Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Really Useful and Obscure Computer CPU Info

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

I'd say this is one of the most useful posts ever for people thinking of buying a PC: How many Intel CPUs will fail the XP Mode test in Windows 7?.

What Ed Bott has done is go through the somewhat obscure Intel info and identify which chips will run XP in virtual mode under Windows 7. There is no method to the Intel madness: more expensive doesn't inevitably mean that your CPU will have the needed virtualization extensions (Intel VT), nor does more cores. You just have to know. And now you can.

By blind dumb luck, the computer I'm writing this on, a Dell Precision T3400 — a sort of stopgap refurbished machine I bought in a hurry when my old one croaked a few months ago — has a E6850 on it, so I'm OK in the unlikely event I upgrade from XT.

That said, my plan if and when I get a RoundTuit, is to test out the really nifty-looking new release of Ubuntu, with a Virtual Box, and see how that box handles Wordperfect. If it's fast and smooth, that's where I'm headed if the guest can share the clipboard with the host.

Clipboard sharing works great with XP as host and Ubuntu as guest. Only complaint is that sharing a directory doesn't work out of the box, and sharing a USB drive runs into hardware issues. (I gather you lose 3D in the guest, but I am not a gamer, so I can live with that.)

Posted in Sufficiently Advanced Technology | 2 Comments

Google Is Hiring … Goats

Posted on May 3, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

This apparently isn't a joke. Here is a photo of Google's latest employees:

Goats.JPG

More details at Tom's Hardware.

[Update: While we're on the subject of goats, see Nate Oman Dismembered Goats as a Key to Understanding Contract Law.]

Posted in Internet | 3 Comments

Draft Letter to Vanity Fair (Ari Rides Again Dept.)

Posted on May 2, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

I was disappointed in the lax editorial standards that allowed former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer to use your pages (George in Real Life) to lie to the public, unrebutted, yet again.

Mr. Fleischer is quoted as saying, “When Bill Clinton left office, he was a pariah.”

In fact, President Clinton left office with the highest approval ratings of any post-WW II President, something on the order of 66%. Any simple web search would have revealed this.

I think you owed your readers this fact — especially as it supports the suggestion, made later regarding a different assertion, that die-hard Bush fans are “delusional”.

Please invest in fact-checkers.

A. Michael Froomkin
Professor of Law
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL

Any point in sending it?

[4:50pm – light editing]

Posted in The Media | 13 Comments

Ricardo Bascuas Guest-Blogging at SDFLA Blog

Posted on May 2, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

My colleague Ricardo Bascuas makes a guest appearance at the Southern District of Florida Blog to write about Souter succession speculation.

Posted in Law: The Supremes | Comments Off on Ricardo Bascuas Guest-Blogging at SDFLA Blog

NoScript Consdered Dangerous?

Posted on May 2, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

This is really interesting. Accoding to Adblock Plus and (a little) more: Attention NoScript users, one ostensibly pro-privacy firefox plugin, NoScript, was quietly interfering with the actions of another, Adblock, in order to force the first extensions ads on the user. When called on it, however, they (seem to have) stopped.

Are we in for a new round of extension wars?

What makes the charges particularly serious in this case is the allegation of not just lack of transparency, but active obfuscation, in updates of NoScript.

I've long used both Adblock and NoScript, but I'm seriously thinking of taking NoScript off my computer now.

Meanwhile, I've changed a setting in firefox's about:config to stop the NoScript changelog from coming up every time there's a minor version change (set noscript.firstRunRedirection to false). And I manually removed googlesyndication.com from NoScript's white list. If I find it reappeared after an update, NoScript is toast. And maybe even if it doesn't.

Then again, it seems as if the warring developers may be making peace.

Posted in Internet | Comments Off on NoScript Consdered Dangerous?

H1N1 Flu: It’s Getting Closer

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Bulletin from UM:

The first two cases of H1N1 flu (swine flu) in Florida were recently confirmed: one in Broward County, the other in Lee County. To date, there have been no confirmed cases in Miami-Dade County or at the University of Miami. The University continues to carefully monitor the situation.

The University has created an H1N1 flu crisis decision team led by Joseph Natoli, senior vice president for business and finance and chief financial officer; Patricia Whitely, vice president for student affairs; and Howard Anapol, director of UM?s Student Health Service. The team is meeting daily to evaluate the latest developments and proactively determine appropriate steps for the University community in close collaboration with the Miller School of Medicine?s Division of Infectious Diseases.

University leaders are maintaining regular contact with local and regional Departments of Public Health and have a fully functional pandemic management plan in place.

More at University Communications H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) Information and Resources page.

Meanwhile, these have popped up on campus:

30-04-09_1226 (WinCE).jpg

I snapped that picture yesterday in the main food court. (Click on it for a bigger image.) The company's web site says it is 70% Isopropyl alcohol, which I suppose is why it works on viruses.

By the way, the previous text on the UM page (now vanished?) read in part as follows:

There have been no documented cases of swine flu on campus or in South Florida. The University of Miami is carefully monitoring the situation with the guidance of the Miller School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and will maintain regular contact with local and regional Departments of Public Health. The University is also taking a number of proactive steps to address the evolving situation.

I imagine commencement is one of those events that epidemiologists worry about.

Posted in Science/Medicine | 1 Comment