Palin imitators flood YouTube with mocking videos - Yahoo! News

Sign of the times -- catch the SNL video here, if you haven't seen it

YouTube is being flooded with mocking videos by Sarah Palin imitators, attracting millions of viewers and triggering stormy online debate between the aspiring vice president's fans and critics.

Snippets of a sketch featuring actress Tina Fey mimicking Palin and comedian Amy Poehler playing former White House contender Hillary Clinton have rocketed to fame on the video sharing website just days after airing on the television show "Saturday Night Live."

[...]

"It is just unbelievable to me this woman is actually running for vice president," original Saturday Night Live star Chevy Chase said while lauding Fey's impersonation of Palin in an interview posted on YouTube.

"Comedy is perspective," Chase said. "The more the nation understands that McCain has lost his mind, the better it is. Really."

Palin imitators flood YouTube with mocking videos - Yahoo! News

BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer games drive social ties

More accentuate-the-positive details from the recent Pew study

Far from turning teenagers into anti-social loners, video games help them engage with friends and community, says a report.

The Pew Internet study of US teenagers found that few play alone and most join up with friends when gaming.

It found that many used educational games to learn about world issues and to begin to engage with politics.

The report also found that gaming had become an almost universal pastime among young Americans.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer games drive social ties

Tech Tracks | Pew report says nearly all teenagers play video games, but that doesn't make them misanthropes | Seattle Times Newspaper Blog

See the full post for more details

Here are a few other interesting findings in the report, which was based on a national random digit dial telephone survey of 1,102 12- to 17-year-olds, and a parent or guardian, conducted between Nov. 1, 2007, and Feb. 5, 2008 (you can find the whole survey and plenty of related materials here):

97 percent of teens in the study play computer, Web, portable, or console games;

50 percent played "yesterday."
86 percent play on a console like the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii.
73 percent play on a desktop or a laptop computer.
60 percent use a portable gaming device.
48 percent use a cellphone or handheld organizer.
60 percent own three or four devices from the above categories.
14 percent own zero or one device.

Tech Tracks | Pew report says nearly all teenagers play video games, but that doesn't make them misanthropes | Seattle Times Newspaper Blog

NFL player fumbles playbook on his blog | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Oops...

In the eyes of the Washington Redskins, Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley fumbled on his blog because he used his hands instead of his head.

A photo of a portion of the Redskins' playbook for their game against the New Orleans Saints was posted on Cooley's blog Sunday, according to a report in The Washington Post. As part of the blog post, Cooley briefly analyzed the play of the Saints' defensive ends and discussed the numbers of players used in defensive packages, the Post reported. (The Redskins rallied to beat the Saints on Sunday, 29-24.)

NFL player fumbles playbook on his blog | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Dream to become reality next week | Good Morning Silicon Valley

It'll be fascinating to see how this plays out

If you’ve been keeping your fall schedule open pending details of the launch of the first phone built on Google’s open Android operating system … well, first you need to take a hard look at your priorities, but aside from that, you’ve now got a clearer picture. T-Mobile has sent out invites to an unveiling of the HTC Dream (aka the G1) at an event on Tuesday, and the Wall Street Journal’s sources say the phone should hit the market by the end of October. And one source tells the Journal that HTC is substantially more optimistic than analysts about its prospects, saying the company expects to ship 500,000 to 700,000 units by the end of the year, in contrast to outside projections of 300,000 to 500,000.

Dream to become reality next week | Good Morning Silicon Valley

The Mossberg Solution - WSJ.com: Fresh 'Discoveries' From iPod, Zune

Microsoft beats Apple with a software + service innovation...

After using the music-discovery software from Apple and Microsoft, I felt like Apple's Genius tool still had a lot to learn, though the company says it will improve over time as more people start using it. Zune's software had some similar issues, but it offered recommendations in a richer, more engaging manner, encouraging me to keep digging around and learn more about my music. Though I didn't happen to have as much time to use Zune's software as I did Apple's Genius, I got more out of my Zune experience.

[...]

Apple's Genius is a helpful tool when it comes to quickly making a playlist, and its iTunes sidebar might reveal fresh related content. But the Zune software truly allows people to discover more about their own music and that of others.

The Mossberg Solution - WSJ.com

Tech Guru Riles the Industry By Seeking Huge Patent Fees - WSJ.com

Interesting times...

Millionaire Nathan Myhrvold, renowned in the computer industry as a Renaissance man, has a less lofty message for tech companies these days: Pay up.

Over the past few years, the former Microsoft Corp. executive has quietly amassed a trove of 20,000-plus patents and patent applications related to everything from lasers to computer chips. He now ranks among the world's largest patent-holders -- and is using that clout to press tech giants to sign some of the costliest patent-licensing deals ever negotiated.

Tech Guru Riles the Industry By Seeking Huge Patent Fees - WSJ.com

Windows 7: Too Soon? [Windows IT Pro]

A timely snapshot from Paul Thurrott -- excerpt:

Here's what we do know. Windows 7 can and should be considered Vista Release 2 (R2). In fact, I think Microsoft should market the business versions of the OS under that very name. Beginning with the release of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft no longer forks its Windows code tree for new releases. So the next versions of Windows client (7), Windows Server (2008 R2), and Windows Home Server (WHS) will all be based from exactly the same code. Microsoft will simply combine the right components to create the Windows version it wants and ship it. It's a much simpler system than before.

In fact, at least one Microsoftie, speaking off the record during my trip to Redmond last week, explained that Windows 7, in many ways, would simply be Vista SP2. From a compatibility standpoint, all the work Microsoft is doing will show up in Vista first and will work identically in Windows 7. It's not changing the underlying platform at all, so if a hardware device or software application works on Vista, it will work fine on 7 as well.

Windows 7: Too Soon?

Edge 257: The Fourth Quadrant: A Map of the Limits of Statistics

A stark reality check by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (author of  The Black Swan); an excerpt from the intro by John Brockman:

In the following Edge original essay, Taleb continues his examination of Black Swans, the highly improbable and unpredictable events that have massive impact. He claims that those who are putting society at risk are "no true statisticians", merely people using statistics either without understanding them, or in a self-serving manner. "The current subprime crisis did wonders to help me drill my point about the limits of statistically driven claims," he says.

Taleb, looking at the cataclysmic situation facing financial institutions today, points out that "the banking system, betting against Black Swans, has lost over 1 Trillion dollars (so far), more than was ever made in the history of banking".

But, as he points out, there is also good news.

We can identify where the danger zone is located, which I call "the fourth quadrant", and show it on a map with more or less clear boundaries. A map is a useful thing because you know where you are safe and where your knowledge is questionable. So I drew for the Edge readers a tableau showing the boundaries where statistics works well and where it is questionable or unreliable. Now once you identify where the danger zone is, where your knowledge is no longer valid, you can easily make some policy rules: how to conduct yourself in that fourth quadrant; what to avoid.

Edge 257

BusinessWeek site attacked, turned into malware playground [Computerworld]

Oops...

The Web site of BusinessWeek magazine suffered a major SQL injection attack in recent days that left it hosting malware on hundreds of its pages, security vendor Sophos PLC has reported.

[...]

Luckily, according to Sophos, the code that's still on the magazine site pointed to a Russian site that appeared to be nonfunctioning -- although leaving the code in place meant it could be reactivated at any time.

BusinessWeek site attacked, turned into malware playground

Obama beats McCain by five to one ... on social networking sites - Yahoo! News

Sign of the times

Democrat Barack Obama has a "tremendous advantage" over Republican John McCain in the race for the White House, at least in his number of friends on social networking sites, a report showed Monday.

"As of early September, Obama has more than a five-to-one lead over McCain in number of friends" on the two most popular US social networking sites, Facebook and MySpace, the report by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism said.

Obama beats McCain by five to one ... on social networking sites - Yahoo! News

Amazon's imdb.com allowing free film, TV viewing - Yahoo! News

Hmm...

Amazon.com said on Monday that its subsidiary, Internet Movie Database, would allow users to watch feature films and TV shows for no charge on its Web site, imdb.com.

Over 6,000 titles will be available, the company said, citing recent episodes of popular television shows like "24" and "Heroes" or classic films like "Some Like It Hot."

Amazon's imdb.com allowing free film, TV viewing - Yahoo! News

Porn passed over as Web users become social-author - Yahoo! News

Sign of the times

Social networking sites are the hottest attraction on the Internet, dethroning pornography and highlighting a major change in how people communicate, according to a web guru.

The article ends with a timely reality check:

But Tancer said the speed at which information spread on the Internet had meant in some cases it was consumers generating the story and the media is last to record it -- or fact-check it.

"With the explosion of this type of false information on the Internet I think we will see someone come forward and develop a new type of software that can filter for the most accurate information," he said.

"Maybe accuracy is the next thing we will all search for."

Porn passed over as Web users become social-author - Yahoo! News

Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : Exclusive announcement from Microsoft, Cray and Intel [today] at 8 a.m. PDT

Hmm...  See the full post for attendee details

Tomorrow [today], September 16, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. PDT Microsoft, Cray and Intel will share news, via a webcast, that promises to change the high performance computing industry.

Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : Exclusive announcement from Microsoft, Cray and Intel tomorrow at 8 a.m. PDT

BBC NEWS | Technology | EU scrutinises Yahoo-Google deal

Given that the proposed deal would mean putting control of ~80% of online advertising in one place, the scrutiny seems reasonable

The European Union has announced that it has been investigating the terms of Google's proposed deal to partner with Yahoo for advertising.

The deal would see Google's advertising programmes built into Yahoo's search engine in the US and Canada.

However, the EU Competition Commission argues that there are anti-trust implications because the two companies do business in Europe.

The EU's present inquiry could escalate to a formal investigation.

BBC NEWS | Technology | EU scrutinises Yahoo-Google deal

A quarter million teachers to get free wikis | Gaming and Culture - CNET News

Cool

A San Francisco wiki services provider has just finished a multiyear project under which it gave teachers all over the world 100,000 free wikis. And now, it is doubling up and getting set to give away another quarter million.

The company, Wikispaces, decided in 2006 that it would make helping teachers use the collaborative software to further cooperation between students, both in their own schools and with schools in other cities and countries, a cornerstone of its business.

A quarter million teachers to get free wikis | Gaming and Culture - CNET News

Intel unveils 6-core chip, as Unisys touts 96 cores | Nanotech: The Circuits Blog - CNET News

Yow...

In addition to being better at handling complex database applications, one of the most compelling features of six-core servers is consolidation: collapsing many servers into a few servers. Unisys said it has demonstrated consolidation of 64 SQL Server databases into a single four-socket, Xeon 7400 processor configuration, with 24 total processor cores. In essence, this collapses a conventional "commodity server farm" of 64 single-socket, dual-core Xeon processor servers into a single server configuration, Unisys said.

Intel unveils 6-core chip, as Unisys touts 96 cores | Nanotech: The Circuits Blog - CNET News

Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads - CNN.com

An update from the election-related information literacy front: file this one under "You know you've gone way over the top when..."

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove said Sunday that Sen. John McCain had gone "one step too far" in some of his recent ads attacking Sen. Barack Obama.

[...]

"McCain has gone in some of his ads -- similarly gone one step too far," he told Fox News, "and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the '100 percent truth' test."

Yeah, Rove has also said similar things about Obama, but that's to be expected, given Rove's background and connections.

Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads - CNN.com

End Runs Around Vista [BusinessWeek]

Behold HP NewWave, Linux edition?...

The ecosystem that Microsoft (MSFT) has built up around its Windows operating system is showing signs of strain. In one of several recent moves by partners that sell or support the company's software, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the world's No. 1 PC maker, has quietly assembled a group of engineers to develop software that will let customers bypass certain features of Vista, the latest version of Windows. Employees on a separate skunk works team are even angling to replace Windows with an HP-assembled operating system, say three sources close to the company.

End Runs Around Vista

Microsoft Knits Windows Into India - Forbes.com

An interesting snapshot of Microsoft's ambitions -- and challenges -- in India; excerpt:

"The vast majority of our business [may] still be associated with the PC," says Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, "but we know we have to expand our strategy. For people with no computing access, a cell phone will be their first computing device."

While the mobile services business, where Microsoft India gets 25% of its revenue, is growing nicely, profits have been elusive. One limitation is that Microsoft lacks a big installed base of phones that can run its Windows Mobile software. Nine out of ten smart phones in India run on Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people )'s Symbian software. Only 6% use Windows, according to IDC. "Our mobile strategy is that we're throwing lots of pies at a wall and seeing what sticks," admits Jaspreet Bindra, director of entertainment and devices for Microsoft India. "We're losing money hand over fist," he says, but his priority is to get an audience of 50 million in the next four years.

Microsoft Knits Windows Into India - Forbes.com