Keith Urban vs. Keith Urban

i just saw this on MSNBC.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17010525/

this is some of the article:

"NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Keith Urban, the country singer, has filed a lawsuit against Keith Urban, the painter from New Jersey, claiming the painter's Web site violates federal trademark laws.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, says Keith D. Urban of Wayne, N.J., is using his keithurban.com domain in a deceptive manner and for commercial purposes.

The Web site includes the statement: '"You have reached the site of Keith Urban. To those who don't know, oil painting is one of my hobbies." It then directs viewers to a gallery of paintings and offers a limited edition of prints for sale.

Urban (whose Web address is keithurban.net) argues that the New Jersey man is misleading people into believing the Web site belongs to him and is selling merchandise as if it were produced or endorsed by him."

KeithUrban.com, the Painter's site, was registered back in May of 1999. before the Singer's site, and most likely before anyone knew who the Singer was. in fact, i NEVER heard of the singer Keith Urban until i read the story that he was suing someone that had the same name as him.

there have been other situations like this, such as when the Nissan car company sued someone who had been running a site with their family name, Nissan.

Keith Urban vs. Keith Urban Read More »

new XdN Tweaker 0.8

i have just released XdN Tweaker 0.8.

it includes bug fixes and better Vista compatibility. under Vista, tweak options are limited, and it will only run with Admin privileges (for the time).

my XdN Tweaker page is HERE.

new XdN Tweaker 0.8 Read More »

retarded judge rules web links are illegal

from the story: "A court in Dallas, Texas has found a website operator liable for copyright infringement because his site linked to an 'audio webcast' without permission. Observers have criticised the judge for failing to understand the internet."

the story is here: http://www.out-law.com/page-7686

in short:
- Party A puts files up on their web site and makes them public
- Party B links to file
- Party A sues Party B for linking to files
- judge, who doesn't understand how things work, rules that *copyright infringement* took place.

i don't know if the judgment will stand. if it does, i dont know how it could ever be enforced with other sites.

retarded judge rules web links are illegal Read More »

yay laptop

yesterday i spent a few hours taking apart and working on a broken ThinkPad T23. i checked all connections, applied Arctic Silver to the CPU, replaced an inverter board under the screen, soldered an inductor to the motherboard, added additional padding under the motherboard, and then super-glued a busted part of the case. all that allowed the system to boot up and work fine after having been off (and unable to even power on) for almost a full year. i'm actually quite proud of myself for getting my T23 working again.

my T23 has these specs:
Pentium III 1.13 GHz
512 Megs RAM
8x DVD rom
30 Gig HD
built in WiFi

so, its a pretty nice system. i was heart broken when it stopped working last year after i had put so much time and money into fixing it up.

i have a stack of ThinkPads (about 6), and have spent a LOT of time looking at hardware maintenance manuals and researching them online.

NONE of the systems worked when i got them. i purchased about $400 in parts off eBay to get them all working. things like memory chips, optical drives, floppy drives, LCD screens, batteries, AC adapters, keyboards, palm rest/bezels, etc.

most came from a company that had tossed them. many were out dated (three are Pentium 1 systems), and one was very damaged. the T23 had been dropped, so its bezel/case was cracked and the screen would flicker. the keyboard had some chemical damage, and many keys were melted and unreadable.

when i got the T23, i purchased ram, DVD drive, new keyboard, and a new bezel for it. i also re-soldered the inverter board on it to fix the flicker. after all that, the system worked *great* ... until one day it died.

it would power on, but then it would just sit, and never post. the fan on it would kinda pulse, fast then slow, over and over.

i did some Google searches, and found it was an issue with other T23 systems, and i read that it could be fixed by soldering a loose part back on the motherboard. after taking apart the system, i couldn't locate the broken part. so the laptop just sat.

recently, after coming across another ThinkPad that i have been fixing up, i found a web site called thinkpads.com. on the forum on that site, i found more info regarding non booting T23s, including better pictures of the problem part - and i also read that the problem piece was on the *bottom* of the motherboard (where i did not look). so when i took apart my T23 last night, i removed the motherboard completely, checked under it, and actually found the exact broken part shown in the pictures.

the thread that helped me is here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=27245

yay laptop Read More »

yes, i got a Nintendo Wii.

a few days ago (after Christmas but before New Years), i got a Nintendo Wii.

back in November, i stayed out all night trying to get one, and all i got was Zelda.

in December, i found a Wii-mote at the store. i then found an online retailer that i could purchase a Nunchuck addon and the "Classic" controller. this was at a time when most of that was pretty hard to get.

then in late December, using the site www.itrackr.com, i was able to locate a local Target that had the Wii in stock.

so i have a Wii, two controllers, and Zelda. the new Zelda is great, and the Virtual Console is a blast as well. i've downloaded Sonic the Hedgehog, Bonk's Adventure, Bomberman '93, Gunstar Heroes, and Castlevania IV.

yes, i got a Nintendo Wii. Read More »