It’s almost 8:30 on Friday night, and I’m contemplating dinner as I catch up on some reading and work. I’ve taken a short break from "the project" to find that there are even more people who have nothing better to do than spam blogs. I’m now averaging about fifty spam comments a day. Luckily, I’ve got Spam Karma digesting the spams in ten message chunks.
Among my other reading, I did find this article about the not so free iPods that just about every website seems to be hawking lately. You know the ones I’m talking about, with the highly active flashing banner ads with a pic of the latest iPod (probably ripped off of Apple’s website), possibly even including a "hit the iPod and win!" slogan. The jist of the article is that, as I have been trying to explain to the naïve who actually think it’s a free iPod, is that while you may not necessarily be giving any money directly to these companies, you are consenting to having your privacy (and inbox) ripped to shreds. You’re also agreeing to sign up for all sorts of commercial garbage that require up front fees or that require you remain a member for x amount of months to prove you’ve signed up with an affiliate.
I found out about PyMusique. It’s the latest of DVD John’s DRM-related projects. Apparently, the iTunes Music Store does not add any DRM to your downloaded tracks until after they’ve completed downloading to your machine. PyMusique allows you to purchase your iTunes straight from Apple, but prevents the iTunes application from adding the DRM to your music. This application will probably stop working, if it actually does work, soon after Apple or its music partners get wind of it. While it still requires that you pay for the music, it cuts out the DRM, and thus cuts out the step of burning the restricted music to CD and re-ripping it without the DRM (still perfectly legal, as far as I can tell, but I’m no lawyer).
Well, now it’s almost 8:45 and I still haven’t put much thought into my dinner plans. I had, however, contemplated asking if Mel wanted to go to Sushi Station, but she was nowhere to be found when I got home. And I’m having problems with Chris’s phone, so I haven’t called anyone, either. For the past several days, Chris’s phone has refused to send or receive any calls. I did manage to get one call out to the house on my way home. I haven’t been able to repeat that feat. Woo…I feel winded after all this typing. Maybe I’ll just nuke something in the fridge.
some peopel have no manners when it comes to comments on here. just plain damn rude. cant you trace their comments?
Becky
I’ve got Spam Karma doing a good job of getting the comments advertising drugs or casinos, but stuff that people actually type in just to be asses get through when they shouldn’t. I just checked my filters, and they’re supposed to require “new commentors” to get moderated once, after which their comments would be accepted without moderation. WP is also supposed to e-mail me when I receive a comment.
I just checked, and another comment in addition to yours was added to my blog, and I only came across them when checking out the comments this morning. I’ll have to work on the settings and see why it’s acting up. Thanks for stopping by, Becky.