CrunchGear

Never, ever fly Delta.

I was supposed to be covering SXSW for CrunchGear. Question—how am I supposed to cover the show if I never get to leave the Atlanta airport? That’s right, Delta, which fancies itself as an airline but that would require planes that take off and leave from airports, has screwed me so very, very hard. First, my flight from New York to was delayed by two hours. Whatever, it sucks but it happens. So I land in Hotlanta, where it was snowing this morning, and get put on, I think, five different standbys. Of course, I don’t get a seat on any of these. A friend of mine, who was scheduled to leave Atlanta, like me, a 3pm, somehow scored a seat on the 10pm flight. Or so she thought, because, two delays later, her flight was canceled. (Her bags are safe and sound in Austin, though. So says the airline.) Wonderful.

I spent the night at the Marriott in downtown Atlanta. That’s money out of my own pocket because Delta refused to hand out hotel vouchers. But it values my business.

So cool. I spend the night at the hotel and get up the next day thinking I had a signed, sealed and delivered 1:35pm flight from Atlanta to Austin. And I did. Until they delayed it again. I’m currently scheduled to leave at 3pm. My guess is that’ll never happen. I’m not joking when I say that I’m ready to go home and will never step foot in an airport again. Atlanta sucks. Delta sucks even more. And I’m missing SXSW. So if my coverage is a little lacking, it’s because I’m being screwed by the airline.

Never fly Delta.

Oh, and the Wi-Fi here only works on Windows. Super.

I was literally supposed to be in Austin 24 hours ago. Am I still supposed to pay full price for this ticket? Biggs, Arrington, any advice?

MagStay Pro makes your MagSafe stay Magged
Playmobil’s Security Checkpoint on Amazon makes your morning
Pick up some vino soon from Amazon’s wine section?
G-Fi: GPS to WTF converter
Hanrim wireless power transmission: Satellite power by year 2108
Cover up that fugly satellite dish, thank the Dutch
LOLPeter’s vote-off

In honor of it being Friday, I believe it’s time for another top ten list. This one comes to us today from ValleyWag, who’s wisely compiled a list of the top ten videos of Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, losing his shit.

If you’ve never seen it in person, you’re really missing out.

Above is just one, but they’re all worth watching. And then think to yourself about Vista: Would you really trust your computer to this guy?

Steve, we love you man, but take a Xanax.

Ten best Ballmer-goes-nuts videos [ValleyWag]

A big thank you to everybody for filling our tips at crunchgear dot com inbox with wonderful, unique, and newsworthy items. Here are five that we just couldn’t get to this week.

Easy weight loss

Be thin

http://www.kocheg.com/?hfclavhwzxb

Be thin

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Trusted Reviews has it on good authority that Microsoft will be releasing new versions of the Xbox 360 this year with 60GB HDDs instead of the current 20GB, and that these new super-Xboxen might also contain Blu-ray drives instead of standard DVD drives.

This only makes sense, as Microsoft has discontinued support for HD DVD and including a Blu-ray drive instead of as an add-on only increases the Xbox’s value, as well as competes more readily against the PS3.

Microsoft is also likely looking at adding an external Blu-ray drive for legacy 360 players, like yours truly. The other good news is that the current crop of HDMI-sporting Xbox 360 Premiums would see a big price drop, something we’ve heard hinted in the last week anyway.

EXCLUSIVE: 60GB Xbox WILL Replace 20GB Model [Trusted Reviews]

Rockstar’s released a handful of new videos on the GTAIV website to up the excitement factor for the game. Indeed, Grand Theft Auto IV is shaping up to be an epic, and the fanboys are excited.

You can count me as one of them.

GTAIV [Rockstar]

I saw some of these high-frequency LCD TVs at CES, and while Panasonic’s weren’t at the time the most impressive ones I saw (some smaller company had a better picture), the technology actually does work. It takes your source video and processes it in real time, adding intermediate frames where it thinks there is jutter, jerky movement, that sort of thing. The first generation is bound to be a little rough, but the process is promising.

Do yourself a favor and check some post-processing TVs like these next time you’re at Best Buy or whatever and you can make your own judgment.

Panasonic hits 100Hzへるつ [T3]

I like a company that says “not everyone’s going to need or even understand our product” and is up-front about it, especially if it’s a product I really don’t get. The MagStay Pro is just such a product.

I think the MagSafe power adapters Apple built into its portables is just great, but some people apparently find themselves unplugging their laptops when they don’t mean to. Sure it’s a little annoying, but some folks just get livid. This the MagStay.

It attaches to the USB port next to the power port and holds the power cable firmly in place, so you don’t accidentally unplug it.

Kudos to ThoughtOut for coming up with this, and also for not talking down to those of us who don’t “get it”.

MagStay Pro [Thoughout.biz]

Once again, a company is attacking instructions on how to subvert their control. This time it’s HowardForums who posted a list of links to mobiTV that basically give Sprint users free access to mobiTV’s offerings. The instructions and links appear below.

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I was just looking for Wayne Bell, creator of the WWIV BBS system, and I found this list of 508 area code BBSes complete with notes from the original sysops. I was on the 614 area code myself, so I never visited these sites, but weren’t those the days, kids? Fidonet FTW.

508 Area Code BBSes Through History [BBSLIST]
Eagle’s Dare