Accidentally picking on someone their own size?
The MPAA has filed another lawsuit against a downloader, but things might be a little more interesting this time around. Instead of picking on people they know can’t possibly mount a defense against their deep pockets, the MPAA has brought suit against Shawn Hogan – the former CEO of Digital Point Solutions and a multimillionaire.
Apparently Hogan was “baffled” when a lawyer representing Universal Pictures called him and accused him of downloading “Meet the Fockers” over BitTorrent. He told the lawyer that he owned a copy of the movie on DVD and had no reason to download it. When the lawyer offered a “settlement” of $2500 to make this all go away, Hogan declined.
Further remarks from Hogan indicate that he fully expects to pay at least $100,000 in legal fees but is willing to spend “into the millions” for this fight.
This looks like it is going to be a fun one to watch. Win or lose, the strategy is going to cost the MPAA more than they intended and they may well be engulfed in a tidal wave of negative sentiment from the ‘customers’ they are suing. Time will tell.
Geek Keyboard
So I’m surfing around the internet and I come across a gadget that has to be one of the biggest geek magnets I’ve seen in a while, at least for computer geeks. Like something out of a
James Bond movie, you set this matchbook size BlueTooth compatible device on the desk and hit the button. It uses a laser to extend a full size virtual keyboard onto the surface of the desk in front of it – and you can type on it – upto 400 characters per minute!!! It’ll connect directly to your PDA or other BlueTooth device as an input device. Too cool!!
Check it out here:
Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard
My Quest for a Notebook PC
Almost as soon as I posted the last blog article, I received a phone call from a friend that wanted to know more about the PC I just ordered. The discussion went down the path that I had researched prior to purchase and he said I should put it up for everyone to see. Uh, well – Ok.
I started out witnessing the awesome game play on an Alienware notebook computer. I was blown away by the power and performance in a portable package. The benchmarks defeated all but the most robust gaming desktop systems and I was sold. This was about 18 months ago.
As I started my research on purchasing one of these little beasties, I came across some interesting information in one of the geek forums I frequent. They were talking about how there are literally a handful of manufacturers in the world that actually make notebook computers; the rest of them are just re-branded.
I was skeptical (big surprise) but I pursued. I thought surely that names like Sony and Toshiba would be manufacturing their own equipment, right? Not necessarily, as I found out. Here is a sort of run down of manufacturers (ODM) and brand names (OEM):
- The primary ODM (Original Design Manufacturers) consist of Quanta, Compal, Clevo, Mitac, Asus, Aopen, Uniwill, and TwinHead.
- Toshiba notebooks are largely produced by Compal, Clevo, and Mitac although they do actually build very few themselves.
- HP (Compaq) is largely supplied by Mitac but also have contracts with TwinHead
- IBM buys from Quanta and Arima, but recent news states that IBM will be getting out of the notebook and PC market altogether.
- Dell buys most of their systems from Aopen (Acer), Compal and Quanta.
- Sony and Sharp have/had contracts with TwinHead.
- Sager, Hypersonic PC, Alienware, Hollywood PC and other high-end gaming companies use Clevo machines.
Some of these little jewels of information really made me laugh, such as some of the Dell PCs being re-branded Acers. What did all of this info mean to me? Well, I traced the computer I wanted from Alienware down to the Clevo ODM. From there, I found that Sager was the best brand name alternative for the same equipment and ultimately chose a company called discountlaptops.com as the vendor that got my business. Why, you ask? Read on.
I did a head-to-head comparison between the Sager 9750 and the Alienware Aurora m7700 from their individual web sites. I was shocked to find a price difference of more than $500!! I would encourage you to also do comparisons if you are in the market. The amazing part of all of this is that the machine is identical, with the only differences being in the painted panels of the finished product and the ‘bloatware’ that seems to come standard on several of the Alienware systems.
Ultimately, I located another forum that discussed another issue regarding my purchase – customer service. Apparently, buying direct from Sager doesn’t afford you the greatest customer service experience in the world. They rely heavily on their resellers for service issues and extended warranties. One of the resellers of choice for Sager is discountlaptops.com. To my surprise, when I configured the same system as before, my savings increased by another $120 – and the shipping was cheaper! The order process was a breeze I had a tracking number within a day of the initial order. So long as the machine comes to my door in tact, my experience with this company so far has been stellar.
The moral of the story is: You can save hundreds of dollars buying the identical equipment in brand name systems if you do your homework. There are resellers out there for nearly every brand name laptop on the market for much less.
Relative Links:
Alienware PC: www.alienware.com
Sager Notebooks: www.sagernotebook.com
Discount Laptops: www.discountlaptops.com
Still here. Really!
My good friend
Terry reminded me that I have been slacking on my blog for a while so I thought I had better post something and bring him up to date.
Truth be told, I have been blogging steadily but not here. I have another blog that is updated at least once each week regarding my training in
Chinese Kenpo. (
Follow this link if interested). I’m now an Orange belt working toward my Purple belt under a very traditional and highly meticulous instructor, to whom I refer to as
Sifu in the blog. My classmates and several others in the martial arts community frequent the site and I have had a lot of feedback, mostly from outside the comments area of the blog. Check it out.
My life is way too busy to recount everything that has happened since the last post. I’ll try to summarize things in a tidy fashion here in the next few paragraphs.
First and foremost – The Family Report. - My son turns 7 in three days and my wife and I will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary next month.
- We took Duncan to Disney in Florida over spring break this year; he loved the roller coasters but could do without Mickey Mouse. Next year: Cedar Point?
- Duncan will be soon testing for his Red belt in Taekwondo.
- We have established the Ravenwood Academy as our official home school entity for Duncan. He is now working through the 3rd grade curriculum and reading well into 4th grade level and above. Want to hear something funny? I’m the principle! Hehee…
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The Hobby Report
- I just ordered a new computer. It’s a real screamin’ meme of a machine! Technically it’s a notebook computer but only in the sense that it is ‘portable’. The sucker weighs in at 15 lbs. with an additional 6 lb. power supply. It’s a beauty though and I have been waiting a long time to get this. It has the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ processor under the hood with several other goodies to boot (pardon the pun). It should be here on Friday
- Still brewin’! I have a batch of mead that has been bottled since the last report and have started a batch of strawberry wine. The strawberry is clearing nicely now and is about ready to rack. I’ll keep you posted.
- I’ve been drawn into a web site project through an associate at work for a local metal band here in NC. This has been an experience, to say the least, but it has been a lot of fun. The site isn’t finished yet but it can be seen at www.sorrowvalley.com.
- Kenpo on the web! Since the beginning of my training, I have been keeping notes and tracking thoughts regarding my experience with Kenpo and other martial arts. I have produced a sub-section of the Media Dragon website that highlights this information as part of an ongoing project. Check it out here.
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Everything Else…
- My sister informed me last night that she is getting married next July. Duncan will be part of the ceremony as a ring bearer. This means I’ll be up in the area of Grand Rapids, MI around the week of the 4th of July, 2007. Congratulations, Sis!
- Nannies, Inc. has slowed down a bit in the last few months. Hopefully things will rebound again soon.
- I’ve “discovered” a form of conditioning known as ‘High Intensity Interval Training’ or HIIT for short. Using it has really been kicking my butt! I’m starting to see some result though and it’s way cool for Kenpo, particularly sparring.
- I’m still taking pictures whenever I can. I’ve logged almost 10,000 pictures on my digi-cam since I got it about a year ago.
- I will be dragged to Carolina Beach for a week in August for some forced family fun with the in-laws. Wish me luck.
I think that’s about it for now. It’s sort of slow at work today so I might post something more later. Bye for now!
