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“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.”  -  Frank Sinatra

We started off this week with a rambling chat covering a lot of stories that we would have covered last week. But I went on a big night out with some friends and got extremely drunk instead. You know how it is, sometimes you have to have a blow out. You will be glad to hear I suffered for my fun. I could hardly string two words together, which might have been an improvement.

But anyway on with this weeks stories…

End of the line for Hacintosh’s? – Is Apple trying to close off all avenues to hackintosh-dom? After the Psystar debacle, you could understand why Apple would want to. But already the hackers are fighting back, a patch was posted within a day. Steve maybe winning in the court room, but the hackintosh community are a dedicated bunch. If Apple have declared war on another front, let battle commence.

Public pressure keeps DRM off BBC, for now – Hollywood wants to DRM their stuff when its shown on the Beeb. The public however disagree, and unusually the regulator has backed the consumer, a newsworthy event in itself. But like Stallone in a Rocky film, Hollywood is down, but not out. It’ll come back stronger and batter us down, until we have been beaten into submission.

Windows 7 ‘inspired’ by Mac OS – File this under ‘bleeding obvious’, but a MS manager has admitted what we’ve known for a while now. They copied Mac OS! Simon Aldous Microsoft Partner manager said as much in an interview. He was promptly slapped down by Redmond HQ, and is probably considering his future employment. I wonder if Ballmer kicked a few more chairs when he heard one of his own had blabbed.

New PC for the ‘older generation’ – Would the first thing you think of, when planning a PC for older computer newbies, be Linux, no me neither. But, Valerie Singleton, the mature UK TV presenter is fronting just that. The SimplicITy PC is running a skinned version of the Mint Linux distro, with big buttons, for the internet, email and chat, to encourage the over 50’s to get online. Over here they’re called ‘Silver Surfers’, but you wouldn’t want to see any of these naked on a surfboard.

Wheelchair users get an app for that – Dynamic Controls has unveiled an iPhone app, which will allow touchscreen control of its wheelchairs. Connecting via bluetooth, the app enables the user to control all aspects of wheelchair operation. Proving conclusively that there is is an app for everything. Now, anyone up for ‘bluejacking’ Steven Hawking and taking him for a joyride round Cambridge.

What does it take to simulate a cat’s brain – A lot, a mean really, a lot. Nearly 150,000 Power PC processors, 143 terabytes of ram, a million watts of electricity, 6675 tons of air conditioning equipment and miles and miles of cabling. All set in an acre of floor space. All this just to simulate a cat sized brain of 1.6 billion neurons and 9 trillion synapses. The lead scientist is predicting a human brain simulation in about 10 years, but it will need 1000 times more power. If he aimed a bit lower I’d donate my G4 iMac and we could start with George W.

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“I like an escalator because an escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. There would never be an escalator temporarily out of order sign, only an escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.“  – Mitch Hedberg

Gareth started this week with a bug he’s uncovered in the Apple TV 3.0 firmware update. And I chipped in with a tale of woe, about my newish Seagate external HD. It’s the second one and it’s dead, it is no more, and it’s going back to Amazon. Then we touched on Blu-ray, specifically the new ‘managed copy’ system the studios are allowing us honest consumers. They’re far to good to us, after all we should just be sending them all our money, just because they’re such nice people. Not.

Then I kicked off the stories proper…

Apple touting $30 a month TV subscription – For Apple TV and iTunes, at least. No details yet, but Cupertino are asking the networks if they’d be interested. I’m so glad that Steve has a hobby to keep him busy.

iPhone nano rumour just won’t die – It’ll be here in 2010, on Verizon. Or not. I just don’t know, it seems very un-Apple like to mess with a formula that has worked so well up till now. But who knows, maybe Apple are really scared of the the iPhone killer that is….’Pixi’. Ha bet you thought I was going to say ‘Droid’ then, didn’t you.

Windows 7 blocks the iPhone – There that’s the scary headline out of the way, now for the real story. It seems a certain Intel chipset (P55) is causing sync problems for the iPhone when afore mentioned chipset is running Windows 7. A bios upgrade is required to get things playing nice again. But that all depends on your PC / motherboard manufacturer, so ask nice, and they might just be bothered.

Beatles release an Apple, before Apple release The Beatles – An apple shaped, MP3 including, novelty collection of the 14 recently remastered albums. All contained within a USB memory stick core. So the Fab Four are available in electronic form, but still not on iTunes. Even Steve’s promise of payment in unicorn tears, hasn’t tempted the fabulously wealthy Beatles or their executors.

Shock as MP uses electronic device in Parliament – Those, over here, entrusted with our law making and future infrastructure, are ‘to be discouraged’ from joining the 21st century. The Speaker does not want electronic devices to be used in the Commons. Of course, if MP’s are active users of the Internet and electronic media they might understand the problems we ordinary consumers face. The powers that be, wouldn’t want that, would they.

Create your own Bluetooth ‘Star Trek’ communicator – No matter what anyone one does to Bluetooth headsets, they will always be ugly and uncool. This on the other and is unquestionably cool, in a geeky kind of way. Unfortunately, thanks to the joy that is Voice control, “beam me up Scotty”, will just call the boss, not get you anywhere near the Enterprise.

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“If one could conclude as to the nature of a Creator from a study of his creation, it would appear that God has a special fondness for stars and beetles.”  – JBS Haldane

This week it was straight into it again. I mean, come on we’re busy people here…

Android is on the march – The Motorola Droid is the first in a slew of new Android phones due out. Those, along with the version 2.0 firmware, is going to ‘kill’ the iPhone. Not because its necessarily better, but just by sheer weight of numbers. Will it be the triumph of ‘good enough’, where a whole plethora of pretenders have so far failed.

Apple TV updated – The other day Gareth and I were discussing the Apple TV, and how it could do with a software update. Well it turns out Apple was listening, and lo and behold, 3.0 was released. With a new interface and support for iTunes new LP format. We’re genii and Apple TV 3.0 was our idea.

Google adds ‘turn by turn’ navigation to Android 2.0 – As part of the afore mentioned Android 2.0 software, Google are rolling in a complete ‘turn by turn’ sat-nav. And, pending approval, an iPhone app on the way as well. With the Google maps app and the compasses built in to the newer smartphones, it was probably a no brainer. That didn’t help Garmin and Tom Tom et al, when their business model disappeared overnight.

Chrome OS released – With a whimper of news, that followed the bang of publicity greeting the initial announcement, Chrome OS has been released. Or has it? A distribution of Chrome OS appeared online featuring a Gnome desktop on a linux kernal, with Picasa and Chrome browser. While all seemed legit, it was posted on sites.google.com, this has site has since been disabled. I’m wondering if it was from the same people who will sell you a copy of Firefox, for a bargain price.

MS decides against Family Guy Windows 7 promo – Apparently the show ‘is not a good fit with the Windows brand’. It’s not as if I wasn’t expecting this story to come out, about a nano-second after the original story, actually, it’s the reason we didn’t cover it initially. A show which finds humour in the holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest, that is not a fit with the Windows brand? Never. Did anyone in Redmond actually watch Family Guy before signing up?

Verizon getting the iPhone? – Will Verizon get the iPhone, next year? More rumours circulate of the end of AT&T’s exclusive deal with Apple. With potential suitors lining up, it seems more likely that someone else will get to sell it. Maybe not Verizon, as their CDMA network would necessitate a new model, which goes against Apple’s mantra of keep it simple. But with Orange and Vodafone to start selling them over here. America, land of choice and competition, could be the last place to get some.

Thin superconductors promise faster electronics – I found a fascinating article on the interwebs this week. About the development of a superconducting film, just a few nanometers thick, suitable for electronic devices. Unfortunately it only works at 32 kelvin (-241 centigrade) so far, but development are continuing. And as I talk, Gareth’s eyes slowly close, and he starts to drift into a deep, deep slumber.