Power of Information 2007-06-24

Posted on June 24, 2007 by Michael Koby

This week on the Power of Information, Derek and I discuss Blockbuster choosing Blu-Ray, Google Powerpoint Viewer, and ways to watch TV online. We also talk about saving money using Firefox add-ons, some free games, and I discuss some typical photography mistakes. All this and more on this week’s Power of Information.poi-small.jpg

You can hear Power of Information Sundays on KCAA 1050AM in Loma Linda, California at 5pm Pacific Time. You can also download Power of Information in podcast form from our website at http://www.powerofinformation.net. The Power of Information is part of the America First Radio Network.

Special thanks to AngelsEye Inc. for donating the bandwidth to Power of Information. AngelsEye Inc. specializes in corporate branding and promotional marketing. Created to help companies of all sizes promote their own business and events. Visit AngelsEye Inc’s website today. Also, thanks to the band Pushmonkey for supplying music for our program. You can find out more about Pushmonkey and their music at http://www.myspace.com/Pushmonkey.

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Running Compiz Fusion

Posted on June 23, 2007 by Michael Koby

I made the switch from Beryl to Compiz-Fusion just now.  Overall I like the fact that I have some of my favorite Beryl plugins in Compiz and that there is finally a Compiz Settings Manager so that I can easily set up the plugins to my liking.

Though I find it lacking at the moment.  There seem to be some minor issues with some things.  Like for example, if I set the “Rotate Cube on Mouse Button2” setting, it will go into “rotate mode” any time I press the middle mouse button.  Even if I’m trying to just open a web link in a new tab.  Really annoying.  Also I do not like the new “Rotate Cube” plugin,  it seems slower than Beryl and I get massive frame rate drops (30fps from 75) where in Beryl I got none.  Seems to me that while improvements have been made, some things have been made worse.

I understand that this is still fairly “alpha” as far as release goes, but Beryl was fairly solid and I had very few issues with it.  Hopefully they can get the kinks worked out by the time Ubuntu Gusty Gibbons comes out

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EMI Reports DRM-Free Sales are Doing Well

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Michael Koby

According to an article over at Ars Technica, EMI is reporting that the initial sales of DRM-Free tracks on iTunes have been good.  This is great news for DRM-Free music.

If the sales continue to do well, more labels might follow suit and that would be fantastic.  I know personally there have been a few albums I was willing to purchase off of iTunes but they were not from EMI so the were not DRM-Free.  This made me consider getting a new eMusic account so that I could get the albums DRM-Free.   I am pretty sure I am not the only one making a decision like this.  Having DRM-Free music is important to me, especially more so since I am using Linux as my primary operating system.

Congrats to EMI for taking such a leap, I am glad it is working out.  Having the customer’s best interest in mind is always going to be rewarded with good sales.

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Songs & Such: Welcome to Struggleville by Vigilantes of Love

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Michael Koby

In our continuing look at the songs of Bill Mallonee, we are going to spend a little time this week looking at the song “Welcome to Struggleville” from the “Welcome to Struggleville” album. The song, inspired by Edward Knippers’ paiting “The Prize” is a vivid description of a place that really only exists inside someone’s mind.

The town of Struggleville is that place we all goto when we are really down and out. Sometimes, we do not really belong there, we just feel like we do. Struggleville can also be a term used to describe depression in some ways. I am by no means saying that this is a “technical” term just something from my personal observations. The thing that makes the song work really well is that it really works the imagery side of songwriting, where the songwriter takes great care to bring the listener to the place they are talking about. With lines like “They are building a new gallows, for when you show up on the street” that give you the image of a wood worker actually building gallows. Some lines of internal speculation do creep in as they usually do in Bill Mallonee’s songs, for example “I’ve been trying to negotiate peace, with my own existence” is a great line.

Remember, Bill Mallonee has an online Mp3 Store where you can purchase “Welcome to Struggleville” as an album or just the song. The store contains all the albums from Bill Mallonee as well as those by Vigilantes of Love. All the songs purchased from the store are in 320kbps (extremely high quality) and free of any DRM so they will play on any computer or device that supports the Mp3 format.

Lyrics after the jump… Continue reading →

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Customizing Your Gnome Desktop: Buttons & Windows Borders

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Michael Koby

Last week we went over finding and applying wallpaper on your Gnome desktop. While that was not overly challenging (in fact it is not much different then doing the same thing in Windows), it is something that a lot of people do not know how to do. While you can change your wallpaper in Windows just like you can on most Linux desktops, with Windows, that is pretty much where the customization ends. Sure, you can change the colors of some elements, but buttons, windows borders, even your task bar, it all stays pretty much the same.

Not in Linux, and more specifically not in Gnome (our focus). On a Linux desktop, you will find that you can completely customize the appearance of your desktop to your liking and while some of the cooler looking effects take some practice and a lot of reading (stuff we will not be going over here), you can make your Linux desktop resemble Windows or OSX, while at the same time you can make it completely original.

This week we are going to look at customizing the buttons and window boarders on your Gnome desktop. Keep in mind that you can create your own buttons and window borders if you can not find any that you like. You will need to search for some of the great articles out there on that topic as it is too large to cover here. Nope, instead we are going to work on applying buttons and borders that we find at Gnome-Look or Gnome Art, two sites we used in our discussion on changing your wallpaper (desktop background). Continue reading →

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Justices, 5-4, Accept No Excuses From Inmate for Mistaken Late Filing of an

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Michael Koby

From Digg: “The court used the case to announce it was overruling the two precedents the Supreme Court had used when it established the “unique circumstances” doctrine in the 1960s.”

There seems to be a lot of debate over whether the criminal in question is actually having his rights revoked. His appeal was denied because it was filed late. It was filed late because the convicting judge told him he had 18 days to file rather than the legal 14 days. In my opinion, the guy’s lawyer should have known better and filed the appeal on time. Secondly, the guy can file another appeal within a legally allowed timeframe. Much to my dislike, the United States justice system allows for what seems like unlimited appeals for convicted criminals.

I really dislike that people are standing up for this guy, his rights have not been stepped on. He did not file his appeal on time. Period. That should be the end of the discussion. If I went to court and told them that I did not know about a law that I had been given a citation for breaking, I would be told “ignorance of the law is not justification for breaking the law” and I would be dealt a punishment. There would be no argument over this issue. But because a man had his appeal denied, everyone is going “oh, poor guy, his rights are being trampled on”.

Seriously, is that what this country is coming to?

read more | digg story

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