Archive for March, 2006

Cable Companies aim to kill VoIP

Tuesday, March 14th, 2006

We’ll Kill VoIP

Internet blows CIA cover

Sunday, March 12th, 2006

Do your part for Homeland Security by gathering personal data on CIA operatives.

Having problems downloading videos directly from your favorite sites?

Sunday, March 12th, 2006

Cute little url that allows you to download videos directly to your pc…
KeepVid

How to copy Mac OSX widgets to your desktop

Sunday, March 12th, 2006

Reference for all you Mac users out there.
“Dashboard widgets on my Mac OS X desktop?”

Torrent site for TV shows

Saturday, March 11th, 2006

BT-Chat.com

The $159 dollar PC is here

Friday, March 10th, 2006

A cute little all in one system with standard parts and a fully functional operating system (Linspire) and office bundle for less than a single license of Windows XP Pro.

Add $50 worth of hand picked, rebate priced parts, and you have a perfectly usable machine…

Ok, this is interesting…

Friday, March 10th, 2006

Muslim Rave Party Sensation!

Has the PIN obstacle for debit card thieves been bypassed?

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

I was just talking to a friend of mine this weekend who had money removed from her checking account via Debit card theft.

Check your account regularly!

Why Data mining Won’t Stop Terror

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

Bruce Schneier give a good breakdown of why he believes we are flushing our privacy down the security toilet and receiving nothing in return.

Comcast to up speeds to 16Mbit down / 1Mbit up

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

Wow, I wonder if the Telecoms will try to up their speed significantly to match the Comcastic Speed Jump Juggernaut?

US men fight child support laws

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

US men fight child support laws

About time…

I wonder if he can prove she claimed to be impregnable?

Coffee-Gene Interaction Raises Heart Attack Risk

Thursday, March 9th, 2006

Nice info on a study of Heart Attack risk correlation to a genetic predisposition to slow caffeine metabolism.

This appears to be an interesting web site.

Praise Bob – Slack master of the universe!

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006

I’d almost forgotten the SubGenius existed…
Arise Chapter 1 – Instructions
Arise Chapter 5 – The Life of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs
Arise Chapter 10 – The Church and You

Salvation guaranteed or triple your money back!

AT&T Layoff Details!

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006

NEW YORK, N.Y. — AT&T will reduce its workforce by an unprecedented 120 percent by the end of 2006, believed to be the first time a major corporation has laid off more employees than it actually has.

AT&T stock soared more than 12 points on the news.

The reduction decision, announced Wednesday, came after a year-long internal review of cost-cutting procedures, said AT&T Chairman Ed Whitacre. . The initial report concluded the company would save $1.2 billion by eliminating 20 percent of its 168,000 employees.

From there, said the Chairman, “it didn’t take a genius to figure out that if we cut 40 percent of our workforce, we’d save $2.4 billion, and if we cut 100 percent of our workforce, we’d save $6 billion. But then we thought, why stop there? Let’s cut another 20 percent and save $7 billion.

“We believe in increasing shareholder value, and we believe that by decreasing expenditures, we enhance our competitive cost position and our bottom line,” he added.

AT&T plans to achieve the 100 percent internal reduction through layoffs, attrition and early retirement packages. To achieve the 20 percent in external reductions, the company plans to involuntarily downsize 22,000 non-AT&T employees who presently work for other companies.

“We pretty much picked them out of a hat,” said the Chairman.

Among firms AT&T has picked as “External Reduction Targets,” or ERTs, are Quaker Oats, AMR Corporation, parent of American Airlines, Callaway Golf, and Charles Schwab & Co. AT&T’s plan presents a “win-win” for the company and ERTs, said Whitacre , as any savings by ERTs would be passed on to AT&T, while the ERTs themselves would benefit by the increase in stock price that usually accompanies personnel cutback announcements.

“We’re also hoping that since, over the years, we’ve been really helpful to a lot of companies, they’ll do this for us kind of as a favor,” said the Chairman.

Legally, pink slips sent out by AT&T would have no standing at ERTs unless those companies agreed. While executives at ERTs declined to comment, employees at those companies said they were not inclined to cooperate.

“This is ridiculous. I don’t work for AT&T. They can’t fire me,” said Kaili Blackburn, a flight attendant with American Airlines.

Reactions like that, replied Whitacre , “are not very sporting.”

Inspiration for AT&T’s plan came from previous cutback initiatives, said company officials. In January of 1998, for instance, the company announced it would trim 18,000 jobs over two years. However, just a year later, AT&T said it had already reached its quota. “We were quite surprised at the number of employees willing to leave AT&T in such a hurry, and we decided to build on that,” the Chairman said.

Analysts credited the Chairman’s short-term vision, noting that the announcement had the desired effect of immediately increasing AT&T share value. However, the long-term ramifications could be detrimental, said Bear Stearns analyst Beldon McInty.

“It’s a little early to tell, but by eliminating all its employees, AT&T may jeopardize its market position and could, at least theoretically, cease to exist,” said McInty.

Whitacre , however, urged patience: “To my knowledge, this hasn’t been done before, so let’s just wait and see what happens.”

Ten of the Biggest Mistakes Developers Make With Databases

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006

For the programmers out there… Ten of the Biggest Mistakes Developers Make With Databases.

Actually I’m just bookmarking it for future reference. :)

Red rain could prove that aliens have landed

Sunday, March 5th, 2006

I wonder what they would have thought about red rain in biblical times.

Very interesting article looking into the red rail that fell on western India in 2001.

A Better Sort Algorithm

Sunday, March 5th, 2006

Use Darwinian force algorithms to sort data faster then quick sort
Critticall home page.

Slingbox for Mac OSX (and everywhere else you want to be)

Sunday, March 5th, 2006

Ok, I’m going out to buy a SlingBox today!
I have Macs, PC’s, DirecTivo, and a Winderz Smartphone….

Sling Media toy of the gods…

Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors

Friday, March 3rd, 2006

Funny video game featuring Penn and Teller. To rum Penn and Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors you will have to load up a Sega Emulator (or play it on a SEGA).

Torrent Link

A magic way to make billions

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006

Government serves up another plate of porky goodness, via big tax credits for bogus synthetic energy projects.