Key cutting machines look confusing to say the least and they’ve gotten a lot better over time. The biggest frustration though is that YOU can’t use the thing yourself. If you need duplicates of your keys made, you have to head down to your local Home Depot and spend fifteen minutes just trying to find someone to do it for you. And they always screw it up. There has to be an easier way.

Imagine a simple machine that accepts a key and spits out copies. Something you would find at Target, Walgreens, or even a grocer – Something anyone could use, completely automated.

Great interview with Steve Wozniak:
Steve Wozniak on Apple, Steve Jobs and the Value of a Good Prank

Woz on Artificial Intelligence:

Could you build a robot that could make a cup of coffee?

First, people say, “Well, that sounds simple.” And the answer is: It’ll never happen.

You could come into my house and you might be able to make a cup of coffee. I could go into your house and I might be able to make a cup of coffee. Think of all the steps a computer would have to analyze — walking through your house, trying to figure out where a kitchen might be. If you have a coffee machine, figuring how it fits together. We’d know to open a drawer and look for a filter, because we’ve used coffee machines. We’ve lived a human life.

[Can] a computer create art? You could write programs that make music that sounds okay — it uses the right notes or the right scales — but it wouldn’t be great art. Because you have to judge it. How could a computer judge art — even a painting — if it’s never experienced the human feeling of a breeze on a beach?

You’d almost have to have a robot that grows up. Maybe it could live life a little faster than a human. But it would have to go through a lot of steps we go through to have the same feelings of what’s important in the world. – Knowledge@Wharton

So, do you give up? Nah. It’s probably way to much fun for the people trying to figure these problems out.

I think ads like this work for one simple reason. They’re entertaining. People are going to watch them all the way through.

The last thing anyone does is read software manuals or how-tos, but if all software demos were like this, we’d all be experts.

What I love about Netflix is that I can keep my rented DVD for as long as I like AND it will play just about anywhere. I can take it on holiday, over to a friends house, watch it my Powerbook or my office PC (um, yeah so?). DVDs are flexible. iTunes rentals, not so much.

But that’s suppose to be the point, right? A digital file should be more flexible. I should be able to watch it from anywhere, but I can’t. Just from the computer I downloaded it from or a video iPod, which I don’t have.

So that movie rental I downloaded on my office PC will have to be watched there. (Ok, I shouldn’t have rented a movie on my office PC, but those slick Apple ads seemed to allude that I would be able to play it just about anywhere)

This seems to negate to whole purpose of renting online. Why bother if I can just rent from On Demand? It’s faster. It costs the same.

One non technical issue that I feel needs working out is the 24 hours alloted to watch a movie, which may seem like enough time, needs to be doubled, at least. I usually watch movies late at night and sometimes I fall asleep in the middle of them. This of course means that I will then have to finish the movie during my non-movie watching hours, during the daytime. Not often, but it does happen. It is a concern I never had to worry about before.

What I do love is how easy and even fun the process is. The new interface on the Apple TV is very slick. I makes you WANT to rent from iTunes.

I wonder what the most common blog spam comment is. I get quite a few of each of these everyday:

“Useful site. Thank you!!”

“Good site. Thanks!”

“Good advice!”

Plus several of variations of these.

Good thing Akismet rocks!

I love Hulu…

Here is an episode of 30 Days, Minimum Wage, with Morgan Spurlock.

The author of Entrepreneur2Be.com wrote a rather thoughtful summary of one of my favorite books, Founders At Work by Jessica Livingston.

http://www.entrepreneur2be.com/2008/02/13/book-founders-at-work

We track our money, our workout habits, so why not our social interactions?

TweetStats is a statistic utility that breaks down your Twitter usage by month, aggregate hourly tweets and which interface you use most.

Here are my stats: http://tweetstats.com/graphs/rjb

As you can see, the trend moves downward for me.

via Fred Wilson’s post Twitter Stats

My mobile phone is directly connected to my world, the things around me and can access the world at large. I can take video, find movie times, chat with someone in China and share photos. There are definitely pains involved, speed being the most grueling, but that is to be solved. The question I have been thinking about lately is, what else can our handhelds do for us? What is in store for the future?

One thing I’d love to be able to do is order from local businesses, like restaurants, for pickup or delivery. If I could order some Panang Curry from my mobile right now, I would; Get a reply back with the order details, delivery wait time, what I owe etc., I’d be ecstatic! Maybe even a history of my ordering that could build a sort of “My Guide to Chicago” list.

How about custom city pages, based on the places you and your friends have been. Remembering that patisserie in Paris your friend told you about would be a non issue. With my mobile device linked to his, I’d be attached to the parts of his world he is willing to let me in on. Mobile devices make it easier get our conscience out – Perfect for frequent travelers.

Is the mobile phone a new frontier? A place where new leaders will emerge? Or, will the Internet simply be picked up and placed on the mobile devices?

To put it another way, will handhelds simply be a redundant representation of our PCs or is the mobile space ripe for endless entrepreneurial adventures?

I think mobile devices will offer much more than a new interface on top of what we know. We will see apps we never thought possible and solutions to problems we never realized we had.

Ok. I just had one of the worst sandwiches in my entire life.

How hard is it to fuck up a chicken sandwich?

Who uses a quarter of a giant loaf of King’s Hawaiian Bread as sandwich bread?

$10!

Why do I buy sandwiches so often? They are the easiest thing in the world to make.

No. It is not just about plopping down some meat and condiments! Lettuce is more important than you think.

San Francisco sour is such the perfect everyday bread. It is almost too easy.

Cold-cuts should not be wet and slimy. Chicken meat should not be spongy.

Lettuce should compliment and add to the sandwich. With romaine, for example, cut the rib out. It’s just to watery. Shredding is ok, but it still dilutes the sandwich.

Pretty much all lettuce is fair game. Rocket is flavorful, thin and light so pile it on, maybe with some butter lettuce and romaine.

I’m simple. I like a little mayo and either some Dijon or English mustard. Mayo on top, mustard down below.

Cheese. Dublin cheddar.

I also make up a bottle of lemon vinaigrette to splash over the meat. (Olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning)

A Simple Turkey Sandwich