Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: GameBand, Nexia, Lunarocks
Not a paperweight. 13Echo writes: "CSI, the manufacturer of the Dreamcast broadband adapter, is extending its reservations option by another week. They wish to meet a goal of 1,000 units before production will start. A rough Babelfish translation can be found here. This device is very beneficial in Dreamcast home-brew software development, and is also supported in the various Linux and BSD distributions on the Dreamcast. It is available for pre-order from this page at NCSX, or other import shops at a price of US $49.00. If any other Slashdotters are interested, now is the last time that we will be able to get one of these things. I've already placed my order with NCSX."
How about sell moon bits to sponsor the trips up there? Anonymous Coward points to this AP report which begins: "Four grains of moon dust brought to Earth by the first manned lunar mission were stolen from a space exhibit in Sweden, a museum official said."
Will the stolen moon rock madness ever end?
The race is on, Apple. SailorBob writes "The NexII got good reviews on slashdot (Review: Nex II CF MP3 Player) a while back and now a newer version named the NexIIe is shipping. Some nice functionality has been added such as drawing power from the usb while copying files and being able to hook to an external AC adapter. They've also told me via e-mail that they're considering adding Ogg Vorbis support, which wouldn't be a problem after the fact since the player can be updated for new formats with a firmware update."
Graphomania has a name, and it is Orson. Binestar writes "Author Orson Scott Card has released his latest book, Shadow Puppets. As usual, the first 3 chapters are available online. He's definitely one of my favorite authors."
Just kidding, folks -- just kidding. Afraid to play video games in Greece? Elonka indicates this BBC story (Court Allows Greek gamers to play on), excerpting: "In reference to the recent law enacted in Greece which bans all computer games, a court in northern Greece today threw out the case against two internet cafe owners who were arrested for allowing clientele to play Counter-Strike and online chess. The court said the law was unconstitutional."
Monsanto should invest in helicopters and lawyers for a whole new revenue stream. dwprice writes "A Saskatchewan farmer loses a patent infringement case when it turns out patented canola is growing in his fields and he didn't pay for it. He claims it blew into his field." When this farmer, Percy Schmeiser, lost the first round, I figured it was a simple lapse of sanity and would be overturned on appeal. No such luck.
Best TV news I've heard in a while. Masem writes "Offical word has been announced that Futurama will be shows on Cartoon Network (most likely as part of the Adult Swim Comedy block) starting in Jan 2003, according to Cartoon Reasearch. No indication of new episodes, but CN will have all 72 episodes that have been made."
Last bloke who did this called himself 'the big cheese'... not much hope then.
how long did that greecian law last? that was a joke from the start.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
I like the price of the NexIIe, but I'm not sure the interface is quite as good as Apple's iPod either. but I don't have either in my hand to do a proper comparison either ;-)
-- DuckWing
I paid Lik-Sang $120 + high shipping charges about 6 months ago to get one! And now, nobody on eBay is going to give me $150 for the thing!
"Send an Instant Karma to me" - Yes
Why does Apple have to support Ogg? because you want to? There are hundreds of other formats out there, many of them have more files than Ogg. Apple could chose SHN or some other lossless format for much better quality.
"Oh no, 3 horny women and only 2 condoms...Thank god I read slashdot"
2004 - Hand over $20,000 for a few specs of moon dust.
2008 - Wait a bit, go on moon trip for $20,000 and bring back a big round ol' rock the size of a new iMac and photos of you having low-grav sex with loved one (or the stanger in seat 3F. Yeah, row 3. You'd be up in first class, of course).
Hmmm... let me see.
now they need to pick up Family Guy. That show is fricken hillarious. Honestly, how can they cancel a show that went up for an emmy last year?
... so if someone plants patented grass sends in the lawn of a Monsanto/Monstaco exec., will he be prepared to pay royalties?
I think not.
The NexII got good reviews on slashdot (Review: Nex II CF MP3 Player) a while back and now a newer version named the NexIIe is shipping.
You can keep your Nex II and even your Nex IIe.
I, and several others are waiting for the obvious successor: the IIc.
On of the best monsanto quotes of all time....
"We have always said we will not profit from people doing illegal things"
They might have always said that, but it was probably just to cover there ass when they were busy dumping waste from there factories. yada yada yada...
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I almost trolled.
Here's a link to back myself up a bit
and here's 2500 more
"loses a patent infringement case when it turns out patented canola is growing in his fields"
They don't call it rapeseed for nothin.
I remember seeing something that stated that there was no way that the farmer being sued by Monsanto could have the density of genetically-enhanced corn he did in his field accidentally. Has anyone else seen this argument?
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Apparently your email address is slyxter[at]hotmail[dot]com (see "Related Links"). Now I can harrass you about all your years of cowardly posts. Huzzah!
It'd be nice to get some more details on the case, if there was even the slightest chance of cross polination than monsantos fucked in europe
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
CompactFlash cards are hardly any faster than a USB interface to begin with so firewire would be pointless. all computers have a USB 1.1 interface. how many have firewire?
most people don't use these things with a microdrive (half the battery life). A 512mb CF card is currenty 180 bucks.
Nex IIs not nearly as convenient as something with 10gigs (ipod wins there!) but they are much lighter and cheaper.
What? Katz fabricated the whole story?!? There is no Junis? That hoaxster Katz must issue a public apology to the slashdot readers.
Note: I really like my Nex II, it is by far the best CF player out there.
That being said: "Firware upgradable and can support future formats" is getting really old from all digital music players. I can honestly say that I have seen over 20 players (CD, CF, HD) that proudly make this claim in their marketing jargain -- yet guess how many have came through??? It's about like me saying that my cars tires will support the ferrari. Yet, technically it could happen -- but more realistically those tires will spend their lifetime on my 87 nissan sentra.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Are you kidding? CF is much faster than USB 1.1.
I pop the CF card out of my Nex II and put it in a Lexar Firewire CF writer (whopping $50), and it writes around 3 MBytes/second sustained.
With a 512MB card, it really matters. If you already have firewire for video editing, it makes sense to use it for CF too. Great for dumping pictures off the CF card from the digital camera as well (4MBytes/sec read).
Okay, so $50 is great but can they be used for anything but hacking the sucker?
I've already got an Audrey and a MSN Companion to hack - I just wanna play games online with my Dreamcast. Can I still do that or is this a waste of $50?
tbdean
Frankly, I'm more concerned about Monsanto using these heavy handed tactics to control the worlds food supply, than I am about M$ Palladium. We can live without computers, but with increasing patents covering basic food (corn, canola, tomatos, ...), I can see a time when all food will be covered by some patent. Think M$ is evil with their monopoly? Think what would happen when a few companies own patents on most of the food you eat.
Cross contamination of GMO with natural crops is a real concern, and farmers of organic crops are starting to sue GMO producers. Some related articles at cropChoice.com
Monsanto got Fox news in Tampa to pull a story and fire the two jounalists who researched it because it was about health problems from rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone [a Monsanto product]) in cows milk, and it's been one of the most under reported news stories. Here's a Google search. So they are very willing to use intimidation and the courts to further their control. Hmmm... Sounds all too familiar.
They're always "considering adding support for $whatever". That's just PR-speak for 'we don't care -- yet'. I really want a vorbis-only player for which none of my money goes to the mp3consortium, but I guess that's just as likely to happen as world peace. Barring that, the only way to my money goes over de-facto implemented vorbis. No "but..." or "future upgrade" or anything. Either you do it, or you don't get my money. (yeah, yeah, small loss -- whatever)
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Yeah, another Bean story. Nothing particularly magical in this one. Except that the possible fallout that will give rise to the inevitable next book. This forwards the story of Bean's physical growth. Between that and a few spoilerish things (below) the next book promises to be more interesting. This is just gearing up for that book.
Oh, and you'll probably be as disappointed in the resolution to the final fight scene as I was. It was telegraphed from a million miles away. Can't remember exactly, but it's possible that you can figure it out from the first three chapters (would need to reread to double check).
There is a little bit of development of the Bean and Petra characters, but it didn't flow. Really felt forced. Part of that is OSC's obstinancy in not saying "Bean is now 12 years old, he's now 17 years old..."
Perhaps the best part of the book is that it has me tempted to go reread Ender's stories. After I finish a few other books I picked up.
SPOILERS:
Bean and Petra get married. Artificial insemination.
Achilles steals a few embryos.
Achilles gets killed.
Bean and Petra don't retrieve embryos. Obviously waiting for the next book.
India freed from China.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
You're nuts. Good CF cards are an order of magnitude (maybe even close to two orders when reading) faster than USB 1 (1.1). Of course, they aren't when you use it with a USB card reader.
"...farmer Percy Schmeiser of Bruno, Sask., was ordered to pay $19,000 in damages for using Roundup Ready canola. He was also ordered to cover Monsanto's court costs of $153,000."
Cost of sowing somebody else's seeds: $19,000. Cost of being forced to pay: $153,000. Seriously haywire justice system... I think you know the rest.
"However, they also rejected a bid by Monsanto to see the damages raised to more than $100,000."
Oh, that's better.
Is there any good reason to even have patents anymore? They're meant to promote competition, but how much are they actually doing that? It seems that research is becoming increasingly cumulative, with each advance based on the next; software exemplifies this, but it applies elsewhere too. Taking an entirely different route, while occasionally eye-opening, eats up a lot more time and resources. And the more people who enter a given field of research, the harder it is for every newbie to find a completely different approach that doesn't infringe on any patents.
On the other hand, thousands of people independently working on the same idea (sans patents) are likely to collectively come up with some pretty cool improvements and developments.
Of course, without patents, trade secrets might become more common. But considering how easy it is becoming to analyze (and how hard it is to obfuscate,) how much of a problem would that be?
Anybody know what's up with cartoon network? I mean do they really need an adult swim cartoon segment. This is just gonna screw SO many parents over when they can't let the kids watch cartoons 24/7 anymore. I suppose babysitters will be making more tho ;)
I gotta say, what is it about Card that he gets
more moralistic with every book? Used to be, the
Ender books were just about little kids fighting
wars, having their minds broken, and killing other
little kids. Now there's all this stuff about
religion and the joy of marriage - why?
I'm the stranger...posting to
Luna does rock. I love that song. Go SP.
Four firewire ports on a PCI card and a cable cost $18.50 including shipping. I've seen them for less then that at CompUSA. I don't think that lack of firewire ports is holding anybody back from buying firewire devices.
Step 1: Buy GM Canola
Step 2: Plant in crack in competitor's parking lot.
Step 3: Call Infringment Police
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
The Nex II can use a microdrive, but with a 1GB microdive, the Nex II is about the same price of a 10 GB IPOD.
As far as the defense of the wimpy USB connector, it is not suitable for regular transfers of GB of data. It is slow. I can barely stand to use it for my Nomad.
Perhaps someone can tell me why I should spend more on the Nex II, when it is little more than sub standard interface dongle.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
The problem is that the money won't be spent on actually inventing new products because the company won't be able to make back the money selling the product. Look at prescription drugs. While there is no doubt that a lot of crap happens with patents and prescription drugs, good drugs would never be invented if there wasn't adequate IP protection for them. The cost of developing and testing drugs is far too high. Companies need to be able to recoup their costs from R&D.
You notice the problem that it is much easier to analyze inventions and copy them than it is to hide the invention. Why would anybody innovate products that require significant R&D then?
Software is much better looked at as an exception to patent law than the direct example of how things should be done. The extreme rate of development and low cost of research in software (and obviousness of a lot of it) are not congruant to many other fields.
Come play Heroes of Might and Magic Mini online.
That guy was such a wuss. Why the heck did Card explain away his betrayal in two lines?
The wall was cool thought, especially the way that the girl became little more that a brick in the wall once it got reallt started. Yes, I had to make a lame Pink Floyd reference.
I'm the stranger...posting to
They are clearly suing the wrong individual here. It is clear that the canola plants are conspiring to intentionally, and willfully, violate the patnet by making devices (read: themselves) which infringe upon the patent. Monsanto ought to sue the plants.
I think we can all agree that if any fictional character ever *deserved* to get laid, it was Bean.
I'm the stranger...posting to
I've always wanted to try going online with my Dreamcast, but the lack of a keyboard and broadband adapter (Looked for both, of course.) has stopped me. Dreamcast rocks! Too bad mine'll have to share space and time with a PS2 in a couple weeks. I almost feel like I'm betraying that lovely white box, but...
And that's GREAT news about Futurama. Adult Swim rules.
Kickin' it self-righteous school.
Earth rocks don't have little labels on them saying "Moon Rock", though.
I have been pwned because my
You must be new here.
Will the stolen moon rock madness ever end?
In a related note, did anyone else see the story about Buzz Aldrin punching that flat-earther in the nose? Oh, sorry, my mistake. He wasn't a flat-earther, he was one of those nuts who say that the Moon landing was faked. Seems this clown approached Buzz in public and asked him to swear on a Bible that he walked on the moon. Buzz put up with him briefly, then popped in the snout.
The Moon landing was a fake? No, actually it was a feint and a jab! Hey, Buzz, smack him once for me, would you?
--Jim
However, I'd be very surprised if suborbital flights didn't become available to paying customers at semi-realistic prices (~100,000 USD) before 2008.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
I figure you could argue criminal trespass and sabotage (to the existing crops). Possibly more.
Heck, these days the farmer could probably claim the patent owners were Genetic Terrorists bent destroying natural grain fields. Hrmmm. With cases like this that suddenly doesn't sound so far fetched.
Mind you, IANAL.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Speaking of going to the moon, don't tell Buzz Aldrin that no one's been there!
--Lawrence Lessig for Congress!
It's spelled "jargon". As in the Jargon File.
A couple random shots at drug companies, I remember reading these, I didn't look up any hard numbers on these, so take witha grain of salt, or try looking up yourself and not be as lazy as me:
People everywhere can be scum. When you have opaque tech, or opaque enough to the average person (drug companies, car mechanics, OS vendors) you have a better opportunity to be scum.
I'm not sure Apple needs to feel threatened by the NexIIe just yet.
However, once the NexIIgs comes out... (explanation)
One of the big problems with this device is it's still using USB which is much slower than iPod's FireWire.
USB, or USB 1.0? USB 2 is about as fast as FireWire, and USB 1 is still fast enough to move a pocket-player-quality (128 kbps) MP3 song in four seconds, or several whole albums in less than the time it takes to play a game of Klax.
Will I retire or break 10K?
If adult swim would just pick up Invader ZIM, I'd be about the happiest Cartoon Network viewer out there. I love that little green guy!
Why would anybody innovate products that require significant R&D then?
Because the drugs developed will benefit the researchers themselves?
Society would be better off with lower cost drugs. If the free market can't produce that, why not try something else (government-funded research for example)?
There is no known test which can determine whether milk came from a BGH injected cow or not.
For some reason, wackos seem to find this fact frightening rather than reassuring.
Wow, posting the same rant on Slashdot twice -- must be a big day for you.
You notice the problem that it is much easier to analyze inventions and copy them than it is to hide the invention. Why would anybody innovate products that require significant R&D then?
;)
In general, differentiation. If nobody develops anything, instead choosing to use what everyone else has already developed, the field will stagnate and all products will gradually become the same. This could lead to a few outcomes, unfortunately:
1. Pure price competition. Could be beneficial to consumers, but I don't think this would be the *only* thing happening.
2. Increased advertisement of everything. If your product is the same as your competitor's, advertise! This would be bad; one can only hope that the public consciousness will become more resilient against advertising and defeat this approach. We're already seeing people ignoring banner/popup ads and eliminate TV ads with their Tivos...
3. Actual product differentiation. In this model, everybody has something different to offer. This is what competition really means -- one approach to one problem may or may not work, but out of a thousand approaches to the same problem, a few probably will work quite well. The solutions that do work will be adopted (copied, stolen, whatever), and then people will *move past them* and start the cycle all over again. I hope.
You point out that drugs are at one extreme, having high development costs and low manufacturing costs. This applies with just about any information technology, and that's what recipies are: information. I'm not quite sure what to do about that
Perhaps getting rid of patents wouldn't be the best idea. What about simply reducing the time period? Fourteen years may have been a reasonable time in the early 1800s, but today it's an eternity. Patents that lasted for only a few years (maybe more or less for certain products?) could be a suitable compromise.
You forgot one point:
Each successful drug must pay the R&D cost for 10 unsuccessful drugs.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
I mean really. If you were having trouble with the whole "its/it's" thing I wouldn't say anything, since nobody understands that anyway. But this is something so basic. "'s" indicates a possesive, "s" is a plural. For example: "Look at that moron's penguin. Those morons are so moronic. I like pie. I think I'll go get me some."
You can get smaller amounts of memory for the thing, you know. If someone has $200, they obviously can't get the ipod, but can get the NexIIe and a resonable amount of storage.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Monsanto for infringment of his prior art.
Regarding video games in Greece: We have that problem in US too. Our "representatives" make crazy laws that to any rational mind are wildly unconsitutional. "Let the courts figure it out."
Regarding the canola seeds, if Montsanto were a US company the guy could sue under NAFTA chapter 11: the ruling is restraint of trade by that definition.
I can see your entire post is based on the frustration that you express in your 3rd paragraph. So what you really mean is: "I am a moron and linux is scary so I will just stick to my toy OS with the pretty name. I then release my linux anger in the form of pro MS and intel rants on /." If you only knew how flexible Linux is you would be singing a different tune. Yes I agree that it is complicated but once you learn it you can command it to do 100x more then your precious XP could ever do. X is very flexible and its appearance can really be customized along with thte UI and window manager. And installation has come a long way since some older scary redhat distros I had back in 97 or 98. So before you spew bullshit that is obviously out of frustration of not being able to install/use Linux, go get some help or dont even bother to install it. Use your brain and stop wasting precious oxygen on your posts.
When the Monsanto agent/sale rep/dealer shows up, he's packing a contract that is a half inch thick and written in greek. You start to read it, but it's not easy to understand, pretty soon your eyes just glaze over, and you sign the bottom line. Hiding somewhere in there is a clause that lets Monsanto reps have access to your land (even if its posted no trespassing) so they can check to see if you've kept up your end of the contract. Sound like any EULA you've ever read?
This farmer hasn't broken any laws. He's not accused of breaking any laws. All of this is because of a contract.
The Monsanto reps only had to find some traces of the genetic markers in his field. Traces do the farmer no good at all. Roundup is a herbicide that kills broadleaf plants, including non-modified canola. To get any value from the 'illegitimate' plants, the whole field would have to have been of roundup ready canola.(so he could spray the field, and not kill off his own crop).
In my opinion, this case legitimizes all the things we fear from abusive EULAs.It legitimizes giving up your rights to a contract that you can't be expected to understand. It legitimizes giving up those rights, even after the practical use of the contract expire (I've uninstalled MediaPlayer, but I can't unsign the Licence agreement). It legitimizes contract law over common sense.
Today its Monsanto. Tomorrow it could be Mircrosoft, or RIAA (ever read the small print on the cd case before you buy it?).
Another Hopi prophecy warns that nothing should be brought back from the Moon -- obviously anticipating the Apollo 11 mission that returned with samples of lunar basalt. It this was done, the Hopi warned, the balance of natural and universal laws and forces would be disturbed, resulting in earthquakes, severe changes in weather patterns, and social unrest. All these things are happening today, though of course not necessarily because of Moon rocks.
i 1. html
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/prophecy/hop
The broadband adapters wont work here (the US), according to an email i just received (is this correct?):
a mcast@csi.co.jp
Dear@Mr@Anonymous Coward
Thank you so much for your E-Mail.
About you inquiry we would like to guide you as following.
1.We enciphered the country number(the number identifies
each country)and embedded that in Dream Cast(DC)
2.Since differences of voltage, we fear Broadband Adapter(BbA)
might be a cause of a fire.
3.We sell BbA only for collect on deliverly, but this way of
payment is available only in Japan.
Therfore the function itself of BbA is not adapted to DC
(overseas edition) as you have, and that is unavailable for you.
We feel sorry and have to apology, but because more than anything
else we don't hope to bother you(particularly reason 2.),
we decline your subscription.
We will be so glad if you agree above-mentioned reasons
and we hope this information helps you.
If there is anything more we can do for you, please don't
hesitate to let us know.
Best Regards,
Dreamcast
http://www.csi.co.jp/dc
dre
Oh Man, Sealab, Brak Show and Futurama in the same hour. That's gonna be sweet.
"It's less of a time machine than it is a.. dodge ball cannon."
when will the OPEN SOURCE MOVEMENT port LINUX to my XBOX?
Here's a copy of an email response I finally received after many emailings to the original company who are going to be making the BBAs:
/. lameness filter) /. lameness filter) URL;http://www.csi.co.jp/dc
Thank you so much for your E-Mail.
About you inquiry we would like to guide you as following.
1.We enciphered the country number(the number identifies
each country)and embedded that in Dream Cast(DC)
2.Since differences of voltage, we fear Broadband Adapter(BbA)
might be a cause of a fire.
3.We sell BbA only for collect on deliverly, but this way of
payment is available only in Japan.
Therfore the function itself of BbA is not adapted to DC
(overseas edition) as you have, and that is unavailable for you.
We feel sorry and have to apology, but because more than anything
else we don't hope to bother you(particularly reason 2.),
we decline your subscription.
We will be so glad if you agree above-mentioned reasons
and we hope this information helps you.
If there is anything more we can do for you, please don't
hesitate to let us know.
Best Regards,
---
Dreamcast (Hiragana/Kanji/Katakana redacted due to
---
CSI (Hiragana/Kanji/Katakana redacted due to
-=-=-
They make a good (if engrish-ridden) point. Different power requirements and different country stamps mean that you may be buying 49$ USD paper weights.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Warning: the parent post is probably an astroturf post. It links to a P.R. company astroturf-website.
Astroturfing is a tactic used by big business' P.R. companies: pretending to be 'grass roots' people in forums, messageboards or other public places. The agent will cast doubt (think: fud) or give positive/negative accounts of the thing(s) (s)he has been hired to work with.
-- The Astroturf buster --
All of this is because of a contract.
Incorrect. He didn't have a contract with Monsanto. If you have a contract with Monsanto then you pay them a "property use fee" of $15 per acre. He didn't sign a contract and didn't pay $15 per acre because he didn't purchase the seeds.
I don't know what gave Monsanto the right to trespass on his property (without a contractual right to do so) and test his fields.
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
Well, if I believe my HD, I have 56 episodes - I believe this to be all that's aired. If this is correct I guess we all have 16 more epidoes coming! (The website says 72 episodes. Do I dare to start drooling, only to be disappointed?)
Either way, at least we have the comfort of knowing that Fox will surely bring us something clever and stimulating.
"I'm more of a fan of the genre: 'world's blankiest-blank'"
My BBA is Japanese and it works fine (in Europe). I am sure your message was not a troll, but it certainly spread FUD - as did whoever sent you this email.
Well its a car player, but the PhatNoise Phatbox and Kenwood Audio Keg have done this. They've already added FLAX and Audible support and Ogg Vorbis support is in alpha test (freely downloadable for those who wish to try it out)
//m
Wait a bit, go on moon trip for $20,000 and bring back a big round ol' rock the size of a new iMac and photos of you having low-grav sex with loved one (or the stanger in seat 3F. Yeah, row 3....)
Did I hear correctly? Ymean any geek can have sex if they will go to the moon?
Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
i stand corrected. it sounds like all of the CF readers/writers i've dealt with have been pathetically slow even when not USB.