So, Apple confirms the rumors by requesting the stories be removed. Not ALL the stories, just two of them. Count those as among the true ones.
Poor Apple. All they want to do is hide their secrets, but they go about it all wrong and end up (1) confirming the rumors by showing an interest in them and (2) alienating their customer base and loyal users who went so far as to set up a web site to help them out during rough times.
Poor, dumb lawyers. Poor, dumb Apple.
When will companies realize that if they make something cool, people want to be involved with it. They want to make a web site about it. They want to write programs/modules/accessories for it. Going after these customers with your lawyers is just plain dumb.
Don't moderate this as "off topic" just yet - allow me to get around to my point.
I am a libertarian - so don't accuse me of libertarian bashing, because that's not what this is about. And when I say "libertarian," think "political party", not "crypto-anarchist". Do that for the sake of this article, whatever you really believe.
There, now that is out of the way.
So, as a libertarian, I have a problem here.. An inner conflict, if you will. One one hand, I believe (like a good libertarian should) that there should be less government. That the government should keep its hands out of just about everything. But on the otherhand, without the government, toysmart can violate my rights. Microsoft can crush my company. And I cannot stop them.
Of course, we can talk about standing up for your beliefs, and organizing this and that, etc. etc., but right now, toysmart is all set to disclose private information trusted to them - after they said they wouldn't.. and it looks like the FTC is the only thing with enough force to stop them.
So, knowing there are a lot more involved libertarians out there, what is the answer in cases like these - where the government stands between us and toysmart, or microsoft...
Of all the technological advances of the past century (autos, television, the personal computer, etc.) why are we just now realizing that we've been leaving the animals out?
Did it take something as big as the internet to wake us up? Get our head out of the clouds? Stop inventing things without regard for anything else, and take a look at our animal bretheren?
I think this MIT guy has it right! It's time to bring the animals with us into the new millenium! No longer will we leave them behind in primitive isolation!
And since the internet is such a great wealth of knowledge, if we can get animals internet access, then they can learn about everything from driving a car to watching tv to making their own homepage!
Just think if your neighbor's cat could surf the 'net all night long! No more midnight screeching! And what if those pesky squirrels could check their e-mail without too much hassle? They'd be more likely to leave your bird feeder alone!
My one problem with this guy is that I think he should have started with mammals.. i think the interface would be easier, since we are mammals too. ---
i love applixware! i had bought a "student edition" when i was a student, oh, right when redhat 4.0 came out.. unfortunately, years later when i upgraded to suse 6.2 applix refused to install, because it wasn't red hat.
i'm sure i could probably have hacked around and got it to install, but then there was the libc5 issues also, and staroffice was free with my new suse, so i just went to that
oh, and that old applix wouldn't handle the newest.DOC conversions, either.. just some word 3.1 or something..
i would have to say that M$ Office is the greatest priority.
I hate saying that.
The problem is that microsoft has its hooks too deep into the world. Two examples:
1) After my graduating last year, I accepted a job and was asked to fill out a background check form. This was e-mailed to me in M$ word format.
2) I recently bought some Palm software online with a 30 day money back guarantee. I just put in my cc# and downloaded it. To return it, however, I had to sign a document promising that I had destroyed the software and mail/fax it to them. This was e-mailed to me in M$ word format.
Luckily Kinkos has M$ Word. And shame on these two companies for using a closed format.
But the point is, Linux users need M$ word. Not because it's better. Not because they may want to use it (and i'm sure some do, but that's personal preference).
Linux users need access to M$ word because other people don't realize or care that.DOC is not standard.
But this is not the *only* thing we need.
While we are doing this, we need to remind everyone who e-mails us a.DOC that it is a nonstandard file and to send.RTF,.HTML, whatever, instead.
I think there is alot of room for improvement of the existing designs, but little need for new designs...
What new widgets do we need? Sure, we can always make a few more, but, pretty much, the ones we've got are simple, ubiquitous, and do a good job.
I'm a Java GUI developer, and I have only found one example of a widget i needed that wasn't included in Swing.. I wrote it and put it in a bean, so now i'm fine, but really, there's not alot they left out.
What the article fails to address is the difference between computers and the internet. A computer does not need internet access to be a computer.
I would not fault the article's claims about the internet and its influence on young children. I am not agreeing with them either. They are simply not the issue.
The issue is the computer itself. I started programming Apple BASIC in second grade. I learned alot about logic, critical thinking, organization, and planning. Oh, yes, and math. I even came up with bubble sort on my own; I don't say this to brag, but as an example. When a fourth grader is "inventing" bubble sort because he's been programming for 2 years, there is something to say for the educational value of computer exposure.
Logo (4th grade) was also very helpful in learning math and algorithm development.
Should kids be on the internet? I don't know.
Should kids be on computers? Yes.
Should computers replace pen, paper, textbook, and classroom discussion? Probably not.
Are computers useful for teaching logic and mathematics to children? Most definately.
Everyone knows about the dedication of the linux subculture, fanatics, loyalists, whatever you want to call them.
Is there such a culture surrounding windows? I'm asking honestly, because I don't know... Is there a huge following that would join the FIN, support microsoft, and rally around them during these "trying times" ??
I was just wondering exactly what leads microsoft to PR moves like this... are they trying to tap into this culture? create one? whatever you may say about gates/microsoft, they are where they are today from sheer business sense.. it may not be the best code in the world, or the best product, but they are sinister business people..
i was wondering why they are throwing money into a PR thing like this - whether they are rallying the subculture, or trying to create one..
just because it was cracked doesn't mean it was on the internet.. it could have been a dialup, or it could have been an insider. I would like to give NASA more credit than to put a system like that on the net.
I wonder if the cracker knew exactly what he was messing with.. someone who didn't want the americans to dock with the russians? Or just an accident that they decided to crack this system at this time..
I would have loved to go to a trade show in the midwest.. I live in Dallas, so it's hard for me to make it to New York, or California, or Vegas, but Kansas City isn't too horible of a drive.. I just never heard this thing was happening.
I think of myself as fairly well informed.. I read slashdot daily, get the Linux Journal, and get some tech news pages on my palm with AvantGo, but I never heard this was going on..
Maybe I just missed it or something, but I sure heard alot about PC Expo...
Lots of PDA stuff is going on at the expo - it kicked off with a speech from Jeff Hawkins, founder of both Palm and Handspring. Sony is also showing off their new PalmOS PDA at the show as well.
1) Clone Darth Maul - the clone wars have to happen sometime before "A New Hope," so maybe someone will clone Darth Maul, and let him kick some butt before another child-jedi gets lucky
2) Have real enemies instead of an incredibly boring, no blood, dumb droid army. Look at how many living things were killed in E4 compared with E1 - no bloody arms cut off, no shooting green bounty hunters under the table, etc.
3) Kill Jar-Jar maliciously - just pretending Jar-Jar never happened would malign the story line, but the second movie is a great chance to have him brutally eliminated
In developing an artificial intelligence (see the "hacking conciousness" link in the article) one of the more interesting questions, in my mind, is the invention of a machine that can make ethical decisions. It was in that spirit that I originally posted the comment below, which was moderated to Troll.
Original Comment:
This has nothing to do with telescopes. But, I was reading about your Mind Pixel project and had a question: How will GAC deal with ethical questions? For instance, what if you have a mind pixel like the following:
Stealing from another person is usually wrong:TRUE
And then what if you ask GAC a question like this: "Is it wrong for a hungry man to steal bread to feed his family?" What answer do you expect GAC to give? And more importantly, (because either answer could be right depending on which moral camp you hail from) will GAC choose answers to other ethical questions that are consistant with the answer he gives for that question?
wish
PS- moderators, read the article and the ones it links to ---
But, I was reading about your Mind Pixel project and had a question:
How will GAC deal with ethical questions? For instance, what if you have a mind pixel like the following:
Stealing from another person is usually wrong:TRUE
And then what if you ask GAC a question like this:
"Is it wrong for a hungry man to steal bread to feed his family?"
What answer do you expect GAC to give? And more importantly, (because either answer could be right depending on which moral camp you hail from) will GAC choose answers to other ethical questions that are consistant with the answer he gives for that question?
If you're interested in putting Linux on PDAs, you might look at this stuff too: handhelds.org: Putting Linux on iPAQ and Nino linuxce.org: Developing a Linux Kernel for WinCE devices linux-vr.org : running linux on your VR series device uclinux.org: linux/microcontroller project Yopy: Samsung's pre-installed Linux PDA with color/sound.
This article at Yahoo! has some more information, and says the device has a phone and a "household organizer". It also "looks stylish" and has a "silver keyboard."
Who does this guy think he is? You have to e-mail him and tell him why you want the program before he'll give it to you?
Sure, it's his program, and he can do with it what he wants, but it seems to be a bit pompous for him to set himself up as the moral authority on software usage.
This has to be the strangest license I have ever heard of.. call it moralware.. If I decide you're moral enough, you can use my software...
Whatever, man.. I won't be using it.. My gnutella client (gnut) gives me IP addresses anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
That's Katz in a nutshell.
wish
---
if napster and icq are the colleges and universities of today, we're in for some serious trouble up ahead..
wish
---
The most needed TLD right now is .alt
.alt domain.
that way all the crazy stuff that's not good for "normal healthy americans" can hang out there unmolested.
on top of that we need a law saying you can't sue someone over their
wish
---
So, Apple confirms the rumors by requesting the stories be removed. Not ALL the stories, just two of them. Count those as among the true ones.
Poor Apple. All they want to do is hide their secrets, but they go about it all wrong and end up (1) confirming the rumors by showing an interest in them and (2) alienating their customer base and loyal users who went so far as to set up a web site to help them out during rough times.
Poor, dumb lawyers. Poor, dumb Apple.
When will companies realize that if they make something cool, people want to be involved with it. They want to make a web site about it. They want to write programs/modules/accessories for it. Going after these customers with your lawyers is just plain dumb.
wish
---
Don't moderate this as "off topic" just yet - allow me to get around to my point.
I am a libertarian - so don't accuse me of libertarian bashing, because that's not what this is about. And when I say "libertarian," think "political party", not "crypto-anarchist". Do that for the sake of this article, whatever you really believe.
There, now that is out of the way.
So, as a libertarian, I have a problem here.. An inner conflict, if you will. One one hand, I believe (like a good libertarian should) that there should be less government. That the government should keep its hands out of just about everything. But on the otherhand, without the government, toysmart can violate my rights. Microsoft can crush my company. And I cannot stop them.
Of course, we can talk about standing up for your beliefs, and organizing this and that, etc. etc., but right now, toysmart is all set to disclose private information trusted to them - after they said they wouldn't.. and it looks like the FTC is the only thing with enough force to stop them.
So, knowing there are a lot more involved libertarians out there, what is the answer in cases like these - where the government stands between us and toysmart, or microsoft...
What is a libertarian supposed to think about it?
wish
---
Of all the technological advances of the past century (autos, television, the personal computer, etc.) why are we just now realizing that we've been leaving the animals out?
Did it take something as big as the internet to wake us up? Get our head out of the clouds? Stop inventing things without regard for anything else, and take a look at our animal bretheren?
I think this MIT guy has it right! It's time to bring the animals with us into the new millenium! No longer will we leave them behind in primitive isolation!
And since the internet is such a great wealth of knowledge, if we can get animals internet access, then they can learn about everything from driving a car to watching tv to making their own homepage!
Just think if your neighbor's cat could surf the 'net all night long! No more midnight screeching! And what if those pesky squirrels could check their e-mail without too much hassle? They'd be more likely to leave your bird feeder alone!
My one problem with this guy is that I think he should have started with mammals.. i think the interface would be easier, since we are mammals too.
---
i love applixware! i had bought a "student edition" when i was a student, oh, right when redhat 4.0 came out.. unfortunately, years later when i upgraded to suse 6.2 applix refused to install, because it wasn't red hat.
.DOC conversions, either.. just some word 3.1 or something..
i'm sure i could probably have hacked around and got it to install, but then there was the libc5 issues also, and staroffice was free with my new suse, so i just went to that
oh, and that old applix wouldn't handle the newest
wish
---
i would have to say that M$ Office is the greatest priority.
.DOC is not standard.
.DOC that it is a nonstandard file and to send .RTF, .HTML, whatever, instead.
I hate saying that.
The problem is that microsoft has its hooks too deep into the world. Two examples:
1) After my graduating last year, I accepted a job and was asked to fill out a background check form. This was e-mailed to me in M$ word format.
2) I recently bought some Palm software online with a 30 day money back guarantee. I just put in my cc# and downloaded it. To return it, however, I had to sign a document promising that I had destroyed the software and mail/fax it to them. This was e-mailed to me in M$ word format.
Luckily Kinkos has M$ Word. And shame on these two companies for using a closed format.
But the point is, Linux users need M$ word. Not because it's better. Not because they may want to use it (and i'm sure some do, but that's personal preference).
Linux users need access to M$ word because other people don't realize or care that
But this is not the *only* thing we need.
While we are doing this, we need to remind everyone who e-mails us a
wish
---
I think there is alot of room for improvement of the existing designs, but little need for new designs...
What new widgets do we need? Sure, we can always make a few more, but, pretty much, the ones we've got are simple, ubiquitous, and do a good job.
I'm a Java GUI developer, and I have only found one example of a widget i needed that wasn't included in Swing.. I wrote it and put it in a bean, so now i'm fine, but really, there's not alot they left out.
wish
---
What the article fails to address is the difference between computers and the internet. A computer does not need internet access to be a computer.
I would not fault the article's claims about the internet and its influence on young children. I am not agreeing with them either. They are simply not the issue.
The issue is the computer itself. I started programming Apple BASIC in second grade. I learned alot about logic, critical thinking, organization, and planning. Oh, yes, and math. I even came up with bubble sort on my own; I don't say this to brag, but as an example. When a fourth grader is "inventing" bubble sort because he's been programming for 2 years, there is something to say for the educational value of computer exposure.
Logo (4th grade) was also very helpful in learning math and algorithm development.
Should kids be on the internet? I don't know.
Should kids be on computers? Yes.
Should computers replace pen, paper, textbook, and classroom discussion? Probably not.
Are computers useful for teaching logic and mathematics to children? Most definately.
wishus
---
Everyone knows about the dedication of the linux subculture, fanatics, loyalists, whatever you want to call them.
Is there such a culture surrounding windows? I'm asking honestly, because I don't know... Is there a huge following that would join the FIN, support microsoft, and rally around them during these "trying times" ??
I was just wondering exactly what leads microsoft to PR moves like this... are they trying to tap into this culture? create one? whatever you may say about gates/microsoft, they are where they are today from sheer business sense.. it may not be the best code in the world, or the best product, but they are sinister business people..
i was wondering why they are throwing money into a PR thing like this - whether they are rallying the subculture, or trying to create one..
wish
---
Black holes colliding?
Hypernovas?
Or just Tarkin demonstrating the Death Star, the Ultimate Power in the Universe?
---
just because it was cracked doesn't mean it was on the internet.. it could have been a dialup, or it could have been an insider. I would like to give NASA more credit than to put a system like that on the net.
I wonder if the cracker knew exactly what he was messing with.. someone who didn't want the americans to dock with the russians? Or just an accident that they decided to crack this system at this time..
wish
---
I would have loved to go to a trade show in the midwest.. I live in Dallas, so it's hard for me to make it to New York, or California, or Vegas, but Kansas City isn't too horible of a drive.. I just never heard this thing was happening.
I think of myself as fairly well informed.. I read slashdot daily, get the Linux Journal, and get some tech news pages on my palm with AvantGo, but I never heard this was going on..
Maybe I just missed it or something, but I sure heard alot about PC Expo...
wish
---
Wish I was there..
wish
---
I'm not karma-whoring, it's just funny. Please don't moderate me up.
wish
---
1) Clone Darth Maul - the clone wars have to happen sometime before "A New Hope," so maybe someone will clone Darth Maul, and let him kick some butt before another child-jedi gets lucky
2) Have real enemies instead of an incredibly boring, no blood, dumb droid army. Look at how many living things were killed in E4 compared with E1 - no bloody arms cut off, no shooting green bounty hunters under the table, etc.
3) Kill Jar-Jar maliciously - just pretending Jar-Jar never happened would malign the story line, but the second movie is a great chance to have him brutally eliminated
wish
---
Original Comment:
This has nothing to do with telescopes. But, I was reading about your Mind Pixel project and had a question: How will GAC deal with ethical questions? For instance, what if you have a mind pixel like the following:
Stealing from another person is usually wrong:TRUE
And then what if you ask GAC a question like this: "Is it wrong for a hungry man to steal bread to feed his family?" What answer do you expect GAC to give? And more importantly, (because either answer could be right depending on which moral camp you hail from) will GAC choose answers to other ethical questions that are consistant with the answer he gives for that question?
wish
PS- moderators, read the article and the ones it links to
---
This has nothing to do with telescopes.
But, I was reading about your Mind Pixel project and had a question:
How will GAC deal with ethical questions? For instance, what if you have a mind pixel like the following:
Stealing from another person is usually wrong:TRUE
And then what if you ask GAC a question like this:
"Is it wrong for a hungry man to steal bread to feed his family?"
What answer do you expect GAC to give? And more importantly, (because either answer could be right depending on which moral camp you hail from) will GAC choose answers to other ethical questions that are consistant with the answer he gives for that question?
wish
---
Here's the secret: You don't go to a place of higher education for the courses, you go in order to hang out with like-minded people.
And to drink beer with them.
---
when i first saw it, i thought it was pronounced "C-pound".. as if to pound c syntax into yet another new language...
---
If you're interested in putting Linux on PDAs, you might look at this stuff too:
handhelds.org: Putting Linux on iPAQ and Nino
linuxce.org: Developing a Linux Kernel for WinCE devices
linux-vr.org : running linux on your VR series device
uclinux.org: linux/microcontroller project
Yopy: Samsung's pre-installed Linux PDA with color/sound.
hope this helps the interested.
wish
---
This article at Yahoo! has some more information, and says the device has a phone and a "household organizer". It also "looks stylish" and has a "silver keyboard."
It also recommends putting it in the kitchen.
wish
---
Who does this guy think he is? You have to e-mail him and tell him why you want the program before he'll give it to you?
Sure, it's his program, and he can do with it what he wants, but it seems to be a bit pompous for him to set himself up as the moral authority on software usage.
This has to be the strangest license I have ever heard of.. call it moralware.. If I decide you're moral enough, you can use my software...
Whatever, man.. I won't be using it.. My gnutella client (gnut) gives me IP addresses anyway.
wish
---
The press release is such a big deal because they also have a picture of a Sorn.
wish
---