Currently, I am testing out the voice recognition in Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista. While still a bit buggy, is far better than any other voice recognition software I’ve ever used. In fact, saving for a few you misused punctuation marks, I’ve written this entire post using the voice recognition software.

Which is why I’m sure this is reading as if I were writing this on some form of medication. Sorry about that, but I wanted to see if it would work. And it has. Kinda.

I’ll explain more later, when I’m not so tired my speech is totally slurred.

Microsoft Windows Vista: Speech Recognition

Apple announced today that its popular iPod Shuffle line of MP3 players is now available in five different colors; original silver, blue, pink, green, and orange.

Still 1GB memory, still $79, and, frankly, looks super-cool. If I had money, this would be enough to get me to pick one up for those times I don’t wanna carry around my 5th Gen.

Click the image for a better look at the new lineup:

Hot on the heels of the release of Vista, Apple may very well be announcing some new products today, according to MacRumors. The rumor has it that four new iPod Shuffles would be coming out, perhaps in a variety of colors, although some are speculating that this could be a software release, while some say it will be an update to Apple’s LCD displays, perhaps to make them more competitive with Dell.

Personally, I think that if there is an announcement tomorrow, it would have to be the Shuffles or the LCDs. Apple isn’t going to let any major software information (iLife ‘07, iWork ‘07, OS X Leopard, etc.) get out without a press conference, and, as far as I know, there hasn’t been one announced. Although the color-update on the Shuffle could bring some media coverage, I doubt it’s something so product-altering that it couldn’t just be announced via the online store and a press release. And, frankly, who besides the Apple Sluts (like myself) would give a crap about the LCD lineup changing?

Of course, the most likely answer, if any, is the Shuffle, as to knock the wind out of Microsoft’s sails… albeit not a powerful hit against the Vista press-machine, but it’d at least be something.

I’ll let you know what’s going on as soon as I do.

As you all know, the next version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, dubbed Vista, is going to be released tomorrow. And, as some of you know, I’ve been beta testing Vista for the better part of five months, so I’ve gotten a chance to play around with it.

Was it worth the six-year wait? Is it worth the hassle to upgrade? Is the $400 price-tag on Vista: Ultimate Edition justified? Is it just a sad rip-off of Apple’s OS X? Will people be camping out in front of stores tonight, hoping against hope to score themselves a copy of the Bill Gates Signature Edition?

The answers are ‘yes,’ ‘yes,’ ‘depends,’ ’sorta,’ and ‘God, I hope not.’

Microsoft Windows Vista Published By Microsoft Street Date: 1/30/07

Click on the ‘Continue’ link to read more about “The Most Important Operating System Release Microsoft Has Had In Six Years.”

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The recoding and porting of the site is now done…

…now, coming tomorrow, is an introduction to all the new eTM Goodness™ that we got cookin’ (can anyone say “Wiki”?  I knew you could…), the often-promised review of Microsoft Windows Vista, and a whole bunch o’ Apple Bits, fresh from the oven.

So, c’mon back tomorrow.  Or, at this point, “later.”  It’ll be sweet.

Posting for the next few days will be rather random; between work, school, and that “sleep” thing I hear so much about, I’m also porting over my posts from this install of WordPress to a new one, in anticipation of upgrading to WordPress 2.1.

And, while I could just go and transfer the posts with a file, I want to go through them, clean up the spelling (which has been terrible thus far, might I add), and pretty ‘em up for you.

“But, eD!, why are you moving your WordPress installation? What sort of sense does that make?”

Well, first of all, when I started this version of eTM, I really did a number on the installation, putting it in a sub-folder of eDTheMusical.com rather than just making it the center of the site. This has cost me tons of time in trying to “fix” plug-ins that are looking for the plug-in folder in some spot other than where the folder actually is. Secondly, there is a lot of new stuff I wanna throw on the site, such as a Pimp Yo’ Pod Wiki and a forum (once the guys who make bbPress get their act together and make it easy to change the forum’s theme) to replace the comments section of the site.

The changes should be all done by the end of the month, if all continues to go well. Thanks for understanding… unless you don’t understand, in which case I say to you, “Shucks.”

Because I’ll be at work and school all day, and I don’t think I’ll get to post anything until later tonight, here’s a video to start your day. It’s… weird, to say the least.

So, I was reading Lying In The Gutters today, when I came across a bit in there about a trade paperback collection that Amazon had a pre-order listing or somesuch for a book that may very well give away the ending of Marvel’s Summer-then-Fall-then-Winter event, Civil War.

You wanna see it? You can click here. You want a title for the thing?

Then click the “Continue!” link.

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Yep, it’s true… I’m back. After better than twelve hours of straight work on my UNIX stuff, I still didn’t get some things working, so, clearly, it was all worth it.

Anyway, I have some bits o’ Apple news for you, and, since I didn’t really post for the last two days, a few posts on Saturday and Sunday, including my review of Windows Vista.

First, MacRumors has confirmed the fee for upgrading your MacBook, MacBook Pro or iMac to Draft-N (which I told you about here) is going to be $1.99, not the $4.99 originally announced. One could assume this is due to the anger demonstrated by many people over the concept of paying $5 for an update, but there could be other reasons, as well. Who knows, really?

Secondly, The Chicago Sun-Times has an article up on the pro’s and con’s of the iPhone. Gives you a little something to get you even more excited for June.

Okay, I’m going to go eat some chicken nuggets… I’ll see you all tomorrow.

…but damn if I’m not losing my mind over this program I gotta write as a final project, so I’ll talk about that later.

Instead, I’m going to post a video of “Weird Al” performing White And Nerdy. As you may remember, I said that his performance on The Tonight Show was less-than-stellar, and that I hoped it would get better, and quick. And, last month (or so), he did it again on VH1’s Big In ‘06 awards show.

And, this time, he completely knocked it outta the park. Yes, he still needs to work on his delivery a bit, and his breath control is off, but, still, this is way closer to the Al I’ve seen in concert than his Tonight Show debacle.

Check it out: