I know, world in peril and we have to work together. This is my last office romance, I'll tell you that.

Buffy ,'End of Days'


Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


§ ita § - Nov 06, 2007 10:38:00 am PST #3409 of 25497
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Ha! My database inputs are suitably sanitised.


Jessica - Nov 07, 2007 7:23:46 am PST #3410 of 25497
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

How is it we're not talking about the Google phone here? I mean, dude! Google Phone!

(Okay, technically Google Mobile Platform. But still! Google Mobile Platform!)


tommyrot - Nov 07, 2007 7:28:00 am PST #3411 of 25497
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

How is it we're not talking about the Google phone here?

It doesn't come out until the second half of '08?

Anyway, I'm tempted to download the development thingie for it....


Jessica - Nov 07, 2007 7:29:49 am PST #3412 of 25497
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

It doesn't come out until the second half of '08?

Pfft. Details...


tommyrot - Nov 07, 2007 3:54:15 pm PST #3413 of 25497
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

I don't know if more evidence that DRM sucks is needed, but... here's one case where it really sucks:

Allan Wood (a baseball megafan who has written a book about Babe Ruth) purchased over $280 worth of digital downloads of baseball games from Major League Baseball, who have just turned off their DRM server, leaving him with no way to watch his videos. MLB's position is that since these videos were "one time sales," and that means that Wood and everyone else who gave money to MLB is out of luck -- they'll never be able to watch their videos again,.

MLB shut down the DRM server because they've changed suppliers, and now they expect suckers to buy downloads of games in the new DRM format.

[link]

Apparently, MLB lied when they said only a one-time connection would be needed to to authorize the videos.

How many DRM schemes require connecting to the interneet and a DRM server to be played?


§ ita § - Nov 07, 2007 4:00:04 pm PST #3414 of 25497
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I have a powerbook that doesn't boot. Stops at the grey screen with the apple and the progress wheel. Just take it into the shop?


tommyrot - Nov 07, 2007 4:01:15 pm PST #3415 of 25497
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

I can only offer the obvious - have you tried booting from a CD? Also, Macs still come with a hardware diagnostic CD that you boot into, right?

eta:

Stops at the grey screen with the apple and the progress wheel.

My fave is the folder icon with the question mark on it.


Juliebird - Nov 07, 2007 4:10:15 pm PST #3416 of 25497
I am the fly who dreams of the spider

Has anybody with sufficient RAM tried Tunebite for bypassing DRM on video? It costs $30, but it's legal because it doesn't actually remove the DRM, just creates a new copy via live playback, or so I understand it.


amych - Nov 07, 2007 4:11:38 pm PST #3417 of 25497
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

ita, when I had the same problem, I was able to get past it by booting into single-user mode and running fsck, as detailed here: [link] . It wasn't my mac's most fun day, but better than letting the geniuses tell me that the whole drive was hosed.


meara - Nov 07, 2007 5:11:58 pm PST #3418 of 25497

You can try booting off CD, but when that happened to me, my computer was hosed. However, the geniuses were able to hook up another drive, boot off that, and save my stuff, so there was that, at least.