If only HDCP would be allowed to run its course and find its way into the system in hardcode. CSS in DVD players was perfect - let it become commonplace, THEN crack it and distribute the solution. You can't change the encryption without obsoleting the huge installed base of players.
Then they'll be stuck with a cracked encryption until the next generation format comes out. Of course they'll have to make that generation much better (DVD vs VHS, for example or CD vs cassette, or HD-DVD vs DVD) or nobody will convert. It's ten-plus more years of freedom, IMHO.
Actually, I have the same beef with Audible.com content. I spend about an hour in the car each way on my commute. I thought Audible would be great - I could download a new book every week or two and listen to it. I wouldn't mind paying a dollar or two (or maybe even three) to listen to it once.
Even if you ignore the fact that they have a paltry selection of unabridged works, they expect to get 70-80% of retail for the darned things! I'm better off buying used on ebay, then reselling when I'm done. I only listen to a book once, so there's no use in buying a (nearly) full price audio book I can't resell.
I know, they have "monthly" plans. BFD. They're still more than $6 a piece, and you have to guarantee them your money each month! I don't need another monthly bill.
Ebooks have the same problem - most of the cost of "real" books (more if you include the H/W) without the benefits. If they really want the format to work, they'll need to adopt a model closer to the Video Rental market. Charge me 10% of the retail price of the book, and then we can talk!
Until then, I think I'll keep visiting the library, thankyouverymuch.
It clearly passes both of your tests:
It is a technological measure which requires the treatment of the data to gain acces to the work. The CD must process the data and apply specific (if general) algorithms to remove and reconstruct the original work. The fac that the decoder existed before the encoding process is not addressed, and is therefor irrelevant. Your authority comes in the form of a purchase reciept.
You are clearly removing the measure when you place the unencumbered audio on your HD without the additional data. It no longer requires the application of the decoding process to listen to the copyrighted material.
The only loophole I see here is the "without the authority of the copyright owner." Since fair use doesn't require additonal permission other than that granted in the initial acquisition of the work, it could be argued that you have permission to do this for fair use purposes.
And on the flip side, digital copies are not perfect, they only claim to be. If one bit in 10^19 is in error, then the copy is not perfect. It doesn't effect the perceived quality of video or audio. An MP3 of a WAV is not a perfect copy - not even close, even though the data never enters the analog domain during copying.
Pretty tangential, but between high freq wireless nets and the NASA solar plane (plus a battery to let it fly all night), we can skip the last mile entirely. Kinda like satellite, but no pointing dishes to the minute in az/el and 600ms pings, lower cost to launch, easier to maintain.
IANA[EE] so I couldn't even guess the power requirement to transmit the 70,000 ft (14 mi) from endurance altitude to earth. It sure would help folks like me in low-density/poor LOS areas of the country.
(I know, common application, but I didn't see it mentioned in this thread yet:-)
AutoCAD. If you're an independent consultant in the Architecture and Engineering industry and don't do AutoCAD, you may as well slit your own throat. Sure, you can use another program to create drawings, and you can probably get most of your information into a generic format, but you'll lose clients so fast it'll make your head spin.
Nobody wants to deal with your incompatible files, and you're going to lose a bid every time to someone who doesn't have to spend the resources to convert every file that comes into the office into your "niche" format.
This may be the kick I need to dig into Linux, but I simply can't switch at work until either (1) Autodesk makes a version for something other than Windows or (2) I decide it's time to retire.
Awww, come on... every freakin' time I look at the bottom of the page, I have to moderate again. The pressure is unbearable. I missed three days of work last week just trying to figure out which five articles are worthy/unworthy.
I'm thinking of picking random threads to modreate up just to have fun.
I know, I know, you can turn it off, but I just can't shake that god-like rush of omnipotence every time it happens;-)
compared to searching for land. You would think to just look at the realty sites but...HA - you'd be wrong! Ever look for 5 acres with no bedrooms and no bathrooms?
I do find it amazing that I can process a complicated trasaction involving lots of money for $8 - nothing for me to do but say "buy" or "sell". But a real estate transaction - if you want that to be pushbutton, it'll cost you 6% plus all expenses.
Oh well, it could be worse. You could be required to find a Microsoft Certified Real Estate Specialist to process you transaction (although I shouldn't give Bill any ideas, he's got enough cash to buy most of the nation's legislators if he wanted to).
You can also count just about anyone on a Rural Telephone Cooperative in the mix of "never". I live about 10 miles from Blacksburg, Virginia - the so-called "electronic village" which is home to Virginia Tech. I'm just into the next county, though, so I'm serviced by a "rural telephone cooperative." I believe there is practically zero possibility of them offering DSL in my area. The NRTC has a whitepaper on the subject of broadband in which they determined that even where it's offered, nobody wants it, so there's no use intalling it.
I find it interesting that with all the talk about the digital divide, there's really no hope for anyone living out in the country, unless you want to roll the dice and fork over the $900/year for starband.
Oh, they also own the local cable service (yeah - I've got cable TV - I'm not that far out in the sticks) and they're not going to do cable modems either. They also own the only ISP with local dialup phone numbers, and an unlimited connx will cost you $25/mo.
The only humorous part about the whole thing was when I moved here about last year, I called the local phone company and asked if they offered high speed internet. The nice lady on the other end of the phone line said "Of course we do, we just upgraded most of our modems to 56k!"
Re:Why haven't others used wood?
on
Hardwoodware
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· Score: 1
There are several plastic formulations (reinforced resins) which will effectively shield EMI/RFI. It's been long enough since I read about them that I've forgotten the names. I believe a search of the old NASA TechBriefs (monthly mag) would turn up the material. I don't remember them being transparent/translucent, though.
Sure, 20Gs is great, but isn't that kinda small? A docking station and an 80G drive are cheaper. The size of a PDA? Sorry...too large for anything that's truly portable. Get my employer to put one of these in every machine so I can take transport MP3 collection between home and work, or from workstation to workstation? OMG...that would just make my IT guy's day.
The only thing I can think of that this would be useful for is classified (TS) workstations. Easy to pop out of the machines and lock up each night at relatively moderate cost.
If memory serves (and it's usually fuzzy), we see about 1500 W/m^2 in orbit, 1200 W/m^2 at ground level of total areal energy flow. So you're getting a 25% bonus for getting above the atmosphere. Great. It would have to be HHHUUUUGGGEEE to amortize the launch and maintenance costs, even if you used the cheapest method of orbiting stuff.
Let's be generous with the efficiencies and tally this up:
Solar to electric (80%+ loss)
Electric to microwave (15-25% loss?)
Microwave through the atmosphere (20-30% loss)
- absorption/reflection/scattering/divergence
Microwave to electric (another 20-50%?)
C'mon folks, we're looking at 10% of 1500W best case.
Let's scrap the space mumbo jumbo. The collector dish is 4km in diameter. Thats...um...let me think...12.5 million square meters. If we figure we use nice photoelectric cells - call 'em 12% efficiency - that's about 1800 MW of power ready to be inverted and fed into the grid. No space flights, no space junk, no orbital maintenance woes (nothing gets serviced in GEO), no tracking problems, no dish to build, no microwave to electric conversion step.
The only advantage I see in space is that you don't have cloudy days. Don't feed me the "there are no nights" argument, though. The attitiude control system will need to be active to point at the sun all the time, and for a large item you're talking a nightmare.
Re:Good point. Outlaw pay phone use by children.
on
Congress@Work
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· Score: 1
When you don't have to worry about the press printing details of disasters, you can be much more liberal in you design work.
That said, is was the Russians who pioneered modern state space theory, I believe. Snaps on that one!
Very few folks (relative to the general population) have been in the Shuttle safety board meetings (post-Challenger). These guys (and gals) go over every last inch of the payloads, looking for ways that they can fail. I've been in them and had to present several times - and let me tell you, it can be a harrowing experience. The amount of time and effert spent to keep the crews safe is phenomenal. There are so many ways things can go wrong.
The joke, as I remember it, was that the shuttle didn't lift off until the weight of the paperwork exceeded the weight of the shuttle.
"The worst thing that can happen," I was told by one of my former colleages, "is to find your project on the front page of the Washington Post."
We may get to see a real-life working SCRAMjet engine. THAT's the big wow-factor here, although only aero-nerds will realize that.
1. Standard jets (garden variety aircraft) take in air at speeds mach 1. Then the braking mechanism (part of which was a recovery chute) failed to operate. The final milliseconds of the flight were spent burying deep into the permafrost. (oops)
It's good to hear the good ol' USofA is gonna make a run at this. I, for one, would love to see a good tech broadcast on this but I know that all we'll get is some pretty pictures, and a lousy incomplete description like the LA Times story - which really didn't convey the killer science which is behind the experiment.
Almost as bad as using seconds and meters for time and length. I mean, jeesh, the least we can do is come up with units which don't change based on how fast you're going. (You see, there's this guy, Einstein, and he says...)
OZT
I suppose one way to fight back (for those of us in the US) would be to see how many congressmen here we can get to consider the idea of supporting legislation protecting fair use. Perhaps if it's couched in terms of the DMCA:Since they've passed legislation making it illegal to circumvent legitimate copy protection, it should only be fair that copy protection schemes which place and undue burden on Fair Use should also be illegal. It should go both ways!
Titanium is so...well...80s. I'll be impressed when I can pick up one of these babies made of Beryllium-Aluminum. TWICE as stiff (which means oh-so-much more than strength) and HALF the density of Ti.
It might even make the high price justified;-)
All we need now is to get a blue laser with enough power to give us a useable display. Any suggestions? Oh - don't forget...we'll want that multi-K-lumen output for a couple hundred watts max!
I'm not holding my breath.
Slashdot Mirror
Sony's DVD jukebox, and the upcoming Kenwood Jukebox (DV-5900, I believe) both flip discs to play both sides.
If only HDCP would be allowed to run its course and find its way into the system in hardcode. CSS in DVD players was perfect - let it become commonplace, THEN crack it and distribute the solution. You can't change the encryption without obsoleting the huge installed base of players.
Then they'll be stuck with a cracked encryption until the next generation format comes out. Of course they'll have to make that generation much better (DVD vs VHS, for example or CD vs cassette, or HD-DVD vs DVD) or nobody will convert. It's ten-plus more years of freedom, IMHO.
Long live the cycle!
Actually, I have the same beef with Audible.com content. I spend about an hour in the car each way on my commute. I thought Audible would be great - I could download a new book every week or two and listen to it. I wouldn't mind paying a dollar or two (or maybe even three) to listen to it once.
Even if you ignore the fact that they have a paltry selection of unabridged works, they expect to get 70-80% of retail for the darned things! I'm better off buying used on ebay, then reselling when I'm done. I only listen to a book once, so there's no use in buying a (nearly) full price audio book I can't resell.
I know, they have "monthly" plans. BFD. They're still more than $6 a piece, and you have to guarantee them your money each month! I don't need another monthly bill.
Ebooks have the same problem - most of the cost of "real" books (more if you include the H/W) without the benefits. If they really want the format to work, they'll need to adopt a model closer to the Video Rental market. Charge me 10% of the retail price of the book, and then we can talk!
Until then, I think I'll keep visiting the library, thankyouverymuch.
It clearly passes both of your tests: It is a technological measure which requires the treatment of the data to gain acces to the work. The CD must process the data and apply specific (if general) algorithms to remove and reconstruct the original work. The fac that the decoder existed before the encoding process is not addressed, and is therefor irrelevant. Your authority comes in the form of a purchase reciept. You are clearly removing the measure when you place the unencumbered audio on your HD without the additional data. It no longer requires the application of the decoding process to listen to the copyrighted material. The only loophole I see here is the "without the authority of the copyright owner." Since fair use doesn't require additonal permission other than that granted in the initial acquisition of the work, it could be argued that you have permission to do this for fair use purposes.
And on the flip side, digital copies are not perfect, they only claim to be. If one bit in 10^19 is in error, then the copy is not perfect. It doesn't effect the perceived quality of video or audio. An MP3 of a WAV is not a perfect copy - not even close, even though the data never enters the analog domain during copying.
Pretty tangential, but between high freq wireless nets and the NASA solar plane (plus a battery to let it fly all night), we can skip the last mile entirely. Kinda like satellite, but no pointing dishes to the minute in az/el and 600ms pings, lower cost to launch, easier to maintain.
:-)
IANA[EE] so I couldn't even guess the power requirement to transmit the 70,000 ft (14 mi) from endurance altitude to earth. It sure would help folks like me in low-density/poor LOS areas of the country.
(I know, common application, but I didn't see it mentioned in this thread yet
I believe it's the encryption code which is copyrighted/protected, and you must own the rights to the code, not the material encrypted.
AutoCAD. If you're an independent consultant in the Architecture and Engineering industry and don't do AutoCAD, you may as well slit your own throat. Sure, you can use another program to create drawings, and you can probably get most of your information into a generic format, but you'll lose clients so fast it'll make your head spin. Nobody wants to deal with your incompatible files, and you're going to lose a bid every time to someone who doesn't have to spend the resources to convert every file that comes into the office into your "niche" format. This may be the kick I need to dig into Linux, but I simply can't switch at work until either (1) Autodesk makes a version for something other than Windows or (2) I decide it's time to retire.
Awww, come on... every freakin' time I look at the bottom of the page, I have to moderate again. The pressure is unbearable. I missed three days of work last week just trying to figure out which five articles are worthy/unworthy.
;-)
I'm thinking of picking random threads to modreate up just to have fun.
I know, I know, you can turn it off, but I just can't shake that god-like rush of omnipotence every time it happens
compared to searching for land. You would think to just look at the realty sites but...HA - you'd be wrong! Ever look for 5 acres with no bedrooms and no bathrooms? I do find it amazing that I can process a complicated trasaction involving lots of money for $8 - nothing for me to do but say "buy" or "sell". But a real estate transaction - if you want that to be pushbutton, it'll cost you 6% plus all expenses. Oh well, it could be worse. You could be required to find a Microsoft Certified Real Estate Specialist to process you transaction (although I shouldn't give Bill any ideas, he's got enough cash to buy most of the nation's legislators if he wanted to).
You can also count just about anyone on a Rural Telephone Cooperative in the mix of "never". I live about 10 miles from Blacksburg, Virginia - the so-called "electronic village" which is home to Virginia Tech. I'm just into the next county, though, so I'm serviced by a "rural telephone cooperative." I believe there is practically zero possibility of them offering DSL in my area. The NRTC has a whitepaper on the subject of broadband in which they determined that even where it's offered, nobody wants it, so there's no use intalling it.
I find it interesting that with all the talk about the digital divide, there's really no hope for anyone living out in the country, unless you want to roll the dice and fork over the $900/year for starband.
Oh, they also own the local cable service (yeah - I've got cable TV - I'm not that far out in the sticks) and they're not going to do cable modems either. They also own the only ISP with local dialup phone numbers, and an unlimited connx will cost you $25/mo.
The only humorous part about the whole thing was when I moved here about last year, I called the local phone company and asked if they offered high speed internet. The nice lady on the other end of the phone line said "Of course we do, we just upgraded most of our modems to 56k!"
There are several plastic formulations (reinforced resins) which will effectively shield EMI/RFI. It's been long enough since I read about them that I've forgotten the names. I believe a search of the old NASA TechBriefs (monthly mag) would turn up the material. I don't remember them being transparent/translucent, though.
Sure, 20Gs is great, but isn't that kinda small? A docking station and an 80G drive are cheaper. The size of a PDA? Sorry...too large for anything that's truly portable. Get my employer to put one of these in every machine so I can take transport MP3 collection between home and work, or from workstation to workstation? OMG...that would just make my IT guy's day. The only thing I can think of that this would be useful for is classified (TS) workstations. Easy to pop out of the machines and lock up each night at relatively moderate cost.
If memory serves (and it's usually fuzzy), we see about 1500 W/m^2 in orbit, 1200 W/m^2 at ground level of total areal energy flow. So you're getting a 25% bonus for getting above the atmosphere. Great. It would have to be HHHUUUUGGGEEE to amortize the launch and maintenance costs, even if you used the cheapest method of orbiting stuff.
Let's be generous with the efficiencies and tally this up:
Solar to electric (80%+ loss)
Electric to microwave (15-25% loss?)
Microwave through the atmosphere (20-30% loss)
- absorption/reflection/scattering/divergence
Microwave to electric (another 20-50%?)
C'mon folks, we're looking at 10% of 1500W best case.
Let's scrap the space mumbo jumbo. The collector dish is 4km in diameter. Thats...um...let me think...12.5 million square meters. If we figure we use nice photoelectric cells - call 'em 12% efficiency - that's about 1800 MW of power ready to be inverted and fed into the grid. No space flights, no space junk, no orbital maintenance woes (nothing gets serviced in GEO), no tracking problems, no dish to build, no microwave to electric conversion step.
The only advantage I see in space is that you don't have cloudy days. Don't feed me the "there are no nights" argument, though. The attitiude control system will need to be active to point at the sun all the time, and for a large item you're talking a nightmare.
Word!
When you don't have to worry about the press printing details of disasters, you can be much more liberal in you design work. That said, is was the Russians who pioneered modern state space theory, I believe. Snaps on that one!
Very few folks (relative to the general population) have been in the Shuttle safety board meetings (post-Challenger). These guys (and gals) go over every last inch of the payloads, looking for ways that they can fail. I've been in them and had to present several times - and let me tell you, it can be a harrowing experience. The amount of time and effert spent to keep the crews safe is phenomenal. There are so many ways things can go wrong. The joke, as I remember it, was that the shuttle didn't lift off until the weight of the paperwork exceeded the weight of the shuttle. "The worst thing that can happen," I was told by one of my former colleages, "is to find your project on the front page of the Washington Post."
We may get to see a real-life working SCRAMjet engine. THAT's the big wow-factor here, although only aero-nerds will realize that. 1. Standard jets (garden variety aircraft) take in air at speeds mach 1. Then the braking mechanism (part of which was a recovery chute) failed to operate. The final milliseconds of the flight were spent burying deep into the permafrost. (oops) It's good to hear the good ol' USofA is gonna make a run at this. I, for one, would love to see a good tech broadcast on this but I know that all we'll get is some pretty pictures, and a lousy incomplete description like the LA Times story - which really didn't convey the killer science which is behind the experiment.
Almost as bad as using seconds and meters for time and length. I mean, jeesh, the least we can do is come up with units which don't change based on how fast you're going. (You see, there's this guy, Einstein, and he says...) OZT
I suppose one way to fight back (for those of us in the US) would be to see how many congressmen here we can get to consider the idea of supporting legislation protecting fair use. Perhaps if it's couched in terms of the DMCA:Since they've passed legislation making it illegal to circumvent legitimate copy protection, it should only be fair that copy protection schemes which place and undue burden on Fair Use should also be illegal. It should go both ways!
Titanium is so...well...80s. I'll be impressed when I can pick up one of these babies made of Beryllium-Aluminum. TWICE as stiff (which means oh-so-much more than strength) and HALF the density of Ti. It might even make the high price justified ;-)
All we need now is to get a blue laser with enough power to give us a useable display. Any suggestions? Oh - don't forget...we'll want that multi-K-lumen output for a couple hundred watts max! I'm not holding my breath.