pay-as-you-go-has-got-to-go

Both Microsoft and Google have released pay-as-you-go software subscription services. Google has released "Google Apps Premier Edition" for $50 a year you get, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Page Creator and Start Page with more space (10gigs), no adds, 24/7 assistance and many more small perks. According to arstechnica.com Microsoft has started testing subscription based software in South Africa, Mexico, and Romania. $15 a month can get you use of Office 2003. In an industry that is all ready hurting due to piracy is a pay-as-you-go business plan going to work, or are most companies and schools going save money by purchasing old copies of Microsoft Office at a discounted price and using it until it is obsolete. Or are other open source ideas like Openoffice going to catch on with major companies and education institutions? In a world full of subscription based technology (internet, TV, Tivo, cellular service, electricity, netflix) is there anymore money left for the consumer shell out at the end of the month for the most up-to-date Microsoft Office? Or does the consumer just care about getting the cheapest deal at Newegg.com?

TV Service For Xbox 360

Microsoft is going to introduce an IPTV service for Xbox 360 March 5th-7th at The Connected Home Expo in London. The IPTV can act like a Tivo and record TV shows while you are pwning on xbox live. Users will also be able to chat to friends via live while watching their favorite shows. [More...]

Just Saving the world.... / Peter Jackson + Xbox

1. Here is a link to a set of stories about 20 nuclear (pronounced: nu·cle·ar ) mishaps that might have destroyed the world. Luckily there are some sane people that stopped this from ever happening.
2. King Kong director Peter Jackson has agreed a deal with Microsoft to create what he describes as a "new form of interactive entertainment". (more...)
   

Oil Vs. Ethanol

With record high prices at the pump, more and more people are starting to look at alternate fuel sources. Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, it is a flammable, colorless chemical compound is being looked at as a realistic alternative. Ethanol is produced by fermenting and distilling starch crops that have been converted into simple sugars. Feedstocks for this fuel include corn, barley, and wheat. Can you imagine being able to grow your own fuel? This is what scares major oil companies into trying to pass legislature to slow down the process of making ethanol cars and fuel readily available. Some people say the Ethanol is a net loser and will make little profit thus making it pointless to produce, yet new technological breakthroughs have made the production of Cellulosic Ethanol (produced from a great diversity of biomass including waste from urban, agricultural, and forestry sources) easier, cheaper and profitable. Right now on the east coast of the U.S., gas stations are making E85 available at the pump. E85 is a fuel blend of 85 percent ethanol and just 15 percent gasoline. This is a small step forward yet still leaves us dependent on oil, which is a source of energy that you can't just grow more of when it runs out.

More Links:
http://www.ethanol.org : American Coalition for Ethanol. ACE is the grassroots voice of the ethanol industry
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/ : The Alternative Fuels Data Center is a vast collection of information on alternative fuels and the vehicles that use them
http://www.e85fuel.com/index.php : National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition
http://www.gm.com/company/onlygm/ : GM's Trendy Ad campaign for E85, They like to call it "going yellow".

Apple - Boot Camp

Apple released today Boot Camp (beta) which allows users to boot mircosoft's windows xp or Mac's OS X on any intel based Mac computer. This is very cool allowing Mac computers to run any operating system. Apple again staying one step in front of microsoft.

Google's New Interface

Go to Google.com or click here and paste this into the address bar:

javascript:alert(document.cookie="PREF=ID=fb7740f107311e46:TM=1142683332:LM=
1142683332:S=fNSw6ljXTzvL3dWu;path=/;domain=.google.com")

(make sure you make this one line! w/no spaces!)

Then press enter, ignore the error message box that will pop up. Next search for something and see google's new interface.
Here is more on the new look.

More HD-DVD and Blueray Chaos

This is a pretty good article (by:businessweek.com) that sets the stage for the mass confusion that will hit the entertainment industry in a few months when the new "Nex-Gen DVDs" are released.

Here are some past posts on HD-DVD and Blueray tech:
02/28/06 - Sony's Betamax Redux: Betaray
01/11/06 - Blu-Ray Vs. HD-DVD

Windows Live (Beta)

I don't know which is lamer, Microsoft copying Google's Personalized Home page or copying Google's (Beta) tag on every new project. Mircrosoft has started Windows Live @ www.Live.com
which is a nicer looking (remember its all about the packaging at Mircosoft) Google Personalized start page; which can read multiple rss feeds, check your mail and weather but don't forget it can also search! This is too little too late on Mircosoft's part, what's next? Mircosoft Video.com?

More iPod Video Rumors *Update3*

Rumors are that the iPod Video is real, new pictures have leaked and the buzz is that apple will unveil the new "iPod Video" on April 1st which is Apple's 30th anniversary. Yet i would not cross your fingers. More info @ ipodwizard.net

*NEW*Here are some more pictures and two videos of the iPod "AV" (site is in french).

*UPDATE-3* Pictures on how they faked this whole thing, yet keep in mind the old video that showed how they faked the pictures was also fake. (make sure you read the post below in the link)

Punked by Apple

At 10 o'clock PST all eyes were on the Apple HQ in Cupertino California, everyone was anticipating the new "it" gadget of 2006 to be released.... the new iPod video.... the Mac Tablet... so what does Apple release....

1) New Mac mini which is 2.5x - 3.2x faster than current Mac mini in two new versions, single and dual-processor chip.
2) iPod Hi-Fi (iPod Boombox) @ $349
3) New iPod case made out of leather for both 5G iPods and iPod Nanos @ $99

pfft ...

Apple Update *02.23.06*

• Apple computers iTunes online store has hit the one billion tracks sold mark, average track cost = 99 cents x one billion + iPod sales, do the math Apple is in the money.

• Pictures have leaked of the new true iPod video or the Apple tablet PC, sources are still not sure, yet they are sure the pictures are real. (take a look at it for yourself.) *new info on the iPod, look at this posts comments*
  

• Apple is holding a "new product event" February 28th, this is where this new product the "True iPod Video" or "Tablet PC" will be unveiled.

Halo 3 and the 2nd wave of xbox 360 games

Shane Kim from Microsoft Studios talks with Next-Gen about the 2nd wave of xbox 360 games to hit the market, Kim also talks about Halo 3 and a "mythical" launch date to be set this year. Kim later goes on to comment on sony's ps3. (Read more here.)

Yes, Cheney shot his friend... lets hear what he has to say...

Here is the full transcript of the Dick Cheney Interview that was on FOX. And for those who have been in a cave for the last week, here is the full story.

The "True" iPod Video

Rumors have been floating around that apple is going to release a new iPod. This iPod is supposably going to be made of one 3.5 inch screen and look something like this. No more click wheel, and hopefully no more scratches... These rumors have been floating around due to a flurry of patient filling by apple in the last couple of weeks.

More info:
In depth info on the "True video iPod" @ thinksecret.com
Info on apple's "new smart touch screen" @ ipodwizard.net
Tablet Mac info @ engadget.com
True iPod video info @ engadet.com

Be on the watch this Friday for the Kama Sutra worm.

Many sources are reporting that there is a new computer virus spreading around, called the "Kama Sutra Worm" which is downloaded on your computer when you except to download things from shady emails. This worm sits on you computer until the 3rd of every month where it then over writes data of common files such as .doc , and .pdf. Here is some more insight in to this developing story: eWeek article , CNN article, washingtonpost.com, lurhq.org
Updates on this will be posted ASAP, smartest thing to do is update your virus scan software, backup your important documents and most of all do not open emails from strange sources.

Critical security flaw in Winamp 5.12

Nullsoft issued a new version of winamp on 01.30.06, "winamp 5.13" (which you can get here) to fix a major security flaw in winamp 5.12 which allowed a hacker to take control of someones computer through a hacked playlist file. I would upgrade ASAP.

Inside Google

Stuff you would never think google had, yet they do. Google store, where they sell google t-shirts to mouse pads. Google's lost holiday logos, all the google logos from 1999-2006. Google Base (alot like greg's list) this is where its hiding. You can find even more stuff here.

What you search on google and your rights

In a new Wired News article How to Foil Search Engine Snoops, Wired goes over where your search information is saved and if a court can use your searches as evidence in court. A very interesting article worth checking out.

Xbox 360 . . .

cha its out ... nuff said (...More)

Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

THIS IS FOR REAL

Tiny Dots Show Where and When You Made Your Print

San Francisco - A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document.

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.

printer list
how to see teh dots