But his point still stands- I'm sure the OP is all excited to replace his PC with a PS3... but for what? If not, Office then Open Office- which sucks up just as much RAM. Add Firefox with a bunch tabs, and you're using another 50-100 MB. So, you might retort that he can just run LaTeX + Emacs- but if you're going to do that, why not just use the PC?
Yeah, shitty and all... but $10 of 'credit' to buy cars at $0.50 each and tracks at $2-5 each would be better than getting none of either. At least you could get a track or three and a few cars.
But still, this is pretty evil. I don't mean the model in general, but the way it sounds like they are implementing it.
Apple's iTunes play for sure everywhere? Like, on Linux, too? BeOS? FreeBSD? PalmOS? Symbian? (Without resorting to breaking the DMCA, of course).
You can interpret the PlaysForSure thing as you like, but I don't interpret it to mean that it will play on all software and device platforms. That is simply impractical, at least with any sort of DRM, and even when it comes to even non-DRM'd formats. The reason that Apple could be considered to be playing for sure is that when Apple releases a new iPod, a new version of iTunes or OS X, or a new Mac it doesn't break compatibility with old versions of their DRM.
It's not like one day Apple released a new iPod and with it the New iTunes Media Shoppe, connected at the hip (like previous iTunes+iPod product-complexes). Except, music purchased on the NiMS couldn't be used on older iPods and the new iPod couldn't play the music from the old iTMS. Apple's iPod and store model is far from perfect, but they haven't pulled that kind of stunt- MS has.
I just wonder: what the hell? What about PlaysForSure "doesn't work" for him? What about supporting PlaysForSure would sully the "Zune experience?" Not having to make your customers buy all their music a second time? I guess you couldn't make them buy it from the Zune store twice without people laughing at you.
I'm serious- how would having support for PFS in the Zune firmware do anything negative to the Zune "experience," brand, etc? I could see MS not pushing the PFS-based stores, instead focusing on their own store, but still playing music already purchased.
Man, what morons. Or what evil. I'm not sure which.
Well, Smalltalk doesn't have the hype- and at its age, it never will regain it. But, it does have a lot of the same library support than Ruby and Python have- Smalltalk isn't just used by some AI researchers. I imagine that the Squeak community is comparable to the Ruby community, and both are smaller than the Python and Perl communities. Smalltalk is quite useful outside acedemic settings- with the web toolkit Seaside and either support for an RDBMS like MySQL or PostgreSQL or an object database like Magma or GOODS, it had a lot of the features of Ruby on Rails before Rails was a twinkle in some Ruby coder's eye.
I'm not saying that Smalltalk is on the fast track to taking over the world, but there is a lot of misconception floating around... it isn't just some language for acdemics and has a lot in the way of practical application. Lots of libraries- native widget support through wxWidgets, database support, etc.
Bleh. I browse the web a lot from my WinMobile phone- with a resolution of 320x240. it isn't as nice as browsing from other devices I've had in the past with resolutions of 640x240, VGA, or 800x480- but it is FAR from worthless. As long as you've got a browser than can handle it- and Opera can. Even IE on Windows Mobile does a tolerable job, and when it doesn't, Opera usually has no problem.
You can do a really realistic rendition of Hamburger Lady by TG (that is your namesake, yes?) by singing hamburger lady... and doing some stuff with your hands in front of your mouth. It is hard to describe, but the pay off is to the MAX when you figure it out.
Like you said- Jesus was totally big on metaphor. So, I'm willing to bet BIG DOLLA DOLLA that his statement that you should bring a sword has nothing to do with war. Rather, Jesus is of the mind- and we should be too- that you should always show up at a party with your dick in your hand. Or someone else's. At least, I imagine that is the interpretation of the TMC+A.
Why not just get the real thing and teach Smalltalk rather than some new scripting language like Ruby? I don't have much of a problem with Ruby, but there sure isn't anything that is has that Smalltalk doesn't. Ruby does borrow a lot from Smalltalk, to be sure... but why not just go straight to the source? Among many other perks, Smalltalk a lot more mature, a lot faster, and perhaps most importantly of all Smalltalk has some of the best development tools around. Not big, complicated IDEs like MS Visual Studio, but smaller, lighter, intuitive but incredibly powerful tools that have been refined since the dawn of the GUI and of Smalltalk itself.
While I don't agree with the schmucks over at places like the Free Rep or LGF, I'd like to point out that a lot of the so-called Islamo-fascists are in fact quite nationalist. And a lot of them have pan-Arab/pan-Muslim ideas- sort of like Hitler's conception of Volksdeutsche united in a Grossdeutschland, a lot of the so-called Islamo-fascists would like to see the Muslim world brought under a single Islamic Caliphate.
I personally am of the libertarian revolutionary left; but I can't stand those who support anyone who is the enemy of the so-called Christian fascists. That may not be your angle, but I am of the mind that so-called Islamo-fascist ideas are just as poisonous as those of many other reactionary schools of thought.
what bugs me with a prank like this, other than the obvious privacy issues, is the implied puritanism. the doer of this prank, is not like much of a "sociopath," per se- more likely he is a someone programmed with the reactionary and puritan ideals that large parts of American society hold dear. gathering this kind of information and then sharing it publically is something usually done to chastise those who would enjoy what the craigslist post was offering. it's like those counter-419 sites, or the sites that troll for paedophiles and then post their information- IM username, phone number, address, the whole chat log, etc.
and while the whole dom/sub thing really isn't my scene, i scoff at reactionaries who go out of their way to condemn, chastise and embarass folks who happen to get off on something different than them. to each their own, as long as you're not hurting someone against their will or otherwise coercing them. but others, including this guy, obviously don't subscribe to that kind of philsophy.
Just a note- don't underestimate the power of WinCE. It is a pretty decent OS, and with the state of the available software, I'd rather run WinCE than Linux on a PDA. Pocket PC 200x/Windows Mobile 2003 or 5.0 are a little less useful than full-blown WinCE.NET 4.2/5.0. The reason for this is the software available- for me, one of the big things is the availability of input methods- if I had to choose just one, I'd much rather have the real HWR of CalliGrapher/Transcriber than the not-too-great thumboard on any of the Linux-based Zaurii.
I'm not saying that it couldn't change, but as a hacker, I was able to get more done on a WinCE handheld- either a PocketPC type device, or preferably a handheld PC like the Jornada 720 or the Sigmarion 3- with a bunch of Unix tools than on the various PDAs running Linux that I've had (3 different Zaurii [Sl-5500, SL-C760 and SL-C1000], VTech Helio, iPAQ 3650, Jornada 720 [well, that one was a BSD]). It is no slander against Linux- if the software was as good, I would rather run Linux. I was able to write useful, end-user useful PDA-style apps with native widgets far easier on WinCE than on Linux- I had Perl/Tk, Python w/ Tkinter or w32api, Pocket Scheme, Dialect, NSBasic and others. I did a lot of my development on the PDA itself- for me, a PDA is way more powerful if I can use Perl/Tk to whip up a weird little app in 10 minutes than having to go back to my Linux machine later and write an app for Qtopia in C++- a task which would likely take hours, and not 10-30 minutes like the Perl, Dialect or Squeak app.
Mind you, someone who is willing to put in the work to do a port that works of various libraries or languages that they need might be fine. For me, porting and rewriting C/C++ code isn't my forté or preferred way of spending my free time. There are a lot of ported Linux/Unix tools and languages available for WinCE.
I'm not saying that my way of doing things is for everyone- if you prefer the added overhead of doing PDA development on the desktop, that is fine- but for me, on-board development is a must. There are ports of Python, perl, etc for the Zaurus- but last time I checked there wasn't a way to write Qtopia apps using them, though that might have changed recently. And even all the dev tools finally made it to Linux PDAs, the other software and PDA-ish features would still be lacking.
People tend to write WinCE off completely- dismissing it as nothing but a bad MS kludge, a "shrunken Win95," or something of the sort. But it is actually a very capable, useful OS. And this is as a Linux and OS X user- I don't have a Windows machine, and I don't use ActiveSync, etc- and I don't need them to use a WinCE or PocketPC/WM device to its fullest.
Though, if Apple did bring back a PDA, I'd pray to any and all gods that'd listen for a Newton OS. Newton OS > WinCE > PocketPC/WM > Linux > Palm OS in the heirarchy of PDA OS usefulness for hackers.:D
I'm not accusing you of this sort of attitude per se, but your post hints at it, though there are many folks who think it, even if you don't...
Why the hell should I have to pick a side? Zionist or Islamist? I think the Khomeini's ideal world is wrong. The actions of Israel are wrong. I think crimes perpetrated by various theocratic Islamist regimes are wrong. But then again, I think the crimes perpetrated by all states, religious or not, made up of constituent individuals of all religions, nationalities and ethnicities. I am against actions I consider to be immoral.
Just because I condemn Israel doesn't mean I am waving a Hezbollah flag. Just because I think the Palestinians should have their own soverign nation on the west bank doesn't mean I want Israel gone. Just because I support Israel's right to exist doesn't mean I condone Israel killing civillians left and right. Just because I think that if I had to pick a country to live in the Middle East, I'd pick Israel doesn't mean they are a perfect society.
Why do people insist on being so black and white? I'm sure I'll catch flak for it, but I consider myself a revolutionary left libertarian. So much of the left seems to have some sort of black-and-white disorder- they seem to think that if you think what Israel is doing in Lebanon and has done in various places in the past is wrong that you should put on a keffiyah and yell "Allah ackbar!" at protests. Maybe your average Trotskyist engaging in these kinds of activities forgot the basis of their espoused political philosophy, but I personally am against repressive, oppressive, fundamentalist theocratic regimes, be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Shinto, etc.
Sorry about the long rambling post... No one is likely going to read it!:D
As far as Nazi tall-tales go, I think the worst is the idea that the KZs like Auschwitz, etc were not death camps but in fact holiday camps- places where Jews, socialists and other enemnies of the regime could enjoy a healthy vacation for free at the expense of the state, out of the way where they couldn't interfere with the war effort, but still well taken care of. I'm not making this shit up- that's the NSDAP/AO's line at least, which is more or less a party of one guy, maybe a few more, but still... that's just vile.
I'm not going to bother arguing my position on this- but I'm somewhere in between. For what it's worth:
For what it's worth, I've never met a person in real life who claims to do what you do: download an album, and then buy it./i.
Well, you've not met me, but that is kind of what I do. I don't buy a physical copy- like you said about the other guy, that is just kind of silly- but I pay for a copy. For me, it has worked largely because a lot of the music I've been listening to is independent- I've been sending $8 per CD to the artist themselves. I'm sure it must creep some of them out, but it's been appreciated by a good number of those whom I've paid.
I don't want a CD, nor do I want DRM. When I download something I've not paid for, it has a lot more to do with convenience- no physical CD, no DRM- rather than money. I'd use iTunes, but I use a Windows Mobile PDA for listening to music. I'd use some PlaysFoSho' store, but my main non-pda computer is an iBook. Most of the music I've downloaded in the last year has come from mp3search.ru - I've even done it when I already owned the CD, but didn't know where it was or was somewhat scratched. It's always a helluva lot quicker than any P2P search and download, well worth the convenience it provides. But the RMMSs [1] don't count, obviously.
I've used eMusic in the past and loved it for the above reason.
I have to agree. I was a longitme Newton user, and hopefully I'll be using it again, emulated on a Linux PDA. Paul Guyot and lots of other folks are doing awesome work to extend the life of the Newton and bring the Newton OS onto newer hardware- with plans to introduce color even.
This is all possible because of the extremely hackable and open nature of the Newton OS. The NOS has a lot of undocumented internal APIs that are found out by poking around- and poking around is pretty easy (and fun!) with a tool like ViewFrame.
I remember wanting some other functions in the spreadsheet app I used. Not functions written in spreadsheet math/language (like =FUNC CUBE (X): X*X*X or whatever the syntax is), but new functions actually written in NewtonScript. Using ViewFrame, I poked around using the Object Browser - browsing the running objects of the live spreadsheet app, not something frozen, or in the binary- until I found an array that contained all the spreadsheet functions, as well as the corresponding NewtonScript code. I think I added some simple database access functions, in NewtonScript, and it was pretty damn easy. I was able to test them by going into VF and and adding functions, editing the code, etc- and when I was done, took that code and compiled it into a patch package.
It is pretty much impossible to get that kind of extensibility without the app being open source or having a well defiend plug-in API. The only other systems I've encountered that had that kind of power were system/OS/languages like Smalltalk and Lisp, and some of the things in between (Self, Dylan, and others). I don't have to have to worry about the developer having thought ahead to give me what I need. That accounts for a lot of the things added to the NOS in recent years- ATA drivers, bluetooth, wifi, etc.
I hope the Newton comes back! Or at least the Einstein team gets a decent NOS running on a Zaurus (or something like it) on top of Linux or instead of it. But the NOS is just about the least secure OS in the traditional sense...
But wait a second here... I thought politicians were respected experts in their field? I mean, aren't they the ones we choose to run things because the rest of us are too dumb to?
Well, I think that is BS and subscribe more to the position of CLR James. I definately recomend reading his pamphlet Every Cook Can Govern. And frankly, a lot of the regular schmucks I know seem more intelligent, more level headed, less power hungry and money greedy than your average politician... but that's just me.
I am a 35 year-old, predominantly-white, middle-class geek, and I like my urban combat set to the preconceived sounds and images pumped out by Hollywood.
Just out of curiousity- what does it mean to be "predominantly-white?" I mean, I know how a population can be such- but a person? One geek? Maybe you had a black or chicana maternal grandmother? Or maybe you are Italian? They used to be considered non-white; so maybe between today's conceptions of race and those of yesterday, you are mostly white?
Or, maybe you are as a great-grandpa of mine used to say- "All French-Canadians have a little bit of 'Indian' in them." Or so I'm told that he used to say that. Doesn't make sense to me.
Hey, just curious- I don't suppose you're actually a Wobblie, are you? You know, like a member of the IWW? If so- greetings, Fellow Worker! Don't suppose you'll be at the Midwest Wobfest this weekend, will you?
Slashdot Mirror
Care to elaborate on what you do know about the contract dispute?
But his point still stands- I'm sure the OP is all excited to replace his PC with a PS3... but for what? If not, Office then Open Office- which sucks up just as much RAM. Add Firefox with a bunch tabs, and you're using another 50-100 MB. So, you might retort that he can just run LaTeX + Emacs- but if you're going to do that, why not just use the PC?
One other little note- OnStar uses a cell phone. One of the reasons you pay monthly to use it.
Carrying a full-blown cell phone is precisely what this bloke seems to expect- if you've found solutions that include that, perhaps you could share?
Frankly, the poster's situation sounds serious enough that a $20/month cell phone bill is the least of his worries.
Yeah, shitty and all... but $10 of 'credit' to buy cars at $0.50 each and tracks at $2-5 each would be better than getting none of either. At least you could get a track or three and a few cars.
But still, this is pretty evil. I don't mean the model in general, but the way it sounds like they are implementing it.
Apple's iTunes play for sure everywhere? Like, on Linux, too? BeOS? FreeBSD? PalmOS? Symbian? (Without resorting to breaking the DMCA, of course).
You can interpret the PlaysForSure thing as you like, but I don't interpret it to mean that it will play on all software and device platforms. That is simply impractical, at least with any sort of DRM, and even when it comes to even non-DRM'd formats. The reason that Apple could be considered to be playing for sure is that when Apple releases a new iPod, a new version of iTunes or OS X, or a new Mac it doesn't break compatibility with old versions of their DRM.
It's not like one day Apple released a new iPod and with it the New iTunes Media Shoppe, connected at the hip (like previous iTunes+iPod product-complexes). Except, music purchased on the NiMS couldn't be used on older iPods and the new iPod couldn't play the music from the old iTMS. Apple's iPod and store model is far from perfect, but they haven't pulled that kind of stunt- MS has.
I just wonder: what the hell? What about PlaysForSure "doesn't work" for him? What about supporting PlaysForSure would sully the "Zune experience?" Not having to make your customers buy all their music a second time? I guess you couldn't make them buy it from the Zune store twice without people laughing at you.
I'm serious- how would having support for PFS in the Zune firmware do anything negative to the Zune "experience," brand, etc? I could see MS not pushing the PFS-based stores, instead focusing on their own store, but still playing music already purchased.
Man, what morons. Or what evil. I'm not sure which.
Well, Smalltalk doesn't have the hype- and at its age, it never will regain it. But, it does have a lot of the same library support than Ruby and Python have- Smalltalk isn't just used by some AI researchers. I imagine that the Squeak community is comparable to the Ruby community, and both are smaller than the Python and Perl communities. Smalltalk is quite useful outside acedemic settings- with the web toolkit Seaside and either support for an RDBMS like MySQL or PostgreSQL or an object database like Magma or GOODS, it had a lot of the features of Ruby on Rails before Rails was a twinkle in some Ruby coder's eye.
I'm not saying that Smalltalk is on the fast track to taking over the world, but there is a lot of misconception floating around... it isn't just some language for acdemics and has a lot in the way of practical application. Lots of libraries- native widget support through wxWidgets, database support, etc.
Man, I was laughing so hard at that, I didn't have the energy to point it out.
MAN I AM SO LEEA!
They are using Prototype. Check the source.
Man. Typical Slashdot post? Indeed; typical Slashdot thread.
Bleh. I browse the web a lot from my WinMobile phone- with a resolution of 320x240. it isn't as nice as browsing from other devices I've had in the past with resolutions of 640x240, VGA, or 800x480- but it is FAR from worthless. As long as you've got a browser than can handle it- and Opera can. Even IE on Windows Mobile does a tolerable job, and when it doesn't, Opera usually has no problem.
HEY!
But a DEM was mayor at the time! Govenor too! Logic is for bleeding heart hippies!
Hey HAMLAD! I've a tip for you.
You can do a really realistic rendition of Hamburger Lady by TG (that is your namesake, yes?) by singing hamburger lady... and doing some stuff with your hands in front of your mouth. It is hard to describe, but the pay off is to the MAX when you figure it out.
OK, i'm out. peace!
Like you said- Jesus was totally big on metaphor. So, I'm willing to bet BIG DOLLA DOLLA that his statement that you should bring a sword has nothing to do with war. Rather, Jesus is of the mind- and we should be too- that you should always show up at a party with your dick in your hand. Or someone else's. At least, I imagine that is the interpretation of the TMC+A.
Why not just get the real thing and teach Smalltalk rather than some new scripting language like Ruby? I don't have much of a problem with Ruby, but there sure isn't anything that is has that Smalltalk doesn't. Ruby does borrow a lot from Smalltalk, to be sure... but why not just go straight to the source? Among many other perks, Smalltalk a lot more mature, a lot faster, and perhaps most importantly of all Smalltalk has some of the best development tools around. Not big, complicated IDEs like MS Visual Studio, but smaller, lighter, intuitive but incredibly powerful tools that have been refined since the dawn of the GUI and of Smalltalk itself.
Just a thought!
While I don't agree with the schmucks over at places like the Free Rep or LGF, I'd like to point out that a lot of the so-called Islamo-fascists are in fact quite nationalist. And a lot of them have pan-Arab/pan-Muslim ideas- sort of like Hitler's conception of Volksdeutsche united in a Grossdeutschland, a lot of the so-called Islamo-fascists would like to see the Muslim world brought under a single Islamic Caliphate.
I personally am of the libertarian revolutionary left; but I can't stand those who support anyone who is the enemy of the so-called Christian fascists. That may not be your angle, but I am of the mind that so-called Islamo-fascist ideas are just as poisonous as those of many other reactionary schools of thought.
what bugs me with a prank like this, other than the obvious privacy issues, is the implied puritanism. the doer of this prank, is not like much of a "sociopath," per se- more likely he is a someone programmed with the reactionary and puritan ideals that large parts of American society hold dear. gathering this kind of information and then sharing it publically is something usually done to chastise those who would enjoy what the craigslist post was offering. it's like those counter-419 sites, or the sites that troll for paedophiles and then post their information- IM username, phone number, address, the whole chat log, etc.
and while the whole dom/sub thing really isn't my scene, i scoff at reactionaries who go out of their way to condemn, chastise and embarass folks who happen to get off on something different than them. to each their own, as long as you're not hurting someone against their will or otherwise coercing them. but others, including this guy, obviously don't subscribe to that kind of philsophy.
Just a note- don't underestimate the power of WinCE. It is a pretty decent OS, and with the state of the available software, I'd rather run WinCE than Linux on a PDA. Pocket PC 200x/Windows Mobile 2003 or 5.0 are a little less useful than full-blown WinCE.NET 4.2/5.0. The reason for this is the software available- for me, one of the big things is the availability of input methods- if I had to choose just one, I'd much rather have the real HWR of CalliGrapher/Transcriber than the not-too-great thumboard on any of the Linux-based Zaurii.
:D
I'm not saying that it couldn't change, but as a hacker, I was able to get more done on a WinCE handheld- either a PocketPC type device, or preferably a handheld PC like the Jornada 720 or the Sigmarion 3- with a bunch of Unix tools than on the various PDAs running Linux that I've had (3 different Zaurii [Sl-5500, SL-C760 and SL-C1000], VTech Helio, iPAQ 3650, Jornada 720 [well, that one was a BSD]). It is no slander against Linux- if the software was as good, I would rather run Linux. I was able to write useful, end-user useful PDA-style apps with native widgets far easier on WinCE than on Linux- I had Perl/Tk, Python w/ Tkinter or w32api, Pocket Scheme, Dialect, NSBasic and others. I did a lot of my development on the PDA itself- for me, a PDA is way more powerful if I can use Perl/Tk to whip up a weird little app in 10 minutes than having to go back to my Linux machine later and write an app for Qtopia in C++- a task which would likely take hours, and not 10-30 minutes like the Perl, Dialect or Squeak app.
Mind you, someone who is willing to put in the work to do a port that works of various libraries or languages that they need might be fine. For me, porting and rewriting C/C++ code isn't my forté or preferred way of spending my free time. There are a lot of ported Linux/Unix tools and languages available for WinCE.
I'm not saying that my way of doing things is for everyone- if you prefer the added overhead of doing PDA development on the desktop, that is fine- but for me, on-board development is a must. There are ports of Python, perl, etc for the Zaurus- but last time I checked there wasn't a way to write Qtopia apps using them, though that might have changed recently. And even all the dev tools finally made it to Linux PDAs, the other software and PDA-ish features would still be lacking.
People tend to write WinCE off completely- dismissing it as nothing but a bad MS kludge, a "shrunken Win95," or something of the sort. But it is actually a very capable, useful OS. And this is as a Linux and OS X user- I don't have a Windows machine, and I don't use ActiveSync, etc- and I don't need them to use a WinCE or PocketPC/WM device to its fullest.
Though, if Apple did bring back a PDA, I'd pray to any and all gods that'd listen for a Newton OS. Newton OS > WinCE > PocketPC/WM > Linux > Palm OS in the heirarchy of PDA OS usefulness for hackers.
I'm not accusing you of this sort of attitude per se, but your post hints at it, though there are many folks who think it, even if you don't...
:D
Why the hell should I have to pick a side? Zionist or Islamist? I think the Khomeini's ideal world is wrong. The actions of Israel are wrong. I think crimes perpetrated by various theocratic Islamist regimes are wrong. But then again, I think the crimes perpetrated by all states, religious or not, made up of constituent individuals of all religions, nationalities and ethnicities. I am against actions I consider to be immoral.
Just because I condemn Israel doesn't mean I am waving a Hezbollah flag.
Just because I think the Palestinians should have their own soverign nation on the west bank doesn't mean I want Israel gone.
Just because I support Israel's right to exist doesn't mean I condone Israel killing civillians left and right.
Just because I think that if I had to pick a country to live in the Middle East, I'd pick Israel doesn't mean they are a perfect society.
Why do people insist on being so black and white? I'm sure I'll catch flak for it, but I consider myself a revolutionary left libertarian. So much of the left seems to have some sort of black-and-white disorder- they seem to think that if you think what Israel is doing in Lebanon and has done in various places in the past is wrong that you should put on a keffiyah and yell "Allah ackbar!" at protests. Maybe your average Trotskyist engaging in these kinds of activities forgot the basis of their espoused political philosophy, but I personally am against repressive, oppressive, fundamentalist theocratic regimes, be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Shinto, etc.
Sorry about the long rambling post... No one is likely going to read it!
As far as Nazi tall-tales go, I think the worst is the idea that the KZs like Auschwitz, etc were not death camps but in fact holiday camps- places where Jews, socialists and other enemnies of the regime could enjoy a healthy vacation for free at the expense of the state, out of the way where they couldn't interfere with the war effort, but still well taken care of. I'm not making this shit up- that's the NSDAP/AO's line at least, which is more or less a party of one guy, maybe a few more, but still... that's just vile.
I'm not going to bother arguing my position on this- but I'm somewhere in between. For what it's worth:
/i.
For what it's worth, I've never met a person in real life who claims to do what you do: download an album, and then buy it.
Well, you've not met me, but that is kind of what I do. I don't buy a physical copy- like you said about the other guy, that is just kind of silly- but I pay for a copy. For me, it has worked largely because a lot of the music I've been listening to is independent- I've been sending $8 per CD to the artist themselves. I'm sure it must creep some of them out, but it's been appreciated by a good number of those whom I've paid.
I don't want a CD, nor do I want DRM. When I download something I've not paid for, it has a lot more to do with convenience- no physical CD, no DRM- rather than money. I'd use iTunes, but I use a Windows Mobile PDA for listening to music. I'd use some PlaysFoSho' store, but my main non-pda computer is an iBook. Most of the music I've downloaded in the last year has come from mp3search.ru - I've even done it when I already owned the CD, but didn't know where it was or was somewhat scratched. It's always a helluva lot quicker than any P2P search and download, well worth the convenience it provides. But the RMMSs [1] don't count, obviously.
I've used eMusic in the past and loved it for the above reason.
[1] RMMS: Russian Mafia Music Services
I have to agree. I was a longitme Newton user, and hopefully I'll be using it again, emulated on a Linux PDA. Paul Guyot and lots of other folks are doing awesome work to extend the life of the Newton and bring the Newton OS onto newer hardware- with plans to introduce color even.
This is all possible because of the extremely hackable and open nature of the Newton OS. The NOS has a lot of undocumented internal APIs that are found out by poking around- and poking around is pretty easy (and fun!) with a tool like ViewFrame.
I remember wanting some other functions in the spreadsheet app I used. Not functions written in spreadsheet math/language (like =FUNC CUBE (X): X*X*X or whatever the syntax is), but new functions actually written in NewtonScript. Using ViewFrame, I poked around using the Object Browser - browsing the running objects of the live spreadsheet app, not something frozen, or in the binary- until I found an array that contained all the spreadsheet functions, as well as the corresponding NewtonScript code. I think I added some simple database access functions, in NewtonScript, and it was pretty damn easy. I was able to test them by going into VF and and adding functions, editing the code, etc- and when I was done, took that code and compiled it into a patch package.
It is pretty much impossible to get that kind of extensibility without the app being open source or having a well defiend plug-in API. The only other systems I've encountered that had that kind of power were system/OS/languages like Smalltalk and Lisp, and some of the things in between (Self, Dylan, and others). I don't have to have to worry about the developer having thought ahead to give me what I need. That accounts for a lot of the things added to the NOS in recent years- ATA drivers, bluetooth, wifi, etc.
I hope the Newton comes back! Or at least the Einstein team gets a decent NOS running on a Zaurus (or something like it) on top of Linux or instead of it. But the NOS is just about the least secure OS in the traditional sense...
But wait a second here... I thought politicians were respected experts in their field? I mean, aren't they the ones we choose to run things because the rest of us are too dumb to?
Well, I think that is BS and subscribe more to the position of CLR James. I definately recomend reading his pamphlet Every Cook Can Govern. And frankly, a lot of the regular schmucks I know seem more intelligent, more level headed, less power hungry and money greedy than your average politician... but that's just me.
I am a 35 year-old, predominantly-white, middle-class geek, and I like my urban combat set to the preconceived sounds and images pumped out by Hollywood.
Just out of curiousity- what does it mean to be "predominantly-white?" I mean, I know how a population can be such- but a person? One geek? Maybe you had a black or chicana maternal grandmother? Or maybe you are Italian? They used to be considered non-white; so maybe between today's conceptions of race and those of yesterday, you are mostly white?
Or, maybe you are as a great-grandpa of mine used to say- "All French-Canadians have a little bit of 'Indian' in them." Or so I'm told that he used to say that. Doesn't make sense to me.
Hey, just curious- I don't suppose you're actually a Wobblie, are you? You know, like a member of the IWW? If so- greetings, Fellow Worker! Don't suppose you'll be at the Midwest Wobfest this weekend, will you?