Over the past 6 months I have been an proponent of the Mophie Juice Pack Air. For those that do not know, your iPhone slides into the Juice pack and when you are getting low on power you throw the switch on the bottom of the Juice Pack Air and your phone starts charging.

They are not cheap they run about $80.00 dollars. All was well up to last week when my Juice Pack Air that is less than 6 months old stopped taking a charge. It was good in the morning bad in the evening. I had not dropped the phone or had anything similar happen to it.

I use the Juice Pack Air on a daily basis as I am always killing the battery to my phone after 8-10 hours our usage. I was in Best Buy this weekend and grabbed a new charger and for a couple of days it worked as advertised.

Yesterday I started getting error messages on my iPhone that the device attached to it, which was the Mophie Juice Pack Air was not compatible and the phone refused to take a charge from the new Juice Pack Air.

My plan is to take the new unit back to Best Buy and exchange it. But honestly I have lost confidence in the brand. Doing a Google search I can tell that I am not alone and a lot of people are having the same issues I am.

The folks at Apple need to take a closer look at this companies quality control. In the mean time I am telling all my geeky friends, buyer beware to existing owners keep the sales receipt handy for return of your unit. Sadly I am left with a brick because I cannot find the original receipt for the first unit.

Are you willing to pay for the news. That is what Rupert Murdoch maybe betting on. Rupert Murdoch is the owner of a media empire which includes the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones. Lately he has been talking about removing his news empire from Google Search and putting them behind a pay wall

Clearly for this to work it would depend on if people are willing to pay for their news. I found an article on Technologizer that said that 45% of people surveyed were willing to pay for news. When I saw this article red flags immediately went up in my head, based on what I had previously heard and read. I wanted to find out more about this survey. The original article came from the New York Times, upon reading the Times’ article I found that the survey was done by the Boston Consulting Group.

I went to their Web site, where there was a fuller explanation of the survey. People are willing to pay for the news, but only under narrow and specific circumstances. This is the key paragraph that the New York Times and Tech chose to ignore.

“• Unique, such as local news (67 percent overall are interested; 72 percent of U.S. respondents) or specialized coverage (63 percent overall are interested; 73 percent of U.S. respondents)

• Timely, such as a continual news alert service (54 percent overall are interested; 61 percent of U.S. respondents)

• Conveniently accessible on a device of choice.”

Consumer, however are not willing to pay for news that is freely available all over the Internet. The consumers that are most willing to pay for their news are those that are already paying for newspaper. I suspect that this is an older and increasingly smaller audience. Even if consumer are willing to pay for their subscription, they are not willing to pay enough to make up for the lost of advertisement that newspapers have been dealing with. A pay wall might slow the decline but it will not stop it. The only way that newspapers can survive is to adapt to the new world, the old model is no longer viable and to try to save it is doom to fail

Never let your Audio recorder start doing a Virus Scan in the middle of the show. 15 minutes had to be re-recorded tonight which sucks.. You know me no editing but when the audio was blank I had to do it twice. Probably better the second time around anyway.

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Listener Links:
2012 Review Plus Spoiler
Samsung DualView is pretty crazy.
Congrats to Richard!
Travel alot? Try www.worldmate.com
Jay needs a job in Albuquerque Area (505) 750-3121 Listen to mini Resume on Show

Show Notes:
Cisco and Logitech Get serious about Video Conference!
Google Hires Don Dodge!
Some Online companies to get congressional spanking this week.
Who do your Believe NYT or Computer World?
Windows 7 Tricks and Tips on Explorer.
Paul Allen Lymphoma announcement!
Windows 7 Zero Day Threat!
Unfriend Word of the Year!
Twitter to tweak Suggested User List.
10 Black Friday Tips.
Apple Post printer driver updates.
SSL not so Secure?
100 Million Core Computers by 2018?
FreeCreditReport gets over 1000 domains in ruling.
MPAA/Sony reverse course on small Muni Wifi.
American Airlines fires considerate employee!
Shuttle to ISS.
Progress docks at ISS.
Water on the Moon!
Where goes the programmers goes the Money!
The Future of Super Computing!
Does AT&T have egg on their face?
Apple and Evil Patents!
Apple rumored deals on Black Friday.
iPhone Apps now reviewed by Computer.
Find dining that fits your diet.
What are the odds?
What is Twitter really for?
Startup Dont’s
Has your world changed?
Google Translation Services significantly approved.
Chrome Extensions Site Launch?
15 Chrome Extensions!
Apple Tablet yet a reality?
Windows Mobile dying off fast!
Psystar Guilty Guilty Guilty!
Psystar Crushed!
Viacomm Lawyer relates P2P Lawsuits to Terrorism.
Multi-Track recorder for iPhone.

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!

Today, Comcast is expected to close the deal on a 51% stake in NBC Universal. Comcast is the cable service provider in 25% of the homes in the United States. For NBC, the oldest broadcaster of record, this is the end of an era. Comcast, known primarily as a provider of the pipeline, will now be holder of one of the largest baskets of broadcast and cable channels ever to exist. NBC Universal includes such favorites as SciFi, Bravo, Oxygen, and USA, as well as the entire line of MSNBC/CNBC channels. NBC Universal also owns the Weather Channel and NBC Broadcast Television programming.

Until now, Comcast owned the Golf Channel and E! Entertainment Television. So grabbing onto the NBC Universal package slingshots them into a whole new category. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. NBC broadcast television has been falling in the ratings for several years, and is now considered 4th by popularity. Their cable offerings, however, fare much better, with much higher ratings. How many of us watch the Weather Channel every day (even if online)? This is big beans for Comcast.

What concerns me, to some extent, is when the pipe providers also become the content providers. In my mind, this is a potential conflict of interest, and may not always play out positively for the end user/watcher. Only time will tell on this one.

Word comes today that Apple has applied for a patent for an “enforcement routine” that will force viewers to see commercials on various devices. And when I say force, I truly mean force.

The patent application indicates that the forced-advertisement will freeze a device until you indicate that you’ve actually read/responded to the ad (through the use of clicking a box or answering a test question). This technology would work on any device with a screen, including televisions, computers, media devices, cell phones, etc. The ads can appear at any time while the device is being used.

What the patent application calls the “enforcement routine” involves administering periodic tests of the user, like displaying a pop-up box within the ad, requiring a response (a button that must be pressed within five seconds before disappearing) to confirm that the user is paying attention.

These tests then become progressively more aggressive and difficult to confirm if a user has failed a previous test. The response box can be made smaller and smaller, requiring more concentration from the user to find and press to confirm they are reading/responding to the advertisement. There may be a need to press various keyboard combinations, enter a date, or type in the name of the advertiser as commanded, to demonstrate that the user is paying attention.

Of course, Apple does not think this is nefarious in any way. They are saying that having this type of forced advertising would allow devices to be sold for lower prices or even be given for free, and that to avoid the advertising, simply paying a fee should free up your device from the forced advertising.

This whole thing feels like a 180 turn from Apple’s usual business practices, at least in my mind. It certainly doesn’t endear me to Apple products and services, that’s for sure. What Apple, and many other businesses, fail to accept and embrace is that the business model is changing. This type of George Orwellian behavior is not appreciated nor desired by users. I have seen plenty of intrusive “free” services that only frustrate me and keep me from using them in the first place (”free wifi” in the airport, anyone?).

If you want me to “see” advertising, then make it compelling. Make me want to watch it. But the minute you start forcing me to watch it, you can almost guarantee that I won’t be buying whatever that product is. Like an elephant, I have a very long memory, and I will not forget. That can’t bode well for any advertiser’s long-term future.

Well, a Federal judge ruled and Psystar lost their case. Apple has definitely shown the hand of God here. But the real question is: Will it be the end of it? Hopefully not.

On Friday, Judge William Alsup sided with Apple that Psystar has indeed violated the End User License Agreement (EULA). He ruled that installation of the Mac OS on non-Apple hardware is not allowable. Therefore, Psystar must discontinue their line of Mac clones. Finally, he ruled that Psystars’ counter claims are not arguable since Psystar altered the Mac software to run on other machines.

And now I will quote:

Today we celebrate a glorious anniversary of the information purification directives we have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!

Confused on where that is from? Well, it’s “Big Brother” from the 1984 Superbowl ad by Apple. It is followed by:

…You’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984…

That is true. 2009 will be like 1984. Little did George Orwell know, but he was writing about Apple 25 years later…

Just like everyone else, I agree with the ruling. Psystar had to alter the program to run on another machine, therefore they should have to pay. But just because that happened, doesn’t mean Hackintosh is going away. Just underground. Apple won the battle – not the War.

I still think that if Apple put out a OSXPC version, put a price on it and followed with “No support”, people would flock. The independent PC support person would then be asked upon to learn and understand so they can fix these problems. Apple wins by adding a new revenue stream and also because it’s creating new jobs. We get an unsupported system for $129, but it might lead to our next computer purchase being an Apple product.

As for Psystar, maybe they’ll appeal, but most likely Apple will take the company down. Welcome to the corporate world. R.I.P. Psystar.

Over the past couple of years I have had major challenges with the Boom Mic that I use for my Podcast. Up until last week, I used a Boom Mic from the O.C. White Company.

While the boom mic from O.C. White served it’s purpose when I hung my “Mouse” from Blue Microphones on it the Mic Boom had a heck of a time staying in place even though the Mic and accessories only weighed 3lbs. The O.C. White boom drove me simply crazy as it was always settling plus the boom mic bolt did not allow me to secure the mic in a specific position it was like I had to balance the mic to get it into the proper position .

My solution has been to switch to a Heil PL-2T, this Mic boom is night and day difference. It holds my Mic in an absolute fixed position and the boom does not settle over the course of a 90 minute show. Not only that they have hidden the tension springs inside the boom which gives it a cleaner look.

The true test is to see how it fairs a year from now we will see if it has the same stability even if it does loose some stability over the course of a couple of years I will be very happy to buy a new one based on what I have experienced so far.