Subject: [TechRepublic] Geekend: Windows' 27 splash screens, Wiki-idiocy

From: TechRepublic Daily Digest <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:08:17 -0700 (PDT)

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Presents your 
TECHREPUBLIC DAILY DIGEST NEWSLETTER for April 13, 2007 
 
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EVOLUTION OF WINDOWS SPLASH SCREENS, WIKI-IDIOCY, MICROSOFT'S RUSSIAN 
ROCKETEER 
 
IMAGES: THE EVOLUTION OF THE WINDOWS SPLASH SCREEN 
Ever since the dawn of the Windows operating system, Microsoft has used 
splash screens as a means of distracting us while the operating system 
is loading. Based on how long we've kept patchy, legacy versions of 
Windows running on our respective hunks of obsolete iron, each of us 
has a varying level of familiarity with (and hatred for) these visual 
holding patterns. Refresh your memory (and your anger) by browsing 
through all 20-odd splash screens from Windows 1.01 to Windows Vista. 
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GEEKEND TOP 10 
 
* 1. Are you a technologist or a magician, or both? 
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* 2. TR fans love (and hate) Star Wars 
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* 3. Real-world 'equivalents' of fictional 1980s robots 
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* 4. The dream of the universal power connector becoming a reality 
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* 5. Comic: The top 10 least convincing sci-fi messiahs 
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* 6. Put an RC R2-D2 on your desktop! 
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* 7. Video: Bringing PCs to the needy 
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* 8. Required Reading: ?1632? by Eric Flint 
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* 9. Video: Karaoke as the ultimate sci-fi weapon 
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* 10. Geek Trivia: Which company filed the largest U.S. tax return in 
history? 
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GEEK PEEKS OF THE WEEK 
 
FORMER MICROSOFT TECH BUYS A RUSSIAN ROCKET RIDE 
Tomorrow a billionaire who got rich developing Microsoft Word and Excel 
will cash in a $25 million ticket to hitch a ride on a Russian rocket. 
The high-flying hacker is Charles Simonyi, whose millionaire-only, 
11-day trip into orbit was organized by the company Space Adventures. 
No word yet if Russia's mission control is running Windows Vista. 
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IMAGES: WHAT THE WIKIPEDIA IS REALLY FOR... 
Word counts for some pairs of Wikipedia entries on historic events and 
some related terms: Vulcan (mythology), 311; Vulcan (from Star Trek), 
8,819; Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1,565; Franz Ferdinand (the band), 
4,433; Idolatry, 3,094; American Idol, 10,121. Remind me again how this 
is a serious encyclopedia? 
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IMAGES: EMERGING TECH'S GREATEST HITS 
Saving Earth from killer asteroids, cloning better heart valves, and 
building earthquake-proof homes out of bacteria: Here's a glimpse at 
some of the near-ready tech that venture capitalists aren't telling you 
about. 
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PHOTOS: MEET DEXTER AND MONTY, THE ANYBOTS 
Start-up Anybots in Mountain View, Calif., has developed two humanoid 
robots, Dexter and Monty. Dexter has two legs, stands 5-feet-10-inches, 
and weighs 135 pounds. He can walk, jump and dynamically balance his 
robot body to remain standing. 
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PHOTOS: RETHINKING NEW YORK CITY'S TAXIS 
Short of the flying taxis from The Fifth Element, what would the yellow 
cab of the future look like, and what tech would it employ? The Design 
Trust for Public Space put together the Taxi O7 Exhibit, which set 
about to hack the hacks just in time for the New York City taxi's 100th 
anniversary. 
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IMAGES: MAKING THE DESKTOP FIT IN A BROWSER 
The idea of treating the Web like an operating system is picking up 
steam. Technically, so-called Web OS software still relies on an 
underlying operating system. But proponents of the Web OS, or 
"Webtops," are bringing more end user computing into the Web 
browser, arguably making the choice of operating system less important. 
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CRACKING OPEN THE APPLE TV 
The Apple TV lets you experience your favorite iTunes music, movies, 
pictures, and shows on your widescreen television. But how did Apple 
fit everything into the Apple TV's skinny case? Come along as we crack 
open the Apple TV and find out what lurks inside. 
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PHOTOS: TUNNELING THROUGH ADS 
New advertising technology--which is to say, children's flipbook 
cartoon tech from the 1800s--is being employed to turn railway tunnels 
into de facto advertising movie screens. That'll teach you to look out 
the window. 
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Find more optical distractions in the TechRepublic gallery collection. 
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