Login to your account now to give it a test!

Luke from iFixit.com was kind enough to test out a new NVIDIA-based MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM (two 4GB chips) to see if the earlier reports were true. NVIDIA representatives had stated that the new chipsets used in the MacBook and MacBook Pro could support up to 8GB of RAM. Previous generation MacBook Pros could only reliably support up to 4GB of memory.

Preliminary results show that while the new MacBook Pro did recognize the entire 8GB of RAM, during actual usage, the computer appeared to be limited to 4GB:

The machine would hit an invisible wall at 4GB and act like it had run out of memory. In the larger screenshot, two instances of Parallels can be seen (both set to 2GB of RAM). The second instance, however, only occupies a small portion of RAM expected. It’s unclear why this limitation exists, as Mac OS X is able to use more than 4GB on Apple’s Mac Pro. As a result, MacBook and MacBook Pro owners should not expect to be able to upgrade to 8GB of RAM at this time.

iFixit has posted a disassembly guide for the new MacBook Pros including RAM replacement and will post updates about these results after further testing.

It is possible that Apple has locked in the restriction of 4GB of memmory awaiting the release of Snow Leopard. As a sells pitch of sorts. Upgrade to Snow Leopard for $129 and unlock the capability of 8GB of memmory on your MacBook Pro Late 2008 model.

Will just have to wait and see what happens, if anything.

To see image…

To me, love

Oh my gosh this reminds me why I love the Onion so much. I can’t stop laughing!

Oh how you have to love the Muppets.

But for now, here is a good review by Ars on the new iPhone 3G

Link

Titled: “Last Request: Please Don’t Smoke”

My step-father asked me to take this picture of him after he regained consciousness in CCU. He lost the fight with lung disease (Asbestosis, COPD, and Pnuemonia) Friday morning. I will be away for a little while. -Sean (Ajka_Hungary)

[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQiPCC27VgA[/youtube]

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[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://youtube.com/watch?v=aeUJiYG2crc[/youtube]

“Because I love America…” … I quit. LOL

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I’ll be updating this post with step-by-step instructions on how to pass WGA, in the mean time, I think this video explains this fairly well.

[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ONMgzbspo8[/youtube]

Please no more myspace. . . . We were just recently alerted here at Mashable that January 30th, just a few scant days away, is International Delete Your MySpace Account Day. Cory Geller sent us to a blog post by Simon Owens describing his growing disgust with the constant friend requests from the fembots.

Yup you heard it straight up, Jan. 30 is the day to delete you myspace account. I’m doing it, I’m getting tired of all th spam I have been receiving from the site. Come on, join on in, trust me, there are better places to go!

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[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYTmEVFL_NA[/youtube]

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After some testing on my own to see what I could do to fix the problem I have come to the conclusion that there is some interference from the bluetooth connection and my Airport connection. After disabling my airport and using the wired connection for hours I have had no problems.

Apple, please get this issue resolved soon. I don’t like being all tangled up in wires.

UPDATE: Just wanted to give everyone an update on how I fixed the issue. I found that I have a new wireless network in my area now, which I believe was set to the same channel as my router. I went into my router settings and changed my wireless channel from 6 to 9 and applied the change. I haven’t had a problem since. Apple suggested that I buy a Airport basestation because it supports more then the 2.4GHz spectrum. This would also fix my problem, but for $200.

[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mv3Q1xPzrA[/youtube]

UPDATE: Youtube took the video off the site, found it again, and i have a copy just encase they remove this one too.

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General Misconceptions

For use to learn how to spot a liar, we must learn that almost anything you have learned about spotting a liar is… well sorry to say it… but wrong.

1. I was with a group of friends one night showing off the fact that I could spot a liar, and decided to demonstrate. I asked one of my friends to volunteer and had them sit down next to me. I then told the group that I was going to ask her (my volunteer was a female) ten questions, and that she was only allowed to lie on one question of her choosing. I told her that I wanted her to try to not give away on which occasion she had lied. I proceeded to ask her questions about her day, and after all ten questions I asked my group of friends what she had done differently on the time she lied (still not knowing which time she lied). One of my friends suggested that she had not kept eye-contact when she lied. The rest of the group then agreed that this must be true, and could swear that they had seen her looking at me on every question except for one. I then explained to my friends that they were wrong. The reality was that she looked at me when she lied. The rest of the time she was looking around gathering her thoughts on how to ask the question. Yet, all my friends remembered the exact opposite, all because of their expectation.
2. The next misconception is ludicrously to simplistic. The claim that when someone looks up and to the right, and instead of the left when the person inventing a mental image rather then genuinely recalling one, is one of the most absurd things I have ever heard. There is no evidence behind this claim, likewise there is no way to properly test this theory either.

The Ways of Spotting Lies

There are only three ways to spot deceit: by looking at non-verbal language, verbal language, and by measuring small physiological responses such as increases in blood-pressure, heart-rate and sweating of the palms. This third option is left to the polygraph, which is often mistakenly called a lie detector. It isn’t: it merely measures these small changes, which could of course be produced by a nervous or frustrated suspect for any number of perfectly innocent reasons. The polygraph reading must therefore be combined with skills of the examiner in handling the interviewee and interpreting the reading before any conclusion can be reached as to whether the subject is lying. However, this necessarily subjective interpretation, and other procedural criticisms which are often aired, make the accuracy of a polygraph test a matter of great debate. Researchers have tested to see whether the polygraph is as effective as its defenders claim. In one undercover test, they had four polygraphers on four different days each test four employees of a company to see which of them had stolen a valuable camera. However, each polygrapher was told prior to the test that one employee was under particular suspicion (a different employee was used every time). The idea was to see whether or not this piece of information would sway the results of the polygraph test. In fact, no camera had been stolen and all the examined subjects were telling the truth in denying the theft. Yet each time, the polygrapher in question confidently identified the ’suspected’ employee as the guilty party.

Now that I have gotten my raft out about the accuracy of the polygrapher, the techniques left for the rest of us to identify lies correspond to the first two methods: non-verbal and verbal language. In other words, our body language and the way we speak. We will have a look at both here. Within these two areas, it is worth being in mind that there are three processes which a person might experience when lying. Knowing these processes will help you look for signs of one or more of them leaking out into the person’s words or behavior. The three processes to bear in mind are as follows:

1. Emotional Processes.
2. Content Complexity Processes.
3. Controlling Processes.

Emotional Processes refers to the emotions which can leak out during deception. The most common emotions experienced by a liar are guilt, fear and excitement. I may feel guilty about lying; I might fear the consequences of my lie if, for example, the stakes are high; I might be excited about lying, especially if there are other people around who know the truth and might be amused by my bold lie. This last emotion is referred to as ‘duping delight’.

Content Complexity Processes com from the fact that lying can be cognitively quite an involved task: for example, it will often become more difficult to maintain a convincing lie if you are questioned more and more on the subject in question. Equally if we are taken by surprise, it is often quite difficult to lie. The result is that you have to think rapidly or just more than normal, and this fact might well leak out in your behavior.

Controlling Processes are those which we carry out to hide the signs which we think might give away our lie. In other words, we try and behave normally, and this will usually involve unnatural or incongruent behavior which can be spotted.

I feel that the key to reading body language is to understand that you are looking for key changes, not simple, specific ‘tells’ that mean a certain thing. So in order to be able to effectively read a person, or spot a lie, you must first establish what his ‘normal’ behavior is, in order to appreciate any deviance from it.

Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human interaction. It is commonality of perspective, being in “sync”, being on the same “wavelength” as the person with whom you are talking. -Wikipedia

For those of you who are still lost on the subject of rapport let me have you think back. Has there ever been a time that you have been up late one night talking to a friend, one of you moves from a chair or couch to the floor, and a short while after, the other does the same? We have all experienced (but have never told anyone) of knowing when another person is about to get up and leave, or say… look over at you in from the car next to you. These are some examples of the mind being in a state of unconscious ‘rapport’. You will mirror each other’s body language and so on without realizing it. Rapport by no means only connected to body position, people in a state of rapport will breathe at the same rate, adopt each other’s facial expressions, blink at the same rate, and use the same language.

The question that arises, “Is it really that simple? Simply mirror everything the other person does?” The answer is no, by mirroring exactly what the other person does will more less trigger an alarm for the other person, and have the opposite effect of rapport.

The Benefits

Now, for those of you out there thinking, “Well… gee… I could use this to pick up women!” Well…. yes… but no. Knowing how to create a state of rapport will help you to connect with an individual, but not necessarily have them fall for you. The benefits of rapport is exactly what you have already experienced in your times of rapport. The sense of connecting with an individual, and creating that feeling of connection. If you’re clever enough to find the balance that is needed you will find this very helpful tool for you.

Creating Rapport

Let’s imagine you are sat at a table and wish to have someone near you, or at an adjoining table, take an interest in you. The game is to mirror the person subtly, constantly and peripherally, so that she (we’ll use the feminine pronoun, but it need not be part of a seduction) finds herself feeling a connection with you and not knowing why. You are not talking to her or even looking at her; you can only watch her out of the corner of your eye. This allows you to be quite bold at times. If at a party, take a sip of your drink every time she drinks from her glass. Mirror her position as much as you can: lean back in your chair when she does, shift when she shifts. Sometimes an exact copy might be too obvious. So if, for example, you see her drumming her fingers, you might swing your hand instead in a natural gesture. Do whatever you can get away with. You might be involved in a conversation with a third party at the same time (this poor person really won’t feel much of a connection with you at all). Just let your body move and react in the same rhythm as her. See it as a dance.

After a while you can begin to test to see if the rapport is working. You take the lead now. So take a drink , and see if she copies you. It’s not magic, and by far not difficult; you are just sending out signals of sameness in a situation where people are grateful for that kind of thing. It can make you oddly attractive, but it is by no means some grotesque ‘instant seduction’ tool.

Summary

If you have preformed fluidly and pitched everything just right, you will find the other person in question comes over to make converstation with you later, and feels you’re ‘their sort of person’. This also teaches you to pay attention to the non-verbal language communication by another person, which is a worthwhile skill if you are then able to react sensitively to it.

Most of the time it can be a nasty little bugger to get removed, and most anti-virus and anti-spyware software doesn’t remove or fix the problem. That is because the bug likes to hide using different techniques.

So today I wanted to share all the the types of explorer.exe killers I have found, and how I fix the problem.

Before we begin:

I just want to say before I get started on letting you know how to fix this problem, is the trick to fixing this issue, has more to do with identifying which technique the bug is using, or if it even a bug at all. Explorer.exe can also start to do the same thing if a update didn’t take correctly. So, make sure that it wasn’t an update that killed off Explorer.exe first before assuming it’s a bug. If you think it was an update problem, I suggest reading this article.

The Killer Driver:

The first type of explorer.exe killer I find is simply a bug that installs a startup driver that kills that restarts the explorer.exe process any time it starts up. It is one of the easiest to spot, and is easy to fix. The first process is to find what drivers are being loaded, and which one it is that it is. What I recommend to do is to start up into safe mode (Reboot, hold F8, select Safe Mode). The reason we want to startup into safe mode is safe mode only starts the operating system with the minimum startup items, services, and drivers. So if we indeed do have a startup driver that is causing the issue, we should be able to login into Safe Mode and not have any explorer.exe problems.

First thing is to optimize the machine, so lets have you startup Msconfig. Go to Start > Run > Type in “msconfig” and hit enter.

In the window that appears choose the startup tab, and choose to disable all. Now go over the the “services” tab, and check the box to hide all non-microsoft services. Click “Apply” and hit “Ok”.

What we have done is cleaned out your startup and services, so if by chance the bug is one of those, we have stopped it from starting up, typically it isn’t going to do the trick, but will cover all our bases.

Now lets download a quick tool. Download link. This tool will allow us to see what drivers are currently loaded in Windows.

Reboot your system into Normal mode and run the program. Scroll through the list of drivers that are loaded, and see if you find any with any description or file type that is blank. If a driver has blank information, it may be the file we are looking for. Once you have found one, do a search for it, and delete the .sys file.

The .DLL File:

The majority of the time, this problem comes from a .DLL file. I would say about 90% of the machines I have worked on with this problem comes from a bad .dll file in hidden in the Windows or System32 directory. The technique I use to find the file we want to look for is a simple process as long as you have the right tools. First, we need a tool to help us watch system processes.

Go ahead and download Process Explorer. Process Explorer will allow you to watch system processes, and see what files, directories, etc they are calling for.

Once you have that up and running, make sure that you have the program running when explorer.exe is currently crashing and restarting. What you want to do is watch Process Explorer for the explorer.exe startup, and see if any other processes start up along side of it.

Typically what I see is explorer.exe starts up, then you have x process open up, and explorer.exe quits, and then x process quits. When x process starts up we want to hurry and take a look at what .dll files it is calling for. Once you have that info, go to the location of the file while being booted into a Live CD. and change the x.dll file to x.dll.bak. This way, if by changing the file messes up your system, you can go back and change it back to x.dll.

On the other hand, if it fixs the problem, you can go in and completly remove the file all together.

I know I didn’t get really to technical here and I apologize. If you have any questions or other techniques please leave a comment.

[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG5×7-waI38[/youtube]

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If the oldest question in history is “What’s for dinner?” the second oldest is “Were you looking at her?” The answer: Yes — yes, we were. If you’re sure your man doesn’t look, it only means he possesses acute peripheral vision.

“When a woman walks by, even if I’m with my girlfriend, my vision picks it up,” says Doug LaFlamme, 28, of Laguna Hills, California. “I fight the urge to look, but I just have to. I’m really in trouble if the woman walking by has a low-cut top on.”

Granted, we men are well aware that our sizing up the produce doesn’t sit well with you, given that we’ve already gone through the checkout line together. But our passing glances pose no threat.

“It’s not that I want to make a move on her,” says LaFlamme. “Looking at other women is like a radar that just won’t turn off.”

Secret #2: We’re unnerved by the notion of commitment, even after we’ve made one to you

This is a dicey one, so first things first: We love you to death. We think you’re fantastic. Most of the time we’re absolutely thrilled that we’ve made a lifelong vow of fidelity to you in front of our families, our friends and an expensive videographer.

But most of us didn’t spend our formative years thinking, “Gosh, I just can’t wait to settle down with a nice girl so we can grow old together.” Instead we were obsessed with how many women who resembled Britney Spears we could have sex with before we turned 30. Generally it takes us a few years (or decades) to fully perish that thought.

Secret #3: Earning money makes us feel important

In more than 7.4 million U.S. marriages, the wife earns more than the husband — almost double the number in 1981. This of course is a terrific development for women in the workplace and warmly embraced by all American men, right? Right?

Yeah, well, that’s what we tell you. But we’re shallow, competitive egomaniacs. You don’t think it gets under our skin if our woman’s bringing home more bacon than we are — and frying it up in a pan?

“My wife and I are both reporters at the same newspaper,” says Jeffrey Newton, 33, of Fayetteville, South Carolina. “Five years into our marriage I still check her pay stub to see how much more an hour I make than she does. And because she works harder, she keeps closing the gap.”

Secret #4: Though we often protest, we actually enjoy fixing things around the house

I risk being shunned at the local bar if this magazine finds its way there, because few charades are as beloved by guys as this one. To hear us talk, the Bataan Death March beats grouting that bathroom shower. And, as 30-year-old Ed Powers of Chicago admits, it’s a shameless lie. “In truth, it’s rewarding to tinker with and fix something that, without us, would remain broken forever,” he says. Plus we get to use tools.

“The reason we don’t share this information,” Powers adds, “is that most women don’t differentiate between taking out the trash and fixing that broken hinge; to them, both are tasks we need to get done over the weekend, preferably during the Bears game. But we want the use-your-hands, think-about-the-steps-in-the-process, home-repair opportunity, not the repetitive, no-possibility-of-a-compliment, mind-dulling, purely physical task.” There. Secret’s out.

Secret #5: We like it when you mother us, but we’re terrified that you’ll become your mother

With apologies to Sigmund Freud, Gloria Steinem.

Secret #6: We don’t really understand what you’re talking about

You know how, during the day, you sometimes think about certain deep, complex “issues” in your relationship? Then when you get home, you want to “discuss” these issues? And during these “discussions,” your man sits there nodding and saying things like “Sure, I understand,” “That makes perfect sense” and “I’ll do better next time”?

Well, we don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense to us at all. And although we’d like to do better next time, we could only do so if, in fact, we had an idea of what you’re talking about.

We do care. Just be aware that the part of our brain that processes this stuff is where we store sports trivia.

Secret #7: We are terrified when you drive

Want to know how to reduce your big, tough guy to a quivering mass of fear? Ask him for the car keys.

“I am scared to death when she drives,” says LaFlamme.

“Every time I ride with her, I fully accept that I may die at any moment,” says Buckingham.

“My wife has about one ‘car panic’ story a week — and it’s never her fault. All these horrible things just keep happening — it must be her bad luck,” says Andy Beshuk, 31, of Jefferson City, Missouri.

Even if your man is too diplomatic to tell you, he is terrified that you will turn him into a crash-test dummy.

Secret #8: Give us an inch and we’ll give you a lifetime

“I was on a trip to Mexico, standing on a beach, waxing my surfboard and admiring the glistening 10-foot waves, when I decided to marry the woman who is now my wife. Sure, this was three years before I got around to popping the question. But that was when I knew. Why? Because she’d let me go on vacation alone. Hell, she made me go. This is the most important thing a man never told you: If you let us be dumb guys, if you embrace our stupid poker night, if you encourage us to go surfing — by ourselves — our silly little hearts, with their manly warts and all, will embrace you forever for it.” Ty Wenger

And that’s the truth.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Niedermeier ruled that a man charged with transporting child pornography on his laptop across the Canadian border has a Fifth Amendment right not to turn over the passphrase to prosecutors.

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First, here’s a potentially easier way to share the screens of other Macs on your network. First, realize that the screen sharing feature is just an application. It resides in /System/Library/CoreServices, under the tricky name of Screen Sharing. Find it now, and drag it onto your Dock, or into your sidebar, or your toolbar—whichever you prefer for quick launch access.

Now you can launch Screen Sharing directly from the Finder, without first selecting a machine in the SHARED section of the sidebar. When you do, a dialog box appears onscreen, asking for the remote machine’s address. Great, you’re thinking, now I have to type in a machine’s IP address to connect to it? This is progress? No, not yet it’s not. Quit Screen Sharing if you launched it, switch to Terminal, and copy and paste this line:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing ShowBonjourBrowser_Debug 1

Now launch Screen Sharing again, and revel in the new Bonjour Browser window that allows you to pick which machine you’d like to connect to from a list:

You can now pick your machines from a list of all Macs on the network. (And if there are any other Bonjour-compatible operating systems that support VNC (the technology behind screen sharing), I would expect they’d show up here as well, but I can’t test that assumption.) If you click the Add to My Computers box, the machine you connect to will be added to that section of the browser window, making future access a bit easier (think of it as a Favorites section).

Now that connecting is easier, let’s add even more functionality to the program. Again, quit Screen Sharing if it’s running, and then pop back into Terminal. If you’ve presently got a screen sharing session open, close it. Then copy and paste the following lines into Terminal, then press Return:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing \
'NSToolbar Configuration ControlToolbar' -dict-add 'TB Item Identifiers' \
'(Scale,Control,Share,Curtain,Capture,FullScreen,GetClipboard,SendClipboard,Quality)'

That’s all one long line, so feel free to copy and paste directly to Termianl. When you launch Screen Sharing again, you’ll see six new buttons on your toolbar. (If you can’t see the toolbar, use View -> Show Toolbar to make it visible.)

So what do these new buttons do? Here’s a quick rundown on each.

Switch between controlling the remote Mac (the default) and simply observing the other machine.

Switch between allowing the remote Mac’s keyboard and mouse to be used (the default) and locking them out.

This button will lock the other Mac’s screen, displaying an all-black background, a huge lock icon, and the text you enter after clicking this button. Note that there’s a minor bug here; you’ll actually see the name of a variable that Apple left in the text field, too—so if you type “Using remotely,” the displayed message will be “Using remotelylockedByString.” This button is off by default, meaning the other Mac’s screen displays what you’re doing.

Click this button to capture the remote Mac’s screen to a local file. You’ll capture the full screen, and the system will ask you to pick a name and save location for the file.

Toggle between windowed (the default) and full screen modes. In full screen mode, the toolbar floats in the top left of the screen. To exit full screen mode, click the “X” button on the toolbar.

Not really a button at all, this is the quality slider. If you’re finding that screen updates are going slowly, for instance, you can reduce the quality—all the way down to a badly dithered black-and-white representation—to speed things up.

You might run into the occasional glitch with some of these features—like the extra text displayed in the lock screen mode—but for the most part, they work quite well. You can customize the toolbar as you would in any app, too. Feel free to use Command-drag to rearrange the icons, for instance. The only thing you can’t do is drag the default set back into the toolbar. If you do that, you’ll lose all your custom buttons. Obviously, that’s also the easiest way to undo this hint; just pick View -> Customize Toolbar, and then drag the default set up onto the toolbar. But after trying screen sharing with these new features, I have no intent to give up the added functionality!

We Will be Rocking the Political Establisment for 24 Solid Hours beginning TONIGHT! Please Help US Help Ron Paul. See TeaParty07.com for more Info. Even a $20 Donation will Help!

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The main thing to me is this new view in iTunes 7 called album view. In which a user can graphically scroll through album art to the chosen album and find your music. It is very sleek and sexy. The problem I encountered was that if you have a soundtrack that has multiple artists songs in the album, you get the same album over and over in they view only because iTunes recognizes that they have different artists. Come on APPLE! It is one album, I’m sorting by albums, SHOW ME THE ONE ALBUM. NOT 11 OF THE SAME STINKING ALBUM!

Now that I got that out of they way, gapless playback. I love this idea for gapless playback, its great to listen to songs with no gap and get the real feel the artist was going for.

I have also noticed, with other users, that when you login or off MSN, or you lose your internet connection, you music playing in the background suddenly stops, and a minute later resumes.

My last nudge with the release is when I play videos. When I play my TV shows (The Office for example) in a small window on my desktop, I lag out. The video is all stuttery and slow and the refresh rates are horrible. When I change over to full screen all is well. This has never happened before, why start now?

UPDATE: After reading some other bloggers post about there experiences (problems) with iTunes 7, I have come to realize that iTunes is using more memmory then it did in version 6. In version six I got about 20,000 K - 40,000 K Memm Usage, and now I get 144,000 K Memm Usage.

Here are some links to other bloggers issues.
-iTunes Memmory Hog
-Huge Problems with iTunes 7
-iTunes 7 Bug Discovery

So first things first, the install. So the install was easy, nice, simple, cleaner then previous versions of Windows where the wizard would nag with all these questions while you were eating your sandwich in the other room, only to find a half an hour later that you install isn’t done because it’s asking you a question. All in all much better then what it has been, but I think they could still improve.

After about an hour long install later (keep in mind I was putting this on a minimum requirement system, to see how well it works) I was in the GUI and feeling refreshed with this new, for Microsoft, eye candy feel. What I mean by that is that I feel the number one change from XP to Vista is the GUI, but all it is coping old Mac style.

Once logged in I saw so new features.

One, the “gadgets” bar. A sidebar that is modeled from Mac’s widgets idea, the only difference is that it is not as good as widgets, and it’s on a sidebar.

Two, menu bar has changed slightly, adding some new features to easily access different functions. I don’t really care to much for this “improvement”. I feel they are just moving things around to make it seem different, when it really isn’t. The address bar on the other hand I really do feel is an improvement. The basically changed it from a simple address location, to a tree. You still can enter addresses in the old way.

Three, the start menu is slightly setup better. I feel that access programs is a lot better now, because instead of hovering over the programs menu and getting a pop out menu, it replaces quick link area with the programs. So, if you’re running XP right now, open up your start menu and you see (depending on how you setup your start menu) 5 quick links of the programs you most use. When you hover over programs in Vista, that list is replaced with the list of programs. A well need improvement. The last thing in the start menu is that they added the search right to the menu, and again they changed searching over to the indexed system (again, building on old Mac technologies).

If you are a parent with children, and want better parental controls, I have to say, Vista does a fantastic job at the parental controls. You can use when users are able to log on to the computer. Meaning, if you don’t want “Timmy” (your twelve year old son) playing video games, or searching the internet at 2:00AM while you’re in bed, just disallow “Timmy” login at 2:00AM, etc. You can also change ratings for games, and disallow games to be played that have no rating. You can make it so “Timmy” can play “T” rated games, and “Sarah” (six years old) “E” rated games.

Overall these are the main features in my opinion that stood out to me. There is so much more, but I really don’t feel like typing about all of it. So let me sum up my feel on Vista.

Overall Vista is better then XP, when it’s finally released. The beta is still screwed up and I would say not to bother with it yet. Vista in my opinion is still XP, just some “new” stuff added on. All Microsoft has done is implemented old Mac technologies. Apple is pushing out everything new and Microsoft copies to the best of its abilities. Mac OS X put out spotlight, the indexed search, Microsoft added indexed search. Mac gave us widgets, Microsoft makes “gadgets”. Mac gave us the eye candy we all know and love, Microsoft tries to give us eye candy. Mac gives us security, Vista doesn’t.

So is Vista a buy or upgrade when it is finally released? Well the thing is that the only “good” version of Vista is to go all the way and get Ultimate, all the other editions are crappy and lacking key features. The key to all of it is purchase price. I simply say that if you have access to a genuine serial number of Vista Ultimate, upgrade, if you don’t, do not waste your money, stay with XP until you upgrade your machine and then get Vista, or at lease until you finally figure out Mac OS X is better.

“…portability engine for Intel-based Macs, offering game developers and publishers the ability to deploy Windows-based games on new Macs quickly and easily, without the need for traditional arduous porting.”

It looks like I was right. Things are starting to slowly merge and close the gap. Don’t get me wrong though, Windows and Mac with never be the same.

So now for another prediction! With all the talk about next week and Apple’s WWDC 2006, I’m going to make my predictions as to what Apple will unleash.

1) Power Mac will be replaced by a new Intel Xeon Processor, and a availble Intel Core Duo processor.

2) Mac OS X 10.5 (of course) but here are the features im guess at will be added.

a) tabbed browsing inside Finder.

b) new iChat features (possible to sync to iPod)

3) New…..er MacBook and MacBook Pro.

I’m betting some updates to some of things they have been having issues with, and maybe a new processor.

4) New iPod!

a) Wifi, Bluetooth capabilities

b) ya, it will be a phone. (thats my guess anyways)

5) New iPod Nano colors. This is probelly my only guess that I don’t really think will happen, but it could.

Anyways, I just had to go and make some predictions because everyone else is. I can’t wait to get this next week over with so I can sell my PC and by my MacBook, that is, if they release a new…er MacBook.

-searchbar

-images (in IE)

-alignment (in IE)

-upload new footer

So its basically done, but I’m going to include somemore features to it as time goes on. Mainly its just stupid IE stuff I have to fix. If you aren’t already, download use a standards compliant browser like FireFox. I love to here your comments on the theme.

Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Validation is basically code that is slipped onto your PC when you update Windows. If you have automatic updates on, it was even more hidden because Microsoft won’t tell you what they are putting on your computer until it’s there. Anyways…what it does is checks your version of Windows XP for a Genuine CD key. So if you have a pirated version of Windows XP on your computer, it is going to tell that your version isn’t genuine. If it isn’t a genuine version of Windows XP, you will not be able to receive any of the updates (like anyone does update anyways).

For those who just can’t find life without Windows updates (Ya, there are times you need them.) here is the newest, and updated way around it. This will also include the new update of Microsofts’ of making annoying reminders that are copies are not “genuine”.

How To: Turn off the annoying WGA reminders-

This is so simple that It makes me wonder why Microsoft did it in the first place. When you load into a user, you will recieve a bubble on your taskbar, along with a icon. When right clicked, you get a “Change Notifications Settings” menu choice. Click on it. It will take you to the Microsoft site, and you will be given a check box to turn off the reminders that you aren’t running a genuine version of windows.

Like I said simple.

How To: Get Windows Updates With Non-Genuine Version of Windows-

Well, the way to get around WGA has changed since October of 2005, but if you have been checking out the original post I made, you would notice it still gets alot of activity.

The fix is the same as in the recent comments. It is a registery fix, and I’ll let you in on it.

Instructions-

1- Go to the Windows Updates page, and download all updates including windows genuine valdiation.

(You will know that you are ready to move on to step two when you go back to the Windows Updates page again, click “custom” or “express”, and you recieve a page that notifies you that your version of Windows is not Genuine. If this happens move on to step two.)

2- Go to start, run, and type in regedit

3- Locate yourself to HKLM \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ policies \ EXT \ CLSID

(HKLM= HKEY LOCAL MACHINE)

4. There will be two files, one has no value, and the other one should be set to 1.
Change the file value data that is “1″ to “0″.
5. Open windows update.

6. Select which way you want to go (either custom or express) it doesn’t matter at this point.

7. You will be asked to reinstall the Validation tool. It now thinks you don’t have Windows Genuine Validation installed, but you do. DON’T CLICK THE BUTTON! DON’T CLOSE THE PAGE! DON’T REFRESH THE PAGE! Instead…put the registry data variable string that you deleted back in with a value of “1″. Once you have the value set back to “1″ close regedit and return back to your open Windows Update window.
8. Click back and then click the update method of choice (Custom or Express) and voila! It works!

Deleteing it completely. (Advanced)-
End the process wgatray.exe in Windows TaskManager and restart Windows XP in safe mode. Now delete the following files:

Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\windowss\ystem32
Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\windows\system32\dllcache

Start Windows Registry editor and delete the folder “WGALOGON” located in the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinlogonNotify. Delete all references in your registry to WgaTray.exe

Another alternative suggest that three files are installed Windows XP System Folder:

\WINDOWS\system32\WgaLogon.dll
\WINDOWS\system32\WgaTray.exe
\WINDOWS\system32\LegitCheckControl.dll

The wgatray.exe process makes the check for genuine windows software. You can disable WGA by removing the execute bit on WgaLogon.dll. That way, winlogon can’t call it as a notification package at boot, and since WgaLogon is responsible for running and maintaining WgaTray.exe, no more tray popups either.

To change the execute bit of WgaLogon.dll, first turn off Simple File Sharing. Now right click the file in Windows Explorer and open the Security Tab. Hit the Advanced button, uncheck the Inherit box at the bottom, hit the Copy button, then hit OK. Go through each listed user/group and remove the “Read & Execute” permission for that file, leaving the “Read” permission as-is.

Hit OK to apply the permission changes and close the file properties dialog. Restart the machine. You can now turn “Use simple file sharing” back on, if you want.

A third alternative posted on the internet suggest that users clear the content of file data.dat located in the following directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Windows Genuine Advantage\data

Save the data.dat empty file and change the attributes to “Read Only” - Restart you computer. Or start your PC in Safe Mode and delete the following files from Windows system32 folder - wgalogon.dll spmgs.dll wgatray.exe The WGA setup file is in C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\ Download\6c4788c9549d437e76e1773a7639582a

If you don’t use “Fast User Switching”, you can disable the Windows XP Welcome Screen if you are logged in as an Administrator. This will remove the initial WGA Warning Screen:

1. Click on Start -> Control Panel ->User Accounts
2. Click on “Change the way users log on or off”
3. Uncheck “Use the Welcome Screen” - Choose Apply
4. Close the User Accounts window and the Control Panel
5. The next time you reboot your computer, the classic login prompt will be used

I just want to report that I don’t believe the javascript code line in the address bar method works anymore. Neither can you disable WGA in your browser. That is basically what you are doing in the registery. You are making it seem like you didn’t have WGA, hence “0″, downloaded it and passed as genuine, hence the change to “1″.

I’m sure Microsoft will come out with more updates to WGA, and we’ll find ways around it. So if you have problems, just come check out this post comments and I’m sure will have the fix.

Also, you can download the new pirated version of Windows XP Pro SP2 that is out on torrent. That has a fix on it so it looks genuine to Windows all the time. I suggest if you are going to reformat, you download that image and use it on the reinstall.

Good luck my fellow Windows piraters!

Go to the K2 Reloaded site.

I have finally got bored enough with my site that I am going to be changing the template soon, I hope you guys will like it, I know I like it. I have given a clue in the site right now, giving you a hint of what the next template will consist of. You will have to find the clue on your own, but I’ll give you some help. Delete your cookies, cache, and history in your browser, and reload the page. You may not notice the clue, but that makes it fun.

I’m still looking for someone to take over development of K2 Reloaded. I plan on working side-by-side with the new guy, so that we can get everything working, I just need someone to actually work on it. So if you interested, and I have recieved many emails asking me about it but nobody seems to get back to me, drop a line and let me know.

Tarski Reloaded is almost ready too, but again, I need someone to finish it.

I have one last thing to make you aware of. I am currently making a theme for people to download and use, that will be completely made from scratch. It will not be a “reloaded” theme.

So there you have it.

Two, I can’t fully forget Windows. My job requires me to know everything there is to know about all OS’s. I couldn’t possibly imagine not keeping up-to-date in Windows world.

I have changed my mind however. I have seen the signs, and I read them right. I had a feeling Apple would switch over to Intel, and soon I feel AMD will come into the picture too. There were signs that Apple was working on getting .exe’s and Windows working on there machines and its true, Windows works on the Intel macs, and they even put this out.

Windows on a Mac? Introducing the Boot Camp Public Beta

The next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, will included a new feature called Boot Camp, which lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on Intel-based Macs, like the new Mac mini and iMac. To experience this today, download the free Boot Camp Public Beta. Switching was never such an easy choice.

With the move to intel boards, it is my feeling that more and more of the good games, will come to the Mac. I also feel that Apple will soon put out something to match, even beat ActiveX.

With all of this, I have decided today that I am going to be ditching my PC, and I’m going to by a MacBook Pro. I don’t plan on buying it for two to three more months, and hopefully they will have Rev. 2 of the MacBook Pro out by then.

More people should follow in my steps

UPDATE: I am chaning the release date to April 3, 2006. I’m not quite ready to release it today (March 29, 2006) and I’m leaving for a webdesign contest in Salt Lake City tomarrow. Meaning I will have no time to work on it. It should be out on the third though.

We have suffered some losses lately and I have lost two team members with Shosholoza Technologies. I am now looking for anyone who is willing to commit some time, and talents, for free to join the team.

What we are looking for:
-Graphic Designers
-Coders
-Advertisers

Skills and Experience needed:
-We are looking for people that are serious about there work, and really know there skills. You should have plenty of background on your skill.
-Should have experience working with teams
-Needs to have plenty of experience with wordpress.
-Should have some background in the other jobs, even if its not the one you do. Meaning, if you are a coder, you should still now some graphic design.

What the team does:
We get together and help each other with projects. We are always making new templates, and improving others work.

So if you are interested, drop a line in the comments section and let me know.

Do not fret though my fellow windows zombies, there is a tool that windows has added that is very secret. I have no clue why it is secret, cuz everyone should know this. Maybe its not a secret, but more of just not talked about, but anyways its called “taskkiller”.

The consecpt is easy enough, good into taskmanager, find the name of the task that won’t quit, and write it down. Then open up Notepad and type something like this

@echo off
taskkill/im NAMEOFTASK.exe /f

and save as a .bat (Batch file)
In place of the NAMEOFTASK type in what you wrote down earlier, and run the batch file, and ta da! Instant end of the task.

Hopes this helps some of you techs out there that have been emailing me

P.S. Incase you are wondering a breakdown of the code to get the meaning, here it is.

taskkill= the .exe that runs to kill the task
/im= the image name of the task to be killed
/f= to force the kill

As of today we’ve officially completed Wave One of the Shuttle project. I effectively took all the work we’d done so far, all the things we’d talked about and tried to come up with a cohesive solution. Just hammering page after page. I’m not really sure were it all came from, but I guess it was mainly due to the fact that we’d sat on this for so long that is was time we just dealt with it all.

I am so excited to see this in action. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I knew that if I loved it so much, my wordpress users would too. Here are a couple of screen shots of the Shuttle project.

http://eric-taylor.com/forums