Step 1: clean off desk
Step 2: find discarded processor
Step 3: upgrade HTPC with discarded processor
Step 4: South Park
Step 5: Error: Digital Cable device registration application has stopped working...
Step 6: Windows Security Component Upgrade fails
Step 7: find C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/DRM/, delete
Step 8: Error: Digital Cable device registration application has stopped working...
Step 9: navigate to C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/DRM/, folder nonexistent
Step 10: type in C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/DRM/
Step 11: Folder is empty.
Step 12: no, it isn't, you fucks

Step 13, and this is the important part when you're deleting double-secret, yes, I already set Explorer to show hidden files and folders, folders: run as Administrator

Step 13: cmd, rmdir /s C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/DRM/

man, i've seen this episode already

So, like, not cool, Microsoft. Not cool.

I do a lot of searches and keywords make all this a matter of muscle memory. Ctrl-L + g, Google. Ctrl-L + w, Wikipedia, + m, Google images, + a, Amazon, + n, Newegg... So removing my keyword searches and replacing them with Bing is about the smartest and most efficient way for me to never ever use it. Like a newb I'm binging for ways to restore Google as my location bar's default search engine. Why? Because it's about the only way I can think to tell Microsoft not to dick with my settings.

Oh yeah, and I did this whole messagy-bit.

Not only did it set me up to use Bing, it got rid of all but the first three keyword searches I'd set up. It may be an easy fix, if it worked but nope, it doesn't. Once again, I ask myself the question: what's more profitable, a search engine and a massive browser, or just neither.

Just when you think you've seen it all, the Interwebs strike again! Check out the rack on Miss May! Oh... and don't mind her yearning to eat your flesh. It's completely sexual.

I love the internet.

At a recent conference, Microsoft's "I'm a PC" campaign took a strange twist when BG himself released a plague upon the crowd. Apparently Petsmart was fresh out of locust, though, so he went with mosquitoes instead. And then the dancing monkey [and the talking walnut] rushed, naked from socks-up, onto the stage chanting something about developers malaria (now he's just making up words). Silly monkey.

this post was inspired by real events

It appears as though somebody with access to Comcast's Wii'mote wasn't a big fan of Arizona. Their people are 'working tirelessly' to figure out how or why people in Tucson were treated to an unexpected package, by which I mean a penis, slapping about back and forth, after the big Arizona touchdown. My guess: someone was a Steelers fan.

Michael Desir, one of many to have seen the incident, best sums this up with the following:

M. Desir: It's like my uncle always told me: "Eventually, you're going to see someone's cock waving around on television."

The link is safe if you want the full story, but don't hit play if you're A) at work, or B) experiencing self-esteem issues.

On January 11th, the Ducati Monster 1100 and 1100S were on display in the United States despite having been initially unveiled last October in International Motorcycle Show in Germany. So while the new Monster has already been on European roads, this is the first we Americans are seeing of it.

The new 1100 is the big brother of the recently revamped Monster 696, the style of which has been significantly refined and polished in 2008-2009. The Monster has had a legion of followers since it’s debut in 1993. In 2005, the over half of all Ducati motorcycles sold were Monsters. I’m personally a fan of naked bikes and the Monster 696/1100 is perfect in my eyes, and a much needed improvement over the previous Monsters.

The 1100 shares the same frame as the 696, but has a slightly higher seat, improved suspension and brakes in addition to the obviously larger engine. The two-valve 1100cc engine puts out 95 horsepower at 7500 rpm and 80 foot-pounds of torque at 6000 rpm. This is a significant jump from the 696’s 80 hp and 50 ft-lbs. So for those of you who like to have more power than you’ll ever use (or SHOULD use), the 1100 gives the Monster a nice boost.

My local Ducati dealer had two Monsters of the 1100S variety, which feature fully adjustable 43mm titanium nitride coated Ohlins forks and a progressive Ohlins rear shock absorber with adjustable pre-load and return damping. Some bits of carbon fiber to reduce weight by a couple pounds and gold wheels to adorn the single-sided swingarm finish off the package.

More images below

On a related note, I bought the Monster 696 that day, and love it. It’s got more power than I need, which I am thankful for because I was eye'ing the 1100. Now I just need to keep telling myself that I don’t need a 150 hp bike when the Ducati Streetfighter is unveiled in the good ol’ U S of A in June/July.

My new 696:



Ducati Monster 1100S:









And for those of you that would like to know what a 6 foot 5 person looks like on a Monster 1100 (supposedly it's a little taller than the 696 but I couldn't tell the difference):

There are enough crappy Chinese MP3 players to fill a toxic Shenzhen waste dump many times over, but the Oppo Muse G11, with its traditional d-pad and promise of 8-bit glories emulated: I want.

While some of the photos here clearly show a real device, you can see that modesty has inclined lil' Oppo to only be shown from the rear, save for in chaste rendering form. So hopefully the d-pad and traditional SNES/PlayStation four-button config makes it to the final stages of production. News today is pricing: 1099 yuan, or $160. That only appears to buy you a paltry 4GB, but throwing together a true emulation platform along with some pedestrian MP3 playing capabilities into decent-looking swivel-screen hardware doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.

I want my devices to multitask. Everyone does. When I travel, I bring my DSLR, my notebook, my DS, my PSP, my cell phone, and chargers for all devices. I don't shave, that's just one gadget too many. At press events, you'll see all the journos and sponsors looking shaggier and increasingly coffee-stained over the days, because clothes take a back seat to hardware.

I have chargers for all this crap and I resent them for it. Not because they consume power and have different power sources each, I'm fine with that and they all switch 110-240V, so I can (and have) MacGuyvered power to them all no matter what bizarre outlet I've faced. I resent them because they all only do one thing well. I can't (legitimately) play all my games without also dragging around their bulky media, and because of that, I find myself not gaming. If I feel like getting in some DS, you better believe the TV's on at the same time.

I want my cell phone to play my tunes, I want my cell phone to be my point-and-shoot. If my cell phone played ROMs, then I'd be hard-pressed to re-purchase Chrono Trigger, because I have my copies of the game and at least ROMs can port save games. I'll never buy a point-and-shoot for myself, it's too narrowly-purposed.

But there's a fine line. When a gadget's scope is too great, it becomes central and all things suffer. I would enjoy checking my email with my phone, but the ability to withstand my music library is more important. Suffice it to say, I still have my dedicated PMP.

And I still have my crappy phone.

I can't find words...

I got an email this past Friday from the folks at Zacuto telling me about a test they've done that pits the following cameras against one another in a sort of Battle Royale:

Kodak Vision3, Red ONE, Panasonic HPX3000, Panasonic HVX200, Panasonic HVX200, Panasonic HVX200, Sony PMW-EX, Panasonic HPX170, Canon XHA1, Canon 5D MarkII, Nikon D90.

You may notice that a couple of those cameras are DSLRs. I've been waiting for someone to put together a test like this - same scene, same lighting, lots of different cameras. And I'm happy to see that the pros think the 5D Mark II's video is worthwhile. On the other hand, they basically say the D90 is useless to them for pro video largely because there is no audio-in, so you're forced to use the D90's built-in mic for your audio. Drew agreed, for more than one reason, in his article: Nikon's D90 Through the Eyes of a Video Pro.)

If this is something you're even vaguely curious about, check out the video below, and for a full list of specs etc. of the equipment used in the test, check out this page.


Zacuto's Great Camera Shootout '08 from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

So I figured tonight I would try to get some great images of the city at night, including some of the beautiful bridges. My cousin Steve was nice enough to drive around with me to find the perfect locations. Around midnight we find a nice park overlooking the city and I take some photos and panoramic images. Then I decide we should try to find an even better spot, and we find one at about 1am. After fending off a bunch of rats in another park, I get my camera and tripod setup and begin taking my first few images to determine proper settings for a beautiful panoramic. Just for kicks, I take a quick set of slightly defocused photos in a pano series, because I like the way the lights look out of focus... Then I start taking the real pano shots from this amazing, pretty much perfect location. At 1:17am, there's an audible click off in the distance, and the Brooklyn Bridge's suspension cable lights turned off... Annnnd, that's a wrap. Will have to try to make it back there tomorrow, unfortunately. Here's a teaser of the view I got thanks to the defocused set:

Given the type of photography I'm doing here in NYC, I think this is appropriate:

In case you're not keeping up with all the important me-related news... I'm uploading shots from each day of my NYC trip to a flickr set, so check 'em out if you haven't already. Please feel free to comment on the photos on flickr or email me with any questions.

Today I headed over to Times Square in mid-town to get a few of the typical shots and to try to get some creative new takes on probably one of the biggest tourist spots. I spent much of my time shooting for a series idea I had involving [relatively] long exposures in daylight (1 second), to de-emphasize the actual persons in the shot and give greater weight to the movement of said persons. For me it's sort of like capturing the soul of the city, as it breathes. The original idea was to take 60-second exposures, but it became a little more abstract at that point than what I was really aiming for. Half my time shooting today was probably spent in the subway system. At day's end, I'd recorded a bit more than 600 images and I narrowed those down to about 115. Here are some of my favorites from the day:

// day five

As I mentioned before, I'm uploading shots each day to a flickr set, so check 'em out if you haven't already. Please feel free to comment on the photos on flickr or email me with any questions.

Today I strolled through Central Park for a bit again, mainly around the 'mall' area and Bethesda fountain... Then I headed back downtown towards NYU and the SoHo area... And then I took the a train back uptown to Rockefeller center, hoping to get to the 'Top of The Rock' to catch the sunset over NYC, but I was a bit late to that party so I hung out for a bit around the skating rink. I shot over 500 images today and narrowed those down to about 100, which I'll further narrow down when I get back home. Here are some of my favorites from the day:

// day four

I just thought I'd make a quick post to mention that I'm in NYC through October 28th (I got here on the 18th) to take photos in the city. Some of you already know I'm a photographer at heart, and I decided it's time to start pursuing the craft aggressivly in my spare time. I'm uploading shots each day to a flickr set, so check 'em out. There's a lot already, and I still have 5 days of shooting left!

[As a side note... Before I left for NYC I installed a 500GB laptop drive in my Macbook Pro, which only had 20GB of free space left on a 320GB I'd installed shortly after I bought it. Well, it's a good thing I came prepared, because I've already eaten up 25GB of the new drive with photos from the trip just so far. I'll end up with at least twice that. It's not hard to do when you're filling up 8GB CF cards.]

I'll definitely have to narrow things down a lot when I get back home. When it's all said and done, I'll be putting some series' of prints together, along with some coffee table books, etc... Please feel free to comment on the photos on flickr or email me with any questions. Here are a handful of my favorites so far - I'll post a couple new ones each day [on TheTechLounge; I'll post a ton on flickr], but I have some catching up to do:

// day one


// day two


//day three

For a long time now, we've had the Hot Deals link at the top of the page. There was a time when it was full of really amazing deals - I purchased several Dell displays and computer systems over the years with huge discounts, and I even bought some lenses and then sold them for a profit thanks to the deals. Unfortunately, the quality of the deals has been going downhill for the last year or so... That's about to change.

We've struck up a partnership with DealNews.com so that we can provide better deals than ever before, with improved functionality and helpful Hotness ratings to help you spot the best deals. And this is only the beginning. We'll be working closely with DealNews to create some features that will make the Hot Deals more useful than ever. Check it out, let us know what you think, and stay tuned for more!

Despite the first Mass Effect being billed as an Xbox 360 exclusive, famed developer BioWare tells Joystiq that it has "never confirmed any plans of Mass Effect exclusivity for the trilogy."

Though the sci-fi action-RPG later appeared on PC, the title is still considered an Xbox 360 exclusive in terms of the console market--meaning it has not appeared on rival systems PlayStation 3 or Wii.

PS3 guys, I'm going to ruin it for you. Mass Effect was a beautiful, plot-driven Cleavland steamer. With it's fantastic visuals, the game actually starts in on choppy when you're talking and smiling at the same time. The incredible voice acting insures that no matter what decisions you make, the actors say exactly the same thing and none of your decisions affect the game, and then at the very end, you can talk the boss into suicide. HAHA, spoiled!

But you see, that's not clever, it's, God damn necessary, since, you know what? there's no point in wasting your time fighting, everything after hour 4 you can pistol-whip to death. I know because I did that with my spy--who can use sniper rifles but not assault rifles. You do have to make a handful of chicken-shit decisions where you can pick some of your party to kill, which is fine because they're totally static and you don't care about them anyway. It's not like you don't have more pleasure girls on your battleship The Casual Encounter.

And I hope you like pointless, derivative, and dull minigames, oh yeah. There's only the two, but you get to do them, like, anytime you aren't having sex with a tentacle.

Making Gaming Better @ bit-tech.net
Buy the games
Piracy is a topic in itself. It goes without saying that devs need to eat and if a game doesn't sell you can kiss goodbye to support, sequels and similar games. If you are playing a game you haven't bought, you are invisible as far as the developer is concerned. Only by buying the games you like can you possibly encourage similar, good quality games to be made. And confront other people who are pirating games too. You are subsidising them getting free games, so make sure they know how you feel about such freeloading. People asking for cracks on developer forums are the worst of all – report them, and tell them it's not acceptable.

How to Fix PC Gaming Once and for All @ ExtremeTech
Fix the Piracy Problem or Shut Up About it
I, and a great deal of gamers, are so damn sick of hearing developers whine about piracy. Look, if it's that big a deal to you (and noting that unprotected sometimes make a killing), fix it. And I don't mean by making your CD keys 10 digits longer than they are now. In fact, you can shove those CD keys somewhere painful, because they obviously don't work. If you want to stop pirates, quit whining and use your heads. If you can program a game that takes up five gigabytes of my hard drive, you can figure out a way to make it uncrackable without forcing me to stand on my head and recite the alphabet backward to play it. Maybe online distribution is the key, with online components that, unless they're present, cripple the experience. I know that would piss off anyone without a decent online connection, but who cares?

What the hell is wrong with me!? I'm in complete agreement with ExtremeTech and, holy shit, Cliff Harris, you're a Goddamn pussy. If I can't act like a jerk online, I'll wither. And I'm not going to dick around trying to get Dwarf Fortress to work if I can just play some Bioshock.

So if you're reading this, and think that maybe playing an hour or two of Team Fortress after work just to tell a n00b that you fucked his mom with a pole* sounds like a great idea, kick it up a kick tonight--and maybe Cliff will just give up.

*you can all thank kurtis for introducing this idiom to my lexicon--it's pretty funny, after all

Many months ago I purchased my first HDTV, and I wanted to take full advantage of its capabilities so I ended up purchasing both an Xbox 360 + HD DVD add-on and a Playstation 3. The format war didn't seem like it was coming to an end anytime soon, and I was impatient. It didn't some as much of a surprise when Toshiba officially announced the death of HD DVD, but what did come as a surprise is the email I received from Best Buy shorty thereafter.

The email basically said how they were sorry for my poor choice in techno-gadgetry, but that they were dedicated to my satisfaction (that's what she said) and would be sending me a gift card, no strings attached. This is really where I was surprised. I wouldn't have thought it particularly unusual had they only offered a trade-in, but to just offer a gift card for nothing in return is a really nice gesture. Today I received my $50 gift card from Best Buy along with a short letter - so I guess they weren't just kidding. Here are some choice excerpts from the FAQs on the back side of the letter:

Is my HD DVD player still useful?
Absolutely. It will continue to play HD DVD movies and continues to be an excellent player for your regular DVDs, improving the picture to near-HD quality.

I bought an HD DVD player as a gift. Can I still use the gift card? As the purchaser of the HD DVD player, you've received the gift card. You can choose to use the gift card yourself or pass it on to the gift recipient. But you'll be a total douche if you keep it for yourself.

Okay, so they didn't really say that last little bit. Image above the result of "HD DVD for teh win" on Google Image Search.