Now that I have a CD drive capable of 40x DAE I'm looking for ripping software that can use it. The big problem is that all the rippers I've seen so far rip one track at a time, stopping between tracks. That doen't allow the drive to reach its full speed. Now if I can just find a ripper that will rip the entire CD at once, access CDDB, and create IDv3 tags. At this rate it looks like I might have to roll my own.

Well, the first step of my site update is complete. It's really just the move to XHTML and a new logo image. Next up deciding whether or not to make any more changes.

Once again I haven't posted anything in a while, not much to say. Let's see, I recently added a TDK 24x CDRW to my system. I've only tested the ripping so far in windows, nice and fast. I'm just now setting up linux to use it. Need to re-rip and encode some of my CDs. Just did a round of ximian updates. I've also been trying to help the balsa people create a new mailbox API. I'm now using it as an oportunity to learn docbook and xml using the java based merlot xml editor. So much to learn, so much to do.

Been thinkin about Email security. Why don't more people sign and or encrypt their messages? Is it to expensive? Well, most S/MIME certificates do cost but you can get free ones from Thawte. Also gpg/pgp keys are free, you can make as many as you want. The software is also usally free so I doubt that cost is the problem. Well then it must be to dificult to use. Hmm, on windows it's usually just a matter of pressing a button or two and entering your password. On Linux however, it tends to be a bit more dificult. Few mail clients have integrated support for encryption which is required for S/MIME, gpg can get by without it. I know I don't use it for two reasons, my email progy doesn't suport it and most of my messages are to short for me to care.

Has anyone heard about the new LCD displays that have just been shown? After all these years they finally solved the viewing angle problem. I found it interesting that these displays were shown at the same show as the new OLED displays. The OLED displays don't have the viewing angle problem, supposedly use less power and have better image and color quality than LCD displays. From what I can tell once the OLED displays hit the market, and some cell phones are already using them, it will be the begining of the end for LCD displays. They're even talking about replacing TVs once they get the lifetime up to about 50,000 hours.