New DVDs already sparking copy-protection confusion | CNET News.com

New DVDs already sparking copy-protection confusion | CNET News.com

By what I've gathered about these next-generation DVD formats, I'll need to do the following to play them at full resolution:

To watch on TV:
- Buy a new TV, ensuring that it has all the proper inputs and outputs. Low-end HD TV's may not meet this criteria.
- Buy a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player that costs more than my laptop did. Oh, and I'll only be able to play 1 of the 2 formats.

To watch on a PC:
- Buy new monitor. None of the current ones are compatible.
- Buy new video card. Again, none of the current ones are compatible.
- Buy new operating system since only Windows Vista will be supported. Linux gets no love. I am assuming that Mac OS X will be supported eventually.

Personally, I'm not looking forward to the next generation of DVD formats. I already had enough problems getting the current generation to work the way I wanted. Besides, I don't even watch very many movies as it is. A ninja has better things to spend his money on, such as diamond-tipped shurikens and every new iPod that comes out.

RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use

The RIAA argues in a DMCA rule-making filing that copying for personal use (to an iPod) is not fair-use.

Good luck with that, RIAA. I don't own a CD player. Many of my friends don't own CD players either. However, we all own an iPod or other MP3 player, and also enjoy listening to music on our computers. It sounds like the RIAA could benefit from a ninja visit.

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Don't listen to your iPod on a bike, but buy an iBikeMount?

Check out this link. In the second paragraph it says,

Following the death of an Australian woman, police in the country have warned that cyclists should never listen to an iPod while riding. “If you’re a cyclist and you want to stay alive, I wouldn’t wear an iPod under any circumstances,” Assistant Commissioner (Traffic) Noel Ashby said.

Isn't it just a little ironic that the previous story, directly below, is for a bike mount for the iPod Nano? I guess iLounge isn't taking any sides on this issue.

Which OS is Easiest to Learn?

Over the weekend I had a small debate with some fellow ninjas and computing science students regarding operating systems. It all started whene I said that I would buy an Intel Mac if dual booting to Windows worked.

I explained to them the advantages of doing non-administrative tasks as a non-privileged user. By the end of the debate I managed to convince some of them that if you are teaching a typical desktop user to browse the web, check email, and do some word processing, then all three OS' (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS) are equally easy to learn.

Having used Linux and Mac OS more than the typical person, I wondered if my point of view was biased. I asked my sister what she thought. She isn't nearly as technical or interested in computers as myself, but she is a heavy user of Windows and has used Linux and Mac OS on occasion. I asked her which she felt was easiest for a new user to learn. Her answer surprised me: "They're about the same."

What does everyone else think?

Google Talk - now with people actually online

Google is adding a new chat feature to Gmail, which is essentially a web-based version of Google Talk. While using Gmail people will (supposedly) optionally show up as being online. Any chatting done through this interface can also be searched in Gmail.

I'm interested in seeing how many people actually start using this. I have many friends who use Gmail but none of them use Google Talk.

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Update (Feb 14):
I've had this feature for almost a week now and I must say it is very slick. It is fast, efficient, and has not interfered with any of my regular Gmail usage. Having all my conversations archived in one place, regardless of which computer I used, is one of the most useful features I've ever seen in any IM application.

New Job in May...

I just accepted a co-op job offer for a position that starts in May. This time I will be doing QA instead of technical support. What makes this position interesting is that it seems to be mostly Mac-based.

Theoretical Rent-A-Ninja Pack

Google Pack is a package of free software that Google feels is essential. Lifehacker.com has also posted their own Lifehacker Pack. While this isn't a comprehensive list of all my favorite free applications, these are the ones I use on a near-daily basis.

OpenOffice.org
This one was a total "gimme". I first gave this a try over a year ago I was too lazy to try to find a bootleg copy of Microsoft Office. Now I actually have a legit copy of Microsoft Office installed but I still find myself using OpenOffice.org more. Why is that, you ask? It handles more formats, does a decent job of exporting your documents to PDF, and my "basic" version of Microsoft Office did not include Powerpoint.

Mozilla Firefox
I shouldn't have to explain this one anymore. NEXT!

Avast Antivirus
This antivirus software is very easy to configure, fast and easy automatic updates, and not intrusive. Oh, and licenses are 100% free for home users.

CCleaner
Sometimes referred to as "Crap Cleaner"-- it does quite a nice job of cleaning up unnecessary files that installers and uninstallers leave behind. It can also go through your registry and remove most invalid entries. After running this for the first time I freed up approximately 400 MB's and reduced my Windows startup time dramatically.

The Gimp
It's like Adobe Photoshop, but free and open source. For the casual Photoshopper it has pretty much everything you'll ever need.

TextPad
This is currently my text editor of choice while working in Windows. You can open several large text files in a single window and it will keep on going. Try doing that with Notepad!

TaskSwitchXP
An alt-tab replacement for Windows XP that behaves a lot like Mac OS X's Expose. It only takes up around 600 KB of RAM on my computer. Once you try this there's no going back.

VLC
This media player plays everything that the big guys choke on. It even lets you play DVD movies from outside your region, and helps you get around Macrovision protection so you can output to older TV's.

iTunes
This is the software that finally got me to organize my music collection, and made it very easy to do so. I can no longer imagine organizing music without a quicksearch feature or smartlists.

Google Earth
OMG I CAN SEE MY HOUSE!!!!!111eleven

Picasa
I often refer to this as the "iTunes of Photos". Currently I am using it to keep track of my collection of wallpapers. I'm sure that if I had a digital camera I'd use it even more.

Rainlendar
Displays your calendar and Outlook events on your desktop, while taking fewer resources than Konfabulator would while doing the same thing.

FileZilla
Free, open source FTP client that is really easy to use.

Is there anything you feel is missing from this list? Leave a comment!

Feds want Google search records

From Digg:
The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google Inc. to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases...Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, said the company will fight the government's effort ``vigorously.''

My two cents:
MSN, Yahoo, et al, have all given their search information to the US Department of Justice. Google has not. Which search engine will you use from now on?

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