2006 January 05 « Pale Musings

Wow…

It was certainly a busy morning in the tech world today, as you can probably see from my recent posts. These were just a few of the things that I found interesting. Time unfortunately dictated a bit of pickiness on my part.

With CES in full swing, I anticipate a few days with quite a bit of news. We’ll see how much of it is worthy.

Ciao for now!

January 5, 2006 Posted by palehorse | Blogging | Leave a Comment

The “Urge” for tunes

Ok, Microsoft is finally launching their challenge to iTunes. Urge will launge with over 2 million tracks, but the neat thing, IMHO, is the “all-you-can-eat” subscription service, something iTunes does not have. That’s an idea that I’ve been waiting to see live!

January 5, 2006 Posted by palehorse | Internet | Leave a Comment

Go go Lego legs!

For the past few years I have been particpating in our local (Central Oregon) First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Competition as a technical judge. The yearly event allows teams of 3-9 kids from the ages 8-13 to participate in challenges which involve building a robot from legos and programing it to perform tasks for points. There is more involved than simply that, for example they also are judged on a research project relating to the event. For more detailed information you can check the Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program (ORTOP) site.

Over the past year I’ve heard rumblings about the demise of the Lego robotics division, however this new NXT Robotics Toolset which was unveiled at the 2006 Consumer Elctronics show gives hope! Man, this thing looks cool! I think I want one!

January 5, 2006 Posted by palehorse | Science | Leave a Comment

2005 operating system vunlerabilities.

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team has released it’s 2005 Year End Index of reported vulnerabilities. The numbers were a bit surprising, at least to me, this year. It breaks down (at a high level) as follows from most to least:

2,328 – Unix/Linux Operating System.
2,058 – Multiple Operating System.
812 – Windows Operating System.

Wipe that look off your face! Now, this does sparke debate. For example, this is purely the number found. It does not have to do with how widespread they were, how sever or how much the estimated cost of the vulnerability was to the public, but it is interesting. It also may point to the fact that Unix/Linux is a bit more mainstream than some give it credit for.

January 5, 2006 Posted by palehorse | Internet, Linux, Operating Systems, Windows | Leave a Comment