Archive for January, 2009

Sometimes you just have to take a break from tech and talk about the home life.

Ever since I married my wife our living room walls have changed color five times. We redecorate rooms as we get a chance, changing everything from the paint and the furniture to the carpet and the shutters.

One of our favorite sites for finding those ‘hard to find’ items is InvitingHome.com. They have just about everything you can think of, whether you’re looking for that special wood molding or wall sconces for your hallway. One of their sites’ best features is their blog, which is broken down into specific categories, depending on what you are looking for.

Before I was laid off earlier this month, we had planned on doing a little renovation of our kitchen, to give us more room while we prepare meals, and to make it look more like a country kitchen. My wife loves all of the different decorative hardware to choose from, and will soon be drawing up the plans for the renovation.

Of course it will all have to wait until I am working again, but once I start getting that paycheck again you know where you will find us.

A testament to our times.

In an inauguration defined by a sense of change, the experience of watching Barack Obama take office was fittingly revolutionary.

Like never before, Americans watched the inauguration of an incoming president online through live video streaming across their computers. And wholly wrapped up in following Inauguration Day 2009 on the Web was reacting to them — blogging, vlogging and tweeting.

And for the most part, many people got aggravated by the online streams because they all kept crashing. Maybe one day we’ll get a service that stays up during historical events.

I forgot all about Windows Mobile.

All those Windows Mobile users waiting for Windows Mobile 7 are going to have to wait a little longer, but at least now they’ll have something to keep them busy while they wait. Next month, Microsoft is reportedly planning to unveil Windows Mobile 6.5 and accompanying services at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, which is taking place between February 16 and 19.

At least they get a dot release to muck things up before the big 7.0 release.

Talk about asinine.

The European Union’s antitrust agency on Saturday confirmed that it has charged Microsoft with breaking the law, saying that the company “shields” Internet Explorer (IE) from “head-to-head competition” by bundling its browser with Windows.

How does bundling IE with Windows shield IE from “head to head” competition? Huh? With each Windows installation I have performed, IE is used exactly one time. To download Firefox. Period.

The question is, who on Earth would expect a company NOT to bundle it’s products? If Microsoft prevented IE users from downloading other browsers, yes, I think that would be a problem. As it stands now? The EU is just a bunch of whiny cry-babies that need a diaper change or something.

A computer virus that may leave Microsoft Windows users vulnerable to digital hijacking is spreading through companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia, already infecting close to 9 million machines, according to a private online security firm.

Fortunately, however, it may be a dud.

…

F-Secure’s chief security adviser, Patrik Runald, said the virus’s coding suggests a type of bug that alerts computer users to bogus infections on their machines and offers to help by selling them antivirus software.

Instead, the virus is simply spreading to little effect, though it may still pose a threat to infected computers.

Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date.

Isn’t this interesting.

Busted! In an apparent gaff that undermines Microsoft’s multi-million dollar “I’m a PC” campaign an ad for a PC-only software program Songsmith, made by Microsoft, features a MacBook Pro.

Microsoft launched the Windows-only Songsmith program earlier this month. The software allows you to generate musical accompaniments to match your voice. In a Web-only ad for the new software people composing music are using a MacBook Pro. Take a look at the commercial yourself and you can see from the laptop’s aluminum body and ports on the left side of the laptop that it’s a MacBook Pro. Covering the Apple logo on the lid is a floral sticker.

Does Windows run better on a Mac? Apple couldn’t have asked for a better ad. I bet they don’t teach that in IT and computer schools.

Just when you thought the economy was getting real bad, Yahoo starts handing out $19 million.

Yahoo Inc. will pay new CEO Carol Bartz at least $19 million in cash and stock during her first year on the job and top it off with an incentive package likely to yield a huge windfall if she can turn around the long-struggling Internet company.

The details of Bartz’s compensation emerged Thursday in a regulatory filing made two days after Yahoo hired the tough-minded technology veteran to replace co-founder Jerry Yang as its chief executive.

I knew I should have applied for that job.

Apple Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Wednesday he is taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June — just a week after the cancer survivor tried to assure investors and employees his recent weight loss was simply caused by a treatable hormone deficiency.

Jobs, 53, said in a letter last week that he would remain at Apple’s helm despite the hormone deficiency, and said he had already begun the “relatively simple and straightforward” treatment for the problem. But in an e-mail to employees Wednesday, Jobs backtracked.

“During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought,” he wrote.

Oh boy, I can hear the moonbats already. I bet it’s safe to say he wasn’t taking any weight loss pill when he lost all that weight.

I have always liked AVG. I have used their anti-virus software for years.

Antivirus provider AVG Technologies on Tuesday announced that it is acquiring Sana Security, which sells identity fraud prevention software.

Under the deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, the Redwood City, Calif., headquarters of Sana will serve as Amsterdam-based AVG’s first office in Silicon Valley.

I just hope they don’t become another McAfee or Norton.

People are actually downloading a beta of Windows? Aren’t the main releases full of enough bugs?

Acknowledging that its release of Windows 7 public beta “was not ideal,” Microsoft said it will suspend the software’s 2.5 million download limit for a couple of weeks.

Honestly, based on experience, I thought all versions of Windows were betas, then again I also thought that walking on the treadmill would get easier in time too.