Looks like unlimited Internet access no longer exists for Canadians (or at least Ontarians, at any rate). The CRTC has approved a petition by Bell to charge small ISPs (TekSavvy, Velcom, Acanac) for the bandwidth they use. These small companies are currently the only way for most residential customers to get true unlimited Internet access at home. The large Canadian ISPs such as Rogers, Bell Sympatico and Videotron all limit their customers’ download traffic, forcing those who need more to upgrade to more expensive service plans. This is absolutely ridiculous. In an age of digital media, where high-bitrate HD content and streaming video are becoming more and more commonplace, along with steadily increasing Internet connection speeds, this is a big step backwards for Canadians. Furthermore, the small ISPs are now at risk of going bankrupt, since their major selling point is their unlimited or high traffic allowance.
Seems the CRTC has failed Canadians once again. Now that I’ve had my little rant, the question is, what can be done to reverse the decision, or to prevent anything worse from happening?
Now that Windows 7 RTM has been distributed to Microsoft Software Assurance customers, I have legally installed it on my work desktop. I used to run Windows Server 2003, so the Windows 7 eye candy and more desktop-oriented features are a nice change. However one thing I missed is the ability to have multiple RDP connections to my PC. Fortunately, ShadyMG over at Missing Remote has got it all figured out:
http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3692&Itemid=232
The linked file is mirrored here.
Update: It seems there is a more refined version of this patch, which also works to enable RDP server on the Home Premium version. http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/79427.aspx
File mirrored here: Concurrent_RDP_Win7_RTM_patcher_v1.1
Internet connection speed today. If only it were this fast every day.
Here’s the install procedure I used to get Mac OS X 10.5.7 running on my P5W DH:
- Bios settings: JMicron and Intel controllers in AHCI mode, Memory Remap enabled, Hyper path 3 disabled, CPU NX enabled
- Boot from generic grub/boot-132 iso.
- Hit Esc at boot prompt, swap disc for Mac OS X 10.5.4 DVD and press enter
- install Mas OS, format partition if necessary.
- After the install is complete, boot from boot-132 cd again. hit esc, type 80 then hit Enter.
- should boot into leopard, at 1024*768 resolution.
- Install bootloader: first PC_EFI 9 from bootloader.pkg, then Chameleon 2.0 RC2, with graphics detect option.
- go to /Extra/Extensions, add AppleDecrypt, AppleVIAATA (for SiI3112 PCI SATA, Disabler (AppleUpstreamUserClient Version), remove A HCIPort Injector,
- Install alc882 AppleHDA anrd ALCinject, pkg doesnt work, use kext helper.
- update to 10.5.7 using comboupdate.
- reinstall AppleHDA.kext
Visited my old elementary school today. Strange sense of nostalgia, remembering the days of lining up for class, going out for recess, snacktime, playing all kinds of games in the forest and the playground, messing around with old PowerMacs, asking permission to use the washroom, “roofing” basketballs and tennis balls, building snow forts, waiting for the bus number to be called…
Apparently, Dell OpenManage is not compatible with the Java 6 plugin. Fix:
Control Panel
Java Control Panel
Advanced
Java Plug-in
Uncheck: Enable the next-generation Java Plug-in
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19264810/19451335.aspx
Seeing as I have nothing to do this weekend, I’ve decided to do a re-install of my “Mac”. Lately I’ve been getting slowness in Safari and Firefox, and problems with graphics corruption…
Thank goodness OSX is unix-based and therefore all my stuff is stored in a handy-dandy home folder (albeit a 330GB home folder), making backup easy. More info later on what exactly the re-install entails, as this I’m installing OSX on my own custom “hackintosh”, specs below.
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe BIOS 2801
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200
4GB Kingston DDR2 SDRAM
2* XFX NVIDIA GeForce 7950GT 512MB (ROM modded)
500GB Maxtor 7H500F0
250GB WD2500KS
1000GB ST31000333AS
1000GB ST31000340AS
1000GB WD10EADS
4* 200GB Maxtor 6V200E0
Today, I came across an interesting picture of Bill Gates. As mentioned previously, I obtained a copy of the Windows 7 RTM build. With it came an interesting picture:
Naturally, I was curious about this Bill Gates-Mao photo, so I headed over to trusty old Google and looked it up; turns out it’s from a Newsweek cover. That Google search brought me to Rick Jacobi’s blog, where there is a nice collection of new Obama political posters, and the old ones that inspired them.
Rumours circulating around the Internet seem to indicate that build 7600.16385 of Windows 7 is the RTM release. Naturally I was curious and went to fetch said build (7600.16385.090713-1255_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD.iso) from one of the usual spots. I installed the RTM from a USB drive onto a spare laptop to test it out. There weren’t too many changes, the most noticeable ones being the removal of the Evaluation watermark from the bottom right corner of the screen and a “new” wallpaper.
Windows 7 RTM "Harmony" wallpaper
I’m sure this has been discussed many times before, but I feel I need to mention it.
Why are women allowed to be more generous with emotional words and expressions? Why can’t I close my e-mails with “Love, Matthieu” without implying something more than friendship? This double standard leaves us men with a serious shortage of words to describe our level of “liking” for other people. I mean, really, “like” is such an overused word. I like strawberries. I also like my job, and some of my professors, and all my friends and family. So how do I differentiate? Someone I share experiences and interests with and feel a connection with is definitely on a different level of “liking” than my discrete math professor…
Just a thought.
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bell, canada, crtc, internet, isp, net neutrality 
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