They sell you a DVD/movie encrypted for your monitor only.
How the heck are they going to manage that? You bring your monitor's key on a credit card-like device, then at the store they somehow copy/encode each disc you buy with that key?
So you can't bring it to a friend's house either then, I guess... even if it's the real original... unless you bring your monitor too.
If my understanding is correct, then Macintosh is not unique here. Any system with a hardware decoder will be uncapable of picking up the pixels in something like a Print-Screen. DVD packages like the Creative Labs DVD Encore package, for instance, include a hardware decoder card which overlays the graphics onto the video signal. It's like a 3D card. I have to plug my monitor into a series of 3 cards (2-D, 3-D, DVD) to get the complete video signal. The OS cannot pick up the output of the DVD card, it sends the DVD video stream to the card and then it gets overlayed onto the signal, which, naturally, is not something the OS can access.
Of course, I also have software DVD decoder-player programs with which Print-Screen works just fine (the data never goes through the DVD card in that case).
I'm a computer programmer. I find it quite unfortunate (for the unskilled laborers of the world) that I probably put forth far less effort than an unskilled laborer, enjoy my job a good deal more than most, and probably earn a good deal more. Even by doubling my current salary I don't think you could convince me to switch to an unskilled labor job. How ironic. Yes I do make more money than I feel I deserve *compared to the average laborer*, and no I don't think I even put as much effort into it. It's just the luck of the draw I guess.
On the topic of the main post, I must be unusual. I for one almost never have to work late or even think late. I finish projects so quickly that I'm often left reading Slashdot for a good portion of the day, sometimes all day for days in a row. When I leave work, I *leave* it (behind). I spend the rest of the day on my *own* projects, almost never thinking of anything related to work. Ususally it's TV or music composition, sometimes a personal programming project. That's arguably related because it might be considered practice, but business programming is not very related to game programming.
Even the extra time, effort and money spent on a 4-year college education (same one as CmdrTaco, BTW!) doesn't account for all that discrepancy that will likely last a lifetime. (BTW, the education was finished early too -- 3 years.)
I make it a point to be at work 40 hours a week as precisely as possible, since that's what I figure I'm paid for as a full time employee -- no more, no less. Is my job or skill so unique? I haven't yet figured out why my situation seems so different. Am I supposed to find myself a more challenging job? I'm quite happy with what I've got already:-). It's not that I don't get work to do, just that I've never found it necessary to think or work beyond (or even up to) the supposed regular 40 hours a week (8 to 5 minus one hour for lunch).
"A Rhode Island hacker today cracked the disable code for the most popularly used operating system in use around the world. Everybody who logged on to check their e-mail this morning lost the use of their computer."
There seem to be two forces driving releases and, especially in the case of Win2k (seeing some of the comments posted here) I think it would help a great deal to separate these forces out:
Drive to release on time. Some people are depending on new features being available at a certain point. Even if the entire system isn't completely stable, they need access to this functionality on which they were depending to be released at a certain time. They might even be willing to put up with a house-of-cards OS just to get what they have been promised.
Drive to release something stable. Other people are desperately in need of a stable operating system... waiting and waiting for Microsoft to finally release something they can depend on working, or at least know what's wrong when something does go bad. As Microsoft moves away from simplicity of design and toward simplicity of interface, we're losing a lot in this area.
In my opinion, it would be great if both these needs could somehow be served. I for one am more in the second category. One idea would be to release the product, but not push it (as Microsoft has been doing) until they know it's reasonably stable at least. If some of the comments responding to the post are true, I think this will hurt Microsoft big time... everybody is going to stick with Win 9x (everybody who uses Windows that is) except those bleeding edge technology people who have to show off the latest features and don't seem to care what other effect(s) it has on their system (I don't quite understand these people myself). Pushing an incomplete product is a bad idea. Microsoft seems to be catering entirely to the first category, but it looks like there are more and more people falling into the second category all the time.
Realizing that you reserved the right to be incorrect or inaccurate, I think there's something missing here. If the read laser cannot pass through a denatured protein, how does is read the points behind a denatured point. Perhaps one laser will pass through a denatured protien unless it is being "activated" somehow by being hit with another laser?
Hey, It looks like were forgetting something here. The fifth amendment seems an odd rule to apply to this to force the government to return his files! The fifth amendment may protect the defendant from having to give up the key, but it doesn't give him the right to his files if they are believed a potential danger to the greater public (does it?). If the issue is whether he has the right to get at his files, the fifth amendment rights don't seem quite applicable.
I don't know why, but my and my uncle both find one of the funniest Simpson moments to be:
Homer: "D'oh!" Wiggum: "That's what they all say. They all say D'oh."
Another thing we frequently revisit:
Chalmers: There's smoke coming from your kitchen. Skinner: That's not smoke, it's steam... steam from the steamed clams were having for dinner. Mmmm... Steamed clams! [...] Skinner: Nono... I said steamed hams, that's what we call hamburgers where I'm from. [...] Chalmers: And you call them steamed hams even though they are obviously grilled... Skinner: *Yawn* well, a good time was had by all, I'm bushed. Chalmers: Yes I better get going... Is that a fire in the kitchen!? Skinner: No, it's... the Aurora borealis. Chamlers: Aurora borealis, at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely in your kitchen... Skinner:... Yes! Chalmers: Well, Seymour, I must say, you're a strange fellow, but you steam a good ham. Seymour's Mother: Seymour! The kitchen's on fire! Skinner: No, mother, it's just the northern lights.
Please excuse my inability to remember the details, but I think you get the idea and the humor. I loved that "Skinner and the Superintendant" sub-plot presented as its own sub-TV-show.
I think we need to settle down a bit on this planet before we venture off into the wild black yonder. Jumping into space full fling right now might be a bit like trying to start up Starcraft while the hard drive is still defragging.
That's not to say that I'm not eager to see how things come together as we venture out into space further.
Does anyone else think that storing credit card numbers *at all* is just a bad idea, except for the credit card company itself?
Information like this that needs to be secure for a particular person should *belong* to that person and only be used for the duration of a transaction. There are far too many ways to get unfair and/or deceitful charges on an account later if everyone is holding on to your credit card information. There's really no fair reason to hold on to credit card information after the transaction is complete. The risks far outweigh the benefits of any such reasons.
Am I missing something or is everyone else missing something? I'm reasonably certain that Windows 2000 is a 64-bit OS. I've already seen source code and compiler directives, etc, that accommodate 64-bit data types, and they are in use in the new MS [sample] source code I'm seeing.
Furthermore, haven't 64-bit processors been out since the Pentium Pro?
I think the interest in abstract thinking is that it applies better, in general, to all sorts of fields than any other particular one field could. That is to say, my being a computer programmer may not say anything about my ability to work well on cars. But my being a computer programmer might, in fact, indicate something about my ability to think in the abstract and therefore my ability to be able to deduce certain things about how a mechanical system would work, given certain pieces of information. My ability to learn and apply information is improved by keeping my mind active, and may be reflected in the count of synapses in my prefontal cortex.
The word "abstract" is significant here. It implies a sort of reasoning or thinking that is not specific to a particular field. Yes, it takes a lot of time and experience to become a car mechanic, and it takes a lot of time and completely different experience to become a computer programmer, but if the findings of this study indicate a cause-effect relationship in the suspected direction, we learn an interesting fact about potential. Keeping one's mind active in any intellectual field (one that promotes abstract thinking) could improve one's ability to learn to function in any other intellectual field. Of course it will take time to pick up the experience and details of a separate field, but it will flow more easily. You don't have to re-gain the intellect, just the knowledge.
Use a smaller-scale example: A computer programmer who started out learning BASIC, then went on to learn C, and in so doing, begins to understand the commonality between programming languages and how computers actually function. It is now much easier for this programmer to pick up any programming language. Of *course* he needs the reference material and needs to take some time to learn even the basics of the new language, but it's much easier than it was to learn even a language as simple as BASIC for the first time.
This said, abstract thinking is the over-arching "language" of intellectual professions and fields. In any intellectual field, there will be a need to think abstractly to some degree. The ability to think abstractly makes it easier to devise one's own solution when it is not already part of one's knowledge.
So the significance of the new information, then, is related to the fact that keeping one's mind active in an intellectual field *may* actually have a quantifiable effect on one's ability for abstract thinking which can be applied (to some extent) in any field. Of course the cause/effect relationship is still inconclusive.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be an intelligent life form living, instead of on a planet, on a moon? Imagine how convoluted the star motions would be. Instead of rotating and orbiting around a star, you're rotating and orbiting around a rotating orbiter of a star!
Isn't Nitrous Oxide laughing gas? (Or is that Nitric Oxide?) I would be nervous about inhaling something more explosive than gasoline fumes at the dentist. I don't take the gas anyway... for some reason I prefer the needle (although it's still a pain).
Correct me if I'm wrong (and I very well may be) but doesn't Windows 95 (or at least Windows 98) come with some sort of personal web server which includes an FTP server? I know I've installed some sort of Personal Web server service off the Windows 95 or 98 CD (I forget which). I didn't have much use for it at the time, so I don't use it and don't know much about it.
If I'm correct, why is this new server significant?
I think the issue with medical equipment, though, is that it has built in mechanisms to stop functioning after not being maintained for a certain period of time. At least some equipment (such as defibrulators) would be totally non-functional as opposed to simply unable to output a proper date.
I for one can't imagine going on an 80 hour jog. Well, I don't jog anyway but that's not the point. I doubt the purpose of these device is to be worn on the belt while jogging. If you're going to do that you might as well just use a portable CD player -- 1 hour's not bad.
But I can tell you it would be a lot handier to carry the music selection to a party or a friends house in one hand than to pack up the whole computer and all its cables to get it over there. I don't know of any other portable media that can hold that much. There are dat tapes, but you need a reader at the destination and I'm guessing the port on this player is more standardized and ubiquitous than tape drives. Tapes are also much slower (at least last time I checked).
Ok, so I don't go to friends' houses or parties either, but once again, that's not the point:)
Nah, we'll just turn on the faucet and fill the memory tank when we need more memory. Need to reformat your memory? Time to flush! This idea certainly grants more realism to the concept of a computer virus. Oh, and who needs MP3 when you have this much memory. Might as well start storing things in a format that might be decipherable after old technology is forgotten... if you've got petabytes to spare. Compression will come in handy for feature length theater-size hi-resolution holographic movies though! Now what are we going to use to transfer 90 petabytes per second to that holographic display device though!? (Assuming 100,000 voxels per edge at 30 fps, 24-bit color)
To get it operate consistently and correctly, only the second to last digit would be a hex digit. Otherwise, how do you interpret 198a? There would be too many redundant representations of years. The actual year 2002 could be represented as 199b or 19a2. 2010 could be represented as 19aa or 19b0. If you restrict hex to the second to last digit, there is exactly one correct representation for each year between 1900 and 2159 inclusive. The simple fact that I can figure this out without having it explained, BTW, should indicate that this is a non-patentable idea, shouldn't it?
Actually lifespans could be much longer. I heard that, if it were possible to prevent aging, people might be able to live on the order of one hundred thousand years each on average.
Slashdot Mirror
How the heck are they going to manage that? You bring your monitor's key on a credit card-like device, then at the store they somehow copy/encode each disc you buy with that key?
So you can't bring it to a friend's house either then, I guess... even if it's the real original... unless you bring your monitor too.
No way is this idea going very far.
If my understanding is correct, then Macintosh is not unique here. Any system with a hardware decoder will be uncapable of picking up the pixels in something like a Print-Screen. DVD packages like the Creative Labs DVD Encore package, for instance, include a hardware decoder card which overlays the graphics onto the video signal. It's like a 3D card. I have to plug my monitor into a series of 3 cards (2-D, 3-D, DVD) to get the complete video signal. The OS cannot pick up the output of the DVD card, it sends the DVD video stream to the card and then it gets overlayed onto the signal, which, naturally, is not something the OS can access.
Of course, I also have software DVD decoder-player programs with which Print-Screen works just fine (the data never goes through the DVD card in that case).
I'm a computer programmer. I find it quite unfortunate (for the unskilled laborers of the world) that I probably put forth far less effort than an unskilled laborer, enjoy my job a good deal more than most, and probably earn a good deal more. Even by doubling my current salary I don't think you could convince me to switch to an unskilled labor job. How ironic. Yes I do make more money than I feel I deserve *compared to the average laborer*, and no I don't think I even put as much effort into it. It's just the luck of the draw I guess.
:-). It's not that I don't get work to do, just that I've never found it necessary to think or work beyond (or even up to) the supposed regular 40 hours a week (8 to 5 minus one hour for lunch).
On the topic of the main post, I must be unusual. I for one almost never have to work late or even think late. I finish projects so quickly that I'm often left reading Slashdot for a good portion of the day, sometimes all day for days in a row. When I leave work, I *leave* it (behind). I spend the rest of the day on my *own* projects, almost never thinking of anything related to work. Ususally it's TV or music composition, sometimes a personal programming project. That's arguably related because it might be considered practice, but business programming is not very related to game programming.
Even the extra time, effort and money spent on a 4-year college education (same one as CmdrTaco, BTW!) doesn't account for all that discrepancy that will likely last a lifetime. (BTW, the education was finished early too -- 3 years.)
I make it a point to be at work 40 hours a week as precisely as possible, since that's what I figure I'm paid for as a full time employee -- no more, no less. Is my job or skill so unique? I haven't yet figured out why my situation seems so different. Am I supposed to find myself a more challenging job? I'm quite happy with what I've got already
And it *certainly* won't mean 1/5th the time, (would that be considered 5 times the speed?)
"A Rhode Island hacker today cracked the disable code for the most popularly used operating system in use around the world. Everybody who logged on to check their e-mail this morning lost the use of their computer."
- Drive to release on time. Some people are depending on new features being available at a certain point. Even if the entire system isn't completely stable, they need access to this functionality on which they were depending to be released at a certain time. They might even be willing to put up with a house-of-cards OS just to get what they have been promised.
- Drive to release something stable. Other people are desperately in need of a stable operating system... waiting and waiting for Microsoft to finally release something they can depend on working, or at least know what's wrong when something does go bad. As Microsoft moves away from simplicity of design and toward simplicity of interface, we're losing a lot in this area.
In my opinion, it would be great if both these needs could somehow be served. I for one am more in the second category. One idea would be to release the product, but not push it (as Microsoft has been doing) until they know it's reasonably stable at least. If some of the comments responding to the post are true, I think this will hurt Microsoft big time... everybody is going to stick with Win 9x (everybody who uses Windows that is) except those bleeding edge technology people who have to show off the latest features and don't seem to care what other effect(s) it has on their system (I don't quite understand these people myself). Pushing an incomplete product is a bad idea. Microsoft seems to be catering entirely to the first category, but it looks like there are more and more people falling into the second category all the time.Realizing that you reserved the right to be incorrect or inaccurate, I think there's something missing here. If the read laser cannot pass through a denatured protein, how does is read the points behind a denatured point. Perhaps one laser will pass through a denatured protien unless it is being "activated" somehow by being hit with another laser?
Hey, It looks like were forgetting something here. The fifth amendment seems an odd rule to apply to this to force the government to return his files! The fifth amendment may protect the defendant from having to give up the key, but it doesn't give him the right to his files if they are believed a potential danger to the greater public (does it?). If the issue is whether he has the right to get at his files, the fifth amendment rights don't seem quite applicable.
I wonder how many people noticed what number came after 8 on that list.
Homer: "D'oh!"
Wiggum: "That's what they all say. They all say D'oh."
Another thing we frequently revisit:
Chalmers: There's smoke coming from your kitchen. ... Yes!
Skinner: That's not smoke, it's steam... steam from the steamed clams were having for dinner. Mmmm... Steamed clams!
[...]
Skinner: Nono... I said steamed hams, that's what we call hamburgers where I'm from.
[...]
Chalmers: And you call them steamed hams even though they are obviously grilled...
Skinner: *Yawn* well, a good time was had by all, I'm bushed.
Chalmers: Yes I better get going... Is that a fire in the kitchen!?
Skinner: No, it's... the Aurora borealis.
Chamlers: Aurora borealis, at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely in your kitchen...
Skinner:
Chalmers: Well, Seymour, I must say, you're a strange fellow, but you steam a good ham.
Seymour's Mother: Seymour! The kitchen's on fire!
Skinner: No, mother, it's just the northern lights.
Please excuse my inability to remember the details, but I think you get the idea and the humor. I loved that "Skinner and the Superintendant" sub-plot presented as its own sub-TV-show.
Maybe all that will all become clear in one of the sequels
I think we need to settle down a bit on this planet before we venture off into the wild black yonder. Jumping into space full fling right now might be a bit like trying to start up Starcraft while the hard drive is still defragging.
That's not to say that I'm not eager to see how things come together as we venture out into space further.
Does anyone else think that storing credit card numbers *at all* is just a bad idea, except for the credit card company itself?
Information like this that needs to be secure for a particular person should *belong* to that person and only be used for the duration of a transaction. There are far too many ways to get unfair and/or deceitful charges on an account later if everyone is holding on to your credit card information. There's really no fair reason to hold on to credit card information after the transaction is complete. The risks far outweigh the benefits of any such reasons.
Am I missing something or is everyone else missing something? I'm reasonably certain that Windows 2000 is a 64-bit OS. I've already seen source code and compiler directives, etc, that accommodate 64-bit data types, and they are in use in the new MS [sample] source code I'm seeing.
Furthermore, haven't 64-bit processors been out since the Pentium Pro?
I think the interest in abstract thinking is that it applies better, in general, to all sorts of fields than any other particular one field could. That is to say, my being a computer programmer may not say anything about my ability to work well on cars. But my being a computer programmer might, in fact, indicate something about my ability to think in the abstract and therefore my ability to be able to deduce certain things about how a mechanical system would work, given certain pieces of information. My ability to learn and apply information is improved by keeping my mind active, and may be reflected in the count of synapses in my prefontal cortex.
The word "abstract" is significant here. It implies a sort of reasoning or thinking that is not specific to a particular field. Yes, it takes a lot of time and experience to become a car mechanic, and it takes a lot of time and completely different experience to become a computer programmer, but if the findings of this study indicate a cause-effect relationship in the suspected direction, we learn an interesting fact about potential. Keeping one's mind active in any intellectual field (one that promotes abstract thinking) could improve one's ability to learn to function in any other intellectual field. Of course it will take time to pick up the experience and details of a separate field, but it will flow more easily. You don't have to re-gain the intellect, just the knowledge.
Use a smaller-scale example: A computer programmer who started out learning BASIC, then went on to learn C, and in so doing, begins to understand the commonality between programming languages and how computers actually function. It is now much easier for this programmer to pick up any programming language. Of *course* he needs the reference material and needs to take some time to learn even the basics of the new language, but it's much easier than it was to learn even a language as simple as BASIC for the first time.
This said, abstract thinking is the over-arching "language" of intellectual professions and fields. In any intellectual field, there will be a need to think abstractly to some degree. The ability to think abstractly makes it easier to devise one's own solution when it is not already part of one's knowledge.
So the significance of the new information, then, is related to the fact that keeping one's mind active in an intellectual field *may* actually have a quantifiable effect on one's ability for abstract thinking which can be applied (to some extent) in any field. Of course the cause/effect relationship is still inconclusive.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be an intelligent life form living, instead of on a planet, on a moon? Imagine how convoluted the star motions would be. Instead of rotating and orbiting around a star, you're rotating and orbiting around a rotating orbiter of a star!
Isn't Nitrous Oxide laughing gas? (Or is that Nitric Oxide?) I would be nervous about inhaling something more explosive than gasoline fumes at the dentist. I don't take the gas anyway... for some reason I prefer the needle (although it's still a pain).
But I do see where one could say that... I realized it shortly after posting the message.
If I'm correct, why is this new server significant?
I think the issue with medical equipment, though, is that it has built in mechanisms to stop functioning after not being maintained for a certain period of time. At least some equipment (such as defibrulators) would be totally non-functional as opposed to simply unable to output a proper date.
What about 10? :-)
I for one can't imagine going on an 80 hour jog. Well, I don't jog anyway but that's not the point. I doubt the purpose of these device is to be worn on the belt while jogging. If you're going to do that you might as well just use a portable CD player -- 1 hour's not bad.
:)
But I can tell you it would be a lot handier to carry the music selection to a party or a friends house in one hand than to pack up the whole computer and all its cables to get it over there. I don't know of any other portable media that can hold that much. There are dat tapes, but you need a reader at the destination and I'm guessing the port on this player is more standardized and ubiquitous than tape drives. Tapes are also much slower (at least last time I checked).
Ok, so I don't go to friends' houses or parties either, but once again, that's not the point
Nah, we'll just turn on the faucet and fill the memory tank when we need more memory. Need to reformat your memory? Time to flush! This idea certainly grants more realism to the concept of a computer virus.
Oh, and who needs MP3 when you have this much memory. Might as well start storing things in a format that might be decipherable after old technology is forgotten... if you've got petabytes to spare.
Compression will come in handy for feature length theater-size hi-resolution holographic movies though! Now what are we going to use to transfer 90 petabytes per second to that holographic display device though!? (Assuming 100,000 voxels per edge at 30 fps, 24-bit color)
To get it operate consistently and correctly, only the second to last digit would be a hex digit. Otherwise, how do you interpret 198a? There would be too many redundant representations of years. The actual year 2002 could be represented as 199b or 19a2. 2010 could be represented as 19aa or 19b0. If you restrict hex to the second to last digit, there is exactly one correct representation for each year between 1900 and 2159 inclusive. The simple fact that I can figure this out without having it explained, BTW, should indicate that this is a non-patentable idea, shouldn't it?
Actually lifespans could be much longer. I heard that, if it were possible to prevent aging, people might be able to live on the order of one hundred thousand years each on average.