My free cone day

April 29th is always Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's. Last year, I went with my buddies at Exam Services. This year, I'm going to try and convince some of my new co-workers to make the drive with me.

I'm kind of disappointed that not all B&J locations are participating! For example, the two locations inside of Six Flags over Georgia do not give away free cones. I can kind of understand the reasoning, but not really.

1. It's Tuesday. Not that many people are going to Six Flags today.
2. If B&J DID support Free Cone Day inside the park, I bet it would draw more people to visit this afternoon.
3. They charge over-priced cones inside Six Flags 364 other days of the year... why not give back to the community this once?

In other news:

I placed 8th last night in poker (out of 60), and I'm playing again tonight at Lance's. I am also considering playing in the EVE Online, World Poker Tour this weekend! It costs 1.05 billion ISK, and is limited to 18 players. Top prize is 7b ISK. Not too shabby, eh?

I was given a "You Might Be a Redneck If..." calendar for Christmas last year, and one of the best I've read yet was: You wake up early and still get to work late. In the words of Dane Cook... "it's funny because it's TRUE!"

My ExtJS drama

Jack Slocum, the creator of ExtJS, is whining on his latest blog post.

ExtJS was originally an extension for YUI, a javascript library that made front-end development simple and easy. It forked into its own library, and ExtJS version 1.0 was released. Jack states:

Ext JS 1.0 is released under the LGPL. Shortly thereafter 2 major publicly traded corporations (names withheld) embedded Ext JS into their development frameworks. With no mention of Ext JS except in credits files that no one ever saw. No support for all the work that had been put into the framework. Neither one of them even contacted us. How can that be possible? Can they do that? How can we compete with them taking such a large chunk of our potential customers? These are the questions I was faced with and so began my “Intro to Business 101″.

So basically, Jack got upset that another company stole his original idea and hard-work, and started turning a profit from it all.

So he changes the license by adding some stipulations to stop that from happening again, meaning the ExtJS team could take legal action if it happens again.

But let me suppose this example situation and explore the outcome.

Apple released the iPhone. The world is wowed. The following month China released the first iPhone Clone. What does Apple do?

-- Steve Jobs posts a blog on Apple.com stating that he feels betrayed by the Chinese company for allowing this infringement to occur. He talks about his family and his personal feelings and states something like "Is it fair that some people who don’t know me at all seem to pass judgement (sic) on me as if they do?" He then asks the Chinese government to hand-deliver his Cease-and-Desist order for the iPhone Mimic. The government complies, production is stopped, an apology is issued, and Steve Jobs sleeps soundly that night knowing that his bid for world domination is almost complete.

Um. No. Here's what they'll do Jack, so pay attention:

They'll let the world know that version 2.0 of the iPhone is being released soon. That's right, with all new features, bug fixes, upgrades, and enhancements... they'll add 3G speeds, video chat with a brand-new camera on the front of the device, and they'll open up the SDK to allow for 3rd party applications!!

And the world forgets about those cheap knock-off iPhone Mimics from China. Whoops. Looks like those Chinese factory owners have to do some more research to pull off the next generation of iPhone clones... and by the time those are released, Apple comes back with the version 3.0 announcement!

Do you see the pattern here? I hope so, because it's been the pattern of business for 2,000 years.

You produce something.
Competitor copies it.
You make it better. You keep the customers. You make the profit.

You asked how you compete Jack? That's how you compete. I should note that I am not necessarily against a commercial license for ExtJS. I am a recent convert, having used YUI for years. I enjoy the functionality your library offers and, if at all possible, hope to continue using it for my personal non-profit websites in the future.

But if there's one thing you learn in Intro to Business 101 it's this: Know your product monetary potential from the conception. If you're going to charge licensing fees, do so from the start like Adobe Flex/Air. Otherwise, if you go the open-source route, keep it that way for the lifetime of the product. Why? Simple: People want to know what they are getting into. Bottom line.

My media

I've always been a huge proponent of sleep. I enjoy the moment when you first lay your head down on the pillow, letting all the worries of the day flow away while you drift off to another world... but at the same time, I find there is never enough time during the day to do what you want to do!

How often do you find yourself buying something online? A movie or a new game for the PS3 on eBay or Amazon? Do you ever wish you had the time to drive to Best Buy or EB Games and just take 2 hours looking around at everything?

I do.

Yesterday, I went to Wal-Mart to pick up some prescription medicine for Leigh-Anna, who just got out of a surgery earlier in the day. While I was waiting for the woman behind the counter to put 4 pills into a plastic container for me, I went back to the gaming section and did just that: looked around.

I looked to see if they had any Wii's (they didn't), and looked at the games available for the DS and the PS2 (the two consoles I currently own). Nothing looked too exciting, but then I stumbled upon a new Final Fantasy game for the PSP. Hrm. That could be interesting. I made an impulse decision I am famous for, and picked up the new console.

First impressions of the PSP Slim (the version I bought) are pretty good.

Pros:
- WiFi access w/ Flash enabled web-browser. (Apple, take note!)
- Came with a 1 GB memory stick.
- Can charge via mini USB cable.
- It can play UMD (universal media disks), but I'm not sure if I would buy movies in that format when I have my iPod touch.
- Back-lit had three levels. Neat.
- It fits easily into my hands... and I have big hands.
- I love the little thumbstick!
- The game selection is quite good. Sid Meier's Pirates! Metal Gear Solid. GTA: Liberty City. Final Fantasy Tactics. I mean, all the good non-Nintendo games are here...
- The PSP seems a little more grown-up compared to my (pink) Nintendo DS.

Neutral:
- Replaceable battery, like most cellphones, but not like the iPhone or the Nintendo DS. Not sure what I like better.
- Can transfer over custom background images and themes, but how often are you just playing around with the system settings? Usually I will turn on my PSP to play a GAME.

Cons:
- First glance, the actual machine seems to be encased in cheap plastic. I'm told it's to reduce weight, but I like a little metal in my handhelds.
- Speakers are weak. I have to use headphones to hear anything at all. At least my standard iPod earbuds work!

BUT ANYHOO... I'm straying from my original point, which is this:

I find myself wanting to engage or consume much more media than I have time for in the course of any given day.

I want to watch the new episodes of: LOST, Smallville, The Office, Scrubs, Top Chef, and The Tudors... as well as finish my new PSP games, Star Wars Battlefront and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core... as well as read Tad William's Shadowplay book... as well as fly around in EVE: Online... and... and... and...

You get the idea. On Netflix, I have rated 1,450 movies. Some of those consist of TV series, but let's say... for sake of argument, that each one of those movies are 90 minutes long. That means I have watched 2,175 hours worth of movies in my lifetime.

That's almost 3 months of my entire LIFE I have spent just consuming movies. What?!

We are slammed with an influx of new media every single day... not just movies and games, but advertisements and voice-overs. While I was waiting in Wal-Mart for the prescription to be filled, I sat there, closed my eyes, and just listened... Do you know what I heard?

The world just chugging along. And I'm completely content hanging on for the ride.

My Passion

PASSION: Atlanta is finally here. If you don't know about Passion, read up on the official website, 268generation.org. Passion is Louie Giglio's ministry with the tag-line of "Do Something Now."

This year we are trying to raise money to build wells in Africa, as well as fund the Passion World Tour over in Japan. Everyone is asked to bring a pair of socks and a clean towel for various homeless shelters around town.

Last year, we raised over 3 million dollars, according to Louie on the latest Passion Podcast. This year, we're aiming for 5 million. Can we do it? Ask me after this weekend.

I'm curious if anyone I know is attending. The 10,000 seats have been sold out for a few days ago, but it would be nice to meet up with a friend or two. Let me know if you're making the trip, alright?

Anyhoo, tonight I'm enjoying dinner with my father at his church ($5.00 a plate, quite the deal!), and then I'm going over to Lance & Doug's house for a game of Texas Hold 'Em. The clan is back in town from Florida! Finally!!

Tomorrow I'll discuss more about the new job position I accepted. Alpha or Beta... only I know!