Effect of Dell buying Alienware ? As you may recall, the upscale PC manufacturer was bought by Dell last March. Now it turns out they've childlishly cut off a reviewer because they didn't like a review written. Not that it was wrong, just it pointed out a unit was overpriced for what it offered.
Details here.

More info on Firefox 2.0: All is not lost. Upgrading to 2.0 keeps your prior configuration, and if that was blocking 3rd party cookies, that functionality remains. That feature can be added anytime by the arcane method of entering about:config in the URL window, and hitting enter. Then set the key : network.cookie.cookieBehavior; the default value is 0 (all cookies allowed) you want a 1
(no 3rd party cookies).

Delay for Vista: Microsoft has announced that Vista will be delayed and is not shipping to computer makers at the end of October. It still has 500 known bugs. Story here .
Apparently the retail versions, to be released in January will be released on time ready or not. We can safely predict that as Microsft working with Computer manufacturers will provide upgrade coupons for Vista to anyone now buying a new PC with Windows XP installed. The coupon will provide a free or reduced price copy of Vista (when available). Story here .
What will be interesting is to see what happens with these coupons. Will they be counterfeited out of Ukraine? Will they, or can they be resold on eBay?

Whither Firefox 2.0: I can no longer recommend Firefox, and I will not use Firefox 2.0.
They have removed the ability to block 3rd party cookies/tracking cookies/Spyware.
Others have noticed this perfidy also. Read here: I will continue to use Firefox 1.5.0.7, and perhaps being open software, someone will add back the necessary feature Mozilla has removed from Firefox 2.0. The released final version of Internet Explorer 7 still allows blocking of 3rd party cookies.

No Salespeople Needed ? At a Macy's in Houston, TX, I happened across an iPod vending machine. Swipe your credit card, and select an iPod or any of a large variety of accessories. Strangely it was placed at the edge of the shoe department. Such machines apparently have been around for 18 months.
See here.

Internet Explorer 7 released: A non beta, non Release Candidate "Final Version" is now available from Microsoft. Download it here.

Followup : Less than 24 hours later, Security Flaw identified. And soon another.

I HATE SPYWARE : Yet many of the most "reputible" Internet Sites stick your computer chocky fulll of spyware in the form of "Tracking Cookies" so they'll know where you're going. They don't ask permission, they just do it, and in addition to violating your privacy, it slows your Internet connection down. Luckily it's easy to stop it all. Just configure your browser to not allow "Third Party Cookies", and that will stop Yahoo and others from their perfidy. Instructions here . I think all Browsers should as a default block 3rd party cookies; the only one I know that does that is Safari. Ironically, the Washington Posts' (home of the just linked instructions) web site is one of the worst offenders for sticking you with third party cookies (and tricks your browser into accepting some even when 3rd party cookies are blocked!) aka tracking cookies, aka Spyware, so make sure you clear your cookies after setting your browser and leaving that website; Instructions here. Cookies can helpful for a website, for instance to retain information as you navigate within the website, i.e. what State you live in, that you're already authenticated, etc. Therefore some websites won't work if you blocked all cookies. In theory websites could block you if you refused to accept third party cookies. Any such website, you shouldn't be visiting anyway.

Running MS Windows Vista RC2 on a Macintosh: Not too hard to do on a MacPro. Runs fast, doesn't seem all that different or better from Windows XP. In fact:
MS Windows Vista is likely to be the most insecure Operating System ever published.
Two main reasons.
1. Microsoft wants a piece of the antivirus program market and has locked competitors out of its Security Control Panel in Vista. Symantec and McAfee are playing chicken, and refusing to release a Vista compatible AntiVirus product. Not easy finding antivirus software for Vista RC2.
2. For security reasons Microsoft makes the user confirm EVERYTHING whenever you run an executible or download a plug-in. It's so annoying that quickly a user will likely blindly click OK for everything, thus totally negating the benefit of Microsofts' planning.

Running Windows XP simultaneously With Mac OS X: Parallels is the software that provides for this. They just posted a "Release Candidate" that works on the MacPro. Parallels has many defects remaining. USB grief, won't work (for me) with both of my DVD-RW drives, Sound still not working correctly, but installing the included "Parellels Tools" helped a lot. I can share my Fat 32 partition with my OS X paradigm, and I love the way the cursor goes in and out of a Windows XP Window as you move it in and out of the Window.

It took far too much time to get it in a usable condition, but it does now do all I need it to. I can run MS Money, MS Access and IE 6 (which some websites require because they never learned about anybrowser.org). FrontPage 2003 provided authentication grief with Microsoft, they sure know how to alienate customers, but a barely intelligible CSR in India finally provided a code. Working just fine for the apps that I need most, I'll be using Parallels in preference to Boot Camp, (and Parallels never has a SATA slowdown, like Apple's Boot Camp 1.1 does without hacking your Windows Install CD), so I orderd a copy of Parallels (through MacInTouch at Amazon) at a discount.

The 15 day trial copy is a great way for folks to evaluate software. http://www.parallels.com/en/download/desktop/

Amazon thinks it's iTunes. Amazon has launched a new "service" UNBOX, which provides downloads of TV shows and Movies. Only issue - you can't burn them to a playable DVD. So it's hardly like an unboxed commercial DVD. It reminds me more of the failed Circuit City DIVX. Take a known service and provide extra restritions on the use, and expect people to pay the same price.
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Beware new AOL free client: Leading Industry watchdog at Harvard labels the free version of AOL 9.0 as badware. Full story here.

Turnabout is fair play ! Microsoft has been trying to minimize the Google monopoly on search function. Now Google is going to do the same for Microsoft's big cash cow, Microsoft Office. Story here.

I love my new MacPro ! The new Mac Pro is a great Workstation PC. It uses 2 high end dual core Xeon Processors, fast SATA Hard Drives, and fast ECC Memory. Since it uses Intel processors, in theory one should be able to run Windows on it. Apple in fact has made that easy with their "BootCamp" software. I created a 32 Gig Partition and formatted it with FAT32 to simplify transferring files between Windows and Mac OS worlds. Software exists to run both OSs simultaneously, but a version that works with the new MacPro hasn't been released yet, so for now, switching requires a simple reboot; and that reboot is relatively fast with this fast machine.

Dump Windows Update and WGA - How to is here.

Microsoft retreats (a little) - Microsoft's WGA spyware no longer checks daily allegedly. Story here.

Microsoft has Installed Spyware on your PC - Brian Livingston, author of many "Windows Secrets" books and normally a mild mannered person, takes Microsoft to task for their WGA beta program, which they secretly have "phone home" - thus it is spyware. Full story here:

This TiVo could live forever: My son bought a lifetime contract (for $250) 3 1/2 years ago when he got a 140060 SA TiVo. Monthly fees would have cost him $543 by now. He was upset when his TiVo "died" last month.

I told him: Let me try and fix it, it's probably just the hard drive", and if he decided to stay with the Comcast DVR he got in the meantime, I could sell it on eBay for him. Frys had 300 Gig Seagates for cheap to use to replace/upgrade his OEM hard drive so I got one.

When I got the unit, I plugged it in, and despite lighting up, nothing to the TV screen, upon opening it up, the Hard Drive wasn't spinning up. I tried a different hard drive, and it too lay dormant. I went to the Weaknees.com site where it confirmed my suspicion that the Power Supply was bad, so I ordered a replacement from them. It came today, and I swapped it in, and voila : TiVo LIVES. Then I restored the 3 1/2 year old OEM 60 Gig HD onto the new 300 Gig HD, which saved all my son's settings and recording (took about 90 minutes). His TiVo now has ~ 370 hours recording time, and still has its Lifetime Subscription. Instructions here.

My son wants it back, telling me his Comcast DVR only recorded 80% of what he told it to.
I own a DirecTv unit with TiVo, so I have no need for it, and it's being shipped now.

It's nice to be able to do things for ones' children.

Can you hear me now? Allegedly a high frequency ringtone has been making the rounds in Great Britain. Teens can hear it, adults can't so the story goes. I'm not aware of any cell phone that has the capability of producing such high frequency sounds, so I'm skeptical. Story here:
Download the ringtone here.

I knew, do you know? Five things you should know before trying to Install
Windows Vista, Beta 2. Story here.

Five other things you should know.

1. GHOST your hard drive before installing Vista.
2. Create a new partition for Vista so you can dual boot.
3. Download your Soundblaster Drivers from Creative Labs.
4. Turn off Energy Savings on your Network Card. Turn off Vista Sidebar.
Configure settings for your Domain/Workgroup.
5. Firefox 1.5.0x works great, use it.

Microsoft is too cheap to buy enough bandwidth from Akamai. Anyone can now download a beta of Windows Vista here. In theory anyway. Try it Thursday morning, June 8, 2006, and you get this message:

Thank you for your interest in Windows Vista Beta 2.

We are currently experiencing a high level of demand and cannot process your request at this time.

Please check back later for availability. We apologize for any inconvenience.

FOLLOWUP: Luckily third parties have mirrored it. You may have more luck downloading it here. Don't forget to get an install code from Microsoft. Thanks to that mirror I downloaded it quickly. Read one opinion of installing Vista in the June 8 posting on a blog here, and here .