OK, this just made me giggle. Short story, 23 year old got drunk, had a knife, figured it'd be a good idea to break into a house and threaten the owner. Turns out the owner was 72. Oh, and a former boxer. The pictures tell the story of what happened. Damn kids get off my lawn!
Yay! 3.5 is out officially. Hit the Mozilla Download links to get the latest firefox, including, but not limited to:
Via TorrentFreak: The Pirate Bay Sold To Software Company. Hoax? Brilliant business move? Great way to avoid prosecution? Bad news used for a pump and dump stock scheme?
Guess we'll see what happens....
As TPB blog confirms the sale, guess it's not a hoax. Sadly it really seems like they just sold out, though right in the blog post they say that if they mess with the site no one will keep using it. Just like suprnova of ages ago (anyone remember that one) maybe the age of The Pirate Bay will pass and a new main site will appear.
Needless to say, the comments on the blog entry are fairly, shall we say, "unsupportive" of the decision :)
With Firefox 3.5 just around the corner, Mashable has a Sneak Peek of What's On Tap for Firefox in 2010. The high points? Ubiquity built into the awesomebar, actual perceivable performance boosts, web application boosts, and more. Course, we'll never see these until things actually appear in 2010 or so ;)
Lifehacker talked to Mozilla, who Confirms Tuesday Release for Firefox 3.5. See link for some of the great new things in this release. I've been running it since it was in the early 3.1 beta stage with zero problems, looking forward to the final release.
I'm unsure as to whether Microsoft's strange new ads for Internet Explorer 8 are either a) brilliant and reminiscent of the old internal funny spoof ads with Bill Gates and friends or b) a pathetic reach to be quirky and relevant which instead comes off, well, pathetic. Glad Dean Cain found work though....
Microsoft's strange new ads for Internet Explorer: idsgn (a design blog)
Mapping the Internet is a cool project that Uses the Tokyo Metro as a guide to create a map of the world's most influential websites as a virtual subway system.
Funny little deleted scene in Terminator 3 Explains Why The Terminators Look Like Arnold. I understand why they cut it, but really glad it surfaced! Via /Film.
Just a note via Shacknews that Doom: Resurrection Hits the iPhone Today for $10. Bit steep price, and I'm hoping there's a free Lite version to check out. Still, very cool to see what high end dev shops can do with that little chunk of hardware.
Great review of Transformers 2 by my buddy over at Reel Criticism. My favorite line:
With all the time this movie spends dry humping Megan Fox on screen I sure hope it plans to keep in touch.
HP Brings Classic Calculators to iPhone and Windows. It looks cool, that's for sure, but not sure if I would pay $15 or $30 just to have the same look as you had back in the day.... Course, if you're an accountant and your fingers only know how to work on the 12c Platinum financial calculator....
Forgetfoo has an awesome New iPhone 3Gs parody ad from College Humor. Hilarious.
Think you're bored and have time on your hands? This guy made a working 1/6th Scale Chevrolet V8.
If you're interested in games like Tropico 1 2 and now 3, Haemimont Games has a beta tester application online.
A Man and His… Squirrel? via Snuzzy.com. Very cute, especially the shower scene. And this is a real squirrel I'm talking about, not some innuendo :)
Neat little app for the iPhone called 3D Camera. Linked not so much for the app as for the concept of the 'cross your eyes and see 3D' thing.
The online battlefield-engine run free online FPS Battlefield Heroes has left beta and is now active.
That's interesting... just saw on shacknews that id Software was Acquired by Bethesda Owner ZeniMax. This worries me a little, mostly just because I've never heard of the acquiring studio. However, they seem to be saying "it's fine, it's all fine, everything'll stay the same..." Who in the tech industry hasn't heard that before? Course, time will tell....
Some more details from The Carmack here.
Just a series of pictures, cause I've had a long day and need the amusement :)
Seems that Transformers 2 is not getting some of the critical acclaim it was hoping... Movieline.com has collected The 9 Most Scathing Critical Responses to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Below is the one that's my favorite:
6. “Fallen indulges Bay’s excesses well past the point of reason to deliver the male teenage cinematic equivalent of snorting cocaine off a hooker’s ass.” — Garth Franklin, Dark Horizons
Link from digg via my friend SS.... What Your Facial Hair Really Says About You. I have to object, I'd totally take my socks off!
In addition to the new Lightroom 2.4 update that just came out, there is also a new Video-Asset Management plugin to let you manage you videos from within the Lightroom interface.
Great addition to the PHP manual page for goto with a bit of XKCD...
Some great Workout Videos to make you feel a bit better about not going to the gym. The exercise ball one is my favorite!
Bit of a puff piece on the Apple Blog about the Apple Retail Store Success. It brings up some excellent points, as someone who has been in an Apple Store and a Future Shop in the last 2 weeks or so, let me say that talking to the salespeople in the Future Shop/London Drugs/Best Buys of the world could be used as torture for enemy combatants.
"Tell us your invasion plans." "Never!" "Tell us now or we'll make you talk to a Best Buy salesman about wireless routers." "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
That said it's not all wine and roses in the Apple Store as they suggest, their main failing point (IMHO) is the people, not the knowledge or anything like that, but availability. I was in wondering why my laptop DVD drive was simply spitting out disks (duh, turned out it was busted) and had to beg and pull the "I drove in from way out in the Valley to Vancouver and I hardly ever make it out here!" and push out a couple of single, tiny tears to get slotted in to see someone at the "genius bar" when someone's scheduled 15 minute time was late. Also having to go through an orange shirted "concierge" person who (in this case) seemed completely elitist and condescending... "we'll have to see sir, our geniuses are very busy".
That said they did get me in, and did seem to take personal interest in making sure I did get helped, and the concierge did make sure I got things all set up when I was heading out the door.
Anyway, it's an interesting look at how Apple has made the retail experience a bit more appealing to the consumer.
The Last Airbender Teaser Trailer, from M. Knight.... interesting looking, I think I'd want to hear a bit more about it though. We've got until next year to worry about it though :)
Pretty great story about getting a stolen iPhone back from a thief, using the Find My iPhone service. The full story is here, and even if it is a publicity stunt by Apple (in this day and age of "social networking" and "new media" it wouldn't surprise me), it's still a great story. Best line of all is:
"We laughed triumphantly, adrenaline racing, feeling like the Jack Bauer trio. (Disregard the fact that we'd just left a Lego convention."
Vinyl Rain Gutter Cable Management, a set on flickr from Iambe via Fozbaca.... Another good looking solution to cable clutter.
Macenstein points to an honest “laptop hunters” commercial, with a real guy, finding a real laptop, for real things. NSFW audio though.
Youtube has the 2012 Full Trailer in 720p. Looks good if you like big asplosions and things breaking.
As expected, the SDK for iPhone OS 3.0 is now available from the Apple Developer Connection. You don't need to join the $99 program to get access anymore, but you will of course have to have your Apple login setup.
According to Bloomberg, it sounds like Steve Jobs is said to Be Considering Liver Transplant. This is screaming across the twitterscape now.
Guess we'll see if this is a) true and b) has any official word from the Apple compound.
Update: Or maybe he had a transplant two months ago.
Random linkage on Reddit led me to this Crazy Baseball Swing. Is that 'shopped? Fake? physically possible?
Jack Russell terrier puppies, live on ustream. Currently the puppies are feeding, and mom is looking very tired.
The Simple Fitness Rules is just that, stupidly simple... Not as simple as "eat less, exercise more", but close. Worth a read anyway.
TweetTabs : Realtime Twitter trends and Twitter search. Fast, slick, cool. Via forgetfoo.
Lifehacker points to a free Mac/Windows BPM Analyzer for calculating the BPM of Your Music, and will add in the metadata so you can create that perfect workout mix.
This is kinda cool, from Ars Technica: Microsoft announces free antivirus, limited public beta. Anti virus, malware, spyware, etc, all in one package from the OS creator. Kinda gives me a warm fuzzy in a way. I have some computer cleaning to do some time soon, and this could be a huge win.
A while back we heard that Opera was going to change the web with some special new feature. Looks like that feature has dropped, and it is Opera Unite.
The description is this:
Opera Unite is a unique technology that turns any computer or device running Opera into a Web server. In other words, your computer (running Opera Unite) is truly part of the fabric of the Web, rather than just interacting with it, and it’s something anyone can use.
Doesn't really say what it really is though. Basically the idea is fairly simple, code in the browser runs a small server, which then uses technologies like uPnP and DNS CNAME records to allow users at large to get right to your browser. So if you enable the 'music player' application the browser runs a little webserver that lists music on the computer (in a directory you point it to) and then points <yourusername>.operaunite.com/music to your routers external IP. Combine this with password protection and you can now listen to your music from work. Fairly simple, still fairly revolutionary.
Guess we'll see if it catches on (and if Opera's past has shown, this means "this feature will appear in Firefox 5.0 and IE 11 :)
Some more good analysis over here. Pay attention to the pictures illustrating how things all fit together.
Anything for the Perfect Shot! is part 3 of a series of sets of amusing images of people making images. Some hilarious.
Songbird, the Open Source Music Player for Mac/Windows/Linux has released version 1.20. New features include auto-organizing your library, itunes import/export, last.fm integration, and a new 10 band equalizer.
The last couple of Ubuntu releases have been.... well..... "evolutionary" (read: kinda boring). Looks like the next release, 9.10, Karmic Koala has some really neat stuff (other than the awesome codename). Pin Stack has a good list detailing the changes.
Here's your laugh for the day... check out Microsoft's Windows Internet Explorer 8: Get the facts comparison page. Don't you love mindless marketing propaganda. The only way that I can see these comparisions being complete and outright lies are some minor wordings put in the comments to explain how Chrome and Firefox don't have security, privacy, web tools, reliability (ha!) and manageability.
This reminds me of talking to someone who has just quit smoking and saying how wonderful they are now, ignoring the legacy of the 2 pack a day habit they left behind (in this case, we call it Internet Explorer 6, still a plague to the web). Ah well, I'm pretty sure that most people reading this site don't use IE8 for anything other than doing Windows Update on their parents and in-laws computers anyway....
Original story and comments on reddit.
Evernote for iPhone 3.0 is Here, and it's sexy. Lots of UI improvements, integrated maps, seems way less crashy and even a bit faster (though the taking a snapshot still seems to take forever). Big update though, a nice complement to the new iPhone OS 3.0 update :)
OSNews passes on the info that Linux will Be the First to Support USB 3.0. Yea, it's still a bit hacky to get it done, but it is cool that Linux is the first OS with USB 3.0 support (at least publicly, who knows what MS and Apple are doing behind closed doors).
Weird Al does Craigslist, Doors style via Boing Boing. Awesome.
Incredible Rubik’s Cube stop-motion animation. Nothing more to say but "yes, it is".
Geeks of Doom have a Teaser Trailer For ‘Battlestar Galactica’ Prequel Movie ‘The Plan’. Sadly very light on any actual "tease".
DPreview broke the note that Kingston has the worlds first 128GB USB flash drive. Prices are high though, with $546 for 128G, $213 for 64G and $120 for 32G. Course, I figure these will be 10% of those prices in a year....
It's not all wine and roses in the Apple World sadly. Seems that Apple is now warning about unsupported players' iTunes integration. This of course is referring to Palm emulating an iPod with their Pre. So far just an article on the support site, but I have no doubt that a minor iTunes update will come out soon to "address" these issues.
Well, still no OS update this morning, sounds like it'll be out sometime around 10-12 (or 5pm-7pm depending on who you listen to). In the mean time, you can How To Use The Best 40 Features of iPhone 3.0, so you at least know where to go for the new bits, instead of trying to find them all. IE: I didn't know shake to shuffle was a new feature.
CodeWeavers announced version 8 of their software for Linux and Mac. Crossover is software that allows you to run windows apps on non-windows platforms (if you didn't already know). The new version boasts a bunch of new apps available out of the box, plus lots of improvements in the ones there already (ie: office, outlook, IE7, etc).
Sadly I think the need for Crossover isn't nearly as great anymore. With things like Evolution's Exchange connector and OpenOffice.org out there for free, dealing with an emulation layer just isn't as imperative. Course, there are some apps that have nothing like them in the non-windows world that put Crossover in a good spot.
TweetDeck has recently released a .26.1 version, which includes, among other things, syncing your setup with the server, which also facilitates their new iPhone version, which you can sync your desktop setup down to the iphone. A neat card like (like the Palm Pre's UI) interface, which you can flip through nicely.
The only downside is a) I just bought Twittelator Pro and b) some of the input and message functions are different that I'm used to. Still a great app though.
Sorry for the lack of linkage all day, been out on the job hunt. Anyway, as mac fanboys and iPhone lovers know, tomorrow is iPhone OS 3.0 day. Looks like iPhone 3.0 Update for iPod Touch Page Appeared in iTunes, but then was quickly pulled. I believe things should all be up sometime tomorrow. Looking forward to the update myself, as long as I don't see any "3.0 nuked my phone" posts :)
If you're a TopGear fan, you'll really enjoy Jeremy's Extreme Ford Fiesta road test. Give it a few minutes to go from funny-serious to serious surreal, and to awesome.
Saw on OSNews that Linux has Native Multitouch Support. Not hugely important to the average desktop or server user, but people using Linux in embedded systems, kiosks, and the like, cool stuff.
Yes, it's YAMTFL (Yet Another Mac Theme For Linux), and no, it's not going to give you the "real" mac experience (which IMHO Is more about UI and consistency than wallpaper and icon themes. Still, if you want to check it out, Phoenix: Mac4Lin ver.1.0 has been released.
OK, this is probably fake, but it's a good fake, and hey, who wouldn't want iPhone/iPod OS running on Mac Pro with touch screen monitor. Seriously cool (though I'm pretty sure that typing with the keyboard would be faster :)
Fotopedia describes itself as the first collaborative photo encyclopedia. You can contribute, rate, etc. Pretty cool stuff, check it out!
Lifehacker has a list of The Web's Most Dangerous Search Terms in terms of Malware results.
Just to show that not everything in apple is ponies and rainbows, MacRumors is reporting that the new 13" and 15" MacBook Pros Have a Slower SATA Interface, using SATA 1.5 instead of SATA 3, which is what the previous "new" laptops had.
Whether this will affect "real world" usage or not has yet to be seen, but it would affect battery life (making it longer), by making the computer, slower.
I agree with Forgetfoo... Bring it, COD. I just hope the PC version is as good as CoD 1 was.
DEATH METAL PARROT. No more needs to be said, this is awesome.
For the SoFoBoMo (Solo Photo Book Month) project, the most talented Neil Creek has put a great looking free eBook called A Roadtrop Through SE Australia out for the world. Great work Neil!
Speaking of Google..... they've made the new iGoogle for Android and iPhone nicer. More support for the widgets, fully ajaxified, etc.
Funny little video on If Google Were Your Roommate...
Wanna see Inside a Blue Angel Cockpit during a show? Now you can. Barf bag not included.
I Started Something has video demonstration of a Windows 7 UAC code-injection vulnerability. Source code has been released as well.
Hopefully this will be fixed before the final release sometime in September. Hopefully no one argues that being able to change UAC options silently is a bad idea.
Well, there's only 50 sold out there (I kid, I kid), Evernote has created Evernote for the Palm Pre. I'm a big fan of Evernote, so this is good news. The software has the standard bits, image recognition, sexy interface, take a pic, use a pic, etc. It also has some nice pre-only extras, like 'recent notes' (wish the iPhone app had that) and viewing multiple notes at the same time (using the cool "card" system that the Pre uses).
If you haven't discovered evernote yet, I encourage you to check it out and sign up for the free version.
Looking for a easy URL to send people to like facebook.com/userfriendly ? Well, tonight at 9pm (your time zone) you can go to Facebook.com/Username and sign up for your own. Currently it's only a countdown though. See the facebook blog for some more details.
KDE has news of the KDE 4.3 Beta 2 Release Announcement. New technologies like geolocation, new animation effects, and bugfixes are the highlights.
Since it's now been released to developers, screenshots of iPhone 3.0 OS GM are around, showing all the new Apple-y goodness.
The Flickr blog has some examples of when You think you’re so funny.
Catch it while it's hot.... some more Duke Nukem forever gameplay footage has surfaced. Via this story on Shacknews. The story has it's own video, but that appears to be unavailable, hence the link to youtube.
Seems that Opera’s newest invention is coming on June 16th. The URL is /freedom (open sourcing the browser maybe?) and there are some nuggets buried in the comments of the HTML. Guess we'll have to wait almost a week to find out...
I hear it's the latest craze with the teenagers, so parents beware! Do not let your children near the baby pathers or they could be drawn into the dangerous world of panther huffing!
For the photography geeks out there, the Eye-Fi pro was just announced. The Eye-Fi is the funky little SD card that has wireless built in, and that can upload to flickr from public hotspots, etc. Ed at EZ studios blog notes that the new features in the 'pro' version give you wireless tethering in a card, something that is very cool for those wanting a cheap studio setup. A bit pricey for a 4G card at $149.99, but factoring in the benefits..... makes it more attractive.
35 Tip Jars Designed to Make You Give More. First is my favorite I think, Om nom nom...
Do you want your own facebook.com/username URL? Well, hit Facebook.com/Username to see a countdown until you can use it to grab your own!
mir.aculo.us has some interesting thoughts on the browser wars, considering the final release of Apple's Safari 4.0 yesterday.
The google mac team have released Google Quick Search Box. Looks like they are edging into the QuickSilver (not not in development anymore) and TaskBar (non-free).
This is interesting because while being an app launcher and app "do stuff with"-er (though doesn't seem quick as cool as launchbar or quicksilver in terms of chaining stuff together), is it is obviously a google search engine, and you can integrate search from your google or twitter accounts.
A bit of testing sees it as having very much potential. Intuitive if you're used to using QS or LB at all, feels a bit laggy compared to QS/LB, but having things like results popping right in (ie: put in "weather
Also according to the reddit article the development is done by the QuickSilver creator, Nicholas Jitkoff.
I'm sold so far....
Sorry I was away all day folks, had a day of driving around... I did catch some of Apple's WWDC. Here's the wrap-up (for the 3 of you who haven't heard so far) and the highlights:
So that's about the wrapup from the high level view, I think I got the major points. Honestly I'm not hugely impressed, as usual. Lots of new stuff, but nothing mindblowing. I guess every year can't be like the release of the original iPhone. I think most of my disappointment is that probably 90% of the new coolness of the iPhone 3Gs is in the software, which is available to all iPhones, and was shown off months ago.
As a counter point of course, Paul Thorrott (Windows guy, but someone who I respect a lot) has a reality check for the fanboys out there. Some of his points are very valid as usual, some seem a bit snarky and like a killjoy :) Still, a counter point that's needed.
Someone has gone out and compiled a list of the 25 Best Programmer WebComic Strips. Lots of XKCD and Dilbert in there. I've got about 1/3rd of them ready to be printed out and hung on the wall of my next office.
Aryk pointed me over to an article on the Good Experience blog. Entitled A hundred million mistakes, you can probably guess that their Bing impressions aren't all that great.
What's the world coming to, when Microsoft can't build a monopoly around a knockoff? It's those effing customers. They keep choosing the best experience.
I was accused recently of hating Microsoft ("hate" is such a strong word) and that I'd never give Bing a fair shake anyway (only partially true). I thought my article a bit ago was fairly fair and perhaps the cold hard truth.
The main gist of the linked article is twofold. First, why the hell is MS trying to compete in the search engine space. Google has it locked up, and lets be perfectly straight, Microsoft's core competency is not the web. They do great operating systems, office apps, and gaming systems. Seriously, I give them 100% honest kudos for those. Even I, a hard and fast Linux lover am excited about Windows 7. You don't need to rule every single market out there.
The second point is that instead of building something better and letting the customers come to it, MS is spending a hundred million dollars (that's $100,000,000, lots of zeros) to advertise it, and in essence, shove it down the consumers throats. In setting up a Windows 7 virtual machine with the new IE 8 the "recommended" settings are live search (which is now Bing of course).
I also was contacted by a company called M80 on behalf of Microsoft pointing me (and my readers) to a series of youtube videos called talking about windows which is blah blah windows marketing. I've also seen a lot more Microsoft-centric / loving / etc random articles just happening to pop up around the web.
Anyway, hit the article for a good read.
In case you were wondering about him, Bigfoot is on twitter at @TheBigfoot.
Having yard sale today. Selling entire stock of terrified children. Prices so low, Bigfoot must be crazy.
And they say the internet isn't good for anything....
Lifehacker has a nice article with lots of links to various Desktop Tweaks, from wallpaper to encourages productivity to fancy schmancy GeekTool setups and everything in between.
SimilarSites.com finds sites like other sites. Nice and simple :)
I didn't know anything about this, but here are some details about the Astalavista.com hack, including details. More reason to a) secure your site and b) learn to use the tools that the blackhats use to ensure that you're secure. Fascinating read (the pastbin link is where you want to go for the good stuff).
Don't despair job-seekers, most of those ridiculously high requirements in job ads are all bunk.
Tom Reestman over at the Apple Blog (note: may be a bit biased) has some thoughts on some of the Palm and Sprint screwups in the Palm Pre release.
Mac Rumors notes that Developer Builds of Google Chrome for OS X and Linux are now available. These are "official" developer builds as well, not the 'some guy got it to compile' that we've seen before. Of course, the warning on the Chrome Blog says to NOT DOWNLOAD THEM (unless you like crashy and incomplete and unpredictable software).
I, of course, am downloading them :)
Andy Ihnatko, of TWIT fame, has a great look at Google Wave.
Palm Central (so you know this might have a bit of a slant) has their Palm Pre Browser vs iPhone 3G, vs Android G1 Showdown. Sadly the speed tests are pretty unscientific. The browser does seem pretty sexy, I have to admit. I'd love to get a test version to play with and review (hint hint). The actual meat of it starts around 3:30 if you want to skip some of the fanboying at the start (though it's good to see what the browser is capable of.
Google's Page Speed Optimization Add-on has been released for Firefox. Sadly not compatible with 3.5b4. This looks similar to the one released from Yahoo a while back, called YSlow. It integrates with the Firebug tool to show you how your pages can be sped up.
CrunchPad: The Launch Prototype. This looks potentially awesome. If the 3d model graphics are accurate, it's a larger kindel, with full color, and a screen that goes almost all the way to the edge. Think Star Trek tech.
Course, there's tech demos and there's reality :)
The Video actually makes it look more like the mythical apple touchpad than a kindel.
As one of the nation's bespectacled folks, seeing a story entitled Stem Cell Contact Lenses Cure Blindness in Less Than a Month, got me excited. It's not quite so cut and dry of course, but it's a potential huge leap forward.
Yea, the jokes just keep on coming and coming. You'd almost thought it was a pre-mature time for the Palm Pre-views to show up, but I guess since it'll be released this Saturday (anyone lining up?), it's good to get an idea of what the new handset is capable of. As usual, Engadget does a great job.
Hot on the heals of the Windows 7 vs Linux link from the other day is the Lifehacker Windows 7 Versus Mac OS X Leopard feature by feature showdown.
Of course, as I've found, use whatever you want, and it's not just the features sometimes that make an OS a winner, sometimes it's the "feel" of it.
That said, still an interesting look, especially some of the features I didn't know were in Windows 7. Also you're comparing an OS that isn't out yet to one over a year old (wonder what Snow Leopard news will come out next week also).
Well, WWDC is less than a week away, and the Apple rumor mill is in high gear. The Flickr set with the WWDC 2009 Banners ('One Year Later, Light-Years Ahead') is up, and the iPhone rumor roundup has been compiled.
So what do you think? Boring "meh" updates (we all know that iPhone OS 3.0 is going to be out RSN and that at least is going to be cool, based on the demo given early this year and the developer seed information that's been coming out), or will we be wowed? Is there going to be a new iPhone (all signs point to yes) and if so, will it be awesome, or just an evolutionary move up (bumped storage, processor, slightly different case) or will there be something "OMFG WTF WOW" to see. Will there be the oft-rumored tablet and changes / updates to the Macbook and Mac pro lines? Maybe just some more speed bumps. Biggest question though, will The Steve be onstage again?
Opera 10 beta has arrived. Some new stuff, some even maybe... innovative stuff (visual tabs) and the "turbo" feature from opera labs is in there. Check it out.
Google Blogscoped has some videos from Project Natal for XBox 360, Microsoft's new gaming system and Wii killer.
From what I saw, and from the video on GeekBrief, it's a gaming system as close to Sci-Fi (or is it Skyfye?) as I've heard of before. Voice and face recognition, full motion capture to put you in the game, magic scanning of your stuff to use for skins in game, no controller needed (imagine the wii-mote without the wii-mote), in system video conferencing and data / info transfer... all magic.
Will it be able to be pulled off? Maybe. It has no price or release date, and a lot of the video looks more like a "this could be technology in this home of the future" type demo under optimal conditions. If anyone can do it, MS has the $$ though, so lets see what happens.
Aryk pointed to an article on Joystiq saying that there was a 2009 target date for Starcraft 2. Probably way more exciting if I was into Starcraft, or RTSs in general, but hey, I know some readers out there will get tight pants knowing that they could have SC2 in less than 6 months...
Slashdot notes that the venerable IT security tool L0phtCrack has released version 6. 64 bit support, better NTLM password hash handling, and support for rainbow tables are among the improvements.
Slashdot has an article on Harsh Words From Google On Linux Development. I've been saying something like this for a while, that Linux's greatest asset (choice) is also it's greatest challenge (nothing is consistant / uniform).
Course, to be fair, the exemplar of the opposite of this, Apple, who has a consistent UI toolkit, HIG, etc, also is no closer to having a native Chrome browser running either :(
The fine fine video and audio player Banshee 1.5.0 was released. Some nice improvements, including an automatic scoring feature I'd love to see in other players.
Well folks, the E3 season is upon us, so that means a lot of movie trailers and high hopes in the next few days. First up though, is Star Wars: The Old Republic (HD recommended viewing). OMFG this is a movie trailer for all intents and purposes. Of course the game isn't going to look like this (I don't think anyway, if it does I'm buying a new TV, console and sound system), and I hope that they haven't spent a year of game development time making the awesome trailer, but wow, this thing looks A-A-A-AWESOME. No, really, watch it.
Really neat article with sound on ‘Up' character design, talking about the evolution of the characters from early sketches to fully realized 3D models.
BTW Up == Fantastic. Must see.
Wasted Talent has a great cartoon about how your job is like a Japanese RPG.
Saw via Slashdot that Microsoft Update Quietly Installs Firefox Extension. Technically I'm sure it wasn't silent, and that somewhere buried in the small print it said it was going to do this, but still, that's no excuse. AVG does the same thing to show "safe links" in your google results, and I have the same opinion. Don't F-n do it. Or if you do, have it on a separate page of the install wizard, defaulting to no showing clearly what you're doing. Like Sun does for the google toolbar (or is it yahoo now?) when they do a java update. Well, without the default to No that is.
Bing is up and working this morning. It's a "preview" (guess that's equivalent to the google "beta" moniker), and unfortunately doesn't seem to have a lot of the cool functionality turned on (the image filtering, relevance/trust filters, flight filters, etc). I'm not sure why, and frankly I'm a bit worried that this will be seen as just a re-skin of Live search and completely ignored. I have some feelers out to figure out why this is.
Update: Sounds like you have to change your location to the US to get the good stuff. It's at the top right under More -> Preferences and the Location. Sadly this doesn't work for me :(