It appears Peony, the server Silenae.com and Apatheia.org live on over at my webhost, Site5, has had a hard drive fail.
If you’ve come here for an update, you can track the status at the Site 5 forums here.
If they can’t restore the hard drive, they’ll load backups from last night.
I don’t think of myself as a neophyte when it comes to Linux or Ubuntu, but the All About Linux Blog covers 10 things that make Ubuntu great for a new Linux user.
I won’t cover them here, as he does a great job of explaining them. And I whole-heartedly agree – Ubuntu is the only distribution I would recommend for someone new to Linux. Or even to a user who’s used Linux for a while. By far the best distribution I’ve ever used, and it’s still my day to day OS at home on my two primary machines.
Thanks to gout to FreeCulture.org’s RIAA-free CDs Holiday Gift Guide. FreeCulture.Org has put together a list of bands whose labels are not members of the RIAA. (You know – the group that sues 13 year old kids for things they didn’t do, and when they can’t pay up, blackmails them).
Suprisingly, there’s some really good bands on the lists. A few notable selections:
And plenty more I didn’t name. And check out their blog post making and submitting your own RIAA-free CD Holiday Gift Guide.
So if you’re in the mood for some new music this year, check out one of the above artists – they get that it’s about the music, and the artists – not one of the Big 4 labels and supporting big media’s pockets.
I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at this article on Gamasutra. Recapping a talk given at the Montreal International Game Summit last month, Rich Vogel, VP of Product Development at Sony Online Entertainment spoke about marketing directly to players in game, and managing their community outside of the game.
The fact that the industry is now talking about marketing to players within a game makes me want to cry – especially as almost all MMO games are roleplaying. Marketing and advertising take you out of that context. Whether it’s fantasy like World of Warcraft or Everquest (1 or 2), or sci-fi like Eve Online, Anarchy Online or Star Wars Galaxies, market to the players outside of the game – on their forums, fan sites and other gaming websites. Leave it out of the game.
He does have some really good points on managing a MMOG community.
Vogel insisted that separate game-related web sites be run by developers, not marketing or PR personnel, and that the writers try to keep their style very human and accessible, joking now and again, and seeming informal and down to earth. Another piece of small advice that added to the sum: color code the writers of forums to their status, be they player, moderator, or developer. That way, readers of the forum can easily scan the boards for pertinent information from appropriate people. “You need to have clear lines of responsibility,â€? he says, noting that a clearly color-coded community manager on a forum doesn’t have the same powers that a dev has.
Vogel says MMOG owners do well to admit their mistakes. “Win over your community so that they are forgiving of you when you really screw up,â€? he said. He also gave some advice about distracting the players when making a change to the game, not answering controversies that arise, as it just feeds them, and not taking too seriously the forum rants of hardcore players, who don’t represent the silent majority. You can get feedback from the quieter majority, however, by simply administering surveys. However, the hardcore, verbal players are the people who generate word of mouth marketing, Vogel admits, “so keep them happy, too.â€?
Now I don’t know if I agree with the distraction comment above, but I do agree in not catering to the vocal minority. It’s interesting to see where Sony Online Entertainment may be going with their games.
I haven’t done an Evil Corporations story in over two years, and it’s definitely time. The focus: Macrovision.
From their About Us page on their website:
Macrovision helps solve the global need for content protection, DRM and software licensing solutions.
Now we all know that I’m no fan of DRM or Digital Rights Management, and right there in their company description Macrovision makes it a point to let you knwo that’s exactly what they’re about.
Macrovision’s claim to fame was protecting VHS tapes in the 80s – did you ever try and copy a videotape from a rental store, and got those rainbow lines at the top and bottom? That’s them.
Even though it’s legal for you, as a consumer in the United States, to make one copy for backup and archival purposes, they make sure you can’t.
The latest story hitting the web today, is a follow-up to one from June. In June, Macrovision sent a cease and desist letter to Lightning UK!, makers of DVD Decrypter. DVD Decrypter lets you strip the DRM off a DVD so you can archive to a hard drive or make a physical copy. Macrovision claimed the ability to strip the DRM violated their patents.
Well, the latest story has Macrovision claiming they’ve bought out Lightning UK!, and sending takedown notices to websites hosting DVD Decrypter. I’m sure they paid off the original developer thinking if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em (ala Microsoft).
This is unfortunate for two reasons – one, reverse engineering should not be illegal, and in the U.S., under the DMCA, it now is. Two, if the developer had released this under a free software licenses, such as the GPL, the code would be in the wild. Now, due the evil greed of one corporation, we’re going to lose the ability to back up our DVDs. I know, as the father of 2 (almost three!) children, that I want to back up the movies they watch a lot and put them on a home theater PC. No more scratching and wrecking movies – which has happened with a few already.
But no, I’m no longer allowed to. And that’s why Macrovision is being added to my list of evil corporations.
“Alias,” AKA Canceled – Nov 23, 2005 – E! Online News is the headline of a story over at E! Online. In a shock to no one, ABC has pulled the plug on Alias after 5 seasons.
I still hadn’t made up my mind on how this season was going – last year I jumped to conclusions way to early, and it turned out to be one of the better ones. Though little things still bugged me this season, I was willing to go along with it.
Alias executive producer Jeff Pinkner said in a statement that the crew was “very saddened to face reality that Alias is coming to an end.” He promised a “surprising” and “thrilling” finale.
The worst part of that article? One little blurb at the bottom that reports CBS has pulled the plug on Threshold as well. I was really into Threshold in it’s inaugural season. Poor Carla Gugino, Karen Sisco on ABC didn’t work out, and now this.
‘Karate Kid’ star Pat Morita dies at 73 – MSNBC.com – Rest in Peace.
The Karate Kid was one of my favorite movies growing up.
I had picked out the Silverstone LC16M (in black) case for my upcoming Home Theater PC.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn, via a blog on Planet GNOME yesterday, that the Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD) on the Silverstone case is Linux compatible. Linux drivers, linked from Silverstone, take you here: to the Imon page that has integrated Lirc support for the remote, and the VFD.
Bonus!
I had an opportunity to go my first Minnesota Wild game last night. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years already since the NHL came back to Minnesota, and I hadn’t even been to a game yet.
The seats were fan seats – the gentleman who picked them out before the Wild’s inaugural season put a lot of thought in to them. The 2 seats are on an aisle, 13 rows up behind the visiting goal, so 2 out of 3 periods, if the Wild are going to score, you’re going to see it. Sitting behind the goal gives you a unique opportunity to watch the plays unfold, as you see the wingers fan wide setting up plays, and fast breaks coming straight at you are something to see.
It was a great time – hockey live is 10x better than on TV.
The Wild ended up losing – Roloson was in goal, and had 2 goals against in the first period, and the Wild seemed to play from behind the rest of the night. Gaborik made his return, and had a goal in the first period. The Wild ended up losing with 50 seconds left in the game to a little dunk shot that went between Rolosons legs.
Good game, great tempo to the game, good fans, and a great time.
MP3Nova.org has the recap (and the torrent!) of a Radiohead Mash-up and Remix album.
Panzah Zandahz has released “Me & This Army”, the follow-up to “Breaks & Beats 12″”.
If you’re a Radiohead fan, check “Me & This Army” out – remixes and covers by folks like De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, and others, it looks like a must for any Radiohead fan. The torrent downloaded in just minutes for me, so head over to MP3Nova.org and check it out.