2009 May

Just a quick note about a very good deal for a Dell 19″ flat panel for only $89 and free shipping. Dell describes their product as:

Affordable Widescreen Technology

1440 x 900 Resolution
16:10 aspect ratio on a 19-inch widescreen

Lightning-fast 5 milisecond response time (typical)

The low-priced DellTM S1909WX monitor delivers excellent widescreen performance and offers a large work [...]

Make sure your system is up to date and has the latest protections in place.

AVG anti-virus: 05/31/09
Avast: 05/29/09
Norton anti-virus: 05/27/09
McAfee anti-virus: 05/27/09
Lavasoft Ad-Aware: 05/29/09
Spybot Search and Destroy: 05/27/09
Microsoft Windows Defender: 05/27/09
Nod32: 05/29/09

Updates as of May 31, 2009 6:00am CDT.

My wife and I made it back from our mini vacation visiting the grand kids in Marshall, Texas. Our daughter and son-in-law had just moved to Marshall and had purchased a historical home built in 1886. The residence was originally built for the Ginocchio family, who also owned a hotel across the street from their [...]

There is an interesting article over at the The Washington Post in which a writer claims that Microsoft silently placed a Firefox extension on our systems. The article states that the extension was installed during what was called a service pack to update Microsoft.Net framework. It also states the following information:
The service pack for the .NET [...]

Google has previewed a new service known as the Google Wave. The service will provide equal parts of both document and conversation in which people will be able to communicate and work as a team. Included will be the ability to collaborate on using text, maps, videos and a lot more. What is even better [...]

A new version of the popular HDMI cable has been ratitifed by some of the leading manufacturers. The companies have agreed to a new standard dubbed version 1.4 which will add Internet connectivity to the standard video and audio that HDMI cables currently support. The new cables will start becoming available soon once the companies [...]

Psystar, the maker of the unauthorized Mac clone, has filed for bankruptcy protection in what appears to be an effort to slow down the lawsuit brought against the company by Apple. Over at the MacObserver they have an article in which it states that the companies financial backers may have pulled their money out. This [...]

The lease on our 2007 Kia Sportage was coming just about up, so we ventured into the dealership yesterday for a look-see on what was available. We liked the Sportage because you get a lot of bang for your buck. But the wife saw a 2009 Nissan Rogue she liked so we ended up buying [...]

I recall when IBM sold their entire computer division to Lenovo, a Chinese firm that bought the division back in December 2004. Back in 2004 IBM was listed as #3 in the PC market just behind HP and Dell. I remember at the time thinking to myself ‘what the heck is a Lenovo?’ So when [...]

I guess there were no doubts that Apple was not going to enter into the netbook market since they consider the netbook inferior and junk. But Apple has recognizes a market they can attack with a fine piece of computing power that will be superior to anything currently being offered in the mini market. Over [...]

Over at the Google blog they have listed several changes to their ’suggest’ feature that Google says will speed up results. The new ’suggest’ features are feature rich, and who better to describe the what they have done than Google themselves. Here is what Google has to say about the new features:
Suggestions on the results [...]

Wal-Mart is doing a complete make over of some of their
electronic sections in their stores across the country. It seems that there may
also be a section for Apple’s. According to some sources, such as the AppleInsider
the rumors could be true since Apple may be wanting to expand their sales with
a store that is actually do [...]

Kumo! Kumo! Kumo! Sounds like some kind of an oriental war chant. But in reality it is Microsoft’s latest bid to try and increase their search share on the Internet. Next week it is expected that Steve Ballmer will appear on stage at the All Things Digital conference, to introduce to the world their latest [...]

This past week both GM and Chrysler announced the closing of dealerships throughout the U.S. Some of the closings were in to response to what the companies felt were under performing dealerships. Dealerships that GM and Chrysler felt were not selling enough cars and service. Some of these dealerships have been in business for decades. [...]

windows 7, microsoftRumor has it that Dell is reporting that the pricing for Windows 7 could be higher than previous versions such as Vista and XP. If true this could cause a buyers backlash for the new operating system. In a time where the economy is in the crapper, when unemployment is approaching an all [...]

On Monday evening NBC News did a piece on China and how they are starting to build their own cars. The cars that were seen on the assembly line looked no different than some 30 other sedans being built by various car companies. But what took center stage was the work the Chinese are doing [...]

A Harvard Law professor by the name of Charles Nesson states that P2P file sharing is fair use. He bases his claim on current law and has testified in court.  The bases of his contention is this:
Wholesale copying of music on P2P networks is fair use. Statutory damages can’t be applied to P2P users. File-swapping results [...]

Microsoft is opening their My Phone software, which is available in beta, to all users. The purpose of My Phone is that it allows the user to backup all of their information from your mobile phone onto the web. The service was previously only offered to a select group, but now is being made available [...]

Coming back from the grave is Napster, a ‘Best Buy’ company according to their web site. Not only is there a paid version but Napster also is offering a free version which it claims is legal stuff available to anyone.
The new Napster states they are:

ABOUT NAPSTER
Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate in [...]

The CEO of Craigslist is blasting the South Carolina Attorney General, Henry McMaster, for what the company feels were unwarranted and outrageous threats. It seems that the Attorney General wanted to file criminal actions against Craigslist involving the companies sex ads online. The company had agreed to remove the ads and manually monitor an adult section.
But [...]