Everyone's throwing up quasi-functional previews nowadays. Apple's doing it. So is ABCnews. Heck, even Jennicam is getting into the act. It makes me wish I had more behind the scenes to show... Well, I'm working on school and biz projects all day today, but Cameo's a constant weight in the back of my mind, and I really want to get it out to you folks, so time will tell. If I can't get it fully polished, I can always put up a preview...

Looks like the NOAA satellite launch was postponed a day. For those of you who are in California and happen to be up at 3 a.m., I suggest you check out the launch. It should be visible from most of the state, if you're looking for it. It won't be as spectacular as last July's Minuteman III launch, because launches just after sunset make for spectacularly lit contrails, but it should be cool anyhow.

Current launch time is 3:22 a.m., Thursday morning. If you see it, let me know! Vandenberg is somewhere around Santa Barbara, so look that direction...

And if you're a night owl, but not that much of a night owl, there's a 1 a.m. Minuteman III launch in a week (Wednesday night/Thursday morning). Actually, according to the site, two missiles are being launched simultaneously. I don't know if it's a typo, or just a double payload, but if it is two, there's another reason to wait up with the binoculars.

All I've got to say is that when you've got a good blog, you have to be extra careful what you ask for, becuase you just might get it.

Four months ago megnut mentioned the idea of combining eminem and enya (eminenya). Now one reader's creation is apparently getting a fair amount of airplay, and rightly so.

No, not the Underground, the other one. My cable's been on the fritz for six weeks and it finally came on crystal clear sometime yesterday. Now my TiVo is once again more than a personal space heater.

It's funny, because I don't have time to watch TV in the first place, but now I can be a little happier knowing that the shows I won't have time to watch are being recorded anyhow. Somewhere deep down I know that my TV doesn't feel neglected. (Yeah, so the TiVo grabs the signal before it even gets to TV, but the more basic problem here is that I'm anthropomorphizing an electron gun encased in melted sand.)

Do a search on the phrase "I love my TiVo", then go buy TiVo stock. It's about to hit the tipping point...

My copy of Mac OS X shipped this morning, and is on its way to my powerbook! Now all they need to do is release the gcc compiler for the platform (coming next month, they say).

In other news, in a patent cross-licensing deal, Apple now has rights to use Amazon's one-click shopping patent. I guess nobody told Jobs that just because people can order with one click, doesn't mean their orders won't still take 4 weeks to ship. Still, it's just the thing when you want to impulse-buy that Cube G4 off the home page.

Actually, I wonder what Apple patents Amazon wants to use...

Imagine if you're the IT director for an international non-profit organization, the group's initials were ICBE, and you were a late arriver to the net. Try explaining to your CEO why you can't get your preferred domain name.

I'm a huge BNL fan, so when I saw the headline, I was really disappointed. The last thing I'd want to do is bucket BNL in with the likes of Metallica and Dr. Dre.

But, after reading the article, I admire them even more. This is a proportional response.

I'm going to see the show with a bunch of friends in three weeks at the Shoreline (where hopefully they've discovered a way to turn their amps to 11 since the Sting concert) and I encourage everyone to see them whenever and wherever you can. They play a great show.

Toby's taken exception to my likening him to a cyberstalker, so I'd like to clarify, I didn't mean to imply he was stalking me, only that he took a domain name that only has two uses, presenting information on AOLiza, or taking hits from people looking for AOLiza in the wrong place.

Toby's assured me that he didn't mean to cause any harm, or to cybersquat, just that he was at namedemo.com the same day as he read one of the AOLiza articles, and it was the first domain name that came to mind, not meaning to do anyone any harm.

I'm hoping that this is the case, and that he'll work with me to register the domain in my name. The site's been getting a fair number of hits, due in part, no doubt, to the fact that the WSJ article didn't have a URL, and AOLiza.com is the most likely URL.

Anyhow, I've got to go to lab, but I'm hoping Toby really is trying to help, and I'll keep you posted.

Thanks go to Toby, the guy who registered Aoliza.com, for putting in a redirect to the site.

I'm currently dealing with namedemo.com (register.com) to see what their deal is. Looking into the details, it looks like namedemo.com is a front to allow register.com to get around ICANN registrar rules prohibiting domain name registrars from warehousing domain names. Register.com is probably breaking that agreement, and I'm looking into it. Hopefully, further bulletins will follow.

A lot of people have been bitching about the $30 charge for Apple's OS X public beta. Many are saying that Apple's just being money-grubbing, and is setting itself up for bad PR, and some say the charge is because OS X has to be installed from a CD, and the charge covers short-run manufacturing costs.

I disagree. While I'd agree Apple is adept at shooting itself in the PR foot, I think I see Jobs's marketing sense behind the move, and it may be for the best.

When Steve is at the helm, image is always more important than short-term money grabs. Taking a closer look at what's in store for the next year, it's unlikely that full-page ads, slick quicktime-streamed demos and free posters are going to turn OS X into the linux-killer (wow. Did I just use the phrase 'linux-killer'? Linux has come a long way...). As any Microsoft project manager will tell you, public betas are half about finding bugs, half about generating free buzz, and half about measuring reaction to new functionality directions (anyone nitpicking Microsoft math skills should really be questioning what place functionality asessment has in the beta stage at all).

Anyhow, back to the point: A free Mac OS X beta would be downloaded by Mac die-hards, bored IS techies with a spare G3 box, and a host of relatively unexperienced Mac owners. Exposure is great, but by creating a few modest barriers to entry (such as announcing the release of the Beta overseas in an unstreamed event, not making it available for download, charging $30, and restricting the beta to G3 hardware (and not even all G3 hardware) (although some people have been able to work around that limitation (sometimes in terrifying ways (this is almost certainly a hoax (ahh, parenthetical bliss...)))), Apple is attempting to ensure that those who use OS X Beta are people who want to believe.

What it comes down to is that a for-nominal-charge beta could result in 25,000 advocates of OS X and 2,500 naysayers. An entirely open beta with no barrier to entry except a large FTP download could result in 60,000 advocates and 20,000 dire-hard Unix and NT devotees who will slam the product. Following the principles that bad news travels faster and wider than good, Apple does (and should) prefer a more limited release to a more target demographic.

Along the same lines, Apple's decision to offer OS X as a factory-installed option on new Macs is another sign that they want the OS out there (even as a primary environment) but to a highly mac-positive demographic.

Another interesting note is the recent story on Slashdot asking the readership for its opinion of OS X. One of the largest communities of Unix geeks on the planet, the posts in the forum made it clear that OS X has achieved a remarkable feat already. It's succeeded in breaking the Unix ranks into those people who love Unix because it's better and those who love Unix because it makes them feel superior.

Just imagine a world where a Mac user can feel superior to an NT user because they actually run a better OS, as well as one that's easier to use.