Beware of Video Conversion Software that Says It Is Free.

Yeah so I learned a lesson today. You would figure a computer/internet savvy guy like me would know better but I really wanted to convert some video to the 3gp format that is used by my Nokia phone. Needless to say I was happy at first (at least I got the video I wanted converted done before this happened).

So I did a search for free 3gp conversion software and found an application at SmallVideoSoft.com. Downloaded their 3gp converter and installed it. I was able to run it right off the bat with no nag screen or anything (bells and whistles should have been going off in my head at this point). So I converted some video and closed the application and tried the video on my phone. The video transfered OK but I didn’t like the quality so I wanted to convert the files again with better video settings. So I started the application again. I got a nag screen asking me to register and that registration is free. However, I didn’t have the time to do it at that very moment. So I converted the files I wanted with better video settings. Strangely enough I couldn’t find a button or menu selection that would take me to the registration page. So I closed and the program and decided I would try again later.

So today I woke up and decided I had better register this application. I started it up and sure enough it gave me a nag screen. So I clicked the link that it had to send me to the registration web page. I registered and when I clicked the section to get my registration number it gave me this comment:

(The free registration has been closed for the huge website traffic.)

Give me a fucking break. If I want to register I have to pay (the good things in life are not free). What gets me the most is that they try to make it look like that they HAD to stop free registration like they ever really had a free registration. So I figured I would just click on the Later button and sure enough when I did the application closed and said it wouldn’t run until I registered.

So what they didn’t isn’t really illegal but it is really annoying and I refuse to do business with a company that doesn’t come right out and say “Hey our app will let you do some video conversion for about 10 or so videos and then you have to pay to do more.” or they could say “This is a trial version and it is only good for 24 hours.” But to pretend that their software is completely free and then try the old switcharoo afterwards really pisses me off.

So now I’m weighing my options:

• Crack their app (Completely illegal but probably not so difficult, nope I won’t be doing that. Got too much to lose).
• Buy their software (Nope I don’t do business with companies that play tricks on potential buyers, at least if they aren’t smart enough not to get caught.)
• Find out the 3GP requirements and build my own converter then offer it on the net completely free and really piss off these companies that charge for the software. (quite a possibility once I’ve finished off a few projects).

Cox Communications Inc. Obviously Doesn’t Care About Abuse of Their Network!

So today I finally got fed up with the all the spam bots that have been appearing on my forum and started going through and contacting the ISP to have them blocked as well as doing the blocking locally.  Actually I don’t have that many bots visiting but there are enough and they like to try to do this type of posting http://www.mysite.com/index.php?topic=http://somepornsite.com/lookatme?. Which of course doesn’t work on my website but adds crap into my error log. I’ve never really heard of Error Log spamming but apparently it is happening quite often.

Now normally when I contact an ISP I find under ARIN or some other Who Is type site the email address for abuse reporting. However when I looked up Cox Communications because of this IP 68.103.150.86 I find that they have no way of reporting abuse on their network. I even went to their website and still found nothing. Honestly, they really need to do something about this. I’m actually tempted to ban the entire COX network from my site. I might do it still if the number of bots on their network increases.

Diskeeper to Fix Exchange Rate Problem.

So if you actually read my post about Diskeeper’s European website not having accurate exchange rates. So I got an email today about it from their Public Relations Department with an apology as well as a little surpise:

Diskeeper Corporation Has No Concept of Exchange Rates!

Ok this irks the hell out of me.

In the past I’ve used the trial version of Diskeeper and was really happy with how well it kept my hard drive in order. However, I wasn’t sure if I really needed it so after the trial I removed it from my computer.

Fast forward to today when I realized that my hard drive is more fragmented than china plates dropped from the Empire State Building. So I decided maybe I should give another check on the costs for buying a license for Diskeeper since I was pretty happy with it. So I look their website up and they offer a European website for buying their product, and since I live in Europe I figured I should look their. The first thing came up was the British costs for the software which for a single home license was 28.56 British Pounds which converts to about $56.13. Ok but I don’t live in England but in Germany so I click on the German flag and get the price there. The price in Euros is 40.91 which converts to approximately $60.12. Wow so it costs about 4 dollars more to buy it in Germany than in England. So out of curiosity I decided to look at the original United States site where the price for a full version cost $29.95!

WTF, FTW Have the people at Diskeeper Corporation ever heard of a conversion rate? Why are we in Europe paying approximately 1.5 to 2 times more than the United States? Do they think people are really that stupid? Is it any wonder why people pirate software like this when they add such a high markup on it?

Of course nothing would stop me from actually buying the software from the US Site where with the exchange rate it would charge my credit card for 20.37 Euros which is much better than the rate they are offering as mentioned above.

I’m going to attempt to contact the company to see what they think about this problem. I would like to hear how they justify charging so much just because people live outside the United States! I’ll keep you posted.

P.S. So you can see the pricing yourself here are the websites that I’m referring to in this post:
Diskeeper Corporation US
Diskeeper Corporation Europe

Google’s Malware Warning and Bloom County.

I’m a big fan of Berkeley Breathed, the author of such great comic strips as Bloom County, Outland, and Opus. He has a great satire and I’ve always enjoyed reading his comics as far back as my childhood (of course now that I’m an adult his jokes make more sense). So out of curiosity I decided to take a look online for where they might be posting old Outland comics (Yahoo and GoComics are posting Bloom County Reruns, and Comics.com posts Opus on Sundays). So of course I turn to trusty Google. So I run a search for “Outland Comic” and the second listing is Berkeley Breathed’s website, and it is marked as “This site may harm your computer“. Now I’m not too sure I understand how that happened but I can say that I’m pretty sure that Berkeley Breathed would not have a site that has some sort of hazard seeing he’s probably trying to sell his books.

Strange thing this Google Malware Warning stuff. I hope they get it figured out soon. In the mean time does anyone know where I someone is syndicating the Outland comic?

iPod Nano Video Vs. Kaleidescope

So there’s a new commercial on German TV for the iPod Nano now with video. My wife had a wonderful comment about it, “A kaleidescope is cheaper and is basically the same thing, dancing colored dots”.

I can agree with that I guess.

iPhone in Germany open to all!

Yep I saw this coming a while ago. When Apple first announced it was intending on selling its iPhone here in Germany I figured that if they attempted the same type of forced deal here that they have in the US that the German courts would have something to say. Man I love being right.

So as a brief summary I’ll put it to you this way. Apple and T-Mobile entered into an agreement similar to that between Apple and AT&T in the US concerning the selling of the iPhone. T-Mobile rival Vodafone protested that agreement in German court who then issued an injunction that requires T-Mobile to allow people to opt out of the two-year contract, as well as preventing them from selling the phone with a SIM lock, so that people can use other carriers. Now the kicker is that T-Mobile doubles the price of the iPhone for those people who opt out of the contract so now they are looking at 1000 Euro price tag.

Not sure how this is going to end up but I’m putting my bets on the iPhone being much less exclusive on who provides service here in Germany than else where. Sometimes you just have to love German business laws.

No Comcast in Germany … They wouldn’t be able to stand the competition.

After reading this article, I realize that I’m really happy to live in Germany where just about every person and his cow provides ADSL service. The competition is so high that it is a buyer’s market. It is amazing what the ADSL providers in Germany will do to get your business.

One thing that they won’t do is mess with your bandwidth even if you are using P2P. Now I’m not saying that Germany good for software/music/movie pirates, German law is pretty specific about such things. However, you never hear about an ISP blocking or Inserting TCP in an attempt to throttle bandwidth use.

So you Americans who are upset with Comcast I have a couple of suggestions for you:
1. Change your ISP and tell Comcast to go to hell … OR
2. Start your own ISP and provide more competition.

Holy Burning iPod! … Yet Another Anti-Apple Post from Me.

Here’s the story itself iPod Sets Man’s Pants On Fire – News Story – WSB Atlanta. The man was fortunate that he didn’t get burned or shot seeing where he worked. Now I’m not saying that this couldn’t happen to any mp3 player that uses a lithium ion battery. However, I think the fact that Apple refuses to discuss the matter and only promises to replace the device seems a little out of place. We’ll have to watch to see if the legal machine starts revving up for a lawsuit against Apple for damages and danger of using these batteries.

Apple Sued … Someone Must have Read My Blog!

Wow, what a surprise when I woke up this morning to this little news article: here and sourced here. Apple is getting sued for setting up a monopoly with AT&T.

I personally wish the unnamed California man luck with his endevour to bring justice to iPhone users. Hopefully, next time he buys a phone he gets a nice little Nokia where he doesn’t need to worry about updates that turn it into a brick.

If you haven’t read my post asking the question when this would happen just take a look at it here.