The World's Wealthiest Man Goes Warm and Fuzzy (After He Has Made Billions)

Bill Gates, is advocating for a kinder, more creative capitalism after he became the richest person in the world under the current system.

Microsoft Corp.'s chairman and co-founder, one of the world's wealthiest men, said business must work with governments and nonprofit groups to stem global poverty and spur more technological innovation for those left behind.

Let's not forget that Microsoft is the most ruthlessly capitalist company in the US. Have you upgraded to Vista? I did, and beyond my belief, my Vista documents are completely not viewable by anyone who has not upgraded. That is a new low in terms of compatability. I support the smartness of their strategy, but Bill Gates don't give me bullshit about compassionate capitalism when your company is as ruthless as it gets, knows they have a monopoly with businesses and deliberately force people to upgrade by making prior versions unviewable.

A380 Delievered

Despite being nearly 2 years late and too large for most airports, the first Airbus A380 has been delivered to Singapore Airlines, the launch customer.

Airbus has officially handed over the first A380 to Singapore Airlines in a ceremony held at its Delivery Centre Toulouse, France in the presence of over 500 guests. The aircraft was officially handed over to Chew Choon Seng, Chief Executive Office (CEO) of Singapore Airlines by Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders in presence of Chief Executive Officer Rolls-Royce Sir John Rose. Singapore Airlines will be the first to fly the A380 on regular scheduled service.

[...]

Singapore's A380 is powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, which generate 72,000 lbs thrust each. They greatly contribute to the A380’s environmental friendliness. As a result the A380 is setting new environmental benchmarks in air transport. The A380 has an unmatched fuel efficiency of less than three litres per passenger per 100 kilometres.

I'm always encouraged to see the market answering the call for more environmentally friendly technology. In a time when most media reporting on the environment consists basically of "we're all screwed; then ocean is about to swallow us whole, so let's become cave men again," this kind of advance is encouraging.

It's probably going to take technological advances like the A380 and the upcoming Boeing 787 to offset the government officials flying around the world in private jets telling you and me to lessen our carbon footprints.

$100 Laptops = Free Porn

The widely panned, Cambridge, Mass.-developed $100 laptop, which is finally in use, is being used by Nigerian kids for pretty much the same stuff American kids use more expensive computers. Like surfing for porn.

Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization have used them to explore pornographic sites on the Internet, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Thursday.

NAN said its reporter had seen pornographic images stored on several of the children's laptops.

I wonder how many of the porn surfin' kids have parents who use the computers to run 419 scams? I can just picture someone -- a Harvard prof, say -- trying to raise money to fund $100 laptops for everyone through some get-rich-quick scheme run by Nigerian scammers who are using those exact same laptops to scam the Harvard professor. Actually, just trying to picture it made my brain hurt.

Next Up: How To Use a Touch-Tone Phone

I don't know what's more disturbing. That the Washington Post actually dedicated space anywhere on their website for this story, or that these politicians that make substantive decisions for over 100,000 people can't figure out how to adjust the ringer on their Blackberry.

The Charles County commissioners this week boldly went where no commissioners have gone before: They learned how to use their new BlackBerrys.

[...]

Finally came the troubleshooting questions:

"I have a terrible time getting the ringer set right," Commissioners President Wayne Cooper (D-At Large) said. "In the holster, it vibrates twice and rings once."

That's an easy fix, Aldridge's staff assured him.

"My BlackBerry tends to have a mind of its own," Commissioner Edith J. Patterson (D-Pomfret) said. When it's in her purse, she explained, "It will call people! Is there a shield or something?"

[...]

Bocaner asked if any other commissioners -- the other four are men -- needed a purse cover.

"Only if it comes with a Coach purse," Commissioner Samuel N. Graves Jr. (D-La Plata) chimed in, saying he would give the handbag to his wife or one of his two daughters.

Wow. I should say I don't really have anything against any of this, the more time these jackasses spend in Blackberry classes the less time they have to raise property taxes or enact bans, pass laws, etc. Full story here.

Attempting to Halt Progress Results in (Surprise) Expensive Mediocrity

What's more amazing -- that the $100 laptop will now cost $175, or that you can buy a better one used -- with a warranty -- on e-Bay for about the same (or even less) coin?

This $100 hand-cranked laptop mumbo jumbo is feel-good idiocy on par with NASCAR's centrally planned Car of Tomorrow, which isn't fooling users, either.