The FAA is currently exploring what is called "free flight" a system that uses GPS combined with an anti-collision system to completely free aircraft from air traffic control. This has _incredible_ potential to decrease delays, increase safety, and reduce the cost of flying.
A more accurate system is currently being produced (and launched, I think), something that will have much better accuracy than GPS. Frankly, GPS sucks when it comes to altitude control, so until this is solved aircraft cannot be guided solely by satellite and definitely cannot make a precision landing relying on GPS.
Thomas Pabst and his articles exposing the Pentium II as being slower than the Pentium MMX? in 1996, he purchased a Pentium II from a store and benchmarked it, showing that it was slower than the MMX. Intel gave him no end of hell in legal threats and abuses before finally realizing that they had no case against him.
At the same time, the founder of x86.org had a major problem . He basically reconstructed the secret "Appendix H" technical references for the 586. He simply analyzed the data that Intel published and filled in the blanks. Intel harassed him and sued him for breaching NDA's that he had never agreed to in the first place!
I attribute much of AMD's success to the incredible uproar over these issues right around the time that AMD was releasing its newest chips. Definitely some of Intel's biggest legal blunders.
I wish more people read William Gibson. Maybe then we'd believe where the corporations and governments are eventually headed. Technology is neither good nor bad, neither are corporations and governments. It's simply that what a corporation and government wants is very different from what a person wants. Sigh...
What do feel is the worst outcome possible if you were to not appeal and let Judge Kaplan's ruling stand? (or the appeals were all denied)
Would Americans retain any power anymore to decrypt, reverse engineer, or otherwise pry into the workings of future technological applications? Considering that most everything will be encrypted in the future, from our toasters to our cars, the implications here seem to be complete control of capitalism by corporations.
What does it say about slashdotters that the china question is heavily regarded, while the Iran question recieved 1 (one!) post. Is it because/.ers are more likely to rebel against the gov't? Maybe it's that the China question is a "problem" that we can "solve."
Let's see some discussion on how to help women become more free, rather than how to help a person who might be conducting some incredibly questionable tactics.
>Car thieves have proved that if you use your car >in an anti-competitive fashion (or some other >legal mombo jumbo) you can loose the title. You mean like policemen seizing cars because they found a roach in the ashtray? Welcome to zero tolerance, friend. Coming soon to your computer. If Napster shuts down we'll be on Nipster, Nopster, and Nupster day after tomorrow. The only way to take these MP3s off our computer is to come to our houses and do it personally. We will see copyright law end or martial law begin.
Sales taxes are universally regarded as being regressive. One reason for this is that the rich don't have as much physically to buy. They tend to have smaller families, etc. What the rich do use, that the poor don't, are services. In KY, there is no charge on services provided. That means that that funky $500 haircut didn't cost a penny. That $1000 dollar alteration on a diamond studded dress? Not one penny in tax. Auto work on the Porsche at $80/hr. Nope, no tax here either.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love that fact, being as I can fly airplanes and as long as an instructor steps foot in my plane, I don't pay sales tax. However, being as airplanes are hideously expensive (>$50/hr to rent) isn't it evident where the rich are getting out of paying these taxes? The poor don't use these services. They cut their own hair, wash their own cars, and, unfortunately, can't afford to fly airplanes.
Here's where the internet comes in.
If we can keep taxes down on purchases on the internet, then the poor will have an out. A way to keep from being swamped by taxes. (My college friends in Montreal are dying under the burden of a 15% sales tax. They can't afford to buy anything!!!)
The states should tax the sevices that are provided locally. The gov't should force the states to get rid of sales tax, and then should implement a small sales tax (1-2%) accompanied by (better if it were preceded by) a reduction (1-2%)in income tax.
Of course, there is a whole hord of problems with this, such as the fact that the poor can generally not afford a computer, nor do they have credit cards, etc., but technology access is increasing at a blinding pace. Schools, libraries, and other public, free places give internet access. Likewise, paypal provides an easy way to turn g-money into e-money.
is to have the French Gov't take it up with the French citizens. Yahoo cannot be expected to A)look at every item posted to its web site, and B) have a list of what is and isn't acceptable to various countries. What if someone wants to post some Salman Rushdie memorabilia? Does Yahoo! have to block the auction in Iran? And what if someone sells a video of Tiananmen Square? Yahoo! blocks Chinese users? And that's only Yahoo! What about E-bay, web-sites, etc. Where does the list stop? The only way that users of various nationalities will be able to be blocked is by laws prohibiting _them_ from accessing and said information. Not that this isn't an incredibly heinous idea anyway. For once I hope that the US, in its incredibly arrogant fashion, tells the rest of the world to shove off. Internet access must be free and open to everyone.
Slashdot Mirror
A more accurate system is currently being produced (and launched, I think), something that will have much better accuracy than GPS. Frankly, GPS sucks when it comes to altitude control, so until this is solved aircraft cannot be guided solely by satellite and definitely cannot make a precision landing relying on GPS.
At the same time, the founder of x86.org had a major problem . He basically reconstructed the secret "Appendix H" technical references for the 586. He simply analyzed the data that Intel published and filled in the blanks. Intel harassed him and sued him for breaching NDA's that he had never agreed to in the first place!
I attribute much of AMD's success to the incredible uproar over these issues right around the time that AMD was releasing its newest chips. Definitely some of Intel's biggest legal blunders.
I wish more people read William Gibson. Maybe then we'd believe where the corporations and governments are eventually headed. Technology is neither good nor bad, neither are corporations and governments. It's simply that what a corporation and government wants is very different from what a person wants. Sigh...
And have it released in a circadian cycle? (like in the middle of the night. Wake up, Hot Mama, Daddy's home :)
Would Americans retain any power anymore to decrypt, reverse engineer, or otherwise pry into the workings of future technological applications? Considering that most everything will be encrypted in the future, from our toasters to our cars, the implications here seem to be complete control of capitalism by corporations.
Let's see some discussion on how to help women become more free, rather than how to help a person who might be conducting some incredibly questionable tactics.
Just think, once UCITA gets passed in all 50 states, M$ won't even have to worry about it any more. Outlook Express will be _our_ problem.
When will they learn? I have five fingers for full functionality!
>Car thieves have proved that if you use your car >in an anti-competitive fashion (or some other >legal mombo jumbo) you can loose the title. You mean like policemen seizing cars because they found a roach in the ashtray? Welcome to zero tolerance, friend. Coming soon to your computer. If Napster shuts down we'll be on Nipster, Nopster, and Nupster day after tomorrow. The only way to take these MP3s off our computer is to come to our houses and do it personally. We will see copyright law end or martial law begin.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love that fact, being as I can fly airplanes and as long as an instructor steps foot in my plane, I don't pay sales tax. However, being as airplanes are hideously expensive (>$50/hr to rent) isn't it evident where the rich are getting out of paying these taxes? The poor don't use these services. They cut their own hair, wash their own cars, and, unfortunately, can't afford to fly airplanes.
Here's where the internet comes in.
If we can keep taxes down on purchases on the internet, then the poor will have an out. A way to keep from being swamped by taxes. (My college friends in Montreal are dying under the burden of a 15% sales tax. They can't afford to buy anything!!!)
The states should tax the sevices that are provided locally. The gov't should force the states to get rid of sales tax, and then should implement a small sales tax (1-2%) accompanied by (better if it were preceded by) a reduction (1-2%)in income tax.
Of course, there is a whole hord of problems with this, such as the fact that the poor can generally not afford a computer, nor do they have credit cards, etc., but technology access is increasing at a blinding pace. Schools, libraries, and other public, free places give internet access. Likewise, paypal provides an easy way to turn g-money into e-money.
Just an idea for the future.
Battlefield Earth really wasn't kidding. Maybe that's the part of BE that didn't suck!
I want my prize, Jon Katz. :)
is to have the French Gov't take it up with the French citizens. Yahoo cannot be expected to A)look at every item posted to its web site, and B) have a list of what is and isn't acceptable to various countries. What if someone wants to post some Salman Rushdie memorabilia? Does Yahoo! have to block the auction in Iran? And what if someone sells a video of Tiananmen Square? Yahoo! blocks Chinese users? And that's only Yahoo! What about E-bay, web-sites, etc. Where does the list stop? The only way that users of various nationalities will be able to be blocked is by laws prohibiting _them_ from accessing and said information. Not that this isn't an incredibly heinous idea anyway. For once I hope that the US, in its incredibly arrogant fashion, tells the rest of the world to shove off. Internet access must be free and open to everyone.