Microsoft on the Revolution and Fighting Viruses

Sorry about the tardiness of this post, but Blogger had a scheduled maintenance while I was posting until past when I went to bed.
That was probably an unnecessarily long title, but I'm sure that you'll learn to deal with it. I have two shorter articles to talk about a little today, but both deal with Microsoft. By the way, I went to their company night a couple of days ago for the Freebird's and I've got to admit that they really know how to make themselves appealing to students. However, I just don't have faith in the company as a whole for job security. Anyway, Bill Gates made some comments on the Revolution controller that some have construed as "condescending," but I think that he was just being truthful. His best comment was that it looks awkward to hold a controller in two pieces, and I truly agree with him, but he also cedes that we haven't seen games yet so it's hard to tell. I think people shouldn't demonize him when he's not being evil. Microsoft as a company announced that they would be unrolling their OneCare Live program in June to offer anti-virus and support for up to three computers for just $50 a year. This is actually a decent price compared to its competitors, but I really feel that stuff like this is only for the computer illiterate. A neighbor of mine got very little help from Symantec when she had spyware issues that Norton couldn't solve, and after buying a newer version (as they advised), the software wouldn't install. OneCare has a chance to blow away McAffee and Norton if they can raise the bar for quality, but there's more than enough reason to doubt them as well so we'll have to see what happens.

With all these Revolution talk going on I'm sure that many of you are anxious to hear more about the PS3, but all I have for you is a very pessimistic outlook from eHomeUpgrade on whether the system will actually be profitable for Sony. I thought that the best concern they brought up was with regard to the BD-ROM only being one-speed, which could cause load time issues. Oh, and about Blu-Ray: the discs will cost almost $18 wholesale, which is about the same as DVDs back when they came out about 8 years ago. I think the plan is to focus on the rental market first and then move to home release as prices go down, which I think is a really good idea since it'll be at least another year until Blu-Ray really catches on. AppleInsider has received reports from analysts that Apple may be poised to announce a touch-screen iPod and/or a Yonah-based iBook in April (to celebrate their 30 year anniversary), and it would actually go along with all the speculation recently regarding patents that Apple has filed for touch-screen technology. I think the iBook scenario is more likely, but Apple is pretty good at keeping secrets so we'll have to wait and see. If you ever wanted to browse the web in 3-D, you should check out uBrowser. I can't see any real use for it, but it still looks pretty nifty. Lastly, if you want to remotely search your desktop, Google is developing an upgrade to Google Desktop that will allow you to do just that. The catch-22 is that the data to be indexed has to be stored on their machines for 30 days, which will likely cause all kinds of security concerns. Personally, I don't think this is worth it; just make your computer a server if it's that important.

I couldn't resist posting that rather risque picture from X-Men 3 since Famke is just so hot, but it's just one of a handful of new shots over at Dark Horizons. Does anyone else remember the Futurama episode where Pamela Anderson mentioned a Baywatch movie and it was meant to be satirical of the proliferation of Baywatch? Well, it's actually becoming a reality with Pam herself making a cameo, and I just think it's funny that they've actually construed a plot to span two hours. Yahoo! Movies has the trailer for Alpha Dog, and it actually looks like it could be a decent movie and is based on true events. However, it almost seems like a cheap knockoff of Better Luck Tomorrow. Lastly, Adam Sandler has signed on to be a part of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with Kevin James in which they pretend to be married to get health benefits, and while I think it's kind of a weird plot they are still both pretty funny guys.

I'm going with the Thursday Threesome meme this week:

Onesome--Premium - Have you paid for any access to web services? What services? What are they like?
I have paid for IGN Insider because I read IGN back when it was The Den, and I've always enjoyed their content. Where else can I get live feeds from E3 and high resolution video for so cheap? It's way better than any paper magazine because of all the videos you get with it.

Twosome--Web - For the free stuff on the web, what it your favorite out there? What do you find yourself looking at everyday?
Probably Blogger, because it has revitalized my interest in web development. I gave up web site stuff for a while since high school, but when I started playing with Blogger I realized how easy and fun having my own site again could be.

Threesome--Service - What goes on in your mind when you're out and get bad service from a restaurant or store? Do you let it slide off your back like ducks do to water? Or, do you make sure the business knows your dissatisfaction?
I haven't had service so bad before that I've actually complained about it, but I'll typically tip an insultingly small amount. I wouldn't have reservations speaking to the management if I had to though.