Microsoft-Watch's Mary Jo Foley has an article outlining a series of new Mini-laptops, Mini-Tablet PCs and a host of other ultra-portable devices.
"Why did Obi-Wan grow a beard?" was the first thing our 4-year old uttered when he woke up this morning as we prepared to go to The Magic Kingdom here at Disney World.
The Magic Kingdom is the favorite for most kids. But to get the most out of it, you really have to get there as early as possible. By noon, hour and a half waits for the popular rides are not uncommon.
For us, that meant that we were basically finished with the park attractions by noon other than ones that allowed Fast Pass. My threshold of pain for waiting for a ride is about 20 minutes. Still, by getting in early we got to check out a lot of the rides the kids wanted to see.
I was interested in only one ride at The Magic Kingdom -- Space Mountain. I'd ridden it 20 years ago and it was the ride I remembered the most from when I was a kid. Unfortunately, while all the other roller coasters here require children to be 40 inches tall, this one required the child to be 44 inches and the 4 year old was just an inch too short. Since my wife had never ridden Space Mountain, I deferred to her to ride it with the 8 year old while me and the 4 year old found something to do with our unexpected bounty of time.
The Magic Kingdom really is a terrific place for small children. It is truly a "magical" place. For cynical adults such as myself, it's a mixed bag but today's ideal conditions (72 degrees, sunny and breezy) helped keep the negatives (long lines, overpriced and often bizarre food options, stupid parents) from dominating.
If you have children under 10 and can get them there before 9am, the Magic Kingdom is (not surprisingly) one of the absolute destinations. But for parents of older children or couples, it's purely a nostalgia run. The evening's electric light parade is worth seeing and be sure to make heavy use of Fast Pass.
They seem to come from an assembly line: The Fat 7 year old boy and his younger fat 5 year old brother or sister. Fat dad and skinny, passive mom.
They're everywhere.
You'll find them at breakfast. The fat 7 year old will be spazzing around as his mom is trying to get him to finish his breakfast Coca Cola. You'll find them trying to cut in line at the rides. You'll find them throwing tantrums in food lines. You'll find them tapping the glass at the "do not tap on glass" aquariums.
By the end of the afternoon, as the fat 7 year old dripped ice cream onto my arm while his mom was meekly saying "no no" to the 5 year old who was whipping the chain that seperated lines from one another (thus annoying everyone in both lines) I realized that there here was a business opporunity: Child Tasers.
The Child Taser wouldn't be nearly as harsh as the regular taser. It would just give the child a good jolt. If we were all armed with them, we would be able to..encourage the pathetic parents who seem to inhabit major amusement parks across America to start learning how to raise their children.
So next time I'm cringing in shame as the next generation of ugly American is screaming because he wanted a bigger chocolate icecream cone or resisting trying to trip the two spoiled rotten brats running carelessly through a restaurant or shop knocking other kids and chairs down, I can instead taser them.
Then we can expand to tasering to the parents themselves. When the mom gets her 5 year old obese child a Coca Cola for breakfast (rather than the orange juice that is right next to it) ZAP on the mom. When the dad just chuckles at his tons playing wrestle in the Disney Store, ZAP on the dad. When the 7 year old is yelling the lines of the robot just a second before the robot actually says the line because the 7 year old has already seen the thing 10 times, thus spoiling it for everyone else, we can ZAP the whole lot.
Because as a "wise" woman once said, it takes a village..a village of tasers!
There are a lot of guides out there about going to Disney World on a small budget. We've explored how maximize ones Orlando Florida experience on the cheap in the past. There's camping, there's time-shares, there's low cost hotels.
But what about at the high end? If you put in the bucks, how well does Disney scale up? Based on recent Disney commercials, the implication is that Disney can also serve as a pretty impressive upscale destination if you want to put in the dollars.
So this time around, we thought we'd put that to the test. Our family of 4 has myself, my wife, and our two small children. We purchased Disney's "Magic Your Way". This includes a Concierge room at the Polynesian resort. The Polynesian is rated as the second highest rated luxury resort located in Disney World (Grand Floridian is the best). And the Concierge rooms are the best of the best at the Polynesian.
There's a lot of "special services" you get by getting a concierge room. Examples - all day exclusive buffet for being able to get pretty high end snacks throughout the day (at night there's wines, cognac, and specialty drinks along with very tasty deserts). The view looks out right at the lagoon where you can see the nightly fireworks, boat parades, etc. And the special perks such as a staff that will make sure you "get into" whatever you want on short notice (such as character dinners without reservations if you're into that thing).
So how does this translate into reality? Well, for me the question is number of fun units per dollar spent. And make no mistake, if you have small children, Disney World rocks. We're having a great time. But so far I can tell you that the experience doesn't scale well.
Part of the issue has to do with the incredible gouging that the resorts take part in. Want a "cheap" lunch for a family of 4? It's going to be around $30 and we're talking McDonald's level food here. The Consierge floor does cut down on this since it has enough snacks to tide the kids over the but expense is immense.
The tickets and room combined end up aboug $800 PER DAY. Bear in mind, that's a family of 4 but the tickets are only around $120 per day of that cost. That leaves nearly $700 per day just for the room. And the Polynesian is unimpressive. It doesn't have Internet access (i'm writing this via my cell phone connection). The rooms are one room, nothing you wouldn't expect in a Day's Inn. The fireworks and boat light show are neat but not worth any sort of real premium. And the constant food buffet probably saves us $30 or so per day in food expenses, that still leaves us with $670 per day. Even if you give the view $70 per day, you're talking about a hotel at $600 per day.
Okay, fine, what about conveniences? After all, isn't that really why you'd say at the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian? Convenience to get to the park? The mono-rail comes right into the resort which is nice. And there's shuttles to take you to the various Disney properties. But on the other hand, if you get a decent hotel in Orlando for say $200 per night, rent a car ($70 per day here -- yea it's steep) and spend an extra $30 per day infood and you're looking at $300 per day vs. $700 per day.
In other words, staying in one of the premium resorts with relatively convenient access to the parks is a $400 premium per day. And in my view, that kind of premium isn't justified for what you get. Simply put, Disney World doesn't scale well. It's still a blast of course but the experience isn't really much better than it would be if we'd stayed at a nice but less expensive hotel locally.
What could/should they do? I can think of a few things:
1) The Polynesian should have real Internet access. I know that sounds geeky but believe me, when you've got 2 small children, there's some down time.
2) Don't gouge us at the resort. Meals at certain resort restraunts should be included. It really chaffes me to spend another $30+ to get a couple of burgers and fries and chicken fingers.
3) Universal Fast Pass. Fast Pass is a great idea. But you still have to go to the ride, pick up a fast pass, then go back an hour or two later. For that $400 premium, fast pass should be something you always have.
4) Less waiting. The Polynesian and the Grand Floridian are the most expensive of the Disney resorts. They should have an extra shuttle going to them for each of the parks so that there's less waiting. 20 minutes of waiting may not seem like a lot but add it up during the course of a week and you're talking a couple of hours. And again, if you're charging $400 per day as a premium, the return should be about increasing the amount of Disney magic you are able to get.
5) MUCH better rooms. Here's a ridiculous thing - I'm writing this laying on the bed in the $700 per day room because it's too small to have a desk. The television is 13 inches. The bathroom is tiny. We're talking a very low end room.
Anyway, so that's the first day's impressions. Disney World is a great vacation destination. But even if you have money to spend, don't waste it on spending on extras at Disney World. It just doesn't scale up. They'll happily take as much money as you can throw at them but they're just not set up to make it worth it. The law of diminishing returns starts far lower here.
I'm going to be a bit less active for the next week, I'm going on vacation:
https://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=72949
Going to try to recover from the past year of 60 hour weeks. 
Also, for those of you interested, I did finally get a new car. 10 years ago I drove an '84 Chevette. Now, at 33, I've decided to indulge my first (of many) mid-life crisi's
https://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=72948
I'll see you guys in about a week. Don't burn the place down. I WILL have my laptop with me.
When I was 23, I could work 80 hours a week for years on end. Now I'm 33 and I can definitely feel the hours wearing. In March, according to my daily planner, I worked 256 hours. There were 23 official work days in March so that comes out to about 11 hours per day. Of course, I don't usually work 11 hours per day. Instead, I work more days per week (typically 6 days per week).
But still, working 55 to 60 hours per week over the course of months and months will wear a person down and I feel worn down. The first thing that goes is concentration. I was increasingly finding it difficult to spend too many hours at the office because I had trouble concentrating there. People will come to my office, very often, to let me know what's happening. Usually it's info that could have been IM'd or emailed but when you're there in person, there is a tendancy to just want to walk over and tell them.
When I'm rested, I can be interupted and get back to concentrating quite quickly. But lately, when I get interupted I'm basically tapped for quite awhile. I can't "force" myself back into "the zone". So I'd just end up coming home and working from there.
So in a couple hours we're heading out on vacation. We're going to Disney World. My wife, two children, and I are flying out in a little while. Disney's not my favorite destination but when you have two small children, your options are a bit more limited and it's still pretty fun. With Animal Kingdom and MGM and other nearby things as well as the usual Magic Kingdom stuff, it should still be a blast.
Of course, I'll still have the laptop with me to handle key things (when you run a company you're never completely disconnected) and put out fires. But it'll still be good to get away from things for a week. Then when I get back, I can focus on getting ready for E3. Because holy cow, May is going to be insane!
I'll see you all in about a week.
After a long search, I finally bought a new car. I will be the first to admit I'm not much of a car enthusiast. Ten or so years ago I was driving a 1984 Chevette. 5 years ago I was driving a Grand Prix. And my last car was a Pontiac Bonneville. I've always bought American made cars -- until now anyway.
What I was looking for was a mix between a pure sports car such as a Corvette and a pure luxury car like the Cadillac STS. I wanted to have a bit of both. Since I often take 4 people in my car, a two-seater wasn't an option. So the Cadillac XLR, which was an early favorite, was out of the picture. The Cadillac CTS was also an early favorite but lacked just a couple too many "gotta have" features that I wanted.
A good friend of mine turned me onto the Jaguars. He took me to a dealership and because he works at Ford, he could get me a pretty good deal on one (Jaguar is now owned by Ford Motor). As soon as I drove one I knew I wanted this. It was a totally different experience than anything I'd driven before. And I was driving a lower end one for the test drive. The handling was precise, the interior was snug, and the acceleration was far peppier than anything I could recently recall driving.
But I was still not sure. The Jag lacked some of the features I wanted. No head's up display. No keyless operation. And none of the models I could get in the time I needed had adaptive cruise control. The Cadillac STS, on the other hand, had all of those. But as soon as I took a drive in one -- no as soon as I sat down in one, I knew I wasn't going to get one. I finally truly understood the vast gulf between a true luxury car and a sports car. The Cadillac's wide seats, incredibly smooth, gentle ride, and graduated steering were very comfortable in a convalescent sort of way. So it was back to the Jag dealership.
I eventually decided on a black one. I originally wanted to get a dark green one but perhaps it's my imagination (I don't think it is though) but the paint on these cars seem to reflect far more than any car I've previously owned. In the sun, the black shines. The dark interior is not an issue because all the windows seem to be coated with a fully translucent material that blocks out UV rays to keep the interior from heating up excessively.
The model in particular I chose is the 2005 Jaguar S-type Racer. The specs are below:
| Engine type | V-8 Supercharged, cast aluminum block and heads, LEV |
| Horse Power | 390 @ 6100rpm |
| Torque | 399 @ 3500rpm |
| Power to Weight Ratio | 10.4 |
| 0 to 60mph | 5.2 seconds |
| 1/4 mile | 13.6 seconds |
| Navigation | GPS DVD based navigation computer |
| Fuel Efficiency | 17/24 |
But I also decided to get some upgrades to it. The dealership provides a host of upgrades that were unexpected but welcome. First, I got it upgraded to 500 horse power. That's done through a Spercharger pulley upgrade, a Performance Heat Shield Intake kit, A Performance Intake Kit, Upgraded Exhaust, and tweaked computer chip. The extra ~100 in horse power is designed to increase the RPM performance in every gear. Or put another way, it makes it have a lot more kick at every speed. It also unofficially changes the ratings to roughly 4.4 seconds when going 0 to 60 mph and about 12.6 seconds on the quarter mile.
I'm not a speed junky (on cars anyway) but I've quickly come to appreciate the ability to drive very quickly when the desire rises.
Which brought me to the second dealer-installed upgrade. The K40 integrated radar/laser diffusion system. Essentially it keeps the car from showing up on radar guns or laser based speed measurement devices. It also informs you of any radar/laser using devices nearby. Once installed, it's hidden, you can't see it in the car. It's just another light in the instrument panel. Amongst their guarantees "Wel'll pay any and all radar speeding tickets you got for one year after purchase". I'm amazed that such a device is legal (it's not in Canada actually). Of course, since I never exceed the speed limit...I just have it for informational purposes of course..
I've only had it a week so far and I just love it. Naturally some friends of mine have debated on just whether this is a "sports car" or a "luxury sedan". My argument is that it's both. But either way, given that this "luxury" vehicle can hold its own against Mustangs and Corvettes and other traditional "sports cars" is good enough for me. Given that I only drive around 7,000 miles per year anyway, I want to really enjoy the ride while I am driving. And so far, the Jag has delivered it in spades.
GameIndustry Magazine is reporting that premium PC supplier, Alienware is about to release a series of Star Wars branded personal computers. The two machines, which arrive just in time for Episode III, each take on a particular theme (the light side or dark side). They feature artwork from all 6 movies.
Alienware recently created a uniquely designed and configured case for the launch of Half-Life 2, called the City 17 system, which proved to be a major hit with gamers seeking to upgrade for one of last year's most anticipated games - but the Star Wars cases represent the first time that Alienware has partnered with a film property, UK marketing manager Mat Bettinson told GamesIndustry.biz.
The Star Wars branding doesn't stop at the case level. According to Alienware, the Aurora Star Wars edition feature exlusive Star Wars content including movie soundtracks, wallpaper, fan club membership, and game demos. The machines come with Windows XP along with a custom version of Stardock's Object Desktop called Theme Manager OEM to deliver the Star Wars branded desktop environment.
Like the way Galactic Civilizations II's UI looks so far? Get ready for a big change. Beta 2 will have the same quality of graphics but the user interface is being heavily re-designed to ensure players have more access to information and functions no matter what screen they're on.
Stardock is making use of the recently released DesktopX 3 technology that allows for much easier user interface design in games. In fact, players of Beta 2 will be able to actually create or modify the screens in the game using DesktopX. Want a larger map? Want the map to be square and not diamond? We're not talking just "skinning" the existing UI, we're talking complete control of placement. We will have a library before Beta 3 (late summer) where users will be able to begin uploading their own screens.