Beginning with HTC Home 2.0 Build 125, the gadget is stable, attractive, and full-featured. Set your location, choose 12- or 24hour time format, Celsius or Fahrenheit. The time flip is nicely animated, and the weather icon change is animated, as well. However, I’ve yet to notice that, which is probably a good thing.

It requires .NET Framework 4.0. It works on Windows 7 and Vista, as well.

http://htchome.codeplex.com/

Download the Zip file. Unzip the files to a dedicated folder. Double-click the executable file (it is not installed into the built-in Gadgets app. Right-click the gadget and click Settings. Personalize the gadget as you wish.

Hint: To get the gadget to retain my settings and placement, I had to do the following:

1. Right-click the gadget, and click Settings.
2. Configure the settings and click OK.
3. Place the gadget to your desired spot on the Windows desktop
4. Right-click the gadget and select Exit.
5. Go to the HTC Home folder, and double-click the EXE file to start the gadget again.

Here’s an excellent blog post at Lifehacker to step you through it. It’s slightly more complicated than I expected. While the post shows how to turn the feature off, you can select other more restrictive or open options, as well.

The instructions miss pointing out where the “Applications and Websites” link is located. You can find it on the first Privacy Settings page in the lower-left area.

Lifehacker: Disable Facebook Places

I really like the Folders features in iOS 4. I also like the Wallpaper on the home screens, and can forgive Apple for not letting us have individual wallpapers for each screen (and for not being able to choose no wallpaper on the home screens).

Here’s what I hate about iOS 4: Multitasking. This feature is a joke when compared to Palm’s webOS or Google’s Android. Sure, you can run the updated-for-iOS 4 Pandora app in the background, and that’s nice.

However, other apps don’t do what you expect while they’re in the background. I decided to start opening a few Web pages in Mobile Safari (a core app) in separate pages. That worked, but then I switched away to another app and returned to Safari, all those pages had to reload before I could read them. That isn’t multitasking.

Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s multitasking by saying if software makers have to use a task manager, they “blew it.” Well, Steve, iOS 4 never closes its apps. Yep, never. When you want to switch to that other app in the background, be ready to swipe through a lot of screens, because every single app you’ve opened (ever!) is in that list. Even apps that don’t support Apple’s narrow-minded multitasking APIs are all lined up down there. That’s not convenience, it’s clutter. Meanwhile, the same iPhone paradigm exists: Go in and then back out of each app. The look and feel is the same. The convenience of multitasking and quickly switching among them is obscured by the same old iPhone GUI.

I like iOS 4, for the most part. But its multitasking is not “multitasking done right,” it’s a poorly-designed mess.

The Apple CEO’s mission is subtle and insidious. He has decided on your behalf that you don’t need Flash, and he’s doing all he can to move that agenda forward.

Regardless whether you champion Jobs or roll your eyes, I can’t help but wonder if he’s right.

Whenever I run across a Flash-enabled site on my iPhone, it’s more of an annoyance toward the site owner than Apple. My kids visit Flash-enabled game sites, like Disney and Fisher-Price. These sites would offer miserable experiences on an iPhone or even an iPad. So that is really a moot point. What I hate is when I visit a restaurant site on iPhone and there’s no alternative to get the information from the site other than using Flash. Shame on the site owner for that. The result: Lost business for them.

How dedicated is Adobe to Flash? Palm has had built-in support for Flash in webOS since very early 2010. The Flash plug-in for that platform is still MIA with no announcement for when it might be available. The Android plug-in is also not available. So what’s up with that?

Jobs claims that Flash is buggy. He might have exaggerated claims to support this, but in my unscientific experiences I must agree. Leave a Flash Web site open in a browser too long, and it will start to become unstable or perform poorly. You have to restart the browser to fix it. It might not be fatal, but it is buggy. Kinda like Java Runtime, but that’s a whole other rant.

I say we get rid of Flash over the next couple of years and embrace newer technologies, like H.264 video and HTML 5 feature for greater interactivity.

FoxNews.com reports that the owner of the Empire State Building in New York will not accommodate a request for it to be specially lit to honor Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday. The Catholic League has even asked twice. The management company responded by saying it “has a specific policy against any other lighting for religious figures or requests by religions and religious organizations.”

According to FoxNews, the Empire State Building has honored Pope John Paul II, Cardinal John O’Connor, and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m not saying anyone should be able to strong-arm a private landowner and business to do something it doesn’t wish to do, but this excuse is flimsy. There is precedent where other religious figures have been honored. Also worthy of note, the building was specially lit to honor the Chinese Communist Revolution. That revolution was bloody (like most wars), but has ominous effects of political oppression, enabling slave labor, and wholesale slaughter of dissident groups.

My criticism is that there doesn’t appear to be a patriotic or moral principle involved in considering requests to honor significant events or individuals.

This is unfortunate. Mother Teresa was a positive influence in the world.

To cure this, open REGEDIT and navigate to the following string:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\MenuDropAlignment=0

Double-click MenuDropAlignment, then change the number from 1 to 0.

Alternately, you may choose to delete the MenuDropAlignment entry.

Log off and back on or restart your computer for the change to take effect.

Source

President Barack Obama had strong word for BP, Transocean, and Halliburton for their finger-pointing-filled testimonies during recent Congressional hearings.

Recent polls show the Gulf environmental catastrophe has had no adverse effects on Obama’s public perception. Yet, he still has voiced strong, common-sense opinions on everything from corporate hubris to dangerous relationships between government regulators and oil companies, and he has shown continued support for the country’s future energy strategy that still includes expanding off-shore drilling.

That’s effective influence from a practical leader. It’s refreshing to see a president take a level-headed view of a horrible tragedy that is still unfolding.

To stop off-shore drilling would be an over-reaction. Drilling smarter is the way to go, and Obama advocates that. Obviously, BP and its partners had no disaster recovery plan, and now over 4 million gallons (and growing) of crude are affecting the life in the Gulf and economies of Gulf states. It’s inexcusable. Federal regulators should require these contingency plans and get assurances before granting permits to drill.

Relationships among big businesses and government regulators and leaders should be closely examined. Obama called them “cozy relationships,” and he’s right. And this coziness is having a terrible ecological impact right now.

An energy plan that reduces the dependence on foreign sources while being careful to be as environmentally friendly as possible should be a paramount priority for the US. Everything from windmill farms, nuclear sources, and oil drilling in the US should be integral parts of that overall strategy. We can do this safely and cleanly, like never before. It’s the lasting stigmas dating back decades that holds us back. And that’s shameful.

I’m glad to see Obama taking such a strong and politically-centered stance on the disaster and energy production. This is what our country needs.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs spoke briefly at the end of the press conference saying “this is an important set of patents that Apple can add to its already substantial portfolio, and we think that’s pretty cool. Thanks for coming today.” He smiled as he began to step away from the podium only to halt and return to the microphone. “Oh, and one more thing.”

The attendees collectively leaned forward anticipating a zinger announcement.

“Everyone in the US is now officially on notice,” Jobs said bluntly, “including everyone in this room. We will vigorously enforce our patents beginning June 1st. People shouldn’t be stealing our ideas. We’re not saying you can’t breathe, you just need to come up with another way to do it. Beginning next month, we expect all US organisms to respect our intellectual property or face substantial legal consequences.”

With that, Jobs took a deep breath and teasingly exhaled slowly as he looked from side to side at the shocked faces of those in the audience. He then retreated without taking any questions.

Molly Wood from CNET was interviewed for CBS Evening News shortly following the Apple press conference. “Katie! This whole thing shows how out of control the US Patent Office is regarding its willingness to grant frivolous patents for obvious, common sense concepts even when prior art has clearly been documented. Like slide-to-unlock in Predator. We’re so screwed. Thanks, US Patent Office!”

At that point, Wood stormed off the news set growling about her plans to use her last breath for the rant segment of her popular Buzz Report.

The Apple-patented slide-to-unlock feature was apparently first shown in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Predator when the alien antagonist used a swiping motion to initiate a countdown to detonate a bomb. Speculation has recently swirled that Jobs might be a descendant from that very alien race.

Um. Wow!

Don’t these people know that Martin Scorsese took a lot of heat for creating a movie in which Christ leads an average life? [begin spoiler]Scorsese even made it very clear it was all just a consideration Christ had while He died on the cross.[end spoiler]

This is an exercise in comedy that should be nixed. The occasional blasphemy on South Park is damning enough for my soul.

First, Palm has been in the gadget and smartphone business since the industry took off. It was one of the pioneers of portable information management (PIM) devices and subsequently smartphones. The Treo is arguably the breakthrough device for the modern smartphone industry. Regardless of recent performance, Palm was clearly a pioneer. As a result, its portfolio of intellectual property (eg, patents) is a valuable asset to HP now. This protects HP from patent lawsuits that can arise when devices are introduced with, say, new paradigms for navigating or computing.

Second, webOS is a powerful mobile operating system that has applicability across a great many devices. HP announced its intention to have Palm’s latest operating system power a new line of slate computing devices. Previously these were to run a version of Windows 7. With webOS’s multitasking and intuitive touch interface, these upcoming slate computers could pose a significant threat to Apple’s iPad.

There’s also speculation that HP could be planning an expanded smartphone line, and they probably will. With the Palm IP portfolio behind them, HP can confidently return to this market in a meaningful way. The mobile device industry is worth about $100 billion per year, which puts the $1.2 billion purchase price for ailing Palm into a much more positive perspective.

Personally, I’m eager to see webOS on a slate device.