I'm back!

Sorry I've been gone for a few days there bloggers, had some personal issues to deal with. Anyways, have any of you tried the new internet explorer 9? Apparently microsoft is not going to offer it to Windows XP users because Windows XP requirements aren't high enough for HTML5? What?

On MSNBC:

The release of Internet Explorer 9 beta garnered a lot of attention and positive reviews. Cribbing from Chrome's UI and significantly boosting speed over previous iterations of the browser, IE9 looks like a real winner. Too bad Microsoft left Windows XP users — more than half of all Windows users — out in the cold.
In a statement to The Register, Ryan Gavin, senior director of IE business and marketing, said Windows XP users couldn't download IE9. Not now; not ever. Instead, Microsoft plans to "continue to focus on how we do a great job with Windows 7," Gavin said. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

The roadblock here is that XP doesn't have the capabilities required to support the hardware acceleration and HTML5 features of IE9. The hardware acceleration in IE9, according to The Register, comes courtesy of DirectX 10 — an update to the DirectX program that does not run on Windows XP unless it's been "modified." But quick Web search shows a handful of sites where DirectX 10 can be downloaded onto machines running XP, which leads me to believe that eventually someone will find a way to dump IE9 on XP, whether Microsoft likes it or not.

So basically, microsoft isn't going to offer it BUT someone will mod it so you can get it on XP eventually. Modding a microsoft product to work with a microsoft operating system, ahhh the good old days have finally come back to us.

So, how many of you actually use IE right now? Firefox? Chrome? Just curious.

Well well well

It seems that since the few days ago have passed where I posted about the possible zombie invasion, MSNBC did a poll on how many people disapprove of synthetic biology.

Jeremy Hsu writes:

Engineering new synthetic organisms offers promise of fighting disease and even global warming, but also comes with risk. Now two-thirds of Americans surveyed in a new poll say the field should move forward, while one-third supports a ban until researchers better understand the possible consequences.

The field, called synthetic biology, worries some due to its possible impacts related to biological weapons and potentially harmful health effects on humans.

President Obama has ordered a presidential commission to figure out what role government should play in both encouraging and regulating synthetic biology research. Just over half of the 1,000 poll participants said the U.S. government should regulate, while only 36 percent believed in relying on voluntary guidelines developed jointly by industry and government.

That majority belief in government regulation matches views about nanotechnology that emerged in earlier polls by Hart Research Associates and the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

"The message then and now is that there's not a lot of public trust in the industry to self-regulate," said David Rejeski, director of the science and technology innovation program at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Synthetic biology gained recent attention when researchers led by J. Craig Venter announced they had transplanted a synthetic genome into a living cell in May.

So I guess we aren't the only ones worrying about what can happen when you try to play god. Everything that can do good eventually will be exploited and the fear of that here is more than apparent.

The most popular currently being developed use of the synthetic genomes are in Flu vaccines. Why would you let yourself be injected with possible SUPERZOMBIEVIRUSCELLS! Oh wait, half of you probably don't even know what the regular flu vaccine cotains so I'll fill you in

Recipe for disaster:
Dead cancer cells from animals
Thimerasol (preservative, many people are allergic such as myself)
Embryonic fluid from chickens, mmm egg sauce.

Stop being stupid, so what if you get a little achy for a few days. Better than being a zombie.

Another long day

I love long days full of computer illiterate customers, anywho lets take a look at the latest technology flop that I've come across.

Apparently there were some burglars in New Hampshire that were using that new Facebook places (you can use your iPhone or Android phone to tell people where you're at) to know when people were going on vacation or out of town for the weekend to break into their houses. I can understand the concept of this is pretty interesting, seeing your friend is at the bar down the street and walking over to have a beer with him... but why in the hell would you put this on your status?

It may sound harsh but in my opinion if you feel the need to tell the Facebook universe that you're going on vacation, you should have known what could happen to you.

For some pretty funny stuff you should check out PleaseRobMe.com, spreading awareness of tweeting and facebooking to tell everybody that you'll be gone for a month and that the rolex is in the top drawer inside the Mac box (another stab at mac users, seriously guys, get a real computer).

The new virus that I've been encountering

Okay, finally home after a long day of dealing with sheer idiocy at school (won't talk about that here, read my other blog)

So I found out why all of these people have been calling me about that annoying rogue anti-virus when I turned on the news. People will never learn.

MSNBC writes

A new virus based in e-mails with the subject line "Here You have" began running rampant Thursday, hitting corporate America hard.

So far, the virus has already been sighted at ABC/Disney, Google, Coca Cola and NASA, several individuals with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. Comcast was forced to shut down its e-mail servers entirely after being hit, a spokesperson said on Twitter.

...
E-mails that carry the virus contain a link that encourages readers to click on a PDF document file. But rather than a PDF, the file contains a Windows script that transmits a virus and spams the entire contact list of the person who opened the file.

For those of you that don't know what this means, and how you can stop yourself from getting it I'm going to tell you and give you a few simple safe rules of thumb to follow while browsing:

1. EVEN IF IT IS YOUR FRIEND SENDING YOU A "pdf or word document" PUT YOUR MOUSE OVER THE FILE LINK AND LOOK AT THE EXTENSION (pdf, doc, docx, etc.) If it says PDF or docx, you're good to go.

2. Stop clicking those damned pop-ups. You are not going to win the lottery from clicking one, I promise.

3. "But I don't want to pay for an Anti-virus!" is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Download Avira AntiVir, it's free and in my personal opinion and in the opinion of many others it has been the current leading antivirus for awhile now, better than your beloved nortons and mcafees.

Pretty simple, browse smart and stay safe.

Let me know what other free alternative anti-viruses you recommend, drop me a comment and I'll check em out and let you know what I think.

Another day, another... Ahh, F**k it.

Computers and technology, as we all know, can be a double edged sword. We all love so much to enjoy our morning coffee/energy drink/soy-based protein substitute whatnots while reaching our hand deep into that random "boobox" (yes, a "Hook" reference) of both sheer idiocy and delight. While the majority of savvy internet users are very much alert to the dangers that lurk out on the world wide web, most Facebook reading and pop-up clicking sheep, are not.

As I awoke to my lovely barrage of emergency morning phone calls about how they woke up to find this new fun little present on their computer. The rogue antivirus/spyware called AntiVirus 2010 or what the hell ever is running ever rampant amongst the not-so-savvy (see:sheep) which in turn is going to make me a little bit of pocket change. At the same time, I got about an hour and a half less of sleep than I would have liked.

Is it really that difficult to comprehend? How many millionth visitors or free laptops do you think they can really give away? To top it all off, my printer is completely out of black ink so I'll have to run to the computer lab early this morning to print off my revised essay for my Nazi-esque teacher in order to keep out of the gasser.

tl;dr While I appreciate the money from fixing your computers, please use some common sense while browsing the interwebs.

So.. Google Instant, eh?

So just in case you haven't heard, Google rolled out its new search feature: Google Instant. It's basically the same thing as the trend/predictive search crap they've had before just instead of showing you suggestions in a little drop down, it actually starts searching when you start typing. I personally find it somewhat annoying because if you're not patient enough to type your query and wait for a damn result you need to grow the hell up. I wonder how many millions of dollars they threw away on this giant waste of time and making that cool bubbly banner with the bouncing balls...

Google, stop taking over the universe please.

Attention: Facebook Addicts

Okay, I get it. You feel the need to be sitting in class next to me on your macbook leaving your friend Suzy or whatever comments to tell her how nice her hair looks in that picture. Can you please at least wait until the teacher is done covering what is going to be on the next exam, or do you honestly not give a crap enough to stop distracting other people with your obnoxiously loud manicured nails click along the keyboard. I just don't understand the need to constantly be checking Facebook to see what your friends are doing, wait until you're out of class pick up a damn phone and call them.

Even MSNBC agrees with me (on something)

Does the "F" in Facebook stand for an "F" in school? A new study says that college students who are on Facebook while studying or doing homework wind up getting 20 percent lower grades than students who don't have the social networking site in visual range, or even running in the background on their computers or mobile phones.

Quoted from Suzanne Choney, msnbc.com

20%. That's just the ones glancing at facebook while studying...

So if the people on facebook while doing homework and studying are doing terrible, what about that orange spray-tanned idiot with the bump-it in her hair hammering away at the keyboard while the professor is trying to lecture? Oh and gum chomper, you're annoying too - please keep it in your damn mouth.

/endrant.