Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

There is an excellent article on the new “$100.00 Laptop” by Jim Raposa. Check it out!

Meet the XO!

“When you first see the XO the thought that immediately jumps to mind is ‘kid’s toy.’ With its bright green color, built-in carrying handle, funny rabbit ears and rubber membrane keyboard, it looks like something that Fisher-Price might produce. But when you pick it up, you realize how sturdy and well built the XO is. And when you turn it on, you discover that you are connecting wirelessly to the Internet and to other XO users that are creating a local network. You find lots of software designed for kids but also find some groundbreaking collaboration tools that let you work with others in ways that outshine some of the best corporate groupware. Oh yeah, even though bright sunshine is beating down upon the laptop screen, you’re having no trouble reading the display. But the sunlight is OK since it’s powering your system through a small, low-cost solar cell. And the XO doesn’t need much power since it runs at a fraction of what laptops that are considered ‘green’ run at. This is the XO, a system that was born when MIT legend Nicholas Negroponte set out to build a $100 laptop, in order to make it possible to deliver computers to kids and schools in developing countries. And while the XO didn’t make the $100 target price (instead it’s currently coming in at around $175), it does now sit nearly ready to be deployed around the world.”

That’s Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols, of course! Our ol’ buddy from DesktopLinux.com. He sees a future in which Dell isn’t the only major PC manufacturer that is selling desktop Linux on PCs in their lineup.

Next major PC company to go Linux will be HP

“Opinion — People used to think the very idea that a major PC vendor would offer desktop Linux was beyond a joke. It was, as Vizzini from The Princess Bride would have said, ‘Inconceivable!’ But, as events turned out, to quote Inigo Montoya from the same movie, ‘You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’ HP will soon be joining Dell in offering at least one Linux desktop line in its SKU sales listing. Here’s why I believe this. First, Dell successfully broke the Windows-only wall when it added Ubuntu Linux 7.04 to three systems in its consumer line in May. While Dell hasn’t released any sales numbers, its Linux sales must be doing well. You don’t start offering Ubuntu on another brand-new laptop line and announce that you’ll soon be selling Ubuntu to SMBs (small to midsize businesses) and internationally unless you’re making money from it. Offering Linux once could have just been a good PR move. Expanding the Linux offering means Dell must actually be selling units. The other PC companies aren’t idiots. Many of them, like Lenovo, have been toying with desktop Linux for years. Hewlett-Packard has been offering desktop Linux for enterprise customers willing to make special orders via its HP Factory Express service service for anywhere from several hundred to several thousand systems for years. These customized Linux desktops have been progressively selling better as the years go by. ‘We are involved in a number of massive deals for Linux desktops, and those are the kinds of things that are indicators of critical mass. So we are really looking at it very hard,’ said Doug Small, HP’s worldwide director of open-source and Linux marketing. How big is massive? Try thousands of Linux desktops in a single deal.”

The podcast, that is… this week is just like last week… Ben and I got the Gamemaster segment done on Saturday as usual, but I have not yet found a slot to master together the rest of the show. I suspect that since I will be out of town all this coming weekend, I may just do a “bridge version” of the podcast that will include all of last week and this week’s “stuff!” As Arthur Dent said, “I seem to be having a problem with my lifestyle.” (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) Sigh.

This is a neat “HowToForge” article on exactly how to set up dual-booting Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP or Vista.

Dual-Booting Windows XP/Vista And Ubuntu 7.04

The tutorial is what I like to call a “PhD Document,” which stands for “Point Here, Dummy!” Lot’s of screen shots, details and helpful tips! If you have the disk space, you will benefit from being able to switch back and forth between good (Ubuntu) and evil (Windows) on your PC! Check it out!

First they demoted Pluto from planet status. But now, a moon of Pluto MAY have liquid water below the surface!

‘Water on Pluto moon’

“As a planet, Pluto was a real dog. Now scientists say there may be something truly fishy about one the little world’s three known moons. Astronomers have announced they have evidence that, despite the bitterly cold conditions on the edge of the solar system, Pluto’s moon Charon may have an underground ocean of liquid water, triggering speculation it could harbor marine life. The water appears to be spewing up through cracks in the surface, producing spectacular geysers that instantly freeze, creating showers of ice. Using Hawaii’s giant Gemini Telescope, the astronomers found that the 1200 kilometer-wide moon is covered in patches of water crystals, and ammonia hydrates. The crystals appear fresh, suggesting ice geysers, or ice volcanoes, must be erupting every few hours or days. The observations point ‘consistently to cryo-volcanism, which brings liquid water to the surface, where it freezes into ice crystals,’ said Jason Cook, from Arizona State University. ‘That implies that Charon’s interior possesses liquid water.’ Radioactive materials could be melting Charon’s interior ice, producing the water.”

I have recommended “The Democracy Player” before… I use it, and it does rock for watching shows like “DL.TV,” “Ask a Ninja,” and, of course “Dr. Bill.TV!” Now, in order to reach more folks, they have released a new version, and changed the name! It is Open Source, free, and, as I mentioned, awesome!

Miro Web Site

The folks at “Participatory Culture” that wrote “Miro” say of their new release:

“I am very excited to announce Miro, the new name of Democracy Player. We’re still the same non-profit organization, the same people working on the project, the same open-source code. But we have a new name and a new logo that I think will reduce a lot of confusion (lots of folks thought ‘Democracy’ was only for political video) and will help us reach more people.”

So, if you haven’t tried it yet, do so… if you have, download the new version! Enjoy!

That’s right! Microsoft wants to analyze your hard drive and then deliver targeted advertising to you! Isn’t that great!? NO? I don’t think so either!

Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems

“It’s such a tremendously bad idea that it’s almost bound to succeed. Microsoft has filed another patent, this one for an ‘advertising framework’ that uses ‘context data’ from your hard drive to show you advertisements and ‘apportion and credit advertising revenue’ to ad suppliers in real time. Yes, Redmond wants to own the patent on the mother of all adware. The application, filed in 2006, describes a multi-faceted, robust ad-delivering system that lives on a ‘user computer, whether it’s part of the OS, an application or integrated within applications.’ ‘Applications, tools, or utilities may use an application program interface to report context data tags such as key words or other information that may be used to target advertisements,’ says the filing. ‘The advertising framework may host several components for receiving and processing the context data, refining the data, requesting advertisements from an advertising supplier, for receiving and forwarding advertisements to a display client for presentation, and for providing data back to the advertising supplier.’ The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to sell you stuff. It would inspect ‘user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink),’ and more. How could we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status messages?”