Obsolete Laboratory

New MRTG Graphs

The MRTG graphs have been improved. Check them out.

VOIP Company Launching Webcam Alternative

VOIP (internet telephone service) has already killed off inferior �voice chat� instant messaging. Will VOIP-based technology now do the same to old-fashioned webcam sessions? Packet 8 VOIP is launching a free software or "softphone" version of its videophone, which retails for around $150. Thanks to its encoding technology, videophone offers far better video and sound quality than IM webcam sessions, though it only requires an ordinary webcam and microphone. Users have said that the experience is more like paying a visit. The softphone will also give the user the option, for a small fee, to use Packet8's regular voice-only VOIP service to make or receive calls.

you are so sexy

you are strong & smart & helpful & all computery - you are SO SEXY! I love you so much.

-Your Tristesse

GAlert 2.5.2.6 - A Better Google Notifier

GAlert (GMail/Google News Notifier) is an easy to use and high performance skinable Google notifier supports Google News, multiple GMail accounts, label filters and automatic login. It brings clean, easy and elegant look to the way people check their new message.

Main Features:
* Support Google News instant notification
* Support multiple GMail accounts and GMail Label filters
* Support easy automatic login through context menu and system wide Hot Key
* Support using GMail to send mail from mailto: link
* Support skinable Desktop Alert Window and customizable virtual effect, bring clean and elegant look to your desktop
* Support playing different audio formats (*.wav, *.mp3) etc when new email arrives
* Protect GMail users' privacy by using HTTPs internet connections and Blowfish account passwords encryption
* High performance
* Easily navigate and browse received message using Mouse Scroll Wheel on Desktop Alert Window
* Support all windows browsers (IE, FireFox, Mozilla, Opera and many more)

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What's New in GAlert 2.5.2.6:
1. Add new exciting skin customizable features
2. Give users options to disable the flashing tray icon feature during network activities
3. Allow users to customize mailto: GMail accounts handling, a pop-up window allowing users to select which of GMail accounts to use for the particular mailto: address
4. Add new Lithuanian language support
5. Add Quick Options menu list to allow fast settings change.
6. New GAlert Skin Creator will help users to create their own skins. (How to create skin for GAlert)
7. Fixed bugs and improve performance
8. More skins in the Skin Session

Support Language:
* Chinese Simplified
* Chinese Traditional
* Danish
* Dutch (Netherlands)
* English
* French
* German
* Hebrew
* Japanese
* Korean
* Italian
* Lithuanian
* Polish
* Portuguese (Brazil)
* Romanian
* Russian
* Serbian (Latin)
* Slovak
* Spanish
* Swedish

System Requirements:
* Windows 98/Me/NT4/2000/XP/2003 operating systems
* With Internet connection

Real World Dispute about Virtual World Markets

Many World of Warcraft players today likes to buy WoW Gold, items, accounts and power leveling sessions, but Blizzard along with other players consider this an act of cheating. At one typical currency-exchange Web site, FavGames , the current rate for World of Warcraft gold is $24 for 200 WoW Gold - about enough to buy a fast speeder bike. Put in an order via PayPal, and a green-skinned delivery guy will, within minutes, pop up inside the game to hand over the money. One site, GameUSD.com, even tracks the latest value of computer-game currency against the U.S. dollar, an exchange-rate calculator for the virtual world.Why is Blizzard so against players selling their hard earned World of Warcraft Gold?Read more on our discussion of Blizards point of view relating to the secondary market.

Real life dollars buy virtual game money?

By: Steven Golden
Will people pay real dollars for in-game virtual money to help their virtual
characters buy in-game goods?
One gamer, who goes by the screen name Haylo, said he spent $10 to $20 real
dollars a month on in-game platinum(all nonexistent, of course) to buy weapons
and other goods in Dark Age of Camelot
(DAOC), but would spend more if he could afford it.
Most video games have some form of currency. In many ways, the in-game
economy is similar to a real world economy - goods and services are traded to
mutual advantage and are mediated in currency (platinum, gold, credit,etc.).
"With all the things you can buy in game," a gamer said, "it's hard not to want
them, just like real-life stuff."
The average Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game(MMORPG) player is
27-year-old -- a demographic drooled over by marketers. Plus, nearly half of all
players have jobs, which often means they have more money than time and are the
perfect consumers of virtual assets. On the Internet, many gamers now buy
virtual money that only exist as data files stored in a server run by a game
company with real-world dollars, and the buying and selling of virtual
currencies may be off most people's radar, but it is truly big business.
An online broker, who goes by the screen name Rolala, was not a fan of online
games until his 15-year-old son became interested in
Final Fantasy XI. He
then noticed that a large number of gils which are the currencies used in FFXI
were for sale on eBay.
"I started hearing about players leaving the game who were selling their
assets at cheap prices," he said, "so I figured, buy low, sell high."
But Rolala found his moneymaking options in FFXI "very limited". He switched
to World of Warcraft. There, he
has leveraged his real-life experience into an online business. He converts his
game profits into real money on sites like eBay
and GameFees,etc. Earnings can be
considerable. He said he was on track to earn about $120,000 in real money in
his first year in this business.
Rolala's business is just one example of how increasingly popular online
role-playing games have created a shadow economy in which the lines between the
real world and the virtual world are getting blurred.
"World of Warcraft", the
world's largest MMORPG, boasts more than 1 million paying users in North
America.There are many sites like "world
of warcraft gold guide" and "wow
gold free strategics", teaching gamers how to earn wow gold in game, however
many players are still willing to buy gold and weapons to help their virtual
characters get a higher virtual status more rapidly. Some virtual goods in World
of Warcraft have been sold for thousands of dollars. It obviously creates a
large real world market.�
Edward Castronova, an economics professor at Indiana University who has
written a book on the subject, calculated that if you took the real dollars
spent within "EverQuest "as an index, its
game world, called Norrath, would be the 77th richest nation on the planet,
while annual player earnings surpass those of citizens of Bulgaria, India or
China.
Go to GameUSD, an exchange-rate
calculator for the virtual worlds, and do a search for the latest rates of
virtual currencies against the U.S. dollar, and let your jaw drop open. The
rates of some virtual world currencies are even better than that of the Iraqi
Dinar! For instance, here is the recent exchange rate of several popular virtual
currencies: Everquest
Platinum ($0.54/1K), Everquest
2 gold ($0.17/gold), Star
Wars Galaxies Credit ($4.40/1M), World of
Warcraft Gold ($0.098/gold),
Lineage 2 adena
($2.80/1M), Guild Wars Gold
($0.12/1K), FFXI Gil
($17.89/1M), Daoc plat
($3.40/platinum), Eve Online ISK
($0.40/1M),etc.
Right now, this business is one of the most hotly debated issues on the
internet. Many game companies such as Blizzard
who run World of Warcraft discourage profit from in-game properties, though none
have found a way to stop it.
Sony Online Entertainment, on the
other hand, encourages the practice (albeit within the confines of their own
"Station Exchange", their own forum for the sale of in-game properties). It
recently announced the first month's figures from "Station Exchange". According
to SOE, over 45,000 characters from "EverQuest 2" have been active on the
exchange and have spent over $180,000 USD in one month, half of which have been
spent on in-game gold and platinum.
Despite of different attitudes towards virtual currency trade, the number of
people who are getting into such business is rising, and the size of market has
been expanding very rapidly.The market also creates a competitive environment.
We could refer to sites like GameShopList,
a price comparison site, to see the fierce price competition between different
exchange sites.
For some ordinary gamers, however, such a capitalist approach spoils the
experience. Nick Yee, a psychology researcher from Stanford University, believes
many players dislike virtual currency traders because, by using real wealth to
buy virtual power, "they're breaking the fantasy-reality bubble, getting an
advantage in a way that other players can't".
According to a recent survey by IGN, an
internet media focused on the videogame markets, most gamers say they dislike
and avoid this business, believing that it gives players with more discretionary
income an unfair advantage.
But such attitudes are called into question by size estimates for the virtual
asset trading market, which is seen having a value of $200 million to nearly
$900 million in 2005.
One potential explanation for the disconnection between attitudes and money
spent may be that gamers are unwilling to admit they use the services, IGN said.
In terms of the law's concern, another issue is, who owns the virtual money?
Many virtual world designers maintain that anything created in the world belong
to the company. They refuse to recognise the rights of their players in the
virtual property for fear of attracting liability for its maintenance or
security.
But will this work in the long term? Players spend considerable time and/or
money acquiring such assets. In many cases they are the creation of the player
and even the intellectual property ownership is questionable. "As we spend more
time in these worlds, it's not enough for companies to say that 'we own
everything and we can turn it off at any time,'" said a gamer. "The question may
soon be should we have recourse against a game company for obliterating virtual
assets?"
With the rapid growth of virtual currency exchange market, should people
accord virtual property the same protection as property in the real world?

Adware: How to Beat the Sneakiest Software

Promoters of adware, software that shows advertising on a user's computer, use some cunning tricks to get you to install their software on your machine. Here's what to look out for.

Adware is, by definition, something reasonable people don't want on their computers. That's why adware can't just come out and ask people to install it. Often, the computer owner is completely unaware of it being installed. But not always.

When adware doesn't want to sneak in through an open window, it will try to trick you into letting it in through the front door. Don't think you could be tricked? Don't be so sure until you've checked out these most common ways people have been tricked into allowing malware to be installed on their machines.

Adware Installation Trick 1: Piggybacking

How it works: malware may come bundled with a legitimate piece of software the user actually wants, such as a game or emoticon. The malware is merely labeled "companion software," without any indication of what it will do.

How to fight it: be very suspicious of any software that comes bundled with other software. Don't installed software that comes bundled with other software unless you know everything that the bundled software does. After all, if the bundled program has anything to do with the program you actually want, why couldn't the software developer just get both programs' functionalities into a single piece of software? Software developers are now very sensitive to malware concerns and will provide a lengthy explanation of just why the bundled software is necessary, in the cases when they actually do need to use bundled software.

Adware Installation Trick 2: Bait and Switch

How it works: since people are getting more and more suspicious of bundled software, the malware's developers may simply label it as valuable software, for instance, a browser plugin that supposedly accelerates web browsing (but in reality only shows ads).

How to fight it: again, a suspicious mind is useful in avoiding malware. Ask yourself some questions:

What will this software actually do? Malware often comes with very fuzzy claims attached. Sure, it says it will improve your browsing experience, but how? Often, this improved browsing experience just means a browsing experience with more advertising.

If the software is so great, why is it being given away free? Most commonly, software is only given out free in two cases: if it's OpenSource (designed by a community of developers and not proprietary�OpenSource software is always clearly labeled as such); or simply a come-on for a fuller-featured version of the software. If neither case is true, there's a real chance the software is financed by adware.

Adware Installation Trick 3: Outright Lying

How it works: malware may even be labeled as something else entirely, such as a well-known piece of software or a crucial component of the computer operating system.

How to fight it: this is the trickiest malware of all, and requires extreme caution. You don't want to start deleting any of your program files, much less your system registry entries, unless you're absolutely sure it's malware. Plenty of overzealous parasite hunters have shot their own machines to bits this way. This is one case where you want to be using an anti-spyware program, and preferably a second anti-spyware program to provide a second opinion.

Getting Rid of Adware

Adware is so tricky that trying to uninstall it by yourself could be like a trip into the Matrix. Luckily, there are good anti-spyware programs that tackle adware as well�after all many adware programs are also spyware since they monitor your internet usage.

True, it may feel like adding insult to injury to have to install more software to get rid of software you never meant to install in the first place. But sometimes you just have to fight fire with fire.

About the author: Joel Walsh has written a companion article on stealth tactics used in adware removal: http://www.spyware-refuge.com [Publish this article on your website! Requirement: live link for above URL/web address w/ link text/anchor text: "adware removal" OR leave this bracketed message intact. Permalink: http://upmarketcontent.com/beating-adware-the-sneakiest-software.htm | Trackback: http://upmarketcontent.com/beating-adware-the-sneakiest-software.htm/trackback/ | Submitted by: http://www.UpMarketContent.com]

What does it mean to be hacked?

So, I was just looking at the site, which I have been neglecting lately.

Lots of times people ask me to make changes to make their life easier... and sometimes I lack the judgment to stand up to the peer pressure. The other day (a term i use for a long time ago) someone asked me to open the system up for anonymous posting, and anonymous commenting.... So i did, and of course i have become popular enough to attract porn and spam related items.

Anonymous is now closed again.
Sorry folks.

New York Times Article:

March 3rd, 2005 - Recent activity on a Website called, "Obsolete Laboratory" warped the mind of a middle school student in Lincoln, Nebraska yesterday. Billy Boggle (13) was taken to the emergency room by his parents, Ed (43) and Marsha Boggle (37) after he was unable to respond to their commands to wash-up and go to bed. "He was just sitting there at the computer, staring at that damn Absolution Lavoratory website...I think it took his soul into hell!", Marsha Boogle stated to reporters while sobbing outside Lincoln Memorial Hospital last night. Billy's Father, Ed Boggle further stated, "I don't know why we as a civilized society allow predators like Absolute Labia to exist and we're going to find the @#$% geeks that did this!" Authorities and doctors have not determined the exact cause of Billy's condition, but detective Fin O�Halloran with Lincoln PD gave this statement, "We took a look at the site and didn't find anything alarming on the surface besides some boring technical garble and a bad color theme, but we're not done with the investigation yet and we aren't ruling out the possibility of a Davinci-like code of some sort." Billy Boggle is in serious but stable condition this morning. His friends at Lincoln Middle say that they'll miss Billy�s leadership in advanced pre-algebra class.

- New York Times, Staff Writer

Is summer over?

Well, now that the weather is finally cooling down here on the west coast, it might be time to restart all of the dormaint servers that were causing the heat and debt to the power company. I expect to revist the Macintosh lab, the T-1 simulator, and the SGI project over the next few months. Expect to see new articles about reviving the beasts that had to be put to sleep when summer came around.