Spam Cube antispam appliance to hit soon

"This remarkable little tool costs only $150 and sits quietly next to your cable or DSL modem, requires only a few moments to set up and works with any email service out there. There are no license or subscription fees to stop spam, and one Spam Cube can protect up to four computers."

This is a very clever idea, however I have to say - why the heck didn't they just build a basic 4-port router into it? That would be useful for those who currently have their cable or DSL plugged in directly to their computer - and could therefore benefit from the firewall capabilities of a router. Anyway, a nifty idea, and it comes in SPAM pink too!

The New Microsoft Office User Interface Video

"See the new streamlined Microsoft Office user interface in action. This video gives you a detailed look at how this new interface will make it easier to find and use the features you need to get the results you want."



This is making the blog rounds and for good reason. Love it or hate it, Office is king and this video displays some very nice improvements aimed at boosting productivity. You'll also notice a focus on allowing users to get work with content with live visual feedback. New words to add to your UI vocabulary:

• "(the) Ribbon" - the new hybrid of menus, toolbars, and task panes.
  
• "The Office Menu" - the File menu and the start bar had a baby...
  
• "Contextual Tabs" - nothing new here, just "specialized tools" that appear as a new tab in the Ribbon when working with specific types of content.
  
• "Live Preview" - simply hovering over options (font size, table design etc.) will show live changes to your document content.
  

No MacTel Version of Photoshop Until 2007

creativepro.com: "During a March 22 conference call discussing Q1 2006 earnings, Adobe executives confirmed that there won't be Universal versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or GoLive until Creative Suite 3. (The suite is currently at version 2.) Company officials said they don't expect to release CS3 until spring 2007."

Oops, that rumor of an early release that was running around has been officially D-nied.

Google's market lead widens

CNET News.com: "Google's domestic market share rose to 42.3 percent in February, up from 36.3 percent a year earlier, ComScore said.

Yahoo's search market share in the United States fell to 27.6 percent from 31.1 percent a year ago, while Microsoft's MSN fell to 13.5 percent from 16.3 percent and Time Warner's America Online fell to 8 percent from 8.9 percent."

Rails 1.1: RJS, Active Record , respond_to, integration tests, and 500 other things!

"The biggest upgrade in Rails history has finally arrived. Rails 1.1 boasts more than 500 fixes, tweaks, and features from more than 100 contributors. Most of the updates just make everyday life a little smoother, a little rounder, and a little more joyful."

Dell to acquire Alienware

CNET News.com: "Dell has agreed to purchase gaming PC maker Alienware, in a rare acquisition designed to improve Alienware's supply chain and boost Dell's standing among PC enthusiasts."

VW's New gypsy dashboard interface (Video)

via digg: CNET's title is "A dashboard that is really a PC", that could add a whole new meaning to "car crash".

read more | digg story

"Google Finance" is great

via digg: "Google has launched a long-awaited financial news site, which will compete directly with significant Web traffic generators for Yahoo! and Microsoft's MSN unit. Google's site, finance.google.com, will compile news, stock-price data, stock charts, company fact pages and other financial data, much like the offerings at other finance Web sites."

The interactive flash charts are very slick. They allow for easy adjustment of range, and also have time best markers on the chart that link to relevant news (past and present) as it relates to the dates in the data.

read more | digg story

Roundup: Icons & Desktop Pictures Sources

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) has compiled a handy list of icon and desktop picture sites...

"All Marketers are Liars" - Seth Godin speaks at Google

Click title to go to Google Video and download this for your Computer, iPod or PSP.

A New, New Logo for Quark

creativepro.com: "In September 2005, trumpets blared and banners waved as Quark unveiled a new logo. That fanfare quickly trailed off into a sputtering silence as critics across the world blasted the logo for its similarity to many others. Some detractors accused Quark of ripping off the logo; others said it was not theft, but lazy design.

Quark denied copying any other logo and defended the design, but no company in the graphic arts industry could ignore that kind of bad publicity. Today it announced a replacement logo:"

Linotype Free FontExplorer X Mac v.1 Released

"FontExplorer X sets a new standard for font management software. Linotype is pleased to announce the missing link to your font collection. With the new FontExplorer X, font management, font sorting, font shopping and font discovery are simple and fun!



Organize your font just like you organize your media files - using a library, folders, tags and even smart sets. You want direct access to all typefaces from a certain foundry? All italics? Or all fonts tagged with a certain keyword? FontExplorer X makes this easy!"

TalkCrunch Podcast Launched

TechCrunch has started a new podcast. TC author Michael Arrington writes: "I am happy to announce the launch of a new podcast blog - TalkCrunch. Each week we'll be posting a new episode, featuring founders of companies we've written about the previous week..."

New Flash Player Closes Security Vulnerability

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW): "Adobe/Macromedia has released a new version (8.0.24.0) of their Flash Player for Mac OS X and Windows that closes a security vulnerability found in earlier versions. It is available from the Player Download Center."

Skype Speaks Volumes

brandchannel.com takes a look at Skype: "Despite these threats, Skype is well ahead and has scale as a huge advantage against competitors. With its strong brand and coherent business strategy it appears to be doing things right."

Universal Binary Adobe Creative Suite 3: Ready this year?

Think Secret: "Adobe is working hard to release Creative Suite 3 before the end of year, sources have recently disclosed. While internal documents originally pointed to a release date in the first-half of 2007, Adobe is making a big push - and receiving significant help from Apple - to get the software package into customer hands this year."

read more | digg story

TechCrunch Is A Great "Web 2.0" News Site.

J's Entries for "Design Your Ride"

Insomnia can lead to things like finding a 'design a snowboard graphic and win stuff' online contest, and then entering it.

There are a lot of great designs being submitted on this site, so check them out. Also, feel free to vote for one or both of mine:

- Sighted (green one)

- Mosh

Another iPod Ad Irregularity?!

When Apple first offered up it's iPod TV Ad with Wynton Marsalis as a download online (around 1/10/06), I grabbed it. Then I saw it on TV a while later and noticed that his horn was now in silhouette along with the rest of his body - where it had been made white in the first release. A last minute creative decision? A preference on the part of Marsalis? Perhaps his horn comes in both black and white, like the iPod? Maybe now we can have rumors of an alleged red iHorn in the works? Thought this would make for interesting trivia ;-)