Microsoft has promised a fix to the original issue, which centered around the way the XML language is implemented.  Back in August, a court found Microsoft was in violation of a patent held by a small Canadian company called i4i, who holds a patent on that bit of XML code that’s used in Word.

Of course, current owners of Office and Word won’t be affected, but if this injunction does go into effect, Microsoft’s bread and butter Office suite including Word will be unavailable to retail stores.  This will also affect computer makers who bundle Office and Word with their new computers.

I guess we all could start learning to use other Word processors, like Writer from open office or Google Docs.

OpenOffice Writer  www.openoffice.org/

Google Docs  www.google.com/

Go Local, Be Social with TwitterStates.com!

www.twitterstates.com is designed as a clean, simple home page. Start with the clickable map to select your state, or there’s also a drop down list to select from. Each state page can be searched by any keyword (city) and sorted by Followers, Friends, Average Tweets, Total Tweets or Account Age.

Now you’ve got five different ways to sort through all the top Twiterers in any state in the U.S., plus you can search by any keyword, like a city or a name!

The TwitterStates.com team is listed at the top of the home page, so it’s easy to find us and tweet in a request. Or you can contact us via our main Twitter account @twitstates

A big Thank You goes to master programmer David Cooley, @cybercoder our Chief Technologist and Traffic Motivator. He brought us all together to make TwitterStates.com happen.

I’m Mike Withrow, @mikiesoft on Twitter, the Central States Manager. I’m based in Texas, which is my home page.

Wayne John @waynejohn, is our Western States Manager in California.

Clinton Bennett @ClintonBennett, is our Eastern States Manager in Alabama.

Sponsor ads are currently available on each state’s home page. Ad size is 125×125 pixels and runs for one week at a cost of $20. Your ad will appear on every page for that state, even if there’s multiple pages. A search can be run on any state, and your ad appears at the top if you’re the current sponsor for that state.

Tweet me at @mikiesoft to get yourself or anyone else added to these states: TX, OK, KS, NE, SD, ND, MN, IA, MO, AR and LA.

Tweet @twitstates for any other state, or general questions about the project.

We would love your feedback, good or bad, in either a comment or a tweet. Thanks!

As I read the news, I discovered some amazing things about this legendary broadcaster…

Harvey is considered the greatest radio salesman of all time, and has been recognized as Salesman of the Year, Commentator of the Year, Person of the Year, Father of the Year, and American of the Year.  He was inducted into both the National Association of Broadcasters Radio Hall of Fame and Oklahoma Hall of Fame.  Harvey has received eleven Freedom Foundation Awards, the Horatio Alger Award and an honorary degree from Washington University in St. Louis.  He was also awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.

Wikipedia lists one of Harvey’s quotes…
The most noticeable features of Harvey’s idiosyncratic delivery was his dramatic pauses, quirky intonations and his folksiness. A large part of his success stemmed from the seamlessness with which he segued from his monologue into reading commercial messages.  He explained his enthusiastic support of his sponsors as such: “I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Harvey

Sources:

abcradionetworks.com

usatoday.com/

en.wikipedia.org/

Levine’s NPR profile is pretty impressive, but what really hit home for me was her honesty and humor.  Even better is that listeners and readers like and appreciate these traits, just as I do.  Reporting the real world is hard enough, so it’s refreshing to see journalism with personal insights and a sense of humor.

Thanks Ketzel!  You give hope to the rest of us in the unemployment line!  Good luck with your next gig.  I’ll be listening in for more of that wonderful wit.  Meanwhile, I expect you’ll be tilling and planting the ground you’re holding firm.

Read Ketzel Uprooted @ www.ketzel.com

2008…it’s been quite a year…during the past 12 months I’ve been updating this blog and others, plus…I started community college to study web and information design…amassed 133 followers on Twitter.com, my favorite web app for the year…reconnected with family, close by and distant relatives alike…and taken a couple of cool road trips, Mississippi in March and Corpus Christi/Padre Island in July.

Happy New Year from Mike & DailyRover!

Yes!  Some media devices can accept streaming video from Netflix and deliver movies and television to your Xbox or Roku box, and certain Blu-ray players from LG Electronics and Samsung.

LG is advertising the world’s first network Blu-ray player that streams video from Netflix, with 12,000 titles available in standard resolution, plus it plays standard DVDs in near HD quality; the LG BD300 Blu-ray player.

The Samsung BD-P2550 Blu-ray player not only accepts streaming video from Netflix, but it also streams audio from Pandora, along with a firmware update.  I highly recommend both services, I’ve used them both for years and never had a problem with either one.

The Roku is a stand-alone Netflix player box.  Wired Magazine calls it the top gift of 2008.  I call it pretty cool because it streams over 12,000 movies and TV shows to your TV, including some titles in HD.  All for just $99.  The Roku is also wireless, so it will connect to your home wi-fi network and receive software updates automatically.  Plus you can use the included remote to browse your Netflix video catalog.

TV technology just keeps getting better.  As we move closer to the all-digital-TV-broadcast date next February, there’s more and more choices for consumers.  Personally, I’m glad to see more options in the offering for people like us.  The ol’ entertainment budget just doesn’t go as far today as it used to.

Check out the Blu-ray resource center at Samsung!

MP3 Albums currently listed on amazon.com as of this writing:
#1 “Viva La Vida”  Coldplay
#2 “We sing. We dance. We steal things.”  Jason Mraz
#3 “Narrow Stairs”  Death Cab For Cutie
#4 “Sleep Through The Static”  Jack Johnson
#5 “Paper Trail”  T.I.
#6 “Death Magnetic”  Metallica
#7 “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”  High School Musical Cast
#8 “Fleet Foxes”  Fleet Foxes
#9 “Flight Of The Conchords”  Flight Of The Conchords
#10 “Modern Guilt”  Beck

Love gadgets and games like Guitar Hero, PlayStation3, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360?  eBay is offering One Dollar Holiday Doorbusters until December 8th.  eBay also has other great deals on iPod nano, Garmin GPS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Fit and Nintendo DS Lite.  Check it often, their specials change constantly.

Browsing for a bargain?  Best Buy has great deals on CD & DVD, like the Beatles LOVE documentary “All Together Now” and “Chinese Democracy” the new album from Guns N’ Roses.  Best Buy is usually my choice if I’m buying a new album locally because they simply have the best prices on new release CDs and DVDs.

Save Money & Save Your Sanity with these After Thanksgiving Shopping Tips!

So…the turning point came last weekend after a post with an embedded video link to nbc.com.  After I used the embed code to the John McCain video, the post published OK, but then Firefox wouldn’t render the page correctly.  It pushed the entire sidebar down to the bottom of the page, which just ruined the page formatting.  Funny thing, the page rendered OK in IE and Safari, but not in Firefox.  (Yes I’m using the latest versions of all 3 browsers.)  The real fix came after deleting the embedded video and just linking to it instead.  DailyRover.com is back to normal.

But I like using Firefox, so this bothered the heck outta me.  Until today, when I got some much needed WordPress help from CyberCoder.  He showed me how to update to the latest version of WordPress, which wasn’t that hard after all.  He’s got some great ideas posted on his latest sites the-niche-doctor.com and cybercoded.net.

Thanks man!

We left the house right after eight this morning trying to beat the crowds we had been seeing on the TV.  Armed with morning coffee and a newspaper, we arrived at the middle school prepared to stand in line and wait our turn to vote.  I parked right in front of the Obama signs across the street, noting the light traffic in front.  Much to our surprise, we walked right up to the table without standing in line, and once they found our names and signed the list, we cast our vote. 

The electronic voting machines were very easy to use.  We were out of there in just a matter of minutes.  What a great feeling to take part in such a historic election.  And even though John McCain didn’t win, I have to admire the marketing savvy of our new president elect. 

I just heard McCain’s speech and I have to agree.  We have to overlook any racial bias and party alligeance and unite together as Americans to overcome these problems our country faces at home.  The economy, the job market, the Iraq war; let’s join together with new hope for the future.