This technology walks a fine line. Notice that the article mentions the chips would only communicate with nearby readers / receivers. This is ultimately a good thing -- a geek solution to bronze-age problems like theft and inventory management. However there are also many potential abuses. If the "receivers" have more than a few hundred yards range, then they quickly change function from monitoring, to tracking which is A Bad Thing. How and where I use my new Fudgesicle is up to me, and no other.
Fortunately I believe that subjecting these types of technologies to public scrutiny like Slashdot tends to help us steer toward the former option, rather than the latter. Knowledge is power, as it is.
Not to be too much of a pessimist, but do you really think these statisticians are trying to perfect means of correlating this information so they can bury it for the greater public good? There are loads of applications for this type of statistical analysis that go even beyond this one application. Lotta research the government is doing to protect you, John Q. Public from having your privacy infringed on. Yeah, that sounds likely...
It almost makes me want to know what is in the fan that warrants a patent in the first place. "Round thing with blades on the end spins and wind comes out the other end." Isn't the general idea kinda simple?
I agree that the law can be a bit tedious, but it's such an integral part of this community that you can't afford to act like you don't care. Lawrence consistently offers a number of critical views on which the entire Slashdot community bases its opinion of the digital age and free speech. The law may not be our greatest passion but we're compelled to understand it if we want to defend against it. ---
But... but... buying satanic texts is wrong! You shouldn't be allowed to do it because it offends me! What about my rights? Like my right to decide what you can and cannot read. My right to go through life without ever seeing or hearing an opposing view. My right to prevent you from seeing anything that I find offensive. It's always about you, isn't it?
> "These free services can be a haven for child pornographers."
I'm bad at math. Can someone please help me? Have I transcribed a digit wrong in the following equation:
Free e-mail = child pornography
I've done some simple regression analysis based on the above and have derived some more formulas that may be of interest to the population at large. They include:
cars = drunk driving
parents = child abuse
video games = 13-year-old killing machines
Please, spread the word. The math just works!.
---
I hate to be the bearer of unpopular news, but Gamespot has much better content than Gamecenter. A quick search for a hard-to-find game on C|Net rarely finds a hit, ZDNet almost always has info. I agree that it's unfortunate to see a good site disappear, but it was never great. And fast page loading don't mean squat if the content is lacking...
Uhm, sorry but are you dumb? 3dfx had a complete strangehold on the 3D market by locking down performance, price, and reputation. NVidia single-handedly dethroned them using superior products and a better R&D pipeline. You talk like NVidia has always been the big guy on the block when EVERYONE knows they fought a tremendous battle against an undisputed market leader. And won. ---
A very engaging, objective view of the current industry leader. Few people seem to remember that even the original nVidia TNT was not a smashing success, let alone the revile heaped upon the Riva 128 by 3Dfx owners when it had no Glide support (!!!). Hopefully nVidia will continue with great execution and great products. If not, I think the graphics market is competitive enough that consumers will happily escort them the way of 3dfx.. ---
"It's totally promoting animal cruelty," Allanach said. "They consider it a sick joke. People will take it seriously. Animal cruelty is not funny."
And how many of the same people watch TV shows where cops shoot at bad guys or people drive recklessly? It's not entertainment, people will take it seriously! Entertainment is wrong because someone, somewhere will take it seriously. Fun is a sickness, I say!
Funny that people chose football and chess for comparison. Both are based on the strategy of war. It's interesting that two so wildly different activities/games/sports are both based on the same thing. ---
I've whiled many a day away with drool on my chin trying to take out a shambler with a shotgun, but could these people perhaps be taking their fun a bit too seriously? As a game addict I still feel a bit embarassed when I see phrases like "stellar accomplishments", "inner genius", and yes... "athletes" used to describe the process of jumping over the barrels being hurled at me by a video gorilla named "Donkey Kong". Video games are no more an athletic sport than juggling or burping the alphabet. Sure it takes practise and some skill, but that doesn't make it a sport.
---
Just what the military always wanted
on
Spidergoats
·
· Score: 2
Surely bullet-proof vests made from goat's milk will strike fear into the hearts of any enemy...
IANAL -- It's fairly common practise for companies who offer a generous severance package to wrap a non-disclosure around it. This often includes agreeing not to cast the company in a negative light after your departure. This doesn't bother me too much -- in return for a good package you agree to let bygones be bygones.
Another common practise that I completely disagree with is insisting on a similar agreement at the time of hire. If an employee is forbidden to complain about real corporate issues, how will they ever be resolved? Very uncool...
Then you have this situation. I don't think they have a legal or ethical leg to stand on. If you didn't sign a non-disclosure (did you?) I don't see how they have any right to restrict your ability to talk about your tenure there. Don't discuss genuinely confidential information like intellectual property or specifics of compensation and you should be fine.
Sorry, but the recent dot-com slump has nothing to do with an over-focus on technology, it has to do with a lack of common sense and sound business judgement.
Most of the dot-coms going out of business today are doing so because they have no market. VC's saw something that seemed sexy and new, and they dumped their money into it with little or no thought to the matter. Who really wants to buy groceries online? Would you buy a thick, juicy steak off a drop-down menu?!? Or would you rather pick out the most appetizing one in the butcher section of your supermarket?
Nobody wants to buy clothes online -- half the experience is the visit to the store. Online purchasing is ideal for commodity items where you know what you're getting the moment you order it. Books, CDs, software... When businesses try to force a new distribution channel down people's throats that no one wants, the market responds.
It's not about technology, it's about common sense.
I hate to say it, but except for a few very high-tech industries you've got many more years of this to go. I'm 28 and my age is still a major problem in my career.
So sit tight and be patient -- some day the company will decide that you're ready to move onward and upward. If you've got a reputation for having a positive attitude and are as good at your job as you claim, you'll go far. But if you've already got a reputation for complaining about being "passed over" due to your age you'll find it hard to ever progress.
This article upsets me on so many levels. I've always stood a middle ground on the topic of the rights of copyright holders vs. the right to fair use. However when big business starts to target libraries my blood begins to boil.
The western education system is one of the cornerstones of our society, and public libraries are one of the most important parts of that system. They represent the right to learn, to grow, to expand the mind, and to cultivate excellence. Unrestricted access to education and knowledge has always been pivotal to the destruction of class barriers. Destruction of class barriers is the most important means of assuring consistent, fair representation of individual rights and freedoms. Protection of rights and freedoms, in turn, is the goal of the political system we call Democracy.
This is not a tenuous link.
We can't afford to take for granted the efforts put forth by generations before us to protect our freedom to learn, grow, and excel. Libraries are crucial to this freedom -- be they traditional libraries or online libraries. These rights take precedence over everything else. If some copyright holders miss their chance to get rich in the process, I'm willing to take that chance.
Nothing could be more true. We spend all this time fighting about what OS is the best when we should be praying for the demise of the operating system altogether. Applications are what you buy a computer for -- for the things it will do for you. For me to even know what operating system my computer runs is a testament to how far we have yet to go in making computers usable. The OS is a necessary evil standing between you and your work... ---
We had the same sort of incident -- a member of our Help Centre staff went out for a smoke at 11:00AM and when he tried to swipe his security badge to get back in it wouldn't work. The guards cancelled his badge while he was standing on the steps. Since all his co-workers had known for days of his termination they all innocently told him to call his boss.
Not a high-point in our Fortune 500 company's history...
Unfortunately most of these movies aim to please the average farm-bred Bible-toting mid-Westerner which makes them decidedly ungeekish.
These films assume that messing with nature is "a bad thing" and don't bother to probe into the intricate greyscales an issue like this presents. Genetic science, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence scare me immensely but they're also tremendously exciting. When will a movie tackle the deeper issues where "scary" doesn't necessarily mean evil?
It's amazing how much people buy into marketing hype. I frequently get poor performance reviews at work because I keep telling management there are no truly viable wireless solutions available. Blackberry is neat, but who wants to read e-mail on a 3-line screen? WAP-enabled phones are even worse that way. The Palm VII is an inferior product to the Palm III, and it's not of much use to people who need access to a <sic> Microsoft Exchange corporate e-mail system with no POP3 access.
But aside from the issues with current flavours of wireless technology, people still don't have the common sense to try to fit this stuff into the big scheme of things. How many e-mails do you receive per day that you absolutely must get immediately? Would you even want every single e-mail to reach you within a moment of it being sent? Wireless instant messaging has been available for decades (pagers) yet it hasn't swept the market. It is relegated to a few select niches: techno-geeks, support staff, and some professionals.
Wireless technology has some really interesting applications but unless people start wading through the hype they'll keep betting on the wrong horse. Usability, ergonomics and work habits have a tremendous effect on how widely these technologies will be deployed. There's business there, but it's not the next wave any more so than e-commerce was.
Slashdot Mirror
This technology walks a fine line. Notice that the article mentions the chips would only communicate with nearby readers / receivers. This is ultimately a good thing -- a geek solution to bronze-age problems like theft and inventory management. However there are also many potential abuses. If the "receivers" have more than a few hundred yards range, then they quickly change function from monitoring, to tracking which is A Bad Thing. How and where I use my new Fudgesicle is up to me, and no other.
Fortunately I believe that subjecting these types of technologies to public scrutiny like Slashdot tends to help us steer toward the former option, rather than the latter. Knowledge is power, as it is.
---
Not to be too much of a pessimist, but do you really think these statisticians are trying to perfect means of correlating this information so they can bury it for the greater public good? There are loads of applications for this type of statistical analysis that go even beyond this one application. Lotta research the government is doing to protect you, John Q. Public from having your privacy infringed on. Yeah, that sounds likely...
---
It almost makes me want to know what is in the fan that warrants a patent in the first place. "Round thing with blades on the end spins and wind comes out the other end." Isn't the general idea kinda simple?
---
I agree that the law can be a bit tedious, but it's such an integral part of this community that you can't afford to act like you don't care. Lawrence consistently offers a number of critical views on which the entire Slashdot community bases its opinion of the digital age and free speech. The law may not be our greatest passion but we're compelled to understand it if we want to defend against it.
---
But... but... buying satanic texts is wrong! You shouldn't be allowed to do it because it offends me! What about my rights? Like my right to decide what you can and cannot read. My right to go through life without ever seeing or hearing an opposing view. My right to prevent you from seeing anything that I find offensive. It's always about you, isn't it?
---
> "These free services can be a haven for child pornographers."
I'm bad at math. Can someone please help me? Have I transcribed a digit wrong in the following equation:
Free e-mail = child pornography
I've done some simple regression analysis based on the above and have derived some more formulas that may be of interest to the population at large. They include:
cars = drunk driving
parents = child abuse
video games = 13-year-old killing machines
Please, spread the word. The math just works!.
---
I hate to be the bearer of unpopular news, but Gamespot has much better content than Gamecenter. A quick search for a hard-to-find game on C|Net rarely finds a hit, ZDNet almost always has info. I agree that it's unfortunate to see a good site disappear, but it was never great. And fast page loading don't mean squat if the content is lacking...
---
Uhm, sorry but are you dumb? 3dfx had a complete strangehold on the 3D market by locking down performance, price, and reputation. NVidia single-handedly dethroned them using superior products and a better R&D pipeline. You talk like NVidia has always been the big guy on the block when EVERYONE knows they fought a tremendous battle against an undisputed market leader. And won.
---
A very engaging, objective view of the current industry leader. Few people seem to remember that even the original nVidia TNT was not a smashing success, let alone the revile heaped upon the Riva 128 by 3Dfx owners when it had no Glide support (!!!). Hopefully nVidia will continue with great execution and great products. If not, I think the graphics market is competitive enough that consumers will happily escort them the way of 3dfx..
---
"It's totally promoting animal cruelty," Allanach said. "They consider it a sick joke. People will take it seriously. Animal cruelty is not funny."
And how many of the same people watch TV shows where cops shoot at bad guys or people drive recklessly? It's not entertainment, people will take it seriously! Entertainment is wrong because someone, somewhere will take it seriously. Fun is a sickness, I say!
---
Funny that people chose football and chess for comparison. Both are based on the strategy of war. It's interesting that two so wildly different activities/games/sports are both based on the same thing.
---
Yeah, like Special Olympics! :P
---
I've whiled many a day away with drool on my chin trying to take out a shambler with a shotgun, but could these people perhaps be taking their fun a bit too seriously? As a game addict I still feel a bit embarassed when I see phrases like "stellar accomplishments", "inner genius", and yes... "athletes" used to describe the process of jumping over the barrels being hurled at me by a video gorilla named "Donkey Kong". Video games are no more an athletic sport than juggling or burping the alphabet. Sure it takes practise and some skill, but that doesn't make it a sport.
---
Surely bullet-proof vests made from goat's milk will strike fear into the hearts of any enemy...
Hey Paco! Looook at the Amereecan seesies!
---
IANAL -- It's fairly common practise for companies who offer a generous severance package to wrap a non-disclosure around it. This often includes agreeing not to cast the company in a negative light after your departure. This doesn't bother me too much -- in return for a good package you agree to let bygones be bygones.
Another common practise that I completely disagree with is insisting on a similar agreement at the time of hire. If an employee is forbidden to complain about real corporate issues, how will they ever be resolved? Very uncool...
Then you have this situation. I don't think they have a legal or ethical leg to stand on. If you didn't sign a non-disclosure (did you?) I don't see how they have any right to restrict your ability to talk about your tenure there. Don't discuss genuinely confidential information like intellectual property or specifics of compensation and you should be fine.
---
Sorry, but the recent dot-com slump has nothing to do with an over-focus on technology, it has to do with a lack of common sense and sound business judgement.
Most of the dot-coms going out of business today are doing so because they have no market. VC's saw something that seemed sexy and new, and they dumped their money into it with little or no thought to the matter. Who really wants to buy groceries online? Would you buy a thick, juicy steak off a drop-down menu?!? Or would you rather pick out the most appetizing one in the butcher section of your supermarket?
Nobody wants to buy clothes online -- half the experience is the visit to the store. Online purchasing is ideal for commodity items where you know what you're getting the moment you order it. Books, CDs, software... When businesses try to force a new distribution channel down people's throats that no one wants, the market responds.
It's not about technology, it's about common sense.
---
I hate to say it, but except for a few very high-tech industries you've got many more years of this to go. I'm 28 and my age is still a major problem in my career.
So sit tight and be patient -- some day the company will decide that you're ready to move onward and upward. If you've got a reputation for having a positive attitude and are as good at your job as you claim, you'll go far. But if you've already got a reputation for complaining about being "passed over" due to your age you'll find it hard to ever progress.
---
This article upsets me on so many levels. I've always stood a middle ground on the topic of the rights of copyright holders vs. the right to fair use. However when big business starts to target libraries my blood begins to boil.
The western education system is one of the cornerstones of our society, and public libraries are one of the most important parts of that system. They represent the right to learn, to grow, to expand the mind, and to cultivate excellence. Unrestricted access to education and knowledge has always been pivotal to the destruction of class barriers. Destruction of class barriers is the most important means of assuring consistent, fair representation of individual rights and freedoms. Protection of rights and freedoms, in turn, is the goal of the political system we call Democracy.
This is not a tenuous link.
We can't afford to take for granted the efforts put forth by generations before us to protect our freedom to learn, grow, and excel. Libraries are crucial to this freedom -- be they traditional libraries or online libraries. These rights take precedence over everything else. If some copyright holders miss their chance to get rich in the process, I'm willing to take that chance.
---
Uhm. Have you tried removing the plates before you suspend the Bug?
---
It is even prouder to be a Canadian with gooder grammer. :P
---
Nothing could be more true. We spend all this time fighting about what OS is the best when we should be praying for the demise of the operating system altogether. Applications are what you buy a computer for -- for the things it will do for you. For me to even know what operating system my computer runs is a testament to how far we have yet to go in making computers usable. The OS is a necessary evil standing between you and your work...
---
We had the same sort of incident -- a member of our Help Centre staff went out for a smoke at 11:00AM and when he tried to swipe his security badge to get back in it wouldn't work. The guards cancelled his badge while he was standing on the steps. Since all his co-workers had known for days of his termination they all innocently told him to call his boss. Not a high-point in our Fortune 500 company's history...
Unfortunately most of these movies aim to please the average farm-bred Bible-toting mid-Westerner which makes them decidedly ungeekish.
These films assume that messing with nature is "a bad thing" and don't bother to probe into the intricate greyscales an issue like this presents. Genetic science, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence scare me immensely but they're also tremendously exciting. When will a movie tackle the deeper issues where "scary" doesn't necessarily mean evil?
It's amazing how much people buy into marketing hype. I frequently get poor performance reviews at work because I keep telling management there are no truly viable wireless solutions available. Blackberry is neat, but who wants to read e-mail on a 3-line screen? WAP-enabled phones are even worse that way. The Palm VII is an inferior product to the Palm III, and it's not of much use to people who need access to a <sic> Microsoft Exchange corporate e-mail system with no POP3 access.
But aside from the issues with current flavours of wireless technology, people still don't have the common sense to try to fit this stuff into the big scheme of things. How many e-mails do you receive per day that you absolutely must get immediately? Would you even want every single e-mail to reach you within a moment of it being sent? Wireless instant messaging has been available for decades (pagers) yet it hasn't swept the market. It is relegated to a few select niches: techno-geeks, support staff, and some professionals.
Wireless technology has some really interesting applications but unless people start wading through the hype they'll keep betting on the wrong horse. Usability, ergonomics and work habits have a tremendous effect on how widely these technologies will be deployed. There's business there, but it's not the next wave any more so than e-commerce was.
I suppose it would be in violation of the spirit of the announcement for them to actually tell you who they appointed, wouldn't it? :P