i believe they are staggering these sniping contests to avoid the servers being overloaded so at most there are probably only a few dozen "contestants" at once. anyway the price tag for these domains is high enough that not just anyone can afford them.
i wouldn't really call them "cheaters" as this is how the game needs to be played if you want to win.
With network latency, manual clickers do have a chance.
any skilled programmer would have taken the average latency into account with their script. and probably also keep a moving average of the latency to the server on the day of the contest.
that really doesn't make much sense, they are attempting to do a secure wipe, it seems it is possible they don't want anyone to realize which machines were infected.
if you leave a backdoor, that is something that could be detected and then you would know that flame had been on that machine.
Zuckerberg still owns more than 50% of the voting rights for Facebook. he doesn't have to care what the other stock holders think. it might as well have never gone IPO it is pretty much still his private company.
indeed you are correct, but i still think the gp's analogy was poor. The water pipe could theoretically suffer the same problem as the network. it is just that they spec'ed the water pipe to be big enough to handle the required throughput, but did not do the same with the data network, quite possibly because it wasn't easy to estimate growth for the wireless data usage.
water pipes would suffer the same problem if everyone decided to flush the toilet at the same time.
the difference being the plumbing network was designed with big enough pipes to handle the typical peak concurrent bandwith/water use...the phone network was not.
rdiff may be a better tool now, but it wasn't available when i had written some of my backup scripts, and i think still isn't quite as widely known as rsync
synchronizing can very well be the first step in generating a backup.
first make sure everything is mirrored, then make a separate copy/snapshot. rsync can be decent at conserving bandwidth if only a few items have changed in a large repository.
i believe the recipes for coke and pepsi are also considered trade secrets, but they still have to list the ingredients on the side of the can. they just don't have to list the exact ratios.
if i knew where to get such bulbs i wouldn't be complaining
Maybe it has something to do with the quality of the power grid in my area. i don't think it is the wiring in my house because i have had the same issue at 3 other places.
and some people just leave them on all day because it takes so long for them to warm up. that seems to defeat the purpose a little if you are trying to be "green"
half a second is acceptable...a few minutes is not. i have had a few CFLs that seemed to come on faster than that, but then after a week or 2 of use, seem to fall back to taking a few minutes. That just isn't acceptable, and i don't think it is an unreasonable complaint.
I wouldn't be whining if you enviro-hippys hadn't outlawed bulbs that actually worked. and there are other places CFLs just don't work, such as cold or humid environments. </rant>
LEDs don't have this flaw, however are still too expensive, and still have a limited wattage range.
I am buying LEDs, they typically cost around the $20 to $30 range...so what makes you think i am opting for the cheapest CFLs?
i am not trying to troll or anything, i seriously have not found a CFL that doesn't have this problem. everyone keeps telling me to buy better CFLs or get the name brands, but i still haven't found one that doesn't have this warmup issue. they all startup dim and seem to take forever to get up to full brightness.
Seeing that i am willing to buy LEDs should show i am not just buying the cheapest bulbs on the shelf. The CFLs still suck, what name brands should i be looking for? CFL's are even more atrocious in cold weather, such as in my garage in the winter.
I am not against fluorescent lighting, i had the big tubes in a few places for many years, and they worked fine, and last forever.
There are for other reasons i am beginning to prefer LEDs. For one they don't have mercury in them, which makes them a bit greener than CFL's when they burn out and need to be thrown away. Though i think LEDs still have a ways to go before they become mainstream. They need to become cheaper, and start releasing them in higher wattages. Phillips released a new one recently but i haven't found them in my area yet.
CFL's are horrible. when i flip the light switch on i want light now, not next week. it takes so long for them to warm up and provide useful light. if someone has a solution to this please let me know! if there are better CFL's than this then i haven't found them.
seeing as how it is starting to get more difficult to buy incandescents i have started trying out LED's. they are a LOT more expensive per bulb, but supposedly have a long life, and most importantly when i turn on the light switch they give me light now, similar to incandescents, without needing to warm up.
Not necessarily, it means that the fuel replenishes itself. that doesn't mean you don't have costs associated with that fuel.
say i discover an algae that i can use to create electricity...that algae may need fertilizer, or need to be harvested in some way to produce that electricity. all that costs money.
now i am not advocating that you should break copyright (or that the guy from the article was guilty), but if you are going to break copyright, this case shows you are better off leaving it open as it allows for some plausible deniability that someone else had used the open wifi to do it. had it been locked down it would be quite a bit more difficult to argue that someone else was may have been at fault.
or there is another possibility, had he locked down his access point, and then someone either broke into it, or he gave his password to a friend that then decides to illegally download copyrighted works, then i suspect he would be in a lot more trouble as it would be far more difficult to prove that someone could unknowingly be using your secured wifi access point.
Had he locked down his wifi he wouldn't have so easily been able to fight the charges. and would now be facing either fines or jail time whatever the the Fin's penalty is for this.
Slashdot Mirror
i believe they are staggering these sniping contests to avoid the servers being overloaded so at most there are probably only a few dozen "contestants" at once. anyway the price tag for these domains is high enough that not just anyone can afford them.
i wouldn't really call them "cheaters" as this is how the game needs to be played if you want to win.
With network latency, manual clickers do have a chance.
any skilled programmer would have taken the average latency into account with their script. and probably also keep a moving average of the latency to the server on the day of the contest.
so, now that the vi vs emacs debate is settled...it won't be long now until it renames itself to skynet and decides to take over the world.
that really doesn't make much sense, they are attempting to do a secure wipe, it seems it is possible they don't want anyone to realize which machines were infected.
if you leave a backdoor, that is something that could be detected and then you would know that flame had been on that machine.
Keep reading the eula, i am pretty sure you will find a "these terms are subject to change at our discretion" clause.
so, they don't have to ignore that part...they can just remove it entirely from the eula.
Zuckerberg still owns more than 50% of the voting rights for Facebook. he doesn't have to care what the other stock holders think. it might as well have never gone IPO it is pretty much still his private company.
indeed you are correct, but i still think the gp's analogy was poor. The water pipe could theoretically suffer the same problem as the network. it is just that they spec'ed the water pipe to be big enough to handle the required throughput, but did not do the same with the data network, quite possibly because it wasn't easy to estimate growth for the wireless data usage.
my point was the kids don't have much to laugh at us for. they will still be metered. does it matter if it is bits verses minutes?
One day, our kids are going to laugh at us that "minutes" were metered.
...because metering bits is such an improvement
water pipes would suffer the same problem if everyone decided to flush the toilet at the same time.
the difference being the plumbing network was designed with big enough pipes to handle the typical peak concurrent bandwith/water use...the phone network was not.
rdiff may be a better tool now, but it wasn't available when i had written some of my backup scripts, and i think still isn't quite as widely known as rsync
synchronizing can very well be the first step in generating a backup.
first make sure everything is mirrored, then make a separate copy/snapshot. rsync can be decent at conserving bandwidth if only a few items have changed in a large repository.
i have written rsync scripts before that would automatically abort if a threshold was hit for either number of files deleted or total mb deleted.
so then, how is it you know these people published anonymously...and exactly what it was they had published? seems it wasn't so anonymous.
Hopefully they increase it occasionally as technology improves and their investment is recouped.
i really need some mod points to mark you +1 funny...
i believe the recipes for coke and pepsi are also considered trade secrets, but they still have to list the ingredients on the side of the can. they just don't have to list the exact ratios.
if i knew where to get such bulbs i wouldn't be complaining
Maybe it has something to do with the quality of the power grid in my area. i don't think it is the wiring in my house because i have had the same issue at 3 other places.
searching google there are millions of results saying the same thing
Modern CFLs still take a few minutes to warm up before they reach their full brightness.
here is the article and another...
and some people just leave them on all day because it takes so long for them to warm up. that seems to defeat the purpose a little if you are trying to be "green"
half a second is acceptable...a few minutes is not. i have had a few CFLs that seemed to come on faster than that, but then after a week or 2 of use, seem to fall back to taking a few minutes. That just isn't acceptable, and i don't think it is an unreasonable complaint.
if it were only a second it would be acceptable.
I wouldn't be whining if you enviro-hippys hadn't outlawed bulbs that actually worked. and there are other places CFLs just don't work, such as cold or humid environments. </rant>
LEDs don't have this flaw, however are still too expensive, and still have a limited wattage range.
I am buying LEDs, they typically cost around the $20 to $30 range...so what makes you think i am opting for the cheapest CFLs?
i am not trying to troll or anything, i seriously have not found a CFL that doesn't have this problem. everyone keeps telling me to buy better CFLs or get the name brands, but i still haven't found one that doesn't have this warmup issue. they all startup dim and seem to take forever to get up to full brightness.
Seeing that i am willing to buy LEDs should show i am not just buying the cheapest bulbs on the shelf. The CFLs still suck, what name brands should i be looking for? CFL's are even more atrocious in cold weather, such as in my garage in the winter.
I am not against fluorescent lighting, i had the big tubes in a few places for many years, and they worked fine, and last forever.
There are for other reasons i am beginning to prefer LEDs. For one they don't have mercury in them, which makes them a bit greener than CFL's when they burn out and need to be thrown away. Though i think LEDs still have a ways to go before they become mainstream. They need to become cheaper, and start releasing them in higher wattages. Phillips released a new one recently but i haven't found them in my area yet.
CFL's are horrible. when i flip the light switch on i want light now, not next week. it takes so long for them to warm up and provide useful light. if someone has a solution to this please let me know! if there are better CFL's than this then i haven't found them.
seeing as how it is starting to get more difficult to buy incandescents i have started trying out LED's. they are a LOT more expensive per bulb, but supposedly have a long life, and most importantly when i turn on the light switch they give me light now, similar to incandescents, without needing to warm up.
Not necessarily, it means that the fuel replenishes itself. that doesn't mean you don't have costs associated with that fuel.
say i discover an algae that i can use to create electricity...that algae may need fertilizer, or need to be harvested in some way to produce that electricity. all that costs money.
now i am not advocating that you should break copyright (or that the guy from the article was guilty), but if you are going to break copyright, this case shows you are better off leaving it open as it allows for some plausible deniability that someone else had used the open wifi to do it. had it been locked down it would be quite a bit more difficult to argue that someone else was may have been at fault.
or there is another possibility, had he locked down his access point, and then someone either broke into it, or he gave his password to a friend that then decides to illegally download copyrighted works, then i suspect he would be in a lot more trouble as it would be far more difficult to prove that someone could unknowingly be using your secured wifi access point.
i think this shows the opposite...
Had he locked down his wifi he wouldn't have so easily been able to fight the charges. and would now be facing either fines or jail time whatever the the Fin's penalty is for this.