While we didn't want to hurt his chances in the competition by scaring the fundie frauen away from him, Adam Lambert apparently has tons of photos of himself making out with some dude online that were posted on our message board. So for the idiots who somehow think this guy is not gay, Adam Lambert is gay. Total future VFTW pick because he's going to completely scare off the tween girl and bored housewife vote eventually (which really is a smart career move when you see how they ruin careers like Clay Aiken's).

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The richest men in the world is bullish on Kodak.

According to an S.E.C. filing, Cascade Investments, owned by Bill Gates bought 7.95 million shares in the company.

That raises his stake in Kodak to 5.2 percent, making him the camera giant’s fourth largest shareholder. 

The Kodak stake is Cascade's ninth largest investment, but the investment company does not have plans to become involved with Kodak operations, or press for changes on the board of directors.

Here's some new stuff that we're adding because of feedback from people like you. If you don't see these changes immediately, you will soon. We hope you like them.

• More room for messages. We moved the banner ad to the side so you can see more messages listed in your inbox.
• Ever-growing storage. Our storage grows with you, so you don't have to worry about whether to save a message or delete it.
• Info at your fingertips. One click while you're writing a message adds videos and pictures from the web.

Learn more….ARE THERE MORE UPDATES?

When people encounter a problem with their PC, they often go to the Web and do a search to see if others have had the problem. If they are lucky, someone has found a fix and listed the steps on either a support document or within a user forum.

Now, they may have an even better option.

Over the past six weeks, Microsoft has quietly added a "Fix it" button to a few of the thousands of help documents on its Web site. When clicked, the computer then takes all the recommended steps automatically.

An example of the "Fix it" button that has started showing up in some Microsoft help documents, offering users a one-click solution.

"If we know what those 15 steps are why shouldn't we just script it," said Lori Brownell, Microsoft's general manager of product quality and online support

The "Fix it" option is still fairly rare, showing up in around 100 different help documents. The effort is growing rapidly, though, up from just four such fixes when the program quietly began in December.

Microsoft continues to offer users the option of doing things on their own if they either don't trust Microsoft or just like being in control.

"We're not trying to hide anything," she said.

The first fixes included a number of common issues, including restoring a missing Internet Explorer icon to the desktop, how to enable the DVD library in Vista's Windows Media Center as well as what to do when encountering the error message in Street & Trips 2008 that "Construction information for routes could not be downloaded"

For now, Microsoft is having to go back and search its archives to see which of its problem solving tips can be automated. Eventually, it hopes to create the automated fixes at the same time the help articles are created.

Where it can, Microsoft is also adding the "Fix it" option into the error reporting tool built into Windows. Initially, all users could do when a program crashed was send a report to Microsoft. More recently, the system has started checking to see if there is any information on the issue. Next up, said Brownell, is offering the option to have the issue solved automatically.

Long term, the company has even broader hopes.

While it would like to just eliminate bugs and glitches, Brownell said that is not an attainable goal.

"We'd love for our customers to never have problems," she said. "We'll never ship bug-free software as hard as we try."

Instead, she said she is aiming for a day when Microsoft's products themselves will be able to spot problems and proactively offer fixes. As an example, she noted that in Exchange, it's a pretty safe bet that once one gets low on disk space, bad things will happen. Making sure that users take action before problems occur is an example where the company is headed.

Another example, she said, would be for Microsoft to be able to notify users if they are running two drivers that others have found to conflict with one another. Assuming the appropriate privacy safeguards were in place, Brownell said it would be great for the user to be alerted and offered a fix before a problem occurred.

That proactive world is still largely a vision rather than a reality. That said, Brownell said that the company is putting in place some of the plumbing necessary to make such things possible.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has added an "action center" that Brownell said offers the underlying capability needed to serve up fixes within the operating system. She said that she would expect some opportunities for that over the life of the product, though the current beta version of Windows 7 has few examples of that.

Personally, I'd just like to see the "Fix it" button extended to other areas of my life. I'd really like one that would make travel plans, fill out my expense reports and hire a plumber. That would make me (and my partner) much happier.

For what would you like to see a "fix it" button?

We see them everywhere these days, digital signs by the side of the road telling us about road conditions or that we should prepare to stop or that our local bridge might be closed next Tuesday from noon to midnight. And if you're like me, you've always just assumed that the message on the signs is legitimate and properly authorized.

But what if the sign, instead of reading something like "Ice Ahead" was flashing the message, "Zombies Ahead"?

It's true that in San Francisco or a few other cities, such a sign could be put up by local transportation officials to warn people of an impending zombie march, but even in those places, the more likely explanation would be that the sign was hacked.

And if you're in the Boston area and saw signs hacked in this way, there's always a decent chance it was done by students from MIT. 

According to the blog i-hacked.com, some programmable road signs are easily messed with, largely because they often have unlocked instrument panels, a text-entry system that is easily accessed, and are often protected with uncomplicated, or unchanged default passwords.

Programming is as simple as scrolling down the menu selection to 'Instant Text,'" i-hacked reported. "Type whatever you want to display, (and) hit 'enter' to submit. You can now either throw it up on the sign by selecting 'Run w/out save' or you can add more pages to it by selecting 'Add page.'"

Of course, you probably don't want to do this in plain view of any law enforcement officials, and i-hacked led its post with a disclaimer warning against ever performing this hack.

Microsoft Gulf today announced that Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corp received the ‘Most Innovative People Award for Technology Innovation’ at the Future Capitals World Summit and Awards Ceremony held in Abu Dhabi last night.
The award was given in recognition of Gates' success in revolutionising the way personal computers and Microsoft software now fit in to everyday life. With Microsoft as one of the main sponsors of the event, Future Capitals World Summit and Awards 2009 brought together over 60 renowned business and government leaders to discover and share best practices that are shaping today’s global economy.

Accepting the award on behalf of Bill Gates, Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf said: “Microsoft’s role in the ICT industry is, of course, as a provider of software innovation. As Bill Gates has often said, 'software is where the magic is', it helps people use technological devices to perform specific tasks and it is being applied in areas such as healthcare, environment and education.
"So Microsoft continues to be an innovation company creating economic opportunities for others. Our success is based on our ability to anticipate technology trends and envision how they can be transformed into products, services, and business models that create new opportunities for Microsoft, our partner ecosystem, customers and local communities.”

Commenting on the significance of the award presented to Bill Gates, Sam Hamdan, Chairman and Chief Strategist of Future Capitals said: “The Summit recognises global icons who are working towards achieving better economies and this award pays tribute to today's most original, creative and effective thinkers. Bill Gates is a most worthy recipient and Future Capitals is truly privileged to be honoring him, for his commitment to technological innovation and the digital transition as well as his revolutionary approach to integrating technology into all aspects of life in pursuit of humanitarian issues. We thank Microsoft for supporting this event and look forward to working with them in the future.”                                                                                                     

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=29802&t=1&c=33&cg=4&mset=

Toyota is developing a solar-powered Prius, the Nikkei newspaper has reported yet again.

It was interesting when we heard about this in July.

But it seems to us that someone over at Toyota has now been fake-leaking/hinting news about a solar-powered Prius in one form or another for at least the last year.

This wonder-car-in-the-making has gone from being a Toyota Prius that uses solar roof panels from Kyocera to power its air conditioning unit, to "a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy" to quote one recent Associated Press article.

You may find it interesting that this rumor always comes floating by on the heels of bad news from Toyota.

In July, it accompanied news of a series of Toyota plant closings/reorganizations in the U.S.

This latest rumor seems to be timed to follow Toyota's December news that it, too, has succumbed to the world auto industry slump, reporting its first annual operating loss in 70 years, and a series of consolidations and changes in its organizational structure.

Of course, there is already an available solar option for some Toyota owners in the U.S.

Solar Electrical Vehicles (SEV) has been offering an after-market Prius solar overhaul since June 2007. It includes a customized solar panel for a Prius roof that can improve the car's efficiency by about 29 percent. SEV also offers kits for the Toyota Highlander, Rav4 EV, and Ford Escape Hybrid.

For those who just like reading about the idea of a solar car, Canadian engineer Marcelo da Luz and his team have been blogging about their attempt to set the world long-distance record for a solar-powered car with the Power of One (Xof1) vehicle.http://http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10130380-54.html?tag=rtcol;pop