Fair Play and why it exists, Actually a good read

Ever wonder why apple sells it's music with DRM? This is a great article that gives good indepth knowledge about how and why Apple is using DRM.

Article found here.

HUH? What? Oh sorry, I was sleeping

Yeah, been a few days since I posted.  sorry about that.

Anyway, I bought a new PDA this week.  I had a Palm Tungsten E that was a couple of years old and did not support wireless, though it was color and had a decent processor.  I wanted wireless and the ability to do Windows networking.  After much debating, I decided to get a Dell Axim x51.  It's the second best Dell offers, as it doesn't have the video memory/card to play games.  I don't feel the need to spend an additional 100.00 for those features.  As with any new device I am still learning all the things I can do with it.  So far I have successfully connected to my works network wirelessly and surfed the net.  I was also able to connect to my home network and surf the net.  But I am having problems connecting to network shares.  Still working on that.  :-)

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am enjoying my new PDA. 

Happily computing - TMS

Microsoft Vista's UAC

I hate it.

With that being said, let me explain a little.  I now have Vista Business installed on my computer at work.  I decided to give UAC one more chance, not sure why, but I did.

After having to respond to several prompts just to delete an icon, I realized that UAC has not changed since Beta 2.  It's is poorly implemented and, in my opinion, sucks.

Microsoft is now touting that UAC is not a security feature.  Well if it's not a security feature, what is it?

Read more here. 

DRM, did I ever tell you that I hate it?

:-)  European Exec's, don't like it either.  Read more here.

Cool Tool

If you are looking for a cool tool that will give you some neat in depth info about your system, then look no further than CPU-Z.

Installing Ubuntu as a VM

For those of you who are interested in linux but dont want to go all out and install it on their machine as a dual boot, then this could be a solution for you!

Read article here.

Again, another music download story

BUT, this one has a different tale.

Read more here.

A more indepth look at Nvidia and why we don't have real working drivers.

I still do not understand why it took them so long to start working on drivers!

Article can be found here.

Ubuntu, and Linspire come together

As I have previously stated, Ubuntu is my choice for a Linux desktop.  I currently have it installed at home.  I dont know how this deal will work out in the long run, but it sounds like a decent idea right now.

Read more here.

Who would have ever guessed?

http://security.itworld.com/4337/070207itsabotage/page_1.html

Bringing my uzi to work - TMS

This may offend, but....

I am so damn tired of the Government trying to protect myself from myself.  If I want to do something that endangers my life needlessly, then that is MY CHOICE.  I don't need the government telling me that I cant do it.

Article here.

Stupidly wandering off the cliff while listening to my Dell DJ.

I have to agree with this

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/top-10-reasons-why-movie-downloads-suck-234981.php

RIAA says CD should cost more not less

Read this article first.

I personally feel that if you want a CD, then buy the CD from the artist themselves if possible.

Microsoft is at it again

I have always thought that when broadband did come our way and grace our home with fast internet access, that I wanted to create a small home server using Windows Server 2003 to control my home network. 

Well it seems that Microsoft thought that people would do this, so here comes the Home Server from Microsoft.  Read their Blog here.

Google Mail for everyone!

Google Mail (Gmail) has been my primary email for about 2 years.  I find their spam filters excellent, and the ability to retrieve mail via Outlook a major selling point.  Other free email services offer POP support but I don't feel their spam filters work as well, and many don't even offer POP support.

But now to the point of the post.  Gmail is now available to anyone who wants an account.  I suggest that if you are looking for a good alternative to your ISP's email, Gmail should be high on your list.  Another bonus to using Gmail, is that if you ever change Internet providers, your email address does not change. 

Get Gmail here.

Gmailing -  TMS

RIAA is hated by everyone, including the courts

I say this because I feel it's really true.  Consumers don't like the RIAA because they want to impose restrictions on how and where they can listen to their PAID for music.  Artists dont lke the RIAA because it makes it difficult to distribute their music to the fans, and takes money out of their pockets.  Courts also are not to fond of the RIAA because they waste time and money sueing people for copyright infringement and then cant prove it, or sueing dead people, or people that do not even have computers.

I just read another article about the lady that has taken on the RIAA and won.  She is now going to get her legal fees paid for by the RIAA.  It's about time the courts helped the little guy.

Read article here.

Nvidia tries to come back and explain, but I find it lame....

Read about it here.

Microsoft's rebuttal!

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6156413.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=tr%5c

My point exactly

http://www.flexbeta.net/main/comments.php?catid=8&shownews=23123

Am I allowed to rant one more time about Vista? Please?

I was able to get my hands on a copy of Vista Business upgrade.  I decided to take the plunge, one more time, into the Vista abyss by upgrading my XP Pro at home.  This was, btw, a real valid non beta version of Vista, and I wanted to see if it truly was worth my time and efforts to upgrade and stay with Vista as my primary OS.

As I had stated before, my personal experiences with Vista have been mixed.  I really like the look of Vista.  Yet there are things I really dont like, such as UAC (User Access Control).

Anyway, I decided to "upgrade".  Vista actually give you the option to install clean even if you are upgrading, so I took that option.  It renames your old install to Windows.old.  So I would be able to get my favorites and outlook data file if needed. 

After all was said and done, I think Vista is still a very pretty OS.  I also think it's rather stable.  But there are still problems with various hardware that I have installed.  I dont blame Microsoft for this, I blame the hardware vendors. 

I have been playing with Vista for over a year.  If I was a major hardware vendor with products that thousands of people use everyday on PC's.  You bet your ass I would be making sure my product works with Microsoft's new OS!!!  I find it baffling that major players like Nvidia, still, cant produce a WHQL driver for Vista.  They have had 5 years to develop one! 

Small companies I can forgive to some extent.  Like my Razor gaming mouse.  I emailed Razor, several months ago, about Vista drivers and they said they didnt even have beta drivers yet.  Forgive them if Vista is still in beta, but not now after Vista is out.  At least provide some semblance that you are working on creating drivers for Vista.  I have not found anything on their web sites, yet.

So back to XP Pro it was for me.  No more artifacts in my games from crappy Nvidia drivers.  No more crappy mouse movements due to non existent drivers/default drivers.

XPing, again - TMS

I really like this blog! Check this guy out.

http://www.istartedsomething.com/  (from previous post also)

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Sorry for not posting much lately, but this is great and I had to share it! http://www.istartedsomething.com/20070206/more-vista-exploits/