Yald - Patrick Grote's Technology Notes -

Why do people still pirate movies

Patrick Grote — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:40:13 -0400

My thoughts on copy protection range from "it's not needed" to "waste of my time." I don't understand why electronic content providers feel the need to add copy protection to their products. There hasn't been a copy protection process developed that hasn't been cracked, hacked or broken.

I can remember back in the old Commodore 64 days there were to copy protection processes that stood out:

1) Bad sectors on disks. This one was a classic. Vendors would purposely damage the floppy disk that held their software. Their program would do a check to see if the disk was damaged before it let you run it. Guess what? Hackers either stripped out the check or told people where to nick their disks.

Why do people still pirate movies photo

Patrick Grote — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:40:00 -0400

eBay's clothes are missing

Patrick Grote — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:24:21 -0400

The tale of The Emperor's New Clothes is an apt way of describing the current eBay. They are now naked. The latest attempt to convince everyone in the marketplace they're wearing a spiffy new suit was covered by ReadWriteWeb in a post entitled, "Is eBay Artificially Inflating Listing Numbers? " by Josh Catone.

The article details what appears to at best, a programming error, and at worst, a fraudelent attempt by eBay to inflate their listing numbers. This is important since eBay really makes a big deal of using their listing numbers to show how well they are performing.

Naked ebay photo

Patrick Grote — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:24:09 -0400

Why taking a staycation could be perfect for the family

Patrick Grote — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:02:53 -0400

I love posts like this. It gives me a chance to talk about a couple of things I love:

1) Saving money.

2) Vacation.

We've always made a big deal of taking family vacations. In the last ten years I think we've only missed one year. That week of time together, crossing the US, makes for great bonding.

With the increases in gas prices, though, the summer vacation is taking a back seat in quiet time. The new thing is called a Staycation. A staycation is a vacation where you stay home during your normal summer vacation time.

Why taking a staycation could be perfect for the family photo

Patrick Grote — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:02:38 -0400

Removing a team member to make a stronger team - Debbie Monterrey prospers

Patrick Grote — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:23:15 -0400

As I've mentioned earlier, I listen to the radio online throughout the day. For those times I am coming to or going from work , I'll listen in the car. One of the main stations I listen to is KMOX. They have a news focused morning show called Total Information AM. The hosts are pretty bland, except for this week.

This week Debbie Monterrey has been spectacular. Yes, there is the normal news focus, the weather and traffic every 10 minutes, but she was entertaining this week. She related stories from her life, made fun of her co-host and didn't act like hosting a news show was life or death.

Removing a team member to make a stronger team - Debbie Monterrey photo

Patrick Grote — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:23:03 -0400

Google News Hacked

Patrick Grote — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:16:55 -0400

Have American morals changed for the worse

Patrick Grote — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:06:05 -0400

Before you continue reading, stop, watch this video:

What did you think? Were you shocked that people weren't running to help? No one chased the hit and run driver? No one simply comforted the victim?