My buddy sent this over to me to post for him. Seems he found a hack floating around that bypasses Windows Genuine Advantage. It’s actually a registry entry that fools WGA into thinking your copy of Windows XP is genuine. You can download the hack here: WPA_registry.zip or WindowsLicence.zip
After downloading either to your desktop all you have to do is unzip, right click the unzipped file and “merge.” If I remember what he mentioned there should be 1 or 2 confirmations and then you’re done. Hope this helps some unlucky non-savvy Windows user out there trying to install the latest Internet Explorer 7 or Windows Media Player 11.

If you have any questions then feel free to post a comment…..

P.S. I hate to admit it but WMP11 is damn tight. Look out iTunes! Download WMP11 here.

This was definitely worth a post. Even though the title might give you a sense of worry from me I am totally the opposite. As long as it still tastes great I definitely don’t have a problem.

Manufacturer Diageo plans to produce a version at its Irish brewery using lightly roasted barley, which will have a reddish colour, and give it a trial run across the Irish Sea in Britain.

“If you held up a pint of Guinness to the light, the red would come through. It’s a very deep red,” a Diageo spokeswoman said.

Diageo plans to test Guinness Red on drinkers in British pubs in the coming months but has no plans to launch it more widely, either at home in Ireland or in about 150 other countries where Guinness is sold.

The beer, which like the traditional, darker Guinness will have a creamy white head and be poured in the two steps needed to let it settle, will have a strength of about 4.1 percent.

I’m actually looking forward to it.

Haven’t been able to blog lately because I’m moving to a cheaper apartment. I finally realized that living at Archstone Mission Valley is a rip off. I’ll write more about that later.

For now grab the latest edition of Firefox 2.0:

Almost every single photo I own is uploaded to Google’s Picasa Web Albums. It’s easy to use and manage since I use Picasa desktop photo management software on a regular basis. Uploading my pics to Picasa Web is a cinch.

I logged on tonight and noticed a few small changes.

The biggest change that stuck out is the removal of “Test” from “Picasa Web Albums” logo. Still can’t figure out why it was labeled “test” and not “beta” to begin with.

They increased their total size per album from 400 to 500 also as you can see below. You can also see that I do use Picasa Web storage a lot.

The last change is being able to retract the “Embed in Blog/MySpace” code when displayed. They show this by adding an arrow to the right. Never really bothered me before but a nice added touch that should of been thought of before.

Again, nothing major. Just some small much needed improvements. Still doesn’t compare to Flickr but it meets my needs and more. I hope the Picasa Web developers keep adding some more great features like maybe the ability to search other Picasa Web albums, tagging, and definitely improve on their rss feed (a photo feed should have the photos placed within the feed and not just a link to it).

Update (October 10, 2006, 4:20pm PT): Seems that Picasa Web Albums has reverted back to it’s original “Test” design and they’ve taken all the small new features down. Kind of weird if you ask me…. oh well, at least I caught it while it was up.

Update (October 11, 2006, 8:00pm PT): Ever since this morning I’ve noticed that they actually changed it back to the format with the new features. I also noticed their “New Features” page. Their QA isn’t very great because on that page it still has the Picasa Web Albums “test” logo but updated everywhere else. Anywho, I also noticed that if you’ve upgraded to the 6GB of storage then you can upload videos to your albums also. I tried this and it actually was pretty damn quick, simple, and blends in with your photos. I wish in the album view there was a more definite difference between the photos and videos. The player is exactly the same as the Google Video player as you can see in the pic below. Pretty kewl…

*IMPORTANT - READ STORY FIRST *

Make sure to read the text first, then open the pictures or scroll
down to look at the pictures

This is a true story, it happened in Utah and was on the news!

I thought each of you could use a little comic relief today. Here’s
the story. A city councilman, Mark Easton , lives in this
neighborhood. He had a beautiful view of the east mountains, until a
new neighbor purchased the lot below his house and built.

Apparently, the new home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances
would allow, so Mark Easton , mad about his lost view, went to the
city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance. Mark
and his new neighbor had some great arguments about this as you can
imagine - not great feelings. The new neighbor had to drop the roof
line - no doubt at great expense.

Recently, Mark Easton called the city and informed them that his new
neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. Mark didn’t
like the look of these vents and asked the city to investigate. When
they went to Mark ’s home to see the vent view, this is what they
found…

I seriously couldn’t believe it…..

Google To Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock

Combination Will Create New Opportunities for Users and Content Owners Everywhere

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 9, 2006 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it has agreed to acquire YouTube, the consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos through a Web experience, for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community.

The acquisition combines one of the largest and fastest growing online video entertainment communities with Google’s expertise in organizing information and creating new models for advertising on the Internet. The combined companies will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in uploading, watching and sharing videos, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience.

“The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,� said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. �Our companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers.�

�Our community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media, creating a new clip culture. By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners,� said Chad Hurley, CEO and Co-Founder of YouTube. �I�m confident that with this partnership we�ll have the flexibility and resources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide.�

When the acquisition is complete, YouTube will retain its distinct brand identity, strengthening and complementing Google�s own fast-growing video business. YouTube will continue to be based in San Bruno, CA, and all YouTube employees will remain with the company. With Google�s technology, advertiser relationships and global reach, YouTube will continue to build on its success as one of the world’s most popular services for video entertainment.

The number of Google shares to be issued in the transaction will be determined based on the 30-day average closing price two trading days prior to the completion of the acquisition. Both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Webcast and Conference Call Information

The company will host a conference call and webcast at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) today to discuss the acquisition. To access the conference call, please dial 800-289-0572 domestic and 913-981-5543 internationally. A replay of the call will be available until midnight Monday, October 16 at 888-203-1112 domestically and 719-457-0820 internationally. Confirmation code for the replay is 2260624.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at http://investor.google.com/webcast.html.

About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About YouTube
Founded in February 2005, YouTube is a consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, blogs, and e-mail. YouTube currently delivers more than 100 million video views every day with 65,000 new videos uploaded daily and it has quickly become the leading destination on the Internet for video entertainment.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This document includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding Google�s and YouTube�s ability to improve their services, create new business models and content-owner opportunities, integration plans, the expected timing for the closing of the acquisition and the plans to operate YouTube independently. These statements are based on the current expectations or beliefs of management of Google Inc., and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein due to (1) changes in economic, business, competitive, technological and/or regulatory factors, (2) failure to receive regulatory approval for the acquisition, (3) failure to retain the levels of traffic on the YouTube site, (4) failure to compete successfully in this highly competitive and rapidly changing marketplace, (5) failure to retain key employees, (6) other factors affecting the operation of the respective businesses of Google and YouTube, and (7) the failure of YouTube and Google to work together effectively. More detailed information about these factors may be found in filings by Google, as applicable, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including their respective most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Google is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter their respective forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

This just goes to show that no matter what the media says or rumors expose anything can happen. I’m pretty sure this made YouTube founder Chad Hurley a very happy man.

Related Link’age

Google Buys YouTube - Google Blogoscoped
First Blush on GooTube-Conference Call - John Battelle’s Searchblog
Google Has Acquired YouTube - Techcrunch