The first video tutorial shows you what yEnc messages look like in your newsreader if your newsreader doesn’t natively support yEnc. This video will help you recognize yEnc messages so you know if you need a yEnc Decoder like yProxy.

The second video walks you through installing and configuring yProxy with your newsreader, but uses Windows Live Mail as the example newsreader.

The third video walks you through running yProxy for the first time and starting yProxy.

The fourth video demonstrates yProxy in action.

It seems that the author of the site was so intent on cashing in that they forgot to make sure that the site actually works. None of the links work, but the site is overloaded with Google ad spam.

People, are the few dollars that you might make with Google ads really worth putting your readers through the trouble? I will never visit this site again, and I have added it to my web browser’s block list so I don’t accidentally go there again.

If you overload a site with spam, which makes it difficult for the user to navigate the page and find what they are looking for, guess what? They’ll stop looking.

http://www.purple-planet.com/

http://www.musopen.com/

http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/

http://www-plan.cs.colorado.edu/henkel/fso/index-en.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sound/list

http://www.atom.com/creators/creators_kit/

http://www.soundclick.com (Search by License type: Creative Commons)

http://ccmixter.org/ (some are non-commercial only)

http://opsound.org/ (Some are non-commercial only)

Arhive.org Open Source (Search for audio with Creative Commons license)

Archive.org Search

Sound FX:

http://www.soundsnap.com/

http://www.freesound.org/

Images:

http://www.sxc.hu/index.html

Cheap Music:

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/

http://www.beatpick.com/

Update – May 5, 2009

I emailed Stacy Burnette from the ICANN compliance committee.  She personally telephoned GoDaddy to resolve the issue.  She said that GoDaddy would be contacting me, but they never did.  I went ahead and retried the transfer, and it succeeded.  Thank you Stacy, and thank you ICANN for protecting the consumer!

GoDaddy proudly proclaims that they are the largest domain name registrar in the world, with over 28 million domain names registered.  At their sale price of $9.99 per year registration fee, the registration fees alone earn GoDaddy over $750,000 per day.  We’ve all seen it, the larger a company gets, the more they lose sight of their customers in pursuit of the almighty dollar.  GoDaddy is no exception.

Why is GoDaddy the most popular domain registrar?  Originally it was price and service.  Now, it’s mass marketing.  You may be surprised that GoDaddy is higher in cost than many competing registries.  For example, Name.com only charges $8.99 per year for domain registration.  Guess how much renewals cost at Name.com?  $8.99.  At GoDaddy, it costs $9.99 for a new registration, and $10.69 per year for renewal.

Name.com also has free private WHOIS.  GoDaddy charges an outrageous $9.99 per year per domain for this service.  Name.com also provides free DNS management, free domain forwarding, and free web hosting through Google.  I’m not trying to sell you on Name.com because they’re not even my favorite registrar, and the registrar I use is actually cheaper and provides even more free services.  I’m just making a point that GoDaddy is not the number one in value and hasn’t been for quite some time.  They are simply the most popular.

GoDaddy has started a trend of violating ICANN policies.  ICANN policies are created to protect you, the domain registrant.  You, the registrant, should be free to choose your own domain registrar and be able to transfer your domain to the registrar of your choosing unencumbered.  Fair competition keeps things in the consumer’s interest, and anything that obstructs that harms the consumer.

GoDaddy prevents you from transferring a domain to another registrar if you make a change to the registrant contact information.  This includes removing the private WHOIS from your domain or updating your email address.

I stipulate that GoDaddy recognized the fact that when you wish to transfer your domain to a competing registrar, the first thing you do is update the registrant email address so that you can complete the transfer.  In order to modify this information, GoDaddy forces you to “opt-in” to their policy, which prevents you from transferring the domain to another registrar within 60 days of a change to your registration information.  Most likely, this forces you to renew your domain for another year at GoDaddy at their ever increasing prices.

ICANN recently released an advisory against this type of policy, which GoDaddy has ignored.

ICANN policy states the following as the ONLY reasons that a registrar may deny a transfer:

1. Evidence of fraud
2. UDRP action
3. Court order by a court of competent jurisdiction
4. Reasonable dispute over the identity of the Registered Name Holder or Administrative Contact
5. No payment for previous registration period (including credit card charge-backs) if the domain name is past its expiration date or for previous or current registration periods if the domain name has not yet expired. In all such cases, however, the domain name must be put into “Registrar Hold” status by the Registrar of Record prior to the denial of transfer.
6. Express written objection to the transfer from the Transfer Contact. (e.g. – email, fax, paper document or other processes by which the Transfer Contact has expressly and voluntarily objected through opt-in means)
7. A domain name was already in “lock status” provided that the Registrar provides a readily accessible and reasonable means for the Registered Name Holder to remove the lock status.
8. The transfer was requested within 60 days of the creation date as shown in the registry WHOIS  record for the domain name.
9. A domain name is within 60 days (or a lesser period to be determined) after being transferred (apart from being transferred back to the original Registrar in cases where both Registrars so agree and/or where a decision in the dispute resolution process so directs). “Transferred” shall only mean that an inter-registrar transfer has occurred in accordance with the procedures of this policy.

Here is the email that GoDaddy will send when they deny the domain transfer:

The transfer of YOURDOMAIN.COM from GoDaddy.com, Inc. to another registrar could not
be completed for the following reason(s):

Express written objection to the transfer from the Transfer Contact. (e.g. – email,
fax, paper document or other processes by which the Transfer Contact has expressly
and voluntarily objected through opt-in means). 

The express written objection may be the result of a pending or recently completed
Change of Registered Name Holder. This is an opt-in process during which the new
Registered Name Holder agrees not to transfer for 60-days. This domain will be
transferable on MM/DD/YYYY.

GoDaddy tries to comply with reason number six from the list above.  GoDaddy implies that you expressed written consent and opted-in.  However, if you cannot opt-out, it is not an opt-in policy, and it is not voluntary.  GoDaddy will not let you opt-out.  I tested this by trying to transfer a domain within weeks of updating the registration information.  I talked to a GoDaddy supervisor on the telephone.  He not only refused to comply with ICANN policy, he hung up on me after he said, “Do you think that the world’s largest domain registrar isn’t familiar with ICANN policy?”  He contended that I agreed to the 60 day hold period when I clicked on one of the check boxes that  I was required to check in order to make the change to the domain.

So, you’ve been warned. Transfer your domains away from GoDaddy, and don’t wait too long.  Currently, I’ve filed a complaint with the BBB and am starting a major campaign through ICANN’s proper channels until GoDaddy stops violating ICANN’s policies and stops their unethical behavior.

Please join me in sending GoDaddy a message that we, the consumer, still matter, and there is nothing wrong with fair competition.

What can you do to help?

1. Unlock, retrieve your authorization code, and transfer your domains away from GoDaddy today
2. If they refuse to allow you to transfer your domains, file an online complaint to the BBB
3. Ask your new registrar to contact GoDaddy or initiate a Transfer Dispute against GoDaddy
4. File an official complaint against GoDaddy and site “Transfer Problems” as the issue
5. Get involved with ICANN

The only way that you can break the chain of consumer mistreatment is to spend your money elsewhere.  Today, I spent just a couple of minutes to transfer a couple of domains away from GoDaddy. Within the hour, they were in the account at my new registrar.  I don’t have to put up with GoDaddy’s endless service spam, bloated user interface, lack of free features, and ill will.

By the way, GoDaddy is not the world’s largest domain registrar.  In that sense, they are all created equal.  GoDaddy simply has more domain registrations than anyone else, which are just records in a database and are supposed to be free to move elsewhere.

Some CMS and Wiki systems have a great number of features, and are very popular, such as Joomla, WordPress, and MediaWiki.  However, all three of these use a database server as a back-end.  A database usually ends up being the best solution for a large site with a lot of content due to the efficient manner in which a database can look up data and its ability to handle concurrent users.  A file based storage solution can quickly grow beyond the capabilities of the file system for large data sets.

However, for small websites with minimal content (most of us fall into this category), a file based storage solution may be the better solution.  A file based system is less susceptible to failure due to it being less complex and not relying on the database.  It also uses less RAM because it does not rely on a separate database server.  Also, without a database server, it’s much easier to install, backup, and copy.

So, not only can file based systems be much smaller, some actually strive to be smaller.  They have smaller memory, storage, and CPU footprints.

NanoCMS is a rather new, very small footprint, file based, CMS system.   NanoCMS performed very nicely, tested on an old Pentium system running Ubuntu and Apache with only 384 MB of RAM.

DokuWiki is a file based Wiki system.  I haven’t tested this one yet, but it seems to be the most popular file based wiki system.  It has plenty of features and a feature rich syntax. DocuWiki would be great for that small to medium sized online documentation project.

It’s okay to go without a few features for the sake of simplicity and performance. Think about overkill and ask yourself if what you want is really what you need. When it comes to performance and maintenance, size matters, so think about keeping it small.

Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide their users with free news service. Some ISPs even subcontract their free news service through one of the premium news services such as Easynews.

Often, these ISP provided news services don’t require a login. Instead, the ISP uses the source IP address to allow or disallow access to the news service. So, as long as you’re on the ISP’s lines (at home), you can access the news service without question. However, if you aren’t at home, you can’t access the news service.

You might be away from home and need to access your ISP provided news service. Normally, you can only access the news service from home. However, yProxy allows you to share your connection from home.

In local mode, yProxy only accepts connections from the same physical computer where yProxy is running. This is for security. However, if you turn this mode off, yProxy will accept connections from anywhere.

Simply leave yProxy running on your home computer, you connect to yProxy remotely, and yProxy connectes to the news server over the ISP’s own lines. As far as the ISP knows, you’re sitting at home on your computer accessing the news server.

To setup yProxy and your computer for remote news service access, simply follow these steps, in order:

1. Configure your home computer’s firewall to allow remote connections to local port 119 from the IP address that you will be connecting from. If you do not use the firewall to restrict access, the entire Internet may be able to connect to yProxy and share your news connection. In addition, if your firewall is enabled and you don’t specifically allow this type of connection, your firewall will probably block it by default. In other words, don’t skip this step.
2. If you have a Internet router or Local Area Network at home, you will also need to configure your router or gateway, enabling port forwarding for port 119 and directing it to the address of the computer where yProxy is running. This is so you can reach the computer on your home Local Area Network from the Internet.
3. On your home computer, run yProxy, but turn off the “Run locally only” Server option.
4. Now, you just need to know the public IP address of your home computer. An easy way to get your home computer’s public IP address is to visit IPChicken from your home computer. Your home computer’s public IP address is the address that you will connect to remotely from your work or vacation. In your remote computer’s news reader settings, simply set the news server name to your home computer’s public IP address. This allows your news reader to connect to yProxy remotely on your home computer. yProxy will then connect to your free news service via your ISP.

Caveats

In case it isn’t obvious, you’ll need an always-on Internet connection at home. Most highspeed cable and DSL plans automatically provide this type of service. You will also need to leave your home computer on.

If your news service provider requires a login, you will need to configure your remote news reader with the required username and password.

Benefits of using yProxy yEnc Decoder as a remote news proxy:

• Access your free or premium news service from anywhere
• Share your news service with friends, family, and coworkers
• yProxy still decodes yEnc messages for you, remotely

Disclaimer

Please note that some ISPs who provide news service restrict this type of use in their terms of agreement or other legal agreements which you may have signed. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are not violating the terms with your ISP, or be willing to face the consequences.

If you are paying a premium news service provider, they probably won’t care if you share their service because you are paying for the bandwidth usage, just as long as you don’t resell the service. Read your agreements or ask them if you’re unsure.

You do have to install the SPDIF cable on your video card and motherboard, and configure your audio settings to get it to work, but you only have to do this once.

Here are the steps to get audio and video over a single HDMI cable working with your  EVGA nVidia GTX 260 video card and EVGA 780i motherboard on Windows Vista x64:

1. Install the SPDIF cable that came with your EVGA nVidia GTX 260 video card. It connects from the EVGA 780i motherboard to the video card. Follow EVGA’s instructions for installing the SPDIF cable. The instructions are the same for your hardware, regardless of the fact that the instructions state they are for older versions of the hardware.
2. Download the latest nVidia reference drivers for your video card and install them.
3. Install the audio drivers for the Realtek chip set that came with your motherboard. After you install the drivers, you will see a new option in the Windows Control Panel called Realtek HD Audio Manager. You will find it in the category “Additional Options”, or you will see it in the alphabetical listing if you select Classic View in the Windows Control Panel. Realtek does not provide updated drivers, so unless you download updated drivers from EVGA, don’t install any other drivers. I reiterate: Do not install any drivers off of Realtek’s website.
4. Open the Realtek HD Audio Manager from the Windows Control Panel. You will find it in the category “Additional Options”, or you will see it in the alphabetical listing if you select Classic View in the Windows Control Panel.
5. Stay away from the “Digital Output” tab of the Realtek HD Audio Manager. This is not the setting you want. It does not affect the HDMI output.
6. Using the “DVI to HDMI adapter” that came with your EVGA nVidia GTX 260 video card, hookup an HDMI cable from one of the DVI connectors on your EVGA nVidia GTX 260 video card to the HDMI port on your digital television and ensure that your digital television is powered on.
7. On your digital television or other device, select the input that corresponds to the HDMI port that you have plugged your computer into.  The “HDMI Output” tab will now appear in the Realtek HD Audio Manager.
8. In the Realtek HD Audio Manager, select the “HDMI Output” tab.
9. On the “HDMI Output” tab of the Realtek HD Audio Manager, select the button “Set Default Device”.
10. Reboot your computer to be sure all the setting are properly configured and your drivers are installed.
11. Set your screen resolution to the maximum resolution that your digital television supports.
12. If you have another display device hooked up to the EVGA nVidia GTX 260 video card, you may need to configure the Mutliple Display Settings from the nVidia Control Panel to mirror or span your desktop across both displays.

Native yEnc Decoder

The native yEnc Decoder is the one that is built into your software.  If your newsreader has yEnc Decoder support, this means that your application provides native yEnc Decoder support.

The Forte Agent newsreader is a native yEnc Decoder.

Manual yEnc Decoder

If your newsreader does not offer yEnc Decoder support natively, like Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Opera, you will need third party software that provides yEnc Decoder functionality. A manual yEnc Decoder allows you to copy and paste, or save your news messages as text, and convert the yEnc messages into binaries.  This is a manual process.  yEnc32 is a manual yEnc Decoder.

Automatic yEnc Decoder

An automatic yEnc Decoder is also a third party software that you use when your newsreader does not have a yEnc Decoder feature. There are many types of automatic yEnc Decoders.  There are application specific plugin, and there are generic plugins like yProxy Pro that works with any newsreader.

An automatic yEnc Decoder such as yProxy Pro only has to be setup or configured once, then it automatically decodes yEnc attachments for your newsreader.

It’s time to get a new computer system.  My current system has reached its limit of upgrade-ability.  I can’t even watch streaming HD video over the Internet.  I need a faster processor and/or a faster graphics card.

My 5 year old motherboard has an AGP slot, whereas, in order to upgrade the video card, I need a PCI Express slot.  This forces me to purchase a new motherboard, and therefore a new CPU and RAM, and even new hard drives (they’re all SATA nowadays, not IDE).  So, rather than put everything in my existing case, and having my old motherboard, CPU, RAM, and hard drives collect dust, I’m buying a new case to build a second system.  The old system will be given to my wife after a clean reinstall of the OS.

The NewEgg debacle

So, I load up my shopping cart at NewEgg.com.  They have tons of rebates, so the price is looking good.  I apply for the finance option (0 percent for 12 months) so I can pay it off over at least a couple months.  I get turned down.  Twice.  Reason: supposedly, they’re “unable to verify” my information.  That answer is so vague and could be used for any reason to deny a person credit.

So, I’m forced to use my credit card, and when I click submit, the order seems to go through.  I log in later, only to find that my order’s status is “void”.  I call NewEgg about this, and in the mean time, they block my account entirely, so I can’t even log in.

Apparently, somebody had fraudulently used my credit card on a different NewEgg account, but this was two years ago.  They caught the fraud and blocked it.  Then, when I tried to use the credit card, it raised a red flag, and my account got blocked.  It took me four days and three phone calls to get this straightened out so that I could use a different credit card to place an order.

Comparison shopping

In the meantime, while I was waiting for NewEgg to unfoul my account, I had time to price compare the new system at a few competitors, with TigerDirect being one of them.  As it turns out, Mwave.com, TigerDirect.com, and NewEgg.com were all within $10 of each other for total cost after shipping.

I still wanted to use NewEgg for most of my order because they seem to have a more extensive rebate program–there were more mail in rebates if I went through NewEgg.

Ordering from TigerDirect.com

The price was lower at TigerDirect.com for the graphics card, regardless of rebate.  So, I ordered the card from TigerDirect.  There was also a $1.99 shipping sale on that item, so I had it shipped to me for only $1.99 via ground (supposedly 5-7 business days).  As it turns out, TigerDirect has a warehouse in Illinois, and that $1.99 5-7 business day ground shipping got me the graphics card the next day.

I’m still waiting for NewEgg.com to process my order.

I probably haven’t ordered from TigerDirect.com in over 10 years. They’ve been around for a lot longer than NewEgg.com.  I made the switch to NewEgg.com thanks to NewEgg’s often cheaper and speedier shipping methods and decent return policy.  However, as time has gone by, NewEgg.com has tightened their policies.  If you’re a die hard NewEgg.com shopper, and you haven’t done so yet, it’s time to re-evaluate them.

Comparing NewEgg.com and TigerDirect.com

NewEgg.com’s return policies are now very strict, especially regarding video cards and CPUs.  TigerDirect.com’s return policy is still 30 days on everything.

NewEgg.com does NOT do price protection.  TigerDirect.com will give you store credit for the difference if any item you purchase lowers in price within 30 days after the purchase (except for CPUs and RAM, and things that include CPUs and RAM, such as desktops, bundles, etc.).

TigerDirect.com apparently has multiple warehouses, so you’ll very likely get speedy deliveries on most items, even without paying for 2 or 3 day shipping.  NewEgg.com charges for 2 or 3 days shipping on everything, even if the closest warehouse is down the street.

TigerDirect.com is back

It’s been awhile since I ordered from TigerDirect.com, but I think, after this new purchase from them, and this first reimpression, they’ve won me back.

I’ve read some other reviews about the PC version of Fallout 3, and most of the reviews are favorable, but I think that most of the reviews fail to explain exactly what is different about Fallout 3 that makes it so fun to play.

Fallout 3 is immersive.  From the very beginning, you are immersed into the Fallout 3 world, beginning with life inside the vault.  You eavesdrop on many conversations and can talk with most characters that you encounter.  People act and react believably, and you feel like you’re there.

Every survival decision includes a moral choice.  Will you try to be honest and fair?  Will you put your own needs above others no matter the consequences?  When there are tough decisions to be made, will you be able to make them?

There are so many different skills to choose from, how can a vault dweller understand which skills to improve?  What skills are useful in the wasteland?  It’s tough realizing that you have to live and die with your own decisions.  This is life outside the vault.

V.A.T.S. (the replacement for turn based combat)

I really like the game system.  Fallout 3 is basically a first person shooter, but you can pause combat at any time using the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.).  V.A.T.S. allows you to perform bullet time attacks by targeting individual enemies, including specific body parts, and even the enemy’s weapon.  However, you will most likely find yourself quickly running out of action points, so you must combat in first person shooter mode until your action points regenerate.  Your agility skill will determine the number of action points you get in V.A.T.S. mode.

It’s unfortunate that while in V.A.T.S. mode, the only thing you can do is target enemies.  In previous Fallout games, you could also move your character while in turned based combat.  Half of combat is maneuvering and effective use of cover, but since you can only shoot (or strike) in V.A.T.S. mode, you simply end up trading blows with the enemy.  Exchanging blows with the enemy is never a good strategy.

Some oddities

It’s amazing how trusting people are, leaving unsecured items out for you to steal.  The average person in the modern world has a tough time passing up such opportunities.  Placed in the post apocalyptic wastelands, it baffles me how people leave their items laying around for you to steal, unseen, with the only penalty being a loss of karma.

There seem to be a lot of bugs in the initial release of Fallout 3.  Make sure you save often.

It’s strange that if you hack a computer, then later find the password, the password wasn’t the same as the one you used to hack it.  In my opinion, that’s a bug.

Tips

Make sure you read the manual because the in-game training does not explain every abbreviation that you see in the HUD.

The in-game map is not very detailed, so try to learn the layout of the land as you walk through it and memorize landmarks.

Don’t try to steal a knife when you already own a pistol.  It’s not worth the trouble if you get caught.  Weigh the risk versus the reward.

Don’t believe the minimum requirements

Unfortunately, my computer only meets the minimum requirements for the game.   When fighting multiple enemies, even on the lowest video settings, the game is too slow and too unresponsive to be able to aim in first person shooter mode, so I am stuck with using V.A.T.S. for even close combat where I wouldn’t normally miss.  I run out of action points, and then I take damage from the enemies until I get enough action points to fight again.  The game is impossibly hard to play like that.

The game certainly lies about the minimum requirements.  Perhaps when they first started designing the game, they tested it with the minimum requirements and it was playable, but the final release is not playable with the minimum requirements.

If you can play Fallout 3 at medium video settings or above, please post a comment with your system specs so that I know what I need to upgrade.

Here are my specs:

• Windows XP SP2
• Pentium IV 2.4 GHz
• 2 GB RAM
• NVidia 7600 GS 256 MB

To play or not to play

If you are fanatic about Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, and you simply crave more quirky wasteland charm and drama, then you will get some of that, but in a much more bland and bleak way.  V.A.T.S. does not replace turn based combat, and the dialog trees are much smaller in Fallout 3.  The world just isn’t as complex, but it is prettier to look at.

If you are looking for an immersive, single-player, hybrid RPG/first person shooter game, set in a post apocalyptic world, with mildly adult themes, then this game is for you.

Is it worth $50 for the PC version?  In my opinion, it’s not.  It’s all a bit too short and simple.  Wait until the bugs are fixed, and the price comes down.  However, if price is no object, and you don’t demand a lot of value for your money, then buy it yesterday.  It is fun.