‘This Christmas’ I am mad!

I must start by saying I have not seen the movie starring the incomparable, utterly divine Regina King. But, I don’t need to have seen it to address my concern.
I don’t buy into a lot of things associated with the movies. I can probably count on two hands the number of films I’ve paid [...]

AT&T joins Jobs in saying a 3G iPhone will come next year

AT&T's CEO promises that the carrier will carry a 3G iPhone in 2008.

Meet the mutual fund with its own MySpace profile

Money is boring, unless you're spending it on something like an iPhone or a cute new pair of shoes.

Or unless you make investment cool, which is what a new company called Thrasher Funds is trying to do. It's a new mutual fund that's targeting the under-35 ...

Apple considering raise for Jobs?

After years of drawing just a dollar in salary, Apple CEO Steve Jobs could be in store for a raise.

Apple filed its annual report for its 2007 fiscal year Thursday afternoon, and hinted in a section about executive compensation that Jobs could be in for some real money fairly ...

Vista won't be abandoned so here's how to fix it

Why won't you abandon me, Microsoft?

(Credit: CNET)

Since Microsoft has abandoned my plan of abandoning Vista, I feel compelled to help the company out in any way I can. And while I still believe abandoning Vista is the only true option of fixing Windows, I can appreciate the fact that Microsoft has dumped a huge sum of cash into the OS and it's loath to lose out.

Of course, with reports suggesting Vista will become a target for hackers in 2008 and now, even Microsoft executives have no idea what "Vista Capable" really means, I can't help but think this operating system is tanking faster than Microsoft Bob.

But I digress. Although Windows XP running Service Pack 3 is almost twice as fast as Windows Vista running SP1 and major hardware manufacturers are still selling XP machines out of desire for once, Microsoft wants to hold on to Vista regardless of where it takes the company. Will it force the company into a tailspin? I think it already has. Will it get worse? Possibly. But if Microsoft heeds my warnings and follows some of the tips I will outline below, Windows Vista may not be the utter failure I think it will be if nothing changes.

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massive black friday deals

black friday 2007 is almost here. yep, we’ll just skip right past thanksgiving, its spiritual meaning and reflective nature, and go straight to the consumer-driven money machine that is the pandemonium of 5am deals on crap. while yours truly won’t be standing in-line or clamoring over helpless children to snag a $300 laptop, i wish [...]

Device to provide early warning of 9/11-style hijackings

Starting next year, Israel will require all airlines flying into the country to use a new security system designed to prevent al-Qaida-style hijackings.

Facebook denies desires to buy Chinese social network

This post was updated at 12:12 PM PT to provide comment from Facebook.

Facebook is denying a report that it is chasing after Chinese social network Zhanzuo.com.

According to a Monday report in The Times, Facebook offered $85 million for Zhanzuo, which has about 7 million active users. (

...

Apple updates Tiger with Safari 3, security fixes

Apple is taking Tiger to 11.

The company released a major update to Mac OS X 10.4 on Wednesday that delivers several improvements, fixes some bugs, and patches several security holes identified in recent months. Mac OS X 10.4.11 is immediately available through Software Update, or it ...

Amazon's Kindle device out of stock

Despite much skepticism--and some downright harsh criticism--on the part of observers about the looks and marketability of Amazon's Kindle electronic book reader, consumers seem to be giving it the thumbs up.

The device, which the retailer started selling Monday for $399, quickly sold out, "due to heavy ...

jay-z on pbs

hat tip to intelligent ignorance.
i’ve never been one to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to people claiming anyone as ‘the greatest ever’. i try my best to take the time and find out more about the situation and make my own judgements. while i’ve always regarded young hov as a top m.c., other [...]

San Franciscans: Work off your turkey high by playing dodgeball

The kid's game will take over a major San Francisco park on Thursday evening. Bring your ball.

Last.fm creates OpenSocial application for Ning

The launch of Google's OpenSocial platform earlier this month might have been more PR than anything, as many of the third-party partners implementing the new developer standard won't be releasing anything for months.

Instead, OpenSocial-related announcements have been rolling out slowly: one of the latest is that social ...

For future of enterprise computing, watch consumers

The enterprise computing industry seems like it's turning into one big utility company.

It's a good thing the accountants didn't have to sit through the keynote speeches during the first two days of Oracle OpenWorld, because no one would be allowed to attend next year. Hector Ruiz of Advanced Micro Devices ...

Tomorrow for TomorrowNow?

As SAP tries to untwine its third-party support and maintenance company, TomorrowNow, from its legal entanglements with archrival Oracle, a sale, or effort to wind down the company, may be its preferred path.

SAP, which earlier this week announced TomorrowNow's chief executive and several managers had resigned, is now ...

the technology buzz: google

if you weren’t aware, google is emphatically becoming the leading software company in the world. they have transformed their company name into a verb, acquired up-and-coming technologies and made them into household names, and cataloged every bit of information exchanged on the internet that would make the NSA jealous. so what are the new innovations [...]

Carbon economics: Standard set for voluntary offsets

Carbon offsets are supposed to absolve the pollution guilt of people and companies. Now, a London-based organization introduces a standard.

In on-air gaffe, Fox Business Network confuses Apple with Abu Dhabi

Fox might mean business, but it also means unintentional comedy.

(Credit: Fox Business Network)

The Writers Guild of America can keep up its strike--there's plenty of unscripted comedy on the fledgling Fox Business Network.

On its morning show, Money for Breakfast (full disclosure: I have been a guest on Money for Breakfast), anchor Alexis Glick accidentally reported that Apple had taken an 8 percent stake in chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices.

"There's some news coming across the tape right now," Glick said on the live program. "We're seeing from Wall Street Journal that Apple is buying an 8 percent stake in AMD."

Money for Breakfast host Alexis Glick

(Credit: Fox Business Network)

In fact, it was the government of the United Arab Emirates state of Abu Dhabi, not Apple, that had purchased the stake in AMD. Yes, yes, I know Steve Jobs' Cupertino empire really could be mistaken for a cash-flooded sovereignty sometimes. But let's be serious. Apple? Abu Dhabi?

When the mistake became clear, Glick's co-host, Peter Barnes, said, "Oh, the Arabs. OK." To make matters worse, the program even referred to the country incorrectly, as "Abu Dubai," not "Abu Dhabi."

Even funnier, contributing analyst Charles Payne--the founder and CEO of Wall Street Strategies--had gone right along with the gaffe. "That's real smart by Apple because AMD is in trouble right now," he had said to Glick. "AMD has always had two problems: either it had a great product that was either sometimes superior to Intel but not the distribution, or it would have a terrible product that obviously they couldn't compete."

Never mind the fact that Apple has been stocking its computers with, um, Intel chips, and has been doing so for over two years. If Jobs & Co. had bought a stock in AMD, that'd be beyond huge news.

It doesn't look like any video of the snafu has surfaced (yet), but check out the transcript, courtesy of the Silicon Alley Insider. It literally reads like something out of Anchorman or a Saturday Night Live skit:

...

AMD's Ruiz dabbles in entertainment at OracleWorld

SAN FRANCISCO--AMD CEO Hector Ruiz devoted his opening keynote spot Monday morning to educating thousands of corporate technology types on the technology challenges facing the gaming, sports, and movie-making industries.

The 42,000 attendees at the Oracle OpenWorld show probably weren't expecting to hear about how Electronic Arts needs ...

RCRD LBL launches

Editors' note: This blog initially misstated the first name of the founder of Downtown Records. His full name is Josh Deutsch.

RCRD LBL launched this week after several months of publicity. It's an online-only record label overseen by Engadget founder Peter Rojas and Downtown Records founder Josh Deutsch.

The ...

Real vs. Fake: Which is the “greener” choice?

Yes, it is only mid-November, but I am already thinking of how I will decorate my house for Christmas. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a newlywed, because of the house, or because I just like decorating, but I am definitely uber excited for the holidays. Fredric and I decided to get a real [...]

Investor: Carbon dioxide regulation will mean more coal

Vilified by many environmentalist, coal power plants stand to get trillions in investment for upgrades.

Legally, are Facebook's social ads kosher?

Most of Facebook's reported 50 million users might be mostly ordinary people, but the site's latest legal issue involves celebrity law.

Earlier this month, shortly after the social networking site announced its Social Ads initiative, University of Minnesota law professor William McGeveran argued in a blog post that the new program might violate a number of privacy laws.

Social Ads, which have already begun to appear on the site, are designed to boost Facebook's lukewarm revenues by targeting ads directly toward the members in question. They allow Facebook members to sign up as "fans" of an advertiser and then have their names and profile photos displayed alongside the marketer's ads on their friends' Facebook pages. Problem is, that potentially violates a New York privacy law that protects peoples' names and likenesses from being used without written permission, according to McGeveran.

"It's not just a New York law. Most states have statutes that protect this. Sometimes it's called a right of publicity, sometimes it's called commercial appropriation, sometimes it's a right to privacy," said Brian Murphy, a partner at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, a New York-based media and entertainment law firm. "It's essentially that area of law that protects all of us, but in particular celebrities, from having their likenesses used without their permission."

The real problem facing Facebook, however, isn't that Social Ads are illegal. Social media, including Facebook, is an uncharted territory for the American legal system, and old laws are being applied to a new concept. The New York privacy law that McGeveran cited, indeed, has its roots "more than a hundred years years ago by some bigwigs back in the late 1890s who were tired of having their private lives splashed across the equivalent of Page Six," said Murphy.

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Latest iPhone update jailbroken before it hits the ground

Updated 4:20pm to include stats from German launch.

As expected, Apple released the OS X 1.1.2 update for the iPhone overnight to coincide with its debut in the U.K. and Germany. As not expected, it's been sprung from jail already.

Erica Sadun at The Unofficial Apple Weblog ...

Surprise! Dell releases XPS One today

In the labs: Dell XPS One

(Credit: CNET Networks, Inc.)

Dell sent us a Dell XPS One for review last week and asked us to hold off publishing the review until it releases its first all-in-one PC next Monday. Then--surprise!--Dell gets a little trigger happy and puts it up for sale today. (...

And the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Civil Rights …

may go to … the House of Representatives (and I hope later the Senate), who on Wednesday approved the Employment Nondiscrimination Act protecting gays, lesbians and bisexuals from discrimination in the workplace. In a New York Times article, Representative Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat, is quoted as saying, “On this proud day of the 110th [...]

Are we addicted to gadgets?

Do we shoot up a gadget instead of processing our thoughts and feelings and doing something about them? Do we now deal with feelings of helplessness and insecurity by becoming enraged victims?

Huffington Post considering donating blogger ad revenue to charity

What's the hottest way to save face in today's eco-conscious, Jolie-Pitt-and-Project-Red world? Donate to charity, of course.

The Huffington Post, the online news outlet founded in 2005 by pundit Arianna Huffington and AOL veteran Ken Lerer, has managed to tick some people off because the site doesn't pay its army of bloggers.

...

AMD unveils powerful 'stream computing' chip

AMD's upcoming FireStream processor might be a way for scientists to tap into a lot of performance without breaking the bank.

The company will be demonstrating its FireStream 9170 processor next week at the SC07 supercomputing show, and executives spoke this week about the promise of "stream computing." The ...

Windows Live OneCare 2.0 released

Microsoft today released the latest version of its all-in-one security product, Windows Live OneCare. In beta since July, version 2.0 offers many enhancements of existing tools and offers several new tools, particularly in the area of networking and backup storage.

Installation from the Windows Live OneCare site requires signing ...

World’s Top Black Mind on Racism in America

I had a virtual conversation via instant messenger with my old professor Dr. Spence the other day about a lot of random topics. We discussed the potential economic factors of black blogging, current technology, and recent professional accomplishments. He made a statement to me, however, about saving the chronicling the comments that had been sent [...]

Chevy offers revised hybrid pickup

Chevrolet Silverado, to be offered as a two-mode hybrid for 2009, unveiled at 2007 LA Auto Show.

Digg to sell for $300 million? Really?

This post has been updated with comment from Digg CEO Jay Adelson.

Valleywag reported on Wednesday afternoon that a "major media player" was close to plunking down $300 million to $400 million for social news site Digg. Valleywag editor Owen Thomas wrote that "a source rules out all the big ...

Leopard bug identified with moving data

If you're moving data from one Mac or PC to a Mac running Mac OS X Leopard, don't trip over the cord.

Tom Karpik, a computer science student at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, says he has identified a bug in Leopard that can cause you to ...

Yahoo settles lawsuit with jailed Chinese journalists

UPDATE: 11:30 a.m. PT Adds background on proposed Smith law prohibiting U.S. companies from cooperating with governments to censor the Internet.

Yahoo listened.

A week after being excoriated by lawmakers over supplying information to the Chinese government that landed two journalists in jail, Yahoo has settled the ...

The CEO Formerly known as Prince

“Charles Prince’s departure has been called “retirement,” which would entitle him to at least the $147.1 Million for his time at Citigroup,” reported the New York Times. The only wildcard left outstanding now will be his severance pay. 
The significance of calling Mr. Prince’s departure a retirement can be associated with the fall the other big [...]

One Laptop Per Child--and one per me

Peter Glaskowsky becomes one of the first to order from the One Laptop Per Child project by getting up in the middle of the night.

Facebook Ads makes a flashy debut in New York

NEW YORK--Standing in the front of a room packed full of corporate executives, journalists, and representatives from Madison Avenue's biggest advertising companies, on Tuesday afternoon Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg formally announced the social-networking site's new advertising initiative, an ambitious program deeply rooted in viral trends and "trusted referrals."...

Google's Android not an iPhone

The only real thing that the iPhone and the Gphone have in common at the moment are five letters.

Google's plans for the mobile phone market have caused quite the stir Monday, even though the company's press conference Monday morning didn't add much to what we already knew ...

The top global technology brand for 2007 is ...

The top global technology brand for 2007 is (drum roll, please) ... um, I'm not sure. One market research firm says Google, the other says Microsoft. This is embarrassing.

How about this: you're the tie-breaker. You're all buyers of technology products and services; which do you think is the better brand? Which one commands your loyalty and recurring business? I hear so much admiration for Google and so much vitriol toward Microsoft, it's hard to believe there's even a question here. But still, the question remains. Which one is it going to be?
...

Socially Responsible Investing

Most of us….Ok, check that ALL of us, like to make money. What you do with that money varies from person to person, but it’s rare to come across someone that does not like making money. What happens when how you make your money doesn’t feel so good anymore?

Socially responsible investing injects [...]

Should YouTube play the censor and sentinel?

The high-profile video-sharing site is embroiled in a heated debate over freedom of speech and how to handle potential criminal activity.

'Adventurous' dating through CrazyBlindDate.com

"Sometimes you just want to go out immediately, with reckless abandon."

So says the front page of CrazyBlindDate.com, which aims to get people together on sporadic blind dates with very little notice. The site--whose creators also are responsible for OKCupid.com--was soft-launched in Austin awhile back and officially ...

Apple ships patches for iMacs, Macbook Pros

Update 10:50 a.m.: Apple confirmed that the iMac patch corrects the freezing issue reported by some users, and it's encouraging people to download that patch as soon as they get a chance. Also, the Macbook Pro patch is just for Tiger users; the graphics stability issues fixed ...

Toy delivers 'date-rape' drug when ingested

The CNN article about the Aqua Dots product recall says:

U.S. safety officials have recalled about 4.2 million Chinese-made Aqua Dots bead toys that contain a chemical that has caused some children to vomit and become comatose after swallowing them.

We immediately did our own product recall, removing the unsafe toy from our house last night after our daughter went to bed. But how did this product get into our house in the first place?

...

Hip Hop Trends Bleed into the Book Market

This past summer I visited the Borders on Michigan Avenue to buy Edward P. Jones’s latest short story collection. While I quickly scanned the J’s I found myself hoping that the people walking by paid close attention to the sign hanging over the shelves so they’d know I was in the African-American Literature section and [...]

Live from New York, it's Founders Club--with M.C. Hammer

They wouldn't let us take photos, but it was still worth it to party with rappers-turned-entrepreneurs and legendary Google investors on the set of 'Saturday Night Live.'

Give Reddit some credit: They know how to pack a bar

(Credit: Reddit)

FREE BEER!!!!

That was the rallying cry for the Reddit party in New York's East Village on Saturday night, the latest stop on the social news site's "Drankkit World Tour 2007"--an event series that has made it to San Francisco and Boston so far, with ...

Report: NBC wanted a cut of iPod revenue

I will say this: NBC's Jeff Zucker has got serious stones.

According to a report in the venerable entertainment industry trade rag Variety, Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal, asked Apple for a cut of iPod revenue as part of the failed negotiations between the two companies over ...

Improving on Walter Mossberg's PC-buying advice

A few days ago in The Wall Street Journal someone with a 5-year-old PC asked Walter Mossberg how to determine when to buy a new PC. The response in the paper was short. Fortunately, this blog lets me offer a longer, more detailed answer.

The first thing Mossberg said in ...

I’m just saying …

Vanity Fair (which I believe I only read when Obama, Oprah and the rest of the Save Africa folks were on the cover) is releasing a list of best movie soundtracks next month. Purple Rain was #1.
Read about it here.
I know I’m about to lose some dude points for this, but I think ‘Waiting to [...]

When rockers cut ties from labels

Services like Musicane oversee digital sales, marketing, and other chores for bands that drop a record label. But do they make sense for everyone?

CNET News.com feature: OpenSocial opens new can of worms

When Google announced that its new social-networking initiative would extend to any site that wanted to participate, the land grab for the social Web's attention just got a whole lot more intense.

In a move that was anticipated for weeks, Google has unveiled a set of application program interfaces (...

Apple acknowledges some Leopard installation problems

Apple posted a support document over the weekend on its Web site addressing reports of interminable "blue screen" problems that caused some Mac users upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard no small degree of frustration.

Some attempts to upgrade to Leopard were stymied after the installation process was almost complete ...

Taking the Al Gore Rorschach test

One of my closest friends in the entire world is convinced Al Gore is full of it.

Like a lot of News.com readers who have reacted to the Nobel Prize announcement, he doesn't believe Gore deserves the award. I should add that my super-skeptical buddy--no names here or ...

Sisters Against Breast Cancer

I couldn’t let October fly by without acknowledging the fact that it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. Female YBPs listen up- Breast Cancer is the most common cancer among African American women. African American women five-year survival rate of breast cancer is 74%, compared to white women of [...]

News.com Extra: NASA scrambles to repair space station

Plus: Scientists create technicolor neuron 'Brainbow'. Read these stories and more from around the Web on News.com Extra.

Report: 'MySpace Tom' lied about his age. Yawn.

(Credit: Valleywag)

Following rumors that MySpace co-founder and "everybody's friend" Tom Anderson was lying about his age on his profile, Newsweek did a little digging. According to "professional license information, voter registration and utility and telephone service applications," Anderson is actually 36, not 32.

Which means that he was ...

The steady advance of Mac OS X

Progress is measured in steps both big and small. The smaller ones may get less attention, but they are much easier to take.

It's been a year of big steps for Apple. The company dropped the "Computer" from its name in January as a way of showing Apple was ...

EFF: Copyright owners think twice before pulling YouTube clips

Everybody knows that copyright owners can demand that YouTube and other Web sites remove unauthorized copies of their work under the law. But what happens when the owners of intellectual property err in their claims?

On Wednesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that advocates for the rights of

...