OftenWrong.net

Surface is a touch sensitive table/computer. I won’t bore you with the details, you can find them at the links below.

It looks really pretty and fun. I can even imagine this being useful in a meeting setting, where multiple people can provide input into something like a project plan or preparing a presentation. However, I don’t see this technology as world changing. Cool, yes, but not likely to help the average Joe get his work done faster, and that will always relegate this to ‘cool tech toy’ status.

Microsoft’s Surface site
Today Show Review

And finally, here is a video, of what looks to me to be MS Surface from TechFest a few weeks ago:

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Hey Diggers, enough with the Microsoft patent stories.

There are three of them on the Digg homepage as I write this, even though I thought this is a dead issue. Yes, MS told us Linux infringes on a bunch of patents held by MS. Yes, Microsoft releases materials showing Linux is inferior to MS. Remember, Microsoft is competing with Linux. Apple airs a gazillion commercials a day saying how much Microsoft sucks. Linux users tell everyone how much Microsoft sucks whenever the opportunity arises. Microsoft is just doing the same with the anti-Linux materials and the patent claims.

Here’s my problem, though: Microsoft had publicly stated that they are not going to persue those patent claims.

Despite its claim to own 42 patents used in the creation of the Linux kernel and hundreds more embedded in other free software programs, Microsoft does not plan to take a page from The SCO Group and sue users of the open source operating system, a senior company official said Monday.
“We’re not litigating. If we wanted to we would have done so years ago,” said Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s VP for intellectual property and licensing, in an interview.

via InformationWeek

So enough, already with all the Microsoft patent stories. It’s a dead issue.

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Chinese company Golden Dragon Group, Ltd plans to market their eCiggarette, a new smoking technology with an old internet technology name, outside of China later this year.

These electronic ciggies are battery powered, look like real cigarettes, deliver nicotine to the lungs in 7-10 seconds, and supposedly deliver none of the bad carcinogens that smokers love to hate.

The electronic cigarette has been around in China since 2003, and sales have been climbing steadily since. They currently cost about $200, but there is not word on what they might cost when they reach the States.

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I’ve got three shiny new invitations for Joost. Finally, all of us who want, no NEED to watch shows that can’t quite cut it on basic cable can watch in peace.

Actually, Joost seems really cool, but there are still some kinks. I’ll go into more detail on that some other time, though.

I’m going to give them to he three people who post a comment to this thread that make me laugh the most. Simple as that, I’m finally in a position to judge someone else after years of being outsourced and ridiculed!!!

However, I understand that mine is a but a tiny website and I have no idea if three people will even read this.

I’m traveling tomorrow (4/18) so I’ll send invites out sometime on the 19th.

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I’m a big fan of DVRs. I have 2 Tivos, a Comcast DVR, a PC equipped with BeyondTV, and 2 media center PCs. I actually don’t watch all that much TV, but with all the options I have I can watch what I want wherever I want. And I’m a bit of a technology whore. I just buy stuff to try it out…

So I’m kind of excited to hear about Plextor’s new USB HDTV reciever.

The high-speed USB 2.0 receiver comes bundled with software that automatically scans for free air-to-air digital and HD signals in a given area and will subsequently pull them in with a flat digital antenna. Users can then watch and record live TV with standard definition TV and HDTV video resolution in the basic configuration, Plextor said.

The receiver also converts recorded TV into MPEG-2 files in real-time and stores them on the user’s hard drive. Once there, they can be easily burned directly onto a DVD, according to Michael Arbisi, vice president of channel sales for Plextor.

The receiver will ship in April with an MSRP of $99.00. Wife permitting, I’m sold.

via Extreme Tech

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I’ve had Vista installed since mid-December now. I know Apple has already done it, but I thought the addition of the Sidebar was great.

I recently visited the Sidebar Gadget download page and was appalled at the lack of well-recieved gagdgets.

The top download is a simple calculator with a 2/5 rating. Two of the top rated gadgets are prayer related. Only one gagdget listed as ‘Top Rated’ has a rating of over 3/5. There are currently 396 gadgets available for download and after taking a quick scroll through the list nothing stands out at me as especially useful, innovative, or even very well recieved. The average rating seems to be about 2.5/5.

I’m not trying to bash gadgets, just critique the utility and quality of those currently available. Can anyone suggest a gadget they particularly like??

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There is now hope for insecure middle-aged men with disposable income.

A Florida company says it’s come up with a handheld laser device that promotes hair growth. And now they say they’ve got the OK from federal regulators to sell it.

The “Hairmax Lasercomb,” as it’s known, is a combination of a low-level laser and a comb. It went through a six-month clinical trial conducted by its manufacturer, Lexington International LLC., during which the device increased the number of thick hairs on the scalp.

Via MSNBC

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Hummer has announced it’s intent to “design, produce, market and distribute
a line of mobile phones, accessories and on-device services under the
HUMMER brand name in 2007″. Wow, how totally unexciting.

I could go on, but I’ve chosen to leave the ‘low gas milage:short battery life’ jokes to Gizmodo.

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