UK based YouTube Channel “Xbox On” uploaded a short video I found relatively interesting; at least, interesting enough to write about here, where they list 36 facts about the Xbox 360 game console. Now, honestly, this number is an exaggeration. There are maybe 10 main facts, if even that many, with various ancillary facts related …
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Category:Technology
Fox, Family Guy, Double Dribble, YouTube, and the DMCA
Proving yet again how absolutely broken the YouTube copyright system is, Fox has issued a DMCA takedown against a YouTube video of the NES game “Double Dribble.” The reason? The video clip, which was uploaded in 2009, was used in the most recent (at this time) episode of the animated comedy Family Guy. That’s right. …
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Spending Some Time With a Good Old BBS
Before there was the internet, there were Bulletin Board Systems (BBS for short). These systems were basic, at their core, but could grow quite complex. The way they worked was simple: a user dialed the phone number of the BBS they wanted to access and, presuming the line wasn’t busy, they would connect directly to …
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United States Congress Blocks Yahoo!
In a piece of interesting news that crossed my radar last night, it looks like the United States Congress is blocking access to Yahoo, all because someone feel victim to a phishing scam. That’s right. Someone in the United States Government, in a major legislative role, mind you, fell victim, in 2016, to some (as …
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JCSAT-14 Launches Aboard a Falcon 9 with a Successful 1st Stage Landing!
As I type these words, a new Communications satellite, JCSAT-14, is on its way into orbit to provide Japan with more bandwidth for both entertainment broadcasts, and in an emergency, satellite based communications when grown infrastructure may be damaged. The launch vehicle for this payload was the powerful Falcon 9, provide by the commercial spaceflight …
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History of the Internet – Jason Scott
In this video, we take a look at a talk Jason Scott gave at Marist College in New York on the subject of the History of the Internet. Jason Scott, if you don’t recognize the name, is a somewhat odd gentlemen, obsessed with preserving computer history, including that of the early BBS systems and Internet …
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Microsoft is Ending Production of the Xbox 360
A decade ago, on November 22nd, 2005, Microsoft released its second console, the Xbox 360, onto the world. Featuring an enhanced version of the growing Xbox Live online service, and far surpassing the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube of the previous generation, the system was met with massive demand and popularity, this continuing strongly for …
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The Great GIF Debate
Ah GIF, the acronym for Graphics Interchange Format. There is no easier way to start an argument online than to bring up just how you pronounce this acronym. If you ask anyone on the street, they will pronounce it with a hard G, as in the way we say “gift” in English. However, if you …
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Google, Get It Together!
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat – I absolutely hate Google. By that, I explicitly mean the corporation known as Google, it’s services, it’s general policies, up to an including the new “parent” company, Alphabet (which, let’s face it, is the absolute worst name for any company ever if you ask me.) …
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The Computer Chronicles – Plug and Play (1994)
These days, the computers we buy and use just work. Granted, they may not work well all the time, but they really do, on a whole, exactly what we want them to do, and without much issue. For those of us who do upgrade our machines, the process is mostly trivial – we just shove …
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The Problem with Social Media
Ever since the birth of the internet, people have been sharing their thoughts and opinions on virtually everything. Even before the internet, on the BBS systems of the 80’s, people were discussing any subject you can imagine. In the mid 2000’s, social networks began to rise… Livejournal, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter… each one surpassing the next …
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The Computer Chronicles – Software Piracy (1985)
I love watching old TV programs and the like related to computer technology. They are amazing time capsules, preserving the thoughts and opinions people had on then-current technology. It’s strange to see something that you know failed in the market be touted as something that will “revolutionize the future” or to see someone tout how …
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Temporarily Repairing a USB Flash Drive
Last week, my buddy Prince Watercress sent me his broken USB flash drive, to see if I could extract the data from it for him. Yes, he made the mistake of having critical data stored on one device, and that device failed him. I’m not blaming him, of course, but this serves as a wonderful …
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My Thoughts On The Windows 10 Start Menu
The biggest aspect of Windows 10, the reason so many people have been awaiting its release, is the return of the Start Menu. Since Windows 95, back in August of 1995, PC users across the world have used that little menu for quick access to most everything on their computer, from running their favourite games …
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Upgrading to Windows 10
Windows 10 was released to the public on July 29th, 2015. In the first 24 hours, it was reported to have been installed by 14 million users, which is an impressive initial adoption rate. Of course, that morning, I saw many friends online discussion their own upgrades, their computers prompting them that morning that the …
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