Can You Spot the Trick? It’s Not What You Think…

How observant are you? Take a look at this Color Changing Card Trick. Can you spot the trick? Well, it’s not what you think…

Professor Wiseman has a few other interesting videos at YouTube, as well as a website called Quirkology that deals with these quirks of psychology. It’s worth checking out.

Filed in Entertainment, Humor, Science, Video.

Move Over Photoshop: Using MS Paint to Draw Mona Lisa

This video is absolutely amazing. This guy/gal used the boring old Microsoft Paint found in every Windows machine to paint a fascimile of Mona Lisa. And it really looks good!

From Youtube.

Filed in Video, Entertainment.

I Go Chop Your Dollar – Nigerian 419 Scam Music Video (Humor)

I just watched this hilarious music video “I Go Chop Your Dollar”, hosted on Youtube, featuring a song performed as though it was sung by one of those 419 Nigerian scammers.

The lyrics, deciphered by CrunchGear, are as follows. You’ll need it because in the manner of a typical Nigerian scam, the sentences are replete with grammatical errors so it’s hard to catch what they’re singing.

I Go Chop Your Dollar

I don’t suffer no be small
Upon say I get sense
Poverty no good at all, no
Na im make I join this business
419 no be thief, its just a game
Everybody dey play am
if anybody fall mugu, ha! my brother I go chop am

Chorus

National Airport na me get am
National Stadium na me build am
President na my sister brother
You be the mugu, I be the master
Oyinbo I go chop your dollar, I go take your money disappear
419 is just a game, you are the loser I am the winner
The refinery na me get am,
The contract, na you I go give am
But you go pay me small money make I bring am
you be the mugu, I be the master… na me be the master ooo!

When Oyinbo play wayo, them go say na new style
When country man do im own, them go de shout bring am, kill am, die!
Oyinbo people greedy, I say them greedy
I don see them tire thats why when them fall enter my trap o!
I dey show them fire

Filed in Entertainment, Humor, Video.

Why Blu-Ray is in Decline

There’s a report that Blu-Ray is in decline, and the Blu-Ray backers are trying to boost its market share by giving away free Blu-Ray discs.

I have my personal computer-centric theory about why Blu-Ray can’t take off the way DVDs do. The software for Blu-Ray drives only work on Vista and not on XP. Look at the web statistics from all the sites. 2 or more years after Vista’s release, XP is still going strong and Vista is still bumping along the bottom of the barrel. This is in spite of the fact that Vista is installed on all new machines.

I’m personally not going to buy a Blu-Ray disc because I can only play it in a special Blu-Ray player attached to my TV. I can’t play it on my computer where I’m logged in most of the time. I don’t use Vista. Maybe there’re a lot of people out there like me.

Maybe they should take away the DRM from Blu-Ray so that the drives can work on XP and Linux. Then all the geeks and new computer owners will start buying Blu-Ray. And when the geeks start using something, you know they’ll influence the people around them.

Look what happened to Vista. Do you think it’s the computer n00bs that pan Vista? They don’t know any better. It’s the geeks that pan Vista. And that has a tremendous effect. Vista now has a horrendously bad reputation that Microsoft is struggling to undo. The geeks are the information guardians and movers in the modern Internet world.

You need the geeks.

And geeks don’t like DRM. And if they can’t run their free software to play Blu-Ray discs on their free OS like Linux or favorite OS like XP, they aren’t going to be buying Blu-Ray discs. And neither are those whom they influence.

Filed in News, Opinion, Entertainment.

RIAA Fears the Truth Coming Out

Most people following the questionable RIAA tactics will have heard of Ray Beckerman’s blog Recording Industry vs The People where he exposes the RIAA for what they really are. Ars Technica tells of a recent filing by RIAA accusing Ray of “vexatious litigation” saying that this is like the pot calling the kettle black. They quote EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann as saying “I find it a little perplexing that the recording industry would be complaining about Ray giving the other side of the story.”

But doesn’t that just show the flaws in RIAA’s case? If they were wholly operating aboveboard, they will have nothing to fear from other people given their side of the story. But when someone’s modus operandi is questionable, exposure is something they are afraid of. Their actions speak louder than words.

Other Posts on RIAA:

• MediaDefender (RIAA/MPAA) Admits to Illegal Attack Against Revision3: We Did It Deliberately
• MediaDefender Launches Criminal DDOS Attack Against Revision3
• RIAA Lets Its Lap Dog MediaSentry Break the Law
• Sony Sued for Software Piracy: Hypocrisy Again
• RIAA Breaks the Law But Expects You to Obey It

Filed in Outraged, Opinion, News, Entertainment.

Font Conference Video (Humor)

Font Conference is a hilarious video from College Humor. It brings to us all the fonts we know and love, as well as those we hate, in a skit featuring fonts as characters attending a conference. I won’t spoil it for you. Just watch it yourself.

Filed in Humor, Entertainment, Video.

Joss Whedon’s Dr Horrible is Still Available Online for Free (Legally)

In case you missed the launch of Joss Whedon’s online video series, Dr Horrible, a while ago, it’s still available on Hulu for free in both US and internationally. Joss needs no introduction. He’s the guy who created the famous Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly series, and the Serenity movie. He has a guest blog post on Dr Horrible at http://blog.hulu.com/2008/7/29/dr-horrible, which also links to the Hulu video.

Unlike the original free launch of the 3 part series about the super-villain Dr Horrible and the irritating superhero Captain Hammer, this one has ads.

Oh, the actress for the female lead, Felicia Day, also has her own online series, The Guild, which is also free.

Filed in Entertainment, News.

Hilarious Microsoft Surface Parody

Here’s another hilarious video. This one parodies a Microsoft Surface advertisement.

Like the Wii Fit Parody, the ad echoes my impression of these things.

Filed in Humor, Entertainment, Video.

Wii Fit Parody

Here’s a hilarious video parodying Wii Fit. It even sounds like a serious ad!

Filed in Humor, Entertainment, Video.

MediaDefender (RIAA/MPAA) Admits to Illegal Attack Against Revision3: We Did It Deliberately

Since RIAA/MPAA and their lap dogs feel they are above the law, they have no compunction about perpetrating illegal attacks against others. Wired’s interview of Randy Saaf, CEO of MediaDefender about their recent attack against the perfectly legit Revision 3 has the MediaDefenders’ CEO admitting that they deliberately attacked Revision3.

I think Randy Saaf and his staff should be brought to court on criminal charges, don’t you? After all, their act is far worse than the petty copyright offenders that they are targeting. If we don’t target such people, who feel that their cause justifies any means, then we’re opening the door to all manner of crimes that can be justified by whatever hocus pocus the hoodlums want to conjure up.

Filed in Outraged, Opinion, Entertainment.

RIAA to Pay $107,834 to Tanya Anderson

A court has ruled that RIAA owes $107,834 in court and attorney costs to Tanya Anderson. RIAA sued Anderson some time ago and lost. RIAA deserves its come-uppance for its disregard for the law. Let’s hope Anderson wins her malicious prosecution lawsuit against RIAA too.

Filed in Entertainment, Opinion.

Vista’s DRM Blocks Popular Shows: More Reasons to Hate Vista

As if Vista was not already notorious for its driver issues, application problems and slow performance. Now, the DRM riddled into Vista’s system that the famous computer scientist Peter Guttman warned us of when it was first released has reared its ugly head.

CNET and Ars Technica are reporting that Vista’s DRM has inexplicably blocked its users from recording NBC shows. The problem is still not resolved, so those trying to record such shows will continue to miss shows until Microsoft and the content providers deign to lift their fingers to fix it.

Two things:

1. When you use DRM, you are totally at the mercy of the content providers and software makers. At any time, a software glitch can get you. Or the company may go out of business, or terminate that particular branch of business, and leave you high and dry. And these things have already happened.
2. Vista is a bitch. It’s newest features over XP, and thus claim to fame, are DRM, driver problems, slow performance and application compatibility problems.

Filed in Outraged, Entertainment, Windows.

DRM-Free, Self-Destructing DVD

A German company is reportedly developing a DRM-free DVD that will self destruct in 48 hours. The disc’s life is measured from the time it’s taken out of its vacuum-sealed package. The company also has a recycling program, and the discs themselves use fully recyclable plastic and stuff.

Will you buy a self-destructing DVD if it’s cheap and free from DRM? Why buy and not rent if you want to watch it only once? No matter how environmentally friendly the disc may be, I’m sure the manufacturing process will also have an impact on the environment.

Filed in News, Entertainment.

RIAA Lets Its Lap Dog MediaSentry Break the Law

MediaSentry continues to flout the law, operating illegally, despite a cease and desist order from a court. This is no surprise to me, since RIAA and MediaSentry have garnered reputations of being the hoodlums of the Internet. The news has been around for a while, and the latest site to report it is Ars Technica, but I only just got fed up enough to post my opinion of it.

I think I said it before. If you want others to respect your rights, you have to respect their rights too. Otherwise what makes you different than a thug?

Filed in Outraged, Entertainment, Opinion.

Windows XP Welcome Tune: Dignified

I’m sure you’re sick of the start up tune that Windows XP plays. I am. Well, this video actually makes the XP tune beautiful. It was composed/played by Jim of Seattle who makes his music available for free download over the Internet, and some of them are quite good.

The MP3 of this tune is available directly from the composer’s site.

Filed in Entertainment, Video.