for the USPS again. Best case scenarion, that’s a full week without the game you paid for in your hands.

I think I’ll stick with my mono version. Who knows? By the time they get around to offering the corrected discs, maybe I’ll have played myself out of the game and will want the down time.

Finally, a dose of sanity:

Macenstein | So, remind me again why we want an ultra portable?

With Macworld just ’round the corner, the rumor mill has pegged an ultra-portable Mac as a near certainty. Usually, once 3 or more semi-reliable Mac rumor sites say we’re going to see something at Macworld, odds are we’re going to. The problem is, the ultra portable Mac, in ANY of the iterations I’ve heard thrown about, is the last thing I want to see Apple release. For some reason I am just missing the allure of a wafer thin MacBook, and I would like someone out there to set me straight. What am I missing here?

Steve Jobs makes his keynote tomorrow. And once again, we’ve reached the point where the rumors have been repeated so often that they’re now a given fact. And when Steve Jobs doesn’t confirm these Plucked From Thin Air rumors and make them into products to be purchased at the Apple Store Right This Very Minute — what, wasn’t there a story on Digg yesterday that Apple Stores received special weekend shipments they’re not allowed to open? — people get ticked off.

They saw all those patent filings done in defense just in case one day one of them happens to be useful, and they’ve combined them in their mind to create one uber-device, capable of solving all the world’s computer ills and saving the lives of starving children somewhere in Central Africa, right about where Bono recently forgave a whole lot ofdebt or something.

They’ve laughed at the obvious Photoshop jobs on Saturday, started believing in the made-up device on Sunday, and then sold stock on Wednesday when the product that never existed didn’t ship out.

Get a grip.

MacWorld is tomorrow. Steve Jobs will likely announce some cool things. The only thing I’d bet on right now is movie rentals through iTunes. I’m guessing we’ll hear more about the iPhone SDK, but he might make that a special event next month. I don’t know. My mind is open. I’m hoping for cool things, but I’m not expecting anything.

It’s much more fun that way.

Or, read Apple Insider’s report from last Friday. It says that though the tablet computer is an on-going concern, it’s not going to be ready for MacWorld. (But I’ll take a guess and say that if it does, it’ll come bundled with the same kind of connectivity Amazon’s Kindle has. That would explain that whole “Something In The Air” slogan being paraded around. Or maybe that just means Phil Collins is going to bang on the drums at the end of the Stevenote instead of John Mayer flailing on the guitar.)

If you happen to be attending MacWorld, don’t forget to bring your MacWorld Expo Celebrity Checklist with you!

Next year, you won’t have to wait so long. MacWorld is scheduled for January 5th - 9th.

How to win a fist fight. Or, at least, how to better your chances of surviving one, if you’re stuck with no other options.

Maybe Ruby on Rails isn’t in so much trouble, after all.

Sony isn’t so dumb, after all: Their BMG DRM-free music is coming to Amazon.

Meanwhile, at CES — Gizmodo brought some TV-B-Gone remotes with them and tested them out on all the TV displays. I know I shouldn’t enjoy that, but I found it hilarious. The link includes a video montage of the TVs going dark. (The people in question have been banned from future CESes, should the convention survive. . . )

Merv Griffin’s headstone is hilarious.

The Top Five Most Embarrassingly Bad Wii Games.

‘Yo’ Being Used As ‘Gender-Neutral Pronoun’ - Big News Day

Street term ‘Yo’ is being used by kids as a gender-neutral replacement for ‘he’ and ’she’, according to researchers.Language experts in the US say since at least 2004 students have been saying “yo” as a substitute for gender specific pronouns and the trend is growing.

After previous attempts to introduce a gender-neutral pronoun failed, researchers suggested “yo” could become commonly used.

Experts said the growth of the word’s usage in this way was remarkable as it was a “grass-roots phenomenon”.

In slightly related news, The Gap is now using faux shipping crates to prop all their merchandise up on.  The kicker is, they are all emblazoned with the stores name on them and the text “NINETEEN-SIXTY NINE.”

That hyphen is so dramatically in the wrong place.

\m/ RAWK!

Unfortunately, I had one repeat gift at Christmas time this year. Thankfully, I had the receipt on the one item, so I was able to “take it back” for a return. This was at Amazon.

I went to the Amazon returns page and followed their directions, filling in my name, e-mail address, and the order number. So far, so good. It’s been years since I had to return anything to Amazon. Last time I did, I remember filling out a form and them sending me a box to return the item in, postage paid. That’s what I was expecting.

It was this selection of choices that boggled my mind. Remember, now, that this is a gift item I’m returning, something which I’ve previously specified:

Don’tcha think that it would be smart not to include options beginning “I ordered. . .” when returning a gift item?

In the end, none of these is the reason for my return. It’s just a dupe gift. That’s all. I had to choose “I just don’t want it anymore,” which didn’t make me happy.

Amazon then gave me a page to print out with a mailing address label and a return invoice. At the bottom was a note that I would be given an Amazon Gift Certificate in exchange, but that the shipping costs would come out of my pocket since it wasn’t their fault.

I’m still not sure how I feel about that last part, but I do know that the choices on the drop down box shown above stink.

Thankfully, I had to go to the post office to drop off a DVD I sold on the Amazon Marketplace, so it wasn’t a wasted trip.

Back in November, I discussed some photography-related podcasts I was listening to at the time. (Part 1, Part 2)

Today, let’s look at a couple more I’ve enjoyed since then, plus one that I’ve come around to.

Radiant Vista’s The Daily Critique is a video podcast worth its weight in gold. Hosting by Craig Tanner, each show (not really daily these days, but frequently updated, nonetheless) takes a picture submitted by a listener and is analyzed by the host. He works through the image, first looking at the metadata to see how it was shot and with what gear. He analyzes the layout, the composition, the color, the thematic elements, and more about each picture.

If you learn by seeing, this is the show to watch. Along the way, he talks about “perfect world improvements,” and uses his own Photoshop-fu to show you how to spruce up an image, whether it’s by cloning parts of it, highlighting certain colors, cropping an image, or something else. It is NOT a Photoshop course by any stretch, but it gives you an idea of what can be done in there.

The shows are relatively short, averaging about eight or ten minutes, but sometimes stretching out to 15. He talks fast with a slightly southern accent, so you’re never lost. He puts you very much at ease.

Craig Tanner’s audio podcast, Radiant Vista, is a more general photography podcast. This one tends to take one topic on at a time, whether it’s something technical like depth of field or something more general like the importance of “play” in your photographic sessions. Each show is about a half hour. I’ve only listened to a few selected ones, but I’ve learned a lot, even on those shows not devoted to technical things. Or maybe I’m just an outside observer who enjoys hearing stories of photographic workshops I’ll never attend.

The podcast hasn’t updated since September, but the archives are not very timely. It’s a good general photography podcast, even if it does occasionally veer off a tad into “creativity” exercises and theories. Just follow the show titles and you’ll be able to figure out which episodes are best suited to you.

The Candid Frame, hosted by Ibarionex Parillo, is a (mostly) weekly half hour interview show with a new photographer every outing. The goal on this podcast is not to talk gear and tips and tricks, but rather to get to the heart of what the photographer is doing or trying to do with his or her artwork. Obviously, this is one in which your mileage will vary wildly from week to week, depending on the person being interviewed. I’ve heard interviews with gothic landscape painters, a fellow podcaster, portrait photographers, documentarians, and more. It runs the whole gamut. Honestly, most of it bores me. The most interesting show so far was a recent one in which Parillo talks about his personal career move to more straight-up photography. He’s trying to move away from the teaching and writing thing, and move back into making his career more as a straight-up photographer.

Parillo also appears on The Focus Ring podcast, which I discussed previously, and which updated with its 11th and also show for 2007.

I’ve also become addicted to Lightsource recently. I mentioned it in my last Photography Podcast writeup as one that wasn’t really in my ballpark. The two hosts focus mostly on lights and lighting strategies, which is beyond me at this point. It’s not as bad as that, though. The more shows I listen to, the more I learn about photography, in general. A recent interview (episode 52) with Roy Cox was particularly interesting, as the Baltimore-based portrait/editorial photographer told the story of how he clawed and scratched his way up in the world, renting a small room in a warehouse without lights to taking most of the warehouse over and shooting for everyone from Hollywood to models. Check out episode 49 for an interview with Jock McDonald, a portrait photography with some funny stories. Other episodes were dedicated to architecture photographers, food photographers, and fashion photographers. It’s interesting to learn all the different angles and the high end technical stuff just breezes right by me without annoying me.

They do, however, sound EXACTLY like those NPR-like hosts on Saturday Night Live in the Alec Baldwin Christmas sketch. It’s scary. But it’s still ten times better than the obnoxiously wacky zany morning show host of Photo Talk Radio.

Related Various and Sundry Posts:

• The Benefits of a Tripod (25 Nov 2007)
• Christmas Tree Angel (24 Nov 2007)
• Waterfall (11 Nov 2007)
• Choosing the Right Camera (for me) (25 Oct 2007)

Dear Microsoft and Toshiba –

Ya ever get that sinking feeling?

Universal HD DVD exclusivity contract has expired, sits non-renewed - Engadget

Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal’s agreement to stick with HD DVD has ended and has not been renewed. Additionally, Paramount has an escape clause in its contract that can be exercised following Warner’s departure from the (now dwindling) HD DVD ranks.

Rob Enderle is an “analyst” best known for being wrong 100% of the time about everything he writes regarding Apple.  Insanely, he keeps being quoted by lazy journalists in the press, and maintains his job analyzing everything wrong.

His newest whopper doesn’t involve Apple.  Nope, it takes on the Wii.  Here, he suggests how Toshiba might have won the high def DVD war:
How Lack of Competitive Analysis, Nintendo Caused Blu-Ray’s Victory - Rob Enderle

Second, Toshiba should have worked with Nintendo to ensure it could fulfill Wii demand, holding down PS3 sag connected to the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive to ensure higher attach rates and better ramp that product while enhancing the value of the Xbox 360.

In other words, Blu Ray got to be so powerful because people couldn’t buy a Wii, so they bought a PS3, instead, with its Blu Ray capabilities.

Yeah, my jaw dropped when I read this one, too.  That’s a pretty impressive leap of logic there, defying any reality.

Last week, I gave you some tips for maximizing your profit at the Amazon Marketplace. Then, I showed an odd case where used DVDs are selling for more than new ones.

This week, I just have some random thoughts. Sorry it’s not sexier, but I am including hard numbers on this. I hope that will help.
Most of the items I’ve sold have gone on a weekend. Sunday night seems particularly busy. During the week, the orders I get tend to be at night, also. Whereas lots of people seem to shop and buy things during the work day, the Amazon Marketplace seems to work on a complementary schedule. I hear eBay is similar to this schedule — you want your auction to end on a Sunday night.

Shipping a DVD is easy; shipping a comic book is a pain. It’s almost not worth the trouble. You have to be so careful with comics for fear of losing that near mint status and outraging the buyer on the other end, that the shipping costs skyrocket. I’d stick to hardcovers, just for their durability, but I don’t have many of those to sell and they have big weight issues. I sold a trade paperback last week. It was a lightweight thing — 144 pages or so. I stuffed it in a plastic bag, sandwiched it inbetween two pieces of corrugated cardboard, and taped the whole thing together to keep it from knocking around and potentially damaging the edges of the book. Amazon takes a $3.99 shipping fee for these books. It cost me $4.50 to ship it media mail. Live and learn. Maybe it IS time for eBay, where I’ve noticed most people pay the extra for Priority Mail, which the USPS gives envelopes away free for.

It’s particularly annoying when a book isn’t listed on Amazon. In those cases, go to eBay. I’ll be looking into that option again soon. Some of the stuff I might consider listing, though, hasn’t been sold on eBay in a while. There are no “finished auctions” to check prices on. That makes me nervous.

Expect to lose at least 20% to Amazon. I just looked at my pending statement, for items sold in the last two weeks. It’s been a very profitable time, particularly with higher cost DVDs. Amazon took just over 20% of the total dollar figure in fees, and then I have to pay shipping afterwards. Out of the $222 worth of stuff sold, Amazon took $46.71 in fees. Those nine items probably cost me about $20 in shipping fees at the post office. So I sold $222 (granted, about $27-$30 of that was shipping fees Amazon charged the buyer), and I’m netting about $156.

It’s all a numbers game, and I can probably massage these in other ways to make it sound great. For example, if I didn’t have the ease and convenience of Amazon, I wouldn’t have sold any of them and I’d have made $0 while boxes lay around in storage and in the backs of closets, taking up valuable space.
Everything is a tradeoff. The convenience of having Amazon handle all the money for you and of receiving that money as store credit, in effect, is a wonderful thing. eBay might take less fees, but then you’ll have to deal with PayPal.com fees, instead, which are awful. And you’ll have to deal with tracking down buyers. And you’re paying to list an item that might never be sold. These are all things that add up. I have about 40 items in the Amazon Marketplace right now, and I’m fairly certain that half of those will likely never sell. (I’m a realist.) Those fees would have added up something ugly.

You can transfer your owed payments at any time. Amazon disburses your moneys to you every two weeks. At least with when you’re using the Amazon Gift Certificate option, you can opt to have the moneys transferred immediately without an additional fee. It takes the usual couple of days for the transaction to complete, but it’s better than waiting out the arbitrary two week period if you need it now.