Daily Techno-Babble

Over the last few months many users of the insanely popular MMOG World of Warcraft have been reporting more and more incidences of game accounts being compromised at an alarming rate. Even closed accounts have not been spared, making these reports even more disturbing. The typical account hacking usually includes tales of high level characters being stripped of their valuable gear and guild vaults being emptied but typically don’t include any “real world” compromise of billing or other personally identifiable information. Until now. Within the last 24 hours I have been initiated through my own experience with a hacked WOW account into this less-than-gleeful club when persons unknown used a stolen credit card and now Blizzard Entertainment wants to make me pay, all on an account that was not even active when it was compromised! If you have been, or are currently a World of Warcraft subscriber I highly recommend that you remove ANY personal information from your account ASAP. Blizzard insists that 100% of accounts that have been compromised are a result of user’s not taking adequate security precautions but the evidence seems to be pointing towards another explanation.

Read the rest of this entry »

If recent comments by Virgin Media CEO as reported by several online media news sites are to be believed then it is disturbingly clear that Virgin’s CEO of Media is a complete idiot. Yup you read that right, an idiot. Clearly he he has no idea what he is talking about with the statement that Virgin (in the UK) would begin to punish public broadcasters (like the BBC) that don’t pay for access to faster bandwidth (required to support online streaming content) by relegating them to what he describes as internet “bus lanes”. Seriously, I honestly cannot believe someone could get to be this high up in a major media company in the year 2008 and make these kind of statements. Idiots like this are why internet users to pay attention to the whole net neutrality issue…or end up losing access to quality services simply because the local cable ISPs don’t like the competition.

Read the rest of this entry »

As reported by Engadget (and others) the latest round of industry deals regarding the WiMAX wireless data standard is setting the stage for the next big internet access slugfest. Although WiMAX has yet to really get noticed by the general public there are clear indications that wireless data services such as this are going to be one of the big things this year and not for traditional reasons. Up till now most folks think of wireless as either cell phone data services, home cable or DSL connections (via WiFi 802.11a/b/g) or WiFi hotspot services but with both cable and cell phone providers joining forces this distinction is likely to blur somewhat in the near future. So what does this future look like? Read on….

Read the rest of this entry »

Lately it sure seems like Microsoft is pandering to the misguided notion that they need to counter Google in all markets to the point of total obsession. This has even gotten to the point where they are trying to buy Yahoo in a crazy attempt at forcing themselves into the online software market. They are clearly fixed on the this as being so critical to the company they are showing systemic signs of failing at their own core business. As any reader of this blog already knows I just love to pick on Microsoft for the complete pile of you-know-what that is Windows Vista but that’s not the only thing Microsoft is doing that is starting to get under my skin. This whole “Google” fixation has gone way to far. Here are four reasons why whey need to quit chasing the car and get back to peeing on the hydrants…

Technorati Tags: Apple, google, microsoft, yahoo, Vista, Windows

Read the rest of this entry »

After reading several interesting posts from the usual suspects regarding the recent studio defections from the HD-DVD camp to Sony’s Blueray format I started thinking about what this means for the average user and came to the quick conclusion that most folks don’t even care. Why? It really just boils down to a lack of demand for what many view as a luxury format that is very likely going to be quickly replaced with pure-play HD downloads over high speed internet connections. Average users just don’t care because DVD still offers high enough quality to satisfy them while HD-DVD or Blueray both look a whole lot like solutions looking for a problem.

Technorati Tags: blueray, HD-DVD, microsoft, DVD, sony

Read the rest of this entry »

I know what you are thinking. This guy just has to be nuts or on something really good. No I am not completely crazy and the six reasons Linux will win out over Mac OSX, Windows, and anything else out there are not completely whacked either. Of course Linux itself is not going to suddenly take over the OS world but there are clear signs already that it might just usurp Windows as the next de-facto desktop OS for both home and corporate users and even my beloved OSX might end up as road-kill in the process. So is this a good thing? Are we doomed? Maybe, but right now there are six reasons why you might want to be just a bit worried.

Technorati Tags: Apple, commentary, Mac, OSX, Windows

Read the rest of this entry »

It has been over one year since my first experience running Microsoft’s *supposed* next generation OS and boy have things not changed. You would think that Microsoft would have made major changes to Windows Vista in an attempt to reverse the downward spiral over the last year but so far no luck. Not surprisingly we saw over this last year two fantastic releases from Ubuntu and the release of Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard with nothing more than a few security patches from Microsoft. As Microsoft continues to waste time trying to force Windows Vista on a much more educated public these other alternatives have been doing nothing but chewing away at their long held lead in the desktop OS market. So has my opinion of Windows Vista changed? Like the OS itself my opinion has not budged so here are four more reasons why Microsoft Windows Vista is still just not worth it.

Technorati Tags: commentary, microsoft, Vista, Windows

Read the rest of this entry »

With today’s release of Ubuntu 7.10 there are lots of folks writing about how this is going act as a catalyst to propel Linux onto the desktop as a real alternative to Microsoft Windows and how this is going to change the (computing) world. So these statements got me thinking about past OS releases and how they sometimes exceed or fail to meet our expectations with regards to how they enable us to be more productive. Carrying this thought further I began to wonder just how much impact on the world has each of theses releases made? What OS had the biggest impact? OSX? Linux? Windows? So read on for a trip down memory lane and a brief prediction of the future.

Read the rest of this entry »

I would have figured that Apple was smarter than this. The latest update for the iPhone (version 1.1.1) has been confirmed as breaking any ability to install 3rd party applications. According to sources the methods used are encryption key based and will be significantly harder to crack than any previous versions. So much so that it may be enough to completely deter any future development efforts for this platform making this perhaps the biggest mistake Apple has ever made. I almost cannot believe they would be this stupid. One of the most compelling features (till now) of the iPhone was the possibility of installing 3rd party applications since it essentially operates on a lightweight version of OSX. If there is no technical workaround found within a reasonable amount of time you can bet that we will be seeing some class action lawsuits filed to force Apple to do the right thing. Till they back off or someone figures out a fix I highly recommend NOT purchasing an iPhone. There are several new phones running Linux that will feature touch screens that are due out by the end of the year which are likely to replace the iPhone as the “phone to have” if Apple does not step up to the plate (after they wipe all the egg off their face). Since I have had my 8Gb model for over a month I guess I will have to eBay it or just never update (very likely) but the 4Gb my girlfriend purchased less than two weeks ago is going back tomorrow since she now cannot use AIM on it.

Thanks Apple, it is going to be a while before you are trusted with my money again.

UPDATE: As predicted there are more serious rumblings regarding possible class-action against Apple appearing on Slashdot.

Technorati Tags: apple, cell phones, DRM, gadgets, iphone

Unless you have been hiding under a rock then you have very likely read about the ongoing One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project which aims to design, produce and distribute a laptop with a target price around $100 to millions of needy children around the world. The basic idea is that these devices would be purchased and used in poor rural areas where no existing computing technology exists. So why does such a noble endeavor strike fear into the heart of such a mammoth company as Microsoft? It’s really simple, these groundbreaking new computing devices run Linux not Windows. At first glance this seems like not such a huge deal but if you look at the target distribution numbers for the OLPC then you begin to understand the fear coming from Microsoft about the long term consequences of this project. Imagine a world where millions of children have their first experience with a computer…running Linux. This is really Microsoft’s worst nightmare and ample justification for their recent attempts at spreading the FUD about patent violations and other similar anti-linux actions.

Technorati Tags: linux, microsoft, ubuntu, vista

Read the rest of this entry »