Articles by NeonMadman
Rumor is—and has been—that Google is inching toward social bookmark giant Digg.com, hoping to get its monstrous claws into the mega-popular website and take over the whole friggin' world.
The price floating at the moment is $200 million. PC World says, "Wha? Why so low?" To which I say, "Why so high? It's just a website for God's sake—or, even less, it's a phenomenon, a buzz-generating collection of people, and not really something that can held, stroked and loved."
I've never really paid any attention to Digg (mostly because my site has never been Dugg ... but it's been Stumbled Upon a bunch!), and there's a lot of controversy surrounding its fickle nature and the ... ahem ... general intelligence of the powers that be. To that I say, "Whatever. Buy it up. Clearly there's no such thing as too many monopolies."
Will Google Gobble Up Digg? [Today@PC World]
Sick of typing "def: wicked awesome" into Google? Really want the definition of "crunk" right away? Wait no longer: the new Firefox 3.0 extension WikiLook grants you access to Wikipedia instantly.
The process is simple. Download WikiLook from the Firefox Extensions page. Locate the word you need defined. Hold down the Shift key and lightly graze the word with your mouse pointer—think of it as petting the word lovingly, like a soft purring kitten. Wait half a second and a green window should pop up, handing over your definition.
The process takes a little getting used to and may be unnecessary for wicked awesome people who know everything already.
[Download Page via Lifehacker]
I have no clue why this video is 5 minutes long, since nothing—literally nothing—happens besides some creepy Eyes Wide Shut music and smoke drifting lazily from the mouths of the dead, but it's super cool.
Using incense and creepy Eyes Wide Shut music, you too can have specters of the undead haunting your garden. Bring the young un's outside and tell them if they don't respect Daddy, they'll become lawn ornaments, too.
Pair this with the Zombie Lawn Ornament, and you're sure to never have guests over ever, ever again.
Oh, and don't forget this.
Created for a prototype competition celebrating Timex's 150th anniversary, this Nail Watch may be the future of digital time-telling.
Right now it's called the TX54, which is an utterly craptacular name. I'd like it be to called The Gouger. Anyway.
The Gouger Nail Watch would be disposable, available in multiple colors, and activated by clicking the tip of the fingernail. But like the fake nails you wear to funerals, The Gouger Nail Watch would probably pop off with any sort of pressure or when, true to its name, you try gouging someone's eyeballs out.
I hate watches. I can't wear them. My OCD forbids one arm to be heavier than the other. But if I can pop one of these suckers on my thumbnail, I totally would. What would the price be? $15 for a set of two? $100 for a Family Variety Pack?
I'd also like to see a holographic digital projection of the time accessible by tapping your right temple like Cyclops from the X-Men. How cool would that be?
Nail watch: The future of telling time? [Crave]
Starting today, TiVo subscribers will be able to stream YouTube video clips onto their living room television sets. That means all the viral junk you've been straining your eyes to see on your computer—or trying to view at work, only to have the friggin' site blocked—can now be watched at your leisure at home.
This announcement—TiVo's first foray into streaming online content—comes mere days after the makers of the Netflix Roku set-top box announced the possibility of streaming Hulu content.
You'll need a TiVo Series 3 or TiVo HD in order to stream YouTube content.
Some industry heads are wondering if YouTube's invasion of television could jackknife regular programming. After all, YouTube streamed 3.8 billion videos in May alone.
[via: Hollywood Reporter]
During all our lovely jaunts into the world of Superduper Supermarkets, Electrobear and I ruminated about the awesomeness of Massachusetts and Canada, and how those two areas—and those two areas alone—are making the world a better place.
That is, until Canada screwed the whole thing up with its Live Chat Staples Idea.
Here's the spin: instead of forcing customers to stare into the glassy eyes of a zit-faced unwed pregnant teenaged employee, they're planning on installing 34 Live Chat kiosks in Staples stores. Walk up to the kiosk, press a button, and a remote Staples employee will answer your questions. They have access to the store layout and inventory numbers. All they can't do is be a physical presence. So if you're made wildly uncomfortable talking to people face-to-face, this is your go!
If this works with our inferior neighbors up north, they may trickle down to the United States. I don't think it'll fly, though. Think about the Midwest. Just think about it.
Staples Installs Two-Way Video Customer Service Stations [The Consumerist]
More juiciness in the Apple-Psystar fiasco was revealed today as Apple has asked for every single Psystar Open Computer to be recalled and thrown into the fiery bowels of Hell.
According to Yahoo! News:
Apple asked for actual and statutory damages, any profits Psystar derived from the sale of both the Open Computer and Openserv server, injunctive relief, and the recall of any Open Computers Psystar previously sold.
This is going to sound incredibly ignorant, but how can Apple recall another company's computers? Will they take said computers? Turn them into less-than-Apple-beautiful doorstops? Or does Psystar take the computers back, etc.?
Clearly this will put Psystar out of business, which we all expected would happen sooner rather than later. For a brief moment, a small-time computer company went against one of the biggest dogs of them all, and temporarily won. After months of la-la-la-ignoring, Apple finally struck, and now the era of the Open Mac is over.
It was a wonderful little shred of time we had, wasn't it? Open markets, healthy competition, subpar machines running bootleg OSX ... sigh.
Anybody here actually buy one of those Psystars? Will you now sell that monster on eBay for $800,000?
[Yahoo! News via Gizmodo]
By far, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the best show on television. It's harsh, inappropriate, shallow and mean; a combination of Arrested Development's wit and Seinfeld's immorality. For those who have already spun through Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, it'll come with great joy to discover Season 3 will be released September 9th.
If you haven't bought them already, support your good homos at Homotron and buy them through us. You can get Seasons 1 and 2 here, and pre-order Season 3 here.
What's that? This isn't tech related at all? Whatever.
Love,
Me
It finally happened: Apple has sued cheap-o Macintosh OS manufacturer Psystar. After Psystar's ultra-cheap, customizable Mac rip-off hit the market, doomsayers stood around twiddling thumbs, waiting for Apple to pounce. Finally, the day of reckoning has come.
The claim is that Psystar violated Apple's licenses and trademarks, as well as committed copyright infringement.
Part of me says Yay! Part of me bows my head a bit. Opening the Mac OS to the world wouldn't be the worst thing ever, would it? A little healthy competition? Imagine outside developers attempting to capture the sexy sleekness of Apple products—imagine how effing hot they'd be, and how Apple's assumed superior products would have to lower in price.
Then again, Steve Jobs said no no no 11 years ago. Psystar should've known better.
Apple finally sues unlicensed Macintosh cloner Psystar [Ars Technica]
After getting buttraped to the tune of $63.2 million by the snooty French, eBay escaped yet another slap on the wrist, this time by the hands of Tiffany('s).
The uber-expensive jewelry peeps were told to eff off by Judge Richard Sullivan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan. He said,
Tiffany has failed to demonstrate that eBay knowingly encouraged others to dilute Tiffany’s trademarks. Rather, to the extent that eBay may have possessed general knowledge of infringement and dilution by sellers on its website, eBay did not possess knowledge or a reason to know of specific instances of trademark infringement or dilution as required under the law.
Tiffany is expected to appeal, natch.
Judge Sullivan makes it so that Internet companies do not, in fact, have to actively filter their sites for copyrighted or trademarked material. That's up to intellectual property-holders. Huzzah!
In other news, sell me your old iPhone.
Court Clears eBay in Sale of Counterfeit Items [NYT]
For the six people in the world who aren't dry-humping an Apple product today, check out My Mobiler. After a 2 second download, My Mobiler syncs with your Windows Mobile device (yeah, PCs and only kids), allowing you to access your phone via your desktop.
I was under the impression your phone didn't have to be connected to your PC, but sadly, that's not the case. So you can't tap into your gab-box if it's sitting in your backpack.
However, you can access websites through Internet Explorer that would otherwise be blocked on your work computer. Porn all the time!
I asked a friend to send me a text message and captured a screenshot (above) of it arriving. I also dialed a phone number from my desktop! My mouse and keyboard work as if I'm holding the phone in my em-effing hand!
Now you're wondering, so I'll answer.
Yes, that's a picture of Bob Dylan as my background.
Yes, I put the 3G iPhone release date on my calendar (as if I could friggin' forget it—ugh).
Yes, I joined an adult education creative writing class.
And yes, my friends text me messages like, "I'm wet thinking about you."
[My Mobiler via Lifehacker]
Rumblings in the dark say employees working off-hours using their Blackberries may start suing their benefactors for overtime pay. Said benefactors should not in any way, shape or form feign surprise at this: obviously it was coming; it's now a question of when.
Lawyers across the land urge employers handing out Blackberries to rewrite contracts stating that non-exempt employees (read: paid hourly) cannot receive overtime if they're clicking messages away on the bus, in the car or during dinner hour as their neglected family sits in the wings, an expression of lost hope glazing their visages (I hate you, Dad).
Of course, any rewritten contract in and of itself is a reason to get huffy. CNBC cites a recent hubbub over at ABC News wherein employees were asked to sign these rewritten contracts and refused. Blackberries were confiscated. Union leaders went "Grumble grumble," the language was changed, and everybody got their crackpipes back.
Simple solution: oust non-exempt employees. Either make 'em exempt or take away their Blackberries for good. Hourly employees shouldn't be given even the slightest hint of the possibility of overtime pay unless your corporate coffer is hemorrhaging money you can't dispose of quickly enough.
[CNBC via Slashdot]
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
Even Hope wants an iPhone 3G!
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