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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*"
As if I wasn't behind enough with my work thanks to Slashdot already! :o)
Video Game cheats, hints a
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
Let's open BeOS! Then lets sit back and watch the apps roll in.
As stated in Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."
Forget about Linux and AtheOS, BeOS is the way to go!
I wonder if others can use names like OpenBe without fear of getting sued now.
USA: SSSCA.
Given the either/or choice, I'd rather pay stupid fees on media.
So, as I say: Canadians should be smug!
hardware: 32 way logical partition, 1.1GHz POWER4, 60G RAM
from poster:
"Linux Weekly News reports that a kernel was compiled in 7.5 seconds on a Power4 with 6 GB of RAM."
60 gigs is a lot different then 6 gigs.
Just to be safe, I'm still stocking up on CD-R's before the levies may or may not happen (thinking of the last time they threatened this). I needs somewhere to back up my episodes of Farscape, seeing as I can't get it on TV (Space just started showing Season 3, but no cable makes Ae;rog a sad, sad individual).
On the other hand, (and someone please correct me on this), doesn't the FTA basically allw laws to be applied universally? I don't know how this will affect things like levies, and all my info comes from a raging Anti-FTA source, but if it does, could that mean no cheap CD's for you guys either?
But I'm sick and tired, and shouldn't be posting in this condition. . . .
- Relativistic? That's barely Newtonian!
Most artists really dont care about MP3s. The fact is, it costs them virtually nothing. It is only the record companies that care about mp3s. As I understand it, the artist usually gets relatively minimal money from a record - generally a small percentage such as %5 - simply because the recording company says
Most "artists" make their money from touring, endorsements, and generally working their asses off. The ones that accually care about mp3s are being anal, because mp3s make arists more popular, and sells tickets to their show.
.
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess.
Just in case the site gets slashdotted, here's the google cache of the the Tax Levy FAQ
Microwave ovens also run in the 2.4 GHz range and they cause all kinds of 802.11 interference. At my house using the microwave kills my WLAN. Are they trying to get rid of my nuker too?
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
Of course, Carroll has read the FAQ, and hasn't the slight clue what he's talking about. You can import recordable media for your own use, and you won't get charged the levy because you are the importer and you are not reselling the media. Only sale of blank media by the importer or manufacturer triggers the levy.
Also, the levy on MP3 players can be bypassed by including some music on the device. Therefore, it is not 'blank' media. Apple already includes a ton of tunes on machines shipped with iTunes, so this wouldn't be too hard.
Maybe the iPod ships with sample tunes already. Are there any iPod owners out there who can comment?
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
Torn between a microwave burito and pr0n
No sig for you!!
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.
Okay, I'm glad that FAQ got linked to finally.
Why is everyone overlooking the reason that this levy got introduced in the first place -- it was introduced to compensate music artists and publishers for the fact that copying audio, for private use, is now legal.
What this means, is that you can stop by future shop, pick up 6 spindles of CDRs, come to my house, and copy all of my 300 or so CDs. Legally. As long as you don't use them for a public performace.
That's why the levy was introduced -- because by making this legal, the goverenment of Canada knowingly reduced the revenues of Canadian musicians and publishers.
Now, if you are of the opinion that a goverenment should be able to knowingly do that sort of thing to an industry in it's country without some form of compensation, then that's another matter -- but to complain about this levy being 'unfair' requires that you look at it from the perspective of the publishers who were affected by the copyright amendment in 1997.
Also, keep in mind that the new, proposed levies are just that -- proposed. It's unlikely that they'll pass with the current amounts.
In all seriousness, there's already a project for an open BeOS, located at http://open-beos.sourceforge.net/. It was started shortly after Palm purchased BeOS to keep it alive.
Ok, highly offtopic, but, uh, why is like a good per-friggin-centage of the net dead right now? The results on the pages for the search "internet backbone status" in google, not to mention the sheer number of sites I cannot reach currently, make me wonder;
what did some idiot do with a backhoe this time?
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
I compile mine in 7.5 days!
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
If you can't recognize satire, when you see it, as the often profound social commentary that it can be, then I recommend you give 1984 a miss.
Carroll made a good point, I thought. If we don't object to nonsense, the nonsense will only get worse.
--
I don't want to rule the world... I just want to be in charge of mayonnaise.
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
So the bastards at London Drugs, who have been tacking the levy on at the register have been ripping their consumers off! Good to know! Not that I buy components there anyway as they are usually out ot lunch when it comes to pricing, but still! Has anyone pointed out to them that they can't charge the levy at the register?
You're using her as bait, Master!
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 doesn't really matter how short is the compile time for the kernel unless they give you the actual .config that they use so that we could know what components come in with the kernel, or even the modules that were needed to compile to run a system. It could be possible that this kernel compile only gave bare-bones, minimum configuration just to get single user mode with a command prompt, not network drivers, or whatever whiz-bang kernel feature.
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?
hmm according to that sheet;
80 cents canadian tax per megabyte for removable micro drives.
Uh
Either definition of a megabyte you go buy, those 1GB Microdrives are going to cost a f*cking arm and a leg in canada now.
ouch.
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
Yeah, but that's 60GB Canadian. Not that much, really, only about 256MB US. :-)
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-
You can't satire something that ins't an issue in the first place. Bringing recordable media into the country isn't the issue. The levy is. If you want to bring them into the country for your own use, go ahead.
And please spare me the 'slippery slope' argument. It's tired and it only makes your argument look weak.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
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?
Touring is, at best, a break-even proposition financially. Most artists consider it a necessary evil. Touring is meant to promote a product; it is not an end unto itself, hippie jam bands excepted.
In addition, touring sucks. Life on the road sucks. Ramada Inns suck. Playing the same songs every night sucks.
Endorsements? Hah. Except for Pepsi and Britney, who is seeking musicians for endorsements? Instrument manufacturers. They're not Nike: there's no $20 million deals here, just free gear worth maybe hundreds of dollars.
Selling shiny discs is the primary source of income here.
Maj. Kong, father of a struggling indie artist.
Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
If anyone wants to join my mp3 (player) smuggling ring, email me. Just kidding.
We can trade them for toilets that actually work.
--
Benjamin Coates
This doesn't stop some moron from stopping it in Customs and slapping a levy on it, even tho the levy is not technically due at that point (I understand this has happened).
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
This is Slashdot... rights money....
People should use Linux, Free Software, Open Source man... Don't buy CDs from Mandrake, just download the ISO man...
Support contract? Why not just use IRC!
I'm with you... if we can't have a profitable capitalistic music industry, I'm okay with some government patronage through taxes to ensure the creation of culture (now the quality of RIAA company's contribution to culture is questionable, but in theory...)...
I mean, paying $100/year or whatever to keep my rights, sure, whatever...
Life, liberty, property... in that order...
Alex
It didn't when I got mine (a monthish after the release). However it wouldn't be hard for Apple to do it since I'm pretty sure they put the OS on the drive (not FLASH), so adding some music to the image wouldn't be impossible.
I somehow doubt OpenBeOS will just "sweep" this one up
-me
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
I see bad things happening with this levy. The higher it gets, the more people will be driven to copy. "Well, I already paid a lot of money for copying music when I backed up my 80GB hard drive, so I might as well copy a few hundred CDs to make up for it." As more people are aware of their right to copy and have an increased desire to make use of it, sales will go down, and there will be proposals for higher rates. Just take a look at the tables on the FAQ page: the rate for CD-Rs was 5.2 cents in 1999-2000, 21 cents in 2000-2001, and is proposed to increase to 59 cents in 2003. Additionally, the scope has broadened from tapes and CDs to DVDs, flash cards, and hard drive based portable audio players. It's almost as if the levy is designed to encourage copying so a higher levy can be proposed...
I'm sorry, Levy == Tax. Didn't we fight England for this? Taxation w/o rep? And doesn't this (tax) assume that you, the consumer, are only using this product to rip off the industry? The same scam that's used on blank audio tapes and VHS tapes?
MPAA == evil && RIAA = evil;
The biggest trick the devil pulled was letting lawyers become politicians so they can write the laws.