Blog Housekeeping

I have backed up the blog through the previous post. I had to change the template to add the present to the right, and if anybody has any suggestions, please let me know.

As a result of wanting to add a little "sunshine" to your day. (Yes, I do think that the readers of this blog will enjoy this.) Amazon Unbox has the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Video available for free, until February 25th. I've not used Amazon unbox myself, but I am excited about their MP3s as an option to iTunes.

The online options for content are amazing. Since the price for this was right, when I posted, I thought I'd pass it on. Sorry to the bandwidth challenged... (and you know who you are ;) ).

This is a catch all post, so... here's one more thing.
Preliminary Chumby review from CNET (full review coming later this month).
In other open source hardware reviews, Bug Labs is producing open source "modules" that clip together, and function together.

That is all, for now. Have a great weekend, see you tomorrow.
--MissM

Use of Rogue DNS Servers on Rise

Yet another security threat that attacks via the browser. I just thought you'd need to know about this one.

Jack

Microsoft delivers 11 patches, 6 critical; Excel flaw left unpatched | Zero Day | ZDNet.com

Microsoft delivered 11 patches on Tuesday addressing 17 vulnerabilities. Six updates fix critical flaws and five address important vulnerabilities, but an already exploited Excel zero day was left unpatched.
Do your Microsoft updates!
AlaskaJoe

More iPhone Hacking

The latest firmware updates for the iPhone have been undone to the extent that the device will once again run on unapproved networks.

The details are a bit above my understanding, but the struggle is fun to watch.

Jack

CNET News.com

Starbucks ditches T-Mobile for AT&T | The Social - CNET News.com
"Ubiquitous caffeine conglomerate Starbucks has ended its Wi-Fi partnership with T-Mobile in favor of one with AT&T.

Under the earlier plan with T-Mobile, Starbucks customers needed a paid subscription to access the in-store Wi-Fi service, and T-Mobile HotSpot subscribers will continue to have access to Starbucks Wi-Fi thanks to an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile. But the new AT&T plan allows all customers 2 free hours per day, with a $3.99 fee for additional 2-hour chunks of time. Monthly subscriptions will cost $19.99 and will enable access to other AT&T hot-spot locations in addition to Starbucks."
This was one reason I selfishly regretted not participating in the OLPC program, a free year of T-Mobile. I know, I know... sorry.
Starbucks ditches T-Mobile for AT&T | The Social - CNET News.com

And its official. Yahoo rejected Microsoft, saying the bid was undervalued.

h/t to Twitter

--MissM (I'm on twitter too, fyi)
P.S. Note to fellow bloggers, I'm going to back up the blog (this week), and update it to try some things :)

Game makers hit out at Apple

I wonder if this little article doesn't give the real reason why the Mac has never been taken up as a serious gaming platform.

Lately stories of the iPhone and other Apple hardware being so tightly controlled have popped up over and over and all of them lend credence to this article.

I guess Apple needs to wake up.

Jack

Microsoft Research's InkSeine coming this Friday

The most likely reason Tablet PCs (as envisioned by Microsoft) didn't take off was/is the lack of a "killer application". Well, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. There just was not a compelling reason to go out and buy one.

But Microsoft is a big company and at times very secretive about their researches, so we don't get to see what their developers and planners are thinking about and working on much of the time. Now up pops InkSeine, what looks like the basis of the killer app for the Tablet. It is not hard to see Microsoft's release/non-release of this as testing the waters to see if this generates any buzz at all among developers. If it does, I'll bet the little "research project" blossoms into a product development project faster than you can say "Steve Ballmer talks too loudly".

Be sure to follow the link to the features list. I found reading that really whet my appetite for a tablet. That has happened before, but this time things look more or less lined up to give us a really forceful argument for buying one. I hope they continue to develop it and bring it out as an add-on for Vista or as a stand-alone Tablet PC version.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 02-10-08

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 02-10-08. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) For starters, this week I thought I would begin with an article possibility related to global warming. When one thinks of venomous critters, the first thing that comes to mind is usually spiders, and snakes. However if you want nasty it is hard to beat the box jellyfish when it comes to a threat to people. Seems it takes about 180 extremely painful seconds to kill a human being. The climate change is creating some serious problems with them, among several other species. The jellyfish has an especially effective survival mechanism it seems if you kill them off, their defense is to, immediately start a breeding frenzy in the billions. Here is the link to an interesting story, documentary movie coming out on the 12^th in England, I hope to find it on the net soon after, if I do I will post a link. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Another example is the yellow jacket wasp, seems they usually die off in the winter, or at least they used to, the average size of a large nest has been about the size of a basketball. Not they are living through the winter and some nests have been as large as a Volkswagen Beetle. Story link here http://www.tuscaloosanews.com

2) This link is one of those about free energy that caught my eye. Woods Hole Oceanographic has a thermal glider that has been operating since December 2007, and still should have another six months left. Has been traveling through the ocean continually for thousands of miles, using zero fuel of any kind other than a couple of alkaloid batteries to operate the computers, and guidance system. Shows the answer to our problems is exercising our creativity. A very cool tool, and a good read http://www.whoi.edu

3) It is about time for a little U.F.O. as I have been rather quiet about the subject for a while. Although, I have been wanting to ask Jack if he has seen anything odd in the Texas skies lately. There have been several stories about sightings in Texas in the news lately with titles like “U.F.O’s and the Bible belt collide”. Anyway, the link I put up is not about that. this is from a Canadian paper about President Eisenhower’s meeting a U.F.O. back in February, 1955. It is about one of those items that came out during the disclosure project recently. http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com

4) On a lighter note, here is a little video on someone who setup an obstacle course for squirrels, smarter than they look. If you have a vending machine at work, you might consider one as a pet, and save a couple of bucks. http://www.youtube.com

5) This is one of those over my pay grade geeky things, but I got it in an email the person who sent it was excited about it in a geeky kind of way. I rather grasp some of it, but not enough to make any sense to me. Anyhow, I am posting it for your consideration. It is about googling your forgotten passwords. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/