Author: jamesclay

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Some days I hate DRM!

Sometimes I really hate DRM.

I have the new iPad and I bought the VGA connector, connected  it to a monitor and I thought (after trying out Keynote) I would try a video, an episode from the new Doctor Who purchased through iTunes…

Well this was the result!

But…

I paid for this episode….

I did not copy it, download it, or pirate it, I PAID for it.

I can play other videos through the connector (ones converted from EyeTV recordings for example) why can’t I play the nice videos I PAID for?

Some days I hate DRM!

This annoys me.

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WWDC Keynote

Today is Steve Jobs’ Keynote at WWDC.

Traditionally we get to hear about new products and new software.

As might be expected the web is rife with rumours about what we will hear about. I’ll let you Google them to find what they are.

Will probably follow the keynote via Macrumors.

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The end of free wifi

So it’s looking like that we may see the end of free wifi with no strings attached.

Ofcom is warning providers of free wifi that they will be held liable for the actions of anyone connecting to their network.

I don’t think this will mean the end if free wifi as such, but certainly the free wifi with no strings will go. Free wifi providers will need to ensure that not only do users of their network know what the consequences of what they do on the free wifi, but they will need to provide personal details or even credit card information.

It’s a pity that the majority have to suffer the consequences of the actions of a very small minority.

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New Apple TV ?

According to various rumours Apple may be releasing a new Apple TV but in a different format compared to the current model. If the rumours are to be believed then the new Apple TV will be a screen-less iPod. It will only have 16GB of on board storage. It will in the main be streaming content from a Mac or the cloud.

I already use my iPhone to do this, however this new Apple TV has the advantage that it will she able to play 1080p HD content.

The price?

$99

Probably will get one.

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Noise

I hate noisy computers and if Macs were noisy then I probably wouldn’t use them… though I do recall my old PowerMac G5 when the fans took off would not be out of place at an airport!

I do remember in a previous job, a user bought their cheap (PCWord Advent) laptop into the office to have something checked, and when we switched it on, it was so noisy. Drowned out all the other office machines… at that time we had four Sony VAIO desktops, an iMac and a G5 PowerMac in the office. The Sony VAIO desktops were quite quiet.

Another time I was testing a Windows Media Centre from Evesham. This was a computer designed to look like a VCR/DVD player and sit under the TV. I was setting it up at home under the TV when I switched it on and my wife said “there is NO way that is staying in here”. It was one of the noisest computers I had ever heard. Couldn’t believe it as it was designed to be a computer to play back music, tv and video. There was no way you could appreciate any music or soundtrack with the noise of the fans!

Another noisy machine was the xBox 360, it’s a lot noisier than either the Wii or the PS3.

I like my nice quiet iMac.

Though my MacBook Pro does get quite loud if it gets hot!

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Wi-fi owner fined for lax security in Germany

BBC reports on a court ruling from Germany.

German citizens are responsible for the security of their own private wireless connections, a court has ruled.

The ruling comes after a musician sued the owner of a network connection that had been used to illegally download and file-share music.

The owner had proof that the householder was on holiday at the time but the court ruled that the network should have been password-protected.

Is your wifi protected from others misusing it?

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iPad

Finally details about the international release of Apple’s iPad have emerged.

From Apple’s Press Release:

Apple today announced that iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK on Friday, May 28th. Customers can pre-order all iPad models from Apple’s online store in all nine countries beginning on Monday, May 10th

So how much are they going to cost?

£429 for the 16GB model

£499 for the 32GB

£599 for the 64GB

As for the WiFi + 3G

£529 for the 16GB model

£599 for the 32GB

£699 for the 64GB

Apple have also said that the iBooks App will also be available in the UK allowing e-books to be downloaded and read on the iPad.

Thinking about the 32GB WiFi model myself, though I quite like the idea of a 3G iPad.

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Printing from Parallels

Now printing documents from Parallels should be a simple affair. The Windows VM should just print and go…

Parallels installs the following printer…

Which then should be delivered to the printer attached to the Mac, which in my case is a Canon MP600r.

The print job does read the Canon print queue… However the Mac decides to HOLD the print job and when you try and RESUME it, I get the following error.

The error says:

pstopdffilter/pstocupsraster failed with err number -31000

Now at this time I have no idea how to resolve this, except to either print direct from the VM to the Canon (as the Canon is wireless and on the network) or to use one of my printer sharing tricks.

Would be nice to know what’s causing the problem though and initial searches through Google don’t seem to resolve it.

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Preferring Parallels

The more I use Parallels the more I prefer it over rebooting into Boot Camp. From a speed perspective I know that Boot Camp has to be “faster” however for most things I do on Windows, virtualization is usually sufficient.

I am sure that part of this is that my new 27″ iMac with 8GB of RAM is now fast enough to support what I do in OS X and run Parallels at the same time. With my older iMac I would normally run Parallels, but would avoid doing too much else on OS X as it would be rather slow. The new iMac is so much more powerful and faster.

I am in the main using Windows 7, though now and again I do boot into Windows XP.

If you are using Boot Camp, I would recommend you give Parallels a go.