Great news from Microsoft, if you’re running the Windows XP operating system, your not left hanging anytime soon. Microsoft plans to support XP for 7 more years, they will continue to roll out with updates and fix bugs, you will be able to call them for support as well [however I don't know how much help they are ].

“Microsoft on Wednesday extended support for its Windows XP Home and Windows XP Media Center operating systems through 2014 to match policies already in place for the business-oriented Windows XP Professional.

The addition of a five-year “extended support” phase to Windows XP will take effect in May 2009. In Microsoft parlance, extended support is the period when all support is fee-based and non-security hotfixes are produced only for corporate customers. Until April of 2009, Windows XP Home and Media Center will remain in what is called “mainstream support,” which offers some no-charge support and free updates that don’t deal with security issues.”

Windows ME and 98 has discontinued support for about 1 year now and those of you who still runs those operating systems, you’re left hanging, upgrade to Windows XP now. I’m writing this just so people should not be pressured to use Windows Vista yet, Windows XP is still HOT!!

The Democracy Media player downloads and plays all videos from YouTube, etc. This open source software available for all platforms including Linux and OSX can be the ultimate player for you, powered by VLC player.

• 1. Play All Your Videos
  Play virtually any video– Quicktime, WMV, MPEG, AVI, XVID, and more. Browse your collection, make playlists, stay organized.
• 2. Get Internet TV Shows
  Subscribe to any video RSS feed, podcast, or video blog. Explore hundreds of free channels with the built-in Channel Guide.
• 3. Search YouTube
  Download and save videos from YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, and other sites.
• 4. High Definition and Fullscreen
  Your computer screen is a high-def display. Watch free HD videos in gorgeous fullscreen.
• 5. Torrent Power
  Easily download any BitTorrent file. Fast. Then watch it in the same app. Simple.

To get the Democracy Player now, click here! Highly Recommended!

OpenID is a security system that allows you to login to many* websites with just one universal ID. Seems easy and secure right? Many things can potentially go wrong. A OpenID company can go out of service and your ID is lost but luckily there are many providers out there. Well how are there many providers of OpenID? Think of it this way, it’s a code that you can run on a server.

The problem is that too little primetime websites are using the service at the time. Recently, AOL says they would start using OpenID which is good news for OpenID because it’s getting a better user base.

* Too little websites using OpenID as of now.

I just signed up for an OpenID and it serves me pretty useless now.

Google Apps goes Premier Edition, meaning you get all of Google Apps standard plus more! All for the price of $50 per year. However, their target customer base are only companies and educational institutions so for the personal accounts that we all have, we should be good with just the standard basic.

“We offer multiple editions of Google Apps to meet the needs of different organizations. So whether you’re a small business or a Fortune 500 company, Google can power up your organization with the right services and support, for the right price.”

Of course with Google Apps, you need a domain, you can use your existing or register for a new one. Remember! Google is now a domain registar!

For a nice comparason chart between the differences, click here!

Many first midterms of the semester were held this week at Stony Brook. I had a Math midterm on Monday and a Sociology midterm I just took 30 minutes ago and everything went smoothly. However, I heard that people pulled the fire alarms that canceled tests twice, once yesterday and one this morning. I’m sure the university is taking this matter seriously and is investigating.

Some people got lucky and had their midterms postponed.

I was passing by the SAC with my friend to get something to eat and there was this booth setup, what caught my eye was the Firefox stickers they were giving out. So I stopped by and discovered that Stony Brook has a Linux user fan club. I immediately asked about it and it seems awesome. I will check out their future meetings. The next general meeting is on February 27, 2007 7:00PM at Computer Science Building Room 2129.

However, today they are hosting a Firefox Install Fest where they will offer free food and software. I really wish I can attend but I have a math midterm later on and I need to study for it. Anyway, if anyone is interested, please give them a visit, they seem very geeky and are all Linux guru’s.

Check them out at http://lugsb.cs.sunysb.edu.

Happy Birthday to Me!! Must Get Drunk!

Several complaints:

• My Arm Hurts
• My Arm Hurts More
• My Arm Hurts More and More

And what! It’s on Presidents Day! Muahhah!

Thanks for all the bday wishes everyone, so the day is complete, special thanks to my girl Alexa and Melo for the only ones to sing me a song. Anyway, wee!! I got over 100 Facebook messages! Thanks for the love. Too bad I had midterms I had to study for today, the real party is this weekend ya’ll!

Peace OUT!

Spent the day with the family at home like I do every year. Didn’t get a chance to go out and see the Lion Dance in Chinatown but I did catch up on my sleep this weekend.

Till this day I still don’t know how the Lunar New Years work, apparently they are a little over a month later compared to the regular calendar. I’m not a traditional guy at all. I know very little about the values of Chinese culture, my parents didn’t really teach me about it. I use to ask and they would tell me I was too young to know so I just lost all curiosity. All my friends tell me that I’m not even Asian, in a way it’s kinda true. I have more Hispanic friends than I do have Asian friends. I’m a disgrace! LOL

Yep, this year is the year of the Pig. Google does a good job of keeping up with Holidays! Well, it’s time to hop back on the trains, next post from Stony Brook!

[audio:http://litstudies.org/liondrums.mp3]

I just saw this funny video from Paul Wall on MySpace. Now this is not one of his music videos, this is actually him talking about his MySpace and how he got these hoe’s trying to promote their websites on his MySpace page. He don’t play that sh*t! haha!

I’m gonna try to get him to do a shout out to [tony cai] on his next “GetMoneyTV” YouTube video blog. The way he talk cracks me up. This goes to show that famous people do personally check their messages and go though them all. So don’t loose hope, keep sending them messages!

Catch his YouTube video here!
[audio:http://litstudies.org/girl.mp3]

Today I tried installing Beryl with Ubuntu Linux and dual boot it with my Windows. My efforts were a waste because I found out the MD5 did not check after I had screwed up the installation. So I spent 4 hours restoring my Windows to working order. For some reason, the BIOS did not recognize the hard drive and I had to install a whole new installation and used Norton’s PartitionMagic to restore my Windows installation.

I’m going to purchase a new hard drive [seperate from windows] and try again the next time I come home. Maybe SuSE with Beryl. I leave for Stony Brook tomorrow afternoon. My weekend home was so far, NOT productive!

Happy Chinese New Years!
[audio:http://litstudies.org/snow.mp3]