I received a Sanyo Xacti CG6 digital camera / camcorder in to review a few days ago.
I owned a Sony camcorder a few years ago but since it was so big, I rarely took it out with me and ended up getting rid of it. It recorded to Hi 8 tapes, and now I have no way to even view those recordings. Fail.
The Xacti is absolutely tiny. Weighing in at just over 5 ounces, this camcorder can easily fit in your pocket and even doubles as a 6 MP digital camera. One of the coolest things about this unit is the fact that it records directly to an SD / SDHC memory card in MPEG-4 format. I can either connect the Xacti directly to my computer via USB cable or use a card reader with the SD card and load my videos quickly without having to convert anything.
I’ve tested the Xacti a little so far around my apartment, but I am waiting for the weather to clear up so I can get some decent outdoor videos. Oh, and if Keith’s car is out of the shop by Friday, I am sure we will get some videos of that too.
The complete (as of now) lineup for the 2008 Beale Street Music Fest was posted earlier today. I have reproduced that list below:
Friday, May 2, 2008:
My Chemical Romance, Sheryl Crow, The Roots, Keb’ Mo’, Richard Johnston, Hellogoodbye, Jonny Lang, Ben Folds, Charlie Musselwhite, Robert Wolfman Belfour, Flyleaf, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Project Pat, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Lord T. and Eloise, Amy LaVere, JJ Greg & Mofro, Lurrie Bell.
Saturday, May 3, 2008:
Santana, Disturbed, Matisyahu, Bettye LaVette, Richard Johnston, Lou Reed, Seether, the John Butler Trio, Pinetop Perkins & Hubert Sumlin w/ Billy Gibson, Blind Mississippi Morris, Buddy Guy, Simple Plan, Arrested Development, Watermelon Slim, Cat Power, The Whigs, Colbie Caillat, Back Door Slam, Duman, Saving Abel, Tegan and Sara, Kenny Neal, Muck Sticky, Oracle and the Mountain, Al Kapone, Preston Shannon, Eli “Paperboy” Reed.
Sunday, May 4, 2008:
Fergie, Michael McDonald, the Black Crowes, Doyle Bramhall, Richard Johnston, Finger Eleven, Aretha Franklin, O.A.R., Magic Slim & the Teardrops, Robert Belfour, Gavin DeGraw, Jerry Lee Lewis, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Nick Moss & the Flip Tops, Rue Melo, Duman, Umphrey’s McGee, Samuel James, Carney, Billy Lee Riley, Pete Francis, Calvin Cooke.
Tickets for the 2008 Beale Street Music Festival are on sale now at Ticketmaster, online at ticketmaster.com and by phone at (901) 525-1515. Three-day passes cost $63.50 and will be available through April 30; single-day admission costs $27.50 in advance.
The drag strip at the Memphis Motorsports Park re-opened for the season last night. The track shut down for the season back in November and was supposed to re-open at the beginning of February, but management decided to do some maintenance to the track to help cars hook better and offer an overall safer racing environment.
Keith and I hit the track, along with Matt, Jake and Josh, shortly after it opened. Keith’s Mustang is between mods, so he won’t be able to run for another couple of weeks, but Matt and Jake ran their Camaros.
Matt only ran marginally better than last time (12.7 last time, 12.6 @ 111 mph this trip), despite his new gears and drag radials. There are a few reasons for the small gain. First, the new wheels weight a lot more than his stock ones (40 lbs. vs. 60-65 lbs. per wheel). Also, his new lowering springs didn’t help any with weight transfer.
Jake just bought his car a few weeks ago and ran a really great time for a stock 98′ Z28 (13.4 @ 104 mph), not to mention he got one heck of a deal for it ($6,200).
Sexiest car of the night goes to this Viper… I LOVE those cars!
Hopefully we will be back at the track in a few weeks once Keith gets his car back. A new cam, gears and rear end (along with extensive head work) should net him a much faster time than his last effort (14.4 - slow, but not bad for a basically stock 92 GT with 160+ miles and highway gears).
Tonight, the FedEx Forum in Memphis is set to host one of the biggest college basketball games of the year. The #1 Memphis Tigers will play host to the #2 Tennessee Volunteers. The Tigers (26-0) are undefeated this year and boast a 47-game win streak at home.
With all the hype, and the fact that I am from Memphis, one would guess that I would be cheering for a Memphis win. This couldn’t be any further from the truth. Honestly, I am completely sick of hearing about the Tigers on the local news, every single day. I hope they lose, not because I don’t like them, but I am just sick of hearing their name.
Anyway, getting back on track, this game is huge. The FedEx Forum has been sold out for a while now. Tickets have been selling on eBay for as much as $5,000! NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, a Tennessee alum, will be in attendance, among other celebrities.
One of my friend’s sister and her boyfriend dished out $1,000 for a pair of tickets to tonights game. I would never consider paying this much for a sporting event ticket, especially when I could watch it on ESPN in high-def for free (well, not quite free, but certainly not $1,000 either)!
The most I have paid for a football ticket was around $40. What is the most you have paid for a ticket to a sporting event, and was it worth it?
As you may already know, OCIA.net received a total overhaul last July, which included a new look as well as a custom-designed back end. Unfortunately, the OCIA.net Forums were not part of this upgrade and are still using the old software and layout.
I had planned to remedy this sooner, but finances have been tight lately so that has not been possible. But, with your help, this might soon become a reality!
It just so happens that my pal Derek Semmler is holding a contest where the winner will take home $106.34… which would go a long way to help get the new forums up and running.
So, I simply ask that you hit the front page of OCIA.net and click the square ad on the right side of the page that takes you to his blog. You would be doing a great favor for the site and who knows, you may even like his blog enough to bookmark it!
We decided to have our Super Bowl party at Sarah’s place this year. Last year we did it at my place and the year before that, we went over to Josh’s house. I just posted about 14 pics from last night - feel free to check them out over on my Flickr Page.
Super Bowl XLII is exactly one week away, and for the first time since 2000 (Tennessee Titans), there is a team in the Super Bowl that I will be cheering for (Go Giants!). I am not a huge NFL fan (but love college football), and usually only look forward to the Super Bowl as a time to hang out with friends, eat some good food and watch the commercials.
Last year we had a Super Bowl party at my place. This year, I think we will all be gathering at Sarah’s place for the big game… still have to work out the fine details. As long as there are deviled eggs, I’m set!
What do you have planned for Super Bowl Sunday? And, any predictions on the game? Let’s hear it!
Almost exactly one year ago, I posted my 2007 CES in Retrospect article. So, how did things pan out this year, and did I stick to my goals from last year?
To sum things up, comparing this year to last year was like night and day. As much as I hate flying, it was SOO much easier and faster to just fly there and get it over in about three hours… instead of 30 (yes, we drove last year). I decided that we would stay on the Vegas Strip this year at Treasure Island. Last year, we stayed with one of Keith’s friends who lives just outside of Vegas. This had its benefits - free shelter - but at a cost… that cost being time and convenience. Staying on the Strip saved us a ton of time and allowed us the freedom to attend more events than last year and meet up with some friends for dinner, to hang out, etc.
As far as productivity this year, things were much better as well. Last year, we posted a total of 10 CES coverage articles. This year, we wrapped things up with a total of 17 articles, which are listed below.
Splitting into teams worked pretty well this year, but I still have some planning to do for next year to fine-tune time management. I booked too many meetings and didn’t set aside enough “downtime” to write articles, which resulted in some pretty late (or early) nights and lack of sleep.
So what changes will I make next year? Well, that all depends on who/how many people from the site go next year. Early guesses would tell me four once again, which would be desired. Next year, I will aim to get two hotel rooms. Four people in one room… while it did work, was a bit cramped and can suck when some people are tired while others are working on articles.
Another change I have in mind, that I didn’t even consider this year, is switching up the job of taking pictures and taking notes. I discovered that if one person took all the photos and the other did all of the note-taking, only the note-taker was able to write an article because the photographer was busy taking pictures and didn’t know anything about the products. This isn’t really fair, making one person do all the writing when it comes time to do an article, so next year, I will look to rotate this job.
Finally, I am thinking about having a “day” and “evening” team. The day crew would get up and out on the show floor early, do some meetings, floor coverage, then have the rest of the day to relax a bit and get some articles done on the day’s coverage and be able to get in bed at a reasonable time. The evening crew would get things started later in the day and be responsible for hitting up the evening press events and parties at night. Parties are a great place to network and meet new people. This crew would of course be out real late, so they would get to sleep in the next day, then wake up, do some article writing and start all over again later that evening.
These are just some things I have to think about over the coming year, but either way, CES was a big success and I can’t wait until next year’s show! Big thanks to Josh, Keith and Airica for attending this year - your help was greatly appreciated!
So yeah, I realize that January is almost gone, but hey, it’s not too late for a New Years Resolution post, right?
Traditionally, I have not been very good at keeping resolutions. Like most people, I tend to forget about my New Years Resolutions pretty quickly. But this year, I am going to try really hard to stick to my promises.
So, what’s on my list this year? Well, most of my Resolutions are business-based.
First, I have decided to abandon doing product reviews personally on my tech site, OCIA.net. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing reviews, but lately it has just taken up too much of my time… time that could be better spent working behind the scenes, contacting new sponsors, setting up advertising deals, etc. That alone is a full-time job, so I am looking forward to devoting more time to that aspect of the site. I have a great staff of three other writers who should be able to handle these duties without issue.
My next resolution involves my finances. Last year, I started to track my finances using an Excel spreadsheet, where I keep detailed records of every penny that is earned and spent each month. This project has been great in helping me realize exactly where my money is going each month. My goal for this year is to further cut back on “useless spending”, like fast food and impulse buys, and focus on paying off some credit cards then putting some money into savings.
I also have some other ideas rolling around in the back of my head, such as starting a “make money online” blog and revamping the OCIA.net forums. I am still undecided on those, however.
So, what New Years Resolutions do you guys have for this year?
