Supreme Commander

Although Netscape was once a mighty pioneer in the world of internet browsers, it didn’t take long for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to overtake it and squash its dreams of market dominance. Granted, we highly (and we stress “highly”) doubt any viewers reading this now are relying on Netscape Navigator as their primary browser, but seeing it finally bow out is a bit surreal. According to a post on the Netscape Blog, support (and subsequent updates) for it will no longer be provided by AOL (disclosure: AOL is our parent company’s parent) after February 1, 2008. Sure, old versions will still be available for those who just hate to move on, but the team is suggesting that any remaining Netscape users (a show of hands, anyone?) make the leap to Firefox, and they even point you in the direction of a Netscape theme should you find yourself uncomfortable with change. Rest in peace, dear Netscape — it’s about time that last heap of dirt was finally flung.

[Via BlogRunner]

Amazingly enough, virtual doormen aren’t exactly new, but it seems that they’re becoming entirely more ubiquitous (and accepted) in today’s society. Increasingly, more and more apartment dwellers are coming home to voices in the wall rather than a physical life form, but virtual doormen can still let tenants into their room, allow deliveries to be made and keep disgruntled in-laws out. As you’d expect, these firms rely primarily on an internet connection, a webcam and a couple of microphones, and while typical services can range from “$10,000 to $70,000 for installation and $6,000 to $30,000 in annual maintenance,” that still beats the $250,000 or so it would purportedly take for a small building to be staffed with full-time, on-site doormen. The next evolutionary step? Androids answering the buzz, and subsequent hacks to gain entry into any room you please.

[Via ChipChick]

The lull before the craptacular gadget storm that is CES continues this week, but nothing will ever stop our inbox from filling up with hastily-designed and poorly-implemented gadgets. That’s right, it’s another edition of our newest running series, Crapgadget, in which tedium is lightly battered and fried to a crisp, delicious rage. Enjoy the crap out of this, okay? We nearly gouged our eyes out in the making.

Read - Strawberry Donut USB flash drive: Direct quote from the website: “everything you desire in the ear of customized flash storage solutions.” Yep, anyone who pays $50 for this thing is definitely getting something in the ear.
Read - Tiny USB cube speaker: How else to annoy everyone around you, while still remaining unable to hear anything? [Via Technabob]
Read - Venus JXD305 PMP: Take one part iPhone, two parts HTC, and one part miniSD-only storage and stir — voila, not quite KIRF enough. [Via PMP Today]
Read - Rose USB Microphone: Too cheap to spring for a Jawbone and real roses? Why not go for the rare combined epic fail?
Read - AMV-format only PMP: Finally, a generic Chinese PMP that allows us to watch all of our AMV-format video on the go. Our dreams are now reality. [Via PMP Today]

We’ve seen returned / resold DAPs (among other things) ruin celebrations before, but we’re inclined to say that this episode is a tad more disheartening than receiving a couple of rock-filled iPod boxes. Reportedly, an unspecified MP3 player purchased in a Tennessee Wal-Mart was wrapped and given as a Christmas present to a 10-year old daughter, but upon connecting said player to a computer, heaps of pornographic material and explicit songs were discovered. According to a Wally World spokesperson, stores aren’t supposed to “return opened packages to the sales floor,” but given that it already happened, the matter will purportedly be “investigated.”

[Via TGDaily]

That’s right, babies. We’ve seen Sony play this hand in other parts of our great big world, and now the S-gang is bringing this sweet bacon on home… er, to the States. According to a promotion we’ve caught wind of, if you get yourself approved for the Sony Visa, then promptly purchase a Sony HDTV at the Sony Rewards store (out of a pool of models from the BRAVIA and SXRD lines), the good folks at Sony will throw a free PlayStation 3 your way. Of course, there’s a few hoops you have to jump through, the deal ends on December 31st, and obviously you’ll need a half-decent credit score, but if the suits approve your transaction, this is a pretty solid deal. Hit the read link for all the info — just make sure you read the fine print.

[Thanks, Stephen]

Alright, it’s time to take the Queen CD out of my player and put Linkin Park in… this is a job for Linkin Park. Storyline: I took an opportunity for a company called Cost Captain from the P3 website to blog about CostCaptain in my personal blog here. Cost Captain was offering $9 for the post and only required 50 words, for a link that said www.costcaptain.com pretty easy right? I thought so! In fact it was too easy… CostCaptain sells Microsoft products, Cost Captain specialize in the order of selling Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows Vista packages at student discount prices. I wrote a 100 word article about such deals because the more my site relates to Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows Vista products the more they get the value for it to their website which in turn translates to more search engine queries for the terms Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Windows. The problem with my post was that I also included CostCaptain’s description on the P3 website IN ADDITION to the article that I wrote, because it gave them a much better link rating because of the keyworded specificness of Cost Captain description. I thought I was doing Cost Captain a favor, Cost Captain thought otherwise. This is the description:

CostCaptain.com is a Microsoft Authorized Education Reseller. We sell the brand new Office 2007 Suite and Vista to students and staff of schools, libraries and research labs. Home schools qualify too. We have served hundreds of schools, colleges and libraries and thousands of students and staff members.

We offer:

- 100% Authentic Microsoft products at academic discounts

- Microsoft Office 2007 from $129, Vista Upgrade from $89

- Friendly customer service.

- Buyers provide academic eligibility and after that the product is shipped

- Gift certificates that are a great way to give especially during holiday season

Very good keywording if you ask me… but hey, I’m no SEO expert or anything, just because I ranked number two and three on Google for the term “Cost Captain” simply by writing the Cost Captain article on my website… I mean I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about apparently… so therefore I won’t know what I’m talking about all over the net. Cost Captain said that they wouldn’t pay me and denied my post until it was rewritten because I “wrote the article using their description” Obviously the company didn’t want any sort of SEO relevancy so I rewrote the post, I put a 150 or so word description of why I rewrote the article the way I did on top and left what I had described before on the rest… just translated it. You see not only am I a blogger, webmaster of over 9 websites, internet marketing coach, but I also use Opera as my main browser of choice… I just like it. It’s not for everyone, I suggest FireFox for most people (as most of you already do since my stats say that 2/3 of my visitors are FireFox users). I used a widget on my Opera browser to translate the article into Ł337 5ρ34|< (or more commonly known as 1337 5p34k the translator is just hardcore). They didn’t like that either and banned me on P3 which is fine, ban me all you want… my site is more SEO friendly and optimized than your site will ever be, that’s your loss. Of all the bloggers who took your opportunity who ranks for your websites keywords? Oh that’s right, it’s me. I just want my money from the deal… that’s all. So therefore I’m taking my money that Cost Captain won’t pay me. If I can’t get it from the P3 website I will make damn sure I get it from ad revenue on my website.

Marantz is jumping back into the display pool for 2008, announcing the new VP-11S2 model 1080p DLP projector. Compared to last year’s VP-11S1H, this model adds a second HDMI 1.3 input, and Texas Instrument’s DarkChip4 chipset, boosting it up to 800 lumens of brightness and a 12,000:1 contrast ratio. No price was released, but considering the previous models hover in the $15,000 price range, we expect no less quality — or cost — from this one either.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the much-hated Real ID unified RFID national identification card, but that doesn’t mean the Department of Homeland Security has been sitting still: New York, Arizona, Washington, and Vermont all agreed earlier this month to beef up the security of driver’s licenses to comply with DHS’ new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. WHTI is the same fun law that requires US citizens carry a passport to travel to Canada and Mexico, and while it’s not clear if it requires RFID licenses for states to comply, eWeek is reporting that both New York and Washington are headed towards including the tags anyway. Given the immense backlash Real ID came under for similar schemes, it’ll be interesting to see how WHTI plays out — but you can bet we’re holding onto the janky laminated driver’s license we got in college as long as we can.

[Via Autoblog]

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We’ve already had a pretty good idea of the reasons for delays with Tesla Motors’ all-electric Roadster vehicle, but it looks like the company’s new CEO, Ze’ev Drori, is now trying to set the record straight himself, with him recently posting a fairly lengthy letter addressing the matter on the company’s blog. That letter is apparently the very same one that was sent to buyers of the car earlier this month and, as you might have guessed if you’ve been following this thing as closely as we have, it pegs most of the blame on the car’s transmission troubles. As we previously reported, that has forced Tesla to ship the roadster with a temporary transmission, which is apparently slower than the final version, but assuredly safe. Drori also confirms that the company will begin full production of the vehicle in the spring of 2008, and that while they plan to ramp up production throughout the year, he admits that some of the initial run of cars won’t be in the hands of customers until early 2009. Among other things, he also attempted to clarify some of the confusion over those initial EPA range targets,saying that the lab that conducted the tests “made a small error in the testing procedure,” resulting in an overstated range figure. According to Drori, the revised figures now stand at 221 miles per charge, although he says the real world figures are actually as high as 267 miles per charge in “slow city driving,” or 165 miles in aggressive highway driving. Those looking for more details can get the full explanation from the man himself by hitting up the read link below.

[Via CNET News.com]