For you MAME folks, I actually had a customer today ask my ISP to host this for them. I did not even knew it existed but it is pretty sweet. For those of you who are thining of making a MAME cabinet for your games this is a must have connection to go head to head on say SF2 over the internet with another MAME player. Cool indeed:

http://www.kaillera.com/

=========================
Last week when I was searching out some of the cellphone stuff I ran across this site for you cellphone phreaks (you know who you are). Use this site to get the proper phone next go around to get "MAXIMUM OPTIONS":

http://www.cellphonehacks.com/

=========================
DVD copying. In case you have not heard there is an injunction on 321 Studios the folks who make DVD-X copy the main DVD movie copying software out there. As of 2.26.04 they will not be selling dvd copy software that includes a ripper. Read the latest in their forums here:

http://forum.321studios.com/?f=7&m=30518

Just to save you some time:

Platinum program version 4.0.3.8 is with the ripper
Platinum program version 4.0.4.15 is without the ripper

I called their tech support and verified that 4.0.4.15 is the latest and ONLY ripper free version that is out. I also verified that if you wanted to go and buy it from a 3rd party reseller which is where you can get it still from that the box will say "RF" on it for the Ripper Free versions which will help you weed out the ones you dont want.

For those of you that realize that there are a bunch of versions they sell (dvd-x copy, gold, platinum, etc) here is a comparison:

http://www.dvdxcopy.com/back_compare.asp

Just to save you time Platinum is what you want.

I do want to point out some draw backs of dvd-x copy that alot of people bitch about including:

1) DVD-X puts a image on
2) If you make a backup with DVD-X you will NOT be able to make a backup of the backup copy using DVD-X. This is something that will most likely annoy folks. You CAN however use one of the methods below to backup a copy made by DVD-X however.

--------
Ripping?

Also incase you did not know most rippers not only bypass the DVD copy protection but also will remove all the region encoding allowing you to play the DVD\'s anywhere.
--------

If you are interested in getting more info on DVD burning here is a very good site that talks about alot of software and techniques people use:

http://www.afterdawn.com
http://dvd.da.ru
http://doom9.net

Just to save you some time what alot of people do on there is they use a separate ripper program and then burn with standard packages. Here are the best combos I have seen:

Option 1:
1) DVD Decryptor (http://www.dvddecrypter.com) [ripper] NOTE: I like this because in the screen shots for the software they show my fat burner in there the Plextor 708A.. BAM!
2) Nero 5 or Nero 6

Option 2:
1) DVD Shrink (http://www.dvdshrink.org)
2) Nero

Option 3:
1) DVD Decryptor
2) DVD Shrink
3) Nero or Pinnacle
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp?Product_ID=1394&Langue_ID=7

DVD Shrink also has the capability to allow you to shrink the DVD-9 image to a DVD-5 image so basically you have one DVD for the movie instead of two disks. You will lose quality however.

=========================

Keep your eye out on this product as well. As many of you know Clone CD is the defacto standard for DVR copies. Well the new Clone DVD 2.0 looks like it may take over that leadership in DVD copies soon as well. It looks like the new version out may be a one stop shop copy as well, they also put in the Clone Drive technology which lets you mount a DVD image as a drive letter on your PC without putting in the actually DVD disk.

Check it out:

http://www.clonedvd.net
=========================

Gaming - If you are a big Grand Theft Auto fan, you will be happy to know that Multi Theft Auto is available. This is a multiplayer mod that you can install and play Vice City and Grand Theft Auto 3 online. Pretty cool indeed.

Check it out here:

http://www.mtavc.com


----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
"We the Network Administrators are the Keyboard Cowboys, all the rest are just the cattle! --- MOOOO!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------