Shack Attack

The Patagonia Winter Sale is On.

30% off lots of fun stuff, from the only outdoors company that cares about short guys. Seriously, the XS gear goes so fast you'd think other companies would get in on that market.

The True Story of Audion

From the Panic blog: the wonderful story of a great little music player.

To be honest, my memory is a bit compressed here, as the whole experience was nothing less than surreal and difficult to process. To find ourselves — just two nerdy guys who make Mac shareware — sitting on Apple Campus, in a meeting with all of these brilliant bigwigs, pretty much caused our heads to continually and rapidly explode, humbled to say the least.

Jobs wanted to know how big we were, and how long we've been doing this. He wanted to know a few more things that I can't even really remember. I remember he asked, "Do you have any other ideas for apps you want to work on?" I replied, genuinely, "Well, we've got an idea for a digital photo management program..." and he replied with a simple, "Yeah. Don't do that one." Everyone in the room laughed but I had no idea why — remember, my head was still exploding — so Steven Frank had to explain to me that he meant, basically, it was already being made and, of course, it would be called iPhoto. Oh. I get it now.

 

Who Do You Like Better, Stewart or Colbert?

I've discovered that I can get my girlfriend into politics as long as we follow them on Comedy Central, and she asked me about my favorite fake news anchor last night. 

To me, Jon Stewart is one of the most trusted names in news. He might make it funny, but he's pretty much reporting the stories of the day, pointing out hypocrisy and laughing at the absurd. He's rarely laugh-out-loud funny, but I come away informed and entertained, capable of discussing the events on the show. Typical Jon:

 

At the right times, Colbert is hilarious. During election season or other intensely political national moments, he uses his over-the-top character to bring absurdity into the public eye. I mean, look at what he pulled on Tuesday:

 

He even shouted out Reddit in his ridiculously awesome plan (South Carolina doesn't allow write-ins, but does have an open primary):

“Because Cain and I are so similar, I think that if this Saturday Herman Cain were to get a significant number of votes, that would be a sign that voters are hungry for a Stephen Colbert campaign,” Colbert said.  “Anyone who shares my values can show it by voting for Herman Cain. Independents, Democrats, college kids, viewers of my show, people who attended my rally, my Twitter followers, my good friends on Reddit. Young people of the Internet, stand up and shout! Because you are legally eligible to go down to the polls and tell the world how much you love Herman Cain.”

On the other hand, when politics are dull, Colbert's shtick gets old quickly- I can only watch him once or twice a week without getting bored, and usually just watch the better-rated clips. On the other hand, elections aren't until, what, November? Colbert will probably be in the spotlight for a while.