So much for my timing. I hop onto the Crackberry train, and it appears that there’s a very high risk that the service really, really could get shut down, all because of a company that consists of a bunch of greedy lawyers with patents, and a stupid judge who doesn’t know what “rejected patent” means.

So, New Orleans now has free Wi-Fi service. And no, it’s not because the feds need it, or specifically for disaster recovery efforts. It’s been announced as “a move aimed at boosting the city’s stalled economy.”

So let’s get this straight. New Orleans can’t help people move back in and clean up their homes and businesses. They can’t afford pay half of their former city government employees. And they can’t even fully re-establish basic utilities like light and heat to all residents. But! They can afford to light up a WiFi network, so that you can connect via your electricity-less computer, while you drink bourbon in a cold, dark gin joint. Yeah, that makes sense. Who needs gas and electricity to keep the economy running when you have WiFi?

Yo go Ray! Oh, you sure do have your priorities straight, don’t ya? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m NEVER one to turn down free ‘net access. But I’d prefer the more… well, creature comforts, be established first, before I even consider whippin’ out the ol’ laptop.

Stupid, stupid me, for thinking that right-wing congressmen were above reproach!

CNN) — Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham said Monday he is resigning from Congress after pleading guilty to taking more than $2 million in bribes in a criminal conspiracy involving at least three defense contractors.

So, you camped out overnight in freezing winter weather at the store just prior to opening. You dashed through the doors, pushing and shoving, fighting tooth and nail, and paying an exhorbitant amount of cash to be the first to the get the Xbox 360. Was it worth it?

Well, some users are finding out that it certainly wasn’t. Early production models of the Xbox 360 are exhibiting a defect in which the power supply overheats, causing the device to freeze after approximately 20 minutes of gameplay. Microsoft insists the problem occurs in only “a small fraction” of units sold, but some web sites have a user base reporting a failure rate as high as 16%.

Some users have found a solution: suspend the power supply in mid air using ropes or string, to allow air to flow around it and cool the unit down. As it’s alleged Microsoft has deliberately kept the XBox 360 in short supply, replacements of defective units might not come for quite a while, making this (or perhaps a nice, loud Vornado) the only practical solution for now.

After the big Sony DRM rootkit thing hit like a ton of bricks, an enterprising “news source” published this article, which claimed in rather tongue-in-cheek tones that Sony was embedding DRM into their digital cameras, to prevent anyone from sharing their photos. The problem is, people actually believed the story to be true.

Are the believers gullible morons? I certainly don’t think so. After all, the DRM Nazis have taken more ludicrous measures in the past, such as threatening to sue college students for pointing out that keyboards have shift keys.

By the way: remember the Sharpie Fix? Well, it appears that the DRM rootkit can be defeated with masking tape. Oh no! Time to sue 3M!