There are many limits: I/O (both electronic, which was mentioned in another comment), human acceptance (social and personal), and a few others.
To elaborate:
I/O (human aspect) - There is a limit to how much data a person can handle. If just looking at your hyper-watch gives you information-overload, you aren't going to keep it, are you? Of course, there is the matter of self-training (to use such complex devices). But there are very few people (especially among the non-geeks) who will put themselves through that.
Social Acceptance - Remember, not too long ago, a PR manager (or any non-geek of that ilk) wouldn't be caught dead with some of the geeky toys we (and they) have today. PIMs, cell phones, and the like -- they'd have felt like they were imitating Dick Tracey or something.
Personal Acceptance - Apart from accepting the fact that you're going to get bothered on public transportation for explanations about your toys, you must also remember that you accepted the possibility that you might be embarressed merely by carrying such a device. (Ever look at somebody with a borg-kit on his head, and NOT laugh? What about pocket-protecters, way-back-when?)
But that's the real point, isn't it? People will accept anything that they like enough to accept the disadvantages (of training, and embarresment, to name a couple).
Perhaps I'm not being clear. What I mean is that apart from the pro/con comparison that is made, we mustn't forget personal preferences, and social pressure. Both play an important role in shaping the technology (At the very least, through the Market, and the people who vote with their wallets.)
... It's basically a Good Thing, that can easily (and is often, unfortunatly) used for bad purposes.
Personally, I'm an avid try-before-you buy kinda consumer. I own a copy of every single thing I've ever pirated. And I believe that the biggest problem with the market today is the high prices that are charges for most things. I know this has been hashed over before, but that doesn't make it any less true. High prices mean less choice for the consumer, and are a big incentive for black markets (or their equivilent -- in this case, free piracy). This is not to say that lowering the prices with fix everything; there are always people who won't even pay a dollar if they can steal it instead -- even if the time they invest in stealing it cost them more than a dollar.
Anyway, my point is that data piracy will always exist as long as it has a reason to exist (high prices, national restrictions, and egos). And killing any number of methods of delivery can't destroy them all. (You can always have stuff FedEx'ed to you. What are they gonna do? Outlaw mail?)
I remember the time it took me to do Myst, and the fact I gave up twice before actually completing it. Looking at this story I had images of an online version of Myst, where there are thousands of people walking dazedly around, and muttering: "What!? How...!? Oh, I get it!"
Maybe with their clout they can actually carry through with a GameBoy emulator!
Though personally, I think that 'snakes & apples' game is sufficient for most of the cell-phone users, since they (& me!) mostly complain about short battery life -- and this ain't gonna help!
When I first looked at the article I thought it was about free-speech and a security breach, much in the way of a cause-and-effect connection. And therfore it seemed to me that it was saying that setting up a firewall is bad.
Please, let's be clear on this: There *are* Firewall/Censorware pacakges that don't automatically create security holes in your network.
Some are even good censorware, like using junkbuster in conjunction with a firewall to reject evil cookies and filter unwanted ads, and repel crackers.
It's amazing how much faster it is to surf without waiting for some silly ads to finish downloading, so you can see the rest of the page.
All too often I find myself doing things and looking for information that I need, knowing how much simpler this could be if I could just tell my computer: "Get X" or "Do Y". This is especially painful to me since I've done every one of these actions before, at least once. Saving and repeating them shouldn't be too difficult, huh?
This problem bothers me a lot since I like helping people (including myself) -- and most people I know can speak English at a sufficient level to state clearly what they want. All that is needed is somebody or someware (program) to understand them, and to help them.
So what I want to do is right a quick-and-dirty Natural Language parser.
gasp from the audience
I know the problem is considered to be impossible, or at least as difficult as creating an AI. Personally I believe that the two tasks complement each other, and when one will truly be solved -- so will the other. (Mostly because of the required 'learning' abilities the either program must have).
That's my life's goal (at the moment, and it has been so for the last 5-7 years at least!) I may even accomplish it one day, who knows?
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A Few Haiku's inspired by the show
on
Nuke The Moon
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· Score: 1
Subliminal ads are only for stupid dopes got to go buy SOAP!
I was bored before I listen to radio Thank you geeks in space!
Slashdot thankless job but people like audio stop hate-mail to rob!
I love the show, guys! It's the highlight of my week! (or month) make more shows I love walking around and listening to them. make more shows I've even been playing them backwards, and giving bootleg copies to my friends! more shows Did you know that CowboyNeal makes sense when played in reverse? swohs erom ekam
Keep up the good work! [I'm going out for some shopping...]
Slashdot Mirror
To elaborate:
I/O (human aspect) - There is a limit to how much data a person can handle. If just looking at your hyper-watch gives you information-overload, you aren't going to keep it, are you? Of course, there is the matter of self-training (to use such complex devices). But there are very few people (especially among the non-geeks) who will put themselves through that.
Social Acceptance - Remember, not too long ago, a PR manager (or any non-geek of that ilk) wouldn't be caught dead with some of the geeky toys we (and they) have today. PIMs, cell phones, and the like -- they'd have felt like they were imitating Dick Tracey or something.
Personal Acceptance - Apart from accepting the fact that you're going to get bothered on public transportation for explanations about your toys, you must also remember that you accepted the possibility that you might be embarressed merely by carrying such a device. (Ever look at somebody with a borg-kit on his head, and NOT laugh? What about pocket-protecters, way-back-when?)
But that's the real point, isn't it? People will accept anything that they like enough to accept the disadvantages (of training, and embarresment, to name a couple).
Perhaps I'm not being clear. What I mean is that apart from the pro/con comparison that is made, we mustn't forget personal preferences, and social pressure. Both play an important role in shaping the technology (At the very least, through the Market, and the people who vote with their wallets.)
--
Personally, I'm an avid try-before-you buy kinda consumer. I own a copy of every single thing I've ever pirated. And I believe that the biggest problem with the market today is the high prices that are charges for most things. I know this has been hashed over before, but that doesn't make it any less true. High prices mean less choice for the consumer, and are a big incentive for black markets (or their equivilent -- in this case, free piracy). This is not to say that lowering the prices with fix everything; there are always people who won't even pay a dollar if they can steal it instead -- even if the time they invest in stealing it cost them more than a dollar.
Anyway, my point is that data piracy will always exist as long as it has a reason to exist (high prices, national restrictions, and egos). And killing any number of methods of delivery can't destroy them all. (You can always have stuff FedEx'ed to you. What are they gonna do? Outlaw mail?)
--
Kinds like EverQuest on Valium.
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Though personally, I think that 'snakes & apples' game is sufficient for most of the cell-phone users, since they (& me!) mostly complain about short battery life -- and this ain't gonna help!
--
Please, let's be clear on this: There *are* Firewall/Censorware pacakges that don't automatically create security holes in your network.
Some are even good censorware, like using junkbuster in conjunction with a firewall to reject evil cookies and filter unwanted ads, and repel crackers.
It's amazing how much faster it is to surf without waiting for some silly ads to finish downloading, so you can see the rest of the page.
(Just my $0.02)
--
This problem bothers me a lot since I like helping people (including myself) -- and most people I know can speak English at a sufficient level to state clearly what they want. All that is needed is somebody or someware (program) to understand them, and to help them.
So what I want to do is right a quick-and-dirty Natural Language parser.
gasp from the audience
I know the problem is considered to be impossible, or at least as difficult as creating an AI. Personally I believe that the two tasks complement each other, and when one will truly be solved -- so will the other. (Mostly because of the required 'learning' abilities the either program must have).
That's my life's goal (at the moment, and it has been so for the last 5-7 years at least!) I may even accomplish it one day, who knows?
--
are only for stupid dopes
got to go buy SOAP!
I was bored before
I listen to radio
Thank you geeks in space!
Slashdot thankless job
but people like audio
stop hate-mail to rob!
I love the show, guys! It's the highlight of my week! (or month) make more shows I love walking around and listening to them. make more shows I've even been playing them backwards, and giving bootleg copies to my friends! more shows Did you know that CowboyNeal makes sense when played in reverse? swohs erom ekam
Keep up the good work!
[I'm going out for some shopping...]
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