10 GB of free storage

Finally, a site where you can sign up to get free storage for almost everything you have- from pics to videos to mp3s. The only caveat is the 100MB download cap (that's why the other plans come in). The thing I like best about this is 10 GB storage and no caps on the upload (though the largest file one can upload is a 100MB file; still beats Gmail's 10 MB cap)

338,723 invites up for grabs

Who can blame Google for the recent flood of gmail invites? Well, the first and foremost place one could get a Gmail invite without being a friend of a geek, GmailSwap, has finally declared mission accomplished and closed shop. If you've never heard of Gmail and want an invite, hop on over to http://isnoop.net/gmail one of the few sites still actively giving away gmail invites (yeah, they're so commonplace now that you can get them for free now, instead of having to buy them over ebay for $50 or trade your spanking new graphics card for one).

Star Wars 3 SPOILERS

Revemge of the Sith

I can't believe this! Someone outside the studio has released some spoilers on the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Too bad that person didn't leak a copy out on the scene lol.

LINK: http://www.tpu.fi/~t4jlaaks/ep3/

Torrentbits 2

My Torrentbits avatar

It's about time I got a torrentbytes account (aka torrentbits 2). This site offers the FASTEST speeds one can find on the Bittorrent scene (but then again, if you're on a 0.5mbps connection, there's no point. And yes, I've got a 8mbps connection.) Well, I'm off torrenting now...

Gmail Launching?

I've received 50 gmail invitations this morning. And I bet many other Gmail account owners have the same. This only means one thing: Gmail is going to be launching any minute now, which I think is a bit quite overdue.

Love me, love my DOS

I found this thread at the General Discussions Forum at filesoup.com really funny, so enjoy:

'Modelling for Geeks' presents Bill Gates in a 1985 Microsoft promotional photoshoot...


But wait... it gets worse!



And yeah, they're real...

More pictures taken in 1985 by celebrity photographer Deborah Feingold shortly after the release of Windows 1.0.

Gates goes Google-eyed

Bill to get Google whacked?

Geeksville is turning into a major battleground today.

Bill Gates is taking on the supremacy of Google as the world's leading search engine, by establishing Microsoft's own MSN Search facility.

And Gatesy's not planning to do it by halves, you won't be surprised to learn.

"Search and destroy: Microsoft's new mission to topple Google," writes the Times, adding that so far "analysts are far from impressed" by the MSN rival.

And here's how, according to initial findings.

"Microsoft has produced a search engine that's better in almost every way than Google: except one: its search results are terrible," says someone or other from IT newspaper, The Register.

Talk of Gates inevitably brings up its own search result from the same old question: "Just how rich is he?"

He's worth an estimated £26.7bn, writes the Independent, adding that a Google search for the man himself brings up a "real-time Bill Gates personal wealth clock", and "calculates how much each US citizen has contributed to it ($203.03)".

The Guardian also surveys the Google-MSN battlelines, analysing how the "fight for web hits and advertising dollars" is "also a reflection of how a simple tool has become essential to the way we live our lives".

Unless, of course, you hate computers and don't give a monkeys. In which case you're not reading this.

KOTOR 2

7 days more to the release of Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords!!! Oh the agonizing wait ...

Windows Media DRM10 Cracked?

So, the word is that a popular internet magazine in Japan has posted information on how to crack the protected files. It appears that you still need a license for the content to start with, that's kind of a big thing. I'm sure there will be more information about this later.

The software has the file names of "DrmDbg.exe" and "DRM2WMV". DrmDbg.exe is supposed to get the KID and the Seed from memory when a DRM-enabled file is being decrypted/played. That spits out a .key file and DRM2WMV is supposed to take that .key and unprotect the WMV. This would leave you with a WMV file that is entirely unprotected and playable in anything that supports WMV playback.

While this may seem like it's great for fair-use and all, many content owners are upset with the matter. Microsoft has not commented on the issue publicly yet. It should also be noted that because of the architecture of WMRM this potential break does not mean that the tools will be valid to use in the future.

The Hector Safety Button

The Hector Safety Button: Keeping children safe online

This Hector Safety Button has been created by the NetSafe® Programme of New Zealand to help keep children safe online. The function of this button is to give a child the ability to quickly cover the screen of the computer with a screensaver of Hector Protector when they encounter material that frightens or upsets them. With a click of the button, the problem is covered over by Hector until a trusted adult can come and deal with the situation. Hector also gives children very positive feedback for using the button and for talking with an adult about the problem.

Is Google's grip on search technology is slipping?

In response to Cnet's Google blogger reappears, redacted article, I have this say to Google: What in the world is going on? Searching for the term 'David's Tech Blog' didn't yield a link to this blog of mine at all (although www.techblog.tk is listed, it's because of my multiple attempts to register this website on Google's spider list; the real address, davidstechblog.blogspot.com, isn't). Yahoo, on the other hand, manages to list it with a higher rank (no. 2)!

There's an explanation to this: Google does not index blogger.com blogs (unless your blog's address has appeared on other sites; remember that Google works on a popularity contest mechanism). But does this mean I will ditch Google in favour of Yahoo, not at this present moment (though I think the new Yahoo makeover will make me reconsider in future) :D

Microsoft bloopers

MapPoint users in for long and winding road

Published: January 26, 2005, 8:05 PM PST

By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Norwegians might want to use a reality check before trusting directions from Microsoft's online MapPoint service.

A bug in Microsoft's MapPoint software sends those looking to travel between two Norwegian cities on a trip across much of Western Europe. The suggested quickest route between Haugesund and Trondheim is a 1,685-mile journey through Belgium, England, France, Germany and Sweden to make the journey. With two trips across the ocean and a fair bit of overland travel, the site estimates the journey will take some 47 hours and 31 minutes.

CLICK TO VIEW

The humorous glitch made the rounds on various blogs on Wednesday. Ultimately, Microsoft evangelist Robert Scoble posted a blog item of his own, apologizing for the error and indicating that the company is working on a fix.

"I'm sorry about this, lots of people have reported this bug to the team and they are working on a fix," Scoble said on his blog. "I hear it'll come in February."

Although Microsoft is a very worldly company with offices across the globe, the world's largest software maker has been known to occasionally make a geographic error. In the original version of Windows 95, the world clock function showed only a portion of the disputed Kashmir region as being a part of India and the government threatened a ban. Microsoft recalled 200,000 copies, costing the company millions of dollars.

To avoid a repeat, Microsoft's no longer separates the world into countries within the clock, but the company has managed to make other cultural faux pas.

Because of a translation error, a version of Windows XP aimed at Latin American markets asked users to select their gender between "not specified," "male" or "bitch." In another case, Microsoft used chanting of the Koran as background music for a computer game, prompting the Saudi Arabian government to ban the game.