I don't care if they use RFID to track inventory. They can even do it in their stores if they want. It will be a good way to reduce theft and overhead concievably reducing prices for us all. However, what I don't want are RFID's that are imbedded in the product that I buy, and not just it's packaging. The nice thing about a UPC, aside from the lack of distant tracking, is that you can throw it away after you've purchased the product. If the same approach is used for RFIDs, throw it away after you buy it, then who cares.
It seems like an attempt on the part of congress to reassure the public without actually putting any meaningful constraints on DARPA or the TIA program.
Well, it is doing just that. If we assume for a minute that Congress critters are trying to what's best for the nation, work with me here. Then if people are starting to panic about the TIA, when we all know they couldn't possibly do anything meaningful in the short term, Congress is doing us a favor by passing this bill to put those people who don't realize that the TIA cann't get anything in place in time.
In short, if all this bill does is calm people's fears over something that isn't an immediate threat then it still serves a purpose.
but now with cellular towers going up everywhere one can only consider the fund an anachronism.
Since I'm in the process of finding a cell phone provider that gives good digital coverage in rural Illinois I can tell you that they are not as ubiquitus as in the city. I'm not saying that I'm sseing any of this money, but rural is definetly different. We also pay a boat load more for basic telephone than in the city.
Ahhh, isn't that what a free press is for? I don't think they'll be able to keep them out. A government's desire for secrecy is in direct opposition to the press's need to pry into every nook and cranny and "give the viewer what they want", which is scandel. Which is the worse violator of the everyman?
Well, I've only seen the demos by Jobs, but supposedly you can copy songs to your iPod from inside iTunes, then modify the songs(tags) or playlists or rate the songs and when you sync with the mac all of the information is transfered into iTunes. You can even pause a song on the Mac, sync and the iPod will pick up where you left off. The same type of thing goes the other way. Great for audio books. I actually don't have an mp3 player, so maybe you can already do this kind of thing with other players, but from what I understand the PC side software just isn't there.
If this will allow for the same level of syncing between iPods on Windows as there is on Macs, this would be great. I think that's one of the best features of the iPod on Mac. It really becomes an extension of your computer musci collection, not just another copy of your collection.
You're probably right about all that, but I don't think the poster did that math and just grabbed on the 5 billion number and somehow threw in the yearly for more effect. I'm curious what it actually does cost us each year though.
Now lets gets some of the facts straight. What they found was 5 billion in equipment that the bells had on their books but couldn't be found. They aren't getting away with that whole amount each year. I'm outraged by the whole bells situation too, but let's read the article. Especially one as informative as this one. I know, this is/. what am I thinking.
This is hardley astounding. I hope it comes as no shock to anyone that not everyone can afford a computer and a monthly ISP charge. It should also come as no shock that this appears to have plataued at the same time as home computer sales. Amazingly, there was a limit to the number of households that could afford a computer and the fact that the computer makers and the ISPs did not anticipate it seems to be a great shock to everyone. The reason that the Internet penentration and computer sales have slowed is because there is a limit to the market. Big deal.
Which finger do you use to click the middle button? Me I use the index finger and move it back and forth between the left button and the scroll wheel how about you? I use the middle finger for right clicking, is it out of habit? Is there a new breed of mouse users that grew up with three buttons and so use the index, middle AND ring finger for clicking? A single finger for each button? Is there grant money available to research this? Is it possible to create a/. post entirely out of questions? No.
I agree whole heartedly. Argued for this configuration at my last job but wasn't successful. I got one of those mirrors to mount on my monitor and it helped some, but I still felt a little odd. It was great to call out peoples names when they came in though. Freaked them out.
This is so stupid. What kind of business sense does it make for Apple to do this? The only thing that they have had to do with the music industry so far is the encourage people to rip CDs. They don't have the distribution realtionships needed. They don't have the retail relationships needed. In short there is no reason to think that Apple can run Universal any better than Vivendi can and if Vivendi was making good money on Universal they wouldn't sell it. I think Jobs has lost it or this is just another terrible rumor about Apple buying something or being bought.
It's important to note, and not really clear in the post, that MS is only pulling out of the so-called choreography group for Web Services. It's still a shame, but not as drastic as if they were pulling out all together or abandoning the working group that defines XHTML or CSS. It's still too bad though.
What purpose will this serve, assuming that any terrorists who need a mobile phone will simply purchase one in another of the many countries that do provide anonymous mobiles?
I'm not saying that I agree with the Swiss, but I hate to see flawed logic go unadmonished. Obviously they hope to set a precedent that other nations would follow. You can't expect the entire world to change their laws together so you have to act in steps. It's like saying that there's no sense in using Linux in order break MS's monopoly when there are lots of other people still using MS. Yes I know it's a bad analogy but I can't think of anything else without more thought.
Hah! I smash my phone with a hamer each night. That's starting to get expensive though. I think this guy may have something with taking the battery out.
In question 4, Mr. Shein says:...It's not reasonable that an ISP such as myself has no control over what sort of advertising is placed in my customers' mailboxes yet is left responsible for the quality of that experience....
I think that's kind of a slippery slope. When the ISP begins deciding what email you get and don't get, where do you draw the line. I would certainly want a system like this to be opt-in so that I can deal with all the email I get (good and bad) and not have that decision made for me by someone else.
Slashdot Mirror
From the article:
These results compare to a net profit of $32 million, or $.09 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
I don't care if they use RFID to track inventory. They can even do it in their stores if they want. It will be a good way to reduce theft and overhead concievably reducing prices for us all. However, what I don't want are RFID's that are imbedded in the product that I buy, and not just it's packaging. The nice thing about a UPC, aside from the lack of distant tracking, is that you can throw it away after you've purchased the product. If the same approach is used for RFIDs, throw it away after you buy it, then who cares.
It seems like an attempt on the part of congress to reassure the public without actually putting any meaningful constraints on DARPA or the TIA program.
Well, it is doing just that. If we assume for a minute that Congress critters are trying to what's best for the nation, work with me here. Then if people are starting to panic about the TIA, when we all know they couldn't possibly do anything meaningful in the short term, Congress is doing us a favor by passing this bill to put those people who don't realize that the TIA cann't get anything in place in time.
In short, if all this bill does is calm people's fears over something that isn't an immediate threat then it still serves a purpose.
What if one of those 5 people who want it doesn't have a mac?
I don't know anything about this, but would ethanol made from corn be an alternative to methanol for fuel cells?
I'm sorry. What is LVM?
but now with cellular towers going up everywhere one can only consider the fund an anachronism.
Since I'm in the process of finding a cell phone provider that gives good digital coverage in rural Illinois I can tell you that they are not as ubiquitus as in the city. I'm not saying that I'm sseing any of this money, but rural is definetly different. We also pay a boat load more for basic telephone than in the city.
Apple just released a minor fix for a browser that a fraction of 5% of computer users are using! This is big news!!
A bit OT here, but I have no idea how you pronounce SuSE. Is it like Sussie or like Sousa (without the a)?
Just curious. Maybe this is a lInix/lEEnix thing.
Ahhh, isn't that what a free press is for? I don't think they'll be able to keep them out. A government's desire for secrecy is in direct opposition to the press's need to pry into every nook and cranny and "give the viewer what they want", which is scandel. Which is the worse violator of the everyman?
Well, I've only seen the demos by Jobs, but supposedly you can copy songs to your iPod from inside iTunes, then modify the songs(tags) or playlists or rate the songs and when you sync with the mac all of the information is transfered into iTunes. You can even pause a song on the Mac, sync and the iPod will pick up where you left off. The same type of thing goes the other way. Great for audio books. I actually don't have an mp3 player, so maybe you can already do this kind of thing with other players, but from what I understand the PC side software just isn't there.
Same for the Dimension 4550 that I just got. Very silent although not completly. Either that or I can't hear it over the roar of my other machines.
If this will allow for the same level of syncing between iPods on Windows as there is on Macs, this would be great. I think that's one of the best features of the iPod on Mac. It really becomes an extension of your computer musci collection, not just another copy of your collection.
You're probably right about all that, but I don't think the poster did that math and just grabbed on the 5 billion number and somehow threw in the yearly for more effect. I'm curious what it actually does cost us each year though.
$5 billion every year from the consumer
/. what am I thinking.
Now lets gets some of the facts straight. What they found was 5 billion in equipment that the bells had on their books but couldn't be found. They aren't getting away with that whole amount each year. I'm outraged by the whole bells situation too, but let's read the article. Especially one as informative as this one. I know, this is
This is hardley astounding. I hope it comes as no shock to anyone that not everyone can afford a computer and a monthly ISP charge. It should also come as no shock that this appears to have plataued at the same time as home computer sales. Amazingly, there was a limit to the number of households that could afford a computer and the fact that the computer makers and the ISPs did not anticipate it seems to be a great shock to everyone. The reason that the Internet penentration and computer sales have slowed is because there is a limit to the market. Big deal.
Which finger do you use to click the middle button? Me I use the index finger and move it back and forth between the left button and the scroll wheel how about you? I use the middle finger for right clicking, is it out of habit? Is there a new breed of mouse users that grew up with three buttons and so use the index, middle AND ring finger for clicking? A single finger for each button? Is there grant money available to research this? Is it possible to create a /. post entirely out of questions? No.
If I'm not mistaken, companies in America pay a far higer percentage of the taxes than Joe Consumer.
I agree whole heartedly. Argued for this configuration at my last job but wasn't successful. I got one of those mirrors to mount on my monitor and it helped some, but I still felt a little odd. It was great to call out peoples names when they came in though. Freaked them out.
This is so stupid. What kind of business sense does it make for Apple to do this? The only thing that they have had to do with the music industry so far is the encourage people to rip CDs. They don't have the distribution realtionships needed. They don't have the retail relationships needed. In short there is no reason to think that Apple can run Universal any better than Vivendi can and if Vivendi was making good money on Universal they wouldn't sell it. I think Jobs has lost it or this is just another terrible rumor about Apple buying something or being bought.
It's important to note, and not really clear in the post, that MS is only pulling out of the so-called choreography group for Web Services. It's still a shame, but not as drastic as if they were pulling out all together or abandoning the working group that defines XHTML or CSS. It's still too bad though.
What purpose will this serve, assuming that any terrorists who need a mobile phone will simply purchase one in another of the many countries that do provide anonymous mobiles?
I'm not saying that I agree with the Swiss, but I hate to see flawed logic go unadmonished. Obviously they hope to set a precedent that other nations would follow. You can't expect the entire world to change their laws together so you have to act in steps. It's like saying that there's no sense in using Linux in order break MS's monopoly when there are lots of other people still using MS. Yes I know it's a bad analogy but I can't think of anything else without more thought.
Hah! I smash my phone with a hamer each night. That's starting to get expensive though. I think this guy may have something with taking the battery out.
In question 4, Mr. Shein says: ...It's not reasonable that an ISP such as myself has no control over what sort of advertising is placed in my customers' mailboxes yet is left responsible for the quality of that experience. ...
I think that's kind of a slippery slope. When the ISP begins deciding what email you get and don't get, where do you draw the line. I would certainly want a system like this to be opt-in so that I can deal with all the email I get (good and bad) and not have that decision made for me by someone else.
How long until we see a dup posting for this story?