weblog.helpware.net

Good feedback on Vista SP1 so far. Takes a bit of time to install. Once installed the installation continues on reboot (> 1hr on my PCs).

• Download Vista SP1 - 434.50MB (32bit, 5xlanguages)
• Will be available soon via Windows Update - about 70MB
• More info:  ZDNet Blog | Vista Team Blog

Just updated all 3 of my Vista PCs (1x Ultimate; 2x Home Premium) to Vista SP1 RTM. So far so good.

Vista SP1 RTM (Release To Manufacturing) — See Vista Team Blog for rollout info

• 4-Feb-2008 - RTM (Released to Manufacturing)
  Initially available to Beta testers (via Connect web site), and OEMs. 
• English version of Windows Vista SP1 available to Volume Licensing customers.  Other languages will follow soon after.
• Later this month, SP1 will be available to MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers.
• March, it will be available via Windows Automatic Updates

If you have been fustrated (like I have) by all of Vista’s niggling problems… Have a read of the Vista Team Blog - Announcing the RTM of Windows Vista SP1. Here’s an excerpt. It talks about why they made so many disruptive changers:

When we first released Windows Vista last year, there were lots of customers who had great experiences, but some had issues finding applications that worked well on Windows Vista; others had problems finding the right device drivers for some of the hardware devices that they used.  The reason for these issues is that in order to improve the reliability and security of Windows Vista, we made some important architectural changes to the system.  While this caused some issues in the short term, in the long term we know that these investments will improve both the reliability and security of the customer experience on Windows.  Check out this blog post about the first year of Windows Vista security to see how some of these changes are paying off.

More Info 

• Read the Vista SP1 RTM Release notes online

Nikolay is a FAR and H2Reg user. He’s done a nice artical on how to create what he calls MS Help 2.x place holders. That is a base collection that you can plug / unplg all your other collections into, and so keep your companies H2 docs gathered together in once place. Thanks Nikolay for sharing this!

See Nikolay’s Blog

Dan Fernandez interviews April Reagan on the future of the MSDN Library (local help). April’s paper “The Case for Significantly Improving Developer Help” was submitted to Bill and the other MS Execs during Microsoft ThinkWeek.

• MSDN Channel9 Video (posted 30 Jan 2008)
  http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=377501

April describes how she’s a part of a new Help Experience team whose aim is to replace Help 2.x (DExplore) MSDN.  Their are hopes that one day this will be made available to other groups within Microsoft and eventually to ISVs. They have support from the top, and have been given resources to build up a team. You can follow the progress via April’s blog.

• Aprils Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/aprilr/default.aspx

April is looking for feedback. What do you the developer want to see in the next VS MSDN Help.

This week I made several calls to the USA for 10c a call (untimed). The longest call was for 2 hrs — all for 10c.

Have a look at the OZ VOIP company http://myNetFone.com.au

Like Skype but for $20 they give you a VOIP box you plug your regular phone into (and your BBand Network).  I got a box that allows VOIP OUT and both VOIP & Normal Phone IN. So people can call our phone in the normal way, but our calls out are cheap. If you want a VOIP IN phone number that’s $30 a year.

• VOIP Plans

I’m on the GlobalSaver plan ($15/m) — 10c untimed OZ/International + 100 free calls.
The $0/m plan gives you – 12.5c untimed calls in OZ + 1.9c/min international calls.

Engin are very good as well. A slightly different mix.

• http://www.engin.com.au/

You need to read the details carefully before chosing a VOIP prvider. For instance Engine give you free calls anywhere in the word (fee call, $20/m plan), however this is limited to 8 major countries, while MyNetFone have a larger range of countries with their 10c/call ($15/m) plan.

I notice that on these systems VOIP does not recognize keypad entries (for entering PINs etc). So if you are paying the gas bill you may need to switch to skype or your regular phone.

Rob

Greenpeace activists unfurl a banner on Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street railway station, sending a strong message to Premier Brumby on his controversial decision to lift the ban on genetically engineered (GE) food crops.

Victoria’s ban on genetically engineered (GE) food crops expires on 29 February.  Says Greenpeace genetic engineering campaigner, Rebecca Hubbard, “Victoria is running out of time before it loses its GE free status.  More…  Video Report (The Age)

GreenPeace News Articles:

• GE Canola - out of control in Canada
• Australia’s food at risk
• New research shows GE science is flawed
• More…

GM crops can contaminate adjacent non-GM crops by various means. The canola seed is tiny and easily spread through wind, animals, birds, seed transport spills etc.

Even before GM Canola crops are allowed in Australia, contamination is being found in Australian grain from  research being done by the Tasmanian Government…

• GM: A case of good crop bad crop - March 2006, Sydney Morning Herald 

But what about contamination through cross-pollination? Here genes traits are transferred from one crop to another.  Which crops are sexually compatible with the current GM crops? Do we know?

Currently we are seeing new herbicide resistant super-weeds growing up around the GM-crops. These weeds have taken on the herbicide resistance traits given to the GM crops.

• Cross-Pollination Leads to Triple Herbicide Resistance

Could this spoil the integrity of our existing pure crops? If Western Australia get their way and grow GM wheat, will it cross-pollinate with Spelt? (Spelt is a distant cousin of Wheat and now in common usage by health bread manufacturers). If weeds can take on the traits of GM crops then who really knows what we can expect.

We are genetic altering life, and life is self replicating. Once released into the world, you may not be able to reverse that decision.  Like Cane Toads introduced into QLD Australia you could be stuck with them for ever.

The 2004 documentary “Unnatural Selection“ tells a story of a GE salmon farm (commercial research). A flood caused 100, 000 GE fish to escaped into the river ways. Some scientists estimated these larger more aggressive Salmon could in fact cause the natural fish population to die out within just a few years. This is of course worst case scenario, but it just shows again that we playing with fire. But hey as long as someone is making a profit 

EU Regulations permit very low levels of accidental or ‘adventitious’ presence of GM plants in an organic crop at a threshold of 0.9% (lowered recently from 1%).

Bio-Diversity 

The other problem we have is one of bio-diversity. I’m just starting to understand what this means.

So we have Monsato and others buying up all the seed companies around the world. Their aim is to control the worlds food supply. The natural diversity in the world, that comes from farmers collecting their own seed generation after generation will be lost as Monsanto moves in with their limited palette of GM seeds. 

In the space of only a decade we now have most of USA and Canada growing GM food crops from a very limit variety of seed. Some say we have already lost some varieties of seed.  Thank God for projects like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

Currently there is an oversupply of food for the planet (we just neglect to share it with those who are hungry).  So don’t beleive the Monsanto spin that says we have a moral obligation to go GM.

Worst case scenario … if the traits in these untested GM genes fail catastrophically, we could have a world wide famine.

GreenPeace run a program called Trolley Watch. When you see a Genetically Modified (GE) food label in your supermarket, take a photo and upload it to GreenPeace. So it’s a shame file. Yet another way to use consumers power. Currently we only have a dozen or so products labelled in Australia. Loop holes in Australian labelling laws allow potentially 1000’s of GE products in Australian stores.

• GE Fake Foods Photo File
  Next to each product is a link so you can send an email to the company.

 What else can you do?

• Call or email your Australian state premier
• Call or email Australian Companies selling GE foods

Holly Schiach, Greenpeace, talks to Sydney audience about Trolley Watch in Australia.

• YourTube Video: Tolley Watch

Holly tells how Lowans Healthfoods finally gave in to removing GE food from their Lowans and Greens lines, after they received many letters from consumers.

Nice snappy video on the dangers of GM food.

Helen Caldicott’s comments were so good I had to write them down so I could remember them.

Dr Helen Caldicott: is a world leading spokesperson for the antinuclear movement and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. A medical doctor, she has devoted the past thirty-five years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age. Dr Caldicott is a bestselling author and divides her time between the central coast of New South Wales and Washington, DC, where she is President of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute.

•  http://www.helencaldicott.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Caldicott

Read the rest of this entry »

ABC TV program:  Difference Of Opinion
“Power To The People” - Jeff McMullen and an expert panel
19-Mar-2007 (rebroadcast 23-Dec-2007)
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/differenceofopinion/episodes/episode_06.htm

This was a good discussion. I’ve noted down what caught my attention.  See the URL above for the full transcript and video.

The Panel

• Alan Pears (Focus on stainability & consumer changers)
• Dr Ziggy Switkowski (Nuclear knowledge)
• Dr Nikki Williams (Coal knowledge)
• Dr Mark Diesendorf (Focus on stainability)

Read the rest of this entry »

Are GM food crops allowed in Australia? 

Currently no. However on the 27th Nov, the Victorian and NSW governments announced that their bans on growing GM Canola would lapse on February 29 and March 3 2008, respectively. Premier Brumby will let Bayer, Monsanto and their agribusiness allies roll out herbicide tolerant GM canola in Victoria without restriction or public notice. In contrast, NSW has extended its ban till July 2011 but will exempt some GM canola growing for commercial and research purposes, on a case-by-case basis.

According to GeneEthics.org, Bayer, Monsanto and the US government formed an agribusiness coalition to overturn the bans.

Why are we going GM in Australia?

With so many scientists and experts voicing clear concerns against GMO, why are our politicians letting GM Canola crops into Australia?

Australia’s new Chief Scientist and longest-serving chief of the CSIRO Plant Industry division, is Dr Jim (William James) Peacock. While he’s been smearing critics of genetically modified (GM) food as “unprincipled minorities” and “self-serving” activists, he forgot to mention a few things about himself.

1. Companies started by Peacock may benefit from overturning state bans on GM.
2. The GM crop patents Peacock has lodged.

This detective work came from Kath Wilsons blog. Thanks Kath!
I recommend you read Kath Wilsons blog.

Read the rest of this entry »

The video “The Story of Stuff” is a short video worth watching.
It reminds us that as consumers we must make good choices.
Why? Watch the video

part2 | part3 | part4 | part5 | part6 | part7

The GM Spin

Big business push a myth that GMO is on the moral high ground. GM food, a God given technology that can feed the starving nations of the world, raise your profits, and reduce your pesticide usage. Their advertising spin appeals to your emotions, to your deep moral compass which wants to help the poor &  needy of the world. We buy it hook line and sinker.

The Monsanto home page gives the impression of a responsible, caring, green company.  Numerous videos show farmers from all over the world painting a rosy picture of prosperity and happiness through GM crops. However, scratch the surface and you find that Monsanto, are not the good citizen they claim to be; GM food crops don’t out perform conventional crops; GM food has no proper safety testing; GMO’s have the potential to poison and pollute the planet’s food and animal DNA permanently; And no one, certainly not the poor and needy, have benefited from GM foods so far.

Read the 2007 report from Friends of the Earth:

• The executive summary of the report is available at
  http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007execsummary.pdf
  The full report is available for media upon request from the contacts above or from media@foei.org

Highlights from the report from the Australian NCF site - GM Crops still not performing

• “No GM crop on the market today offers benefits to the consumer in terms of quality or price, and to date these crops have done nothing to alleviate hunger or poverty in Africa or elsewhere,” said Nnimmo Bassey of Friends of the Earth Africa in Nigeria.
   
• Brussels, 8 January 2007 – A new report to be released tomorrow shows that genetically modified (GM) crops have failed to address the main challenges facing farmers in most countries of the world, and more than 70% of large scale GM planting is still limited to two countries (U.S. and Argentina).
   
• In 2006 the US Department of Agriculture, a chief proponent of GM crops, for the first time acknowledged that GM crop yields are not greater than those of conventional crops, and a compelling number of studies by independent scientists demonstrate that GM crop yields are lower than, or at best equivalent to, yields from non-GM varieties.

Monsanto: A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing

Monsanto told us DTD was safe; Agent Orange was safe; Aspartame (NutraSweet) was safe; BST (bovine growth hormone) was safe; Yet all these products cause sickness. Monsanto BST is still on the market Have a look at this Youtube video Fox News Kills Monsanto Milk Story.  They are known as a global bully, making friends in high places who help them push their shonky products out to market with little or no safety testing. Reports of falsifying records and data, people fired or demoted for speaking out, it will all make for a great Hollywood blockbuster one day.

Thanks to the flat trading field setup by globalization, Monsanto now control most of the worlds seed supply. Using biotech, Monsanto can alter the seed DNA, which means they can now patent and own the seed, and lock GM seed to their herbicide products. This great new money spinner for Monsanto is causing problems everywhere. Today, mostly thanks to the Internet, this trail of destruction is more visible.

Web sites exposing Monsanto’s bad deeds are too numerous to mention. Just search Google for the name “Monsanto” and you will find plenty of good reading material. However despite the adverse publicity Monsanto stock keeps going up and up, and governments and farmers are still buying into the whole GM food is the savior of the world spin.

Spot the Spin

Hans Lombard, a public relations consultant for the biotech industry states that “GMO FOOD IS SAFER THAN CONVENTIONAL”. I think we can safely call that “spin” — Read more

Some straight talk…

A Book to Change Your Mind

The above quotes come from a book written by author Jeffrey M. Smith called Seeds of Deception “Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating”.

You can see Jeffrey Smith speaking at a conference in Florida in a 6 part video up on the Google YouTube web site.

Like the book this video will forever change the way you think about GM foods.

Video part #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 

Read the rest of this entry »

UK has around 150 operational wind farms (~1900 wind turbines). What’s interesting is, that according to BWEA data  6 of these are offshore wind farms (~147 turbines) in the shallows of the sea. Energy secretary John Hutton announced plans to build 7,000 more offshore wind turbines around Britain’s coastline by 2020.  This would raise UK offshore power to 33GW. Britain’s current range of coal, gas, nuclear and other power stations are capable of generating 75GW. For a tyical winters day UK uses 30-40GW, peaking at around 50GW for 4hrs in the evening (see Wind Power in the UK).

According to the BWEA site a typical turbine meets the average annual electricity needs of 1,000 homes. I love these images of UK offshore wind turbines. Maybe something we will never see here in Australia.

• Map of wind farms in the UK
• Wind power statistics on Wikipedia put Germany at producing a massive 21.3GW from wind power, USA (13.9GW), Spain (12.8GW), India (7.2GW), Denmark (3.1GW), China (3GW), UK 2.2GW … Australia (< 1GW).

Kentish Flats project
30 wind turbines (90MW total)
8.5 km offshore from Whitstable | started generating Oct 2005

Read the rest of this entry »

NCF (Network of Concerned Farmers) are the voice of reason in the GM foods debate here in Australia. I highly recommend you take time to read through their very informative web site. Thanks to Julie Newman, who volunteers her time in maintaining this great site.  

• http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/

Below is the first section of the NCF report on the economics of growing GM canola in Australia , Nov 2007 (to view the actual official report please go to the NCF web site and search for “GM canola report”).

GM canola will cause economic loss to canola farmers of over $143 million

Read the rest of this entry »

President: I was born to Lead not Read - [The Simpsons Movie 2007]

Introduction

Tues 27 Nov 2007 - Victorian and NSW governments (in Australia) have lifted the ban on growing commercial GM canola. The community are split over the news with some seeing it as an economic step forward, while others are deeply concerned over the potential risks to health and the environment.

Government and industry will label you a Luddite if you say you’re against GM foods. Actually most aren’t against GM, their against rushing into this too early, before knowing all the facts and risks.

Some issues that concern me…

1. Government heavies are making wild claims that GM food is safe despite the complete lack of any long term safety testing. Some of these guys act like pushy union men. When you question them, they respond by throwing insults, inferring that you’re a Luddite or stupid. Hey bullying wont go down well with Australians. Many countries report a 50% increase in allergies since GM foods were introduced.  When GM Soy beans was first introduced into the UK, soy allergies sky rocketed by 50%. Is there there a connection? We don’t know, because governments wont do the long term safety testing. They just want to quickly push it out there.
2. Introducing GM Canola will most likely result in the destruction, through contamination, of our existing non-GM and organic canola markets. There is also plenty of evidence showing that other crops are also likely to become contaminated.
   Canadian researchers tested 33 samples of certified non-GM canola seed and found that 32 samples were contaminated with GM varieties. The seeds are very small and easily blown into neighbouring properties or further.
3. We are told that 70% of world’s canola trade is now GM and we must have a slice of it. However the government neglect to mention that Canada is the only major GM producer in the world,  and their market has declined sharply since GM canola was introduced. So much so that now the Canadian government heavily subsidise the Canadian canola industry.
   According to the Canadian National Farmers Union: “GM crops do not deliver the promised benefits; they create numerous problems, costs, and risks; and Canadian consumers and foreign customers alike do not want these crops. It would be too generous even to call GM crops a solution in search of a problem: These crops have failed to provide significant solutions, and their use is creating problems— agronomic, environmental, economic, social, and (potentially) human health problems”
4. Europe and Japan don’t want GM. Currently 40% of our OZ canola goes to Japan who have stated clearly that their 3 million consumers do not want GM canola. 

So why are the Government so hell bent on rushing us into GM before its found to be safe? One can only conclude that money talks louder than words, and the Government’s chief advisers are influenced by the huge multinational organisations such as Monsanto who have their own agenda.

Its quite a strange situation. We have all these people in government passionately and blindly pushing GM foods as the magic bullet. While at the other extreme most scientists are advocating that we wait, do long term testing, and learn more before continuing. The politicians appear to be totally seduced by the GM hype and the promise of big money. Consumers are sick of our leaders chasing short term economic gain, while ignoring long term repucutions. We want to protect and heal our environment while building a future for our children.

I hope that this series of notes will help you discern between spin and reality.

Rob

Wow! If you thought that zooming in and out of satellite images of the Earth was pretty mind blowing you ain’t seen nothing yet. The latest version of GoogleEarth can now be turned towards the night sky. Track the position of the planets;  Zoom in and explore galaxies. Hubble telescope shots are overplayed showing spectacular images of Black Holes, Nebulae, Supernovae and Excotic Stars.

• http://earth.google.com/
• http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html (Video Demo of product)

Microsoft Software Donation Program

It’s not well know but Microsoft offer software such as Vista Business for only Aus$13 to non-profit organizations.  Up to 50 copies per site. For more info see http://www.donortec.com.au/directory/2

Vista Business Upgrade for Aus$13

Microsoft System Builder Program 

If you are building a PC from scratch don’t go and buy Vista off the shelf.  You should be allegeable for the MS System Builder program and get the MS OEM price. ie Same price as you would pay if you bought Vista with a new PC.

RRP in Australia (may not be the latest price list)

• Windows Vista Home Basic – $385
• Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade - $199
• Windows Vista Home Premium - $455
• Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade Academic - $179
• Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade - $299
• Windows Vista Ultimate - $751
• Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade - $495
• Windows Vista Business - $565
• Windows Vista Business Upgrade - $379

OEM Prices

• Business OEM - $242 inc Tax
• Ultimate OEM - $297 inc tax

 What’s the best HD TV Tuners to use with Vista Media Center?

In Australia DigitalNow sell a brilliant dual HD Digital TV tuner called TinyTwin. It’s just 3 inches long, with a USB plug at one end and a single RF antenna connection at the other.  Price is just AU$139 (not bad for 2 tuners).  The drivers are incredibly stable and robust under Windows Vista and it delivers beautiful HD video. I installed 2x devices which gives me a total of 4x HD tuners. Great experience under Vista. I’ll never look at another Divco Fusion tuner.

My installation instructions here. 

Its not Vista SP1 but there are now 2 new updates available for Vista that finally address several performance and compatibility problems in Windows Vista. In time (?) these updates will work their way into the automatic update system (Windows Update).

kb938979 : An update is available that improves the performance and reliability of Windows Vista

kb938194 : An update is available that improves the compatibility and reliability of Windows Vista

Windows Vista was released 30th Jan 2007, 6 months ago. Time to review.

Given all the hype about how Vista would “wow” us and allow us to work better and faster …well it just hasn’t happened. We were told the jump from XP to Vista would be greater than the huge jump from Win3.1 to Win95 …but it isn’t.

There are lots of improvements, many of which the average user can’t see (such as security, stability, extending the platform). Many problems from XP have been fixed, but many features have become broken or have been removed.

Pros

• Media Center is a joy to use. But there are still a few bugs we live with. Still only supports 2 tuners.
• The desktop graphics engine is more powerful now it’s linked directly to the Video card.
• Its more secure working in User Login mode and being warned when critical areas of Windows are being modified.
• I love Start menu > Programs Search, instead of organizing hundreds of shortcuts.
• I love that MS spend a lot of time re-engineering many parts of Windows to make it more robust and provide a better platform for developers as we move forward.

Cons

• DVDMaker broken - For me it locks up at startup.
• MovieMaker broken - For me it renders rubbish when compiling MPG2 content (from JVC HD Cam) to WMV (broken on 2 Vista machines however works fine under XP).
• IE7 - Lockups; shutdown errors; MouseWheel click opens 2 copies of a page; Continual blocks and warnings get in the way of work.
• Still no drivers - Major companies such as Creative (SoundBlaster) and Cannon are still struggling to get drivers out to customers 6 months after release. Most of my Digital cameras still wont connect to Vista (no drivers).
• I could go on…

I use Vista at home, XP at work and to be honest in the work I do (Software development) I see no significant advantage in upgrading to Vista. After the short lived wow factor wares off its just another Windows platform with better security and search. I’d be just as happy staying with XP.  To be brutally honest, moving to Vista has been a huge drain on my time and wallet. I dare not tell my wife what it cost us to upgrade all our “must-have” software packages and hardware to Vista compatible products.

Best advice I can give:

• Stick with XP as long as you can (32bit drivers still not ready for some older cameras and devices)
• Don’t upgrade old PCs (asking for trouble). Wait until you need a new PC then buy a Vista compatible PC
• Software companies start testing Vista now if you haven’t started already. 
• MS web site says XP stops shipping with new OEM PCs end of Jan’08 (6 months time folks no more XP)
• 2GB Ram is best. 1GB RAM is OK for basic use.
• Get a good video card. Old cards will destabilize Windows with constant blue screens.
  Suggest NVIDIA GeForce Series 7 or 8 (NVideo 7600GT is the sweet spot - cheap and stable video and runs 2 hi-res monitors)
• Save big money when you buy Vista (and office) with a new PC
  Vista Recommended Retail Prices (Australia)
  • Windows Vista Business - AU$565  (Upgrade - $379)
  • Windows Vista Ultimate - AU$751  (Upgrade - $495)

  Vista OEM Prices (purchased with a new PC)

  • Business OEM - AU$242 inc Tax
  • Ultimate OEM - AU$297 inc tax

My message to Microsoft

Windows Vista has been a lot of work to Microsoft and they should be proud of it. Its a good product. But to the consumer its mostly new Window dressing and lots of pain moving old reliable apps across. To business its almost a waste of time, yet with XP due to expire in a few months we are all forced to go there eventually.

It’s got to stop. This constant upgrading is killing us. After all the time and cost we went through (and it’s still going on) it’s just not worth it. Life is too short. Business can’t afford it. If this happens again Business and Home users will move to Unix or Mac. These platforms are not as rich as Windows but at least they have longer periods of stability and backward compatibility. If Microsoft continue to change driver specs and deprecate critical systems such as WinHelp you are just cutting your throughts.

The platform is done, now please leave it alone! Fix it and go concentrate on building some cool applications.

List of Vista Problems and Fixes 

 I’ve listed our home’s Vista problems here  (along with any fixes found).

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix - Excellent [5 Stars]
Last day of the school holidays and we took the kids and some of their friends to see HP.  Some of the HP films are just… “long”.  But this film was really well done and I’m glad we saw this one.  The scenes were just as I imagined them from the book.  Surprising. Easily 5 stars.

 
Shrek the Third - Funny [5 Stars]
Kids and I enjoyed this. Good family night out. Nice to hear the theater erupting with laughter.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - Fun [5 Stars]
A good fun film. 5 Stars. They got the mix right. I loved the fact they understand that films are suppose to be fun. Great escapist fun. We had a good time. Highly recommend the film. What more can I say. 

Transformers — Not my cup of tea [2 Stars]
Almost 2.5 hrs long but the time flew.. until the last 45 mins.  The film had everything going for it, good cast, good story, great FX. However the music score did not seem to match the mood of the movie. The ambience was wrong.  Stuff that should have been funny fell flat because of the mood of the background music.

The first half was 4 Stars. Then the last section.. An overwhelming, heavy, violent, relentless war scene. It went on and on.  Steven Spielberg is a master but right out of touch with his audience. My heart also sank as I observered several very young kids in the audience. Although rated M (Mature Audience) Spielberg must have expected that little kids would want to see a movie about transformers (a little kids toy).  Pitty. It could have been a 5 Star timeless classic with proper pre-release testing. But I don’t think I can recommend this one. It missed the mark. Life is too short, go see something fun, relaxing or inspiring.

Microsoft said it would extend the warranty on the Xbox 360 to three years after too many of the consoles succumbed to “general hardware failure,”… http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22027422-16123,00.html