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Windows 7 Does Look Just Like Vista
Posted by Mark Wilson at 11:30 PM on September 20, 2008
We have to agree with Mary Jay Foley, in the latest Windows 7 M3 Build, we see that Windows 7 looks a whole lot like Vista. There are updates for sure, but they're subtle differences—a return to the Ribbon interface, a simplified start menu, My Documents replaced with Libraries, fewer User Account Control alerts and a "light" Windows Media Player to name a couple. From a superficial standpoint alone, not a lot has changed (though admittedly, that Vista background isn't helping much). Hit the link for the unabridged gallery. [thinknext Thanks Daniel!]
It's not officially confirmed, but PS3Fanboy received this screenshot of the PSHome beta tester forums. In it, you can see that Home Manager "TedtheDog" explaining that a fix to Home crashes will most likely be coming "later" next month with the release firmware 2.5. And though some of the remaining text is cut off, it seems that he hints to the firmware timing coinciding with Home 1.0. Since its original announcement, Home has certainly lost some of the mystique as we collectively remember what keeps us away from Second Life, but we'll still give it a whirl. [
The first Android phone is dropping next week, and the people who pick it up will be toting around mobile Google software in their pocket wherever they go. They'll be using mobile Google apps, probably in concert with using Gmail, Gcal and Google Maps on their normal computer. We know that Google is 
Stanton's new DaScratch USB-MIDI Tool is unique because it relies completely on touch technology to mix and manipulate music. With the possibility for 5 touch sensitive sliders, 19 touch sensitive buttons, and one giant, touch friendly rotary control (read: the big record-like circle in the middle), it appears you can run the show with little more than a laptop and one (maybe two) of these.
In-car movie cameras are ridiculously complicated. Gone are the days where Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman gab while an unconvincing film loop plays behind them—now people at the wheel are really hurtling down a highway with bonus hardware all around. The Dukes of Hazzard vehicle above is one of the craziest examples, because it was built to stay on the road while the cab jacked back and forth to simulate those good ole' car stunts. Below is another one, apparently from the thriller Deja Vu. Our friends at Oobject have a lot more, 12 total. Go vote for your favourite. [
Comcast has just released a series of documents in response to the Federal Communications Commission detailing how, exactly, the ISP filters your traffic. Based on their traffic analysis, five protocols (Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack and Gnutella) were especially filtered. Not anymore. Now Comcast is going to be throttling ALL traffic you generate, even if it's from their own 
Palm announced in their quarterly call that it had found an unnamed carrier to sell their new Treo Pro, but declined to mention who, specifically, would peddle the $US550 phone (at a potentially subsidised cost). 
Officially we are sick to death of steampunk, but we are willing to make an exception for a Predator with the skull of his alien adversary stuck to his spear. Currently the 8-foot statue 
UC at San Diego has the closest thing to an X-Men-style Danger Room in its new StarCAVE, a small room that entirely surrounds you, hurtling 68 million pixels at your eyeballs at near-perfect resolution. Pop on polarised glasses and the whole thing goes 3D. Grasping a wireless "wand," you can walk through tall buildings, fly over cities, pick apart tiny cell structures or embrace entire galaxies. All the while pretending to do actual academic research, of course. Here's how to build your own for under $US1 million:
The Navy's 80-foot $US6 million "Stiletto" with its Batman-esque twin m-shaped hull has been floating around as a prototype project for several years now, but it has suffered from budget cuts in the Defence Department. However, it appears that the Stiletto is starting to see some action in the war against drugs. Recently a group of drug runners in Florida tried to elude one by sailing near reefs and sandbars at 42 knots and skimming over water less than 1.5m deep. But the Stiletto kept on coming. After a two-hour chase, the drug boat finally ran out of gas and the passengers were apprehended. They told authorities that it was like being chased by a UFO. A UFO boat, huh? These guys were so f'ing high.
Do you think a store full of geek developers could let September 19th go by without a surge of pirate-related applications? Personally, I'm waiting for the app that pushes live updates of real pirate advisories so my raw shipments of bulgur wheat stop getting jacked off the Somali coast. But in the app store, it's all about fun, so let's do some silly voices. Ninja fans shouldn't worry either, and nor should people who hate 
Apple has revealed that the tiny little USB power adapters that shipped with the iPhone 3G are potentially dangerous and must be recalled. 
Arrgh, maties! You be in need of a cannon to belay your foes? The sea dogs over at Instructables have a set of instructions to arm your jollyboat. But worry not, there be fair waters ah—
There is no doubt about it, 
Palm gets lost in the midst of all the iPhone and Android hype, but if you still love your good old Palm OS, Dmitry Grinberg has finally released an SDHC driver that allows for card support. The program is available for devices like the Tungsten T|C, Tungsten E|2, Tungsten T|5, LifeDrive, Palm TX, Zire 31 and Zire 72, with other machines like the T|T3 and the Zodiac on their way. At $US21, its really not a bad deal for all that extra storage. [
We know it is going to be 
If you liked our awesome computer rig contest, you will like Mitch Haile's clean but sensory overload workplace, with a total of eight displays. To me it's not as good as my favourite, the 
Do you want to know a little more about Sean Siler, Microsoft's version of Apple's PC parody John Hodgman? Of course you do! Luckily, the 
The one thing Google Chrome was missing that kept a lot of the Firefox faithful from making the switch was the browser's lack of add-on support. Well, that's set to change, according to Google engineer Ojan Vafai.
DWV, the same guys responsible for designing products under the Ferrari brand, are attempting to reinvent the tired old iPod dock with their new Art. Suono Wireless Music Transmission System. Billed as a luxury item (get ready for sticker shock), the Art. Suono allows users to transmit audio from just about any source to a sound system of their choice. It features their proprietary DWC-APHEX circuitry, which claims to restore the harmonics lost in compressed music files as well as an iPod docking station, "Engine Start" button, a "Shift" input signal switch, a concealed input signal jack, and LED indicators. Plus, it looks like a friggin' fishing reel. Can't beat that for $US1500. Available in limited quantities starting in October.
Trying to buy something from the Staples website? I hope you're using the latest and greatest internet technologies to do so, because it is cutting edge. In fact, you need Internet Explorer 4.0 to handle its incredible shopping-related features. Namely, their super-futuristic custom envelope creator, which gives you the above error message if you try using it with some ancient browser such as Firefox or Chrome. Get with the times, people! [
Sometimes you sign up for a magazine subscription but then you realise that, no, you're never going to need 40 new ab exercises a month because that beer can that balances on your stomach strengthens your core just fine. Maghound offers Netflix-style subscriptions that allow you to dynamically change your magazines on the fly. Say you see that Popular Science has an especially enticing cover story for January, the plans allow you to forgo your PC Magazine subscription for a month so you can avoid newsstand markups. Plans start at $US4.95 for 3 magazines per month. And if that's too much, you can always 
For serious connoisseurs, the preservation of 
The next thing in