Finding seeders isn't really an issue unless your into some seriously weird s***. I pretty much only get movies though. I buy the majority of my music. I listen to some obscure stuff, so the artist actually see the money I spend.

 

If you want something at release time, good luck getting good speeds. I mean, torrenting is good in that it's 100% free, but it comes with its disadvantages. I tend to stay away from P2P in general.

Hilariously incorrect.

 

They just don't bother.

Usenet any good? Seems to help avoid some of the piracy cop concerns, but also isn't free

They just don't bother.

 

This.

Usenet any good? Seems to help avoid some of the piracy cop concerns, but also isn't free

 

It is, it's also encrypted and they don't keep logs unless requested and at that point they warn you. That's said, you still should never upload. Also, they're even cracking down on usenet now sending removal requests through usenet so things will appear and disappear quickly. The reality is, with more Googles that know everything you do every minute of the day, that means everyone knows. Piracy will never be impossible, but its getting easier and easier to get caught, and legally or not, they're abusing our lack of Internet laws to get you.

 

When you do finally get that "give us 3500$ and we will call it even" letter in the mail, or come to court and defend yourself against our flimsy accusations, you've lost. If you do go to court it will cost more than what they asked for, and a chance to lose, albeit slim, exists. Until that practice is outlawed, I'd take every precaution against getting caught that you can. And if you think you're really a step ahead of them, that means they already have enough on you to send that letter but simply haven't because a computer hasn't randomly spit your name out...yet.

 

Be careful. And if you can afford something, weigh that against the reality that what you just stole could end up costing you thousands. Meaning, get caught once because you think you won't, and you basically paid for everything you've stolen for the past few years.

Edited March 5, 201313 yr by Y2HH

Ive dealt with the letter a lot. Never had an actual company go beyond requesting the subpoena from the ip provider, but as y2hh said its basically playing russian roulette. You may never get caught, you may get caught on the first time.

 

Your risk.

 

I dont do it just not worth the risk/hassle/time

Edited March 5, 201313 yr by Soxbadger

Ive dealt with the letter a lot. Never had an actual company go beyond requesting the subpoena from the ip provider, but as y2hh said its basically playing russian roulette. You may never get caught, you may get caught on the first time.

 

Your risk.

 

I dont do it just not worth the risk/hassle/time

 

My buddy got "busted" like this, completely flimsy lawsuit, but they asked for just less than it would have cost him to hire a lawyer and fight it...which includes the chance of actually losing the case to the tune of hundreds of thousands or even millions. He accepted the settlement to the tune of 2500$. Just ask that girl in Minnesota, Jammie Thomas, who shared a few songs and fought it in court after declining a settlement letter of $5000. She wound up losing the case, and after multiple appeals that went up and down from 222,000 to 1,500,000 over the span of YEARS, back down to a final of $222,000.

 

Basically, for turning down a 5k settlement, she ended up being f***ed forever, for just 24 piddley songs.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_v._Thomas

 

Keep it in mind is all I'm saying. It actually happens.

Edited March 5, 201313 yr by Y2HH

Google has updated Google Chrome (V25) and Google Maps (V1.1) for iOS. Jailbreaks, be warned, the new version of Chrome has a bug in it that for some reason it REQUIRES you to have anonymous usage data turned on, or it will crash after loading it. If you have this happening to you, uninstall, reinstall and enable anonymous usage data, and it will begin working. Google is aware of the bug and said it will be fixed in the next version of Chrome they release on iOS...but when that will be, who knows.

My buddy got "busted" like this, completely flimsy lawsuit, but they asked for just less than it would have cost him to hire a lawyer and fight it...which includes the chance of actually losing the case to the tune of hundreds of thousands or even millions. He accepted the settlement to the tune of 2500$. Just ask that girl in Minnesota, Jammie Thomas, who shared a few songs and fought it in court after declining a settlement letter of $5000. She wound up losing the case, and after multiple appeals that went up and down from 222,000 to 1,500,000 over the span of YEARS, back down to a final of $222,000.

 

Basically, for turning down a 5k settlement, she ended up being f***ed forever, for just 24 piddley songs.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_v._Thomas

 

Keep it in mind is all I'm saying. It actually happens.

That's what she gets for using Kazaa.

My Samsung laptop won't recognize my iPhone anymore. Won't charge it, sync, nothing. Doesn't even show up as a removable device. Tried re-installing iTunes, restarting the computer, the phone, etc. Nothing works.

 

I plugged it into an old desktop to see if it was the phone or cable and it worked fine. Any advice?

My Samsung laptop won't recognize my iPhone anymore. Won't charge it, sync, nothing. Doesn't even show up as a removable device. Tried re-installing iTunes, restarting the computer, the phone, etc. Nothing works.

 

I plugged it into an old desktop to see if it was the phone or cable and it worked fine. Any advice?

Figured it out. Just uninstalled and reinstalled the driver on the USB port. Latest update must have changed some things.

Google has updated Google Chrome (V25) and Google Maps (V1.1) for iOS. Jailbreaks, be warned, the new version of Chrome has a bug in it that for some reason it REQUIRES you to have anonymous usage data turned on, or it will crash after loading it. If you have this happening to you, uninstall, reinstall and enable anonymous usage data, and it will begin working. Google is aware of the bug and said it will be fixed in the next version of Chrome they release on iOS...but when that will be, who knows.

 

This happened to me. I had Chrome Download Manager installed and it kept crashing even after I reinstalled. After disabling it, everything works again.

My Samsung laptop won't recognize my iPhone anymore. Won't charge it, sync, nothing. Doesn't even show up as a removable device. Tried re-installing iTunes, restarting the computer, the phone, etc. Nothing works.

 

I plugged it into an old desktop to see if it was the phone or cable and it worked fine. Any advice?

 

Samsung deployed some malware on the laptop to have it purposefully malfunction when an Apple product is plugged in.

Figured it out. Just uninstalled and reinstalled the driver on the USB port. Latest update must have changed some things.

Ugh, drivers.

The S4 is being announced tomorrow.

 

Unfortunately, from the leaks so far, the device looks awfully similar to the S3...

 

I guess Samsung is going with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" strategy now. My hope is that Samsung doesn't start becoming the Apple of the Android world, where they get extremely complacent and release incremental hardware updates. With how fast the Android market evolves, they'll eventually get overtaken with that kind of strategy.

The S4 is being announced tomorrow.

 

Unfortunately, from the leaks so far, the device looks awfully similar to the S3...

 

I guess Samsung is going with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" strategy now. My hope is that Samsung doesn't start becoming the Apple of the Android world, where they get extremely complacent and release incremental hardware updates. With how fast the Android market evolves, they'll eventually get overtaken with that kind of strategy.

 

I thought I'd seen some cool stuff, but I haven't been keeping up faithfully. The question is, what kind of big flashy features could they come up with?

I thought I'd seen some cool stuff, but I haven't been keeping up faithfully. The question is, what kind of big flashy features could they come up with?

 

They're doing some eye-tracking feature along with some hover features. I don't know how useful they'll actually be though. The phone itself will be a great piece of hardware, that much I do know.

http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/ga...care.html#care2

 

Definitely intrigued in the S Health app.

I thought I read somewhere that the S4's touch screen will work even if you have gloves on.

http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/ga...care.html#care2

 

Definitely intrigued in the S Health app.

 

Yeah, more details needed.

I thought I read somewhere that the S4's touch screen will work even if you have gloves on.

 

It will.

 

But this poses more of an issue with me than not, as this also means your pocket can activate touch, etc...I've never seen the need, even in cold weather, that I can activate my phone with gloves on. It seems counter to the idea behind non-accidental touch.

 

Seems like a "feature" to add simply to have a feature to add, but I don't think it's a good one. I hope others don't follow suit on this idea and keep it the way it is, I don't need my phone doing random things in my pocket because any sort of touch can activate things.

They're doing some eye-tracking feature along with some hover features. I don't know how useful they'll actually be though. The phone itself will be a great piece of hardware, that much I do know.

 

Samsung has hit the same wall Apple hit, there isn't much more to actually do with smart phones right now, aside from minor spec bumps, maybe a few screen size tweaks, etc...the rest of this is just feature creep, where you start adding features to distinguish your device from competitors by throwing every idea you can at it, even if some of these ideas aren't all that intriguing.

The health business could be really great if they implented well enough with hardware and software. For instance, I had been using MapMyRun on my iPhone but am now shopping for an actual GPS watch because the phone GPS can't cut it. Would be interested in how feature-rich this health part is and how well it really works.

 

EDIT: Also. since I got an Android tablet I've been obsessed with widgets. Why doesn't everyone see how cool those are and what a big advantage that is for Android over iOS?

Edited March 15, 201313 yr by Jake

The health business could be really great if they implented well enough with hardware and software. For instance, I had been using MapMyRun on my iPhone but am now shopping for an actual GPS watch because the phone GPS can't cut it. Would be interested in how feature-rich this health part is and how well it really works.

 

EDIT: Also. since I got an Android tablet I've been obsessed with widgets. Why doesn't everyone see how cool those are and what a big advantage that is for Android over iOS?

I also use MapMyRun/MapMyRide - it works fine for me - but I love the idea of being able to stick the phone in my pocket and have that wristband synced up.

I also use MapMyRun/MapMyRide - it works fine for me - but I love the idea of being able to stick the phone in my pocket and have that wristband synced up.

 

It's just inaccurate enough to really piss me off. The pace is always off so I can't use pace information from my run and it f***s up enough that if I go on a ten mile run, the error is usually .5-1 mile which is significant. Luckily, I still use their mapping feature online before my runs so I can usually tell when it is deciding to screw up intra-run if it tells me I just ran a mile when I know I'm only about .5 into the run, etc.