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Happy 4th of July! While there are good things going on at the MSN adLabs, while I was on there today, I spotted an ad for Microsoft Silverlight. In their words:

Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences

I didn’t even bother to install it to find out more on their site. Someone let me know if it’s worth a darn.

Technorati Tags: Silverlight

If you haven’t heard, there is quite a bit of buzz about Psystar home-built Open Computers. Essentially, these boxes are PC hardware set up to run an unmodified OS X Leopard kernel. When you see that they start at $399 + $155 for the OS pre-installed, you can imagine that the Mac guys are hopping on these.

So what’s the problem? Well, the OS installation/distribution is against the End User License Agreement (”EULA”) and, therefore, just waiting for a lawsuit by Apple. In that doc, it says the OS cannot be installed by end users on anything other than an “Apple labeled” computer. CNET has an interesting take on this:

If Mac OS X was the only operating system in the entire universe, and Apple required you to use its hardware, lawyers would have a field day.

For that reason, it seems interested users should buy now before everyone’s favorite benevolent monopoly (Apple) shuts the company down.

Paul Murphy with ZDNET goes one step farther and speculates “this particular group is going nowhere because there’s no real value in using even lower quality hardware to compete with Apple’s already low quality hardware”. Honestly, I haven’t yet read of anyone who has actually received their Psystar computer so, at this point, who knows what the true value is going to be other than an interesting legal challenge.

Get one of these Psystar Computers while you can. Not only is their payment processor giving them problems, but the looming EULA challenge by Apple is going to make this a short lived experiment.

Technorati Tags: Psystar

Normally, I don’t use this space to blog about software but the Flock web browser has recently shown up on my radar. At version 1.1, this is an early stage in the development of this “Social Web Browser” - a Mozilla/Gecko browsing core with integrated social bookmarking, blogging, media and webmail support.

Users who are online all day know that every keystroke saved is worth investigating. That (and my general, geek’s interest) what was initially intriguing about the FREE Flock browser download I saw in the PC Magazine Best Free Software list. Through a vertical browser frame, Flock loads quick links to your favorite social services. If you’re big into communities like Facebook, Flickr, Blogger or Magnolia the browser allows you to pre-load your user information for quick and easy access to those services. Webmail services like GMail are supported as well, so all bases are covered. As stated within their company info,

Flock is an open source company that innovates on the superior, constantly-improving Mozilla architecture to provide a fast, safe and competitive browsing experience.

Which brings me to my only cynical question: How is the Flock browser better or different than customizing Firefox itself with toolbars and add-ins? Maybe you can tell me. The two are so closely related that my StatsCounter info reads Flock as Firefox. To be precise, the browser footprint reads as Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.12) Gecko/20080304 Firefox/2.0.0.12 Flock/1.1.

The install is currently only approved for Windows machines (with the notable exception of Ultima Linux) but indications are it’ll run smoothly on any GNU/Linux on x86 box. Perhaps I’ll hop on my Asus Laptop running their slick Linux OS, install the browser and see what happens.

What kind of reception is this upstart receiving from the tech world at large? Recently, the Flock web browser was awarded a South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) Annual Web Award under the “community” category. There’s been a bit of press in Wired and other outlets but let’s see if their user base can drum up enough support to keep the angel-funded venture on a roll. If the 160+ topics in the Community section of their forums is any indication, good buzz is well under way.

Technorati Tags: Flock web browser

I’m very excited - I got my new Asus Eee PC ($299) running Linux. I will write a full review later but, for now, here are screenshots from the primary menu “tabs” within the OS.

There’s one last tab for “favorites” as well - you can put whatever you’d like there.

I found it using my own StatsCounter logs… The Asus Linux laptop computer for just $299! Do your own research or trust the 4 to 5 star feedback on our Asus Laptop page, but this gem features an 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB DDR DRAM, 2 GB Hard Drive and Linux Preloaded. From what I’m reading, this version of Linux even supports Windows XP.

When it comes to what you can expect, other than a 7″ screen, you won’t be disappointed:

Get the power of a full-sized laptop in the ultra-compact ASUS Eee PC 2G Surf, which offers a full QWERTY keyboard, 7-inch screen, and preinstalled Linux operating system. (This laptop is also compatible with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system.) You’ll be able to stay connected to email and the Internet easily thanks to the Wi-Fi LAN (802.11b/g). Because it uses flash memory instead of a hard drive (with 2 GB of storage), the Eee PC is optimal for weathering rough handling and sharing space in overstuffed bags.

An interesting thing that I found while looking over the reviews is that this little baby is expandable as well.

“I… added the 8 GB SDHC card for file storage. In the future as the SDHC format expands you could have truly unlimited storage at a reasonable price.”

Another thing that I love seeing - one of the reviewers is happy to have spent $400 for his/her Asus laptop, saying “Best $400 ever spent!” But you can get one for under $300 before shipping, at just $299 through our shopping system. The Sky Blue model is my favorite. No joke, I’m ordering one now.

update - I ordered the Sky Blue one with the 8GB card (for just $42 more). There was even a free shipping option. I will let you know my opinion when I receive it…

Technorati Tags: Asus