Gadget Obsession

The iPhone is hot, sure, but we love the QWERTY keypad on our Treo. Also, it only does one thing at a time--can't chat without interrupting whatever else you're trying to do with it, for example, or pull up a webpage while talking on the speaker phone. Enter the Palm pre. Other than the dumbass name, it has lots going for it: it fixes all of the above shortcomings of the iPhone, and adds magic-level synchronization of contact info, calendars, email, and so on. That alone is worth the price of admission.We're getting one as soon as they hit the shelves.

Baker Artist Awards

Check out our buddy Samuel Burt's nom and do him a favor and vote for him!

Friendship vs Burger King

Which means more to you?

Shout out Victrola

A "quirky ambient lady band" including a friend of a friend from our good ol' undergrad days.

More with Less

Espousing the idea that frequent flier miles add up.

Missed by That Much

A 4-alarm fire broke out across the alley early this morning and destroyed half the block, taking 2/3 of the neighborhood's restaurants out. Pics at Boston.com and also at the Herald.

Quotes on Love & Wealth, and a Resolution

"Foul cankering rust the hidden treasure frets,
but gold that's put to use more gold begets."

- William Shakespeare

"Love in your heart wasn't put there to stay;
Love isn't love 'til you give it away!"

- Oscar Hammerstein

Just thinking.

How Facebook Adds to the Trials & Tribulations of Dating

Months ago, happily in love, we posted our relationship status with a gorgeous, wonderful woman on Facebook. She de-friended us on Facebook (and otherwise), and Facebook updates to say we are "in a relationship," the change being that it no longer lists the wonderful, gorgeous woman. Facebook also tells all of your friends the new status, ie, that you are "now in a relationship."

Thanks to all you well-wishers out there, though. We know you mean well.

For Free Culture, Please Send Money To...

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales breathes a sigh of relief now that 6 million dollars has been pledged, PBS style, to keep the free online encyclopedia afloat until June--but please send more. Even better, if you try to donate a few bucks, you'll find that the suggested minimum donation is $30.

The Wiki project does not lend itself to the usual kinds of advertising:

[Even] companies like YouTube have had serious trouble trying to monetize user-generated content through advertising, and it's not hard to see why; what big-time brand wants to take a chance on appearing above unvetted and potentially libelous entries that could, at any moment, have key words replaced by terms for genitalia?

The obvious solution is to allow people and corporations to write their own entries (and have them protected from editing) for a fee, which hasn't been working well to-date. Or you might charge people for the right to edit, may $30/year or $100/life. Anyway, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Box Wine in Nine

Dr Vino rounds up the best boxed wines of 2008, to which we'd like to add Hardy's Stamp of Australia shiraz. One of our favorite restaurants in Harvard Square offers it for about $8/glass, so the prospect of buying 3L in a box for $15-20 dollars rocks.

What will we do without those tacky coffee mugs?

Drug companies will no longer ply physicians with emblazoned pens, clocks, tchotckes, etc. Whatever. They still hire Big 10 cheerleaders as drug reps and buy lunches for doctor's office staff that cost more than our current rent payments.

The coffee mug set from the makers of Actos, one each in the shape of a stomach, pancreas, and liver, kidney, etc (see the character line up here), was what inspired us to become doctors. Kidding.

Only Tangentially Related to Christmas

While waiting for the flight back from Christmas "vacation," we searched the ATL airport for a River Street Sweets store we are 98% certain used to be at Concourse B. Can anyone else corroborate that? And what happened to that franchise? Savannah is the best thing about Georgia, and these are the only souvenir worth bringing back--all the other knick-knack shops in that airport should get on the bandwagon.

Santa was Good to Us

All we really wanted for Christmas came without ribbons or tags, but we're missing her right now (girls' night out's not so fun for us), so might as well brag about the stuff Santa brought in packages, boxes, and bags, particularly the little digital camera with its hoodie carrying case that will really spruce this website up with honest-to-god graphics.

Bad jokes

A friend at work is trying to pick a name for her baby. We suggest any answer to the question, What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs? Matt, Russell, etc. Curt & Rod, if twins.

Competition in the Porn Marketplace

Just the other day, NYTimes was reporting falling demand for prostitution, and now this: 20% of teens say they've posted nude pics/videos of themselves online. Maybe there is too much competition for the pros?

Auto Bailout, Suckers

Picture credit.

Better than the Nutcracker for Christmas

The Slutcracker! From the website:

The Slutcracker is an original, over-the-top, “adults only” parody of E.T.A. Hoffman's classic holiday story, The Nutcracker. The story follows Clara, a virginal 20-something whose boyfriend Fritz becomes jealous of a special “toy” she receives for Christmas from an eccentric relative. Guided by a cast of new and intriguing friends, Clara embarks on a fantastic journey into her own sexual awakening that will leave the audience titillated, inspired, and amused.

Sounds like a must-see, if you ask me.

How an iPhone can make holiday shopping better

Every store on earth just became an Amazon.com outlet: You go shopping, you click photos with iPhone, Amazon's bots match what is in front of you to what they have in stock, and you can decide to purchase from Amazon.com or the store right there. Instant price check on aisle 9!