Saturday, October 27, 2012

Tips and tricks for getting Windows 8 Pro for up to 70% cheaper

Well Windows 8 is here to both popular and negative reviews. I know many people will have difficulty adapting to the changes in the Windows 8, but since I use multiple operating systems I am pretty comfortable  with learning new systems. Windows 8 was way easier to adapt to from Windows 7 than Unity was to from Gnome.

This post is going to be about how to currently (and most of these offers will be for a limited time only) purchase Windows 8 for as cheap as possible.

The first cost saving advice I can offer you is to get the Windows 8 Pro upgrade. Do not be concerned if you want to do a full format and reload of the operating system. The upgrade version allows you to create a bootable USB flash disk or a bootable DVD that allows you to format and load from scratch.

The one requirement the Windows 8 Pro upgrade has is that you have to have a legal copy of a previous version of Windows from Windows XP (SP3) upwards. For most of us this will not be a problem.

However, it is only recently become affordable for more than just the top 10% of income earners. So I know more than just a few of you have illegal copies of previous versions of Microsoft Windows. Well download a legal copy of the trial version of Microsoft Windows 7 here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/cc442495

Install it for free and then you will be able to buy your copy of Windows 8 Pro cheaper without having to have previously purchased a license. In my case I had been testing the Windows 8 Consumer Preview for several months and was able to purchase the upgrade with that free key I got from Microsoft.

Once you are ready to purchase the Windows 8 Pro upgrade you can click on this link and purchased this limited time offer from Microsoft to purchase Windows 8 Pro for R299:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ZA/windows/buy

Groupon will be selling it on a special price for R600 and Incredible Connection will be selling it for around R700.

For those of you that have bought a new PC with Windows 7 between 2 June 2012 and 31 January 2013 can also register for Microsoft’s special upgrade offer for $14.99. To get this amazing cheap offer go to this Microsoft website:

http://windowsupgradeoffer.com/

Currently there is a trick that more tech savvy users can do to cash in on this offer $15 without owning a legal copy of Windows 7 Pro from that time period. Please see this forum post on MyBroadBand on how to purchase Windows 8 Pro for the lowest price:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/477194-Windows-8-Pro-upgrade-for-R299-now-available-online!?p=9198752&viewfull=1#post9198752

One more special I think you should know about is the limited time offer for the Windows Media Center application. Currently it is offered for free here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

Microsoft will soon be charging for this application so get it while its free.


Thursday, October 18, 2012

The ANC and the abuse of state money. East London Museum

So today I decided to go to our local museum to collect some information on a site a couple of us intend investigating out of historical interest.

When you walk into the East London Museum you walk straight into a wall of ANC propaganda. I was rather shocked at this. Imagine if you were American and you walked into the museum there to see that the ruling party had dedicated the entire entrance of the museum to promoting their ideology.



I spoke to a member of staff at the East London museum and I asked her, "Who is paying for all of this?"

I know the EL Museum is short on money and struggling to survive so surely it was not Museum money that was been used to promote the African National Congress?

The kind I spoke to responded, "Do not worry, the museum is not paying for this. The Department of Sports is paying for the ANC display".




I could not believe my ears. In South Africa our atheletes are always complaining about a lack of funding and here is the ruling party wasting precious sport resources to promote the African National Congress!

This is a disgusting abuse of state resources and yet another reason why voters need to wake up. This blatant abuse of state funds to promote the ANC`s ideology is typical of the ANC.






Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Best parody music video's for the 2012 American elections

A couple of you might know I follow the American elections pretty closely. I find them entertaining  educational and important.

So here are a couple of the parody videos that have come up in my feeds that I thought were worth sharing.

Mitt Romney Style (Gangnam Style Parody)




Will The Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up Romney Please Stand Up





Wrong Direction's "Disclosure"





Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney





U Didn't Build That by MC 'Bama




Let me know if you see any other good suggestions to be added to this page.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Clarification of yesterday with regards to Wikileaks

I thought I needed a follow up post considering the drama that was unleashed on the Twittersphere last night. As you know in my previous post I mentioned I did not like the way the Assange's were running Wikileaks and in protest of some actions against Wikileaks supporters I pulled down the South African mirror for Wikileaks.

Firstly, I really did not know the world was going to go crazy when I did that. Heck, I hardly thought anyone knew or cared about the SA Wikileaks mirror. Seems I was wrong. Out of nowhere hundreds of people started messaging me. Some for Wikileaks... thought most against it.

Despite conspiracies Wikileaks supporters are saying. My account was not hacked and I really did run the South African mirror. I have posted links and information to substantiate this. I am not a CIA agent. I am not a smearbot and nothing of mine has been hacked.

So... do I hate Wikileaks? No. Like many of you the ideal behind it... that of making those in power be more accountable and transparent is still one of the single biggest focuses I have in my life. I might no longer wish to offer my resources to support Wikileaks but that does not mean I want them destroyed or gone. I am sure they are going to be useful in the future. What I do have a problem with is the way its run.

As I said in my last post, I believe the ideal that everyone is working for is bigger than one man (and his mom). This is where Wikileaks fails me. Not only do they not take their support base (beyond begging for money) seriously.... for me as a South African. They are pretty useless.

If someone in my country wants to show information about corrupt officials they wont go to Wikileaks. Most of the time the site says its not accepting new leaks or whatever new whim or direction Julian Assange is following. I would not be surprised if one day he charges whistle-blowers to upload classified data.

So I have decided to focus on projects that are more inclusive. I am currently working with a great group of people for something very exciting. It is totally in line with my beliefs of government and corporate accountability and transparency and will include all whistle blowing websites. It will not just focus on one. It will hopefully give exposure to other similar platforms and offer advice on which whistle blowing platform is best for you. It will even include Wikileaks to a degree.

So if you have a whistleblower website or a website dedicated to government and corporate accountability and transparency please let me know. I would love to include it in my future project. 

Monday, October 15, 2012

The day Wikileaks died for me (and most other liberals)

I woke up this morning and could not believe what I was reading over my morning cup of tea. Firstly was the news that the Wikileaks-Forum was closing down and secondly was at how unhinged Julian Assange's mother (Christine Assange) behaved.

It turns out there was a massive Internet fight between Wikileaks supporters (Mostly spear headed by the owner of the website Cabledrum.net). To give you an idea of how this chap behaved, he basically stalked all the moderators and admins of Wikileaks-Forum because they would not do things his way.

If you are a liberal like me, and believed in the concept of Wikileaks... you can safely move on. According to Julians OWN mother; Wikileaks is not about some type of progressive liberal movement for truth and accountability. Its all about her and her son. She actually showed disdain in a communication I saw for liberals! (Or a "leftie game" as she called it).

For a long time now I was a strong supporter of Julian. I used to donate regularly to him. I defended and supported his actions because I believed in the cause that he was fighting for. Since the days of the original attack I ran the primary South African Wikileaks mirror (www.wikileaks.za.org). Back in those days thousands of us rallied to support Wikileaks when it was under constant DDOS attack.

 Now that  I have seen the absolute disdain the Assange`s treat this cause with, I can no longer put my support behind the organization. To the Assange's it has become the Assange Road Show. Wikileaks is all about them and their own personal agenda.

Long time supporters of Wikileaks the world over are getting upset with how Assange is managing this. You just need to look back at the history of Wikileaks to see the long line of good people who have been pushed to the side. From guys in the first official group right up until now. A trail of disenfranchised, highly competent individuals all coming to the same conclusion. This is not about freedom of information, its simply the Julian Assange fan club. A fan club dedicated to the Cult of Personality.

Even one of the biggest supporters of Wikileaks. The hacker collective known as Anonymous have come out with almost identical complaints to just about everyone else involved with Wikileaks. The hacker collective says whistleblowers website has become the 'Julian Assange show'. I could not agree more.

I think the straw that broke the camels back for me what Christine Assange. No offence Christine, but you have absolutely no idea how much damage you are doing. Your son is playing a high end game of politics and one of the most important assets in politics for ANY politician is his or hers support base. Calling them names and behaving like you did is not the way to gain supporters. Its a sure fire way to lose them.

Instead of being a wise, sage political voice, you decided to attack Wikileaks supporters and throw kerosene on the fire.

So ladies and gentlemen, friends and family. I am writing this in the hope to inform you that if you are a Wikileaks supporter. Now is the time to move on. The idea behind Wikileaks is still a great and noble idea. Transparency and accountability are more important than one man (and his moms) ego.  Now is the time to stop supporting Wikileaks and start supporting the alternatives.

To show that I am serious I am taking down the Wikileaks.za.org South African mirror in protest of how some Wikileaks supporters and the Assange's are behaving. Please note, by taking down I mean I am no longer volunteering my resources as a South African mirror of Wikileaks. I doubt Julian will care.

 To anyone else wanting to take the idea behind Wikileaks and want to promote transparency and accountability. I offer to you my time, hosting and server infrastructure. I will fully support any Wikileaks type project that is NOT run like a totalitarian dictatorship.

Right now I bet Christine and Co are thinking I am part of the "ruthless powers" dedicated to "killing her son". I am not. I am just a liberal South African that used to be one of their biggest supporters.

For further reading on how rabid the faithful in Julian's Cult of Personality were and how the attacked Wikileaks-Forum please check out this link:

http://www.wikiwatch.org.uk/attacks-on-wikileaks-forum/

For further reading on how Anonymous is reacting to Wikileaks please read this link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/12/anonymous-distances-itself-wikileaks

Please note, I am working closely with some exciting people on an important project that will help promote transparency and accountability and will not be limited by one man or one site.



Friday, October 12, 2012

Jon Stewart supporting Rupert Murdoch

So yeah, I know the title of this blog post is a little inflammatory and you are probably wondering how the heck I came to the conclusion that Jon Stewart would in any way support Fox News owner, Rupert Murdoch.

Well, its actually a pretty direct link. For years international liberals from around the world used to browse The Daily Show Website and watch the latest episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Well all off a sudden that changed. In one move, Jon Stewart closed out his entire international audience and started helping Rupert Murdoch make money.

This all happened when Comedy Central moved their online video's to Hulu.com. In 2007, Hulu.com was founded by NBC and News Corp. News Corp is owned and run by Rupert Murdoch. News Corp is also the owner of Fox News.

So now when anyone who does not live in the United States of America visits The Daily Show website, they are completely cut off from Jon's show and are instead greeted with the following message:


I have to take my hat off to Rupert Murdoch. In one move he increased the viewers on Hulu.com and was able to cut out Jon Stewart's messages from reaching an international audience. The biggest loser in all of this is The Daily Show. 

When I used to watch in on http://www.thedailyshow.com I used to sit through the adverts and then enjoy the show. Since I am no longer able to legally watch The Daily Show, I now have to download it from alternative ad free streams. 

Jon... if you ever read this. Change the system. You have a massive international audience. We are often involved in liberal debates that cover issues that already have covered. In the past if we were having an online debate on something you had covered we would navigate to your site. Find the clip we wanted, and post it on our forums. 

This was good for you and us. For us it allowed us to drive home an important point. For you it brought more traffic and eyes to your website. 

Comedy Central and The Daily Show have really shafted their international audience. I really hope they wake up. I just find it really strange that The Daily Show would allow Murdoch to cut of their massive audience so easily. 

Well Jon... I guess its the bottom line that counts huh?