..:: Tiemsche's Blog ::..

Fast, well-arranged, not counsuming much memory, stable

Weren’t the afore mentioned attributes once those that formed Firefox? Didn’t they amke a new browser because the Mozilla suite became too puffed up and unstable? It was either way or similar. However none of these attributes form Firefox any more. At the latest with version 3.0 Firefox had its best time. Firefox 2.0 was the last suitable release. Firefox became unstable, eats up memory, and constantly gets new features a slim browser does not need and it is no longer well-arranged. With every release Firefox gets slower and more unstable. I do not even want to talk about all the websites that no longer work because the JavaScript engine has allegedly been upgraded. After every upgrade half of the extensions stop working and it takes months until the extension developer bothers to release a new version. In the past there has been lots of good-looking themes, now there is only smut.

Since I am using Windows7 in a 64bit version, Firefox has finally died for me because there is no version running on 64bit system. The developers simply slumbered away to make one. Instead I am now favoring Chrome or Opera because they are fast, well-arranged, not consuming much memory and stable just as Firefox once used to

“The more things change, the more they remain the same”, was the first thing that came into my mind when I got a bluescreen on Winows7 yesterday. And this bluescreen was not without consequences because everything stopped working afterwards. Neither Windows nor Ubuntu were booting. The partition table was corrupt. I tried some diagnosis CDs but Windows7 seems to use a newer NTFS system. Anyway every tool could diagnose some sectors were corrupt but none was able to fix that. Consequently I had no other option than reinstalling Windows7. My Toshiba Notebook did not come with an original Windows CD with which fixing the but would have been probably possible. The recovery discs I had to burn myself, replace the complette system, meaning they delete all files. Hence I started the PC for another time with a Ubuntu in order to copy all my files to an external disc. Such things have become easy thanks to the Linx live CD’s
Now I am sitting here with my newly installe Windows on my notebook that is hardly a month old. Such a crap—is not the right word but the first one that comes to my mind.

I am open for recommandations of good diagnosis CD’s. I do not want to reinstall the sytem every time.

Warner Bros. encloses a voucher for a digital copy for self-download to some of its movies. What seems to be a nice gesture, turned out to be a flop.

There are two versions of the movie for download: a larger one for desktops, around 1GB in size, and a smaller one, around 450 MB for mobile devices. Both versions are protected with DRM (Digital Rights Management). Meaning the deskotp version can only be  played on a Windows operating system because Windows Media Player is the only player software to support DRM. Users of Linux or MacOS are unlucky.
With mobile devices it is the same thing. As far as I am concerned the most common portable player is the iPod and the iPod does not support DRM protected files. Thus, most people will not be able to enjoy the portable Version.
Theoretically I should have been able open it on my Windows Mobile device. But I mad the mistake to open it on my notebook before I moved it over to my mobile device. For this reason the license now runs on my notebook. Opened once, the file can only be played on the device on which it was first opened. Burning is impossible, too, of course. What shall be done with a file you cannot even exchange between your own devices? Such files are simply garbage files.

And the movie companies are still wondering why people download the movies illegally and spread them over the internet. The answer is simple though: No one wants to pay for garbage files!

DRM protection is good for nothing. I will not start Tunebite in order to bypass the DRM protection.

[Update 2009-01-29]

After reinstalling my operating system I am no longer capable of playing the file. Next time I do not even bother to download this pointless digital copy.

With the new Super Mario Wii geht Nintendo goes back to the roots. Super Mario is no longer running through a 3D world as in his last adventures. He is now running throuhg a 2D world that scrolls from left to right again. Nintend finally realized what a good Jump’n'Run game has to be like and what the fans of Super Mario really want because 2D Jump’n'Run Games are simply more fun than 3D Jump’n'Runs. When I saw the game demo, I was about to buy myself a Wii along with the game. Only the fact the Wii does not enthuse me apart from that and I rather tend to purchase a PS3 in the near future, prevented me from doing so.

But the desire for Super Mario did not go away. So I looked around in the internet and discovered a title=”Super Nintendo Emulator” href=”http://www.zsnes.com/”>an emulator for the SNES. A page where compatible games could be downloaded, was found fast, too. Playing with the emulator has got certain advantages compared to playing on the SNES: It is possible to save a game any time and anywhere. That comes in handy especially for games whose creators did not provide a feature for game saving what actually made it impossible to ever finish a game because you always had to start from the beginning when you lost all your lives or had to quit for other reasons. Since the games are now on the notebook it becomes a mobile SNES you can carry anywhere.

When I started to play Super Mari World I soon realized, it has been over for a long time. I played this game way too often and know it too well. “It would be great to add one’s own levels”, I thought. Guess what, of course there was solution to that matter, too: Lunar Magic. This tool allows to add new levels or edit existing level of a Super-Mario-World-ROM. The software is not quite easy to handle but I struggle through it and I am creating a “Super Mario World Tiemsche Edition”. When I got a satisfying result I will publish it here for download.

Apple showed how to do what Microsoft could already offer years ago: the AppStore. Since the release of Windows Mobile 6.5 Microsoft is offering such a service as well and calls it Marketplace. Older Versions of Windows Mobile are able to upgrade the application. Via the new Marketplace applications for Windows Mobile can be found fast and easily and can be installed with one click. Most applications are not free, however there are quite a few free applications. I found some very interesting applications via the Marketplace I am just trying. So in the next few weeks the number of Software hints for Windows Mobile will increase.