First report of running Windows XP on an Intel Mac: Someone has figured out how to do it. Whether its an easily reproducable technique is another matter. In theory, it should be easier to run XP on the new Macs, than run Mac OS X on a PC. Story here:

Fake MSN phishing web Pages shut down : Guess they weren't bribing enough. Bulgaria shut down some scammers. Story here.

New Firefox Browser for Intel Macintosh : Read about it here. Download it here.

Outrageous fear mongering : A storage "Expert" with perhaps a vested interest in Backup Tape solutions warns that CDs can have a 2 year life span, maximum 5 years. Story here. Silly me, despite the lack of credibility of the story, I pulled out some 5 and 6 year old CDs, and they were ALL perfectly 100% as readable as one created yesterday.

Google Earth - The Killer App for 2006. Totally awesome. And free for the Basic version. With the $200 add-on for the $400 Pro version you could plan a trip, make a video of the route, export it to a wmv, and then to a Podcast? Get the software (Windows or Macintosh) at earth.google.com

Same Tune, different verse - I'm sorry, I'm underwhelmed by new "Intel" Macintosh computers with Intel Dual core processors. If I thought it was bogus talking how much faster these processors make your computer before, it's still the same if they're in a formerly single processor Macintosh. Folks with an iMac tend not to be the one's doing commercial movie editing where (when it comes out in March) there's a high-priced application that can take advantage of the dual core Intel processor. Indeed, for now, most Macintosh applications are in worse shape. Not only don't they take advantage of the dual core processor, they don't even run directly on the Intel processor, but have the added overhead of "Rosetta" which translates PowerPC apps for Intel on the fly. It was sad watching Steve Jobs trying to double talk his way through using Photoshop that was struggling on a new Intel iMac. And of course forget about "Classic", as there's now no way of running OS 9 aplications on the Intel Macs. Real Soon Now, however, you will be able to run PC apps on such a Macintosh.

Free is Good - Thank you Google: Google announced that it will give away free software to help folks with their PCs. Story here:

Intel trickery - Fast new dual core Pentium D chips allow parallel processiing. Too bad no extant software you are likely to use gets any benefit from the more expensive chip. Read here:

Where's the Beef? of VISTA Bill Gates gave a "keynote" speech at yesterday's opening of the CES. It was largely a commercial for the next version of Windows : "VISTA", which has already been delayed. Microsoft is now in a lose-lose situation. It's credibility is suffering by the continued delays in anticipated release dates for VISTA (not to mention patching serious bugs in Windows WMF files). Microsoft already has web pages urging people upgrade to this vaporware OS. Computer sales will soon start to slump as folks will hold off buying Windows XP loaded computer(s), but rather have a VISTA loaded computer, thereby saving $200 per machine. Very soon, if not already, it will be time for Microsoft to issue "Technology Guarantee Upgrade" coupons for free upgrades to Windows VISTA with each new computer loaded with XP.

Symantec doesn't understand how a calendar works. My Macintosh has one of their products installed, Norton AntiVirus 10.0.2, and today Jan 1, 2006, it says "Your virus definitions appear to be out of date", despite the fact their date is 12/28/2005.