Nicole: 
Channel Changing via Firewire...
with Time Warner 4250HDC
Getting prepared for HD with my home brew PVR has been fun. The final piece of the puzzle was getting GB-PVR, my PC, and Time Warner HD box talking. Items needed:
Tim Moore's firestb Package
ExDeus' STB Firewire Driver Package
Since I'm using GB-PVR and not MCE, Tim's package needs to be installed using the following arguements: msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT=”1”
Next, if you're like me, you'll find Tim's package of drivers are a bit dated, you'll need to use ExDeus' package if you have a modern HD receiver. Just follow standard "Add new Hardware" protocol once you connect your receiver via Firewire.
Finally, test your install using the channel command and the instructions provided. I learned, although it is not clearly documented, that there are several different ways to send channel commands to a receiver. These are accomplished using the -a flag. For example, to change to channel 300 the command for my 4250HDC would be: C:\channel -f -a0 2 300
All done! Just use GB-PVR's built in exe caller for channel changing to call the channel program and execute the commands!
Tim Moore's firestb Package
ExDeus' STB Firewire Driver Package
Since I'm using GB-PVR and not MCE, Tim's package needs to be installed using the following arguements: msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT=”1”
Next, if you're like me, you'll find Tim's package of drivers are a bit dated, you'll need to use ExDeus' package if you have a modern HD receiver. Just follow standard "Add new Hardware" protocol once you connect your receiver via Firewire.
Finally, test your install using the channel command and the instructions provided. I learned, although it is not clearly documented, that there are several different ways to send channel commands to a receiver. These are accomplished using the -a flag. For example, to change to channel 300 the command for my 4250HDC would be: C:\channel -f -a0 2 300
All done! Just use GB-PVR's built in exe caller for channel changing to call the channel program and execute the commands!
Fan Edits
We know what you want
Recently, I've been checking out the fan edit community. These are fans that are otherwise unhappy with a movie in it's original form or even a Director's Cut. These folks love their movie of choice and re-edit it such that it's seamless, professional, and ready to burn back onto DVD. While not a movie critic by far, I've watched the following as an owner of the original:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The 5th Kind Edition. The fellow that did it put in every cut scene, deleted scene, and other material back into the movie. At a whopping 2 hours and 48 minutes, it is quite a ride with every bit of back-story back in it. If anything is bad about it, it's almost too long.
Dune The Alternate Edition. This is a re-cut of the original 1984 version with deleted scenes as well as scenes from the Extended Edition back in. I've always been a fan of this version of Dune, but found it lacking in certain areas. No more! A lot of the back story and scenes from the book are included making it a much better flick. 2 hours and 43 minutes of coolness.
Star Wars Revisited. This is the grand master of fan edits. While not longer than the original, the creator redid most of the special effects, and fixed a ton of continuity errors and nitpicks totaling 156 changes in all. Oh, Hans shoots first! Need I say more? He's currently working on The Empire Strikes back and I, for one, start drooling when thinking about it.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The 5th Kind Edition. The fellow that did it put in every cut scene, deleted scene, and other material back into the movie. At a whopping 2 hours and 48 minutes, it is quite a ride with every bit of back-story back in it. If anything is bad about it, it's almost too long.
Dune The Alternate Edition. This is a re-cut of the original 1984 version with deleted scenes as well as scenes from the Extended Edition back in. I've always been a fan of this version of Dune, but found it lacking in certain areas. No more! A lot of the back story and scenes from the book are included making it a much better flick. 2 hours and 43 minutes of coolness.
Star Wars Revisited. This is the grand master of fan edits. While not longer than the original, the creator redid most of the special effects, and fixed a ton of continuity errors and nitpicks totaling 156 changes in all. Oh, Hans shoots first! Need I say more? He's currently working on The Empire Strikes back and I, for one, start drooling when thinking about it.
Phish Scams & User Foolishness
Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result
We've had a ton of Phishing Scams at work. These are attempts by people to get your user name and password so that they can, in turn, use your credentials to send out more phishing scams and spam. Usually an official looking email is sent out to users claiming some system maintenance or other "thing" is going on where we need your information to verify "you", and if you don't supply them, there is usually an "or else." Hence phishing, get it? Fishing for user's information?
So, if you're a naive user or just not thinking, preoccupied with doing something else, whatever, I can see where you may and would fall for this scam. My gripe comes in when:
1) We've sent out two emails to our population expressly stating these are scams and that we will never ask for your information over an email.
2) The latter email even includes a website with an annotated sample phishing email, again noting in at least three places that we will never ask for your information over an email.
3) We've pasted a banner in BearMail (or primary student email portal) with the above website, again noting that we will never ask for your information over an email.
A new phishing email started to spread last night and a bunch of people fell for it. I can only conclude:
1) They ignored our emails and warnings.
2) They got our emails and warnings, read it, and promptly deleted it.
3) They got our emails and warnings, read it, and just don't get it.
4) They are ridiculously stupid people.
I'm sure there are defenders of these folks that would say something like, "they are not stupid, they are just not good with technology." I would have to counter that "we will never ask for your information over an email" is pretty clear to me, and since you're reading your email you obviously know what your user name and password are, else how did you get into it to read it? As for not good with technology, I don't need to know how to drive a car to understand that it's a bad idea to step out in front of one on the street.
So, if you're a naive user or just not thinking, preoccupied with doing something else, whatever, I can see where you may and would fall for this scam. My gripe comes in when:
1) We've sent out two emails to our population expressly stating these are scams and that we will never ask for your information over an email.
2) The latter email even includes a website with an annotated sample phishing email, again noting in at least three places that we will never ask for your information over an email.
3) We've pasted a banner in BearMail (or primary student email portal) with the above website, again noting that we will never ask for your information over an email.
A new phishing email started to spread last night and a bunch of people fell for it. I can only conclude:
1) They ignored our emails and warnings.
2) They got our emails and warnings, read it, and promptly deleted it.
3) They got our emails and warnings, read it, and just don't get it.
4) They are ridiculously stupid people.
I'm sure there are defenders of these folks that would say something like, "they are not stupid, they are just not good with technology." I would have to counter that "we will never ask for your information over an email" is pretty clear to me, and since you're reading your email you obviously know what your user name and password are, else how did you get into it to read it? As for not good with technology, I don't need to know how to drive a car to understand that it's a bad idea to step out in front of one on the street.