It's Official - AMD Buys ATI

Breaking news via Slashdot on what could be an exciting new merger... or a powerful disturbance in the force...

It's been a rumour for several weeks, but now it's confirmed: AMD buys ATI. What implications is this merger going to have for the hardware market?

Linkage ensues: Aside from AMD's release, there's
plenty of coverage out there.

Must-Have Gadgets: Talking Security System

From Slashdot comes a story on just about the coolest (and I'm sure one of the priciest) gadgets for home security.

Themeaddicts, owned by a Hollywood animatronics guru famous for doing the T-rex in Jurassic Park, has created a home security system with a talking mirror (complete with floating head), talking pirate skull, and talking toucan. It informs the homeowner of things like a car coming up the driveway or the jacuzzi reaching the right temperature, and it turns into a surveillance camera.

I mean, you just can't get much geekier than this (unless you have some sort of Enterprise-style hologram room makeover...).

CEO Calls For AOL Paradigm Shift

Article via Slashdot from 7/10:

The New York Times is reporting that Jonathan Miller, AOL's chief executive, is calling for the effective dismantling of marketing for their dialup service. In a new plan to be presented to the Time Warner board in a couple of weeks, Miller outlines a new direction for AOL which moves towards using advertising as the main source of revenue while offering most everything they have (software, AOL.com email addresses, etc) for free.

(BTW, apologies for the extended hiatus. My eldest daughter got her tonsils removed, and she's been quite the handful ever since...)

Switching from Apple to Ubuntu?

Article from Slashdot on 7/3. The recent switch of two lifelong Mac nerds to Ubuntu hasn't escaped Tim O'Reilly's radar. He cites Jason Kottke:

'If I were Apple, I'd be worried about this. Two lifelong Mac fans are switching away from Macs to PCs running Ubuntu Linux: first it was Mark Pilgrim and now Cory Doctorow. Nerds are a small demographic, but they can also be the canary in the coal mine with stuff like this.'

Spain Outlaws P2P File-Sharing (or, Nobody Expects the Spanish p2p Ban)

An article from Slashdot (couldn't resist the title):

Spanish Congress has made it a civil offense to download anything via p2p networks, and a criminal offense for ISP's to allow users to file-share, even if the use is fair. There is also to be a tax on all forms of blank media, including flash memory drives. I guess the move towards distributing films legally via BitTorrent is a no go in Spain.

Here is Slashdot's coverage of the tax portion of this law.

Quake turns 10

Late on 22nd June 1996 Quake was uploaded to cdrom.com's archives in the form of 7 1.44MB floppy disk images. Though it wasn't until the 23rd that everyone realised this event. Cue much aggravation on the newsgroups as eager downloaders experienced glorious 2-person FPS gameplay.

Do MMORPG's Cause People to Buy Fewer Games at Retail?

Article from Slashdot (I am really liking the new style over there) reports that the video games industry isn't doing so hot in 2006. Information on a report found at GameSpot indicates that consoles are down, but PC titles are up, led by MMORPG sales. From the article:

"Do MMORPG's benefit the industry by bringing in more actively involved gamers? Or do they bleed money away from other companies in the industry as MMORPG players spend their money on subscriptions and skip out on trying other games that hit the shelf because they already have something to go home to?"

Flash Cartoon

New vairation on the stick figure cartoon theme. Very creative, check it out.