Name a single thing you used to be able to do on Mac OS X that you can't do anymore on Mac OS X.
Download the compiler toolchain without "registering".
Xcode and all dev tools used to be free to all - bundled on the OS media as an optional install, or a free download. Now it's only available to "registered developers."
Yes, it's a token bar to get over, but this more than anything is indicative of the problem with Apple's new mindset. OS X used to be an inviting place for anyone to create programs, they're now taking the first steps towards closing it off. "App Stores" are the next example of this - by creating a curated and "authorized" distribution channel, you cast suspicion on any other method of software distribution.
This bothers me, not because I can't get over the bar, but because I don't want to live a software ecosystem where only "professionals" need apply. The end result of this is what we see in the iOS app store: trivial utilities that would have been open or gratis on any other platform are instead nickle-and-dime, or else free but invasive to your privacy trying to be ad-supported.
I found a proposed bill from 2007 that would have created such a law ("Intro 650"), but that met nothing but widespread opposition and doesn't seem to have ever been passed.
I also found opposition to it's alleged successor, "Intro 58" in 2010.
But nothing I've found suggests these devices are illegal in NYC.
I'm sure it's old news to most of us, but the un-encrusted URL buried in there (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/science/06esp.html) doesn't require a cookies, or a free login, if you use something like RefControl for Firefox, and tell www.nytimes.com that news.google.com sent you.
Among all apps tested, the most widely shared detail was the unique ID number assigned to every phone. It is effectively a "supercookie," says Vishal Gurbuxani, co-founder of Mobclix Inc., an exchange for mobile advertisers.
On iPhones, this number is the "UDID," or Unique Device Identifier. Android IDs go by other names. These IDs are set by phone makers, carriers or makers of the operating system, and typically can't be blocked or deleted.
"The great thing about mobile is you can't clear a UDID like you can a cookie," says Meghan O'Holleran of Traffic Marketplace, an Internet ad network that is expanding into mobile apps. "That's how we track everything."
and arrives at a recommendation ("do not use DNS-RBLs").
This entire analysis is spot on, but the reason blacklists are so popular is that they tend to work - you use one, the spam goes down, your users are happy. (Right up to the point where they discover a false positive that the RBL is blocking them from getting, anyway.)
In light of that, "do not use DNS-RBLs" is kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The obvious middle ground, of course, is "don't use DNS-RBLs to make a binary accept/reject decision." Instead, use them as a weighted input to an overall spam score, such as is done by SpamAssassin or policyd-weight.
We've been down this road before. In 2003, Intuit's Turbo Tax (for tax year 2002) pulled the same stunt, indiscriminately overwriting sectors at the beginning of the disk (outside any partition) and trashing people's bootloaders.
All in the futile pursuit of DRM. That's reason enough for me to use Tax Cut, instead, every year since.
We have a legislation here (italy) that state that tampering with electronic communications with the aim to impede or modify the contents of the messages is a felony.
I'd imagine the spammers and virus writers love that.
If your ISP strips executable attachments from email, are they felons?
If an email provider tacks on a signature block or advertisement, are they guilty as well?
Sounds like a tricky thing to legislate, however well intentioned.
I love RSS, and I wondered that myself. I'm still not sure - but I know they serve up ads in RSS feeds, which was good enough to get 'em blocked at my firewall.
Ads in feeds are horribly distracting. I suspect it's only a matter of time before every RSS reader out there starts to implement ad blocking.
I don't know what these Rutgers scientists are up to, but I think we can all agree that "Fearless Wild Plague Rodents" would be an excellent name for a rock and roll band.
I saw this third preview (w00t!), thanks to some quick clicking from my alert wife (who's also a fan).
It was fun to watch everyone in our theater checking their cell phones prior to the movie starting. We're in one of the most densely populated areas on the east coast, but apparantly "Service not available" was all anyone got. Folks all around us kept commenting on it as they switched their phones off.
Yes, that's right - at the fan preview, somehow they managed to stop the signal.
I used Adblock under Mozilla to remove the banners, then Multizilla to disable both Javascript and Meta Redirects (to defeat the noscript tag redirect).
It's a bit of a pain, but it works just fine. Periodic table, no banners. Wheee.
Slashdot Mirror
IIRC, early php inherited some features from Perl, including logic to convert scalars to numbers I'm guessing.
Perl has the same subtle problem, but at least you'll hear about it if you follow best practice and enable warnings:
Download the compiler toolchain without "registering".
Xcode and all dev tools used to be free to all - bundled on the OS media as an optional install, or a free download. Now it's only available to "registered developers."
Yes, it's a token bar to get over, but this more than anything is indicative of the problem with Apple's new mindset. OS X used to be an inviting place for anyone to create programs, they're now taking the first steps towards closing it off. "App Stores" are the next example of this - by creating a curated and "authorized" distribution channel, you cast suspicion on any other method of software distribution.
This bothers me, not because I can't get over the bar, but because I don't want to live a software ecosystem where only "professionals" need apply. The end result of this is what we see in the iOS app store: trivial utilities that would have been open or gratis on any other platform are instead nickle-and-dime, or else free but invasive to your privacy trying to be ad-supported.
Same story in the UK, in 2008
How long before we get the slashdot story on a US mall trying this out?
Two years ago, they were tracking what stores you were in via your phone.
Suppose that technology has dried up and blown away in the meantime due to the deafening cry of the outraged shoppers?
...from ten years ago.
I found a proposed bill from 2007 that would have created such a law ("Intro 650"), but that met nothing but widespread opposition and doesn't seem to have ever been passed.
I also found opposition to it's alleged successor, "Intro 58" in 2010.
But nothing I've found suggests these devices are illegal in NYC.
Dave Touretzky, of the "Gallery of DeCSS Descramblers" fame, is already on it - although he seems to be taking a more cautious approach while he's out of town right now.
I'm sure it's old news to most of us, but the un-encrusted URL buried in there (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/science/06esp.html) doesn't require a cookies, or a free login, if you use something like RefControl for Firefox, and tell www.nytimes.com that news.google.com sent you.
Anybody else remember twelve years ago, when Intel started putting serial numbers in CPUs? There was widespread outrage, and they dropped the idea.
Today, Google and Apple have (effectively) put serial numbers in (handheld) computers, and software is rabidly exploiting that.
We didn't tolerate it then, we shouldn't tolerate it now.
and arrives at a recommendation ("do not use DNS-RBLs").
This entire analysis is spot on, but the reason blacklists are so popular is that they tend to work - you use one, the spam goes down, your users are happy. (Right up to the point where they discover a false positive that the RBL is blocking them from getting, anyway.)
In light of that, "do not use DNS-RBLs" is kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The obvious middle ground, of course, is "don't use DNS-RBLs to make a binary accept/reject decision." Instead, use them as a weighted input to an overall spam score, such as is done by SpamAssassin or policyd-weight.
But then, that's generally more work. :-)
We've been down this road before. In 2003, Intuit's Turbo Tax (for tax year 2002) pulled the same stunt, indiscriminately overwriting sectors at the beginning of the disk (outside any partition) and trashing people's bootloaders.
All in the futile pursuit of DRM. That's reason enough for me to use Tax Cut, instead, every year since.
Clearly, you're not an emacs user.
...just to get my sig into the thread. :-)
I'd imagine the spammers and virus writers love that.
If your ISP strips executable attachments from email, are they felons?
If an email provider tacks on a signature block or advertisement, are they guilty as well?
Sounds like a tricky thing to legislate, however well intentioned.
And sometimes they're still issued today! :-)
In Lisp or Perl?
I have a theory: As time goes on, the odds of any slashdot thread becoming an XKCD comic, or vice-versa, approaches one.
I love RSS, and I wondered that myself. I'm still not sure - but I know they serve up ads in RSS feeds, which was good enough to get 'em blocked at my firewall.
Ads in feeds are horribly distracting. I suspect it's only a matter of time before every RSS reader out there starts to implement ad blocking.
...a Rutgers University geneticist...
Rutgers? Didn't we read about them loosing three plague mice into the wild a few months back?
I don't know what these Rutgers scientists are up to, but I think we can all agree that "Fearless Wild Plague Rodents" would be an excellent name for a rock and roll band.
The Mullberry was key to the invasion of Normandy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_harbor
Peace,
-McD
It was fun to watch everyone in our theater checking their cell phones prior to the movie starting. We're in one of the most densely populated areas on the east coast, but apparantly "Service not available" was all anyone got. Folks all around us kept commenting on it as they switched their phones off.
Yes, that's right - at the fan preview, somehow they managed to stop the signal.
Peace,
-McD
This is a great day for (check one):
( ) RIAA/MPAA/*AA
( ) Microsoft
( ) CueCat
( ) The Man
( ) All of the above
I'm with Knuth on this one. See the bottom of the page.
I used Adblock under Mozilla to remove the banners, then Multizilla to disable both Javascript and Meta Redirects (to defeat the noscript tag redirect).
It's a bit of a pain, but it works just fine. Periodic table, no banners. Wheee.
Peace,
-McD
Guess they won't be Sucking Vacuum after all.
Peace,
-McD
"MIT Reinvents Archie service from the early 90's."