Far too frequently in the Android world that you refer to the choice boils down to this: You can either choose to continue running a version of Android that is outdated, or you can buy a new phone and repeat the process in a few months.
I paid $500 for a T-mobile Vibrant, one of Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy S models, in July. So we're just barely at the five month mark and it's now two full releases behind mainline Android. The situation is particularly frustrating because the newly released Nexus S, which Samsung also manufactures, is merely a variant of the Galaxy S models. It has exactly the same processor as the Vibrant, and identical hardware specifications aside from the front facing camera and NFC capabilities.
So what do you call it when two nearly identical phones are separated by two major releases of Android? You may not want to call it fragmentation, but in the real world we call it "ridiculous."
It's funny that you say "green" because that is actually the corporate color of the company that has been providing me with cell phone service for the past 3 years: Cricket.
Unlimited airtime and unlimited text messaging for $52.50 including tax. That's been my price the entire time. Awesome, awesome company and service.
So there is competition, but it is tough to convince people to become a customer of your scrappy young upstart when "coverage" and "bars" are so important. People seem to worry that the service will be terrible. The reality of it is that I get great reception everywhere that I go and when I travel I get to Roam on Verizon's network for a really reasonable rate (I have thirty minutes of roaming airtime included with my plan and I can still send unlimited text messages!).
MetroPCS is another company who, like Cricket, also provides unlimited plans. If you have the means, and live within an area where they offer service, I cannot recommend them enough. It is so nice to not have to worry about overages or petty fees.
Oh shame. I just read the part that says you are using Vista. Maybe they have a Sidebar plugin that is similar? You can't care about F/OSS that much if you're running Vista...
Are any of you out there breathing a sigh of relief that some radiologist isn't going to be making a mistake during the examination of your X-ray while listening to Welcome to the Jungle? Seriously, how stupid and unlikely was this doomsday scenario anyway?
I know that there are probably some individuals who, like me, are using Linux on their machines and have upgraded to Ubuntu Edgy. I am now happily running Firefox 2 and I'm very impressed.
Was I included in the total?
Probably not. I downloaded the iso through Bittorrent as well so I'm at least two steps away from the official Mozilla HTTP mirror network. Still, it shows how hard it is to track a download like this. The actual figure is probably even higher.
I purchased an iPod Nano last September and I now play Ogg Vorbis files on it every day without issue. I've converted my entire collection from Mp3 to Ogg in fact. Previously I was convinced that deviating from Mp3 would limit my choice of a player in the future but I no longer have that concern.
MP3, OGG, FLAC, AAC, ALAC, AC3 and WavPack playback.
You also get gapless playback, crossfading, a real EQ (not just presets) and ReplayGain support. Not to mention the rapidly growing collection of games and plugins and other random features such a real JPG viewer that doesn't require conversion. It also frees you from having to use iTunes or GTKpod or other software to interface with the player. You simply copy the files and folders over directly and navigate whatever file structure you choose on the screen (mine is/Artist/(Year) Album)/).
The reality of the situation is that you're going to end up using Rockbox on your iAudio anyway. The Cowon firmware is pretty terrible and doesn't have a lot of the features mentioned above. This is the case with my friend who also ordered the U2. I paid $50 more for my Nano but got twice the storage space, a color screen, and a form factor that is ridiculously small in comparison. We both use Rockbox.
Being #2 in the World with every console sold at a profit is failure!? I don't understand the tone of failure and pessimism that exists in every article about Nintendo.
This is impressive to me as it shows that they have a very specific idea in mind for the universe they progressively unveil with their games. Aggressive posturing by Microsoft aside this is clearly not a situation where it's all about the money. Had it been they would have signed on the dotted line a long time ago.
The GreaseMonkey vulnerability was discovered by a good guy and is already fixed. This totally backs up his statement where he argues that being able to view the source of the extension makes things more secure.
Also, it isn't installed by default you know. I consider myself to be a power user and I've been running Firefox since version.5. Today was the first time I've heard of GreaseMonkey. An average user first of all has to know what an extension is, then they have to choose to install it, and then explicitly give a site permission to do so. This vulnerability has no active malicious exploit in the wild and even if it did it would still be a fringe issue.
How is visiting mozilla.org and snagging the latest Firefox in 2 minutes any less convenient than visiting Windows Update to grab IE? They are both just web sites. I suppose one could make the argument that Automatic Updates tilt the playing field in Microsoft's favor but to me this completely ignores the biggest factor of all:
IE7 is Windows XP only.
If anything I believe this browser will have the opposite effect on market penetration than what they are hoping. Previously the user may have just been ignorant as to the new features and enhancements in competing browsers. Now Microsoft is out there publicizing them like they are brilliant and revolutionary.
Come launch many pre-XP users are going to be ready to upgrade and there will only be once place for them to go.
I'm looking for a way to blackhole the entirety of China.
Every single hacking attempt on my server originates from a Chinese IP. This is also true of every single spam connection attempt as well.
Now there are probably some of you reading this saying "But where do you draw the line? Oh the slipperly slope!" If you are one of these people I have this to say: give me a break.
I have no Chinese customers nor any relevant content on my site. Given their draconian Government firewall it is a bit hypocritical to criticize me for wanting to block access particularly when I'm doing it for secuirty purposes. This is not going to harm the Utopian dream of a free and open internet. In a brief grep through the logs I was unable to find a single legitimate hit to my server from any Asian addresses. The same check showed literally thousands of hacking/spam attempts per week. The line ends with China and they drew first blood.
So my question is this: does anyone publish or maintain a list of IP ranges that I can block through IPtables? That entire country is a stain on the internet and I'm looking for the bleach.
The only people who see disadvantages to the current system are people who would like to use Bittorrent to distribute illegal content.
For those of us using Bittorrent for legitimate purposes a centralized tracker is a wonderful thing. We're able to keep track of how many users are downloading the content while also getting the benefits of reduced bandwidth load and scalability that Bittorrent provides.
There is no gain here whatsoever for the legitimate content provider. Ideally all of the illegal traffic will move to Exeem. These copyright infringing pirates have been giving the legitimate Bittorrent _protocol_ a bad name for far too long.
(try resizing your window very fast with content visible)
I know exactly what you mean but this "tearing" effect is fixed in the latest x.org CVS. Double buffering is on by default which means an end to this problem.
A sweet little strategy for Microsoft would be to toss a patent application into the mix every once in a while for a piece of software or technology that they know already exists in Linux.
With the burden of proof for prior art and invalidity resting squarely on the shoulders of the people who you may or may not sue you are one clueless patent examiner and press release away from a marketing campaign.
Ideally this type of approach would backfire unless they do it in such a way that they could shrug these targeted patents off as anomalies. This approach seems easier than patenting obvious innovations that Linux might impinge on in the future. At least this way you would be guaranteed to receive patents that cause trouble.
Since no one is filing software patents on behalf of open source projects another angle might involve monitoring CVS or development roadmaps for some high profile projects. Patents filed to cover these works in progress wouldn't be granted for years.
I think it is important to stick to the high road. It will be very hard to see patent litigation as anything but predatory and ridiculous particularly once they start defeating the purpose of patents in the first place-to protect innovation. Truth will always prevail.
To those who say I'm an idealist: guilty as charged. I believe in open source and I refuse to think that defeat is a foregone conclusion.
Slashdot Mirror
Far too frequently in the Android world that you refer to the choice boils down to this: You can either choose to continue running a version of Android that is outdated, or you can buy a new phone and repeat the process in a few months.
I paid $500 for a T-mobile Vibrant, one of Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy S models, in July. So we're just barely at the five month mark and it's now two full releases behind mainline Android. The situation is particularly frustrating because the newly released Nexus S, which Samsung also manufactures, is merely a variant of the Galaxy S models. It has exactly the same processor as the Vibrant, and identical hardware specifications aside from the front facing camera and NFC capabilities.
So what do you call it when two nearly identical phones are separated by two major releases of Android? You may not want to call it fragmentation, but in the real world we call it "ridiculous."
and ImageZoom so I can see pics on Ebay more easily.
Liar.
It's funny that you say "green" because that is actually the corporate color of the company that has been providing me with cell phone service for the past 3 years: Cricket.
Unlimited airtime and unlimited text messaging for $52.50 including tax. That's been my price the entire time. Awesome, awesome company and service.
So there is competition, but it is tough to convince people to become a customer of your scrappy young upstart when "coverage" and "bars" are so important. People seem to worry that the service will be terrible. The reality of it is that I get great reception everywhere that I go and when I travel I get to Roam on Verizon's network for a really reasonable rate (I have thirty minutes of roaming airtime included with my plan and I can still send unlimited text messages!).
MetroPCS is another company who, like Cricket, also provides unlimited plans. If you have the means, and live within an area where they offer service, I cannot recommend them enough. It is so nice to not have to worry about overages or petty fees.
Oh shame. I just read the part that says you are using Vista. Maybe they have a Sidebar plugin that is similar? You can't care about F/OSS that much if you're running Vista...
You're looking for Tomboy.
It's like a personal, offline Wiki and you could easily have links to all of your wifi-related notes.
I seriously just looked for +1 Geek in the moderation drop-down. Well done!
Sincerely,
Closet Star Trek Fan
Are any of you out there breathing a sigh of relief that some radiologist isn't going to be making a mistake during the examination of your X-ray while listening to Welcome to the Jungle? Seriously, how stupid and unlikely was this doomsday scenario anyway?
I know that there are probably some individuals who, like me, are using Linux on their machines and have upgraded to Ubuntu Edgy. I am now happily running Firefox 2 and I'm very impressed.
Was I included in the total?
Probably not. I downloaded the iso through Bittorrent as well so I'm at least two steps away from the official Mozilla HTTP mirror network. Still, it shows how hard it is to track a download like this. The actual figure is probably even higher.
Congratulations Firefox team!
Rest assured, I re-encoded my collection from the original discs.
I purchased an iPod Nano last September and I now play Ogg Vorbis files on it every day without issue. I've converted my entire collection from Mp3 to Ogg in fact. Previously I was convinced that deviating from Mp3 would limit my choice of a player in the future but I no longer have that concern.
/Artist/(Year) Album)/).
The solution is Rockbox.
MP3, OGG, FLAC, AAC, ALAC, AC3 and WavPack playback.
You also get gapless playback, crossfading, a real EQ (not just presets) and ReplayGain support. Not to mention the rapidly growing collection of games and plugins and other random features such a real JPG viewer that doesn't require conversion. It also frees you from having to use iTunes or GTKpod or other software to interface with the player. You simply copy the files and folders over directly and navigate whatever file structure you choose on the screen (mine is
The reality of the situation is that you're going to end up using Rockbox on your iAudio anyway. The Cowon firmware is pretty terrible and doesn't have a lot of the features mentioned above. This is the case with my friend who also ordered the U2. I paid $50 more for my Nano but got twice the storage space, a color screen, and a form factor that is ridiculously small in comparison. We both use Rockbox.
Being #2 in the World with every console sold at a profit is failure!? I don't understand the tone of failure and pessimism that exists in every article about Nintendo.
This is impressive to me as it shows that they have a very specific idea in mind for the universe they progressively unveil with their games. Aggressive posturing by Microsoft aside this is clearly not a situation where it's all about the money. Had it been they would have signed on the dotted line a long time ago.
The site looks perfectly fine in Firefox BTW.
The GreaseMonkey vulnerability was discovered by a good guy and is already fixed. This totally backs up his statement where he argues that being able to view the source of the extension makes things more secure.
.5. Today was the first time I've heard of GreaseMonkey. An average user first of all has to know what an extension is, then they have to choose to install it, and then explicitly give a site permission to do so. This vulnerability has no active malicious exploit in the wild and even if it did it would still be a fringe issue.
Also, it isn't installed by default you know. I consider myself to be a power user and I've been running Firefox since version
Sounds like it is time to get some new friends...
How is visiting mozilla.org and snagging the latest Firefox in 2 minutes any less convenient than visiting Windows Update to grab IE? They are both just web sites. I suppose one could make the argument that Automatic Updates tilt the playing field in Microsoft's favor but to me this completely ignores the biggest factor of all:
IE7 is Windows XP only.
If anything I believe this browser will have the opposite effect on market penetration than what they are hoping. Previously the user may have just been ignorant as to the new features and enhancements in competing browsers. Now Microsoft is out there publicizing them like they are brilliant and revolutionary.
Come launch many pre-XP users are going to be ready to upgrade and there will only be once place for them to go.
I just tried this and I couldn't reproduce it. I even moved the dock to multiple positions and changed the magnification level.
I second this.
I'm looking for a way to blackhole the entirety of China.
Every single hacking attempt on my server originates from a Chinese IP. This is also true of every single spam connection attempt as well.
Now there are probably some of you reading this saying "But where do you draw the line? Oh the slipperly slope!" If you are one of these people I have this to say: give me a break.
I have no Chinese customers nor any relevant content on my site. Given their draconian Government firewall it is a bit hypocritical to criticize me for wanting to block access particularly when I'm doing it for secuirty purposes. This is not going to harm the Utopian dream of a free and open internet. In a brief grep through the logs I was unable to find a single legitimate hit to my server from any Asian addresses. The same check showed literally thousands of hacking/spam attempts per week. The line ends with China and they drew first blood.
So my question is this: does anyone publish or maintain a list of IP ranges that I can block through IPtables? That entire country is a stain on the internet and I'm looking for the bleach.
http://mp3content02.bcst.yahoo.com/bmfroot04/BMFSh are04/yahoomovies/14/10140074.mov
The only people who see disadvantages to the current system are people who would like to use Bittorrent to distribute illegal content.
For those of us using Bittorrent for legitimate purposes a centralized tracker is a wonderful thing. We're able to keep track of how many users are downloading the content while also getting the benefits of reduced bandwidth load and scalability that Bittorrent provides.
There is no gain here whatsoever for the legitimate content provider. Ideally all of the illegal traffic will move to Exeem. These copyright infringing pirates have been giving the legitimate Bittorrent _protocol_ a bad name for far too long.
Good to know. I guess I didn't read the initial comment correctly. The fix for tearing on moving windows is fantastic though.
I know exactly what you mean but this "tearing" effect is fixed in the latest x.org CVS. Double buffering is on by default which means an end to this problem.
A sweet little strategy for Microsoft would be to toss a patent application into the mix every once in a while for a piece of software or technology that they know already exists in Linux.
With the burden of proof for prior art and invalidity resting squarely on the shoulders of the people who you may or may not sue you are one clueless patent examiner and press release away from a marketing campaign.
Ideally this type of approach would backfire unless they do it in such a way that they could shrug these targeted patents off as anomalies. This approach seems easier than patenting obvious innovations that Linux might impinge on in the future. At least this way you would be guaranteed to receive patents that cause trouble.
Since no one is filing software patents on behalf of open source projects another angle might involve monitoring CVS or development roadmaps for some high profile projects. Patents filed to cover these works in progress wouldn't be granted for years.
I think it is important to stick to the high road. It will be very hard to see patent litigation as anything but predatory and ridiculous particularly once they start defeating the purpose of patents in the first place-to protect innovation. Truth will always prevail.
To those who say I'm an idealist: guilty as charged. I believe in open source and I refuse to think that defeat is a foregone conclusion.
I haven't experienced that. If anything it seems a little more responsive than before.