Monthly Archives: June 2009


Rant

EU: Screwing Everyone Equally, One Decision at a Time

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Ars: Windows 7 E: no upgrades for the EU […] Both Windows XP and Windows Vista come with Internet Explorer, and the upgrade editions of Windows 7 were never tested to handle the installation of Windows 7 without Internet Explorer. Mike Ybarra, general manager of product management of Windows, told Ars that Microsoft had three choices for the release of Windows 7 E: delay the whole release of Windows 7 to make sure everyone gets the release of Windows 7 at the same time and without any upgrade problems, delay the release of Windows 7 just in Europe and have this market wait till Windows 7 E passes all upgrade tests, or don’t offer upgrade versions at all.

Microsoft chose the last solution, and it’s actually a pretty good one, for both Microsoft and consumers. Windows 7 E editions will be sold only in full versions: there will be no upgrade versions available in the European Union.

Nice to know that the EU, who says they are attacking Microsoft in the interest to do what’s right for their consumers, are putting their fist to the ass of the EU citizen yet again, by forcing less functionality and increase purchase costs, compared to the rest of the world. Oh, but wait:

The good news is that the full versions will be available at the upgrade price

Microsoft seems to care more about the citizens of the EU more than the EU government does… I’m sure the EU can find a way to workaround this and screw the populous some more.

GeekStuff

Is iPhone 3.0 Software SIM Unlocked?

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Before you answer “no” have you actually tried it on either an already activated phone or a non-activated iPhone with the 3.0 software (meaning 3GS, out of the box.)

Jolene has a non-3G, non-iPhone SIM that is with AT&T that previously didn’t work in:

– 2G iPhone with 1.x or 2.x software

– 3G iPhone with 2.x software

Tonight on a whim, I popped her non-3G, non-iPhone SIM into my 3G iPhone which has the 3.0 software and it worked. Made calls, received calls, called into VM fine (since it’s not enabled for Visual Voicemail.) I then put her SIM into my 3GS and it worked there too. On a further whim, I put in an old non-connected T-Mobile SIM… the iPhone did not reject it. Obviously I couldn’t place a call but in the past I had gotten a “this is an unauthorized SIM” message. I even went ahead and wiped the 3G iPhone clean and put the SIM in: worked there as well.

And so the questions in my head are:

– Does this only work on purpose or is this a bug in the 3.0 firmware?

– Has anyone activated a 3GS with a non-AT&T SIM?

– If not, does this only work on activated phones?

Or is this breaking news and I was the first guy to stumble into it?

GeekStuff

Atoms Aren’t All Atoms

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Joey deVilla: Fast Food Apple Pies and Why Netbooks Suck

A very interesting read on netbooks and why having something in the middle of established form factors can suck. In fact, I’ve made some of these same arguments when talking against tablet PC’s that didn’t have a convertable keyboard option with them. Way too slow to write everything down if you can type 120wpm on a keyboard. Similarly I’ve argued against email on phones in the past because tapping out full paragraphs with a stylus, on-screen keyboard, or physical keyboards (a la Dash) is just far too painful to make it useful. Why shouldn’t a new device or form factor fill this void?

And so enters the netbook, which very often has a small screen with a miniscule resolution and as little as 85% of a full size keyboard… why would I like these restrictions, considering that I bought a Lenovo S10 in the past? Well, for quick meetings at work they are pretty freakin’ great. For watching movies, they are pretty good. For coding and gaming, it’s fair. For having portable “hard drive” that can have my entire PC experience and preferences in a 2.43 pound package that will drive Aero on Windows 7 [RC] and project HD resolutions to external monitors, it’s great…

Wait, movies, coding, and gaming on a notebook? Yes, I said that. You haven’t had that experience? That’s because all Atoms are not the same chip…
Continue reading Atoms Aren’t All Atoms →

Rant

The End Of The World, Parts I and II

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King5: The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he’s bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

TGDaily: Global warming is irreversible, U.S. study concludes […] And while temperatures in the U.S. have risen in line with the rest of the world, scientists now believe that temperatures in the U.S. are “very likely” to rise much faster than the global average down the road.

I thought someone had routed my browser to The Onion when I saw both of these, but no – these are the real deal.

PETA wants people to be more humane to flies. I expect a press release from them to protect maggots next and for people to stop wiping your bottoms with toilet paper, instead asking your feces to politely peal away from your skin, because after all: there’s organic matter in shit that may need humane treatment.

On the global warming bit… I’m simply appalled. During the Industrial Revolution, America was completely reckless in producing waste and disposing of it poorly. Over the last 30 years we’ve dropped levels of pollution one hundred-fold. Yet this report thinks that even though we’ve decreased our waste that our own special space of global warming is going to rise faster than the rest of the world. Faster than China and India who are producing waste at the levels we used to in the reckless, “early” days of business. Maybe we should wipe our asses with the report instead of toilet paper after all…

Someone needs to slap both of these groups like Obama did that fly – it’s truly most humane thing we can do for both groups.

Rant

Letterman vs Palin: Who Won?

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Slate: Palin-Letterman: Who won? […] Anyone who’s been scoring Letterman v. Palin knows that it has been a ratings boon to both sides: Last week, David Letterman told a tasteless joke. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin flipped out. Letterman apologized. Palin went berserk. Letterman apologized again. Palin accepted his apology on behalf of “young women” everywhere. Letterman’s ratings skyrocketed. And Palin is back in the headlines. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

This was top news the last few days. Top news. Top. Ya know, given that the state of the economy, along side of several multi-decade companies running for Bankruptcy court, plus the growing chaos on Iran, the ongoing civil rights battle in China, the battle action still going on in Iraq, and the required surge of action in Afghanistan, not to mention the whole stand off with the recently-self-declared-nuclear-weapons-holding North Korean, I wonder how we can spend any time at all worried about the off colored humor of Letterman, the misunderstood or tasteless joke that he made concerning either of Palin’s daughters, or the fact that one of Palin’s underage [at the time] daughters did get knocked up and became a [single] teenage mother. Top news. Leading story for some channels/web sites over the last 48 hours.

While I’m not too certain who won the argument of Letterman vs Palin, there is at least one thing that I’m pretty certain of: in this case, we’ve all lost.

Media self-awareness and topic selection: FAIL

GeekStuff

And Now For Something Completely Different

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As most people that have an Xbox knows, Xbox LIVE is currently down.

While the scheduled maintenance is going on, my team (and group) are tasked with verifying that all things are right in the world of LIVE before LIVE is turned back on… so yes, for this brief moment in time, my job is about playing games at work for test purposes. It doesn’t happen often, but since it’s happening today, I thought I’d fulfill everyone else’s expections of what my daily job life is supposed to be like… sadly, I spent very little time testing games at work – when we do play at work, it’s only for fun.

To keep the people of the Xbox LIVE machine humming happily, I present to the world the current contents of my office refrigerator:

Yes – that is a lot of wings and we will be using them all day and night!

digital pity

MapQuest …For The iPhone?

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MapQuest: MapQuest 4 Mobile is the next evolution of maps & directions on the iPhone

Wow. Here’s a situation… someone took the time to make a map application for a platform that ships with a default map application. People are saying this gives competition to the built in provider… that having choices makes for competition… even if there is a default set of bits already there. On top of that, someone else reported that there were more people on OS X using Firefox than there was Safari, adding more evidence to the theory…

Hmmm…

Someone should alert the EU about this.

Rant

Running Forward; Looking Back

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Sort of sounds like “don’t run with scissors” doesn’t it?

A bunch of milestones game and went over the weekend, without so much as a letter typed on the blog… been in WA for five years this past Thursday. Been at Microsoft for five years, as of yesterday. That’s what the crystal picture here is – they give a blue one for employees that have been here for five years. Green for 10, red for 15, 20 gets you orange, and 25 gets you all four colors on a crystal that is bigger than your head. This one is about 7″ tall – consider that, when compared to the others – and it becomes very, very shiny to Geek eyes.

So why no nostalgia writing? I was busy over the weekend, spending time with Jolene, checking out the Woodlawn Zoo for the first time, running down south to pick up a new car on Friday, getting rid of a dead TV, tackling a Rip-n-Tear sale at REI, popping up to Lynnwood for a quick mall visit, watching a movie and a half, testing some Xbox stuff at home, battling a nasty headache from muscle tension, buying a new netbook at Costco (which may not survive the review process,) picking up some roses at QFC, attempting to find parking on Broadway to swill some coffee – twice without success! – and stopping at the Pro Club for a dip in the spa… yeah, I was busy. And it’s good.

That’s why there was no nostalgia: how can you look back when you’re living forward at full speed?

Rant

Bite It, EU

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New York Times: E.U. Criticizes Microsoft Plan to Remove Browser

Let me get this straight: you want to fine Microsoft for bundling a browser because… well, I don’t know why – you say it’s over choice of browser and that having a browser included with an OS somehow hinders making choices… and now you’re complaining because Microsoft decides to make IE an add-on? Isn’t that what you asked for?

Or better yet, why isn’t there a Safari-free, iTunes-free, and iChat-free version of OS X for the EU? I’d say it’s a pack of hypocrites over there but that would be putting it far too mildly… this feels more like mafioso work. And of course, the US government does nothing to protect it’s own companies…

Even better still: call the fines a banking fee since you are trying to use Microsoft as an ATM machine a few times a year.

Meh.

Rant

Note to Obama: Go Fix This Please

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ABC.com: Federal Officials Order Banks to Freeze Millions in Online Poker Winnings

Be it Obama – or even the other big O in the country (Oprah) – can you go fix this moronic policy? If we’re in a recession and people are actually making extra money doing something that enables it, why are we stopping it? Especially for online gambling. Considering that is only illegal if it’s done online… Can’t you simply tax the winnings and call it good?

How is it even lawful – never mind rational – that Lotto, scratch tickets, pull tabs, and full blown casinos are legal if they are brick and mortar based, but online poker playing is suddenly a illegal, actionable, sinful and a felony [in some states] to boot?

You wanted the top seat and promoted change to get there…

Change this.

Rant

List of Shame – Capitol Hill Brunch Edition

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Over the last year or so, Jolene and I have been to a number of places for breakfast on the west and east side of Lake Washington. Call it a tick from my childhood but I dig on brunch… I’ve been known to eat a burger at 8am for exactly this reason, but what’s also good is a varied amount of different foods be it a random menu or a buffet thingy.

The Eastside has a finite number of places that cater to breakfast… Brownbag, Hector’s, George’s, and Original Pancake House in Kirkland, Ruby’s and Pomegranate in Redmond, with the random Denny’s or IHOP all over the place. The Westside, as it includes the sprawling landmass of Seattle, has a much larger number of places… with that much distance to cover, we’ve been returning to an area that’s well known to one of us and sorta known to the other: Capitol Hill.

And so begins the List of Shame…
Continue reading List of Shame – Capitol Hill Brunch Edition →