DirecTV offers TiVo, so they have some of the best set top boxes out there compared to generic cable companies. The satellite tv providers are even more scared of Hollywood than the bigger/richer cable companies, and Hollywood is who doesn't want to see a proliferation of unrestricted set top boxes.
I don't think the rentals are a massive revenue stream. But the cable companies are set in their ways. Their own set top boxes are only provided because of customer demand and I suspect they'd rather not be in that business at all. They typically seem to have gone the route of getting the cheapest junk they can have rather than pay any patent fees to TiVo, although a few have partnered with TiVo as an alternative (ie, AT&T with DirecTV).
The biggest concerns of the cable companies and such are with authentication. They're extremely concerned that someone somewhere might watch a program that they shouldn't, or be able to record HD quality video without DRM. More accurately though, what they're really scared of is Hollywood smashing their nuts with two bricks so they've taken on the enforcement role on behalf of content providers. It's probably the most important reason that they're wary of third party set top boxes.
Sort of the thing with their U-Verse which uses VSDL. However after checking just now, it appears that the AT&T supplied router (TwoWire crap) is required if you use U-Verse television. If you only use U-Verse for internet or internet+VoIP you can use a third party VSDL modem. But AT&T isn't going to provide you any help in getting it to work... I don't know if the third party modem would actually help with performance though, it's only useful I think if you need better routing/wifi capabilities (the TwoWire doesn't support 5GHz, 802.11N, etc).
Despite being a crappy modem it was good enough when all I used was one ethernet a basic wifi for my mobile phone where even 802.11b was good enough. But when I wanted a TV+Roku and didn't want to rewrire the condo I wanted better. So I got a third party router to sit behind the modem, and the modem was put into pass-through/DMZ mode and that worked well (worked even better once I put TomatoUSB firmware on it). So that's an alternative, keep the modem as just a WAN connection then add a third party router for your LAN/WIFI; it's annoying to have two powered devices where only one should be able to suffice though.
I have a coworker with a Microsoft phone (Nokia brandeD), and he loves it. We can laugh but when looking at it I can see that it really is a nice phone, the interface that made everyone laugh at Windows 8 is very useful on a phone. The live tiles is a good idea on a phone, a cross between boring plain iPhone icons and Android widgets. The real drawback is the relatively few apps, but you really don't need that many on a phone beyond the built in ones.
It depends maybe if the software that's unwanted causes noticeable loss in performance, has unwanted side effects or causes other programs to stop working, etc. The software update may cause more damage than real malware, then the only real difference is intentional versus unintentional harm to your computer.
Wu-Tang Clan claim there is no physical or digital duplicate. The point was to do "art". They did perform a medley of some of the pieces in several places before selling the copy.
It's a weird story, but nothing really nerd related. At. All. This is actually a TMZ story, not normally a feed for Slashdot... The only thing of interest, which was not even mentioned, is that apparently Shkreli is out on bail and still acting like a self-entitled dick.
He bought a hip-hop album of which there is only one copy, ever. Then some of that money was donated to charity when Shkreli was arrested. Then one of the members of the hip-hop group said something bad about Shkreli's nose. The Shkreli, thinking that he's a hardcore gangsta fires back with a strange video threatening to remove the rapper's voice from the rare album.
You can sort of practice without the licence. In DC you could not appear before any courts there, but you might still be able to provide legal advice depending up on the rules in DC. You can also practice law and appear before the courts in Virginia and Maryland, so it's not a career killer and he wouldn't have to relocate though it's certainly a step back.
However the executive branch under Obama also publically announced it would not charge Tamm with any crime. They could have done this without an announcement if they just wanted the headache to go away; though maybe cynically you could say they felt the need to show a change in attitude after Snowden's revelations.
This is being done by the DC bar association, which is not a part of the government. The president already pardoned Tamm.
Sheesh, I know it's a joke that Slashdot doesn't read the articles or even the summaries, but it is just that, a *joke*. Please try to read more than the headline.
This has nothing to do with any criminal court case. He's facing a disciplinary review by a legal bar association, a private entity. He can't be pardoned for that by anyone in any government, the private entity can kick him out of their club if they want. He was already pardoned for the original revelations. So the worst that happens is that he can't easily practice law in DC. Not a complete career killer but it's definately painful. To the private entity, protecting your clients is more important than morals, ethics, or even the law.
I watched it live. But I normally wouldn't have as it was very early in the morning (PST) and I normally didn't watch TV in the morning anyway. But my roommate had his girlfriend over and I was sleeping on the couch. Found it hard to sleep so I sat up and turned on the TV. Then I thought "oh ya, today is the space shuttle launch" and the launch was just starting or starting soon.
(Memory being what it is, fluid and unreliable and definitely not photographic, there's probably something wrong with the story, perhaps I had tuned in to see a replay of the explosion)
Slashdot Mirror
DirecTV offers TiVo, so they have some of the best set top boxes out there compared to generic cable companies. The satellite tv providers are even more scared of Hollywood than the bigger/richer cable companies, and Hollywood is who doesn't want to see a proliferation of unrestricted set top boxes.
I don't think the rentals are a massive revenue stream. But the cable companies are set in their ways. Their own set top boxes are only provided because of customer demand and I suspect they'd rather not be in that business at all. They typically seem to have gone the route of getting the cheapest junk they can have rather than pay any patent fees to TiVo, although a few have partnered with TiVo as an alternative (ie, AT&T with DirecTV).
The biggest concerns of the cable companies and such are with authentication. They're extremely concerned that someone somewhere might watch a program that they shouldn't, or be able to record HD quality video without DRM. More accurately though, what they're really scared of is Hollywood smashing their nuts with two bricks so they've taken on the enforcement role on behalf of content providers. It's probably the most important reason that they're wary of third party set top boxes.
Sort of the thing with their U-Verse which uses VSDL. However after checking just now, it appears that the AT&T supplied router (TwoWire crap) is required if you use U-Verse television. If you only use U-Verse for internet or internet+VoIP you can use a third party VSDL modem. But AT&T isn't going to provide you any help in getting it to work... I don't know if the third party modem would actually help with performance though, it's only useful I think if you need better routing/wifi capabilities (the TwoWire doesn't support 5GHz, 802.11N, etc).
Despite being a crappy modem it was good enough when all I used was one ethernet a basic wifi for my mobile phone where even 802.11b was good enough. But when I wanted a TV+Roku and didn't want to rewrire the condo I wanted better. So I got a third party router to sit behind the modem, and the modem was put into pass-through/DMZ mode and that worked well (worked even better once I put TomatoUSB firmware on it). So that's an alternative, keep the modem as just a WAN connection then add a third party router for your LAN/WIFI; it's annoying to have two powered devices where only one should be able to suffice though.
Nonsense. They'd have to hire engineers to do that since they laid off the last one two decades ago.
And the blades spin as fast as Trump's PR team.
I think all of slashdot agrees with this statement.
If Icahn gives me a seat I promise to vote the way he tells me. Until I'm tired of being on the board in which case I'll vote my conscience.
Possibly true, however the mistake was made by the submitter. Should the editor be allowed to fix spelling errors in the submission, or insert [sic]?
I have a coworker with a Microsoft phone (Nokia brandeD), and he loves it. We can laugh but when looking at it I can see that it really is a nice phone, the interface that made everyone laugh at Windows 8 is very useful on a phone. The live tiles is a good idea on a phone, a cross between boring plain iPhone icons and Android widgets. The real drawback is the relatively few apps, but you really don't need that many on a phone beyond the built in ones.
I hate working at places that insist on group calisthenics.
Feels like it was only yesterday. Such is nostalgia.
You can tell the difference. One smells like rotten meat and the other smells like rotten eggs.
I for one, would like to welcome our new Putin Jugend overlords.
It depends maybe if the software that's unwanted causes noticeable loss in performance, has unwanted side effects or causes other programs to stop working, etc. The software update may cause more damage than real malware, then the only real difference is intentional versus unintentional harm to your computer.
Wu-Tang Clan claim there is no physical or digital duplicate. The point was to do "art". They did perform a medley of some of the pieces in several places before selling the copy.
Slashdot is that way -->
You accidentally logged into Lifestyles of the Rich and Dickish.
Brain and brain! What is brain?
It's a weird story, but nothing really nerd related. At. All. This is actually a TMZ story, not normally a feed for Slashdot...
The only thing of interest, which was not even mentioned, is that apparently Shkreli is out on bail and still acting like a self-entitled dick.
He bought a hip-hop album of which there is only one copy, ever. Then some of that money was donated to charity when Shkreli was arrested. Then one of the members of the hip-hop group said something bad about Shkreli's nose. The Shkreli, thinking that he's a hardcore gangsta fires back with a strange video threatening to remove the rapper's voice from the rare album.
You can sort of practice without the licence. In DC you could not appear before any courts there, but you might still be able to provide legal advice depending up on the rules in DC. You can also practice law and appear before the courts in Virginia and Maryland, so it's not a career killer and he wouldn't have to relocate though it's certainly a step back.
However the executive branch under Obama also publically announced it would not charge Tamm with any crime. They could have done this without an announcement if they just wanted the headache to go away; though maybe cynically you could say they felt the need to show a change in attitude after Snowden's revelations.
(sorry, I'm half moron, there was no pardon, because the government never even brought charges or prosecuted)
Sorry.. He wasn't pardoned, however the government declined to bring charges.
This is being done by the DC bar association, which is not a part of the government. The president already pardoned Tamm.
Sheesh, I know it's a joke that Slashdot doesn't read the articles or even the summaries, but it is just that, a *joke*. Please try to read more than the headline.
This has nothing to do with any criminal court case. He's facing a disciplinary review by a legal bar association, a private entity. He can't be pardoned for that by anyone in any government, the private entity can kick him out of their club if they want. He was already pardoned for the original revelations. So the worst that happens is that he can't easily practice law in DC. Not a complete career killer but it's definately painful. To the private entity, protecting your clients is more important than morals, ethics, or even the law.
I watched it live. But I normally wouldn't have as it was very early in the morning (PST) and I normally didn't watch TV in the morning anyway. But my roommate had his girlfriend over and I was sleeping on the couch. Found it hard to sleep so I sat up and turned on the TV. Then I thought "oh ya, today is the space shuttle launch" and the launch was just starting or starting soon.
(Memory being what it is, fluid and unreliable and definitely not photographic, there's probably something wrong with the story, perhaps I had tuned in to see a replay of the explosion)