Another tidbit from CNN/Fortune/Business 2.0:  Jeff Bezos is NOT Crazy Eddie  – This article is buried inside CNN/Money as part of “The Browser” (which is pretty cool).

Anyway, it’s pretty funny because this article: Amazon.com has ‘best ever’ sales is on the CNN.com home page.  It’s ironic because this article appears to be the exact regurgitation of the press release that the Browser entry makes fun of.

Congrats to Amazon though, I love them.  I find it interesting that J.C. Penny and Sears are taking online market share from them, but I expect that is just a side effect of the mainstreaming of e-commerce.

This is the apology thread from Fortune / Business 2.0:  Seagate CEO apologizes for porn remark

It’s unfortunate that his PR flacks got a hold of this.  If you can’t make a joking reference to porn (which has been a clear driver of most new technologies including VCRs, DVDs, the Web, etc.) as a business driver for storage then what  the hell?  I liked the interview a lot because it was pretty candid and open.  After reading it I had a lot of respect for Bill Watkins.  That respect isn’t diminished by this apology, but it just further illustrates that the PR (and I’ll point the finger at the other evil R – HR) has to package and many everything.

People should be real.  Passion is good.  Political correctness is the death of creativity.

This is pretty cool:  Scientists launch ‘planet hunter’

Ironically it launched from Kazakstan.  I find that funny given all the Borat noise.  LOL.  Anyway the satellite is called COROT and it’s from a French-led consortium.  (I’m biting my tongue on French jokes.) 

Anyway, this is a area that I find very interesting.  The discovery of other planets, especially those that might exist in a Habitable Zone or, more importantly, an Animal Habitable Zone, is near and dear to my heart.  In 2008 NASA plans to launch a satellite telescope that can detect Earth-sized planets. 

Quote:

It will measure the light emitted by a star and detect the drop in brightness caused when a planet passes in front of it.

Like the larger planets found so far, however, these new ones will have to be orbiting close to their star.

“Such planets would represent a new, as yet undiscovered, class of world that astronomers believe exists. With COROT, astronomers expect to find between 10-40 of them, together with tens of new gas giants,” ESA said.

ESA is the European Space Agency.

More on COROT from ESA.

If anyone knows what COROT stands for, please let me know.

From Time:   5 Things That Went From Buzz to Bust

PS3 Coverage:

TO PLAY’S THE THING

The big story in computer games this year was HOW TO BLOW A HUGE LEAD, by Sony. Its PlayStation 2 was the champ in the last round of the console wars. This time Sony bet on a chip called the Cell and a disc format called Blu-ray. They’re probably awesome, but how would anybody know? The PS3 is hideously expensive–it goes for up to $600–and Sony manufactured only a piddling few hundred thousand for the U.S., fewer for Japan. Plus it’s hard to write games for; the launch titles were lame. You know you’re in trouble when you get beat by something called a Wii.

It is interesting to see the backlash.  I am really curious to see how this turns out.  If one of the Halo games comes out about the time the PS3 supply loosens up that could be ugly for Sony.  I’m also curious to see if they break down and release a non-Blu-Ray PS3 (if they even can, I’m not sure if the PS3 game discs are Blu-Ray).

Another related article from Time:  Sony’s Playstation 3 is Not Worth the Hype

Anyway, I’m just the messenger and I’ll continue to keep you informed.

World of Warcraft accounts for sale on eBay:  210 (down 49) 

High Price: $1,599 [Buy It Now] (0 bids at $899, 4/9 T3 Warrior with Thunderfury) (down $400)

2 Accounts with min bid / buy-it-now prices >= $1000 (down 11)

Highest Price w/Bid:  $760 (1 bid, 5/9 T3 Rogue)

Accounts with Kel’Thuzad weapons:  2 (down 2)

Accounts with Legendary items:  21 (This number is somewhat inflated because it counts splinters of Atiesh and a lot of people have those – not too useful though unless you’re in a guild that can kill KT.)  (down 12)

Gold (1000g Tichondrius): $188-$228.40 (up $27) (1000g Frostmane) $130-$212 (up $38)

(Gold prices from IGE, EZgaming.   Alliance.)

eBay doesn’t have much gold on sale this week so I wasn’t able to include it this week.

NOTE:  I’ve found an issue with my search for accounts for sale – it relies on 60 being in the title and I’m noticing a lot of accounts don’t have 60 in the title.  So it turns out this search is really difficult to construct.  After messing around with it, it looks like there are about 600 accounts for sale, but I’m working on refining the search to make it more accurate.  Once I create a new search I’ll post the results.

This is a pretty cool article from Bungie’s website: Et Tu Brute?!

It’s got a video about the brutes (a minor race in Halo 2) that will apparently play a major role in Halo 3.  It’s really cool, not just because it features some nice clips from Halo 3 but also because it talks about how they developed the brutes.  Interesting insight into how they developed this new race and gave it its own unique feel / character. 

Definitely worth watching.

From CNN:  Attorney argues FCC rules on profanity unfair

Favorite quote:

In an unusual move for a federal court, the judges allowed C-Span cameras to broadcast the hearing, which led Judge Peter W. Hall to ask Eric D. Miller, the lawyer for the government, whether a news broadcast on the case would draw FCC scrutiny.

Too funny.  Society’s view of profanity and what’s acceptable is changing faster than the law (and I guess the politicians) can keep up with.  This case relates to the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards – and it’s just now getting to court!  Speedy.  Anyway, I thought this was interesting and plays to my people are too easily offended theme.

This is a new thing I am doing.  I’ll track RMT (gold sales) and CRR (character sales) for World of Warcraft with weekly updates to see how the market is moving.  You will immediately see high variance (especially in gold) between servers and vendors.  I think the numbers for accounts and related information is pretty accurate, but I didn’t actually go count 259 accounts.  I’ll use the same searches every week for consistency – unless I spot a glaring error.

World of Warcraft accounts for sale on eBay:  259

High Price: $1,999 (0 bids, 7/9 T3 Mage)

13 Accounts with min bid / buy-it-now prices >= $1000

Highest Price w/Bid:  $999 (1 bid, 5/9 T3 Priest)

Accounts with Kel’Thuzad weapons:  4

Accounts with Legendary items:  33 (This number is somewhat inflated because it counts splinters of Atiesh and a lot of people have those – not too useful though unless you’re in a guild that can kill KT.)

Gold (1000g Tichondrius): $161-$199   (1000g Frostmane) $130-$212

(Gold prices from eBay, IGE, EZgaming.)

Well that’s what this article says 83% of people surveyed believe:

 The average 12 year old knows more than your Congressman about the Internet / web.   

I believe it.  They certainly know more than Ted Stevens.

Speaking of delusional politicians.  This article is even better:  Reality check: 95 percent of Americans had premarital sex.  My favorite quote: 

However, Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America, a conservative group which strongly supports abstinence-only education, said she was skeptical of the findings.

“Any time I see numbers that high, I’m a little suspicious,” she said. “The numbers are too pat.”

While I do agree that statistics can be pretty heavily manipulated, I think this is pretty close to accurate.  What I think this quote highlights is the fact that we have a sub-section of the U.S. population who lives in a fantasy land where tubes deliver the Internets (that thing most of us call e-mail) and where people don’t have premaritial sex.  

I love how they always have someone to contridict everything though.  There is always some Executive Director of some random association who is totally convinced of their weird view.

Some good news:  School board abandons evolution sticker case.   The key point:

“The settlement brings to end a long battle to keep our science classes free of political or religious agendas,” parent Jeffrey Selman said in a statement

A few more notes on politicians:

Church and State:  Lawmaker won’t apologize for ‘Islamophobic’ letter

I don’t think this guy gets the separation of church and state idea.  I think we should get rid of Bibles and Qurans for this kind of stuff.  Religion (any religion) should have no place in government.  [Plug:  Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Being an idiot:  Senator questions judge’s role in lesbian wedding

Neff has said she attended the commitment ceremony as a friend of one of the two women, a longtime neighbor.

She insisted in an October 12 letter to Brownback that the ceremony had no legal effect and would not influence her ability to act fairly as a federal judge.

Wow!  She went to commitment ceremony (I guess that’s a gay marriage?) and now this guy is running her through the ringer?  I like how the article says “role” like she had some important role in it and wasn’t just a guest.  (I don’t know since I wasn’t there, but all I can see is that she just went because she was friends with one of the women.)  So it’s not like she presided over it or was in it or anything.  She just went and boom! this guy is all over her.  That’s a little out of hand.

/rant

From BusinessWeek: Virtually Addicted

This is ridiculous.  If you put TVs in people’s offices they’d watch them all day too and not get any work done.  Then people would complain about TV addiction and sue when they got fired for being lazy. 

Why in the hell don’t people understand PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?

It’s easy enough to find excuses not to work.  There are infinite ways to waste time and the Internet certainly delivers them by the truckload.  People need to get a grip and be accountable for their choices.  Internet addiction?  It makes me want to scream!  Or maybe cry.  (For the decline of modern civilization.)

/rant