I don't know or care how anyone else would use it but if I could buy only the channels I want I would have cable TV right now INSTEAD of using an antenna. The few cable channels that I want are worth paying for but I am not paying for every cable channel there is. It just isn't worth it. I wouldn't buy many channels because I don't want much but my bill would be some amount greater than the $0 it is right now.
Let me get this straight... They grabbed a bunch of BofA customers and convinced them to do routine banking functions using their bank accounts IN FRONT OF STRANGERS and you really expect them to be concerned about security? They already gave up any chance at being secured when they agreed to participate.
This is like asking if you can study someones ATM usage by looking over their shoulder and then telling them they failed because you now know their PIN number.
If you are a content provider DO NOT pay this extortion. Instead you should refuse to service BellSouth customers at all. Put up a simple web page explaining the situation and asking BellSouth customers to call up their suppor number and complain. Then redirect all BellSouth IPs to that page.
If BellSouth is not seriously spanked by their customer base all of the ISPs will be doing this within a year.
Lets face it. All hard drives will fail eventually. Many hard drives will fail before their warranty ends. If you work in a large company with hundreds of mirrored hard drives you can expect almost weekly disk failures. Because of that I select my hard drives mainly based on how easy it is to get a replacement when one dies. Maxtor is MUCH better than Seagate in that category.
Here is my order of preference and why: 1. WDC - pretty simple and fast RMA procedure 2. Maxtor - Was #1 but now they have a policy where you can only put 1 RMA on a credit card so if I have 3 advanced RMAs out (unfortunately not uncommon) I have to use 3 different credit cards. Almost stayed #1 though because in my experience Maxtor drives tend to give the most warning that they are about to fail. 3. IBM/Hitachi - Doesn't do advanced RMA at all. They do ship pretty fast but I still want an advanced RMA. 4. Seagate - Horrible RMA procedure. First you fill out the web form which requires and checks for IE or Netscape (not moz of firefox). Then you have to call with your RMA number to ask that it be changed to an advanced RMA. Then you find out that they CHARGE $24.95 for people who want fast replacements. I currently have hundreds of Quantum/Maxtor drives in use and RMA them all the time. I really don't want to have to deal with Seagate on them. 5. Samsung - I haven't actually tried to RMA one of these. In fact I don't believe I have ever even seen one. I may have to try one now. Anyone try to get an advanced RMA on one yet?
I have a 40GB iPod and a Sony NX70V Clie PDA. The iPod is a much better mp3 player than the Clie ever could be because the interface was designed for it. I have never even bothered to attempt to play an mp3 file on my Clie.
Actually, I started to once but then read that it only plays mp3 files if they are stored on a special memory stick that has DRM built into it and costs 2x more.
I am perfectly happy ignoring the fact that the headphone jack on my PDA even exists.
I love the idea of ebooks that I can read on my Palm. I have read several plain text books this way in the past and would be willing to buy these instead of the real books which I buy tons of.
However, I will not purchase an ebook that has any form of DRM in it. I don't care how relaxed the restrictions are I just will not give my money to someone that supports DRM.
So we are supposed to think they are the good guys because they opened up (slightly) patents on things they never should have applied for anyways (like "graphical display of data").
If they want me to consider them to be the good guys they will have to relinquish all such ridiculous pattents.
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I want my quatloos!
I don't know or care how anyone else would use it but if I could buy only the channels I want I would have cable TV right now INSTEAD of using an antenna. The few cable channels that I want are worth paying for but I am not paying for every cable channel there is. It just isn't worth it. I wouldn't buy many channels because I don't want much but my bill would be some amount greater than the $0 it is right now.
Let me get this straight...
They grabbed a bunch of BofA customers and convinced them to do routine banking functions using their bank accounts IN FRONT OF STRANGERS and you really expect them to be concerned about security? They already gave up any chance at being secured when they agreed to participate.
This is like asking if you can study someones ATM usage by looking over their shoulder and then telling them they failed because you now know their PIN number.
Or maybe some smart person at Netscape decided to teach some people a lesson about using a 3rd party as a single point of failure?
...in Linux
I have a Linux server to store all my media. It has grown to over 2TB of storage over the years.
I have a Linux desktop with outputs to my TV and my stereo system to play it all.
I even have a Linux server running Asterisk for my home phone.
Total software cost: $10 (for the Asterisk G729 codec)
The game that never was that I want most is Full Throttle 2. I loved the original was very impatiently awaiting the sequel when Lucas Film killed it :(
If you are a content provider DO NOT pay this extortion. Instead you should refuse to service BellSouth customers at all. Put up a simple web page explaining the situation and asking BellSouth customers to call up their suppor number and complain. Then redirect all BellSouth IPs to that page.
If BellSouth is not seriously spanked by their customer base all of the ISPs will be doing this within a year.
They generally just believe you if you say that the drive doesn't spin up at all.
I always keep this CD around as it can boot any of the HD diag programs without any silly floppies: http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/
Lets face it. All hard drives will fail eventually. Many hard drives will fail before their warranty ends. If you work in a large company with hundreds of mirrored hard drives you can expect almost weekly disk failures. Because of that I select my hard drives mainly based on how easy it is to get a replacement when one dies. Maxtor is MUCH better than Seagate in that category.
Here is my order of preference and why:
1. WDC - pretty simple and fast RMA procedure
2. Maxtor - Was #1 but now they have a policy where you can only put 1 RMA on a credit card so if I have 3 advanced RMAs out (unfortunately not uncommon) I have to use 3 different credit cards. Almost stayed #1 though because in my experience Maxtor drives tend to give the most warning that they are about to fail.
3. IBM/Hitachi - Doesn't do advanced RMA at all. They do ship pretty fast but I still want an advanced RMA.
4. Seagate - Horrible RMA procedure. First you fill out the web form which requires and checks for IE or Netscape (not moz of firefox). Then you have to call with your RMA number to ask that it be changed to an advanced RMA. Then you find out that they CHARGE $24.95 for people who want fast replacements. I currently have hundreds of Quantum/Maxtor drives in use and RMA them all the time. I really don't want to have to deal with Seagate on them.
5. Samsung - I haven't actually tried to RMA one of these. In fact I don't believe I have ever even seen one. I may have to try one now. Anyone try to get an advanced RMA on one yet?
I have a 40GB iPod and a Sony NX70V Clie PDA. The iPod is a much better mp3 player than the Clie ever could be because the interface was designed for it. I have never even bothered to attempt to play an mp3 file on my Clie.
Actually, I started to once but then read that it only plays mp3 files if they are stored on a special memory stick that has DRM built into it and costs 2x more.
I am perfectly happy ignoring the fact that the headphone jack on my PDA even exists.
I love the idea of ebooks that I can read on my Palm. I have read several plain text books this way in the past and would be willing to buy these instead of the real books which I buy tons of.
However, I will not purchase an ebook that has any form of DRM in it. I don't care how relaxed the restrictions are I just will not give my money to someone that supports DRM.
That really sucks. Full Throttle was one of my all time favorite games. I even have the soundtrack CD from The Gone Jackals.
Any chance they can pick up Full Throttle too? It also had a sequel that was cancled and is my favorite of the old scumm games.
So we are supposed to think they are the good guys because they opened up (slightly) patents on things they never should have applied for anyways (like "graphical display of data").
If they want me to consider them to be the good guys they will have to relinquish all such ridiculous pattents.