So, I pop in the bonus features disk (complete with digital copy) and a little screen pops up welcoming me to WB’s digital copy process, yada yada. After a bit of figuring out where I live and what language I speak, it opens up iTunes to validate the copy (using the handy-dandy code included in the DVD packaging). After entering the code and my iTunes password, the digital copy begins to download.

Now, this is where things go wrong. My DVD drive isn’t making any sound at all and the digital copy transfer is going on in the Downloads queue in iTunes, so I figure that I don’t need the disk in any longer. Wrong. The instant I ejected the DVD, the download stopped and an error message appeared. Okay, no big deal. I popped the disk in and clicked the retry button next to the download. Nothing. Wait a little longer…then iTunes freezes. Oh crap.

I’m worried because I have a feeling the authorization code was a one-time deal and I’ll get harassed for daring to attempt the transfer a second time. You know, kinda like how Spore was with its three (now five) install limit and Windows is with, well, any install.

Attempting to force iTunes to quit via the Task Manager fails multiple times and it finally closes after about 5 minutes. I put the DVD back in, went through the preliminary screen, iTunes launched, and it asked me for the code again. Fearing the worst, I put it in…and the digital copy starts transferring again. From scratch. Well, at least it let me download it again.

I suppose I should have been smarter than to remove the DVD while the transfer was going, but it would have been nice to have some kind of warning.

Anyways, I was going to continue on and rant about how the MPAA should allow consumers to freely copy their legitimately purchased DVDs because digital copy sucks, but I changed my mind now that I see it doesn’t suck as much as I thought it would. Of course, I haven’t tried downloading the Windows Media version or downloading the iTunes version onto a different computer, so I’ll reserve my final judgment until I can do further testing.

I love Google.

The other major thing I noticed today is that the iPhone’s Bluetooth capability is limited to headsets and the like. While other phones (especially smart phones) have the ability to connect to a computer and transfer files via Bluetooth (my dad’s Samsung Sync can do that), the iPhone can only pair up with a Bluetooth headset or similar device, and even then it takes forever to realize that the headset is on and sitting right next to it. Again, it’s not really that big of a deal, since my laptop doesn’t have a Bluetooth card, but honestly, I expected the iPhone to be a lot more advanced than this.

Don’t get me wrong: the iPhone is the best phone I’ve ever used. The touch-screen interface works better than I ever expected, and it does just what I want. But there are a few things that just seem…missing. Hopefully, at least some of these will be fixed in the upcoming firmware update for the iPhone, but I get the feeling I’m going to feel gypped when Apple comes out with the second generation iPhone that has everything I’m missing in my current iPhone. Apple is like that sometimes. Or all the time.

I took the chance to try out the latest beta version of Ubuntu, which is due to be released in about 8 days (as you can see by the nifty counter in the sidebar). Compared to past versions of Ubuntu I’ve used, 8.04 is amazing. Sure, the actual interface doesn’t look or act much different (it’s a little shinier, perhaps, and the new search function is pretty cool), but the main difference I noticed is that I didn’t get a debilitating error upon start up. See, with older versions of Ubuntu installed on my Dell laptop, the wireless and graphics cards would not work, and the alternate drivers Ubuntu tried to use would break the system, forcing me to drop into a command line interface to install a special script. But with 8.04, everything actually worked upon start up, displayed in my native resolution of 1280×800 (instead of a rather blurry 1024×768). I had to do some minor configuration to enable the non-free graphics and wireless drivers so I could use my graphics and wireless cards to their full extent, but it was much less work than before.

I’m definitely pleased with this version of Ubuntu. I still doubt that I’ll like it enough to abandon Windows, but at least I haven’t needed to wrestle with it just to make it work right. Hopefully it’ll just get better once it’s out of beta next week.

I recently bought a 320 GB hard drive for my laptop and completely reinstalled everything from scratch. Everything was going great. Then I tried to install Linux. Again. Honestly, I can’t tell you why I have to try this time after time. Maybe I figure that I’ll like it this time, even though I haven’t the past 17 million times. At any rate, it shouldn’t have been a problem to resize one of my Windows partitions and try out a new distro of Linux I downloaded (the beta release of Kubuntu with KDE 4, ’cause the screenshots looked pretty). Turns out, it was a problem. Vista didn’t want to play nice, so I turned to GParted. That stalled out, so I booted up XP and tried out Partition Magic. That completely corrupted my Vista partition, making it impossible to boot into it. Luckily, XP still worked fine, so I was able to go into damage control. Damage control failed horribly (even when I turned to the Vista install disk’s repair function).

Luckily, I had, in my infinite wisdom, completely backed up Vista the night before. Since the only important information on XP was saved games and a few documents, I backed up a couple of folders on XP and wiped the hard drive clean. This time, I was going to reinstall everything and include Linux with it. But I abandoned Kubuntu and went with plain ol’ Ubuntu 7.10, which has worked for me in the past. In a couple of weeks, Ubuntu 8.04 will be out, so I’ll be able to easily upgrade.

The problem now is that I still need to copy over all my documents to the reinstalled Vista. And then I need to reinstall all my programs. And fix all my settings. And update everything…

I just did all of this a couple of weeks ago. It’s killing me.

Granted, I may have a few extensions enabled on Firefox that IE doesn’t have, but that doesn’t help the memory leak problem. Or the incredibly slow startup time. Get working on this, Mozilla! Or I may be forced to switch to Opera.

Upon reflection, I decided not to bother with the how-to. There are already countless guides out there (like the in-depth one at Lifehacker), and it’s pretty much pointless to install Mac OS X on a PC. It most likely won’t work as well as Mac OS X on a real Mac, which makes such an installation good as a proof-of-concept thing, but not really good for much else. Believe me, you’re better off sticking with Windows or Linux, both of which are legal to install on PCs. If you want a Mac, go buy one. Or go find someone who actually had the decency to provide a how-to guide after tempting his readers with one. (On a related note, please don’t hunt me down and shoot me. I don’t think I’d appreciate it very much.)

I honestly don’t know why this laptop in particular is such a pain. I mean, it was only one of the most popular Inspiron laptop models Dell put out before the newest wave. I still think you can get it through their business store under the guise of 6400 (the home version was labeled E1505). The graphics card is all right, but it’s been the biggest thorn in my side when trying to install a) Windows games, or b) non-Windows operating systems. Ubuntu Linux was my arch-nemesis for a while, until I found out some guy actually modified an Ubuntu installation CD to work specifically on Dell E1505 systems with no tweaking or special knowledge of terminal commands required (the custom CD/DVD for the latest release of Ubuntu, 7.10, is still in beta, but the old disks for 7.04 are still perfectly workable). He’s got the right idea. Other developers don’t.

The thing is that people don’t make concessions for hardware like mine. The majority of hardware configurations work so they don’t take the time to fix things up for the small amount of incompatible configurations. It just bugs me that an entire laptop line gets thrown out the window for this. Okay, that’s not completely true. The big problems only show up if you have an ATI Radeon Mobility x1400 video card. I don’t know what it is about this particular card, but it can cause you major grief if you like Linux, hacked Mac OS X, or newer games. The most recent problem I encountered came when I tried playing Gears of War. I figured I’d be able to enjoy it at fairly low graphics settings, but the game crashed my computer when it started because I didn’t have the latest version of the Catalyst drivers for my card. This would be no problem…if Dell had released those drivers. ATI won’t give them to me (my hardware configuration, again, is incompatible, and they’re unwilling to develop alternate drivers for Dell systems). I had to fall back on third-party drivers, and I haven’t had the chance to test them out yet.

Some people tell me I shouldn’t be gaming on a laptop unless I shell out thousands of dollars for an Alienware or Dell XPS notebook. Others tell me I should just buy a desktop rig and trick it out. That would be nice, yes, and I intend on putting together a desktop gaming PC in the future, but for the time being, I have to make do with what I have. And I’m entitled to whine about it because I’m a poor, starving college student who knows better than to whip out the credit card and act like I don’t have to pay it off. So there.

And that…was a completely pointless post. But don’t worry; something will come of this. A tutorial, maybe. Or maybe I’ll accidentally nuke my computer and forget all about it. Then you’ll get to hear me rant. It’s all good, right?

There’s a service on the Internet called Whois. You can think of it like the phone book for the Internet. Basically, it stores the registration data for owners of millions of web domains (like mine). This can be a very useful tool for various reasons. Since it lists things like phone numbers and addresses for domain owners, it can be useful for tracking down pirates, spammers, and other problem-causing website owners. The IP address side of Whois has helped me many times identify the people who spam my blog so I could report them to their Internet service provider.

But there are some out there who want to do away with Whois entirely. They call themselves privacy advocates, but I have a feeling most of them just don’t like the idea of the law being able to track them down for doing illegal things. Privacy advocates can be like that sometimes. Anyways, the whole thing annoys me. A large group of these people are pushing to remove the Whois requirements placed on domain registrars (the companies you pay to get a .com, .net, .whatever) so people don’t have to put their contact info on a publicly accessible database. This will make it much harder to find the owners of illegal websites, as you can no doubt guess. What torrent site owner is really going to put his name and phone number on the Internet if he doesn’t have to?

The other thing that bugs me is the idea of getting rid of the phone book because you don’t want your name in it. Most (reputable) domain registrars have an option that will allow you to avoid putting your name in the Whois database entirely. It generally costs more, but it ensures your complete privacy. They still have to put information for the domain owner, but they’ll use company information. Not just anyone can find out who you are. Click on the Whois link up there for my domain and you’ll not see my name or contact information anywhere. I don’t like spam.

Of course, this isn’t good enough for the privacy advocates, and it cements my suspicions that most of them are up to no good. While your information isn’t publicly accessible if you pay extra, certain people (such as the authorities) can still get your information by contacting your web host or domain registrar. You won’t get spammed, but you can still get caught. Ditch the database entirely, and you can pursue illegitimate activities in complete anonymity. I can see right through their dastardly scheme…

Perhaps I’m misrepresenting the people who want Whois gone. Perhaps. But when you read an article where they claim that there are no legitimate uses of Whois, you have to wonder if something’s up (indeed, spammers often make use of Whois, but so do law enforcement officials…at least one of those is legit). Again, I know that most of my regular readers won’t really care about this, but as a quasi-privacy rights guy, I figured I’d chime in. I may hold my privacy dear, but if I have nothing to hide, why should I fight to hide it?