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User: vlauria

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  1. Re:Sell me an open phone on Morse Code Faster Than SMS · · Score: 1

    This IT Conversation touches on that thought. The want an API on top of the chipset so people can develop cool tools.

    http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail328.htm l

  2. Re:Newsflash! - flirting on Morse Code Faster Than SMS · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's also good for flirting with the opposite sex, but then again, this is /.

  3. Hard Drive in the Freezer on Creative Data Loss · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I actually did that on a WD scsii hard drive last year. It failed on me and had important data on it. I wasn't willing to shill out a few hundred to a few grand to get it fixed, so I found a few articles commenting about how the clicking noise I was hearing was problems related to the mechanics of the drive and there was a chance I could salvage my hard drive by placing in the freezer.

    I thought, "Well, the data is lost anyway, so why not?" I put it in a ziplock bag, so not to get the platters all frosty, and left it in overnight. I woke up the next morning and put it back into my computer, and wouldn't you know it, absolutly nothing except for the same clicking errors I heard the day before.

    Thanks Internet, you've once again provided me with more information that I really needed.

  4. Will spam will go away. on The Webmail Wars · · Score: 1

    Note: This is a copy from my blog.

    I have a few thoughts on this. One is the portability issue, but I'll get to that in a bit. Now the real light bulb that just went off is that Adam Smith is right once again. I think I have the business model of why spam will disappear without government REGULATION.

    How does Gmail make money?
    Generally speaking, Google places advertisement in your Inbox. If you click though the advertisement, they make money. Google is happy, the advertised website is happy, you are happy.

    How do Spammers make money?
    Generally speaking, Spammers place advertisements in your Inbox. If you click though or purchase their product, they make money. The Spammer is happy, the advertised website is happy, you are most likely unhappy and that is why you are buying Viagra.

    Right now it costs about $20/month to send a spam messages to 5 million individuals. I would honestly guess that for most products, the amount of click through's is in the hundreds at most. My guess is that if that the click though rate was any higher, there would be a higher margin to rent the email list.

    Wouldn't it be beneficial for spammers to target their audiences? Of course, but only if the cost wasn't prohibitive. That's where Google's AdWords comes in. Google's AdWords is an open cost model. I would say it works similar to bidding on an auction, ie. "How much are you willing to pay to have somebody click though to your website?"

    Cost-per-clicks (CPC) range from $0.05 to $100.00. For a spammer, I would imagine they would be willing to spend $0.05 per click. At $20/month, that yields 400 visitors to their site. I am sure that number is very similar to their current marketing efforts (if not better.) With increased competition between email services, as the above Webmail War article mentioned, the cost will only be driven down lower, maybe even reach a point of only incurring a cost if an item is actually purchased. Other metrics for deciding a cost may be based off if a consumer asks an inquiry, or a consumer spends more then 1 minute on the website, etc. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to non-intrusive responsible advertising on the internet. I live in nyc, I am bombarded with advertisements on every street corner, every taxi and bus. We even have bike messengers in this two horse town with advertisements on their bikes.

    Now the only problem would be the solicitation of illegal or inappropriate materials, (child porn, porn to youngsters, american eagle ads to hipsters, ...) most likely Google will not allow that, but there appears to be a large market for it. Maybe one solution could be hashcash. The idea has been around for a long time, but if the email market adopted a system like this, I think it could have a substantial impact. Especially when computers become so powerful enough, that it takes minutes to bruteforce an email message to every hotmail account 15 characters in length or shorter. Hashcash could account for this by relying on strong, more complex hashing algorithms.

    Also, we will have to watch out for the next wave of attacks, SPIM. However, I envision one day we will all use Gim, Google's answer to Instant Messaging. I would envision AdWords being built directly into our instant messaging conversations. Ohh, you're heading to a party at Brad's house, and Brad lives 12 blocks away in downtown Philly? Well here is a link to 5 liquor stores between your apartment and Brad's house. Click though now and place your order online so it can be ready to be picked up on your walk over. ...

    Back to the email portability factor, you know, like the cell phone number issues. A few years back, I had purchased my own domain name to host my email so I could have reliable service and keep an email address I would be happy with. But when I found out that Google was offering an emai

  5. Too many hyperlinks in story on NX - A Revolution In Network Computing? · · Score: 2, Funny

    I hate when people hyperlink every other fucking word in a story they submit. For this post, I don't need links to Mozilla or Open Office to gain more information on the story, it's a fucking nuisence if you ask me.

  6. The Economist on What Magazines Do You Read? · · Score: 1

    It is an interesting read, gives great international news, offers fair political views, and gives new view points to a geek.

  7. Re:Bush Lies On the Record on Mutation Creates SuperKid · · Score: -1, Troll

    I clicked on that link above: http://www.house.gov/reform/min/features/iraq_on_t he_record/

    That website is AMAZING. A friend and I just watched Fahrenheit 9/11 and were looking for a website that put all this information together.

    Great site, thanks Apple man.

  8. Switch to Debian via Knoppix on Red Hat Linux 9 Reaches End-of-Life · · Score: 1

    I decided to make a switch to Debian after a friend kept talking about apt-get. After trying for hours to get Debian to work with all my hardware, my friend recommended the CD bootable OS, Knoppix. Knoppix is KDE on top of Debian and is easy to install. APT-GET makes my life a breeze when installing new packages. Everyonce should be running Debian. You don't get much more authentic then a real GNU/Linux distro.

    Here is an AMAZING guide to a Knoppix HD install:
    http://www.asiaosc.org/article_82.html

  9. Re:some related links on India Starts All-Electronic National Elections · · Score: 1

    Why did you put spaces in your URLs?

  10. Re:Are they kidding? on Microsoft Preps 'Janus' Music Copy-Prevention Scheme · · Score: 1

    Good point on the canceling of your membership and then not being able to lisen to the music. I didn't think of it that way.

    But I think people will accept music as a "service" just like cable TV. Hopefully in the future, this service will be so cheap that everybody subscribes to it, and the music companies don't mind if you "Tivo" your own copy.

  11. Re:Are they kidding? on Microsoft Preps 'Janus' Music Copy-Prevention Scheme · · Score: 1

    First, I don't like committing myself to monthly payments for the rest of my life.
    - So you can cancel on a monthly/weekly/daily basis, just like your phone service.


    My other major objection is that I have a feeling my favourite artists might get shafted, while Britney Spears and her minders get most of the bucks. Think about proposals for taxes on CDs, where the tax money goes to the best-selling artists, not the ones you're actually playing. Or are they actually going to hook something up to my portable music player that will report the number of times I've played each song to the mother ship...
    - I think it's safe to say that in the near future, you will never download the actually song to your device, you will just live stream it from different types of wirless sources. Just like you stream FM radio now. The only difference is that you could skip/choose songs. In the future, nobody will need their own personal *copy* of a song, just access to a central repository.

    On Demand baby!

  12. Re:Are they kidding? on Microsoft Preps 'Janus' Music Copy-Prevention Scheme · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I for one thing this is a great step in the right direction. Initally, it seems like a great thing to "hack," but if a large population had a subscription service, like cable, then there would be little insentive to hack. Currently prices are way too high, but if you have 60% of the U.S. all paying $10 a month to listen to unlimited music, then 3 things will happen:

    1. Record compaines & distributors will continue to make a lot of money.
    2. The cost saved by "hacking" is fruitless.
    3. I finially get the music model I've been waiting so long for.

    Although we will have to wait some time until this can be streamed to ALL devices, home radio, portable player, office, ...

  13. What about when you are actually connected? on "Port Knocking" For Added Security · · Score: 1

    Even with this knocking sequence in place, as long as you have 'knocked' and are connected to the host, the comptuer can still be port scanned.

  14. Nimrod on IBM Patents Method For Paying Open Source Workers · · Score: 1

    Did anybody check out the patent webpage, check out the inventors:

    Inventors:
    - Megiddo, Nimrod (Palo Alto, CA);
    - Zhu, Xiaoming (San Jose, CA)

    Is it any wonder?

  15. Cool idea, bad subjects on Photographing Exploding Edibles · · Score: 2, Interesting

    These guys went through all that trouble and are only shooting a nail through a cracker? Come on, there are so many cooler things then that.

    - Nail into water ballon
    - Nail through fragile glass
    - Nail into steel (watch nail bend)
    - Nail into neighbors cat (okay, maybe not such a good idea)

    We could even make it a /. poll.

  16. Re:Test it out if you have IE on Don't Hit That Back Button · · Score: 1

    I'm running IE6, and these exploits work

  17. other software installed on Morpheus Hijacks Browsers For Affiliate Links · · Score: 2, Informative

    For you windows users, I noticed that Morphesus also installs a program called BDE under "\%Windows%\BDE", and it installs a Registry Key under:

    "HKEY_LOCAL_MACINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run".

    This key loads the program at startup. The program appears to be some sort of video codec/player.

  18. Re:They ripped me off. on A Real Tabletop PC · · Score: 2, Insightful

    dude, cut those nylon straps.

  19. Re:origin of "Shoshkele" on The Successor To Popunder Ads? · · Score: 1

    A quick search on "Shoshkele" & dance doesn't returns only one link, which referances the ads. So try again.

  20. Bad shipping Container on How Not To Ship Computers · · Score: 1

    This is his own fault. Why would you ever ship something valueable in a UHAUL moving box??? They are cheap, flismy boxes meant for 1 time use. They are not very sturdy compared to other carboard box alternatives. This guy obviously learned a lesson.

  21. Design Thoughts on BBC's Water Rocket-Vehicle Contest · · Score: 1

    In high school, we had a competation to launch a bottle the higest through the same methods. We found this out:

    1) Bottles with the big ridges (bumps) on the bottom actually went farther and stratighter then just round bottoms.

    2) The bottle would need to be filled no more then a 1/3 with water to get the most thrust.

    If you are worried about it going straight, just add a few fins. E-mail me if you have any questions.

  22. Re:Missing a few things on Water Cooling Flow Indicators · · Score: 1

    What about using a waterproof motor. Then use your PC to measure the backward voltage generated by the waterflow. If the motor was very small, this wouldn't effect the flow too much.

  23. Y2K Readiness on Return Of the Lost Server · · Score: 1

    Somebody made a joke that this Server was Y2k ready. But an old Netware Server from 1997 was most likely not Y2k ready, so could this possible be a falsity?

  24. Re:Need a mirror! on RedHat 6.0 is Out · · Score: 1

    Here's another mirror here:

    ftp://linux.vinnie.net

    Its a pretty fast conection, (campus network) :)
    It has an ISO, and I386

  25. Re:mirror... on RedHat 6.0 is Out · · Score: 1

    Here's another mirror here:

    ftp://linux.vinnie.net

    Its a pretty fast conection, (campus network) :)
    It has an ISO, and I386