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User: Tarkwyn

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Comments · 36

  1. On the other side of the same hallway... on Zune Team Getting Amnesty for iPod Use · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... was this interesting bin: http://flickr.com/photos/tarkwyn/513911705/

  2. Re:Um... so? on Zune Not Compatible With Windows Vista · · Score: 1
    Vista isn't even being sold yet, why does it matter that it doesn't support it right now? Do you think the average Zune user has Vista installed?

    You're right, the average user doesn't have Vista installed at the moment. However the average user is probably in one or both of the "thinking about upgrading to Vista" and "thinking about buying a Zune" camps. How do you think the marketing team for either Zune or Vista feel about the revelation that their products are currently incompatible?

    Headlines like this will lower consumer preference to both Zune and Vista.
  3. Re:Default Port Blocking is wrong when... on Microsoft Lists SP2 Incompatibilities · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Most of us conscientious 'app vendors' have been diligently studying the various release candidates coming out of Redmond.

    Before beating on the ISVs make sure you check out a legitimate bug in SP2. This particular bug wasn't present in RC2 and has caused a good few slashdot-friendly vendors some undue heartache (notably PuTTY).

    Yes, there are vendors out there who ought to have been more prepared, but MS certainly needs to take a good deal of responsibility for these current issues.

  4. Re:Not to be a troll... on How To Travel With LCD Gaming Screen? · · Score: 1

    As a former-representative fencer for my country, I can say that he's forgetting the two most important things about fencing tournaments. Beer and Women.

    If he's got time for gaming, then there is something horribly wrong.

  5. Re:I thought she was dead. on George Lucas May Be Completely Evil · · Score: 2

    Didn't Leia say, "She died when I was very young." Wait, they're not going to make her a jedi-ghost, are they?

    She could still be alive. Maybe we're going to have Darth Natalie show up :)

    Perhaps after ROTJ, once everything has died down - BAM! out pops Darth Nat. She'd be more machine than woman, although probably have a much more fetching array of different black masks to wear.

    I'll stop now as I could very well end up eating these words...

  6. All you need to know about NWN... on Neverwinter Nights Coming in June · · Score: 1

    ...can be found at this site.

    The site features summaries of the days forum highlights, NWN wednesday treats and piles of other interesting stuff. Check it every day!

  7. How about Sd_nFm.cOBvDL1 (Sid) on Name The MySql Dolphin · · Score: 1
    SELECT dolphin_name FROM marketing.cutename ORDER BY votes DESC LIMIT 1

    Abbreviated to: Sd_nFm.cOBvDL1

    Englishified to: Sid N. F. McObviddle the 1st?

  8. Re:Extra bits? on The Hype of the Rings · · Score: 1
    It's ironic, I think Jones' version of Lord of the Rings...

    I absolutely agree with your points, although it's 'Jackson' and not 'Jones'. Of course it was 'Sorcerer's Stone' and not 'Philosopher's Stone' as well, which may have led to the confusion ;)

  9. I have a question... on 2nd Space Tourist To Visit ISS In April 2002 · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's Mark's Shuttle worth?

  10. Re:This would be the death of Red Hat on Red Hat Proposes Alternative Settlement To MSFT · · Score: 1
    Linux does have a good diverse driver set, but in this case, it has to support a single set (disk, video, sound, etc).

    Remember that these aren't going to be brand new hardware-cloned PCs. According to the article MS are providing "200,000 reconditioned computers and laptop computers".

  11. Re:Encryption program name on Enhanced Carnivore To Crack Encryption Via Virus · · Score: 1
    If this is true, then it would seem all you need to do to foil this latest slightly-hare-brained-scheme would be to rename pgp to something else, such as goawayfbi.

    Or if they're cleverer than ATI, graffiti your key into your Palm and transfer it across - copy & paste.

    Either that or develop an interface to PGP that uses gesture recognition (a la Black&White) to enter validation info.

  12. Mod parent up on Microsoft Would Settle For The Children · · Score: 1
    Short version:

    Most of the people posting against the settlement know not what they say.

    Damn straight. Mod this guy up.

    As the article says, the other option would be to give all the claimants ~$10 each. Personally giving $1.1B worth of computer software/hardware/support to kids who'd otherwise never even SEE a computer is FAR better, regardless of OS. The kneejerking going on here is sickening - the worst I've seen on /. I'm a linux user. I think it rocks. But I can totally appreciate the value these kids will be getting from the MS solution. It's a far more socially responsible punishment than I would have expected. Good effort.

  13. Re:problem with large storage mp3 players on 80 Gig MP3 Player · · Score: 1
    A good point - I would imagine that you could upload playlists to the box in the same way as you upload the MP3 tracks. That way the only on-the-fly control you'd need would be your standard audio controls + an add and remove playlist facility.

    Here's hoping they've got a decent way of getting the tracks on the box in the first place.

  14. This is why I love open source on Mozilla Bug Week · · Score: 1

    'nuff said. Show me the IE bug week.

  15. Fails validation for strict XHTML 1.0 on MSN Blocks Mozilla, Other Browsers [updated] · · Score: 1
    Bloody hypocrites. "All of our development work for the new MSN.com is...W3C standard"

    And yet: this1 is what the w3c validator thinks of www.msn.com

    "Sorry, this document does not validate as XHTML 1.0 Strict." - W3C validator.

  16. Bring it on! on McNealy Calls for National ID Card Too · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've got my religion. You don't need to see my identification.

  17. Re:any program on Mozilla's 100,000th Bug · · Score: 1

    #!/usr/bin/perl
    The above script has NO bugs. Therefore any program does not necessaruly have at least one bug. QED.


    I can't get this to work under windows - can anyone help? Where should I submit this bug? Hy, nw my kybrd s brkn! Pls hlp...

  18. How about some magnets on Universal Manipulator Does Chess · · Score: 1

    Cool - How about putting some magnets in each piece and then disabling the magnet as the piece is about to move. That way only the moving piece is, well, moving?

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  19. Actors are safe on Text to Speech Software Copies Any Human Voice · · Score: 1
    I don't think actors are going to lose their jobs on this one. The time it takes to get a synthesised voice intoning correctly (using phoneme manipulation) is prohibitive, when I can say to an actor "Let's read that again, but this time be more scared".

    Actors, for all their foibles, spend many years in formal or industry training, learning how to mimic a person / emotional state. A good actor is (if you'll forgive the horrible cliche) like clay in a director's hands. An average TTS could never be as flexible, as quickly.

    As an aside, I've played with the AT&T TTS engine (which has been sitting as a useable demo since at least April) and with the festival TTS system and festival seems to be more on track to genuine speech reproduction, although I still have yet to hear a convincing TTS rendition of any form of performing art. We shall see.

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  20. Metaphor validity on Law Review Article Says Port Scanning Illegal · · Score: 1
    The article is well-written and gives us a good idea of the legal thinking at present regards to the portscanning issue. However, while the metaphor may be valid given the established "house" premise, maybe the problem is being viewed from the wrong angle.

    Personally, I've thought that the emphasis is placed on the wrong side of the "fence", so to speak. Portscanning doesn't strike me as a strict liability - i.e. you don't break the law just by doing it (as opposed to, say, parking violations). An example would be portscanning with the the intent to expose an RPC vulnerability and then to exploit that vulnerability. The emphasis here is on the intent of the action, with consideration given to context. Sysadmins scanning their systems for open known-vulnerable ports would be okay - they're scanning in a legitimate context. Script kiddies may too be okay in certain cases. They have a portscan util and they press "go". Those that have no intention of breaking in to systems == no intent, but the real illegal crackers out there get busted on the intent front.

    Trickier than strict liability to prove, but perhaps more accurate?

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  21. Kudos on DSLBlaster? · · Score: 1
    Yeah, maybe it's only slightly faster than conventional dial-up. Yeah, maybe it defeats the purpose of true DSL. That's not the point: this is a cooooool hack. DSL implemented in software?! Kudos, guys.

    In NZ, we can subscribe to bandwidth choked flat-rate DSL. The only preventative measure is the modem cost (which is significant compared to the relatively small benefit of the crippled-DSL service). However, for people with the modems already, it's great. Now, if I can plug my box into my DSL line through my soundcard (sitting dormant in the case), I'm very happy.

    Sure, this won't stop most people from going the whole DSL hog, but it's a damn fine hack that shows geek ingenuity at it's best.

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  22. Re:Parens or Perens? on The Open Source Evangelists Respond · · Score: 1
    Perens, like the Latin word, not as in parenthesis. "Bruce Perens" is latin for "Traveling Bruce".

    This is part of what I love most about the open source movement. Not only is it a functioning business model, but the proponents genuinely care about the concerns of the general populace. Having just read through all the comments, it's fabulous to see the author clarifying issues on-the-fly. I have yet to see a counter-post by someone like Mr Gates, which is a shame. This issue needs to be debated, refined and adopted. Let's see some good debate!
    Keep up the damn fine work.

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  23. Posting to /. on Financing Growing Websites? · · Score: 1
    Seems to me the best way to reduce your traffic levels is not to post to slashdot :)

    We haven't posted to /. and our traffic levels are tiny! Perhaps if you'd sent your "ask slashdot" question to Microsoft Support, you too could be basking in absolutely no increase in traffic.

    Next time...

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  24. Re:3700 feet? Wimps. How about a mile? on First Arcology? · · Score: 1
    Frank Lloyd Wright proposed a building once, for Chicago. It was called "The Illinois." One mile high...

    Whoever lived at the top would be popular - "Join the mile-high club in the comfort of my bedroom".

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  25. Excellent site on The Myriad Ways of Wiring Your Home? · · Score: 1
    Implementations of the X10 stuff (which is cool, but hard to get sent downunder) can be found at:

    www.smarthome.com

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