June 29, 2008 at 9:55 PM · Filed under Apple / Mac, Miscellaneous
Back in the days of Windows 95 and “MMX” technology, you could purchase music from your favorite store that came on a disc (or tape). These mediums allowed you to play them in just about any device. From Sony to RCA, you could enjoy your music anywhere. It was, after all, your music. Play it anywhere!
Forward 13 years and enter a different kind of store: The iTunes Store. Now you can purchase music from your computer and play it on, well… that’s the thing. You can’t play your music anywhere you want. You might have purchased it, but that doesn’t mean you “own” it. It’s encrypted and only works on select devices.
While iTunes offers the ability to buy every song as a “single” for a discounted rate, and also has some rather low prices on full albums, you just don’t get the kind of control you do with buying a CD or DVD from the real “Store.” Me? I’ll never buy a song from iTunes. I still support the artists, not the recording industry.
June 26, 2008 at 2:42 PM · Filed under MS / Windows
With recent shipments of failure from the Microsoft camp, including a rather useless Service Pack 3 for aged XP and a “Reliability” Service Pack update for Vista SP1, their users have been speaking out for years since the release of Windows Vista in late 2006. And surprisingly (not), major companies are speaking out about just how featureless and lacking Microsoft’s latest Operating System is.
Intel Corporation has dedicated that they’re not going to run Vista. Period. According to the New York Times, “Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista.” Intel’s IT staff arrived at their decision after a lengthy cost-benefit analysis. It has yet to be seen what kind of heat Microsoft will put on top Intel execs for the decision to keep Windows XP alive. I mean, come on. Issue a brand new Service Pack after about 4 years and then turn around and announce you’re officially canning the entire Operating System (XP)?
Don’t worry! Windows 7 will save us all. Just keep praying to the almighty software giant.
June 26, 2008 at 10:12 AM · Filed under Miscellaneous
We’re slowly updating this blog for 2009. I know, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Over the next week you’re going to start seeing slight to major changes in how we present this incoherency we call The Espresso Report. One of a few changes you might’ve noticed is that I’ve shortened the pages to 5 posts each and added a page number navigation to the bottom, replacing the old “Previous Post” and “Next Post” thing you see on everyone else’s blog.
Oh, whtat’s that up there? That’s our ninja code name. It translates loosely in Japanese as “Report of Espresso” which is about as close to my blog’s name as I can get without making up my own kung-fu language. Don’t ask.
June 20, 2008 at 9:39 PM · Filed under Apple / Mac, Personal Rants
I’ve been thinking for the past couple days about taking up one of these amazing website offers of absolutely “free” prizes just for completing some random offers. One of the biggest prizes and most popular happen to be Apple products. A free iPhone, Mac Mini, Macbook Pro, etc. A quick Google search undercovers multiple blog posts, or should I say “blog” posts about happy winners who ended up spendinig a little bit of money taking these required “free” offers and getting thousands of dollars worth of Apple for a few hundred bucks.
… Then I start to wonder, how many of these “blog” posts are actually strategically placed advertisements? Wouldn’t you feel better completing some risky free offer if your online friend at some-whack-blog-here.com did it with success? Sure you would. Me? I’ll pass.
Yes, I could spend just a couple hundred bucks on a Free Mac offer that sounds legit, comb through the terms of service, pay some of my friends to take out pre-paid credit cards and help me on this endevear, but what if it fails? What if it was really a scam, or my completed offer doesn’t give me the credit points I need in time? As Steve Jobs says, “Boom.” It can happen. What if I’m spending $200 to $300 per possible scam site? That can add up to a free Mac in no time.
Save up some money and then visit the Apple Store. If you don’t need the money, then it’s “free.”
June 9, 2008 at 12:00 AM · Filed under Miscellaneous
You know what really makes me laugh? When people, sometimes classified as “advanced noobs” try to steal money from poor antivirus companies by downloading “full version” working retail copies of their antivirus software to protect their personal computer. If you knew that 99% of the people downloading your file had absolutely no antivirus protection, wouldn’t you be tempted to sneak in a trojan or two on their pirating ass? Damn right.
Come on, guys. If there’s one thing I’d pay for it’s decent antivirus software. Let’s face it, if you run Windows or are forced in some way to keep a Windows machine around, whether it’s for Exchange, gaming, work, etc., virus software is just a good idea. It’s like that extra car warranty you might never use, but you know in the back of your mind if you floor it and mow down that old lady taking too long to cross the street — you’re in good hands.
Three simple words: Pay The Man. What’s $30 or $40 for some good software that’ll protect your illegal pirating leeching ass from falling victim to another man’s scam? While we’re on the subject, let me throw a plug out to AVG Technologies, formerly Grisoft, makers of the AVG Anti-Virus. They’re so sweet they even give away a bulk of their hard working software for free in a minimal lag release of, what else, but “AVG Free.” If you’re going to pay anyone for anything, and I don’t recommend this often, go buy AVG for your Windows-based computer.
