The whole “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place” speech by Google CEO Eric Schmidt continues to have effects. Most recently it pushed Mozilla executive Asa Dotzler to tell Firefox users to ditch Google for Bing, praising the latter for having “a better privacy policy”.

This is big, because Mozilla and Google have had a historically strong relationship. Google has been the default search engine on Mozilla’s Firefox for many years now, and the browser has enjoyed exposure via Google’s push to attract converters from Internet Explorer—at least right until something called Chrome came around. In fact, the majority of Mozilla’s income for last year (around 97%) came from payments from Google and other big websites to be included into Firefox’s search engines by default.

In any case, what do you think of Schmidt’s “admission”? Personally, you can never fault a CEO for being honest, especially when he’s professed a willingness to follow the laws of the countries he operates in—like the Patriot Act in the US.

Before Facebook rolled out its new privacy settings, Mark Zuckenberg promised that it would “create a simpler model for privacy control” and allow users to more control over access to their online profiles. Yet the general consensus is that the new model actually makes it harder to protect your privacy.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has even said the new model is to push Facebook users to share even more personal information with the general public. Much of the information you could previously control access to, such as your list of friends and the pages you are a fan of, is now …read more

Here’s a good attempt to attract viral attention from Epson:
A quick summary for those who can’t watch the video right now: guy gets into jumpsuit, then wears a specially-designed (and most likely heavy) harness that carries a HD-capable Epson projector, a PS3, and loads of batteries. Guy goes around the vicinity, playing games on the a building’s side wall, the road, and even the while floating in the air courtesy of a practice parachuting vertical fan. The video ends with a brief warning not to attempt said stunt in any way, anywhere.
Game played: An unspecified member of the Need for …read more

So want to maintain a nearby stash of your favorite alcholic beverage. But what about inconsiderate co-workers, who consider anything not nailed down freebies? Or what about that ever-watchful boss, ready to fire you at the sight of even the most minor transgression? Sneaking in a sip or two between meetings and long hours of pretending to be busy isn’t a crime, is it?
Enter the secret beer fridge, which hides its true purpose thanks to some simple yet effective DIY ingenuity:

Even better, the secret beer fridge won’t cost you additional time nor money, on top of the price of your …read more

Is this for real? Take a quick look through Google Street View at the corner of 29th street and Park Avenue South in New York City. You’ll see what seems to be a dead guy sprawled on the road, with several individuals looking on. A woman has her hands pressed to her cheeks, expressing shock.

This snapshot of the busy New York intersection has been accessible through Street View feature for quite some time now. From the first sighting to the publication of this post, more than 11 hours have passed. I’ve sent a complaint to Google; let’s see if they …read more

Recent research conducted at the University of California at San Diego has enjoyed the attention of the internet attention gods. According to the university’s report, your average American consumes 34GB of content and a hundred-thousand words a day.

Wondering how your sucky “broadband” connection is able to pull that much information into your computer within the average 11.8 hours of daily consumption? The study went beyond the internet, covering other major channels such as TV, radio, SMS, video games, etc.
Seriously though, if Americans are exposed to so much content on a daily basis, then is it reasonable to assume that a …read more

On Technograph, my review of the N97 mini was relatively short, as the phone provides practically the same experience as the N97—with one key shortcoming. To summarize: while the mini has less built-in memory than fits predecessor, it’s better constructed, is more responsive, and easier to type on. And let’s not forget that the N97 mini is cheaper than the original N97, and is more compact.

Unfortunately, the N97 mini’s battery is simply too weak for a high-end phone. It’s nowhere near the hilariously short battery lifespan of the original N95, but the 1200mAh BL-4D simply doesn’t provide enough juice to …read more

Recently a shopper in the US shared a shopping expedition. The objective? Find new ink for the printer! The conclusion? It makes sense to actually buy a new printer, rather than pay more for ink cartridges!

For those who can’t see the pic above, here’s a transcript:

I went to buy some black ink for my printer today…
Then I realized that it would be cheaper to just buy a new printer that already came with black and color ink… (picture of Canon PIXMA iP2600 costing $30)
Then I decided to see how much ink for the new printer would cost… (picture of black …read more

Sorry dear readers, but I couldn’t resist posting this off-topic (but still geeky) clever edit of Star Trek: The Next Generation!

What better way to advertise the Olympus E-3 Digital SLR Camera’s auto focus ability, than by showcasing a very automatic focusing activity? Out more than two years ago, this scene of men stealing quick glances at ample mammaries is nonetheless timeless—especially if the female subject of attention has a low neckline and shiny slender legs.

In any case, thanks to its relative age, this high-end dSLR now goes for $200 less than its original $1300 launch price, from Buy.Com.

Olympus E-3 Digital SLR Camera – 10.1 Megapixel – 2.50 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD ($1050 from Buy.Com)
From Ads of the World (Thanks …read more