Come on, let's have some journalistic integrity here. This is like the upteenth book in a row to get an 8 out of 10.
As far as reviews are concerned, they might have journalistic integrity. Story selection might a different issue altogether.
I have no idea how many reviews they get sent, so it's hard to estimate what it they get bad reviews. It is rather disappointing, though, to see a trend developing lately:
ThinkGeek adds another book in their selection
ThinkGeek does not carry books that sucks (a brief look at their catalog proves this)
Someone reviews the book and sends the review to Slashdot.
I'm not claiming that there is a conspiracy at work here, but since ThinkGeek is also an Andover.net company, it is sad to see the Slashdot book review section become ThinkGeek book reviews.
A cell phone [...] A JEDI needs not these things. C'mon, be serious. How else would it have been possible for Obi-Wan to contact Luke after his own death ?
Anyone notice that all the shots of apps running on these things all had titlebars on them? Hell, some of them have titlebars and status bars. While the palm pilot silkscreened area is annoying, at least they designed their interface for a tiny screen.
I couldn't agree more. If there's one thing that I've learned from my Palm, it is that you can't just take any application from the big desktop and slap it on a PDA without considering the small size of the screen. For some applications, the tiny screen isn't a problem.. and things can be designed so that there will be few problems.
Other things, however, are just now suitable for a PDA without major reworkings in design. Consider, for example, the spreadsheet I have on my Palm (TinySheet) - with a small display, it is an absolute ass to use, when you can have at most 5 cells visible horizontally..
Considering the enormous respect I have for the design abilities of Microsoft;), I don't think I'll be giving up my Palm anytime soon.
You know when ThinkGeek adds another OLD book..
on
The Code Book
·
· Score: 1
.. in its selection, when its reviewed at Slashdot. Why else is this being reviewed again?
In other words, it's just another ThinkGeek marketing plug.
I find it very difficult to believe that the only thing that is wrong with this book is that the reflections might wander. When I see a review that does not at least supply some constructive criticism, I begin to get suspicious.
Oh, I do agree that you may have a reason to be suspicious - after all, the owners of/. have a good reason to publish favorable reviews - both/. and ThinkGeek are owned by Andover.net. 90% of the reviews are of books that ThinkGeek carries. I don't think ThinkGeek even sells books that haven't been "reviewed" in Slashdot.
Wonder why old books get reviewed ? Surprise, ThinkGeek just put it into their selection. Granted, all their books are very good, but still - remember that the reviews are a work of a marketing machine.
Of course, you don't have to buy your books from ThinkGeek.
Re:books will always be around
on
RMS On eBooks
·
· Score: 1
Yes, but could an ebook be used as a book shelf or to hide cash or stuff in. How will all the mystery novelists hide the murder weapons?
Stop poking holes in my perfectly valid bit of scifi ! E-books will replace books and there is nothing you can do about it ! You hear me, NOTHING !
Khrm..
uh..
Yeah.
On a more serious note, now that I have to start dissecting your argument in a scientific fashion -
The use you are describing is clearly due to a side effect caused by a non-essential feature of the book - namely it's size. Some books can be very big, so large objects can be hidden inside them, if you sacrifice some of the content (parts of pages). There is no need for the e-book to be big, and the content takes virtually no space at all.
So, I would say to mystery novelists - welcome to the 21st century; sorry, you cannot use an e-book to hide a conventional weapon. To keep up with the times, a novelist should, of course, store malicious code in the e-book. This cryptographic code could then be used to trigger an implant in the victim's brain via a wireless connection.
But who wrote the code, you ask ? I don't know, read the damn book:p
Re:books will always be around
on
RMS On eBooks
·
· Score: 1
There is still the problem of electricity.
Good point. However, if the power requirements of the reader are modest enough, solar power might be used.
A book is here for hundreds of years
.. if properly taken care of.
If the world were hit with a huge EM burst with all electronics failing
Duh. Of course the e-book would be shielded against any electrical or magnetic interference (so that we could read archived slashdot stories stored to the device, even if a massive EMP took the rest of the world down);)
With Star Trek® technology
Re:books will always be around
on
RMS On eBooks
·
· Score: 1
I and I believe many others would rather read a paper book over an ebook any day
A good point - assuming ebooks will always be more akward than traditional ones made of paper. However, this might not the case. Granted, no device exists today for reading that would be as flexible and user-friendly as a simple book.
But, let us take a small hop to the scifiesque; envision a device lighter than a book, made of materials that make reading text from its screen as easy as reading them on paper. You can take it anywhere you want, just like a normal book. If properly designed, it will be waterproof - water won't do any harm, unlike in the case of paper book (oops, dropped my book in a bath tub). An e-book won't spoil - I had a few books eaten by mold. Want to take one book with you ? Ok. Ten books ? Yes, it's doable. A thousand books, however, might be slightly akward to carry around. No such problems with an e-book. And let's not forget all those things you cannot do with a traditional book.
Given the current state of the technology, e-books aren't going to replace paperbacks anytime soon. But once the user interface of e-books gets to the level of normal books, paperbacks will - literally:) - be history.
I would suggest that, given that Linux's credibility in the business world is a direct function of RHAT and LNUX prices (which I don't agree with, but there you go), we need to be discussing this. This is more on-topic than any of Jon Katz's ramblings.
I couldn't agree more. What happens to the stock value of Linux companies has direct consequences to the feasibility of doing Linux business. Let's face it - a lot of the buzz around Linux businesses has been just that - hype. Now we can how much of it has been just hype, and how much of it is real.
Even if we forgot the Linux side of the stock diving, there are still other, very important aspects to think of. What (if any) impact will the plummeting have on the IT industry as a whole ? Will this nose-dive continue (I think it will; this is just a beginning) ?
Why do I buy bottled water? Water is a resource of infinite supply in most of the industrialized world--it comes out of the tap in my kitchen! Yet, I don't predict the bottlers will go out of business any time soon. The water I get for free from my kitchen sink is so full of chemicals and impurities that I am willing to pay for the luxury of clean water. But by offering water that is fresh and clean, the companies that produce bottled water give extra value to an inherently worthless product.
Just because something is free (as in beer), does it make it worthless ? Think Linux. And remember, this isn't just any water, this is Evian, full of minerals.
You can get the spring water for free from the fountains spread around the city of Evian-les-Bains, but this method of gathering is rather cumbersome (although it doesn't prevent some people from taking trips to Evian and taking bottling dozens of liters of Evian water for themselves, for free), industrial bottling does add value.
But, it really does taste like water (not any different from any tap water, if your source is good), even if you drink it directly from the fountain. Hope you weren't expecting a magic potion.
Very interesting, it looks like they actually have a product there. It's just too bad that the link to actually purchase one leads to amazon.com.. A bit of pressure might convince them to put it for sale somewhere else, too.
Sony makes CD player...Sony Entertainment is a member of the MPAA....Sony does NOT make MP3 CD Players
Correct - Sony does not have an MP3/CD player, but they do have an MP3 player. See here.
The biggest reason for the lack of MP3/CD players is probably because MP3 players not using a CD format can be much smaller (and they are much cooler, too). Of course, I want an MP3/CD player, too.
I've been following the development of MP3/CD players for a while. At this point, two alternatives exist (Pine and Mambox - links to both can be found at http://hardware.mp3.com). I'm waiting for reviews before I commit myself to buying either of them.
I have to do this sort of thing for a living, so it's nice to have a report on this book, but I'm wondering why more tech book reviews don't make it to the main slashdot page. Any special reason this did?
Could it be because this book is sold by ThinkGeek, a company owned by Andover.net ?
You know how sometimes you post (Yeah, you. We all do it.) just because you know what you're saying is going to be moderated way up? You know a post about how much you love Linux and hate Microsoft?
I disagree. Just look at the articles that have gotten moderated up ? They all say the same thing: Katz is wrong.
It would be nice to be able to say that Microsoft's reign is over. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and it is unlikely that it will happen anytime soon, no matter what happens in the trial.
If Microsoft is broken up, Windows is not going away. The applications will become better, because they are going to have to compete on a more level playground. Microsoft is not going bankrupt.
And, for the record, yeah, I hate Microsoft, and I hope they will eventually be brought to justice. And, I do hope that they might become a responsible company with ethical business practices.. I know it is far too much to ask, but one can always hope.
So true - Macintosh didn't have Solitaire or Minesweeper.
2. Started the Internet revolution.
No, that was Al Gore.
3. Constantly improved their product.
Obviously your definition of "improvement" if different than mine. But, of course, you are right in a sense - you couldn't, for example, make Win3.1 worse, so the only way is up.
1. They forced all competitors out of the market.
Oh, I had an insight ! Netscape didn't have a Minesweeper embedded in Navigator, so it was their own fault that they didn't survive.
2. They charged more than a fair, price for Windows.
Yeah, their Minesweeper was better than anyone else's, so the price tag was justified.
Most people see my pal Bill with all his money and are envious
Oh, yes Sir, I am ! With all his money, he can afford to play Minesweeper all day long ! Oh, the envy !
It seems that the selectors of the stories that get posted are in a lose-lose situation, if this comment is to be considered. If you don't review Win2k, you are censoring. If you do, you'll be bashing Microsoft.
There really is enough of Microsoft stuff in slashdot already, we don't need another bashing round. Are win2k reviews "news for nerds" ? "Stuff that matters" ? Methinks not. If you really want to find about how the OS is doing, you can find the information elsewhere, and if you can't, well.. my non-PC tendencies might prompt me to say "you suck", but since I'm such a nice guy, I won't say it.
There are other hardware companies waiting to eclipse Microsoft, as far as market cap is considered. If Microsoft keeps getting legal heat, their stock price will remain stagnant.
There are a number of other hardware companies that may eclipse Microsoft in the near future: Intel, NTT Docomo and Nokia. Granted, the value of the latter two is only about half of that of Microsoft.. but if the growth rate of the companies remains the same (for example, both Cisco and Nokia grew 1200% in the last 3 years, whereas Microsoft grew "only" less than 400%), the shift will happen.
True innovations are always welcome, but I really doubt Amiga can bring it about - especially it's going to be Just Another Personal Computer.
The frontier, the innovations are elsewhere. Mobile computing will might eventually become more important than traditional desktop use. Every electronic appliance you have could have an IP. The net will invade our lives in a way that will make us wonder where it ends and real world starts.
Can Amiga make a comeback ? It's possible. Will it become popular ? Doubtful. Will it be innovative, like the old Amiga used to be ? Dream on. True innovations, those that really shape our world, are going to be made in entirely different arenas.
IMHO, too little, to late. I truely feel that this 'new push' on Amiga will provide quality products and services, but, simply to late.
That must be the understatement of the day. Too late. It was already too late when Commodore went belly-up. A year after than, when Escom came to the picture with its 'Ja'-speaking Germans, it was late too.
We shouldn't underestimate the importance of having Linus as the figurehead and the central authority of kernel development. While I don't doubt that - if something bad were to happen to Linux - Alan Cox would be able to fill his boots as far as kernel development is concerned, he might not command the equivalent mind share. Would that make a difference ? Maybe.
Other than that, a significant, tearing fork could only happen if some of the key developers were to do it. If it happened at a lower level, I wouldn't make a difference. What is the reality with forks now ? Forks have already happened and happen all the time - see all the realtime Linuces, different versions of Linux for PPC etc..
And just because the kernel development might fork , it doesn't mean that they couldn't merge in the future. In any, I don't see Linux development diverging in the way of forks - convergence is much more likely and beneficial (like Linux and FreeBSD getting closer).
If there's any one phrase that is completely and irrefutably true, it is this:
Security needs to be built into the architecture of the operating system.
Correct - security cannot be an add-on. I'm not sure, though, how it would be possible to come to this conclusion from that statement:
This cannot happen if your source code is publicly available.
In here, he is comparing apples with oranges. What does open source have to do with design? In most cases I know, design has to be already set when you start sharing and contributing code. Design - that happens through diagrams, papers, brainstorming maybe - but not through code.
There is another worth noting. All the "experts" said open source security was bad, Linux had bad security. But not one of them said that a Microsoft operating system was any better. They did not mention NT, did not mention Windows 2000. Why is that ?
Regardless of what they promote, if you really want security, if it's your number one objective - you won't choose Linux. You won't choose NT or Windows 2000 either, you won't even choose OpenBSD. Instead you are going to look at the Orange Book ratings and take a level B or level A (verified security) certified operating system.
Of course, the Orange Book only applies to non-networked computers - with the addition of the network things become more complicated. Naturally usability will suffer if you want provable security.. but you can't have it all.
Slashdot Mirror
As far as reviews are concerned, they might have journalistic integrity. Story selection might a different issue altogether.
I have no idea how many reviews they get sent, so it's hard to estimate what it they get bad reviews. It is rather disappointing, though, to see a trend developing lately:
I'm not claiming that there is a conspiracy at work here, but since ThinkGeek is also an Andover.net company, it is sad to see the Slashdot book review section become ThinkGeek book reviews.
A cell phone [...] A JEDI needs not these things. C'mon, be serious. How else would it have been possible for Obi-Wan to contact Luke after his own death ?
I couldn't agree more. If there's one thing that I've learned from my Palm, it is that you can't just take any application from the big desktop and slap it on a PDA without considering the small size of the screen. For some applications, the tiny screen isn't a problem.. and things can be designed so that there will be few problems.
Other things, however, are just now suitable for a PDA without major reworkings in design. Consider, for example, the spreadsheet I have on my Palm (TinySheet) - with a small display, it is an absolute ass to use, when you can have at most 5 cells visible horizontally..
Considering the enormous respect I have for the design abilities of Microsoft ;), I don't think I'll be giving up my Palm anytime soon.
In other words, it's just another ThinkGeek marketing plug.
Oh, I do agree that you may have a reason to be suspicious - after all, the owners of /. have a good reason to publish favorable reviews - both /. and ThinkGeek are owned by Andover.net. 90% of the reviews are of books that ThinkGeek carries. I don't think ThinkGeek even sells books that haven't been "reviewed" in Slashdot.
Wonder why old books get reviewed ? Surprise, ThinkGeek just put it into their selection. Granted, all their books are very good, but still - remember that the reviews are a work of a marketing machine.
Of course, you don't have to buy your books from ThinkGeek.
Stop poking holes in my perfectly valid bit of scifi ! E-books will replace books and there is nothing you can do about it ! You hear me, NOTHING !
Khrm..
uh..
Yeah.
On a more serious note, now that I have to start dissecting your argument in a scientific fashion -
The use you are describing is clearly due to a side effect caused by a non-essential feature of the book - namely it's size. Some books can be very big, so large objects can be hidden inside them, if you sacrifice some of the content (parts of pages). There is no need for the e-book to be big, and the content takes virtually no space at all.
So, I would say to mystery novelists - welcome to the 21st century; sorry, you cannot use an e-book to hide a conventional weapon. To keep up with the times, a novelist should, of course, store malicious code in the e-book. This cryptographic code could then be used to trigger an implant in the victim's brain via a wireless connection.
But who wrote the code, you ask ? I don't know, read the damn book :p
Good point. However, if the power requirements of the reader are modest enough, solar power might be used.
Duh. Of course the e-book would be shielded against any electrical or magnetic interference (so that we could read archived slashdot stories stored to the device, even if a massive EMP took the rest of the world down) ;)
With Star Trek® technology
A good point - assuming ebooks will always be more akward than traditional ones made of paper. However, this might not the case. Granted, no device exists today for reading that would be as flexible and user-friendly as a simple book.
But, let us take a small hop to the scifiesque; envision a device lighter than a book, made of materials that make reading text from its screen as easy as reading them on paper. You can take it anywhere you want, just like a normal book. If properly designed, it will be waterproof - water won't do any harm, unlike in the case of paper book (oops, dropped my book in a bath tub). An e-book won't spoil - I had a few books eaten by mold. Want to take one book with you ? Ok. Ten books ? Yes, it's doable. A thousand books, however, might be slightly akward to carry around. No such problems with an e-book. And let's not forget all those things you cannot do with a traditional book.
Given the current state of the technology, e-books aren't going to replace paperbacks anytime soon. But once the user interface of e-books gets to the level of normal books, paperbacks will - literally :) - be history.
I couldn't agree more. What happens to the stock value of Linux companies has direct consequences to the feasibility of doing Linux business. Let's face it - a lot of the buzz around Linux businesses has been just that - hype. Now we can how much of it has been just hype, and how much of it is real.
Even if we forgot the Linux side of the stock diving, there are still other, very important aspects to think of. What (if any) impact will the plummeting have on the IT industry as a whole ? Will this nose-dive continue (I think it will; this is just a beginning) ?
Just because something is free (as in beer), does it make it worthless ? Think Linux. And remember, this isn't just any water, this is Evian, full of minerals.
You can get the spring water for free from the fountains spread around the city of Evian-les-Bains, but this method of gathering is rather cumbersome (although it doesn't prevent some people from taking trips to Evian and taking bottling dozens of liters of Evian water for themselves, for free), industrial bottling does add value.
But, it really does taste like water (not any different from any tap water, if your source is good), even if you drink it directly from the fountain. Hope you weren't expecting a magic potion.
Very interesting, it looks like they actually have a product there. It's just too bad that the link to actually purchase one leads to amazon.com.. A bit of pressure might convince them to put it for sale somewhere else, too.
Correct - Sony does not have an MP3/CD player, but they do have an MP3 player. See here.
The biggest reason for the lack of MP3/CD players is probably because MP3 players not using a CD format can be much smaller (and they are much cooler, too). Of course, I want an MP3/CD player, too.
I've been following the development of MP3/CD players for a while. At this point, two alternatives exist (Pine and Mambox - links to both can be found at http://hardware.mp3.com). I'm waiting for reviews before I commit myself to buying either of them.
Could it be because this book is sold by ThinkGeek, a company owned by Andover.net ?
I disagree. Just look at the articles that have gotten moderated up ? They all say the same thing: Katz is wrong.
It would be nice to be able to say that Microsoft's reign is over. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and it is unlikely that it will happen anytime soon, no matter what happens in the trial.
If Microsoft is broken up, Windows is not going away. The applications will become better, because they are going to have to compete on a more level playground. Microsoft is not going bankrupt.
And, for the record, yeah, I hate Microsoft, and I hope they will eventually be brought to justice. And, I do hope that they might become a responsible company with ethical business practices.. I know it is far too much to ask, but one can always hope.
So true - Macintosh didn't have Solitaire or Minesweeper.
2. Started the Internet revolution.
No, that was Al Gore.
3. Constantly improved their product.
Obviously your definition of "improvement" if different than mine. But, of course, you are right in a sense - you couldn't, for example, make Win3.1 worse, so the only way is up.
1. They forced all competitors out of the market.
Oh, I had an insight ! Netscape didn't have a Minesweeper embedded in Navigator, so it was their own fault that they didn't survive.
2. They charged more than a fair, price for Windows.
Yeah, their Minesweeper was better than anyone else's, so the price tag was justified.
Most people see my pal Bill with all his money and are envious
Oh, yes Sir, I am ! With all his money, he can afford to play Minesweeper all day long ! Oh, the envy !
.. there is nothing to see. The joke is over.
If this is the case, then this is just a shameless advertising plug to tell people that ThinkGeek is now selling this book. New book ? Rright.
The things money makes you do..
It seems that the selectors of the stories that get posted are in a lose-lose situation, if this comment is to be considered. If you don't review Win2k, you are censoring. If you do, you'll be bashing Microsoft.
There really is enough of Microsoft stuff in slashdot already, we don't need another bashing round. Are win2k reviews "news for nerds" ? "Stuff that matters" ? Methinks not. If you really want to find about how the OS is doing, you can find the information elsewhere, and if you can't, well.. my non-PC tendencies might prompt me to say "you suck", but since I'm such a nice guy, I won't say it.
There are a number of other hardware companies that may eclipse Microsoft in the near future: Intel, NTT Docomo and Nokia. Granted, the value of the latter two is only about half of that of Microsoft.. but if the growth rate of the companies remains the same (for example, both Cisco and Nokia grew 1200% in the last 3 years, whereas Microsoft grew "only" less than 400%), the shift will happen.
You would've found the answer to your question had you bothered to actually read the front page:
Figuring out why this particular system isn't on the list is left as an exercise to the reader.
The frontier, the innovations are elsewhere. Mobile computing will might eventually become more important than traditional desktop use. Every electronic appliance you have could have an IP. The net will invade our lives in a way that will make us wonder where it ends and real world starts.
Can Amiga make a comeback ? It's possible. Will it become popular ? Doubtful. Will it be innovative, like the old Amiga used to be ? Dream on. True innovations, those that really shape our world, are going to be made in entirely different arenas.
That must be the understatement of the day. Too late. It was already too late when Commodore went belly-up. A year after than, when Escom came to the picture with its 'Ja'-speaking Germans, it was late too.
Thank god the truth has finally been revealed.
Other than that, a significant, tearing fork could only happen if some of the key developers were to do it. If it happened at a lower level, I wouldn't make a difference. What is the reality with forks now ? Forks have already happened and happen all the time - see all the realtime Linuces, different versions of Linux for PPC etc..
And just because the kernel development might fork , it doesn't mean that they couldn't merge in the future. In any, I don't see Linux development diverging in the way of forks - convergence is much more likely and beneficial (like Linux and FreeBSD getting closer).
Correct - security cannot be an add-on. I'm not sure, though, how it would be possible to come to this conclusion from that statement:
In here, he is comparing apples with oranges. What does open source have to do with design? In most cases I know, design has to be already set when you start sharing and contributing code. Design - that happens through diagrams, papers, brainstorming maybe - but not through code.
There is another worth noting. All the "experts" said open source security was bad, Linux had bad security. But not one of them said that a Microsoft operating system was any better. They did not mention NT, did not mention Windows 2000. Why is that ?
Regardless of what they promote, if you really want security, if it's your number one objective - you won't choose Linux. You won't choose NT or Windows 2000 either, you won't even choose OpenBSD. Instead you are going to look at the Orange Book ratings and take a level B or level A (verified security) certified operating system.
Of course, the Orange Book only applies to non-networked computers - with the addition of the network things become more complicated. Naturally usability will suffer if you want provable security.. but you can't have it all.