KeepHip.com

"Mozilla tames Firefox tab monster with Candy."

Sounds interesting. It's also nice to see Firefox innovating a little in the interface aspects of web browsing.

I'm not getting this.

I signed a new two year cell phone contract in September of last year. The cost to sign another new contract, just shy of a year later, is $439 with a Samsung Vibrant.

However a new contract gets the phone for $99.

Huh?

I can break the contract and get a Droid X for $439!

"Apple knew that the Iphone 4 was a lemon."

NSFW:

"What Apple really thinks about its customers."

"Battle.net Update: Upcoming Changes to Forums" makes me think Blizzard itself is jumping the shark:

Recently, we introduced our new Real ID feature - http://www.battle.net/realid/ , a new way to stay connected with your friends on the new Battle.net. Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about our plans for Real ID on our official forums, discuss the design philosophy behind the changes we’re making, and give you a first look at some of the new features we’re adding to the forums to help improve the quality of conversations and make the forums an even more enjoyable place for players to visit.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.

This change has been greeted with what may be fairly described as near universal disapproval. It is undeniable that trolls run rampant on the World of Warcraft forums, but this seems to be a ham handed attempt to fix what forum moderation did not.

My perspective on this may be a little unique. As one of probably a few people with a unique name on this planet (I seriously think the combination of my first and last name is mine and mine alone), I find this especially troubling. While my identify here is not a secret, it is somewhat obfuscated. Removing that anonymity may be great for Blizzard on their forums, but offering me the choice of not posting or uniquely identifying myself is no choice at all. Meanwhile, all the John Smiths on the planet will snicker and continue to troll.

This may be an awesome time to setup a non-Blizzard forum for players to migrate to . . .

"Regular domains beat smut sites at hosting malware."

I'm forwarding this to a certain someone who needs to read this.

"Study: PCs hurt students' grades":

You may want to stop and reconsider whether you think a home computer will help your child with reading and math.

A new Duke University study says North Carolina middle school students' test scores dropped after they got home computers, suggesting they spent more time playing "The Sims" than working practice math problems.

The study by Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy challenges the accepted wisdom that children who don't have computers at home are at a disadvantage compared with their wired classmates.

Actually, even if this were true, and I'm not sure that it is, I don't think parents should re-consider. Grades aren't the only outcome of spending time on a computer. The computer skills they learn - even on their own - has lead to amazing careers in computer science.

It seems to me that the real problem here is that while a computer, through the virtue of its interactivity, is a better babysitter than a TV set, it's still not a substitute for real parenting.

"Droid X versus iPhone 4"

I got a myTouch last September, but the temptation to get a DroidX or an Evo4 is great. The myTouch's processor doesn't feel nearly as snappy as those 1Gz Snapdragons in the Droid X. It's Verizon though, and I'm stuck in a contract with T-Mobile for another year plus.

"C64 rises from the dead."

If this thing was a dedicated emulator with a TV out, I'd think about it. But was it is, it doesn't even really resemble a C64, and it won't let me play C64 games any better than my current desktop will.

I think Truthdig is an awesome web site, but "Apple Passes Microsoft to Become the World’s Biggest Tech Company" is just sloppy:

Apple fan-boys and -girls, rejoice. The iCorporation is now worth more than the dreaded Microsoft. But don’t get too excited: Bill Gates’ gang has a few ideas to get back in the game, and some bloggers claim that Google, whose Android is outselling the iPhone, “has leapfrogged” Apple in terms of innovation.

Whatever threats Google and Microsoft pose, Apple is now the king of the hill. It’s a fable worthy of David and Goliath, with a little Lazarus thrown in.

One Wikipedia search would reveal that Samsung brings in more revenue than Microsoft and Apple combined, as Hewlett-Packard has probably done every year since either company was founded. IBM definitely was bigger than both put together up until about 2008, now it's just almost as big as the two combined.

This is another example of the raving love the press shows for all things Apple, they've always pretended Apple was the best, now they pretend that they're the biggest.

"Google's Wi-Fi Spying: What Were They Thinking?"

Payload data? That's the definition of friggin' evil.

"Nexus One Running Android 2.2 is 450% Faster."

Great. My friggin' myTouch hasn't even gotten Android 2.0 yet.

"Five hidden dangers of Facebook."

#2 is a killer. That's why my recently created Facebook profile is totally fake, down to the email used to create it. Until they respect me, I won't respect them.

No, not that one.

"Researchers spy on BitTorrent users in real-time."

I'll avoid the temptation to hard on the police being the puppets of our corporate overlords (in this case, Apple) to note:

Gizmodo said Monday that California police raided the home of an editor for the gadget blog who revealed details last week of a secret next-generation iPhone prototype.

Gizmodo published excerpts from a search warrant that gave police permission to seize property from editor Jason Chen's home that was "used as the means of committing a felony" or "tends to show that a felony has been committed."

The search warrant signed by a local judge specifically authorized the seizure of "printed documents, images and/or notations pertaining to the sale and/or purchase of the stolen iPhone prototype."

See, I'm wondering where theft was involved. As far as we know, this prototype iPhone was left at a bar. Did somebody at Apple tell a fib?

Gizmodo also published a letter from a lawyer for its owner, Gawker Media, objecting to the raid on Chen's home and arguing that a "search warrant may not be validly issued to confiscate the property of a journalist."

Yeah, that's just what I'm thinking.

"The image Microsoft doesn't want you to see."

"Why platforms like iPhone and Twitter are becoming control freaks."