Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Playstation, CueCat, Games
Maybe a bad day at the factory? An anonymous reader submits: "I'm not sure where the other fellow got his WAP11, but mine don't show the dirty output his does." See this diagram for a much more desireable outcome, if you care to play with (a little bit of) fire.
First application should be a GPL'd AIBO obedience school. gonz writes: "An update to the previous reported linux on ps2 kit has been submitted by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) to the people previously registering interest on their technology sites. The update consist of that it will be released in May on both SCEA (us) and SCEE (pal areas, including Europe and Australia) territories. A website has been set up at this place. On a side note, registering for notification when pre-ordering can apparently be done too: 'Finally, although sales haven't yet started, if you send an e-mail with the message "subscribe" to ps2linux-request@technology.scee.net we'll let you know when pre-ordering starts.'"
Lessons in obviousness. John Kozubik writes: "I have written an article describing, in a manner I have not yet seen, why the court decision by the U.S. appeals court in SF that claimed in-line linking was not fair use was inherently flawed. It is a short piece written for both the technical and the non-technical, and I think it raises a strong point concerning the arbitrary nature of browser behavior."
If they'd launch some pigs, perhaps global phones would be affordable. Guppy06 writes: "Many of you may be surprised to learn that Iridium (famous for trying to compete with cell phones and failing miserably) is still throwing up satellites (I sure was). The article on CNN tells of the technical woes of getting this particular Delta II off the pad in Vandenberg as Iridium tries to put five more spares into orbit."
Couldn't they have spayed or neutered them instead? Speaking of old hardware, Anonymous Radio Shack Employee writes: "RadioShack has sent a notice to all of its employees to destroy all CueCats (preferably with a hammer). Apparently the CueCat is among a couple of dozen items that RadioShack has given up on, and wants destroyed. The memo says that store employee's can not benefit from the items on the list. Which sucks because my store has over a hundred of these things just sitting in the back room." This week's Linux Weekly News has a great, detailed followup to the recent flap over relative OS security sparked by a post in Windows Informant.
excellent work... damn you I was writing a stupid journal entry and missed this... hahaha
"Contrary to popular belief, UNIX is user friendly. It just happens to be selective on who it makes friendship with"
What does breaking the CueCats have to do with anything? Can't they find some other use for them? There's got to be at least another way to get rid of them besides hitting them with a hammer...
why not just give them away, or throw away?
*destroy* seems like overkill, explain please
I take the 5th so as not to incriminate myself.
i will have the first webserver running on a cue cat.
Alright! I'm deffinately ready for the "101 ways to destroy a Cuecat" video craze. :)
Go ahead mod me down. I just couldn't resist
I dance a jig on their grave. See where empty-headed threats and intellectual property rhetoric lead?
Another proud carrier of the $rtbl flag
Somebody call the humane society!
Oh... they're not *real*?
Or better yet, how? Where did all the cash for those birds come from? Was it a pre-payed deal? Did the NSA decide they REALLY wanted them up there, or are they part of our new Missle Defense prog? (J/k!)
Use the Preview Button! Check those URLs! Don't forget the http://!
You know, I got arrested and charged with cruelty to animals for stomping on mice.
How does Radio Shack expect to get away with crushing CueCats with hammers?
This is just another example of Big Corporate Government making their own laws, squashing the little guys.
Why did RadioShack continue supporting CueCats for so long? I was there fairly recently and saw that they were selling things like CueCat holders for your desk... I don't know about other places, but Dallas stopped putting CueCat barcodes in the newspaper quite a while ago.
Cue::Cats are only to be destroyed with the special Cue::Hammer.
The Cue::Hammer, when connected to your computer's serial port, will digitally scan any object it is used upon and automatically take you to a website featuring...
oh, never mind.
Wow! Something from Radio Scrap that actually needs help in falling apart! :]
Having to post this anonymously (as a Former Radio Shack Employee Who Does Not Wish To Cause Trouble Even Though His Boss Has No Idea What Slashdot Is) - I was working for RS when the memo came out that all Cats were to be given away IMMEDAITELY. Our boss made us push them on every customer, showing us the memo that said that each store would be charged $0.05 for each Cat remaining in the store past X date. I don't know who submitted the article, but perhaps his boss doesn't read his memos. Anyway, we dumped our stock shortly thereafter in a matter of a few days. Also, the bit about "employees not benefitting from these items" or whatever is somewhat bogus - it's not like RS corporate makes you send them pictures of numbered piles of destroyed Cats. If his/her boss has half a heart he'd let his employees take home whatever.
Well, I won't be using Radio Shack ever again. I don't see any reason to patronize a business that would rather destroy an item it no longer wants or can sell, especially something they were just handing out for free in the first place... rather than give the items away to those who need/want them. It's a waste of resources that could have been better used instead of destroyed. It's this sort of action that defines what the deepest, darkest depths that greed and ignorance can reach.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
I think I'm done. 4 FPs today. I can't realistically hope to beat that.
You guys are the greatest. Really.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
I could never get the thing to work right.
It was almost impossible to get anything to scan.
I walked into Radio Shack a couple of months ago to pick up some thin wire for a project. Not to be found. Then I noticed the cuecats and those nice, looooooooong serial cable tails.
I took a few home and SNIP!
Guess I'll do something with the cuecat guts sooner or later.
- James
Has anyone been able to get their Cue:Cat to scan something they've printed with a bar code font? My cat will scan every UPC bar code I've found, but if I try to make my own, it almost never works.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
A website has been set up at this place.
.com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
That phrase suggests that the site was just created (which is not true, as the site was already mentioned at this comment, and it seems that the site is up since January 1st, at least) and by Sony, which I doubt (the site looks more like an unofficial community site). In fact, a whois query shows that:
#whois playstation2-linux.com
[whois.crsnic.net]
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the
Domain Name: PLAYSTATION2-LINUX.COM
Registrar: TUCOWS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.opensrs.net
Referral URL: http://www.opensrs.org
Name Server: NS1.SCEA.COM
Name Server: NS2.SCEA.COM
Updated Date: 15-jan-2002
you know Rat-shack has ALWAYS done stupid things like this. I remember seeing some Tandy 100's destroyed because noone would buy them at $150.00 each.. and the store manager was too stupid to understand that lowering the price further was a better idea. (a rat-shack manager... wow what a glorius position eh?)
It's moronic moves like this instead of just throwing them away or how about dumping them on a electronic junk wherehouse for a few cents?
Most places like EIO will pay for shipping.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I saw some cheap used oscilloscopes in a local electronics surplus store at the weekend. If I got my hands on one, how would I go about measuring the frequencies like those guys did with their Linksys? Does one have to buy an antenna, or can it be made? Do all oscilloscopes have the necessary inputs for this. Are there any other considerations? Is this directional (depending on antenna, I guess)?
Sorry for the rather basic questions, but I'm not an EE, and I've only used an oscilloscope very briefly about 12 years ago. I really want to find out where the interference for my 2.4GHz phone is coming from, and how moving the base station helps. I also want to put an FM transmitter on my sound card, and so I want to see how that works too.
Iridium was bought by a company no one had ever heard of, for a bargain price -- after "securing" a long term contract from the US Government that basically pays for their operating costs. Any additional commercial subscribers is just gravy.
Common speculation is that this company is really a front for one or more of the many three-letter agencies in Washington that saw an opportunity to establish a secure means of global communication.
From a local RadioShack guy, "If your Cue:Cat begins to foam at the mouth, smash it with a hammer. Your kids will understand. If possible, get another before they notice..."
Someone here at work inquired as to the existence of a Cue::Cat Perl module. If nothing else, its already named properly. :)
I can't believe they lasted this long. I think Radio Shack is upset that more people got them for the linux hack than to use as intended. I remember after I got mine after I scanned my Coke can for the 5th time I unplugged it and through in my pile of Computer Crap.. DPH
What is even more interesting is the fact that Digital Convergence is still alive!
It looks like they changed their business plan (of course) and are now *selling* the CueCat reader and books (this last one is a ROFL site. Look at the titles: Online Weight Loss Assistant, WAR ON TERROR (PHASE ONE: AFGHANISTAN & USAMA BIN LADIN), and so on...)
Now that would be cool.
I salute you! My personal best is three in one day. *sigh* That was when I had time in my life.... what's that again? College... ugh...
4! fuck buddy... you're the FP machine... best i've ever done was at christmas... got the FP for Norad tracking santa. i was damn proud.
Cheers to you dude!
The instrument used was a spectrum analyzer. An oscilloscope looks at signals in the time domain and a spectrum analyzer looks at them in the frequency domain. Spectrum analyzers are much more complicated and much pricier than oscilloscopes.
Instead of smashing them with hammers, they could make BonzaiCueCats!
Talk to anyone that works in a bagel or donut shop and they will tell you that they throw away hundreds/thousands of units a week. Basically what isn't purchased is discarded. Surely we can think to give the units to the homeless/hungry/needy-cause, but there is apparently a legal reason not to do so. Perhaps fear of a lawsuit or maybe fear of propagating freeloading?
click here.
that every product is a liability forever. This was/is a big problem for small aircraft manufacturers...their planes easily last 50 years or more. 60 years later, the 8th owner crashes it because the fuel filter got clogged, and guess who get's sued?
And did you ever see the Simpsons episode where Homer bought the trampoline?
No lawyer would ever advise a company to give away overstock when they could be destroyed instead.
Evil is the money of root.
I fully agree that any material placed on publically accessible web servers should be referencable under the "fair use" doctrine. However, I think the court's descision is correct in light of this. Mr. Kozubik's main complaint seems to be that the behavior of browsers as regards linking are entirely arbitrary. He is correct. However, fair use is by its very nature a doctrine which will be interpreted on a case by case basis, respecting precedent.
Rather than fearing, as he does, that the court will constantly have to "revise" the decision as technology changes, I think courts will be able to read the intent and wisely apply it to many other decisions. After all, a court decision is not a law, defined by the precise wordings, but rather a carefully considered opinion on the burden of evidence. Future courts should be able to apply the same fundamental distinction--linking that is designed to automatically reproduce the work vs linking that is designed only to show the location of the work--irregardless of the precise technology involved.
The picture of the modulated signal from the WAP11 on the HP8565a should be rated PG due to explicit content :-)
I mean, what does the 1st one look like to you?
Follow me
My friend works at blockbuster, and he says that periodically they'll be told to destroy videos or games that are no longer being sold.
It's worth mentioning that not one thing is ever *actually* destroyed-- that's one of the few perks of a minimum wage behind-the-counter job.
My guess on why this happens is that the original distributer (who sold the videos to Blockbuster or CueCat's to Radio Shack) made Blockbuster or Radio Shack sign a contract saying explicitly that they couldn't give extras of these items to their employees. If Radio Shack is in effect giving away CueCats to all their employees, then none of the employees are going to go out and buy new CueCats. The decision isn't in the hands of Radio Shack's management at all, but in the contract with Radio Shack's distributor.
In other words, Radio Shack doesn't care if they're destroyed or not, but they tell the employees to destroy them in order to avoid legal trouble.
Hope that helps
I think everyone needs to check their numbers. While many of these updates are being labeled Linux vulnerablities, most of them are vulnerabilites in software that comes with Linux.
Take a look at the LWN article again. It includes mailman (a mailing list manager), openssh (secure access to the box), proftpd (an ftp server), (l|m)icq, sendmail (a mail server), and an IMAP/POP server, just to name a few. When is the last time you saw Windows (including NT) come with utilities like those?
Let's reduce this down to a common denominator: if you only include the packages that would be required to "duplicate" windows functionality, we have:
1) the kernel
2) KDE (for "network transparent" FTP browsing, etc [FYI no bias against gnome, just picking examples])
3) XWindows for the GUI
4)Apache (if we are talking NT with IIS, or 9x with PWS, which has security issues of its own
5) a dhcp client, most likely
6) Maybe a few others
Now how many vulnerabilities do you have? Granted, Linux servers run other things, like POP/IMAP, FTP, etc, but if we're going to compare apples to apples, then let's include the security problems in POP/IMAP servers on Windows, and FTP, and DNS, and, and, and. The comparison is not fair in the least, as Linux is taking a hit for all the problems generated by auxillury packeges. On the other hand, Microsoft is only having to update (and only getting hit) for problems in Windows proper, and not for all the extra programs that you need to make Windows a fully functioning server!
Joshua J. Kugler
Grr... I wanted to use it with ReaderWare! I mean how cool is that software?
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
I have to hand it to Guppy06's for putting such a negative spin on the successful launch of 5 more Iridium sattellites. The technical woes were really quite minor (ie. Weather) .. and certainly worth the wait to prevent the rocket from blowing up.
...would be funny, but probably not as funny as this.
Use a special hammer with Howie Long's smiling face on it?
Amature.
A Beowulf Cluster of these!
You'd have to open it to break it!.....
It is common in most large businesses to destroy extra stock. I used to work summers doing a parts inventory at a few auto dealerships and they destroyed all kinds of hardware then reported the numbers back to the manufacturer for credit.
The state of DE has this thing going on - dont
let children go hungry yet they dump tons of
food at the school i goto at the Univ. Center
cos its more than 2hours old - sheesh
sorry, all protein marginal stability and only a 166-MHz Pentium to play games on make Protein_Folder a lame-joke maker MORE STABLE LESS FUNCTION?! AAAAH!!
Your mind is squeezed by a blast of pain!
It made sense to destroy the Tandy 100s rather than sell them below wholesale. Someone who bought one of those Tandy 100s might have otherwise bought something at a regular price thereby "cheating" the store of the sale of a profitable item.
Even the "electronic junk warehouse" doesn't make a lot of sense for a manager who gets paid the same in any case. Dealing with the warehouse would require all kinds of extra effort to get the stuff packaged, shipped and actually paid for. The company obviously has the necessary paperwork for when inventory is destroyed but they probably don't for when inventory is resold. That's probably not a decision they want to leave in the hands of a mere store manager. "Now that there are P4s out, we'll never sell these PIIIs, I guess I'll make room by unloading them at the junk warehouse for 75% cost."
Low-paid Radio Shack Manager: "So, did you destroy all those CueCats like I asked?:
Anonymous Radio Shack Employee: "Yes sir!"
Cha-Ching! $$$$$$$$$$$$
When stuff is imported via cargo ship from Japan, a certain number of damaged units are expected, and so they ship extra ones in order to make up for this. On paper, it all works out in the insurance, and so everybody is happy.
However, when a shipment arrives with no damage, these 'extra' items must now be paid for by the receiver. Since some of these items are sometimes worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, when you suddenly have to pay for more than you bargained for, it hurts the balance sheet.
A friend of mine described how a government tax agent and several company officers had to witness the destruction of a perfectly working, hand-crafted, grand piano. Warehouse workers raised and dropped the two ton monster fifteen times from a forklift before it was destroyed to the point where the tax agent would allow it to be written off.
Spend a month hand crafting a top of the line musical instrument, ship it overseas, and then have it destroyed. All just to satisfy the red tape. This is so Muggle/Douglas Adams, it makes my head spin!
I almost look forward to the day when society is decimated by a comet!
-Fantastic Lad
The only way to get rid of a cat (cue or not) is the proper use of a 5 pound mall.
Mine is still providing a nice warm red night-light via the PS/2 power... I'm not selling!
Anyway, though I'd like to believe it, I don't think it's the IP tactics that did them in. The simple fact was that they had an absolutely retarded business plan. Nobody wants to scan barcodes from a magazine. It wasn't even fun for the novelty value.
I don't understand the Radio Shack policy toward the Cue Cats, but I can understand the policy in general. It's a protection method. If stores gave their employees unsold, returned, or defective merchandise you can imagine that all of the sudden there would be an increase in these items. A grocery worker could "misplace" a package of steaks in the back of the freezer until the expiration date passed. An Office Depot worker could cut a wire in a piece of electronic equipment and then take the "defective" item home etc. It's ugly, but it's a cost of business...
If only I had known!
Ah well, I'll just look in the dumpster behind one of the radio shacks near me. I hope the employees at it are too lazy or don't have enough aggression to smash them.
They are being used by the CIA, military and state depts. to communicate everywhere on the earth. Plus there are still ships at sea and oil rigs that benefit from them.
Gee, thanks, I'm about to cry now. That's just wrong. No Yamaha grand piano should have to suffer that fate. Where was PETP?
"How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
Please. Yamahas are a dime a dozen.
Now destroy a Steinway... That's sacrilege.
"dick!"
come on, admit it....
I used to do time and motion studies at a grocery store company, back when I was an industrial engineering coop student in college. Some "shrinkage" was expected, but employees were also expected not to rip off the company too much. Somehow the number of donuts coming out of the fryer in the morning was always 6*N+5, with the extras that didn't quite make a saleable package appearing about when the coffee was ready; it's one of those miracles of mathematics.
The DOD awarded a contract to Iridium Satellite LLC who now owns the constellation. The contract is for some $70 million for a couple of years for global sat. phone service. Iridium Satellite LLC is a new entity that bought the assets of the former Iridium LLC. They got a good deal too: $5 billion in assests (most of the $ in the spacecraft) for about $25 million!
koudelka is cool
Iridium continues putting up satellites while DirectTV and DishNetwork continue over-compressing their channels...Ouch.
Hey! What website? I'd gladly pay a dime for just one. (:
So say you. Call me a snob, but I don't care for Steinways at all. Never have. The keys are too mushy, the quiet end of the dynamic range is hard to get right. I'll take the crisp sound & feel of a Yamaha over a Steinway any day of the week.
"How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
In the US, food doesn't *have* to be tossed. There's a national organization, Second Harvest, that arranges for surplus food donations. I think their programs vary depending on location, but in Atlanta, they have trucks that come to restaurants and grocery stores to pick up, and regular drop off points. The food goes from the restaurants to soup kitchens and food assistance pantries, where it is used or handed out in an organized fashion. They also do larger scale projects like getting surpus produce from one region in the country to another.
As far as I'm aware, in some places restauranteurs are misinformed about local rules for food donation. Second Harvest and similar organizations work to provide correct information as well as the go-betweens to organize and monitor such donations.
A quick survey on the net for "surpus food" or "food rescue" (a common term for this) turned up several meta-lists of organizations, including this one which has listings for the US and Canada. It seems like there's more a misperception of legal reason that actual restrictions.
Have you ever been to radioshack? They are fucking used car salesmen working with cell phones. They get trained and shit to use mind control tactics to sell phones and warranties to you. A close relative of mine is the manager of a radioshack, and she had to read like 10 books on how to basically brainwash her customers into buying shit by using special words when speaking to them before getting into her current position. Radioshack is almost as bad as amway. Almost.
I would be ashamed to work at radioshack. (in a store. regional managers and up are sittin' pretty)
What of relative security among various operating systems?
There ain't no RS in Japan....
Anybody willing to send me a CueCat?!
Send me one. I still haven't found anyone who's willing to mail one to Canada. We're deprived up here! Send us your hand-me-down hardware, so that we may grow and learn!
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
"Apparently, in the book trade, tearing the cover off a book and throwing it in the dumpster counts as destroyed."
Actually, it's: the bookstore gets refunded for all returned books, but postage to return them would be ridiculous, so the torn covers are sent instead as proof of non-sale.
Many a publisher has gone under due to returnable policies. Publisher pays for print run in advance, 1 year later gets a bunch o' torn covers plus a refund request for 60% cover price for each. No books and no pay = big loss for publisher.
A.
I'd gladly pay a dime for just one.
:-(
I believe that Fantastic Lad could hook you up with one. Some assembly required.
BTW, you're not going to give me the satisfaction of luring you into a GPL/BSD flamewar in the other story?
Since policy states that something no longer useful, serviceable or sellable should be destroyed...
Uh... what does it say in their fine print about a 'retirement plan' again???
That could work. "Hand-crafted! Twice!"
Aha! Proof that AC is really only one person after all. Nah, go find an advocacy group or ... oh wait ... this is slashdot ... um, never mind, but you'll have to argue with someone else.
"How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
I'm a violin fan myself. The sister-in-law is a violinist in Germany, so I've learned quite a bit in the past few years. The wife is actually a timpanist, so that whole side is pretty musical.
:-)
Aha! Proof that AC is really only one person after all.
I'm amazed at how many posts I can throw up in an average work day... I'm sure my superiors are not impressed...
You can make your own spectrum analyzer out of:
An oscilloscope with a high-persistence screen and a horizontal sweep output.
A receiver for the desired frequency.
A handfull of components
provided you're willing to hack up the receiver. Here's the basic drill:
Probe the receiver's AGC feedback line to feed the osciloscope's vertical deflection circuitry. (This gives you a roughly logarithmic measure of the signal intensity at the center of the IF passband on the way to the detector.)
Disconnect the AFC circuit and substitute the sweep signal from the oscilloscope - with enough conditioning (such as DC blocking capacitors and attenuating resistors) to sweep the radio rather than fry it.
If the receiver doesn't have an AFC, or at least the part that sweeps the receiver, make your own:
Connect one end of a diode to ground near (one of) the local oscilator(s) of the receiver. A variactor (PIN) diode works best, because it's optimized for this service. But essentially any diode will do.
Capacitively couple the hot end to the tuned circuit of the local oscilator (with a small capacitor).
Inductively couple the hot end to a bias and signal network I'm about to describe. The inductor should be large enough to block the RF from the oscilator but small enough to pass the audio-rate scope sweep. At the other end of the inductor connect:
A resistor to ground and another to a handy bypassed power supply connection, providing a voltage that back-biases the diode - say a half-volt - and also providing a load resistance for the incoming sweep signal.
A capacitor-resistor series combination to the wire from the sweep output of the oscilloscope.
Pick your resistors to get maybee a quarter-volt of the sweep to appear at the diode junction. (I'm guessing about these voltages, so play around a bit.)
Set the oscilloscope for a sawtooth timebase, as slow as you can without flickering. Shazam: A low budget spectrum analyzer, at least for the tuning range of the hacked receiver. (Calibrating it is another can of worms, which I leave as an exercise for the reader.)
How it works:
The variable back-bias of the diode (in sync with the horizontal sweep of the 'scope) moves the conduction regions of the two sides of the diode junction closer/farter, making the diode act as a variable capacitor. This is coupled to the tuned circuit of the local oscilator, thus sweeping it in sync with the scope and dragging the receiver's tuning along with it. (Adjust the amount of sweep voltage applied to the diode to adjust the horizontal scale of the display. Don't get too close to conduction or the sweep will get very non-linear.)
The receiver tunes across the signal range you want to observe, and the AGC feedback signal gives you a measure of the strength of the signals that make it through the IF into the detector, which you display on the 'scope's vertical deflection.
To calibrate frequency a small crystal oscilator with a square-wave output will produce a "comb" of frequency markers that show up as little pips on the display. Calbirating amplitude is tougher.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
A friend of mine described how a government tax agent and several company officers had to witness the destruction of a perfectly working, hand-crafted, grand piano. Warehouse workers raised and dropped the two ton monster fifteen times from a forklift before it was destroyed to the point where the tax agent would allow it to be written off.
This makes me sick. I kinda wish I never read your comment because now I'm damn angry! The people who would do such a thing deserve to be shot (preferably with frozen shit) and then pissed on!
You're using her as bait, Master!
The Cue::Dog will chase the Cue:Cat up the Cue:Tree for eating the Cue:Bird, but that would be the Q-bert game...
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
^^^ MOD THIS UP ^^^ This is very true and that bank needs its ass kicked!!!
THIS is legal? I mean a tax inspector actually watches the destruction of an item before he allows it to written off?
This planet never ceases to surprise me.
+++ath0
Be sure to check out the Blackcomb glacier. I believe the entrance is at the top of the Horstman T-bar after short hike up a small hill. Enter via the 'blow hole' if you are feeling brave. Keep up and to the right when you approach the frozen lake bed, or you will be walking a long way.
Enjoy, and I hope your trolling sk1llz are improved by the fresh air. I know mine were.
Whether or not iridium can compete on its own, it can always resale the use of its satelites for a wonderful profit.
That kind of coverage is worth a pretty penny and it probably won't be hard to find someone willing to give them the hook up.
I would just like to take this opportunity to point out that the Flying Butt Monkey is mightier than the ::Cue::Cat!
Although I would have much preffered to watch crq's lawyers explain to the judge that they were suing Flying Butt Monkeys for absconding with their IP.
(Actually, I just like saying Flying Butt Monkeys...)
AHAHAHA  HAHAHA!  HOW  DO  YUO  LIEK  THEM  APPELS,  FELLOWS? GRABOULOUS!
should read:
HAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAH  HOW  DO  YUO  LIEK  THEM  APPALS  FELLOWS?!? GRABUALsA!!!!
If you're gonna imitate JEFFK, do it right.
I used to work at an office supply store and had to destroy a desk one time. The desk was returned and the manufacturer didn't want to pay to have it shipped back. The store got full credit for the desk in exchange for destroying it. I had to have another eployee witness the destruction.
The manager also said they didn't want someone dumpster diving and then returning/exchanging the desk.
I'm surprised that they simply didn't donate them to a nearby school. For that kind of donation, you would get the officers of the company on the front page of the local paper, at the ceremony giving them away.
That is very good publicity that is usually very expensive to get.
A while back at a place I worked, I was getting a new laptop. My old laptop wasn't in the inventory system. As per normal we went to sell old equipment, and then a big hassle because since it wasn't in inventory the accounting departmetn didn't know who to credit the sale price to. Ended up with a several week email discussion between my boss and some higher ups in accounting.
Mind you, this is for a machine that had been fully depreciated (known because of the time frame we purchased that model). Finally we told them we were destroying it. That was jsut fine - it had 0 value on the books. But to sell it was a major hassle and probably wasted a couple hundred bucks of people's time.
=Blue(23)
LITTLE GIRL: But which cookie will you eat FIRST? C. MONSTER: Me think you have misconception of cookie-eating process.
Iridium has to send up spare satellites every now and again. They're in a very low orbit -- that is, an unstable orbit. A certain number of burnups per decade is par for the course. Yet one more reason why Iridium never stood a hope in hell of making a profit.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
http://www.cexx.org/cuecat.htm
This link covers...
Reverse engineering cuecat issues...
Cue cat and Linux...
Privacy and CueCat
Modifying your cuecat for enhancing your privacy ("Neutering" your cuecat).
I got mine free from Wired magazine... It's still sitting in its box. As I recall, they received some unhappy letters to the editor after shipping these things out...
Sam Nitzberg
sam@iamsam.com
http://www.iamsam.com
This isn't really very suprising, even if it is disgustingly wastefull. As a past employee of Walden Books and a couple other bookstores, I can tell you that this is standared practice with paperback books.
Ever wonder why it is sometimes so hard to find a copy of a non best-seller that came out just a couple years ago? Overstock and unmoved paperback inventory is routinely "destroyed" by your local chain bookstore.
This destruction consists of removing the front cover and throwing the book in the garbage... Try consistantly dumbster diving your local mall bookstore and you will pull out trashbags/boxes full of paperbacks.The reasoning is that its cheaper to destroy the books than pay shipping to send them to a warehouse or different store outlet. And you know, since nobody has any interest in a book that is more than 6 months old.. \
This alwas seemed an awful waste to me
But thats why you will occasionally find books sans cover, or with a note saying a copy without its front cover is considered stolen.
And you wondered why the cost of paperbacks has tripled in the last 8 years....
Sure, your idea is great - but have you ever tried calling these non-profits or schools and asking if they want your old PC hardware?
I tried it once, when our work got rid of 50 or so older computers (Pentium 100 and 133 class machines). Everyone started giving me lists of requirements "must have this operating system loaded on it, and we need a word processor and spreadsheet on it too", or said "Sure, we'll take them off your hands, if you bring them over here and set them up for us. We don't have anyone who can come get them from you."
Gee... wonder why I ended up throwing them away instead....
At least Wendy's doesn't waste unsold burgers, ever wonder where the chili meat comes from?
"When the meat looks like it is no longer edible as a hamburger, it's designated as 'chili meat.' It's thrown into a container and all of the chili meat is collected at the end of the day, placed into a plastic bag, and thrown into the freezer. Each morning, they'd make two pots of chili"
Don't forget the hot sauce!!
S H O V E L
Great, so the author has just shown that "inline linking" of copyrighted material can be done in many arbitrary ways. So what!? This is not about *linking*. It's about *inline display of material one does not have copyright to in the context of other material (and possibly even without accreditation)*. Sparing the philosophical discussions over whether "intellectual" property should be considered on par with "physical" property, would you really expect it to make a difference to the court if a car thief claimed that he could steal a car through the use of a new technological widget? Or with some special car-theft-device which he only need speak English text into, in order for it to theive the car? NO! Maybe the car theif should write an essay to the judge saying "Hey, judge, it doesn't matter if I stole the car with a crowbar, because in the future there will be tons of new technological devices with which people can steal cars!" It doesn't matter *how* you do it, it is still a crime. The author is not refuting the fact that it was determined to be a crime, but merely the fact that a specific *method* was used to perpetrate the crime. The essay is completely useless.
Personally I don't think "intellectual property" is on par with physical property, or that authors/artists should get some sort of unfair perpetual monopoly on their work. But I *also* don't think that while they *do* have this granted monopoly that people should be able to deprive them of it (for their own profit) simply because they can. What's next? "Hey judge, you can't keep us from beating up old ladies with bats and stealing their money because this can be accomplished in *arbitrary* futuristic ways. Don't you see! Ugh you are so stupid and clueless!" Arriba should have done with Google does: pop up an entire window containing the site which the image originated from, and merely highlight the image (or otherwise make note of it), so there is no ambiguity as to whether Google was the actual copyright owner.
Here's another example. In an essay on, say, jelly beans, you have an image which says "Black ones suck! Die!". Would you really like the KKK to inline link that image, out of context, on some page of theirs? Or maybe you have a picture making fun of the president...do you really want some "terrorist" site inline linking your image? Or maybe you happen to be friends with a certain doctor which performs certain operations that might be considered controversial by certain people, and you have a picture of him nested on a site somewhere...do you really want that showing up on a site which incites people to hunt down and kill the people in the listed photographs? For these sort of reasons (even besides being deprived of profit, or banner ads) I believe content creators should have control on linking in this manner, which for all intents and purposes *is* copying without permission (who the hell cares *HOW* it happens, it still happens). Sure, the law *shouldn't* be against such linking per se (just as there shouldn't be laws against crowbars or hammers), it should just be against inclusion of such copyrighted material without the approval of the author (who still maintains copyright).
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
everybody needs a FreeGeek
The last time (and every time prior) an airplane came down the mfg was sued. It's SOP. Boeing was even sued after the 1999 Egypt Airline "Insh'Allah" crash into the Atlantic Ocean.
Every single time a plane crashes the mfg is sued. Every single time -- and wait for one to come this year against Boeing for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the basis that the planes are designed unsafely and are too easy to commandere. There's already a suit against Delta.
Sigh.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
The parent company of the one that I work for invested heavily in the cuecat.
Our wages are froze this year... oh well.
:q!
Thanks for pointing that out! Looks like I'll need to buy some more :cue cats before they are all gone.
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"Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief."
As I'm sure has already been mentioned, bakeries and doughnut shops typically destroy unsold product at the end of the day (rather than shipping to an orphanage or having a free "Day Old Donuts" pile), and book chains rip the covers off of unsold inventory and discard it. They have their reasons, I guess...just for fun, I'd like to walk into one of these Shacks that's still dumping CueCats on their customers. Pick up some instrumentation amplifiers, some LEDs, a few photodetectors, PS/2 connectors, etc. and walk up to the register to purchase the items in question. Right before I pull out my wallet, when the guy behind the counter hands me 5 cuecats, say "Thank you!", return my selections to the shelves and walk out.
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.