I need writers. I need good writers. I need good writers that can grab hold of relevant AV news and post it on the website. This doesn’t seem hard, after all I can take a news item and generate original content in less than 10 minutes. but try to find someone… ANYONE who seems interested in the task. I have yet to discover this person. I am not looking for a lifelong staffer, though who knows what we’d do if we found someone who was just stacking the site with good content… I am looking for a true reporter. Make the calls, send the emails… scoop the stories.

I mean – this could be so much fun! Are you out there news guy? Are ya? Send me an email will you, so I can get this ball rolling.

In other “news” I am wrapping up a review of the IN78. Now, I seem to have a problem. I have discovered after all of this time, that while I am still objective and reasonable…. I hate single-chip DLP. It’s pathetic. It’s worse than pathetic – it’s nonsensical (that means that it ‘makes no sense’ to you people who had problem s with dangling chads). Why on earth we can’t get 3 DLP chips inside a box for under $4000 is beyond me. Rainbow effect would be GONE. GONE. Picture quality would go up. Is DLP that difficult to manufacture that TI can’t fathom expanding its mid-to-upper end consumer products by a factor of 3? Is it that cost-prohibitive that only $10k products can have 3 chips?

LCOS has 3 chips.

3LCD has 3 chips.

Both have HAD 3-chips since inception. The very nature of a color wheel is ridiculous and reminds me of CRT and it’s archaic scan lines. Are we not, with HD, beyond trying to play “tricks” on the eyes (a la color wheel). I think we are. In fact I know we are.

DLP is lame in it’s 1-chip iteration and needs to be brought to 3-chip technology FAST. TI has had ample time to make money and the chips are not that expensive in terms of mass production. Greed is holding this technology from being all that it can be – mark my words.

Manufacturers unite – kick their butts and get that company on the right track. Throw out your color wheels and stop giving me a headache. Besides, LCOS and LCD are starting to come up with some tricks that are beginning to make you look very stupid.

Commander: It’s been 2 days… the cats continue to pursue – even daylight hours are no deterrent. We’ve sought shelter indoors but they continue to stalk us… watching. This afternoon I peered outside to find one in my side yard. I almost shattered the glass banging on it to scare it away – but to no avail. I fear they have mutated into something… different… more, sinister.

Tonight I will post recon to see where they may be basing their operations, but I fear they are too migratory to track. It may be that they like to keep us guessing. Or it may be that they require no sleep. I hope they seek sustenance because it may be our only hope for a “cure”. I’ve called in for local, professional backup but they want me to come acquire one of their containment fields for temporary enslavement of the animal. I had a more… permanent… solution in mind.

Freaking cats. I hate cats. The only thing I hate more than cats are live cats. The only thing I hate more than live cats are live cats in heat. The only thing I hate more than live cats in heat are live cats in heat sitting on my neighbor’s front porch. The only thing I hate more than live cats in heat sitting on my neighbor’s porch are live cats in heat sitting on my neighbor’s front porch at 1am. I think that deserves an webonym… TOTIHMTLCIHSOMNPA1AM. Yeah, I hate cats.

So I jump out of bed cause it sounds like children are crying at the top of their lungs only to realize that it’s the stupid cats that have been plaguing me for the past 7 months. The cats nobody apparently owns. The cats no one apparently wants to fix. The cats I must not say publicly that I want to kill. So I jump out of bed at 1am, throw on my shorts and exit the front of the house – shirtless. I have no fear. After all, these are cats.

So I listen for the noise since I am not yet certain where they are. Ah there it is – apparently on my neighbor’s porch. I creep around to the front of the porch where I see two stupid-looking cats (is there any other kind?) screaming at each other for no reason apparently locked in some kind of “you can’t scare me and I’m really itchin’ for some love” kind of way. Seriously, I don’t understand the heat thing… If you need something to happen, go do it – don’t scream about it for hours on end until someone wakes up and comes to kick your butt. I ran at them and they leaped off my neighbors porch onto our shared driveway. I ran at them again – fully intent on connecting at least one head with my foot, but they split and ran – one behind a tree and another in front of my house. I went after the second one – chasing it to a neighbor’s porch. At this point I realized that since I had neither a) a gun, b) a tazer, or c) perfected my telekinetic abilities to move/mutilate/destroy/crush matter without touching it, I had best return to my bed and plot my next steps…

These cats who I am not saying publicly that I will now kill of course, must go away. But if I were (hypothetically) going to kill a cat, I’d love some ideas from you readers. I am thinking that rat poison in a dish of catfood would do nicely. I have heard that antifreeze is also the bomb because it smells and tastes sweet. Of course I will call Animal Control and ask if they can put out some traps. The only problem is I have no faith in Animal Control. They are the ones that told me raccoons are apparently a protected species in the downtown area. WHAT?!? Protected? How about you come and GET them so that you can protect them from my foot? That would probably be the best protection they could be offered.

But seriously, I love animals. Typically medium and with just a hint of seasoning.

I feel like Scotty on the Enterprise: “Captain we need more content, but I dinna have the manpower ta doo et!” Audioholics is a lot like a space ship. (OK, it’s nothing like a space ship – but follow me for a second). Audioholics is a massive entity with lots of interworking systems and parts – and there is a skeleton crew holding her together. She runs well, but there is always room for improvement. In the most recent situation – we’re facing challenges (though cool ones) on no less than three fronts: website content development (writing tech articles and news blasts), instructional videos (these are cool – just wait til you see them), and the AVRant podcast (thank goodness for Tom and others to manage this). These are all VERY cool things – but they will take lots of time and management to assure all goes according to plan (i.e. the ship doesn’t get caught with its shields down).

So what’s next? Getting this website up and running full steam ahead and making sure our infrastructure is in place to support the podcasting and streaming of this new content. I’m also working on persuading Jay to get on board with blogging here and I’ve got some plans for Audioholics.com as well. I’d like to solicit help from our readers on a number of topics – and in general I’d like to get several “news reporters” who can write and editorialize on current topics. If you fit the bill, drop me an email or leave yours in a comment here.

Nothing like posting a quick blog when you’re in the middle of creating a brand new website for the up and coming AVRant podcast… It’s not hard, just pick a design… enter in some starter text… add in the necessary plug-in architecture to structure the site… figure out how to set up a fixed podcast feed… grab more plug-ins… wait for extremely slow WordPress theme site to load… again…

OK, it’s a lot of stinking work. Of course, it’s also kind of rewarding. Where else can you wake up at 7am and have a new website by 6PM? It’s a good feeling of accomplishment – probably why I also like to work on old houses and fix them up. When you turn around and look at your work there’s actually something to see.

OK, this is a short one but I’ve got to move on.