What? No Philippines?

INQ7 Business – Microsoft sues counterfeit software dealers:

Software giant Microsoft said on Tuesday it had started 55 legal actions against counterfeit software dealers around the world, its largest enforcement effort to date. “Today’s announcement marks … the first time the company has focused its efforts worldwide to bring legal action against online dealers,” The US-based software company said in a statement.

The 55 legal actions include 15 in the United States, 10 in Germany, 10 in the Netherlands, five in France and five in the United Kingdom, as well as proceedings in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Korea, Mexico and Poland.

The cases are against sellers who allegedly have misused their eBay or other on-line auction site accounts to sell counterfeit software. Microsoft said it had sent warnings for infringing behavior to many of the defendants before taking the legal action.

Well, considering that the Philippines is just a small fry in a large pond, maybe Microsoft will not get as much mileage if they sue someone in the Philippines. Besides, with the way laws are enforced in the country, it will probably take forever before the case gets decided.

Personally, I’d rather that Microsoft go after these bastards! Yeah, pardon me but this is not doing anyone any good anyway. Schools are signing up with Microsoft to get legit and so did the government. Private corporations are going legit as well. This just means that Microsoft is not losing any revenue – besides, piracy does not add revenue anyway. Heck, I can direct you to some resellers who offer illegal copies of software to their clients — as much as I hate doing it but illegal business practices should not be condoned.

Get those software pirates and kick their asses!

Technorati Tags: microsoft, piracy

SeeThru Case

I could not resist it so I decided to get one for my MacBook Pro. This SeeThru case will not work on the new Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros because of the additional Firewire 800 port.
First thing – it is gorgeous! Yeah, the red tint makes it look like the (PRODUCT)RED iPod Nano. This makes my MBP different from the rest.
Installing the two covers is a snap, literally. You just snap the clips and that is it. Removing it is easy as well.
The SeeThru case allows you to use your notebook on your lap. The aluminum case is a bit too warm on your lap but this case adds a little insulation but does not affect the MBP. So far, the temperature of the MBP is normal (same as without the case).
One gripe – the case reduces the maximum angle between the keyboard and the screen. So, if you are used to keeping the screen almost horizontal, this case will surely piss you off.
Now, I am not afraid that my MBP will get scratched when inserted inside a bag with no notebook compartment.

Technorati Tags: macbook pro

Another Javascript Speed Test for Web browsers

With new web browsers available, I figured that it may be a good idea to see how they perform using a common benchmark.

Javascript Benchmark (in seconds)

Browser	Test 1	Test 2	Test 3	Test 4	Test 5	Test 6	Test 7
Safari	0.703	0.415	0.375	0.516	0.138	1.428	0.155
Firefox 2.0	1.337	2.476	2.924	0.631	0.178	1.936	0.553
Camino 1.1a1	1.661	0.313	0.706	0.902	0.154	1.772	0.565
Flock 0.7.7Nightly	1.282	5.537	0.602	0.658	0.183	2.131	0.711

I intentionally did not include Internet Exploder 7 because [1] it is not available on the Mac and [2] even if it is, I refuse to use it.

I have Safari set as default but I also use Firefox 2.0 and Camino 1.1a1 because Safari does not support the online editor used by WordPress. It is a good thing that my online banks such as Citibank and BPI Express Online are now supported by all four browsers (including Flock) unlike PNB’s Internet Banking, which, like the rest of the “bureaucrazy“, only supports IE.

I like Flock, if only it is as fast and as stable as Safari and Camino with the flexibility of Firefox 2.0!

Technorati Tags: camino, firefox, flock, safari

System Update: anti-spam

I have been receiving a lot of spam. So to lessen the number of spams, I have disabled anonymous commenting – you need to register to comment. It only requires you to supply a username and a valid e-mail address and you will be given a temporary password, which you must change when you first login.

This goes the same for other sites such as blogger and wordpress.com.

System Update: WordPress 2.0.5

Upgraded blog engine to the latest and greatest version to date!

If you see some bugs, please do let me know. Thanks.

Ubuntu 6.10

Hot on the heels of Red Hat’s  Fedora Core 6, Ubuntu releases version 6.10, code-named Edgy Eft. You may download it now!

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, linux

Adobe Soundbooth beta

Just like Adobe’s Lightroom, this one is for audio editing. Try it out!

Technorati Tags: soundbooth, audio

MyDreamApp Contest Winners

My Dream App » News:

Each of our winners will receive a MacBook and 15% royalties on their applications.

MacBook

Third Place: Michael Yuan, Cookbook, with 6109 votes (17.88%)

Second Place: Farzad Sadjadi, Portal, with 6122 votes (17.92%)

First Place: Cameron Westland, Atmosphere, with 6566 votes (19.22%)

Congrats, you’ll be hearing from us very soon!

Woohoo! The last three votes that I made came to be the winners. Coolness! I wish that the final released application won’t be that expensive.

Technorati Tags: mac, mydreamapp

Sitting it out

When the 15″ MacBook Pro was introduced, I told everyone that I will not upgrade yet. However, I was not able to resist the call of new technology! (read: technolust! hehe) so I ended up treating myself for a birthday present and got a MacBook Pro four days before the new MacBooks were announced.

Yesterday, a significant MacBook Pro upgrade was introduced by Apple by replacing the Core Duo processor with the new Core 2 Duo processor. The C2D has better performance/watt and also higher L2 cache (double!). Not only that, as Alan has pointed out, it is full 64-bit! Nice, eh?

Whilst it would have been great if I had a money tree, unfortunately upgrades need to be planned carefully (otherwise, my wife will kill me! hehehe). Tempting features but are they enough to make it worth the jump? For those who are waiting for the new Merom chips, by all means, get the new MacBook Pros! It will be worth it! For the CD-based MacBook Pro owners, unless you can sell your units now and then get the C2D ones, I’d recommend that you wait til Spring 2007. Why?

1. Core 2 Duo is far better. This is no contest. The new processor is indeed better. However, Anandtech has shown that this Core 2 Duo is not (yet) a significant upgrade from the current Core Duo system even with double its L2 cache!

At least until Intel releases Santa Rosa with an 800MHz frontside bus (FSB) speed, C2D is like a Ferrari on EDSA (fast car, congested road). Not to forget, Santa Rosa will come with 1GB NAND memory and Nokia’s HSDPA, too! Who knows? Intel might bundle WiMAX or IEEE 802.11n (hopefully ratified by H1 2007) and force Apple to release Airport Super Extreme!

2. Battery Life. The C2D supposedly has better power management. Again, as Anandtech has shown, improvement over power consumption is not that significant. Maybe with the faster FSB and perhaps better battery technology, the next crop of machines might last more than 8 hours on a single charge.

3. Firewire 800. Well, I had FW800 on my Powerbook but no FW800 device to connect it to. IMHO, useless for me. So not enough to compel me to upgrade.

4. More RAM, more HDD. Well, it is always a good thing to have more RAM and bigger HDD capacity on the base model. However, my 2GB maxed out MacBook Pro is enough for my needs. HDD capacity is another matter, though. I am looking for a larger and faster (7200rpm) HDD (know where I can find one?). For the meantime, my 2×250GB external FW400 drives will do.

5. Dual Layer Superdrive. The speed increase is definitely a plus. Whilst dual-layer is a good thing, the media is still expensive. I have 8X dual-layer on my Powerbook and I barely used it. Frankly, I think I just used it to backup my Mac OS X and iLife installer DVDs and that were it. I still have 2 dual-layer disks here but until I find a good enough data to burn, it will remain as blanks. Besides, next year, Apple might release SuperDuper drives that support both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disks.

6. 64-bit. Well, this is also a good thing. However, until software can take advantage of this architecture, it will be useless. Imagine driving along the German Autobahn on a bicycle (yeah, I know this is not allowed)! Whilst it will take you to your destination, the fact that you can drive in excess of 100 kilometers per hour on the Autobahn, a faster vehicle would have been better. Mac OS X 10.4 support 64-bit however, Leopard (10.5) will provide better full 64-bit support from top to bottom or bottom to top, whichever is your fancy.

So come my next birthday this Spring 2007, I might just gift myself with a new MacBook Pro. If only the MacBooks come with its own video card and illuminated keyboard.

Technorati Tags: mac, merom

Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro

Now available!

• Faster Core 2 Duo processors
• Firewire 800
• More RAM and HDD capacity
• 6X Dual-Layer SuperDrive
• Longer battery life

Technorati Tags: core 2 duo, macbook pro, mac