Houstonist Tech Buzz - 050607

Local tech news in a compact, digital format.

Pay Your Fine Online
Houston Municipal Courts are encouraging people who have to pay a fine to use the city's online payment system. By doing so, you can avoid the overcrowding and trouble finding parking around the courts. For more information, check out this story and the municipal courts website.

Counter Strike Map Gets Local Student In Trouble
A Houston area high school student was expelled from school and sent to an alternative education facility, for creating a Counter Strike map that portrayed his school. Counter Strike is a popular first person shooter computer game with highly customizable maps, known as mods. The budding game coder was expelled from school, deemed a terroristic thread and his room at home was searched by authorities. Authorities found a hammer that the victim states was used to fix his bed. Authorities deemed the hammer a weapon and confiscated it. School Board meetings have been scheduled to discuss the student's actions and resulting punishments.

Dr Mac: Back That Thing Up
Dr. Mac says there is no excuse for not backing up your important data with a new online back up service that is available for Mac users. For as little as five bucks a month you can back up important files with an easy to use service. The service is called Mozy and you read all about it here.

HTC Gala
The Houston Technology Center will be hosting a gala on May 10 at the River Oaks Country Club. For more information check out the event's info on the HTC site.

Toll Road Tech
The Houston Toll Road Authority has new technology installed to help catch dead beat toll road drivers. Five new ten thousand dollar cameras have been installed on Harris County toll roads that will take images of license plates and match them up to a database of drivers with outstanding fines. The new cameras will be able to catch more thieves than the conventional methods which is a cop making a traffic stop. Days are numbered for toll road drivers who don't pay their fines; if they continue to use the toll roads, it's only a matter of time before they are caught.

Dwight Watch
Closing out the Tech Buzz is Dwight Watch. Let's see what Dwight's been up to this week. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the theme of a story on XP users who are reluctant to switch to Vista. Dwight also covers an ongoing HP issue with drivers for Windows users. Battery life and Vista was also on his plate this past week. And of course, what would a week be without a Mac post from Dwight, did you know he calls his MacBook, Precioussss?

That's it for the Houstonist Tech Buzz. Surf safe and surf smart, Houston. Remember if you have an item you'd like covered, drop us an email or leave a comment.