Slashdot Mirror

Given that the Thai finance minister had to be rescued from his BMW with sledgehammers after his WinCE powered iDrive computer crashed, methinks I would prefer to fly on open source software.

Unfortunately this seems to be a hoax:

CNET reports that, contrary to rumours that the BMW that trapped a Thai minister inside earlier this week was "the famously glitchy BMW 745i car, and its Windows CE-powered iDrive car computer", it was, according to a spokeswoman from BMW Thailand, the 10-year old BMW 520i model that "suffered a simple electronic failure".

(from Looswire)

Is Open Source the choice for liars?

It was a BMW 520i, which does NOT run WinCE, but you already knew that, liar.

GoToMyPC.com is not a bad program solely since it is "in thousands of popup and banner ads." It's a web-based app that includes a file-transfer component (TightVNC does not) and encrypts sessions.

For more information, CNet has a review. Please read it.

The CFO got some out of 7,000 shares March 12. The disgusting thing is that their share value has doubled since they started making this noise. Who's buying this shit?

Here a Tom's Hardware Guide to Music Across Your Home Network

DesignTechnica gives it a 9/10.

The Springdale 865 chipset has started to show up in motherboards. The price in nearly $100 less. And the 2 chipsets are nearly identical as quoted from this article

"In many respects, the 875P is identical to Intel's forthcoming Springdale chipset, which will launch next month for the mainstream PC market. Both have an 800MHz FSB and offer support for dual-channel DDR400 memory, Serial ATA, AGP 8X, Gigabit Ethernet, and Intel's own Hyper-Threading technology. In fact, both chipsets are manufactured using the same .13-micron process. But only those components that pass Intel's stringent requirements, including optimum timing (Intel calls this Performance Acceleration Technology, or PAT), are qualified as 875P. Intel has different requirements for those components that will qualify as Springdale."

From CNET:

What's the Porsche connection, you're wondering? The notebook was designed by Porsche Design GmbH, the Austrian firm founded by F.A. Porsche, grandson of the famous engineer.

This is not the same company that designed the Porsche 911.

Not only is the keyboard small, but it's made of those rubber buttons that are on cell phones. Can you imagine typing for any period of time on those? Plus it has a trackball in the upper right?! How about a pointer stick in the middle?

Give me a traditional PDA with a full-sized collapsable keyboard any day. With the screen doubling as the mouse input device, it's still very compact. If you need to do serious work, a 2.7 pound ultralight laptop shouldn't be too much to carry around.

Can you name one person who is actually on record arguing that open source software should not be permitted to exist?

They are not on record. And I won't actually name one of my co-workers. But Yes.

There are others who have been far more public however. There was one Jim Allchin a couple years ago. He didn't come right out and say it, but he dances around it and implies it quite well.

From a cnet article here.

Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating-system chief, Jim Allchin, says that freely distributed software code such as rival Linux could stifle innovation and that legislators need to understand the threat.

....

That, as well as programs such as music-sharing software from Napster Inc., means the world's largest software maker has to do a better job of talking to policymakers, he said.

....

''Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer,'' Allchin said. ''I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business.''

....

''I'm an American, I believe in the American Way,'' he said. ''I worry if the government encourages open source, and I don't think we've done enough education of policy makers to understand the threat.''

Steve's Digicams

Epinions

Digital Camera Resource Page

Digital Photography Review

CNet User Reviews

Google Search

I just pre-ordered my NEX ia a few days ago (it doesn't ship for a few more days; $130 + s/h for a NEX ia + 128MB CF) - my NEX II served me well for two years and just recently died. One neat feature is that it does do 64kbps MP3 recording w/ an internal mic. I was originally looking for a decent MP3 recorder, but unfortunately, one doesn't exist (the only ones that have level meters for example are $1000+ bulky pro units).

Anyway, I posted some research on my blog which might be of interest:

My old NEX II MP3 player just recently died on me. I started taking it apart, and it looks like I might be able to do some soldering to possibly get it working, but chances are slim (approximately corresponding to my soldering skills). It looks like the new NEX ia is coming out though, with voice/FM recording, better firmware, and possible Ogg Vorbis support, among other things. I sent an email to see what the recording quality is (hopefully with line-in capabilities), and to see if some slightly annoying NEX II bugs have been fixed.

From correspondence w/ Frontier Labs:

• improvements: multiple folder support, alphabetical song listing, more buffering, improved shuffle (but no m3u support, so you'll want to keep your CopyNex handy - see also: FATSort, PlaylistExpander)
• Ogg Vorbis is actually being worked on, for the NEX II's as well as the NEX ia and will be released as a firmware upgrade
• 64Kbps recording (can record at higher bitrates, but no selection mechanism in the firmware right now)
• No (recording) level-meter
• No line-in, the only external input is the built-in voice recording microphone
• Can play back MP3 files at the same time as recording

Perception Digital has a PD-095-01 Portable MP3 player which has a can record from an internal mic, FM, or a line-in at 13Kbps voice or 48-320kbps MP3 (!). That's pretty frickin' awesome. It's a little bit on the chunkier side, and only accepts SmartMedia, no Compact Flash though. Still, tempting, if I could find some user reviews...

The e.Digital Odyssey 300 (SmartMedia) looks interesting, although it also looks like it's no longer available. [the Mpio DMB+ looks like the same thing]

Also, PoGo! Products has their RipFlash line of Recordable Digital Audio Players (the TRIO is one w/ mic and line in, but is not memory expandable). Uses SD/MMC... (CNet RipFlash DX review)

See Also: minidisc.org's Portable Recorders with Uploading Facilities list.

Places to buy: e.Digital Odyseey 300, PoGo! RipFlash Trio, Perception Digital Hercules (PD-095-01),

I'm very happy with the Kyocera,
the new smartphone from Verizon

IMHO it's worth time looking at individual apps
on wireless PDA sites like Handango.
The right apps that fit your needs can make
a huge difference in your satisfaction.

Cheers, Joel

Hmm, it actually looks like vivendi had a significant boost last week...and dropped yesterday after the announcement.

You could swap a few Secure Digital cards in between songs... On the Axim and iPaq you are able to read from a CF card and an SD card simultaneously.

Where's the rating for speed and UI?

The UI is going to be less snappy due to the fact that it is not written using native widgets. However, it doesn't seem to be significantly slowing in my opinion.

As for rendering speed goes, according to c|net, Mozilla beats IE in everything but Java applet preformance.
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227884-8-20005816- 6.html?tag=st.sw.3227884-8-20005816-2.subdir.32278 84-8-20005816-6

Oh yeah, it was hard to find that link. A search for "Second superpower" -moore "Patrick" "Tyler" pulled up a big three links. Flush.

Separating out the bizarre attacks on Joi Ito for eating lunch, his thesis seems to be that 'A-list bloggers' have hijacked and neutered the phrase from the Anti-war (or anti-Bush) protestors, and swamped Google with this new interpretation.

In fact, the original article he cites (reproduced here) did not contain the phrase 'second superpower'; it had a throwaway rhetorical flourish in the first sentence:
The fracturing of the Western alliance over Iraq and the huge antiwar demonstrations around the world this weekend are reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion.

(Orlowski elides the first part about the Western alliance to support his these that it's all about the street, man).

As he says, this meme circulated about the web a bit, and eventually James Moore explored the idea in more detail, and a broader context than just marching against Bush, combining it with the preceding discussions on 'emergent democracy' that had been going for a while. Of course this gets a higher rank for 'second superpower' - it is in the title, and enough people found it interesting enough to link to.
Instead of a lot of incoherent slogans, here are people discussing how to bring it about.
Orlowski then completely distorts the quote from Patrick Nielsen Hayden I posted to the list. Discussing a report on the very disruptive, street-blocking protests, where protesters in San Francisco, Boston, Washington and elsewhere shouted the same slogan, "This is what democracy looks like!"

Patrick said
No, that's not what democracy looks like.

It's what protest looks like, and it's often the right thing to do. And of course "democracy" had better entail significant tolerance of unruly protest, or it's not very democratic.

But that slogan is stupid, even by the standards of slogans. Long and often boring meetings are what democracy looks like. Tiresome horse-trading is what democracy looks like. Talking to your neighbors is what democracy looks like.

Democracy can function perfectly well without people painting their faces and blocking streets. It can't function at all without that other stuff.

The emergent democracy group is about how to build tools and structures to capture democratic intent in a digital world. If you're interested in this, join in.

Perhaps what Orlowski is really worried about is that a group who aren't part of the clerisy of professional Journalists and activists are taking an interest, and actually discussing ideas calmly and rationally, and thereby attracting links from other people, Doc and Dave earned their high Google ranking by writing lots of things that people found interesting enough to link to, day after day for over 5 years.

Andrew, if you have interesting things to say about the future of democracy, join the discussion, but don't troll for cheap links by stooping to selective quotation and ad hominem attacks.

Here is another viewpoint about what they're doing.

Professor F:

Given the fuss and likely new rules about consumers attaching devices to ISP networks on pipes ot the home, do you think that consumers will be allowed to use devices like this under any new regulatory framework?

TIA for your thoughts.

I have a Canon s800 inkjet and I use generic cartridges all the time. Canon doesn't care and I love them for it. I replaced all four cartridges last month. Total cost: US$22. Yes, four cartridges. I don't work for Canon but I have great respect for them. Check out the printer here .

First, it isn't snake oil. It really does improve the actual time to download web pages substantially. Many "real world" web pages download 3, 4, or 5 times faster than before.

How fast is it?
The eBay home page loads more than 5 times faster (from 7.75 seconds to 1.5 seconds). The CNet home page loads almost 9 times faster when Propel is used (from 36.4 seconds to 4.3 seconds). On average, that is for a wide range of web pages, you can expect that the pages will load from 2 to 5 times faster than they did before you installed Propel. You should try it and see for yourself.

Or if you are sure this can't be done, then I invite you to take advantage of the following opportunity: You bet me any amount of money up to $1M dollars. I'll show you a 5X improvement in actual web page download speed on a selection of popular web pages from top 100 websites (not some contrived test pages, but real web pages). If you can prove it is some kind of hoax, I pay you. If I get 5X or more speed improvement compared to dialup without Propel, you pay me the amount you wagered. We'll use the exact same PC for the tests with the caches in exactly the same state connected to the same ISP at the same baud rate. Modem compression on or off, your choice. No tricks. Minimum bet is $1,000. If you are confident this is a trick, this is a quick way to make a lot of money really fast. We'll invite the press to audit it. Any takers?

Or you can read the review on CNet. They tested it and wrote in their review:

When we used Propel Accelerator to download Web pages, they arrived two to three times faster than with a standard 56K connection. In some cases,

pages displayed more swiftly than on a high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL). Truly, we were amazed.

You have to remember that that review was written a long time ago. We've almost doubled our speed since that CNet review was written. That's why our claim of 2 to 5x on the latest version of Propel is consistent with the review.

How it really works
How do we do this magic? Through at least 20 techniques including persistent connections, up and down header compresssion, caching that is combined with diffing of HTML and graphics, and the compression (either lossless and lossy depending on the filetype and user settings) of filetypes that most people "think" cannot possibly be compressed any further. For example, think that Flash cannot be compressed because it already is? Think again.

Web pages consist of HTML and graphics primarily. We compress all the various datatypes and decompress on your local machine. Comments that "you can't compress graphics because they are already compressed" are from people who are misinformed. For example, Jpeg2K provides much higher compression for equivalent quality level than jpg does. And LZW is hardly the best compression scheme for GIF graphics. That technology was invented a long time ago and there are much better lossless compression algorithms for such files. For example, PNG is better than GIF but (surprise) there are propriety file formats that are superior to PNG.

If you are willing to tolerate quality degradation, you can compress even more. Propel has a slider so you can set your tolerance threshold for graphics (text and HTML are always lossless).

For HTML compression, we use our patent-pending lossless technique that makes full use of the cache in your browser by allowing us to reference text fragments o

According to a CNET Asia article (21 March), the 3G will compliment the faster, cheaper WiFi when it's unavailable and in case of service-drops:

"The alliance members do not believe that the new deal will undermine the adoption of third generation (3G) mobile phone service, which will boast high-speed Internet access.

Kim Jung Soon, director of NESPOT, Korea Telecom's hot spot project group, said the two services will be complementary. Wi-Fi is fast and cheap but limited in coverage, while 3G is more expensive, slower but covers the country, he said.

'In future, we may have a system where a user with a PDA might enjoy low-cost, high-speed Net access in a hot spot. But when he leaves it, his terminal will transparently switch to a higher-cost, slower 3G service,' he said."

• If you have Perl on Windows (ActiveState, Cygwin), then the standard SpamAssassin will run fine.
• Open Source Windows client for POP3: SAproxy (disclosure: I'm one of the developers)
• Commercial: Spamnix for Eudora
• Deersoft made Exchange and Outlook versions, but they are being revamped since Deersoft was acquired, so they're not being sold for a few months.
• and more...

Not to mention all the reasons why challenge-response filtration systems are alienating to the rest of the world. Sure, you will get almost no spam, but you'll also lose a lot of legitimate email from disgruntled people who don't like being challenged. (My standard reply to TMDA challenges is to ... not. I find it very obnoxious when I reply to someone, answer a question, or heck, just email them for any legitimate reason, that I have to prove that I'm a human. It basically sends the message that "my time is more important than your time".)

Thankfully, there are some strong anti-spam methods that are being developed which don't require challenge-response, opt-out lists, patented crypto, or any of the other dumb ideas I keep reading about.

Heck, I use it to see my way in the dark at night, to alert my buddies to my location at the local watering hole, to annoy my sleeping flatmate when she's sleeping, and for just some cool blue ambient room-lighting.

heck, I even use its blue light to wakeup early when -- set the alarm and put the phone in silent mode; when the alarm goes off the backlight kicks in and *ta0dah!* instant timed lighting!

Even with the ringer on silent, the alarm wakes me up when the backlight kicks in! must have 6 LEDs in it.

Did I mention its BLUE?! Thats right kiddies -- makes for nice ambient lighting. Now if I could just string a few of these in the house, I could remote-activate room-lighting by calling each phone!

That being said, my previous laptop (or craptop, as I like to think of it) was a Dell 8000 series. Not only did the thing weigh a metric ton, it also produced enough heat to fry eggs.

The only thing I sorta regret with my current laptop is the lack of screen real estate. However, given that the screen size on the Dell actually prohibited me from opening the thing up all the way on an airplane (unless I was in first class), and the travelling weight of my current laptop is less than half (nearly 1/3)of the Dell, it's a trade-off I'm more than willing to make.

cnet review page
just the image

wish more review sites would do this, as opposed to specifying HxWxD in milli meters or inches.

LinuxLover

This doesn't apply to everyone, but I hope this is relevant for one or two people...

The first commercial card (I know of) which has allowed DJs to easilly take their vinyl is TerraTec's DMX 6Fire 24/96. At $200, this convenience convinced me to stop using my Creative SB Gold-64 and upgrade.

Okay, I will admit I'm part of a nitch market, but for all the other DJs out there who want to be trying their tracks out on a
Pioneer CDJ-1000 (or similar device) this is quite innovative.

Look at Figure 4 in the paper carefully; even after compiling with -O0, the RSA library takes no more than 2x10^7 CPU cycles, which works out to 8.3 ms wall-clock time at the processor-speed they mentioned. Some random no-name drive has an 8.9 ms seek-time. Besides, this isn't necessarily a performance-hit; the system could just do a usleep(100000-usecs_taken) and gain the same security-benefit as log as the attacker can't do a ps against the system.

It took Gateway two years to come up with a Powerbook ripoff?

link.

Apple just called, they want their design back.

why is it in reviews that the reviewers can't seem to bother to mention the weights of the laptops? i don't want to be toting around a seven pound beast.

Do you know how to read?
"How does seven hours of battery life, great performance, and a 5.4-pound weight sound to you? That's what we thought."

"The ThinkPad T40 also offers a dual-band, 802.11a/b antenna"

The performance of these machines varies quite a bit. The top performers are described and benchmark results are here.

What accounts for this range of performance. All four machines have the same processor, clock, memory speed, bridge chip, GPU, disk speed, etc.:

Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB; [many]GB 5,400rpm [drive]

Is it all in the firmware settings?

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1027-405-2090 6166-2.html?tag=rating

It's not technically a "Centrino" laptop anymore, if you pick that option, just a "Pentium M." But it's the same damn laptop with a Dell 802.11a/b/g card in it instead of the Intel card.

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1027-8-209262 22-1.html?tag=ld Take it an run, people! :-) -/- Mikey-San

For you lazy bastards.

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1027-8-209262 22-1.html?tag=ld

Enjoy. Oh, and, to be honest, I'm happy with my new 12" PowerBook G4 - It does everything I want, and then some. :-D

For when this article gets moved off Cnet's front page, here's a direct link.

And just so you won't mod me up, here's a link to goatse.cx

Plass said the record industry, which fought a legal battle to shutter Napster and has a lawsuit pending against Kazaa, had been "quite hostile" to his initiative.

Record-label executives believe the Netherlands ruling in favor of Kazaa will eventually be reversed and have said they will press ahead with an effort to enforce their rights world-wide.

What ARE you guys complaining about? Windows XP Professional only cost me 30$! Office XP only cost me 60$... ... at the microsoft employee store....

*yay friends who are ex-employees of microsoft* :)

Now while I am a spoiled brat who happily takes advantage of people who Microsoft has unfairly fired (long story), I know I do choose to buy legit copies of the software when the prices are "reasonable".

I do seriously believe, that if they could offer JUST Word for under 50$, students would buy it. Why do you think so many students used Microsoft Works? Because it has/had a student discount at the university store and was cheap. I just did a pricecheck - Microsoft Works 2003 costs 68$ at Cnet. Add in the student rebate (I am assuming there still is one, I am no longer a student), and a student can start to justify a 40-50$ software purchase of Word.

Cnet's review of Microsoft Works 2003 here

It's Word 2003, with a few unnecessary "helper" apps.

The [Gateway 400XL] is better than a 15" PowerBook.

The [Gateway 400XL] is better than a 15" PowerBook.

are you sure?

Inte did produce a Pentium III 400MHz. It was one of their "Mobile" processors.

Do you mean unobtrusive DRM like in this review? The NetMD walkman is upload only and it won't play MP3 files directly. The bundled software converts it to their OpenMG format which is copy protected AND you take a big hit in sound quality because you're converting from one lossy codec to another AND it slows down uploading unless you want to duplicate your music collection in OpenMG files. If you think that's annoying, that's only after their 1st generation of players flopped badly due to even more intrusive DRM. Try googling for a review of the Sony Music Clip.
I'll admit that Sony has good design and their CRT televisions have good picture quality, but overall their build quality has gone downhill especially on their stuff not made in Japan. It's not crap, but it doesn't justify their higher prices compared to other consumer electronics makers either.

If you've decided to acquiesce on the "no-Windows" stance, I'd suggest looking at the CNET Notebook section for info. There are sections are for value as well as thin and light notebooks, among others, and looking through those sections is a lot quicker than navigating through the separate laptop sections on each manufacturer's website.

My take on notebooks (currently); wait. Banias is around the corner (March 12 last I heard) bringing +3 hour battery time coupled with excellent performance (it's easy to find slower laptops with significantly longer battery times though). Cost will be an issue (if you're looking at sub-$1500), so I'd suggest waiting even longer after Banias. Having performance, price and portability all in one laptop is about to become possible though; all you need to do is hold off from purchasing for a bit more.

Flaw weakens Linux security

Programmers have found a vulnerability in Linux (news - web sites) that could allow protective firewall software to grant malicious computer users access to protected networks.

The flaw, which affects versions 2.4.14 through 2.4.18-pre9 of the Linux kernel, is in a component of the Netfilter firewall software. The component is involved when two computer users chat directly with each other using the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) system.

Information sent across the Internet is broken up into tiny "packets," each with "from" and "to" addresses, indicating who's sent the information and where it's intended to go. So-called firewall software transmits or screens out these packets based on the address of the sender.

Netfilter, among the new aspects of the 2.4 version of the Linux kernel, is software that runs within the kernel to filter out unwanted packets. But its IRC helper component configures firewall settings too broadly, potentially allowing communication from IP (Internet Protocol) addresses that should be blocked.

Programmers working on the Netfilter firewall software project reported the problem Monday.

Versions 7.1 and 7.2 of leading Linux seller Red Hat's product are vulnerable. The Durham, N.C.-based company issued a patch Thursday that corrects the problem. The flawed software isn't installed by default on the Red Hat versions, the company said, but some users may have added it.

Security is a nagging concern for the computer industry, which must juggle new features with the risk that they open up new problems. While the firewall problem the Netfilter programmers discovered is limited to a few versions of Linux, a more serious problem emerged earlier this month affecting numerous operating systems using standard network management software.

Troll 56 of 208 from the annals of the Troll Library .

My Archos Multimedia Jukebox 20 plays mp4 divx. You can hook it up to a tv, too.

CNET seems to have a comprehensive list of reviews. In addition to the product lines mentioned by the poster, I would like to hear user stories of the Samsung SPH-I300.

CNET seems to have a comprehensive list of reviews. In addition to the product lines mentioned by the poster, I would like to hear user stories of the Samsung SPH-I300.

the irony of using a java applet to watch microsofts share price fall

Here are
some links
that say
I'm right
Here's one that says we're both right

I don't work in the industry so if you do, I'll assume that we're both correct. Perhaps black is the most common key color so that's what everyone defaults it to? Or is "key color" just printing/publishing lingo for black?