Install Vista from Flash Drive Kurt Shintaku: How to Install Windows Vista from a Flash Drive - He provides step-by-step instructions.

Heroes: 'Company Man' This is a good recap of last night's episode of Heroes, 'Company Man'.

Can Your PC Handle Vista? Can Your PC Really Handle Vista? - "Both $300 PCs are ready to work with Vista without serious restrictions or limitations. Insufficient graphics solutions may disappoint when it comes to displaying the fancy AeroGlass interface, but even the low-budget PCs we assembled are powerful enough to deliver a more-than-acceptable experience when working with Windows Vista. This assumes that you're not an enthusiast or power user, but you browse the Web, send and receive email and enjoy multimedia content."

Toyota Plant Local News: Toyota to Build Plant in Tupelo. First Nissan, now Toyota. The Nissan plant in Canton recently celebrated the milestone of producing 1 million units. The economic ripple from the Nissan plant has been huge. Real estate and commerce are booming. Tupelo will probably experience the same thing.

Annoying Things About Vista PC World: The Most Annoying Things About Windows Vista.

Dear Sony:

I just read that you're planning on releasing a Blu-ray player for $600 this summer. No thanks. I can wait you out. Why am I so confident?

I can now buy a high-quality VCR/DVD Combo player for less than $60. A little research reveals that your first Betamax player retailed for $2,300, (equal to $12,000 today, adjusted for inflation).

Therefore, I think I can wait until your Blue-Ray player becomes either (a) obsolete, like your Betamax format, or (b) less than $200, whichever comes first.

Sincerely,

Donny

Rashida Jones on Letterman YouTube: Rashida Jones on Letterman.

SNL: What Happened? When I heard that Rainn Wilson (Dwight K. Schrute from The Office) would be hosting SNL this past Saturday, I had my DVR record it. I realize this is not news or anything, but what has happened to SNL? It has become a a waste of time, and an interminable bore. I mean, really, what is the problem? How can that many experienced people not produce a show that is even mildly interesting or funny? Not even Rainn Wilson could save the show from the writing, and he's one of the funnier personalities on TV. (In fairness, the monologue, spoofing The Office, was pretty good. The rest of the show, "not so much".)

I challenge Lorne Michaels to this: Have a contest in which an amateur will be chosen as the director/manager/writer/producer of an SNL episode that will run before the normal broadcast. The cast will be made up of people that he or she can recruit (for free) from the streets on NYC in one day. (The technical crew behind the cameras is not included in this challenge. They, of course, would need to be provided by NBC. I'm talking strictly about the talent in front of the cameras.) There is not a doubt in my mind that the amateur production would be better than the official SNL broadcast. I think it would also be good television.

(Please don't write to me, explaining that the SNL personnel are consumate professionals and that showbizz is hard work and it takes years of training. The show sucks. Each episode is proof. My sense of humor is healthy as the next guy's. It's not me.)

The Man Behind HRG For fans of NBC's show, Heroes: The Man Behind HRG.

Raptor as Boot Drive Jeff Atwood talks about the necessity of having a WD Raptor as his Boot Drive.

2006 Oscar Winners List of 2006 Oscar Winners - Martin Scorsese wins, big-time. Surprises? Babel, considered a frontrunner for Best Picture at one time, won only one award - Best Score.

Edit Vista Boot Menus Ed Bott: Edit Vista Boot Menus and More. Boot.ini is a thing of the past.

Ed says, "Vista includes a command-line tool you can use to edit the BCD; not surprisingly, it's called Bcdedit. The syntax of the Bcdedit command is daunting, to say the least. It’s also something you’re unlikely to use often enough to memorize. Those facts are enough to strongly recommend using a graphical editor for the BCD store instead. I recommend a third-party tool, VistaBootPRO, which adds a graphical interface to handle every function you can accomplish using Bcdedit and then some."

Doctor The World Health Organization (WHO) has appointed a new director over their Department of HIV/AIDS. Here is the doctor's biography. Read it, and remember: I can't even make this stuff up. (via The Corner)

'24' Season (Day) Six I've been thinking it for weeks, and now I'm going public with it: The new season of 24 sucks. I'm not the only one who thinks so, either. (There is more discussion here, also.) The first four hours were OK, but it's gone steadily downhill since then.

As I've previously stated, 24, by its very nature, must jump the shark quite often. This, however, is not my complaint. My complaint is how incredibly boring the latest episodes have been.

Dump ZIP Files? Jeff Atwood encourages us to dump ZIP files and embrace RAR files, by using WinRAR.

Pavement Art Cool.

'Steve Jobs' iTunes Dance' Cory Doctorow, in a Salon article, calls BS on Steve Jobs' Anti-DRM Letter: Steve Jobs' iTunes Dance. He says, "I doubt Jobs' sincerity. I suspect he likes DRM because it creates an anti-competitive lock-in to Apple...Although Apple's DRM is wholly ineffective at preventing copying, it does manage to raise the cost of switching from an iPod to a competing device. Every iTunes song you buy for 99 cents amounts to a 99 cent tax on switching from an iPod to a Zune. That's because your iTunes songs won't play on your Zune -- or on any other player, save those made or licensed by Apple. Jobs tries to skate around this in his memo, suggesting that only a tiny fraction of the music on iPods comes from his music store, and so the anti-switching effects are minimal."

PC vs. Mac Jeff Atwood tells us it's a moot point: "General purpose computing devices are designed to be all things to all people. As a direct consequence, they will always be rife with compromises, pitfalls, and disappointments. That's the first secret of using computers: they all suck. Which makes the entire Mac vs. PC debate relative degrees of moot. I learned this lesson early in life; evidently some people are still struggling with it."

He continues, "That's the other problem with the Mac vs. PC debate: it completely misses the point. Computers aren't couture, they're screwdrivers. Your screwdriver rocks, and our screwdriver sucks. So what? They're screwdrivers. If you really want to convince us, stop talking about your screwdriver, and show us what you've created with it."

I couldn't agree more. Whatever OS/browser/platform works for what you are doing, is fine with me.

JetBlue Does the Right Thing JetBlue has smelled the coffee and done the right thing. The purpose of my complaints on this site were simple: to pressure the company to improve. JetBlue is a business, and good businesses respond to the needs of their customers.

20 Freeware Adventure Games Top 20 Freeware Adventure Games, released in 2006 or recently. UPDATE: The link has been fixed. Sorry about that. (Thanks, Gio)

Google Apps Premier Edition Google Apps Premiere Edition - $50 per year, for lots of great stuff.

Remarkable Customer Service Joel Spolsky: 7 Steps to Remarkable Customer Service. There are some great points in this article.

"The Big Uneasy" Big surprise - crime in New Orleans. This is news, how? New Orleans has been one of the most crime-ridden cities in the U.S. for many, many decades.

More JFK Tape


It's not a good day for conspiracy nuts: New Kennedy Film Could Kill Off One Conspiracy Theory. The article says, "It also briefly shows the US president's coat bunched up on his back - a detail that will be scrutinised by conspiracy theorists who see evidence of a plot in, among other things, the fact the bullet wounds on Kennedy's jacket and body did not appear to match. Since Kennedy's jacket was riding high on his back, the entry wound in his body did not match the expected position in his coat - grist for the conspiracy mill that claims more than three shots were fired, he said."

MS Virtual PC 2007 Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 - It's free! It's great to see new virtualization products becoming more widely (and freely) available.

JetBlue JetBlue is going to present a Passenger Bill of Rights. Good for them.

AnyDVD HD AnyDVD HD has been released by SlySoft. The Inquirer explains, "Probably the most significant product of 2007 has just been released to little or no fanfare, AnyDVD HD. What it does is to rip out the DRM infection from HD-DVDs so you can watch them in accordance with your rights. AnyDVD HD allows you to do two things that are both quite legal, make a personal backup of an HD-DVD and play it on the machines you want to. You don't have to buy a new HD TV, cables, amp and the rest just to watch the movies you legally purchased any more."

Dell PC Deal Want a new Dell PC with Windows Vista? For $739, with free shipping, this is not a bad deal at all. It's the Dimension E521 with a 20" LCD panel and a free Vista Home Premium Upgrade. For a hundred bucks more you can add a nice 256 MB video card.

Website Tips 19 Things NOT To Do When Building a Website - Good stuff. If you operate a website, please read it all.

Delta Airlines Sucks Delta, you also suck. Stop treating people like animals.

Jet Blue Sucks Dear Jet Blue:

You suck. See here for details. Are you intentionally trying to lose customers? Keeping people locked on a grounded plane for eight hours is dangerous and unforgivable.

Your Buddy,

Donny Broome

Kat McPhee: Number 2 on Billboard Kat McPhee's debut album has entered the Billboard Chart at #2.

Grammy Awards To the persons that gave John Mayer a Grammy: Please stop. Now. Please. I'm begging you. Never again. This will only encourage him.

I think we need a new word to describe an artist/song that is so bad that you reach for the radio controls to change the station as soon as you hear them. I can't think of a good new adjective, but I'm sure someone can.

John Mayer is the reason we need this new word.

Michael Robertson Calls Steve Jobs Out Michael Robertson tells Steve Jobs to put his money where his mouth is. Here's a good quote from his open letter: "Start selling some content in MP3 format in the iTunes store. It's my understanding that Apple has a license from certain content providers that allow tracks to be sold in the MP3 format, like the CDBaby catalog. While the major labels might be insisting on DRM files, that isn't the case with many indie labels and other music providers. Making those songs available for purchase in the consumer friendly MP3 format would mean that some songs from the iTunes store would be compatible on every MP3 player."

My take? Steve Jobs, much like Bill Gates and the RIAA have one goal - making money. Period. Whichever format/scheme/configuration with files/interfaces/music catalogs will turn the most profit is the one that will win. This open letter from Michael Robertson quietly says as much.

10 Reasons Movie Downloads Suck Gizmodo: 10 Reasons Movie Downloads Suck - I couldn't agree more. Number 4 alone is a showstopper.

Vista Services Guide Black Vyper offers us a detailed look at each Vista 'Service'.

'The Trouble with Vista' Scot Finnie: The Trouble with Vista. The good? "At least 80% of the changes in Windows Vista are positive." The bad? "On the other hand, nothing about Vista is truly innovative or compelling. With the exception of security, there's no transformational, gotta-have-it feature in Vista."

Vista Upgrade Confusion Mike Elgan, with Computerworld, rips Microsoft a new one in his review of the Vista Upgrade options. He makes some valid points, but some of his criticisms are unnecssarily alarmist, in my opinion. In general, paying customers need not worry about validation/upgrade eligibility/support. I'm not a Microsoft apologist, but I think everyone needs to take a deep breath. I remember hearing all of the gloom and doom pronouncements when XP was released. People went on and on about product activation. In the end, all was well, and software titles of every kind are available for XP. So it will be with Vista. The easist way to upgrade your operating system is to purchase a new PC with the new operating system installed - preferrably, many months after the initial release of the new operating system. This is nothing new.

Vista Upgrade Guide Computerworld: The Essential Vista Upgrade Guide

Scot's Newsletter Scot Finnie's Newsletter - Highlights of his latest newsletter? His total conversion to Mac. He says,

"Bye-bye Windows! My three-month Macintosh trial may have ended, but my new permanent gig with the Mac is just getting started. Apple's computer and OS X are now my PC and operating system of choice. If you give the Mac three months, as I did, you won't go back either. The hardest part is paying for it -- everything after that gets easier and easier. Perhaps fittingly, it took me the three months of the trial period to pay off my expensive MacBook Pro. But the darn thing is worth every penny."

Deconstructing Steve Jobs Ed Felton offers an interesting analysis of the Steve Jobs' letter on DRM-free music.

Intelligence What is Intelligence, Anyway?

Great Photo Flickr: Great Photo.

10 Windows Vista Myths 10 Windows Vista Myths - I take exception with "myth" numbers 1 and 10.

Vista Media Center Jeff Atwood: "Vista's Media Center is a vast improvement over XP's Media Center. It's faster, it's prettier, and it's thoroughly improved in every way." Jeff continues, "As far as I'm concerned, Media Center is the killer app for Vista. And at $120 for the OEM Home Premium edition, it's a flat-out bargain for a better-than-Tivo experience-- without all those onerous monthly fees." His post offers details and screenshots.

Buy New? 10 Things You Should Never Buy New - Great list. Isn't eBay a wonderful thing?

Wal-Mart Movie Downloads Wal-Mart Video Downloads. The largest DVD retailer now offers movie downloads. Details? All of the major movie studios are onboard, and there are over 3,000 titles available. Format? This article explains, "The films can be played on a PC or transferred to Microsoft Windows Media-compatible portable digital players. The movies will not play on Apple computers or the popular iPod. Movies bought from the Wal-Mart store also can't be burned onto a DVD, although the company said it hopes to offer the option by the end of the year." NOTE: Wal-Mart's site doesn't seem to play well with Firefox. It looks just fine with IE 7. I'm not the only one that noticed. Wow. The techies at Wal-Mart have really dropped the browser compatibility ball.

My Internet Speed Prompted by Jim (and his crazy-fast home connection speed), I'm publishing my connection speed at home. I'm uncertain why my latency number is so bad. This is unusual.

"Feels Like 35 Below" Get your Global Warming sweatshirts from Bob McCarty. You'll burn up without them!

Photo: Snow Leopard Cubs Great photo of snow leopard cubs from Yahoo! Most Popular.

Miranda v0.6.2 Miranda is a free multi-platform IM client. I currently use Trillian Pro, which is not free. I'll have to check this out.

Chilly Global Warming is closing schools in Chicago. Kids cheer!

Vista Ultimate Features Windows Vista Ultimate Features - Read all about them. The SuperFetch feature sounds cool.

Lazy Webmaster? Ten Tell-Tale Signs of a Lazy Webmaster/Designer - Perhaps lazy is too strong of a word, but this article about things a good webmaster should avoid is pretty good.

Linux Genuine Advantage LOL, and more laughs!

Groundhog Day I think the Global Warming crazies should lead a campaign to end the Groundhog Day festivities and predictions. Six more weeks of winter? Now that wouldn't help their cause, would it?

McPheever
How did she not win American Idol? Katharine McPhee's self-titled debut album is great pop music. Track five is a radio hit for sure. Tracks 1, 2 and 10 are also good. Her voice is incredible, and the production is such that it will remind you of Clarkson, Carey, Aguilera, Beyonce, etc. Winning Idol is one thing, but becoming a recording artist doesn't depend on winning, obviously. I predict she will outsell the winner - many times over. (MSNBC Article)

Daylight Savings Time: Early Spring forward on March 11, this year. Kottke talks about the new Daylight Savings Time start date. The change was mandated last year and it takes effect this year: "Instead of beginning the first Sunday of April and running through the last Sunday in October, daylight saving time will now stretch from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November." Personally, I think it's great. I've wondered for years why they didn't stretch it out a few weeks. Nothing worse than driving home from work in the dark. This will help a bit.