"and stop allowing people like Bill O'Idiot of Fox News to have air time. People who lie that much do not belong on a regular cable channel on a show that claims to be fair and balanced"
I'm not a Bill O'Reilly fan, but real freedom means that you put up with stuff you don't like. There are hundreds of channels on cable & satellite TV; its okay to have a few on that I don't like or that I disagree strongly with.
Seems to me that AOL has sent Time/Warner into a half-decade tailspin.
If I were Microsoft, I'd tread very carefully. Its almost like the management crew over at MS still thinks AOL is the enemy and that they're somehow beating them by buying them.
If AOL were to do to MS what they did to Time/Warner, it would be a dictionary example of "irony".
Without search engines, the web would not be worth very much to the average person. Lets not forget that the W3C standards say opt-out and that is widely understood by anyone setting up a website. If you don't want to be indexed, its trivial to opt-out.
As to the Google book search tool, this is a terrific use of technology for the average person, its a terrific for authors because it gets people looking at their books, its good for bookstores because they sell more books, its good for google because they make money.
"and as the excerpts are shown around the search results what does it take to read the entire book by crafting search queries? not much I'd think"
Well yes. And you can infringe copyrights on songs by building a random note generator and have it craft one million songs. Probably most of those random tunes would infringe somebody's copyright.
Yet, most people wouldn't not consider this a trick to get around paying for a CD.
Lets be serious for a second; books in electronic form are useful on in specific instances (search being one of them). However, you can't beat the utility and ease of use of a printed book. It runs almost forever, its not a big deal if you lose it, you can loan it to your friends, you can sell it when you're done.
I doubt that any popular author is going to be affected by this much, and if they are, it will probably be in a positive way.
The reason copyright holders fear this is because they're convinced their "I.P." is worth more than it really is. In other words, the large publishing houses think they can set up their own searches and charge money for it. Now, you and I know this isn't true and misses the point.
Then again, I think they're just trying to shake down google for a few bucks with a lawsuit, but I guess that's the American way these days. These authors would probably be better off writing another book and stop worrying about their books being indexed by Google.
Since the chips are compatible for software, if AMD comes out with better chips next year or the year after, its not a big deal for Apple to switch to AMD.
I have a feeling the Xbox launch will be like the PSP... lots of hype, some fanatics buying $500-600 bundles, and the truth was that they struggled on the shelves that first day.
The only thing the new xbox seems to promise is more expensive games, and like the PSP, no games that are "must haves".
I think the XBox mkII and PS3 are in trouble before they start. Is "more polygons" the reason to throw out your game library and start again?
"Now, do you expect the average person to be able to be able judge whether MS's actions were correct ?"
I expect the average person can give their opinion publically and without fear of lawsuit about how they perceive the effectiveness of MS's actions.
When some columnist with a degree in journalism and a laptop tells us what is wrong with Windows, no one ever says "but how can you tell if it really is that bad! You're not a professional IT person!"
When we watch football on Sunday, are we not allowed to comment on the coach's decisions because we aren't trained football professionals? When its 3rd and 3, and the coach calls for the long pass and it falls incomplete, does the PA announcer come on and say "folks, its not for you to judge, you aren't trained professionals who understand all the nuances of that call".
Seems we can argue this point all day long, but you can't get away from the idea that people should be able to give their opinions about doctors the way we give opinions about any good or service the way it is done on Amazon or anyplace else on the internet. Doctors are providing a service to customers that should be open for discussion in the court of public opinion. I don't see why you think what doctors do as any more complex as hundreds of other occupations.
"Only a board of specialists can determine whether a particular doctor's actions, judgements are correct, done in good faith and do not amount to gross negligence and incompetence"
You can't be serious.
Imagine if Microsoft said "You can't make any kind of competent review or criticism of our products because you need to be a data processing profession to determine if our judgements were correct and don't amount to gross negligence and incomptence".
You'd laugh out loud!
A doctor provides a service like any other professional and is entitled to the same amount of respect that I would give a lawyer, plumber, programmer or musician.
Just going to school for a long time and passing a test doesn't give anyone special insight or immunity from public critism.
This won't work if they require an internet connection. While most people probably have some ability to connect to the internet, physically it will be difficult to impose this on a device.
It seems to me more likely Sony will approach this they way they have with the PSP, with the UMD disks containing firmware or firmware checks that could disable players.
In otherwords, when you get Kill Bill version 4, it may have a checksum in the disk and either update it or disable the player.
"I'll ditch Verizon in a heartbeat. And I'll send them a letter telling them how much I resent their effort to control what kind of tecnology they'll allow on their network."
That's an aspect of Verizon's behavior that is regrettable. At the same time, they do offer some things that I really care about in a phone:
1) Their national coverage is outstanding. 2) The customer service people are actually helpful. 3) They allow you to use data essentially "for free" on their network (60-120K, depending on area).
Really, a phone is a phone, and in my view, the fact that I can't get an ipod built into my phone pales in comparison to being able to get a signal pretty much anywhere.
Yes, what they did with bluetooth is dumb, but all the cellular carriers treat their customers like sheep, so I'm not surprised.
What you're saying would be okay for a private business.
But the public library is funded by taxpayers and has an obligation to serve the interests of the general taxpayer.
It seems to me this was chosen for the convenience of the library and not for the taxpayers who have overwhelmingly chosen the iPod.
As for your comment that "DRM is needed to not break the law", I've never heard that before! In fact, I borrrow books on tape, music CD's, and all sorts of stuff from my local library and none of them has DRM. So perhaps you're mistaken about DRM mandated by law?
...is not the DRM itself (which is silly), but the fact that libraries are choosing sides and essentially forcing their clients to use an MS platform to use library material.
We can argue that MS is the leading platform for personal computers, but since most people don't listen to audio books at their computers, this seems a poor choice not only for technology's sake, but for their patrons who overwhelmingly will have iPods.
The only real "winner" I see here is MS who gets to lock in libraries with their technology.
Seriously. Life isn't all about protecting corporations from the humans that make up the corporations.
If you have an employee that knows so much about your business, then I think we need to to do one of two things:
1) As a society say "oh well, too bad for the company"
2) Or have the company pay the person to essentially sit out from working.
I personally favor #1, because any other way essentially gives a corporation veto power over peoples lives just because of the knowledge that's in their heads. Plus as a society, I think we're better off with knowledge cross-pollination. It forces companies to invest in new ideas to compete instead of just waiting on legislative and judicial fiat to protect their margins.
Corporations exist to benefit people, not vice-versa.
...is that while we're squandering our resources tracking and prosecuting Buffy downloading the latest Brittany album, the Chinese are making off with our state secrets.
Well, if we lose the next infowar to China, at least we'll be sure the RIAA gets everything they have coming to them.
"However, it is very easy for people to buy music from a different store than iTMS."
Easy in a the sense that they would have to get rid of their iPod and stop using iTunes.
Perhaps people now understand the lock-in that Apple has achieved? I think they've done a great job of execution, and I can't fault Apple. But people using iPod with iTMS are locked in to Apple. They cannot leave.
"Outside the media drumbeaters, even the leading evolutionist experts agree that life has the appearance of design."
Can you name the leading evolutionary experts and can you give me a link? What your saying is interesting and bears further study. I'm hoping that you can send me links to the leading evolutionary experts agreeing in the manner you describe.
"How many times have you been completely and utterly insulted by children who know there's nothing you can do about it. "
I think you're presented a false set of choice here. The choice isn't "accept lack of respect" or "send them to jail"
Generally, if the administration is in a position where it feels that it can't control the children properly, it's the adults fault. Lets face it; Kutztown isn't exactly "The Blackboard Jungle". These are basically middle class kids who will do either the right thing or wrong thing depending on the situation. Honestly, if you taped the admin password to a laptop you loaned me, I might use it.
Ineffective leadership and ineffective parenting usually happens when parents/leaders lead by refusing to have small consequences and as a result are forced to have large consequences when things finally become unmanageable.
This is a perfect case. When it was discovered the kids had compromised the laptops as a result of the password written on top, the administrators might have (a) Punished the children in a small way... perhaps detention...perhaps removal from all extracuricular activities... parents should have been notified (b) the administration should have reimaged the laptops and changed all the passwords. (c) Warn the children that next time, they would have their laptops taken away and that their parents would be liable for the cost of reimaging all the laptops once again. Put all this in writing and have the parents of the children acknowledge this.
And here's really the key... you have to follow through on every "threat". That is, when it was discovered they'd hacked the laptops again, take their laptops away and send a bill for the cost of reimaging to the parents.
I'm telling you, these administrators almost sound like they heard the phrase "computer hacker" and it frightened them so much they felt they had to teach the kids a lesson.
Slashdot Mirror
It's called:
"Verizon Wireless".
"and stop allowing people like Bill O'Idiot of Fox News to have air time. People who lie that much do not belong on a regular cable channel on a show that claims to be fair and balanced"
I'm not a Bill O'Reilly fan, but real freedom means that you put up with stuff you don't like. There are hundreds of channels on cable & satellite TV; its okay to have a few on that I don't like or that I disagree strongly with.
Seems to me that AOL has sent Time/Warner into a half-decade tailspin.
If I were Microsoft, I'd tread very carefully. Its almost like the management crew over at MS still thinks AOL is the enemy and that they're somehow beating them by buying them.
If AOL were to do to MS what they did to Time/Warner, it would be a dictionary example of "irony".
Without search engines, the web would not be worth very much to the average person. Lets not forget that the W3C standards say opt-out and that is widely understood by anyone setting up a website. If you don't want to be indexed, its trivial to opt-out.
As to the Google book search tool, this is a terrific use of technology for the average person, its a terrific for authors because it gets people looking at their books, its good for bookstores because they sell more books, its good for google because they make money.
"and as the excerpts are shown around the search results what does it take to read the entire book by crafting search queries? not much I'd think"
Well yes. And you can infringe copyrights on songs by building a random note generator and have it craft one million songs. Probably most of those random tunes would infringe somebody's copyright.
Yet, most people wouldn't not consider this a trick to get around paying for a CD.
Lets be serious for a second; books in electronic form are useful on in specific instances (search being one of them). However, you can't beat the utility and ease of use of a printed book. It runs almost forever, its not a big deal if you lose it, you can loan it to your friends, you can sell it when you're done.
I doubt that any popular author is going to be affected by this much, and if they are, it will probably be in a positive way.
The reason copyright holders fear this is because they're convinced their "I.P." is worth more than it really is. In other words, the large publishing houses think they can set up their own searches and charge money for it. Now, you and I know this isn't true and misses the point.
Then again, I think they're just trying to shake down google for a few bucks with a lawsuit, but I guess that's the American way these days. These authors would probably be better off writing another book and stop worrying about their books being indexed by Google.
Syncing without plugging in cables would be appreciated. That's my prediction for the next incremental improvement in the full-sized iPod.
Since the chips are compatible for software, if AMD comes out with better chips next year or the year after, its not a big deal for Apple to switch to AMD.
I have a feeling the Xbox launch will be like the PSP... lots of hype, some fanatics buying $500-600 bundles, and the truth was that they struggled on the shelves that first day.
The only thing the new xbox seems to promise is more expensive games, and like the PSP, no games that are "must haves".
I think the XBox mkII and PS3 are in trouble before they start. Is "more polygons" the reason to throw out your game library and start again?
"Now, do you expect the average person to be able to be able judge whether MS's actions were correct ?"
I expect the average person can give their opinion publically and without fear of lawsuit about how they perceive the effectiveness of MS's actions.
When some columnist with a degree in journalism and a laptop tells us what is wrong with Windows, no one ever says "but how can you tell if it really is that bad! You're not a professional IT person!"
When we watch football on Sunday, are we not allowed to comment on the coach's decisions because we aren't trained football professionals? When its 3rd and 3, and the coach calls for the long pass and it falls incomplete, does the PA announcer come on and say "folks, its not for you to judge, you aren't trained professionals who understand all the nuances of that call".
Seems we can argue this point all day long, but you can't get away from the idea that people should be able to give their opinions about doctors the way we give opinions about any good or service the way it is done on Amazon or anyplace else on the internet. Doctors are providing a service to customers that should be open for discussion in the court of public opinion. I don't see why you think what doctors do as any more complex as hundreds of other occupations.
Let's use my example of MS again.
They gave us IE.
It had bugs, so they patched it.
It had more bugs so they patched it.
It had even more bugs so they patched it some more.
Now they patch it about once a month.
Is a layman able to say "Gee, that must be bad code", or is it a case of where this would happen to any browser?
Can you or I judge? Or is it a case of only peer reviewed code by another computer professional is the only fair way to judge?
It's the same question in either case: doctors are seem unwilling to have their performance judged by their customers.
"Only a board of specialists can determine whether a particular doctor's actions, judgements are correct, done in good faith and do not amount to gross negligence and incompetence"
You can't be serious.
Imagine if Microsoft said "You can't make any kind of competent review or criticism of our products because you need to be a data processing profession to determine if our judgements were correct and don't amount to gross negligence and incomptence".
You'd laugh out loud!
A doctor provides a service like any other professional and is entitled to the same amount of respect that I would give a lawyer, plumber, programmer or musician.
Just going to school for a long time and passing a test doesn't give anyone special insight or immunity from public critism.
I've been doing this for almost a year.
;-)
This phone is crippled in it's OBX implementation, but it works fine as a BT modem, and for once, Verizon has made something pretty consumer friendly.
Maybe it was a mistake
I used FWTK in a very large corporation in the late nineties as mail gateways, and they were very nice for the time.
Plus, the source was included, so I was able to write my own "anti-spam" code to hook into FWTK long before it became an issue for most people.
Personally, it made me aware of the value of free software, and so I can cut the guy a lot of slack.
This won't work if they require an internet connection. While most people probably have some ability to connect to the internet, physically it will be difficult to impose this on a device.
It seems to me more likely Sony will approach this they way they have with the PSP, with the UMD disks containing firmware or firmware checks that could disable players.
In otherwords, when you get Kill Bill version 4, it may have a checksum in the disk and either update it or disable the player.
"The latter even implies piracy gives terrorists more money than drug sales!"
Which doesn't make sense.
They're claiming that by releasing these movies to BT for "free", that terrorist groups are making money.
How does that work?
It seems they "allege" a lot of things, but never actually explain them. Which makes me think most of what they're saying is BS.
"I'll ditch Verizon in a heartbeat. And I'll send them a letter telling them how much I resent their effort to control what kind of tecnology they'll allow on their network."
That's an aspect of Verizon's behavior that is regrettable. At the same time, they do offer some things that I really care about in a phone:
1) Their national coverage is outstanding.
2) The customer service people are actually helpful.
3) They allow you to use data essentially "for free" on their network (60-120K, depending on area).
Really, a phone is a phone, and in my view, the fact that I can't get an ipod built into my phone pales in comparison to being able to get a signal pretty much anywhere.
Yes, what they did with bluetooth is dumb, but all the cellular carriers treat their customers like sheep, so I'm not surprised.
What you're saying would be okay for a private business.
But the public library is funded by taxpayers and has an obligation to serve the interests of the general taxpayer.
It seems to me this was chosen for the convenience of the library and not for the taxpayers who have overwhelmingly chosen the iPod.
As for your comment that "DRM is needed to not break the law", I've never heard that before! In fact, I borrrow books on tape, music CD's, and all sorts of stuff from my local library and none of them has DRM. So perhaps you're mistaken about DRM mandated by law?
...is not the DRM itself (which is silly), but the fact that libraries are choosing sides and essentially forcing their clients to use an MS platform to use library material.
We can argue that MS is the leading platform for personal computers, but since most people don't listen to audio books at their computers, this seems a poor choice not only for technology's sake, but for their patrons who overwhelmingly will have iPods.
The only real "winner" I see here is MS who gets to lock in libraries with their technology.
...that's the breaks, too bad.
Seriously. Life isn't all about protecting corporations from the humans that make up the corporations.
If you have an employee that knows so much about your business, then I think we need to to do one of two things:
1) As a society say "oh well, too bad for the company"
2) Or have the company pay the person to essentially sit out from working.
I personally favor #1, because any other way essentially gives a corporation veto power over peoples lives just because of the knowledge that's in their heads. Plus as a society, I think we're better off with knowledge cross-pollination. It forces companies to invest in new ideas to compete instead of just waiting on legislative and judicial fiat to protect their margins.
Corporations exist to benefit people, not vice-versa.
...is that while we're squandering our resources tracking and prosecuting Buffy downloading the latest Brittany album, the Chinese are making off with our state secrets.
Well, if we lose the next infowar to China, at least we'll be sure the RIAA gets everything they have coming to them.
"However, it is very easy for people to buy music from a different store than iTMS."
Easy in a the sense that they would have to get rid of their iPod and stop using iTunes.
Perhaps people now understand the lock-in that Apple has achieved? I think they've done a great job of execution, and I can't fault Apple. But people using iPod with iTMS are locked in to Apple. They cannot leave.
If you look at B&N (as suggested in the review), they have none for sale.
Amazon has one used book for sale.
Are they actually for sale anywhere?
I think its weird that Trillian only works with the Jabber plugin if you use the "pro" (i.e. PAID-FOR) edition.
I don't fault the developer, but you have to admit that its a *weird* restriction.
Maybe I'll try Miranda.
"Outside the media drumbeaters, even the leading evolutionist experts agree that life has the appearance of design."
Can you name the leading evolutionary experts and can you give me a link? What your saying is interesting and bears further study. I'm hoping that you can send me links to the leading evolutionary experts agreeing in the manner you describe.
"How many times have you been completely and utterly insulted by children who know there's nothing you can do about it. "
I think you're presented a false set of choice here. The choice isn't "accept lack of respect" or "send them to jail"
Generally, if the administration is in a position where it feels that it can't control the children properly, it's the adults fault. Lets face it; Kutztown isn't exactly "The Blackboard Jungle". These are basically middle class kids who will do either the right thing or wrong thing depending on the situation. Honestly, if you taped the admin password to a laptop you loaned me, I might use it.
Ineffective leadership and ineffective parenting usually happens when parents/leaders lead by refusing to have small consequences and as a result are forced to have large consequences when things finally become unmanageable.
This is a perfect case. When it was discovered the kids had compromised the laptops as a result of the password written on top, the administrators might have (a) Punished the children in a small way... perhaps detention...perhaps removal from all extracuricular activities... parents should have been notified (b) the administration should have reimaged the laptops and changed all the passwords. (c) Warn the children that next time, they would have their laptops taken away and that their parents would be liable for the cost of reimaging all the laptops once again. Put all this in writing and have the parents of the children acknowledge this.
And here's really the key... you have to follow through on every "threat". That is, when it was discovered they'd hacked the laptops again, take their laptops away and send a bill for the cost of reimaging to the parents.
I'm telling you, these administrators almost sound like they heard the phrase "computer hacker" and it frightened them so much they felt they had to teach the kids a lesson.