The Apple iPhone came out yesterday with as much fanfare, line-waiting, and general hullaballoo as the Nintendo Wii. The difference being that the Wii was half the price and didn't lock you into a 2 year $70-a-month service agreement with AT&T/Cingular/NorthSouthEasternBell. So far all of the reviews I've read have praised the iPhone's hip look and ability to make your friends jealous of you for having wasted so much money so conspicuously, but have strangely glossed over the crappy camera without zoom or flash, slow data network speed, inability to replace the battery, and lack of storage space in which to store movies to view on the wide screen.

Speaking of hype, I've purposely avoided posting about the upcoming "reunited" Smashing Pumpkins album because I had almost zero expectations for it, but the first single from the album is fantastic. The best part about it is how it is completely opposite of the last 5 years of rock music, which was a muddle of poorly-produced vocals, repetitive drum rhythm, and muddy guitar fuzz, thank you very much White Stripes. The new album will probably be no Siamese Dream, but it also will be no Strokes, and that's good enough for me.