In conjunction with the launch of its developer platform, Hi5 also announced that it has signed on to the OpenSocial Foundation as a “founding member.” The OpenSocial Foundation was announced last week by Google, Yahoo, and News Corp.’s MySpace.com as a way to ensure the independence and stability of the open-source standard.

“The Hi5 Platform is also the first OpenSocial-enabled platform to launch with numerous user distribution channels for developers’ apps,” a release from the company explained, “including notifications, invites, messages, friend updates and more.” On one hand, those are good viral channels. On the other hand, this could be the first indicator of just how spammy an OpenSocial app can get. We’ve experienced that already with Facebook’s applications.

Google plans to relinquish its trademark on the term “OpenSocial” and offer it entirely to the independent foundation.

More than 7,700 developers and development companies have already signed on to create apps for Hi5, which has 80 million registered users. (Note that the 80 million refers to total user accounts, not necessarily active ones.)

Hi5’s platform is compatible with the OpenSocial standard initiated by Google, which means that many applications created for Hi5 will need little or no modification for use on other social-networking sites that have signed on to OpenSocial.

One interesting part of the report also suggests that Apple plans to drop the Firewire 400 port and the DVI-I ports currently found on the MacBook Pro in favor of a Firewire 800 port and a mini-DVI port.

AppleInsider reports that new MacBooks and new MacBook Pros have been spotted by people-in-the-know, and that as expected the new systems will get aluminum-based exteriors similar to the ones found on the MacBook Air and iMac. This will give Apple some consistency across the
Mac notebook lineup entering the holiday shopping season; for years, the MacBook has had a distinct look separate from the MacBook Pro.

The MacBook redesign is just around the corner, and further proof has surfaced that it’s going to look a lot like its siblings.

(Credit:
Apple)

New MacBooks have been expected for months now as the MacBook design gets a little long in the tooth. The last time new details surfaced on the notebooks, October 14 was targeted as the introduction date.

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports that it’s unclear when a rumored service pack, SP3, will debut for XP, raising speculation that Microsoft is sending a pointed message about upgrade planning.

Windows Vista’s checkered history is now legend.

Outlook for Vista
Are you ready to move to Windows Vista?

Still, we know that all good Windows releases eventually come to an end: Windows XP is stable, widely supported, and ultimately doomed. New PCs with XP installed will begin to disappear this summer. Microsoft will stop selling XP completely next January (although the company will provide support for much longer).

Is that a bad thing? In my view, no, it’s not. Let’s face it: XP may work, but it’s not pretty. Cosmetics aside, when Vista works well–and in truth that’s more and more often for me–it works very well. I’ve been running Vista on three machines for well over a year. Compatibility issues are beginning to disappear, my wireless network connection no longer mysteriously vanishes, and other random glitches appear to have been fixed.

(Credit:
Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

We’re still waiting….

No wonder then, more than a year after Vista’s release, many consumers and business customers have steadfastly held onto Vista’s predecessor, the Windows XP operating system. Microsoft has followed with price cuts and promotions. This is not exactly the “wow” moment the company had in mind. News.com’s Ina Fried has chronicled Vista’s first year in earlier posts.

I’m there already
Yes, it’s finally time
I’m holding out as long as I can
Never

Instead of the evolutionary marvel that Microsoft long promised, Vista instead has become synonymous with development delays, shifting feature lists, and spotty driver support.

Still, maybe I’m setting the bar too low. Should we expect more from Vista? Are you ready to give up XP?

Microsoft is greasing the skids for Vista acceptance by offering free telephone support for Vista Service Pack 1 through March 2009. (The toll-free call-in number in the U.S. for Vista SP1 help is (866)-234-6020.)

Despite past “downgrade” offers from Dell and other PCs makers, and even a cottage industry of sorts around removing Vista from new PCs, most of us will likely be using Vista sometime in the near future.

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Adobe last week released Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) 1.0, a download and development platform for making Web applications behave more like desktop programs, including offline access. Google Gears, still in development, allows Web applications to store local data.

Microsoft does not currently have specific plans to bring offline capabilities to Silverlight, but it’s something it will eventually do, said John Case, general manager in Microsoft’s developer division.

The company developed Silverlight as an alternative to Adobe’s Flash Player, which is widely used for Web video and rich Internet application development.

There are a number of software projects that enable Web applications to run offline, including Adobe’s AIR, Google Gears, and the Mozilla Foundation’s Prism. What about Microsoft and its Silverlight browser plug-in?

Microsoft is trying to create a common development environment for Windows, Web applications, and its online Web services.

Until now, however, Microsoft executives have been quiet on the idea of bringing offline access to Silverlight, saying that its bigger priority is porting Silverlight to other platforms, including Linux and mobile devices.

“It’s something that we will want to do,” Case said in an interview on Monday. “Eventually, customers will expect us to do it.”

Silverlight is Microsoft’s cross-platform plug-in for running media-rich applications in different browsers, including Internet Explorer,
Firefox, and Apple’s
Safari.

Here’s how I see it happening: Google and Yahoo will form a deal by the end of this week or early next week. After that, Microsoft will come out and say that the deal is an extremely ridiculous move on the part of the Yahoo executives and just another example of the company’s managers not knowing what to do.

So why do I think Google is such an important part of the deal with Yahoo and Microsoft? It’s simple — Google is Microsoft’s arch rival and neither company wants anything to do with the other. And because Google doesn’t want to see the merger happen, it knows that this sweetheart deal with Yahoo could turn the tide.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo and Google are closer than ever to forming a deal that would see Yahoo increase its revenue by as much as $1 billion per year and throw a wrench into Microsoft’s plans post-acquisition.

Right now, Yahoo is dealing with a relatively hostile group of shareholders that would like to see the Microsoft deal get done. That said, they’re unhappy with the fact that Microsoft’s lower stock price has diluted the value of its offer from $31 per share to about $29 per share. Because of that, some shareholders that were firmly in Microsoft’s corner have been asking for more cash and Jerry Yang and company has been able to fend off any pressures so far because of it.

Upon realizing that its support is eroding and it has no real prospects to acquire Yahoo without a ridiculous sum of cash, Microsoft will back out and this whole saga will end.

Over the past few months, we’ve been inundated with constant stories about the future of Yahoo. Will it be gobbled up Microsoft? Will Yahoo get away? For quite a while, no one was quite sure. But after seeing what’s going on with Google and the deal it may soon strike with Yahoo, the writing could be on the wall.

“This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo,” Microsoft said. “We will assess closely all of our options. Our proposal remains the only alternative put forward that offers Yahoo! shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice.”

Aside from the deal with Google, Yahoo is desperately trying to seek suitors and so far, AOL has shown the most interest. And although it won’t be acquired outright, Yahoo would allow Time Warner to take a 20 percent stake in it and totally change the dynamics of the entire industry.

So far, no deal has been reached with Time Warner, but let’s not forget that a deal with Google could make it easier. After finding $1 billion in a deal with Google, Yahoo suddenly becomes a far more attractive target for Time Warner and many others that wouldn’t mind working alongside Google. With that, Yahoo can finally acquire some leverage and use Microsoft against itself to get out of its stranglehold.

Now back to your regularly scheduled soap opera.

Last week, Yahoo announced that it had formed a temporary deal with Google that involved the company outsourcing its search ads to Google. At that time, the online firm said that it would give it a two-week trial period to see how it worked and make a decision after that time.

But let’s also not forget that Microsoft doesn’t want to see the Google deal happen either. Last week, the company said that it was extremely displeased by the development and thought it would be bad for all parties involved.

That said, Microsoft is unwilling to increase its cash offer right now and believes (rightfully so) that it shouldn’t bid against itself. But what Microsoft may have failed to realize is that Yahoo is doing all it can to find other ways for Microsoft to bid against itself.

But after foregoing that two-week stipulation and deciding instead to try to form a deal now, Yahoo seems anxious and more willing than ever to sell itself to any other company but Microsoft.

And if you ask me, when the deal is reached, Microsoft will be forced to back off.

After that, companies that are more willing to work with Google (like Time Warner) will get serious in their talks with Yahoo management, which suddenly has a new lease on life, and will offer Yahoo deals that will make Microsoft sweat.

After announcing to shareholders on April 22nd when it’s forced to reveal its earnings that the Google deal has been struck and should bring in an additional $1 billion per year, some of those leaning on the fence that are already upset with the diluted Microsoft acquisition price will give Yang and shareholders a reprieve and wait to see what happens.

Let’s face it — Microsoft is not naive to what’s really going on with the Google deal and it understands the ramifications if such a deal is struck. Not only would it be forced to call in reinforcements to get some of the fence-sitting shareholders back on its side, it would need to figure out exactly what it can do after the Google deal is made.

And while the Journal is reporting that the Yahoo-Google deal may have a stipulation in it that says it can be dissolved if Microsoft acquires the company, I’m not so quick to believe that any deal between the company won’t put the hooks in Microsoft.

What about you? Any equally treacly love stories about your first PC? Do share.

I missed out on the hobbyist fad of the late 1970s and early ’80s. But once I got a job and could scrape together enough money, I was desperate to learn what all the fuss was about. I still remember the day, 20 years ago today, when I marched into the local ComputerLand, plunked down $1,200, and walked out with an IBM PCjr. What a machine: 512K of RAM, a 5 1/4-inch internal floppy drive with 360K of storage and an 8088 Intel chip that ran at 4.77Mhz. It didn’t matter that the machine caused more trouble than it was worth–IBM pulled the plug a year later–I really became fond of that miserable hunk of plastic.

I wouldn’t push the analogy too hard, but your first computer’s a lot like your first love in one respect: years later, the memory does not fade with the passing of the seasons.

IBM PCjr: They don’t make ‘em like that any more.

Everyone remembers their first computer. Well mine was a PCjr and I don’t care how history remembers it. The piece of junk stole my heart.

Maybe it was because the Junior caused me so much grief. I wound up screwing around with the machine day after day, taking pieces apart and then making a hash of putting them back together the right way. In the process, I received the equivalent of a crash course in personal computing. Even if the real pioneering work had taken place several years earlier, you still felt present at the creation. The computer industry was still in an early state of formation and chaos was everywhere. Booting up the PCjr the first time and watching it cough and whirr until it came alive–man, that was something to behold.

• The big Storm finally made landfall, and CNET’s Bonnie Cha braved the elements to file a detailed report (see video above).

• HDTV prices: how low can they go?

(Credit:
Antec)

Antec's open-air case lets you breathe easy.

Too busy getting stock-market-induced whiplash this week to stay up on Crave? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a look back at some of the truly interesting, strange, and wonderfully silly stories we Craved.

See anything we missed? Got a gadget tip we should know about? Drop us a line at crave dot cnet dot com. And have a great weekend!

• Renting Blu-ray on Netflix? It’ll cost you.

• Don’t forget: we’ll be on hand to cover every word of Apple’s October 14 event–even if the invite gave us a pretty clear idea of what Jobs and Co. will be talking about.

• Antec’s open-air PC case let the sun shine in.

• Asus’ Eee PC went premium and got touchy.

Senator Carper argued that the U.S. needs a nuclear industry revival to replace aging fleets and to meet growing electricity demand. He called the problem of nuclear waste handling “the elephant in the room.”

MIT’s updated nuclear power report said that for nuclear power to be considered a viable method of curbing carbon emissions, there needs to be construction done at massive scale in coming decades–on the order of one terawatt worth of capacity, according to Moniz, or about 1,000 new large power plants.

Today’s dry cask storage method, where spent fuel is put in underground bunkers, can work for decades, the panelists said. “Future technologies may change that picture. We don’t know today what the best fuel cycle for nuclear fuels will be,” Bunn said.

The study also found that the cost of building new nuclear power plants has gone up faster than the cost of building new coal or natural gas plants.

Even venture capitalists and start-ups are looking to invest in different forms of nuclear power. Colorado-based Hyperion Power is developing relatively small-scale nuclear reactors, which it hopes to sell for $25 million or $30 million a piece. By contrast, construction of a new large-scale nuclear plant can be more than $10 billion.

All panelists agreed that establishing consistent policies are required for the growth of the nuclear energy industry. “Political stability is very, very important to solve the nuclear waste problem,” said Kadak.

(Credit:
Martin LaMonica/CNET)

Growing interest

Nuclear power plants produce almost 20 percent of the electricity in the U.S. and are suitable for “baseload power,” or supplying electricity reliably at peak times. But despite applications to build 26 new plants, no new nuclear plants have been built in the U.S. for decades.

Advocates of nuclear often point out that other countries, such as France and Japan, are reprocessing spent fuel from nuclear reactors, which allows them to essentially draw more energy from the original uranium.

“Overall I would argue that those who are in favor of a bright future for nuclear power should be against near-term reprocessing of nuclear fuel,” he said.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–Advocates say a nuclear power “renaissance” can solve global energy problems, but construction of new reactors in the U.S. faces a number of barriers, not the least of which is nuclear waste.

The four panelists–executive director of the upcoming MIT Nuclear Fuels Cycle study Charles Forsberg, MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering Andrew Kadak, Harvard University associate professor and proliferation expert Matthew Bunn, and MIT Energy Initiative director Ernest Moniz–all favored more nuclear power.

Delaware Senator Thomas Carper, who actively supports nuclear power, hosted a panel of experts on Monday to discuss nuclear waste at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT on Monday also updated its 2003 study on how nuclear power can play a role in reducing carbon emissions (click for PDF).

They also agreed that the U.S. should fund more research and development, particularly around long-term solutions to radioactive waste. They said that current methods give the U.S. time to develop new storage technologies.

The panelists agreed that there should be some sort of underground storage for nuclear wastes, such as Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which the Obama administration recently decided to stop funding. At the very least, that decision has opened up a “national discussion” on how to handle nuclear wastes, said Forsberg.

Fuel or waste? MIT's nuclear waste panel from left: Charles Forsberg, Matthew Bunn, Ernest Moniz, Andrew Kadak, and on right, senator Thomas Carper.

“Long-term managed storage, by which I mean century timescale…should be viewed as an integral part of a waste management system,” he said.

In the meantime, the industry should design nuclear power systems that address spent fuel, said Moniz, who characterized today’s strategy as “kicking the can down the road.”

Interest in nuclear power has grown in the past few years, in part because nuclear reactors don’t produce carbon emissions.

Moniz also said that new government policies for managing existing spent fuel are needed to prevent proliferation. “Today we have about 270 tons of separated plutonium essentially in storage in multiple countries. That’s about 30,000 significant quantities. Not a pretty picture,” he said.

But rather than pursue existing fuel reprocessing technologies, Bunn, Moniz, and Kadak said that the U.S. should take time now to develop different “advanced fuel cycle” technologies. The existing process is expensive and poses greater nuclear proliferation risks, said Bunn.

First, while Blue Coat grew up in Web caching, Packeteer’s strength has always been deep packet and protocol expertise. The two technologies complement each other quite well, covering the gamut from application to file access acceleration.

The other thing Blue Coat gets is scale; competing with Riverbed and Cisco Systems demands deep pockets and feet on the street. Blue Coat gets bigger instantly. All in all, it’s good for Blue Coat, bad for second-tier WAN optimization folks.

On another note, I want to issue a mea culpa to the folks who run the RSA Security Conference. In a blog last week, I relayed the multitude of complaints I heard from exhibitors about the prices they had to pay for things like cases of water, chairs, and tables. My blog may have inferred that the RSA Conference organizers were responsible for this highway robbery, but that is not the case. Actually, RSA only passes on the costs demanded by the Moscone Center, so the extortion lies with the venue and not the show itself. I apologize to the RSA Conference management team for the confusion.

Got some stuff sitting in your pantry that’s been there a little too long? The expiration date is just around the corner, and you want to cook something new that doesn’t require going to the store? Lucky for you there’s SuperCook, a service that lets you figure out things to eat based on what you’ve got. Unlike some other services that do this, SuperCook separates the wheat from the chaff (poor choice of phrases I know) by showing you the recipes you can make with what’s in your kitchen, and those that require a few extra items to match up with their original recipe.

I like this service already, but it’s in a very crowded space. Other sites like Allrecipes, RecipeMatcher, Google Base (recipe version), and Snacksby have been around a little longer and offer similar functionality that most folks will be happy with. I still prefer SuperCook’s virtual kitchen idea and ingredient recommendations, which I think make it more useful than most.

To add items to your virtual kitchen, you can simply start typing names in. SuperCook’s got a suggest-as-you-type feature that makes it pretty simple to add a lot of items quickly like you would with tags on Flickr. Once they’ve been added they stay there until you remove them, meaning you can come back to the site later on and make a few adjustments to get updated recipes. This is especially helpful with spices, as a few added or missing ones can change hundreds of recipes at a time. Users who sign up can get their kitchens permanently saved, along with the option to bookmark recipes they like.

Let SuperCook know what's in your kitchen, and it'll do the rest.

In addition to its recipe recommendation by ingredient service, SuperCook gives you Amazon.com-like recommendations for other ingredients you should pick up based on what you’ve got laying about. What’s interesting here is that these recommended ingredients change based on what type of dish you’re working on, as the service lets you cycle between entrees, starters, and deserts. It’s also a super-simple way to stock up your virtual kitchen without having to type what’s there.