Why does this story read like Ad Copy? Could it be that an Ad Plant made it onto the/. front page? Or perhaps they just have really enthusiastic customers.......then again, everyone I've known who has had Sprint PCS has felt like throwing their phones under a bus - I've never known anyone happy with that service (bad service areas, weird fees, crappy service reps, etc etc)
Using an iDisk for distribution like this is silly - I'm sure that the bandwidth allocation has already expired. Linking to an iDisk from/. is like linking to Geocities or something - it's a waste of time. Instead, why not ask Apple to host the file in the software section of idisk?
It is much better that they do it this way than a bandwidth cap / per MB charges. I'd much rather choose a connection speed / price tiered plan than be thinking about how many MBs I have used each month, tracking them like minutes on my cell phone plan.
Tiered access is a reality; now hopefully they will introduce a cheaper, low speed plan (like perhaps 500k u, 100k d, for $30/month)...
I made a 200mb disc image using Apple's (built in) Disk Copy app, and enabled the encryption options. I keep sensitive docs and client notes on it; whenever I need it, I open the disk image, type my passphrase and the disk pops up like any other removable media.
When I'm finished, I just eject it. How secure is this? I'm not sure what function Disk Copy uses for encryption, but it is enough that if my laptop were stolen, I'd worry about the computer, not the data.
The article touches on this briefly, but this raises the pressing question of what to do with computers once their usable life has expired... I think that the average user of home computer tends to dismiss this because he or she would only dispose of a single computer every several years, at most. In aggregate, however, the effect of lead, mercury, and other computer components could be devastating.
Add to this that almost all of the computer disposal services I have seen to date are pay-based services; asking people to chip in $40-$50 to dispose of an old computer will provide too great an incentive to simply trash the thing, methinks...
"Sir: Please turn your cell phone off or leave the cinema" - the usher
or:
"Turn that damn thing OFF!" - me
I remember reading a story of about a man talking on a cell phone on a ski gondola at a resort in Aspen. Another man, sitting next to him, asked him quietly how much the phone (a new, state of the art model) had cost. When the first man replied "Four hundred dollars," the second snatched it, threw it out the window of the gondola, and calmly handed him four Ben Franklins.
...at least for Cox subscribers; basically, basic cable costs $10-month. 'net costs $40-month. BUT if you subscribe to basic cable, they give you a $10 discount, so 'net costs $30 + $10 for basic TV = $40.
In this case, you would gain nothing by splitting the cable and canceling the TV contract, because you would just pay the difference for the 'net connection. I now understand why they chose this price arrangement in the first place. Now, with a descrambler box, things change...
I'm not too familiar with the specifics of this case, but it raises an interesting discussion of the design of use doctrine; basically, it says that someone can not commit trespass when they use a public facility as it is designed to be used. Granted, most of this applies to brick-and-mortar matters, but I think it translates to the electronic world. You can't be arrested for trespass for walking into Macdonald's and ordering at the counter. On the other hand, you could be arrested for breaking open the back door and going into the kitchen. Someone can't be arrested for trespasrsing at your house if they come up and ring the doorbell - until you tell them to leave. The same goes at Mcdonalds- they could ask you to leave, and if you don't, you could then be arrested for trespass. But until that point, you can't be charged.
How does this translate to the electronic world? Sending someone an email can't be trespass, because an email server is a gateway, just like a public restaurant. But what if they ask you not to do it anymore? Then, I suppose, you are using their facilities against their will... interesting stuff!
"the lowest bidder cannot be trusted to create products that are safe."
Crap! If the lowest bid is for an unsafe product, then it isn't a bid for the project... If someone accepts a bid for what is essentially something other than the project for which they requested bids (i.e., an unsafe version of the goal) then they are foolish; corporations running amuck have nothing to do with it.
It's easy to associate low price = low quality, but that simply is too simple. After all, many of the greatest foulups are when a nonlow bid is chosen for 'political' reasons.
There is one of these that operates on Narrahgansett Bay, where I live in Rhode Island. I should say, operated, because last summer it hit a wave and crashed. The pilot and passenger were bruised, but OK - the Coast Guard managed to pull them out before the thing sank.
They can install one in my car... ...when they pry the steering wheel from my cold, dead hands.
Seriously, though, in my state (and most others) insurance is mandatory. Now, suppose that in order to get insurance one needs to install this box. Suddenly, the box is mandatory, if not explicitly so...
Once again, perhaps the best solution is a pair of wire cutters... until the state makes it illegal to tamper with these, like it is with odometers.
AfterDark for Mac OS used to have a feature like this; you could select an image, and you would have to click on a certain part of it, optionally holding down a control-key combo, to unlock the screen saver, rather than type a password.
The 1400 number is a bit sketchy; I think to assume that SPAM will continue to grow at a current rate for four years is more than a bit unreasonable.
On the contrary, I think one of two things will happen:
1. SPAM will explode long before 2006 - the number of messages will grow to such an extent that a political solution will become unavoidable. In effect, the SPAMers will SPAM themselves out of existence - but not without paralyzing the net for some time.
2. SPAM click rates will continue to fall, and bandwidth costs will soar, so eventually the point will be reached that most SPAM will no longer be viable economically- this may be some time away, but I think it is certainly a possibility.
Even if costs increase, something tells me that 1) is far more likely to occur than 2)..... But the most likely thing to happen will be that I move to a address-book-only-accepted mailbox setup... Sigh.....
Make some stray marks with a pen or marker around the bar code. That will prevent the machine from being able to read it. They'll try to scan it a few times, it won't work, so they'll just look at the birthdate - and you won't be databased.
ID cards, after all, live in wallets, purses, etc., and are bound to get scratched up in every day use. There will be no way to tell that you sped up that process.
When it comes to the point that a RF chip is in the card, and a non-funtioning card must be replaced... well, that's when it will be time for a new game plan.
A broadcast technology like TV or Radio will ALWAYS scale better than a point-to-point technology like Telephone, TCP/IP, SMS, etc.
The best information distribution would be if there was a way to send a message to every phone in the country - to make them all ring at the same time - but that isn't possible with the way switches work.
This technology will never be useful for 'breaking' news distribution, like "GET OUT OF TOWN - TORNADO!" but rather could be useful for managing the long term (i.e., several days - weeks) effect of a massive attack (terrorist, military, or otherwise) on the nation's information systems.
Slashdot Mirror
Why does this story read like Ad Copy? Could it be that an Ad Plant made it onto the /. front page? Or perhaps they just have really enthusiastic customers.... ...then again, everyone I've known who has had Sprint PCS has felt like throwing their phones under a bus - I've never known anyone happy with that service (bad service areas, weird fees, crappy service reps, etc etc)
I'll sign up - just for the interesting conversations with the FEDEX driver then they deliver the cadaver to my home every few months...
"You know there is a dead body in here, right?"
Using an iDisk for distribution like this is silly - I'm sure that the bandwidth allocation has already expired. Linking to an iDisk from /. is like linking to Geocities or something - it's a waste of time. Instead, why not ask Apple to host the file in the software section of idisk?
At least it is on SF as well...
It is much better that they do it this way than a bandwidth cap / per MB charges. I'd much rather choose a connection speed / price tiered plan than be thinking about how many MBs I have used each month, tracking them like minutes on my cell phone plan.
Tiered access is a reality; now hopefully they will introduce a cheaper, low speed plan (like perhaps 500k u, 100k d, for $30/month)...
I made a 200mb disc image using Apple's (built in) Disk Copy app, and enabled the encryption options. I keep sensitive docs and client notes on it; whenever I need it, I open the disk image, type my passphrase and the disk pops up like any other removable media.
When I'm finished, I just eject it. How secure is this? I'm not sure what function Disk Copy uses for encryption, but it is enough that if my laptop were stolen, I'd worry about the computer, not the data.
The article touches on this briefly, but this raises the pressing question of what to do with computers once their usable life has expired... I think that the average user of home computer tends to dismiss this because he or she would only dispose of a single computer every several years, at most. In aggregate, however, the effect of lead, mercury, and other computer components could be devastating.
Add to this that almost all of the computer disposal services I have seen to date are pay-based services; asking people to chip in $40-$50 to dispose of an old computer will provide too great an incentive to simply trash the thing, methinks...
Save yourself the trouble. Really. It's just not worth it:
Here.
Really. The way is it supposed to be done.
I have an even lower-tech solution:
"Sir: Please turn your cell phone off or leave the cinema" - the usher
or:
"Turn that damn thing OFF!" - me
I remember reading a story of about a man talking on a cell phone on a ski gondola at a resort in Aspen. Another man, sitting next to him, asked him quietly how much the phone (a new, state of the art model) had cost. When the first man replied "Four hundred dollars," the second snatched it, threw it out the window of the gondola, and calmly handed him four Ben Franklins.
They might be able to afford dialup...
but most can't afford a COMPUTER!
Read the damn CNN link, for god's sake,
...cause the same thing worked *so* well for Napster!
AudioGalaxy is dead.
Give a big enough empty parking lot and a blind man can drive WITHOUT an operation!
...at least for Cox subscribers; basically, basic cable costs $10-month. 'net costs $40-month. BUT if you subscribe to basic cable, they give you a $10 discount, so 'net costs $30 + $10 for basic TV = $40.
In this case, you would gain nothing by splitting the cable and canceling the TV contract, because you would just pay the difference for the 'net connection. I now understand why they chose this price arrangement in the first place. Now, with a descrambler box, things change...
I'm not too familiar with the specifics of this case, but it raises an interesting discussion of the design of use doctrine; basically, it says that someone can not commit trespass when they use a public facility as it is designed to be used. Granted, most of this applies to brick-and-mortar matters, but I think it translates to the electronic world. You can't be arrested for trespass for walking into Macdonald's and ordering at the counter. On the other hand, you could be arrested for breaking open the back door and going into the kitchen. Someone can't be arrested for trespasrsing at your house if they come up and ring the doorbell - until you tell them to leave. The same goes at Mcdonalds- they could ask you to leave, and if you don't, you could then be arrested for trespass. But until that point, you can't be charged.
How does this translate to the electronic world? Sending someone an email can't be trespass, because an email server is a gateway, just like a public restaurant. But what if they ask you not to do it anymore? Then, I suppose, you are using their facilities against their will... interesting stuff!
That is quite a typical knee-jerk response.
"the lowest bidder cannot be trusted to create products that are safe."
Crap! If the lowest bid is for an unsafe product, then it isn't a bid for the project... If someone accepts a bid for what is essentially something other than the project for which they requested bids (i.e., an unsafe version of the goal) then they are foolish; corporations running amuck have nothing to do with it.
It's easy to associate low price = low quality, but that simply is too simple. After all, many of the greatest foulups are when a nonlow bid is chosen for 'political' reasons.
There is one of these that operates on Narrahgansett Bay, where I live in Rhode Island. I should say, operated, because last summer it hit a wave and crashed. The pilot and passenger were bruised, but OK - the Coast Guard managed to pull them out before the thing sank.
How about carrying themes for Apple's Mac OS X? Expanding the platform reach is never a bad thing...
Remember those little stickers on the CD-ROM pouches? You have already agreed to read the agreement.
Your script needs to be able to display the EULA, and get past it w/o cliking "agree" or whatever.
They can install one in my car...
...when they pry the steering wheel from my cold, dead hands.
Seriously, though, in my state (and most others) insurance is mandatory. Now, suppose that in order to get insurance one needs to install this box. Suddenly, the box is mandatory, if not explicitly so...
Once again, perhaps the best solution is a pair of wire cutters... until the state makes it illegal to tamper with these, like it is with odometers.
I'm afriad that this just isn't outragous enough for 4/1 ...... now if it had been a MS ad...
I write comments on Slashdot.... is it really that much different?
At least the automated replies *acknowledge* that they don't read what I write...
AfterDark for Mac OS used to have a feature like this; you could select an image, and you would have to click on a certain part of it, optionally holding down a control-key combo, to unlock the screen saver, rather than type a password.
The 1400 number is a bit sketchy; I think to assume that SPAM will continue to grow at a current rate for four years is more than a bit unreasonable.
On the contrary, I think one of two things will happen:
1. SPAM will explode long before 2006 - the number of messages will grow to such an extent that a political solution will become unavoidable. In effect, the SPAMers will SPAM themselves out of existence - but not without paralyzing the net for some time.
2. SPAM click rates will continue to fall, and bandwidth costs will soar, so eventually the point will be reached that most SPAM will no longer be viable economically- this may be some time away, but I think it is certainly a possibility.
Even if costs increase, something tells me that 1) is far more likely to occur than 2)..... But the most likely thing to happen will be that I move to a address-book-only-accepted mailbox setup... Sigh.....
Make some stray marks with a pen or marker around the bar code. That will prevent the machine from being able to read it. They'll try to scan it a few times, it won't work, so they'll just look at the birthdate - and you won't be databased.
... well, that's when it will be time for a new game plan.
ID cards, after all, live in wallets, purses, etc., and are bound to get scratched up in every day use. There will be no way to tell that you sped up that process.
When it comes to the point that a RF chip is in the card, and a non-funtioning card must be replaced
As he is being sucked into a black hole, homer says:
"Doh! I should have read that book by that wheel-chair guy!"
A broadcast technology like TV or Radio will ALWAYS scale better than a point-to-point technology like Telephone, TCP/IP, SMS, etc.
The best information distribution would be if there was a way to send a message to every phone in the country - to make them all ring at the same time - but that isn't possible with the way switches work.
This technology will never be useful for 'breaking' news distribution, like "GET OUT OF TOWN - TORNADO!" but rather could be useful for managing the long term (i.e., several days - weeks) effect of a massive attack (terrorist, military, or otherwise) on the nation's information systems.