To me, piggy-backing the ATC on AT&T's equipment would have some immediately obvious advantages and disadvantages. On the downside, air traffic controllers might start noticing flights getting 'dropped' from their radar screens, especially during peak call times. On the other hand, if they get too busy, the NSA could totally jump in and help them out.
If only they would use actual copyrighted MP3s when sending their spam*. I'd love to see the eventual RIAA-spammer fight. No matter who loses, we'd win.
*I could actually see this happening, if spammers start luring in users by harvesting random MP3s found on botnets and appending their audio spam to the end of the file.
You could pay him for the permit? Right then and there? That's ridiculous. The permits are issued by the Mayor's Office for Film, Theater and Broadcasting (which is only open Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm). He was trying to shake you down. Yeah, that's exactly what I thought too. I would have argued it more, but my two female friends were getting very uncomfortable with the whole situation. We left, and went to the pier on the other side of the bridge, and nobody cared. I could go on and on about that park (Fulton Ferry Park for you NYC'ers), but I won't.
The RIAA's strength is spin control. The whole industry is one massive PR machine. In fact, it's the only thing it knows how to do anymore. It's no surprise they're taking the same approach to their legal strategy. Promote pro-RIAA messages and actions as much as possible, suppress anything that's negative. Rinse, repeat.
Something off topic, but worth mentioning: I appreciate the various members of the legal profession who take the time to breakdown and explain legal cases such as this, people such as Ray Beckermann, PJ from Groklaw, et al... Not only do I have a better understanding of what goes on in the legal world, but I have a little bit better respect for the people and procedures involved. Thanks..!
It's already happened to me and my friends, and more than once. Let me give you one example. I live near the Brooklyn Bridge. Next to the bridge is Fulton Ferry Park. From this park, you have a beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan just beyond (shameless self-promotional shot of said park and view from just beyond)). Two friends of mine wanted to record a brief video message to send to their friend in France who was getting married soon, and we thought it'd be cool to shoot in the park. Upon entry to the park, I was immediately stopped by a park employee who wanted to know what I was doing with my video camera. After explaining what we wanted to do, he told us we would need a permit, which he conveniently had nearby. He said we would need a) permit for filming (both city and state, since it's a state park), b) permit for a 'gathering' of people in the park for the 3 of us and c) proof of insurance. We then got into an arguement, since it clearly stated ON THE PERMIT it was only necessary for commercial use, and mine was clearly personal. His reasoning? My camera was "too professional looking". He then told me I could either pay for the permits then, or leave the park immediately (under threat that if I didn't, he'd call the cops!).
Another one of my friends who is a professional photographer has been...
followed by 3 homeland security helicopter as he took pictures from the rooftops of several buildings in the area
stopped and prevented by a NYC park employee from taking a picture of a building *belonging* to his employer (he just happened to be standing just off the sidewalk on a patch of grass that's technically a park)
approached by security countless times for taking pictures of buildings from public areas
Ok, I'm sorry for the venting, but there's an obvious anti-amateur photographer bent in this city. I've shot both with (for actual production projects) and without (personal). If you have a permit, you're gold. Cops let you go wherever you want. Federal marshals protecting government buildings become friendly. If you don't, you're treated worse then dirt.
(end rant)
Found it. IBM used oil to keep the magentic core memory of certain model computers at a specific temperature. The oil wasn't used for cooling, it was used for heating. The memory needed to be keep at a stable 106 F(41 C) for it to operate. And yes, according to one source, the machines had dipsticks.
(Note to moderators, re: my parent post... Funny? Funny? *sigh* I just don't get slashdot moderation anymore...)
Didn't IBM use oil-cooling on one of their mini/mainframe computer systems back in the day? I seem to recall hearing stories of low oil indicators on the machines. Unfortunately my Google searches on the subject are coming up dry...
They're not trying to play catch-up at the moment... they're just trying to get on the map.
Comparatively speaking, it's a bit like Sealand's efforts to try and "get on the map" as a country when it's sitting right next to the much larger, more recognized, and somewhat more respected Isle-of-Great-Britain-like Apple.
In my series, a group of space-pirates slash political revolutionaries pilot a starship, carrying out geurilla attacks against the Federation, funded by smuggling contraband and looting Federation military ships. (OK, it is a little like Firefly, but that is just coincidence). They team up with the peaceful Klingons and Romulans, who have been victims of Federation sponsered genocide. Their five year mission, to build an rebel army capable of overthrowing the Federation, destroying Starfleet, and liberation the galaxy from imperialism and oppression!
The setting may seem bleak and not very Trek-like, but that is where the show's hero Captain Alexander Chase comes in.
Wait, I think I see where this plot is going. The lead character is imprisoned by the now corrupt and evil Federation (which uses the ST:TNG logo flipped on its side) for political activism, only to escape from a penal ship and find a derelict alien space craft. He, along with 7 other escaped convicts, vow to overthrow the evil Federation, and it's legions of black storm-trooper like minions led by a ruthless, yet attractive female commander.
Have you seen the commercials? They've off-shored half their jobs to magic-fairytale land. They've probably got some under trained ogre for an email admin who stands around the water cooler all day chatting with the fairies. Sure, it's a lot cheaper when you can pay your staff in pixie dust, but you end up getting bitten by poor customer service (I had to call them the other day, and the customer service rep had such a thick elven accent I could barely understand him). Outsourcing just doesn't work...
Too bad the range is so small. Otherwise it'd be so easy to grab people's sentistive information (say phone records or SS numbers, stuff like that) as they walk by. You'd be able to covertly snag information on anyone- employees, board members, maybe random reporters or thier relatives. Right now it so much hassle hiring outside firms to track this kind of stuff down for you. I'm sure those innovative enginners are working on it though. Go HP!
(note to moderators: I forgot to include sarcasm tags in my post above. Sorry. Really.)
I'm trying to imagine different product and company philosiphies applied to prosthetics. I think it'd go something like this:
Mac- Extremely stylish. Has a slot for your ipod. Comes in two colors - white and black. Only left-handed version available.
Gentoo- Roll your own limb. Pick your material (fiberglass? carbon fiber? titanuim?) and choose from a dizzing array of cast types. Select anything from a simple hook to the latest robotic digits. Spend a good 6 months to a year molding, casting it, and trying to get it working together.
Ubuntu- Includes such gestorial based languages as ASL, ESL, FSL, and internationally recognized rude gestures.
DRM- Goes limp if you attempt non-manufactured approved tasks. Additional functionality, such as picking things up, gesturing, or waving can be purchased seperately on a subscription basis.
Spyware- Free, but steals money and credit cards out of your wallet when you aren't looking.
HP- Like spyware, but only steals^H^H^H^H^H^H "pretexts" your phone records.
Wii- Just point to what you want with your other arm.
Windows Vista- Still not yet available. Maybe next year.
I dunno... the DRM in this version of WMP looks half-baked. I think I'm going to wait for Windows Media Player 12 to come out, which reportedly will include DRM that doesn't let you listen to your music at all. All the major recording labels are on board with this format, so we may finally get a realistic alternative to iTunes without the clumsy Mac-like interface. Plus, it won't cost much more per track than the average iTunes song now. There will also be more visualizations included to help you imagine what the music you're playing actualy sounds like. I know that a lot of Slashdotters bash Microsoft over security, but I'm glad to know MS is taking bold steps to protect my music!
For those of you at home who are playing along, here's the score so far: ~800 bc - Roman god of the underworld. 05-01-1930 - New planet. Also Mickey's new canine companion. Retains position as god of the underworld. 08-10-2006 - Still a planet. And a dog. Takes time off as god of the underworld to "spend more time with his new ceslestial family". 08-24-2006 - Demoted as a planet. Reclassified as a "dwarf planet" (or as they prefer to be called "Little planetiods"). Resumes job as god of the underworld. Today - A planet again. Maybe. Title of "Roman god the the underworld" undisputed. Still a dog.
How grave a concern is click fraud for advertisers?
There's a host of stuff out there that concerns marketers that needs to be cleaned up. It includes impression measurement, it includes click measurement, standardized contracts, so you know for us it's all a big picture of stuff that in order for the maturing of the medium needs to be done. And how big a deal is click fraud? We don't like anything that would give marketers concern, especially if it's a solvable problem.
Translation: We've got a lot of stuff to sift through, which we haven't even started on yet. But it's ok, 'cause the results would only scare people unnecessarily. ANd we don't want that
Advertisers say the search engines haven't done enough to combat fraud.
Search produces results. End of story. It produces results. My guess is that these advertisers would like to see any concern that might seep into the view that their management has, or anybody else. Because they know in their heart of hearts that this really works. It's in everybody's interest to clean this one up.
Translation: We haven't actually asked. We just kinda assumed it's a problem.
What exactly have the search companies pledged to do?
We're going to go forward with developing click-measurement guidelines that will address at a public level all the sort of subsidiary issues of that, which includes fighting globally invalid clicks and also click fraud.
Translation: We had a few ideas scribbled out on a cocktail napkin... but we lost it when one of the associates spilt her apple-tini all over it.
Did Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and others involved promise to give you unlimited access to their click data?
They have committed the time, the energy, the resources to see this through to a final industry guideline--one that's accepted by not just themselves, but by agencies and by marketers and by the advertising industry overall. Does that mean that they would bring to bear some data and other insights? Absolutely. Could they still have proprietary solutions of their own? Yeah, stuff that might be protected by their own (intellectual property), but they have committed the resources to help.
Translation: First, the asked who we were, then they laughed at us, then said absolutely not. We're coming up with some sort of backup plan though.:(
Media need to operate with transparency. There's marketers and agencies who are paying money for things. They need to know, what are they paying for? What does that look like? What is the standardized way in which that's being counted? And also ultimately, is that audited? Can we validate that (using a third party)? And so, in an industry that is now going to be close to $16 billion this year, it should be relatively obvious that we need to operate with the principles that all media operate under.
Translation: Ok, we just came up with our contingency plan: if we keep asking, and some point they'll have to say "yes", right?
What's the timeframe for creating the click-measurement guidelines?
I've learned through experience with standards I never make a commitment to timelines. It took us 14 months to do the ad-impression guidelines, which is kind of the last big one that we did. We don't really know what we don't know at this point. We could come to a conclusion and say "Geez, we're pretty close. There aren't any outside data--let's get it done." Or we could say, "Hmm, I don't think we're comfortable with that issue, let's dig deeper."
Translation: We have no idea.
What bodies will be involved in auditing, using your definition?
That will be really up to the industry to define that, so in the process of developing measurement guidelines we'll also be developing audit guidelines. That's how we did it in the impression guidelines, so I fully expect to do the same thing.
Something that continually impresses me is the prevalance of these devices among drivers and deliverers in New York.
I'm sure the the law requiring drivers to use a hands-free headset when talking on thier cellphone and driving may have some bearing on that...:)
..But yeah, I see people everywhere driving, biking, and walking around the city with thier headsets on too. If you don't mind wearing a wireless headset while driving, you probably won't mind using it everywhere else. I just bought the Plantronics Voyager 510 for a decent price (~$45), so I guess I'll be of of those people now too.
Now if the city would only distrubute wireless headsets to all the crazy homeles guys who stand around and talk to themselves...
Reminds of me of a prank me and my coworkers use to play in Fry's Electronics. For those of you who have never had the experience of visiting Fry's Electronics, their customer service is arguably much worse than Best Buy. The store dress code is much less inspired- white shirt, dark slacks, dark tie. Pretty much the same dress code of our VAR company at the time(remember those?). We'd often frequent Fry's for miscellaneous hardware, as it was cheap, and close to our offices. Of course, since we were dressed like every other employee there, we'd get asked for help from clueless customers all the time. We got so sick of being asked we finally started giving out random answers, telling them the item they wanted was in the back of the store through the double doors (the stock room), or pointing them to ther customers in the store ("you want to talk to the old beared guy in suspenders standing over there. He can help you with that.") I really miss those days.
Recently I visited Fry's Electronics in thier new store several months ago (well, new for me. I live in NYC now, and hadn't yet been to the store on Auto Mall parkway in Fremont). A customer approached and actually asked "I know you don't work here, but can you tell me if this will work in my computer?"
Slashdot Mirror
To me, piggy-backing the ATC on AT&T's equipment would have some immediately obvious advantages and disadvantages. On the downside, air traffic controllers might start noticing flights getting 'dropped' from their radar screens, especially during peak call times. On the other hand, if they get too busy, the NSA could totally jump in and help them out.
If only they would use actual copyrighted MP3s when sending their spam*. I'd love to see the eventual RIAA-spammer fight. No matter who loses, we'd win.
*I could actually see this happening, if spammers start luring in users by harvesting random MP3s found on botnets and appending their audio spam to the end of the file.
... then please act like it! We're tired of watching you glance suspiciously at our surveillance cameras.
Sincerely,
the MRO
The RIAA's strength is spin control. The whole industry is one massive PR machine. In fact, it's the only thing it knows how to do anymore. It's no surprise they're taking the same approach to their legal strategy. Promote pro-RIAA messages and actions as much as possible, suppress anything that's negative. Rinse, repeat.
Something off topic, but worth mentioning: I appreciate the various members of the legal profession who take the time to breakdown and explain legal cases such as this, people such as Ray Beckermann, PJ from Groklaw, et al... Not only do I have a better understanding of what goes on in the legal world, but I have a little bit better respect for the people and procedures involved. Thanks..!
Another one of my friends who is a professional photographer has been...
followed by 3 homeland security helicopter as he took pictures from the rooftops of several buildings in the area
stopped and prevented by a NYC park employee from taking a picture of a building *belonging* to his employer (he just happened to be standing just off the sidewalk on a patch of grass that's technically a park)
approached by security countless times for taking pictures of buildings from public areas
Ok, I'm sorry for the venting, but there's an obvious anti-amateur photographer bent in this city. I've shot both with (for actual production projects) and without (personal). If you have a permit, you're gold. Cops let you go wherever you want. Federal marshals protecting government buildings become friendly. If you don't, you're treated worse then dirt. (end rant)
Turns out the driver crashed due to a race condition, which as most programmers know, should be avoided for the obvious reasons.
Found it. IBM used oil to keep the magentic core memory of certain model computers at a specific temperature. The oil wasn't used for cooling, it was used for heating. The memory needed to be keep at a stable 106 F(41 C) for it to operate. And yes, according to one source, the machines had dipsticks.
(Note to moderators, re: my parent post... Funny? Funny? *sigh* I just don't get slashdot moderation anymore...)
Didn't IBM use oil-cooling on one of their mini/mainframe computer systems back in the day? I seem to recall hearing stories of low oil indicators on the machines. Unfortunately my Google searches on the subject are coming up dry...
They're not trying to play catch-up at the moment ... they're just trying to get on the map.
Comparatively speaking, it's a bit like Sealand's efforts to try and "get on the map" as a country when it's sitting right next to the much larger, more recognized, and somewhat more respected Isle-of-Great-Britain-like Apple.
In my series, a group of space-pirates slash political revolutionaries pilot a starship, carrying out geurilla attacks against the Federation, funded by smuggling contraband and looting Federation military ships. (OK, it is a little like Firefly, but that is just coincidence). They team up with the peaceful Klingons and Romulans, who have been victims of Federation sponsered genocide. Their five year mission, to build an rebel army capable of overthrowing the Federation, destroying Starfleet, and liberation the galaxy from imperialism and oppression!
You mean a series like this?
The setting may seem bleak and not very Trek-like, but that is where the show's hero Captain Alexander Chase comes in.
Wait, I think I see where this plot is going. The lead character is imprisoned by the now corrupt and evil Federation (which uses the ST:TNG logo flipped on its side) for political activism, only to escape from a penal ship and find a derelict alien space craft. He, along with 7 other escaped convicts, vow to overthrow the evil Federation, and it's legions of black storm-trooper like minions led by a ruthless, yet attractive female commander.
Link for the sci-fi clueless
Complex>Simple
Yahoo>Google
Zune>iPod
The referenced articles>This post
Have you seen the commercials? They've off-shored half their jobs to magic-fairytale land. They've probably got some under trained ogre for an email admin who stands around the water cooler all day chatting with the fairies. Sure, it's a lot cheaper when you can pay your staff in pixie dust, but you end up getting bitten by poor customer service (I had to call them the other day, and the customer service rep had such a thick elven accent I could barely understand him). Outsourcing just doesn't work...
Too bad the range is so small. Otherwise it'd be so easy to grab people's sentistive information (say phone records or SS numbers, stuff like that) as they walk by. You'd be able to covertly snag information on anyone- employees, board members, maybe random reporters or thier relatives. Right now it so much hassle hiring outside firms to track this kind of stuff down for you. I'm sure those innovative enginners are working on it though. Go HP!
(note to moderators: I forgot to include sarcasm tags in my post above. Sorry. Really.)
I'm trying to imagine different product and company philosiphies applied to prosthetics. I think it'd go something like this:
Mac- Extremely stylish. Has a slot for your ipod. Comes in two colors - white and black. Only left-handed version available.
Gentoo- Roll your own limb. Pick your material (fiberglass? carbon fiber? titanuim?) and choose from a dizzing array of cast types. Select anything from a simple hook to the latest robotic digits. Spend a good 6 months to a year molding, casting it, and trying to get it working together.
Ubuntu- Includes such gestorial based languages as ASL, ESL, FSL, and internationally recognized rude gestures.
DRM- Goes limp if you attempt non-manufactured approved tasks. Additional functionality, such as picking things up, gesturing, or waving can be purchased seperately on a subscription basis.
Spyware- Free, but steals money and credit cards out of your wallet when you aren't looking.
HP- Like spyware, but only steals^H^H^H^H^H^H "pretexts" your phone records.
Wii- Just point to what you want with your other arm.
Windows Vista- Still not yet available. Maybe next year.
I dunno... the DRM in this version of WMP looks half-baked. I think I'm going to wait for Windows Media Player 12 to come out, which reportedly will include DRM that doesn't let you listen to your music at all. All the major recording labels are on board with this format, so we may finally get a realistic alternative to iTunes without the clumsy Mac-like interface. Plus, it won't cost much more per track than the average iTunes song now. There will also be more visualizations included to help you imagine what the music you're playing actualy sounds like. I know that a lot of Slashdotters bash Microsoft over security, but I'm glad to know MS is taking bold steps to protect my music!
WARNING: Do not look at laser chip with remaining eye
For those of you at home who are playing along, here's the score so far:
~800 bc - Roman god of the underworld.
05-01-1930 - New planet. Also Mickey's new canine companion. Retains position as god of the underworld.
08-10-2006 - Still a planet. And a dog. Takes time off as god of the underworld to "spend more time with his new ceslestial family".
08-24-2006 - Demoted as a planet. Reclassified as a "dwarf planet" (or as they prefer to be called "Little planetiods"). Resumes job as god of the underworld.
Today - A planet again. Maybe. Title of "Roman god the the underworld" undisputed. Still a dog.
(ps. Tomorrow - Profit ???)
Nothin's better than a soylent green biscuit with jellyfish spread... Mmm...
How grave a concern is click fraud for advertisers?
There's a host of stuff out there that concerns marketers that needs to be cleaned up. It includes impression measurement, it includes click measurement, standardized contracts, so you know for us it's all a big picture of stuff that in order for the maturing of the medium needs to be done. And how big a deal is click fraud? We don't like anything that would give marketers concern, especially if it's a solvable problem.
Translation: We've got a lot of stuff to sift through, which we haven't even started on yet. But it's ok, 'cause the results would only scare people unnecessarily. ANd we don't want that
Advertisers say the search engines haven't done enough to combat fraud.
Search produces results. End of story. It produces results. My guess is that these advertisers would like to see any concern that might seep into the view that their management has, or anybody else. Because they know in their heart of hearts that this really works. It's in everybody's interest to clean this one up.
Translation: We haven't actually asked. We just kinda assumed it's a problem.
What exactly have the search companies pledged to do?
We're going to go forward with developing click-measurement guidelines that will address at a public level all the sort of subsidiary issues of that, which includes fighting globally invalid clicks and also click fraud.
Translation: We had a few ideas scribbled out on a cocktail napkin... but we lost it when one of the associates spilt her apple-tini all over it.
Did Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and others involved promise to give you unlimited access to their click data?
They have committed the time, the energy, the resources to see this through to a final industry guideline--one that's accepted by not just themselves, but by agencies and by marketers and by the advertising industry overall. Does that mean that they would bring to bear some data and other insights? Absolutely. Could they still have proprietary solutions of their own? Yeah, stuff that might be protected by their own (intellectual property), but they have committed the resources to help.
Translation: First, the asked who we were, then they laughed at us, then said absolutely not. We're coming up with some sort of backup plan though. :(
Media need to operate with transparency. There's marketers and agencies who are paying money for things. They need to know, what are they paying for? What does that look like? What is the standardized way in which that's being counted? And also ultimately, is that audited? Can we validate that (using a third party)? And so, in an industry that is now going to be close to $16 billion this year, it should be relatively obvious that we need to operate with the principles that all media operate under.
Translation: Ok, we just came up with our contingency plan: if we keep asking, and some point they'll have to say "yes", right?
What's the timeframe for creating the click-measurement guidelines?
I've learned through experience with standards I never make a commitment to timelines. It took us 14 months to do the ad-impression guidelines, which is kind of the last big one that we did. We don't really know what we don't know at this point. We could come to a conclusion and say "Geez, we're pretty close. There aren't any outside data--let's get it done." Or we could say, "Hmm, I don't think we're comfortable with that issue, let's dig deeper."
Translation: We have no idea.
What bodies will be involved in auditing, using your definition?
That will be really up to the industry to define that, so in the process of developing measurement guidelines we'll also be developing audit guidelines. That's how we did it in the impression guidelines, so I fully expect to do the same thing.
Translation: We're waiting for
Hey, check out the ironically apropos fortune at the bottom of the page...
:)
inbox, n.: A catch basin for everything you don't want to deal with, but are afraid to throw away.
*That's* why email is here to stay...
It was the poor UI design to blame. They put the "Up and trapped" button right next to the "Up and out" button.
Something that continually impresses me is the prevalance of these devices among drivers and deliverers in New York.
:)
..But yeah, I see people everywhere driving, biking, and walking around the city with thier headsets on too. If you don't mind wearing a wireless headset while driving, you probably won't mind using it everywhere else. I just bought the Plantronics Voyager 510 for a decent price (~$45), so I guess I'll be of of those people now too.
I'm sure the the law requiring drivers to use a hands-free headset when talking on thier cellphone and driving may have some bearing on that...
Now if the city would only distrubute wireless headsets to all the crazy homeles guys who stand around and talk to themselves...
Reminds of me of a prank me and my coworkers use to play in Fry's Electronics. For those of you who have never had the experience of visiting Fry's Electronics, their customer service is arguably much worse than Best Buy. The store dress code is much less inspired- white shirt, dark slacks, dark tie. Pretty much the same dress code of our VAR company at the time(remember those?). We'd often frequent Fry's for miscellaneous hardware, as it was cheap, and close to our offices. Of course, since we were dressed like every other employee there, we'd get asked for help from clueless customers all the time. We got so sick of being asked we finally started giving out random answers, telling them the item they wanted was in the back of the store through the double doors (the stock room), or pointing them to ther customers in the store ("you want to talk to the old beared guy in suspenders standing over there. He can help you with that.") I really miss those days.
Recently I visited Fry's Electronics in thier new store several months ago (well, new for me. I live in NYC now, and hadn't yet been to the store on Auto Mall parkway in Fremont). A customer approached and actually asked "I know you don't work here, but can you tell me if this will work in my computer?"
Yeah, I miss those days...