The Maelstrom has MOVED

I haven’t been fully satisfied with some of WordPress.com and its features. It is way too limited for many of the things that I want to do with The Maelstrom, and with that said, I have moved this blog to:

thisismaelstrom.blogspot.com

I am really hoping that this change will make my blog grow and also be able to add more and better features for your enjoyment! This is definitely for the better!

Please make sure all you regular readers to delete your subscription to this address and change it over to the one above.

Thanks!

New iPod Nano and iTunes Revealed

iTunes and NBC have made up and are back in a new contract to showcase their shows. This is just one of the many revealed news that Steve Jobs has given us. The new iPod Nano is returning to its original design being rectangular with a larger screen. It will have the capability to flip horiztonal and vertical directions when you turn the iPod (much like the iPhone and iTouch), and will also have a new software feature called “Genius” which will recommend songs or movies based off of the chocies you make with your current music or playlists. It will also shuffle your songs if you shake the device. What is even more impressive is that an 8 gig model will cost only $150, which was the price for a 1 gig model two years ago.

Many have worried that Apple will begin to phase out the iPods due to being possibly obsolete with the invention of the iPhone. However, with these new models being created, it seems they have no intention of killing off the series anytime soon. And, to be honest, why would they? There are still millions of people who don’t have an iPhone and probably never intend to get one. Besides, the iPhone only holds 8 gigs of space, and some people (like myself) need a lot more to hold all the music and videos that they have.

Bottom line, Apple just keeps on ticking and improving their products and technology. I personally like that they went back to the original design of the Nano, especially the fun features they tacked on to it (shaking it to make it shuffle is a sweet idea). I am also glad to hear that they brought back ties to NBC. It felt empty without The Office on iTunes.

Posted by Alcamadus

The New Seinfeld-Vista Ad

In a previous blog, kingdaved made clear his distain for all things Microsoft and their new ad campaign with huge comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Well, that new ad has been released and to say the least: it sucks. 

I have to give it to them, they definitely play off of Seinfeld’s strengths by making the ad about nothing. But, that is the main problem of the ad in itself, you are expecting something. When you get nothing you feel disappointed, especially when you aren’t even laughing. Seinfeld sadly acts like a big goof, and Bill Gates tries his best at acting. While this is a huge ad campaign for Vista, it is never mentioned in the ad and only a small Windows symbol is shown at the end for five seconds. Personally, I think it failed and miserably. If they wanted to bring a war to Apple, they showed up with knives to a tank fight and got blowed up….real quick. The one thing that I definitely noticed about the ad was how old Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld have become. It doesn’t help Windows much when big red letters keep flashing “Windows is an old, out-dated pile of trash.” Ok, that didn’t happen, but that is what I saw when I see Bill Gates looking like Father Time. They even show his age even more when they slip in a small id picture of him when he was a teenager. 

Here’s the real kicker, they spent millions on Jerry Seinfeld, for this? How depressing. They should really consider getting better writers and getting rid of Bill Gates. The best case scenario would be if they did some kind of Seinfeld stand up bit attacking Apple, but Microsoft knows they don’t have to go on the offensive because they already own the market, but doing ads like this is just pathetic. I hope the next one is better, because this was just awful. Awful. 

 

…awful

Posted by Alcamadus

This Election Could Make or Break America

Both candidates are claiming that they are agents of change in Washington. They have both said that Washington is broken. They both have said that they are going to fix it. America’s morale and confidence in Washington is obviously terrible, and that shows with both candidates trying to prove they are agents of change against Washington corruption. With that said, America is growingly apathetic toward politics and could careless if they should vote or not. Thus, the reason that voting programs have tried and failed.

It doesn’t matter if McCain wins or if Obama wins, if something doesn’t happen to the corruption in Washington by either candidate the America we know in the history books will be gone. A large majority of people will lose faith in politicians, will lose faith in the system, and lose faith in Democracy in general. Thus, if Obama and McCain don’t deliver on what they say they are going to do, then the future of politics will be drastically changed and America could be worse off. Sure, there will always be people that believe in the establishment and continue to vote, but when generation after generation lives through continous and unchange corruption, how can you blame them for not thinking that anything can be done?

Apathy grows with the depressing thoughts of no control and no choice.

Posted by Alcamadus

The Gaffe of the Year

The winner of the gaffe award goes to (drum roll please) Obama! He apparently made the gaffe of the year by misspeaking and saying, “You’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith” on the ABC news show This Week with George Stephanopoulos. This was precieved to mean that he was actually a muslim, but he was addressing the rumor that was spread. The gaffe launched a widespread onslaught all over the internet.

While what I am about to say is very cliche, we are living in a brave new world. Fifty years ago no presidential candidate would ever have to worry about “gaffes” as much as they do now. With the power of the internet, the public can speak via message boards, blogs, social networks, you name it. The gossip is a blazing fire that may be difficult to put out, and Obama making gaffe’s like this only adds insult to injury. Obama being a muslim could be a deadly rumor for his campaign. There are plenty of people who believe it.

I am no fan of gaffe news. It really doesn’t help anyone’s judgement, nor does it really have anything to do with politics. We are slamming the candidates for their mistakes when they speak? I feel like it is shallow and uncalled for, and all it does it show how prejudice you are, but this particular gaffe seemed like a notable one due to its touchy nature.

Posted by Alcamadus

Is Palin Obama’s Achilles Heel?

It would seem that the Obama/Biden campaign is struggling to effectively take on the Palin factor. They are tredding carefully for various reasons I am sure.

1. They don’t want to scare away potential women voters. Any harsh criticism toward Palin could seriously injure the Obama campaign by scaring women away, and whether that would be true or not, Obama isn’t willing to take the chance.

2. Palin isn’t from Washington. She has gone against her own party. She has proven herself to be extremely successful as a governor. She is change. Walking the walk is much more powerful for voters and the public and it is hard to deny. Obama will try to brush it off and say that she isn’t change, but he obviously knows its going to be hard to compete against, and with someone else with that background and stating that they are change, it takes the wind out of his sails.

3. Palin just took any chance of Obama convincing a large majority of Republicans on the fence to his side. Obama has been making initiatives to get Christians and Moderate Republicans to vote for him. While this was particularly hard to believe that he would be successful at this, it is most definitely dead in the water now. With this door closed, Obama will have to reorganize and try to find another way to gain more ground.

Side notes that could also injure Obama’s campaign. Obama is known for being extremely liberal. Biden is also very liberal. McCain is know for being moderate. Palin is known for being conservative. They are more diverse in the political spectrum. Palin will bring the conservative base with her. McCain will get the moderate Republicans and Democrats. All Obama will get is extreme liberal democrats and minority voters. Which, lets be honest, isn’t enough to win in November. With a voting battleground that heavily depends on wooing indepedents and moderates, the McCain/Palin campaign could seriously do some heavy damage.

Once again, the country is divided. No one should have any illusions about this election being a cakewalk for Obama. While Bush is unpopular, congress is just as unpopular if not more so, which means that Democrats are also to blame for the nations woes. People (mostly meaning indepedents) may take this into account and want the campaign that will actually take on big wigs, corruption, and Washington insiders.

Posted by Alcamadus

Convention Speeches FactCheck

I was parousing CNN.com just recently and I discovered a nice little feature by them by FactCheck.org. It corrected some of the points that both McCain and Obama made at their Convention speeches. Being that most of America is a big herd of gullible and naive sheep, sources like FactCheck.org on the internet is amazing. I encourage everyone from both sides to check this website and feature on CNN to realize that the candidates are politicians. No matter how much you may like them, or agree with them, or think they are the next best thing to sliced bread, they are going to twist, turn, bend, and break the truth in hopes that most of America won’t check on their statements.

In any case, I am not going to put the facts on this blog. Click the link. That’s what it’s there for.

Posted by Alcamadus

Public Believe Media Hurting Palin

According to a recent Rassmussen poll report, the American public 10 to 1 believes that the media is biasly and prejudicely attacing Palin to hurt her politically. 24% of US voters said that these reports make them want to vote for McCain.

For Republicans it is 80 to 6 percent, for Democrats its 28 to 4 percent, and unaffiliated voters are 49 to 5 percent all believing that the media is attacking Palin. Only 5% of the public believed that the media was trying to help Palin.

This just goes to show that the public is not as stupid as the media believes it to be and will not buy into everything they feed them. It also shows that the media could really shoot Obama in the foot politically. If you scour the comments on most news websites, you will find several people upset with the media establishment. More and more people are getting frustrated with how bias, tasteless, and shallow the news is becoming. The public is noticing and I think that if the news doesn’t pick up on this and soon, they could seriously hurt their credibility. Too often does America gun for the underdog, especially if they notice something foul in the information they have been fed by the media.

Posted by Alcamadus

Happy Birthday, Google!

Today is the 10th birthday of the world’s most popular search engine- Google! Started from a thesis from two students at Stanford University, Google was the product of a new way to rank searches. The result was a company that became a household name and a word that became the new “search”.

Located in Mountain Valley, California, Google’s market cap is $142 billion dollars and employs over 19,000 people. It continues to innovate the internet market with its applications and services that it provides and just recently released a beta version of its new web browser, Chrome.

Google is a great example of a small idea growing to something ridiculously successful. It will be great to see what they have in store for us the next ten years, but for now I wish them a Happy Birthday!

Posted by Alcamadus

Xbox 360 Price Drop

According to TechDigest the Xbox 360 is getting a price drop. The lowest price in the US will be $199, which is pretty cheap considering the Wii is $250. This, obviously, is the lowest “Arcade” model, but an Xbox is an Xbox and could mean a lot more people might be jumping on that train. I even have a Wii an am tempted to ask for one for Christmas or something.

This could mean a few things for the Xbox. First, they are starting to prepare for the next generation system. Obviously, this will be 2 to 3 years away, but even then it is good to start milking their current system as much as possible before they launch the next one. It also could mean they are seeing sales drop significantly and have to stay competitive, especially in the wake of the Wii. Once again, it is hard to argue against a system that is vastly surperior in graphics and power to the Wii and is cheaper to boot.

Overall, for those of you who were on the sidelines with the Xbox 360 due to price, or maybe need a good Christmas gift for your kid, then now might be the time to jump on board and get the system. Because, I doubt the price will get any lower.

Posted by Alcamadus