If there is on major downside to be being a Mac owner it’s the unavailability of quite possibility the world’s best Bit Torrent application. Yes we get cool shiny apps here and there but nothing really beats the speed and versatility of uTorrent’s piece of software that comes in at an astounding 218 kbs sans the installation process - yeah, sweet.
One of Vista’s greatest selling points is ironically the fact that software pirates may actually have to buy it. Microsoft is trying to catch every last hack, exploit, workaround, and any other method used to illegally deploy copies of Windows Vista. On Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage Blog, the efforts against Vista and XP activation vulnerabilities are chronicled, giving well-informed consumers and hackers an inside look into their war on piracy. Recently, blog writer and Microsoft Senior Product Manager Alex Kochis posted an article regarding the Original Equipment Manufacturer motherboard BIOS workaround, and what Microsoft was planning to do regarding the activation security flaw.
But, what exactly is OEM Activation? Basically, it is an agreement between Microsoft and motherboard manufacturers, originally created for Windows XP, to put a marker inside the BIOS of the motherboard that designates that it will have a copy of Windows XP pre-installed on it’s system. Hackers quickly found a way to thwart XP’s protection, named OEM Activation 1.0, since BIOS editors made injecting the marker rather simple.
Of course, Windows XP was easier to get into than Paris Hilton’s … purse. Pirates discovered several simpler methods to illegally use Windows XP, making the actual implementation of OEM Activation 1.0 nearly worthless. With Vista came new techniques from Microsoft, forcing exploiters to be more creative. Likewise, Microsoft got more creative as well, adding new features in its BIOS protection and updating Vista motherboards with OEM Activation 2.0. Naturally, stubborn computer fanatics have once again found flaws in the new protection, but Microsoft has remained calm and composed.
Kochis sheds some light on the software giant’s understanding of the exploit:
There appear to be two primary variants of OA 2.0 hacks circulating. One is similar to the XP approach I described above where actual editing of the BIOS on the motherboard is done to make the motherboard appear to be from an OEM. It is a pretty labor-intensive process and quite risky. If you mess up editing the BIOS of any motherboard, you can quite easily render it permanently useless. So while this method works today, it’s potentially hazardous and really doesn’t scale well to large numbers of systems, which makes it less of a threat.
The second variant does not change anything in the BIOS itself, but uses a software-based approach to fool the OS into thinking it’s running on OA 2.0-enabled hardware. And while this method is easier to implement for the end user, it’s also easier to detect and respond to than a method that involves directly modifying the BIOS of the motherboard.
Since the mass-machine reproduction of the first method would be pretty difficult, mainly due to the possibility of broken hardware and various BIOS factors, Microsoft would rather focus on more wide-spread activation exploits. Stressing customer satisfaction over anything else, Microsoft does ensure that it would put in full effort to counteract this workaround if too many of their customers got scammed by sellers of illegitimate OEM Vista machines.
Starting March 27, 2007, Systemax PC will start selling a new version of their Pursuit 4155 laptop product line, now with the Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. The Systemax Pursuit 4155 laptop is already packed with some great features like a built-in 1.3 Mega Pixel camera, several input/output ports, up to 1000 Mbps LAN, and a great processor from the Intel Centrino Duo Mobile family, and with the addition of Windows Ultimate already installed, this laptop is a great deal.
Right now, the Pursuit 4155 laptop is being advertised at $999.99, which is a competitive offer that gives consumers the option to save money on a new version of the Windows OS while purchasing a powerful laptop.
Read the rest of the story for the full laptop specifications. (more…)
Starting today, TiVo Series 2 and 3 users, as well as Windows Vista and XP users, can begin using Amazon’s new Unbox service. Similar to full-length movie and television show downloads on iTunes, Amazon Unbox will allow consumers yet another option to watch their favorite video entertainment. Those who already have a compatible TiVo DVR (unfortunately, Amazon Unbox does not support other DVR’s at the moment) can register their TiVo on Amazon and receive a free $15 to apply to videos from the Unbox service.
For users that use DirectTV TiVo or a Series 1 TiVo, or for those that have canceled their TiVo subscription, there is another option. People fortunate enough to use Windows XP or the shiny new Vista are able to use Amazon Unbox on their PC. In other words, no Linux or Mac support is available yet. Of course, there are minimum system requirements, since the videos are at near DVD-quality and could, in the future, become true 480p. Here are the specifications needed to run the Amazon Unbox Video Player:
Minimum System Requirements
OPERATING SYSTEM: The Amazon Unbox video player application is only compatible with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (SP2 or greater), Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition (SP2 or greater), Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition (SP2 or greater), Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (SP2 or greater), Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Windows Vista Business, or Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise. The Amazon Unbox video player is not compatible with Apple/Macintosh operating systems.
COMPUTER HARDWARE: A PC with a 1.5-gigahertz (GHz) processor or faster, at least 256MB of memory, and a DirectX 9.0 compliant Video (64 MB Memory) and Sound Card.
INTERNET CONNECTION: Broadband internet connection capable of 800 kbps sustained transfer speeds.
Recommended System Specifications
COMPUTER HARDWARE: A PC with a 2.4-gigahertz (GHz) processor or faster, at least 1 GB of memory, and a DirectX 9.0 compliant Video (128 MB Memory) and a Multi Channel 5.1 Capable Sound Card.
INTERNET CONNECTION: Broadband internet connection capable of 1.5+ mbps of sustained transfer speeds.
With quite a few videos to downloadand the main competition from AppleTV being nonexistent thanks to delays, Amazon’s Unbox may gain a lot of ground in the downloadable-entertainment market.
Everyone’s favorite pre-loaded Windows DVD viewing/burning/ripping/microwave-oven/copier just got it’s circular groove on Windows Vista and your next PC. The latest DVD Suite, numero cinco, comes with handy features such as HD editing capabilities, Blue-Ray and HD DVD support and other nifty surprises like playing movies. DVD Suite 5 is already available for purchase online, but you can give the whole package a test run here or just wait until you pick up your next pre-built PC before giving it a go.
If you’ve got $2200 to lay down on a laptop just to look cool then the ASUS W5Fe is probably what you want to spend it on. Here’s a video of what I consider a sloppy popular mechanics review. What’s noteworthy is just watching Windows Vista’s sideshow work on the external screen (read: ignore the guy).
It’s nifty but not blatantly practical. It may have its uses that I can’t think of. Perhaps porn watching on the go or something. Maybe you can have a picture of a hand flipping the bird on the lid of your laptop so that you don’t have to. The possibilities are practically endless aren’t they?
I’ve been checking out looprumors for a few weeks now and as far as Apple rumor sites go, its one of the nicer ones to visit. Yes, I am a fellow mac user and do find myself being a little biased at times towards Windows and PC’s, which of course, does not mean I curse every non-mac user every chance I get. It just means I prefer a mac to a PC based on personal experience.
But there are the fanboys, the jerks who spit in your face and will kick your mother in the throat if you say anything bad about the iPhone (which isn’t out yet, come on guys) or if you make fun of Steve Jobs and his turtle neck. These are the guys who click on looprumors 300 times a day eating up every little screen shot, take in every tantalizing detail they can savor.
So what’s going to be the reaction be to the above picture? Do you think Apple fans really want to see a big fat Vista ad on their favorite rumor website? Probably not, and the backlash will probably be catastrophic. Chalk it up to greed, laziness or bad product placement, either way you can be sure looprumors is going to get a ton of shit for this.
Why pay the full price of a quality product when you can go overseas and pick it up for 98.7% off? Hell you can just join the military, ship out there and get your own pirated copy when we start bombing the hell out it in a couple weeks. Best plan ever.
You know what I hate doing? Reading a bunch of bullcrap to get to the good stuff. So guess what? I’m going to go ahead and read about 400 page of useless info and cut to the chase and tell you what games run nice, and which ones suck your grandma’s left nut.
Speaking of useless info, I just downed a Red Bull and am blasting some Diesel Boy (crappy Jungle music) as my russian co-worker plays Halo 2 online bitching about how people in rumble slayer can stick him in his semi-thick accent, I know, what the hell? I’m fucking wired.
How the games run:
Half-Life 2 - Steam runs great along with Day of Defeat, Counter Strike: Source, Lost Coast and Episode 1. Smooth as butter.
Darwinia - “Runs like a pig”
Bejeweled 2, Bookworm, Astropop & Chuzzle - They all run fine, no problems
World of Warcraft - Runs fine, don’t worry
Battlefield 2 - Punkbuster is a bitch, once you get over that the game runs fine
