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• I selected Roku Soundbridges. I like the interface, and the display. They can access the network using either 10/100 wired ethernet, or 802.11b wireless and provide analog and digital outputs to feed either powered speakers or your stereo. I have two hanging off the same server setup described above, and they work great.
  
• I can also "mount" the music shared in the manner described above with iTunes. I've only tested this w/ the winderz version, as there are no Macs in the house modern enuf to run iTunes.
  

• The slimserver software, and a software version of their client are available free from their web page. Try before you buy, or buy one squeezebox and use the software version on laptops elsewhere.
  
• Roku _might_ implement synchronized play in the future. I see no reason why they could not.
  
• Roku supports "tuning" internet radio stations. I plan to set up a stream, fed by another piece of software looking at the same set of files so that I have my own internet radio station in the house. I've used jwz's gronk, which is a web-based jukebox package for this purpose before with success, but will also consider grind this time around. I do not know if I will achieve synchronization this way or not, but I'm hoping.
  
• Gronk and Grind do not use ID3 tags, so when I originally ripped a lot of my music for Gronk, I didn't care about the ID3s. All of the rest of this software DOES care, so I have a bit of a mess on my hands.
  
• Gronk is written in Perl, so it's hackable. This comes in handy tweaking things like sort order, whether to include "the' in the band name, etc. JWZ also provides a demo version to play with on the site below.
  
• Another way to get the synchronized music, and to serve over wireless, although not the way you originally asked, is to set up an FM transmitter. I have not yet done this for this project, but my prior Gronk installation supported one of those micropowered fm transmitters intended for use with mp3 players in cars just fine.
  

• 
  Linksys NSLU-2
  Unslung firmware for the NSLU-2
  Roku Soundbridge
  Squeezebox and Slimserver
  mt-daapd on Sourceforge
  JWZ's Gronk
  Grind
  A review of a REAL FM transmitter
  

Have you seen Technocrat? If not, check it out.

I'm pretty sure any process up to now for making energy spends way more than the amount produced.

Actually, Argentina and Chile are having good success with sugarcane-based ethanol. And Vanuatu is having good success with coconut oil. So there is some success from the ethanol/biodiesel method....

I should also have included some relevant links to Internet based news sources bookmarked in Safari:

Slashdot of course.
CNN of course.
NYTimes for the writing and quality of reporting.
BBC for the big mainstream non American news perspective.
Kevin Sites for on the ground reporting in Iraq.
Dan Gillmor for news grassroots news.
CBS for financial info.
CNET for tech news.
Global Security for political defense news.
Google for a good news accumulator.
Cryptome because John manages to pull some pretty damned interesting articles out.
NPR of course. Don't forget to donate.
Reuters because they have the news.
Washington Post for beltway news.
Wall St. Journal for more financial news.
NPR Marketplace for more financial news.
CBS for mainstream US news.
Technocrat for real science oriented geek news, like Slashdot only with less noise.
Oh, yeah and
Macsurfer for a Macintosh community oriented news accumulator.

Technocrat is quite good.

And just the month before, we gave up an additional $20 billion + to our trading partners in bad trade agreements.

I am giving you the benefit of the doubt - and could just toss this off as a troll.

I have a weblog called Technocrat.net and write reviews of stuff that I've bought on that weblog. The review before this was a flashlight. I would like to get traffic on my weblog, but that's all I get out of this.

For a living, I do consulting for $300/hour, which beats the heck out of anything I could make by hawking flashlights on slashdot.

Bruce

As mentioned here, the unit is not FCC approved. Once this guy comes onto the radar (by a slashdotting, for example) he might well get a call from the FCC.

I wonder why this is.

Very few people would use [ab]use the definition of "free" the way you do. Very deceptive of you; to make observations and point out facts that are 100% true, but use words and definitions that a minscule of portion of the populace would use.

Just because the majority of the population is brainwashed to see things a certain way does not mean that things ARE that way.

Is your terminology correct? Perhaps on some level. But did you knowingly make statements like "US is NOT a free society", knowing that 95%+ of the people do not interpret those words the way you do? Indefensibly yes. You should feel proud of yourself. Perhaps you should run for office? Your skills would come in handy.

Well ahead of you: http://technocrat.net/journal.pl?op=display&uid=70 8. Campaign is on hold for a couple of weeks as I deal with family holiday matters and finish the donation website, but I am running for President on a new third party in 2008.

1. IBM selling its PC business
2. Cell workstations
3. POWER5 amazing benchmark records
4. IBM incents Linux on Power app development
5. Launches a Power architecture coalition
6. IBM and Red Hat begin certifying apps for Linux
7. IBM ups its Desktop Linux push

technocrat.net

...where better to find a matching geek!

Saw this days ago on http://technocrat.net/article.pl?sid=04/12/06/0042 32&mode=thread

Technocrat.net provides more links to other media reporting about this news, including to their source which is a paper published in Nature Medicine.

One fact is remarkable: its merely tested on mice and monkeys while 'the biological reaction of a given animal species to a given substance does not allow meaningful and reliable prediction of the biological reaction of humans. Extrapolation to man of the experimental behaviour of another species is hazardous and thus devoid of any scientific value.' (3rd link)

Technocrat.net provides more links to other media reporting about this news, including to their source which is a paper published in Nature Medicine.

One fact is remarkable: its merely tested on mice and monkeys while 'the biological reaction of a given animal species to a given substance does not allow meaningful and reliable prediction of the biological reaction of humans. Extrapolation to man of the experimental behaviour of another species is hazardous and thus devoid of any scientific value.' (3rd link)

And resonable people always wish to maximize profits

Want a more mature forum than Slashdot? Try Technocrat.net

Depends on your idea of mature. ;)

technocrat.net like Slashdot but less groupthink, less idiocy, and more intellectualism

I think his keynote address at the SCO forum is his best piece of shi, I mean work...
http://www.sco.com/2004forum/agenda/Enderle_keynot e_SCO-Forum2004.html
not complete without a logical analysis done of it...
http://fallinggrace.com/article.php?story=20040811 015739829

And I think Bruce at Technocrat said it best http://technocrat.net/article.pl?sid=04/08/10/1742 206&mode=thread

Picture

One-handed keyboards sell for $99 to $350, but here's one that can be had for $25 at a well-known net merchant, and a little more at the CompUSA. Of course, it's intended for gamers, but can easily be made into a one-handed chording keyboard to nurture your inner cyborg, if you just...

design an appropriate keying pattern and learn it, and write a little software. This is just crying out for an Open Source project. You can help handicapped people, perhaps even influence a new generation of low-budget cyborgs!

The Belkin Nostromo n52 Speedpad has 14 typewriter-style keys that chord (meaning they can all be read individually), LEDs, a dial, and a game controller with firing button. That's easily enough to make a chording keyboard. You can use the game controller as four shift keys (your thumb rests upon it).

To make the job easier, here's C code to read the device on Linux. To finish the job, you'll also have to push key events back into the Linux console or X Windows. Code to do that is already available on the net, it's been written for use with other USB devices.

/* Copyright 2003 Bruce Perens.
You may use this software under
the BSD license without the
advertising clause. */
#include

REST OF CODE DELETED FROM THIS COPY BECAUSE SLASHDOT THINKS THE LINES ARE TOO SHORT - SEE ORIGINAL WEBSITE FOR THE REAL CODE.

I posted the same story around 10:00 am on technocrat.net. Wonder why it took so long to filter through here?

Well, IBM isn't recommending that anyone deploy it at all just yet.

It said that OSDN (and thereby slashdot) has been bought by Microsoft. But now they deny it.

In other words, the end of the world was canceled. :-D

Hm. What's causing this?

Maybe this?

Nice to see that Technocrat is back, Bruce.

warning, this is a recycled post:

prediction: by 2002, aol/twx/viacom/cbs will merge with citi/travelers, consolidating access/content/financial services into an uber bohemoth to "serve you better". In 2003, it'll merge with merke/ciba-giegy, adding medication to mass hypnosis, creating unprecedented pocket picking opportunities.. for few.. for short run.

In the long haul, shareholder managed mediocracies like these will implode. Their urge to command and control the market will win fewer and fewer hearts. More cooperative competitors will route around the sword of the central censor. Wake up and smell the tsunami.

Metcalfe's Law describes exponentially increasing returns as more nodes connect to a network. Hence, AOL MSN etc clobber one another to acquire customers, to aggregate eyeballs, with one simple aim: sell them. Customers defect, exploiting titanic price wars. The price for customer acquisition skyrockets. Investors hoping to cash in on tomorrow's loyal customer might just have their bubble popped.

Long term loyalty can't be bought. And King Customer grows more powerful by the day. This will profoundly change all business relationships in the free trade of free ideas.

Does a customer's capacity to store information quadruple every three years? Gilder's Law says there will be 27 times more pipe to share information every three years. So in ten years, TiVo nodes might store 75 times more info, but have 60,000 times the capacity to exchange it, and do so transnationally. Try to regulate it. Go ahead, hire more lawyers.

Decentralization is bad news for vertically integrated cash registers. It's good news for reintermediators, and creators who avoid selling ownership out to ubercorps. Great news for chaorganizing traders.

Shared ownership in client/server transaction is where it's at. ImagineRadio kinda got it, until they sold out to Viacom. Aolosaurus doesn't get it at all.

What if "ownership" is defined as a "nontransferable right to participate" within an idea-trading community?


http://www.chaordic.org/chaordic/what_des.html
http://www.partnershipway.org/unesco.html
http://technocrat.net/947223068/index_html

Huh? Believe it or not, a *shared ownership* model organizes the most successful global enterprise on earth: VISA International.

http://www.chaordic.org/chaordic/res_choasgood.htm l
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/05/deehock.html
http://visa.com/av/who/main.html

Dee Hock, who founded VISA, tells a bit of the story like this:

"In the strict legal sense, VISA was a non-stock, for-profit membership corporation. In another sense, it was an inside-out holding company in that it did not hold, but was held by its functioning parts. The financial institutions that create its products were, at one and the same time, its owners, its members, its suppliers, its customers, its subjects, and its superiors.

"It could not be bought, raided, traded, or sold, since ownership was in the form of perpetual, nontransferable rights of participation.

"VISA espoused no political, economic, social, or legal theory, thus transcending language, race, custom, and culture to successfully bring together people and institutions of every political, social, and religious persuasion.

"It went through a number of wars and revolutions, the belligerents continuing to share common ownership and never ceasing reciprocal acceptance of products, even though they were killing one another."

! Dee Hock estimates that if equitable ownership had been extended to merchants and card-holders, (all users), Visa would today be *four times* more successful today. !

Something to consider when deciding whether "for profit" or "non profit".. Neither And Both =)

Bruce Parens said this exact thing would happen in the technocrat. But everyone seemed to ignore this guy when he preaches honesty.

College kids stapped for cash, give me a break, that is one of the most affluent groups in the country, most people in america don't have $30K a year to live in a country club, but most kids who go to private schools are. Don't tell me you were not warned, see Bruce Perens Napster article, he said that this exact type of thing would happen as a response to the irresponsible use of P2P piracy. Stop whining about how the man is keeping you down, stop using these devices, go outside, live life, don't like it don't support it.

This appeared on Bruce's site Technocrat.net yesterday. It also links to a Cnet article on the topic.

Bruce sez: "There are two parts to the job. I get to be an activist in the Linux community, on company time, and speak for myself when necessary. And I get to advise top management. There are three people between Carly (the chairman) and I. So, I'll be a pretty effective bridge between the Open Source community and HP management." Here's the link.

This appeared on Bruce's site Technocrat.net yesterday. It also links to a Cnet article on the topic.

Bruce sez: "There are two parts to the job. I get to be an activist in the Linux community, on company time, and speak for myself when necessary. And I get to advise top management. There are three people between Carly (the chairman) and I. So, I'll be a pretty effective bridge between the Open Source community and HP management." Here's the link.

Mutant technocrat females found: that's how I read. I thought to myself: Bruce Perens has finally gone off the deep end. He is making an army of mutant females to further his politcal agenda. Or he would have, had his plot not been uncovered in time.

There is an article about this over at technocrat.

check it out..a good (if scary) read.

The 'linux community' has a sub-set of voices who have money in Linux-centric stocks and have a vested interest in seeing 'linux succeed'. VA Research^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HLinux is an example of a voice that won't promote BSD unless they have to. Given money == volume, it is no wonder the BSD message is shouted over.

The voices are fine, it is what the voices *SAY*....$0 OSes/Open Source OSes == Linux (and only linux) that cause the problem.

Taking snippits from here these quotes are WHY there seems to be a division, because there *IS* a division.
The Institute has not yet seen fit to include the only companies which market products and services many in the Third World can actually afford, the Linux companies.
Now, anyone with 1/2 a clue or better knows that the ONLY companies that market products that are at a $0 cost option are NOT just Linux companies. There is BSD in the form of Darwin (the $0 option from Apple), FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.

So here is a 'linux voice' ignoring BSD, even thought the 'goal' of the voice is to help the 3rd world become aware of $0 options. Saying 'only linux' is being un-truthful.

Bruce P has a take on this, and I can understand his modivation:
Re: And BSD isn't affordable, nor corporate?
by Bruce Perens on Monday October 09, @03:31 AM BSD folks should be represented too. Hopefully, they can ask for representation in the same way the Linux folks are. Should the Linux folks fight their battles? I'd have no problem speaking out for them as a free software spokesperson. But I doubt that every Linux proponent should have to fight on the behalf of BSD.

Here is the source of a division.

If you are talking about 'open source alternatives to Micro$oft', then you should not be starting and ending with Linux. BSD is there, and you could always use HURD or even Minix. (if others have $0 options for personal/business use, please list em.) WRT HURD and Minix, there isn't alot of usefulness, so you are left with BSD.

When you talk about 'shrink-wrapped Linux binaries', do they even consider Solaris/SCO/BSD's Linux compatibility layer? If you don't think of BSD/SCO/Solaris, then you are adding to the division.

And, when someone approaches you and says: "Tell me about Linux", are they wanting to know about Linux, or are they "interested in knowing what they could run instead of Microsoft software" with Linux being the name on the tip of the tounge of the press.
(And Linus is in agreement with the POV that Choices to Microsoft should be varied.
That same attitude helps explain why Torvalds is so eager to counterbalance Microsoft's dominance. He wants computer users to have a choice among several operating systems, not just one from Microsoft. "I'm not rabid anti-Microsoft," he says. "But they make it so hard to compete.")

If *YOU* don't like the rift, what are you doing to bridge the gap? Do you say 'linux' as a shorthand for Open Source OS? When you ask vendors to create a 'linux binary', do you ask them to support BSD/SCO/Solaris with that linux binary?

And think about this:
Is it OK to go to a Windows technology roll-out to hand out Linux CD's, in the interest of letting ppl know about 'an option'?
Is it OK to go to a Linux Meeting and hand out BSD CD's, in the interest in expanding knowledge?

What might be a more interesting question is can you mix cards and CPUs of different frequencies and even architectures. For example, if there is enough critical mass opt-in for say the RapidIO standard (a big if), then if CPUs/kernels (not just Linux) standardise on compatible IPC mechanisms and shared data structures/objects, you can possibly have a system where you only upgrade the CPU rather than throwing out the whole machine every 2-3 years. Due to its complexity and human intensive nature, software changes more slowly than hardware where you can just ramp up the shrink process. There are already some hints of this with the HandSpring module, where you retain your familiar interface but just up the capabilities according to your preference. However, I suspect to do this properly with Linux may require some thought into how the ELF object code format can support mupport multiple systems.

Perhaps something to discuss at that new 64bit unix mailing list set up recently. LL

Of course you can. Hence the push towards "trusted client" hardware - that's the only way to eliminate that recourse. See this recent article on Technocrat.

But, while it's an option, it's not a very satisfactory one. It's a rather involved process, and I think there may be some loss issues, depending on your hardware and software setup perhaps. Could be wrong on that, maybe someone that's done some low level sound work can clarify that...

1. A governmentally enforced licensed hardware regime, or leased hardware model where a term of the lease (backed by draconian penalties) is that you cannot open the box. In the future, you wouldn't be able to purchase -- actually own -- actually own title to -- anwhere or at any price, a TV, Stereo, VCR, Computer, TIVO, or other information display device. You could only lease and/or license, one, subject to the contractual and/or property right - tort and/or property right - criminal law requirements set forth above. AND/OR
   
   
2. A new equivilant to the DMCA that applies to hardware -- again, makign it illegal to open the box.
   
   

1. A governmentally enforced licensed hardware regime, or leased hardware model where a term of the lease (backed by draconian penalties) is that you cannot open the box. In the future, you wouldn't be able to purchase -- actually own -- actually own title to -- anwhere or at any price, a TV, Stereo, VCR, Computer, TIVO, or other information display device. You could only lease and/or license, one, subject to the contractual and/or property right - tort and/or property right - criminal law requirements set forth above. AND/OR
   
   
2. A new equivilant to the DMCA that applies to hardware -- again, makign it illegal to open the box.
   
   

/. is not the place for this kind of thing. Both posters and /. should know this by now- /. is an 800-lb gorilla, with strength and manners to match. Oddly enough, it also has about the effectiveness of an 800-lb gorilla when trying to explain things to lawyers- the lawyers laugh, sic their guards on the gorilla, and go on their merry way.
For this kind of thing, you should drop a note to bruce at technocrat: he knows how to speak lawyer-speak, has lots of experience dealing with it, and has the respect needed to get a foot in the door and begin to solve the problem instead of just screaming and whining (like we tend to do here at /.).
/.- you guys should know better. Posting this kind of stuff here (especially when the original poster has made absolutely no attempt to contact the alleged infringer) does no one any good at all. Get a grip, and when Compaq comes back and says "screw the GPL, yours truly, Compaq" then bring out the masses. Until then, this kind of post does more harm than good.
~luge

If you look on the same page as the intended article from technocrat.net, there is another interesting little tidbit about a ham radio station being installed on the International Space Station, so the astronauts can talk to ham operators on the ground. This might just be the push I've been needing to go out and get that ham license.

So, as a result, every new potentially open source license has to be checked against these two. And since the MIT license is essentially a "no constraints" one, the GPL is the only one with which issues can appear. And incompatibility with the GPL has become a killer. It's simply a matter of leverage.

OG.

[1] Mozilla, Qt

So, as a result, every new potentially open source license has to be checked against these two. And since the MIT license is essentially a "no constraints" one, the GPL is the only one with which issues can appear. And incompatibility with the GPL has become a killer. It's simply a matter of leverage.

OG.

[1] Mozilla, Qt

Sorry, I really don't feel like explaining it all :) But, go to Technocrat and search for the semi-recent story on it.

Basically, it's similar to the KDE/Qt situation. Lots of KDE code is GPLed, but it depends on Qt, whose license is incompatible with the GPL. Thus, distributing the two together violates the GPL (I guess). In the GPL there is some vagueness that creates debate.

Also, at first Galeon included some Mozilla header files, which was definitely a problem. Since then, we've stopped doing that of course.

Or Advogato or Bruce Perens's Technocrat.net or RootPrompt (of the Cracked! series), or even SmokeDot (though I don't frequent the last one). Slashdot alternatives are a dime a dozen, although I personally think Advogato is really neat, and that K5 was at or near its tipping point to gain equal stature with /. when it went down (which raises suspicions of /.-Andover.net-VALinux conspiracies in minds bogglier than mine). I have a paper I wrote about what makes /. popular, and what would make other sites replace /. Email me to get it.

Anyway, I don't believe Taco has an obligation to post what he thinks the /. readership is interested in. I think he should select what he's interested in and maybe then make a subselection of what he thinks would interest the readers. IMO the personality of the authors is what makes slashdot interesting and when you take that away it loses its charm.

Rob has a bit in the FAQ about that, as to why he won't do K5-type story moderation and submission. He basically says that he think /. is the way it is, and special, because of the unique, exclusive mix of editors and their interests, and he will only go so far in 'open-sourcing' the story posting process. I say, K5 was the first site to take OS philosophy all the way in a /.-style site, and the next one might be the "Slashdot-killer."

Well, I'm registered, I got my PIN, and I've confirmed online.

I wrote a short article pointing out some interesting statistics on Technocrat.net, but didn't get much of a response.

In short, although the US has the largest 'Internet Population', other countries are far overpresented in the ICANN registration.

BTW, Lawrence Lessig seems like the most interesting candidate for N. America, what do you think?
--

Well, I'm registered, I got my PIN, and I've confirmed online.

I wrote a short article pointing out some interesting statistics on Technocrat.net, but didn't get much of a response.

In short, although the US has the largest 'Internet Population', other countries are far overpresented in the ICANN registration.

BTW, Lawrence Lessig seems like the most interesting candidate for N. America, what do you think?
--

Monday Jul 31, 2000 Relive the sloth-like speed, nightmarish user interfaces, and new-car smell of the web browsers of yesteryear, at Dejavu.org.

I set up an address solely for anyone responding to my /. posts. I've never sent any mail from that address, but I've received spam on it. Ditto my address for Technocrat, which is different.

Some scum has the minimal smarts needed to scan weblogs for addresses. Ah, well, time for RBL/ORBS/whatever.

This was exposed and discussed on Technocrat two days ago.

Don't feel bad -- I saw one of the big network News organizations (I think it was ABC) get taken by a hoaxster during one of their live "crisis" broadcasts, where the person confirmed that somebody had indeed killed themself since "they couldn't be on the Howard Stern show."

If it can happen to them it can happen to slashdot.