I posted this on another forum this afternoon.. Though I should paste it here as well..
----
So, after doing some reading, I learned that our government is back at the Copyright Reform table yet again trying to pass a bill very similar in nature to America's DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).
The long and short of it is if this is passed we're going to lose a lot of the freedoms we enjoy with our media today. I suggest you read the proposed changes at the following website:
http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/h_rp01157e.html - Recap version
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3570473&Mode=1&Language=E&File=48 - Entire bill
Once you've done so, I'm going to bet that you will be angry that our government would heavily favor the big media corporations so heavily in this bill while taking away the rights that we currently enjoy like copying a DVD we own for personal use, etc. I strongly advise you write your MP if you do not support this bill after reading about it. If you need to know who that is or find their contact info, visit the following website:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
The following is the letter I've written. You can feel free to send it, or come up with your own. But I urge you to do something and make your voices heard if you do not support this bill.
-------
Greetings,
I am usually not one to make waves when it comes to political issues, however this one effects me personally and just about every technology using Canadian. After reading through the "Copyright Reform Process - Fact Sheets" (http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/h_rp01157e.html) I have several issues with your proposals. Below I am going to go through each section of the "Fact Sheet" and state my issues with them.
With regards to Format Shifting (http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/rp01158e.html):
"With respect to audiovisual material such as films, the format-shifting provision would apply only to videocassettes and would not allow you to make copies of material stored on other media, such as DVDs."
This scares me. Looking at this statement, if I understand it correctly, and taking it for face value means that I could not take a DVD that I have purchased and put it on my iPod or other digital media players without breaking the law. It would mean that I'd have to purchase another copy of said film (that I had already purchased on DVD) for the media player of my choice. Having to buy the same thing multiple times does not bode well with me. I work hard for what I own, and do not believe that the laws of this country should dictate how I use it.
"You could not circumvent or hack a technological measure (digital lock) to make a copy."
This is 100% flawed. 99.9% of commercially produced DVDs have a digital protection on them called CSS and an increasing number of audio discs have content protection on them as well. If I wanted to make a backup of media that I own, that means that I would have to break some kind of Digital Rights Management (DRM) to do so, thus making me a criminal under the law.
With regards to the Private Copying Of Music (http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/rp01160e.html):
On this page, you mention:
"What could be copied? -- You could make a copy of music you have accessed legally onto devices you own and onto media to use with these devices. However, you could not copy music you have borrowed or rented."
Further down the page you mention:
"You could not circumvent or hack a technological measure (digital lock) to make the copy."
I'm looking at the last ten CDs I've purchased and eight of them mention they have some form of anti-piracy measures on them. So, ev
Well, I was doing the exact same thing having a desktop PC hooked up to the LCD TV and using an ATi Remote Wonder II to control it from the couch, but felt the experience was less than satisfactory compared to say a dedicated gaming console. So, now I have my xbox 360 for gaming and have MythTV still on the PC. The thing I really like is that with the MythGame plugin I can do all my retro console / mame stuff from the MythTV interface with a remote + gamepad and have the xbox for the heavy duty games that require a lot more power than my media PC can provide.
However, if you don't wanna even consider the console route check out the following PC gear to make for a much nicer experience.:
-Microsoft xbox 360 Wireless Gaming controller (works very well with the "Games For Windows" branded games)
-OR-
-Logitech RumblePad 2 gamepad. (it's also wireless but requires hacks to use in some games)
-ATi Remote Wonder II (works as a remote and doubles as a mouse)
As far as games go, before I got my 360, I was playing Guitar Hero III a lot on the PC, but it only ran above average on my E6600 @ 2.8GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM. Multiplayer on Hard and Expert settings was difficult as the game would sometimes become choppy and lag during gameplay. I don't experience this on the 360. (Thanks for the craptacular port, Aspyr.) I was also playing a bit of Sins Of A Solar Empire. Its an RTS game which I believe I read was off-limits, but it's good none the less. There's also the whole range of EA Sports games which work natively with the Logitech Rumblepad 2. Lastly, I love ToCA Race Driver III. It's the best racing game on PC.
Those are my recommendations. Take them for what they're worth..
That must be why I'm so confused when I'm computing... My laptop is a Thinkpad T40, and well... The picture says it all... http://www.wpyouth.com/IMG_03972.jpg
In my case the web has already replaced my cable/satellite services. I torrent pretty much everything and watch it on my TV which is hooked up to a PC. As far as web only stuff, I started watching the CTRL-ALT-DEL series. It's not that great.
Having done several years of helpdesk myself (before moving on to greener pastures as a graphic designer), that is most certainly true.. However, the IT Crowd certainly made it funny:P
Or looking into DVB-S. That's what im doing and I love it! DVB-C stuff may come into play here too for you.
All Hauppauge stuff has great Linux support. (as im sure you already know...)
MythTV, man.. MythTV...
I have a triple tuner DVB-S setup and have recorded the NHL games of interest to me this season. I archive everything to DVD when its done recording.... Maybe something you should look into!
Ive been running Mac OS X on my generic hardware since somewhere in early 2006. I felt it was a much more cost effective way to replace my aging DA PowerMac. I mean sure, I have to rip apart dot releases with Pacifist to install them but, bricking my machine? Hardly. Worst case scenario, I boot with -s flag and repair whatever files need repairing.
Actually, after a while you kinda forget your not running Apple hardware.
Even if vinyl does make a comeback, I don't think it will disrupt either CDs or other digital media services. I think it will be the select group of vinyl maniacs, like myself.. I stopped buying cds a LONG time ago and got back into vinyl because the sounds are so much softer. However paying $30 per vinyl (or there about) really sucks. But Hopefully things make a comeback and I can get my media on my prefered format cheaper.
Thats what I think..
Yes! I am a Canadian HP Tech support agent at site 78!!
We do have some really good agents, but there are a lot that just dont know anything. I dont work from cue cards (because i actually know what im talking about) and will get things done if you called in and were lucky enough to reach me.
Dont knock all the agents you talk to, there are some of us that actually know what were doing and want to help.
I just reinstalled OS X recently and this is what i did first.. I dont know why i did it this way but here goes.
*X-Chat Aqua: Everyone needs IRC.
*iLife 04': Getting iTunes upgraded is a good thing.
*Mac Janitor: Keeps my system tidy.
*aMSN: Dont flame... But its a nice lightweight chat client and my girlfriend uses it too.. (and atleast its not the Microsoft client...)
*Remote Desktop Connection: This is a way better solution than VPC... Just get a cheap x86 machine and slap windows xp on it and remote access it! Very handy for doing those windows tasks that need to be done. Also handy for fixing parents computer from across the counrty.
*Fink: as mentioned above.
*VLC: Simple media player.. good alternitive to WMP on the mac.
*Firefox: Safari is cool, but as said above, its a young pup yet.
*BitTorrent: Excelent P2P software
*Stuff-it Deluxe: A no brainer archiving tool. its good stuff
I guess thats the first 10 things i installed. Theres more.. but thats just the first 10.
This is my outlook on it. On my Mac I can remove Quicktime and my machine will run fine. The program is not intergrated throughout the OS. With Windows however, WMP is intergrated throughout the OS making it impossible to remove. This is what the ruling whas targeting when they have MS remove it from Windows. They are giving users the choice to run or not run WMP now.
An interesting concept coupled with all the bad parts that were exposed and its a wonder why no one wanted to use it. I use it myself with messenger service, but thats about it. I would not trust the security of my website/webapp to Microsoft.
Im by no means gifted, but had social problems due to the way i was brought up and whe way i just didnt interact with society. I played hockey and other team sports but i was quite introverted and would never make any friends. The thing is to get him to do something really out of his or her element. Make them feel uncomfortable (within reason) and get him or her to learn to cope. What really changed me was a drama course. Get them to do something that would express their inner feelings with other and see how other people are. Once they get comfortable with a certant crowd other than gifted people it becomes easier to express feeling. Get them to the point where tehy realize that there is more to life than work and learning. If they are of age, take them out to a pub night or something.
All i know is that at the moment im tired and my thoughts are all over the place. I guess what im trying to say is get them out of their element. Make them feel a little uncomfortable. If they are truly gifted, their desire to learn will take over and one would imagine that they would try and figure out how social interaction works.
Once again, please excuse the random strung together thoughts.
I got my fist mac a few weeks ago and the first thing I did was ditch IE for Mozilla. If you've ever used IE on a mac its the biggest piece of trash ever. So instead of M$ putting resources towards fixing their crappy software they're ditching it.
Long live Mozilla and Safari!
Slashdot Mirror
I posted this on another forum this afternoon.. Though I should paste it here as well.. ---- So, after doing some reading, I learned that our government is back at the Copyright Reform table yet again trying to pass a bill very similar in nature to America's DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). The long and short of it is if this is passed we're going to lose a lot of the freedoms we enjoy with our media today. I suggest you read the proposed changes at the following website: http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/h_rp01157e.html - Recap version http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3570473&Mode=1&Language=E&File=48 - Entire bill Once you've done so, I'm going to bet that you will be angry that our government would heavily favor the big media corporations so heavily in this bill while taking away the rights that we currently enjoy like copying a DVD we own for personal use, etc. I strongly advise you write your MP if you do not support this bill after reading about it. If you need to know who that is or find their contact info, visit the following website: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC The following is the letter I've written. You can feel free to send it, or come up with your own. But I urge you to do something and make your voices heard if you do not support this bill. ------- Greetings, I am usually not one to make waves when it comes to political issues, however this one effects me personally and just about every technology using Canadian. After reading through the "Copyright Reform Process - Fact Sheets" (http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/h_rp01157e.html) I have several issues with your proposals. Below I am going to go through each section of the "Fact Sheet" and state my issues with them. With regards to Format Shifting (http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/rp01158e.html): "With respect to audiovisual material such as films, the format-shifting provision would apply only to videocassettes and would not allow you to make copies of material stored on other media, such as DVDs." This scares me. Looking at this statement, if I understand it correctly, and taking it for face value means that I could not take a DVD that I have purchased and put it on my iPod or other digital media players without breaking the law. It would mean that I'd have to purchase another copy of said film (that I had already purchased on DVD) for the media player of my choice. Having to buy the same thing multiple times does not bode well with me. I work hard for what I own, and do not believe that the laws of this country should dictate how I use it. "You could not circumvent or hack a technological measure (digital lock) to make a copy." This is 100% flawed. 99.9% of commercially produced DVDs have a digital protection on them called CSS and an increasing number of audio discs have content protection on them as well. If I wanted to make a backup of media that I own, that means that I would have to break some kind of Digital Rights Management (DRM) to do so, thus making me a criminal under the law. With regards to the Private Copying Of Music (http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/rp01160e.html): On this page, you mention: "What could be copied? -- You could make a copy of music you have accessed legally onto devices you own and onto media to use with these devices. However, you could not copy music you have borrowed or rented." Further down the page you mention: "You could not circumvent or hack a technological measure (digital lock) to make the copy." I'm looking at the last ten CDs I've purchased and eight of them mention they have some form of anti-piracy measures on them. So, ev
Well, I was doing the exact same thing having a desktop PC hooked up to the LCD TV and using an ATi Remote Wonder II to control it from the couch, but felt the experience was less than satisfactory compared to say a dedicated gaming console. So, now I have my xbox 360 for gaming and have MythTV still on the PC. The thing I really like is that with the MythGame plugin I can do all my retro console / mame stuff from the MythTV interface with a remote + gamepad and have the xbox for the heavy duty games that require a lot more power than my media PC can provide.
However, if you don't wanna even consider the console route check out the following PC gear to make for a much nicer experience.:
-Microsoft xbox 360 Wireless Gaming controller (works very well with the "Games For Windows" branded games)
-OR-
-Logitech RumblePad 2 gamepad. (it's also wireless but requires hacks to use in some games)
-ATi Remote Wonder II (works as a remote and doubles as a mouse)
As far as games go, before I got my 360, I was playing Guitar Hero III a lot on the PC, but it only ran above average on my E6600 @ 2.8GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM. Multiplayer on Hard and Expert settings was difficult as the game would sometimes become choppy and lag during gameplay. I don't experience this on the 360. (Thanks for the craptacular port, Aspyr.)
I was also playing a bit of Sins Of A Solar Empire. Its an RTS game which I believe I read was off-limits, but it's good none the less. There's also the whole range of EA Sports games which work natively with the Logitech Rumblepad 2. Lastly, I love ToCA Race Driver III. It's the best racing game on PC.
Those are my recommendations. Take them for what they're worth..
That must be why I'm so confused when I'm computing... My laptop is a Thinkpad T40, and well... The picture says it all...
http://www.wpyouth.com/IMG_03972.jpg
Our law men (and women) keep trying to get DMCA style law on the books here but we Canucks keep bitchslapping it down.
http://www.faircopyrightforcanada.ca/
In my case the web has already replaced my cable/satellite services. I torrent pretty much everything and watch it on my TV which is hooked up to a PC.
As far as web only stuff, I started watching the CTRL-ALT-DEL series. It's not that great.
Having done several years of helpdesk myself (before moving on to greener pastures as a graphic designer), that is most certainly true.. However, the IT Crowd certainly made it funny :P
Is that an I.T. Crowd reference I smell?! Bravo!
Or looking into DVB-S. That's what im doing and I love it! DVB-C stuff may come into play here too for you.
All Hauppauge stuff has great Linux support. (as im sure you already know...)
MythTV, man.. MythTV... I have a triple tuner DVB-S setup and have recorded the NHL games of interest to me this season. I archive everything to DVD when its done recording. ... Maybe something you should look into!
Ive been running Mac OS X on my generic hardware since somewhere in early 2006. I felt it was a much more cost effective way to replace my aging DA PowerMac. I mean sure, I have to rip apart dot releases with Pacifist to install them but, bricking my machine? Hardly. Worst case scenario, I boot with -s flag and repair whatever files need repairing. Actually, after a while you kinda forget your not running Apple hardware.
Even if vinyl does make a comeback, I don't think it will disrupt either CDs or other digital media services. I think it will be the select group of vinyl maniacs, like myself.. I stopped buying cds a LONG time ago and got back into vinyl because the sounds are so much softer. However paying $30 per vinyl (or there about) really sucks. But Hopefully things make a comeback and I can get my media on my prefered format cheaper. Thats what I think..
That all depends on how you go about obtaining said sex...
Yes! I am a Canadian HP Tech support agent at site 78!!
We do have some really good agents, but there are a lot that just dont know anything. I dont work from cue cards (because i actually know what im talking about) and will get things done if you called in and were lucky enough to reach me.
Dont knock all the agents you talk to, there are some of us that actually know what were doing and want to help.
I just reinstalled OS X recently and this is what i did first.. I dont know why i did it this way but here goes.
*X-Chat Aqua: Everyone needs IRC.
*iLife 04': Getting iTunes upgraded is a good thing.
*Mac Janitor: Keeps my system tidy.
*aMSN: Dont flame... But its a nice lightweight chat client and my girlfriend uses it too.. (and atleast its not the Microsoft client...)
*Remote Desktop Connection: This is a way better solution than VPC... Just get a cheap x86 machine and slap windows xp on it and remote access it! Very handy for doing those windows tasks that need to be done. Also handy for fixing parents computer from across the counrty.
*Fink: as mentioned above.
*VLC: Simple media player.. good alternitive to WMP on the mac.
*Firefox: Safari is cool, but as said above, its a young pup yet.
*BitTorrent: Excelent P2P software
*Stuff-it Deluxe: A no brainer archiving tool. its good stuff
I guess thats the first 10 things i installed. Theres more.. but thats just the first 10.
One year ago today was the day I "switched" and picked up my brand spankin new iBook :)
Wierd... Don't you think?
This is my outlook on it. On my Mac I can remove Quicktime and my machine will run fine. The program is not intergrated throughout the OS. With Windows however, WMP is intergrated throughout the OS making it impossible to remove. This is what the ruling whas targeting when they have MS remove it from Windows. They are giving users the choice to run or not run WMP now.
An interesting concept coupled with all the bad parts that were exposed and its a wonder why no one wanted to use it. I use it myself with messenger service, but thats about it. I would not trust the security of my website/webapp to Microsoft.
Why buy in the US when if your in NY for four days take a trip up to Canada and get it even cheaper! Save yourself about $100 more bucks.
Just a little sugestion.
Im by no means gifted, but had social problems due to the way i was brought up and whe way i just didnt interact with society. I played hockey and other team sports but i was quite introverted and would never make any friends. The thing is to get him to do something really out of his or her element. Make them feel uncomfortable (within reason) and get him or her to learn to cope. What really changed me was a drama course. Get them to do something that would express their inner feelings with other and see how other people are. Once they get comfortable with a certant crowd other than gifted people it becomes easier to express feeling. Get them to the point where tehy realize that there is more to life than work and learning. If they are of age, take them out to a pub night or something. All i know is that at the moment im tired and my thoughts are all over the place. I guess what im trying to say is get them out of their element. Make them feel a little uncomfortable. If they are truly gifted, their desire to learn will take over and one would imagine that they would try and figure out how social interaction works. Once again, please excuse the random strung together thoughts.
I got my fist mac a few weeks ago and the first thing I did was ditch IE for Mozilla. If you've ever used IE on a mac its the biggest piece of trash ever. So instead of M$ putting resources towards fixing their crappy software they're ditching it. Long live Mozilla and Safari!
Don't feel so bad, I just bought my iBook SEVEN days ago. But every time I buy something of any importance this always happens.
:D
Now its time to contact my vendor and see if i can get the discounted pricing!