Poetro's blog: December 2006

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Video Game Review : Don’t buy that PS3 yet

If you’re considering buying a PlayStation 3, I have just one thing to say: Wait.

The PS3 has a lot of potential. I think it could do some cool things. But at the moment, there’s no particularly good reason to buy one.

For starters, most first-shipment game consoles later develop technical problems, especially Sony’s (think of the PlayStation 2’s “Disc read error”). At launch, companies just haven’t worked out all the bugs yet. In this case, however, it’s really expensive — I had to sell my nonexistent firstborn child to afford one. It’s just smart to wait a bit for later shipments.

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Tags: Technology | Playstation 3 | Playstation

Friday, December 29, 2006

Let it snow

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Tags: snow | Life

Spears and Hilton Form Close Bond

[q url="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7//&/amp;/amp;entry_id=11350"]Britney Spears and Paris Hilton have become so close since the pop superstar filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, the two are now like sisters, according to Hilton's representative.

The party pair have frequently been spotted out on the town over the past several weeks, and according to Hilton's spokesman Elliott Mintz it's more than just a passing fancy.

He tells entertainment Web site TMZ.com the two are "really forming a bond" and that they're "becoming like sisters."

Mintz claims 24-year-old Spears "looks up" to 25-year-old Hilton and that she's "extremely grateful" the socialite has taken her under her wing.

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Tags: superstar | DIVORCE | Paris Hilton | Britney Spears

Pamela Anderson to divorce Kid Rock

[q url="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds40061.html"]Pamela Anderson has filed for divorce from musician Kid Rock a mere four months into their marriage.

The former Baywatch actress is citing 'irreconcilable differences' for the decision and has hired top celebrity lawyer Neal Hersh to handle the divorce. A spokeswoman for the star confirmed the news to American magazine People: "Pamela filed for divorce last week. It wasn't a happy Thanksgiving."

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Shooting in Queens draws mayor's rebuke

[q url="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-groom28nov28,0,2616070.story?coll=la-home-headlines"]NEW YORK â/&/#128;/&/#148; Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Monday said that police who shot three unarmed men â/&/#128;/&/#148; riddling their car with 50 rounds â/&/#128;/&/#148; had used "excessive force," but he urged angry citizens to wait for facts to emerge from an investigation.

Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly spent much of the morning listening to complaints from the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), and about 20 clergymen and elected officials from Queens, which was home to Sean Bell.

Bell, 23, was killed early Saturday morning as he left his bachelor party, held at a strip club that police were monitoring for illicit activities. He was to be married later that day. Two other men in the car were wounded, one critically

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iPhone Launched... But Not By Apple

[q url="http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20307//&/amp;/amp;hed=iPhone+Launched...+But+Not+By+Apple//&/amp;/amp;sector=Industries//&/amp;/amp;subsector=InternetAndServices"]The iPhone is here. And it’s not from Apple. Home networking specialist Linksys on Monday introduced a series of Web-friendly handsets and systems designed for making Internet calls dubbed iPhone, a trademark that parent company Cisco Systems has owned for years.

The iPhone product series launched by Linksys, which manufactures home-networking equipment, works with Internet calling services, such as eBay’s Skype. The move came after months of speculation that Apple Computer would use the brand to launch a combined mobile phone and music player.

Cisco gained ownership of the iPhone trademark in 2000 when it acquired InfoGear Technology, an Internet appliance company. The San Jose, Calif., company’s reputation for manufacturing routers and switches that direct Internet traffic began changing in 2003 when it acquired Linksys, a maker of consumer home-networking products.

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Footage test

Testing the footage view

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Tags: asdasdasd | Technology

Test 2

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Tags: multiplicate | mathematics

Po-210 easy to produce, can be found in food - ex-nuclear minister, MOSCOW, November 30, (RIA Novosti)

[q url="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061130/56244741.html"]MOSCOW, November 30 (RIA Novosti) - Polonium-210, a highly toxic radioactive isotope widely believed to have been used to poison former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, can be manufactured even by a layman, a Russian former nuclear minister said Thursday.

Litvinenko, a Russian intelligence defector and a close associate of fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, died last Thursday in a London hospital. British health officials said Friday a large dose of Po-210 had been found in his body.

"Polonium is not actively used anywhere," Yevgeny Adamov said. "However, it is not difficult to manufacture. It can be done even by a layman without a chemical background."

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How not to be an iPod killer

[q url="http://playlistmag.com/weblogs/ipodblog/2006/11/ipodkiller/index.php"]Last week, Computerworldâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s Mike Elgan wrote an article titled, â/&/#128;/&/#156;Zune: So you want to be an iPod killer.â/&/#128;/&/#157; In it, he talked about the things he thinks Microsoft needs to do with the Zune to make it a true competitor to the iPod. Although he made a number of good points, about both the Zuneâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s current flaws and how it could improve to mount a stronger challenge to Appleâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s portable-player hegemony, I think Elganâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s main argumentâ/&/#128;/&/#148;that making the Zune work more like a Windows PC would result in a big win for Microsoftâ/&/#128;/&/#148;is off-base.

At the risk of making this article look like a point-by-point message-board response, allow me to quote the statements with which I differ most significantly from Mr. Elgan, and offer my own views:

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After all, the Mac is more elegant than Windows, but most people prefer Windows. And thatâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s how Microsoft can kill the iPod: Make the Zune more like a Windows PC.

Appleâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s closed, our-way-or-the-highway approach to locking everything down stifles innovation and customization. Some of the biggest iPod fans go to great lengths to overcome Appleâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s controls and modify their iPods. Just check out iPod Hacks, a site devoted to voiding iPodâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s warranty and bypassing Appleâ/&/#128;/&/#153;s strict gadget lockdown. Many of the hacks involve the installation of Linux with a special iPod interface called Podzilla.

This is what people do, even when Apple bans it. Imagine what would be possible if Microsoft encouraged modification of the Zune.

Let people transform the Zune into an Xbox game controller, a TV remote control, a portable presentation device, a wireless PC hard drive or a Vista gadget emulator. Give me a wireless keyboard and a Zune version of Pocket Outlook, and Iâ/&/#128;/&/#153;ll never buy another iPod.

Build ClearType into Zune and make it the ultimate eBook reader (and sell eBooks on Zune Marketplace).

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Jackson Calls On Entertainment Industry To Stop Use Of Slur

[q url="http://www.nbc4.tv/news/10406454/detail.html"]Jackson also asked the public not to buy a DVD box set of the seventh season of the TV show "Seinfeld" that was released last week.

Richards, who played the wacky neighbor Kramer on "Seinfeld," triggered outrage with a Nov. 17 racial rant against two black men when he was heckled during a stand-up comedy routine at the Laugh Factory nightclub in West Hollywood. A patron recorded the outburst with a video camera phone.

Richards has made several apologies, including one Sunday on Jackson's syndicated radio program, in which he has said he is not a racist and was motivated by anger.

At the press conference, comedian Paul Mooney said he has used the "n-word" numerous times during stand-up performances but will no longer do so after watching Richards' rant.

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re-edit, Penguins dance to top of US box office

[q url="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=165837"]The dancing penguins of Happy Feet stayed atop the North American box office, while the new James Bond shot toward a box office record for the franchise, according to estimates issued on Sunday by box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

The animated tale of Happy Feet, released by Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, earned $US37.9 million ($A48.59 million) over the three-day weekend in the United States and Canada, bringing its two-week box office take to $US100.1 million ($A128.34 million).

The latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale, featuring actor Daniel Craig as the franchise's newest Bond, pulled in $US31 million ($A39.75 million), bringing its domestic total for two weeks to $US94.2 million ($A120.78 million). The film's distributor, Sony Corp's Columbia Pictures, said Casino Royale's worldwide sales of $US224.4 million ($A287.71 million) put it on track to become the biggest Bond ever.

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