Worse yet, the slashdot audience is now saying the man's a genius for caving in to the RIAA, when the article mentions no benefit from the spineless wonder. The only place it's mentioned is in the Slashdot teaser! (And that's good ol' slashdot spin...)
Did you actually READ the article? It said:
Felten's decision can be seen as eminently savvy -- and not because he chose to avoid litigation. His actions, along with the shortsighted bullying tactics of the RIAA, set a precedent that could potentially undermine the widely disparaged DMCA.
One would hope that the recording company would figure out that allowing a few songs to get out like that after an artist becomes popular would be a godd thing since it got them that far.
Sure, they'd like to see the songs get out, but they have no interest in seeing them released under an open license! If you're a major label, what you'd really want to do is release a few tunes free-as-in-beer under whatever patented, heavily-copy-protected format they settle on. This lets them say "look, we're embracing Internet music," drums up some more support for the band, AND spreads an evil format.
As far as releasing a few songs to drum up interest as a major label strategy, that's happening already.
The DVD storage leads me into what is the new essential video component: Tivo. Anyone who uses a Personal Video Recorder for more then a few weeks knows that going back is just not an acceptable solution.
While I personally agree with this statement, is anyone else bothered by editorial comments like this while TiVo is advertising on/.?
Re:Dvorak says going to the John. . .
on
Calling Out TiVo
·
· Score: 3
during commercials is theft!
But remember, folks, if you're going to ignore ethics and steal from the networks anyway, at least don't forget to wipe.
What's funny is that TiVo is actually making it harder to skip commercials... the version 2.0 software they're in the process of rolling out removes a nifty hidden feature from the old software that activated a 30-second commercial skip button.
I fear that people might be getting indignant about the wrong reasons. "My 1.5GHz system is running at 750MHz" is certainly nothing to be happy about, but it misses the big picture.
The problem here is that the chipmakers realized that instead of selling chips that were ridiculously overclockable (Celeron 300A, anyone?) and letting the consumer overclock them, they could overclock the chips themselves, because all Joe Six Pack knows is that 1.5 is greater than 1.3, so the new chip must be better.
If you've been paying attention, you've seen this coming. The current cooling configuration of a modern system looks like an overclocker's wet dream a few years ago. But working this overheat protection into the chip itself just proves that this is a chip not capable of running at 1.5GHz except under extreme cooling conditions. It was a really cheap way for AMD and Intel to keep Moore's law alive without innovation (unless you think "more fans" is innovation.)
Posted by Hemos on Monday April 09, @11:45AM
from the cool-new-series dept.
T. Roche writes "Tad Ghostal, host of the near talented
talk show Space Ghost Coast To Coast and the children's series Cartoon Planet will be releasing a new comedy series on the
web. From the site: "The World Wide Space Ghost is not going to simply be another web page. Oh, no siree, Bob. It will be
an epic adventure -- (Zorak: Stupid!) exciting interviews, presented in 30-minute installments more like a
television show, that can either be downloaded (Zorak: Stupid!) and be watched at leisure or viewed right on
the site. The fun doesn't stop when the Ghost is in the house! (Zorak: Stupid!) Are you done? (Zorak:
Yeah... I'm good.) There will be cake, party hats, and pictures of me, Space Ghost, all available as part of the
package. It can't miss, kids." No siree, Bob? Who talks like that? Anyway, I don't know if any other major superhero has
tried this. You can see the super inviso-page at http://www.ghostplanet.com."
The whole whiz-diddly-bang-diddler she-bang of a good-ole-time-ruckus is supposed to launch June 1. But I still say that this
looks more like I think the online interview will be like - less like Slashdot's Bash The Guest idea, which was still dumb, IMHO.
Has anybody ever seen a bug-free piece of software of any complexity greater than "Hello World"?
Remember, every program can be shortened by at least one line, and every program has at least one bug. So by induction, all programs reduce to one line of code that doesn't work.
Sorry, folks, but the web is clearly not unsearchable, at least not yet.
Google consistantly returns good information on every search I make. A fairly superficial, PR-ish overview of their technology is here. The gist of it is that, among other things, the number of links TO a page is considered part of the criteria for ranking. (The theory is that an important or well established page will have many links to it.)
OTOH, human-edited directories like Yahoo and dmoz are going to have a really tough time as the web continues its exponential growts. I get so many dead links from these services that it's not worth the bother.
I doubt that live pictures will be necessary even for those interested in seeing the pictures.
Come on. Since when have webcams ever been about necessity? Webcams exist because of the "hey, neat" factor. It's not necessary to see live pictures on Jennicam, either, but I doubt it'd get the same audience if the pictures were taken ahead of time and presented in a big lump at the first of every month.
This is a really cool idea for a webcam, just because it's something different, and in the world of webcams, different means interesting. (I've watched webcams for fifteen minutes straight, amazed that anybody thought someone would sit down and watch them for fifteen minutes straight. I'm pretty sure that's the *POINT* of them.)
I understand the motivation for posts like this. I really do. In fact, if you look back, I'm probably guilty of one or two. It's very frustrating when Slashdot does something like this, because it ruins the entire experience.
Still, when it comes down to it, messages like this do nothing except let you give off a little steam. It's sad to realize it, but they don't care, and given that the way we react to these offenses, it's almost surprising that we expect them to care in the first place.
All Slashdot has to do is generate ad revenue. That's it. It's nice to dream that a site that calls itself "news for nerds" would exhibit some degree of journalistic professionalism, but the users don't really demand it, so who cares? Sure, we may post messages complaining about how much it sucks, but I'll be back tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure you will be, too.
We put up with a lot. Look in any discussion and you'll find references to very interesting stories that don't make the Slashdot cut while the same tired stories are posted again and again. Recently, the Slashdot editors proved that they don't even check the links of submitted stories. Today, as someone else in this thread pointed out, CmdrTaco mocked the interests of the readers by saying, in a nutshell, "thousands of our readers are going to submit this story. How stupid our readers are."
Will the Slashdot powers-that-be change anything because of these messages? Of course not. But I'd wager that they are reading this thread, and probably enjoying it, since this front story post was so obviously an absolute troll.
I understand the motivation for posts like this. I really do. In fact, if you look back, I'm probably guilty of one or two. It's very frustrating when Slashdot does something like this, because it ruins the entire experience.
Still, when it comes down to it, messages like this do nothing except let you give off a little steam. It's sad to realize it, but they don't care, and given that the way we react to these offenses, it's almost surprising that we expect them to care in the first place.
All Slashdot has to do is generate ad revenue. That's it. It's nice to dream that a site that calls itself "news for nerds" would exhibit some degree of journalistic professionalism, but the users don't really demand it, so who cares? Sure, we may post messages complaining about how much it sucks, but I'll be back tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure you will be, too.
We put up with a lot. Look in any discussion and you'll find references to very interesting stories that don't make the Slashdot cut while the same tired stories are posted again and again. Recently, the Slashdot editors proved that they don't even check the links of submitted stories. Today, as someone else in this thread pointed out, CmdrTaco mocked the interests of the readers by saying, in a nutshell, "thousands of our readers are going to submit this story. How stupid our readers are."
Will the Slashdot powers-that-be change anything because of these messages? Of course not. But I'd wager that they are reading this thread, and probably enjoying it, since this front story post was so obviously an absolute troll.
How do these highly advanced societies deal with less advanced societies like us? Simple. They don't. They have a code of ethics. They want us to evolve by ourselves and determine our own faith.
Wow! Where did they get that? I suppose from watching our Star Trek reruns.
Good god, man!
And I was thrilled the one time I hit 520,000. I always got suspicious when I saw higher scores, because there was no way to tell if the other players used the cheat.
More on topic: It's funny how everyone acts like it's an either-or proposition. Either it's classic games that are good, or modern games.
Galaga is one of the greatest action video games ever made. But so is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. When you get down to it, THPS2 is a great game for the same reason. The game mechanics are really pretty simple, but you always have to make one more run to try and grab a higher score...
Slashdot Mirror
Did you actually READ the article? It said:
As far as releasing a few songs to drum up interest as a major label strategy, that's happening already.
But remember, folks, if you're going to ignore ethics and steal from the networks anyway, at least don't forget to wipe.
What's funny is that TiVo is actually making it harder to skip commercials... the version 2.0 software they're in the process of rolling out removes a nifty hidden feature from the old software that activated a 30-second commercial skip button.
The problem here is that the chipmakers realized that instead of selling chips that were ridiculously overclockable (Celeron 300A, anyone?) and letting the consumer overclock them, they could overclock the chips themselves, because all Joe Six Pack knows is that 1.5 is greater than 1.3, so the new chip must be better.
If you've been paying attention, you've seen this coming. The current cooling configuration of a modern system looks like an overclocker's wet dream a few years ago. But working this overheat protection into the chip itself just proves that this is a chip not capable of running at 1.5GHz except under extreme cooling conditions. It was a really cheap way for AMD and Intel to keep Moore's law alive without innovation (unless you think "more fans" is innovation.)
Posted by Hemos on Monday April 09, @11:45AM
from the cool-new-series dept.
T. Roche writes "Tad Ghostal, host of the near talented talk show Space Ghost Coast To Coast and the children's series Cartoon Planet will be releasing a new comedy series on the web. From the site: "The World Wide Space Ghost is not going to simply be another web page. Oh, no siree, Bob. It will be an epic adventure -- (Zorak: Stupid!) exciting interviews, presented in 30-minute installments more like a television show, that can either be downloaded (Zorak: Stupid!) and be watched at leisure or viewed right on the site. The fun doesn't stop when the Ghost is in the house! (Zorak: Stupid!) Are you done? (Zorak: Yeah... I'm good.) There will be cake, party hats, and pictures of me, Space Ghost, all available as part of the package. It can't miss, kids." No siree, Bob? Who talks like that? Anyway, I don't know if any other major superhero has tried this. You can see the super inviso-page at http://www.ghostplanet.com." The whole whiz-diddly-bang-diddler she-bang of a good-ole-time-ruckus is supposed to launch June 1. But I still say that this looks more like I think the online interview will be like - less like Slashdot's Bash The Guest idea, which was still dumb, IMHO.
You wouldn't think so, but as this news story shows, it would.
Remember, every program can be shortened by at least one line, and every program has at least one bug. So by induction, all programs reduce to one line of code that doesn't work.
Woo hoo! I'm halfway there!
Zomething different, eh?
It's only a matter of time before all stories are just controversial headlines, and strange text with random links to AnimeFu!
Google consistantly returns good information on every search I make. A fairly superficial, PR-ish overview of their technology is here. The gist of it is that, among other things, the number of links TO a page is considered part of the criteria for ranking. (The theory is that an important or well established page will have many links to it.)
OTOH, human-edited directories like Yahoo and dmoz are going to have a really tough time as the web continues its exponential growts. I get so many dead links from these services that it's not worth the bother.
Come on. Since when have webcams ever been about necessity? Webcams exist because of the "hey, neat" factor. It's not necessary to see live pictures on Jennicam, either, but I doubt it'd get the same audience if the pictures were taken ahead of time and presented in a big lump at the first of every month.
This is a really cool idea for a webcam, just because it's something different, and in the world of webcams, different means interesting. (I've watched webcams for fifteen minutes straight, amazed that anybody thought someone would sit down and watch them for fifteen minutes straight. I'm pretty sure that's the *POINT* of them.)
I agree that this is a troll, but not really for the Bush thing; I take personal offense at the anti-goto sentiment. :-)
Sorry about that. I was lagging really badly and clicked submit a second time.
Still, when it comes down to it, messages like this do nothing except let you give off a little steam. It's sad to realize it, but they don't care, and given that the way we react to these offenses, it's almost surprising that we expect them to care in the first place.
All Slashdot has to do is generate ad revenue. That's it. It's nice to dream that a site that calls itself "news for nerds" would exhibit some degree of journalistic professionalism, but the users don't really demand it, so who cares? Sure, we may post messages complaining about how much it sucks, but I'll be back tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure you will be, too.
We put up with a lot. Look in any discussion and you'll find references to very interesting stories that don't make the Slashdot cut while the same tired stories are posted again and again. Recently, the Slashdot editors proved that they don't even check the links of submitted stories. Today, as someone else in this thread pointed out, CmdrTaco mocked the interests of the readers by saying, in a nutshell, "thousands of our readers are going to submit this story. How stupid our readers are."
Will the Slashdot powers-that-be change anything because of these messages? Of course not. But I'd wager that they are reading this thread, and probably enjoying it, since this front story post was so obviously an absolute troll.
Still, when it comes down to it, messages like this do nothing except let you give off a little steam. It's sad to realize it, but they don't care, and given that the way we react to these offenses, it's almost surprising that we expect them to care in the first place.
All Slashdot has to do is generate ad revenue. That's it. It's nice to dream that a site that calls itself "news for nerds" would exhibit some degree of journalistic professionalism, but the users don't really demand it, so who cares? Sure, we may post messages complaining about how much it sucks, but I'll be back tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure you will be, too.
We put up with a lot. Look in any discussion and you'll find references to very interesting stories that don't make the Slashdot cut while the same tired stories are posted again and again. Recently, the Slashdot editors proved that they don't even check the links of submitted stories. Today, as someone else in this thread pointed out, CmdrTaco mocked the interests of the readers by saying, in a nutshell, "thousands of our readers are going to submit this story. How stupid our readers are."
Will the Slashdot powers-that-be change anything because of these messages? Of course not. But I'd wager that they are reading this thread, and probably enjoying it, since this front story post was so obviously an absolute troll.
Can you imagine? Because of those backwards times, we're all benefiting from the invention of radio and there aren't royalty checks going ANYWHERE!
Thank God for HDTV. Finally, content control over airwaves. And it only took 100 (or 107) years!
Imagine how big a Beowulf cluster you could simulate on one of these things!
Wow! Where did they get that? I suppose from watching our Star Trek reruns.
Good god, man! And I was thrilled the one time I hit 520,000. I always got suspicious when I saw higher scores, because there was no way to tell if the other players used the cheat. More on topic: It's funny how everyone acts like it's an either-or proposition. Either it's classic games that are good, or modern games. Galaga is one of the greatest action video games ever made. But so is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. When you get down to it, THPS2 is a great game for the same reason. The game mechanics are really pretty simple, but you always have to make one more run to try and grab a higher score...
We're computer programmers! We don't have girlfriends!
Why? Are users sophisticated enough to use partitioning software too dumb to figure out how to turn off a "run signed software only" option?