Australian tech sites are really inferior.

Apple and Microsoft: a tale of two piracy fighters is an article comparing the anti-piracy methods used by Apple and Microsoft. Besides being pointless it gets its basic facts wrong, and compares two drastically different areas of piracy, music and software.

My first issue with the article is that it sites the often quoted figure of there being only 20-25 songs on an iPod purchased through the iTunes Store. The author then lists several other sources of music and implies heavily that they are all illegal and illegitimate. He then mentions Apple has no intention of checking for illegal downloads on iPods, as if there is anyway to compare a legal ripping of your CD to a downloaded file.

However the biggest blunder is this quote: Unlike the case with Apple, the majority of Microsoft software sitting on users' machines is legitimate. From that sentence you'd imagine that the average Mac is full of pirated software, but what he really means is music not purchased via the iTunes Store.

The last bit is he's comparing the company that allows nearly full control over purchased songs, 5 computers can play back the song, you can burn it to a CD, and you can sync it to any number of iPods to the company that forced the anti-piracy Windows Geniuine Advantage as a security update, who requires activation of their software or else it disables itself and who abandoned their Plays4Sure DRM scheme for a custom one for their own digital media player.

Here's my 60GB 5G iPod after applying Software 1.2

Tags: broken, ipod

I ordered a brand spankin new 2GHz MacBook through Amazon in mid August. Here it is September 1st and I have yet to use the computer for more than an hour straight. It has spent more time in with Apple's repair shop than on my desk, or warming me up at night.

The MacBook suffers from a severe case of “I don't want to do that” syndrome and shuts down or goes to sleep when any heavy work needs to get done.

So 48 hours after opening it the MacBook went back to Apple. They replaced some video cable stuff and it came back rather quickly, unfixed of course. Within an hour of using it I could repeat the problem and called it in. It came down as a backlight issue, silly me for focusing on the backlight and only mentioning it going into a sleep/shut down state every single time, and mentioning that it worked when hooked to an external display.

So back it went to Apple, as a backlight issue. When they were unable to reproduce the issue it went into an “on hold - need information” state. The peculiar thing about this state is that you have to contact Apple, the fact that they know your contact information from the initial call and the form you fill out doesn't mean they will contact you. So I called Apple up, gave the AppleCare phone chick more information, which I gave everyone already but boiled down to a simple “backlight issue.”

So there my computer sits, in the repair queue, waiting to be fixed and join me back where it belongs.

Tags: apple, macbook, applecare, problem

I rented Book of Love through Blockbuster online after watching it two times previously. As you might guess I like the film, it's a solid 7/10 if I had to rate it, but a “must watch” in general terms.

Quick plot summary. Married couple befriends a 15 year-old kid. The wife sleeps with the kid and tells the husband. Bad things happen and everyone ends up getting exactly what they desired to be happy.

After tonight's viewing I decided to read what the people on IMDB had to say about it. Don't do that. It'll drive you insane. The shear number of people who focus on the minor details, or just focusing on the action and not what the action represents in this film is staggering.

Anyway, good film. Go watch it.

Code a basic site with a hook (pictures, links, user submitted stories).

Next apply liberal usage of the word "tag" so it seems new and fresh while ignoring the fact that "tag" means category.

Next supply no content yourself. Instead set it up as an "invitation only" beta site. Allow the beta to simmer and grow hot.

When the beta is just beginning to boil allow open membership.

Sit back and wait for the millions of dollars in buyout money you earned on the backs of the content supplying users.

Whoever decided that the default modifier key on Windows to use a website's accesskey should be Control should be rammed face first into a brick wall.

I'm just glad no one has made Control-V the short cut to post a comment.

Tags: accesskey, web_design

I used my brother's XP machine a few times this weekend
such such horrors
the biggest downside 256MB of ram
which means that IE loading itself at boot is bad enough
but they use AOL and AOL9 loads itself at boot as well
I geuss that's since AOL9 installs a spyware scanner, a computer check up program and a search bar/quick launch in the task bar
about 1/3rd of their task bar was for actual window buttons
those AOL quick launch buttons of course weren't installed in the section of the task bar designed for it, nope they were in the main window button area just eating up valuable space
my least favorite part is the system tray
the part of the task bar where the clock is
every program feels the need to install a control widget down there
imagine if Apple opened up the API for the menu bar extras and everything you install feels the need to place something there of debatable value
now imagine it wasn't easy to remove, having to navigate a myriad of arcane menus or dialogs
OR
even worse
having to launch the program and finding where they hid the option
IF they even made it an option
Furthermore XPSP2 didn't seem to have a native driver for the GeForce MX 2 card in their Dell.
So I installed the driver and got smooth scrolling goodness.
But the driver install installed something into the system tray!

even with the nice strict file structure OS X tries to make you use there's so much more freedom
like only n00bs download directly to the desktop
but that seems standard on Windows

If I used Windows full time I'm sure I could work around some fundamental design flaws but the Mac OS is infinitely more friendly and usable. Which I guess means converts are over using the Mac and making it more difficult than it really is.

Tags: windows xp, windows, xp

Dell Optiplex GX620:

Versus Apple iMac:

One of those two computers is a beautiful piece of art, the other is a cheap knockoff with uninspired design that has a handle.

Tags: dell, imac, innovate, ripoff

A woman backed into my mom's car tonight while I was driving. We went out to BJ's to get stuff for the house and her Bunco party tomorrow. I was on my way to drop her off at the front door since my mom's hip hurts. The Dodge Durango in front of us stops to pull into a space and I'm about 3 spaces behind her and I stop. I was looking off to the side as two other cars were loading up and I was going to take one of those spaces, I turn back to the front to see the Dodge about 5 feet from the front of the car and backing up like she's driving and then she rams into the front of the car.

After getting her insurance info the woman driver then proceeds to blame us, after admitting she didn't see us, for a) not giving her enough room to back up (I was three spaces behind her, able to pull into the third parking space away from the Durango without having to move the Oldsmobile) and b) not honking to warn her.

Tags: women driver

Listening to Opie and Anthony complain about the lack of creativity on regular radio as they spend an hour on each show talking about MySpace and PalTalk or how much better XM is than Sirius or how much better SatRad is so much better than regular radio because you can curse and play clips unedited, that doesn't make radio better. Instead of talking about being better, just do it, put on a better show.

Without the flow of genuinely funny comics that sit in the third chair each day O&A would be unlistenable. Check out Bill Burr, Robert Kelly, Patrice O'Neil and Jim Norton for the real stars of the show.

Tags: opie and anthony, xm, xm radio