More proof that we are moving away from democracy.
on
RIAA to DoS Pirates?
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· Score: 1
In a democracy, everyone is guaranteed equal rights. There are no double standards. But what the RIAA is proposing, that for some reason, they should be given the right to do legally what is illegal for everyone else. If I were to launch a DoS attack on riaa.org, I would most surely be arrested, fined, called a terrorist, or all of the above. Yet, if things go thier way, they will have special dispensation to deny me (and others) service.
This shows that, with enough money, you can essentially buy and modify our government. Last time I checked, this is called a plutocracy. Let's stand up for democracy, and contact our senators!
Here is a thought. Have people voluntarily turn on the GPS tracking feature (not me). When the user makes a call, have Sprint monitor the strength of the signal and the location of the reciever. If you do this enough, with enough people, you can make an accurate map of signal strength across the country.
Then, when RadioShack tells me that SprintPCS will work in XX area (which I know is not the case most of the time), I can show them a map and say, "In fact, no. Look at the map!"
Now officially armed with the news of the AthlonXP, I decided to play my favorite game: "Dumb Shopper at Circuit City." This is how it works. I walk into Circuit City, and, well, pretend I am a dumb computer shopper. Here is what transpired:
Walk up to "Kevin," say my greetings. "So, Kevin (Who, by the way, must have gotten some information in advance about the AthlonXP), I hear AMD is coming out with a 1.8GHz processor!"
Kevin "Naw, that is a lie. It is really only like a 1.4GHz (notice, he is wrong already, it is a 1533MHz processor), but they call it a 'Model 1800' to try to get you to buy it. It isn't really 1.8GHz"
Me "Then they are lying to us?"
Kevin "Well, kinda. Even so, AMD is so far behind Intel (points to a brand new HP, with a 2GHz P4). Look, Intel has a 2GHz chip out now."
Me "No kidding... Wow... But, it is a lot more expensive than that one (I point to a Compaq with a 1.4GHz Athlon, similarly configured). Would I really notice the differece, besides the one in my wallet?"
Kevin "Of course. What kind of computer do you have now?"
Me "Uh... A P3 733 (a lie, of course, I never owned an Intel chip....), It was top of the line at the time."
Kevin "Yeah, well think of it this way, When you got it, it was pretty fast at the time ('uh-huh,' I reply). The difference in performance between the two chips is almost the speed of your entire computer!"
Me "No kidding... really? And the cost difference between the Intel and the AMD is less than I paid for my system too!"
Kevin "So, if you use your Circuit City card, you can stretch payments of this HP over 2 years.... "
Of course, I had no intention of buying a computer that day. I just love to see how the sales staff operates. The first thing AMD has to do is go in there and teach the "Kevins" of the major retail chains that they do in fact have a superior product (in terms of performance and cost). Then, and only then, can AMD succeed in places like circuit city. I think tomarrow I will go up there with charts from Tom's Hardware, but this time play "'I know more about computers than you do' shopper,'" and set Kevin in his place.
By the way, my real system is a K6-III 428 (yes, 428, O/C'd) with 768MB RAM. A real man's system [two years ago].
Although not recycleable like cardboard, I have seen buildings built out of styrofoam (Billy's Black & Gold Bar in Sharon, Pa for example). The structure is still traditional (wood, I-beams, etc.), but the outside is styrofoam blocks. Styrofoam is an excellent insulator, extremely cheap, and if it is ever damaged, a block can be replaced. I'm supprised this construction does not appear on more buildings.
Ah yes, the acronyms keep stacking up. Ok, this is how I remeber it: MGA->CGA->EGA->VGA->SVGA->XGA->X SGA->UXGA, now the all-mighty QUXGA-W (I'm sure I missed a few in there, especially the Apple ones). This stands for "Quad Ultra eXtended Graphics Array [something]." Does anyone know what the "-W" means?
Why don't manufacturers use a simple naming convention instead of these hideously long acronyms (hell, "Quxgaw" sounds like a word), and use something a little more desciptive- namely resolution. I think saying "Hey, my monitor is 3840x2400!" sounds better than "I got a Quxgaw sitting on my desk!"
Yea, I just checked, Cell-Loc is one of the companies providing this technology. There tech page can be found here. My favorite quote:
Measurements are made on transmissions from the cellular phone or other wireless device. At the Network Controller (Host Server), Cellocate's software performs the TDOA analysis and interpolation followed by hyperbolic multilateration using expert systems and neural network techniques.
Not trying to impress the investors, are you now?
Is GPS necessary?
on
GPS Meets PCS
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· Score: 3, Insightful
This winter, when coming home from the grocery store, I witnessed someone on a motorcycle take a turn just too sharply. The bike fell over on him and crushed his leg. I called 911 to report the accident on my cellphone (Verizon), and I didn't even have to tell the kind lady where I was, she told me. I went home that night and did some reseach, and found out that they can in fact pinpoint the location of a call. I beleve the company responsible for some of this is Cell-Loc (or something like that).
Hopefully, though, they won't use this to 'magically' close the store early on the day my bill is due, because they traced my calls and found out I am heading their way....
What is to stop people from writing thier own crypto programs, avoiding alltogether the need for a backdoor? If I wrote such a program, all I would need to do is snail-mail it to someone. We could communicate without worry of being monitored. Are their legal implications to doing this? If the FBI somehow figured out how to break my encryption scheme, would they be violating the DMCA?
Remember, it is not at all necessary to pulse LEDs for applications such as this. These LEDs can be driven with a constant current and still last about 25000 hours. The only time you would want to pulse them is for reducing the percieved light output, and in that case, you could pulse these LEDs in the megahertz if so desired.
"They are not licensed to sell products that are compatible with the Pentium 4." -Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.
The way I see it, would that also make any software that runs on the Pentium 4-based computer illegal too? Well, unless of course, your software is free (and it should be). They should sue Microsoft also, because those bastards sell products that are compatible with Pentium 4s, and it doesn't even work half the time!
Yea, they do look blue. If your eyes work at least half right, you can see that the white noise has "splotches," while the pink noise is evenly blue. I have a better idea, instead of trying to argue with me, do some research. I'm sure numerous other people will say you are wrong too.
Ok, I agree with you on the broadband thing. Pink noise is just "smoother" than white noise in that all the frequencies are represented at all times. White noise is "chunky" in comparison. white noise, pink noise through a sonogram. See what I mean?
actually, no. White noise is random, which makes it psuedo-spectrally ballanced. Pink noise, at any given time frame, contains all frequencies. White noise, on the other hand, is generally ballanced, but if you were to take a small slice of it, it would be rich in certain frequencies only. Download a small sample of each, then run it through a sonogram, and see how the pink noise is much more consistant.
Something tells me this sound is going to, well, sound like "Pink Noise." Pink noise is spectrally-ballanced; it contains all the frequencies from about 20Hz to 20KHz (or whatever range the audio engineer chooses). Pink noise is very "ear catching" due to the fact that the sound is so broad-band. They probably just applied an envelope to the sound and said they came up with something new. We'll just have to see.
Why not inject nuggets of data from previous (valid) packets randomly thoughout each new work packet? Keep track of where this injected data goes, and check to see if the returned packet contains the right data. Or put a random false signal in each one, and check for it. If not there, you know something is wrong. There are probably more effective way around this though.
As any sports car fan would know, Lamborghini has been making a car called the Diablo for nearly a decade. Cars and videogames are different things, so this is fine. Movies and games are not the same either. If Lamborghini wanted to make a movie about their car, would Blizzard have the right to complain? If someone else felt like naming a movie after the devil, can blizzard complain. If I made a movie called Windows, showing the life of a pane on a skyscaper, would Microsoft try to take more of my money? The point I am getting at is they are unrelated, and whoever gets it first wins.
Slashdot Mirror
In a democracy, everyone is guaranteed equal rights. There are no double standards. But what the RIAA is proposing, that for some reason, they should be given the right to do legally what is illegal for everyone else. If I were to launch a DoS attack on riaa.org, I would most surely be arrested, fined, called a terrorist, or all of the above. Yet, if things go thier way, they will have special dispensation to deny me (and others) service.
This shows that, with enough money, you can essentially buy and modify our government. Last time I checked, this is called a plutocracy. Let's stand up for democracy, and contact our senators!
There is no need for overpriced sattilite or line-of-sight 802.11b. The real solution to your problem is here. Imagine, speeds up to 500Mbps!
Here is a thought. Have people voluntarily turn on the GPS tracking feature (not me). When the user makes a call, have Sprint monitor the strength of the signal and the location of the reciever. If you do this enough, with enough people, you can make an accurate map of signal strength across the country.
Then, when RadioShack tells me that SprintPCS will work in XX area (which I know is not the case most of the time), I can show them a map and say, "In fact, no. Look at the map!"
Now officially armed with the news of the AthlonXP, I decided to play my favorite game: "Dumb Shopper at Circuit City." This is how it works. I walk into Circuit City, and, well, pretend I am a dumb computer shopper. Here is what transpired:
Walk up to "Kevin," say my greetings.
"So, Kevin (Who, by the way, must have gotten some information in advance about the AthlonXP), I hear AMD is coming out with a 1.8GHz processor!"
Kevin
"Naw, that is a lie. It is really only like a 1.4GHz (notice, he is wrong already, it is a 1533MHz processor), but they call it a 'Model 1800' to try to get you to buy it. It isn't really 1.8GHz"
Me
"Then they are lying to us?"
Kevin
"Well, kinda. Even so, AMD is so far behind Intel (points to a brand new HP, with a 2GHz P4). Look, Intel has a 2GHz chip out now."
Me
"No kidding... Wow... But, it is a lot more expensive than that one (I point to a Compaq with a 1.4GHz Athlon, similarly configured). Would I really notice the differece, besides the one in my wallet?"
Kevin
"Of course. What kind of computer do you have now?"
Me
"Uh... A P3 733 (a lie, of course, I never owned an Intel chip....), It was top of the line at the time."
Kevin
"Yeah, well think of it this way, When you got it, it was pretty fast at the time ('uh-huh,' I reply). The difference in performance between the two chips is almost the speed of your entire computer!"
Me
"No kidding... really? And the cost difference between the Intel and the AMD is less than I paid for my system too!"
Kevin
"So, if you use your Circuit City card, you can stretch payments of this HP over 2 years.... "
Of course, I had no intention of buying a computer that day. I just love to see how the sales staff operates. The first thing AMD has to do is go in there and teach the "Kevins" of the major retail chains that they do in fact have a superior product (in terms of performance and cost). Then, and only then, can AMD succeed in places like circuit city. I think tomarrow I will go up there with charts from Tom's Hardware, but this time play "'I know more about computers than you do' shopper,'" and set Kevin in his place.
By the way, my real system is a K6-III 428 (yes, 428, O/C'd) with 768MB RAM. A real man's system [two years ago].
Although not recycleable like cardboard, I have seen buildings built out of styrofoam (Billy's Black & Gold Bar in Sharon, Pa for example). The structure is still traditional (wood, I-beams, etc.), but the outside is styrofoam blocks. Styrofoam is an excellent insulator, extremely cheap, and if it is ever damaged, a block can be replaced. I'm supprised this construction does not appear on more buildings.
Thats a 26 point word, even before score multipliers! Just hope you are playing someone who knows what Quxgaw is, or an arguement is sure to ensue!
Ah yes, the acronyms keep stacking up. Ok, this is how I remeber it: MGA->CGA->EGA->VGA->SVGA->XGA->X SGA->UXGA, now the all-mighty QUXGA-W (I'm sure I missed a few in there, especially the Apple ones). This stands for "Quad Ultra eXtended Graphics Array [something]." Does anyone know what the "-W" means?
Why don't manufacturers use a simple naming convention instead of these hideously long acronyms (hell, "Quxgaw" sounds like a word), and use something a little more desciptive- namely resolution. I think saying "Hey, my monitor is 3840x2400!" sounds better than "I got a Quxgaw sitting on my desk!"
For once, using my rotary phone pays off!
This winter, when coming home from the grocery store, I witnessed someone on a motorcycle take a turn just too sharply. The bike fell over on him and crushed his leg. I called 911 to report the accident on my cellphone (Verizon), and I didn't even have to tell the kind lady where I was, she told me. I went home that night and did some reseach, and found out that they can in fact pinpoint the location of a call. I beleve the company responsible for some of this is Cell-Loc (or something like that).
Hopefully, though, they won't use this to 'magically' close the store early on the day my bill is due, because they traced my calls and found out I am heading their way....
The Philips ProntoPro TSU6000 is
aiming to be the most sophisticated remote for under $1000.
People actually pay more than $1000 for a remote?
What are you doing in bed playing a GBA when your girlfriend is next to you?
What is to stop people from writing thier own crypto programs, avoiding alltogether the need for a backdoor? If I wrote such a program, all I would need to do is snail-mail it to someone. We could communicate without worry of being monitored. Are their legal implications to doing this? If the FBI somehow figured out how to break my encryption scheme, would they be violating the DMCA?
Remember, it is not at all necessary to pulse LEDs for applications such as this. These LEDs can be driven with a constant current and still last about 25000 hours. The only time you would want to pulse them is for reducing the percieved light output, and in that case, you could pulse these LEDs in the megahertz if so desired.
Ok, I just don't get this:
"They are not licensed to sell products that are compatible with the Pentium 4." -Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.
The way I see it, would that also make any software that runs on the Pentium 4-based computer illegal too? Well, unless of course, your software is free (and it should be). They should sue Microsoft also, because those bastards sell products that are compatible with Pentium 4s, and it doesn't even work half the time!
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of these... ;)
Yea, they do look blue. If your eyes work at least half right, you can see that the white noise has "splotches," while the pink noise is evenly blue. I have a better idea, instead of trying to argue with me, do some research. I'm sure numerous other people will say you are wrong too.
Ok, I agree with you on the broadband thing. Pink noise is just "smoother" than white noise in that all the frequencies are represented at all times. White noise is "chunky" in comparison. white noise, pink noise through a sonogram. See what I mean?
Ok, look. I ran white noise through a sonogram. Then pink noise. Look at them and then tell me if I am wrong.
actually, no. White noise is random, which makes it psuedo-spectrally ballanced. Pink noise, at any given time frame, contains all frequencies. White noise, on the other hand, is generally ballanced, but if you were to take a small slice of it, it would be rich in certain frequencies only. Download a small sample of each, then run it through a sonogram, and see how the pink noise is much more consistant.
Something tells me this sound is going to, well, sound like "Pink Noise." Pink noise is spectrally-ballanced; it contains all the frequencies from about 20Hz to 20KHz (or whatever range the audio engineer chooses). Pink noise is very "ear catching" due to the fact that the sound is so broad-band. They probably just applied an envelope to the sound and said they came up with something new. We'll just have to see.
Why not inject nuggets of data from previous (valid) packets randomly thoughout each new work packet? Keep track of where this injected data goes, and check to see if the returned packet contains the right data. Or put a random false signal in each one, and check for it. If not there, you know something is wrong. There are probably more effective way around this though.
April Fooz. Foozball?
As any sports car fan would know, Lamborghini has been making a car called the Diablo for nearly a decade. Cars and videogames are different things, so this is fine. Movies and games are not the same either. If Lamborghini wanted to make a movie about their car, would Blizzard have the right to complain? If someone else felt like naming a movie after the devil, can blizzard complain. If I made a movie called Windows, showing the life of a pane on a skyscaper, would Microsoft try to take more of my money? The point I am getting at is they are unrelated, and whoever gets it first wins.
oops. I meant (P) not (B)