Monday, May 30, 2005

Who needs Windows?

Who needs Windows? Interesting article to read, and discussed in /. too. It would be nice to see that Windows-free world, however I doubt that would happen. Just like nobody needs in the end branded clothes, who cares for Adidas or Louis Vuitton - does that make Adidas or Louis Vuitton disappear? People still buy luxury clothes even though they know that there are alternatives. For computers - unless they have tried or at least searched for themselves, XP is just XP, and most people just don't consider anything else to start with.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Get some QuickTime 7 Pro functionality for free in your QuickTime 7

You don't actually need to get Quicktime 7 to get all its functionalities.
Some of them can be conquered with simple AppleScript.

Movie plays in fullscreen:

on run
tell application "QuickTime Player"
activate
present movie 1
end tell
end run


Audio recording:

tell application "QuickTime Player"
activate
new audio recording
end tell


Video recording:

tell application "QuickTime Player"
activate
new movie recording
end tell


Voila'! They work correctly in QuickTime 7 non-Pro version. :)


And this works in Quicktime 6 as well:


on open theMovie
tell application "QuickTime Player"
activate
set request to display dialog "Select a scaling, fool!" with icon ¬
note buttons {"normal", "double", "screen"} default button "screen"
if button returned of request is "normal" then
open theMovie
present movie 1 scale normal
else if button returned of request is "double" then
open theMovie
present movie 1 scale double
else if button returned of request is "screen" then
open theMovie
present movie 1 scale screen
end if
end tell
end open


Save that as an application, and drag the file you want to see as a full screen movie to that application.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

The funniest ever article at Slashdot

Funniest thing at slashdot, ever. *Microsoft* making cars that don't crash?
That will be a redifinition of the blue screen of death.
"Your car is running Windows 2008 - this road supports only Windows 2011 or better - please update".
"Microsoft cannot detect your car's Windows licence. Please contact Microsoft technical support if you want to drive this car".
"Your car radio has been disabled since Windows has detect that the analog radio you are listening to is not using Windows DRM".
Besides ... if Windos "It just works" new slogan is as Windows products are generally, I have no desire to know what their cars are like.
What would it be to drive a Mac then?

Monday, May 02, 2005

CD to annoy your neighbors

An interesting CD - the most annoying sounds. I feel I want that. Not to annoy our house mates - they are nice, but ... would be just nice to have.
However I feel more creative myself, so I rather make such CD myself. Open Source even - so others could enjoy it as well. Any ideas for tracks to add?
- Annoying Germans bitching about stuff
- Annoying Germans argueing
- Germans eating (loud)
- German marriage crisis
- Irish rat dogs barking
- Ice cream car
- Some Abba tracks, possibly as karaoke
- Teenagers screaming
- Teenagers giggling loudly
- Baby crying
- Tap leaking drop by drop
- Finnish tangos
- Random adults loudly intimate
- Random adults loudly intimate in shower
- Men watching football on TV when they are winning
- Men watching football on TV when they are loosing
- Running wooden stairs up and down
- Bed making noise while being used by more than one person
- Loud annoying laughter (adult male, and adult female)
- Snoring, several kinds of
- Bitching mum screaming and yelling at her kids, and kids screaming and crying back
- Loud and giggling, drunk woman screaming while getting laid
- Germans argueing in kitchen and breaking kitchenware
- Standard Nokia ringtone
- ICQ and msn messenger new messages arriving
That would probably be enough for the CD 1. Or have I forgotten something essentially annoying?

Sunday, May 01, 2005

I really hate spam #2

I really hate spam.
80% of spam received by Internet users in North America and Europe can be traced via aliases and addresses, redirects, hosting locations of sites and domains, to a hard-core group of around 200 known spam operations. Top 10 of the worst, and the worst #2 #3.

IMMEDIATE ATTENTION NEEDED: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL

I do hate spam, but this one is the best I have ever seen.

From: <######>
Subject: IMMEDIATE ATTENTION NEEDED: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
Date: Sat,30 Apr 2005 19:29:00 -0100

IMMEDIATE ATTENTION NEEDED
: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL


FROM: GEORGE WALKER BUSH
DEAR SIR / MADAM,


I AM GEORGE WALKER BUSH, SON OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH, AND CURRENTLY SERVING AS PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU BECAUSE WE HAVE
NOT MET NEITHER IN PERSON NOR BY CORRESPONDENCE. I CAME TO KNOW OF YOU IN MY
SEARCH FOR A RELIABLE AND REPUTABLE PERSON TO HANDLE A VERY CONFIDENTIAL
BUSINESS TRANSACTION, WHICH INVOLVES THE TRANSFER OF A HUGE SUM OF MONEY TO
AN ACCOUNT REQUIRING MAXIMUM CONFIDENCE.


I AM WRITING YOU IN ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE PRIMARILY TO SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE IN
ACQUIRING OIL FUNDS THAT ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ. MY
PARTNERS AND I SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE IN COMPLETING A TRANSACTION BEGUN BY
MY FATHER, WHO HAS LONG BEEN ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE EXTRACTION OF PETROLEUM
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND BRAVELY SERVED HIS COUNTRY AS DIRECTOR
OF THE UNITED STATES CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.


IN THE DECADE OF THE NINETEEN-EIGHTIES, MY FATHER, THEN VICE-PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SOUGHT TO WORK WITH THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ TO REGAIN LOST OIL REVENUE SOURCES IN THE
NEIGHBORING ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN. THIS UNSUCCESSFUL VENTURE WAS SOON
FOLLOWED BY A FALLING OUT WITH HIS IRAQI PARTNER, WHO SOUGHT TO ACQUIRE
ADDITIONAL OIL REVENUE SOURCES IN THE NEIGHBORING EMIRATE OF KUWAIT, A
WHOLLY-OWNED U.S.-BRITISH SUBSIDIARY.


MY FATHER RE-SECURED THE PETROLEUM ASSETS OF KUWAIT IN 1991 AT A COST OF
SIXTY-ONE BILLION U.S. DOLLARS ($61,000,000,000). OUT OF THAT COST,
THIRTY-SIX BILLION DOLLARS ($36,000,000,000) WERE SUPPLIED BY HIS PARTNERS
IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA AND OTHER PERSIAN GULF MONARCHIES, AND
SIXTEEN BILLION DOLLARS ($16,000,000,000) BY GERMAN AND JAPANESE PARTNERS.
BUT MY FATHER'S FORMER IRAQI BUSINESS PARTNER REMAINED IN CONTROL OF THE
REPUBLIC OF IRAQ AND ITS PETROLEUM RESERVES.


MY FAMILY IS CALLING FOR YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE IN FUNDING THE REMOVAL OF
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ AND ACQUIRING THE PETROLEUM ASSETS OF
HIS COUNTRY, AS COMPENSATION FOR THE COSTS OF REMOVING HIM FROM POWER.
UNFORTUNATELY, OUR PARTNERS FROM 1991 ARE NOT WILLING TO SHOULDER THE BURDEN
OF THIS NEW VENTURE, WHICH IN ITS UPCOMING PHASE MAY COST THE SUM OF 100
BILLION TO 200 BILLION DOLLARS ($100,000,000,000 - $200,000,000,000), BOTH
IN THE INITIAL ACQUISITION AND IN LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT.


WITHOUT THE FUNDS FROM OUR 1991 PARTNERS, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE
THE OIL REVENUE TRAPPED WITHIN IRAQ. THAT IS WHY MY FAMILY AND OUR
COLLEAGUES ARE URGENTLY SEEKING YOUR GRACIOUS ASSISTANCE. OUR DISTINGUISHED
COLLEAGUES IN THIS BUSINESS TRANSACTION INCLUDE THE SITTING VICE-PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RICHARD CHENEY, WHO IS AN ORIGINAL PARTNER
IN THE IRAQ VENTURE AND FORMER HEAD OF THE HALLIBURTON OIL COMPANY, AND
CONDOLEEZA RICE, WHOSE PROFESSIONAL DEDICATION TO THE VENTURE WAS
DEMONSTRATED IN THE NAMING OF A CHEVRON OIL TANKER AFTER HER.


I WOULD BESEECH YOU TO TRANSFER A SUM EQUALING TEN TO TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT
(10-25 %) OF YOUR YEARLY INCOME TO OUR ACCOUNT TO AID IN THIS IMPORTANT
VENTURE. THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL
FUNCTION AS OUR TRUSTED INTERMEDIARY. I PROPOSE THAT YOU MAKE THIS TRANSFER
BEFORE THE FIFTEENTH (15TH) OF THE MONTH OF APRIL.


I KNOW THAT A TRANSACTION OF THIS MAGNITUDE WOULD MAKE ANYONE APPREHENSIVE
AND WORRIED. BUT I AM ASSURING YOU THAT ALL WILL BE WELL AT THE END OF THE
DAY. A BOLD STEP TAKEN SHALL NOT BE REGRETTED, I ASSURE YOU. PLEASE DO BE
INFORMED THAT THIS BUSINESS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO
CO-OPERATE IN THIS TRANSACTION, PLEASE CONTACT OUR INTERMEDIARY
REPRESENTATIVES TO FURTHER DISCUSS THE MATTER.


I PRAY THAT YOU UNDERSTAND OUR PLIGHT. MY FAMILY AND OUR COLLEAGUES WILL BE
FOREVER GRATEFUL. PLEASE REPLY IN STRICT CONFIDENCE TO THE CONTACT NUMBERS
BELOW.


SINCERELY WITH WARM REGARDS,


GEORGE WALKER BUSH


Switchboard: 202.456.1414 Comments: 202.456.1111 Fax: 202.456.2461 Email:
president@whitehouse.gov --