iPhone Envy? (Well maybe a little..)

My personal cell phone these days is  a Blackberry Curve 8330 (yeah, it’s pink). Mostly because it is the twin on the one I was issued at work so I don’t need a whole different set of accessories (desktop charger, cables, etc.).

I actually like the device alot. Email on the go for sure keeps me uber connected, but I’ve only enabled a few of my email addresses for this.  I resisted getting a smart phone for a long time, but now I don’t know how I managed without one. 

One thing that I didn’t like was the default theme pack offered by Verizon. But there certainly is a large variety of user designed theme-ware to be found online. The iPhone like bBerry theme caught my eye, mostly because of the Blue Marble shot of Earth and the clean, Zen iPhone iconography.  I customized it even further by adding a wallpaper (just like the one that comes with the theme itself) with my name on it (Photoshop, how do I count the ways).  I like the “Today” default view.

 

Microsoft to discontinue MS Money per C|Net

I’ve been a Quicken user since the beginning of time. DOS version 3 I think. I’m sad because competition is always good.  Anyway, C|Net states notices will go up on the MSFT web site within the next 24 hours. Support for existing Money users will end in January 2011. Fortunately, Quicken has always had a good conversion program for people switching from MS Money.

BuzzCorps is now Ivy Worldwide – Logo Design Contest

Many of you will remember the 31 Days of the Dragon and HP Magic Giveaway Contests. BuzzCorps was the magic behind the curtain for both. As a start-up company, BuzzCorps used the power of the Internet through influential bloggers for grassroots “buzz”/word of mouth marketing. It was a win-win for all involved.

As they matured, more clients and staff came onboard. And now BuzzCorps is announcing a new name – Ivy Worldwide.

What better way to kick the new branding than by holding a contest to design a new logo. With prizes including:

Winning Design Grand Prize
• $2,500 Cash

2nd Place Design Prize
• Loaded HP Mini 1000 XP edition series (up to $500 in value) or HP Photosmart Pro B8850 Printer (up to $500 in value)

3rd Place Design Prize
• Wacom Intuos4 Small Pen Tablet (up to $200 in value)

Ivy Worldwide has a temporary website with all the details/rules/instructions at http://www.ivyworldwide.com/

The contest starts now and the contest ends June 12th at midnight Central Time.

Best of luck to all who enter. I look forward to seeing all the great entries!

Netbooks and WHS Happier Together w/Update

Trying to access the WHS console with my ASUS Eee 1000HEB PC had been an adventure up until today’s update for WHS. Most 10 inch Netbooks have a 1024 x 600 screen resolution, and prior to this update, viewing the entire WHS console was problematic.

Windows Update should offer this patch for your WHS, or you can update manually.

Susan Boyle – You Go Girl!

You have my vote!

Sophos Releases Klingon Anti Virus

This is just nuts, but true. These guys have released a free AV product that does not require you to uninstall your existing AV. And it is written in the Klingon language? You have to visit their website just to see this one. A VERY clever marketing gimmic if you ask me.  Here’s a preview:

 

Why did we translate it into Klingon?

Our routine monitoring of sub-space transmissions alerted Sophos that the loss of the Klingon battlecruiser Klothos was not due to Romulan incursion into the Khitomer system, but a result of trying to remove VBS/PeachyPDF-A from the battle computer using M’swoN’kar after Commander Kor opened an attachment from the system S’cam-419.

Immediately our Product Marketing away team embarked on a mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and flog them Network Access Control solutions. Sadly they chose Qo’noS as their first destination and when their severed heads were beamed back to Sophos, the engineering team created this software, not in a spontaneous display of gratitude to the Klingon race (as the Register would have you believe) but to honour their memory.

Test your existing anti-virus protection

• Scans without the need to uninstall or disable your existing anti-virus.
• Runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.
  This software has compatibility issues with the version of msxml4.dll used by cloaking devices on Romulan-modded D7-class battle cruisers. Installing this software on such vessels is punishable by ordeal of Ginst’a'Ed.
• Uses a single scan to detect viruses, spyware and adware – including zero-day threats.
• Updates automatically for 30 Galactic standard days.

Beam me up…

Astronauts are watching the new Star Trek on a laptop

This is great stuff. The American astronaut was inspired by the TV series to become an astrronaut. NASA encoded the new movie for them and “beamed it up” to them this weekend.

See this NYT article for details.

Linksys Discontinuing Media Center Extender DMA-2100

Linksys is having a fire sale on the Media Center Extender model DMA-2100 – 50% off the original $300 unrealistic price.  Don’t get me wrong, for $150, if you have a Vista PC and need an extender that is significantly quieter than an Xbox 360, this is a good deal.  It has dual band wireless but does not have a TOSLINK digital audio port, only the COAX digital audio is present on this device.

Note that now that this is officially discontinued, there definitely won’t be firmware updates to provide additional codec compatibility. This would seem to mean that the more expensive DMA-2200 (has an on board DVD player that isn’t all that great but does have the Toslink port) probably won’t see firmware updates either.

This is a V2 extender that works with Vista and Windows 7.  Note that Linksys (and everyone else) also killed of their V1 extenders, which worked only with Windows XP Media Center Edition.

All things considered, as long as you understand you are buying a discontinued product, this is a pretty good deal. I suspect that the price may drop even further as time goes on.

Clubhouse Tags: clubhouse, media center, Media Center Windows 7, windows media center, Tip

Defy Hackers with Routers with Captcha

D-Link has once again one-upped the wannabe hacker community by adding a feature that will make it a whole lot harder for the script kiddies to break into your router  programmatically.

The current crop of Extreme N routers now have updates available that add CAPTCHA to the login page.

You can’t be too secure.. Right?

Updated Look at Microsoft Home of the Future

The BBC filmed just a small piece of the amazing tech found on the MS Redmond campus in the Home of the Future. I’ve been pretty happy with my two TouchSmart PC’s, but I’m drooling again.

I’m especially craving the whole wall interactive piece at the end of this video.

There is a Big Brother is watching you aspect to all of this though…