<![CDATA[Comments from whootowl]]> <![CDATA[Comments from whootowl]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on In the Immortal Words of the Conchords, <i>Goodbye Leggy Blonde</i>]]> We h'Addy a real good time. Best to you.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Intel Is Skipping Windows Vista]]> Intel has OSX now, so why on earth would they waste time on Vista?

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Giz Explains: How the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Will Save the World]]> If I had a nickle for every minute I've wasted trying to resolve problems with crappy products wrought by Microsoft's "ecosystem", I might have enough money to launch my own charitable foundation.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Classic Clips: Bill Gates Chews Out Microsoft Over XP]]> I've been tempted before to email suggestions to Microsoft for usability improvements. I'm so glad now that I did not waste my time. If Bill was unable to have any positive impact after all these years, what would my suggestions have accomplished? Obviously, Microsoft is hopelessly befuddled. It's time to move on.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Classic Clips: Bill Gates Chews Out Microsoft Over XP]]> That was 2003, yet Microsoft is just as f@cked up today, perhaps even worse. So, Bill, do you think your push for more H1-Bs has improved the usability of your products?

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on 750,000-Brick Kennedy Space Center Is the Mother of All Lego Models]]> They should be building the space station out of Lego.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Windows XP On a Dell Means $50 Downgrade Surcharge Starting Now]]> First app I installed on Vista was Viva Pinata, a game published by Microsoft for Vista. Though the PC meets or exceeds all system requirements for the game, Vista refused to run the app with no hint given as to the problem. I get an alert box that is titled "A Fault Has Been Detected", with a message in the box that says, "The operation has completed successfully." Go figure. Classic Microsoft.

I then tried running XP under Microsoft's Virtual PC. Runs great, except the virtual graphics card given is an ancient piece of crap that any game released in this century will refuse to play. The virtual XP does not attempt to detect or use the real graphics card.

Tonight Vista gets wiped and XP gets installed, which is what most of the other buyers have done with this model.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Giz Commenter Appreciation: Borrow Zeiss Cinemizer iPod Video Goggles for 2 Weeks]]> Don't put on those glasses! I saw this in an episode of Star Trek NG. The glasses deeply stimulate your brain and get you hooked to the point where you forsake all other responsibilities. Hmmmm, now I suppose if Robin Lefevre is the one offering...

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Asus Prices the Eee PC Out Of Its Own Market]]> I'm happy to see such universal comdemnation for this pricing. Sales are bound to be slow, so come November, these puppies should be discounted heavily. Once the Eee 1000 can be purchased for less than $500 with XP on board, I'll be tempted.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on How To Stick It To The Man and Get The Best HDTV Price]]> @alowishus: Yeah, HDTVs with great image quality at a nice big size are really pricey, especially considering (with my luck) the set will cease to function within a couple years (quality isn't like the old days when a set might last 15 years or more). I can't justify paying $1000 per year, like, $50 per movie. The price/performance curve has a ways to go yet.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on "Crowd Control" iRobot Fires Up to a Million Rounds a Minute]]> @bosskev: Obviously a priority inversion problem in the compliance module.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on The History of the VIA CPU Company]]> VIA would do well to offer a full suite of rock-solid drivers and an O/S with app suite that is not geared to uber-geeks. Keep it cheap, but more important, keep it simple.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Spammer Keeps Whining About Large Hadron Collider Assploding]]> One cannot destroy the universe, only transform it, though if all matter were converted to pure energy, time would cease to be.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Midiator Kit Converts a PS2 Controller Into a MIDI Controller]]> This effort would have been SO appreciated 25 years ago, but such genius is lost on today's young geeks.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Midiator Kit Converts a PS2 Controller Into a MIDI Controller]]> Let's do multi-channel surround and fly the our firth around the studio using the joystick.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on 6 Takes On The Netflix Player]]> My Blockbuster queue often stalls, I guess because those movies at the top of my list are in high demand. All too often Blockbuster then sends me a DVD that is not on my queue, one mistakenly in the sleeve of a DVD that is on my queue. This new Netflix delivery model is the cure.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on New Arduino Nano: DIY Electronics in Gum-Sized Board]]> @wolfenstein-3d: Come on now, programming for an ATmega is about the most fun you can have with your clothes on. I used one last year to do laser pluse decoding on an M1 Abrams.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on IOGEAR USB Net ShareStation Brings USB Over the Network]]> Do they make a networked firewire hub in a MIL-STD temperature range?

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Intel Denies Atomic iPhone Rumor]]> Apple is opening their largest store ever. Where's the live coverage from Boston? Rumor has it Steve Jobs will be there to announce the 3G iPhone! Are you there?

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Asus Eee PC 901 Images Show New Refinements, Possibly Atom Motherboard]]> I'm thinking it will ship with Windows 7.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on VIA's Tiny Pico-ITX Motherboards Get Even Smaller]]> Just bolt the little guy directly to the VESA panel mounts on the back of your LCD monitor. Call it the iPico.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on A REAL Universal Remote Concept]]> In order to have a universal remote that mortals can set-up, the world needs a universal control scheme. Every manufacturer does things differently, and it takes a genius to establish macros that can do what needs to be done. Most devices can't even tell tell you if they are on or off and only allow power to toggle (rather than supporting a discrete on command separate from an off command).

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) standardized a control scheme for gizmos used in music production. We need such a scheme for control of home theater gizmos (call it AVDI (Audio/Video Digital Interface) or something.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on How to Love a LEGO Lunatic]]> Why does Darth Vader have the voice of Anakin Skywalker?

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Mouse Jacket Grown, Euthanized In Museum Lab]]> @Kaiser-Machead: More sex, more embryos, more stem cells, more fur coats... a new industry is launched!

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Charred Hard Drive from Space Shuttle Columbia Recovered (Best Data Rescue Ever?)]]> If only Apple's iLife had been available back then.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Mouse Jacket Grown, Euthanized In Museum Lab]]> Isn't this the kind of foolery that has the right-to-life folks fighting the expansion of stem cell research?

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on The Wii Pole Dancing Game is Really Coming]]> Pole Position rises to number 1 on the game sales charts.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Never Return Your Video Camera While Still Stoned]]> After getting back to garage from Best Buy, these guys immediately started working on their great invention: a prosthetic tail for injured dolphins.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on SteelSeries 7G Pro Gaming Keyboard Built Like a Tank, Costs Almost as Much]]> Nope, the [Backspace] key needs to be larger.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on LED Message Pen: Cross-Classroom Messaging, 21st Century Style?]]> Why not modulate messages on infrared (like a TV remote control does) and beam your messages from pen to pen? The teacher's Warlock would not be able to quash the transmission.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Joint Strike Fighter Technology May Have Been Compromised...Whoops!]]> Anyway, it will be nice to procure our jet fighters via Wal-Mart. Both Bush and Clinton will be thrilled.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Joint Strike Fighter Technology May Have Been Compromised...Whoops!]]> The Bush Admin would just as soon have the Chinese design and build these birds anyway.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on DigiFi Digital Opera Earphones Use Wireless Kleer Tech]]> @berribrand: Sony offers many models. Can you give the model number, please?

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on DigiFi Digital Opera Earphones Use Wireless Kleer Tech]]> Dang, that receiver unit connecting the two ear pieces is a lot bigger than my iPod Shuffle. I can do without this "wireless" solution by clipping my Shuffle to my lapel. I'd like to find some premium quality headphones that have a nice short cable though.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Dell's XPS 730 H2C Tower Can Run Crysis at Full Specs Starting at a Mere $4,000]]> Vista is the only OS offered for this rig, so what's the point?

I'd like to see electrical power consumption as a universal mandated spec. I for one would not contribute to the destruction of the planet just to notch up the frame rate in some poorly executed game.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on 3,800 HP Jet Bike is One Dangerous Way to Travel]]> Hagrid playing with his dragon-fire bike.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on More Powerful iMacs Arrive As Predicted]]> With Boot Camp you can run MS Windows on a new iMac. You can then play PC games made for Windows. You'll need hardware powerful enough to support said gaming. You must determine if the iMac's graphics options meet your needs. The iMac graphics hardware will not be upgradeable, so you may want to aim high.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Video: BumBot, the Homeless-Fighting Robocop]]> File an ECP for a Mento/Diet Coke upgrade.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Customized Mii Sculptures Now Available For $79]]> For $79, I'd want a Mii bobblehead.

]]> <![CDATA[whootowl commented on Department of Defense Unhappy With Apple Chip Company Purchase]]> Most defense projects are based on COTS processors these days. That's why many defense projects get cancelled. By the time the product is ready for low-rate initial production, the processor is no longer available. Making a life-time buy of processors up-front is usually not an opted. So, they keep going back to the drawing board over-and-over until Congress finally gets fed up and yanks funding for the project, usually after hundreds of millions or billions of dollars have been wasted.

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