I cancelled Netflix. The latency sucks.

Pretty old but still gold.

Shoplift a CD and get charged with petty larceny. Attempt to download one song (and fail at it) and get 10 years in prison under the proposed amendment to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Ok, this is just plain getting out of hand. I’ve never been involved in politics but I think it’s about time to do something before the Luddites pass every ridiculous proposal the RIAA throws at them.

If you want to help, contact your Congress member or Senator and let them know that you won’t vote for their reelection if they do not publicly denounce this bill.

I am not advocating piracy here, but there’s no way anyone is going to take digital copyright seriously if it is treated as way-out-of-proportionally-greater than physical property.

Microsoft fanboy Paul Thurnott sticks a fork in Vista. When even the shills are jumping ship it’s obvious the Longhorn/Vista project is a disaster.

I’m testing build 5308 at work and honestly it’s a snore-fest. Microsoft worked on Vista for six years and it’s little more than Windows XP pretending to be OS X and doing a piss job of it.

Normally I get pretty vehement when it comes to Microsoft, but honestly Vista is such a disappointment I am completely indifferent. Perhaps this is Microsoft’s grand strategy to shed their negative image — release an OS so pitiful that people actually feel sorry for them?

King Kong DVD @ Amazon: $14.96

King Kong digital download @ Movelink: $26.99

Over $10 more for a lower quality, heavily restricted version that may not even work 10 years from now. Not to mention the digital download has no extra features or packaging.

This is the MPAA’s strategy to curb digital piracy?

“Visual Basic is what Java would be if Microsoft invented it. C# is what Java would be if Microsoft copied it.”

Watch Intel VP Don McDonald own himself attempting to out-simplify Apple’s Front Row remote.

I finally removed the floppy drive from my system. Talk about a dead technology.

In other news there’s a 120GB hard drive in my freezer and I don’t remember why it’s there:

Probably too late to eat that choco-Santa as well

Tests were done on portable music players using standard MP3 files and DRM encrypted WMA files. The results. Up to 25% less battery life thanks to DRM sucking the juices as it constantly verifies licenses.

It makes sense with the decryption overhead pounding on the CPU. It’s a good enough reason to rip directly from CDs or use Hymn to decrypt your iTunes collection.