By Kyle Baxter

A year ago, during his interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at All Things Digital, Walt Mossberg noted that Apple had let .Mac stagnate. Jobs acknowledged it, and promised that Apple would be “making up for lost time” in the near future. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

Recently, there’s been a lot written about virtualization. Ever since Steve Jobs announced the move to Intel, there’s been huge flurries of excitement as commercial virtualization products like VMWare and Parallels and open-source products like VirtualBox improved their offerings. Not just on the Apple platform, either (you should see the amount of work that has gone into the Linux KVM and Qemu programs). However, these “traditional” virtualization programs have had problems, mainly because they run a separate operating system in a separate window (recent products have sort of fixed this, but issues still abound). Luckily, there is another option: andLinux, a full-blown Ubuntu Gutsy-based distro that has been around for quite a while. andLinux utilizes the coLinux kernel, which is a port of the Linux kernel to Windows, which greatly improves speed (nice for those of us who only have 512 MB of RAM). Also, coLinux allows the VM and the host to share resources, while you have to virtualize all the resources in a “traditional” virtual machine offering. Continue reading →

By Kyle Baxter

I first watched Apple’s Knowledge Navigator concept video a year ago, and have watched it many times since. Every time I watch it, though, I still get that child-like wonder feeling in my stomach, the feeling that accompanies a rare thought: “This is the future.” Continue reading →

By Kyle Baxter

While watching the first season South Park DVDs Friday night, I found that — to my delight — Trey Parker and Matt Stone offered mock introductions to each episode. Sitting before a fire with their dog “Scratch” (the type of dog changed throughout each introduction. One second it’d be a small dog, and the next there would be a golden retriever in its place), or as cowboys around a farm with their friend Indian Companion. Each episode, apparently, was their favorite, and answered some great questions, like Are you two, you know, a couple? (Parker explained that they’re all a little gay. Even Scratch.) Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

If you’re a Linux user, you probably use a forum, mailing list, or IRC chat room for getting community support. After all, it’s free (as opposed to commercial support), has users that understand your problem (no more tech support stupidity), and often, the original developers for really bad problems. However, not all answers are treated the same. Many are disregarded because they fail to follow the proper etiquette of forum or IRC posting. Here’s a short list of six rules to make sure you aren’t one of those. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

Most of the time, I’m at my computer. Or near it. And if I had an internet device like a Nokia N810 or an iPod Touch, I’d have it with me 24/7. And since most of the time I’m at a place where there’s a wifi network, it makes sense for me to use VoIP rather than a regular phone line. Now, you’re probably ready to sit back and listen to a pitch for Skype’s cheap $0.021/per minute or Gizmo’s even cheaper $0.019/minute. If you’re really tech-savvy, you might be expecting a pitch for iCall, which has free calling in the US and Canada and a free phone number. However, iCall is Windows-only and doesn’t always work. That’s not what I want. I’m talking about making and receiving calls that are completely free (that is, $0.00/minute) forever (that is, no 30 day demo) for as much as you want (that is, no 30 day trial or five hour/week limit). The key? Google’s closed-beta GrandCentral. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

Well, it’s that time of year again. The time of year when the Ubuntu faithful crash servers everywhere trying to download the newest version of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, or derivative (all at the same time). So instead of doing my usual column, I’m listing what’s new in the latest release of Kubuntu and everything that it offers. Continue reading →

By Kyle Baxter

Paul Graham published an essay this week on why he thinks successful startups are ones that “be good,” and act more like non-profits than a profit-seeking organization. It’s a great piece, and one you should read if you haven’t already, but one subsection was particularly intriguing. Continue reading →

By Kyle Baxter

The Psystar comedy-fest continues, except today it isn’t Psystar causing laughs — it’s the exquisitely-designed ITWorld website. Don Reisinger wrote a lovely piece today arguing that “small, defiant” Psystar will force Apple to license OS X. I do believe this qualifies for my esteemed idiocracy of the week award, and the week has barely even begun. Congratulations, Don. Continue reading →

By Andrew Min

If you type a lot (and chances are that if you are reading htis, you do) you probably know and are slightly worried about that horrible disorder known as carpal tunnel syndrome, a form of repetitive strain injury (RSI) common among keyboarders. It’s a really painful disorder in your wrists and fingers. And once you have it, it’s really hard (and expensive) to cure. Obviously then, it’s a lot better to prevent yourself from getting it in the first place rather than trying to cure it. The best way to prevent carpal tunnel is to simply take periodic breaks from typing every now and then. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to remember to do this. That’s why Workrave was created. Continue reading →