Amazon Prime claims that you can "own" the movie. Problem is Prime is still just a streaming service. It's false advertising and the reason I don't use Prime for movies. If I "buy" a movie, I expect to be able to d/l to a portable drive so I can watch it when I don't have a data connection. If I subscribe to streaming service, I won't have that expecation.
I think you mean Amazon Video, the division that sells content for download and purchase, not Amazon Prime which actually is a streaming service similar to Netflix. However, by this definition, you are buying movies from Amazon Video; not just streaming. Any video content that you purchase from Amazon can be downloaded to your Android or iOS device (including an external microSD Card in the case of the former) with the Amazon Video app for later playback offline; no data connection required. We do this regularly to watch movies from Amazon while on a flight, in a car with no wifi, etc. You can even download Amazon Prime video (which you do not own) and play it offline for a certain period of time, which I believe is 30-45 days from the time of download; quite reasonable for content that you do not own, IMO.
What you cannot do is play it back on any device with a player of your choice. Amazon Video, just like Apple's iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, UltraViolet partners, etc., places DRM on all content that they sell, and it will only play on authorized devices and software.
Not sure why this hasn't been mentioned yet, but depending on what version you want to run, Photoshop runs quite well on Linux under WINE depending on what version you need to use, including CS6 and Creative Cloud versions. If you require support, Code Weavers packages a popular and easy-to-use version of WINE with varying levels of technical support available for purchase. (No affiliation with Code Weavers, just a happy customer.)
If you want to get fancy (i.e. complicated), you can probably set up some sort of application server that will allow you to limit the number of Photoshop licenses you need to purchase, but that's a bit out of scope for a simple Slashdot comment.:)
Without reading the article (this is Slashdot, after all!), this sounds more like QoS management than creating a "fast lane". My cynical side tells me that they're calling it a "fast lane" just so that they can use it as an argument against the FCC in court.
"Gee, your honor. We were going to make our network faster and more efficient, but the mean old FCC said we couldn't put in any fast lanes! Government regulation is SO burdensome!"
While I fully blame Microsoft for creating this mess, I'm somewhat dismayed that as a customer I'm finding out that my service is down from a news outlet rather than from noip themselves! I've been using their sub domain wildcard service for 7-8 years now and have just now found out that it's down. I'm none too happy about being thrown out with the bathwater!
I've been doing this on my Galaxy S3 for over 9 months now using an NFC tag glued to my watch band. All you need is a rooted phone running Android 4.0.3 and above and a willingness to install an XPosed plugin or two. This link has all the details:
Install NFC Lock Screen Off Enabler module (you can find it in the Modules section of the XPosed Installer app)
Turn on NFC in lockscreen or screen off modes as desired
Register your NFC Tags to unlock your phone
Much easier (and safer, IMO) than installing a modified system apk, and this method can also survive system upgrades provided that you maintain root. It will launch whatever action is set for that NFC tag (link, text, app, whatever), but you can use another XPosed module to supress the "Empty Tag" message on empty tags, if you so desire.
The Adafruit link from TFA has some interesting ideas on how to squeeze your NFC tag into some interesting places, and you can also buy some pretty small NFC tags on your own. I bought 20 Midas nTag NFC tags on Amazon for $13 with Prime shipping, and they measure 19mm x 12mm. You can shave another 2mm off of either dimension if you're very careful with the trimming. That was more than small enough to fit on the clasp of my watch, or on the back of a plastic watch band.
Since Facebook seems to think that "usability" is a four-letter word, I found that http://www.manageyourlikes.com is an excellent way to trim your likes.
"Confirmation" from a Verizon spokesperson that Verizon isn't throttling access is more than a little like the fox guarding the hen house and asking the fox to "confirm" that the hens are all present and accounted for. That's not to say that Mr. Raphael's assertion is necessarily correct either, but he does provide additional evidence to support his claim, whereas Verizon is merely providing "assurances", as far as I can tell since the BGR article provides no details beyond the brief spokesperson statement.
Used it to control my HTPC from my iPad. I think their pricing is just a wee bit too high, though. If it were, say, $25 a year (rather than $50), I'd probably say that it was worth it to avoid having to find an alternative. As it is, I'll find something else.
If cost is your major concern, you should check out Splashtop. They have servers for Windows, Mac and Linux (all x86 based) and clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and probably a few more. The service is free over LAN, and remote access is only $1.99/month or $16.99/year. And the service is fast! I'm able to do rough edits on Final Cut Pro over my LAN and sometimes over the internet, depending on my connection, and remote gaming is one of their advertised selling points. If you're clever with VPN setups, you can use it remotely as if you were on the LAN.
I've looked into something similar to use as a controller/receiver for a whole house audio system, and you may want to look at a cheap Android-based device, some of which can be had for less than $50. For that price you get a resistive touch screen at around 320x240, 8G storage, stereo output, 256M RAM, WiFi, USB and a Java-based OS with plenty of apps pre-built and a well established development community.
For a small 4" device, Google "benss android". I was able to find half a dozen listings for this under $50. (Haven't tried it, though.) Also, Big Lots in the US regularly sells 7" refurb tablets for $70.
Wow, TFA is a giant mound of flame-bait! I haven't fed a troll in quite some time, but seeing as he's going after my turf (web developer for 13 years, Mac user for 8), I think I'll bite. Four bullet points with flawed arguments about why Mac OS X is "bad" and one bullet point of nerd-baiting.
Horrific Package Management This is perhaps the only valid argument of the bunch. Although I've personally used Fink with excellent results in the past, I don't think that it's being maintained as actively as it once was, but from what I can tell Macports is. I've never tried Homebrew, but I'm sure the author has sufficiently explored it's deficiencies to his own satisfaction. The author mentions his preference for Debian based tools, which is what Fink uses, so I'm not sure why he wasn't able to find some common ground there, but obviously he wasn't.
You don't deploy to BSD Conversely, this is perhaps his weakest argument. It shouldn't matter if your development environment is BSD (Mac) and your target environment is Linux, or any other environment for that matter. In all my years as a web developer, I have NEVER had a local development environment that exactly matched my production environment. Even when I was using Linux on the desktop, it was not the same "flavor" as the servers, so I still didn't have mirrored environments. This is why you have multiple testing environments for your project, just as you have multiple browsers for testing. My local environment is a Macbook Pro. It used to be a Windows 7 machine, which used to be running Windows XP, to run a Java-based platform. We also have Development and QA environments that mirrored Production in order to test these types of compatibility issues. I'm also willing to bet that the Lenovo didn't come preinstalled with whatever variant of Linux you're using on your production server, or that the hardware specs on the server even remotely match either laptop.
Textmate sucks So don't use it. Try Eclipse (my personal choice) or whatever brand of IDE or text editor you prefer. If all else fails, man up and install emacs.
The hardware is overpriced I think the same thing about BMWs and Mercedes Benz. However, some people still prefer to drive them.
Some crap about 'LOST' that is completely irrelevant to the conversation Okay, somewhere in your relationship with your Mac, you were hurt very badly. That's okay, not everyone is a Mac person. Not everyone is a Windows or Linux person either. But at some point you need to just "man up" and deal with the choice you've made or start over and just install Linux on your MacBook Pro.
Lossy image with a lossless alpha channel is probably more what's needed, and would be great to have in this format. That said, I'm pretty impressed with the image quality displayed and would love to begin to see wider adoption.
The summary did not mention what Netflix gets out of the deal: more on-demand content. From the article:
Although Warner's unilateral move against Redbox has led to a court battle, Netflix agreed to the 28-day window in exchange for improved financial terms and more content for its Internet streaming service. (my emphasis)
As someone who has Netflix Instant Queue available directly on my television (thanks, TiVo), I'm more than happy to wait another month for a latest release if it means I can decide on a Thursday evening that I'd rather watch "Big Movie A" instead of "Big Movie B" without having to wait 2 days (one day to mail back, one day to receive) to see it.
This is why the movie Sicko! was so popular and why the idea of health care reform is becoming more and more popular, despite attempts to categorically dismiss it as a "socialist" idea. People have enough problems getting proper medical care without having to worry about whether your doctor is going to require you sign away your rights in order to get treatment.
On one occasion when going to see a specialist for the first time, I was presented with the usual stack of paperwork before I was allowed to see the doctor. Luckily, I have an annoying habit of reading a document before I sign it, as one of the documents was (as another reader has described) an agreement to waive my right to sue for malpractice, and to instead agree to arbitration of their choosing. I signed the other documents and told the receptionist that I would need to have my lawyer look over the waiver before I would sign it, and she responded "Oh, okay. Just bring it in whenever; it's optional, anyway." Optional? Then why was it buried in this stack of required paperwork?!? (Yes, that question is rhetorical.) Needless to say, I opted not to sign it, and I got to see the doctor anyway.
This is the last thing that the health care industry needs right now as it battles a PR campaign against movies like Sicko! and all the various "investigative reporters" for everyone from your local news to CNN. My wife and I even made our own short film about it. (Go ahead; mod me a Troll, I don't care.)
I realize that Time Warner Cable is a Big Evil Corporation(TM), but what's the big deal here? So you type in a domain that does not exist and they give you search results based on that domain. "But they're serving ads, those money-grubbing evil-doers!" Guess what: search engines serve ads! It's true! But let's say you don't want your DNS server sending you ads. That's a reasonable request, since you're already paying for the service. I guess you can just turn them off like the post suggests!
I don't think that the sky is falling just yet on this one.
For everyone jumping down Universal's throat for "snubbing Apple", it should be noted that this is no different than what Apple is doing when it restricts iTunes downloads to Apple-supported hardware. Yes, there is some DRM-free music available on iTunes, and I applaud them for it. But Universal is snubbing Apple about as much as Apple is snubbing Zune and every other music player out there that it refuses to license Fair-Play to, including the Linux operating system. There is absolutely no reason to believe that this had anything to do with their recent contract spat with Apple or that this wasn't coming out regardless of how their negotiations turned out.
Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Prime claims that you can "own" the movie. Problem is Prime is still just a streaming service. It's false advertising and the reason I don't use Prime for movies. If I "buy" a movie, I expect to be able to d/l to a portable drive so I can watch it when I don't have a data connection. If I subscribe to streaming service, I won't have that expecation.
I think you mean Amazon Video, the division that sells content for download and purchase, not Amazon Prime which actually is a streaming service similar to Netflix. However, by this definition, you are buying movies from Amazon Video; not just streaming. Any video content that you purchase from Amazon can be downloaded to your Android or iOS device (including an external microSD Card in the case of the former) with the Amazon Video app for later playback offline; no data connection required. We do this regularly to watch movies from Amazon while on a flight, in a car with no wifi, etc. You can even download Amazon Prime video (which you do not own) and play it offline for a certain period of time, which I believe is 30-45 days from the time of download; quite reasonable for content that you do not own, IMO.
What you cannot do is play it back on any device with a player of your choice. Amazon Video, just like Apple's iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, UltraViolet partners, etc., places DRM on all content that they sell, and it will only play on authorized devices and software.
- Stealth Dave
Not sure why this hasn't been mentioned yet, but depending on what version you want to run, Photoshop runs quite well on Linux under WINE depending on what version you need to use, including CS6 and Creative Cloud versions. If you require support, Code Weavers packages a popular and easy-to-use version of WINE with varying levels of technical support available for purchase. (No affiliation with Code Weavers, just a happy customer.)
If you want to get fancy (i.e. complicated), you can probably set up some sort of application server that will allow you to limit the number of Photoshop licenses you need to purchase, but that's a bit out of scope for a simple Slashdot comment. :)
- Dave
TIL to never buy a seagate barracuda 3tb.
You had me at "never buy a Seagate."
Without reading the article (this is Slashdot, after all!), this sounds more like QoS management than creating a "fast lane". My cynical side tells me that they're calling it a "fast lane" just so that they can use it as an argument against the FCC in court.
"Gee, your honor. We were going to make our network faster and more efficient, but the mean old FCC said we couldn't put in any fast lanes! Government regulation is SO burdensome!"
While I fully blame Microsoft for creating this mess, I'm somewhat dismayed that as a customer I'm finding out that my service is down from a news outlet rather than from noip themselves! I've been using their sub domain wildcard service for 7-8 years now and have just now found out that it's down. I'm none too happy about being thrown out with the bathwater!
I've been doing this on my Galaxy S3 for over 9 months now using an NFC tag glued to my watch band. All you need is a rooted phone running Android 4.0.3 and above and a willingness to install an XPosed plugin or two. This link has all the details:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/mod-nfc-unlocking-based-t2478163
TL;DR Steps:
Much easier (and safer, IMO) than installing a modified system apk, and this method can also survive system upgrades provided that you maintain root. It will launch whatever action is set for that NFC tag (link, text, app, whatever), but you can use another XPosed module to supress the "Empty Tag" message on empty tags, if you so desire.
The Adafruit link from TFA has some interesting ideas on how to squeeze your NFC tag into some interesting places, and you can also buy some pretty small NFC tags on your own. I bought 20 Midas nTag NFC tags on Amazon for $13 with Prime shipping, and they measure 19mm x 12mm. You can shave another 2mm off of either dimension if you're very careful with the trimming. That was more than small enough to fit on the clasp of my watch, or on the back of a plastic watch band.
Since Facebook seems to think that "usability" is a four-letter word, I found that http://www.manageyourlikes.com is an excellent way to trim your likes.
"Confirmation" from a Verizon spokesperson that Verizon isn't throttling access is more than a little like the fox guarding the hen house and asking the fox to "confirm" that the hens are all present and accounted for. That's not to say that Mr. Raphael's assertion is necessarily correct either, but he does provide additional evidence to support his claim, whereas Verizon is merely providing "assurances", as far as I can tell since the BGR article provides no details beyond the brief spokesperson statement.
Used it to control my HTPC from my iPad. I think their pricing is just a wee bit too high, though. If it were, say, $25 a year (rather than $50), I'd probably say that it was worth it to avoid having to find an alternative. As it is, I'll find something else.
If cost is your major concern, you should check out Splashtop. They have servers for Windows, Mac and Linux (all x86 based) and clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and probably a few more. The service is free over LAN, and remote access is only $1.99/month or $16.99/year. And the service is fast! I'm able to do rough edits on Final Cut Pro over my LAN and sometimes over the internet, depending on my connection, and remote gaming is one of their advertised selling points. If you're clever with VPN setups, you can use it remotely as if you were on the LAN.
I agree, it is a good idea, and I did.
I've looked into something similar to use as a controller/receiver for a whole house audio system, and you may want to look at a cheap Android-based device, some of which can be had for less than $50. For that price you get a resistive touch screen at around 320x240, 8G storage, stereo output, 256M RAM, WiFi, USB and a Java-based OS with plenty of apps pre-built and a well established development community.
For a small 4" device, Google "benss android". I was able to find half a dozen listings for this under $50. (Haven't tried it, though.) Also, Big Lots in the US regularly sells 7" refurb tablets for $70.
- Stealth Dave
That ninth parsec is a bitch to navigate!
Wow, TFA is a giant mound of flame-bait! I haven't fed a troll in quite some time, but seeing as he's going after my turf (web developer for 13 years, Mac user for 8), I think I'll bite. Four bullet points with flawed arguments about why Mac OS X is "bad" and one bullet point of nerd-baiting.
Horrific Package Management
This is perhaps the only valid argument of the bunch. Although I've personally used Fink with excellent results in the past, I don't think that it's being maintained as actively as it once was, but from what I can tell Macports is. I've never tried Homebrew, but I'm sure the author has sufficiently explored it's deficiencies to his own satisfaction. The author mentions his preference for Debian based tools, which is what Fink uses, so I'm not sure why he wasn't able to find some common ground there, but obviously he wasn't.
You don't deploy to BSD
Conversely, this is perhaps his weakest argument. It shouldn't matter if your development environment is BSD (Mac) and your target environment is Linux, or any other environment for that matter. In all my years as a web developer, I have NEVER had a local development environment that exactly matched my production environment. Even when I was using Linux on the desktop, it was not the same "flavor" as the servers, so I still didn't have mirrored environments. This is why you have multiple testing environments for your project, just as you have multiple browsers for testing. My local environment is a Macbook Pro. It used to be a Windows 7 machine, which used to be running Windows XP, to run a Java-based platform. We also have Development and QA environments that mirrored Production in order to test these types of compatibility issues. I'm also willing to bet that the Lenovo didn't come preinstalled with whatever variant of Linux you're using on your production server, or that the hardware specs on the server even remotely match either laptop.
Textmate sucks
So don't use it. Try Eclipse (my personal choice) or whatever brand of IDE or text editor you prefer. If all else fails, man up and install emacs.
The hardware is overpriced
I think the same thing about BMWs and Mercedes Benz. However, some people still prefer to drive them.
Some crap about 'LOST' that is completely irrelevant to the conversation
Okay, somewhere in your relationship with your Mac, you were hurt very badly. That's okay, not everyone is a Mac person. Not everyone is a Windows or Linux person either. But at some point you need to just "man up" and deal with the choice you've made or start over and just install Linux on your MacBook Pro.
- Stealth Dave
Lossy image with a lossless alpha channel is probably more what's needed, and would be great to have in this format. That said, I'm pretty impressed with the image quality displayed and would love to begin to see wider adoption.
Everyone's experience is different, I suppose. I have a GeForce 5200 that's been in operation for over 7 years now, and it's still going strong.
I wrote a Tetris(R) clone for the HP 28 in 1992. Amazingly, it's still available for download!
http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=279
The market is a bit smaller for my version these days, but I'd better give a heads up to my lawyer. Just in case.
In other news, there is still no software that can detect tweets without sarcasm.
ah, but what about a LAN war? Thats good to go right?
You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a LAN war in Asia"!
- Stealth Dave
The summary did not mention what Netflix gets out of the deal: more on-demand content. From the article:
As someone who has Netflix Instant Queue available directly on my television (thanks, TiVo), I'm more than happy to wait another month for a latest release if it means I can decide on a Thursday evening that I'd rather watch "Big Movie A" instead of "Big Movie B" without having to wait 2 days (one day to mail back, one day to receive) to see it.
My case needs to go to eleven.
Our video response is 7 minutes long. Any chance we can get an exception?
- Stealth Dave
This is why the movie Sicko! was so popular and why the idea of health care reform is becoming more and more popular, despite attempts to categorically dismiss it as a "socialist" idea. People have enough problems getting proper medical care without having to worry about whether your doctor is going to require you sign away your rights in order to get treatment.
On one occasion when going to see a specialist for the first time, I was presented with the usual stack of paperwork before I was allowed to see the doctor. Luckily, I have an annoying habit of reading a document before I sign it, as one of the documents was (as another reader has described) an agreement to waive my right to sue for malpractice, and to instead agree to arbitration of their choosing. I signed the other documents and told the receptionist that I would need to have my lawyer look over the waiver before I would sign it, and she responded "Oh, okay. Just bring it in whenever; it's optional, anyway." Optional? Then why was it buried in this stack of required paperwork?!? (Yes, that question is rhetorical.) Needless to say, I opted not to sign it, and I got to see the doctor anyway.
This is the last thing that the health care industry needs right now as it battles a PR campaign against movies like Sicko! and all the various "investigative reporters" for everyone from your local news to CNN. My wife and I even made our own short film about it. (Go ahead; mod me a Troll, I don't care.)
- Dave
I realize that Time Warner Cable is a Big Evil Corporation(TM), but what's the big deal here? So you type in a domain that does not exist and they give you search results based on that domain. "But they're serving ads, those money-grubbing evil-doers!" Guess what: search engines serve ads! It's true! But let's say you don't want your DNS server sending you ads. That's a reasonable request, since you're already paying for the service. I guess you can just turn them off like the post suggests!
I don't think that the sky is falling just yet on this one.
- Stealth Dave
For everyone jumping down Universal's throat for "snubbing Apple", it should be noted that this is no different than what Apple is doing when it restricts iTunes downloads to Apple-supported hardware. Yes, there is some DRM-free music available on iTunes, and I applaud them for it. But Universal is snubbing Apple about as much as Apple is snubbing Zune and every other music player out there that it refuses to license Fair-Play to, including the Linux operating system. There is absolutely no reason to believe that this had anything to do with their recent contract spat with Apple or that this wasn't coming out regardless of how their negotiations turned out.
- Stealth dave
We haven't seen this level of advancement in beer technology since Einstein split the beer atom back in 1988.
- Stealth Dave