Bloggers@large

About an hour or two ago I installed Vista build 5472, the latest build so far of Vista beta. This time the install did actually take about 30 minutes, a huge improvement over the last three to four install attempts. Actually, the whole install went the smoothest so far. And this time I did notice some improvements as well. Performance was better: Vista felt a lot more responsive. I installed Skype, MSN Live Chat and all worked well. Off course my TV-card didn’t work and neither did my scanner or webcam, but I was able to setup Media Center without […]

Bill vs Steve So what’s up with Microsoft and it’s Zune mp3 player? Apparently Microsoft wants a piece of the cake as well. But can they beat Apple? Apple’s iPod has a humongous marketshare of around 87.3 percent (dropping from 92% according to new research from market research company NPD Group). The iTunes Music store has been a huge success with literally over a billion(!) downloads. So where exactly does Microsoft think they are going with the Zune? Well, according to analysts they just follow the money. The fact that there is a lot of money going on in the […]

So yesterday was another scorcher here in Holland with temperatures into the 30’s (low 90’s). So what better way to spend the evening then at some friends and the traditional burning of meat, otherwise known as BBQ. Now, my friend Vincent is a big cooking afficionado and as such he and his girlfriend like to BBQ. And that is where the skill comes in: most people fill up their BBQ up to the brim, toss in some fuel and light up the stuff as if they were trying to burn the Reichstag to the ground again. Wrong! Shown on the […]

Will Bush ever learn? My guess is no, he won’t. during the G8 summit in St.Petersburg Russia the last few days, Bush has been acting like the usual idiot he is. First he was groping German chancellor Angela Merkel, making her feel very unconfortable (see picture on the left and also see the Daily Show video on it here). He also was dumb enough to keep talking while his mic was still on, during the same G8 summit. Again I say, because during the 2000 election campaign he was also unaware that his mic picked him up when he blurted […]

Too hot Yesterday I showed we are having an official heatwave here in Holland with temperatures in the 30’s (90’s if you’re from the US). We should not complain about it since we normally do not have such nice weather in Holland. Unfortunately this extreme weather also has it’s downsides: for the first time in it’s 90 year history the Nijmeegse Vierdaagse (the International Four Days Marches of Nijmegen) had to be cancelled, after three two people died yesterday and many others had to be treated for heat related problems. Only one time before did people die: in 1972, when […]

(click me) It certainly is going to be a bumpy ride for Microsoft. I just installed Build 5456 and I can still sum it up in one word: crap. It is unbelievable but still I get a nice blue screen when I reboot. Still it doesn’t recognize hardware like my webcam and scanner. Performance did improve (my swapfile isn’t that huge anymore) a bit. The UAC (User Account Control) still bugs you every 2 clicks you make. Jeezzz guys. This is just…. unbelievable. According to some information it should run better etc. but so far I haven’t seen *any* proof […]

I have been messing around a bit with Vista Beta 2, as I wrote last week. After the first hurdles of getting it installed properly and finding some drivers that work with my hardware, I also installed Office 2007 beta, SnagIT (for the screenshots I use here) and MSN Live. The more I play around with Vista, the more I feel it is going to be a big culture shock to most XP users. Also it feels like the system (especially the Ultimate version of build 5384) is bloathed with unessecary options and features that really makes this system sluggish […]

Since I do want to start running/jogging again, I definately want this: I better start saving some money for the shoes, the iPod and the gear.

Say “ah”! It’s the week of controversy here in Holland. For starters on Tuesday Sony announced it has pulled a Dutch billboard advertising campaign for the new white version of its PlayStation Portable video game player which (non-Dutch) critics dubbed “racist”. Also this week, a Dutch McDonalds franchise decided to removed their urinals shaped as a mouth (see picture) after some hypocritical asshole American complained about them at McDonalds headquarters in the US. Seriously people: what is wrong with this picture? In a statement Sony said: “We recognize that the subject matter of one specific image may have caused concern […]