Author: Dan Dickinson

So Apple’s done a zillion announcements today; the one that hits me the most obviously is the iTunes 4 one.
Rendezvous sharing is very cool, but in fact, Apple will allow you to share with anyone, so long as you have the IP.
Just go under Advanced, hit “Connect to Shared Music”, punch in the IP, type in a password if the user has one set up, and it’s just like they’re on your LAN.
It’s streaming only, but it’s very good streaming. Even album art comes over (which I’m furiously tagging my MP3s with). I only had to rebuffer twice playing the Beatles’ “And I Love Her” from a friend in California.
Edit: Apparently the friend who said the album art came over was on crack. Oh well.
Nicely done, Apple.

On Saturday this week, the world will celebrate the 25th anniversary of spam, as the first unsolicited commercial message was sent on ARPANET on May 3rd, 1978.
Those look to celebrate in geeky ways can check out the etymology of the term or, for the truly geeky, read initial reactions, including a young Richard Stallman saying he would be in favor of spam.
(Thanks to Brad Templeton for all the great data.)

Despite having a disproportionate number of restaurants, my favorite places to eat list in Ithaca is woefully short. Maxies for fun and overall top pick (can’t beat the food, service, or atmosphere), Boatyard for formal (great balance between wow factor and price), Kayuga for Japanese (better service and consistency than Kyushu or Plum Tree), Viva Taqueria for Mexican (Coyote Loco is too fu-fu), Ithaca Bakery for sandwiches and the like, and Billy Bob Jacks for cheap BBQ.
I’m happy to add Wings Over Ithaca to my short list of recommended places to eat.
Granted, it’s a wing place. There’s not a huge amount of variety on the menu. But there’s around 20 flavors of wings, thus helping ensure there’s something you’ll enjoy. There are sandwiches, wraps, ribs, and bone-in wings if that’s your thing. And there are enough combos to choke a goat.
We had ordered for delivery back when they opened, and they thankfully didn’t nail us with a delivery charge (see below), and the food ranged from reasonably good (Katie’s wrap) to extremely tasty (my DC-3). But what impressed me is when I actually went to the restaurant yesterday; it actually IS a restaurant, and they do a lunch buffet and whatever else. But what blew me away was that it took them one minute – just one – from when I paid for my order to when I got my food. That’s less time than McDonald’s takes for considerably better food.
So big thumbs up there. Thumbs down, on the other hand, goes to Mama T’s AND Sammy’s (the new Commons branch thereof). Why? The delivery men routinely get lost while trying to find the house, thus ensuring I never get my pizza in less than double the time estimate they quote me, and normally with a few “where are you?” phone calls from the delivery guy. Now they’ve started insisting on a delivery charge because I live “so far out” from both locations. Of course, they don’t tell me this until I *get* the delivery. Add on top of that the fact that the pizza has been subpar as of late, and you get one unhappy Dan.