True. Of the little TV I do watch, about 99% of it is done on a window in the corner of my computer monitor thanks to my Hauppage TV card. For the bedroom, there's a 13" CRT.
Same here, I'm just not interested. Same with HDTV. Sure, HD looks nice and all, but I don't have any urge to go spend money on it. I hardly watch TV anyway.
This reminds me of the videophone. The technology has been around for decades but it never caught on. Even today with skype and webcams, I don't know anyone who actually uses video for phone calls.
My family's first computer was a Timex-Sinclair 1000. I then began to lust after the Apple IIe at school. A friend of mine turned me on to the Commodore 64 and I never looked back. Truely an awesome machine. I still own one today with (2) 1541 drives and a 1702 monitor along with a box of real floppies. And it all STILL WORKS (even the floppies!). I built an interface (easy instructions online) to connect a 1541 to an modern PC which allows one to actually download real C=64 software on the internet and then put it on a floppy. Incredible!
While modern computers are much more powerful, I often wonder why we have to wait for them to boot. Why don't the mobo makers just put an EEPROM on the board and OS makers give us an OS we can load into the EEPROM? Instant boot up (like my C=64) would then be possible. All HD space and memory would be free for apps and data. Upgrades would require a simple re-load (like a BIOS flash) of the EEPROM. Yet here we are, still loading our OS like we did in the DOS days.
You make a good point. In fact, people didn't have the equipment nor expertise needed to make copies of records back in the day either. But I do remember the controversy in the 1980s over the dual-cassette recorder (I was a teenager then). We went to the store, bought a pack of blank cassettes, and copied each other's music. The recording artists threw a fit and they were told to stick a sock in it. EVERYONE had copies. Everyone also had some originals. The same is true today. Somehow, the artists survived (and certainly didn't go hungry) during the 80s. The same is true today. Just ask iTunes and Amazon about all the (non-DRM) music they sell.
...music, DVDs, a cup of milk, a tool, a lawnmower, a car. People have been sharing media ever since the first record was pressed. Farmers have been sharing equipment since... the beginning of time. But you don't hear John Deere crying about it. All laws do is make a good deal of the population guilty of federal crimes. Ask Uncle Sam how well that fight against pornography worked. Or the war on drugs.
Not everybody runs out and buys a new PC every 2 years. Some of us like to get our money's worth. I'm amazed by how easily some people dismiss a 4 or 5 year old PC as a "dinosaur" when more often than not, PCs older than that work just fine, even for games.
I will, and do, pay money for GOOD Android applications. A lot of the free stuff in the market is pure crap. But some of the free stuff, I would glad pay for it the developer had only put a price on it.
Or when the train doesn't go anywhere near your work. We have light rail in Dallas. It worked great for me - when I worked downtown. But now they charge you to park your car in the lot at the train station (in addition to the train fare). If I were still working downtown, I'd have to do a cost analysis between gas and the fare+parking fees. Might as well drive, it costs less!
Don't forget eating, conversing with passengers, putting on makeup, looking at the baby (who's in the back seat), reading a billboard... etc...
It all boils down to: personal responsibility. Nothing new here, just a new gadget to blame.
For the record: I caused a car accident in 1996. I was very tired after working a double shift and I was fiddling with the radio, looking for interesting music. Better ban that too.
And sometimes the book costs more than the class! That was the case for me recently (pre-calc). I refused to give into the extortion that is the college textbook racket and I didn't buy the book. I did fine because the teacher rarely used it. When I did need additional help, there were plenty of relevant tutorials online.
A new programmer (who is likely using Java) isn't necessarily a BAD programmer, they're just NEW. Any skill (say, for instance, playing the guitar or playing tennis) takes a lot of practice (time) to perfect.
And let's not forget where a lot of our modern-day code written - in India. How long have Indians been programming? How long have Americans been programming? Again, it's not necessarily a bad programmer you're looking at, but an inexperienced one.
Everyone has to start somewhere. The most seasoned, grey-haired old man hacking away at assembly, C, COBAL, whatever... was once a beginner too. His code probably wasn't very good then either.
" Instead of the small Start Menu, you have a big Start Screen"
THAT is the most annoying part and if it stays, I'll never use Win 8. When I click my start menu (and I guess, according to MS, I'm one of those rare "old fuddy duddies" who still uses it) I do NOT want it taking over the entire damned screen. When I went from Win 95 to XP, I completely re-configured the start menu to work like it did in 95. I couldn't do this with Win 7, but it's start menu was easier to work with than the default in XP so I got used to it. But at least It still doesn't take over the whole flippin' screen.
This is why I'm dual-booting Xubuntu now. When the day finally comes that Win 7 is put out to pasture (not likely for at least a decade) I'll have an alternative that I already know how to use.
This is comical indeed, but not exactly accurate. I started dual-booting a couple of months ago, just to try it out. Frankly, there isn't much I can do on Windows 7 that I can't do on Xubuntu. There may be no Visual Studio but there is Netbeans. Everyone knows about the lack of gaming support. Even if I quit playing games, I'll probably never be able to replace Windows for one reason: Windows Media Center. I've tried MythTV and sadly, it doesn't come close. In fact, it downright blows in a lot of ways. Maybe someday I'll write a new UI for it but my skillz aren't quite there yet.
Of course, those born with a silver spoon will always be the exception. But again, like the disabled, they are the exception, not the rule. Their parents (or grandparents, whatever) made the fortune and the kids benefit. Who cares? How does that affect you and I? It doesn't, not one bit. Suppose you start a business and make a fortune. Then you die and leave it to your kids. Would you expect society to strip it from them just because they didn't earn it themselves? Probably not.
No society is perfect, and none ever will be. But an honest look at other social structures throughout history proves that our form has worked pretty damn well. No where on Earth, at any other time in history, has there been such opportunity as we Americans enjoy. People move in and out of poverty. There are countless rags-to-riches stories and there are just as many riches-to-rags stories. But in a nation where people on welfare (leeching off everyone else) carry smartphones, have cable/satellite TV, internet access, etc., that's not too shabby a life compared to, say, a poor family living just about anywhere else in the world who's main concern in life is simply getting their next meal.
Seriously, what is all this shit about "inequality"? People need to get a dictionary. Everyone is created EQUAL. We all have an EQUAL opportunity to succeed. Just because Joe makes more money than John doesn't mean there's some kind of evil "inequality" that needs to be fixed. It just means that Joe did something John didn't. The miracle of America is that John has every right to do what Joe did and become just as wealthy as Joe.
As for these "poor" people you cry over, they're the ones who get all the handouts. Why work when Uncle Barack feeds you? They even get preferential admissions to schools, scholarships, etc..... just because they're poor. Middle-class people who work for a living (like your's truly) pay for everything on their own. As it should be.
Unless there is a serious physical or mental disability that prevents someone from feeding himself... fuck "the poor". Anyone who's poor in America is only poor because they want to be. Nowhere else in the world do you have as much opportunity to get out of your rut. Trust me, I know. I've been there. I've been homeless. I've eaten out of trash cans. That was many years ago and guess who put me there? ME. Thank God for America.
It's all based on a LIE. And about 30% of people buy it. The percentage is quite high among/.ers so I will now be modded down. But who cares? SOMEONE has to speak the truth.
Schools practically invented the internet, yet they seem to be the last ones to embrace it for actually teaching students. With today's technology, an entire class should be able to interact with an instructor in completely online sessions. Imagine going to school without having to leave the house. Some schools (like U of Phoenix) offer degrees but for only a very few majors. And then they get ridiculed for not being "a real school". WTF?
Slashdot Mirror
True. Of the little TV I do watch, about 99% of it is done on a window in the corner of my computer monitor thanks to my Hauppage TV card. For the bedroom, there's a 13" CRT.
Same here, I'm just not interested. Same with HDTV. Sure, HD looks nice and all, but I don't have any urge to go spend money on it. I hardly watch TV anyway.
This reminds me of the videophone. The technology has been around for decades but it never caught on. Even today with skype and webcams, I don't know anyone who actually uses video for phone calls.
Sometimes, what we have is good enough.
? SYNTAX ERROR
LOAD"*",8,1
Fixed that for ya. :D
My family's first computer was a Timex-Sinclair 1000. I then began to lust after the Apple IIe at school. A friend of mine turned me on to the Commodore 64 and I never looked back. Truely an awesome machine. I still own one today with (2) 1541 drives and a 1702 monitor along with a box of real floppies. And it all STILL WORKS (even the floppies!). I built an interface (easy instructions online) to connect a 1541 to an modern PC which allows one to actually download real C=64 software on the internet and then put it on a floppy. Incredible!
While modern computers are much more powerful, I often wonder why we have to wait for them to boot. Why don't the mobo makers just put an EEPROM on the board and OS makers give us an OS we can load into the EEPROM? Instant boot up (like my C=64) would then be possible. All HD space and memory would be free for apps and data. Upgrades would require a simple re-load (like a BIOS flash) of the EEPROM. Yet here we are, still loading our OS like we did in the DOS days.
You make a good point. In fact, people didn't have the equipment nor expertise needed to make copies of records back in the day either. But I do remember the controversy in the 1980s over the dual-cassette recorder (I was a teenager then). We went to the store, bought a pack of blank cassettes, and copied each other's music. The recording artists threw a fit and they were told to stick a sock in it. EVERYONE had copies. Everyone also had some originals. The same is true today. Somehow, the artists survived (and certainly didn't go hungry) during the 80s. The same is true today. Just ask iTunes and Amazon about all the (non-DRM) music they sell.
...music, DVDs, a cup of milk, a tool, a lawnmower, a car. People have been sharing media ever since the first record was pressed. Farmers have been sharing equipment since... the beginning of time. But you don't hear John Deere crying about it. All laws do is make a good deal of the population guilty of federal crimes. Ask Uncle Sam how well that fight against pornography worked. Or the war on drugs.
Not a bad idea, actually. Once the device realizes it's operating in enemy territory, have it spawn all kinds of mayhem.
That is all.
Not everybody runs out and buys a new PC every 2 years. Some of us like to get our money's worth. I'm amazed by how easily some people dismiss a 4 or 5 year old PC as a "dinosaur" when more often than not, PCs older than that work just fine, even for games.
So does my Commodore 64. I was playing a game just last night.
Is like throwing pearls before swine.
Ditto politics.
This is supposed to be a TECH forum. Not a poo-throwing party.
I will, and do, pay money for GOOD Android applications. A lot of the free stuff in the market is pure crap. But some of the free stuff, I would glad pay for it the developer had only put a price on it.
Or when the train doesn't go anywhere near your work. We have light rail in Dallas. It worked great for me - when I worked downtown. But now they charge you to park your car in the lot at the train station (in addition to the train fare). If I were still working downtown, I'd have to do a cost analysis between gas and the fare+parking fees. Might as well drive, it costs less!
Don't forget eating, conversing with passengers, putting on makeup, looking at the baby (who's in the back seat), reading a billboard... etc...
It all boils down to: personal responsibility. Nothing new here, just a new gadget to blame.
For the record: I caused a car accident in 1996. I was very tired after working a double shift and I was fiddling with the radio, looking for interesting music. Better ban that too.
When the book costs upwards of $200-300, expect those illegal downloads to increase.
And sometimes the book costs more than the class! That was the case for me recently (pre-calc). I refused to give into the extortion that is the college textbook racket and I didn't buy the book. I did fine because the teacher rarely used it. When I did need additional help, there were plenty of relevant tutorials online.
'Cause they don't HAVE any light when the sun's not shining.
N Korea at night:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/dprk-dark.htm
A new programmer (who is likely using Java) isn't necessarily a BAD programmer, they're just NEW. Any skill (say, for instance, playing the guitar or playing tennis) takes a lot of practice (time) to perfect.
And let's not forget where a lot of our modern-day code written - in India. How long have Indians been programming? How long have Americans been programming? Again, it's not necessarily a bad programmer you're looking at, but an inexperienced one.
Everyone has to start somewhere. The most seasoned, grey-haired old man hacking away at assembly, C, COBAL, whatever... was once a beginner too. His code probably wasn't very good then either.
But they didn't want to "offend" the Iranians. [According to a report in the Wall Street Journal].
I think we all know who made that decision.
" Instead of the small Start Menu, you have a big Start Screen"
THAT is the most annoying part and if it stays, I'll never use Win 8. When I click my start menu (and I guess, according to MS, I'm one of those rare "old fuddy duddies" who still uses it) I do NOT want it taking over the entire damned screen. When I went from Win 95 to XP, I completely re-configured the start menu to work like it did in 95. I couldn't do this with Win 7, but it's start menu was easier to work with than the default in XP so I got used to it. But at least It still doesn't take over the whole flippin' screen.
This is why I'm dual-booting Xubuntu now. When the day finally comes that Win 7 is put out to pasture (not likely for at least a decade) I'll have an alternative that I already know how to use.
This is comical indeed, but not exactly accurate. I started dual-booting a couple of months ago, just to try it out. Frankly, there isn't much I can do on Windows 7 that I can't do on Xubuntu. There may be no Visual Studio but there is Netbeans. Everyone knows about the lack of gaming support. Even if I quit playing games, I'll probably never be able to replace Windows for one reason: Windows Media Center. I've tried MythTV and sadly, it doesn't come close. In fact, it downright blows in a lot of ways. Maybe someday I'll write a new UI for it but my skillz aren't quite there yet.
Of course, those born with a silver spoon will always be the exception. But again, like the disabled, they are the exception, not the rule. Their parents (or grandparents, whatever) made the fortune and the kids benefit. Who cares? How does that affect you and I? It doesn't, not one bit. Suppose you start a business and make a fortune. Then you die and leave it to your kids. Would you expect society to strip it from them just because they didn't earn it themselves? Probably not.
No society is perfect, and none ever will be. But an honest look at other social structures throughout history proves that our form has worked pretty damn well. No where on Earth, at any other time in history, has there been such opportunity as we Americans enjoy. People move in and out of poverty. There are countless rags-to-riches stories and there are just as many riches-to-rags stories. But in a nation where people on welfare (leeching off everyone else) carry smartphones, have cable/satellite TV, internet access, etc., that's not too shabby a life compared to, say, a poor family living just about anywhere else in the world who's main concern in life is simply getting their next meal.
Then get off your ass!
Seriously, what is all this shit about "inequality"? People need to get a dictionary. Everyone is created EQUAL. We all have an EQUAL opportunity to succeed. Just because Joe makes more money than John doesn't mean there's some kind of evil "inequality" that needs to be fixed. It just means that Joe did something John didn't. The miracle of America is that John has every right to do what Joe did and become just as wealthy as Joe.
As for these "poor" people you cry over, they're the ones who get all the handouts. Why work when Uncle Barack feeds you? They even get preferential admissions to schools, scholarships, etc..... just because they're poor. Middle-class people who work for a living (like your's truly) pay for everything on their own. As it should be.
Unless there is a serious physical or mental disability that prevents someone from feeding himself... fuck "the poor". Anyone who's poor in America is only poor because they want to be. Nowhere else in the world do you have as much opportunity to get out of your rut. Trust me, I know. I've been there. I've been homeless. I've eaten out of trash cans. That was many years ago and guess who put me there? ME. Thank God for America.
It's all based on a LIE. And about 30% of people buy it. The percentage is quite high among /.ers so I will now be modded down. But who cares? SOMEONE has to speak the truth.
Schools practically invented the internet, yet they seem to be the last ones to embrace it for actually teaching students. With today's technology, an entire class should be able to interact with an instructor in completely online sessions. Imagine going to school without having to leave the house. Some schools (like U of Phoenix) offer degrees but for only a very few majors. And then they get ridiculed for not being "a real school". WTF?