Watch exclusive shorts of The Office, new episodes every Thursday. (I refuse to call them Webisodes, because that’s just stupid.) The short series titled, The Accountants, has the trio searching for who in the office stole $3,000.
You can also check out Schrute-Space while you’re there.
Starting in September, AOL will be offering free 5GB of storage at XDrive. Previously this was $10/month, but with AOL’s new ad-supported model it will be free.
The new service announced by AOL provides accessibility from PCs or mobile devices. User tools enable drag and drop functionality for moving items between the system and the storage service, and can schedule of automatic backup of files and folders or the auto-upload of email attachments to Xdrive.
In other news AOL announced they will be laying off 5,000 workers, or about a quarter of their global workforce. And by “global workforce” they mean in the U.S. But really, that’s only one worker per MB, not bad.
Vongo’s movie downloads to compete with Netflix? For either a subscription fee (9.99/month) or pay-for-view (price depends on title) you can download movies to your Windows PC or portable device. The service currently only has 1,800 titles, which could seriously hamper their ability to compete with Netflix. Netflix has over 60,000 movies, with 35,000 - 40,000 different titles are rented on any given day. Hopefully this number of movies will grow rapidly.
Once you download a movie from Vongo, you are limited on how long you can keep it.
Before you download, check the date next to “Available Until” under the preview box. That date will tell you when the title will expire from Vongo. Some titles are in the service for many months, and others last a few weeks or days. Once a title expires from the service whether it is a Vongo Membership or Pay Per View title it will automatically delete from your hard drive. Pay Per View titles will also automatically delete 24 hours after you have first started playback.
And Vongo can also be used with portable devices, but currently on two exist.
Apple is rumored to be announcing a video rental service for iTunes in the near future.
Britain’s Highway Agency is making use of new materials, Fiber-Reinforeced Polymers, to build bridges where they were not previously feasible.
The use of FRP in the M6 Motorway is just one example of how new materials such as glass and engineering techniques such as cantilevered driving-lanes are allowing construction of bridges that are stronger and longer than anything built previously. The Rion-Antirion Bridge in Greece, for instance, links the Pelopponesians to the mainland—a connection first proposed centuries ago. The proposed Messina Bridge would connect Sicily to Italy across one of the most seismically active sea beds.
From the same people that brought you YOU-CAN-SPAM, give you DOPA. The Deleting Online Predators Act has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The overly broad law would ban, “any site that allows users to edit a profile, chat to users or post personal data as a social networking site”, from libraries and public schools.
The American Library Association opposed DOPA saying,
“Under DOPA, people who use library and school computers as their primary conduits to the Internet will be unfairly blocked from accessing some of the web’s most powerful emerging technologies and learning applications. As libraries are already required to block content that is “harmful to minors” under the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), DOPA is redundant and unnecessary legislation.”
DOPA is championed by the likes of Senator Ted Stevens, who recently referred to the Internet as a “Series of Tubes” that can be clogged by information.
Save Your Space is hosting a petition to be submitted to Congress on September 5, 2006. Not that it will do any good, the only public opinions they listen to are the ones that further their agenda.
May I suggest the slogan, “Keep your congressman off DOPA.”
GM and others will be adding integrated iPod connectors to more than 56% of their 2007 vehicles. Bring the total number of iPod supported vehicles for 2007 to more than 70%.
The systems will offer iPod charging, improved sound quality, and convenient iPod storage. iPod integration will give the driver full control over the iPod through the stereo controls included with the car.
The rise of iPods over Satellite radio has already been predicted.
GM hopes to reverse slumping sales with its new line of hybrid trucks. The 2007 Chevrolet Silverado LTZ and GMC Sierra will go on sale in the fall of 2007.
Two electric motors will work in tandem with a new V-8 in a GM Sierra or Chevy Silverado, or both. GM also developed a computerized fuel management system to optimize the transmission and balance between the engine and electric motors.
The spreadfirefox website is reporting that the number of downloads of Firefox has surpassed 200 million.
Today the Firefox download counter crossed the 200 million mark.
We know that this number doesn’t represent actual users because this number includes both Firefox 1.0 and Firefox 1.5 (soon Firefox 2,) because not every one completes every download, and because not every download results in a new Firefox user.
That being said, 200 million people seeking Firefox is a huge accomplishment and we’re right to celebrate our role in driving that number.
Firefox reportedly holds a 15% market share, while Internet Explorer is down to 80%.
