After two lackluster years of tiny audiences and slashed budgets, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is trying to recapture some of its past luster–but it may be too little, too late. That’s a shame, because E3, being held next week, is one of only a handful of trade shows the …
This article was written on August 09, 2006 by CyberNet.
It will always be inevitable that people will run pirated versions of Windows. Microsoft had set their sights high when they started to enforce Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) but cracks started to come out left and right.
It started out that Microsoft just prevented people from downloading optional Windows Updates but they soon installed a WGA Notification Tool that would notify people when they were running an illegal copy of Windows. That pissed so many people off that they ended up providing very lengthy instructions on how you can manually remove the update. The much easier way to remove WGA notifications is to download the cleverly named RemoveWGA program that someone has put together.
If you are one of the people running a pirated copy of Windows then I am sure you know how annoying the WGA is. Ed Bott from ZDNet wanted to test out what people go through when they have a pirated copy of Windows. So, funny enough, he contacted Microsoft and asked for a copy of Windows XP with a pirated CD key and they sent it to him. Except the CD key they provided came up as invalid when he tried installing Windows. After trying to contact them for 3-days he decided to search the Web for a key because that is what real pirates probably do anyways. He finally found a list of 5 keys that were about 2-years old but they got Windows installed just fine. Now the WGA nightmares will begin…or will they?
After Windows restarted he installed a bunch of the Windows updates which included the WGA Validation tool and the WGA Notifications utility. Once he restarted the computer again he noticed that he was not notified by the WGA tool that his Windows was illegal…oops! He then tested it to make sure the computer was really validated:
My bootleg key worked perfectly. I went back to Windows Update and downloaded a series of Optional Updates and drivers that are only available to Genuine Windows users. I went over to the Internet Explorer homepage and downloaded the latest beta of IE7, passing a validation test twice – once on the download and again on the installation. And five minutes ago I went over to the Windows Defender page – this is another free utility that’s only available to Genuine Windows users – and the validation check waved me right through.
It looks like Microsoft has some work to do on their WGA tools but I couldn’t help but laugh when I found out Microsoft can’t even recognize pirated keys that are 2-years old.
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[Via Wired]
Filed under: Portable Audio
Teensy Weensy eggshell speakers, perfect for all the king’s men originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 01:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Via Jean Snow, the Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament will be held today at Womb in Shibuya.
See your digital heroes compete in real time on the big screen with only a mouse and some keyboard shortcuts. We’ll be there with some random streaming here and there (below) if Womb’s thick walls don’t block out our 3G signal.
UPDATE Well, as kind of expected, it didn’t work as planned. Please enjoy the Make Meeting Tokyo video below instead!
Here’s the official Tokyo event site complete with their own streaming.
Another day, another laser… well, not so fast. This particular laser just so happens to officially carry the “world’s largest title.” Built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, and housed in the National Ignition Facility — or NIF — it was completed at the end of March, and has just now been officially dedicated and opened for business. The laser inside the three-football field-sized building will aim to create a “star” on earth by focusing 192 beams at a pea-sized target, generating temperatures over 100 million degrees and pressure over 100 billion times the earth’s atmosphere. The process will create nuclear fusion — the reaction that powers the sun and the stars. it sounds pretty complicated, and we’d hate to be in town if something goes awry, but we’re crossing our fingers for the team! Hit the read link for much, much more information about the project.
[Via Physorg]
Filed under: Science
World’s largest laser opens for business in California originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 21:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s time for HTC’s Touch Pro2 to join the ranks of every other modern phone in getting its own unboxing video. An enthusiastic PocketNow has the honors, and even goes so far as to utilize the infamous “smell test” to confirm it is in fact a genuine leather case included. Sized up to the original Touch Pro, it’s got a more spread out keyboard, larger screen and thinner form factor — all welcome additions, if you ask us. We can’t imagine it being a deal breaker, but just so you know, the slide-out tilt doesn’t go as extreme as its predecessor in that form factor, HTC’s Titan. Living vicariously through video can be accomplished after the break — it’s not yet available stateside, but if you can’t wait, there’s always import.
Continue reading HTC Touch Pro2 unboxed with tempered excitement
Filed under: Cellphones
HTC Touch Pro2 unboxed with tempered excitement originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 20:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We don’t want to point fingers, but at the same time Dell’s Studio XPS 16 red option suddenly returns — now a “Merlot” instead of once-axed “Crimson” — the Mini 9 conspicuously goes missing from the company’s website. Coincidence? We think not. It’s a regular murder mystery, and it looks like we have our prime suspect here, caught… erm, red-lidded. Catching the killer, though, won’t bring it back, but at least its younger brother, the Vostro A90, still seems to alive and kicking.
Update: We just got off the phone with a Dell customer service rep who told us the same thing a handful of our tipsters heard: the Mini 9’s being phased out, with its official “End of Life” possibly as soon as Monday. Shed a tear for our 2008 netbook of the year.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Read – Merlot red Studio XPS 16
Read – Dell.com search for “Mini 9”
Read – Refurbished Laptop stockroom
Filed under: Laptops
Dell’s Mini 9 vanishes from retail site as red Studio XPS 16 returns (update: Mini 9 is on the outs) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Inhabitat: Via Lattea is a striking change from traditional padded furniture and also a significant upgrade from your college room blow-up chair. Low wattage lights are placed inside the pieces to emit a glowing light. While they may look like they belong in a nightclub instead of a living room, these pieces of recycled furniture require considerably less materials and resources to produce than your typical chair or couch. One note of caution: Though the steel mesh helps the furniture retain its shape, you’ll still want to ban all sharp objects within close proximity to them.
Are you dying to see Nokia’s latest, the N97 ripped to shreds in glorious moving pictures? Well, that’s too bad: we don’t have that. What we do have, however, is a series of photographs of said shred-ripping, turned into a video. A creepy, silent film, if you will, complete with subtitles. Lack of movement and sound aside, it gives us a pretty great look at the innards of the handset, if that’s what you’re into. Sure, it’s not The Goldrush, but if you want to see the N97 in a talkie, there’s always that Royksopp video, right? Full video after the break.
[Thanks, Mike]
Continue reading N97 disassembled on video… sort of
Filed under: Cellphones
N97 disassembled on video… sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Is the Wand better than the Nintendo original?
Back at CES 2009, a relatively nonexistent gaming presence was rescued by the Nyko Wand, a third-party Wii remote control that promised a complete overhaul of the Nintendo original. Most exciting of all was the device’s Trans-Port technology, which allows for
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