Category: Tech

Categories
Gear Hardware TV

Thank the tech gods

I know I could be considered a complete MS lackey (something about MS paying me has a bit of an influence in that) but I must confess… I really love my TiVo (both of them).  I purchased the first TiVo on my wife‘s insistence and never regretted it.  It is simple to use and packed with great features.  I also have a Windows Media Center and love the features of it as well (check out this post by Ed Bott for an superb comparison of the two devices) but was too cheap to buy a new PC and moved it away from the TV (hmm… keep using my 500MHz Celeron or steal the 3.2 GHz MCE form the living room no one is using?).


 


My fondness for the TiVo, I’ll admit, is partially an over-inflated wish for fair play.  TiVo was the first break the ground for the DVR/PVR market only to see their share of the market slowly be nibbled away by competition and cable/satellite providers offering cheaper (and arguably poorer) solutions.  When Engadget started their TiVo deathwatch my heart sank.  It’s so funny how we love to root for the underdog.


 


Thankfully Comcast and TiVo have worked out a partnership deal which will have TiVo writing the software for Comcast’s PVR boxes.  This great news will mean I won’t have to worry about replacing my TiVo boxes any time in the immediate future (and the stock market agreed, if only mildly).


 


Long live TiVo (but please go buy a Windows Media Center PC… it helps put food on my table :)).

Categories
Hotmail Microsoft Tech

A history of Hotmail on Wikipedia

Omar pointed out today that Wikipedia has a good article on Hotmail.  Lots of interesting facts including the origin of the service’s name, “Hotmail”.


From Bengt, the original Hotmail logo:


logo.gif

Categories
Hotmail Overseen

Hotmail PMs work too hard

Aditya and Omar only made it 10ft from the conference room before they felt the need to start working again… they worked a bit then walked the next 10ft to their offices.


adityaOmar_tn.jpg


No, I don’t know how Aditya keeps the laptop there… I suspect the legs of his jeans are covered with rosin.

Categories
Hotmail Weird

I pity the fool!

Headline from the Onion:



Gmail User Pities Hotmail User


A quote:



“I feel so bad for you, needing to squeeze into 250 MB of storage space,”


I love it! laughing.gif  Read the full story.

Categories
Gear Weird

Pure security genius

Hey computer industry writers… you want to get geeks interested in your tech article?  Incorporate espionage into your gadget review.   Throwing in a reference to 007 or some other, handsome, non-geek-like, gadget-swinging spy is like rubbing bacon grease on dog treats, it’s really not necessary… but it really gets the dog excited and is a whole lot of fun to watch (there’s nothing more entertaining than nerd drool).


The latest thing that caught my eye was in an eWEEK Labs write up by Cameron Sturdevant of a new Mobile Edge bag:



Bluetooth Bunker Protects Devices
Taking a page from a spy novel, Mobile Edge offers stylish computer carriers with a Wireless Security Shield Pocket.


Gasp!  Spy novels?!?  Tell me more.



Taking a page from a spy novel, Mobile Edge offers stylish computer carriers with a Wireless Security Shield Pocket—made of radio-blocking material that forms a physical firewall between mobile devices and hackers or virus-infected Bluetooth devices—big enough to accommodate a PDA and a small cell phone handset.


My testing at eWEEK Labs proved that no radio signals penetrated the pocket, thus protecting my Bluetooth-enabled devices from possible viral infection just by being in close proximity to a compromised wireless device.


Now, I know what you’re thinking: “My cell phone is small and portable… if I’m going out for the evening I don’t want to carry a briefcase just to protect my valuable cell phone.  There’s no way I’m going to show up on the red carpet at the Oscars carrying a huge bag!”


No worries.  Aditya and I are starting a new business based around our new, hacker-proof shield for your cell phone.  Our “Bluetooth bullet-proof vest” is small enough to fit in your pocket yet packed with enough radio-wave-blocking technology to keep out even the most advanced hackers.  Your new cell phone will be snuggled in, safely protected from all radio signals, ensuring your phone will never get a virus from another infected device.  As an added bonus our new product will also protect you from all the cancer-causing radio waves emitted by your cell phone.  Even if you don’t have a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone the health benefits of the “vest” are worth the investment.  Imagine the feeling of security that will wash over you, knowing that both you and your device are now totally protected from harmful cell phone RF.


Want to be one of the next generation of tech gazillionaires?  Get in on the ground floor with our new company!  Angel investors may submit proof of fiscal liquidity directly (no checks or credit cards please, just send cash in small, unmarked bills).

Categories
Software

A moment of silence

ripraskin.gif


Jef Raskin
1944 – 2005

Categories
Hardware Life Tech

Lost in transition

UPS, FedEX, USPS… take note: if you can do a better job keeping track of packages than DHL I will insist that all shipments to me use your services.


I recently ordered three items from Dell computer… a pair of LCD monitors for me and my wife and a docking station for my wife’s laptop.  All three packages were picked up at identical times from Dell by DHL.  Two of the packages are identically-sized, the third very close in size.  All three packages are being shipped to the same location, my home.  Check out the shipping status table below and tell me if you can spot my frustration?























































Date Time Activity/comments Location
Monitor 1 – Current status: Delivered
2/21/2005 2:13PM Shipment delivered.   San Jose South, CA
2/21/2005 2:13PM With delivery courier.    
2/21/2005 7:59AM Arrived at DHL facility.   San Jose South, CA
2/18/2005 3:42PM Picked Up by DHL. Shipper’s Door
Monitor 2 – Current status: Processed at Sort Facility.
2/20/2005 11:23AM Processed at Sort Facility.   Wilmington, OH
2/18/2005 3:42PM Picked Up by DHL. Shipper’s Door
Docking station – Current status: In transit.
2/18/2005 3:42PM Picked Up by DHL. Shipper’s Door


Every item was picked up from Dell by DHL at the exact same time on Friday.  Even though the box for the Dock is going to be a similar size to the monitor boxes, the Dock is 5 lbs and the monitors are 26 lbs… let’s give DHL the benefit of the doubt and expect the monitors will be traveling together.  No?  They’re not?  One arrived yesterday… 3 days ahead of schedule.


Okay, let’s give DHL the benefit of the doubt and expect they’ll get the same level of tracking detail.  Oops, sorry.  One package was tracked through a sorting facility in Ohio… the other simply showed up in San Jose with no intermediate stops. 


What about the dock?  It’s been “in transit” since the day it was picked up… no other detail is available… naturally.  Tracking number?  What’s that for?


“Hey Reeves, you got a package early, you should be happy.”


Well, sure, if I didn’t have a job and my wife wasn’t in school we could sit at home all week waiting for the packages to trickle in.  Heck, I’d be happy with a semi-accurate tracking of the packages so I could plan to be home to receive them.  Having no idea when the boxes will arrive is disconcerting.  Receiving the 3 orders over a random number of days is frustrating.  Knowing I ordered a stack of expensive computer equipment and the shipper is sloppy in tracking and handling it is annoying.  Calling DHL to suggest they be more consistent and getting the attitude of “hey, you got your package early, you should be happy” is infuriating.  DHL, that’s one step away from saying “hey, you got your package, you should be happy.”


DHL: From this day forward I’m going to insist all shippers use UPS, FedEX or USPS… and I will pay extra for the privilege of not using your sloppy service.

Categories
Net Weird

Monday media

A couple of e-mails slowed my progress on work this am…


A random vacation from reality sent by Ellie:



1) Go to http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/206373
2) Go to “watch this movie”, click on “without subtitles”
3) Enjoy the Romanian beats


A fascinating bit of science fiction sent around by Aditya:



In the year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline…

Categories
Microsoft Net Security Weird

I couldn’t resist

New Tech News World article: Microsoft and Pfizer Team Up Against Viagra Spammers


C’mon, what happened to the good old days of clever headlines?  How about:



“Unwanted advances from Viagra spammers turn off Microsoft and Pfizer”
                  Or
“Microsoft and Pfizer work to hold down Viagra Spammers”


I’m sure you can do better than that, give me your best headline, click the comment link.


Related story: EarthLink, Microsoft, Pfizer File Barrage of Spam Suits

Categories
Hotmail Microsoft

Who knew?

Here’s some Hotmail trivia to impress your friends:

  • Hotmail is used in more than 220 countries and territories – more than the number recognized by the United Nations.
  • If MSN Hotmail’s 190M active accounts were citizens of a single country, it would be the world’s 5th largest country.
    • No. 5, MSN Hotmail, 190mm
    • No. 6, Brazil 184mm
    • No. 7, Pakistan, 159mm
    • No. 8, Russia, 144mm
    • No. 9, Bangladesh, 141mm
  • If connected hand-to-hand, the 190 million MSN Hotmail members would circle the Earth at the equator over five and a half times.
  • MSN Hotmail e-mail service members number more than the combined population of the world’s 20 largest cities.
  • If all MSN Hotmail members were standing in single file, they would line the length of the Great Wall of China or the Nile River (the longest river in the world) over 17 times.
  • The MSN Hotmail user base has grown more than 18 times since January 1998, which is more than the world population has grown in the last fifty years.
  • Since 1997, MSN® Hotmail® has grown nearly 20 times from 10 million to 190 million subscribers.
  • In 2001 and 2003 MSN Hotmail was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest free Web-based e-mail service provider.