I can see that a signature would identify someone as having agreed to a contract, but how does this help people on the web? Outpost.com doesn't need my signature when I order from them, does any e-tailer?
Maybe this will mean more government paperwork can be done online, such as tax filing, but other than that I don't really see too many benefits to digital signatures. ___________________
It's bad enough when this happens in the United States, but the fact that the Norwegians did this has to surprise you quite a bit.
Why is this? Is Norway supposed to be a bastion of free speech or something? I would assume the MPAA has as much power in other countries as it does in America, so I don't really see why this would be so surprising. ___________________
I was going to watch -- "for the ads", like the people who read playboy "for the articles" -- but I can't stand football. A big ceremony to toss a coin? Blech. Anyway, I hope some of the companies that made good ads put them up on their websites for download. If anybody has links, post 'em here! ___________________
If Apple open-sourced QT, then MS would be able to make its Windows Media player play QT movies. QT is Apple's ace in the hole, it's more popular than MacOS (even with the stupidly designed qt4 player). They're not going to give that away.
I don't see anything wrong with a *nix QT client though. I remember reading that Apple usually has to hold back the release date for each version of QT because the Windows version takes so long. Other platforms would probably only add to that delay, and with streaming taking off the way it is, any kind of delay can be lethal. Just look at the delay between QT4 and 4.1. 4.1 isn't a huge upgrade (afaik, it adds support for vbr mp3s and ads in video streams) but it took a long time; I'm sure much of that delay was syncing the Mac and Windows versions.
Dealtime.com was quite helpful this christmas season. I found an Olympus D-450z for $380 while the list was $499. In Times Square in Manhattan, a few days before new year's, I went to several camera shops to see the prices. One guy had the 450z for $450 (the store's so-called "blowout price") and a guy across the street had it for $550. At that moment I realized how stupid the masses must be, because if that guy could get away with selling things for $100 more than the guy across the street, then people are obviously willing to pay the extra money rather than take a few minutes to shop around -- even when surrounded by options!
So in a way, this is related to the topic, because I think ads probably do work on the majority -- the people who would shell out that extra $100 for no reason. The only ads I pay attention to are those that introduce a new product or provide some kind of information as to why a product is better than one I already use. But unsubstantiated crap like "Duracell lasts 6 times longer than Energizer," then contradicted on the next channel by "Energizer outlasts Duracell 3 to 1," I don't pay any attention to that. But if I have to buy corn flakes, then why not buy Total corn flakes, which have 100% of vitamins and minerals (this is an example, I dont eat corn flakes).
Sometimes I click on banner ads. Like, "Oh, I want to buy some blank CDs at outpost.com. Let me go to go2mac.com and click on their banner ad so that they share in the wealth." I don't click on ads otherwise, and I make it a point to only click on ads that go directly to the site I want (ie, not involving doubleclick or imgis or whatever the other banner ad servers are); that's just a personal thing though.
And as for free internet, the banner ad there feels like someone is nailing me in the brain, so there they're inflicting pain on me so it's like they're charging me... or something... but it's easy to ditch the banner ad on a lot of the clients. NetZero's was so easy... ___________________
Uh, I think if somebody got into Amazon's credit card database because of a security flaw in the OS, Amazon wouldn't sit around and patiently wait until the end of the quarter for a disc with the fix. I mean, Jeff Bezos calls up Bob Young (this is a hypothetical example, I don't even know if Amazon uses Linux) and says "We have a security problem because of your crappy software!"; do you think Bob is going to say, "Alrighty, wait 'til April and we'll mail the disc out, buddy!" Does that sound logical to you?
And as for downloading it from the web, I would assume MS would also have that. I mean, they may be many things, but I don't think they're stupid enough to not post a bugfix on their website at this point. ___________________
I don't understand this. How can they say that the files are "not really in [their] possession" with a straight face? I mean, if they're not in the possession of the government, then whose? They're not in Mitnick's, otherwise the defense wouldn't have asked for them. They only wanted copies, anyway. This is such bullshit. I really think this case was a shining example of government tyranny and makes me rethink my anti-gun stance.
So what if there was a plan to take down the entire internet in there? The defense lawyers wanted it -- I don't think the lawyers could have done anything like that, nor Mitnick for that matter, since he was in jail. Even now he couldn't do it because he can't come within a mile of a computer.
I think the prosecution and the judge just hated Mitnick or something, I don't see how any of this can be legal. Why doesn't Mitnick plea this up to the Supreme Court? If this is really a constitutional violation, which it seems to be, that's the place for it.
Does anybody know, was Mitnick even a good hacker? Like, was he revered among his colleagues/peers/whatever? I don't get this entire case, it seems like it didn't occur in the United States. But it was in California, wasn't it? California is its own little universe anyway. ___________________
But the power button on PowerBooks is inside the computer, meaning there is no way to use the "hook up a monitor, mouse, and keyboard and keep the screen closed" feature of the powerbook unless you have a kbd with a power button on it... ah well. I don't have an extra monitor laying around anyway. ___________________
Hey, can I buy one of them leftover keyboards from you? I want an external kbd for my powerbook, but blowing $70 on that damn iKey is looney. Any USB kbd will supposedly work now with a Mac, but "any" kbd doesn't come with the power button on the keyboard. ___________________
well, I don't usually type a colon into a title, but when I drag a URL to the desktop (as a shortcut) it gets the http-//... sometimes I think it actually just chops off the http:// altogether, which is really a nice feature. ___________________
Out of curiosity, have you used any DPs of OSX? I'm wondering how well it will perform on my new... well, new this past summer... PowerBook G3 (333). They say it will supposedly work on any G3, but somehow I doubt things will look pretty on a 233 iMac or a PowerBook G3 233 with 0k L2 Cache.
I read this article a while ago, so I don't remember if this was addressed, but Apple better make sure all these bells and whistles are optional. ___________________
Can anybody tell me, will MacOS X use a two-button mouse? I have a MS IntelliPoint Explorer Mouse (which I think is great, btw) so I get some right-click functionality through MS's mouse software, but I want them to SHIP the computer with a NORMAL-SIZED/SHAPED TWO-BUTTON SCROLLING MOUSE. The iMac hockeypuck HURTS my hand. If MacOS X is based on a UNIX variant, and if UNIX is so heavily reliant on multiple mouse buttons, I would hope they would get the hint and include multibutton mouse support. One thing I like about Windows is the right-click copy/paste menu that can be used in almost every application. That alone would be worth rewriting the OS! ___________________
The "Dock," which is being touted as so revolutionary -- that doesn't strike you as a ripoff of the Windows "taskbar?" I realize other operating systems have similar systems, but the taskbar sure is handy. I don't particularly like "The Dock," and the "genie" effect looks like a staggering waste of cycles. Hopefully it can be disabled. ___________________
What I ended up doing with MP3s is making a folder with the artist's name, then you can use the entire 31 chars for the songname... but yeah, 31 chars sucks. I really hope they increase it to 255 (or more, or whatever) with X. I haven't seen anything mentioning long filenames. If they don't have long filename support in OSX, I will lose any and all respect for Apple. Also, Macs can't have the colon (:) in a filename. So URLs as filenames look like:
255 character filenames in MacOS? Sorry, I don't think you've ever used any MacOS if you think that. MacOS 8.6 has a 31 character limit for filenames, as did all MacOSes back through, at least, 8.0, and I'm sure all the way back to 6. And if you're refering to the NeXT file browser, no, the Mac has never had anything like that.
I don't think you're thinking of the MacOS. ___________________
NetZero (hugely popular in NY) can be altered so as not to display any ads by removing one dll file and replacing it with any file with the same name. I know at least 20 people who do this, and who find the ads so annoying that they probably wouldn't use netzero if they had to look at them.
people always love getting something for nothing, even if it cost nothing to begin with...
______________________________________ um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
The Data in Network Solutions' WHOIS database is provided by Network Solutions for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining information about or related to a domain name registration record. Network Solutions does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this Data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam); or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to Network Solutions (or its systems). Network Solutions reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.
Registrant: Cubane Software (CUBANE-DOM) 6129B Baker St. Oakland, CA 94608-1312 US
Domain Name: CUBANE.COM
Administrative Contact: Mikes, Samuel (SM26030) smikes@ALUMNI.HMC.EDU (510) 594-8661 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Support, Technical (MC4774) contact@AHNET.NET 310-354-2626 (FAX) 310-354-1592 Billing Contact: Mikes, Samuel (SM26030) smikes@ALUMNI.HMC.EDU (510) 594-8661
Record last updated on 29-Oct-1999. Record created on 29-Oct-1999. Database last updated on 23-Jan-2000 14:54:05 EST.
"A preliminary injunction may be properly issued whenever the questions of law or fact are grave and difficult, and injury to the moving party will be immediate, certain, andgreat if it is denied, while the loss to the opposing party will be trivial if it is granted." Wilms v. Hand
(1951) 101 Cal.App.2d 811, 815
This was cited as one of the judge's tests for whether or not to issue an injunction. I guess this judge feels that freedom of speech is trivial, since that is what the defense is claiming it will be losing.
I still do not understand what the big deal is. It is not like DVD can't be copied without CSS, and what do they think people will do with DeCSSed movies? Burn them and sell them? ON WHAT? TO WHOM? It seems DeCSS would make it a lot easier to transfer a DVD over the internet, but 4 or 5 gigs is waaay out of most people's leagues for downloading. Even on my school's network, it takes me a few hours to download an ISO of RedHat.
I think the real issue for the CCA is saving face. They made a weak, crappy encryption system and they look stupid. So rather than bite the bullet and get to work on 128-bit CSS they are going to just try and hold back the flood. Isn't DeCSS under 100k or something like that? If the music industry can't stop illegal MP3s (no matter how hard they try), how are they going to stop DeCSS, which can be quietly attached to any email message and float unnoticed through the ether? Napster is not needed here, no huge database. Just ask a friend and he'll mail it to you.
This whole thing seems a bit wacky.
______________________________________ um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
it seems like the solution would be choosing "no" when aol asks if you want to use it as your main squeeze for internet. If I connect through earthlink, why would I want to use AOL's crummy IE-Lite browser?
My girlfriend has AOL 5.0 on her computer and has no problems connecting to any ISP (NetZero, dialup to her school, etc).
AOL is telling people what it is going to do -- it's going to be the main internet connection. If they don't like it, say no! If people are too stupid for this, what are they complaining about?
______________________________________ um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
If you watch the TLC Behind the music on VH1, you'll see the kind of shit the artists get served with. They had a contract for something like 5 points (5%) of record sales. so they sold like 16 million records, and after paying their record company, agents, family, etc, they ended up with about $300,000 for the whole group, split 3 ways is $100,000 for each member. And when you're a big rock star, people (family) expect you to help them, send them money, etc. plus you have to keep up the rock star image. So $100,000 is not that much. That's why tlc was virtually bankrupt.
I'm not saying we're helping them with MP3, but we listen to radio for free, and I doubt they make tons off that either, so how is MP3 really going to hurt them? I would assume artists really make most of their money from touring, and mp3 could be considered free publicity for the tour. or not. But don't pull that "oh, we're hurting the artists!" crap, because they're already so hurt by the record company's huge cut that our horrible mp3s (of songs many of us would never have bought anyway) really don't make much difference in the end (to the artists).
______________________________________ um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
Slashdot Mirror
I can see that a signature would identify someone as having agreed to a contract, but how does this help people on the web? Outpost.com doesn't need my signature when I order from them, does any e-tailer?
Maybe this will mean more government paperwork can be done online, such as tax filing, but other than that I don't really see too many benefits to digital signatures.
___________________
It's bad enough when this happens in the United States, but the fact that the Norwegians did this has to surprise you quite a bit.
Why is this? Is Norway supposed to be a bastion of free speech or something? I would assume the MPAA has as much power in other countries as it does in America, so I don't really see why this would be so surprising.
___________________
Was that today???
...
I was going to watch -- "for the ads", like the people who read playboy "for the articles" -- but I can't stand football. A big ceremony to toss a coin? Blech. Anyway, I hope some of the companies that made good ads put them up on their websites for download. If anybody has links, post 'em here!
___________________
If Apple open-sourced QT, then MS would be able to make its Windows Media player play QT movies. QT is Apple's ace in the hole, it's more popular than MacOS (even with the stupidly designed qt4 player). They're not going to give that away.
I don't see anything wrong with a *nix QT client though. I remember reading that Apple usually has to hold back the release date for each version of QT because the Windows version takes so long. Other platforms would probably only add to that delay, and with streaming taking off the way it is, any kind of delay can be lethal. Just look at the delay between QT4 and 4.1. 4.1 isn't a huge upgrade (afaik, it adds support for vbr mp3s and ads in video streams) but it took a long time; I'm sure much of that delay was syncing the Mac and Windows versions.
handy quicktime link
PS - I love the name "Windows Media Player for Mac." They couldn't just call it the MS Media Player?
___________________
Dealtime.com was quite helpful this christmas season. I found an Olympus D-450z for $380 while the list was $499. In Times Square in Manhattan, a few days before new year's, I went to several camera shops to see the prices. One guy had the 450z for $450 (the store's so-called "blowout price") and a guy across the street had it for $550. At that moment I realized how stupid the masses must be, because if that guy could get away with selling things for $100 more than the guy across the street, then people are obviously willing to pay the extra money rather than take a few minutes to shop around -- even when surrounded by options!
So in a way, this is related to the topic, because I think ads probably do work on the majority -- the people who would shell out that extra $100 for no reason. The only ads I pay attention to are those that introduce a new product or provide some kind of information as to why a product is better than one I already use. But unsubstantiated crap like "Duracell lasts 6 times longer than Energizer," then contradicted on the next channel by "Energizer outlasts Duracell 3 to 1," I don't pay any attention to that. But if I have to buy corn flakes, then why not buy Total corn flakes, which have 100% of vitamins and minerals (this is an example, I dont eat corn flakes).
Sometimes I click on banner ads. Like, "Oh, I want to buy some blank CDs at outpost.com. Let me go to go2mac.com and click on their banner ad so that they share in the wealth." I don't click on ads otherwise, and I make it a point to only click on ads that go directly to the site I want (ie, not involving doubleclick or imgis or whatever the other banner ad servers are); that's just a personal thing though.
And as for free internet, the banner ad there feels like someone is nailing me in the brain, so there they're inflicting pain on me so it's like they're charging me... or something... but it's easy to ditch the banner ad on a lot of the clients. NetZero's was so easy...
___________________
Uh, I think if somebody got into Amazon's credit card database because of a security flaw in the OS, Amazon wouldn't sit around and patiently wait until the end of the quarter for a disc with the fix. I mean, Jeff Bezos calls up Bob Young (this is a hypothetical example, I don't even know if Amazon uses Linux) and says "We have a security problem because of your crappy software!"; do you think Bob is going to say, "Alrighty, wait 'til April and we'll mail the disc out, buddy!" Does that sound logical to you?
And as for downloading it from the web, I would assume MS would also have that. I mean, they may be many things, but I don't think they're stupid enough to not post a bugfix on their website at this point.
___________________
I've always been partial to "myriad."
Myriad is somewhat unique in that it can be used as a noun or an adjective. e.g.:
"There is a MYRIAD (quick go look it up) of linux security sites, as well as *BSD security sites."
but one can also say:
"There are MYRIAD (quick go look it up) linux security sites, as well as *BSD security sites."
Also nice would have been "INNUMBERABLE," "COUNTLESS," and "SUPERFLUITY."
Personally, I thought the guy was saying to look up the plethora of linux security sites, not to look up the word plethora.
___________________
I don't understand this. How can they say that the files are "not really in [their] possession" with a straight face? I mean, if they're not in the possession of the government, then whose? They're not in Mitnick's, otherwise the defense wouldn't have asked for them. They only wanted copies, anyway. This is such bullshit. I really think this case was a shining example of government tyranny and makes me rethink my anti-gun stance.
So what if there was a plan to take down the entire internet in there? The defense lawyers wanted it -- I don't think the lawyers could have done anything like that, nor Mitnick for that matter, since he was in jail. Even now he couldn't do it because he can't come within a mile of a computer.
I think the prosecution and the judge just hated Mitnick or something, I don't see how any of this can be legal. Why doesn't Mitnick plea this up to the Supreme Court? If this is really a constitutional violation, which it seems to be, that's the place for it.
Does anybody know, was Mitnick even a good hacker? Like, was he revered among his colleagues/peers/whatever? I don't get this entire case, it seems like it didn't occur in the United States. But it was in California, wasn't it? California is its own little universe anyway.
___________________
But the power button on PowerBooks is inside the computer, meaning there is no way to use the "hook up a monitor, mouse, and keyboard and keep the screen closed" feature of the powerbook unless you have a kbd with a power button on it... ah well. I don't have an extra monitor laying around anyway.
___________________
Hey, can I buy one of them leftover keyboards from you? I want an external kbd for my powerbook, but blowing $70 on that damn iKey is looney. Any USB kbd will supposedly work now with a Mac, but "any" kbd doesn't come with the power button on the keyboard.
___________________
well, I don't usually type a colon into a title, but when I drag a URL to the desktop (as a shortcut) it gets the http-//... sometimes I think it actually just chops off the http:// altogether, which is really a nice feature.
___________________
Out of curiosity, have you used any DPs of OSX? I'm wondering how well it will perform on my new... well, new this past summer... PowerBook G3 (333). They say it will supposedly work on any G3, but somehow I doubt things will look pretty on a 233 iMac or a PowerBook G3 233 with 0k L2 Cache.
I read this article a while ago, so I don't remember if this was addressed, but Apple better make sure all these bells and whistles are optional.
___________________
Can anybody tell me, will MacOS X use a two-button mouse? I have a MS IntelliPoint Explorer Mouse (which I think is great, btw) so I get some right-click functionality through MS's mouse software, but I want them to SHIP the computer with a NORMAL-SIZED/SHAPED TWO-BUTTON SCROLLING MOUSE. The iMac hockeypuck HURTS my hand. If MacOS X is based on a UNIX variant, and if UNIX is so heavily reliant on multiple mouse buttons, I would hope they would get the hint and include multibutton mouse support. One thing I like about Windows is the right-click copy/paste menu that can be used in almost every application. That alone would be worth rewriting the OS!
___________________
The "Dock," which is being touted as so revolutionary -- that doesn't strike you as a ripoff of the Windows "taskbar?" I realize other operating systems have similar systems, but the taskbar sure is handy. I don't particularly like "The Dock," and the "genie" effect looks like a staggering waste of cycles. Hopefully it can be disabled.
___________________
"Still limited" as in still limited in MacOS X? Still a 31 char filename limit?! Please tell me that's not what you meant.
___________________
What I ended up doing with MP3s is making a folder with the artist's name, then you can use the entire 31 chars for the songname... but yeah, 31 chars sucks. I really hope they increase it to 255 (or more, or whatever) with X. I haven't seen anything mentioning long filenames. If they don't have long filename support in OSX, I will lose any and all respect for Apple. Also, Macs can't have the colon (:) in a filename. So URLs as filenames look like:
http-//www.dartmouth.edu
which is dumb.
___________________
255 character filenames in MacOS? Sorry, I don't think you've ever used any MacOS if you think that. MacOS 8.6 has a 31 character limit for filenames, as did all MacOSes back through, at least, 8.0, and I'm sure all the way back to 6. And if you're refering to the NeXT file browser, no, the Mac has never had anything like that.
I don't think you're thinking of the MacOS.
___________________
people always love getting something for nothing, even if it cost nothing to begin with...
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
[tahoe:~] 104) whois -h whois.networksolutions.com cubane.com
The Data in Network Solutions' WHOIS database is provided by Network
Solutions for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining
information about or related to a domain name registration record.
Network Solutions does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a
WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this Data only for lawful
purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data to:
(1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail
(spam); or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to Network Solutions (or its systems). Network Solutions
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting
this query, you agree to abide by this policy.
Registrant:
Cubane Software (CUBANE-DOM)
6129B Baker St.
Oakland, CA 94608-1312
US
Domain Name: CUBANE.COM
Administrative Contact:
Mikes, Samuel (SM26030) smikes@ALUMNI.HMC.EDU
(510) 594-8661
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Support, Technical (MC4774) contact@AHNET.NET
310-354-2626 (FAX) 310-354-1592
Billing Contact:
Mikes, Samuel (SM26030) smikes@ALUMNI.HMC.EDU
(510) 594-8661
Record last updated on 29-Oct-1999.
Record created on 29-Oct-1999.
Database last updated on 23-Jan-2000 14:54:05 EST.
Domain servers in listed order:
NSAH1.AHNET.NET 207.213.224.16
NS3.PBI.NET 206.13.28.165
[tahoe:~] 105)
And since the record is at least as old as October 29th, I guess they're not squatting (unless they knew about Cubane way back then...).
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
...In their defense, they may actually have a use for cubane.com.
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
This was cited as one of the judge's tests for whether or not to issue an injunction. I guess this judge feels that freedom of speech is trivial, since that is what the defense is claiming it will be losing.
I still do not understand what the big deal is. It is not like DVD can't be copied without CSS, and what do they think people will do with DeCSSed movies? Burn them and sell them? ON WHAT? TO WHOM? It seems DeCSS would make it a lot easier to transfer a DVD over the internet, but 4 or 5 gigs is waaay out of most people's leagues for downloading. Even on my school's network, it takes me a few hours to download an ISO of RedHat.
I think the real issue for the CCA is saving face. They made a weak, crappy encryption system and they look stupid. So rather than bite the bullet and get to work on 128-bit CSS they are going to just try and hold back the flood. Isn't DeCSS under 100k or something like that? If the music industry can't stop illegal MP3s (no matter how hard they try), how are they going to stop DeCSS, which can be quietly attached to any email message and float unnoticed through the ether? Napster is not needed here, no huge database. Just ask a friend and he'll mail it to you.
This whole thing seems a bit wacky.
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
(CNN is owned by Time Warner, in case ya didn't know)
Maybe CNN doesn't want to be acquired...
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
My girlfriend has AOL 5.0 on her computer and has no problems connecting to any ISP (NetZero, dialup to her school, etc).
AOL is telling people what it is going to do -- it's going to be the main internet connection. If they don't like it, say no! If people are too stupid for this, what are they complaining about?
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?
I'm not saying we're helping them with MP3, but we listen to radio for free, and I doubt they make tons off that either, so how is MP3 really going to hurt them? I would assume artists really make most of their money from touring, and mp3 could be considered free publicity for the tour. or not. But don't pull that "oh, we're hurting the artists!" crap, because they're already so hurt by the record company's huge cut that our horrible mp3s (of songs many of us would never have bought anyway) really don't make much difference in the end (to the artists).
______________________________________
um, sigs should be heard and not seen?