Archive for August, 2008

Dell’s “Cloud Computing” trademark application: denied

Book: I just finished reading Small Favor, the latest installment of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. This is actually the tenth novel, and the series is still going strong. Harry Dresden is a modern-day wizard who manages to spend most of every book bruised and battered by a variety of supernatural beings intent upon bringing about the apocalypse or something even worse. The books never take themselves to seriously, but still manage to embrace serious issues revolving around family and friendship. If you like urban fantasy light on romance and heavy on action, this series is for you, and [...]

A Star Trek MMORPG is in the works: The massively multiplayer game, from Cryptic Studios for Windows PCs and perhaps Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, takes place about 30 years after Star Trek: Nemesis. Players can captain their own starship, as a human or alien, as they seek out new civilizations. I want to play a tribble.

Wireless internet is coming to a Chrysler near you: Chrysler will reportedly offer up its in-car EV-DO solution (dubbed Uconnect Web) starting on August 25th, and owners of 2009 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles (along with a few “earlier models”) will be able to have the $499 box retrofitted into their rides. Ok, a Jeep with internet access is just cool.

Not sure if this is legit or not, but the device in this leaked Palm Centro 2 advertisement looks a lot like my idea of what the next Centro should look like: Here’s my take on such a device, from the 14th of last month: If the ad is a fake (and I suspect it is), hopefully someone at Palm is paying attention. Hat Tip: Boing Boing Gadgets UPDATE: The ad is apparently the result of someone’s project in a marketing class. Fake, in other words. Come on, Palm — the ball’s in your court. Build this phone already!

Microsoft allows PC vendors to sell PCs with Vista licenses, but with Windows XP installed (the famous “downgrade” right granted by MS through December 2009). Now HP has told APC that that’s how they sell most of their business PCs (in Australia, at least): “From the 30th of June, we have no longer been able to ship a PC with a XP licence,” said Jane Bradburn, Market Development Manager, Commercial Notebooks for HP Australia. “However, what we have been able to do with Microsoft is ship PCs with a Vista Business licence but with XP pre-loaded. That is still [...]

Microsoft announced two big changes to Money Plus, their personal finance software, last week. First off, no more brand new version each year. Microsoft is “moving off of an annual release cycle for Microsoft Money Plus.” In other words, there will not be a “Money 2009″ released this fall. It was apparently getting difficult to convince people to buy a “new” version each year that contained only minor updates. The other change is even more dramatic. Going forward, Microsoft Money will only be sold online: “Microsoft Money Plus will continue to be [...]

From an IBM press release: For the first time, IBM and leading Linux distributors Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat will join forces globally with their hardware partners to deliver Microsoft-free personal computing choices with Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony in the one billion-unit desktop market worldwide by 2009. Citing shifting market forces and the growing demand for economical alternatives to costly Windows and Office-based computers, the four leaders sense an ideal set of circumstances allowing Linux-based desktops to proliferate in the coming year. Linux is far more profitable for a [...]

Surflizard.com gets yet another re-design. We are now sporting a new look, and tighter integration with Techlizard.com, our technology and gadget blog. The clean new design for both sites is based on Andrew Faulkner’s The Fadtastic Theme, featuring an adjustable width that fits your browser and good usability thanks to plenty of white space (which we are a little obsessive about) and a minimal amount of graphical elements. We promise to stick with this design a while, although we may be making minor adjustments here and there for usability. As always, feedback is welcome.

InfoWorld has posted their “2008 Best of Open Source Software Awards“, cleverly nicknamed the BOSSIES. Most of the picks are obvious (Firefox, OpenOffice), but it’s still worth reading for those hidden gems you might find. There’s Elgg, for example, which let’s you set up your own MySpace-like social networking site. Ok, the guide is in that annoying multiple slideshow format, but I guess that’s a forgivable conceit for good content.

Reporters in China to cover the Olympic games may not have unlimited and uncensored access to the internet for a few days or weeks. Chinese citizens will continue to have their internet access filtered and censored during the games and after the games. One is a minor inconvenience, and one is a serious human rights issue. Which one has media organizations and human rights groups more upset? Reuters: IOC feels media heat on Internet restrictions AP: IOC being grilled on Internet censorship

Reported in The Industry Standard, Dell is seeking a trademark on the term “cloud computing.” As we all know, cloud computing is a generic term used commonly to describe the use of software served remotely, also known as “web apps” or “software as a service” (abbreviated “SaaS”). Dell already seems to have a trademark on “Dell Cloud Computing Solutions“, and few would argue that it’s not a legitimate use of trademark protection. But they apparently also feel the need to go after the more generic “cloud computing” [...]

A free comic book download, Kolchak the Night Stalker: Fever Pitch, is available from DriveThruComics.com. This comic features first-rate artwork and a good story. Fans of the original tv show will be especially pleased. The Silencers #1 and Twilight Crusade: Gabriel are also available for free, and a lot of comics are on sale for $0.99 or a little more. DriveThruComics.com is the first downloadable comic book store.