Vista Upgrade Matrix At last, Microsoft has released the Windows Vista Upgrade Matrix. This answers a few questions, but not all. Will my copy of Windows 2000 be acceptable qualifying media for an upgrade edition of Vista Ultimate?

Salt and Pepper Nice photo. Hardly recognizable.

AMD Processor Price Drop Huge price drop! More of a price plunge, if you ask me. Now is the time to purchase last year's AMD technology.

Tour de France From Marshall Ramsey's blog: "The French had better stop whining or we will send a healthy athlete after them."

Aptana Aptana - Looks promising. I'll be testing it soon.

Lady in the Water Lady in the Water - Silly and uninsteresting is my two-word review. I cannot recommend this film. Courtney has a slightly different take: "It will get your heart racing.", she contends.

Five Years


To Courtney, my beautiful bride of five wonderful years: Happy Anniversary!

Guide to Useless Windows XP Services Review the list, then start turning off the ones you don't need. Of course, if you're in doubt, leave a service alone.

CinemaNow CinemaNow allows you to legally download movies and burn them onto DVD. The discs can be played in any standard player. Read more about it here.

Word Documents Hey, Tristan, better yet, how about we not send you anything. Get over it, man. Sour grapes, sour grapes. At least Word created a standard. (via Jim)

The Penny Killer Meet the Penny Killer. Don't worry, it ain't gonna happen. Pennies are priceless. Imagine your everyday conversation without the word penny. Imagine having to explain to your grandkids what a penny is. Imagine not being able to say 'one red cent' without dating yourself. Dont' touch the penny!

Microsoft Buys Winternals I'm not at all happy about this Microsoft purchase. Winternals is one of the very best software makers, in my opinion. Their free and pay tools are awesome. I can't imagine Microsoft making them better. Go ahead and download Autoruns and Process Explorer now, before they're only available after validation.

M. Night Shyamalan Newsweek argues that M. Night Shyamalan is arrogant. My reaction? The guy writes, produces and directs his own films. Sorry, Newsweek, but in the film business, this gives you the right to be arrogant. Deal with it. Disclosure: I'm a fan of his films and I'll be seeing his newest one on Friday. In my opinion, his lesser films are more interesting than 80 percent of the stupidity at the Box Office.

Olivia: July 2006 New baby photos here.

OneCare for $20 Amazon is selling Microsoft Windows Live OneCare for only $20. It normally retails for $50. This is a one-year subscription for up to three PCs. (Via Peter, who specializes in two types of Windows.)

Virtual PC 2004 Now Free Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is now free!

Dell Blog One2One - The new blog from Dell, allowing them to interface directly with customers. As you may recall, I'm not a member of the Dell Haters Club. I think they offer excellent customer service. I've formed my opinions after speaking with them almost weekly for the past three years on my job. Their new blog is another step in the right direction - for a company interested in customer support.

Keane's New Single Have you heard the new Keane single, "Is it Any Wonder?"? The music video is pretty neat.

Restoration Restoration - This free utility allows you to UNdelete files from your Windows Recycle Bin.

Computers 'Glued' to Protect Data IT managers are pouring Super Glue into USB ports on office PC's to protect company data. This is retarded. I maintain that this is a management problem, not a technical problem. Implement an Information Security policy and have everyone either agree to it or leave. Then, make an example out of the first moron to flagrantly (and willfully) violate the policy. Send a message that your company will not tolerate such violations.

If you treat your employees like kids (e.g., pouring Super Glue into their USB ports), they will act like kids. Never fails. Inspire and reward your employees. Then, they wouldn't think of stealing company data, as they won't want to disappoint a company they love to work for.

Further, from a technical standpoint, why not simply disable the USB ports in the password-protected BIOS? (Oh, you're running a Mac and you don't have a BIOS. Well, I'm sure there is another way to do it.) But, please, lay off of the Super Glue. You might actually want to sell that PC one day, or better yet, get warranty repairs done to it.)

Space Shuttle The space shuttle program is beginning to remind me of a family member with an unreliable car. Always needing a boost, starter continually dragging, air doesn't work, radio only gets AM and four "may-pop" tires.

Druggy Idiot This is good for several laughs. I'm really hoping that this guy is an actor.

Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street When Sesame Street Had Soul - This YouTube video features Stevie Wonder performing his hit song, 'Superstitious', on Sesame Street. (via Tony)

Superman Returns Superman Returns - Recommended. Is it good? Yes. Is it great? No. Is it as good as the 1978 original? No. Should you see it in the theater? Yes. Should children younger than 13 see the film? No.

What did I like? The special effects were seamless. Brandon Routh was a great Clark Kent. When the opening titles and the Superman music played, I got the same feeling in my gut as when the opening titles rolled on Star Wars: Episode I in 1999. Something deep inside that said, "Yes!" It was as if a long lost friend had finally come to vist, after decades of silence.

Another cool part: Within the first 20 minutes, Bryan Singer illustrates how silly the 'Clark doesn't know how to fly' storyline of the WB's Smallville is. Of course Clark knows he can fly. In fact, he figured it out in elementary school. Nice.

My favorite sequence was without a doubt the Space Shuttle/Airplane sequence. Heart-pounding suspense and incredible special effects make this the single most impressive sequence in my book. My second favorite sequence was the rooftop encounter with the trigger-happy robber.

I have a few criticisms of the film. First, the tone of the film. This is a much darker, more somber story. Why? Most scenes were at night. Why? Second, the love triangle involving Clark/Superman, Lois and her new boyfriend (meant to give the old story a new twist, I suppose) was a waste of time. I wanted more of Superman saving people and wanted a few more sequences of Clark and Superman interchanging in rapid succession to keep the illusion going that they are two different people. Third, Kevin Spacey's take on Lex Luthor was competely humorless. He tried to be funny in a couple of spots, but he mostly comes across as evil.