Weather Channel Bloopers
I was going out to Weather.com to get the forecast for this weekend so I could do a little yard work in preparation for the summer growing season and ran across some of their blooper files. Some of these were pretty funny so I decided to post them here. At least we can find some kind of humor in the weather, it hasn’t been too funny lately!
Source: BlueBox Video Player – weather.com
Angry Tennis Player
Ran across this on Break this morning, watch this Tennis Player get angry with himself and bust his own head open, it’s totally out of control. I don’t think that I have ever seen anything like this before during a Tennis match.
Angry Tennis Player Hurts Himself – Watch more free videos
Funny Tax Laws!
I bet that there are a lot of folks out there who haven’t paid any attention to this rule in their tax law booklet from the IRS. This made my day…
Follow Up: Apple’s Safari Contradicts EULA
In my earlier post I covered how surprised I was to find Apple’s Safari as part of iTunes auto updating software this past week. It was an obvious push to gain market share by Apple in the browser wars. I mentioned in my earlier blog entry that I have nothing in the world against Safari as a browser, in fact next to Firefox I really like Safari and respect the way that it renders most sites in accordance to standards but the point I wanted to make was that had Microsoft pulled a stunt like this (..oh wait a minute, they have, I’m just saying…), we would be seeing the next round of Class Action Lawsuits rolling around.
I found an article confirming what I eluded to in my earlier post that by pushing out Safari to windows users that it had in fact violated it’s own EULA for the product. Here’s an excerpt along with link. Now, don’t get me wrong, you should download Safari and give it a test drive, it’s a great browser. Just a little restricting when it comes to plugins and extensions that are available for it…
Apple tried to push the latest version of its Safari browser onto as many computers as possible. But, in doing that, the company also encouraged users to violate the its own End User License Agreement (EULA) for Safari. Will now Apple sue itself?
Apple’s Safari Promotion Contradicts The Company’s EULA – Top Stories news
Apple Safari on Windows?
Okay last week when I got my update screen for iTunes I couldn’t help but notice that the Safari browser was listed as one of the download options. Needless to say this was surprising that Apple would resort to rolling out their browser like this. Personally I had already downloaded the browser a few weeks back to see how well it operated on Vista and rendered our clients websites, etc., but pushing it out in an automated update was kind of shocking to see. I saw it as a bold move on Apple’s part and figured that it wouldn’t go unnoticed by others as well.
In a recent entry on WHIR I noticed that Mozilla’s CEO voiced his opinion on the matter (Web Host Industry News | Mozilla CEO Criticizes Apple Move), I get the impression that he was just about as shocked as I was to see this browser rolled out in this fashion.
Well this sat in my live writer drafts folder for a week or so and during this time I have learned that Apple has came forward with an apology stating that the release of Safari through their updating engine was a violation of their own TOS (terms of service). Wow, could it be that they knew this before they did it?? Hmmmmmmm, kind of makes you wonder huh? Me personally, I think that this was just the introduction that Apple planned all along to push their browser onto the market. If you think about it, even a slight push like this probably helped them to achieve a modest gain in market share for web browsers.
I should probably state for the record that my opinion of the Safari browser is that it is a GREAT web browser, it renders pages very nicely and is considerably faster than IE. Firefox is still my default browser though but if it wasn’t for Safari’s limitations in terms of Plugins and extensions for Vista I might give it another look..
Microsoft in NASCAR?
That’s right! I learned this week that Microsoft is entering NASCAR as a sponsor for BAM Racing’s #49 Spring Cup Series Team headed up by veteran driver Ken Schrader. This is awesome news for BAM Racing who has been struggling as one of NASCAR’s smaller teams.
Microsoft is apparently using their NASCAR involvement to promote their SMB division. I have seen a preview of the car also and it’s going to be pretty sharp. Should be interesting watching Microsoft enter into the sport.
Here’s a link to NASCAR.com’s news release regarding this new partnership between Microsoft and BAM Racing: NASCAR.COM – BAM Racing, Microsoft deal showcasing small business – Mar 26, 2008
Parallels Acquires ModernGigabyte
I was cruising through WHIR this week and learned that Parallels (formerly SWSoft) had purchased ModernGigabyte (ModernBill). I have been a fan of Parallels and their CEO Serguei for just about as long as I have been involved in the hosting industry. They just make great products and have an awesome grasp on the industry and where it is headed.
My partners and I became acquainted with ModernGigabyte at HostingCon a few years ago and even have looked into adding it to our operation in the past. From what I can remember about Modernbill their software is quite impressive as well. I know that their support guys really work hard to support their products.
This acquisition by Parallels isn’t the first big acquisition they have made in the past year or so, in fact they have swallowed up a couple of competing control panel providers in the past 12 months. Here’s an except from the WHIR’s story on Parallels purchase of ModernGigabyte.
The acquisition provides Parallels with a complete hosting control panel and billing system for small to medium-sized service providers and hosting resellers that purchase dedicated servers with pre-loaded software, says the company. Now, service providers will be able to integrate with over 15 control panels supported by ModernBill, as well as special bundled offerings with the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.
Web Host Industry News | Parallels Acquires ModernGigabyte
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Finally it looks like there is a service pack for Windows Vista users. This service pack, in my opinion, is long overdue. The buzz I was hearing about the first service pack was that it was going to offer up some better driver management and support for peripherals and devices. I knew that this couldn’t possibly be the sole foundation for the service pack and thank goodness Microsoft took heed to what’s actually going on in the business world and addressed some of the performance issues that have been going on. I haven’t actually loaded the new service pack yet, although I am kind of anxious to give it a shot.
Here’s a description of SP1 for Vista that I pulled off of MSDN’s website: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is an update to Windows Vista that addresses feedback from our customers. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 contains changes focused on addressing specific reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards. Windows Vista SP1 also addresses some management, deployment, and support challenges.
Download and try at your own Risk!!! Also, if you are in charge of a large corporate network and made the plunge to Vista recently (I can’t think of anyone I know who did this, but if you did) and would lke to block the service pack upgrade from being pushed down there is also a link on the page (MSDN) that you can download and install a block for it. Good Luck!
Source: Windows Vista SP1
SmarterTools Offers SmarterMail 5.x
I was just reading on WHIR.com this morning about SmarterTools release of SmarterMail 5.x. SmarterTools SmarterMail product is a lot like our Premium Email Solutions in that it offers a competitive product to Microsoft’s Exchange Server.
Why would I post a note about one of our competitors on my blog you might ask? Well, my business partners and I, had the opportunity to sit down and spend a lot of time with Tim Uzzanti and Jeff Hardy of SmarterTools this past year in Chicago and kind of go over the broad landscape of premium email solutions and I have to admit I really liked these guys. They seem to have an awesome product as well, we did a few previews of their product before finally partnering with another firm to release our premium email solutions. I walked away from our preview of SmarterTools with a great impression. It’s nice to see the alternatives to Microsoft Exchange showing so much promise and innovation. Keep up the good work guys and I look forward to possibly sitting down and catching up this year in Chicago again.
Source: Web Host Industry News | SmarterTools Offers SmarterMail 5.x
Pleth Launches New KFFB Website!
Below is a copy of the Press Release posted on Pleth’s corporate blog regarding the recent launch of KFFB 106.1FM’s new website and content management system.
Cotton Rohrscheib, Partner and Co-Founder of Pleth Networks, LLC, a Batesville, Arkansas based Web Design & Development firm with satellite offices in Conway, Arkansas, announced on Monday that his firm had launched a fresh redesign and content management system for KFFB 106.1FM, www.kffb.com.
“In addition to the fresh look on the KFFB 106.1FM Website it is also packed with a lot of really nice features,” said Rohrscheib. “While we were building a roadmap for the new website we were sure to include a lot of really useful online resources such as a News Blog, Local Church Directory, Song Lyrics Search, Lake & River Levels, and News Feeds for State News, Local Headlines, Sports and Community Information. We also took the website a step further to list KFFB’s programming schedule, on-air personalities and sales staff,” added Rohrscheib.
Earlier this year KFFB started offering Online Streaming of their radio broadcast so listeners could tune into KFFB from anywhere that has an internet connection. This has been popular with their loyal listeners who travel a lot or who enjoy tuning in while they are at work.
“The streaming audio feature has really been a popular feature on the KFFB website since it’s launch earlier this year,” said Rohrscheib. “I often will pull up KFFB.com and listen in myself.”
In addition to the new features that can be found on the KFFB website there have been a lot of improvements made to existing components such as Vic Schedler’s Weather Forecasts, Radar, and Forecasts on the KFFB Weather Center Page.
“Earlier this month when we experienced heavy snowfall in parts of the state thousands of residents turned to KFFB.com for the latest information on Road Conditions and School Closings and with the heavy rain and flooding that’s occurred in the Batesville Area this week, the KFFB Lake & River Levels page has been extremely popular. It’s information like this that KFFB likes to bring to it’s listeners,” added Rohrscheib.
The new KFFB.com website was launched earlier this week and is available right now for viewing at www.kffb.com.
“We are real excited about launching this new project for KFFB. Bob Connell, the Owner and General Manager, has been a client and close friend for almost 8 years now and during that time he has never stopped looking for ways to make his website more valuable to his listening audience,” concluded Rohrscheib.
For additional information about KFFB, please visit www.kffb.com. For additional information about Pleth Networks, LLC, please visit their website, www.pleth.com.
Development Notes: The KFFB Website features a heavily customized PHP/MYSQL backend developed using PHPRUNNER IDE and also utilizes a Wordpress Blog Integrated into the website through RSS Syndication.
