Joseph Schmitt Random Internet Musings

Justin Bieber to star in 'Back to the Future' remake?

Is nothing sacred anymore?

Several British tabloids are reporting that Bieber is being considered for the starring role in the remake, assuming that “he is capable of acting at that level.” When Fox took on the original role, he had a hit TV series (“Family Ties”) and several hit movies under his belt.

Bieber is younger than Fox was when he starred in the first “Future” movie, and if took the role it would be written to reflect his younger age. “The most important part of the film is the time travel aspects,” said one unnamed film executive. “In fact, some of the plot works better with a younger character.”

The biggest problem with the idea might be that the three “Future” films are well-made and fondly remembered by audiences.

What’s next, a “reboot” of the Godfather films, too? How about a pre-teen version of Scarface where Bieber becomes a tootsie-roll dealer in Miami?

Controlling Your Television

There’s been a lot of chatter the past few months about an updated Apple TV being around the corner. With Apple’s annual Fall iPod event around the corner (where they introduced the original Apple TV back in ‘06) and Google making a serious play for the television market themselves, the time seems right for Apple to start taking their little hobby seriously.

However, there’s one thing that still bothers me about this product. With each of Apple’s previous major consumer electronics devices, the iPod, the iPhone/iPod Touch, and the iPad, one of the reasons it’s been a major hit is because Apple managed to solve one major element that was wrong with that category of device extraordinarily elegantly. With the iPod, the issue was navigating long lists of music, which they solved with the click wheel. With the iPhone and iPod Touch, it was having a full querty keyboard without taking away from screen real estate. And with the iPad, it was answering the question of why to buy one when it sits in between a laptop and a desktop computer.¹ The Apple TV, then, must have a similar major problem to overcome.

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The strange case of virtual machines on telephones

A super interesting look at the history of VM-based languages (and Java specifically):

The fact that an Android phone has tolerable performance is, again, a triumph of pure thickheaded brute force. If you throw enough geniuses at a difficult technical problem, you might eventually solve that problem, even if the problem was stupid, and in this case, they mostly did…

Maybe the speed won’t matter. Maybe computers will get so fast that you just won’t care anymore.

Java users have been saying that, too, since 1996.

I don’t have much input or thoughts on the subject, but found the writeup and opinion fascinating.

“If we ever want to stop funding the ‘terror mosque’ we must, as a nation, come together and stop watching FOX.” -Jon Stewart

(via davebc)

That’s the problem with Facebook. They are slowly destroying independent web applications with boring versions that immediately win due to Facebook’s population (which at this point is the 3rd largest country on earth). There’s no demand for excellence.