I am big fan of toys, and "Star Wars," and "Star Wars" toys, but it appears Hasbro has stepped over the boundary with the release of Darth Tater. The toy is a Mr. Potato Head that somewhat resembles the evil villain Darth Vader. See for yourself on Hasbro's website.
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If you're a little behind and missed it (like me), CNN recently released its list of the top 25 innovations of the past 25 years. The Internet finished first, barely beating out other top innovations like Velcro and the automatic lollipop turner.
From the Why on Earth Department, Chris McAvoy of the Linux Journal has written a Unix computer program to feed his cats.
Yes, you read that right. The computer feeds the cats. I do like to kid around a lot, but this time, I'm not kidding. Here's the article to prove it.
Seen as a move that might lead other newspaper chains to do the same, The New York Times acquired About.com for about $410 million, as reported in this Reuters article. This also comes on the heels of the Dow Jones & Co. Inc. deal to purchase the website MarketWatch Inc. as well.
It was a simple idea: Go to the store, grab a bag of circus peanuts for a friend and be on my way. After wandering aimlessly through three stores, though, I learned that even the greatest tasty snacks can disappear all too quickly.
Terry, an innocent bystander until he read one of my columns and emailed me, sent me a pretty good take on the prequel to the Y2K Bug, which, of course, is the Y1K Bug. It took me awhile to find the original author (remember, taking more than a minute to find anything on the Internet is way too long), but I finally did.
Augustine J. Fredrich begins the story with a dateline March 15, 999, in Canterbury, England. He writes:
Spam is annoying, and like the old saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them.
Seriously, I doubt that's why the University of Calgary is offering a course in how to create email spam and spyware. A lot of people will think that, but there are valid reasons to have a class like this.
I don't know how many of you are at your computer 328 hours a day like I am. But being at the computer for that long can really make power go to your head.
I'm not saying I've actually tried to plug my iPod into my ear, hoping to recharge it. The power that comes with a computer is the fact that you have a gargantuan amount of information at your fingertips. It's just a matter of pressing the right buttons to access it.
Unbeknownst to me, robots are starting to pop up all over the place. Not that I am the head robot counter or anything, but I thought I would have a better handle on what is being built. Apparently, though, EVERYTHING is currently in the process of being built.
The advice section of these articles has taken an unexpected turn. I initially set out to help people with Internet-related issues, but the questions turned into something that resembled voting for your favorite color. So, I've restructured the idea in hopes of gaining actual advice that will be relevant to most people out there.