Keep up the good work!

Mozilla Firefox continues to eat into Microsoft Internet Explorer's share of web browser usage - dropping IE under 90% market share. Firefox is at 6.17%, and rising - but we can do better. Tell everyone you know - Get Firefox!

George Lucas plans to re-release Star Wars - in 3-D

Interesting announcement - appearing at ShoWest in Las Vegas, George Lucas and a group of other Hollywood directors including James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis and Robert Rodriguez promoted the latest in 3-D technology, Lucas going as far as stating that he will re-release the Star Wars films - all of them - in 3-D. He stated that he hoped to re-release Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope in time for it's 30th anniversary in 2007, and then re-release the rest one per year. Part of the presentation included a screening of clips of Episode IV and Episode II that had been put through the new 3-D treatment by the Agoura Hills, California based firm In-Three. And director Peter Jackson (who joined the others via a pre-taped segment, recorded in 3-D) screened portions of The Lord of the Rings that had undergone the treatment. Lucas was quoted as saying "When you see some of this test footage, it's shockingly good, and you can see how people would want to go see it. It means we can repurpose a lot of old movies, and at the same time it really gives a whole new dimension to the movies we're making now." So, the question is - is this legitimately for the promotion and enhancement of the technology, or just a chance to grab more money?

Mozilla cancels release of Thunderbird 1.0.1

Mozilla announced yesterday that they've cancelled the anticipated 1.0.1 release of their email client, Thunderbird. Their browser, Firebird, is currently on a 1.0.1 release. They said they will work on the next release of Firebird (1.0.2), and the fixes that would have occured in Thunderbird will be added to it's next release (also 1.0.2). So, what does all this mean to the average user? Nothing really - things will work fine till the next release. No announced date, they'll only say that "Release candidate builds of Firefox 1.0.2 and Thunderbird 1.0.2 are expected soon."

A look at Sony's PSP

I really want one of these - here's an article all about the Sony PSP. It's available starting next Thursday, should cost about $249. It plays games and is capable of showing movies using Sony's high capacity (1.8 GB) Universal Media Disc (UMD). The first 1 million US units will come with a Spiderman 2 disc. It's got Memory Stick, an IR port and 802.11b wireless built in - plus you can connect it to a PC using it's USB 2.0 port, and if you add software to your computer for Sony's Connect online media purchasing service you can download music directly to your PSP. Eventually Sony's Connect service will have video content offerings as well - the service is going to be re-launched later this year to support those kinds of content downloads. Folks in Japan (where PSP has been available for the last 4 months) have figured out a hack to allow you to download content to PSP without paying for it, so I'm sure someone here will figure it out also.

Be careful what you say on AIM, you never know who might be eavesdropping

Apparently AOL has changed it's terms of service for AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) that give AOL the right to use anything and everything you send through AIM in any way they see fit, without informing you of it. Here's an article written about it on another blog. This is worrisome for most, but I'm not personally concerned since I'd never have a conversation through AIM that I'd be worried about someone seeing. If you use AIM for communication that needs to be secure and private you are a fool - it's NEVER been a secure communication tool. If you just chat with friends or family and don't send sensitive information via AIM, you shouldn't have to worry about this at all. That said, this change is still bothersome. The section of the new terms of service that states "by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy." is just a horrible invasion of privacy if you ask me. Think there's any hope they'll change their mind about this?

My brother - luckiest man alive!

My brother works for a audio-visual presentation services company - basically they develop and produce events (incorporating stage lighting and decoration, audio, multimedia presentations and many other services) for clients such as Microsoft, Burger King, various automakers shows at the Detroit Auto Show, and other events. Sure, you say, that's cool. But why is he the luckiest man alive, you ask? Well, the recent event he's working on is for Burger King and their partner in a new promotion - Lucasfilm. My brother's company will be doing a big event for Burger King, part of which involves a screening of Episode III before it is released in theatres. That in and of itself is very cool, but there's more. To setup the event and coordinate all the different aspects of it, he'll be attending a meeting with executives for all parties. Held at Skywalker Ranch (Here's another link with more pictures and additional info about the ranch). Now that is cool - I'm very jealous!

Survivor : Palau casting scandal

Don't know if this is true or not, but I wouldn't put it past the producers of Survivor - Wanda Shirk, one of the first two people eliminated this season, has raised allegations that 7 contestants originally cast for the show were cut and replaced with professional models selected by the producers. The interview is online at tvguide.com (you need a subscription to their site to read it), or you can read an article on realitytvworld.com about the whole scandal, and how CBS is, of course, refuting her claims. In the article, CBS spokesperson Colleen Sullivan tells Reality TV World that "Wanda's allegation is simply untrue. I spoke with casting and not ONE modeling agency was contacted." So I guess it comes down to who do you believe, CBS or Wanda?

Is Apple the new Microsoft?

This article poses the question, and it's a valid question. All I can tell you is, in my experiences recently - they aren't the company they used to be.

Big Brother is watching...

Tadayoshi Kohno, a doctoral candidate at the University of California San Diego has authored a research paper outlining a way to 'fingerprint' a computer remotely, allowing someone to track it no matter where it connects to the internet. Here's a link to an article on ZDNet Australia that summarizes his findings. Application of his technique could be used to "help track laptops as they move, perhaps as part of a Carnivore-like project" or "obtain information about whether two devices on the Internet, possibly shifted in time or IP addresses, are actually the same physical device." He also states that "For all our methods, we stress that the fingerprinter does not require any modification to or cooperation from the fingerprintee." Kohno and his team tested their techniques on many operating systems, including Windows XP and 2000, Mac OS X Panther, Red Hat and Debian Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and even Windows for Pocket PCs 2002. Whoa. A little disturbing to think of the possible ways this could be used against people by government agencies, or evil hackers though. The 'fingerprint' technique can even sniff out PC's that are behind a NAT (Network Address Translation) device like a router, so there's no way to hide from it, apparently. Maybe nothing to worry about, but it's like I always say - Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you.

Online Gallery from the New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is creating a new online gallery of over 275,000 images digitized from it's collection. It contains illuminated manuscripts and vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and historical maps, plus illustrated books and much more. It's being optimized to handle the likely very high traffic to the site, but it'll be available here once it's ready. You can read more about it here. This looks like it will be very deeply cool once it's up and running.

Star Wars Episode III trailer news

In case you haven't heard yet, the 'full release' trailer (with over 2 minutes of footage from the movie) for Episode III will premiere during the March 10th episode of The OC. Then it'll be shown in theatres starting March 11th before Robots. It'll also be available at starwars.com right after The OC, but only if you're a starwars.com Hyperspace member. It'll start showing on starwars.com for non-members of the 14th.

Oh, this sounds like a bad, bad idea

A new product showcased at Microsoft's TechFest on Wednesday was a robot teddy bear prototype, designed to help parents monitor their children. It would incorporate a wireless internet connection and a camera to allow a parent to observe their child online, while the bear's head swivels around to keep an eye on the child thanks to a facial recognition program. Scary idea, if you ask me. I don't think I'd be keen to trust my kid to a Microsoft product - but a lot of these things at the TechFest never really make it to final market products, so who knows if this will ever be available on store shelves near you. I kinda think the idea of a robot child monitoring system itself is a bad idea, my parents didn't have to much trouble monitoring me when I was a child, and they did it the old fashioned way. You know, actually being there - in the same house. Heck, even in the same room sometimes! I know, that's just crazy talk, isn't it?

The Amazing Race season 7 premiere

Wow, it's very cool to have another Amazing Race so soon after season 6 ended, and the new seventh season kicked off with a overall pretty cool 2 hour episode last night. I'm still not remembering specifics about every team (that takes a few weeks), and I'm not as annoyed at Rob and Amber as I thought I would be (but I'm still not a fan of the stunt casting on TAR). I kinda liked Ryan and Chuck (my wife and I nicknamed them 'Boomhauer', cause they've got that same accent and fast speech pattern), the first team eliminated - which is a depressing parallel to last season, when I thought Avi and Joe could be fun Racers and then they were the first team eliminated. We'll see how the next few weeks go, I'm hoping that this season ends better than last. In a disturbing development, they had an ad soliciting Racers for next season, and they're looking for families of four. Not sure how I feel about a Family Edition of TAR...

Babylon 5 movie deal dead

According to the series creator J. Michael Straczynski, the dream of a Babylon 5 movie is over - a post to the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (reprinted at this link to JMSNews.com) lays out just how close it was to becoming reality, and that now it seems like a movie version of the series will not come to be. Sad news indeed - I for one had been really hoping that this movie would get made.

Sin City the movie!

This movie looks like it's going to be really really cool - go here to watch the trailer and here to check out the official site.

You want some cheese with that whine, Michael?

Apparently Michael Gorman, President of the American Library Association, is not fond of bloggers. He also smacks Google around in that article, talking about an op-ed piece he wrote for the Los Angeles Times called "Google and God's Mind (December 17th, 2004)" in which he "question(s) the usefulness of Google digitizing millions of books and making bits of them available via its notoriously inefficient search engine." Well, I'm rather surprised that the Dean of Library Services, Madden Library, California State University doesn't like Google, or blogs. Because if I can read blogs (some of which have actual good information and/or valid points on world affairs) and search Google for information and for books - why would I even need to step inside a library again? So yeah, I'm not at all surprised. But to call Google "notoriously inefficient" seems just a little harsh. Maybe he's just bad at it, and has to take it out on those of us who can actually use Google to find what we are looking for more quickly and efficiently than we could by going to the library. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not against libraries, and I think supporting and funding libraries is important. Maybe a better way to approach the "Blog People" as he calls them would be to start a discussion of ways their worlds can merge - libraries and Google and blogs all working together. I can think of one of the "Blog People" who helps libraries all the time, Pamela Ribon. She runs Pamie.com, and she's spent tons of her time organizing book drives for libraries. It's very cool how they do it, the library creates a wish list on Amazon.com of books they'd like to have, and people go to those wish lists, buy a book or two, and have them shipped to the library that needs them. Now how's that for integrating libraries and "Blog People"?

Second season of Battlestar Galactica to premiere this summer

SciFi announced yesterday that the second season of Battlestar Galactica, which has been getting good ratings for them, will begin airing this summer. Good news - and it's also confirmed that the entire cast will be returning. They're scheduled to shoot 20 new episodes, and production will begin next month. A quote from the story states that "The series, which premiered on Jan. 14, has been averaging over 3 million viewers per episode and has quickly become SCI FI's highest-rated original series and has received unprecedented critical acclaim." That's also good news - I really like it, and I hate it when good shows that I like get screwed over. The show is also apparently very popular among file sharing folks, ranking 9th on the list of top 10 most downloaded shows. Even if you don't get into the whole file sharing thing, you can go to the Galactica part of the SciFi site and watch the first episode legally - and commercial free!

So... tired...

Wow am I tired right now - stayed up too late last night I guess. Don't you hate it when you are really tired, and it seems like every question someone asks you is just the most insipid, most inane, just plain DUMBEST thing anyone has ever asked? Now imagine that situation magnified a thousand fold - and you've got an idea how bad a mood I'm in right now. When you feel wiped out, tired, and really crabby? Yeah, that's not the best time to be talking to a bunch of mouth breathing morons. It reminds me of an old saying "Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience." So true, so very true. Bah, this sucks. Maybe I just need some more coffee...

UPDATE : SPOILER ALERT : Episode III screenshots

Here's a link to a mirror site where the pics are still viewable - for now...

A FINAL(?) UPDATE : 2/25 @ 8:04am At last check, this site was down, and the one linked below was back up. And the working one has some GIF images of a couple of the lightsaber battles - very cool!!

SPOILER ALERT : Website with screenshots from Episode III

Not sure if this site is still up, or if it's just getting crushed because it was linked on Slashdot this morning, but here's a link to site reporting to have 80 screenshots from Star Wars Episode III : Revenge of the Sith. Apparently they say there are more screenshots to come - if the site is ever reachable.