Friday, December 28, 2007

AOL pulls plug on Netscape Web browser - Yahoo! News

I don't many true Netscape users anymore, but it is still sad to see this coming.

HP EX470 Windows Home Server Easter Egg

Kudos to Paul Thurrott for pointing me to this. It's ridiculously cute. Besides; Windows Home Server needs a bit of good press now.

Jack

Open Source Living

I don't know how many times someone has asked me to look for an open source or Free Software app for them because they hate navigating SourceForge. (I LOVE navigating SourceForge, which is probably something I should use to build geek cred and not admit in public.)

Open Source Living is an index of the most popular and proven open source and Free Software applications around. Listings are for Windows, Macs and, of course, Linux and while not separated by OS, the listings are easy enough to get around in and understand. At least that's the mission statement. I note that the site carries a very Google-like beta tag. Still, it works fairly well and I urge you to have a look at it.

Jack

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Microsoft's Windows Home Server corrupts files

Man; Microsoft certainly did not need this one. Windows Home Server has had a rather lackluster launch (to put it mildly) and though many, including myself, see a huge future for it, MS seems to be doing everything wrong.

I wonder what happened to product testing at MS? First Vista comes out half-baked and now this? Maybe they're all off shining Ray Ozzie's shoes?

Jack

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Have a great holiday!

Peace on Earth is my wish. Happy Politically Correct Celebration.



--MissM

IE's Acid trip back to conflict

Here is a short explanation of why one reporter sees Internet Explorer 8's passing of the Acid2 test as important. Basically, it says what I said on the show, Sunday. However, I think the author, Phil Manchester, does a much better job of putting it into perspective than I did, which makes this worth reading.

Jack

Monday, December 24, 2007

Pics of Deepak's Grandchildren

Not only pics of Tristan Jack Midha, the newest arrival, but some of Sophia Helen, who just turned 2.

Enjoy,

Jack

Serious Windows Home Server concerns [Updated]

Now here is one to follow. In my very limited experience with WHS, this hasn't come up. However; it may well be device related, so don't dismiss it until we know.

Jack

Antivirus protection worse than a year ago

This will scare you a bit. The full report won't be out for a while, but the preview/peeks are bad enough.

Jack

Serious Flash vulns menace at least 10,000 websites

Your alarmist Uncle Jack has been negligent. It seems any of us who use Flash, regardless of underlying platform (here that Mac folks?) are in danger here. For now, the only thing I can think of to do is disable Flash.

There will doubtless be more details in the next few days. Expect protection from AV companies and workarounds from Adobe, if not an actual fix. (Everyone in the know seems to be betting on a combination of both, as the problem lies in something Adobe can't control; the tools used to build Flash sites.) Isn't the Internet grand?

Jack

Microsoft fixed borked IE update

A few people I have talked to have taken issue with Microsoft's timeline on their issuing a fix for this problem, but it is out there, it is automated if you have Automatic Updates on or it can be gotten manually. Anyway; it seems to fix the problems entirely.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-23-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-23-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Geek Meet 2008

Hi all.

As you know, Geek Meet 2008 is scheduled for April 11-13 2008 in Las Vegas, NV.

We have started to look into the arrangements for Geek Meet this year, and due to the proposals being received, we are considering instituting a registration fee for Geek Meet this year. Please let us know your thoughts by responding to our polls on whether or not you would pay a fee, and if so, how much you would be willing to pay.

Unfortunately, if the response is that people would prefer not to pay a fee, we might be forced to find a new location.

Thanks.

Aaron


Are you willing to pay a registration fee for Geek Meet 2008?
Yes
No
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com




How much are you willing to pay?
$10
$11-$20
$21-$30
$31-$40
$41-$50
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com



*Note: Any fee collected will be used to cover the Geek Meet expenses such as T-shirts and the cost of the meeting room for the show.

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) I thought with Christmas only a day or two away I should find a good “Geek Gift” somewhere out there, and while I suppose a little late to get it on your list you might buy one of these with the Christmas money aunt Mary put into your Christmas card. You might have to add a few bucks of your own, well maybe quite a few, anyway check this out. The 914-PC-BOT is the first general service robot designed for digital life in the home. It is a host computer, it is a web server, it has an 80 Giga hard drive, and a Gig of Ram, and, you can program it with Linux Umbunto, or Windows XP, and there is a lot of other stuff above my pay grade. http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com

2) This is a revisit to the one laptop per child site. They have extended the give one get one program through the end of the year. Therefore, if you want to participate you have 10 days left before they change it. It would be a very nice thing to do in the holiday spirit. You might even know some one to give the one you receive, double your pleasure, double your fun, not to mention your karma. http://laptopgiving.org

3) This is a wiki site on free energy. Many (hundreds) of online free video links to sites dealing with free energy, every thing from home videos of people showing off their inventions, to professional videos, and news releases. Even crop circles displaying how to build inter-stellar space ships, analyzed, and explained if you want to build one. Being a person who likes conspiracy theories, I liked the videos on suppression. They made some good points, those who control how we get our energy, control everything. I put up a site a while back on a person running his car on water, I was wondering what happened to him, there are references here to other people doing the same thing, and they also disappeared. This site is amazing if you are into the subject, it is all here, so check it out. http://peswiki.com

4) If you are a fan of Google’s Sketchup program, this tutorial site that is very interesting, for instance you can watch someone design a tractor from scratch, step-by- step, at an accelerated rate. It is very interesting for anyone who has wanted to play around with a cad program just for fun, or design your new home for real. You could even design your own free energy system. If you have not seen it, Google’s program is worth checking out. http://www.youtube.com

5) To end the links for the week something for the space buffs out there, I ran across an article that took me by surprise. Formerly the Sun was the largest object in our solar system. Now, comet 17P/Holmes holds that distinction. An interesting read, and printed up it might even win you a bar bet, or two. http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu