As a Trillian and AIM user...
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AOL vs. Trillian
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· Score: 4, Insightful
I must say that AIM is the best thing that AOL produces. (Not counting Winamp/ICQ as those are merely apps that they bought and haven't "AOL-ized" too much.) But some people I know are on AIM, Yahoo, and even ICQ. I tried out Trillian and now I'm loving being able to only run one IM client. (Plus it'll check for new Yahoo e-mail while I'm chatting with an AIM buddy.)
Back in July there was a story about AOL saying they were working on letting AIM access other messaging clients. I guess it's ok for AIM to access Yahoo/MS/etc buddy lists but it's not ok for another app to access the AIM servers. Nice double standard there AOL. (Apparently they want Open Standards for Instant Messaging to apply to everyone but them.)
As the article says, Jupiter-like planets can act like a debris-magnet to protect Earth-like planets from comets, asteroids, and the various other junk floating around solar systems. Their immense gravity can either force and object out of the solar system entirely or force it to collide with the large gas giant. (An impact which would leave Earth near-barran for centuries is barely felt on Jupiter gas giant.)
The moons of the Jupiter-like planet offer another possibility for life. Like Europa, gravitational stresses from orbiting such a large planet can cause heat to warm up a normally frozen world. This heat might help melt ice into water (as is thought to be on Europa under the ice shell). And where there's water, life might not be far behind.
Now this isn't to say that life=intelligence. We might be talking about the ET equivalent of bacteria, here. Still, the discovery of ET-bacteria would be a huge matter.
Their "do not call" lists might be scams, but the state government Do Not Call Registry does work. I'm on the NY one and if a telemarketer calls we simply inform them that we're on the registry and they'll be fined $2,000 if they ever call back. Sure there are loopholes (anyplace you've ever done business with can call you), but it's better than nothing. You'd be surprised how quickly some telemarketers react when they hear "...on the Do Not Call Registry...":-)
Why won't the RIAA make their own P2P app? Because then they'd lose control of the music. Granted, they're losing control anyway, but let's step into the RIAA's shoes for a second.
The only thing that gives them "power" is the fact that they control the distribution of quite a lot of music. If they were to let people download MP3s of their songs, those people would be able to pass the MP3s to their friends. They'd lose "physical" control of the music. (Physical in this sense meaning who the file goes to.) Nevermind that MP3 rippers, P2P apps, and CD burners already have loosened this control.
If the RIAA charged even a nominal fee for the MP3s, the fee would be "shared" by friends. (E.g. Say the fee was $10 a month. Four friends and I could get together, register under my name, and split the $10 a month, paying only $2 each instead of $50 combined.) Thus they'd lose monetary control. Nevermind that those same MP3 rippers, P2P apps, and CD burners can turn a $15 CD into 5, 10, or even 50 CDs to pass along to your friends.
The RIAA execs look at the Internet and see a swarming mass of music pirates nipping at their heals. Yet even they can't discount that there's money to be made online. That's why they're trying to come up with a means of controling online content.
(Ok, time to step out of those RIAA shoes)
Of course, the record execs should realize that they could *gain* control via an online music service. If done right, the service would reduce the reason to pirate music. (Why pirate that $18 CD when you can buy it online for $5?)
As the public relied more and more on their distribution services, less and less people would sign on to P2P apps to trade music. Thus less and less music would appear on the P2P networks.
And from a PR standpoint, they could be seen as being "pro-public" instead of being seen as control freaks who want to restrict how the public listens to music so they [the execs] can maximize their profits. And the subject of fair payment of artists would be much easier to sweep under the rug. Let's face it, Joe Q. Public really doesn't care whether or not Britteny Spears is getting fairly paid for her music so long as he can download it off the 'Net. (This isn't to say that the RIAA's treatment of artists should be swept under the rug, just that it's in the RIAA exec's best interests for it to be. After all, less money to the artist means more in the exec's pockets.)
So they *should* make a P2P app, but they *won't.* (Or if they do, it'll contain so many built-in "control" features that it will be much less useful than a copy of the latest P2P program.)
I can think of one big way the 'Net has changed my life. Without the Yahoo Chat Rooms, I would never have met my wife.
It's only natural.
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Browsing Alone
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· Score: 4, Insightful
The explosion in weblogs, specialized mailing lists, instant messaging and other so-called p2p media means that people online increasingly talk only to one another, not to people who are different or unfamiliar.
This is normal human behavior. How many people join clubs IRL whose goals they disagree with? If the Democratic party is giving a fundraiser, will a Republican go there just to open himself to a different point of view? Will a logger attend a Greenpeace meeting? People tend to congregate in groups based on their interests.
The Internet is just another way of doing that. And by no means is visiting a weblog or subscribing to a newsletter exclusionary. For example,/. is only one of many sites I visit. The subjects vary wildly (Computers, Internet Security, Futurama, Farscape, Movie Rumors, etc). You wouldn't catch me subscribed to a mailing list if I wasn't interested in the subject. (Spam mailing lists aside of course.
Yet I'm still exposed to differing opinions. On one computer forum I frequent, people come together based on a shared love of computers (and desire to help each other out with computer problems), but apart from that we're very different. Some people are conservatives, some are liberals. Some are hawks, some are doves. Some love Windows and some prefer Linux. And religious beliefs vary across the scale. So while we will talk about computers, it doesn't mean we're agreeing all the time and shutting out anyone who disagrees with us.
After all, the encryption they broke wouldn't have been a major company's. Remember, the DCMA only applies if you break the encryption of a company (or if a company feels that your breaking the encryption in any way impacts their bottom line). Then that company releases the lawyers on you. While the students would have technically violated the DCMA, they wouldn't go to jail over it. (Ok, I know that the DCMA really applies in all cases, but for all practical purposes it will only come into play if a company with lawyers feels threatened by the code cracking.)
Maybe put the first few pages of each issue online for free (to hook the reader). Then when the reader wants more, charge them some small amount ($1 maybe). The costs to DC or Marvel would be minimal. You'd have the cost of transferring all the comics to a web-friendly format and server-related costs. But all in all it'd be cheaper than running off new reprint copies of those issues. And it wouldn't drop the price of the physical back-issues since no collector will be contented to just have a file on their hard drive. If anything, it might spark interest in some old issues and drive the price up a bit. Or even create some extra demand for the current issues. If I'm reading some two year old issues of Spiderman and I'm really getting into the storyline, I'm more likely to buy a new issue to see what's happening with the characters.
If their costs were low enough, they could offer free/low-cost subscriptions and track member usage to target print offers. Is the user reading the "Death of Superman" storyline? Why not offer them a special online-only deal on the printed book with the entire storyline? (Kind of like an Amazon system. "People who read this comic also liked these comics/books/merchandise.")
I must say that Marvel's DotComics are great. There's no way I'd be paying out the monthly $$$ to buy Spiderman Unlimited, X-Men Unlimited and/or any other comics. I'd more likely just forget about following comics. But their DotComics lets me browse select comics for free. I have to put up with a few ads which (with the exception of one that has sound) aren't too annoying. I also get the comics a few months past their release date, but I really don't mind the delay. In return, they get another fan to their line of books and someone who's slightly more likely to buy the actual book. (In my case, probably not, but if I were the comic-buying type I'd definitely add books to my list based on the DotComics.)
For my use, I prefer the MP3-CD players. I mainly listen to my MP3-CDs during long car trips or at work. This way I just toss in a MP3-CD and I get about 10 hours of music (depending on compression). Plus I get raw MP3s without any DRM. Of course, my MP3-CD player is quite old. (It's one of the first-generation units which I got back in my Winmag days for review.) CF players do have their place in the market, but, for my uses, CD will be the best until CF cards can beat CDs in price. (And at $0.30 for a 650MB CD, CF has a long way to go.)
As with any "real-world" store, you just have to know where to look and how to shop around. Say, for example, that I want to buy a new DVD. My first stop would be BizRate.com. There I get not only price comparisons, but store ratings as well. (I'm willing to pay a buck or two more to get the DVD from a reputable place.) I then shop online at a few other places (Half.com, BestBuy.com) and even drive to a few real stores (BJ's Wholesale club for example). I factor in tax and/or shipping and figure out who has the best price. When I've found the best place to buy it, be it website or normal store, I buy it there. By doing this, I can save some pretty good cash. For example, I bought 3 used music CDs -- which were as good as new except for one which had a cracked case -- for less than $40 on Half.com. Retail these would have cost me over $55. (And I'm sure the RIAA would have fits if they knew I was buying used CDs instead of giving them more money by buying new ones.;-) )
I stopped following the X-Files way back, so my apologies to those who are still X-Files fans, but this might be a good thing. Fox has been mistreating Futurama for awhile. (Preempting it for football. Not showing new eps. Preempting the first new Ep in awhile for a Simpsons repeat so the Simpson's slot can be used by the premiere of The Chamber.)
If X-Files is no longer, it frees up 2 half-hour timeslots. They could move Futurama to the post-Simpsons timeslot and move Malcom In The Middle after that. (Then fill the post-Malcom timeslot with something else.) Then again, with the way Fox execs think, they'll probably fill it up with some piece of junk show.
I would have had Christmas day and New Year's day off, but I don't celebrate Christmas (being Jewish and all). So I worked Christmas. I was able to get a lot of work done without having to go to pointless meetings. Plus, I get another day of my choice off. I chose this coming Monday, so I turn a Weekend+Tuesday vacation into a 4 day weekend. Not a bad tradeoff.
Good article. There's another article that might explain Universal's reasoning for adding copy-protection. (HINT: It really has little to do with piracy.)
On Tuesday, Universal Music Group becomes the first label to sell copy-protected CDs in the United States with the release of its soundtrack Fast & Furious -- More Music. This comes at a time when the recording industry is asking consumers to pay for music that can only be listened to on the PC.
The newly released CD will keep people from listening to their music on the computer, game consoles and other digital devices. If they wanted to go through the major labels to buy the same music for their computer, the only way would be to sign up for Pressplay, one of the major label subscription services, when it launches later this month.
Essentially, consumers would be required to pay once for a physical CD and once for the digital music file. The restrictions for online subscription services and physical CDs are part of a music industry-wide attempt to stop online music piracy.
Bascially, they want to move everyone into a position where they get paid everytime you "space-shift" your music. Playing your CD in CD player? Pay for it once. Playing it on the computer? Pay for it again. <begin sarcasm>After all, we've got to keep those RIAA pockets filled, don't we?<end sarcasm>
When's the last time you were at DisneyWorld? We were there for 9 days, 8 nights and still didn't get to go on all the rides/see all the shows we wanted to see.
However, as an added incentive to get guests to stay onsite, perhaps Disney should offer in-hotel Internet access. They could do a disk image of the room's PC and, after each guest checks out, restore it to it's "Disney approved" state. This could help eliminate the possibility of one guest mucking up the PC for all future guests.
But public Internet terminals would just have too much potential for abuse. And not that many people are going to carry their laptops/PDAs around at DisneyWorld browsing the 'Net while walking the parks. Not to mention, who would provide tech support when a visitor couldn't get their Palm to connect to the DisneyNet? It's just not feasible for them. If you need to keep in touch with events at home, there are phones in the hotel rooms.
Good reason why they'll never offer 'Net access...
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Disney World Goes 802.11b
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· Score: 5, Interesting
While on my honeymoon in DisneyWorld this year, my wife and I took quite a few of their Behind the Scenes tours. On the Epcot one, we found out why Disney will most likely never let people have 'Net access in their parks. (At least not in public places.)
Our tour guide said that they actually did have a kiosk there a few years back that let people browse the web and check their web-based e-mail. He checked on the kiosk once and found that some pervert had left up a XXX e-mail and changed the wallpaper. He wouldn't elaborate on what it was, but he said it shocked even him.
Luckily for them, they were able to remove the offensive material before anyone noticed. Still, as a place that bills itself as "family-friendly," they simply can't take the risk that it would happen again (and more high profile).
Our tour guide kept the possibility open that they would resume 'Net access with some types of safeguards against this, but no safeguard is 100%. Public Internet access is just not a high-priority item for Disney. (Believe me, there's so much to do at Disney World, that you won't have time to browse the Net.) The PR risks of another abuse far outweigh any customer gains.
I had a similar experience back when my domain was hosted with them. I moved and my old e-mail address wouldn't work anymore. I spent 4 months trying to update my info. Only when I moved to a new hosting provider did I get the contact info updated, and then only because the new hosting company had a contact with NSI. (Of course, that company later tried to make off with my money and data, but that's another story.)
I'd recommend going with DirectNIC. They're only $15 a year for domain registration, and they have a robust online domain maintenance tool. I've been able to take care of hosting changes, domain registrations, etc. without having to place one phone call. Best of all, they took care of transferring my domain name away from NSI.
If a DVD is software and not a movie, does that mean that I have the right to make one backup copy for archival purposes? If so, does that mean that DeCSS is now legal?;-)
Even better, some states have State-wide Do Not Call Registry. Here's how it works:
1) You put your name on the State Do Not Call Registry.
2) Telemarketer calls you. You inform them that you're on the Do Not Call list and any subsequent calls will cost them $X (varies by state, in NY it's $2,000).
3) Enjoy the silence of no telemarketer calls.
For those of you in NY, here's the URL: https://www.nynocall.com/index.html
Stop by your state government's website to see if your state has a registry.
I went online immediately when I heard and got in contact with my friend's mother. I was shocked to find out he worked 1 block away from the Trade Center. Thank God, he was late to work today and was ok. For awhile there, I thought he might have been dead. If this had been a half hour later though, he might have been amoung the injured (if not worse). To think, his life came down to a half hour's timing.....
He told me that when he exited the subway (2 blocks away), he saw what happened and headed in the opposite direction as fast as he could. 10 minutes later, the towers started collapsing...
I'm dreading the casulty reports. 50,000 people a day work in/visit the WTC towers. And those planes would account for who knows how much more. Not to mention any casulties from the Pentagon. Tens of thousands dead I'm sure.
I'm not normally one to side with military action. Most of the time I advocate diplomacy. But this time there's no room for a "diplomatic response." I say we find whoever's responsible for this (my money's on Bin Laden) and send a few missles where the sun don't shine.
I agree. That response was like saying, "Hey look at that wide open door! I'll secure it by building a brick wall in front of it." Around the time the ILOVEYOU virus came out, I came up with a program that will stop it in it's tracks. It doesn't do this by disabling scripting functionality (which I actually find useful), but by changing the associations. With my program installed, scripts pass through it and the user gets alerted to possible security risks (registry reading/writing/deleting, file access, etc.). If the user still wants to run the script, they can opt to. (And often run scripts can be marked as "Safe" to avoid needless prompts.) Of course, my program is freeware (with the option of making donations if you feel it's worth it). Check it out at: http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/scriptsentry.asp
Actually, I think MS is in trouble for other reasons. Namely, because they were too successful. Anti-MS rhetoric aside, they actually made a really nice OS with Win95 (and later improved on it with Win98 and Win2000). They also have a pretty good Office suite available with Office 97/2000.
Now remember when I mean good, I mean for Joe Sixpack who only cares that pressing the "power" button turns on his computer and opening Word lets him write up a letter to print out. This is the majority of computer users. Let's keep the whole "switch to Linux" argument out of here for now to simplify matters.
The problem MS is facing is that Win9x/2000 and Office 97/2000 are *too* good. There's little incentive to upgrade. They've painted themselves into a corner. What reason do I have to upgrade from Win98 to WinXP? Fancy new graphics? Extra stability? (Not really that big of a selling point to the masses.) Product Activation?
Actually, PA is where MS is probably hoping to save themselves. While you can use Win98 on your PC until the CD turns to dust, WinXP could be remotely "discontinued."
Think of this scenario: It's 2008 and you decided to format your partition and reinstall from your WinXP CD. Nothing's changed on your system, you just decided to start from scratch. So you format, install and attempt activation. Oops! MS's servers are reporting that WinXP isn't being supported anymore. You are instructed to buy a copy of Win08 (or whatever the naming scheme is then). Same for that copy of Office XP. Bingo! What could have been a no-$$$ proposition for MS has just made them some more dough.
Of course, take PA away (either by being forced to or by it being hacked) and MS's revenue stream will slowly dry up. Not that they'll disappear overnight, but they'll probably become like IBM -- powerful, but not quite as powerful as they used to be.
There's a big problem with this. If you're blocking ads, or not loading graphics or whatever, that's your call. I can't force you to download content. But as a website owner, I have a certain expectation as to how my site will be viewed. The minimum expectation is that the content of the site (if not the presentation) will be 100% under my control.
For example, let's say I'm reviewing Windows XP and these links are popping up on my site lettign users purchase WinXP. If I'm (for whatever reason) giving it a positive review it might look as though I'm getting money from MS for the positive review. If I'm giving it a negative review, then a mixed message might be conveyed. "Yes it's bad, but here's a link to buy it." In either case, these links are changing the message I'm putting on the 'Net.
For another example, I have some software that you can download from my website. However, there are a few other vendors that provide similar programs. Understandably, I don't want links to their programs popping up all over my website. (And I certainly don't want the XXX links that the article discussed on my site.)
With these programs, I can't control what types of links appear on my own site. (Remember that many of these programs latch on to other programs so that users don't realize they were installed. As far as the user knows, I meant to put that link to the XXX site on my web page.)
In my case, I provide some free software on my site. It's a side venture of mine (I don't rely on it earning me a living), but I decided to put up a Paypal link so anyone who wanted to donate, could. I figured I might make enough to recoup my hosting costs. Well, sure enough, money came in pretty fast. It's slowed down a bit (as I haven't had much time to upgrade the progs), but I've received enough to keep my site running for awhile.
While I can't help with 2-4, I wrote 2 things that help with #1. My web site offers to ability to Test Your E-mail Defenses by e-mailing you a harmless VBScript file. (It reads your registry, but doesn't change anything or send any info out.)
I also wrote Script Sentry which traps those VBS scripts (as well as DOC, XLS, SHS, SHB, REG, HTA, and more), shows you details as to what it would do if run, and lets you decide whether or not you really want to run it. So if a user opens up that new Love Letter they just got in the mail and sees a "This will change your registry" message, hopefully they will be scared/wise enough to cancel the action.
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I must say that AIM is the best thing that AOL produces. (Not counting Winamp/ICQ as those are merely apps that they bought and haven't "AOL-ized" too much.) But some people I know are on AIM, Yahoo, and even ICQ. I tried out Trillian and now I'm loving being able to only run one IM client. (Plus it'll check for new Yahoo e-mail while I'm chatting with an AIM buddy.)
Back in July there was a story about AOL saying they were working on letting AIM access other messaging clients. I guess it's ok for AIM to access Yahoo/MS/etc buddy lists but it's not ok for another app to access the AIM servers. Nice double standard there AOL. (Apparently they want Open Standards for Instant Messaging to apply to everyone but them.)
As the article says, Jupiter-like planets can act like a debris-magnet to protect Earth-like planets from comets, asteroids, and the various other junk floating around solar systems. Their immense gravity can either force and object out of the solar system entirely or force it to collide with the large gas giant. (An impact which would leave Earth near-barran for centuries is barely felt on Jupiter gas giant.)
The moons of the Jupiter-like planet offer another possibility for life. Like Europa, gravitational stresses from orbiting such a large planet can cause heat to warm up a normally frozen world. This heat might help melt ice into water (as is thought to be on Europa under the ice shell). And where there's water, life might not be far behind.
Now this isn't to say that life=intelligence. We might be talking about the ET equivalent of bacteria, here. Still, the discovery of ET-bacteria would be a huge matter.
Their "do not call" lists might be scams, but the state government Do Not Call Registry does work. I'm on the NY one and if a telemarketer calls we simply inform them that we're on the registry and they'll be fined $2,000 if they ever call back. Sure there are loopholes (anyplace you've ever done business with can call you), but it's better than nothing. You'd be surprised how quickly some telemarketers react when they hear "...on the Do Not Call Registry..." :-)
Why won't the RIAA make their own P2P app? Because then they'd lose control of the music. Granted, they're losing control anyway, but let's step into the RIAA's shoes for a second.
The only thing that gives them "power" is the fact that they control the distribution of quite a lot of music. If they were to let people download MP3s of their songs, those people would be able to pass the MP3s to their friends. They'd lose "physical" control of the music. (Physical in this sense meaning who the file goes to.) Nevermind that MP3 rippers, P2P apps, and CD burners already have loosened this control.
If the RIAA charged even a nominal fee for the MP3s, the fee would be "shared" by friends. (E.g. Say the fee was $10 a month. Four friends and I could get together, register under my name, and split the $10 a month, paying only $2 each instead of $50 combined.) Thus they'd lose monetary control. Nevermind that those same MP3 rippers, P2P apps, and CD burners can turn a $15 CD into 5, 10, or even 50 CDs to pass along to your friends.
The RIAA execs look at the Internet and see a swarming mass of music pirates nipping at their heals. Yet even they can't discount that there's money to be made online. That's why they're trying to come up with a means of controling online content.
(Ok, time to step out of those RIAA shoes)
Of course, the record execs should realize that they could *gain* control via an online music service. If done right, the service would reduce the reason to pirate music. (Why pirate that $18 CD when you can buy it online for $5?)
As the public relied more and more on their distribution services, less and less people would sign on to P2P apps to trade music. Thus less and less music would appear on the P2P networks.
And from a PR standpoint, they could be seen as being "pro-public" instead of being seen as control freaks who want to restrict how the public listens to music so they [the execs] can maximize their profits. And the subject of fair payment of artists would be much easier to sweep under the rug. Let's face it, Joe Q. Public really doesn't care whether or not Britteny Spears is getting fairly paid for her music so long as he can download it off the 'Net. (This isn't to say that the RIAA's treatment of artists should be swept under the rug, just that it's in the RIAA exec's best interests for it to be. After all, less money to the artist means more in the exec's pockets.)
So they *should* make a P2P app, but they *won't.* (Or if they do, it'll contain so many built-in "control" features that it will be much less useful than a copy of the latest P2P program.)
I can think of one big way the 'Net has changed my life. Without the Yahoo Chat Rooms, I would never have met my wife.
The explosion in weblogs, specialized mailing lists, instant messaging and other so-called p2p media means that people online increasingly talk only to one another, not to people who are different or unfamiliar.
/. is only one of many sites I visit. The subjects vary wildly (Computers, Internet Security, Futurama, Farscape, Movie Rumors, etc). You wouldn't catch me subscribed to a mailing list if I wasn't interested in the subject. (Spam mailing lists aside of course.
This is normal human behavior. How many people join clubs IRL whose goals they disagree with? If the Democratic party is giving a fundraiser, will a Republican go there just to open himself to a different point of view? Will a logger attend a Greenpeace meeting? People tend to congregate in groups based on their interests.
The Internet is just another way of doing that. And by no means is visiting a weblog or subscribing to a newsletter exclusionary. For example,
Yet I'm still exposed to differing opinions. On one computer forum I frequent, people come together based on a shared love of computers (and desire to help each other out with computer problems), but apart from that we're very different. Some people are conservatives, some are liberals. Some are hawks, some are doves. Some love Windows and some prefer Linux. And religious beliefs vary across the scale. So while we will talk about computers, it doesn't mean we're agreeing all the time and shutting out anyone who disagrees with us.
After all, the encryption they broke wouldn't have been a major company's. Remember, the DCMA only applies if you break the encryption of a company (or if a company feels that your breaking the encryption in any way impacts their bottom line). Then that company releases the lawyers on you. While the students would have technically violated the DCMA, they wouldn't go to jail over it. (Ok, I know that the DCMA really applies in all cases, but for all practical purposes it will only come into play if a company with lawyers feels threatened by the code cracking.)
Maybe put the first few pages of each issue online for free (to hook the reader). Then when the reader wants more, charge them some small amount ($1 maybe). The costs to DC or Marvel would be minimal. You'd have the cost of transferring all the comics to a web-friendly format and server-related costs. But all in all it'd be cheaper than running off new reprint copies of those issues. And it wouldn't drop the price of the physical back-issues since no collector will be contented to just have a file on their hard drive. If anything, it might spark interest in some old issues and drive the price up a bit. Or even create some extra demand for the current issues. If I'm reading some two year old issues of Spiderman and I'm really getting into the storyline, I'm more likely to buy a new issue to see what's happening with the characters.
If their costs were low enough, they could offer free/low-cost subscriptions and track member usage to target print offers. Is the user reading the "Death of Superman" storyline? Why not offer them a special online-only deal on the printed book with the entire storyline? (Kind of like an Amazon system. "People who read this comic also liked these comics/books/merchandise.")
I must say that Marvel's DotComics are great. There's no way I'd be paying out the monthly $$$ to buy Spiderman Unlimited, X-Men Unlimited and/or any other comics. I'd more likely just forget about following comics. But their DotComics lets me browse select comics for free. I have to put up with a few ads which (with the exception of one that has sound) aren't too annoying. I also get the comics a few months past their release date, but I really don't mind the delay. In return, they get another fan to their line of books and someone who's slightly more likely to buy the actual book. (In my case, probably not, but if I were the comic-buying type I'd definitely add books to my list based on the DotComics.)
For my use, I prefer the MP3-CD players. I mainly listen to my MP3-CDs during long car trips or at work. This way I just toss in a MP3-CD and I get about 10 hours of music (depending on compression). Plus I get raw MP3s without any DRM. Of course, my MP3-CD player is quite old. (It's one of the first-generation units which I got back in my Winmag days for review.) CF players do have their place in the market, but, for my uses, CD will be the best until CF cards can beat CDs in price. (And at $0.30 for a 650MB CD, CF has a long way to go.)
As with any "real-world" store, you just have to know where to look and how to shop around. Say, for example, that I want to buy a new DVD. My first stop would be BizRate.com. There I get not only price comparisons, but store ratings as well. (I'm willing to pay a buck or two more to get the DVD from a reputable place.) I then shop online at a few other places (Half.com, BestBuy.com) and even drive to a few real stores (BJ's Wholesale club for example). I factor in tax and/or shipping and figure out who has the best price. When I've found the best place to buy it, be it website or normal store, I buy it there. By doing this, I can save some pretty good cash. For example, I bought 3 used music CDs -- which were as good as new except for one which had a cracked case -- for less than $40 on Half.com. Retail these would have cost me over $55. (And I'm sure the RIAA would have fits if they knew I was buying used CDs instead of giving them more money by buying new ones. ;-) )
I stopped following the X-Files way back, so my apologies to those who are still X-Files fans, but this might be a good thing. Fox has been mistreating Futurama for awhile. (Preempting it for football. Not showing new eps. Preempting the first new Ep in awhile for a Simpsons repeat so the Simpson's slot can be used by the premiere of The Chamber.)
If X-Files is no longer, it frees up 2 half-hour timeslots. They could move Futurama to the post-Simpsons timeslot and move Malcom In The Middle after that. (Then fill the post-Malcom timeslot with something else.) Then again, with the way Fox execs think, they'll probably fill it up with some piece of junk show.
I would have had Christmas day and New Year's day off, but I don't celebrate Christmas (being Jewish and all). So I worked Christmas. I was able to get a lot of work done without having to go to pointless meetings. Plus, I get another day of my choice off. I chose this coming Monday, so I turn a Weekend+Tuesday vacation into a 4 day weekend. Not a bad tradeoff.
Good article. There's another article that might explain Universal's reasoning for adding copy-protection. (HINT: It really has little to do with piracy.)
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,49188,00.html
On Tuesday, Universal Music Group becomes the first label to sell copy-protected CDs in the United States with the release of its soundtrack Fast & Furious -- More Music. This comes at a time when the recording industry is asking consumers to pay for music that can only be listened to on the PC.
The newly released CD will keep people from listening to their music on the computer, game consoles and other digital devices. If they wanted to go through the major labels to buy the same music for their computer, the only way would be to sign up for Pressplay, one of the major label subscription services, when it launches later this month.
Essentially, consumers would be required to pay once for a physical CD and once for the digital music file. The restrictions for online subscription services and physical CDs are part of a music industry-wide attempt to stop online music piracy.
Bascially, they want to move everyone into a position where they get paid everytime you "space-shift" your music. Playing your CD in CD player? Pay for it once. Playing it on the computer? Pay for it again. <begin sarcasm>After all, we've got to keep those RIAA pockets filled, don't we?<end sarcasm>
When's the last time you were at DisneyWorld? We were there for 9 days, 8 nights and still didn't get to go on all the rides/see all the shows we wanted to see.
However, as an added incentive to get guests to stay onsite, perhaps Disney should offer in-hotel Internet access. They could do a disk image of the room's PC and, after each guest checks out, restore it to it's "Disney approved" state. This could help eliminate the possibility of one guest mucking up the PC for all future guests.
But public Internet terminals would just have too much potential for abuse. And not that many people are going to carry their laptops/PDAs around at DisneyWorld browsing the 'Net while walking the parks. Not to mention, who would provide tech support when a visitor couldn't get their Palm to connect to the DisneyNet? It's just not feasible for them. If you need to keep in touch with events at home, there are phones in the hotel rooms.
While on my honeymoon in DisneyWorld this year, my wife and I took quite a few of their Behind the Scenes tours. On the Epcot one, we found out why Disney will most likely never let people have 'Net access in their parks. (At least not in public places.)
Our tour guide said that they actually did have a kiosk there a few years back that let people browse the web and check their web-based e-mail. He checked on the kiosk once and found that some pervert had left up a XXX e-mail and changed the wallpaper. He wouldn't elaborate on what it was, but he said it shocked even him.
Luckily for them, they were able to remove the offensive material before anyone noticed. Still, as a place that bills itself as "family-friendly," they simply can't take the risk that it would happen again (and more high profile).
Our tour guide kept the possibility open that they would resume 'Net access with some types of safeguards against this, but no safeguard is 100%. Public Internet access is just not a high-priority item for Disney. (Believe me, there's so much to do at Disney World, that you won't have time to browse the Net.) The PR risks of another abuse far outweigh any customer gains.
I had a similar experience back when my domain was hosted with them. I moved and my old e-mail address wouldn't work anymore. I spent 4 months trying to update my info. Only when I moved to a new hosting provider did I get the contact info updated, and then only because the new hosting company had a contact with NSI. (Of course, that company later tried to make off with my money and data, but that's another story.)
I'd recommend going with DirectNIC. They're only $15 a year for domain registration, and they have a robust online domain maintenance tool. I've been able to take care of hosting changes, domain registrations, etc. without having to place one phone call. Best of all, they took care of transferring my domain name away from NSI.
If a DVD is software and not a movie, does that mean that I have the right to make one backup copy for archival purposes? If so, does that mean that DeCSS is now legal? ;-)
Even better, some states have State-wide Do Not Call Registry. Here's how it works:
1) You put your name on the State Do Not Call Registry.
2) Telemarketer calls you. You inform them that you're on the Do Not Call list and any subsequent calls will cost them $X (varies by state, in NY it's $2,000).
3) Enjoy the silence of no telemarketer calls.
For those of you in NY, here's the URL: https://www.nynocall.com/index.html
Stop by your state government's website to see if your state has a registry.
I went online immediately when I heard and got in contact with my friend's mother. I was shocked to find out he worked 1 block away from the Trade Center. Thank God, he was late to work today and was ok. For awhile there, I thought he might have been dead. If this had been a half hour later though, he might have been amoung the injured (if not worse). To think, his life came down to a half hour's timing.....
He told me that when he exited the subway (2 blocks away), he saw what happened and headed in the opposite direction as fast as he could. 10 minutes later, the towers started collapsing...
I'm dreading the casulty reports. 50,000 people a day work in/visit the WTC towers. And those planes would account for who knows how much more. Not to mention any casulties from the Pentagon. Tens of thousands dead I'm sure.
I'm not normally one to side with military action. Most of the time I advocate diplomacy. But this time there's no room for a "diplomatic response." I say we find whoever's responsible for this (my money's on Bin Laden) and send a few missles where the sun don't shine.
I agree. That response was like saying, "Hey look at that wide open door! I'll secure it by building a brick wall in front of it." Around the time the ILOVEYOU virus came out, I came up with a program that will stop it in it's tracks. It doesn't do this by disabling scripting functionality (which I actually find useful), but by changing the associations. With my program installed, scripts pass through it and the user gets alerted to possible security risks (registry reading/writing/deleting, file access, etc.). If the user still wants to run the script, they can opt to. (And often run scripts can be marked as "Safe" to avoid needless prompts.) Of course, my program is freeware (with the option of making donations if you feel it's worth it). Check it out at: http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/scriptsentry.asp
Actually, I think MS is in trouble for other reasons. Namely, because they were too successful. Anti-MS rhetoric aside, they actually made a really nice OS with Win95 (and later improved on it with Win98 and Win2000). They also have a pretty good Office suite available with Office 97/2000.
Now remember when I mean good, I mean for Joe Sixpack who only cares that pressing the "power" button turns on his computer and opening Word lets him write up a letter to print out. This is the majority of computer users. Let's keep the whole "switch to Linux" argument out of here for now to simplify matters.
The problem MS is facing is that Win9x/2000 and Office 97/2000 are *too* good. There's little incentive to upgrade. They've painted themselves into a corner. What reason do I have to upgrade from Win98 to WinXP? Fancy new graphics? Extra stability? (Not really that big of a selling point to the masses.) Product Activation?
Actually, PA is where MS is probably hoping to save themselves. While you can use Win98 on your PC until the CD turns to dust, WinXP could be remotely "discontinued."
Think of this scenario: It's 2008 and you decided to format your partition and reinstall from your WinXP CD. Nothing's changed on your system, you just decided to start from scratch. So you format, install and attempt activation. Oops! MS's servers are reporting that WinXP isn't being supported anymore. You are instructed to buy a copy of Win08 (or whatever the naming scheme is then). Same for that copy of Office XP. Bingo! What could have been a no-$$$ proposition for MS has just made them some more dough.
Of course, take PA away (either by being forced to or by it being hacked) and MS's revenue stream will slowly dry up. Not that they'll disappear overnight, but they'll probably become like IBM -- powerful, but not quite as powerful as they used to be.
There's a big problem with this. If you're blocking ads, or not loading graphics or whatever, that's your call. I can't force you to download content. But as a website owner, I have a certain expectation as to how my site will be viewed. The minimum expectation is that the content of the site (if not the presentation) will be 100% under my control.
For example, let's say I'm reviewing Windows XP and these links are popping up on my site lettign users purchase WinXP. If I'm (for whatever reason) giving it a positive review it might look as though I'm getting money from MS for the positive review. If I'm giving it a negative review, then a mixed message might be conveyed. "Yes it's bad, but here's a link to buy it." In either case, these links are changing the message I'm putting on the 'Net.
For another example, I have some software that you can download from my website. However, there are a few other vendors that provide similar programs. Understandably, I don't want links to their programs popping up all over my website. (And I certainly don't want the XXX links that the article discussed on my site.)
With these programs, I can't control what types of links appear on my own site. (Remember that many of these programs latch on to other programs so that users don't realize they were installed. As far as the user knows, I meant to put that link to the XXX site on my web page.)
In my case, I provide some free software on my site. It's a side venture of mine (I don't rely on it earning me a living), but I decided to put up a Paypal link so anyone who wanted to donate, could. I figured I might make enough to recoup my hosting costs. Well, sure enough, money came in pretty fast. It's slowed down a bit (as I haven't had much time to upgrade the progs), but I've received enough to keep my site running for awhile.
While I can't help with 2-4, I wrote 2 things that help with #1. My web site offers to ability to Test Your E-mail Defenses by e-mailing you a harmless VBScript file. (It reads your registry, but doesn't change anything or send any info out.)
I also wrote Script Sentry which traps those VBS scripts (as well as DOC, XLS, SHS, SHB, REG, HTA, and more), shows you details as to what it would do if run, and lets you decide whether or not you really want to run it. So if a user opens up that new Love Letter they just got in the mail and sees a "This will change your registry" message, hopefully they will be scared/wise enough to cancel the action.