After the jump I’ll go into specific detail as to my research into the site, but suffice to say there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever there is a virus, and it is virtually impossible to pass on a virus through a website. Further, there is no reason why a good virus programmer would ever bother putting a virus on the Drudge Report to hunt out politicians. Gainer likely got confused based upon the nature of a “tracking cookie”. For my complete analysis, click below.

Requisite details:

The only active scripting active on the Drudge Report is a series of Javascript files, predominantly those linked to Intermarkets.net. Intermarkets.net is an advertising company that Drudge likely uses in order to monetize his site. You can easily see these advertisements by turning off adblock- a quick check on my end revealed an ad for Lime-Away and Asian brides, among other things. Other than that, only two blocks of Javascript exist- an auto-reloading script in the header (which I find personally annoying), and an eProof.com (probably this) javascript system that displays headlines, archives, and other sorts of related stuff. Basically, the only things of notes are a bunch of iFrames with a bunch of ads in them so Matt Drudge can eat.

Further, the implication that Matt Drudge could pass a virus through his poorly coded mess of a site is hilarious at best. Even the oldest of browsers are fairly strong so far as security is concerned (IE withstanding), and it’s not really possible to “pass a virus” through a website in such a laissez-fare manner. Indeed, it would make much more sense of Drudge was using some complex flash scripts, AJAX, or something that was sufficiently convoluted to raise eyebrows and require in-depth code examination, but he isn’t. Drudge is still technologically stuck in 1995. He hasn’t even figured out HTML color, for the most part.

Finally, I think it’s a little ridiculous one would presume a virus-maker would use the Drudge Report. Most talented people who create legitimate viruses create dummy sites and lure people in to get their credit card numbers, not target random politicos and politically active Republicans, both of which likely do not have the honeypot of data most would be hunting for. Even if it was just a malicious virus, one could be much more effective on another site. It simply does not make sense.

My prediction? Gainer likely has some sort of firewall/virus protection software on his computer, saw it freaked out over the tracking cookie likely passed by Intermarkets, and then decided he would play technology superhero and e-mail the warning out to the masses. Tracking cookies are all too common flagged by antivirus software as a form of a “virus” because of the way in which they pass information, which is really kind of a disputable definition, and one that raises unnecessary panic by the masses.

In any case, if they were really worried, we could start making all politicians browse the web using Lynx.

The Brady Campaign, on their website, claims that “packing heat” in Starbucks is “intimidating and could be potentially dangerous to our families and communities”. The implication is, of course, that someone could get shot in a Starbucks, much like the whole Maurice Clemmons thing. But let’s be real here: if you’re really going to bust into a public location and shoot up four armed police officers, do you really think that you’ll give a care that a skinny, liberal arts major barista behind the counter is asking you to please leave the store? To me, it just sounds like the Brady Campaign is trying to guilt Starbucks into becoming a poster boy for their political opinions.

Greenpeace’s typical energy recommendations? Solar power or wind power, or sometimes earth heat power. None of which are remarkably cheap, available in copious amounts, or (in many cases) stable enough to maintain 24/7 server uptime without some form of gas/coal/nuclear backup available. On top of that, would Facebook locate somewhere else, as the first article notes, they would likely have to install extensive cooling systems for their servers, which would draw lots more power.

Of course, Greenpeace thinks Facebook should demand that the Oregon power company replaces their energy sources with renewable sources before they work with them. You know, because people should just spend copious amounts of money because Greenpeace says so.

Sorba, in one stupid maneuver, not only made himself look incredibly stupid and antiquated, but he also managed to essentially destroy any chance he’d ever have of being respected inside or outside the party again. In 6 months, Sorba will likely be serving his Republican friends in another way: by serving them fries at the local McDonalds.

Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Sorba, check out the YoungCC website, which includes- I kid you not- posts comprised solely of pictures of Sorba, posted by Sorba. Like the one on the left.

As you’ve likely heard on the news, (terrible) director Kevin Smith recently caused a stink after being thrown off an airline for being too fat. The long story short is the director, who usually pays for two seats (which is typically required of fat people who take up lots of space), was impatient and wanted to get where he wanted to go faster, so he chose to fly standby on an earlier plane with only one seat, fully cognizant of the fact that this violated policy. When he was told to get off of the plane, the director began to whine and post on Twitter with photos, claiming he was in the right because he could put the arms down on the seats.

As you can imagine, this has sparked the whole “fat flyer” debate, largely pointlessly. Has anyone had the guts to point out that Kevin Smith knowingly violated policy and was basically complaining because he got caught? Further, has anyone actually thought that Southwest Airlines is not required to provide him (or anyone else) service at all? Has anyone wondered if Smith is just doing this to revive his somewhat dead career? The mind boggles.

1. Make it run on the Hard Drive, and make it HD. The disc thing is somewhat cumbersome, and while admittedly my Netflix DVD stays in my PS3 the majority of the time, it’s still a strange decision to make. Make it a legitimate program as soon as possible. While you’re at it, make it run in HD- nothing looks sillier than a blurry menu screen running off a DVD, especially in comparison to the PS3 menu itself.
2. Let me browse the entire catalog, don’t guess what I want. I appreciate providing me a “Top 100″ sort of feel to each genre, but I’d much rather simply browse through the offerings at my own leisure. Let me flip through each sub genre, let me play around with my instant queue, and let me view things like customer ratings. Yes, this infringes upon the “simple” menu- but trust me, I’ll be much happier with the features. If you do the above and make the menu in HD, this will be much easier anyway.
3. Enable Closed Captioning, if possible. This may already be something possible, but I haven’t found out how to enable it, and if it isn’t possible, it certainly seems like it should be.
4. Add more HD. The more, the better.
5. Expand your catalog as much as possible, and focus on quality. This isn’t so much a PS3 issue, but it is involved- expand your catalog, especially with bigger blockbusters. I know doing really new movies is near-contractually impossible and financially destructive, but try to find movies that are famous yet underrated and grab them up like Pac-Man. Some of your movies are phenomenal, some make me wonder why you even bothered. Try to focus on quality and THEN quantity, but expand both as much as possible.
6. Improve your TV show controls. This is a minor gripe, but make it easier to switch between episodes. I like what you have on your website- show me a progress bar of each episode I’ve watched.
7. Finally, keep doing what you’re doing. Netflix on the PS3 is one of your best choices ever- it beats your 360 offerings by far (if only because the PS3 version doesn’t involve another subscription fee). Keep this business model and people like me will always find your service a great buy.