No iPod Air Next Week

Larger Apple multi-touch devices move beyond prototype stage

"We believe there is a 50% chance that a new form factor will be introduced, marking Apple's entrance into the emerging "MID" or mobile internet device market," American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu wrote in a report to clients Thursday. "Our sources indicate 4-inch and 7-inch touchscreen devices beyond prototype stage that are a cross between a Mac and iPod touch."

Nope. Apple won't do it.

Next week is just about All iPhone All The Time.

The big news will be all the added features to the latest 3G version of the iPhone.

The other big news will be all the apps apps apps people will be able to buy.

Introducing something else would steal that spotlight.

Apple is focused on one goal at a time.

Next week's goal is to sell those iPhones.

Anything else would not only distract from that, it would detract from that.

Steve Jobs is much too clever to sabotage himself.

We'll begin to hear some solid murmurings about an iPod Air (or Mac Mini Touch or Mac Nano Touch) in July, when an update to the iSDK is made.

Leaks will come out indicating device resolution independence which will point to a larger screen device.

There will also be some strange things that will point to seriously syncing devices.

There will also be hints of features that aren't in either the iPod Touch or the iPhone. One of these might be handwriting recognition, but I seriously doubt that.

What I really expect is hardware keyboard support.

I don't think we'll be getting that at all with either the iPod Touch or the iPhone.

Apple can justify this by stating the iPod Touch is an entertainment device. And while the word "productivity" has been used in relation to the iPhone (as justification for it possessing Bluetooth while the iPod Touch lacks it), I think that word can be sliced to mean "light productivity."

A Bluetooth hardware keyboard would mean actual productivity: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations (basically anything contained in the iWork suite).

It's clear the current Apple Bluetooth keyboard is not the one that will be paired which such a device. The aesthetic is simply wrong. I expect Apple to create another Bluetooth keyboard that will stylistically complement an iPod Air (or Mac Mini Touch or Mac Nano Touch).

So save your enthusiasm; focus it on the iPhone and the AppStore.

Once all that's sorted out, you can expect Apple to make Back To School hardware noises.

Wow. Great Promotion, Guys. NOT!

Wow. I find out about this only today, when it's already in Day Three?

Up yours. I'm not even going to link to it.

Department Of Justice: Microsoft Monopolism!

After evicting Windows SP3, I went back in to get rid of some Microsoft LIVE crap I'd installed.

And guess what I found still lurking behind from SP3?


Click = big

Microsoft's bid to destroy Adobe: Microsoft Silverlight!

That's right, even telling it to get rid of everything from SP3, Silverlight remains behind!

I never wanted it, I never asked for it, and I'm damn well not going to let them sneak their monopolistic crap onto my PC.

I kicked its ass out of my hard drive too!

And daaaaaaamn, after exterminating SP3, it's like I have a whole new PC!

Buh-Bye Microsoft Windows SP3

I damn well was not not not kidding!

I get it cornered:


Click = big

The crybaby weasel bastard tries to take hostages:



I kicked the shit out of it anyway.



I don't bend to threats, Microsoft!

Your SP3 shit is gone!

And the PC is immediately faster. Immediately!!!

Blog Notes: Fewer Posts Than Planned

There were at least five more posts I wanted to do today.

But XP SP3 had other plans for this PC.

The amount of slowdown that's been happening is beyond belief.

XP after SP2 was no speed demon, but Christ, SP3 makes this PC into a spastic cripple!

Just opening the My Pictures folder, I dreaded going to thumbnail view because it would be as if it never, ever generated the thumbnails before. It would be as if it was seeing everything for the first time and generating them on the spot. This happened every damn time I accessed My Pictures or one of the photo-filled folders within it! What the hell did Microsoft do that it does that with SP3?!

I could really push Firefox and get ten to fifteen tabs open. Now I get Firefox freezing up with between five to seven tabs! (Before SP2, I could do twenty or more tabs. Houston, are we seeing a pattern here?)

I also wound up losing sound in YouTube videos. That's when the videos would play. I've accessed YouTube videos and just had them sit there. Even refreshing the page wouldn't summon them to life.

Yes, I know Firefox has a memory leak and can be a pig, but it was never as bad as it's been under SP3. And Firefox has nothing to do with the retarded behavior of the My Pictures folder! (Which, by the way, I can now hardly even open if I have Firefox also running!)

And I just remembered: I use Photo Toolkit. It integrates into Windows Explorer so I can pick a thumbnail and do what I need to it right on the spot: rescale, resample, or crop, really piss-poor basic stuff that doesn't demand a lot of CPU. SP3 nearly killed the use of that program too. It would be as if time was elongated and what used to take seconds under SP2 now took minutes. I'd have to just reboot the system and try to start from scratch.

SP3 is a disaster for anyone with a basic home system.

Because I want to have some sleep tonight, I don't intend to start the eviction proceedings against SP3 until tomorrow morning.

I'm really beginning to hope the Linux people get their act together. Microsoft is an obese pig sending fat spoiled children into the world.

Microsoft will kill the cheap subnote market if they are allowed to dominate it with Windows.

We need an alternative to them.

Reference: Evicting Windows XP SP3

How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 3 from your computer

I'm kicking you bastards out.

And during that scan on Monday, I noticed you dropped Silverlight into my PC.

I didn't ask for that and I didn't want that!

And I just learned from JK on the Run they're going to inflict that on everyone.

Where the hell is the Department of Justice? I hope the EU is smart enough to stop that! You bloat-building monopolistic bastards!

Die Microsoft Die! Eat Your SP3 And Diiiie!

Ever since I installed Windows XP SP3, this computer has been driving me mad.

I spent over seven hours doing a scan to make sure there weren't things lurking about gnawing away at the innards of the PC.

I'm now certain what I'm experiencing is due to Microsoft.

What the hell did you lot do? How much more frikkin RAM does XP now take?

I can have just about a third of the tabs open in Firefox I used to have. Things slow to a crawl very quickly now.

I have to kill the Firefox process because everything becomes so jammed up.

I see much more hard disk activity, which means there's a hell of a lot of virtual memory swapping going on.

The entire PC slows so damn badly that I now have to quit everydamnthing and actually reboot at least three times a day!

How the hell do you guys make decisions over there? Do you ever think about people who aren't sitting in front of PCs with multiple cores running the same multiple of GHz with gobs and gobs and gobs of RAM? Have you ever heard of a frikkin budget? A memory budget? What makes you think everyone has unlimited RAM, unlimited CPU cycles, unlimited hard drive space?

I know I'm simply ranting here, because these are the same overpaid, overconfident, smug eejits who think Vista is worth using! Vista -- which even Microsoft devotee and MVP Fiend Kendrick has gotten fed up with!

Well congratufuckinglations, Microsoft! You've made me begin to get fed up with XP just as Kendrick got fed up with Vista!

Does everything you lot touch have to turn to utter bloated shit?

Really, you need someone to walk around with a Taser and make you sons of bitches consider people with everyday PCs. Every superfluous wizzware you tried to slip in gets a Tasering -- in your damned skulls! Maybe some on-the-fly ECT will make you finally wake up!

I'm no hard-core techie, so I ask the question: Is there any way I can evict SP3 from this PC and go back to SP2?!!?

Update.

Bodyoke

I'm coining the term right now.

Yes, I know it's not correct. But Karabody sounds terrible and people can't intuit what it means.

So, bodyoke.

Just as karaoke allows someone to be insinuated into a song, bodyoke will allow insinuation into video or a game.

The idea is sensors on the body that will be read by a camera hooked to a PC. A person has to be positioned to match up movement dots on the screen (like movement-based Dance Dance Revolution or action-based Guitar Hero). The first iteration will be akin to learning a dance. Once the movement has been learned, the captured video of the person is melded into a video or videogame where it replaces an existing character or character template.

Future iteration will simply be a person turning 360-degrees in front of a camera. The computer will then model the person and do all the necessary animation.

A similar effect was used in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Zelig, and probably most famously the JFK scene in Forrest Gump.

Here's a Gump clip:

Forest Gump Meets John Lennon

OMG! He Used The "A" Word!!!111

Police Shut Down Artist’s ‘Assassination’ Show

Updated, 3:30 p.m. | This morning, a Boston-born performance artist, Yazmany Arboleda, tried to set up a provocative art exhibition in a vacant storefront on West 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan with the title, “The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama,” in neatly stenciled letters on the plate glass windows at street level.

By 9:30 a.m., New York City police detectives and Secret Service agents had shut down the exhibition, and building workers had quickly covered over the inflammatory title with large sheets of brown paper and blue masking tape. The gallery is across the street from the southern entrance to The New York Times building.

Someone with the handle Schratboy knows the score:

Big Brother Bloomberg and the iron-fist of the Oligarchy.

This is the same city that denied the truckers their freedom of expression.

American Tech Companies: Wake Up!

I must quote myself:

Here’s an object lesson for every American company: the world no longer revolves around you!

And:

All those Asian companies building all the stuff that goes into American products? Those Asian companies can put them together into cheaper and better systems themselves.

And as Asus has shown — and now MSI as well — they can generate their own cool.

I'm beginning to feel like frikkin Clyde Prestowitz here.

Japan ate Detroit for lunch.

Now Taiwan is coming after Silicon Valley.

Look at this:

Asus Virtual to Real概念機種


Another view:

ASUS concept demo


And if that simple thing didn't worry you, this should:

Asus Real to Virtual概念影片


If that didn't do it, consider what Mary Lou Jepsen said:

In essence, the future of computing is all about the screens.

Apple showed that with the iPhone.

Now Asus is taking it steps further, with larger screens.

All of you techmemers salivating over the Internet on a big-screen HDTV: How do you think ordinary non-tech people will interact with it? A keyboard? A Wiimote-like magic wand?

Asus knows.

Do you?

Note: Read Before Write

I really, really cannot believe I just got this in email:

Are you currently accepting advertising on your website mikecane.wordpress.com?

I refer these people to a post they should have seen on the blog itself if they had bothered to read it: Fuck You, Shills!

There is one very slim possible exception to this rule: If you have a product that you've seen me write about enthusiastically, you can inquire if I'd like to borrow your product to play with.

But that's no guarantee of anything being written.

So go on, ask yourself this:

Dirty Harry


Well, do ya?

The Key Buying Factor Of Cheap Subnotes

Seeing all of the coverage of Computex, it's gotten to the point when a new cheap subnotebook is shown, I'm left asking, What, again?

The specs all seem identical.

And yet there are differences.

Some units are booting up faster than others. What accounts for that? Different hard drive RPM? Windows XP not being optimized? Sunspots?

I don't know that I'd consider bootup time a factor until all the reviews are in. I have a suspicion that some vendors might be stripping things out of XP that we'll only find out about later.

Trackpad size varies among vendors. Size doesn't always matter. It's how it works that's important. Can it be used for scrolling? Is there multi-touch capability? Double-tapping?

Click buttons have also varied. Some are one-piece, some are like rockers, while others are distinct two-piece designs. One of them has incorporated the LEDs!

Keyboards also vary. Joanna Stern says in a video fondle of the Acer Aspire One that it has a keyboard like the original EeePC, yet an earlier report states it has a keyboard that's 89% of full-size.

Even full-size keyboards on regular (read: expensive) notebooks vary in their feel (as I note in a Comment, I love the keyboard of the MacBook but can't stand the one on the MacBook Pro). Although I can't find the report right now, I do recall earlier today hearing in a video that one unit had Shift keys that were smaller than usual.

Screens will probably vary. Even though most seem to offer identical resolutions, we haven't yet heard anything about viewing angles or minimum/maximum brightness or the kind of backlighting used. Also, how true are the colors?

Most are offering the same ports: 3 USB, VGA-out, and a card reader. It will be interesting to see how many of those card readers can accept SDHC.

Weight and thicknesses vary. As does the outer and inner plastic covering. I'd beware of glossy plastic.

We don't yet know how hot most of these entries run. Can they raise blisters when placed on a lap? Don't forget: the Everex Cloudbook's WiFi would shut down from the internal heat!

Some of these will never see brick-and-mortar retail distribution. Some will, but not widely. I'm not brave enough -- nor am I greedy -- to buy something sight unseen and unfondled.

Out of all of these variables, I think the key one to consider will be the type and capacity of battery.

Steve and JKK at one point in a podcast discuss the difference in batteries. I'd like to see them put those thoughts into text form because I think it's going to be persuasive in helping people to choose which subnote is actually worth having. Not all batteries are equal.

All other factors can be secondary if the subnote's runtime is only two hours!

Another factor with batteries is whether or not a vendor will offer a higher-capacity battery and what that does to weight and the unit's profile (i.e., does it raise the back like the hp Mini note, making form-fitting cases useless?).

And speaking of power, how large is the AC adapter and how much does it weigh?

Here we are in the 21st Century and everything still comes down to power, batteries, and battery life.

When will that stop being a factor?

MSI Wind At Computex 2008

From nombile.ru comes this YouTube video.

MSI Wind


Interestingly, that site shows a ULCPC from Mitac I haven't seen.

Teleread Is Back Online

And it's back with a bang:

Why video games would be the kiss of death for me as a writer -- a great must-read

Blogging is GOOD for your health, study says. Now how about interactive e-books?

Blogging good for my health? Not the way I do it!

The Final President Of The United States

I am so fucking glad Nader is running.

You won't be able to pin this guy's shit on me.

There's Only One Choice For President

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #120

In South Florida, Eviction Spares Few

MIAMI — In a decade handling evictions for the Miami-Dade County Police Department, Albert Fernandez has run across a middle-class father bankrupted by his daughter’s cancer treatment; an old woman scammed by a gambling husband; and countless families perpetually on the edge of poverty.

But he has never turned out as many people as he does now.

It used to take a day or two for officers to get to an address after tenants received a notice to leave. Now, with evictions up by roughly a third over last year, Miami-Dade’s backlog is around two weeks, sometimes longer.

“It is what it is,” Officer Fernandez said, looking at a list of addresses about to be emptied. “People of all walks of life are getting evicted.”

Emphasis added by me.

If South Florida is a barometer for the housing crisis and the economy, the forecast does not look good. Like other areas nationwide, evictions are rising throughout the state, clogging county courts and spawning a boom in companies that specialize in “eviction services” like moving furniture to the curb.

In the first three months of this year, Broward County tallied 3,043 eviction requests — more than it has received in the same period since at least 1999, and an increase of 54 percent over last year. In Miami-Dade, landlords filed for 4,726 evictions from January through April, up 1,157 from the first four months of last year.

Much of the rise comes from foreclosures, which in Miami-Dade County jumped to 311 in January 2008 from 38 in January 2007, but more renters and business owners are also finding themselves unable to pay the bills.

In many cases, one failure leads to another. Owners, banks, renters and developers have become like prisoners attached by ankle chains: when one falls, the others slip too.

Emphasis added by me.

The Domino Effect.

Mr. Fedor seemed busy, determined, even a bit frantic with the energy of an entrepreneur in the midst of a boom. He said his company, Florida Field Services, started doing evictions a year ago. Since then, he said, business has doubled.

“We work seven days a week,” he said.

Owners of other eviction companies, like Proeviction.com, which offers help with an eviction in any Florida County for around $400, also said customers seemed to be lining up. When they were asked if they saw any sign of a turnaround, of the market’s bottom, their answers were clear.

“We see it getting worse,” Mr. Fedor said. “And worse. And worse.”

Emphasis added by me.

We're still only in the opening credits of this.

Act One has yet to begin.

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #119

Lehman seeking overseas capital, eyes Korea: report

SEOUL (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is looking to raise capital overseas and has approached at least one investor in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Lehman shares fell another 3.6 percent before the bell on Wednesday in electronic trading ahead of the New York Stock Exchange open. Over the past three days, the stock has tumbled 18 percent, chopping nearly $4 billion of market value from the company.

According to the newspaper, options for Lehman in Korea include the state-run Korea Development Bank and Woori Financial Group.

Emphasis added by me.

Dig it:

Lehman ended Tuesday's session with a market capitalization just shy of $17 billion, a little over a third of its peak value of more than $45 billion reached in February 2007.

Emphasis added by me.

Two thirds of its value gone. Poof!

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #118

Ed McMahon fighting foreclosure on his Beverly Hills home

Ed McMahon, who for decades appeared as Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show," is fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home, according to published reports.

The former "Star Search" host was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans when a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. filed a default notice Feb. 28 with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office, The Wall Street Journal first reported late Tuesday.

McMahon, 85, has been unable to work as a pitchman for various products since he broke his neck 18 months ago, said his spokesman, Howard Bragman.

"There are plenty of people affected by the weak economy, bad housing market or bad health," Bragman said.

Ed McMahon May Lose Beverly Hills Home

Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick to television star Johnny Carson, faces the possible loss of his Beverly Hills home to a foreclosure action initiated by a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp.

Howard Bragman, a spokesman for Mr. McMahon, said late Tuesday that his client is having "very fruitful discussions" with the lender and hopes to find a resolution. It isn't clear whether that would allow the 85-year-old Mr. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, to remain in the six-bedroom home.

A Countrywide spokeswoman said the lender couldn't comment in such cases "due to privacy issues."

Mr. McMahon, a jovial fixture of American television for decades, is one of the most prominent people caught up in a wave of mortgage defaults that has devastated low-income areas, suburbia and even a few posh gated communities, such as the one where the McMahons live. U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson, a California Democrat, recently lost a home in Sacramento to a foreclosure. Rep. Richardson didn't respond to requests for comment.

Where does the money go?

Those of us who never had a lot of it wonder how it's possible for someone who has earned millions in a lifetime to wind up near the end of life facing foreclosure.

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #117

Gas Thieves Targeting Truckers

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Thieves with some type of pumping mechanism are targeting truckers, stealing hundreds of dollars worth of fuel.

"There is so much of it being taken, to the tune of hundreds of gallons, that it has to be through some type of pumping mechanism," Daytona Beach Sgt. Bill Rhodes said. "This seems to me to be well organized."

Detectives said the thieves are targeting truck stops near Interstate 95 in Florida.

Yep. I noted this was happening back on May 7:Truckers Strike 2008: Thieves At Work.

All you truckers out there, arm yourselves up! Heed this too: Truckers Strike 2008: TRUCC Act And Crime

God bless the American trucker!

The American Driver - From Drivers … For Drivers
– helping to organize the various protest actions

THE AMERICAN DRIVER - TRUCKERS AND CITIZENS UNITED
– be sure to see the list of planned events to participate!

Trucker Strike MySpace
– Add as Friend to get all the Bulletins!

Previously here:

Truckers Strike 2008: Protest In England
Truckers Strike 2008: TRUCC Act And Crime
New York City: Anti-American
Truckers Strike 2008: Thieves At Work
Truckers Strike 2008: D.C. Video
Truckers Strike 2008: Today In D.C.
Truckers Strike 2008: April 28th D.C. Route
Truckers Strike 2008: A Salute And Links
Truckers Strike 2008: Indiana, April 18, 2008
Truckers Strike 2008: Protest In D.C.!
Truckers Strike 2008: April 28th Rally In D.C.
Truckers Strike 2008: Action!
Truckers Strike 2008: Contacts Needed
Truckers Strike 2008: Who Wants To Go To DC???
Truckers Strike 2008: Big Rig Documentary
Truckers Strike: Harrisburg, PA Convoy
Truckers Strike 2008: Meeting Tomorrow
Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #017
Truckers Strike 2008: Day Three?
Truckers Strike 2008: A Success?
Truckers Strike 2008: Search Precedent Set
Truckers Strike 2008: Day Two
Truckers Strike 2008: Join MySpace
Truckers Strike 2008: National/New Jersey Action
Truckers Strike 2008: National/New Jersey Action
Truckers Strike 2008: 3 A.M. Wake-Up Toot
Truckers Strike 2008: Fill Up = Hold Up!
Truckers Strike 2008: Day One
God Bless The American Trucker
Truckers Strike 2008: Additional
Truckers Strike 2008: A Search Record Set
Is The April 1, 2008 Truckers Strike Real?
Truckers Strike: April 1, 2008
April 1: Truckers Strike?

MSI Caves In To My Threat

You better see my tongue in cheek there.

Tiffany Lin, Marketing Specialist for MSI in California, emailed me:

The Windows version of the Wind is priced at $499 MSRP, and will be available for purchase starting June 16th, 2008 at www.msimobile.com. The Linux based models of the Wind will be available at the same site later this summer for $399 MSRP.

And we may be able to release more retailers' info for carrying the Wind NB shortly.

I hope so!

I'm not going to buy it without feeling up that keyboard.

The hp Mini Note was promising but its keyboard and weight disqualified it.

The Lenovo U110 sounded soooo good but its keyboard killed it for me.

I would have been very disappointed had I bought either of those sight unseen.

I don't want that to happen with the MSI Wind.

Besides, I can have that Asus e900 to fall back on.

Zemanta, No Thanks

This concludes my experiement with Zemanta.

It might be useful for people who have no frikkin idea what they're doing.

But it's not for me.

We Lost Some History. Did You Notice?

Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily reveals stomach-churning news of one-of-a-kind items being destroyed and lost forever in that weekend fire at Universal Studios.

In chronological order:

URGENT! Universal Studios Backlot Fire: NYC Streetscape & King Kong Destroyed; Video Vault Damaged But Film Vault Safe

2ND UPDATE: Uni Blaze Burns Music History

Uni Fire Burned 100% Of Archived 35mm Prints; Negatives Still Intact, However; But Art Houses & Film Societies Impacted

Perhaps worse than anything else: We might never know everything that's been lost!

Judie Lipsett's Henchman FAILS!

The Herald Return of The H/PC - Review of the HTC Advantage X7510

This is a very long review of the latest version of the HTC Advantage.

And it's only at least part one! It covers just the hardware.

In a few weeks or so, there will be another part detailing the software. The delay is due to HTC handing out freebies at Mobius that lacked the final ROM.

Anyway, Judie, your henchman failed in tempting me! UberFiend James Kendrick will take away your Most Valuable Fiend designation now!

Haha, immunity is a great thing.

The Three Things People Are In A Frenzy Over

1) Apple
2) MSI Wind
3) Google's Android

Hello! Doesn't anyone read books?

I guess that will happen when people can buy ebooks for the iPhone or Android phone!

Sheesh.

Veoh Raises More Money

Veoh Gets Its $30M from Intel and Adobe



I've recommended Veoh before.

I do so again.

Veoh doesn't use OpenID, but it's so good that I do have an account there.

You should too.

Previously here:

PoeFace : Online Video | Veoh
Veoh: The Janitor
Others Post FITNA. I Post This.
Century 21 Calling (1964): Online Video | Veoh Video Network
Testing Embedding Of Veoh Video
BBC Three: Dawn Goes Lesbian
Stage6ers: Come Over To Veoh
Stage6 Is Now Gone
Stage6 Says Use Veoh!
Why You Should Be On Veoh
A New Episode Of Space Hospital!
Stage6: Space Hospital
Martyn Waites Sounds Good
Uh-Oh. Suits Invading Net Video Space.
Reference: Online Video Sites
Uh-Oh. Suits Invading Net Video Space.

Here's A Very Smart Guy!

StarF*#ked. (or, how not to handle forgotten password recovery flow during a massive promotion)

i will say it again: mainstream america's #1 problem is NOT

"data portability" or some mistaken notion of privacy management or keeping my personal info out of the clutches of Microsoft, Facebook, Google, or anyone else.

rather, it's:

"fuck, i forgot my password".

YES! Exactly!

That is why I refuse to use any new service that doesn't use OpenID from the start!

I have three OpenIDs. One at Yahoo, one at Google, and one at WordPress.

My God, the amount of time they've saved!

And since I use all three daily, there's no chance of me forgetting any of them.

But go ahead, try to ask me to remember a fourth -- and you FAIL!

What makes your service so damned special that I have to set up a damned account and password?

Guess what: your service isn't special.



Get over yourself. Put in OpenID at the start!

Quote: Meghan Clark

MSI Wind vs. HP Mini-Note XP - Which Boots Faster?

Every second you sit there waiting for your laptop to boot is another moment you’ll wish you had back when you’re lying on your deathbed and your life is flashing before your eyes.

(Personally, I've got 7:38:38 I want back!)

Want Hot Tech News Today?

Don't look for it here.

Computex is happening and I don't intend to post about each new frikkin thing.

I leave that for poor Steve (aka Chippy) to deal with over at UMPC Portal and for JKK to wrestle with over at jkkmobile. There's also JK on the Run, Liliputing, whatever Joanna Stern and her associates post on the Laptop magazine blog, and all the others listed in my Bookmarks.

My head will be spinning along with yours as all of them get up all the latest information.

I intend to sit things out until the end of the day and might not even post anything about it then.

I Am Doing Some Phantom Blogging Today

Via the dreaded techmeme, I found out about this strange thing called Zemanta (where do these names come from?!).

There's a demo area here.

So far I've popped text from two posts into it and it gave some intriguing results.

I was very impressed that for this post it correctly parsed product names and captured the URLs. I only wish it could insert those URLs into the post text too! That'd be a real timesaver (and isn't that wtf computing is supposed to be all about?!). It seems to be able to plop in graphics that it suggests. So why not URLs?!

It's a browser plug-in and apparently will work with WordPress and Blogger.

I'm not keen on sticking another plug-in into Firefox, however. And I have doubts that it could handle both blogging platforms at the same time. I've never come across anyone similarly stupid (or paranoid) as me to blog in "stereo."

Besides, blogging in "stereo" requires me to manually edit the Previously here URLs to reflect each blog. If Zemanta could do that, I'd near pass out in ecstasy.

For each post today, I'm going to drop the text into that demo and see what results.

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #116

Fed auctions $75 billion to banks to ease credit stresses

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Battling to relieve stressed credit markets, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday it has provided a total of $435 billion in short-term loans to squeezed banks since December to help them overcome credit problems.

The central bank announced the results of its most recent auction -- $75 billion in short-term loans -- the 11th such auction since the program started in December.

It's part of an ongoing effort by the Fed to help ease the credit crunch, which erupted last August, intensified in December and January and took another turn for the worst in March.

The housing, credit and financial crises have weakened the economy and threaten to push it into recession.

Emphasis added by me.

That's near half a trillion dollars.

And it's nowhere near the end yet.

Top Stupid Question Of 2008

Is Techmeme myopic?

Others:

Is Steve Jobs Using A 3G iPhone?
Is Bill Gates Lusting For A Nobel Prize?
Is Steve Ballmer obnoxious?

Previously here:

The Usual Techmeme Scam
The Social Table: The Coming Horror
The Hubris Of The A(sshole)-List
FriendFeed’s FAIL!
Blog Notes: Meet My Ass
WTF Is Up With Techmeme?
Mike Cane To Techmeme: Bite Me!
Welcome To My Neighborhood. Got Kevlar?

Greed And Selfishness 102: Tech Edition

Nearly all returned gadgets still work

Fickle (or just plain stupid) consumers cost the electronics industry $13.8 billion in the United States in 2007 alone. Between 11 per cent to 20 per cent of electronics are returned, depending on the type of product, Acenture said.

Fickle? Stupid?

Try selfish.

You know how many times I've read in forums people posting that they're going to buy something just to be able to fondle it?

So for all you honest people who get stuck with a restocking fee, you know who to blame.

Google's Android To Conquer By Infiltration?

Jason Chen answers questions about Android

Once version 1.0 comes out and the source is available, anyone in the world will be able to download and port Android to any phone (or other device) they want.

Whoaaaaa.

This is one area in which Android could trump all others OSes. That can't be done with Palm OS, Windows Mobile (although there has been a movement of cooking ROMs for that platform). No one's done it with Maemo (then again, who'd want to?).

Will anyone Android the Palm Treo? Centro?

The iPod Touch?

The iPhone? (Steve Jobs, forgive my blasphemy!)

Could Android make my frikkin LifeDrive worthwhile again?

There's already a video showing it running -- kinda sorta -- on an HTC Advantage.

What else will it show up on?


Oh dear god no!! The Talkie Toaster! Toast by Google!

Previously here:

Android Devs: Sorry, But Try Again!
It’s Now All Down To Apple Vs. Google
Android’s On Fire!
Quote: KokuRyu & jscott
Android Mania!
Android: Show Me The CC&P!
What eChanges Will High Oil Prices Bring?
HTC Advantage Running Google Android OS!
Your Phone Might Rat On You
iPhone Continues To Swallow The Internet
I Hate You Frikkin Tech Bloggers. I Do!
Reference: Android Site
Google’s Android OS Now Worth Watching
David Rothman Just Saved Google’s Android OS
Apple Has Magic The Others Don’t
Like This Is A Surprise?

nVidia Tegra Reference Design

Video of a MID? a phone? a whatsit from nVidia touting its new Tegra CPU.

I'm playing catchup and had to post this. Some spiffy stuff there.

nVidia Tegra 晶片實機效能展示

The Scan That Ate Monday

I ran Ad-Aware 2008.

I ran Spybot Search & Destroy.

Then I ran avast! anti-virus.

When I said this stuff would take hours, I damn well meant it!

Here are the avast! stats:

529,320 files
7,907 folders
65.1GB of data
7:38:38 run time

Now I want all you people out there who are drooling about the prospect of terrabyte home servers to ponder that.

When you have a terrabyte drive holding a few million files, how damn long will that scan take? A weekend? Half a week? A whole week?

I've been running avast! all the time. It still wound up finding two frikkin adware files and a damned Win32 trojan horse that I'm still not sure it was able to exterminate!

Spybot found that same Win32 trojan horse and claimed it had deleted it!

Times like these make me despise technology.

No blogging today.

Teleread Is Offline Due To Data Center Woes

David Rothman’s must-read ebook site, teleread, is currently offline.

Apparently it’s part of that data center fire that recently took place.

I hope they can get his site back online soon!

Blog Notes: WordPress Is Groggy

None of my JPEGs are loading [over there].

Blogging will begin late today.

I ran CCLeaner yesterday. It found close to half a gig of crap to delete.

Ad-Aware 2007 found 337 "infections." Now I see there's a new free Ad-Aware 2008. I'm downloading that and will run that too.

I have to do some more scans and they take hours.

Windows XP SP3 Or Malware?

Since I installed Windows XP SP3, this machine has gotten progressively slower.

As I sit here and type this, there is a frikkin lag in the letters appearing on screen! This never happened before SP3!

Avast! alerted me the other day to a trojan horse that apparently was timed to wake up lurking in a -- what I thought was a legitimate and free! -- DVD ripping program I'd downloaded but never used months ago. Avast! claimed it grabbed the sucker and moved it into its isolation chest, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Scouring this machine for malware is at least a full day of work. I have to run several programs because there still isn't -- and probably never will be -- just one that can find everything.


Dammit!

Joanna Stern Is A Box Office Hit!

Take that, Indiana Jones!

Blog Notes: Views

The olde blogge has now gotten over a half million views.

This blog [the one at WordPress] just this week broke through the 100,000 mark.

Friends may go drink champagne.

My enemies: poison.

Some Unusual Apple Trademarks

An important note: There is no information to be gleaned by the filenames of the JPEGs. The USPTO assigns them a standard name. I renamed them to make them easier for me to store and publish.

Looking at this first one, I'm tempted to call it Radiohead. Should that band sue?



Goods and Services
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing audio, video, images, and other multimedia content; computer software for use in organizing, transmitting, manipulating, reproducing, processing, streaming, playing and reviewing audio, video, images, and other multimedia content on digital electronic devices; computer hardware and software for controlling the operation of audio, video, and multimedia devices and for viewing, searching, or playing audio, video, images and other multimedia content; computer software for encoding, publishing and distributing audio, video, images, and other multimedia content via the internet and other communication networks; downloadable digital audio, video, and multimedia files and recordings featuring music, television, film, books, news, concerts, radio, sports, games, cultural events, and entertainment-related and educational programs; webcasts and podcasts featuring audio, video, and other multimedia broadcasts in the field of music, television, film, books, news, concerts, radio, sports, games, cultural events, and entertainment-related and educational programs; telephones; television set top boxes

IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Retail store services featuring prerecorded audio, video, and other multimedia works in the field of entertainment and education; providing an online directory information service featuring information about audio, video, images, and other multimedia content in the fields of entertainment and education

IC 038. US 100 101 104. G & S: Webcasting, namely, broadcasting via the internet; streaming of digital audio, video, images, and multimedia content via computer and communications networks; transmission of audio and video, namely, audio and video broadcasting services via computer and communications networks

IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Non-downloadable webcasts and podcasts featuring audio, video and other media broadcasts in the fields of entertainment and education; Providing online databases of audio, video, images, and other multimedia content in the fields of entertainment and education

IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Creating indexes of information, namely, of audio, video, images, and other multimedia content in the fields of entertainment and education; application service provider (ASP) services featuring software that enables users to play, program, and distribute audio, video, images, text and other multimedia content in the field of entertainment and education

Mark Drawing Code
(2) DESIGN ONLY

Design Search Code
01.15.24 - Sound waves, including designs depicting sound
02.01.34 - Monsters (not robots); Other grotesque including men formed by plants or objects
04.07.02 - Objects forming a person; Person formed by objects
16.01.01 - Antennas; Radio antennas; Satellite dishes; Television antennas, roof and rabbit ears

Serial Number
77235043

Filing Date
July 20, 2007

Current Filing Basis
1B

Original Filing Basis
1B

Owner
(APPLICANT) Apple Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Attorney of Record
Lisa G. Widup

Description of Mark
Color is not claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a stylized person or antenna surrounded by concentric circles/broadcast waves.

Type of Mark
TRADEMARK. SERVICE MARK

Register
PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE



Word Mark
@

Goods and Services
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer software for contact information management. FIRST USE: 20020824. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20020824

Mark Drawing Code
(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS

Design Search Code
20.05.01 - Bibles (closed); Books that are closed; Cook books (closed); Encyclopedias (closed)

Serial Number
77375848

Filing Date
January 18, 2008

Current Filing Basis
1A

Original Filing Basis
1A

Published for Opposition
April 22, 2008

Owner
(APPLICANT) Apple Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Attorney of Record
Lisa G. Widup

Description of Mark
The color(s) tan, dark brown, and white is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of design of a book.

Type of Mark
TRADEMARK

Register
PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE



Word Mark
A

Goods and Services
IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Retail store services featuring computer software and applications provided via the Internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; Retail store services featuring computer software and applications for use on handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics

IC 038. US 100 101 104. G & S: Telecommunication services; Electronic transmission of computer software and applications via the Internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; Provision of connectivity services and access to electronic communications networks for transmission or reception of computer software and applications

IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Maintenance, repair and updating of computer software and applications and of handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics; providing information concerning computer software and web-based applications via the Internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; Providing consulting services and technical troubleshooting support for computer software and applications and for handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics; Providing search engines for obtaining data via communications networks; Providing temporary use of computer software and online facilities to enable users to access and download computer software and applications; Internet services, namely, creating indexes of information, sites and other resources available on global computer networks for others; Searching, browsing and retrieving information, sites, and other resources available on global computer networks and other communication networks for others

Mark Drawing Code
(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS

Design Search Code
01.15.25 - Coal; Dust; Light rays; Liquids, spilling; Pouring liquids; Sand; Spilling liquids
17.07.01 - Rulers; Surveyor's tapes or chains; Tapes, measuring; Yard sticks
20.01.01 - Chalk; Crayons; Fountain pens; Markers (writing instruments); Pencils; Pens, ink (excluding quill pens in 20.01.09)
20.01.02 - Brushes, artist; Brushes, paint; Paint brushes
26.01.21 - Circles that are totally or partially shaded.
26.09.21 - Squares that are completely or partially shaded
27.03.05 - Objects forming letters or numerals

Serial Number
77430821

Filing Date
March 25, 2008

Current Filing Basis
1B;44D

Original Filing Basis
1B;44D

Owner
(APPLICANT) Apple Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Attorney of Record
Lisa G. Widup

Priority Date
March 7, 2008

Description of Mark
The color(s) blue and white is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a stylized letter "A" formed by the drawings of a pencil, a paintbrush and a ruler inside a white circle.

Type of Mark
SERVICE MARK

Register
PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE

I include this last one because it speaks to the thoroughness of trademark filings. It's the iPhone Home Screen (as it was at iPhone 1.0 launch in 2007). I wonder if they will have to file others if they add or subtract icons?



Word Mark
SMS

Goods and Services
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Handheld mobile digital electronic devices comprised of a mobile phone, digital audio and video player, handheld computer, personal digital assistant, electronic personal organizer, pocket computer for note-taking, electronic calendar, calculator, and camera, and capable of providing access to the Internet and sending and receiving electronic mail, digital audio, video, text, images, graphics and multimedia files. FIRST USE: 20070629. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20070629

Mark Drawing Code
(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS

Design Search Code
01.05.25 - Sun, other representations of the sun
01.15.17 - Balloons, thought or speech; Clouds, thought or speech; Thought or speech clouds
01.17.14 - Maps of the world
05.05.05 - Daisies
06.07.01 - Skylines
07.11.11 - Highways without lines or dividers; intersections (roads) without lines or dividers; Roads without lines or dividers; Streets without lines or dividers
09.09.01 - Crochet hooks; Hooks, crochet; Needles, sewing and knitting; Pins, safety; Pins, sewing (straight); Safety pins
15.05.06 - Adding machines; Calculators; Pocket calculators
15.07.01 - Cog wheels; Gears
16.01.03 - CB radios; Projection screens (television); Radios; Remote controls, television; Screens, projection; Screens, television; Television sets
16.01.08 - Telephones
16.03.01 - Cameras; Cameras, motion picture; Cameras, video; Lenses, photographic
17.01.02 - Clock faces (alone); Clock radios; Clocks; Radios with clock; Watch faces (alone)
17.07.05 - Compasses (directional); Directional compasses, including mariner's compasses and compass points
18.15.03 - Other road signs
20.03.03 - Envelopes
20.03.08 - Blueprints; Charts; Diagrams; Graph paper; Paper, graph; Periodic chart of the elements and similar graphics
20.03.09 - Pads, Writing; Paper, note; Paper, stacks of sheets; Tablets, paper
26.09.14 - Squares, three or more; Three or more squares
26.09.21 - Squares that are completely or partially shaded
26.09.25 - Squares with curved sides
26.11.09 - Rectangles made of geometric figures, objects, humans, plants or animals
26.11.20 - Rectangles inside one another
26.11.21 - Rectangles that are completely or partially shaded
26.11.25 - Rectangles with one or more curved sides

Serial Number
77303282

Filing Date
October 12, 2007

Current Filing Basis
1A

Original Filing Basis
1A

Published for Opposition
May 6, 2008

International Registration Number
0946310

Owner
(APPLICANT) Apple Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Attorney of Record
Thomas R. La Perle

Disclaimer
NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "SMS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN

Description of Mark
The color(s) black, blue, brown, brown-gray, gray-green, green, orange, red, silver, tan, white and yellow is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of the configuration of a rectangular handheld mobile digital electronic device with rounded silver edges, a black face, and an array of 16 square icons with rounded edges. The top 12 icons appear on a black background, and the bottom 4 appear on a silver background. The first icon depicts the letters "SMS" in green inside a white speech bubble on a green background; the second icon is white with a thin red stripe at the top; the third icon depicts a sunflower with yellow petals, a brown center, and a green stem in front of a blue sky; the fourth icon depicts a camera lens with a black barrel and blue glass on a silver background; the fifth icon depicts a tan television console with brown knobs and a gray-green screen; the sixth icon depicts a white graph line on a blue background; the seventh icon depicts a map with yellow and orange roads, a pin with a red head, and a red-and- blue road sign with the numeral "280" in white; the eighth icon depicts an orange sun on a blue background, with the temperature in white; the ninth icon depicts a white clock with black and red hands and numerals on a black background; the tenth icon depicts three brown-gray circles and one orange circle on a black background with a white border, with the mathematical symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and the equal sign displayed in white on the circles; the eleventh icon depicts a portion of a yellow notepad with blue and red ruling, with brown binding at the top; the twelfth icon depicts three silver gears over a thatched black-and-silver background; the thirteenth icon depicts a white telephone receiver against a green background; the fourteenth icon depicts a white envelope over a blue sky with white clouds; the fifteenth icon depicts a white compass with a white- and-red needle over a blue map; the sixteenth icon depicts the distinctive configuration of applicant's media player device in white over an orange background.

Type of Mark
TRADEMARK

Register
PRINCIPAL-2(F)

Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE

Apple Has Trademarked A Date

There are two filings for JUL 17 at the USPTO that can be called up by its TESS system.

Since I can't produce a table, I've restructured the TESS system's table fields into multiple lines.

Filing one:



Word Mark
JUL 17

Goods and Services
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer software for management of personal and business information for individuals and groups; computer software for data synchronization, electronic mail, data sharing, contact information management, task list management, automated reminders, and scheduling; computer software for facilitating publication of information to a website. FIRST USE: 20020910. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20020910

Mark Drawing Code
(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS

Design Search Code
20.03.24 - Bumper stickers; Calendars; Checks, bank; Coupons; Currency; Manuscript paper and sheet music; Menus; Money, paper; Music, sheet; Sheet music; Stickers, bumper; Tickets, paper; Trading cards

Serial Number
77376496

Filing Date
January 21, 2008

Current Filing Basis
1A

Original Filing Basis
1A

Published for Opposition
April 22, 2008

Owner
(APPLICANT) Apple Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Attorney of Record
Lisa G. Widup

Description of Mark
The color(s) red, gray, white, and black is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a drawing of a calendar.

Type of Mark
TRADEMARK

Register
PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE

And this is the second filing:



Word Mark
JUL 17

Goods and Services
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer software for management of personal and business information for individuals and groups; computer software for data synchronization, electronic mail, data sharing, contact information management, task list management, automated reminders, and scheduling; computer software for facilitating publication of information to a website. FIRST USE: 20020910. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20020910

Mark Drawing Code
(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS

Design Search Code
20.03.24 - Bumper stickers; Calendars; Checks, bank; Coupons; Currency; Manuscript paper and sheet music; Menus; Money, paper; Music, sheet; Sheet music; Stickers, bumper; Tickets, paper; Trading cards

Serial Number
77389118

Filing Date
February 5, 2008

Current Filing Basis
1A

Original Filing Basis
1A

Published for Opposition
April 22, 2008

Owner
(APPLICANT) Apple Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Attorney of Record
Lisa G. Widup

Description of Mark
Color is not claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a drawing of a calendar.

Type of Mark
TRADEMARK

Register
PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator
LIVE

Why that date? I couldn't see anything that stood out at wikipedia.

This part of the filing intrigues me:

computer software for facilitating publication of information to a website.

Blogging software?

Still, why that date? Could it have something to do with the original Apple I computer, which went on sale in July 1976?

A Lost TV Classic: He & She

He & She is one of those TV series that had a brief life and then disappeared forever.

For those of us who saw it when it ran, we never forgot it.

That's how good it was.

It's part of The Greatest TV Ever.

I happened to search for it today on YouTube and was shocked to find a complete episode!

This was never repeated after its initial network run (wikipedia differs on that point; but I didn't personally see any reruns). It's never been put on DVD. There's no way to buy it.

More than forty years later, it's still hilarious!

Everyone who worked on it went on to make an impact on television. Jay Sandrich. Arne Sultan. Reza S. Badiyi, who did the title montage, is famous for the montages he did for two of the best-known TV series: Hawaii Five-0 and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Jack Cassidy was instantly memorable in his Jetman role. He was the prototype for the vain and dimwitted newscaster Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Series stars Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss were just absolute perfection.

With talents such as those, how could a series not have been magical?

One thing I want you to notice: there are no insults in it. All of the humor originates in the situations and in the interactions of the characters. The humor is funny, not assaultive.

That's what TV comedy used to be. When adults wrote it.

A note about the video itself. I don't know why, but it's in the wrong aspect ratio. It should be fullscreen, not letterboxed. Don't let that dissuade you. Once you start watching, you'll be gripped and not even notice it.

Now sit back and marvel at what the network nitwits canceled ages ago.

He and She...1967


He and She...1967 - Part 2


He and She...1967 - Part 3

Asus Vs. MSI: The Battle Has Begun!

I'm jaded enough to believe that when a company is pushing for market share, it will employ information -- and even disinformation -- shock troops to go on the Internet and cast Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt on a competitor's product.

Has this begun to happen with the battle between champion Asus and contender MSI? From the very popular and very active tipdpc.com forum in the Philippines comes the first skirmishes of the war ahead!

Read this from COOLTOYZ, posted on May 20, 2008 03:35 PM (scroll down at link):

As a store that used to sell MSI;

1) We just found too may customer returns to the detriment of the customer.

2) They keyboards are really horrible on all models. It is noisy and lacks depth compared to Dell, HP, and IBM. It is even much worse that the keyboard of Acer. I guess that is our disadvantage because we are able to test units side-by-side - for us nothing is worse than a bad keyboard because you can not avoid using the KB.

3) Friends who insisted on buying the MSI have been complaining that the plastic of MSI gets warped easily. The base warps because of heat so when you type on a flat table, the laptop is not even. (Checked all rubbers and they were complete) I guess you get what you pay for.

And then later on from the same COOLTOYZ, posted on May 20, 2008 04:29 PM (again, scroll down):

a) I am putting a wager/bet. The MSI Wind with a 10inch display and standard 3-cell battery will not reach 2Hours on battery. WiFi On while surfing the net at 90% screen brightness; all stock settings. Our personal Estimate is 90minutes.

b) I will bet P2,000.00 to an owner of a unit that can demo battery life at our store. ^.^

And then from Det, posted on May 21, 2008 12:08 AM (scroll down):

recently lang nag po produce ng laptops ang MSI but in other hardwares they are pretty good ..... sa motherboards i've had several MSI mobos ang they never broke down ever even with overclocking .... not the best but pretty reliable and good value for money. I do beleive MSI will make better laptops than their first attempts.

And then from roleano, posted on May 22, 2008 09:15 AM (again, scroll down):

MSI is a good brand. They have been engaged in laptop business and yet, their product seems to be okay. I have an MSI laptop and it has not bogged down yet. With their new product, the MSI Wind, this will be a great notebook.

And it goes on.

For someone who has never bought anything from MSI, some FUD has been injected into the buying equation. Will that plastic warp from the heat of constant use? Or will the keyboard be so bad that buyers who purchase sight unseen will immediately return it?

I don't mean to cast aspersions on any of the people I've quoted above. In fact, COOLTOYZ is a legitimate dealer who's been a member of that forum since November 04, 2003.

I use these quotes as illustrations of the kind of give-and-take we'll all be experiencing for at least the next month (if not more!).

No one will really know anything until we experience the MSI Wind personally. Reviews can help, but aren't personal final verdicts!

And, of course, Asus would like us to also consider its rumored 10"-screen EeePC 1000!