ReidBurke

So Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo. I would hate to see Yahoo's culture assimilated by Microsoft, especially after visiting Yahoo to see what its like. I believe Wired's claim that the Microsoft and Yahoo are not too far apart is a bit optimistic: Yahoo might appear more laid back, but the two are culturally closer than one might expect. For instance, while Google Inc. foots the bill for employees' meals, Microsoft and Yahoo both make their work forces pay in the ...

I went on a vacation to Walt Disney World over Christmas. I took a lot of photos, especially of the Animal Kingdom and of my 3 year old sister Jessie. Check them out!

So I’m trying to study for my upcoming math course exams. I was recommended by my instructor to use MathXL, “an online homework, tutorial, and assessment system,” by Pearson Education. This web app sucks because I can’t even use the damn thing. The registration process used SSL and required a “strong” password (it complained about my first choice). However, the system then e-mails you that password back in plaintext!

After logging in and finally selecting my course, I am told that the system requires Internet Explorer’s ActiveX. Couldn’t the “I require Microsoft Windows, stop wasting your time” warning be shown before I went into all of this trouble?

I’m going to study math the old-fashioned way now.

I'm experiencing a strange Safari 3 bug on Leopard involving color on web pages. It seems that sometimes a page will "lose" its color past a certain point on a page after I scroll down. I can't pinpoint the cause to any particular page or situation. Have you had this problem? I've already reported it to Apple (Radar #5608552) but if you have had this problem, let me know and I'll pass it along. Screenshots and more info after the jump.

Undercover, a theft recovery solution for Macs, has been updated to 2.0 and is free to all existing users. This release includes a new "Plan B" feature: if you Mac is disconnected from the internet for two months, the Mac will become unusable until reconnected. This release also includes support for Leopard and takes up less resources. In the event your Mac is stolen, Undercover transmits iSight pictures, screenshots, and network information to Undercover's servers, where the information is given to ...

The Apple iPod touch web apps page shows several iPod touches, all with a little AT&T in the upper left corner. No conspiracy here, just amusing.

Update: It’s fixed now: iPod is shown instead of AT&T.

Being without an iPhone, I’ve quietly wondered why the iTunes icon was placed on the right side on the home screen instead of the left like everything else. 37signals explains the genius of how the iTunes icon is placed on the iPhone… right above to the “docked” iPod icon. It makes a lot more sense now.

Equally interesting is how Apple seems to group icons by color according to their application’s function on the iPhone.

Today I noticed my Verizon cell phone now has a EV-DO signal in Carbondale, Illinois. I haven’t seen anything online about this yet, including on Verizon’s coverage locator, so it must have happened not too long ago.

It’s about time. I’m sure Carbondale’s 21,000 college students will welcome the ability to watch broadband-speed video clips on their phones, and finally people can actually use the V-CAST service Verizon pitches at their Carbondale store.

Ars Technica explains how the RIAA won the Thomas case. Judging from the article, the evidence was very clear-cut against Thomas and it’s not surprising that she lost given the circumstances.

It’ll be interesting to see how future RIAA trials play out that rely on more contentious interpretation of Copyright law.

If this MacRumors post is to be believed, full Calendar editing will soon be possible on the iPod touch, with Steve himself labeling the lack of editing as “a bug that will be fixed in a future software update.”

I’ve always wanted this feature and sent feedback to Apple about it. The touch would fit my needs well: a device to manage events, play music, and do light browsing over campus Wi-Fi. I think contacts make more sense on an actual phone.