Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Solidity, Sneakiness, Recovery
Vivid Video, take note: NickElm writes: "The 3Dwm project, already featured twice before on Slashdot (the last time little more than a year ago), is still alive and kicking and making steady progress. This summer, we added CSG support, full VNC interaction, and our first real application (a 3Dwm clock). To top it off, Xybernaut recently donated two wearable computers to the project, perfect platforms for this kind of thing. 3Dwm packages have existed for Debian for quite some time, and we were just now adopted by Mandrake as well. What are you waiting for, download it and try it out for yourself! Still far from a complete user environment, but we're getting there..."
Do you want your iTunes iBack, little iBoy? pinqkandi writes "Apple has released some tips on getting back your data lost by the iTunes Installer for Mac OS X. If you haven't written to the partition where the loss occured, you should be able to get it back with Tech Tool Pro or Norton Utilities. Apple's tips warn to NOT use a Volume Recover feature in these utilities, but instead use their tools to recover lost data. Also, boot from a CD before recovering data, and also follow your utility's maker's directions. Unfortunately, no free utilities are listed for the recovery."
The sort of details you'll find on page 17 in small print. ARP writes "A while ago RatedPC brought us some scoop of HP's upcoming Digital Entertainment Center de100c. At first this unit seems to be a perfect addition to home theatre systems right? Well, you better forget about it if you think you are going to use it to share music or make your own CDs from your MP3 collection. What HP hasn't told us is they have been seriously whipped by DRM (Digital Rights Management). An internal FAQ has revealed that users will be unable to use CD-RWs to burn off their own CDs. You will need to buy "Digital Audio Discs" and royalties from these discs are distributed to artists via the RIAA. And you can't transfer your songs to your PC either. Without a doubt RIAA's foothold has extended much above just this. Don't be surprised if it won't play your MP3 collection because they are not digitally signed. The problem is that RIAA will be riding high on HP success with this product and their grip will be firmer when it comes to controlling what you will do with your music."
A similar problem affects the otherwise very cool-looking Terapin video recorder, which I would pick up in a heartbeat if it worked with regular CD-Rs. The HP website talks about burning tracks to CD, but makes no mention of such restrictions; I hope this is simply bad information, but it seems quite likely that "burning to CD" in this case will mean burning to industry-sanctioned CDs with their accompanying surcharge. Can anyone provide further information?
I can't say I'm totally suprised by the move from HP. With their upcoming merger with Compaq, there is no doubt that they are worried about possible legal action from others while they are vulnerable. This move by them for DRM is really only to protect themselves. I don't like it, but I can't really blame them.
As for the 3Dwm, great idea! I hope you guys keep it going. Something like that could be very good for UIs in the future.
And the Apple stuff. Hmm. Not an Apple user myself since Elementary School, so I won't seriously comment.
Which is what any data recovery pro could have told you.
But many modern systems are sold with only one partition. and there is the added question of virtual memory systems such as used in Mac and windows. The Mac OSX setup, based on BSD, should not have this as a big issue, if they use the typical swap partition.
(and some people wonder why you would not put it all into one large partition!)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
the thing to do here is to go into stores and badmouth it to the sales reps, tell them that they'll get a bunch of returns and it is a bogus system because the customers can not use the device the way they think they could.
Now sales geek do _not_ like dealing with customer returns from angry customers, and likes to know about insider secrets so that customers will think he has a clue.
So talk up the bad points - special HP only CD Media, etc.
"yeh, you can't use the regular blanks, you got to use their special cd blanks. and it can only be played on their machine, no place else. It is as bad as the ink cartridges. A real dog man."
make this stuff go the way of the DIVX format. (remember that?)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
First of all, you might be interested to know that 3DWM is now available for Mandrake Linux (RPMs, here).
Second, some thoughts on how the iTunes fiasco can hurt Apple. Not only does this further embarass the company but also goes to say that their bug fixing department can't really be trusted too much. This was a rather large bug and suggests that not too much testing was done. If Apple becomes known for releasing buggy software that crashes your computer then they might dig themselves even deeper graves in the tech industry.
Onto the third subject, he says that you cannot transfer files from the HP Digital Entertainment center to your PC. Two things. One, the device has USB ports. Something tells me that people will find a way to hack it. Second, the part about not being able to use CD-RWs (you have to pay for special RIAA approved discs) is probably also hackable in some way shape or form. The RIAA will never win.
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
Pardon my ignorance, but it's my understanding that the only difference between regular CDR's and CDR-Audio (outside of the outrageous price difference) is a "few bits" that are burned onto the media to tell the device, "Hey, I'm a CDR-Audio disk".
Accordingly, wouldn't it be possible for someone to write a utility that will write those "few bits" onto a regular CDR and solve the problem?
Or am I missing something here?
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
The best stuff is always rejected. Anywho: there's another 3DUI project in the works using the Quake engine, up on Source Forge. It's a Win32 shell replacement for now with the possibility of integration into a Linux distro later; if it survives.
Any spoon would be too big.
First off, anyone deep in the mp3 world would never ever buy something like that. You already have several devices that are worlds better and cheaper. and finally..... The mp3 user already has a computer and a CD burner is $59.00 at Best buy.
No DRM crap, and no content control.
If you really want that integrated device do a searxh for linux and CAJUN on google and build one yourself for less, without DRM, and get higher quality playback (esp if you use a SB Live or better Sound card)
Nice try HP, I'll keep using my audiotron and my PC which does more and was less money with the network wiring,100base switch and wall plates for the Cat5 cable.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
they're a little new to this Unix thing.
Actually, Apple had it's own Unix a long time ago. It was called A/UX and it ran on many of the 68k macs (no PowerPC). It was pretty slick. It had this cool System 7 intigration thing, and IIRC it could run normal MacOS binaries. Pitty Apple hasn't opensourced it, or at least made it free. The people in comp.unix.aux are really informative if you have any questions.
I had hopes for the HP unit, but hearing this I will avoid it like a Hand Addressed Envelope full of white powder.
:-)
We all know that this stuff is simple with a linux box. Why dont we get together, and build up a mini-distribution and software for a roll your own version of this.
Find a smallish PC box that can do reasonable audio in and out, tv out, cdrw, IR for remote control. The software is there, it just has to be put together to make it appliance simple to use.
Make it so simple to install, setup, and use that even a windows user can do it
Are you paranoid if you know that they just want to know everything you say and do?
* One Microsoft-bought double-agent at Cupertino: $4million
* Two covert lunch meetings with top RIAA officials: $120
* Steve Jobs' Facial Expression: Priceless.
The only thing that could possibly make it better (for the bad guys, you troll-modding trigger-finger amateur 'moderators'!) would to have the installer play the 'sosumi' System 7 beep
(for those not hip to the jive: Apple promised recording company Apple Records Inc. that it would never, ever record any sounds sohelpthembunny, but they did anyway, so they named the sound 'sosumi'.
)
- undoware.ca
The digital-audio disc requirement shouldn't be surprising; it's a consumer electronic device; since it's not a PC, it's not excluded from the existing legislation on this.
But if it doesn't play non-signed MP3's it will go nowhere. I'd be surprised if that turns out to be true, though.