To Me, this makes Nose Scents.

==============================================================
Tech that Smells:
A German company says they've founded a way to deliver scents (about 100) over text messages, and hope to be able to add it to Cell Phones.
Something smells funny here!
==============================================================
Link:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/03/cubans-line-up-to-buy-first-legal-pcs/
==============================================================
Cubans line up to buy legal PCs
Yeah, yeah yeah. Okay it's now legal for Cubans to buy state approved QTECH PC's from One store, for $780 bucks.. That gets you a Celeron processor, 512MB RAM, Windows XP, and a CRT display. Of course they won't have internet access, so big deal.
============================================================================

And if you had your Head in a Hole somewhere: Windows Drops it Bid for Yahoo!

Even after sweetening the deal by an additional $9 billion, the deal (which Microsoft is "soft-peddling" as a possible poison pill) is off.

Engadget had a poll about what to call the now defunct merger of Microsoft and Yahoo! Here's the numbers as of late Saturday.
================================================
What do you call the new Microsoft and Yahoo! combination?

Microsoft! 5757 (15.9%)
unGoogle 2325 (6.4%)
Microhoo 5171 (14.3%)
Yacrosoft 2517 (6.9%)
Microsoft, this ain't no merger of equals 14567 (40.2%)
Nothing, the Feds won't approve it 5932 (16.4%)

Seems like a little under 17% didn't think it would happen.
================================================
All I can add is: Yahoo!
=============================================

Engadget Goodies in May

Engadget Geek Goodies

A quick look at Engadget this morning revealed a number of interesting Geek Goodies. Skipping the French siteing of a possible iPhone 2 in the Wild, this tiny HD recorder from Sony was of most interest.

================================================
Sony's -tg1 HD 1080i Camcorder Unboxed Video at Engadget:
================================================
Engadget Video Link:
================

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/11/video-sonys-worlds-smallest-tg1-tg3e-1080i-camcorder-unboxe/

=============================================================================
Also at Engadget This morning:
Apple iTunes to compete "day-and-date" with DVD releases -- Wal-Mart weeps (now official)
=============================================================================

Story Link:
=========

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/01/apple-itunes-to-compete-day-and-date-with-dvd-releases-wal/
=============================================================================
Isn't being a Geek Just Grand?

Wingman Out.

Microsoft: What Another "Fine" Mesh?"

This is the results from the Words Microsoft and Mesh Initative posed by MS .
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS274&q=Microsoft+and+Mesh&btnG=Google+Search

A line from Star Trek The Next Generation comes to mind: In Balmer's voice say: "I know that Data, but what does it Mean?".

According to analysts not in MS's pocket, not a lot.

It seems Microsoft, since it's "Remember Vista" fiasco, has graduated from FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) tactics to VUD (Vagness, Uncertainty and just plain Dumb).

There's more SPIN here than in the current Political Campaign.

The question is: "How Much is the Snake Oil going to cost us This Time?"

For what it's worth, that's my 2 cents.




Wingman.

Bagels and Half-TWiTs

From the Blogger's Desk:

Sitting here in front of my Linux machine, editing this Blog with Gedit. To my left a cup of coffee from my Expresso machine and a big fat Bagel with philly cream cheese.

==================

Half-TWiT notes:
I usually start the week off with an earfull of Leo Laporte's TWiT (This Week in Tech) podcast, which he records on Sunday (late) and I catch Monday morning.

This week was the start of his fourth year of Twitting, and for the occasion he invited the old gang from TechTV. He had John C. Dvorak (http://www.dvorak.org/blog/), Kevin Rose (digg.com) and Patrick Norton (http://revision3.com/tekzilla/).

None of the women from the old TechTV days made it, which included Sumi Das, TechLive's Michaela Pereira (2001-2004) now on KTLA channel 5 Morning Edition, and Erica Hill who is now a News Anchor for CNN.

A few of the other women of TechTV are now part of Revision3 or TWiT.TV other podcasts, just to keep you posted.

Leo, John, Kevin and Patrick were at their usual Cranky-Geekness, and all vented on the Windows bid to acquire Yahoo!.

Big news since even my latest magazine of Linux User & Developer had a lead article of Microsoft & Yahoo: A Window of Opportunity for Open Source?

What is your Take on the Bid/Take-over attempt by Microsoft???

Here's Mary Jo Foley's "Take" on the story, in her Blog at ZDnet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John C. Dvorak Link: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/
Erica Hill Link: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/hill.erica.html
TWiT (This Week In Tech) Link: http://twit.tv/twit
Kevin Rose Link: http://kevinrose.com/
(bump up Kevin's numbers...)
Patrick Norton Tekzilla: http://revision3.com/tekzilla/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wingman Out.
=================

================================================

Open Source Software: What's it All About?

Some time ago, an Indian, Siddhi in India, posted a video on a website.

Yesterday, Thursday 04/24/2008 , I watched as he explained in 20 minutes, How a Newbie could create a Wiki, with a free program called Django. A very good computer assisted lesson on working with a program from someone I never heard of before. That, in a nutshell, is a part of what Open Source is all about: Sharing information.

When my interest in Linux began almost a decade ago, there were a little over a 150 Linux Distributions in the wild. Yesterday, a Linux Magzine, Linux User and Developer, told me there were over 550 Linux Distros. That too, in a nutshell, is part of what Open Source is all about: Choice.

And What can be said about Distros can also be said about software, the programs the computer runs. There are multiple programs in just about every category and the great majority of them are free, as in Open Source. Even Java, a program from Sun Microsystems that someone called their Crown Jewels, is being released as Open Source. Sun is also the company that gave us Linux Users, Open Office, the Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation bundle that is a worthy replacement for Microsoft Office. Oh, and it's Free.

Need a Database? there's MySQL, Postgresql, Sqlite2 and many others, again Choice.

Programming Languages? Every Software Development Language is available in some form in Linux, there's even an Open Source version of Microsoft's C## and Dot.Net called Mono, created by the same guy that gave us Gnome, my favorite Desktop environment.

More to come...

A Funny Thing Happened on ...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Staples Center

The Denver Nuggets Team Bus Caught Fire.


And 2-Hours Plus Later, in the Third Quarter, so did the Lakers.

Particularly Pau Gasol who single-handedly torched them with a playoff career high of 36 points, 16 rebounds and 8 assists.

Call it a Very Good Start for the Lakers...

The OC Resgister had this to say about the incident.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pau-gasol-lakers-2022398-kobe-bryant

Going To The Cleaners

=================
Going To The Cleaners
or
Hangers from China
=================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Story report from The Post and Courier at Charleston.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many of the country's 30,000 or so dry cleaners are paying twice as much for hangers than they did at the beginning of the year, and they are ticking up prices to cover the mounting expenses.

In January, East Bay Cleaners was paying about 6 cents per wire hanger, or $15.50 for a box of 250. This week it shelled out almost 14 cents apiece, according to owner Kenny Yu. For a business that goes through 800 to 1,000 hangers a day, that's an extra $1,900 to $2,400 a month.

Where are the bulk of dry cleaner hangers coming from?

You guessed it: China.

A good line from Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1981) could go here.

A Big Pizza PIE!

Boston (eCanadaNow) - 43-year old Chris Clark has hit it big, selling the domain name Pizza.com for $2.6 million. He purchased the domain for just $20.

14-years ago, Clark purchased Pizza.com for just $20, and has had it renewed yearly ever since.

It's Good To Be #1

(picture from ESPN.com, webpage)

Yeah it is.

Just ask Google or iTunes or even the 4 teams playing in the Final Four.

None of that computer dyslexia they have for the BCS (which should mean: Bad Computer System) not Bowl Championship Series.

This is the Real Deal!

Among the teams in the hunt is our own SoCal local team from UCLA, maybe you've heard of them, they've been there before. Won like maybe 12 Championships over the years, and looking to return to the Glory they still call: "The Wooden Years".

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the "other" 3: Kansas, North Carolina and Memphis (who plays against UCLA on Saturday at: 3:00 pm).

Because of the magnamitity of CBS, the telecast will be PODCAST over the internet too. It seems the early rounds of March Madness (also podcast) was a Big Hit on cubicles that didn't have a tv handy. Estimates say the "Boss Button", a button that switches from the "games" to an innocuous business-like spreadsheet, was clicked: More than 2.4 million times in the first two rounds.

The Final Four Podcast will be available on CBSSports.com, ESPN.com, SI.com and even Facebook.com.

What did Michael Douglas say in "Wallstreet" ?

Oh yeah: "Greed Is Good."

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Chidren's Crusade Part 2

Filed under: Hard to Believe
(picture from same source cited below)
=============================================================================

Third Graders "Plot" to hurt teacher in Georgia.

Link to AP report:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g84E-NqKavdkNfL6nv-ixkYQFiSgD8VPBR8G2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What the heck is going on???

What is hard to figure out is the planning they went through to gather the "tools" (picture above), and each student assigned a specific "job" (like lookout).

At first Look, one would say "video games", but that could only be part (if any) of the story here.

This is almost like the "Lord of The Flies", which I can safely guess they never saw or read.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wingman.

The Chidren's Crusade???

According to an RSS Feed from the BBC today, 25% of the children in the UK between the ages of 8-11 has a profile on a social network.

This is a Bad Trend, here's the link to the story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/technology/7325019.stm

I'm in my 60's and I've been in computers since the early 1980's and only recently have I grudgingly joined the ranks of Social Networks Facebook, MySpace and Yes even Twitter (the global tiny-IM messenger and ultra mini-blog).

The recent warning from security experts, say the fancy gadgets that members put on their "space", mainly with javascript, is highly vulnerable to out side attacks. An the popularity of the sites makes it prime real estate for hackers.

My Credo is: Things are Never as safe as we think and hope they are.

That's my Dime.
Wingman

Time to Really Get Social

On the Twitter Line as BIGBOPPER.
===========================================================
Followers can link Here:
http://twitter.com/bigbopper
==================================================================

What Does Open Social Mean (Yahoo Joins Google's Effort).

analysis forthcoming...

====================================================================

Online Bookmarks

My Online Bookmarks:

http://del.icio.us/theWingman

Verizon, AT&T Win 700 mhz

=====================================================================================
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2008/03/20/verizon-att-big-winners-in-700-mhz-auction-verizon-wins-much-discussed-c-block-no-spectrum-for-google/

barronsblogs_link:

===================================================================================== March 20, 2008, 3:33 pm
Verizon, AT&T Big Winners In 700 MHz Auction; Verizon Wins Much-Discussed C Block; No Spectrum For Google
Posted by Eric Savitz

Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) are the big winners in the FCC’s 700 MHz spectrum auction, the commission disclosed today.

Verizon, as many had expected, was the biggest spender. The company won the rights to the much-discussed C block, which could be used to create a nationwide broadband network. A quick analysis of the bidding by Tech Trader Daily of the 1091 blocks that were auctioned off finds Verizon spent a total of $9.4 billion in the auction, buying parts of the A and B spectrum blocks as well as the C block.

AT&T spent $6.6 billion in the auction, all of it in the B spectrum block.

Other big spenders:

* CentruyTel (CTL): $149 million
* Cox: $304.6 million
* Frontier Wireless, which is related to EchoStar (DISH): $711.8 million. Frontier spent all of its cash on the E block, which was expected to be used for a mobile television service.
* King Street Wireless, an affiliate of U.S. Cellular (USM): $300.5 million
* Qualcomm (QCOM): $558.1 million. (The company also had the high bid on the D block at $472 million; but that failed to meet the reserve price, and that block will be re-bid.)
* Vulcan Spectrum (owned by Paul Allen): $112.8 million.

Google (GOOG) did not win any of the auctions.

All winning bids combined totaled $19.12 billion; the FCC says net dollars raised in the auction after some credits is $18.96 billion.


Update: Here are some additional companies that were substantial players in the auction:

* Cavalier Wireless: $46.4 million
* Cellular South Licenses: $191.5 million
* Continuum 700: $66.1 million
* Puerto Rico Telephone: $31.4 million
* Triad 700: $17 million
===========================================================================
Site Location listed above:

Charlie Rose: To Err (AIR) is Human...

MacBook Err?

Tuned into Charlie Rose today on KVCR and saw the vernerable host looking like a Geraldo want-to-be, with a nice shiner and bandage on his face.

What gives?


The Full story consists of Charlie, his brand new MacBook Air and a New York City Pothole. The Pothole and MacBook are fine, the "Rose" is black and blue.

Story at Wired Magagine:

The "FITS" of Telling the NEWS

Remember when the News was about the News?

Now the News (broadcast) is about possibilities.
Now the news is about asking inane questions from unqualified but Slanted "pundits".
Today, you can go to the News for questions but why bother?

They Don't have the answers. Probably a never had it, never will, kind of thing.
- - -
What about the WEB?
There's a lot of "Stuff" out there.

Some of it Might be News

The 100 top newspaper sites are here:
http://refdesk.com/top100pap.html

You know, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal.
Some are still viable despite their owner's "news pedigree".

And what about RSS feeds?

That's how I get the BBC Podcasts (for a different perspective about what's happening in the states).

I listen on my PSP, I don't use an iPod, but it works too. Pretty much any portable MP3 player will work, and there you have it, the BBC telling you the News of the Day.

The BBC has a whole slew of BBC RSS FEEDS you can subscribe to with just a click of a button.
Click here for FEEDS to choose from:


If you look hard enough, beyond the broadcast "Sound and Fury", you can find "some" viable news sources.

***
A cliche phrase from my Philosophy Logic Days was: "Consider the Source."

Good Idea, that.
=====================================================================
Here's a snippet of current news posted at refdesk.com: (My Fav Kid Safe reference web site!)
((webpage Slices is coming...))
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN THE NEWS:
• Favre Could Be Scarce in Retirement - Mar 09 12:41 PM US/Eastern
• Tar Heels Hold Off Duke to Win ACC Crown - Mar 09 12:38 PM US/Eastern
• AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water - Mar 09 12:33 PM US/Eastern
• Obama's Black Support Shows Its Limits - Mar 09 11:47 AM US/Eastern
• AP: Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick - Mar 09 11:38 AM US/Eastern
• Democrats Criticize Bush's CIA-Bill Veto - Mar 09 11:31 AM US/Eastern
• Obama Wins in Wyoming, Adds 7 Delegates - Mar 09 11:07 AM US/Eastern
• Woman Earns Silver Star in Afghan War - Mar 09 10:32 AM US/Eastern
• Iran Ready to Talk Nuclear With Europe - Mar 09 10:14 AM US/Eastern
• China: Terrorists Targeted Olympics - Mar 09 8:38 AM US/Eastern
(from the REFDESK.COM page.)
================================================================
Some Blogs and Stuff LINKS
================================================================
A Youtube Video Worth Watching...
========================================================
How Much Does the War in Iraq Cost?:
http://www.afsc.org/cost/?gclid=CMOLqd-xgJICFSEaawodhjHI9w
========================================================
Barack OBAMA Blog:
========================================================
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog/
========================================================
John McCAIN Blog:
========================================================
http://www.johnmccain.com/Blog/Read.aspx?guid=ace5005c-939b-4282-b19d-f95396ecbcd6
=================================================================================
Hillary CLINTON Blog:
=================================================================================
http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/
=================================================================================
Check Out DIGG for NEWS
=================================================================================
http://digg.com/news
=================================================================================
Found this on DIGG News.
The Check's Are Coming
=================================================================================
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/08/tax.letter.ap/index.html?iref=24hours
=================================================================================
One Last BLOG to lighten the Load.
One of the 100 Newspapers posted above contains the Chicago Sun-Times which is the home of Ebert's "At The Movies" column. Here's the LINK:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/

Yeah, he thinks "No Country For Old Men" was Pefect too...
Wingman, out.
============================================================================

For The Loss of A Buckley...

The Theater loss the reason seasoned thoughts of intellectuals many years ago with the loss of the Great Actor/Orators like Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Peter O'Toole, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn.

Some might say, me included, that the loss of persistent intellectuals may have faded from the American conscience with the loss of William F. Buckley Jr.

For 50 plus years he prodded and probed the political systems with glib and evanescent inquiry. His aloof delivery and slow meanderings, sprinkled with ten dollar words made you strain for understanding. What is He talking about? What does he mean?

I took from him: Question everything, and Question Everyone. Particularly politicians, whose words are too often filtered by think tanks and spin doctors. Too often they try to tell us what "they" think we want to hear.

One of my frequently quoted phrases from Marshall McLuan is "The Message is the Massage", which to me means: the means of the transmission is equally as important as what is being transmitted.

That was what Buckley was, an intelligent transmission.

That Voice and Transmission is what we lost last week.

The world has become a darker, quieter place because of it.

CNN and the Cool "Minority Report Effect"

Always on the cutting edge tech wise if not news reporting, CNN showed off it's neato Minority Report Like Effect last night.

Like Tom Cruise did in the Steven Spielberg movie "Minority Report"' minus the headset.
IMDB Link Here:

I guess that would have been "Too Techy".

Link to my report of the Windows Table Top system that MS sells for 10,000 a pop.

Link to a way to "duplicate" the effect for home movies using Blender 3D software.

RSS, Podcasts and New Media

Dave Winer on Leo's TWiT podcast argued that the RSS enclosure was not being use fully. That it was capable of doing "so much more...", but no one was taking advantage of its potential.

I iclude a link to the Podcast Here

TWIT episode 134

March 3rd, 2008

TWiT 134: Pave the Cow Paths

RSS evolves, Twitter vs. Pownce, Wikileaks, powdered hard disks, and more...

Just a simple cut and paste here to include Leo's Link.

80th Academy Awards

The Book

The Motion Picture.

The Movie of The YEAR
2007

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Directors

Best Supporting Actor

Best Movie of The Year.

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes.

This Link is to Amazon.com and their review of NCFOM.

BLOG: A Pocket Full of Miracles-MP3 Players

I purchased for My Wife for Valentine's Day an MP3 player.

The Creative 2GB Zen Stone Plus pictured here. About the size of a fat thumb. I installed 150 of her favorite songs and the audiobook "Pillars of the Earth". (40 plus hours of listening for the book).

Long time readers of my posts, on my many Blogs, have often heard me criticize the Apple iPod.

I have repeated said: "No One needs to carry around with him 15, 000 of his or her 'favorite' songs."

Okay, the Great Composers maybe, but for us ordinary music lovers that ability is simply overkill.

Especially at .99 cents each that would cost "roughly" 15,000 dollars! (The sound you hear is Apple smiling with lots of coin jingling in their pockets, all the way to the Bank).

On that pointy point of accounting I remain steadfast.

But recently a deluge of moderately priced mp3 players have hit the market that Apple created.

An iPod is really just an MP3 Player, that Apple has cleverly marketed as "A Simply Delicious Fanboy must have". But now low-price changes the "playing field" (pun intended).

And Add to this must-take-along mix, audio books by audible.com and a new form MEDIA player takes shape.

Remember the often forgotten tenet of the WWW is "Content is King".

And yes, the latest iPods are still doing nicely, an advertised Sale on Frys Friday AD boast a mind-boggling 160 GB (hard drive) of storage, enough to hold 40,000 songs. I dare say some of your least favorite songs might be able to sneak in there. It sells for $349.00 on sale!

The lower priced mp3 players, (read: Non-Apple and well under $100), of 1 to 8 GB of flash memory storage work quite nicely than you.

The 2 GB Creative Zen Stone player pictured above, holds over 200 mp3 songs and two audio books, with room for a third to be added shortly, (most likely the recent Best Seller: Einstein).

That really IS a pocketful of miracles.

Bush says: Shoot Down The Bird

Filed Under: Let's give it a Shot!

The Spy Satellite crashing back to Earth, that I mentioned here a while back has become More of An Issue. It seems the Electronics-On-Board are just too Top Secret to get into the Wrong Hands (China, Russia).

So we, being a gun-ho society of late, are going to shoot it down. Never mind that we haven't ever Done-That-Before. We don't want the pieces to be put on Ebay and start a Bidding War.

This Idea has raised eyebrows.

2 1/2 back in 4 1/2

Well the 100 day War is over and things are getting back to "normal" in tinsel town.
The Writers get a piece of the internet too, like they deserve, which should have been a no-brainer. But Hollywood loves to shoot itself in the foot, and hobble around, bleeding.

I don't have the numbers on hand, but rentals of videos went through the roof December and January.

And Online Fare (are you listening Hollywood?), is getting easier and better all the time.

Here are the returning shows posted on E! online. Link Here:

It's Showtime for Heroes, Office, CSI
=============================================================================
NBC Out First with a new Saturday Night Live slated to air Feb. 23.
6 to 8 new episodes between now and MAY.
=============================================================================
The Office will squeeze in 6 new episodes--first show on April 10.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 new shows for 30 Rock also returns April 10 and same for Scrubs and ER.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Name is Earl is shooting for April 3 return.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit returns April 15.
Original Law and Order will return April 23.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
But Heroes, Chuck and Life will not return UNTIL THE FALL.
=============================================================================
CBS Return Line-up for 14 prime time shows, including Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory should return March 17, each with 9 new episodes to end the season.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CSI:Miami is set for March 24 return with 8 new episodes and Cold Case on March 30 with maybe 5 episodes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
April brings a few more, with Criminal Minds and CSI:NY back on April 2, with 7 new shows, and CSI and Without a Trace due back April 3, with 6 new episodes each. Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs returns April 4 with 6 episodes each.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NCIS, back on April 8 with 7 new episodes, and Moonlight, back on April 11 with 4 new episodes. Rules of Engagement returns on April 14, with 6 episodes.
=============================================================================
FOX has not announce it's schedule, except for lots and lots of American Idol.

And it did confirm that 24, originally set to count-down its seventh season last month, won't be back on the air until January 2009.
=============================================================================

Music's Biggest Night

50th Grammy's

======================
http://www.grammy.com/
======================
some of the night's winners:

Alycia Keyes Best R&B Artist

Foo Fighter win Grammy for Best Rock Album

"Echoes. Silence, Patience and Grace"
OS ANGELES (Reuters) - British soul singer Amy Winehouse and hip-hop star Kanye West, both recovering from personal tragedies in the past year, won four Grammy Awards each on Sunday and remain in contention for more of the music industry's top honors.

Winehouse, 24, won two key Grammys -- song of the year for her signature hit, "Rehab," and best new artist -- as well as awards for female pop vocal solo performance for "Rehab," and pop vocal album for "Back to Black," her breakthrough release.

Winehouse, who received six nominations, was unable to bask in the public acclaim. She is in London, being treated at a rehab clinic for a drug problem that kept her in the headlines for much of last year.

She was scheduled to perform both "Rehab" and another tune, "You Know I'm No Good," via satellite from a recording studio later during the Grammy telecast. She will compete for record of the year and album of the year at the end of the ceremony.

West, 30, who led all Grammy contenders with eight nominations, won his awards in the rap field.
He will also compete for album of the year and best rap/song collaboration.

=======================================================================================
Herbie Hancock wins album of the year Grammy
11:32pm EST

Grammys pays tribute again to Beatles
9:39pm EST

Comics win New Zealand's first Grammy in 24 years
9:01pm EST

Amy Winehouse wins Grammy for best new artist
8:58pm EST

Amy Winehouse wins song of the year Grammy
9:52pm EST

Bluesmen finally get their due at the Grammys
9:24pm EST

Amy Winehouse to perform at Grammys via satellite
9:01pm EST

Amy Winehouse wins record of the year Grammy

======================================

Monday Morning:

Amy Winehouse wins 5 Grammy's.

ABC7.COM
All of Last Night's WINNERS

=========================

TWeTW The WeekEnd That WAS

==========================
http://kluvsthisgame.blogspot.com/2008/02/lakers-sign-pau-gasol.html

The Lakers stumbling into the L-o-n-g-e-s-t road trip of season, picked up a little good luck by signing 7 footer Pau Gasol
===========================

http://www.giants.com/
It was an unbelievable finish to a Super Bowl Game, with less than a blink or two on the clock, but Eli Manning and the Giants Beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. Period.

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling

Okay, maybe just a U.S. Spy Satellite (USA-193 is the number) that has lost Power.

Don't worry, It won't come down until Feb. 2008???

The Times had this to say about it:

Duck and Cover???

Later, I hope.....

MacWorld 2008 - No Drive To Power ???

=========================================

The REAL Story?

=========================================

Analysis of the announcements at MacWorld,
and My Take, on What, if anything, it really means:

===========================

Some of the Tidbits were triggered by reviews given
by MacBreak Weekly with Leo Laporte at
MacWorld MacBreak Weekly Panel
Podcast #72
Keynote anaylsis
Panel:Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, Chris Breen, Merlin Mann, Scott Bourne, Justine Ezarik, and Jason O'Grady MP3 Podcast available at:
http://thisweekintech.com/mbw

===============================================================
First Big Slide to NetFlix to Oblivion?

The Really Big News was Apple's move into the TV and Movie Delivery system via iPod Store. What Apple Did for Music and Cell Phones They Think They can Do for TV and Movie Rental and Purchase content.
Can They? You bet!

Who can stop them? Right Now, nobody....

What about the Cable Guys and Amazon and the Movie Stuios?

Well, they better wake up because Apple isn't there to be second.

The subtle Linux Killer??
No Optical Drive or Ethernet connector on the MacBook Air is one way to stop Live installs of Linux Distros. Remember they dumped Motorola for Intel and effectively killed Yellow Dog Linux on the Mac at the same time.

Yeah, things are heating up...
===============================================================

MacWorld 2008--To Air Is Human?

The New Apple Air unveiled at MacWorld >>->
===================
Link to Picture:

======================================
Even with Bill Gates Last Keynote Address
at CES 2008, most pundits saw the Annual
At-A-Boys in Las Vegas was D-U-L-L even by
CES Standards.

Even TWiT standard Bearer, Leo Laporte didn't
attend, saying he could Glean more info about
what really-mattered at CES 2008 from Engadget
and Gizmodo and other On-Line Reporters.
Leo Was at MacWorld in San Francisco the whole
week, and was delivering Podcasts daily!

I foolishly tried to grab Steve Jobs Keynote
Address (never available Live) with Linux, but
the proprietary Quicktime Player is still
crappy on Linux, and much too Big to snag
on my Sony PSP.
=============================
MacBreak Weekly has Coverage:
=============================

MacWorld 2008

Both Engadget and Gizmodo will carry
--Steve Jobs Keynote Today--
===========================================
LIVE!
Engadget
Gizmodo
===========================================
And a recap of CES 2008 for each is HERE:
Engadget
Gizmodo
===========================================
Remote prank at CES by Gizmodo
a very dumb idea:
A Gizmodo Blogger used a remote device, called TV-B Gone, as seen on THINKGEEK, to turn off a number of CES Demos.
The Affected Vendors were NOT amused...
===========================================
Filed Under-Here We Go Again:
The Death of HD-DVD???
Warner Bros. and now sister company New Line's announcements
this weekend that they will go Blu-ray only???
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Warner Bros To Exclusively Release Hi-Def DVDs In Blue-Ray Format
Sunday, January 06, 2008; Posted: 10:23 PM
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Google News Search on HD-DVD abandonment:
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Filed Under: But WAIT!
Paramount (part of Warner Bros.) denies Blu-Ray defection.
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More is Sure To Come.
Stay Tuned.

Kool Hunter Picks At CES 2008

Gleaned from DL.TV CES 2008 video podcasts (1,2,and 3) on my Sony PSP:
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DL.TV Link: http://dl.tv/
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Skype on the PSP
-----------------------------
Skype internet phone comes to the PSP with next
Firmware update was announced by Skype at CES 2008.

Well, don't you need a keyboard (for text messaging) and mike for that?
(Skype also showed a slide down keyboard, camera with mike and a headset w/ mike).
Hmmm...
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The Curve Computer Monitor for Gaming by AlienWare
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The Big One: 150" Screen
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Hitachi's 1.5's
Monitors 1 1/2 inches thick from Hitachi
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The Links to the 3 Video Podcasts from DL.TV are Here:
Day One:
http://dl.tv/2008/01/dltv_ep_212_we_have_products_g.php
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Day Two:
http://dl.tv/2008/01/dltv_day_two_of_ces_2008_cover.php
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Day Three:
http://dl.tv/2008/01/dltv_episode_214_wrapping_up_a.php
-----------------------------------------------------------------

How to "Get Things Done" (GTD).

The GTD explained in Wikipedia STYLE
http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Monkey_GTD

There is the story of a very famous todo list "IDEA" sold for 1 million dollars.

Here's a set of Current TO-DO List type Programs:

IKOG.py a python script to list and edit to-do lists. Works in Firefox for Windows, the Mac and Linux.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/ikog/

MonkeyGTD a TddlyWiki based todo list that is easy to learn and keep online. Keeps everything in One HTML File.
http://monkeygtd.tiddlyspot.com/

ThinkingRock
http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/

A Cluster in Your Pocket

That's the unbelievable claim from the team from the University of Northern Iowa, that is maintaining BCCD, A "Live" Bootable Cluster CD.
(donwloadable here).

HPC or High Performance Computing is based on one thing, working with "Clusters".

This program opens a "FastTrack" for schools interested in teaching the cutting edge in their computer lab work. Working with Clusters with minimal cost makes this technology available to ALL school districts.

This Blog will follow the work of this very important program.

Stay tuned.

Koolhunter is Born! At the Inkscape Board...

Created with Inkscape and converted to BMP by the GIMP program.

Adding a MIRO to the Video World

My son introduced me to a new program that he downloaded while testing Fedora 8. Since I'm still in ol' FC6, I thought there should be a repository for me too, Right?

Well, yes there was, in a manner of speaking, the REPO was for FC4 but I added it to my repository list and did the Yum dance. I typed yum install miro, and like a good little yellow dog puppy, yum went out there snapped up the miro RPM file and asked if I wanted to install it? I said yeah and quicker than you can say sweet yummy repositories the program was installed to my Distro.

So What the Heck Is Miro?

Miro is an open source video search engine and downloader and player.

As I type this The African Queen Trailer (1951) from the Charlie Rose Show, Explorer 1 -- JPL and the Beginnings, What's Inside from WIRED Video Podcast and Perfect Water, also from WIRED Video Podcast and Living Tomorrow: TV (What will your television look like in the future?) are all being downloaded for playback on my computer.

It's like Internet's version of Netflix, without the mailbox.

I'll do an update on the video quality and download speeds later.

Staying Tuned couldn't be Easier....

Wingman Out.