Microsoft reveals "Microsoft Azure"

Windows Azure is part of a set of new and existing technologies behind the Azure Services Platform, a development and execution platform that runs end-user and corporate software on Microsoft's own servers, accessible over the web. It joins Google's App Engine and Amazon's EC2 in an increasingly competitive market.

[Via ZDnet]

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Although,  There isn't much more they have said I am quite curious how they will interegrate this into the cloud computing.  According to Microsoft, it won't run on the company server but  Microsoft Datacenter.  Now this I can see is a big security problem.   Because most companies use what they call an Intranet and not the internet.  So that leaves questions on if companies are going to use this system or not.   Are you ready to let your information float somewhere over the inernet tht is SENSITIVE and CONFIDENTIAL?   These are the questions that Microsoft will have to Answer, before any company will use this on there systems.

Some G1 Reviews and how they compare!!

I'm searched the internet for the most relevent videos and wanted to tell people about them so here they are:

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Video: Daily Debrief: G1 soon to hit stores

I found some other sources and wanted to talk about them!!

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The Daily Wireless also has a review on it on there site. I also found The Boy Genius talks about there review also. They all seem to look favorable to the G1. Engadget also talk about it looking at the expectations of the G1. So far everyone seems to love the G1. All in All, I think the Iphone is in for a rude awakening. There Seems to be a Good Video on what the G1 Can do so I wanted to also add this to my list of Information.  This is Coming from Wall Street Journal:

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This all seems to be very interesting and I can't wait to get one in my hands

Google introduces the Androids G1 today!

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With the recent announcement of Apples earnings. So now that Google released this, is Apple going to be able to keep up the steam with the Iphone? Which phone are you going to buy the Iphone or the Android G1? So far T-mobile has did pre-orders on the phone now to see what the earnings are for this little adventure? Is it enough?

Go check it out and let me know what you think.

What's with Google trends?

Having been going to the Google Trends and keeping watching.  I am starting to wonder something?  Take a look at this and you tell me?

[ad]Can you see how someone might use this to create a Goog-411 and use it to promote there website? It is all about the hits and getting what publishers like to say the eyes on a website. Now is that going to confuse people or make people not want to come to a site.  So how would people abuse this?

Very Simple, they'd watch what is trending and post accordingly.  Now you as a reader would click on the website expecting to see what you want to see but instead it would popup with advertisements and maybe malware?  Check these links to better understand it:

• Skype isn't always safe!


• Some Important programs to prevent yourself from having viruses and Malware!!

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Now even though these are just a few.  You can see how someone might want to abuse it and get there site up on Google trends and be able to infect several to even millions of computers before Google sees that or stops.  You could in theory take over a website high in Google rankings and do exactly that.

Then I have to ask myself, why would hackers want to do it in the first? One they'd be able to direct people to sites that they could use to phish your information, or maybe make money by you going to these sites. It is all about money, I don't say that lightly, but it seems to always be true.

So what is Google doing to prevent this? is it right to use Google for your advantage? Do we need it for anything other than to see what people are looking at? Is that a form of them tracking your every click.

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Are you comfortable with them keeping the list of what people searched for last year? if you don't believe me, go check it out yourself. These are important questions to answer and should be explored.

Are you asking to be scammed?

As we go further into the economic death, we are faced with the most undesirable aspect of the human culture.  That is to say, scammers are going to use the chance to find people to scam.  I don't say this lightly because scammers have become more cunning and dubious through the years.  They are actually using the internet as well as most companies.  They are going to sites like Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, and other hiring sites to get people to apply for jobs.

<<See Previous Post -- Nationwide Marketing Scam

Having said that, I recently had a problem with being tried to be scammed.  I applied to a job posted on Careerbuilder and that is how they got a hold of my home address.  I did not think about the security problems associated with applying for jobs on line, until recently.

As you can see that is how they got a hold of my information and have made myself vulnerable to scams and also, other potential problems.  I am talking about Theft ID and also spam.  Although spam is to be expected with anything we do online.  I've come to the conclusion that we will always have to deal with spam.   I wanted to talk about how to be careful when you apply for online jobs and  put your information out on the internet.  I've started taking some steps to prevent this from happening again.

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• No Longer am I going to apply for any more private companies -- if I can't see who they are then they have something to hide.
  


• To prevent spam -- I am going to make an email address just for my resume.  That way I don't have to worry about spam on my main account.


• If it's too good to be true, it is probably not --  I am going to start using that philosophy when I'm about to apply for a job.  See picture above, advertising way to much money for a Customer Service rep.


• Don't ever put your Social on your Resume --  That is the most crucial part, if you want your identity stolen that is one sure way to get it stolen.  Even though that should be painfully obvious it is sometimes overlooked.
  

I am sure there are more but that is the basic idea of the whole thing.  I will probably come up with even more ideas later on but this was one thing that I have been thinking about all day.    I also think we have to starting asking the questions before the seriousness of the scammers come to bear.   They will never go away but until we get serious, they will always be there to taunt us and laugh us.   I am not sure how to do it,  Do you?   Are we  just supposed to sit here and take it or do we fight back and how?   These are importantquestions  for anyone to consider when you are faced with the possiblity of fraud or being scammed?  How do we deal with it in the future? Should scammers be punished serverely or moderately?

Scam ALERT: NATIONWIDE MARKETING!!

*Update* Seems to be that they've went and changed to another name.  They are now using  Excel Marketing, and I plan on keeping people updated.   Read the comments to find out about what people have said!!!

Hi all,

[ad] Just got this nice little letter from Nationwide Marketing.  This was sent snail mail, or Postal mail.   I came home today to find I got mail from 30 Centurian Drive/Markham, ON L3R 8B9 Canada.   I opened it up and find a check from Nationwide Marketing.   it's the old routine, they want you to cash the check send them $3,500 and you keep the rest.  The fake check that I know is faked, I call the bank in question.   It says you have to do a 2 hour evaluation training and get paid training for 200$ per Hour.   The fake check was for $3,990.00 and $3,500 was supposed to be sent through a Wal-mart Money Gram.   The so called position was Customer Service Evaluator (Rep ID#: KB0C0608).     I am supposed to call 1-905-598-1519 I received this assignment to validate the enclosed payment.Thank goodness I did a little searching and found out this was a scam.

A little more information about this so called fake check is:

Nationwide Marketing

PO BOX 91

Minneapolis, MN 55440

Keybank of UTAH in Price, UT

Check Date 10/06/2008 Vendor ID 6280748  31-0300/1243

Routing number is : 124303007   Bank: KEY BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Peter Goldman Is the So called Co-ordinator.

Along with the letter and check there was a Customer Satisfaction Evaluation Tool (CSET), I'm assuming this is a way for them to get the important information of the money gram.   We are supposed to fax that after the completion of the assignment.

I did posted this to get the word about this scam.  I encourage all of you leave comments about this and warn people of all the variety of this scam.  Thank goodness I did research or I could of been a victim too, thanks Google!!!

There was another form of this starting up and I wanted to let people know:

Well, guess what . . . I just got a "Customer Service Evaluator" letter, check and survey sheet in my mail! The post mark is from Canada, and the check is from The State Bank of Faribault, Minnesota and the survey company letterhead says that they are located in New York. The phone number I am supposed to call is 1-416-831-1673 to let them know that I have gotten the check. Then I keep $100 and wire the rest back using Money Gram.

I did a google search on the name of the company, and they have a scam alert on their site telling people that the letters that they are getting in the mail are NOT from them.

http://www.surveyclub.com/e/ScamAlert.aspx
They should really check WHO they are sending these letters and checks to before they drop them in the mail!

[From Shawn Mosch]

This came from the scam victims site and wanted to inform people of this scam too!

[gsom-optin]

Google Ups the Anti!!

As part of our effort to protect the accounts of AdSense publishers, we have mailed a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to the payment address entered in your account. This PIN must be entered on the PIN Information page before any payments can be issued to you. In the meantime, your account remains active, and you may continue to show ads and accrue earnings.

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Well that came unexpectedly, Google actually is trying to protect our accounts now from getting phished and or/taken over by some malicious person. This is called two factor verification**, Something you know and something you have.  You can also get verify through your Cell Phone.  Here is what they said in my Email:

Hi,

In an effort to protect the accounts of Google AdSense publishers,
we've starting using automated telephone number verification to
ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. As a result,
you should see a Required Action on your Payment History Page to
'Please verify your phone number' after you log in to your account.
To initiate this process, lick the 'Please verify your phone number'
link and follow the instructions.

Keep in mind that you have 6 months to enter the verification code.
If you have not entered your verification code within 4 months, we'll
start displaying Public Service Ads (PSAs) on your web pages. If you
have not entered your verification code within 6 months, your account
will be disabled and any unpaid earnings will be refunded to the
appropriate advertisers. You can learn more about our phone number
verification process at
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=32055.

For additional questions about getting paid, please visit
http://www.google.com/adsense/payments.
If you prefer a video presentation of this information, we encourage you to watch our Payment
demo (currently available in English only), located at http://www.google.com/adsensedemo4 .

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

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So here's my take, you don't have to verify both of them just one or the other. It is going to be rather difficult that people get paid. I don't think this will be a big problem for most people, but I am sure some are going to get annoyed having to enter their* pin every time they want to get paid.  So what do you think?  Is this a good upgrade or a bad upgrade you decide and leave your comments.  I want to hear them.

(*) Thanks to the Diggers to showing me I had a mistake.

(**)Someone ask why I capitalise the two in so I changed it!

(The Google Letter) That text is from my email no changes have been made except line breaks, so if there is an error it comes from Google.

Living the Life of a Blogger 101

Having been blogging for the last few months and years. I've learned so much from blogger the platform. I thought I would talk about that in this post. To give those who want to use Googles Blogger platform to there fullest. It is inconsequential to the grand scheme of blogging. It is not enough to just blog it has to be some kind of meaning in it. You have to think of how best can I help people out. It is legal to use fair use. That is why congress has put it into congress.

Fair Use comes from the idea of using something that is 'Copyrighted' and use some portion of it to talk about or as a demonstration. Most people don't understand that, you can use anything on the web as long as you don't publish there material fully. I like to us hulu for example. I've embedded there videos on my site, and talked about Hulu from time. This last few weeks they had clues out on there site. I started trying to solve the clues they Published to better help figuring out there clues. Although they might consider there promotion as being copyrighted. I used there clues to publish what I considered was fair use. They couldn't do much other than smile that some one started blogging about there clues weekly because once they published there clues. I had the right to try to figure the clues out. I actually loved doing it.

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So why do we blog if we can have it protected?

In truthfulness, anything I publish will inevitable be published somewhere else on some one elses blog. Now they have the right to publish small clips of my stuff or even to link to my site. That comes from understanding my community and relationship with others. I have to let them do what they want with my blog post to an extent because I can't make the readers mad by sending out the old fashioned "Cease and Desist" orders. That would make my readers mad. I know how important it is to make my readers becoming my FAN.

How do you make your readers a Fan?

I identify with my readers because I know how I once was a reader myself. I have certain blogs that I like to read from time to time. I've got my blogs I like to read and comment on and I hope you do too. It's something that comes from years of reading and having a passion for telling people my point. I know people are uncomfortable making comments on blogs. They think the writer will not see or read it. Some also think the owner of the blog will delete the comment. That comes with understanding that we have to prune the comments because sometimes we have those annoying spam comments and others that will try to start a flame comment war. Those aren't needed in blogs we either like it or make a comment how the writer could of made it better. I am constantly thinking about how I can make my published work better and having more content. This is how I do it, I think about what I like to talk about and I make it more real. I then make it more reader friendly so that, I get the readers involved and let them choice what they want to read. People are always going to be picky they will always want a choice that is always going to happen.

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How do we get readers involved in a blog?

Little things can get readers to become involved in a blog. I remember a time on how I talked a little about Hulu the first time. I got a comment from the creator of Hulu to leave a comment. That was Awesome and Softened me to see just how many people read my blog and comment about my blog. I've learned during a regular blogging session, I need to keep commenting on the blogs because it makes people want to get involved in my blog and will greatly increase my blog community.

Can I start my own blog?

You can start a free blog just as I did. You would only need to sign up to Blogger and start blogging. Giving people the ability to start blogging is essential to making a difference in my writing ability because of the possible comments people will make on my blog. That is what I want to see more of is comments because people will always want to read the comments on a blog. Just like TechCrunch people love to go to that site to read or hear comments. I've done it, and I am sure others do to. That is a community and I like that type of community.

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Filling the internet need 1/3

“See the need, Fill the Need” -- Robots Movie (2005)

Having seen the movie, I figured I'd offer some insights into how to create demand for your site. Yes it is something that comes with knowing your client or I should call them web users. If it wasn't for these people, you wouldn't have a reason to blog. I don't say that lightly, you would still have a desire to blog but that in itself wouldn't get your where you are today.

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Where are you today?

Are you not getting the desired Google hits or even yahoo search hits. I've found that having them look at my site it is the matter of what the current web user is looking for. Most of the time on my website, they come here to find out how to and Hulu information. I am not a big blog, I've got my readers who come to my site regularly and those who are what I like to call a hit and miss. They are the ones that come to my site and then leave not doing anything but looking for a particular information or a how to. They don't care what your blog is about, they want to get in and fix there problem and will probably not remember anything about your site. This is to be expected. Most people use Google religiously and not sites.

What do you mean people use Google more often?

I've seen so many people use Google to get to my site. They put in tech-linkblog, techlinkblog, tech link blog, and so on. I have so many people do that sometimes, I wonder if I should come up with an easier name. Is having an easier name to remember much better or do they use Google? Using Google isn't bad, it's easiest to do because when you start up your Firefox Browser. It automatically start up with:

This is the common start up page for Mozilla Firefox.  So you can see how easy it is to use google when you need to find something really quickly.

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How do I serve the other blogs?

I'm am betting you are wondering why you want to support other blogs? It's something that comes with understanding the web users. It comes with the territory. We know that most web users want content and have links to other web sites just to give people the chance to find some good content. I am not going to say you need to create the best content but having content is implied to having the best possible content for people to find your blog.

This is going to be a 3 part blog discussing this very topic and my thoughts on this.   Keep watching for the next 2 parts of this to come in the next two days.

How to get Hulu to add content!

Why do we want to have campaigns?  Easy in order for us to have what we want from hulu we have to get there attention.   It might work and it might not but getting the attention of certain companies is the hardest part of all.  Most of the time the higher rated television companies don't want to have anything to do with streaming.  They feel it is taking away there core audience.

Is Hulu making it easier for us to watch what we want?

That would be a definite "Yes"  So what do we want Hulu to do?  Easy to put more television shows that we want to watch.  For example here are a few shows and movies that I would like to see come to HULU:

1. Stargate Atlantis (Sci-fi Channel)


2. Mythbusters (Discovery Channel)
   


3. This Old House (PBS)
   


4. Star Trek : TOS to Voyager


5. The Matrix (all three movies)


6. Touched by An Angel


7. KyleXY (You can view it on AbcFamily.com)


8. 7th Heaven
   

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You're probably asking how one person can get any of the shows or movies on Hulu?  One person probably couldn't, but quite a few could.    How You might ask?

Here are Five steps to make it more possible to get what you want on HULU:

Step One . . . . Find people who are also looking to get the shows you want Hulu by blogging. Also by making a comment on the Hulu Blog.  The more people who talk about it and ask for it. The more chance the people who have the ability to do something about it will do something about it.


(*)Step Two . . . . Find an editor that you like on the Hulu Blog that has the same interests that you do and email them asking for information about that show.  You tell them you would like a tv program on HULU.


(*)Step Three . . . Do an Internet Movie Database search and find out who owns the rights for this.  Try to find someway to contact them and tell them you would like that show on HULU, explain why and how it could help them!!


(*)Step Four. . . . Blog about it or email your friends telling them how to contact that same company to be able to view that TV show on HULU for free.  Let them know the more who call the better chance it will eventually get on HULU!

(*)Step Five . . . . Do a Google search with the words "Hulu [Television show or move]".  See if you can find other blogs that feel this way and make a comment to them about your blog.  The more that know about your blog and what you want on Hulu the better chance the right people will find out!

(*)Remember, Don't Spam!

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Although some of this is common sense, it takes more than one person to get your favorite shows onto Hulu.  I wanted to throw out these suggestions.  Most of the cable companies and movie companies don't want you to stream the videos because they feel they are lossing money but we are the consumer know that's not true.

This is why I made a blog post about this to better help people get power over these companies.  I feel streaming is going to live past the television age and they need to adjust to what people want.  If you feel like I do, tell people about this blog post or you can also go to my HULU DISCUSSION community area and post you comments there.

Remember We've got the power to change the world, one person at a time!!

Hulu is going to be big some day and I'll be able to tell my grandchildren I helped make Hulu what it is today!! ;)

Find Popular Google Reader Shared Items with ReadBurner

Web site ReadBurner aggregates popular Google Reader Shared Items, turning Google Reader sharing into an action similar to bookmarking a page on Del.icio.us or voting for an article on Digg. Sure you can already share your favorite news items with friends, but by adding your shared items URL to ReadBurner, sharing feeds will also give that link some juice on ReadBurner—so it's like a simple way to contribute to a social bookmarking service without really adding a step to your bookmarking. So far the site's fairly young, but with enough users it really shows promise.

ReadBurner [via Google Operating System]

I saw this on Life Hacker and thought people would like to know about this little way to social bookmark on Google Reader!!

Sync Office Documents to Google Docs with DocSyncer

Windows only: Free web site/software combo DocSyncer has just rolled out its public beta, pitching a set-it-and-forget-it way of syncing your computer's documents with Google Docs. After signing up and installing the software, DocSyncer goes to work uploading all the Microsoft Office and OpenOffice documents it finds in your Documents and Desktop folders. You can then choose which file types will be synced to Google Docs and set DocSyncer to open those files with local software instead of Google Docs, but you'll likely want to make a few more tweaks before leaving it running.

Download : DocSyncer

[Via Lifehacker]

Thought this was something cool to use when you have documents you want to keep handy. If anyone uses this let me know!!

Google is Profiling you, Watch yourself!!

They're coming and it will be difficult to get away without having one. Google Profiles will be integrated in most Google services so you have a coherent identity and a simple way to manage your contacts.

"A Google Profile is simply how you represent yourself on Google products — it lets you tell others a bit more about who you are and what you're all about. You control what goes into your Google Profile, sharing as much (or as little) as you'd like."\
[Via Google Blog]

As you can see, Google is trying to make this work with the open social network. So people can see your profiles more clearly. This however worries me. We do not know who sees it and we do not know what they do with this information. It's something you have to be careful about, because of the possibility of getting your Identity stolen. I wouldn't put to much in your profile or at least I hope google allows you to opt in or opt out this little idea of theres. What do you think, should we be able to OPT IN or should it be an OPT out?

Why Everyone Should Use Google Calendar

If you're not using Google Calendar, you don't know what you're missing. I'm not suggesting that you stop using whatever calendar software you're currently using. I'm saying that Google is super powerful as a secondary calendar, or even as a non-calendar resource that does all kinds of useful jobs for you. Here's how to use Google Calendar to make your own local "city guide"; never forget birthdays and anniversaries (with a neat trick); build a just-in-time information system; nag yourself; and provide information at your fingertips no matter where you are. Here's how you can IMPROVE YOUR LIFE WITH GOOGLE CALENDAR.

I use Google Calendar and love it. I can schedule events with people and remind myself of to do list. Go try it out for yourself.

Google Notebook Adds Mobile Features

Google quietly added mobile functionality to its Notebook web clipping tool recently, giving phone browsers some of the functionality of Notebook and its recent Bookmarks integration. The mobile version lets users add notes to a "Mobile Notes" notebook and browse their existing bookmarks and notes. That's about it, unfortunately—no adding of bookmarks or labels, note editing, or searching from the smaller screen. But for devotees of the Notebook—and those using it to Get Things Done—it's a nice tool to have on the go. Like most mobile Google webapps, Google Notebook requires an XHTML-compliant browser that also allows SSL traffic.

Google Notebook Mobile [via Google Operating System]

Well now this looks intersting, I'm going to check this one out this weekend when I get time but it looks quite nice!!

Google Earth Forecasts and Displays Current Weather

The recent Google Earth update introduced lots of new layers, but one extremely useful layer that passed under our radar (as it were) at first glance was the addition of a new weather layer. The layer includes radar information, current conditions, and forecasts pulled every 15 minutes from Weather.com and a cloud layer that updates hourly from the Naval Research Laboratory. So if you're already obsessed with Google Earth for its stargazing and live flight tracking features, now you've got one more use for the freeware, cross-platform atlas.

How's the weather? [Google LatLong via Download Squad]

Nice little way to track the storms by yourself.

Google's Android OS early look SDK now available

Just like the good folks promised, the early look software development kit for Google's soon-to-be huge phone OS has hit the streets... er, internet. From what we can tell, the OS is as comfortable on larger, VGA devices as it is on more traditional smartphone layouts. Oh yeah... and it plays Quake. Here's what we know the software will support out of the box:

• Touchscreen
• 3G
• Webkit-based browser
• Optimized Java runtime layer (known as Dalvik Virtual Machine)
• Threaded text messaging
• MPEG-4, h.264, MP3, and AAC file formats
• Accelerated 3D graphics

There's the SDK I was speaking about. Go read the The full article for all the Stuff!!

First screenshots of application running on Google's Android platform?

It's just a rumor, but if true, you're looking at screenshots of the first leaked application running on Google's new mobile Android OS. The app from upstart Whatsopen does just what you might think; it tells you what's open nearby your location. Of course, those mockups could be final or just prototypes. Whatever they are, we're underwhelmed. Still, let's wait for the SDK before getting too far ahead of ourselves. More pics just beyond that read link.

[Via Textually]

I hope the cell phone companies come out with it soon, I can't wait!!

Better Gmail 2 Firefox Extension for New Gmail

Google updated Gmail, and now we're following up with Better Gmail 2, a Firefox extension that adds features to the new Gmail interface. Like its predecessor, Better Gmail 2 is a compilation of Greasemonkey user scripts that add features to Gmail, but Better Gmail 2 works with Gmail's overhauled interface. We'll maintain the original Better Gmail extension separately from Better Gmail 2, for users still rocking the older version. However, if you've got the snappier Gmail interface enabled and you're ready for some tweaks courtesy of scripters far and wide, hit the jump for the Better Gmail 2 Firefox extension download.

Nice little Extension for Firefox, and Gmail go check out the full article for the download!!

Fake Steve Jobs on Android: "It's Not a Phone, It's an Alliance"

Fake Steve's lengthy stream of bile laying waste to the Google Phone isn't simply pure invective, it's actually a mostly well-reasoned indictment of coalitions that trumpets the values of "one vision, one man, one genius." It's worth reading in its entirety, but this is our favorite quote:

The only companies that join consortia are the ones who are too stupid or shitty to make a great product on their own. It's like, Hey, we've got forty spazzo companies that can't fuck their way out of a paper bag; let's put them all together and maybe they'll magically become some kind of big bad powerhouse.

There are, of course, numerous cons to the singular "hand of God" approach, but the problems with consortia that FSJ lays out are real. It's hard for everyone to agree, and rarely do all involved push for the "greater good" at their individual expense. It might be different this time around, but with so much at stake, martyrs for the Alliance probably won't exactly be lining up. And oh yeah, there's no phone to wrap our hands around yet. [FSJ via Daring Fireball]

An alliance with who? and for what reason? I would love to find out more!!