It would seem that the tone generation capabilities of a Mac would be able to replicate the functionality of an AppleCat.
Yeah, it can play even more voices than a cat, but it doesn't seem that the current macs can play them through a phone. I mean, there was this one program-- the cat's meow-- that did A/B/C/D but also did a fake dial tone, a fake ring tone, a fake call waiting tone, a UK "double ring" tone, a busy signal, etc. You can't do that on today's modems.
Remember the DTMF *de*coder add-on you could get? You could actually do a reasonably good phone menu system with the Apple.
Yeah, that was the big "eprom" hack for the cat, if I remember right. You had to get these chips and then you could do the menu system... you can't even do that with today's macs.. there is no telephony API built into cocoa, for example.
>(as an aside, you don't remember ProTALK BBS, do you?)
Can't say that I do. Was this a software package or an actual BBS system somewhere?
It was a total rewrite of GBBS by this guy named Parik Rao (or something like that) which took the best modules (the one I remember is Turbo Run, the ProTERM-emulation text-based online car driving game) and put them all in one package. The whole thing was written in GBBS's ACOS language.
I think there was another big BBS based in ACOS, but I'm not 100% on that, called "Proving Grounds" which was basically an RPG type of bbs where your account could challenge other users to battles and stuff.
It's really hard to find any mention of Cat Fur ][, MegaTERM, the Cat's Meow, etc. on the Internet. It's as if that whole scene didn't exist.... when 202 was king...
Now I wonder-- why do Macs of 2002 not have the same telephony capability of a 4-voice modem circa 1984?
(as an aside, you don't remember ProTALK BBS, do you?)
Some comparisons in his rhetoric and how it has (not) changed...
"I am just a simple caveman..."
Valenti, 1982 - I am not a lawyer; I beg to ask the forgiveness of all of you in the UCLA Law School. If I was smart enough maybe I would have been a lawyer and then I would feel more comfortable about presenting this case. "
Valenti, 2000 - "I am not a lawyer. I wanted to be one; go to Harvard Law School. Ended up at Harvard Business School - if I am arrogant, that's what they taught me - haha. "
"We are a poor industry..."
Valenti, 1982 - "Now, let me tell you something about the high-risk business that we are in. This may be one of the most precarious business enterprises which a man or a woman can enter. Movie making is a high-risk business. Let me cite you some examples. The average film costs $20 million...And 6 out of 10 films do not retrieve their total investment period. Now, what are you going to do right on top of that? There is going to be a VCR avalanche."
Valenti, 2000 - "For the movie business in the Internet era, a threat on opening nights is someone copying the new movie and sending it out over the Internet. An average movie costs $52 million to make. Only two in ten ever profit from theatre sales."
Demonizing the perceived Enemy as "deadly", "pirates", "stranglers", "terrorists", etc.
Valenti, 1982 - "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.
Valenti, 1982 - "The public interest is at stake here. It is the public interest that you have by solemn oath sworn to serve because what I am talking about and what the rest of these witnesses are talking about is making it possible for a steady stream of quality entertainment to reach people through their television sets....
Valenti, 1997 - "It was a historic meeting...a first-time commitment of full government support at the highest level of the Russian leadership to a long-term plan to decrease surely and radically the deadly hold of pirates on the intellectual property community
Valenti 2002 - "There are more than nine and a half million broadband subscribers now. Once those large pipes and high-speed access subscribers begin to increase, we can be terrorized by what's going on."
Valenti 2002 - "We're fighting our own terrorist war."
But some things have changed...or have they?
Valenti, 1982 - "Now, these machines are advertised for one purpose in life. Their only single mission, their primary mission is to copy coyrighted material that belongs to other people..."
Valenti, 2000 - " Look at Sony-Betamax. The VCR had substantial non-infringing use. For example if you time-shift (tape now and playback later). But the court in Sony-Betamax did not rule on shifting to ten million people. So watch how you cite Sony-Betamax. Napster is not time-shifting - but sharing with anonymous millions."
In 1955 he met the man who would have the largest impact on his life, the then Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, Lyndon B. Johnson. Valenti's agency was in charge of the press during the visit of President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson to Texas. Valenti was in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Within hours of the murder of John F. Kennedy, Valenti was on Air Force One flying back to Washington, the first newly hired special assistant to the new President.
Indeed, Valenti was present during the swearing in of Johnson after Kennedy was shot.
In the famous picture of his being sworn in, you can see Valenti on the left side of the frame.
There's WAAAAY more to life than just being a sysadmin-- the experiences you have in college-- stuff that has nothing to do with computers-- will likely give you more perspective on the world and make you a more savvy, broad-minded, aware, and generally knowlegable person.
In college, expect to be exposed to a variety of life perspectives-- scientists, poets, philosophers, athletes, artists, engineers, religious nuts, political types, the ultra-rich, the unbelievably poor, etc. from everywhere in the world. You will undoubtedly get involved in all kinds of extracurricular campus goings-on and discover whole new scenes that will put merely honing your sysadmin skills in context.
Be sure to take classes in areas that you don't really know anything about- I found this an excellent way to stretch your brain. It's worth it though.
College, IMO, is about broading your horizons, growing in different directions, exploring, having fun, fucking up, and learning about yourself.
And yeah, as a nice side bonus, higher ed will make you way more marketable in whatever you do. But to me anyway, that's not the point. I wouldn't have known that when I started, but that's what I found to be the case.
No, not MAC as in NIC IDs, I'm talking about the actual Macintosh serial numbers-- the one that is visible on new Macintoshes by going to "About This Mac" and clicking twice on the version numbers.
You can also find it in Apple System Profiler in the System Profile tab under "Production information". Or if you dont' wanna turn your computer on, there's a sticker somewhere that has it printed on it. On G4 powerbooks, its in the bay where the battery goes.
This is the unique number used by Apple to track the computer via their Applecare extended warranty, for example. It's also used I believe when you register your computer.
I started a thread on MacNN about the fact that any cocoa application can read a new Macintosh's unique serial number. I even wrote a sample program that accesses and displays it.
I thought that others might be as concerned as I was. Instead, someone confirmed that, yes-- the Mac's GUID is globally accessible, yes-- it's on the motherboard... but no need to worry because "As much as you feel that the serial number can be abused it won't. No vendor has shown any indication that they will use unique IDs in their programs and all we can do is hope that they won't."
Yeah, but that would rule out most laptops, which have built-in mics...I guess anyone with a laptop is potentially bugging their own computer...not a nice thought.
How many web cams have physical "turn off" switches?...although they can at least be pointed in another direction...but you have to remember to do that EVERY time;)
The Macromedia Flash Player automatically detects any default microphone or other audio recorder on your computer, and sets microphone sensitivity to a medium value.
....
What happens if I do nothing?
The Flash Player automatically detects any video cameras on your computer and displays the name of the default camera it will use. If you do not select another camera from the pop-up menu, the Flash Player uses the default camera. To see a live display of the image being detected by the default camera, click the video preview area.
Now this is scary.
But picture this-- a virus that takes your picture, records you for a minute, compresses into.mp3, then sends the sound and a snapshot as an email attachment to the next person...
I think Back Orifice already has this in as a plugin, but man, a viral version of this... What's the best way to disable a laptop mic?
W
Yeah, and while we're at it...
on
Netrek
·
· Score: 2
According to The LA Times, you can find AOTC on irc chat.
From the article:
The pirating of "Attack of the Clones" lends fuel to the film industry's efforts in Washington to crack down on piracy. While the studios' trade association steps up its enforcement activities, their lobbyists are pushing for laws that would require computers and consumer electronics to be modified to deter unauthorized copying.
"It's an extremely serious threat," said Jean Murrell Adams, head of the litigation department at DreamWorks SKG. "I'm not surprised that it's on the Internet. I talk to pirates because I want to find out why they're doing this. And what I've been told is that they were eagerly anticipating who would be first to do this. It's a challenge for them."
Apparently it's a version videotaped in the theater, which they're worried will cut into DVD sales (?)
I'm trying to imagine a modular-windows world. What would the pros/cons be? Is this an appropriate "punishment" for Microsoft, or should we be careful what we wish for?
1. What is the relation between "free speech" and "copyright"? If a game is not free speech, can it still be copyrighted? According to this, "any original expression that is fixed in a tangible form" can be copyrighted.
2. Could a saved game-- which maybe would be considered a "performance" -- be considered free speech? I mean, if I play some 3d shooting game and kill only the politicians, isn't the saved game a kind of performance art?
3. What about hacked ROM games? Some of these must fall under "parody", no?
4. Surely games written by recognized literary greats, such as Douglas Adam's "Beaurocracy" is not only legitimate expression but social satire?
5. How do you draw the line between straight fiction, a choose-your-own-adventure book, and an Infocom interactive adventure?
6. If you printed out an Infocom game's text replacing the user's typed instructions with "Turn to page 7 to do xxxx" and published it as a book, would the video game suddenly become speech?
Maybe Dave Touretsky needs to set up another gallery.
This is such a subversion of the inherent structure of the Web...it's like putting up a billboard on the freeway but restricting anyone from reading it from a car.
What does their copyright on news stories have to do with what page is linked anyway?
As I understand it, the restriction on 17 and under going into an R-rated film is not a "law" passed by government but rather an agreement within the entertainment industry to self-police itself.
Specifically, the MPAA rates the film (their methodology is as controversial as the ratings system in general) and the exhibitors (that is, the movie theaters) agree to restrict ticket sales in accordance with the MPAA ratings.
The MPAA ratings are also used to determine when advertisements for movies are permitted-- that's why you don't see ads for R-rated movies during hours when kids are watching TV. Or at least that's the idea-- there was a scandal about a year ago where a lot of R-rated films was being advertised to children on TV.
Apparently, the film company's defense was that ad-purchasing time packages did not match the resolution of the MPAA ratings system-- so there was no way to buy advertising time in slots that exactly matched the demographics of the ratings. (And I'm sure the fact that most theaters weren't checking IDs made the spillover ok too)
I think (but I'm not sure) that blockbuster and other video rental places also check IDs just as theaters do. But I wonder if they care about video games... anyone know?
I almost cried tears of joy when I read the transcript of W. Brian Arthur (economist), Andy Grove (Intel chairman), and Lawrence Lessig's (law professor) discussion about these issues. A lot of the same points are made that you see daily here on/., and a lot of comparisons to the nineteenth century railroad industry and various information revolutions of the past 200 years.
A very interesting read that helps put current events in an historical context...
Lets say you buy 100 CDs and make an "audio jukebox"-- a big networked box that will physically pull any requested CD out of the sleeve and play it, sending the sound to wherever you happen to be.
That's totally legal right? A business should be able to do that as well-- have a CD jukebox that plays the physical CD for any single user.
So what's the difference between that and an MP3 music database, provided you bought/own the CDs and could "lock" each CD (or track) so that it can only be listened to by one person at a time?
Slashdot Mirror
It would seem that the tone generation capabilities of a Mac would be able to replicate the functionality of an AppleCat.
Yeah, it can play even more voices than a cat, but it doesn't seem that the current macs can play them through a phone. I mean, there was this one program-- the cat's meow-- that did A/B/C/D but also did a fake dial tone, a fake ring tone, a fake call waiting tone, a UK "double ring" tone, a busy signal, etc. You can't do that on today's modems.
Remember the DTMF *de*coder add-on you could get? You could actually do a reasonably good phone menu system with the Apple.
Yeah, that was the big "eprom" hack for the cat, if I remember right. You had to get these chips and then you could do the menu system... you can't even do that with today's macs.. there is no telephony API built into cocoa, for example.
>(as an aside, you don't remember ProTALK BBS, do you?)
Can't say that I do. Was this a software package or an actual BBS system somewhere?
It was a total rewrite of GBBS by this guy named Parik Rao (or something like that) which took the best modules (the one I remember is Turbo Run, the ProTERM-emulation text-based online car driving game) and put them all in one package. The whole thing was written in GBBS's ACOS language.
I think there was another big BBS based in ACOS, but I'm not 100% on that, called "Proving Grounds" which was basically an RPG type of bbs where your account could challenge other users to battles and stuff.
W
It's really hard to find any mention of Cat Fur ][, MegaTERM, the Cat's Meow, etc. on the Internet. It's as if that whole scene didn't exist.... when 202 was king...
Now I wonder-- why do Macs of 2002 not have the same telephony capability of a 4-voice modem circa 1984?
(as an aside, you don't remember ProTALK BBS, do you?)
W
Some comparisons in his rhetoric and how it has (not) changed...
"I am just a simple caveman..."
Valenti, 1982 - I am not a lawyer; I beg to ask the forgiveness of all of you in the UCLA Law School. If I was smart enough maybe I would have been a lawyer and then I would feel more comfortable about presenting this case. "
Valenti, 2000 - "I am not a lawyer. I wanted to be one; go to Harvard Law School. Ended up at Harvard Business School - if I am arrogant, that's what they taught me - haha. "
"We are a poor industry..."
Valenti, 1982 - "Now, let me tell you something about the high-risk business that we are in. This may be one of the most precarious business enterprises which a man or a woman can enter. Movie making is a high-risk business. Let me cite you some examples. The average film costs $20 million...And 6 out of 10 films do not retrieve their total investment period. Now, what are you going to do right on top of that? There is going to be a VCR avalanche."
Valenti, 2000 - "For the movie business in the Internet era, a threat on opening nights is someone copying the new movie and sending it out over the Internet. An average movie costs $52 million to make. Only two in ten ever profit from theatre sales."
Demonizing the perceived Enemy as "deadly", "pirates", "stranglers", "terrorists", etc.
Valenti, 1982 - "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.
Valenti, 1982 - "The public interest is at stake here. It is the public interest that you have by solemn oath sworn to serve because what I am talking about and what the rest of these witnesses are talking about is making it possible for a steady stream of quality entertainment to reach people through their television sets....
Valenti, 1997 - "It was a historic meeting...a first-time commitment of full government support at the highest level of the Russian leadership to a long-term plan to decrease surely and radically the deadly hold of pirates on the intellectual property community
Valenti 2002 - "There are more than nine and a half million broadband subscribers now. Once those large pipes and high-speed access subscribers begin to increase, we can be terrorized by what's going on."
Valenti 2002 - "We're fighting our own terrorist war."
But some things have changed...or have they?
Valenti, 1982 - "Now, these machines are advertised for one purpose in life. Their only single mission, their primary mission is to copy coyrighted material that belongs to other people..."
Valenti, 2000 - " Look at Sony-Betamax. The VCR had substantial non-infringing use. For example if you time-shift (tape now and playback later). But the court in Sony-Betamax did not rule on shifting to ten million people. So watch how you cite Sony-Betamax. Napster is not time-shifting - but sharing with anonymous millions."
Interesting.
W
From that page...
In 1955 he met the man who would have the largest impact on his life, the then Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, Lyndon B. Johnson. Valenti's agency was in charge of the press during the visit of President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson to Texas. Valenti was in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Within hours of the murder of John F. Kennedy, Valenti was on Air Force One flying back to Washington, the first newly hired special assistant to the new President.
Indeed, Valenti was present during the swearing in of Johnson after Kennedy was shot.
In the famous picture of his being sworn in, you can see Valenti on the left side of the frame.
(bigger picture here)
W
Whoa whoa whoa...
There's WAAAAY more to life than just being a sysadmin-- the experiences you have in college-- stuff that has nothing to do with computers-- will likely give you more perspective on the world and make you a more savvy, broad-minded, aware, and generally knowlegable person.
In college, expect to be exposed to a variety of life perspectives-- scientists, poets, philosophers, athletes, artists, engineers, religious nuts, political types, the ultra-rich, the unbelievably poor, etc. from everywhere in the world. You will undoubtedly get involved in all kinds of extracurricular campus goings-on and discover whole new scenes that will put merely honing your sysadmin skills in context.
Be sure to take classes in areas that you don't really know anything about- I found this an excellent way to stretch your brain. It's worth it though.
College, IMO, is about broading your horizons, growing in different directions, exploring, having fun, fucking up, and learning about yourself.
And yeah, as a nice side bonus, higher ed will make you way more marketable in whatever you do. But to me anyway, that's not the point. I wouldn't have known that when I started, but that's what I found to be the case.
Plus they have hot coeds there.
W
No, not MAC as in NIC IDs, I'm talking about the actual Macintosh serial numbers-- the one that is visible on new Macintoshes by going to "About This Mac" and clicking twice on the version numbers.
You can also find it in Apple System Profiler in the System Profile tab under "Production information". Or if you dont' wanna turn your computer on, there's a sticker somewhere that has it printed on it. On G4 powerbooks, its in the bay where the battery goes.
This is the unique number used by Apple to track the computer via their Applecare extended warranty, for example. It's also used I believe when you register your computer.
W
I started a thread on MacNN about the fact that any cocoa application can read a new Macintosh's unique serial number. I even wrote a sample program that accesses and displays it.
I thought that others might be as concerned as I was. Instead, someone confirmed that, yes-- the Mac's GUID is globally accessible, yes-- it's on the motherboard... but no need to worry because "As much as you feel that the serial number can be abused it won't. No vendor has shown any indication that they will use unique IDs in their programs and all we can do is hope that they won't."
Uh yeah right. Except for Windows 98, RealNetworks, Word for Mac, etc.
Why is that Intel's GUID problems were such a big deal and this barely gets a shrug?
W
Yeah, but that would rule out most laptops, which have built-in mics...I guess anyone with a laptop is potentially bugging their own computer...not a nice thought.
...although they can at least be pointed in another direction...but you have to remember to do that EVERY time ;)
How many web cams have physical "turn off" switches?
W
What happens if I do nothing?
The Macromedia Flash Player automatically detects any default microphone or other audio recorder on your computer, and sets microphone sensitivity to a medium value.
....
What happens if I do nothing?
The Flash Player automatically detects any video cameras on your computer and displays the name of the default camera it will use. If you do not select another camera from the pop-up menu, the Flash Player uses the default camera. To see a live display of the image being detected by the default camera, click the video preview area.
Now this is scary.
But picture this-- a virus that takes your picture, records you for a minute, compresses into
I think Back Orifice already has this in as a plugin, but man, a viral version of this... What's the best way to disable a laptop mic?
W
Wow. I totally forgot about Netrek...
So now who's up for a game of Bolo?
Multiplayer angband?
Ah, the classics...
W
According to The LA Times, you can find AOTC on irc chat.
From the article:
The pirating of "Attack of the Clones" lends fuel to the film industry's efforts in Washington to crack down on piracy. While the studios' trade association steps up its enforcement activities, their lobbyists are pushing for laws that would require computers and consumer electronics to be modified to deter unauthorized copying.
"It's an extremely serious threat," said Jean Murrell Adams, head of the litigation department at DreamWorks SKG. "I'm not surprised that it's on the Internet. I talk to pirates because I want to find out why they're doing this. And what I've been told is that they were eagerly anticipating who would be first to do this. It's a challenge for them."
Apparently it's a version videotaped in the theater, which they're worried will cut into DVD sales (?)
W
Would a modular version of Windows be good for:
1. Consumers?
2. Linux/Open Source alternatives?
3. The technology industry?
4. Microsoft?
I'm trying to imagine a modular-windows world. What would the pros/cons be? Is this an appropriate "punishment" for Microsoft, or should we be careful what we wish for?
W
Hub-
We're all looking forward to it too!!
W
An OSX Xwindows version of OpenOffice is also available for download (as of like a few days ago) here
This and Abiword, once Aquified, will be a good first step towards some real competition for MS Word.
Has anyone used both Abiword and the OpenOffice word processor on OSX? How do they compare?
W
Questions:
1. What is the relation between "free speech" and "copyright"? If a game is not free speech, can it still be copyrighted? According to this, "any original expression that is fixed in a tangible form" can be copyrighted.
2. Could a saved game-- which maybe would be considered a "performance" -- be considered free speech? I mean, if I play some 3d shooting game and kill only the politicians, isn't the saved game a kind of performance art?
3. What about hacked ROM games? Some of these must fall under "parody", no?
4. Surely games written by recognized literary greats, such as Douglas Adam's "Beaurocracy" is not only legitimate expression but social satire?
5. How do you draw the line between straight fiction, a choose-your-own-adventure book, and an Infocom interactive adventure?
6. If you printed out an Infocom game's text replacing the user's typed instructions with "Turn to page 7 to do xxxx" and published it as a book, would the video game suddenly become speech?
Maybe Dave Touretsky needs to set up another gallery.
W
I believe they have a competing product.
Didn't Wil Wheaton work there?
W
This is such a subversion of the inherent structure of the Web...it's like putting up a billboard on the freeway but restricting anyone from reading it from a car.
What does their copyright on news stories have to do with what page is linked anyway?
W
No, cuz when you try to install Samba, you'll now get an error that says:
"We're sorry, the Network Neighborhood is a Gated community."
W
As I understand it, the restriction on 17 and under going into an R-rated film is not a "law" passed by government but rather an agreement within the entertainment industry to self-police itself.
Specifically, the MPAA rates the film (their methodology is as controversial as the ratings system in general) and the exhibitors (that is, the movie theaters) agree to restrict ticket sales in accordance with the MPAA ratings.
The MPAA ratings are also used to determine when advertisements for movies are permitted-- that's why you don't see ads for R-rated movies during hours when kids are watching TV. Or at least that's the idea-- there was a scandal about a year ago where a lot of R-rated films was being advertised to children on TV.
Apparently, the film company's defense was that ad-purchasing time packages did not match the resolution of the MPAA ratings system-- so there was no way to buy advertising time in slots that exactly matched the demographics of the ratings. (And I'm sure the fact that most theaters weren't checking IDs made the spillover ok too)
I think (but I'm not sure) that blockbuster and other video rental places also check IDs just as theaters do. But I wonder if they care about video games... anyone know?
W
When I read this story my first question was "were Sun's usability issues addressed?"
Anyone know if someone meticulously went through sun's article and fixed everything?
W
I almost cried tears of joy when I read the transcript of W. Brian Arthur (economist), Andy Grove (Intel chairman), and Lawrence Lessig's (law professor) discussion about these issues. A lot of the same points are made that you see daily here on /., and a lot of comparisons to the nineteenth century railroad industry and various information revolutions of the past 200 years.
A very interesting read that helps put current events in an historical context...
Lets say you buy 100 CDs and make an "audio jukebox"-- a big networked box that will physically pull any requested CD out of the sleeve and play it, sending the sound to wherever you happen to be.
That's totally legal right? A business should be able to do that as well-- have a CD jukebox that plays the physical CD for any single user.
So what's the difference between that and an MP3 music database, provided you bought/own the CDs and could "lock" each CD (or track) so that it can only be listened to by one person at a time?
W
Something I, read somewhere...
After they hit up this ska band, of course.
W
Something like this could make us much less dependent on coal or nuclear-based energy sources. And using this w/electric-powered vehicles...hmm.
Sounds bad for the "energy companies".
So, uh, when does the FUD campaign begin? Lobbyists, start your engines...
W