On the very off chance that you hadn’t yet heard: Microsoft has proposed to buy Yahoo! at $31 per share, which translates to just under $45 billion. My fellow Canuck tech news bloggers Mark Evans and Mathew Ingram have weighed in, and — as Mark has astutely observed, the major snowstorm covering the northeast should have the blogosphere’s tongues a-waggin’. Keep an eye on Techmeme for the latest news.
Here’s a sign displayed in the window of A&D Computer in Milford, New Hampshire:
Here’s the relevant excerpt from Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog:
Shop manager Aaron Kaplan said they were prompted to put it up because so many people were having problems with Windows Vista, including compatibility issues with older software and trouble adjusting to the interface.
“A lot of people didn’t like using Vista, and a lot of the manufacturers forced people to go up to Vista,” he said.
What was the demand for the service? “We had a lot of people coming in and asking about it,” Kaplan said. “Of all the signs we put up there the last two years, at least, we probably got the most response out of that one. A lot of people coming in.”
Kaplan said they’ve since replaced it with a different message, but they’re thinking about putting the Vista removal message back up.
Phil Factor’s blog entry, Microsoft Boy Announces His School Homework, is a pretty good allegory for how Microsoft’s marketing department communicates.
PC World takes a look at the 10 Worst PC Keyboards of All Time:
Just got the email: early bird registration for RailsConf 2008 (which is $100 cheaper) is now open. When I was working a nice big company like Tucows, they’d foot the bill, making the decision a no-brainer. Now that I’m at TSOT, which is a start-up, we don’t have those budgets and now I have to think about the bang-per-buck ratio. Are you going, and what factors are you taking into account?
Need desktop images? How about these Star Wars stills in 1080p?
The use of computers as assistive devices for romantic encounters isn’t new: from the “computer dating gone terribly wrong” plotline used by some ’60s and ’70s sitcoms to SolveDating.com (has its developer, who had not yet been kissed at the age of 33 back in 2004, “gotten anywhere” yet?) the likes of LavaLife and eHarmony, we’ve had a handful of dating generations’ worth of software approaches. However, there wasn’t much in the way of romance-assistive computer hardware save for possibly impressing potential soulmates with your Guitar Hero or Rock Band skills. (And no, I don’t count sex-toy peripherals or “teledildonics” — I’m talking romance, not rumpy-pumpy.)
That’s changed, thanks to the USB Aroma Radio + Speaker, a US$30 device that boasts the following features:
Of course, how you lure that special someone into your place/cubicle/airport bathroom stall so you can actually use the USB Aroma Radio + Speaker to set the mood is up to you.
Photo-montage courtesy of Gizmodo.