Chad’s News

Service pack 3 for Windows XP was supposed to be available yesterday (April 29th), but a last-minute bug prevented its release. Official release, that is—if you are not affected by the bug, you can download the service pack directly (warning: 300MB file). The bug involves an incompatibility between SP3 and the Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System, which I’m pretty sure is not an issue for the vast majority of Chad’s News readers. Additional download links, as well as more information about what’s included in SP3, are in the linked article.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

This man allegedly replaced the UPC sticker of a $517 television with that of a $3.16 bottle of water. The cashier noticed the discrepancy, and the man is awaiting trial.

Link: http://www.engadget.com/…

Windows XP and Vista support two file systems for writable optical discs: “Live File System” and “Mastered”. The Mastered format is compatible with pre-XP versions of Windows as well as ordinary CD/DVD players that can read and play MP3s. The latest version of Live File System, however, is only compatible with WinXP or later versions of Windows. This would not normally be a problem, except that Microsoft has made Live File System the default format under Vista. Depending on who is going to use the disc, it may be necessary to change the format to Mastered.

Thanks to Kim Komando for this topic.

Link: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/…

With the advent of Windows 95, Microsoft took the ability to edit environment variables and buried it in an obscure part of the system configuration, known only to the chosen few. To make matters worse, the dialog used to edit/display environment variables is too small and can’t be resized. The linked application, Redmond Path, makes it very easy to modify one particular environment variable: the system path.

Update: It appears they’re also developing a utility with which to manage the other environment variables. It will be available here when completed.

Link: http://redmondlab.googlepages.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

You’ve seen CAPTCHAs, even if you’re not familiar with the word. They’re those pictures with distorted words that you have to enter when registering or posting on some sites. It’s supposed to ensure that it’s a real, live human performing the input, instead of some sort of ‘bot. Well, the ‘bots are getting good at reading CAPTCHAs—so good that they can average one valid guess per minute on Windows Live Hotmail. This makes CAPTCHAs fairly useless, and I expect to see them get phased out for something better (whatever that may be). Chad’s News uses an arithmetic entry for anonymous comment submission, but even this has not stopped some spammers.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

HDTV color, brightness, and contrast levels are set by the manufacturer to look great in brightly-lit retail stores, and once you get it home, the picture quality isn’t nearly as good. Thus the need to calibrate your HDTV. You can do it yourself, or pay a professional.

Update: Getting a professional to make the changes may not be such a good idea.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

This Flash video is hilarious. The song is for real. It’s “Cows With Guns” by Dana Lyons. It can be purchased from iTunes or via the artist’s website.

Link: http://www.arcadekill.com/…

The extreme spin on the ball causes it to curve back on itself.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/…

The recent Transformers movie rated about a 5.5 (out of 10) on the Chad’s News movie review list, but this USB hub modeled after the All Spark Cube is just way too cool to pass up. Unfortunately it won’t be available until late August.

Link: http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/…
(via Engadget)

System administrators, as well as anyone who understands how email works, will appreciate the linked story where a network admin had to figure out why emails would bounce if the recipient was more than 500 miles away. And in this case, statisticians turned out to be quite useful. (Note that he has taken some literary license with the story, as described in the FAQ, but the basic facts are correct.)

Link: http://www.ibiblio.org/…
(via User Friendly)

Politicians have been fuming for years over the significant amount of sales tax lost to internet sales. Case law states that an internet business must have a physical presence in the state in order to be forced to collect sales tax for that state. In the case where the sales tax is not collected by the business, a use tax usually applies. But individual consumers rarely pay use taxes for internet purchases.

The state of New York believes it has found a loophole. Some online retailers, such as Amazon, have affiliate programs. If Chad’s News was an Amazon affiliate, for example, I would have special links on my site to Amazon products, and I’d receive a percentage of any sales made via someone clicking on those links. New York legislators contends that my (theoretical) status as an affiliate constitutes a physical presence, and (if I lived in New York) allows them to require Amazon to collect sales tax. It’s convoluted. Expect court challenges.

Link #1: http://www.internetnews.com/…
(via Slashdot)

Link #2: http://www.news.com/…

The linked article has a nice explanation of the various types of DDR memory.

Link: http://www.komando.com/…