Barry Gerber talks about key events in a busy year for technology enthusiasts. He covers HDTV, Windows Vista, exploding batteries, the need for mobile phone standardization, spam, CPUs and portable music and video players.

I had the same HDTV experience, once you get used to it you will never go
back. I researched a long time, and bought a Samsung 26, that being the
ideal size for 1080, except it's 1024 x 1366, which leads to some slight
stretching in certain programs, but overall the picture is amazing.
The onboard sound sucks tho, really cheap.

I have a Dishnet 200 receiver and about 20 HD channels, of varying quality
since old movies and the like were recorded at a lo resolution initially. One
very bad thing is the HDMI output doesn't work at all, and a large number
of subscribers can't get it to either. Fortunately the composite output is
almost as good, I really couldn't see the difference (it worked for one day).
Dishnet says there is a software fix on the way (sound familiar?) but that
was a few months ago. It only becomes an issue if you have other devices
that need the composite.

With the cost of HD monitors coming down so much it looks like the next
gen of TV is really here.

I disagree with this comment(and I have no clue what that "Mickey Mouse" part of the comment means)>

I disagree because I feel that buying a HDTV with a built in tuner can be a good thing. Why? because just for example you might live in an area where all of the local stations that broadcast in HD aren't availible through your cable/satellite provider in this instance it would be a good thing to have a tuner built into the TV and not have to buy a standalone tuner.

There are a couple of good solutions to curb spam.

Being an Exchange guru, you should know one of them by heart. Both SPF and Sender ID Framework working together could significantly curb spam, at least the zombie driven kind, and help out all inboxes. Sender ID Framework (originally called "Caller ID" is a Microsoft idea, but all-in-all it's not that different that SPF in it's end result.

Today a vast number of spam messages come from zombie computers. Computers that would never in the wildest dreams of the spams be allowed to be entered on DNS as proper e-mail machines using either SPF and/or SIDF markings. Once all legitimate e-mail servers are using these tools, then the spam repellents could be turned on high for any message not containing both proper forms of identification through these tools.

Now, how do we get this to work? Simple. Demand it from your ISP or Work's e-mail administrator. If they are not using it, they need to be told how important it is to use in order to help get rid of spam. Make sure any e-mail server you use is properly registered (you can check at http://www.openspf.org/ and http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/sa [...] ault.mspx)

DO IT!

"going to come roaring out of the shoot" While I do often detest those who nitpick these articles, I can tell you that the word used should have been "chute". As an old rodeo hand I just couldn't let that one pass.
Cruz