I got RC1 in the mail today and, against my better judgment, am going to install it. Only this time, I'm making a full recoverable backup of my XP setup.
The first public beta of Vista was basically unusable on my machine. Let's hope the second time is a charm.
This pretty much sums it up:
History suggests that once a political party achieves sweeping power, it will only be a matter of time before the power becomes the entire point. Policy, ideology, ethics all gradually fall away, replaced by a political machine that exists to win elections and dispense the goodies that come as a result. The only surprise in Washington now is that the Congressional Republicans managed to reach that point of decayed purpose so thoroughly, so fast.
That House leaders knew Representative Mark Foley had been sending inappropriate e-mail to Capitol pages and did little about it is terrible. It is also the latest in a long, depressing pattern: When there is a choice between the right thing to do and the easiest route to perpetuation of power, top Republicans always pick wrong.
From: The New York Times
Link to G.O.P. Aides Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail - New York Times
Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.
I've been testing out The New York Times Reader, an electronic newspaper of sorts created by the newspaper giant and Microsoft. My feelings are mixed so far.
The Reader is very well designed, easy to use and does a good job of bringing the newspaper-reading experience to the computer screen. It's prettier than a regular Web site (it incorporates photos better than any online newspaper I've read) and is easier to use than PDF-based "electronic editions" many newspapers, including mine, sell. I can see it being especially handy for Tablet PC users. The software downloads the entire paper at once, so users don't have to stay connected to the Internet to read. And it's easy to highlight and annotate articles, which users can then send -- with the notes embedded -- to friends and colleagues.
On the other hand, this works only for the New York Times, at least for now. Does this mean Microsoft expects readers to install a standalone reader for every publication they buy? Or is this going to be an semi-open format, like Microsoft's old Reader (not to be confused with this Microsoft co-created NY Times Reader)? Microsoft's original press release doesn't say.
This really should be a browser plug-in of some kind. When users go to NY Times Web site, the plug-in could spring into action and download the site in the Reader format.
You have to hand it to the Times, though. They've been on the cutting edge of this media transition and seem to be willing to experiment with electronic media. It'll be interesting to see if this one goes anywhere.
That's better than being priced higher than iPods of the same capacity. But even with the Zune's added features, I still think Microsoft's smartest move would be undercutting iPods on price.
Oops! Real ‘Itsy Bitsy’ songwriter still alive
The Paul Vance who wrote the songs — and provided proof with royalty payments he is still receiving for the hit — said he has been inundated with calls from people who think he died.I think the writer means to say calls from people checking in on the death report. I don't know anyone who calls people they think are dead, but that's just me.
Falwell says Hillary would spark base
The Rev. Jerry Falwell says a White House run by Sen.Nice to know he has his priorities straight.
Hillary Rodham Clinton would energize his base of religious conservatives even more than if the devil were the Democratic nominee.
'I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate,' Falwell told a private prayer breakfast. 'Because nothing will energize my (constituency) like
Hillary Clinton.'
It looks like my earlier rant was a bit premature. PVRWire reports that the Zune will go for $249 or less, not the $299 that had been reported elsewhere. This will make the device much more competitive.
But I still think the "Plays For Sure" debacle remains a major turn-off. Why shove yet another DRM scheme down consumers' throats and abandon everyone who bought WMP tracks through MSN Music, Urge, Napster, Musicmatch and Yahoo?
Update: Looks like the final price will be even less - $230.
Because sometimes the government is wrong. This is just reprehensible:
Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.
...
Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found.
Bush and torture apologists will argue that the U.S. was only following up on some bad information -- blame Canada! But again, this is the perfect example of why a fair trial is so important. What happened to Arar shouldn't happen to anyone. (For the record, he's a Canadian citizen, but was kidnapped on U.S. soil.)
A refresher:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
- Amendment VI, U.S. Constitution
Microsoft's new iPod killer will be priced at $284 at Wal-Mart -- $55 more than a 30 gig iPod -- and won't play Windows Media DRM-protected files.
First, the price: I realize Zune has a bigger screen and more features than the iPod. But if Microsoft really wants to stop iPod's steamroller momentum, the device will have to sell at a lower price -- not a similar price and definitely not at a higher price. The iTunes has a far bigger ecosystem, which makes it a much safer bet for the consumer. Microsoft should appreciate better than anyone and price accordingly.
Now about the DRM: Basically, if you've thrown in your lot with Microsoft and bought music at one of the partner sites, you're out of luck. I'm not sure how Redmond is going to convince anyone to trust Microsoft again with yet another DRM scheme.
Or maybe this is just a clever ploy by Microsoft to convince everyone that digital-rights management technology is hopelessly broken.
U.S. war prisons legal vacuum for 14,000: "Seventy to 90 percent of the Iraq detentions in 2003 were 'mistakes,' U.S. officers once told the international Red Cross."
Suspects are only suspects until they're convicted in a fair trial. Because sometimes -- indeed, with this administration, most of the time -- the government is wrong.
A former Microsoftie chides Apple for blatantly copying its Media Center interface. I've criticized Apple for the same thing, though in this case, it seems especially egregious.
In most cases, Apple at least improves the technology -- sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Not this time.
Nice rant against Amazon's new video download service. I tried it, too, but the software was so buggy I uninstalled it about five minutes later. Cory Doctorow's complaint is much more specific, but he absolutely right.
New York Times' David Pogue blogs today about cultural artifacts of obsolete technology, specifically, cartoon sound effects:
What about the needle-scratching-across-the-vinyl-record sound? It’s still used everywhere, in cartoons, movies and so on, to represent a rude awakening, an abrupt interruption of a scene’s mood or the main character’s reverie. But today’s children have never even seen a record player. Isn’t the record-scratch sound totally lost on them?
And what about “ka-CHING!”? Cash registers don’t go ka-CHING anymore–they go beep!
I'd add to that the whole notion of "dialing" someone's phone number on your cell phone.
"Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone," Bush said in an Oval Office address.
Again, completely missing the point. Not a single person has suggested leaving Iraq so the "terrorists would leave us alone." No, critics suggested not invading in the first place because Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and has become a major, intractable distraction in the war on terrorism. Is the president intellectually dishonest or just an idiot?
Cheney: Govt did "helluva job" since Sept 11 - Yahoo! News: "The government has done 'a helluva job' guarding America, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday, as President George W. Bush prepared to visit Ground Zero amid an election-year debate on whether the country is safer five years after the September 11 attacks.Yes, even after Katrina, the administration is still tone deaf.
