…I thought I might publish a list of things I would like. I’ve left it this late to do so that you don’t think I’m being serious or anything. That said if there is anything on the list you feel like getting me, feel free to contact me and we can sort something out!

And to clarify, I do not need anything on the list; they are just silly “wants”.

Subscriptions/Membership
- Year Subscription to WIRED magazine - $75USD (about £35)
- Year Subscription to Monocle magazine - £75
- Year Membership to NAPP (including Photoshop Users Magazine) $150USD (about £80)
- Year Subscription to Layers magazine - $50USD (about £25)

Consumer Electronics
- Apple iPod Nano 8GB in Black - £169 [thanks dad]
- Sony HDR-SR7 High Definition HDD Camcorder - £1049.99

Camera Accessories
- Canon EF 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 L IS USM - £1549.99
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens - £699.99
- Canon EF 17-40mm F4 L Lens - £559.99

DVDs
- [SPOOKS] DVD Box Sets 1 to 5 – from £25 each
- Family Guy Seasons 1,3,4,6 – from £20 each

Other Gifts
- HMV Gift cards – from £5
- iTunes Music Store Gift cards – from £10

World Travel (flights and hotel to and in)
- Vancouver, Canada - £750 plus £500/week
- San Francisco, CA, United States - £550 plus £500/week
- Hong Kong, China - £1500 (if I’m going that far, the cheep seats will just not do) plus £400/week

Totally unrealistic grown up wants:
- House in Edinburgh – from £250,000
- Mercedes CLK 63 AMG Cabriolet – from £69,000

And if you’re mad enough to give me the last two items on my list, could you add in a private island and private jet to sweeten the deal?

This concludes my list of “wants”. All I can say is God help the police if I end up taking hostages and I issue a list of demands!

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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Anyone watched MTV recently?  Nope?  Well don’t bother, its really went down hill.  When I was young I used to love MTV and all those other music shows but to be honest the networks are mere prostitutes to advertisers and marketers.   The shows used to be about music, now they are about inflating star’s egos and selling ring-tones.

Bring back the good old days, bring back music television like the “MTV Generation” would be remember. Or just shut up shop and think of a new way of exploiting the purchasing power of “Generation X/Y/Internet/whatever its called”.

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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In response to a blog post from Liz Gannes (NewTeeVee) Veronica Belmont, of CNET Buzz Out Loud fame confirmed that she will be leaving CNET Networks’ flagship website, CNET.com, on July 20th 2007 for a position with Mahalo, a Sequoia Capital backed search engine start up.

This should be somewhat interesting in that I have long held the impression Belmont has a somewhat loyal following from CNET, a following that are quite likely to follow her wherever she goes. No doubt this will be invaluable to the start up.

Anyway, all the best to Veronica and her new position, now doubt it will be a big change working for a start up as opposed to a media giant like CNET Networks. It will be interesting to watch Mahalo over the coming months…

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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This weekend it was LiveEarth, a global music concert promoting Global Warming led by the man who used to be “the next president of the United States”, Mr. Al Gore.

Sorry, but these type of concerts don’t work anymore.  Live Aid was amazing, back in the day.  And that’s because it overcome huge technical challenges to do a multi-venue event across continents.

And then there was Live 8, that was also sweet, but only because it was a follow up to Live Aid.  So until such times as the put a band on the moon and play from there, these worldwide events are not gonna get me to switch off lights and put the computer off more often.  Sorry Al Gore.

Another point of these concerts is to grab the attention of governments.  Unfortunately, the UK does not have a wannabe rockers prime minister any more.

I note that the BBC also appeared to lose their objectivity with there coverage.  It was very clear that the BBC was supporting the ‘call’ by broadcasting all the short films and commenter about the issues.  That’s fine; something does need to be done about Global Warming but the coverage reeks of BBC bias.

Also, does any one get the impression that MSN is only in this so flog Zunes and show off their new video streaming platform?  Shame on you Microsoft, get behind the issues here and ‘answer the call’.

Oh this just gets better and better, I’, watching the MSN on demand stream, not only are Microsoft fogging Zunes but oil companies are reminding us how nice they are, bit bloody late if you ask me.

And just who likes Madonna, if I was standing in the golden circle (where those foolish enough to pay £750+ for corporate hospitality get to stand) and Madonna just called me a mother fucker I’d be up on that stage kicking her ass.

I think I better stop watching, it’s just annoying me and I think I’ve vented enough here already.  Check out this post on Fred Wilson’s blog for some better analysis.

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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For a long-time now, Mac OS has been the favourite operating system for most creative professionals with most of the creative software they rely on optimized or built exclusively for Mac OS.

But over the last year or so, I have noticed Adobe becoming more and more Windows focused. Sure, their applications are Mac compatible but in short they like Windows way too much!

I grabbed the above screenshot from an Adobe Promotional video showing the features of Adobes answer to Final-Cut Pro, Adobe Premier CS3. The still from the video clearly shows Windows XP running on the Mac Book computer. Adobe, what’s going on?

Further to my argument, not so long ago (possibly an Adobe Live 2007) two Adobe presenters asked “Why don’t we have Macs” when they experienced difficulties connecting a Windows notebook computer.

And finally, let’s look at what applications are included in “Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection”, notice that the last two applications are exclusively for the Windows platform.

• Adobe InDesign® CS3
• Photoshop® CS3 Extended
• Illustrator® CS3
• Acrobat® 8 Professional
• Flash® CS3 Professional
• Dreamweaver® CS3
• Fireworks® CS3
• Contribute® CS3
• After Effects® CS3 Processional
• Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3
• Soundbooth™ CS3
• Encore® CS3
• Adobe Bridge CS3
• Version Cue® CS3
• Device Central CS3
• Dynamic Link
• Adobe OnLocation™ CS3 (Windows® only)
• Ultra® CS3 (Windows® only).

But don’t worry Mac users, Adobe have a solution for the short comings heir £1200 software suite, “Adobe OnLocation requires Boot Camp and Windows (purchased separately) or a separate Windows based computer”.

Still, those MacBook computers look mighty fine…

©2008 The Blog of Ross C Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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