Back to the point I want to make. Apple is showing signs they may have priced the iPad too high even for its lemmings of fans out there. In this Wall Street Journal blog post it is hinted that Apple may cut the iPad prices if the sales aren’t there.

“Shope also wrote that despite the seemingly aggressive pricing of the iPad — the lower-than-expected price points range from $499 to $829 — Apple seemed to indicate it would respond with price cuts if demand for the device wasn’t revving up the way it liked. “While it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially, management noted that it will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated),” Shope wrote.”

So want to save some money on an iPad? Just sit back and wait. Seeing how many fanbois are already wetting themselves over the iPad I don’t think Apple will be cutting the prices anytime soon.

Now Barnes and Noble has released their ebook reader, the Nook. Reading the features I’m glad I didn’t purchase a Kindle. Seeing the pictures, looking at the features, all I can say is move over Kindle.

Of course my goal on the Kindle was to wait for it to hit the $200 price point. I’m going to wager that the Kindle will come out with a new version and prices will continue to drop. So right now I would purchase a Nook, but once that $200 price point nears I’ll have to re-examine the market.

Capitalism is goo.

I’ve installed it on both computers here at home and now issues. One is an older computer running XP and the other a newer one running a 64-bit version of Vista. Installation was easy, the GUI is simple, much better than AVG’s GUI, and the independent reviews have been good so far. Ignore the press releases from Symantec and McAfee, they have a vested interested in Microsoft failing in offering a free anti-virus/anti-spyware product. Bill Mullins has a nice write-up on MSE, go check it out.

My CompuServe ID was 71702.1330. Haven’t used it in ages. R.I.P CompuServe.

I found some instructions on Schmitti’s page on how to do this. This describes how to get pass, i.e. crack an Excel 2000/XP/2002 where the VBA module has a password you can no longer remember (or someone left the company and didn’t tell you the password). This will not work on Excel 97 and has not been tested on versions of Excel newer then 2002.  BE SURE TO SAVE A COPY OF THE EXCEL FILE BEFORE TRYING THESE STEPS

1. Get a hex editor. A couple of free ones are Free Hex Editor Neo or HexEdit.
2. Open the Excel file with the hex editor
3. Search for the bytes 44 50 42, or for the chars DPB. Be sure there exists after these chars the strings “GC=” and “[Host Extender Info]. Some programmers try to protect projects with a dummy-row within a sheet. Several programs for breaking VBA passwords find this dummy-row, consequently a wrong location. So you should find the right locations above “[Host Extender Info]“
4. Change the chars DPB to DBx After that, save the file and close the hex editor
5. Now open the file with Excel. You receive a corresponding error, click “Yes”
6. Click “OK” to any other error messages that come up.
7. Access the VBA editor and enter a new password. You must enter a new password.
8. Confirm and save the file. You can then remove the password if you like.

“will not — I repeat, will not — include monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic.”

Which pretty much puts a big dent into any cyberdefense initiative. Private sector networks and inthe internet is the big hole that people, which I use to include other countries, use to launch attacks against computer networks. If you can’t plug or at least monitor this hole then your cyberdefense plan makes for a great PR statement but isn’t going to work in the real world.

Cyberdefense / security is a big issue, and needs to be addressed. Addressing it in a way that will actually provide a reasonable measure of defense while statisfying privacy advocates is what they call the devil in the details.

Greenlight is offering 80 channels, 10 MB upload and download Internet speed, and telephone service for around $100 a month. Time Warner and Embarq can’t come close to that price. Hooray the tech bloggers proclaim, too bad for Time Warner and Embarq if they can’t compete with Greenlight. What they aren’t telling you is the city of Wilson paid $26 million to fund the effort and Greenlight just runs it for the city for no profit. Now if the city of Wilson gave went to Time Warner and said “Hey, if we gave you $26 million how much would you charge our citizens for a cable, phone, and Internet package?” I’m sure Time Warner would have come up with a great price, and people would be screaming at the city officials for giving a big business that much money.

My question, what’s the difference? Sure the citizens are getting a cheaper service up front but will end up paying more in taxes and fees to cover the city funding Greenlight.

Next the worm writer, one Michael “Mikeyy” Mooney, deserves to be punished. His attitude is what really bugs me:

“I feel pretty bad about it, but it’s not me that left the vulnerability out in the open,”

True, can I use an excuse like that if I break into his home? “Hey, I’m not the one that left his home vulnerable, he should have installed bars on the windows and an alarm system.”

As for punishment. Jail isn’t a good option for crimes like this. Twitter should figure out how much it cost them to clean up this mess. Just clean up not fixing, and Mooney should be fined that amount. If he doesn’t have the money then community service at minimum wage till he pays it off. If Mooney thinks this is unfair then give him an option of  jail time.