Slashback: Agenda, Reproduction, Aesthetics

Lots of updates, amplifications and followups in tonight's Slashback. Clones are on the way, the Agenda Linux-based PDA isn't quite dead, Gates' testimony is online, (surprize!) Hollings' so-called privacy bill could have a very different upshot, and much much more. Read on below for the details.

I can't be dead -- I still have batteries! Bill Kendrick writes: "Just when you thought the first Linux-based PDA was dead and gone, someone announces a compatible version, the STVR3 from Softfield Technologies (who actually did the hardware design for the original AgendaVR3). Only $105 for the 8MB, and $135 for a new 16MB version. Not bad if you want a bash prompt in your pocket, and can't afford the $500 for a Zaurus!"

De gustibus non est disputandum. An Anonymous Coward writes: "Mosfet has posted a reply to Bart Decrem's interview regarding Bart's comments on KDE and its looks. Mosfet explains how KDE has a very elegant system for users and developers using the flexibility of C++ and Qt, which creates a more consistent look and feel. He makes many good points that developers and users often disregard when considering desktop environments and their toolkits. Good read, expecially for those who participate in the 'Desktop Wars.'"

Borrowed at gunpoint, but spent much more freely. blankmange writes: "CNet is carrying a followup to a story that was posted here not too long ago. The State of California apparently ordered too many licenses for Oracle's database software: 'A top official in California Gov. Gray Davis' administration has resigned in a growing controversy over a $95 million software contract with Oracle. Barry Keene, director of the state's Department of General Services, quit after a highly critical state audit said the contract--awarded without competitive bids and for software that is little used--could cost taxpayers $41 million.' Sounds like there may be more resignations and a further investigation."

I wish Gary Trudeau would run a few strips skewering these presumptuous bureaucrat wastrels, prodigal even by the standards of the public trough.

Welcome to my secret underground lair. ceswiedler writes: "Salon is running a story that Sen. Hollings' new Online Personal Privacy Act 'would place a congressional stamp of approval on precisely the kinds of practices that purveyors of spyware are eager to engage in.' The writer is particularly concered with the 'nonsensitive' information clause, which is 'a huge gaping loophole' for companies like KaZaA and Brilliant Digital."

Science greatly ups my odds of reproducing. Transcendent writes: "I just recently read an article at SpaceDaily about how there are three women due to give birth to clones. Italian Professor, Severino Antinori, told reporters that two of the women were from the former Soviet Rebublic, and one from an Islamic country. They're keeping specific details from the public, but it's still a huge shake to an ever-changing legal, scientific, and moral society."

A bedtime story for very, very bad children. tulare writes: "Microsoft is hosting Bill Gates' written testimony online. At 42,000 words, it's not neccessarily light reading, but to their credit, it is nicely indexed. Probably a must-read." Also good for European insomniacs to start boring through.

Lobby your library. Lots of readers inquired where they could find copies of The Computer and the Skateboard . Filmmaker Paul David writes: "DVD copies of this movie will be ready to ship in mid-may. The Cinema Guild website will be e-commerce ready by June 1. If you would like to order a copy before June 1, The Cinema Guild will take your order over the phone: (800) 723-5522 or (212) 685-6242. dvds for home use are $59.95. vhs copies (for home use) are available for $79.95."

Comments

Hollings bill doesn't go far enough...

[curunir]

It seems that if anyone should get how to deal with people's personal data, it should be someone who cares deeply about protecting the content industry.

Simply put, my private data *is* property in the same way that N'Sync's newest crapfest is property. When I give my information to a company, it is analogous to the record label selling an N'Sync CD. I have given my information to them and they have limited rights as to what they can do with it. If they sell my data to another company, it's piracy in the same manner as if a consumer were to rip a cd and AIM it to his/her friend.

I'm always amazed at the amount of corporate types who will rant about people pirating music/software/other content yet defend a company's right to use my private information however they choose. I'm also surprised by the number of people (much of the /. crowd, I'd imagine) who believe that there isn't anything wrong with trading copyrighted oggs/mp3s but will blast a company for doing something nasty with people's personal data.

Pick one or the other. I'll take privacy.

Re:Privacy

[MrHat]

The Grocery Store Card HOWTO
April, 2002

1. Visit the store at the busiest time of day. At least around here, that's 5:30pm or so. Right after work, but before everyone goes home to sit on the couch, drink whisky, and generally get 'tore up'.
2. Pick up a loaf of bread or similar staple food.
3. Find the line whose length appears to be increasing the fastest. Typically, these are the 'express lanes'. They're not 'express' (nor really even 'lanes'), but people seem to think they're quicker.
4. When you get to the very front of the line, ensure there's a line of angry customers wrapped all the way into the next aisle.
5. As the total pops up, tell the cashier: "The manager told me you have those cards at this register." Point at the bread. "I need one for this." Glare back through the large line.
6. Watch as the cashier succumbs to peer pressure and gives you a card from the stack in the bottom of his drawer. Not like he wanted your personal information anyway.

I've done this on several occasions. In the stores that have the automatic cashier machines, you can cut out the barcode and just carry it. Give cards away to your friends, tape them to telephone poles, whatever floats your boat.

Then delight in the fact that you've won, at least for the time being.

Ugly Icons

[rgmoore]

Is it just me, or is this whole thing about KDE being ugly a tempest in a teapot? I thought that it was quite clear from Mr. Decrem's comments that his biggest objection to KDE was that the icons were ugly, not that the software itself was in any way bad. He specifically said that he thought that KDE could improve itself a lot just by making the icons prettier. I'm inclined to agree, and I'll even admit that one reason that I chose (and since have stuck with) GNOME over KDE was that I thought that KDE just wasn't aesthetically pleasing. Is there really a need to write an elaborate reply article just to answer the complaint that the icons could use some work?

Re:Ugly Icons

[hdparm]

I don't think it's only icons. Overall, Gnome looks much smoother and easier on eye (just a personal feeling, of course). However, since the release of KDE3, combination that works best for me is Eggplant look (Gnome) + 'Slick' icons (KDE3).

Great for us South Pacific insomniacs, although we're not going to check 42000 words of nicely indexed WG the 3rd's bullshit

Re:... Damn..

[gregfortune]

Let's say, for instance, that someone wanted to produce an army of blond haired blue eyed men to take over the world... Now, the biggest problem is getting the army built and to do that, children must be born. That could take a long time if you just used the population of one country (ie, the country struggling for dominance). But now let's suppose that you could offer to feed the women of an impoverished country if they agreed to carry a baby for nine months. Poof, population explosion.

Or, let's say that the wealthy would like clones made of themselves and then when the clone reached a certain age, say 25, they would be killed and their bodies harvest for doner organs. By your own admission, these clones are real functioning people, but they could be in a situation where they are raised like cattle rather than like people. Don't believe me? Consider this, money talks, period.

And the possible scenerios go on and on...

Of course, it will probably happen and we can only hope that some kind of equal rights law gets passed someday, but even that probably won't prevent discrimination.

Softfield cutting Agenda out?

[CamelTrader]

Visit the Agenda page. Now click on the "BUY IT!" button. You will see that the VR3 retailing for $250.00. Another note at the bottoms warns you "available after June 1, 2001".

So, is Softfield doing their own thing with this? Or has Agenda kicked the bucket and forgotten to update their web page?

[QVC GUY]: How can the savings be THIS PHENOMENAL?? how can Softfield undercut Agenda by nearly ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS??

Anyone know?

Need Undocumentados? Propaganda!

[cmholm]

More facts about illegal aliens:

1) The kids are filling schools to the bursting point, requiring more support than their parents indirectly paid taxes begin to cover.

2) Since they avoid the medical system as long as possible, they eventually cram the emergency rooms and increase the system's budget deficits.

3) They artificially drive down the going price for labor in an ever expanding sphere of occupations. I don't see many artichokes in bulk mail shops, fast food joints, non-ag warehouses, or janitorial operations, to name a few. They ARE good workers, and that's just the point. Af_Americans were a pretty good labor value when THEY were bought and sold, too. By your logic, if wholesale chattel slavery keeps the lettuce from rotting, it's a good deal.

4) They take pressure away from the fat cats in Mexico and Central America to do much about their own inequities.

5) Sure, if you ripped every last undocumented worker out of their job tomorrow, it'd screw things up. If I ripped every open border apologist out of their job, it'd screw things up too. When's the last time a labor market changed overnight? Right, never. The economy would adjust, probably for the better.

Take your racial bull-baiting somewhere else. You want a reconquesta? Then give Mexico back to los indios.

Don't Forget...

[Greyfox]

To trade that card out with like-minded folks every so often. That'll further mangle the data in the database, leaving them with no idea what the hell the person regitered to the card is actually into.

Re:... Damn..

[Fixer]

It may be your opinion that it doesn't create a "new person", but how about looking at it from a scientific point of view instead of a religious/philosophical one? "Therapeutic" cloning creates a new human being, not "just cell cultures". All humans, at all stages of development, deserve basic dignity and rights.

Oh, really? Fascinating. On the one hand, you say we should maintain a scientific mindset, and then you foul it all up with notions of "basic dignity and rights". Show me a 'scientific' argument for dignity and rights, and I'll show you a philosophic statement.

To put this another way, what you are saying is that each and every cell of our bodies, because it could theoretically become it's own person, deserves all of the protections and rights afforded to full human beings. Great idea! No, seriously. Next time someone's DNA is used against them in a court case, one could then bring charges of mass murder against the lab that performs the testing.

Your position is neat, but untenable. Personhood is not a question of embodiment, or at least, it shouldn't be. I mean, the first Aliens we meet and we can legally (try to) enslave them. Riiiight.