"It's yet another in a long series of diversions in an attempt to avoid responsibility." - Chris Knight
Archive for December, 2007
Happy Holidays from Google Doodle #1 2007
December 21st, 2007 by iDunzo
Google is sending out holiday greetings by counting the days with fun and festive holiday Doodle logos:
Keep an eye out for more fun and colorful holiday logos from the big “G”… no, not the Grinch, Google of course!
Posted in Google + Search + Technology | 
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More BlackBerry 9000 Details Leaked
December 20th, 2007 by iDunzo
The Boy Genius Report has the scoop on the much-anticipated BlackBerry 9000 smartphone, yet again. Let’s take a look at what this touch-screen smartphone promises.
Last month BGR leaked details about the 9000-series, but now it seems they’ve got more solid information:
The BlackBerry 9000 device (not series) has been confirmed with screen size of 480 x 320, although the physical dimensions are unknown at this time. Think of this device as the elder sibling to the BlackBerry 8320. Like it’s small screen counterpart, it will operate with a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz) and will feature 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi capabilities. This will be a full QWERTY device, as well.
The BlackBerry 9000 will feature the same general OS platform, although it will launch with version 4.3.2. Coincidentally, OS 4.3.2 will potentially be in the future roadmaps for all 8000 series devices, sans the 8700 family (although that may change).
It looks like the 9000 will, however, feature a QWERTY keyboard, even though it will also be touch-screen device. Unfortunately, the 9000 will not include HSDPA, which is a big disappointment:
To recap, Research In Motion will soon launch the BlackBerry 9000 handheld, which will feature a larger screen, a new OS update, most likely a new full QWERTY keyboard layout (which may or may not be a touch screen keyboard), but without HSDPA or UMTS capabilities.
The BlackBerry 9000 doesn’t look as impressive now as it did a few weeks ago, but this looks like a more realistic device.
I have to ask, just how revolutionary will this phone be without HSDPA? How long must we wait for a truly revolutionary touch-screen 3G smartphone? What do you think?
Posted in Technology + Toys & Gadgets + Wireless | Comments Off on More BlackBerry 9000 Details Leaked
Google-DoubleClick Deal Gets FTC’s Blessing
December 20th, 2007 by iDunzo
After eight long months, the Federal Trade Commission finally approved Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick in a 4-1 vote, concluding that the deal is “unlikely to substantially lessen competition.”
In its public statement, the FTC explicitly said privacy concerns are not its problem. Privacy issues are “not unique to Google and DoubleClick,” the FTC statement said, and even if they were, the agency denied it could do anything about it.
“As the sole purpose of federal antitrust review of mergers and acquisitions is to identify and remedy transactions that harm competition.
The FTC lacks the legal authority to block the transaction on grounds, or require conditions to this transaction, that do not relate to antitrust.”
The DoubleClick acquisition, announced in April, comes on the heels of a few similar deals from competitors: Yahoo has spent nearly $1 billion building up its advertising arsenal in the last six months.
In July, it closed on its acquisition of Right Media ($650 million) and in October it closed on BlueLithium ($300 million), an online behavioral ad company. Meanwhile, Microsoft bought online ad company aQuantive for roughly $6 billion in August.
The FTC didn’t take nearly as long to approve any of Google’s competitors’ deals. Yahoo closed on BlueLithium in a month, and on Right Media in about three months. And it only took Microsoft roughly three months to complete the aQuantive acquisition.
Privacy groups were quick to chastise the FTC for not probing the privacy angle harder. Jeff Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the deal, is already calling for Congressional oversight hearings into the FTC’s probe of the merger.
“The FTC is supposed to protect the privacy of Americans in the digital age. The excuse offered by the majority of the commission–that consumer privacy can’t be addressed by current antitrust law–reveals a lack of leadership and determination to protect U.S. consumers.”
Posted in Google + Microsoft + Technology + Web | Comments Off on Google-DoubleClick Deal Gets FTC’s Blessing
Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate Now Available
December 19th, 2007 by iDunzo
Microsoft has released to the public a near-final version of a major update to its Windows XP operating system.
As of early this morning, the ‘Release Candidate’ for Windows XP Service Pack 3 was available as a 336 MB download from Microsoft’s Web site. The software had previously been available only to participants in Microsoft’s official test programs.
Microsoft says it considers the Release Candidate for Windows XP SP3 to be trial software and warns users to download with caution and at their own risk.
This pre-release software is provided for testing purposes only. Microsoft does not recommend installing this software on primary or mission critical systems.
Microsoft recommends that you have a backup of your data prior to installing any pre-release software.
For the adventurous, however, Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate offers a number of enhancements over the current version of the OS. It includes all updates issued since Windows XP Service Pack 2 was released in 2004, and some new elements.
Among them: A feature called Network Access Protection that’s borrowed from the newer Windows Vista operating system. NAP automatically validates a computer’s “health,” ensuring that it’s free of bugs and viruses, before allowing it access to a network.
Windows XP SP3 also includes improved “black hole” router detection — a feature that automatically detects routers that are silently discarding packets. In XP SP3, the feature is turned on by default, according to Microsoft.
Windows XP SP 3 also steals a page from Vista’s product activation model, meaning that product keys for each copy of the operating system doesn’t need to be entered during setup.
The feature should prove popular with corporate IT managers, who often need to oversee hundreds, or even thousands, of operating system installations.
Microsoft is in a bit of a Catch-22 with XP. The more it strengthens the OS, the less reason users have to upgrade to the newer Windows Vista, which by many accounts has failed to catch on with computer users in both the home and office since it debuted in January.
A final version of Windows XP SP3 is expected to ship early 2008.
Posted in Microsoft + Security Patches + Software + Technology | 1 Comment »
Bone Conducting Headphones: Cum On Feel The Noize
December 19th, 2007 by iDunzo
The Zelco Outi bone conducting headphones comprises a pair of vibrators and a four-level amplifier which together send the sound waves into the bone and cartilage behind the ear.
Input is via a standard 3.5mm jack, and the set comes bundled with a USB charger and AC adapter: fully charged you’ll get up to eight hours listening time.
I have a hard time believing this kind of sound delivery will give anything like the fidelity of normal headphones, but it won’t batter your eardrums quite so much.
Apparently when Popular Mechanics tested the kit, the reviewer noted that the bass feel is much more speaker-like: “both intense and felt through your entire body”.
Now if you want to really rattle your bones, turn your volume up to 11 (insert Spinal Tap reference) and Cum On Feel The Noize:
Don’t you just love the smell of metal in the morning? \m/
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Ike’s Greeting the First Recorded Message From Space
December 19th, 2007 by iDunzo
December 19, 1958: The first radio broadcast from space is transmitted to Earth, with President Eisenhower sending greetings to an international audience.
The technology wasn’t new (a tape recorder was used) but the delivery method was and Ike sounded suitably impressed:
“This is the president of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space.”
He went on to convey his best wishes, and those of his country, to “all mankind … for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere.”
Eisenhower’s message was prerecorded, then launched into orbit with the U.S. Army’s first Project SCORE experimental satellite.
The primary recorder failed during the satellite’s first orbit but on the second pass the message was successfully transmitted using the backup recorder. Indeed, having a back up plan can be the best life insurance of an important endeavor like this.
Despite the cheery message on board, the satellite’s real purpose was to hang tough with the Russians, who had already put two satellites into orbit — Sputnik 1 and 2 — more than a year earlier.
The satellite, built earlier that year by the Army’s Signal Research and Development Laboratory at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, was launched aboard an Atlas ICBM provided by the Air Force. It was intended for a low trajectory orbit, meaning a short life.
After 12 days in space the batteries failed and the satellite burned up upon reentering earth’s atmosphere on January 21, 1959.
Source: Space Policy Project
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