Try a Mac. One of the things that initially impressed me most about my old iBook G4 was that sleep actually worked.
My macbook mostly wakes up fine from being suspended, and I've generally been very happy with it. Occasionally, however, it gets confused about whether the lid is open or not. Sometimes I can recover by waiting, sometimes by closing the lid and waiting, and other times it just doesn't want to come back and requires a reboot holding down the power button.
Because the screen stays black when it is "confused", the only two indications I have that something is happening are the white LED and the CD drive making noises. The LED is supposed to be solid when the system is on (lid open), and fading in/out when sleeping (lid closed) - but it occasionally appears to be reversed.
Oh, I agree. Though I'm a bit surprised at the 3W quote, I thought it took more power than that to keep the memory refreshed.
In my case, yes. Suspended, my office tower sucks 4W according to a thinkgeek Kill-A-Watt device. The PSU is an Antec trupower trio 650. IIRC, the box runs about 180-200W when idle (as idle as Windows will ever get.) With all the gum flapping and hand waving about unplugging your TV instead of turning it off because the little red light is killing the planet, I was pleasantly surprised myself. Trying to save myself some money on power bills, screw the caribou.
I also noticed that with my linux server in the basement, changing out the video card from an NV5700fx(?) to a cheapo old card figuring it would save some power, didn't make any noticeable difference in instant measurements. Might be because the nv is already running in a low-power mode sitting on a console (no X)?
I might fire up X on the office tower and compare the idle draw there to the idle of windows, and maybe even to the BIOS settings screen to get some kind of a control. Who knows, maybe Linux is better for my wallet and the planet.
If they didn't, then these stories would be in Time Magazine (or, better yet, TV Guide) and not on Slashdot.
I tend to disagree somewhat. Connect the dots. It is a short path. The media is owned by the same companies that make the movies, the ones represented by the *AA, the ones who are pushing the DRM. It is not at all in the dinosaur media org's interest to publish stories about how bad DRM is for consumers, or how it causes problems.
Consumers have been so trained (honestly by MSFT, but maybe if not them it would have been someone else) to expect electronics to fail, that I'm sure they don't even realize their HDCP/HDMI component authorization whats-it-gizmo is failed because of draconian content protection.
I have never, ever, pirated a movie off the 'net. A few songs here and there when I was in college, but mostly I listen to the radio or buy the music I want to listen to. Everytime one of these stories comes up, I get a little bit closer to believing that wading through the usenet Bay looking for the content I'm interested in is the only way left to go.
On a side, but related note, I've been trying recently to get some mainstream music licensed for a commemorative DVD for a non-profit I'm working with. What a pain in the ass. For each song, I have to find, contact, and get permission from at minimum two different and unconnected stakeholders. I'm trying to do the right thing because I believe the artists have a right to their work, but the difficulty and the range of answers I'm getting (do I need permission, what kind of permission?) on this topic is nuts.
Yep. I have a years-old standard DVD player which mostly works just fine for me. My TV is a standard definition CRT which accepts component inputs, so the picture looks fine. No need to deal with the hassle of HDMI and wondering whether my TV is going to work or not because some part of the HDMI chain didn't like the direction of the breeze.
I'm with the parent. I was getting ready to replace my family's (little sister's) Dell with a mac mini for Christmas. This is the kind of TPM(?) garbage I've come to expect from the likes of Microsoft. I was also planning on at some point in the near future giving my macbook to my other sister and buying myself a new one. That would have been two more Apple computers - and likely two more converts from their biggest competitor - which I'm seriously reconsidering now. Not because I like Windows, but because I don't want to waste my money.
I was looking into taking a snapshot of a fresh+patched windows install because I was tired of reformatting and then spending hours reinstalling+patching.
I checked out http://www.partimage.org/ which seems to be the tool targeting what you're trying to do.
For me, it didn't work out because the only apparent way to burn an image to disc is to have DVD+RW media and I didn't have the patience to wait until I could get to the store to buy the rewritables.
Loss isn't always from employees just out-and-out stealing stuff. When I worked at an office supply store (OfficeMax, IIRC) and we had "overstocked" items - product that the computer insisted we didn't have. The manager would take the perfectly good product out back and destroy it. I remember particularly that they opened several of the really large bags of m&ms into the dumpster - despite my objection that they could give it to a school or something instead of wasting it. In another situation the store manager called me out back and wanted me to stomp on some of those plastic in/out organizing tray things. I refused and she insisted saying that I should act like I'm mad at the trays just like I think she's a bitch. I just looked at her like she was nuts, but in the end refused to destroy stuff.
I sort-of got back at her by suggesting to customers who couldn't find something to look out the front windows of our store. The Staples across the street probably had what they wanted.
Maybe. But when I was interviewing my replacements for a software dev position, the liars were obvious. One guy on a phone interview could be heard flipping pages of a book of some sort while stalling "uhm" "uhh, what do you mean by that?" as he searched for an answer to what we thought were relatively simple questions.
While your point about trying to present a more pithy message is valid, your bullet quote is incorrect.
Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality
The difference might appear minor, but this is what the pols do. They get you to believe they support something, but then come back later with BS like "well, what I said was I believe in the principle of foo" - which gives them plenty of room to claim that they never really supported foo, or that you just have a difference of opinion on what foo is, and what you think of foo, s/he never really understood it to mean bar.
Whether it is drilling for domestic fuel, bailing out people who took out loans for homes they couldn't afford (it isn't a tax-payer-funded "bail-out" my senator claims), bridges to nowhere, peanut museums, etc pols will always, always find a way to spin it and make us seem like we don't know what we we're talking about. How often has Sen. Obama said something like "Well, that's not the person (Rev. Wright, William Ayers, Tony Rezko, etc) I knew"? He isn't alone in this two-facedness, it comes from both sides, but the expediency of disassociation from notorious Chicago politics in this case is interesting at least.
It just appears to me as someone who is trying to objectively evaluate the options, that his supporters have drunk the kool-aid. He can't do anything wrong, and any criticism of him, his proposed policies, his past, or the company he keeps, is shouted down or met with cries of racism. It isn't about the exchange of ideas with this guy or his campaign. There is no debate, no discussion. If you don't like the direction he wants to take the country, you're a racist, and that is the only possible reason he might lose. Really sad, and makes me very wary of his administration might do to free speech in this country. From what I've been able to gather, WGN inviting on someone from the left to argue for Obama wasn't good enough. The campaign made an obvious effort to muzzle speech they didn't like - instead of arguing against the content and making their case why it was wrong.
Yesterday I saw Sen. Shumer (D-NY) and Sen. Kyle (R-AZ) on one of the talking heads programs. They obviously disagreed on current events, yet it was civil, respectful, and they both made their arguments well.
To the original point, when you quote a pol, quote them exactly - because every word matters, and they'll use that to play the people and the tax payers like a fiddle. To state flat out that Sen. Obama supports net neutrality is simply not correct.
Many, many people that I've tried to talk to about this very thing completely don't understand encryption at the most basic level - why it matters or if they have it. My guess from past experience is that if you tried to talk to P&G about it, the people responsible would try to tell you that it didn't need encryption, because the site is on *their* servers, so the data only goes on their network, and no amount of convincing would get them to think otherwise. The site you mentioned was probably farmed out anyways.
The state of affairs when it comes to the most basic data protection is really sad. One case was where I was applying for a job which required my SSN (a federal gov't position). The instructions were to download the form and email it. I called the number listed and explained why I wasn't going to include my SSN in an email, and they weren't mad, but they were annoyed. So you tell me a) did they wait for my app and trash it because I put "withheld for security reasons, will provide offline" (something like that) b) if the folks running the federal jobs website think it is okay to email around sensitive information (this was another one of those "your email is stored in our secure servers" things), then it must be okay, right?
Even in the physical realm, things aren't much better. A couple of months ago, I called a local business to complain that they'd charged my creditcard a fee for canceling an appointment. (The number shouldn't be on file, I know. At the time I didn't realize that it was.) I explained to the person that when I canceled the appointment I was aware of the fee, but to send me a bill for it and I'd pay it when I got the bill. They sent me an invoice in the mail, with the charges and showing the balance was paid. I asked the guy which credit card they'd charged - and he proceeded to read off the type, entire number, and expiration date - without any authentication from me except my name and one other non-secret item, derived from the start of the conversation. I've since canceled that card, but people really don't understand.
...unless you act... your opponent's information is going to get out there
So the idea is that instead of competing in the marketplace of ideas, this guy's plan is to find a way to suppress his opponent's speech. That is an incredibly poor statement from the political left comprised of such outspoken "free speech" advocates such as the ACLU. "If you can't beat 'em, make sure no one hears what they have to say"? I expect that a liberal would advocate for more speech, not less.
I had a roommate who I would have to go into his room and turn off his computer because he would leave the house with some P2P client running, sucking up all the bandwidth for the rest of us.
The same roommate didn't know how to do laundry - he would cram 3 or 4 loads into the basement washer that I owned, putting excess strain on the drum motor, etc. Then he would move it all to the dryer - the whole tumble thing really didn't work because there was no room. He was confused when he had to run the dryer for half a day to get his clothes dry. I finally gave up talking to him about it and installed a hidden toggle switch between the breaker panel and the washer's outlet. When anyone besides him needed to use the washer/dryer, I would just turn the switch on for a while.
He was pretty pissed, but by that point I didn't really care. I'd just had enough of him abusing my stuff. Bandwidth is shared. If your housemate won't play nice, then maybe one of these is in order.
Any ideas how to determine ISP from IP? $ whois 128.146.1.7
OrgName: Ohio State University OrgID: OSU-2 Address: OIT Enterprise Networking Address: 320 West 8th Avenue City: Columbus StateProv: OH PostalCode: 43201 Country: US ...
Doesn't always work - sometimes there is more than one "owner" of an IP (has something to do with block allocation that I don't quite understand, 66.35.250.150 is like this) but usually seems to get me the info I need.
Dr Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia wrote a really interesting book that devotes some time to this subject, called A More Perfect Constitution. He talks about the gerrymandering (fixing districts so the incumbent, or at least the same party, always wins) that goes on, and proposes some interesting solutions, including making the House 1000 members to be more representative of the actual population. This, he says, would have the effect of producing smaller constituencies, require less money for someone to run for office, and invite more non-politicians into the process. It was a fairly easy read, and he provides historical perspective on why the Constitution is the way it is, and what we might do to make it better. One of his primary arguments in the book is that it is a living document, meant to be changed over time - that the founders never intended it to be so static for so long.
And I'd sue Netflix in small claims for everything you've paid so far. B-)
= = = =
Imagine if fifty, just fifty, people a day did that. They might think it's a movement. And that's what it is. The Alice's Restaurant Anti-DRM-masaccree movement. And you can join just by singing it, the next time it comes around on the guitar... B-) Maybe you were being a bit sarcastic, but I imagine that the only result is to put Netflix out of business, which would not in any way move the situation toward resolution.
I'm 110% with you. I've been begging for this and have emailed both Netflix and TiVo to that effect, but apparently it ain't gonna happen.
I don't want another box, another input/output to hassle with, more cables behind my tv, another remote, another stupid UI to deal with, etc. I like my TiVo, and I like the UI. I like that Netflix has a huge selection - typical movies to now canceledshows. I had a Netflix subscription to catch up on episodes of Farscape when a friend introduced me to the show in the middle of season two and I had no idea wth was going on. So put the two things together -- this seems obvious to everyone but the idiots who handle so-called "content licensing". If they would get their heads out of their collective ass, they could make money from people like me, because I would pay to download content to my TiVo.
I don't like Amazon Unbox, honestly. Titles are hard to find, and most random things I look for seem to be not found or unavailable - or are only available to "purchase" or "rent to your PC". Dumb. I assume the TiVo deal with Amazon is some kind of exclusive contract that prevents TiVo from even talking to Netflix. TiVo, from my perspective as a customer/consumer, has done a lot of things right. This is not one of them.
Well, OK: if you were using webmail before GMail, I can see why you'd switch to GMail. But to me, that still begs the question of: why were you using webmail in the first place? I understand your overall point. However, I wasn't using webmail before gmail. I hated hotmail/yahoo/etc and recognized how "generic" it was. I was using Pine, Eudora, and Thunderbird. I switched to web mail for a few reasons:
the slick UI (searching messages in a desktop/local client always required me to specify more parameters about the search than I wanted to) You say BFD, I say a well-designed client lets me get through my mail faster, or find an old message quickly.
the universal client - the web browser. Not every machine has Thunderbird installed, and even if it does, it means configuring (and keeping configured) the client.
No local cache means that I don't worry about checking my personal mail at work - since I use SSL to connect to gmail, and sometimes further route that link over SSH to an external system. Not
A local client has to be re-configured, and all the mail re-downloaded every time the system is re-built
I like pine as a remote client, but it obviously has short-comings. Purists will try to revoke my geek card for saying that, and I spend a good part of my day in a terminal but last I used it Pine wasn't cutting it for things like attaching files (lives on a remote system) or downloading/viewing attachments (same reason). I'm getting kind of ticked with this crap Google is pulling. If I could find a web client I liked as much as their UI, I would install it on my mail host. I don't have the time, energy, or large org behind me to simply recreate their client for myself.
I have a "high-end" system, and SC performs okay - the graphics are actually pretty decent imho - until it crashes the system. Which can be anywhere from 2 - 90 minutes into a game. Can't finish the single player UEF mission because of this, haven't tried the others. THQ support is no help either. The auto-patch/updater process through the GPGnet client is a PITA, especially for a fresh install. Takes more than 30 minutes, and not because of link speed - but because the GPGnet client has to update itself multiple (8?) times before actually patching the game (two - three times?). Each time the GPGnet client applies a patch to itself, it restarts and wants you to log back in. Except that you can't because you're already logged in - which lasts for between 2 - 4 minutes. Irritating is putting it mildly.
As far as the AI goes, yeah it pretty much sucks. The computer won't seem to make any real effort to attack until it builds an experimental unit. Seems like it is much more focused on defense - builds lots of shields and groups of fixed surface-to-surface and surface-to-air weapons.
Pretty disappointing, considering we had a blast playing TA back in college.
Yes, Wideopenwest is available in some areas. I call them about once every two months to see if they have service in my neighborhood. I had them in the place I lived about 5 miles from where I am now. They were great. The service worked almost all the time, and when it didn't they always tried to be helpful about getting it fixed. For broadband, you bought (or rented from them) your cablemodem, so you had a choice to buy something decent and not get stuck with some used/broken POS. Good luck getting T/W to acknowledge you have a problem that isn't somehow your fault.
This "agreement" seems to suggest less competition - making it even more unlikely for a company like WOW to expand their service area.
I live in Columbus, and have never heard of this. I hate T/W, but they're the only cable option where I live. Can someone please explain in English what this means or provide a link to something more substantial? I RTFA (which is just a press release from the mouth pieces downtown) but don't understand what this is? It mentions "increased competition" - but does nothing to explain how that is achieved? AFAIK, I still don't have an option to switch to another cable provider, but I haven't called them in the last 4 weeks to see.
Having not used Amazon's service or movielink or anything like that I can't comment on them except to say that I would never use them.
Amazon sucks mostly because their selection available for the TiVo is crap. I don't want to watch movies on my laptop, or sitting at my desk. I want to watch them on my damn TV. As a previous Netflix subscriber, they have an incredible selection. I've said this before, but whatever the problem was between TiVo and Netflix, they should have worked it out if only because it could have made both of them money. I seriously hope that whenever the contract between TiVo and Amazon expires, TiVo will talk to Netflix again.
(* Yes, there are DVRs that accept CableCards, but they're prohibitively expensive, you have to pay for the cards, and we've all heard how much trouble it is to get a CableCard installed correctly.) I expected it to be a royal PITA to get CableCards for my S3, and at first when I called TimeWarner (Central Ohio) they couldn't figure out what I was talking about. When the tech came out with the cards, it was a breeze. Plug them in, the TiVo displays some numbers that the tech reads to someone over the phone and it works. Less than 10 minutes. I've heard stories however, and this may not be typical.
If you call Sprint customer service, they told me and will likely tell you there is no way to block SMS except all incoming or all outgoing or all of both, and offer you a texting "plan" for some monthly cost.
However, if you (customer) log into their website and go the area that lets you/send/ a text message (My online tools->SMS Messaging->Settings & Preferences), there is an option to block (up to 50?) numbers from sending you text messages. How well it works I really don't know.
I have a better idea for Netflix. Partner with TiVo to deliver movies over the wire. I don't know what happened to that deal, but they should find a way to work it out. TiVo is now aligned with Amazon. The Amazon service pretty much sucks from the (lack of) search options (try finding a movie to rent and then clicking on an actor's name in the credits list) to the lousy selection.
I would go back to Netflix (previous subscriber, and was pretty happy) if they would do that, instead of this half-assed deal where you can watch the movies on your Windows (only) PC. It really is too bad, because Netflix has a great selection, a well thought out web interface, and decent customer service.
I live in Columbus, and this was all over the place - I don't even watch the local news. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know what happened. So stuff about not wanting the criminals to know what they had, or trying to determine what was on the tapes, etc is CYA bull.
The local TV station had quotes from this dope talking about how he had done this (left the tapes in his car) before and when he brought them inside he said he just threw them on top of his TV(*). As an Ohio resident and a geek, I say he should be fired. From what I understand the governor's office gave him a chance to resign, and he refused. So now he has "fired" on his resume. That is brilliant. Obviously he has something to do with IT, so he should know better than to leave any valuable equipment in his car. If the tapes didn't get stolen, then you still have a serious risk of damage from 140F+ temperatures inside the car. This is a major duh. Stuff is stolen out of cars often around here. Living in and around the campus area I've had 3 incidents of vehicle contents theft (one time all they got was a handful of pennies), and one grand theft auto. No one is shocked this guy's car was broken into.
I also say his boss and the next boss up should also have been fired (AFAIK one has already resigned) - in part to send a message that this is totally unacceptable. There have been several cases recently involving Ohio agencies including Ohio State Univ (one involving the unit I work for, grr) and Ohio University. I would have expected that someone would have gotten a clue from the "smaller" thefts and done something proactive.
(*) Sorry, I can't seem to find the article with his quotes about the TV at the moment.
Slashdot Mirror
Try a Mac. One of the things that initially impressed me most about my old iBook G4 was that sleep actually worked.
My macbook mostly wakes up fine from being suspended, and I've generally been very happy with it. Occasionally, however, it gets confused about whether the lid is open or not. Sometimes I can recover by waiting, sometimes by closing the lid and waiting, and other times it just doesn't want to come back and requires a reboot holding down the power button.
Because the screen stays black when it is "confused", the only two indications I have that something is happening are the white LED and the CD drive making noises. The LED is supposed to be solid when the system is on (lid open), and fading in/out when sleeping (lid closed) - but it occasionally appears to be reversed.
Oh, I agree. Though I'm a bit surprised at the 3W quote, I thought it took more power than that to keep the memory refreshed.
In my case, yes. Suspended, my office tower sucks 4W according to a thinkgeek Kill-A-Watt device. The PSU is an Antec trupower trio 650. IIRC, the box runs about 180-200W when idle (as idle as Windows will ever get.) With all the gum flapping and hand waving about unplugging your TV instead of turning it off because the little red light is killing the planet, I was pleasantly surprised myself. Trying to save myself some money on power bills, screw the caribou.
I also noticed that with my linux server in the basement, changing out the video card from an NV5700fx(?) to a cheapo old card figuring it would save some power, didn't make any noticeable difference in instant measurements. Might be because the nv is already running in a low-power mode sitting on a console (no X)?
I might fire up X on the office tower and compare the idle draw there to the idle of windows, and maybe even to the BIOS settings screen to get some kind of a control. Who knows, maybe Linux is better for my wallet and the planet.
If they didn't, then these stories would be in Time Magazine (or, better yet, TV Guide) and not on Slashdot.
I tend to disagree somewhat. Connect the dots. It is a short path. The media is owned by the same companies that make the movies, the ones represented by the *AA, the ones who are pushing the DRM. It is not at all in the dinosaur media org's interest to publish stories about how bad DRM is for consumers, or how it causes problems.
Consumers have been so trained (honestly by MSFT, but maybe if not them it would have been someone else) to expect electronics to fail, that I'm sure they don't even realize their HDCP/HDMI component authorization whats-it-gizmo is failed because of draconian content protection.
I have never, ever, pirated a movie off the 'net. A few songs here and there when I was in college, but mostly I listen to the radio or buy the music I want to listen to. Everytime one of these stories comes up, I get a little bit closer to believing that wading through the usenet Bay looking for the content I'm interested in is the only way left to go.
On a side, but related note, I've been trying recently to get some mainstream music licensed for a commemorative DVD for a non-profit I'm working with. What a pain in the ass. For each song, I have to find, contact, and get permission from at minimum two different and unconnected stakeholders. I'm trying to do the right thing because I believe the artists have a right to their work, but the difficulty and the range of answers I'm getting (do I need permission, what kind of permission?) on this topic is nuts.
Yep. I have a years-old standard DVD player which mostly works just fine for me. My TV is a standard definition CRT which accepts component inputs, so the picture looks fine. No need to deal with the hassle of HDMI and wondering whether my TV is going to work or not because some part of the HDMI chain didn't like the direction of the breeze.
I'm with the parent. I was getting ready to replace my family's (little sister's) Dell with a mac mini for Christmas. This is the kind of TPM(?) garbage I've come to expect from the likes of Microsoft. I was also planning on at some point in the near future giving my macbook to my other sister and buying myself a new one. That would have been two more Apple computers - and likely two more converts from their biggest competitor - which I'm seriously reconsidering now. Not because I like Windows, but because I don't want to waste my money.
I was looking into taking a snapshot of a fresh+patched windows install because I was tired of reformatting and then spending hours reinstalling+patching.
I checked out http://www.partimage.org/ which seems to be the tool targeting what you're trying to do.
For me, it didn't work out because the only apparent way to burn an image to disc is to have DVD+RW media and I didn't have the patience to wait until I could get to the store to buy the rewritables.
Loss isn't always from employees just out-and-out stealing stuff. When I worked at an office supply store (OfficeMax, IIRC) and we had "overstocked" items - product that the computer insisted we didn't have. The manager would take the perfectly good product out back and destroy it. I remember particularly that they opened several of the really large bags of m&ms into the dumpster - despite my objection that they could give it to a school or something instead of wasting it. In another situation the store manager called me out back and wanted me to stomp on some of those plastic in/out organizing tray things. I refused and she insisted saying that I should act like I'm mad at the trays just like I think she's a bitch. I just looked at her like she was nuts, but in the end refused to destroy stuff.
I sort-of got back at her by suggesting to customers who couldn't find something to look out the front windows of our store. The Staples across the street probably had what they wanted.
Maybe. But when I was interviewing my replacements for a software dev position, the liars were obvious. One guy on a phone interview could be heard flipping pages of a book of some sort while stalling "uhm" "uhh, what do you mean by that?" as he searched for an answer to what we thought were relatively simple questions.
While your point about trying to present a more pithy message is valid, your bullet quote is incorrect.
Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality
The difference might appear minor, but this is what the pols do. They get you to believe they support something, but then come back later with BS like "well, what I said was I believe in the principle of foo" - which gives them plenty of room to claim that they never really supported foo, or that you just have a difference of opinion on what foo is, and what you think of foo, s/he never really understood it to mean bar.
Whether it is drilling for domestic fuel, bailing out people who took out loans for homes they couldn't afford (it isn't a tax-payer-funded "bail-out" my senator claims), bridges to nowhere, peanut museums, etc pols will always, always find a way to spin it and make us seem like we don't know what we we're talking about. How often has Sen. Obama said something like "Well, that's not the person (Rev. Wright, William Ayers, Tony Rezko, etc) I knew"? He isn't alone in this two-facedness, it comes from both sides, but the expediency of disassociation from notorious Chicago politics in this case is interesting at least.
It just appears to me as someone who is trying to objectively evaluate the options, that his supporters have drunk the kool-aid. He can't do anything wrong, and any criticism of him, his proposed policies, his past, or the company he keeps, is shouted down or met with cries of racism. It isn't about the exchange of ideas with this guy or his campaign. There is no debate, no discussion. If you don't like the direction he wants to take the country, you're a racist, and that is the only possible reason he might lose. Really sad, and makes me very wary of his administration might do to free speech in this country. From what I've been able to gather, WGN inviting on someone from the left to argue for Obama wasn't good enough. The campaign made an obvious effort to muzzle speech they didn't like - instead of arguing against the content and making their case why it was wrong.
Yesterday I saw Sen. Shumer (D-NY) and Sen. Kyle (R-AZ) on one of the talking heads programs. They obviously disagreed on current events, yet it was civil, respectful, and they both made their arguments well.
To the original point, when you quote a pol, quote them exactly - because every word matters, and they'll use that to play the people and the tax payers like a fiddle. To state flat out that Sen. Obama supports net neutrality is simply not correct.
Many, many people that I've tried to talk to about this very thing completely don't understand encryption at the most basic level - why it matters or if they have it. My guess from past experience is that if you tried to talk to P&G about it, the people responsible would try to tell you that it didn't need encryption, because the site is on *their* servers, so the data only goes on their network, and no amount of convincing would get them to think otherwise. The site you mentioned was probably farmed out anyways.
The state of affairs when it comes to the most basic data protection is really sad. One case was where I was applying for a job which required my SSN (a federal gov't position). The instructions were to download the form and email it. I called the number listed and explained why I wasn't going to include my SSN in an email, and they weren't mad, but they were annoyed. So you tell me a) did they wait for my app and trash it because I put "withheld for security reasons, will provide offline" (something like that) b) if the folks running the federal jobs website think it is okay to email around sensitive information (this was another one of those "your email is stored in our secure servers" things), then it must be okay, right?
Even in the physical realm, things aren't much better. A couple of months ago, I called a local business to complain that they'd charged my creditcard a fee for canceling an appointment. (The number shouldn't be on file, I know. At the time I didn't realize that it was.) I explained to the person that when I canceled the appointment I was aware of the fee, but to send me a bill for it and I'd pay it when I got the bill. They sent me an invoice in the mail, with the charges and showing the balance was paid. I asked the guy which credit card they'd charged - and he proceeded to read off the type, entire number, and expiration date - without any authentication from me except my name and one other non-secret item, derived from the start of the conversation. I've since canceled that card, but people really don't understand.
I think you might have a point here.
...unless you act ... your opponent's information is going to get out there
So the idea is that instead of competing in the marketplace of ideas, this guy's plan is to find a way to suppress his opponent's speech. That is an incredibly poor statement from the political left comprised of such outspoken "free speech" advocates such as the ACLU. "If you can't beat 'em, make sure no one hears what they have to say"? I expect that a liberal would advocate for more speech, not less.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/2008198091324
I had a roommate who I would have to go into his room and turn off his computer because he would leave the house with some P2P client running, sucking up all the bandwidth for the rest of us.
The same roommate didn't know how to do laundry - he would cram 3 or 4 loads into the basement washer that I owned, putting excess strain on the drum motor, etc. Then he would move it all to the dryer - the whole tumble thing really didn't work because there was no room. He was confused when he had to run the dryer for half a day to get his clothes dry. I finally gave up talking to him about it and installed a hidden toggle switch between the breaker panel and the washer's outlet. When anyone besides him needed to use the washer/dryer, I would just turn the switch on for a while.
He was pretty pissed, but by that point I didn't really care. I'd just had enough of him abusing my stuff. Bandwidth is shared. If your housemate won't play nice, then maybe one of these is in order.
OrgName: Ohio State University
OrgID: OSU-2
Address: OIT Enterprise Networking
Address: 320 West 8th Avenue
City: Columbus
StateProv: OH
PostalCode: 43201
Country: US
Doesn't always work - sometimes there is more than one "owner" of an IP (has something to do with block allocation that I don't quite understand, 66.35.250.150 is like this) but usually seems to get me the info I need.
Dr Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia wrote a really interesting book that devotes some time to this subject, called A More Perfect Constitution. He talks about the gerrymandering (fixing districts so the incumbent, or at least the same party, always wins) that goes on, and proposes some interesting solutions, including making the House 1000 members to be more representative of the actual population. This, he says, would have the effect of producing smaller constituencies, require less money for someone to run for office, and invite more non-politicians into the process. It was a fairly easy read, and he provides historical perspective on why the Constitution is the way it is, and what we might do to make it better. One of his primary arguments in the book is that it is a living document, meant to be changed over time - that the founders never intended it to be so static for so long.
And I'd sue Netflix in small claims for everything you've paid so far. B-)
= = = =
Imagine if fifty, just fifty, people a day did that. They might think it's a movement. And that's what it is. The Alice's Restaurant Anti-DRM-masaccree movement. And you can join just by singing it, the next time it comes around on the guitar... B-) Maybe you were being a bit sarcastic, but I imagine that the only result is to put Netflix out of business, which would not in any way move the situation toward resolution.
I'm 110% with you. I've been begging for this and have emailed both Netflix and TiVo to that effect, but apparently it ain't gonna happen.
I don't want another box, another input/output to hassle with, more cables behind my tv, another remote, another stupid UI to deal with, etc. I like my TiVo, and I like the UI. I like that Netflix has a huge selection - typical movies to now canceled shows. I had a Netflix subscription to catch up on episodes of Farscape when a friend introduced me to the show in the middle of season two and I had no idea wth was going on. So put the two things together -- this seems obvious to everyone but the idiots who handle so-called "content licensing". If they would get their heads out of their collective ass, they could make money from people like me, because I would pay to download content to my TiVo.
I don't like Amazon Unbox, honestly. Titles are hard to find, and most random things I look for seem to be not found or unavailable - or are only available to "purchase" or "rent to your PC". Dumb. I assume the TiVo deal with Amazon is some kind of exclusive contract that prevents TiVo from even talking to Netflix. TiVo, from my perspective as a customer/consumer, has done a lot of things right. This is not one of them.
I like pine as a remote client, but it obviously has short-comings. Purists will try to revoke my geek card for saying that, and I spend a good part of my day in a terminal but last I used it Pine wasn't cutting it for things like attaching files (lives on a remote system) or downloading/viewing attachments (same reason). I'm getting kind of ticked with this crap Google is pulling. If I could find a web client I liked as much as their UI, I would install it on my mail host. I don't have the time, energy, or large org behind me to simply recreate their client for myself.
I have a "high-end" system, and SC performs okay - the graphics are actually pretty decent imho - until it crashes the system. Which can be anywhere from 2 - 90 minutes into a game. Can't finish the single player UEF mission because of this, haven't tried the others. THQ support is no help either. The auto-patch/updater process through the GPGnet client is a PITA, especially for a fresh install. Takes more than 30 minutes, and not because of link speed - but because the GPGnet client has to update itself multiple (8?) times before actually patching the game (two - three times?). Each time the GPGnet client applies a patch to itself, it restarts and wants you to log back in. Except that you can't because you're already logged in - which lasts for between 2 - 4 minutes. Irritating is putting it mildly.
As far as the AI goes, yeah it pretty much sucks. The computer won't seem to make any real effort to attack until it builds an experimental unit. Seems like it is much more focused on defense - builds lots of shields and groups of fixed surface-to-surface and surface-to-air weapons.
Pretty disappointing, considering we had a blast playing TA back in college.
Are there any other cable companies right now?
Yes, Wideopenwest is available in some areas. I call them about once every two months to see if they have service in my neighborhood. I had them in the place I lived about 5 miles from where I am now. They were great. The service worked almost all the time, and when it didn't they always tried to be helpful about getting it fixed. For broadband, you bought (or rented from them) your cablemodem, so you had a choice to buy something decent and not get stuck with some used/broken POS. Good luck getting T/W to acknowledge you have a problem that isn't somehow your fault.
This "agreement" seems to suggest less competition - making it even more unlikely for a company like WOW to expand their service area.
I live in Columbus, and have never heard of this. I hate T/W, but they're the only cable option where I live. Can someone please explain in English what this means or provide a link to something more substantial? I RTFA (which is just a press release from the mouth pieces downtown) but don't understand what this is? It mentions "increased competition" - but does nothing to explain how that is achieved? AFAIK, I still don't have an option to switch to another cable provider, but I haven't called them in the last 4 weeks to see.
Having not used Amazon's service or movielink or anything like that I can't comment on them except to say that I would never use them.
Amazon sucks mostly because their selection available for the TiVo is crap. I don't want to watch movies on my laptop, or sitting at my desk. I want to watch them on my damn TV. As a previous Netflix subscriber, they have an incredible selection. I've said this before, but whatever the problem was between TiVo and Netflix, they should have worked it out if only because it could have made both of them money. I seriously hope that whenever the contract between TiVo and Amazon expires, TiVo will talk to Netflix again.
If you call Sprint customer service, they told me and will likely tell you there is no way to block SMS except all incoming or all outgoing or all of both, and offer you a texting "plan" for some monthly cost.
/send/ a text message (My online tools->SMS Messaging->Settings & Preferences), there is an option to block (up to 50?) numbers from sending you text messages. How well it works I really don't know.
However, if you (customer) log into their website and go the area that lets you
I have a better idea for Netflix. Partner with TiVo to deliver movies over the wire. I don't know what happened to that deal, but they should find a way to work it out. TiVo is now aligned with Amazon. The Amazon service pretty much sucks from the (lack of) search options (try finding a movie to rent and then clicking on an actor's name in the credits list) to the lousy selection.
I would go back to Netflix (previous subscriber, and was pretty happy) if they would do that, instead of this half-assed deal where you can watch the movies on your Windows (only) PC. It really is too bad, because Netflix has a great selection, a well thought out web interface, and decent customer service.
I live in Columbus, and this was all over the place - I don't even watch the local news. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know what happened. So stuff about not wanting the criminals to know what they had, or trying to determine what was on the tapes, etc is CYA bull.
The local TV station had quotes from this dope talking about how he had done this (left the tapes in his car) before and when he brought them inside he said he just threw them on top of his TV(*). As an Ohio resident and a geek, I say he should be fired. From what I understand the governor's office gave him a chance to resign, and he refused. So now he has "fired" on his resume. That is brilliant. Obviously he has something to do with IT, so he should know better than to leave any valuable equipment in his car. If the tapes didn't get stolen, then you still have a serious risk of damage from 140F+ temperatures inside the car. This is a major duh. Stuff is stolen out of cars often around here. Living in and around the campus area I've had 3 incidents of vehicle contents theft (one time all they got was a handful of pennies), and one grand theft auto. No one is shocked this guy's car was broken into.
I also say his boss and the next boss up should also have been fired (AFAIK one has already resigned) - in part to send a message that this is totally unacceptable. There have been several cases recently involving Ohio agencies including Ohio State Univ (one involving the unit I work for, grr) and Ohio University. I would have expected that someone would have gotten a clue from the "smaller" thefts and done something proactive.
(*) Sorry, I can't seem to find the article with his quotes about the TV at the moment.