New Macbook Air 11" is Overpriced Garbage

Look, I'm not a mac hater (at least not on a regular basis). I own an iphone 4. I've used a mac before. But I have to call foul on the new macbook air. This thing is INSANELY overpriced. The processor is outdated, there is no dvd drive (hell I have a laptop with blu-ray for the same price), the battery life is less than other macbooks at the same price point and the storage is limited (only 64GB for entry level). They are charging $999 USD for this paperweight. You could get a netbook running windows for half the price. Not only that, you could get a plain vanilla 13" apple macbook for the same price but with more power, storage, battery life AND a DVD drive. I was honestly expecting this to sell for $600 to $700. Maybe I would have bought one. But apple seems to try to charge as much as they possibly can for something, even if products cannibalize other products they offer (macbook pro cannibalizing macbook air, ipad cannibalizing ipod touch and iphones).

I also would have liked to see a macbook pro update before the holidays. This is very disappointing.

Christina Hendricks Boobs are Hot

I want to motorboat those things.



I'm just going to throw this out there: I wanna be on you.

Fallout New Vegas Goes Back to the Roots of Fallout

So after 2 days of playing, I'm 12 hours into Fallout: New Vegas and its awesome. Different in many respects, but I think fans of Fallout 1&2 will be pleased with the new writing, new faction and morality system, and more varied questing, crafting and character customization.

The game does have a few flaws. There are noticeable framerate issues where the game will stutter or freeze. Now I have only had the game completely freeze on me once in 12 hours. Just remember to save a lot and you should be fine. While many Fallout Purists will enjoy the return to the original setting of the American Southwest, I did enjoy the epic feel of the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3. In FO3 you seemed to be more put in a survivalist situation, everyone seemed to be a potential enemy and settlements were few and far between. The entire map was covered with Super Mutants and other hazards. In this game however settlements are more populated, as the nuclear fallout hasn't hit as hard, and there are many large tribes fighting one another. In this game you feel much smaller in as more of a pawn in the rivalry between the factions. New Vegas feels much more alive, which makes it feel less foreboding. I didn't think I would be saying this about a game, but some of the quests are a little too complex. I've had three missions already where there are more than three outcomes. Unless you save before missions and try all three outcomes, you may have to play this game many times to experience everything. Thats great for replay value, but I like to play a variety of games and sometimes find replaying games tedious.

Another big gripe: the music sucks. Don't expect the jazzy soundtrack of the DC wasteland, its more of a country feel and not as catchy. Furthermore the MC's are less interesting than before despite the authentic Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton providing the voiceover. But its not really the music itself that makes the soundtrack weak, its the lack of variety. I've unlocked 3 stations and probably heard every song multiple times. In fact I turned off my in game radio over the last few hours of playing. Hopefully there will be more stations as I progress further in the game.

There are welcome changes as well. The ability to aim down the sights (ADS) a la Call of Duty is nice for shooter fans. There are many more companions to follow you and give you backup(albeit with glitches). New weapons can also be modified much more than before. The biggest new feature is the faction morality system where you can gain the favor of different tribes while making enemies with others. This should add replay value to the game. As I said before the setting takes place near the original Fallout games and fans will like to see how the wasteland has changed since the original games.

Ben Bernanke and the Fed try Quantitative Easing (QE2)

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Fed is contemplating another round of printing money to prevent deflation in the economy. But in some respects deflation is what we need right now. Housing and commodities are still too high. The cost of living in urban areas is still tremendously high. Efficiency in business should lead to a decrease in prices. Let the market decide what the real value is. This may be a short term solution, but it delays the inevitable. If the Fed continues to inflate bubbles in the economy we will be set up for another recession. Why should we put more money in the economy without any conditions? The bailouts did nothing but make sure that a bunch of failing banks got to keep paying record bonuses. If you are going to throw money at a problem, at least make some conditions or standards. Fire the executives for faulty planning. And if businesses like General Motors or Chrysler are selling a bad product, let them fail or sell assets to a company that makes a better product.

Don't mistake me for a market fundamentalist. I don't think the market can regulate itself. But supply and demand still applies. And right now prices are still too high. A recent video on youtube has been going viral by a man who says he is part of the "rent is too damn high" party. What does that say about our country when a guy off the street has more common sense than people on wall street and in washington?

Zero Punctuation: Infamous Edition

Yahtzee brings up a few good issues about games not having a "gray area" in terms of karma and multiple endings.