Demonoid Down Again by CRIA

Earlier in September the CRIA has sent a subpeona to Deimos to deny all Demonoid web traffic from Canadian Users. They were back up and most of us were able to get around this issue.

Well as of morning November 9th, Demonoid is again shutdown by the CRIA. Demonoid's website has been replaced with a new message on the all too familiar white times new roman webpage. This time, it has been shutdown for all users.

The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.

It looks like Canada is no longer the safe haven for P2P as we were always thought. I wonder how ISOHunt, who's hosting server is also in Canada, is not getting the same attention that Demonoid is getting.

Not sure if Demonoid will be back online anytime soon. Damn, and I was uploading some new content for a better ratio too...

Radiohead - In Rainbows - a Digital Release

Just got myself a copy of Radiohead's newest album. Despite the album being somewhat mediocre in comparison to previous albums "OK Computer" and "Amnesiac" , this album is revolutionary in a different way. The way it was released...

There are 2 versions of the album, one will be the box deluxe set that will be released in December for £40 (about $81). The other is a download version off their website that costs whatever, you want. This would be the first ever release of an anticipated album that completely skips any producing record companies, without a suggested sales price.

Intriguing how the times have changed with technology, artists now have a choice in releasing their music to the world directly, with payment options right up front. No more middlemen, which means, no more need for corporate big guns controlling the industry. Please support Radiohead by donating for downloading the album to their website www.inrainbows.com in support for their music and for that this method of music sales actually works!

WindowBlinds 6 = No more reasons to get Vista.

I'm pretty sure most people who want Vista are more into the look and feel of the operating system more than anything else. The look of AERO Glass, the wallpapers, Sidebar and all the translucent effects are a sure winner especially when demoing at a nearest computer store.


About a couple months ago, there were Vista theme packs like Vista Transformation Pack as well as the previous version of WindowBlinds that changed the look of Windows XP to about 85-90% of how Vista actually looks. The biggest hurdle was actually duplicating the blurring affect that most people actually don't see, it's actually a very subtle effect, but dramtically makes the text more readable on a translucent background.

With WindowBlinds 6 releasing within 48 days from today, XP users can finally embrace true Vista-like visuals, added they use the Vista Transformation Pack 7 to convert all your icons and bootscreens and the Vista RTM Sidebar. What used to be a clever trick using a toolbar to replace the visuals in Windows XP to emulate the Explorer window, seems not to be needed anymore, infact the blurring/transparency effect with the address bar and icons look identical to Vista. What's also a bonus is that they have found a way to implement blurring without highend DX10 Graphic Cards on Vista. Even a lower graphics card that normally would be allowed only the Standard theme is now allowed to run an AERO Glass exact-Look-a-Like theme using WB6. Even on Vista, Stardock claims that using their theme system instead would increase performance and with lower memory usage compared to the actual engine that Vista uses.

I can't wait. Now that I have plans to change to XP again, this should put the nail in the door.

Russia: Sex Holiday

It has declared Sept. 12 the Day of Conception and for the third year running is giving couples time off from work to procreate.

Read Here

A holiday that sends couples home encouraging procreation.. err. SEX, with the aim of having a child 9 months later on Russia's National Day. If achieved, you win prizes such as cars, money, and other incentive merchandise.

At first it may seem like a sick joke. It really isn't, on further thoughts it's actually the most ridiculous thing a nation could do to combat a population crisis. It's true that their future is at stake since their birth rate and deathrate is so lopsided, however, I think the government fails to perceive that there can be bigger problems by creating such a Holiday.

Orphans & Adoption levels. It's a known issue in Russia where orphans numbers are climbing. I can only think this will add to that.
Prostitution for hire for this contest. Promotion of sex on a day that everyone is doing it can only lead to pervertedness for those who do not have a sexual partner. Who is to stop a lonely individual on the day of the holiday to hire a prostitute?
Sexually transmitted diseases. Enough said.

Flash Fun : Creating Pet Avatars

Working with my previous employer and they asked me to help with a big name Food Manufacturer in Canada(non-disclosure sorry!), they are creating a kid's site and here are some samples of flash Pets. Still working on the Monkey, Parrot and Snake. Monkey is the hardest right now because it's more humanoid and I need to create a bunch of layers to move limbs and body to create an action. Anyways, back to work!
Penguin	Dog	Monkey
More on these Avatars later!

Ok I've had it! Vista Sucks!

Ever since I upgraded my laptop to Windows Vista Ultimate it's been a total nightmare. There are a few cosmetic things I like about Vista, but at the end I think I'll go back to XP. I've been using Vista since April 07 and so far it's been a struggle having to put up with lots of problems with software incompatibility as well as a number of devices forced to retire due to lack of drivers.

The major issue is that it's painstakingly SLOW, everything I do takes longer than it should. My laptop is always sluggish even after a fresh reboot, boot up takes significantly longer and my laptop is constantly hotter than it was compared to XP. The constant nagging of files being deleted, BSOD, program error shutdowns (ie; Illustrator CS3) and harddrive spinning has really made me gone berserk. CPU processes always take up 15-20% even on idle which is completely absurd, if I were to run any program it easily hits 100%, making my laptop hotter than it already is, ontop of that, ACPI control is lacking and I can't make any modifications to the cooling fan speeds to compensate for the extra heat Vista is giving off.

I think I will venture back to XP where my system was stable for over a year(that's the longest for any Microsoft product I've had), and if I feel nostalgic about the look & feel I'll reinstall Vista Transformation Pack 6 with WindowBlinds & Kaye Irene's WhiteFlame Theme as well as the RTM Sidebar Latest Vaio pack. Hey it's close enough!

Forced Air Laptop Cooler

A very neat DIY hack that effectively cools and allows overclocking for his Dell Inspiron E1705 with a Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 video card. With this mod, he was able to attain GPU speeds of 370mhz; 120mhz over it's default clock speed. Quite impressive for a laptop. The only thing I have gripes with is the PCV tubing that makes it look like a bathroom amenity rather than a laptop. Check it out here! Read
Using aluminum sheeting to build a streamlined platform ducts rather than using 4 inch diameter plastic tubes, perhaps would look better. Now that's an idea!

Dex starts Blogging.

Decided to start a blog of my daily life, progress, technology and whatever else I find interesting around the web and the world. Pretty much anything artistic, technology, food, fashion and whatnot; whatever tingles my noodles.

Number of interesting things I found this day was about Live Earth. Watched a few hours of it yesterday and caught onto a number of different issues:
1) There was actually a pathetic performance over in Hong Kong with absolutely no news or media coverage over here in North America. What a lack-lustre attempt as they couldn't even muster one big artist or band to perform there, just the typical HK idols; like Solar, Eason and Joey. Compare it to Japan.. ugh.
2) PCD performance over at the UK was quite impressive. Which totally reminded me of their Idol Wannabe show; Searching for the next Doll Winner Asia Nitollano who was supposed to be now part of the group. Makes me wonder what the heck they are going to do with Season 2 that is being in the works... *shrugs*
3) The Smashing Pumpkins. Very much a great story with them re-uniting. I tried to listen to their new music last night and I don't know what it is, but it just annoyed me more than anything! Billy Corgan had a solo guitar performance that should like constipated humpback whales, the crowd was either paralyzed by the noise or was falling into enchanting sleep.