End of use of Blogger

FryReaders, we have discontinued use of blogger for our site services, and we are switching to the (in our opinion) better, faster, and more customizeable Wordpress. Thanks for staying with us, and by June we will have our new site completely up and running.

FryBlog has moved!

FryLife

Lebanon Under New Rule

After 18 months of grinding political conflict, Lebanon’s Parliament elected a new president on Sunday, in the first formal step toward enacting a new power-sharing pact among the country’s bitterly divided political factions.

Adobe CS4 Sneak Peek

Adobe on Tuesday gave users a look at what’s in store for the next versions of some of its Creative Suite (CS) applications by releasing free public betas of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Soundbooth on the Adobe Labs Web site.

Anyone can download the new betas; however, for new customers, the software will only work for 48 hours after the first launch. If you’re an existing CS3 user, you can run the betas until CS4 becomes available; all you need is your sign-in information.

iPhone 2 Discount In France?

Orange has called several readers of French PCImpact.  Orange called regarding an update to the future iPhone model

The first solution would allegedly entail a direct swap. A trade-in for the current model would reduce the price of a new iPhone to 50 Euros, effectively subsidizing nearly all the cost of the new phone with the old one.  Alternately, subscribers could obtain the next iPhone at what's referred to as a "generous" discount, the website claims, although what this would involve is a mystery.

Any way it plays, I'd love a discount!

Apple Files Solar LCD Patent

Apple, our favorite ahead-of-the-rest tech company has made yet another wise and brave move.  They have filed a patent for a solar panel that would live inside the LCDs of future laptops.

Goldman Sach Add Apple To Conviction Buy List

We couldn't find a way to make this article as great as the one Apple Insider had, so we're going to leave it to them:

Citing high expectations for the next-generation iPhone leading up to and through its expected launch next month, investment bank Goldman Sach this week added Apple to its Conviction Buy List and also upgraded its price target on the company to $220 per share.

In a research note, analyst David Bailey told clients he expects the combination of a 3G iPhone, third-party applications via Apple's upcoming App Store, and a wealth of new international carriers to push iPhone units of approximately 11 million this year, compared to just 3.7 million in 2007.

"Our analysis shows that Apple will almost double its available subscriber base in calendar 2008 vs. 2007, with 100 percent of that growth coming from outside of the US as Apple signs up carriers in more than 40 new countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa," he wrote.

More specifically, the analyst sees carriers in those new international markets boosting the iPhone's available subscriber base from roughly 97 million in 2007 to 174 million by the end of this year.

"We have only assumed contract subscribers in our analysis, as we think pre-paid customers are not prime candidates for the iPhone," he explained. "While this reduces the available market for iPhone -- it would triple in 2008 if all subscribers were included -- we think it is more realistic to use the smaller subset given iPhone’s higher-end characteristics."

Bailey reiterated his Buy rating on Apple shares, advising investors that now is the time to build on their positions if they want to "capture the catalyst around the 3G iPhone launch next month and the upside potential from sharply higher projected iPhone sales in the back half of the year."

-Apple Insider

iPhone 2.0 Overview

This blog post will be as much an informatory piece as much as it is predictory and opinionated.  It contains all the information I think FryBlog readers will appreciate and take into account as we all follow the multitude of rumors and theories running around the internet.  I have procrastinated this post for a while, and although people have continually asked for my predictions, I wanted to wait for the right time to reveal them.


AT&T has announced that it will complete a US rollout of its HSUPA 3G service by the end of June. We're guessing that a little bird from Cupertino might have made its way to AT&T, pushing them along. Hmmm, now some of you who have been following the iPhone since its release might find this scenario familiar: do you remember AT&T boosting EDGE speeds last year on the iPhone's launch date?

The new network proposes speeds of 1.4 Mbps down and 800Kbps up, which AT&T claims "will be as speedy as logging onto the high speed Internet service that many consumers enjoy at home".  The only thing I can say is that I pity those who enjoy internet at those speeds...

In the latest build of the iPhone 2.0 software, Apple has added a system wide "Location Service", and you can choose whether you want to let the camera application to add positional data to your photos.  Geotagging on the iPhone is a very plausible new feature, would intergrate with "Maps" and "Camera" very well.  Apple doesn't reveal
whether this will be done by GPS (Another plausible new feature) or by the iPhone's current triangulation methods. What it does mean, though, is that geotagging is about to break big for mobile users with the iPhone.

The iPhone 2's worldwide release is scheduled for June 9, not surprising me, as it is also the scheduled date for Steve Jobs' WWDC keynote.

Rumored New Features-
GPS
2 Cameras (1 on front, 1 on back)
3G (duh)
Skype/AIM
Geotagging
Larger screen
higher resolution
more gestures
much more to be added tomorrow

Airport=10.6% 802.11n WiFi Market

Apple has managed to grip an amazing 10.6% of the US WiFi market with its line of Airport products.  This amazing statistic is predicted to rise even more over the next year, as an upgrade for the MacBook line is due, and the iPhone 2 is rumored to be ready by June 9th

Indiana Jones

"Indiana Jones" unearthed box office gold at domestic theaters with a performance that puts it on track to become the second biggest Memorial Day movie opening ever, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Harrison Ford stars in Paramount Pictures' "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

The fourth installment of the whip-cracking professor's exploits, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," grossed an estimated $101 million from Friday to Sunday, plus $25 million from its opening Thursday, distributor Paramount Pictures said. The company expects it to earn another $25 million on Monday.

That would put it behind only "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," which had a Friday-through-Monday total of $139.8 million, in the pantheon of Memorial Day weekend blockbusters.

Including Thursday's receipts, "Indiana Jones" was expected to collect $151 million over five days, slightly behind "Pirates," which took in $153 million with a partial Thursday included.

"'Indiana Jones' did incredibly well for a film that comes 19 years after the previous installment," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC.

The adventure flick received a lackluster reception from critics at the Cannes Film Festival, but audiences thought otherwise.

Box office estimates grew from $25 million on its opening Thursday through $37 million on Saturday, suggesting strong word of mouth, Dergarabedian said.

"This is the definition of a summer movie from two of the architects of the summer movie season -- George Lucas and Steven Spielberg," he said. "These guys have it down to a science and audiences want to go along for that ride."

The first three Indy movies took in $1.2 billion worldwide.

Disney's action sequel, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," slipped to second place with $23 million, for a total of $91.1 million over two weeks. The company expected the movie to continue to play well as school lets out.

"Once you start getting the mass number of kids out of school, it turns into some serious money," said Chuck Viane, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Marvel Studios' "Iron Man" clinched another $20.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $252.3 million. A sequel is set for release in 2010.

The 20th Century Fox comedy, "What Happens in Vegas," continued to roll with $9 million in its third week, for a total of $54.2 million.

Fox senior vice president Bert Livingstone said high gas prices were encouraging people to see movies rather than take long trips away from home.

"This is the last great bargain," Livingstone said.

-CNN

Pheonix Lands On Mars

Just before 8 p.m. Eastern time, mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here received a radio signal from the Phoenix on the ground in the icy plains north of Mars' Arctic circle. The lander kept contact with Mission Control throughout the landing process. NASA had predicted that technicians would lose contact when the lander created hot plasma during atmospheric deceleration, but the signal was never lost. The lander is sitting a half degree off-axis, a near perfect landing. When asked if the landing could have gone better, Phoenix project manager, Barry Goldstein replied, "

The lander is now transmitting data to the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These satellites currently in orbit around Mars are rebroadcasting the data from the Phoenix Lander in what NASA call a "bent-pipe" relay. That data is being received by the giant antennas at the Goldstone Deep Space Network Complex and sent directly to Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for processing. If all is operating properly, the next few days will be spent checking out the instruments aboard the lander. Then, it will begin the first upclose investigation of Mars' north polar regions. That area became a prime area of interest for planetary scientists after NASA's orbiting Odyssey spacecraft discovered in 2002 vast quantities of water ice lying a few inches beneath the surface in Mars' polar regions.

All of Mars' surface is currently far too cold for life to exist, but in the past, Mars' axis may have periodically tipped over so that its north pole pointed at the sun during summer. That conceivably could have warmed the ice into liquid water, and a possibility of life.

On Phoenix, a robotic arm with a scoop at the end will dig into the permafrost terrain into the ice. Instruments on the spacecraft included a small oven that will heat the scooped-up dirt and ice to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Analyzing the vapors will provide information of the minerals, and that will, in turn, provide clues about whether the ice ever melted and whether this region was habitable for life.

2,584 Baseball Games?!?!

Omar Vizquel played in his 2,584th major league game on Sunday to surpass fellow Venezuelan Luis Aparicio for most games played by a shortstop.

Scott Nixon Wins Indy 500

Scott Dixon stayed ahead of the trouble, got a boost from his crew and drove to his first Indianapolis 500 victory Sunday.

Dixon got out of the pits ahead of Vitor Meira on the final round of stops, then held off the Brazilian and hard-luck Marco Andretti to win the first 500 since the two warring open-wheel series came together under the IndyCar banner.  Danica Patrick failed to finish for the first time in four trips to Indy, though it wasn't her fault. She was clipped on pit road by Ryan Briscoe with 29 laps to go, breaking the left rear suspension on a car that had run in the top 10 most of the race but never seriously challenged for the lead. She finished 22nd.

Andretti appeared to knock teammate Tony Kanaan out of the race with an aggressive move just past the midway point, but all he got was another close call for a family that is now 1-for-57 at the Brickyard. The 21-year-old settled for third.

ESPN - Indy fattens last year's bid, wins right to host 2012 Super Bowl - NFL

Persistence to be a Super Bowl host has paid off for Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.After losing the right to host Super Bowl XLV to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones by two votes last year, Irsay and the city of Indianapolis improved their bid by $25 million and were awarded Super Bowl XLVI on Tuesday.

Indianapolis beat out Glendale, Ariz., and Houston in voting at the NFL owners meetings. Houston did not make the final cut in early balloting, leaving Arizona, host of the most recent Super Bowl, for the final selection."We couldn't be more excited," Irsay said. "It's been a long process."Irsay took last year's loss in the voting process hard.

With a new stadium and the possibility of 100,000 seats in play for a Dallas Super Bowl, Jones edged out Indianapolis 17-15. Irsay bounced back and convinced his city to make one more attempt.The game will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium, which opens this fall.The only down side to the Colts' good news was that it came on the day owners, including Irsay, voted unanimously to shorten the collective bargaining agreement by two years. Super Bowl XLVI comes in what could be a lockout season. The 2011 season could have major labor issues that could affect that season and the Super Bowl."It was difficult coming back and trying to compete against ourselves because we had such a great bid," Irsay said. "But in the end we kept pressing our points."One of the big selling points to owners is that the city will build a new practice facility for the Super Bowl itself, and the facility then will be given back to the community to be used for the area's young athletes.

ESPN Widgets

ESPN has created an arsenal of widgets that you can embed in your website, blog, Facebook page, Netvibes page, and more.  The content available now includes ESPN Top Story, ESPN Spotlight, ESPN Poll, and the Bill Simmons Widget.

Solar Islands

Creating cheap, clean energy is a huge problem.

So, how's this for a big solution: Swiss researcher Thomas Hinderling wants to build solar islands several miles across that he claims can produce hundreds of megawatts of relatively inexpensive power.

He's the CEO of the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique, a privately held R&D company, and he's already received $5 million from the Ras al Khaimah emirate of the United Arab Emirates to start construction on a prototype facility in that country.

While limited information is available on the solar islands website, Hinderling laid out his scheme at The Oil Drum, a well-known blog about energy. Hinderling estimates that an island a mere mile across could generate 190 megawatts of power with a breakeven price point of $0.15 a kilowatt hour, or about twice current electricity prices in the United States.

The islands will consist of a plastic membrane loaded up with solar concentrating mirrors floating above the water. The mirrors are used to heat liquid to turn it into steam, which drives a turbine that generates energy.

On land, this type of electricity generation is fairly well known. So-called solar thermal plants are emerging as a leading alternative to fossil fuel power plants for future energy generation, with two of Google's three alt-energy investments coming in solar thermal companies.

But why head to the ocean to create solar thermal power? Hinderling claims that the entire platform can be turned to align with the sun, generating maximum efficiency without a complicated tracking system. The company's production schedule has it splashing a 1500-foot in diameter platform into the water at the end of 2010.

Mark Bollinger, a renewable energy researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National lab, thought it would be possible to create such an island, but questioned the viability of the enterprise.

"I'm sure it's possible, but it seems a little bit out-there, just given where the technology is and how little of it has been developed on land," Bollinger said.

From a feasibility perspective, he questioned the necessity of pushing solar thermal out to sea, where new variables like the waves could throw off precision-tracking of the sun's rays.

"The reason you'd do that is if space was at a premium, but I don't think it is, at least for solar thermal," he said. "Where it works best is in the desert of the Southwest, and there's a lot of land down there."

Another big question Hinderling doesn't address is transmission, i.e. how you get the power off the island and to the people. Luckily, offshore transmission options (.pdf) are already being explored for wind farms located out in the ocean. And Bollinger noted that there are ocean barges that already produce power for "load-constrained" areas of the Northeast.

-Wired

Last.fm Beta

As the first anniversary of its $280 million acquisition by CBS draws near, Last.fm has unveiled a new beta version with a more powerful design and a plan to expand the social music site's current subscription option.

The site's little-publicized music subscription service costs $3 per month. In its current iteration, the basic subscription removes ads, shows who's been cruising your profile, lets others listen to your station and allows faster access during peak usage hours.

Last.fm says it will continue offering this basic subscription, but that an upcoming subscription package will include unlimited access to the catalogs of all four major labels plus 150,000 indie labels and artists. As of now, Last.fm users can listen to any artist/label-uploaded track up to three times for free (songs that have been heard three times will still play on the site's radio stations).

But this Last.fm beta, currently available only to current basic subscribers, is about much more than just the upcoming subscription package; it involves a full redesign, adding powerful features for playing, sharing and adding music to your library from anywhere on the site.

"Three main concepts driving the UI and feature development for this next-generation Last.fm are: play music, share music and add music," according to Last.fm's Hannah Donovan. "We've focused on making these three things easier for everyone to enjoy, even your mum."

To those ends, the site has added a new player at the top of every page that lets you play whatever music is listed there, so there will be "hopefully no more digging around for play buttons and radio stations," Donovan said. Every music page has also been set up to encourage sharing with friends or adding songs to your library. You can also browse your friends' libraries and add tracks from there.

In addition, the beta lets users manually add songs and artists to their libraries in addition to having them added automatically, or "scrobbled," via iTunes or their preferred media player. This will let you expand your music collection purely through Last.fm, rather than acquiring the music elsewhere and scrobbling it into your library.

Extras include an activity feed that let you see what all your friends have been listening to, real-time music popularity charts and podcasts.

If you subscribe to Last.fm, you can enter the beta now. Once the Last.fm team finishes responding to beta testers' feedback, they'll make these features available to a wider swath of users (how refreshing -- a beta that's actually a beta, as opposed to an initial release, which is how other companies have been using the term).

Variable Pricing On iTunes?

Steve Jobs wants to extend Apple's lead in online music sales to the mobile market, and the 3-G iPhone expected next month positions them to make the iTunes store available everywhere you have signal. Jobs also wants in on the ringtone and ringback tones business -- thoroughly impulse buys which become feasible on the iPhone only if purchasing can be done outside of a hot spot.

Trouble is, he needs some new deals from the record labels to make this happen. The record labels have some demands of their own -- chief among them variable pricing. As music licensing negotiations between Apple and the labels continue, the labels hope to trade mobile delivery for variable pricing, according to a New York Times' source, a record label executive.

An Apple spokesperson told Wired.com, "We don't comment on rumors and speculation," but we got a couple of analysts to weigh in on the possibilities.

"All sorts of discussions happen over time as the contracts [between Apple and the labels] expire. All sort of issues get lumped in, and no doubt [OTA downloads are] going to be one of them," Michael Gartenberg, VP and research director of Jupiter Research told Wired.com. "Clearly Apple understands that its devices are dependent on getting content - music, games, movies, ringtones etc., and it's going to work hard to make that happen. Apple's track record with iTunes and the iPod suggests they probably will get the kind of cooperation they need."

Still, the labels' demand for variable pricing could be part of the deal this time around. It's been a Jobs bedrock principle that one-price-fits-all works, and it has been hard to argue the point, what with Apple surpassing Wal-Mart as the world's biggest music store. After all, Apple let NBC walk over variable pricing but only last week agreed to a two-tiered pricing system with HBO.

So, is the time ripe for some horse trading?

Currently iPhone owners can buy iTunes content only when they are in a hot spot. The use of AT&T 3-G makes broadband ubiquitous and that makes the OTA ringback and ringback-tone business viable. However, Apple could be forced to cut AT&T in on music sales if it wants to pipe music over the company's wireless data networks to iPhone users.

Mobile is "clearly an opportunity Apple is missing," said Lewis Ward, research manager of mobile consumer services for IDC,via telephone. "And Apple is going to want to do it all themselves, but these OTA music storefronts have not sold very well. Maybe there's secret sauce Apple's thinking about, but the track record  [of mobile music and ringtone stores that require a credit card rather than charging users via their cellphone bills] has not been impressive to date."

"The real issue is billing," said Ward. "People are much more comfortable with paying through a carrier [because] you don't have to enter a credit card number or be worried about security.... That puts the carrier in the supply, and the carrier is going to want their cut, which means the margin for Apple goes lower."

As for the labels, they want iTunes to abandon its policy of selling songs at a flat rate of 99 cents in favor of a demand-based pricing system that would charge more for hot releases and less for other tracks. The labels have already tried to pressure Apple by withholding some of their music from the DRM-free section of the iTunes store, but these mobile licensing agreements give them even more negotiating leverage.

Apple already allows HBO to sell videos at various prices through iTunes; if Jobs wants a bigger piece of the mobile pie, he could soon be forced to cave to label demands for the same options. And that's not all.

At least one of the majors -- Universal Music Group -- also wants Apple to offer an "unlimited music" iPod that would allow device owners "a year or two" of subscription-style access to a large catalog in return for paying the labels an upfront fee with each iPod sold. (Will factory-replaceable batteries be the new DRM?)

Negotiations around these topics have been happening for a few weeks and are ongoing, according to the New York Times. IDC audio analyst Susan Kevorkian told us that Apple's practice of selling songs at a flat fee has already served its purpose, which was to show the music buying public how simple buying online could be.

If that's the case, Jobs could fold on the variable music pricing front to give Apple a bigger percentage of the mobile music market

-Wired

Google Health

Google Health launched today in what could portend a far more personal, digital future for health-related data.  Google Health is a way to manage your medical records.  Proponents of Google Health and Microsoft's similar Health Vault say they could make medical data more accessible for patients, enabling them to take control of their health care. Opponents worry that putting the information online is a threat to privacy and unlikely to make much of a difference in how doctors treat their patients.

Pond Junk New Kerosene

Airbus is jumping onto the alt fuel bandwagon, working alongside Honeywell, International Aero Engines, UOP and JetBlue Airways to develop technology for turning algae and vegetable oil into fuel. Airbus is betting pond scum and veggies could provide 30 percent of all jet fuel by 2030.With the air industry under increasing pressure to rein in emissions and airlines taking it on the chin from rising fuel prices, the incentive to find an alternative to kerosene has never been higher. Although modern commercial jets are more efficient - and cleaner- than ever,  many in the industry agree they've still got a long way to go.

Airbus is one of the world's largest commercial jet makers, so its involvement lends credence - and a sense of urgency - to the project. UOP, a gas and chemical processing company, has already developed technology for converting natural gases and oils to military jet fuel under a project bankrolled by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). UOP says the technology could be applied to commercial jets. 

Microhoogle Drama Continues

The Microhoo drama continues, but with a twist; Carl Icahn.  The shrewd billionaire investor has threatened Yahoo! with a proxy fight.

Yahoo and Google have been pursuing a deal for a while now and could even be on the verge of making a formal announcement soon. And it might not be an accurate deadline, but Yahoo's annual meeting is July 3, and one can see the wisdom of having something tangible and impressive to dangle in front of shareholders, many of whom might be angry with the collapse of the Microsoft deal and the minimum 73% premium ($33 vs. $19) it placed on the value of their company.  Microsoft said Sunday that it was not thinking about acquiring Yahoo anymore (although it could if it wanted to in the future) but that it was talking to Yahoo about some kind of partnership.

Firefox 3 Goes Public

The release candidate of Mozilla's popular web browser Firefox has reached the public's hands.  Although there are still several bugs, it works, and gives a great idea of how a finished product would work.  Memory and processor usage has been reduced, and speed has been increased, the perfect balance!  Available in 45 languages, its available to nearly everyone.

Google Maps+ Real Estate= Who Knew?

Google Maps can now show push pins on houses that match your set criteria as you're searching the globe.

Edward M. Kennedy, A Seizure Victim

Edward M. Kennedy was airlifted Cape Cod to the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA after falling victim to a seizure.

A family spokeswoman said Saturday evening that Mr. Kennedy, 76, was “conscious, talking and joking with family” who had gathered at Massachusetts General Hospital. Several other Kennedy associates said they were told that the senator, Democrat of Massachusetts, would recover, but that he was scheduled to undergo tests to determine what caused the seizure.

Mr. Kennedy’s wife, Victoria, his children and niece Caroline Kennedy were among those who rushed to the hospital in Boston after he was taken by medical helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital. He fell ill at his family’s compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., shortly after 8 a.m. and was transported by fire officials to the local hospital.

Mr. Kennedy underwent surgery at the same hospital in October to remove a blockage in his left carotid artery, in part to prevent a stroke, which can be caused by the interruption of the flow of blood to the brain. The blockage was found as doctors were examining his back and neck, which were severely injured in an airplane crash in 1964. After the surgery, doctors recommended that he take aspirin to prevent blood clots. He was already on medication to control blood pressure and cholesterol.

GPS III Satellites

Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin announced that it had been awarded a $1.4 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the next-generation system, known as GPS III. The goal is to deliver better accuracy and availability for both civilian and military users of the navigation technology (which, after all, was born as a military innovation).

In the first round of the undertaking, lead contractor Lockheed, along with ITT and General Dynamics, will build eight GPS IIIA satellites, the first of which is due to go into orbit in 2014. Later increments--for which no dates were specified--will see the construction and deployment of eight GPS IIIB and 16 GPS IIIC satellites, with progressively advanced capabilities.

One advance that Lockheed is promising: Eventually, all of the 32 satellites will be able to receive simultaneous updates from a single ground station through a cross-linked command and control architecture. The artificial constellation will also feature "a new spot beam capability for enhanced military (M-Code) coverage and increased resistance to hostile jamming."

The Air Force is set to launch its final two Lockheed-built GPS IIR satellites, one in June and the other in September. That will make for a total of 20 IIR satellites, which are more autonomous than earlier models, put into service over the span of around a decade. These last two are among eight IIR(M) models, which provide both M-Code and L2C (for civilian use) signals. The satellite launching in June also will transmit on a frequency called L5, intended primarily for aviation safety-of-life applications.

Polar Bear Is Now Protected

The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday because of the loss of Arctic sea ice but also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses, meaning, he said, that the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.

Train Acid Leak Forces

Six cars of a freight train derailed Saturday, causing a hydrochloric acid leak that forced thousands of people to leave homes, businesses and a nursing home within one mile of the wreck.

The spilled acid sent a toxic cloud over the area, and at least five people, including two railroad workers, were taken to a hospital and treated after complaining of skin and eye irritation, said Lafayette Parish sheriff's Lt. Craig Stansbury.

A nursing home with 161 residents was evacuated, said Dr. Jimmy Guidry the state health officer, said. About 35 of the residents deemed too frail to travel were taken to area hospitals, he said.

Police walked door-to-door notifying residents of the mandatory evacuation in an area with an estimated population of 3,500 people. "We're advising them to take enough supplies for approximately 48 hours," Stansbury said.

Mona Hebert and Jeffrey Ferrara said they were rousted from their trailer around 3:45 a.m. and told they had two minutes to leave. Ferrara, who lost his home in Hurricane Katrina and has been staying with friends like Hebert since then, didn't have time to grab his shoes or any of his medications.

"This is gravy compared to" Katrina, Ferrara said, adding that the morning air smelled of chlorine, like a swimming pool.

Hydrochloric acid can cause respiratory problems and skin and eye irritation, according to Joe Faust, a spokesman for the Texas-based BNSF Railway that operated the train involved in the spill.

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 gallons of the acid was spilled, he said. The acid formed a yellowish pool at the site of the derailment.

A train car carrying ethylene oxide, used in agricultural products and as a sterilizer for medical supplies, was overturned but was not leaking, said Rodney Mallett, a spokesman with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

BNSF was using lime to neutralize the hydrochloric acid. Cleanup workers will then either dig or vacuum up the acid and lift the cars back onto the track, Mallett said.

Faust did not speculate on how long the cleanup might take but said residents wouldn't be allowed back into the area until officials were certain the hazardous material was gone.

"We want to make sure that they're not returning home prematurely," Faust said. "We want to make sure the entire area is clean."

Shelter manager Jacqui Picard says that the Red Cross has set up a shelter at a high school and was gearing up to handle as many as 500 people if needed.

AP

Teens Hacked Government Pages

Spanish police have arrested five young computer hackers who allegedly disabled Internet pages run by government agencies in the U.S., Latin America and Asia, authorities said Saturday.

The National Police described the suspects as belonging to one of the most active hacker groups on the Internet and said two of the suspects are only 16 years old. The others are 19 or 20.

On the Internet, the group calls itself D.O.M Team, police said.

One of the group's techniques was to infiltrate Web sites and insert a page of its own, police said. A Google search turns up several hits with pages that fit this description.

The group attacked some 21,000 Web pages over the last two years, police said in a statement. The five were arrested this week in Barcelona, Burgos, Malaga and Valencia.

The statement did not identify which government Web sites the suspects are accused of tampering with.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported in March that the group had infiltrated NASA's Web page, but a police official said Saturday she could not confirm this. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department rules.

The group also hacked the Venezuelan national telephone company's page, and that of the Spanish telephone operator Jazztel, among others, the paper said.

El Mundo said it had contacted the group and it described itself not as a bunch of delinquents, but computer-lovers that raid Web sites to show system administrators the pages' vulnerabilities.

The Spanish investigation began in March after the Web page of a Spanish political party, Izquierda Unida, was disabled shortly after Spain's general election March 9.

The five suspects did not know each other personally, but rather just over the Internet. They were in contact with other members of the hacking group, mainly in Latin America, police said.

Associated Press

Google Surpasses Yahoo

On Friday, comScore inc. announced that for the month of April, Google had more site traffic than Yahoo.  In fact, it had the most visits of any website-in the world!

Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 Alpha

Mozilla has released Thunderbird 3.0 Alpha as a 'teaser' for Thunderbird users.  The Alpha does not include many of the feature 3.0 will have, but its a good idea of how the interface will work.

John Edwards Endorses Obama

Senator John Edwards has agreed to endorse Barrack Obama, as he has dropped out of the Democratic presidential race.

Steve Jobs To Start WWDC 2008

Steve Jobs is once again expected to start WWDC with one of his famous keynotes.

3-G To Edge... And Back

I know many people who are excited about the 2nd-gen iPhone and its possible use of 3-G internet.  I also know some who are worried about the battery consumption of the 3-G.
New evidence has been acquired that Apple will put a 3-G switch in the network preferences.  Users would have the option to enable/disable 3-G and Edge.

Videogame Tables Have Turned

In the beginning of videogames, companies struggled to prove that games weren't just for children.  Now Microsoft needs to work the other way as they work to incorporate more child-friendly games into their lineup

WWDC 2008 Sold Out

Apple confirmed yesterday that the Worldwide Developer's Conference this year is sold out.  This being the first time ever, some analysts say it may be partly because of the iPhone.  The App Store in being unveiled in June, and there will be sessions on using the iPhone SDK and writing using Cocoa

Gas Prices Set Yet Another Record

Six straight days of retail gas price increases to yet another record high of $3.718 a gallon

WiiWare Launched This Morning

This morning, Nintendo released WiiWare, its competitor to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade and Sony's Playstation Store.  The program started with six games.

The currently available games will be Enix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, Frontier Development's LostWinds, XGen Studios' Defend your Castle, Nnooo's Pop, High Voltage Software's V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack, and Gameloft's TV Show King.  Don;t let the measly amount of start-up games fool you; Nintendo says there are over 100 WiiWare games currently in development, and a new one will supposedly be released every Monday.

Lumeta's Solar Panels

Lumeta, a construction company, has developed peel-and-stick solar panels.

Lumeta's Power-Ply 380 is essentially a solar panel sticker, and installs in less than half the time of a traditional rack-mounted panel.  Although the stickers do not have optimal angle to the sun, they are lighter, and in a typical installation, claim a peak power generation of 380 watts.

D'Antonio To Coach Knicks

Saturday, Mike D'Antoni agreed to coach the New York Knicks.  D'Antonio is known for how he turned around the Suns, and we hope he'll do the same with the Knicks

PSP Skype Bundle

Sony finally got around to putting together a real headset for their PSP's new Skype capabilities.

Yahoo Go 3.0 beta

Yahoo Go 3.0 beta is now available for windows mobile phones.  This third version of the all-in-one content delivery application for windows smart phones includes greater customization and more widgets for the carousel

VMWare Fusion 2.0 beta

Yesterday, VMWare released VMWare Fusion v2 beta 1.  This upgrade is available to the public immediately

Clyclone Trouble

As aid heads toward Myanmar to help victims of the cyclone, 22,500 people are dead and around 40,000 are said to be missing

Microsoft Abondons Bid on Yahoo

Yesterday, Microsoft withdrew its offer of $44.6 billion for Yahoo after a 3-month standoff

Apple TV Owners Are Now Able To Buy Movies

Owners of the Apple TV 2.0 are now able to buy movies after much procrastination on Apple's end

Is Free Satellite Radio In America's Future?

Attorneys General from Connecticut, Ohio, Maryland, and Washington have sent a letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin appealing for free satelite radio channels

Mexican President's Aide Stealing White House Blackberrys

Mexico's president's aide has been charged with stealing blackburys from White House officials

3G iPhone:

Rumor has it that Apple is at work again with a 3G iPhone.  The 2nd-gen phone will be similar to the 1st-gen, with some differences.  The differences might include the following:
1. GPS Chip
2. Slightly Thicker
3. 3G Internet
4. Phone no longer metal, all shiny black
5. Headphone jack will cease being recessed
6. Fewer angular edges

Posting

Thank you everyone for being continued supporters of FryBlog, i'm back home from my 3-day trip, and shall resume posting even more than ever!

www.frysoft.blogspot.com
support.frysoft@gmail.com

McCain Criticizes Handling of Hurricane Katrina

John McCain criticized the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and promises that it will never happen again.

VMware Fusion 1.1.2

VMware has released an update to the popular VMware Fusion virtual computer software for the Mac platform.  Version 1.1.2 includes increased support for the MacBook Air, and now includes support for backing up your virtual machines using Time Machine, the built-in backup utility included in Mac OS X 10.5 (codename Leopard).  Other minor fixes included in this update include proper disconnection of USB devices at virtual machine shutdown time, remapped system keys, a repair to external speakers, and Simplified Chinese is now available.





VMware Fusion Logo

Apple's 2nd Fiscal Quarter Results

Apple profitted of 1.05 billion dollars during the second fiscal quarter between January and March.

Click on title to read a more in-depth article from our friends at MacWorld!

Skype a Trojan?

Last weekend users of Skype who were also subscribed to Microsoft's OneCare service were blocked access to the popular voIP client.  Windows Live OneCare thought Skype was infected with the Trojan Win32/Vundo.gen!D.  Skype denies this, and Mcrosoft has since then released a new signature file that does not enclude Skype.

Apple Buys PA Semi

Apple bought processor designer PA Semi, but we don't know what for yet.  Speculation is Apple will use PA Semi's processor designs in an UMPC (ultra-mobile personal computer).

Sony Buys Gracenote

On Monday, Sony announced that it will buy Gracenote, for around $260 million.  Gracenote is known for their music identification technology.  Sony and Gracenote will remain separate, and Gracenote's management and workers shall not change.

AT&T To Lay Off More Than 4,000

AT&T plans to lay off over 4,000 people to compensate for first-quarter losses.

FryCast 3

FryCast 3 is up!

I talk about the popular organization MacHeist's new software bundle.

Watch FryCast 3

PayPal Has a Plan to Cut Down On Phishing

PayPal, the popular electronic payment service, has a plan to stop phishing in its tracks.  According to surveys, many people still use the extremely outdated Internet Explorers 3, 4, and 5.  As these browsers do not have phishing filters, PayPal may prevent users using these browsers to access the PayPal site.  Another browser which does not have a phishing filter is Apple's Safari.

Windows Software Update Tool Updated

Yesterday, Friday, Apple addressed public complaints to the settings on their popular Software Update utility.  Software Utility now splits itself into two panes- Updates, and New Software.  This is to counter the public outcry that started as a result of Apple pushing the Safari browser to Windows users who had never downloaded it before.

see the new Software Update utility for Windows below.

Pystar's Stunning Idea

Pystar, a company little known until yesterday, recently released a computer capable of running Mac OS X, and costs only $399.  The call it the OpenComputer, and it is capable of running Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), Microsoft Windows Vista, and Linux.  Although it is expected to arouse the attention of Apple's lawyers, analysts predict there is little Apple will be able to do.

MacHeist Retail Freeware Bundle

Monday, MacHeist, the popular organization, released a new software bundle called "The MacHeist Retail Bundle Unboxed".

The bundle includes Awaken, Cha-Ching, CoverSutra, DEVONthink Personal, iClip, Overflow, Wallet, WriteRoom, XSlimmer, Enigmo, Bugdom 2, and Nanosaur 2.  More details will be included in FryCast 3.

Food Aid

President Bush recently demanded that $200 million be released to help buy basic food in countries where costs are ever-rising.

Delta - Northwest Airlines Merger

Late Monday (today), a merger was announced between Delta and Northwest Airlines.  The resulting corporation will be named Delta, and will be the world's largest airline.  The board at the new Delta Airlines would consist of 7 Delta board members, 5 Northwest board members, and 1 representative from the Air Line Pilot's Association.  The transaction, which will be handled in stock, will total $17.7 billion.

Northwest shareholders will recieve 1.25 shares of Delta for every 1 Northwest share they own.  The main offices would be in Atlanta, Georgia, and executive offices might be in Minnesota.  The new company, Delta, would create over $1 billion in annual revenue, and the integration costs are estimated not to exceed $1 billion as well.

Although it seems as though every other aspect is playing out well, the one key point where the airlines have not yet agreed is pilots.  The pilots have not yet integrated their hierarchies, and this will pose a major problem.

New Logo

Today I would like to thank a friend of mine, Spencer Claiborne, and his marvelous logo-making skills for designing FryBlog's new logo.
See below!

The Microhooglespace News Corporation?

How exactly do you think all these deals will play out?  

Ok, here goes: Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo, and every bid Microsoft has made so far has not been enough, as Yahoo still believes that Microsoft undervalues the company.  Microsoft has threatened Yahoo with a 3 week deadline, or to prepare for a proxy fight.

Another surprise is that Yahoo is trying search ads from Google, their biggest competitor, so will there be another partnership?  Microsoft is looking for help to acquire Yahoo from News Corp., the parent company of MySpace.  Yahoo is also thinking of taking AOL in exchange for a large investment from Time Warner

Final Cut Pro 6.0.3. and Compressor 3.0.3.

Yesterday, Apple released a software update for Final Cut Pro and Compressor, both part of its popular professional video editing software Final Cut Studio.
See more at Macworld!

American Airlines Cuts more flights

American Airlines cancelled 922 more flights later today, delaying set more people.  American is hoping not to lose customers by giving compensation packages.

Bush to Skip Olympics Opening Ceremony?

With the British Prime Minister already skipping the Olympics and pressure on Bush from many sides, it is still unclear whether President Bush will attend the ceremonies.

American Cancels Over 2,000 Flights

So far this week, American Airlines has cancelled over 2,454 flights to carry out safety inspections on MD-80 jets.

AMP

AMP?

Is it an audio manipulation program? No, not at all.  It is actually a new media player from Adobe.  AMP stands for - you guessed it - Adobe Media Player.  Although their name wasn't the most creative, the features Adobe packed into the application truly are useful and in some cases, original.

The program supports watching videos from online and from your hard drive, and downloading videos.  The installation on a Mac is easy as pie: Using the pre-installed Adobe software, it shows you 1 prompt, and downloads the app into yur Aplications folder on your boot drive.  It supports DRM and HD content, so everyone will be pleased.

Another thing that will certainly please is the wide variety of current and coming material. Content from publishers such as CBS and MTV Networks has already been posted, and material from Comedy Central and Spike will come in the near future.

If you haven't yet decided on a video management and viewing program, I believe AMP is a great program, and you should give it a try.

President Bush Ponders Missing the Olympics

President Bush ponders skipping the Olympics, and is being encouraged to do so by Hilary Clinton.

Flickr Unveils Video Sharing, But With Some Serious Restrictions

Flickr, the popular Yahoo! owned online photo-sharing app is finally embracing video- but not for everyone.  Starting late today (Wednesday) or early tomorrow (Thursday), Flickr will allow "Pro" Users to upload videos as well as photos.

Unfortunately, this video service has several drawbacks.  1) Only for Pro Flickr users ($25 annual cost).  2) 90-second video limit 3) 150mb upload limit.  Flickr is limiting upload size and video size so you will see nothing long and most likely nothing with a high resolution.  Although the addition to Flickr has its limitations, it can only add to the experience, and as Flickr wishes it to merely present a "Slice of life", it suits their purposes perfectly.

N.Y.C.'s Congestion Plan is Stopped- For Good

Micheal R. Bloomberg, the mayor of N.Y.C., had a idea that would cost everyone entering the city $8 if they were entering south of 60th street.  The plan, although it might have been unpopular at first, would cut down on traffic and pollution, and the money might go toward repairing some of New York City's roads.  If that weren't enough, the plan would also make millions of federal funding available to the city.

Mr. Bloomberg was very disappointed with the Democrats' decision to not even vote, and with the possibility of receiving around $854 million dollars a year to put toward cleaning up the city gone, so am I.

Mark Penn Steps out from Campaign

Sunday, Mark Penn, the brains and strategist behind much of presidential candidate Hilary Clinton's campaign asked to leave his position with the campaign.  This conclusion was reached after it had been announced that he had met a few of the Columbian government's representatives.  He did this to take part in promoting a free trade agreement.  Unfortunately, Hilary opposes this agreement, putting pressure on Penn.

Charlton Heston Died at 84

The Oscar-winning actor, Charles Heston, died Saturday at 84.  He preformed in over 100 films during his lifetime, and has had a tremendous impact on entertainment these past 60-or-so years.

FryCast 1

Watch FryCast 1

This episode describes the show, and is an intro for future episodes.

Microsoft-Yahoo Bid

Today Microsoft told Yahoo that a deal must be in place in three weeks.
Will this be the new logo?

Adobe Trashes Disliked Photoshop Express Terms

Acting swiftly against criticism, Adobe has changed the legal terms of its new online photo editing and sharing service. Adobe no longer has the authority to use customers photos for any activity or project.

Aircrafts Lightening Load by Skimping

With the price of gas climbing every day, it's not surprising that airplanes, one of the most expensive and fuel-guzzling forms of transportation, would become evermore expensive for the corporations that run them and the customers that ride the planes.

Most major airlines have decided to deal with their nearly doubled annual costs by cutting down on the weight of their planes. Fuel is now the #1 expense in maintaining airplanes, with labor close behind. So, to cut down on weight, airlines are replacing things like the glassware in first class seating to lighter plastic cups, and US Airways is now using meal carts that are 12 pounds lighter than the old ones.


American Airlines, well known for their cost-chopping attempts, has removed nearly every conceivable ounce of extra weight, however, they are also removing comfort and convenience features as well. They have removed in-seat phones and removed power converters from the lavatories. Airlines are also removing things such as magazine racks, trash compactors, and ovens. However, with all these lighter planes, the experience on board becomes worst and worst for the passengers, so airlines are constantly trying to find a compromise.

Today, a Breakthrough That Has Effected Us All

On April 4, 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen became partners.  The corporation? Micro-soft.

Bill was 19, Paul 22.  Little did they know that their small partnership, Micro-soft, would become the massive corporation it is today.

Firefox 3 beta 5

Firefox 3 beta 5 for Mac and PC was released today, and although it brought 150 fewer changes than beta 4 brought, the 700 beta 5 changes really made a difference.

Firefox 3 beta 5 has been tweaked and is now much more integrated with Macs, PCs, and Linux.  Beta 5 has also provided a speed boost with a new JavaScript engine and other optimizations to speed up web apps.
Personalization has also been taken one step further with new view, organization, and search tools and preferences.  Also, for Mac it also has the newfound ability to save frequent searches, much akin to Leopard's Finder.

Overall this beta update improved an already wonderful application and added some much needed and essential features to make the program just that more wonderful to use.

Polls

Due to the increasing popularity of our polls, we are going to be adding 3 new ones during the next few days.  Be sure to look for them on the sides and bottom of the page!

Hilary Clinton and 'Rocky'?

Today, April 1st, Hilary Clinton made a speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and declared she would stay in the presidential contest for the Democrats.  During the address to the AFL-CIO, she compared herself to Rocky Balboa, and said that like him, she was not a quitter.

New Site Technology

Readers, as of yesterday night the site has used a new posting and organization technology.  We are hoping to use this to our advantage, and include more pictures and possibly even video or audio.  Thank you for supporting FryBlog, and if you have and questions or comments, please drop us a line at support.frysoft@gmail.com!

Troika 'Newton Virus' (It's NOT Harmful!)

In the computer's early years, viruses, unlike today, were created for fun and amusement. They would not cause any harm to the computer, but would perhaps make the screen tun blue or make all the victim's icons turn purple. However, although computer viruses have harmful and joyful roots, today's computer viruses are threatening to people's files and information.

A London-based design firm named Troika has decided to temporarily relive the surprise of the original computer viruses by launching a project called the 'Newton Virus'. The virus is designed for Macs, and as of today it is not yet available to the public, however, it is currently on display at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art).

The harmless virus simply adds gravity to your Mac's desktop, causing all the icons and the menu bar to fall to the 'ground', bounce, and come to a stop. If you pick up the laptop and tilt it, the icons and menu bar will fall to the new 'ground'!

This is a great toy for people of all ages, and although it's not available to the public today, it maybe sometime in the near future!

Sound Recorded Before Edison?

In 1878 when Thomas Edison recorded the words "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on a piece of tinfoil, he became considered as the father of recording sound- until now. A few weeks ago another recording was discovered in a Paris archive. The American Audio Historians, the people who discovered the recording, believe it to have been recorded on April 9, 1860, 18 years before Edison prevailed in his attempt to record and play back sound.

Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, the little-known Parisian typesetter and tinkerer was the inventor of the phonautograph, and it was he who recorded the first sounds. He recorded 11 seconds of the song 'Au Claire de la Lune' on a machine that was not meant to play the sounds back, but to record them.

$5B XM Satellite Radio Buyout

The U.S. Justice Department recently approved Sirius Satellite Radio's buyout of their biggest competitor, XM Satellite Radio, for $5 billion.

4,000 Dead in Iraq

As of last sunday, 4,000 Americans have died in Iraq since 2003. 

Upcoming Changes and Additions

As the blog has really come a long way in the last month, we're thinking of throwing in a few new things.  The possibilities are as follows:

1) A site podcast

2) A new site design

3) Our own domain

Please put your concerns in the comments, or email us at support.frysoft@gmail.com!

Update to Airport Extreme

The recent update for the Airport Extreme now allows Time Machine to backup to wireless USB disks, a feature Apple had originally promised, but failed to deliver on time.  Now, instead of spending up to $499 on a Time Capsule, You can just use your existing Airport Extreme and a USB hard drive.  The drive may need reformatting in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), but after that, the process is very simple.

Go to System Preferences and click on "Time Machine".  Click on "Change Disk", and a window like this

 will appear showing you all the connecting drives that you can use for backup - including wireless ones.

Blog News

I will be taking my "Official" break this Wednesday-Friday.

The next post which may appear ahead of schedule will be about the new Airport Utility, and I am thinking about changing the site's design and layout.

As always, please send any questions, comments, or concerns to support.frysoft@gmail.com

Review: The New Airport Express

The new Airport Express, introduced today, has given the Airport Express new potential to appeal to even more people than before. With improved range and signal strength, it outperforms its predecessor by more than 30%!


With up to 5 times the power and 2 times the range, it can't get much better, but Apple also included 802.11n and expanded connectivity to allow up to 10 Mac and PC users on the network at a time. Although Apple changed a lot on the inside of the device, the design has not changed at all. It is still a mere $99.00, and is compatible with Airport Utility, the wireless network managing tool Apple provides with all Macs in /Applications/Utilities/Airport Utility.

As well as functioning as an amazing wireless network, it also provides a feature called AirTunes. Airtunes allows you to play your iTunes music on your stereo or speakers wirelessly. The available speakers are shown in iTunes in the bottom-right corner. Simply click the arrows and select the speakers you want!

The Airport Express still supports wireless printing, but a feature I was hoping for is wireless USB drive sharing, which has yet to appear in the Airport Express. I wonder if Apple is trying to force people needing this feature to buy an Airport Extreme...

English is Very Illogical!

English Is Very Confusing!

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes; but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice; yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those, yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren.

The masculine pronouns are he, his and him, now imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

Some reasons to be grateful if you grew up speaking English:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22) I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

Screwy pronunciations can mess up your mind!
For example... If you have a rough cough, climbing can be tough when going through the bough on a tree!

There is neither egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wiseguy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

People, invented English across the ages, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all).

That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the
lights are out, they are invisible.

SxSW

The 2008 South by Southwest continues for the next 3 days in Austin, Texas. Enjoy music, films, and more. A big hit with people attending the conferences and festivals is Sched.org. It displays the entire conference and festival calendars and all the music, films, and interactive events. It has been a huge help to overwhelmed SxSW attendees.

The simple-to-use yet elegant web application uses a straightforward Ajax interface, and was created by 24 year-old Taylor McKnight and 27 year-old Chirag Mehta. McKnight is a web designer, and Mehta is an IT consultant. They whipped the site up in a mere 24 hours, and have helped more than 2,000 people conquer the confusion of all the official and unofficial conferences, parties, and festivals.

More Details

Review: Macbook Air

If you don't have time to read this whole article, in short, the Macbook Air is great for users looking for a small, light computer for simple tasks and travel.  However, it is NOT for power users or people who will be behind a desk often.

As Apple describes their new product, it is "Thinnovation", and it certainly is at 0.76" at its widest, and it tapers to an amazing 0.16"!  However, it gives up many key things to achieve such portability.  You have an option of an 80GB 4200 RPM PATA Hard Drive, or a 64GB solid-state drive.  It comes standard with 2GB of RAM in all models, but the RAM is soldered to the logic board, so it is impossible to add more.  Apple boasts that the Macbook Air's battery lasts 5 hours, but in my tests, it lasted 3:05 at maximum.  Unfortunately, the battery is also not user-serviceable, so people looking to use this on long car/planes trips will be disappointed.

Another plus which I encourage Apple to work on with their other notebooks is temperature.  The Macbook Air does not get as hot as either of Apple's other notebooks.  In fact, after being on for 1 hour, the Macbook Air was 22.4% cooler than the Macbook Pro, and 13.8% cooler than the Macbook.

* tests were done with a Macbook Air (1.8Ghz, 80GB Hard Drive @4200RPM, 2GB RAM) a black Macbook (2.16Ghz, 200GB Hard Drive @5400 RPM, 4GB RAM) and a 15" Macbook Pro (2.6Ghz, 250GB Hard Drive @5400 RPM, 4GB RAM)

The Macbook Air weighs 3 pounds, has a gorgeous 13" LED-backlit display, and surprisingly, it has a full-sized backlit keyboard.  Instead of becoming part of the Macbook or Macbook Pro families, it creates its own category in Apple's growing notebook family.  Another impressive feature is the trackpad.  The trackpad is full-sized, and even bigger than the Macbook's!  A new feature Apple introduced with the Macbook Air is multi-touch gestures.  Although the Macbook and Macbook Pro already supported 2-finger scrolling, the Macbook Air took after the iPhone in that it supports pinching, rotating, and more using up to 3 fingers.

As I sit here in my office, typing this article on my macbook, I wish that I had my new Macbook Air booted up...

Elliot Spitzer

Two days ago New York governor Elliot Spitzer was caught on federal wiretap arranging to meet an expensive prostitute at a hotel in Washington.  This was a terrible blow to his reputation because he had just begun to pull out from a difficult first year where he had faced much opposition from within the New York Legislature.  Although he made many formidable enemies in his relentless pursuit of wall street wrongdoing, he was supposedly doing it "for the greater good of the public".

He resigned on wednesday, delighting the public, and has apologized for his actions.  Before this incident he was a strong backer of  ethics in life, and this helped his political rise to power.  However, going against his own words, he has destroyed any positive elements in in his public and private images.

Elliot Spitzer is the first New York governor to resign since 1973.  He is also the first to be forced out of office since 1913 when William Sulzer was impeached over a campaign contribution fraud.