Also the reason the United States is pushing ACTA so hard is because we have nothing else to export. Without copyright protection, people can take our songs, movies, and software for free, and destroy our economy.
>>> I'd rather be at a full stop complaining that the car won't move, than moving along complaining that I can't get the car to a full stop.
Ditto. If I was like the woman who testified in Congress, and I was trapped in a car racing along the interstate at over 100 miles per hour, I'd probably rear end one of the left-lane cars. The 100-downto-80 deceleration will be much better than a 100-downto-0 deceleration, if I hit a bridge or other obstacle.
>>>You could throw the car into neutral with an automatic in Toyotas with these problems. People during these incidents did not think of that though.
WRONG.
Why do people insist upon repeating wrong stuff even when I said, point blank, "ignores all other signals, even shifting to neutral"??? A victim of this bug sat on the floor of Congress and testified that she pressed the brake, shifted to neutral, even shifted to reverse, and the car ignored those commands.
Then a Toyota engineer testified that her testimony was accurate, and he confirmed that when the "acceleration bug" happens, the computer ignores everything else.
So NO shifting to neutral will not save you from dying in a runaway Toyota.
aside-
And what really ____es me off is that Toyota has been LOTS of problems over this past decade, like prematurely dying Prius batteries, and engines sludging at only 20-30,000 mile, plus this pedal situation. And you know what Toyota's response was in every case? "Customer's fault, not ours." Even when customers had their dealers backing them up with receipts, proving the car had been maintained faithfully, the Toyota Corporation still refused to honor the warranty or acknowledge the problem.
I can understand engineering mistakes. We're only human. But to deny warranty, and to deny blatant deaths, and instead blame innocent people who have done no wrong, is the height of arrogance. It reminds me of how Ford acted when their 70s-era Pintos were exploding. Deny, deny, deny..... until the government catches you.
Good thing we have government, and customers willing to file class-action lawsuits in court, otherwise Toyota would still be doing nothing.
United States Congressional testimony by victims of this bug, and Toyota engineers/technicians. - 2/23/2010
And don't whine because I didn't provide a hyperlink. You must have been living in a CAVE to not have already heard this testimony - it was all over the national news.
>>>They just want the P2P buzzword, which does nothing.
Pretty much. When I watched our "finest" leaders debating the healthcare plan yesterday, it was embarrassing. These guys don't know crap about the stuff they legislate. They're just going for what "sounds good" to the voters..... like "I banned P2P".
>>>there are base principles like freedom of speech, freedom of information, and other human rights.
My "country" of Pennsylvania has a constitutional, legal right to free speech and security from warrantless police searches, but that didn't stop the U.S. from passing the Patriot Act that violates both. This is why I don't see what's holding back the EU Parliament from doing the same. .
>>>britain actually, shouldnt have been in eu in the first place, for they are not compatible with anything eu represents.
???. Britain had a Bill of Rights (1600s) before any other EU country had one. It was the basis of the U.S. Bill of Rights. I don't understand how you can say it's not compatible with other EU states.
>>>The US is flat, and have never fought and modern wars on their own soil. Got real, please?
Flat? Yeah I guess it is if you ignore the *3* mountain ranges that cross north-to-south. And the modern war we fought in 1917 against Mexico using tanks (they wisely retreated rather than be squashed).
>>>>would you rather find out what a "fatal exception" means in more physical terms?
No I would not, and I can't believe someone is even asking this question. Toyota cars have a KNOWN bug that, when it occurs, the car accelerates at full throttle and ignores all other signals (even shifting to neutral or pulling the emergency brake). I would RUN to my dealer to get the new code, rather than continue putting my life on the line with a known flawed/mortal program.
BTW:
This issue is making me think all my future cars will be manual shift with a mechanical linkage connecting the engine to the wheels. Like the Honda Insight Hybrid I drive now. Even if my Honda experienced the same bug as Toyotas have, I can disconnect the engine from the wheels, and coast to a stop.
You jest, but I still don't understand why I need more than 640 megabytes in my laptop or computer. If Windows 95 could run on just 8 megabytes, why can't a modern OS fit inside 640 MB?
Bloat, bloat, bloat.
It's the same reason why surfing the web on dialup is nigh impossible anymore. The web's not really any different than 10 years ago (text and images, plus sounds and videos), but programmers are no longer bothering to limit themselves to 1/2 megabyte webpage size like they used to do. (Also they do rude things like loading multi-megabyte audio/video without permission from the user.)
>>>If somebody doesn't mandate upgrades, I won't see anything more than 5 Mbps for years.
That's what I used to think until Verizon rolled-in with FiOS. Now I can get 100 Mbit/s if I want. As for the mandate, I think the first priority should be to get people off 0.05 Mbit/s dialup speeds. The Congress should pass a law that any dialup customer who requests DSL from their phone company MUST have it hooked-up within 6 months. No exceptions. And it would be cheap to implement this law since the wires (phonelines) are already there.
And finally it's common myth that the U.S. is somehow "falling behind" but it simply isn't true. When you compare the continent-spanning US to other large federations around the world:
Russian Federation 8.3 Mbit/s U.S. 7.0 E.U. 6.6 Canada 5.7 Australia 5.1 China 3.0 Brazil 2.1 Mexico 1.1 Mbit/s
We are not "falling behind". We are in second place, silver medal position, ahead of the EU, Canada, Australia, and so on.
>>>Something that you have to do for both PC's and Consoles
Yes but the console game goes through an approval process with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and such a stupid error would never be allowed to slip through their quality control.
Of course I could be wrong. I did the whole online gaming thing in the 1980s and early 90s, and then grew bored with it. I've not attempted it since then, so maybe Console Online is hell to set up. (shrug) .
>>>I don't think it's all that applicable here.
Well then read more carefully. "Stories like this and the Slashdot summary are why I... quit PC gaming." I could also share my own personal stories, like when TNG was retired in 1994, they released a "virtual tour" of the Enterprise sets on CD. I spent $50 for the thing, spent an entire day trying to make it work on my roommate's PC, and then we both grew frustrated and returned it.
The Amiga port was released about a year later. It worked flawlessly. Because it has fixed hardware, so the programmers only have ONE configuration to deal with, not 20,000 potential combinations.
>>> VCRs cannot record and play the same tape at the same time
So? You can't wait half-an-hour for your show to finish recording and then watch it? Or watch another tape on VCR#2 while you're waiting? (That's what I typically do.) No wonder they call you the "entitlement generation" - you're spoiled rotten.;-)
>>>Yet people have no problems spending $80+/month so they can text and check sports scores on their phones
Yeah they're nuts. I only spend $5 a month for my phone, which gives me 30 minutes per month (or 30 texts, IMs or emails). It works fine for me.
And maybe Tivo is a "bargain" for you, but since my DVR has FREE television guides and auto-recording of my favorite programs, that's an even better bargain.:-)
It wouldn't happen immediately. It would be the result of ~50 years of gradually declining regulations as these two superpowers (EU/US) struggle over economic control of the trans-Atlantic markets, until one day the wrong person becomes the US President or EU President and foolishly decides war is the solution.
It wouldn't be the first time these two continents fought one another. There was the American-French War in the 1740s, as France tried to gain control of the American colonies. The British-American Civil War in the 1770s. The British-American War of 1812. The Spanish-American War of 1898.
We have peace now but it doesn't mean it would last if the US and EU start having squabbles over the EU not protecting the US business interests (or vice versa).
>>>Being as there is no EU-wide proposal to explicitly ban member states from imposing internet disconnection
Why not? What's stopping the EU Parliament from making continent-wide laws such as "3 strike"? From my reading of the EU Lisbon Treaty (constitution) there's nothing to prevent them from doing that.
>>>people need to proselytize, or else OSS gets nowhere.
Want the new Windows 7? Want the new OS X 10.6? Don't have $200? No problem. Goto ubuntu.com and get a FREE OS that's just as good as Windows 7. Guaranteed or your money back.;-)
Big Corporation: Open Source is bad for everyone. Open Source Advocate: No, monopolies are bad for everyone.
Politician: Open source is good for the poor! It's free! Think of the children!
Big Corporation: Damn. Open Source Advocate: Well..... (shrug)..... whatever works. Open source is good for the children! Free Ubuntu or Puppy Linux for everyone! Goto www.freeubuntu.com or www.freepuppy.com for your free computer OS.
A few more Member States are headed for the same destination, and the EU will be forced to act to save them with bailouts.
Either that, or the U.S. will experience a financial meltdown (according to Wall Street Journal within 5 years), and bring down the EU States with it. Similar to what happened in 1929.
.
>>>"EU intends to take a hard-line stance against US proposals"
Good for them! I hope it doesn't lead to war. (See Rome versus Carthage trade disputes.)
If I was a politician I'd do the exact opposite, and work to eliminate bad laws and then brag about it: "Good news! The law that would have arrested you for kissing a black person (or vice-versa white person) no longer exists. I killed it." Or: "You can put $100 more in your bank account this year. The War of 1898 tax has finally been repealed." Or: "You no longer need fear being arrested because you grow a natural plant in your backyard. The marijuana prohibition has been lifted, although it will still be regulated as a drug. Next step: Amend the Constitution to give the Tenth Amendment some teeth, so the States can enforce it."
Basically I'd be like Thomas Jefferson. (Or in modern terms: Ron Paul.)
Stories like this and the Slashdot summary are why I made an attempt at PC gaming in the 90s, but then quit. Computer gaming was fun in the era of Atari 800s, Commodore 64s, Atari STs, and Commodore Amigas, because you had FIXED hardware that just worked (and worked extremely well - better than the PCs/Macs). No need to mess with drivers or cards or other nonsense. Gaming on those old 8/32 bit machines was plug-and-play easy.
Computers are no longer that easy to use, so I bought my first console ever with the PS2 and Gamecube. Where PC gaming had been a major headache, the consoles once again returned the simplicity that I experienced with my Commodores and Amigas. Plug and play. No headaches.
>>>should also consider the phonograph and the human memory cortex timeshifters as well.
The term "timeshifting" was invented with the VCR (another popular term was tape-delayed), because it allowed people to make their own schedules, rather than being shackled to the TV Guide. I know with my VCR I almost never watch anything live - it tapes at night and I "timeshift" to the next afternoon when I get home from work.
The photograph was typically called by 1800s observers as "capturing time" because it froze a moment forever.
Yeah time-shifting is nothing new. It has existed ever since the Sony Umatic VCR released circa 1969. That VCR was too expensive, so Sony went back and created the Betamax (anc JVC copied it to create VHS) in 1975. DVR is not even the first digital recording method - that was miniDV and Digital VHS in the early 1990s. ----- People have been time-shifting for decades. All the DVR did was replace the magnetic tape storage with magnetic disk storage. Nothing revolutionary... it was an evolutionary change.
As for why Tivo is not more popular? Because there are tons of other options. I have a Panasonic ReplayTV that has no subscription fees whatsoever. Ditto my Dish DTVpal which cost $250 flat and no subscription fees. It seemed a no-brainer to buy these DVRs rather than buy a Tivo with a monthly rental.
Perhaps if Tivo eliminated the monthly fee, then they'd takeoff like iPod, but most people simply don't see the need to throw-away money like that. They have to budget their spending, which means they choose options without the fees (like I did).
How about just giving me Windows 95, which could run on only 16 megabytes RAM and a 33 megahertz PC. On a modern Atom-equipped PC such an efficient/sleek OS would use so little power your battery could go for days-and-days.
Slashdot Mirror
Also the reason the United States is pushing ACTA so hard is because we have nothing else to export. Without copyright protection, people can take our songs, movies, and software for free, and destroy our economy.
>>> I'd rather be at a full stop complaining that the car won't move, than moving along complaining that I can't get the car to a full stop.
Ditto. If I was like the woman who testified in Congress, and I was trapped in a car racing along the interstate at over 100 miles per hour, I'd probably rear end one of the left-lane cars. The 100-downto-80 deceleration will be much better than a 100-downto-0 deceleration, if I hit a bridge or other obstacle.
>>>You could throw the car into neutral with an automatic in Toyotas with these problems. People during these incidents did not think of that though.
WRONG.
Why do people insist upon repeating wrong stuff even when I said, point blank, "ignores all other signals, even shifting to neutral"??? A victim of this bug sat on the floor of Congress and testified that she pressed the brake, shifted to neutral, even shifted to reverse, and the car ignored those commands.
Then a Toyota engineer testified that her testimony was accurate, and he confirmed that when the "acceleration bug" happens, the computer ignores everything else.
So NO shifting to neutral will not save you from dying in a runaway Toyota.
aside-
And what really ____es me off is that Toyota has been LOTS of problems over this past decade, like prematurely dying Prius batteries, and engines sludging at only 20-30,000 mile, plus this pedal situation. And you know what Toyota's response was in every case? "Customer's fault, not ours." Even when customers had their dealers backing them up with receipts, proving the car had been maintained faithfully, the Toyota Corporation still refused to honor the warranty or acknowledge the problem.
I can understand engineering mistakes. We're only human. But to deny warranty, and to deny blatant deaths, and instead blame innocent people who have done no wrong, is the height of arrogance. It reminds me of how Ford acted when their 70s-era Pintos were exploding. Deny, deny, deny..... until the government catches you.
Good thing we have government, and customers willing to file class-action lawsuits in court, otherwise Toyota would still be doing nothing.
United States Congressional testimony by victims of this bug, and Toyota engineers/technicians.
- 2/23/2010
And don't whine because I didn't provide a hyperlink. You must have been living in a CAVE to not have already heard this testimony - it was all over the national news.
>>>They just want the P2P buzzword, which does nothing.
Pretty much. When I watched our "finest" leaders debating the healthcare plan yesterday, it was embarrassing. These guys don't know crap about the stuff they legislate. They're just going for what "sounds good" to the voters..... like "I banned P2P".
>>>there are base principles like freedom of speech, freedom of information, and other human rights.
My "country" of Pennsylvania has a constitutional, legal right to free speech and security from warrantless police searches, but that didn't stop the U.S. from passing the Patriot Act that violates both. This is why I don't see what's holding back the EU Parliament from doing the same.
.
>>>britain actually, shouldnt have been in eu in the first place, for they are not compatible with anything eu represents.
???. Britain had a Bill of Rights (1600s) before any other EU country had one. It was the basis of the U.S. Bill of Rights. I don't understand how you can say it's not compatible with other EU states.
Britain is also holding its very first "tea party" this weekend, demanding that politicians be accountable and stop taxing the citizens to death - http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100027366/british-tea-party-movement-to-launch-on-saturday/
>>>will end up thinking Ubuntu sucks.
Oh well.
Hopefully the number of people who enjoy getting a FREE operating system and saving $200 every ~3 years will outnumber those who don't like it.
>>>The US is flat, and have never fought and modern wars on their own soil. Got real, please?
Flat? Yeah I guess it is if you ignore the *3* mountain ranges that cross north-to-south. And the modern war we fought in 1917 against Mexico using tanks (they wisely retreated rather than be squashed).
Anyway - hopefully none of this will happen.
>>>>would you rather find out what a "fatal exception" means in more physical terms?
No I would not, and I can't believe someone is even asking this question. Toyota cars have a KNOWN bug that, when it occurs, the car accelerates at full throttle and ignores all other signals (even shifting to neutral or pulling the emergency brake). I would RUN to my dealer to get the new code, rather than continue putting my life on the line with a known flawed/mortal program.
BTW:
This issue is making me think all my future cars will be manual shift with a mechanical linkage connecting the engine to the wheels. Like the Honda Insight Hybrid I drive now. Even if my Honda experienced the same bug as Toyotas have, I can disconnect the engine from the wheels, and coast to a stop.
You jest, but I still don't understand why I need more than 640 megabytes in my laptop or computer. If Windows 95 could run on just 8 megabytes, why can't a modern OS fit inside 640 MB?
Bloat, bloat, bloat.
It's the same reason why surfing the web on dialup is nigh impossible anymore. The web's not really any different than 10 years ago (text and images, plus sounds and videos), but programmers are no longer bothering to limit themselves to 1/2 megabyte webpage size like they used to do. (Also they do rude things like loading multi-megabyte audio/video without permission from the user.)
>>>If somebody doesn't mandate upgrades, I won't see anything more than 5 Mbps for years.
That's what I used to think until Verizon rolled-in with FiOS. Now I can get 100 Mbit/s if I want. As for the mandate, I think the first priority should be to get people off 0.05 Mbit/s dialup speeds. The Congress should pass a law that any dialup customer who requests DSL from their phone company MUST have it hooked-up within 6 months. No exceptions. And it would be cheap to implement this law since the wires (phonelines) are already there.
And finally it's common myth that the U.S. is somehow "falling behind" but it simply isn't true. When you compare the continent-spanning US to other large federations around the world:
Russian Federation 8.3 Mbit/s
U.S. 7.0
E.U. 6.6
Canada 5.7
Australia 5.1
China 3.0
Brazil 2.1
Mexico 1.1 Mbit/s
We are not "falling behind". We are in second place, silver medal position, ahead of the EU, Canada, Australia, and so on.
>>>Something that you have to do for both PC's and Consoles
Yes but the console game goes through an approval process with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and such a stupid error would never be allowed to slip through their quality control.
Of course I could be wrong. I did the whole online gaming thing in the 1980s and early 90s, and then grew bored with it. I've not attempted it since then, so maybe Console Online is hell to set up. (shrug)
.
>>>I don't think it's all that applicable here.
Well then read more carefully. "Stories like this and the Slashdot summary are why I... quit PC gaming." I could also share my own personal stories, like when TNG was retired in 1994, they released a "virtual tour" of the Enterprise sets on CD. I spent $50 for the thing, spent an entire day trying to make it work on my roommate's PC, and then we both grew frustrated and returned it.
The Amiga port was released about a year later. It worked flawlessly. Because it has fixed hardware, so the programmers only have ONE configuration to deal with, not 20,000 potential combinations.
Consoles are the same way.
>>> VCRs cannot record and play the same tape at the same time
So? You can't wait half-an-hour for your show to finish recording and then watch it? Or watch another tape on VCR#2 while you're waiting? (That's what I typically do.) No wonder they call you the "entitlement generation" - you're spoiled rotten. ;-)
>>>Yet people have no problems spending $80+/month so they can text and check sports scores on their phones
Yeah they're nuts. I only spend $5 a month for my phone, which gives me 30 minutes per month (or 30 texts, IMs or emails). It works fine for me.
And maybe Tivo is a "bargain" for you, but since my DVR has FREE television guides and auto-recording of my favorite programs, that's an even better bargain. :-)
It wouldn't happen immediately. It would be the result of ~50 years of gradually declining regulations as these two superpowers (EU/US) struggle over economic control of the trans-Atlantic markets, until one day the wrong person becomes the US President or EU President and foolishly decides war is the solution.
It wouldn't be the first time these two continents fought one another. There was the American-French War in the 1740s, as France tried to gain control of the American colonies. The British-American Civil War in the 1770s. The British-American War of 1812. The Spanish-American War of 1898.
We have peace now but it doesn't mean it would last if the US and EU start having squabbles over the EU not protecting the US business interests (or vice versa).
>>>Being as there is no EU-wide proposal to explicitly ban member states from imposing internet disconnection
Why not? What's stopping the EU Parliament from making continent-wide laws such as "3 strike"? From my reading of the EU Lisbon Treaty (constitution) there's nothing to prevent them from doing that.
>>>people need to proselytize, or else OSS gets nowhere.
Want the new Windows 7? ;-)
Want the new OS X 10.6?
Don't have $200?
No problem. Goto ubuntu.com and get a FREE OS that's just as good as Windows 7. Guaranteed or your money back.
Big Corporation: Open Source is bad for everyone.
Open Source Advocate: No, monopolies are bad for everyone.
Politician: Open source is good for the poor! It's free! Think of the children!
Big Corporation: Damn.
Open Source Advocate: Well..... (shrug)..... whatever works. Open source is good for the children! Free Ubuntu or Puppy Linux for everyone! Goto www.freeubuntu.com or www.freepuppy.com for your free computer OS.
Greece is just step one.
A few more Member States are headed for the same destination, and the EU will be forced to act to save them with bailouts.
Either that, or the U.S. will experience a financial meltdown (according to Wall Street Journal within 5 years), and bring down the EU States with it. Similar to what happened in 1929.
.
>>>"EU intends to take a hard-line stance against US proposals"
Good for them!
I hope it doesn't lead to war.
(See Rome versus Carthage trade disputes.)
If I was a politician I'd do the exact opposite, and work to eliminate bad laws and then brag about it: "Good news! The law that would have arrested you for kissing a black person (or vice-versa white person) no longer exists. I killed it." Or: "You can put $100 more in your bank account this year. The War of 1898 tax has finally been repealed." Or: "You no longer need fear being arrested because you grow a natural plant in your backyard. The marijuana prohibition has been lifted, although it will still be regulated as a drug. Next step: Amend the Constitution to give the Tenth Amendment some teeth, so the States can enforce it."
Basically I'd be like Thomas Jefferson. (Or in modern terms: Ron Paul.)
>>>unblocking 200 ports
Stories like this and the Slashdot summary are why I made an attempt at PC gaming in the 90s, but then quit. Computer gaming was fun in the era of Atari 800s, Commodore 64s, Atari STs, and Commodore Amigas, because you had FIXED hardware that just worked (and worked extremely well - better than the PCs/Macs). No need to mess with drivers or cards or other nonsense. Gaming on those old 8/32 bit machines was plug-and-play easy.
Computers are no longer that easy to use, so I bought my first console ever with the PS2 and Gamecube. Where PC gaming had been a major headache, the consoles once again returned the simplicity that I experienced with my Commodores and Amigas. Plug and play. No headaches.
"All your base are belong to us." Here's the whole sad scene from that terrible game: (zoom 400% so you can read it):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/AllYourBaseAnimated.gif
>>>should also consider the phonograph and the human memory cortex timeshifters as well.
The term "timeshifting" was invented with the VCR (another popular term was tape-delayed), because it allowed people to make their own schedules, rather than being shackled to the TV Guide. I know with my VCR I almost never watch anything live - it tapes at night and I "timeshift" to the next afternoon when I get home from work.
The photograph was typically called by 1800s observers as "capturing time" because it froze a moment forever.
Yeah time-shifting is nothing new. It has existed ever since the Sony Umatic VCR released circa 1969. That VCR was too expensive, so Sony went back and created the Betamax (anc JVC copied it to create VHS) in 1975. DVR is not even the first digital recording method - that was miniDV and Digital VHS in the early 1990s. ----- People have been time-shifting for decades. All the DVR did was replace the magnetic tape storage with magnetic disk storage. Nothing revolutionary... it was an evolutionary change.
As for why Tivo is not more popular? Because there are tons of other options. I have a Panasonic ReplayTV that has no subscription fees whatsoever. Ditto my Dish DTVpal which cost $250 flat and no subscription fees. It seemed a no-brainer to buy these DVRs rather than buy a Tivo with a monthly rental.
Perhaps if Tivo eliminated the monthly fee, then they'd takeoff like iPod, but most people simply don't see the need to throw-away money like that. They have to budget their spending, which means they choose options without the fees (like I did).
How about just giving me Windows 95, which could run on only 16 megabytes RAM and a 33 megahertz PC. On a modern Atom-equipped PC such an efficient/sleek OS would use so little power your battery could go for days-and-days.