Sorry, but I'm an audio electronics engineer. Simply put, I really don't think such a compact "Swiss Army Knife" box is capable of producing decent CD sound. Maybe it's "good" compared to MP3s (*gag*), but it will almost certainly pale in comparison to high-end CD players.
Methinks Taco is getting kickbacks on ZapStation sales. "Think geek", indeed.
Congressmen who have all received huge bribes (sometimes called campaign contributions)
Yes, and Democrats never get campaign contributions from groups who don't have the public's best interest in mind. I'm sure trial lawyers, unions (especially the NEA), and the Chinese government are all out to protect us little guys.
You're really something of a dupe aren't you, michael?
*groan* I usually don't respond to oblique personal attacks....
You're either trying to mislead people....
That's a pretty bold accusation to make, dcollins. I've seen your posting history and you seem a little... how shall I put this... conspiracy-minded. Are you suggesting I would deliberately mislead people WRT my reading of this patent? For what purpose?
[being sarcasm]
*sigh* Ok, you caught me. I'm part of a UN-sponsored initiative to discredit the USian patent system though broad patenting of prior art. *snicker* You may now imprison me in your Free Software Paranoia Foundation re-education camp.
[end sarcasm]
Note the key phrase three-dimensional. In the literal language of patents, there is nothing three-dimensional about today's flat-monitored FPS games. Don't confuse the marketing hype on the box with the real meaning of "three-dimensional". None of today's game are truly three-dimensional, they are merely a facsimile of a three-dimensional world.
Until Star Trek holodecks come into widespread use, Claim 5 is meaningless.
In other words, you want to model your employment contract on a software license which contains some questionable provisions, vague language, and has not been tested in court.
You want to base your personal intellectual freedom and your ability to earn a living on the ivory-tower utopian principles of one RMS.
You do, of course, understand that if RMS had his way, you would be coding for free. You would instead make your money answering support questions for your software or (like him) you would become a tenured professor.
Hmmmm.... Since it's all about information wanting to be free, maybe RMS should offer his courses free of charge. I digress, however.
My point is this: Until all provisions of the GPL are upheld by a court in my locale, I would rather not rely on some boilerplate derivative when my ability to provide for my family is at stake. I would really rather not find out the hard way that provisions which are perfectly acceptable in, say, Kalifornia, are not binding in my state.
In short, I'll trust a local attorney retained on my own dime before I'll turn my career over to some fresh-from-the-bar-exam night law school grad with stars in her eyes and visions of intellectual freedom in her head.
I am a father. I've thought about what I would do in situations like this. I have a question.
Sean was allegedly bullied and harassed until he reached the point where he "snapped" (that was hardly a snap, IMO). Now the father is talking to the school.
What was the father doing while Sean was being bullied?
Did he go to the school then? Did he report the bullying? Did he demand that the bullies (if they actually touched Sean) be charged with assault? Whatever you may think of Texas criminal justice, there are still laws against assault, you know.
Only now that Sean is in trouble does the father bring up bullying and harassment. Apparently, the father didn't think it was much of a problem for his son to be subjected to this before.
Am I the only person who wonders just how much "bullying" Sean was really subjected to?
If my son is ever put in Sean's position, I don't think I'll wait for him to "snap" before I intervene.
First, Bruce Perens no longer claims to be affiliated with "Open Source" software. He removed himself from that splinter group some time ago because he disagreed with the compromises it was making in the name of profitability and corporate acceptance. Bruce is part of the Free Software movement.
Second, the Free Software movement has an agenda. This is not news. The Free Software movement seeks to end the quaint fallacy of "intellectual property".
In a delicious ironic twist, they use the laws of intellectual property to destroy the concept of intellectual property. I know the knee-jerk capitalists who don't understand Marxism will shriek, but this is exactly how more modern collectivist systems will be put in place. They will use the tools of the current pseudo-democracies to gain control. Marx himself said it would never be necessary to force Communism in place of Capitalism, Capitalism would evolve into Communism naturally.
If HP et al thought they could simply take the goodies and ignore the ideology behind it, they were unbelievably naive. In the real world, ALL "charity" comes with strings attached. If you accept government welfare, you have to abide by the laws and values of the government. If you accept clothes from the Salvation Army, expect to receive a pamphlet summary of the New Testament in the same shopping bag.
It's time for these companies to pay the piper. In the end, they'll benefit from releasing their patents just as much as the community at large.
Ok, after months of reading and participating, the purpose of Slashdot is clear to me.
No, it's not to bring you "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. Subjects without verbs treated like sentences."
Basically, Slashdot serves the exact same purpose as Road and Track, Guns and Ammo, and Field and Stream. That purpose is to feed our western consumer mentality with possession lust. Take away the sensationalic one-sidedness of "Your Paranoia Online" and the clarity-challenged rambling of a certain Jon Katz, and what are you left with?
Informational articles on IPv6? Yeah, right. No my friends, you have product announcements, press releases, and "reviews" of really cool stuff you must buy. That includes O'Reilly books, too.
This is blatant consumerism coming from a site which supposedly advocates the advancement of Free Software motives and principles. Does anyone really think Richard Stallman is planning on picking up a weekend contract gig in order to buy a new DVD player or a video phone? Hardly, he's spending every minute of every day promoting his conviction that software should be as free as thought.
This, by the way, is the clear difference in mindset between RMS and Eric Raymond. While Stallman is dedicated to Free Software for the sake of Free Software, Raymond is dedicated to "Open Source" software. Why? Because it helps ESR save up for a "really nice match-grade.45".
Given the obvious but subtle Slashdot sell-out, I don't think I'll be able to stay much longer. I still have my principles, thank God.
Let's conjecture about the possibilities of two theortical systems which have been projected for release sometime in the future. By doing this, we hope to resolve any unforeseen potential issues before they manifest themselves in a non-hypothetical form.
Not 13% of the world. 13% of the world's electricity. A lot of places in the world don't even have electricity. Of those that do, 13% of the electricity is devoted to keeping computers running.
Remember, a huge portion of power consumers are corporate users. Computers/monitors on every desk, computers in the server room, etc.
Why would I not trust the UN? I personally don't buy into the "New World Order"/"One World Government" conspiracy. Nor am I stockpiling weapons to fight off the blue-helmeted invaders.
I have opinions. I express them strongly. That doesn't make them flames.
Flames are when you attack someone directly. Flames have no supporting evidence. I presented an opinion (widely accepted, I might add) that the Intel x86 architecture is outdated. I also believe that it is inefficient, power-hungry, and its continued widespread use will worsen already bad environmental issues. I also cited a recent statement from the U.N. global conference that 13% of the world's electricity usage goes to computer systems. The fact that most of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels is undisputed. The fact that burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming is disputed by some, but they all seem to have a vested interest in corporate industry. Their credibility is somewhat questionable.
I'm sorry you think I'm flaming. I have admittedly flamed before. However, opinions contrary to your own are not automatically flamebait.
It's a little embarrasing how easily we get passed by RISC-powered motorcycles, but we can always pedal our little CISC bicycles a little faster.
Sure, we get hotter and sweatier. Sure, we burn up even more energy. Yes, we know that 13% of all electricty used in the world is for powering computers (according to a recent U.N. summit). And we all know that most of the electricity is being generated through burning fossil fuels.
Maybe we like 80-day droughts in Texas thanks to global warming.
None of that matters, though. It's too much work to move to more efficient processor designs. Why scratch our heads over big-endian/little-endian translations when we can just slap on a bigger heat sink and cooling fan? Why give up our flying toaster screen savers?
Let's stick to our 1970's-architecture processors for now. It was good enough for our pocket calculators, it will be good enough for mapping the human genome. Maybe we'll even find a way to alter our DNA so our skin is UV-resistant and our bodies need less water.
While we may think of ourselves as engineers, programmers, or simply "techies", the day is fast coming when we will be "producers" in the television/radio sense of the term.
Convergence is coming. Soon, the home user won't view the computer as separate from the TV and DVD player. While we may consider ourselves members of the computer industry, the truth is that computers are a subset of the media industry.
Like it or not, we are really part of "the media". The differences between ourselves and the people studying radio/television production and engineering at the local community college are really not that great.
Already, I see resumes that more closely resemble portfolios. If you are a GUI or web designer, you should have a collection of screen shots of your work. This communicates more to a potential employer than a simple list of places you've worked.
The paradigm is shifting in front of our eyes. Get ready.
I've heard those arguments before and they just don't wash with me.
Nobody does studies of accidents caused by people changing radio stations. Nobody does studies of accidents that happen when people are YELLING AT THEIR STUPID KIDS.
It's all about class envy. The have-nots and the luddites are scared because anyone with half a brain cell owns a cellphone now. I don't even know what my home number is anymore. I have to look it up in my Palm.
Besides, I'm not worried about accidents. I drive a big Lexus SUV. God, I love consulting!
Hmmm.... My experience with BellAtlantic. Where do I begin?
First of all, I thought I would be able to just call, give them billing information, and be ready to go. Wrong. They wanted to run a full credit check. They actually wanted my social security number. I'm a customer and I don't appreciate being subjected to a wireless anal probe.
After they removed the latex gloves, they activated my service.
I don't know about the pager service. I went full bore unlimited cellular service (I talk a LOT when I'm driving). Generally, it works ok, but there are a couple of dropout spots between home and the office. Very annoying. I've asked them if they are planning to improve the coverage, but they said I'm the only person who has complained so far. Of course, I don't take that with a smile and I ask for a supervisor. Turns out the real reason is because of interference from a nearby police-band repeater. Why couldn't they just say that?
My bills come regularly and I haven't found any errors yet, but I usually just pay the total without reviewing all the 1-900 calls my kid makes when he gets a hold of my phone. Some things I just don't want to know about.
Slashdot Mirror
Simply playing CDs is easy and they sound good.
Sorry, but I'm an audio electronics engineer. Simply put, I really don't think such a compact "Swiss Army Knife" box is capable of producing decent CD sound. Maybe it's "good" compared to MP3s (*gag*), but it will almost certainly pale in comparison to high-end CD players.
Methinks Taco is getting kickbacks on ZapStation sales. "Think geek", indeed.
Congressmen who have all received huge bribes (sometimes called campaign contributions)
Yes, and Democrats never get campaign contributions from groups who don't have the public's best interest in mind. I'm sure trial lawyers, unions (especially the NEA), and the Chinese government are all out to protect us little guys.
You're really something of a dupe aren't you, michael?
*groan* I usually don't respond to oblique personal attacks....
You're either trying to mislead people....
That's a pretty bold accusation to make, dcollins. I've seen your posting history and you seem a little... how shall I put this... conspiracy-minded. Are you suggesting I would deliberately mislead people WRT my reading of this patent? For what purpose?
[being sarcasm]
*sigh* Ok, you caught me. I'm part of a UN-sponsored initiative to discredit the USian patent system though broad patenting of prior art. *snicker* You may now imprison me in your Free Software Paranoia Foundation re-education camp.
[end sarcasm]
Note the key phrase three-dimensional. In the literal language of patents, there is nothing three-dimensional about today's flat-monitored FPS games. Don't confuse the marketing hype on the box with the real meaning of "three-dimensional". None of today's game are truly three-dimensional, they are merely a facsimile of a three-dimensional world.
Until Star Trek holodecks come into widespread use, Claim 5 is meaningless.
Don't panic, folks. Read the actual patent first. It is pretty narrow in scope.
It would take quite a stretch to make this affect Quake/Duke Nukem/et al.
Nothing to worry about. Back to fragging.
So, you want to model it on the GPL.
In other words, you want to model your employment contract on a software license which contains some questionable provisions, vague language, and has not been tested in court.
You want to base your personal intellectual freedom and your ability to earn a living on the ivory-tower utopian principles of one RMS.
You do, of course, understand that if RMS had his way, you would be coding for free. You would instead make your money answering support questions for your software or (like him) you would become a tenured professor.
Hmmmm.... Since it's all about information wanting to be free, maybe RMS should offer his courses free of charge. I digress, however.
My point is this: Until all provisions of the GPL are upheld by a court in my locale, I would rather not rely on some boilerplate derivative when my ability to provide for my family is at stake. I would really rather not find out the hard way that provisions which are perfectly acceptable in, say, Kalifornia, are not binding in my state.
In short, I'll trust a local attorney retained on my own dime before I'll turn my career over to some fresh-from-the-bar-exam night law school grad with stars in her eyes and visions of intellectual freedom in her head.
I am a father. I've thought about what I would do in situations like this. I have a question.
Sean was allegedly bullied and harassed until he reached the point where he "snapped" (that was hardly a snap, IMO). Now the father is talking to the school.
What was the father doing while Sean was being bullied?
Did he go to the school then? Did he report the bullying? Did he demand that the bullies (if they actually touched Sean) be charged with assault? Whatever you may think of Texas criminal justice, there are still laws against assault, you know.
Only now that Sean is in trouble does the father bring up bullying and harassment. Apparently, the father didn't think it was much of a problem for his son to be subjected to this before.
Am I the only person who wonders just how much "bullying" Sean was really subjected to?
If my son is ever put in Sean's position, I don't think I'll wait for him to "snap" before I intervene.
That's what fathers are for.
First, Bruce Perens no longer claims to be affiliated with "Open Source" software. He removed himself from that splinter group some time ago because he disagreed with the compromises it was making in the name of profitability and corporate acceptance. Bruce is part of the Free Software movement.
Second, the Free Software movement has an agenda. This is not news. The Free Software movement seeks to end the quaint fallacy of "intellectual property".
In a delicious ironic twist, they use the laws of intellectual property to destroy the concept of intellectual property. I know the knee-jerk capitalists who don't understand Marxism will shriek, but this is exactly how more modern collectivist systems will be put in place. They will use the tools of the current pseudo-democracies to gain control. Marx himself said it would never be necessary to force Communism in place of Capitalism, Capitalism would evolve into Communism naturally.
If HP et al thought they could simply take the goodies and ignore the ideology behind it, they were unbelievably naive. In the real world, ALL "charity" comes with strings attached. If you accept government welfare, you have to abide by the laws and values of the government. If you accept clothes from the Salvation Army, expect to receive a pamphlet summary of the New Testament in the same shopping bag.
It's time for these companies to pay the piper. In the end, they'll benefit from releasing their patents just as much as the community at large.
Kopel's National Review article on the same subject.
The Independence Institute -- Kopel's organization. Note that the link on this page has the following quote regarding the bill:
Note: the bill's sponsors have recently agreed to remove all objectionable items, except for the encryption provision
Ok, after months of reading and participating, the purpose of Slashdot is clear to me.
.45".
No, it's not to bring you "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. Subjects without verbs treated like sentences."
Basically, Slashdot serves the exact same purpose as Road and Track, Guns and Ammo, and Field and Stream. That purpose is to feed our western consumer mentality with possession lust. Take away the sensationalic one-sidedness of "Your Paranoia Online" and the clarity-challenged rambling of a certain Jon Katz, and what are you left with?
Informational articles on IPv6? Yeah, right. No my friends, you have product announcements, press releases, and "reviews" of really cool stuff you must buy. That includes O'Reilly books, too.
This is blatant consumerism coming from a site which supposedly advocates the advancement of Free Software motives and principles. Does anyone really think Richard Stallman is planning on picking up a weekend contract gig in order to buy a new DVD player or a video phone? Hardly, he's spending every minute of every day promoting his conviction that software should be as free as thought.
This, by the way, is the clear difference in mindset between RMS and Eric Raymond. While Stallman is dedicated to Free Software for the sake of Free Software, Raymond is dedicated to "Open Source" software. Why? Because it helps ESR save up for a "really nice match-grade
Given the obvious but subtle Slashdot sell-out, I don't think I'll be able to stay much longer. I still have my principles, thank God.
Let's conjecture about the possibilities of two theortical systems which have been projected for release sometime in the future. By doing this, we hope to resolve any unforeseen potential issues before they manifest themselves in a non-hypothetical form.
The statistic comes from futurist Hazel Henderson. It was made on September 9 at the U.N. Millenium Summit And World Forum. I found it exactly:
...our information economy is based on high speed computers that "gobble up 13 percent of all electricity generated...."
Facts are facts. Facts don't care what anyone believes.
Not 13% of the world. 13% of the world's electricity. A lot of places in the world don't even have electricity. Of those that do, 13% of the electricity is devoted to keeping computers running.
Remember, a huge portion of power consumers are corporate users. Computers/monitors on every desk, computers in the server room, etc.
Why would I not trust the UN? I personally don't buy into the "New World Order"/"One World Government" conspiracy. Nor am I stockpiling weapons to fight off the blue-helmeted invaders.
I have opinions. I express them strongly. That doesn't make them flames.
Flames are when you attack someone directly. Flames have no supporting evidence. I presented an opinion (widely accepted, I might add) that the Intel x86 architecture is outdated. I also believe that it is inefficient, power-hungry, and its continued widespread use will worsen already bad environmental issues. I also cited a recent statement from the U.N. global conference that 13% of the world's electricity usage goes to computer systems. The fact that most of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels is undisputed. The fact that burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming is disputed by some, but they all seem to have a vested interest in corporate industry. Their credibility is somewhat questionable.
I'm sorry you think I'm flaming. I have admittedly flamed before. However, opinions contrary to your own are not automatically flamebait.
It's a little embarrasing how easily we get passed by RISC-powered motorcycles, but we can always pedal our little CISC bicycles a little faster.
Sure, we get hotter and sweatier. Sure, we burn up even more energy. Yes, we know that 13% of all electricty used in the world is for powering computers (according to a recent U.N. summit). And we all know that most of the electricity is being generated through burning fossil fuels.
Maybe we like 80-day droughts in Texas thanks to global warming.
None of that matters, though. It's too much work to move to more efficient processor designs. Why scratch our heads over big-endian/little-endian translations when we can just slap on a bigger heat sink and cooling fan? Why give up our flying toaster screen savers?
Let's stick to our 1970's-architecture processors for now. It was good enough for our pocket calculators, it will be good enough for mapping the human genome. Maybe we'll even find a way to alter our DNA so our skin is UV-resistant and our bodies need less water.
I ran that whole article through Babelfish and it still came out gibberish.
...and most of them can be found on slashdot.
Ummm.... I thought those were vacuum tubes.
We didn't finnish
Did you norwegian instead?
While we may think of ourselves as engineers, programmers, or simply "techies", the day is fast coming when we will be "producers" in the television/radio sense of the term.
Convergence is coming. Soon, the home user won't view the computer as separate from the TV and DVD player. While we may consider ourselves members of the computer industry, the truth is that computers are a subset of the media industry.
Like it or not, we are really part of "the media". The differences between ourselves and the people studying radio/television production and engineering at the local community college are really not that great.
Already, I see resumes that more closely resemble portfolios. If you are a GUI or web designer, you should have a collection of screen shots of your work. This communicates more to a potential employer than a simple list of places you've worked.
The paradigm is shifting in front of our eyes. Get ready.
"There are no 9-to-5ers in the Open Source Community."
:)
Well, there are if you mean 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Havin' fun!
Don't take job with any company where the CTO seeks advice on Slashdot.
SUVs are 4 times more likely to cause fatalities in an accident.
Not for the people driving them. That's the point.
This is just sociopathic behaviour and indicates a personality defect.
My pet goat likes my personality is just fine, thank you very much.
I've heard those arguments before and they just don't wash with me.
Nobody does studies of accidents caused by people changing radio stations. Nobody does studies of accidents that happen when people are YELLING AT THEIR STUPID KIDS.
It's all about class envy. The have-nots and the luddites are scared because anyone with half a brain cell owns a cellphone now. I don't even know what my home number is anymore. I have to look it up in my Palm.
Besides, I'm not worried about accidents. I drive a big Lexus SUV. God, I love consulting!
Hmmm.... My experience with BellAtlantic. Where do I begin?
First of all, I thought I would be able to just call, give them billing information, and be ready to go. Wrong. They wanted to run a full credit check. They actually wanted my social security number. I'm a customer and I don't appreciate being subjected to a wireless anal probe.
After they removed the latex gloves, they activated my service.
I don't know about the pager service. I went full bore unlimited cellular service (I talk a LOT when I'm driving). Generally, it works ok, but there are a couple of dropout spots between home and the office. Very annoying. I've asked them if they are planning to improve the coverage, but they said I'm the only person who has complained so far. Of course, I don't take that with a smile and I ask for a supervisor. Turns out the real reason is because of interference from a nearby police-band repeater. Why couldn't they just say that?
My bills come regularly and I haven't found any errors yet, but I usually just pay the total without reviewing all the 1-900 calls my kid makes when he gets a hold of my phone. Some things I just don't want to know about.