Maybe it should be structured like a smog test. You need to get checked to renew your right to run your machine down the Information Superhighway.
And there should be fines for illegal acts. Make the offenders pay, big-time. Bust any botnet gang members. Punish littering offenses like spamming or reckless driving for using a browser like IE.
Too many points and off to Driver's School for reeducation.
I was going to post a video of using the invisibility glove to move a cursor on my development version of an App on my iPhone, but i can't seem to find the glove. I keep putting them down and can never seem to find them.
Using a mouse or trackpad to move a visible cursor is the problem. You could use the finger position on a touch screen to perform the same action, but the finger obscures the very pixels the visible cursor is pointing to. Even a mouse's arrow cursor is smart enough to stay out of the way of the cursor's hotspot. It doesn't obscure that pixel.
On a smaller screen the finger obscures an even greater proportion of the screen at the hotspot of the cursor. Thats the problem.
The solution: A finger gesture that makes the tracking finger invisible! Or, just use your invisibility cloak's matching invisibility glove, and Flash will be fine on the iPhone.
It's relatively easy to attempt to follow best secure coding practices. It's really hard to get things exactly right. And, right enough for lawyers, thats nearly impossible.
Just look at their sample contract. Even their lawyers can't write a sample contract they can stand behind. It is covered with disclaimers passing the buck. Here's what they propose at: http://www.sans.org/appseccontract/
"DISCLAIMER: THIS DOCUMENT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED GUIDANCE ONLY. IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU CONSULT A QUALIFIED ATTORNEY TO HELP YOU NEGOTIATE A SOFTWARE CONTRACT. Please be advised that there is no warranty, expressed or implied, and no assumption of any legal liability or responsibility for any third party's use, or the results of such use of this Document."
Writing code or writing contracts is hard to get legally right. Code should be written with proper disclaimers to require the customer's security experts to review and approve deliverables. Thats how they kick the can down the street in their example contract.
I sure miss the days when the Mac first came out. There were no programming docs at all for about a year, then you could subscribe to them and software supplements for about $5 a month.
And you had a choice of various developer tools over the years, from Lightspeed, Think and finally Metrowerks. And you could buy various debuggers, and there was Resourcerer for editing resources. I'd spend $300-$500 a year on developer tools if I was on a tight budget.
Then marketing an app was a really big deal.
Now all the tools I need come with the system. It's a much less exclusive club of developers. Anyone can write and distribute an app for practically nothing. Way too much competition.
Apple' innovation would be quickly copied by the Open Source cloning community. Apple's use of an Open Source foundation is based on a clone of a closed source UNIX from Bell Labs. And Firefox is a clone of Mozilla which is a clone of,,, (you get the idea). Telegraphing innovation before it is ready is bad business in a world of cloners.
Apple learned the lesson that killed IBM's PC. Apple tried allowing controlled cloning, but found it to be a bad way to go. IBM fought the cloning of it's PC's BIOS, lost and now is out of the PC market entirely. Allowing clones wasn't a winning idea on the IBM PC side of the world, either.
Don't sweat the high cost of owning Apple's next new thing. The cloners will be there with their copies soon enough. Cheaper and with all the quality and innovation you expect from a knock off Rolex.
Apple's Developer conference releasing information on the upcoming Tiger OS lead off with big banners saying "Redmond start your copy machines". Apple gets how the real world works. They release quality products based on significant innovation into broken markets that have lost their way. Apple's first steps often look naive in retrospect, but they are groundbreaking when the first appear. I can't wait to see what version 2.0 of this thing looks like a year or so from now once they have a chance to make real world adjustments to their innovations.
I would expect to see market baskets of magazines and newspapers on a model similar to Cable TV. Pay one price and get subscriptions to lots of print channels. You've already seen the future look of newspapers in the Harry Potter flicks. And, kids will no longer be breaking their backs lugging hardbound school materials. Apple will be back in schools in a profound way. Homework and quizzes all integrated with the schoolroom. Paid for by cheaper book subscriptions. Killing off the used textbook market completely.
Money is not speech. Money has no argument. It embodies no logic. It says nothing. But, money easily can become votes.
We live in a free market economy, but prohibit buying and selling votes. I cannot legally sell my vote or buy yours. No matter how compelling the offer it cannot be used as an argument to sway my political choices. I can not offer money to a politician to sway positions on issues. That is the very definition of corruption. Money is not reasonable political speech.
Money sways elections. Add more money to a campaign and it wins more votes.
We have a democracy which allows one vote per citizen. Corporations may be persons, but all persons are not citizens. Corporations have no restrictions on foreign ownership or influence. Corporations are foreign persons. They do not have the voting rights of a citizen. They possess fewer political rights than any citizen.
Corporations are granted special legal and financial rights. They have no human moral obligations. They can amass vast fortunes beyond those of an average citizen. They are unlimited in their size and social influence. Their rights need to be tempered to allow their amoral influence to be balanced by the human rights of the citizenry.
Corporations can express their freedom of speech through their corporate channels. They should be allowed unfettered press releases. Their voice cannot be ignored. But, they should be prohibited from buying press to amplify their political voice. Their vast financial resources would overwhelm the public discourse. Let them speak, but don't let them shout.
Less than 4% of my passwords protect anything I care about. Most are to protect sites from spam users or to elicit demographic data from me. They don't protect me. It is no loss to me if someone uses my registration to their system.
Even my ATM card pin, a very uncommon 4 digit number, is of no real need of protection. I've had my accounts hacked in some of the big security leaks and the bank absorbs the loss.
So, the OS X is about a million times less secure than Windows 7, but you are about a million times more likely to get a virus, or get rooted, or whatever on Windows.
I never heard of anyone with a virus on the Mac since OS 9, but most every Windows user I know has had virus problems.
I'll go with Mac luck rather than Windows security.
If texting is twice as dangerous as drunk driving, then shouldn't the penalties match. Not just for killing someone, but being pulled over. There are harsh penalties for drunk driving with thresholds at numbers like.08% blood alcohol levels. Most people haven't got a clue what their blood alcohol level really might be. But, they do know if they are texting.
Maybe we need a similar measure for texting. Twittering over 80 characters, for instance.
I just looked for "Pride and Prejudice" at Amazon. It really is chaos. There are 12293 versions in paperback, 4047 in hardcover and 198 for the Kindle.
Manned space missions stand in the way of real science. Real science in space can be done much cheaper and cleaner without the problems caused by bio-spewing humans and all their environmental needs.
High level waste isn't the real problem. Well over 99% of the radioactive waste in a decommissioned plant is useless in fast reactors. Sure you can deal with the old fuel, but what about all the rest of the junk radioactive waste?
The hope for a coherent "Linux Desktop" is a mirage. It can never occur.
In "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" Eric Raymond examines two software development models. One restricted and the other open. The Bazaar model has the advantage that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" but I would say that given enough designers all Cathedrals are bazaar. Bug free, but incoherent.
He agrees that it is necessary to "define goals and keep everybody pointed in the same direction" and that "it's fairly clear that one cannot code from the ground up in bazaar style. One can test, debug and improve in bazaar style, but it would be very hard to originate a project in bazaar mode." The "Linux Desktop" originated in bazaar mode.
A coherent "Linux Desktop" cannot converge from hundreds of application visions without strong outside forces. Apple's desktop evolved in an environment with strong design guidelines enforced by both a benevolent dictator from within and a demanding user base from without. It originated with the well documented "Apple Human Interface Guidelines". http://devworld.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGHIDesign/XHIGHIDesign.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000353-TP6 The pragmatics evolved over the years, but the basic principles are as true today as they ever were.
Until the Bazaar development community operates under a the dictates of a powerful "Home Owners Association", it will continue to look and feel like trailer trash.
So if part of the mission is to "Collect (including through clandestine means), process, analyze, produce, and disseminate signals intelligence information and data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes to support national and departmental missions", then listening to all our domestic communications "for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes to support national and departmental missions" might also be included in their charter.
Thats why they are listening to us all right now. Not to worry. They are on our side. And what do we have to hide?
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe it should be structured like a smog test. You need to get checked to renew your right to run your machine down the Information Superhighway.
And there should be fines for illegal acts. Make the offenders pay, big-time. Bust any botnet gang members. Punish littering offenses like spamming or reckless driving for using a browser like IE.
Too many points and off to Driver's School for reeducation.
I was going to post a video of using the invisibility glove to move a cursor on my development version of an App on my iPhone, but i can't seem to find the glove. I keep putting them down and can never seem to find them.
Using a mouse or trackpad to move a visible cursor is the problem. You could use the finger position on a touch screen to perform the same action, but the finger obscures the very pixels the visible cursor is pointing to. Even a mouse's arrow cursor is smart enough to stay out of the way of the cursor's hotspot. It doesn't obscure that pixel.
On a smaller screen the finger obscures an even greater proportion of the screen at the hotspot of the cursor. Thats the problem.
The solution: A finger gesture that makes the tracking finger invisible! Or, just use your invisibility cloak's matching invisibility glove, and Flash will be fine on the iPhone.
It's relatively easy to attempt to follow best secure coding practices. It's really hard to get things exactly right. And, right enough for lawyers, thats nearly impossible.
Just look at their sample contract. Even their lawyers can't write a sample contract they can stand behind. It is covered with disclaimers passing the buck. Here's what they propose at: http://www.sans.org/appseccontract/
"DISCLAIMER: THIS DOCUMENT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED GUIDANCE ONLY. IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU CONSULT A QUALIFIED ATTORNEY TO HELP YOU NEGOTIATE A SOFTWARE CONTRACT.
Please be advised that there is no warranty, expressed or implied, and no assumption of any legal liability or responsibility for any third party's use, or the results of such use of this Document."
Writing code or writing contracts is hard to get legally right. Code should be written with proper disclaimers to require the customer's security experts to review and approve deliverables. Thats how they kick the can down the street in their example contract.
I sure miss the days when the Mac first came out. There were no programming docs at all for about a year, then you could subscribe to them and software supplements for about $5 a month.
And you had a choice of various developer tools over the years, from Lightspeed, Think and finally Metrowerks. And you could buy various debuggers, and there was Resourcerer for editing resources. I'd spend $300-$500 a year on developer tools if I was on a tight budget.
Then marketing an app was a really big deal.
Now all the tools I need come with the system. It's a much less exclusive club of developers. Anyone can write and distribute an app for practically nothing. Way too much competition.
Apple' innovation would be quickly copied by the Open Source cloning community. Apple's use of an Open Source foundation is based on a clone of a closed source UNIX from Bell Labs. And Firefox is a clone of Mozilla which is a clone of ,,, (you get the idea). Telegraphing innovation before it is ready is bad business in a world of cloners.
Apple learned the lesson that killed IBM's PC. Apple tried allowing controlled cloning, but found it to be a bad way to go. IBM fought the cloning of it's PC's BIOS, lost and now is out of the PC market entirely. Allowing clones wasn't a winning idea on the IBM PC side of the world, either.
Don't sweat the high cost of owning Apple's next new thing. The cloners will be there with their copies soon enough. Cheaper and with all the quality and innovation you expect from a knock off Rolex.
Apple's Developer conference releasing information on the upcoming Tiger OS lead off with big banners saying "Redmond start your copy machines". Apple gets how the real world works. They release quality products based on significant innovation into broken markets that have lost their way. Apple's first steps often look naive in retrospect, but they are groundbreaking when the first appear. I can't wait to see what version 2.0 of this thing looks like a year or so from now once they have a chance to make real world adjustments to their innovations.
I would expect to see market baskets of magazines and newspapers on a model similar to Cable TV. Pay one price and get subscriptions to lots of print channels. You've already seen the future look of newspapers in the Harry Potter flicks. And, kids will no longer be breaking their backs lugging hardbound school materials. Apple will be back in schools in a profound way. Homework and quizzes all integrated with the schoolroom. Paid for by cheaper book subscriptions. Killing off the used textbook market completely.
Money is not speech. Money has no argument. It embodies no logic. It says nothing. But, money easily can become votes.
We live in a free market economy, but prohibit buying and selling votes. I cannot legally sell my vote or buy yours. No matter how compelling the offer it cannot be used as an argument to sway my political choices. I can not offer money to a politician to sway positions on issues. That is the very definition of corruption. Money is not reasonable political speech.
Money sways elections. Add more money to a campaign and it wins more votes.
We have a democracy which allows one vote per citizen. Corporations may be persons, but all persons are not citizens. Corporations have no restrictions on foreign ownership or influence. Corporations are foreign persons. They do not have the voting rights of a citizen. They possess fewer political rights than any citizen.
Corporations are granted special legal and financial rights. They have no human moral obligations. They can amass vast fortunes beyond those of an average citizen. They are unlimited in their size and social influence. Their rights need to be tempered to allow their amoral influence to be balanced by the human rights of the citizenry.
Corporations can express their freedom of speech through their corporate channels. They should be allowed unfettered press releases. Their voice cannot be ignored. But, they should be prohibited from buying press to amplify their political voice. Their vast financial resources would overwhelm the public discourse. Let them speak, but don't let them shout.
Less than 4% of my passwords protect anything I care about. Most are to protect sites from spam users or to elicit demographic data from me. They don't protect me. It is no loss to me if someone uses my registration to their system.
Even my ATM card pin, a very uncommon 4 digit number, is of no real need of protection. I've had my accounts hacked in some of the big security leaks and the bank absorbs the loss.
I think he meant the top 1000 Cuban web sites
So, the OS X is about a million times less secure than Windows 7, but you are about a million times more likely to get a virus, or get rooted, or whatever on Windows.
I never heard of anyone with a virus on the Mac since OS 9, but most every Windows user I know has had virus problems.
I'll go with Mac luck rather than Windows security.
And, I've got a dog that barks while he chases cars.
But, I don't think for all his barking he will become a Lexus.
Hello Kitty!
If texting is twice as dangerous as drunk driving, then shouldn't the penalties match. Not just for killing someone, but being pulled over. There are harsh penalties for drunk driving with thresholds at numbers like .08% blood alcohol levels. Most people haven't got a clue what their blood alcohol level really might be. But, they do know if they are texting.
Maybe we need a similar measure for texting. Twittering over 80 characters, for instance.
Keep those tweets short, sweet and sober.
M.A.D. is obsolete in the age of the evangelical suicide bomber.
Just imagine a group of 9/11 style 'dead enders' with a couple of box cutters and a few loose nukes. Ramp it up and shut down this whole Godless mess.
Or, maybe someone's wish for a simple eco-reboot.
Lots of dream scenarios for those who have no qualms about dying for the cause.
So, if God's so great where is His iPhone app?
I just looked for "Pride and Prejudice" at Amazon. It really is chaos. There are 12293 versions in paperback, 4047 in hardcover and 198 for the Kindle.
So, they think the Kindle is the problem?
Manned space missions stand in the way of real science. Real science in space can be done much cheaper and cleaner without the problems caused by bio-spewing humans and all their environmental needs.
I just cut down a couple of trees that were messing up my satellite TV reception.
Thanks for the tip.
So, how much support has Adobe given you with 10.5 and CS3?
How many bug fixes have they sent you so far?
If the answer is zero, then how much support are you really losing?
Why not just run for a while and work round any wrinkles.
A much more pain free path then switching to Gimp.
I've just finished writing a program to generate and copyright every 140 character string.
I'll soon own Twitter!
High level waste isn't the real problem. Well over 99% of the radioactive waste in a decommissioned plant is useless in fast reactors. Sure you can deal with the old fuel, but what about all the rest of the junk radioactive waste?
But, not Apple's.
If I have a disk crash I use my time machine to go back in time, buy a backup disk and back up the one that's going to crash.
And as a bonus, sometimes doing this alters the future enough so my original disk runs just fine without crashing!
The hope for a coherent "Linux Desktop" is a mirage. It can never occur.
In "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" Eric Raymond examines two software development models. One restricted and the other open. The Bazaar model has the advantage that "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" but I would say that given enough designers all Cathedrals are bazaar. Bug free, but incoherent.
He agrees that it is necessary to "define goals and keep everybody pointed in the same direction" and that "it's fairly clear that one cannot code from the ground up in bazaar style. One can test, debug and improve in bazaar style, but it would be very hard to originate a project in bazaar mode." The "Linux Desktop" originated in bazaar mode.
A coherent "Linux Desktop" cannot converge from hundreds of application visions without strong outside forces. Apple's desktop evolved in an environment with strong design guidelines enforced by both a benevolent dictator from within and a demanding user base from without. It originated with the well documented "Apple Human Interface Guidelines". http://devworld.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGHIDesign/XHIGHIDesign.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000353-TP6 The pragmatics evolved over the years, but the basic principles are as true today as they ever were.
Until the Bazaar development community operates under a the dictates of a powerful "Home Owners Association", it will continue to look and feel like trailer trash.
So, I guess I can't sell you a netbook.
A netbook is NOT a PC.
So if part of the mission is to "Collect (including through clandestine means), process, analyze, produce, and disseminate signals intelligence information and data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes to support national and departmental missions", then listening to all our domestic communications "for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes to support national and departmental missions" might also be included in their charter.
Thats why they are listening to us all right now. Not to worry. They are on our side. And what do we have to hide?