I have been a big fan and user of the "two devices" mentality because I find that the solo devices do what they are supposed to better than any one device.
Previously I had a Handpring Visor and a Samsung SCH-3500 phone hooked via a cable allowing me to use the cell phone as a modem for the PDA. With a minimal amount of work (five minutes of configuration) I was able to browse email and the web from the Handspring.
Now I have a Sony Clie T665C. I still have the Saumsing phone, but I am thinking about upgrading. Since the Clie - 3500 cable is running about $50, I would rather not invest in that expensive of a cable only to replace the phone in a few months.
Other than the original hardware charges- buying two devices instead of one and the cable charges (I got the Handspring cable for about $25) - the two pieces work well together. I have played with some friends' Treos and find them bulky.
A minor pet peeve - things with cameras on them. I have a Canon S200 Digital Elph that I enjoy a lot. I do not want anything wasting space with a camera. I realize that there are good needs for them, but I hate that more and more things (PDAs, cell phones, etc.) are putting cameras on them.
I realize this means that, along with my iPod, I will be carrying around four things in my pockets which could almost be combined into one device. I am willing to live with this since:
1) If one part breaks, I am not out a huge investment. 2) If one part breaks, I am not out the entire device. 3) If I do not need one part, I can leave it at home. 4) Each part does it job better than any combination device I have seen.
One other question is if you can use the PDA/phone devices as a modem for your laptop (using a USB cable). That is another use for my phone.
It has been a while, but I thought one thing deserved replying to:
Engineering and CS, however, doesn't typically suffer from the 'boys club' mentality...if anything, it suffers from a lack of maturity among its members. But that immaturity is a hell of a lot easier to overcome than a bigoted attitude.
IT and CS may not suffer from an "old boy's club" mentality, but it certainly suffers from a "boy's club - no girls allowed" sort of immaturity that is very off-setting to females thinking about entering "the club."
Want proof? Read the messages posted on this article and see what is posted, but also modded up as "Insightful" and "Interesting." There is a lot of bigoted attitude in the very posts on this story. I would like anyone to say otherwise.
I went to class to learn, to pass and, eventually, to get a diploma. That's it. I was a name on the roster sheet.
You were just a name on the roster because you were male. If you were female, you would never feel that you were "just a name on a roster." You were the female in a class of mostly guys.
You want proof? You give a hint of it in your own statement:
I took a few classes in sociology where the ratio was almost polar opposite...60-80% girls. I loved it, I loved having a different perspective from my own and being able to work in a group with women.
You say here that there was a noticible difference between your classes with mostly men (CS, etc.) and your classes with mostly female (sociology). Yet you cannot see how some people might have trouble with that difference?
Remember that it is far easier in our society for men to enter a class of mostly females than it is for the opposite to occur.
Funny you should bring this up, since after a year in CS I transferred into Cornell's Educational Psychology program and studied how people learn/think/develop.
aren't there a few scientific studies showing that male and female brains are, in fact, wired differently, and some of those differences include males being more oriented to numbers and math, with females being more oriented to language/symbology?
A lot of the studies that look into the cause of this difference usually show that the cause of this is not a pre-wired physical difference, but more probably due to childhood experiences.
Young girls play with Barbies and fake kitchen sets. This develops more the creative side of the brain during these formative years.
Young males, on the other hand, generally are found with things like Legos and other building toys, thus developing the more mathematical/engineering sides of the brain.
(Note these are generalities and are seen as just possible explanations).
True story; a female firefighter sued the gov't of one of our provinces because she wanted to be a forest-fire fighter, but couldn't complete the physical requirements. Therefore, she sued them for gender discrimination. One of the tests, as I recall, was the ability to carry a 220 pound load for a mile, or some such, and she couldn't do it. Well, hell, I hope she's not the firefighter I'm working with when I get wounded and fall over, because it would, apparently, be 'sexist' to want her to carry me out.
Yes, there are definite, obvious physical differences between men and women. No one is saying otherwise. However, there has yet to be a single study that shows that women are definitely mentally different when compared to men.
You are trying to make a jump in logic from "there are physical differences between the sexes" to "there must then be mental differences between the sexes". You simply cannot do that, especially if you are not going to try to take into account cultural dfferences (there is a lot of culture telling girls that they will not do well in math, for example).
I started as a CS Engin. student at Cornell University. My seconds semester (spring '94 semester), I took CS212, which was basically honors second semester CS.
The class was limited to 75 students. The first lecture, three females showed up. By the next day, one had dropped, so we had 2 females and 73 males in the class.
I became good friends with one of the two females. The female-male ratio in the class and in the CS departments together were a frequent topic of conversation. I got to know her as a very intelligent person, and someone who worked very hard (two requirements to stay in the class).
In a situation like that, the other students, the TAs, and the prof are all going to look at the females differently. They are obviously not the norm in the class, and it is all too easy to expect then that they will act differently. They could do well (which my friend did - the two of us often got the highest scores on the exams) and people chalk that up to "She is female in an all-male field. Just surviving is hard enough, so only the really tough ones survive. It is not surprising that she is doing so well." If they do poorly you can chalk that up to "Well, it is rough for a female to survive in an all-male field. That does not excuse the poor grade, but the situation does have to be realized."
My firned, of course, just wanted to be judged against the males in the class without a second thought about her sex. When you are the obvious exception, though, things you do normally are looked at with that difference in mind.
I learned a lot about how rough it is to survive those sorts of ratios. I think it would be difficult for any female to walk into a program with a ratio like that.
[Also, I am simply flabbergasted by other posts to this story that show an ignorance of the pressure that would face females going into a male-dominated field like CS. "Maybe they just do not want to" and "Girls do not do well at math" are just about as absurd a thing as I have read on Slashdot, and I have been here a *long* time. They demonstrate a clear lack of understanding of the full issues surrounding the topic.
Also realize that I am a Libertarian and I am opposed to Affirmitive Action type solutions. Instead, I think that colleges could do a better job of providing better support systems for females that do enter fields like CS.]
I say in my original post that one is going to be able to record in analog.
Think about this - you have a 480p or 1080i digital movie, complete with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound.
You run this through an DAC, and record it to VCR or run it into a TV capture card on your computer.
Doing this, of course, you lose the great looks and sounds.
Then you share this with your favorite P2P network.
So now people can download a quarter-screen MPEG4 (or DIVX) file to play on their home computer, or they can turn on their digital recording device to record the same thing in 1080i with Dolby Digital that they can view on their huge HDTV and their home theater sound system.
Hmm...
The MPAA does not like people going into theaters with handycams, sure, but, as millions of Slashdotters have pointed out, this is not really hitting them in their wallet. A good enough movie, and a DVD priced right, and people will download the movie, see it in the theater, and then buy it on DVD. Dowloading the movie is not changing how much people spend on movies. High ticket prices and less than stellar moves, on the other hand, will effect the bottom line.
The only thing keeping me from going from Palm Desktop 4.0 on Mac OS X to iCal is the messed-up mounth view.
I tend to keep Palm Desktop open in month view. When I do so, I like being able to see the start times for events (as you can see in the example). iCal, on the other hand, does not list start-times for events while in month view. As a result, I have two choices: I can run in weekly view (Ugh...) or I can double-click events when I want to see when they start.
Neither is acceptable. I was hoping that v1.0.1 of iCal would bring this feature (some others have been asking for it), but I suppose I will have to wait even longer.
I definitely agree that the system should be more advanced than "no digital copies of a digital copy" for the exact reasons you state.
The "copying bit" idea is probably the best idea. Breakable, in the end, but once again, Hollywood simply needs to go after the people that break it. Have a bit set in each broadcast that says "recordable, not copyable". Anything you make has that same bit set to "recordable, copyable."
I am in no way a fan of the DMCA and other copyright-protection acts, but I do think that Hollywood has a right to put reasonable limits on my ability to record *and distribute* copywritten works. I do not think they have a right to ultimately decide what I can and cannot record.
I think that the ideal solution would be for the population to be able to record, in High Definition, an original copy. However, I think that Hollywood could say that I cannot make a digital copy of that copy. If I wanted to down-convert (to a normal VCR), of course I would be able to.
I want that one digital copy, though.
Yes, I realize that would break this limit to allow for other distribution. Right now sharing High Definition programming in an uncompressed format (or even a lossless compression format) is simply not possible given today's bandwidth concerns. So most people are going to have to record, compress, and then share. While Hollywood would fight this, they can always use the argument "Anyone who wants to be able to record can right now, legally, using digtal recording hardware available at Best Buy!" (assuming, of course, that things capable of recording High Definition in its native format to allow that first copy). Also, there would be less incentive to share, since I could always record off air (or cable, or satellite) in a better format than I could download.
Yes, I also realize that the bandwidth issue is not to be assumed forever. In the forseeable future, though, I think that Hollywood could use it to its advantage.
This article reminds us that register.com has done similar things in the past.
I received at least two or three very deceptively worded domain renewal slips from them when my domain was registered though someone else.
Eventually I think that the FTC made them make "Transfer and Renew" much bigger (it used to be that "Renew!" was really big and "transfer" was basically in the fine print. In addition, the return address and the buniess envelope did not say "Register.com" on them.
You never heard of it either because nobody moderates on slashdot anymore and this is probably +0 still. It has also never appeared in print before and is very secret.
That, right there, is enough to show it, but I will touch on some other issues.
Californias Fastpass is being upgraded to scan ALL responding car tires in future years upcoming. I-75 may get them next in rural funnel points in Ohio.
http://www.tadiran-telematics.com/products6.html
This is FastPass. You have to install the transponder in your car. There is no mention of it even being able to read tire transponders.
The link shows transponders for tires, but mentions that they are good for tracking tire use.
From one of the other links you provide: "This standard is designed to help automate the collection of tire information and the mounting and assembly process of tires with vehicles in the OEM environment."
The RFID standard is used to help manufacturers follow how/where the tires were installed and how many miles they have on them. All links you point to show just that.
You, sir, all full of crap. I consider myself somewhat paranoid about the federal government, but your conspiricy theory is beyond all of "The X-Files" and falls into "-1, Troll" region.
I was in the same boat...
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DVI Flat Panels?
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· Score: 4, Informative
Finding a 15" DVI LCD is even more difficult.
I was very happy with my Apple 17" Studio Display (although I did have one pixel get stuck last month) and was looking for a 15" LCD to work as my second monitor. I have a Radeon 7000 working as a second video card, so it supported DVI and VGA.
I searched forever for a reasonably priced 15" LCD that supported DVI. They were simply not to be found. I ended up going with the NEC 1550V LCD that only supports VGA. Getting a similar monitor with DVI (the NEC 1550X, for example) was going to run me at least $100-$150 more.
In a side-by-side comparison, the Apple monitor is much nicer. I am not sure if that is attributable to the ADC connection (Apple's all-digital connector) or just the quality of the Apple monitor (it is frequently ranked as one of the better 17" LCDs).
My only guess as to the mark-up of DVI monitors is demand (lack of it, and then where the demand is coming from).
Most of my reading/research also indicated that, at least for now, there is a little to be gained from a DVI connection. When LCDs get even better, though, LCDs will be better able to take advantage of the all-digital connection.
Granted I do not have my nice Cambridge Soundworks speakers hooked up at my parents' house right now, but I loaded iPhoto at least twice yesterday and did not hear anything.
The people working on micropayments have spent a lot of time thinking about it. There's also a lot of people thinking about anonymous cash on the network. Most of them are damn smart, but it's a difficult problem. Despite that, you'll see it within a decade, I think.
That's why the people who say "micropayments" get modded up, because anybody who knows anything about micropayments knows it isn't that brain-dead. Or do you give your credit card number to everyone you PayPal?
I do agree that I think that we will see optional micropayments in the next decade.
The big thing is that email is one of the "killer apps" of the Internet. Any anti-Spam solution has to be universal. I do not see micropayments for email ever being universal. This would mean that every single ISP across the globe would have to go to it to truly work.
And you do not get to the real question: How is micropayments for email not a step backwards.
(You also decided not to touch upon the issue that a lot of people have problems with PayPal, the example you decided to use - these types of problems are always going to arise when it comes to a universal system involving people's money)
Re:Replacement needed for SMTP
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ISP Chief on Spam
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Every time an article about Spam comes up, someone always posts the same basic rant about micropayments and/or "hash cash", and it gets quickly moddded up to 5.
Think about it people, this is not going to happen. I could list a thousand problems with the idea (How do you deal with international ISPs, how do you deal with ISPs that do not require it, where does the money go, and so on).
Some more basic questions that will prevent it: We here on Slashdot are hesitant about doing anything that might ruin our privacy. Think about the full implications of *whatever SMTP server you use having some credit card information about you*.
Think about the protests when AOL and MSN are taking in tens of thousands of dollars a week for email.
I cannnot believe that people that propose these ideas do not ever think through it fully. Email is so great because it is easy *and free*. Charging for email, even.1 cent an email, is a step backwards, and definitely not a long-term, practical solution. Sure, it might help get rid of a lot of Spam now, but it defiitely causes more problems than it solves.
The answer is to modify SMTP as we have it. Require authorization. Make it impossible to forge headers.
The big problem, of course, is international mail. I get mail from Korea, China, and Russia. Almost all of it is Spam. Whatever we do is going to have to get at that problem.
Think about the Slashdot article in four years, talking about how a lot of Chinese rebels are not able to send email to the United States because of micropayments and the problems they have with that.
I would second the suggestion of retail. I worked in a small specialty running shop for three years. The great thing about retail is that it is truly "leave your work at work."
I got off work, drove home in 15 minutes, and did not think about the job again until the next time I went in.
My suggestion would be to avoid larger stores and chains. Try a smaller shop. A family owned shop can be nice (there are definitely exceptions to this, but in general...). I would also sugggest something not in the field your major career is in (if you are working in tech I would not work at a computer shop, for example). Smaller shops can also be more flexible at times with scheduling, and generally look for more long-term help rather than hiring on seasonal people.
It would be far better to use the opportunity to have fun with a hobby.
Examples: * Running stores * Outdoor/camping shops * Record/CD store * Movie rental place
I actually happen to have a boxed copy of Windows 1.0 (opened, but...) and, after a quick glance, the only game it seems to include is Reversi, which is not included with Windows these days.
It also included Windows Paint and Windows Write.
(Oh, and I keep the box right next to my MacOS X 10.2 "Jaguar" box on my bookshelf. Also beside it is my Apple//gs manual).
ObTopic: I think that one of the most collectable games was Pitfall II for the Atari 2600. It apparently had a custom sound chip, making it difficult to emulate. Other versions, such as for the Commedore and for the arcade, were not as fun.
It was probably one of the most complex games for the 2600.
I also want at least some capability to make a single copy. If this is limited to 1 generation, then this will be acceptable to me, but possibly not to everyone.
While I agree with you, I do want to clarify one thing - I want to be able to make a single *digital* copy. If I miss a digital broadcast, I should not be punished by having to tape it on an analog VCR.
I agree, though, that I want a single copy. I think that is a workable "fair use" compromise. There are some problems with it (families, for example), but a single digital copy (and an infinite number of analog copies) could definitely be worked with.
I was on a flight recently on American Airline flight (O'Hare to Tampa, FL). I believe the plane was an older Boeing MD80 that had been retrofitted. Every seat, even in coach, had a power adaptor under the seat. The best part was that it was not one of the airplane-specific ports, but rather a cigarette lighter outlet (meaning I could charge my Clie, then charge my turned-off cell phone, and then was able to work on my laptop).
You are right, though, I would rather see power outlets as universal before Internet access in planes.
I tend to fly quite a bit (Southwest, mostly) and have to say that the AA airplane was the first I had seen with power outlets in coach.
American Airlines has a page that mentions their push into putting power outlets in planes.
One problem I ran into with X11 with Fink was multiple monitors. I do not think that Gnome and X11 knew what to do with my three monitors. I never really resolved those issues, but by and large everything worked in the end with little to no "tweaking" on my part.
Sawfish+Gnome also seemed to suck a lot of processes, even when running in the background.
My dislike for McDonald's is largely personal - I just do not like their food. In addition, my stomach seems to have grown a dislike for the food, as well, and the few times I have eaten there in the past few years ends up with me sick to my stomach.
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is another beast entirely.
I admit that a lot of the reasons I boycott Wal-Mart are out of personal choice. Wal-Mart is free to do most of the things it does, and I have the freedom to disagree with these and boycott them as a result.
Some reasons, however, actually do have grounding in some severe problems with the corporation.
My dislike for Wal-Mart began when I saw what they were doing to small towns in America. They were moving into these towns and then driving everyone else out of business. Well within their power, I know, but not something I liked to see.
Wal-Mart then began their push for Super Wal-Marts (bigger, and with grocery stores). Often these new stores were within visual sight of the old store. Here is an interesting thing - try leasing the old store. Wal-Mart will not let you, for fear of competition. Once again, something they can legally do, but not something I like.
Once they drive out competition in the small towns, selection falls. I have no evidence to show that Wal-Mart raises prices once competition are gone, but I think it at least possible they do not lower prices as much as they would in an area with competition. Selection, however, is an obvious thing to check out. If Wal-Mart does not carry something, it is impossible to get locally in a lot of small towns.
Wal-Mart's decision to carry things can, at times, amount to de facto censorship and market control. Investigating Wal-Mart's decisions concerning CDs and movies it considers "indecent" will bring up many examples of this. Once again, not illegal, but Microsoft has its head on a stick on Slashdot for a lot less.
Wal-Mart is very strongly anti-union. While I, myself, am not a big fan of unions, I believe there are times when they are still needed. Wal-Mart is a perfect example of this, and the reasons behind this are where Wal-Mart really starts skating on thin ice from a legal perspective.
Even Wal-Marts attempts to keep unions from its stores have been investigated more times than you or I could count.
Wal-Mart considers anyone who works 28 hours per week a full time employee.
There are over 250,000 uninsured workers employed by Wal-Mart, one of the largest groups without health care in the United States.
Wal-Mart moving into a small community does result in jobs, I agree. However, I would be very interested to see the numbers on jobs *lost* due to Wal-Mart (smaller stores and so on). In addition, there is a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that the people who lose their jobs and end up working at Wal-Mart generally (because of the 28 hour rule and lower pay rates) end up making *a lot* less than they were making before.
This article lists some of the complaints currently lodged against the corporation.
My mother was looking for a specific article of baby clothing she saw at Wal-Mart (do not get me started - I boycott the place personally, but it is hard to convince new grandparents). They did not have the size she wanted, so she enlisted my help to find the clothes on the Internet.
The brand was McBaby. Apparently McDonald's (another non-favorite of mine) and Wal-Mart (horror of horrors, up there with Microsoft in my opinion) came together to create a line of infant clothing called, appropriately enough, McBaby.
These are two huge companies in the U.S., including the largest.
Wal-Mart does not carry clothing on their website, and a search of McDonald's turned up barely a reference to the clothing line.
In short, the only reference I found to it was on used infant clothing sites.
If you want to domain-sit something, I would suggest mcbaby.com.
I do not suppose you can get much bigger than a joint McDonald's and Wal-Mart partnership.
It would have to be a TiBook or an iBook, since the introduction of the TiBook brought with it the correctly oriented Apple logo.
Before that, as you were opening the laptop, the Apple logo would look correct to you. To people who saw you working on it, though, it would be upside down (the top of the logo would be closer to the hinge side)
Too much Apple trivia for anyone person to hold...
I bought my G4 in March, and finally installed Fink about a month ago.
I cannot believe I did not do it sooner. Tools like dselect and apt-get are truly great. I was setting up some local Spam filtering, using Fetchmail, PostFix, Procmail, and Spambouncer. I also installed Pine and Lynx so I could easily SSH into the machine and use it.
Fink made the process so seamless and easy that I was amazed.
I had researched installing the different programs by hand, and the instructions for each were several pages long. Fink reduced this down to a handful of terminal commands.
I went ahead and installed X11 with Sawfish and Gnome. The screenshot was simply amazing.
The fact that Apple's OS, combined with these tools, makes running these applications this easy is simply jaw-breaking.
The good people behind Fink deserve a large pat on the break, as well as Apple, who made something like this possible in the first place.
Slashdot Mirror
It was not "The Best of Show" award, but it was an award for one of their products.
I have been a big fan and user of the "two devices" mentality because I find that the solo devices do what they are supposed to better than any one device.
Previously I had a Handpring Visor and a Samsung SCH-3500 phone hooked via a cable allowing me to use the cell phone as a modem for the PDA. With a minimal amount of work (five minutes of configuration) I was able to browse email and the web from the Handspring.
Now I have a Sony Clie T665C. I still have the Saumsing phone, but I am thinking about upgrading. Since the Clie - 3500 cable is running about $50, I would rather not invest in that expensive of a cable only to replace the phone in a few months.
Other than the original hardware charges- buying two devices instead of one and the cable charges (I got the Handspring cable for about $25) - the two pieces work well together. I have played with some friends' Treos and find them bulky.
A minor pet peeve - things with cameras on them. I have a Canon S200 Digital Elph that I enjoy a lot. I do not want anything wasting space with a camera. I realize that there are good needs for them, but I hate that more and more things (PDAs, cell phones, etc.) are putting cameras on them.
I realize this means that, along with my iPod, I will be carrying around four things in my pockets which could almost be combined into one device. I am willing to live with this since:
1) If one part breaks, I am not out a huge investment.
2) If one part breaks, I am not out the entire device.
3) If I do not need one part, I can leave it at home.
4) Each part does it job better than any combination device I have seen.
One other question is if you can use the PDA/phone devices as a modem for your laptop (using a USB cable). That is another use for my phone.
IT and CS may not suffer from an "old boy's club" mentality, but it certainly suffers from a "boy's club - no girls allowed" sort of immaturity that is very off-setting to females thinking about entering "the club."
Want proof? Read the messages posted on this article and see what is posted, but also modded up as "Insightful" and "Interesting." There is a lot of bigoted attitude in the very posts on this story. I would like anyone to say otherwise.
You were just a name on the roster because you were male. If you were female, you would never feel that you were "just a name on a roster." You were the female in a class of mostly guys.
You want proof? You give a hint of it in your own statement:
You say here that there was a noticible difference between your classes with mostly men (CS, etc.) and your classes with mostly female (sociology). Yet you cannot see how some people might have trouble with that difference?
Remember that it is far easier in our society for men to enter a class of mostly females than it is for the opposite to occur.
A lot of the studies that look into the cause of this difference usually show that the cause of this is not a pre-wired physical difference, but more probably due to childhood experiences.
Young girls play with Barbies and fake kitchen sets. This develops more the creative side of the brain during these formative years.
Young males, on the other hand, generally are found with things like Legos and other building toys, thus developing the more mathematical/engineering sides of the brain.
(Note these are generalities and are seen as just possible explanations).
Yes, there are definite, obvious physical differences between men and women. No one is saying otherwise. However, there has yet to be a single study that shows that women are definitely mentally different when compared to men.
You are trying to make a jump in logic from "there are physical differences between the sexes" to "there must then be mental differences between the sexes". You simply cannot do that, especially if you are not going to try to take into account cultural dfferences (there is a lot of culture telling girls that they will not do well in math, for example).
I started as a CS Engin. student at Cornell University. My seconds semester (spring '94 semester), I took CS212, which was basically honors second semester CS.
The class was limited to 75 students. The first lecture, three females showed up. By the next day, one had dropped, so we had 2 females and 73 males in the class.
I became good friends with one of the two females. The female-male ratio in the class and in the CS departments together were a frequent topic of conversation. I got to know her as a very intelligent person, and someone who worked very hard (two requirements to stay in the class).
In a situation like that, the other students, the TAs, and the prof are all going to look at the females differently. They are obviously not the norm in the class, and it is all too easy to expect then that they will act differently. They could do well (which my friend did - the two of us often got the highest scores on the exams) and people chalk that up to "She is female in an all-male field. Just surviving is hard enough, so only the really tough ones survive. It is not surprising that she is doing so well." If they do poorly you can chalk that up to "Well, it is rough for a female to survive in an all-male field. That does not excuse the poor grade, but the situation does have to be realized."
My firned, of course, just wanted to be judged against the males in the class without a second thought about her sex. When you are the obvious exception, though, things you do normally are looked at with that difference in mind.
I learned a lot about how rough it is to survive those sorts of ratios. I think it would be difficult for any female to walk into a program with a ratio like that.
[Also, I am simply flabbergasted by other posts to this story that show an ignorance of the pressure that would face females going into a male-dominated field like CS. "Maybe they just do not want to" and "Girls do not do well at math" are just about as absurd a thing as I have read on Slashdot, and I have been here a *long* time. They demonstrate a clear lack of understanding of the full issues surrounding the topic.
Also realize that I am a Libertarian and I am opposed to Affirmitive Action type solutions. Instead, I think that colleges could do a better job of providing better support systems for females that do enter fields like CS.]
I say in my original post that one is going to be able to record in analog.
Think about this - you have a 480p or 1080i digital movie, complete with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound.
You run this through an DAC, and record it to VCR or run it into a TV capture card on your computer.
Doing this, of course, you lose the great looks and sounds.
Then you share this with your favorite P2P network.
So now people can download a quarter-screen MPEG4 (or DIVX) file to play on their home computer, or they can turn on their digital recording device to record the same thing in 1080i with Dolby Digital that they can view on their huge HDTV and their home theater sound system.
Hmm...
The MPAA does not like people going into theaters with handycams, sure, but, as millions of Slashdotters have pointed out, this is not really hitting them in their wallet. A good enough movie, and a DVD priced right, and people will download the movie, see it in the theater, and then buy it on DVD. Dowloading the movie is not changing how much people spend on movies. High ticket prices and less than stellar moves, on the other hand, will effect the bottom line.
The only thing keeping me from going from Palm Desktop 4.0 on Mac OS X to iCal is the messed-up mounth view.
I tend to keep Palm Desktop open in month view. When I do so, I like being able to see the start times for events (as you can see in the example). iCal, on the other hand, does not list start-times for events while in month view. As a result, I have two choices: I can run in weekly view (Ugh...) or I can double-click events when I want to see when they start.
Neither is acceptable. I was hoping that v1.0.1 of iCal would bring this feature (some others have been asking for it), but I suppose I will have to wait even longer.
I definitely agree that the system should be more advanced than "no digital copies of a digital copy" for the exact reasons you state.
The "copying bit" idea is probably the best idea. Breakable, in the end, but once again, Hollywood simply needs to go after the people that break it. Have a bit set in each broadcast that says "recordable, not copyable". Anything you make has that same bit set to "recordable, copyable."
I am in no way a fan of the DMCA and other copyright-protection acts, but I do think that Hollywood has a right to put reasonable limits on my ability to record *and distribute* copywritten works. I do not think they have a right to ultimately decide what I can and cannot record.
I think that the ideal solution would be for the population to be able to record, in High Definition, an original copy. However, I think that Hollywood could say that I cannot make a digital copy of that copy. If I wanted to down-convert (to a normal VCR), of course I would be able to.
I want that one digital copy, though.
Yes, I realize that would break this limit to allow for other distribution. Right now sharing High Definition programming in an uncompressed format (or even a lossless compression format) is simply not possible given today's bandwidth concerns. So most people are going to have to record, compress, and then share. While Hollywood would fight this, they can always use the argument "Anyone who wants to be able to record can right now, legally, using digtal recording hardware available at Best Buy!" (assuming, of course, that things capable of recording High Definition in its native format to allow that first copy). Also, there would be less incentive to share, since I could always record off air (or cable, or satellite) in a better format than I could download.
Yes, I also realize that the bandwidth issue is not to be assumed forever. In the forseeable future, though, I think that Hollywood could use it to its advantage.
This article reminds us that register.com has done similar things in the past.
I received at least two or three very deceptively worded domain renewal slips from them when my domain was registered though someone else.
Eventually I think that the FTC made them make "Transfer and Renew" much bigger (it used to be that "Renew!" was really big and "transfer" was basically in the fine print. In addition, the return address and the buniess envelope did not say "Register.com" on them.
That, right there, is enough to show it, but I will touch on some other issues.
This is FastPass. You have to install the transponder in your car. There is no mention of it even being able to read tire transponders.
The link shows transponders for tires, but mentions that they are good for tracking tire use.
From one of the other links you provide: "This standard is designed to help automate the collection of tire information and the mounting and assembly process of tires with vehicles in the OEM environment."
The RFID standard is used to help manufacturers follow how/where the tires were installed and how many miles they have on them. All links you point to show just that.
You, sir, all full of crap. I consider myself somewhat paranoid about the federal government, but your conspiricy theory is beyond all of "The X-Files" and falls into "-1, Troll" region.
Finding a 15" DVI LCD is even more difficult.
I was very happy with my Apple 17" Studio Display (although I did have one pixel get stuck last month) and was looking for a 15" LCD to work as my second monitor. I have a Radeon 7000 working as a second video card, so it supported DVI and VGA.
I searched forever for a reasonably priced 15" LCD that supported DVI. They were simply not to be found. I ended up going with the NEC 1550V LCD that only supports VGA. Getting a similar monitor with DVI (the NEC 1550X, for example) was going to run me at least $100-$150 more.
In a side-by-side comparison, the Apple monitor is much nicer. I am not sure if that is attributable to the ADC connection (Apple's all-digital connector) or just the quality of the Apple monitor (it is frequently ranked as one of the better 17" LCDs).
My only guess as to the mark-up of DVI monitors is demand (lack of it, and then where the demand is coming from).
Most of my reading/research also indicated that, at least for now, there is a little to be gained from a DVI connection. When LCDs get even better, though, LCDs will be better able to take advantage of the all-digital connection.
Granted I do not have my nice Cambridge Soundworks speakers hooked up at my parents' house right now, but I loaded iPhoto at least twice yesterday and did not hear anything.
I do agree that I think that we will see optional micropayments in the next decade.
The big thing is that email is one of the "killer apps" of the Internet. Any anti-Spam solution has to be universal. I do not see micropayments for email ever being universal. This would mean that every single ISP across the globe would have to go to it to truly work.
And you do not get to the real question: How is micropayments for email not a step backwards.
(You also decided not to touch upon the issue that a lot of people have problems with PayPal, the example you decided to use - these types of problems are always going to arise when it comes to a universal system involving people's money)
Every time an article about Spam comes up, someone always posts the same basic rant about micropayments and/or "hash cash", and it gets quickly moddded up to 5.
.1 cent an email, is a step backwards, and definitely not a long-term, practical solution. Sure, it might help get rid of a lot of Spam now, but it defiitely causes more problems than it solves.
Think about it people, this is not going to happen. I could list a thousand problems with the idea (How do you deal with international ISPs, how do you deal with ISPs that do not require it, where does the money go, and so on).
Some more basic questions that will prevent it: We here on Slashdot are hesitant about doing anything that might ruin our privacy. Think about the full implications of *whatever SMTP server you use having some credit card information about you*.
Think about the protests when AOL and MSN are taking in tens of thousands of dollars a week for email.
I cannnot believe that people that propose these ideas do not ever think through it fully. Email is so great because it is easy *and free*. Charging for email, even
The answer is to modify SMTP as we have it. Require authorization. Make it impossible to forge headers.
The big problem, of course, is international mail. I get mail from Korea, China, and Russia. Almost all of it is Spam. Whatever we do is going to have to get at that problem.
Think about the Slashdot article in four years, talking about how a lot of Chinese rebels are not able to send email to the United States because of micropayments and the problems they have with that.
I would second the suggestion of retail. I worked in a small specialty running shop for three years. The great thing about retail is that it is truly "leave your work at work."
I got off work, drove home in 15 minutes, and did not think about the job again until the next time I went in.
My suggestion would be to avoid larger stores and chains. Try a smaller shop. A family owned shop can be nice (there are definitely exceptions to this, but in general...). I would also sugggest something not in the field your major career is in (if you are working in tech I would not work at a computer shop, for example). Smaller shops can also be more flexible at times with scheduling, and generally look for more long-term help rather than hiring on seasonal people.
It would be far better to use the opportunity to have fun with a hobby.
Examples:
* Running stores
* Outdoor/camping shops
* Record/CD store
* Movie rental place
I actually happen to have a boxed copy of Windows 1.0 (opened, but...) and, after a quick glance, the only game it seems to include is Reversi, which is not included with Windows these days.
//gs manual).
It also included Windows Paint and Windows Write.
(Oh, and I keep the box right next to my MacOS X 10.2 "Jaguar" box on my bookshelf. Also beside it is my Apple
ObTopic: I think that one of the most collectable games was Pitfall II for the Atari 2600. It apparently had a custom sound chip, making it difficult to emulate. Other versions, such as for the Commedore and for the arcade, were not as fun.
It was probably one of the most complex games for the 2600.
While I agree with you, I do want to clarify one thing - I want to be able to make a single *digital* copy. If I miss a digital broadcast, I should not be punished by having to tape it on an analog VCR.
I agree, though, that I want a single copy. I think that is a workable "fair use" compromise. There are some problems with it (families, for example), but a single digital copy (and an infinite number of analog copies) could definitely be worked with.
I was on a flight recently on American Airline flight (O'Hare to Tampa, FL). I believe the plane was an older Boeing MD80 that had been retrofitted. Every seat, even in coach, had a power adaptor under the seat. The best part was that it was not one of the airplane-specific ports, but rather a cigarette lighter outlet (meaning I could charge my Clie, then charge my turned-off cell phone, and then was able to work on my laptop).
You are right, though, I would rather see power outlets as universal before Internet access in planes.
I tend to fly quite a bit (Southwest, mostly) and have to say that the AA airplane was the first I had seen with power outlets in coach.
American Airlines has a page that mentions their push into putting power outlets in planes.
One problem I ran into with X11 with Fink was multiple monitors. I do not think that Gnome and X11 knew what to do with my three monitors. I never really resolved those issues, but by and large everything worked in the end with little to no "tweaking" on my part.
Sawfish+Gnome also seemed to suck a lot of processes, even when running in the background.
Other than that, though, it ran fairly well.
My dislike for McDonald's is largely personal - I just do not like their food. In addition, my stomach seems to have grown a dislike for the food, as well, and the few times I have eaten there in the past few years ends up with me sick to my stomach.
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is another beast entirely.
I admit that a lot of the reasons I boycott Wal-Mart are out of personal choice. Wal-Mart is free to do most of the things it does, and I have the freedom to disagree with these and boycott them as a result.
Some reasons, however, actually do have grounding in some severe problems with the corporation.
My dislike for Wal-Mart began when I saw what they were doing to small towns in America. They were moving into these towns and then driving everyone else out of business. Well within their power, I know, but not something I liked to see.
Wal-Mart then began their push for Super Wal-Marts (bigger, and with grocery stores). Often these new stores were within visual sight of the old store. Here is an interesting thing - try leasing the old store. Wal-Mart will not let you, for fear of competition. Once again, something they can legally do, but not something I like.
Once they drive out competition in the small towns, selection falls. I have no evidence to show that Wal-Mart raises prices once competition are gone, but I think it at least possible they do not lower prices as much as they would in an area with competition. Selection, however, is an obvious thing to check out. If Wal-Mart does not carry something, it is impossible to get locally in a lot of small towns.
Wal-Mart's decision to carry things can, at times, amount to de facto censorship and market control. Investigating Wal-Mart's decisions concerning CDs and movies it considers "indecent" will bring up many examples of this. Once again, not illegal, but Microsoft has its head on a stick on Slashdot for a lot less.
Wal-Mart is very strongly anti-union. While I, myself, am not a big fan of unions, I believe there are times when they are still needed. Wal-Mart is a perfect example of this, and the reasons behind this are where Wal-Mart really starts skating on thin ice from a legal perspective.
Even Wal-Marts attempts to keep unions from its stores have been investigated more times than you or I could count.
Wal-Mart considers anyone who works 28 hours per week a full time employee.
There are over 250,000 uninsured workers employed by Wal-Mart, one of the largest groups without health care in the United States.
Wal-Mart moving into a small community does result in jobs, I agree. However, I would be very interested to see the numbers on jobs *lost* due to Wal-Mart (smaller stores and so on). In addition, there is a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that the people who lose their jobs and end up working at Wal-Mart generally (because of the 28 hour rule and lower pay rates) end up making *a lot* less than they were making before.
This article lists some of the complaints currently lodged against the corporation.
Remember the IP argument about leaked prices?
My mother was looking for a specific article of baby clothing she saw at Wal-Mart (do not get me started - I boycott the place personally, but it is hard to convince new grandparents). They did not have the size she wanted, so she enlisted my help to find the clothes on the Internet.
The brand was McBaby. Apparently McDonald's (another non-favorite of mine) and Wal-Mart (horror of horrors, up there with Microsoft in my opinion) came together to create a line of infant clothing called, appropriately enough, McBaby.
These are two huge companies in the U.S., including the largest.
Wal-Mart does not carry clothing on their website, and a search of McDonald's turned up barely a reference to the clothing line.
In short, the only reference I found to it was on used infant clothing sites.
If you want to domain-sit something, I would suggest mcbaby.com.
I do not suppose you can get much bigger than a joint McDonald's and Wal-Mart partnership.
It would have to be a TiBook or an iBook, since the introduction of the TiBook brought with it the correctly oriented Apple logo.
Before that, as you were opening the laptop, the Apple logo would look correct to you. To people who saw you working on it, though, it would be upside down (the top of the logo would be closer to the hinge side)
Too much Apple trivia for anyone person to hold...
I bought my G4 in March, and finally installed Fink about a month ago.
I cannot believe I did not do it sooner. Tools like dselect and apt-get are truly great. I was setting up some local Spam filtering, using Fetchmail, PostFix, Procmail, and Spambouncer. I also installed Pine and Lynx so I could easily SSH into the machine and use it.
Fink made the process so seamless and easy that I was amazed.
I had researched installing the different programs by hand, and the instructions for each were several pages long. Fink reduced this down to a handful of terminal commands.
I went ahead and installed X11 with Sawfish and Gnome. The screenshot was simply amazing.
The fact that Apple's OS, combined with these tools, makes running these applications this easy is simply jaw-breaking.
The good people behind Fink deserve a large pat on the break, as well as Apple, who made something like this possible in the first place.