Looks like he’s got a decent number of blogs taking about his presentation. I can’t do it justice so you should plan to attend an event where he is presenting and see for yourself.
Technorati showing links to blogs on Rolf’s presentation
A version of his presentation from eBay Live time. It is better if he presents it but for those of you who can’t wait… here it is.
So, as a nice little gift to myself I picked up an Apple TV tonight. First thing I always have to say is that Apple ALWAYS has the best packaging. The setup could not have been easier. It was basically plug in 2 cables and type a code into iTunes to enable the system to sync. Then it was just a matter of watching the content.
A couple take aways. The idea is great but there are a few holes in the system but none of these will be new if you’ve read any reviews of the product.
Content
That’s as far as I’ve made it so far but when i rip more content at a higher sample I’ll let you know if it makes it better.
Hanging out at the Fess Parker Inn (Santa Barbara) with Alice on her mini-vacation that she’s taking between her wrapping up at eBay and starting at Chordiant.
We got up early-ish this morning and headed down to Santa Barbara. The views going down the 154 were amazing and there were lots of up and down the mountains where we got to see for miles. After the views the best part was running into 3 Starbucks in 4 blocks. Felt like we were back to civilization. 
I got a ton of well wishes today, which was really nice and appreciated. I even got one poem! Granted, I was also called bad names by both Woodworth and Hikade so some things never change. Thanks to the rise in popularity of Facebook I also found two others guys with the same birthday.
Alice had a massage at the spa and then took a nap so I used the time to head over to the driving range at the River Course at Alisal. I hit about 80 range balls and was happy with about 15 so I have some work to do this summer. The I came back and was annoying Alice by being chatty so I went next door to grab a beer and read the latest Economist. I love people watching. After 45 min I came back and napped as well. So nice.
We had a great dinner at Brothers Restaurant at Matteis Tavern. It was right around the corner from the Inn and was super relaxed and comfortable. Good meal to be sure.
Jason wrote up a good review of our dinner at this place. Check out his Yelp review but I’ve copied the text here since I’m unsure of how to link directly.
After reading the other Yelp reviews, I was excited to dine at 180 Restaurant last night, looking forward to what was no-doubt going to be some great cuisine and nice atmosphere.
Well, I was right about this cuisine…not so much about the atmosphere.
Let me start with the big negative. At about 8pm, just after we had ordered, the band started playing. And not some cozy background music that improved the experience and lightened the mood. The band was a couple 50-year old guys who obviously had a lifelong dream of playing crowded nightclubs, mingling with the patrons during their set, and being the center of attention.
The lead singer walked through the restaurant with his microphone and saxophone “serenading” the dinner guests, and encouraging them to join in the verses. While it was bad enough to have the loud background music, getting an earful of sax while trying to eat and having to listen to random folks in the crowd singing parts of the song just wasn’t the dinner experience I was hoping for. On top of this, the band continually brought up a 14-year-old girl — who no-doubt had aspirations of being the next American Idol — to sing. I’ll be curious to watch next season to see if she makes it to L.A. My money is on “No.”
That said, the food was superb. We started with the “Chef Sampler,” which consisted of pork ribs, spicy grilled shrimp and crab cakes. The ribs were tender and juicy, the shrimp were well-spiced and tender, and the crab cakes were typical California crab cakes (I’m from Maryland, so you’ll be hard-pressed to get me excited by any crab cakes around here). A couple people in our group ordered salads, which looked great and were well-portioned.
For the entree, I ordered the Angus Filet Mignon topped with cheese and a veal demi-glaze, along with asparagus and Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. The filet was perfectly cooked, tender, and delicious. The asparagus — which is far from my favorite vegetable, but seemed to be the most-common side-disk on the menu — was also quite tender and very flavorful. I had actually asked to replace the asparagus with broccolini, but the server forgot to put that request into the kitchen, so she brought me the broccolini on the side. It too, was perfectly cooked and delicious.
As I’m currently trying to lose a couple pounds, I choose not to try the potatoes or dessert, but if the rest of the meal is any indication, I’m guessing they would have been superb as well.
Let me also note that I was able to find a coupon online for a 1/2 off any bottle of wine. The server accepted it without hesitation, and we used it to get a wonderful bottle of Silver Oak Cab.
Overall, while the background “music” was horribly annoying and made it very difficult to hold a conversation, the food was fantastic, and I’m still giving this place 4 stars (I’d probably give 3.5 if possible). Without the obnoxious band, the place would have gotten at least 4.5 stars.
I added a bunch of pics and will be adding more to Facebook:
The video card may have been bad but it wasn’t the issue. Reboots continue.
My new PC has been rebooting and being a general pain in the ass. I took it into a repair shop I’ve worked with a couple times in the past and within 2 hours that nailed down the problem to bad memory on my SLI video card. That would have taken me forever to identify.
I really recommend these guys. Bay Area Computer Man
Watching “Engaged & Underage,” a scary show in itself. The guy and girl met in 9th grade and are getting married before they’re even 21. While discussing religion (5 days before the wedding) the following conversation happens:
So, I’ve already expressed my dislike for many company attempts to leverage user generated content to feed their commercials. Some are great, like what Fox did for “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and their superfan contest (with MySpace). Then there are attempts like what Secret did (this is a link to my old post about it) and the newest painful one is the Oreo Cookie “send us a video of you singing the original theme song”… please make it stop.
Wow… we have an amazing capacity to focus on the silly. Listen, I’m not a fan of the saggy pants look but does this stuff really need to be managed by law?
Maybe they could make this a dress code and issue uniforms for the town. You know, then they could fine people with pants that are to high as well as to low! We’ll teach those elderly and young to be in the middle of the road gosh darn it!
Seriously, who has this much free time? I bet these people get pissed off when stories of women wearing veils for religious reasons in Europe come on the evening news and I bet they talk about freedoms without an eye to how this legislation is purely about legislating taste.
Yes, they say it is a precursor to the hip hop, gangster culture that brings with it violence. Seems to me like they’re treating the symptom and not the cause. Maybe if they banned red and blue bandanas then gang violence would stop.
I don’t know… this stuff just annoys me. Treat the root cause of a problem and I think we’d all be happier long term.