Archive for the 'Internet' Category

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Microsoft releases IE 7 Beta 3 to the public

Published on Thursday, June 29, 2006 in Internet, Microsoft, Software and Technology. Closed

Ah, another IE 7 beta version for the public to test and scrutinise.

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) Beta 3 has been designed to make everyday tasks easier, provide dynamic security protection and improve the development platform and manageability. End user improvements include a streamlined interface, tabbed browsing, printing advances, improved search functionality, instant feeds (RSS), dynamic security protection, and more.

The specs are limiting users to the following spec: Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and XP Professional x64. And of course you will have to have that hated, Windows Genuine Advantage running. I tested out the beta before it reached the public and I just didn’t like it, and being a Mac user, there is no need for it. But it is better than IE 6, I think.

Links for June 28

Published on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 in Internet, Noteworthy, Shorts, Software and Technology. Closed

The Shorts for June 28th 2006:

Rubik’s Cube Solving Robot with video (above) [link]
8 Invaluable WordPress Plugins analysed [link]
DIY: Build your own pong game [link]

Bootleg DS Carts making their way to eBay

Published on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 in Gaming, Internet, Noteworthy and Technology. 1 Comment

It has been spotted by a number of people that piraters (is that even a word?) have been making bootleg copies of DS games. 4 color rebellion has some photos and pictures to illustrate how you can recognise these fakes and avoid paying a bunch for fake and malfunctioning carts. They make a few main points:

Miss-aligned label placement – A lot of fake carts have labels that are not properly aligned with the sides of the cart and shoddy build quality. Some look like they’ve been printed by inkjet printers with no glossy finish.
Incorrect labels – Some carts have labels which may look real but the images on them are not the ones they have on real carts.
Back contacts – The contacts on the reverse of the cart should be gold (used for better connections) but on most fake carts there are black contacts showing rubbish build quality.
Proper logo’s – Real carts should have the Nintendo logo slighly recessed and more ‘subtle’. The logo should also be higher than the centre of the cart.

Use these tips to help you steer away from fake copies of DS games, and if possible report them to eBay or others so that a catalogue of some sort can be made of perpetrators. I would also be weary of buying things like these on eBay. A good general rule is; if it looks to cheap to be real, it probably isn’t. Also, if there are no real photos of the actual product, and just some press images and details copied from the original website, it probably isn’t legit.

My long ass story with the school technicians…

Published on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 in Internet, Software and Technology. 12 Comments

I had really nothing else to blog about so I thought I’d share with you my own story with the tech guys at our school’s IT department. I won’t mention the school because, well I don’t think I should But here is the story.

I have been really fed up with our school’s crappy internet filtering. It was blocking websites like Feedburner.com and even BBC’s Radio FiveLive website. I actually needed to get on the BBC website as it had some news stories I need for my Geography coursework. And guess what? Yes it was blocked. I can’t think of how many countless things that are blocked, and I even sent an email to them to remove Feedburner because the internet filter classed it as “media/streaming music” or something of the sort. And about 2 weeks later nothing has happened. So by this time I was really pissed of and I decided, why don’t I make a proxy. So I downloaded a free proxy and configured it to work (I used my blog’s domain for quick access). I did this on a Sunday night and everything was working perfectly by Tuesday!

So being like I am I decided to give out the address as a friend of mine overlook what I was doing, I couldn’t really deny it as the word ‘Proxy’ was on the screen. So a month later and literally the whole year and people in the years belownew about it. I was quite happy about the way it went as nothing had been blocked by the technicians when one of our vice principals approached me and told me that he has heard of the “enterprise you’ve been running” and that even “teachers use it“. So I had to give the address of the site, which I blocked using .htaccess so only those with the passwords could access it. Thye still blocked it, and even though the technician said that he found a password, I really doubt that he did, otherwise he would see that the page redirects to HTTPS and would have blocked that too. Here’s the kicker: It still worked! Because I used .htaccess to redirect all calls to that page to a HTTPS version so the internet filter couldn’t sniff what I was looking at (I have a big deal with privacy issues like this). I managed to tell them that they shouldn’t block off the whole website as my blog is harmless (I access it at school sometimes if I am bored or I want to check IE compatibility). So I tried out the HTTPS version the next day and it worked. But after a few weeks they permanently blocked the whole website. That’s not all they did. And because all the computers in our school run Windows (except the G5′s in the video-editing suite) they disabled my Windows account to get my attention. So when I tried to log on it would say “Your account has been disabled, please see your network administrator”. How can they even do that, and why? They are purposefully stopping my education so I have to go see them. This is what I am most pissed of about. Why the hell don’t they get off their lazy asses and come and find me, not block my logging onto te computer. This is just going to cause more retalliation! So I went to see them and they said that they blocked the whole address of my blog because they were still getting people who were using it (I have no idea how they even know they’re using mine and not someone else’s proxy). So they unblocked my account, or so I thought. I went to see them again and he was like “So what do you mean your account is disabled”. Does he not even know how to do it? This time I was able to log-on. And to think they’ve done this to me like twice before. They are just wasting my time, it took me around 20 mins of my own studying (for my exams) for them to be able to do it! Furthermore they asked me if I was staying in the 6th form. I said yes, and they said that if I try to create another one, then they’ll permanently block my internet. Do they know that is just going to make me find other ways around the school’s filter, because no matter how you look at it, I need the internet in the future for research, coursework and classwork. I am really mad now!

In conclusion: I think that our technicians are stupid (well maybe not stupid but ignorant), obviously don’t know how to control the students and quite honestly they lack the courtesy needed when talking to students about things like this. I am really annoyed at them because of this, I think they have stepped to far this time

The Internet Piracy Pyramid

Published on Saturday, June 3, 2006 in Internet, Noteworthy, Software and Technology. 11 Comments

Click on the image for a bigger version

Seeing as how it is a slow news day, (normally is on the weekends) and I thought this was an interesting bit of emm pdf I thought it would be worthwhile mentioning it.
So this image basically shows the pyramid of numbers of the pirating ‘industry’. It shows how the pirating starts of in the back seat of the cinema, and ends up being distributed as DVD’s and downloaded over the interweb. For those who can’t see the image, or who are browsing from a small device I’ll transcribe what is written below.

At the top are the suppliers. The primary source of newly released pirated movies come from thieves who camcord films in theatres. Illegally recorded movies are then sold to ‘Replicators’ who rapidly produce millions of pirated DVDs and to ‘Release Groups’ who distribute them around the world through computer servers known as ‘Topsites’. There are less than a hundred of these people.
Then there are the ‘Release Groups’ or ‘Topsites’. ‘Release Groups’ are individuals who obtain pirated conent from suppliers and are the first source of piracy on the internet. Release groups put pirated movies onto clusters of high speed computers known as ‘Topsites’. The extraordinary speed and power of a Topsite triggers the avalanche that is global internet piracy. These are in hundreds.
Next come the facilirators. Facilitators act as Internet directories, or search engines, to co-ordinate the mass download and exchange of pirated content between downloaders. These are like BitTorrent sites like ThePirateBay.org and are in thousands.
Finally are the file sharers and downloaders. A downloader transfers illegal copies of movies from the internet to his or her computer. The peer-to-peer (P2P) software commonly used by downloaders enables them to instantly share their content with other downloaders which greatly accelerates the global spread of pirated movies. There are more than ten million of these people.

So there you have it. For the original and higher quality version you can find the PDF here.

Note: I have been receiving a lot of comments that I tried to pass this off as my own work. Now I don’t know what it sounds like from another person’s point of view, but I certainly did not try to ‘steal’ this PDF from the MPAA. I downloaded this from a digg article because I thought it was interesting. I later viewed the PDF and blogged about it, but I couldn’t remember the link to the digg article, and so to save myself some time I just uploaded it to the server. I wasn’t even aware that it was from the MPAA (shows how much I look at the link, eh?) So I’m sorry if it I made it too ambiguous; but I when I’m blogging about stuff I would mention it if it was my own, as I wouldn’t want it being stolen.

Xbox Live Vision Camera coming on Sep 19

Published on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 in Gaming, Internet, Microsoft and Technology. 3 Comments

xbox live vision cam

According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson, the Xbox Live Vision Camera demoed at E3 ’06 that had its pictures leaked onto the internet, will be simultaneously released in the US and Europe on September 19. This isn’t like the 360 release where they were weeks apart, for the first time it is being released on the same date! However, he did not mention any price for the camera, which you will be able to use for video conferencing and video emails, in some games (ie UNO) as well as for customising your profile picture.

UPDATE: “Major Nelson has corrected an earlier report made during a recent Blogcast concerning the release date for the Xbox Live Vision camera: it will be out in Europe and Asia (outside of Japan) on October 2nd rather than the earlier September 19th date, which still applies for 360 owners in the U.S.” [link]
UPDATE 2: “Our friendly anonymous source at Microsoft has provided us with a few more details concerning the 360 accessories announced back at E3. Perhaps the most important involves the bundling of the Xbox Live Vision camera with a wired headset, the popular Live Arcade title UNO, and a month of Live Gold service for $39.99 when it releases in the States on September 19, 2006.” [link]

Mac OS Drivers on Dell’s Support Site!

Published on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Noteworthy, PC and Technology. Closed

Click on the image for a bigger picture!

I was so amazed when I saw this. I honestly thought it was photoshopped, so I headed over to Dell’s support site, and sure enough, I selected a random Dell laptop (Latitude D610), it was there! This has been reported to work with other Dell models, but it is probably nothing more than a small glitch. All the downloads listed under ‘Apple Mac OS’ are non Mac versions, they are in a ‘.exe’ – Windows Executable format.
I don’t think Michael Dell understands. He has previously stated that he would like to offer OS X on their machines, but Jobs declined. Here they go again, trying to ‘win’ Apple over – It’s not working Dell! Apple will not be offering OS X on non-Apple boxes. It is just against their ethics. Besides, running OS X on a non-Apple box just takes all the fun of using OS X out of it, believe me I tried it on my Sony VAIO. It was nice, but not as nice as using a real Mac. It will be one of those things, where anyone using OS X on a PC, just can’t afford to buy a Mac so they install it on a grey box – Pretenders .

Microsoft Announces Xbox 360 Update

Published on Monday, May 29, 2006 in Gaming, Internet, Microsoft, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed

This is really good news! This will be the first major update the 360 since its launch in November. The update will be rolled out “in about a week” and will include many goodies such as background downloading (finally), Xbox Live Marketplace enhancements and more. There is a short overview below, but follow the link for the full article at Joystiq with many photos.

New Media and Entertainment Menu on the 360 Marketplace focuses content into groups, as well as having a link for iPod AAC support. It does have groups like Televison and Short Films, but no content has been added. Is Microsoft going to partner up with a TV network?
There is also a Games menu and Demo’s and Game Videos. The Games screen now has a ‘Newly Released’ section so that new additions to the Xbox Live Arcade can be quickly located and downloaded.
The new download manager offers background downloading so that you can play a game while waiting a file to download (hooray!) It contains a download queue of files to be downloaded in order after the previous has completed. There are siz download slots available, but downloading will pause of you play a game online.
Fast Forward/Rewind button in videos downloaded from the XBLM ranging from 2x to 16x speeds.
Music Player & DVD Playback Improvements – Music playing stays the same when you move from one function of the 360 to the next. With DVD playback you can add bookmarks to films so that you can play a game if you get an invite from a friend and resume playback when you put the disc back in.
“Full” USB keyboard support – It’s a bit ambiguous, as I plugged in my Mac’s USB keyboard a couple of times before to enter some stuff.
Startup feature, instead of automatically booting into whatever game is loaded in the drive, you’ll be able to set your console to boot into the Dashboard by default. I have been waiting so long for this feature!

The update should be available within the next two weeks, so login to Xbox Live regularly (if you don’t already) to see whether it has been put up. The full list of features will be on Xbox.com during the week.

Wii Controller Shell Surfaces from Nintendo Website

Published on Tuesday, May 9, 2006 in Gaming, Internet, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. Closed

This image has been found on Nintendo’s website (link).

Our sources have confirmed to us that this is definitely real, however several questions still remain – why is there a cable, and does the remote simply click onto the bottom of the unit? Or is it now a stand alone unit?

This is certainly very interesting, and proves many people’s theories right – that there will be a ‘shell’ for the controller so that it is more comfortable and easier to use when playing games on the virtual console. No info has been found though on Nintendo’s website, and they have neglected to mention anything at their E3 event, but hopefully something will be revealed tomorrow when the show floor opens.

E3: At Nintendo’s Wii Event

Published on Tuesday, May 9, 2006 in Gaming, Internet, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. Closed

Courtesy of Engadget and Joystiq for the picture

The whole event was solely based around the Wii (with some DS stuff), Nintendo’s Miyamoto, Reggie and Iwata were up on stage each giving their part of the Wii. They gave game demos, info about the Wii and the games coming out for it. I’ll run over the points quite briefly, and let you read Engadget’s mother of a post!

The price was unannounced, but Reggie did say “We will give you more fun for less money,” which means it is probably going to be the cheapest console out of the three.
The Wii controller has a built-in speaker and rumble system. Reggie explained (in the demo for Zelda), “With the bow, the Wii remote adds depth of sound. Built-in to the Wii remote is a speaker. You’ll hear the bowstring draw taught and you’ll hear the bow sound draw to the screen as the arrow is shot. A quick jab with the Wii remote and shield shove. You’ll feel the impact with the built-in rumble.“
List of games: Metroid Prime 3, Dragon Quest Swords, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Fire Emblem, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Cars, Super Mario Galaxy, SD Gundamn G Breaker, Tony Hawk Downhill Jam, Sengoku Action, Excite Truck, Elebits, Red Steel, Rayman 4, Super Swing Gold Pangya, Sonic, Project H.A.M.M.E.R., Finalfurlong Revolution, Madden, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Twilight Princess
Graphics: “The series of trailers went by quickly, but here’s the impression we got from it: there’s real variety in gameplay, and lots of variety in graphics. Some of the graphics look decidedly Xbox/GameCube/PS2, and some look incredible. It was unclear which were pre-rendered and which were footage of actual gameplay. The best-looking trailers were graphically impressive.“
The Wii is constantly connected to the internet, even when it is ‘off’. Iwata explains, “Wii Connect 24: the Wii console can be constantly connected to the internet. Anytime the console is in standby, players may return to find that their friends have left a message or a gift.“

That’s about it. For the full low-down follow the link.