All Posts by Paul

Blu-ray Copy Protection Cracked, Disk Copying Software Out by Year’s End

Paul

bluraycrack.jpg
Slysoft, the makers of AnyDVD, CloneDVD, and many other disc-copying software apps, have just cracked the Blu-ray BD+ copy protection. This means, if Slysoft’s predictions are correct, a commercially-purchasable suite to copy Blu-ray movies will be available by the end of the year. However, Blu-ray blanks—especially dual-layer ones—are still so costly right now ($40+ for a writable) that it’s not financially feasible for people to be duping their own movies. You know, unless you really enjoy the blank disc look over the professionally done Blu-ray disc with the proper case and materials. Weirdo. [Golem via Inquirer]

I wonder how long this takes before they dump Blu-ray Disc!!

Run a Better Google Talk on Your Desktop with Prism

Paul

prism-gtalk.pngEver since Google updated the web-based Google Talk gadget, I’ve firmly felt that the web-based Google Talk is head and shoulders above the desktop client (if you don’t need file transfer or voice calls, that is). Last week we told you about Prism, Mozilla’s update to the stripped-down browser and web application environment WebRunner. Put the two together (using this URL when you create the Prism application) and you’ve got what feels very much like a desktop version of the Google Talk gadget. Prism is still very early in development, currently Windows-only, and—honestly—requires way more memory than I’d like (around 30MB for my Google Talk), but with more time and development, the single-use approach to web applications as desktop apps could catch on. Thanks Jon!

Prism [Mozilla Labs Blog]

It might be a good little program to try!! 🙂

Create A Backup Image of Your System with DriveImage

Paul

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Windows only: Freeware application DriveImage XML creates and restores images of any drive or partition on your system. That means that next time you freshly install Windows on your computer (whether XP or Vista), you can back up that clean and sparkling system state with DriveImage XML. If things get messy down the road, you can just as easily restore that fresh system state with the program’s simple interface. We’ve given you the complete guide to system partition imaging and restoring from the open source perspective, but the freeware, Windows-only DriveImage XML offers a much more user-friendly alternative for the faint of heart.

DriveImage XML [via FreewareGenius]
I always say BACKUP!! It isn’t backing up a 120 gig hard drive but there are ways!!

Leopard Disk Utility Format Issue Screws With Time Machine (But There’s An Easy Fix)

Paul

Disk_Erase_Failed.jpgThe bad news is, we have discovered a Leopard-related issue that may very well throw a monkey wrench into your Time Machine. Anyone trying to use Time Machine with a previously PC-formatted drive could be at risk. The good news is, there is an easy—albeit none-too-obvious—fix. Here’s the dilly-o:

After I upgraded my MacBook Pro to OS X Leopard, the first thing I did was grab a brand-new Maxtor USB drive and format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utility, just like I had countless times before. As soon as I erased the disk, Time Machine popped up as promised, and asked if it could use the disk for backup. I said yes, and was on my merry way. Only I wasn’t.

Time Machine ran for a bit, and then crapped out after about 10GB. I went into Disk Utility and saw that although the partition was formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled), the volume itself still said FAT32. I clicked Erase to reformat the drive, and got the format failure error you see above.

I tried this with FAT-formatted drives from Seagate, Iomega and HP as well. Each time I saw the same thing. I could reformat the partition to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and Time Machine would recognize it. Get Info would say that it was formatted correctly. But Disk Utility showed that the volume was formatted for PC. Inevitably, if the Time Machine backup was greater than 10GB, there were problems. Worst of all, if I dared try to format the volume for Mac, I would get the dreaded error, and the disk would be temporarily unmountable.

Go read the full story to find out how to fix the problem. I thought it was funny because Windows does that to!!