Google has great results but they've always been severely lacking in the GUI. This is more useful than one might expect as it suggests alternative related searches, the ability to bookmark several results for later perusal, variable thumbnail sizes for image search, and much more. Check out live.com or ask.com for examples. The live.com image search is particularly impressive - far better than Google's.
There are dozens and dozens of search engines out there and many of them simply harness Google's indices, presented in new ways. Google keeps on improving their algorithms, but at the end of the day does it really matter whether you're presented 300 or 300,000 results for your query?
Google's served me very well over the years and I've preferred it because of the non-intrusive ads (that can be blocked with AdBlock and CustomizeGoogle). If, for some reason, I cannot block or opt-out of these Flash ads, then that will mark my permanent departure from Google.
Upstart that I am, I brought the following books with me on my honeymoon to Amsterdam:
The Art of Intrusion - Kevin Mitnick
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
2600 Magazine
I was reading a 2600 article about breaking into secure and staff-only areas in an airport while waiting at the gate to board my flight. I was given no trouble with my reading materials whatsoever.
Truth be told, we were given more grief at customs regarding the wax-encased gouda in our suitcase than the bubblewrapped bong in my carry on.
Not everyone's doing it. I got fed up with the system access fee, amongst many many other ordeals, which is why I switched to Virgin Mobile. They use Bell's cellular towers, yet somehow they do not charge their customers any system access fee. My $25/month plan really does cost $25/month! I won't go into the sales pitch of how very much I get for those $25, but if you're interested check out www.virginmobile.ca for details. I just love 'em!
For what it's worth, Microsoft historically has been really cool about end-users unwittingly purchasing fraudulent licenses. If you're willing to tell them from whom you bought your software they'll issue you a legit key free of charge.
Corporate editions of Vista require a local activation server now. I don't know whether they authenticate with Microsoft as well, but they're not considered authentic unless they activate within the organization. Your tactic won't work.
I actually experienced a problem with Miranda that prevented me from connecting properly. Even the people on the forums couldn't help. Out of the blue I tried downloading the latest alpha build and, lo and behold, it worked better than ever before! So I've been happily using the alpha ever since. The auto updater even works perfectly so I get the latest bugfixes, not that I've found ANY in this alpha. I'm in awe of the Miranda coding team.
I used Foxit for a while but switched back to Adobe Reader recently. My reason was really trivial too. I hated how Foxit, unlike most other Windows document readers, didn't support Ctrl-mousewheel to zoom in and out. When you do that in Adobe it zooms in to where your cursor is pointing. Considering how stupid the idea of reading a PDF on a monitor is, I have to zoom in and out of most PDFs to make them legible at different levels.
The latest Adobe Reader loads much more quickly than previous iterations. If you're having any headaches with Foxit I recommend checking it out. If not, then by all means stick with Foxit as it's super speedy and perfectly functional for most people.
I don't use it anymore (I now use Gmail Notifier instead) but for a long time I enjoyed using ePrompter, a taskbar email checker and lightweight email client.
You can set up as many as 8 email addresses, each with its own colour. When you receive an email the taskbar icon turns the colour of the respective email address and displays a number. If more than one email address receives mail the icon alternates colours. Double-clicking the tray icon brings up the small main screen which shows each account and the number of emails. You can open an account, read the email, and reply with the very streamlined and simple client. HTML email isn't supported so it's a great first line of defence against spam.
The program is freeware. It used to be ad-supported but they've since removed the ads.
If you use Windows I cannot sufficiently recommend Miranda IM. It's very lightweight (3MB download, 8MB RAM active) multi-IM client. You might call it the Foobar of Windows IM clients. It's got a fantastic community writing plugins and providing support on the official forums. The plugins are really numerous and cool too - Skype APIs, LCD display functionality, log analyzers, IM platform add-ons, out-of-office automators, a Windows uptime util, and hundreds more. It's also got great multinational localizations.
I switched to Miranda from GAIM (which I switched to from Trillian) and I haven't regretted it for one moment. It's very snappy and responsive, it automatically resizes vertically depending on how many contacts are online, it appears and disappears with a single click of the tray icon, it auto-updates the base program as well as the plugins... I could go on and on.
There's no multiplayer in this version of Far Cry either. These aren't the original boxed versions with ads tacked on - they're less functional and less compatible, intended for American Windows users only.
I agree 100% that this is an exciting move in the right direction, and a risky venture by Ubisoft. I have huge respect for them for trying this. Like all advertisers I suspect advertisers will experiment, trying to find the most annoying thing they can get away with without scaring off the customer. I hope this venture works in the long run, but not as-is. For instance, I'd rather watch 60 seconds of commercials before the game starts then be forced to think about hamburgers while I'm trying to save a princess.
I tried Prince of Persia: Sands of Time a few days ago and just couldn't stomach the ads. The banners in the menus are tolerable but there's an animated McDonalds ad - ONE ad - that plays over and over. It's just obnoxious. I gave up after about 2 levels. If this is what I can expect in the future then I'd sooner replay a game I own than play a new ad-supported game.
I know you're just trying to be smarmy, but you might be more correct than you know. Microsoft Flight Simulator 9 was set to be released shortly after 9/11 2001, but they pulled the master from manufacturing and took the World Trade Center in NYC out of the game before releasing it to stores. Pretty lame.
The day I got FSX I marvelled at the gorgeous aircraft modelling and amazing 3D cockpit, but immediately searched the web for some kind of a Google Earth graphics modification. Everything just looked so brown (at about 3/4 detail). As you say, with a relatively small bit of work to add things like, say text-based ATC, maybe some FSX-style missions, and external aircraft control, I could see myself spending a lot of time futzing around with this little toy.
Monster really did shrug off this attack. They haven't responded to my email about whether my data was comprimised. All I got was an email saying that their databases had been breeched, followed by instructions on how *I* should surf the web safely. One of their recommendations was to contact companies by telephone instead of the web.
Point taken, and you are correct. I have an unqualified hunch that the MPAA wasn't presented with the option of buying those emails - rather, they commissioned someone.
I never alluded to a class-based legal divide, and I don't really understand your conclusions. So the MPAA didn't use TorrentSpy's private emails for a subsequent illegal act... does that mean I can steal a gun from your locked house as long as I only use it for target practise? Or photocopy your diary as long as I don't publish it? Is breaking and entering forgiven if the end result is benign?
Didn't O.J. Simpson get acquitted because evidence was improperly obtained? I think methodology is more important than you claim.
Don't oversimplify by calling him a crazy fuck. Read some of the materials linked in the description. Having read them myself I really pity Cho. He was socially awkward, moved to America from his native Korea, had no friends, and was devastated when his novel was rejected for publication. He voluntarily participated in psychological examinations and various modes of therapy many times. He lost his only confidant when his older sister left for university. He longed to be normal but spent so much time alone that he didn't have the benefit of society correcting his little inappropriate expressions.
I'm not justifying what he did, and of course I empathize much more with the victims and their families, but Cho's story is sad, not infuriating. No human being is "just" anything. If everyone shared that willful ignorance mankind would have no will to learn about its own nature.
I read many of the documents on the Cho repository last night so I can't recall which had this quote, but one of his former roommates said that it was conspicuous that Cho played no video games at all whereas most university students did. This proves nothing but is a possible argument in favour of video games as a way to relieve stress. Of course, Cho had a very abnormal personality so he's hardly a baseline upon which to formulate opinions of average people.
Aside, these documents are a fascinating read. If you're interested in psychology, security, forensics, or criminology you will find much interesting material here.
A few weeks ago there was a story on Slashdot reporting that Microsoft would be selling its operating systems at a vastly reduced price in China to make genuine software a more attractive purchase versus inexpensive pirated copies. Piracy is the consumer's way of telling big business that their prices are unreasonable. Kudos to HMV for figuring this out before their demise.
Slashdot Mirror
Google has great results but they've always been severely lacking in the GUI. This is more useful than one might expect as it suggests alternative related searches, the ability to bookmark several results for later perusal, variable thumbnail sizes for image search, and much more. Check out live.com or ask.com for examples. The live.com image search is particularly impressive - far better than Google's.
There are dozens and dozens of search engines out there and many of them simply harness Google's indices, presented in new ways. Google keeps on improving their algorithms, but at the end of the day does it really matter whether you're presented 300 or 300,000 results for your query?
Google's served me very well over the years and I've preferred it because of the non-intrusive ads (that can be blocked with AdBlock and CustomizeGoogle). If, for some reason, I cannot block or opt-out of these Flash ads, then that will mark my permanent departure from Google.
I was reading a 2600 article about breaking into secure and staff-only areas in an airport while waiting at the gate to board my flight. I was given no trouble with my reading materials whatsoever.
Truth be told, we were given more grief at customs regarding the wax-encased gouda in our suitcase than the bubblewrapped bong in my carry on.
Not everyone's doing it. I got fed up with the system access fee, amongst many many other ordeals, which is why I switched to Virgin Mobile. They use Bell's cellular towers, yet somehow they do not charge their customers any system access fee. My $25/month plan really does cost $25/month! I won't go into the sales pitch of how very much I get for those $25, but if you're interested check out www.virginmobile.ca for details. I just love 'em!
Thanks so much for sharing this link! Some fascinating stuff in there! A few lols at MediaDefender's low opinion of Digg users!
For what it's worth, Microsoft historically has been really cool about end-users unwittingly purchasing fraudulent licenses. If you're willing to tell them from whom you bought your software they'll issue you a legit key free of charge.
Corporate editions of Vista require a local activation server now. I don't know whether they authenticate with Microsoft as well, but they're not considered authentic unless they activate within the organization. Your tactic won't work.
I actually experienced a problem with Miranda that prevented me from connecting properly. Even the people on the forums couldn't help. Out of the blue I tried downloading the latest alpha build and, lo and behold, it worked better than ever before! So I've been happily using the alpha ever since. The auto updater even works perfectly so I get the latest bugfixes, not that I've found ANY in this alpha. I'm in awe of the Miranda coding team.
No audio or video to my knowledge. It's a really lightweight client. Whenever I need voice chat I use the Gtalk client.
I used Foxit for a while but switched back to Adobe Reader recently. My reason was really trivial too. I hated how Foxit, unlike most other Windows document readers, didn't support Ctrl-mousewheel to zoom in and out. When you do that in Adobe it zooms in to where your cursor is pointing. Considering how stupid the idea of reading a PDF on a monitor is, I have to zoom in and out of most PDFs to make them legible at different levels.
The latest Adobe Reader loads much more quickly than previous iterations. If you're having any headaches with Foxit I recommend checking it out. If not, then by all means stick with Foxit as it's super speedy and perfectly functional for most people.
I don't use it anymore (I now use Gmail Notifier instead) but for a long time I enjoyed using ePrompter, a taskbar email checker and lightweight email client.
You can set up as many as 8 email addresses, each with its own colour. When you receive an email the taskbar icon turns the colour of the respective email address and displays a number. If more than one email address receives mail the icon alternates colours. Double-clicking the tray icon brings up the small main screen which shows each account and the number of emails. You can open an account, read the email, and reply with the very streamlined and simple client. HTML email isn't supported so it's a great first line of defence against spam.
The program is freeware. It used to be ad-supported but they've since removed the ads.
http://www.eprompter.com/
If you use Windows I cannot sufficiently recommend Miranda IM. It's very lightweight (3MB download, 8MB RAM active) multi-IM client. You might call it the Foobar of Windows IM clients. It's got a fantastic community writing plugins and providing support on the official forums. The plugins are really numerous and cool too - Skype APIs, LCD display functionality, log analyzers, IM platform add-ons, out-of-office automators, a Windows uptime util, and hundreds more. It's also got great multinational localizations.
I switched to Miranda from GAIM (which I switched to from Trillian) and I haven't regretted it for one moment. It's very snappy and responsive, it automatically resizes vertically depending on how many contacts are online, it appears and disappears with a single click of the tray icon, it auto-updates the base program as well as the plugins... I could go on and on.
Give it a try. It's free! http://www.miranda-im.org/
There's no multiplayer in this version of Far Cry either. These aren't the original boxed versions with ads tacked on - they're less functional and less compatible, intended for American Windows users only.
I agree 100% that this is an exciting move in the right direction, and a risky venture by Ubisoft. I have huge respect for them for trying this. Like all advertisers I suspect advertisers will experiment, trying to find the most annoying thing they can get away with without scaring off the customer. I hope this venture works in the long run, but not as-is. For instance, I'd rather watch 60 seconds of commercials before the game starts then be forced to think about hamburgers while I'm trying to save a princess.
I tried Prince of Persia: Sands of Time a few days ago and just couldn't stomach the ads. The banners in the menus are tolerable but there's an animated McDonalds ad - ONE ad - that plays over and over. It's just obnoxious. I gave up after about 2 levels. If this is what I can expect in the future then I'd sooner replay a game I own than play a new ad-supported game.
I know you're just trying to be smarmy, but you might be more correct than you know. Microsoft Flight Simulator 9 was set to be released shortly after 9/11 2001, but they pulled the master from manufacturing and took the World Trade Center in NYC out of the game before releasing it to stores. Pretty lame.
On Windows I had to click the map area before CTRL-ALT-A worked for me.
The day I got FSX I marvelled at the gorgeous aircraft modelling and amazing 3D cockpit, but immediately searched the web for some kind of a Google Earth graphics modification. Everything just looked so brown (at about 3/4 detail). As you say, with a relatively small bit of work to add things like, say text-based ATC, maybe some FSX-style missions, and external aircraft control, I could see myself spending a lot of time futzing around with this little toy.
Monster really did shrug off this attack. They haven't responded to my email about whether my data was comprimised. All I got was an email saying that their databases had been breeched, followed by instructions on how *I* should surf the web safely. One of their recommendations was to contact companies by telephone instead of the web.
Point taken, and you are correct. I have an unqualified hunch that the MPAA wasn't presented with the option of buying those emails - rather, they commissioned someone.
I never alluded to a class-based legal divide, and I don't really understand your conclusions. So the MPAA didn't use TorrentSpy's private emails for a subsequent illegal act... does that mean I can steal a gun from your locked house as long as I only use it for target practise? Or photocopy your diary as long as I don't publish it? Is breaking and entering forgiven if the end result is benign?
Didn't O.J. Simpson get acquitted because evidence was improperly obtained? I think methodology is more important than you claim.
So, according to US law, it's illegal to hack into someone's computer to read their private data but it's legal to pay someone else to do it?
.torrent files that are not themselves infringing is being called into question?
Yet the legality of hosting a site hosting
This seems very inconsistent to me. Is it or is it not legal to act as a proxy to potentially illegal material?
Don't oversimplify by calling him a crazy fuck. Read some of the materials linked in the description. Having read them myself I really pity Cho. He was socially awkward, moved to America from his native Korea, had no friends, and was devastated when his novel was rejected for publication. He voluntarily participated in psychological examinations and various modes of therapy many times. He lost his only confidant when his older sister left for university. He longed to be normal but spent so much time alone that he didn't have the benefit of society correcting his little inappropriate expressions.
I'm not justifying what he did, and of course I empathize much more with the victims and their families, but Cho's story is sad, not infuriating. No human being is "just" anything. If everyone shared that willful ignorance mankind would have no will to learn about its own nature.
I read many of the documents on the Cho repository last night so I can't recall which had this quote, but one of his former roommates said that it was conspicuous that Cho played no video games at all whereas most university students did. This proves nothing but is a possible argument in favour of video games as a way to relieve stress. Of course, Cho had a very abnormal personality so he's hardly a baseline upon which to formulate opinions of average people.
Aside, these documents are a fascinating read. If you're interested in psychology, security, forensics, or criminology you will find much interesting material here.
A few weeks ago there was a story on Slashdot reporting that Microsoft would be selling its operating systems at a vastly reduced price in China to make genuine software a more attractive purchase versus inexpensive pirated copies. Piracy is the consumer's way of telling big business that their prices are unreasonable. Kudos to HMV for figuring this out before their demise.