Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Grammy, Sirius, Levies
After the bowling ball, the mouse. jonny writes: "Most people here know the story of the Mac and the growth of the GUI. Most of you probably don't know the whole story though, namely you probably don't know the story of the mouse, important as it is... Interesting too."
Additional reading material for the math-inclined. Bruce Schneier dropped a note with some good reading material for anyone interested in the recent Slashdot posts on factoring and SNMP. "I've written essays on the Bernstein factoring paper and SNMP SNMP vulnerability."
Americans shouldn't be too smug about this stuff. An Anonymous Coward writes, in response to the proposed increase in levies on various recordable media in Canada: "An excellent FAQ including information on how manufacturers, importers, and consumers can avoid the levies on CDRs and CDRWs"
It's not all sweetness and light. Lord Omlette writes: "Ok, I know ya'll ran the story on Apple winning a grammy. But! The acceptance speech got cut for time reasons & stuff, so Dr. Dobb's Journal put a transcript of the speech online for posterity & stuff. I didn't see it in the previous Slashdot story or the Apple press release, so I thought you might be interested."
Uncle, uncle, make him give me his toy! Sabalon writes "NetStumbler is running an article about Intersil and Motorola's response to Sirius and XM's appeal to the FCC to restrict the 2.4Ghz band. Intersil points out some interesting points, such as why the frequencies directly surrounding those that Sirius uses is not an issue, and Motorola believes the source of the interference is not 2.4Ghz, but probably engine and ignition noise."
How to save some very expensive seconds. In case a 23-second kernel compile is too long to bear, perhaps you just need to upgrade a bit. An Anonymous Coward writes: "Linux Weekly News reports that a kernel was compiled in 7.5 seconds on a Power4 with 6 GB of RAM."
Finally, it has come to this. Another reader points out: "Be, Inc., the company that developed and marketed the loved Be operating system, has announced sale of the be.com domain.
This would be a great time for someone to sweep it up. ;) *cough*OpenBeOS*cough*"
I can't believe that the story about the mouse doesn't include pictures and a description of Engelbart's first mouse. Outrageous!
How to Download YouTube Videos
I wonder if others can use names like OpenBe without fear of getting sued now.
but really having 6 gigs or 60 gigs isn't going to make a difference in a kernel compile...
More Jim Carroll commentary for your enjoyment...
.siggy
Note that if the companies that make mp3 players with hard drives just have a sample or intro mp3 on them when they get shipped, the $21 per gig levy is gone. If they don't do this simple little thing, then a 5 gig mp3 player would have a $125 levy imposed on it.
Eddy
Don't bother stocking up just yet. The levy is already there, and won't go up until December. Even then, most retailers will be selling stock they purchased "before" the increased levies, and prices shouldn't go up too much for a while.
I stocked up before the last levy. After the levy came into effect I found prices had actually gone down....so I saved nothing.
In any case you can buy your media online from the US and not pay the levy. You are not under any obligation to pay the levy if you import the media for your own use. There are many ways to get around these levies.
What I found interesting in the FAQ, was the copyright info. Here in Canada I can legally make a copy of a CD I do not own, as long as it's for personal use. What other kind of use would there be?
So technically, there is nothing illegal about me downloading MP3s and burning them to CDs. WOOHOO!
This would be a great time for someone to sweep it(Be.com) up. ;) *cough*OpenBeOS*cough*"
Are you offering to use your OSDN connections to pay for it?
BeGroovy looked into buying the domain.
From their forum:
"Having had a response from Dan Johnston at Be Inc (or what remains of Be Inc), I hold out *no* hope that the Be community can afford to buy the be.com domain. I was a great supporter of the idea until I found out that the asking price is a few orders of magnitude greater than I had hoped"
So yes Tim, your OSDN friends will be handy.
- If you buy any blank recording media outside Canada and use it yourself they will not be subject to the levy.
- If you are a manufacturer or importer, you can avoid the levy entirely on your products as long as you record some sound on the media before you sell it. The sound recorded on the media can even be erased. Clearly this is not an option for CD-Rs, but for devices that include a hard drive, simply recording a sound on the drive and then erasing it exempts the drive from the levy. This is because (as the legislation states) "blank audio recording medium means a recording medium, regardless of its material form, onto which a sound recording may be reproduced, that is of a kind ordinarily used by individual consumers for that purpose and on which no sounds have ever been fixed..."
Also, if you're Canadian you should check out this link and tell them that iPods and such are not recording devices. Alternatively, tell Apple and friends to record a lame greeting message to avoid the stupid levy.
The last cool thing is this: "It does not matter whether you own the original sound recording (on any medium), you can legally make a copy for your own private use."
Rock on, Canadians.
no, they shouldnt. both the sssca and levies are incredibly authoritarian moves. also, the sssca would ultimately end up effecting devices in canada! you think manufacturers are going to build seperate version of devices for a country with 30 million people? no way!
But I seem to recall having a mouse for my Apple IIe. Am I remembering wrong?
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Be.com is just now displaying a message about the sale of the domain. I wonder if the Slashdotting had anything to do with it. RIP
It's a kernel compile.
If it really uses any more than 1GB ram with file system cache, binary cache and compiler results I would be surprised. That said, it's been a very long time since I've compiled it. Anyway, 6gb, 60gb, or 600gb isn't any different for this operation (aside from increased addressing time, possible transfer delays, bank switching and other silly stuff).
Rod Taylor
I hope they realise how many people (honest) will now see this as making something that was illegal as something legal? Taxing (Levy) regular CDR's instead of just music CDR's removes that nagging conceince that using them for music is a bad thing. With their stamp of approval, I'll feel free to pirate now. Why buy it in the store. I already paid the royalty. I have bought a few CDR audio CD's because of a nagging concience, so I paid the royalty. No nagging concience any more since copying has been levied and endorsed as legal by the tax on data CDR's.
The truth shall set you free!
Whoa, am I reading this right? Most 1st world countries have a levy, and in the US the recording industry *can* legally charge a 3% levy BUT instead they think SSSCA with DRM CPUs, DRM chipsets and all of that is the best idea. WTF?
A caveman dreams of being us, the incalculable power and riches. We dream of being Q, then what?
Actually, if there is a conflict, the satellite
people should give up the frequency, because it
is far more important to the public interest that
802.11x continue to grow and flourish than that
any given satellite band be proof from interference.
OTOH, perhaps that is the complainant's intent:
They really want a new frequency allocation, and
just aren't willing to say so outright, for some
obscure reason.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
I've been keeping up with the record industry's shady tactics, but I haven't heard of this one? Do you have any details? A link, perhaps?
I somehow doubt OpenBeOS will just "sweep" this one up
-me
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.