Sound Advice

This just in. Creative shoots their own foot in the name of posterity.

The short version is that a home user took it upon himself to create Vista drivers for Creative brand soundcards. Because he used Creative driver technology (read in: used some of their code) Creative felt that because they weren't compensated for the work he borrowed in the improved drivers, that they felt the need to take down the links to his improved Vista drivers.

Dear (include company here),

If someone wants to spend their free time to make sure your product works for your customers. Don't squelch it, fire your lazy programmers and give him/her a job.

Writing to My Congressperson

Nothing makes me more apathetic about politics then trying to "write to my congressperson". And nothing says "you're insignificant" more then the Congressman response form letter. Look, if I thought by calling or writing my representative would be a louder voice then some lobbyists lavish gifts and, well lets be honest, bribes, then I'd be more pro-active in the political process. But as it stands now, the only people with voice are people with money.

Take for example the linked reference article.

In it the RIAA/MPAA mafia added legistlation binding the schools to help give them evidence for students who distribute on p2p and bit torrent networks within the University. USF is no exception as it forces you to agree to a Terms of Use Agreement saying that you have to basically not participate in that kind of activity lest they give you up to be sued for a few thousand dollars.

This is domestic terrorism. If you think that what the RIAA/MPAA are doing is legal and just by going after individual citizens, then keep on purchasing and participating. Everyone else, boycott them. Bu music online direct from the artist. Rent movies from Apple store. Do whatever you can to give them less leverage to stop the lawsuits.

Link via Ars Technica

Remind you of Anyone?

It's Felicia Day, from The Guild.



Funny, no? If you're looking for the social commentary aspect of this post, its the fact that no matter what one company does, you can't artifically create a viral market. In fact I haven't seen a good one since ilovebees.

Note: watchtheguild.com link is broken until they up thier bandwidth or something.

The Macbook Pro Coverup

Other then the di-tech, progressive, and GEICO commercials, a random commercial always caught my eye whilst I watch Nat Geo. Then, more commercials with the similar thing started to become more apparent to me. To be honest, I've always noticed this, but maybe now that I've brought it your attention you'll notice too, and that's the cover of a Macbook. They'll have a Macbook Pro displayed predominantly in the commercial or show, then cover it up with a sticker. Its almost jarring what they do, but it begs to ask if they are afraid of making it seem like an Apple commercial? And also, how many browsers are displayed now simulated on television as Safari? I can't even think of a commercial showing their product or site using IE or Firefox for that matter. Just something to chew on.

Care to blog much?

So I'm deciding to be prolific because I have decided enough is enough. There are too many places to blog, and I can't keep them up. Aside from my own personal blog at screaminginrockets.com I have myspace, facebook, and now this silly site wants some of my literary blood. Are you kidding me? Do they think that us young folks desperately need a place to voice that we've never heard of a livejournal? Its angsty teenager the holy grail of advertising?

Even someone technologically inclined as I have trouble keeping up with friends and their posts. And God forbid they are using ATOM instead of RSS because I hate to say it but not many readers know the difference. Hell, not many people know what an RSS reader is let alone how to add a feed.

So fellow demographic, when is enough enough? Whats going to be the final digital hangout for our generation? Or are people going to finally figure out how to make their own .com on the cheap?