RIAA says CD Ripping is not fair use

Even if CDs do become damaged, replacements are readily available at affordable prices.

Just when I think they can't get any worse they keep making themselves look stupid. Eventually there has to be a mass exodus by the artists or a full on boycott by the general public. Who knows.

Source: Ars

A Real Transformer

Talk about sweet. This is a video of a real robot that can bust out with true transformer goodness. Thanks to Joe for the link.

Mind Control by Parasites

I don't know about you, but this freaked me out more than a little bit.

Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma, parasites in the body—and the brain. Remember that.

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii.

*Cue the X-Files music*

Windows XP on a Mac

I previously mentioned the prize up for grabs for the first person to get Windows XP running on the new Intel Duo Core Macs. That prize is now at $10,870. Nice. Good luck to those of you working on it.

OnMac.Net

Blu-ray titles taking shape on pricing

So the inital reports are coming out about the cost of Blu-ray movies and I can't say that I am suprised. According to Ars the wholesale price will be $23.45 for new releases and $17.95 for older titles. After markup that puts titles between $23 and $39. You can bet that all new releases will come out at $40. I personally think this will be a hard sell for most consumers.

I personally consider myself an avid technofile. I have a large DVD and gaming library and you would never get me to spend $40 on a movie. I don't care if it is in 3D real life HD. It just ain't going to happen. Most of my movies have been purchase at or below the $15 pricepoint. That being said, good luck with that pricing model. If you can gouge the consumer that is good for you right?

My favorite quote from the article:

"The premium is for a way better format and to remind retailers that at the time we launched DVD, VHS was selling for $55 wholesale in the first window," Feingold said. "From the retail perspective, this is going to be a hot product, and retailers will no doubt determine their own margin structure," he said. "We believe in a free market."

Translation: we were charging a ton for VHS movies, but when DVD hit, we really wanted to spur DVD uptake, so we kept prices really low. With Blu-ray, there's no VHS cash cow, and DVD prices are already too cheap, so we're going to make the new movies cost a lot more. But don't worry, the retailers can opt for razor thin margins or even sell our movies as loss leaders. We don't care, so long as we get our cut.

Source: Ars Technica

Apple launches 1GB iPod Nano

Apple has quietly launched their new 1GB version of the iPod Nano. The new small Nano retails for $149 with the Shuffles hitting $69 for a 512MB and $99 for a 1GB. I personally think the premium for the iPod name is not worth it.

My wife has a Sansa m250 which is a 2GB player that we got for $119. I think it is great and very easy to use. The iPod controls are very tough to get used to for new users. Oh well, you could slap the Apple logo on dog treats and they would make a billion bucks. Picture it... iTreats for your iDog. It makes their iPoop smell less like poop.

CableCARD Primer

Ars has a great primer on CableCARD for anyone looking to learn a little more. I personally am a little irritated about CableLABS decision regarding certification and no DIY DVRs. Whatever, technology moves so fast it won't matter for long.

The Ultimate Showdown

Mad props to everyone involved in making The Ultimate Showdown. It was hilarious.

CableCARD certification rules out home-built Windows MCE boxes,

Talk about raining on my parade. I have been waiting to build a MCE PC until they supported multiple HD tuners and CableCARD. Given that I was going to rebuild a current box to support this functionality I am a little irked that CableLabs is being so anal about this stupid certification process they are imposing. That Series 3 HD TiVo is looking nicer and nicer and the MCE interaction with the Xbox360 is looking less and less advantageous.

Source: ArsTechnica

AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre is a moron

Ars Technica is carrying an article today (AT&T chief says that people are only paying for half the Internet) that has yet another moronic quote from the telecom giant that just merged with SBC.

I think the content providers should be paying for the use of the network—obviously not the piece from the customer to the network, which has already been paid for by the customer in Internet access fees—but for accessing the so-called Internet cloud.

Whatever. I pay for my access to the internet and that is me paying my half. The sites I go to are paying to be hosted or paying for a T1 or larger. That is their part. Acting like someone is getting something for free here just shows a gross ignorance of the way the internet works. Hey Ed, maybe you should stop talking before your board and fellow Execs realize what a babbling idiot you are.

IP Spotting

A neat little app I caught from Slashdot. My IP scored a meager 8 points.

Windows on a Mac

The race is on to see who can be the first one to boot Windows on the new Intel based iMac. A decent cash prize ($3338 as of 9:18am CST) has been collected for the would be winner of the race. More details are available on the official site.

WinDirStat

Someone brought this tool to my attention today and I wanted to share it with everyone since I thought it was neat looking.

It is called WinDirStat and it is basically a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows. Very nice.

Gallup Strengths

Prior to coming to work here at Rackspace I had to take a StrengthsFinder test online. I didn't really understand it so I kind of wrote it off. Having completed my 2nd week at Rackspace I can now say it has already started to change my life.

The test identifies natural talents that we all have so you can focus and improve on them. We have also had lots of training that has kind of reversed my thinking on personal self improvement. Of course we all have weaknesses that may cause failure, but spending all your time trying to correc those weaknesses is the wrong approach. If you spend an equal or greater amount of time working on things that you have a natural talent at them you can become world class in those areas. As those talented areas excel you can use them to work around the areas you are weak in.

Having it explained that way makes you kind of say, well duh. The problem is that everyone is so focused on correcting weakness and not strengthening talents and there is such a huge difference.

I am sure I will ramble more about these, but I will leave you with my list:

Learner

Achiever

Relator

Analytical

Responsibility

Spurs vs Pistons

For the 2nd time this year we got whipped by the Pistons by a 15 point margin. There is no doubt in my mind that the Spurs will take the West with ease. I am however not so sure that we can take the Pistons again in the Finals. There is something about them this year that I can't put my finger on. Maybe they are still pissed about not getting to win back to back, who knows. All I know is that I'd like to see the Spurs win a back to back somewhere in here. This year's playoffs should prove to be very exciting.

New cases for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray?

That's right. To make then stand out on store shelves each of the sides in the next gen HD format war have come up with special cases to "stand out".

HD-DVD is going with an interesting red case that has some enthusiasts worried about being able to stack them due to a partial lip at the top of the case. You can see a pic of the HD-DVD offering here.

Blu-Ray went with a simliar design only opting to go with a light blue case. You can see it here.

I personally think they both look silly. The need for distinction is there to keep it clear for the consumers, but I just get the feeling some consumers will end up with these new formats under the impression they will play on standard DVD players.

Optimus Keyboard

The Optimus Keyboard was one of the hot items late last year among geeks. The keyboard is set to feature OLED keys to allow you to fully customize the keyboard for any user or application. At that time the device was still a prototype and not on the market.

At this point there is much speculation that the device will be released on Feb. 1st. Sounds great right? The only caveat besides the non-ergo design is the estimated $300 price tag. Great idea, but for $300 I'll pass. I much prefer the ergo design of my Microsoft 4000 ergo keyboard.

TiVo Series 3 HD-DVR

While a lot of cable companies offer DVR solutions for their customers, there is not currently a good solution out there to cover both SD and HD content. Ars posted a story today that TiVo announced a series 3 HD-DVR coming out later this year that is LOADED with new features. It has 6 total tuners. 2 tuners of each type allow it to record up to 2 streams from any of the various sources be it SD, HD, or HD OTA content. It also supports CableCard 2.0 which will allow it to replace your cable provided set top box.

The built in Ethernet makes it easy to archive your shows and the eSATA plug makes it a modless upgrade to add additional storage to your DVR.

I can't believe it took TiVo this long to roll out a device this stacked, but I am eagerly awaiting it's arrival.

I'm a Racker

Tuesday was officially my first day here at Rackspace. I am officially a Windows Sys Admin in the Enterprise Department. I have learned quite a bit in the last 2 days and I am getting ready for a wild ride.

Things are very laid back here and I am loving it. Working with proactive people that love their jobs is a fantastic change of pace for me.

D-Day

Today is my first day over at Rackspace and I'm feeling a tad nervous about it. I have to be there at 9. I really have no reason to be nervous, but I guess I can't help it.