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Slashback: Courseware, Warranties, Subscraption
But will they distribute diploma blanks as PDF files? perlmunger writes "Linux Journal highlighted this in the 'up front' section of the June 2001 issue (I knew I keep these old issues around for a reason). Apparently, MIT will (finally) be opening their Open Course Ware initiative on September 30th to the public. Looks like a great start from many departments."
Answer: it's a strong possibility. skinfitz writes "Following on from Google returning to China, New Scientist is reporting in this article that Chinese surfers searching Google are finding their Internet connection dropped for five minutes if they enter "politically sensitive" keywords, such as the Chinese president's name! Will this new technology find uses elsewhere? Is this the future of the web?"
My human transporter is still a station wagon. An anonymous reader writes with the text which by now many people have seen regarding the status of the world's most famous unavailable scooter; apparently it's not necessarily as far from available as an automated message from Amazon implied.
"Greetings from Amazon.com.You recently received an e-mail from us regarding the Segway Human Transporter (also known as "Ginger" or "IT"). This e-mail was sent accidentally by an automated system and the information in it is incorrect.
In fact, there is no new information on Segway's availability. Consumer versions of Segway Human Transporters are currently being piloted in various communities throughout the U.S. The Segway HT is expected to be released to the general consumer market in 2003.
We apologize for the confusion. We will keep your e-mail address on our list of customers who wish to be notified about this item.
Sincerely,
Amazon.com Customer Service
Strong Opinions softsign writes "Apparently, Tim O'Reilly's recent article addressing the topic of Switchers was so popular and generated so much response that he felt compelled to respond to reader comments in his MacDevCenter column this week. It reads almost like the Apple Switch website, but there are some really insightful emails peppered with Tim's comments. Worth a read."
The moon's been asking for this for years. cscx writes "The mysterious space junk, or apparent "other moon" reported a few weeks ago, now is more likely to be an old Saturn V (from the Apollo program) rocket booster. Bad thing is, there is a 20% chance it could strike the moon sometime next year. More details at MSNBC."
We'll let you you borrow it for a while, sign here. An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has scrapped plans for subscription-based licensing of consumer products following the end of a 12-month trial in several countries including New Zealand. The Story says people were getting confused as to why they had to pay after the 12 months had gone by."
I find your lack of confidence disturbing. Longinus writes "Ars Technica is reporting that Western Digital is going to follow Maxtor's recent decision to cut their warranty of future drives from three years to one, with an extended warranty being offered at an additional price. The article goes on to mention that Seagate is rumored to also be considering such a cut, but nothing official has been confirmed. One can only wonder if this increase in price is to due to corporate cost saving measures or the fact that hard drives are becoming less stable magnetically as they increase in storage space."
I'm impressed that these guys are still in business. With a complete lack of quality control, no one uses their components in serious applications, I had assumed they were living off deals with OEMs. If that's the case, then the OEM will keep up its usual 3 year warranty at a cost to themselves and it won't affect most consumers who are buying their own components (and not foolish enough to use WD). On a related note, I have a closet full of WD drives of various sizes that have been RMAed multiple times and I'm sure as hell not going to use them, feel free to pay shipping for them. =)
Is your browser retarded?
"Ars Technica is reporting that Western Digital is going to follow Maxtor's recent decision to cut their warranty of future drives from three years to one, with an extended warranty being offered at an additional price."
First, I almost never even bother worrying about warranties for things like disk drives. Use 'em, back stuff, and hope they don't die in the middle of something important.
Second, when I do read about a warranty one company offers, I don't compare that against the warranties offered by other companies.
Third, when a company cuts back on a warranty offering, it sends a strong signal that it thinks that its products suck the arse. And, that it is greedy.
- The Sedition Act of 1798
- The Espionage Act of 1917
- Executive Order 9066
Trampling on the 1st Ammendment in times of war is long-honored American tradition. Of course, just because censoring the internet is no worse than things done in the past by the U.S. government, that does not mean that the U.S. government will do it. It may be paranoid to think that the U.S. government will do it, but it would be delusional to think that the U.S. government is above doing such things.Nasa officials reportedly hope that it will impact the moon.
Why? so they can use the seismec event of the impact to chart the interior of the moon. During the Apollo missions, NASA left three or so sensor suites on the moon- AES I think they were called- to monitor "moonquakes" and other things of scientific interest. They were turned off in the late 70's, but there's some hope that they can be reactivated for this event.
If they are unable to reactivate the AES's, they can still do some measurements from here.
Sorry, I'd offer a link if I could, but I stumbled across the article somewhere on the internet.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
China is not a democracy. The Chinese government exists by virtue of the Chinese Communist Party's military victory in 1949, not by any sense of popular electoral will or sovereignty. As a one-party state buttressed by military power, they cannot risk the free flow of information among the Chinese people. Hence, their attempts to control access to internet sites. This is completely in keeping with the Chinese government's and the Chinese Communist Party's traditional control of media and information.
Governments seldom engage in rash acts to improve the lot of people in other countries. They commonly act in what they believe is in the interests of their country and themselves. That is what governments do; it is naive to imagine otherwise. The oppression of human rights in China is wrong, but that fact does not pose an immediate threat to the U.S. In any case, what would be gained for the U.S. to threaten military action against China?
The Bush administration believes Iraq does pose a threat to the U.S., citing Saddam Hussein's behavior pattern with considerable justification. This includes invading Kuwait, gassing his own countrymen, launching a war on Iran that cost more than one million lives, creating and using a vicious internal secret police, etc. In particular, there's little convincing evidence that Saddam would not use nuclear weapons if he had them. China has had nuclear weapons for decades and has acted responsibly vis-a-vis those weapons. You will find very few people -- inside and outside the U.S. Government -- who believe Saddam would behave equally responsibly.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Wear a helmet. You'd be surprised at the damage I've seen inflicted on an SUV by a bicycle helmet.
(Of course, the head attached to the helmet took some damage, too.)
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Try your local police department. My agency sells off our bikes at auction every time someone gets a wild hair up his ass to get new ones.
Also, the same auctions often include recovered lost/stolen bikes where an owner couldn't be contacted or located, or wasn't interested in claiming it. We do one every year. My current bike, a Trek 930, came from an auction like that in pretty good shape, $75 plus new tires and tubes. It retailed once upon a time at $400 or so, and didn't look too used.
Suggestion: if it's a former patrol bike, and it was made by Smith and Wesson, don't touch it. They make good handcuffs and I like the IdentaKit, but the rest of their product line is (MHO) Slick and Worthless. A few of their branded bikes are actually repainted Giant Iguanas, but most suck.