Phoneless iPhone and/or Stubby Nano?

Apple's announcement was previously expected to be on September 25, but has moved up to the 5th. This is most definitely expected to be the iPod release. The AAPL stock jumped up today, so that should be a good sign. They had better not disappoint us and release some useless Apple TV product! I surfed around the Web quite a bit and as of now, it seems like both the phoneless iPhone and short, wide nano rumors are both true. This means that there would be 3 members to the iPod family... 1) the iPod Video will either remain the same or take on the iPhone design; 2) the iPod Nano will be the square product; 3) and the iPod "Touch" will be the phoneless iPhone. I imagine the Shuffle will drop out because the smaller Nano will take its place. I would guess that the Nano will drop in price and the other two will go up. We'll see... five days left!

Clockwork Apple: Introduction

My most recent Subway Tales story sparked an idea for a spin-off. Clockwork Apple is going to talk about people I run into on a regular basis. These are strangers on the street and in the subway who have daily routines that are as timely as clockwork. This does not include coffee vendors, AM paperboys, security guards and doormen because they are pretty much fixtures. I see these people so often that I'm going to give them names and back stories (fictional of course).

Sweeping the Sox

It wasn't quite the 5-game Boston Massacre of last Summer, but any sweep of the Sox is nice. The Yankees are back within 5 games. It's still a long way, but hopefully this 3-game steak is a momentum-shifter. Wang pitched a no-hitter through 6 innings. Giambi made some plays worthy of Doug Mientkiewicz. And Cano ripped Schilling 2 new ones. It seems like the Yankees prepared well for this series. It was setup so that they would be pitching with Pettitte, Clemens & Wang. They also planned for Chamberlain to go out twice. The Yankees always seem to bring it when facing their rivals. They just need the same killer instinct when facing the rest of the teams. They need to sweep the Devil Rays next to get back to .667.

Note: One fan had a sign with a nice drawing of the Foul Pole Squirrel from 2 games ago.

Foul Pole Squirrel

By John Tsui



This was a highlight of last night's Yankees vs. Red Sox game. This squirrel also got a lot of screentime on the My 9 broadcast as well as fan cheers. He was on the right field foul pole and made an attempt to climb down, but had no where to go in the sea of fans. So he climbed back up and watched the entire game. What a great seat to have too!

During tonight's game, another fan made a replica of last night's foul pole squirrel with a stuffed animal.

Note: The Yankees won both outings to cut the division lead to 6 games.

Looking at the Wildcard

The Yankees have just lost 2 series in a row, putting them 8 games behind the Red Sox. It seems like the Tigers series could end up being the defining series that knocks them out of the race. If they had won the Angels series & the Tigers series, they would be within 5 or 6 games. But 8 is a huge lead. Even if they sweep the Red Sox, they'll still be behind by 5. I was previously ignoring the wildcard, confident that the Yankees would take the division. But now I'm going to start paying attention because it seems like their only way in. So that was disappointing. I wanted them to be within striking distance for the Red Sox series so the outcome could be defined against their arch rivals. Hopefully we get the wildcard and play the Sox in the post-season though.

Zanzibar

Location: 645 9th Avenue (@ 45th St.)
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Asian, Fusion
Phone: 212-957-9197
Website: www.zanzibarnyc.com
Prices: About $40 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 8
Value: 6
Environment: 7

Visits: 1 (eat-in)

I had a family style dinner with a group of 7, so we had a chance to try everything on the menu. There's something for everyone as Zanzibar's menu is short, but carefully designed. Prepare for a complete review!

Appetizers

Crispy Onion Rings - This was the most unoriginal item on the menu. The taste wasn't bad, but onion rings are onion rings. The other items on the menu have enhanced tastes because they were carefully combined with other ingredients. Maybe an original dipping sauce could improve the onion rings. One compliment though... the presentation was nice.

Coconut Glazed Sweet Corn - I felt that this was the most original item on the menu. The corn itself was fresh and sweet and the caramelized coconut glaze felt and tasted great.

Shredded Green Papaya Salad - There's a lot of healthy stuff packed into this appetizer including cilantro. I'm not a big fan of papaya nor cilantro, but this combination actually tasted good. The first bite was a little strange, but it grew on me.

Fish

Tempura of Shrimp - Not bad, but the tempura here lacked the crispiness that you would get at any Japanese restaurant.

Yellow Fin Tuna Tartare With avocado and lime - This had a good texture and taste. The avocado & lime were a great combination for it.

Prince Edwards Island Mussels Seasoned with herbs and spiced broth - I like mussels of any style, but the one here is particularly good because the fishy taste is cancelled out by the broth. This is a good choice for seafood fans as well as non-seafood people who are trying to eat more.

Grilled Salmon With garden herbs and soy vinaigrette - The salmon was great. It was juicy, but not overly oily. The smoked taste gave it a steaklike flavor. It seemed like the non-seafood eaters enjoyed this one more than those who often ate salmon.

Meat

Charred Beef With cashews and baby cilantro - All of the beef dishes were great here. I would've gone for medium cooked on this one if I ate alone though. The medium-well was a little dry, but still good.

Grilled Chicken on a sour cherry tomato salad - This one was meaty and juicy (for white meat). The cherry tomato salad was a good compliment. I made sure every bite of chicken had a bit of salad on it.

Roasted Lamb Glazed with candied ginger mustard - Lamb that doesn't taste funny is lamb well prepared! The center of the meat was a bit dry though. This dish could've benefited from smaller cuts.

Earth Scented Beef Tenderloin Served with buttered potatoes - As with the other beef dishes, very tender and juicy. The potatoes were great too.

Flatbread

Tomato and Feta Cheese - A nice light and tasty dish.

Slivers of Beef With farmer greens and truffle vinaigrette - The flatbread beef is just as good as the charred beef.

Spicy Tuna Served with pickled shallots - This tasted great, but it wasn't really spicy to me. I had an additional bite of it after another guest mentioned that it was too spicy, but no effect. Still, it tasted good and was probably a safe level of spiciness for most people.

Dessert

Warmed Molten Chocolate Cake - It's hard to go wrong with chocolate. It's so molten that it shouldn't be called a "cake" though!

Fried Donuts - No one at the table really liked these, but I thought they were OK. They tasted like Peruvian donuts... picarones. Maybe they're made of the same dough... I should've asked!

Overall, I enjoyed the food here. There was nothing really bad at all. It's a very safe menu. Every dish is made up of a thought-out combination of ingredients seemingly formulated to stimulate the taste buds.

Note: I might have missed a couple of dishes. I used the one on their website as a reference, but am pretty sure the actual menu was a little longer. Please also note that Menu Pages has not updated their menu for Zanzibar yet. The menu I reviewed is a complete redesign. The old items are not served anymore.

Forward Without Thinking

SALES REP.: We just received the creative from the advertiser.

AZRAEL: Did they give it to us in the proper format?

SALES REP.: I don't know. I guess I should look.

I get this all too often at work. My sales team has a bad habit of just passing stuff around and not really dealing with anything. They don't read full messages and don't look at attachments. They're getting paid big bucks to forward things around without thinking. The company could easily save a lot of money by replacing them with a couple of automated scripts. This inability to comprehend details and eagerness to pass off work is likely what leads to employees opening and executing viruses too.

Under 2 Thirds

The Yankees are in trouble for the first time in the 2nd half. I expected them to lose the series against the Angels just because they always lose to them. They needed to make up for it by sweeping the Tigers, but can only break even now that they lost 2 of 3. Tomorrow's game is a must-win. On top of that, they need 2 sweeps to stay on pace. Hopefully resting Jeter and Posada paid off.

Tech Deals of the Week (8/26-9/1)

Hmmm... no flash drives this week!

Parallels Desktop for $49.99 @ CompUSA
This has been on sale every other week. As usual, it's $79.99, with a $10 instant savings and $20 mail-in rebate.

TrendNET 54 Mbps 802.11g Router & Adapters for $2.99 @ CompUSA
Wow! I never thought these would get lower than $4.99. The in-store price for the router is $39.99. The adapters are $24.99. They both have 2 mail-in rebates.

Phillips Stereo Earbuds for $9.99 @ Best Buy
This is a $5 instant savings for all of you who bought one of those colored iPod Nanos and want a matching set of ear buds.

Targus Wireless Numeric Keypad for $14.99 @ Best Buy
Here's an affordable wireless solutions for laptop users who do a lot of one-handed calculations. This is a $15 instant savings.

Targus Ladies Laptop Tote for $2.99 @ Staples
The normal price for this is $49.99. There's a $36 instant savings and $11 rebate. This bag is good for laptops up to 15.4" and for $3 is even a good secondary bag.

Generation 3 Nano

Hmmm... maybe I was wrong about the iPhone design being the new standard for iPod design... for the Nano at least. It makes all the sense in the world to keep that design for the video player. There were some leaked spyshots of the new Nano (now expected to be announced on September 25 and released in early October), but were quickly removed as requested by Apple. From the low quality image I saw, the Nanos have a shorter, squat design... almost a square. It looks a little odd since we're used to the long design, but this allows for a wider screen... a hint of possible video playback (which is long overdue since many other flash based MP3 players already have this feature). I couldn't tell what the material was but it looks like the same aluminum from the current generation. It will supposedly come in 5 colors... black, silver, magenta, light blue & chartreuse. As usual, the black one will be the only color matched one. Sizes will likely be 4 GB, 8 GB and hopefully a 16 GB model (they have to if they want to support video).

Ten Random Chain Survey Questions for 2007-08-24

1. Last thing you drank? apple cider vinegar w/ clover honey
2. What was the last museum you went to? Museum of Natural History... a while ago
3. What are you listening to? Initial D Non-stop Mega Mix
4. What were you doing at midnight last night? Stargate SG-1
5. Are you left-handed? sometimes
6. What was for dinner tonight? organic hot dogs
7. Where was the last place you went shopping? Healthy Choice
8. Are you multitasking right now? always
9. Do you have a favorite cartoon character? Batman
10. Last time you were sick? September 2006

Transformers: Missing Decepticons

Warning: If you have not seen Transformers and plan to, do not read any further. This post will spoil it for you.

I've seen this movie more than once now and unless there were deleted scenes, it didn't look like all of the Decepticons were killed. I'll go in chronological order:

1) Scorponok: After he was shelled by 105's, his tail fell off, but he escaped into the sand.

2) Frenzy: His head was cut off, but that also happened earlier in the movie. He could have just transformed into a smaller device just like the first time.

3) Barricade: The last scene with Barricade was the highway chase where he was blocked by Ironhide and Ratchet. The action cut to the one-on-one between Optimus & Bonecrusher. And Barricade did not make another appearance. Either he drove away and got lost or there was a deleted scene where he was killed by one of the other Autobots.

4) Starscream: After Starscream took out a bunch or Raptors, the next scene was the air strike on Megatron. I suspect Starsceam blended in and actually joined the Raptor attack. If you're familiar with the cartoon, Starscream always wanted to overthrow Megatron. So the sequel can start with Starscream rounding up the remaining Decepticons.

Things to think about:

- At the end of the movie, Optimus pulls out a shard from Megatron's chest... why?

- The "dead" Decepticons were dumped into the deepest part of earth's ocean. During one of the early episodes of season 1, the Decepticons were thought to have perished in the sea. Instead, they secretly built an underwater base out of their crashed ship.

Targus Groove Backpack

This is the cheap backpack I keep featuring in my weekly deals. I just purchased it for $14.99 (after a $9 instant rebate and $10 mail-in rebate at Office Depot). It's not historically the lowest sale price, but my previous backpack was on its last legs. So here's the official review after some actual use.

Although it's Targus' lowest model, the Groove is still well-designed. It appears small visually, but expands when it's loaded up. So it can carry a lot when needed, but doesn't get in the way when not filled to capacity. It feels comfortable and light when strapped on... good load-bearing design. As I mentioned in July, it doesn't have enough padding for the larger 15.4" laptops, but is good for the thinner ones and the 14.1" laptops. I have a 7 lbs 15.4" system and it just fits, but I don't feel that there's enough padding or room for shock. I use this mostly as an everyday backpack rather than a laptop one and it's very practical. The compartments are well organized. It has the drink pouch that essential for New Yorkers. It doesn't have a cellphone pouch, a chest strap or air-flow back pads, but if it did... it wouldn't be $14.99!

Capturing the Moment with an Artist's Eye

I take a lot of digital photos during family gatherings, but I rarely ask people to pose. My first goal is to capture the event as it is happening. If people are eating and talking, that's what I want to capture. When we look back at photos of the past, it's the non-portrait ones that are interesting because there are a lot of things going on. Staring at it for minutes will bring back memories... what were we talking about? What were we eating? In a portrait, nothing is going on.

The second goal is the composition. Each shot has to frame enough subject matter to make an interesting work of art. Just like a painting, a photo has to have balance, proportion, rhythm, emphasis and unity. At the last family event, there was this one guy (no relation, thank God) just firing away, barely looking through his viewfinder or LCD. I'm sure his hi-megapixel camera is going to produce clear and crisp objects, but his compositions are going to look terrible... heads cutoff... off-screen torsos... lots of blank wall, etc.

Sore Thumbs in Mac Design

Apple has knack for making things look nice and have been very successful in attracting customers. But there are some sore thumbs I wonder about:

iPod Nano G2
The black one is the only good looking one because it's all one color. Why did the other colored ones have to have white click wheels?

Mighty Mouse
This was a revolutionary product for Apple because it was their first 2-button mouse. The touch sensitivity and 4-ways scroll wheel were also some nice technological advances. The product designer must've missed a memo or something though because it never really matched the design of any other product. The Mighty Mouse is glossy white with some gray accents. The keyboard at the time was matte white with clear trims. With the release of the aluminum iMac, Apple also created a matching keyboard. But they didn't do anything with the mouse. So again, the mouse doesn't match. The new iMac is all silver with a white mouse. The Mac Mini and Mac Pro are also silver. Why is there no silver Mighty Mouse out there? The Mighty Mouse should've looked like the old regular mouse to begin with... a white oval encased by a transparent shell. And with the release of the silver keyboard, they should've repainted it with silver and changed the accents to white.

iPod and iPhone
What's up with the white headphones? They only match the white iPod and look especially bad on the black one. Good thing 3rd party companies have matching accessories.

Most of these design flaws can be fixed by using ColorWare's services, but that means paying extra cash on top of Apple's already premium prices!

OMG, Apple killed color matching! You bastards!

Subway Tales: Like Clockwork

J.C., a friend from LA was visiting the city. As we stood on the sidewalk of 34th Street and 6th Avenue, he expressed how amazing New York City was. He was surprised by the constant crowds on the street and wondered if I had ever run into the same person twice.

New York City's population is over 8 million. With that in mind, you would think that running into the same person twice is impossible, yet many people function like clockwork here. I see the same people all the time on the way to work, during lunch breaks and the evening commute. People take their dogs for walks along the same paths. Joggers usually follow their routine. And commuters always ride the same cars of the same trains each day.

Tech Deals of the Week (8/19-8/25)

Logitech V200 for $9.99 @ RadioShack
This cordless optical notebook mouse comes out to just $9.99 after a $15 mail-in rebate.

Targus Tripod for $9.99 @ RadioShack
Everyone has a digital camera today. Here's one cheap accessory to help you setup some great shots.

Targus 25-in-1 Memory Card Reader for $9.99 @ RadioShack
These are rarely on sale... at least the ones that read all of the modern formats. If you have memory cards for your camera or phone, this is a good opportunity to buy a reader. Also, if you bought one 5-10 years ago, it's time to update.

Sandisk 4 GB Cruzer Micro Drive for $34.99 @ Circuit City
Same as in the past... retractable USB, low price, U3, ReadyBoost, etc. This isn't the lowest price for this model, but it's still less than $10/GB.

TrendNET 54 Mbps 802.11g Router & Adapters for $4.99 @ CompUSA
This is the same rebate offer as two weeks ago in case you missed it the first time.

Controlled Energy

The Yankees have been maintaining a 67% winning percentage since the All-Star Break... just enough to stay alive in the playoff race. Part of the reason for this can be credited to the rookies promoted from the farm system. Shelley Duncan and Joba Chamberlain are two young kids bursting with energy, but are able to control it like experienced players.

Chamberlain has a canon for an arm, tossing 100 mph fast balls and 90+ mph everything else. He's been successful so far as a setup man for Rivera. By looking at him on the mound, one can tell that he's pumped and ready to fire some fastballs. This is something that can lead to careless wild pitches, but Chamberlain is able to control his energy and concentrate on being accurate. The power comes naturally. And when he fans the batter for out number 3, a powerful fist pump follows.

Duncan has shown his skills as a power hitter and has become a crowd favorite because of it. Any other rookie would just pickup the bad habit of becoming a free-swinger, but he has the poise to produce quality at-bats, not just looking for the longball. His homerun skills resemble Vladimir Guerrero's. Both players have long reach and can turn almost any pitch into a homer... not just the strikes. When Duncan's job is done, the excess energy pours out in violent high-fives! It'll be interesting to see how he develops through the years.

Hawk-Eye for Baseball

A pitch comes flying inside, about 6 inches off the plate. Jeter moves his arms out of the way and as usual, his eyes sharply follows the ball out of the strike zone. Much to his surprise, the umpire calls "strike three!" It's always the consistent hitters... the ones with the good eyes that suffer from the bad calls. Jeter didn't swing at that pitch because it was a ball. There was no way to hit it. If he swung his bat, he would've hit it with his wrists. They should really computerize the calls. The strikezone should be easier to do than the successful Hawk-Eye system they use for tennis. They just need a mechanism to adjust the strikezone for each player. So a human would still need to operate it, but the calls themselves would be accurate. Let's face it... it's hard for a human to get a good reading on 3" diameter sphere flying towards him at 100 mph.

New York Burger Co.

* All Natural * Just Pure Simple Beef *

Location: 678 6th Avenue (btw 21st & 22nd St.)
Cuisine: Burgers
Phone: 212-229-1404
Website: www.newyorkburgerco.com
Prices: About $15 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 5
Value: 8
Environment: 6

Visits: 2 (eat-in)

When you first see the menu, it'll look like an overpriced fast food restaurant, but there's a lot of value in their $6-8 burgers. The patties are made from organic beef and are coupled with fresh toppings. All burgers have plum tomatoes and romaine lettuce. I had the Seattle Burger today, which included onions and portobello mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms are usually expensive and they didn't cheap out on them either. They covered the entire burger! During my previous visit here, I had the Chicago Burger (surprise, surprise) which was dressed with applewood smoked bacon and Cabot cheddar. Both burgers tasted great... tender meat, packed with flavor, not microwaved, etc. The $6-8 doesn't seem expensive when you take all of that into consideration. You're getting a restaurant quality burger for near-fast food prices. Most importantly, you'll be consuming vitamin packed, real meat instead of a manmade hunk of matter flavored by chemicals to taste like meat!

Tip: Get the fries with the burger. They're freshly cut and homemade. They also have a variety of sauces you can dip them in.

I gave the service and average grade of 5 because it's a fast food place. It's all self-serve. The environment is a little dirty, but not that bad. It's about the same as a McDonald's.

Week-ending Thursday

SALES REP: We just received an urgent notice to take down the #ANONYMOUS_ADVERTISER# ad. Can we do that for just over the weekend?

AZRAEL: Sure. We can have that up at the end of the business day on Friday.

SALES REP: Can we make that the end of the day today?

AZRAEL (thinking): Uhhh... today's just Thursday... you said weekend???

It's déjà vu! The above conversation is almost the same as my Choose Your Own Adventure from yesterday. However, this time it was with an employee in the same office... and she wasn't reading off a script! I guess this means we need to raise the quality of our employees. Unfortunately, once you make it into the company I work for, you're IN. There's an unwritten rule that they don't fire anyone. In the case of this particular employee, she was actually good when first hired, but grew a larger ego after a promotion. If this conversation had occurred before the promotion, I'm pretty sure she would've provided all details in one shot. Nowadays she likes to give out bits (and incorrect in this case) and make people come to her for more information. That must make her feel more needed.

Staying Behinrich

When I first heard about Kirk Hinrich withdrawing from Team USA, I was disappointed. But after some thought, it makes more sense. With the addition of Kidd and Billups, his playing time would be limited and not worth traveling with the team. Last year, the Team USA events seemed to burn out Hinrich for the regular season. So skipping out on it this year should produce a fresher Captain Kirk this Fall. I'd much rather has him at 100% than see him play internationally. We need everything we can get this year since we have to contend with the consistent Pistons, the best player in the league, a seriously upgraded Celtics and a potentially good Knicks team.

I'll be cheering on Luol Deng and the UK team for the international competition this Summer. They should really get Ben Gordon on that team as well.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Here's a short clip from a tech support call I had today at work.

TECH SUPPORT: What was the date of purchase of your support plan?

AZRAEL: April 23, 2007

TECH SUPPORT: This year or last year?

AZRAEL (thinking): This 2007... as opposed to last 2007.

These people are obviously reading off of a "choose your own adventure" style script. I can imagine the tech flipping through a large binder. The page reads "ask the customer the date of purchase." At the bottom of the page is says, "if the user provided a year, go to page 26. If he/she did not, then go to page 27." Page 27 instructs the tech to ask if it was this year or last year. The tech I was talking to probably misread the options and turned to the wrong page.

Tech companies need to raise the quality of their technical support, especially when they charge a fortune for professional software. They should hire specialized employees who really know the products they're supporting. The people I end up talking to can be easily replaced with computer programs... or well-trained monkeys.

Serbian Sweep

Starring Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokavic (as Rafael Nadal)

The next chapter in Federer vs. Nadal took place at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Only this time, Novak Djokovic played Roger Federer in the final. He worked his way through 3rd seeded Roddick and 2nd seeded Nadal to face and defeat Federer! That was an impressive streak. It seems like both Federer and Nadal automatically kick it up a notch for the major tournaments. They just don't win as many small ones as they should. The next upcoming tournaments should be interesting. With Djokavic stepping up a level, there should be a good rivalry with Roddick as they battle for the #3 spot.

On the women' side, Ana Ivanovic was very impressive in today's East West Bank Classic in LA as she defeated Nadia Petrova. Petrova advanced because of a Sharapova injury, so she faced an easier opponent, but a well rested one. Ivanovic seemed to have a lot of energy today. She covered every part of the court and went on attack mode for the last set. Ana had a lot of excess energy afer the match as well. He spoke quickly in one long run-on sentence during her interview. She was so hyper that she probably could have played another full match!

Tech Deals of the Week (8/12-8/18)

PNY 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Best Buy or Staples
This is the same drive as last week, but different stores. Best Buy will likely sell out before Staples.

Sony 2 GB Flash Drive for $16.99 @ Circuit City
This week's Sony pick is a smaller drive than the one above, but it has a slightly lower price per GB.

Microsoft Compact Optical Mouse for $9.99 @ Office Depot
These things used to be $24.99 a few years ago! There's nothing fancy about this Mouse, but it's a good one if your the kind of person that can't stand the touchpad, trackball or other laptop input device.

Parallels Desktop for $49.99 @ CompUSA
The regular price is $79.99, so this is after a $10 instant savings and $20 mail-in rebate. This one doesn't cycle around that often, so if you're looking to install Windows on you Mac OS X system, this is a good week to go for it. Remember... you still need to have a legal copy of Windows to do this.

TrendNET 54 Mbps 802.11g Router & Adapters for $9.99 @ CompUSA
This is up from the $4.99 from last week, but $10 is still a great price and rare for 802.11g.

August 2007 iMac

Since the newest iMac was introduced earlier this week, I'm going to configure one as I would order it if I was going to buy one today. This is a quick one because I would just go for the $1,799 model. That's the 2.4 Ghz, 1GB RAM, 320 GB hard drive, 256 MB VRAM model. At $1,799, it seems a little pricey for a desktop, so I'll try to break it down.

CPU: Again, I'm sticking with my rule of 2nd best. This model has the 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo, which is plenty of speed.

RAM: Leaving this the default 1 GB is unlike me, but I'll get to that at the end of this post.

Hard Drive: A 320 GB default drive is plenty of space. If I needed more, I would just get a Firewire external. If you can avoid getting upgrades from Apple, it'll save you a ton of money.

Video Card: 256 MB is pretty good already. The only thing I have against this is that it's made by ATI. I'm partial to NVidia, but no choice here... can't change it.

Optical Drive: There's only one choice here... 8x super drive, which is top of the line anyway.

A Dell Ultrasharp 24" monitor goes for about $650. Apple's LCD's are in no way better than Dell's, so I'm going to assume it's worth bout $600. That leaves $1,199 for the rest of the system. It is about $100-200 over the price of what it's worth, but keep in mind that you're paying for the design if you go with Apple. This model is very compact and blends in with most modern furniture. So with that in mind, $1,799 isn't too bad.

There are two things I like about this new model. One is the video out option. In the previous version of the iMac, there was no output option. So if the LCD died after a few years, that would be the end of the entire system as well. The other item is the easy access to the RAM modules. There's a single screw at the bottom of the LCD that easily allows the user to upgrade the RAM. This leads to why I left it as the default 1 GB. If you want to order the full 4 GB from Apple, you get charged a whopping $850. If you get the 4 GB kit from Other World Computing, you only pay $229.99. So a $2,649 system from Apple could be $2,028.99 if you have a PC maker's mentality and do some of the work yourself. That's a huge difference!

I'm actually tempted by this system, but will wait and see how it evolves as Apple releases their next OS X and makes improvements to Boot Camp.

Subway Tales: As Fast as its Slowest Member

JACKSON: Hanno, I'm told the Byrsa's only defense against the Goa'ulds is their ability to run and hide. Is that right?

HANNO: We have escape tunnels and caves. When the lights on the Circ-Kakona appear, we can disappear before the Goa'uld arrive.

JACKSON: But, you have to move fast, right?

HANNO: Of course.

JACKSON: Teal'c, did you know that back then.

TEAL'C: I did. It was often very difficult to locate the villagers. They seemed to be able to vanish into the forest, as quickly as a flock of birds.

JACKSON: (to Hanno) How fast could your father move, with only one leg?

HANNO: It was not important. As a member of the clan, he would never be left behind.

JACKSON: So in other words, your group can only move as fast as its slowest member?

That was from Stargate SG-1 episode 116, Cor-Ai. The last line spoken by Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) comes to mind as I walk the subway tunnels. A single person walks at normal speed. Two people walking together move at the speed of the slower individual. A group of 10 people walking together walks as a slow as the most out-of-shape person in the group. Whenever I see a large group of slow-moving, talkative, oblivious people, I try to pass them as quickly as possible before we come across a narrow or obstructed path. 4 feet are not better than 2... not in the subway stations of NYC!

Summer, Fall & a Brooklyn Cyclone

We had a variety of weather in the span of a week. Monday was a normal Summer day. Tuesday was extremely hot and humid. It looked like it was going to pour at any moment, but held up... until late night/early morning. Everything came out all at once... heavy thunderstorms and even a cyclone in Brooklyn (not talking about Sandy over to the left). How crazy is that? Wednesday morning in itself was contrasty. The sun was shining yet all subway stations were flooded and out of commission. Thursday was normal again. Today was a gift in the middle of the Summer... a sub-60 degree day... a taste of Fall temperatures! This was an odd week in weather worth noting.

47% Organic

As mentioned in my Natural Cures post, I was trying to keep a 50% organic diet. It's been about a month now and it hasn't been easy. It's not that I don't like organic foods. I actual like the choices a lot and have had lots of fun shopping for stuff. What brings my percentage down is the low number of organic restaurants and I also eat conventional when I eat with other people. Sometimes I get a craving for something and there's just no organic version unless I had the skills to make it myself. And I'd say 3 days out of the week, I'm eating with other people. So far 47% of the food I'm eating is organic. It's not 50%, but I guess it's better than where I was before... 0%!

Related Links: Westerly Natural Market, Whole Foods Market

Most Career Homers... on Drugs

What luck! I was just flipping channels and I happen to land on ESPN as Bonds hit his 756th career homerun. Congratulations to Barry Bonds! 756 homeruns is 756 homeruns, but I'm going to acknowledge 2 records... a steroid record and natural record. Now that that's over with, we can start paying attention to Alex Rodriguez as he chases Hank Aaron for 1st place in natural career homers.

One as Expected, One Disappointment and One Surprise

Back in mid-June, I, like many others thought the August release was going to include a new iPod modeled after the iPhone. Today was the long-awaited release date. As expected, the iMac was updated with a thinner body and brushed aluminum color. There was no update to any of the iPods. And the surprise was an updated Mac Mini. That model was rumored to be discontinued. I'm glad that they're keeping it alive because I believe it's the most useful Mac and is great for us cross-platform people. It's pretty cheap and because of it's small form factor, it can be easily KVMed with an existing PC.

Though it was disappointing not to see a new iPod, I still think an updated model is just around the corner. It's almost going to be a year now since the last design update. I think Apple is going to get rid of as many current models as it can for it's back-to-school promo. Then it will release the new one... still expected to be a phoneless iPhone.

13ft and 8in

Congratulations to Yao Ming and Ye Li!

At a combined 13'8", they must be one of the tallest couples in history! Yao's tall parents both played basketball and his new wife is also a basketball player. So the family tradition will stay strong. I'm just glad he finally had some time to himself. Yao's always either doing something for the Rockets, China's National Team or charity work. It's about time he took a vacation and got married. And China shouldn't say a word about it. He might be larger than life at 7'6", but he still deserves his own private life.

Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

In Ancient Egypt, one of the goals of the gold-based science of alchemy was to find a cure-all... a potion to fight off all diseases and ailments. This never happened of course, but maybe apple cider vinegar (ACV) is the next best thing. It claims to remedy and heal many problems with the body. I won't go into details about that because you it's all on Bragg's website which I've listed links for at the end of this post. Oh... and ACV is gold in hue!

As I mentioned in my Natural Cures post, I added apple cider vinegar to my daily diet. I've been taking 3 cups (2-3 Tbsp of ACV + honey + 8 oz of water) per day... one before each meal. It's been about a month and a half now, so I wanted to post the results so far. I've been getting acid reflux a lot for the past few years. It would happen after meals randomly. Kevin Trudeau's book listed ACV as a natural cure for acid reflux, so I gave it a shot. Sure enough, I haven't had acid reflux after meals preceded by ACV. Additionally, it's reduced a skin allergy that I've had since January. I was taking Claritin every 1-2 days. Since drinking ACV 3x per day, I've reduced the Claritin dosage to once a week. There was one day where I had a stomach virus and all I felt like doing was vomiting. I took extra doses (outside of my 3 meals) of ACV when I started to feel nauseous. Sure enough, it kept me from vomiting. The stomach virus was gone in less than a day. The last case might be worthy of further testing, but I'm 100% sure that apple cider vinegar helped in curing my acid reflux and allergy.

Related Links: ACV Intro, FAQ, More Info.

A Royal Sweep

The Yankees did what they needed to do this weekend and swept the Royals. Wang had shut them down easily in game 1. Another offensive slugfest took place in game 2, along with A-Rod's 500th career homerun. Mussina closed out the series today in a game that included Matsui's 100th homerun as a Yankee. So this series makes up for the lost series last weekend, putting the Yankees back at about .667 since the break and on-track to take the division. The next step to to break out of playing 667 ball and try to up it to 700. They need to start sweeping series. The Red Sox are still continuing their winning ways, so they Yankees are having a hard time gaining ground. Maybe A-Rod will go on another homerun streak now that the pressure of getting #500 is gone.

Tech Deals of the Week (8/5-8/11)

Sony 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ Circuit City
4 GB for less than $40 if you need some portable storage or ReadyBoost memory for your new Vista system.

PNY 4 GB Flash Drive for $34.99 @ CompUSA
This is a good, flash drive with a sturdy case. PNY drives also have the U3 portable application software installed.

TrendNET 54 Mbps 802.11g Router & Adapters for $4.99 @ CompUSA
Here's another opportunity to upgrade to 54 Mbps G if you're not already on it. The router and all adapters are $4.99 after a couple of mail-in rebates. The router has an in-store price of $39.99. The adapters (PCI, PCMCIA & USB) have an in-store price of $24.99.

All Macs @ CompUSA
It's rare for Macs to be on sale, which is why I'm even publishing this paragraph. The reductions aren't really that much because Macs are generally overpriced to begin with. However, if you're bent on getting a Mac, any sale is good. Click here to visit CompUSA's Mac store online. Add the desired system to your shopping cart to display the reduction. They should range from $40-$125 depending on model. The reduction is only worth it if you want to get a base model Mac. If you need to upgrade the RAM, hard drive or anything else, you're still better off buying directly from Apple.

Hanging on a String

After today's loss, the Yankees are still hanging on a string. Despite having an all out offensive July, they have yet to sweep a series in the second half. To even stay in the race, they need to come up with one as soon as possible to make up for the loss in the Baltimore series. It's going to be long, nerve-racking month because we don't get to face off with the Red Sox until August 28. It has to stay close all month long until then. The Red Sox series (one in August and one in September) will define who wins the division. It's a chance to either catch up or get eliminated. To add even one more handicap, the Yankees have not added to their bullpen at all. They added a not-so-good Wilson Betemit to the infield. The Red Sox added Eric Gagne, a Cy Young pitcher to their already powerful rotation. This year is like a movie gone bad... where the bad guys were accidentally made too powerful, eliminating any possibility of a happy ending.

Other Notes: A-Rod's post-499 slump has put him off of the Maris pace for 61, but hopefully he can catch up with another streak. Matsui continues to nail them out. Posada is also on a homerun streak. Rookie, Shelley Duncan is hitting a homer per game. Johnny Damon is back. Vizciano is pitching like he should. So there are some positives going on.

Tabla

Location: 11 Madison Ave. (btw 24th & 25th St)
Cuisine: Indian, American
Hours: Sun 5:30pm-10pm; Mon-Fri 12pm-11:30pm; Sat 5:30pm-11:30pm
Phone: 212-889-0667
Website: www.tablany.com
Prices: About $80 per person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 5
Service: 7
Value: 2
Environment: 9

Visits: 1 (eat-in)

It was all show and no go at Tabla. At this 3-course+ restaurant, I went with the organic green salad, Vermont baby lamb and Kulfi. I chose the salad mainly because of my "organic quest," but it was a mistake in this case. I love organic food, but haven't quite graduated to raw uncooked grass yet. I probably should have gone for the crab cake over avocado. My 3 other companions went for that and they cleaned their plates. The main course was nice. Lamb served without a weird smell means it's done right. The meat was tender and complimented by fava beans, greenmarket squash, wild spinach & indian apricots. The Kulfi for dessert was warm ginger-peach compote, pecan streusel & "Tahitian" vanilla. The contrast of warm fruit and cold ice cream tasted great, but I've had better for a fraction of the price.

The environment was nicely decorated. The bathrooms were very clean. The staff was friendly. It's too bad the food just didn't match up... after all, people remember restaurants for their tastey food and not for their heavily decorated, castle-like bathroom stall doors. Overall, the food was OK... some good and some bad. For $80, I expect everything to be perfect though.

Note: Please check out Menupages and read the reviews carefully. Despite the average ratings you see on the site, most of the posters agreed with me if they ate at the restaurant upstairs. The scores were boosted by the larger number of customers who ate at the downstairs bread bar.