Your current blogger here at Stargeek, me, is moving over to a new host. Dan Zarrella has set up NEGeek.com as part of the BWP network of websites. So if you like my unique view on tech, politics, and culture intersecting you can find me there.

So really, is there any difference between an Intel PC and a Mac Intel PC? No. No word on if they’ll allow Linux to run on the (what do you call it now) PC(?).

Apparently Microsoft is thrilled that their will no longer be major retail architectures that don’t run Windows. They don’t sound like they expect the whole OSX thing to swing users away. Why they don’t just sell OSX is anyones guess. Pride, maybe?

While the media wonks over at the BBC have masterfully put together an article that deviates from the topic in less time than it took to read, they do manage to bumble through an entire range of topics, getting each one wrong.

First, phones will not replace mobile gaming gear. It’s quite obvious no one on the writing or editorial staff responsible for this article has ever had to suffer through a Java based phone game.

Second, this is the same bloody reason that console convergence doesn’t work. Yes, phones can play games. But much like consoles acting as an all-in-one media hub, they can’t do them very well (go ahead, replace that high end audio system with an XBox). The console convergence bashing is what they carry on about not a paragraph later.

But one thing they may have gotten right. If console game prices reach up toward the 70$ mark sales might just not be sustainable. 50$ is starting to peak quite a few checkbooks as it is. Only selling to fanboys works in a total of one market, far as I can tell. Japan’s a great place, but it be your only market if you’re selling consoles.

Now what kind of a farce is this. If I had a monopoly of 90% market share, a product that is pervasive and a toehold in every other related market, I’d pretty much figure that my continued existence was in the bag. Especially if somehow worse came to worse, I could simply sell the competition’s product.

Which is exactly the situation Microsoft finds itself in. Even if they had to capitulate to the Linux crowd, they can actually sell Linux. So if they loose, they’re still the single most well monied software vendor with a pervasive presence in damn near every market.

So articles like this one make it look like someone’s taking out a little too much marketing spin. It’s bad enough that I can’t browse to anywhere on the internet without tripping over an MS ad. Now I have to put up with their flac showing up on my google news.

I’ve gotta wonder, is this all some kind of game to keep trust regulators off of crippling their monopoly? It’s almost like they’re trotting out non existant competition so they can spread through other markets without being hampered by trust regulation.

My first objection to this, and I think the most sane, is that it won’t happen because you’d have one too many Bills at Microsoft. I mean. Seriously. You couldn’t insult “Billy-Boy” without someone saying “wait.. do you mean the one with the intern or the one with the money?”

But as far as Microsoft goes they could do worse. Balmer’s always been a bit over the top. He’s in good company with Oracle’s and Sun’s chief of staffs. But a slightly more refined (I think I just referred to Bill Clinton as more refined) person at the helm might not be a bad thing for the company.

Anyway, it’ll happen right after Google releases their PC and MS purchases Opera.

Groklaw has an interesting piece on the life and times of Peter Quinn, the man who tried to state that open formats are the right way to go for Boston. Apparently the politicians that receive money from Redmond didn’t like that and forced him out.

Moreover, there’s been a media smeer campaign against the man from some very unsavory journalists. It just goes to prove my point that you could have one person insert a few random sounding technical terms in a document, get a monkey to do the filler, and it’d end up better than half the crap at eweek.

You see, they’re under intense pressure to produce even if there’s nothing going on. They can’t sit back and editorialize (apparently) without bashing the heck out of someone. That’s what get’s the ad revenue, after all.

So even if you agree with the target you still have to state they’re an idiot to do “x”. In this case “go against Microsofts wishes”. Which sounds suspiciously like Microsoft is.. I dunno.. a monopoly abusing it’s position.

Who knows, maybe they’ll get an editor to look it over and pull the article. Miracles do happen. Grok the law

I finally figured out how to use DAP Tex foam sealer. You need to shake it. A lot.

Also, make sure to clean out the nozel and straw before putting it away. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later.

This has been your Northeast Winter Home Improvement tip of the day.

Maybe it can’t protect your brainwaves from the men in black, but it can protect your school ID from being read by unfriendlies. Duct Tape and foil wallets could save you from having your various transponders read by the unsavvory types that would.. well.. wander around looking for people with RFID tags hanging out.

Apple doesn’t really want to think different these days. Instead they’re going with the same thinking, and laptop manufacturers, as everyone else. Apple’s signed up Asustek and Quanta to churn out Intel based iBooks for the future.

So remind me. Why would I want a Mac again? Is the cute case fashion statement really worth that 400% markup?

While people have been quick to try and bring evolution down, those pesky scientists have been working on ever more convincing proofs. See, if they can show the genomes responsible for evolving they can show how it happened and have a definitive proof that evolution of some form is how we all got here.

Mind you, some people will never be convinced in anything aside from what they’ve been told. For the rest of us free thinkers, check out the article over at Science. They’ve got quite a few cool developments in the scientific field.

Wired is once again putting out their call for vaporware. If you’ve got any products that just don’t look like they’re going to see the light of day this year go and get ‘em in.

I’m still waiting on that BitBoys GPU .

I’ve given this a bit of thought. Hackers are roughly the “Starving Artist” equivelent of the IT world.

Although not always starving. “Art” and inovation in the world of computers tends to pay off even if you’re not driven to make money off it. I think that’s a bit of a difference in the medium rather than a difference of the individual.

Hackers tend to be driven to do interesting, innovative stuff rather than doing it principly for gain.. which is similar to artists that create work because they feal it needs to be done, rather than for any financial reasons. Everything else about the piece is secondary to it’s production.

Pushing the envelope, seeing what you can do, it’s a similar theme in both worlds. There’s even some crossover with 3D artists and mathematicians that do graphical design. I know that might sound a bit weird, but think of the skill set necessary to hack on X.org. Very cross-genre stuff.

Commodore is making a comeback after being purchased by a Dutch media company. They’re launching new products in the home entertainment space, including a WinCE media player. Remember, it’s not crap, it’s Commodore.

Choice quote from the article

“Never before has a brand come out of hibernation and truly reinvented itself to position competitively in an ever-evolving digital media marketplace,” van Wijhe said.

What? He’s never heard of Apple? Now, I know they’ve heard of Apple over in Holland.. I’ve got Dutch friends that own iPods, so he can’t use ignorance as an excuse.

Want to aid in tireing out the RIAA/MPAA internet content spidering machine? Then grab a copy of DirIndexFaker referred to in that P2Pnet story. It seems that it’s maker has rewored the DMCA bot-killer into something workable.

You don’t have to create any files for it, as it creates and sends them on the fly when requested. Not sure what kind of footprint it has, but the maintainer thinks it’s pretty light-weight.

So if you’re looking to show the MPAA that you really don’t want them generating traffic to your site to further their war on.. well.. everyone else then check it out.

Family tech support around the holiday’s always a pain. Enjoy! Penny Arcade! - One Day In The Future

What could make a better Christmas gift than the rights to one of Acclaim’s titles? Not much. So while they’re still available you can purchase the rights to one of Acclaim’s titles.

I’ve got to admit that I wouldn’t mind owning a video game lock/stock/barrel for 5k.

Digital photography always eats up the storage space. On the ever expanding data storage front Pretec has released a 2GB miniSD card that offers the largest storage capacity yet (that’s a press release). All on something the size of my pinky finger. Amazing.

Redmonds favorite son has finally done it. They’re selling a service to protect your system from flaws in their software.

How long before they start charging for patches to fatal flaws is anyones guess. Once you’ve got a monopoly it’s like minting money.

The CSFB Tech conference is happening today over in Phoenix, AZ. Attendees look to be in for a treat, as FreeScale, Dell, Inter-Tel, Emulex, and a horde of other technology outfits will be addressing them. This one’s invite only, so bring your pass.

Catch Amazon’s presentation webcast from Amazon.com.

It seems that frogs can, in fact, fly. Given enough magentism that is. The frog pictured there is floating inside a very powerful magnet.

Apparently the frog exhibited no ill effects. It was happy to join it’s fellow amphibians back in the biology lab after the experiment.