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The buzzmeister has returned, and this site will be experiencing some upheaval over the next few days as I thrash it back into shape.

It seems every time Adobe updates something, it hoses my Mac. The other day, after installing the Flash Player 9 update, Flash ceased to work in any browser. I did uninstalls, re-installs, and all for naught.

Then I remembered what happened after the *last* major Flash update. I loaded up Mac OS X’s disk utility, and sure enough–the disk had become corrupted.

I’m not saying it’s Adobe’s (or the former Macromedia’s) fault that every time I get a Flash update, my hard drive needs to be repaired. I’m just saying it’s a hell of a coincidence.

An excerpt of the first chapter of Wiley’s new book, “Installing Linux SUSE 10″

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Jonathan Hassell outlines the places to check Windows apps for potential compatibility problems with Vista (aside from the fact that older versions of Visual Studio won’t work).

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IBM is preparing to announce a new program for systems integrators and developers that will theoretically give them a better chance of selling their software or services to customers, through certification as “Ready for SOA” — whatever that means.

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Recently, the audio on Flash movies viewed in all web browsers stopped playing on my iMac. And apparently, I’m not the only one. Starting GarageBand fixes the issue temporarily, so I’ve ruled out the problem being exclusively an Adobe-created one; upgrading to Flash Player 9.0.2 didn’t change things.

In fact, initially, installing the update created more problems. I ended up having to run a disk repair utility because the volume information on my boot drive was mangled, and some permissions on Flash files got hosed.

First, Dave Winer coded NY Times River (and BBC River) to give Blackberry and Treo users a better way to get headlines. (I wish I could check them out from my mobile, but it’s a WAP phone, and the sites don’t display. What can I say–I’m a poor journalist.) And now, Dave has create a blogging tool for the Blackberry.

Nuts. I’m stuck with “moblogging” through Flickr with my webcam. And that doesn’t do very well with papercasting. I guess I gotta find a way to shake down some cash from the Internet tree and get me a Crackberry.

At my new day job, I’ve launched Channel Marker, a weblog covering news and issues affecting IT solution providers, resellers and other companies in the IT channel. On Monday, I’m turning my team of editors loose on it.

This doesn’t bode well for Citi — it might go down in flames. :-p

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You can tell things are tough when all it takes is a Highway 101 billboard to elevate people’s adrenaline levels. And that, apparently, is what an Ubuntu Linux billboard has done.

From SJVN’s Linux-Watch:

The above billboard, and another just like it, were spotted by our roving reporter has he drove between Palo Alto and San Francisco on the 101 freeway earlier this week. We can’t help wondering: is it something in the water supply here in Silicon Valley? Or, is it the upcoming LinuxWorld conference that sets up shop in San Francisco next week?

Or, is it an indication that immense amounts of marketing crack are being done somewhere? Sure, Ubuntu is “increasingly popular” — for people who use Linux as a desktop. But that’s like saying that death is increasingly popular with the living — it’s a force of inevitability, given how awful most desktop Linux distros are, and how little most Linux players care about the desktop market.