Blogs
#OpMegaupload, Anonymous, and SOPA/PIPA
Jan 20th
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." – Thomas Jefferson
In a brief moment of feeling a little bit more like a "Hacktivist" as well as generous, I will help to educate those of you on last nights events, and what really happened.
The attacks against the U.S. government web servers, as well as the RIAA, MPAA, and French Copyright Authority, are being called hacks. This is simply not true. The attack was called a "DDoS", or rather, a "Distributed Denial of Service" attack. This is simply many people flooding a web server with requests until it becomes unreachable by anybody because they become overloaded.
Why does this matter? It matters because while being a simple (albeit large scale) attack, it was effective. It also matters because now, everyone is aware of Anonymous, and the issues at hand with SOPA/PIPA. Many are outraged. The good news? Due to the nature of the simplicity of a DDoS attack, the next time something like this happens, you can participate without needing any knowledge of "hacking". And you should. We all should.
For legal reasons I cannot explain the procedure here, but anyone with questions might want to google “LOIC”. Last nights attack was the largest in history, but if SOPA is passed, it will be so much worse. I guarantee it.
We are anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.
Windows 8–An Early Impressions Review
Sep 14th
As many of you may or may not know, last night marked the official release for the Windows 8 Developer Preview build. This is, of course, free for all to download and test.
After having a chance to play around with it a bit, I have some first impressions to share, in hopes that Microsoft will take notice and make some quality of life changes for us.
I tested both 32-bit and 64-bit builds of Windows 8 under VirtualBox. I was unable to successfully get the 32-bit version to work. 64-bit installed without any issues, however that’s not to say it runs without issues.
While I can appreciate the simplicity of Microsofts “Metro” style desktop, I am sure it will be great on tablets, which is something we know Microsoft is betting on. It is not, however, intuitive on a desktop system.
The old start menu is completely gone, instead bringing up the Metro desktop, even if you switch to the old Windows desktop. You switch between sets of tiles by (ugh) dragging a horizontal scrollbar on the bottom of the screen. The start button is hidden until you mouse over it. The start button here only provides contextual options and settings.
The included Twitter client, Tweet@rama, is certainly well designed. With vertical scrolling, and its two pane view, it feels natural to use. I am a fan of this one.
A stocks app is also included by default, although as of the time of this writing, it only tracks the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, and MSFT markets. I could find no way to add my own stocks to track, which is a deal breaker for most of us (I need to track my IBM stock!).
As mentioned, the new start menu is hidden until moused over in the far bottom left corner, and even then, is a shell of its former self. I certainly hope for an option to revert to the old start menu behavior. I could not find this option myself, but I only spent 5 minutes looking for it.
You can still access your old control panel if you want, but for non-power-users, you get a new, simpler interface that provides quick access to common settings.
It’s nice to have an RSS reader built in, which is another default app I am sure tablet users will appreciate, but there is no clear defined way to add your own feeds aside of the defaults provided here. I hope that option makes it way into the final build, or I can see this RSS app being rarely, if ever, used by anyone, especially on a desktop.
The built-in weather app is certainly nice, although with no options for location settings. I’m beginning to understand that the developer preview is basically void of any real settings, and is more or less just a preview of things to come (obviously) with basic functionality. The clouds in the background here are animated, so I look forward to seeing this when it’s done.
The new star button is a dark grey, and stands out from the taskbar very noticeably. I hope this is something that doesn’t stick around. Contrast is nice to have, but I hope to find an option for changing this later, but I would hope when you’re on the old Windows desktop that you can get your old start menu back.
Oh, that dreaded Office ribbon. It’s definitely in Windows 8, and I am proud to announce that you CAN hide it.
Final Notes
I know that a final release for Windows 8 is a long ways off, but I have some notes that I hope Microsoft will listen to.
- Give people the option of using their old Windows desktop, please. If this functionality is not included, most people will not upgrade. I don’t know of any enterprise clients who would.
- Provide infinite customization options. If you’re going to try and make a prettier desktop environment, let people tweak it any way they want. Not everybody likes the same thing.
- Horizontal scrolling may be second nature on a tablet, but it’s AWFUL on a desktop, especially when it doesn’t work with the scroll wheel on the mouse. Provide an option for vertical scrolling, or the Metro desktop will never be a part of my desktop.
- Turn the Explorer ribbon off by default. Some power users MIGHT want this, but most people will not. It’s horrible by design, and will confuse non-tech-savvy users.
- Give me back my old start menu! It’s been a cornerstone of Windows for years, don’t change a good thing now.
I also have additional concerns regarding Microsofts plans to get into the tablet market. I understand that most (if not all) Windows 8 tablets will run under an ARM processor. While this is fine and dandy for battery life, I know there will be software compatibility issues, since most of us use x86 software. Here’s the important part: If I can’t run my desktop apps on my tablet, I won’t get the tablet, especially if the tablet costs more than an iPad or Android tablet with similar functionality. If it doesn’t run all Windows apps, it isn’t Windows!
Your move, Redmond.
How Hardees Lost a Lifetime Customer
Sep 8th
It pains me to have to do this, because I have always loved Hardees as a restaurant. It was my opinion before that a Hardees meal was every bit as good as a Five Guys meal, at around half the cost. Sadly, I cannot make this recommendation any more.
Why? What happened to taint my experience so badly against Hardees? Here’s my story.
Last night (September 7, 2011) my girlfriend didn’t want to eat at home for some reason. After a little while of debating over where to eat, I had an idea: Hardees! We love(d) Hardees, and it had been a while since we had been, since we live in Daytona Beach, and would have to drive to the far end of Port Orange to get there (not a terribly long drive, but very much so for fast food).
After getting caught up in a long conversation with a neighbor on our way out, we begin our journey, one filled with peril as apparently every driver on the road at this time was apparently suicidal.
About a half hour later, we arrive at our destination, now starving. My girlfriend orders a 1/4 lb burger with chili cheese fries, and a shake. I order a Frisco burger without tomatoes (because I love those sourdough buns) with fries and a drink.
We sit at our table, with our order number sign neatly placed on the corner as we wait. It takes about 10 minutes, but we finally get our food. The first thing I notice is the tomatoes on my burger, when I had clearly asked for none. I am not one to just pick them off myself, because then I have to get all messy disassembling a burger that should have been made right the first time. I catch the employee who delivered the food before he even makes it back to the counter. The employee at the counter who took our order looks and sounds agitated, but apologizes and tells me he will bring a replacement out to me.
So now, here I am, starving, foodless, watching my girlfriend eat her food. That’s bad enough, just ending up out of sync with your meals when eating out with someone. I was already getting into a pretty bad mood from this. I took out my PV (Personal Vaporizer, aka electronic cigarette, an invention made for the purpose of “healthy” “smoking” and mainly being able to use it indoors where smoking is not allowed) and began to “vape” on it.
After about 5 minutes of using it, and several customers eyeing it and smiling, as is the usual routine because it is still so new to many people, the “agitated” employee approached me to tell me that smoking is not allowed in the store. I kindly explain to him that I am not smoking, it is a water vaporizer, etc. He just stood there and looked at me like he was dumbfounded. He then told me that it was corporate policy not to allow use of these in the restaurant. That’s not a policy I’ve ever heard of, since I’ve used it in hundreds of establishments without issue, including several times in previous visits to Hardees. If this truly IS a company policy of Hardees, would someone please link me to a legitimate place proving it?
That was strike two. Mess up my order and then deny me the thing that calms me down? Not a very good idea. Regardless, rather than argue the point, I just complied, because I don’t want to be rude.
Another 5 minutes go by, and my food, now tomato free, is delivered. At this point I am pretty angry, but too hungry to care, I just want to enjoy my food and go home. I notice that this burger has what appeared to be buttered, untoasted sourdough bread for a bun. My previous bun was toasted, and this confused me. “Whatever” I thought, I can’t wait ANOTHER ten minutes for them to get it right, I am too hungry.
I bite into the burger… only to discover that I cannot physically bite into the burger.
This was the hardest, most stale thing I had ever tasted, and the bread tasted like expired buttermilk.
I tried to bite into it again, as hard as I can, just to see if maybe it was just that edge that was bad. I got a mouthful of meat that tasted like Styrofoam.
At this point, I am furious. I’m done, over it, I want my money back. I take the food back to the counter yet again, and the employee is clearly very angry at this point, as am I. He went to take it into the back to replace it again, when I told him I just wanted a refund. He hands me back cash instead of putting the money back on the credit card we paid with (seriously?).
I am now fed up, and begin filling out a comment card, because this has been the second most horrifying eating out adventure ever.
That’s when my girlfriend reaches the bottom of her chili cheese fries, and discovers the short, curly black hairs.
Seriously? What the F**K?!?!?
AGAIN, I go back to the front counter, this time with pubic-hair-laced chili cheese fries, and the employee at the front counter just looks even more agitated than before, and just looks at the black guy in the back of the kitchen angrily, then says “Let me guess, you want a refund for these too?”
You’re damn right I want a refund for this too.
And to top things off?
My girlfriend had food poisoning from it, and was up all night in the bathroom until about 1:30am.
The only time I have ever received worse treatment in a business establishment was Taco Bell, and they have been on my “Never again” list for years. (The manager there cursed me out for returning my food because the order was wrong… I had ordered soft tacos and got hard tacos, with none of the ingredients I had requested. According to the manager I was supposed to just “suck it up”)
I did turn in my comment card to Hardees, and I also emailed them on their web site this morning, because I know the employees there will likely toss out my comment card so they don’t look bad.
I had always regarded Hardees as one of my favorite restaurants, but this experience has been so bad, and so disgusting, I can never go back, ever. There is nothing they can do to win me back as a customer at this point. I do, however, want to know what they are going to do to satisfy my anger from being treated like this.
Update: 9/10/11
I received a phone call from the district manager, apologizing profusely for our experience. He wants to make it up to us, and is sending us coupons for free meals so we’ll give Hardees one more chance. He assures me this kind of thing will never happen again.
He also informed me that he has never heard of a policy regarding the banning of electronic cigarettes in their restaurants.
An Open Letter to the FDA, and all smokers
Aug 17th
This message concerns all of you who either smoke currently, used to smoke, or support the FDA guidelines regarding cigarettes.
I feel prompted to write this after reading an article on The Consumerist regarding the cigarette companies suing the FDA (http://consumerist.com/2011/08/abercrombie-fitch-offers-to-pay-the-situation-to-stop-wearing-its-clothes.html)
This is sort of a role-reversal taking place, and is definitely humorous for many of us. It does, however, raise a point.
When is enough, enough?
I started smoking when I was 14 years old. I recently turned 30, which means I have been addicted to cigarettes for 16 years, more than half my life, which I am sure has shortened it by a good bit, but maybe I stopped early enough to make up the difference. I officially quit on April 1st of this year. I’m telling you that because it is relevant to my point.
Anti-smoking groups, along with the FDA, would love it if everybody quit. Or would they?
There’s no doubt that smoking is an epidemic, and is more likely than not the single, most preventable cause of death among people worldwide. It is a filthy, disgusting habit, and my addiction to it kept me doing it for way longer than I wanted to. It caused great emotional distress, health problems, and made it so that I cannot afford health insurance. It also took a large chunk of my income for many years. Even the quit-smoking aids tend to cost as much as smoking, or more, and typically don’t work. (usually a 2%-7% success rate)
That being said, so my point is clear: I don’t like cigarettes or the tobacco companies. I don’t work for them. Never have, never will. Now, let’s get to the real meat and potatoes of what I have to say.
Ready?
Wait for it…
I knew all the risks before I lit the first cigarette. I think anyone born from 1980 and on knows instinctively that smoking is just plain bad for you. Mothers know it causes birth defects. Everyone knows that if you smoke, you will in all reality probably die a horrible, cancer-related death. It’s a little thing called common sense, and I would like to believe that a person of average intelligence is capable of understanding what they are doing.
Try walking up to random smokers and telling them that smoking is bad for them. Try to find one person who seems surprised by this information. All you will accomplish by doing that is pissing them off. They know. Leave them alone.
It is a free world (mostly) and certainly (supposedly) a free country. So we should have the right to put whatever we want into our own bodies, right? Of course, if that were true, drugs would be legal, and nobody would be sitting in prison for smoking a joint.
But it seems that the FDA, if they had their way, would have everyone quit smoking. Why? It’s detrimental to what they do, since such a large portion of federal funding comes from the very taxes earned on tobacco sales, funding that they get in the form of their pay checks.
No, they won’t get rid of tobacco, and they certainly can’t ban it. We’ve seen what happens when alcohol is prohibited, and a nation full of nic-fitting americans is not something we want to see. Alcohol, I might add, is far more dangerous than tobacco, and worlds more dangerous than marijuana. My opinion would be to ban the alcohol, and legalize the marijuana. But that’s another rant.
Simply put, placing graphic images on tobacco products won’t accomplish anything more than increasing production costs for cigarettes due to the change in packaging/inks, because smokers don’t care.
A smoker is a smoker and will smoke until they don’t smoke any more, either because they finally quit, or they die. The harm caused to the tobacco companies by laws like this simply drives costs up, and we have to remember that a fair majority of smokers come from lower income brackets, and as such, can’t afford the price hikes.
STOP BLAMING THE COMPANIES
It’s the people that are stupid. I’m one of them, and I was just as stupid.
We know the risks, and don’t care. Attempting to further educate people who already know smoking is dangerous is not accomplishing anything. It will not go away. Let people smoke and die in peace.
Anyone who says the opposite is dying without health insurance and trying to get somebody other than themselves to foot the bill. It’s exactly like the woman who spilled McDonalds coffee on herself, and then sued McDonalds because it was hot. Well, what the FUCK did you expect, lady? It’s coffee! Maybe if I go to McDonalds, and shove a burger in my mouth without swallowing all the way, and almost die, I can sue them for not putting a warning label on the burgers telling me specifically not to do that.
Frivolous lawsuits and the attorneys representing them are the true cancer that is killing this country.
Seriously, America… STOP IT.
Disclaimer: I know this will be interpreted as a satire, but I am serious here… don’t be retarded.
How to ditch cable tv for good
May 18th
One thing is certain these days: Cost of living is only going up. One way many consumers find they can cut a huge chunk out of their budget is by limiting spending on entertainment. I am going to show you how to do that for the lowest cost possible.
The good news is, you don’t necessarily have to give up your favorite shows to ditch cable.
What you will need
An internet connection
Ok, so this is admittedly one place you won’t necessarily be completely ditching cable. You will still need it for internet access. You can get away with other services, such as DSL, but nothing is going to beat the reliability of a good cable internet connection. Fortunately, this is probably something you already have.
A television or other display
For the purpose of this article, we’re going to go ahead and assume you have this.
A media center PC OR streaming media player
A media center PC is going to cost you more up front, but will provide a lot more entertainment for you in the long run. It doesn’t have to be a powerful PC to do this job. Important factors to consider are power consumption, heat generation, and of course, start up time. A media center PC will have a slower start up time, and consume more power than a streaming media player. You can usually re-purpose an old laptop computer for this.
How to do it
1. Cancel your cable TV. Enjoy the freedom! Be sure to keep your internet connection. This dropped my monthly bill from $130 to $60 for Roadrunner Turbo, which is more than capable of HD streaming.
2. Get premium content: I subscribe to Hulu Plus ($7.99/mo) and Netflix streaming (also $7.99/mo).
Hulu is there to provide you with access to new shows as they are aired, usually within a day of their live television broadcast. Sure, you have to wait, and yes, there are still commercials. Still worth it in my opinion. If you want current television legitimately, this is the best way to go about it.
Netflix streams movies, and has a fairly robust collection that, like Hulu, is always growing. But in truth, the best part about Netflix is access to previous seasons of a lot of shows.
Between these two, I am never bored, and always have plenty of material to watch, both old and new. Movies are there when I want them.
3. Pick your method of delivery:
The media center PC is by far the most powerful, with the least restrictions. It is also the most expensive option. You can repurpose almost any computer with proper outputs (this gets easier if you have HDMI output on the PC) as a media center PC. I personally recommend using Boxee software and a media center remote control for this. Be aware that while Boxee is currently in negotiations to provide access to Hulu, this is not yet in place as of the writing of this article. The good news is, with a media center PC, you can simple install Hulu Desktop for the time being. Boxee also has nice social media integration, which is always welcome. There are a lot of other alternatives, many of them free. Just do a little research to find the right one for you. Boxee also has a set-top box for media streaming available for about $200, but be warned it has been plagued with firmware problems. Still, it is a nice product, and I would love to have one.
The media streaming box is by far the cheapest and easiest to set up, with the least power consumption.
Many Blu-Ray players have Netflix capability built in now, and if you already have one of these, you might be set. Far fewer have Hulu Plus enabled. You can also get away with using an XBoX 360, Playstation 3, or Wii in many cases if Netflix is all you want, although some support Hulu as well. If you own any of these, check out the offerings you have available to you before spending more money.
Now, if you want streaming media AND have a tight budget, but don’t already own a device capabpe of the job, there’s good news for you.
The Roku HD player is only $59.99, and provides both Netflix AND Hulu Plus, with integrated Wi-Fi. I just ordered one of these myself using a special from Amazon, and got mine for $35 because the Kindle my girlfriend received for a college graduation present came with a free coupon.
If you own a Kindle, I suggest keeping your eyes peeled for this promotion. It is an excellent deal.
My favorite thing about the Roku is that it doesn’t matter if you have a nice, new HD TV, or an older set (I haven’t upgraded, too stubborn to spend the money) since you can use the analog A/V plugs. The Boxee Box is HDMI only, but this is not a problem so long as you have a TV that supports it. In many cases, you can get away with a computer monitor that supports HDMI, and in fact get a much clearer picture, at the cost of a smaller screen.
The Roku, as well as some of the other products here do have an option to add additional “channels” to them, such as YouTube or CNN. Many times, you can get all the same things that you get on cable for free online.
Are there shows you can’t live without, but aren’t available for streaming?
