Developing a Windows-based alternative to the iPad is a “job one urgency” at Microsoft, company chief Steve Ballmer said today during the annual Financial Analysts Meeting. He admitted that Microsoft was uncomfortable with how well iPads were selling and was tuning both its software and hardware partnerships to provide a competitive option.

Look for the new iPad killer coming soon from Microsoft. It will be called iZune.

VaporStream is software that is said to operate like an actual conversation with few of the draw backs. Things like being worried about what you write, the time to parse and file thousands of emails, the cost of storage and — hint, hint — the expense of possible litigation.

We live in a world where most of our communication is being captured. When we call our banks, when we browse the web, when we talk on our cellphones, when we send emails, when we use our credit cards, when we receive services. Is it even remotely possible to ensure privacy in our digital lives?

Despite the promises made by VaporStream, I doubt that the software is immune to electronic eavesdropping by federal authorities.

In the United States, the NSA monitors phone calls, emails, Internet activity, text messaging and other communication. All without warrants. And although the exact scope is unknown, the NSA is or was provided total, unsupervised access to all major fiber-optic communications hubs. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an interesting piece on the scope and magnitude of the NSA dragnet here.

BP Oil Spill ‘Slows’ but Serious IT Failures Come to Surface

From the article:

An internal investigation at BP has revealed serious IT failures played a part in the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico…

BP has said the accident “was brought about by the failure of a number of processes, systems and equipment”. It added: “There were multiple control mechanisms– procedures and equipment–in place that should have prevented this accident or reduced the impact of the spill.” These did not succeed.

In the investigation, BP raised “several concerns” about the blowout preventer, which sits on top of the well head 5,000 feet below the water surface, and controls oil flow, according to the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. The findings are preliminary.

The “failure” of a key emergency disconnect system was noted in a committee memo summarising the early investigation. That system, if effective, would have kicked in to stop the oil from flowing, but signals may not have reached the blowout preventer because of the explosion.

There were also problems with a further automatic closure system, or deadman switch, that should have closed off the preventer if those connections were lost. This also failed. The testing and maintenance of the blowout preventer technology is also in question.

BP additionally experienced “failure” with interventions from its remote operated vehicles, which struggled to operate the shear rams to cut and seal the pipe. The reason for this, too, has not been established.

One person who commented on the article had this to say:

I find the headline of this article if awfully misleading and sensationalist. I didn’t interpret any of the issues stated as “a serious IT failure”, or even an “IT failure”. All the problems encountered seem like engineering and people problems. If their instruments and monitoring systems were working up until the explosion and the workers chose to ignore them, IT has done it’s job, and it was human error that led to the catastrophe.

It’s also quite a stretch to lay blame on IT for troubles with a remote controlled sub 5000ft below the water. The best in the world would have trouble with the same task.

Sounds like the author is the type that is all too quick to deflect blame to the IT dept because they are an easy scapegoat.

Apple’s market cap was $88.68 billion on Oct. 2, 2008 and Microsoft’s was $228.35 billion on Sept. 29, 2008. Microsoft’s market cap is virtually unchanged. Different story for Apple.

The Windows era is over.


A lot has changed since then.

First, Microsoft is a dead stick company. Unable to effectively innovate or grow the business, it clings to its old monopoly model of imposing a tax on PCs. A tax that is called Windows and, more often than not, Office. In terms of the next wave of computing, Microsoft is simply not a material factor. Microsoft does not lead or drive the market. Other competitors have moved in.

What is interesting is that the same techniques Microsoft used in the 1980s to dominate the PC industry is now being used by Google to dominate the 2010s. Google is playing hardball with its competitors and Google is winning.

When Schmidt joined the board of Apple in 2006, he made the following statement:

“Apple is one of the companies in the world that I most admire,” said Eric Schmidt. “I’m really looking forward to working with Steve and Apple’s board to help with all of the amazing things Apple is doing.”

Or was there a different motive?

Android? Chrome? Google TV?

Google’s VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra made a particularly arrogant statement about why Google created Android:

If we did not act, we faced a draconian future. Where one man, one company, one carrier was the future.

Uh, huh. Conveniently forgetting to mention that Google had acquired Android in 2005. Before the iPhone. Before the Apps store. And conveniently forgetting to mention that Eric Schmidt was following the teachings of Sun Tzu’s Art of War:

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

When I looked to get a quote to replace the drive, prices were running around $300 – 400. I decided to perform the operation myself. The hard drive was $95 and the suction cups and screwdriver cost $15. Total time to repair was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The essentials included a Western Digital Caviar Green 1 TB hard drive, 4 kitchen suction cups and 1 set of Torx with T6 and T8 heads.

Step one was to remove the glass LCD cover. 4 suction cups. The cover came off very easily.

After the LCD glass cover, the next step was to remove the memory slot and then the screws which retain the Aluminum cover. Once the Aluminum cover was removed — it basically slid up and off — the actual LCD panel was revealed.

From here, the two LCD connectors needed to be unplugged. They were not too hard to find. One was on the right side held in place by two small screws. And the other was on the left side — there are very tiny letter markings which indicate an LCD supply line. Once the connectors were unplugged, the screws retaining the LCD display needed to be removed. The panel lifted up although there was still one more connector to unplug.

For this part of the operation, I needed another set of hands to hold the LCD display panel while I dealt with unplugging the power supply. It was not easy. The plug was difficult to leverage and I wound up removing four screws which held the power supply card so that I could get at the plug.

At this point, the hard drive was finally revealed.

The hard drive has two connectors: one for the SATA interface and the other for power. There is also a temperature sensor on the hard drive. Once disconnected, I had to remove two screws from the top of the hard drive to remove it from the computer. After about 45 minutes of work, success. I removed the dead hard drive. But did the patient survive?

I got hold of the new hard drive and placed it into the iMac and reversed my steps to get the machine back to its original state. Well, almost original. Now there was a 1 TB hard drive. My youngest son assisted me with the operation. And he took all of the photos.

After the machine was reassembled, I booted the machine, set up a partition and installed Snow Leopard. Everything worked fine. I used the migration assistant to transfer my wife’s files and applications. Hopefully the new hard drive lasts longer than the old one. And I know that Lorraine will be focused on maintaining her backups. As soon as I connect an external hard drive for Time Machine.