All of this has happened before, and it will happen again (special early post!).

Major deja-vu for me on Monday when a new netbook was announced which was billed as the Commodore UUMD 8010/F. Yes, Commodore of Amiga and C64 made-in-the-80’s fame. My trip down memory lane was soon brought to a screeching halt by a clarification to the Crave post:

Updated at 5:54 p.m. PDT to clarify that the "Commodore" in the Commodore UMMD 8010/F is most likely only an homage to the company of yore.

Seems the name and trademark was bought by Yeahronimo Media Ventures of the Netherlands. Oh, so this is just another lame attempt to bring back everything that was cool in the 80s. Whatever.

Another flashback takes us to the mid-90s and the Browser Wars (!). Google is taking a shot at yet another portion of the average user’s internet experience (search, e-mail, documents, web storage… what do we not have?) with Crome. The browser is based on Apple’s Webkit rendering engine. The features are discussed oddly in an online comic book format. I’m curious enough to take it for a spin, but what I really want to know is: will it ever make it out of beta? Several sources in the tech world have already weighed in on the browser itself, perhaps even more time has been spent on user agreement which I’ve heard summarized as the EULA from hell. Those of you who thought the Chrome logo looked vaguely familiar will be comforted to know that you’re not the only one who noticed.

One thing that did not make me flash back to a simpler time was a study that looked at the popularity of podcasts. The Pew Internet and American Life study, via Ars Technica, found that while 19% of internet users had downloaded a podcast in the last year, but that only 3% did so on a regular basis. It seems I fit pretty neatly into the study’s finding… the vast majority of regular downloaders were between 18-29 (check) with weaker trends such as household income above $75 000 (check), and male (check). This small number of regular listeners overall is a bit of a surprise (although it should be noted that this was a small study – 2 251 people at least 18 years old) given that the iPod has long featured dead simple podcast integration and competing products such as the Zune also have this feature. Of course, you don’t have to use it, but I find it a great way to stay in the loop on a particular topic whenever you have time to listen, on a portable device, no less. In case you’re curious, I currently subscribe to four podcasts – CNET’s Buzz Out Loud and Loaded, Geekbrief.tv, and ESPN’s Football Today.

AT&T had a mess on its hands Wednesday when the cell data network up and down the east coast suffered a serious meltdown, rendering data services unavailable for as long as 12 hours in some places. Then it really felt like 1995.

I happened to read Gamespot’s review of Madden ‘09 for the Wii on Friday and I laughed my balls off. The game itself sound a lot like I remember from the PC version of Madden ’06 plus the Wii’s excellent (for non-gamers such as myself) controls, but the statement that really got me was this:

“Celebrating” after a TD mostly involves waving your arms like a nut.

I’m not sure if this refers to some poor game design from EA sports, a glitch in the software itself, or what you’re doing with the wiimote when you score. I pick the third one just because the mental picture is priceless. It’s like the “silly walks” Monty Python sketch for your arms.

This week I was also reminded of one more reason why it is great to be Canadian: our elections are short. Rather than a presidential campaign that lasts for two long, grueling, frustrating years (doubly so for those of us who don’t get a vote but still get positively soaked by election coverage) we take four and a half weeks to do an entire parliamentary election. Our election is expected to be formally announced tomorrow and we vote on October 14. The simple fact it that regardless of who wins, somebody else gets screwed, so why prolong the pain?