I've got just one question for metallica, but let me preface it first.
I'm nineteen years old. I lived in the suburbs my whole life, nothing hardcore, nothing glamorous. The type of place that nowadays kiddies like to think they're badasses because they listen to Limp Bizkit and Korn (the two worst music acts of our time). But when I was ten years old, I got a copy of the Black Album. And that was it.
Since then I've been a pretty big Metallica fan. I've bought all the albums. (even Load and Reload, even though they sucked). I waited eagerly for the release of Load after five years of waiting. I bought the boxed set, which might be the three CDs that I cherish most. I love the music and the attitude.
My question for Metallica is this: what's it all about? It used to be about you, and it used to be about me. It used to be about some kid like me picking up a copy of Kill em All, which was released when I was like two, and listening to it in my car for a month. It was about your art, and the appreciation of it. It still is, on our end. People download those songs off Napster because they love your art. They appreciate it, as I do. But for you, I don't think it's about art anymore, even though you claim it is.
Because when you talk about how we treat your music as a commodity, you're forgetting what we're doing with it. We aren't trading it around, like currency, to obtain something else. We're listening, which is what you always wanted. When you recorded No Life Till Leather, you just wanted us to listen. And that's all we want now, Lars, to listen.
It's kind of sad, really. I'll never lose respect for what you've made, but I think I've lost respect for who you are.
Yes, TiVo can do this. The added features of TiVo allow you to record things that aren't on right now. The reason to pay a subscription is to be given the programming details (when they're on, what channel, etc), and ReplayTV can't do this, AFAIK.
I have a Tivo in my home, and I can tell you a few things about it...
Firstly, regarding the crashing, it DOES crash occasionally, but not nearly as often as what Rob said. I agree that he had a bad unit. My unit needs restarting probably once every two or three weeks (hey, at least it's better than a windoze machine, right?). This is a concern, but realize that the product was just rolled out, and the software supplied for it is in early stages. Rob brings up some great ideas for future features, perhaps he should email TiVo about it so they could consider developing some of these things?
Regarding privacy, all of your preferences are left on your own TiVo, and although it is possible for TiVo to get this information and sell it, they have promised over and over again that they won't. It uses the phone line every night to download programming information--it keeps a program schedule for about two weeks! That's about 13 days more than my DSS dish keeps, and of course regular cable only keeps what's on right now.
Also, keep in mind that while Philips manufactures the machine itself, there is a seperate company called "The TiVo Service" that actually provides the programming stuff. (That's who you pay your subscription fee to.) So if anyone is doing anything sketchy, it's TiVo, not Philips. I don't think they are anyway.
The best feature, IMHO, of the TiVo is ability to pause/rewind/slowmo live TV. I use this constantly during sports programming. A huge play in the NCAA tournament, but no replay on CBS? Make your own replay. Want to see if Keyshawn stepped out of bounds? Do a frame-by-frame. On several occasions I have been watching sports, and by using the TiVo have determined that the referees have made a bad call. And, like Rob said, it's great for if you get a phone call or something, or have to go to the bathroom during a program. Also, if you use TiVo for this reason, you can fast forward through commercials later, a definite plus.
TiVo is expensive, but if you watch a lot of TV then it's definitely something you should consider getting. Video quality ranges from excellent to average (depending on how much HDD space you want to take up). I'm confident that new features are forthcoming--the nightly modem call can also update the software, a good feature.
Got 500 bucks to spare? Like TV? Thinking about buying a new gadget? Get a Tivo. They rule.
Katz's point on monopoly
on
AOL Nation
·
· Score: 2
Unfortunately, Katz doesn't quite comprehend (or express well enough) a true position on monopoly. Anyone who has taken introduction to microeconomics in college can tell you that being a monopoly is really not a problem for the economy. It's not illegal, and shouldn't be. AOL's product was different than all others--they made it incredibly dumbed-down and easy to use for people who want it that way. Incredibly enough, there are about twenty million of them who want their internet served to them on a high chair. So AOL gives it to them--is there anything wrong with giving people what they want? Just because a company can produce a product better than any other, does that mean they're a monopoly and shouldn't be allowed to compete?
The real problem that Katz may be talking about is monopolistic practices. These are very different from being a monopoly. Microsoft exhibits monopolism--they've done very illegal things (make ultimatums to OEMs, etc) to keep their monopoly. There's nothing inherently wrong with Microsoft being a monopoly--only with the unethical practices they've used to keep it. I see no reason why a huge AOL-TimeWarner company would necessarily be monopolistic, even if they did have a large amount of market share.
Katz, go back to freshman econ. You can yammer about this merger all you want, but don't bring monopoly into it.
Actually, it isn't all that common for the company to raise in that range on their IPO. Consider that the company only makes the number of shares outstanding times the IPO price, not the market price.
For example, I think VA Linux made about 40 million shares outstanding for their IPO. That's a good number for an entire company--consider that the Palm part of 3com is a fraction of their total market cap. I would say that the Palm division would come out at about 10 million shares. VA had a very, very high IPO price, about $30 a share...I expect that Palm would come out at about 12-15 per share, where most are.
This comes out to about 120-150 million dollars. Even if the stock goes up to 200 (in that case the market cap would rise to 2 billion dollars), 3Com still only takes in $120-150 million.
This wouldn't matter on my college campus (University of Virginia) as most vending machines also take our charge accounts on our ID cards. That way, 63 cents could be taken off without need for pennies, and most students would just swipe their cards and get their coke anyway.
Red Hat IPO Not going to be available to most...
on
Red Hat IPO Update
·
· Score: 3
People,
IPOs of this nature (meaning incredibly hot, as I predict Red Hat's will be) just don't get sold to individual investors, at least not at the IPO price. Typically, large firms like Fidelity get a certain number of shares immediately, and allocate them to their biggest clients. I'd be very surprised if any individual investor (especially a linux user, we don't tend to rake in the big bucks, at least yet) gets any shares at the IPO price.
Keep in mind that the price will shoot up in the first few days and then cool off. After that I see Red Hat as a very viable investment.
Be careful, though.
To those who say this isn't a virus...
on
The eBayla Virus
·
· Score: 1
In its present form, you're right, it's just a trojan horse. However, if you actually read the page linked to above, you'd see that the possibility exists for this to be transformed into a virus.
Say I run the trojan on my auction. It steals your password. I've programmed it to create more auctions, supposedly by you, that also steal your password and send it to me...It spreads for every person that bids. Wouldn't it be a virus then?
Hmm. Let me get this straight...so the owner and creator of a kickass linux/other stuff website makes some major improvements to his code, and he screws up one little character thing in his user files and that makes him an "idiot?"
Hell, I screw up semicolons all the time. That must make me the biggest fuckin retard on earth:)
Seriously, Rob, there's nothing wrong with debugging your new additions to the application:) Give yourself some credit for kicking ass.
About Rob constantly dealing with our sh*t, as you put it, I think that no matter who you are and no matter what you're doing if you doing something on the millions-of-persons scale in a public forum, you're going to have to deal with some sh*t. Rob shouldn't be surprised that a few idiots have found their way from AOL's chat rooms to slashdot.org and, in true warez puppy fashion, decided to flame the hell out of everyone. For each person who hates Rob for anything he's done with slashdot, there's dozens of others who really appreciate the work he's put in to creating a "portal" (Yeah I hate the term too) that people can use without dealing with commercial bullshit or some software company (MS for one) trying to propagate themselves. I'm certainly one of them.
Maybe you should do some research before you make generalizations on TJ. TJ receives the exact same funding as every other FCPS high school from the county. The only difference is the senior tech labs, which are funded by the state.
TJ gets recognized alot because its students are intelligent people. They're all grouped together, so their acheivements are noted as "TJ achievements." Every other school in the county has intelligent people who have great achievements, just not as many so you don't hear about, say, South Lakes winning so and so award, you hear of Student X winning so and so award.
I disagree. I think that Dell wouldn't bother asking MS about it, and would use their common sense to know that MS would absolutely love some competition.
Slashdot Mirror
I've got just one question for metallica, but let me preface it first.
I'm nineteen years old. I lived in the suburbs my whole life, nothing hardcore, nothing glamorous. The type of place that nowadays kiddies like to think they're badasses because they listen to Limp Bizkit and Korn (the two worst music acts of our time). But when I was ten years old, I got a copy of the Black Album. And that was it.
Since then I've been a pretty big Metallica fan. I've bought all the albums. (even Load and Reload, even though they sucked). I waited eagerly for the release of Load after five years of waiting. I bought the boxed set, which might be the three CDs that I cherish most. I love the music and the attitude.
My question for Metallica is this: what's it all about? It used to be about you, and it used to be about me. It used to be about some kid like me picking up a copy of Kill em All, which was released when I was like two, and listening to it in my car for a month. It was about your art, and the appreciation of it. It still is, on our end. People download those songs off Napster because they love your art. They appreciate it, as I do. But for you, I don't think it's about art anymore, even though you claim it is.
Because when you talk about how we treat your music as a commodity, you're forgetting what we're doing with it. We aren't trading it around, like currency, to obtain something else. We're listening, which is what you always wanted. When you recorded No Life Till Leather, you just wanted us to listen. And that's all we want now, Lars, to listen.
It's kind of sad, really. I'll never lose respect for what you've made, but I think I've lost respect for who you are.
Dave
Yes, TiVo can do this. The added features of TiVo allow you to record things that aren't on right now. The reason to pay a subscription is to be given the programming details (when they're on, what channel, etc), and ReplayTV can't do this, AFAIK.
I have a Tivo in my home, and I can tell you a few things about it...
Firstly, regarding the crashing, it DOES crash occasionally, but not nearly as often as what Rob said. I agree that he had a bad unit. My unit needs restarting probably once every two or three weeks (hey, at least it's better than a windoze machine, right?). This is a concern, but realize that the product was just rolled out, and the software supplied for it is in early stages. Rob brings up some great ideas for future features, perhaps he should email TiVo about it so they could consider developing some of these things?
Regarding privacy, all of your preferences are left on your own TiVo, and although it is possible for TiVo to get this information and sell it, they have promised over and over again that they won't. It uses the phone line every night to download programming information--it keeps a program schedule for about two weeks! That's about 13 days more than my DSS dish keeps, and of course regular cable only keeps what's on right now.
Also, keep in mind that while Philips manufactures the machine itself, there is a seperate company called "The TiVo Service" that actually provides the programming stuff. (That's who you pay your subscription fee to.) So if anyone is doing anything sketchy, it's TiVo, not Philips. I don't think they are anyway.
The best feature, IMHO, of the TiVo is ability to pause/rewind/slowmo live TV. I use this constantly during sports programming. A huge play in the NCAA tournament, but no replay on CBS? Make your own replay. Want to see if Keyshawn stepped out of bounds? Do a frame-by-frame. On several occasions I have been watching sports, and by using the TiVo have determined that the referees have made a bad call. And, like Rob said, it's great for if you get a phone call or something, or have to go to the bathroom during a program. Also, if you use TiVo for this reason, you can fast forward through commercials later, a definite plus.
TiVo is expensive, but if you watch a lot of TV then it's definitely something you should consider getting. Video quality ranges from excellent to average (depending on how much HDD space you want to take up). I'm confident that new features are forthcoming--the nightly modem call can also update the software, a good feature.
Got 500 bucks to spare? Like TV? Thinking about buying a new gadget? Get a Tivo. They rule.
Orbital reference, eh?
Unfortunately, Katz doesn't quite comprehend (or express well enough) a true position on monopoly. Anyone who has taken introduction to microeconomics in college can tell you that being a monopoly is really not a problem for the economy. It's not illegal, and shouldn't be.
AOL's product was different than all others--they made it incredibly dumbed-down and easy to use for people who want it that way. Incredibly enough, there are about twenty million of them who want their internet served to them on a high chair. So AOL gives it to them--is there anything wrong with giving people what they want? Just because a company can produce a product better than any other, does that mean they're a monopoly and shouldn't be allowed to compete?
The real problem that Katz may be talking about is monopolistic practices. These are very different from being a monopoly. Microsoft exhibits monopolism--they've done very illegal things (make ultimatums to OEMs, etc) to keep their monopoly. There's nothing inherently wrong with Microsoft being a monopoly--only with the unethical practices they've used to keep it. I see no reason why a huge AOL-TimeWarner company would necessarily be monopolistic, even if they did have a large amount of market share.
Katz, go back to freshman econ. You can yammer about this merger all you want, but don't bring monopoly into it.
Actually, it isn't all that common for the company to raise in that range on their IPO. Consider that the company only makes the number of shares outstanding times the IPO price, not the market price.
For example, I think VA Linux made about 40 million shares outstanding for their IPO. That's a good number for an entire company--consider that the Palm part of 3com is a fraction of their total market cap. I would say that the Palm division would come out at about 10 million shares. VA had a very, very high IPO price, about $30 a share...I expect that Palm would come out at about 12-15 per share, where most are.
This comes out to about 120-150 million dollars. Even if the stock goes up to 200 (in that case the market cap would rise to 2 billion dollars), 3Com still only takes in $120-150 million.
Feel free to correct me, I could be wrong.
I have to say that is the first time I've ever seen an ESPN reference on Slashdot...
:)
I think it's Bristol University, too
This wouldn't matter on my college campus (University of Virginia) as most vending machines also take our charge accounts on our ID cards. That way, 63 cents could be taken off without need for pennies, and most students would just swipe their cards and get their coke anyway.
People,
IPOs of this nature (meaning incredibly hot, as I predict Red Hat's will be) just don't get sold to individual investors, at least not at the IPO price. Typically, large firms like Fidelity get a certain number of shares immediately, and allocate them to their biggest clients. I'd be very surprised if any individual investor (especially a linux user, we don't tend to rake in the big bucks, at least yet) gets any shares at the IPO price.
Keep in mind that the price will shoot up in the first few days and then cool off. After that I see Red Hat as a very viable investment.
Be careful, though.
In its present form, you're right, it's just a trojan horse. However, if you actually read the page linked to above, you'd see that the possibility exists for this to be transformed into a virus.
Say I run the trojan on my auction. It steals your password. I've programmed it to create more auctions, supposedly by you, that also steal your password and send it to me...It spreads for every person that bids. Wouldn't it be a virus then?
My $.02
Hmm. Let me get this straight...so the owner and creator of a kickass linux/other stuff website makes some major improvements to his code, and he screws up one little character thing in his user files and that makes him an "idiot?"
:)
:) Give yourself some credit for kicking ass.
Hell, I screw up semicolons all the time. That must make me the biggest fuckin retard on earth
Seriously, Rob, there's nothing wrong with debugging your new additions to the application
--DZawitz
About Rob constantly dealing with our sh*t, as you put it, I think that no matter who you are and no matter what you're doing if you doing something on the millions-of-persons scale in a public forum, you're going to have to deal with some sh*t. Rob shouldn't be surprised that a few idiots have found their way from AOL's chat rooms to slashdot.org and, in true warez puppy fashion, decided to flame the hell out of everyone. For each person who hates Rob for anything he's done with slashdot, there's dozens of others who really appreciate the work he's put in to creating a "portal" (Yeah I hate the term too) that people can use without dealing with commercial bullshit or some software company (MS for one) trying to propagate themselves. I'm certainly one of them.
IAN DALE RULES
:)
Maybe you should do some research before you make generalizations on TJ. TJ receives the exact same funding as every other FCPS high school from the county. The only difference is the senior tech labs, which are funded by the state.
TJ gets recognized alot because its students are intelligent people. They're all grouped together, so their acheivements are noted as "TJ achievements." Every other school in the county has intelligent people who have great achievements, just not as many so you don't hear about, say, South Lakes winning so and so award, you hear of Student X winning so and so award.
GOD DAMN
:)
that was the worst movie that could ever be created by humans...
It was especially bad because I never saw the original lawnmower man and had no idea what the hell was going on
Has anyone else seen this terrible movie? Reply, I want to see who else has been forced to witness this crap.
I disagree. I think that Dell wouldn't bother asking MS about it, and would use their common sense to know that MS would absolutely love some competition.
You ever used GIS? Especially ArcView, takes a hell of a lot of processor and is very vital to many businesses.
But I do think you're right that for most uses other than games you don't need anything this powerful.
Don't feed the trolls, people.
--Zorro
Whoa...
I certainly didn't expect to see strife like this in the demoscene...oh wait, yes I did.
Zorro