First, my obligatory "WTF, why is this just in 'Older Stuff'?"
This story (on Yahoo! news for those who don't want to read it) gives absolutely no technical details. I have no way to verify to my own satisfaction whether the claims are accurate. I don't even have a starting point from which to determine if I, too, have been violated.
If some "underground hacker site" had reported this, it would be loaded with information that is actually useful.
So what if this is a silly, pointless thing to do. Not everybody is driven by some relentless urge to advance the state of technology, or to earn a paycheck. Some of us design/code software because we like to.
This sounds fun, and perverse (which many of us consider a good thing), so I like it. If you think it's a waste of time, then go write something productive and stop heckling people who have a different view of what it means to program.
Well, we all know this is a bad idea. And we all know that somebody out there won't realize that this is a bad idea.
I think a big part of the problem is that it's so easy to pass yourself off as a "security expert" without any real credentials (or in this case, any clue what you're talking about).
Heck, why not ban networks entirely, since they are the #1 entry point for those evil hackers.
Even if the FTC goes psycho and makes this sort of deal unenforceable, it wouldn't be that odd.
Maximum interest rates and minimum payments on credit cards. Lemon laws for used car dealerships. Time limits on common nondisclosure agreement clauses.
This would hardly be the first time the government protected people from themselves by disallowing certain agreements. And, setting aside the issues of big government and constitutionality, sometimes it helps a lot of people.
I agree that some new competitive spirit would be nice, but this isn't it. An unmanned moon landing is just not a big deal anymore. The US has put unmanned probes on Mars.
Granted, the probe didn't do much (except crash), but at least it got there.
And Russia is doing a surprisingly good job with Mir (sp?). It's old and broken down, but still functional when properly duct taped. That's probably the runner up.
This isn't a case where someone linked to material which just might be illegal, as with the DeCSS crap.
Nor is there any international issue here; both sites were located in America, subject to any and all American laws.
And not only did the linkers know they were linking to illegal content, they were encouraging others to break the law by following those links.
In the Real World, if you know about a crime and don't report it, you can be charged as an accessory. We shouldn't be surprised or pissed that a penalty which is even less harsh can be imposed for doing it on the 'net.
Just glancing at the interior of my relatively rudimentary CD-ROM drive, I can see that its mechanism consumes considerably more area than a die.
Take a look at the mechanism in a laptop drive, or a walkman, or a minidisk player.
Desktop drives only come in two sizes: big, and bigger. Since CDs are rather wide, CD-ROMs fall into the "bigger" category. It's cheaper and easier to make the electronics big, so they use the available space.
If your drive had a smaller (and more expensive) laser thingy, you'd be complaining at the wasted space.
This isn't about improving sound quality. Even if their technique actually does make the sound mathematically more perfect, nobody will be able to tell the difference without an oscilliscope.
This is just a way to leverage existing technology (MP3) and make it proprietary by adding something trivial to it. Kenwood will have players that can use standard MP3 or this new stuff, but nobody else will be able to use the new format without paying $$.
Suddenly I experience a mysterious shafting sensation in my ass...
I wonder if some poor, innocent child went looking for the address so she could listen, and stumbled across faked dirty picture of El Presidente and a flock of interns...
It's really not far-fetched. The URLs are very similar. Not that I'm into that sort of thing. I can't stand politics.
I am no microbiologist, but I'm pretty sure that microbes need other life to feed on in order to reproduce, or to survive for long. I don't think its possible for any Earth microbes to spread on a lifeless planet; so it wouldn't be possible for them to "mutate to adapt to Mars" unless their is already some life there to support them.
As far as sterilizing probes, maybe they just soak them in boiling water. Wait, what if they don't dry one of the probes properly? That could be the source of all that water...
OK, time for a quick refresher on Natural Selection. Evolution does NOT mean that a species will develop the best possible traits. It just means that, over a sufficiently long period of time (generations), good traits tend to persist more than bad traits.
Good traits being those that make it more likely to pass on genes, bad traits being those that make it less likely.
There are no guarantees, especially for some specific trait. It's like trying to guess lottery numbers. Something will happen, but you can't really predict what.
Intelligence is generally a relative thing, so of course the smart people are outnumbered by the dumbmasses. Genetical engineering might make the difference more extreme, but it would not be a new phenomenon.
As for prejudice, remember that not all minorities are victims. You know that 1% of Americans who control 10% of American wealth? They're perfectly happy being a minority.
Do you really want others to "Enforce" anti-murder laws? If it has to be strong-armed, do we really want to live?
Some things are worth fighting for. Most of the rights we have in America (or are supposed to have), we have because a lot of people died fighting for them.
Most people will take advantage of others, given the chance. Without the threat of "strong-arming" (in the form of imprisonment, fines, or an ass-kicking) those with power would walk all over the rest of us.
I fail to see any good reason to do this. Even as a PR stunt, it's just a poor choice.
Bandwidth suckage for Sightsound and those who are downloading the movies will be enormous, due to gnutella's design. Even a poorly designed web page would be more efficient.
gnutella is (generally) much less stable, and noticeably slower than Napster. The only advantage I see of gnutella over Napster is that gnutella is unlikely to be sued out of existance anytime soon.
Using gnutella requires a moderate amount of computer literacy, unlike clicking on a button on a web page. This limits the audience by a large margin.
Perhaps Sightsound thinks the giga-huge file will be stored on other computers on the network, so that Sightsound's servers won't be the only ones burdened with transferring, but that's pretty unlikely.
How long until the military gets ahold of the specs and builds a new kind of bomb? Obviously it would not be anywhere near as powerful as even an old-fashioned nuke, but maybe it will be easier to deliver than a fuel-air bomb, and without the pesky radiation of a nuke.
Let's start the cold war all over again. Come on, it'll be fun.
Obviously MS wants to put off any breakup for as long as possible. For one thing, money now is worth more than money later. And they can use the time to prepare for The End.
But as many people have pointed out (often by calling me nasty names), the point of the breakup is to correct the market, not to punish MS. If the breakup is delayed long enough, the market may correct itself.
If that happens, I wonder if the breakup would happen at all.
The appeals process is liked and/or tolerated in criminal matters because for the most serious offenses, the accused stays in jail until he wins an appeal. It's very different when the illegal activity is ongoing throughout the appeals.
How do you post your own comments? Well, it's sort like posting anything else, except you stick a// or a/* or a # in front, depending on your native language.
Or how do you exchange two value without a third variable? Someone posted an assembly snippit that looks like it would do it (my assembly is very rusty), but here's an algorithm:
You have two variables of the same size, V1 and V2, which are not in the same location in memory.
Set V1 = (V1 XOR V2)
Set V2 = (V1 XOR V2)
Set V1 = (V1 XOR V2)
The XOR is a bitwise XOR, i.e. 1010 XOR 1100 = 0110
This is generally not as fast as doing it the old fashioned way, but it can be good if storage is very scarce (usually registers).
OK, OK, enough of everybody quoting their favorite comment. Post your own smartass comments here...
//No comment
//This crashes the system. Fix it.
//Somebody put a useful comment here.
//This progressive test should take about nine hours to complete. I assume it will terminate.
//I'm not sure what this does, but it's probably important.
(Paraphrased, originally from a CS professor:) # This switches the value in two registers without using a third. Technically, this is impossible. It works. Don't try to change it. If you feel the need to change it, call me at (home phone number).
(And yes, you can exchange two variable's values without a third variable)
Slashdot Mirror
This story (on Yahoo! news for those who don't want to read it) gives absolutely no technical details. I have no way to verify to my own satisfaction whether the claims are accurate. I don't even have a starting point from which to determine if I, too, have been violated.
If some "underground hacker site" had reported this, it would be loaded with information that is actually useful.
Damned hackers, always educating the public...
My mom is not a Karma whore!
So what if this is a silly, pointless thing to do. Not everybody is driven by some relentless urge to advance the state of technology, or to earn a paycheck. Some of us design/code software because we like to.
This sounds fun, and perverse (which many of us consider a good thing), so I like it. If you think it's a waste of time, then go write something productive and stop heckling people who have a different view of what it means to program.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
I think a big part of the problem is that it's so easy to pass yourself off as a "security expert" without any real credentials (or in this case, any clue what you're talking about).
Heck, why not ban networks entirely, since they are the #1 entry point for those evil hackers.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Even if the FTC goes psycho and makes this sort of deal unenforceable, it wouldn't be that odd.
Maximum interest rates and minimum payments on credit cards. Lemon laws for used car dealerships. Time limits on common nondisclosure agreement clauses.
This would hardly be the first time the government protected people from themselves by disallowing certain agreements. And, setting aside the issues of big government and constitutionality, sometimes it helps a lot of people.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Granted, the probe didn't do much (except crash), but at least it got there.
And Russia is doing a surprisingly good job with Mir (sp?). It's old and broken down, but still functional when properly duct taped. That's probably the runner up.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
"I'm only carrying so much fuel. I can only go so high, and when I run out of fuel, I'll come back down."
My mom is not a Karma whore!
There are no Grape-Nuts factories in Ethiopia either. Maybe that's why Ethiopians are starving and we are all driving solid gold Cadillacs.
Mmmmm, grape nuts.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Nor is there any international issue here; both sites were located in America, subject to any and all American laws.
And not only did the linkers know they were linking to illegal content, they were encouraging others to break the law by following those links.
In the Real World, if you know about a crime and don't report it, you can be charged as an accessory. We shouldn't be surprised or pissed that a penalty which is even less harsh can be imposed for doing it on the 'net.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
I'm already forced to pay taxes; no way am I going to willingly pay for a bunch of jackasses.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Take a look at the mechanism in a laptop drive, or a walkman, or a minidisk player.
Desktop drives only come in two sizes: big, and bigger. Since CDs are rather wide, CD-ROMs fall into the "bigger" category. It's cheaper and easier to make the electronics big, so they use the available space.
If your drive had a smaller (and more expensive) laser thingy, you'd be complaining at the wasted space.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
I wanted to download the reference, but I don't download .EXEs from sources I don't trust.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
This is just a way to leverage existing technology (MP3) and make it proprietary by adding something trivial to it. Kenwood will have players that can use standard MP3 or this new stuff, but nobody else will be able to use the new format without paying $$.
Suddenly I experience a mysterious shafting sensation in my ass...
My mom is not a Karma whore!
It's really not far-fetched. The URLs are very similar. Not that I'm into that sort of thing. I can't stand politics.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
As far as sterilizing probes, maybe they just soak them in boiling water. Wait, what if they don't dry one of the probes properly? That could be the source of all that water...
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Good traits being those that make it more likely to pass on genes, bad traits being those that make it less likely.
There are no guarantees, especially for some specific trait. It's like trying to guess lottery numbers. Something will happen, but you can't really predict what.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
As for prejudice, remember that not all minorities are victims. You know that 1% of Americans who control 10% of American wealth? They're perfectly happy being a minority.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Some things are worth fighting for. Most of the rights we have in America (or are supposed to have), we have because a lot of people died fighting for them.
Most people will take advantage of others, given the chance. Without the threat of "strong-arming" (in the form of imprisonment, fines, or an ass-kicking) those with power would walk all over the rest of us.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
You're forgetting that there's some mystical difference between imperfect analog and imperfect digital copies.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Bandwidth suckage for Sightsound and those who are downloading the movies will be enormous, due to gnutella's design. Even a poorly designed web page would be more efficient.
gnutella is (generally) much less stable, and noticeably slower than Napster. The only advantage I see of gnutella over Napster is that gnutella is unlikely to be sued out of existance anytime soon.
Using gnutella requires a moderate amount of computer literacy, unlike clicking on a button on a web page. This limits the audience by a large margin.
Perhaps Sightsound thinks the giga-huge file will be stored on other computers on the network, so that Sightsound's servers won't be the only ones burdened with transferring, but that's pretty unlikely.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Let's start the cold war all over again. Come on, it'll be fun.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
But as many people have pointed out (often by calling me nasty names), the point of the breakup is to correct the market, not to punish MS. If the breakup is delayed long enough, the market may correct itself.
If that happens, I wonder if the breakup would happen at all.
The appeals process is liked and/or tolerated in criminal matters because for the most serious offenses, the accused stays in jail until he wins an appeal. It's very different when the illegal activity is ongoing throughout the appeals.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Or how do you exchange two value without a third variable? Someone posted an assembly snippit that looks like it would do it (my assembly is very rusty), but here's an algorithm:
You have two variables of the same size, V1 and V2, which are not in the same location in memory.
- Set V1 = (V1 XOR V2)
- Set V2 = (V1 XOR V2)
- Set V1 = (V1 XOR V2)
The XOR is a bitwise XOR, i.e. 1010 XOR 1100 = 0110This is generally not as fast as doing it the old fashioned way, but it can be good if storage is very scarce (usually registers).
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
//No comment
//This crashes the system. Fix it.
//Somebody put a useful comment here.
//This progressive test should take about nine hours to complete. I assume it will terminate.
//I'm not sure what this does, but it's probably important.
(Paraphrased, originally from a CS professor:)
# This switches the value in two registers without using a third. Technically, this is impossible. It works. Don't try to change it. If you feel the need to change it, call me at (home phone number).
(And yes, you can exchange two variable's values without a third variable)
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
I would like to thank the Slashfolk for not using that little quip as an intro to the breakup story. That would have been far too amusing.
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!
That said, I will officially laugh my ass off if these phones are running Windows CE...
Dammit, my mom is not a Karma whore!