A new site, A new Future!
Written on 19:31 by Nemesis
I will be posting new updates over at http://cvoid.wordpress.com/ from now on. wordpress seems to be alot better than blogger and this way I get more control over the content of my site.
Another Reason To Not Buy A Zune
Written on 08:39 by Nemesis
Hmm very strange... is this the start of something or just another opportunity to laugh at Microsoft. Also, how do you go about fixing it?
Right, so this is a weird one: we're getting tons of reports—tons—about
failing Zune 30s. Apparently, the players began freezing at about midnight last
night, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless.
The crisis has been dubbed by Zune users 'Z2K9', due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country. According to tipster Michael, the Zune users experienced something like this:
"Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were
already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and... freezes with a full
loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it,
but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems
everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them"
This report is consistently corroborated by literally hundreds of
others across the various Zune support and fan forums.
What hasn't emerged yet, largely due to the fact that MS's support lines aren't yet
open for the day, is why these devices are failing. The evidence seems to point
to a software glitch, but simple resets aren't providing any relief. Some
reports indicate that only Zunes with the latest firmware are affected, but this
hasn't yet been confirmed.
The proximity of the events to the New Year, which
inspired the Y2K9 moniker, provides little more than a colorful backdrop; it's
unlikely that the switching of years in the Zune's internal calendar has
anything to do with the failures (besides, it hasn't even happened yet).
Source
The Digg Community Has Spoken.
Written on 07:40 by Nemesis
It seems the people of Digg want change.
danielrh9 makes is point in this article.
Just as an exemplary anecdote, I've been a user on here for nearly three years now. I read digg on a casual basis further back than that prior to signing up. In the first two years after I joined, I submitted stuff fairly regularly. Maybe once or twice a week or so. In those two years, I think maybe three to four submissions made it to the front page.
Back around February or March of this year, I submitted something I thought was pretty cool that had a decent chance of making the front page. I did it on break at work and checked digg when I got home to see how it did. The story made it to the front page allright, but it was a submission made after mine from MrBabyMan that used the same exact story with a slightly different URL.
I realized there was no point.
If a long time user has stopped submiting articles then where is the motivation for new people to add stuff to digg? Speaking as a new user, I can confirm that with few friends on digg you will find your submissions get very few diggs. It seems that with few friends you get little exposure.
Well, people have had enough, the evidence being quite clear -
Kevin Rose admits that Digg has flaws but urges us to keep Digging stuff while the team releases fixes and new features. Lets hope they sort the balance out otherwise, I dare say, people might start leaving Digg.
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7 Things Google Chrome Needs - Now That It’s Out of Beta
Written on 21:34 by Nemesis
Fantastic artcle I found on digg. I agree with all of the points made....
I want to start out by saying, I LOVE Google Chrome. Recently I went away from Flock and made Chrome my primary browswer. Going out and saying it’s the “best browser I’ve ever used” would be a bit much, but it’s definitely in the top teir. This article isn’t abouthow great Chrome is, though.
A little while ago, Google announced the removal of the “Beta” tag from their brand new browser. Now, I have heard speculation that this is due to the fact that computer manufacturers won’t bundle software with “Beta” hanging around its neck. Normally Google applications stay in Beta for a very long time (see: Gmail), but after only a few months, Chrome is out in the wild with no reservations.
While this may be more of a marketing stunt than anything else, a “Gold” version of Chrome (that’s ironic!) must now assume the same responsibilities of the other browsers that have taken off their training wheels. Note that in this list I’m excluding most (but not all) of the things Google has explicitly promised to fix. These are in NO particular order.
Ignorant Teacher Threatens to Call Cops over Linux Distro
Written on 14:13 by Nemesis
Link to HeliOS Project blog. which contains the full response.
A teacher has thrown a student into detention and threatened to call the police for using Linux in her classroom.
The teacher spotted one of her students giving a demonstration of the HeliOS distro to other students. In a somewhat over-the-top reaction, she confiscated the CDs, put the student on detention and whipped off a letter to the HeliOS Project threatening to report it to the police for distributing illegal software.
"I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom," writes the teacher, identified only as Karen.
"At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows.
"I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting Linux on these machines is holding our kids back," she writes.
Not content with completely missing the point of Linux, Karen concluded by throwing down the ultimate insult to the Linux advocates: "This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these children at all.
"I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them..."
The HeliOS project members were understandably upset, and quickly fired off a reply.
"Please...investigate to your heart's content. Linux is a free as-in-cost and free as-in-license operating system. It was designed specifically for those purposes...
"I don't know when you attended college Karen but the Linux of even two years ago pales in feature and ability to what there is available now... and that in turn will pale in a year's time. Linux is superior to Microsoft Windows in so many ways, they are too numerous to mention here."
This annoys me so much! "No software is free" WHAT?! Have you never heard of open source or freeware? How can you be so ignorant. Has she never heard of Mozilla Firefox or even MSN? Yes MSN is free to download. Or even itunes for Christ sake. You know what, I think people like this should be made to sit through a lesson that explains these things to stop this kind of thing for happening.
Well atleast Ken Starks will do something about it.
Now. You give that boy his disks back. Aaron is a brilliant kid and he's learned more using Linux than he ever did using Windows. Those disks and their distribution are perfectly legal and even if he was "disruptive", you cannot keep his property. I have placed a call to the AISD Superintendent and cc'd him a complete copy of your email. It looks like we will get to meet in his office when School starts again after the holiday. I am anxious to meet a person who is this uninformed and still holds a position of authority and learnedness over our children.
A new look.
Written on 14:09 by Nemesis
I thought the blog looked a bit bland a bit boring and well from a design standpoint it was just terrible. I had a quick look on the web and found this one. Its seems to be ok. I have designed a new one but coding it is a pain in the butt... If anyone would like to code it for me, that would be appreciated.
Using actions in photoshop.
Written on 03:55 by Nemesis
A quick tutorial I made for a friend.
Hope you found it useful.
Kernel vulnerability found in Vista
Written on 05:41 by Nemesis
A flaw in Vista's networking has been found that can crash the system, but no fix is expected until the next service pack
A flaw has been found in Windows Vista that could allow rootkits to be hidden or denial-of-service attacks to be executed on computers using the operating system.
The vulnerability was found by Thomas Unterleitner of Austrian security company Phion and was announced Friday. Unterleitner told ZDNet UK on Friday that Phion told Microsoft about the flaw in October but that he understood a fix would only be issued in the next Vista service pack.
According to Unterleitner's disclosure of the flaw, the issue lies in the network input/output subsystem of Vista. Certain requests sent to the iphlpapi.dll API can cause a buffer overflow that corrupts the Vista kernel memory, resulting in a blue-screen-of-death crash.
"This buffer overflow could (also) be exploited to inject code, hence compromising client security," Unterleitner said.
Unterleitner told ZDNet UK via e-mail that the "exploit can be used to turn off the computer using a (denial-of-service) attack." He also suggested that, because the exploit occurs in the Netio.sys component of Vista, it may make it possible to hide rootkits.
Using a sample program, Unterleitner and his colleagues ascertained that Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate were definitely affected by the flaw, with other versions of Microsoft's operating system "very likely" to be affected as well. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are vulnerable. Windows XP is not affected.
Asked about the severity of the flaw, Unterleitner pointed out that administrative rights were needed to execute a program calling the function that would cause the buffer overflow. However, he also said it was possible--but not yet confirmed--that someone could use a malformed DCHP packet to "take advantage of the exploit without administrative rights."
"We have worked together with Microsoft Security Response Center in Redmond since October 2008 to locate, classify and fix this bug," Unterleitner wrote. "Microsoft will ship a fix for this exploit with the next Vista service pack."
Microsoft told ZDNet UK on Friday that it had investigated the issue, but was "currently unaware of any attacks trying to use the vulnerability or of customer impact." It could not, however, confirm the inclusion of a fix for the problem in the next as-yet-unreleased service pack for Vista, nor give the release date for that service pack.
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth
Written on 04:36 by Nemesis
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth
This is the original Ubuntu Usplash for Intrepid Ibex with an exciting twist!
Now the progress bar is time-based!
What does it means?
Well...
The original Ubuntu Usplash progress bar didn't tell you much information.
It moves in small/huge increments, and sometimes stands still for a few seconds.
This Ubuntu Usplash Smooth does it different!
It remembers the time of your previous boot/shutdown, and will smoothly increase the bar according to this time. Since the boot/shutdown times change very little, you will get a very precise bar with a very smooth animation showing exactly how much time is left!
Check it for yourself!
Modesty aside(!), this is how the usplash progress bar should have been done from the beginning!
Easily packaged in a DEB file, you just have to install it, and boot your computer a couple times. The first boot/shutdown will be quite off the mark, of course, since the Usplash Ubuntu Smooth still don't know how much time it will take to complete. But from the second boot/shutdown onwards, you will simply fall in love!
If you hate it for any reason... just uninstall it, and your system will return to the original configuration.
Enjoy!
-----
Ok, marketing is over!
Let's talk seriously now.
This is a personal project of mine to make the usplash progress bar time-based.
Besides making ubuntu boot look nicer, it also gives you accurate time of the boot process.
This kind of bar is already used in MacOSX, and I admit it was from there that I took the idea!
It was an ugly fight with usplash, because I didn't want to modify it in any way.
I wanted to do this using the technology already implemented in Ubuntu,
and achieve this using just a simple theme.
Anyway, check it out, and give your opinions below!
Thank you!
Direct Download:
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth (Hosted at gnome-look.org)
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth (Hosted at ubuntu-art.org)
Ubuntu PPA:
https://launchpad.net/~usplash-smooth/+archive
Ubuntu WIKI:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UsplashSmooth
Ubuntu Brainstorm:
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/15741/
Sounds cool to me.
Intergrated Web Browser For Games Released
Written on 13:59 by Nemesis
For all their mesmerizing graphics and adrenaline fueled gameplay, it might come as a surprise to non-gamers that many of today’s most popular computer games are bogged down by downtime (I should know - I spent the better part of 1999 mining virtual ore in Ultima Online to become a master blacksmith, and enjoyed about 10 minutes of it). MMOs like World of Warcraft see epic battles punctuated by hours of wandering mostly empty wilderness, while FPS games often punish gamers for dying by making them sit out and watch their comrades go at it until the beginning of the next round.Today GotGame is giving these gamers something to do during these bouts of boredom. The company has released Rogue, a web browser based on WebKit and Adobe’s AIR platform that integrates directly into most of today’s popular gamers, allowing users to swap between their game and the web with a single hotkey. Gamers will be able to check their Email, listen to Pandora, watch Hulu videos, or casually browse the web at their leisure, jumping back into the game within seconds whenever they need to (the browser supports opacity, so it’s easy to tell when you need to swap your attention).
It’s possible to accomplish similar multitasking by placing games in ‘Windowed’ mode (which doesn’t make them take up the full screen), but this makes games prone to crashing and poor performance. Conversely GotGame says that Rogue should run perfectly fine with most games, and should only slightly affect performance (though the effect will increase significantly if you watch Flash-based movies like Hulu).
While it may seem counterintuitive to non-gamers, GotGame Rogue is a great idea - I would have loved to have had it during my gaming years (instead I was forced to sit a TV next to my computer monitor). Provided the app is as stable as GotGame claims, it will probably do very well. Other players in this space include Xfire, which offers an in-game application for socializing with other gamers.
Damn, deffinately worth a try.
Tennessee Adopts $9.5 Million University Piracy Measure Despite School Layoffs
Written on 13:24 by Nemesis
Combating music piracy at Tennessee's public university system is more important than hiring teachers and keeping down tuition costs.Just-signed legislation requires the 222,000-student system to spend an estimated $9.5 million (.pdf) for file sharing "monitoring software," "monitoring hardware" and an additional "recurring cost of $1,575,000 for 21 staff positions and benefits (@75,000 each) to monitor network traffic" of its students.
Tennessee's measure, (.pdf) approved Wednesday by Gov. Phil Bredesen, was the nation's first in a bid to combat online file sharing within state-funded universities. The law, similar versions of which the Recording Industry Association of America wants throughout the United States, comes as the Tennessee public university system is increasing tuition, laying off teachers and leaving unfilled vacant instructor positions to battle a $43.7 million shortfall.
"This bill, the first of its kind in the nation, addressed the issue of campus music theft in a state where the impact is felt more harshly than most," said Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's chairman and CEO.
Bredesen, governor of the nation's country music capital, said "The illegal downloading of music has a profoundly negative effect on the music industry. As home to so many record companies, music publishers, writers and artists, I am proud that Tennessee is taking action to prevent it."
The governor signed the bill the same day the Country Music Association doled out its annual music awards in Tennessee.
Cara Duckworth, an RIAA spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the music companies' lobbying and litigation arm would be "happy to talk to any policymaker about these issues. It's up to them to decide appropriate action. "
Tennessee's law demands the state's public universities "implement a policy" that "prohibits the infringement of copyrighted works over the school's computer and network resources."
Still, it's likely the state's output of public resources for the anti-piracy program could end up a boondoggle if students move to encrypted (.pdf) file sharing programs. The Electronic Frontier Foundation added that, even if the filtering technology "magically" worked, students are gonna swap music.
The students may have more time to pilfer copyrighted works because their classes might be canceled for lack of funding. Using conservative estimates, the piracy measure is equal to the price of about 100 Tennessee professors' wages and benefits.
Source
Themes come to Gmail
Written on 13:10 by Nemesis
Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven't been an integral part of Gmail. We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There's even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers -- it's not exactly practical, but it's great for testing out your geek cred. We've also done a minor facelift to Gmail's default look to make it crisper and cleaner -- you might notice a few colors and pixels shifted around here and there.To customize your inbox, go to the Themes tab under Settings. We'll be rolling out themes to everyone over the next couple of days, so if you don't see them yet, check back soon. As for which theme to choose, don't ask us. We're neutral ;)
Source - Official Gmail Blog
My personal favourite is the 'Desk' theme.
Adobe answers cries for 64-bit Flash on Linux
Written on 15:25 by Nemesis
Starting to answer the clamorous demand from open-source fans, Adobe Systems plans to release an alpha version of its Flash Player technology on Monday for those using 64-bit Linux software.Linux has moved more rapidly than Windows or Mac OS X to support 64-bit processors, in part because the developer-friendly compile-your-own-software ethos that prevails makes it easier for the technically savvy to make the switch. But one of the obstacles in the switch is that people could only use the 32-bit Flash plug-in, which meant that they only could use the 32-bit version of Firefox.
The company plans to release the software at its Adobe Max conference in San Francisco.
The 64-bit support will arrive on other operating systems later, Adobe said, but Linux fans get it first because they were the most vocal in their desire for it.
"Release of this alpha version of 64-bit Flash Player on Linux is the first step in delivering on Adobe's plans to make Flash Player native 64-bit across platforms," Adobe said in a statement. "We chose Linux as our initial platform in response to numerous requests in our public Flash Player bug and issue management system and the fact that Linux distributions do not ship with a 32-bit browser or a comprehensive 32-bit emulation layer by default. With this prelease, Flash Player 10 is now a full native participant on 64-bit Linux distributions. We are committed to bringing native 64-bit Flash Player to Windows and Mac in future releases. We expect to provide native support for 64-bit platforms in an upcoming major release of Flash Player. Windows, Macintosh and Linux players are expected to ship simultaneously moving forward."
Geek Pillow
Written on 15:04 by Nemesis
I'm a sucker for things like this, anyone know where I can get one?
3 More Tools to Bring Power to the Right Click Menu (Windows)
Written on 09:16 by Nemesis
A nice article I found. A look at how to customise your right click menu.
Who doesn’t love a shortcut? Thanks to the guy who programmed in the right click menu, we get to take some of them while working or browsing on the computer. Here at MakeUseOf we have looked at some of the ways to add more power to the right click menu.Earlier we have looked at ways to customize the right click menu on your own or use the free ‘Mmm’ to do it for you. We have also looked at ways to clean up all the rubble from the right click context menu here. But here I am back again looking at three more ways to give my right click menu a booster shot.
Folder Guide
As the name says, navigating through the folders and directories of your hard-drive with the right click becomes easier with this freeware. You can set up your frequently used folders and access them. Also, you can set up some separators to categorize the Folder Guide entries.
Of course, you can set it up through manual additions in the send to folder too but ‘Folder Guide’ just does it a bit more neatly saving you some clicks.
Access the ‘Folder Guide’ menu by right clicking on file, folder background, Windows Explorer, Open/Save dialog boxes, Desktop, or Start Button. Add your favorite folders, sort them in your own order, arrange them with separators and you’ll have quick access at the click of a right button. With a small imprint of just 1.6 MB, Folder Guide is worth a try.
Moo0 RightClicker
Nope, cows don’t take shortcuts. Moo0 RightClicker is just a handy set of improvements for our right click menus. The 4.2 MB free software has a free version and a more feature laden paid counterpart. The free version is a good help as it gives the right click menu some useful add-ons and also allows the user to manage the ones already there.
The program opens with a notice mentioning a bug in Win XP which causes CPU utilization to spike to 100% temporarily (though, I did not catch any…) under certain usage conditions. It gives the option to turn off some ‘Effects’ in Display Properties. The functions are simple to understand. The free version gives two interface options - Simple and Basic.
Here’s a feature list -
- Copy and move files and folders to bookmarked or standard system folders. Bookmarking often used folders is a nice touch.
- Intelligent copying - using the name, path, or contents of an actual file.
- Sort folder contents by numerous attributes.
- Create a duplicate window. (Access it from the File menu of a folder)
- Preview images.
- Arrange neatly with quick-collapsing menus.
- Delete items permanently bypassing the recycle bin.
Moo0 doesn’t remove any of your earlier customizations but lets you add some more. So it integrates the earlier shell entries you might have made. Un-installation is also safe. The only thing I wish is that could have given me a bit more choice against its default lime green color.
FileMenu Tools
The powerhouse for the last mention. FileMenu Tools goes further than the previous two mentioned. It takes the context menu out of the box and literally makes it a file manager. It allows you to either clean up the clutter or throw in a few more options for handling files and folders. Over and above, add your own choice of programs, folders and paths. Also, add your own icons and names through the properties dialog.
Do more with features like -
- Configure built in commands or add customized commands according to the file types you right click on.
- Configure the ‘Send to Menu’ within the FileMenu program.
- A very handy advanced renamer lets you batch rename all files in a folder.
- Synchronize two folders from within Windows Explorer.
- Split-join files and also compresses the parts.
- Find or replace a text for all the files that a selected folder contains.
- Delete only files of a specific type. For example, delete only the ‘.log’ files from the temporary folder.
- Mark locked files (files which are being used by other programs) for deletion with the next system boot.
- Securely shred your files and make them unrecoverable.
- Get a view of folder size through a pie chart.
- Send selected contents as email attachments.
- Add separators and demarcate your right click shortcuts.
These are just some of the utilities packaged inside FileMenu Tools. The greatest advantage beyond the ease of configuration is that the software bundles a lot of disparate utilities in an accessible collection. At an installed size of 6.4 MB and a freeware it’s click worthy.
The choice of decking up your right click menu depends on the kind of power you want to give it. But it’s a certainty that you will be spoilt for choice with the free software available.
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