Wired's top 40 businesses
Wired has a very thought provoking article on the top 40 businesses in the new economy. I had to admit I hadn't heard of several of these companies before, but I was intriqued to see what it is they do.

Windows trademark in question
ArsTechnica has another article which reports that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court has issued an order to the lower courts that could in effect abolish Microsoft's ability to protect their trademark of the word "Windows." Many people have argued that since it is illegal to make a trademark out of a common english word, MS should never have been able to trademark the name in the first place. Now it seems that the courts may agree.

Comcast to Block Spammers
ArsTechnica has an article explaining how Comcast is going to stop people who are sending Spam from their computers by blocking port 25 on the Cable modem. All well and good if it helps cut down on Spam, but will they also stop legitimate users? They say that if you need the port open you can just call them, but I suspect that it won't be that easy, knowing the poor technical support that we usually get from Comcast.

Game companies are boring gamers
CNN Money is reporting that the President of Nintendo believes that the game industry must innovate or face the loss of its customers. I tend to agree, the gaming industry is beginning to look like a bunch of copy cats, you can pick up a game and blast Aliens, zombies, mutants, or whatever you want to insert here, and it is getting rather dull. However, I don't agree that the solution is new hardware fads (like the Eye-Toy for PS2). Instead, I think we are in need of some new gaming content. I mean, how many Sequels can games get before we realize they are just the same game over and over again?

Making your CD/DVD's last longer
The Council on Library and Information Resources is an organization dedicated to Library Sciences. They have an excellent article on the Care and Handling of CD/DVD's. Many people are using these devices for everything from computer backups to storing the family photos, but few people are aware that CD's (and DVD's) may not last as long as they think. This article is pretty technical, and goes into a lot of detail as to what can ruin a CD (like flexing it too much to take it out of the jewel case!). I suggest checking it out if you are using CD/DVD for backup/archival purposes.

Americas Army invades E3
Wired has a report of an event that the U.S. Army staged outside of E3. Helicopters swooping, and special forces operatives with guns at the ready (hopefully not loaded) charged into the crowds on the street, causing a big scene, and a few worried looks.

Gamers spend less time in front of Boob Tube
Wired is reporting that a recent study shows people who play video games are turning on the Television less. Nothing really surprising there. I haven't seen anything worth watching on TV since Star Trek (the original series) went off the air.

Building a better recruitment tool, online
The U.S. Army has been giving away a free game called Americas Army Operations for the past year. They have been very open about the fact that it is being used as a recruitment tool to attract young people to the military life. News.com is reporting that it is doing a better job than any other form of recruitment they have used to date. If you haven't tried the game, I recommend checking it out at AmericasArmy.com. I promise you don't have to enlist.

Online gaming seeks new revenue streams
News.com is reporting how game companies are looking for new ways to get people to pay for online games. Several recent failures by the "pay by the month" games (can you say AC2?) have given them reason to worry about how to make it work. How about using real money to buy your next set of armor? Scary? It may be what happens. They could put e-bay out of business.

Jobs still relevant
News.com has a fascinating article on why Apple Computer's CEO Steve Job's is still one of the top shakers in the high-tech industry. Many of his ideas are changing the way we buy and listen to music (iTunes and iPod), and enjoy digital video (Pixar). As a long time fan of Apple, I can safely say I'm glad to here Jobs get some recognition.

CD's/DVD's aren't the perfect storage media we once thought
CNN reports what I have believed all along. CD's and DVD's can and will go bad over time, even if they aren't used. Many people are storing data on CD's in the belief that they will last forever, but it just ain't true.

Use your video card for parallel processign tasks?
Slasdotreveals an interesting use for video board graphics processing units (GPU). Why not take all of that parallel processing floating point power and use it for other types of problems?

AMD outsells Intel
ArsTechnica has a report that shows that AMD actually outsold Intel for desktop processors for the past week. Not a big shift, but one that shows how much AMD has become accepted by people buy high end systems for home and business use.

ATI's new X800 GPU
ATI has announced their latest Graphics chipset. The X800 (X stands for the 10th digit, so it is in line with 8500, 9700, X800...) is being reviewed just about everywhere. My favorite hardware guru is Tom's Pobst at Tom'sHardware. The big news is that the ATI card is about as fast as the NVidia 6700, but uses a lot less power. Nice work ATI.

RAMBUS at it again
Forbes reports that RAMBUS is apparently suing memory chip makers for adapting other technology because they didn't want to pay RAMBUS's royalty fees? Since when do manufacturers HAVE to use an expensive technology when others are available?