Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[vansmack]

This is a much better way of explaining this than I've ever done:

Four Music-Sharing Tricks on Windows 7

Especially trick #4: Play Over the Internet

[vansmack]

iPad finally supports Flash and Multitasking...



Video

[chaz]

I didn't watch this very closely but the way his finger (the "mouse") is trailing the curser it looks like it's running on VMware without VMware tools installed....

[vansmack]

I didn't watch this very closely but the way his finger (the "mouse") is trailing the curser it looks like it's running on VMware without VMware tools installed....

It's an emulator...would be tough to get it to run seeing as how the iPad is not an intel chip.

[vansmack]

XP Users, turn off your McAfee.  Quickly.  Before it's too late.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/21/mcafee-update--shutting-down-xp-machines/

Botched McAfee update shutting down XP machines worldwide
By Nilay Patel  posted Apr 21st 2010 1:47PM

We can't officially confirm this yet, but we're hearing from all over that a bad McAfee for Windows XP update is causing computers worldwide to shut down. Apparently the update deletes the svchost.exe file, which then triggers a false-positive in McAfee itself and sets off a chain of uncontrolled restarts and loss of networking functionality. Yeah, wild -- Twitter is basically going nuts, and McAfee's support site appears to be down. There's a fix out there, but it may be too late -- we've heard anecdotally that an Intel facility has been affected, as well Dish Network call centers, and we're sure there are going to be more reports as the day wears on.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Developing...


Smackie can confirm this as he laughs at the XP users in his office.

[sweetcell]

XP Users, turn off your McAfee.  Quickly.  Before it's too late.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/21/mcafee-update--shutting-down-xp-machines/

Botched McAfee update shutting down XP machines worldwide

yup.  we were told to disconnect from VPN immediately about 3 hours ago... now i know why: our mcafee can only get an update when we're VPN'ed.  this means we won't be able to reconnect to e-mail and other vital internal resources until the techies figure out how to roll back this patch, or get a new update to replace the previous one that's causing this problem.

edit: just as i was about to post this, got an e-mail from corp IT that all is clear.  i have some remediation instructions if anyone was affected by this, PM if you're having difficulties.

[vansmack]

It's really easy.  All we had to do was this.

Amazing.

[sweetcell]

Hitler `Downfall' parodies removed from YouTube

NEW YORK ? Adolf Hitler, for years a vessel of frustration in a popular Internet meme, has been quieted.

"Downfall," a German film released in 2004 about Hitler's last days, has been adopted for wildly popular YouTube parodies that have spanned mock rants about topics as varied as playing Xbox video games to Kanye West to Apple's new iPad.

(...)

On Tuesday, the clips on YouTube, many of which had been watched by hundreds of thousands, even millions, began disappearing from the site. Constantin Films, the company that owns the rights to the film, asked for them to be removed, and YouTube complied.

(...)

Some have argued that, being parodies, the videos are protected under "fair use," the legal doctrine that holds that the use of some creative works for purposes such as parody and education may be considered "fair."

The site's policy about content that infringes on copyright is that it will remove videos if the copyright holder requests it. Using "Content ID" technology, the site is able to digitally search through its enormous archives and automatically remove any videos in violation.


so... what about fair use?  it absolves YouTube, dunnit?

[vansmack]

Two things:

(1) I never saw "Downfall" until I saw that clip, which I rented after I saw a parody because  Bruno Ganz does an amazing Hitler.

(2) Fair Use does not protect youtube, but instead the uploader.  Youtube does not take a side and if someone makes a reasonable claim to the clips copyright, youtube will remove it until the claim is resolved.  Each individual that uploaded the clip can now take on Constantin films to argue fair use allows for the clip to be on youtube.  I doubt most will.

To youtube's credit, when they hear of stuff like this, they offer the copyright holder a share of the ad revenue from the clip to let it go.  In this case, Constantin films opted not to due to whatever factor (I'm going with the ADL).   

[vansmack]

It's been 2 years since we've done a Mountain Dew taste test, and since I'm off the Dew right now in protest over the disappearance of "Throwback" from the shelves, you can understand how surprised I was to find out that there are three new tastes fighting for you approval:

Typhoon (Tropical Punch)
Distortion (Lime)
White Out (Citrus)

I found bottles of Typhoon and Distortion this weekend, but have been unable to locate a bottle of White Out.  I'll post my review of the three when I do. If you find them - let me know what you think.

[sweetcell]

yet another installment of things sweetcell thinks smackie should know: http://supersexycpr.com/cpr.html (as the URL implies, somewhat NSFW)

[vansmack]

Microsoft just ruined my day by asking Google to remove the "new tab page and most visited websites" feature from the Google Toolbar in Internet Explorer.  Bastards.  I loved that feature.  This may be the straw that broke the camels back to get even me to switch to a different browser.

[sweetcell]

you're still using IE, by choice?

[vansmack]

you're still using IE, by choice?

Not IE6 if that's what you're asking.

[vansmack]

Hulu in the Xbox 360?

From its humble origins as a chunky black box of PC parts, the Xbox has grown into a strapping young adult -- attracting a social circle including Netflix, Facebook and Twitter. Now, rumor has it that the Xbox 360's preening for a date with Hulu, too. Though plans aren't set in stone, Gear Live tells us Hulu has been spotted in internal Xbox 360 dashboard builds, and that Microsoft will introduce the streaming video service as part of their Xbox LIVE experience at E3 2010.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/01/hulu-headed-to-a-xbox-360-dashboard-near-you/