1080p If you are thinking of purchasing an HDTV, please consider the following passage from a great article on the subject:

"To sum up, 1080p is finally reaching maturity, with packaged content and quality displays to make the system work. But it’s not necessary for an enjoyable HDTV experience as there are some excellent deals on 720p/768p HDTVs and upscaling DVD players to be had. (And you can get all of your favorite movies in the conventional DVD format, unlike HD DVD and Blu-ray.)"

"If you do elect to buy a new 1080p HDTV, check the reviews and look for one that processes 1080i signals correctly. If you think 1080p/24 is the cat’s pajamas, make sure the HDTV can handle that picture refresh rate correctly -- otherwise, you’ll just get a blank screen."

"Finally (and this might seem like a “DUHH!” comment), check to see how good or bad the set’s 480i processing is! Most viewers still watch many hours a day of standard-definition programming, and some of that can look really awful on a large-screen 1080p HDTV. Match the set’s resolution to the majority of your TV viewing and you’ll be happier in the long run."

Burn Notice My guilty TV pleasure this summer has been Burn Notice. When I first heard about this one, I didn't think I'd like it. Further, the first episode did not convince me. By the second epsidoe, however, I was hooked. This is light, summer entertainment with action and adventure - all set in beautiful Miami.

Great Photo Ever wondered what it would look like if you were chasing a kangaroo? (Probably not, but humor me.) Here is a great photo from Flickr: On the Road Again.

Lawyer Beats the IRS It's sort of rare, but it happens.

On the same topic, I would like to recommend Aaron Russo's film, (available here, on Google Video) America: Freedom to Fascism.

You can read about the theme of the film here, on Wikipedia. Basically, it argues that the existing personal income tax is unconstitutional, as "income" is different from "revenue". NOTE: Here are some counterpoints to certain items in the film. (Hat tip to Jason S. for the film recommendation.)

Vista SP1 FAQ Paul Thurrott: Windows Vista SP1 FAQ. Bottom line: SP1 will not be publicly available until 2008.

Olivia Wells Broome: 20 Months Old Being a Daddy is great fun.

Netflix Reports Loss It looks as if Blockbuster Online is making gains on Netflix. Stay tuned, because it's not exactly clear at this point. I use Blockbuster Online, as I really like the ability to return DVDs to one of their retail stores for a free rental.

Apple Shares Fall What's wrong with you people? You didn't buy enough $600 phones. Go get one already. :-)

Die Hard 4 Saw it, liked it. Great fun. All muscle, no brains. Just what you'd expect.

Transformers Finally saw Transformers. Loved it.

Happy Anniversary It was six years ago today that Courtney and I were married. I would like to wish her a very Happy Anniversary. She has truly enriched my life and she has given me a wonderful daughter. Here's to six more years and beyond!

Norton Removal Tool The only Norton product you'll ever need to run?

Blog Comments Joel Spolsky agrees with Dave Winer. He does not allow comments on his blog. He explains, "Dave is absolutely right. The way to give people freedom of expression is to give them a quiet place to post their ideas. If other people disagree, they're welcome to do so... on their own blogs, where they have to take ownership of their words."

Personally, I feel that YOUR blog should be anything YOU want it to be. If you'd like to have comments on your blog, fine. There is definitely some value in having comments. I do not allow comments on my blog, because my blog is about MY opinions. It's my little corner of the Internet where I freely dish out more than you wanted to know. If people would like to respond to my blog posts, they have two options: they can email me or they can link to my post on their own blog/site and then fire away. However, my site, which I pay for, will not be a forum for the opinions of others, except when I choose.

In the beginning, BroomeMan.com featured the ability to post anonymous comments. However, the version of MovableType that I was using did not ward off bot spam in the comments, so I was forced to simply remove the comment engine of the application. Then, after being without comments for many months, I realized that I actually liked it better with no comments.

This being said, I do sometimes specifically ASK for feedback, and I normally get a good response. I thank you for that. I also thank you for your many emails that are unsolicited. They make things interesting.

Real Mexican Food or Tex-Mex? Priceless: "Few Mexicans have ever even seen or heard of such foods."

John Stossel Rebuts Michael Moore John Stossel, rebutting the themes in Michael Moore's new film, Sicko, says, "I want FedEx health care: innovation, new cancer treatments, hip replacements and pain relief. We get that from private-sector competition, not government lethargy."

Osama New Osama video? Nope. "As it turns out, not only was the Osama footage filmed long ago, the clip itself isn’t new. Senior intel officials say it aired in April 2002."

Osama may not be dead, but he has certainly reached Kaiser Soze status.

Vista Clean Install Using Anytime Upgrade Disc PC manufacturers often do not send an actual Vista disc. Therefore, you'll have to follow these instructions. The secret to this is obtaining the Anytime Upgrade disc. From what I can gather, it's a vendor-neutral OEM disc containing all versions of Vista, designed to be used by consumers who intend to upgrade their existing version of Vista. I ordered the disc from Amazon for less than seven dollars. I'm sure I will put it to good use when removing bloatware and performing clean installs for friends and family.

IE7Pro IE7Pro - Recommended by Ed Bott.

What is it? Here is the description at the manufacturer's site: "IE7Pro includes Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse Gesture, Tab History Browser, Web Accelerator, User Agent Switcher, Webpage Capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block, Greasemonkey like User Scripts platform, User Plug-ins and many more power packed features."

Did I mention that it's free? What's not to like? I'm going to test it and report my results here. Stay tuned.

ShowMyPC.com ShowMyPC.com - I have not personally tested it, but it looks promising.

Hard Drive Deal 500 GB SATA II Hard Drive, 16 MB Cache, Free Shipping, $99. Get it while it's hot!

Will an iPhone Blend? Yes, it certainly will. (Please don't try this at home.)

MS Malware Protection Center Microsoft Malware Protection Center - Great, only 4 years too late.

More Vista SP1 Details ZDNet: More Vista SP1 Details.

Live Earth What? Yawn.

How about that Roger Federer? Wow.

Ollie Kottke Congratulations to Jason and Meg! Kottke 2.0 has arrived.

PC Deal If anyone needs a new budget PC, this deal from Dell is awfully hard to beat. This is not a performance system designed for gaming or Vista. However, it would be more than adequate for Internet, Email, Shopping and light gaming.

Vista Clean Install Guide Paul Thurrott: Windows Vista Installation Super Guide Part 3: Installing Windows Vista: Clean Install - A very good step-by-step guide, with screenshots. Bookmark.

Vista SP1 Beta Microsoft will release Vista SP1 BETA in mid-July. Do not install this on any production machines. You heard it here first. (The final version of SP1 is likely to arrive in November of this year.)

System Backup/Recovery Software for Vista Acronis True Image 10 Home - I've tested Vista's built-in Complete PC Backup software and I've also tested Norton Ghost 12. Neither of these products will work as advertised. I'm pleased to say that Acronis True Image 10 Home is my pick for the best complete system backup software. It retails for $50 and there is a free 15-day trial. The Vista software limitations do not surprise me, but the Ghost deficiencies were a big disappointment, as Ghost has been the de facto standard in the past 10 years or so.

BS Psychology "Beautiful People Have More Daughters", and other questionable psycho-babble.

Apology? Here's a shovel - dig deeper. Words fail me. "Rolls", twice. Priceless.

Free Security Apps 15 Free Security Programs That Work - At long last, ZoneAlarm for Vista has been released. I will note, however, that the free software is somewhat difficult to find on Zone Labs' site.

Microsoft Responds to Vista Ultimate Extras Complaints It's about time. I want more than an apology. I want them to deliver the goods. We're waiting.

More iPhone Info Gizmodo: 10 Things You Should Know Before Buying an iPhone (Not that it will stop any of you.)

AT&T is truly taking over the world. Sigh.

Vista is Not Me2 Ed Bott: Windows Vista is Not Windows Me2.

His conclusion? "Expect a major Vista update after three years. Between now and 2010, Microsoft has a chance to do for Vista what Windows 98 did for Windows 95. The challenges? Polish the bundled releases into something that looks more like an integrated suite. Improve reliability by making it more difficult for buggy drivers and apps to get on the system, perhaps by going all-64 bit and enforcing the requirement for signed drivers. Fix User Account Control. If history repeats itself, Microsoft will release its next Vista update in 2009 or 2010, after a low-profile, secretive beta cycle, and it will be greeted as finally delivering on the promise of what Vista should have been all along."