Author: William

My three-year-old abuses to heck out of our family’s DVD collection. After he handles them a few times, they won’t play. The disks are covered in yogurt, fingerprints, apple juice and who knows what else. Anyway, the poor lasers in the players don’t stand a chance against him. I frequently have to wash the DVDs with soap and water to clean them before he can watch them. Many are also accumulating scratches and it is only a matter of time before they will be unusable.

As a result, I have decided to download as many of his favorites as I can into my computer for him to watch. This will allow us to watch a copy of the disk and reduce the abuse to which they are subjected. I also am doing this because the wife and I are considering purchasing an XBOX 360 for the kids’ big Christmas gift. With the XBOX, they can watch the movies on my computer—via the Windows Media Center—on their television. (I wired the house for computers and the eventual purchase of the XBOX last year.)

As an experiment, I ripped a few DVDs using the Roxio Easy Media software. I selected the MPEG2 format. I tried to play the resulting files with Windows Media Player and got an error.

The same file plays fine using Media Center and several other software applications in my computer. I was determined to find a solution. Media Player has never been able to play an MPEG file from any source on my Vista computer.

I started at the beginning. Did I have the proper codec to play this file format? I thought so but my research found that support for MPEG files is only partially supported natively by Microsoft. They support MPEG1 but not MPEG2. MPEG2 is the format used on DVDs and requires a third party solution. I downloaded and installed the software at a cost of about $15. As I found out later, I already had the codec and this was a waste of money.

I searched on the Roxio support forum and found a thread that seemed to hold some promise.

There were all sorts of great sounding ideas. These included codec diagnostic programs, quotes allegedly from Microsoft TechNet and purchasing new codec packages. None of these worked.
I tried the Microsoft website and found a thread on error C00D11B1.

This tread starts out poorly with a bunch of BS about Samsung software for cell phones causing this problem and then goes on to suggest changes to settings in Media Player and even registry hacks. My experience with this is that it is nonsense, not troubleshooting. However, on the fourth page of this thread you get to the payoff. Buried in the bottom one post you will find the following nugget:

Anyway, while i was typing that essay, i found a solution!

http://www.codecguide.com I simply download that codec pack, and everything worked perfectly. It installs another media player called Windows Media Player Classic, but i checked, and the files work using the regular media player too.

The codecs on this page are free. I tried the full package and took most of the default settings. However, I kept the MPEG2 codecs that I already purchased and told the install program to replace my DIVX codecs, and on the bottom of the second screen, I checked to box to create a setpoint before installing.

As I was researching this problem, I had seen many comments that blamed newer DIVX codecs as the likely cause of the problem. Strictly speaking I know that trying two different repairs at once is not proper troubleshooting technique but by the time I got to this point in the process I wanted results and a good night’s sleep. The bottom line is that it worked.

I hope my experience will save others some heartache. Happy computing.

Recently I upgraded my Windows Vista computer to iTunes 7.5. After starting the program I was greeted with a message that my DVD/CD burner was unable to be used by iTunes. Why? It works for everything else I want to burn!

Upon further investigation, I found that iTunes is not compatible with my 64-bit operating system and I needed to download a third-party driver so that this piece of Apple software could work as advertised with my burner.

I found this on the Apple website in one of their support threads:

I don’t understand why Apple support doesn’t react on this, as the solution is ridiculously easy.

You need a 64bit version of the driver, install the one you find here:
http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/drivers.cfm

Use “Driver installer for AMD64 and Intel EM64T processors”.
Works like a charm.

This is my third bug this year with Apple software in the PC world and the second I’ve encountered with iTunes.

On my windows XP Pro system, I had to physically remove the CD-ROM from my computer because iTunes can’t tell the difference between a CD ROM and a CD Writer. I had both in the computer peacefully coexisting until I wanted to burn a CD using iTunes. Theirs is the only burning software I have ever encountered that can’t make this fundamental distinction.

The error message from the iTunes program basically said PCs were crap and we can’t function in your box because it is built different that a Mac (only they used engineering sounding words to more politely insult the 90 percent of the world that doesn’t do things their way).

My third Apple bug this year is in QuickTime Player. I can only play movies from external hard drives. Any movie I play on my local hard drive will crash due to buffer error within seconds of activating “play”. I found a website claiming to fix this error if I will install four downloads and then re-start my computer.

Yeah! In addition to rolling out more HD stations this fall, DirecTV is Beta Testing an on demand service. Apparently, you select the program and it gets downloaded to your DVR and then you watch it like any other program. There is no press release about this on their website yet.

Do you want a legal copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate for $59.95?

Office Ultimate 2007 includes the entire Microsoft Office toolset that students are accustomed to working with and more, including Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel® 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 with Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Access™ 2007, Microsoft Office Publisher 2007, Office OneNote 2007, Office Groove 2007 and Microsoft Office InfoPath® 2007.

It is available September 20, 2007 to April 30, 2008 from http://www.theultimatesteal.com/ You need e-mail address at college and active enrollment. See Microsoft press release at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/sep07/09-12UltimateStealPR.mspx

For many years the Holy Grail of clean energy has been the search for “Cold Fusion”. The next best thing has just made the mainstream scientific community: seawater. Yeah, all that H2O that has covered the planet for eons has finally been proved to be a potential source of energy.

An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the “most remarkable” water science discovery in a century.

John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.

The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.

Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations.

The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said.

The discovery is “the most remarkable in water science in 100 years,” Roy said.

“This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere,” Roy said. “Seeing it burn gives me the chills.”

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8RIRI600&show_article=1

If this sounds somewhat familiar, it should. Utilizing radio frequencies to produce energy is the plot of the movie Chain Reaction that was released in 1996. The movie starred Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz and Fred Ward.

In Chain Reaction, a group of college students help a professor produce Cold Fusion using water. A radio frequency is necessary in order to sustain the reaction. After this breakthrough is achieved, the lab is sabotaged and Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz get chased thru the rest of the film.

Granted it is still early to find a definite power plant design to make this technology commercially viable but see if this idea piques your interest.

The reaction sustains a temperature of 3,000 degrees. So I’m thinking it could be used for a high-pressure steam turbine. If the required radio frequency could be generated naturally, much like to old crystal radios, then you might not need as much battery power to get it started.

The reaction would start in the salt-water chamber. Liquid would be heated to a high temperature and pumped thru to a heat exchanger. On the other side of the heat exchanger water would pump in where it would be converted to steam. The steam would flow into a turbine. Once condensed, the water would be pumped back to the heat exchanger. (See basic design for submarine nuclear power plant for many specifications. This would be smaller scale with different heat source.)

Once it gets going, the turbine could generate electricity to make the whole system run. All you would add is water to top-off the steam system. This would allow for electric cars, self-sufficient energy for homes and it would beat the socks off current solar technology.

Finally we could tell those folks in the Mid-East, “Bye-bye. Enjoy what’s left of the seventh century.”

Last week I finally bought a few songs from iTunes.

I was going on a long drive with my two-year-old son and wanted some children’s music that he would like and I could handle for prolonged periods of time. I downloaded about ten songs from The Wiggles plus a few he hears at bedtime every night.

Setting up the account was simple and downloading went smoothly. However using the burner from Apple was a challenge. It turns out that the files that I downloaded were encrypted and can only be played on the iTunes software. Therefore I have to use the built-in burner in the iTunes software. As I have learned from previous brushes with Apple, things not as easy as they seem. Every time I tried to burn a disk using their burner, I got an error and the burning process would close.

The error was as follows:

The last failed audio CD burn had error code 4000(0x00000fa0).

If you read the error message generated by the software you will see the following note:

If you have multiple drives on the same IDE or SCSI bus, these drives may interfere with each other.
Some computers need an update to the ATA or IDE bus driver, or Intel chipset. If iTunes has problems recognizing CDs or hanging or crashing while importing or burning CDs, check the support site for the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard.

Yeah, that’s right! I had to start disconnecting hardware in my computer to get their software to function. Apple writes bad code for a PC and it’s the PC’s fault. How dare we want to use multiple devices in our machines? Bad code and Apple have a rich history. Can anyone say “Safari”? Anyway I did disconnect one of my CDs and only had my burner connected and the disk wrote successfully. Nero, Roxio and several other burning software programs on my computer have never had any difficult knowing which CD was read only and which was the burner.

This problem plus the QuickTime bug I previously wrote about leave me with less than a favorable impression of Apple software.

Sony Electronics has its own music download site CONNECT™ Music Service. After several years of using a proprietary music format they are throwing in the proverbial towel and joining the rest of the technology world and adopting Windows Media and MP3 as their music standards. It appears that the Connect Service is going away but there is no indication if there is a replacement or they are getting out of the download business. Since Sony owns about half the music copyrights in the Western World, I would look to a partnership agreement with someone like Apple or Microsoft if they get out of running a download site.

Below is the core of the press release:

Today Sony announced its intent to move to a Windows Media Technology platform for Walkman® products in the United States, Canada and Europe. We strongly believe that the decision to embrace a more open platform for these devices will enable us to provide you with a better overall experience. As a result of this change, we will be phasing out the CONNECT™ Music Service based on Sony’s ATRAC audio format in North America and Europe. Specific timing will vary by region depending on market demand, but will not be before March 2008.

We are fully committed to helping you through this important transition away from the CONNECT Music Service and providing you with the best possible guidance on how to successfully transfer your music library to an MP3 or Windows Media-compatible format, should you wish to do so. We recommend that you use any outstanding promotional codes, account credits or gift certificates available in your music account prior to March 2008, but even after the store closes you will continue to be able to play, manage, and transfer the music in your SonicStage library and on your existing ATRAC devices. If you obtain a new device, all of Sony’s new Walkman music and video players will support MP3 or Windows Media Audio format.

Sony Rootkit in USB Drives
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/08/29/tech-sony.html

Sony Corp. is up to its old tricks again, hiding software that can be exploited by hackers in a line of portable USB drives, a Finnish security firm says.

The fingerprint reader software included with Sony’s MicroVault USM-F line installs a driver in a hidden folder that can be accessed by hackers on the user’s computer, according to F-Secure Corp.

F-Secure researchers did suggest that Sony had a good reason for hiding the files. The company was likely trying to protect the USB drive’s fingerprint authenticator information from being tampered with. However, the files are invisible to some anti-virus detection software.

“We feel that rootkit-like cloaking techniques are not the right way to go here,” Tolvanen wrote.

F-Secure said it notified Sony of the problem about a month ago, but did not receive a reply. On Tuesday, researchers with security firm McAfee Inc. confirmed F-Secure’s findings.