Proof isn't required. This isn't an action of a court, this is Special Interest Group A asking Big Company B to do them a favor and lean on a customer. Not that it doesn't smell like legal action, and it could lead there, but that's not what it is to begin with.
In a few years I expect the MPAA/RIAA will be IDing pirates and asking all kinds of businesses to cooperate in making their lives hell. Imagine gas stations refusing to serve you because they have a list of license plates that they have been asked (or paid) to check for... or your credit cards being refused at "participating merchants."
It's a brave new world. I think things will get a lot worse before they get better.
You left out the biggest issue, at least to my mind: Codec Confusion.
Do you use the old DiVX 3.11 alpha?
The divx.com releases, some of which you have to pay for?
Angel Potion codec?
And, if you read the boards, there is constant argument about which codec is better. "DivX.com is slower than 3.11a." Etc. Who the hell knows the truth?
In the end, it means you download a DiVX.avi file and half the time it doesn't seem to play, at least until you have done all the web searching to get all the codecs. I barely have time to watch clips much less hunt for codecs.
I think most of today's SF like that "SG StarGate" show is overrated. I really liked older shows, they had much better writing.
Like Viper! That dude fought crime with that cool car! He was driving all over the place, jumping over stuff and shooting rockets, like that old arcade game NARC! Man, that's what *I* call crime fighting!
Or what about that other show about the guy in a wheelchair who kicked ass when he put on his super-suit? That guy was the bomb, and a great role model for all wheelchair-bound people. If I was in a wheelchair I'd DEFINITELY invent a suit that let me jump around and fight crime and go to the bathroom by myself!
And who can forget Misfits of Science? There was a superhero who could get REALLY SMALL! Have you EVER seen anything like that?! Those CRAZY scientific guys! He was SO SMALL!
Team Knight Rider featured like FIVE TALKING CARS. It was probably the best show of the last 10 years but strangely you never really hear people talking about it. That big truck sounded all tuff when he talked! What a blast! And wasn't one of the cars a chick? I mean, who can THINK of that stuff? Genius.
If digital TVs were $100 I still wouldn't buy one -- because there are no PVRs that can time shift HDTV content. I hate to sound like a commercial, but my ReplayTV has revolutionized how I watch TV, and I am not going back.
But Navius -- isn't being a Supervillain expensive and time-consuming? I sure wish there was a way to become one quickly, inexpensively and from my own home.
What's the problem with doing the things that make sense?!
I have been working at Microsoft for about 1 month. I expected it to be a staggeringly inefficient operation, full of red tape, political infighting and all that.
I was wrong. It is far, far worse than I ever imagined.
Someone at MS may very wish to fix this particular problem, but when you factor in the considerable BS... well, there's a lot of intertial there. A hell of a lot.
Frankly I am amazed that anything gets done there.
The answer to your question is easy -- we have already seen the beginnings of it in the US.
It wasn't that long ago that the phone companies tried to destroy the ISP market: "These ISPs hog our phone lines, AND they use them to transmit data, some of which is ACTUALLY VOICE COMMUNICATION. Mr. Federal Gov't, we believe that all ISPs should be regulated as phone companies."
The regulations that phone carriers operate under are a lot more restrictive and expensive than those for ISPs. If this ever happened, it would run the smaller ISPs out of business, leaving... the phone companies as our only ISPs. And if that happened, how far would VoIP get?
The telcos also tried this for software that allowed VoIP -- they wanted every publisher of VoIP to be legally classified as a telco. Obviously, it didn't happen -- but the day that my mother can call my grandmother for free over the internet, these protests won't be far behind again, and there is no guarantee that the big telcos won't get their way eventually.
It does an amazing job of de-annoyifying the web. Start it, change your web proxy to localhost:8080, and you're done. Many settings to tinker with though, if you like that kind of thing. No Windows user should be without it. And it kills Flash if you want.
But those gadgets require drivers... ugh. That link you gave mentioned Windows XP drivers -- in beta even. Blech. I'd prefer to keep some old fashioned serial ports around for geek stuff. GPS, police scanner, ham radio, smart card stuff, old Palm Pilots, Philips Pronto, and a mess of other projects I am eying. I could easily use 5 serial ports.
That's what I needed too, when I made my jukebox. That was almost a year ago, I think... I ended up using Webplay. I'd like to try Netjuke when local play is added.
ATT wireless offers the teeny Ericsson, the one with the color screen... T68? It's got bluetooth for sure and it's GSM. I recently shopped cell phones so I saw all this stuff. Head to an ATT Wireless shop.
(of course, ATT's GSM phones won't work outside the US, which stinks... at least, that's what they told me when I asked.)
Re:laws for time travellers? who cares?
on
Time Travel
·
· Score: 2
There is a FANTASTIC time travel story by Poul Anderson that I bust out and read about once every 6-9 months. Amazingly I forget the title, but it is in the "Past Times" anthology. The story is basically this:
- Guy invents time machine. - Guy sends automated probe ahead about 100 years. It doesn't come back. - Guy bravely hops into his full-sized model to check it out. Probe is not there. Hometown all different... house burned down, etc. - Guy starts going backwards in 10 year steps. He finds the probe with its batteries dead. - Guy learns a surprising physical law: you can't go BACKWARDS in time more than about 30 years... the energy required starts to rise to infinity. Uh oh. - With nothing else to do, guy goes on ahead -- maybe someone in the future will know how to help him. - Won't give away the end, but he goes forward hundreds, thousands, millions, BILLIONS of years... stopping now and then... trying to get help... learns it isn't possible to go back... gets caught up in all kinds of things...
The whole story is highly improbable, especially the ending, but REALLY neat.
PS Hogan does indeed rule like few other authors!
Re:Paradox' a Bitch
on
Time Travel
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Maybe we'll finally get to learn what REALLY happens when matter materializes INSIDE OTHER MATTER.
Personally, I believe that the matter is displaced towards the nearest empty area while taking 3d6 damage, but my proof is insufficiently rigorous to post yet.
Slashdot Mirror
Five hundred quatloos on the newcomer!
...not knowing they may have contained Microsoft's code?
I believe most Xbox mod chips are shipped BLANK for just this reason.
MPEG-4 has quite a bit to do with QuickTime.
Proof isn't required. This isn't an action of a court, this is Special Interest Group A asking Big Company B to do them a favor and lean on a customer. Not that it doesn't smell like legal action, and it could lead there, but that's not what it is to begin with.
In a few years I expect the MPAA/RIAA will be IDing pirates and asking all kinds of businesses to cooperate in making their lives hell. Imagine gas stations refusing to serve you because they have a list of license plates that they have been asked (or paid) to check for... or your credit cards being refused at "participating merchants."
It's a brave new world. I think things will get a lot worse before they get better.
I knew a guy who worked at a place where the interior designers had control over what was on your desk.
You couldn't have anything on your desk but your computer. No papers, no nothing.
I'm sure it looked swell.
You left out the biggest issue, at least to my mind: Codec Confusion.
Do you use the old DiVX 3.11 alpha?
The divx.com releases, some of which you have to pay for?
Angel Potion codec?
And, if you read the boards, there is constant argument about which codec is better. "DivX.com is slower than 3.11a." Etc. Who the hell knows the truth?
In the end, it means you download a DiVX
That scene wasn't faked, I remember hearing about it in the commentary.
I think most of today's SF like that "SG StarGate" show is overrated. I really liked older shows, they had much better writing.
Like Viper! That dude fought crime with that cool car! He was driving all over the place, jumping over stuff and shooting rockets, like that old arcade game NARC! Man, that's what *I* call crime fighting!
Or what about that other show about the guy in a wheelchair who kicked ass when he put on his super-suit? That guy was the bomb, and a great role model for all wheelchair-bound people. If I was in a wheelchair I'd DEFINITELY invent a suit that let me jump around and fight crime and go to the bathroom by myself!
And who can forget Misfits of Science? There was a superhero who could get REALLY SMALL! Have you EVER seen anything like that?! Those CRAZY scientific guys! He was SO SMALL!
Team Knight Rider featured like FIVE TALKING CARS. It was probably the best show of the last 10 years but strangely you never really hear people talking about it. That big truck sounded all tuff when he talked! What a blast! And wasn't one of the cars a chick? I mean, who can THINK of that stuff? Genius.
The whole issue has started making me wonder what the value in TV is anymore.
;)
Watch The Shield on FX and find out.
IP is stupid, anyone that is supportive of IP is stupid...
That's quite a statement.
If there were Invader Zim DVDs to buy, wouldn't you be, uh, supportive of that?
And color me stupid, because I write and sell books. Guess I am part of the evil IP cartel! Now where's my Ferrari, dammit?
If digital TVs were $100 I still wouldn't buy one -- because there are no PVRs that can time shift HDTV content. I hate to sound like a commercial, but my ReplayTV has revolutionized how I watch TV, and I am not going back.
But Navius -- isn't being a Supervillain expensive and time-consuming? I sure wish there was a way to become one quickly, inexpensively and from my own home.
It's actually pretty simple to watermark a video with an imperceptible quality loss. Check out this sample frame.
After you watch a few movies this way you won't even notice it anymore!
Flamebait? You didn't deserve that. I didn't like the book either.
I'd rather read a REAL SF classic like War of the Worlds.
What's the problem with doing the things that make sense?!
I have been working at Microsoft for about 1 month. I expected it to be a staggeringly inefficient operation, full of red tape, political infighting and all that.
I was wrong. It is far, far worse than I ever imagined.
Someone at MS may very wish to fix this particular problem, but when you factor in the considerable BS... well, there's a lot of intertial there. A hell of a lot.
Frankly I am amazed that anything gets done there.
Thankfully, "unexplained clown" is only 2150 results.
In a true haiku there is always a reference to a season.
Please re-submit your haiku for moderation.
If you mess with anti-spyware, you only up the cycle of abuse, and make life hellish for everyone.
So Ad-Aware is the problem, not the spyware?
Somehow I just can't see things that way.
The answer to your question is easy -- we have already seen the beginnings of it in the US.
It wasn't that long ago that the phone companies tried to destroy the ISP market: "These ISPs hog our phone lines, AND they use them to transmit data, some of which is ACTUALLY VOICE COMMUNICATION. Mr. Federal Gov't, we believe that all ISPs should be regulated as phone companies."
The regulations that phone carriers operate under are a lot more restrictive and expensive than those for ISPs. If this ever happened, it would run the smaller ISPs out of business, leaving... the phone companies as our only ISPs. And if that happened, how far would VoIP get?
The telcos also tried this for software that allowed VoIP -- they wanted every publisher of VoIP to be legally classified as a telco. Obviously, it didn't happen -- but the day that my mother can call my grandmother for free over the internet, these protests won't be far behind again, and there is no guarantee that the big telcos won't get their way eventually.
Get The Proxomitron:
http://www.flaaten.dk/prox/
It does an amazing job of de-annoyifying the web. Start it, change your web proxy to localhost:8080, and you're done. Many settings to tinker with though, if you like that kind of thing. No Windows user should be without it. And it kills Flash if you want.
But those gadgets require drivers... ugh. That link you gave mentioned Windows XP drivers -- in beta even. Blech. I'd prefer to keep some old fashioned serial ports around for geek stuff. GPS, police scanner, ham radio, smart card stuff, old Palm Pilots, Philips Pronto, and a mess of other projects I am eying. I could easily use 5 serial ports.
That's what I needed too, when I made my jukebox. That was almost a year ago, I think... I ended up using Webplay. I'd like to try Netjuke when local play is added.
ATT wireless offers the teeny Ericsson, the one with the color screen... T68? It's got bluetooth for sure and it's GSM. I recently shopped cell phones so I saw all this stuff. Head to an ATT Wireless shop.
(of course, ATT's GSM phones won't work outside the US, which stinks... at least, that's what they told me when I asked.)
There is a FANTASTIC time travel story by Poul Anderson that I bust out and read about once every 6-9 months. Amazingly I forget the title, but it is in the "Past Times" anthology. The story is basically this:
- Guy invents time machine.
- Guy sends automated probe ahead about 100 years. It doesn't come back.
- Guy bravely hops into his full-sized model to check it out. Probe is not there. Hometown all different... house burned down, etc.
- Guy starts going backwards in 10 year steps. He finds the probe with its batteries dead.
- Guy learns a surprising physical law: you can't go BACKWARDS in time more than about 30 years... the energy required starts to rise to infinity. Uh oh.
- With nothing else to do, guy goes on ahead -- maybe someone in the future will know how to help him.
- Won't give away the end, but he goes forward hundreds, thousands, millions, BILLIONS of years... stopping now and then... trying to get help... learns it isn't possible to go back... gets caught up in all kinds of things...
The whole story is highly improbable, especially the ending, but REALLY neat.
PS Hogan does indeed rule like few other authors!
Maybe we'll finally get to learn what REALLY happens when matter materializes INSIDE OTHER MATTER.
Personally, I believe that the matter is displaced towards the nearest empty area while taking 3d6 damage, but my proof is insufficiently rigorous to post yet.