Microsoft’s Shady Firefox Extension

A few month ago, Microsoft released a .NET Framework update that silently added an extension to Mozilla Firefox (If the user had Firefox installed).

In addition to installing the as advertised updates to the .NET Framework, it also installed the extension in Firefox without warning, and opened the independent browser up to some of the vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer.

This sucks.

I always encourage installing critical updates to software because they are necessary for security purposes. While .NET updates are not “critical,” they should not push add-ons for non-Microsoft software; especially without proper warning.

People who choose to use Firefox are generally not big fans of Microsoft’s browser for a reason.

The bright side is that the Microsoft add-on is incomparable with the Firefox 3.5b4, so if you want to rid your browser of Microsoft, upgrading to that version or just disabling the add-on are your best bets. Trying to delete the add-on requires editing your registry which isn’t worth the hassle in this particular case.

Armani Phone – Called It

Samsung, Microsoft, and Giorgio Armani are teaming up to release a cellphone. More details will be revealed on June 11.

I love being right.

Designer cellphones have been an inevitability. In all honesty, I’m a little shocked it has taken this long.

DC Fires McDuffie & Johnston Moves On

I just learned that Dwayne McDuffie has been fired from his position as writer for DC Comic’s Justice League of America series. The firing comes as a result of comments he made regarding “behind-the-scenes creative discussions” in response to fan questions on Rich Johnston’s column, Lying in the Gutter (More on that in a moment).

This makes me sad for a few reasons:

1. I have heard nothing but good things about McDuffie as a person from people who know him (and he always seems like a nice and honest guy in interviews).
2. I like his work when he isn’t excessively restrained.
3. It has been so clear that DC really did tie his hands on JLA with all of the damn event comics. As a consequence, the run has been weak (when he confirmed this on Lying in the Gutter it wasn’t even remotely shocking).
4. The circumstances of his termination seem harsh to me. The guy never had a regular artist, and wasn’t given control over his book. That is a pretty bad creative environment.

Books and their writers suffer when they are stuck writing supplementary content for someone else’s larger story. This is a problem that plagues a lot of Marvel and DC books because they force so many massive event stories.

I give McDuffie a lot of credit for his “Anansi” storyline. It was really cleaver of him to write a story arc about his lack of control over his own book.

In other news, Rich Johnston, the writer of the aforementioned comic industry gossip column Lying in the Gutter is calling it quits after seven years. Johnston’s column has been a staple read of mine for years. I will miss watching him start trouble and fan the flames within the comic industry.

I have no doubt that both McDuffie and Johnston will continue to provide great entertainment over the coming years. I wish them both the best of luck.

Death Star Destroys Enterprise

Spam is Spam Regardless of Packaging

This is Spam:

This is Spam:

This is Spam:

Make your [insert organ(s) of your choosing] BIGGER!

This is Spam:

My name is Prince…

This is Spam:

sUPERsEXYfUUN 4 S1ng1ez

Spam is spam regardless of how it is packaged. After a drastic decrease in spam as a result of a lot of arrests, spam has shot back up to record levels. I’ve had a few pieces get past Gmail’s spam filter this week (which is fairly unusual).

My point – be careful! You never know what a given piece of spam will do. Take a closer look at unusual messages before you open them.

Please practice safe computing by giving suspicious emails a second look before clicking.

Microwaving Your Cellphone Could Unleash Hell

Thanks again boingboing.

I Have Returned

I am back from my adventures in Costa Rica. It was an incredible trip, but I will have more on that later.

I’m still catching up with my life which pressed forward in spite of my absence, so this will be a short one.

Here’s a video from Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy titled, “Things You Never Hear.” Pay close attention to “Things You Never Hear #3,” and keep in mind that I actually wrote yesterday’s post about two weeks ago.

In other geek news, a fan created this fake trailer for a Green Lantern movie staring Firefly and Dr. Horrible’s Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan. The trailer is cheesy yet cool.

I’m rooting for a Green Lantern movie staring Fillion… dare I say, Joss Whedon could direct it.

Why Bother Attacking the iPod?

Microsoft is attacking Apple with another wasted commercial:

As of June 2008 (a year ago), Apple had sold about 163 million iPods:

As of May 2008, Microsoft had sold 2 million Zune Mp3 players.

Zune has been a lost cause since launch. Trying to outflank Apple by labeling Zune as the cheaper alternative will only damage Microsoft’s brand and reputation (as I pointed out before).

I do want to see Microsoft put up an intelligent fight (although I am not sure why I care).

Please Microsoft, pick better battles.

“Queen” of the Champions

Few songs are as associated with crushing an opponent in an athletic competition more that Queen’s, “We are the Champions.”

Whenever I see athletes celebrating to this iconic song I always wonder, “If they knew who sung it, would they still like it?”

Freddie Mercury was fabulously talented, but he was also very…

fabulous!

If you don’t know what I am talking about check out this performance that is not for homophobic viewers:

Rest in peace Freddie.

Cyberpipe Computer Museum

I love old technology:

Insane (and Funny) Cyberstalker Video

This is just too much:

In case you don’t think it’s real, here was the story that Channel 10 actually aired:

How to Get Windows 7 Now

Microsoft’s next operating system Windows 7 will not hit store shelves until Q4 of this year. However, an early build of it is available for free.

Wired offers a “how to” guide for downloading and installing the operating system.

Remember to backup everything before you install this OS.

Don’t try it unless you are confident that you could restore your computer to its current OS on your own.

And always remember to practice safe computing.

Manufactured Social Distractions

Valerie D’Orazio of Occasional Superheroine and Valerie D’Orazio posted some great thoughts on our relationship with the media, and all of the micro scandals that should be insignificant, yet they dominate airtime and personal thought-time:

“The Way It Is” or “The Prejean Maneuver”

It’s interesting stuff, and she makes some of her points with Watchmen references – Bonus points!

Food Represented as Sugar Cubes

Sugar Stacks is an interesting site that represents food and beverages as the items equivalent in sugar cubes. I’m really into alternative, concise, accurate, and easily digested representations of information; this is a great one.

Changes the way you look at that shake doesn't it?

This site was brought to my attention by boingboing.

What Do You Want Your Statistics to Say?

My buddy Jason <TheLisnakFactor> (who owes me a post) has helped me with statistical analysis from time to time. Whenever I bring a data set to him I ask him, “What does the data say?” He always chuckles and reply’s, “What do you want it to say.” My answer is always “Something that accurately reflects reality.”

74.351% of all statistics are massaged to exaggerate and serve someone’s agenda.

OK… I made that stat up, but you get my point. Stats, the hard “facts” lie. They lie even more when someone is pushing an agenda for financial or political purposes.

Take the study that concluded that as much as 41% of all installed software is pirated, and the software industry is losing 2/5 of it’s potential profit.

Let’s pretend for a minute that that number is believable (it isn’t).

Way back in one of my first posts I described what a “freetard” is.

Freetard – A person who goes to great extremes to download things illegally.

One thing that I have noticed about your typical freetard is that they will download anything and everything they can. They hoard software, ebooks, music, movies, and video games. They aren’t necessarily using all of the stuff they hoard, they are just hoarding it.

A really busy software pirate will install an unbelievable volume of illegal software and never use most of it more than once.

The Orange Light of Avarice (Another Green Lantern reference)

If one is willing acquire software for free and install it, that does not necessarily mean that same individual would be willing to pay for the same software package. To put it in other terms: I might be willing to listen to a CD that a friend loans me, but if I don’t really like the album I will never be willing to buy it.