Activity for April 1

Review - OpenVPN
2.3.1 (Apr 1, 2013)

The 64-bit release of 2.3.1 doesn't work on my Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 system. I cannot connect to any VPN servers. I reverted back to 2.3.0 x64 and I'm back up and running.

Giving this 2.3.1 release a 1 rating at this point. If it doesn't work then it's useless.
Review - OpenVPN
2.3.0 (Jan 8, 2013)

The software, itself, is 100% freeware. You can use it with any VPN service or VPN setup that supports OpenVPN.

I've been running the v2.3 alphas and RCs for awhile and now have v2.3 installed. Working just fine without any issues.
Review - AnyDVD HD
7.0.6.4 Beta (Aug 16, 2012)

v7.0.7.0 has been released.
Review - Apple AirPort Utility for Windows
6.0 (Jan 31, 2012)

There is no v6 version of the utility for Windows available as of yet. No mention on the Apple website, either. The download link is for the previous v5.5.3.2 version for Windows. For the control it gives you over the devices it is designed for I can't say anything bad although I wish the Windows version offered a bit more. It seems the Mac version offers more tailoring.
Review - AnyDVD HD
6.9.1.1 Beta (Jan 5, 2012)

Great product which, as usual, is given poor ratings by trolls.

Let's correct a few mistakes. AnyDVD does not cost 152 USD to just decrypt DVDs. AnyDVD HD which supports DVD, Blu-ray, and HD-DVD is 152.168 USD. If someone just wants AnyDVD for DVDs then a lifetime license is only 88.2521 USD.

AnyDVD HD is 152.168 USD for a lifetime license and handles both DVDs and Blu-rays. To handle both DVDs and Blu-ray with DVDFab products you need to purchase DVDFab DVD Copy and DVDFab Blu-ray Copy which is 181.20 USD for a lifetime license. Or you can look at DVDFab Passkey for DVD and Passkey for Blu-ray for 166.10 USD for a lifetime license. You have to purchase 2 separate licenses to handle DVDs and Blu-ray and either way you go with either the full DVDFab product or the DVDFab Passkey product you are spending more money than Slysoft charges for a single AnyDVD HD lifetime license.

These days the two main products for handling DVD & Blu-ray are from Slysoft and DVDFab however I wouldn't put them in the same league. AnyDVD still remains the better program and is not comparatively priced insanely high. In fact, as I've shown it is actually cheaper when dealing with both DVD and Blu-ray and purchasing a lifetime license.

NOTE: DVDFab just raised their prices AGAIN as of the new year. Slysoft didn't.

NOTE 2: No, my pricing was based on NON-sale full retail pricing. Playing around with sale prices which come and go and is silly so I compared the fixed retail price. I'm neither a liar nor a troll. I don't run around marking down all the other software like you do, Output Overboard.

Note 3: The best Blu-ray software (ie Clown_BD and BD Rebuilder) are free and work beautifully with AnyDVD HD. For BD-50 to BD-50 backups or BD-25 to BD-25 backups you just need AnyDVD HD and Imgburn. The best DVD software for fitting DVD-9 backups onto a DVD-5 blank is DVD Rebuilder and it works beautifully with AnyDVD. For DVD-9 to DVD-9 or DVD-5 to DVD-5 backups all you need is AnyDVD and ImgBurn.
Comment - Hollywood's 28-day delay for Redbox and Netflix is now Blockbuster's only advantage
6.9.1.1 Beta (May 27, 2011 - 4:25 PM)

With the death of Movie Gallery where I live I use Redbox and I rent Blu-Ray whenever I can. The price difference between a DVD vs Blu-Ray makes it worth grabbing a movie on Blu-Ray when I can. Blockbuster has been on my s*** list for years so they don't get any of my money, period. It really was only a matter of time before the house of cards fell for all the big rental chains and a new pricing model needed to be used. Both Netflix and Redbox carved out parts of the market for themselves and that lead to the collapse of Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video and Blockbuster.
Comment - Sony offers virtual goods as payback for PlayStation Network outage: a worthy refund?
6.9.1.1 Beta (May 18, 2011 - 12:05 AM)

Sony giving people this "compensation" is nothing more than a PR stunt. Sony has egg on their face. There was testimony in front of the US Congress. The FBI was involved in things. No matter how you cut it things went wrong and Sony holds responsibility for the lack of security for their own network and as a result they are directly responsible for the loss of private customer data. Paying people off with a couple games and lame apology after what occurred and how Sony handled things is a joke. If some people want to stick their heads in the sand and think they came out ahead then... well... good luck with that. Some people actually do care about companies properly securing and safeguarding customer data. I mean that's their responsibility.
Comment - Sony offers virtual goods as payback for PlayStation Network outage: a worthy refund?
6.9.1.1 Beta (May 17, 2011 - 10:28 PM)

Your reply is meaningless. Sony wasn't running one of the most secure networks in the world. They were running unpatched server software among other things. The fact is that they were asleep at the wheel.
Comment - Sony offers virtual goods as payback for PlayStation Network outage: a worthy refund?
6.9.1.1 Beta (May 17, 2011 - 7:33 PM)

Sony was lazy and as a result hackers obtained private information. The breach was enough to take down the system for 24 days as things were investigated and fixed. How exactly do a few goodies make up for such a blatant and pathetic lack of security?
Comment - Verizon iPhone launch is a bust, as hordes of Apple Store employees wait for no one to come
6.9.1.1 Beta (Feb 10, 2011 - 12:36 PM)

This story has one beneficial piece of information and that is if you were silly enough to not pre-order and your schedule is so free that you figured you could stand in line for no good reason then chances are it'll take less time that one would have expected to get your phone.

There are two very big points to be made concerning the Verizon iPhone4 release, however:

(1) I believe anyone ordering an iPhone4 from Verizon right now is a complete fool. Why pay through the nose for it when the iPhone5 isn't far off? Apparently people have way too much money to burn. Granted the Verizon version is not exactly the same as the AT&T GSM version but the fact is the technology is already dated and it's over-priced while the iPhone5 is right around the corner.

(2) Pre-orders? Left and right I read about the pre-order demand being so high for the Verizon iPhone4 release and [some] people already received their phones. Why stupidly stand in line when I could have had the thing delivered to my front door without taking time out of my schedule to go to a store? I have better things to do and I'm sure the same goes for other people.

In the end, they'll likely beat expectations for sales in the first week. A lot of money will be made off the Verizon iPhone4 release but it'll just show that people are willing to throw away money over the hype because they are too impatient to wait for the iPhone5.