Huge Chinese piracy ring tackled

Windows Vista in shop, AP

The pirates pumped out fake versions of Windows Vista
Pirated software worth $500m (£250m) has been seized as the FBI shuts down a world-spanning piracy outfit.

Before the raids the Chinese counterfeiting syndicate was thought to have sold and distributed software worth more than $2bn.

The FBI and China's Public Security Bureau arrested 25 people during the two-week operation against the pirates.

Despite recent crackdowns, industry figures suggest that 82% of the software used in China is counterfeit.

Piracy probe

The FBI said it had been building up a case against the piracy syndicate for years before staging the raids on the software production plants in China's Guangdong province.

During the raids, dubbed Operation Summer Solstice, the FBI seized more than 290,000 CDs with a claimed market value of $500m.

The gang was known to be producing pirated versions of 13 of Microsoft's most popular programs including Windows Vista, XP and Server as well as Office 2003 and 2007.

The syndicate sold versions of these programs in eight languages including Croatian and Dutch.

In a statement Microsoft said vital information that helped to track down the pirates came from its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) scheme.

WGA forces users of some versions of Windows to validate their copy of the operating system with Microsoft when updating their software.

Microsoft said information gathered by WGA from more than 1,000 fake copies produced by the counterfeiters and sold around the world helped law enforcement agencies home in on the pirates. Fake software produced by the group was found in 27 countries.

"Countries around the world are expected to experience a significant decrease in the volume of counterfeit software as a direct result of this action," said Microsoft in its statement.

Sony up despite Playstation woes

PS3 boxes
Sony's PlayStation 3 launch was delayed
Sony profits for the April to June period have more than doubled as robust demand for its cameras and a weak yen offset losses at its games unit.

Net earnings for the first quarter at the electronics giant rose to 66.5bn yen ($552m; £269m), up from 32.3bn yen last year.

The fall in the Japanese currency against the US dollar and euro helped boost the firm's overseas earnings.

But its Playstation 3 console continued to struggle in a tough games market.

PS3 troubles

Problems with the company's next generation games console - designed to compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii - caused its launch to be delayed.

Despite Sony cutting the price of the PS3 in the US, sales of the system still significantly trail Nintendo's Wii machine. Sony's games division saw losses widen to 29.2bn yen.

Sony said it aimed to increase shipments of the PS3 to 11 million units by 2008. On Wednesday, Nintendo upgraded sales forecasts of its Wii console to 16.5 million machines for the year to March 2008, up from a previous forecast of 14 million.

Elsewhere, performance was strong in Sony's electronics division, which benefited from strong demand for Handycam video cameras and Bravia liquid crystal display (LCD) television sets.

With sales of conventional TV sets in decline, Sony faces a tough battle to win a share of the flat-panel market against LCD TV market leader Samsung Electronics.

Sony maintained its operating profit forecast for the year to March 2008 of 440bn yen. This is up sharply from 71.75bn yen in the 2006/07 financial year when it was hit by costs relating to the delayed launch of the PS3 and a recall of faulty laptop PC batteries.

Music Video "Umbrella" - Rihanna ft Jay-Z - 10 weeks aTop!

Realy awesome music video - Umbrella in the Top of United Kingdom is staying atop already 10 weeks!!!

Watch & feel it ;)

Is "http://www2.clustrmaps.com" is down?!

When I'm going to view my page visits on http://www2.clustrmaps.com i get message like this:

"couldn't connect to the mysql server

the database is over-loaded at the moment, please try again later

http://worlds-greatest-questions.blogspot.com is not a ClustrMaps (reg or +) user"

Simpsons Character Voice's - Awesome!

Awesome Video :D

Some really funny commercial!

And remember - never push the speaking button at girlfriends doors :D

Paardomas par valsti jeb sauciet kaa gribat.

tur nav ko spriest - LV ir un vissdriizaak vismaz kaadus 10, ja ne pat paaris desmitus gadu, veel buus un paliks par banaanu republiku... tas, ka tie visi, kas tur seezh ir vieni vieniigi zaglju nav nekaads briinums un taa, manupraat, ir jau kopsh briizha kad LV atguva savu neatkariibu... njaa, muldeet var daudz, bet tas viss vnk saak reaali besiit.



- tilts [daargaakais pasaulee skatoties peec cena/metraazha, taalaak - zeme, kas netika nopirkta uzreiz, bet pagaidiija paaris gadus, kameer spekja radinieki to sapirka, etc, nlab, atkal uzvaariisies, tilta materiaalu cenas, jau arii astronomiskas, ai lab];



-koncertzaale [jaa, kruta jau izklausaas uz ab dambja - bet nafig?!?!? jaaiegulda baigais pikjis, lai neskalo pamatus, lai viss buutu k, bet pamatus vienmeer skalos, lai arii kaa tos ieraktu, liidz ar to vislaik jaagaazh iekshaa baigais pikjis, lai to visu uztureetu. buutu - panjeemushi un nopirkushi kaadu zemes plekji 10km no riigas centra un bliezushi augshaa - gan leetaak, gan arii ar laiku viss ap to rajonu attiistiitos - nafig viss krutais jaabuuvee centraa?!?!?];



- taalaak atkal tiek biidiiti likuma groziijumi likumos par droshiibas jautaajumiem - nu mljin, besii laukaa vinji, nedriikst taa buut un viss, ka vinjiem ir briiva pieeja infai, par ko vinji nemaz neko nedriikst zinaat!!!



-taalaak - zatlers - taa, kaa man ir paziistami cilveeki, kas vinju ir jau pazinushi sen kaa, tad varu teikt, ka vinjsh dziivo zem sievas tupeles un visdriizaak to visu shteli uz priekshu biida tikai vinja sieva, kura luuk grib tagad justies kruta - kaaa nekaa prezidenta sieva... - njaa, tas buutu viens - otrkaart kukulji, jeb taa teikt, kaa to sauc tagat "pateiciibas", nu mljin saprotu, ka no vienas puses ja tev aarsts ir paliidzeejis smagaa gadiijuma, tomeer, gribas kkaa izteikt pateiciibu vinjam, bet nu tas jau saak kljuut paaraak traki, ja kukuli pienjem un aiz striipas paliek kaads, kas reaali to ir ljoti ilgi gaidiijis un gala rezultaata dabuu tik figu :@@@ un veel jo vairaak, kaa vinjsh tagat sapratiisies ar skandinaaviem etc?! tur uz to skataas ljoti shkjiibi, iespeejams, visi franchu un itaalju mafiozi, etc chuvaaki liks roku uz pleca un teiks "good, good", tas buutu saprotams un tik un taa tas ir vnk stulbi... godiigi sakot es pat neteiktu, ka zatlers ir sliktaas par vvf - man personiigi vvf izdariibas peedeejo 3-4 gados nu galiigi vairs nekaadi nelikaas normaalas, laikam buudama ieksh LV arii aizbrauca sviestaa nedaudz,... domaaju, ka zatlers vareetu pat gala rezultaataa kljuut par normaalu chuvaaku - tik vajag panjemt kaadu sakariigu paliigu, kas pamaaca kko par aarpolitiku un gan jau viss buus k... protams, nekaadu lielu respektu vai bijiibu vinjsh tik un taa manaas aciis neizraisa, jo izskataas, ka pats vnk nefilmee, kas notiek, lab guncha arii tipa nekas nebija, bet tomeer, vinjam bija kkaadi ideaali un principi pie kaa vinjsh pietureejaas, taapeec visaa visumaa bija normaals prezidents. veel jau kljuust baumas, ka itkaa ruksiisha sieva ar zatlera sievu esot maasiicas vai kkas taaads, bet nu lab, tas veeel pagaidaam staav uz 'hvz' ziimes...



vareetu runaat daudz un dikti par to cik LV sucks, t.i., par to, kaa sucks muusu valsts vadiitaaji un viss, kas ar to saisiits...nezinu, kaa jums, bet man tas viss personiigi ir piegriezies, taapeec savu naakotni iespeejams arii saistu ar kaadu citu valsti - nezinu kaa buus, tad jau redzees...



p.s. aicinu uz mega streiku, ja vinji saaks virziit kkaadus groziijumus droshiibas likumos, tik jaaizdomaa kaa tautu saliedeet, bet tik un taa, ja uz to streiku, protesta akciju, sauciet, kaa gribat, ierastos kaut vai 30% [~100'000 iedziivotaaju] no visiem, kas balsoja pret groziijumiem droshiibas likumos, domaaju, ka cuuka saaktu domaat...

/wild dicky/