Good: Sony’s SPUDownloadManager. Lost the install CD for a Sony product, or is it old enough that Microsoft has released two new operating systems since you bought it? Plug the device into your computer, run this tool, and it installs the latest versions of all the relevant software and drivers.

Bad: Lenovo’s VeriFace. This is a biometric authentication system that uses your laptop’s built-in camera to scan your face as your password, and record the faces of people who fail to login. It includes an optional check to make sure that it isn’t being fooled by a photo, but it’s still useless, because it only works under excellent lighting conditions. You can spend upwards of a minute finding good light and staring at the screen until it recognizes you, or you can just type your password.

My condolences to US Senator Scott Brown and his family. After last night’s stunning victory, millions will be spent over the next three years in efforts to destroy him, both personally and professionally.

…and then there’s Chris Van Hollen. Here’s the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on why he expects the voters to agree that Martha Coakley should take Teddy Kennedy’s place in the Senate:

"Why would you hand the keys to the car back to the same guys whose policies drove the economy into the ditch and then walked away from the scene of the accident?"

No, seriously.

After their retirement from blogging, I did not expect to find Kim and Connie du Toit doing Internet talk radio. They started back in September, and I didn’t notice until tonight.

“Welcome back; the Internet was getting too gruntled without you.”

My spam folder just got its first “my boss died in the Haiti earthquake and I need a partner to help me get his money out of the country” scam letter. In an odd bit of honesty, the fractured English includes the following among the list of items you must include in your reply:

A valid copy of your identity or passport so that this ransaction can begin immediately.

Emphasis mine. :-)

Official One Piece Oppai Mousepads.

Found at a gas station in Morgan Hill on the way to work this morning:

Update for great justice: “LolNozzle iz inside ur gas tank, breakin pumps”

(apparently from the store window of Asobit Chara City in Akihabara; I don’t know if they sell signs or stickers)