This "Smart Grid" has a way of spying on a home owners (or renters) privacy as well as shutting off devices so that they cannot use them until off-peak hours.
Exactly. I don't want the power company, or the government, controlling when and how I use appliances in my house. MY house, MY appliances. STAY OUT. Smart-meter my ass.
I agree it looks like crap, but it appears to be an issue with the font rendering engine (either FF3.5 itself or the OS) in Windows. The fonts are artifacted in a bad way. However, it looks pretty decent on Safari 4 (OS X) and FF3.5 (OS X). I first pulled it up in Windows and was asking myself wtf the big deal was, and why they would choose such a horrible example to show off the technique, because it just looked that bad.
There is a "warning" at the top of the page when viewing it in safari that the demo was only meant to be viewed in FF, but it looks fine.
I have a nuvi660 and an iPhone (3G, to be fair). I've tried using the iPhone as a GPS while driving and it is terrible. It doesn't speak the directions, so you have to constantly look at the little bitty purple line on the screen and figure out based on the even smaller dot that represents you, where the next turn will be. If you miss a turn, the dot just keeps going, but the purple line stays where it was - no automatically recalculating the route.
I'm sure as hell not paying yet another $10/month subscription fee to AT&T for their turn-by-turn directions. My garmin does exactly what it is supposed to and does it fairly well. It also works in places where AT&T has almost zero coverage - spent 90% of my recent holiday with "No Service" message on my iPhone. And for the record, just because your phone *is* connected to a network and can get real-time updates, doesn't mean it is any more accurate than the Garmin which I update quarterly. I've used the iPhone maps application to look up several places which when I arrived - no longer exist.
The advantage the iPhone gives me, as far as navigation, is to be able to look up a place's address (using the massive database of the internet) and punch that into my Garmin.
Here in Columbus (OH) the garmin (FM?) traffic only seems to notify me about events (traffic congestion, accident, etc) on major freeways. I don't think I've gotten any notices about surface streets. It has directed me around freeways closed due to accidents. It however, seems to lack any information about the multiple ramp closures (construction) on one of the main freeways here in town. Which is super annoying to say the least. Multiple consecutive exits are closed - so finding an alternate route before you get to the exit(s) you can't take would be exactly why I paid the fee for the traffic updates. I'm sure that is at least partially the fault of whoever is supposed to input the data locally - because the iPhone directions I just tried are ALSO right now (as a test) giving me instructions to take the same exit ramps that are closed.
So much for the "real-time" iPhone updates being better than the Garmin. What would really be ideal, because obviously the iPhone at least has a better chance of having more recent information, is to let the iPhone feed the Garmin real-time data over bluetooth. Be that traffic, weather, road closures, POIs, or even be able to tell the iPhone "send this destination to my garmin"
Engineers are human too. In the case of UA232 crash in Sioux City, all the hydraulics were destroyed. The engineers never anticipated this, so they didn't write it into "the book". The only way that anyone survived was because the pilots figured out a way to fly the aircraft never intended. Computers are only as good as their a) inputs and b) programming.
Humans and computers are both prone to error, and both prone to confusion from conflicting input. Computers are faster at making calculations, and more accurate at doing physics problems - but only if the input is correct. Computers lack human flexibility, adaptability, creativity, and thinking outside the box to solve problems. In normal operations, computers are arguably better at flying airplanes full of people than humans. When things aren't normal, I don't want a computer trying to figure out what to do with an airplane with a missing wing.
I'm a GA pilot and when I'm flying, I'm doing two basic things: 1) flying the airplane 2) keeping an eye out for a place to land if the engine goes out. It might be a field, a road, a lake, or if I'm lucky a runway. It would take millions of dollars of sophisticated equipment to have a computer figure out a place to land when the engine is out. And I'd figure I can do a better job landing in that situation anyways - because the computers tend to get confused when they have no power;)
I can't see how that fact that another computer can also access the Internet through the connection is all that different...
It is different in AT&T's world because they do place restrictions (artificial to be sure) on what the iPhone can do on the 3G network. I've run into limitations on the 3G network where where I get a warning that I can't download something (file, song, app) because it is > 10MB, and no streaming (so the $30 slingplayer app requires WiFi...Fsck! If I had wifi I would run the app on my macbook)
Would it be a DMCA violation to crack the DRM after the provider is unable to provide unlocking for legally purchased material? What if the company emerges from Chapter 11, or the IP is purchased by a third party? Could you then be sued/charged under the DMCA? What if you provide software/service (ala DeCSS?) to help other people unlock their stuff (assuming there is no official channel to do so)?
First of all what you are describing is not cybersquating (sic)
Funny, you appear to be the only one here who thinks so. And strictly legally, you may be correct. Ethically is another matter. You run around spending a few bucks per domain, snatching them up and holding the name hostage for the express purpose of extorting a massive margin (1000%+) from prospective internet (term used loosely here) site creators. To call what you do a "business model" is incredibly generous. You violate the most basic principles of the internet as a shared community. The internet is about building stuff. Maybe you share what you build with the rest of the community, maybe you don't. Maybe you operate a legitimate business on your domain and make a profit selling tea, or webspace, or whatever. I have no problems with that. I'm a big free-market capitalist pig. That doesn't mean, however, I believe in a FFA anything-goes marketplace. I can't walk into my competition's shop and piss on his product to drive his customers into my store.
If you were registering trademarks (instead of domain names) in the U.S. just to horde them and extort money, you would be hauled into court and get them stripped from you - because we have decided to set up a system that exists for inventors and people who actually do something useful. The "law" regarding domain names is obviously much less strict, because we are a community and we expect that folks who buy up a name are doing so to use it for something besides being an asshat.
As a community, we have decided that we wanted the field to be wide open for anyone to invent, create, and share without being forced to spend enormous amounts of capital./etc/services, OSS, and the RFCs are good examples of this. Snapping up domain names for the express purpose of holding them for ransom is quite the opposite.
I used to use Norton Tools, until it was bastardized by Symantec. I have had good luck in the last couple of years with RStudio (http://www.r-tt.com/). I used it to recover the pictures from a wiped SD card. I wish I hadn't once I saw the photos, but that isn't the software's fault. Looks like there is a free version for use on ext2/ext3 filesystems.
Sorry, I know this is OT, but wtf does this post have to do with yro? Some guy asks/. (hence askslashdot, durh) about options for sharing his personal laptop with his classmates while keeping it safe from stupidity. There is no gov't intrusion, TSA/ICE aren't asking to "borrow" it, the fuzz aren't installing keyloggers, etc. The instructor isn't forcing him to share, or as far as I can tell has even asked him to do so.
This couldn't have less to do with "rights", but that seems to be kdawson's boogey man that he trots out like a trophy girlfriend every chance he can.
When faced with a monopoly, having the better product does not mean you win in the market. Clearly superior products can and do lose because of artificial problems introduced to them
You make a good point. I would take your argument a bit further and contend that one major artificial problem is government-sponsored monopoly through the broken patent system, and instruments like the DMCA which are both used not to give the inventor a chance to profit from his work, but to bludgeon anyone or anything who might represent a threat to the bottom line.
Maybe I'm completely wrong, but it seems like the patent system has given us many of these monopolies because inventors and innovators are legally coerced from making a better light bulb. As I understand the history (admittedly I don't know much) the original system allowed inventors to create derivative works, if they somehow were able to show that said derivative was (by some standard) significantly different (not necessarily improved) from the original. There was no such patent as "...device or method by which a room may be illuminated between the hours of sunset and sunrise." Even the battle between Edison and Westinghouse wasn't over a patent for moving electrons - they both had *basically* the same discovery/invention.
Dreamhost had an issue last year where they incorrectly billed customers to the tune of millions of dollars.
They seemed to be quite up front about what happened, apologized, returned the money as quickly as possible and really tried to figure out how to not have it happen again.
Here's my issue with the idea that AT&T is complaining the iPhone is using too much data, so they have to scrap the unlimited data plan. Said "unlimited" data plan is already limited - just not in a strictly by-the-numbers bandwidth fashion. There are several things I know of that I'm not permitted to do while on the 3G network:
Apps > 10MB have to be done on the desktop version of iTunes, or over wifi.
The (new) slingplayer app only works on wifi (would have been useful to know BEFORE paying $30 for the app. Do the WinCE/crackberry versions have this restriction?)
Podcasts are limited to to those which the iPhone allows. You can subscribe in iTunes and sync, but you can't download podcasts > 10MB on 3G.
I'm sure the lack of flash is about Apple exerting control over the platform, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was also about bandwidth.
I'm not suggesting that the iPhone should be a platform for fetching the latest Ubuntu ISO on the 3G network. But for AT&T to play like iPhone users have unlimited options to use as much bw as they like is just not reality.
Suing the ex would get the court's attention enough that they could make a legal ruling, issue a restraining order/C&D, as well as direct Yahoo to remove the page. He, however, is a low-life with nothing to take in a settlement.
Yahoo has the money. I'm not saying this particular person decided to sue because of the money, but you can damn well bet the lawyers who got involved told her she could get a big payout from Yahoo - millions of dollars. The obvious incentive for the attorneys is to take a 50% (or whatever it is) cut of whatever she gets.
According to Joe Williams, general manager for Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft, Windows "delivers a poor experience and impacts customer satisfaction with our products..."
"Let's say I'm a student named Mary Kay Rudolph and I have a Yahoo account" said Mary Kay Rudolph, vice president of academic affairs. "But, instead of asking to be mkrudolph@yahoo.com I am mksrjc@yahoo.com. Or, I am santarosajuniorcollege2@yahoo.com. Those are both illegal."
These dumbasses really think that because they decree a policy, that somehow it automatically becomes codified law - and therefore illegal? Go back and take gov't 101, the elected legislature decides what is legal or not.
The summary makes it sound like it was just one asshat lawyer, but TFA indicates that the rest of the administration stands behind it. With these kind of morons running it, no wonder our education system is in the toilet.
I was waiting for the iteration after Kindle2 to see about buying one. I was really hoping for a touch screen (turn the page, pan/zoom) but it sounds like they've kept the "5-way" control stick, and buttons for turning the page. I had a nokia phone (6230?) a few years back which was primarily driven by a 5-way control. I liked nearly everything about the phone except that.
Between my Garmin GPS and my iPhone, I'm digging touch screen interfaces. I have the Kindle app for the iPhone, and I appreciate how (almost) natural it is to turn the page - pretty much the same motion as reading a physical book.
I'm scratching my head wondering why this Kindle DX doesn't have the touch screen? Do touch screens have a higher power requirement? Higher failure rate? How much more expensive in terms of hardware are they than the series of buttons? Is it something to do with the e-ink? Does Apple hold a patent on touch screen panning?
I've done the same thing. You know the vast majority of the spam comes from old addresses which have been harvested from published locations (ie my @.edu email) Only once I can think of where an email address in the catch-all domain was not from the company I gave it to originally.
Re:Sorry, but I have to consider the source
on
UN Attacks Free Speech
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
There is a fundamental difference between inciting hatred and and being critical of a religion.
Tell that to the people rioting in the streets over a Dutch newspaper cartoon, published more than 5 months prior - in an Arab newspaper. Tell it to the people who lost their lives in these "protests". Being critical is inciting hatred, or so it will come down. But only being critical of certain religions is disallowed. Criticism of Israel, Jews, or Christians who generally support those filthy murdering hebrew dogs is exempted. Criticize those specific groups, because they rightly deserve it. Or so says the United Nations.
I stopped giving my business to Blockbuster a few years ago in nearly the exact same situation. I was in a store, and commented to someone who was with me that I was annoyed that they'd jacked up their prices but were playing games with the rental periods. One of the employees on the floor started arguing with me about how this was so much better, and it was cheaper, etc. He actually stood there and argued with me that they'd lowered the rental cost, when in fact, the per-unit (day) cost was higher.
Wayne Huizenga, the guy who founded(?) Blockbuster, from what I know, is a really good guy. Gives lots of his money to charity, is involved with the south Florida community, etc. The guy is a picture of the American dream - started with couple of garbage trucks and built an empire that is now Waste Management, Blockbuster, and other things. Too bad the corporate drones are ruining Blockbuster's image with stupidity, and either suing or constantly playing catch-up to Netflix instead of competing and developing a better product.
I'm slightly surprised that TiVo doesn't have a non-compete type agreement with Netflix to prevent Blockbuster from running on the TiVo in parallel to Netflix. Good for the consumer though - more choices and we get to decide.
Not so much. They rarely look at individual answers on (real, not one of the fake made-up HR) personality inventories like the MMPI, unless there is some specific reason to do so. The test is scored, and certain questions combine to form a score for a particular category - honesty, outlook (are you happy, morose, depressed?), self-control, etc. They're also looking at your beliefs about things like how much you control the outcome of a situation - is it all deterministic (your actions are 100% responsible) or luck (you can't change the outcome of anything). The same question can and is asked in different ways - this is where they try to get at honesty, or if you're paying attention to what you're doing. Non-sensical scores might cause the evaulator to look at individual questions to see if something is wrong (ie did you mark A,B,C,D,E in that order all the way down the test)
While this type of battery could be performed by HR I suppose, being that it is a psychological test, it is generally administered and evaluated by a trained professional, or agency. Because of this, it is also generally covered by human subjects rules.
Answering the "wrong way" to one or two questions (out of over 500) isn't going to flag you as a crazy anarchist. Now, if the HR dept sees the Ron Paul bumper sticker on your car...
* I have a psychology degree, but it has been a while so I've forgotten a few things.
IIRC, in the state of Ohio where I live, the law is that sans warrant, only one party has to be aware that the call is being recorded. I could be wrong about that. Your basic point however, is right. Lots of stuff like this varies from state to state, and country to country.
Slashdot Mirror
This "Smart Grid" has a way of spying on a home owners (or renters) privacy as well as shutting off devices so that they cannot use them until off-peak hours.
Exactly. I don't want the power company, or the government, controlling when and how I use appliances in my house. MY house, MY appliances. STAY OUT. Smart-meter my ass.
I agree it looks like crap, but it appears to be an issue with the font rendering engine (either FF3.5 itself or the OS) in Windows. The fonts are artifacted in a bad way. However, it looks pretty decent on Safari 4 (OS X) and FF3.5 (OS X). I first pulled it up in Windows and was asking myself wtf the big deal was, and why they would choose such a horrible example to show off the technique, because it just looked that bad.
There is a "warning" at the top of the page when viewing it in safari that the demo was only meant to be viewed in FF, but it looks fine.
Screenshots WinXP, OS X, Firefox 3.5, OSX, Safari 4
Maybe not the wrong currency soon, the way we're printing money here...
I have a nuvi660 and an iPhone (3G, to be fair). I've tried using the iPhone as a GPS while driving and it is terrible. It doesn't speak the directions, so you have to constantly look at the little bitty purple line on the screen and figure out based on the even smaller dot that represents you, where the next turn will be. If you miss a turn, the dot just keeps going, but the purple line stays where it was - no automatically recalculating the route.
I'm sure as hell not paying yet another $10/month subscription fee to AT&T for their turn-by-turn directions. My garmin does exactly what it is supposed to and does it fairly well. It also works in places where AT&T has almost zero coverage - spent 90% of my recent holiday with "No Service" message on my iPhone. And for the record, just because your phone *is* connected to a network and can get real-time updates, doesn't mean it is any more accurate than the Garmin which I update quarterly. I've used the iPhone maps application to look up several places which when I arrived - no longer exist.
The advantage the iPhone gives me, as far as navigation, is to be able to look up a place's address (using the massive database of the internet) and punch that into my Garmin.
Here in Columbus (OH) the garmin (FM?) traffic only seems to notify me about events (traffic congestion, accident, etc) on major freeways. I don't think I've gotten any notices about surface streets. It has directed me around freeways closed due to accidents. It however, seems to lack any information about the multiple ramp closures (construction) on one of the main freeways here in town. Which is super annoying to say the least. Multiple consecutive exits are closed - so finding an alternate route before you get to the exit(s) you can't take would be exactly why I paid the fee for the traffic updates. I'm sure that is at least partially the fault of whoever is supposed to input the data locally - because the iPhone directions I just tried are ALSO right now (as a test) giving me instructions to take the same exit ramps that are closed.
So much for the "real-time" iPhone updates being better than the Garmin. What would really be ideal, because obviously the iPhone at least has a better chance of having more recent information, is to let the iPhone feed the Garmin real-time data over bluetooth. Be that traffic, weather, road closures, POIs, or even be able to tell the iPhone "send this destination to my garmin"
Don't start cheering how great DHS is just yet, because while they're simultaneously talking about killing this program, they're putting UAV drones in the air. http://www.newswatch50.com/news/local/story/Homeland-Security-drone-patrolling-NNY/8ujqf9M2YkCXVlOmBVxFOg.cspx
Engineers are human too. In the case of UA232 crash in Sioux City, all the hydraulics were destroyed. The engineers never anticipated this, so they didn't write it into "the book". The only way that anyone survived was because the pilots figured out a way to fly the aircraft never intended. Computers are only as good as their a) inputs and b) programming.
;)
Humans and computers are both prone to error, and both prone to confusion from conflicting input. Computers are faster at making calculations, and more accurate at doing physics problems - but only if the input is correct. Computers lack human flexibility, adaptability, creativity, and thinking outside the box to solve problems. In normal operations, computers are arguably better at flying airplanes full of people than humans. When things aren't normal, I don't want a computer trying to figure out what to do with an airplane with a missing wing.
I'm a GA pilot and when I'm flying, I'm doing two basic things: 1) flying the airplane 2) keeping an eye out for a place to land if the engine goes out. It might be a field, a road, a lake, or if I'm lucky a runway. It would take millions of dollars of sophisticated equipment to have a computer figure out a place to land when the engine is out. And I'd figure I can do a better job landing in that situation anyways - because the computers tend to get confused when they have no power
I can't see how that fact that another computer can also access the Internet through the connection is all that different...
It is different in AT&T's world because they do place restrictions (artificial to be sure) on what the iPhone can do on the 3G network. I've run into limitations on the 3G network where where I get a warning that I can't download something (file, song, app) because it is > 10MB, and no streaming (so the $30 slingplayer app requires WiFi...Fsck! If I had wifi I would run the app on my macbook)
Would it be a DMCA violation to crack the DRM after the provider is unable to provide unlocking for legally purchased material? What if the company emerges from Chapter 11, or the IP is purchased by a third party? Could you then be sued/charged under the DMCA? What if you provide software/service (ala DeCSS?) to help other people unlock their stuff (assuming there is no official channel to do so)?
First of all what you are describing is not cybersquating (sic)
Funny, you appear to be the only one here who thinks so. And strictly legally, you may be correct. Ethically is another matter. You run around spending a few bucks per domain, snatching them up and holding the name hostage for the express purpose of extorting a massive margin (1000%+) from prospective internet (term used loosely here) site creators. To call what you do a "business model" is incredibly generous. You violate the most basic principles of the internet as a shared community. The internet is about building stuff. Maybe you share what you build with the rest of the community, maybe you don't. Maybe you operate a legitimate business on your domain and make a profit selling tea, or webspace, or whatever. I have no problems with that. I'm a big free-market capitalist pig. That doesn't mean, however, I believe in a FFA anything-goes marketplace. I can't walk into my competition's shop and piss on his product to drive his customers into my store.
/etc/services, OSS, and the RFCs are good examples of this. Snapping up domain names for the express purpose of holding them for ransom is quite the opposite.
If you were registering trademarks (instead of domain names) in the U.S. just to horde them and extort money, you would be hauled into court and get them stripped from you - because we have decided to set up a system that exists for inventors and people who actually do something useful. The "law" regarding domain names is obviously much less strict, because we are a community and we expect that folks who buy up a name are doing so to use it for something besides being an asshat.
As a community, we have decided that we wanted the field to be wide open for anyone to invent, create, and share without being forced to spend enormous amounts of capital.
I used to use Norton Tools, until it was bastardized by Symantec. I have had good luck in the last couple of years with RStudio (http://www.r-tt.com/). I used it to recover the pictures from a wiped SD card. I wish I hadn't once I saw the photos, but that isn't the software's fault. Looks like there is a free version for use on ext2/ext3 filesystems.
Sorry, I know this is OT, but wtf does this post have to do with yro? Some guy asks /. (hence askslashdot, durh) about options for sharing his personal laptop with his classmates while keeping it safe from stupidity. There is no gov't intrusion, TSA/ICE aren't asking to "borrow" it, the fuzz aren't installing keyloggers, etc. The instructor isn't forcing him to share, or as far as I can tell has even asked him to do so.
This couldn't have less to do with "rights", but that seems to be kdawson's boogey man that he trots out like a trophy girlfriend every chance he can.
When faced with a monopoly, having the better product does not mean you win in the market. Clearly superior products can and do lose because of artificial problems introduced to them
You make a good point. I would take your argument a bit further and contend that one major artificial problem is government-sponsored monopoly through the broken patent system, and instruments like the DMCA which are both used not to give the inventor a chance to profit from his work, but to bludgeon anyone or anything who might represent a threat to the bottom line.
Maybe I'm completely wrong, but it seems like the patent system has given us many of these monopolies because inventors and innovators are legally coerced from making a better light bulb. As I understand the history (admittedly I don't know much) the original system allowed inventors to create derivative works, if they somehow were able to show that said derivative was (by some standard) significantly different (not necessarily improved) from the original. There was no such patent as "...device or method by which a room may be illuminated between the hours of sunset and sunrise." Even the battle between Edison and Westinghouse wasn't over a patent for moving electrons - they both had *basically* the same discovery/invention.
Dreamhost had an issue last year where they incorrectly billed customers to the tune of millions of dollars. They seemed to be quite up front about what happened, apologized, returned the money as quickly as possible and really tried to figure out how to not have it happen again.
I'm not suggesting that the iPhone should be a platform for fetching the latest Ubuntu ISO on the 3G network. But for AT&T to play like iPhone users have unlimited options to use as much bw as they like is just not reality.
Suing the ex would get the court's attention enough that they could make a legal ruling, issue a restraining order/C&D, as well as direct Yahoo to remove the page. He, however, is a low-life with nothing to take in a settlement.
Yahoo has the money. I'm not saying this particular person decided to sue because of the money, but you can damn well bet the lawyers who got involved told her she could get a big payout from Yahoo - millions of dollars. The obvious incentive for the attorneys is to take a 50% (or whatever it is) cut of whatever she gets.
According to Joe Williams, general manager for Worldwide Genuine Windows at Microsoft, Windows "delivers a poor experience and impacts customer satisfaction with our products..."
There, fixed that for ya.
"Let's say I'm a student named Mary Kay Rudolph and I have a Yahoo account" said Mary Kay Rudolph, vice president of academic affairs. "But, instead of asking to be mkrudolph@yahoo.com I am mksrjc@yahoo.com. Or, I am santarosajuniorcollege2@yahoo.com. Those are both illegal."
These dumbasses really think that because they decree a policy, that somehow it automatically becomes codified law - and therefore illegal? Go back and take gov't 101, the elected legislature decides what is legal or not.
The summary makes it sound like it was just one asshat lawyer, but TFA indicates that the rest of the administration stands behind it. With these kind of morons running it, no wonder our education system is in the toilet.
I was waiting for the iteration after Kindle2 to see about buying one. I was really hoping for a touch screen (turn the page, pan/zoom) but it sounds like they've kept the "5-way" control stick, and buttons for turning the page. I had a nokia phone (6230?) a few years back which was primarily driven by a 5-way control. I liked nearly everything about the phone except that.
Between my Garmin GPS and my iPhone, I'm digging touch screen interfaces. I have the Kindle app for the iPhone, and I appreciate how (almost) natural it is to turn the page - pretty much the same motion as reading a physical book.
I'm scratching my head wondering why this Kindle DX doesn't have the touch screen? Do touch screens have a higher power requirement? Higher failure rate? How much more expensive in terms of hardware are they than the series of buttons? Is it something to do with the e-ink? Does Apple hold a patent on touch screen panning?
I've done the same thing. You know the vast majority of the spam comes from old addresses which have been harvested from published locations (ie my @.edu email) Only once I can think of where an email address in the catch-all domain was not from the company I gave it to originally.
There is a fundamental difference between inciting hatred and and being critical of a religion.
Tell that to the people rioting in the streets over a Dutch newspaper cartoon, published more than 5 months prior - in an Arab newspaper. Tell it to the people who lost their lives in these "protests". Being critical is inciting hatred, or so it will come down. But only being critical of certain religions is disallowed. Criticism of Israel, Jews, or Christians who generally support those filthy murdering hebrew dogs is exempted. Criticize those specific groups, because they rightly deserve it. Or so says the United Nations.
I stopped giving my business to Blockbuster a few years ago in nearly the exact same situation. I was in a store, and commented to someone who was with me that I was annoyed that they'd jacked up their prices but were playing games with the rental periods. One of the employees on the floor started arguing with me about how this was so much better, and it was cheaper, etc. He actually stood there and argued with me that they'd lowered the rental cost, when in fact, the per-unit (day) cost was higher.
Wayne Huizenga, the guy who founded(?) Blockbuster, from what I know, is a really good guy. Gives lots of his money to charity, is involved with the south Florida community, etc. The guy is a picture of the American dream - started with couple of garbage trucks and built an empire that is now Waste Management, Blockbuster, and other things. Too bad the corporate drones are ruining Blockbuster's image with stupidity, and either suing or constantly playing catch-up to Netflix instead of competing and developing a better product.
I'm slightly surprised that TiVo doesn't have a non-compete type agreement with Netflix to prevent Blockbuster from running on the TiVo in parallel to Netflix. Good for the consumer though - more choices and we get to decide.
I'm just making some educated guessing
Not so much. They rarely look at individual answers on (real, not one of the fake made-up HR) personality inventories like the MMPI, unless there is some specific reason to do so. The test is scored, and certain questions combine to form a score for a particular category - honesty, outlook (are you happy, morose, depressed?), self-control, etc. They're also looking at your beliefs about things like how much you control the outcome of a situation - is it all deterministic (your actions are 100% responsible) or luck (you can't change the outcome of anything). The same question can and is asked in different ways - this is where they try to get at honesty, or if you're paying attention to what you're doing. Non-sensical scores might cause the evaulator to look at individual questions to see if something is wrong (ie did you mark A,B,C,D,E in that order all the way down the test)
While this type of battery could be performed by HR I suppose, being that it is a psychological test, it is generally administered and evaluated by a trained professional, or agency. Because of this, it is also generally covered by human subjects rules.
Answering the "wrong way" to one or two questions (out of over 500) isn't going to flag you as a crazy anarchist. Now, if the HR dept sees the Ron Paul bumper sticker on your car...
* I have a psychology degree, but it has been a while so I've forgotten a few things.
Good call. That's what I've been doing wrong.
Personally I`m waiting for voice recognition to become practical. I think that's more the future of how we control our devices.
You mean you haven't programmed your device to recognize commands such as
Well, what are you waiting for?
IIRC, in the state of Ohio where I live, the law is that sans warrant, only one party has to be aware that the call is being recorded. I could be wrong about that. Your basic point however, is right. Lots of stuff like this varies from state to state, and country to country.