Computers & Technology News Comments 2006-08-23
YouTube is browser-cache rippable (cfffc.org, my teenager-years church, is too – if you download sermons, be aware – Pastor Joe doesn’t bother being politically correct and is not afraid to offend, but doesn’t fingerpoint or religion-codemn either). Google Video is GetRight-Rippable. Media Player Classic an play .flvs with the aid of the of the K-Lite Codec Pack. So Rip away! And ignore the DRM section.
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Who says Lithium Ion is currently higher-density than NIMH? 3.7 volts * 0.75 amp-hours =2.775 watt-hours for the Lithium-Ion AA-size cell, and 1.2 volts * 2.7 amp-hours = 3.24 watt-hours. Lithium Ion is much more sensitive to overcharging and short-circuiting and ignite (Li-Ion) instead of leak or burst (NIMH) when it does get too overcharged or short ciruited, and MIMH can use more basic simple microprocessor chargers, and NIMH is not toxic waste when thrown out. The only issue is that you will need 12 or 13 cells to power a decent laptop, but you at least won’t need multiple banks of them to provide the capacity. A 12-cell NIMH battery pack will outlast a 12-cell Li-Ion battery pack, but you need a minium of 12 cells, which is why vendors prefer Li-Ion. Its not the power density, but the minium volume reqired to provide the needed voltage, especially for very portable laptops and small consumer electronics. My Nikon CoolPix 8800 cammera runs conitunously for a little over 2 hours on 6 AA NIMH (older 2100mah) but a 750mah Lithium-ion (2 14500 cells 7.4v) will last only about 45 minutes. When I get those 2700mah I probably will approach or hit 3-hours of continous operation (I am using the discontinued and overpriced AA module addon). Hopefully the Silver and Zinc-Matrix batteries that are coming out in a few years will make both Li-Ion and NIMH batteries obsolote. For for the meantime I think all the big 14.7v gaming laptops (Alienware Area51m-7000, Dell XPS) that use 12 or 16 cell Li-Ion batteries or 8-Cell laptops that could adapt to using a larger 12-cell battery should switch to NIMH, because it is denser than Li-Ion, just a higher minimum volume to attain a certain voltage.
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It appears it will be proprietary format and proprietary DRM like Itunes. It seems that it will be more permissive in it’s DRM policies (DVD burning) than most of the competition. But I still prefer unprotected XVIDs that will work on Media Player Classic, so I’m not really interested.
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K-Lite Codec pack at CodecGuide.com will install the Windows Media codecs for use with media Player classic and other generic media players. THe Mega Codec packs ave the pro/premium versions of QuickTime and Real too.
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So, Apple’s Intellectual Property tyrrany has made it difficult for FireWire to compete with USB on price??? Oh well. USB isn’t that inferior. Hopefully Blu-Ray won’t make the same mistake, because HD-DVD is more inferior than blue-ray than USB is than FireWire. My Alienware laptop has 2 firewire ports, but I have never used them. I wonder if one can burn DVDs on an external burner over 4x without kicking in the buffer underrun protection? My laptop hard drive can burn 8x to an internal burner, but not 16x. But 4x as a full PC-side buffer, but the Burner’s buffer runs out. Unfortunatly, firewire enclosures cost 25% more than USB ones, partly because of Apple IP tyrrany, so I probably will never know.
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Typosquatters are like the Junk Mail (snailmail) or Spam Mail (with a good filter). Its a nuisance. I doubt they imitate the site at all as it is a volume operation involving thousands or tens of thousands of domains with dozens or hundreds of corporate targets. It is best to just not click on any of the ads. These sites are easy to spot out once you’ve seen a few.
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I definitly like ‘lil monsta’ over ‘isheep’. But I probably won’t buy it. I don’t know why the lesser brands won’t go over 1-2GB, but many have SD memroy card slots, so who cares. The 1GB Apacer AU231 is $36.50, add a 4GB SD-card for $80.50 for a total of $117.00. $117 for 5GB is a lot cheaper than a 4GB sansa ($180), 6GB sansa ($220), or 1GB Ipod Nano ($150)
