Longtime reader/commenter Joseph asked two questions yesterday: What’s the boundary between gray and black-hat hacking, and is it moral to pick and choose between moral and immoral laws? The first question is easier than the second. So I’ll tackle that one first.
All posts tagged DVD
The lines between white hat/gray hat/black hat hacking and moral laws
Posted by Dave Farquhar on January 26, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/01/the-lines-between-white-hatgray-hatblack-hat-hacking-and-moral-laws/
LED bulbs and breakability
A longtime friend posted something on Facebook about CFL bulbs–namely, that in addition to containing mercury, that they also emit ultraviolet light. I thought everyone knew that fluorescent lights emit more UV than other types of lights and that wasn’t news, but maybe not. I pointed out that LED bulbs don’t emit any UV light [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on September 22, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/09/led-bulbs-and-breakability/
Replacing bad capacitors in failed electronics
If you’ve had a piece of electronic gear fail in the last few years, there’s a good chance it’s due to one or more bad capacitors inside. The problem most infamously reared its ugly head on motherboards produced in the middle of the previous decade, but that’s just a place where it’s highly visible. If [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on May 20, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/05/replacing-bad-capacitors-in-failed-electronics/
Remember Plextor? Now they’re making SSDs.
Those of you who’ve been around as long as I have–which is probably most of you–will remember Plextor as the maker of the very best SCSI CD-ROM drives back when there was a market for SCSI CD-ROM drives. I had one, and I haven’t used it in years, but I relied on it, especially when [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on April 9, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/04/remember-plextor-now-theyre-making-ssds/
My household’s energy usage dropped 19% in 2011
I got a letter from my utility company Saturday morning. Inside was a chart, comparing our household’s energy usage from 2010 and 2011. It dropped 19 percent. Considering our total bill for 2011 was over $900, that’s hardly chump change.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on March 18, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/03/my-households-energy-usage-dropped-19-in-2011/
Digital distribution, not SOPA and PIPA, is the best long-term solution for the MPAA
Fightforthefuture.org declared victory yesterday, saying that SOPA and PIPA have been dropped. Their e-mail said some other important and interesting things, but most importantly, it made some references to China. Communist China. Totalitarian Communist China. The distinction is important.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on January 21, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/01/digital-distribution-not-sopa-and-pipa-is-the-best-long-term-solution-for-the-mpaa/
Advice for upgrading from a CRT to an LCD
Like a lot of people are doing these days, my brother- and sister-in-law replaced a CRT TV with an LCD. I helped my brother-in-law hook it up last weekend, and we got it working, but probably could have done things a little bit differently. A lot of inexpensive LCDs have a limited number of inputs [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 23, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/advice-for-upgrading-from-a-crt-to-an-lcd/
First impressions of a low-tier tablet, plus why I don’t shop at Best Buy
I received my Nook Color this week. I haven’t hacked it yet–I only just got an SDHC card for that, which is a story in itself–but to my pleasant surprise, I’m not certain everyone would need to. Yes, it’s marketed as an e-reader, but what I took out of the box is a viable entry-level [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 11, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/first-impressions-of-a-low-tier-tablet-plus-why-i-dont-shop-at-best-buy/
How to buy a sub-$100 Android tablet and not get burned
Last year, a flood of $99 tablets built with extremely low-end hardware running dated versions of Android appeared. This year, slightly better tablets running slightly less dated versions of Android are readily available, sometimes for as little as $60. And I have to admit, these devices got me thinking. I didn’t quite pull the trigger. [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on November 17, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/11/how-to-buy-a-sub-100-android-tablet-and-not-get-burned/