Nobody's Buying A Dell

All of the technology sector is being negatively affected by the economy. This is especially true for Dell. This has been coming for a long time! You can't provide the worst customer service in the industry then expect people to stay around.

Today Dell reported the worst fourth-quarter profit since 2002. This is down 48% since last year.

So, what does Dell plan to do about this problem? Further cost reductions. And you thought that their customer service was bad now. Just wait!

Happy Birthday Steve Jobs

Today is Steve Jobs 54th birthday. I found this quote from him that pretty much sums up one of the best philosophies of life that I have ever seen.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma–which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Happy Birthday Steve!

How Bad Is The Economy?

I know that the economy is bad but maybe it is much worse than I thought it was.

How America Feels About The Bailout Bill

This rant by Rick Santelli verbalizes how much of America feels about the recent Bailout Bill. For a CNBC financial analyst to say these things is amazing in and of itself.

All the proof you really need that the bailout bill was a bad idea is watching how the markets reacted to the passing of the bill.

Has Google Found Atlantis?

This is an amazing photo made my Google Earth. Some experts are saying that this could possibly be the lost city of Atlantis. It is 620 miles off the coast of north west Africa near the Canary Islands on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

The perfect rectangle, about the size of Wales, – was noticed by Google's underwater exploration tool.

Is this the lost city of Atlantis?

Adobe Acrobat Patch

There is a critical zero-day exploit in Adobe Reader and Acrobat. The patch will not be ready until March 11. In virus years, that is forever! In the meantime, disable Javascript. Better yet, use Preview on the Mac to avoid this problem altogether. If this is not in the cards for you (i.e. you use a PC), some security analysts are suggesting that people uninstall Acrobat until the patch is available.

Internet Explorer 8 Not Compatable with Microsoft Sites

Every day just gets better and better when it comes to the evil empire. Microsoft published a list of sites that will not work with IE8. Among the sites are msn.com and other msn sites. This is hilarious! In total there are over 2400 major sites that will not render with IE8.

Unbelievable!

HTC Storm - The G2

The second generation Google phone was demonstrated yesterday at the Mobile World Congress in Spain. This new phone is an all-touch screen device with no physical keyboard. It is about the same size as the G1.

It looks like Vodafone is the only company getting this phone.

Turntable Kitty

This little guy looks like he is having fun. Don't throw away those old turntables just yet. Your kitten may want to play with them.

Hard Drive Disposal

The only true way to ensure that data on a hard drive cannot be recovered is to physically destroy it. While a DoD overwrite is generally good enough, the kind folks over at Lifehacker demonstrate how to properly dispose of a drive.

No More Anonymous Callers

Trapcall is a great new service offered by New Jersey's TelTech systems. This new service allows cellphone users to unmask the Caller ID on blocked incoming calls, obtaining the phone number, and in some cases the name and address, of the no-longer-anonymous caller.

Kevin Mitnick, one of the alpha-testers says that this new service totally takes the privacy out of Caller ID.

This is a big win for those of us that despise the 'unknown caller' notification that seems to keep popping up!

New Windows Mobile Platform

Are you kidding me? Microsoft is again way late to the game. They are playing the too little, too late game. Again, they seem to be trying to play catch up to Apple. They may as well call it the Zune-phone.

When asked about their ability to be competitive in the mobile market space, Steve Ballmer had this to say "I think that if you look at the market today, volumes speak volumes. In the last year we shipped over 20m phones. I’d say, mostly, it’s game on - we are all out there. We are leading the pack on volume. I’d say Apple’s got some advantages on image, but we’re in the early stages."

Denial is certainly powerful isn't it.

The Zune on Family Guy

This is hilarious. When was the last time that you even saw a Zune?

Cat Remote Comtrol

This new cat remote control device is hilarious. Obviously, this was either meant to be humorous or created by someone who had never actually met a cat.

2009 Rule Changes in F1

This video does an excellent job of explaining the rule changes for Formula 1 in 2009!

Can You Downgrade Windows 7 to XP?

You have to love this! After last weeks announcement from Forrester Research that Vista comprises less than 10% of the enterprise market, they are now asking if it will be easy to downgrade Windows 7 to XP. I suppose that depends on how one views this move, a downgrade or an upgrade.

Microsoft to Open Retail Shops

In another desperate attempt to have consumers like then, Microsoft has announced that they will open a retail space in Brooklyn. They will be copying the Apple store format without a Genius Bar. This might work, but in reality, it will probably blue screen.

Microsoft's business model seems to be one of telling people how good they are, not showing them.

Another Ninja Cat

This little guy is pretty amazing. If you watch closely, he did this intentionally.

Is Steve Ballmer Insane?

Steve Ballmer today warned that enterprises that stick with Windows XP too long will hear about it from impatient users who have been using newer computers running Vista and Windows 7 at home. Has he lost his mind? These users are already upgrading Vista to XP.

Then he turned around and said: “I admit it! We’re already basically writing Vista off and looking for ways to spread the development costs out over the next 12,000 years!”?

According to Forrester Research, Vista has less than 10% market penetration in enterprises. The only people that really use Vista are consumers not yet enlightened enough to buy a Mac.

Wasn't Vista Bad Enough?

Microsoft founder Bill Gates released a glass full of mosquitoes at the TED conference to make a point about the deadly disease malaria.

“Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,” Gates said while opening a jar onstage at the Conference.

Man, you would have thought that releasing Vista on us would have been enough for Mr. Gates.

The Parking Ticket Virus

Now this one shows initiative. Fake parking tickets on windshields in Grand Forks North Dakota instructed people to go to a fake website. Once there, they were infected with a virus. This only works with Internet Explorer.

Will this be called the 'Windshield Virus?"

Microsoft Just Can't Help It

Microsoft just can't seem to help themselves these days. After the debacle known as Vista, which has more versions than any sane person should have to keep up with, they are going to release Windows 7 with, you guessed it, six different versions:

• Windows 7 Starter (limited to three apps concurrently)
  
• Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets)
• Windows 7 Home Premium (adds Aero, Touch, Media Center)
  
• Windows 7 Professional (Remote Desktop host, Mobility Center, Presentation mode)
  
• Windows 7 Enterprise (volume license only, boot from virtual drive, BitLocker)
  
• Windows 7 Ultimate (limited availability, includes everything)

This reminds me of Steve Jobs keynote address at Mac World two years ago. While making fun of the number of Vista versions available, he pointed out that Leopard would only be available in one version - Ultimate. You have to appreciate his sense of humor!

RFID Is Not Secure!

I have been telling people for a long time that RFID is not secure. Putting an RFID tag containing personal information into any device is just a bad idea. The worst implementation that comes to mind is the use of the tags in passports. This YouTube video shows how easy it is to lift information from any of the new RFID chipped passports or drivers license.