Getting my iPhone 5s today (I hope)

So usually I just order through Apple.com after previous years of either waiting at an Apple store, preordering from Best Buy only to not get it until 3 weeks after release or jumping hoops trying to order online through my wireless carrier.

I was planning to use Apple's website but I didn't want them to ship it to my house because last year when I did that, I had to go home and wait for the FedEx guy. By accident, I went to BestBuy's site and they were allowing me to order an iPhone 5s and pickup in-store today. What? Too good to be true? And it was only 11:15pm at night. I placed the order anways and although I got confirmation of the order, I hadn't received a confirmation that I could pick it up and the order email said it might be today or after.

I wake up in the morning, and I get an email saying that I can pick it up but I should make an appointment. I also read a C|Net article this morning that said Best Buy opened up orders an hour early so that's why I was able to place mine. I called my BB at 10am when they opened and made an appointment to pick it up today.

Was it really that easy? Online ordering, no waiting in line, release day acquisition and on top of all that, Best Buy points for the purchase? We'll see... on my way to the store now.

Oh... and I think it's crazy that Apple can just refresh a phone, release a different color and sell out within hours. Who else can do that? Insane.

Batfleck?!?

So we now know who will play Batman in the upcoming tentatively titled 2015 Batman vs. Superman movie... none other than Mr. Argogeddon himself... Ben Affleck.

My first reaction was... WHAT?!?

But I'm actually okay with it. At least he's tall (6'4") and I do think he can pull off a charming Bruce Wayne. I'm concerned about his physical build and although I've seen pictures from The Town I just don't think he's ripped or big enough to pull it off. I guess that's fine since he will usually be in-suit which can make him look bigger than he is.

From the beginning, I've always said that it really doesn't matter who they recast as Batman, the film will do well on two points:

1. It's Batman.

2. It's Superman too.

So regardless, I still think it will be a $1bil film (I have a standing ScreenRant bet with a Patrick Bayard) despite the large internet backlash (http://screenrant.com/batman-ben-affleck-superman-man-steel-sequel-release-date-2015/) at the casting of Daredevil in the cowl.

I'm actually going to rewatch Daredevil and finally watch The Town to see if Batfleck will work.

So does that mean in some future film we may see Matt Damon as Robin (#RoBourne) and Jennifer Gardner as Catwoman? Maybe Jay and Silent Bob can have a cameo.

EDIT:

Saw Daredevil, The Director's Cut... not bad. He should just stay away from romantic scenes.

Great picture on this Tumblr account:

Batman vs. Superman... or whatever you want to call it

So the rumor is the title of the next Man of Steel movie will be "Batman vs. Superman".

There are various arguments about how this movie will be, who will play Batman, why does it have to be "vs.", how it's not a proper Man of Steel sequel because Batman is in it... etc etc.

My take:

1. It's Batman AND Superman, who cares what the title is.
2. It's Batman AND Superman, who cares who plays Batman.
3. It's Batman AND Superman, who cares if it's not a proper sequel. If it helps, don't think of it as a sequel, think of it has a "sidequel". Did anyone think Avengers was a sequel to Iron Man, Captain America or Thor?

If you haven't checked out HowItShouldHaveEnded.com, you should. Their latest Super Cafe video is hilarious:

Peace! I'm out! I'm Batman.

Who should be the next Batman?

So from Comic-Con 2013 we finally know that DC/WB is going to release a sequel to Man of Steel in 2015 but it's going to feature Batman in it too. With that, the internet is abuzz with who the new Batman should be. Of course, tons of people think it should be Christian Bale or no one else. Personally, I abhorred Bale's Batman (and esp his Wayne). ScreenRant (one of my favorite sites) posted this article:

http://screenrant.com/batman-casting-actors-justice-league/

There are currently over 600 comments on it (usually 50 or so is a busy article) and the suggestions in the comments by people just don't make sense to me.

Paul Walker: What? Bat and Burious?
Karl Urban: I'm a doctor not a vigilante!
Benedict Cumberbatch: Okay... he has the detective schtick down.
Jensen Ackles: Batnatural?

See my problem with all those people (and some of the choices by ScreenRant) is none of them are physically intimidating. To me, Bats has to be a big guy (well, not Adam West big). My choice for Bats?

Iron Man 3 Musings

So unlike the rest of world who has already seen it, I finally saw Iron Man 3 last night. I've been hearing rumors of plot twists and complaints so I've purposely avoided reading reviews and any comments on IM3 related articles (like on ScreenRant.com). And I'm glad I did so.

But before I continue one with my opinion.... Spoiler Alert!

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Person of Interest Season 2 Finale - God Mode

I didn't really get into Person of Interest until recently. I saw a couple episodes of Season 1 but really wasn't sure if it was good or not.

After reading different sites comparing it to Batman (and the fact that a Nolan was attached) made me look harder. Season 1 started off a bit slow but as it progressed, the overall arc of HR, Elias, the Project/Control and the mythology of the Machine got me more interested than the POI of the week.

It was good to Lost alums Ken Leung (Miles) as a recurring character and how it lightened up in later episodes. The addition of a Reese-like female and a Finch-like female made it more intriguing.

I'm not going to recap the finale as many more sites have done so but I do have a few questions that remain to be answered (spoiler alert):

NBA on TNT... why the Clipper hate?

The guys on TNT are very entertaining (especially now that they added Shaq)... but I often disagree with their analysis, especially Chuck's opinion of the Clippers (although I will admit I'm biased).

Last night's comments of the Grizz/Clips Game 2 is a good example. Chuck was going on about how they can't lean on CP3 every game and that for a series he won't be making those shots all the time... without realizing that wasn't the case during Game 1. He kept going on about having a 12 point lead and then blowing it as if they were the only team that has done that. And in his "breakdown" of what was wrong with the Clips' offense, he failed to notice that the Grizzlies weren't much better.

Did he notice that Conley was scoring or responsible for all of their points near the end? That as much as the Clips weren't changing their gameplan (going with CP3), neither with the Grizz (going with Conley). Or did he note that CP3 wouldn't be taking all those shots if he didn't need to, if a man opened up, he would hit him but since the Grizz were sticking to man-to-man, CP3 took the highest percentage play, scored on his defender. He kept talking about how the Clips were standing around... but think about the offense. CP3 with the ball at the top, send a player to screen, if the defenders don't pick up properly, run the pick and roll and dump for an easy bucket, pop a shot jumper or drive... and on the drive, if he's collapsed on, kick it to the players standing on the outside for an open jumper. They really can't cut because if they do, they bring their defenders to CP3, they are staying outside for a REASON.

Let's get physical...

I've been wondering about this for a while, but does anyone think the physical home button on the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note II have anything to do with their success? The just recently released Galaxy Note 8 also has a physical home button (which was not on the Galaxy Note 10) and it make me think that Samsung feels that that button does make a difference.

Does it help iPhone users transition to those phones? I own a Galaxy Note II and will admit that having that button does make me think it's easier to use. I own another Android phone and a Tab 2 that doesn't have physical buttons, but I think there is some mental process that prefers the tactile feedback an actual button provides.

Maybe Apple should have copyrighted the physical home button. Heh.

LA is Lob City...

Well... not really, still lots of Laker fans at yesterday's Clippers "home" game.

I've been a fan of the Clips since the Danny Manning/Charles Smith/Ron Harper era and I'm glad to see them have this type of success. The 17-game winning streak, getting over 50 wins and now the Pacific Division title (not to mention sweeping the Lakers season series).

It's going to be really hard for the Lake Show if they don't make the playoffs (which is going to be tough considering who they are playing and if Utah's opponents lay down because of the Lake-hate).

It would have been nice to see both LA teams doing well and it still baffles my mind that the Lakers are doing so bad but I'm not that torn up by it. Although I respect that Kobe is one of the most talented players in the NBA, I'm just not that much of a fan. I hope Dwight stays and when Kobe eventually retires, the Lakers are able to find the next big thing (Lebron to LA maybe?) so I can really like the Lakers again... but the Clips will always be my team.

Thanks Mr. Stern for allowing CP3 to go red/blue instead of purple/gold (not sure how he would have got along with Kobe anyways)... and bless the hops gods who gave Blake Griffin those leaps. That fast break dunk where he was going to lay it up and then turned it into a dunk was redonk.

HTC One... not enough to beat the Four (Galaxy S IV)?

So HTC announced their 2013 flagship phone, the One today... and while it has a nice design and great specs (1080p screen!)... I don't think it's going to be able to compete once Sammy announces their Galaxy S IV in mid March.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/19/htc-one-unveiled/

(picture from Engadget)

One glaring con for me is the lack of a microSD card slot. I still don't understand why they do that (as with Google's Nexus series). The explanations for controlled environment etc just don't counter the convenience of expandable and switchable storage. I think it's one of the reasons why Samsung's Galaxy series does so well because they still have microSD expansion.

HTC says availability is mid March... but since that coincides with Sammy's rumored announcement... I don't see people rushing to get a One when they can get the IV.

iWatch vs. Galaxy Watch

There are rumors that Apple is working on an iWatch:

http://bgr.com/2013/02/13/apple-iwatch-details-bloomberg-326158/

And that Samsung is working on a Galaxy Watch:

http://bgr.com/2013/02/14/samsung-galaxy-watch-images-rumor-327615/

Really? Based on those articles, wristwatch computing is a "major hole" in their product lines and these will fill it. I'm skeptical.

Myself and at least a few people I know stopped wearing watches because our phone tells time and does so much more... so why go back?

Now, I understand that these "watchputers" are supposed to do more than just tell time... but with such a small amount of space, how much more can they do without sacrificing size and battery life?

It might be kind of cool if it can function as a phone too so that you don't have to worry about pockets, holsters or armbands... but that kind of miniaturization has to be expensive and cost prohibitive. Even the Pebble Watch (http://getpebble.com) is $150 so how much more will these be (although if it has phone functionality, could get carrier subsidies).

I'm sure these will be more like vanity gadgets and the previous gen iPod Nano proved it can fit in that form factor but I don't think this will become a money maker segment.

I guess we'll see.. but I think the minimum features should be:

- Camera (video and still)
- GPS
- Expandable memory storage
- Bluetooth (to interact with your phone)

I'm still watiing for someone to get a 5-7" tablet with physical game controls right (Archos is close).

Continuum = Time Cop and assorted time travel stuff

Just started watching Continuum... a Canadian sci-fi TV show about a "cop" and some "terrorists" from 2077 who get transported back to 2012.

It's pretty good (the cop is Rachel Nichols, Scarlet from the GI Joe movie) but it reminds me of Time Cop (the TV series spawned from the movie of the same name). Or, if any of you remember, Time Trax, a TV show with a similar premise. The reason why Time Trax sticks out to me is it had this martial art called Mosh Ti and a thing that the protagonist could do called "time stalling" where he visually sees things faster than normal so it enables him to fight better.

All these shows have to deal with the idea of if you change things in the past, do you affect the future... or the whole Terminator explanation that whatever you think you change in the past, it was meant to be and is actually required in order for the future to happen as it does.

Time travel is always a tricky proposition, the Fringe finale generated some questions because they traveled to the future to change the future in order to change the past (huh?). Even Looper's explanation of time loops didn't really make sense.

I do like the neatness of Back to the Future where they explained that any divergence in the past breaks off and causes a new timeline resulting in multiple universes thus preserving original timelines.

But I'm not really on board with the multiple timeline theory (which was also a variant in the movie Timeline) so I prefer the whole Terminator paradigm, that changing the past won't markedly change the future no matter what you do (which was the case in the Time Machine movie with Guy Pierce). The Shatner Star Trek stuck to this theory ("How do we know he didn't invent the thing?" when Scottie gave the scientist the formula for transparent aluminum) while the new Pike Star Trek does not.

Back to Continuum, they tested that theory by targeting ancestors of the people who traveled back in time. They even killed the grandmother of one of them but he remained in existence, so I think they are sticking to the "can't change the future" paradigm although that effectively kills the endgame of the terrorists as their whole goal is to change the past to serve their needs.

Bah... time travel is a conundrum.

iPhone XL?

While there are rumors of an iPhone mini or a budget iPhone... I think the next logical step would be to go the opposite way... a bigger iPhone.

Most of the Android phones coming out are 4.5" screens are bigger and Samsung has found great success with its big screened Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note/Note 2 phones, so it would make sense for Apple to get into that market.

While this may oppose what Apple has said about their iPhone being the perfect size... they (or Jobs actually) also said that they would not be making a smaller iPad.

This would also allow them to upcharge for a bigger phone (ie the Apple Tax) and open up several options for their iPhone line. The XL would be their premium/phablet line, the iPhone 5+ their main line and the smaller iPhone 4S form factor would be their budget line. And with LTE becoming standard, a bigger form factor would allow for a bigger battery.

Would you buy a bigger iPhone?

What kind of gear do I have?

While I call myself a big nerd... I'm more "big" than "nerd". I'm a regular on different forums and there are people out there who used to be like I was back in the day where they know all the technical specs, performance details and mhz of technology gadgets. Back then, it was really only desktop computers and notebooks... now with tablets and mobile phones... it's hard to keep up. So while I don't get caught up in all those numbers any more and I don't have a gaggle of equipment that I tinker with (nor do I spend all my free time flashing ROMs), I do have a number of devices:

Main Computer:

Sony SE VAIO 15" i5 1920x1080 FHD (wish they still had 1920x1200 WUXGA)

It's a good deck... took me a while to get it but it was the first FHD computer that came in at about $1k (end of 2011). Since then there have been more and while this particular model suffers from OrangeGate (the screen renders reds more orange than red) but it works. I've been meaning to replace the optical disk with an SSD... but I really don't think the price warrants the speed benefit.

Mobile Computer:

Toshiba Portege Z835 (Best Buy version) 14" i3 1366x768 (what I call Bleh-tina Display)

When Intel announced their Ultrabook initiative, I was ecstatic. I used to marvel at how thin Apple notebooks and always wished PCs would follow. I even bought a 13" MacBook Air and put Windows on it... but interestingly enough, I ended up just using OSX and the browser. It was then that I realized that for my home use, I don't really need a high power machine (I don't play graphic intensive games), but just something that was very portable, so I sold the MBA and ended up picking the Toshiba as my first Ultrabook because it had the keyboard layout I wanted (dedicated Pg/Home/End buttons) and all the ports without using a dongle. The bonus was with discounts and sales, it ended up being only $699 when other Ultrabooks at the time (again end of 2011) were $1k or higher. There are more Ultrabooks now in the $700 range but eventually when I replace the Tosh, I think they will be in the $500s (late 2013/early 2014).

Tablets:

iPad 2 32GB
Had an Asus Transformer (the first one)... sold it.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 8GB

After using a 10" tablet and now the 7", I actually think a 5-6" is better for portability... which brings me to...

Phones:

iPhone 4 32GB
Moto Xprt
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (my newest toy)

The Note 2 is a great convergence device for me. It's not my main phone, so you'll hardly see me making phone calls with this gigantic slab on my ear (although it doesn't look that big next to me)... but using it as a 4G connected tablet (with pen input!) is its main function. I think the market for "phablets" is going to get bigger are more people combine phone and tablet usage.

I eventually want to get a Win8 convertible unit, tablet + notebook (I like that Acer and Asus both have keyboard docks that are 2nd batteries) and the iPad mini if they ever put a higher resolution display on it. I'll also probably upgrade to an iPhone 5S or iPhone 6 (whatever they come out with this year).

So what do you guys have?

Do nerds follow sports?

It's already known I'm an MMA fan but the NBA is actually my favorite sport. A group of friends have been doing Fantasy basketball for years... before the Internet and all these online leagues. I remember we had to compile stats from the newspaper each day and I even wrote a program to add up all the stats each week (this was before one of us started using Excel on Win 3.x/95 a few years later). I won our first year with a lineup of Shaq/Mourning (no one wanted to draft rookies) and Mookie Blaylock.

Much has changed since then and while we still have to do our stats partly manually (we compile by week rather than in total)... Fantasy basketball has been a great way to follow not just your local teams, favorite teams or favorite players... but all players. I guess because of all the numbers and stats, it's the nerd way to follow a sport.

I've long been a Clipper fan... since the days of Danny Manning, Charles Smith, Ron Harper, Ken Norman etc... so to finally see them succeeding is great. So stoked that Stern interfered and CP3 ending up in the Red/Blue than the Purple/Gold. I feel bad for Dwight over in LaLa land... and it's a bit weird that they can't put together more wins... but if the Clips can get to the Finals and win a ring... that would be awesome.

That would of course trip up LBJ's plans on multiple rings in Miami... but maybe that will spur him to move to SoCal in 2014 (fingers and toes crossed). I would become a Laker fan again if it was Dwight, Nash and LBJ and NO Kobe.