For the unwary - there’s been a new Amazon spoof email supposedly asking you to verify your account ownership at Amazon. It may seem very authentic (has proper recipient info + sender email etc). The links are even displayed as “amazon.com”, but actually clicking it would lead to a completely different site (the page just looks like Amazon). Just something to keep a heads up on.

For the curious, here is what the email stated:

Greetings from Amazon Payments.

Your bank has contacted us regarding some attempts of charges from your credit card via the Amazon system. We have reasons to believe that you changed your registration information or that someone else has unauthorized access to your Amazon account Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized listings placed on your account, we will require a second confirmation of your identity with us in order to allow us to investigate this matter further. Your account is not suspended, but if in 48 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to suspend your Amazon registration. If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of Amazon policy to represent oneself as another Amazon user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. Amazon is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related to attempts to misappropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request of law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

To confirm your identity with us click here:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/flex-sign-in/ref=pd_irl_gw_r/103-3177084-7567864?opt=oa&page=recs/sign-in-secure.html

After responding to the message, we ask that you allow at least 72 hours for the case to be investigated. Emailing us before that time will result in delays. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you and we would like to thank you for your cooperation as we review this matter.

Thank you for your interest in selling at Amazon.com.

Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com

This message and any files or documents attached may contain classified information. It is intended only for the individual or entity named and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient or authorized to receive it, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately then delete it from your system. Please also note that transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free.

Killer Amoeba

Something scarier than Mad Cow. Always the brain wasting ones that seem to catch my attention. O_O

Another Report - Reporter on the video seems a little too happy about the issue?

They say that the disease is very hard to get (Disease? It literally eats your brain…) and requires that you actually have damage in the nasal area (a cut or similar for the amoeba to enter) to actually hurt you. Water must also be at 90 degrees F constantly for the amoeba to thrive. Then they go and contradict these by saying most of who reportedly had the disease were “healthy, college-aged adults”. Okay…

Then there’s some rather dramatic headings out there:
“Killer Amoeba PLAGUES Texas Lake” (a very rare plague indeed..)
“Killer Amoeba for the Warming!” (?)

I guess I just won’t go swimming for a while…

Been looking around for a codec to play MPEG2 and AVCHD for a long time now. My computer can play MPEG2, but no thumbnails are visible for the files. AVCHD just comes to a standstill.

I did however, come across a very nice solution.

Review of Sony HDR-SR1…

Scroll down to playback of AVCHD (or search PowerDVD). Basically, you can install the trial of PowerDVD and have all its codecs (playback of MPEG2 and AVCHD + thumbnails) at your disposal.

To use the codecs without keeping the trial installed (which btw, is disgustingly filled with ads asking you to buy the product), go to the PowerDVD directory.

Do a search for CL264dec.ax and copy that to C:\Windows\system32\

Click Start > Run and type C:\windows\system32\regsvr32 CL264dec.ax to register the codec.

You can now play MPEG2 and AVCHD in most players + see its thumbnails.

Recently obtained a camcorder that records to AVCHD video; those wondering about HD Camcorders really ought not to - the prices are relatively the same as standard-def now, no point settling for that. However, for those who wish to edit their video, AVCHD notoriously poses a problem. Few programs support editing for it; Adobe Premiere (what I use) specifically fails to import it.
Not that I doubt I shall be stuck this way for long though; I will be spending the next few days hunting for a way to edit it. I’ve already found some work-arounds, but they do not provide true editing and/or are flawed.
For example:
Editing AVCHD in Premiere without intermediate codec - This is as close to native editing as I’ve found so far (native, meaning no conversions before or after editing). However, the method here loads the files in RAM. What’s the problem with this? Remember that this is an HD format; imagine loading several GB of video into RAM. Many people may not even have more than 1 GB of RAM and will force their programs to shut down.

Editing AVCHD Made Easy - This method is definitely not anywhere close to native editing, but it does the job. It basically has you convert the files to an editable format before importing. The only problems are disc space and conversion time. There’s also that “eRightSoft Super (c)” program that looks pretty darn suspicious. There’s a debate on how safe this program is on Monkeyless’s blog, but it’s pretty inconclusive. The good thing though, is that it allows video players to view AVCHD - this lets you choose which clips to convert to AVCHD - saving you a bit of space and time.

Of course, the ideal solution would be if Adobe supported the format in the first place…

For those who did a bit of searching on their own part and know that an older version of Flash is messing up the Adobe CS3 install…

Even after deleting all instances of Flash on both the harddrive and registry, I was not able to install Adobe so hopefully this solution helps a few people. Please make sure you have done a bit of research yourself first; I recommend reading Components Install Failed at the very least to have some idea of what you need to do.

First off: Do NOT reinstall Adobe CS3 over and over again. Go to the Content CD >… Goodies > Adobe Flash > Flash Player Install

Since the Flash Player is the one messing up, you only need to run Flash to see if you fixed your problem. If you didn’t, you’ll get an error message about an older version of Flash. This takes only a minute, compared to the hour spent installing CS3.

When you’ve made sure you deleted all instances of Flash and still have this problem, go to Run, enter eventvwr, Application… Take a look at the errors. One should be the older version of Flash from before, but you’ll notice other errors as well.

For me, there was another error claiming “Unexpected or missing value…” and ending in “…\Microsoft\Installer\Products\{Random Gibberish}\SourceList”. {RandomGibberish} is what you need to search for in your registry now and remove. You may have to do this multiple times if you have more than one error (I had 2 in addition to the older version of Flash).

After doing this, I ran the Flash install again (from Content disc) and it installed fine. Ran the Adobe CS3 and it installed fine as well.