REALLY fail to see why everyone is up in arms about this. So your work e-mail is being read ( *tear* ). Not trying to sound like a troll, but seriously, if you're not doing something they care about, then what the hell does it matter?
I work in insurance & while I personally could care less if they want to read the email I sent to my aunt, I *DO* care that some random stranger will be 'checking up' on my emails. Often times these emails contain sensitive or embarassing health conditions. I am entrusted to keep these private & use them only for the purpose given. We have a secure email system for handling these types of emails, but that doesn't mean that some insurance agents won't send it via the wrong channel.
One reason the "if you've got nothing to hide, why worry" is specious is that it makes the assumption that both parties agree on what 'something to hide' is & that it is static.
Sure its fueled in part by companies having to cover their own asses do to legal issues, but again, what does it matter? How can you honestly expect some form of privacy when using a companies network? It IS their network
I can honestly expect some form of privacy because my employer encourages us to take care of minor personal business online (billpay, the occasional online ordering of a gift) as this saves both of us time & I can get more work done. I'd be disappointed if I found out this trust was being abused.
That's like saying if you loan out space on one of your home servers to someone you barely know, you shouldn't make sure he's not hosting child porn on it.
By policing your server don't you forefit any right to a 'I didn't know this was going on' type defence? If that's really how you run your network, I hope your TOS clearly states that you may snoop around their files at will. And while you're trying to make sure that nobody is hosting child porn what happens if you stumble across the medical history of someone else?
Unless you see some other Texan around here who has started off on a pro-censorship screed...
First, the only thing I "decide" in this process is who my vote for elected represntative is & writing letters/calling them to give my opinion. My feeling is, you want me to pay for it, I want to ensure that it's not being abused. If you aren't agreeable to this, then we'll agree to disagree. I'm also disheartened to see you cherry pick my arguement & not respond to the rest of it.
Where do I begin....First, that doctors would somehow be denied access to medically relevant information is plausible, but I just barely. A medically relevant page with the word "breast" or "vagina" fails to meet the definition of obscene under these circumstamces. Second is that content filtering already occurs and is enforced by most hospitals.
Also, I fail to see in the text of the bill anywhere that "any non-university publicly provided wifi" is forced to adhere to this. The actual text is more like:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 2054.124 to read as follows:
Sec. 2054.124. WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS TO OBSCENE MATERIALS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Correctional facility" has the meaning assigned by Section 1.07(14), Penal Code.
(2) "Obscene" and "material" have the meanings assigned by Section 43.21, Penal Code.
(b) A state agency that provides wireless Internet access on state property may not allow access to obscene materials through the use of that wireless access.
(c) The department shall assist a state agency that requests assistance in prohibiting access under this section, including prohibiting access by using a filter or other software.
(d) Wireless Internet access to obscene materials is prohibited at a correctional facility that is owned by, or operated by or for, the state.
(e) This section does not apply to a university system or institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 351, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 351.045 to read as follows:
Sec. 351.045. WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS TO OBSCENE MATERIALS. The sheriff may ban or otherwise filter wireless Internet access to obscene materials, as defined by Section 43.21, Penal Code, in the county jail.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
Bottom line, nobody is FORCING you to use their free wifi. You CHOOSE to. I fail to see any situation in which a hospital would elect to use the state's free wifi if your what your scenario were to actually come true.
I've been a keyhole subscriber for the past 2 years. I was curious what Google would turn out when they bought Keyhole. While it may not be innovation, Google is doing a lot things right. My biggest complaints about Keyhole that Google fixed:
1) Increased download speed!! 2) Map rendering better. By better, I mean more fluid when browsing, less lag when zooming, better topographic rendering. 3) Interface is more user friendly. I used to wonder WTF some of the buttons in the old keyhole interface did or even why they were there 4) Added a lot more high resolution places to zoom in on. BONUS) Left the old legacy database up for those who don't like the new database (some places are higher resolution, but b/c of cloud cover look shittier)
My only complaint is that I seem to need to be zoomed in closer than I used to in order to get the really high-res maps.
As for the anti-muni bill, there are MANY places across Texas where access to even a POTS line is a luxury.
The point is that not five minutes after the state or local municpalities step in to provide broadband, someone is going to decide to censor it.
What you consider censorship, most would consider community standards. Are community standards fair to everyone? Nope, not even close. Will a small minority of people feel that those standards are too strict? You bet. Probably about the same amount of people that feel the standards don't go far enough.
I don't see a problem with community standards. That's life and living in part of a community. If you feel that strongly that the muni-wifi is only giving you 'censored' access, you still have the option to make your own wi-fi link to the internet. The broader point being that when you tell a community that they're going to pay for a (utility)service, it's expected that they will have a say in how the service is used.
I feel that you're over-reaching when you use the infamous "someone" argument against censorship. Who is this mystery person/group? I have more faith in the ability of a small town to look out for the best interests of the townspeople than I do a large corporation indebted to it's shareholders.
I've lived in town with a population of 4000 & I now live in a city with a population of nearly 4 million. I can tell you from my experience that if you live in a small town, people look out for one another more than in a large city.
As a resident of Texas, I agree with what the legislature has done on both accounts. First, the "censoring" of broadband that you try & demonize was done for a very good reason. Too many horny truck drivers sucking up more bandwidth than money that was being allocated for it. Someone in the legislature thought it would be a good idea to provide free access to the internet at rest stops with the belief & intention that they would use this to maybe check their email, find directions, tourist attractions,etc. Instead, truckers discover they can d/l all the free pr0n they want on the road at truck stops. Smug comments such as yours that make overly broad accusations add nothing to the conversation. If you're a resident of Texas & you're against this, please state a reason with some substance behind it.
As for the anti-muni bill, there are MANY places across Texas where access to even a POTS line is a luxury. It is not economical enough for SBC to do anything more than the bare minimum, so they don't. If the citizens of La Grange, TX want high speed internet, WTF is SBC and other corporate interests to say that they can't?
Re:I have an idea:
on
Cubicle Privacy
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Once upon a time I was told that there was some study that demonstrated that office workers were more productive in cubicles. I was also told that it was actually cheaper to build offices out of dry-wall but that thanks to all this research people were opting to spend more for cubicles.
I was under the impression that cubicles became popular because they allowed businesses to cram more people into the same amount of space.
These guys won't get caught as long as they operate internationally and keep their ransom demands relatively low. As we've seen with the Nigerian Scam, there will be little impetus to apprehend these worthless criminals
In the world of theft related losses, the 419 scammmers don't come close to the damage caused by identity theft & related crimes in monetary damages. They're merely the ones with the most fame. There have been numerous successful counter-419 operations, most notably http://www.419eaters.com/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3887493.st m
Your comment has to be one of the more naive & ignorant statements on the topic I've heard in a while. The fundamental difference between this virus (I'm personally still calling it a hoax until I see more reports) & the 419 scam is motivation & intent. The people involved on all sides (both the victim & the scammer) are driven by greed & the urge to make a quick buck. This virus doesn't lure them with promises of a small fortune for doing nothing. It holds their files for ransom until the "fee" has been paid. The speed by which virii & worms spread through the internet mean that this one would have to be deliberatly slow in it's attack & the ransom is set at a price point which makes it worth the victim's time to pay it instead of utilizing any of their alternatives. If that's the case for success with this new extortion virus, I can guarantee you it will not succeed for long. Greed always grows and the law of unintentional consquences applies to everyone.
Netflix is not a "little guy". Netflix is a publicly traded company NFLX ticker with a goal of reaching 4 million subscribers by year's end. I honestly think Walmart's going to walk away the winner here. They get to ditch their profit losing segment while simotaneously gaining free virtual endorsement from Walmart as their pick as the place to buy DVDs.
FWIW, I don't think Netflix is evil like Walmart is, but calling them a "little guy" hardly seems apt given their situation.
hy is it so surprising to people that the RIAA had some access to I2?
[mere_speculation] Last I heard, admissions offices didn't forbid employees of organizations from enrolling in colleges or individual courses. And sometimes organizations even reimburse employees for tuition. If any amicable RIAA employee is enrolled in an I2 member institution, the RIAA has enough access to gather "evidence".
Alternatively, occasionally "private" organizations partner with universities on research projects, and then use that research in a self-interested manner. Who's surprised by this? [/mere_speculation]
To be clear, I'm not condoning anyone's business practices here. I'm just adding some context to the discussion.
I didn't take your statement to be one of enodrsement, but it does raise an interesting point I hadn't considered.
SKPhoton, Sorry to hear the news. I've gotten a couple nasty grams from the *AA's for people on my network.
hmmmm..... all the mindless dribble about RIAA this & yet I've yet to see someone reply to exactly how the RIAA gained access to a private network they were not to have access to. If someone has an answer, please point the way.
If I get some free time, I'll search the archives here and some other tech oriented sites for info (I'd suggest you & your friends do the same) to see if there's an answer to your question.
I'd like to see some peeps in the/. crowd shine some light on this w/o mere speculation about how they "think" it happened.
As often as they come out for my card, provided it fixes or improves something...so about once a month it seems. Sometimes these new drivers work great, other times they don't. A typical graphics driver ugprade involves uninstalling the driver, rebooting, not letting windows install the default driver, running the new driver program, praying, rebooting, and re-setting up everything like I want it.
I do agree that the software installs that require a reboot are annoying, but most of the time they're not really "required".
Translucency aside, the whole point behind the Avalon/Aero/Jade/Slate/Plex concept is to free developers from the current limits of UI widgets. Ever notice how an app designed years ago for windows nt4 or win95/98 running on XP still use the old widget sets? Then there are those that have a hybrid of xp-ish & win95-ish widgets....They're trying to free the data from the interface. I'm do a lot of graphic deisgn work on the side & I am constantly changing themes/visual styles for EVERY program. While it may be great marketing to make it 'pretty', I think they're on the right track by allowing the user the flexibility to decide how they want to interact with their data, instead of coders who believe everything should be done in emacs & computer users should be required to have licenses to use them. I think security & standards compliancy/integration with "competitors" should be given higher priority, but that's for another thread...I'll give MS kudos when they deserve it & rant as hard when they deserve it.
As stated previously, YMMV. In electronic music I notice a big difference, specifically drum 'n bass. From my experience, using lame at SBR of 192k will produce similar results to lame at VBR 128k - 192k range with a slightly smaller file (roughly.5MB - 1MB on a 6 - 7 minute song). This may not sound like much to you, but aggregate over a large library, the space savings add up quickly.
When I first discovered mp3s, I used to burn everything at 320k SBR. This made for big files, but the best quality. Now, I use 192k-320k VBR (variable bit recording) for ripping & it gives me the smallest files at an acceptable quality. You should try ripping using VBR & see if doesn't produce similar quality at lower encodings & smaller files.
sidenote - all my music is electronic, not jazz or classical or anything that has "atmosphere" so I could probably get away with using a little smaller...YMMV
Please support this with proof. I think this could be a valid selling point if you would provide some links or at least a brief explaination of why this is.
Wouldn't the statistics your desire still be as valuable? People tend to gravitate towards one universal 'personality' especially in a place as large and random as the internet.
Also, I'd call/. the exception rather than the rule. Because/. is a place oriented towards people who like technology and also has a fsck the establishment slant, the types of people likely to set up an account, are also likely to set up more than one account. Typically though, most people value their *1* account because it allows others to remember them & gives them "credibility" (whatever that's worth). Slashdot used to be THE place to find all the linux geeks and what was happening in that community.
I agree with those, but I would give HardOCP a rating of great rating. I have much respect for Kyle & Co. for bringing out issues in the gaming/benchmark industry & the whole Phantom console drama that needed to be exposed. I also like the Tech Report since they tend to have long, detailed articles explaining the difficulties of achieving uber-feature XYZ. I still refer back to their 4 part series on displays & the different technologies along with the pros/cons of each of them (CRT/LCD/DLP/PLASMA).
The thing that concerns me about constantly increasing areal density is you increase the likelyhood of bit interference & data corruption. I remember not to long ago when drive sizes were increasing rapidly but a majority of the drive manufacturers went to 1 yr warranties. I didn't buy many drives that year. I like big & cheap drives but I also want my data to be there for a long time.:)
If you really want to track repeat users/readers for purposes other than advertising, look setting up a login. If they really like the site they'll sign up...kinda like the over 700k+ that have signed up on slashdot.:)
...Current 3.5" drives have already hit the 500 gb range, so increasing their capacity isn't a significant priority as most consumers really don't have 500 gb of crap they need to store.
I disagree with you on this statement. With the rapid adoption of p2p, digital cameras storing pictures at higher resolutions, and with more & more people using their hard drives (a la TiVo & MythTV) to store video I see this a a bigger priority than you. As we make computers more user-friendly, it's becoming unacceptable to simply say that it can't be done because there's not enough room. Most of my clients end up using way more space than they originally thought they would.
I do agree and welcome anything that will allow me to store more stuff in less space. My only concern as we keep cramming more into less is that the importance of backing up that data is being missed by a lot of people.
On my new builds for my customers I set them all up with disk mirroring. Integrated RAID chips on most high end mobos & cheap drives have made it that much easier to 'sell' the same amount of space for twice the cost. They don't care how it works and they refuse anything they might cause them to do more. They like the idea that if their hard drive were to ever crash, all their data would be there.
Either way, I'm excited to see their next gen (or two gens away or whatever) HD and the DAPs that use them. Hopefully Hitachi fixes the reliability issues they've been having (I know the Hitachi drive in the Rio Karma gets a fair amount of press, although mine has never had problems)...
The article specifically talks about government(s) and organizations wanting archival technology to last as long, if not longer than previous data. In this context, this is a very important and serious undertaking. Not to long ago, some janitors cleaning out the basement of a government building about to be destroyed in DC discovered pay ledgers dating all the way back to 1791. They were all still in pristine condition and legible. They not only told how much each delegate was paid each day, but also provide concrete dates as to when they arrived & left.
Aww, how cute. You learned how to cut & paste. Maybe next you'll learn to actually go to www.washingtonpost.com & search their archives. You've yet to demonstrate an ability to read others complete posts much less reply to their responses of your comments. You've also failed to explain both why you posted the ruling and how having the original WP text would make it easier to know who to side with. If you've got an actual point to make other than lame attempt to start a flame war, please do so.
Slashdot Mirror
REALLY fail to see why everyone is up in arms about this. So your work e-mail is being read ( *tear* ). Not trying to sound like a troll, but seriously, if you're not doing something they care about, then what the hell does it matter?
I work in insurance & while I personally could care less if they want to read the email I sent to my aunt, I *DO* care that some random stranger will be 'checking up' on my emails. Often times these emails contain sensitive or embarassing health conditions. I am entrusted to keep these private & use them only for the purpose given. We have a secure email system for handling these types of emails, but that doesn't mean that some insurance agents won't send it via the wrong channel.
One reason the "if you've got nothing to hide, why worry" is specious is that it makes the assumption that both parties agree on what 'something to hide' is & that it is static.
Sure its fueled in part by companies having to cover their own asses do to legal issues, but again, what does it matter? How can you honestly expect some form of privacy when using a companies network? It IS their network
I can honestly expect some form of privacy because my employer encourages us to take care of minor personal business online (billpay, the occasional online ordering of a gift) as this saves both of us time & I can get more work done. I'd be disappointed if I found out this trust was being abused.
That's like saying if you loan out space on one of your home servers to someone you barely know, you shouldn't make sure he's not hosting child porn on it.
By policing your server don't you forefit any right to a 'I didn't know this was going on' type defence? If that's really how you run your network, I hope your TOS clearly states that you may snoop around their files at will. And while you're trying to make sure that nobody is hosting child porn what happens if you stumble across the medical history of someone else?
Well, it sounds like that "someone" is "you."
Unless you see some other Texan around here who has started off on a pro-censorship screed...
First, the only thing I "decide" in this process is who my vote for elected represntative is & writing letters/calling them to give my opinion. My feeling is, you want me to pay for it, I want to ensure that it's not being abused. If you aren't agreeable to this, then we'll agree to disagree. I'm also disheartened to see you cherry pick my arguement & not respond to the rest of it.
Also, I fail to see in the text of the bill anywhere that "any non-university publicly provided wifi" is forced to adhere to this. The actual text is more like:
Bottom line, nobody is FORCING you to use their free wifi. You CHOOSE to. I fail to see any situation in which a hospital would elect to use the state's free wifi if your what your scenario were to actually come true.
I've been a keyhole subscriber for the past 2 years. I was curious what Google would turn out when they bought Keyhole. While it may not be innovation, Google is doing a lot things right. My biggest complaints about Keyhole that Google fixed:
1) Increased download speed!!
2) Map rendering better. By better, I mean more fluid when browsing, less lag when zooming, better topographic rendering.
3) Interface is more user friendly. I used to wonder WTF some of the buttons in the old keyhole interface did or even why they were there
4) Added a lot more high resolution places to zoom in on.
BONUS) Left the old legacy database up for those who don't like the new database (some places are higher resolution, but b/c of cloud cover look shittier)
My only complaint is that I seem to need to be zoomed in closer than I used to in order to get the really high-res maps.
As for the anti-muni bill, there are MANY places across Texas where access to even a POTS line is a luxury.
The point is that not five minutes after the state or local municpalities step in to provide broadband, someone is going to decide to censor it.
What you consider censorship, most would consider community standards. Are community standards fair to everyone? Nope, not even close. Will a small minority of people feel that those standards are too strict? You bet. Probably about the same amount of people that feel the standards don't go far enough.
I don't see a problem with community standards. That's life and living in part of a community. If you feel that strongly that the muni-wifi is only giving you 'censored' access, you still have the option to make your own wi-fi link to the internet. The broader point being that when you tell a community that they're going to pay for a (utility)service, it's expected that they will have a say in how the service is used.
I feel that you're over-reaching when you use the infamous "someone" argument against censorship. Who is this mystery person/group? I have more faith in the ability of a small town to look out for the best interests of the townspeople than I do a large corporation indebted to it's shareholders.
I've lived in town with a population of 4000 & I now live in a city with a population of nearly 4 million. I can tell you from my experience that if you live in a small town, people look out for one another more than in a large city.
As a resident of Texas, I agree with what the legislature has done on both accounts. First, the
"censoring" of broadband that you try & demonize was done for a very good reason. Too many horny truck drivers sucking up more bandwidth than money that was being allocated for it. Someone in the legislature thought it would be a good idea to provide free access to the internet at rest stops with the belief & intention that they would use this to maybe check their email, find directions, tourist attractions,etc. Instead, truckers discover they can d/l all the free pr0n they want on the road at truck stops. Smug comments such as yours that make overly broad accusations add nothing to the conversation. If you're a resident of Texas & you're against this, please state a reason with some substance behind it.
As for the anti-muni bill, there are MANY places across Texas where access to even a POTS line is a luxury. It is not economical enough for SBC to do anything more than the bare minimum, so they don't. If the citizens of La Grange, TX want high speed internet, WTF is SBC and other corporate interests to say that they can't?
ROFL!!! Excellent cartoon. Thanks for the laugh.
Once upon a time I was told that there was some study that demonstrated that office workers were more productive in cubicles. I was also told that it was actually cheaper to build offices out of dry-wall but that thanks to all this research people were opting to spend more for cubicles.
I was under the impression that cubicles became popular because they allowed businesses to cram more people into the same amount of space.
These guys won't get caught as long as they operate internationally and keep their ransom demands relatively low. As we've seen with the Nigerian Scam, there will be little impetus to apprehend these worthless criminals
t m
In the world of theft related losses, the 419 scammmers don't come close to the damage caused by identity theft & related crimes in monetary damages. They're merely the ones with the most fame. There have been numerous successful counter-419 operations, most notably http://www.419eaters.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3887493.s
Your comment has to be one of the more naive & ignorant statements on the topic I've heard in a while. The fundamental difference between this virus (I'm personally still calling it a hoax until I see more reports) & the 419 scam is motivation & intent. The people involved on all sides (both the victim & the scammer) are driven by greed & the urge to make a quick buck. This virus doesn't lure them with promises of a small fortune for doing nothing. It holds their files for ransom until the "fee" has been paid. The speed by which virii & worms spread through the internet mean that this one would have to be deliberatly slow in it's attack & the ransom is set at a price point which makes it worth the victim's time to pay it instead of utilizing any of their alternatives. If that's the case for success with this new extortion virus, I can guarantee you it will not succeed for long. Greed always grows and the law of unintentional consquences applies to everyone.
Netflix is not a "little guy". Netflix is a publicly traded company NFLX ticker with a goal of reaching 4 million subscribers by year's end. I honestly think Walmart's going to walk away the winner here. They get to ditch their profit losing segment while simotaneously gaining free virtual endorsement from Walmart as their pick as the place to buy DVDs. FWIW, I don't think Netflix is evil like Walmart is, but calling them a "little guy" hardly seems apt given their situation.
hy is it so surprising to people that the RIAA had some access to I2?
[mere_speculation]
Last I heard, admissions offices didn't forbid employees of organizations from enrolling in colleges or individual courses. And sometimes organizations even reimburse employees for tuition. If any amicable RIAA employee is enrolled in an I2 member institution, the RIAA has enough access to gather "evidence".
Alternatively, occasionally "private" organizations partner with universities on research projects, and then use that research in a self-interested manner. Who's surprised by this?
[/mere_speculation]
To be clear, I'm not condoning anyone's business practices here. I'm just adding some context to the discussion.
I didn't take your statement to be one of enodrsement, but it does raise an interesting point I hadn't considered.
SKPhoton,
/. crowd shine some light on this w/o mere speculation about how they "think" it happened.
Sorry to hear the news. I've gotten a couple nasty grams from the *AA's for people on my network.
hmmmm..... all the mindless dribble about RIAA this & yet I've yet to see someone reply to exactly how the RIAA gained access to a private network they were not to have access to. If someone has an answer, please point the way.
If I get some free time, I'll search the archives here and some other tech oriented sites for info (I'd suggest you & your friends do the same) to see if there's an answer to your question.
I'd like to see some peeps in the
how often do you load a new grafics driver?
As often as they come out for my card, provided it fixes or improves something...so about once a month it seems. Sometimes these new drivers work great, other times they don't. A typical graphics driver ugprade involves uninstalling the driver, rebooting, not letting windows install the default driver, running the new driver program, praying, rebooting, and re-setting up everything like I want it.
I do agree that the software installs that require a reboot are annoying, but most of the time they're not really "required".
Translucency aside, the whole point behind the Avalon/Aero/Jade/Slate/Plex concept is to free developers from the current limits of UI widgets. Ever notice how an app designed years ago for windows nt4 or win95/98 running on XP still use the old widget sets? Then there are those that have a hybrid of xp-ish & win95-ish widgets....They're trying to free the data from the interface. I'm do a lot of graphic deisgn work on the side & I am constantly changing themes/visual styles for EVERY program. While it may be great marketing to make it 'pretty', I think they're on the right track by allowing the user the flexibility to decide how they want to interact with their data, instead of coders who believe everything should be done in emacs & computer users should be required to have licenses to use them. I think security & standards compliancy/integration with "competitors" should be given higher priority, but that's for another thread...I'll give MS kudos when they deserve it & rant as hard when they deserve it.
As stated previously, YMMV. In electronic music I notice a big difference, specifically drum 'n bass. From my experience, using lame at SBR of 192k will produce similar results to lame at VBR 128k - 192k range with a slightly smaller file (roughly .5MB - 1MB on a 6 - 7 minute song). This may not sound like much to you, but aggregate over a large library, the space savings add up quickly.
Thank you.
When I first discovered mp3s, I used to burn everything at 320k SBR. This made for big files, but the best quality. Now, I use 192k-320k VBR (variable bit recording) for ripping & it gives me the smallest files at an acceptable quality. You should try ripping using VBR & see if doesn't produce similar quality at lower encodings & smaller files.
sidenote - all my music is electronic, not jazz or classical or anything that has "atmosphere" so I could probably get away with using a little smaller...YMMV
Please support this with proof. I think this could be a valid selling point if you would provide some links or at least a brief explaination of why this is.
What's wrong with having more than one login?
/. the exception rather than the rule. Because /. is a place oriented towards people who like technology and also has a fsck the establishment slant, the types of people likely to set up an account, are also likely to set up more than one account. Typically though, most people value their *1* account because it allows others to remember them & gives them "credibility" (whatever that's worth). Slashdot used to be THE place to find all the linux geeks and what was happening in that community.
Wouldn't the statistics your desire still be as valuable? People tend to gravitate towards one universal 'personality' especially in a place as large and random as the internet.
Also, I'd call
I agree with those, but I would give HardOCP a rating of great rating. I have much respect for Kyle & Co. for bringing out issues in the gaming/benchmark industry & the whole Phantom console drama that needed to be exposed. I also like the Tech Report since they tend to have long, detailed articles explaining the difficulties of achieving uber-feature XYZ. I still refer back to their 4 part series on displays & the different technologies along with the pros/cons of each of them (CRT/LCD/DLP/PLASMA).
The thing that concerns me about constantly increasing areal density is you increase the likelyhood of bit interference & data corruption. I remember not to long ago when drive sizes were increasing rapidly but a majority of the drive manufacturers went to 1 yr warranties. I didn't buy many drives that year. I like big & cheap drives but I also want my data to be there for a long time. :)
If you really want to track repeat users/readers for purposes other than advertising, look setting up a login. If they really like the site they'll sign up...kinda like the over 700k+ that have signed up on slashdot. :)
...Current 3.5" drives have already hit the 500 gb range, so increasing their capacity isn't a significant priority as most consumers really don't have 500 gb of crap they need to store.
I disagree with you on this statement. With the rapid adoption of p2p, digital cameras storing pictures at higher resolutions, and with more & more people using their hard drives (a la TiVo & MythTV) to store video I see this a a bigger priority than you. As we make computers more user-friendly, it's becoming unacceptable to simply say that it can't be done because there's not enough room. Most of my clients end up using way more space than they originally thought they would.
I do agree and welcome anything that will allow me to store more stuff in less space. My only concern as we keep cramming more into less is that the importance of backing up that data is being missed by a lot of people.
On my new builds for my customers I set them all up with disk mirroring. Integrated RAID chips on most high end mobos & cheap drives have made it that much easier to 'sell' the same amount of space for twice the cost. They don't care how it works and they refuse anything they might cause them to do more. They like the idea that if their hard drive were to ever crash, all their data would be there.
Either way, I'm excited to see their next gen (or two gens away or whatever) HD and the DAPs that use them. Hopefully Hitachi fixes the reliability issues they've been having (I know the Hitachi drive in the Rio Karma gets a fair amount of press, although mine has never had problems)...
Couldn't agree more.
The article specifically talks about government(s) and organizations wanting archival technology to last as long, if not longer than previous data. In this context, this is a very important and serious undertaking. Not to long ago, some janitors cleaning out the basement of a government building about to be destroyed in DC discovered pay ledgers dating all the way back to 1791. They were all still in pristine condition and legible. They not only told how much each delegate was paid each day, but also provide concrete dates as to when they arrived & left.
Read more about it here http://hnn.us/comments/5103.html
Aww, how cute. You learned how to cut & paste. Maybe next you'll learn to actually go to www.washingtonpost.com & search their archives. You've yet to demonstrate an ability to read others complete posts much less reply to their responses of your comments. You've also failed to explain both why you posted the ruling and how having the original WP text would make it easier to know who to side with. If you've got an actual point to make other than lame attempt to start a flame war, please do so.