The Apple iTMS DRM is ridiculously easy to remove. It sucks that there's any DRM in the world, but Apple's implementation is about the least insidious out there. It doesn't require any hacks to remove at all. Just burn to CD, and re-rip. iTunes retains the tag info and the mp3 files have no DRM. DRM on iTMS files is almost a non-issue.
Re:Wireless Digital Monitor (way off topic now)
on
USB To Go Wireless
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· Score: 1
>whats their purpose? hunting tanks? selfdefense against helicopters?... Oh, might it be plainly killing people from a distance?
In civilian hands, they are sporting rifles used in extreme long distance shooting competition. Military uses of single-shot (or semi-auto).50 BMG rifles are limited to anti-materiel uses. No, you wouldn't shoot down a helicopter with it (though an extremely lucky shot might do it) but you would shoot up antennas, water and fuel pumps and other machinery. Bored soldiers will use just about any weapon to try and make really long shots and a few amazing long shots have been reported from Afghanistan using the Barrett.50. In Vietname, show-offs sometimes used the M-79 as to pick off individual enemy, (some guys were really good with them) but that wasn't a normal use of the weapon. The Barrett is much less effective at "selfdefense against helicopters" than say, the commonly deployed M2. Thats why they're legal in the USA. They are rare due to their cost and they have very limited usefulness as anti-personel weapons. I've only heard of one crime that might have been committed using one in the USA. Why disarm thousands of sportsmen for a non-existent threat? Once you scaredy-cats learn that many common hunting rifles are almost as effective at long-distance killing as the.50 single shot, you'll be using the same argument against them. Oh wait. You already are.
Wow. No kidding, that's profound insight. I think that's the point of all this "over-reaction". "They" have to keep the public in a state of fear so they can control us and our reactions to the loss of our freedoms. V for Vendetta made this point very well.
Dwell time is the time the bullet spends in the barrel after the trigger is pulled. Accuracy demands that dwell time be low enough for the weapon to not drift from the target after the trigger is pulled. If the processing time is very long at all, (a couple of milliseconds?) this feature will produce a very inaccurate, hard to shoot weapon. Since most handguns are used as safety equipment, this encryption feature will make handguns using it more unsafe to own, since the users chance of being harmed is encreased by poor accuracy and possibly unreliable ignition.
"...most people just need web, e-mail, chat, word processing, and BASIC DVD/Web video capacities, all which you can get on a 100 dollar used p.c."
As an aside to this, most companies I've work for would get a better return on their investment if they spent (more) money on training people in basic computer skills, than on buying shiny new computers. I think over the years Joe Sixpack has acquired a little more computer savvy, but not in proportion to the power of today's hardware. Alas, hardware is sexy and training is not!
"The world where the average home user does no video codecs or high-horsepower entertainment uses is ending, and the home computer is for a lot more than the kid's school paper these days."
I wonder. I just got back from a client's shop where they're still on Windows 2000. At lunch, my clients girlfriend called him, because her computer running Windows 98 is acting funny. LOTS of people in the USA still don't watch TV or Movies on their computer.
It is probably more correct to say "The world where they tried to sell us computers for doing our kid's school papers is ending. We're entering a world where they'll try to sell us computers for movies and entertainment."
I think Apple fans put the company and it's products on a pedestal and when a defect is found, they are gravely disappointed. When somebody buys a $WINTEL notebook, they don't have the same expectations as someone buying an Apple Macbook/Macbook Pro.
I know my expectations were very high when I bought my MBP. FWIW, my 17 inch MBP has none of the problems reported about the 15 inch model. It is quiet and runs relatively cool. Much cooler in fact than the 17 HP notebook it replaced.
Most of my friend and acquaintances are geeks. All I'm saying is this: since OSX arrived on the scene, Mac's have become _very_ geeky machines to own. Especially now that they are becoming Intel based, LOTS of programmers are buying them. Parallel's Workstation is a large part of the reason. Now they can "have it all". If you could afford it, why wouldn't you?
IMO, the profile of the average Mac user has changed significantly since OSX was introduced. There are now a great many Linux/UNIX users who've bought Macs since. (And I'm not saying they've "switched" I'm just saying they bought Mac's "in addition to"). Face it: Macs have become very geeky to own. _Most_ of the serious programmers I know have _at_least_ one Mac machine now. Some, like me, have several Mac's in addition to their Linux/UNIX/Windows boxen. Why stop at just one platform. Many of us (programmers) maximize our marketability by writing for all of them.
"I think the dozen or so Mac users I know are more typical than these supposed IT-experts the poster mentioned. And I think Apple think they are too."
Sure. Thats why Apple includes all the development tools with every OSX DVD.
Macs are now one of the geekiest computers you can own. Linux rocks. *BSD is the shit. And Mac's are at the top of the geeky heap.
You know the last time you brought this up, you got spanked pretty badly. Why don't you stop pointing this out? Most folks experience is different than yours! Or are you willing to be labeled the Troll that you are? Hmmm?
Sorry if I was misleading. I was refering to using three OS's in VM's under Parallels' Workstation product. AFAIK, dual booting works great. I assume Bootcamp will boot Linux as well as Windows but I haven't checked. I really don't like dual boot setups. Seems like Windows always trashes grub. Hence the reason I was really exciting to hear about Parallels Workstation. It is still beta but it seems to be useable at this point. VMware supposedly has something in the works for OS X as well.
The big reason among the "switchers" I know IS the change from PPC to Intel. They wanted the reliability of OS X and the ability to run Windows in a VM. Virtual PC has always sucked (IMO), so when the Intel change happened several programmers I know bought Macs the week the Intel Macs hit the Apple Store. The virtualization and dual-boot seems to be the feature that several UNIX geeks (of my aquaintance) were waiting for. Now they can have OS X, Linux and Windows on the same machine. A contractor we used a couple of months ago writes for all three OS's so the Macbook Pro was an easy decision for him. I'm in the same situation. I write code for UNIXEN (server-side) and Windows (client-side stuff), and I have a desire to write for the Mac, so for me its an easy choice as well. When my MBP arrives next week, I'll be able to host a database server on Linux, and write and test Windows and Mac clients all on the same machine (and at the same time!).
"Most of the hardcore Unix/Linux guys I know and have worked with over the last 20 years or so have switched to Apple gear in the last 5 years." Well, that has been my experience. I realize that it might not reflect your experience. Do you write code for OS X or administer them in your job? Just curious. I've been writing code for Unix systems for about 16 years. I've been a Unix user for almost 20 years. ALL of my peers have either switched to Macs or are currently lusting after an Intel Mac. Several have switched to writing for OS X instead of UNIX or Linux.
Don't misunderstand. I still enjoy and "believe in" FOSS and Linux. We use SuSE every day in production at my current workplace. Linux is a kick-ass server platform. When it comes to my personal computers, I prefer the "just works" Mac desktop to the tweek-it-for-weeks Linux Desktop, with one exception. I wish Apple would re-write the finder or that someone would market a finder replacement for OS X. Konqueror is still the best file management tool I've found. Maybe someone will make a Cocoa port of Konqueror?
Oh. I didn't really get that point in your original post. Thought your were making more of a hardware comparison. As far as the terminology goes, I agree. They're all "PC's".
Don't you think it is to Apple's advantage to promote the "difference" between Mac's and "PC's" since they've lost the distinctive of PPC vs Intel? Even if it means fudging a little bit regarding the terminology?
I noticed you didn't answer the question about owning an Intel Mac.
I think you're absolutely correct about Apples marketshare in homes. Most of the hardcore Unix/Linux guys I know and have worked with over the last 20 years or so have switched to Apple gear in the last 5 years. I realize that my experience is limited to geeks, but in many companies geeks influence the descisions that less knowlegeable peers make. Careful geek-watching can inform one about future trends in computing. So from where I'm standing, it looks like Unix geeks are switching to OS X on Apple hardware for home use. At work, in a surprising turn of events, we're looking at buying a bunch of Apple's Xserve gear to build our SAN. Don't know if it'll happen, but the fact that it's being considered is pretty darn exciting.
Do you own an Intel Mac? Seems like lots of people who make the PC==Mac argument don't own an Intel Mac. I'm not attacking you, I'm just wondering. I ordered a MBP yesterday (can't wait till it gets here!) so I'm not going to comment on the hardware yet. I know that my iMac G5 is *much* better constructed than any PC I've owned (or built for that matter). Just because two computers share the same chipset, does that really make them equal? For my part, the jury is still out.
Slashdot Mirror
macgeekery: Nice website Adam!
The Apple iTMS DRM is ridiculously easy to remove. It sucks that there's any DRM in the world, but Apple's implementation is about the least insidious out there. It doesn't require any hacks to remove at all. Just burn to CD, and re-rip. iTunes retains the tag info and the mp3 files have no DRM.
DRM on iTMS files is almost a non-issue.
cute kitties!
I know you're just a troll. I just can't resist.
... Oh, might it be plainly killing people from a distance?
.50 BMG rifles are limited to anti-materiel uses. No, you wouldn't shoot down a helicopter with it (though an extremely lucky shot might do it) but you would shoot up antennas, water and fuel pumps and other machinery. Bored soldiers will use just about any weapon to try and make really long shots and a few amazing long shots have been reported from Afghanistan using the Barrett .50. In Vietname, show-offs sometimes used the M-79 as to pick off individual enemy, (some guys were really good with them) but that wasn't a normal use of the weapon. .50 single shot, you'll be using the same argument against them.
>whats their purpose? hunting tanks? selfdefense against helicopters?
In civilian hands, they are sporting rifles used in extreme long distance shooting competition.
Military uses of single-shot (or semi-auto)
The Barrett is much less effective at "selfdefense against helicopters" than say, the commonly deployed M2. Thats why they're legal in the USA. They are rare due to their cost and they have very limited usefulness as anti-personel weapons. I've only heard of one crime that might have been committed using one in the USA. Why disarm thousands of sportsmen for a non-existent threat?
Once you scaredy-cats learn that many common hunting rifles are almost as effective at long-distance killing as the
Oh wait. You already are.
yes
"fear is more debilitating than terrorism"
Wow. No kidding, that's profound insight. I think that's the point of all this "over-reaction". "They" have to keep the public in a state of fear so they can control us and our reactions to the loss of our freedoms. V for Vendetta made this point very well.
Dwell time is the time the bullet spends in the barrel after the trigger is pulled. Accuracy demands that dwell time be low enough for the weapon to not drift from the target after the trigger is pulled. If the processing time is very long at all, (a couple of milliseconds?) this feature will produce a very inaccurate, hard to shoot weapon. Since most handguns are used as safety equipment, this encryption feature will make handguns using it more unsafe to own, since the users chance of being harmed is encreased by poor accuracy and possibly unreliable ignition.
"...most people just need web, e-mail, chat, word processing, and BASIC DVD/Web video capacities, all which you can get on a 100 dollar used p.c."
As an aside to this, most companies I've work for would get a better return on their investment if they spent (more) money on training people in basic computer skills, than on buying shiny new computers. I think over the years Joe Sixpack has acquired a little more computer savvy, but not in proportion to the power of today's hardware. Alas, hardware is sexy and training is not!
Good point. But I don't think a few Windows games will sour me on the Apple experience. :D
"The world where the average home user does no video codecs or high-horsepower entertainment uses is ending, and the home computer is for a lot more than the kid's school paper these days."
I wonder. I just got back from a client's shop where they're still on Windows 2000. At lunch, my clients girlfriend called him, because her computer running Windows 98 is acting funny. LOTS of people in the USA still don't watch TV or Movies on their computer.
It is probably more correct to say "The world where they tried to sell us computers for doing our kid's school papers is ending. We're entering a world where they'll try to sell us computers for movies and entertainment."
I think Apple fans put the company and it's products on a pedestal and when a defect is found, they are gravely disappointed. When somebody buys a $WINTEL notebook, they don't have the same expectations as someone buying an Apple Macbook/Macbook Pro.
I know my expectations were very high when I bought my MBP. FWIW, my 17 inch MBP has none of the problems reported about the 15 inch model. It is quiet and runs relatively cool. Much cooler in fact than the 17 HP notebook it replaced.
Most of my friend and acquaintances are geeks. All I'm saying is this: since OSX arrived on the scene, Mac's have become _very_ geeky machines to own. Especially now that they are becoming Intel based, LOTS of programmers are buying them. Parallel's Workstation is a large part of the reason. Now they can "have it all". If you could afford it, why wouldn't you?
IMO, the profile of the average Mac user has changed significantly since OSX was introduced. There are now a great many Linux/UNIX users who've bought Macs since. (And I'm not saying they've "switched" I'm just saying they bought Mac's "in addition to"). Face it: Macs have become very geeky to own. _Most_ of the serious programmers I know have _at_least_ one Mac machine now. Some, like me, have several Mac's in addition to their Linux/UNIX/Windows boxen. Why stop at just one platform. Many of us (programmers) maximize our marketability by writing for all of them.
"I think the dozen or so Mac users I know are more typical than these supposed IT-experts the poster mentioned. And I think Apple think they are too."
Sure. Thats why Apple includes all the development tools with every OSX DVD.
Macs are now one of the geekiest computers you can own. Linux rocks. *BSD is the shit. And Mac's are at the top of the geeky heap.
You know the last time you brought this up, you got spanked pretty badly. Why don't you stop pointing this out? Most folks experience is different than yours! Or are you willing to be labeled the Troll that you are? Hmmm?
Hope this helps
cypherz
Sorry if I was misleading. I was refering to using three OS's in VM's under Parallels' Workstation product. AFAIK, dual booting works great. I assume Bootcamp will boot Linux as well as Windows but I haven't checked. I really don't like dual boot setups. Seems like Windows always trashes grub. Hence the reason I was really exciting to hear about Parallels Workstation. It is still beta but it seems to be useable at this point. VMware supposedly has something in the works for OS X as well.
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/
The big reason among the "switchers" I know IS the change from PPC to Intel. They wanted the reliability of OS X and the ability to run Windows in a VM. Virtual PC has always sucked (IMO), so when the Intel change happened several programmers I know bought Macs the week the Intel Macs hit the Apple Store. The virtualization and dual-boot seems to be the feature that several UNIX geeks (of my aquaintance) were waiting for. Now they can have OS X, Linux and Windows on the same machine. A contractor we used a couple of months ago writes for all three OS's so the Macbook Pro was an easy decision for him. I'm in the same situation. I write code for UNIXEN (server-side) and Windows (client-side stuff), and I have a desire to write for the Mac, so for me its an easy choice as well. When my MBP arrives next week, I'll be able to host a database server on Linux, and write and test Windows and Mac clients all on the same machine (and at the same time!).
Whoa! thanks!
"Most of the hardcore Unix/Linux guys I know and have worked with over the last 20 years or so have switched to Apple gear in the last 5 years." Well, that has been my experience. I realize that it might not reflect your experience.
Do you write code for OS X or administer them in your job? Just curious. I've been writing code for Unix systems for about 16 years. I've been a Unix user for almost 20 years. ALL of my peers have either switched to Macs or are currently lusting after an Intel Mac. Several have switched to writing for OS X instead of UNIX or Linux.
Don't misunderstand. I still enjoy and "believe in" FOSS and Linux. We use SuSE every day in production at my current workplace. Linux is a kick-ass server platform. When it comes to my personal computers, I prefer the "just works" Mac desktop to the tweek-it-for-weeks Linux Desktop, with one exception. I wish Apple would re-write the finder or that someone would market a finder replacement for OS X. Konqueror is still the best file management tool I've found. Maybe someone will make a Cocoa port of Konqueror?
Heh. Good one! True too!
Oh. I didn't really get that point in your original post. Thought your were making more of a hardware comparison. As far as the terminology goes, I agree. They're all "PC's".
Don't you think it is to Apple's advantage to promote the "difference" between Mac's and "PC's" since they've lost the distinctive of PPC vs Intel? Even if it means fudging a little bit regarding the terminology?
I noticed you didn't answer the question about owning an Intel Mac.
I think you're absolutely correct about Apples marketshare in homes. Most of the hardcore Unix/Linux guys I know and have worked with over the last 20 years or so have switched to Apple gear in the last 5 years. I realize that my experience is limited to geeks, but in many companies geeks influence the descisions that less knowlegeable peers make. Careful geek-watching can inform one about future trends in computing.
So from where I'm standing, it looks like Unix geeks are switching to OS X on Apple hardware for home use. At work, in a surprising turn of events, we're looking at buying a bunch of Apple's Xserve gear to build our SAN. Don't know if it'll happen, but the fact that it's being considered is pretty darn exciting.
Do you own an Intel Mac? Seems like lots of people who make the PC==Mac argument don't own an Intel Mac. I'm not attacking you, I'm just wondering. I ordered a MBP yesterday (can't wait till it gets here!) so I'm not going to comment on the hardware yet. I know that my iMac G5 is *much* better constructed than any PC I've owned (or built for that matter). Just because two computers share the same chipset, does that really make them equal? For my part, the jury is still out.
So do you still use Classic or are you just being a smartass?
"UFS is case-sensitive"
Why is this a problem? I've been living with case-sensitive systems for years. Never been a problem before.
"AirPort and UFS"
They bug you mentioned has been fixed, lo these many updates ago. Only affected 10.0.
"Customizing Hard Disk Volume Name"
OK, name it correctly when you format it. And live with the prepended "/". No big deal.
"Mac OS X Classic Environment and UFS"
People still use Classic? I haven't used the Classic environment since 10.0 shipped.
"Mac OS 9 and UFS"
People still use Classic?
Why are these problems?
'Cause they generate such great discussion/trolls/flamewars! Thanks Slashdot!