I don’t know why I’m shocked that this happened, and I’m sure it’s old news.  But I don’t use Windows Media Player, though just this morning I needed it for listening to something that I didn’t want to run through iTunes, and it popped up with a notice saying it needed to update aspects of version 9.  I thought it was a security update so I said yes, go ahead, update it – keeping in mind it still stated it was updating version 9.  I didn’t want any of the newer versions on my machine.

And this is what happened…

Everything says version nine until it actually begins downloading version ELEVEN…

When it was done, it insisted I reboot the computer.

After I rebooted the computer, Microsoft Windows wouldn’t start.  I had to go back and set windows to use “Last known Good Configuration.”

Things like this make me want to switch to Linux or a Mac.

I don’t even think iResq will be able to fix this one.

“I’ve seen family members place iPod earphones on the decedent and play songs as the casket closed. It’s comforting to the family to think mom’s playing her iPod or dad’s still got the cell phone that was attached to his ear all the time. It’s comforting to think those things are still with them. …

“I’ve seen people leave cell phones on and tell me they’re going to call their loved one later. Not that anyone will answer, but they want to have that connection. I’m sure the family gathers around the phone when they call. They feel connected with that person because it’s their phone, but at the same time it helps them realize that a death has occurred.”

– Pam Vetter, among the funeral planners reporting that the ancient practice of taking your gadgets to your grave continues

From writer John Murrell at
Good Morning Silicon Valley

[For some reason I felt the need to share the above with you.  It made me tear up.]

I’ve been using Google’s browser, which is now in open beta (available here) and this morning I finally decided I like it even more than Firefox.  It’s much more nimble, it takes less RAM, and the interface is so clean and simple … I’ve fallen in love with it.  So much so I decided I had to come out here and rewrite this posted article.

When they first came out with it, my initial reaction was, “WTF?  Why another freaking browser?”  But then I read the story behind it, about why they decided to create a new browser from the ground up, and … wow.  It made complete sense.

Who knows if it will catch on or not, but it has the potential to change everything.

Here’s the main advantage:  They designed it from scratch for how we use the Internet now, as opposed to how we used the Internet ten years ago.  All the other browsers, you see, are struggling to accommodate what they were never designed to do in the first place.

Think of it.  The browser has become the universal application.  We use it for everything.  It was never designed to do that — it was supposed to display passive HTML.  Everything else browsers do now is because of features tacked on to the original design and concept.

The Google browser is designed from the ground up to be the universal application, almost — if you will — an operating system.  They designed it with the features of an operating system.  It’s built to run programs.

For me it won’t completely replace Firefox, because I’m addicted to the Firefox plugins … but if Chrome starts using plugins…

That would be groovy.

Wooden actors with no talent, beware.  This Wakamaru robot manufactured by Mitsubushi may well be your replacement.

Two of these robots are currently cast in a Osaka University play entitled I, Worker which, set in the near future, depicts them as house mates to a young couple.  Trouble brews when one of the robots loses its motivation to work and begins questioning its role in life.

Isaac Asimov would have loved this.