robert_cringely
Columnist

Geek Week in Review

analysis
Aug 17, 20072 mins

The days fly by and so does the news. Here are some items that snagged on my brain as they passed. Because ZXQVX! was taken. Sprint executives are betting that a $3 billion investment in wireless Internet infrastructure is going to save the company. So what do they decide to call Sprint's new consumer WiMax service? Xohm. (Rhymes with 'shalom'.) This can mean only one thing: The Intel guys who came up with “Viiv

The days fly by and so does the news. Here are some items that snagged on my brain as they passed.

Because ZXQVX! was taken. Sprint executives are betting that a $3 billion investment in wireless Internet infrastructure is going to save the company. So what do they decide to call Sprint’s new consumer WiMax service? Xohm. (Rhymes with ‘shalom’.) This can mean only one thing: The Intel guys who came up with “Viiv” must have gotten jobs at Sprint. No wonder AT&T and Verizon are kicking their heinies.

Tune in tomorrow. A Microsoft device designed to deliver wireless Internet access in the ‘white spaces’ between TV channels failed to get approval from the FCC last month because the prototype they sent was a dud. Don’t blame the Redmondites – they were just trying to give the Commission a typical Microsoft experience.

Gobbling together votes. Netizens keen on viral video democracy have a reason to give thanks. CNN has rescheduled the Republicans’ YouTube debate for November 28, or six days after Thanksgiving. This makes it almost certain the candidates will have to answer questions from somebody dressed as a turkey. The real question: whether we’ll be able to tell him apart from all the other turkeys on stage.

Y? Because we loathe you. After a 10-year hiatus, digital satirist J. K. Huddy has released Los Disneys 2.0, a futuristic game where you must blast your way through the sovereign state of Los Disneys (formerly known as Florida) and destroy the frozen head of Walt Disney. The game is free, though I imagine Huddy will soon need a legal fund to fight off hordes of winged Disney lawyer-monkeys. Rumor has it he’s already working on a sequel: Grand Theft Pluto, in which Goofy pimps out Daisy Duck and busts a cap in Pinocchio’s ass (as in donkey). Parental discretion is advised.

Computer dis-associates. Former CA chief Sanjay Kumar checked into a Club Fed minimum security prison this week, embarking on a 12-year sentence for his part in the company’s $2.2 billion accounting scandal. For his sake let’s hope they don’t calculate his sentence using 35-day months.

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