You ask about the first sale doctrine. What about it? All first sale says is that it is not a violation of copyright for someone to sell you the media. It's not relevant to the question of whether or not Blizzard has to allow use of the key more than once.
You also bring up the EULA. EULAs (assuming they are valid at all) are contracts. The sale of your copy of the game was between you and the person who sold it to you, not between you and Blizzard, so I don't see how you would have a contract with Blizzard.
Re:does anyone actually use either md5 or sha-1...
on
SHA-1 Broken
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· Score: 1
Not only does it apply to POTS, it applies to any situation where someone/thing is carrying goods or information for hire. The Post Office, couriers, and ISPs are all examples of common carriers. In a regulatory view, Common Carrier status protects a carrier from legal liability for what it transports, however, such a carrier can't then cherry-pick what it wants to carry
No, it might apply to those other situations. It only actually applies if an appropriate government body (Congress, or an authorized regulatory agency, or the courts) has said that it applies. This has not been done yet for internet traffic.
The proper behavior would be to have a user find a download, click the download to put it somewhere on the hard drive, then have the user "double-click" the file to install the software. This would totally prevent drive-by downloads
Yes, by preventing most installs. Go watch average users someday. It is quite enlightening.
The beauty of certificates is, you decide who you trust. If you object to VeriSign's practice of issuing certificates to spyware/adware makers, simply don't choose to trust VeriSign's root certificate
95% of certificates are from VeriSign. Your solution is not practical.
I guess that's neat and all, but why wouldn't I just install X11 for whatever apps I run that need it, and run everything through OS X?
Well, one reason is some programs won't run with Apple's X11. For example, Konqueror gets this error:
Xlib: extension "XInputExtension" missing on display ":1.0".
Failed to get list of devices
For those without a Mac, Xnest also doesn't provide the XInputExtension extension, so you can play around with that, and find out what works and what doesn't. (In fact, the error message I gave above is from a run on Xnest, not on a Mac).
A lot of programs bitch about the lack of XInputExtension, but go ahead and work fine. I don't know why Konqueror can't do that, too, but it doesn't.
They've almost got this right. They've made a few mistakes, though, which could doom this service.
They should be comparing their service to radio, not to iTunes. Basically advertise it as "radio on demand"...an internet radio that plays whatever you want, whenever you want it, and that works on portables.
People expect to not own songs they hear on the radio, so this would get people to think about what Napster adds over radio, instead of thinking about how their music stops working if they ever cancel.
Their web site is crappy.
Their player selection sucks. If they had a $100 flash player that could also do audio books from Audible.com, I'd be seriously thinking about getting their service, despite the problems I'm listing here.
Their software sucks. A large part of Apple's success in this market has been the total package. Napster should have taken the million or two that Superbowl ad set them back, and used that to pay for software development, so they'd have something good, instead of WMP10.
They should have included some kind of ownership as part of the subscription. Maybe make your $15/month include 5 regular Napster downloads, or something like that.
Slightly off topic, but if it's really performance you want, why don't people just use Postgres?
When I measured MySQL and PostgreSQL on very simple databases, MySQL was faster (slightly faster on reading, waaaaaay faster on writing). Since most things people need a database for just requires simple databases, MySQL wins on performance in most applications.
I disagree that the user experience of performance has not improved over the last 15 years. 15 years ago, I was using a Mac II.
When I bought a Centris 650 in the early 90's, it was noticably faster--so much faster that I brought it to work to show my boss, as I was sure he would not believe my stories of how fast it was.
This same thing has happened to me with every generation of PCs, too...it's not just a Mac thing. I buy a new machine, and marvel at how much faster it is.
Furthermore, I can go the other way to verify this. I still have my Centris 650 in storage, and booted it up a couple years ago. It was so slow that I could not believe that I ever found such a slow machine usable.
What is really going on is that it doesn't take us long to get used to a fast machine, and since we normally never go back, we don't realize just how much faster things are now.
I wonder how much simulation and testing you need before we feel safe about affecting an entire planet
Probably not much, since there is pretty much nothing we can do to Mars that would be unsafe, unless it turns out that there are intelligent, technologically advanced Martians who get really pissed off at us for mucking with their planet.:-)
Considering relatively affluent people in the US pay money to play these games for hours on end, I don't think you could describe paying third-world citizens money to play the games as a "sweatshop" work environment.
Where's the signup sheet for this "sweatshop"? I'm sure there's plenty of Slashdot readers that would gleefully sign up
Are you serious? Plenty of relatively affluent people tend their own gardens, too...how many do you think would want to work as farm laborers in some third-world country? Lots of people sew as a hobby...you think many of them want to head off to work in a clothing factory?
When you play these games, you do fun things, like quests, and exploring the world, and figuring out how to take on tougher and tougher monsters (and players for PvP games).
The people farming items and money for sale are not doing that. They are just sitting in one spot, killing easy things over and over and over. That's tedium, no fun.
One of the biggest criticisms of Everquest, and one of the things that most games since EQ1 have tried to fix, was that sometimes you'd have to do just that when playing. For example, to get a rare high level monster to spawn, you might have to kill placeholdes, which were low level and no challenge, for hours or even days. or to get faction to go someplace, you might have to kill 2000 trivial monsters. People hated doing this.
You know, there's KOrganizer and loads of other that are free and actually useable..
KOrganizer has some annoying bugs. For example, you can export to a web page, which is good. But what if you want to do that automatically? Check the preferences, and there is an "export to HTML automatically on ever save" option. But it does nothing, and is not mentioned in the documentation.
Or consider KOrganizer's todo list handling. It's cool that it supports sub-todo items. However, in the "what's next" list, it flattens that, essentially treating each sub-item as a top level item. And there is no easy way, given an item on the "what's next" list, to locate it in the todo list. So, if you have a lot of "todo" items, with tasks split down into smaller sub-tasks, it gets very awkward. To be really useful, a task's priority should be inherited from the highest priority sub item, and the "what's next" list should either be heirarchical, or it should link back to the todo list.
Basically, KOrganizer is one of those programs that is fairly useful--it beats a manual calendar--but is far short of being "good". There is a lot of room for a good free calendar application, so I welcome Sunbird's entry into this area.
You can compile (in theory) any language into java bytecode and run it on a JVM, and integrate pretty much seamlessly with "regular" java code
In general, you can compile pretty much any language into pretty much any other language. I've heard rumors of a Fortran to troff compiler, for God's sake.
However, in practical terms, it works better with the.NET stuff than with the JVM, because the.NET VM was designed for this, and so the features of more languages map well onto the.NET VM than map well onto the JVM. Basically, running other languages on the JVM is generally a novelty, perhaps useful in special circumstances, whereas on.NET most of those languages are on an equal footing.
I think this quote from Microsoft's site answers the original question.:-)
The Fingerprint Reader should not be used for protecting sensitive data such as financial information or for accessing corporate networks. We continue to recommend that you use a strong password for these types of activitie
I believe there are basically two ways to do biometric devices like this. The first is for the device to basically measure something and send the measurements to the computer. For example, a fingerprint reader would basically be a specialized scanner that sends essentially a picture of the finger to the computer. The software on the computer would then compare the fingerprint to the ones on file to determine which user owns that finger, and then would unlock their password.
Note that with such a scheme, the password is stored on the computer--hopefully encrypted to protect it from casual observers, but all information necessary to decrypt it is also on the computer. So, if someone were to steal the computer, they would have everything they need to get the passwords.
The other way to make a fingerprint reader system would be to store the passwords themselves in non-volatile memory in the reader. The reader itself would handle comparing the current finger with the known fingerprints, and if there is a match, sending the appropriate password to the computer (where this would probably be used as the key to decrypt a master password file for that user that would contain the other passwords).
Ideally, the non-volatile memory in the reader is tamper-proof and will be erase if someone fiddles with it.
All of the cheap readers, I believe, use the first approach.
The only benefits I can see is increased security for encrypted communication or hard drive encryption. I am really trying to think hard of any other beneficial applications but can't come up with anything
Games.
There are many things, for instance, in MMORPGs and FPSs that have to be done now on the server that could be done better (in terms of performance and in terms of providing a better game experience) on the client, but can't be done there because it would allow cheating.
As a mac user who's seen hundreds of people switching, often you'll have criticism of the Mac OS for not including good free virus checkers, antispyware apps, anti adware apps, registry checkers/protection, TCP tweakers, and so on. All apps used to get around problems inherent with using Windows
Unless they changed their TCP implementation between 10.2 and 10.3, a TCP tweaker is useful on OS X. Just like Windows, the receive window setting is not very good for fast connections with latency higher than a LAN (e.g., many broadband connections), and a little tweaking can greatly improve download speed.
Linux's TCP stack is the only common one I've seen that doesn't benefit from this kind of tweaking. (It is built-in. It self-tweaks on a per connection basis based on what is actually happening on that connection).
I'm glad they finally updated their 'Superdrive'. It was getting embarrassingly outdated, when competitors from the PC laptop realm had DVD±RW with DVD-RAM drive drives. I have a Powerbook 15" with the old DVD-R Superdrive and had to admit I was a bit envious that a professor who's new Toshiba laptop had DVD±RW and DVD-RAM drive capabilities
Check your drive...it might actually be +/-RW. Apple has included these for quite a while--they just didn't officially support it. My PowerBook from around last Thanksgiving is +/-RW.
You can check with "drutil" in a terminal window.
And if your does not include -RW or +/-RW, note its model number and Google for it, because some of the older drives Apple used can be updated via a third-party firmware update for -RW or +/-RW.
Looks like they also dropped prices. The base 17" model is now 2699, where it used to be 2799. Furthermore, a 5400 RPM drive is now standard, and that used to be a $100 upgrade, and 128 MB VRAM is now standard, and that also was a $100 upgrade. Configure the new PowerBook with an 80 gig drive to match what the old one had, and that's $100 off, so basically it is now $2599 for the new vs. $2999 for the old.
New trackpad, or just new trackpad driver?
on
Apple Updates PowerBooks
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· Score: 2, Informative
The Synaptics trackpad Apple uses supports scrolling, but Apple's software uses it in a mode that doesn't enable that.
So I wonder if they actually have a new trackpad, or if they have simply updated their software?
BTW, you can get third party drivers to enable the features that Apple isn't using, and more. For example, SideTrack gives you vertical and horizontal scrolling, corner taps for more buttons, and more.
Designing for the beginner is a classic UI deisgn blunder. Sure, everyone starts as a beginner...but most quickly advance to an intermediate level. That's where most stay.
Hence, interfaces should be designed for the intermediate user, but also designed to ease the path from beginner to intermediate (and, if you can, should also not hinder the expert).
Here's what Apple could do to design for the intermediate user but ease the path of the beginner:
Ship with a two button scroll mouse
Treat both buttons as the same by default
Add a setting to mouse preferences to enable treating them as two buttons
He only provided the links and didn't host any of the files? What a sad day for freedom on the net.
What is sad about it? Before the net came along, purposefully going out and helping people do things that were wrong or against the law was considered to be a bad thing to do.
I see this as completely orthogonal to any issues of freedom on the net.
At sharpie.com, their FAQ says they have done it for years, and that the disc manufacturers have also done it, and no one has seen a problem, but they have not done any long term studies.
So why risk it? Maxell (and TDK, I believe, and others) sell markers specifically formulated to be safe for discs.
For about $0.50/pen I can buy a sharpie and label the disc myself
And for a little more, you can buy a marker that is actually meant for CD labeling, and doesn't contain any solvents that might damage your disc.
The sole reason people think Sharpies are safe is because a lot of people have used them with no known data loss yet, but for any important CD that you want to keep using for a long time, that seems pretty risky to me.
Slashdot Mirror
Sticking something on the output of the media player that saves a copy of the bits is not a crack.
You also bring up the EULA. EULAs (assuming they are valid at all) are contracts. The sale of your copy of the game was between you and the person who sold it to you, not between you and Blizzard, so I don't see how you would have a contract with Blizzard.
google://Davies-Meyer
No, it might apply to those other situations. It only actually applies if an appropriate government body (Congress, or an authorized regulatory agency, or the courts) has said that it applies. This has not been done yet for internet traffic.
That applies to telephone calls over POTS. It does not apply to IP traffic over their internet service.
Yes, by preventing most installs. Go watch average users someday. It is quite enlightening.
95% of certificates are from VeriSign. Your solution is not practical.
Well, one reason is some programs won't run with Apple's X11. For example, Konqueror gets this error:
For those without a Mac, Xnest also doesn't provide the XInputExtension extension, so you can play around with that, and find out what works and what doesn't. (In fact, the error message I gave above is from a run on Xnest, not on a Mac).A lot of programs bitch about the lack of XInputExtension, but go ahead and work fine. I don't know why Konqueror can't do that, too, but it doesn't.
People expect to not own songs they hear on the radio, so this would get people to think about what Napster adds over radio, instead of thinking about how their music stops working if they ever cancel.
When I measured MySQL and PostgreSQL on very simple databases, MySQL was faster (slightly faster on reading, waaaaaay faster on writing). Since most things people need a database for just requires simple databases, MySQL wins on performance in most applications.
When I bought a Centris 650 in the early 90's, it was noticably faster--so much faster that I brought it to work to show my boss, as I was sure he would not believe my stories of how fast it was.
This same thing has happened to me with every generation of PCs, too...it's not just a Mac thing. I buy a new machine, and marvel at how much faster it is.
Furthermore, I can go the other way to verify this. I still have my Centris 650 in storage, and booted it up a couple years ago. It was so slow that I could not believe that I ever found such a slow machine usable.
What is really going on is that it doesn't take us long to get used to a fast machine, and since we normally never go back, we don't realize just how much faster things are now.
Probably not much, since there is pretty much nothing we can do to Mars that would be unsafe, unless it turns out that there are intelligent, technologically advanced Martians who get really pissed off at us for mucking with their planet. :-)
Where's the signup sheet for this "sweatshop"? I'm sure there's plenty of Slashdot readers that would gleefully sign up
Are you serious? Plenty of relatively affluent people tend their own gardens, too...how many do you think would want to work as farm laborers in some third-world country? Lots of people sew as a hobby...you think many of them want to head off to work in a clothing factory?
When you play these games, you do fun things, like quests, and exploring the world, and figuring out how to take on tougher and tougher monsters (and players for PvP games).
The people farming items and money for sale are not doing that. They are just sitting in one spot, killing easy things over and over and over. That's tedium, no fun.
One of the biggest criticisms of Everquest, and one of the things that most games since EQ1 have tried to fix, was that sometimes you'd have to do just that when playing. For example, to get a rare high level monster to spawn, you might have to kill placeholdes, which were low level and no challenge, for hours or even days. or to get faction to go someplace, you might have to kill 2000 trivial monsters. People hated doing this.
KOrganizer has some annoying bugs. For example, you can export to a web page, which is good. But what if you want to do that automatically? Check the preferences, and there is an "export to HTML automatically on ever save" option. But it does nothing, and is not mentioned in the documentation.
Or consider KOrganizer's todo list handling. It's cool that it supports sub-todo items. However, in the "what's next" list, it flattens that, essentially treating each sub-item as a top level item. And there is no easy way, given an item on the "what's next" list, to locate it in the todo list. So, if you have a lot of "todo" items, with tasks split down into smaller sub-tasks, it gets very awkward. To be really useful, a task's priority should be inherited from the highest priority sub item, and the "what's next" list should either be heirarchical, or it should link back to the todo list.
Basically, KOrganizer is one of those programs that is fairly useful--it beats a manual calendar--but is far short of being "good". There is a lot of room for a good free calendar application, so I welcome Sunbird's entry into this area.
In general, you can compile pretty much any language into pretty much any other language. I've heard rumors of a Fortran to troff compiler, for God's sake.
However, in practical terms, it works better with the .NET stuff than with the JVM, because the .NET VM was designed for this, and so the features of more languages map well onto the .NET VM than map well onto the JVM. Basically, running other languages on the JVM is generally a novelty, perhaps useful in special circumstances, whereas on .NET most of those languages are on an equal footing.
The Fingerprint Reader should not be used for protecting sensitive data such as financial information or for accessing corporate networks. We continue to recommend that you use a strong password for these types of activitie
I believe there are basically two ways to do biometric devices like this. The first is for the device to basically measure something and send the measurements to the computer. For example, a fingerprint reader would basically be a specialized scanner that sends essentially a picture of the finger to the computer. The software on the computer would then compare the fingerprint to the ones on file to determine which user owns that finger, and then would unlock their password.
Note that with such a scheme, the password is stored on the computer--hopefully encrypted to protect it from casual observers, but all information necessary to decrypt it is also on the computer. So, if someone were to steal the computer, they would have everything they need to get the passwords.
The other way to make a fingerprint reader system would be to store the passwords themselves in non-volatile memory in the reader. The reader itself would handle comparing the current finger with the known fingerprints, and if there is a match, sending the appropriate password to the computer (where this would probably be used as the key to decrypt a master password file for that user that would contain the other passwords).
Ideally, the non-volatile memory in the reader is tamper-proof and will be erase if someone fiddles with it.
All of the cheap readers, I believe, use the first approach.
Games.
There are many things, for instance, in MMORPGs and FPSs that have to be done now on the server that could be done better (in terms of performance and in terms of providing a better game experience) on the client, but can't be done there because it would allow cheating.
Unless they changed their TCP implementation between 10.2 and 10.3, a TCP tweaker is useful on OS X. Just like Windows, the receive window setting is not very good for fast connections with latency higher than a LAN (e.g., many broadband connections), and a little tweaking can greatly improve download speed.
Linux's TCP stack is the only common one I've seen that doesn't benefit from this kind of tweaking. (It is built-in. It self-tweaks on a per connection basis based on what is actually happening on that connection).
Check your drive...it might actually be +/-RW. Apple has included these for quite a while--they just didn't officially support it. My PowerBook from around last Thanksgiving is +/-RW.
You can check with "drutil" in a terminal window.
And if your does not include -RW or +/-RW, note its model number and Google for it, because some of the older drives Apple used can be updated via a third-party firmware update for -RW or +/-RW.
Looks like they also dropped prices. The base 17" model is now 2699, where it used to be 2799. Furthermore, a 5400 RPM drive is now standard, and that used to be a $100 upgrade, and 128 MB VRAM is now standard, and that also was a $100 upgrade. Configure the new PowerBook with an 80 gig drive to match what the old one had, and that's $100 off, so basically it is now $2599 for the new vs. $2999 for the old.
So I wonder if they actually have a new trackpad, or if they have simply updated their software?
BTW, you can get third party drivers to enable the features that Apple isn't using, and more. For example, SideTrack gives you vertical and horizontal scrolling, corner taps for more buttons, and more.
Hence, interfaces should be designed for the intermediate user, but also designed to ease the path from beginner to intermediate (and, if you can, should also not hinder the expert).
Here's what Apple could do to design for the intermediate user but ease the path of the beginner:
What is sad about it? Before the net came along, purposefully going out and helping people do things that were wrong or against the law was considered to be a bad thing to do.
I see this as completely orthogonal to any issues of freedom on the net.
So why risk it? Maxell (and TDK, I believe, and others) sell markers specifically formulated to be safe for discs.
And for a little more, you can buy a marker that is actually meant for CD labeling, and doesn't contain any solvents that might damage your disc.
The sole reason people think Sharpies are safe is because a lot of people have used them with no known data loss yet, but for any important CD that you want to keep using for a long time, that seems pretty risky to me.