The big question is will the M$ management be smart enough to milk the 360, or will they kill it off to force everyone onto something new. You would think that people with 360 who subscribe to Xbox Live would be a cash cow, but the M$ management has a long history of screwing its own customers to make them buy something new. I would be surprised if it didn't have Blu-ray support, but I would be more surprised if the system was the least bit open. On the other hand, I don't care. I kept waiting and waiting for 360 or PS3 prices to drop, and I waited so long that I lost interest. Hmmmmm, the yard needs mowing.

It's happening in Texas, as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ("THECB") is now reviewing majors at state funded universities in Texas and cutting departments that don't graduate enough majors. The axe is not based on not enough students taking your courses, but not enough majors graduating. So, foreign languages are ending up on the chopping block, especially at smaller, regional schools where plenty of students may take a language as a requirement, but almost no one chooses that particular major. It's a shameful, arbitrary approach to determine which programs are more productive, and just another way to cut programs that the current administration doesn't agree with. The THECB commissioners are appointed by the governor, in this case Rick Perry.

I'm posting this as probably one of the last people who was still using a Palm Pilot. I only recently quit using my Palm Pilot because of the d--n Touchpad that I bought for next to nothing. I'm not in any way an HP fan, but this whole thing has me so disappointed. Let me get this straight, when I finally get ready to upgrade to a smartphone the nice OS that I've grown to love on the tablet that I bought on the cheap is probably dead? Maybe. Are you f--king kidding me? I buy one of your tablets (Thanks, Apotheker!); I grow to love the tablet; the tablet's simple interface which would be perfect for a phone is ALREADY ON A PHONE, BUT HP'S KILLING IT OFF? Maybe? Has anyone on the HP board even tried WebOS? I can almost, almost understand while Carly gutted the calculator line. Almost, since I've been using the same HP 32S for over 20 years, apparently oblivious to planned obsolescence and the need to sell me more s--t. But that's just it, they want to sell me more s--t. Maybe HP is psychologically incapable of making a decent piece of hardware that lasts and doesn't require expensive supplies (HP printer division, I'm talking to you).

I'm now essentially back to Android or iOS after having never considered WebOS until I used it, and it will probably be Android once I find the best phone for the best price which doesn't have too annoying a skin on it. Of course, since I'm not buying Apple there are CHOICES, and I'm going to have to actually "shop" for a phone unless I want to talk to phone salespeople. Sigh. If I had just bought a WebOS phone last year, I would be pissed that the OS was being killed off but at least I would have had a good year or two knowing that I could trade in my phone for a new one next year. Two years with a dying OS? That's a different story. If I had been an early adopter, I think that I would have been happier being hosed.

No, they're not. Half its business has been sold or spun off since it was spun off in an IPO. It's not like a whole new management team showed up when HP spun it off.

Netflix is really just screwing over busy familes.

It doesn't just blow for the technically adept, it blows for anyone who likes HD movies and wants them at a reasonable price. I have the streaming service and the DVD service which is upgraded to Blu-ray. For my $10/mo Blu-ray subscription, I get at least one HD movie each week. AppleTV charges $3.99 for HD movies. There is no price comparison.

I suppose I was one of the few people who didn't really care about the price increase as I had already done the math on how much it would cost to changes services (and that's not including changing equipment). Netflix has been a one-stop shop for my family, and that's who this is really screwing over. Families. The streaming service has been nice because there is a pretty decent catalog of educational and children's content WITHOUT COMMERCIALS!!! Seriously, no fruity pebbles. No beer ads. No smoking substitutes with people acting so satisfied as they exhale mist. Netflix streaming is a great way to control some of the popular (ie LCD) culture your children get exposed to. Does it suck that Netflix lost Starz? Sure, but I don't care. It's hard to find time to watch one movie a week, let alone something on streaming. What I don't understand is why it makes since for me to now have to look at two places for movies. Wasn't the whole point to make it all easier and more convenient? Maybe next they'll take a page from Microsoft and add a *&^%ing ribbon to the website, too.

A new book says that it was actually rats that caused the deforestation. A link to a book review is below.

WSJ.com

How often am I going to swipe my MacBook at the grocery store? Who cares if a LAPTOP or DESKTOP computer doesn't have NFC built-in? I can see someone complaining about phones, but a computer? Seriously? Anyone see a lot of Macs in retail stores being used to process credit card payments? This is a non-story. The article speculates that it "could" mean Apple is giving up on NFC for the iPhone. Geez.

To save it, rename it the Ronald Reagan Space Telescope,

Any chance the "monkey" will be wearing a cheap tan jacket? Now that would be progress.

I love the Gizmodo link. Nothing like having a blank screen when I follow the link because I have to allow scripts on the page for simple text to show up. Nice. Good work on the post.

I don't know about that. An article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday indicates this may no longer be the case.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703515504576142092863219826.html

As quite a few posters have pointed out, this is incorrect, but maybe, instead of focusing on where the guns in Mexico come from, people asked what Mexico would look like if law abiding Mexican citizens could more easily buy guns. Mexicans, for the most part, cannot defend themselves from an armed individual. Think about that from a public policy perspective. Mexican citizens are entirely dependent on a broken, incompetent, corrupt, and inept federal government to defend themselves from criminals armed by foreigners. What's happening in Mexico would NEVER happen in the U.S.A., and not because Mexico is a third world failed state. It would never happen because Americans SHOOT BACK.

Someone not interested in repressing the Mexican populace should run for office on a platform of arming the average Mexican. "A chicken in every pot, and a 12 gauge in every closet," as a campaign slogan, will get someone elected president of Mexico. Self help is a beautiful thing.

Most of the set-top boxes play a very limited amount of media, but I don't think the big rush is for playing media but streaming content. The Xbox 360 already gets Netflix, and Microsoft penned a deal with ATT for the 360 to work as the cable box for the U-Verse service.

What I would be interested in seeing is whether they can make a set-top box that doesn't get blocked from the popular websites like GoogleTV, and how functional would be compared to the Windows alternatives you can buy now. You can already buy an eMachines Mini-e for around $300 or less with an HDMI output that can snap to the back of your HDTV's VESA mount. While a Mini-e runs Windows and not a simpler interface like GoogleTV or the Boxee Box, you (probably) don't have to worry about having it blocked by the major content websites.

Like many people, we pay for more cable TV content then we really need, and we'd love a solution that lets us pick and choose only what we want to watch. While it really is annoying to have to plug the laptop to the TV when we want to watch something off of the internet, I would be really P.O.'d to have bought a GoogleTV and then had content blocked. I want a simple, easy, NOT UGLY replacement for my cable TV subscription. If that means buying something from M$, I'll do it. I'll hate myself, but I'll do it. You never hear anyone on this site saying how much they love their cable TV and how that want less choice.

Who's going to trust Microsoft to have a part of it? Am I the only person, after the whole Danger debacle and now this, who would never consider trusting Microsoft with any important data? This kind of thing looks really, really bad.

“He’s not a threat. He’s not going to pick up your children,” Block said.

What an idiot. Coyotes kill pets, and evidence from the Carolinas indicates they are now affecting deer populations by decimating the survival rates of fawns. Coyotes are dangerous, and they attack humans. There were 142 attacks on humans between 1960 and 2006. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coyotes-suburban-attacks

Coyotes have spread naturally to all lower 48 states because of declines in wolf populations. Another interesting tidbit is that the coyote is the only predator in North America whose recorded population has NEVER decreased, only increased. Why someone would give such an adaptable predator a leg up when it is doing fine is completely beyond me.