Welcome to the weekend everyone! Mine always start a little early since my one class and visit to the gym finish up by 12:30 on Fridays, but for the rest of you, I hope y’all get a chance to start your weekend early as well. To celebrate, enjoy this picture of a very fratty dog that was posted on Fratting Hard. (I do have to say that Polo comforter looks awfully familiar… Props to this guy for joining the few of us who know how to keep it fratty beneath the sheets!)

Enjoy the weekend!

-767

]]> http://aphiatut.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/happy-friday/feed/ 0 767 Fratty Dog http://aphiatut.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/lets-rant-about-the-university-of-tennessee/ http://aphiatut.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/lets-rant-about-the-university-of-tennessee/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:45:12 +0000 Matt http://aphiatut.wordpress.com/?p=233 ]]> After the umpteenth-millionth time of trolling around for parking around UT’s TRECS facilities today, I have decided I am going to spearhead some change around here. I just cannot possibly stand by idly, and spend another day losing 20 minutes of my valuable workout time.

Now, I am sure I could make my way around the complicated UT bureaucracy to have my problems heard, and maybe even acted upon, but I think a collective force is going to be more effective. Not only that, but maybe there are others out there that would like a simple way to voice their rants about how our university is conducting business without having to get involved.

So, starting today, I have created a new public twitter account to start the uprising. (All in good fun, just rants, no rioting necessary) You can follow the account, UTrant, or get your message out by tweeting your rant and adding a hashtag in your message. I will be using #utrant as my hashtag.

If twitter is not your thing, please feel free to comment below with your UT rants. Also, if you Facebook users out there want to start a group or fan page, post it below, and I will do my best to advertise it for you!

Hopefully, if enough people get involved, UT will take notice, and take action. So, whatever is bugging you about The University of Tennessee at anytime, and anywhere, post it, tweet it, and get your feelings out on the social web!

-767

As I mentioned earlier, Apple has launched a new tablet computer to fit between their iPod/iPhone and MacBook lines. Officially dubbed the iPad, it can simply be defined as an over-sized iPhone on steroids. Above, in the stock image from Apple, the desktop/springboard truly does look exactly like that of the iPod/iPhone with a 9.7 inch screen. Steve Jobs said there is already 75 million people that have experience with the iPad because of the similarity to the iPod/iPhone interfaces.

The keyboard may be almost full-sized now, and the screen size and resolution twice as large, but almost every single app from the App Store will work on the iPad. Some new apps are, and will be, able to run on the iPad with its larger screen and better hardware specifications; older apps have a low resolution mode, which doubles the app’s screen size, and a native mode that keeps the same iPod/iPhone screen size.

More information, including: pricing, images, and even an official video are after the jump.

Because of the new-and-improved hardware behind the iPad, combined with the larger screen, Apple is able to add more features to the device. There is a version of iWork that works with it, an improved email client and web browser, and, as I expected an e-book reader.

The new e-book program, called iBook, is built to handle Apple’s new e-book store, which uses the open-source ePub standard. There are 5 major publishers already on-board, including textbook publishers–an interesting fact that may mean iPad textbooks for students next Fall…

The A4 processor for this device is a completely in-house solution, which may be related to Apple’s purchase of P. A. Semi in 2008. Internet connectivity is provided by a wireless-N capable Wi-fi chip, but there is also an added 3G option. Other hardware component information is still unknown; the tech specs displayed on the Apple website is the most information about the iPad hardware available at the moment.

The pricing, from $500 to $830, based on the hardware configuration, is not really too bad considering the lowest tier iPhone, an 8GB 3G, sells for, I believe, $400 without a contract with AT&T. It is considerably better than the $1000 mark many analyst had predicted. Pricing for the memory and connectivity options is below.

Personally, I am going to be waiting to see if the iPad will qualify for a student discount. Maybe next Fall I will be a proud new iPad owner…

Since the iPad will not be available for a couple more months, in the mean time, we can enjoy a bunch of people from Apple–including the famous designer Jonathan Ives–talking about the “revolutionary” product they created.

It is official. Steve Jobs just introduced the iPad. (Not named the iSlate, as previously expected) It is basically a jumbo-sized iPhone, but with its own nuances. I will post more specific details later, but for now, you can follow the rest of the keynote on Gizmodo’s live blog.

In case you are not aware, there is a big announcement set to be made tomorrow by Steve Jobs in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. Set to begin at 1pm EST, the big hurrah is that Jobs may be announcing the long-awaited Apple tablet computer, supposedly dubbed the iSlate, which has been the subject of speculation since the iPhone was originally announced in 2007.

In the past few months, manufacturers and analysts have been making all sorts of claims about the supposed tablet. Everything from the name, to the size of the screen, to hardware specs, to the price have been declared; each has someone else stating something to the contrary. There is even big news that Apple is going to revolutionize the fast-growing ebook business, with a new model to distribute electronic books.

Honestly, there are all sorts of juicy rumors that you could get on your trusty search engine and look into, but at this point, you may as well wait for the famous, Steve Jobs keynote tomorrow. Follow Gizmodo’s live blog of the event by clicking the link below.

http://live.gizmodo.com/

Also, hit the jump for a humorous comic about the pressure of tomorrow’s proceedings on Steve Jobs.

Habitat for Humanity Build (from the left: Kyle, Brad, Will, and Me)

On Saturday, instead of meaninglessly sitting around my house, myself and three of my fraternity brothers worked on a Habitat for Humanity house near Clinton, Tennessee in Anderson Country. There were about 20 people involved with the day’s work, which included tasks on both the interior and exterior of the house. Will and I were outside hanging out on ladders, cutting wood and setting up scaffolding, and Brad and Kyle spent their day inside the house working on the trusses supporting the roof.

We met several volunteers from UT, as well as the surrounding community, while we were working; and, although there was a lot of mud from all the rain, there were lots of smiles and high spirits throughout the day. We even enjoyed a nice lunch from the local Girl Scout troop.

Check out some of the photos from the day on my flickr page.

-767

The big game will be in sunny Miami on Sunday, February 7 in Sun Life Stadium. Currently, tickets are going for a minimum of $1700 for upper-level end zone seats. Hit me up if you know of any decent tickets for less than $400. GO COLTS!!!

-767

The Gorillaz, everyone’s favorite virtual band, is coming out with a new album to follow up their awesome 2005 record, Demon Days. The new album, titled Plastic Beach, is set to be released sometime in the second quarter of 2010, supposedly March 8, as reported by NME.

On Tuesday, the group released a new single off the album called Stylo, which features the band, Mos Def and Bobby Womack. It is quite the teaser, and has me itching for the new album’s release. You can download the song by clicking on the link below.

Stylo by The Gorillaz (featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack)

The tracklist has also been released, and you can check it out after the jump.

1. Orchestral Intro (featuring Sinfonia ViVA)
2. Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach (feat. Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
3. White Flag (feat. Kano, Bashy and The National Orchestra For Arabic Music)
4. Rhinestone Eyes
5. Stylo (feat. Bobby Womack and Mos Def)
6. Superfast Jellyfish (feat. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)
7. Empire Ants (feat. Little Dragon)
8. Glitter Freeze (feat. Mark E Smith)
9. Some Kind Of Nature  (feat. Lou Reed)
10. On Melancholy Hill
11. Broken
12. Sweepstakes (feat. Mos Def & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13. Plastic Beach (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon)
14. To Binge (feat. Little Dragon)
15. Cloud Of Unknowing (feat. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)
16. Pirate Jet

Hope y’all are looking forward to the new album as much as I am!

-767

Anyway, to my point. The episode on that day featured a house from where I grew up. The kid showing it was definitely way younger that I am, and it was on the west side. (I grew up on the east side) The house though was absolutely amazing! There was all sorts of new age tech in every room of the house. There were secret passages, an indoor basketball court, a huge aquarium, a cataloged library and wine cellar, and even a fossilized tyrannosaurus that they dug up! I mean this place was “dream house” worthy!

After all the excitement, I told myself that I needed to find out how I had never heard of this house, and who owned it. A few Google searches later, I had my answer. The owner was Scott A. Jones, the inventor of the modern voicemail system.

These days he is just your run-of-the-mill, successful entrepreneur and inventor. He is involved with several of  his start-up companies and sits on several boards. I linked to his website in the previous paragraph if you want to find out more about him.

Unfortunately, I can no longer find the streaming video of the episode, so hit this link to the local Indy news tour of the house. It is not as good, but maybe one day you will catch the episode.

For the second year in a row, Volkswagen has won the famous Dakar Rally, now hosted in South America. However, what sets this year apart from others was that VW placed first, second, and third! I am not sure how many times, or if, this has happened before, but it was quite impressive, and I just thought that all you folks out there on the interwebz needed to know this wonderful news! Go VW!

-767