The World of Scott Mindeaux

American Idol 9 – Top 10 Results

Am I surprised to tonight’s turnout??

No.

Last night I pretty much went to bed and said to myself “You know…that Tim Urban and that Didi Benami are going to be in the bottom two on Wednesday…”

Here’s what I wrote earlier in the day to some of my Idol compadres at the office…

Did anyone really watch last night? Have we all just gotten fed up with how these last few seasons have been turning out?

I reluctantly watched last night and was not amazed. There were only 3 performances that caught my ear at that was of Michael Lynche, Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox.

I think we all need to just find something else to do on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for the next few weeks until we get to the Top 5 where Casey James and Siobhan Magnus will join Michael, Crystal and Lee for the REAL competition. Now I have to say that Siobahan’s performance last night was a bit off and that we need to excuse this performance.

The two that will end up in the bottom two in my opinion will be Tim Urban for his flat performance (aren’t they always) and Didi…

And here we are on Wednesday night after that Diddy performance…Didi and Tim standing up on stage. Tim looks strangely relaxed while Didi looks a bit nervous.

Turns out that Didi had the lowest votes and she sang Rhiannon while the judges deliberated on whether they would use the SAVE this week. Allowing for the fact that she was down in the gutter, her performance of Rhiannon was pitchey.

We go into overtime and the judges say no to a save…

Didi Benami leaves us and we are down to 9…

More Medical Apps for iPad

So we are just days away from the release of the iPad. Today, I came across a story  on TUAW where someone has made an iPad app for Carter’s Encyclopaedia of Health and Medicine. So why isn’t this listed as an iBook, but instead as an app? Carter’s also has interactive graphics, like a 3d skeleton.

This is exactly the way iBooks should be. Textbooks should have interactive materials in them – there is absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t.

Take a look at this demo:

Filed Your Taxes Yet? Save a Tree…

Well April 15th is coming upon us FAST!

The IRS is really pushing folks to E-File their tax returns, they also advocate having your refund (if you’re getting one) to be Direct Deposited into your checking account.

The have published their Refund Cycle calendar for the 2009 Tax Year and this year they are saying that they will have a refund check out to you no more than 10 days form the time the IRS accepts your return via E-File. See the chart below.

It will be interesting to see if they can keep up with the tide of returns coming in towards  the 15th. It still amazes me how many people still mail in their returns.

Getting your refund via Direct Deposit has been around since 1987 according to the IRS, yet millions of Americans still anxiously await for their checks to arrive in the mail.

Save a tree and get your refund faster, E-File and get your refund back via Direct Deposit.

iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches Should Aid in Medical Treatments

A co-worker and friend were talking yesterday and surprised by how much the medical community hasn’t really gotten on the bandwagon on using consumer technology like the iPhone, iPod Touches or the upcoming iPad.

If you are regular reader of my blog, you know I’m a Type II Diabetic, asthma suffered and insomniac. We were talking about how the iPad should be used to connect and collect data from various consumer medical devices. For example, for those wearing continuous glucose monitoring devices, that data should have the ability to be intercepted by an iPad where the data is collected and can be viewed.

How about a scale that transmit to your iPad? Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight. Wouldn’t it be kewl to stand on your scale and it transmit that data to your iPad. You can track your weight accurately and see trends in gain and lose. I can’t trust myself to enter my weight accurately if I had to do it manually! <smirk>

I have to collect blood samples daily to test for my blood sugars. How about a device that can do this and send the data directly to my iPhone without having to move the reading stick?

There are alot of “trackers” available on the apps store, but it all relies on manual input of data. Sure…to be true to my treatment, I owe it to myself to make sure I do the entries. But wouldn’t it be great if my “iDevice” can just collect the data for me? Timestamp the data and its there. It’s accurate and my doctor can be emailed my results on a weekly basis. There is no fibbing that I took readings last week. If the iDevice doesn’t have an entries it’s because I didn’t do it. The doctor doesn’t have to figure out if I really took the readings or not or if the numbers I”m giving him are correct.

So are there devices like that exist? Do you make a glucose reader that transmit to an “iDevice”. Let me know, I’ll be a customer!

One recent app that I am still evaluating for effectiveness is an app called Sleep Cycle. With the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer, it can detect and analyze what state of sleep you are in and wake you up when you are in your lightest sleep mode. I have been using it for 3 weeks and for the most part, I think it works. You move differently in bed depending on the sleep mode you are in. When you are in REM sleep, you don’t move. The phone analyzes the pattern in your sleep over the last several hours then uses that data to determine if you should wake up “earlier” than what you set the alarm for. Huh, you ask? Let’s say you set your alarm for 0730. Based if you are in a light sleep period by your pattern, the app could start your alarm at 0710 instead. People are more likely to awaken when in the light sleep mode. Some analysis and research says that waking up instantly while in a deep sleep mode can cause crankiness and you’ll feel more tired.

Another Reason I Want an iPad: My Foodie Side

As many of you know, I’m a huge Foodie. I’m also a huge Apple fan. I love it when I can merge my two world together. If you don’t know that I have a foodie website: www.foodieindisguise.com

Wouldn’t it be great if all my cookbook publishers were onboard and I could start buying my cookbooks in digital format!

Just think, I can have my iPad in the kitchen with me. I’d have it on an easel so I can “flip” thru the recipe while I cook.

The other advantage is that the contents of that book will be indexed right? Searching for recipes or ingredients used in a recipe will be easy!

Let’s take it one step further. Can I search for a word and it will look through all my books for me? Just think, I can look up the word “chives” and it will give me a listing of which books uses the word “chives”.

Sometimes You Just Need Some Ice Cream

It was another hectic day. Lots of running around, catching up on things from last week’s list and preparing for a big quarterly office meeting. I went to lunch with Sophie and John and we had S&W Seafood for lunch.

Later that afternoon, 5ish, I was feeling the call. Feeling the call for some ice cream. I was going to head down to Mickey D’s and get a soft cone, but ended up going down to the 7-11 and getting me a Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Treat and 19 other items like Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches, Smore Sandwiches, Neopolitan Sandwiches, Drumsticks and Strawberry Shortcakes. I brought them back to the office and handed them out.

Like I said…sometimes you just need some ice cream!