So my wife, being the lovely and giving person she is, bought me a copy of GTA:San Andreas... however, being the disconnected person that she sometimes is, she bought the game for a PS2, and not the Xbox which I own.
So here I site, with an un-opened copy of the PS2 version, and I call Best Buy. Now usually, my wife is great at keeping receipts, however in this case it appears that we are without. Being at the mercy of the retailer, I ask that I only be allowed to make an exchange. No go! Due to the store pulling the title, they will not offer an exchange, a store credit, or a refund.
I called Gamestop and offered to sell it to them, and because they don't accept Adult Only titles (which this box is NOT labeled as) they will not offer any value to it.
So what do I do with this? Does it now become valuable because it is unopened, and contains the Hot Coffee content, or do I throw it in the trash because I don't plan on buying a PS2... ugh!
ugh... people need to be informed about the chemistry behind what they speak of before speaking.
Freon is a generic term, loosley attached to the original liquid coolant, of R12 and slightly less so of R22. R12 is the chemical used in early model (pre 95ish) vehicles to act as a refrigerant in your A/C system. R22 is a coolant typically (and still today) used in home A/C systems. The R22 system, is similar to the same system as the one in your refrigerator (although I admit not knowing which coolant a fridge uses). In extremely rare instances do you need to recharge your refridgerator system with coolant, and only slightly moreso do you need to recharge your house's A/C system.
Newer vehicles use R134a as a replacment for the R12 system. There was another coolant that was available for a short time (and might still be) that worked in both systems, but I don't recall if it was very efficient, and it mostly served as a temporary solution for people that couldn't buy R12 (no license) and couldn't afford to buy the R134a conversions that were available.
At any rate, current R134a systems cool vehicles quite well. Come over any time, and I'll let you sit in my truck (Mazda p/u), engine at idle with the air blowing cold enough to make you want to change from your shorts back to pants...
Someone else posted the reasoning is due to the pressure needed in 134a systems, which I think explains why the early conversions couldn't keep up, the efficiency in design just wasn't there...
you're not paying attention to what is going on. The ESRB is stating that since the content was on the media, however unaccessible, from the content creator, that it is therefor part of the game, and therefor the need to re-classify it.
In your example, you have created entirely new content, from scratch, and distributed, ala PC game mod. There is a huge difference.
Personally, I don't see any significance between an M rating and an AO rating, rather silly and overly political if you ask me.
Oh well, back to my bomb making books, which my little brother just brought home from the local library...
You can perform a simple test using VLC (http://www.videolan.org/... it already has support for both Theora and Dirac transcoding.
I don't have a fast enough processor to actively test.
harryk
But then you still have the media file present on your PC, and while I would assume that it would be DRM protected, one cannot assume that it would be unbreakable.
Further, in your original thread, you commentated that if you would not be able to play it on the device of your choice, then forget it. If you are playing on a device that was distributed by Netflix (in some form or another) would said device be returned, similar in fashion to that of Time Warner STB rentals?
Because otherwise, you now have a player that is useless. I guess what I am trying to get accross is that you seem a bit closed minded in respect on how netflix will allow you to watch the downloaded media. While I think that you being able to play it any any number of devices would NOT fall under 'Fair Use', as you do-not own said media.
You are renting the media, to be played on a peice of hardware, at Netflix's discretion.
Downloaded material would have to be tracked in some form, regardless of the medium it is played back on. From a provider's point of view, I would think that restricting you to the methods on which you could play it would be a necessity.
There is a difference between Netflix and iTunes. First off, with iTunes, the idea is that you have paid for, and now own, a single copy of the song purchased.
This same does not apply to renting movies. I cannot see how you could justify any argument giving you the ability to keep a movie for longer than an allowed amount of time.
And as far as your portability concern, please share with us your vision of a mobile player that will (with DRM enabled) only allow you to view the number of movies allowed at a given time. I don't think that Netflix is going to change their service to the extent that downloaded movies can be played indefinately.
How else would Netflix ensure that you can only keep the movie for the length of the subscription?
Don't you remember how man LAN games only used IPX/SPX... there were quite a few. And today's game's might all use IP, and thats great, but lets not forget about the games of yesterday...
Unfortunately the article explains quite clearly that ALL cells require folate (folic acid), however cancer cells will eat it up like its going out of style. While some good cells will still absorb/receive the poisoned payload of the dendrimer, the cancerous cells will want to eat the absorb them first.
Once the dendrimer (the nanotech peice of the whole article) is absorbed, the folate is absorbed by the cancer cell, and then (not necessarily in this order) the methotrexate is absorbed, which is the cancer fighting drug.
The idea is that the focused (not completely, but moreso) attack on the cancer cell will reduce the side effect of the methotrexate. The problem with today's delivery method is that all cells (good and bad) are evenly targeted with methotrexate.
This is great use of an updated delivery method, but the cancer killing drug is something that has been around awhile.
Great article!
harryk
Back when I was in Houston, TX, a number of the lawfirms used a document tracking system calls DOCSOpen, (not open source as I recall)... at any rate, it was basically a DLL call that when ever you tried to Open/Save/Save As it called this third party application, that was essential a front-end to a SQL database, used for document tracking. Interesting really, slightly bloated, and the parent company offered NO suggestions on how to optimize the database.
At anyrate, that type of database gets to be rather large, fairly quickly. Essentially it just stores the location and extra meta-data about the file, revision history, user tracking, etc... but does something similar exist in an FOSS world, last time I looked it did not.
The database portion of it is relatively trivial, in that its just a tracking database, but does either OO.org or Abiword or (insert favorite WP here) have a call that will bring up an alternate save screen?
As I recall, this DOCSOpen program worked with either Word or WordPerfect applications (again, it was activated by the basic function).
Somone else beat me to this, but as a current Vonage customer I can tell you for fact that you are most definately told that 911 service is not automagically active, until you turn-on the service at the Vonage website.
Its very clear. It was included in the documentation tips for the pre-sale research I did, which everyone should be doing, and it was also included as a reminder in the actual box that I received with my ATA.
While I agree that the 911 and the Enhanced 911 service need to be more available to Vonage, I don't agree with Vonage being liable. This is not a case of false advertising.
The same holds-true with any item that you buy. If you do not familiarize yourself with the product, you cannot hold the product/service liable for your misfortune.
I send my condolences to this family, and it hits especially close to home, being from Houston and having Vonage service. I will continue to refer people to an excellent service, and will only work harder at educating people on the additional step or two that they need to take for safety.
Look at your cost of the cell phone by comparison to the cost of the Vonage unlimited plan. I too use a cell phone, but am able to keep it at a rather small plan, because I don't have to use it for my long distance calls. Moreover, because I'm able to use either, my wife and I both can be on calls to long-distance relatives (this happens more than you might imagine).
Land lines are not a thing of the past, and while I agree that mobile communications are the wave of the future, I think that your statement that VOIP is a niche is WAY off.
VoIP is a type of service, currently used to replace the local carrier for the landline service. As wireless mesh networks begin to emerge (and some are) I think you will start to see more companies comming out with VoIP enabled cordless phones.
Within the next year (this year if your eager) I believe you will be able to find a part cellular (generic term) and part VoIP phone that will be able to use either service, based on whats available. Eventually I think its the mobile service providers that will really rake in the profits for VoIP as they can build large wireless networks.
If you don't believe me, take a look at Nextel. Wanna know why the service is ONLY digital, thats right, becuase its an early implementation of VoIP. The phone is programmed with a 10.x IP address and all communications are transmitted digitally accross its network.
Its only a matter of time before other providers offer a similar technology.
OK, I didn't see anyone mention this obvious peice, but it worked for me. I simply called up Time Warner customer service and advised them that I could not afford the then $45/mo subscription to Road Runner internet access, she countered (almost immediately) with asking if I would be willing to pay for the same service at a discount... I explained that it would be hard for me to justify anything over $30/mo. She placed me on hold for a few minutes, and came back with a locked in rate of $30/mo...
Your miles may vary, but I've prompted a handful of friends to do the same thing, and Time Warner / RR were very quick to respond with discounts. Even if its a temporary reduction, you just call and ask them to do it again, it works quite well.
While there are two PCIe16 channels, when using them both in an SLI configuration, they both are dropped to half, becomming PCIe8x channels. There have been a couple of benchmarks (unable to provide link at the moment, but check Tom's Hardware) that show a performance hit when running SLI vs. Single card of the same design. Running at 16x versus 8x apparently is the issue.
Now when Nvidia and later manufactures are able to offer two isolated 16x channels, thats where you should see some siginificant performance jumps.
I've investigated going SLI, and I think at this point I've decided to pass. I will be buying a new AMD64 chip, but for the time being, I'll stick with my Geforce2MX DH Pro... yea its a really dated card, but for the games I play, it still performs. And seeing that I'll be upgrading from a Duron 700, it'll be quite the performance increase.
Yes, its still up, but to say that its current, well, thats a reach. It hasn't been updated since January 27th.
Granted thats not an age or anything, and it appears as he was moving in his last post, I'd like to see an update from him on the real scoop. Based on his writings, he appeared to like the job quite well.
which piece of hardware would you be able to supply.
I have a Mazda B2500 pickup, that I'd like to do a similar thing. I've got a basic concept of where I'd place the hardware (non-crew cab pickup, directly behind the driver seat) with wiring run through the floorboard, and back up into the console.
I am planning on doing something similar, except with more video features on my wife's Mitsubishi Galant.
Its $25 an hour, and they have to bring the PC, no cables, unless otherwise stated,) are needed. I bring the PC back to them and install it. Test what the problem was to show proof that its is fixed, and then the deal is done.
I try to educate them on the need for safe browsing habits, current antivirus subscriptions, and generally how to keep the PC in this 'working' state. When they don't follow (notice the lack of 'if') I charge them another $25/hr to fix their mistake again.
Lather Rinse Repeat...
I've made enough to pay for my Ft. Lauderdale trip with my Rugby mates this year, with enough spending money to keep my liqoured up quite well. I only operate off of referalls, and I haven't had any complaints.
The $25/hr is extremely reasonable in their minds, in that they get the PC back within 2 days generally (I only work on it at night). And since I only work off of referalls, I know that everyone has been happy with my service. I've also begun growing a bit, and expanded into small businesses. The catch there is that I only work at night for them. I explain to them up front, if you want daytime support, find a daytime contracter and pay him daytime prices. Otherwise, $25/hr is a steal in their minds. Last time, I had a client call me up in the middle of the day, about 5 minutes after talking with a 'competitor' they wanted $150/hr with a minimum 2 hour visit. She's been a client ever since, and has on numerous occasions, paid me far more than my qouted $25/hr.
Its a reasonable, number for both parties. I still do alot of work for free, but the further it gets away from that 'first person' acquaintance, its $25.
Your miles may vary, and I may be a dick, but its a good combination so far...
Thats funny, as I read the article, I thought the same exact thing. Why do people want to do everything from Earth. We've got a space station up there for the intent of learning how to live in space, why not start building in space. It really seems like the next logical step. As soon as we start using the space 'real-estate' as buildable ground, we can really start pushing ourselves further away from the planet.
Think about it, a space-based ship could survive completly on solar power, needing either no, or very little, liquid fuel to operate.
I am not a scientist, but it sure would be nice to see some deeper detail into the possibilities.
They could know by eavs-dropping on the packets comming from your IP through their network, and as well as where they are going. This would be highly immoral (illegal?) and block that traffic, or atleast downgrade the priority of that traffic.
What Vonage (and any other VoIP carrier) needs, is to have the ability to test the quality of the connection, similar to the broadband reports testing tool, but setup the tool to test specificly the ports that it intends to use.
I use Vonage, and have (I believe) prioritized the packets accordingly, but thats only as good as my LAN is concerned, once it hits the coax, its entirely in Time Warner's hands, something that I have to rely on. I have to admit, that so far Time Warner (currently offering a competing product) has not degraded my service (atleast not that I can tell) and have stuck with a very solid network.
For those that complain about uptime, I think that everyone should really look at their ISP, and complain properly. As for the reliability of the line, I use a UPS to power the cable modem, router, and telephone adapter (ATA). I've had reliable service since I started using it, and with a current uptime of over 150 days. Granted its nothing to brag about, but its been solid.
my 2 cents...
harryk
If your serious about it, then allow me to forward a referral to you. That way you get the month free, and I get a service credit equal to your plan rate.
It really works out, and personally I'd appreciate it.
email me at my yahoo account. harryk20022002
There are two or three versions, and running in a UML environment works quite well for bother userland and kernel/module development.
Its also great for 'testing' unknown software for side effects, being able to isolate the environment is really nice.
As someone who works in the financial industry, I can say that the the financial processing companies (not the FED, the people that actually do the data processing) are heaviliy firewalled, and its all on a private network. To think any other way would be ludicrous.
The parent company I work for has various divisions that specialize in each part of the banking experience, and the security in place around any of the core equipment for routing is exceptionally high.
The ATMs typically work on any of three designs, the oldest being the ones that simply use an analog line to dial up a processor, and confirm the transaction. The upgrade from that are the ones that tie into a serial connection from a router, and then back to the financial processor, these are a considerable step up, simply because the nework that the ATM resides is completly private, and no public addressing is used. The third technology (ok there may be others that I'm unaware of) is essentially the same as the serial, but uses an IP network, essentially just another terminal on the network, but again, private LAN.
The above link is a listing of various manufactures. I can attest that my former fire department used (and loved) the ISG cameras. Very stable, long battery life, and the video transmitter was great for training and live fire fighting purposes.
Slashdot Mirror
So my wife, being the lovely and giving person she is, bought me a copy of GTA:San Andreas ... however, being the disconnected person that she sometimes is, she bought the game for a PS2, and not the Xbox which I own.
... ugh!
So here I site, with an un-opened copy of the PS2 version, and I call Best Buy. Now usually, my wife is great at keeping receipts, however in this case it appears that we are without. Being at the mercy of the retailer, I ask that I only be allowed to make an exchange. No go! Due to the store pulling the title, they will not offer an exchange, a store credit, or a refund.
I called Gamestop and offered to sell it to them, and because they don't accept Adult Only titles (which this box is NOT labeled as) they will not offer any value to it.
So what do I do with this? Does it now become valuable because it is unopened, and contains the Hot Coffee content, or do I throw it in the trash because I don't plan on buying a PS2
harryk
ugh ... people need to be informed about the chemistry behind what they speak of before speaking.
Freon is a generic term, loosley attached to the original liquid coolant, of R12 and slightly less so of R22. R12 is the chemical used in early model (pre 95ish) vehicles to act as a refrigerant in your A/C system. R22 is a coolant typically (and still today) used in home A/C systems. The R22 system, is similar to the same system as the one in your refrigerator (although I admit not knowing which coolant a fridge uses). In extremely rare instances do you need to recharge your refridgerator system with coolant, and only slightly moreso do you need to recharge your house's A/C system.
Newer vehicles use R134a as a replacment for the R12 system. There was another coolant that was available for a short time (and might still be) that worked in both systems, but I don't recall if it was very efficient, and it mostly served as a temporary solution for people that couldn't buy R12 (no license) and couldn't afford to buy the R134a conversions that were available.
At any rate, current R134a systems cool vehicles quite well. Come over any time, and I'll let you sit in my truck (Mazda p/u), engine at idle with the air blowing cold enough to make you want to change from your shorts back to pants...
Someone else posted the reasoning is due to the pressure needed in 134a systems, which I think explains why the early conversions couldn't keep up, the efficiency in design just wasn't there...
my 2 cents
harryk
you're not paying attention to what is going on. The ESRB is stating that since the content was on the media, however unaccessible, from the content creator, that it is therefor part of the game, and therefor the need to re-classify it.
In your example, you have created entirely new content, from scratch, and distributed, ala PC game mod. There is a huge difference.
Personally, I don't see any significance between an M rating and an AO rating, rather silly and overly political if you ask me.
Oh well, back to my bomb making books, which my little brother just brought home from the local library...
You can perform a simple test using VLC (http://www.videolan.org/ ... it already has support for both Theora and Dirac transcoding.
I don't have a fast enough processor to actively test.
harryk
But then you still have the media file present on your PC, and while I would assume that it would be DRM protected, one cannot assume that it would be unbreakable. Further, in your original thread, you commentated that if you would not be able to play it on the device of your choice, then forget it. If you are playing on a device that was distributed by Netflix (in some form or another) would said device be returned, similar in fashion to that of Time Warner STB rentals? Because otherwise, you now have a player that is useless. I guess what I am trying to get accross is that you seem a bit closed minded in respect on how netflix will allow you to watch the downloaded media. While I think that you being able to play it any any number of devices would NOT fall under 'Fair Use', as you do-not own said media. You are renting the media, to be played on a peice of hardware, at Netflix's discretion. Downloaded material would have to be tracked in some form, regardless of the medium it is played back on. From a provider's point of view, I would think that restricting you to the methods on which you could play it would be a necessity.
There is a difference between Netflix and iTunes. First off, with iTunes, the idea is that you have paid for, and now own, a single copy of the song purchased.
This same does not apply to renting movies. I cannot see how you could justify any argument giving you the ability to keep a movie for longer than an allowed amount of time.
And as far as your portability concern, please share with us your vision of a mobile player that will (with DRM enabled) only allow you to view the number of movies allowed at a given time. I don't think that Netflix is going to change their service to the extent that downloaded movies can be played indefinately.
How else would Netflix ensure that you can only keep the movie for the length of the subscription?
The place where this is happening. The best that I can offer is my outrage at this, as I cannot even fathom this comming into play ...
The following is a list of email addresses that you may find useful:
City Manager - Richard Brown rbrown@ci.new-london.ct.us
City Council:
Mayor
Jane L. Glover 860-442-6296
kente219@aol.com
Deputy Mayor
William S. Morse 860-442-0233
billmorse1956@hotmail.com
Councilor
Jason Catala 860-447-3848
Jason_CatalaBOE@yahoo.com
Councilor
Margaret Mary Curtin 860-443-0373
pegcurtin@snet.net
Councilor
Gerard J. Gaynor 860-443-6346
Gjgdeacon@aol.com
Councilor
Robert Pero 860-447-2723
pero6_98@yahoo.com
Councilor
Elizabeth Sabilia 860-437-8031
Sabilia@sdwllc.com
I would suggest everyone writing any of the above, and let them know how displeased you are with thier actions.
What, your kidding right?!
... there were quite a few. And today's game's might all use IP, and thats great, but lets not forget about the games of yesterday...
Don't you remember how man LAN games only used IPX/SPX
Unfortunately the article explains quite clearly that ALL cells require folate (folic acid), however cancer cells will eat it up like its going out of style. While some good cells will still absorb/receive the poisoned payload of the dendrimer, the cancerous cells will want to eat the absorb them first. Once the dendrimer (the nanotech peice of the whole article) is absorbed, the folate is absorbed by the cancer cell, and then (not necessarily in this order) the methotrexate is absorbed, which is the cancer fighting drug. The idea is that the focused (not completely, but moreso) attack on the cancer cell will reduce the side effect of the methotrexate. The problem with today's delivery method is that all cells (good and bad) are evenly targeted with methotrexate. This is great use of an updated delivery method, but the cancer killing drug is something that has been around awhile. Great article! harryk
What would you pay for a dedicated backend/frontend system?
Would you be willing to buy a backend/frontend combo, and then buy additional frontend systems for additional rooms?
I'm looking for feed back, as I am working with a small group of people to develop exactly this.
I'm interested in your feedback.
Back when I was in Houston, TX, a number of the lawfirms used a document tracking system calls DOCSOpen, (not open source as I recall) ... at any rate, it was basically a DLL call that when ever you tried to Open/Save/Save As it called this third party application, that was essential a front-end to a SQL database, used for document tracking. Interesting really, slightly bloated, and the parent company offered NO suggestions on how to optimize the database.
At anyrate, that type of database gets to be rather large, fairly quickly. Essentially it just stores the location and extra meta-data about the file, revision history, user tracking, etc... but does something similar exist in an FOSS world, last time I looked it did not.
The database portion of it is relatively trivial, in that its just a tracking database, but does either OO.org or Abiword or (insert favorite WP here) have a call that will bring up an alternate save screen?
As I recall, this DOCSOpen program worked with either Word or WordPerfect applications (again, it was activated by the basic function).
harryk
Somone else beat me to this, but as a current Vonage customer I can tell you for fact that you are most definately told that 911 service is not automagically active, until you turn-on the service at the Vonage website.
Its very clear. It was included in the documentation tips for the pre-sale research I did, which everyone should be doing, and it was also included as a reminder in the actual box that I received with my ATA.
While I agree that the 911 and the Enhanced 911 service need to be more available to Vonage, I don't agree with Vonage being liable. This is not a case of false advertising.
The same holds-true with any item that you buy. If you do not familiarize yourself with the product, you cannot hold the product/service liable for your misfortune.
I send my condolences to this family, and it hits especially close to home, being from Houston and having Vonage service. I will continue to refer people to an excellent service, and will only work harder at educating people on the additional step or two that they need to take for safety.
my 2 bits...
harryk
Look at your cost of the cell phone by comparison to the cost of the Vonage unlimited plan. I too use a cell phone, but am able to keep it at a rather small plan, because I don't have to use it for my long distance calls. Moreover, because I'm able to use either, my wife and I both can be on calls to long-distance relatives (this happens more than you might imagine).
Land lines are not a thing of the past, and while I agree that mobile communications are the wave of the future, I think that your statement that VOIP is a niche is WAY off.
VoIP is a type of service, currently used to replace the local carrier for the landline service. As wireless mesh networks begin to emerge (and some are) I think you will start to see more companies comming out with VoIP enabled cordless phones.
Within the next year (this year if your eager) I believe you will be able to find a part cellular (generic term) and part VoIP phone that will be able to use either service, based on whats available. Eventually I think its the mobile service providers that will really rake in the profits for VoIP as they can build large wireless networks.
If you don't believe me, take a look at Nextel. Wanna know why the service is ONLY digital, thats right, becuase its an early implementation of VoIP. The phone is programmed with a 10.x IP address and all communications are transmitted digitally accross its network.
Its only a matter of time before other providers offer a similar technology.
harryk
my 2 cents
OK, I didn't see anyone mention this obvious peice, but it worked for me. I simply called up Time Warner customer service and advised them that I could not afford the then $45/mo subscription to Road Runner internet access, she countered (almost immediately) with asking if I would be willing to pay for the same service at a discount ... I explained that it would be hard for me to justify anything over $30/mo. She placed me on hold for a few minutes, and came back with a locked in rate of $30/mo ...
Your miles may vary, but I've prompted a handful of friends to do the same thing, and Time Warner / RR were very quick to respond with discounts. Even if its a temporary reduction, you just call and ask them to do it again, it works quite well.
While there are two PCIe16 channels, when using them both in an SLI configuration, they both are dropped to half, becomming PCIe8x channels. There have been a couple of benchmarks (unable to provide link at the moment, but check Tom's Hardware) that show a performance hit when running SLI vs. Single card of the same design. Running at 16x versus 8x apparently is the issue.
Now when Nvidia and later manufactures are able to offer two isolated 16x channels, thats where you should see some siginificant performance jumps.
I've investigated going SLI, and I think at this point I've decided to pass. I will be buying a new AMD64 chip, but for the time being, I'll stick with my Geforce2MX DH Pro... yea its a really dated card, but for the games I play, it still performs. And seeing that I'll be upgrading from a Duron 700, it'll be quite the performance increase.
ymmv...
harryk
Yes, its still up, but to say that its current, well, thats a reach. It hasn't been updated since January 27th.
Granted thats not an age or anything, and it appears as he was moving in his last post, I'd like to see an update from him on the real scoop. Based on his writings, he appeared to like the job quite well.
harryk
which piece of hardware would you be able to supply.
I have a Mazda B2500 pickup, that I'd like to do a similar thing. I've got a basic concept of where I'd place the hardware (non-crew cab pickup, directly behind the driver seat) with wiring run through the floorboard, and back up into the console.
I am planning on doing something similar, except with more video features on my wife's Mitsubishi Galant.
Both vehicles are 1999.
Let me know how interested you would be.
Regards,
harryk
Its $25 an hour, and they have to bring the PC, no cables, unless otherwise stated,) are needed. I bring the PC back to them and install it. Test what the problem was to show proof that its is fixed, and then the deal is done.
I try to educate them on the need for safe browsing habits, current antivirus subscriptions, and generally how to keep the PC in this 'working' state. When they don't follow (notice the lack of 'if') I charge them another $25/hr to fix their mistake again.
Lather
Rinse
Repeat...
I've made enough to pay for my Ft. Lauderdale trip with my Rugby mates this year, with enough spending money to keep my liqoured up quite well. I only operate off of referalls, and I haven't had any complaints.
The $25/hr is extremely reasonable in their minds, in that they get the PC back within 2 days generally (I only work on it at night). And since I only work off of referalls, I know that everyone has been happy with my service. I've also begun growing a bit, and expanded into small businesses. The catch there is that I only work at night for them. I explain to them up front, if you want daytime support, find a daytime contracter and pay him daytime prices. Otherwise, $25/hr is a steal in their minds. Last time, I had a client call me up in the middle of the day, about 5 minutes after talking with a 'competitor' they wanted $150/hr with a minimum 2 hour visit. She's been a client ever since, and has on numerous occasions, paid me far more than my qouted $25/hr.
Its a reasonable, number for both parties. I still do alot of work for free, but the further it gets away from that 'first person' acquaintance, its $25.
Your miles may vary, and I may be a dick, but its a good combination so far...
harryk
Thats funny, as I read the article, I thought the same exact thing. Why do people want to do everything from Earth. We've got a space station up there for the intent of learning how to live in space, why not start building in space. It really seems like the next logical step. As soon as we start using the space 'real-estate' as buildable ground, we can really start pushing ourselves further away from the planet.
Think about it, a space-based ship could survive completly on solar power, needing either no, or very little, liquid fuel to operate.
I am not a scientist, but it sure would be nice to see some deeper detail into the possibilities.
They could know by eavs-dropping on the packets comming from your IP through their network, and as well as where they are going. This would be highly immoral (illegal?) and block that traffic, or atleast downgrade the priority of that traffic. What Vonage (and any other VoIP carrier) needs, is to have the ability to test the quality of the connection, similar to the broadband reports testing tool, but setup the tool to test specificly the ports that it intends to use. I use Vonage, and have (I believe) prioritized the packets accordingly, but thats only as good as my LAN is concerned, once it hits the coax, its entirely in Time Warner's hands, something that I have to rely on. I have to admit, that so far Time Warner (currently offering a competing product) has not degraded my service (atleast not that I can tell) and have stuck with a very solid network. For those that complain about uptime, I think that everyone should really look at their ISP, and complain properly. As for the reliability of the line, I use a UPS to power the cable modem, router, and telephone adapter (ATA). I've had reliable service since I started using it, and with a current uptime of over 150 days. Granted its nothing to brag about, but its been solid. my 2 cents... harryk
If your serious about it, then allow me to forward a referral to you. That way you get the month free, and I get a service credit equal to your plan rate. It really works out, and personally I'd appreciate it. email me at my yahoo account. harryk20022002
There are two or three versions, and running in a UML environment works quite well for bother userland and kernel/module development. Its also great for 'testing' unknown software for side effects, being able to isolate the environment is really nice.
As someone who works in the financial industry, I can say that the the financial processing companies (not the FED, the people that actually do the data processing) are heaviliy firewalled, and its all on a private network. To think any other way would be ludicrous.
The parent company I work for has various divisions that specialize in each part of the banking experience, and the security in place around any of the core equipment for routing is exceptionally high.
The ATMs typically work on any of three designs, the oldest being the ones that simply use an analog line to dial up a processor, and confirm the transaction. The upgrade from that are the ones that tie into a serial connection from a router, and then back to the financial processor, these are a considerable step up, simply because the nework that the ATM resides is completly private, and no public addressing is used. The third technology (ok there may be others that I'm unaware of) is essentially the same as the serial, but uses an IP network, essentially just another terminal on the network, but again, private LAN.
Just thought I'd share my 2 cents.
harryk
The SS1 is on its glide approach back to mohjave desert. Congrats guys!
There are a number of manufactures that make them for fire department use already. Check out a link here:
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http://buyersguide.firehouse.com/buyersguide/Subc
The above link is a listing of various manufactures. I can attest that my former fire department used (and loved) the ISG cameras. Very stable, long battery life, and the video transmitter was great for training and live fire fighting purposes.
I applaud this technology as a great achievment!