2005 January 19

Tomorrow’s live broadcast, starting at 7PM PST (-08:00 GMT), will feature an interview with Mike Coleman – official spokesperson for Microsoft’s Windows Media Digital Rights Management. We went straight to the pachinko-addict for the answers, some of which will surprise you. What does DRM have to do with pachinko? Absolutely nothing, but we sure do loves us them bells ‘n’ whistles.

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Dude, Picasa just keeps getting better and better…

Picasa organizes your entire collection. Move and re-name pictures. Use labels to group photos. Add ratings. Add one picture in multiple albums without duplicating the picture on your hard drive. Add passwords to any photo collection. Edit with crop, red eye removal, contrast and color correction, and enhancement. 12 visual effects improve your photos. Write captions for images. Add Zoom, Pan, and Tilt to photos. Create slideshows, burn backups.

Do not pass Go. Download Picasa immediately.

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The Windows Explorer is old and crusty. Yuck! I'm starting to use ExplorerPlus as a file manager, myself… but one of our readers (James G.) suggested this one a few minutes ago:

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A few months ago, Ponzi inherited a Creative Zen Micro. I'm now starting to see Creative advertising these itsy-bitsy MP3 SOBs on billboards across town (at least, here in Seattle). The Zen Micro is definitely a great device – in theory. Methinks Creative needs a few more firmware upgrades to iron out problems that more than one user seems to be having. The navpad seems to be a bit sensitive, even on the low settings. Understand, too, that iPod owners have complained just as loudly about losing the mechanical dial in favor of the touchpad. The Zen Micro (as well as other Creative products) seem to suffer from battery charging / draining issues, too – making for a less-than-thrilling experience. Dunno. They're the best thing for “small” WMA-compatible playback, but methinks Creative really needs to “flash” their engineering department.

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It's been well over a year since I last sipped Peet's coffee. Well, they happen to have very accessible Peet's in the Seattle area (go figure). After a late lunch, Jakey and I hopped across the street to grab us a cup of Peet's coffee – and I was quite giddy. Still, I only got a small cup of their house blend. It's definitely not the same as it used to be, but I had a headache coming on, so perhaps that deadened my taste buds a bit. Coffee tastes much better when it's raining outside, I think. I don't miss drinking coffee as much as I thought I would. I'm picking up Ponzi from the airport in about an hour, and she'll likely have a cup of coffee in her hand when I greet her at the baggage carousel. Er, mocha – white chocolate mocha frappycrappy. Coffee is now a once-in-a-great-while thing.

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