When I was a grunt

Subject: EU in vast conspiracy against US and Google, report

now if these publishers dont want google to search their site..why dont they simply setup the site to not allow it to happen.

placing the proper robots.txt file and META tags on the webpage tell the crawlers wether they can search the site or not.

now if google is not following that..thats another thing, but thats isnt what i am hearing.

shawn

Subject: Bullet Proof Laptop

When I was a grunt I had my chest saved from a bullet by mere magazine once. It wasn't even a good magazine; it was mostly low quality pictures. deflecting bullets depends upon the angle of entry, and you cannot always tell by the damage done. I saw the guy drawing a bead on me and I was spinning and diving. The mag looked like it took a direct shot, only my outer jacket showed the angular entry and exit holes.

But given my experience with Panasonic tech support, I'll wager his is not the first Toughbook to get shot.

Doug

Subject: Advertised download speeds vs actual speeds

Hey Mike, First off, let me say I LOVE the Inquirer. It is a daily read for me and no other site compares. It is not surprising so many of the other tech sites I visit reference you frequently.

Anyways, I was hoping you would do an article on ISPs. I will never understand why they advertise 1.5 Mbps, 3Mbps, 5Mbps, etc download speeds when many times the absolute highest I've seen when downloading something is 400Kb/s. Am I missing something here? Are these speeds useful only when you have multiple users accessing content at the same time? I use the AT & T Yahoo DSL Pro package that advertises 3Mbps download and their own video service only detects a 100k connection yet every site that has a download speed detector(such as CNET) says I do in fact have near a 3Mbps download speed.

Why advertise these speeds if 90% of the sites can't support it? The only thing that looks like it may come close is Netflix'x upcoming online video service which says you need a minimum speed of 3Mbps.

Also, another issue is tech support. Many of these companies point the blame elsewhere. If it is not the ISP, it is either your settings or the site. If it is not the website, it is the ISP or your settings causing the problems. So all these companies do not take into account routers, firewalls, etc and just assume we are technical enough to fix the issue or provide enough detailed info for someone to recognize the real problem.

I've been reading The Inquirer for a couple years now but it's still possible I missed one of your articles on this issue. I absolutely love when you put the spotlight on a company that is operating falsely, so I hope you can shed some light on ISPs (SBC, Timewarner, etc) and their advertising practices versus real-world results.

Sincerely,
Andrew J. White

p.s. Keep up the vigilance because it is VERY much appreciated.

Subject: Everywhere girl is a nurse?

I was just looking over information about the national nursing exam required here in the states. Well you can surely imagine my surprise when I spotted the Everywhere Girl on a nursing site! It shouldn't be too surprising I guess since we have probably all seen her 'college pics'. Here's the link:

http://www.nursezone.com/student_nurse_center/nclex_prep_details.asp

She's hanging out at the bottom of the page. Oh and btw.. I unbookmarked Wikipedia! Yay for the Everywhere Girl... NAY for those WikiWankers!

C. Mason

Subject: Your Article CREATIVE VISTA SUPPORT

Hi Mike,

I'm have been an avid reader of your site for quite a while. Love it.

Just to update you on the Creative forums (Vista)

Creative Labs is now not just closing threads they don't want people to see, they are actually just deleting them now as they are posted.

I posted a thread to complain about them closing threads and one in particular which showed how one of their competitors had Vista support for DD and DTS already and was actually keeping their users informed of anticipated dates and features that were being added to their drivers. I mentioned in my thread that this was all we were expecting from Creative and that since the other company had tackled the changes in Vista audio already that it wasn't the tragedy/mystery thet Creative was "painting" to us Creative customers.

I used no foul language, no obnoxious wording.

Well, the post was mysteriously deleted about 30 minutes after it was posted. NOT CLOSED . . . DELETED !!!!

I then posted another thread just asking why my thread was deleted. And THAT thread was deleted within 2 minutes.

I don't know Mike, but the Creative forums are now smelling of total censorship and Communist-type tactics to me.

Thanks for reading this.

A now totally-disgusted Creative X-Fi X-User.

Mike B.

Subject: Whose Cellphone ?

Hey Joe,

Britney != Paris ... ;)

and having Ms. Hilton in the headline would probably give you even more hits than Ms. Spears could bring up

but nevermind, I was just wondering why you used Britney in the headline, while the incident was clearly dealing with Paris cellphone been hacked.

Cheers,
Maggi

Subject: PC energy costs

Time to replace those old flame throwing POS Piss 4 powered PCs with AMD low power consuming technology. Bandy

Subject: Power power, tell us about the power!

I like to read about the latest graph chips, and even occasionally play a game. But between times, I like my quiet. So, will I be able to buy a DX10 card that doesn't impersonate Concorde at take-off?

Neil Mckirdy

Subject: IP group wants Canada shut down

Canada's position in the "IP axis of evil" is largely due to the fact that movies are released here at the same time as they are in the US. Many movies are released in both English and French versions which increased the target market.

The products of these pirates are captured using digi-cams in theatres. The products are transfered to other countries for mass production and distribution.

I suspect that if movies were released in Switzerland or Belgium at the same time as they are in North America and in all their official languages they would be at the top of the "evil" list.

James Milne

Subject: Don't mention Vienna, Microsoft Warns

This article is even worse than the one published yesterday about the possibility of a now-defunct (http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9521/1023/) internal codename violating trademarks. Apparently that one frivolous story was not enough.

First, your headline is not accurate! In the statement you link to, Microsoft doesn't issue a command or warning not to discuss Vienna. It is just a boilerplate "Microsoft does not comment on rumor or speculation"-type response.

Next, your comment about "hungry [Indians] there who do apparently know how to code. There's so many of these pesky foreigners that they probably only have to write a couple of lines of code each to catch up with the bloated Voleware." is either facetious, or in poor taste. But if you're trying to write a serious article about competitors to MSFT's next OS, this statement does not serve that end.

You do say, correctly, that Microsoft's monopoly is illegally maintained. But it is in the context of poorly-grounded speculation about a possible competitor OS. Inq's reporting on Vista's weaknesses is far more meritorious than spending bandwidth posting about a Microsoft press release that says absolutely nothing.

b hovane

Subject: A Brit term I don't know

"No doubt red-whiskered over the fact "

OK. I have no idea what this phrase means. Searched on those inter-tubes, but no such luck.

Explanation please.

thanks,
dave

Subject: Voodoo man on crack!

Do you guys remember when I said Rahul Sood must be on crack for suggesting AMD and INTC stop this nasty price war with price fixing CPU's ? Or, why should a Free Market Economy get in the way R+D in Rahul's, Gold Plated, imaginary world? Let's talk about his first piece.

1. I was right. He did have too much money and too much time at HP with nothin' to do. He's now writing for you.

2. Why did he have to tell about the charitable donation thing? Do you guy's pay that much? If not—---well, you fill in the blanks. Who is he trying to impress, anyway? Please, tell him to save his personal philanthropic altruisms for California Computer Cocktail Parties.

3. His first article, CRAP, entitled, ‘How One Arrogant Bitch Can Spot Another Arrogant Bitch'.

4. He's right. He's got it BADD.

5. He wants to write for INQ? Why? He likes the style? He likes the edge? Sounds to me like a guy who made it and big wants to get down and dirty with ‘Little People' again. Kinda like goin' back to the old neighborhood and knock'n back a couple a beers. Be careful what you wish for, pal.

6. Remind him he is a HARDWARE/SOFTWARE/INDUSTRY INSIDER!!! HELLLOOOO! Now that's something to write about.

7. I was wrong. Magee's the one on CRACK!

8. Oh yeah, tell him ‘Welcome Aboard!', for me.

Sparks

Subject: Governments v. foreign business

If Mr Dvorak wishes to rail against Governmental "conspiracies" to stiffle competition by interfering with the operation of foreign companies, maybe he should take a look at his owns Governments actions in respect of European-based online gambling operations.

Richard.

Subject: Prunesville

Hi Mike

My aunt and uncle lived in Sunnyvale when the scale of circuit integration was so low that the number of devices on a chip could be enumerated with two decimal digits. The "valley" was primarily an agricultural area in the process of becoming an outer suburb of San Francisco. The main crops at that time were citrus and wine grapes. The most notable characteristic of the area to me as a teenaged visitor was the ubiquitous sulfurous odor. I never got a satisfactory answer regarding the source but I suspect that the growers' water wells tapped into underground thermal springs. The biggest tourist attraction was the Winchester Mystery House. My aunt and uncle later moved to Saratoga and the first time I visited there in '74 my uncle proudly pointed out his many neighbors in the subdivision who were execs in the semiconductor industry. I asked him if they ever gave him stock tips and his answer was that they constantly recommended their company's stock but that he didn't act on their recommendations since he was "not a gambling man" which is fortunate in a way since he was a United Airlines captain. He later much lamented that he didn't as his flying career was nearing an end. The last time I was up there for his memorial service the place was barely recognizable but it didn't smell funny anymore.

d.

Subject: Bullet Proof Laptop

Hi Guys,

I'm sure that the person who had that laptop is very glad that the bullet didn't try to go through the battery as well. That WOULD have been nasty!

Rattyocaster

Subject: Illegal Monopoly Whiners

Microsoft only provided a platform where software can be run - people chose to develop applications for it. Why don't you scream about other industries that people develop content for - how about television? Think of it like this - consider a television signal sent from a television company. This is signal is in ONE specific format and can be picked up in a particular way. They tell someone to go make televisions that will pick up their signal and voila - you have television. Someone else makes a commercial that adheres to the standard and they can show that. This signal is a very specific platform and can only be picked up in a specific way. So, why aren't other tv manufacturers screaming foul that they have developed televisions that pick up a totally different signal and this MONOPOLY situation with the one signal is preposterous. What about a commercial that doesn't lend itself to being broadcast on that platform. Or, what about another company that wants to transmit the signal differently but it isn't supported by current televisions. They have control of the platform wholly- everyone uses it. Is that a monopoly or is it just a platform? The point is it's just a platform that one can access if they like and because it's there - stuff works on it. It's done a specific way and they can't just change it to suit everyone's needs. In fact, screw your self-serving needs. Develop your own stuff if you want to. If you want to use it, it's a perfectly good platform to work on. If you don't, then go get your siganl from another provider or broadcast your own signal platform and see if anyone wants to support it or buid a tv around it. What? Nobody wants to support your new signal or the current platform enabling company won't change their stuff to support your hardwre? Or it's too much of a standard to be able to compete with? That's because it works well and was adopted as the de-facto standard. So, tough titties. Quit your whining you little socialist monkey boy. I'm so done with Microsoft bashing I could bash the next techno-weenie who even mentions it around me again. Maybe I'll see you sometime and you can tell me about it.

David Love