WhistlinDixie

Theming Windows

After spending a couple of years trying to find a good WindowBlinds skin for my computer, I have finally discovered a good skin that uses the built-in Windows theme engine. The skin, GUI.Observer, has four different color themes and corresponding backgrounds. Even though the preview shows the task bar at the top of the screen, it still works just fine wherever you place the task bar. To install the theme, unzip the downloaded file to C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes. This should give you a directory called GUIRelax with a file called GUIRelax.msstyles inside of it.

There is a catch to using this theme. Since it is unsigned, you must install a modified version of the Windows theme engine that accepts unsigned themes. You can get a patcher program that works on Windows XP (original, SP1, and SP2) that does the work for you. The patching process will force you to reboot. Also, don’t be alarmed when you get dumped to the Windows Classic theme upon running the patcher. Your normal theme will be used again once you reboot.

Another cool thing that I ran across was a program called Yz Shadow. It places drop shadows on all of your windows and menus and also makes all menus, including the Start Menu, partially transparent. To install it, simply unzip the contents of the file to somewhere on our hard drive (ex, C:\Program Files\YzShadow). Then, run the YzShadow.exe file and select your language. To make it start every time that Windows boots, create a shortcut to YzShadow.exe and place it in the Startup folder in your Start Menu.

Blizzard Finally Pulls Through

It’s about time! Yesterday (19 May), Blizzard officially announced that there will be a StarCraft II. The original was released in 1998, so it looks like it will end up being a full decade in between releases. (I’m not counting the Brood War expansion pack in that number.) So far, Blizzard has only announced new units and buildings for the Protoss race, but additions and tweaks for the Terran and Zerg races will be revealed in the future. According to 1up.com, StarCraft II will be released on November 20 of this year. This seems rather quick given Blizzard’s position that they are only at the early alpha stages of development and the fact that they release some of the most polished games in the industry. I must say that the games seems pretty far along, given the gameplay videos that are available, to be called an early alpha. I would find it quite disheartening to have been working on a game since 2003 and, four years later, only be reaching the early alpha stages.

All I can say is that I can’t wait for the sequel to the greatest computer game of all time.

The Links That Power The Web

Well, my links help anyway. Pop over to the Links page to see what I like. This list might expand over time. Also, I finally put together an about me page. It sucks, but, then again, that’s why I don’t write autobiographies for a living.

The gallery is slowly becoming a long-term project. I might start hacking away at it next weekend, but don’t expect something substantial for a while. I just got a little carried away with the schedule before.

A Rose By Any Other Name…

Last Tuesday, Bob Zitter, the CTO of HBO said in an address at a cable broadcaster’s conference in Las Vegas that the only problem with DRM is its name. He believes that by simply changing the name to something more positive, like Digital Consumer Enablement, will convey to consumers that DRM is a good thing because it will let you do things with content that you could never do before.

The thing that he failed to mention is that DRM is all about restrictions, not enablement. (In fact, the Free Software Foundation even officially defines DRM as Digital Restrictions Management.) Content producers can use DRM to prevent you from doing things that you could normally do, like making a backup copy of a DVD or listening to your music on any computer you like. It is DRM that takes away our fair-use rights to make backup copies of material that we have purchased and that keeps your music library (that you purchased in part through iTunes or some other online service) locked on your computer and prevents you from moving it to another computer without first "de-authorizing" it on your computer so that you can move your license over. Do you see this technology enabling you to do anything?

Zitter mentioned things that this new DCE could enable you to do, like burning television shows to DVD or distributing content in high definition. What he fails to mention is that, in a world without DRM, almost every example that he mentions would be possible to do without breaking any laws, such as the DMCA.

The real kicker is that this DCE that HBO wants to implement would force you to use a digital interconnect between your set top box and your TV, which, at this point in time, leaves HDMI as your only option. Many people still use analog connections, like component, which are also perfectly capable of transmitting high definition video. Currently, HDMI cables carry a price premium over component cables. (On a recent trip to Circuit City to get a new DVD player for my grandma, I noticed that the cheapest HDMI cable that they had in stock was a 3ft cable for $89.99!) In addition, not only does your HDTV need an HDMI connection, but it and your set top box will also need to support HDCP over the HDMI connection, which TVs older than about two years do not support.

In the end, whether you choose to call the technology DRM or DCE, it is still doing the same thing: preventing honest, paying consumers from using content that they have purchased in a way that they want. It still doesn’t stop pirates from making illegal copies because there has yet to be devised a way to distribute encrypted content without having to give the end-users a way to decrypt it. Maybe one of these days the music and movie industries will finally realize how futile their efforts are and how much angst they are causing their customers and stop placing ineffective and flawed copy protection on everything.

Choking

I always figured that Flint was rather polluted, given its large automotive industry that until recently had been a major part of the city. After running across the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air for 2007, I can see that my beliefs are now vindicated. Flint, and, by extension, Detroit, show up in four of the nine top 25 most polluted lists. (BTW, Wayne County is the home of Detroit.)