(Greybeard three-fer: Dialing from the MS-DOS command prompt, pulse dialing no less, and, God as my witness, I actually used to be able to dial my uncle by using only five digits.)
(Holy crap, I just remembered that my first modem was an acoustic coupler job that couldn't even dial, and I used to hand-dial into the BBS using a rotary phone. And for kicks I practiced pulse dialing by rapidly clicking the receiver button. I guess it's about time I got a lawn...)
Just use the Google Voice or Skype apps to video chat. They've been around long enough to be mentioned as a standard without people laughing in your face.
Presumably you mean Google Talk, which uses the Jabber/XMPP messaging standard. The Skype protocol is spooky and mysterious, but I guess it's a defacto standard. FaceTime on the other hand is such a non-standard that it doesn't even work on Macs yet.
Side note, careful with the word "application" here, since it's generally got a different meaning in patent contexts. Let's just grit the teeth and say "iPhone ap".
[And since I'm here giving language advice while typing out "iPhone" using Apple's candy-ass gen-Y capitalization like a mooneyed shill, let me just say: "iPhone" is pretty silly, granted, but "Iphone", which is/.'s alt-text for iPhone topics, is somehow even worse.]
Exactly so. To the extent that this technology actually works, it will be circumventable. Exactly like people can beat a lie detector test with training, and exactly like malware writers love to wring their creations though virustotal until they report clean.
It'll be really fun when they start actually integrating your photos into the ads. Grandma's Pancake Mix -- hawked to you by your very own grandma! I wouldn't doubt for a second that Facebook's TOS allow this.
Maybe there was a photo of a soldier with a map/GPS/sextant? Maybe triangulation with some recognizable mountain peaks or other landmarks? Maybe just the night sky?
I remember getting off the bus at Port Authority after finishing the Long Trail. I think they should try this experiment with a maze really crowded with thousands of different rodents, most of which are hopped up on drugs and running around the maze as fast as they can, and the rest of which are carrying guns and looking at you funny. And the pizza is terrible. I bet those forestified mice wouldn't do so hot.
Playing devil's advocate, one could envision an evolution into a system where websites are required to maintain certain censorship standards in order to publish on common TLDs. Slashdot, for instance, doesn't censor, so it would have to have stick up an "I am over 18" splash page on slashdot.org that would link to slashdot.xxx, or slashdot.pg13, or whatever.
This is a generous interpretation, but it still leads to the same deduction. "No idea what's going on" implies they're not doing a good job of monitoring, which implies it's not a priority.
Maybe I have an "issue with corporations," and maybe that's a problem, but it's not the sort of problem that's going to cause a lot of suffering in the world, unlike some other problems that are being discussed here.
Not making shit up per se, but I'm deducing from TFA:
Microsoft did not answer specific questions about operations at the KYE factory, such as whether it has quality-control monitors there or whether it regularly sends representatives there to check conditions.
...that they'd be unable to back up any claims of a good track record on this, or they would speak up. The article singles out Microsoft because they're an easy target, but I doubt their relationship with the mouse factory is much different from the other brands mentioned.
The historical facts, from ancient slavery all the way to the Massey mines, clearly indicate that "exploiting" labor is a pattern that occurs naturally. Sometime this is moderated by individual or collective ethics, but that's a lot less likely when you don't have to interact with the people doing your work. This is an advantage to the corporations who are willing to use it, which is pretty much all of them. For the consumer, it's a constant rain of low-priced products and a constant sewage of last year's model. For the workers, it's the invisible middle finger of the market.
My village blacksmith doesn't make mice, and I'm not going to start making my own. But I am a reuser/repairer/recycle/freecycle type, especially with electronics.
As long as it's cheaper, they don't care about ethics.
Agreed. If they really gave a rat's ass about the conditions in their mouse factory, they'd audit this and other suppliers regularly. But a PR guy issuing soothing statements once or twice a year from his office is a lot cheaper than a dozen investigators flying around the world, to say nothing of the actual unit price rising when workers get breaks, weekends, and overtime pay.
That list of companies tells the real story: this is simply the way global trade is done. And if this is the way your trusted big brands do business, you can rest assured that your no-name brands are worse. Maybe someone out there is working on a niche "cruelty-neutral" computer with child-labor and heavy-metal offsets sent to Amnesty International or Doctors Without Borders...
Slashdot Mirror
Makes sense, but heavens, what did Slashdot ever do to you?
Ah, fond memories of ECHO ATDP 63489 > COM1...
(Greybeard three-fer: Dialing from the MS-DOS command prompt, pulse dialing no less, and, God as my witness, I actually used to be able to dial my uncle by using only five digits.)
(Holy crap, I just remembered that my first modem was an acoustic coupler job that couldn't even dial, and I used to hand-dial into the BBS using a rotary phone. And for kicks I practiced pulse dialing by rapidly clicking the receiver button. I guess it's about time I got a lawn...)
Just use the Google Voice or Skype apps to video chat. They've been around long enough to be mentioned as a standard without people laughing in your face.
Presumably you mean Google Talk, which uses the Jabber/XMPP messaging standard. The Skype protocol is spooky and mysterious, but I guess it's a defacto standard. FaceTime on the other hand is such a non-standard that it doesn't even work on Macs yet.
Moral of the stories: Stay Reasonably Current
Sure, sure, that's the *practical* moral, but how about some *dogmatic* morals:
Just tag the story "dick" then.
The shovel-ready mound will help the economy.
"Thursday, June 24, 2010 - Astronomers Solve The Mystery of Hanny's Voorwerp" http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25366/
Side note, careful with the word "application" here, since it's generally got a different meaning in patent contexts. Let's just grit the teeth and say "iPhone ap".
[And since I'm here giving language advice while typing out "iPhone" using Apple's candy-ass gen-Y capitalization like a mooneyed shill, let me just say: "iPhone" is pretty silly, granted, but "Iphone", which is /.'s alt-text for iPhone topics, is somehow even worse.]
Silver paint pen should do. Remember not to write "the TSA, the" in German, because some people might misunderstand.
Exactly so. To the extent that this technology actually works, it will be circumventable. Exactly like people can beat a lie detector test with training, and exactly like malware writers love to wring their creations though virustotal until they report clean.
Certainly worth taking another look at shrink rays, for that matter.
No need for flashbacks...
Wow, it's a "Tell Slashdot" segment! I've been looking for something similar myself, so thanks, I'll give this a spin!
Just in case, I think it's high time to start tagging all images in Pig-Latin or ROT13.
It'll be really fun when they start actually integrating your photos into the ads. Grandma's Pancake Mix -- hawked to you by your very own grandma! I wouldn't doubt for a second that Facebook's TOS allow this.
Perhaps a mix of laziness, impatience, and hubris.
Maybe there was a photo of a soldier with a map/GPS/sextant? Maybe triangulation with some recognizable mountain peaks or other landmarks? Maybe just the night sky?
I hope this will make up for all the GOTOs I've been using.
I remember getting off the bus at Port Authority after finishing the Long Trail. I think they should try this experiment with a maze really crowded with thousands of different rodents, most of which are hopped up on drugs and running around the maze as fast as they can, and the rest of which are carrying guns and looking at you funny. And the pizza is terrible. I bet those forestified mice wouldn't do so hot.
Playing devil's advocate, one could envision an evolution into a system where websites are required to maintain certain censorship standards in order to publish on common TLDs. Slashdot, for instance, doesn't censor, so it would have to have stick up an "I am over 18" splash page on slashdot.org that would link to slashdot.xxx, or slashdot.pg13, or whatever.
It's more What's Up, Tiger Lily? than MST3K.
Or they simply have no idea about what's going on
This is a generous interpretation, but it still leads to the same deduction. "No idea what's going on" implies they're not doing a good job of monitoring, which implies it's not a priority.
Maybe I have an "issue with corporations," and maybe that's a problem, but it's not the sort of problem that's going to cause a lot of suffering in the world, unlike some other problems that are being discussed here.
Microsoft did not answer specific questions about operations at the KYE factory, such as whether it has quality-control monitors there or whether it regularly sends representatives there to check conditions.
...that they'd be unable to back up any claims of a good track record on this, or they would speak up. The article singles out Microsoft because they're an easy target, but I doubt their relationship with the mouse factory is much different from the other brands mentioned.
The historical facts, from ancient slavery all the way to the Massey mines, clearly indicate that "exploiting" labor is a pattern that occurs naturally. Sometime this is moderated by individual or collective ethics, but that's a lot less likely when you don't have to interact with the people doing your work. This is an advantage to the corporations who are willing to use it, which is pretty much all of them. For the consumer, it's a constant rain of low-priced products and a constant sewage of last year's model. For the workers, it's the invisible middle finger of the market.
My village blacksmith doesn't make mice, and I'm not going to start making my own. But I am a reuser/repairer/recycle/freecycle type, especially with electronics.
As long as it's cheaper, they don't care about ethics.
Agreed. If they really gave a rat's ass about the conditions in their mouse factory, they'd audit this and other suppliers regularly. But a PR guy issuing soothing statements once or twice a year from his office is a lot cheaper than a dozen investigators flying around the world, to say nothing of the actual unit price rising when workers get breaks, weekends, and overtime pay.
That list of companies tells the real story: this is simply the way global trade is done. And if this is the way your trusted big brands do business, you can rest assured that your no-name brands are worse. Maybe someone out there is working on a niche "cruelty-neutral" computer with child-labor and heavy-metal offsets sent to Amnesty International or Doctors Without Borders...
Happens a lot if you log in via RDP.