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The vPod is here! Now I just have to let it charge and become its content-filled self. And pray for the plastic screen protector I ordered to arrive on time.

UPDATE: It’s charged and Madonna’s Borderline video is playing blissfully from its beautiful screen. I think there’s a little pee dripping down my leg.

We are back from our weekly Sunday brunch / visit to the Apple store - museum and can confirm what Steve Jobs says. Photobooth is just that fun. Doesn’t Daniel look like he’s having a blast? Promotional considerations are given to Daniel’sTVBlog.com, your authoritative source for all things television.

As an aficionado of the Washington, DC area, and specifically of the booming portions of the city, I had the occasion to re-sample two of the most popular eating venues there, Logan Tavern and Merkado Kitchen. Those of you who live in DC know what I’m talking about.

Both restaurants are nestled on either side of the Halo bar, which is a smoke-free gay establishment in Washington, DC. Yay! By the way, Halo looks suspiciously on the inside like the Manray Video bar in Seattle, except without the videos. And the videos do make Manray that much more special, I must say. How about a video or two for Halo? Anyway, the smoke-free thing has Halo edging out Manray by a mile. (We should all hope that Proposition 901 passes in Washington State and clean air becomes the norm rather than the exception in Seattle, and let me digress for just a second and say that I know what I think of Proposition 901, it is a gift from high heaven that we should be thankful for).

The Logan Circle area has done nothing short of explode in the last 2 years. Put a Whole Foods in anywhere and watch a neighborhood grow. There’s even a Starbuck’s there now.

I think I just got off topic. Oh. The restaurants. So I went to both Logan and Merkado recently. Because I only have good things to say about DC I have to say great things about the nachos at Merkado. I mean, they’re nachos. In Logan Circle. In Washington, DC. Had them two nights in a row. I’m coming back for more.

What he said. Mine hasn’t even arrived, and I love it already.

Video iPod, I Love You

I did break down and buy a plastic protector thing for it. Can’t have any scratches, now, can we.

In other happy news, my video iPod has shipped. Bring on the next insanely great thing. I am eyeing that Madonna “Express Yourself” video on the iTunes Music Store now.

I think we’re reaching the end of the line - Microsoft has so lost control over its own platform that it cannot regain it. Steve Jobs and the Mac have essentially won. And they have won in a way that the Mac is showing itself to be superior. Not “beta vs. vhs” superior, where the differences aren’t clear. But massively superior in a “it is obvious that this is better” sort of way.

Boot up an infected Windows XP computer today. You may get a pop-up warning telling you that the computer is infected with viruses, spyware, adware, etc. There is no way you can trust such a warning - did it come from Microsoft, or a malicious piece of code? Recognition has been completely lost as to who the “good guys” are. When your computer is infected, what do you do? Most people don’t know what to do. Their IE browser is basically incapable of resisting attack, or being functional anymore. It is just a matter of time before the computer is compromised. Does anyone want to compute that way?

Look at the Mac. You plug it in, you turn it on. And it takes a blind eye to any sort of attack that you throw at it. Apple is so aggressive with security updates, you can’t help but install all of them. The Mac sits happily on the network as the PC-intended attacks fly right by it. If a warning does come from an Apple piece of software, you can trust it. Apple has so well engineered the user experience that you know what is core to the OS and what is third party.

Think about Mac software. Even the software designed by Microsoft for Mac works better than that designed for the PC. Entourage, the mail client, happily tunnels into exchange mail servers and pulls out your mail, securely and without a hassle. It integrates well with your outside POP mail and makes for a great computing experience. How is Outlook for PC? Can you say “mess”? Over-engineered and bloated, with features that hardly make sense. What’s up with the “Tools…” and “Options…” menus?

I have never been happier to own a Mac. And the thing is, at least since 1999, I have been happy to own a Mac because I enjoy using a Mac, not because I don’t like Microsoft or want an alternative to Microsoft. The only thing that I didn’t like about Microsoft is that at one time it looked like it was going to take away my choice in terms of computing platform. Once that wasn’t going to happen, that was fine. I say more power to them - they could really redefine computing if they wanted to. But can they at this point?

When Gil Amelio was CEO of Apple, apparently one of the items on the table to rescue Apple was to rebuild the OS with a Windows NT kernel. In Amelio’s book, it said that Bill Gates said this could be done successfully. Now it’s 2005, would the rescue strategy to build the next version of Windows on a Mach (OS X) kernel?

One thing I did not predict, and which still amazes me, is that it would be security that would take down the Wintel platform. I honestly believed that another company would come out from nowhere and out-innovate Microsoft the way Microsoft out-innovated IBM. It’s a shame for Microsoft. With good leadership I think they have the resources and ability to take computing to the next level, monopoly or not.

From the Radiance Cruise, October, 2005

I just love how much fun I can have with my Macintosh.

DV Graphics

I stopped in at my local Comcast Cable office, where they informed me that I could get the LOGO channel, that new gay & lesbian cable channel, without paying extra (I had a really old cable package, and the newer package offered Logo at the same price).

And I have to say, I love it. And I can’t believe it. To be able to tune into a network that is all about gay and lesbian interests is amazing. Even the commercials, by the likes of Subaru and others, are produced to show gay families. Interspersed between the shows are coming out stories. There are even gay and lesbian favorite music videos, and news for Logo by CBS.

This will go a long way toward normalizing acceptance for all. Right on.

Daniel and Ted at San Diego Pride

I’ve joined the Dixie Longate fan club. From the Atlantis Mexican Riviera Cruise, October 2005. Buy buy buy!

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