Vive la Résistance

Psystar, a small vendor that sells the third party "Open Computer" formerly known as OpenMac computer that runs apple's OSs, is hitting back after being taken to court by the fruit for licensing violations. They don't deny violation of license restrictions by putting OS X and its diaspora on non-apple machines, but instead contend that the forced packaging of hardware and software in Macs, combined with the premium Apple charges for said computers, constitutes a monopoly. Machines that run Windows, they argue, and for that matter all other OSs currently on the market, do not constitute a credible source of competition for the Apple hardware market due to rabid Mac OS fanboiism.

IMHO, though it's a long shot, if these guys succeed in putting a crack in Apple's totalitarian Mac strategy, it would be the third best thing to happen to the company.

The second would be if Bloomberg magically made everything it publishes come true, and the first, of course, would be a cruise missile.

Google Browser Announced

Google is coming out with its very own open source web browser, Chrome. It's entering the now-infamous Google style open beta within hours.

Edit: Now available: http://www.google.com/chrome

Gamer Vest Simulates Bullet Wounds

Cuz, you know, when I get instagibbed, set on fire, plain stabbed with bullets in a game, I want to pay hundreds of dollars to know what that feels like.

Square Enix in Tecmo Takeover

Final Fantasy Extreme Beach Volleyball

Square's made an offer to absorb Tecmo. This acquisition is being compared to the Blizzard/Activision, which I think, quite frankly, is apples and oranges. All about it here.

I'm particularly interested in how this is going to impact the respective group's IP. It's clear that Square is wearing the pants in this relationship, and has done so for all its prior acquisitions, but Tecmo nevertheless has a decent repertoire of titles that are more than capable of standing on their own. Course, chances are this will be just another boring shift of which profits go where, and the games themselves are left alone. That might be optimal.

Even more fun, though less likely, a name change?

"Square Enix Tecmo?" bleah.
How about "Square Emo" or "Squeemo?"

Large Hadron Collider Collides Soon

Sept. 10th, less than two weeks to go before this bad boy does its first full run.

There's been much talk about how this might conceivably create Earth-sucking extra-dimensional micro-black holes, large Chernobyl type explosions, the experiment going awry because of interference from time traveling future particles, and whatnot. The consensus is none of this will occur, but the fact that any of this stuff is even entering into remotely serious scientific discussion really gives some perspective on how far and how fast we've hurtling along.

At any rate, I'm keeping a crowbar handy in case on Sept. 11, we all wake up to a Combine invasion signaled by a goddamn resonance cascade.

Interesting Diversions

Ask Pichachu is an awesome site.

Comcast Becomes a Bigger Hole of Ass

They've slapped a 250 gig/month usage limit on all residential customers. Two "offenses" in a sixth month period results in a year's suspension of service.

As my fellow TSE posters know, my reaction to an outrage like this would typically include a call for mass graves for relevant parties, but it should be noted that my hope for such is highly unnecessary in this case, since Comcast seems to be digging their own quite capably.

Between Verizon and AT&T, there's plenty of DSL to go around no matter where you live. FIOS and Elite give respectable performance, but most of all you actually get to use the bandwidth that you are paying for.

Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

Oh the Onion, across your many media channels you always entertain.

Bloomberg accidentally publishes Steve Jobs' obituary

Bloomberg committed a journalistic faux pas by inadvertently publishing their on-file obituary of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Apparently somebody was trying to update it but somehow managed to publish it instead--sounds like their system needs a little idiotproofing. It has since been retracted, but you can read the obit here. This incident comes amid speculation that Jobs' health has been waning over recent months due to an alleged recurrence of pancreatic cancer. The article touches on some extensive career highlights for Apple and Jobs and I think that both Apple fanboys and Apple haters can agree that Jobs has influenced the tech industry profoundly for better or worse.

Suge Knight goes to jail part xxvi...

Suge Knight, best known for his role in driving the car that Tupac was shot after he ate Mr. T's cheetos, is going back to jail pending his convictions for assault with a deadly weapon (against his gf), possession of controlled substances and domestic abuse.

Oh yeah, and he ran Death Row records.