(Photo Courtesy of Wired)

When I was growing up, I watched many of my peers obtain music through Napster.  Napster seemed to be a great thing for the masses of high school kids who couldn’t afford to pay for their music (or they just want something for free).  However it did cut holes in the bottom line for the recording industry.  12 years later, finally it seems that alliances of companies now actually have the teeth to end or at least curb digital piracy.  How?  By working with your internet service provider (ISP).  You already are bound to the terms of service of your internet service provider which either already gives them or will give them should they modify there terms of use the power to monitor your activities.   Working with the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other trade groups, the major ISPs can actually take action against you.  It is said to have a “graduated response” that will first educate you about legalities before finally taking you to court.  The escalation process I have been told may look something like this:

Level One:  These kind of copyright infringement letters are just written warnings sent to you via email to let you know that you might have someone that is downloading copyrighted material using your IP. They are just generic letters sent by an automation email sender by your ISP.

Level Two: These copyright infringement letters are very similar to the Level One letters except that they usually contain warnings to get you to cease further infringement, and warn you that your ISP may shut off your internet service if you continue to violate copyright laws.

Level Three: These letters are never sent via email. If you get an email letter that is claiming to be level three from an ISP then I would consider it to be a level one or two letter. At this stage your ISP may shut off your internet service at some point. I would recommend that you contact your ISP claim that the files in question were deleted, and that it will never happen again.

Level Four: At this point the letter is threatening to cut off your internet service off due to a breach of the TOS (Terms of Service) agreement with your ISP, or is explaining that your service has already been suspended due to the same. In many cases the letters will be sent by an Anti-P2P organization requesting a settlement of some sort regarding the copyright violations.

Level Five: At this level the copyright infringement letter is sent via a mail service, peace officer, or court appointed official. Usually the letter is in the form of a subpoena to either invite you to court and/or let you know that the litigation process has started. At this point its time to hire a lawyer, and fight it out.

This could potentially stop people as hefty criminal charges could be brought to bear.  For those hell bent on continuing with torrents and other forms of digital piracy, they could always lease and use a seedbox located in a country which does not allow monitoring of traffic.  What boggles my mind is that in order to do something like this, they will actually pay money to maintain their illegal activities.  For most, their is nothing to hide or fear as they are on the proper side of the law.  But beware, evildoers, big brother is watching!

Your Turn:  Where do we draw the line on protecting businesses while privacy is lost?  What should be done to people who abuse the freedom of privacy?

I recently ran into an interesting problem.  Running an iOS game caused it to just crash back into the home screen.  What was the problem?  It turned out that I was running too many applications at once.  Beginning with iOS 4 with multitasking, apps don’t automatically close.  You can force an app to close according to Apple’s website by:

Follow these steps to force an app to close:

1. From the Home screen, click the Home button twice.
2. Tap and hold on the app.
3. When it starts to jiggle, tap the to close it.

Repeat this process until you have closed out of all other apps.  (You also have the choice of restarting your iDevice).  Now go ahead and try opening up that that troublesome app.  Chances are it will now be happy to run and not crash on you.  YAY!

After the research I did about 4G pricing, I bought an aftermarket Clear USB Modem today.  I had previously tried clear when signal strength was considered weak in my area a couple of years ago back when Micro Center was still selling it.  This time, the signal still appeared weak unless I sat underneath a skylight or was near a window.  When I tried to activate the device however, that’s when some trouble began.  The Clear self activation page refused to take the MAC address of my Clear device.  Using ipconfig –all, the Clear rep. knew what to do to get a MAC address…however he decided to use the MAC address not of my WiMax device, but that of my WiFi card!  He said that the MAC address validated.

tjchan:  Which mac should I try again?
Martin:  00-21-00-8C-FF-A3
tjchan:  But that’s my wifi card and not the clear device.
Martin:  That is how it is working out for me.
tjchan:  Because if I just type something random and stupid for a mac address it seems to take it.
Martin:  It shouldn’t
tjchan:  Try it… DEADBEEFCAFE
Martin:  Lol I will try
tjchan:  It says that is actually validated.
tjchan:  Which doesn’t make any sense.
Martin:  Wow, your right.

As funny as it sounds, Clear’s lack of webpage MAC validation isn’t really a big deal as there are many Clear devices out there and they simply care about the bottom-line….he who has the adapter and is willing to pay for service gets service.  So their check only makes sure that the MAC address is a possible one rather than an actual one of their own devices.  After signing up with sales, a quick call to a technician in the Philippines got me up and running within 10 minutes.  Both people I spoke with were kind and courteous.  I’m excited to give Clear a test drive.  Online Trading Academy here in Dallas uses Clear as a backup internet service so that alone speaks well for this service.  Only more testing will tell whether Clear is a good choice for me  – and whether or not I’ll be using it past my 15 day trial.

4G is cropping up everywhere.  Even NetZero started offering mobile broadband via 4G a couple of weeks ago.  Without going into service quality, how do the different providers fare in terms of bottom line pricing?  Get ready for a bird’s eye view on pricing with the most popular 4G providers.  We’ll be looking at both the cost of equipment (no contract) as well as service.  Read past the jump to find out everything you ever wanted to know about 4G pricing…

Read More …

[Note: This is a joint review between TJ and Doug. ]

TJ: When I was growing up. 3 Dimensional viewing (3D) was the biggest thing …. that got put to the wayside. Initially it was with blue and red cellophane on cardboard glasses where I could see pictures or read comics out of certain special edition Disney Adventures magazines. Then there was a cartoon television show which had 3D graphics but the 3D didn’t give a true feeling of 3D. Time passed and it seemed that 3D stuffs were only things to be found in major theme parks like Universal Studios or Disney World.

Doug: I am a little older than TJ. When I was younger, 3D was not coming of age, it was still a real novelty. Every once in a while, we would huddle around the TV or crowed into a movie theater for a very special 3D presentation. The first movie I remember seeing in 3D was Jaws 3, and the shark practically jumped off the screen at you. Like TJ, though, those early experiences involved the red and blue glasses that were terribly uncomfortable and not really easy to keep in place while watching.

TJ: Now a decade or so later, 3D is back – and with a vengeance! Not only have movies gone to REAL3D but 3D has made its way into home theaters. Naturally, just like original cinema that took off with the advent of consumer camcorders, it is now time for the 3D revolution of camcorders. DXG recently sent me a review unit of the DXG-5F9V HD, a 1080p 3D camcorder.

Doug: They separately sent me a review unit of the same camera as well…hence the joint review. I have to say, I was not sure what to expect from this one, though I have been a huge fan of DXG in the past, so my hopes were high. Nonetheless, my expectations fell well short of the actual product which absolutely amazed me. Using this camera and recording real 3D images makes me realize how amazing it must have been to attend the World’s Fair back in 1939, watching one of the first television broadcasts (featuring a speech by Franklin Delano Roosevelt). Back then, they called television the World of Tomorrow. Today, I think that moniker applies equally to 3D broadcasts.

What’s in the Box:

• Pouch-Style Case
• Battery and proprietary charger. (This is the exact same battery and charger type used for the DXG-A85V!)
• Arcsoft Total Media HDCam software for editing and blue ray conversion.
• HDMI cord to connect the camera to the TV or even a monitor!
• RCA cable to connect the camera to the TV
• Manuals and quick start guides.

TJ: What’s not included in the box that you better get:

• SD Memory cards – I got myself a nice 16GB SDHC one.
• Additional batteries if you are going to be shooting for a while.

Lock and Load:

TJ: The camera itself does have 128MB of memory…not much but enough to get a little bit of footage for emergencies. First let’s look at the battery and the charger.

The battery was not charged out of the box. I charged the battery overnight until I saw a nice green light. The charger supplied is the same charger as the one for the DXG-A85V but the lights were not as clear with the orange/red light overpowering the green. Initially after the overnight charge I thought the battery still wasn’t charged as the light still shown orange/red. That made me think the battery was dead on arrival. This was not the case after comparing the charger and battery from the other unit and testing them against each other.

Doug: I think maybe TJ overthought this battery charging thing. I just stuck the battery in the charger and then into the camera. A few hours on the charger and it was good to go. Still, more interesting things await…so keep reading.

This is the side of the camera. There is a switch to open the battery hatch.

After inserting the battery and closing the door, now it’s time to load up the SDHC memory card.

TJ: The memory card door is on the bottom of the camera. You’ll need to open the LCD flip panel before you can open the memory card door. You’ll notice that a tripod mount is present near the memory card door. Now that we’ve got the battery and a self supplied SDHC memory card loaded, let’s look at the parts of the camera.

TJ: The back of the camera has the record button on the right hand side. You’ll also find the USB and HDMI ports below the directional pad. Here is where you can also select different camera modes whether it be video, photo, or setup via the “Mode Dial”.

TJ: The lens will twist counter-clockwise to turn the unit on (the LCD flip screen must also be open before the unit will power on). Right below the lens is a high powered white light. I wish they would have made a lens cover for this as to protect the dual lenses.

Doug: Let’s take a minute to talk about that lens. As you can see, it is a bit unusual. It has two lenses side-by-side, which is what allows it to create those gorgeous 3D images. Essentially, the camera is recording two images at once, which are processed simultaneously to create a 3D image in which your eyes are actually viewing two images at once…without the need for special glasses. To call it absolutely amazing would be an incredible understatement.

TJ: This is the top where you will find the zoom switch as well as still photo capture shutter button.

TJ: Opening up the LCD flip-out, you’ll see addition buttons including the 3D mode toggle and a power button. This is useful for when you want to keep the unit opened up and ready to shoot but want to conserve battery. You’ll also be able to preview in 3D video that you are taking – NO GLASSES NEEDED.

Doug: Did we mention that the 3D images will display without the need for glasses or other equipment.

TJ: This was one of the most amazing parts – however that is not something I can capture through a photo. The LCD display is rotatable to aid in getting those harder shots.

Doug: It is most frustrating that we cannot show you the images. Sadly, the camera is a bit ahead of its time, and quite a bit ahead of the Internet’s ability to receive and display these images. So, alas you will have to take our word for how cool this really is.

Video:

TJ: Recording is a snap. Open the screen and twist the lens to turn the unit on. Make sure the Mode dial is set to the correct function and hit the record button. Voila!

Doug: Voila, indeed. Did I mention how amazed I am by this? The screen is essentially the same technology that allows the Nintendo 3Ds to display 3D images. The only problem I had here was that you really must be looking directly at the screen in order to see those incredible images. Look at a slight angle and the effect begins to blur as the dual-recorded images separate and appear as two images. This really illustrates the fact that this technology is really in its infancy. Like the viewers in the 1939 World’s Fair, we can only imagine the future of this technology.

Photos:

TJ: Just use the photo button on the top part of the camera to quickly and easily capture a still. The quality is quite decent.

Doug: In the picture taken by TJ, below, you can see how the camera records two images at once. When these images are overlayed, they will appear on the screen in 3D.

Playback:

TJ: Not having a newer 3D TV I cannot directly plug in to my TV using the supplied HDMI cables. I enjoyed watching the videos on the flip out LCD screen. Without the special LCD screen, I crossed my eyes to get the 3D effect.

Doug: Well, I would not quite say I had to cross my eyes, but it did really make me wish I had a 3D TV for easier playback and viewing. Still, as I have said, the effect of recording and viewing those 3D images was nothing short of amazing. Using this camera, I feel as though we are on the precipice of a brave new world…and I, for one, am excited to find out where this path will lead.

Conclusion:

TJ: WOW! This is one of the most amazing pieces of technology that I have ever picked up. I believe that 3D is the wave of the future and that we will see more and more 3D TVs in homes once the price comes down.

Doug: I think, based upon my comments throughout this article, it goes without saying that I completely agree! Well done, DXG…well done.