Microsoft May Build a Copyright Cop Into Every Zune

The New York Times (excerpt) ^ | May 7, 2008 | Saul Hansell

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

If you like to download the latest episodes of “Heroes” or other NBC shows from BitTorrent, maybe you shouldn’t buy a Microsoft Zune to watch them on.

A future update of the software for Microsoft’s portable media player may well include a feature that will block unauthorized copies of copyrighted videos from being played on it.

~ snip ~

[Spktyr]

In all fairness to the Apple guys, that’s “vintage” hardware. They probably saw the cable leading away from the card slot and assumed it was like the iMac G5s (which have the antenna concealed in the case). Try them on the Mac Pro and they’d have done better.

It’d be like me taking an E-type into a new Jaguar dealership. They’d not know all the quirks of the old beast.

[djf]

I’ve played around with Agere WiFi cards in laptops. These are not PCI type cards, they are cards like ram cards that fit into a slot under the covers underneath the unit.

There is a tiny connector port on top of the card for the antenna - no actual voltage runs through the antenna.

All you need do is connect just about any kind of wire to it. As long as it is 12-16 inches long, it should give you plenty of signal.

So find your antenna port, get a short piece of spare wire, strip the end and plug it in there. You’ll get a signal.

[HAL9000]

Too late now, the damage is done.

[American_Centurion]

Good luck getting to them. I know they aren’t updated, but what they’re working on, I don’t want them to be. The simulations they’re running will be changed in a few months. Maybe I’ll update them then, but right now, they’re chugging along without incident. Why mess with a working configuration?

I’m 100% confident that no one is going to get to them behind the firewall, I only turn on the wireless to FTP some data files once or twice a week. If you can get there, I’ll give you one of them when this job is over ; )

[HAL9000]

The PowerMac G5 should have included this WiFi antenna, regardless of whether a WiFi card was installed -

[Still Thinking]

Does it HAVE to look so dorky? I’m ever amazed at how proud Apple-phites are of the machines’ design. I had an exchange with a Freeper on another thread regarding the Mac I call the “Egg on a Stick”.

[Spktyr]

Yeah... but why would I *want* an XP machine? (says the man using a Mac Mini quite happily). :D

[Still Thinking]

I have to scrap my plans to go out and buy a Zune.

Oh, wait....

[Spktyr]

Still looks better than the dorky giant rubber ducky antenna they put on the back of Dell desktops.

It’s sleek - for an antenna.

[Spktyr]

Do you mean the iLamp? The original G4 iMac was quite clever, but it went away as soon as a better form factor could be had.

[Still Thinking]

Haven’t seen that one, but judging by my general knowledge of Dells, I believe it.

[Still Thinking]

Yeah, the one that looks like Luxo.

[Spktyr]

[shrug] What do you expect, with Steve’s *other* company being Pixar?

That said, it was a great exercise in good industrial design and packaging. Component size has come down since then, though.

[Spktyr]

There’s only so many ways you can package an external antenna. At least, package it and have it *work*. [shrug]

[Still Thinking]

That said, it was a great exercise in good industrial design and packaging. Component size has come down since then, though.

Great??? I can't imagine how, unless by 'exercise' you mean it makes you hurt and smell bad. I wouldn't have one of those in my office if it were free and dispensed gasoline.

[Still Thinking]

I’m just fine with my PC card that sticks out 1” or so, or antennas behind the screen, depending on the particular laptop.

[Spktyr]

Heh, no. For an all-in-one, it was a good design - memory and hard drive were on the bottom and easily accessible. It was quiet, had a very adjustable screen (duh) and didn’t melt down (Gateway and Monorail, I’m looking at you.) Add to that that they had decent video in them and they made neat workstations.

*At the time*, they were the best AIOs available. Things have, of course, changed since then.

Remember this heap? It was the competition at the time. http://www.referenceguide.com/reviews/gatewayprofile4.htm

[Richard Kimball]

Mine's five years old and humming along. The DVD burner died a couple of years ago, and I could have replaced it, but decided to just stick a firewire DVD burner and a couple of hard drives on it.

Taste's personal, but I like it. Performs very well, and I really like the ability to move the screen around.

[HAL9000]

Does it HAVE to look so dorky?

It attaches to the back of the computer, so it usually doesn't look like anything at all.

[Still Thinking]

Well, usually “design” refers to how the thing looks and feels (and yes the Gateway one is hideous). As an engineer, I tend to use “design” and “engineering” interchangeably, but I’ve sort of got myself trained to use them the way other people do, and it seems to me, the features you’re talking about fall more under engineering, which may very well have been excellent. Look and feel, however, give me a break. You can’t say it was good for the time, because it made me gag when that was all there was.