I just retired my $2000 combo of a seperate decoder (Denon AC-3), seperate amp (Adcom GFA-6000 5 channel), and Polk RT-12 tower speakers.
This is not to brag! On the contrary, It was a mistake!
I've replaced the $2k bohemoth, with many remotes and no soft-power with the SONY STR-DB940, which has a learning remote, soft power, great sound, and is very user friendly. Thus far, the included remote: turns on and controls:
* Denon CD-player (10 year old)
* Mitsubishi TV (10 year old)
* Sony DVD-player
For Speakers I switched to:
* Energy e:XL15s for the front
* Enercy e:XLC for the center
* Polk PSW250 for the subwoofer
and have never been happier...
I didn't expect the perfectly clean static-free signal that I got from my seperates, but at all normal listening volume, the sound is equal or better than my previous system. The sound for movies (with the subwoofer and center channel) is far superior to the previous setup. For music, it's not as good as before, but my system is nearly invisible to guests!
Keep it simple, usable, and don't mortgage your house for ultimate sound. Check out One Call for savings of usually 25 percent off of local theifs like the good guys
It is more important to me to protect myself from having FBI agents (not bureaucrats, agents) reading my shopping list...
Do you really believe they are going to tap you ?
Cmon people - get serious for a change. Consider this:
* How expensive is it for the FBI to enter your home, place a physical tap on your computer, and monitor it for months?
* How likely is it that they will be tapping people for no good reason?
I am an advocate for privacy, and this isn't Carnivore - it's a local one-time tap, on one-individual's typing!
Microsoft has kept its outdated metaphors in its graphical interfaces, yet changed basic functionality and flow with every other release. This is confusing to common users and expert users alike!
I have studied "HCI" - human computer interaction, and know that the only thing big icons are good for are:
(a) poor eyesight (common among older people)
(b) increasing mouse click speed which has become a mute point with all but the newest users, and modern optical mice.
I wish Microsoft would focus on either real innovation or real stability / reliability for the common user. Time and time-again I see the non-technical people at my past two jobs struggling with Windows.
Just because slashdot readers are comfortable with software/hardware installation, many users can't even figure out how to install a network printer - perhaps one of the most common complaints that our IS manager receives are the new hires !@#$ing up their printer settings. Then, there's the travelling consultants - have they ever been able to plug into another network without 2+ reboots, and a call to tech-support?
Now, I'm on win2k, and most of my games are broken, and my Cyborg 3D digital joystick is completely unsupported. I'm sure someone will flame this, as win2k isn't the 'gaming' platform, but let's face it - some developers play games, and Microsoft shouldn't disable 1 year old hardware with every release! I swear Microsoft not only want's your upgrade dollar$, they want licenses of their APIs by hardware companies with each release!!!
1st - please don't flame, the article is worth reading, but I disagree with it.
quote: In the past, contracts and signed agreements have been used primarily to protect the individuals involved from legal action.
Maybe this is just a difference in terms, but most contracts protect corporations, not individuals / consumers.
quote: They are now being used like a spider web. After they catch somebody, their purpose is to keep them subscribing/paying/buying their stuff, even if you don't want it anymore.
Yes, this is one way to look at it, but the purpose of these contracts is to ensure the revenue flow, and financial projections of a corporation. I think you'll agree that these companies are not trying to make you buy things you don't want (although that may be the case), however stock analysts require that a company can show recurring revenue.
Heck, even our security company (i.e. physical card-key/camera security) required a 5-year term as they were planning on going public! I do agree that there are many copycat companies to the "free computer with 5 years internet", however there are hundreds of other corporations that simply seek a viable business model in this economy.
The point in this response is that:
1. Lawyers write contracts
2. Lawyers work for corporations
3. Corporations want their stock to go up
4. Recurring revenue is one of the highest ranked factors of stock valuation.
5. New Economy service companies can't survive without recurring revenue.
Unfortunately, we'll see this more an more, for everything from long distance telephone service, to airlines (miles extended to complete loyalty etc...), to grocery stores...
Hello Boys & Girls HTML, and everything on your screen is binary! Binary redistribution, while conventionally thought of as 'compiled code', is not soo different from HTML.
Think about java class files that can be easily de-compiled, or Java files that can be compiled!!!
Can you simply de-compile a binary java file, re-compile it, and distribute that, without violating the GPL?
Any serious judge, or jury with industry knowledge, will know that everything stored, trasmitted, operated on, etc... is binary
Sometimes, slashdot is quite immature. Finding theoretical loopholes is lame. How many people want the wrath of the open-source community, or for that matter: the negative publicity.
Nanotech is an incredible thing. If you read Age of Spiritual Machines, by Kurzwiel, you'll get an awesome insight into how nano will change our world.
The real problem is with nano-terrorism. Think about it: Will governments *not* make self-replicating (non-restricted-growth) nano-bots, when terrorists will likely be able to for near no-cost?
And... if you trust governments to handle this tech, you should better trust the scientists researching it in the more open public sector.
With nanotech, the human experience from work, health, death, knowledge... can all change for the better. (not just from Kurzwiel's influence).
With terrorists & a trend of open technology, I can see that nanotech will never be able to be controlled like the US has done such a secure job with, say drugs. Terrorists will have access to nanotech, and the question is will they use it, and will the masses have any defence from it.
Now: back to science. While it will be important to wire in some of the " precautions " from the guidelines published, they are mostly obvious, and most likely useless for any real university lab with actual scientists (ie: not just a bunch of techies reading slashdot...)
All that said - even with infinite computation power, the largest problem in creating useful nanobots will be programming them to do anything *useful*.
Rosler is not an object oriented trailblazer, nor is he out to prevent good innovation. Instead, he supports good languages that help do useful things.
I've worked on massive multi-platform efforts at Oracle, and have to say that C is a great language for this. It is extremely compatible across platforms.
Perl, although supporting some object behaviour, is capable of anything Rosler has needed from it. He (and many others) don't need heirarchy to write a simple web app, nor to format / translate data.
Already, Perl has helped solve many simple development issues where I have worked. Although there is a cutting edge of enhanced Perl, the current 5.xxx library is quite mature. For tasks that don't require threading etc... simply use the tried and true Perl.
I have used PacBell DSL for a year now, as well as several friends with their multi-IP setup hosting small personal web-sites. IMHO, you have little to gain from going to a third party provider, as the DSL link is little more than an IP address, and the physical wire. PacBell basically rips you off, by providing a 3MB mail account, and a 3MB web-site for the $10/mo that they charge you, but it's clear that they own the pipe, and leave little if any room for a third party to get involved in the DSL $$$ action
Get realistic here: Even though they're a monopoly, they are providing a service not too different from regular phone service. You pay them for the pipe, and if you want fancy news-server access (think: long distance carrier / other value added voice-phone services), you pay them the mandatory $10 for it.
I think many of the posts are arguing the legal/ethical nature of the original posts.
The fundamental issue here is freedom of speech, pure and simple.
There are myriad of ways that I can send illegal information: Phone, Mail, Modem, DSL/Cable, Carrier Pigion, or maybe even Slashdot. One could even post the code to DeCSS on the wall in a bathroom of a nightclub. Now ask yourself: If censorship applies to an island of free speech, where doesn't it apply?
I believe that the only censorship ever allowed, must be users' ability to revoke their comments when contacted directly. Honestly: I'm not sure how to deal with anonymous users...
Freedom of speech is critical to: Innovation Whistle Blowing ie: Tobacco(health), Nike(slave labor), etc...
Oh, don't forget: That small document: The Constitution
While this may be an Ellison venture, think about this:
Ellison is Oracle, at least as far as being the largest investor, and having the the most influence there.
Thin Clients are perhaps the most likely way for Oracle to expand. They are a potentially huge market, and happen to be one that I don't see the need for...
regarding their running linux: Simply ask yourself what the probability is that they will really sell fully enabled un-restricted linux boxes for $199. Dozens of companies are now taking advantage of linux as a cheap embedded/customizable OS. Simply announcing "powered by linux" isn't enough.
After working at Oracle a mere few months, I can say that this is neither the emphasis of the company, nor will it likely be a large profit center. At a meeting with the charged Ellison, you could easily see how excited he was about large dB backed thin-client devices.
This is a cash-cowwannabe that they have attempted several times. Think about it - this device will suffer from the same thing as all other NCs. Without a paid-for monthly recurring expense you will have an essentially useless device.
The alternative is to hack these to run linux, in which case they will be half the speed for half the cost of recent The corporate world is too pig-headed to use linux/Macintosh where appropriate, ie: servers & simple/"thin-clients" and has decided on Windows for everything.
It is unlikely that they will ever make money or market-penetration with NCs.
Is anybody else tired of all these linux vaperware hardware devices?
come on - let's get real!
I'm sick of reading about such a wide variety of linux devices, only to find out that most actual implementations are for things like set-top boxes, that are intended/most-likely to be un-usable for typical current linux users.
I'd like to see: 1 Cheap linux boxes, with nice form factors, both for current linux users, and new potential users. I know many Mac people, nearly all of whom desire linux boxes, but don't want a large beige box sitting in their rooms. Perhaps someone could actually produce the linux devices they're marketing, and then I predict that the linux device market will truely flourish.
As long as it really takes a 50lb, 20"x10"x20" box to cheaply run linux, there will be no incredible OSS contributions to things like wearables, and car/portable linux devices.
I too agree: these version numbers are getting somewhat inhibiting. If I was new to Linux and reading, I'd think that Mandrake was the "latest & greatest" and that might give this distro. a leg-up.
Also, can someone finally rationally explain the case/goodness in Mandrake vs. any other distro? I've heard + read that it comes with some "ad-ons", but RedHat has been more than enough for myself & others...
This is an appropriate response to changing times. It is clear that governments need to preserve both the privacy, and retreivability of information. What the bill attempts to ensure, is that (1) France has a secure electronic infrastructure and (2) The French People (& Goverment) will have access indefinitely to their public records.
ps. Anyone have problems reading MS-Word files since the upgrade(s) to office2k???
I don't understand the entire cpu based debate After all, my celeron 366 is plenty fast, considering 96MB of ram, DSL, nice Sony monitor, and lack of anything even resembling a "win-modem". People should: (a) consider linux or (b) build a well thought-out computer that meets their needs. ie: ram, disk, network, display
Thus far, the posts have described how SBCs are mostly *not* for a typical/. reader. Does anyone know what is the cheapest/most likely/. reader-level SBC company out there. One great use for these was already mentioned, but I must say again: Having a multinode cluster in a small apartment without taking over a room would be great!
Slashdot Mirror
I just retired my $2000 combo of a seperate decoder (Denon AC-3), seperate amp (Adcom GFA-6000 5 channel), and Polk RT-12 tower speakers.
This is not to brag! On the contrary, It was a mistake!
I've replaced the $2k bohemoth, with many remotes and no soft-power with the SONY STR-DB940, which has a learning remote, soft power, great sound, and is very user friendly. Thus far, the included remote:
turns on and controls:
* Denon CD-player (10 year old)
* Mitsubishi TV (10 year old)
* Sony DVD-player
For Speakers I switched to:
* Energy e:XL15s for the front
* Enercy e:XLC for the center
* Polk PSW250 for the subwoofer
and have never been happier...
I didn't expect the perfectly clean static-free signal that I got from my seperates, but at all normal listening volume, the sound is equal or better than my previous system. The sound for movies (with the subwoofer and center channel) is far superior to the previous setup. For music, it's not as good as before, but my system is nearly invisible to guests!
Keep it simple, usable, and don't mortgage your house for ultimate sound. Check out One Call for savings of usually 25 percent off of local theifs like the good guys
It is more important to me to protect myself from having FBI agents (not bureaucrats, agents) reading my shopping list...
Do you really believe they are going to tap you ?
Cmon people - get serious for a change. Consider this:
* How expensive is it for the FBI to enter your home, place a physical tap on your computer, and monitor it for months?
* How likely is it that they will be tapping people for no good reason?
I am an advocate for privacy, and this isn't Carnivore - it's a local one-time tap, on one-individual's typing!
Microsoft has kept its outdated metaphors in its graphical interfaces, yet changed basic functionality and flow with every other release. This is confusing to common users and expert users alike!
I have studied "HCI" - human computer interaction, and know that the only thing big icons are good for are:
(a) poor eyesight (common among older people)
(b) increasing mouse click speed which has become a mute point with all but the newest users, and modern optical mice.
I wish Microsoft would focus on either real innovation or real stability / reliability for the common user. Time and time-again I see the non-technical people at my past two jobs struggling with Windows.
Just because slashdot readers are comfortable with software/hardware installation, many users can't even figure out how to install a network printer - perhaps one of the most common complaints that our IS manager receives are the new hires !@#$ing up their printer settings. Then, there's the travelling consultants - have they ever been able to plug into another network without 2+ reboots, and a call to tech-support?
Now, I'm on win2k, and most of my games are broken, and my Cyborg 3D digital joystick is completely unsupported. I'm sure someone will flame this, as win2k isn't the 'gaming' platform, but let's face it - some developers play games, and Microsoft shouldn't disable 1 year old hardware with every release! I swear Microsoft not only want's your upgrade dollar$, they want licenses of their APIs by hardware companies with each release!!!
1st - please don't flame, the article is worth reading, but I disagree with it.
quote:
In the past, contracts and signed agreements have been used primarily to protect the individuals involved from legal action.
Maybe this is just a difference in terms, but most contracts protect corporations, not individuals / consumers.
quote:
They are now being used like a spider web. After they catch somebody, their purpose is to keep them subscribing/paying/buying their stuff, even if you don't want it anymore.
Yes, this is one way to look at it, but the purpose of these contracts is to ensure the revenue flow, and financial projections of a corporation. I think you'll agree that these companies are not trying to make you buy things you don't want (although that may be the case), however stock analysts require that a company can show recurring revenue.
Heck, even our security company (i.e. physical card-key/camera security) required a 5-year term as they were planning on going public! I do agree that there are many copycat companies to the "free computer with 5 years internet", however there are hundreds of other corporations that simply seek a viable business model in this economy.
The point in this response is that:
1. Lawyers write contracts
2. Lawyers work for corporations
3. Corporations want their stock to go up
4. Recurring revenue is one of the highest ranked factors of stock valuation.
5. New Economy service companies can't survive without recurring revenue.
Unfortunately, we'll see this more an more, for everything from long distance telephone service, to airlines (miles extended to complete loyalty etc...), to grocery stores...
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, and may be wrong:
Hello Boys & Girls
HTML, and everything on your screen is binary!
Binary redistribution, while conventionally thought of as 'compiled code', is not soo different from HTML.
Think about java class files that can be easily de-compiled, or Java files that can be compiled!!!
Can you simply de-compile a binary java file, re-compile it, and distribute that, without violating the GPL?
Any serious judge, or jury with industry knowledge, will know that everything stored, trasmitted, operated on, etc... is binary
Sometimes, slashdot is quite immature. Finding theoretical loopholes is lame.
How many people want the wrath of the open-source community, or for that matter: the negative publicity.
Nanotech is an incredible thing. If you read Age of Spiritual Machines, by Kurzwiel, you'll get an awesome insight into how nano will change our world.
The real problem is with nano-terrorism. Think about it: Will governments *not* make self-replicating (non-restricted-growth) nano-bots, when terrorists will likely be able to for near no-cost?
And... if you trust governments to handle this tech, you should better trust the scientists researching it in the more open public sector.
With nanotech, the human experience from work, health, death, knowledge... can all change for the better. (not just from Kurzwiel's influence).
With terrorists & a trend of open technology, I can see that nanotech will never be able to be controlled like the US has done such a secure job with, say drugs. Terrorists will have access to nanotech, and the question is will they use it, and will the masses have any defence from it.
Now: back to science. While it will be important to wire in some of the " precautions " from the guidelines published, they are mostly obvious, and most likely useless for any real university lab with actual scientists (ie: not just a bunch of techies reading slashdot...)
All that said - even with infinite computation power, the largest problem in creating useful nanobots will be programming them to do anything *useful*.
Rosler is not an object oriented trailblazer, nor is he out to prevent good innovation. Instead, he supports good languages that help do useful things.
I've worked on massive multi-platform efforts at Oracle, and have to say that C is a great language for this. It is extremely compatible across platforms.
Perl, although supporting some object behaviour, is capable of anything Rosler has needed from it. He (and many others) don't need heirarchy to write a simple web app, nor to format / translate data.
Already, Perl has helped solve many simple development issues where I have worked. Although there is a cutting edge of enhanced Perl, the current 5.xxx library is quite mature. For tasks that don't require threading etc... simply use the tried and true Perl.
just my 5x10^10 rubles
I have used PacBell DSL for a year now, as well as several friends with their multi-IP setup hosting small personal web-sites.
IMHO, you have little to gain from going to a third party provider, as the DSL link is little more than an IP address, and the physical wire.
PacBell basically rips you off, by providing a 3MB mail account, and a 3MB web-site for the $10/mo that they charge you, but it's clear that they own the pipe, and leave little if any room for a third party to get involved in the DSL $$$ action
Get realistic here: Even though they're a monopoly, they are providing a service not too different from regular phone service. You pay them for the pipe, and if you want fancy news-server access (think: long distance carrier / other value added voice-phone services), you pay them the mandatory $10 for it.
I think many of the posts are arguing the legal/ethical nature of the original posts.
The fundamental issue here is freedom of speech, pure and simple.
There are myriad of ways that I can send illegal information: Phone, Mail, Modem, DSL/Cable, Carrier Pigion, or maybe even Slashdot. One could even post the code to DeCSS on the wall in a bathroom of a nightclub. Now ask yourself: If censorship applies to an island of free speech, where doesn't it apply?
I believe that the only censorship ever allowed, must be users' ability to revoke their comments when contacted directly. Honestly: I'm not sure how to deal with anonymous users...
Freedom of speech is critical to:
Innovation
Whistle Blowing
ie: Tobacco(health), Nike(slave labor), etc...
Oh, don't forget:
That small document: The Constitution
While this may be an Ellison venture, think about this:
Ellison is Oracle, at least as far as being the largest investor, and having the the most influence there.
Thin Clients are perhaps the most likely way for Oracle to expand. They are a potentially huge market, and happen to be one that I don't see the need for...
regarding their running linux: Simply ask yourself what the probability is that they will really sell fully enabled un-restricted linux boxes for $199.
Dozens of companies are now taking advantage of linux as a cheap embedded/customizable OS. Simply announcing "powered by linux" isn't enough.
After working at Oracle a mere few months, I can say that this is neither the emphasis of the company, nor will it likely be a large profit center. At a meeting with the charged Ellison, you could easily see how excited he was about large dB backed thin-client devices.
This is a cash-cow wannabe that they have attempted several times.
Think about it - this device will suffer from the same thing as all other NCs. Without a paid-for monthly recurring expense you will have an essentially useless device.
The alternative is to hack these to run linux, in which case they will be half the speed for half the cost of recent
The corporate world is too pig-headed to use linux/Macintosh where appropriate, ie: servers & simple/"thin-clients" and has decided on Windows for everything.
It is unlikely that they will ever make money or market-penetration with NCs.
Is anybody else tired of all these linux vaperware hardware devices?
come on - let's get real!
I'm sick of reading about such a wide variety of linux devices, only to find out that most actual implementations are for things like set-top boxes, that are intended/most-likely to be un-usable for typical current linux users.
I'd like to see:
1 Cheap linux boxes, with nice form factors, both for current linux users, and new potential users. I know many Mac people, nearly all of whom desire linux boxes, but don't want a large beige box sitting in their rooms.
Perhaps someone could actually produce the linux devices they're marketing, and then I predict that the linux device market will truely flourish.
As long as it really takes a 50lb, 20"x10"x20" box to cheaply run linux, there will be no incredible OSS contributions to things like wearables, and car/portable linux devices.
I too agree: these version numbers are getting somewhat inhibiting. If I was new to Linux and reading, I'd think that Mandrake was the "latest & greatest" and that might give this distro. a leg-up.
Also, can someone finally rationally explain the case/goodness in Mandrake vs. any other distro? I've heard + read that it comes with some "ad-ons", but RedHat has been more than enough for myself & others...
This is an appropriate response to changing times.
It is clear that governments need to preserve both the privacy, and retreivability of information. What the bill attempts to ensure, is that
(1) France has a secure electronic infrastructure
and
(2) The French People (& Goverment) will have access indefinitely to their public records.
ps. Anyone have problems reading MS-Word files since the upgrade(s) to office2k???
I don't understand the entire cpu based debate
After all, my celeron 366 is plenty fast, considering 96MB of ram, DSL, nice Sony monitor, and lack of anything even resembling a "win-modem".
People should:
(a) consider linux
or (b) build a well thought-out computer that meets their needs. ie: ram, disk, network, display
just my 1000,000000000 rubles.
Thus far, the posts have described how SBCs are mostly *not* for a typical /. reader. Does anyone know what is the cheapest/most likely /. reader-level SBC company out there. One great use for these was already mentioned, but I must say again: Having a multinode cluster in a small apartment without taking over a room would be great!