Because they bought, killed and buried Aureal.

Some say that A3D was also difficult to code for.

Some modern BIOSes let you decide whether your USB ports get juice from +5vsb or not. Some even let you configure it on a port-by-port basis. You might want to check if your laptop permits you to disable the standby power from your USB ports.

Or you could just unsolder the blue led from your mouse. I doubt it's used for tracking.

Learning curve

X-axis: How useful the program/thing is to you.
Y-axis: Learning needed to reach that level of usefulness.

Questions?

It is also possible to slipstream a Windows XP install CD with the correct drivers for your SATA controller. There are many good tools for that, but of course it takes some time and effort to do. Then again, considering you can easily slipstream all the latest service packs and hotfixes at the same time, it might actually save time since you don't have to do all those Windows Update cycles afterwards.
Still, it would be nice if Microsoft were to release an updated XP installer with the USB-drive support from Vista. It could be slipstreamed into a "final XP install disc" for future needs.
I guess it's too late for that.

Just over a week ago I got an e-mail from Amazon.co.uk saying that they now deliver "thousands of additional products to Finland, including electronics, appliances, garden items and more..."

Amazon.de doesn't seem to be bitching anymore about not shipping electronics here either.

Which is nice.

That is the only major thing bothering me about Steam.

While "there should be a law against that" is a phrase I use very sparingly, I do believe this is something that should be taken into account in the legislation all over.

It should be required by law that ownership of and licenses and access to any digitally bought DRM protected items must be transferable. Period.

If it's not DRM protected, it's not really a problem, because you can just sell it, give your bits to someone and delete them from your computer, just like you've been able to do so far.

However, if a company claims that they use an effective means of protecting access to a work, then they should be required to facilitate transfer of that access to someone else to ensure the survival of the first sale doctrine.

If the company claims that people can break the DRM and sell a copy instead of the original, then supposedly the DRM isn't "effective" and can thus be legally broken under at least the EUCD terms.

The publishers' efforts to eliminate second hand market of video games, music and everything else copyrighted must not be allowed to succeed.