We get the relevant newspaper (the Sunday Times) in my household so out of boredom yesterday I grabbed said CD, and found the following:
The article is over-hyped (more than is usual for The Register) - it's not necessary to download WMP9beta to play the "limited" media files, it just offers you that as the default download if you're lacking WMP or are too far out-of-date.
On WinXP with the default version of WMP (8.1 or something like that), I had to go online and pick up a license file for each track (and fill in a form on a pop-up window for the first one, giving them a BS name and address). There was no super-clever Secure Audio Path stuff when playing back the files on WMP8 and it didn't seem to notice I was ripping the stream to disk with TotalRecorder for later mp3-encoding!
(to their credit, the audio files on the CD are 192kbit WMA which does sound pretty damn good, even after MP3ing)
And we're supposed to pay the slightest sensible attention to an AC who seems to honestly believe that "cancerogenous" is a real word? That's just as bad as the mentions of "meativores" in Jurassic Park.
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Nope, JKR has already specifically disclaimed this one (and acknowledged the starwars potential) in a TV interview (on long-running BBC kids show Blue Petter, for the anoraks who care).
I can't remember which book but the idea has been raised (probably more than once) that it was the killing attempt on Harry by Voldemort which "connected" them (conveniant "potter-sense tingling" curse scar pains, etc.), rather than being related.
If any cheesy family ties are to be found, I'd expect Harry to be a descendant of Godric Griffindor (his parents used to live in Godric's Hollow, remember...).
That was Jeremy Clarkson - motoring journalist and crushing bore. Craig Charles is a much more suitable presenter for it as he can inject the kind of neon-lit manic enthusiasm that the Robot Wars format demands.
A generic "me-too" - admittedly I'm not currently running linux (I'll try the latest Mandrake when I've got more HDD space to spare), but it's a very nice printer and the WinXP drivers are just fine.
UK/.ers should hit dabs.com where it's available for £100 including VAT (it's on their front page). Replacement toner carts look to be about £40 for it (also from Dabs), which for estimated 2500 sheets (at the usual 5% coverage I think) isn't too extortionate.
I bought a set of Revelators on their own before Elsa went out of business, and now I've got a GF4 and suitable new drivers they're working again in "bitchin' high framerate 3d" kind of way. Works in any opengl or direct3d game under windows - getting railed has never been so personal.
"I refuse to prove that I exist", says god, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"Aaah, but what about the gecko^H^H^H^H^H babel fish?", says Man. "That's a dead giveaway isn't it."
"Oh dear", says God, and vanishes in a puff of logic.
For his next trick, Man proves black equals right and gets run over on the next zebra crossing.
Newsflash, the UK tv license fee "only" funds the BBC (2 terrestrial channels, 5 national radio stations, endless local ones, a 24-hour news channel on c/s/dtt, etc.). The other 2.5 terrestrial channels (ITV, Channel4 and the excrable Channel 5) run ads, as do pretty much all of the extra channels on cable/satellite/dtt.
Another generic "me too", with a few things to add:
The NexII can be fussy about the CF cards you feed it - branded ones are a good idea. Don't be tempted to flash it up to the 1.42 firmware unless you actually NEED to - Frontier Labs pulled it from their site for a damn good reason (namely that it bites). Stick with 1.4 or thereabouts.
Also note that the current versions of the NexII firmware will list and play back mp3s/WMAs in the order they were written to the CF card, so copy them in the "right" order - if you're a Windows addict, my little utility called copynex will copy files across in sensible order - I'm assuming linux users can figure out their own solution (shell/perl scripting, rewriting their OS to copy files in the desired order, etc.);-)
klik'n'create (and its little brother klik'n'play) grew up to become The Games Factory (very similar to KnP). There's a new nifty-looking 3D one from the same people called Jamagic, which abandons KnP/TGFs "point and drool" pseudo-programming in favour of javascript [pseudo-programming]. Jamagic and TGF are available from clickteam.com
*nod* - one of the machine labs in the compsci dept at the University of Reading (where I bunk off in the name of education) is full of dell inspiron desktops with win2k on (some dualboot redhat, which is nice), each with a 98SE soul-sale-sticker attached, indicating the sort of bi-directional wallet wrestling that norwoodites mentions.
Although the IMEI backend stuff has the potential to hard-tie handsets (identified by the IMEI number) to SIM cards (SIM=Subscriber Identity Module, which makes the phone "yours"), that isn't in use in the UK.
Typically a new phone+SIM package will see the phone set to only work with SIM cards from the network operator that your phone came from. This is simply because the cost of the handset is subsidised by your contract (for contract-bound deals), you do not own the phone until you've been with them for a year. My pre-pay phone from Virgin Mobile is network-locked, but as I've spent at least £30 on calls they'll unlock it for me for free if I ask.
In summary, there is no good reason to change a GSM phone's IMEI (as has been stated to death).
it's not about theft of service, the moment the mugger gets round the corner, they chuck your SIM card away because the network will block it. But they've still got the handset, which has resale value once the IMEI's been changed (and any network locks removed, which is of itself pretty innocuous).
This new law enables the govt. to come down hard on the people facilitating the resale of the stolen phones (i.e. by changing their IMEIs).
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naah, because bonzibuddy could sue them for look+feel copyright infringement :D
The article is over-hyped (more than is usual for The Register) - it's not necessary to download WMP9beta to play the "limited" media files, it just offers you that as the default download if you're lacking WMP or are too far out-of-date.
On WinXP with the default version of WMP (8.1 or something like that), I had to go online and pick up a license file for each track (and fill in a form on a pop-up window for the first one, giving them a BS name and address). There was no super-clever Secure Audio Path stuff when playing back the files on WMP8 and it didn't seem to notice I was ripping the stream to disk with TotalRecorder for later mp3-encoding!
(to their credit, the audio files on the CD are 192kbit WMA which does sound pretty damn good, even after MP3ing)
And we're supposed to pay the slightest sensible attention to an AC who seems to honestly believe that "cancerogenous" is a real word? That's just as bad as the mentions of "meativores" in Jurassic Park.
kind of a "look but don't touchscreen"? ;o)
especially not flickery low-bandwidth black and white ones :o)
I can't remember which book but the idea has been raised (probably more than once) that it was the killing attempt on Harry by Voldemort which "connected" them (conveniant "potter-sense tingling" curse scar pains, etc.), rather than being related.
If any cheesy family ties are to be found, I'd expect Harry to be a descendant of Godric Griffindor (his parents used to live in Godric's Hollow, remember...).
That was Jeremy Clarkson - motoring journalist and crushing bore. Craig Charles is a much more suitable presenter for it as he can inject the kind of neon-lit manic enthusiasm that the Robot Wars format demands.
A generic "me-too" - admittedly I'm not currently running linux (I'll try the latest Mandrake when I've got more HDD space to spare), but it's a very nice printer and the WinXP drivers are just fine.
/.ers should hit dabs.com where it's available for £100 including VAT (it's on their front page). Replacement toner carts look to be about £40 for it (also from Dabs), which for estimated 2500 sheets (at the usual 5% coverage I think) isn't too extortionate.
UK
I bought a set of Revelators on their own before Elsa went out of business, and now I've got a GF4 and suitable new drivers they're working again in "bitchin' high framerate 3d" kind of way. Works in any opengl or direct3d game under windows - getting railed has never been so personal.
Believe me, we've been pestering FL for ogg support for the nexII for ages, and they also read the yahoogroup and are aware of what we'd like :-)
Why not? What's so threatening to the chinese government about Marlon Brando look-alikes? :P
Permission to make oblique "Being John Malkovich" reference? ;-)
"I refuse to prove that I exist", says god, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"Aaah, but what about the gecko^H^H^H^H^H babel fish?", says Man. "That's a dead giveaway isn't it."
"Oh dear", says God, and vanishes in a puff of logic.
For his next trick, Man proves black equals right and gets run over on the next zebra crossing.
This has been your weekly H2G2 quote.
I know it's not exactly the same thing, but the same sort of "don't even think about trying to exercise fair-use" is still there in the EUCD.
Newsflash, the UK tv license fee "only" funds the BBC (2 terrestrial channels, 5 national radio stations, endless local ones, a 24-hour news channel on c/s/dtt, etc.). The other 2.5 terrestrial channels (ITV, Channel4 and the excrable Channel 5) run ads, as do pretty much all of the extra channels on cable/satellite/dtt.
then they just hack your brainstem so you can't speak english anymore, only their DRM-speak, and they're sorted
wanted, 1 copy of Nam-Shub of Enki for WindowsXP
The NexII can be fussy about the CF cards you feed it - branded ones are a good idea. Don't be tempted to flash it up to the 1.42 firmware unless you actually NEED to - Frontier Labs pulled it from their site for a damn good reason (namely that it bites). Stick with 1.4 or thereabouts.
Also note that the current versions of the NexII firmware will list and play back mp3s/WMAs in the order they were written to the CF card, so copy them in the "right" order - if you're a Windows addict, my little utility called copynex will copy files across in sensible order - I'm assuming linux users can figure out their own solution (shell/perl scripting, rewriting their OS to copy files in the desired order, etc.) ;-)
IMHO, "cachedot" would be far better :o)
klik'n'create (and its little brother klik'n'play) grew up to become The Games Factory (very similar to KnP). There's a new nifty-looking 3D one from the same people called Jamagic, which abandons KnP/TGFs "point and drool" pseudo-programming in favour of javascript [pseudo-programming]. Jamagic and TGF are available from clickteam.com
*nod* - one of the machine labs in the compsci dept at the University of Reading (where I bunk off in the name of education) is full of dell inspiron desktops with win2k on (some dualboot redhat, which is nice), each with a 98SE soul-sale-sticker attached, indicating the sort of bi-directional wallet wrestling that norwoodites mentions.
The RIAA expect to make revenue by their usual tactics. They don't give a flying fuck about anyone else making money (especially not the artists).
it didn't - he's got enough karma to post at 2 instead of one (as do I, but I don't use the score +1 bonus unless I'm being interesting)
Oh, great, licenses in Greek, that's all we need :P
Typically a new phone+SIM package will see the phone set to only work with SIM cards from the network operator that your phone came from. This is simply because the cost of the handset is subsidised by your contract (for contract-bound deals), you do not own the phone until you've been with them for a year. My pre-pay phone from Virgin Mobile is network-locked, but as I've spent at least £30 on calls they'll unlock it for me for free if I ask.
In summary, there is no good reason to change a GSM phone's IMEI (as has been stated to death).
This new law enables the govt. to come down hard on the people facilitating the resale of the stolen phones (i.e. by changing their IMEIs).