Friday, April 29, 2011

It’s the Friday Follies–Enjoy!

While I fight a bit of a cold, you all have a good weekend. - JRC

Office 365 offers value, but it's not Office

The first thing you have to understand about Office 365 (info page) is that it isn't Office. In spite of the name, Office 365 isn't a new version of Office at all. It's a rebranding of server services Microsoft has offered for years, with a bit more sizzle and a different marketing slant (and presumably a much larger marketing budget).

Battle of the Web browsers

Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari square off on speed, features, and HTML5 compatibility

Adobe and Skype top my Foistware Hall of Shame

I'm in the process of rebuilding a PC here-blowing out dust, upgrading some hardware, restoring the OS to factory-new condition, and installing fresh copies of apps I use regularly. Along the way, I keep running into a sleazy trick that some software vendors play, and I've finally reached the breaking point. I am sick and tired of companies that try to make a quick buck by tricking their customers into installing software they don't need.

The 3D scam: Reject and repeat

The 3D gimmick has sadly infiltrated movies and television and is now threatening to infect video games and smartphones as well. There’s only one reason why the entertainment industry keeps relentlessly pushing this at consumers — it’s a transparent attempt to bleed more money out of people. And, while a lot of consumers have caught on to the scam, not everyone is doing enough to stop it.

NASA's wondrous views of Earth (photos)

To celebrate Earth Day, NASA released some of its most beautiful and surprising images of our planet. Although the entire collection features dozens of images and photographs of a wide variety of subjects--from hurricanes to volcano eruptions to data visualizations of things like average rainfalls and terrain height, these 20 images to represent the best of Earth, as seen from high above.

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