Lame is thinking that everyone has to be open and completely fair. Last time I saw, no one has been forced to put an AOL CD into their PC or Mac and load up the software to use the internet. There are far many more ISPs out there. MSN, as much as people hate MS anymore, is still competition. Juno, Mindspring, many many many more.
So what that AOL wants to make itself its own homepage and not let you change it? You can always change your ISP.
I mean, my school system wanted to bring in dogs to check lockers for drug items. Randomly, too. They claimed that lockers were the property of the schools, and as such, the school had the right to search them as they pleased.
The drug testing was a notion as well. Saying that kids while in the schools were the responsibility of the schools and they could remove anyone who would be too burdensome.
I dunno whether your comment was meant to be funny, but mine was pretty serious with what they did. My only question is, Don't the schools belong to the people? So the lockers would then be property of the public, not the schools, and if the public is going to school there and want to use them for drug hideouts, well, the schools have to oblige.
Not promoting such usage, but when will the US government learn that it's a government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people, not our mother and father who tells us how things will be. Time to remake our government, don't you think? Or at least wake them up this next election?
DARE when I grew up in high school was pretty much cops coming in and saying, "Drugs are bad. Stay away from them." That was it. No presentations on how they were bad, no ways to know how to escape peer pressure, nothing.
And drugs were fairly uncommon, but noticeable, in my school. I saw kids trading marijuana, acid and speed quite often. Sometimes when you'd pass a bathroom during a class, it would smell of smoke, either cigarettes or marijuana.
I think DARE needs a good rehaul. It needs to take the time to educate not only students, but teachers and parents, on how to resist the "bad drugs", and how to make the choices of your life.
To me, if you want to grow your own plants for your own consumption, more power to you bud! If you want to grow cocao plants to powder your nose, or hemp to smoke away some worries, whatever, you should be fully allowed.
Someone coming up to you saying "Don't, it's bad." isn't going to change someone's behaviour or choice at all. Even someone saying "Drugs kill!" won't make much difference in today's society.
We need better education as to what REALLY drugs do (c'mon, is marijuana really a gateway drug or is peer pressure? Cocaine used to be used for a local anesthetic for eye surgery . ..). We don't need Mr. Cop, who already may have a bad rap because he just does his job and puts people in jail who ruin only their own lives or choose to do drugs in the sanctity of their own homes, telling us that what he says is the only way to go because he's the law.
Drugs, nudity and foul language are all bad things to show on television these days in the USA, and killing someone or beating them up with a 2x4 is perfectly acceptable primetime drama. We're really screwed up.
Sorry about the rant, I guess my tangents had too many points before they could revert to the circle again.
There's a road nearby here that is constantly under construction. It's about a two-mile stretch, but it's so busy, being a main throughway between two suburbs and the main city, and being the main road to the industrial parks, that it's heavily traveled by many trucks. It's always under construction so much, that the sign which was erected several years ago for "Road Construction Ahead" has a permanent pole, and is ruined from all the road salt and weathering. Still today, it's got a portion under construction. They'll never "complete" it.
Just like the one person who thought I said "Open Sores", was looking at me like I had just belched during church. She couldn't figure out why I'd support lepracy or something.
Just a second chain of weird humour based on this. Maybe it's been said too often already?
Great, now all we need is a "Linux Country"! Seriously, think about it! It's great and all that Linux is really starting to move up in the popularity, and that there are commercial apps coming out, but it's not good enough yet.
Hear me out . . . Microsoft's Windows is only popular because its ease of use, its dominance in the market and its number of available titles. Walk into a Best Buy or a CompUSA, you see aisle after aisle of commerical Windows product.
Linux? Well, all I really see at these places are the OS distros and maybe a couple utilities or Corel WordPerfect Office Suite. The Best Buy here has only one four-foot (just over a metre for the Non-American-System people) section with five shelves for Linux, and probably twelve aisles of Windows products (mainly games).
For Linux really to have some power in the same market as Windows, and make it more popular, it has to be the three things Windows already is. Ease of use: Well, last I saw, Debian and Red Hat were fairly easy to use. Maybe there are more already. Dominance? Well, as a server OS, it does fairly well. As a desktop or business solution, it's still got a little while to go. And number of available titles? Sure, Open Source is great, and free software is better, but the only people who are developing these are developing them because they want to, not to really make a living.
How do we remedy these? Well, open a dedicated store! Linux Country! Really. Walk inside, have nice black cases all around with white spots (not those stores with the white boxes and black spots), notebooks which are preinstalled with your favourite distribution, software as far as the eye can see . . .
Well, it's a dream. But if someone really wanted to invest in it, would it be that difficult of a dream? If people could make money off Linux developing the games, software and utilities, they would. Though people on slashdot often don't think software should be commercialised, it's one of the only ways to feasibly make Linux and Linux software more dominant.
In this fantasy store, we'd have all these titles. We'd have pretty plush penguin Tuxes. We'd have training courses so even the computer-illiterate will be untarring and bashing and telnetting!
It's feasible. But then again, it was feasible fifty years ago we'd have flying cars. It's 2000, and the only flying my car will be doing is if I get tired of it breaking down and I drive it down to the local gorge.
Just a little daydreaming on my part. Don't mind me.
Many retailers offer good discounts on titles. For example, my store online offers 25% off the VHS titles and 15% off the DVD (the reason why DVD is higher is most retailers, wholesalers and distributors get less of a break on the price of discs than tapes). It's not functional yet, as the SSL processor's still being fixed, but fax orders are welcome.
Besides us, Anime Nation offers 20% off VHS and 15% off DVD, and they carry some merchandise often enough.
Just don't buy from places like Buy.com and Express.com. Not only have I heard horror stories of long backorders and not getting shipments because one title went on backorder, and not wanting to pay two or three shipping rates to get them (geez, whatever happened to customer service on these?), but buying from such large entities who don't know about anime much or don't focus on it means you're probably only going to be able to get the mainstream titles. Buy from someone like AnimeNation or us (Dragon Magic), and you start getting to see titles which may never be mainstream, but are worthwhile to watch.
Just for a good laugh, in fact, just view or rent these titles, and if you like them, get them for your library and help spread the word of good quality anime:
Those Who Hunt Elves (ADV Films)
Rurouni Kenshin (TV, Media Blasters/AnimeWorks; OAV [Samurai X], ADV Films)
Jubei-chan (Pioneer)
I could probably make a very extensive list, but these three should tie anyone over. As well, they're relatively inexpensive (only Rurouni Kenshin TV presently available simultaneously on DVD, but all planned or being released on DVD).
But really, Anime is not too expensive. It's only pricey in the big retailers who know that it's not a mainstream market, merely a niche one, and realize that discounts aren't worth it. No one else is giving them, right? Plus they don't sell well to begin with in the "50,000 titles of American Films" stores.
Support Anime (and lower prices) by shopping Anime stores. Simple enough, nee?
The article claims that the company is one of only two who can crack passwords from clients or for criminal cases, or even from ex-employees who left companies and changed all the passwords. It may just be possible that they cracked passwords to get into all these porn sites. Or they could have just asked to be let in to inventory. Who knows?
And tomorrow, it will all be obsolete. I can put a server up today at an IP and domain, then the next day ship it off to another state or country to give to someone else to host.
Or I can just decide that my FTP server needs to house jazz tunes tomorrow instead of the rap tunes today.
Who knows? The net changes that anyone who spent the time "mapping" it mapped it while it was changing, and after compiling the map, has realized that much of it is already outdated. Look at the search engines and how often a 404 creeps up, or even server not found.
No way they can know definitely attachments and files. It changes too fast too often.
It's not the record companies asking for the royalties. I shouldn't have tried to be creative with the flow. The companies are part of the publishers, and are already getting paid.
It's the RIAA claiming royalties from webcasts, but as stated, the people who work on it are already getting paid, and the RIAA isn't doing anything about the webcasting except wanting money.
Well, it's a month old, yes, but it's also the only privacy promise on their site. If there's an admendment, I doubt they're going to remove an entire customer service allowance just to please a few partners. Most people don't even call the numbers to opt out, only those really concerned with their privacy and information and know it's possible to opt out.
When they update the new one, it'll probably still have the toll-free information. Well, hopefully more than probably.
TiVo knows how important personal privacy is to you, so we have established strict policies to help protect the privacy of your personal information. In summary, we promise that:
No one outside your home, not even the TiVo staff or any of TiVo's computer systems, will ever have access to any of your personal viewing information without your prior consent. Your preferences are personal. The TiVo Service has no way of knowing what shows you have rated with "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down."
If you don't want even your anonymous viewing information (information that does not identify you or your household) used in any way, simply tell us by calling our toll-free telephone number (1-877-FOR-TiVo).
This is in fact repeated a few more times in the promise, that "If you do not wish this information disclosed, call our toll-free number." So yes, you can opt out.
I read through the patent, and it's more of a method of TV applications than customer service. It apparently maintains that a client will continue to send data to the server to maintain a connection, much like dedicated LANs, but it never says anything about collecting customer data for expediting shopping information.
The only prior art I can see is the business method of a client connecting to a server repeatedly. I don't think it will have a chance to invalidate Bezos' patent.
If they're going to collect the royalties, they should do something to earn it. The publishers and the composers, singers, writers and musicians get money, and they do nearly all the work on them. The record companies don't create anything for webcasting, so why should they earn anything?
If they want royalties, I say they should help market and produce webcast materials. Send out that CD of the new music, include some free CDs to give away, maybe some tee shirts, frisbees, whatever floats their boats, and if a webcaster uses it, they should pay the royalties back to the record label.
But finding a loophole in the laws to collect for nothing? And they say they're working on behalf of the artists, who are already earning money. Shame shame, RIAA. Caught in another lie?
Instead of thinking of it as the analog-version of an internet technology, think of it, as the bill supposedly states, as the analog-version of the business method.
So it's not one-click technology... Bezos' patent is instead one of using a way to keep track of a repeat customer using a database so that the person can just shop there again and again by just choosing what they want to buy and using that way of keeping track to supply the shipping and billing info. Bezos uses a cookie for the digital world. In the analog world, businesses use Customer Numbers or Account Numbers, and the databases are either real computer databases or folders with all that customer's info.
A method to find the best price by comparison shopping online? I seem to remember that one can call AAA and get similar info for hotels.
Again, don't think of it as "How is this computer technology similar to something in the analog world", but as "How is this online business method similar to something in the analog business world"? Then you'll easily see where we can pull prior art.
The frightful thing is that many other softwares already use this similar method. I remember using NetObjects Fusion Authoring Server to do pretty much what this patent does.
Also, this is another old news story. Emedicine announced this back in early August on their site, from the news postings.
Whose brainstorm was it to take the lowest-ranking Star Trek spinoff series without any hopes of having a movie deal and terrible, nonlinear storylines, and putting it into an engine that takes a serious amount of bandwidth to play tight online anyways, so that only those who have something better than a standard dialup can play it as it was meant to be played?
Don't get me wrong, about time there was a good Star Trek anything since "First Contact", and game since... well, whenever. But still, why Voyager? Why a 3D adventure/action game (as it seems to be from the pictures)?
I guess we'll all have to wait and see when it arrives. I'd rather Alice over this, however. Not because I like those books better than Star Trek, but because I think there's more of a storyline and environment than ST:V has ever had.
Sure, I send/. many articles... I get early press releases for some animation and sci-fi releases and distributions, as well keep up with some of the YRO stuff. But every single thing I've submitted is rejected. As well, others I know who post to/. also get rejected.
It's not that the articles are bad, it's just that they don't fit the/. recent theme of Big Business is bad, Patents suck, Microsoft is crap, RIAA/MPAA are evil vicious people and Politicians and Media mark us all as bad people . . .
Again, this is all just grouping a lot of things together, but at least at K5 people choose what they want to see, and if they've seen it before they can kill it. Here, we're at the whim of the very few with those agendas, and often without looking to see the timeliness of the articles, nor whether it's been posted already.
Well, I know this will probably hurt my karma, but it needs to be said. Not only has Slashdot been rejecting many stories by different people that is News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. (sm), but they are also reposting stories and posting news articles that are old.
Kuro5hin had this up last week at the least, when I posted like #128 in response to their request. Why is it now reaching/.'s front board?
Unfortunately, if/. keeps this up, will people continue to read it in the numbers they do? And will it hurt the advertising revenue Andover expects to keep/. moving?
I'm definitely not trying to put down/., but just hope that they become more impartial, check for multiple posts or at least check when the news is from, and making sure the news is definitely news, and not something that's been elsewhere for weeks. For the sake of everyone, just please?
(again, not hoping to bash/., merely being up front about/. improving its news...)
I was going to post this same bit of tidbit but the AC beat me to it. Man, it's been issued over two years ago, filed four years ago. It's ancient news, already, people.
If you're yelling at the USPTO regarding lack of previous art, remember that this may precede the actual RFC. Patents aren't filed on the first day of concept, either, so this may be a very ancient item.
Please, moderators, moderate this up! Then maybe/. will stop overreacting when "big bad corp." patents something, even when they patent it a long time ago.
This sounds like a solid reason for manufacturers of components and systems to face their governments with facts about their products. NEC and other manu's should address the lead content in CRT monitors and suggest that the government make this information very public.
This isn't to scare the public, but let them know the dangers of the contaminations of these products. We do this with batteries, asbestos, and many other toxins, why not with computers?
Produce a special recycler/incinerator for a definite capita of that nation (like 1 for every 250,000 units/people), which would make regular runs (1st of the month?) in the area to pick up old monitors, batteries, etc., and take them to be disposed of properly.
Instead of holding the manufacturers hostage to the contaminations, since we don't do this with television manufacturers even after all these years, this just makes the most sense. Or possibly there can be companies setup to do services like these for big businesses, since they probably waste more products per year than the general population (I'm not certain, just guessing).
It's strange that Slashdot has gone from news for nerds, to Give Us What We Want Regardless, for nerds.
Hear me out here. This kid had 40 Gigs of HD space dedicated to mp3s he was distributing, advertising on chat rooms and what not for people to visit, and asking them to upload mp3s he didn't have. All of which, apparently, he didn't have rights to. This is flat out piracy. And it wasn't the RIAA or any outside groups which said "sieze his computers", they just pointed out the fact that a student at OSU was doing this.
OSU steps in, gets a warrant, and siezes the guy's stuff to investigate. Probably slap some criminal charges and aid in any civil suits the rightful owners may have. What is wrong with this?
The guy broke the law, majorly. He knew he was doing wrong. So why are people UPSET that this happened? Because they want free music. Not everyone, but there are too many who think that music should be free, always.
Also, there are people in this discussion jumping down the throat of the RIAA. The RIAA didn't say confiscate the computer or peripherals, didn't say "Please make this kid an example". No, the university did this themselves. So if you're upset, yell at the school, not at the RIAA.
But my really big bitch is that a vocal majority will complain to high heavens when people violate the GPL or other free resources and methods, trodding on the rights of those hard-working programmers and designers, but will also complain to high heavens when companies and people protect their copyrights, trademarks and patents by suing or sending C&D notices. What happened to the priorities here,/. users?
Why is it okay to steal music and movies and software if it aids you or doesn't cost you anything, but it's not okay for others to steal your music or moview or software if it's provided for free? You can't have it both ways without sounding like hypocrits.
So to all who post stories or comments which happen to go both ways, pick a side to stand on, or you'll forget which side to be on when a choice has to be made.
The law of freedom of speech stretches enough that you cannot cause harm to someone. Would you say that libel and slander are protected under the First Admendment? After all, they're speech. But they cause harm to someone's character, and are therefore illegal. You can't yell "FIRE" in a crowded area, causing a panic or near-riot. This again is harmful and illegal.
And this list gives much more than names. It gives a list of address of people who perform abortions. Usually you can look in a yellow pages and find the name of a clinic, SOMETIMES finding a doctor's name, but not always. And not all clinics perform abortions. But this site was asking for information like family names and information, license plate numbers, etc.
If you haven't noticed, there are zealots out there killing these "monsters", just because they can or will perform abortions. Giving access easily to personal information, cars they drive, their children, etc., is just asking for trouble. And as such, should be illegal. And this is perfectly in line with the First Admendment.
BTW, notice how the people who say "All speech is protected" get insightfuls in this post, and those who agree that speech which places others in personal harm get no moderation? Where's the priorities?
I have to agree with the findings of the court. I'm a firm believer in the First Admendment, but it's not a blanket protection from all speech. The list provides people with fuel to add to an already rising violent group.
Anyone who thought that posting a list of abortion doctors saying they commit crimes against humanity, with a group so fervent in doing "God's Work" often enough to kill in cold blood, knew they were creating a hit list. It would be parallel with posting a list of child molestors in a prison wing. After all, you're just warning people who did what crime, which is public knowledge, but people with common sense know how most everyone feels about those who prey on children, especially in prison . . . It's just asking for trouble and doing nothing else.
Just my two cents. I hope the appeal fails. This list puts all doctors in clear and present danger, who appear on it, since it gives away their home addresses.
Slashdot Mirror
Lame is thinking that everyone has to be open and completely fair. Last time I saw, no one has been forced to put an AOL CD into their PC or Mac and load up the software to use the internet. There are far many more ISPs out there. MSN, as much as people hate MS anymore, is still competition. Juno, Mindspring, many many many more.
So what that AOL wants to make itself its own homepage and not let you change it? You can always change your ISP.
Dragon Magic
I mean, my school system wanted to bring in dogs to check lockers for drug items. Randomly, too. They claimed that lockers were the property of the schools, and as such, the school had the right to search them as they pleased.
The drug testing was a notion as well. Saying that kids while in the schools were the responsibility of the schools and they could remove anyone who would be too burdensome.
I dunno whether your comment was meant to be funny, but mine was pretty serious with what they did. My only question is, Don't the schools belong to the people? So the lockers would then be property of the public, not the schools, and if the public is going to school there and want to use them for drug hideouts, well, the schools have to oblige.
Not promoting such usage, but when will the US government learn that it's a government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people, not our mother and father who tells us how things will be. Time to remake our government, don't you think? Or at least wake them up this next election?
Dragon Magic
DARE when I grew up in high school was pretty much cops coming in and saying, "Drugs are bad. Stay away from them." That was it. No presentations on how they were bad, no ways to know how to escape peer pressure, nothing.
.). We don't need Mr. Cop, who already may have a bad rap because he just does his job and puts people in jail who ruin only their own lives or choose to do drugs in the sanctity of their own homes, telling us that what he says is the only way to go because he's the law.
And drugs were fairly uncommon, but noticeable, in my school. I saw kids trading marijuana, acid and speed quite often. Sometimes when you'd pass a bathroom during a class, it would smell of smoke, either cigarettes or marijuana.
I think DARE needs a good rehaul. It needs to take the time to educate not only students, but teachers and parents, on how to resist the "bad drugs", and how to make the choices of your life.
To me, if you want to grow your own plants for your own consumption, more power to you bud! If you want to grow cocao plants to powder your nose, or hemp to smoke away some worries, whatever, you should be fully allowed.
Someone coming up to you saying "Don't, it's bad." isn't going to change someone's behaviour or choice at all. Even someone saying "Drugs kill!" won't make much difference in today's society.
We need better education as to what REALLY drugs do (c'mon, is marijuana really a gateway drug or is peer pressure? Cocaine used to be used for a local anesthetic for eye surgery . .
Drugs, nudity and foul language are all bad things to show on television these days in the USA, and killing someone or beating them up with a 2x4 is perfectly acceptable primetime drama. We're really screwed up.
Sorry about the rant, I guess my tangents had too many points before they could revert to the circle again.
Dragon Magic
There's a road nearby here that is constantly under construction. It's about a two-mile stretch, but it's so busy, being a main throughway between two suburbs and the main city, and being the main road to the industrial parks, that it's heavily traveled by many trucks. It's always under construction so much, that the sign which was erected several years ago for "Road Construction Ahead" has a permanent pole, and is ruined from all the road salt and weathering. Still today, it's got a portion under construction. They'll never "complete" it.
Dragon Magic
Too true... Maybe, in my morning haze, I should have phrased, "The vocal opinionated slashdotters". Then it would be more precise.
Not all, just it's so overwhelming it's become a stereotype.
Dragon Magic
Just like the one person who thought I said "Open Sores", was looking at me like I had just belched during church. She couldn't figure out why I'd support lepracy or something.
Just a second chain of weird humour based on this. Maybe it's been said too often already?
Dragon Magic
Great, now all we need is a "Linux Country"! Seriously, think about it! It's great and all that Linux is really starting to move up in the popularity, and that there are commercial apps coming out, but it's not good enough yet.
Hear me out . . . Microsoft's Windows is only popular because its ease of use, its dominance in the market and its number of available titles. Walk into a Best Buy or a CompUSA, you see aisle after aisle of commerical Windows product.
Linux? Well, all I really see at these places are the OS distros and maybe a couple utilities or Corel WordPerfect Office Suite. The Best Buy here has only one four-foot (just over a metre for the Non-American-System people) section with five shelves for Linux, and probably twelve aisles of Windows products (mainly games).
For Linux really to have some power in the same market as Windows, and make it more popular, it has to be the three things Windows already is. Ease of use: Well, last I saw, Debian and Red Hat were fairly easy to use. Maybe there are more already. Dominance? Well, as a server OS, it does fairly well. As a desktop or business solution, it's still got a little while to go. And number of available titles? Sure, Open Source is great, and free software is better, but the only people who are developing these are developing them because they want to, not to really make a living.
How do we remedy these? Well, open a dedicated store! Linux Country! Really. Walk inside, have nice black cases all around with white spots (not those stores with the white boxes and black spots), notebooks which are preinstalled with your favourite distribution, software as far as the eye can see . . .
Well, it's a dream. But if someone really wanted to invest in it, would it be that difficult of a dream? If people could make money off Linux developing the games, software and utilities, they would. Though people on slashdot often don't think software should be commercialised, it's one of the only ways to feasibly make Linux and Linux software more dominant.
In this fantasy store, we'd have all these titles. We'd have pretty plush penguin Tuxes. We'd have training courses so even the computer-illiterate will be untarring and bashing and telnetting!
It's feasible. But then again, it was feasible fifty years ago we'd have flying cars. It's 2000, and the only flying my car will be doing is if I get tired of it breaking down and I drive it down to the local gorge.
Just a little daydreaming on my part. Don't mind me.
Dragon Magic
Besides us, Anime Nation offers 20% off VHS and 15% off DVD, and they carry some merchandise often enough.
Just don't buy from places like Buy.com and Express.com. Not only have I heard horror stories of long backorders and not getting shipments because one title went on backorder, and not wanting to pay two or three shipping rates to get them (geez, whatever happened to customer service on these?), but buying from such large entities who don't know about anime much or don't focus on it means you're probably only going to be able to get the mainstream titles. Buy from someone like AnimeNation or us (Dragon Magic), and you start getting to see titles which may never be mainstream, but are worthwhile to watch.
Just for a good laugh, in fact, just view or rent these titles, and if you like them, get them for your library and help spread the word of good quality anime:
I could probably make a very extensive list, but these three should tie anyone over. As well, they're relatively inexpensive (only Rurouni Kenshin TV presently available simultaneously on DVD, but all planned or being released on DVD).
But really, Anime is not too expensive. It's only pricey in the big retailers who know that it's not a mainstream market, merely a niche one, and realize that discounts aren't worth it. No one else is giving them, right? Plus they don't sell well to begin with in the "50,000 titles of American Films" stores.
Support Anime (and lower prices) by shopping Anime stores. Simple enough, nee?
Dragon Magic
The article claims that the company is one of only two who can crack passwords from clients or for criminal cases, or even from ex-employees who left companies and changed all the passwords. It may just be possible that they cracked passwords to get into all these porn sites. Or they could have just asked to be let in to inventory. Who knows?
Dragon Magic
And tomorrow, it will all be obsolete. I can put a server up today at an IP and domain, then the next day ship it off to another state or country to give to someone else to host.
Or I can just decide that my FTP server needs to house jazz tunes tomorrow instead of the rap tunes today.
Who knows? The net changes that anyone who spent the time "mapping" it mapped it while it was changing, and after compiling the map, has realized that much of it is already outdated. Look at the search engines and how often a 404 creeps up, or even server not found.
No way they can know definitely attachments and files. It changes too fast too often.
Dragon Magic
It's not the record companies asking for the royalties. I shouldn't have tried to be creative with the flow. The companies are part of the publishers, and are already getting paid.
It's the RIAA claiming royalties from webcasts, but as stated, the people who work on it are already getting paid, and the RIAA isn't doing anything about the webcasting except wanting money.
Dragon Magic
Well, it's a month old, yes, but it's also the only privacy promise on their site. If there's an admendment, I doubt they're going to remove an entire customer service allowance just to please a few partners. Most people don't even call the numbers to opt out, only those really concerned with their privacy and information and know it's possible to opt out.
When they update the new one, it'll probably still have the toll-free information. Well, hopefully more than probably.
Dragon Magic
Summary of TiVo's Privacy Promise to You
TiVo knows how important personal privacy is to you, so we have established strict policies to help protect the privacy of your personal information. In summary, we promise that:
No one outside your home, not even the TiVo staff or any of TiVo's computer systems, will ever have access to any of your personal viewing information without your prior consent. Your preferences are personal. The TiVo Service has no way of knowing what shows you have rated with "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down." If you don't want even your anonymous viewing information (information that does not identify you or your household) used in any way, simply tell us by calling our toll-free telephone number (1-877-FOR-TiVo).
This is in fact repeated a few more times in the promise, that "If you do not wish this information disclosed, call our toll-free number." So yes, you can opt out.
Dragon Magic
I read through the patent, and it's more of a method of TV applications than customer service. It apparently maintains that a client will continue to send data to the server to maintain a connection, much like dedicated LANs, but it never says anything about collecting customer data for expediting shopping information.
The only prior art I can see is the business method of a client connecting to a server repeatedly. I don't think it will have a chance to invalidate Bezos' patent.
Dragon Magic
If they're going to collect the royalties, they should do something to earn it. The publishers and the composers, singers, writers and musicians get money, and they do nearly all the work on them. The record companies don't create anything for webcasting, so why should they earn anything?
If they want royalties, I say they should help market and produce webcast materials. Send out that CD of the new music, include some free CDs to give away, maybe some tee shirts, frisbees, whatever floats their boats, and if a webcaster uses it, they should pay the royalties back to the record label.
But finding a loophole in the laws to collect for nothing? And they say they're working on behalf of the artists, who are already earning money. Shame shame, RIAA. Caught in another lie?
Dragon Magic
Instead of thinking of it as the analog-version of an internet technology, think of it, as the bill supposedly states, as the analog-version of the business method.
So it's not one-click technology... Bezos' patent is instead one of using a way to keep track of a repeat customer using a database so that the person can just shop there again and again by just choosing what they want to buy and using that way of keeping track to supply the shipping and billing info. Bezos uses a cookie for the digital world. In the analog world, businesses use Customer Numbers or Account Numbers, and the databases are either real computer databases or folders with all that customer's info.
A method to find the best price by comparison shopping online? I seem to remember that one can call AAA and get similar info for hotels.
Again, don't think of it as "How is this computer technology similar to something in the analog world", but as "How is this online business method similar to something in the analog business world"? Then you'll easily see where we can pull prior art.
Dragon Magic
Here's the Patent
The frightful thing is that many other softwares already use this similar method. I remember using NetObjects Fusion Authoring Server to do pretty much what this patent does.
Also, this is another old news story. Emedicine announced this back in early August on their site, from the news postings.
Dragon Magic
Well, not really. But here comes something:
Whose brainstorm was it to take the lowest-ranking Star Trek spinoff series without any hopes of having a movie deal and terrible, nonlinear storylines, and putting it into an engine that takes a serious amount of bandwidth to play tight online anyways, so that only those who have something better than a standard dialup can play it as it was meant to be played?
Don't get me wrong, about time there was a good Star Trek anything since "First Contact", and game since... well, whenever. But still, why Voyager? Why a 3D adventure/action game (as it seems to be from the pictures)?
I guess we'll all have to wait and see when it arrives. I'd rather Alice over this, however. Not because I like those books better than Star Trek, but because I think there's more of a storyline and environment than ST:V has ever had.
*rant off* Okay, thanks for that soapbox.
Dragon Magic
Sure, I send /. many articles... I get early press releases for some animation and sci-fi releases and distributions, as well keep up with some of the YRO stuff. But every single thing I've submitted is rejected. As well, others I know who post to /. also get rejected.
/. recent theme of Big Business is bad, Patents suck, Microsoft is crap, RIAA/MPAA are evil vicious people and Politicians and Media mark us all as bad people . . .
It's not that the articles are bad, it's just that they don't fit the
Again, this is all just grouping a lot of things together, but at least at K5 people choose what they want to see, and if they've seen it before they can kill it. Here, we're at the whim of the very few with those agendas, and often without looking to see the timeliness of the articles, nor whether it's been posted already.
Dragon Magic
Well, I know this will probably hurt my karma, but it needs to be said. Not only has Slashdot been rejecting many stories by different people that is News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. (sm), but they are also reposting stories and posting news articles that are old.
/.'s front board?
/. keeps this up, will people continue to read it in the numbers they do? And will it hurt the advertising revenue Andover expects to keep /. moving?
/., but just hope that they become more impartial, check for multiple posts or at least check when the news is from, and making sure the news is definitely news, and not something that's been elsewhere for weeks. For the sake of everyone, just please?
/., merely being up front about /. improving its news...)
Kuro5hin had this up last week at the least, when I posted like #128 in response to their request. Why is it now reaching
Unfortunately, if
I'm definitely not trying to put down
(again, not hoping to bash
Dragon Magic
I was going to post this same bit of tidbit but the AC beat me to it. Man, it's been issued over two years ago, filed four years ago. It's ancient news, already, people.
/. will stop overreacting when "big bad corp." patents something, even when they patent it a long time ago.
If you're yelling at the USPTO regarding lack of previous art, remember that this may precede the actual RFC. Patents aren't filed on the first day of concept, either, so this may be a very ancient item.
Please, moderators, moderate this up! Then maybe
Dragon Magic
This sounds like a solid reason for manufacturers of components and systems to face their governments with facts about their products. NEC and other manu's should address the lead content in CRT monitors and suggest that the government make this information very public.
This isn't to scare the public, but let them know the dangers of the contaminations of these products. We do this with batteries, asbestos, and many other toxins, why not with computers?
Produce a special recycler/incinerator for a definite capita of that nation (like 1 for every 250,000 units/people), which would make regular runs (1st of the month?) in the area to pick up old monitors, batteries, etc., and take them to be disposed of properly.
Instead of holding the manufacturers hostage to the contaminations, since we don't do this with television manufacturers even after all these years, this just makes the most sense. Or possibly there can be companies setup to do services like these for big businesses, since they probably waste more products per year than the general population (I'm not certain, just guessing).
Anyone else think this would be a better plan?
Dragon Magic
It's strange that Slashdot has gone from news for nerds, to Give Us What We Want Regardless, for nerds.
/. users?
Hear me out here. This kid had 40 Gigs of HD space dedicated to mp3s he was distributing, advertising on chat rooms and what not for people to visit, and asking them to upload mp3s he didn't have. All of which, apparently, he didn't have rights to. This is flat out piracy. And it wasn't the RIAA or any outside groups which said "sieze his computers", they just pointed out the fact that a student at OSU was doing this.
OSU steps in, gets a warrant, and siezes the guy's stuff to investigate. Probably slap some criminal charges and aid in any civil suits the rightful owners may have. What is wrong with this?
The guy broke the law, majorly. He knew he was doing wrong. So why are people UPSET that this happened? Because they want free music. Not everyone, but there are too many who think that music should be free, always.
Also, there are people in this discussion jumping down the throat of the RIAA. The RIAA didn't say confiscate the computer or peripherals, didn't say "Please make this kid an example". No, the university did this themselves. So if you're upset, yell at the school, not at the RIAA.
But my really big bitch is that a vocal majority will complain to high heavens when people violate the GPL or other free resources and methods, trodding on the rights of those hard-working programmers and designers, but will also complain to high heavens when companies and people protect their copyrights, trademarks and patents by suing or sending C&D notices. What happened to the priorities here,
Why is it okay to steal music and movies and software if it aids you or doesn't cost you anything, but it's not okay for others to steal your music or moview or software if it's provided for free? You can't have it both ways without sounding like hypocrits.
So to all who post stories or comments which happen to go both ways, pick a side to stand on, or you'll forget which side to be on when a choice has to be made.
Dragon Magic
The law of freedom of speech stretches enough that you cannot cause harm to someone. Would you say that libel and slander are protected under the First Admendment? After all, they're speech. But they cause harm to someone's character, and are therefore illegal. You can't yell "FIRE" in a crowded area, causing a panic or near-riot. This again is harmful and illegal.
And this list gives much more than names. It gives a list of address of people who perform abortions. Usually you can look in a yellow pages and find the name of a clinic, SOMETIMES finding a doctor's name, but not always. And not all clinics perform abortions. But this site was asking for information like family names and information, license plate numbers, etc.
If you haven't noticed, there are zealots out there killing these "monsters", just because they can or will perform abortions. Giving access easily to personal information, cars they drive, their children, etc., is just asking for trouble. And as such, should be illegal. And this is perfectly in line with the First Admendment.
BTW, notice how the people who say "All speech is protected" get insightfuls in this post, and those who agree that speech which places others in personal harm get no moderation? Where's the priorities?
Dragon Magic
I have to agree with the findings of the court. I'm a firm believer in the First Admendment, but it's not a blanket protection from all speech. The list provides people with fuel to add to an already rising violent group.
Anyone who thought that posting a list of abortion doctors saying they commit crimes against humanity, with a group so fervent in doing "God's Work" often enough to kill in cold blood, knew they were creating a hit list. It would be parallel with posting a list of child molestors in a prison wing. After all, you're just warning people who did what crime, which is public knowledge, but people with common sense know how most everyone feels about those who prey on children, especially in prison . . . It's just asking for trouble and doing nothing else.
Just my two cents. I hope the appeal fails. This list puts all doctors in clear and present danger, who appear on it, since it gives away their home addresses.
Dragon Magic