9:24 AM CST     0 comments

You don't say: MS Office - A snag in the .Net plan?

Can you imagine how hard it would be for an IT manager to get approval for a *monthly* software bill? Most companies don't want to pay for software as it is, much less pay for it over and over. I can respect Microsoft's position here, I mean they have to earn money somehow, but as long as traditional installation options exist I doubt many folks are going to jump on the software rental bandwagon.

Another thing that bugs me about the .NET concept is that Microsoft is touting automatic upgrades as a benefit of the new paradigm. What they don't say is how automatic upgrades will work if you have, say, an Access database that requires an older revision to function properly. Can you imagine waking up one morning and your entire enterprise is shut down because Microsoft decided to automatically update your system overnight? It's sheer madness.

9:03 AM CST     0 comments

PS2 Seeker: techbargains.com

TechBargains.com has a new feature which will sweep the inventories of several online stores. If they have any PS2's then you can jump to that site and snag one. If, as is generally the case, there are no PS2's to be found, the search is then repeated automatically at fifteen minute intervals.

Considering so many retailers are only offering PS2's at random intervals to curb site traffic, this looks like a reasonable alternative to hitting refresh for thirty hours.

12:01 PM CST     0 comments

Interesting: Xbox to tempt parents with online banking option

Microsoft seems to be taking the Xbox a bit further than they originally intended. If they continue to blur the line between appealing to pc users vs console users, they may end up with neither one being interested. There's also the already announced base price to consider.

9:40 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: MTX virus won't let you get help

That's a pretty sneaky idea. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before now.

9:27 AM CST     0 comments

How true: No 'Silver Bullet' for Software's Growing Complexity

The real problem is that it's a whole lot easier to make money writing fancy but buggy software than it is writing solid but boring software. People don't buy the steak they buy the sizzle. Add to that the distain most companies show toward paying for tech support and you end up with a real mess.

9:05 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: United seeks identities of Web site's users

I don't know about you, but I kinda like the idea that airlline machanics can cancel a flight if they need to. I'd much prefer a bit of delay over, say, a fiery death.

11:55 AM CST     0 comments

Neat: Install-less Linux distro to eliminate hard drives

This is a cool idea, but as the article suggests far from workable from a user stand-point. I can certainly see using these cd's to attract users to the Linux fold, but the amount of RAM required is a bit daunting.

11:45 AM CST     0 comments

Sniff: Sony way off target on PlayStation 2 shipments

I'm wondering if the "missing" 300,000 PS2 might make a miraculous appearance a few days prior to Christmas. That would certainly goad a few fence-sitters into buying one. I'm not quite sure what Sony is up to, but I'm betting the pay off is going to be huge if they pull it off.

There's also the issue of DVD playback. Anybody out there have any luck playing DVD's from their PS2?

11:37 AM CST     0 comments

Good grief: CNN - President-Elect Alert

Is this what our country has come down to? An e-mail alert to let us know who our next commander-in-chief will be? The mere thought gives me chills.

9:58 AM CST     0 comments

Woo: Country code chiefs, registrars mull ICANN breakaway

More news on beleaguered and battle-torn ICANN.

"ICANN could wake up one morning, and the Internet has just moved someplace else."

Wouldn't that be interesting?

9:29 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: New Jersey Woman Accidentally Glues Eye Shut

We all suspected Darwin was right. Well, this proves it.

9:09 AM CST     0 comments

Thhpt: Hewlett-Packard to pay German fees

This is just a little ridiculous. Manufacturers have little say over how their products are used. The fact that HP is currently the olny company subject to such fees is also a sham.

8:58 AM CST     0 comments

Classic: `Floridian Rhapsody': Bush vs. Gore in verses

This had the capacity to truly suck, but strangely it doesn't. It's actually pretty funny.

[link courtesy of Ars Technica]

4:40 PM CST     0 comments

<pimp>journal update</pimp>

10:30 AM CST     0 comments

Is it just me or is this a *seriously* slow news day?

Man.

9:55 AM CST     0 comments

Hee: Microsoft honors Linux programmer with patent award

Now that's comedy.

9:38 AM CST     0 comments

FEED: The Butterfly Effect

This article purports to discuss the so-called "butterfly ballot" design, but only touches briefly on the subject. Most of the rest of the article is a sort of roundtable on the good, bad, and just plain ugly things about the web. Jakob is involved, but you can easily skip his sections and just read the good stuff.

9:25 AM CST     0 comments

Oops: Emusic Tracks Napster Naughties

This can't be good. Regardless of how easy it is to tinker with an MD5 fingerprint, I doubt many mainstream users will like the idea they are being watched.

1:59 PM CST     0 comments

Cool: Radio stations score with ’80s format for the generation nursed on MTV

I would *love* for one of our local stations to go to this format. We have a couple stations that have an 80's lunch or something, but they rarely step outside the 15-20 overplayed crap hits that nobody really liked in the 80's anyway. They could take one of our estimated 500 country stations. I doubt anyone would notice.

[thanks to Kim for the link]

10:30 AM CST     0 comments

Soooooey! BoarSemen.Com

You really must check out the Sounds Like Bacon section. Noises aren't your thing? Well, how about The Earnotching Tutorial? Only on the web could you find such unique and targeted material.

10:26 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: Where next for Corel?

That's a very good question. A pity that this article doesn't actually provide an answer. What it does do, however, is paint a fairly accurate depiction of how very difficult it is for any company to be a Microsoft competitor.

10:11 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: BBC Says Sorry for 'African Orphan' Stunt

That's a bit crass even for the BBC.

9:04 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Revolt threatens ICANN's budget

"regional operators would be willing to collectively pay $35,000 to $50,000 for one ICANN staff member to maintain the list of 244 regional suffixes ... [c]learly there's a big gap between that fee ... and the $1.35 million that ICANN is expecting"

You can say that again. I hope this little 'snag' prompts ICANN to reconsider their ivory tower demeanor. It's more likely, however, that the US government will step in and enforce ICANN's demands.

8:55 AM CST     0 comments

Deja Vu: Who will be king of the game consoles?

Microsoft shows their horns:

"Earlier this month, Microsoft announced two programs--the Independent Developer Program and the Incubator Program--to encourage smaller developers by providing free software writing tools and waiving normal prepublishing requirements."

That, friends and neighbors, is exactly how Microsoft wiggled its way into an OS monopoly. While IBM and Apple were making dev kits the cost of a small house, Microsoft was at Comdex shoving copies of the latest Win32 VisualFoobar into the hands of anyone who could draw a breath. Microsoft knows how to build developer loyalty, it remains to be seen if this will translate well into the rough and tumble world of console gaming.

10:57 AM CST     0 comments

Sheesh: Feds Stop 'Bumper Car' Fraud Scheme

And people wonder why their auto insurance is so high.

10:37 AM CST     0 comments

Ahhh: Microsoft dot 'nyet'

A refreshing return to the Dvorak of old.

10:29 AM CST     0 comments

YAOR: Open-sourcing the Apple

Yet Another OSX review... this one is from a BSD perspective.

10:12 AM CST     0 comments

Woops: Pentium 4 benchmarks

JC has released a few benchmarks comparing the Intel Pentium 4 to the AMD Athlon. It appears Intel has some 'splainin' to do since the 1.2GHz Athlon either matches or out performs the 1.4GHz-1.6GHz P4's on most tests. In the end it really won't matter though, because Intel has trained consumers to buy based on higher clock speed instead of raw performance.

I wish there was some way to retest the P4's with DDR SDRAM instead of Rambus RDRAM. That might close the gap a bit.

[thanks to Ars for the link]

1:04 PM CST     0 comments

Good Lord: Let's cough up the cash for Web content

Yet another modern sign of the Apocalypse: Roger Ebert starts quoting Jakob Nielsen.

10:37 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Travolta Seeks Improvements to Flop

The best improvement they could make to that turd is to leave the record tab intact.

10:26 AM CST     0 comments

Sign me up: GM runs trial of online ordering for custom cars

I'm completely behind this idea. I generally hate to perpetuate stereo-types, but in my experience car dealers are just as sleazy and useless as their reputation suggests. I have no qualms about paying a little extra to receive services over and above, but when a middle-man actually makes my buying experience *worse* than if I managed the transaction myself then what am I paying for?

Bravo to GM for taking this bold step to benefit the consumer at the risk of losing dealer loyalty.

10:17 AM CST     0 comments

Ouch: Charge for Net stakes swallows Starbucks' profit

That's gotta hurt. I suppose it just goes to show how deeply the dot-com failure rate is affecting our economy.

10:08 AM CST     0 comments

Yeah, right: TV makers want to force broadcasters to add digital shows

I'll bet sock makers want to ban the sale of toenail clippers too, but neither is likely to happen.

9:39 AM CST     0 comments

Still silly: ICANN releases TLD shortlist

Besides .web and possibly .biz, I'm hard pressed to see any wide-spread appeal for these TLDs. I mean, .co-op? Get real.

9:17 AM CST     0 comments

Yawn: Garden.com dies on the vine

I'm wondering how long such failures are going to be news-worthy... I can't imagine it will last much longer. How many times will people be interested in reading the same story over and over?

9:00 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Sega's Sooooo Sorry About Sony

I like a company with a sense of humor.

2:53 PM CST     0 comments

Cool Tech: Getting your CueCat declawed

I wanted to blog this yesterday, but Blogger was fighting me tooth and nail. Anyway, this guy has devoted a lot of time and effort to reverse engineering the CueCat scanner. If you haven't heard of the CueCat, consider yourself lucky.

Basically it's a little bar-code scanner which, when scanned over a product (like a Pepsi can), takes you to the associated website. That's somewhat interesting, if a bit silly. What makes this little kitty so evil is that the CueCat parent organization Digital:Convergence stores the item you scanned in a database along with the unique ID from your CueCat device. This allows them to build a huge profile of you and other members of your household which they can then sell to the highest bidder.

The site linked above has intructions for "declawing" your CueCat (removing the unique ID) without affecting its usefulness as a barcode scanner. There are also links to several hobbist sites which offer software to extend the uses of your CueCat.

Good stuff.

11:55 AM CST     0 comments

Ick: Record shop lets clients burn CDs

This is a really cool, if obvious, idea. The problem lies in the execution. Why would you want to encode the tracks to MP3 and then decode them back into WAV files before writing them to the target CD? Unless they rachet back the compression ratio considerably, the resulting quality is bound to suffer dramatically.

There are consumer-level devices already on the market to stream from CD to CDR. Translating such a device into a mass market application should be relatively simple. Any quality degradation from a direct digital transfer should be negligible.

10:21 AM CST     0 comments

Damn: Seagate releases monster 180GB drive

Now that's a big hard drive.

8:53 AM CST     0 comments

Silly: ICANN report praises, rips domains

Is it just me or does it sound like ICANN is selecting new TLD's more or less at random? I really can't believe anyone takes them seriously.

8:32 AM CST     0 comments

Supersite: Windows "Whistler" Beta 1 reviewed

More reviews of Microsoft's Whistler. This one has lots of pretty pictures.

[link courtesy of Ars Technica]

3:49 PM CST     0 comments

Cute: Amazon.com Ballot Interface

The really funny part is that this ballot interface is actually prettier than their "tabbed index" interface.

[thanks to The Reg for the link]

3:29 PM CST     0 comments

Another slight redesign. That robot lady was creeping me out.

12:15 PM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Instant Runoff Voting

This seems like a reasonable and logical solution to an intractable problem. Under IRV people who wanted to vote for Nader could have done so without worrying that their vote would end up electing Bush.

Of course, the very fact it *is* reasonable and logical makes it an unlikely solution for our goverment who must make every process as complicated and convoluted as possible.

[link courtesy of shinybluegrasshopper]

10:48 AM CST     0 comments

Amen: ASP vs. ASP+

Finally, a sane comparison of ASP and ASP+ without the typical levels of Microsoft evangelization. How refreshing.

9:26 AM CST     0 comments

Wow: Netpliance pulls I-opener Web access device

Who would have guessed? The biggest surprise is that they survived this long.

9:08 AM CST     0 comments

Geeky: Prime time

This one is mostly for the math geeks, but there's a bonus discussion of Schrödinger's cat for quantum lovers.

8:41 AM CST     0 comments

Salon: Hurrah for slow recounts

I realize this piece is radically different than the things I generally post here, but it's a good read nonetheless. Certainly worth skimming at the very least.

2:39 PM CST     0 comments

Hmm: SQLTeam.com - Poll Results

This graph reminds me of something... but I can't put my finger on it.

9:32 AM CST     0 comments

Updates are likely to be sporadic today. My net connection is rather touch and go this morning. It's either twice its normal speed or not working at all.

8:50 AM CST     0 comments

Sheesh: High-speed MSN - Truth in advertising?

This is what happens when marketing is given the reins to a company. I can just imagine the Compaqers and Microsofties sitting around a conference table, salivating and licking their chops at the prospect of bilking consumers out of even more hard earned cash.

9:52 AM CST     0 comments

Ironic: Filtering programs block candidate sites

I find it undescribably delicious that Mr. Pollack was a staunch supporter of mandatory filtering in libraries and schools up until his own site was blocked. I think this quote pretty much says it all:

"Unfortunately, most people don't care about censorship unless it's their speech that's directly censored," he said.

It remains a mystery to me why our government calls in expert after expert, at great expense to taxpayers no less, and then roundly ignores their advice.

9:36 AM CST     0 comments

Puzzling: eBay not liable for bootlegged content

I realize that this case was not a copyright dispute and therefore can't be considered in direct correlation to the Napster case. However, it still puzzles me that the rules which seem to apply to Napster don't apply to eBay.

I guess that's why the lawyers get the big bucks.

9:20 AM CST     0 comments

Sigh: How Apple Flunked Out of Schools

I'm going to catch a lot of flak for saying this. As much as I hate to admit it, having Macs in schools doesn't make much sense anymore. Years ago when teachers and administrators were less computer friendly the Mac provided a quick and painless introduction to the advantages of day-to-day computer use.

These days, however, most parents and teachers have at least one PC in their home. Although there have been some token moves toward compatibility between the Mac and the PC (mostly coming from Apple - no surprise there), it remains a problem when Susie can't work on her school assignments at home. I sincerely wish I could say otherwise, but Macs just don't make sense for schools anymore.

9:08 AM CST     0 comments

Neat: Domain-name expansion to foster more worldly Web

This seems like a really cool idea. I wonder how much legacy hardware and software it will break? I'm guessing it will be a fair percentage.

1:15 PM CST     0 comments

Amen: F**k the vote!

"You hear every election cycle about apathy in America, as if not wanting to choose between eating steamed shit and stir-fried shit makes one apathetic as opposed to sane."

Damn straight.

[link pilfered from the lovely and talented Lynda]

UPDATE: I just realized that Beth picked out the same quote from this article for her blog. That's a little eerie.

9:57 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Sony adds Basic to PlayStation to sidestep EC import tax

BASIC programming on the PS2... gotta love it.

9:37 AM CST     0 comments

Phew: World's Fastest Thawing Spaghetti

I know I'll sleep better tonight knowing this.

9:15 AM CST     0 comments

Damn: Pets.com latest high-profile dot-com disaster

This surprised me at first. I mean, their sock puppet was one of the most recognizable icons of the consumer web explosion. It seems inconceivable that such a high profile site could fold so quickly.

Then it hit me. I've never actually *visited* Pets.com, much less shopped there, even though I have three very pampered cats. So I guess it's really not that big of a mystery after all.

9:11 AM CST     0 comments

Whatever: HP tests waters with pint-sized PC

You know what would make an excellent addition to any article about the appearance of a new computer? A photo.

You know what might help HP actually *sell* a few of their new whiz-bang model? A page on their website.

Perhaps these concepts are too complex for HP.

4:30 PM CST     0 comments

I apologize for the lack of entries today. I've been in an endless cavalcade of useless meetings.

I should be able to return to my normal routine tomorrow.

2:04 PM CST     0 comments

Y.A.O.R.: A BeOS View Of Apple's New OS X

Yet Another OSX Review... this time from the perspective of a BeOS power user.

9:28 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Penguin Plane Spotters Intrigue Scientists

I suppose the real question is, if a penguin falls in the woods does it make a noise?

9:25 AM CST     0 comments

Odd: Michael Moore

It says a lot about this election that Michael Moore, whom I generally find to be quite a tiresome personality, and I agree on so many points. As I read through both his Open Letters to the candidates, I found he is raising the issues I want to hear about. Issues which will likely never be answered fully, if at all, by either Bush or Gore.

9:11 AM CST     0 comments

Damn: The PC will survive ... but not sure I will

Mr. Dodge thinks a PC should last 10 years without being outdated. He also thinks they are too expensive.

I'm just wondering what color the sky is in his world.

8:58 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: MS 'Whistler' looks solid

Wanna hear a recipe for disaster? Here you go:

"Microsoft has built into Whistler a feature that allows a user to request assistance from another user via e-mail, specifying a window of time in which the request must be answered. The user providing help may then take control of the problem system, fixing the problem while the user watches."

Let's just hope Microsoft allows us to disable this "feature".

8:51 AM CST     0 comments

FEED Essay: Does Al Gore Dream of Electoral Sweeps?

This is an interesting discussion about the relative merits of the electoral college. I particularly liked the World Series metaphor.

8:41 AM CST     0 comments

Bollocks: Mobiles 'cut teenage smoking'

Here's the only important part of this article:

"While there is absolutely no evidence that the two trends are linked..."

Exactly.

1:05 PM CST     0 comments

This just in...

Arby Sauce, while quite tasty on roast beast, does absolutely nothing to enhance the flavor of Chicken McNuggets.

That is all.

9:31 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: McAfee Virus Definition Bug Crashes Windows

Sometimes the cure is worse than the illness. Good thing The Reg has a cure for the cure.

9:27 AM CST     0 comments

Yeah: "Minesweeper" could uncover math conundrum

See? I told you I wasn't wasting time! I'm doing *research*.

9:18 AM CST     0 comments

Eerie: Apple gilds the lily

This is a little eerie... this article is the second part of Salon's OSX coverage. The first line of the article is amazingly close to what I ended the Whistler post with below. Odd that.

Anyway, as expected, part two is a bit more acerbic than part one, but it seems to fit more closely with other reviews I've read.

9:10 AM CST     0 comments

Preview: Microsoft Whistler

CNet does a quick once over of Microsoft's latest pre-beta. From what I can tell it takes all the bad things about WinME and merges them with the more annoying features of Win2k. It also make random changes to the interface conventions that users have come to depend on, like My Computer and the Start Menu.

Not all change is bad, but change just for the sake of changing is generally a bad idea.

8:57 AM CST     0 comments

AOhelL: AOL Facing New Legal Action Over Latest Software

If you are an AOL user with a home network or if you use a DSL or cable modem for internet access you may want to pass on the AOL6 upgrade. Unless you enjoy reinstalling Windows and AOL multiple times that is.

[link courtesy of Lance]

10:02 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: Spice Girls Join Churchill in Quotes Dictionary

Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse? No? Well, it should be.

9:58 AM CST     0 comments

Surprise: Intel denies backing off RDRAM

People seem to forget that Intel holds a chunk of Rambus stock. Stuck between the rock of losing consumer loyalty and the hard place of short-term income loss, Intel has to constantly alter its published opinion of RDRAM.

The bottom line is that RDRAM is expensive and slow. Intel knows this and is busier than a one armed paper hanger trying to back-pedal out of its commitment to using the stuff.

9:53 AM CST     0 comments

Cool: Space Image Libraries

This site arhives links to sites which offer space-related images. Everything from Hubble telescope images to photos of various spacecraft. Good stuff for the sci-fi buff.

9:26 AM CST     0 comments

Crapster: Napster fans sing sour notes over fee

I agree with Ceej on this one. I would happily pay for a service which provided access to music not available on CD. If the music I want, is available on CD I'll buy it and rip my own MP3's.

If I could pay $20 a month and have access to out-of-print material or tracks not released in the US, I would jump at that chance.

9:09 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: Battle stations

Hollywood is dinking with DVD region codes again. It seems like media companies are just falling over themselves to persecute their paying customers these days.

4:08 PM CST     0 comments

New look. Robots. Yeah.

3:23 PM CST     0 comments

Huzzah! mozilla.org

The latest Nightly Build of Mozilla fixes the "link underlines" bug! Now if I can get a stand-alone version of the browser component I can start using it as my main browser.

10:25 AM CST     0 comments

Woo: LOSERS dot ORG

Your personal guide to losers online. Be sure to check out the Design section. Eek!

10:07 AM CST     0 comments

You oughta know: Search Us, Says Google

Just in case you aren't using Google yet, here's an interview that explains why you should be. The most important reason I give people is that, quite simply, it doesn't suck.

10:02 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Eek! A Two-Button Mac Mouse?

I'm torn on this issue. The two (or three or four) button mouse is often quite a time saver to the savvy user. On the other hand, I've spent many a fruitless hour on the phone with inexperienced users who have no end of difficulty understanding when, and more importantly why, they need to use the right button rather than the left.

I suppose that if Macs continue to ship with a single button mouse and Apple (or more likely an enterprising third party) makes a multi-button model available in the after-market then everyone will be happy in the end. The debate may end up being a moot one if OSX is as user-hostile as reviews have led us to believe. Newbies, perhaps, need not apply.

9:52 AM CST     0 comments

Tech perks: Techies' homes are their castles

"Working from home is not just removal of a commute," he said. "I'm more productive here, I'm not interrupted here, I can be a better person if I'm working from my house."

Preach on, Brother.

9:45 AM CST     0 comments

Sold: S3 sheds graphics business, picks up new name

S3, who recently purchased Diamond Multimedia, are now selling their graphics business to Via. I doubt this will improve their driver problems any. I haven't been able to get new drivers for my Monster Fusion card in well over a year.

Grmpf.