You deposit a check using this method
You lose the check (normally not a big deal)
Person contests every writing you the check
Now you can't prove the person wrote you a check
People lose things all the time. There are dishonest people who will try and welsh on funds they are supposed to pay. Couple that with the billions of transactions that happen on any given year and you get a recipe for some problems.
This new method should include the option/requirement to scan the check in.
On the other hand, I don't know anyone who was converted to $religion over the internet.
Oh, I don't know. This is/. If I can promise (not even gaurantee) you 72 virgins in the afterlife if you converted to my religion I'm pretty sure you'd be yelling "Jihad!";)
Basically people who take this profs class are being told they have to evangilize their religion. I think this is immoral. I am 100% down for religious schools, religious courses, etc - but to force someone to spread the word or penalize them (20% is huge) is just wrong. Plus the prof told them to go pick a fight. Was this a debate class or was this a theology class?
Stop playing your games and do your job. Fix my computer because I clicked on that I Love You E-mail sent from 125 people I don't know even though you told me not to (btw its' your fault). Oh and you need to install me the latest adob photoshop even though I don't really need it - but the guy in the art department has it. And I want windows 7 - I hear people have advanced copies of it so use your computer to computer illegal programs to download it for me. Also unblock facebook...what the hell - i need to be able to talk to my friends while at work. While I have your ear - since the boss can have two monitors and a brand new computer so can I - so stop being lazy befoer I report you. Finally the internet is acting stupid and i think it will go down *poof*
Except the battery affects the other systems where a lightbulb is affected by other systems. You need to find an analogy with a less integrated part that has no dependencies. Maybe the laptop external fans you can buy (you know the ones you sit underneath your laptop to make it cooler and it connects by a USB). That's about as close as I can think.
I totally understand warranties, and 3rd party products, etc...but there gets to be a point of the spirit of the rule and what it was intended to handle.
If you're talking about those hideous ultra-bright blindness beams that assholes have been putting on their cars lately, refusing to install them is in everyone's best interest.
The lights were to replace the yellow daytime running lights with white DRLs. At night I have xenons. So nope, but thanks for trying.
BTW those "ultra-bright blindness beams..." are not really ultra-bright, they are normal lights (typically with a light blue "paint" on the bulb). People who do installs either forget to adjust the height of the lights or purposefully set them high. So instead of the light hitting the back of the car in front of them (at license plate level or lower) it hits the rear view mirror. So yes, they are assholes or neglectful, but no not because of the light but how they are installed. BTW installing lights at that high a level will mean your car does not pass inspection (in the US at least).
It's a lightbulb, not custom engine work. With the exception that BMW makes it ridiculously hard to replace (you have to remove the bumper, remove the light casing, disassemble the light case) they are halogen bulbs. The worst that would happen is the lightbulb burns out sooner (it's a lightbulb). Given that, if they said "fine but if yuo come back in 15,000 miles we won't apply the warranty"...obviously if I come back in 40k miles (what the car is at right now) with "hey it burnt out" then the lightbulb lived it's life.
Again, I could understand intense custom mods - but something like this? Luckily the CA fudged the paperwork a bit and spoke to the technician...even the CA thought it was silly.
Wells Fargo sueing itself (for default loans) is required to properly acquire payment. It is not like they are going to contest it and sit in court aruging with each other. Yes it's silly, but it is the fault of how the law was written not the fault of Wells Fargo. I am sure Wells Fargo rolled their eyes and said "come on, this is stupid, it's our company trying to write-off the debt to OUR company".
Almost as bad when BMW told me that if I wanted replace my burnt-out bulbs under warranty it would be free, but if I wanted them to install aftermarket lights (which means they put in the lights I bought seperately as opposed to putting in their lights) I would have to pay for it...
So a company searches the intarweb for news stories and displays a snippit (11 words) of this on their site with a link to the newspaper (driving up their readership). This is free advertisement for newspapers, and as they should know free advertisement is almost as awesome as free beer!
This experimental result is in no way something that could ever be made into windows or body armour
Interesting comment, and this is my response to it
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899
See, your comment is a perfect example of the cancer that is "science" journalism
Also, stop belittling the word "cancer". It's a serious ailment that shouldn't be brought anywhere near this topic.
My original comments were fairly accurate - this is a huge first step. It is proof of concept and hopefully we will be able to take more positive steps in the future...nothing may come out - and maybe this is something that can't give us any ppractical uses (ala transparent metal) but we won't know until we try.
While i am down for technology control - i have to say seeing something on a tv screen is not as good as seeing it from your own eyes. Plus if that technology breaks you are screwed though if you die you are more screwed...
And right back at you (though this seems to be more of a we disagree based on our experiences). Though I find it interesting, you are a professor who has used it...while I was a student who used it, a developer who worked on similar products, an implementation specialist who has implemented this and other products. We have different experiences
I've used it as a professor. Perhaps I've been spoiled by using actually half-decent systems like Angel and Moodle, but IMHO it's a steaming pile of bad UI. Why is the professor interface totally different from the student one, to start with the most obvious UI abortion?
Lots of systems have differing UIs based on your login type. Nothing is inherently wrong with this. THe only real concern is - are both systems easy to use. I found BB student and professor interfaces are easy. YOu didn't...that is fine. I don't find Linux easy to use --- but I wouldn't call linux a "UI abortion"
You really aren't very familiar with BB, are you? I'll direct you to the dcollins post at the bottom of the page where CUNY got to experience multiple failures of BB. This is *not* unusual- spend any amount of time talking to BB users and you'll get to hear stories of how it collapsed the week before finals and BB's legendarily awful tech support sat around doing nothing.
Actually, I am quite familiar with it. Maybe your downtime was due to a poor server setup? A poor network setup? A poor computer setup? All of the above. Maybe it was implemented incorrectly? There are a lot of factors that would give you a poor user experience...that doesn't necessarily mean the software was crappy (though it could have also been the software itself).
It's called an anti-trust investigation, triggered because BB has destroyed the commercial market in LMSes. Probably won't go anywhere, but we're not the only school that's been contacted.
Interesting - off the top of my head I can list three LMS providers: SumTotal, SUN LMS (no longer in service, the company I used was the last company they had as a customer), SABA, skillsoft, RWD...oh wait that's more then three. Seems like a healthy market to me (btw I've worked on SumTotal, SUN, Saba, RWD, Blackboard, and another one briefly but I can't remember the name)
I find it interesting....doing a google search (learning management system) Blackboard is on page 3. Moodle on page 1. Angle on page 3 (above Blackboard) and a whole slew of other LMS providers before and after. Seems like a very healthy market.
''What we have created is a completely new state of matter nobody has seen before,'"
How is this statement justified? So far, all I hear is "I pissed on a rock and it turned to mud - it's a new state of matter!"
Actually. if you think about their statement "created...new state of matter nobody has seen before"...give it's in the ultraviolet spectrum, and in that spectrum it is invisible...nobody has yet to see it.
Typically, in research, the first hurdle is to get a repeatable and reliable test case that has almost no practical use (ala this situation). Once they accomplish that hurdle (also sometimes referred to as proof of concept) they can proceed to make it last longer (e.g. make it permenant), make it work better (e.g. invisible to the visible spectrum), make it cheaper for mass production (e.g. so we can build large versions of these) and then continue other improvements.
Basically this was a HUGE hurdle - they were able to show this is possible. Now they will get more funding and they can continue...hopefully we will see (or in this case not see) invisible alumnimum in the future and eventually other items.
BTW - similar systems (recent article) was the Green diode laser. Now with green diode lasers we will eventually have TVs using lasers to draw our images.
This would be amazing in military applications and other defense applications. Watching the movie The Hurt Locker last night one of the guys (in the hum-v) was manning the machine gun. The top 1/3 of his body is exposed on the top of the hum-v which makes him prime pickings for incoming fire. If I was him I would want some defensive there - even very thick plexiglass (lined with metal wires)...given that is not available, this could do the trick. It may not block everything but make it thick enough and it can block out most bullets.
Interesting, speaking as someone who did this for a living (I no longer work in the eLearning industry) and as someone who has used (as a consumer and provider and developer) and modified LMS systems, actual learning content, etc I do say they have a solid product. It's easy to use (for students and professors), has virtually no downtime (obviously servers go down for w/e reasons but I am talking about issues caused by the software, which in my experience has been low). Is this the perfect software? No. Then again, there is no such thing as the perfect software. Find me software and there is someone who has a beef to pick with it.
Really? I suppose that's why I had a nice chat with some DOJ lawyers recently since we are an Angel customer. We really don't have any commercial options- there's virtually no market left that BB can't either buy or sue into oblivion. D2L is holding out so far, but for how much longer given BB's deep pockets and willingness to open more and more suits? Sakai and Moodle are options, but if your business plan involves volunteer labor or grant money, I think you might not have much of a market.
I don't know why you spoke with DOJ and as such cannot comment on it. Considering I have worked with Blackboard and other eLearning/LMS content providers I have never had any issues...this includes evaulating multiple vendors (including Blackboard) and telling the vendors (including Blackboard) that I am going with someone else. At no point did I get a letter/phone call/etc about a lawsuit, patent infringement, etc.
Well first, the whole "BB execs should all be killed" is a tad bit extreme. There are worse things in life then someone who has a complex patent.
Second Blackboard is a leading industry LMS provider - they are really good at what they do.
Third Blackboard has plenty of competition. If schools wanted to leave Blackboard they have plenty of choices.
BTW I spent the first part of my career working in the eLearning industry. The company I worked for had their own custom product that worked similar to blackberry (though they didn't target universities).
This does not qualify as patent trolling. Patent trolling is making/buying a patent that has no actual product behind it (or never making use of the product) and then hanging out hoping others would make a similar product and then sueing for profit. Blackberry has been using their product for years now and they are an industry leader in LMS technology.
OK - first ignore (for a moment) your hate of patents, copyright, etc.
Now ignore the othe companies prior art.
My question: Blackboard created (in 1999) some software and then later merged that company (their original company) into blackboard (seems like they just wanted to incorporate with a better name) and absorbed the patents. Given the patents are now owned by blackboard - I don't understand how their own prior art could invalidate them? Couldn't they sue based on that prior art? This one eludes me.
I like how you need to be anorexic to be considered unattractive, or on the opposite side of the scale (apparently) you can be 10 lbs overweight.
That is absolutely not what i said. I was setting a standard so someone would not come up with "oh you are talking about those anorexic girls and think they are hot". No anorexia is not healthy - and tends to be unattractive (very few people can be anorexic and look good...for sure they are not healthy). On the opposite end I was setting a standard (well medical science sets the standard of 10 lbs).
There is a margin of what is considered healthy weight, and it is weight X with +/- Y%. If you are supposed to weigh 95 lbs (due to height, bone, muscle structure) 10 lbs is a TON (it's 10% body fat). If you are supposed to weigh 180 lbs (due to height, bone, muscle structure) then 10 lbs is not as bad (5% body fat) though it is still bad. That is why medical articles state about 10lbs - because for the average male (weighing at 180 lbs) gaining 10 lbs = +5% body fat more then what they should be. 5% is a lot. Remember: 10 lbs average on 185 lb average weight
You may not think it's fair - but as others have said it in this thread - life ain't fair and crying won't change it.
10 lbs are less than 5 kg. I would say a person that's 5 kg overweight or less is perfectly healthy.
Well two things
1) The study from as unbiased a group as you can get says you are wrong
2) Doctors say you are wrong. New studies show that people who are even 10 lbs overweight have a dramatically increased chance for heart issues, diabetes, etc.
I have a friend who thinks girls 30 lbs overweight are more attractive then girls who are 0 lbs overweight - that doesn't mean the studies are wrong it just means he is different then the norm.
And remember even you said it they are overweight. Normal weight, btw, is not some person who came out of susan struthers info-mercial.
Slashdot Mirror
You deposit a check using this method
You lose the check (normally not a big deal)
Person contests every writing you the check
Now you can't prove the person wrote you a check
People lose things all the time. There are dishonest people who will try and welsh on funds they are supposed to pay. Couple that with the billions of transactions that happen on any given year and you get a recipe for some problems.
This new method should include the option/requirement to scan the check in.
On the other hand, I don't know anyone who was converted to $religion over the internet.
Oh, I don't know. This is /. If I can promise (not even gaurantee) you 72 virgins in the afterlife if you converted to my religion I'm pretty sure you'd be yelling "Jihad!" ;)
Basically people who take this profs class are being told they have to evangilize their religion. I think this is immoral. I am 100% down for religious schools, religious courses, etc - but to force someone to spread the word or penalize them (20% is huge) is just wrong. Plus the prof told them to go pick a fight. Was this a debate class or was this a theology class?
And in the news, /. readers go blind trying to read a poorly written summary.
/. editors - please do some editing - it took me three reads to fully understand the summary
The rhythm method will be back in style!!!! OH YEA!
Stop playing your games and do your job. Fix my computer because I clicked on that I Love You E-mail sent from 125 people I don't know even though you told me not to (btw its' your fault). Oh and you need to install me the latest adob photoshop even though I don't really need it - but the guy in the art department has it. And I want windows 7 - I hear people have advanced copies of it so use your computer to computer illegal programs to download it for me. Also unblock facebook...what the hell - i need to be able to talk to my friends while at work. While I have your ear - since the boss can have two monitors and a brand new computer so can I - so stop being lazy befoer I report you. Finally the internet is acting stupid and i think it will go down *poof*
Except the battery affects the other systems where a lightbulb is affected by other systems. You need to find an analogy with a less integrated part that has no dependencies. Maybe the laptop external fans you can buy (you know the ones you sit underneath your laptop to make it cooler and it connects by a USB). That's about as close as I can think.
I totally understand warranties, and 3rd party products, etc...but there gets to be a point of the spirit of the rule and what it was intended to handle.
What kind of asshole would put all that huge expanse of the universe out there and so utterly cut us off from it?
One persons asshole is another persons practical jokester.
If you're talking about those hideous ultra-bright blindness beams that assholes have been putting on their cars lately, refusing to install them is in everyone's best interest.
The lights were to replace the yellow daytime running lights with white DRLs. At night I have xenons. So nope, but thanks for trying.
BTW those "ultra-bright blindness beams..." are not really ultra-bright, they are normal lights (typically with a light blue "paint" on the bulb). People who do installs either forget to adjust the height of the lights or purposefully set them high. So instead of the light hitting the back of the car in front of them (at license plate level or lower) it hits the rear view mirror. So yes, they are assholes or neglectful, but no not because of the light but how they are installed. BTW installing lights at that high a level will mean your car does not pass inspection (in the US at least).
It's a lightbulb, not custom engine work. With the exception that BMW makes it ridiculously hard to replace (you have to remove the bumper, remove the light casing, disassemble the light case) they are halogen bulbs. The worst that would happen is the lightbulb burns out sooner (it's a lightbulb). Given that, if they said "fine but if yuo come back in 15,000 miles we won't apply the warranty"...obviously if I come back in 40k miles (what the car is at right now) with "hey it burnt out" then the lightbulb lived it's life.
Again, I could understand intense custom mods - but something like this? Luckily the CA fudged the paperwork a bit and spoke to the technician...even the CA thought it was silly.
Wells Fargo sueing itself (for default loans) is required to properly acquire payment. It is not like they are going to contest it and sit in court aruging with each other. Yes it's silly, but it is the fault of how the law was written not the fault of Wells Fargo. I am sure Wells Fargo rolled their eyes and said "come on, this is stupid, it's our company trying to write-off the debt to OUR company".
Almost as bad when BMW told me that if I wanted replace my burnt-out bulbs under warranty it would be free, but if I wanted them to install aftermarket lights (which means they put in the lights I bought seperately as opposed to putting in their lights) I would have to pay for it...
So a company searches the intarweb for news stories and displays a snippit (11 words) of this on their site with a link to the newspaper (driving up their readership). This is free advertisement for newspapers, and as they should know free advertisement is almost as awesome as free beer!
This experimental result is in no way something that could ever be made into windows or body armour
Interesting comment, and this is my response to it
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899
See, your comment is a perfect example of the cancer that is "science" journalism
Also, stop belittling the word "cancer". It's a serious ailment that shouldn't be brought anywhere near this topic.
My original comments were fairly accurate - this is a huge first step. It is proof of concept and hopefully we will be able to take more positive steps in the future...nothing may come out - and maybe this is something that can't give us any ppractical uses (ala transparent metal) but we won't know until we try.
While i am down for technology control - i have to say seeing something on a tv screen is not as good as seeing it from your own eyes. Plus if that technology breaks you are screwed though if you die you are more screwed...
I've used it as a professor. Perhaps I've been spoiled by using actually half-decent systems like Angel and Moodle, but IMHO it's a steaming pile of bad UI. Why is the professor interface totally different from the student one, to start with the most obvious UI abortion?
Lots of systems have differing UIs based on your login type. Nothing is inherently wrong with this. THe only real concern is - are both systems easy to use. I found BB student and professor interfaces are easy. YOu didn't...that is fine. I don't find Linux easy to use --- but I wouldn't call linux a "UI abortion"
You really aren't very familiar with BB, are you? I'll direct you to the dcollins post at the bottom of the page where CUNY got to experience multiple failures of BB. This is *not* unusual- spend any amount of time talking to BB users and you'll get to hear stories of how it collapsed the week before finals and BB's legendarily awful tech support sat around doing nothing.
Actually, I am quite familiar with it. Maybe your downtime was due to a poor server setup? A poor network setup? A poor computer setup? All of the above. Maybe it was implemented incorrectly? There are a lot of factors that would give you a poor user experience...that doesn't necessarily mean the software was crappy (though it could have also been the software itself).
It's called an anti-trust investigation, triggered because BB has destroyed the commercial market in LMSes. Probably won't go anywhere, but we're not the only school that's been contacted.
Interesting - off the top of my head I can list three LMS providers: SumTotal, SUN LMS (no longer in service, the company I used was the last company they had as a customer), SABA, skillsoft, RWD...oh wait that's more then three. Seems like a healthy market to me (btw I've worked on SumTotal, SUN, Saba, RWD, Blackboard, and another one briefly but I can't remember the name)
I find it interesting....doing a google search (learning management system) Blackboard is on page 3. Moodle on page 1. Angle on page 3 (above Blackboard) and a whole slew of other LMS providers before and after. Seems like a very healthy market.
''What we have created is a completely new state of matter nobody has seen before,'"
How is this statement justified? So far, all I hear is "I pissed on a rock and it turned to mud - it's a new state of matter!"
Actually. if you think about their statement "created...new state of matter nobody has seen before"...give it's in the ultraviolet spectrum, and in that spectrum it is invisible...nobody has yet to see it.
Have you wondered if that soda can over there is empty or full?
Or has a cigarette butt in it?
Typically, in research, the first hurdle is to get a repeatable and reliable test case that has almost no practical use (ala this situation). Once they accomplish that hurdle (also sometimes referred to as proof of concept) they can proceed to make it last longer (e.g. make it permenant), make it work better (e.g. invisible to the visible spectrum), make it cheaper for mass production (e.g. so we can build large versions of these) and then continue other improvements.
Basically this was a HUGE hurdle - they were able to show this is possible. Now they will get more funding and they can continue...hopefully we will see (or in this case not see) invisible alumnimum in the future and eventually other items.
BTW - similar systems (recent article) was the Green diode laser. Now with green diode lasers we will eventually have TVs using lasers to draw our images.
Straight from star trek.
This would be amazing in military applications and other defense applications. Watching the movie The Hurt Locker last night one of the guys (in the hum-v) was manning the machine gun. The top 1/3 of his body is exposed on the top of the hum-v which makes him prime pickings for incoming fire. If I was him I would want some defensive there - even very thick plexiglass (lined with metal wires)...given that is not available, this could do the trick. It may not block everything but make it thick enough and it can block out most bullets.
Speaking as someone who does this for a living...
Interesting, speaking as someone who did this for a living (I no longer work in the eLearning industry) and as someone who has used (as a consumer and provider and developer) and modified LMS systems, actual learning content, etc I do say they have a solid product. It's easy to use (for students and professors), has virtually no downtime (obviously servers go down for w/e reasons but I am talking about issues caused by the software, which in my experience has been low). Is this the perfect software? No. Then again, there is no such thing as the perfect software. Find me software and there is someone who has a beef to pick with it.
Really? I suppose that's why I had a nice chat with some DOJ lawyers recently since we are an Angel customer. We really don't have any commercial options- there's virtually no market left that BB can't either buy or sue into oblivion. D2L is holding out so far, but for how much longer given BB's deep pockets and willingness to open more and more suits? Sakai and Moodle are options, but if your business plan involves volunteer labor or grant money, I think you might not have much of a market.
I don't know why you spoke with DOJ and as such cannot comment on it. Considering I have worked with Blackboard and other eLearning/LMS content providers I have never had any issues...this includes evaulating multiple vendors (including Blackboard) and telling the vendors (including Blackboard) that I am going with someone else. At no point did I get a letter/phone call/etc about a lawsuit, patent infringement, etc.
Well first, the whole "BB execs should all be killed" is a tad bit extreme. There are worse things in life then someone who has a complex patent.
Second Blackboard is a leading industry LMS provider - they are really good at what they do.
Third Blackboard has plenty of competition. If schools wanted to leave Blackboard they have plenty of choices.
BTW I spent the first part of my career working in the eLearning industry. The company I worked for had their own custom product that worked similar to blackberry (though they didn't target universities).
This does not qualify as patent trolling. Patent trolling is making/buying a patent that has no actual product behind it (or never making use of the product) and then hanging out hoping others would make a similar product and then sueing for profit. Blackberry has been using their product for years now and they are an industry leader in LMS technology.
OK - first ignore (for a moment) your hate of patents, copyright, etc.
Now ignore the othe companies prior art.
My question: Blackboard created (in 1999) some software and then later merged that company (their original company) into blackboard (seems like they just wanted to incorporate with a better name) and absorbed the patents. Given the patents are now owned by blackboard - I don't understand how their own prior art could invalidate them? Couldn't they sue based on that prior art? This one eludes me.
I like how you need to be anorexic to be considered unattractive, or on the opposite side of the scale (apparently) you can be 10 lbs overweight.
That is absolutely not what i said. I was setting a standard so someone would not come up with "oh you are talking about those anorexic girls and think they are hot". No anorexia is not healthy - and tends to be unattractive (very few people can be anorexic and look good...for sure they are not healthy). On the opposite end I was setting a standard (well medical science sets the standard of 10 lbs).
There is a margin of what is considered healthy weight, and it is weight X with +/- Y%. If you are supposed to weigh 95 lbs (due to height, bone, muscle structure) 10 lbs is a TON (it's 10% body fat). If you are supposed to weigh 180 lbs (due to height, bone, muscle structure) then 10 lbs is not as bad (5% body fat) though it is still bad. That is why medical articles state about 10lbs - because for the average male (weighing at 180 lbs) gaining 10 lbs = +5% body fat more then what they should be. 5% is a lot. Remember: 10 lbs average on 185 lb average weight
You may not think it's fair - but as others have said it in this thread - life ain't fair and crying won't change it.
10 lbs are less than 5 kg. I would say a person that's 5 kg overweight or less is perfectly healthy.
Well two things
1) The study from as unbiased a group as you can get says you are wrong
2) Doctors say you are wrong. New studies show that people who are even 10 lbs overweight have a dramatically increased chance for heart issues, diabetes, etc.
I have a friend who thinks girls 30 lbs overweight are more attractive then girls who are 0 lbs overweight - that doesn't mean the studies are wrong it just means he is different then the norm.
And remember even you said it they are overweight. Normal weight, btw, is not some person who came out of susan struthers info-mercial.