Alright, I am on this site that has some files they sell for a small fortune apiece
And they have an entirely flash based interface… and let you preview the files before you buy them
You have to have a valid login to download the files… but that login just flips a switch in the flash file from ‘this person can not see the links to the high quality download’ to ‘this person can see the links to the high quality download’

And that is the only protection they have on their high quality files.

Think of it this way: I want you to buy a movie of mine. I have the super high quality version I’m selling and I have a preview version. I store the super high quality version as nickcatalano.com/highquality/file1.avi , and I store the preview file as nickcatalano.com/lowquality/file1.avi … The public gets to see /lowquality/file1.avi … So all I have to do is change /lowquality/ to /highquality/ and I can get the high quality video.. and that applys to file2.avi, file3.avi, and file500.avi… there are copies in both /lowquality/ and /highquality/

And there is no password protection on /highquality/ itself

Kinda stupid, isn’t it?

I won’t name the site, what they do or any more information about how to take the files… I’m sure a lot of work went into the high quality files and they deserve to be paid for their work. And there is no real way to prevent people from getting copies of the low quality files no matter what they do… But I reported it to them and hopefully they fix the problem before someone with more malicious intent does something

I was in Best Buy yesterday to compare 2 TVs that I was looking at… Both are 42″, 1080p, made by Panasonic and are plasmas… but each has slightly different cosmetic/input details (one has a hidden speaker and a VGA input and the other doesn’t.) Since you cannot send 1920×1080 signals over VGA to these TVs and you can send a digital signal through a DVI-D to HDMI cable, there is little useful function of the VGA input. On the tags it says there is a contrast difference, but this difference is only available if you setup a feature that changes the settings of the TV based on the light in your room, a feature that a lot of people turn off.

I could have lived with just the associates pointing me to the TV models I wanted to see, but they decided to stick around me and try to convince me that the more expensive one was ‘better.’ I started listing off the differences and it was like deers in a headlight… He decided to shake my hand as he ran off, insisting that he was NOT working on commission but obviously pushing for me to buy something. Pushing REALLY hard.

I went to the one that is a bit more expensive and watched a white-sox game on it. Very nice, although I couldn’t notice the difference between 720p and 1080p plasmas at 42 inches. Another associate came by and started pressuring me that I could save $200 by signing up for DirecTV… He showed me this 8.5 x 11″ paper, pushing it in my face. I told him ‘no, i’m ok, I don’t need that but thanks.’ And he kept going down the list… ‘No, i’m ok’… and he kept going

I just wanted to compare the two TVs damnit!

So I checked my cell phone for the time, noted that I had a few minutes, and decided to start a game I like to call: ‘you are an idiot, and that is why you work at best buy’

I started asking him questions that I knew the answer to, and when he told me something that was wrong I asked “but isn’t it true that…” and he had to back up and agree with me. This went on for a few minutes and I could tell he was getting VERY uncomfortable having a customer correct him about stuff he was supposeto know about, but I kept asking questions so obviously he couldn’t just leave me… He decided to bring out the extended warranty… and started by saying ‘we will fix ANYTHING that is wrong with it’ and made the mistake of saying ‘even dead pixels.’ Ding! “So you are saying if there is even ONE dead pixel you will fix it”, “yes”, “Seriously? ONE dead pixel”, “yes, ANYTHING”, “ONE dead pixel? You are willing to sell me a warranty that fixes ONE dead pixel”, (annoyed) “of course”

At this point I was getting a bit loud as his supervisor walked by… see, they don’t do one dead pixel, it has to be 2 or more… (which is still pretty good, but not worth $300) and his supervisor stopped and got annoyed that his employee was giving false information… So now not only did I have this dude who kept pressuring me being corrected by me about products he is supposeto know everything about, I had his SUPERVISOR telling him he was wrong and was about to sell something that Best Buy wouldn’t cover… HAH!

This went on for a bit longer until I got tired and let him go… before shaking my hand again.

If I worked there I would get fired so quick, not for being an ass but for refusing to upsell all of the crap they want people to buy.

Oh, and evidently they will install your XBox 360 games for you too (click img to view orig story this is from)…

I want my funeral to be available On-Demand:
John Felice Funeral Video On Demand

disturbing.

I am back in Chicago and watching TV and I see a Comcast commercial saying they have twice (or more) HD shows at any one time. Then there is a see-saw that has a box of Comcast channels on the left then a box of DirecTV channels on the right. The commercial shows the Comcast side down no matter how much weight they add to the DirecTV side.

Only thing is, that is total BS. Over the past few months DirecTV started broadcasting from a new satellite… and over a month or two they added 100 HD Channels. Literally, 100. Comcast doesn’t have 100 channels. Comcast has like 10 (not including locals)

I mean, sure, if you have the default box and dish for DirecTV Comcast has a ton more channels, but if you get the new box and dish you will have more channels. Oh, and probably pay the same/less for them all.

Bah, I want RCN. 20Mbit internet

I love Christmas Eve. My aunt has everyone over to her house for Thanksgiving so we have everyone over to our house for Christmas Eve. We do family< ->family gifts and this year we decided on giving iTunes. Just we didn’t know everyone else was getting them.

I currently have $40 in my iTunes Account from a $15 card from my sister and a $25 card from my Aunt and Uncle.

My aunt and uncle also gave out 3 additional $25 cards.

I gave a $50 card to my Mother/Father/Brother/Sister and a $15 card to my sister.

So, roughly $180 in iTunes Credit is now spread throughout my family.

I gave a $25 card to my aunt and uncle.

So now we are at $205

I’m sure I am missing a few cards that are being thrown around somewhere.