Jack Picks

Jack Picks Drag Me To Hell as the best movie of the year so far!  I know, I know, “But Jack, what about Star Trek and…” *SLAP*  Shut your hole!!! This move is funny, scary, self aware to the point of Being! (a.k.a. Dasein).  This movie had the theater in stitches, crying, and wetting themselves scared all at once.  Watch the preview below if you need to, but I recommend just GOING!

BOO!

Jack Picks Halo 3: Orbital Drop Shock Trooper

It is a cool 1st person fraggingtrashtalkingexplosivenessextravaganza with new maps, weapons, baddies, and other insomnia producing adrenaline pushing caffeinated carnage!  Due out September 22nd 2009, get in line NOW!!!

How can I not pick this!

Jack Picks Jack FAIL!

Jack Picks Google Video Chat! Google hits another home run with their web browser video chat.  The ability to use either a Mac or Windows machine can not be understated.  The ubiquitous nature of Gmail that allows for a seamless transition between the two major desktop operating systems for email is fully extended to the Gmail web based voice/video chat. 

Anyone who likes Skype would do well to test this out.  Google has some work to do if they look to take over the market Skype is dominating.  Two major features that Skype has and Gmail Video Chat needs are:

1. SkypeOut - the ability to voice call land lines
2. Group Video Conferencing - Skype Pro has the ability for group video confrencing, and it is pretty slick.

After a flawless, successful test connecting from my Windows Vista machine using Flock to my friend’s Mac OS X machine where he was using Firefox I was sold.

Not only does this look great, but the way the creator shows us HOW he drew his creation is fascinating to me.  I hope this gets “OtaKing77077” a great job in our world’s crappy economy or a better job if he has one, because this is awesome!

Jack Picks Google Voice for the simplistic interface, ease of use, and integration with the rest of his communication tools.

This type of technology will make all my wife and friends VERY happy as I hate to check voicemail, but I love text.  I’ll read all my messages well before I take the time to listen to them.  Another win for Google!

Jack Picks Samsung SSD Awesomeness!  This roughly done advertisement by Samsung is pretty entertaining.

If you ever have a ton of time and even more free money let me know if this worked for YOU!  I’m just going to have to take it that this is not a fake, because I want to believe.  The math seems to work out, so I’m leaning toward this is real.  The video makes a very dry, geek thing somewhat entertaining.  The speed of this hard drive setup is driven home by the Gravity vs DVD Rip time test.  That should make anyone slightly technical chuckle.

Jack Picks Readability.  Do you ever wish you could just read the content of a website and not be bothered by all the “noise”?  That is Readability.  A friend (thanks James) sent me a link to a review and tutorial on Readability.  The video is below.

Some examples of results from ESPN.com and CNN.com:

ESPN Before Readability:	ESPN After Readability:

CNN Before Readability:	CNN After Readability:

As you can see the content is simply more readable after you use Readability!

The California Academy of Sciences is housed in a brand new facility in the San Francisco Golden Gate Park, this is probably the finest natural sciences museum to open in the last hundred years or more.  The fact that all kids under six get in for FREE is just one of the family friendly themes at this new treasure in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.  Get there early to get in line for a ticket to the planetarium, it is worth it.  Then go start the trek up through the varied levels of the in door rain forest.  Take the elevator down to the underwater world of fish, sea horses, squid, eels and more.  Work your way up to the swamps and check out the albino alligator with his regular colored alligator pal and their huge alligator snapping turtle friends!  Then head back to the planetarium for your time to experience the universe like you’ve never experienced it before!

Having a two year old I really enjoyed the five and under play area.  There are museum staff that play educational games with your kids so you can sit and take a breather.  A cool little pirate ship for them to play on and other free time fun activities.  An added bonus is the kids and family ONLY bathrooms that make potty time less of a chore!

The crown jewel for me has to be the reef.  The concave glass wall invites kids to come forth in to the world of a coral reef.  It is the closest thing to SCUBA diving you can get with out getting wet, that is how close you are and how immersed you are in the underwater world!

Map

Jack Picks We The Robots! Just when another comic took the crown away We The Robots comes back with an even MORE spot on satire to depict my feelings about my job. So many days I do the mental version of this. I tune out and just stare at the computer screen and meditate. That takes effort. If I could just throw my head in the trash that would be SOOOOOOooooo much easier!

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