I did some searching online and found a little bit of information. I cannot say for certain whether or not its credible, but it seems to have a ring of truth to it.
The electronic pop auteur Moby made news with his last album by licensing every one of its tracks to advertisers. But he doesn't plan to "Play" that game for his new release, "18."
"The reason we licensed stuff from 'Play' was that was the only avenue we had available to us to get people to hear the music," Moby said of his 1999 album, whose tracks appeared in ads for American Express, Nissan and Nordstrom, among others. The commercial saturation paid off. "Play" became a 10-million-selling blockbuster that catapulted Moby into the pop mainstream after a decade in the rock and dance undergrounds. After that success, however, "18" is getting a lot more of what Moby calls "conventional support" in the way of radio airplay, MTV exposure and press interest. "We've had requests (to license '18' music), but we've said no to everything." Led by the hit "We Are All Made of Stars," "18" debuted in mid-May at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart with healthy first-week sales of 126,000 copies. The album currently stands at No. 26. with total sales of about 291,000 copies.
What I really think is happening is that Moby has gone to a much more traditional record deal. It's my belief that with the album Play, Moby had much more control over it and its creation. He had the ability to choose how to distribue his music, so he did it in an unconventional but very effective way: he got it into the public though advertising and on the internet via MP3s.
Now, he complains that the same avenue is leading to lost revenue. Methinks that there's a new record company dictating what's going on behind the scenes, and he's not going to be able to make any money unless he sells enough albums. The CD "18" has followed the exact same pattern as most "big-time-record-company-promo" CDs: release single, promote it, make music video, stick video on MTV, release CD, watch CD get into Billboard Top 10 in two weeks, watch it fall off the chart in another two weeks, stop promoing CD. It doesn't look like Moby is in control of his music anymore.
Course, I could be wrong, but this sudden change in attitude just doesn't make sense.
Who says we're getting tired of recycled material?
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Version Fatigue
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· Score: 1, Offtopic
I mean, there's still plenty of n'Sync and Britney Spears fans!
Don't worry about it. Here's my personal history with MP3s:
First discovered them in 1997, when I heard someone in my high school computer club playing "Walk Like an Egyptian" on a computer at school. I thought he was playing a CD, but instead, he told me about "MP3s." Three months later, I was looking for the same stuff online with my own computer. They were everywhere.
Music Industry's Response: "What are you talking about?"
Had a small collection of my favorite music (couldn't build up a whole library, thanks to my whoppin' 850MB hard drive) by 1998. Many of the sites appeared and disappeared quite fast, so I started searching for search engines. I soon stumbled upon (and stuck with) Audiogalaxy in 1999.
Music Industry's Response: "You mean people are getting our music for free? Where? Napster? Shut it down!"
I enjoyed Audiogalaxy, because there was no security threat of using P2P software (aka Napster / Gnutella), plus there were a lot of nice leech sites posted all over on their FTP search list. Sure, it wasn't as quick and as easy as Napster, but Audiogalaxy was flying under the radar, while Napster wasn't. There have been other websites, but none as direct. That is, until the industry finally found them.
Music Industry's Response: Hey, there are places out there besides Napster that hand out MP3s. Let's get everyone while we still can!
My point: It took the music industry four years to realize that there CDs were being transformed into MP3s. It took them four years to find Audiogalaxy and shut them down.
Whatever you find, I'd say it has a staying power of 4 years, unless they're quite public about it like Napster.
For the most part, I agree with you. I've had professors who ask me to write out my code on a page, and the environment just doesn't feel right.
I've had no problems "debugging" code on paper, designing a program on paper, plus your typical bogus multiple choice questions ("What's the difference between 'cout' and 'printf'", etc.). But when it comes to coding, my brain operates differently writing code pencil / paper style. You could probably equate it to baseball hitters who commonly have higher batting averages at their home field than on the road. When a job is done in the same kind of environment for so long, we become accustomed to that environment.
I'd be perfectly happy if the profs let us only use notepad to write out code if they're afraid that a program such as Borland / Visual C++ would give us too much leverage.
I just cannot believe that you feel Walmart is doing this to "take a stab at selling Lindows computers." I'll tell you what this is about:
The almighty dollar.
Walmart does not care about Linux geeks clutching their little stuffed penguins and waving their "Open Source" flags. They do not care about someone who walks into a store to tell the tech department that they should sell machines with Linux on it. They care about money. They have always cared about money, and they always will care about money. They are the most efficient corporation in the whole world, and they are efficient because it makes money. Anyone who thinks that Walmart's #1 priority is not about money needs to take some courses in Economics, wake up, and smell the capitalism.
I've been working in the backstock rooms of Walmarts for three years now, and I've overheard the managers on quite a few occasions. Walmart demands cheap prices from their distributors. They're the #1 retailer in the US, so they have the power to do so. They lure distributors into their system by offering to sell thier product, then stab them in the back a year or two later and demand the product be cheaper, or they'll find someone else. This leads product manufacturers to use overseas labor and/or lower the quality of the product, all to stay buddies with Walmart. When you see the adds of Walmart lowering their prices, they can do so because its not their company that takes a hit in profits...it's the manufacturers that do.
I'm sure Walmart did the same thing with this Microtel company when they asked for computers. When Microtel was put under the gun to make a cheaper computer, I'm sure they cut every single corner. Just look at it from a $$$ perspective..."Hey Walmart, we got this OS that looks like Windows, runs like Windows, and can run %90 of Windows software, but we can put it on every machine for absolutely no charge!"...Walmart will say yes, because they now have a "Windows-ish" computer that sells for $100 less than the competition.
And for those of you who say that there might be a high-return rate? Walmart doesn't care. If people return their computers, all Walmart has to do is box it up and ship it back to Microtel. The only loss that they take is paying some 16-year old $2 to take the time to box it back up and stick it on a pallet. It's certainly worth their time, considering that these computers are %10-%20 cheaper than the competition. If it fails, Walmart returns the computers, Walmart dumps Microtel and finds another manufacturer, and Microtel goes belly-up, and Walmart leaves unscathed. If it's a success, Walmart gets the credit.
I will never understand why people fear/dislike their government more than private companies who never even have to let you know anything strange is going on unless they get caught.
Eminent domain.
The government has the exclusive power to confiscate (for "fair compensation") property for whatever reason. Now, I'm sure you'd love to believe (as you say you do) that when the government does take something, it's all for an important purpose (aka public works...roads / utilities / etc.). Not always is that the case.
About five years ago, my college wanted to build a couple extra residental buildings for the campus, but some "old houses" stood in the way. The college asked the city to exercise their right to buy out those properties. Residents complained, because of course it would lower the property value of the neighborhood. So, the residents were heard, but the college still got the land. Why? The mayor was also dean of the college.
Another good example can be found here. Nissan Automotive bought out the Mississippi Legislature to get a law passed that allowed them to take whatever land they chose to have (and disregard the land's real value).
My point is this: I don't want a governing body who can be bought out to control the internet. I'm sure someone is going to pipe in and say that "Domain names aren't physical property...the government can't exercise eminent domain!" Anyone who wishes to say such a thing apparently doesn't realize that until a law is on the books that says the government can't, the government will.
Seventeen years ago, CDs were desparately expensive. Last I checked, CD's are mainstream, DVD's have begun to pull ahead, and HDTV has come down 50% in price. All digital devices have gone the same route. They start extremely expensive, but as people get lured into the "quality" of digital, demand goes up, supply goes up, and cost goes down.
Now, to answer the question, I wouldn't buy into digital right now. There's a lot to be worked out. But I believe that you will eventually have to lay down the sword and move into digital.
Realize though, that there will ALWAYS be a market for Analog. Don't believe me? Question: Why do record companies still produce LPs? Because they sound better...no, wait. Correction: they sound more real. Just like there was a bit of a surprise with the Slashdot article about Vacuum tubes on motherboards. Though people thought that they wanted "clearer" sound, "crisper" pictures, and the "digital experience," there is a small growth of people now saying that it doesn't sound "real."
Bottom line: consumers will never be able to make up their minds.
Our first familiy computer, purchased back in 1994, was a Packard Bell. I don't need to elaborate about it breaking down four times during its use, but when we bought it, we slapped down $600 for an HP Laserjet 4L. Every ink printer looked so sloppy compared to the crisp text of the laser printer, so we figured it was a good investment.
Eight years later, that HP Laserjet 4L is still sitting here next to the family computer. It still prints documents as good as it did out of the box. The only degrade in quality is that there's a small squeak that occurs with the paper rollers inside the printer, but it doesn't affect the functionality at all.
When I helped out in the computer science department in our high school, I was often paged to fix a "printer disfunction." The printers that we had throughout the highschool were HPs. Most of them were Laserjet model 4's and 5's, and the rest were HP Deskjet 6xx and 7xx. Not once was I asked to ever do anything more for a Laserjet than replace the toner or clear a paper jam. On the other hand, we had to send at least one Deskjet per month to the printer repairmen. Those printers would constantly get out of alignment, smear, not take printer paper, or just in general not respond to anything from the computer.
But remember, those LaserJet printers, when they were brand new, never sold for less than $500. Unlike much computer hardware on today's market, those printers were worth every penny.
The photos - computer manipulations that put Graf's head on a nude body - appeared last year on the site operated by Microsoft Germany where users could post pictures and texts to share with others.
The photos were taken down in June at Graf's request, but the company declined to sign a formal agreement that they wouldn't appear again, and Graf sued.
You know, I would be seriously pissed if some guy broke into my house, stole my rifle, used it to shoot and kill a cop, and the police arrested me for owning the murder weapon.
When is our judicial system going to get it through their heads that ISPs cannot control the actions of their users, just like I cannot control who might break into my house. I'm sure Microsoft Germany had no intention of putting nude photos on their website, just like I have no intention of killing someone with my rifle, but I cannot guarantee that it won't happen.
...who make reviewers like me stare at computer screens for endless hours trying to figure out how the hell your computer code is supposed to work.
Comment sparsely. Do not sprinkle your code with comments. Especially do not use comments like
Yea, I can already picture your programming style. You'd make a 200-line function with the only comment being "// Creates hash table ". Question: Where does that leave me? When I find out that there's some problem in the hash algorithm, I have to dig through 200 lines of code to find some freakin' bug that is described only by "Creates hash table." Your example of why comments don't need to be made is a poor one:
// increment loop counter loopCounter++;
That is adding zero value.
Yes, because it's one line of code, and the code is described through the variable. But when sifting through lines of code, you often find beautiful works like iHateMyJob++; or fuckMyBoss--; to name a few. And needless to say, they're uncommented in the code. Until computer code can be written bug free in complete English sentences (aka Never), the rest of your team of workers needs to understand what your code does.
Personally, I make sure every function says what goes into it, what comes out of it, and what setup (variables, etc.) need to be made for it to be called. I do not comment every single line of code, but I do make sure that every line is accounted for by descriptive sentences, explaining the task that I wish to accomplish as well as what variables / registers / actions I take to accomplish the task.
Every time someone has to change some code, you've just forced them to double their workload, and change some comments too.
Okay, this just pisses me off. You didn't mean what you said. Here's what you meant to say:
Every time I have to change some code, you've just forced me to double my workload, and change some comments too.
I can assure you, from a reviewer's point of view, comments SAVE my time from trying to understand what each piece of code is trying to accomplish. Commented code may make you work extra time to detail the lines of code (I do admit, some programmers are quite tallented at keeping track of every single line of code in their head as they work on it on the computer), but it saves tremendous amounts of time once that chunk of code needs to be integrated with other chunks of code into the final product.
Thankfully, our K-12 district was online with a T1 way back in '94, so we were able to work out a lot of these problems early before they became potential disasters.
1) Firewall & Proxy Server: Allow all information to go in and out of port 80 through your proxy, and block all the rest of them, period. Ocasionally, there will be some class projects that actually do need additional ports open (webphone links to Congressional events, for example), but you can open and shut those as need be.
2) Because you hold a ton of responsibility at that school, you also hold a lot of authority. Show it. The only key is to make sure that you have support from the administration. Talk to the principal and assistant-principal/s and tell them specifically this:
"The teachers in this school district have been and still are pirating illegial software and music online. The activity is undoubtedly illegial and needs to be stopped. There have been instances of software companies suing school districts because they have discovered the activity as it was taking place, and if that happens, the district will lose millions of dollars for the illegial software. Not only this, but the technology that we are supposed to be using for educational gain is instead being supplimented for illegial use, and those who try to use it for educational purposes are being limited by the personal activities of the teachers. We need to stop this now. I suggest we hold an informative meeting right away about new computer policies that need to be established so that we can get the most educational use out of this technology for our money being spent on it."
If that does not get the administration on your side, leave the district; if something goes wrong, guess who's going to deny any understanding of what went on? Everyone. Guess who's going to receive 150% of the blame? You are.
As soon as you have the support from the administration, pass out policies and have teachers sign them. Let them understand that you will not be held responsible for their own actions.
I know I sound harsh in this plan, but you do not want to be caught holding the buck when something goes wrong. There are a lot of teachers who will take a foot when you give them an inch. Don't let them walk all over you when you're the one responsible for the use of the network.
Look at it this way: I wouldn't expect that the teachers there would be very happy if you interrupted their classroom and passed out test answers during class, since you're disrupting the process of the students' education. Don't let them do the same to you.
What does the Slashdot community think about having your retinal pattern embedded on a smart card?
Sounds good. Let's have our entire identity based on one card. And while we're at it, let's build in some kind of wireless transmitter into this smart card as well...yea, there we go. But let's not make it encrypted...that would only make it more difficult for people to steal our only form of identity.
Why not save us all the trouble and just have everyone write their SS# in permanent marker on their foreheads?
After doing my own independent upgrading with friends' and friends' friends' computers, I can tell you one thing: if you make it or change it in any way, you will be RESPONSIBLE for it. The owner of the computer/s will expect service from you as soon as you can find you.
Every little change that happens to their computer? Remember, that's your fault. Why their floppy disk drive scans itself before shutdown (even if it did before you upgraded the computer), you may not know, but you better do something about it before the computer blows up! Believe me, there are times where they will hunt you down because a year after you installed that motherboard in their system a year ago, their computer now is "doing something that it didn't before"...you know, like when they open up a "cool attachment" from their relatives in the email program that they're just beginning to learn and the computer crashes because the person who wrote the program couldn't tell the difference between a divide by zero error and his own ass. Anyway, anything that happens to the computer is because you changed it in some way, hence, you're responsible for it.
It may seem like an extremely fun project to reach for, but realize that the managers are GOING TO HOLD YOU PERSONALLY ACCOUNTABLE for everything that goes wrong and for nothing that goes right. It's a road not even worth a million bucks to take.
I was at a Mathematics Educators conference about a month ago and got to see some of the new TI calculator models that can be used in the classroom.
Take a look at the TI-10 calculator. I got a first-hand view of this thing at the conference. This thing is targeted for 10 year olds. Personally, the calculator was congested with buttons, too many in my opinion for a third or fourth grader. There are buttons for graphing, charting, powers of ten, and even a random number problem generator. Plus, the display was awful on the eyes (each number was displayed in a 5x7 pixel grid). I tried to ask the representative from TI if she really thought that kids would have no problems working with this calculator. Her response: "I know of kids who are surfing the web. Of course they'll be able to learn how to use that calculator."
I then talked with a calculator distributor, and she said that the teachers hated the calculator, because there were always a certain number of kids that needed help finding their way around. The teachers hated having to give complex instructions such as "Now click on the button that has the square-ish spiral located in the top-center of your calculator." Most teachers were instead just buying the simple 10-key, simple operation calculator from TI that was $5 cheaper (the TI-10 runs at $15, while simpler calculators are about $9-$10). So now, TI is raising the prices of their other calculators to match the price of the TI-15.
Anyway, the point of the story is still the same as in the article:
...which consists of 10 minutes of reading and another 20 of thinking about what the author said, let me put it down into a single sentence.
"Fair use has never been held to be a guarantee of access to copyrighted material in order to copy it by the fair user's preferred technique or in the format of the original."
---Universal v. Reimerdes
US Second Circuit Court of Appeals
You have the [legal] right to use it in a specified manner, albeit a limited one.
"Hey Jack, we got two holes dug for ya. Now whatcha want us to do wit'em?"
"Lower the temperature guage into each hole and measure the temperature of the crust at the bottom of each hole. While you do that, I'll calculate the historical dates for each hole based on their depth..."
"Okey dokey boss...well, this here hole's got a readin' of 42 degrees...whatcha make out it's date to be?"
"Okay, according to my calculations, that one is from January of 1849, and the other one is dated to be around July of 1968."
"Okey, well, the udder' hole's got a readin' of 74 degrees."
***Next Day's Newspaper Headlines"***
"Experts Discover Dramatic Global Warming in the Earth's Crust"
Easiest Solution of them all...
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iWarez
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...Block access to all I/O ports on a computer.
Honestly, this is as stupid as the Pentagon adding 802.11b wireless to its computers and network. Just don't allow people to have any kind of access to copying the data from the computer, and the easiest way to do that is to lock down the USB / Firewire ports on the computer. It doesn't stop anyone from being able to "preview" the computer, but the company doesn't have to worry about kids "breaking in and taking."
Same thing would go with the CD-RW or whatnot. I'm sure the clueless employee would have a better idea of what was going on if the kid came along and plopped a CD-R into the Apple's burner and then burned the software...maybe. Why not just have plastic see-through cases for each of the computers people have on display.
Anyone ever think about what happens when the battery goes out?
Being as how steel is woven into the fabric, and being as how steel is a very good conductor of heat, it also means that it's a very good heat-disipator as well. When the battery goes out, not only will the heat be lost quick, but your body heat will also be lost quicker through the fabric of the coat.
Something like this would work nice as a vest or an inside liner, but I wouldn't want to have it inside the coat itself.
Words of wisdom from a northerner who loves the cold (and hasn't been getting enough of it this winter).
I honestly feel that part of the reason why Futurama hasn't built up a huge fan base is because FOX never gave it a chance.
To start things off, when Futurama was created by Matt Groening, FOX was joyous. The Simpsons were a huge hit, and FOX thought anything else by the hand of Matt Groening would be just as big a hit...as long as it was just like the Simpsons. The problem was that Groening didn't want that.
I wish I had remembered what magazine it was, but there was an article back in 1998 which explained the creation of Futurama. When Groening told FOX that it was either his way or no way, FOX was real close to saying no, but the ratings they were getting from the Simpsons was too good to let go. Even then, there was a lot of clash between FOX and Groening in the development of Futurama, mostly because FOX wanted a Simpsons knockoff.
When Futurama hit the air, guess who first watched it? Simpsons fans, and pretty much ONLY Simpsons fans, because FOX advertised it that way. "From the creator of the Simpsons..." was emphasized more than "A New show...". Many Simpsons fans who were expecting a knockoff stopped watching it when they realized it wasn't, and many others left because they wern't used to a different kind of comedy (Simpsons had the same problems during the first two seasons, but they won it out).
Well, when you have a drop in the original fan base, and no increase in a new fanbase, ratings fall. When ratings fall, the show gets preemted for shows with higher ratings. The third season of Futurama didn't start until the second week of November, and this season didn't start until the third week. Even then, we've only seen four-or-so new episodes, since as Cheesemaker said, NFL has otherwise preemted Futurama.
FOX is making a big mistake if they cancel Futurama, especially because they just haven't made the effort to promote it to new people (rather than just Simpsons fans). When I visited Norway last summer, I found out that many of the teenagers (at least in southern Norway) love Futurama, even more than the Simpsons, because Fry's character reflects that of a typical 20th century high school kid.
Just for the record, I hope everyone realizes that each decade has at least one show that the TV execs thought was a failure, but instead became a big hit in syndication. The Brady Bunch made it only through five seasons, Giligans Island only survived for three, and need I remind everyone that Star Trek only sailed the skies for four?
My only wish is that FOX doesn't give the same fate to Futurama.
...the PI channel, a channel dedicated to dictating the sequencial numbers of pi, went off the air today. Apparently, their Neilson ratings dropped to zero five seconds after they went on the air. No later had the digits "1415926" been read before the plug was pulled.
"I don't understand," says Ira Tional, promotional manager of the PI channel. "I thought everyone loved pi, and they could now get it 24-7!" Tional thought that perhaps if they had started the channel with guest stars doing the reading, such as Drew Carey or Britany Spears, the PI channel wouldn't have come to such an abbrupt halt. "But for some reason, they told me I was being too irrational."
Their view of the thing seems to be along the lines of "Hey, some guy claims he saw the Loch Ness Monster and he's building a submarine to search the lake."
And I'm sure that would cause at least some curious people to follow him and get a look at the submarine that he's building. Except apparently Routers just took the guys word for it and didn't get a very good look at the machine. From the article, "In a demonstration for Reuters, a prototype -- roughly the size of a dishwasher -- was run for around 10 minutes using four 12-volt car batteries as an initial power source."
Size of a dishwasher, eh? Anyone get a good look at the picture of this "prototype?" If you didn't check the link out from the slashdot article, Look here for a look.
Funny, but the grass sure looks pretty big around that machine that's the size of a dishwasher. If that thing was the size of a dishwasher, I would think that the blades of grass wouldn't be that distinct in the photo. Looks more to be about two feet long and a foot / foot-and-a-half wide. I guess that they just have small dishwashers in Ireland!
Yea, the guy claimed he found the Loch Ness Monster and said he's building a submarine to search for it. Only thing is, when someone asked to see the submarine, he was shown a picture of a pop can painted silver.
...and starts more MS bashing, refresh yourself on the actual post first. Granted, the article brief makes you inclined to think that this post is another chance to bash Microsoft, but something good has come out of it nevertheless.
The "Michael's Minutes" article which is linked to has a primairy purpose of NOT bashing Microsoft or jumping to conclusions about the "seizing" of the emails, but instead ask everyone out there in the Lindows.com community to help them in their case. They've developed a strategy to aid their case by trying to find AS MANY products out there on the market that have some kind of "Windows"-derrived name. Here's the actual important text:
Here's how you can help. We are composing a list of the many hundreds of products named "Windows Something" or "Something Windows" or even variations on the word windows, which are not from Microsoft. We know there are many, many products that fit this characterization and we could use your assistance to help us create this list. We are looking for hardware products, software products, products for any operating system and even operating systems themselves.
1. By submitting titles which can be added to our
list by filling out this simple form www.lindows.com/listform
2. Send in printed materials which use the term "window(s)" generically such as software boxes or complete manuals to our offices, the older the better:
Lindows.com, Inc.
Attn: Legal Info
4350 La Jolla Village Drive Suite 450
San Diego, CA 92122
I say go for it. The goal is to catch Microsoft's real motivation for pursuing this lawsuit against Lindows: targeting competition rather than enforcing their trademark. So, rather than bash Microsoft here, take some time and actually help out the fight against them!
Something like that, although practical, won't happen. To do that, it would involve having to lock off a large chunk of the case for rail systems for such "cPCI" cards, even if that space is being used or not. Also, who knows what ribbons/cables/giant heat sinks would be in the way of the PCI card.
I find that a major problem with small-PC construction is the actual PCI cards themselves. You see, there's no standard for the size of a PCI card. It can be as small as a 3/4" high network card to as big as 4 1/2" tall, as short as 5" or as long as 9" (or larger). Every single small-PC I've come across (LPX, NLX, Flex-ATX, or proprietary) which is less than 4 1/2" tall inside the chasis, either some kind of riser card is needed to place ISA/PCI cards parallel to the motherboard, or using hard-to-find 1/2 height PCI cards. They often get in the way because of their un-proportionate size (ever try to grasp that tiny network card that's placed inbetween two full-size PCI cards?).
One thing which I think would desparately help PC architecure is to standardize PCI card sizes, as well as offer half-height PCI cards for flex-ATX and mATX motherboards. By getting rid of the irregular size of the PCI card, it lets PC architects to actually plan for efficient PC cases by planning for how much space will be used for PCI/AGP cards, rather than just guessing by wasting a lot of space for it.
Slashdot Mirror
I did some searching online and found a little bit of information. I cannot say for certain whether or not its credible, but it seems to have a ring of truth to it.
Taken from Anthems.com:
The electronic pop auteur Moby made news with his last album by licensing every one of its tracks to advertisers. But he doesn't plan to "Play" that game for his new release, "18."
"The reason we licensed stuff from 'Play' was that was the only avenue we had available to us to get people to hear the music," Moby said of his 1999 album, whose tracks appeared in ads for American Express, Nissan and Nordstrom, among others. The commercial saturation paid off. "Play" became a 10-million-selling blockbuster that catapulted Moby into the pop mainstream after a decade in the rock and dance undergrounds. After that success, however, "18" is getting a lot more of what Moby calls "conventional support" in the way of radio airplay, MTV exposure and press interest. "We've had requests (to license '18' music), but we've said no to everything." Led by the hit "We Are All Made of Stars," "18" debuted in mid-May at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart with healthy first-week sales of 126,000 copies. The album currently stands at No. 26. with total sales of about 291,000 copies.
What I really think is happening is that Moby has gone to a much more traditional record deal. It's my belief that with the album Play, Moby had much more control over it and its creation. He had the ability to choose how to distribue his music, so he did it in an unconventional but very effective way: he got it into the public though advertising and on the internet via MP3s.
Now, he complains that the same avenue is leading to lost revenue. Methinks that there's a new record company dictating what's going on behind the scenes, and he's not going to be able to make any money unless he sells enough albums. The CD "18" has followed the exact same pattern as most "big-time-record-company-promo" CDs: release single, promote it, make music video, stick video on MTV, release CD, watch CD get into Billboard Top 10 in two weeks, watch it fall off the chart in another two weeks, stop promoing CD. It doesn't look like Moby is in control of his music anymore.
Course, I could be wrong, but this sudden change in attitude just doesn't make sense.
I mean, there's still plenty of n'Sync and Britney Spears fans!
Don't worry about it. Here's my personal history with MP3s:
First discovered them in 1997, when I heard someone in my high school computer club playing "Walk Like an Egyptian" on a computer at school. I thought he was playing a CD, but instead, he told me about "MP3s." Three months later, I was looking for the same stuff online with my own computer. They were everywhere.
Music Industry's Response: "What are you talking about?"
Had a small collection of my favorite music (couldn't build up a whole library, thanks to my whoppin' 850MB hard drive) by 1998. Many of the sites appeared and disappeared quite fast, so I started searching for search engines. I soon stumbled upon (and stuck with) Audiogalaxy in 1999.
Music Industry's Response: "You mean people are getting our music for free? Where? Napster? Shut it down!"
I enjoyed Audiogalaxy, because there was no security threat of using P2P software (aka Napster / Gnutella), plus there were a lot of nice leech sites posted all over on their FTP search list. Sure, it wasn't as quick and as easy as Napster, but Audiogalaxy was flying under the radar, while Napster wasn't. There have been other websites, but none as direct. That is, until the industry finally found them.
Music Industry's Response: Hey, there are places out there besides Napster that hand out MP3s. Let's get everyone while we still can!
My point: It took the music industry four years to realize that there CDs were being transformed into MP3s. It took them four years to find Audiogalaxy and shut them down.
Whatever you find, I'd say it has a staying power of 4 years, unless they're quite public about it like Napster.
For the most part, I agree with you. I've had professors who ask me to write out my code on a page, and the environment just doesn't feel right.
I've had no problems "debugging" code on paper, designing a program on paper, plus your typical bogus multiple choice questions ("What's the difference between 'cout' and 'printf'", etc.). But when it comes to coding, my brain operates differently writing code pencil / paper style. You could probably equate it to baseball hitters who commonly have higher batting averages at their home field than on the road. When a job is done in the same kind of environment for so long, we become accustomed to that environment.
I'd be perfectly happy if the profs let us only use notepad to write out code if they're afraid that a program such as Borland / Visual C++ would give us too much leverage.
I just cannot believe that you feel Walmart is doing this to "take a stab at selling Lindows computers." I'll tell you what this is about:
The almighty dollar.
Walmart does not care about Linux geeks clutching their little stuffed penguins and waving their "Open Source" flags. They do not care about someone who walks into a store to tell the tech department that they should sell machines with Linux on it. They care about money. They have always cared about money, and they always will care about money. They are the most efficient corporation in the whole world, and they are efficient because it makes money. Anyone who thinks that Walmart's #1 priority is not about money needs to take some courses in Economics, wake up, and smell the capitalism.
I've been working in the backstock rooms of Walmarts for three years now, and I've overheard the managers on quite a few occasions. Walmart demands cheap prices from their distributors. They're the #1 retailer in the US, so they have the power to do so. They lure distributors into their system by offering to sell thier product, then stab them in the back a year or two later and demand the product be cheaper, or they'll find someone else. This leads product manufacturers to use overseas labor and/or lower the quality of the product, all to stay buddies with Walmart. When you see the adds of Walmart lowering their prices, they can do so because its not their company that takes a hit in profits...it's the manufacturers that do.
I'm sure Walmart did the same thing with this Microtel company when they asked for computers. When Microtel was put under the gun to make a cheaper computer, I'm sure they cut every single corner. Just look at it from a $$$ perspective..."Hey Walmart, we got this OS that looks like Windows, runs like Windows, and can run %90 of Windows software, but we can put it on every machine for absolutely no charge!"...Walmart will say yes, because they now have a "Windows-ish" computer that sells for $100 less than the competition.
And for those of you who say that there might be a high-return rate? Walmart doesn't care. If people return their computers, all Walmart has to do is box it up and ship it back to Microtel. The only loss that they take is paying some 16-year old $2 to take the time to box it back up and stick it on a pallet. It's certainly worth their time, considering that these computers are %10-%20 cheaper than the competition. If it fails, Walmart returns the computers, Walmart dumps Microtel and finds another manufacturer, and Microtel goes belly-up, and Walmart leaves unscathed. If it's a success, Walmart gets the credit.
Wake up and smell the dollar bills.
I will never understand why people fear/dislike their government more than private companies who never even have to let you know anything strange is going on unless they get caught.
Eminent domain.
The government has the exclusive power to confiscate (for "fair compensation") property for whatever reason. Now, I'm sure you'd love to believe (as you say you do) that when the government does take something, it's all for an important purpose (aka public works...roads / utilities / etc.). Not always is that the case.
About five years ago, my college wanted to build a couple extra residental buildings for the campus, but some "old houses" stood in the way. The college asked the city to exercise their right to buy out those properties. Residents complained, because of course it would lower the property value of the neighborhood. So, the residents were heard, but the college still got the land. Why? The mayor was also dean of the college.
Another good example can be found here. Nissan Automotive bought out the Mississippi Legislature to get a law passed that allowed them to take whatever land they chose to have (and disregard the land's real value).
My point is this: I don't want a governing body who can be bought out to control the internet. I'm sure someone is going to pipe in and say that "Domain names aren't physical property...the government can't exercise eminent domain!" Anyone who wishes to say such a thing apparently doesn't realize that until a law is on the books that says the government can't, the government will.
Yea, digital is desparately expensive...now.
Two years ago, HDTVs were desparately expensive.
Five years ago, DVDs were desparately expensive.
Seventeen years ago, CDs were desparately expensive.
Last I checked, CD's are mainstream, DVD's have begun to pull ahead, and HDTV has come down 50% in price. All digital devices have gone the same route. They start extremely expensive, but as people get lured into the "quality" of digital, demand goes up, supply goes up, and cost goes down.
Now, to answer the question, I wouldn't buy into digital right now. There's a lot to be worked out. But I believe that you will eventually have to lay down the sword and move into digital.
Realize though, that there will ALWAYS be a market for Analog. Don't believe me? Question: Why do record companies still produce LPs? Because they sound better...no, wait. Correction: they sound more real. Just like there was a bit of a surprise with the Slashdot article
about Vacuum tubes on motherboards. Though people thought that they wanted "clearer" sound, "crisper" pictures, and the "digital experience," there is a small growth of people now saying that it doesn't sound "real."
Bottom line: consumers will never be able to make up their minds.
Our first familiy computer, purchased back in 1994, was a Packard Bell. I don't need to elaborate about it breaking down four times during its use, but when we bought it, we slapped down $600 for an HP Laserjet 4L. Every ink printer looked so sloppy compared to the crisp text of the laser printer, so we figured it was a good investment.
Eight years later, that HP Laserjet 4L is still sitting here next to the family computer. It still prints documents as good as it did out of the box. The only degrade in quality is that there's a small squeak that occurs with the paper rollers inside the printer, but it doesn't affect the functionality at all.
When I helped out in the computer science department in our high school, I was often paged to fix a "printer disfunction." The printers that we had throughout the highschool were HPs. Most of them were Laserjet model 4's and 5's, and the rest were HP Deskjet 6xx and 7xx. Not once was I asked to ever do anything more for a Laserjet than replace the toner or clear a paper jam. On the other hand, we had to send at least one Deskjet per month to the printer repairmen. Those printers would constantly get out of alignment, smear, not take printer paper, or just in general not respond to anything from the computer.
But remember, those LaserJet printers, when they were brand new, never sold for less than $500. Unlike much computer hardware on today's market, those printers were worth every penny.
The photos - computer manipulations that put Graf's head on a nude body - appeared last year on the site operated by Microsoft Germany where users could post pictures and texts to share with others.
The photos were taken down in June at Graf's request, but the company declined to sign a formal agreement that they wouldn't appear again, and Graf sued.
You know, I would be seriously pissed if some guy broke into my house, stole my rifle, used it to shoot and kill a cop, and the police arrested me for owning the murder weapon.
When is our judicial system going to get it through their heads that ISPs cannot control the actions of their users, just like I cannot control who might break into my house. I'm sure Microsoft Germany had no intention of putting nude photos on their website, just like I have no intention of killing someone with my rifle, but I cannot guarantee that it won't happen.
The new disc can store 150 CDs of favorite songs or an equivalent of 20 DVDs, Tsai said.
This equates to roughly 67,700 floppy disks, yet they still haven't found a way to get that 25-year-old piece of technology out of my machine.
...who make reviewers like me stare at computer screens for endless hours trying to figure out how the hell your computer code is supposed to work.
// Creates hash table ". Question: Where does that leave me? When I find out that there's some problem in the hash algorithm, I have to dig through 200 lines of code to find some freakin' bug that is described only by "Creates hash table." Your example of why comments don't need to be made is a poor one:
// increment loop counter
Comment sparsely. Do not sprinkle your code with comments. Especially do not use comments like
Yea, I can already picture your programming style. You'd make a 200-line function with the only comment being "
loopCounter++;
That is adding zero value.
Yes, because it's one line of code, and the code is described through the variable. But when sifting through lines of code, you often find beautiful works like iHateMyJob++; or fuckMyBoss--; to name a few. And needless to say, they're uncommented in the code. Until computer code can be written bug free in complete English sentences (aka Never), the rest of your team of workers needs to understand what your code does.
Personally, I make sure every function says what goes into it, what comes out of it, and what setup (variables, etc.) need to be made for it to be called. I do not comment every single line of code, but I do make sure that every line is accounted for by descriptive sentences, explaining the task that I wish to accomplish as well as what variables / registers / actions I take to accomplish the task.
Every time someone has to change some code, you've just forced them to double their workload, and change some comments too.
Okay, this just pisses me off. You didn't mean what you said. Here's what you meant to say:
Every time I have to change some code, you've just forced me to double my workload, and change some comments too.
I can assure you, from a reviewer's point of view, comments SAVE my time from trying to understand what each piece of code is trying to accomplish. Commented code may make you work extra time to detail the lines of code (I do admit, some programmers are quite tallented at keeping track of every single line of code in their head as they work on it on the computer), but it saves tremendous amounts of time once that chunk of code needs to be integrated with other chunks of code into the final product.
Thankfully, our K-12 district was online with a T1 way back in '94, so we were able to work out a lot of these problems early before they became potential disasters.
1) Firewall & Proxy Server: Allow all information to go in and out of port 80 through your proxy, and block all the rest of them, period. Ocasionally, there will be some class projects that actually do need additional ports open (webphone links to Congressional events, for example), but you can open and shut those as need be.
2) Because you hold a ton of responsibility at that school, you also hold a lot of authority. Show it. The only key is to make sure that you have support from the administration. Talk to the principal and assistant-principal/s and tell them specifically this:
"The teachers in this school district have been and still are pirating illegial software and music online. The activity is undoubtedly illegial and needs to be stopped. There have been instances of software companies suing school districts because they have discovered the activity as it was taking place, and if that happens, the district will lose millions of dollars for the illegial software. Not only this, but the technology that we are supposed to be using for educational gain is instead being supplimented for illegial use, and those who try to use it for educational purposes are being limited by the personal activities of the teachers. We need to stop this now. I suggest we hold an informative meeting right away about new computer policies that need to be established so that we can get the most educational use out of this technology for our money being spent on it."
If that does not get the administration on your side, leave the district; if something goes wrong, guess who's going to deny any understanding of what went on? Everyone. Guess who's going to receive 150% of the blame? You are.
As soon as you have the support from the administration, pass out policies and have teachers sign them. Let them understand that you will not be held responsible for their own actions.
I know I sound harsh in this plan, but you do not want to be caught holding the buck when something goes wrong. There are a lot of teachers who will take a foot when you give them an inch. Don't let them walk all over you when you're the one responsible for the use of the network.
Look at it this way: I wouldn't expect that the teachers there would be very happy if you interrupted their classroom and passed out test answers during class, since you're disrupting the process of the students' education. Don't let them do the same to you.
What does the Slashdot community think about having your retinal pattern embedded on a smart card?
Sounds good. Let's have our entire identity based on one card. And while we're at it, let's build in some kind of wireless transmitter into this smart card as well...yea, there we go. But let's not make it encrypted...that would only make it more difficult for people to steal our only form of identity.
Why not save us all the trouble and just have everyone write their SS# in permanent marker on their foreheads?
...that can and will go horribly wrong.
After doing my own independent upgrading with friends' and friends' friends' computers, I can tell you one thing: if you make it or change it in any way, you will be RESPONSIBLE for it. The owner of the computer/s will expect service from you as soon as you can find you.
Every little change that happens to their computer? Remember, that's your fault. Why their floppy disk drive scans itself before shutdown (even if it did before you upgraded the computer), you may not know, but you better do something about it before the computer blows up! Believe me, there are times where they will hunt you down because a year after you installed that motherboard in their system a year ago, their computer now is "doing something that it didn't before"...you know, like when they open up a "cool attachment" from their relatives in the email program that they're just beginning to learn and the computer crashes because the person who wrote the program couldn't tell the difference between a divide by zero error and his own ass. Anyway, anything that happens to the computer is because you changed it in some way, hence, you're responsible for it.
It may seem like an extremely fun project to reach for, but realize that the managers are GOING TO HOLD YOU PERSONALLY ACCOUNTABLE for everything that goes wrong and for nothing that goes right. It's a road not even worth a million bucks to take.
I was at a Mathematics Educators conference about a month ago and got to see some of the new TI calculator models that can be used in the classroom.
Take a look at the TI-10 calculator. I got a first-hand view of this thing at the conference. This thing is targeted for 10 year olds. Personally, the calculator was congested with buttons, too many in my opinion for a third or fourth grader. There are buttons for graphing, charting, powers of ten, and even a random number problem generator. Plus, the display was awful on the eyes (each number was displayed in a 5x7 pixel grid). I tried to ask the representative from TI if she really thought that kids would have no problems working with this calculator. Her response: "I know of kids who are surfing the web. Of course they'll be able to learn how to use that calculator."
I then talked with a calculator distributor, and she said that the teachers hated the calculator, because there were always a certain number of kids that needed help finding their way around. The teachers hated having to give complex instructions such as "Now click on the button that has the square-ish spiral located in the top-center of your calculator." Most teachers were instead just buying the simple 10-key, simple operation calculator from TI that was $5 cheaper (the TI-10 runs at $15, while simpler calculators are about $9-$10). So now, TI is raising the prices of their other calculators to match the price of the TI-15.
Anyway, the point of the story is still the same as in the article:
KISS
Keep it Simple, Stupid!
...which consists of 10 minutes of reading and another 20 of thinking about what the author said, let me put it down into a single sentence.
"Fair use has never been held to be a guarantee of access to copyrighted material in order to copy it by the fair user's preferred technique or in the format of the original."
---Universal v. Reimerdes
US Second Circuit Court of Appeals
You have the [legal] right to use it in a specified manner, albeit a limited one.
*Dig, Dig, Dig*
...
*Dig, Dig, Dig*
...
"Hey Jack, we got two holes dug for ya. Now whatcha want us to do wit'em?"
"Lower the temperature guage into each hole and measure the temperature of the crust at the bottom of each hole. While you do that, I'll calculate the historical dates for each hole based on their depth..."
"Okey dokey boss...well, this here hole's got a readin' of 42 degrees...whatcha make out it's date to be?"
"Okay, according to my calculations, that one is from January of 1849, and the other one is dated to be around July of 1968."
"Okey, well, the udder' hole's got a readin' of 74 degrees."
***Next Day's Newspaper Headlines"***
"Experts Discover Dramatic Global Warming in the Earth's Crust"
...Block access to all I/O ports on a computer.
Honestly, this is as stupid as the Pentagon adding 802.11b wireless to its computers and network. Just don't allow people to have any kind of access to copying the data from the computer, and the easiest way to do that is to lock down the USB / Firewire ports on the computer. It doesn't stop anyone from being able to "preview" the computer, but the company doesn't have to worry about kids "breaking in and taking."
Same thing would go with the CD-RW or whatnot. I'm sure the clueless employee would have a better idea of what was going on if the kid came along and plopped a CD-R into the Apple's burner and then burned the software...maybe. Why not just have plastic see-through cases for each of the computers people have on display.
Anyone ever think about what happens when the battery goes out?
Being as how steel is woven into the fabric, and being as how steel is a very good conductor of heat, it also means that it's a very good heat-disipator as well. When the battery goes out, not only will the heat be lost quick, but your body heat will also be lost quicker through the fabric of the coat.
Something like this would work nice as a vest or an inside liner, but I wouldn't want to have it inside the coat itself.
Words of wisdom from a northerner who loves the cold (and hasn't been getting enough of it this winter).
I honestly feel that part of the reason why Futurama hasn't built up a huge fan base is because FOX never gave it a chance.
To start things off, when Futurama was created by Matt Groening, FOX was joyous. The Simpsons were a huge hit, and FOX thought anything else by the hand of Matt Groening would be just as big a hit...as long as it was just like the Simpsons. The problem was that Groening didn't want that.
I wish I had remembered what magazine it was, but there was an article back in 1998 which explained the creation of Futurama. When Groening told FOX that it was either his way or no way, FOX was real close to saying no, but the ratings they were getting from the Simpsons was too good to let go. Even then, there was a lot of clash between FOX and Groening in the development of Futurama, mostly because FOX wanted a Simpsons knockoff.
When Futurama hit the air, guess who first watched it? Simpsons fans, and pretty much ONLY Simpsons fans, because FOX advertised it that way. "From the creator of the Simpsons..." was emphasized more than "A New show...". Many Simpsons fans who were expecting a knockoff stopped watching it when they realized it wasn't, and many others left because they wern't used to a different kind of comedy (Simpsons had the same problems during the first two seasons, but they won it out).
Well, when you have a drop in the original fan base, and no increase in a new fanbase, ratings fall. When ratings fall, the show gets preemted for shows with higher ratings. The third season of Futurama didn't start until the second week of November, and this season didn't start until the third week. Even then, we've only seen four-or-so new episodes, since as Cheesemaker said, NFL has otherwise preemted Futurama.
FOX is making a big mistake if they cancel Futurama, especially because they just haven't made the effort to promote it to new people (rather than just Simpsons fans). When I visited Norway last summer, I found out that many of the teenagers (at least in southern Norway) love Futurama, even more than the Simpsons, because Fry's character reflects that of a typical 20th century high school kid.
Just for the record, I hope everyone realizes that each decade has at least one show that the TV execs thought was a failure, but instead became a big hit in syndication. The Brady Bunch made it only through five seasons, Giligans Island only survived for three, and need I remind everyone that Star Trek only sailed the skies for four?
My only wish is that FOX doesn't give the same fate to Futurama.
...so here is a link to Google's cache of the file (converted to HTML from its original PDF).
...the PI channel, a channel dedicated to dictating the sequencial numbers of pi, went off the air today. Apparently, their Neilson ratings dropped to zero five seconds after they went on the air. No later had the digits "1415926" been read before the plug was pulled.
"I don't understand," says Ira Tional, promotional manager of the PI channel. "I thought everyone loved pi, and they could now get it 24-7!" Tional thought that perhaps if they had started the channel with guest stars doing the reading, such as Drew Carey or Britany Spears, the PI channel wouldn't have come to such an abbrupt halt. "But for some reason, they told me I was being too irrational."
Their view of the thing seems to be along the lines of "Hey, some guy claims he saw the Loch Ness Monster and he's building a submarine to search the lake."
And I'm sure that would cause at least some curious people to follow him and get a look at the submarine that he's building. Except apparently Routers just took the guys word for it and didn't get a very good look at the machine. From the article, "In a demonstration for Reuters, a prototype -- roughly the size of a dishwasher -- was run for around 10 minutes using four 12-volt car batteries as an initial power source."
Size of a dishwasher, eh? Anyone get a good look at the picture of this "prototype?" If you didn't check the link out from the slashdot article, Look here for a look.
Funny, but the grass sure looks pretty big around that machine that's the size of a dishwasher. If that thing was the size of a dishwasher, I would think that the blades of grass wouldn't be that distinct in the photo. Looks more to be about two feet long and a foot / foot-and-a-half wide. I guess that they just have small dishwashers in Ireland!
Yea, the guy claimed he found the Loch Ness Monster and said he's building a submarine to search for it. Only thing is, when someone asked to see the submarine, he was shown a picture of a pop can painted silver.
...and starts more MS bashing, refresh yourself on the actual post first. Granted, the article brief makes you inclined to think that this post is another chance to bash Microsoft, but something good has come out of it nevertheless.
The "Michael's Minutes" article which is linked to has a primairy purpose of NOT bashing Microsoft or jumping to conclusions about the "seizing" of the emails, but instead ask everyone out there in the Lindows.com community to help them in their case. They've developed a strategy to aid their case by trying to find AS MANY products out there on the market that have some kind of "Windows"-derrived name. Here's the actual important text:
Here's how you can help. We are composing a list of the many hundreds of products named "Windows Something" or "Something Windows" or even variations on the word windows, which are not from Microsoft. We know there are many, many products that fit this characterization and we could use your assistance to help us create this list. We are looking for hardware products, software products, products for any operating system and even operating systems themselves.
You can help us generate this list at www.lindows.com/list in three different ways:
1. By submitting titles which can be added to our
list by filling out this simple form www.lindows.com/listform
2. Send in printed materials which use the term "window(s)" generically such as software boxes or complete manuals to our offices, the older the better:
Lindows.com, Inc.
Attn: Legal Info
4350 La Jolla Village Drive Suite 450
San Diego, CA 92122
I say go for it. The goal is to catch Microsoft's real motivation for pursuing this lawsuit against Lindows: targeting competition rather than enforcing their trademark. So, rather than bash Microsoft here, take some time and actually help out the fight against them!
Something like that, although practical, won't happen. To do that, it would involve having to lock off a large chunk of the case for rail systems for such "cPCI" cards, even if that space is being used or not. Also, who knows what ribbons/cables/giant heat sinks would be in the way of the PCI card.
I find that a major problem with small-PC construction is the actual PCI cards themselves. You see, there's no standard for the size of a PCI card. It can be as small as a 3/4" high network card to as big as 4 1/2" tall, as short as 5" or as long as 9" (or larger). Every single small-PC I've come across (LPX, NLX, Flex-ATX, or proprietary) which is less than 4 1/2" tall inside the chasis, either some kind of riser card is needed to place ISA/PCI cards parallel to the motherboard, or using hard-to-find 1/2 height PCI cards. They often get in the way because of their un-proportionate size (ever try to grasp that tiny network card that's placed inbetween two full-size PCI cards?).
One thing which I think would desparately help PC architecure is to standardize PCI card sizes, as well as offer half-height PCI cards for flex-ATX and mATX motherboards. By getting rid of the irregular size of the PCI card, it lets PC architects to actually plan for efficient PC cases by planning for how much space will be used for PCI/AGP cards, rather than just guessing by wasting a lot of space for it.