*HOT* Tech News And Downloads, I Would Read This Thread And Post Any Good Info

hey us ohio guys finally made to number 1 at something..lol..what makes it bad is they actually have some schmuck checking for this stuff

 

GO Ohio State.

 

THE Ohio State University!!! Too busy kicking ass in football-except for BCS bowl-UGGH!

Also too busy squeeking by pitiful Big Ten teams like Penn State.

If the buckeyes don't get their head out of their a**es,Wisconsin will tear them up sunday.

Come on buckeyes-WAKE UP!!! Drink some coffee. It's almost tournament time!!!

CincyRob: How about next years crop. John Diebler,Koufos,and 3 more blue chips. If oden sticks around,that'd give us 2, 7 footers in the line-up. Diebler's leading the country with 42.6 pts a game,and that's with being double and triple teamed!!!!!!!!!

Check out JJhuddle and MaxPreps:

http://www.maxpreps.com/FanPages/Pl...thleteID-5f677d0f-f614-40ac-b424-c489dc7298d3

Last 2 games:he had the flu and still barely missed a quadruple double while scoring 28 pts.Triple teamed in the last game and still got almost got his average.

Ohio U? Look at all the trouble frank solich was in a while back. DUI and player issues.Nebraska didn't want him and he had a winning record. Plenty of spare time for Ohio U students/athletes,LOL.

 

FREE, Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 1.0 (Free)
Feb 19, 2007 - 8:26 PM - by Digital Dave
With Microsoft® Virtual PC 2007, you can create and run one or more virtual machines, each with its own operating system, on a single computer. This provides you with the flexibility to use different operating systems on one physical computer.

Major Geeks.com Post and Download


Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 1.0
Author: Microsoft
Date: 2007-02-19
Size: 31.1 Mb
License: Freeware

Save time and money as Virtual PC allows you to maintain the compatibility of legacy and custom applications during migration to new operating systems and increases the efficiency of support, development, and training staffs.

With Microsoft® Virtual PC 2007, you can create and run one or more virtual machines, each with its own operating system, on a single computer. This provides you with the flexibility to use different operating systems on one physical computer.

LINK AND DOWNLOAD
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Virtual_PC_d4101.html

 

How To: Slipstream your XP installation (Add RAID drivers and Service Pack 2)
Feb 19, 2007 - 1:12 PM - by Digital Dave
Nice article...

As always, Maximum PC is here to show you how to do it. Heck, we’ll even help you add RAID or Serial ATA controller drivers to your CD so you won’t need a floppy drive (or the F6 key) to install Windows. (Note: Service Pack 2 wasn’t available when we went to press, but it should be by the time you read this. If SP2 isn’t available, the instructions in this story will still work with SP1.)

So, how about it? Are you ready to bid your hand-washing days adieu?

maximumpc.com


How To: Slipstream your XP installation

CanFront.jpgAdd RAID drivers and Service Pack 2 to your original Windows CD!

Think of how you treat a brand-new car: You cherish and pamper it at first. You even give up your Sunday afternoons to wash and wax it by hand. Your heart skips a beat whenever you see that gleaming steel beast waiting for you in the parking lot. A newly installed version of Windows XP can inspire similar devotion. Not only do you thrill at its pristine condition but you patiently, and even eagerly downloaded all the latest patches from Windows Update so as to keep your OS shipshape.

But over time, most of us begin to take that new car—and that clean WinXP installation—for granted. As it accumulates miles and wear and tear, your erstwhile pride and joy becomes just another drain on your wallet—and your time. Hand-washing, you discover, just isn’t worth the effort anymore. In its place: a quickie car wash at the local gas station. If only there were a simple wash-and-rinse equivalent for WinXP.

Guess what? Such a thing does exist. It’s called slipstreaming—the mystical art of creating an up-to-the-minute Windows XP setup CD with all the latest patches preinstalled, so you won’t have to spend half your life on Microsoft’s Windows Update web site. As always, Maximum PC is here to show you how to do it. Heck, we’ll even help you add RAID or Serial ATA controller drivers to your CD so you won’t need a floppy drive (or the F6 key) to install Windows. (Note: Service Pack 2 wasn’t available when we went to press, but it should be by the time you read this. If SP2 isn’t available, the instructions in this story will still work with SP1.)

So, how about it? Are you ready to bid your hand-washing days adieu? Then read on…Ingredients:

· Windows XP setup CD

· Internet connection

· CD burner

· ISO Buster (www.isobuster.com)

· Nero 5.5.9.0 or newer (get the non-6.0 versions from www.oldversion.com)

Step 1: Collect the necessary files

Before getting started, we’ll need to download the full, stand-alone installation of Service Pack 2 (as opposed to performing a web-based upgrade). Go to download.microsoft.com and look under the Windows XP section or simply run Windows Update from Internet Explorer.

While you’re at it, grab the latest drivers for your RAID or Serial ATA controller. If you add them to your install CD, you won’t need to use an old-fashioned floppy drive to install Windows. For an add-in RAID or SATA card, look for the drivers on the web site of your controller chip’s manufacture. Some of the most popular controllers are made by Promise, Intel, Adaptec, and HighPoint. If your controller is integrated onto your motherboard, hit up your mobo manufacturer’s web site.

raid_card.jpg
You can roll your RAID drivers into your XP install disc by slipstreaming!


Step 2: Update your setup files

Our next objective is to extract Service Pack 2 to a folder so we can update our existing Windows setup files. Open the command prompt by clicking Start, Run, and typing cmd.exe. Use the cd (change directory) command to navigate to the folder where you just saved the SP2 executable in the previous step. (The syntax for cd is cd , so if you saved the SP2 executable to, say, C:\Downloads, you would type cd C:\Downloads to go there.) Extract the SP2 files by typing xpSP2 –x, where xpSP2 is the name of the SP2 executable you downloaded. When prompted for a destination to extract the files to, enter C:\xpSP2.

Once the files have been extracted, insert your Windows XP setup CD into an optical drive and copy its entire contents to a different folder on your hard drive. For the sake of simplicity, use C:\xpsetupcd as the folder. Now, return to the command prompt and type the following command: C:\xpSP2\i386\update\update /s:C:\xpsetupcd. This will update your existing Windows setup files with the new code contained in Service Pack 2. A message box will pop up to notify you when the process is complete.

updatewizard.jpg
Service Pack 2’s built-in updater makes it easy to patch y our original Windows setup files with Microsoft’s latest code.


Step 3: Add your RAID/SATA Drivers

We’re now ready to add RAID/SATA controller drivers to our CD (if you don’t want to do this, skip ahead to the final step). Open the folder to which you copied your Windows XP CD (C:\xpsetupcd) and create a subfolder called $OEM$. Then, create a subfolder of $OEM$ called $1 and a subfolder of $1 called drivers. The resulting path should be C:\xpsetupcd\$OEM$\$1\drivers. This is where Windows Setup will look for drivers that aren’t contained in its standard driver library. For organizational purposes, make a subfolder within drivers named for the type of driver it will contain—for instance, create a RAID folder for RAID drivers or an SATA folder for Serial ATA drivers. You can use any name, as long as it has fewer than eight characters.

With the aforementioned folder structure in place, copy the Windows XP RAID/SATA drivers directly into the folder you created above (we used C:\xpsetupcd\$OEM$\$1\drivers\RAID). If your drivers came in a self-extracting executable rather than a zip file, you may be able to extract its contents manually by opening it in a program like WinRAR. (Alternately, you can run the self-extracting executable, then dig around in your system’s TEMP directory—usually C:/documents and settings/YourUsername/LocalSettings/Temp until you find the right directory). Finally, locate the SYS file for your RAID/SATA controller from among the files you just extracted; it should be named after your specific controller (e.g. fasttx2k.sys for a Promise FastTrak TX2 RAID controller). The drivers for different operating systems may be split into distinct folders, so make sure you find the SYS file that’s intended for Windows XP. Once you find the SYS file, copy it to the i386 folder of your Windows CD (C:\xpsetupcd\i386).

drivers.jpg
Adding RAID or Serial ATA drivers to your Windows CD will save you the trouble of using a floppy disc to manually install them every time you reformat.


Step 4 – Introduce Windows to your drivers

Now that we’ve added our RAID/SATA driver files to the mix, we need to tell Windows Setup about the existence of these drivers and how to use them. But unless you happen to have this information memorized—and if you do, this might be a good time to turn off your computer and spend some time in the real world—you’ll need to look it up in your driver’s INF file. This file is usually found in the same place as the SYS file you located in the previous step and will probably have the same name, albeit with an INF extension. Open the INF file in Notepad and copy the PCI identifier string, which is a series of characters beginning with PCI\VEN—for instance, PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_3376. There may be other text on the same line as the identifier string; if this is the case, start at the first occurrence of PCI\VEN and copy the text up to but not including the last period (or the end of the line, whichever comes first).

Next, open TXTSETUP.SIF (situated in C:\xpsetupcd\i386) and paste your PCI identifier string under the [HardwareIdsDatabase] section of that file. At the end of the string, add an equal-sign followed by the driver name in quotes. In the case of our Promise RAID controller, the resulting line is: PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_3376 = “fasttx2k”. Note: If your driver’s INF file contains multiple PCI identifier strings, copy all of them into TXTSETUP.SIF.

Now scroll down to the [SourceDisksFiles] section of TXTSETUP.SIF and add the following text:

driver_filename.sys = 1,,,,,,_x,4,1

where driver_filename.sys is the name of your RAID /SATA driver’s SYS file. Note that you should include the .sys here. Then, under the [SCSI.Load] section, enter:

driver_filename = driver_filename.sys,4

Once again, driver_filename is the name of your driver’s SYS file. Note the lack of a .sys suffix on the left side of the equal-sign.

Finally, in the [SCSI] section of the file, add the following:

driver_filename = “RAID/SATA Device Name”

You can enter whatever you want for “RAID/SATA Device Name,” but we recommend using a meaningful description (such as the name of your RAID/SATA controller). Finally, save and close TXTSETUP.SIF.

pci_id.jpg
Somewhere in the depths of your RAID/SATA controller’s INF file lurks the fabled PCI identifier string.


Step 5 – Create a customized setup routine

You’re almost there. In this step, we’ll make a file called WINNT.SIF in the i386 folder of our Windows setup files (C:\xpsetupcd\i386). This file can be used to create an unattended installation routine—a subject beyond the scope of this how-to—but we’ll simply use it to point Windows to the drivers we’ve slipstreamed. Create WINNT.SIF and enter the following:

[Data]
AutoPartition=0
MsDosInitiated=”0”
UnattendedInstall=”Yes”

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=ProvideDefault
OemPreinstall=Yes
OemSkipEula=Yes
NoWaitAfterTextMode=1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode=1

WaitForReboot=”No”
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
OemPnPDriversPath=

[GuiUnattended]
OEMSkipWelcome = 1

[UserData]
ProductKey=
FullName=”“
OrgName=”“

You’ll need to customize the OemPnPDriversPath line by entering the path to the INF file for your RAID/SATA driver (for instance if your drivers are in C:\xpsetupcd\i386\$OEM$\$1\drivers\RAID use: OemPnPDriversPath=drivers\RAID\FastTrack\WinXP).

There are a few other fields you may want to customize before you close WINNT.SIF. Type your product key, name, and company name in the ProductKey, FullName, and OrgName fields respectively to avoid having to enter them during setup. And if you’d like to install Windows to a folder other than C:\WINDOWS, edit the TargetPath field as needed.

winnt_sif.jpg
WINNT.SIF is a powerful file that allows you to customize and automate many parts of the Windows installation process.


Step 6 – Prepare your bootable CD and burn it

Our next task is to extract the boot image from our original Windows XP disc so we can use it to make our slipstreamed CD bootable as well. With your original XP setup CD inserted, launch ISO Buster and select “Bootable CD” from the left pane. In the right pane, right-click Microsoft Corporation.img and choose “Extract Microsoft Corporation.img.” Extract this file to the folder where you copied your XP setup files (C:\xpsetupcd).

Fire up Nero Burning ROM (or EZ CD Creator, or any other CD burning app) and go to the New Compilation window (click “Close Wizard” if Nero’s wizard comes up). Select “CD-ROM (Boot)” from the left pane and open the Boot tab. For “Source of boot image data” choose “Image file” and use the Microsoft Corporation.img file you just extracted. Check to enable expert settings, and set “Kind of emulation” to “No emulation” and “Number of loaded sectors” to 4. (These instructions will vary if you use another application, of course.)

Next, head over to the ISO tab and set “File/Directory name length” to “ISO Level 2.” Ensure that “Format” is set to “Mode 1” and “Character Set” to “ISO 9660,” and make certain all four checkboxes on this tab are checked (“Joliet,” “Allow pathdepth of more than 8 directories,” “Allow more than 255 characters in path,” and “Do not add the ‘;1’ ISO file version extension”). Finally, click the Label tab and set the “Volume Label” field to the value used by your original Windows XP CD—this is the name that appears next to your CD-ROM drive in My Computer when your XP CD is inserted.

At this point, we’re almost ready to rock. Click the “New” button to open the Nero File Browser, and then locate the folder where you copied your Windows XP CD. Open the folder and add its entire contents to your CD image. When you’re all set, mash the “Burn” button and bask in the glory of your shiny new slipstreamed Windows XP CD, replete with RAID/SATA drivers and Service Pack 2!

nero.jpg
Make your slipstreamed Windows CD bootable by extracting the boot image from your original Windows CD and feeding it to Nero.

GO HERE TO SEE THE PIXS AND MORE INFO
http://maximumpc.com/2005/01/how_to_slipstre.html

 

Three Surgeons From Arkansas:

Three Arkansas surgeons were playing golf together and discussing
surgeries they had performed.

One of them said, "I'm the best surgeon in Arkansas . In my favorite case,
a concert pianist lost seven fingers in an accident. I reattached them and,
8 months later, he performed a private concert for the Queen of England.

The second surgeon said, "That's nothing! A young man lost an arm and both
legs in an accident. I reattached them and, 2 years later, he won a gold
medal in Track and Field events in the Olympics."
>>
The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a woman
was high on cocaine and meth and she rode a galloping horse head-on into an
18-wheeler traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the
woman's blonde hair and the horse's ass. I was able to put them together and
now she's a senator from New York

 

good one saugmon... now something i might try one of these evenings...


A businessman enters a tavern, sits down at the bar, and orders a double martini on the rocks. After he finishes the drink, he peeks inside his shirt pocket, then he orders the bartender to prepare another double martini. After he finishes that one, he again peeks inside his shirt pocket and orders the bartender to bring another double martini. The bartender says, "Look, buddy, I'll bring ya' martinis all night long. Bust you gotta tell me why you look inside your shirt pocket before you order a refill." The customer replies, "I'm peeking at a photo of my wife. When she starts to look
good, then I know it's time to go home."

 

Hollywood insider in upload scandal



p2pnet.net news:- Hollywood's main man, MPAA boss Dan Glickman, is doing his best to convince the world his employers, the immensely wealthy major studios, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney, are being ruined by file sharers who camcord movies in Montreal, Canada, and then upload them.

In his mind-bending diatribes, he always conveniently forgets to mention Hollywood insiders have starring roles in getting movies online.

Now, "A man who allegedly uploaded a copy of the film 'Flushed Away' onto the Internet after getting a copy from an Oscar voter faces a felony charge," says Associated Press, continuing:

"Salvador Nunez Jr., 27, was charged with copyright infringement and faces up to three years in prison if convicted. He was scheduled to appear in court March 1. Prosecutors said he obtained a copy of the movie after it was sent in advanced to his sister, an Oscar voter and member of The International Animated Film Society."

But Nunez isn't alone. Far from it. A now famous AT&T Labs report says of a total of 285 movies researchers sampled on the p2p networks, 77% were leaked by industry 'insiders', and Mel Gibson's Icon company sued a Hollywood post-production house for the unwanted online appearance of his Passion movie.

Russell Sprague got 130 movies from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member Carmine Caridi, who was ordered to pay Warner Bros a paltry $300,000 for providing Sprague, who died in an LA jail cell, with the copies.

When Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, showed up online, "There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith," MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) boss Dan 'Jedi' Glickman raged.

However, it wasn't kids. It was insiders. Marc Hoaglin and friends were charged with leaking Revenge of the Sith, having appropriated it from a post- production facility.

And there are plenty of other similar examples.

In this latest revelation of Hollywood culpability, according to the FBI, "Nunez acknowledged he uploaded 'Flushed Away' and the Oscar-nominated film 'Happy Feet' onto the Internet, court documents said. However, investigators only found a copy of 'Flushed Away' in his computer hard drive."

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
camcord movies in Montreal - Ellis Jacob Meets the Pirates!, February 13, 2007
Associated Press - Man charged with uploading movie to Web, February 22, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/11417

 

Shocking China 'Net addict' cure

p2pnet.net news:- A p2pnet spoof once suggested SunnComm, whose DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control efforts are synonymous with the Sony BMGH rootkit spyware debacle, "had produced a truly shocking and extremely loud DRM product".

When an iPod (or other) user wearing the new audio devices plays an iTunes track not sanctioned by Organized Music (EMI Group, Vivendi Uiversal, Warner Music), "Fair Play feedback 'instructs' the buds to emit a piercing, high-pitched scream in stereo at 250 decibels," we posted and unbelievably, SunnComm subsequently issued an international press release on Yahoo saying the story wasn't true.

However, reports that China has taken to using electric shock therapy for people who become 'addicted to the Net' are true.

The caption to the pic, a clip from Greg Baker's Associated Press photograph, reads:

A 12-year-old boy receives electric shock treatment for his Internet addiction at the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital in Beijing Friday June 17, 2005. The boy, a new patient, had become so addicted that he spent four straight days in an Internet cafe, barely eating or sleeping. The clinic, the country's first government-approved facility geared toward curing Internet addicts, has treated more than 300 addicts since opening last October.

In the main story, "There's a global controversy over whether heavy Internet use should be defined as a mental disorder, with some psychologists, including a handful in the United States, arguing that it should be," says AP, going on, "Backers of the notion say the addiction can be crippling, leading people to neglect work, school and social lives.

"But no country has gone quite as far as China in embracing the theory and mounting a public crusade against Internet addiction. To skeptics, the campaign dovetails a bit too nicely with China's broader effort to control what its citizens can see on the Internet. The Communist government runs a massive program that limits Web access, censors sites and seeks to control online political dissent. Internet companies like Google have come under heavy criticism abroad for going along with China's demands."

However, "Guo Tiejun, a school headmaster turned psychologist who runs an Internet-addiction research center in Shanghai, said the military-run clinic goes too far in treating Internet addicts like alcohol and drug addicts," says AP.

He's treated several former patients of the clinic and believes the, "root of the problem is loneliness and that the most effective treatment is not to give teenagers electric shocks, but to treat them 'like friends'."

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
p2pnet spoof - Apple, Microsoft p2p collaboration, November 5, 2005
international press release - SunnComm falls for p2pnet spoof, November 5, 2005
Associated Press - China treats Internet ‘addicts’ sternly, February 22, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/11416

 

Unguarded Wi-Fi threat

p2pnet.net news:- The Debbie Foster p2p file sharing case in which an Oklahoma mother took on Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the Big 4 Organized Music cartel, and won, has serious implications for unguarded Wi-Fi set-ups, says Wired News.

Foster has been awarded substantial lawsyer fees and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and to no one's surprise, the Big 4 enforcer wants the decision to be reconsidered.

"If the ruling stands, the RIAA will have to be much more careful about who it sues going forward, adjusting its scatter-shot approach to filing such lawsuits in order to avoid suing the wrong people," says Wired. "But if the RIAA's appeal is granted, open Wi-Fi hotspots could become standing invitations for the organization to sue."

How so?

The story goes on the RIAA wants a ruling that, "the owner of an ISP account is responsible for all activity on that account, which could have a chilling effect on public wireless access and open hotspots. (The appeal also made the point that Foster should be held liable if she was aware of the infringement occuring via her account; in the case of someone with an open Wi-Fi network, that could constitute something as simple as experiencing traffic slowdowns.)
"If the judge rules that we're each legally responsible for all of the traffic that comes through our ISP account, open, unprotected Wi-Fi hotspots would become a serious legal liability, the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people who depend on their neighbors for Wi-Fi will be out of luck, while altruistic (or ignorant) folks who leave their wireless networks open could find themselves embroiled in an RIAA lawsuits even if they've never shared a single song in their lives."

The RIAA simnilarly tried it on in Virgin vs Marson, says Wired, adding it was forced to discontinue it after the defense proved, "all sorts of people were accessing the Internet through her account."

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
and won - Victory for RIAA victim , February 7, 2007
Wired News - RIAA Fights Back, Threatens Open Wi-Fi , February 22, 2007
reconsidered - RIAA struggles in Foster case, February 22, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/11418

 

AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.5.446a965
Feb 24, 2007 - 11:58 AM - by Digital Dave
Oh this is nice...

AVG Anti-Virus offers maximum virus protection, product customization, and free virus database updates and technical support. The core of the testing engine is a Virtual Device Driver which loads into memory on Windows startup.

betanews.com

AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.5.446a965
Publisher's Description:

AVG Anti-Virus offers maximum virus protection, product customization, and free virus database updates and technical support. The core of the testing engine is a Virtual Device Driver which loads into memory on Windows startup.

download here its free
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/AVG_AntiVirus_Free/1028312263/1

 

DRM Causes Piracy
Posted by kdawson on Saturday February 24, @02:46PM
from the obvious-when-you-think-about-it dept.
Books Encryption
igorsk recommends an essay by Eric Flint, editor at Baen Publishing and an author himself, over at Baen's online SF magazine, Baen Universe. In it Flint argues that, far from curbing piracy of copyrighted materials, DRM actually causes it. Quoting: "Electronic copyright infringement is something that can only become an 'economic epidemic' under certain conditions. Any one of the following: 1) The products they want... are hard to find, and thus valuable. 2) The products they want are high-priced, so there's a fair amount of money to be saved by stealing them. 3) The legal products come with so many added-on nuisances that the illegal version is better to begin with. Those are the three conditions that will create widespread electronic copyright infringement, especially in combination. Why? Because they're the same three general conditions that create all large-scale smuggling enterprises. And... Guess what? It's precisely those three conditions that DRM creates in the first place. So far from being an impediment to so-called 'online piracy,' it's DRM itself that keeps fueling it and driving it forward."

There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch[/b]

A GOOD LONG READ THE TOTAL ARTICLE
HERE
http://preview.baens-universe.com/articles/salvos6

 

Software Deletes Files to Defend Against Piracy
Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday February 24, @10:17AM
from the users-delete-software-to-defend-against-idiocy dept.
Software Security The Almighty Buck
teamhasnoi writes "Back in 2004, we discussed a program that deleted your home directory on entry of a pirated serial number. Now, a new developer is using the same method to protect his software, aptly named Display Eater. In the developers's own words, 'There exist several illegal cd-keys that you can use to unlock the demo program. If Display Eater detects that you are using these, it will erase something. I don't know if this is going to become Display Eater policy. If this level of piracy continues, development will stop.'"
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/24/1332224&from=rss
Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday February 24, @10:17AM
from the users-delete-software-to-defend-against-idiocy dept.
Software Security The Almighty Buck
teamhasnoi writes "Back in 2004, we discussed a program that deleted your home directory on entry of a pirated serial number. Now, a new developer is using the same method to protect his software, aptly named Display Eater. In the developers's own words, 'There exist several illegal cd-keys that you can use to unlock the demo program. If Display Eater detects that you are using these, it will erase something. I don't know if this is going to become Display Eater policy. If this level of piracy continues, development will stop.'"

Mac Display Eater kills home files

PR disaster waiting to happen

By Nick Farrell: Friday 23 February 2007, 16:15
A MAKER of Mac software has uncovered a “scary” anti-piracy measure in a bit of code called Display Eater.

Display Eater records motion video on your screen which you can then convert to a quicktime movie.

However writing in his bog here, Karsten Kusche, who works for another Apple software maker Briksoftware, says that if you try to use a pirated serial number with Display Eater, the software will delete your home file, which in Mac land is the same as killing your computer.

Kusche said that while it is not right to pirate software it is a bit drastic to kill a mac user's home file.

He said that the would be pirates might even buy a licence one day if they like the software or at least talk kindly about it. However if it is the same software that killed their computer they are less likely to say nice things about it. We would have thought they would have sued. µ
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37824

 

FREE,Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2007


Author: Microsoft Corp.
Date: 2007-02-24
Size: 26.3 Mb
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All

Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer allows you to view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 or later versions.

The PowerPoint Viewer also supports opening password-protected Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer is a small application that enables PowerPoint users to share their presentations with people who do not use PowerPoint for Windows.

The PowerPoint Viewer allows users to view and print presentations exactly as they were created in the original program.

DOWNLOAD HERE
LINK
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5540.html

OR DOWNLOAD AT MICROSOFT
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...40-14E1-467D-8DCA-19D2A8FD7485&displaylang=en


Overview
PowerPoint Viewer 2007 lets you view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions. This viewer also supports opening password-protected Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. You can view and print presentations, but you cannot edit them in the PowerPoint Viewer 2007.


Note: If no end user license agreement is presented during installation or the first run of PowerPoint Viewer 2007, by downloading this software you agree that the software is subject to the terms of the end user license agreement that you already accepted with your previous installation of PowerPoint Viewer 2007, with Microsoft as the licensor.


The following Microsoft PowerPoint features are not supported by this viewer:
Information Rights Management (IRM) presentations.
Running macros, programs, or opening linked or embedded objects.
Top of page

System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 1
Random access memory (RAM):
For Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4: 64 MB of RAM
For Windows XP with Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003: 128 MB of RAM
For Windows Vista: 512 MB of RAM
5 MB of available hard disk space
Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher screen resolution
This download works with presentations created in the following Microsoft Office programs:

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
Microsoft PowerPoint 2000
Microsoft PowerPoint 97

 

Pop-Ups + Viruses = Piracy!

p2pnet.net news view:- Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the Big 4 Organized Music cartel, and their RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) wish they'd never added Oklahoma mother Debbie Foster to their sue 'em all hit list.

With absolutely nothing to back them up, the multi-billion-dollar Big 4 claim Foster, and others like her, are "devastating" them through p2p file sharing, which they call "massive illegal online distribution".

Files shared equal sales lost, they state, calling every one of their millions of customers a would-be thief and criminal who must be kept firmly in check by non-stop law suits and DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer controls.

However, sharing music is part of cultures around the world, and it always has been. No money changes hand, no one loses something he or she used to own and according to a recent authoritative study, "Downloads have an effect on sales that is statistically indistinguishable from zero."

Back to Debbie Foster, "If a parent sees pop-up ads and viruses on her computer, she can be sued for copyright infringement by the RIAA."

Not only that, but, "the RIAA wants to reach a hand into every parent's pocket in order to fuel their mass litigation campaign, irrespective of whether the law supports this".

That's what senior EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) staff lawyer Fred von Lohmann believes, and that's what he states on Deep Links, going on:

At least that's what the RIAA is arguing in a recent court filing in the Capitol v Foster case, in which a federal judge made the RIAA cough up attorney's fees to a mother, Debra Foster, who had been sued because her daughter was file sharing. The RIAA lawyers had dawdled in dismissing their complaint against Foster, even after her child admitted to being the file-sharer in the house (the RIAA went ahead and got a default judgment against the child).

This new filing marks the first time the RIAA has explained its claim that parents are liable for the infringements committed by their children (a theory that has never been accepted by any court, to the best of my knowledge). The argument is pretty remarkable, built on a house of cards including the notion that "everyone knows" pop-up ads and viruses signify piracy! Here's the relevant portion of the RIAA brief:


Given that it has been established that the Kazaa file-sharing program was on the Foster family’s computer, the evidence would have established that the Kazaa icon was clearly visible on the computer when defendant was using it and that there were likely a substantial number of pop-up advertisements, the types of which have been associated with the Kazaa program.

In other words, the RIAA believes that pop-up ads and a system tray icon should put every parent on the hook for every download on the computer.

In addition, it is undisputed that defendant had an account with Cox Communications. Defendant’s subscriber agreement with Cox made clear that defendant, as the account holder, was responsible for what is done on her account. ...

Here, the RIAA is trying to make a private contract between Cox and the parent into a promise to the RIAA. Of course, since this is standard boilerplate in ISP customer agreements, this argument would apply equally to every broadband subscriber, whether parent, employer, library, or school.

Finally, plaintiffs believe that discovery would have revealed substantial other evidence of defendant’s knowledge and material assistance in the underlying infringements. For example, the computer may well have been in a common area such that defendant heard music coming from the computer when admitted infringer Amanda Foster was using it. In addition, the evidence may have established, as it has in other similar cases, that there were viruses on the computer due to Kazaa and that defendant may have had work done on the computer that would have revealed the existence of the file-sharing program. ...

Yes, parents, that means every time you hear music emanating from a computer, the RIAA believes you have a legal duty to check the copyright pedigree of its source. Oh, and if your computer has a virus, same answer.


Similarly, plaintiffs believe that, had they been given the opportunity, they would have been able to prove vicarious infringement. Specifically, plaintiffs would have proved that, as a parent, defendant had the full right and ability to control her daughter’s use of the computer at issue. Most parents impose restrictions on computer usage by their children (eg, rules about pornography sites and chat rooms), and plaintiffs believe that defendant would have done so as well. Plaintiffs further would have proven that defendant had a direct financial interest in her daughter’s infringing activities, which, of course, involve substantial sums of money in terms of the value of the recordings at issue and the potential liabilities resulting from such activities.

By this logic, the more responsible you are as a parent, the more the RIAA will be entitled to collect from you. Moreover, the RIAA is confusing the benefit to the child with the benefit to the parent. As every parent knows, just because your kids wants a new CD doesn't mean you would have bought it for them.

Let's be clear what this pretzel logic is really all about - the RIAA wants to reach a hand into every parent's pocket in order to fuel their mass litigation campaign, irrespective of whether the law supports this. But there is a bigger risk, as well. If courts accept this argument in file-sharing cases, the RIAA will have a precedent to use against every employer, every library, and every school for every copyright infringement committed on its computers. So I'm on the side of the judge in Capitol v. Foster, who dubbed these RIAA arguments "untested and marginal."

For more on parental liability in RIAA file sharing lawsuits, take a look at the memo we prepared on the subject in 2005 (soon to be updated in light of more recent authorities, including Capitol v. Foster).

Stay tuned.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
sue 'em all hit list - RIAA struggles in Foster case, February 22, 2007
authoritative study - File sharing: zero effect on downloads, February 12, 2007
Deep Links - RIAA to Parents: Pop-Ups + Viruses = Piracy!, February 22, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/11435

 

AACS Device Key Found


Posted by kdawson on Saturday February 24, @06:20PM
from the dominoes dept.
Encryption Media Entertainment
henrypijames writes "The intense effort by the fair-use community to circumvent AACS (the content protection protocol of HD DVD and Blu-Ray) has produced yet another stunning result: The AACS Device Key of the WinDVD 8 has been found, allowing any movie playable by it to be decrypted. This new discovery by ATARI Vampire of the Doom9 forum is based on the previous research of two other forum members, muslix64 (who found a way to located the Title Keys of single movies) and arnezami (who extracted the Processing Key of an unspecified software player). AACS certainly seems to be falling apart bit for bit every day now."


Understanding AACS (including Subset-Difference)
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=122363

WinDVD 8 Device Key Found!
Although this is my first post, I have been actively sitting in the shadows for the last 6-8 weeks reading every Doom9 thread that I could find on HD DVD and Blu-Ray decryption. I have followed the postings of muslix64, Janvitos, and Arnezami, trying my best to recreate their steps to learn even more about the under workings of AACS. I even printed out all 70 pages of the AACS Introduction and Common Cryptographic Elements document, painfully reading through this material.

A few nights ago, something that Arnezami had written about slowing WinDVD 8 down though intensive memory dumps had started me thinking. So, I brought up my favorite Java IDE and begun writing code. Using a combination of VUK Finder (by Jokin), pmdump, psuspened (Sys Internals) and WinHex I was able to get enough data to find the VID, Media Key, and Processing Key by using the "bottom up" approach that Arnezami spoke about.

As soon as I had the processing key in a memory dump I knew that I was close to a Device Key. I then quickly implemented a version of AES-128G(k, d), where k = key and d = the data to be decrypted, however in this case I seeded d with the constant 0x7B103C5DCB08C4E51A27B01799053BD9 + 1, or 0x7B103C5DCB08C4E51A27B01799053BDA (per page 13 of the AACS Common Crypto doc), and ran the entire contents of my memory dump through decryption at 1 byte incremental offsets.

About 35,000 bytes into the file I extracted a 16 byte value that was able, using the constant as the d value, to create the processing key. If my interpretation of the AACS specification is correct, I have found a device key. Here is the device key, along with the memory offset where it can be re-discovered assuming that you dump memory in WinDVD 8 early enough in the runtime process. By the way, psuspened helps tremendously with slowing processes down so that pmdump can accurately dump memory!

[WinDVD 8]

Device Key: AA856A1BA814AB99FFDEBA6AEFBE1C04
Found at memory location: 0x000089EC

Device Key: AA856A1BA814AB99FFDEBA6AEFBE1C04
Found at memory location: 0x00008A20

An interesting thing to note is that the device key is found only a few bytes before the location where Arnezami found the processing key, and in contiguous memory! It is also interesting to note that WinDVD8 keeps the device key in 2 difference memory locations, very close by each other. My guess is that this would be the result of some sort of deep copy, maybe even the result of a function call.

Anyway, this is what information I have been able to pull together with 3-4 hours of free time this week. I'd like the Doom9 decryption forum to validate my findings since I have not had the time to step through any MKB's with this device key yet. Be that as it may, I am pretty sure that I have found a device key. Enjoy!

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=122664

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/24/2241258&from=rss

 

K-Lite Codec Pack Update February 24, 2007
Author: KL Software
Date: 2007-02-25
Size: 4 Mb
License: Freeware


K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codec is short for Compressor-Decompressor. Codecs are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video. This Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. You should be able to play all the popular movie formats and even some rare formats.

This is a cumulative update for the latest version of the K-Lite (Mega) Codec Pack.

DOWNLOAD HERE
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5347.html

 

Desktop calendar supports 7-day weather forecasts and Outlook tasks, appointments.

NaturCalendar

Intuitive Desktop Calendar.

Kalendra

Kalendra is a powerful free multimedia calendar engine with the ability to load a variety of interesting photo and video theme packs. You can import your data from Outlook, auto-create photo and video albums by clicking a single button, easily create personal theme packs using your family photos and videos, send photograms and videograms to friends, and much much more!

VideoCalendar

VideoCalendar is a desktop calendar that plays a video for every reminder / appointment you enter.

Sharing Microsoft Outlook Calendar and Contacts

Share Microsoft Outlook calendar, contact, and task information with this affordable Exchange alternative. Makes Outlook calendar sharing and Outlook group calendar scheduling easy. Works with Microsoft Outlook 2000, XP, and 2003. Free trial.

Digilabs- Create Fully Customized Photo Calendars.

This software enables the user to create fully customized Photo Calendars. All elements of the calendars can be customized including images, text, dates and languages.

Active Desktop Calendar

This fully customizable calendar features notes, tasks, alarms, and displays its data on your desktop through integration with existing wallpaper. You can organize your data in layers and share them with other people on a local area network.

Personal Calendar Generator 6.0

Multilingual: English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish...Official holidays from 11 countries: USA, Canada, UK, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain...Add your own events, event types, colors, fonts... Extended on-line help function and tons of additional features!

Appointment Scheduling Software

Appointment scheduling software is a simple program to schedule appointment services online ( medical, logistics, daycare, professionals etc.) The interface is simple to understand and easy to use. The benefits of scheduling appointments online is that all clients and users are able to view and edit the schedule from any computer with an internet connection.

Outlook GroupCalendar

Outlook integratated group calendar. Copies non private appointments from the personal calendars to the group calendar.

Simply Calenders

Create calendars to print in 70+ languages. 10 customisable styles. 1582 - 9999 Integrated Scanning & Image Editor. Predict and add Christian, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish or Islamic Events. Moon Phases, Daylight Saving. Add own events such as birthdays and local holidays. Export to PDF, JPG, TIFF, HTML

VOCalendar

Manage your Outlook calendar graphically on your Pocket PC or Windows Mobile device. Pictures based on keywords in the appointments show appointments at a glance instead of having to click on each day to see what appointments are there. Use the powerful appointment template function to quickly create weekly, monthly and one-time appointments with just a few taps!

RKS Software - Calendar Builder

Create beautiful calendars for print or for web pages. When you are done, save it as a JPEG or a BMP!

Appointment Software - Customer Appointment Manager

Customer Appointment Manager is the fastest, most user-friendly appointment software for scheduling and managing appointments. It will show you who's available and when, and let you book appointments in seconds.

HTMLCAL - the Web calendar maker and editor

This is software that runs on your desktop computer (Windows) or on your Web site server (Windows, Linux, Sun, and more). It lets you create and maintain live web calendars that you or any one else can view and edit from any web browser.

DaanCalendar - Fast And Simple Event Calendar

DaanCalendar is a small, fast and simple program that will let you insert events for each day of a month. Publish the calendar to a webpage and an active reminder are some of it's features. You'll never miss another appointment!

CalendarScope

Calendarscope is a full-featured calendar program for planning, managing, and scheduling any events. Day, Week, and Month Views are available. Repeating events, color reminders with live web URLs, custom Event Templates, Web calendars, Printing, etc.

RedBox Organizer - The Smart Personal Planner

Award-winning RedBox Organizer, is a smart personal planner for home and business use. Its highly customizable, easy-to-use intuitive interface makes it a powerful utility for your organizing and communication needs.

Brown Bear Software

iCal is a Web Calendar Server software product for Windows NT/98/95. An event calendar that can be used for scheduling meetings, events, vacations, menus, or just about anything else. This calendar can be for personal use or for sharing on your Intranet or Internet.

Visual Calendar Planner

Visual Calendar Planner provides a fast and simple way to schedule appointments, display daily, weekly or monthly listings. Easily set reminders, alarm snoozing, appointments, or memos by clicking on a date.

Mediachase, LTD.

The Mediachase Calendar.NET Web Control is an ASP.NET web-server control that allows .NET developers to add dynamic calendar support (Day, Week, Workweek, Timeline, Month, Year, Gantt, Custom, and more.) to your applications with a minimum amount of effort.

ViViD Calendar Maker

Software for creating your own photo calendars.

Desktop Calendar and Personal Planner

This calendar and planner software will help you manage appointments, to-do lists, schedules, birthdays, and more. Desktop calendar presents a different calendar image each month, just as a conventional wall calendar does. You can customize and have your own monthly photos on it.

Lunar Calendars and Eclipse Finder

A Windows program to calculate the phase of the Moon at any given date and time, to search for eclipses (lunar, solar, total, annual and umbral) and to convert between dates in the Gregorian and Julian calendars and dates in various lunar calendars.

Focus On Today Celestial Reminder Calendar

Focus is a Windows shareware calendar that reminds you of birthdays and other events, reports sunrise, moon phase, and other celestial information, and offers a daily quotation. Focus combines its calendar with a world map so you can obtain celestial information for any time or place by clicking the calendar and the map. Each day it offers anecdotes about this day and a personalized greeting.

RJ Software's Clockwise

Excellent tray-based clock and international calendar. Allows scheduling up to 100 events, including alarms; sets system clock to any Inernet time server; stopwatch, timers, alternate time zones, more.

Outlook LAN Messenger

Low cost LAN instant messenger for communication within office. Software includes text, group & voice chat, remote desktop, share MS Outlook Calendar, email. Offline messaging and reminders.

CalWeb

Calendars for the Web v2.0 is a unique authoring tool for creating dazzling Web calendars. It's so easy to use you can create beautiful calendars in minutes.

DaySavor Program - Screen-a-Day Calendar Program

The Day-Savor Screen-A-Day-Calendars greet you with an inspiring message each time you turn on your computer. Each message is accompanied by beautiful music, a breath-taking image and today's day and date.

TrayDay - Date in the Tray, Popup Calendar

TrayDay lets you see the date at a glance - often quicker and easier than resting your mouse over the clock, searching for an "Insert Date" menu, or having to reach for your diary. Move the mouse over the icon and the day of the week will appear.

LaserUp! Software

Shareware calendar, diary, log, and expense tracker. Especially Pocket PC software. ZDNet Shareware of the year Finalist, 1998

Lightning Bolt Solutions - Web-based Staff Scheduling Software

Offers software which automatically schedules personnel. "Automatically generates accurate schedules for medical staffs."

SamLogic Calendar Components

SamLogic Calendar Components is a collection of powerful international calendar ActiveX components. The calendars can show public holidays and week numbers.

Remember When the premier memory diary.

Remember When is a memory diary. Heartwarming or hilarious, life’s moments and memories are treasured keepsakes for years and generations to come.

Photo Restoration

Making your own photo calendar? Use your own pictures - but let us retouch them. Find your nearest photo retoucher at this zip code lookup.

ScheduleAnywhere.com

Shift scheduling system that gives managers the ability to schedule their employees via the Internet. Employees can view and print schedules online. Integrates with T&A systems. Try it free for 30 days.

Doctors On Call Scheduler

DOCS is a fast, fair, accurate, and cost-effective staff-scheduling program that runs on the Internet. DOCS can be configured to handle complex constraints, automatically generate and optimize the schedule, reduce scheduling time by up to eighty percent, and provide a detailed accounting of the schedule equity.

Holiday Web Service

This is a free web service for programmers to use to add US, Great Britain, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scottish holidays to their applications and websites.

AcreSoft Calendar 2005

A calendar program with month pages for recording anything you would write on a normal wall calendar. i.e. birthdays, anniversarys, appointments etc. Also contains a time zones page, a todo/shopping list page, a photo page, 12 pictures, and special verses.

New Day Calendar

Easy to use and configure Baha'i calendar software for Windows. Features a rich, comfortable layout complete with sunrise & sunset times and a tool for converting any date to its Baha'i equivalent.

Time Sheet by Intertec TimePro

Intertec TimePro is a web timesheet application designed to allow easy entry and tracking of time sheet records and expenses via the web. It is available as a hosted timesheet solution or an in-house timesheet web application.

iZeit - Time management made easy

iZeit is a calendar that makes managing your time easy. It supports multiple categories and users to manage events. We'll even install it for you if you're new to the web!

VIP To Do List Software

Calendar software based on ‘to do list solution’ for task and time management using calendar date and time settings.

Family and Business Appointment Calendar Software

Golasso Calendar Master creates monthly planners for any month through 2099 for up to 50 identities. Identities can be family members, employees, conference or motel rooms. Use the Compare Utility to view and print tables showing the schedules for all identities on your system for a selected day or week.

OpenCap Calendar Store Server

The goal of the OpenCAP project is to provide an Open Source server for Internet Calendaring by following the specifications of the Internet Task Force like the Calendar Access Protocol (CAP) RFC 4324

Appointment Calendar Software

Appointment calendar software for home or business. Built with personal flexibility in mind.

Total Organizer - Calendar, contacts, notes.

Total Organizer is a Personal Information Manager software for Windows. What's unique about the app, is that it allows you to store all of your contacts, tasks, notes, and to-do lists divided into tree-structured categories.

AcreSoft - 2007 Calendar Software

A program for birthdays, anniversaries, appointments etc. Contains 12 month calendar pages, a Multi-Year Calendar, and a scheduler for appointments.

AutoTime's Time-It Right

Time-It Right is the only home automation system based on the Jewish calendar. It allows for special scheduling for each holiday, making it the ideal solution for the observant Jew.

Personal Calendar Generator 6.1

Print or Publish your own 2007-2008 calendar. Highly flexible, multilingual, with official holidays of 11 countries.

Calrendar

Calrendar is an open source freeware program for rendering print quality calendars. The output from the program is XSL-FO, which can be rendered to PDF using an XSL-FO engine.

Electronic Pop-Up Daily Affirmations Calendar

One-of-a-kind daily electronic affirmations calendar. Install easy-to-load program on your PC and every day when you turn on your computer, or at a designated time, your affirmation of the day pops up! 365 powerful, positive affirmations, accompanied by beautiful photographs and soothing music.

go here to download
http://www.calendarhome.com/clink/software.html

 

New Sub Dives Crushing Depths

By Emmet Cole| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Feb, 26, 2007

Scientists at the University of Washington have developed an autonomous underwater vehicle that can stay out to sea for up to a year and dive to depths of nearly 9,000 feet -- nearly three times deeper than the deepest-diving military submarines.

Known as Deepglider, the 71-inch long, 138-pound device is made of carbon fiber that can withstand the deep ocean's immense pressure. The energy-efficient, battery-powered glider carries sensors to measure oceanic conditions including salinity and temperature -- information that is key to understanding climate change. When the measurements are complete, Deepglider rises to the surface and transmits the data via satellite to onshore scientists.

"Reaching a depth of 2,700 meters (nearly 9,000 feet) is quite a feat and promises to extend the nature and type of missions that can be carried out by gliders," says Princeton University engineering professor Naomi Leonard. "You could even imagine a heterogeneous fleet of gliders working in tandem at different depths to explore this otherwise impenetrable undersea."

Deepglider opens up new research possibilities for oceanographers studying global climate change. The glider's first trip revealed unexpected warming of water near the ocean floor, and scientists are interested in studying whether the temperatures are related to global warming.

"The maiden voyage was wonderful," says Charlie Eriksen, professor of physical oceanography at the University of Washington in Seattle. "On every dive we got within 10 meters of the bottom and we were able to see some interesting bottom temperature and salinity variations that we didn't know about, that I certainly didn't expect."

During its maiden voyage, in November 2006, the glider remained at sea for 39 days and made 150 dives, the deepest of which was to 8,901 feet, just 33 feet shy of the sea floor.

To control Deepglider, Eriksen's team sends instructions by satellite. The battery-powered device's hydraulic pumps generate minute changes in volume that cause the vessel to rise toward the surface or plunge further into the ocean.

When scientists want to collect the Deepglider, they send messages from a laptop telling it to stay on the surface. Using a GPS locator, scientists on a boat can motor directly to Deepglider's location and pull it aboard.

Gliders are a cost-effective alternative to traditional measuring techniques, which involve expensive boat-trips and floating instruments that simply drift with surface currents. Gliders allow scientists to take measurements over an extended period, and with the advent of Deepglider they can now observe oceanic conditions over longer timeframes at unprecedented depths.

One key to successful glider design is managing energy consumption. The device must be light and agile enough to consume little power. It also needs sufficient battery power to operate autonomously for months on end.

Traditional gliders consume about half a watt of energy moving at a rate of half a knot. Deepglider's power consumption is about half that because of its exceptionally stiff hull that's resistant to pressure. When pressure compresses a hull in a traditional glider, it gains buoyancy and requires more energy to control.

Boeing assembled the 4-foot hull on the same carbon-fiber machine used to mock up the fuselage barrels for the 787.

In addition to climate change research, Deepglider may help improve seismic monitoring. Devices already fixed to the seafloor could communicate with the glider. In an emergency, the glider could rise to the surface and transmit data onshore.

Russ Davis, a research oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who works with the Spray underwater glider, is not so convinced by Deepglider. The upper ocean, he believes, holds more interest.

"If I were going to create another instrument, it would be a faster, shallower one with more sensors that looked at the upper ocean, where there are a myriad of exciting problems to be looked at," Davis says.

Eriksen agrees there is much of interest in the upper ocean, but adds, "there are certainly things worth looking for in the deep ocean, including the effects of climate change."
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72794-0.html?tw=rss.index

 

BitTorrent goes legit with movie and TV downloads

2/26/2007 10:59:30 AM, by Jacqui Cheng

BitTorrent has officially jumped into the growing pool of video download services with the announcement that it will start selling legitimate TV and movie rentals via the company's website. The downloads will come via BitTorrent's already popular P2P client and function in the same way that torrents currently function—a torrent file will be downloaded to the client computer and then downloaded from a number of other peers who are seeding the file. BitTorrent is offering movie rentals from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lionsgate as well as a number of television shows from Comedy Central, Fox, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, and VH1, among others.

BitTorrent cofounder Ashwin Navin told the Associated Press that he believes up to a third of current BitTorrent users would be willing to pay for legit content if it were available and affordable. "Now we have to program for that audience and create a better experience for that content so the audience converts to the service that makes the studios money," he said.

Pricing will be roughly equivalent to similar services, with TV episodes coming in at $1.99 apiece and movie rentals ranging from $2.99 to $3.99. Rented movies must be watched within 24 hours after the user has first clicked the play button. "We're really hammering the studios to say, 'Go easy on this audience.' We need to give them a price that feels like a good value relative to what they were getting for free," said Navin to the AP. The service will not, however, offer download-to-own movies—just TV shows. The reason behind this decision was apparently due to high pricing demands from the movie studios that the BitTorrent team didn't think would appeal to its audience.

The files will, of course, come with DRM restrictions. The movie and TV files are protected with Windows Media DRM, which (like most other services) will block Mac and Linux users from watching legitimately torrented content. The site still allows Mac users to purchase and download the files, however, but warns that they can only watch the videos under Windows. The files are also currently limited to play on a single PC.

How likely is BitTorrent's legit service to succeed? One immediate problem that comes to mind is ISPs that are struggling with whether or not to throttle torrent traffic. My own ISP doesn't throttle, but recently blocked BitTorrent's default port—an easy workaround, but still an indication that they'd prefer that their users didn't torrent files. Another limitation is the inability to download direct-to-TV—something that savvier users with HTPC boxes can do, but average users probably won't.

That leaves BitTorrent to compete with the handful of not-quite-so-successful movie services, such as CinemaNow and MovieLink, which are also limited to play on PCs only. Even some members of BitTorrent's target demographic (males between 15 and 35) have pointed out that they use BitTorrent in order to get TV episodes before they're released to legit services, and that they'd only be interested in buying if they could download at the same time that a show is airing—there are already plenty of other legit services available if they were looking to buy after an airing. BitTorrent's new service has a lot of challenges to overcome in the coming months if it wants to succeed in the increasingly competitive marketplace.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070226-8920.html