March 2009
29 posts
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Microsoft's anti-Mac campaign underhanded,...
I’m sure I’m not the only one to notice a growing sense of unease in Microsoft’s latest marketing onslaught on Macs. What stands out for me however is the utter lack of any positive message in the new advertising campaigns, a sign which, at least in politics, often indicates the adoption of last resort tactics.
In the past, even the somewhat transparent and woefully artless...
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4chan creator 'moot' leading TIME's Top 100
As of 16.07 GMT, this is what TIME Magazine’s top 100 list of the world’s most influential people looks like. If you look closely at the first spot, you’ll see an unlikely name: ‘moot.’
This is what you can achieve when you inadvertently start one of the most bizarre, outlandish yet interesting communities on the Internet. What began as an attempt to create an...
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Behind the Scenes: Interview with the Plex Team
On January 11, 2008, the following post appeared in the fledgling Plex blog:
“Videos actually sort of play now, although there’s no sound […] and videos play at strange rates. Sometime fast, sometimes slow.” - elan
That was then, and this is now. Just over a year later and Plex is already one of the most advanced and full-featured Media Center packages available on...
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“Elijah was actually a prophet mentioned in the Old Testament that some Jews...”
– Religious Ideas Burrow Into Brains: Scientific American
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Full Circle: The Mainframe Returns
During a conversation with one of the elite few people whom I consider both close friends and experts in the business of information technology, it occurred to me that the current trend towards cloud computing is, somewhat ironically, a throwback to a computing model so old it pre dates the all-powerful Internet. I’m referring, of course, to The Mainframe.
You know the story. Once upon a...
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Play Crysis on your crappy laptop →
No more videocard upgrades. Ever.
That’s the promise held by the upcoming service OnLive, which claims to use proprietary video compression and streaming technology to provide cloud-based, lag-free PC gaming to everyone.
The concept is simple: You connect, load a game, OnLive handles all the processing on their servers and renders the game experience back to you as latency-free, HD video...
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Qualcomm's Internal Innovation Contest Bears... →
Every year Qualcomm holds an internal competition for new ideas, the QIN Venture Fest. The purpose of the competition is to gather new concepts and business plans from within all levels of the company, with the top ideas getting funding and support all the way to market.
The new Zeebo console is such an idea, a top finalist in the 2007 VentureFest. The new console, about to hit the South American...
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Where can the iPhone replace a desktop?
For better or worse, the vast majority of my day is usually spent in front of a Mac. Whether it’s my work laptop or my home iMac, the familiar OSX desktop is pretty much a steady feature of my weekday.
Yet, I have recently noticed that there are a few common tasks for which I instinctively reach for my iPhone, even when I’m right in front of a computer screen. For example:
Google...
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Rockstar: Max Payne 3 Hits This Winter →
I’m sure I wont be the only nostalgic gamer shouting Hallelujah at the news of the upcoming release of Max Payne 3.
After the severe disappointment of the loosely adapted movie, a new chapter in the game will be a welcome resurrection of a great franchise.
All that remains to be seen is whether any new bullet-time acrobatics will still feature Max’s trademark lemon-sucking...
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IE8 gets failing grade in Acid3 test. →
The Acid3 test is the current benchmark for a browser’s compatibility with emerging web standards, and Microsoft’s newly-released IE8 failed the test miserably. The score? A paltry, dunce-cap-earning 20/100.
Apple’s latest Safari, currently the only browser to pass the Acid3 test, managed a full 100/100. It would seem that Microsoft still has not abandoned its long standing...
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The Cake is a LIE
Customer: “Excuse me, but I have a complaint to make.”
Me: “Oh, sure. What’s the matter?”
Customer: “I heard a group of teenagers over there talking, and they said the cake that you serve is a lie.”
Me: “…”
Customer: “What exactly do you have to say for yourselves?! I come in here, expecting to find a decent establishment, only to find out you are selling fake food!!”
Me: “Um, ma’am. They were repeating a popular phrase from the internet. I can assure you, the cake that we sell very much exists.”
Customer: “Prove it! Show me this cake.”
Me: *points*
Customer: “Oh. In that case you should write a letter to the internet about how they’re making up rumors about your products.”
Me: “I’ll… I’ll do that. Thank you.”
[found at notalwaysright.com]
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When I bought siemens cellphone, siemens sold its cellular section. When I bought yakumo screen, yakumo got bunkrupt. When I bought fujitsu-siemens laptop, siemens sold its share.
Just curious what to buy next...
apple
Apple
apple
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“So Resident Evil 5 exposes the perhaps uncomfortable truth that blacks and Arabs...”
– The final word on RE5’s racism farce
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“Intel, in turn, said it believes AMD is being “inconsistent” by...”
– Intel vs. AMD: The Pissing Contest
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US Mobile Internet use doubles year-to-year →
Somewhat surprisingly, the iPhone contributed little to the measured increase in US mobile internet use of 11.6 million daily users year-to-year.
In fact, only 30% of the increase comes from smartphones at all, with the remaining 70% originating from lower-end feature phones.
The main driver? Social networking of course, with Facebook and Twitter gaining a staggering 427% jump in regular mobile...
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MeediOS skinner stealing from XBMC. Again.
Some people never learn. A user from the moribund MeediOS project has posted a series of videos for a new MeediOS interface, which shows remarkable similarities to the as yet unreleased Aeon Stark, from the XBMC project.
This is the second time the MeediOS community has been benefitting from stolen work. A few months ago a user by the handle crn was chastised for releasing the Aeon Chrome skin, a...
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An interview with Jmarshall, XBMC developer
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity of interviewing djh, one of the Xbox Media Centre’s leading interface designers. The interview received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the XBMC community, and many requests or a follow-up with other sides of the XBMC project.
Today I have the great pleasure of sharing an interview with Jonathan Marshall, president of the XBMC Foundation and one...
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“Apple is ready to release new iMacs and Mac minis on Tuesday.”
– Or is it?
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Apple Vs Microsoft: iPhones and iPods Banned at... →
An amusing tidbit from an interview with the former richest man on Earth. It would seem Apple products are forbidden fruit (no pun intended) for the kids at Gates manor.
I can picture the scene. Mom facing child, dangling an iPod nano between two fingers, hand on hip: “I found this under your bed.”