This is basically what happened with Digital Audio Tape and SCMS (sequential copy management system). The technology failed at the market, and only "pro" decks (pricey units that allow SCMS to be disabled) ever sold. The difference is, DAT was a competitor to the cassette; now we have a satisfactory, if not perfect, technology. So the risk that people won't use it is much less acceptable to the record companies. Heck, they might even notice that the free music on the web is at least as good as the stuff record companies are charging for.
Killing an astronaut accidentally via hacking would probably be manslaughter or some other variety of negligent homicide. However, if the intrusion were a felony (likely) the penalty could be quite stiff. I want to echo the other posters, though: Why in god's name is this stuff Internet-accessible anyway?
Corn is certainly right that this issue deserves more attention. Such matters are not as sexy as some, (not entirely by accident: both Scott Adams and P.J. O'Rourke have pointed out that politics is made boring to facilitate insder control) but potentially important. Though I am not convinced that ICANN is going to be capable of doing all that much good OR harm. My guess is that like all other governing bodies it will be playing catch-up. Am I too optimistic? Or does this count as pessimism?
Downloadable movies compete with video rental. But much of the pleasure of watching a movie in a theater is sharing the reaction of the crowd, and just getting out of the house. Downloadable movies -- even if they were HDTV quality which they're sure not now -- wouldn't fill this niche.
Everybody I know has been refused their rebate, even though they meet the requirements. I think they're being sued. Why isn't the FTC investigating this? In my experience, you only have about a 75% chance of actually receiving any rebate.
You have a major university, a national lab, a lot of Phillips stuff, and assorted other geek magnets (though IPIX and Cyberflix, alas, are no longer major factors here). And high-speed data is easy to get. Also, housing is very cheap, and there's easy access to mountains, etc., if you're into that sort of thing.
Re:New Slashdot Poll Topic...
on
Publius
·
· Score: 1
Definitely 11 -- and definitely NOT any shower scenes involving Jon Katz. Not that there's anything wrong with that....
Perhaps we should end all network access, period. Then disable disk drives. And remove monitors. That way nobody will be able to steal any data from your PC.
I wonder how many congressmembers in that lopsided majority could give a succinct definition of digital signature beyond, "it's kinda like a signature, only it's digital" -- any guesses on the percentage?
RIAA's overzealous lawyering is hurting them. They're becoming a joke. Not only that, but it's going to be very difficult for them to drag out the first amendment when they get sued for murders by kids who listen to violent music. They'll have no credibility at all -- and their theories of causation are farther-fetched than the "Kid listens to gangsta rap and kills" theories that they've always pooh-poohed
I do think GPL will hold up; the fact that it hasn't been tested yet suggests that a lot of other people thought so, too. The "major software house" is likely to be disappointed. On the other hand, the cynic in me thinks that the corporatist bias in the courts on intellectual property may mean that the one time they strike down a license as too restrictive will probably be in the contest of GPL.... BTW, once the Secret Identity of the "major software house" comes out, it might be a good idea to promote boycotts and protest.
Actually, you'd be surprised how many lawyers are former techno-geeks. Though many lawyers still wish they wore wigs in court, quite a few are very technically literate.
Molly, you're exactly right. I've thought of setting up a machine room, or simply a small vented-but-baffled enclosure for the computer that might contain a lot of the noise. Or I could try to find a quieter fan. But since I plan to replace the computer soon (of course, I *always* plan to replace the computer soon, and usually do....) I just kludge around the problem as best I can. My biggest problem comes when recording vocals with a large-diaphragm condensor mike. Even though it can be switched to a hypercardioid setting, it's very sensitive too the noise. Again, the problem is as much the character of the fan noise as its absolute volume. That's also something very hard to judge even if you "audition" the computer in a store, since there's lots of background noise, including dozens of other computers going at the same time. Maybe I should disable the powersupply fan, then put a blower in another room connected to the computer by a vacuum-cleaner hose....
I use a computer in my recording studio and the noise, though not terribly loud, is annoying and at a frequency that is hard to attenuate. This means I have to either (1) turn it off, which I can't do if I want to record directly to hard drive (duh); (2) record in another room and use long cables, which has its own problems; or (3) muffle it as best I can and then use a subtractive algorithm together with a sample of the room tone to subtract it from the recorded audio -- doable, but not that fast, and sometimes productive of artifacts in the audio that I would rather not have. So, yes, I'd like a quite computer. But for some reason once Pentium-class chips got over 300 mhz, they not only got more and bigger fans (duh again) but got fans that operate at higher and more annoying frequencies. Even a little attention to this problem from computer designers would help; it's not just the absolute level of the sound that matters, but the frequency and overtones. Certain pitches and harmonics are far more noticeable and unpleasant than others, even at the same decibel level.
Well, industry self-regulation doesn't work especially well in competitive consumer enterprises (though there are examples like UL and the ASME standards for boilers, etc., which were spectacularly successful). But if you look at the kind of self-regulation among bio researchers after Asilomar in the early 70s it's been very successful -- certainly at least as successful as any government-imposed regulation could have been.
Uh, because it's microsoft? Seriously, I've noticed the same thing: it never sounds as good. At a guess, phase distortions are introduced during encoding or decoding, but I've never gotten into the guts of the thing. I just avoid it.
I'm pretty happy with MP3, except that there are real differences in the encoders and the standard doesn't address that fully; only decoding. (Yes, this matters). This seems to address that. Plus, it's just cool.
Re:Can someone please explain: Why?
on
Pilot Synthesis
·
· Score: 1
I know a lot of people who use a Roland MC505 or similar Korg and Yamaha boxes for musical scratchpads when travelling. But this is a lot smaller. A tiny two-octave keyboard would be cool to go with it, though.
Re:Can someone please explain: Why?
on
Pilot Synthesis
·
· Score: 1
These guys say they need to be able to secretly scan OUR hard drives to check for contraband data when they can't even keep track of their own? Yeah, I feel very confident they'll do a good job with this power. That's the Clinton legacy, I guess: the Administration that can't control its hard drives.
The perjury angle is not very strong. (See, e.g., Clinton). They can legitimately claim a gray area regarding the illegality of those MP3s anyway. Since perjury involves state of mind, that's all they need to beat the rap.
Personally, I would not cooperate with such a request without a signed opinion letter from counsel stating that (1) there is no fair use involved; and (2) there is no improper motive in the request. If it turns out they've overreached, you can pursue disciplinary action against the attorney who signed it. Most lawyers will be very reluctant to sign such an opinion letter because of the legal risk it creates for them. And if the requestor won't provide such a letter, it makes subsequent legal action on their part much more problematic. Plus, such a demand on your part is obviously reasonable. Note that the letter must not simply be a demand, but must state that it is an opinion of counsel.
I have a small indie record company. I make CDs for $1.50 with full color booklets, tray cards, etc. that look and sound as good as major releases. I also sell through MP3.com (click above to see an example) for $6.99; they handle credit cards, shipping, and manufactruing and give me half. All I do is upload songs and graphics files. If that's not proof that retail CDs are ridiculously overpriced, I don't know what is.
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This is basically what happened with Digital Audio Tape and SCMS (sequential copy management system). The technology failed at the market, and only "pro" decks (pricey units that allow SCMS to be disabled) ever sold. The difference is, DAT was a competitor to the cassette; now we have a satisfactory, if not perfect, technology. So the risk that people won't use it is much less acceptable to the record companies. Heck, they might even notice that the free music on the web is at least as good as the stuff record companies are charging for.
Killing an astronaut accidentally via hacking would probably be manslaughter or some other variety of negligent homicide. However, if the intrusion were a felony (likely) the penalty could be quite stiff. I want to echo the other posters, though: Why in god's name is this stuff Internet-accessible anyway?
Yeah, SeaLand needs an America Shaftoe. It would help their marketing campaign, too.
Corn is certainly right that this issue deserves more attention. Such matters are not as sexy as some, (not entirely by accident: both Scott Adams and P.J. O'Rourke have pointed out that politics is made boring to facilitate insder control) but potentially important. Though I am not convinced that ICANN is going to be capable of doing all that much good OR harm. My guess is that like all other governing bodies it will be playing catch-up. Am I too optimistic? Or does this count as pessimism?
Downloadable movies compete with video rental. But much of the pleasure of watching a movie in a theater is sharing the reaction of the crowd, and just getting out of the house. Downloadable movies -- even if they were HDTV quality which they're sure not now -- wouldn't fill this niche.
Everybody I know has been refused their rebate, even though they meet the requirements. I think they're being sued. Why isn't the FTC investigating this? In my experience, you only have about a 75% chance of actually receiving any rebate.
You have a major university, a national lab, a lot of Phillips stuff, and assorted other geek magnets (though IPIX and Cyberflix, alas, are no longer major factors here). And high-speed data is easy to get. Also, housing is very cheap, and there's easy access to mountains, etc., if you're into that sort of thing.
Definitely 11 -- and definitely NOT any shower scenes involving Jon Katz. Not that there's anything wrong with that....
Perhaps we should end all network access, period. Then disable disk drives. And remove monitors. That way nobody will be able to steal any data from your PC.
I wonder how many congressmembers in that lopsided majority could give a succinct definition of digital signature beyond, "it's kinda like a signature, only it's digital" -- any guesses on the percentage?
RIAA's overzealous lawyering is hurting them. They're becoming a joke. Not only that, but it's going to be very difficult for them to drag out the first amendment when they get sued for murders by kids who listen to violent music. They'll have no credibility at all -- and their theories of causation are farther-fetched than the "Kid listens to gangsta rap and kills" theories that they've always pooh-poohed
I do think GPL will hold up; the fact that it hasn't been tested yet suggests that a lot of other people thought so, too. The "major software house" is likely to be disappointed. On the other hand, the cynic in me thinks that the corporatist bias in the courts on intellectual property may mean that the one time they strike down a license as too restrictive will probably be in the contest of GPL.... BTW, once the Secret Identity of the "major software house" comes out, it might be a good idea to promote boycotts and protest.
Actually, you'd be surprised how many lawyers are former techno-geeks. Though many lawyers still wish they wore wigs in court, quite a few are very technically literate.
Molly, you're exactly right. I've thought of setting up a machine room, or simply a small vented-but-baffled enclosure for the computer that might contain a lot of the noise. Or I could try to find a quieter fan. But since I plan to replace the computer soon (of course, I *always* plan to replace the computer soon, and usually do....) I just kludge around the problem as best I can. My biggest problem comes when recording vocals with a large-diaphragm condensor mike. Even though it can be switched to a hypercardioid setting, it's very sensitive too the noise. Again, the problem is as much the character of the fan noise as its absolute volume. That's also something very hard to judge even if you "audition" the computer in a store, since there's lots of background noise, including dozens of other computers going at the same time. Maybe I should disable the powersupply fan, then put a blower in another room connected to the computer by a vacuum-cleaner hose....
Yeah, you're right. Though I still think indoor plumbing is a bigger deal.
I use a computer in my recording studio and the noise, though not terribly loud, is annoying and at a frequency that is hard to attenuate. This means I have to either (1) turn it off, which I can't do if I want to record directly to hard drive (duh); (2) record in another room and use long cables, which has its own problems; or (3) muffle it as best I can and then use a subtractive algorithm together with a sample of the room tone to subtract it from the recorded audio -- doable, but not that fast, and sometimes productive of artifacts in the audio that I would rather not have. So, yes, I'd like a quite computer. But for some reason once Pentium-class chips got over 300 mhz, they not only got more and bigger fans (duh again) but got fans that operate at higher and more annoying frequencies. Even a little attention to this problem from computer designers would help; it's not just the absolute level of the sound that matters, but the frequency and overtones. Certain pitches and harmonics are far more noticeable and unpleasant than others, even at the same decibel level.
Well, industry self-regulation doesn't work especially well in competitive consumer enterprises (though there are examples like UL and the ASME standards for boilers, etc., which were spectacularly successful). But if you look at the kind of self-regulation among bio researchers after Asilomar in the early 70s it's been very successful -- certainly at least as successful as any government-imposed regulation could have been.
Uh, because it's microsoft? Seriously, I've noticed the same thing: it never sounds as good. At a guess, phase distortions are introduced during encoding or decoding, but I've never gotten into the guts of the thing. I just avoid it.
I'm pretty happy with MP3, except that there are real differences in the encoders and the standard doesn't address that fully; only decoding. (Yes, this matters). This seems to address that. Plus, it's just cool.
I know a lot of people who use a Roland MC505 or similar Korg and Yamaha boxes for musical scratchpads when travelling. But this is a lot smaller. A tiny two-octave keyboard would be cool to go with it, though.
I love this!
These guys say they need to be able to secretly scan OUR hard drives to check for contraband data when they can't even keep track of their own? Yeah, I feel very confident they'll do a good job with this power. That's the Clinton legacy, I guess: the Administration that can't control its hard drives.
The perjury angle is not very strong. (See, e.g., Clinton). They can legitimately claim a gray area regarding the illegality of those MP3s anyway. Since perjury involves state of mind, that's all they need to beat the rap.
Personally, I would not cooperate with such a request without a signed opinion letter from counsel stating that (1) there is no fair use involved; and (2) there is no improper motive in the request. If it turns out they've overreached, you can pursue disciplinary action against the attorney who signed it. Most lawyers will be very reluctant to sign such an opinion letter because of the legal risk it creates for them. And if the requestor won't provide such a letter, it makes subsequent legal action on their part much more problematic. Plus, such a demand on your part is obviously reasonable. Note that the letter must not simply be a demand, but must state that it is an opinion of counsel.
I have a small indie record company. I make CDs for $1.50 with full color booklets, tray cards, etc. that look and sound as good as major releases. I also sell through MP3.com (click above to see an example) for $6.99; they handle credit cards, shipping, and manufactruing and give me half. All I do is upload songs and graphics files. If that's not proof that retail CDs are ridiculously overpriced, I don't know what is.