The install starts, and the “rolls back” when it encounters a “security issue.” Of course, at that point it wants me to download a security scanner which, you guessed it, doesn’t find a dang thing. Of course, it says to go ahead and proceed. But then, it won’t install because there is a “security issue!” What a load of monkey poop.

Unfortunately, I have learned after literally trying for nearly a month to work with their “Customer Service” team that 1) I know more about computers than the lousy people who work for the company. 2)Trend Micro must be owned and operated by evil chimpanzees who even now are working to overthrow the human race by foisting bug ridden crap labeled as virus protection on unsuspecting consumers.

Trend Micro’s customer service works this way:

A) Try and call them at 1-800-864-6027. I did and waited on hold for 118 minutes without being able to talk with someone. But I did get to hear the exact same song played in an endless loop. It’s not even a good song, either.

B) Try and get your problem solved by an online chat.  It might have worked, except mid-way through the chat, 5:00PM rolled around and I was cut off from the chat.

C) Try and get service via email. This is a very slow and frustrating process. Here is how it works: 1) You email your issue. 2) Two days pass. 3) A person emails you back with a canned solution. 3) You try the solution and it doesn’t work. 4) you email the person back immediately. 5) Two days pass. 6) A completely different person emails you a solution. Etc.

I got 9 emails back from the company, each from a completely different person, each with about a two day space. How’s that for customer service?! At one point, I think they started sending the same solutions again just to play with me.

Just as bad, the company won’t offer a refund, and the retail establishment I purchased it from only takes software back after 10 days or so, but never opened software. Basically, I’m boned.

Please, do yourself a favor: don’t buy trend micro products. They are terrible and buggy.   The customer service is worse. I had to go and buy a whole new set of software from a different company. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

From the company:
Lucky 7 Slots packs the fast-rolling excitement of a video slot machine into your iPhone or iPod Touch. Place your bets, then tap to set the reels rolling. Hit the machine with 1000 credits and play as long as your luck holds. When you’re done playing, Lucky 7 Slots keeps track of your winnings. Liquid-smooth graphics and audio round out the experience. Add Griffin Technology’s 5 Card Touch for even more casino action when you want, where you want it. Lucky 7 Slots … Vegas-style action at the touch of your screen.
For iPhone and iPod touch

Requires iPhone 2.0 Software Update

It’s available at the Apple’s Ap store or iTunes. 

I downloaded and installed some of their many programs available on www.stardock.com and was literally blown away with the amount of things I can do with them.  For example, are you tired of the way your desktop looks?  You can change it completely with just a couple of clicks.  Icons, sounds, themes, the start bar… all putty in your hands using Stardock’s programs.         

I have been playing with the software suite for the past couple of weeks and feel like I still haven’t even made a dent in the amount of features available to me.  In fact, every time I start to think about it, I get dizzy and have to sit down. 

I think the biggest benefit to having this software is the fact that user driven modifications seem to be encouraged.  There is a huge community of extremely talented modders out there, and I can check out their work and download and apply it to my computer very easily. 

For example, the other day, using Sound Packager, I downloaded and installed a Sexy Female voice theme that user RobJK had created.  Unfortunately, it was very sexy, and I realized quite quickly that my pregnant wife would kill me if I left it running.  So, with one click I returned to the standard Windows sound theme.  I now have a theme called ”Classic Arcade” by David Murphy running.  The widows sounds are all ones from classic arcade games.  Sweet! 

My current favorite is this application called Icon Packager which allows you to change the way icons appear.  You can download and appy new icon packages with one or two clicks and change all your icons at once.  Then, if you’d like them a little more blue, say or slightly more green, you can change that too. 

Even though I am not a developer, I found the software easy to use.  There are a ton of other things you can do with Stardock, many more than I have room to mention.  I strongly suggest you check them out:  www.stardock.com

Total Rating: 5 out of 5 stars       

Developers, artists and user interface designers from all over the world worked together to make GIMP more powerful and easier to use than ever.

• Refreshed Look
• Scalable Brushes
• Selection Tools
• Foreground Select Tool
• Align Tool
• Changes in menus
• Improved display when zooming in or out
• Support for file formats
• Fullscreen Editing
• Color Management and Soft-proofing
• New Crop Tool
• Improved Printing
• Red Eye Removal
• Perspective Clone
• Lens Distortion
• JPEG quality

Official Website

QuickTime 7.2 is the spotlight update for this round.

• Support for full screen viewing in QuickTime Player
• Updates to the H.264 codec
• Numerous bug fixes

It’s about time this happened. I’ve paid for QuickTime Pro at least once and the stupid thing doesn’t work now (I have no idea why). Get your update now and enjoy full screen QuickTime.

“Microsoft has, in typical Microsoft fashion, decided to launch their forced migration onslaught in full force with the release of two games that will only run on Windows Vista,” said Falling Leaf Systems CEO Brian Thomason in the press release.

“First they claim that it was impossible to implement DirectX 10 compatibility atop Windows XP, and now they also want us to believe that they couldn’t successfully launch two DirectX 9 based titles on XP either. We plan to expose both theories as patently false.”

Source

It seems that the hacking group warez has beat Falling Leaf to the punch and released a patch. Either way, the real issue is the crap that Microsoft is spewing to try and get people to upgrade.

Here’s what’s new:

• Looking pretty - The entire document list has been given a complete visual overhaul - new icons, more content, and better organizational controls. We know users spend a lot of time here and we aim to make it feel more like home.
• Getting organized - Almost from the day we launched people have been clamoring for folders. They’re here! Even cooler, our new folders continue to work like the tags they’ve replaced - your old tags are automatically converted to folders and documents can live in more than one folder at a time. Organizing your documents is as easy as dragging and dropping a document to a folder. We’ve also included special controls for seeing only those documents created by you or shared with a particular person.
• Search that thinks ahead - If you’ve ever tried Google Suggest, you know how cool it is when a search engine offer suggestions as you type. Google Docs & Spreadsheets now works the same way - we offer dynamically filtered results from your document list as you type, saving you time and getting you to your documents more quickly.

Windows (and Mac, of course): Today Apple releases the Safari version 3 beta, which now runs on Windows as well as OS X.

Steve Jobs said today that Safari is faster than Internet Explorer and Firefox.

LifeHacker

They mention extensions at LifeHacker and it’s true, I have some incredible Firefox extensions. I would never want to switch. I also use iTunes and have never had a single issue with it other then the fact that I have to designate podcasts for auto deletion all the time. It wasn’t always that way, but one of the updates (about 4 or so ago) screwed that up. I still love it though.

So, maybe a little poll…

Chizen said Adobe laid the foundation for a hosted Photoshop product with Adobe Remix, a Web-based video-editing tool it offers through the PhotoBucket media-sharing site.

Like Adobe Remix, the hosted Photoshop service is set to be free and marketed as an entry-level version of Adobe’s more sophisticated image-editing tools, including Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Chizen envisions revenue from the Photoshop service coming from online advertising.

Cnet - Adobe to take Photoshop online

http://www.getdemocracy.com/watch/

Recently I got re-introduced to http://www.yourminis.com (thanks Ragster) and OMG I’m having insane fun with RSS feeds and widgets. So then I ran across this Democracy Viewer thingy and I figured some of you might want to check it out too.