OstroHoopy

Apple’s new iPod nano just made my 8-month old mini obsolete.
Bummer.

Now I’ve seen one in person thanks to my friend Henning who just got one.
Lust lust lust.

Well, Magmic’s other active co-founder, John Criswick, decided to do his latte budget a favour and pick up an espresso machine for work.

Throwing my somewhat selfish suggestion of a Rancilio Silvia aside, he opted to go for a fully automatic, digital offering from Starbucks. The good news is that it looks pretty, worked right from the moment I plugged it in (though it needs fine tuning before I’ll be happy), and I won’t need to be hit up to make everyone’s shots every day.

The machine is called the Starbucks Barista Digital Italia, but it is actually a white labelled offering from Saeco, the Incanto Digital.
Starbucks Product Page
Saeco’s Product Page

Now, being a proper geek, it’s time to think about hacking it. It would be great to give it a web interface so I could order my coffee as I’m entering the office and have it ready for pickup. Maybe I’m taking it too far…

Reviews:
Coffee Geek Consumer Reviews

iPodlounge Forums - iPod-In-Car Solutions

Great tips on integrating your iPod into your car stereo system.

Installs of particular interest are: BlitzSafe-Install, Dock-in-Ashtray, With-Phone-Mute

Now I must get an iPod Mini… Come on, Apple.ca!

Just for interest’s sake, I tallied up the number of colour Java-enabled mobile phones on my desk right now. I have 17. And my company develops games for mobile phones.

Cool, right?

Mostly, yes.. but all these phones are here so I can make sure that each of our games works properly and is customized for the specifications of each device. Ugh, tedium.

Let’s see what I’ve got here:

• Nokia 6610, 3650, 6800
• Motorola C370, C650, V220, T720, i730
• Samsung S307, X426, A600
• Sony Ericsson T610, T637
• LG 5450
• Audiovox 8900
• RIM Blackberry 7230, 7780

In addition, I’ve got black & white Java phones: Nokia 6310i, Siemens M50, Motorola i55sr, RIM Blackberry 5810, 6210.

Whew! Who wants to work (by work, I mean volunteer) for a cool game company?

I’ve always kept an eye out for interesting product sightings in TV shows and movies. For the last couple of years, all the computers I’ve seen in ER have been Dell machines. Tonight, I spotted Neela with a snazzy red Alienware laptop!

Alienware makes some of the coolest machines, particularly laptops, that I’ve lusted after. VoodooPC is another such company. (and Canadian to boot!)

Johnny Chung Lee has found a really simple way to make a steadycam rig at a cost of only $14 (USD, I assume). With this simplicity and cost, I’ve got to try it.

If I don’t like it, I can always reuse the parts for some pipe clamps.

Found on: mehack