Tech Thursday Tidbits

• Remember the bruhaha that Microsoft stirred up when they introduced Product Activation with Windows XP? And how it would make life difficult for people that liked to upgrade PC components? Well, more than six years after installation (and plenty of hardware swaps), I swapped in a new network adapter into my trusty Shuttle XPC SS51G, and that finally awakened the "activation police" in the the OS. After failing to connnect online to the activation server a couple of times, I finally figured out that I needed to disable my third-party software firewall long enough to let the system check in and affirm that I am not a pirate.
• There's something peculiar about my new Philips LCD television: When exposed to the LCD screen of a Lenovo ThinkPad T60, the TV powers on. There must be some pattern glowing on the laptop display that the TV is interpreting as an "on" signal. I discovered this by accident when I placed the laptop on a counter, powered it up, and suddenly heard the theme song for That's So Raven unexpectedly start playing behind my back.
  
• I have only performed 14 out of the 50 Skills Every Geek Should Have according to Maximum PC. It sucks to be obsolete.