2006 February

Well now, I guess that takes care of that! It seems that the p2p server known as Razorback2 on the eDonkey network has been terminated thanks in part to Belgium and Switzerland law enforcement. It took them long enough, but I guess that it’s better late than never.

I will not question for a minute that Vista is going to be a huge upgrade over XP. But the big question for me will be whether or not its going to be worth the upgrade right after the release? I mean, I still have nightmares about locating XP drivers back in 2001…

For the good and for the bad, television has been one of the most influential factors in the development of our present day culture and world view. While the reality and illusions television has created may not be perfectly marching the ideal world you may have been dreaming about, not all is lost.
From the [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
It might be flattering if someone starts staring at your clothes because they’re cool, but if they start staring at them because they want to figure out the next part of a game… well, I’m not so sure about that. Edoc Laundry is set to launch its line of clothing on [...]

Several weeks ago we visited a site that showed how some people felt about their lawn mowers, to the point of taking pictures and sharing them digitally over the Internet. I wondered what other common ordinary everyday items could achieve just as much, if not more, popularity that the tried and true lawn mower. Today’s [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
They call it their “Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Spring Cleaning Sweekstakes.” I call it strangely weird. I mean, Microsoft giving away Apple equipment?
Read More about the Spring Cleaning Sweepstakes Here
[tags]apple,microsoft,realtechnews,contest,michael santo[/tags]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Time Warner and and Universal Studios are suing Samsung over a DVD player which was not only a retail failure, but had the additional misfortune of being hacker-friendly.” In an article in The Korea Times, a Samsung spokesman (who had not yet seen the text of [...]

Martin Regtien of RealTechNews writes:
How many times have you made a trip in vain to your P.O. Box in town?
How would you like to be notified only when there actually is mail to pick up?
Well, Australian Post apparently is the first postal agency in the world to SMS or email you within 30 [...]

Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes:
If you’ve read any of my previous articles on 180solutions, you know I’m not a fan, same as most of you, we can all see thru the bull, in the past someone catches them with some nonconsensual installs, and they try to turn it into PR, kicking the naughty affiliate to [...]

Computers have extended what society can do from a creative point of view. Authors no longer use typewriters - they have word processors. No more draft boards - everyone uses CAD programs. Artists still use canvas, but to achieve a great depth and visualization, many have turned to computers. This has led to some very [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Google’s controversial Google.cn portal in China appears to be unlicensed, which could land the company in hot water with Chinese regulators. Readers may recall that Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google have all been criticized over their dealings with China, and the Google.cn site is no exception.

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
If you ask Merrill Lynch, the Sony Playstation 3 could be delayed as much as 6 to 12 months, with an autumn launch in Japan and a U.S. launch in late 2006 or early 2007. Merrill Lynch released a release note late last week about they, and they also speculated [...]

I am having a bit of a ramble around the demise of mass media, why it happened in the first place and how our digital world is impacting on what we consume and how.
So I came across an interesting book by Lizabeth Cohen - Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Dept. History Harvard [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Body language can be very important in correct interpretation of a situation, and thus DARPA has funded a “game” to help soldiers learn Iraqi body language. The game is called Tactical Iraqi. The system module, or engine, was designed by Hannes Högni Vilhjálmsson of the USC Information Sciences Institute and is [...]

From the Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Hard Disk Drive Knowledge Base - failing drive noises:

Usually, sites that we have looked at reflect the Internet, and just how wild and crazy of a place it has become. It seems just about any subject will have a Web page or two or three dedicated to it. Sometimes these sites are totally cyber based, and sometimes they reflect what happens off the [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about this. Apparently if you don’t have the “Users” Group on your computer, Windows Defender won’t install. And I mean “Users” in English. Since “Users” is localized for some international versions of Windows, this is causing an “Error 1609″ when installing Windows [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
I listened to an NPR radio story on biometrics this week. I can’t recall what day it was, but biometrics was being touted as the solution to issues like trojans that capture your passwords, as well as for other things like entering areas that require security clearances. But [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Actually, it’s not a cell tower but an amplifying antenna. In fact, it reminds me a lot of an antenna I have hooked to my wireless router to increase signal strength in my house. Developed by SignalWide, there will soon be a range of solutions to increase your cellular [...]

Remember when computers were supposed to replace humans? Today I found an amusing website that promised to ghostwrite any article using snippets of sentences from already published pieces online. According to the FAQ, it’s legal to use a sentence here or there in a published piece, so this wonder program combines key words into a [...]