Why even bother with GPS?
on
Laptop Lojack?
·
· Score: 1
The most obvious solution would be to start a company that can build cellular perihperals to fit inside the laptop that activate and send a 'ping' at timed intervals on the cellular frequencies when powered. Much esaier now that a lot of portable devices have built in modems, for those you just write software. The purchaser then buys a 'security' contract (further revenue) and if it's stolen he reports it and then your control center monitors for that device's id on the cell frequencies. Cellular networks can locate phones by the relay transmitters the signal is picked up by. This is if you wish to retrieve the hardware and if hardware costs outweigh the cost of insurance. If it's software/info that's important to keep secure, design a BIOS that requies a startup password and encrypts data automatically and CANNOT be disabled by flashing or removing CMOS battery. 3 bad passwords and it trashes the encryption key and/or virally renders the bios unusable. Clearly mark the hardware as such and crooks will soon learn to avoid those bits as they cost too much to circumvent and render any stolen goods useless. I once had to support an IBM laptop that someone had applied a password to the HD. They had left the company a few months before and the dept didn't know it. IBM said it was impossible to remove it and we would have to buy a new one. Good for IBM, bad for us ($350) but a good idea for security. That's all you need and it's cheap! Finally, train agents in basic security.
I come to slashdot for specialist news on stuff that interests me. I read papers for general news. A paper that is sweeping London is the Metro. It's a small brother to the Evening Standard, but it's free and distributed at the tube entrances. It's stapled so it doesn't fly all over the carriage and it covers most of the general world news, not necessarily flash headlines like the pay papers, but interesting stuff for the read on the way to work. That's the way to go. Also the reason places like/. are popular, is the fact that you can post. Only one or two readers letters will be posted in any paper.
Good info on all things MP3 -> MD related. Winamp skins, User guides and info on products aimed at making it easier to copy MP3 to your MD. (as analogue of course) One link there for a USB to optical conversion, but read the warning about the advertiser's financial status. Also:
This is the regular hompage (if you're too lazy to delete the extra chars in the URL) where you can find loads of MD tips and tricks, even hacks. This is 'THE'/. of the MD world.
make you think, doesn't it. Until they make memory staicks cheaper, there is no comparison between MD and mp3. Yes, I am biased as I own a nice Aiwa. It has saved my sanity on the London underground. No skip, just like MP3 and cheaper too.
hmmm, how do you record to it? Line out from your soundcard and record the output? If that's the case then it's not really playing mp3 files, but the format that MD uses having recorded the signal of the played mp3 file. I am assuming it is the regular MD and not the datadisk, right? I think the original question was to ask how to actually store mp3 files and play them back on the MD.
I can understand you wanting to have the convenience of just moving your mp3's to your MD, but you can do the same from CD, just use the digital out (if you have one) to the MD and you have the same quality - I think better then mp3. But you might say "I don't own the cd and mp3 is cool and free." That's not the point. Just because mp3's are out there, doesn't mean you should dload them and use them without paying for them. Call me naive or institutionalised, but I do feel that if you like a product you should pay for it. I'd hate to work as hard as a lot of musicians I know, to see my product floating around free of charge. Yes, I have been guilty of copying other people's cd's but if I like it I will usually buy them. Granted, original (pre-recorded) MD's are more pricy than cd's and are less common, but what's to stop you buying the cd and copying to your own MD? You also have the added security of a 'hard copy' backup. One of the things putting me off the whole mp3 thing is that the record co.s are going to try and sell them to you, and if you're hard drive goes bye-bye, so does your investment. The disk also stores the same amount as a CD too. The way I see it, mp3 is a great way to store and play music on your pc, but can't compare to the versatility of MD and it's accompanying format, which I do not imagine will go through many changes in the near future to prevent copying as will the whole mp3 player industry. Unfortunately, I believe the music industry has enough weight to lean on any mp3 player manufacturer to follow policy that will protect their product - just look at DECSS for further proof. Slashdot did report on a 80Mb mp3 player that used a harddrive, several weeks ago, (check the archive for 'personal jukebox' or 'mp3') but I checked it out and the guesstimate opening price is about $700(US). If you MUST use mp3's, try using the lineout of your pc to your MD, and record as normal, assuming of course that you have a seni decent sound card.You won't get to compress it any further to put more on the disk, but if you need more, you can now buy 80 minute disks. (yeah, I know, it's only another 4 minutes, but it's a start.CD max is 74)
Even organisations like those that protested the Vietnam war through bombings and other vandalism hid. It all depends on your form of 'protest'. If it entails breaking laws or violent forms of protest, you hide. You'd be dumb not to. The ANC planted bombs in shopping centers in S. Africa, you decide if they were right in doing that or not, but they would hide and only the organisation would claim responsibility, not the individual. And they would only do that from protected places (ie: other countries)or in untraceable ways. The same is in effect with theses attacks. They can claim anonymity from other people's ip's. Don't doubt for one instant that someone somewhere is bragging about the fact that they did this. They just might not have been heard yet.
Tried out all the formats. Checked out that Personal Jukebox mentioned a while back on/.- $800 - NOT! Question: did anyone notice whether you can use Sony memory sticks with this? Not to mention the price of the sticks any way. About £50(UK) for 16mb vs. £1(UK) for a blank minidisk which holds same as a CD(80min). As soon as the states discovers MD for real, MP3 will be way out. Particularly with the overshadowing gloom of corporate control on the whole idea. PS: My minidisk needs a continuous 40 second shake before it skips. And NO I didn't test it 'THAT' way! (I waved it around my head.- bounce from jogging isn't enough)
The present internet doesn't allow for absolute authority. We just move somewhere else or write a new protocol. Govts don't like this. They like order and control. Q: How do you get people from a lawless society to an ordered, controlled one? A: Send the money there. Look at the players in I2. All big players in the present internet and the Govt. Let me present a scenario. The I2 resides in security and health among those paying exhorbitant amounts to use it. It is run and nourished by some of the brightest minds in computing and those learning about it. It is closely monitored by institutions who have a close interest in security and control (DARPA et al). What do those people hope to gain from it? Why will a school shell out half a mil a year to see videos in alost real time when they have a hard time justifying buying new instruments for a music dept? The players all hope to get major stakes. What kind of stakes? How bankable are the rights to rent out large blocks of IP addresses needed to get on a superfast network? How many companies do you think would move their websites and e-commerce sites there just to be safer from intrusion. No-one really owns the present internet, therefore, no-one can really control it. Look at who owns this one? Do you think they'd really mind writing the protocol to require Intel's chip id being active to use it? Anonymity would be gone in such a system. Wanting to use it would be like wanting to drive a car. You need a license, to be registered and your vehicle does too. Call it paranoia, but this is what I'd do if I was a govt body and wanted the control back. I'd be interested to hear from those using I2 whether such requirements already exist or if you can actually remain 'just another IP address'. And the sad part is people would give up anonymity for bells and whistles.
Slashdot Mirror
The most obvious solution would be to start a company that can build cellular perihperals to fit inside the laptop that activate and send a 'ping' at timed intervals on the cellular frequencies when powered. Much esaier now that a lot of portable devices have built in modems, for those you just write software. The purchaser then buys a 'security' contract (further revenue) and if it's stolen he reports it and then your control center monitors for that device's id on the cell frequencies. Cellular networks can locate phones by the relay transmitters the signal is picked up by. This is if you wish to retrieve the hardware and if hardware costs outweigh the cost of insurance. If it's software/info that's important to keep secure, design a BIOS that requies a startup password and encrypts data automatically and CANNOT be disabled by flashing or removing CMOS battery. 3 bad passwords and it trashes the encryption key and/or virally renders the bios unusable. Clearly mark the hardware as such and crooks will soon learn to avoid those bits as they cost too much to circumvent and render any stolen goods useless. I once had to support an IBM laptop that someone had applied a password to the HD. They had left the company a few months before and the dept didn't know it. IBM said it was impossible to remove it and we would have to buy a new one. Good for IBM, bad for us ($350) but a good idea for security. That's all you need and it's cheap! Finally, train agents in basic security.
I come to slashdot for specialist news on stuff that interests me. I read papers for general news. A paper that is sweeping London is the Metro. It's a small brother to the Evening Standard, but it's free and distributed at the tube entrances. It's stapled so it doesn't fly all over the carriage and it covers most of the general world news, not necessarily flash headlines like the pay papers, but interesting stuff for the read on the way to work. That's the way to go. Also the reason places like /. are popular, is the fact that you can post. Only one or two readers letters will be posted in any paper.
Try this out for a start. Links to different manufacturer pages too.
http://hive.me.gu.edu.au/~csand/md/mdpage/minidisc /part_links.html#mp3
Good info on all things MP3 -> MD related. Winamp skins, User guides and info on products aimed at making it easier to copy MP3 to your MD. (as analogue of course) One link there for a USB to optical conversion, but read the warning about the advertiser's financial status. Also:
http://hive.me.gu.edu.au/~csand/md/mdpage/minidi sc/
This is the regular hompage (if you're too lazy to delete the extra chars in the URL) where you can find loads of MD tips and tricks, even hacks. This is 'THE' /. of the MD world.
http://hive.me.gu.edu.au/~csand/md/mdpage/min idisc/
For details on all the formats. They may be using the specialised MD for data to do this. the two are not compatible to my knowledge.
make you think, doesn't it. Until they make memory staicks cheaper, there is no comparison between MD and mp3. Yes, I am biased as I own a nice Aiwa. It has saved my sanity on the London underground. No skip, just like MP3 and cheaper too.
hmmm, how do you record to it? Line out from your soundcard and record the output? If that's the case then it's not really playing mp3 files, but the format that MD uses having recorded the signal of the played mp3 file. I am assuming it is the regular MD and not the datadisk, right? I think the original question was to ask how to actually store mp3 files and play them back on the MD.
I can understand you wanting to have the convenience of just moving your mp3's to your MD, but you can do the same from CD, just use the digital out (if you have one) to the MD and you have the same quality - I think better then mp3. But you might say "I don't own the cd and mp3 is cool and free." That's not the point. Just because mp3's are out there, doesn't mean you should dload them and use them without paying for them. Call me naive or institutionalised, but I do feel that if you like a product you should pay for it. I'd hate to work as hard as a lot of musicians I know, to see my product floating around free of charge. Yes, I have been guilty of copying other people's cd's but if I like it I will usually buy them. Granted, original (pre-recorded) MD's are more pricy than cd's and are less common, but what's to stop you buying the cd and copying to your own MD? You also have the added security of a 'hard copy' backup. One of the things putting me off the whole mp3 thing is that the record co.s are going to try and sell them to you, and if you're hard drive goes bye-bye, so does your investment. The disk also stores the same amount as a CD too. The way I see it, mp3 is a great way to store and play music on your pc, but can't compare to the versatility of MD and it's accompanying format, which I do not imagine will go through many changes in the near future to prevent copying as will the whole mp3 player industry. Unfortunately, I believe the music industry has enough weight to lean on any mp3 player manufacturer to follow policy that will protect their product - just look at DECSS for further proof. Slashdot did report on a 80Mb mp3 player that used a harddrive, several weeks ago, (check the archive for 'personal jukebox' or 'mp3') but I checked it out and the guesstimate opening price is about $700(US). If you MUST use mp3's, try using the lineout of your pc to your MD, and record as normal, assuming of course that you have a seni decent sound card.You won't get to compress it any further to put more on the disk, but if you need more, you can now buy 80 minute disks. (yeah, I know, it's only another 4 minutes, but it's a start.CD max is 74)
Even organisations like those that protested the Vietnam war through bombings and other vandalism hid. It all depends on your form of 'protest'. If it entails breaking laws or violent forms of protest, you hide. You'd be dumb not to. The ANC planted bombs in shopping centers in S. Africa, you decide if they were right in doing that or not, but they would hide and only the organisation would claim responsibility, not the individual. And they would only do that from protected places (ie: other countries)or in untraceable ways. The same is in effect with theses attacks. They can claim anonymity from other people's ip's. Don't doubt for one instant that someone somewhere is bragging about the fact that they did this. They just might not have been heard yet.
Tried out all the formats. Checked out that Personal Jukebox mentioned a while back on /.- $800 - NOT! Question: did anyone notice whether you can use Sony memory sticks with this? Not to mention the price of the sticks any way. About £50(UK) for 16mb vs. £1(UK) for a blank minidisk which holds same as a CD(80min). As soon as the states discovers MD for real, MP3 will be way out. Particularly with the overshadowing gloom of corporate control on the whole idea. PS: My minidisk needs a continuous 40 second shake before it skips. And NO I didn't test it 'THAT' way! (I waved it around my head.- bounce from jogging isn't enough)
The present internet doesn't allow for absolute authority. We just move somewhere else or write a new protocol. Govts don't like this. They like order and control. Q: How do you get people from a lawless society to an ordered, controlled one? A: Send the money there. Look at the players in I2. All big players in the present internet and the Govt. Let me present a scenario. The I2 resides in security and health among those paying exhorbitant amounts to use it. It is run and nourished by some of the brightest minds in computing and those learning about it. It is closely monitored by institutions who have a close interest in security and control (DARPA et al). What do those people hope to gain from it? Why will a school shell out half a mil a year to see videos in alost real time when they have a hard time justifying buying new instruments for a music dept? The players all hope to get major stakes. What kind of stakes? How bankable are the rights to rent out large blocks of IP addresses needed to get on a superfast network? How many companies do you think would move their websites and e-commerce sites there just to be safer from intrusion. No-one really owns the present internet, therefore, no-one can really control it. Look at who owns this one? Do you think they'd really mind writing the protocol to require Intel's chip id being active to use it? Anonymity would be gone in such a system. Wanting to use it would be like wanting to drive a car. You need a license, to be registered and your vehicle does too. Call it paranoia, but this is what I'd do if I was a govt body and wanted the control back. I'd be interested to hear from those using I2 whether such requirements already exist or if you can actually remain 'just another IP address'. And the sad part is people would give up anonymity for bells and whistles.