1. Firstly there will be a number of people who buy any given CD anyways, even if the music were downloadable. 2. To say that, well the concerts would be cheaper if you stop downloading, maybe true, for a little while until they just raise the benchmark anyways. Why because they can and stress it out until the market won't pay for it. 3. People may yell but there is competition ! With music not really, there aren't 3 brands of madonnas. Each artist has a monopoly on his/her/its own work.
Sorry artists, time you started representing yourselves with your own online presence, tell the middle men to take a hike. Instead of the shiny nickel you get from the 'man' for each CD, you can perhaps make a buck instead, thats to you like selling 20 records. So you can keep your income even if you only sell 5% of the CDs you used to sell.
I think the intention is to stop the submarine patents. Patents are supposed to protect the inventors and for something electronic you don't need a big PCB fab in order to show a working model of many garage inventions. I think a proper simulation of a new chip FAB would be sufficient as proof that someone is just not patenting ideas and waiting for someone to invent them and collect. That, in my opinion, is quite useless and goes against the spirit of the patent system.
Besides you can't tell me that the way the current system operates is the best model to truely protect inventors of ideas and device who intend to bring them to market. Many current patents are so overly broad in range its crazy, and the current 20 year lifespan, especially on software models (which in theory shouldn't be allowed to be patented anyways) is way overboard, and is hurting innovation not helping by slowing down the process that items fall into the public domain.
Exactly, I think this can be taken one further. No prototype, no proof, no patent.
Currently there are patent pendings. If you file for say something like a pre-patent which allows you time to build at least a rough prototype or proof that you aren't just patenting for patents sake. Now you must produce something to warrent the patent, with proof of idea already filed should someone try to take it. Essentially I think it is what a patent should be with now having to produce something to get the full protection. It would eliminate those who just sit on ideas waiting for someone else to invent them.
Regardless of the fact that obivously such a blog will not make you Mr. Popularity with the current administration of whatever institution you are publically stating points against, this person does have a right to free speech, its protected.
Now yes in cases where you are divulging secrets you agreed to protect via signed contract, you may face civil action. Ok fair enough.
However, the school may have a right to disagree with that student but they have no rights to censor the student's speech via punishing acts directly motivated due to any statements.
Otherwise why bother with having constitutional rights anyways?
A wise person once told me, your rights end where the rights of others begin.
Just to let everyone know my bias upfront: I'm not a Bible thumper, so yes I do support science. It is amazing to read about this "debate" on the news. The fact that this ID nonsense has gone this long is really quite scary. There is a reason for putting the belief stuff in Sunday school and the secular stuff in public. Perhaps we should just stop wearing seat belts, as Angels will just protect us etc. Its mind-boggling.
Two things come to my mind in partiulcar. If I.D. has to be taught, I say the Raelians point of view needs to be another sticker. Replace the phrase "desinger" with "Invisible Little green aliens from the Planet Mars" in all the I.D. literature. It would sound a little silly wouldn't it? The best part is that it is equally as "valid" a theory as ID itself. You can't actually disprove it now can you?
Also, let us assume for one moment that ID is put in all the schools and we now have to teach creationism. What is the next step? You don't think they'll stop there will you? I mean there are other problems like carbon dating which are not perfectly accurate. I mean how will you prove that the Earth is only 5000 years old (thats sarcasm people) with nuisances like Carbon Dating. What is the ultimate end victory for the reglion thumpers.
At the end of the day, if you want to believe in God or little green men, go for it. Just please let me choose my own beliefs thank you.
I guess the real question is how much electricity can we generate from the full landfill? I mean in areas like Southern-California where power can be at a premium and waste would be large it is a possibility assuming it doesn't take more energy to harvest what energy can be harvested from the area. (Which I think what part of the hydrogen problem is now)
I think one would remove a lot of the court sleeper patents if:
1. Patents were only issued to a demonstratable working device. 2. Patents were non transferable where the "rights" could not be bought or sold from one company to another. 3. For each patent category, peer standards commitees, for example such as IEEE, would oversee the initial granting, and re-evaulation.
The unfortunate part is that it is a balance between protecting the ability of someone to innovate and create with some protection from the vultures versus the same vultures planting the landmines trying to extort money from people trying to create new ideas.
The real question is : How do you balance both sides, when you can't count on any level of ethics, and really only greed, to drive decisions?
With the advent of RFID tags, corporations will be able to view and montior exact when we use their product. Do you really want your fridge telling people what you eat and when?
Let me be more precise, how about your fridge telling your insurance company that you eat too much ice cream/iced tea/coke whatever. Your medical insurance goes up because you are being a risk for diabetes.
Of course now you are saying, no problem, I just won't volunteer to get one. Fine, but over time you will have no choice but to buy one with that "feature".
It is around the corner, it will make life in the former Soviet Union look like a utopia of privacy. (Thank that is a dumb statement? with the DMCA: Dmetri Skylov became a criminal for talking about faulty encryption, aka exercising free speech and was arrested, if this can happen why not something further on?)
Keep in mind that the general public is all apathy. In that sense they don't question the schlock that pours down from MTV, from the 1 massive set of radio stations under clear channel. From a young age they are just fed this stuff, and told to buy something that they don't need, etc etc.
It reminds me of the matrix a little bit, the only way to free a mind is to take a friend out to see an indy show, play indy music around you. As a culture we need to wake up and tune out of this stuff, until we do we are slaves to it.
Well you are right if there are never an externalities due to a misbahving corporation.
If company A's product casuses say lung cancer, or pollutes the water without being caught / goes bankrupt/can't pay it is also you the taxpayer who is left holding the bag.
Private enterprise for everything isn't always the answer. For space travel it very well might be, and relegate NASA to pure research.
However with anything essential services related it doesn't pay.
What area of the country are you in where projects are plentiful?
Out here in Winnipeg quality embedded jobs are difficult to find, (you are not the only one who has had to debug embedded projects with an scope:))
But on a side note, as an engineering graduate myself I know exactly what you went through, the nice thing about having a standardized program across the country. I agree completely that the math taught in lower grades is pitiful. However you have to look at who teaches the students, and what passes for teachers out of univeristy. I mean for a phys-ed teacher I could enroll a rock, and get a degree for that rock.
There are two streams of thought here: 1. Without an immediate halt (this is a generalization, my apologies) to job offshoring, The US especially will just have a glut of workers able to serve fast food.
OR
2. Without moving everything that can be moved (again a generalization) off shore to save money the US just won't be able to compete, and there will be no job growth and all the companies will leave and die etc etc.
The "free traders" call the people worried about this as ecnomic isolationists, and the others call the free traders naive.
The fact is that it is possible that both sides of the fence are right... about some parts. There IS middle ground here people. Ecnomic theory with trade suggests that it is better if Country A who can create cheese well, but not wine as well trading with Country B who's attributes are the converse of such (Creates wine well, but not cheese) is advantageous to engage in trade.
That makes sense.
However, when one country is able to create wine and cheese, and the other has to comparitive advantage, that part of economic theory breaks down or dictates that trading is a bad idea in that case.
The US can't live by itself, but it can help raise the level of other fields before just opening the borders recklessly thinking that somehow all this will work itself out, trade without foresight and policy is just as dangerous as not trading or faith based trading that is one sided.
1) There is no real tangible evidence that it is a real memo, and not just shock press with no backing
BUT
2) If it is true, it would be intresting to see if there is a correlation between those sued companies like crysler if they have recently cut big ties to MS in favour of linux.
It is a matter of ease of interaction embedded with whatever you make.
The fact is that commercial places have entire departments focused on UI design.
As well you have to look at a trade off of simplified use versus hard core functionality. Microsoft apps do have problems but are 'usually' straightforward to use if you just read the screen. The more "help" you try to give to the user, aka a 'clippy ', the more you end up writing a lot of extra code that may add more bugs to something that would otherwise be secure.
What stops someone else from blowing into the device instead ?
This hi-tech device could possibly be defeated by a very simple cheap lo-tech means. AKA Money down the toilet, where it could be spent more effectively elsewhere on the issue.
Engineering is about choices, and making choices. In that sense it is not much different from management (aside from generally making boneheaded ideas, not saying that it doesn't happen). It is also about designing for the bigger picture and designing for safety. I think people have been used to crappy buggy software for so long that everyone assumes that it is just normal. It isn't normal, it is not taking the time to do things properly and not being able to enforce that.
I'm Canadian, and here our professional engineering institutions dont' have anywhere near enough clout that they should.
From what I see down south, anyone and their dog can call themselves an engineer. From petrolium transfer engineers to cart relocation engineers to software engineers, none of which really are a legit title ( WRT actual software / computer engineers). At least up here, you just can't call yourself a _______ engineer without problems, only when it bothers to get enforced.
Anyways: I think certification would do wonders for software development, hell even if outsourced software has to be run by a PE/CE/SE whatever E in the states so it can be certified in country by law, that opens up a lot of opportunities to keep and create professional positions on this side of the pacific pond as well.
Fine, if outsourcing is so good, why can't we buy goods directly from other countries. AKA that 100$ pair of NIKE shoes should now be sold at the prices over there, say 2-10$?? How about getting my graduate textbook for 5$ instead of 100$. If I could live on 5$ a day while eating good meals etc, then fine.
But I don't think the big corps that are benefiting from the outsourcing are going to be very receptive to lowering prices to indian levels. So it isn't free trade, not even fair trade, hell barely actual captialism.
Tell me then, over time why would the countries doing the grunt work not be able to form their own management leads and just bypass the management in the US? It is starting to happen now with Indian companies directly competing for the end IT contract.
It is foolish to think that the US will just have everybody invent and innovate and then manage the mass-unwashed to do their bidding. Plus not everyone is an innovator. Look around you, how many people really create anything? Billy Bob Ozark or John Inner City Doe by virtue of poverty don't have that luxury of an high level education won't be able to do that.
Slashdot Mirror
That is absolute crap.
1. Firstly there will be a number of people who buy any given CD anyways, even if the music were downloadable.
2. To say that, well the concerts would be cheaper if you stop downloading, maybe true, for a little while until they just raise the benchmark anyways. Why because they can and stress it out until the market won't pay for it.
3. People may yell but there is competition ! With music not really, there aren't 3 brands of madonnas. Each artist has a monopoly on his/her/its own work.
Sorry artists, time you started representing yourselves with your own online presence, tell the middle men to take a hike. Instead of the shiny nickel you get from the 'man' for each CD, you can perhaps make a buck instead, thats to you like selling 20 records. So you can keep your income even if you only sell 5% of the CDs you used to sell.
My 0.02
I think the intention is to stop the submarine patents. Patents are supposed to protect the inventors and for something electronic you don't need a big PCB fab in order to show a working model of many garage inventions. I think a proper simulation of a new chip FAB would be sufficient as proof that someone is just not patenting ideas and waiting for someone to invent them and collect. That, in my opinion, is quite useless and goes against the spirit of the patent system.
Besides you can't tell me that the way the current system operates is the best model to truely protect inventors of ideas and device who intend to bring them to market. Many current patents are so overly broad in range its crazy, and the current 20 year lifespan, especially on software models (which in theory shouldn't be allowed to be patented anyways) is way overboard, and is hurting innovation not helping by slowing down the process that items fall into the public domain.
My 0.02$
Exactly, I think this can be taken one further. No prototype, no proof, no patent.
Currently there are patent pendings. If you file for say something like a pre-patent which allows you time to build at least a rough prototype or proof that you aren't just patenting for patents sake. Now you must produce something to warrent the patent, with proof of idea already filed should someone try to take it. Essentially I think it is what a patent should be with now having to produce something to get the full protection. It would eliminate those who just sit on ideas waiting for someone else to invent them.
There is a very simple civil liberties issue:
Regardless of the fact that obivously such a blog will not make you Mr. Popularity with the current administration of whatever institution you are publically stating points against, this person does have a right to free speech, its protected.
Now yes in cases where you are divulging secrets you agreed to protect via signed contract, you may face civil action. Ok fair enough.
However, the school may have a right to disagree with that student but they have no rights to censor the student's speech via punishing acts directly motivated due to any statements.
Otherwise why bother with having constitutional rights anyways?
A wise person once told me, your rights end where the rights of others begin.
Just to let everyone know my bias upfront: I'm not a Bible thumper, so yes I do support science. It is amazing to read about this "debate" on the news. The fact that this ID nonsense has gone this long is really quite scary. There is a reason for putting the belief stuff in Sunday school and the secular stuff in public. Perhaps we should just stop wearing seat belts, as Angels will just protect us etc. Its mind-boggling.
Two things come to my mind in partiulcar.
If I.D. has to be taught, I say the Raelians point of view needs to be another sticker. Replace the phrase "desinger" with "Invisible Little green aliens from the Planet Mars" in all the I.D. literature. It would sound a little silly wouldn't it? The best part is that it is equally as "valid" a theory as ID itself. You can't actually disprove it now can you?
Also, let us assume for one moment that ID is put in all the schools and we now have to teach creationism. What is the next step? You don't think they'll stop there will you? I mean there are other problems like carbon dating which are not perfectly accurate. I mean how will you prove that the Earth is only 5000 years old (thats sarcasm people) with nuisances like Carbon Dating. What is the ultimate end victory for the reglion thumpers.
At the end of the day, if you want to believe in God or little green men, go for it. Just please let me choose my own beliefs thank you.
I guess the real question is how much electricity can we generate from the full landfill? I mean in areas like Southern-California where power can be at a premium and waste would be large it is a possibility assuming it doesn't take more energy to harvest what energy can be harvested from the area. (Which I think what part of the hydrogen problem is now)
Just my 2 cents.
I think one would remove a lot of the court sleeper patents if:
1. Patents were only issued to a demonstratable working device.
2. Patents were non transferable where the "rights" could not be bought or sold from one company to another.
3. For each patent category, peer standards commitees, for example such as IEEE, would oversee the initial granting, and re-evaulation.
The unfortunate part is that it is a balance between protecting the ability of someone to innovate and create with some protection from the vultures versus the same vultures planting the landmines trying to extort money from people trying to create new ideas.
The real question is : How do you balance both sides, when you can't count on any level of ethics, and really only greed, to drive decisions?
You missed one:
8. The Search for Vulcans
9. Search of immortality
10. The Search for little Picard
With the advent of RFID tags, corporations will be able to view and montior exact when we use their product. Do you really want your fridge telling people what you eat and when?
Let me be more precise, how about your fridge telling your insurance company that you eat too much ice cream/iced tea/coke whatever. Your medical insurance goes up because you are being a risk for diabetes.
Of course now you are saying, no problem, I just won't volunteer to get one. Fine, but over time you will have no choice but to buy one with that "feature".
It is around the corner, it will make life in the former Soviet Union look like a utopia of privacy. (Thank that is a dumb statement? with the DMCA: Dmetri Skylov became a criminal for talking about faulty encryption, aka exercising free speech and was arrested, if this can happen why not something further on?)
Keep in mind that the general public is all apathy.
In that sense they don't question the schlock that pours down from MTV, from the 1 massive set of radio stations under clear channel. From a young age they are just fed this stuff, and told to buy something that they don't need, etc etc.
It reminds me of the matrix a little bit, the only way to free a mind is to take a friend out to see an indy show, play indy music around you. As a culture we need to wake up and tune out of this stuff, until we do we are slaves to it.
Interesting:
So what happens to the other 99?
Well you are right if there are never an externalities due to a misbahving corporation.
/can't pay it is also you the taxpayer who is left holding the bag.
If company A's product casuses say lung cancer, or pollutes the water without being caught / goes bankrupt
Private enterprise for everything isn't always the answer. For space travel it very well might be, and relegate NASA to pure research.
However with anything essential services related it doesn't pay.
As far as the Unemployment rates go in teh US:
They don't count people who stopped looking for work.
In Canada it is about 7% or whatever, keep in mind that is including the "stopped looking" variety.
So I'd look more close to home before saying that other markets are staggering high unemployment, it might just be the same in the USA.
(PS - an exercise for the reader is to consider how a theater model might work for music)
Yes, It is called CONCERT. People who love the music will go, and they will buy the stuff there. Everything else is just free advertising.
Does anyone have links to the various studies done that show that filesharing doesn't overwhemlingly hurt CD sales?
I want to write a letter but I want some hard facts behind it as well.
Thanks !
Hi,
:))
What area of the country are you in where projects are plentiful?
Out here in Winnipeg quality embedded jobs are difficult to find, (you are not the only one who has had to debug embedded projects with an scope
But on a side note, as an engineering graduate myself I know exactly what you went through, the nice thing about having a standardized program across the country. I agree completely that the math taught in lower grades is pitiful. However you have to look at who teaches the students, and what passes for teachers out of univeristy. I mean for a phys-ed teacher I could enroll a rock, and get a degree for that rock.
Just curious.
There are two streams of thought here:
1. Without an immediate halt (this is a generalization, my apologies) to job offshoring, The US especially will just have a glut of workers able to serve fast food.
OR
2. Without moving everything that can be moved (again a generalization) off shore to save money the US just won't be able to compete, and there will be no job growth and all the companies will leave and die etc etc.
The "free traders" call the people worried about this as ecnomic isolationists, and the others call the free traders naive.
The fact is that it is possible that both sides of the fence are right... about some parts. There IS middle ground here people. Ecnomic theory with trade suggests that it is better if Country A who can create cheese well, but not wine as well trading with Country B who's attributes are the converse of such (Creates wine well, but not cheese) is advantageous to engage in trade.
That makes sense.
However, when one country is able to create wine and cheese, and the other has to comparitive advantage, that part of economic theory breaks down or dictates that trading is a bad idea in that case.
The US can't live by itself, but it can help raise the level of other fields before just opening the borders recklessly thinking that somehow all this will work itself out, trade without foresight and policy is just as dangerous as not trading or faith based trading that is one sided.
My 2 cents
First off:
1) There is no real tangible evidence that it is a real memo, and not just shock press with no backing
BUT
2) If it is true, it would be intresting to see if there is a correlation between those sued companies like crysler if they have recently cut big ties to MS in favour of linux.
My 2 cents
I don't think it is a matter of quality.
It is a matter of ease of interaction embedded with whatever you make.
The fact is that commercial places have entire departments focused on UI design.
As well you have to look at a trade off of simplified use versus hard core functionality. Microsoft apps do have problems but are 'usually' straightforward to use if you just read the screen. The more "help" you try to give to the user, aka a 'clippy ', the more you end up writing a lot of extra code that may add more bugs to something that would otherwise be secure.
my 2 cents
What stops someone else from blowing into the device instead ?
This hi-tech device could possibly be defeated by a very simple cheap lo-tech means. AKA Money down the toilet, where it could be spent more effectively elsewhere on the issue.
I think that it is good that even the Doctors aren't safe.
The more people affected means that there will be more people upset, which even Congress won't be able to ignore for long.
Engineering is about choices, and making choices. In that sense it is not much different from management (aside from generally making boneheaded ideas, not saying that it doesn't happen). It is also about designing for the bigger picture and designing for safety. I think people have been used to crappy buggy software for so long that everyone assumes that it is just normal. It isn't normal, it is not taking the time to do things properly and not being able to enforce that.
I'm Canadian, and here our professional engineering institutions dont' have anywhere near enough clout that they should.
From what I see down south, anyone and their dog can call themselves an engineer. From petrolium transfer engineers to cart relocation engineers to software engineers, none of which really are a legit title ( WRT actual software / computer engineers). At least up here, you just can't call yourself a _______ engineer without problems, only when it bothers to get enforced.
Anyways: I think certification would do wonders for software development, hell even if outsourced software has to be run by a PE/CE/SE whatever E in the states so it can be certified in country by law, that opens up a lot of opportunities to keep and create professional positions on this side of the pacific pond as well.
Fine, if outsourcing is so good, why can't we buy goods directly from other countries. AKA that 100$ pair of NIKE shoes should now be sold at the prices over there, say 2-10$?? How about getting my graduate textbook for 5$ instead of 100$. If I could live on 5$ a day while eating good meals etc, then fine.
But I don't think the big corps that are benefiting from the outsourcing are going to be very receptive to lowering prices to indian levels. So it isn't free trade, not even fair trade, hell barely actual captialism.
Tell me then, over time why would the countries doing the grunt work not be able to form their own management leads and just bypass the management in the US? It is starting to happen now with Indian companies directly competing for the end IT contract.
It is foolish to think that the US will just have everybody invent and innovate and then manage the mass-unwashed to do their bidding. Plus not everyone is an innovator. Look around you, how many people really create anything? Billy Bob Ozark or John Inner City Doe by virtue of poverty don't have that luxury of an high level education won't be able to do that.
Do any of you realize that George Bush Sr, made the exact same speech in 1989?
It was a great speech until the price tag of 500 billion was seen.
That was the last of that.