To some extent it covers the same territory as Peter Bowler's "Evolution: the history of an idea", but its focus is narrower in time while providing more in-depth discussion of the philosophical and religious ideas of Darwin's contemporaries."
There's something interesting in the way evolution continually focuses on itself. In defending itself against creationism, evolution touts itself as objective science, rational answers, the generally accepted truth of the scientific community. And yet, I don't see books with titles like "Continental Drift: The Evolution of an Idea" or "The Big Bang: Collecting the Evidence" getting written, let alone reviewed.
There's something about evolution, and the debate around it, that invites what I've come to think of as scientific elitism. If it were a SCIENTIFIC THEORY that COULDN'T BE ARGUED based on the AVAILABLE EVIDENCE, then that would be that. The Big Bang and continental drift don't get all this attention, but evolution does. Is it because those theories are more rigid, that there's less debate over the nuances of how they happened, than genetic evolution? Or is it because scientific minds genuinely like to push fundamentalists' hot buttons?
Maybe this is just an American phenomenon; maybe other countries are more at ease with the scientific theory of evolution and the whens and hows of it all. I just find it odd that for a theory that claims to have so much science backing it up, it needs to keep reminding everyone of its validity. One begins to wonder if the scientists doth protest too much.
I like to imagine that the Inkwell technology isn't going to be filled by a handheld portable, but by a smaller kind of laptop. Microsoft has its fantasy for the Tablet PC, but I think Apple's going for it first. Inkwell is smart, it recognizes handwriting instead of Graffiti, it can tell the difference between writing and mousing. Apple now has all it needs to take the keyboards off the iBook and sell it as a tablet-sized iPad.
Filling the Newton's void would be futile; Palm's got it filled neatly and PocketPC fills the rest of it. Apple makes money by filling voids that don't have any clear winner; think of the iPod, without a doubt the most usable MP3 player for the past year. They'd do well by selling an easy-to-use, student-targetted, MacOS-powered tablet computer before Microsoft can get the hardware out there.
Hush cannot protect the user against this kind of security threat as our system is designed to ensure secure transmission of data between computers only. If a HushMail user's private computer has been compromised or if they are accessing their HushMail account from the workplace where keystroke recording software is installed, their HushMail passphrase may be accessed by a third party.
To combat keystroke recording software, we suggest you:
* Change your HushMail passphrase regularly
* Choose a secure passphrase
* Update your virus checking software regularly
* Send sensitive communications through your private/home computer
AppleWorks is not an office suite. And $50 is $50, and $100 is $100, and the fact that Microsoft isn't charging more doesn't alter the fact that Apple is making money from their software.
Google's PageRank algorithm, the celebrated system by which Google orders search results, is not, as Google says, "uniquely democratic" -- it's "uniquely tyrannical." PageRank is the "opposite of affirmative action," he has written, meaning that the system discriminates against new Web sites and favors established sites
So Google gives preference to established sites that have proven themselves in the mind of other Web sites to be content-worthy. So what? This isn't "tyrranical" at all -- "tyrranical" would mean that they decide which sites go up and which ones don't, and where. (Yahoo!, in other words.) "Democratic" means they let the rest of the Internet "vote" on which sites are most relevant, based on hyperlinks.
What this guy wants, by abolishing PageRank, is a return to the free-for-all of early search engines, where the loudest voice rules. If one page has more keywords, it's ranked higher -- whether or not those keywords appear in the context of relevant content.
When you type "NameBase" into Google, Brandt's site comes up first, but Brandt is not satisfied with that. "My problem has been to get Google to go deep enough into my site," he says. In other words, Brandt wants Google to index the 100,000 names he has in his database, so that a Google search for "Donald Rumsfeld" will bring up NameBase's page for the secretary of defense.
Here's his real problem: he thinks that linking to "Donald Rumsfeld" should bring his site's page to the top, despite the fact that he has no actual content -- just a list of links to other pages with content.
He calls this a failing of PageRank. I call it whining. If he wants more links from Google, he should get the word out about his site (preferably without manipulating Salon.com into doing it for him) and add some actual information about the people he's archiving by hand, instead of just building a big hotlist about them.
In Brandt's ideal world, if you searched for "United Airlines," you would see untied.com -- a site critical of United -- before you see United's page. And if you searched for Rumsfeld, you'd see NameBase's dossier on him before the Defense Department's site on the "The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld."
Basically, he wants to be the tyrant he imagines Google to be. Well, let him want all he likes. Google's popular because it's good and it's relevant; the fact that a tiny tiny minority think it's not isn't a good reason to overthrow the whole system.
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. He should start by making changes on his own site, not insisting Google make changes on there.
If I buy a car from ford, ford expect me to get the car fixed and repaired using only ford authorised mechnics and parts (which they make money on?).
Actually, they do. When your engine has a problem, it flicks on the "check engine" light and generates a code in the car's internal computer. These codes are not standard; they're custom to each manufacturer, and only a Ford repairman has the equipment and reference guide to interpret them. Your average non-branded mechanic has neither the technology nor the information to interpret those codes.
Now, there's some noise being made about this, and independent mechanics are pushing dealers to publish those codes so that they don't have a monopoly on maintenance. But so far, to my knowledge, they've been unsuccessful.
Just letting you know your example was more accurate than you thought.
They don't make a single penny on iDVD per se, but on the drives it supports - if somebody now makes iDVD work with third-party burners, they take away the only reason why it is provided at all (for free).
I think we can all agree that Apple is within its rights (at least legally) to discourage this sort of thing: it's their software, and they don't want it patched to work on non-Apple hardware, since the whole point of the free software is to sell expensive Apple hardware. Fine, good.
But it's still an ethical crime -- this is a patch to Apple's well-written program to allow it to work on non-Apple DVD burners. You're still using Apple hardware to run iDVD in the first place, for crying out loud -- it may not be the latest and greatest machine (and if it's a slower processor, it may take ages to do the job), but it's still Apple's motherboard.
Saying "Apple sells hardware, not software" is just false, because they charge over $100 for the latest OS and $50 for AppleWorks -- those two just off the top of my head. Even if it were true, it's not a good reason.
Without meaning to paint Slashdotters with a broad brush, I think I can safely say we'd be in a unified uproar if HP or Compaq used the same reason to prevent third-party patches to their included CD or DVD-burning software, or to prevent Linux OSes from accessing the burner altogether.
And we'd be justified in doing so, because once you buy the machine and/or download the software, it's yours to do with as you please. If I have the moral right to back up my CD-ROMs and DVDs using my home computer, I have the same moral right to patch my DVD-burning software to run on any hardware I happen to own.
DDR introduced me to social situations. I mean, before DDR, I never really mingled with people at large social gatherings. But DDR has made me a much more social person, forcing you to either deal with people or play at home.
For what it's worth, regular dance lessons (of pretty much any kind. I started with swing and proceeded into ballroom) will achieve the same result, teaching you to be more sociable and courteous -- especially with the opposite sex -- while also helping you get into better shape.
I was going to say that DDR is probably cheaper than dance lessons, but at a buck for three songs, it's probably not.
Crack your paper Yellow Pages to look for dance instruction in your area, or look in the quarterly park district catalog. Learn some partner dances. Swallow your pride and practice them in public. If nothing else, it'll make the next wedding reception you attend 100% more enjoyable.
"The Root encryption deserves to be called fourth-generation encryption. It is different from existing, so-called third-generation encryption, [in that] the encryption keys can not be located easily," said a spokesman for Hudson Soft.
Translation: "The encryption can't be beaten by current software. Consumers will have to upgrade to the next version of their CD-copying software to beat this."
That's all I want to know. MP7/8 worked fine on my Win2KPro PC at work, but fritzed up my CD burner software completely; it wasn't until our hardware administrator told me there was a known incompatability that I took it off and had a working burner again.
Of course, my CD burner software came with the PC, and it's at least one and a half releases out-of-date. But it sounded like our hardware admin knew this to be a consistent problem with MP7/8. I'm still using MP6, along with Media Jukebox when I absolutely have to.
...more than a few people are feeding it their cash and credit cards.
Oh, great. Now I not only have to worry about people stealing my credit card numbers off the Internet or out of the dumpster receipts, I'll be able to stay up nights wondering if someone's stolen the computer out of a vending machine that memorized it.
Who would purchase 10.2 that doesn't own MacOS?? Nobody. My brother runs Windows on Intel hardware. He's not going to buy 10.2. Face it people, Apple set the *upgrade* price to be $129, because 10.2 only runs on Apple hardware which comes with an Apple OS.
I somewhat agree with your position. I do not agree with your reason, which ignores the facts that: 1) MacOS users can't "switch" to Windows on the same hardware, either 2) The non-upgrade path would be directed at users of MacOS 8.x or 9.x.
Basically, Apple users have issues with the 10.1 to 10.2 thing. I was able to download the 10.0 to 10.1 updates for free when I first bought my G4 tower, but I can't do the same this time. This is because 10.2 is more than just another collection of bug fixes and minor updates; it's a major change to the OS features, roughly comparable to upgrading Windows 95 to 98.
Yeah, I'd like a discount as a paid customer whose taking the shortest possible upgrade (from 10.1.5, instead of 9.1 or 8.6). Apple's not giving me one. I can understand it, but I don't exactly like it.
I use tabs a lot on sites like Slashdot -- especially once I figured out how to use 'em fast. By checking a couple of preferences in Mozilla, I can control-click (or right-click and select) any link and have it open in a new tab, behind my current web page.
Usually I scroll down the Slashdot home page, open up a few story links in new tabs without any other interruptions, and keep scrolling. When I'm done, I close that tab and all the stories I wanted to read are loaded and ready.
You can do the same with multiple windows, I suppose, but it's not as compact and the new browser windows usually load over the one you're currently on, not under it.
Re:Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
on
Sen To, X-Men 2
·
· Score: 2
Why would any self-respecting anime fan buy a English dub of "Spirited Away" when the Japanese DVD includes a very good set of English subtitles?
Because I want to sell my family members on hit anime as well, and they won't watch anything with subtitles, no matter how good it is.
You can copy the CD, but without the card the software won't run. Try to install the software on more computers than the publisher allows and the smart card will shut you down.
This is supposed to work on CD/DVD software, not music. If you think about it, there's no way this gimmick could keep me from ripping CD audio to MP3 files. I'm not even sure it could keep me from making a straight bit-to-bit copy of the CD audio, unless the rewrite the CD player firmware to process the card -- a functional impossibility.
This might even work with DVD movies, but I think it would be incompatible with existing DVD players. It seems that only software, which is designed to check the smart card on the disk and verify its presence, could possibly benefit.
I'm not convinced it's unbeatable, however. The CD drive is designed to scan a piece of media for bits in a particular order; that being the case, it should certainly be possible to copy the output of the smart card to an ordinary CD-R.
This only leaves the consumer with the inconvenience of having to have a phyiscal CD in their drive in order to use a piece of software, sort of a "key" to unlock the game or application. And for anything other than games which take over the screen, this would be a major pain. If I wanted to swap media out of my CD drive every time I wanted to play a different game, I would've just bought the Playstation version.
This technology might work in future game consoles which are designed to check for a smart card and know the difference between a CD with and one without, and that might be the best place for it. I can't see it catching on anywhere else. We'd be going back to the days where every program, including the operating system, had to be run off of a different floppy disk.
Can't make archival exact copies of your own media. Can't get a replacement for the disc if gets scratched. So much for Fair Use.
The point of "Fair Use" is that you're legally permitted to make back-up copies of the media you own. It doesn't mean the producer is legally obligated to make it easy, or even possible. The fact that you can't make archival exact copies of the media is inconvenient for you, but it has nothing to do with Fair Use.
The strategy, in plain English
on
Haiku vs Spam
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Five-seven-and-five Aren't nearly enough words To explain oneself.
The Habeas mark contains a three-line haiku protected by copyright law. Six other lines contain the copyright and trademark notices and other trademark protected information.... If senders fail to meet the criteria, they could be sued for trademark and copyright infringement, Mitchell said.
Basically, they're using copyright law to replace a non-existant spam law. If your header contains their copyrighted haiku, then you're not sending spam and you're allowed through. If you use the haiku header and you're still spam, you're violating their rules and are sued for copyright infringement.
Cute strategy, especially the part where they piggyback on the geek affection for gratuitous haiku, but it's built upon the (frankly) naive idea that their subscribers can get everyone they want to get email from to play along. It basically turns your entire flow of email into an "opt-in" list. It's nice that you can sue spammers with forged headers for copyright infringement, but that's not what's going to happen; what will happen is you'll get a "unknown sender" folder chock-full of spam and a few useful e-mails from people who don't know or don't care how to use the haiku header, and you'll still have to sort through it by hand every day.
The spammers won't need to forge their headers, unless (somehow) this tactic gets adopted by the entire Internet, including Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL. The inconvenience will be great enough that no one will want to play along anyway.
The latest trick from spammers is sending out HTML e-mails with their ads. Not a problem by itself, but by embedding the entire spam ad as a single GIF or JPEG image, there's no text for the spambot to filter out. It's easy to trap false positives with this, too, since a family member or friend might want to send out photos without necessarily attaching text as well. Boom, statistical analysis is instantly useless, and we have to go back to the old tricks -- filtering out known spam e-mail and domain sources.
Look at the shape of the "keyboard". Cylindrical, held in the hand with a loose comfortable grip. All a savvy inventor needs to do is drill a hole through the center and hey... you can type, mouse AND, um, entertain yourself at the same time.
Do you know why they include all the forced-usage and adverts on the DVD? BECAUSE YOU STILL BUY IT.
The forced ads on DVDs are on a small, small minority of DVDs out there. Disney got a lot of PR backlash when they did it on the "Tarzan" DVD, and they stopped doing it. I haven't seen another DVD yet in the years I've owned my machine that employed similar tactics.
The companies included them because their marketing department thought it was a good idea, and they were wrong. It's since been changed. Quit blaming the user, Republican.
On the plus side, since they are chosing NOT to invoke the DMCA, they prove that the law is subject to the whim of the very corporations who claimed to be harmed
If someone robs my apartment or beats me up in a bar, and I choose not to press charges for any reason, then they won't be charged. It's not the government's job to chase down every last criminal in the country if the affected party doesn't especially want them to. This is normal, and will have no effect on the DMCA's enforcability whatsoever.
For the record, the store page says that Mac OS X is also preinstalled, and that YDLinux is available as a second OS. So this is just a bonus feature for the hackers.
That said, I'm not sure I see the point, except possibly bragging rights. If you want to get into *nix on a modern Mac running OS X, all you have to do is open a terminal window and go to it. (Yeah, I know it's BSD instead of Linux, but most of the functionality is the same. And if you really really want a Linux box, wouldn't it be safer to run it on its own cheap x86 hardware instead of having it take up hard drive space on your expensive PowerMac or iBook?)
Slashdot Mirror
To some extent it covers the same territory as Peter Bowler's "Evolution: the history of an idea", but its focus is narrower in time while providing more in-depth discussion of the philosophical and religious ideas of Darwin's contemporaries."
There's something interesting in the way evolution continually focuses on itself. In defending itself against creationism, evolution touts itself as objective science, rational answers, the generally accepted truth of the scientific community. And yet, I don't see books with titles like "Continental Drift: The Evolution of an Idea" or "The Big Bang: Collecting the Evidence" getting written, let alone reviewed.
There's something about evolution, and the debate around it, that invites what I've come to think of as scientific elitism. If it were a SCIENTIFIC THEORY that COULDN'T BE ARGUED based on the AVAILABLE EVIDENCE, then that would be that. The Big Bang and continental drift don't get all this attention, but evolution does. Is it because those theories are more rigid, that there's less debate over the nuances of how they happened, than genetic evolution? Or is it because scientific minds genuinely like to push fundamentalists' hot buttons?
Maybe this is just an American phenomenon; maybe other countries are more at ease with the scientific theory of evolution and the whens and hows of it all. I just find it odd that for a theory that claims to have so much science backing it up, it needs to keep reminding everyone of its validity. One begins to wonder if the scientists doth protest too much.
I like to imagine that the Inkwell technology isn't going to be filled by a handheld portable, but by a smaller kind of laptop. Microsoft has its fantasy for the Tablet PC, but I think Apple's going for it first. Inkwell is smart, it recognizes handwriting instead of Graffiti, it can tell the difference between writing and mousing. Apple now has all it needs to take the keyboards off the iBook and sell it as a tablet-sized iPad.
Filling the Newton's void would be futile; Palm's got it filled neatly and PocketPC fills the rest of it. Apple makes money by filling voids that don't have any clear winner; think of the iPod, without a doubt the most usable MP3 player for the past year. They'd do well by selling an easy-to-use, student-targetted, MacOS-powered tablet computer before Microsoft can get the hardware out there.
From the HushMail FAQ:
Can HushMail protect against keystroke recording?
Hush cannot protect the user against this kind of security threat as our system is designed to ensure secure transmission of data between computers only. If a HushMail user's private computer has been compromised or if they are accessing their HushMail account from the workplace where keystroke recording software is installed, their HushMail passphrase may be accessed by a third party.
To combat keystroke recording software, we suggest you:
* Change your HushMail passphrase regularly
* Choose a secure passphrase
* Update your virus checking software regularly
* Send sensitive communications through your private/home computer
"eBlaster is fully compatible with Windows XP, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT and Windows 2000."
AppleWorks is not an office suite. And $50 is $50, and $100 is $100, and the fact that Microsoft isn't charging more doesn't alter the fact that Apple is making money from their software.
Therefore, they're in the software business. QED.
What this guy wants, by abolishing PageRank, is a return to the free-for-all of early search engines, where the loudest voice rules. If one page has more keywords, it's ranked higher -- whether or not those keywords appear in the context of relevant content.
Here's his real problem: he thinks that linking to "Donald Rumsfeld" should bring his site's page to the top, despite the fact that he has no actual content -- just a list of links to other pages with content.
He calls this a failing of PageRank. I call it whining. If he wants more links from Google, he should get the word out about his site (preferably without manipulating Salon.com into doing it for him) and add some actual information about the people he's archiving by hand, instead of just building a big hotlist about them.
Basically, he wants to be the tyrant he imagines Google to be. Well, let him want all he likes. Google's popular because it's good and it's relevant; the fact that a tiny tiny minority think it's not isn't a good reason to overthrow the whole system.
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. He should start by making changes on his own site, not insisting Google make changes on there.
If I buy a car from ford, ford expect me to get the car fixed and repaired using only ford authorised mechnics and parts (which they make money on?).
Actually, they do. When your engine has a problem, it flicks on the "check engine" light and generates a code in the car's internal computer. These codes are not standard; they're custom to each manufacturer, and only a Ford repairman has the equipment and reference guide to interpret them. Your average non-branded mechanic has neither the technology nor the information to interpret those codes.
Now, there's some noise being made about this, and independent mechanics are pushing dealers to publish those codes so that they don't have a monopoly on maintenance. But so far, to my knowledge, they've been unsuccessful.
Just letting you know your example was more accurate than you thought.
They don't make a single penny on iDVD per se, but on the drives it supports - if somebody now makes iDVD work with third-party burners, they take away the only reason why it is provided at all (for free).
I think we can all agree that Apple is within its rights (at least legally) to discourage this sort of thing: it's their software, and they don't want it patched to work on non-Apple hardware, since the whole point of the free software is to sell expensive Apple hardware. Fine, good.
But it's still an ethical crime -- this is a patch to Apple's well-written program to allow it to work on non-Apple DVD burners. You're still using Apple hardware to run iDVD in the first place, for crying out loud -- it may not be the latest and greatest machine (and if it's a slower processor, it may take ages to do the job), but it's still Apple's motherboard.
Saying "Apple sells hardware, not software" is just false, because they charge over $100 for the latest OS and $50 for AppleWorks -- those two just off the top of my head. Even if it were true, it's not a good reason.
Without meaning to paint Slashdotters with a broad brush, I think I can safely say we'd be in a unified uproar if HP or Compaq used the same reason to prevent third-party patches to their included CD or DVD-burning software, or to prevent Linux OSes from accessing the burner altogether.
And we'd be justified in doing so, because once you buy the machine and/or download the software, it's yours to do with as you please. If I have the moral right to back up my CD-ROMs and DVDs using my home computer, I have the same moral right to patch my DVD-burning software to run on any hardware I happen to own.
DDR introduced me to social situations. I mean, before DDR, I never really mingled with people at large social gatherings. But DDR has made me a much more social person, forcing you to either deal with people or play at home.
For what it's worth, regular dance lessons (of pretty much any kind. I started with swing and proceeded into ballroom) will achieve the same result, teaching you to be more sociable and courteous -- especially with the opposite sex -- while also helping you get into better shape.
I was going to say that DDR is probably cheaper than dance lessons, but at a buck for three songs, it's probably not.
Crack your paper Yellow Pages to look for dance instruction in your area, or look in the quarterly park district catalog. Learn some partner dances. Swallow your pride and practice them in public. If nothing else, it'll make the next wedding reception you attend 100% more enjoyable.
"The Root encryption deserves to be called fourth-generation encryption. It is different from existing, so-called third-generation encryption, [in that] the encryption keys can not be located easily," said a spokesman for Hudson Soft.
Translation: "The encryption can't be beaten by current software. Consumers will have to upgrade to the next version of their CD-copying software to beat this."
That's all I want to know. MP7/8 worked fine on my Win2KPro PC at work, but fritzed up my CD burner software completely; it wasn't until our hardware administrator told me there was a known incompatability that I took it off and had a working burner again.
Of course, my CD burner software came with the PC, and it's at least one and a half releases out-of-date. But it sounded like our hardware admin knew this to be a consistent problem with MP7/8. I'm still using MP6, along with Media Jukebox when I absolutely have to.
...more than a few people are feeding it their cash and credit cards.
Oh, great. Now I not only have to worry about people stealing my credit card numbers off the Internet or out of the dumpster receipts, I'll be able to stay up nights wondering if someone's stolen the computer out of a vending machine that memorized it.
Remember, the fact that you were prevented from breaking the law doesn't alter the fact that you were going to break it....
This machine sounds like the Skin Cancer 2000.
In the sense that it vaporizes the targetted cells before they have a chance to become cancerous, yes, you're absolutely right.
Who would purchase 10.2 that doesn't own MacOS?? Nobody. My brother runs Windows on Intel hardware. He's not going to buy 10.2. Face it people, Apple set the *upgrade* price to be $129, because 10.2 only runs on Apple hardware which comes with an Apple OS.
I somewhat agree with your position. I do not agree with your reason, which ignores the facts that:
1) MacOS users can't "switch" to Windows on the same hardware, either
2) The non-upgrade path would be directed at users of MacOS 8.x or 9.x.
Basically, Apple users have issues with the 10.1 to 10.2 thing. I was able to download the 10.0 to 10.1 updates for free when I first bought my G4 tower, but I can't do the same this time. This is because 10.2 is more than just another collection of bug fixes and minor updates; it's a major change to the OS features, roughly comparable to upgrading Windows 95 to 98.
Yeah, I'd like a discount as a paid customer whose taking the shortest possible upgrade (from 10.1.5, instead of 9.1 or 8.6). Apple's not giving me one. I can understand it, but I don't exactly like it.
I use tabs a lot on sites like Slashdot -- especially once I figured out how to use 'em fast. By checking a couple of preferences in Mozilla, I can control-click (or right-click and select) any link and have it open in a new tab, behind my current web page.
Usually I scroll down the Slashdot home page, open up a few story links in new tabs without any other interruptions, and keep scrolling. When I'm done, I close that tab and all the stories I wanted to read are loaded and ready.
You can do the same with multiple windows, I suppose, but it's not as compact and the new browser windows usually load over the one you're currently on, not under it.
Why would any self-respecting anime fan buy a English dub of "Spirited Away" when the Japanese DVD includes a very good set of English subtitles?
Because I want to sell my family members on hit anime as well, and they won't watch anything with subtitles, no matter how good it is.
Next elitist? Yes, you in the back....
You can copy the CD, but without the card the software won't run. Try to install the software on more computers than the publisher allows and the smart card will shut you down.
This is supposed to work on CD/DVD software, not music. If you think about it, there's no way this gimmick could keep me from ripping CD audio to MP3 files. I'm not even sure it could keep me from making a straight bit-to-bit copy of the CD audio, unless the rewrite the CD player firmware to process the card -- a functional impossibility.
This might even work with DVD movies, but I think it would be incompatible with existing DVD players. It seems that only software, which is designed to check the smart card on the disk and verify its presence, could possibly benefit.
I'm not convinced it's unbeatable, however. The CD drive is designed to scan a piece of media for bits in a particular order; that being the case, it should certainly be possible to copy the output of the smart card to an ordinary CD-R.
This only leaves the consumer with the inconvenience of having to have a phyiscal CD in their drive in order to use a piece of software, sort of a "key" to unlock the game or application. And for anything other than games which take over the screen, this would be a major pain. If I wanted to swap media out of my CD drive every time I wanted to play a different game, I would've just bought the Playstation version.
This technology might work in future game consoles which are designed to check for a smart card and know the difference between a CD with and one without, and that might be the best place for it. I can't see it catching on anywhere else. We'd be going back to the days where every program, including the operating system, had to be run off of a different floppy disk.
Can't make archival exact copies of your own media. Can't get a replacement for the disc if gets scratched. So much for Fair Use.
The point of "Fair Use" is that you're legally permitted to make back-up copies of the media you own. It doesn't mean the producer is legally obligated to make it easy, or even possible. The fact that you can't make archival exact copies of the media is inconvenient for you, but it has nothing to do with Fair Use.
Five-seven-and-five
Aren't nearly enough words
To explain oneself.
The Habeas mark contains a three-line haiku protected by copyright law. Six other lines contain the copyright and trademark notices and other trademark protected information.... If senders fail to meet the criteria, they could be sued for trademark and copyright infringement, Mitchell said.
Basically, they're using copyright law to replace a non-existant spam law. If your header contains their copyrighted haiku, then you're not sending spam and you're allowed through. If you use the haiku header and you're still spam, you're violating their rules and are sued for copyright infringement.
Cute strategy, especially the part where they piggyback on the geek affection for gratuitous haiku, but it's built upon the (frankly) naive idea that their subscribers can get everyone they want to get email from to play along. It basically turns your entire flow of email into an "opt-in" list. It's nice that you can sue spammers with forged headers for copyright infringement, but that's not what's going to happen; what will happen is you'll get a "unknown sender" folder chock-full of spam and a few useful e-mails from people who don't know or don't care how to use the haiku header, and you'll still have to sort through it by hand every day.
The spammers won't need to forge their headers, unless (somehow) this tactic gets adopted by the entire Internet, including Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL. The inconvenience will be great enough that no one will want to play along anyway.
The latest trick from spammers is sending out HTML e-mails with their ads. Not a problem by itself, but by embedding the entire spam ad as a single GIF or JPEG image, there's no text for the spambot to filter out. It's easy to trap false positives with this, too, since a family member or friend might want to send out photos without necessarily attaching text as well. Boom, statistical analysis is instantly useless, and we have to go back to the old tricks -- filtering out known spam e-mail and domain sources.
Look at the shape of the "keyboard". Cylindrical, held in the hand with a loose comfortable grip. All a savvy inventor needs to do is drill a hole through the center and hey... you can type, mouse AND, um, entertain yourself at the same time.
Do you know why they include all the forced-usage and adverts on the DVD? BECAUSE YOU STILL BUY IT.
The forced ads on DVDs are on a small, small minority of DVDs out there. Disney got a lot of PR backlash when they did it on the "Tarzan" DVD, and they stopped doing it. I haven't seen another DVD yet in the years I've owned my machine that employed similar tactics.
The companies included them because their marketing department thought it was a good idea, and they were wrong. It's since been changed. Quit blaming the user, Republican.
On the plus side, since they are chosing NOT to invoke the DMCA, they prove that the law is subject to the whim of the very corporations who claimed to be harmed
If someone robs my apartment or beats me up in a bar, and I choose not to press charges for any reason, then they won't be charged. It's not the government's job to chase down every last criminal in the country if the affected party doesn't especially want them to. This is normal, and will have no effect on the DMCA's enforcability whatsoever.
For the record, the store page says that Mac OS X is also preinstalled, and that YDLinux is available as a second OS. So this is just a bonus feature for the hackers.
That said, I'm not sure I see the point, except possibly bragging rights. If you want to get into *nix on a modern Mac running OS X, all you have to do is open a terminal window and go to it. (Yeah, I know it's BSD instead of Linux, but most of the functionality is the same. And if you really really want a Linux box, wouldn't it be safer to run it on its own cheap x86 hardware instead of having it take up hard drive space on your expensive PowerMac or iBook?)