Michael Santo
Recent posts
Given a choice, pay or don't pay? Which would you choose? Or would you at least give a token amount? That's the question asked by a study by comScore. Of those who downloaded Radiohead's digital album, In Rainbows last month, about 62 percent walked away with the music without paying a cent, reported ComScore, an Internet...
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AMD Highlights Optimized Integration between Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ Processors and Upcoming Microsoft Products— At Microsoft TechEd Developers conference, AMD demonstrates commitment to software developers through Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors and Visual Studio 2008 integration—BARCELONA, Spain -- November 5, 2007 --AMD (NYSE: AMD)...
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An SUV named "Boss" won the $2 million challenge in the DARPA robot race on Saturday.The Tartan Racing Team, based at Carnegie Mellon University, walked away with a $2 million prize on Sunday for coming in first in this year's Pentagon-sponsored robot race, held at a former Air Force base.The team's robotic vehicle, "Boss," turned in the top...
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How many times have you been annoyed by a cell phone user, practically shouting into his or her phone on a bus or subway? Or been annoyed by someone's phone ringing in the theatre? More than you can count, right? Unless, of course, you are of the offenders. Ever wish you could rip the phone out of their hands, or just...
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Lenovo just announced their second fiscal quarter results, ending Sept. 30th. Quarterly revenue jumped 20% to $4.4 billion, with pre-tax income of 125 million, up 177%. With results like these, Lenovo is convinced it no longer needs to rely on IBM branding for their Think series of products, and they plan to drop it two years earlier than...
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Microsoft is getting its wish: its new image format, HD Photo, has been approved as a possible sequel to JPEG.The multiple countries participating in the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the JPEG standard, have approved an effort to make Microsoft's HD Photo format a standard called JPEG XR, said Bill Crow, who has led Microsoft's...
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All good things must come to an end, and that includes the NES. Nintendo has announced it will end support for the NES after 24 years.Nintendo has reportedly decided to stop all repairs of the original Nintendo after 24 years of support, Agence France Presse reported on Friday. A spokesperson said that the company has decided to end...
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Call it "Hot Coffee" take two, for Take Two games. You may recall the "Hot Coffee" mod that exposed, er. sexual content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? This isn't quite as successful, but some of the AO content that was hidden rather than removed from Manhunt 2 has been unlocked.In "Manhunt 2," the player takes the role of a...
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At least, unlike the Hannah Montana fiasco, the servers just crashed rather than end users getting the shaft.Ticket sales for the Games were halted after demand proved to be far too much for the database to handle. The ticketing database could supposedly process 150,000 transactions an hour, but in just the first hour, the Games' site had...
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Shell wants customers to give them the finger, at least in terms of paying for their gas. 10 Chicago-area stations are testing biometric payment systems. Ten Shell gas stations in the Windy City are testing biometric systems that let consumers walk up to the pump, scan their fingertips on a device and fill up their vehicles. The systems,...
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Mac OS X malware? It can't be! That OS always purports itself to be so safe. And they're using a favorite type of bait: porn.Intego, a Mac security software company, issued an alert Wednesday warning Mac users of the OSX.RSPlug.A malware, which it describes as a Trojan horse. Those of you familiar with mythology recognize...
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Glitchy playback in Windows? Yesterday Microsoft tried to give us an explanation of just what's happening, besides, say, the bloated Vista OS. Yesterday, Microsoft's program manager for sound in Windows Vista (what a great title!), Steve Ball, posted a blog entry explaining why audio playback sometimes gets glitchy in Windows. There's...
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Here's a treat for gamers, and possibly a trick for gaming systems, as Epic and Midway announce that yet another DX10 title, Unreal Tournament 3, has gone gold. Midway and Epic today announced that Unreal Tournament 3 has gone to gold master for the PC. Developed by the team behind the critically acclaimed video game Gears of War, Unreal Tournament...
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Despite the day, we are not trying to scare you or anything, but if you are one of the many who are switching from desktops to notebooks in your life (as evidenced by sales figures), Intel seems to be having trouble keeping up with demand.Due to Intel's misjudgment of notebook demand, the gap between the company's production capacity and market...
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A recent survey indicated that as many as 25% of people would be happy left all alone, as long as it was in cyberspace.Conducted by Zogby International, a polling firm in Utica, N.Y., the survey questions were e-mailed to a scientifically selected sample of nearly 9,800 U.S. adults, who offered precise feedback to not-so-burning questions...
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As rumors about the gPhone platform circulate, so do reports of Google negotiations with Sprint and Verizon. Two of the country's largest cell phone carriers are considering offering phones featuring software by Google, according to a news report Tuesday. Both Verizon Wireless, the second largest carrier by number of subscribers, and Sprint...
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Despite the well-publicized issues with defective DVDs and BSODs, Apple still managed to sell 2 million copies of Leopard (OS 10.5) on the first weekend.Apple said Tuesday that it sold over two million copies of Mac OS X 10.5, known as Leopard, on Friday when the operating system went on sale and over the weekend. That tally makes Leopard...
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It's finally happened: the first official order for the OLPC has been placed. The country which ordered them was Uruguay. The South American country has bought 100,000 of the machines for schoolchildren aged six to 12. A further 300,000 may be purchased to provide a machine for every child in the country by 2009. The order will be a...
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Want a day off, but need a note --- and you don't have a relative who's a doctor? The Excused Absence Network is the way to go, but it'll cost you.For about $25, students and employees can buy excuse notes that appear to come from doctors or hospitals. Other options include a fake jury summons or an authentic-looking funeral service program...
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Today Skype and UK wireless carrier 3 announced the 3 Skypephone, a new mobile phone that allows Skype users to make free Skype to Skype calls while at the same time also functioning as a normal cell phone."Skype is now truly mobile. This new handset is incredibly easy to use and lets you make free mobile Skype calls to other Skype users all...
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Some users have been having issues with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) after an installation. Apple has posted a support document on their site, which coincidentally also appears as the top search on the support page, indicating how prevalent the issue is.According to the support document the issue may be related to "third-party 'enhancement'...
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Look for the mark of excellence with Diamond Multimedia’s xDNA™ CHATSWORTH, CA —November 11, 2007— Diamond Multimedia (www.diamondmm.com), a leading manufacturer of PC graphics cards, sound cards and communications products, today unveiled their newly developed xDNA©™ technology platform. This new technology platform enables...
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