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System76
System76 provides and supports Ubuntu pre-installed laptops, desktops, and servers with a commitment to the ideals of open source software.
http://system76.com/
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To help increase awareness of Firefox, Mozilla would like to produce a high-quality, innovative 30-second ad that introduces Firefox to mainstream Web users.
In line with its history and orientation, Mozilla is opening up the creation of its initial advertising creative to film, TV, advertising, multimedia professionals, students and aspiring pros as part of the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest.
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Online Arcade
Awesome Flash Games at The First Post!
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Nokia's awesome new Nseries phone runs on the Linux OS!
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Picasa
Picassa 2 is certainly better than the software that came with your digital camera! Works with Windows and Linux...
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The PC Chat Computer Show - Articles
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Things I Learned and Doofuses I Met This Week on the Internet
07-28-2007 |
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A volunteer Wikipedia editor who claimed to be a professor with a doctorate in religion has resigned, admitting to being nothing but a 24-year-old college dropout.
Joseph Ryan was responsible for editing or removing more than 16,000 entries in the Wikipedia.
Ironically, Ryan had previously been profiled in a young-man-on-the-way-up success story in the The New Yorker magazine last summer. Not surprisingly, the magazine ran a retraction last week.
I would like to have seen the retraction: “Attention Readers: We are revising our opinion of Joseph Ryan, previously profiled as an amazing young man with a brilliant future. Mr. Ryan is a world-class loser-doofus. We apologize for any confusion our story might have caused.”
Taking a paying job with Wikia Inc., the Wikipedia parent company and a nasty little thing called a background check apparently led to his undoing.
Immediately after the news broke, Ryan told The New Yorker that he needed to create a new identity to protect himself from the death threats and threats of bodily harm received by people angered over what he did by removing thousands of Wikipedia entries.
His response to a recent email request for an interview was short and to the point: “Leave me alone."
I can understand being irritated because he messed with the Wikipedia, but death threats? Come on, angry people, get a life!
A British author who admitted to taking pebbles from a South Coast beach is facing a fine of nearly $4,000.
Ian McEwan said he took pebbles from the Dorset beach as part of the research for his latest book titled "On Dorset Beach."
Had he done just a little bit more research, he would have known that Dorset Beach is protected by the government as a site of special scientific interest, and hefty fines are imposed for anyone caught taking, coincidentally, even a single pebble from the beach.
Way to go, Doofus. That’s the kind of quality research we expect from the crack PC Chat Research Team, but you’re a respected author, for God’s sake. You’ve got to do better than that.
A top software engineer at Google who graduated from the University of Washington less than four years ago has taken the company back to school.
Christopher Bisciglia designed the Google 101 course during his "10 percent" time, according to the Seattle Post Web site. Google employees are encouraged to use 10 percent of their time on the job for brainstorming creative ideas—which sounds very similar to the way we prepare for the show, except we spend 90 percent of our time goofing around, and a maximum of 10 percent—which is probably a little high—brainstorming creative ideas.
Bisciglia created the course when it was discovered that college graduates needed extensive re-training when hired by Google because what they are taught in computer classes is so outdated.
The Washington course, which may be extended to other schools, is designed to teach students what is going on in the real world of computing. Google executives said through undoubtedly clenched teeth and force smiles, that if some of the Google 101 alumni end up working for their competition, that's just fine. Yeah, right.
Isn’t that a sad commentary that recent Computer Science graduates from top schools need to be immediately retrained because what they learned is out of date?
I wonder if students in Chinese universities are experiencing the same thing. Somehow, I think not.
The City Council of Cave City, Kentucky has taken cell phones back from city officials who were using them inappropriately.
The Glasgow Kentucky Daily Times Web site reported that the City Council ordered the cell phones repossessed after unacceptable use—such as the case of an employee who used the phone to call psychic and dating hot lines, as well as adult-oriented 900 numbers. The employee was reprimanded and placed on temporary probation.
"It was very difficult to control the amount of time that was being used on the phones," council member Haskell Borden said. "The phones were not used strictly for the benefit for the citizens of Cave City."
The newspaper said the decision to seize the phones came after numerous calls to 800 and 900 numbers showed up on city-provided cell-phone records.
Wouldn’t you think the City would have a usage plan that blocked calls to 800 and 900 numbers, if those types of calls are prohibited?
The down-and-out homeless people on Los Angeles' Skid Row are asking for spare change to buy time the Union Rescue Mission’s new Internet cafe.
The mission launched the Internet cafe Wednesday, as a way for its residents to keep in touch with family, search for jobs and post resumes, according to the Los Angeles Daily News Web site.
I don’t understand this next part of the story: The service isn't free, and as a break-even measure, the mission offers 30 minutes of Internet time for $1, or a large espresso, latte or mocha. Huh? I don’t mean to deprive the homeless, but is having a latte and a mocha-frappa-spressa-cino really necessary?
I’m just not sure if this is saying that they can buy those boutiquey coffees for a dollar or if it’s an either/or deal: Look for a job on the Internet or have a latte? I don’t get it.
Regardless, there is a one-hour online-time limit per user and the mission installed filtering software to prevent anyone from accessing gambling or porno sites. Probably a good move.
City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents the area, said she gave out her email address to the homeless and encouraged them to stay in touch—a decision she is undoubtedly going to regret very shortly.
Overall, I like the idea, as long as Internet access is used to look for jobs or other productive activities.
A recent study revealed, not surprisingly, that children in Britain are less active than ever, due primarily to video and computer games.
The report showed a sharp decrease over the last seven years in the number of children who visited the hospital due to injuries from activities such as tree climbing and bike riding. Almost 600 kids went to the hospital last year alone suffering from computer-related repetitive-strain injury, a condition that normally affects assembly line workers and people working with computers in offices.
The trend worries child-health advocates who say children are increasingly being robbed of their childhoods. "Climbing trees and falling out of them is all part of growing up," said a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, apparently unaware of the irony.
He went on to say that having small injuries helps children learn about risk. It also helps them learn about broken bones, blood, infection and certain death.
We’ve discussed this before, and I think we all agree that kids are spending too much time with computers and they’ve got to get out and split their heads open like we did back in the good, old days.
Alexander Battle of Miami Beach, Florida, says sales have been sluggish on his obama-binladen.net Web site.
Now that his application for a trademark for the name "Obama bin Laden" has been rejected by the U.S. government, his idea to get rich quick may get even slower according to Philip Allen, a Miami intellectual property attorney.
The fact that trademark officials have said that “Obama bin Laden” cannot be used, you can bet Barack Obama's people are going to demand Battle stop using that domain name."
As for Battle’s trademark application, U.S. Patent and Trademark lawyer Karen Rush wrote, "'The application was refused because it falsely suggests a connection between the individuals Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama.”
The trademark office says that Battle needs permission from both Obama and Osama bin Laden before the trademark can be approved.
On the other hand, maybe he’ll go ahead with this and actually locate Osama in order to get his permission. Wouldn’t that be ironic?
Last, but not least, a Wisconsin computer technician is in trouble for allegedly using bogus claims of ticks to pinch women. William Knorr is being charged with five counts of fourth-degree sexual assault for incidents in three Wisconsin cities last year, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Web site.
The criminal complaint filed Tuesday details one incident in which Mr. Knorr went to the home of a woman to repair her computer. While there, he asked the woman to plug in a device, which required her to crawl under the desk.
At that point Mr. Knorr advised that she had a tick on her buttocks, pulled down her shorts just a bit, and pinched her, at which point he exclaimed, “Got it!”
The alarmed woman told police there was no tick in Knorr’s hand when she made her rapid exit from under the desk.
Knorr’s first court appearance is set for August 6th.
You have to watch these computer people at all times. You just never know…
Note: Incidents recounted within this segment are based on true events, though names, locations, and incidences themselves may have been enhanced for dramatic effect, or to obtain a few chuckles, smirks and/or chortles from the listening audience.
Mr. Modem
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Archived Articles
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Last week's results:
"Which Linux Distro do you use?"
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Kubuntu / Ubuntu
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48%
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SuSE
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15%
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Redhat/Fedora
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8%
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Other
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29%
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Linux Ready Computers
If you're planning on buying someone a computer this year, why not get them a desktop or laptop with GNU/Linux pre-installed? If you don't know where to buy one, you can check out the Pre-Installed Linux Vendor Database. The database lets you filter on laptops or desktops, and you can see what city the vendor is in.
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These hand-picked sites by PC Chat are worthy of your attention.
Cool Sites
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