I am not talking about a particular European country. As for variation, there are large variations within the US states too. Mississippi is far different from Connecticut.
One thing I see a lot is the mistake of comparing a European country with the US as a whole. What is the population of Sweden? 9 million? How homogeneous is Sweden compared to the US? Far more so is the answer. How can you compare that to something with a population of 300+ millions that spans a continent? Its a mistake because the US is really a political unit nearly the size of Europe as a whole, and while a US state may not be the same thing as a European country, the sizes and internal variations of US states are a far better match to the sizes of European countries than an individual European country is to the US as a whole.
Yes, the government is supposed to be an agent of the people, but which people? At some point the decisions that are made by a collective are one size fits all where the decisions of an individual fit their particular individual needs far more accurately. When you have a large diverse nation like the US this becomes a big issue.
I agree that governments are often the right actor to make certain investments, but not necessarily in the way you state. Governments should be making investments in areas where the private sector has difficulty realizing the economic benefits of that investment, and no more. Basic research and national defense are examples.
Caps are very UN common in the US. That's why you hear so much screaming when some ISP proposes instituting them.
Anywhere where I live in Central NJ we have Verizon FIOS which is FTTH, Cablevison DOCSIS3 which also gives you metro WiFi, and a variety of DSL options. Speeds are up to 100Mbps. None of them are capped. In reality it doesn't sound any different from what you experience in Sweden.
IDK, but where I live, in Central NJ I have a choice between several services starting with DSL up through 3 bonded DOCSIS3 channels that gives me 100/15 Mbps service.
The one I actually pay for is 30 / 5, mostly because I haven't found a reason for something faster.
The numbers for broadband penetration with active internet users in north america are 95+%, and for businesses are over 98%. That basically means everyone who actually uses the internet is on broadband.
At that point is there really much to discuss? Everyone who actually uses the internet in any significant fashion is on broadband.
It's actually the exact opposite. One of the issues with the American health care system is that uninsured people are not in a good negotiation position so they end up paying more for the same procedure than the insurer pays.
A friend of mine who read the Obama bill said they DEFINITELY had tiered levels of coverage by age - older people won't get the same level of care.
That is true under the current system as well. As you get over age 80 a lot of procedures become unavailable because they just don't make sense and your insurance won't pay for them.
I have a Netgear WNDR3700 that I use as an access point. It has a lot of good features including two independent radios (2.4 and 5 GHz), gigabit switch and a pretty fast processor. It is about as good as it gets for hardware of its type.
The firmware based on OpenWRT. Some of the features like the attached storage are dodgy, but that doesn't matter for this application.
For your application though - high density, lots of users why don't you take some of the load off the airwaves by offering wired connections too? People who aren't actually physically roaming will appreciate the choice and better performance of wired.
According to Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, Obama's top official at the Department of Commerce, the US government's policy of leaving the Internet alone is over.
What makes you think it actually happened in the past. Hell the US Government funded that initial development of the internet and has been running it ever since.
The basic premise of this whole thing is completely wrong. The US has NEVER EVER left the internet alone.
If they had it would be a lot better than it is now.
Once again we have a Slashdot story on patents that is a complete FAIL.
THE ABSTRACT IS NOT WHAT THE PATENT COVERS. It is the first claim that is the patented material, to whit:
1. A method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment, the method comprising: monitoring a plurality of activities in a social network environment; storing the plurality of activities in a database; generating a plurality of news items regarding one or more of the activities, wherein one or more of the news items is for presentation to one or more viewing users and relates to an activity that was performed by another user; attaching a link associated with at least one of the activities of another user to at least one of the plurality of news items where the link enables a viewing user to participate in the same activity as the another user; limiting access to the plurality of news items to a set of viewing users; and displaying a news feed comprising two or more of the plurality of news items to at least one viewing user of the predetermined set of viewing users.
So really this is an attempt to make a news feed relevant to the structure of a social network. While I don't know what the prior art on this is, it is clearly not patenting RSS feeds, news feeds etc., and it may actually be something novel and non-obvious. Or not. But part of this implies limiting access to mews items to a set of users. From my own work I happen to know that access control within social networks is an area of current academic research. I happened to run into a recent presentation by Tim Berners-Lee on that very topic where he claimed it was an unsolved problem.
So what do we have here as far as Slashdot goes?
1. Story is wrong in particulars of patent coverage. 2. Story is probably wrong on issue of prior art. 3. Story is definitely wrong on issue of obviousness question.
With the RIAA's and the MPAA's shenanigans, the general vanguard role of the US with regards to software patents et al., and the historical acceptance of "secrecy for the sake of greater good", do you even doubt for a second the ACTA was born in the States and the major financial, thus political, backing originates there?
In other words you have no actual information what the real story is and are drawing conclusions based on paranoia.
One thing to be aware of is that ACTA is not just about copying entertainment media. The scope is far larger than that and includes biotech products (pharmaceuticals and GMOs), industrial technologies and a lot more. Of course you won't hear about that on Slashdot because the audience here is a lot more narrow. My particular believe is that there is a large industrial espionage component to this, and is a big reason that China is not an ACTA participant.
Copyright - an exclusive right to make copies. Theft - The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting, fraud and sometimes criminal conversion. (Wikipedia).
Criminal conversion - is usually defined as the crime of exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else's property. It differs from theft in that it does not include the element of intending to deprive the owner of the possession of that property. As such, it is a lesser included offense of the crime of theft.
Copyright theft - criminal conversion of copyright.
Yup, and with software being used more and more in critical applications like controlling your gas pedal response and measuring airliner airspeed we are going to see many more examples of programs "crashing".
I don't care what people want to do on their own nickel. But health insurance is often taxpayer subsidized, and is shared risk.
This plus Chiropracters, Acupuncture and all the other medical fraud out there should NOT be covered by insurance. And we should take the money saved to run anti-quack public education programs.
Slashdot Mirror
I am not talking about a particular European country. As for variation, there are large variations within the US states too. Mississippi is far different from Connecticut.
One thing I see a lot is the mistake of comparing a European country with the US as a whole. What is the population of Sweden? 9 million? How homogeneous is Sweden compared to the US? Far more so is the answer. How can you compare that to something with a population of 300+ millions that spans a continent? Its a mistake because the US is really a political unit nearly the size of Europe as a whole, and while a US state may not be the same thing as a European country, the sizes and internal variations of US states are a far better match to the sizes of European countries than an individual European country is to the US as a whole.
Yes, the government is supposed to be an agent of the people, but which people? At some point the decisions that are made by a collective are one size fits all where the decisions of an individual fit their particular individual needs far more accurately. When you have a large diverse nation like the US this becomes a big issue.
I agree that governments are often the right actor to make certain investments, but not necessarily in the way you state. Governments should be making investments in areas where the private sector has difficulty realizing the economic benefits of that investment, and no more. Basic research and national defense are examples.
Europe's GDP per capita is only about 70% of the US. Its citizens, on average have a significantly poorer standard of living.
In addition, economic growth is significantly slower in Europe.
And of course with socialism the money that you make is spent according to how the government decides, not how you decide.
That's why Americans don't want to live that way.
Caps are very UN common in the US. That's why you hear so much screaming when some ISP proposes instituting them.
Anywhere where I live in Central NJ we have Verizon FIOS which is FTTH, Cablevison DOCSIS3 which also gives you metro WiFi, and a variety of DSL options. Speeds are up to 100Mbps. None of them are capped. In reality it doesn't sound any different from what you experience in Sweden.
IDK, but where I live, in Central NJ I have a choice between several services starting with DSL up through 3 bonded DOCSIS3 channels that gives me 100/15 Mbps service.
The one I actually pay for is 30 / 5, mostly because I haven't found a reason for something faster.
And yes I actually get 30/5.
If possible means getting an answer before the heat death of the universe you are probably wrong.
The numbers for broadband penetration with active internet users in north america are 95+%, and for businesses are over 98%. That basically means everyone who actually uses the internet is on broadband.
At that point is there really much to discuss? Everyone who actually uses the internet in any significant fashion is on broadband.
Time to change service provider then. We were on Wave2Wave for a while (should be called Wave to Nowhere). The worst ISP EVER. Replaced and now happy.
It's actually the exact opposite. One of the issues with the American health care system is that uninsured people are not in a good negotiation position so they end up paying more for the same procedure than the insurer pays.
A friend of mine who read the Obama bill said they DEFINITELY had tiered levels of coverage by age - older people won't get the same level of care.
That is true under the current system as well. As you get over age 80 a lot of procedures become unavailable because they just don't make sense and your insurance won't pay for them.
I have a Netgear WNDR3700 that I use as an access point. It has a lot of good features including two independent radios (2.4 and 5 GHz), gigabit switch and a pretty fast processor. It is about as good as it gets for hardware of its type.
The firmware based on OpenWRT. Some of the features like the attached storage are dodgy, but that doesn't matter for this application.
For your application though - high density, lots of users why don't you take some of the load off the airwaves by offering wired connections too? People who aren't actually physically roaming will appreciate the choice and better performance of wired.
Just add some startup music from Mozart and you will truly drive everyone away.
Oh I love this idea. I am putting up outside speakers right now. No more whippersnappers on my lawn!!!!
It seems to me that a through test would initially flunk pretty close to 100% of all software. So this means Veracode is too lenient by about 40%.
Depends on the contract. Look at wedding photographers - often if not they retain the copyrights.
Here's a clue for you, right from IP Law 101:
Patents cover implementations of ideas.
The fact that as you say that the implementation might not be trivial is exactly what makes this patentable.
DUH.
According to Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, Obama's top official at the Department of Commerce, the US government's policy of leaving the Internet alone is over.
What makes you think it actually happened in the past. Hell the US Government funded that initial development of the internet and has been running it ever since.
The basic premise of this whole thing is completely wrong. The US has NEVER EVER left the internet alone.
If they had it would be a lot better than it is now.
three-quarters of a trillion dollars from (essentially) untraceable $10-200 donations
No I don't. In fact I think he only raised three-quarters of a BILLION dollars.
Yes but the LOC is a lot older than those Secret Service computers.
Modded -1 Lier
Once again we have a Slashdot story on patents that is a complete FAIL.
THE ABSTRACT IS NOT WHAT THE PATENT COVERS. It is the first claim that is the patented material, to whit:
1. A method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment, the method comprising: monitoring a plurality of activities in a social network environment; storing the plurality of activities in a database; generating a plurality of news items regarding one or more of the activities, wherein one or more of the news items is for presentation to one or more viewing users and relates to an activity that was performed by another user; attaching a link associated with at least one of the activities of another user to at least one of the plurality of news items where the link enables a viewing user to participate in the same activity as the another user; limiting access to the plurality of news items to a set of viewing users; and displaying a news feed comprising two or more of the plurality of news items to at least one viewing user of the predetermined set of viewing users.
So really this is an attempt to make a news feed relevant to the structure of a social network. While I don't know what the prior art on this is, it is clearly not patenting RSS feeds, news feeds etc., and it may actually be something novel and non-obvious. Or not. But part of this implies limiting access to mews items to a set of users. From my own work I happen to know that access control within social networks is an area of current academic research. I happened to run into a recent presentation by Tim Berners-Lee on that very topic where he claimed it was an unsolved problem.
So what do we have here as far as Slashdot goes?
1. Story is wrong in particulars of patent coverage.
2. Story is probably wrong on issue of prior art.
3. Story is definitely wrong on issue of obviousness question.
In other words you have no actual information what the real story is and are drawing conclusions based on paranoia.
Oh you mean the fact that there are pharmaceutical and other biotech companies on the ACTA advisory board isn't real information?
With the RIAA's and the MPAA's shenanigans, the general vanguard role of the US with regards to software patents et al., and the historical acceptance of "secrecy for the sake of greater good", do you even doubt for a second the ACTA was born in the States and the major financial, thus political, backing originates there?
In other words you have no actual information what the real story is and are drawing conclusions based on paranoia.
One thing to be aware of is that ACTA is not just about copying entertainment media. The scope is far larger than that and includes biotech products (pharmaceuticals and GMOs), industrial technologies and a lot more. Of course you won't hear about that on Slashdot because the audience here is a lot more narrow. My particular believe is that there is a large industrial espionage component to this, and is a big reason that China is not an ACTA participant.
Copyright - an exclusive right to make copies.
Theft - The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting, fraud and sometimes criminal conversion. (Wikipedia).
Criminal conversion - is usually defined as the crime of exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else's property. It differs from theft in that it does not include the element of intending to deprive the owner of the possession of that property. As such, it is a lesser included offense of the crime of theft.
Copyright theft - criminal conversion of copyright.
Yup, and with software being used more and more in critical applications like controlling your gas pedal response and measuring airliner airspeed we are going to see many more examples of programs "crashing".
I don't care what people want to do on their own nickel. But health insurance is often taxpayer subsidized, and is shared risk.
This plus Chiropracters, Acupuncture and all the other medical fraud out there should NOT be covered by insurance. And we should take the money saved to run anti-quack public education programs.