I haven't looked at the list of patents they're turning over, but my best guess is that they're on technologies that still have potential, but IBM's basically given up trying to profit from. I'm kind of hoping / thinking it's their voice recognition stuff (ViaVoice). It's probably stuff that could really go places, but IBM doesn't feel like committing the resources to get there. Turning the IP over to Open Source developers allows third parties to apply this tech in interesting ways and then IBM can come along and roll it up into their own suite of product offerings.
Eventually, I would not be surprised if they turned Websphere over to Open Source.
Not to be a smartass here, but do you really have any compatibility issues between your stereo A/V components? I can remember having a sync cord from my panasonic DVD player to my dual Panasonic cassette recorder, but outside of that, I can't think of any connections that would be proprietary between DVD, receiver, and TV. Does Sony really have something special going on that requires compatibility? Just curious.
Instead of locking into those vtech phones and buying expensive additional handsets, here's another way to skin the VOIP throughout the house cat.
Plug a phone cord into your Vonage box and plug the other end into your wall phone outlet. Go outside, find where the telephone line leaves your house and heads for the pole. Cut that. Plug your vonage box into your network cable. Now all your wall outlets should be live for making Vonage calls.
Your dogshit box idea reminds me of something my roommate did a few years back. I had just bought a house from the estate of an old man who had died some years back. There were all kinds of personal effects scattered around the attic, garage, etc. As we sorted through these rooms, we hoped to find something exciting like an old pistol or maybe a hidden wad of cash. At one point, my roommate brought down these boxes from the garage attic labelled "Rags." I asked him what he was going to do with them. He said, "If I was going to hide something, I'd put it in a box and write 'rags' on the side." Sure enough. They were full of rags.
I was kinda worried about that, too. That's why I didn't really pursue this until now. I think I'll contact him, offer him the chip and copies of my receipt, etc. I'll then contact the retailer from whom I bought the chip and ask them for a replacement and provide them copy of the FBI paperwork regarding the investigation, etc. It would be in their best interest to send me a replacement, I would think.
Tivo already lets you share video files between Tivos on the same home network. And now they've got that TiVO-to-go thing where you can watch them on your computer, which is a heck of a lot more than these TiVO knock-offs support.
My first thought was that this submitter was trying to increase chances for story acceptance by sensationalizing the counterfitting story with the Alchemy chip delay... But, I will entertain the notion that the engineers might be having to redesign alchemy to make overclocking more difficult to thwart these folks in Taiwan.
When I was at QuakeCon this year, an AMD rep speaking during the [H]ardOCP presentation said they didn't care if hobbyists overclocked their chips. They were bothered by these jokers doing it and reselling the chips as faster clocked chips.
During the HardOCP presentation, a pretty significant guy from AMD discussed this matter. He said AMD is not against hobbyists overclocking their chips. He said they're upset over an 'asian company' buffing off their labelling, overclocking the chips, and relabelling the chips. I had just bought an Athlon XP 3200 "OEM" chip and was curious if it might be one of the bootlegged CPUs. I talked to an engineer at their booth and showed him the chip. AMD, like several other QuakeCon sponsors, had real-deal engineers on hand to address technical queries. Not just booth babes handing out shirts. The guy I talked to said he had never seen a 3200 made with a green PCB. He also gave me the contact info for an FBI agent who is investigating this phenomena. Later on, I asked a friend of mine who works at AMD about the green-vs-gold PCB issue. His co-workers were likewise skeptical of a 3200 mounted on a green PCB. So now I'm going to contact that FBI agent and see what he thinks.
I agree. I refused to see episode 2 after watching episode 1. Lucas is surrounded by Yes Men and has lost the artistic vision responsible for THX-1138 and Star Wars IV. None of his inner circle of assistants had the guts to tell him that Jar Jar Binks was a really stupid concept.
How appropriate that the first Star Wars movie worth a damn was called, "A New Hope." If you watch from Episode 1, I can see people saying, "A New Hope... hmm.. maybe there is reason to keep watching these movies. Up until now, it's been pure garbage."
CHill with the condescending tone. Your position is seriously weakened when you assume ignorance on the part of the person you are communicating with. Especially when you spell "purpose" when you really needed "propose" in your opening sentence.
I actually do know a little about indie music. In fact, I probably have exponentially more first-hand knowledge of how the independent music industry works than you do. Your generalization is pretty true. Most smaller bands on big labels make the lion's share of their money from touring-- that's door and merchandise. Primarily merch, though. Royalties from record sales are miniscule. The deal is, though, in order to pull off a good tour, the major label will usually do the booking. They'll usually help arrange for the fledgling artists to tag along on tour with their larger labelmates, thereby increasing exposure for the smaller band.
Don't jump to conclusions. I'm no fan of major labels or excessive profiteering by bands (i.e. Slayer charges no less than $25 for tour t-shirts that cost less than $5.00 to print). But I have friends who are on major labels and they are in a precarious position. This is their shot. If they make it, they won't have to get a straight job for the rest of their lives. They've gotten to where they are by making their music and the band their ONLY priority. When I asked one of them a few years ago, "What is your plan B?" He responded, "There is no plan B." He meant it with more seriousness than anything you can possibly imagine. They're popular. They're touring the world constantly. NME ranked their album two years ago as the 28th best album of the year. These guys aren't in a position to revolutionize the music industry. They're just looking to make music and pile up enough money while they're young so they don't have to dig ditches when they're old. By pirating their music, people are jeopardizing this goal for my friends.
Besides, your argument is fundamentally flawed. You're extrapolating a disagreement you have with how some corporations manage the IP they own and applying that disagreement to all recording artists. You're saying that since Warner Records sucks and exploits its artists, then you have the right to wholesale pirate any artist's work. Even if my friends weren't on a major label, I don't think it's the right of yours to say, "Hey, the music industry is backasswards. I'm going to just copy this music." Don't you think the artist deserves some input on the matter?
Besides, this discussion isn't about the RIAA. It's about software pirates. If you've ever worked for a software company and had a vested interest in the code you write, then you'd care that people are avoiding contributing to your paycheck by simply stealing your work. It's real easy to say, "Oh, that's a big corporation. Fuck them." Guess what. There are real humans who work at those corporations and pay their bills by the work they do for those companies. A lot of them are hanging by a string due to outsourcing to India and other impoverished nations. Stealing IP from these companies exacerbates the situation for the software coder hoping his job doesn't get sent overseas.
This is the most insightful comment I've seen in this discussion yet. Realistically, this is not like the drug issue. There are victims to ip theft. The govt. is charged with protecting those victims.
Why is this even being brought up? Sounds like this character just wants to ask unneccessary questions to draw attention to himself and his clever little scheme.
Next time you get a couple friends to go in on a 12 pack, why don't you post an 'Ask Slashdot' if you should be concerned about the local bar owners suing you for competing with them by selling liquor without a license? This is ridiculous. Just do it and be done with it.
I'm not trying to contradict you or be a smartass.
Ah, the good old days. How glad I am that I will never, ever have to live through them again.
Today is the good old days for tomorrow. Kinda sucks to think of all our current cool shit in that context, but back when it was the good old days, we thought our cool shit was as cool as we now think of our cool shit.
You seem to be a bit out of touch with the present.
I am fully aware that populations in the US and Europe are in decline. That does not mean, however, that the way people in those regions live their lives does not have an impact on quality of life on planet earth. Your perspective is one of futility. That there's no sense in modifying your behavior because of those people over there. I do not share this perspective with you.
The problems faced by our species are exacerbated by overpopulation. Our planet's resources are dwindling relative to the increasing demands placed on them. Nations are going to war over resources and will continue to wage war to secure future resources. With medical science thwarting virii and plagues, the normal population checks are failing to cull our population.
So yeah, you're right. Maybe we should voluntarily control our population growth for a better future instead of birthing 3 or 4 kids per family to then cart around in our Chevy Suburbans.
There are millions of already-born animals that are dieing to be adopted. Literally. I wish some of this research money would be spent on population control of pets (i.e. free spaying and neutering) so we wouldn't have to put so many unwanted pets to death.
I agree with you. Mods are very attractive. But to do something really different or value-added than the original Half Life, a programmer needs to know a lot more about programming (C++ especially). I think the point here is that Blitz Basic is a bit more accessible to the common pedestrian.
But as a final analysis, is the common pedestrian likely to make something very dramatic? Probably not.
I just played GTA: SA last night for the first time. I'd say it's a significant evolution from Vice City. This game features a more linear story line and way more dialogue. It's more like playing a movie than GTA: Vice City. Additionally, it's got a lot more character development that makes it like the Sims (i.e. you have to eat or you get weak, and you have to exercise at the gym). Granted, it's not as big a difference as Doom 3 is from Doom 2, but it's also not just a revision like all the Madden NFL games and the 'cash machines' you cite.
I just wanted to post this message agreeing with all your observations.
Hey, those people can still read your blog. They just can't post comments to it. In the context of all the other shit they're prevented from doing because of blindness, it's not such a big deal.
I just checked Sixth street in Downtown Austin, TX at 1:30 am. The map indicates 'minor traffic'. Funny thing, that street is closed with barricades at this time of night on a weekend.
Here's the deal. Everyone rolls their own solution like rscrawford has. Some people embed their own hidden fields, which is a great idea. Some people code javascript on the client that forces a pause of 20 seconds before the value of a hidden field is embedded.
Obfuscation can really make the work of the spambot writers more expensive than it's worth. Then they'll move elsewhere.
Slashdot Mirror
I haven't looked at the list of patents they're turning over, but my best guess is that they're on technologies that still have potential, but IBM's basically given up trying to profit from. I'm kind of hoping / thinking it's their voice recognition stuff (ViaVoice). It's probably stuff that could really go places, but IBM doesn't feel like committing the resources to get there. Turning the IP over to Open Source developers allows third parties to apply this tech in interesting ways and then IBM can come along and roll it up into their own suite of product offerings.
Eventually, I would not be surprised if they turned Websphere over to Open Source.
Not to be a smartass here, but do you really have any compatibility issues between your stereo A/V components? I can remember having a sync cord from my panasonic DVD player to my dual Panasonic cassette recorder, but outside of that, I can't think of any connections that would be proprietary between DVD, receiver, and TV. Does Sony really have something special going on that requires compatibility? Just curious.
Ha-ha!!! That's f-ing hilarious!
All joking aside, I've seen a photo somewhere of him using an iMac. The second-generation swivel-neck type.
Vonage offers 911 service. Check here.
After you stop paying your regular phone bill, I do not believe your line is alive for 911 service, anyway.
Instead of locking into those vtech phones and buying expensive additional handsets, here's another way to skin the VOIP throughout the house cat.
Plug a phone cord into your Vonage box and plug the other end into your wall phone outlet. Go outside, find where the telephone line leaves your house and heads for the pole. Cut that. Plug your vonage box into your network cable. Now all your wall outlets should be live for making Vonage calls.
Your dogshit box idea reminds me of something my roommate did a few years back. I had just bought a house from the estate of an old man who had died some years back. There were all kinds of personal effects scattered around the attic, garage, etc. As we sorted through these rooms, we hoped to find something exciting like an old pistol or maybe a hidden wad of cash. At one point, my roommate brought down these boxes from the garage attic labelled "Rags." I asked him what he was going to do with them. He said, "If I was going to hide something, I'd put it in a box and write 'rags' on the side." Sure enough. They were full of rags.
I was kinda worried about that, too. That's why I didn't really pursue this until now. I think I'll contact him, offer him the chip and copies of my receipt, etc. I'll then contact the retailer from whom I bought the chip and ask them for a replacement and provide them copy of the FBI paperwork regarding the investigation, etc. It would be in their best interest to send me a replacement, I would think.
Tivo already lets you share video files between Tivos on the same home network. And now they've got that TiVO-to-go thing where you can watch them on your computer, which is a heck of a lot more than these TiVO knock-offs support.
My first thought was that this submitter was trying to increase chances for story acceptance by sensationalizing the counterfitting story with the Alchemy chip delay... But, I will entertain the notion that the engineers might be having to redesign alchemy to make overclocking more difficult to thwart these folks in Taiwan.
When I was at QuakeCon this year, an AMD rep speaking during the [H]ardOCP presentation said they didn't care if hobbyists overclocked their chips. They were bothered by these jokers doing it and reselling the chips as faster clocked chips.
During the HardOCP presentation, a pretty significant guy from AMD discussed this matter. He said AMD is not against hobbyists overclocking their chips. He said they're upset over an 'asian company' buffing off their labelling, overclocking the chips, and relabelling the chips. I had just bought an Athlon XP 3200 "OEM" chip and was curious if it might be one of the bootlegged CPUs. I talked to an engineer at their booth and showed him the chip. AMD, like several other QuakeCon sponsors, had real-deal engineers on hand to address technical queries. Not just booth babes handing out shirts. The guy I talked to said he had never seen a 3200 made with a green PCB. He also gave me the contact info for an FBI agent who is investigating this phenomena. Later on, I asked a friend of mine who works at AMD about the green-vs-gold PCB issue. His co-workers were likewise skeptical of a 3200 mounted on a green PCB. So now I'm going to contact that FBI agent and see what he thinks.
I agree. I refused to see episode 2 after watching episode 1. Lucas is surrounded by Yes Men and has lost the artistic vision responsible for THX-1138 and Star Wars IV. None of his inner circle of assistants had the guts to tell him that Jar Jar Binks was a really stupid concept.
How appropriate that the first Star Wars movie worth a damn was called, "A New Hope." If you watch from Episode 1, I can see people saying, "A New Hope... hmm.. maybe there is reason to keep watching these movies. Up until now, it's been pure garbage."
I certainly won't buy a ticket to see episode 3.
CHill with the condescending tone. Your position is seriously weakened when you assume ignorance on the part of the person you are communicating with. Especially when you spell "purpose" when you really needed "propose" in your opening sentence.
I actually do know a little about indie music. In fact, I probably have exponentially more first-hand knowledge of how the independent music industry works than you do. Your generalization is pretty true. Most smaller bands on big labels make the lion's share of their money from touring-- that's door and merchandise. Primarily merch, though. Royalties from record sales are miniscule. The deal is, though, in order to pull off a good tour, the major label will usually do the booking. They'll usually help arrange for the fledgling artists to tag along on tour with their larger labelmates, thereby increasing exposure for the smaller band.
Don't jump to conclusions. I'm no fan of major labels or excessive profiteering by bands (i.e. Slayer charges no less than $25 for tour t-shirts that cost less than $5.00 to print). But I have friends who are on major labels and they are in a precarious position. This is their shot. If they make it, they won't have to get a straight job for the rest of their lives. They've gotten to where they are by making their music and the band their ONLY priority. When I asked one of them a few years ago, "What is your plan B?" He responded, "There is no plan B." He meant it with more seriousness than anything you can possibly imagine. They're popular. They're touring the world constantly. NME ranked their album two years ago as the 28th best album of the year. These guys aren't in a position to revolutionize the music industry. They're just looking to make music and pile up enough money while they're young so they don't have to dig ditches when they're old. By pirating their music, people are jeopardizing this goal for my friends.
Besides, your argument is fundamentally flawed. You're extrapolating a disagreement you have with how some corporations manage the IP they own and applying that disagreement to all recording artists. You're saying that since Warner Records sucks and exploits its artists, then you have the right to wholesale pirate any artist's work. Even if my friends weren't on a major label, I don't think it's the right of yours to say, "Hey, the music industry is backasswards. I'm going to just copy this music." Don't you think the artist deserves some input on the matter?
Besides, this discussion isn't about the RIAA. It's about software pirates. If you've ever worked for a software company and had a vested interest in the code you write, then you'd care that people are avoiding contributing to your paycheck by simply stealing your work. It's real easy to say, "Oh, that's a big corporation. Fuck them." Guess what. There are real humans who work at those corporations and pay their bills by the work they do for those companies. A lot of them are hanging by a string due to outsourcing to India and other impoverished nations. Stealing IP from these companies exacerbates the situation for the software coder hoping his job doesn't get sent overseas.
This is the most insightful comment I've seen in this discussion yet. Realistically, this is not like the drug issue. There are victims to ip theft. The govt. is charged with protecting those victims.
This article shows a prototype. It looks like the project is much further along than this theoretical flying fly-eater.
Why is this even being brought up? Sounds like this character just wants to ask unneccessary questions to draw attention to himself and his clever little scheme.
Next time you get a couple friends to go in on a 12 pack, why don't you post an 'Ask Slashdot' if you should be concerned about the local bar owners suing you for competing with them by selling liquor without a license? This is ridiculous. Just do it and be done with it.
Rusty,
I'm not trying to contradict you or be a smartass.
Ah, the good old days. How glad I am that I will never, ever have to live through them again.
Today is the good old days for tomorrow. Kinda sucks to think of all our current cool shit in that context, but back when it was the good old days, we thought our cool shit was as cool as we now think of our cool shit.
You seem to be a bit out of touch with the present.
I am fully aware that populations in the US and Europe are in decline. That does not mean, however, that the way people in those regions live their lives does not have an impact on quality of life on planet earth. Your perspective is one of futility. That there's no sense in modifying your behavior because of those people over there. I do not share this perspective with you.
The problems faced by our species are exacerbated by overpopulation. Our planet's resources are dwindling relative to the increasing demands placed on them. Nations are going to war over resources and will continue to wage war to secure future resources. With medical science thwarting virii and plagues, the normal population checks are failing to cull our population.
So yeah, you're right. Maybe we should voluntarily control our population growth for a better future instead of birthing 3 or 4 kids per family to then cart around in our Chevy Suburbans.
There are millions of already-born animals that are dieing to be adopted. Literally. I wish some of this research money would be spent on population control of pets (i.e. free spaying and neutering) so we wouldn't have to put so many unwanted pets to death.
Here's where you can find pet adoption info for the state of Texas. Google for your own region.
I agree with you. Mods are very attractive. But to do something really different or value-added than the original Half Life, a programmer needs to know a lot more about programming (C++ especially). I think the point here is that Blitz Basic is a bit more accessible to the common pedestrian.
But as a final analysis, is the common pedestrian likely to make something very dramatic? Probably not.
I just played GTA: SA last night for the first time. I'd say it's a significant evolution from Vice City. This game features a more linear story line and way more dialogue. It's more like playing a movie than GTA: Vice City. Additionally, it's got a lot more character development that makes it like the Sims (i.e. you have to eat or you get weak, and you have to exercise at the gym). Granted, it's not as big a difference as Doom 3 is from Doom 2, but it's also not just a revision like all the Madden NFL games and the 'cash machines' you cite.
I just wanted to post this message agreeing with all your observations.
Hey, those people can still read your blog. They just can't post comments to it. In the context of all the other shit they're prevented from doing because of blindness, it's not such a big deal.
I just checked Sixth street in Downtown Austin, TX at 1:30 am. The map indicates 'minor traffic'. Funny thing, that street is closed with barricades at this time of night on a weekend.
Here's the deal. Everyone rolls their own solution like rscrawford has. Some people embed their own hidden fields, which is a great idea. Some people code javascript on the client that forces a pause of 20 seconds before the value of a hidden field is embedded.
Obfuscation can really make the work of the spambot writers more expensive than it's worth. Then they'll move elsewhere.