SXSW Monday: I’m here today to check more sessions and events out. Most that I’m interested in are in the afternoon. In the morning, a man needs his coffee, and as I’m walking from my parked car — wherever that is, somewhere blocks away from the action — to the convention center, a man asks me out of the clear blue sky:= “Hey, would you like some free coffee?”

Um, yeah. I would. Very much. He ushers me over to this trailer, which it turns out belongs to GE.

Those two white arms are robots. The barista attaches a syringe to to what, I guess, is its hand. The syringe is full of condensed coffee. She doesn’t start you on a coffee IV, which is a pity.

They snap a photo of you, or a logo that you’re wearing or have handy.

I happened to be wearing my PJTV shirt…

So, after a few seconds, the robot gets the image and passably writes it onto the foam on top of the coffee.

Thanks to Vivian at RetailMeNot for letting me snap pics while the robot was making her coffee. Click on the next page to see the holographic tour guide.

That is the question sought to be answered by the new book Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman, who discuss the pros and cons of a 3D world where we could possibly have a machine that could make everything. The authors state “[in] the not-so-distant future, people will 3D print living tissue, nutritionally calibrated food, and ready-made, fully assembled electronic components.”

The book looks at the history of 3D printing and how it came about and from there, the chapters discuss everything from what these machines can make to the legal difficulties that will follow from the technology. From the Backcover:

Businesses will be liberated from the tyrannies of economies of scale
Factories and global supply chains will shrink, finding themselves closer to their customers
The law, already reeling from digital media, will once again need to be redefined
Our environment might breathe easier in a 3D printed economy, or it could choke on a rising tide of plastic
3D printed digital and intelligent, adaptive materials will change our relationship with the physical world

What do you think of 3D technology: Is it the next best thing or will we choke on a rising tide of plastic?

I had such a wonderful time yesterday talking to John Phillips, the Los Angeles correspondent for Next Generation TV, the newest wing of the PJ Media family. Click here or on the screen shot above to watch our 11 minute conversation at PJTV on the future of Twitter, the challenges of juggling ideological friends on Facebook, and social media’s role in the political culture today.

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10 Secret Reasons Why The Avengers Is the Best Superhero Film

via Self-driving Google car a big hit at Texas Transportation Forum | Breaking News | News f….

AUSTIN — Some of the best transportation thinkers in Texas and across the United States are being upstaged this week by a car that drives itself.

About 1,400 people are attending the eighth annual Texas Transportation Forum through Tuesday in Austin. But while those experts meet in Hilton conference rooms and grapple with tough issues such as how to handle an increase in freight-hauling trucks on the roads, or how to pay for highways under a tightened state budget, it’s the Google “self-driving car” parked outside the downtown Austin hotel’s entrance that’s getting the most hubbub.

“It would probably do a better job driving than we do,” quipped Linda Thomas of Longview, who on Monday afternoon took turns shooting snapshots of the Google car with her husband, Charles.

The car is among a fleet of about 10 vehicles developed during the past eight years by researchers at Google and Stanford University. Google representatives said that on Tuesday they plan to take the car, a Lexus hybrid, for a spin on Austin-area roads, including infamously congested Interstate 35.

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An excerpt from the first chapter:

From my perspective, the Singularity has many faces. It represents the nearly vertical phase of exponential growth that occurs when the rate is so extreme that technology appears to be expanding at infinite speed. Of course, from a mathematical perspective, there is no discontinuity, no rupture, and the growth rates remain finite, although extraordinarily large. But from our currently limited framework, this imminent event appears to be an acute and abrupt break in the continuity of progress. I emphasize the word “currently” because one of the salient implications of the Singularity will be a change in the nature of our ability to understand. We will become vastly smarter as we merge with our technology.

Can the pace of technological progress continue to speed up indefinitely? Isn’t there a point at which humans are unable to think fast enough to keep up? For unenhanced humans, clearly so. But what would 1,000 scientists, each 1,000 times more intelligent than human scientists today, and each operating 1,000 times faster than contemporary humans (because the information processing in their primarily nonbiological brains is faster) accomplish? One chronological year would be like a millennium for them.27 What would they come up with?

Well, for one thing, they would come up with technology to become even more intelligent (because their intelligence is no longer of fixed capacity). They would change their own thought processes to enable them to think even faster.

When scientists become a million times more intelligent and operate a million times faster, an hour would result in a century of progress (in today’s terms).

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5 Technology Books To Read This Year

Currently reading on iPad for Tech Tuesdays: An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government and Other Goliaths

Some of the next books on deck (in no particular order yet):

1. Brain Gain: Technology and the Quest for Digital Wisdom by Marc Prensky

2. iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us by Larry D. Rosen

3. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil

4. Coming March 21: Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now by Douglas Rushkoff

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Click to submit book suggestions for the new daily feature at PJ Lifestyle.

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The Plan So I Don’t Waste the Last Year of My 20s

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Click to submit book suggestions for the new daily feature at PJ Lifestyle.

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image courtesy shutterstock /iurii

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Hat tip: Ted Belman at Isra Pundit

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My “10 Secret Reasons Why The Avengers Is the Best Superhero Film” mini-ebook concluded with this image depicting my attempt to organize my intellectual preoccupations and professional pursuits for 2013. Now to begin exploring how to utilize the technology to bring about this harmonic balance.

(New Year’s Resolution #2 – More Diligence About Sticking to a Schedule and Organizing the Life)

Three weeks after publicly proclaiming seven self-improvement goals for the new year, my quest for more disciplined time management still remains the most elusive. Some of the problem is that I have not yet figured out how best to utilize the four tools that will navigate me through the combination of my personal and professional lives:

*** Laptop

*** iPad

*** Cell phone – currently a Motorola Droid but soon to switch to an iPhone… Finally!

*** Extra large Moleskine journal

Part of this I can blame on not having all the puzzle pieces yet. My new journal — a birthday present from The Wife — arrived on Friday. And our new phones won’t appear until the end of the week. But soon I’ll have only myself to blame for those all-too-familiar feelings of anxiety and frustration that still arrive some days when I fail to achieve all the goals set.

I suspect that part of the problem is my tendency to multitask. As much as I want to focus on just writing a blog post or just editing an article or just reading a book from the stack of to-review titles, it’s so easy for interruptions — a phone call from a writer, an instant message from another PJM editor — and stray thoughts to lead me astray. And then before I know it I’m juggling numerous tabs across devices, drowning in a sea of emails, tweets, and YouTube videos. And then I’ll have half a dozen tasks part of the way done. Then Maura, our Siberian Husky, comes and asks for me to take her out.

75% there. The Wife thinks the new iPhones she ordered for us will arrive by Friday. The Moleskine sits under the mousepad. I’m now discovering too that it’s big enough to double as a decent lap-board…

Part of the problem is the nature of the technology itself. For most of the tasks that I do throughout the day I can technically use either my laptop, phone, or iPad. And often even within the same program. Writing emails, reading news reports, and publishing PJM articles through WordPress — these all happen in a single program on one device, and thus end up intermingling together. I haven’t figured out yet which devices and programs are the best.

A few areas that I’ll investigate on in the next few weeks and then report on:

1. Is it easiest to keep track of and respond to emails the traditional way with a computer or primarily on ipad, or phone?

2. Can I really get to the point where it’s possible to publish and edit WordPress articles from the iPad? Can one blog more efficiently and effectively from iPad instead of laptop?

3. What possibilities do the cameras on the iPad and iPhone allow for increasing organization? Am I the only one who has gotten in the habit of casually taking photos of bits of information I’d rather not forget?

4. Maybe I should experiment with this as a “division of powers” of sorts: A) To encourage concise communication, email primarily on the iPhone or iPad B) Use laptop for serious writing and editing, work C) The iPad should be utilized for consuming and sharing media (keeping up with news, blogs, and Kindle books) and social networking.

But what I’m definitely going to start doing:

5. With my new Moleskine journal (volume 15) I’m going to get in the habit of early EVERY day, taking the time to write down a quick summary — perhaps a bullet list — of my goals and plans for the day. If I can visualize the ideal day first thing can I then project an image of it through the visual reminders on the iPad and cell phone? Can I program my technology to help program me into a more organized, more focused person? We shall find out…

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So this is a real thing demoed this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, the giant annual event in Las Vegas company in their rights minds would ever send me to in person.

It’s called Oculus Rift, and it’s the video game console you strap on your face. With a big HDMI cable or something coming out of the top of it. It’s been a big success with Silicon Valley-type Kickstarter investors — but something tells me they’re a lot more likely to strap game consoles to their heads than most other people.

On the other hand, the opportunity to play your favorite first-person shooter or fantasy adventure game in a totally immersive environment…

…would you do it?

(Heinlein fans may remember this from “The Roads Must Roll”.)

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The Most Powerful Idea in the World

In the good old days, consumers got what they wanted. Supply and demand, not causes or ideology, governed product design and manufacturing. That’s why we have great American icons like the 1969 Chevy Camaro, the charcoal-burning Weber grill, and DDT.

But things have changed. The Green Movement’s worship of scarcity has changed the consumer landscape for the worse. Instead of big, powerful, and, most importantly, effective products, in 2012 consumers must suffer with pansy products. Sure, they are designed to save energy and make you feel good. But they just don’t work as well as the old, and usually cheaper, versions.

Below are seven crappy products we must endure, courtesy of the Green Movement.

1. Low Water Toilets

Any article with the headline above must start with low water toilets. Many of you will remember an age before the government decided water was scarce, when toilets could be counted on. In 1992, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, and President George Bush signed it. It mandated a maximum flush capacity for toilets. Naturally, the 1992 version of the Green Movement was behind the law, and behind the Republican sponsor – Representative Philip Sharp of Indiana. Since Bush signed Sharp’s legislation, plunger sales have sky-rocketed. Sharp’s bad idea has caused some of the most embarrassing moments of people’s lives, especially when they are visiting someone else’s home.

Beware, the freaks next want to eliminate water in your toilet, as well as toilet paper.

As if one needed further proof of a downward-trending music industry, Adele’s 21 became the first album of the Soundscan era to lead all album sales two years running. In other words, nothing released during all of 2012 could unseat an album released in the first month of 2011. All that with Adele sidelined by vocal-chord issues and her pending pregnancy.

Taylor Swift tried and failed to block that path, with Red falling 1.3 million from 21 despite having four top ten hits, none of which ranked inside the year’s top ten overall. The year’s big winners — Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen and Fun — dominated single sales with their first Hot 100 releases. No one knew their names when the year began, and it remains questionable whether either can follow it up.

With the fresh start a new year brings, we need to face facts: LPs no longer draw long-term interest from fans, who prefer the instant gratification of a viral hit single. And no matter how many singles get parceled out to radio stations month after month, an artist lives or dies by the success of the last one.

Singles don’t drive album sales — they simply drive demand for more singles.

Having sacrificed the long-term stability inherent in developing artists over the long term, labels must now watch as newcomers either instantly dominate or free-fall. Veteran acts, meanwhile, either find ways to continually churn out successful singles to dying radio while courting fickle audiences online or they cling to the hope that their next album will prove different. Just ask Aerosmith how that worked for them.

Welcome to the new industry normal. Observing which bands find ways to use these trends to their advantage will provide the real fun of chart-watching in 2013.

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New Releases in Music

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Black Veil Brides – Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones (Universal Republic)

Broadcast – The Berberian Sound Studio (Warp Records)

Conor Maynard – Contrast (Capitol)

This kid’s already getting called 2013’s next pop superstar, and with production assistance from hip-hop / r&b heavyweights including Pharrell Williams, Ne-Yo, Stargate and Frank Ocean, he already has a leg up on the competition hype-wise. Too bad “Better Than You,” which features Rita Ora, doesn’t particularly shout “buy me!” for anyone outside the Bieber generation.

David Bronson – Story (David Bronson)

Dropkick Murphys – Signed and Sealed in Blood (Dropkick Murphys)

Though they once tried to whitewash the Irish music of their childhood from their blend of Boston-bred punk-rock fury, the stamp of Dropkick Murphys’ heritage remains indelible on the third track off Signed and Sealed in Blood. Thank God the band figured out that building upon one’s influences doesn’t have to mean the same as simply wallowing in them. With their latest effort, the band has crafted the exciting shot across the bow fans have long waited. Let the imitators struggle to keep up.

Never Shout Never – Indigo (All The Best)

Nolwenn Leroy – Nolwenn (Decca)

Skinny Molly – Haywire Riot (Ruf Records)

Solange – True (Terrible Records)

If you’re into hybrid pop which blends elements of disco with modern r&b club flourishes, “Losing You” has moments where it hints at a passable hook. But the remainder of this forgettable EP, getting a CD pressing after two months of online availability, simply showcases that Beyonce’s forgotten younger sister doesn’t have the pop know-how to rise beyond a mere curiosity.

Thorcraft Cobra – Count It In (Redeye Label)

Twenty One Pilots – Vessel (Fueled By Ramen)

Produced by Greg Wells, who earned Grammy nods working with Weezer and Adele, this debut effort morphs hip-hop, indie rock and punk in ways which shouldn’t work. Oddly, “Holding On To You” has the hooks of Fun and Paper Tongues, with a video which owes as much to Gotye as it does Panic! at the disco. This definitely warrants a second look if you’re a fan of genre-bending pop.

Wooden Wand – Blood Oaths of the New Blues (Fire Records)

Zatokrev – The Bat, The Wheel and a Long Road to Nowhere (Candlelight)

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New Releases: DVD / Blu-Ray

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Looper (DVD / Blu-Ray)

James Berardinelli of ReelViews calls Looper the year’s best movie, arguing that, unlikely any other film this year, it succeeds on three levels: intellectual, visceral and emotional. “I was engaged by the twisty, unpredictable narrative, which reached a hard-hitting, logical conclusion. I cared about the characters and the dilemma presented. And I was fascinated by some of the choices made with respect to how time travel is presented.” I’ll spare you any spoilers, but if you’re at all a fan of science fiction, you can’t skip this film.

Cosmopolis (DVD / Blu-Ray)

House at the End of the Street (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Touchback (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Stolen (DVD / Blu-Ray)

The Words (DVD / Blu-Ray)

A writer at the peak of his literary success discovers the steep price he must pay for stealing another man’s work. This film and Silver Linings Playbook showcase Bradley Cooper’s surprising acting range, making him much more than “that guy from The Hangover.” Deemed overly clever and dramatically inert by many critics, the movie could better forge a connection with audiences when viewed from the comfort of your sofa.

Jack and Diane (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Little Birds (DVD)

The Trouble With Bliss (DVD)

Anger Management: Season One (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Proving yet again that America loves Charlie Sheen in any form, these ten episodes showcase that as much as things change, they more often remain the same. If you liked Sheen on Two and a Half Men as a womanizing jingle-writer, you’ll probably feel pretty much the same about him as a non-traditional shrink specializing in anger management therapy. You’ll laugh, you’ll yawn, you’ll take a nap. And FX will produce 90 more episodes just like these, pleasing the syndication gods thusly.

Archer: Season Three (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Dallas: The Complete First Season (DVD)

Justified: The Complete Third Season (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Being Human: The Second Season (DVD/Blu-Ray)

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PJ Lifestyle Tech Watch

Belkin WeMo Home Automation Switch for Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Every father who has ever complained his progeny leave too many lights on will love the latest tech innovation from Belkin. Think controlling all the electrical devices in your home by your smart-phone remains the tech of the future? Wrong! The Belkin WeMo switch works with the free WeMo app to give you wireless control of your home appliances and electronics, making it simple to set schedules for appliances and electronics, allowing you to control as much or as little of your home as you choose. As an added bonus, you can purchase the WeMo Switch and WeMo Motion Kit (sold separately) which allows you to program any light in your home to become motion-sensing!

LaCie 5big Office 2TB Expandable Network Storage

The perfect professional backup option for any small business, the LaCie 5big Office brings the networking professionals use at the proper scale for your individual situation. Protect your data using industry standard Windows Home Server 2011, with a powerful 1.6 GHz Intel 64-bit Atom processor, allowing you to secure and share your data both within and outside your office network, without suffering undue maintenance costs. For the at-home user, try the smaller-scaled LaCie Network Space 2 1TB Ethernet Network, which offers fast storage, secure backup and global remote access for your home network, making widespread data-loss from hard-drive crashes a thing of the past

Lego 8547 Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Robotics Kit

Forget about the old-fashioned Lego bricks we all had as kids. These days, you can build your first robot in 30 minutes or less, using Lego Mindstorms NXT, complete with new robot models, even more customized programming, and all-new technology including a color sensor.  Combining the unlimited versatility of those classic Lego bricks with an intelligent microcomputer brick and drag-and-drop programming software, only you now limit what you can create. This summer Lego will release its EV3 platform, expected to introduce an even younger generation to the excitement of building and programming robots. But why wait when there’s so much already at your fingertips?

Inventio-HD 720P Video & Audio Recording Sunglasses

For those adventurous folks among us who want the world to experience things exactly as you lived them, these Inventio-HD sunglasses make the perfect accessory. Advanced video stabilization technology eliminates shaky-cam issues, while an 8GB internal hard drive allows the intrepid user to capture extreme point-of-view video wherever a challenge leads! Don’t expect to sneak in under the radar wearing what clearly will never pass for Bond-style spy tech, but if you want to own “the most advanced video-recording sunglasses on the planet,” now’s your chance to have the best conversation starter $130 ever bought.

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That’s all for this week’s edition of Tuesday New Releases! We’re open to your suggestions as we develop this column to best serve you. If you have suggestions for future coverage, or if you have a product you’d like featured or reviewed here, simply email Jonathan Sanders at kroessman@gmail.com.

One of the key concepts for anyone who wants an online career to understand…

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Click to submit suggestions for new books for the new daily feature at PJ Lifestyle.

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Conservative at work!

So last week, in what was perhaps a moment of madness, I posted a request on my Facebook page: Tell me your political predictions for the year. Among the more restrained answers: “Hyperinflation,” “Civil War,” “financial collapse,” “terribly awful things.”

Optimist though I am, I can’t help feeling there’s something to this downhearted consensus. After living through the most peaceful and prosperous half century that any nation has ever experienced in the history of humankind, it seems impossible to believe we would re-elect a mediocre reactionary out to “fundamentally transform” our success into failure. But we did, and that’s — well, let’s call it “less than cheering.”

On the other hand…

One of the central weaknesses of radicalism is that radicals seem to lose track of the causes and foundations of the things even they value. They don’t understand that peace is always and everywhere the end result of superior firepower, improved health the result of greater wealth, wealth the result of hard-headed and often greedy business dealing, and liberty deeply linked to a specific concept of man’s relationship to God. They never consider that it may at least be questionable whether the cornerstone can be removed without the structure toppling over.

Conversely, one of the central weaknesses of conservatism is that conservatives see all too clearly how every good thing we have is linked to everything else. They can trace in a moment how any change in the system might lead to disaster. Expand the definition of marriage and civilization falls. Raise taxes and end up in chains. Allow women to vote and government will become an all-embracing, over-protective mother state infantilizing the population. Okay, maybe that last one’s true, but you see what I’m getting at.

What can your smartphone teach you about gratitude? A great deal.

Not many years ago, I despised the idea of a cell phone. I value my autonomy, which to my mind includes the ability to remain deliberately unavailable. The notion of carrying around a phone in my pocket sounded a lot like putting a leash around my neck.

The issue was forced one Christmas when my in-laws purchased phones for my wife and me, even paying the subsequent bill for a year. Later came the advent of smartphones. I stood unimpressed. Phones make calls. They don’t need to sing and dance. Nevertheless, a new device caught my wife’s eye during an opportunity to upgrade our cellular contract. The price seemed reasonable and I reluctantly traded up.

It was my exploration of that device which prompted a dramatic change in my attitude toward mobile technology. As I pilfered apps and discovered capabilities, I quickly realized that this tiny gadget was becoming the most used and essential tool in my navigation of life. It came to serve as my administrative assistant, my calendar, my GPS, my library, and my gateway to news, information, and entertainment. It grew into an extension of my civilized being. Like my wallet or keys, it stays with me at all times and remains jealously guarded.

No longer pulled reluctantly into the future, I recently became the puller, convincing my wife that it was time to switch providers and upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S III. Our old phones barely qualified as “smart” and were woefully inadequate to fulfill our new demands.

Consider that transformation in attitude. How could I go from not knowing I had a need to eagerly fulfilling it? Behold the magic of the market!

The critic of consumer culture might suggest that I was right to perceive no need for something like a smartphone. After all, people got by fine without them for millennia, and much of the world still does. Then again, people got by without electricity and automobiles too. If you regard the function of the market as meeting only known demand and current needs, then it becomes easy to dismiss an innovation like the smartphone as somehow decadent.

However, the magic of the market is that it does not stop at known demand or current needs. It anticipates demand for products which do not yet exist. Specifically, individuals apply their minds to dream up new ways to deliver value. Strangely, more individuals seem to dream up new products and methods when they are politically free with their rights protected. Something called profit motive, they say.

“It must be him, it must be him, oh dear God, it must be him or I shall die.”

Aging female baby boomers can relate to these lyrics from a 1967 hit song by Vikki Carr entitled, It Must Be Him.

Before the advent of answering machines, and decades before mobile communications and social media, waiting by the phone for your man to call was an ancient mating tradition that single women of all ages thankfully will never again have to endure.

I was reminded of this dating ritual since we are on the cusp of celebrating what is traditionally known as the greatest date night of all, New Year’s Eve.

While wracking my brain thinking of a suitable baby boomer topic applicable to this holiday, it hit me… New Year’s Eve, 1971, when I was a high school sophomore and my boyfriend was a senior.

All that stands out about that evening was my having to wait by the phone for my boyfriend to call to tell me the time he was coming by to take me to a house party (where someone’s parents were out of town).

As 5 pm turned into 6 pm, turned into 7 pm, turned into 8 pm, I became extremely anxious, especially when my mother said, “Would it be so bad if you stayed home?” (Yea mom, how about the end of the world as I know it.)

When Mr. Considerate finally called at 8 pm the trauma ceased. But thinking back upon that 1971 New Year’s Eve, it was how waiting by the phone helped form five positive personality traits that women like me did not even realize we were developing.  Eventually these five traits served baby boomer women extremely well as we made our way through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s taking advantage of all the new career opportunities that the women’s movement afforded.

Here are the five personality traits aging baby boomer women learned while waiting by the phone.

1. Patience

When you were forced to accept someone else’s timetable you learned it was not just all about you. Waiting by the phone developed patience and was superb training for almost any career and life in general.

2. Rejection

This feeling was experienced when you finally realized that he was not going to call after he said (or you assumed) he would. Learning to cope with rejection without feeling like a complete loser was an important life lesson. The key was to think about all your positive attributes that this man was obviously missing. Then move ahead and don’t look back. This concept was easily applied to the professional world, especially if you were a business owner or involved in sales of any kind. Women of a certain age who experienced sitting by the phone waiting for him to call learned how to be resilient in the face of rejection.

3. Self worth/Self esteem

You waited by the phone and he did call. High five! You were on top of your game. All your flirting skills worked and you were the master of the feminine universe. (But sometimes you discovered that he was not worth waiting for!)

Later in life this same initial exhilaration was experienced when you landed a new job or a new client/contract/project was won. But you never let it go to your head. One learned early on that you must never be cocky because rejection in love or life could be lurking right around the corner.

4. Diplomacy 

He called, (maybe even weeks after he said he would) and you refrained from telling him that he was an insensitive jerk. But since you were really glad to hear from him you said no such thing. Later in the business world this skill came in handy when “the customer was always right” even if he/she was not.

5. Playing the Game

Once while chatting with some guy friends in my high school classes they admitted to me that often they did not call a girl after they said they would because they did not want to appear “pussy whipped.” (Yes, that was the operative term at the time.) So from this conversation I learned that there was a lot of game playing going on when it came to the timing of “the call.”

As a result, my friends and I would discuss when it was time to stop waiting and time to start living. (However, flirting with his friends was always an appropriate response.) The lesson “stop waiting and start living” developed into positive personality traits that were applicable to many future life situations.

But alas, girls/women today don’t have to deal with any of this waiting by the phone. In fact, waiting is a thing of the past since now there is no stigma attached to calling a boy before he calls you. Girls today will call, text, tweet, Facebook, or email and if that does not get his attention they will have their friends call, text, email, Facebook or tweet. From what I have heard about today’s dating habits, “whatever it takes” to catch the attention of the man of the moment seems to be acceptable behavior.

This behavior is a result of both the instant communications revolution and the women’s movement which generally has made the girls/women of today much more aggressive than my friends or I ever were in high school and college.

Perhaps this more aggressive behavior is cultural “payback” for all the countless hours their baby boomer mothers and grandmothers spent waiting by the phone especially in the weeks leading up to important date nights like New Year’s Eve. For around that time whenever the phone rang, teenage girls and young women were conditioned into thinking, “It must be him, it must be him, please be him or I will die.”

Happy New Year’s everyone!

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More on generations at PJ Lifestyle:

Dissecting Baby Boomer Liberalism Like a Frog in Science Class

Baby Boomers: The Most Depressed Generation

Young America! Stop Letting Boomers Feed Off You

via iPhone 5, Workflowy, Google Voice Search: The eight best technologies of 2012. – Slate Magazine.

In March, just after Apple announced what many people called a slight upgrade of its tablet—adding a high-definition screen and faster cellular networking—I called the iPad “unbeatable.” I argued that, in the same way that it had dominated the market for music players with the iPod, Apple was improving its product, lowering its prices, and broadening its lineup just fast enough to keep its rivals in the dust.

Then, in the fall, Apple strengthened my argument. Not only did it launch a fantastic, smaller, cheaper iPad—the Mini—to capture the low end of the market, it also put out a new, faster, regular-size iPad. In a year of intense competition in tablets, with better devices from Google, Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft, the iPad remains by far the best on the market, especially if you take into account its dominant App Store. If Apple keeps doing what it’s doing, it’s hard to see how anyone can catch up to the iPad now.

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The music industry’s annual holiday shuttering begins this week. Sure, Motorhead and Rush will battle on the reissue front, with a few other albums from smaller labels looking to pick up a few end-of-year sales, including a hip-hop concept album from Atlanta-based rapper T.I. Beyond that, the labels count on catalog sales carrying the remainder of the season, not wanting a major release crushed by the post-Christmas lull.

Hollywood loves this run-up to Christmas, choosing to issue DVDs and Blu-Rays this week on both Tuesday and Friday, in advance of next week’s annual Christmas new-release blowout in theaters. The studios’ big names set up for battle, including Matthew McConaughey’s NC-17-rated bloody black comedy Killer Joe, Richard Gere’s Oscar bait Arbitrage and Clint Eastwood’s unjustly maligned Trouble with the Curve. And with Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s third film outing and the Glee-light Pitch Perfect coming out the same week, welcome literally to something for every taste.

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New Releases: DVD / Blu-Ray

Premium Rush (DVD / Blu-Ray) — December 21^st

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a bike messenger who puts his life on the line every time he sets out on a delivery run. But with someone truly out to kill him, this last-envelope-of-the-day “premium rush” run definitely ups the ante. High-octane action and enjoyable performances buoy this real-time bike messenger action flick, in a film the Minneapolis Star Tribune called “loopy, crazed, dangerous fun.”

Resident Evil: Retribution (DVD / Blu-Ray) — December 21^st

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Red Hook: Summer (DVD / Blu-Ray) — December 21^st

Pitch Perfect (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Killer Joe (DVD / Blu-Ray) — December 21^st

The film which put the NC-17 rating back into public discussion, Killer Joe features a scheme which makes the depravity of Fargo look quaint. Tom Long, of the Detroit News, puts it best: “If you like your movies filled with twisted humor, sexual perversion, psychological intimidation and sudden violence, Killer Joe is the flick for you.” Surprisingly, the film comes in an unrated “Director’s Cut” edition as well, suggesting changes were made even to receive its original “kiss of death” rating.

Total Recall (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Sleepwalk With Me (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Liberal Arts (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Trouble with the Curve (DVD / Blu-Ray)

In an age of stat-crunching “moneyball,” Gus Lobel, an old-school scout, struggles to keep up despite a career’s worth of long-term success. Needing to scout the latest hitting phenom despite his failing eyesight, Lobel teams up with his adult daughter for a road trip, learning in the process that bodies fail us but family never will. Though critically reamed during its theatrical run, Eastwood’s sentimental film deserves a second look on Blu-Ray, playing better to its strengths on the smaller screen.

10 Years (DVD / Blu-Ray)

The Good Doctor (DVD / Blu-Ray)

Army Wives: Season Six Part Two (DVD)

Californication: The Fifth Season (DVD)

Arbitrage (DVD / Blu-Ray) — December 21^st

A Madoff-esque hedge-fund manager attempts to pass off his trading empire to a major bank before anyone can expose his massive financial fraud, but an unexpected bloody error leaves him juggling family, business and crime. Richard Gere hopes to secure an Oscar nomination for his performance, among his all-time best according to Time and Rolling Stone.

Funny or Die Presents: Season Two (DVD)

House of Lies: Season One (DVD)

Shameless: The Complete Second Season (DVD / Blu-Ray)

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“You’ll shoot your eye out!” your mother cries, even as you’ll drool over the ultimate holiday gift for everyone who ever saw A Christmas Story. We’ve also discovered your own personal interactive R2D2 droid and a perfect pair of headphones for the online gamer on your list this week in last-minute gift finds.

PJ Lifestyle: Ultimate Holiday Gifts

125^th Anniversary Official Daisy Red Ryder Range Model Air Rifle BB Gun

For the kid in all of us, or the one living just down the hall, this Daisy Red Ryder youth BB gun brings rich tradition and dependable design together with a lever-cocking action and a 650-shot BB capacity. Whether you’re bringing back past holiday memories or creating new ones with your family, order now and you’ll protect your homestead from Black Bart’s men in no time.

Interactive R2-D2 Droid

What better way to celebrate the 35^th anniversary of Star Wars than by bringing this movie-accurate droid into your life? This electronic toy responds to commands, can find and follow you, and plays multiple games, responding to more than 40 voice commands. Though not for small children — the droid’s personality requires patience to learn features parts which risk breakage in small hands — few interactive gifts pack the punch of this 15-inch companion. Once you master R2’s “companion” and “game” modes, move on to “command” mode to plot real-time maneuvering or programmed courses, which your droid will learn to follow. I’m geeking out just thinking about it.

Turtle Beach Call of Duty: Black Ops II Gaming Headset

This headset combines premium stereo game sound with crystal-clear communication on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and PC/Mac. For those who long for a truly engaging audio-gaming experience, this product combines a stereo headset for chat sound and an amplified stereo headset for in-game sound, featuring independent volume controls mounted right on the cloth-braided cables. Over-the-ear design allows for optimal comfort as well, making these perfect for any extended session.

Nikon D600 24.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera

Nikon’s most compact FX-format HD-SLR camera, the D600 allows you to share photos and cinema-quality HD video in 1080p, while the 24.3 megapixel sensor allows you to capture every detail in stunning clarity. From Amazon:

Passionate photographers who seek exceptional full-frame, high-resolution performance rely on Nikon FX-format HD-SLRs. For the first time ever, that level of performance is available in a compact, affordable HD-SLR. D600’s 24.3 megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor captures every detail with lifelike sharpness. Its EXPEED 3 processing system manages all that data with remarkable speed and accuracy, enabling up to 5.5 fps continuous shooting at full resolution. And the lowlight performance synonymous with Nikon is again proven deserved—shoot crystal clear images from ISO 100 to 6400, expandable down to 50 and up to 25600 for extreme situations.

If you’ve been looking for the right camera to push your passion for photography beyond the amateur level, consider the D600 while Amazon still has it steeply discounted for the holidays!

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Without many major-label albums getting a big pre-holiday push this week, there’s room to find a few nice surprises, including a 16-disc collection of Motorhead’s early albums, and live albums from Buddy Guy, The Pogues and Toots and the Maytals. Meanwhile, a soundtrack battle looms between Les Misérables and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

Tuesday New Releases in Music

Beausoleil w. Michael Doucet – Hot Chilli Mama (Arhoolie Records)

Buddy Guy – Live at Legends (RCA)

Live at Legends features Buddy Guy’s last live recordings from the now-defunct Legends Blues Club in Chicago, captured during his 2010 residency at the venue. The album features a variety of hits spanning his five decades in blues, a perfect introduction to the music which earned him this year’s Kennedy Center honors alongside Led Zeppelin.

Chief Keef – Finally Rich

John Delafose – Zydeco Man (Arhoolie Records) – Vinyl

Memphis May Fire – Challenger (Rise Records) – Vinyl

Memphis’s post-hardcore answer to southern rock, Memphis May Fire’s latest features fiery grunge-fueled guitar riffs coupled with dueling vocals alternating from pop-punk choruses to full-throated metal-core screams. Out since June, this week’s reissue includes the album on both CD and vinyl.

Motorhead – Complete Early Years (Sanctuary) - 16 Disc Box Set

Rush – 2112: Deluxe Edition () – CD + Audio Blu-Ray (Mercury)

Soundtrack – Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture (Universal Republic)

Soundtrack – Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (Universal Republic)

T.I. – Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head (Atlantic)

The Atlanta-based rapper’s eighth studio album features collaborations with R. Kelly, CeeLo Green, Andre 3000 and Pink, alongside production from long-time collaborators Pharell and DJ Toomp. The LP’s concept, the first in a series inspired by Marvin Gaye’s Troubled Man, seeks to answer the question: “Could you learn to love a troubled man?”

The Pogues – In Paris: 30^th Anniversary Concert at the Olympia (Universal)

Tilly and the Wall – Defenders (Team Love) – Vinyl Single

Toots and the Maytals – Live (Island)

Toots Hibbert’s career spans the development of Jamaican music over the last four decades, from ska and rock-steady all the way through contemporary reggae. This live performance from 1991 features his band the Maytals, mixing his own songs with creative covers including his take on John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads,” showcasing the range of his talents.

Venom – Fallen Angels: Limited Edition (Universal Int’l)

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That’s all for this week’s edition of Tuesday New Releases! We’re open to your suggestions as we develop this column to best serve you. If you have suggestions for future coverage, or if you have a product you’d like featured or reviewed here, simply email Jonathan Sanders at kroessman@gmail.com.

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Related at PJ Lifestyle:

Premium Rush: The Bike Messenger as Action Hero?

One of the problems facing people with non-verbal autism is that when they use a letter board the disbelieving assume that the autistic person is a mere puppet, with the real thoughts coming from the aide or parent holding the board and reading the letters.  For many years, that was the problem faced by Ido Kedar, a non-verbal autistic teenager who wrote Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism’s Silent Prison (which I reviewed here at PJ Lifestyle earlier this week).

Time and time again, I witnessed Ido tap out sentences on the letterboard his mother held, only to have someone standing at my side saying “That’s not Ido. That’s his mother.” This was especially true when Ido first mastered the letterboard. His muscle control was so limited back then that he needed someone to support his elbow, heightening the illusion that the person supporting Ido’s arm, rather than Ido himself, was the creative force.

The wonders of technology, however, can finally put to rest the suspicion that Ido and other non-verbal autistic children are not capable of producing the thoughts that flow from their letterboards. The two videos here show Ido with his iPad. The only prompting he receives is a reminder to keep his focus on the writing. Other than that, all the work and all the content is Ido’s alone.

Ido is still getting used to the iPad, so it’s a slower process than when he writes using his letterboard. Once he gets comfortable with the new technology, I think the sky’s the limit for his communication skills.

Tuesday New Releases in Music

A few big albums remain unreleased in the run-up to Christmas, but this week the industry still recovers from its post-Black Friday hangover. So Alicia Keys offers the only major-label new release of note this week, with Girl on Fire set for a strong debut. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a wealth of great music coming out this week, including an exceptional survey of Charlie Christian’s contributions to the development of bebop and jazz. Plus: Rage Against the Machine receives a 20^th anniversary reissue, and the Winter Sounds prove you don’t need a huge budget to craft solid pop hooks.

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Alicia Keys – Girl on Fire (RCA)

Don’t call her prolific, as Alicia Keys releases just her fifth studio album in the last twelve years, her first since 2009’s The Element of Freedom. It’s worth the wait, however, as early reviews have praised Keys for taking things back to basics, focusing on intimate moments and what Uncut calls her “technical brilliance.” The strongest of those intimate moments, “Not Even The King,” serves as a highlight of what Girl on Fire offers.

Big Dipper – Big Dipper Crashes on the Platinum Planet (Almost Ready Records)

Blood of the Sun – Burning on the Wings of Desire (Listenable Records)

Breathless – Green to Blue (Shellshock)

Charlie Christian – The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Sony Legacy)

Fans of jazz and bebop already know the music of Charlie Christian, but fans of anything modern involving the electric guitar should care as well. This four disc collection brings that music into stunning clarity, focusing on Christian’s pioneering work with the instrument while a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet from 1939-41, along with a disc of rarities from his time in Goodman’s orchestra and the Metronome All-Stars.

Daniel Higgs – Say God (Thrill Jockey) – Vinyl

Fort Shame – Double Wide (Redeye Label)

Great Big Sea – XX (Great Big Sea)

Jefferson Starship – Tales from the Mothership (United States Distribution)

Jerry Cole – Surf Age (Sundazed Music Inc)

Flash back to the era of classic surf-pop via this reissue from Jerry Cole and His Spacemen. Surf Age attempted to merge surf music with the wider sphere of 60s pop, more carefully focusing Cole’s mile-a-minute recording process. Incredibly rare until this long-awaited CD release, enjoy the perfect holiday time capsule. Highlights include the title track and “One Color Blues.”

John Zorn – The Concealed (Tzadik)

Junkie XL – Synthesized (Nettwerk)

Lone Wolf – The Lovers (It Never Rains)

Mike Cooper – Life and Death in Paradise (Entertainment One)

Myriad 3 – Tell (Alma Records)

My favorite discovery of the year by far, this Canadian jazz trio builds on the collective nature of improvisation, crafting a nuanced debut you won’t want to miss. The album’s highlights include “But Still and Yet” and the band’s peerless interplay on “Disturbing Inspiration,” which will haunt you, guaranteed.

Nektar – A Spoonful of Time (Cleopatra)

Outasight – Nights Like These (Warner Bros.)

Piatcions – Senseless > Sense (I Blame The Parents Records)

Rage Against The Machine – XX (20^th Anniversary Edition Deluxe Box Set) (Legacy)

Sonny Burgess – Live at Sun Studios (Cleopatra) – Vinyl

The Winter Sounds – Runner (New Grenada Records)

Serving up a hybrid of Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons and Snow Patrol, New Orleans’ the Winter Sounds craft shiny pop nuggets which stand strong on repeat listens. Highlights include “The Sun Also Rises” (video below) and “Run from the Wicked”. Also worth noting: the band funded the album entirely through $9,000 in fan contributions, proving pop this good doesn’t require a major-label budget.

Therion – Les Fleurs Du Mal (End of the Light)

Wild Billy Childish & the Spartan Dreggs – Coastal Command (Damaged Goods)

Wu-Block – Wu-Block (Entertainment One)

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With a new year looming and Christmas just around the corner, now’s the time to look back at albums already out in 2012 which may have slipped from your radar. Any of these, including the latest from Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews and David Crowder Band, would make perfect stocking-stuffers for the music fan in your world.