Make Love not Spam

If you are tired of spam, there appears to be another way to pay them back for the wonderful 'service' a spammer forces upon you.

Lycos have come out with a screensaver which makes requests from known spam servers, in the hope that this will drive up their bandwidth costs to such a degree that it will force some out of the market.

I am not sure that this is entirely legal, but for now you can get the screensaver here, and join in the fight, before someone realizes this is in fact a USEFUL thing, and shuts it down. A denile of service attack is ilegal, and Lycos say that they have tested this and say that none of the servers will stop working, but it should seriously impact their running costs.

Each person could generate about an MP3's worth of spam mashing data a day, and when lots more download it, then it's going to get ugly. Aside from the DoS thing, there could be an issue with people being slowed down in general, with this traffic on certain networks.... We shall see.

**UPDATE**
Suprise suprise, everyone jumped on this one and lots of legal wranglings abounds. Everyone wanting to say nya nya, just for the sake of it, but holding off JUST A LITTLE, because of seemingly joining forces with those evil spammers!

Lots of articles (click this for an example) all telling of how bad Lycos are blah blah blah... Nice try lads, it's a shame nothing really happened.



Spam is tasty for people!

It's getting to THAT time of year.... sadly enough..

Since getting Tivo, I realised how much the television kept me informed of simpler things than current events, or politics etc. It kept me in tune with the generally accepted time line, you know like Christmas, spring, easter, halloween and others. I am certainly not a television person. I do not have one of those regular habits, of coming home, throwing down the bowler hat and briefcase, and sitting slack jawed at the television watching everythin and anything. I never was that way, and with the Tivo you can watch it when YOU want, not have to take what ever comes along.

Anyway...

I only recently discovered a thing in America called 'Black Friday' which is apparently the day after Thanksgiving, when everyone goes shopping! Sort of like Boxing Day is, back in the homeland.

Nearing the point....

On a visit to Best Buy, got through to the checkout and was informed by a young lady that she had been there since 4am that morning (it was now after 7pm) getting ready for the massive rush of Black Friday. They had even gone as far as getting lots of coffee and doughnuts for people to have if they had missed breakfast! I guess that Best Buy know how to keep people UP and spending, even if it was a sugar rush induced credit card bender!

I am sure you know what I am going to say, so to feel superior about yourself and PROVE it too, here goes..

She said that she was amazed by the amount of people that complained, after getting a free breakfast in the store, that the doughnuts were not good enough/the coffee tasted funny/why could they not take some home with them, and general cheeky whining about something they had no idea would be there, and cost them nothing at all. Now I would expect there is always someone who will moan no matter what they have put in front of them, and the girl expected it. What surprised her was that it was around 95% of the people that came in and had some of what was on offer! At that moment, I was reminded of what was to come as Christmas gets closer. Sad stuff

I always like to be cheerful to the people in a store, or anywhere for that matter, as it makes a return trip a good thing, plus it just makes your day a happier thing all around! People seem to react better to a smile and a happy conversation, or is it just me?



I am sure the rude people in this instance all use AOL, drive SUV's and wouldn't know how to work a Tivo. They certainly would never have found this post as they think AOL IS the internet!?!? So how superior do you feel now?

Slashdot is taking over my life

Can't post any more just now, gotta get back to slashdot and read the news.. If you haven't tried it then do so. Loads of tech news and even more responses to articles by those that like to think of themselves as in the know.

I REALLY have to be going as I need to get back to pretending I understand all the acronyms!



Slashdot really is news for nerds

Toslink (Optical) Audio splitting or combining

Look, I had no idea optical inputs and outputs were referred to as Toslink either, but anyway onwards....

I made a big mistake and got a cheapy KLH receiver (oh WHY OH WHY LORD?!?!?), because I am not into audio, and wanted to get some gaming surround sound out of the consoles. It's there, so why not use it? Mistake was that this terrible system, worked, after prodding at the remote more than the person in front of you, at an ATM! You have to enter a menu to enter another menu to scroll down to activate the optical (or Toslink as we now all know) input. They for some really wild and wacky reason, you have to come out of all those sub menus, right back to nothing before the actual setting takes effect. And before you say it... every time you switch off the unit, IT GOES BACK TO DEFAULT SETTINGS!!!

So I dashed out and decided to get a receiver that would indeed cope with a DirecTivo, Xbox and PS2. No prob here, I can use the optical inputs, if I can find one with three of them. It appears, from my chats with people in the stores that I need to use this feature if I want surround sound from the speaker setup. So the hunt for a decent system that did not cost more than God's Christmas list!

Ok I settle on a YHT-150 from Yamaha. Not the most expensive one, but very nice and nearly 50% after BestBuy coupons, instant rebates and gift cards they showered upon us at checkout time!

Then came the issue at hand. 2 optical inputs and 3 optical audio devices. Hmmm what to do? The answer seems to come in the form of the Toslink Digial Audio Splitter. Take two optical devices and stick them into the same socket on the back of the receiver. Hopefully this sorts out the input problem. Now I have to see if the selection on the receiver allows for the same inputs to be used while looking at different video sources. Oooo the complexities of life :)

If like me, you are getting, or are only recently educated on such things, please bear in mind the cost of such a thing...

The receivers are always in the hundres of what ever currency your country uses, but the optical cables are expensive still. Anything from $20 to $40 for a 6 foot piece of it! Be warned!



This appears to cost around $10.
Oh and if you were wondering about this optical malarky, then go around the back of your consumer electronics and look for what looks like a little square peg. Pull it out of it's hole and look for a red light, THAT is the optical socket flashing in it's sci-fi-edness!

Pathmark, still 0 out of 10

A quick one here while I wait for the turkey to become less food poisony. I was in Pathmark, now I don't go there unless I have to, but the aforementioned turkey was being given away (for all the pain and suffering caused on previous visits no doubt) and it SHOULD have been a simple matter.

Go in
Get turkey
Get out!

Who was I kidding! It's like when you have a disagreement with a person and decide that's the last time you will ever do that again. Then time passes and you think, "Well ok it's probably not going to turn out too bad." Of course it IS that bad and you wish you had never wasted your time.

So got the turkey, and really only a couple of other things. Got the the checkout, still a long time, but not relatively for that place. The people in front nearly at the end, and then it begins....

The last but one item rang up one too many times, the lady (on only her 3rd day of employ with the company) could not figure how to void the sale. Usual procedure was not working. She called the supervisor, waited. Next line over was in the same position, THEY TOO called the supervisor. Then both cashiers asked the people in their lines to go and get the supervisor. Such an important chap, he must be busy? They return with a simple "Someone else said that he is coming". More time passes, and eventually a very sour faced chap, turns up and with not a word to anyone, presses a mystery combination which frees the checkout from it's glitch.

Now apart from not saying a word to anyone about the fact we had to wait almost 10 mins (the people in front with a small child too) he never told the young lady (who was incredibly apologetic) HOW to get out of this in the future. So every time this happens everyone has to wait for his extremely lazy backside to haul itself disinterestedly up to the checkout to let everyones day continue.

Message for the supervisor

NOBODY WANTS TO SEE YOUR MISERABLE FACE AND AMPLE FRAME AT THE CHECKOUT, TELL THE PEOPLE THAT MATTER HOW TO DO IT OK?



Supervisors look like this when they take off their enviroment suits and revert to their real appearance.

Nintendo DS

I want a Nintendo DS. Not for any good reason, I just do. To be able to play Ridge Racer and Mario 64 on the go. I think I am stuck back at when computers only had a few K of memory and could barely make something appear on screen let alone smoothly simulate most things on the planet, FROM YOUR POCKET! The wirelss aspect is also interesting. See how it can connect, and be connected to.

Trouble is I keep playing games from a long while ago, as mentioned above, and I don't think I should play the new version until I finish the previous ones. In effect I never seem to play the newer games, so I am determined to just skip ahead and get on with the new stuff from now on. Anyone who had the large teary eye BEFORE they downloaded Mame, would know what I mean. Seems like a great idea, but when you get down to it, they are not that exciting.

So with it being Thanksgiving and having to be on the road for the day, I tried (very badly) to Sam Fisher my way (and if you click that link you will see how I was dressed, how I moved, and even the music that accompanied) to a newly constructed Circuit City nearby, and purchase one of new DS handhelds. It was shut, NoooOOoooOoooOoooo (Camera starting at rear dangly thing at the back of open mouth, pulling back and rotating slowly into the sky). I thought things in the USA NEVER closed, but I was wrong, not a single light on and no cars for as far as the eye could see (or at least to the edge of the parking lot).



I want I want I want I want
Nintendo DS you slippery devil you

Hotmail 250MB Storage Limit

Just to let people know, that Hotmail has FINALLY gone up to 250MB! About time too chaps!

For those who may be wondering what this is about, I will explain..

Hotmail, a web based free email service, used to have a capacity of 2MB. Now it has a capacity of 250MB. Do the math people.

The current league table is;

GMail 1000MB (or 1GB)
Hotmail 250 MB
Yahoo 100 MB
My work mail server 10MB


It's like going from a tiny little mail box nailed to your front door, which never holds anything bigger than a wad of normal letters, to using an entire room to be able to receive huge parcels too!



Congrats, although it took you long enough!

Grand Illusions, beware

Don't go to the Grand Illusion website, you will waste all morning there!

Or try your hand at Elite Designers and see the sort of agony and pain everyone here at Krysss.Com towers goes throught every single day, for you, the filthy public.

and ungreatful public!

Halo 2

Ok I couldn't resist it, so shoot me! Halo 2 in all it's glory...mmmmm unopened box...



What am I to do with my er... bad self, for the next few days, I wonder?

Amazon short movies

Was going over to Amazon to get some info on the Halo 2 release (see like every other site on the planet, I got a mention in on the day) and I saw a short movie on the front page. Called Portrait. The story was nothing amazing but when the credits were rolling they detailed nearly every single item that was shown in the movie, and how you could buy it. I had been wondering why they made such a big deal out of having a CREDITS button on the movie player, now I knew. Anyway, I remember talk of this a LONG time back, when 'they' were predicting that you would watch TV shows on a TV system of the future and be able to purchase the clothes the people were wearing or objects on screen. This is a good first step towards that. To be honest I could not spot all the different things they were talking about, although it will be fun to check out the upcoming movies.




Halo 2 NOT what this post is about, although I will be trying to get a copy today!

Microsoft Wireless Mouse

You know how sometimes you get something that just works?
The Microsoft® Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse, seems to be one of those things. Straight out of the packet, plug in the receiver, insert the included battery and start mouse pointering. I didn't even have to restart the laptop I plugged it into. No drivers to bother with, it just worked. Makes using the laptop a LOT easier.

The receiver becomes part of the mouse when you are not using it. Unclip the receiver and plug into any USB port on your laptop, that switches on the mouse. Put the receiver back into the bottom of the mouse to switch it off again.



Very Zen

Read it, and disagree with it..... if you think you can!



Mysterious posting representation