The individual who committed the crime is definitely where the blame ultimately lies. What people are looking for isn't merely the blame but some cause that can then be legislated away so that this type of thing can be prevented in the future. I don't believe it'll ever be effectively done but I think that is the ultimate motivation. Our society tends to like to find "things" to blame (guns, music, games, etc) rather than addressing some of the social, family and personal issues that lead to horrible actions like this. Banning things is an easier task and creates the illusion of "doing something" about it.
The time change is and always has been stupid. If we're going to "fix" this, then lets do it right and all jump directly to UTC/GMT. The number on the clock itself is arbitrary so we would be better off going with the true time standard once and for all.
I'm mystified why it has to be a webcam, other than the joy of complexity.
It's more than just senseless complexity. Some visual impairments are helped significantly by having the ability to invert the colors, convert to grey scale, convert to straight up black and white, filter out certain colors, provide a reading "line" which can easily be done with software but not so easily with a basic camera - not that it is impossible. Today, a web camera and 20" flat panel monitor can be purchased for less than 10% of the cost of a commercial CCTV magnification system. I do agree that a typical web camera seriously lacks in quality.
There are some issues here that you're not addressing and most of them are economic. I have a family member that is legally blind and can only read with massive magnification. These CCD units are great but they cost thousands of dollars. Admittedly, it's a limited market but the manufacturers price the units assuming that some state or federal agency will be buying them - not the end user. They are dead simple with today's technology but still are priced like they're wired with gold circuits. If someone can find a supporting government or non-profit agency to help them, then they're good to go. Otherwise, they need to cough up a big chunk of cash which isn't easy for someone with very limited financial resources, as most visually impaired individuals tend to be.
Ebooks are expensive. Large print books are expensive and very, very limited in availability. Traditional lense magnifiers often do not provide adequate magnification or do not address the visual difficulty sufficiently.
When I was first looking at purchasing one of these units I was seriously outraged at the prices charged for a system that has less than $100 worth of hardware. They are essentially little more than a simple flat panel monitor, web camera, LED light and some light image processing software (invert, color masks, etc) on a stand that allows the book to slide around. I would absolutely *LOVE* to see someone come up with a good system for putting a webcam and small system together for reading - it would be great to open up the opportunities for people without the means or assistance to get a reader and, almost as wonderful, would be to put the screws to these companies that are charging such a ridiculous markup on the hardware. Unfortunately, the quality of web cameras isn't that hot but maybe there are some exceptions. I wonder if this could make for a cool Raspberry Pi project.
Both. I find that people tend to argue with me over just about anything. I often find it puzzling that so many people want to disagree with someone so reasonable.
This is why I tend to go ballistic when someone argues that we should stick with the larger vendor because they provide product stability. I've been told we can't count on the smaller guys to stay in the market and be able to provide support over the long term. Then I look at it and see the the "big guys" kill products right and left depending on their whim and the perceived profitability of a given market. Messenger is a stupid little product but I'm sure there are more than a few people out of that 100M+ base who have some dependence on it and don't want or need to use Skype.
Um.... Maybe more marketable but definitely not more lucrative. Look at the average salaries for a Unix admin and compare it with the average salaries for a Windows support tech. Get back to me when you're done with google.
The design-by-document approach just isn't going to fly in this age of minimalist organization and agile development.
That's really too bad. At this point in my life/career, I'd rather be doing documentation than slapping some junk together that will need to be fixed two times over once it is in the users' hands just because of someone's arbitrary deadline.
Regarding the parent coment, I've seen way too many open source projects that use a wiki that is both very poorly structured and inadequately populated as a substitute for documentation/manual.
I downloaded and installed it onto my system from DVD. The system booted up. It found my network card and configured itself via DHCP. I didn't edit xorg.conf but startx loaded up the KDE desktop using the full resolution of my monitor. Plugged in a USB stick and it opened up a file manager with it's contents loaded. I used the system for quite a while and I only had to fire up the terminal to edit/etc/inittab to change the default runlevel to 4 so KDM would load at boot time. Fully an hour into this and I only had to edit one text file?!? What is this? I wanted Slackware, not Yoobuntoo or some other watered down, hand-holding, pick-out-my-clothes-for-me distro! Where's the pain? Where's the challenge? How can I project my true alpha-geek status by casually mentioning that I run Slackware if it's going to be this easy?? If this keeps up I'm going to have to switch to one of the BSDs or Linux from scratch. With my luck, they'll probably automate that process with shell scripts or something as well.
I've been using adblock on Firefox since it first became available. There's no way I'm going to subject myself to the visual assault of endless advertisements around the web. I'm paying for that bandwidth with my internet connection fees and feel no responsibility whatsoever to support their advertising activities with my money. Whenever I use a machine without Adblock installed I'm always amazed at how much garbage clutters up many web sites I normally visit. I've seen statistics that estimate that the average American is subjected to over 3000 ads a day in one form or another. I know that can vary considerably but I refuse to allow any more into my life than is necessary. Does that bother someone running a web site somewhere? Too bad. Basically, I. Don't. Care.
Bah! I installed Slackware on my Mac many years ago. You probably installed Ubuntu or Fedora like all the other linux sheep out there. Slackware rules but you probably wouldn't get it.
That would be my recommendation too. Not just drivers but the many other external devices (ipods, gps, video cameras, etc) and software. While most devices run through USB now the issue is really with the supporting applications. I love all things Linux and Free but the reality is that many of functions that people "need" are a major hassle under Linux unless you have the tech. skills to sort out. I've been running Linux, Slackware in particular, since 1994 and I have had a Mac for several years - I just don't care for the headaches that are involved in making some things work properly with Linux, even Ubuntu/Mint have major headaches at times. My wife certainly has no interest in learning the ways of the mighty sys-admin just so she can get the printer to work with certain applications, among other issues.
I had lawn darts. Flying Death From Above is what we called them, and that's the way we liked it!
Yeah! We attached some twine to the back end of the darts so we could spin and release them to even greater heights. It was hard to pull out of the ground at times. What could possibly go wrong?
I see a lot of comments asking "Why upgrade?" or not to bother if what you are currently running is working for you. What about security patches and support? I've searched all over the place and, so far, haven't been able to find any clear statement about when Apple stops support for a particular version of OS X. The "word of mouth" answer seems to be only the current release and one version prior are supported with patches and security fixes. It seems a bit irresponsible to drop support for an OS without letting your customers know that they're system is no longer being updated to protect against the various vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
Slashdot Mirror
"... without partisan interference."
Oh wow! Good one. You had me going there for a minute.
I claim prior art! Well, my parents could, at least.
The individual who committed the crime is definitely where the blame ultimately lies. What people are looking for isn't merely the blame but some cause that can then be legislated away so that this type of thing can be prevented in the future. I don't believe it'll ever be effectively done but I think that is the ultimate motivation. Our society tends to like to find "things" to blame (guns, music, games, etc) rather than addressing some of the social, family and personal issues that lead to horrible actions like this. Banning things is an easier task and creates the illusion of "doing something" about it.
The time change is and always has been stupid. If we're going to "fix" this, then lets do it right and all jump directly to UTC/GMT. The number on the clock itself is arbitrary so we would be better off going with the true time standard once and for all.
Be careful, you're going to upset someone's simplified understanding of reality.
I'm mystified why it has to be a webcam, other than the joy of complexity.
It's more than just senseless complexity. Some visual impairments are helped significantly by having the ability to invert the colors, convert to grey scale, convert to straight up black and white, filter out certain colors, provide a reading "line" which can easily be done with software but not so easily with a basic camera - not that it is impossible. Today, a web camera and 20" flat panel monitor can be purchased for less than 10% of the cost of a commercial CCTV magnification system. I do agree that a typical web camera seriously lacks in quality.
There are some issues here that you're not addressing and most of them are economic. I have a family member that is legally blind and can only read with massive magnification. These CCD units are great but they cost thousands of dollars. Admittedly, it's a limited market but the manufacturers price the units assuming that some state or federal agency will be buying them - not the end user. They are dead simple with today's technology but still are priced like they're wired with gold circuits. If someone can find a supporting government or non-profit agency to help them, then they're good to go. Otherwise, they need to cough up a big chunk of cash which isn't easy for someone with very limited financial resources, as most visually impaired individuals tend to be.
Ebooks are expensive. Large print books are expensive and very, very limited in availability. Traditional lense magnifiers often do not provide adequate magnification or do not address the visual difficulty sufficiently.
When I was first looking at purchasing one of these units I was seriously outraged at the prices charged for a system that has less than $100 worth of hardware. They are essentially little more than a simple flat panel monitor, web camera, LED light and some light image processing software (invert, color masks, etc) on a stand that allows the book to slide around. I would absolutely *LOVE* to see someone come up with a good system for putting a webcam and small system together for reading - it would be great to open up the opportunities for people without the means or assistance to get a reader and, almost as wonderful, would be to put the screws to these companies that are charging such a ridiculous markup on the hardware. Unfortunately, the quality of web cameras isn't that hot but maybe there are some exceptions. I wonder if this could make for a cool Raspberry Pi project.
Both. I find that people tend to argue with me over just about anything. I often find it puzzling that so many people want to disagree with someone so reasonable.
This is why I tend to go ballistic when someone argues that we should stick with the larger vendor because they provide product stability. I've been told we can't count on the smaller guys to stay in the market and be able to provide support over the long term. Then I look at it and see the the "big guys" kill products right and left depending on their whim and the perceived profitability of a given market. Messenger is a stupid little product but I'm sure there are more than a few people out of that 100M+ base who have some dependence on it and don't want or need to use Skype.
Um.... Maybe more marketable but definitely not more lucrative. Look at the average salaries for a Unix admin and compare it with the average salaries for a Windows support tech. Get back to me when you're done with google.
The design-by-document approach just isn't going to fly in this age of minimalist organization and agile development.
That's really too bad. At this point in my life/career, I'd rather be doing documentation than slapping some junk together that will need to be fixed two times over once it is in the users' hands just because of someone's arbitrary deadline.
Regarding the parent coment, I've seen way too many open source projects that use a wiki that is both very poorly structured and inadequately populated as a substitute for documentation/manual.
The people who have problems with Win8 are the same people that have 12:00 flashing on every digital device they own.
I thought that was their core market?
The funny thing here is that I'm actually in the process of replacing my iMac with a Slackware system. Is that ironic enough for a hipster?
If you want pain go and use Windows.
Sorry OP im having a hard time here, what was your point again?
The point is that using Windows is painful. Your post reminded me of this thing I read about... I think it was called Stockholdm syndrome.
I downloaded and installed it onto my system from DVD. The system booted up. It found my network card and configured itself via DHCP. I didn't edit xorg.conf but startx loaded up the KDE desktop using the full resolution of my monitor. Plugged in a USB stick and it opened up a file manager with it's contents loaded. I used the system for quite a while and I only had to fire up the terminal to edit /etc/inittab to change the default runlevel to 4 so KDM would load at boot time. Fully an hour into this and I only had to edit one text file?!? What is this? I wanted Slackware, not Yoobuntoo or some other watered down, hand-holding, pick-out-my-clothes-for-me distro! Where's the pain? Where's the challenge? How can I project my true alpha-geek status by casually mentioning that I run Slackware if it's going to be this easy?? If this keeps up I'm going to have to switch to one of the BSDs or Linux from scratch. With my luck, they'll probably automate that process with shell scripts or something as well.
*Every* product is buggy.
You, obviously, haven't installed Slackware.
I think you just did.
They may not consume 20 hours of work time doing these things,...
I see you underestimate my powers.
Shirley, you must be kidding.
I've been using adblock on Firefox since it first became available. There's no way I'm going to subject myself to the visual assault of endless advertisements around the web. I'm paying for that bandwidth with my internet connection fees and feel no responsibility whatsoever to support their advertising activities with my money. Whenever I use a machine without Adblock installed I'm always amazed at how much garbage clutters up many web sites I normally visit. I've seen statistics that estimate that the average American is subjected to over 3000 ads a day in one form or another. I know that can vary considerably but I refuse to allow any more into my life than is necessary. Does that bother someone running a web site somewhere? Too bad. Basically, I. Don't. Care.
Bah! I installed Slackware on my Mac many years ago. You probably installed Ubuntu or Fedora like all the other linux sheep out there. Slackware rules but you probably wouldn't get it.
That would be my recommendation too. Not just drivers but the many other external devices (ipods, gps, video cameras, etc) and software. While most devices run through USB now the issue is really with the supporting applications. I love all things Linux and Free but the reality is that many of functions that people "need" are a major hassle under Linux unless you have the tech. skills to sort out. I've been running Linux, Slackware in particular, since 1994 and I have had a Mac for several years - I just don't care for the headaches that are involved in making some things work properly with Linux, even Ubuntu/Mint have major headaches at times. My wife certainly has no interest in learning the ways of the mighty sys-admin just so she can get the printer to work with certain applications, among other issues.
I guess I'll have to go back to pulling the magnets out of hard drives.
I had lawn darts. Flying Death From Above is what we called them, and that's the way we liked it!
Yeah! We attached some twine to the back end of the darts so we could spin and release them to even greater heights. It was hard to pull out of the ground at times. What could possibly go wrong?
I see a lot of comments asking "Why upgrade?" or not to bother if what you are currently running is working for you. What about security patches and support? I've searched all over the place and, so far, haven't been able to find any clear statement about when Apple stops support for a particular version of OS X. The "word of mouth" answer seems to be only the current release and one version prior are supported with patches and security fixes. It seems a bit irresponsible to drop support for an OS without letting your customers know that they're system is no longer being updated to protect against the various vulnerabilities that can be exploited.