Today marks the first day Windows 7 goes on sale. After 2 years of my love hate relationship with Windows Vista; a product I consider terrible, this is indeed a welcoming news.  Just to show how bad Windows Vista is, Apple Macintosh market share nearly doubled after the Windows Vista release.  And no, I am not switching to Apple.

I hope Windows will gain back its market share with the new Windows 7; which received glowing report from analysts and users alike.  My brother tried the Release Candidate version for a few months and was extremely pleased with the performance and the overall improvement over the Windows Vista and XP.

At this point, I am still contemplating on whether to upgrade or to just buy a new notebook. I am hoping for the latter but it will happen one way or another.

In the mean time, Microsoft has released a few videos promoting Windows 7 and touted the product as users’ ideas; pretty clever commercial if they want to connect with average Joe computer user. I like Steven’s HomeGroup ad the best.

Jack’s Snap

Steven’s HomeGroup

Collaboration

This is probably one of the best viral video I’ve seen in a long time. There is a twist in this story however. Just a little background on the video. This Danish woman named Karen posted a video of herself and her baby August on youtube. She made a plea to her supposedly one-night-stand whom she met last year and apparently had sex with, to come forward because she has his baby and didn’t know anything about him (where he is from or even his name.) She even posted her email and her web address.   The video was posted 4 days ago and has received over 1 million views. (Note: The original video has been removed by the user.)

Watch the video:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Now the twist, as reported by NineMsn, is this … Karen is not even her real name. And the baby on the video is also NOT her baby. Karen’s real name is Ditte Arnth Jorgensen, as reported by Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

So what is really going on? Apparently, this video is created by Denmark Tourism Authority. I am not sure what “Visit Denmark” message they are trying to send to prospective tourists. “Come visit Denmark. Our women will sleep with you”? or “Come to Denmark. Don’t forget to bring condom.”? I don’t know. I am sure there are Pigs (read: Alpha Male) already making reservation to visit Denmark this year.

As messed up as it is, I really think it’s a brilliant viral video. 1 million hit in 4 days. Amazing.

I have to admit I am a Frequent Flyer miles wh**re; especially when they are free. Last year, I wrote how you can earn Frequent Flyer miles for free on numerous Airlines but none are easier than these free 400 Northwest Airlines WorldPerks miles you can earn in 10 minutes.

Northwest Airlines offers online courses through WorldPerks University where you learn about the WorldPerks program. 

The courses are as follow:

• WP101 – Introduction to WorldPerks
• WP102 – My WorldPerks Number
• WP200 – A Global Prespective – SkyTeam
• WP201 – WorldPerks Mileage Partner

Each course has about 3 slides of information and at the end of the course you will have to answer 3 easy questions. Don’t worry about getting the answer wrong.  You will get a second chance at it. Once you complete the short courses and quizzes, you will be able to earn 100 WorldPerks miles for each course.

I took the courses yesterday and the 400 miles were credited within 24 hours.  Hurry up and earn the FREE miles before WorldPerks program integrates into Delta Airlines SkyMiles at the end of the year.

Happy Earth Day 2009.

We celebrated the Earth Hour last month. Everybody turned off their light for one hour and it’s all fine and dandy. But how many of us actually follow up on energy-conservation habit? It’s easy to get caught up in the celebration without actually making permanent changes. Everyone just want to be part of the good cause which is great but good cause does not have to stop once the celebration is over.

Yes, I realize Earth Day is not only about the energy. It is about the environment and what we can do to preserve it. We as the inhabitants of this planet, have the solemn duty and responsibility to care for it so we can leave it in relative good health to our next generation and the generation after that.

Anyway, the 3 major Search Engine came up with unique logos to celebrate Earth Day 2009. I love the one made by Yahoo (it’s an animation so refresh the screen if you miss it.)

Yahoo

Google

Google Earth Day Logo

MSN

MSN Earth Day Logo

It’s been 20 years since that fateful day at Hillbsorough but the memory of the 96 people who lost their lives on that hollow ground live on.  It is the worst sporting disaster in UK history.  I remember that day vividly as a 13-year-old. I can’t remember whether I watched it live or on the news.  I didn’t understand then the magnitude of the catastrophe.  As I grow older, I did a lot of read-up on the issue and I was able to understand how a name of a football stadium becomes synonymous with a tragedy.  This tragedy led to an inquiry by Lord Taylor, who on his report recommended the all-seater stadium that you enjoy today.

I had a chance to visit Anfield 4 years ago. During the visit, I made my way to the Hillsborough Memorial at the Shankly Gates to pay my tribute and respect.

Hillsborough Memorial

You can see the video rendition of how the tragedy unfolded on the BBC website.

What happened to the family of those who died at Hillsborough in the aftermath is nothing short of injustice. First they have to endure the pain of  the accusation by the S*n tabloid who accused Liverpool fans of pickpocketing and urinating on the victims.  The editor of the tabloid became public enemy #1 in Liverpool. The tabloid circulation dropped from 200,000 to 12,000 a day; which in my opinion is 12,000 too many.

And second, no one was ever held accountable for the disaster.  Families of those who died with the help of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign is still searching for justice. We will not stop until we find the truth on what happened on that day on April 15, 1989 3.06 pm.

On the 20th anniversary today, I want to pay my respect to my brothers and sisters who died that day. You will never be forgotten and we will keep pursuing the justice in search of the truth.

Justice for the ‘96.

You’ll Never Walk Alone.