It looks like what really happened here is that the Taiwanese gov't "implied" to MSFT that, if they didn't show some flexibility in app bundling (Office apps, NOT Windows), then they Taiwanese gov't wouldn't be very supportive when it came to cracking down on piracy. So MSFT cuts prices, and the gov't continues to make some effort to reduce piracy.
Your friend could try http://www.boingo.com/hso/hsiab.html, which would get his customers up and running with a prepackaged solution, and give them the opportunity to roam to other Boingo locations. Of course, if he wants to provide _free_ access, then this clearly isn't the right solution.
1. 1 song @ $0.70 x 1 download = $0.70 2. 1 album @ $7.00 x 1 download = $7.00 3. 499,999 copies of each downloaded from Gnutella/Limewire/etc. = priceless.
When I first read this headline, I thought that it meant that using this version of Opera would cause the Senate Judiciary Committee to come to your house and harass you for hours on end, eventually prohibiting you from using your computer! Guess I should watch more Muppets and less CNN.
The statement is technically correct, but misleading. WiFi _is_ available _in_ almost every Starbucks in America (via T-Mobile), almost all the Delta, Northwest, and AA airport lounges, and becoming very common _in_ offices and homes. The portion of broadband users who have installed WiFi for in-home distribution is soaring (~20% of AT&T Broadband modem signups last quarter bought a WiFi kit directly from AT&T). What's _not_ common is WiFi _to_ offices and homes. That's the hard part, about which I think you're complaining.
In all fairness (and I agree that the Xbox quality control needs some serious help), a mechanism that involves spinning a disk at high RPM has a much shorter MTBF than one that has no moving parts (like a cartridge system). When was the last time you heard somebody complaining that the RAM in their computer had failed?
There are already systems that can see through walls, using UWB. Not _exactly_ the same thing, but pretty cool, nonetheless: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct 2002/tc20021017_4359.htm
"More ADSL users = irrelevant for you if you use ADSL."
Except that that DSLAM aggregates all those customers onto a single OC-x circuit. More ADSL users = less bw for you if you use ADSL. Both ADSL and cable modem have aggregation points that are potential bottlenecks - whether that actually impacts customers is a business choice the operator makes, not a technical limitation.
Khan??? Yeah, I loved the Ricardo Montalban version too, but Herman Melville actually wrote the line ~150 years ago - it's part of Ahab's dying speech in _Moby Dick_.
"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!"
The issue with catalog/phone orders is actually pretty damn simple (Squibb v someone is the relevant SC case). Technically, you're supposed to pay sales taxes on everything you buy from an out-of-state vendor. The vendor only has to _collect_ those taxes, though, if they have a presence (called nexus) in your state. If you order from the JC Penney catalog, you probably have the tax collected by JC Penney, since they almost certainly have a store in your state. If you order from LL Bean, the tax is almost certainly not collected, since their only store (AFAIK) is in Maine, and you probably don't live there. In the case of the LL Bean order, you're technically supposed to pay that "use tax" at the end of the year when you file your state tax return. Fact is, practically nobody does, which bugs the hell out of the states, and merchants, like Penney, who have in-state locations, and hence have to collect the tax, putting them at a disadvantage to companies that don't have in-state presence. Same thing applies to most Internet sales. If you live in Delaware, you're paying state sales tax on stuff you buy from Amazon, since they have a fulfillment center there, for example.
A word to the wise, if you do get busted for this, demand a jury trial and dont take any plea bargains. For that matter, dont hire an attourney, let the court provide one. If everyone who gets busted does this, pretty soon the court system breaks down.
True, but I think I'll let you go first, since you're volunteering to be the poster child.:)
OK, fine. Let's do it this way. We agree not to have the cops pull you over for not wearing a seatbelt. You agree to sign a waiver that, if you're in an accident, you don't get medical care. Sound fair? Yes, the law in is place to protect you from yourself, but that's just because the rest of us are decent folks, and unwilling to just let you die by the side of the highway.
Absolute morons??? That's, frankly, a comment I resent. Computers don't need to be designed for absolute morons, but they should be designed so that the intelligent layperson, for whom the computer is a _tool, not an end in itself_, can use them easily and readily. My parents are anything but morons (a PhD and a JD between them), but handling computers isn't easy for them, because it's a very different paradigm. Do you think that the fact that cars don't come in a kit, requiring you to install your own fuel injectors, means that they are built for "morons"? Watch your language, and escape from your Slashdot bubble on occasion.
Dense Wave Division Multiplexing, as contrasted with CWDM, Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing. CWDM involves putting ~2 frequencies of light on the same fiber - DWDM can be 64 frequencies and up.
Only if you do it online - if you actually send them snailmail, it's free. On the face of it, that seems sorta dumb (it must cost them >>> more to process a letter than the results of a web form), but if they made it too easy to sign up for the list, too many people might do so.
That being said, you should remember that, overall, direct marketers don't want to waste their time and money contacting you if you _really_ don't want to buy. Their hope is that some people who might say "I want off the list" will actually buy, when they're called or mailed.
It's Chicago ordinance, and it's not when you buy a DVD/CD, but rather when you sell some to the store. Reason is simple - its an attempt to combat transactions in stolen merchandise, since CDs in particular (think car break-ins) are otherwise easily resold goods for thieves. Whether or not its overkill, you'll have to decide for yourself, but rest assured that you can still go into Wax Trax (assuming they're still there, haven't been in probably 10 years) buy your CD of choice, pay cash, and walk out whistling.
Re:reasons
on
DSL Rising
·
· Score: 4, Informative
A few corrections:
1. Cable isn't a ring, it's a tree-and-branch. 2. xDSL has contention at the DSLAM, not the backbone. 3. It's only expensive to install cable in an area where it doesn't already exist (as many others have said, it's extremely extensive in the US and some parts of Europe, much less extensive in others). 4. You're probably rolling out video over DSL because who in the hell would want thin-pipe IP video over a cable connection that was designed to deliver TV-quality video in the first place?
Not an issue. Man-portable SAMs, like the Stinger or the SA-7 Grail (used in the Kenyan attempt), etc., have very limited altitude/range ceilings: 13-15k feet in altitude, and ~5km in range. They're also infra-red based, so if the plane is far enough away that the missle bearer can't see it, he can't shoot at it either. I wouldn't worry about someone with a GPS giving precise locations.
For info and diagrams: http://www.emergency.com/samissle.htm
You're not the only one, but that doesn't make it any less sad. We didn't think of doing something geeky (Dance Dance Revolution contest) because we were thinking about something far geekier.
Why should we try to protect it? Simple. 99% of us don't own a Ferrari, either. If we use that as a rationale, why should we reduce our freedom to steal Ferraris; after all, we don't have them, right?
Also, while I'm anything but a fan of the DMCA, there's a really big difference between preventing people from reading about politics the gov't finds inconvenient, and preventing them from downloading warez. There is, in spite of what some folks around here would like to believe, a difference between a novelist publishing his book online and me scanning the latest Ludlum book and putting that online.
That's where all the money is made. For a regular movie, revenue is $4 or so, and it takes two hours, so about $2/hr. For an adult movie, revenue is $6 or more, and average watching time is _about 15 minutes_. => $24 per hour, or 12X what they make off Hollywood pictures. In addition, the cable operator pays a smaller share of that $6 to the content provider than they do of the $4 to Hollywood. Once again, pr0n leads the way.
Entrapment is an entirely different issue, I'm talking about the question of whether the files downloaded actually need to be the programs/music files/movies the titles claim they are. If you walk up to a guy on the street, and say "I want to buy some cocaine," and he hands you a cellophane packet of white powder, and you pay him, and he turns out to be a cop, you're guilty, regardless of whether the packet contains cocaine or baking soda. The fact is, you _thought_ you were buying coke, and that makes you guilty, even if you actually bought baking soda.
Slashdot Mirror
It looks like what really happened here is that the Taiwanese gov't "implied" to MSFT that, if they didn't show some flexibility in app bundling (Office apps, NOT Windows), then they Taiwanese gov't wouldn't be very supportive when it came to cracking down on piracy. So MSFT cuts prices, and the gov't continues to make some effort to reduce piracy.
Your friend could try http://www.boingo.com/hso/hsiab.html, which would get his customers up and running with a prepackaged solution, and give them the opportunity to roam to other Boingo locations. Of course, if he wants to provide _free_ access, then this clearly isn't the right solution.
Problem is, the math will more likely look like:
1. 1 song @ $0.70 x 1 download = $0.70
2. 1 album @ $7.00 x 1 download = $7.00
3. 499,999 copies of each downloaded from Gnutella/Limewire/etc. = priceless.
When I first read this headline, I thought that it meant that using this version of Opera would cause the Senate Judiciary Committee to come to your house and harass you for hours on end, eventually prohibiting you from using your computer! Guess I should watch more Muppets and less CNN.
The statement is technically correct, but misleading. WiFi _is_ available _in_ almost every Starbucks in America (via T-Mobile), almost all the Delta, Northwest, and AA airport lounges, and becoming very common _in_ offices and homes. The portion of broadband users who have installed WiFi for in-home distribution is soaring (~20% of AT&T Broadband modem signups last quarter bought a WiFi kit directly from AT&T). What's _not_ common is WiFi _to_ offices and homes. That's the hard part, about which I think you're complaining.
In all fairness (and I agree that the Xbox quality control needs some serious help), a mechanism that involves spinning a disk at high RPM has a much shorter MTBF than one that has no moving parts (like a cartridge system). When was the last time you heard somebody complaining that the RAM in their computer had failed?
There are already systems that can see through walls, using UWB. Not _exactly_ the same thing, but pretty cool, nonetheless: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct 2002/tc20021017_4359.htm
"More ADSL users = irrelevant for you if you use ADSL."
Except that that DSLAM aggregates all those customers onto a single OC-x circuit. More ADSL users = less bw for you if you use ADSL. Both ADSL and cable modem have aggregation points that are potential bottlenecks - whether that actually impacts customers is a business choice the operator makes, not a technical limitation.
Khan??? Yeah, I loved the Ricardo Montalban version too, but Herman Melville actually wrote the line ~150 years ago - it's part of Ahab's dying speech in _Moby Dick_.
"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!"
The issue with catalog/phone orders is actually pretty damn simple (Squibb v someone is the relevant SC case). Technically, you're supposed to pay sales taxes on everything you buy from an out-of-state vendor. The vendor only has to _collect_ those taxes, though, if they have a presence (called nexus) in your state. If you order from the JC Penney catalog, you probably have the tax collected by JC Penney, since they almost certainly have a store in your state. If you order from LL Bean, the tax is almost certainly not collected, since their only store (AFAIK) is in Maine, and you probably don't live there. In the case of the LL Bean order, you're technically supposed to pay that "use tax" at the end of the year when you file your state tax return. Fact is, practically nobody does, which bugs the hell out of the states, and merchants, like Penney, who have in-state locations, and hence have to collect the tax, putting them at a disadvantage to companies that don't have in-state presence. Same thing applies to most Internet sales. If you live in Delaware, you're paying state sales tax on stuff you buy from Amazon, since they have a fulfillment center there, for example.
A word to the wise, if you do get busted for this, demand a jury trial and dont take any plea bargains. For that matter, dont hire an attourney, let the court provide one. If everyone who gets busted does this, pretty soon the court system breaks down.
:)
True, but I think I'll let you go first, since you're volunteering to be the poster child.
OK, fine. Let's do it this way. We agree not to have the cops pull you over for not wearing a seatbelt. You agree to sign a waiver that, if you're in an accident, you don't get medical care. Sound fair? Yes, the law in is place to protect you from yourself, but that's just because the rest of us are decent folks, and unwilling to just let you die by the side of the highway.
Absolute morons??? That's, frankly, a comment I resent. Computers don't need to be designed for absolute morons, but they should be designed so that the intelligent layperson, for whom the computer is a _tool, not an end in itself_, can use them easily and readily. My parents are anything but morons (a PhD and a JD between them), but handling computers isn't easy for them, because it's a very different paradigm. Do you think that the fact that cars don't come in a kit, requiring you to install your own fuel injectors, means that they are built for "morons"? Watch your language, and escape from your Slashdot bubble on occasion.
Dense Wave Division Multiplexing, as contrasted with CWDM, Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing. CWDM involves putting ~2 frequencies of light on the same fiber - DWDM can be 64 frequencies and up.
Only if you do it online - if you actually send them snailmail, it's free. On the face of it, that seems sorta dumb (it must cost them >>> more to process a letter than the results of a web form), but if they made it too easy to sign up for the list, too many people might do so.
That being said, you should remember that, overall, direct marketers don't want to waste their time and money contacting you if you _really_ don't want to buy. Their hope is that some people who might say "I want off the list" will actually buy, when they're called or mailed.
It's Chicago ordinance, and it's not when you buy a DVD/CD, but rather when you sell some to the store. Reason is simple - its an attempt to combat transactions in stolen merchandise, since CDs in particular (think car break-ins) are otherwise easily resold goods for thieves. Whether or not its overkill, you'll have to decide for yourself, but rest assured that you can still go into Wax Trax (assuming they're still there, haven't been in probably 10 years) buy your CD of choice, pay cash, and walk out whistling.
A few corrections:
1. Cable isn't a ring, it's a tree-and-branch.
2. xDSL has contention at the DSLAM, not the backbone.
3. It's only expensive to install cable in an area where it doesn't already exist (as many others have said, it's extremely extensive in the US and some parts of Europe, much less extensive in others).
4. You're probably rolling out video over DSL because who in the hell would want thin-pipe IP video over a cable connection that was designed to deliver TV-quality video in the first place?
I have VZ DSL, got in in Sept, and it _is_ PPPoE.
Not an issue. Man-portable SAMs, like the Stinger or the SA-7 Grail (used in the Kenyan attempt), etc., have very limited altitude/range ceilings: 13-15k feet in altitude, and ~5km in range. They're also infra-red based, so if the plane is far enough away that the missle bearer can't see it, he can't shoot at it either. I wouldn't worry about someone with a GPS giving precise locations.
For info and diagrams: http://www.emergency.com/samissle.htm
You're not the only one, but that doesn't make it any less sad. We didn't think of doing something geeky (Dance Dance Revolution contest) because we were thinking about something far geekier.
>>
Why should we try to protect it? Simple. 99% of us don't own a Ferrari, either. If we use that as a rationale, why should we reduce our freedom to steal Ferraris; after all, we don't have them, right?
Also, while I'm anything but a fan of the DMCA, there's a really big difference between preventing people from reading about politics the gov't finds inconvenient, and preventing them from downloading warez. There is, in spite of what some folks around here would like to believe, a difference between a novelist publishing his book online and me scanning the latest Ludlum book and putting that online.
>>
That's where all the money is made. For a regular movie, revenue is $4 or so, and it takes two hours, so about $2/hr. For an adult movie, revenue is $6 or more, and average watching time is _about 15 minutes_. => $24 per hour, or 12X what they make off Hollywood pictures. In addition, the cable operator pays a smaller share of that $6 to the content provider than they do of the $4 to Hollywood. Once again, pr0n leads the way.
Entrapment is an entirely different issue, I'm talking about the question of whether the files downloaded actually need to be the programs/music files/movies the titles claim they are. If you walk up to a guy on the street, and say "I want to buy some cocaine," and he hands you a cellophane packet of white powder, and you pay him, and he turns out to be a cop, you're guilty, regardless of whether the packet contains cocaine or baking soda. The fact is, you _thought_ you were buying coke, and that makes you guilty, even if you actually bought baking soda.
>>
When you make an otherwise very good post about language, you lose credibility with me when you can't distinguish between lose and loose.
That's not the same thing! The better comparison would be giving total strangers a perfect copy of your books.