Archive for July, 2008

Gonzo vs. Gonzo

Friday, July 18th, 2008

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I wrote another blog entry for the increasingly popular Denver advertising/marketing/pr/design blog The Denver Egotist about Gonzo Imperial Porter and the new Hunter S. Thompson documentary.

I saw the documentary last night, and aside from a few bad bluescreening moments, it’s spectacular. People interviewed for the film include Juan Thompson (Hunter’s son), Jimmy Carter, George Stranahan (Flying Dog’s main owner), Pat Buchanan, and a bunch of other people.

Here’s the beginning, but you’ll have to clik the link above to read it all:

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . .“And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about 100 miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas.”

The above quote is the opening to Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and in my mind one of the greatest introductory paragraphs to any piece of writing. It’s all about Hunter’s pursuit of the American Dream, whatever that is. And today is Hunter S. Thompson’s birthday, and what better way to honor his life than by writing about the beer that was inspired by him directly?

Early Adoption saved my ass

Friday, July 11th, 2008

Front of the iPhone 3G line at Rosedale

Macrumors.com reports that Apple’s servers are hosed with the gazillions of people trying to activate new iPhone 3Gs, and existing iPhone users who are downloading the new iPhone system and firmware:

Notice: The server problems extend to users who are trying to upgrade their iPhones and iPod Touches to the latest firmware update. In fact, readers should avoid upgrading to iPhone 2.0 until these issues are resolved. Until you are able to connect to the iTunes servers, your iPhone will be left in an unusable state after the 2.0 upgrade.

I upgraded last night, and although the weird codes aren’t exactly the same from last night’s system upgrade link compared to today’s more official upgrade, I’m running 2.0 and mostly enjoying it.

My thoughts on the new apps are still being formed, but a good amount of them that I’ve seen recently pretty much stink. Note to Twitteriffic developers: If you want people to more easily read their tweets, try a dark-colored text on a lighter background. Take a couple design classes, for God’s sake. I’m still looking for a decent Twitter application. C’mon, Twinkle! I konw you’re working on something…

Which is better? iPhone system 2.0 apps or jailbroken apps?

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

Tomorrow is the day of reckoning. The iPhone 2.0 system update is due tomorrow. There are 500 applications at the iTunes store, 160 of which are free to download. If I upgrade my iPhone’s system, however, I’ll most likely lose all my jailbroken applications, including Twinkle. The possibility of a downgrade to the old system is unlikely.

What should I do?

Well, I wrote the above this morning. And in the course of the day, I found a secret way to install the 2.0 software. So I came home and did. It’s restoring as we speak, so I guess I decided to go with the new apps. I’ll miss Snapture, Video Recorder, uSirius, and a few others, but that’s life. I’m sure the 2.0 will be jailbroken soon enough.