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ROGERS FAMILY COMPANY
gourmet-coffee.com
My sister told me that the K-Cup are a dream, and I'll love coffee because it makes the best cup. I'm a coffee drinker, but I've told her that I'm not buying a Keurig because of their stupid DRM (Digital Rights Management) cups.... but perhaps all that is about to change because Rogers Family Company is offering a FREE "Freedom Clip", which will bypass the DRM. Keurig will sell you more expensive coffee and restrict you to their approved cups.
Say whatever you will, but with the "Freedom Clip", I believe they will actually sell more Keurig Coffee Maker, because now I'm suddenly interested in this product.
I've said it numerous time before, but the reason why I stopped buying Blizzard's games (at least on the PC) is because they started implementing DRM. It's really a shame, because I do like their games. Just out of principle, I won't support a company that put restrictions on something I own. The last game I purchased from them was Starcraft II, which I had no idea required me to be online to play the single player campaign. I don't like the fact that now they can violate my privacy (knowing when I play their games) and can block me from modifying my single/solo game or installing on multiple computers. The takeaway is that DRM is bad for consumers.
Anyway, if you already own a Keurig or just thinking about it, you may want to head over to gourmet-coffee.com and sign up for a free clip before it expires or when Keurig put out a cease and desist.
gourmet-coffee.com
My sister told me that the K-Cup are a dream, and I'll love coffee because it makes the best cup. I'm a coffee drinker, but I've told her that I'm not buying a Keurig because of their stupid DRM (Digital Rights Management) cups.... but perhaps all that is about to change because Rogers Family Company is offering a FREE "Freedom Clip", which will bypass the DRM. Keurig will sell you more expensive coffee and restrict you to their approved cups.
Say whatever you will, but with the "Freedom Clip", I believe they will actually sell more Keurig Coffee Maker, because now I'm suddenly interested in this product.
I've said it numerous time before, but the reason why I stopped buying Blizzard's games (at least on the PC) is because they started implementing DRM. It's really a shame, because I do like their games. Just out of principle, I won't support a company that put restrictions on something I own. The last game I purchased from them was Starcraft II, which I had no idea required me to be online to play the single player campaign. I don't like the fact that now they can violate my privacy (knowing when I play their games) and can block me from modifying my single/solo game or installing on multiple computers. The takeaway is that DRM is bad for consumers.
Anyway, if you already own a Keurig or just thinking about it, you may want to head over to gourmet-coffee.com and sign up for a free clip before it expires or when Keurig put out a cease and desist.
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RASPBERRY PI
raspberrypi.org
I've recently poo-pooed Plex's useless $40 annual subscription just to access your local media. Instead, I told you to just buy a Raspberry Pi instead. I have good news, the new Raspberry Pi 2 is out now and retails for the same price ($35) for a much faster processor (6x) and twice as much ram (1GB)... but the best news of all is that they are going to support Windows 10 - FOR FREE.
Before you get too excited about it, Win10 may be limited due to restrictions to the ARM chip and other shortcomings. I recommend waiting until Windows 10 become available to read the reviews.... however for $35, it's cheap enough that you can buy the board now and just play around with it while you wait.
This is the truth, I used to own the original Raspberry Pi and I had two major issues with it: 1) No Windows Support and 2) it was 'slow'; barely able to play 720p movie files. With the updated hardware (and soon Microsoft support), they've addressed my two biggest gripes. So, yes, when Windows 10 comes out, I will be first in line to get the new Raspberry Pi 2.
Changes in Raspberry Pi 2:
A 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU
1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM (2x memory)
Complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1
I actually tried to look at the order one, but it may be sold out due to overwhelming interests.
raspberrypi.org
I've recently poo-pooed Plex's useless $40 annual subscription just to access your local media. Instead, I told you to just buy a Raspberry Pi instead. I have good news, the new Raspberry Pi 2 is out now and retails for the same price ($35) for a much faster processor (6x) and twice as much ram (1GB)... but the best news of all is that they are going to support Windows 10 - FOR FREE.
Before you get too excited about it, Win10 may be limited due to restrictions to the ARM chip and other shortcomings. I recommend waiting until Windows 10 become available to read the reviews.... however for $35, it's cheap enough that you can buy the board now and just play around with it while you wait.
This is the truth, I used to own the original Raspberry Pi and I had two major issues with it: 1) No Windows Support and 2) it was 'slow'; barely able to play 720p movie files. With the updated hardware (and soon Microsoft support), they've addressed my two biggest gripes. So, yes, when Windows 10 comes out, I will be first in line to get the new Raspberry Pi 2.
Changes in Raspberry Pi 2:
Before you get a Raspberry Pi 2, there are some things you must know. You are only getting the board, so you'll need to provide the keyboard, the monitor, storage, optional exterior case, mouse, wireless adapter, and most importantly the AC adapter. When you add up all the needed items, the real price may be closer to $100. However, you can argue it's a non-issue since you probably own all of these things (including most modern television set comes with HDMI input), but it's something you need to know. Also, the board does not come with an O/S, so depending on what you're going to use the Raspberry Pi for, you'll have to decide what to install on it.
All storage are read by SD cards, so I recommend just getting the largest (and fastest) card. That can get expensive, I know a 128GB SD on Amazon costs over $100. Like you, I already own a few (cheap) 8GB SD cards, so I will likely just recycle an old chip.
I know it's not released yet, but if Windows of the past is any indication, it'll likely need at least 4GB to install, so you'll want at least a 16GB or larger chip. Plus, if you intend to install games and software, you'll use up storage quickly.... so you should also consider getting an external HD. I bought a 1TB external drive for about $75 on sale.
All storage are read by SD cards, so I recommend just getting the largest (and fastest) card. That can get expensive, I know a 128GB SD on Amazon costs over $100. Like you, I already own a few (cheap) 8GB SD cards, so I will likely just recycle an old chip.
I know it's not released yet, but if Windows of the past is any indication, it'll likely need at least 4GB to install, so you'll want at least a 16GB or larger chip. Plus, if you intend to install games and software, you'll use up storage quickly.... so you should also consider getting an external HD. I bought a 1TB external drive for about $75 on sale.
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PLAYSTATION PLUS
playstation.com
I've been spending my time with free games and demos, just testing out games to see if I like them enough to pay actual money. Nothing worth mentioning for new games, so I'm going back to some really old games in my collection instead. I'm waiting for the 'free' Transistor for the PS4. It's free if you have Playstation Plus, which I think is a very good deal for $40 a year. You get about 24 free games per system (so you can maximize this if you own a PS3 - which I do - and a Vita). So, I get over 50 games a year (sometime games are cross-buy so games on the Vita can play on the PS4 and PS3) for $40, that's not bad. I am only interested in about 20% of free games, but I'll check out everything if it's free.
Anyway, once Transistor is available for download (February 3rd), I'll let you know what I think of it. I've read that the game is very closely tied to music, so I'm very interested in seeing what that is all about.
Here are the free games for February:
Apotheon (PS4)
Transistor (PS4)
Thief (PS3)
Yakuza 4 (PS3)
Rogue Legacy (PS Vita; cross-buy with PS4, PS3)
Kick and Fennick (PS Vita)
playstation.com
I've been spending my time with free games and demos, just testing out games to see if I like them enough to pay actual money. Nothing worth mentioning for new games, so I'm going back to some really old games in my collection instead. I'm waiting for the 'free' Transistor for the PS4. It's free if you have Playstation Plus, which I think is a very good deal for $40 a year. You get about 24 free games per system (so you can maximize this if you own a PS3 - which I do - and a Vita). So, I get over 50 games a year (sometime games are cross-buy so games on the Vita can play on the PS4 and PS3) for $40, that's not bad. I am only interested in about 20% of free games, but I'll check out everything if it's free.
Anyway, once Transistor is available for download (February 3rd), I'll let you know what I think of it. I've read that the game is very closely tied to music, so I'm very interested in seeing what that is all about.
Here are the free games for February:
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FIREFOX
getfirefox.com
I had to uninstall Marvel's Super Heroes game recently because it failed to start. It is a free online game, but it consistently needed to be updated. When I upgraded to Windows 8.1, the game just didn't work. I'm sure with a fresh re-installation, I can probably get it to run, but it's such a hassle, especially for a free game, that it's not really worth it for me. I freed up over 11GB of game data, so maybe it is a small blessing.
Speaking of update, Firefox version 36 is awful. It officially gets released February 24th, but my settings allowed for developers builds and I automatically got the update a few weeks ago and I absolutely hate it with passion. They made some changes to the search toolbar that slowed down and ultimately not necessary to the user experience. I reverted back to version 30, and now Google keeps telling me that I'm using an older browser. I see the message every time I log into my email. It's annoying to click on "Dismiss" every time. Look, I get it, you're concern... but shut up already.
If you're in the same boat with Mozilla Firefox, this is how you fix the problem:
Alternately, you can change the value to any browser, for example if you prefer to use Internet Explorer for some reason, etc. If that is the case, just do a search for user agent codes and you'll find it online.
getfirefox.com
I had to uninstall Marvel's Super Heroes game recently because it failed to start. It is a free online game, but it consistently needed to be updated. When I upgraded to Windows 8.1, the game just didn't work. I'm sure with a fresh re-installation, I can probably get it to run, but it's such a hassle, especially for a free game, that it's not really worth it for me. I freed up over 11GB of game data, so maybe it is a small blessing.
Speaking of update, Firefox version 36 is awful. It officially gets released February 24th, but my settings allowed for developers builds and I automatically got the update a few weeks ago and I absolutely hate it with passion. They made some changes to the search toolbar that slowed down and ultimately not necessary to the user experience. I reverted back to version 30, and now Google keeps telling me that I'm using an older browser. I see the message every time I log into my email. It's annoying to click on "Dismiss" every time. Look, I get it, you're concern... but shut up already.
If you're in the same boat with Mozilla Firefox, this is how you fix the problem:
- In the URL bar, type in "about:config" and press Enter. (You may have to click OK on some confirmation that you're about to mess with settings).
- Right-click and create a new String called "general.useragent.override"
- The Value will be "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; rv:36.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/36.0"
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