Shared Posts on NewsGator Online

Don’t Make Conan Mad

Keith Combs — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:33:00 GMT

5 interesting facts you didn't know about Windows Live Messenger

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:40:52 GMT

Listed below is a round up of some interesting figures, facts and statistics I found out about Windows Live Messenger by following @WindowsLive on Twitter over the past couple of days. These were posted as part of the program's 10th anniversary. Expect a post tomorrow detailing all what's going on in July 2009 concerning MSN/ Windows Live Messenger's special birthday.

On average, people come back to log-in to Windows Live Messenger 3 times a day, or nearly 1,100 times a year.
The average Messenger chat session is 5 minutes long. What's the longest time you've ever chatted with one person for?
Did you know? Windows Live Messenger has as many active monthly users as the combined population of USA & Canada.
More than 8 billion instant messages are exchanged every day. If you stacked them up as paper, they�d reach to the moon and back.
Did you know ... it's Windows Live Messenger�s �aluminum� anniversary month? (Of course, we'd prefer diamonds.)

StatCounter data shows Windows 7 pre-release use closing in on Linux

Lee Mathews — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Linux, Windows x64

With the release of Ubuntu 9.04 and developments like Moblin and HP's MIE creating quite stir, plenty of people were saying that 2009 would be 'the year of Linux on the desktop.' Not that the statement hasn't been made before, but there appeared to be some real momentum this time around.

Enter the Windows 7 RC. A quick look at StatCounter's most recent data shows Linux use at .71% and Microsoft's soon-to-be released OS right behind at .68%. StatCounter's chart only shows the top 5 OSes, so you'll need to take a look at the raw CSV data to get the numbers.

Things certainly look good for Windows 7, but let's keep in mind that it's still competitive with Linux on price at this point (read: free). Once people have to shell out their hard-earned money for the new OS, will things change or will Linux still struggle to make gains on Windows?

What are your thoughts?

StatCounter data shows Windows 7 pre-release use closing in on Linux originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boeing Industries is watching you sleep.

murderburger — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:34:22 GMT

Bongo drum t-shirt: how did you ever live without one?

Vladislav Savov — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:19:00 GMT

We've seen and ridiculed music-playing clothes before, but that doesn't seem to have discouraged the makers of the electronic bongo drum t-shirt. This party-rocking piece of geek chic comes with four distinct sounds and can be had for the low low price of $49 plus shipping. Then you can pair it with your special edition Guitar Hero peripherals for the ultimate in instrument-free music creation.

[Via OhGizmo!]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables

Bongo drum t-shirt: how did you ever live without one? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon PowerShot D10 review

Darren Murph — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:00:00 GMT

For the longest while, your options were highly limited in the waterproof / rugged point-and-shoot arena. In fact, it was arguably better to just buy a standard P&S camera and a waterproof casing for said camera than to worry over any of the standalone waterproof alternatives. When Canon introduced its PowerShot D10 earlier this year, we immediately noticed that this waterproof shooter was quite unlike the models before it. Outside of a somewhat bulbous casing, it didn't look drastically different than some of the thicker, non-waterproof options out there. Not to mention the respectable 12.1 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom and ten meter waterproof rating. Needless to say, we couldn't resist the opportunity to grab this bugger and test it out for a week along the shores of Playa Tamarindo in Costa Rica and Lago Cocibolca in Nicaragua, so follow us past the break to find out if this cam is the perfect accessory for your upcoming beach holiday.

Gallery: Canon PowerShot D10 hands-on

Continue reading Canon PowerShot D10 review

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Canon PowerShot D10 review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BeejiveIM, now with Push, is the best iPhone chat client so far

Jay Hathaway — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Filed under: Social Software, iPhone, Mobile

I wrote the other day about the iPhone version of AIM, and how it takes advantage of push notifications in iPhone 3.0., but since then I've been testing a different chat client that really takes things to the next level: BeejiveIM. You might be put off by the $10 purchase price, but if you're an avid IM fanatic, it will be worth every penny. BeejiveIM supports AIM, Google Chat, MSN, Yahoo!, Facebook and MySpace in a smart layout that makes it the most usable chat app I've tried on the iPhone yet.

The key features that make BeejiveIM a killer app are its support for push notifications, its horizontal keyboard, and the elegant way it organizes open chats. Rather than forcing you to dig through submenus on your buddy list, BeejiveIM puts the buddy list on one screen, and a list of your open chats on another. If someone IMs you while you have a chat open, you can tap once on the number of unread messages to switch between chats. This is right in so many ways, and avoids the clunky feeling of having to go back to your buddy list to switch to another conversation.

Sure, $10 is on the high end of the App Store price range, but there's nothing going that beats BeejiveIM at what it does. It's replaced both the AIM app and the Meebo web app on my home screen.

BeejiveIM, now with Push, is the best iPhone chat client so far originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BPM Analyzer gives you the tempo of all of your MP3s

Jason Clarke — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Apple, Microsoft, Freeware

Creating playlists can be tedious, and every bit of information can help. While some people maintain the ID3 tags in their MP3 files in excruciating detail, others (like me) can't seem to find the time. But when it comes to finding the tempo, no amount of manual ID3 tag maintenance will help.

If you're trying to put together a playlist that contains songs that are a similar speed, knowing the beats-per-minute of each song is immensely helpful. Luckily, there is a free download called BPM Analyzer from MixMeister that will analyze all of your MP3 tracks, and update the ID3 tags in them with exact BPM information. With that done, it's a simple matter of sorting your music library by the beats-per-minute field.

Now you can put together an upbeat energy-boosting playlist full of fast songs, a mellow playlist with slower songs, or pretty much anything you desire. And for the nerds like me, it's just another piece of information to sort and group your music by.

BPM Analyzer is available on both the Windows and Mac operating system.

[via Lifehacker]

BPM Analyzer gives you the tempo of all of your MP3s originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Commodore 64 vs. iPhone 3GS showdown

Jason Clarke — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:05:00 GMT

Filed under: Fun, Apple, iPhone

I have a confession to make: though I am an unabashed iPhone lover, nothing will ever top the infatuation I had with the Commodore 64. The C64 was my family's first computer, and it was soon to become my computer.

Harry McCracken over at the Technologizer blog latches onto a recent story about a Commodore 64 emulator (reputedly a very good one) that was rejected for entry into Apple's iPhone App Store due to the fact that code interpreters and emulators are expressly forbidden. Unfortunately, this appears to be a a blanket application of this rule, which seems to have been intended to block things like Adobe Flash, but the point is that it was blocked.

That story lead Harry to come up with a magnificent grid comparing the venerable C64 to the iPhone 3GS, a comparison which seems apt considering the fervent popularity of each platform.

A couple statistics from Harry's form really jumped out at me. For example, the iPhone already boasts over 50,000 software titles in the App Store. Compare that to only 10,000 titles total that were released for the Commodore 64 over the course of its life. Also, did you know that the iPhone's resolution is higher than the C64's was? The iPhone's display is 320 x 480, while the C64 sported a 320 x 200 pixel display.

The comparison grid isn't serious business; it's clearly intended to have some fun with a couple iconic computing devices, and for me at least it hits home.

Commodore 64 vs. iPhone 3GS showdown originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hyper-V Monitor Gadget for Windows Sidebar

Justin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:37:28 GMT

Summary:

A sidebar gadget that monitors Hyper-V guests over WMI

Link:

http://mindre.net/post/Hyper-V-Monitor-Gadget-for-Windows-Sidebar.aspx

Putting things in things.

murderburger — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:15:07 GMT

I know the U.S. Army has a ‘neither confirm nor deny’ policy about gays in the military. But those shorts are screaming ‘confirm’.

VIDEO: Second Top Gear Season 13 advert makes us giddy kids again

Damon Lavrinc — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Filed under: Videos

Top Gear Season 13 Trailer Two - Click above to view the video after the jump

As if we're not amped enough about the start of Top Gear season 13 this Sunday, the BBC has released another advert juxtaposing the trio's childhood dreams of hoonage against their grown-up counterparts. Along with the Stig's appearance above, we see May "enjoying" the company of a buxom blond, Clarkson manning the helm of a coal-powered train and Hammond blasting across the desert in a Veyron with a McLaren F1 following closely behind. Get your torrent clients ready, the fun resumes late Sunday night.

Continue reading VIDEO: Second Top Gear Season 13 advert makes us giddy kids again

VIDEO: Second Top Gear Season 13 advert makes us giddy kids again originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Passive aggression. The cowards way to be brave.

murderburger — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:24:28 GMT

I hate people that put up notes like these, they are always small minded little Hitlers. I would suggest that the salary of the person that wrote this would be high enough to run this elevator non-stop for twenty years. You know what my solution to this problem would be.

Bono. Still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.

murderburger — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:09:34 GMT

The headline kind of wrote itself. Although I bet I could have written “Good Morning Vietnam!” and you would have thought this was a picture of Robin Williams. Those guys are looking more and more alike everyday.

Also I don’t know if that woman on the right is Mrs Bono. But she could be.

VIDEO: GM re:invention commercial gets the spoof treatment

Jonathon Ramsey — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:25:00 GMT

Filed under: Videos, GM, Humor

GM re:invention spoof video - Click above to watch video after the jump

We'll start off by saying that this spoof on General Motors' Re:invention commercial is not exactly fair and not exactly accurate... but it is funny. It comes from an Onion-esque type website with a decidedly sharp take on GM's situation, with story headlines like "GM Kicks Dog, Takes Candy from Baby" and "GM Kills Electric Car, Five Others in Shooting Spree." You can watch the original commercial and the spoof after the jump. Make sure you have your sense of humor switched on.

[Source: GM Retardation]

Continue reading VIDEO: GM re:invention commercial gets the spoof treatment

VIDEO: GM re:invention commercial gets the spoof treatment originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Heavy rotation.

Jessica — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:23:26 GMT

10.

murderburger — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:57:10 GMT

CrunchContest: The DustBuster is 30 Years Old and You Can Win One

John Biggs — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:52:29 GMT

That's right: many of us have been alive as long as the Black & Decker DustBuster vacuum, a cleaner that I remember fondly from my ill-spent youth. Remember the first models? The tan color scheme? The incessant whirring? The sad majesty of the dying DustBuster as its battery slowly drained over a pile of Cheerios or sawdust? Say what you want about Dyson and his ilk: the DustBuster is the Hitachi Magic Wand of home cleaning devices, dedicated to performance, fun, and, most importantly, the improvement of our lives in general.

LEGO Guitar Amp

Robert Birming — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:12:05 GMT

Dave Chatterson, a 28-year-old guitarist from Kitchener-Waterloo, has created this cool detailed replica of a Fender Princeton Reverb amp using the classic plastic LEGO building bricks. In other words, a creation that will look great together with the LEGO Guitar.

Chatterson’s Lego/Princeton handiwork simply must be seen to be believed. It’s unbelievably detailed—guts and everything. Lego cabinet, grille, handle, fittings, speaker, knobs, switches, jacks, tube chart, reverb tank, power cord and footswitch. It has a removable Lego chassis, for God’s sake, with Lego tubes, wires, transformer, capacitors and stuff. It even has a Lego Fender logo on the front, sort of.

Head over to the official Fender website for more photos of the LEGO Princeton Reverb Amp and an interview with Dave Chatterson.

Thank you for the link, Dave Chatterson!

Major Advance for the Coastal Weather Radar

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Mass Weather Blog) — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:28:00 GMT

After the depressing events yesterday with Seattle's selection of an extremely poor high school math book series (see my previous post), it was delightful to get some extraordinary good news today: funding for the coastal radar has been added to the President's budget. Senator Maria Cantwell, a key supporter of the radar, broke the news today in a press release available on her web site (http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=312626). The implications of this inclusion are substantial...the National Weather Service is now supporting the radar and if the requested funding is approved by Congress (about 7 million dollars), the radar will become a reality.

There are details of course, such as determining the best locations, securing land, bringing in utilities, but these are all doable. Although we can't get this funded and acquired by the coming winter, there is no reason why the radar can't be in place for the winter of 2010-2011 if the National Weather Service works efficiently. And when this radar is installed, the citizens of this state will be far better protected from natural disasters with improved warmings and forecasts from the coastal waters to eastern Washington.

Want some more good news....the forecast looks quite good for the weekend...particularly on Sunday...Mother's Day. Sunny, dry, mid 60s. And everything is blooming.

Finally, on Sunday I will be in Port Townsend giving at talk at 1 PM at the Rose Theater on local weather...more information to the right. So stop in if you live on the Peninsula or wish to take the ferry from Whidbey. (Remember the Hood Canal Bridge is out for repair).

Myst for iPhone: a handheld version of a classic game

Jay Hathaway — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Filed under: Fun, Games, iPhone

When I was growing up, Myst was the most fantastic game imaginable. There seemed to be no object at first, but a story eventually revealed itself to patient gamers who figured out how to solve its puzzles. For the time, its graphics were amazing, and the sounds and cutscenes blew us away. Now you can recapture that experience in portable form, because Myst is available on the iPhone.

Although I haven't played through the whole thing, word is it's a complete copy of the original game we love. The point-and-click play style of Myst is perfect for the iPhone, and it's sure to give you hours of fun, even if you've beaten it before. I don't know about you, but I don't remember the answers to every puzzle. The price and the disk space are both formidable, at $5.99 and over 700 megs. Still, 6 bucks is far less than we paid for it when it first came out, and our computers couldn't run it as well as an iPhone can. Worth a look.

Myst for iPhone: a handheld version of a classic game originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My Photography Workflow 2009

Thomas Hawk — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:15:55 GMT

Last year I wrote a blog post detailing my photography workflow. Since last year though my workflow has changed a bit as I’ve migrated from Adobe’s Bridge software to Adobe’s Lightroom software and thought that I’d post an updated article detailing how I process my images from start to finish. Questions about my workflow are some of the most common questions I’m regularly asked.

1. Step One. Capture the Image. My current tools that I use to capture images include a Canon 5D Mark II camera and the following Canon lenses that I carry with me 24 hours a day / 7 days a week: 135mm f/2, 24mm f/1.4, 50 mm f/1.2, 14mm f/2.8, 100mm macro f/2.8. In addition to these five lenses I also carry with me my MacBook Pro, a high speed card reader, a back up 5D M2 battery and battery charger and three CF cards (a 16GB and 2 8GB, all SanDisk). I also carry daily with me Moo cards that I can hand out to people that I meet to point them to my photography.

On longer photo outings or weekend trips I will also bring with me a 120GB USB powered Maxtor hard drive, my Manfrotto tripod, my Canon cable release and usually my backup camera body, a Canon 5D.

I shoot every day. I try to take advantage of every minute I can to shoot. Sometimes this is 10 minutes of walking on my way to my office. Other times it’s 2 hour photowalks after work. Other times it’s an hour photowalk during a lunch break. Frequently it also involves more serious outings including out of town weekends to new destinations to shoot.

My iPhone also always goes with me and I especially use the mapping features on the phone to find and shoot new locations.

I use Flickr, Zooomr and Google Maps to constantly research things that I want to shoot. Neon signs, graffiti, landmarks, unique settings, etc. I have several local maps as well as maps for almost every state in the U.S. of things that I want to shoot there. Prior to going out on a shoot I’ll frequently assemble a list of the locations that I want to shoot and structure the order so that I can most efficiently drive or walk to various locations that I’d like to shoot. I use my iPhone to help get me around in places where I’m not 100% familiar with the area.

2. Step Two. Transfer the images to the computer. Most days my 32GB of CF storage is sufficient. For longer and more detailed shoots I’ll take breaks from shooting to manually transfer images from my cards to my MacBook Pro, freeing up the memory card for more shooting. Some days I’ll shoot as many as 2,000 frames which means a number of transfers from my cards (I always shoot in full quality RAW format) to my MacBook. Other days I may just have a few hundred frames to transfer. Pretty much daily though I’m transferring images from my cards to my computer. If you take a lot of photos like I do, do yourself a favor and invest in a high speed card reader. I use Canon’s proprietary software, Camera Window, to transfer my images to my computer. This software organizes my images into folders by date.

3. Step Three. Flag Images. My next step is to use Adobe Lightroom 2.3 to look at a day’s images. Here I go through a culling process where I use the flag tool to flag all of the images that I’d potentially like to process.

I don’t always end up processing 100% of what I flag, but mostly I’ll process these.

In general I’d say that I probably flag about 5-15% of the frames that I shoot.

4. Step Four. Develop images. Once the images for a day’s shoot are flagged I’ll use Lightroom’s “Develop” mode to make non-destructive adjustments to my RAW files in Lightroom. Typically I was alter the contrast, exposure, color temperature, brightness, fill lightening, blacks, clarity, vibrance and saturation. I’ll also use the vignette controls to create the optimal vignette (or reduce or eliminate natural vignette if need be). I’ll also use the spot removal tool to remove blemishes or dust from photos. I’ll burn and dodge typically as needed as well. This might sound like a lot of activity, but it actually happens very quickly. I’m trying to publish one million photos before I die, so I simply do not have time to spend a great deal of time on any single photo. Most photos are processed in 60 seconds or less.

5. Step Five. Export JPG file. Once I’ve developed a photograph I’ll export a JPG version of it into a “finished photos” folder on my hard drive. I use the highest quality JPGs possible.

I also use this “finished photos” folder as my screensaver on my Mac. That way I can periodically see the most recent photos I’m working on as well as see any small blemishes big screen that I might have missed in the initial processing.

Sometimes I’ll go back in Photoshop and fix small blemishes or other things that I notice need work on my images during the day that they are playing in my screensaver on my Mac.

6. Step Six. Keywording. When I’m done processing a day’s photos, I’ll return to the library mode of Lightroom and synchronize the “finished photos” folder with Lightroom and begin keywording these images. I’ll almost always include the state and city an image is taken in, any reference to a particular organized photowalk or event or outing, and details to describe as best I can this image in keywords.

Keywords are very important for indexing your images for search on the internet and I could probably write a whole article about keywording alone. The key is to be as descriptive as possible and use any possible term that someone might use to search for the photo. If I take a photo of a painting at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, for instance, it would likely be keyworded with “Norton Simon,” “Norton Simon Museum,” “museum,” “painting,” “Pasadena,” “California,” “Los Angeles,” as well as keywords of the artist, painting title, and anything in the painting itself “cow,” “farm,” “moon,” etc.

7. Step Seven. Geotagging. Once all of my images for a day are keyworded I’ll use Geotagger on the Mac to drag and drop my images using Google Earth in order to geotag them. If you are using a PC, Microsoft also has a free geotagging and keywording tool at their Pro Photo Tools page.

Geotagging my images at the file level (like keywording) means that I don’t have to geotag them on either Flickr or Zooomr. It ensures that I always retain this important data with my images both for search on my own computers as well as for search online.

8. Step Eight. Archiving. Once a days photos are done, I will transfer the day’s RAW file folder onto my PC and on to a Drobo. I like to use Drobos because my images are then replicated across multiple drives protecting me in the event of a single drive failure.

I presently have four Drobos with about 10 terrabytes of storage. I will then take my finished JPG files and divide them into two categories “A” photos and “B” photos. I have another folder for A and B finished JPG files on one of my Drobos. At present I probably have about 20,000 finished photos that have not yet been published to the internet. About 20% of my finished photos end up in the “A” folder and 80% end up in the “B” folder.

I also periodically make sure that other copies of my finished photos are archived on hard drives off-site in case of theft or fire at my house.

9. Step Nine. Publishing. Typically I publish photos online 2x a day on weekdays and 3x a day on weekends. I will always select 5 of my “A” quality photos to upload in each batch. I will also include 12-17 “B” quality photos. I arrange my photos so that my “A” photos are the last 5 that I upload, with the photo that I like the very best from that batch being the very last photo that I upload.

Because Flickr and Zooomr typically favor your last 5 photos when sharing with your contacts, this ensures that most of my contacts will see my better images. Although I select 5 “A” photos and 12-17 “B” photos, there usually is no rhyme or reason to which photos are selected and this is largely a random process pulling from my archives. The only exception to this is when I shoot something that is timely like a party or an event in which case I’ll try to upload some of those photos as soon after the event as possible.

And that’s pretty much about it. I wrote this post by the way in response to a thread about other people’s workflow in the Deleteme Uncensored group where I am active on Flickr. You can read that thread here to see how other people manage their photos online.

Shiptracks!

noreply@blogger.com (Cliff Mass Weather Blog) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:09:00 GMT

During the past several days there have been some odd lines apparent in the visible satellite photos off our coast (see examples). These lines are often seen off the U.S. west coast in thin stratus and stratocumulus cloud decks. Sometimes they look like someone is playing tic-tac-toe over the Pacific. What causes they strange lines? And why was the U.S. Navy concerned about them?

The answer...these are called shiptracks and they result from the particles produced by the combustion in ship engines . But why would smoke and engine effluent cause white lines?
Nearly all low level clouds (such as stratus and stratocumulus) are composed of small water droplets that form on small particles, called condensation nuclei. Over the ocean, where air is clean, there are relatively few of such particles--thus there are relatively few cloud droplets...that grow big and fat since they don't have much competition. But if you add lots of particles from the smokestacks of ships the situation changes greatly...now there are many cloud condensation nuclei and you get a very large number of small drops in the clouds.

It turns out that if you have a certain amount of liquid water in a cloud, the reflective properties of a cloud with lots of small droplets is very different than one with a fewer number of large droplets. Specifically, clouds with more small droplets are more reflective and thus appear whiter from space. The bottom line: the particles from smokestacks cause more reflective clouds. So as the ship moves it leaves a line of whiter, more reflective clouds...the shiptracks you see! These shiptracks move with the wind and eventually get distorted and faded.

Interestingly, with many ships moving across the world's oceans, this effect can add up...even neutralizing a small bit of global warming. And the Navy was quite concerned about shiptracks during the cold war, since enemies could see where U.S. ships were by following the tracks. Fortunately, nuclear ships have no such problem..they have no impact on the clouds.

Matrix Revisited

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Fermirotica

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Parking

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:00:00 GMT

1000 Times

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Base System

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Great joke from the Exchange Team

Craig Pringle (noreply@blogger.com) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:57:00 GMT

LOL - happy April Fools Day from the Exchange Team Blog. I cracked up when I saw this post - good to see that the Exchange team know how to have a laugh with us (even at themselves a bit).

In order to help our customers configure their servers better, we have been working on a tool that you will be able to run from a workstation and configure your Exchange 2007 servers easier. Some of those options are not easy to configure otherwise, and some of the problems that you might have seen in your environments could be explained by those being turned on accidentally. The scheduled release of the final version of this tool is February 29, 2009. Have a look and give us your feedback: are there any other options that you find hard to configure, or you find that it is easy to inadvertently turn them on?

- The Exchange Team

Home Ideas

service@dilbert.com (VPI.Net) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:00:01 GMT

In the process of building our new home we came up with several ideas for how a modern home should be organized. Some ideas we used, some got cut for various reason. Here are some of the ideas.

GIFT WRAPPING SPACE: We imagined a small workbench space just off the garage that is designed for wrapping gifts. It's always someone's birthday, either friend or family. And you want it near the garage because most gifts enter, get wrapped then exit or move to storage. That space didn't make it into the final design.

HOME THEATER: Home theaters aren't new. What we did different is locate ours (seats 10) adjacent to the family room, across from the kitchen. That way it's integrated with the main entertainment area and near the food. The theater's double doors will have a large circular glass center so the space is visually connected to the family room. It's ideal for entertaining during the Superbowl, Oscars, Grammys, etc. because adjacent family room will have a smaller TV for the overflow crowd.

UNCONDITIONED FOYER: My pet peeve is huge foyers. A foyer just sits there looking pretty, sucking up your energy for heating and cooling. We built our foyer outside the conditioned space, within an entryway tower. When finished we hope it will have the same visual "pop" as an indoor foyer but without the energy suckiness.

CAT'S BATHROOM: We built a small space just off the laundry room for the cat's litter box. Most houses have pets, but few are designed for them. We fixed that.

PING PONG GARAGE SPACE: Relative to the cost of building a house, adding a few feet to the garage is cheap, and you don't need to heat or cool that space. In California, garage space is useful year round even unheated. So we included some extra space for a ping pong table. They're great for entertaining. Everyone plays ping pong.

TEMPORARY HOLDING SPACE: Every time a member of the family enters the house, something gets plopped on a table surface. It might be school projects, the mail, something from a store, a DVD, an iPod, you name it. Every flat surface becomes the temporary holding place for things that belong elsewhere. Our new home won't solve that problem, but I fantasize about a special room just off the garage that does nothing but hold all the crap that will later get sorted to appropriate storage places.

PROPER HOME OFFICE: When an office is designed in a home, it's usually the space just off the front door. I can't imagine a worse place for an office. A working office will generally be a bit messy, a tangle of cords, and not the first impression you want to leave guests. My office will be upstairs, on a corner, away from the action of the house, with a view. And the room will be largish. If you intend to work in a home office for ten hours a day, you don't want it to be a closet.

TOY JAIL: This is a closet on the first floor, near the stairway to the second floor, used for jailing any toys that the kids neglected to pick up and bring back to their rooms. The closet isn't locked. It's just a way for the adults to tuck the debris out of the way when they want things tidy in a hurry.

MOM'S COMPUTER COCKPIT: Our current townhouse is small and didn't have any extra rooms for the home computer. So the computer ended up in what should have been the living room, just off the main entry. This turned out to be accidentally brilliant because the computer is central to all the activity in the house and it gets used day and night. It is especially handy having it on the path to the garage because we always need to check e-mail or directions on the way out. Our new home has the computer cockpit just off the kitchen/family area, right next to the door to the garage.

NO MUSEUM ROOMS: Few things are a bigger waste of space than a formal living room. Our new home won't have one. That's the square footage that should be your home office, if you need one, or your home theater.

Another big waste of space is a formal dining room that is in its own area away from the action. Our dining room table will be integrated with the kitchen/family room area and casual in design, probably with bench seating. If the Queen wants to visit, we'll throw a tablecloth over it.

OUTDOOR LIVING: Relative to the cost of the house, it's inexpensive to include a large roofed patio, or lanai. In California you can use it most of the year. I expect it to be the most popular space in our home, and it costs the least. Depending on your insect situation, you might prefer a screened porch for the same reason.

NO HALLWAYS: We tried to design the home with as few hallways as possible. Hallways are a waste of space and energy. We designed our family room to be the connecting space for most of the downstairs rooms. We couldn't avoid all hallways, but we tried to make use of them for other functions where possible.

CHRISTMAS TREE CLOSET: It's a bother to crawl around in the attic every December to get the holiday decorations, only to be putting them away a month later. We designed a closet just off the family room that will hold all the holiday stuff, just yards from where most of it needs to be in December. As soon as I convince my wife that artificial trees are the way to go (a tough sale) I will be on easy street. Every year I'll have the tree up and decorated in about five minutes.

WIRING CLOSET: We have a closet where all the wiring will meet. It's located roughly in the center of the house and shares a wall with the home theater, housing that equipment as well. That will make life easier as technology evolves.

Fusion-io breaks out roomy, nimble ioDrive Duo SSDs

Darren Murph — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:53:00 GMT

While it's going to be tough for Fusion-io to get its ioDrive any faster in the near term, it ain't so tough to make the world's fastest storage more capacious. Shortly after pulling The Woz in as its chief scientist, said outfit has just revealed the next-generation ioDrive, predictably coined ioDrive Duo. The PCI Express-based solution throws 160GB, 320GB, 640GB or 1.28TB of stupid fast SSD storage directly onto your motherboard, enabling it to boast sustained read bandwidth of 1,500MB/sec and write bandwidth of 1,400MB/sec. The smallest three will be available next month for prices we don't even want to guess, while the 1.28TB model is slated to ship shortly after OCZ's 1TB Z Drive in the latter half of 2009.

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Storage

Fusion-io breaks out roomy, nimble ioDrive Duo SSDs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breaking down the walled garden: Some thoughts on Facebook embracing OpenID and opening up status update APIs

Dare Obasanjo — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:40:35 GMT

Facebook made two interesting announcements this week in the area of making their platform more open. The first announcement was made by Mike Shroepfer in the developer blog post Next Steps in Openness where he writes

Enabling social information to flow through the Web is one of the core goals of Facebook. In the two months since Facebook Connect became generally available, over 4,000 sites and desktop applications have gone live with the service. Users can now log into sites across the Web using their Facebook account, bring their identity and friends with them, and share information and experiences using the same features as they would with applications on Facebook.

As we've launched and built Facebook Connect, we've been participants in OpenID efforts. One of our user experience experts, Julie Zhuo, presented at the UX Summit in October. Several of our engineers have been participating in meetups, and one of them ran as a community member for a board seat. We're happy to announce today that we are formalizing our support of the OpenID Foundation by officially joining the board.

At first glance it seems contradictory for Facebook to join the OpenID foundation given that many people view Facebook Connect to be a competitor to OpenID as a single sign-on solution albeit a centralized one. The confusion from pundits around this announcement from Facebook is summarized in the Ars Technica article Facebook's "next steps in openness" raises questions which openly questions why the company needs to join the OpenID foundation when Facebook Connect seems to be enjoying broader deployment across the Web.

The reason seems quite straightforward to me. Right now, Facebook has created a situation where web sites that want to enable their users log-in with credentials from third party sites need to implement two solutions; an OpenID consumer and Facebook Connect. This places a burden on web sites which now either have to chose to adopt one solution over the other or create a user experience problem by offering users both options. It's bad enough that there is now a market for companies who wrap both solutions in a single package like JanRain and Clickpass. I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook has been getting an earful from some of their larger Facebook Connect partners about being a competing offering to OpenID.

That said, I doubt that a generic solution like OpenID will ever beat the ease of use and value added functionality that Facebook has created with Facebook Connect. By supporting OpenID, Facebook gets to silence the sites who simply want single sign-on solution that is built on standards so they can implement one solution to get access to users of Facebook, Google, Yahoo!, Windows Live, MySpace, and AOL's services among others. However anyone who wants the richer integration that comes with integrating with the Facebook mini-feed and live feed will still need to adopt the proprietary Facebook Connect.

The second interesting announcement about Facebook opening up comes from Chris Putnam in the post titled Opening Up Facebook Status, Notes, Links, and Video to Facebook Platform which is excerpted below

We've seen increasing engagement with over 15 million users updating their status each day and sharing over 24 million links per month. We wanted to make sure this content and the ability to share this content was available through our standard APIs.

Specifically, your applications can now directly access all of a user's status, links, and notes via new methods and FQL calls. Your application will have access to any status, notes, or links from the active user or their friends that are currently visible to the active user. In addition, we're opening new APIs for you to post links, create notes, or upload videos for the current user, and we've made setting a user's status easier.

We're pretty excited to see what kinds of ideas you can come up with to help users create and share more content.

Like Facebook Connect, this is a further step away from the walled garden approach that characterized the Facebook platform of 2007. In 2007, the goal of Facebook's platform efforts was to tell websites to re-implement themselves as Facebook apps (e.g. iLike website vs. iLike Facebook app). With Facebook Connect and the changes to their APIs announced above, Facebook is now acknowledging that their users use other websites and integration with those sites doesn't require these sites to become sharecroppers on the digital farmland that is the Facebook canvas page.

Twitter has shown the value of having open APIs for link sharing and status updates which isn't lost on Facebook given their failed attempt to acquire Twitter. Sharing status updates is a powerful way for humans to connect in social contexts and given Facebook's goal to be the world's social operating system we can expect them to make more moves in this space. It's particularly interesting to see how people use status updates as a way to communicate and share experiences during news events such as President Obama's inauguration. Facebook saw this first hand with their integration of Facebook's status updates with the CNN website where Randi Zuckerburg wrote

Over 2 million status updates were posted through the CNN.com Live Facebook feed with 4,000 status updates per minute on average and a huge spike of 8,500 updates when President Obama began his speech. We're thrilled that you and so many others chose to actively participate as history was being made—by sharing the experience with the people that matter most to you.

Similar surges were seen on Twitter as evidenced by the chart below. The thing that is interesting to note is that while status updates increased during the most exciting part of the inauguration other forms of Web traffic declined at the same time.

Similar traffic drop on Last.FM seen on the right

Google saw a similar drop as well

Was it because everybody went to Twitter?

Charts taken from the post Understanding Web Operations Culture - the Graph & Data Obsession on the O'Reilly Rader blog.

UPDATE: I've been playing around with the APIs announced and it looks like there actually isn't an API to get your friends' status updates included in the announcement. The status.get method only returns the status updates posted by the currently user. The closest I could get was trying the query below via fql.query but it never returned results

SELECT uid, message FROM status WHERE uid IN (SELECT uid2 FROM friend WHERE uid1=$userid)

So much for the claims that this is a Twitter killer.

Now Playing: Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent - Crack a Bottle

BatteryBar builds a better battery meter

Brad Linder — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

The battery meter that comes with Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 is alright for giving you a rough idea of how much time you have before you have to make a mad dash to the electric socket. But BatteryBar goes a few steps further, by providing you with a new toolbar icon that shows detailed battery info at a glance.

Once you download and install BatteryBar, you'll need to right click on the Windows taskbar and add a new toolbar before it will show up. You should be greeted by a meter showing what percentage of your battery life is remaining. Left click on the icon and you'll get an estimate of how much operating time you can squeeze out of your battery.

And when you hover your mouse over the meter you get far more detailed information including the battery capacity and how long your battery should be able to run on a fully charged battery.

BatteryBar is available as a free download. You an also upgrade to BatteryBar Pro for $7.50. The paid version adds support for themes and changing active power schemes by right-clicking on the toolbar.

[via TechnoSpot]

BatteryBar builds a better battery meter originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One million Xbox 360 users tap Netflix

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:41:00 GMT

In less than three months, Netflix has streamed more than 1.5 billion minutes of content to users of the Microsoft video game console.

New Napera Beta Integrates Software Into Network Switches–Get A Free 24-port Gigabit Network Switch

Jeff Widman — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:17:17 GMT

Napera, a recent Seattle-based startup, is looking for 100 IT and Network Managers for a closed beta test of their new 24-port gigabit network switch. Details below.

Napera is testing a relatively new concept–targeted security software subscriptions installed onto the network hardware. These security subscriptions recognize that different industries face different threat profiles–for example, the health industry versus the financial services industry. Each industry is also willing to pay for different levels of security. CEO Todd Hooper explained it to me:

A good analogy is the trial antivirus software that is bundled with
computer. Imagine if networking hardware came with bundled security features
you could activate for a trial and subscribe to remotely, rather than being
a new single function box you had to buy just for this purpose.

The recent mini-epidemic of the Conficker worm shows that breached network security remains a very real threat for the enterprise. Networking hardware is now sophisticated enough that installing applications on the switches themselves results in extremely fast and cost-effective deployment–particularly for businesses too small to hire a full-time security guru.

On the flip side, subscriptions to security in the cloud means your usage statistics can also be collected for continuous improvement. I don’t know if Napera intends to do this, but it certainly seems the logical next step.

Beta details:

Napera is looking for 100 IT and Network Managers to join a closed beta test
of our most innovative product features. We will ship you a fully
functional, business class, 24-port gigabit network switch. Install it on
your network, use it, and keep it, with our thanks for participation in our
beta program. We will ask you to turn on and use advanced features, never
before seen in network switching equipment. Give us your feedback, ideas,
and comments.

The beta test is open to US residents only and will take 90 days.
Participants responsible for hardware shipping and handling.

Apply to participate in the Napera Project Indigo Beta Test at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3_2bo0W86aSCZR65aT2zIU5g_3d_3d

CrunchBase Information

Napera Networks

Information provided by CrunchBase

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Twitter traffic up 974%

Andrew Fairbairn — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:13:25 GMT

The micro-blogging service Twitter was one of the fastest growing websites last year with an increase in traffic of nearly 1000%, Hitwise UK reports. It has stormed up the rankings of the most visited websites in both the USA and the UK. In the US, Twitter is now more popular than Digg after gaining a higher market share of visits for the first time last week. This can partly be attributed to the "citizen journalism" of the US Airways Hudson River plane crash last week and other recent events such as the Mumbai terrorist attacks and - of course - Barack Obama's inauguration, but Twitter has been slowly gaining on Digg for a while now.

Read full story...

The Palestinian problem is more complicated then I thought.

murderburger — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:11:37 GMT

I don’t claim any expertise on Global Conflict Resolution, but I suspect that some of these Arab demands are just too unrealistic.

All I’m Saying Is, MobileAge May Want To Make A New iPhone Icon

Michael Arrington — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:37:36 GMT

I know what it’s supposed to be, but I also know what it looks like, and all I’m saying is that MobileAge may want to think about creating a different icon for their $9.99 iPhone app (which you can download here). Thanks Mike for sending this in (and also Gizmodo).

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Update Twitter like Doogie Howser, MD!

Lee Mathews — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Text, Blogging, Web services

What child of the early 90's doesn't remember Neil Patrick Harris tapping away at his hideous-yet-cool IBM PS/2 at the end of a long day of practicing TV medicine?

Those were the days...and now you can relive them while updating your Twitter timeline. Head over to Twoogie, and you'll be presented with your very own virtual PS/2 style updater.

In the devloper's words, Twoogie is "an attempt to recreate that magical anachronism, and bring the teenage wit and wisdom of Doctor Doogie to a new breed of ADHD-addled netizens."

It's old school pretty, and either has intentional lag built in or is just not coded that well - it certainly seems to be part of the design. Either way, it reminded me a lot of my old Magnavox 486SX. Ah, the glory of being able to type faster than your computer could process the input!

The screenshot pretty much tells the whole story, and I knew what to expect before heading to the site - but it was still an awesome experience.

Update Twitter like Doogie Howser, MD! originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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street vandalism at its finest

murderburger — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:33:58 GMT

Someone out there is setting bold, new standards for all petty criminals.

MINI Cooper S recalled for protruding tailpipes, inadvertent tattoos

Damon Lavrinc — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:58:00 GMT

Filed under: Recalls/TSBs, Hatchbacks, BMW, MINI

Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2008 MINI Cooper S

Let's set the scene: You've just returned from a jaunt to pick up Grandma and parked your 2007-2008 MINI Cooper S in the driveway. After leading the sweet lady up your steps and into the house, you return to the car to unload the assorted goodies and gifts that she's brought for you and the fam. You pop open the hatch, reach over to grab a foil-wrapped plate of her legendary baklava and start to feel a burning sensation on your shin. It's official. You've been indoctrinated into the Club of Cooper S owners who now sport a circular prison tat on their legs.

According to the NHTSA, the problem affects some 28,450 2007-08 MINI Cooper S models due to the dual tailpipes that protrude too far from the center of the Cooper's rear bumper. The problem has been documented on several MINI-specific forums, and BMW is stepping up to address the issue and offering Cooper customers a new, shorter exhaust, free of charge. The recall begins in January and owners can contact BMW at 800.831.1117 to schedule a replacement of the offending exhaust.

Gallery: In the Autoblog Garage: 2007 MINI Cooper S

[Source: InsideLine | Image: Findude]

MINI Cooper S recalled for protruding tailpipes, inadvertent tattoos originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two fired for not becoming Scientologists

Andrew Lyle — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:29:15 GMT

The former CIO at Diskeeper has filed a lawsuit claiming that his work forced him to take Scientology training courses, in order to keep his job at Diskeeper. Alexander Godelman and Marc Le Shay were both dismissed at their job for refusing to participate in a training course titled "Basic Study Manual", where both employees were told that they would be more intelligent and his personal life would improve drastically. Godelman filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Superior Court, stating that Scientology training was a condition of employment, and their refusal to take part in the training session, lead to their dismissal.

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Death Map Shows Areas of U.S. Where Mother Nature is Especially Brutal

Diane Tuman — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:24:40 GMT

If real estate is about location, location, location, you might want to check out a “death map” that was issued by International Journal of Health Geographics. It shows areas of the U.S. where people have a higher tendency to die due to forces of Mother Nature. In the map above, red means a higher than average risk of dying and blue means a lower risk level.

According to this Reuters article, the #1 killer is heat. That means regions in the South are the deadliest, followed by the northern Great Plains region (heat and drought) and the Rocky Mountain region (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico) where winter weather and floods are the top killers.

The safest areas? Parts of the Midwest or cities in the urbanized Northeast (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, D.C).

(Death map graphic courtesy of FOX News)

Swans are nature's Porsche drivers

bza (noreply@blogger.com) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:26:00 GMT

You know, there was once an ugly duckling who got picked on all of the time by the other ducks, who couldn't understand why the duckling was so ugly. But then it turned out that duckling wasn't really a duck at all, but was in fact a TOTAL FUCKING DICK.

Take this world-class douche, for example. Everyone is just hanging out, having a good time, and Mr. "My wingspan is bigger than yours" decides to unload on the scene. Even his swan friend is embarrassed. He probably does it all the fucking time because let's be honest: that's just what swans do. Me personally, I wouldn't be caught dead with a fucking swan.

Flow Charts

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT

VIDEO: Jay Leno and the Lamborghini Countach

Alex Nunez — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:31:00 GMT

Filed under: Time Warp, Sports/GTs, Videos, Supercars, Lamborghini, Celebrities

Click above for a gallery of Countaches through the years

The Lamborghini Countach is the poster child for the modern Italian supercar. Literally. If you're of a certain age (and there are a few of us here at Autoblog who are), you probably had a series of Countach posters on your bedroom wall throughout your formative years. Put simply, the Countach was awesome. Still is, too. The clean-looking LP400 cars, as shown above, are simply gorgeous. Successive updates added visual muscle, but the basic goodness remained the same. (And yes, the 25th Anniversary car's cheese-slicer grates are an abomination.)

While the Countach is capable of being outperformed by a number of modern, far less exotic sports cars, none of them carry its overwhelming wow factor (or the excellent bold oblique lamborghini logo) Roll up in a Z06 or 911 Turbo today and no one will bat an eyelash, despite their being world-class machines. Arrive in a Countach, however, and you have an event on your hands. That's just how it is. Always was. Always will be.

Jay Leno, no surprise, has a Countach -- a nicely-worn, red, carbeurated '86 Quattrovalvole that once served as his daily driver and now has 70,000 miles on the clock. Obviously, he loves it, and it's the subject of the Jay Leno's Garage video we've got embedded after the jump. Jay gives a brief history of his car, which includes nuggets such as his deletion the rear wing because he thought it was stupid. (And really, it is. These cars look so much better without it.) Make sure you watch the whole thing. If you bail early you'll miss the ending. And really, who wants to miss Countach burnouts?

Gallery: Lamborghini Countach

[Source: Jay Leno's Garage]

Continue reading VIDEO: Jay Leno and the Lamborghini Countach

VIDEO: Jay Leno and the Lamborghini Countach originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Times Gets Pwnd

Michael Arrington — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:45:41 GMT

We were doubtful last night when the story first broke. There were just too many oddities to The Times’ tale about a complicated Yahoo/Microsoft search arrangement that would guarantee billions to Yahoo in exchange for a ten year search deal. We’ve checked with our sources - all of them - and we can’t verify a single fact in the story.

The first part of the story: “Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo’s online search business for $20 billion.”

Wrong. Our sources at Microsoft say they are not in current negotiations with Yahoo, over anything. Our sources at Yahoo agree, also saying they are not in negotiations with Microsoft over anything. Yahoo sources add that the company is fully engaged in finding a new CEO right now, and nothing else.

The second part of the story: “The proposal forms the centrepiece of a complex transaction that would see Microsoft support a new management team to take control of Yahoo…Jonathan Miller, ex-chairman and chief executive of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media, have been lined up to lead the new management team.”

Wrong. I spoke with Ross Levinsohn this afternoon. He says that there is absolutely no truth to the story. He also says that neither he or Jonathan Miller, his partner at Velocity Interactive Group, were contacted by the Times.

The third part of the story: “Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Microsoft would provide a $5 billion facility to the Miller and Levinsohn management team. The duo would raise an additional $5 billion from external investors. This cash would be used to buy convertible preference shares and warrants which would give it a holding in excess of 30% of Yahoo. The external investors would also have the right to appoint three of Yahoo’s 11 board directors. The talks with Yahoo involve Microsoft obtaining a 10-year operating agreement to manage the search business. It would also receive a two-year call option to buy the search business for $20 billion. That would leave Yahoo to run its own e-mail, messaging, and content services. It is expected that the operating agreement would boost Yahoo’s income by as much as $2 billion per annum.”

Wrong. See above. Also, the deal terms make no sense compared to Microsoft’s actual search offer from earlier this year. It values Yahoo way above market value, even taking deal premiums into account, and the incremental cash flow from the deal doesn’t match up to previous estimates published by Yahoo.

The Times, first published in 1785, has long been considered the newspaper of record in the UK, but yesterday they really stepped in it, and someone has manipulated them badly. Thankfully the markets weren’t open, because the article would have definitely resulted in a short term spike in Yahoo stock.

Thanks to FailBlog for the image, and just in general for existing.

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Apple Recommends Antivirus Software

franzon — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:08:11 GMT

Apple has issued a technical note about Mac antivirus software, and, for the first time, suggests that Macs need such software. The note says: "Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult." The note then goes on to mention three antivirus programs, with Intego VirusBarrier X5 listed first. It is worth noting this, since Apple, especially in its recent "Get a Mac" ads, has always publicly tried to ignore the threat of malware to Macs, as well as other security issues.

Read full story...

Xbox 360 outsells the original Xbox, Microsoft heads down to the trophy shop

Joseph L. Flatley — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:42:00 GMT

In the manner of a modern day fable on par with The Little Engine That Could or Rocky, Microsoft has just announced that sales of the Xbox 360 have outraced total sales of the original Xbox, a mere two days after the 360's third birthday on November 22. Do you feel yourself getting teary-eyed? Sure, the gang in Redmond could have stopped believing, or reaching for that rainbow (or whichever tired cliché you prefer), but it looks like all the hard work has paid off -- Microsoft has won a race with itself, and in doing so has given us all hope. To put this in perspective, a total of 25 million original Xboxes were sold during its lifecycle of November 2001 - May, 2005 (roughly three and a half years). The company has yet to release precise sales figures for the 360, but between price cuts in Europe, Black Friday, and the New Xbox Experience, they expect to ride out the tail end of this year with a huge sales boost. Great job, guys! We knew that some day your company would be a success.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

Xbox 360 outsells the original Xbox, Microsoft heads down to the trophy shop originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comic for November 20, 2008

service@dilbert.com (VPI.Net) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Drapes

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Terminology

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Looks Like The Pentagon Should Have Been Running Windows Vista

Robert McLaws — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:16:37 GMT

The US government has been leery of upgrading to Windows Vista. Looks like it should have done so a lot sooner:

The Pentagon has suffered from a cyber attack so alarming that it has taken the unprecedented step of banning the use of external hardware devices, such as flash drives and DVD's, FOX News has learned.

The attack came in the form of a global virus or worm that is spreading rapidly throughout a number of military networks.

"We have detected a global virus for which there has been alerts, and we have seen some of this on our networks," a Pentagon official told FOX News. "We are now taking steps to mitigate the virus."

…

FOX News obtained a copy of one memo sent out last week to an Army division within the Pentagon warning of the cyber attack.

"Due to the presence of commercial malware, CDR USSTRATCOM has banned the use of removable media (thumb drives, CDRs/DVDRs, floppy disks) on all DoD networks and computers effective immediately."

Had they been using Windows Vista, they could have deployed BitLocker, as well as the Group Policy controls that disable USB removable media in Vista RTM and later. Oh well. We’re only at war right now and everything… it’s only our national security.

Yup, Apple’s Advertising Budget Is Bigger Than Microsoft Vista’s

Erick Schonfeld — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:43:45 GMT

When Apple started running the anti-Vista commercial (above) mocking Microsoft for spending $300 million on Vista’s own ad campaign instead of on fixing its problems, I called it hypocritical:

Apple’s advertising budget is also pretty massive. I mean, I see more Apple commercials on TV than ads for Barack Obama. Apple is on track to spend more than $3.5 billion on SG&A (selling, general, and administrative expenses) for its fiscal year that ended September 30. How much of that was spent on advertising? I don’t know, but 10 percent doesn’t seem unreasonable.

It turns out that I underestimated Apple’s advertising budget. Lindsay Blakely at Bnet (a former Business 2.0 reporter) found the actual numbers in a subsequent SEC filing. In its 2008 fiscal year that just ended last September, Apple spent a whopping $486 million on advertising. (In fiscal year 2007, it spent $467 million, and in fiscal year 2006 it spent $338 million).

Half a billion dollars on marketing. No wonder I think Apple products are so great.

Update: Microsoft spends more on advertising across all of its combined businesses than Apple does, but its Windows business is what competes most directly with Apple. Microsoft’s total advertising budget across all of its businesses, including Windows, Office, Xbox, and all the enterprise stuff, was the following (from the 10K): “Advertising expense was $1.2 billion, $1.3 billion, and $1.2 billion in fiscal years 2008, 2007, and 2006, respectively.”

Microsoft’s fiscal year ends in June, so these numbers do not reflect the $300 million Vista campaign. But that would have eaten up 25 percent of Microsoft’s entire ad budget for any of the previous three years.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Coffee Cup Gadget Charger for Cars

Robert Birming — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:29:15 GMT

This handy power inverter, cleverly designed like a coffee cup to fit nicely in your car’s cup holder, coverts the DC power from your vehicle into two 120-volt AC outlets.

Perfect for powering or charging TV’s, DVD players, game consoles, cell phones, and other portable electronics. This coffee cup also has a USB charging port providing 500mA of power.

Features:

200 Watt inverter with 2 AC plugs and USB power port

Provides 120 Volt AC power from any cigarette lighter socket

200W continuous/400W peak

Fits into standard cup holders

18″ cord

Overload protection and low battery shut-off

Power 3 devices at once

One year warranty

Dimensions: 6″ tall x 3.5″ dia

The Coffee Cup Power Inverter is available from the ThinkGeek website for $29.99.

(Via Techfresh)

Shampoo for real men

Mikael Svardh — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:28:24 GMT

I just got this in the mail and I thought it was a quite funny idea. Shampoo bottled up in what looks like oil bottles. Nice.

Gear Head Camaro shampoo [gearheadshampoo.com]

Sony announces new CMOS sensors, 12+ megapixel cameraphones coming soon

Tim Stevens — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:51:00 GMT

If you've enjoyed the point-and-shoot megapixel race, which has pushed sensor resolutions in your average 3X zoom compact cam well into the teens -- leaving a sad trail of dark and noisy holiday pictures in its wake -- you're going to just love the mobile phone megapixel race. Samsung's 10 megapixel SCH-B600 currently holds the lead, but Sony's got a ringer chomping at the bit with the Exmor IMX060PQ CMOS sensor, which, paired with its matching auto-focus lens module, will turn some lucky handset into a 12.25 megapixel shooter when it enters the race in March. Sony has also announced 5.15 and 8.11 megapixel sensors, but really, anything not in double digits is so last year.

[Via Akihabara News]

Continue reading Sony announces new CMOS sensors, 12+ megapixel cameraphones coming soon

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Sony announces new CMOS sensors, 12+ megapixel cameraphones coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mini nuclear plant is safe, affordable and purifies water (but doesn't turn lead into gold)

Joseph L. Flatley — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:28:00 GMT

This isn't the first time we've seen a micro nuclear reactor, and with the looming energy crisis it probably won't be the last. Designed by scientists at Los Alamos, the Hyperion Power Module will retail for $25 million, has no moving parts, is about the size of a hot tub (less than 5 feet wide) and should generate enough electricity for about 10,000 homes, running up to ten years before it needs refueled. And if all that isn't enough, the company claims that the module is meltdown proof (the small amount of enclosed fuel would immediately cool if ever exposed to open air), that the enclosed material is unsuitable for proliferation, and in addition to generating inexpensive power the HPM can be used to purify water. Are you sold? Be sure to hit that read link -- Hyperion is taking orders now!

[Via Switched]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Mini nuclear plant is safe, affordable and purifies water (but doesn't turn lead into gold) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Internet addiction defined in China, entire Engadget staff now officially certifiable

Tim Stevens — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:11:00 GMT

While American psychiatrists continue to debate whether an unhealthy affinity for all things online is really an illness or just a passing fancy, their Chinese counterparts have made up their minds. After creating halfway-houses and clinics to wean netizens off of their dependency, doctors there have now drafted an official classification of internet addiction for people who spend six hours or more online daily. The affliction's symptoms include poor sleep, irritability, mental distress, and (surprise, surprise) a "yearning to be online" -- a condition that we typically call "visiting the in-laws." We're not entirely sure if this means that Chinese physicians can now subject anyone who is symptomatic to mandated shock therapy, but we've gone ahead and indefinitely postponed our 2009 Shanghai meet up just to be safe.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Internet addiction defined in China, entire Engadget staff now officially certifiable originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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10 genuinely kick-ass features to get excited about in Windows 7

Lee Mathews — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Filed under: OS Updates, Features, Windows, Microsoft, Beta, Lists

After reading yet another rundown of what's so great about Windows 7, I noticed an annoying trend. Things like "no sidebar!" and "wallpaper slideshows!" appear to be among the most noteworthy achievements to some reviewers. I decided our loyal DS readers deserved to read a list of features that really do kick ass.

Enough mucking about: here are ten Windows 7 features that are genuinely worth getting excited about.

10. Easier and better wireless networking. Windows 7 takes a little from XP and a little from Vista, and rolls it all into a neat little package. Connection switching only requires two clicks and it can be done right from the system tray icon. Windows 7 also detects three more access points near my home than XP and Vista, and the connections to my work and home routers resume instantly when my laptop wakes.

9. Device stage. Right now, Windows treats multifunction devices like separate entities.This really doesn't make much sense: is your all-in-one three separate pieces of hardware? No? WIth device stage, you'll see only a single device in the control panel which you can then explore to access its multiple capabilities. To see it in action, check out Engadget's video from WinHEC.

Device Stage will improve integration with cell phones, PDAs, personal media players, cameras, and more - and it's a sign that Microsoft is more concerned about simplicity and ease of use than they were with Vista.

Continue reading 10 genuinely kick-ass features to get excited about in Windows 7

10 genuinely kick-ass features to get excited about in Windows 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft confirms Yahoo hire

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:06:00 GMT

Software maker says Sean Suchter, who announced his departure from Yahoo on Wednesday, will join its Silicon Valley search center.

Microsoft "Political" History

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:40:54 GMT

It's possible, with a little hand-waving, to draw some parallels between the person running Microsoft and the person running the United States in the same period of time:

Microsoft started out run by Bill Gates, an optimist intent on changing the world by sheer good intention--this would be the "Carter" era (Gates and Carter both later wound up as world statesmen types, which is another interesting parallel, but not really relevant here).
In 1983 Microsoft brought in Jon Shirley, who ran the company (to the extent that anybody other than Bill really "ran" Microsoft back then) until 1990; this corresponds to the "Reagan" era.
Microsoft then brought in Michael Hallman as President, for a short-lived stint during which Microsoft was concerned about its equivalent of a recession--this is "Bush pere" time.
For the next eight years, Microsoft was run by various forms of committee of wonkish engineers--the "Clinton" years.
Finally, in 2000 came the ascension of Steve Ballmer, who steered the company through a somewhat rocky period--and we know what was going on in the U.S. then.

If you've read the blog, you probably know where this is going: towards a shaky analogy that Microsoft has alternated between Democratic and Republican leadership, and that, like the country, it has prospered in the Democratic era and done poorly in the Republican era.

Well, of course I am heading there, but first I will put some disclaimers out. First of all, Jon Shirley, according to the Huffington Post, is a staunch progressive Democrat, so his tenure doesn't match up with Reagan, a Republican. Then again Microsoft did quite well during the Shirley era, which means that while the analogy with the U.S. President is strained, the point about Democrat vs. Republican is arguably strengthened. Second, at some point Microsoft got big enough that it became tied to the U.S. Economy, so the fact that the company has done well or poorly is much more dependent on who was running the country than the company; if Obama can pull the country out of a tailspin, Microsoft's stock price should follow.

Still, it does get us to our current situation of Ballmer having been in charge for 8+ years. There is no doubt that Ballmer is a Republican; his donation record shows that (although he did give a bit to Obama), and any case it is known that after years under the tutelage of Bob Herbold, he is solid GOP. I don't mean this as a negative in and of itself; Ballmer is vastly smarter and more competent than George W. Bush, and he may at heart be a true "small government" conservative, which I think is an intellectually defensible position (needless to say, this is most emphatically NOT the kind of alleged conservatives that have been running the country recently). And Microsoft has a genuine commitment to advancement for women, doing the right thing for the environment, keeping its workers healthy, and the like which are definitely on the progressive side of the business agenda (they are all good business also, in my opinion; but I feel that way about progressive government policies also).

Nonetheless I think it is fair to say that Ballmer has run the company with a more Republican approach than it has been in the past. This manifests itself in two specific ways that I have noticed: his view that everybody starts out with the same shot at success, and a tendency to focus on obvious solutions to problems.

The first one doesn't concern me much. The U.S. government has a moral (and I would also claim an economic) need to level the playing field for everybody, by providing equal access to education, health care, and so on. Microsoft has no such moral obligation; people work here by choice, and although ideally we should give everybody the same chance to succeed, it's not a moral failing if we don't--we'll get hurt because people will underperform or quit, but in the end we can boil it down to a business decision. So while Microsoft's differentiated reward system, which Ballmer has championed, IS based on a notion that everybody has an equal shot once they get here (and therefore the ones who succeed do so because they deserve it, not because of advantage or luck), and I don't think that is quite true, this doesn't strike me as fundamentally "wrong"--certainly not as much as the federal government's equivalent regressive policies do.

The second aspect of Microsoft "Republicanism" is the one that worries me more. This is the tendency to focus on obvious solutions. You see this a lot in Republican government thinking: the way to prevent crime is to mandate harsh mandatory sentences, the way to avoid teen pregnancy is to teach abstinence, the way to solve the drug problem is to work on eradicating drug production and jailing drug users, the way to help the economy is to cut taxes, the way to achieve energy independence is to drill for domestic oil, the way to avoid traffic jams is to build more highway lanes, etc, etc, etc. These may all be wrong, but they are easier to explain to voters than the more subtle answers that actually work.

Similarly, I think Microsoft has a tendency (and let me emphasize that this is a TENDENCY, not a dramatic shift) in recent years to go for the obvious solution to problems. Unlike the U.S., which there is only one of, the marketplaces in which Microsoft competes have other companies, so the most "obvious" obvious answer is to mimic a successful competitor, and this seems to be Microsoft's recent approach in some areas: to look at what Google, Apple, Sony, RIM, Facebook, and so on are doing and try to do the same thing ourselves. This does not mean that we don't ever do innovative things (such as the ribbon in Office 12) or that Microsoft was never a "follower" in the old days (it certainly was, at least until we passed the company we were following, but that often happened quickly because we innovated within the space we were competing in).

As I said above, Microsoft is a long way from the nadir of the recently-completed Bush era, and I am not trying to suggest that Ballmer needs to be swept out of office. There are plenty of smart, progressive thinkers at Microsoft, and in any case the company is so diverse that it is impossible to say that we behave in any one way. And if you are, say, a college student wondering whether to come work here, I'll point out that I'm voting with my feet, by sticking around for the foreseeable future. It's still a great place to work, just as the U.S. is still a great place to live. Nonetheless, as I await the out-of-the-box thinking that I expect to accompany the Obama presidency, I hope that a little bit of that rubs off on Microsoft.

Great Moments in Motorsports: Adventures in throttle cable replacement

Damon Lavrinc — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:58:00 GMT

Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Renault

Click above to view the video

From our friends at the Axis of Oversteer comes a story of determination, fortitude, and a healthy dose of Darwinian law.

With less than a mile left in a stage of the Ralley de Serrians in France, the throttle cable in our hero's Renault finally gives up the ghost. Does he give up? No! Does the team try to push their way to the finish? Hell no! The driver tells his co-pilot to man the wheel while he hops into the engine bay, pulls the hood over himself and then manually controls the throttle cable bracket to a heroic finish. The picture above speaks for itself, but the video after the jump tells the whole tale.

[Source: Axis of Oversteer]

Continue reading Great Moments in Motorsports: Adventures in throttle cable replacement

Great Moments in Motorsports: Adventures in throttle cable replacement originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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eBay Find of the Day: 1963 LeMans Tempest sells for $226,521

Chris Tutor — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:57:00 GMT

Filed under: Motorsports, Time Warp, Auction Action, Pontiac

Click above for gallery of the 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest on eBay

The eBay auction for this 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest started out innocently enough. Obtained after owner died. Appears to have original interior but no motor, no transmission. Body has a little rust and some dents. There's stuff in the trunk, but no key to open it. Opening bid nine days ago was a mere $500. After one week, eBay seller 123ecklin will pocket $226,521 before auction fees. What happened between Day 1 and Day 9 is an amazing story.

The car's plexiglass windows, unusual suspension setup and a dash plate bearing the name of a racetrack tipped the owner to its racing history. But what he didn't know is that the car is one of only six 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest Super Duty coupes ever made. Hemmings recently did a story on the rare cars in which they listed all ever built. This one looks to have been driven by Stan Antlocer and was the fastest drag car in 1963 before disappearing.

Reading through the questions on the auction gives us reason to believe the seller truly didn't know the car's provenance. In his answers, he seems both surprised by the car's potential value as well as overwhelmed by the attention. He turned down an offer of $160,000 to end the auction early because he feared getting negative eBay feedback. That decision paid off. With only seven minutes remaining, the highest offer was $95,000. When the virtual gavel fell, eBayer ccsi2000 had bought a very rare, if a little rusty, LeMans for $226,521. Thanks for the tip, Trevor!

Gallery: 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest on eBay Motors

[Source: eBay Motors]

eBay Find of the Day: 1963 LeMans Tempest sells for $226,521 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7's Calculator bundles real-life uses

Chakkaradeep Chandran — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:11:38 GMT

Calculator is one of the programs that Microsoft has 'upgraded' to a much nicer interface (than what is available now) in Windows 7. The new Windows 7 Calculator now has 4 different modes :

Standard Mode
Statistics Mode
Programmer Mode
Scientific Mode

This default calculator goes above and beyond the brick on your desk by including unit conversions, date calculations, and a neat new set of "templates" that let you do things like figure out gas mileage, hourly wages, mortgage payments, leases, and more. Check out some of the calculator goodness in the Windows 7 Preview here

News source: Lifehacker

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