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Caught an interesting story over at the Taipei times. Basically Intel says California is anti-business because of all the regulations in place.

Craig Barrett, the CEO, says Intel won't be spending much money in Cali long as the current regulations exist. And Intel spends a LOT of money!

quote:

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Barrett hasn't expanded Intel's remaining California chip factory since 1999 and the "overwhelming majority" of the US$22.4 billion budgeted for plants and equipment over the past four years has been spent outside the state, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.

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Hey Mr Barrett! Ohio is always looking for new jobs in the high tech sector. Come build a chip fab here. We'll treat you right and provide you with plenty of very smart labor.

Man I'd love to have Intel build a big plant here. I'd love working at a place like Intel. Heck I'd love working for any big name companies. Better than getting some crap IT job at the little businesses around here.

IGN.com is reporting the first week sales figures for Nokia's new Cellphone/Portable Game system the N-Gage.

According to them the first week sales numbers look like this:
United States - 5000 units
United Kingdom - 500 units

Bwaaahaaaaa! HAaa! Haa! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Shesh! Those numbers are just horrible. I applaud Nokia for trying but I can't help but laugh. I don't have any numbers but I'm pretty sure the GBA SP had a first week unit sales in the range of 500,000 worldwide (if someone can find the numbers I'll post a link).

It's just said really. Nokia was trying to pimp and hype up the N-Gage for weeks. They did all sorts of silly stuff. They even held midnight release parties all over the place. If they sold just 5000 in the first week that parties must have been a major flop!

They must have used in-house designers because the usability of the thing just plain sucks rotten eggs. I may not be a product design specialist but even I know something isn't designed right when you have take off the back cover and remove the battery to put games into the system!

The fact of the mater is the N-Gage is a crappy looking phone with an even worse game system tacked on with an outrageous price tag.

Not to say N-Gage couldn't succeed. It just needs a complete redesign to look more like a normal cellphone and function more like a real game system. That and knock a hundred bucks off the price.

The Gameboy is the only real system in town right now. Sony's handheld the PSP might success but with the specs they're claiming I just don't know. Dual 333mhz cpus, two graphics chips, a mini dvd type disc, usb 2.0 ports, 802.11 wifi network, infrared port, etc, etc. A system like that would cost a fortune to build and sell. PDAs with half the features they're claiming cost $400-$500. No way they can charge that much for a game system. Plus the battery requirements for that much hardware has got to be a problem. Oh well we'll just see.

Well according to some people handheld computers aka PDAs are dead. There's a short article about it in Economist.com.

The basic summary is that standalone PDAs are dead and the future is smartphones that combind the features of a PDA and cellphone.

I'd say while smartphones are the big thing for the future, claiming standalone PDAs as dead is premature. While many will switch to a smartphone there are still places where a standalone is better. For a cell phone to be useful it has to be small and comforable to hold. Most of all it cannot look like a piece of junk when you're holding it to your ear to talk.

As a result of these needs you become limited in form and function of the smartphone. Most PDAs have around 2 to 4 inch screens. No one is going to want to have a 4 inch wide cell phone. Similarly some high end PDAs have small keyboards. The average cellphone doesn't have the room for a full keyboard. This means smartphones will never provide the same functions that a PDA can. Some people actually need large screens and keyboards on there handheld. There are businessmen using custom applications, reporters reporting in the field, etc, etc. They don’t just need a cellphone, they need a computer.

Anyways I think there will always be a place for PDAs. I know I’ll always keep my Palm IIIc by my side even if I get a smartphone. Although it won’t be for a while since my Kyocera 2135 cell works just fine for me. Best battery life I’ve ever seen! Thing last all week on a charge.

This is for all you Microsoft Windows users out there! Microsoft is now releasing monthly security updates.

End-User Bulletins:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/20031015_windows.asp

Technical Bulletins:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.asp

Visit the websites, read them, and follow the instructions. Maintaining a computer is like maintaining a car people. Just like you have to change the oil, rotate the tires, etc, etc you have to update your computer from time to time too.

There are several things you should do from time to time to keep your system in tip top shape:
1) Update and patch your operating system at least once every month.
updates and patches are vital! They provide bug fixes and plug security holes that could expose your computer to hackers.

2) Update anti-virus software every week (or better yet have the software auto-update daily).
viruses spread rapidly. It's better to keep the anti-virus software updated ahead of time so it can stop a virus before it gets into your system then play cleanup after a virus has infected it. It's worth spending 10-15 minutes a week to make sure the software is updated than having to loose your computer for 2-3 days while it's being cleaned up at the computer shop.

3) run scandisk and defrag on your hard drive once a month.
scandisk checks to make sure your hard drive is functioning properly. It makes sure there are no physical defects that could cause lost data. defrag reorganizes the data on the drive so that it performs better. As time goes on data gets shuffled and unorganized. running defrag will put things back in order. As a result your computer will start up faster, applications will load quicker, etc.

4) clean the inside of your computer case once a year. Over time dust and hair gets sucked up inside your computer by the fans. All that junk inside can impede air flow and cause the computer to overhead. An overheated computer will crash more often. So once a year go buy a can of compressed air from an office store. The cans usually run about 10 dollars. Open up the case and give the insides a good blow down. You'll be surprised how much dust and hair are inside!

Now get to it, you have some work to do!

Woo! Another lucky win there for the boys in orange. That makes them 3 and 3 right now. Not exactly the best they could be but least they're not 0 and 6.

Lets go Browns! Go kick some Chargers butt next week too please!

I really feel sorry for the guys at Microsoft. They have it really hard. Being the big dog on the block means you always get the bum rap.

Information Week is reporting on changes in the works over at MS to work on improving security.

Two years ago Microsoft made a big deal about making their systems more secure. Yet in the two years it seems the spread of viruses and other hacks on their products hasn't changed a bit. So they're going to try something new I guess. Here's hoping they get it right this time!

Personally, I think they need to go away from the hodgepodge patch method. It's fine to release individual patches. I mean there are people and places that want it that way. However for home users it's too much work to keep up. They need to simplify things.

I think they should release cumulative monthly patches. They actual do this for Internet Explorer. The first of every month bundle every patch from the last month into one and release it. I'd like the same idea implemented for the overall OS. Then it's just a matter of teaching home users to make patching a priority.

Teach it like car maintenance. Everyone knows you change oil ever 3000 miles. So get people used to the idea of "patch your computer every 30 days!" With enough time it'll sink in. People will start taking better care of their computers and the world will be a better place.

HA! Yea right!