Early Art IV

"Amoeba Sun"


"King Quaft"


"Silia Smile"


I'd love to see what this guy would do with my art from childhood: The Monster Machine In fact I had thought about trying it myself, but I'd feel so much a copycat by doing it.. I guess I just need to get over it and try it out.

An In Depth Look at the Logitech Freepulse Bluetooth Headphones.

I've had many problems with regular wired headphones when I once used them. I would get them ripped off my head when I would get up from my chair by having the wire snag the arm rests of my chair. I would constantly run over the wire with my chair and get it tangled, and when I jogged, sometimes my dog would run up behind me, leap, her front paws would snag the wire, and then she would yank my headphones off as she landed. I don't know how my ears are still attached.

Before I pick it apart I need to say that I really really enjoy this pair of bluetooth headphones. Since I enjoy dissecting things so much and getting very detailed in my description, I feel this review has its place on this blog as well. I'll make an attempt to put this review up on a couple of websites as well.

I decided to buy a pair of Logitech Freepulse headphones.



I got them new on J&R Music and Computer World for $56.94 which includes shipping. This was a great price because now they're selling them for $84.99. And the cheapest on a google search is around $70 currently. Since I've used them extensively I decided it was time to write a review about them.

The first thing that stands out about them, is that they only have a 6 hour battery life. Now, that seems like plenty, unless you always have headphones on while you work. I sit in this computer chair anywhere from 9 to 12 hours a day. I also use my headphones when I workout. So I probably have headphones on from 9 to 13 hours a day during the work week. This will clue you in that these headphones are at least tolerable to wear for long periods of time.

So I still had to go back to the old wired headphones at the end of the day and plug up the headphones to charge. I wish that these headphones had a removable battery so that I could have one battery charging while using another, but the battery is sealed inside the headphones and so I ultimately ended up buying another pair later on at Circuit City for $76.64 taxes included (they'll match their online price).

The marketing for these headphones seems somewhat misleading because they push that these headphones will adapt to any iPod on the market. I don't have an iPod. This set of headphones doesn't come with a USB bluetooth transmitter. Instead they come with a transmitter that plugs into any 3.5mm jack which makes it much better suited for using with an mp3 player.



Included is an array of different "adapters" that snap onto the transmitter so that it squares up with the iPod when plugged in.



If they really wanted to push it for the iPod one would expect the color of this headset and transmitter to be white but this is not the case at all.

The reception is reserved for a few feet. The signal has trouble going through walls and the advertised 30 feet is probably on flat unobstructed land. I've even found that if I have the transmitter in my left pocket, the signal has trouble going through my body and will sometimes go silent for about a second periodically. But when in the right pocket the silence isn't as frequent because the bulk of the electronics are in the right side of the headset.

Since I did end up getting two pair of headphones I found that each transmitter will only work for its corresponding headset. I find this unfortunate because I have yet to run the battery out on a transmitter, and if I could use the same transmitter on both pair of headphones I wouldn't have to switch to the other transmitter, perhaps using it the entire day.

After extensive use I have found that the rubber ear pieces eventually stretch out and can be easily lost. I somehow managed to keep track of them however and have resized them -- reads cut the excess off -- and glued them to the headsets permanently. The only reason that they come off that I can see is to gain access to the tiny screw so that they can be worked on and perhaps to replace the foam ear pieces (the headphones come with extra ones) when they wear down.



As an aside I'd like to mention that I also bought a different pair of bluetooth logitech headphones that also has a mic built in for my girlfriend as a gift and it turns out that they also will not connect to the transmitter that comes with my Freepulse headphones. Nor will my headphones connect to the USB transmitter that came with her pair either.

Oh, and supposedly the Freepulse headphones sync up to cell phones, but I don't have a bluetooth cell phone so I don't care.

CNET Video Review

New Posts

Just to notify everybodeh, I have been writing some new posts, but they're showing up below the last post because I've been saving them for when I want to type them out fully. Here lately, I've been getting ideas for posts but I haven't felt like typing them out, so keep an eye out, and don't be afraid to scroll down.

technology porn

More on this video below.

absolutmachines

bea.st

Cyberpunk:

Christopher Conte

Timelapse:

youtube.com/milapse

I want to do this kind of stuff but I'm no MIT graduate. I am dabbling in timelapse photography however so be looking for some of that.

The Diss Monologue.

Venting in many ways is therapeutic. I do it a fair amount on here myself. But I usually have a subject to run with. However, sometimes people don't provide that and it turns into a really convoluted argument with oneself. The best example I can come up with right away is Timothy Treadwell. Better known as the grizzly man, Treadwell took several cameras along for his many excursions to go spend time with the bears that would eventually mean his and his girlfriend's demise.

Treadwell was fighting many demons, and so he at one point thought it necessary to provide us with a Diss Monologue. Timothy's Diss does accompany some sort of subject, but even then there's no real reason provided as to why he rants so angrily. It trails off into oblivion and it just makes him look like a fool.

Rappers do this quite often on their records. I would name a few but I don't listen to rap enough to do so. There was a time when I did listen to rap however so I've heard a few monologues. Usually it comes at the end of the song as it winds down.

I suppose that if Timothy hadn't died, his angry rant would never have came to light, but rappers put it directly on their albums that are sold to the public. What does it accomplish? Is it supposed to show that they're angry and therefore deserve their position in the music market? Either way, it just turns into the drivel full of profanity that is not something that I'd imagine anybody enjoys listening to.

Stop it.

California.

I don't hate California but I'm definitely getting sick of the songs about it. California is what many consider the cultural and trend setting center of the world. So to have so many songs about California isn't so surprising. But I think there are just too many out there now. Since I don't live in there, I don't care to hear songs about it. I can't relate to these songs.

I have a couple albums that are pretty good, but were marred with songs about how trashy Hollywood is, forcing me to skip those songs most of the time. If an artist sets out to write a new song about California I really think they should consider all the others before they decide to actually go through with it.

I have been to California, so I can sort of see why people are so inspired to write these songs. I also think that the word "California" just fits so well into a song because of its structure that bands feel it would be a shame not to include it.


I guess my biggest complaint about bands writing about California is that often they end up releasing that song as a single. When they do the radio gets hold of it and beats the us all over the head with it.

Saving me much research and finger cramping here is a list of the songs written about California on Wiki.

So Much California

*As he realizes that he's listening to a song that's on the list.* >_< Damn it!

My Gas Saving Tips.

I know that there have been numerous articles, and news reports on how to cut back on gas consumption while driving. But I still have to do add a thing or two to the vast amount of tips myself. I'll first start at the pump.

Get your gas either in the morning or at night when the temperature is cooler. Gas pumps are set to measure the volume of gas and not the density so when it's cooler you're essentially getting more gas.

I can't stomach doing this anymore for fear of embarrassment and perhaps an angry gas station clerk, but here's an extra tidbit for the brave. When you first walk up to the pump, if there are three different nozzles, I have found that you can take each one, before they are turned on and squeeze out about a cup of gas into your tank. Then you pick which nozzle you're actually going to use and start pumping with it. You could also try doing it again after you've finished pumping to see if you can squeeze in a couple extra cups of fuel as well.

Once you have finished pumping and have turned off the pump, turn the nozzle and then pump the handle a few times, the first pump will release the pressure from the hose, which often results in quite a bit of extra gas.

Pumping the handle after the initial one sometimes will produce a slow drizzle so if you want to stand there until the drizzle stops then by all means do so, but I've experienced times when I haven't seen the end of it and just gave up. But I've found that some newer pumps won't allow a person to pump the handle any more once the pump has been turned off.

Here's my main driving tip. I'm sure you've heard most of the others I'll cover, but I have yet to see any other article cover this. If you live in a mountainous region, throw it in neutral when going down a hill. I feel that this at least offsets having to go up the hill, which takes more gas than going on the flat. I drive 65 miles every other weekend to see my girlfriend and I estimate that I can coast nearly 12 miles round trip. The benefit to doing this is saving RPMs. I go from 2000 RPMs while in gear to 700 while in neutral. That's gotta count for something.

Make sure you deactivate cruise control before you do throw it into neutral because some vehicles will freak out and accelerate to really high RPMs since it's not in gear. Also DO NOT slip past neutral, because you'll throw it into reverse, and that will fuck up your transmission. Then the whole saving money on gas thing is out the window because you'll have to buy a new transmission. I suppose these are the reasons why the media leaves this one out.

I often drive at night with no one near me on the roads on the way back from my girlfriend's house so I'll usually take the inside of every curve I can on the four lane highway as well. Doing so ever so slightly shortens the trip.