We need to outlaw conventional paper and force the use of PDF documents everywhere.
Think of how many times you have cut your finger on the edge of rough paper. And now, can you tell me that paper is harmless to children and not a threat to national security? I don't think so.
I, for one, think this law will enable greater national security and protect the children from harm.
The nature of humans is such that, with sufficient desire to access something, they will do anything in order to do so.
This does not just affect technology, either. Just look at any child whose ball went into the street. He has the desire to access the ball again, so, even if it's in the middle of the road, he will try to reach it.
Similarly, in high school, it is considered "cool" to drink beer, and smoke pot. Many students succumb to peer pressure, and in order to access these forbidden substances, they will get someone who is over the legal drinking age (oh noes!) to get this kind of access for them.
Getting back to technology, little kids under 13 will say they are over 13 to play some games that abide by the COPPA. Black-hat hackers try to use vulnerabilities to break into the Govt's computers.
And users of MySpace will lie about their age.
Unless (and until) the state of Connecticut creates and maintains a database of biometric data associated with its residents, and forces every one of them to have the scanner associated with the data collected (retinal scan, fingerprint etc.) to register with MySpace, let's face it, inaccuracies will still arise.
And after that, we will complain that we don't have privacy.
So, I must ask: Protection of the children, or Big Brother?... Or take a more viable approach, that of educating children and parents about the impending dangers of these social networking sites?
Considering that US Ambassador David Wilkins' only argument is that Canada's copyright laws are the weakest in the G7, suppose that Canada reinforces their copyright laws as a result. David could then talk to another country, telling their government that their copyright laws are now the weakest and that they must do something about it. Repeat four more times for the remaining countries.
This looks to me like a worldwide RIAA/MPAA waiting to be unleashed. That is, if Stephen Harper accepts this.
P.S.: TFA is really short; what's so informative in it?
... from removing the Moire pattern often seen in scanned photographs, to interpolated image upsampling that doesn't seem blurred or pixelised. Perhaps it will also fare well in interpolating old 256-color dithered GIFs into full-color JPEGs with decent quality. [This is also a nice sumarry for those who don't want to read TFA...]
Most of the research this library uses as a basis has been known for quite some time; see the image upsampling link above. But it's nice to see this implemented as an actual library.
Actually, you're spending some of the money you earn, in investments. You are neither a sink nor a source of money.
Though with data, some people, or even companies, are merely sinks. They store huge amounts of data, mostly for auditing purposes. Access logs for webservers. Windows NT event logs. Setup logs for Windows Installer apps. For ISPs, a track record of people who got assigned an IP address, in case they get a subpoena. Change logs for DoD documents. Even CVS for developers, to keep track of umpteen old versions of software. Even the casual Web browsing session replicates information in your browser cache. Many more of these examples could be given.
We also need to produce more and more hardware to store these archived data, the most obiquitous of which is the common hard drive. In the end, we'll need more metal and magnetic matter than the Earth can provide.
And, if they're not interested in looking at their HD movie on their 20-inch computer monitor, they can move their TV right next to their computer. But there's not enough room in their mom's basement. Then they can burn it to DVD. Except HD content is too big for a DVD. Then they can burn it to HD DVD. But they'd need to get both a HD DVD burner and a HD DVD player. Which they can't use because their set isn't HDCP-enabled. Leaving completely alone the question of whether this is a flame or not, there have been lots of reported cases of DA discs (CD-DA: CD Digital Audio) that were not playable in legally-bought standard home stereos and car radios.
Now, can you tell me for sure whether that will happen or not in the future for legally-bought set-top DVD players? And if that does happen for DVD players, what can the consumer do about it?
In the end, the easiest thing for a consumer to do will be to just open up The Pirate Bay and type the name of a movie they want. It's sure to work wherever they want, provided they have the codec to play it. And if they don't, they can convert it to MPEG-2, or any other such standard. If they don't have a codec to play it, they probably don't have a codec to convert it. Apologies for this. I didn't write what I thought correctly. I meant, if they don't:
have the codec in their player of choice, they can convert it with their computer if they have the codec on it (like AVI/DivX, even though DivX players are more and more common);
have the codec at all, ask someone they know for an MPEG-2 version.
Either way, they can always check the torrent site for MPEG-2 versions of movies they want. Or anything they have codecs to play.
After HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs being locked out of people who didn't buy DHCP-enabled monitors, video cards and an encrypted video path to view them... This is not even a surprise to me.
In the end, the easiest thing for a consumer to do will be to just open up The Pirate Bay and type the name of a movie they want. It's sure to work wherever they want, provided they have the codec to play it. And if they don't, they can convert it to MPEG-2, or any other such standard.
Consumers do not want to buy a separate version of their music for their iPod, their Zune, their Gigabeat, their [insert name of portable Flash/USB player here], etc. They don't want to spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on new technology to hear what they want, either. Audio CDs have worked for nearly two decades. This goes for video as well. The *AA's need to realise that.
Then again, it's what Apple and Microsoft want: to lock people into their player, so that they must buy another if it breaks. Interoperability would just make every player equal... Oh no, we have to actually think of new features for our players instead of just relying on lock-in to bring us sales! What should we do?!
P.S.: Many stories on Slashdot seem to revolve around DRM lately. I have an impression of déjà vu...
You can't have a car that uses power, doesn't mess with the grid and uses no fossil fuel at once. You gotta have one, or the other, or a mix of both. You see, it's all a big tradeoff.
then banning "interactive websites" blocks many things that would be best left unbanned.
Many courses feature an online forum for discussion related to its subject matter. This kind of forum is meant to promote communication between students: you can ask questions to your peers or ask them to review a piece of your work. In language courses, it may also be used to practice writing in the language. Such a forum is provided by Blackboard, formerly WebCT, for instance.
Teachers wanting to go for a more personal touch may also put up a blog, on which students can post comments about the teacher's personality, or his/her (in)ability to explain difficult subject matter effectively; they may even ask questions for the teacher to answer in the next class. Some students don't have internet access at home due to, e.g., living in an apartment, and will want to post comments in class.
Now, the bill is still in its beta stage, and we don't know what it encompasses; we can't really criticise it, only speculate. The release candidate's wording will not be that general, I hope, and it will allow sites like these to be visited on the basis that they allow the teachers to give their courses effectively, and the students to ask questions when they have some. "Ask a question and you'll be stupid for a minute; don't ask any questions and you'll be ignorant for a lifetime", they say. It applies very well here.
P.S.: TFA seems to be propaganda against Son of DOPA more than information. Wikipedia is not geared towards being an "interactive website"; it provides information, and allows you to interact with editors by improving their work. Contrast this with MySpace and you'll see it's like comparing apples and oranges.
VGA: Totally in hardware except for the brand/model information used to determine which resolutions are supported. Analog, sometimes of low quality. Broken pins remove one color component from the screen, which inconveniences image editors (photoshoppers) until the cable is replaced. Simple to manufacture. Worked for years.
HDCP: Encrypted and decrypted; mostly in software. The encryption was designed to allow protected playback of "premium content", but is still used and wastes power even when none is played. Digital, high quality. Broken pins may have adverse effects on the encryption process and disallow any output to the display. More costly. Hyped, and I can't predict how long HDCP will live.
Add language support of thread synchronisation, and the inclusion of many synchronisation primitives in the java.util.concurrent package, and you have server software scalable for years to come.
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We need to outlaw conventional paper and force the use of PDF documents everywhere.
Think of how many times you have cut your finger on the edge of rough paper. And now, can you tell me that paper is harmless to children and not a threat to national security? I don't think so.
I, for one, think this law will enable greater national security and protect the children from harm.
I, for one, welcome our new overlords from outer space.
With finer details!
The nature of humans is such that, with sufficient desire to access something, they will do anything in order to do so.
... Or take a more viable approach, that of educating children and parents about the impending dangers of these social networking sites?
This does not just affect technology, either. Just look at any child whose ball went into the street. He has the desire to access the ball again, so, even if it's in the middle of the road, he will try to reach it.
Similarly, in high school, it is considered "cool" to drink beer, and smoke pot. Many students succumb to peer pressure, and in order to access these forbidden substances, they will get someone who is over the legal drinking age (oh noes!) to get this kind of access for them.
Getting back to technology, little kids under 13 will say they are over 13 to play some games that abide by the COPPA. Black-hat hackers try to use vulnerabilities to break into the Govt's computers.
And users of MySpace will lie about their age.
Unless (and until) the state of Connecticut creates and maintains a database of biometric data associated with its residents, and forces every one of them to have the scanner associated with the data collected (retinal scan, fingerprint etc.) to register with MySpace, let's face it, inaccuracies will still arise.
And after that, we will complain that we don't have privacy.
So, I must ask: Protection of the children, or Big Brother?
We will not accept that another country tries to tell us what to do!
Considering that US Ambassador David Wilkins' only argument is that Canada's copyright laws are the weakest in the G7, suppose that Canada reinforces their copyright laws as a result. David could then talk to another country, telling their government that their copyright laws are now the weakest and that they must do something about it. Repeat four more times for the remaining countries.
This looks to me like a worldwide RIAA/MPAA waiting to be unleashed. That is, if Stephen Harper accepts this.
P.S.: TFA is really short; what's so informative in it?
... from removing the Moire pattern often seen in scanned photographs, to interpolated image upsampling that doesn't seem blurred or pixelised. Perhaps it will also fare well in interpolating old 256-color dithered GIFs into full-color JPEGs with decent quality. [This is also a nice sumarry for those who don't want to read TFA...]
Most of the research this library uses as a basis has been known for quite some time; see the image upsampling link above. But it's nice to see this implemented as an actual library.
Actually, you're spending some of the money you earn, in investments. You are neither a sink nor a source of money.
Though with data, some people, or even companies, are merely sinks. They store huge amounts of data, mostly for auditing purposes. Access logs for webservers. Windows NT event logs. Setup logs for Windows Installer apps. For ISPs, a track record of people who got assigned an IP address, in case they get a subpoena. Change logs for DoD documents. Even CVS for developers, to keep track of umpteen old versions of software. Even the casual Web browsing session replicates information in your browser cache. Many more of these examples could be given.
We also need to produce more and more hardware to store these archived data, the most obiquitous of which is the common hard drive. In the end, we'll need more metal and magnetic matter than the Earth can provide.
Martian space missions, anyone?
... times does the Library of Congress fit in that? Exabytes simply don't speak to me.
Alternatively, you can also answer in anime episodes, or mp3 files.
Haha, I didn't even see that letter switch, even in the preview. Sorry about that typo. Yes, it's HDCP.
Now, can you tell me for sure whether that will happen or not in the future for legally-bought set-top DVD players? And if that does happen for DVD players, what can the consumer do about it?
What about it? BOOTP is a network protocol from which DHCP orignated.
Either way, they can always check the torrent site for MPEG-2 versions of movies they want. Or anything they have codecs to play.
After HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs being locked out of people who didn't buy DHCP-enabled monitors, video cards and an encrypted video path to view them... This is not even a surprise to me.
In the end, the easiest thing for a consumer to do will be to just open up The Pirate Bay and type the name of a movie they want. It's sure to work wherever they want, provided they have the codec to play it. And if they don't, they can convert it to MPEG-2, or any other such standard.
Consumers do not want to buy a separate version of their music for their iPod, their Zune, their Gigabeat, their [insert name of portable Flash/USB player here], etc. They don't want to spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on new technology to hear what they want, either. Audio CDs have worked for nearly two decades. This goes for video as well. The *AA's need to realise that.
Then again, it's what Apple and Microsoft want: to lock people into their player, so that they must buy another if it breaks. Interoperability would just make every player equal... Oh no, we have to actually think of new features for our players instead of just relying on lock-in to bring us sales! What should we do?!
P.S.: Many stories on Slashdot seem to revolve around DRM lately. I have an impression of déjà vu...
You can't have a car that uses power, doesn't mess with the grid and uses no fossil fuel at once. You gotta have one, or the other, or a mix of both. You see, it's all a big tradeoff.
P.-S.: see this article.
then banning "interactive websites" blocks many things that would be best left unbanned.
Many courses feature an online forum for discussion related to its subject matter. This kind of forum is meant to promote communication between students: you can ask questions to your peers or ask them to review a piece of your work. In language courses, it may also be used to practice writing in the language. Such a forum is provided by Blackboard, formerly WebCT, for instance.
Teachers wanting to go for a more personal touch may also put up a blog, on which students can post comments about the teacher's personality, or his/her (in)ability to explain difficult subject matter effectively; they may even ask questions for the teacher to answer in the next class. Some students don't have internet access at home due to, e.g., living in an apartment, and will want to post comments in class.
Now, the bill is still in its beta stage, and we don't know what it encompasses; we can't really criticise it, only speculate. The release candidate's wording will not be that general, I hope, and it will allow sites like these to be visited on the basis that they allow the teachers to give their courses effectively, and the students to ask questions when they have some. "Ask a question and you'll be stupid for a minute; don't ask any questions and you'll be ignorant for a lifetime", they say. It applies very well here.
P.S.: TFA seems to be propaganda against Son of DOPA more than information. Wikipedia is not geared towards being an "interactive website"; it provides information, and allows you to interact with editors by improving their work. Contrast this with MySpace and you'll see it's like comparing apples and oranges.
VGA: Totally in hardware except for the brand/model information used to determine which resolutions are supported. Analog, sometimes of low quality. Broken pins remove one color component from the screen, which inconveniences image editors (photoshoppers) until the cable is replaced. Simple to manufacture. Worked for years.
HDCP: Encrypted and decrypted; mostly in software. The encryption was designed to allow protected playback of "premium content", but is still used and wastes power even when none is played. Digital, high quality. Broken pins may have adverse effects on the encryption process and disallow any output to the display. More costly. Hyped, and I can't predict how long HDCP will live.
Next?
You guys totally missed the point of the article. It was about the burrito command.
Mmm, burrito.
Add language support of thread synchronisation, and the inclusion of many synchronisation primitives in the java.util.concurrent package, and you have server software scalable for years to come.
Multi-core processors are the future, and the folks at Sun understood this.