I remember ripping DVDs about 4 years ago in Linux, and it was a painless GUI affair (can't remember the exact software I used then, sorry). I'm using OS X now, and I usually use Handbrake, which is also available for linux. It, however, doesn't offer anything but hard-encoded subtitles, which is a big pain in a multilingual environment.

In your case, however, I'd probably recommend just going ahead and learning Japanese. That way, you'd never have to worry about which audio/subtitle track you rip; both would do just fine.

Actually, I'm using a 100Mb line right now in Tokyo (roughly $50/mo. with a static IP address and all fees), and I do get the full 100 megabits, full duplex. Of course, I'm usually limited by the other party's connection, but when downloading things within Japan, the computer immediately slows down due to the hard disk sustaining writes at 8-9MB/sec.

I wonder if the 160Mb connection mentioned in the summary includes a gigabit router...

Ah, so you've upgraded to Windows Server 2008?

Ferrari and Bentley have ruled diesels out, but you could consider preordering a Lamborghini diesel, assuming they go through with it.

Considering that Adobe still hasn't fixed the broken thumbnails in 64-bit environments (as of Acrobat 9 with current updates), this exploit seems to affect 32-bit systems. I haven't yet seen working .pdf thumbnails in 64-bit Vista (or Windows 7 Beta, for that matter).

As for the syncing on DoCoMo, try "datalink", available here: http://datalink.nttdocomo.co.jp/

...and I'm too lazy to write a reply to your post.

Yes. My Japanese iPhone makes sound while taking photos, even in silent mode.

Scan all the docs into .pdf and put them all online (after you have safely received your passing grade, preferrably). Write a little note explaining the probably illegal policy and what happened.

Yep. Or use 802.11n at 5.0Ghz. That's what I did here in Japan (my apartment is filled with wireless routers all broadcasting at 2.4Ghz). 5.0Ghz transmission has the added benefit of not interfering with microwave ovens (which was seriously bad in my case).

Oh, if only there were a +1 Flamebait mod!

I also went that route for two reasons. A dedicated NAS box such as the ReadyNas Duo not only uses less power than an old PC, but also takes up much less space. This is an important point for me, as I live in central Tokyo (read: tiny apartment).

Yep, second the ReadyNas. I bought a diskless Duo (available here in Japan), and threw two 1TB WD Greenpower drives (quiet and power-saving; though spin-down isn't supported yet due to some bug apparently attributed to Western Digital). If this one starts to fill up, I'll go for the NV+ in a heartbeat.

Generally, I keep all my archived files in a folder on the NAS (it's set up with Infrant's RAID-X, which is roughly equivalent to RAID-5 with expandability), which provides me with a decent level of redundancy. My main machine is backed up on a separate external drive. Honestly, my files aren't important enough to pay for some offsite storage, but keeping the archived files bundled with my active files ensures their integrity and allows me to access them whenever.

I'm guessing this will only be useful for certain types of users. There are two real theft goals: either the thief is after the computer or after the data. I don't have the numbers, but I suspect the thief is after the computer (to sell on eBay, etc.) 95%+ of the time. Assuming this does actually make the computer inoperable, the thief will simply throw it out when it stops working (you won't get your computer/data back, and he doesn't care what was on the disk). If the thief needed to retrieve data from a laptop, the first thing an intelligent thief (say, a competitor company) would do is take out the hard disk without turning the stolen machine on and put it in a separate machine. This kind of defeats the purpose of a remote lockdown, because as far as I can tell, it requires that the notebook must be powered on. It may or may not be encrypted, but most people don't use full-disk encryption, so they get what they're after. So, this might offer a slightly higher degree of security against the first type of criminal, who is primarily after the laptop, but not the second, who is after the data (which is presumably much more valuable).