Watch a drunken Jeff Goldblum pitch the iMac
Move over “Cheeseburger-eating Hasselhoff“, there’s a new drunk in town!
What happens when you take the classic 1999 Jeff Goldblum iMac commercial and slow it down about 30 percent? You get a hilarious piece of footage capable of taking Goldblum’s kids away in any future custody battle!
This works particularly well because of Goldblum’s somewhat slurry speech pattern to begin with. Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Jonathan for the link!
When product placement attacks!
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iBook, iPhone
There’s an Apple in the House! Or two, or three… hard to tell.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about FOX’s House, yet for some reason I’ve never felt compelled to put forth the effort of adding it to my DVR’s schedule. However, according to faithful Macenstein reader Phil, apparently I should, as it is pretty much a commercial for Apple’s computers and gear, with episode 10 of season 4 being particularly Apple-whoreish.
WHATS UP Macenstein,
A buddy of mine recently got me hooked on House, so naturally I’ve been going through it season by season. Having now reached season 4 and its 2 in the morning, I have come to this assumption, the House crew are huge Apple guys. In a previous episode I saw an iPhone, but in the last 2 minutes of this episode there has been an oldschool iBook (which house sucks at hacking, i was screaming at the screen to restart with apple+s) and what looked like a Powerbook g4 or maybe a macbook pro. Anyway, I took a few screenshots of House with his new iPhone, thought of you guys immediately. You rock!
Phil
Above: Hugh Laurie auditioning for Justin Long’s job.
No, Phil, YOU rock! And apparently so does House. Thanks!
New York City Transit Authority using Keynote to run its kiosks
Filed under: Apple, Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Software
Faithful Macenstein reader Mike Solomon from over at The Cleverist sent us this video he made providing pretty convincing evidence that the NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority is using Apple’s Keynote software to run its kiosks, as illustrated by those trademark transitions Snap! Crackle! and Pop!… err, Cube, Dissolve, and Pop.
While we think it’s great to see Apple software (and presumably hardware (?)) being used by such a large city agency, we have a feeling the MTA may be an equal opportunity OS customer. Having ridden the NYC subways numerous times, I am quite certain the MTA is also using Windows Vista to create that convincing virtual urine smell.
Thanks Mike!
Use JavaScript to unlock high-res YouTube videos
Above: You can see that especially on fast motion videos, the quality is noticeably better on the high-res video video (right) than the standard YouTube offering (left).
Faithful Macenstein reader brethil clued me into a cool YouTube trick that probably everyone besides me already knew about. Apparently if you open a YouTube url in your browser, then add “&fmt=18” (without the quotes) to the end, you will see a higher res version of whatever video you were watching.
Of course, with YouTube “high res” is a relative term, but the quality is noticeably better.
Try it yourself. Load this video:
and then load
You’ll notice the quality of the second clip is markedly less compressed looking, and you’ll also see a new link which says “Watch this video in lower quality for faster playback”, letting you know you indeed re watching the high-res version.
This tip is all well and good, but the boys over at macosxhints.com managed to come up with a couple easy ways to automate the process. First they created some AppleScripts to do the job, but then a reader came up with an even easier solution – just make a JavaScript bookmarklet!
To do this, just go into Safari (or Firefox) and make a blank bookmark, name it something like “High-Res” or something, and add the following to the “address” field:
javascript:window.location+=”&fmt=18″;
Now, all you have to do to watch a higher res version of any YouTube video is hit that button in your bookmarks bar. Sweet!
Microsoft enters the chip business – “potato”, not “micro”
Wow, this recession must have Microsoft worried. Check out their latest efforts to diversify their product line!
From Egypt, the land where copyright law is apparently as prevalent as snow pants, comes Windows brand ketchup-flavored potato chips. And of course, what better way to wash those delicious chips down than with a can of delicious Windows soda?
Well, at least it’s natural…
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Stian for the tipi!
[via GEARFUSE]
Celebrity Mac Chick sighting: Jennifer Aniston
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Celebrity Mac Chick, Photos, Slow News Day
Wow. Is Jennifer that short, or does she have the first 23-inch MacBook Pro!?
I know I get crap for posting celebrity Apple sightings, but c’mon, how often do you see the third biggest celebrity in the world walking around with their computer? (By the way, Jennifer, that thing deserves a case!).
Plus it’s always nice to see a celebrity Mac Chick who can handle the “pro” equipment. More pics after the jump.
Wow. Talk about overestimating the value of an iPod!
A 14 year-old Davenport, IA teenager was arrested yesterday after he reportedly stole a female classmate’s iPod and then demanded she send him a sexually explicit video of herself in exchange for its safe return. Davenport Police Capt. David Struckman said the iPod was taken from the girl’s purse last week, and the following day a note was placed in her purse with the demand she perform a sex act and e-mail a video of it to the suspect.
Obviously this plan wasn’t all that well thought out, as we all know the going rate for a sexually explicit blackmail video is a 16 GB iPhone. Also, including your e-mail address in an extortion note is usually thought of as “bad form” amongst the blackmail community. Still, the kid is only a minor and has 4 more years to hone his blackmailing skills before he can go “pro”. Lord only knows how cool the iPod will be by then! Just think of the crimes he will be able to commit in 2012.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Ryan for the tip!
[Via The Quad-City Times]
History: Bill Gates’ Windows Media Center Blooper
Filed under: Awesomeness, History, Microsoft Bashing, video
Sure, Steve’s had his share of keynote bloopers, but for some reason I find it endlessly more fascinating to watch Bill Gates squirm during this classic piece of tape during the CES debut of Windows Media Center. He looks like a little boy in that giant chair, fresh from being removed from a highschool locker.
The video is a study in douche chills. One of the most interesting things about this is the reaction of host Conan O’Brien, who’s cackling laughter almost screams “I use a Mac”. Conan’s best line comes after about 3 successive failure attempts to launch the Media Center, “Who’s in charge of Microsoft? Oh..”
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Art Vandalay for the tip.
Review: XtremeMac’s Sportwrap for iPhone/iPod
Filed under: Awesomeness, Product Reviews, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch
Above: Know what that is? That’s some top-notch stitchin’, that’s what that is!
Now that the weather is warming up, I have decided to (reluctantly) put down the cheeseballs, and start exercising again. I haven’t really been running since last November and a lot has changed since then. First of all, I am ridiculously out of shape. But more importantly, and relevant to this article, is the fact that I have become so reliant on my iPhone over the past few months that I gave my former “workout” iPod to my kids to use. This generosity meant my iPhone was now going to have to serve as my workout jukebox of choice, and that meant I needed a new jogging armband designed to fit it.
XtremeMac’s Sportwrap for iPhone and iPod is a well-designed, comfortable, and extremely versatile armband carrier that can actually hold not only the iPhone and the iPod touch, but also the iPod classic, and iPod 4G & 5G. Perhaps a bit of my love affair with this armband stems from the frustrations caused by my previous armband. It was designed back in the stone age by a company that shall remain nameless, and it had a lot of problems. First, it was designed for an older model iPod, so the headphone hole was in the middle of the band, which caused me to have to punch my own hole when I got a 5G iPod a month later. Second, the arm strap was ridiculously short. I am by no means a huge guy with giant arms, but at 6′ 3″ I could barely make contact with the edges of the band. The company shipped a velcro “extender” with the unit for “freaks” like me, but it was clunky and uncomfortable, lacking the padding of the regular band. Finally, while I was able to cram m iPhone into it, the plastic sheathing covering the face of the iPhone blocked all finger sensing, rendering the touch controls useless.
Above: It’s nice to know if my arms every got this big I could still use the Sportwrap. Not that that will ever happen…
XtremeMac’s Sportwrap addresses all these issues. First, the armband is Read more
iPhone makes cameo in new Sex and the City trailer
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Celebrity Mac Chick, Photos, Slow News Day, iPhone
Faithful Macenstein reader Tony R. alerts us that the iPhone is set to make yet another Hollywood cameo, this time in the theatrical adaptation of the Sex and the City TV show, slated to come out later this year.
“So, i was just watchin the new Sex and the City trailer and low and behold there, in Samantha’s hand was an Iphone. it’s in 2 shots (that i could see) in the trailer.”
It’s kind of sad, really. No, not sad that Tony watched the Sex and the City trailer (although, that is somewhat depressing), but sad that a mere 15 years ago (OK, maybe 20) no one would have even noticed what Kim Catrall was holding.
