TechRadar UK Blogs: Rungsberry

One of these sister titles – the venerable PC Answers magazine, no less – received a very interesting piece of snail mail this morning.

It was a handwritten letter from a 419 scammer in Nigeria, who was offering to promote "the PC Answers" in exchange for the meagre fee of a brand new laptop, a projector and a fat wad of cash.

Excerpts:

"Permit me to say that I admire the PC Answers," begins Frederick Akabai Fidel of Rivers State in Nigeria, in his hand-scrawled note.

"Having perused the noted previous publications of the 'PC Answers' here in Nigeria, I Frederick Fidel an undergraduate of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology would like would like projecting the magazine Continuously via 'Allstates newspapers' and other National publications- which I serve as one of the distributors," he writes.

Translation: I'd like to promote your magazine because it's so awesome.

The abominable handwriting and spelling on display here makes it hard to read, but Fidel continues: "Two persons called me after my second publication on 'hardware' problems which I answered confidentially after perusing 2007 publications. These copies I got from someone who discarded them but favoured me to find a useful wealth and idea like PC Answers, which I have also introduced in my school's editorials."

Translation: Blabber blabber blabber. I used PC Answers to answer some technical questions I received, blabber blabber.

And then came the pay-off: "That I need a personal laptop for current information and a projector display despite my financial challenges is true. Emphasis and reality on publicity is needed – and are beyond my financial control.

"Yes, I ask for a difficult thing I know, even as I will need some finance to carry out some of the task which I have already started with allstates newspapers and could employ other national publications."

Translation: Please send me a new laptop and some projectors and also some money and then I promise with all my heart that I'll begin my task to make PC Answers a bigger success in the thriving magazine industry that is West Africa."

Oh yes, Mr Fidel, would you like fries with that? And how about the shirts off our backs, too?

He then finished with a final flourish:

"To fortify my urge for this goal and to display my honesty have I attached my documents subject to verification. I am gratefully awaiting to seeing your positive reaction as God would continue to be our strength."

To 'prove' that he wasn't lying, he attached a low-grade photocopy of a clearly fake certificate which claimed he had a diploma in computer engineering in 2003.

It's amazing to think that delinquent's such as this man actually manage to scam millions of pounds out of innocent Britons every year. He clearly thought he had a chance of scamming PC Answers magazine though – that letter must have taken some time to hand write.

We've asked Mr Fidel for some proof that he has indeed already started "projecting the magazine Continuously via 'Allstates newspapers' and other National publications" so hopefully he'll send over some faked newspaper pages.

We'll let you know if we get anything back.

With a vague taste of sick in the back of my mouth, I've been reading the press coverage of the recent BPI announcement.

In case you missed it, the British Phonographic Industry has rounded up the six biggest UK ISP's and collectively they're sending out letters to thousands of us, telling us not to steal music on the internet - or else.

Unfortunately, the reaction across the board seems to be a whitewashed, 'oh my golly gosh, how dare they do such a thing'.

The music press has reacted angrily. Forums are buzzing with comments made no-doubt by outraged teenagers.

Not so simple

Most people would agree that the music biz is in this mess because of its own failings - it entirely failed to embrace the web in the early years. And then Napster arrived in 1999 and the music world changed forever.

However, just because the music business failed to notice the internet until too late, it doesn't mean we all have a right to go out there and illegally download as much music as we please.

It's an extremely complicated situation, and it was quite refreshing to read comments by Mark Mulligan, an analyst at JupiterResearch.

Making sense of it

It would appear that so many of us are now so used to downloading whatever music we like, illegally, free and in record time, that anything that threatens this freedom is treated with hostile contempt.

But let's not forget - this is stealing. If your job was to flip burgers in McDonalds every day, it would be a bit annoying to have young people just walking in and taking them for nothing.

And here comes the fork in the road of opinion: the naïve response most people give to this is: "but the record companies have too much money anyway. And musicians are rich, so what I'm doing is not hurting anyone".

And that's simply not true. The vast majority of musicians and band members earn almost no money at all.

They work their butts off trying to pay back their record label for the advance they got to record their album. And when that's all done, rarely do they make much money out of it. For many band members, flipping those burgers in McDonalds would be a more lucrative endeavour.

Only the hugely successful bands make lots of money out of music. And thus, the millions of us who're downloading music without paying for it, are hurting the musicians just as much as we are the record labels.

It's a self destructive cycle that simply must end.

Is there a solution?

But let me clarify one thing. Certainly, I would not for one second fault anyone who is using Bittorrent to download pirated music. If it's that easy, it's hard to say no. I've done it myself - I still do.

But the record business needs to take a firm hold of all this before the music business takes a nosedive. Because at the moment, the more decent music we download, the less decent bands will be out there making it.

And all that will be left will be the tosh that they play on your local ad-supported radio station.

So the point I'm trying to make is: download the music if your conscience allows it. But don't criticise the BPI or the record labels or the musicians, if they try and stop you. Because we're the bad guys here - not them. That's the way I see it, at least.

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Full press release:

Warning all Brits – Save your memories before it's too late

Virulent VHS tape mould taking hold in Britain's damp climate means memories on VHS will need to be transferred to DVD

London, 22 July 2008 - People holding onto past memories in VHS format are at high risk of losing them all thanks to a virulent mould which is destroying tapes at an exponential rate across the UK. The mould, which attacks the sensitive VHS and audio tape formats, can be fatal to those collections of memories we all hold dear, particularly those recorded in the 1980s and 1990s.

From family holidays to birthdays; from your child's first steps to memories of times away with parents, grandparents or great grandparents, we all have those special memories we want to keep hold of. And although we have them locked away on VHS, we may be in for a rude awakening when we find them covered in the mould's fine white dust and rendered totally unwatchable.

Despite the thought of losing precious memories, for most of us backing tapes up conjures up thoughts of lots of work and expense. But with Pinnacle's Dazzle family of products, anyone can digitise all their memories quickly, efficiently and with minimal expense.

The Pinnacle Dazzle range includes three products to ensure something for everyone. The Pinnacle Dazzle Video Recorder (RRP £39.99) offers straight forward recording from a VHS or audio tape and transfers it straight onto your computer in an easy-to-use format. The Dazzle Video Creator (RRP £59.99) takes things to the next step, including Pinnacle Studio software to edit your home movies once they're saved on a digital format. Finally the Dazzle Video Creator Platinum (RRP £69.99) takes things to the next level, offering software to make all your home movies look stunningly professional in a number of formats.

So when the job is done, you have memories that:

* Won't deteriorate no matter how often you play the disc, because the laser never touches the media
* Will play on virtually any DVD player, recorder or drive
* Will last 50-100 years
* You can copy them again and again and each copy will be as clear and crisp as the original
* Let you add menus so you can quickly move from video clip to video clip
* Take up almost no space on your shelf or in your drawer

Matt Cox of Pinnacle Systems says "We all have those memories we want to hold on to – the memories that we want to be able to look back on whenever we can. But if you're wanting to keep them safe and watchable, you'll need to back up onto a digital format quickly! Pinnacle's Dazzle range lets you do just that."