LIVEdigitally

Growing up is sometimes a painful prospect. Getting hazed at school is a fact of life for generations, and probably generations to come. Unfortunately, the latest is cyberbullying, and this definitely goes too far. This involves criminal activity, including hacking into a school’s server, and posting “mean spirited images” and racial epithets.

San Francisco school officials are trying to figure out who hacked into a high school Web site, posted a student’s face over vulgar and mocking images, then added racist and gang-related captions using the student’s name.

Normally, the Washington High Web site features the usual school fare: club news, athletic schedules, student triumphs and information for parents.

But on Wednesday, school officials realized that someone had replaced all the school information with a set of photo montages apparently intended to humiliate a single student.

When I received an email titled “Solitude noise-canceling headset: better than Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones” I must admit, I was quite skeptical. I’ve loyally carried the distinctive Bose set with me on flights across the country and world for the past year now, and I was quite intrigued at the challenge. Especially from a company I’d never heard of before, and at a price point a full $100 cheaper than Bose.

The Solitude unit arrived, and as I opened the packaging and carrying case I knew the team at ProTravelGear.com had the right idea in mind. The headphones are designed to “collapse” and take up about a third of their own size when properly folded away. This is a bit of a double-edged sword for me, as they are much smaller than the Bose unit from a width and height perspective, but they are almost twice the, well, girth. When I use my messenger-style laptop bag, the Solitudes don’t really fit too well, but when I have my backpack or overnight bag, the shape is ideal. (more…)

Previously, we reviewed the Solitude noise-canceling headset, and were quiet impressed. Here is a detailed, side-by-side comparison with the Bose QuietComfort2 headset.

Photo Gallery:

carrying case headsets carrying case battery compartment headsets carrying case headsets headsets ear piece top case contents headsets headsets

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Some news from earlier this week: according to the rumor mongers at loyal Apple fansite AppleInsider, the first batch of the much-awaited Intel-based Macs may arrive well before late 2006/early 2007, as originally forecast, possibly at the Macworld show in January. The article is based on comments made by Ben Reitzes of UBS Investment Research, who believes there is a fair likelihood of an Intel Mac introduction in early ’06, quite possibly the Mac mini (even the analysts think Power Macs and PowerBooks will be stuck in the labs until later in the year).

Given Apple’s penchant/desire/obsession with creating a media frenzy, we need to take this with a fairly hefty level of skepticism, at the same time realizing that the likelihood for such an announcement is relatively unquantifiable.

Those Scandinavians and their hacking. First it’s Norwegian über-hacker DVD Jon making headlines (instead of cracking DVDs he’s now working in the States), now it’s some Swedish Master of Science students carrying the “Doom to the iPod” torch a bit further, making it available on the iPod nano. I did play around on their site for a few minutes, watching some vids of the game in action, and I must say that I’m really surprised at how good the framerate is. Then again, Doom was released back in 1993. Keep in mind that iDoom still comes w/o sound and uses controls that aren’t, well, exactly designed for gameplay, but it’s still cool to see this in action. I’m not sure I’m ready to slap this sucker on my ‘pod just yet, but anyone who’s done so is more than welcome to talk a bit about their experience.

[Warning: this is NOT supported by Apple, and installing or attempting to install it will void your warranty. I know, I know...YOU know that already, but maybe some people don't. Just covering our bases here.]

Truly inventive. The development log indicates that this has been in the works for several months, but a guy/gal/person (TehDiplomat) has created a playable version of Risk using Google Maps. Available with 2 – 6 players (only humans at the moment), go get a few buddies to huddle around your computer and start conquering the world from the likes of the pleasant-tasting, multicolored, do-no-harm Google environment.