Any “service” that has to describe itself as “… not Spy-ware or Mal-ware …” needs to be deep-sixed.

Worse, I’ve opted-out of this “service” multiple times. Think about that.

Where does any ISP get off thinking it’s their job to fix the internet in the first place? This is where Net Neutrality should be enforced. If they want the legal protections of ‘common carrier’ status, they should have nothing whatsoever to do with what’s coming over the pipes, let alone interjecting their name and ad-messaging just because I mistyped a domain name.

Complain to EastLink using their contact form.

I threw out three expensive water bottles late last year — models which the manufacturer has since replaced with bottles featuring a different plastic — and switched to metal bottles by SIGG.

The thing that annoys me most about this sort of threat — however small it may be — is that manufacturers are automatically given a pass until something is proven, at someone else’s great expense, to be harmful.

Don’t look for this to change soon. And kudos to NBC for showing some of their sponsors’ products in this piece: I’ll bet someone took some heat for that.

My point? CBC.ca should remain ad-free. CBC Television should become ad-free. CBC radio is, thankfully, ad-free.

Oh, and the lockout should be ended via binding arbitration. To paraphrase Mark Knopfler and Sting, I want my CBC.

Against the backdrop of what CNN Money calls “the longest gap ever between major releases of Windows operating systems” — XP is now four years old — all Microsoft seems to be offering is warmed-over Mac OS X: semi-transparent windows, real-time search, and a brushed-metal interface for Office 12.

Then there’s Internet Explorer 7, which will reportedly include tabbed browsing and better CSS rendering. Like every other browser. Oh, and a brushed-metal interface,

It’s interesting that Apple chose to innovate its way out of the economic downturn, while Microsoft is choosing to market its way out the increasingly common perception that it’s playing catch-up with Google, Apple and open-source.

Plus ça change…

• But we won’t make any money and you’ll hurt our feelings if you buy an iPod like all your friends did…

Okay, so maybe it doesn’t say that, but it does say some equally foolish things:

1. “Understand the basics”: here they claim that hard drive-based players skip when you jog. What a cheap shot; I may not be a jogger, but I’ve never heard my iPods skip in three years of use, and I’ve never heard anyone else complain about their iPods skipping, either
2. “Make sure you’re getting all the goodies”: can’t say I’ve thought of high-quality headphones as extra “goodies”, and I like that I get to decide what accessories I want to pay for.
3. “You’ll want a display”: well, I wanted a display, and my 20-GB iPod has a nice one. Lots of people don’t need a display, though, as demonstrated by the popularity of the iPod shuffle.
4. “Let a professional make your next playlist”: translation; who are you to be choosing what you want to listen to? Listen to ads for car dealerships and sugar-water all day. Alternative translation; for God’s sake, don’t buy an iPod!
5. “Pick the right size for you”: first they’re telling us how to choose an MP3 player, now it’s a Windows Media Audio device. Bet ya hardly noticed the bait-and-switch, there.
6. “Don’t get locked into one online store”: Yeah, Microsoft has no history of customer lock-in, like with Windows, Office, Windows Media DRM. Most importantly remember — Microsoft’s proprietary is good, Apple’s proprietary is bad.