20080413
Linux to Blu-Ray: Get It Together!
Now that Blu-Ray has won the battle, it's time for the Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA) to get with the program.While I admit Blu-Ray is the latest hardware that is on the market in terms of optical disc drives, and that the price is fair for what they are charging for the drives and discs right now, driver support is needed for Linux.
BDA has two options for resolving this issue the hard way or the right way.
While it will still be another years before the average Joe can afford Blu-Ray, there is still time for the BDA to pull its head out of the sand and see that DRM is bad and that there are other operating systems that can demonstrate the full potential of Blu-Ray technology.
BDA is not a corporation but a union between several hardware manufacturer, movie and video game studios, and video retailers. So why act like a monopoly? If they are sharing with other companies, why not with consumers? The only thing that we want is software support. BDA can still make money from hardware, movie sales, and retail revenue. But they can't make money if consumers can't afford to purchase it in the form of Blue-Ray players or video game systems because their members jack up the price for products.
If this is the purpose of the BDA, then the key code has reason to be found and distributed.
Labels: blu-ray, hack, hardware, linux, PS3
posted by Bushido Hacks 4/13/2008 07:36:00 PM (0) comments top
20070502
Digg gets HD-DVD pwn3d!
I used to look up to Kevin Rose back when he was on TechTV, but this news about Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson taking money from the HD-DVD promotions group and the MPAA is like finding out Barry Bonds took steroids.In response to this stab in the back, here's the number that the MPAA tried to censor from public knowlege to crack their crappy overpirced coasters.
09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0
Shame on you, Kevin. To hell with you , MPAA.
What numbers will the MPAA try to censor next? pi? e? The speed of light in a vaccum?
UPDATE
Kevin has quickly appologized for today's actions.
Labels: foia, fud, hack, movies, news, physics, rage, shovelware, websites
posted by Bushido Hacks 5/02/2007 12:04:00 AM (0) comments top
20070424
GNU Radio - Click!
I really wanted to come up with a clever title that was a play on Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio", but I just didn't have it in me.With 2007 nearing the midpoint, my self-made computer is nearly complete. All I need now is the memory, a backup power source, a little bit of thermal grease for the processor, and something to patch up that hole in the back where a TV or Graphics card goes.
But since I'm not interested in television, and because I don't play alot of video games to justify shelling $300 for a graphics card, I want to develop an interest in software defined radio (SDR).
It turns out this project will be more challenging that I thought, but I am still eager to find some way to do this project without breaking the budget.
I recently learned that many of the projects I want to do require an industrial level of supplies or components, be it a SDR or an electric generator. An eBay search does not return any results that satisfy my requests.
I spend alot of time working on my computer, but I also want to listen to the radio. Nearly every result returned some form of mediocre FM radio reciever that was part of a TV card. But I want something that listens to AM so I can hear Cardinal games and picks up the FM radio stations that don't play some rap station or top-40/emo crap on five other radio frequencies where my favorite stations are located. I want a radio card that can block out that crap and pick up my Red Birds and Industrial Rock as clear as a bell. Unfortunately, the consumer market appeals to the Lowest Common Denominator. So it looks like I will need to build what I want.
Despite the fact that I did not learn about things like Verlog when I took a computer logic course, I still have the textbook from that class and would like to put it to use. I may need to review my knowledge of assembly language which may be of no use since my new computer is a 64-bit dual-core machine. I'm starting to think that maybe I should have majored in computer engineering rather than computer science considering I have a very limited knowledge about programmable logic arrays (PLAs), but I am willing and open to learn.
Reading the requirement list provided by the GNU Radio website, I really did not want to pay $850 for a hardware device that with the right components can be made for far less. Who ever is running the GNU Radio project obviously is not thinking like a broke college student. Do I really need that many Logic Elements (LEs) for this project? A child can build a radio for a science fair project out of a couple of circuit and a paper clip. These guys are thinking in terms of the most expensive products out there. Altera does have some appealing products that are quite afordable and simple to program. But to place the project cost at $850?! Who's running this project? Kaz Hirai?!
As much as this is an important project, the requirements are full of oversight. I know I can do better at a fraction of the cost!
Labels: diy, hack, hardware, linux, mod, music, radio, science, SDR, software, tech
posted by Bushido Hacks 4/24/2007 09:49:00 PM (0) comments top
20061202
PS3 Hacks - Click!
Ken Kutaragi is now sidelined at Sony, but not fired. (Baka-Sony!). If paying $600 for a system burns you up, then so will the device when the Consumer Product Saftey Commission orders it to be recalled becase of defects. (It happened with the PS2 and the PSP. Why not go for a hattrick and fubar this power-sucking--correction, all out sucking--console. I mean, the PS3 uses up electrical power like an American SUV and Gasoline, or Rosie O'Donnell and a Hostess Bakery Thriftstore.So in order to fix these defects the right way, and make this console Japanese again, you should perform a few hacks on the console, of course with expert knowledge.
The PS3 is offered in two forms: Value-Suck ($499/20GB/No WiFi/No Flash Card Readers), and Azathoth ($599/60GB/WiFi/Flash Card Readers). For those who know something about computers, here's a video to replace those dinking hard drives with a 100 GB hard drive you can pick up on eBay.
So much for Ridge Racer.
Wii shall overcome.
posted by Bushido Hacks 12/02/2006 11:51:00 PM (0) comments top
20061127
Book mark everything in this post
For those of you who have found my GCC & GLUT installation instructions extremely helpful, I thank you for your kind words and feed back.Sadily, I do not have the time nor the resources to show examples or syntax of C, C++, or OpenGL.
Fortunately, I have found these resources to be VERY helpful over the break.
- Fred Swartz has a copy of his C++ Notes available on his website. I'll add his page to my list of resources on the tutorial page later.
- Lars Haendel has many example of some advanced programming techniques that are very important if you plan on getting a real job as a computer programmer. His site deals with two topics that most C++ books and professors rarely discuss: Callbacks in C++ and Function Pointers
Other things I've picked up over the holiday include a few cellphone hacks for the RAZR. I was bummed out that I couldn't use that Blackberry I got on eBay. Never the less, I will be a sufficent backup device should my RAZR turn into a brick as I rage against Ma Bell. (Fight the machine! Woooo!)
First off, screw Ma Bell (Cingular) and her $2 ringtones and lack of work tools. According to Stephen Pierzchala in a May 2006 blog entry, the V3 has about as much processing power as one of the first 386 computers. This seems plasable considering that the Texas Instruments TI-83 graphing calculator could have easily replaced the command module on the Apollo spacecraft. I'm interested in doing the same thing to my RAZR that Pierzchala did, only without wiping the firmware. One program that I especially have my eye on is MIDPssh, a terminal emulator for mobile devices. Thus, over the Christmas break, I plan on doing some modding on my RAZR. A couple good RAZR mod sites are MotoModders.net and PlanetMotox.net. Hacker websites like Binary Revolution are also a good source for things that annoy the phone company.
Labels: blackberry, C++, hack, mod, OpenGL, phone, razr, tech
posted by Bushido Hacks 11/27/2006 09:33:00 PM (0) comments top
20061122
BlackBerry + AT&T = Paperweight
I just recently bought a really nice Blackberry from a reputable local vendor on eBay. I figured, a 7100g would be compatible with my service and allow me to spend time my time more productively. Not to mention, organize my life better at a time where I really need this technology.However, there is one problem. In the eyes of Cingular, this device which I paid a pretty penny for is nothing more than a paperweight.
To the vendor who I bought the device from, I appreciate your business and whole heartedly know that you did not know that this device, which I know for a fact went on the market sometime in late 2004 (I mean, so late in 2004, all the copyright information says 2005 on it). The seller and the buyer both lost in this transaction? Why? Because Cingular considers this device "obsolete".
Then I figured "OK, what if I set my phone profile to another Blackberry that Cingular has listed?" As it turns out, all that they had in their database that was compatible with their network either was obsolete or did not support tethering.
Instead of allowing users to access the affordable data services that Blackberry offers, Cingular--or should I say MA BELL a.k.a. AT&T-- has decided to nickel and dime this service not by the megabyte but by the kilobyte. If I am currently being charged $5 per month for 1 MB of downloads using the MediaNet service. That is Half of one cent per kilobyte. As we are romanced by the harpies of entertainment content and are given a greater amount of bandwidth, it is ignorant for AT&T to charge people for the amount of data that customers download. Here they are encouaging consumers to listen to music on their cellphones and telling them they can watch video and TV and listen to FM radio (what about AM?) and they want to squeeze us of every penny. My cousin had to discontinue her phone service when she got a $600 phone bill in her mail for using it too much. On the other hand, I'm being charged over $50 per month, barely speak on the phone, but can't use the phone for what I need it for: DATA!
My BlackBerry is NOT obsolete. AT&T's billing practices are.
AT&T says they are brand new and have changed. The only thing that has changed about them is the use of lowercase letters in their logo. They are the same AT&T that they were in 1984. They have reformed their monopoly but have found loopholes in the government that allow them to rake customers and employees while they get away with spying on people from our own country. Don't tell me "they're doing it to prevent terrorism" because that is a bunch of bullsh*t! If AT&T had done the right thing, they would have tracked who bought or sold their prepaid cellular phones which are nearly impossible to track allowing the REAL terrorists to use them as triggering devices causing incidents like those in Bali, Madrid, and London.
They have used fear to justify their cause and in return we gave them obedience. Why don't they send people to come to our homes take a leak on our backs and tell us that it is rain while they are at it.
I will find a way to use my new phone freely and as the Blackberry people had designed it to be used, whether AT&T wants me to use it like that or not.
It may be their service that I use, but it is MY phone. And I will use it as I wish to use it. Not as some media fun-box, but as a tool for organization as was the original purpose for purchasing it.
Labels: blackberry, hack, phone, tech
posted by Bushido Hacks 11/22/2006 05:30:00 PM (0) comments top
