#antennagate

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Is it sad that I think, "I wonder how that was lit?" whenever I see a nice looking photo?

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Many people know that March 14 is Pi Day (3.14), but did you realize that today is 2*pi Day (6.28)?

Celebrate in your most festive way!  Rather than enjoy your favorite piece of pie, perhaps share that second slice of your favorite pie with your favorite person.

Or maybe you don't do anything at all because you think Pi Day is stupid, and because sine of pi equals 0, and sine of 2*pi also equals 0, and 0 implies nothing, you should do nothing.

Dealer's choice.  And today I choose to deal in Pi.  Two of them.

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Hello World.

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Yesterday, I posted a link a checklist to save money on a hotel room.  So I decided I'd follow my friend's advice, and use it on my upcoming vacation.

The end result:

$488.65 if I booked hotel rates

$433.27 from the best deals found on various travel sites

$285.27 by following his tips

Check out his article at Andrews Random Stories

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Check out this excellent article compiling my friend’s business travel experience.

There’s quite a lot of promotions and discounts to be had when making hotel bookings with just a little bit of extra research. The new metasearch tools on the web make it easy to do. Here’s the checklist I use.

Permalink: http://andrewsrandomstories.blogspot.com/2010/06/checklist-for-hotel-bookings.html

via Andrew's Random Stories

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During the New York Auto Show, Hyundai announced the 2010 Equus luxury sedan would come with a multimedia tablet PC rather than the standard owner's manual noting that in addition to being a traditional manual, the tablet would serve as a digital liason between an owner and his/her Hyundai dealership.

Today, Hyundai sources announced Equus owners will be provided with a 16 GB WiFi Apple iPad with a custom landscape style leather case with embossed logo, kickstand, and suede-like interior.

The interactive manual will show off all the usual text and images, and will also show videos to explain vehicle functions.

All the Equus specific programs will come pre-installed on the iPad, and it will function like a stock iPad via iTunes.  Hyundai will update the Equus app(s) through the App Store.

What is the Equus?

Hyundai will launch the 2011 Equus to compete against the Lexus LS 460, Jaguar XJ, and Mercedes-Benz S550, but at a price point $12,000 to $35,000 less than the competition.  While reminiscent of the doomed Volkswagen Phaeton, Hyundai America CEO John Krafcik believes Hyundai has one the proper groundwork to launch a premium sedan, unlike Volkswagen.  VW left a large gap between the Passat an the Phaeton, while Hyundai slowly moved upwards with the Azera and Genesis sitting between the Sonata and upcoming Equus.  The Genesis sedan verifies that consumers are willing to pay $40,000 plus for a Hyundai.

Still, there is no guarantee consumers will pay $55,000 to $60,000 for a Hyundai, but it seems more plausible than the $80,000 Paheton.  The serious question is whether anyone who could afford a $55,000 Hyundai would opt for one over, say a Lexus GS or Mercedes-Benz C class.

Luxury Dealerships

Krafcik also believes other luxury automakers have gone in the wrong direction glossing up their dealerships.  The coffee bars and fancy seating areas look nice, but it would be better if nobody ha to visit their dealer.  Rather than upgrade the look and feel of their dealers, Hyundai plans to remove the dealership from the Equus experiance.  Owners will schedule service appointments on their iPa, and Hyundai will send a driver to the Equus owner's home or office with a loaner then return the Equus when the work is done.  Krafcik believes the ultimate luxury is never having to visit the dealer at all.  Sounds good to me.

Pick up your 2011 Hyundai Equus this fall.

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Check out the new Mac mini

As you can see, not only is it smaller but it's packed with goodies!  HDMI and a SD Card Slot are finally included.

Also notice that power port.  The power supply is built into the tiny case as well, so no more power brick!

On the bottom, a circular rubber foot to hold the Mac mini firmly to your table, but it's also removable to reveal your memory slots.  No more putty knife for RAM upgrades.

Faster Core 2 processor with nVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor is supposed to double the performance (Apple's claim).

Solid unibody aluminum so it looks at home along side all your other Apple gear.

The only downside?  The price increased to $699 and $999.

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Apple Store Online, Let The iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Begin (1 AM PDT)

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTgxNTgyMDQ

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Web Designer and Developer David Child's playground AddedBytes is informative and beautiful, but there is a particular section of his playground that I love: http://www.addedbytes.com/cheat-sheets/

David makes well laid out cheat sheets for verious programming languages that are both visually appealing and useful posted to any cubicle wall.

While you're there, check out David's blog which often contains useful tidbits of web design, web development, and typography.

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via Gizmodo

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Check out some good ole' fashioned motivation and inspiration from the BandCrab:

Just live it, breathe it, love it. Start a zine. Start a blog. Start a riot. Just start young, and never grow jaded. Because this is the best job in the whole world.

For further reading, check out the referenced, informative cache of advice from rock critics in a four-part series at www.popmatters.com.

via Band Crab (http://bandcrab.com/blog/?p=257)

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The bad guys are hitting the recent exploit hard.

Once again, Adobe Flash and Adobe Acrobat Reader are subject to an exploit that can allow an attacker to take over your machine.

Upgrade your Flash to version 10.1: http://steve.grc.com/2010/06/06/adobe-flash-forward-to-v10-1/

To fix Acrobat Reader check out: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-01.html

Or consider dropping Acrobat Reader altogether for the much better

• Foxit Reader: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/index.php
• Preview (comes with all Mac OS X computers)

via Steve Gibson

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It's available in, surprise, black or white.

• 16GB for $199
• 32GB for $299

If your AT&T contract expires any time in 2010 you are immediately eligible for a new iPhone 4 at the same $199 or $299 prices if you renew your contract for another two (2) years.

The 8GB iPhone 3Gs will be $99.

On sale June 24, pre-orders June 15 shipping in 5 countries (US, France, Germany, UK, Japan)

• 18 more countries shipping in July
• 24 more in August
• 40 more in September.

The dock for iPhone 4 will be $29

Apple will be offering cases in many colors.  No price listed.

iOS 4 will be available as an upgrade on June 21 for iPhone 3Gs and limited use on iPhone 3G.

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Apple is calling their video chat feature FaceTime which will allow you to chat from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over WiFI with no setup.

You can use the front or rear camera and use it in either portrait or landscape.

FaceTime will be Wi-Fi only in 2010 with cellular providers "getting ready for the future."  Ball's in your court AT&T.

No word if you will be able to communicate with desktop client programs, iPads, or if developers (Skype, for example) will have access to the cameras for video chat  "FaceTime is becoming an industry standard."  Whatever that means.

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Steve Jobs is video chatting with Johnny Ive over Wi-Fi on the new iPhone.

Video freezes sometimes and Steve yells at people to turn their Wi-Fi off.

Granted, 570 WiFi base stations in one given location is bound to create an insane number of packet collisions.

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570 WiFi base stations are operating in the same room for the WWDC keynote.  The packet collisions must be incredible!

Ars Technica, Gizmodo, Technologizer, and gdgt are still up.

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The same farm you've currated on Facebook is now on your iPhone OS device.

• Get a Snow Leopard for your farm, only on your iPhone OS device
• Push notifications for withering crops
• All the features of Farmville you're used to: fertilizing, sending gifts, etc.

Available end of June, in time for the 1 year anniversary of the original launch of the game.

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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is introducing the Netflix app for iPhone OS.

• Coming this summer for free
• Same service you're used to on your iPhone OS device
• Start on your TV and pick up wherever you'd like
• Personalized recommendations
• Access to Netflix's complete library

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