This post is going to be a little small a bit larger than I expected, and later I’ll be following up with a post about another company, but I do believe it’s time for an update on things, even if it is a bit late.  I don’t expect to write anything else about Sony anytime soon, unless there’s a major change in developments, but we’ll see what happens.  Anyway, over the past week we have had these articles:

http://news.spong.com/article/21176/Sony-No-PS3-OtherOS-Refunds
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/04/19/sony_firmware_compensation/
http://www.thinq.co.uk/news/2010/4/14/sony-refuses-to-sanction-ps3-refunds/

It seems that judging by the above, getting refunds is proving to be a problem.  I still haven’t persued the possibility of getting a refund though it doesn’t look I’d have much luck at present.  There is also mention here of a 3.30 patch and as you can see, there’s no mention of the Other OS (OOS) feature being restored.  I imagine if (and at the moment it seems a big if) it does get restored, it’ll be on the next patch after this one.  Still, it’s madness that Sony pull the plug on a feature that was advertised as a selling point, especially as to actually exploit the security issue in the first place, it requires more effort than all but the most dedicated of individuals are willing to commit to.  Let’s face it, who but the most dedicated would want to open up their PS3, void the warranty on the machine and risk bricking it?  I’m not knocking them by any means, but the point is that only a handful would even consider doing this, so why would it even be considered that serious and issue?

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First of all, I figured that I should put on my activist hat and also elaborate more on the PS3 comment from the last blog.  As you may already know, Sony recently disabled the “Other OS” option on the “fat” PS3s  with the release of their 3.21 system software update.  If you don’t know, I’d suggest you stop here and Google the 3.21 system software update before continuing, just so you have some basic background on things, and also have had a chance to read people’s responses, seeing as I have my own opinions, based upon the responses I’ve read. That said though, I will be using some links as well though not necessarily ones that’ll provide background.

For those of you that already know, or have gotten yourselves up to speed on things just now, not many people actually use the Other OS option.  I mayself don’t use it but I was considering it at some point, though now I haven;t the option to.  Sony’s excuse was apparantly “security concerns”, but essentially that’s like putting a small fire out with a few million gallons of water, when a bucket would have sufficed.  Of course, as a result of the Other OS removal, a lot of people are annoyed though some couldn’t care less.  Of course, this is only scratching the surface of things; first of all, the removal of this option now means that Sony has broken an EU Law; Directive 1999/44/EC to be precise.  As you can see here, someone already attempted to claim a refund from Amazon UK and was successful in doing so.  This sets an interesting precident and certainly one I’m going to both explore and follow through; this blog entry is the second step in that process.  I’ll explain the first step shortly but here’s a bunch of links in relation to the EU law and the PS3 3.21 software:

http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7266&sid=dff956c5372ab577ba5d29f2fd2b7ace&start=180#p37999
http://lists.fixstars.com/pipermail/yellowdog-announce/2010-April/000223.html (Yellow Dog Linux announcement)
http://labby.co.uk/2010/04/playstation-3-ps3-firmware-update-3-21/ (a fellow UK blogger’s post on the update; seems an argument with his wife was caused, oh dear)
http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-General-Discussion/PS3-Firmware-3-21-coming-April-1st-no-joke/m-p/10495082
http://www.thinq.co.uk/news/2010/4/9/sony-says-sorry-for-other-os-take-down/ (Sony apoligise, but it’s a bit too late for that now)

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I’m entitled to a refund (or at least a partial one) on my PS3 because of an EU law relating to the OS removal in the 3.21 patch. I can’t discuss it right this minute, but I will in the next post. I did have something else to blog about too, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was. On a side-note, I got Roack Band 2 in the post, so happy days! Now I just hope it with the Band Hero drum-kit controller…

It seems that this blog has now become my main blog about personbal things though really my LiveJournal should be used for that although it’s good that I get my tweets sent to it as well, so it’s not like I totally abandoned it, though I’m due for a megapost soon. Anyway, things have started to settle down now; I’ve gotten used to this place, finances are improving, I’m starting to find and organise stuff properly (though list my headset and DSi – doh!) though it’ll all take time. I still have to deal with the shower from hell, although I’m rather happy to report that I have a decent bed and also have my double bed back so I can use it myself now! I’ve been on my laptop the past 6 weeks or so given I haven’t properly setup my desktop, seeing as it needs some work. There’s a slightly more urgent need to get my development/music PC up and running now, seeing as I am getting a tad annoyed keeping everything on the one PC; it would be a good idea to have anything production-wise on the d/m PC so I dont bog down the main desktop with a lot of stuff; a portable/USB webserver would be another great idea too, although I do need to keep in mind that certain software requires MySQL, so I might just use 2 USB sticks to do that. The less I bog my system down the better although I want a new one soon. I’m still at a loss as to why my desktop refuses to play any of the HL2 engine games as well, though I’m hoping a reinstall will help things. I also need to put Windows 7 on this laptop too. Another of my great ideas is to get myself a 1TB drve and backuo everything across my main network drive and PCs onto it so if things go tits-up on anything, I have a recovery point. I should make a driver repository too so I don’t need to go online to locate the latest drivers. So many possibilities though I’ve yet to plan them out.

Anyway, just to mention about the DiggerCast, I have an episode awaiting production but because of the move, I can’t record any more episodes until I find my headset. I also plan to get some new Skype call recording software as well, though I forgot the name of it… I think it’s called Pamela. PrettyMay served me well, but Pamela seems to be more suited to my needs. Well, it’ll tide me over at least until I get a mixing deck and other podcasting gear! Other than that, I’ve been getting into Guild Wars and playing about on the PS3 occasionally. Sadly though, my Band Hero drum-kit refuses to work with Rock Band 1, thinking it’s vocals and if it’s one thing I don’t do it’s sing while sober or around people >.> Erm, anyway, the Guitar Hero guitar works well with RB, so it’s not a total loss… need a second guitar though. I also need to get into learning the piano/keyboard as my friend has an idea about setting up a band at some point. On that note, I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned seeing Assemblage 23 who were quite frankly, awesome. One funny thing about one of the supporting acts that I didn’t realise till last week was that one of the blokes in Tenek was also in The Nine, who did one of the songs I remember hearing at least 10 years ago, most likely more; that song being My Fallacy. Was pretty crazy. I uploaded a pic of Tom Shear on my Facebook, with plans to do the same on Flickr; in my opinion the pic is perfect; perfect lighting and no blur… it was a great shot.

My mum was over for a few days last week and we went to the Science Museum and checked stuff out then we went to see Tangerine Dream (the point of her visit), at their Zeitgeist concert which celebrated their 40th anniversery of their first album and 35th of their performance at the Royal Albert Hall. It was impressively massive, but by god the seats in the middle were uncomfortable; my arse was really sore from prolonged sitting on them! Of course, between the lack of sleep (I have trouble sleeping before daybreak at present), the lighting and their music, I ended up closing my eyes and zoning out completely, because I’m cool like that. To be fait though, after about an hour of doing that and towards the end I felt well-rested and stayed wide awake for the last hour and a half! I remember during the intermission there was this bloke saying stuff and he literaly had the house in stitches and recieved a huge applause! I wish I had recorded it now so I could upload it to YouTube, but alas it never occurred to me. Anyway, heading home was really fun; we missed the last train from London Bridge back to mine, meaning we had to go to Lewisham on the final-final train, where I think cattle-class was an understatement… this was sardine class! To make matters worse, there was an incident, meaning the Met had to be called in. It took us quite a while before we moved. We eventually got to Lewisham and hung around for the N89, then when that finally came, we went upstairs where there was this bloke who was spitting on the bus… charming. Of course, it doesn’t end there… he starts getting confrontational with the guy behind us, which caused his phone to side under our seats… by this point, my mum decided it was best to go downstairs! I’m fairly sure I’ve now caused her to worry about me whenever I get on a nightbus, with drunk people. Anyway, it was nearly 3am when we got back to mine in the end… totally crazy!

I actually plan to go see a Tangerie Dream event in East London although I’ll have to see if I can make it, given 2 days before I’ll be having 3 of my wisdom teeth out. In theory I don’t see why I couldn’t do it, but I’ll see what happens on the 13th… for which I have to be up really early for, like 5am >.< I am not a morning person! Although I’l have to do it, so the sooner it’s done, the better. Hopefully next time I write, I’d have found my DSi or my headset… don’t hold your breath though.