I'd love to live in a cash-less society but my bank is making it as hard as possible... EVERYTHING I do with my debit card is punished with a service fee. I mean really... how much does a split second computer communication session really cost anyway??
Cash still has its uses... can't be tracked, flexible uses, won't blue-screen, etc..... BUT it can be easily stolen.
Debit/credit transactions are getting more and more widespread everyday, BUT there are service fees on everything and while the money is more secure, it can still be stolen by determined (tech-savvy) criminals.
Cash will be around for a while yet... at least as long as it takes for the banks to wake up and discover that people would use their cards more if they weren't being charged so much in service fees.
Comeon folks.. anyone else have a mirror up...
The folks at Activision apparently thought 5 mirrors was enough. Boy were they wrong. even Fileplanet has a 200+ minute wait.
I'm getting about 30k from pcwholesalers.net.. guess that'll do
They're trying to clear the subway tunnel under the building to see if anyone actually on the platform under the towers survived. The problem is that water mains have burst, flooding the tunnels and filling them with debris. At present I think they're a third of the way there.
I believe the technology they are implementing in the 911 system will allow operators to triangulate the cell signals to determine the callers location... not really a GPS system since GPS can't be used inside (or under millions of tonnes of rubble).
Isn't it also possible to use sensitive electronic equipment to pick up the "here I am" signal that cell phones send out periodically to the towers?
What were the numbers on the local news yesterday? Busiest phone day of the year for Aliant is mother's day with about 1.3 million calls... and the events of this week have pushed the demand on the phone system to over 2.5 million.
That's a lot of calls... but it's good to know that local companies are willing to step in and provide essential services free of charge when they're needed. It's also good to know that our telecom system can handle the unexpected increase in volume.
I'll be donating some cash to the Red Cross as soon as their systems get some relief from the flood of people... I'd be willing to help out with the tech problems they're having too, but it would be a little difficult to get from Halifax to NY at the moment.
Let's face it, not many of us have the room or the resources to set up and maintain ANOTHER computer in the house just to look after distributing the cable/dsl connection, that's why these cable/dsl routers are becoming so popular.
I've been using a Netgear RT314 for almost a year now and it works great. NAT features, port-range forwarding, etc. It doesn't have a "true" firewall but the NAT does offer some protection.
I'd recommend getting the FR314 that has firewall capabilities. Check out Practically Networked for reviews on hundreds of models.
I should've known that link wouldn't work... posting a video clip from geocities would get the account shut down pretty damn fast. The bandwidth transfer limit is pretty low.
The Cdn Blood Agency has lots of locations, might even set up triage sites for those situations needing "emergency" supplies. Check your local phone books for numbers to contact the Canadian Blood Services.
I just donated a few weeks ago so I can't give again. Those people who don't donate because they "can never find the time" should get off their asses now.
What do you need a computer to do to help stop bullets?
Nano-tech isn't just tiny little computers, it's the manipulation of a material on a molecular (nanometer-size) scale. Scientists can change the structure of a fabric and modify how it behaves at the same time (ie, colour changing, bullet proof, stain resistant, etc)
how the heck is this computer going to know there is a bullet?
These aren't magic shields that instantly switch to bullet-proof mode when an incoming bullet is detected, the fabris is engineered to be bullet-proof while still being comfortable. This technology could also be used to embed sensor strips in the fabric connected to a central computer... the computer would be able to localize the bullet penetration area and signal the medic with an estimation of the injuries.
The world is getting smaller, we'll need nano-technology to deal with it.
Next step is to get the replacement time down from 4 or 5 hours to "push a button, shimmering light beam, replacement part appears".
Sounds interesting, one of those machines could cut down on the amount of "extra" items that need to be shipped to the ISS (why take an extra wrench when we can make one when we get there?)... meaning more space on shuttle launches for other stuff.
I've never read the LOTR books, first time I even heard of them was when everyone started going ape-shit over the movies in development.
I browsed the summaries on Amazon but i havent really felt the urge to buy the series. I like Sci-Fi (trek, B5, etc) but some fantasy novels just try too hard and end up making me bored. Should I even try to make it through LOTR?
"Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology each got a block of 16 million IP addresses -- more than what's available to latecomers, including the entire country of China"
someone was being greedy eh? Comeon folks, time to share..
Seriously though, the article does a good job at least trying to cover all the bases even if some of the arguements are weak. We all know that it's a big change and that it's going to take years to make the transistion from 32 bit addressing to 128 bit addressing, but the people saying "why fix it if we dont have a problem?" had better get their heads out of their asses. It's just like standing in the street and saying "why should I buy a car when my horse and wagon works fine?".
I agree that some ideas are way over the top (tell me again why my toaster should be networked??) but with computers getting smaller and cheaper the number of networked devices will continue to grow. We need a new system that can handle assigning addresses to them all. It's going to take time, effort and money to switch everything over so get started and quit complaining.
They're concerned about CD burners? They've been around for how many years and they're just now getting around to the "concerned" stage?
Fine, let them try to take away everyone's CD burner... it's almost time to move to the DVD-R format anyway. =)
I think I'm going to patent air, then lease it out and charge a tax on it cuz these morons are using up some good oxygen when they sit around thinking up these STUPID ideas to try and enforce copyrights.
They traced back the IP, determined that someone was "supposedly" distributing copyrighted materials from that address and notified the ISP.
The ISP therefore HAS TO CUT OFF THE ACCOUNT or risk being sued by the copyright enforcement agency.
And where's the customer (the one actually paying for the service) in all of this? Left without net access even though they didn't actually break any laws since they claim they weren't even at home when the incident occurred (although I admit that's pretty weak, I can run a file server while I'm away from my computer or mess with the clock to change the upload timestamp and then claim I wasn't home when it happened). No one contacted the customer to confirm anything, it was all done because the MPAA claimed they had "evidence"!
Still, it points out HOW MUCH FREAKIN POWER these copyright agencies have. All the ISP's are so afraid of going to court that they give in every time! Yay freedom!
I know they're not out of business yet, but with the threat of being delisted from NASDAQ in the very near future things dont look good... times like this I'm glad to be Canadian, and living in an area that only gives you 2 choices, Cable or DSL. Having less choice isn't really a good thing, but it's better to have 2 large, stable companies to choose from then 6 or 7 smaller ones with uncertain futures.
I'm sure someone else *cough*AOL*cough* wouldn't mind expanding their own network by taking over Excite@Home...
When I found out that most of those Gnutella clones (Kazaaa, Bearshare, etc) installed info-tracking software in the background that was it for me... no more Gnutella clones on my system. I don't see why people just dont do the same thing with Gator. If you dont like how it works, dont install that software.
I fully believe that the people behind gator are wide open for a lawsuit from the web sites that depend on ad revenue to survive... you can't just "replace" another site's ads whenever you want, even an idiot can understand that.
Of course none of this affects me... I use Webwasher to filter out all the ads and annoying pop-up windows. It's not without it's faults but it's made my web browsing so much more enjoyable.
Re:Strict Guidelines only way to cope with load
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And here I thought the original reason that Universities and colleges began offering Internet access was to promote research and peer-colaboration? Nothing in the "policy" you listed above allows for that, instead it seems VERY restrictive and anal-retentive to me.
I understand the need to have simplified tech support (every student complains about the Tech support at their school) and requiring people to use university provided NICs would simplify things, but telling people they can't share certain stuff with their friends on the network is retarded... some of the best (and fastest) pr0n access I ever had was on the university network!
Logging everything that your users access is over-compensating for the media hype on copyrights and illegal online activities... as long as it's not a restricted area (ie faculty systems or admissions office) then what's the harm?
My university provided 2 ethernet jacks in every dorm room, you paid your $50-$75/year and off you went. They began blocking some ports eventually (so people couldnt run FTP servers) but for the most part it was wide open and I loved it.
The reason you didnt have many problems with your network was because people couldn't use it to its full potential without fearing that they'd be cut off and expelled. Yay for freedom!
Re:Do what my university did
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HAH! That's funny =)
I've done some installs of Win98, ME, and 2K in the last month and they all had extra service available to set up. Sounds to me like no one on the Tech staff knew how to use Linux so rather than look stupid when someone asked a question they just banned it.
My university actually refused to hook up anyone using Win95 (back in the fall of 95 when I started school) because it "wasn't compatible with the university network". This was a time when most people were still using Win3.11. It's funny when I look back now because they were using a DHCP server on the network, all you had to do was install TCP/IP and you'd be fine!
Of course I wasn't nearly as computer savvy back then so I didnt know how dumb that policy was =)
Re:Did just this thing for 3 years
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Why bother to support broadband connections in the dorms?
Looks like you HAVE been out of school for a while. =) At my university every single dorm room on campus was wired into the school's high-speed network. When I started university (95) there was 1 or 2 people on the floor who owned a computer and when I finished (99) there were only 1 or 2 people who DIDN'T have one. The computer labs went from "usually empty" to "wait in line", and the profs were starting to catch on to the fact that student's LIKED being able to follow the course material with an online schedule.
Dorm-room internet access is very popular for doing research, writing email, sharing files, etc... (not to mention the kick-ass 8 hour multiplayer gaming sessions we used to have on the weekends =).
Of course that doesn't mean that everyone KNEW how to actually use or (god forbid) fix their own computer... being one of the only CS students in the residence made me pretty popular around exam time (I lost my essay, this disk doesnt work, i got a virus, etc). I actually started picking up some Spanish since a friend of mine (from mexico) had lots of problems with her (Spanish language pack) laptop.
Nowadays the only way to attract new students to a university is to ensure that your network hardware is up-to-date, make "dorm storm" week as painless as possible, and get your faculty online. Posting assignments and test dates and class information online compliments the old methods of posting them on the prof's office door.
They managed to escape the wrath of millions of users infected with yet another virus (SirCam or Code Red, it doesn't matter) even though it's clearly because of the numerous security holes found in MS products.. "it's not our fault people havn't applied patches 1-56, and feature packs 1-4, plus the "enhancement bonus mega super pack" that are clearly offered on our web site!" Now they've decided to include some new "features" in WinXP to make everyone's lives even better!
I can just picture a strategy meeting deep inside MS headquarters....
Bill - "gentlemen, how can we rake in even more money for next year? I want to buy Russia and parts of Africa and turn them into a giant water-park for my kid" Lackey Marketing Yes Man - "ummmm how about we start deciding what's best for users, make them call us every time they add new hardware to their system or try to reinstall the OS, automatically redirect their web links to places WE want them to go, and remove stuff that people have come to expect in an OS to make their lives even harder!" Bill - "I like it!"
They're never going to learn that they can't have it all. Every time someone trys to win at their game they just change the rules and hope no one notices. I have hopes that XP will more stable and easier to use than previous versions of windows, but all these new "enahncements" are making me think twice.
Slashdot Mirror
Cash still has its uses... can't be tracked, flexible uses, won't blue-screen, etc ..... BUT it can be easily stolen.
Debit/credit transactions are getting more and more widespread everyday, BUT there are service fees on everything and while the money is more secure, it can still be stolen by determined (tech-savvy) criminals.
Cash will be around for a while yet ... at least as long as it takes for the banks to wake up and discover that people would use their cards more if they weren't being charged so much in service fees.
I wonder if our servers are being scanned...
Wish I had that much cash to be spending on replacement CPUs, it would go a long way towards paying the bills =)
Comeon folks.. anyone else have a mirror up... The folks at Activision apparently thought 5 mirrors was enough. Boy were they wrong. even Fileplanet has a 200+ minute wait. I'm getting about 30k from pcwholesalers.net .. guess that'll do
They're trying to clear the subway tunnel under the building to see if anyone actually on the platform under the towers survived. The problem is that water mains have burst, flooding the tunnels and filling them with debris. At present I think they're a third of the way there.
Isn't it also possible to use sensitive electronic equipment to pick up the "here I am" signal that cell phones send out periodically to the towers?
someone should really warn these smaller sites that they're about to be posted on Slashdot.. their max-users is probably set to 20.
That's a lot of calls... but it's good to know that local companies are willing to step in and provide essential services free of charge when they're needed. It's also good to know that our telecom system can handle the unexpected increase in volume.
I'll be donating some cash to the Red Cross as soon as their systems get some relief from the flood of people... I'd be willing to help out with the tech problems they're having too, but it would be a little difficult to get from Halifax to NY at the moment.
I've been using a Netgear RT314 for almost a year now and it works great. NAT features, port-range forwarding, etc. It doesn't have a "true" firewall but the NAT does offer some protection.
I'd recommend getting the FR314 that has firewall capabilities. Check out Practically Networked for reviews on hundreds of models.
I should've known that link wouldn't work... posting a video clip from geocities would get the account shut down pretty damn fast. The bandwidth transfer limit is pretty low.
Nice photos ... much cleaner than some of the news sites (canoe.ca had digi-photos of their TV tuned to CNN).
no no... I'm kidding... really
The Cdn Blood Agency has lots of locations, might even set up triage sites for those situations needing "emergency" supplies. Check your local phone books for numbers to contact the Canadian Blood Services.
I just donated a few weeks ago so I can't give again. Those people who don't donate because they "can never find the time" should get off their asses now.
Nano-tech isn't just tiny little computers, it's the manipulation of a material on a molecular (nanometer-size) scale. Scientists can change the structure of a fabric and modify how it behaves at the same time (ie, colour changing, bullet proof, stain resistant, etc)
how the heck is this computer going to know there is a bullet?
These aren't magic shields that instantly switch to bullet-proof mode when an incoming bullet is detected, the fabris is engineered to be bullet-proof while still being comfortable. This technology could also be used to embed sensor strips in the fabric connected to a central computer... the computer would be able to localize the bullet penetration area and signal the medic with an estimation of the injuries.
The world is getting smaller, we'll need nano-technology to deal with it.
Next step is to get the replacement time down from 4 or 5 hours to "push a button, shimmering light beam, replacement part appears". Sounds interesting, one of those machines could cut down on the amount of "extra" items that need to be shipped to the ISS (why take an extra wrench when we can make one when we get there?)... meaning more space on shuttle launches for other stuff.
I browsed the summaries on Amazon but i havent really felt the urge to buy the series. I like Sci-Fi (trek, B5, etc) but some fantasy novels just try too hard and end up making me bored. Should I even try to make it through LOTR?
someone was being greedy eh? Comeon folks, time to share..
Seriously though, the article does a good job at least trying to cover all the bases even if some of the arguements are weak. We all know that it's a big change and that it's going to take years to make the transistion from 32 bit addressing to 128 bit addressing, but the people saying "why fix it if we dont have a problem?" had better get their heads out of their asses. It's just like standing in the street and saying "why should I buy a car when my horse and wagon works fine?".
I agree that some ideas are way over the top (tell me again why my toaster should be networked??) but with computers getting smaller and cheaper the number of networked devices will continue to grow. We need a new system that can handle assigning addresses to them all. It's going to take time, effort and money to switch everything over so get started and quit complaining.
Fine, let them try to take away everyone's CD burner... it's almost time to move to the DVD-R format anyway. =)
I think I'm going to patent air, then lease it out and charge a tax on it cuz these morons are using up some good oxygen when they sit around thinking up these STUPID ideas to try and enforce copyrights.
The ISP therefore HAS TO CUT OFF THE ACCOUNT or risk being sued by the copyright enforcement agency.
And where's the customer (the one actually paying for the service) in all of this? Left without net access even though they didn't actually break any laws since they claim they weren't even at home when the incident occurred (although I admit that's pretty weak, I can run a file server while I'm away from my computer or mess with the clock to change the upload timestamp and then claim I wasn't home when it happened). No one contacted the customer to confirm anything, it was all done because the MPAA claimed they had "evidence"!
Still, it points out HOW MUCH FREAKIN POWER these copyright agencies have. All the ISP's are so afraid of going to court that they give in every time! Yay freedom!
Wasn't there a Natural Party of Canada at one point (or something like that)?
I'm sure someone else *cough*AOL*cough* wouldn't mind expanding their own network by taking over Excite@Home...
I fully believe that the people behind gator are wide open for a lawsuit from the web sites that depend on ad revenue to survive... you can't just "replace" another site's ads whenever you want, even an idiot can understand that.
Of course none of this affects me... I use Webwasher to filter out all the ads and annoying pop-up windows. It's not without it's faults but it's made my web browsing so much more enjoyable.
I understand the need to have simplified tech support (every student complains about the Tech support at their school) and requiring people to use university provided NICs would simplify things, but telling people they can't share certain stuff with their friends on the network is retarded... some of the best (and fastest) pr0n access I ever had was on the university network!
Logging everything that your users access is over-compensating for the media hype on copyrights and illegal online activities... as long as it's not a restricted area (ie faculty systems or admissions office) then what's the harm?
My university provided 2 ethernet jacks in every dorm room, you paid your $50-$75/year and off you went. They began blocking some ports eventually (so people couldnt run FTP servers) but for the most part it was wide open and I loved it.
The reason you didnt have many problems with your network was because people couldn't use it to its full potential without fearing that they'd be cut off and expelled. Yay for freedom!
I've done some installs of Win98, ME, and 2K in the last month and they all had extra service available to set up. Sounds to me like no one on the Tech staff knew how to use Linux so rather than look stupid when someone asked a question they just banned it.
My university actually refused to hook up anyone using Win95 (back in the fall of 95 when I started school) because it "wasn't compatible with the university network". This was a time when most people were still using Win3.11. It's funny when I look back now because they were using a DHCP server on the network, all you had to do was install TCP/IP and you'd be fine!
Of course I wasn't nearly as computer savvy back then so I didnt know how dumb that policy was =)
Looks like you HAVE been out of school for a while. =) At my university every single dorm room on campus was wired into the school's high-speed network. When I started university (95) there was 1 or 2 people on the floor who owned a computer and when I finished (99) there were only 1 or 2 people who DIDN'T have one. The computer labs went from "usually empty" to "wait in line", and the profs were starting to catch on to the fact that student's LIKED being able to follow the course material with an online schedule.
Dorm-room internet access is very popular for doing research, writing email, sharing files, etc... (not to mention the kick-ass 8 hour multiplayer gaming sessions we used to have on the weekends =).
Of course that doesn't mean that everyone KNEW how to actually use or (god forbid) fix their own computer... being one of the only CS students in the residence made me pretty popular around exam time (I lost my essay, this disk doesnt work, i got a virus, etc). I actually started picking up some Spanish since a friend of mine (from mexico) had lots of problems with her (Spanish language pack) laptop.
Nowadays the only way to attract new students to a university is to ensure that your network hardware is up-to-date, make "dorm storm" week as painless as possible, and get your faculty online. Posting assignments and test dates and class information online compliments the old methods of posting them on the prof's office door.
I can just picture a strategy meeting deep inside MS headquarters ....
Bill - "gentlemen, how can we rake in even more money for next year? I want to buy Russia and parts of Africa and turn them into a giant water-park for my kid"
Lackey Marketing Yes Man - "ummmm how about we start deciding what's best for users, make them call us every time they add new hardware to their system or try to reinstall the OS, automatically redirect their web links to places WE want them to go, and remove stuff that people have come to expect in an OS to make their lives even harder!"
Bill - "I like it!"
They're never going to learn that they can't have it all. Every time someone trys to win at their game they just change the rules and hope no one notices. I have hopes that XP will more stable and easier to use than previous versions of windows, but all these new "enahncements" are making me think twice.