Bartley: The Blog

Worst States for Tickets

The National Motorists Association (NMA) recently published their ranking of the worst places to drive (based on what they call unfair traffic laws and public monitoring).  The tri-state area ranks both high and low on the list with Ohio in second place, Indiana at 43rd, and Kentucky at 46th (out of the 50 states).

The NMA was established in 1982 in part to protest the national 55 mph speed limit.  The currently work for more reasonable speed limits and fight for better driver training, fair enforcement practices, and important privacy protections.

Motherlover

Justin Timberlake hosted SNL this past Saturday (May 9, 2009).  I’m sure a lot of you remember his appearance in one of the best (if not the best) SNL Digital Short (also available on iTunes).  In honor of Mother’s Day, there’s a sequel.  There’s also an uncensored version that contains NSFW language.

Use Ice to Cool Water

The local water district always includes a water tip on the monthly bill.  This month, they are advising me to use ice to cool water.  Handy!

DPad Hero

A couple of guys got together and created DPad Hero, a Guitar Hero game made in the style of an original NES game. I haven’t tried it, but it looks interesting. Too bad they didn’t have this game back in the NES days!  Check out the video for “Sweet Child O’ Mine” below, and visit their YouTube site for more videos.

Time Warner Discontinues Cap Tests

After a plethora of public outcry about Time Warner’s stingy bandwidth caps ($75 for 100GB/month), it looks like they’re pulling the plugs in their test markets.  I won’t repeat what you can just read for yourself in the linked article from Ars Techinca, but I will say that this is a win for not only consumers in those test markets but broadband subscribers everywhere.  Sometimes, when my faith in the system seems to wain, it takes something like this to keep my hopes alive.

Facebook vs. Your GPA

Researchers at Ohio State University are presenting findings this week that link Facebook activity to GPA.  From the CNET article:

Yes, researchers at Ohio State University have delved deep into the habit that is Facebook and concluded that those who express their membership regularly do worse in school tests.  In fact, they say, the majority of those who Facebook daily do worse by as much as one whole grade.

While the CNET writer is calling the research “technically incorrect,” I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve read the academic article.  It will be interesting to see the statistics they used and research methodologies employed.  I have a nagging suspicion that the decline in GPA might be more closely linked to lack of focus and attention to schoolwork than to strict Facebook usage.  I have a feeling Facebook is just the latest way that students can postpone working on assignments.

The research will be presented at the American Educational Research Association later this month.

New iTunes Variable Pricing

Some of us thought it was just a rumor, but the promised variable pricing structure of the iTunes Store is now live.  I did some cursory searching around the store, and I have a few observations about the new prices.  All links in the list below refer to the iTunes Store.

• Out of the Top 100 songs, 28 of them have an increased price ($1.29).  The remaining 72 songs have remained at $0.99.
• The higher price is not solely applied to new songs and/or artists.  For example, many popular Bon Jovi songs are now $1.29.
• I have yet to find any songs that are $0.69.  If you run across any, please post them in the comments section.  (Edit: Thanks to the Ars Technica article, here are two albums that offer $0.69 tracks.)
• Music is now 100% DRM-free (iTunes Plus).
• Complete CD prices seem to be unaffected.  Most CDs are still $9.99, and the occasional CD sells for $12.99 or higher (usually for special/deluxe editions).
• It’s too early to say if price increases are linked to music label.  My initial browsing of the store yielded inconsistent results for pricing when looking strictly at music label.

I’m not sure how I feel about the price changes.  Living in a state that charges tax on downloads from the iTunes Store, I was already paying $1.05 for a $0.99 download.  If you factor in the 30% price increase (from $0.99 to $1.29), I’d now be paying, at most, $1.37 per song from the iTunes Store.  This represents a 38% increase since I first started using the iTunes Store (in a different state without the tax and before the recent price increase).  I feel that $0.99 was the “sweet spot” for digital download pricing.  While the additional $0.20 is hardly anything to complain about, it’s a large mental leap to go from less than a dollar per song to over a dollar per song.

From what I’ve read, it seems that this latest pricing structure is the result of the recording industry and labels and is not an Apple brain child.  I can believe this, as Apple has a history of standing up to the recording industry.  Still, it seems like a step in the wrong direction.  While record labels and the recording industry are constantly complaining about illegal downloading, does it really make sense to raise prices on legal downloads?  The old rules of supply and demand don’t apply with digital distribution; the supply is completely elastic.  While Amazon is still selling tracks for $0.89 and $0.99 each, I expect them to be pushed into a similar agreement by the record labels in the near future.

Will I still buy music from the iTunes Store?  Yeah.  As much as I’d like to take a stand and boycott the new prices, it’s simply too convenient to relinquish.  I guess that’s what happens when you get hooked on something.  So I’ll say hello to $1.29 downloads (plus tax) and hope for change – someday.

Sandisk Cruzer Micro Custom Icon

I took some time yesterday and created a custom icon for my current flash drive, a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive.  I used the Xcode Development Suite (specifically Icon Composer) to create the icon.  It includes specific sizes for 512, 256, 128, 32, and 16 pixels, and the icon file scales very smoothly. For right now, the icon is only available as an RSRC file for Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.  Feel free to download the file and use it on your own computer. Included in the file is the RSRC file (necessary to use the icon) and the original ICNS file (in case you want to edit it yourself in Icon Composer).

Sample of Cruzer icon at 128 pixels

MacHeist 3 Bundle

If you’re an Apple user, you probably already know about MacHeist.  For those that don’t, it’s a bundle of software (some useful, some not) that can be had at a ridiculous discount ($39 instead of over $600).  There’s only seven days left to download the bundle of applications.  If for no other reason, the bundle includes the addictive World of Goo game.

Caprica

SciFi Wire has a short clip that sets up Caprica, a prequel of sorts to the popular re-imagined Battestar Galactica that recently finished its four-year run.  At just over four minutes in length, the clip is short on new information, but it does show where things could go come April.  The embedded video is after the break. Read the rest of this entry »