While taking breaks from World of Warcraft this weekend, I decided to try out Netflix’s new “instant” download service to watch a movie or TV show. Not surprisingly, it requires Internet Explorer to function. Since I happened to be on a Windows machine at that moment, I switched over to? IE to try it. Also not surprisingly, I needed to install the proprietary Netflix Movie Viewer software to play it. While I was reading through the terms of service and license I was agreeing to, I came across this gem:
Security Upgrade
Owners of secure content may also require you to upgrade some of the DRM components on your computer before accessing their content. When you attempt to play such content, Windows Media Player will notify you that a DRM Upgrade is required and then ask for your consent before the DRM Upgrade is downloaded (third party playback software may do the same). If you decline the upgrade, you will not be able to access content that requires the DRM Upgrade; however, you will still be able to access unprotected content and secure content that does not require the upgrade. If you accept the upgrade, Windows Media Player will connect to an Internet site operated by Microsoft and will send a unique identifier along with a Windows Media Player security file. This unique identifier does not contain any personal identifiable information. Microsoft will then replace the security file with a customized version of the file that contains your unique identifier. This increases the level of protection provided by DRM.
Blah, blah blah blah blah, blah blah increases the level of protection provided by DRM.
That’s the part I like. Is it just me, or does this statement sound like DRM is some kind of benefit to me, you know, “for your protection?” Maybe it’s just me, but this kind of protection is right up there with the “advantage” that I get by running Windows Genuine Advantage.
Unix Time Hits 1200000000 Today! Watch it happen!
Today, Unix and derivative operating systems all over the world will have their clocks reach 1200000000. This is the number of seconds which have elapsed since the “dawn of time” (in Unix terms, anyway), or 1970.
If you want to watch your clock flip, just issue this command
watch -n1 date +”%s”
Basic World of Warcraft (and PC) Security Tips
One of my guild‘s members’ accounts was hacked this week. This led to a lot of buzz in guild chat, and I figured it would be a good idea to briefly write about some of the myths and misconceptions that came up. Continue reading “Basic World of Warcraft (and PC) Security Tips”
Verizon: I'm Not the Only One Who Hates You
I love this post, which makes my previous experiences with Verizon look quite tame. Yet another reason why I’d like to see a local, community-owned telephone, television, Internet service provider in this area.
Social Networking – Friend and Follow Everyone?
I’ve noticed a few “web-celebs” have a tendency to “friend” and “follow” everyone who “friends” and “follows” them. My first impression remains: what can anyone do with all that chatter?
For example, Robert Scoble, an “A-List blogger,” claims he follows everyone that follows him. He’s got 5,000 friends in Facebook (the current limit), and is following 6,946 (at the time of this writing) people on Twitter. Author J.C. Hutchins has 741 followers and is following 745.
I can’t imagine what that’s like. I suppose since I review my Twitter and Facebook feeds via RSS, my method simply would not work, and I’d miss, well almost everything. From a “snapshot in time” perspective, these guys’ method may be more interesting, but if your motive is more like mine, to actually track everything that goes into your feed, it’s practically impossible to manage the sheer volume of noise that is going to be flying through that stream.
So, just for kicks, I am following more of the folks who follow me on Twitter. If I end up not following you after a period of time, I apologize in advance. I’m sure it’s not because the content of your feed is boring, I just don’t have the time to track it all (and play World of Warcraft). Okay, maybe it’s because it was a tiny bit boring, but please don’t assume that. Besides, it’s hard to compete with World of Warcraft.
No Comment?
I haven’t gotten any comments on the blog lately, other than the spam that Akismet’s been catching, but I have been getting comments via Facebook, Twitter, and email. Ted Roche was kind enough to point out that registration was turned off on my site. I’d totally forgotten that I shut off comments months ago because of all the spam, and never turned them back on after installing Akisment. So, comments are open once again.
Let’s hear it, people! What do you have to say?
Installing NX Free on Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon
Last week I read an article in this month’s Linux Magazine on remote desktop access via NX Free. While Ubuntu ships with a great client for Windows Terminal Services and VNC, NX free is more powerful in that it gives you full access to a Linux desktop environment, including such things as sounds. Unlike VNC, which requires extra effort to secure, NX Free runs over SSH, so encryption is built in. Continue reading “Installing NX Free on Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon”
How I Enabled My 1440×900 Widescreen 19" Flat Panel under Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon
As you may have heard on a November Fresh Ubuntu podcast, I was disappointed at Gutsy’s inability to reliably detect my widescreen 19″ flat panel display. It failed to give me the option to set the display to its native resolution of 1440×900 pixels. However, booting from the live CD correctly detected and set the resolution!
The fix?
- Back up /etc/X11
cd; tar cvfx X11.tgz /etc/X11 - Boot from the live CD, and mount the Ubuntu partition (/dev/sda1 on my computer) into /media/sda1.
sudo su; mkdir /media/sda1; mount /dev/sda1 /media/sda1 - Set the screen to its proper resolution, if it’s not there already.
Click System | Preferences | Screen Resolution | Choose the desired resolution | Click Apply. - Copy the working X11 config over to the inactive copy on the hard drive
cp -fuvr /etc/X11/* /media/sda1/etc/X11/
Reboot from the hard drive and presto! We have 1440×900.
Now… if only I can get Windows to do the same thing. But that’s a separate blog post.
Ubuntu Holiday Gift Ideas!
Just in time for the end-of-year holidays (Christmas being the one we celebrate in my family), I’ve decided to put together a list of Ubuntu-centric gift ideas! I’ll be updating this post over the next couple of weeks, but if you want to give the gift of Open Source this year, here are my suggestions. Note that these can make excellent gift ideas for your loved ones or yourself! Continue reading “Ubuntu Holiday Gift Ideas!”
The Joys of Off-Shoring
A friend just shared this hilarious YouTube video with me. Ah, the joys of off-shoring. I’m having trouble embedding it into my blog, so you’ll have to click to follow the link, but it’s well worth it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-u9B6nouBo