Photos of the Day: Happy Independence Day, America!

San Francisco Bay Fireworks
SF, CA • July 4, 2007 • Nikon D100

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iApps: Become a Pinball Wizard with Wild West Pinball

Own an iPod touch / iPhone? Like pinball? Then do yourself a favor and download Wild West Pinball. This is one of those games that really shines on the iDevice platform. It feels just like a pinball machine (well, as close to one as possible given the device) and is incredibly addictive.

Unlike a lot of free apps floating around out there, the graphics in Wild West are solid, the gameplay is intuitive and enjoyable (just tap the left / right side of the screen to control the flippers), and it’s just an all around winner.

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Save the Date: Phish cryptically announces Fall festival

If you head over to Phish.com you will be greeted by a (not surprisingly) cryptic animation regarding a previously unannounced 3-day Fall festival October 30 – November 1. Where? Your guess is as good as mine.

Death Star: Now with more delicious storage space

That’s no moon…It’s a cookie jar! StarWars.com’s Exclusive Death Star Cookie Jar is easily the coolest cookie jar jar binks anywhere this side of Naboo.

The exclusive Death Star cookie jar is built to hold an Imperial army of your favorite cookies…[It's] Sculpted from polyresin with great detail and features four sturdy feet to keep your Death Star from rolling off the counter. Oh, and no exposed thermal exhaust ports for hungry young rebels.

No delicious baked good will ever be safe from this fully operational battle cookie station jar. The 12 x 12″ awesomeness is available for pre-order @ the unearthly price of $49.99.

Photo of the Day: Costa Rica Close-Up

Costa Rica Close-Up
Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica • April 2006 • Canon A610

Download: “Fresh squeezed” Firefox 3.5 now available

That’s right folks. The latest (and greatest?) version of Firefox – 3.5 – is finally here. Download and enjoy!

Photos of the Day: A Pair of White Rhinos

A Pair of White Rhinos
Sweetwaters, Kenya • August 2008 • Nikon D60

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Boilr Tweets Weekly Digest: 2009-06-28

• Dinosaurs might not have been as huge as previously thought http://gksqs.tk #
• Official WDTV feedback, firmware suggestions, etc forum = http://vlh8k.tk #
• WordPress 2.8.1 to address a number of notable 2.8 issues http://oa3lu.tk #
• Wireless iPod touch charging now available from WildCharge http://lag3d.tk #
• How to Be a Better Photographer When on Vacation – NYTimes http://0od1a.tk #
• Costco selling Windows 7 pre-orders for $5 less than its competition http://shikj.tk #
• Firefox 3.5 to launch June 30 (next Tuesday) http://t2xdo.tk #

DVD: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse

Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now has been one of my favorite films of all time since the first time I watched it many years ago. While I may not have been alive during the Vietnam War, that doesn’t prevent me from being able to appreciate spectacular film making when I see it. Thus, it should come as no surprise that I am now a big fan of the documentary – Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse – covering the making of Apocalypse Now.

Wow. I mean, you can tell when you watch the original (or the Redux) that an insane amount of effort and energy went into its making, but I never knew that it was literally almost actual insanity that made the film so captivating. From Martin Sheen suffering a heart attack 3/4 of the way through filming to Marlon Brando’s almost entirely improvisational role to Laurence “Larry” Fishburne being only 14 at the time to the multi-year/multi-million dollar production, Apocalypse Now was a film project of immense proportions.

Perhaps the most redeeming quality of this documentary is that it was largely filmed and overseen by Eleanor Coppola (Francis’ wife) who was along for the entire ride. Seeing what was really going on behind the scenes adds a whole other layer to the film itself, especially in light of the fact that it was teetering on the edge throughout the entire production.

Bottom line – if you like or love Apocalypse Now, you should definitely see Hearts of Darkness.

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WD TV Feedback Site: Suggest / vote on new features

Western Digital finally responded to an email I had sent a few weeks back re: an official WD TV forum, pointing me (and my fellow WD TV owners) to its official feedback site.

There are a few intriguing things about this UserVoice powered forum: 1. WD is showing that it is actually interested in what the WD TV community has to say; 2. Registered and non-registered visitors alike can vote for their favorite suggested features (note: if you clear your browser’s cache, you can submit more than the allotted 10 votes); and 3. WD employees appear to be marking features with status updates such as “planned” “under review” “started” etc.

Of note, it appears that Full DVD ISO menu support is “planned” and that enabling network adapters is “under review.” In this day and age, having a site like this is just about mandatory for any “in touch” company, so it is nice to see WD making an effort. Let’s hope that we see many of these suggested features show up in the next major firmware release. And don’t forget to visit the site to suggest / vote for your favorite new features.

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