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Those of us who are still PC users but don’t want to give up our XP for Vista were very unhappy to realize that it will cease and desist by June, and that support will eventually end, too. We can blog about it all we want but we are not sure that will convince Microsoft to change its mind, although they did extend the deadline once. Galen Gruman began a petition that you can sign to voice your displeasure, but so far the company doesn’t seem interested. Still, it can’t hurt to join the over 100,000 signatures already obtained. And if that fails, there is always Linux or Mac.
Read More 
| InfoWorld
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Hubble Tracks Black Holes on the Internet
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Science, Software,
According to Ethan Katz-Bassett, a University of Washington grad student, there are black holes on the Internet. Funded by the National Science Foundations, he and his advisor Arvind Krishnamurthy designed a program to find them. They make sure that the problem is not just a temporary glitch on a site and mark them on a global map. The pair is hoping that service providers will use Hubble, named after the Space telescope that charts black holes, to track down their own issues. The findings will be presented at the Usenix Symposium being held next week in San Francisco.
Read More | MSNBC
ExpressionEngine 2.0 preview video
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Internet, Software, Videos,
UPDATE: Here are the high-resolution versions of the ExpressionEngine 2.0 sneak preview - we recommend disregarding the above video.
At Gear Live, we use ExpressionEngine to manage our vast array of sites, authors, and blog posts. Things like MovableType, WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal just don’t cut it for us.
During SXSW, we got the opportunity to get an early looks at ExpressionEngine 2.0. If you have a blog, or want to blog in the future, you need to watch this video to see what is coming soon from the crew over at EllisLab. We have a higher quality video coming soon for you high resolution types.
Latest Gear Live Videos
Just a quick heads up to our readers who continually write in asking if we are on Twitter. The answer is, unequivocally, yes. We’ve been there for quite a while now. So if you want to follow us, here are the two accounts you might be interested in:
- Gear Live: Get Gear Live updates sent to you through Twitter
- Andru Edwards: My personal account
If you are on Twitter, feel free to share your username in the comments.
Stolen Military Equipment Sold Online
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet,
Although police confiscated articles are being legally sold online, government investigators claim that military items are being sold illegally on eBay and craigslist. Posing as regular buyers, the Feds purchased items on the site that included two F-14 fighter jet components, night vision goggles, body armor, and army uniforms. The Government Accountability Office released a report which stated that the gear “could easily have been shipped overseas and used directly against our troops and allies.”
eBay says that only about 1/10 of 1% of items are military related but that things “slip through the cracks,” while craigslist, with its minimal staff of 25, depends on users to flag items on their site.
Amazon has a new service that allows shopping via cell phone, just in case you are having a shopping fix moment and can’t wait to get home or the nearest mall. TextBuyIt is fairly simple. Type in a keyword to 262966 (AMAZON) and they will send you a list of matches. Choose and select the appropriate number. Get more search results by using “m” for a total of 8 selections, “xd” for details, “h” for help, and “x” to purchase. After ordering, they will call you back so you can confirm or cancel. We like using Amazon and even though we doubt that we would use it on the fly, it may be the shape of things to come when computers and cell phones eventually become one.
Read More | Amazon
Tame Leaves a Message
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Internet, Transportation, Wireless / WiFi,
This concept could be the answer to our complaining about cell phone users in cars. Tame syncs your phone, IM, text messaging, Facebook application, etc. to auto-respond when you cannot. You store a message on each face and rotate it for the appropriate response with no button pushing needed. There is also a color coding system (green, yellow, and red) for contact information. With online software, you can customize the messages anywhere there is Internet access with Bluetooth updates. We like the prototype but once again figure the best way to curb cell phone usage while driving is to simply turn it off.
Read More | the Greener Grass
Nokia Opens N-Gage for Cell Phones
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Internet, Video Games,
Nokia has finally decided its mobile gaming service N-Gage is ready to meet the world. The website, unveiled this week, has the necessary software for you to download to connect with your cell phone. The company is planning to have about 30 games available by midyear with another 30 by the end of 2008. They also are offering free trials. Companies such as EA, Gameloft, and Glu Mobile will be designing games for them. Check with Nokia to see if you have the right model and if you must pay data charges to download the games.
Read More | BBC
Twinkle, the iPhone Twitter client
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Internet, Software,
If you own an iPhone and use Twitter, you are gonna wanna keep an eye on Twinkle. The app was just released this morning, and it is already my favorite iPhone Twitter client. Better than the mobile version of Twitter, better than Hahlo, and better than MobileTwitter. It supports photos with your Tweets, taken right from the iPhone camera, as well as geolocation. There is even a “Near Me” section that will show you other Twitter users in your area.
In order to install Twinkle, you’ll need to jailbreak your iPhone, and then add “http://www.polarbearfarm.com/repo/” to your Installer.app sources list. We’ve compiled a few screenshots of Twinkle, which you can find in our Twinkle gallery.
Gallery:
Gender Genie Algorithms Detect Author’s Sex?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Misc. Tech, Science,
We were so fascinated by a blog we wrote last week that mentioned being able to tell the sex of a writer from content that we just had to explore it more. Our research ended up at the Gender Genie. Based on the algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel of Bar-Ilan University in Israel and Shlomo Argamon of the Illinois Institute of Technology, you simply place some text on the site and it tells you if the writer is male or female. Try it yourself and note that they suggest something written with at least 500 words. We submitted one that was 471 words with these results.
In all fairness, we tried it again with a shorter piece but the result was the same. Hmmm. So much for math and science.
Read More | bookblog
