Good morning. Like many people on the east coast, apparently, I've had a lovely, lingering cold (or whatever) for weeks now. It's getting old.
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The New York Times published a lengthy report about Microsoft's anti-piracy efforts yesterday. This is something I feel like I should care about, but I don't.
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There's a new web browser in town, or at least there will be, and it's brought to you by the same inept folks who destroyed Netscape. More to the point, do we really need another browser? Really?
If you answered, "sure, why not?" then check out RockMelt. (No, you can't actually download it yet; you have to beg them for an invite via Facebook.) The theme here is social networking integration, which is either enticing or revolting, depending on your inclination. But I have to wonder: Couldn't this stuff just as easily be implemented with plug-ins on other browsers?
You know, I'm not done deriding this thing yet. It's clearly based on Chrome, which is fine (or even "good"). In fact, it's Chrome with two sidebars and one unique toolbar button. But watching the promo video they have on the site, I now know everything I need to know about this browser. "My name is Toby and I'm a designer here at RockMelt," Toby announces in the video. "I'm a recent college grad who moved out to California to join the RockMelt team." And that's when I hit pause. Moving on.
OK, one more thing. In that video, I really enjoy that it's a Mac browser with an old-fashioned (and double-sized) Windows arrow pointer. That's hilarious.
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Ed Bott tries to coin a new term in his report on a hardware glitch that killed off some Linksys Media Center Extenders. Don't know what a Linksys Media Center Extender is? Don't know anyone who owns one? That's why this is a non-issue.
Actually, allow me to expand on this for a second. Virtually all Media Center Extenders--with the notable exception of the Xbox 360, which includes a software-based version of this functionality--are absolute crap. The Linksys ones are particularly bad. In fact, you can read my reviews of these things here. Where I comment, "the performance of this device is poor enough that I cannot really recommend it ... It's a non-starter." Point being that lamenting something that was crap to begin with is a waste of time. If you were actually using such a thing, I feel sorry for you. Really, I do. But come on. This thing was junk to begin with.
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The little things that make you smile: I'm writing WinInfo, and outside I can hear crazy wind sounds, and the trees are swaying around. At that moment, my Windows Phone makes a happy little chime, causing me to look at it. On the top of the screen is a small notification slice from Weatherbug that says, "Weather advisory: High winds." :) Thanks.
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The little things that make you smile, part 2: Apple lost out on Kinect because the company is a "pain in the ass." LOL. Good.
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Speaking of controversy, Trend Micro is playing the antitrust card this week because Microsoft has begun offering its free Microsoft Security Essentials product to users without AV over Windows Update. My message to Trend Micro is simple: Pfft.