My mom emailed me this today, and I think that it is really well done.

Hewlett-Packard has decided to put the LG Super Multi Blue, otherwise known as the optical drive model GGW-H10N that can write on Blu-Ray discs as well as read both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, into some of their upcoming desktop models, most notably inside the Pavilion.

The other options that HP is considering as far as hardware changes go for their PC line-up include:

Other upgrade options that HP plans to add on Wednesday include a cable tuner, graphics cards, and machines with Intel Quad-core processors (Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600).

With an additional price of anywhere between two full companies and a full battalion ($500 -$1000 for those that don’t know military organization), the inclusion of a dual-format HD drive is not an easy choice. The best option is still probably patience, since the unfortunate demise of one format will mean the eventual solidarity of the other.

[Via ars technica]

The O’Reilly Network system admin section posted an article about the many things that computer system administrators forget to do when it comes to security and protocol. It is a very well thought out list, including simple errors that should never happen, like:

1. Forgetting to Delete a Former User’s Account

When IBM, Novell, and HP hold seminars in the same city around the same week, you find out why you need their identity management systems. Some unnamed Fortune 50 companies forgot to delete former user accounts for five years. Those former employee accounts existed in the human resource and payroll databases, in the computer directory, address book in the SID, SAM, and AD. The vendors will say, you don’t have enough system administrators, will never find enough available, and therefore need Tivoli, eDirectory, or OpenView.

Who really knows if the workforce has enough system administrators? In my survey, system administrators complained about their workload, lack of time to plan, and a need to prioritize their tasks. I asked many if they kept a list of their tasks and few did. About 90 percent of the engineers surveyed went to work with their daily schedule in their heads. I counted that as forgetfulness.

I rarely go to the grocery store without a list because I cannot recall what I need. I forget the laundry detergent or some obvious item like vitamins. If I can’t remember 15 items on a grocery list, how do I expect to remember the things I need to do at work? I function poorly without a list.

We have to close the door when a user leaves. We also need a checklist to follow and a way to find out who left. You cannot justify leaving former user accounts active. Some things to remember include disabling the user’s password. I like to preserve her directory, since someone else may take the her place. I typically move the directory and rename it. We often want to keep the contents of the old user’s directory intact.

Depending on your organization’s IT policies, you’ll want to create a list of actions to take. Remember that you need to do more than simply changing a user’s password. If this user ever had root access you might find anything from a trojan system binary to an unknown kernel module. With that in mind we can move on to Rootkits.

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The DIY web site Instructables has posted a rather strange article that details how to create a computer mouse peripheral with the body of a deceased rodent. If you are a taxidermist, or happen to know one, this could be the beginning of the most PETA-friendly mod ever.

This mouse mod really seems to be inspired by the dead beaver case mod from a few weeks ago. Perhaps people are finally realizing that the potential in using an animal carcass as a housing for electronics was being completely wasted, but more likely people have just desired more unique computer components. What’s next- a monitor modded into a stuff dog?

Fred Rated, the spokesperson/advertiser/random crap extraordinare, has done over one thousand commercials for the tech product chain store The Federated Group, and his advertising contract lasted for six years. The once large chain, with a force of 14 stores that grew to 78 different locations stationed in five states, had a huge increase in sales after the Fred Rated commercials started airing. Shadoe Stevens, the man behind the over-the-top and occasionally ridiculous television ads, has always been a genius marketer, and this legendary advertising campaign is probably the best example.

Now, sit back and watch these video montages of the best Fred Rated ads ever, and finally realize what your life was missing- store ads that made you laugh (or cry). Why doesn’t Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics, Circuit City, or any other electronic store have this much awesome in their ads? The world may never know.

If you can still look yourself in the mirror after watching that commercial collage, then please watch this one too:

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The little OLED keyboard that could finally has a set price, $1536. Unfortunately the company can only produce 200 units before December this year. They hope and pray plan to have 400 more by the following January.

When the keyboard was first unveiled, it immediately received praised and lust from drooling nerdboys everywhere. Then came all the setbacks. First it was the delay in production. Then pricing became an issue which led to a revised design with monochromatic OLEDs in lieu of color. Then durability became an issue which forced the keyboard thru yet another redesign to accommodate the need for replaceable keys.

All in all the manufacturer has kept most of their promises. The keyboard is still sexy. It’s back to color OLEDs. They’re replaceable and pre-orders start in 22 days. If it weren’t for the price and limited quantity, I’d be all over it. The silver lining is all the eBay sharks will have a field day hoarding most of the first run units to sell themselves at exorbitant prices. God bless capitalism.

[Via New Launches]

Apparently Intel isn’t the only one with a crystal ball into the future. At an event in Mumbai, HP showed off their “Always Connected” concepts - a section of their HP Mobile Innovations Tour. The concepts show the company’s vision of 2012 with devices like watches, tablets, computers and wallets all connected to a central hub. Many of the concepts take today’s experimental technologies like paper thin LCD screens and ultra-slim portables and make them fashionable. HP believes in the future, high-tech electronics must depart from their current “techy” look and embrace a more friendly approach to design. More of it after the jump.

[Via Tech Ticker]

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The future of tech products is built upon today’s imagination, design, and inspiration. Concepts that allow consumers and manufacturers to see creative, novel, or utterly breathtaking products drive technology style and engineering forward. These are some of those concepts:
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Starting March 27, 2007, Systemax PC will start selling a new version of their Pursuit 4155 laptop product line, now with the Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. The Systemax Pursuit 4155 laptop is already packed with some great features like a built-in 1.3 Mega Pixel camera, several input/output ports, up to 1000 Mbps LAN, and a great processor from the Intel Centrino Duo Mobile family, and with the addition of Windows Ultimate already installed, this laptop is a great deal.

Right now, the Pursuit 4155 laptop is being advertised at $999.99, which is a competitive offer that gives consumers the option to save money on a new version of the Windows OS while purchasing a powerful laptop.

Read the rest of the story for the full laptop specifications.
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They’ve been a long time coming, but we finally have a company getting ready to release some Media Center PCs that are CableCARD-ready. Up until now there hasn’t been an easy way to get HD television into a PC if you were getting the signal from a cable company. They all make you use their own decoder (crap-tastic) boxes.

Luckily for all of us the gov’t forced the cable companies to offer an alternative to the boxes, and the CableCARD was the solution. It’s the way TiVo can offer an HD box (I had to get 2 cableCARDs from my cable provider for it to work). And now you’ll be able to do the same with this PC, thanks to its inclusion of AMD’s TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner.

“The TV Wonder DCT is the first of its kind, giving PCs the ability to tune NTSC, ATSC over-the-air, QAM encrypted ATSC and CableCARD support.”

[DailyTech]