| Microsoft and Apple Patent Disputes |  |  |  |
| Written by admin | | Monday, 30 March 2009 | Earlier this month we saw patent problems hounding both Microsoft and Apple, where the former had bigger problems after being ordered by the court to pay $388 million dollars.
Microsoft patent infringement is against Uniloc, who claims that they own the patent on how Microsoft is activating Windows XP, Office XP, and Windows Server 2003. Microsoft is looking to have a favorable result after their appeal.
Apple on the other hands is being sued by Elan Microelectronics after two years of licensing talks have failed. The Taiwanese company argues that Apple has violated two patents on their touchscreen technology found on iPod/iPhone, MacBook.
It is always interesting to see whenever a smaller guy goes after the goliath. In the case of Microsoft, David won the first round. Would Apple prevail over this one?
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| Written by admin | | Saturday, 28 March 2009 | GM CEO Fritz Henderson announced last night that Pontiac will be shut down indefinitely. Executives say that the move is just the first in many drastic measures needed to help the company survive the recession.
Pontiac is scheduled to be shut down next year after inventories are eventually cleared. This news comes as a surprise to many analysts who know that Pontiac was GM’s third best selling make. Other GM subsidiaries like Saturn, Saab, and Hummer are also on the razors edge as they too may be downsized or closed completely. The reason why Pontiac was chosen for the axe was due to profitability concerns. Pontiac was not making GM a substantial enough profit.
21,000 jobs are expected to be cut in the coming months when the company closes its doors. Pontiac was introduced by GM in 1927 with the Pontiac Chief and has been a symbol of power ever since.
Okay let’s talk frankly about this. The reason why the automakers are in trouble is not because their cars aren’t selling, Pontiac is proof of that, it’s because of bad inefficient managerial structuring. If GM were to hand over Pontiac to a small car company who can manage the profits better, they would thrive. But let’s face it GM would rather shut them down than admit their inefficiency and sell them off. Perhaps they are afraid that Pontiac would be profitable for someone else and become a strong competition. Instead they’ll get cut and with no intent of bringing them back in the future. Sad.
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| Kindle 2 Periscope Lighted Folio | | | |
| Written by admin | | Wednesday, 25 March 2009 | One benefit of e-ink is the fact that shining a light on it is enough to make low-light reading possible. That’s a reality exploited by the Periscope Lighted Folio for Kindle 2, which is basically a folio (well, duh!) with space for a notepad, pens, a swiveling twin LED light, and of course, a Kindle 2. That’s all for $50.
The Periscope Lighted Folio also has space for 3 “AA” batteries, which—as claimed by maker Periscope—can power the LED light for 40 hours or more. Periscope also made sure to highlight its Folio’s magnetic lock feature, which allows the user to keep the folio folded onto itself, compacting the whole she-bang “to faciliate one-handed use”. Surely you can spend $50 more, after you’ve spent $360 on the Kindle 2 itself!
You can visit periscopelight.com for more info on where to buy.
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| Written by admin | | Sunday, 22 March 2009 | Reality show, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, is back for another season and NBC has announced the new cast. The featured “stars” include newlyweds, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt (MTV’s “The Hills”), NBA star and commentator John Salley (”Best Damned Sports Show Period”), former supermodel and TV star heidi and spencer on I'm a Celebrity Janice Dickinson (”The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency”), actor Stephen Baldwin (”The Mole,” “Celebrity Apprentice”), former American Idol finalist, Sanjaya Malakar, and professional wrestler and beauty queen Torrie Wilson.
Disgraced former Illinois Governor, Rob Blagojevich, is trying to work out an arrangement that will allow him to participate in the show despite having travel restrictions in place due to the charges pending against him (the show is filming in Costa Rica).
I’m not ashamed to admit that I have watched and enjoyed this show before. It’s summertime and there isn’t much on TV anyway so I end up watching this as I relax at night. You know that Janice Dickinson is going to be completely nuts, Sanjaya is going to be prissy and Heidi and Spencer will do anything for a little publicity. I hope someone surprises me and shows just how tough they are despite their (somewhat) pampered lifestyles.
The two-hour premiere kicks off on June 1, 2009 and will run Monday through Thursdays until the finale on Wednesday, June 24 (8-9 p.m.). If you miss it during the week, MTV will be airing a marathon of the week’s episodes each Sunday, starting June 7, 2009.
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| Jenson Button Formula One Winner | | | |
| Written by admin | | Tuesday, 17 March 2009 | Jenson Button once again pulled away from the field to take the checkered flag for Brawn in Sunday’s Formula One race in Bahrain Spain and 31 of a possible 40 championship points after winning three of the first four races in the 2009 Formula One season. Button raced like a man possessed to make his way through a tough field of determined racers and was able to keep his car together and out in front for most of the race.
The start was the key as he was able to take advantage of Lewis Hamilton’s sudden arrival between the Toyotas in the run to the first turn to stay high and squeeze around the outside of Sebastian Vettel in Turn One, and into third behind the Toyotas. He just waited for the leaders to pit and then pulled into the front and never really looked back.
Button raced intelligently and fast, waiting his time and only losing the lead for a few laps after his stops on lap 15 and lap 37, before retaking the lead for the last time and never being threatened again by the field.
Button reported the failure of an electrical box in his cockpit that heated him up a bit, but other than that called it one of his best afternoons of racing in his career.
Barrichello decided on a pre-race strategy of three stops that didn’t work out and was disappointed to finish the race in fifth, just ahead of Raikkonen, but was still able to grab Ferrari’s first point of the 2009 Formula One season with his fifth place finish.
Vettel really lost his opportunity in the first run to Turn One, with Hamilton on the right and Button on the left he got squeezed out and stuck behind the leaders, which cost him rubber and speed. He stayed strong through most of the race and was able to race his way past Trulli to take second and continue to show the strength of his resolve and racing skill.
Trulli had a brain freeze and decided to change his tires to primes and lost time, before changing back to super-soft tires and gaining ground to finish third. A disappointing finish considering expectations and qualifying times, so the decision to change tires will certainly be questioned by many.
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| Written by admin | | Saturday, 14 March 2009 | The legendary Bob Dylan is releasing a new album tomorrow titled Together Through Life (pick up the Deluxe Edition!) and I think it looks amazing. He’s got classics on there like “Jolene,“ “I Feel a Change Bob Dylan Poster Comin’ On” and he’s got some great duets like “You’ve Got a Friend” with Carole King and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” with T Bone Burnett.
Dylan has also announced that he will be doing a summer tour at minor league baseball parks across the U.S. with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. This will be the second time in 24 years that the trio has shared a stage.
The tickets haven’t gone on sale yet but, starting on May 2, 2009 you can pick some up at ballpark box offices or through Ticketmaster. The price will be $67.50 for general admission but children under 14 years of age will get in free! It could be a great way to spend the day with the family outdoors while enjoying some excellent music!
You can also check out the tour page on Bob Dylan’s official site since it seems to be updated regularly and has links/dates for when and where to buy tickets.
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| Written by admin | | Wednesday, 11 March 2009 | MSI released the Wind U100 not long ago, and now they have unveiled yet another Wind U100 – except that it comes with a PLUS. So you might be wondering what are the additional special features of the Wind U100 PLUS?
Of course, the Wind U100 PLUS comes with the latest 1.66GHz Atom N280 processor as well as utilizing Intel’s 945GMS chipset. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything to shout about when it comes to the chipset as it still has a laggish GMA950 integrated graphics which I don’t really think you can use to play any sort of games in the market.
Here are the rest of the hardware configurations:
10-inch LCD (1,024 x 600)
Up to 2GB of DDR2-533 RAM
160GB hard drive
4-in-1 multicard reader
VGA output
3 USB 2.0 sockets
3-cell or 6-cell battery
WiFi
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
1.3 megapixel webcam
MSI claims that the 6-cell Wind U100 PLUS can provide you with 7 hours of extended usage – but we all know that these claims always come with a clause.
There’s no mention on the price and availability just yet.
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| Written by admin | | Saturday, 07 March 2009 | Dell has revealed that they have actually released their Studio 15 laptop in the American soil. You can now officially purchase the Studio 15 at the Dell web portal. On the other hand, the Studio 15 is also available for Canada and Latin America.
Apart from its stylish outlook, the Studio 15 comes packed with various goodies as well, such as
15.6-inch LED-backlit display
1366 x 768 resolution
256MB or 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 graphics
Core 2 Duo processors
Built-in 2 megapixel webcam
HDMI out
Optional Blu-ray drive
Optional backlit keyboard
On the other hand, the Studio 15 also comes with 6 color variants. If you are wondering how much for a basic model – Dell is charging $649.
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| Written by admin | | Sunday, 01 March 2009 | Seriously speaking, Fujitsu manufactures one of the most expensive computers in the market. Frankly speaking, I don’t know why would anyone in the right mind would want to splash good cash into Fujitsu’s electronics as most likely, their components are pretty similar with what you are getting from other computer manufacturers – Intel chipset and Intel processors.
On the other hand, Fujitsu has recently unveiled their latest upgrades for their FMV-Deskpower series. In fact, there is an available RAM upgrade for the all-in-one F-Series; a Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM and 1TB hard drive for its LX Series. And as for the Deskpower CE series, you can upgrade the processor.
Sporting a 19 inch display, the FMV-Deskpower also comes with 500GB storage, and 4GB RAM.
Not sure how much this particular all-in-one PC would cost, but I’m sure Fujitsu would be charging you a premium for all the same components that you are getting.
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