“We recently discovered that a small number - less than 1% - of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, left our contract manufacturer carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus.”

Apple - Support - Small Number of Fifth Generation iPods May Be Carrying Windows Virus

This is funny

Looking forward to GHII - but rather disappointed there's so few UK acts in it...

“With around a month to go until Guitar Hero II's release on PlayStation 2, RedOctane has announced the 40 tracks licensed to appear in the game”

News - Guitar Hero II full tracklist // PlayStation 2 /// Eurogamer

I use Sneakemail quite a bit. It's a service that allows you to set up multiple double-blind addresses (that is, when someone sends you an email through them, it sets up a return address that will keep your real email address hidden should you email them back) and I use it often when signing up for sites on the basis that if they end up selling my address or spamming it too much I can switch it off without losing my real address.

I signed up for AllOfMP3 with one.

Which meant as soon as spam came through I knew where the address had been used and thus who to talk to. I dropped AllOfMP3 a note through their assistance system explaining the problem and how I knew it was the address I'd signed up to them with - and only them.

Their reply, a couple of days later, was to the effect that the spammer had targeted my address because it had allofmp3 in it (which it didn't) and the spammer was trying to lower AllOfMP3's reputation. And they hadn't been hacked or sold my address (the latter of which I hadn't accused them of - but perhaps it was an English-Russian translation problem). I replied with another query further explaining this wasn't the case and, if they were sure it wasn't them who'd let the email into the wild, they might want to check with their credit card partner - which was given the address during the transaction where I filled up my balance on AllOfMP3.

So far, four days later, there's been no response. If this goes on much further, they're going to end up “Dead To Me”.

“A shiny, fresh and enhanced online rental experience awaits you in October, when ScreenSelect.co.uk upgrades to our new and rather exciting LOVEFiLM service. And what do you need to do to take advantage of it all? Absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero.

When you access ScreenSelect from October, the website will have changed. But your package, your rental list, your settings and your ratings will all remain the same. Intact. Unsullied. Never fear”

Update: they managed to get a page up...

“Tyrone: Exactly as has occurred every other time an Islamic nation is attacked.
John: Precisely. We don't want to bomb them, but we have to. For their own good. If they could just see that --
Tyrone: (slapping his left hand with his right) "Look what you made me do! LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!"
John: "I don't want to hit you, baby. But you make me all crazy sometimes."
Tyrone: A foreign policy based on domestic abuse. But Iran has allies. That's not going to work.”

Kung Fu Monkey: Lunch Conversations #450: "I know How to Treat a PetroPower, Baby."

I wonder if anyone who uses Amazon's Unbox service compares it to buying the DVDs. I just got a mail from Amazon suggesting I buy Star Trek episodes for $1.99 (although, being out of the US, I can't). I looked up the boxed set prices and Amazon sells all the original episodes for $176 or $2.23 an episode.

So for an extra 24¢ per episode you get a permanent physical copy - "If you uninstall or otherwise remove the Software, your ability to view all Digital Content you have downloaded to the Authorized Device will immediately and automatically terminate and we reserve the right to delete all Digital Content from that Authorized Device without notice to you" - that you can play on any DVD player, not just the 2 “authorised devices” - "As used in this Agreement, “Authorized Device” means any personal computer or portable media player meeting minimum system requirements that Amazon may establish from time to time or other device that Amazon may authorize from time to time. You may only view Digital Content on Authorized Devices" - and that doesn't call home to Amazon to say what and when you're watching - "Among other things, the Software will provide Amazon with information related to the Digital Content on your Authorized Device and your use of it and information regarding your Authorized Device and its interaction with the Service".

Amazon Unbox™ Terms of Use

“What you see before you is a sketch Playboy put together for November's issue (on stands next week) which features the annual Playboy's Women of Videogames 2006 spread.”

Exclusive: Playboy's Women of Video Games Picture - Kotaku

a) Why nipples need to be censored is beyond me
b) Why fake nipples on computer generated images is of any prurient value likewise
c) There are very real people who are happy and willing to have pictures of them taken with their baps out

“Security guard: Um, we have a problem here.
Traveler: And what might that be?
Security guard: Do you have any other form of identification? Your driver's license is expired.
Traveler: No, it's not... this is 2006.
Security guard: You may pass.”

Overheard in the Office | But I'm Watching You, Pal

Amusing... but why does a photo ID lose it's identification value when it expires?

If you have seen the end of Season 5 yet (unlike me), this page may be of interest. If you haven't seen the end (like me), you'll find it tells you it anyway...

I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe yesterday.

As this is many long years after I read the books, my memories are hazy and I was (presumably) not so corrupted, so the scene where Lucy first meets Mr Tumnus was waaaaay less creepy then. Or maybe it was just because it was being acted and you could see the basic emotions acted out. Anyway, it seemed to follow the book pretty much as I recall, which is both a positive and a negative. I think I may see if I can dig the books out.

(or as many people seem to call it... screensaver...)



(Dual monitor version here, from original here)

A while back I mentioned Cacti as something cool I found. Well, now it's been superseded by Munin on the coolometer. It produces just as many useful graphs of system info (and more, such as the one below), but works in a client/server way to gather all the data from many servers in one place far more easily than Cacti did.