Category: Computers, Science & Technology

According to iSuppli anyway…

Wii to Displace Xbox 360 by End of 2008

“Nintendo’s popular Wii game console will displace Microsoft’s Xbox 360 as the new-generation game machine, iSuppli said Thursday. The market researcher forecasted that the global installed base of Wii game consoles will rise to 30.2 million units in 2008, up from 18 million in 2007, putting it ahead of the Xbox 360’s projected 25.7 million units. The Wii is already riding a wave of popularity that saw it win the greatest growth among new game consoles last year, according to iSuppli figures. There were only 3.2 million units in people’s homes at the end of 2006, jumping to 18 million at the end of last year. The Xbox 360 retained its lead as the console in most homes last year by edging out the Wii with 18.2 million units, while the PlayStation 3 lagged rivals with 10.3 million, up from 1.8 million per year earlier. iSuppli did not include older game consoles or handhelds in their report.”

And, of course, the GameMaster wants one! Sigh!

On our videoblog site Dr. Bill.TV, I am experimenting with a new way to stream video. It is using Windows Media Format instead of Flash. Check it out!

Here is the current (Flash) method (link below)

Flash Format

Here is the new (Windows Media) method (link below)

Windows Media Format

Whic way do you like better? Use the poll at the lower right to let me know!

It has been a rough transition to our new location here at Dr. Bill Bailey.NET. We were down, then we were up, then we were down… I really trust that Time Warner Business Class now has their act together, and that all will be well. Sigh.

Ethanol has been “taking it on the chin” recently! Critics like to say that it is expensive to produce, uses more oil to produce it than regular gasoline, and does not have as much “potential energy” in it as gasoline. There has even been a recent finding that due to depleting food corn, and the need to buy and ship in new sources of corn for FOOD that not only are corn prices going up, it is creating more pollution just to get the corn in from other countries! Ouch!

So, what if you could make Ethanol from something else, say, even trash? And what if there was a process that was able to do it for less than a $1.00 a gallon? Well, here you go!

Coskata’s $1/Gallon ‘Trash-to-Gas’ Tech Starts Up Ethanol 2.0: How It Works

“Enter Coskata, a startup that says it can make ethanol from almost any carbon-rich source—including old tires—for less than $1 a gallon. That’s about half as expensive as making gasoline, and much cheaper than other next-generation biofuels. General Motors bought the buzz—literally, announcing last month an investment and partnership with the biofuel company, which now plans to build a plant that can output 100 million gallons per year by 2011 to join its existing pilot facility. Coskata’s ‘miracle’ process is similar to crop-based systems, except the microbes that produce ethanol are feasting on gas released from the feedstock rather than the material itself. The feedstock must be broken down with heat so that the bacteria that produce ethanol can digest it. The potential result: garbage collectors one day joining oil-rig workers and wind farmers as pioneers of American energy independence.”

The podcast is running late.. I hope to have it done later this evening… or tomorrow… we are moving, and things have just gotten really pushed… but STAY TUNED!

Ouch! The bad guys have been busy in recent years! Malware writers should, of course, be shot!

Malicious programs hit new high

“The number of malicious programs found online has reached an unprecedented high, say security firms. Reports vary but some estimates suggest there were five times as many variants of malicious programs in circulation in 2007 compared to 2006. Security company Panda Software said it was getting more than 3,000 novel samples of so called malware every day. Criminals pump out variants to fool anti-virus programs that work, in part, by spotting common characteristics. Security software testing organization AV Test reported that it saw 5.49 million unique samples of malicious software in 2007 – five times more than the 972,606 it saw in 2006. AV Test reached its total by analyzing malicious programs and generating a digital fingerprint for each unique sample. The organization said the different ways malware can be packaged will mean some duplication in its figures, but the broad trend showed a steep rise. The organization uses the samples to test security programs to see how many they can spot and stop. Panda Software said the number of malicious samples it received in 2007 was up ten fold on 2006. In a statement it said the rise represented a ‘malware epidemic’.”

Yesterday was a LONG day! We had to move our entire data center at Dr. Bill Bailey.NET! Ouch! Web servers, database server, DNS, switches, routers, cables, etc., etc. But, it is ALL done… sorry for the outage… if you came by and it said, “No server found,” well, now you know why! Whew!

At the end of the Security Now! that I heard about the Microsoft, free, “SteadyState” application (last post), at the end of the program, Leo LaPorte asked someone to e-mail him with the name of the paid-for product that does what Steady State does… now, Leo has a rep that he RARELY answers his e-mail (can’t blame him, he gets so much!) But here’s what he sent me when I told him the app he was trying to think of is “Deep Freeze.”

That’s it! Thanks!

Leo

— Leo Laporte

How cool is that?!?!

I was listening to the “Security Now” podcast recently (Steve Gibson and Leo LaPorte) and they were talking about a new, free tool for Windows XP called “Windows SteadyState.” It allows you to build a system and then have it in a lab, or other common (shared) area, and have it revert back to it’s earlier state once rebooted. Info on M$ site is here:

Microsoft SteadyState Web Site

“Keep your shared access computers running smoothly with Windows SteadyState. Note: If you already use the Shared Computer Toolkit, upgrade today to Windows SteadyState. Are you ready to download Windows SteadyState for your genuine Windows XP computer? There’s no cost. Download it now, or look around and learn more.”

Our friend, and Linux colleague, Darkmoon at LUX.ET.UMBRA, has a tip on getting those pesky DVDs to play in Ubuntu Linux…

Enable DVD playback in Ubuntu

Gotta love THAT!