The MPAA claims they want to stop pirates. But you don't need to decrypt a DVD's contents to pirate the movie. Just burn exact duplicates of the DVD you've already got. Your DVD player already has DeCSS built-in, so to speak.
This is not about pirating or your ability to make backup copies of DVD.
...about cloning. Based on what I've seen here, the answer is conditional.
If controlling the weather will piss of religious people, then yes, we should do it. If not, then the usual prudence with regard to new science applies.
Well let's put it to the test then, shall we:
Does this new science perform an action previously left up to God.
Before the soda connoisseurs get on here and try to tell us they're not gonna like these because the soda from the metal cans tastes better than the soda from the plastic bottles, keep in mind the aluminum cans' interiors are coated with some sort of plastic material.
Otherwise the carbonic acid would react with the aluminum, and leave you with a nasty taste (I believe due to Aluminum Oxide? but its been a while since high school Chemistry).
Uhh.... who said anything about free calls? They're called pay phones for a reason, you know.
The original poster intimated that other countries pay for the phones.
Setting that aside for a moment, even if the government only paid to maintain them, that is much more maintenance than an emergency phone.
If you're OK with installing and maintaining phones that can call 911 for free, why not also let people put money in them to call other numbers while the phones would otherwise just be sitting around, doing nothing? They'd be hooked up to the phone network anyway, since a dedicated line to the 911 call center would be needlessly expensive.
- Emergency phones don't require as much hardware. They can be a single button you press and talk into a microphone, like what appear on many campuses across America.
- Emergency phones don't need to be stopped by every day to gather the change.
- Emergency phones don't need to be repaired as much because they're not used as much.
Are you joking? Everything the guy said about PVR's was WRONG.
Is it possible to a Tivo without registering it or connecting it to a phone line? I mean, can you go to the store, buy a Tivo with cash, and take it home and start using it without ever "activating" it?
I'm sorry, most of your list I could tolerate, but I do believe it's more convenient to answer my cell phone in my pocket than it is to walk down to a payphone.
An alternative rebuttal might be:
Is that a payphone in your pocket, or are you just happy to hear from me?
They are in most countries (either directly as a public service, or indirectly as a consequence of the fact that the Government usually owns the phone company).
It's only in the US that payphones depend on the corporate whim of a for-profit company.
You make it sound like its a bad thing.
Why should my tax money go to help someone loser make a free phone call?
I don't have a problem with the government installing emergency phone booths that are wired to 911 for things like that, but I'll pass on footing the bill for someone else's calls... they get enough of my money as it is!
The problem with lifetime service is that my impression is that it is just for the lifetime of that device, if the device dies, one cannot transfer that service, can they?
If the device is still under warranty, yes.
Then again, TiVo is hacked so much, chances are good you will be able to fix the box on your own, even if its out of warranty.
Another concern is if TiVo (or Replay) goes belly up, will the PVR still function or become yet another door stop?
I would be very surprised if a company didn't come along and take over where TiVo leaves off, but if that did happen, you'd be left with a fancy VCR -- until such time as someone develops a hack to import TV guide data. I've also heard that if TiVo goes belly up, the company would release information to the hacker community to help keep the devices alive... rumors though.
Normally I prefer dedicated set-top boxes because of their quality of integration, but I think for this, particularly the costs and potential perils involved, I'll just get a TV card with PVR-like software. I have already built a functioning HTPC, maybe it's time to add on, a $50 addition vs. maybe $500 seems like an easy choice
Why not just $299 (or cheaper) for the TiVo, and the monthly service plan, if you're worried about TiVo going under?
I guarantee you that no TV card with PVR software can compete to the usability and coolness of a TiVo. You just have to use it for a week, and you'll be hooked.
In reality what I really want IS just a glorified VCR.
That's cool... that's what TiVo is, and more if you want it.
I don't want to have to pay monthly fees for their service.
Pay the lifetime fee one time, then. The service fee is basically a way to subsidize the device. You could either buy a cheap device and the monthly service, or the more expensive device (i.e. paying the lifetime fee along with the TiVo cost).
I don't want to record every instance of "Whose Line..." available - I really only want the one that's on once a week at a particular time.
You can do that with TiVo. Or better yet, you can tell it to record only new episodes of your show, and keep only X number of episodes (in your example, 1 episode). If they shift the time from 10pm to 11pm, TiVo knows it, your VCR doesn't.
I don't want TiVo (or ReplayTV, or whoever) to tell my machine to occasionally record things I haven't asked for, whether its because of their attempts at marketing or a lame attempt at "profiling" my viewing habits.
So turn that feature off. It doesn't hurt anything to leave it on, though. It only uses up free space, and if you need space for a show you're recording, it automatically deletes the auto-recorded shows to free up space. They never interfere, and you just might find some new shows you like (I did).
I don't want these companies using my viewing habits for their gain, even if its anonymous and aggregate.
So turn that off. I don't see the harm, but if you really are that anal, turn that off.
But the PVR manufacturers seem hell-bent on only letting you use their device if you pay their monthly fee for their "service".
Until this is addressed, I'll just keep rotating tapes in my VCR.
Your loss... just try to keep the FUD to a minimum in the future, please.
I know it would never happen, but I'd like a DVD player that had a hard drive with space to cache say 10-15 of the most recently watched films so I didn't have to wait for menus and swap disks.
I think most people watch a DVD once, and then put it away forever or for a long time. In light of that, what good would it do to cache the DVD to a hard drive?
However, there are DVD players that incorporate PVR functionality with hard drives...
A feature I would like similar to 'back' would be to reopen the last page I was on when I last closed the browser. Often, I close the window and find that I still need some info that was on that last page. I hate browser history ie: I have that turned off, so I can't hunt through the history to quickly find the page.
Let's see, you hate browser history, and yet you want to make use of its features...
Since a lot of people seem to make some sort of bond between this topic and global warming, I agree that there isn't much proof that the planet is warming, in an abstract theoretical sense. However I consider what I experience as proof for me:
You have this backwards. There is proof the climate is getting progressively warmer. However, no one has been able to prove, AFAIK, that this isn't a natural progression. It is known that there have been cycles of warmer and colder climates through the millennia. Its entirely plausible that this is a warm cycle.
However, until its proven one way or the other, why risk it? Let's work towards lower emissions whenever possible.
BBL... gotta take my Hummer H2 down to the gas station for some Lotto tix.
Slashdot Mirror
This is why this whole case is stupid.
The MPAA claims they want to stop pirates. But you don't need to decrypt a DVD's contents to pirate the movie. Just burn exact duplicates of the DVD you've already got. Your DVD player already has DeCSS built-in, so to speak.
This is not about pirating or your ability to make backup copies of DVD.
...about cloning. Based on what I've seen here, the answer is conditional.
If controlling the weather will piss of religious people, then yes, we should do it. If not, then the usual prudence with regard to new science applies.
Well let's put it to the test then, shall we:
Does this new science perform an action previously left up to God.
Alright, when do we start!
Sounds like a big problem. Maybe we should kill all the butterflies in Japan.
This will simply turn Alaska into a desert.
I left a case of coke unused for about 6 months once. Tasted very odd after the lining broke down.
Did you die from drinking it?
She's dead, Jim.
Before the soda connoisseurs get on here and try to tell us they're not gonna like these because the soda from the metal cans tastes better than the soda from the plastic bottles, keep in mind the aluminum cans' interiors are coated with some sort of plastic material.
Otherwise the carbonic acid would react with the aluminum, and leave you with a nasty taste (I believe due to Aluminum Oxide? but its been a while since high school Chemistry).
I do believe Michael was making the joke that Slashdot already "sold out."
Uhh.... who said anything about free calls? They're called pay phones for a reason, you know.
The original poster intimated that other countries pay for the phones.
Setting that aside for a moment, even if the government only paid to maintain them, that is much more maintenance than an emergency phone.
If you're OK with installing and maintaining phones that can call 911 for free, why not also let people put money in them to call other numbers while the phones would otherwise just be sitting around, doing nothing? They'd be hooked up to the phone network anyway, since a dedicated line to the 911 call center would be needlessly expensive.
- Emergency phones don't require as much hardware. They can be a single button you press and talk into a microphone, like what appear on many campuses across America.
- Emergency phones don't need to be stopped by every day to gather the change.
- Emergency phones don't need to be repaired as much because they're not used as much.
I don't see any fud in that message.
Are you joking? Everything the guy said about PVR's was WRONG.
Is it possible to a Tivo without registering it or connecting it to a phone line? I mean, can you go to the store, buy a Tivo with cash, and take it home and start using it without ever "activating" it?
Yes, it is.
Reasons why payphones are better than cell phones
- Receiving calls at payphones is convenient
I'm sorry, most of your list I could tolerate, but I do believe it's more convenient to answer my cell phone in my pocket than it is to walk down to a payphone.
An alternative rebuttal might be:
Is that a payphone in your pocket, or are you just happy to hear from me?
How will we make anonymous calls without a payphone?
Don't worry, I'll just your cell phone when you're not looking.
They are in most countries (either directly as a public service, or indirectly as a consequence of the fact that the Government usually owns the phone company).
It's only in the US that payphones depend on the corporate whim of a for-profit company.
You make it sound like its a bad thing.
Why should my tax money go to help someone loser make a free phone call?
I don't have a problem with the government installing emergency phone booths that are wired to 911 for things like that, but I'll pass on footing the bill for someone else's calls... they get enough of my money as it is!
The problem with lifetime service is that my impression is that it is just for the lifetime of that device, if the device dies, one cannot transfer that service, can they?
If the device is still under warranty, yes.
Then again, TiVo is hacked so much, chances are good you will be able to fix the box on your own, even if its out of warranty.
Another concern is if TiVo (or Replay) goes belly up, will the PVR still function or become yet another door stop?
I would be very surprised if a company didn't come along and take over where TiVo leaves off, but if that did happen, you'd be left with a fancy VCR -- until such time as someone develops a hack to import TV guide data. I've also heard that if TiVo goes belly up, the company would release information to the hacker community to help keep the devices alive... rumors though.
Normally I prefer dedicated set-top boxes because of their quality of integration, but I think for this, particularly the costs and potential perils involved, I'll just get a TV card with PVR-like software. I have already built a functioning HTPC, maybe it's time to add on, a $50 addition vs. maybe $500 seems like an easy choice
Why not just $299 (or cheaper) for the TiVo, and the monthly service plan, if you're worried about TiVo going under?
I guarantee you that no TV card with PVR software can compete to the usability and coolness of a TiVo. You just have to use it for a week, and you'll be hooked.
In reality what I really want IS just a glorified VCR.
That's cool... that's what TiVo is, and more if you want it.
I don't want to have to pay monthly fees for their service.
Pay the lifetime fee one time, then. The service fee is basically a way to subsidize the device. You could either buy a cheap device and the monthly service, or the more expensive device (i.e. paying the lifetime fee along with the TiVo cost).
I don't want to record every instance of "Whose Line..." available - I really only want the one that's on once a week at a particular time.
You can do that with TiVo. Or better yet, you can tell it to record only new episodes of your show, and keep only X number of episodes (in your example, 1 episode). If they shift the time from 10pm to 11pm, TiVo knows it, your VCR doesn't.
I don't want TiVo (or ReplayTV, or whoever) to tell my machine to occasionally record things I haven't asked for, whether its because of their attempts at marketing or a lame attempt at "profiling" my viewing habits.
So turn that feature off. It doesn't hurt anything to leave it on, though. It only uses up free space, and if you need space for a show you're recording, it automatically deletes the auto-recorded shows to free up space. They never interfere, and you just might find some new shows you like (I did).
I don't want these companies using my viewing habits for their gain, even if its anonymous and aggregate.
So turn that off. I don't see the harm, but if you really are that anal, turn that off.
But the PVR manufacturers seem hell-bent on only letting you use their device if you pay their monthly fee for their "service".
Until this is addressed, I'll just keep rotating tapes in my VCR.
Your loss... just try to keep the FUD to a minimum in the future, please.
I know it would never happen, but I'd like a DVD player that had a hard drive with space to cache say 10-15 of the most recently watched films so I didn't have to wait for menus and swap disks.
I think most people watch a DVD once, and then put it away forever or for a long time. In light of that, what good would it do to cache the DVD to a hard drive?
However, there are DVD players that incorporate PVR functionality with hard drives...
I just submitted this as a feature enhancement to mozilla... everybody that likes this idea, go vote for this bug #187187:
7
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18718
You'll probably have to copy and paste that URL into your browser, I think bugzilla blocks people coming straight from slashdot.
A feature I would like similar to 'back' would be to reopen the last page I was on when I last closed the browser. Often, I close the window and find that I still need some info that was on that last page. I hate browser history ie: I have that turned off, so I can't hunt through the history to quickly find the page.
Let's see, you hate browser history, and yet you want to make use of its features...
Ummmm... ok.
for those of you who (like me) dislikes amazons use of patents, show it by buying your books elsewhere. two good examples of elsewhere are
And for those of you who, like me, love shopping at Amazon.com, but hate patents, please boycott the US Patent Office.
I, for one, refuse to patent anything.
Since a lot of people seem to make some sort of bond between this topic and global warming, I agree that there isn't much proof that the planet is warming, in an abstract theoretical sense. However I consider what I experience as proof for me:
You have this backwards. There is proof the climate is getting progressively warmer. However, no one has been able to prove, AFAIK, that this isn't a natural progression. It is known that there have been cycles of warmer and colder climates through the millennia. Its entirely plausible that this is a warm cycle.
However, until its proven one way or the other, why risk it? Let's work towards lower emissions whenever possible.
BBL... gotta take my Hummer H2 down to the gas station for some Lotto tix.
Incidentally, my sister acquired language at a much younger age than I did (she was forming complete, gramatically correct sentences at the age of 2)
/. editors]?
Is she available for tutoring [of
Sometimes it's too easy.
Wow, IE-specific features. Good to see that stupidity crosses all license barriers.
Stupidity? IE has dominant market share. I love Mozilla, but there is such a thing as business sense. Focus on what is more popular, first.
Unlike doctors, lawyers don't take a hippocratic oath: "Do no harm."
But who won "Internet VILLAIN of the Year"?
Did you see how tacky it looks sitting next to the beige CRT monitor?
... PERIOD?
Did you see how tacky it looks
Strom Thurmond to be fitted with prosthetic walking aids.
... and pumped full of Viagra!
You forgot it needs to be 'animated'. How about:
Strom Thurmond to be fitted with prosthetic walking aids