Month: November 2005 (Page 2 of 2)

Indeed. This did not take long. Sony rootkit tehcnology opens the door to hackers.

In a previous post I mentioned the DRM that Sony installs on Windows PC. Now it appears Sony CDs also account for Mac OS X and installs some form of copy-protection. Now, I’m against piracy, but this move is not the right way to go, in my opinion.

Via Claire Wolfe’s blog, a link to a story about MPAA thuggery at a movie-plex. The author seems to think “movie studios are losing revenue because of the increasingly poor movie-going experience and general low-quality of the movies they are making.” Perhaps. In my case, I hate rude fellow patrons, and inevitably I have people right behind me talking through the movie. That makes me prefer viewing a DVD at home. The last movie I saw, Wallace & Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, was a matinee. As the lights dimmed, I seemed to be the only person in the theatre. But then, a moment later, two older women hobble in, both talking. They proceeded to talk through-out the entire movie, despite loud comments and muttered curses from me, thereby ruining the movie. Yes, I probably could have alerted the manager, but would that have stopped them/ probably only for a few minutes, and I would have lost screen-time in the time it would have taken to find a person. No, I prefer to watch the movie on my own time, at home, although the screen is smaller, and I have to keep the volume down to not wake the infant.

From CNET News, an article about SonyBMG loading spyware on your PC. Turns out some copy protected CDs, such as Van Zant’s Get Right with the Man, will implant a copy-prevention utility on your Windows PC. I use a Mac, but just the same, once you buy a CD you should be able to copy this for you own use without any restrictions. Amazon does warn buyers: [CONTENT/COPY-PROTECTED CD]. I’m going to think twice before purchasing any SongBMG product from now on.

Not only will sf writer Vernor Vinge’s latest novel appear in early 2006, but at least one of his long out of print books will see light again. Tatja Grimm’s World appears on Tor’s schedule for January, 2006 with a gorgeous cover. (I tried uploading just the cover but ran into Blogger errors, so here’s the closest thing I could manage.)