New 'Serenity' Trailer A brand new trailer for Serenity has been released. (Official Site / IMDB Entry) If you haven't already done so, be sure to watch the 14-episode series to prepare yourself for the film.

Borders Coupon Borders Coupon: 30 Percent Off One Paperback Book

Windows Vista Screenshots Bink.nu: Windows Vista Screenshots

Windows Piracy Check Now Mandatory Is your copy of Windows XP genuine? Microsoft has made their piracy check mandatory. Don't fret, you can get pretty good deals on legitimate OEM and retail versions of Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition if you shop around.

Microsoft Reveals More Vista Features Microsoft Watch: Microsoft Reveals More Vista Features - "Beta 1 will include an audit feature that will allow an administrator to monitor the system and create a security log. It also will include a built-in Microsoft's Rights Management Services (RMS) client. A new Speech Recognizer feature due to be built into Vista will provide "speech recognition within Windows and any applications that choose to use it".

4 Ways to Speed Up Your Computer's Performance Microsoft: 4 Ways to Speed Up Your Computer's Performance - These tips are nothing special, more of a reminder than anything else.

Windows Vista FAQ Windows Vista FAQ - Paul Thurrott gives us "the first - and most comprehensive - Windows Vista/Longhorn FAQ ever created".

Konfabulator is now Free! Konfabulator - Yahoo! has purchased it, and it's now free.

50,000 Alligators in Mississippi 50 Permits Offered for Season - 50,000 gators in Mississippi? I had no idea. Wow. "The season will consist of two three-day weekends, Sept. 16-18 and Sept. 23-25, and each of the 50 permit holders will be allowed to hunt any night in that period until they get their gator. Gators must measure at least four feet in length to be legal, and the permit holder will be allowed to market the meat and hide. Wildlife officials say they are not turning to hunting as a means of reducing nuisance complaints, which range from snatched pets to scared property owners." I've never actually seen one here.

Gmail If anyone is interested in a free Gmail account, please send me an email.

Legal Music Downloads Catching On Legal Music Downloads Catching On - The record industry reports that downloads of legal digital music tripled during the first six months of 2005. Personally, I love my $10 per month Napster subscription. Over a million songs in perfect digital quality that are well-organized and searchable by track, artist or album.

The Island The Island - Really enjoyed it.

Rubik's Cube Solver Rubik's Cube Solver

March of the Penguins Now in U.S. theaters: March of the Penguins. I'm hearing really good things about this French documentary that focuses on the annual journey of Emperor penguins as they march - single file - to their traditional breeding ground. Morgan Freeman is the narrator for the U.S. version.

Beer Trail Lawmakers Brew Plans for New York Beer Trail - "A bill making its way through the New York State Legislature aims to create a New York beer trail, similar to those the wine industry has successfully used to attract millions of oenophiles to the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley and eastern Long Island. Sponsors of the legislation say it will highlight the re-emergence of breweries in New York and help brewers cash in on the popularity of their oatmeal stouts, India pale ales and bitters." Great idea. (via The Beer Blog)

Windows Vista The next version of Microsoft Windows has a name: Vista. No more "Longhorn". The first Beta version will be made available to developers around August 3rd. ZDNet has more. I'm also starting a Windows Vista page on this site.

Borders Coupon Borders Coupon - 30 Percent Off one item. Expires July 24th.

Firefly Firefly - Don't miss it! Friday, July 22nd at 7/6C.

Maximum PC: Apple's x86 Invasion Regarding Apple's switch to Intel processors, here's a tidbit from the latest issue of Maximum PC Magazine: "My take? OS X will eventually be cleared for use on PCs, and then, finally, we'll have a legitimate OS war at hand. In fact, the time is right for Apple to make the move from hardware builder to OS vendor. Windows is a mess. Spyware, viruses, and all the problems inherent to a 4-year-old OS have left Joe and Sally Consumer without a reliable home computer. The PC isn't the problem. Windows is the problem. Make no mistake, a large-scale launch of OS X for all PCs is inevitable." Definitely food for thought. You can read the entire column here.

Google Ads This site now features Google Ads. Please note that I do not control the content of the ads. I will, however, monitor the content and eliminate products/services that I don't like.

Serenity On September 30th, a film named Serenity will be released. (Office Site, with Trailer) The film picks up where the short-lived Sci-Fi Channel mini-series, Firefly, left off. The Firefly mini-series is available at Amazon for around $30. Best described as a 'Space Western', it's loads of fun. UPDATE: The Sci-Fi channel will begin airing all 14 episodes beginning Friday, July 22.

Olivia Wells Broome Today's ultrasound examination revealed that Courtney and I are having a girl. Olivia Wells Broome is due on November 17, 2005. We're very excited.

Podcasting with Napster Podcasting With Napster - Nice technical information, as well as a good argument for Napster and against iPod/iTunes. "Now some might protest that, in 5 ½ years I'm going to pay Napster $1000 anyway. Won't I, after 5 ½ years, be paying more for music than iTunes people? I'll spare you the whole time-value of money thing, but consider this - during this 5½ years I will have recycled my 1000 songs many times. I'm not married to the same 1000 tunes. I'm free to find out if Jazz is my thing, or country, or whatever." Exactly. Napster is about having an unlimited supply of new and old music that you can play whenever you'd like. Broadband Internet has taught us something: it's not about having the data, it's about knowing how to get the data.

Spyware Removal Help I've updated my spyware removal help page: Spyware: How to Protect Your PC. If you're running a Microsoft Windows system, you might want to take a look. Feel free to point your friends and family to this page when they need help with spyware.

War of the Worlds Sucks My worst fears have been confirmed: Most film critics will not call Spielberg's crap what it really is - crap. To mention this film in same paragraph as 'Jaws' or 'Jurassic Park' is blasphemy. War of the Worlds ranks among the worst movies I've paid good money for. One might expect this level of film from a first-time director or a low budget project. Put simply, 'Day After Tomorrow' is a superior film. See what I mean?