So there’s been lots and lots of discussion about the economics and equitability of MacHeist over the past few weeks (see below for a list of the more popular commentary).  Many points have been argued on both sides of the coin; here is a brief summary of some of these points:

It is my argument that MacHeist is a completely fair ordeal, no matter which way the krona crumbles.

What’s fair is fair

Many of the points heistractors (which is a word I just made up to describe detractors of MacHeist) like to raise concentrate on the equitability of the deal MacHeist made with the developers.  According to Gus Mueller, MacHeist offered each developer $5000 in a “take it or leave it” deal to be part of the final bundle (no word yet on what the freebie suppliers received, if anything).  That means MacHeist can sell as many copies of the…
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Hmm, I guess it’s been a while since I posted to the staff blogs.

This is one of the few times since I started writing for DT that I’ve started an article without knowing what to say. Seriously.

First of all, I should make it clear that this is not intended to be a hit piece against Phill Ryu or any of the MacHeist organizers, nor against any critics of MacHeist.

At any rate, I will attempt to discuss my feelings about MacHeist, the online mystery-solving game of sorts, which has since unleashed a software bundle of biblical proportions for the absurdly low price of $49. A quarter of the revenue is donated to charity. What about that over 75%? That’s where it gets murky.

In his criticism of MacHeist, Gus Mueller mentions how he was offered a non-negotiable, flat-rate $5,000 to participate in MacHeist. Mueller states that he declined this offer because it was a flat-rate deal and not percentage-based (i.e. a certain percentage from every bundle sold goes directly to the developers). This means that if 5,000 bundles are sold, had he accepted the offer, Mueller would have gotten the equivalent of one dollar for each bundle sold. If 10,000 bundles are sold, it drops to the equivalent of 50 cents per bundle sold.

I don’t have any reason to doubt Gus in this case, being that the MacHeist team has yet to disclose any information on how the agreements with developers were structured, and I don’t know why…
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Introduction

It’s an iPod world; I might as well acknowledge that from the start. But that isn’t stopping other manufacturers from coming out with their own ideas for digital audio players, with hopes of prying some precious market share from Apple’s death grip.

Creative Labs is one of those other manufacturers, and one of its more recent attempts is the Zen Vision:M, a hard disk-based portable digital media player designed to go after Apple’s successful full-size iPod. Like the iPod, it fits in your average coat or pants pocket and has enough disk capacity to hold an average person’s entire music library with plenty of space for videos and photos, so no matter where you are, you’ll always have your tunes (and pics and flicks).

Overview

The Creative Zen Vision:M (ZVM) is no slouch. It has all the features one would expect from a player in its class: it comes in 30GB and 60GB models; has a big, bright LCD screen; can play music, photos and videos in most of the popular formats; and includes extras such as an FM tuner with recorder, voice recording, a personal organizer, and podcast and audiobook support. It can also output to a TV set for big-screen viewing.

For navigation, the ZVM uses a three-way vertical scroll-pad with left and right directional buttons flanking it and four function buttons surrounding the entire arrangement. The only other control is a power/hold switch on the top of the player, next to its headphone jack. The bottom of…
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Anti-Conclusion

If you haven’t heard of the Logitech diNovo line, you need to stop living under a rock. I don’t actually recall anything to the effect, but I bet there were some articles on the various tech sites that announced the creation and release of the diNovo line, priced to drop jaws and sting wallets at $250. That was probably about three years ago. In the two years between then and the release of the current version, the diNovo Media Desktop has been cheapened, expensified, had its color changed slightly, and embiggened (at least the mouse has.) For the $250 you plunked down for the set, you got a keyboard with laptop-style keys, a damn-fine mouse with integrated battery (the MX900 if you want to be picky,) a number pad with a screen and calculator separate from the keyboard, and a Bluetooth connection through the mouse’s charging station to make it all useful.

There have been three versions of the Media Desktop. The first one, which I will call the “$50 more expensive than the current version” version is as described above. The next version, the “screw bleeding-edge technologies” version, was released after the diNovo Media Desktop. Called the diNovo Cordless Desktop, Logitech dumped the Bluetooth and the Fancy mouse for RF and their Cordless Mouse for Notebooks, and changed the gun-metal grey to silver. Now, sitting under my hands, being poked repeatedly in the name of science, is the third and current version of the diNovo Media Desktop (but not…
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I’m pretty sure I’ve listed some fake computer related disease on here before.  If not then I’m sure you will hear one.  Writing an email back to someone is quite fun, unless you have absolutely nothing to say.  Then its kind of awkward, and awkward emails are well… awkward.   Lately, I’ve suffered from what I call EOS, which stands for Email Overwrite Syndrome.  It’s the exact opposite of having nothing to say: writing a whole short story in an email, and ending with:

“I’ll get back to you on that.”

I could piece my emails together and get a short epic novel.  (Maybe I should do that.) Anyway, here’s my short guide to diagnosing and treating EOS.

Symptoms

• When you say you’re going to write an email, everyone else sits down to watch TV.
• You can’t explain why the letters on your keyboard have rubbed off.
• Your friends have found it faster to drive to your house than to email you.
• You write an email containing the phrase “lalala” in it at least 3 times.
• Every email you write contains Re: in the subject.

Those are just a few of the EOS symptoms I can say on here.  After reading those you may think, “Oh my goodness!  How do I get rid of EOS?” Well, here’s my list of short cures.

Cures For EOS

• Type with your forehead in violent motions.  In this manner, you will become unconscious after the first sentence.
• Watch a TV show in slow motion.  This will…
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