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ThinkGeek Has a Web Cam with a built in server, meaning you would just need the modem. May need some hacking to make it road worthy but it could be a nice way to simplify things.

Give it some time. Eventually you to will start to wonder were all your money is going. And then you'll do some simple math. And you'll get it.

Actually, if they were willing to provide support (for $$$) open-sourcing the program would be an extremely smart move. As Eric Raymond explains in his book The Cathedral and the Bazaar, by open-sourcing the project they get free developement and bug fixing. And by providing support services, they can make a ton of money without investing sunk developement costs. While you may raise the objection that other companies could also provide support, HP would not only have the cred (it has been their project) but also has the support service infrastructure set up. These two advantages would ensure that they were primary support providers for the near future. Given this, they would get the mucho moola of support services, without the hassle of developement. Sound like a good deal?

Um, because they'd sue your ISP for allowing you to host the proxy? All these folks who keep arguing that "the net routes around damage" live in a fantasy world- they presume that ISPs will always allow all packets to pass unfiltered and untouched. The ISPs don't really have much business interest in our freedom, or in routing around damage to our rights. If we just leave things up to our programming skills and the myth of the invincibility of the net, we'll lose everything we've built here, and fast.
So... what can you do about that? First and foremost, join the EFF. Run, don't walk, to that website, and make out as big a chunk of cash as you can. Second, run like hell to a book store and pick up Code and Other Laws Of Cyberspace. It isn't the best book, but it does give some very cogent arguments as to why "the net will protect itself" just doesn't cut it anymore. After that... well, after that, keep coding, I guess, and write your congressman when the issues do come up. This is going to be a long and uphill battle, but until we all move to an island nation that isn't intimated by the US and has abundant bandwidth, we can't just bury our heads in the sand.
~luge

BTW: RMS is most certainly interested in the Components of Intellectual propertie rights, he just doesn't feel comfortable commenting on the entire issue in such a short piece (he wouldn't have enough time to fully explain his stance). To find out his true opinions on the issues invovled, check out his excellent The Cathedral and the Bazaar

In reference to the shirt at copyleft, geekshirts.sourceforge.net also has a lot of funny geek / Linux shirts. My favorites there are I Want GNU, GNUtella, and There's no place like GNOME. This site also produced a few designs that have been produced by ThinkGeek, such as the emacs/vi police design.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/things/3449.html

--
Ellison: How are you gentlemen !! All your database are belong to us

save slashdot / freshmeat / thinkgeek - buy a t-shirt

Quick - somebody print up some stickers...

Ur.. does this count as a product?

It's already begun.

Window kits and light kits are being sold by one of this confab's few advertisers.

You can always put a hot, silicone-overclocked babe on your screen with far too few mouse clicks. (If I need to post a URL for that...)

How you accessorize your hog is up to you.

--Blair
"Any color you want, as long as it's paisley."

It's already begun.

Window kits and light kits are being sold by one of this confab's few advertisers.

You can always put a hot, silicone-overclocked babe on your screen with far too few mouse clicks. (If I need to post a URL for that...)

How you accessorize your hog is up to you.

--Blair
"Any color you want, as long as it's paisley."

Does anybody have a recommendation for a similar product without all those shortcommings?

Check out the Personal MP3 Jukebox, for example on thinkgeek : http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/things/3474.html

Think Geek
Nothing says love like a slashdot T-shirt

Since may of last year I had ADSL with Ameritech. It was 768/128. It worked fine. No lag, zero PL in games. And DLing was fast. But then I saw speakeasy over at think geek offering 1.1/1.1 SDSL from covad. Oh man I was pysched. 1.1 upstream and almost no TOS restrictions (they allow you to do almost anything except run an IRC server, or a bussiness website). So I cancelled my ADSL with Ameritech (with a $100 penalty.. doh) and signed up with them; speakeasy said they had to have the line shutoff to work on it. fine. 2 Weeks later covad came out to run/test the line. Then...

"We're sorry, you are too far out of the loop, your SDSL order is technically unfeasable. We suggest our 144/144 (kilo-bits here) IDSL for $80 a month".

Well crap. I dont want to pay twice as much as I was paying with Ameritech for half the speed. So I came crawling back to Ameritech. But...

"We're sorry, ADSL is not available in your area. You have been added to a list and will be informed when it becomes available." BTW- my friend across the street has Ameritech ADSL.

So that's my story. I guess I got greedy. Ameritech is sending out a technician to see what the problem is (another 3 weeks). I tried talking with the sales represenitive, but it's no use. They can't help me. I asked speakeasy what they thought and they said the ADSL should have never been installed in the first play, and would have probably blown up (thats the word they used) within the next 6 months.

So 2 days ago I called @home and am having that installed tomorrow. For $27 a month for the first 3 months. If only I could get that uncapped....

Some mom and pop places are eating up their cousins and other siblings to stay alive and grow...I used to work for Fibernet. Check out the top bullet on the news at their front page. They just acquired someone else's user base. The ma's and pa's have to get big enough that they are hard enough to move off the block...That makes them less ma and pa'ish and also eliminates aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

Or at least that's what it looks like to me.

I ... errr... I *looking down at gut hanging over belt and pile of empty cans of Mountain Dew, bottles of Bawls, and desicated Twinkies...*

I resemble that comment...

The poster was hanging up on the linuxcare booth. They had a spliced together version which was put together from a bunch of standard letter size printouts. They also had a glossy poster version but the print quality was not as detailed as the spliced version. The tech told me they had tried to print it off a computer with a quarter gig of ram and the thing just choked... This was one of the *coolest* things I saw from the expo and I am absolutely going to pick one up. I wonder if thinkgeek.com is going to put one out?

dopp

So, how long will it take until I can order one of these posters from ThinkGeek or Copyleft? I want one!

Alex Bischoff
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Granted.

and quite beautiful,

Well, being a NeXT-ish kinda guy, I think I'd have to take exception with that one... ;-)

and I would sure as heck try to protect it.

Well, sure. But what does that mean? I mean, I could understand them trying to keep people from distributing the (proprietary portions of the) MOSX code; but trying to squash somebody using similar visual ideas? To me, it's kind of like designing an advertisement and then suing anyone who uses the same fonts and colors in a community newsletter.

Some of this has to do with purpose: the purpose of the advertisement is to advertise a product. After fulfilling that function, why would the company who paid for the advertisement care if someone else used a similar color scheme and layout for something else? For example, I wouldn't think the Dairy Farmers Association of America would really be upset by the "got root?" t-shirts over at ThinkGeek.

Similarly, the purpose of the GUI is to interface with the OS. Once it has fulfilled that function, what would they care what other people did with the basic ideas (colors, transparency effects, etc.) Of course, I could be wrong; but it still wouldn't make sense to me.

By having others take it like that, it's not just blatantly copying their work, it's showing off Apple's cool interface before they release it (outside of the beta) on their own time.

This actually is a point that I hadn't thought of. I'm not sure I understand how this would really make much difference, but it's a thought.

And for your curiousity, I am an avid Mac user

Great! BTW, y'oughta take the time to learn Objective C and OpenStep...erm...I mean Cocoa. The community needs some attention from the Mac crowd.

The results thus far:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/vi-emacs.html

--

All generalizations are false.

The movie is fiction. If you want the reality of Open Source, then take a look at C.H.I.M.P. and see Open Source in action!

This article slipped by my "Exclude Jon Katz" filter. :-(
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There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots.

So much for geeks being some of the last people to appreciate substance over style. What's next, "How Flash can liven up your website!"?

Who says that that "geeks" don't appreciate style over substance? I assure you that you can find far less expensive and better made T-shirts, beer glasses, desk calendars, coffee mugs, and hats than the ones you find at the above site. Yet somehow, this site makes a killing marketing almost exclusively style-oriented items to people supposedly immune to such folly.

While substance is undeniably important, we are creatures of senses and feelings, and our world would be an exceedingly dull place to live without style. Thus, whether or not case windows and internal neon lights suit your personal taste (an entirely different question, on which I think we would probably share the same opinion,) to say that trying to inject some style into one's computer case is "just silly" strikes me as a little over-utilitarian. Why shouldn't a geek have a fast computer that looks nice, too?

information wants to be expensive...nothing is so valuable as the right information at the right time.

Now, if you put a lame PC in a cool case, that's a different story. That's like putting ground effects on your Yugo.

...my Helix Code monkey?!

Signed,
Miffed Gnome User

"// this is the most hacked, evil, bastardized thing I've ever seen. kjb"

"...if you've ever wondered what it sounds like out there, this is it."

It's hardly "what it sounds like out there"; it doesn't sound like anything out there, since it's a vacuum. What's happened is that phenomena which humans can't experience directly (radio waves) have been converted into phenomena that we can (sound).

Now, of course, this is what's happening every time you draw a graph (where a mass of data becomes readable shapes, lines and dots) or use your watch (where the internal state representing the date becomes LED readout or angular configuration of the hands), so this kind of abstraction is a vital tool in making sense of the world. But that doesn't mean that we can take these recordings and say "So this is what it sounds like out there!" (Compare someone seeing a map of the Internet and saying "Aha! So that's what the Internet looks like!")

M

Check here. I can't find a link to the VA Linux shirt, although I'm almost positive I saw one there ..

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CitizenC

As for me, I have no idea. Personally, I don't see why forcing additionaly training on people who consist of volunteers and some full-timers is a good thing in the long run. Considering that M$ has such a large control over the market, why would one want to put a company through the process of training monkeys to use harpoons to get bannans? Dunno, and considering that there is plenty of write-offs for the (under)taxed M$ to have and that FM is a really really really really big group, why not just go ahead and use M$? Don't get me wrong, the heads of M$ are money-grubbing bastards, but I would prefer them to make money off of giving away their OS, a stacked software compilation, training, and other periferial items than I would for them to charge for it.

As for me, I have no idea. Personally, I don't see why forcing additionaly training on people who consist of volunteers and some full-timers is a good thing in the long run. Considering that M$ has such a large control over the market, why would one want to put a company through the process of training monkeys to use harpoons to get bannans? Dunno, and considering that there is plenty of write-offs for the (under)taxed M$ to have and that FM is a really really really really big group, why not just go ahead and use M$? Don't get me wrong, the heads of M$ are money-grubbing bastards, but I would prefer them to make money off of giving away their OS, a stacked software compilation, training, and other periferial items than I would for them to charge for it.

Know it.

Love it.

This summer, while in Austria, I saw a Victorinox (that's the "swiss army knife" company) Cybertool pocket knife. I instantly insisted that my parents get it for me (it was about $60). It has pretty much all the screwsdriver attachments you'd need to disassemble computer related stuff. It also has pliers, scissors, knife, and the other standardparts. The screwdriver attachments fit most screws. Sometimes I am not able to exert enough power to actually unscrew them. However, I have the same problem with regular screwdrivers (note: this is only on "new" items, where the screws have been tightened to hell and back).

I am pretty much satisfied with mine, but I always keep my $10 cheap-ass radioshack screwdriver set nearby. Having both is very helpful.

Also, here is a link to buy the Cybertool from thinkgeek.com:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/things/3653.html

It's a little expensive, but if you have some cash to spare, it's a good way to impress your friends

-mdek.net

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There is a third choice, somewhat unjustly rejected by the author of the review in the article, an MP3/CD player such as Pine on ThinkGeek, or the Genica/Tavarua/MPTrip player at CoputerGeeks, mentioned previously somewhere among the comments here. I own a Genica, and while the craftsmanship, user interface and battery life leaves something to be desired, it offers the best storage/dollar option.Granted, judging from the reviews, I was extremely lucky to get a Genica that worked flawlessly out of the box, but there are other, albeit more expensive MP3/CD players out.

Much as I like a good conspiracy theory, my personal experience (getting slashdot'd) suggests that they really don't tie the adverts to the articles, and in my case ran an article for an open-source project that aims to compete with what they had been advertising recently.

I'm trying to resist the urge to make a shameless plug for my little project..... you can find it if you want, and compare with the PJB and NJB. The short story is that my little project is a circuit board that you assemble with a drive, and currently has very few features and no display, but is GPL'd and has great audio output. Maybe someday it'll compare with the PJB when I get the display board designed.

For a second example, I noticed ads for vmware a couple days ago, not far separated from this article about Plex86, and then this one as well.

You mean there is something else besides vi!?!

vi vs. emacs

Check out CD MP3 player

I have a diffrent one. Of course there are some issues with play lists and artist titles.. but I don't really care I put the disk in and press play. Then sit around for 10 or 12 hours. The one I have works pretty well even when I'm mountain biking (it is pretty resiliant to shock) but it chewes through AA batteries. It doesn't even play a single 12 hour disk on a new pair of batteries.

finally, someone who supports my movement away from cubes.

I have probally been a lucky guy. All the companies I have worked for (for the most part) have been of the 'war room' mentality

• Games-Workshop - WarRoom
• @Home - WarRoom
• Black&Decker - WarRoom (more or less)
• ProxiCom (on loan)- WarishRoom

Actually @home (Comcast division) was the one that started out NOT as a WarRoom. It was cubicle world, and i'll tell you .. productivity was horrible. (nothing like having absolute privace when you want to play a little quake eh ?) but I moved to the web side, and that was like a bullpen. It was great. If I was having a code problem - I just had to say 'HEY!' and someone might have an answer.

C.H.I.M.P's abounded, so we might not even have to look away from our screens. Pr0n surfing, and goofing off was not activly discouraged, but when all your companions are busting a$$ to meet deadline - you feel a LOT more guilty looking at e-bay, (or slashdotting i suppose *grin*)

at the contractors im working with now (for the new blackanddecker.com site), its a low cubicle wall place .. in nice ordly rows, with lots of caffinated beverages for free in the kitchen. Its a more-or-less war room environment. There are tv's here, and people talk to each other more readily. (The graphics part of the company was busily setting up a slot car track about 30 mins ago .. smelled of Ozone galore !) However, in the last week (of crunch time) i have probally worked 60+ hours with this site .. and honestly .. its been a HELL of a lot easier to do so, than if i was stairing at the grey fabric covered walls of a cube.

Last week (admist a spontanious poll of how many people had a sock monkey as a kid - so far its 28 vs 20 .. close race - 2 voted "what the hell is a sock monkey", prompting for some RATHER interesting drawings on the 'warboard' ) we were here untill midnight (with some chineese food as fortification.) Much easier, and actually kind of FUN. Although I kinda glad that im not expected to do that it every day.

I'm all for the war room, sides .. its easier to shoot your boss with a nerfball when you can see him all the time.

With USB mice you can plug in a mouse in the USB slot and one in the PS/2 hole. I don't know if there is a limit, barring the 127(?) device limit on a USB chain. They all move the same pointer, however.

This can still be useful when the mice can have different sensitivity settings. One of my mice is the Razer Boomslang 2000 (order from ThinkGeek) that can be set to absurdly high responsiveness, which makes it unwieldy for graphics work, but great for gaming. The PS/2 mouse and the castrated mouse are both a lot easier to use for fine work, or when someone that can't handle the Razer sits at my desk.

I have long looked for a utility that would enable mutiple pointers so I would be able to use whichever hand wasn't typing to mouse with, but have never found anything that makes it look possible.

Funny you should say that, as my copy of Running Linux arrived in the post just today from Thinkgeek. Anyway, most of what you say, I do know, such as man pages, and RTFM, but it still doesn't make it easy. :-)

Joshua

Terradot

The OmniRemote Springboard Module seems like the best bet - you get a remote-like IR signal (wide, correct timing, etc), and the ease and programability of a Visor. The more I think about it, this is probably what I really want.

At first, when I saw the module option, I thought "Didn't those go out with the GameBoy?". Well, for one, it appears the GameBoy is still around, and two, this kind of new hardware functionality seems to be a real benefit.

Of course, I'm waiting for the day where everything is seemlessly connected, where I can set up TiVo over a mobile phone to tape a show, then start it up with the Visor when I get home. Oh, and while I'm at it, why not throw away the keys, and unlock the front door with a remote.

Now if only there was a way to excercise by remote...

Oh really? Make that most companies...

• Our cafeteria offers free coffee, but it is only open in the morning, then lunch, then for an afternoon snack -- you can't get it whenever. Also, it's 6 floors (and an elevator change) away. :(
• We've asked for our soda machine (75cents!) to be rigged so that we get free soda. Problem is that we're on a 20floor building and the facilities people argue that our machine would get raided by everyone else (at least partly, but probably not entirely true).
• We'd be happy to buy our own soda at CostCo and truck it in. Problems with that:
  • Where to put it? There is one refrigerator on the floor and we can't exactly just take it over with soda.
  • Who to do it? We're in the middle of Boston and most people take public transit. Lugging in a few cases of soda regularly is a bit of a pain.
  • If we try to get our own half-size fridge and hide it in a lab someplace, facilities will ultimately find and take it, I guarantee.

Duane

P.S. - As a christmas gift I did get my team the caffeine sampler from ThinkGeek, so I'll be distributing that as soon as it arrives. Hey, it's something, right?

Just kidding. It's best to have little to no light directed at your monitor, to reduce glare, but you should have some light, preferably from a window behind your monitor. I prefer to compute in something of a twilight setting, but that's a preference thing. Thinkgeek has a nice looking light. The only troublesome thing about it is that it runs at 60hz. Alas, I do not have one, so I can't tell you anything else with certainty.

Just kidding. It's best to have little to no light directed at your monitor, to reduce glare, but you should have some light, preferably from a window behind your monitor. I prefer to compute in something of a twilight setting, but that's a preference thing. Thinkgeek has a nice looking light. The only troublesome thing about it is that it runs at 60hz. Alas, I do not have one, so I can't tell you anything else with certainty.

now such wonderful sites as Thinkgeek will go out of business due to lack of sales of caffeine...

I wonder why Germany ranks highest among the non-US users... Japan I can see and Canada is in North America but why Germany? Check out this graphic.

There are some cool charts examining the .net breakdown (remember that cool poster from ThinkGeek?) and the breakdown by .edu as well.
-Duke

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