In the new year wave of home-fitness machines, the iJoy Ride takes the cake as "Most Likely To Make Me Laugh". Move over, ThighMaster; I think there is a new king of pain in town.

With four modes, Warm Up, Taking It Easy, Getting Serious, and Pump It Up, the iJoy Ride can't be taking itself too seriously.

My question: Do the iJoy Ride modes last more than the regulatory 8 seconds?

The ball is in the recording artists' court. Apple is pushing for DRM to be removed from its online music, allowing other music players to be compatible with the designer fruit's music service.

I have long been of the opinion that DRM is a bad idea, creating too many stumbling blocks in the lives of consumers. Ever felt like you need a PhD to operate an electronic device? This move from Apple is a men-or-mice step. The line is drawn; who's next to brave the free-er music world?

Not Microsoft.

Not one of his better moments, Chewbacca was arrested for headbutting a tour guide and annoying the Japanese. You can love your Star Wars, just don't loooooove your Star Wars. The impersonator was quoted, "Nobody tells this wookie what to do". Clearly Chewy needs to lay off the caffeine.

Why didn't they arrest Jar Jar Binks for simply existing?

So the Colts beat the Bears in the '07 SuperBowl. The best part of the bowl party this year wasn't the game. I most enjoyed the bear ears and colt ears created from paper and fastened to headbands for party attendees to wear. The catch to wearing the gear was that the losing team had to run around outside after the game, wearing their paper ears.

Quite fun. I did no running outside, although I did a few pony-riding impressions during key portions of the big game.

I used to be that kid. The one that seems to always be good at video games. The one that other kids ask for cheat codes and secrets for their games. The one that wins local tournaments at the corner video store.* The one with calluses on his hands where the controller rubs against the war-hardened skin.

Time have changed. I just spent the day at a buddy's house, where we had three XBox360's running shooter games for most of the day. I am no longer that kid. I played those kids today, and they destroyed me. Granted, my reflexes are not polished by the luster of youth, yet I think the more recent generations must have come out of the womb holding an analog game controller. Me and my friends made up for our ancient gamer tendons by resorting to experience to befuddle the youngers. This worked about two times the whole day. Those were glorious moments that I will hold onto until the next time I sign on to get my behind tromped.

*Three-time champ against maybe 7 other kids.

The approach of SuperBowl Sunday is spurring on HDTV purchases around the nation. Many might find this ridiculous, yet I have been involved in a SuperBowl TV calamity myself. My brother and I suffered a blown TV on the fated game day. We immediately traveled to the local WalMart and selected a replacement in time for the kickoff. We're such slaves to our entertainment. Ahhh.

Oops. Someone found out that if one enables Microsoft's Windows Vista speech engine, they might be vulnerable to hijacking commands from web pages that play audio instructions to your PC. It has been said that computers are only as smart as what they are told to do, and this apparently takes that literally. No virus, just another reason to hate web pages that automatically play sound. Exploiters might give commands such as "Computer, delete My Documents", or "Computer, click yes". I'd be more fearful of dreadful verbal orders such as:


+ "Computer, play 'Dancing Queen'"
+ "Computer, visit Teletubbies home page"
+ "Computer, delete wife's iTunes collection"
+ "Computer, record Beauty and the Geek instead of next week's The Office"

I can't agree that this is a vulnerability. If this is an exploit, then I know certain people that shouldn't be allowed near a computer ever.

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