Posts

When I first read that Flickr was merging accounts with Yahoo! accounts, I thought it would be a good idea. As of now, anyone can log in to Flickr using their Yahoo! ID. New users will have to use their Yahoo! ID (or create a new one if they don’t have one); older users can continue to use their existing Flickr.com account details to log in, or choose to merge their Flickr.com accounts and Yahoo! IDs together*. One note: Existing users will be able to keep their existing screen names on Flickr whether they choose to merge accounts now or not – you don’t have to change your name. ...

Claiming that its image and persona have been hijacked as part of a marketing campaign for Burger King’s new chicken fries, the costumed heavy metal band Slipknot is threatening the fast food giant with legal action. I actually wondered for a brief moment if it was Slipknot, but it’s so blatantly not. read more | digg story

No Need to Click Here – I’m just claiming my feed at Feedster

So, the essential part of moving has been accomplished. I’ve got my cable modem and Vonage working. Screw food and hygiene, net access and phone capabilities are what really matters. Despite hearing grumbling about Comcast service issues, so far my experience has been great. The installation was quick and easy. The installer simply needed my cable modem’s serial and model number to register it and I was off. I even applied a Comcast specific firmware update to my D-Link DCM-202. I actually flashed it using my Mac, which isn’t supported by D-Link. In fact, because you can’t simply upload the firmware via a form as is normal for most network devices, it’s hidden. Look forward to a how-to with my method. I’m even experiencing 800 KB/s downloads, faster than any other connection I’ve ever used. ...

Close friends already know that I just bought a townhouse in Tewksbury, Massachusetts (reducing my commute time to under half an hour). This is the big secret that I made reference to in earlier posts. I closed on Thursday. Originally, I planned on posting that day or on Friday along with pictures. However, due to all the work associated with trying to move in, I haven’t had time (as evidenced by my light posting). The pictures are taken, but now I need to download them from the camera and get them properly loaded onto Flickr. That’s another lengthy task I couldn’t get around to. ...

I’m not surprised at all by this. In fact, I expected it ever since Blockbuster started their strong-arm, undercutting price competition with Netflix. From CNET: The price of Blockbuster’s three-movies-out-at-once rental plan will now be $17.99 per month, up from $14.99, the company said Tuesday. The new rate is the same that Netflix charges for three movies–the most it allows customers to have at a time. … The new prices go into effect Aug. 19. ...

Any good child of the eighties played the original Nintendo and loved it. They loved every cartridge blowing, standing two inches from the TV playing Duckhunt, square, blister causing controller minute of it. Mega Man was a rocking game during that time. It was so popular that he was a character on the awesome Saturday morning cartoon, Captain N. Do you remember that high quality, 8-bit saturating effect when you started a level? You can see that all the time, even without playing the game, with the amazing MegaManEffect. You’ll have chills when you see the graphics and hear the sounds, or maybe that’s just me. ...

Well, after some fairly convincing evidence earlier in the week that the Macintel developer kits use DRM, followed by some vehement opposition and angst to the idea, sites are now feeling confident enough to proclaim no DRM (and again and again). Controlled Bloom My head is spinning. Let’s slow it down. First, what is using DRM in the new Apple Intels? We’ve discovered that Rosetta uses TCPA/TPM DRM. Some parts of the GUI like ATSServer are still not native to x86 – meaning that Rosetta is required by the GUI, which in turn requires TPM. ...

I’m not as surprised as much as I would have been prior to the Macintel announcement, but I still didn’t expect to see this happen. Apple is making a multi-button mouse with a scroll interface, the Mighty Mouse [Amazon link]. It doesn’t look to be a wheel, but a little nub. Apple’s site mentions rolling though. Mighty Mouse offers 360-degree scrolling capability, thanks to its Scroll Ball, perfectly positioned to roll smoothly under just one finger. I’ll need to get one for myself to play with (because I doubt I’ll like it more than my Logitech MX1000) so I can figure it out. Is it a mini trackball? A nub? Please let it not be a nub. My finger hurts just think about them. What’s really interesting is that it’s not a generic three-button mouse. Apple seems to have jumped headfirst by including side buttons, which act as a fourth button. At $50, it has the same suggested retail price as a Logitech MX518 but will likely stay at that price unlike the Logitech, which can be had for $40 right now. At any rate, this is likely to satisfy many people that have been crying for years for an Apple branded multi-button mouse. The downsides are the price, no fancy optics, and lack of a bluetooth version (big boo for that one). Hopefully Apple will start offering an option to switch out the regular mouse for this on new systems (for a discounted price of $20 or so) or even be so bold as to make it the standard mouse for Powermacs, leaving the single button for the iMacs and eMacs. Update: It even makes noises when scrolling. Cute! Update 2: Amazon has it available for pre-order.

I pulled the trigger on it. I added Google Ads to Tag Central. I’ve also added a shop section to this site. If you’re looking to buy something I’ve reviewed on the site or anything else from Amazon, please use that page. There is no cost difference to you and I get a percentage of the sale. It’s a great way for you to get some merchandise at a good price generally with free shipping and support the site. ...