In addition to my other post, it's also relevant because the ICC is a multi-billion dollar highway project that is wholly unecessary. Those billions could be used in much better ways...like, for example, fixing/upgrading the IT infrastructure that is clearly breaking down rather than simply maintaining it.
But either way are you actually saying that any company should be able to do whatever it wants, as long as the government does not pay it to do otherwise.
That's not at all what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that the government is specifically asking a business to do something it would otherwise not do on its own.
and sure the law forbids this, but by your logic, laws should not apply to businesses.
I think you're twisting my point. All I'm saying is that the government is requesting a company to do something that it otherwise would never do. This request will cost a lot of time and effort to comply with, cost and effort that a smaller ISP might not be able to shoulder on its own while still maintaining a minimum level of service quality.
I never said that laws should not apply to businesses...hell, I didn't even imply it.
"Northrop Grumman holds a $2.4 billion, 10-year contract with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to build, operate and maintain the state's 7-year-old, problem-plagued consolidated computer services bureaucracy. It is the largest single-vendor contract in Virginia history. The partnership has been repeatedly criticized in JLARC studies for poor and tardy delivery of services, cost overruns and system failures."
These systems are directly integrated into the DMV, as well as the Department of Social Services and Department of Taxation, amongst others.
I used the ICC as an example because it's the biggest one...but there are HUGE problems with all aspects of infrastructure here, from electric to water and sewer, to traffic signals to just about anything else you can name.
These systems being down caused widespread problems, including people being unable to use the DMV for driver's licence services. It's just one more ingredient in the shit sandwich, that's all.
Using your examples of oil companies, it is true that they aren't necessarily payed to run safe rigs...however, the government is a huge customer of theirs (military, government official vehicles, etc) as well as providing them legislation that works in their favor and tax breaks/keeping tax loopholes open.
They aren't directly payed money, but approve or disapprove, they're still compensated.
The Maryland/VA/DC metro area is really starting to go down hill, from an infrastructure standpoint. Things are just falling apart around here...oh, and what's that? Instead of investing in fixing aging infrastructure, they instead are spending billions to build the ICC? Oh, and what's that? It's STILL going to be a toll road?
I've lived in Montgomery County my whole life, but I'm quickly getting tired of this place -_-;;
I'm pretty sure you don't know what abusing the justice system is. That's what it sounds like.
Let me get this straight. 5,000 people who don't even know each other were lumped into a single lawsuit, filed in a district where NONE of them live, and each person was sued for about the same amount of money (or for even less) than court costs would be if they went to court and defended themselves...meaning that fighting the lawsuit would potentially cost them more money than taking the settlement.
You don't think that's an abuse of the system? Really?
Monitoring and fulfilling information requests costs time and money. If they're being required to do so constantly, chances are they had to bring on temporary staff to keep up with the worklog. It's wholly unfair to demand this of them, and yet not compensate them.
Then again, "fair", "business", and "government" don't go together, so::shrug::.
I personally had found it randomly while browsing through Comcast On-Demand while spending a weekend at my Wife's Uncle's house. I hadn't heard of it, nor had I heard of the realism they were pushing in their limited marketing, so I went into it blind.
As a war movie, it was pretty entertaining. Realism is quite commonly thrown out the window in war movies, so when I watch war movies, I don't expect it. I think a combination of no knowledge about the film and my low expectations regarding realism is why I think it's worth watching.
It was actually pretty decent. Certainly not Oscar worthy, but at the very least rental/Netflix worthy. If you like war movies that focus more on human psyche rather than combat (although there are a couple of good combat scenes in it), you should watch it at least once.
Look...I understand that piracy is wrong, and if something can be legally obtained it should be.
That being said, this is freakin' insane. All 5,000 Does rolled up into one case? A case filed in Washington, DC...where almost none (if any) of the Does live? Fining these people so much money that the entire movie's budget is literally payed for by SUING people?
If this isn't abusing the justice system, I don't know what is.
In my defense, I didn't ask for an explanation in my OP, just the opinion of fellow slashdotters on whether this technology was just talk, or if it actually was a big deal.
Should have been more specific...I meant on a "mainstream" scale. These charging mats are just a starting point, but they are priced low enough where the average person could afford them.
When I was a kid, I was thinking more along the lines of wireless lamps and such, but you gotta start somewhere, right?
I love the fact that we have wireless power chargers now, even if they are (relatively) primitive. When I was a kid (I was born in 1984, so to some of you I still am...ha!) the one invention I hoped to see in my lifetime was the ability to safely transmit power wirelessly. Even though it's still in it's rudimentary stages, I certainly didn't expect the technology to appear so soon.
I meant with Facebook's privacy practices. Whenever they introduce a new service that has severe privacy implications, it's always an opt-out service...it gets activated by default.
Which is exactly my point. Whereas with Facebook it's opt-out, with Ping it's opt-in. Explain to me how remarking about how a company is being smart about user's privacy is the same thing as bashing them.
Slashdot Mirror
In addition to my other post, it's also relevant because the ICC is a multi-billion dollar highway project that is wholly unecessary. Those billions could be used in much better ways...like, for example, fixing/upgrading the IT infrastructure that is clearly breaking down rather than simply maintaining it.
But either way are you actually saying that any company should be able to do whatever it wants, as long as the government does not pay it to do otherwise.
That's not at all what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that the government is specifically asking a business to do something it would otherwise not do on its own.
and sure the law forbids this, but by your logic, laws should not apply to businesses.
I think you're twisting my point. All I'm saying is that the government is requesting a company to do something that it otherwise would never do. This request will cost a lot of time and effort to comply with, cost and effort that a smaller ISP might not be able to shoulder on its own while still maintaining a minimum level of service quality.
I never said that laws should not apply to businesses...hell, I didn't even imply it.
Here you go, direct from our local news radio station.
"Northrop Grumman holds a $2.4 billion, 10-year contract with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to build, operate and maintain the state's 7-year-old, problem-plagued consolidated computer services bureaucracy. It is the largest single-vendor contract in Virginia history. The partnership has been repeatedly criticized in JLARC studies for poor and tardy delivery of services, cost overruns and system failures."
These systems are directly integrated into the DMV, as well as the Department of Social Services and Department of Taxation, amongst others.
I used the ICC as an example because it's the biggest one...but there are HUGE problems with all aspects of infrastructure here, from electric to water and sewer, to traffic signals to just about anything else you can name.
These systems being down caused widespread problems, including people being unable to use the DMV for driver's licence services. It's just one more ingredient in the shit sandwich, that's all.
Using your examples of oil companies, it is true that they aren't necessarily payed to run safe rigs...however, the government is a huge customer of theirs (military, government official vehicles, etc) as well as providing them legislation that works in their favor and tax breaks/keeping tax loopholes open.
They aren't directly payed money, but approve or disapprove, they're still compensated.
The Maryland/VA/DC metro area is really starting to go down hill, from an infrastructure standpoint. Things are just falling apart around here...oh, and what's that? Instead of investing in fixing aging infrastructure, they instead are spending billions to build the ICC? Oh, and what's that? It's STILL going to be a toll road?
I've lived in Montgomery County my whole life, but I'm quickly getting tired of this place -_-;;
What do you mean "again"? Most people only get concerned when I'm NOT talking to myself :p
I put that in there as a disclaimer, because if I didn't I would get the rabid "you support piracy" trolls on me.
It's happend many times before around here.
I'm pretty sure you don't know what abusing the justice system is. That's what it sounds like.
Let me get this straight. 5,000 people who don't even know each other were lumped into a single lawsuit, filed in a district where NONE of them live, and each person was sued for about the same amount of money (or for even less) than court costs would be if they went to court and defended themselves...meaning that fighting the lawsuit would potentially cost them more money than taking the settlement.
You don't think that's an abuse of the system? Really?
It's wholly unfair to demand this of them, and yet not adequately compensate them.
Fixed.
Monitoring and fulfilling information requests costs time and money. If they're being required to do so constantly, chances are they had to bring on temporary staff to keep up with the worklog. It's wholly unfair to demand this of them, and yet not compensate them.
Then again, "fair", "business", and "government" don't go together, so ::shrug::.
I personally had found it randomly while browsing through Comcast On-Demand while spending a weekend at my Wife's Uncle's house. I hadn't heard of it, nor had I heard of the realism they were pushing in their limited marketing, so I went into it blind.
As a war movie, it was pretty entertaining. Realism is quite commonly thrown out the window in war movies, so when I watch war movies, I don't expect it. I think a combination of no knowledge about the film and my low expectations regarding realism is why I think it's worth watching.
It was actually pretty decent. Certainly not Oscar worthy, but at the very least rental/Netflix worthy. If you like war movies that focus more on human psyche rather than combat (although there are a couple of good combat scenes in it), you should watch it at least once.
Look...I understand that piracy is wrong, and if something can be legally obtained it should be.
That being said, this is freakin' insane. All 5,000 Does rolled up into one case? A case filed in Washington, DC...where almost none (if any) of the Does live? Fining these people so much money that the entire movie's budget is literally payed for by SUING people?
If this isn't abusing the justice system, I don't know what is.
In my defense, I didn't ask for an explanation in my OP, just the opinion of fellow slashdotters on whether this technology was just talk, or if it actually was a big deal.
Awesome read, thank you very much!
Can any Slashdotters chime in on this...is this technology really "the next thing", or is it "the next thing that is actually nothing"?
Should have been more specific...I meant on a "mainstream" scale. These charging mats are just a starting point, but they are priced low enough where the average person could afford them.
When I was a kid, I was thinking more along the lines of wireless lamps and such, but you gotta start somewhere, right?
I love the fact that we have wireless power chargers now, even if they are (relatively) primitive. When I was a kid (I was born in 1984, so to some of you I still am...ha!) the one invention I hoped to see in my lifetime was the ability to safely transmit power wirelessly. Even though it's still in it's rudimentary stages, I certainly didn't expect the technology to appear so soon.
Sweeeeet nectar.
That's what you thin-
**NO CARRIER**
Never mind the fact that AMD will be the source of confusion for "normal" folks in the not-too-distant future. Yay for having Intel and AMD stickers on the same system!
Note: yes, I'm aware that most nerds won't be affected by this...but it will certainly confuse some normal folk, I guarantee it.
Maybe because being a fanboy is short changing yourself as a gamer.
::cue anonymous troll who only posts about sopssa::
I meant with Facebook's privacy practices. Whenever they introduce a new service that has severe privacy implications, it's always an opt-out service...it gets activated by default.
Which is exactly my point. Whereas with Facebook it's opt-out, with Ping it's opt-in. Explain to me how remarking about how a company is being smart about user's privacy is the same thing as bashing them.