Well, IAMAS (I Am Not A Scientist) but I would think that this could be better regulated by your body. If you take a fat load of caffeine pills you will get sick or die. However, it may be that if you were to take a pill to coax your body into creating it, you might not be able to overdose since there's only so much your body can produce at once.
In any case, I like this because I have trouble staying awake and have really low blood pressure as it is, so this could be a good thing for me. Maybe I can even get an injection that could last a month. There are endless possibilities.
This thing uses a memory stick, as well as a lot of other Sony equipment...I would think that in this case it could mean a future pda that will interface with mp3 players and such. They use the same memory sticks. Perhaps the Aibo has a memory stick too...that would be extra (geeky) cool. Imagine having a virtual pet on your palm then transferring it's brain to the Aibo. Imagine that bad monkey made by Minor Demons with a real body so it can get drunk, throw shit, and hump bunnies in real life!
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, you obviously don't have a palm pilot or if you do have one, you use it for work too much!)
I don't think this would exactly happen, but I do see that the two languages could merge to a certain extent. The magic of American English is that it can borrow things from other languages. We already have a lot based on Spanish...for an example just look at some of the states we have. Arizona, Montana, California, New Jersey...ok, maybe not New Jersey...but, we use a lot of Spanish in English already. Also, it goes both ways. I can't count how much American English you hear down in Mexico when it comes to TV, Radio, etc.
Language should not be static. Once a language stops changing it will stagnate and die. The garbage gets weeded out (eg. "Gag me with a spoon!" from the Valley) and interesting things stay. We're not always correct in the usage of our words and how we change them, but language is a tool used to communicate. If we have a deficiency in our language, we end up filling the gap one way or another.
I speak American English as a person that has grown up in the U.S., but I also speak some Spanish. Both are very useful languages, and I tend to combine them to get various points across. It's called Spanglish.
Also, as far as something closer to the subject of this article, it would be stupid to try to make one language for the net. With all the various cultures, languages, countries, and people of the world, you can not expect everyone to adhere to one standard for human language. Language is an integral part of every culture. The best solutions I can think of right now for getting past the language barrier is to either develop your websites in multiple languages (a lot of work to maintain though), or simply add a link from your page to translate from http://babelfish.altavista.com/ or http://translator.go.com/ I personally use the go networks one on my site as a menu that you can select Spanish, French, German, and Italian (I think all four, I haven't looked for a while as I don't maintain my website anymore.) It is an easy thing to insert onto every webpage using the template that I made, and works well enough to get the point across easily to the users.
Parents, teachers, etc need to get off their fat lazy asses and pay attention to what their kids are doing.
The internet should not be censored to "protect" anyone. If you don't like your kids seeing porn online, then you should stop them. Teachers should do the same. Review the history files afterwards also just in case, and let them know ahead of time you are going to check what sites the kids visited. I know that won't work against everyone but nothing is fullproof. Especially censorware.
It all goes down to our society not wanting to be responsible for anything. Parents want to blame video games, tv, the internet, music, etc. for how they fail to keep their own children in line. Smokers commit slow suicide by putting fire into their lungs, then sue tobacco companies because these people are too stupid to know better.
Sometimes I wish that some people would help us all out by killing themselves. If you feel that you can't be live up to any of your responsibilities and just want to cry how the world has done you wrong, jump off of a tall building...it should be great! You will leave your impression on the Earth, and we will all be thankful to have one less semi-hairless monkey jumping around and screaming about everyone offending and hurting them.
Ok, back on topic a bit more. I wonder how many other sites like this will prevent censorware from working. I was shown something yesterday that triggers censorware that is completely innocent: This tip is sure to not work.
Various censoreware programs don't like it. Let's look at it again through their eyes: This tiP IS Sure to not work.
It's pretty interesting...but shows how ineffective this type of software is.
I think I will name my OS MONOS, as in giving an infinite number of them typewriters and an infinite amount of time and eventually they will develop a complete OS.
Oh wait, it's already been done I think. How else can you explain Windows?:oD
I forgot about that bigass satellite in the movie Akira. I definitely have to show that movie to my girlfriend now, she uses SOL as her internet alias.
Speaking of significant others in space...does this mean that housewives are going to get to replace those old vaccum with something like this? Now you can not only scare the dog, you can vaporize him!!! WOOHOO!!!
(Sorry, intoxication has somewhat set in)
All I need is some computer pants. Then my girlfriend would see me and say, "Hey darlin', is that a hard drive in your pants or are ya' happy to see me?"
Well...the same could almost go for linux but it's a done deal that there are games and such on linux, but it's still not even as good as games on M$ Windows. I really think the home appliance that does the job of a PC, video player, stereo, and game system all in one is the ticket. Someone needs to design the hardware first, and then the OS will follow. It just needs to be easy to use like a mac, and not as powerful as something like bsd or linux. That is why linux doesn't make a good desktop platform for anything right now. It's too complex for the average user. I like linux myself and use it, but it won't work with my TB2000 sound card, which sounds beautiful in windows, and thus my game controller doesn't work, and various other things.
BSD seems to be mainly used for servers. While it might be cool to have a quake server or unreal tournament server, or for some other type of game, I don't really see why someone would want to play games on BSD. I'm not a big expert on BSD, but from what I see, linux has support for more hardware than bsd as far as graphics cards, soundcards, etc.
Also, I think rather than trying to get our server software to be on the desktop, we need to make a new OS and interface for the desktop. I see further into the future that desktops will probably be replaced with something more low key, more like a cross between a game console and a PC. Anyways, with that in mind...we should work more towards developing that, and improving our servers to do their job better.
I don't mean this as a troll and I don't want to tell anyone what to do...but I think that would be more helpful in the cause of better software. I would much rather have a kickass pc/console gaming system that uses a HDTV and a dsl connection and a device to write on that works similar to the palm graffiti so I don't need a keyboard, and a game controller, which may have that built in. It also should have a dvd player/cdrom on it and an OS that is only for doing basic things and you can't crash without running it over with your car.
Re:do you want a unique id?
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Online Voting?
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Ummm...I suppose this means you are not in the U.S. We have a SSN (Social Security Number) that is assigned to each of us, and abused for various things. As far as tying it in to your fingerprints, if you commit a crime, the police or whoever it is arresting you gets your fingerprints. From there on, you are in their system and they share that info with other law enforcement. So my point is...if you're in the U.S. and gotten caught doing anything illegal and ended up in jail, it's too late.
I know I will probably get flamed about this by the supposedly super-patriotic and such, but I don't vote. I am part of the vast majority that does not. We all have varying reasons, but I think the most common one is that voting does not make a difference. Theoretically it could make a big difference if we had a good and bad person running for office. However, this isn't the case usually. Republicans and Democrats are just two extreme opposites of being wrong. What does that leave me with? Well, if I happen to think a good person is running for president in the reform party, reform party, or libertarian party, then I would be throwing my vote away by trying to vote for them. Yes, they may be able to win smaller roles, but for the most part they will not get into higher positions in our government with the way the current system is set up. We really need to face the facts that our presidents for many many terms back have been nothing more than bungling idiots, and congress is not functioning the way it was intended to since the majority of senators get bribed by various lobbies and don't listen to the people that put them into office. That goes for both of the major parties. Those two parties will always be in control as long as the smaller guys never get the TV time and radio time and media coverage that the republicans and democrats do. The only ones examples that I can come up with are people like Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura. Ross is a rich old guy so of course he had the money to buy himself media exposure. Jesse Ventura is a celebrity, so the fact that he was running for governor made the news and such also. Unless we do something as rediculous as trying to get Jim Carey as a candidate for the reform party, noone will know of any alternatives to the big two, and people like me will continue to not vote. As far as the cliche of voting for the lesser of two evils, I choose to not choose evil at all. Whether I am executed by firing squad or hanging is not a choice I want to make, I choose to avoid the whole thing.
Agree or disagree, that is my opinion, and unless someone can show me a better way, I'm sticking to it.
Yeap. A few good uses actually. Don't think of "The linux watch" think of it's components:
1) The linux operating system cut down to run an embedded system on an extremely small piece of hardware.
2) The small hardware. A wristwatch sized piece of equipment made by IBM to brag about their advances in shrinking the size of equipment.
3) The marketing. Non computer users and newbies know about watches. They are small. The fact that a computer can be the size of a watch gets more "Oooh" and "Ahhh" from the public than say...a computer the size of a 286 chip. It makes IBM look really good to make a device like this and the average person will remember it better than doubling the RPM's in a disk drive, or making a 2GHZ processor.
I think it's a good idea, and even though the watch itself is pretty useless, it's a good practice for them, and hopefully it precedes something useful.
Here's one of many things tied in with DVD's that seem to be set up so that the MPAA and such doesn't have to pay taxes to manufacture and import parts for DVD equipment. Anyone care to comment? Especially someone that understands all this "Law" garbage?
We can't be called USians because, well, that would piss off people in other countries as well since the U.S.A. is not the only country that is made up of states. An example is directly to the south. Estados Unidos de Mexico.
Actually I can see a reason for making a watch like this. Ever see the movie "Dick Tracy?" He had smll watch that he could talk to people through, and it did other stuff too. So, if you meet a girl that happens to be a impressed by things like that, and her name is Tracy...it improves your chances. Oh wait, that's not it. Um, I think the excuse IBM probably used was something more to the effect of:
"We wanted to make a small enough O.S. distribution and hardware that we could fit onto a small piece of equipment, much as we would with any embedded system that needed a full O.S. on it. We used a wristwatch sized computer so we would be able to demonstrate how small the computer and OS is to non-computer users to be amazed at."
In other words...they thought it would be 31337 to have linux watch. Just wait until it comes with a cover on the top in the shape of Tux and have it interface with the pokemon watch.
First thing: I think the whole "USia" and "USians" is stupid and you were trolling by trying to piss of people from the U.S., known as Americans (I didn't make it up, but it's the standard so deal with it.) Also, that whole thing about there still being many places in the U.S. that don't have electricity seems to have been meant as flame and was a dumb one at that. But, back to the real point.
I am not going to flame other forms of government, all have their downsides with the exception of making me Supreme Emperor of the Universe. I don't see how a socialist government can help encourage technology. One of the advantages to a capitalist government is that it allows many different people to come up with ideas to do the same thing. Eventually, for various reasons, most of the products dissapear and leave us with a few choices. Unfortunately this can often lead to situations like Microsoft, but ideally it allows the consumer to pick the best product, which will then become the standard. We may take longer to adopt the standards in the U.S. and often they end up being different than Europe and other parts of the world. Sometimes it's good, sometimes bad but at least we as consumers have more choice and can impact what technology becomes the standard by using our money, and talking to our friends and families to get them to do the same.
I do agree that there are some problems with how big companies operate here. Organizations like the MPAA do have too much power and I think the federal government should be able to do something to prevent that, but for the most part trade should be free from governmental influence so that the consumer, a member of the public, can make the decisions on what they buy, rather than depending on some stupid old men to decide for them. Unfortunately in the U.S. it appears that we are going towards taking on the flaws of socialism, and extending the flaws of capitalism. Oh well, the people are still not quite as rude as the French.:oD
If there are typos in this message it is probably because my "A" key is screwed up.
There is actually a seperate NT Bugtraq mailing list. I got stuff a lot, although not as much as the regular bugtraq mailing list since it's focus is so narrow.
I agree with what you said. I personally use a palm pilot, which while it is somewhat primitive, it is better than CE because it is geared more towards writing than typing. It has a software keyboard that sucks and eats up half of your screen, but if you learn to write in "grafitti" then using it becomes a lot easier. I think that the ultimate goal should be somewhat disconnected from how the PC works. I do not want to run linux on my handheld computer, just because linux in it's current for is for desktops and servers. I want something that emulates the functionality of some desktop applications (email, web browsing, a writing pad, spreadsheet, etc) but that is where the similarities should end. On CE it is fairly useless to have the start menu in a way similar to the various windows OS's. I would think that it would wear down that corner of your screen a lot more than anywhere else, and the bottom left corner is somewhat inconvenient for a left handed person like me to need to click all the time.
I wait for the day when a handheld device is as easy to write on as a piece of paper, yet still has the functionality of a desktop. I want it to also be able to take voice commands and notes that way. Of course, we can forget all of that and leave it behind if I could just put a real phaser on my palm pilot and shoot lasers at people during meetings at work.
Re: "jobs fer hard werkin 'Mericans"
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Selfish Society
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OH, I see that wanting to protect jobs for Americans within America from encroachment by outsiders is now racist. Well, excuse the term, but... bullshit.
There are a couple fallacies in this statement. There are no jobs to protect since there is such a deficit of people working in the IT field. As I stated in my original post that you replied to, I get at least 2 calls a day from recruiters. There is such a rediculous shortage of people to work on computers that anyone that wants to hire me has to treat me like a king before I even consider interviewing them. The other thing wrong with your statement is this whole "Us vs. Them" idea of other countries. The U.S. is not at war with anyone right now, and these people come here to build a better life for themselves, not to hurt Americans. The only reason they are able to come here is because there are not enough Americans able and willing to do the jobs that are needed. If you had bothered to read my previous post you would understand a small portion of how difficult it is for people to obtain those visas. It can take years and is a very humiliating and expensive process. It's very often that people do not get their visa. It's also very true that the government tries to make it as difficult as possible for people to get. The other thing is that the U.S. was supposedly a place for people of all nationalities and backgrounds to come. Why are you against making the U.S. a better and more powerful country?
AS for Americans being lazy compared to people from other countries, that's also so much bullshit.
I do wish I could go back and remove that from my post. I do know that Americans work a lot more hours and with less vacation than people in most 1st world countries. My mind was running in many directions when I posted this. I was actually thinking of the people that work on farms and as janitors and in fast food: places that most Americans refuse to work due to reasons such as low pay and being treated badly. The fact is that people here would rather collect welfare or beg money on the streets than to get a job at McDonalds. A lot of the Americans that do get a job at McDonalds will be lazy and disrespectful. On the other hand, in the I.T. industry, you do have some of the most hard working, underappreciated people in the U.S. That goes for all the people in those jobs. I really should not have stated the lazy part.
Sure, workers from other countries may seem harder working, but they either must work the demanded hours or get their H1B yanked and they go back to India, Pakistan, China, or wherever.
You can't tell me that wasn't a racist statement. You are making vague generalizations about millions of people you know nothing about. To most people, their reason for working is to support their families and give them a nice life. It's not because they don't want to lose their SUV or get behind on their mortgage, it's because they want their family to survive. I don't see that as a bad reason to work, because personally if I had anyone other than myself to provide for I'd work a bit harder too.
I dunno about you buddy, but if I deal with a tech at another company I ALWAYS ask for a non-H1B visa holder.
Tech support is a different issue. I don't really consider that to be really working in the information technology field any more than a salesman. The purpose of a tech support person is to speak in a clear and concise manner that the customer can understand, and at least be able to relax them, then comes the part about solving problems and being able to transfer them to higher support if necessary. I agree with you that I don't want to talk to someone that can't speak my language in a tech support environment. That is because their main job is talking, and if they can't do it right they need fired. It would be the same as hiring someone who answers the phone with, "Microsoft Tech Support, this is Bob and you can kiss my ass!"
There are plenty of Americans in America to do the job without using imports.
This is where I tell you that what you said is bullshit. I have proof to the contrary. Just go to www.monster.com and see how many jobs are posted daily, a good number of which end up unfilled. And finally, you have to use imports to fill the majority of jobs. The Europeans killed most of the natives here so that leaves mostly white, black, oriental, arabic, etc. people to fill jobs here in the U.S.
You see, you are one of the people that this article was about. An elitist that doesn't really have a grasp of the world around them. If you really want to know what's going on, get to know some of these "foreigners" and you will see that they are no more foreign than yourself.
Re: "jobs fer hard werkin 'Mericans"
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Selfish Society
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I misstated what I meant I think. Americans in the IT industry do work harder than Americans in a lot of other types of jobs. I was still thinking of the people working as janitors, on farms, fast food, etc. In those cases people from other countries do tend to work harder.
About the getting a new job thing, it's true. I get at least two voicemails at home a day from recruiters trying to get me in to interview me. I also have picked up some skills that are really marketable that allow me to get a job easily without any certification or a degree.
It's quite unfortunate that we couldn't have a clearer cut trial of Good vs. Evil, but in this case I have to side with Napster as the lesser of two evils. The problem is that the RIAA is not just attacking Napster in this trial. If they win, that would have a major effect on how we listen to music and what control we have over what we pay for. Even though Napster isn't neccessarily a "good guy" and should be replaced with something to help the artists out more, the RIAA must be stopped before we have to pay for music by how long it is and for each time we listen to a certain song.
Re: "jobs fer hard werkin 'Mericans"
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Selfish Society
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I see you are buying into the racist ideas in general. The whole white supremicist thing about, "We can't let these Mexicans come across the border because they take jobs away from 'mericans!" When the truth is that the Mexicans work harder than most Americans at the jobs they do, and most Americans are not desperate enough or can get welfare so we wouldn't need a job working 14 hours a day in a field for $5.
In the I.T. industry, it is mostly people from India and China that I see coming to work in the U.S. from other countries. First of all, there is a very real I.T. worker shortage. If there wasn't, I would not be getting 2 to 3 phone calls a day with people wanting to interview me for a job. If one day I wake up and decide that the monitor I have at my current job isn't big enough to read slashdot in the size I want, I can go quit and have another job that afternoon. That's not bad for an white American male that dropped out of college and is not certified in anything. If you can't get a job in the I.T. industry, it is your fault by some other reason. Perhaps you need help working on your resume.
The other fallacy in your comment is that the people coming to work here from other countries are second-rate employees. Americans are lazier than most cultures, and from working closely with people from India, China, etc I see that they are very hard workers and very intelligent. You probably think they are stupid because they are not masters of the English language, but a lot of them have spent a lot of time studying and learning about computers and picked up English to come here. It is true that they usually get paid less than those of us originally in the U.S., but it's because the companies know they can get away with it. Whoever you work for is going to pay you as little as possible. It's not evil, it's just a way of saving money. However, bringing people here results in other costs that most Americans won't see. It is pretty difficult to get a visa to work in the country very long, nevermind getting citizenship. The companies that hires these people put a lot of money into lawyer fees and such because they have to convince the government that no American is qualified to fill that position. If the foreign person already has the job, the company will have to re-post the position and try to hire an American to fill it. We are at no disadvantage to anyone from other countries.
Don't forget that the IT industry is not all based in the U.S. also. I've done some work in Mexico, and also know of a lot of work in various countries in Europe. There's a lot of I.T. work to go around in any country with enough money to use computers. I doubt somewhere like Somalia has a big need for tech work, but if you go to Germany you can find a lot.
The point I wanted to make from all of this is that the I.T. industry is different than factory work and such. We are not just white males from the U.S., but diverse people in numerous countries and countless cultures. Try and show some respect for those you know nothing about.
Don't forget that this trial is taking place in the U.S. where noone is responsible for their own actions. A few court cases that I can remember that would show prior problems that napster is likely to suffer from follow:
1) Big tobacco trial in Florida. Basically, the ruling was that if you were stupid enough to put something on fire in your mouth, it isn't your fault, it's the fault of the supplier. This isn't quite the same as napster since napster is for distributed file sharing and would be more likened to a flea market than a store selling things, but the judge's lack of technical knowledge will see it as napster distributing the content.
2) The lady that spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonalds. This case could be used to show that the napster users are not to blame, it's the napster company. If that lady used coffee (known to be and marked on the cup as hot) in a harmful way, it should have been her fault. However, in this case it was found to be the fault of McDonalds that she used the hot coffee incorrectly.
3) The whole gun issue. Even though I haven't kept up too closely with any of the court cases involving this, I do know that some groups were suing manufacturers of guns because people use them incorrectly also. The problem with suing the manufacturers is that they sell the guns to distributors, then the distributors sell to people.
That's really all I can think of right now but I do know that there are many other cases out there. The MPAA is not going to go after the napster users at this point because there's too many and they are the ones that actually buy the cd's and give them money anyways (apparantly not enough money for the greedy bastards though). They go after napster, who is not under the control of the MPAA, and is distributing music freely. It would be too easy to set up an ad at the top of the screen and generate revenue in a very similar but better way as radio has worked for years. The quality of life in the U.S. seems to be going downhill for everyone...excluding the lawyers.:o)
Slashdot Mirror
In any case, I like this because I have trouble staying awake and have really low blood pressure as it is, so this could be a good thing for me. Maybe I can even get an injection that could last a month. There are endless possibilities.
I think you made the same mistake I did. For whatever reason slashdot doesn't seem to let you set a target for the URL.
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, you obviously don't have a palm pilot or if you do have one, you use it for work too much!)
Language should not be static. Once a language stops changing it will stagnate and die. The garbage gets weeded out (eg. "Gag me with a spoon!" from the Valley) and interesting things stay. We're not always correct in the usage of our words and how we change them, but language is a tool used to communicate. If we have a deficiency in our language, we end up filling the gap one way or another.
I speak American English as a person that has grown up in the U.S., but I also speak some Spanish. Both are very useful languages, and I tend to combine them to get various points across. It's called Spanglish.
Also, as far as something closer to the subject of this article, it would be stupid to try to make one language for the net. With all the various cultures, languages, countries, and people of the world, you can not expect everyone to adhere to one standard for human language. Language is an integral part of every culture. The best solutions I can think of right now for getting past the language barrier is to either develop your websites in multiple languages (a lot of work to maintain though), or simply add a link from your page to translate from http://babelfish.altavista.com/ or http://translator.go.com/ I personally use the go networks one on my site as a menu that you can select Spanish, French, German, and Italian (I think all four, I haven't looked for a while as I don't maintain my website anymore.) It is an easy thing to insert onto every webpage using the template that I made, and works well enough to get the point across easily to the users.
The internet should not be censored to "protect" anyone. If you don't like your kids seeing porn online, then you should stop them. Teachers should do the same. Review the history files afterwards also just in case, and let them know ahead of time you are going to check what sites the kids visited. I know that won't work against everyone but nothing is fullproof. Especially censorware.
It all goes down to our society not wanting to be responsible for anything. Parents want to blame video games, tv, the internet, music, etc. for how they fail to keep their own children in line. Smokers commit slow suicide by putting fire into their lungs, then sue tobacco companies because these people are too stupid to know better.
Sometimes I wish that some people would help us all out by killing themselves. If you feel that you can't be live up to any of your responsibilities and just want to cry how the world has done you wrong, jump off of a tall building...it should be great! You will leave your impression on the Earth, and we will all be thankful to have one less semi-hairless monkey jumping around and screaming about everyone offending and hurting them.
Ok, back on topic a bit more. I wonder how many other sites like this will prevent censorware from working. I was shown something yesterday that triggers censorware that is completely innocent:
This tip is sure to not work.
Various censoreware programs don't like it. Let's look at it again through their eyes:
This tiP IS Sure to not work.
It's pretty interesting...but shows how ineffective this type of software is.
Oh wait, it's already been done I think. How else can you explain Windows? :oD
I forgot about that bigass satellite in the movie Akira. I definitely have to show that movie to my girlfriend now, she uses SOL as her internet alias. Speaking of significant others in space...does this mean that housewives are going to get to replace those old vaccum with something like this? Now you can not only scare the dog, you can vaporize him!!! WOOHOO!!! (Sorry, intoxication has somewhat set in)
All I need is some computer pants. Then my girlfriend would see me and say, "Hey darlin', is that a hard drive in your pants or are ya' happy to see me?"
Well...the same could almost go for linux but it's a done deal that there are games and such on linux, but it's still not even as good as games on M$ Windows. I really think the home appliance that does the job of a PC, video player, stereo, and game system all in one is the ticket. Someone needs to design the hardware first, and then the OS will follow. It just needs to be easy to use like a mac, and not as powerful as something like bsd or linux. That is why linux doesn't make a good desktop platform for anything right now. It's too complex for the average user. I like linux myself and use it, but it won't work with my TB2000 sound card, which sounds beautiful in windows, and thus my game controller doesn't work, and various other things.
Also, I think rather than trying to get our server software to be on the desktop, we need to make a new OS and interface for the desktop. I see further into the future that desktops will probably be replaced with something more low key, more like a cross between a game console and a PC. Anyways, with that in mind...we should work more towards developing that, and improving our servers to do their job better.
I don't mean this as a troll and I don't want to tell anyone what to do...but I think that would be more helpful in the cause of better software. I would much rather have a kickass pc/console gaming system that uses a HDTV and a dsl connection and a device to write on that works similar to the palm graffiti so I don't need a keyboard, and a game controller, which may have that built in. It also should have a dvd player/cdrom on it and an OS that is only for doing basic things and you can't crash without running it over with your car.
Sorry...bad joke.
Ummm...I suppose this means you are not in the U.S. We have a SSN (Social Security Number) that is assigned to each of us, and abused for various things. As far as tying it in to your fingerprints, if you commit a crime, the police or whoever it is arresting you gets your fingerprints. From there on, you are in their system and they share that info with other law enforcement. So my point is...if you're in the U.S. and gotten caught doing anything illegal and ended up in jail, it's too late.
Agree or disagree, that is my opinion, and unless someone can show me a better way, I'm sticking to it.
Yeap. A few good uses actually. Don't think of "The linux watch" think of it's components:
1) The linux operating system cut down to run an embedded system on an extremely small piece of hardware.
2) The small hardware. A wristwatch sized piece of equipment made by IBM to brag about their advances in shrinking the size of equipment.
3) The marketing. Non computer users and newbies know about watches. They are small. The fact that a computer can be the size of a watch gets more "Oooh" and "Ahhh" from the public than say...a computer the size of a 286 chip. It makes IBM look really good to make a device like this and the average person will remember it better than doubling the RPM's in a disk drive, or making a 2GHZ processor.
I think it's a good idea, and even though the watch itself is pretty useless, it's a good practice for them, and hopefully it precedes something useful.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-b in/query/z?c106:H.R.3778.IH:
We can't be called USians because, well, that would piss off people in other countries as well since the U.S.A. is not the only country that is made up of states. An example is directly to the south. Estados Unidos de Mexico.
Actually I can see a reason for making a watch like this. Ever see the movie "Dick Tracy?" He had smll watch that he could talk to people through, and it did other stuff too. So, if you meet a girl that happens to be a impressed by things like that, and her name is Tracy...it improves your chances. Oh wait, that's not it. Um, I think the excuse IBM probably used was something more to the effect of: "We wanted to make a small enough O.S. distribution and hardware that we could fit onto a small piece of equipment, much as we would with any embedded system that needed a full O.S. on it. We used a wristwatch sized computer so we would be able to demonstrate how small the computer and OS is to non-computer users to be amazed at."
In other words...they thought it would be 31337 to have linux watch. Just wait until it comes with a cover on the top in the shape of Tux and have it interface with the pokemon watch.
I am not going to flame other forms of government, all have their downsides with the exception of making me Supreme Emperor of the Universe. I don't see how a socialist government can help encourage technology. One of the advantages to a capitalist government is that it allows many different people to come up with ideas to do the same thing. Eventually, for various reasons, most of the products dissapear and leave us with a few choices. Unfortunately this can often lead to situations like Microsoft, but ideally it allows the consumer to pick the best product, which will then become the standard. We may take longer to adopt the standards in the U.S. and often they end up being different than Europe and other parts of the world. Sometimes it's good, sometimes bad but at least we as consumers have more choice and can impact what technology becomes the standard by using our money, and talking to our friends and families to get them to do the same.
I do agree that there are some problems with how big companies operate here. Organizations like the MPAA do have too much power and I think the federal government should be able to do something to prevent that, but for the most part trade should be free from governmental influence so that the consumer, a member of the public, can make the decisions on what they buy, rather than depending on some stupid old men to decide for them. Unfortunately in the U.S. it appears that we are going towards taking on the flaws of socialism, and extending the flaws of capitalism. Oh well, the people are still not quite as rude as the French. :oD
If there are typos in this message it is probably because my "A" key is screwed up.
Check out www.ntbugtraq.com
I wait for the day when a handheld device is as easy to write on as a piece of paper, yet still has the functionality of a desktop. I want it to also be able to take voice commands and notes that way. Of course, we can forget all of that and leave it behind if I could just put a real phaser on my palm pilot and shoot lasers at people during meetings at work.
There are a couple fallacies in this statement. There are no jobs to protect since there is such a deficit of people working in the IT field. As I stated in my original post that you replied to, I get at least 2 calls a day from recruiters. There is such a rediculous shortage of people to work on computers that anyone that wants to hire me has to treat me like a king before I even consider interviewing them. The other thing wrong with your statement is this whole "Us vs. Them" idea of other countries. The U.S. is not at war with anyone right now, and these people come here to build a better life for themselves, not to hurt Americans. The only reason they are able to come here is because there are not enough Americans able and willing to do the jobs that are needed. If you had bothered to read my previous post you would understand a small portion of how difficult it is for people to obtain those visas. It can take years and is a very humiliating and expensive process. It's very often that people do not get their visa. It's also very true that the government tries to make it as difficult as possible for people to get. The other thing is that the U.S. was supposedly a place for people of all nationalities and backgrounds to come. Why are you against making the U.S. a better and more powerful country?
AS for Americans being lazy compared to people from other countries, that's also so much bullshit.
I do wish I could go back and remove that from my post. I do know that Americans work a lot more hours and with less vacation than people in most 1st world countries. My mind was running in many directions when I posted this. I was actually thinking of the people that work on farms and as janitors and in fast food: places that most Americans refuse to work due to reasons such as low pay and being treated badly. The fact is that people here would rather collect welfare or beg money on the streets than to get a job at McDonalds. A lot of the Americans that do get a job at McDonalds will be lazy and disrespectful. On the other hand, in the I.T. industry, you do have some of the most hard working, underappreciated people in the U.S. That goes for all the people in those jobs. I really should not have stated the lazy part.
Sure, workers from other countries may seem harder working, but they either must work the demanded hours or get their H1B yanked and they go back to India, Pakistan, China, or wherever.
You can't tell me that wasn't a racist statement. You are making vague generalizations about millions of people you know nothing about. To most people, their reason for working is to support their families and give them a nice life. It's not because they don't want to lose their SUV or get behind on their mortgage, it's because they want their family to survive. I don't see that as a bad reason to work, because personally if I had anyone other than myself to provide for I'd work a bit harder too.
I dunno about you buddy, but if I deal with a tech at another company I ALWAYS ask for a non-H1B visa holder.
Tech support is a different issue. I don't really consider that to be really working in the information technology field any more than a salesman. The purpose of a tech support person is to speak in a clear and concise manner that the customer can understand, and at least be able to relax them, then comes the part about solving problems and being able to transfer them to higher support if necessary. I agree with you that I don't want to talk to someone that can't speak my language in a tech support environment. That is because their main job is talking, and if they can't do it right they need fired. It would be the same as hiring someone who answers the phone with, "Microsoft Tech Support, this is Bob and you can kiss my ass!"
There are plenty of Americans in America to do the job without using imports.
This is where I tell you that what you said is bullshit. I have proof to the contrary. Just go to www.monster.com and see how many jobs are posted daily, a good number of which end up unfilled. And finally, you have to use imports to fill the majority of jobs. The Europeans killed most of the natives here so that leaves mostly white, black, oriental, arabic, etc. people to fill jobs here in the U.S.
You see, you are one of the people that this article was about. An elitist that doesn't really have a grasp of the world around them. If you really want to know what's going on, get to know some of these "foreigners" and you will see that they are no more foreign than yourself.
About the getting a new job thing, it's true. I get at least two voicemails at home a day from recruiters trying to get me in to interview me. I also have picked up some skills that are really marketable that allow me to get a job easily without any certification or a degree.
It's quite unfortunate that we couldn't have a clearer cut trial of Good vs. Evil, but in this case I have to side with Napster as the lesser of two evils. The problem is that the RIAA is not just attacking Napster in this trial. If they win, that would have a major effect on how we listen to music and what control we have over what we pay for. Even though Napster isn't neccessarily a "good guy" and should be replaced with something to help the artists out more, the RIAA must be stopped before we have to pay for music by how long it is and for each time we listen to a certain song.
In the I.T. industry, it is mostly people from India and China that I see coming to work in the U.S. from other countries. First of all, there is a very real I.T. worker shortage. If there wasn't, I would not be getting 2 to 3 phone calls a day with people wanting to interview me for a job. If one day I wake up and decide that the monitor I have at my current job isn't big enough to read slashdot in the size I want, I can go quit and have another job that afternoon. That's not bad for an white American male that dropped out of college and is not certified in anything. If you can't get a job in the I.T. industry, it is your fault by some other reason. Perhaps you need help working on your resume.
The other fallacy in your comment is that the people coming to work here from other countries are second-rate employees. Americans are lazier than most cultures, and from working closely with people from India, China, etc I see that they are very hard workers and very intelligent. You probably think they are stupid because they are not masters of the English language, but a lot of them have spent a lot of time studying and learning about computers and picked up English to come here. It is true that they usually get paid less than those of us originally in the U.S., but it's because the companies know they can get away with it. Whoever you work for is going to pay you as little as possible. It's not evil, it's just a way of saving money. However, bringing people here results in other costs that most Americans won't see. It is pretty difficult to get a visa to work in the country very long, nevermind getting citizenship. The companies that hires these people put a lot of money into lawyer fees and such because they have to convince the government that no American is qualified to fill that position. If the foreign person already has the job, the company will have to re-post the position and try to hire an American to fill it. We are at no disadvantage to anyone from other countries.
Don't forget that the IT industry is not all based in the U.S. also. I've done some work in Mexico, and also know of a lot of work in various countries in Europe. There's a lot of I.T. work to go around in any country with enough money to use computers. I doubt somewhere like Somalia has a big need for tech work, but if you go to Germany you can find a lot.
The point I wanted to make from all of this is that the I.T. industry is different than factory work and such. We are not just white males from the U.S., but diverse people in numerous countries and countless cultures. Try and show some respect for those you know nothing about.
1) Big tobacco trial in Florida. Basically, the ruling was that if you were stupid enough to put something on fire in your mouth, it isn't your fault, it's the fault of the supplier. This isn't quite the same as napster since napster is for distributed file sharing and would be more likened to a flea market than a store selling things, but the judge's lack of technical knowledge will see it as napster distributing the content.
2) The lady that spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonalds. This case could be used to show that the napster users are not to blame, it's the napster company. If that lady used coffee (known to be and marked on the cup as hot) in a harmful way, it should have been her fault. However, in this case it was found to be the fault of McDonalds that she used the hot coffee incorrectly.
3) The whole gun issue. Even though I haven't kept up too closely with any of the court cases involving this, I do know that some groups were suing manufacturers of guns because people use them incorrectly also. The problem with suing the manufacturers is that they sell the guns to distributors, then the distributors sell to people.
That's really all I can think of right now but I do know that there are many other cases out there. The MPAA is not going to go after the napster users at this point because there's too many and they are the ones that actually buy the cd's and give them money anyways (apparantly not enough money for the greedy bastards though). They go after napster, who is not under the control of the MPAA, and is distributing music freely. It would be too easy to set up an ad at the top of the screen and generate revenue in a very similar but better way as radio has worked for years. The quality of life in the U.S. seems to be going downhill for everyone...excluding the lawyers. :o)