Archive for June, 2007

DVD Copying on the Chopping Block

Published
by
idl3mind
on 6/21/2007
in News
. 0 Comments

Fair use? What’s that? It’s something you’ll someday be telling your kids once existed at the rate things are going. That’s because there’s a proposed amendment to current copy protection licenses that would ban any and all DVD copying, including for fair use.

Want to rip your DVDs to a Media Center PC so you can watch movies without putting a disc in? Too bad. Anything other than watching a movie right off the disc would be against the rules, much to the chagrin of companies such as Kaleidoscope, who make media centers loaded to the gills with (perfectly legal) movies. Well, at least this has been put up to a vote twice before only to fail, so there’s hope that a third strike is imminent. –Adam Frucci

Proposed Amendment Would Ban All DVD Copying [PC Mag]

[via]

Sony hoping to improve PS3 upscaling 30 - 40%

Published
by
idl3mind
on 6/21/2007
in News
. 0 Comments

The 1.80 PS3 firmware update might have just went out the door, but they aren’t letting the coders sit still in Japan. In an interview with AV Watch, Sony Computer Entertainment managers Kawanishi and Kanehide let it slip that Sony isn’t content to simply match the visual quality of upscaling TVs and DVD players, since the Cell is capable of doing much better. Sony expects to improve the quality of the image another 30 - 40% when all is said and done, and is waiting on a stable version of the Blu-ray spec so it can enable scaling of 1080i BD content to 1080p. The duo also hinted that a remote media playback solution that doesn’t involve having to leave the PS3 on at all times is in the works, and that Sony plans on updating the PS3’s firmware every quarter. No word on when we might see rumble finally show up, but we’ll take what we can get — maybe the upscaling will actually make a difference this time around.

[via]

New MacBook Pros still overheating due to misapplied thermal grease?

Published
by
idl3mind
on 6/21/2007
in News
. 0 Comments

Reports of MacBook Pros getting crazy-hot because of misapplied thermal grease have been floating around for a year now, and it doesn’t look like the recent bump to Santa Rosa has changed anything. A reader at the MacRumors forums noticed his week-old MBP getting a little hot, so he bravely decided to pull the unit apart to check things out and found what he estimated to be forty times too much paste applied to the logic board. There are also a few threads on the Apple support site with similar pics of MBP logic boards slathered in grease, so this doesn’t appear to be an isolated issue. Apple hasn’t commented yet, but seeing as it managed to cool things down last time with a firmware update, we wouldn’t expect too much fanfare when this finally gets resolved.

Read - MacRumors thread
Read - Apple Discussions thread

[via]

Sony shifting from “recovery to profitable growth” plus 380 new PS3 games

Published
by
idl3mind
on 6/21/2007
in News
. 0 Comments

Howard Stringer — Sony Corp’s CEO and man with the plan — just exited stage-left from Sony’s annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo. To say that the 6,000 attendees were skeptical of said plan would be an understatement given a year of fiscal losses, job cuts, PS3 under-performance (with an eventual Kutaragi dismissal), and an embarrassing and dangerous recall of some 10 million batteries among other missteps. Still, Howard stood strong, assuring investors that Sony has made the swtich from “recovery to profitable growth” and will be a “dominant company” in the digital age. So what’s the plan?

Certainly, much of the growth will stem from their lineup of Bravia flat panels, cameras, and new, hot-gastic Sony-Ericsson phones. While, Stringer owned-up to the fact that they ceded portable music dominance to Apple, he went on to say that “We have worked very hard to catch up so that in the age of video we will not suffer as much as we did in audio.” Sony also announced an additional 380 PS3 games (compared to the 100 currently available) set to roll before the end of March, 2008: more than 200 packaged software titles and another 180 or so launching over the Internet. All considered, Sony President Ryoji Chubachi forcasts a $2.7 billion profit at the end of the current fiscal year. Good to hear. Sure, as disgruntled Walkman-era fan-bois we tend to bitch and moan the most about Sony’s misfortunes. But make no mistake son, a strong Sony is good for all of consumer electronics. So good luck to ya Howie, we’ve got your back.

Read — 380 new PS3 games
Read — Shareholders meeting

[via]

Cycle ride to New York

Published
by
idl3mind
on 6/3/2007
in News
. 0 Comments

I’m on my third day of a ten day motorcycle trip to New York/Canada. I’m sitting in a Ramada Inn lobby in Richmond, VA using their wireless waiting for it to stop raining. We figured we stop a while because purposely riding in the rain is just a miserable experience. Even with a rain suit, it’s still not any fun.

It has been a good ride so far. We left on Friday, June 1 headed to Lake George, NY for Americade. We traveled 567 miles from Olive Branch, MS to Wytheville, VA the first day. We rode through two short rain showers. They were actually welcomed because it cooled me off nicely as it was really hot and humid around Knoxville.

I don’t have any pictures yet as all we’ve really seen so far has been interstate. We only rode some secondary roads for about an hour yesterday. Our second day was a little easier since we didn’t ride as long (234 miles to be exact), and we took some of those secondary roads. We stopped by my uncle Andrew’s and aunt Belle’s house in Prince George, VA. They are actually my great-uncle and great-aunt. We had a nice lunch and visited for about two hours.

I’ve been trying to keep a new early morning routine I’ve recently picked up, running. The only problem is I hurt my right knee two years ago. Every time I run, my knee just kills me for about two days afterward. My dad suggested that I need to do something with less impact, like biking or even fast-paced walking. I may have to do that. I look like an old man hobbling around on my bum knee. I really hate it too because dropp3r and I were wanting to run in a 10K race in Greenwood, MS in September. It really makes me feel good to get up early to run knowing that I’m improving my overall health in the process. I’m not really sure what to do at this point with the running. I hate for my new Nike+ shoes and Nike+iPod to go to waste.

I’ll update more when I’ve got another connection to the internet.