2 Robots

For the past few years, I’ve been using a Mac Mini as my main HTPC. This has worked out really great, as the Mini is a small, quiet piece of hardware, and generally Apple’s iTunes/Frontrow is simple, intuitive, and impressive as a content management system.
As my collection of media grew, I started to run out [...]

The Kodak EasyShare all-in-one printer is aimed at the Small or Home Office user, or those people who need to do a little bit more than average. As far as your paper-related needs go, this device can handle just about anything — printing (double-sided), scanning (up to 600 dpi), copying, faxing (complete with phone book), and photo printing.

Read on for the full review!

Ballmer’s latest fiasco is to claim that Open Source projects violate “over 235 patents,” and to then threaten lawsuits for any company using Linux or other open source software. Turns out, Steve was quoting a study produced by the Open Source Risk Management Group. However, the author of the study has claimed that Microsoft has it all wrong — the study’s conclusions were that those were only “potential” infringements, and that not a single one of those patents had ever been held up in court. In addition, not all of those patents were even held by Microsoft!

Read on for more enlightening links on Steve Ballmer acting as himself.

A few months ago I installed a dual-boot machine with both Linux and Windows for some friends of mine who were having perpetual spyware issues. I spoke with them recently, and it appears that the Windows install has started to s.l.o.w. down, which is pretty much what happened last time. Unfortunately, they seem to be a little more intimidated that I had thought, and I don’t think they’ve even tried using Linux yet.

The next time I visit at their house, I’ll take a look and see what the problem is with Windows, and if they’re actually using Linux or not.

Since being outpaced by HP in total sales, and knocked down from it’s #1 spot in new computer sales, Dell has launched IdeaStorm, a website where users can suggest ways for Dell to make money better cater to its customers. This is actually a great site. You can create suggestions, and then vote on which suggestions you think are the best. With over 50,000 people voting so far, Dell gets a pretty good idea of what people are interested in, and can tune their product line accordingly.

Previously, I had tried to install Linux on my friends’ computer because even after 2 reinstalls, their Windows PC had gotten so loaded down with viruses and spyware that it was unusable. This had lead me to wonder how many people out there have the same problem, and what can be done about it. Also, it sort of annoys me that a computer can have so much spyware and viruses on it that it just isn’t fast enough to do anything useful anymore.