Have Laptop Will Travel

Tick Tock

Originally posted on January 21, 2005 @ 1:25 am

bored.

Independence Day

Originally posted on July 4, 2005 @ 1:06 am

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

– The Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

Apple’s Jobs swipes at Longhorn

Originally posted on April 24, 2005 @ 9:50 am

As an avid softball player, I know that when you get a nice flat pitch, you swing for the fences.

Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs clearly knows that too. He didn’t miss a beat when a shareholder asked him if he had any thoughts on Longhorn, the next version of Windows.

“They are shamelessly copying us,” he said during Thursday’s annual meeting.

Most telling, Jobs said is that Tiger, the next version of Mac OS X, will go on sale later this month, while Longhorn is still more than a year away.

“They can’t even copy fast,” he said.

Some of Apple’s advances can be protected by patents, he said, but not all.

“Innovation is the only way to win,” he said. “You just have to stay ahead of people.”

There has been a fair amount of finger-pointing of late, with Windows chief Jim Allchin recently suggesting it was Apple doing the copying.

Gates Says iPod’s Success Won’t Last

Originally posted on May 12, 2005 @ 10:28 am

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says Apple Computer shouldn’t get too comfortable atop the portable music playing world.

“I don’t think the success of the iPod can continue in the long term, however good Apple may be,” the chairman of Microsoft, the world’s biggest maker of computer software, was quoted as telling German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published Thursday.

“I think you can draw parallels here with the computer — here, too, Apple was once extremely strong with its Macintosh and graphic user interface, like with the iPod today, and then lost its position.”

The iPod is one of the world’s most popular portable digital music players, with more than 15 million sold since they were introduced.

But makers of mobile phones are targeting the device, unveiling models that feature not only phones, but onboard music players so users can download their music from services directly to their phones.

Both Sony Ericsson and Nokia have models, and more are being made by others, including Samsung and Motorola, which is working with Apple directly.

Source: The Associated Press

Sony Rootkit Removal

Originally posted on November 16, 2005 @ 11:44 am

If you have heard about SonyBMG’s newest DRM technique, you will know that it opens you up to a lot security problems. Here is how to get rid of the software that they install:

This DRM system operates only on recent versions of Windows. If you’re using MacOS or Linux, you have nothing to worry about from this particular DRM system. The instructions here apply to Windows XP.

How to tell whether the rootkit is on your computer: On the Start menu, choose Run. In the box that pops up, type this command:

cmd /k sc query $sys$aries

and hit the Enter key. If the response includes “STATE: 4 RUNNING”, then your machine is infected with the rootkit. If the response includes “The specified service does not exist as an installed service”, then your machine is not infected with the rootkit.

How to disable the rootkit: On the Start menu, choose Run. In the box that pops up, type this command:

cmd /k sc delete $sys$aries

and hit the Enter key. Then reboot your system, and the rootkit will be permanently disabled.

Note that this does not remove or disable the main anti-copying technologies. It only turns off the rootkit functionality that hides files, programs, and directory entries. The main DRM software is still present.

If you need any help, let me know.

I’ll be posting other information and hacks/fixes how to remove the DRM software entirely later today once I do more testing.