By:
In: Web
With: 99 Comments

I just received an unsolicited commercial e-mail from a company named, ironically, PermissionEmailCorp.com. They did not receive my permission before sending me the e-mail. Their site states that they provide “choice / opt-out” for recipients. Funny, the spam message they sent me didn’t contain any such option. Apparently they provide “free advertising for charities.” They also promise not to collect any customer information. Wow, how nice of them. But if they really cared about your charity, they wouldn’t use “third-parties” to “advertise and collect information about customers.” The company appears to be based out of China and related to AdvertisingEmailCorporation.com. PermissionEmailCorp.com retrieved the e-mail addressRead More →

By:
In: Tech
With: 6 Comments

This has been a month of Linux for me. I’ve worked with Linux and Unix for years (webservers, TiVo) but never on a daily basis. I just now made the switch on my main desktop PC (which is also my file server for music and movies). So far, Ubuntu Desktop 6.10 has been somewhat frustrating but tolerable. I dislike how it’s not as easy or familiar as Windows. My biggest complaint is that many of my media programs don’t have suitable equivalents (such as a CD ripper with AccurateRip support or an easy-to-use Video editing program for TiVo files.) But those problems aside, the fileRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 1 Comment

Late Saturday night I started noticing a few more comments than usual on my site. On Sunday, I received even more. Wondering what was going on, I logged into my Google Analytis account and found that the largest referrer to my site was engadgethd.com. Hmmm, now that’s something now. I figured I must have written something to warrant a post from them and found out I did. They’ve referenced that same post in a couple of other articles as well. Thanks to EngadgetHD for the link and for sharing info on when high def screen resolutions are important (and when they’re not). Edit: My articleRead More →

By:
In: Web
With: 5 Comments

This is an update of my previous list of Firefox 1.5 Extensions. I’m a long-time user of the Mozilla and Firefox browsers. The base feature set is amazing but the extensions are what really make this browser a requirement. Here are my favorite extensions: Required (I use constantly): Tab Mix Plus: If I had to choose only one extension, this would be it. It makes the tabs behave any way you want them to behave. I use it to make child tabs open beside their parent, for the title text to be blue when the tab is unread, to show page download status in theRead More →

By:
In: Web

Update 5-September-2008:  I was contacted by the new owner of PetitionSpot.com today and was told that they have completely redesigned and refocused the site.  According to the e-mail, all spamming by the previous owner has been eliminated. I haven’t verified this but hopefully the situation over at PatitionSpot.com has improved since I originally posted. Original Post: I’ve started receiving 3 unsolicited SPAM e-mails a day from a company called “AmazingOffers”. Receiving SPAM is not really a big deal, but don’t you always wonder how they found your address? This time, it appears PetitionSpot.com gave them my address. Why do I suspect this? I gave PetitionSpot.comRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 1 Comment

Last week, Sonos released software revision 2.0. This is the third time they’ve released an update in the ~1.5 years I’ve owned one. What impresses me most is that I’ve made requests in their user suggestion forum and they have implemented many of them. Customers speak and Sonos listens. Too bad more companies are not like this (I’ve been complaining to Philips about their omission of ProntoProNG button backlights for a couple of years now and no change.) One of the coolest new features is integrated Real Rhapsody Service. Previous support was barely functional – it used a networked PC running Rhapsody as an intermediary.Read More →

By:
In: Automotive
With: 5 Comments

I read an article regarding MP3 Player Integration on the SEMA.org site. Here is a direct quote: Ford has plans in the works to protect itself from potential prosecution for being a conduit to illegally downloaded music.  One of Ford’s ideas is a user consent agreement to be used for MP3 playback where car buyers would be required to confirm that the music they are playing in their vehicle was acquired legally. This is yet another example of how out-of-touch Ford (and other domestic car companies) is with consumers, especially those in their 20s and 30s.  They can’t be serious – a waiver regarding myRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 1 Comment

Great, after spending hours and hours ripping almost all of my DVDs to my server, I find a firmware patch that allows my DVD drive to read movies at about 10 times the speed.  Apparently there is a RipLock feature on most DVD drives that prevents high-speed reading of DVD movies.  I guess this is great if you're watching a movie, because the drive is spinning very slowly, but not when copying.  AnyDVD has a feature to slow down a drive in software, so if I really wanted it slow during movie playback, I can easily set it back to "slow" that way. Anyway, hereRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

The story in question: "The DVD War Against Consumers" on BusinessWeek.com David H. Holtzman of BusinessWeek: You need to do some more research. This guy has no idea what AACS does and I'm surprised this article was even published.  For starters, he needs to go to wikipedia.com and search for AACS . It has nothing to do with downscaling non-HDCP video outputs.  It is an advanced content sharing system that enables the exact functionality he is championing. It allows users to distribute the content of HD-DVD/Blu-Ray disc across multiple devices for personal use.  These copies are encrypted, so they can't be shared widely on downloadRead More →

By:
In: Web
With: 2 Comments

Say you have a brother-in-law (a.k.a. bother-in-law) and he is a web developer and he develops almost exclusively for Microsoft products. You know, the type that develops those web pages at work that are only viewable in Internet Explorer because they are not even close to being W3C compliant. What is the best way to get him to see the light and switch to Firefox? I’m not sure this is the best way to present the argument, but here are some thoughts: Advantages of the browser itself: Tabbed browsing – once you start using tabs that open with a center mouse button click, you can’tRead More →