This is your first mistake. Computers are not inherently complex (even Windows). People have a habbit of making computers more complex than they need to be (i.e. installing whatever whenever and expecting it to remain on there and stable forever). If people would just take the time to understand that they do not need 10000 things in their tray and took the 10 minutes to read exactly what each of those things they installed did they would quickly learn what the Uninstall Program feature is for.
Where have you been? Too many programs don't simply uninstall. Too many programs break installed things when run and don't fix the problems when removed.
Case in point. My wife bought a Dell. It has a bunch of pre-installed programs that ammount to a bunch of demoware. I needed to edit a photo. I fired up the photo editor. It wanted me to register it and buy it on the spot. I simply declined.
This action took over the scanner. Now my fax and copy machine programs are both broken. Trying to run the photocopy application fires up the photo program and asks where do I want to save the photo. The photocopy program can't find a TWAIN device. Uninstall didn't work. I pulled it out manually. The photocopier still doesn't work. The photoprogram dialog box still comes up but with the error that it can't find the photo editing program. Please re-install it. The photocopier still can't find a TWAIN device. Removing and reinstalling both the flatbed scanner and the FAX and Photocopy programs did not fix the TWAIN hijack.
Fine call me an amature. There is no professional manuals provided with the computer or offending software. It isn't worth the time to become a professional to fix everything that can go wrong with a Windows machine. There are just too many screwed up apps out there and it does not require an internet connection to hose your machine. The manufacture's pre-installed nag ware is enough to hose it up from what you set up. I guess the manufacture didn't count on my installing photocopy software and FAX software, so the photo editor wasn't expected to mess up these applications.
If only more people were willing to take an active role in everything they do (kids, computers, etc).
I can't blame this one on the kids or malware from the internet. I blame it on bad software provided by the manufacture. My third party applications ran fine until I needed to edit a photo. I should have used my photo editing program that came with my camera instead of the one provided by Dell. At least my other machine isn't hosed. It is still functional. I can scan, edit, copy, and fax, but not on the Dell.
Next time I re-install Windows, I'll uninstall the photo editor instead of trying to run it.
Congress gave telephone companies $500 million to buy new equipment to comply with CALEA.
And do you think for one minute the Congress raised the money by manufacturing shoes and selling them... The took the money directly out of my back pocket to pay for it! Don't forget where congress gets it's money. That's my gripe.
Congress will let the likes of Disney buy a new copyright term extension act every twenty years.
The sad part of it is Disney has locked Mickey up in the vault so tightly, most of the current generation has no idea who he is. Other than Steamboat Willie, the excerpt from Fantasia (Sorcers Apprentice) and maybe Through the looking Glass, most kids haven't ever seen a Mickey Mouse Cartoon. He even plays second fiddle in some Pluto cartoons that does have Mickey. Maybe Scrooge McDuck from DuckTales should be the mascot. At least kids have seen him in some cartoons.
The best word is "tip" as in the tip of the wedge. Someone somewhere will need to fill out a government form and send it back. The file will be opened to be exported. It will be exported to an open format. The Government will need to open the document. This will either cause the demand for open format support in government by using 3rd party software or Microsoft in order to keep the applications will have to change to meed the consumer requirements to fully support open formats. Tip of the wedge is the best description. The tip is in place. Now the pressure mounts. Let's see what gives next.
Microsoft has publicly announced that only Trusted Compliant hardware will be Windows Compatible.
Point well taken. It's just like I always tell people. What do you want to do with your computer is what deturmines your hardware and software requirements. If your into publishing and creating media, then you probably don't want a Windows box, you want a Mac instead. If you want a SOHO server, then you probably want a Linux or BSD box. If you want to have and end user media player like a DIRECT TV box, then you want a subscription based client box, probably Windows based. If you want to play DRM content and liberate it to a non-DRM format, than you are looking for a machine in violation of the DMCA. It will be a little harder to find. If you run a business and you don't trust your employees because they may try to lift copies of Photoshop and the latest company project off their PC's, or install malware and keyloggers, then you may be looking for a DRM box. Other than that I see the popularity of Linux increasing for those who work in the Creative Commons. I see the popularity of Open Source growing as the TCO of subscription based software and media rises up to elete levels.
Shure most people will have a DRM machine to play the latest DVD and Audio Rental, but I see it being religated to the secondary PC status next to the DVD player and PlayStation in many homes and that stance to grow. For the other uses, most people will still look for the hardware and software to do the job they want to do. More and more it will not be Microsoft.
Forget rights of first sale. Give me a DRM where I can reformat my HD or upgrade my motherboard/CPU and not have to dial-in to validate all my media... Which by def then doesn't really do the DRM part of DRM.
That's my point exactly. When my DVD player dies, the disk will play fine in the next one. It will also work in all my DVD players. What do you do with your I-tunes when your PC dies, then the I-pod dies? Do you have a working backup? When you upgrade your PC (Apple or otherwise), does the rights move to the current machine without any problmes. What if you are tired of a track. Can you donate it to your local Goodwill to resell?
However, none of this is possible without a REAL economic model underlying email.
Posted by the phone.. "Never buy anything from anyone that calls you. It may be a fraud."
Posted by the computer.. "Never buy from anyone that mails you. It's probably a fraud."
If you want something, search it out. Find the reputable dealers. The real suppliers are in the yellow pages or can be found with a Google search. Don't buy anything from an unknown supplier without finding out about the BBB complaints and web sucks sites. I saved my wife from a Ramada Plaza vacation disaster offer in the mail by a quick google search for compaints. There were many and a few class action lawsuits. The company does have a reputation. A bad one. No reputation at all is a bad sign. Might be a new shell. Look for a good reputation. An occasional unhappy consumer is normal. Not every company will refund triple the cost and have the manager shot, so not every consumer will be happy.
Actualy only as rights of first sale are not messed up. The price on DVD's and the fact I can pass them on and they will play in the next guy's machine is the only reason I buy DVD's. The broken right of first sale is what killed Circuit City's implimentation even though the price was lower. Nobody wants to buy a movie with an expiration date.
Some folks speculate the only reason many products *cough*DVD*cough* survive today is because customers know they can get around supposed restrictions.)
There are a couple of things going for DVD's. They are cheaper than taking the family to the movie and when I use my rights of first sale, I know the DVD will work in the next owners DVD player.
I-tunes fails on both counts. A couple hours of audio from I-tunes is much more expensive than a couple hours of movies on a DVD. I can re-sell the DVD when I'm done with it.
Explain again how an audio recording is worth a lot more than an audio recording with video? Explain how the resellable DVD is a lower value than a rented audio file?
I don't buy I-tune files for these reasons. Fixing the DRM problem only fixes half of the reasons I don't buy them.
Having a licence required would cause the PC/Internet access industry to plummet.
Quite the contrair. Look at the unregulated radio spectrum in the US. The CB radio band is just about useless. The regulated bands used for FIRE POLICE and Ham Radio Operators do much better. The unregulated bands are abused to the point of being useless much like the Internet is becomming. I don't use CB radio anymore. It now happens to many Internet users. There are growing numbers that just pull the plug and never look back. It's just too big a problem and too many incomming communications are trojans, viruses, and scams. Who wants it. Something needs to be done to clean it up or something will grow around it and bypass it. Cell phones have replaced CB radio. The education system is starting a new net to bypass the problems of the Internet. They can see having the door open to just anyone and everyone with no restrictions is just trouble in the making.
You end up shutting down the zombied PCs. I don't see how that's a bad thing.
I do.. It's just like auto-replying to all your e-mail. If the other machine does the same. You can figure what happens next...
All it takes is one mail sent from one machine with the IBM service to another machine with the IBM service. The bandwidth shared by others is suddnly overwhelmed. I think this could be the start of a bandwidth meltdown.
Just think if Yahoo and MSN subscribed and a Yahoo user sent an UCE or normal e-mail to a Hotmail user...
I stand by my thesis in any regard... don't underestimate the ability of the entertainment industry to introduce increasingly annoying, confusing, and eventually prohibitive (which will be by then too late) obstacles delaying and even sometimes preventing consumers the product they thought/assumed they'd paid for. (I've already posted about a CD I had recently purchased that would not play on my car CD player... and its replacement (exchange) from the store failed in exactly the same places in exactly the same ways.)
The diffrence between a DVD and an I-tunes song, is I can sell the DVD when I'm done with it. It will work in someone elses player.
The music industry has simply screwed up the system. If I buy a CD, it might not work in all my players. You discovered this. A defective music delivery medium does not increase the value of the contained music. In spite of this, music prices are higher than the price of movies (figured in $/minute). They music industry can't figure out why I don't buy music anymore. It's worth less than my existing collection on LP's and CD's (the real red book variety with the Compact Disk logo)
admittedly I no longer have to spring for four, (only two now),
I was there, but the wife got the empty nest syndorne. We now have foster kids. That's a little offtopic, but does directly influence the price of going to see a movie.
increasingly poorly maintained dvd's we're seeing when we DO rent
Hint.. Rent it.. If it's in good shape, then use the purchase option. You get the rental fee back and just pay the purchase. An unplayable DVD gets exchanged, then purchased. If it's playable but in poor shape, than I just return it. I've had much better luck with DVD's than with Videotapes which are almost always messed up at one spot or another. Most DVD's I buy are in New or Nearly New condition.
Now, if we could only spread this idle time-wasting idea to the Pentagon, maybe Iraqis and other people who are under the thumb of the empire could breath a little easier...
And people who work in tall buildings get more stressed out.
These people failed their first attempt and came back years later to try again on 9-11. Maybe we should make them sweat a little so we can breath a little easier.
I think they just stamp a piece of paper that you keep with your passport. It's not really in Cuba's intererst to keep tourists out, after all.
Cuba needs hard currancy. I've seen first hand tourists going to Cuba. I lived in Grand Cayman for a while. They are technicaly supposed to stamp the passport. They just put a slip of paper in the passport and stamp it in the passport. If it happens to fall out later... I didn't take the risk. I was already on a tropical island. I went to the Bahamas instead for a trip.
Mostly what I heard from Cuban tourists is they have some nice hotels with good booze prices. They also have some good dive sites. Since I'm not into booze, and I had great dive sites in Grand Cayman, I didn't see the point.
Instead they'll just use the radio, go to the movie theater, whatever.
Have you been to a theatre lately? Do you have a family? I can get a movie I didn't watch in the theater last year for much less than the price of tickets for the family. There isn't a better way to get a movie for a family of 4 than buy an under $10 DVD. Check the pre-viewed section at Blockbuster. I don't have to return it, and I can watch it again next year for free. Later I can still sell it and get most of my money back.
I don't watch many movies in the theatre anymore. At home I can make my own popcorn. The money saved on popcorn for the family buys the movie.
Considering I still listen to my grandfather's 78's that price just keeps going up and up.
Playback equipment is getting scarce. I would recommend transferrin it to new media as soon as possible. My last working turntable only does 33-1/3 and 45's. My changer that would do 78's and 16's died.
In the future, nobody has mentioned what happens when your I-Pod dies.. Can you transfer the songs to new hardware? Remember, they don't last the 80 years that was used in the parent arguement. I would recommend burning everything on back-up CDR's, then duplicate the CDR's every 5 years or so to guard against CDR rot.
It "locks" a computer to keep it from playing non-DRM content.
Close but not quite. It locks a computer to keep it from producing non-DRM content from DRM content. It also prevents it from playing DRM content it isn't authorised to play. In a nutshell. You can't share DRM content.
Non-DRM content is still open. It may be disabled or even attacked while you run a DRM application. Watch for Trojans in DRM software.
# How far does it extend? (software apps run only if trusted?.... or can user override, much like browser certificates).
Let me take these one at a time; # What does it mean for linux installs? Dual boot installs?
Nothing. Linux installs and runs. The application that connects to the Corporate LAN and the encrypted media files won't work while untrusted software is running however. The content is still protected.
# Who controls these "keys"?
The content provider. This may be your employer or subscription provider. # Who controls "trust"? The content provider. # Is there a mod classification of "paranoid" for this post? No. Trusted computing simply means you will not be able to run the keylogger on your workplace PC while logged into the corprate LAN. It means the Winamp ripping plug-in won't run while you run MusicMatch. It means if you boot into another OS to bypass the restrictions, the encrypted content won't play. Other than that, it should work like a PC except for the way protected content is handled. Your un-encrypted MP3's should play fine. Just watch out for any applications that offer to protect them for you. I would recommend keeping your MP3's on CDR's so they can't be destroyed by a trusted application.
Well, get toasters that are locked to that specific kind of bread, problem solved!!!
Until you buy much less bread because it might not work in one of your toasters. Find the best bread, buy it and the toaster needed and let the other rot on the shelf. That's exactly what I do.
That's why I support MP3's and Red Book CD's. The other ones don't work in my toasters. I let the sellers know that up front. Meet the local standard and provide a fair price. Otherwise, get lost.
The fact shiny round disks are on the market that look like a CD but don't carry the Compact Disk logo kills most CD sales for me. It's getting so hard to find CD's with the logo, I've mostly stopped looking. The high prices are the other reason. I buy a DVD compatible with my toaster instead for less money.
What where they thinking. I went and looked at a copy of the CD The Phantom of the Opera. It was over $30! It's about 3 to 4 times the price I pay for movies. Needless to say, I didn't buy it. I don't buy many CD's anymore and it's not because of Piracy. It's because better values are found elsewhere.
Public Domain MP3's are great. I've been enjoying old time radio lately.
How about it? IBM, Dell, and Intel make hardware. They are in the business of selling hardware. Some content providers (IP owners) will bundle trusted hardware for the sharing of their content to trusted parties. Nothing unusual here. It's the same as a Cable TV box, a Satelite TV box, a Satelite Radio box, etc. The hardware buyers are the content providers such as your employer. They wan their content locked down but viewable by the employee. They don't want it viewed by outside third parties. That's what trusted computing is all about. It won't connect to your thumb flash drive and save the latest company project in an unprotected format.
For the rest of us, we simply want general puropse computers that can do what we want. For the most part, these computers don't pick up Satelite TV, Satelite Radio, or pay cable channels or connect to the secure corprate LAN. For that, you need other hardware.
The trusted computing is the hardware you will have at work supplied by your employer. If you want a subscription service such as Musicmatch or I-tunes, then you may be required to purchase additional hardware to support the content. For most home users, there is little interest in trusted computing except by those who want to subscribe to a pay TV, Video, or Sound feed. The rest of us will do fine using hardware that does not participate in subscription services and will only use it at work so we don't steal from our employer by adding trojan's and keyloggers.
The only reason Joe six-pack would be interested in upgrading is the additonal stability provided by the hardware refusing to run the latest e-mail attachment or buffer overrun.
Your post was so painfully lacking in amusement that upon reading it, I shattered my coffee mug into small fragments and continued to swallow each of them.
I'm sorry to hear you don't have a wife that likes to use the computer once in a while.
I like mine to use the computer. She does my bookeeping and taxes so I don't worry about them. I like it when she wants to logon. If she needs a sample from me, I'll like it even more.;-)
Anytime I'm not on my home ISP, I log in to my bank using it's IP address, not the URL. Then I get the SSL connection without getting re-directed by a cafe's hacked DNS server.
Just to be safe, I recheck the tracert once logged in. The tracert and the IP I punched in should match. If they don't, then I never attempt to log in from that location again. So far I've not had any mis-matches indicating a re-direct of a URL. A good URL to keep the IP address for is not only your bank, but PayPal, Google (get the real one) and Slashdot.
Google 216.239.39.99 Slashdot 66.35.250.150 Paypal 216.113.188.34 Bank of America 171.159.193.173
Keep these numbers handy when using any wireless connection. You never know what the free access provider is doing with your information. Get a SSL connection and don't be sent to an alternate phishing site. Check the connected IP address.
Slashdot Mirror
This is your first mistake. Computers are not inherently complex (even Windows). People have a habbit of making computers more complex than they need to be (i.e. installing whatever whenever and expecting it to remain on there and stable forever). If people would just take the time to understand that they do not need 10000 things in their tray and took the 10 minutes to read exactly what each of those things they installed did they would quickly learn what the Uninstall Program feature is for.
Where have you been? Too many programs don't simply uninstall. Too many programs break installed things when run and don't fix the problems when removed.
Case in point. My wife bought a Dell. It has a bunch of pre-installed programs that ammount to a bunch of demoware. I needed to edit a photo. I fired up the photo editor. It wanted me to register it and buy it on the spot. I simply declined.
This action took over the scanner. Now my fax and copy machine programs are both broken. Trying to run the photocopy application fires up the photo program and asks where do I want to save the photo. The photocopy program can't find a TWAIN device. Uninstall didn't work. I pulled it out manually. The photocopier still doesn't work. The photoprogram dialog box still comes up but with the error that it can't find the photo editing program. Please re-install it. The photocopier still can't find a TWAIN device. Removing and reinstalling both the flatbed scanner and the FAX and Photocopy programs did not fix the TWAIN hijack.
Fine call me an amature. There is no professional manuals provided with the computer or offending software. It isn't worth the time to become a professional to fix everything that can go wrong with a Windows machine. There are just too many screwed up apps out there and it does not require an internet connection to hose your machine. The manufacture's pre-installed nag ware is enough to hose it up from what you set up. I guess the manufacture didn't count on my installing photocopy software and FAX software, so the photo editor wasn't expected to mess up these applications.
If only more people were willing to take an active role in everything they do (kids, computers, etc).
I can't blame this one on the kids or malware from the internet. I blame it on bad software provided by the manufacture. My third party applications ran fine until I needed to edit a photo. I should have used my photo editing program that came with my camera instead of the one provided by Dell. At least my other machine isn't hosed. It is still functional. I can scan, edit, copy, and fax, but not on the Dell.
Next time I re-install Windows, I'll uninstall the photo editor instead of trying to run it.
Congress gave telephone companies $500 million to buy new equipment to comply with CALEA.
And do you think for one minute the Congress raised the money by manufacturing shoes and selling them... The took the money directly out of my back pocket to pay for it! Don't forget where congress gets it's money. That's my gripe.
The whole top of the letter had been ripped open, and then taped shut.
With postal mail, at least you have a clue someone is intercepting your mail.
Congress will let the likes of Disney buy a new copyright term extension act every twenty years.
The sad part of it is Disney has locked Mickey up in the vault so tightly, most of the current generation has no idea who he is. Other than Steamboat Willie, the excerpt from Fantasia (Sorcers Apprentice) and maybe Through the looking Glass, most kids haven't ever seen a Mickey Mouse Cartoon. He even plays second fiddle in some Pluto cartoons that does have Mickey. Maybe Scrooge McDuck from DuckTales should be the mascot. At least kids have seen him in some cartoons.
What Mickey Mouse cartoon have you seen lately?
'Open' might not be the best word for this...
The best word is "tip" as in the tip of the wedge. Someone somewhere will need to fill out a government form and send it back. The file will be opened to be exported. It will be exported to an open format. The Government will need to open the document. This will either cause the demand for open format support in government by using 3rd party software or Microsoft in order to keep the applications will have to change to meed the consumer requirements to fully support open formats. Tip of the wedge is the best description. The tip is in place. Now the pressure mounts. Let's see what gives next.
Microsoft has publicly announced that only Trusted Compliant hardware will be Windows Compatible.
Point well taken. It's just like I always tell people. What do you want to do with your computer is what deturmines your hardware and software requirements. If your into publishing and creating media, then you probably don't want a Windows box, you want a Mac instead. If you want a SOHO server, then you probably want a Linux or BSD box. If you want to have and end user media player like a DIRECT TV box, then you want a subscription based client box, probably Windows based. If you want to play DRM content and liberate it to a non-DRM format, than you are looking for a machine in violation of the DMCA. It will be a little harder to find. If you run a business and you don't trust your employees because they may try to lift copies of Photoshop and the latest company project off their PC's, or install malware and keyloggers, then you may be looking for a DRM box. Other than that I see the popularity of Linux increasing for those who work in the Creative Commons. I see the popularity of Open Source growing as the TCO of subscription based software and media rises up to elete levels.
Shure most people will have a DRM machine to play the latest DVD and Audio Rental, but I see it being religated to the secondary PC status next to the DVD player and PlayStation in many homes and that stance to grow. For the other uses, most people will still look for the hardware and software to do the job they want to do. More and more it will not be Microsoft.
Forget rights of first sale. Give me a DRM where I can reformat my HD or upgrade my motherboard/CPU and not have to dial-in to validate all my media...
Which by def then doesn't really do the DRM part of DRM.
That's my point exactly. When my DVD player dies, the disk will play fine in the next one. It will also work in all my DVD players. What do you do with your I-tunes when your PC dies, then the I-pod dies? Do you have a working backup? When you upgrade your PC (Apple or otherwise), does the rights move to the current machine without any problmes. What if you are tired of a track. Can you donate it to your local Goodwill to resell?
However, none of this is possible without a REAL economic model underlying email.
Posted by the phone.. "Never buy anything from anyone that calls you. It may be a fraud."
Posted by the computer.. "Never buy from anyone that mails you. It's probably a fraud."
If you want something, search it out. Find the reputable dealers. The real suppliers are in the yellow pages or can be found with a Google search. Don't buy anything from an unknown supplier without finding out about the BBB complaints and web sucks sites. I saved my wife from a Ramada Plaza vacation disaster offer in the mail by a quick google search for compaints. There were many and a few class action lawsuits. The company does have a reputation. A bad one. No reputation at all is a bad sign. Might be a new shell. Look for a good reputation. An occasional unhappy consumer is normal. Not every company will refund triple the cost and have the manager shot, so not every consumer will be happy.
(yes, I worked for the company that did that!)
And you admiteded it on Slashdot? I hope you have your asbestous underwear on!
Not as long as I have any alternative.
Actualy only as rights of first sale are not messed up. The price on DVD's and the fact I can pass them on and they will play in the next guy's machine is the only reason I buy DVD's. The broken right of first sale is what killed Circuit City's implimentation even though the price was lower.
Nobody wants to buy a movie with an expiration date.
Some folks speculate the only reason many products *cough*DVD*cough* survive today is because customers know they can get around supposed restrictions.)
There are a couple of things going for DVD's. They are cheaper than taking the family to the movie and when I use my rights of first sale, I know the DVD will work in the next owners DVD player.
I-tunes fails on both counts. A couple hours of audio from I-tunes is much more expensive than a couple hours of movies on a DVD. I can re-sell the DVD when I'm done with it.
Explain again how an audio recording is worth a lot more than an audio recording with video? Explain how the resellable DVD is a lower value than a rented audio file?
I don't buy I-tune files for these reasons. Fixing the DRM problem only fixes half of the reasons I don't buy them.
Having a licence required would cause the PC/Internet access industry to plummet.
Quite the contrair. Look at the unregulated radio spectrum in the US. The CB radio band is just about useless. The regulated bands used for FIRE POLICE and Ham Radio Operators do much better. The unregulated bands are abused to the point of being useless much like the Internet is becomming. I don't use CB radio anymore. It now happens to many Internet users. There are growing numbers that just pull the plug and never look back. It's just too big a problem and too many incomming communications are trojans, viruses, and scams. Who wants it. Something needs to be done to clean it up or something will grow around it and bypass it. Cell phones have replaced CB radio. The education system is starting a new net to bypass the problems of the Internet. They can see having the door open to just anyone and everyone with no restrictions is just trouble in the making.
You end up shutting down the zombied PCs. I don't see how that's a bad thing.
I do.. It's just like auto-replying to all your e-mail. If the other machine does the same. You can figure what happens next...
All it takes is one mail sent from one machine with the IBM service to another machine with the IBM service. The bandwidth shared by others is suddnly overwhelmed. I think this could be the start of a bandwidth meltdown.
Just think if Yahoo and MSN subscribed and a Yahoo user sent an UCE or normal e-mail to a Hotmail user...
I stand by my thesis in any regard... don't underestimate the ability of the entertainment industry to introduce increasingly annoying, confusing, and eventually prohibitive (which will be by then too late) obstacles delaying and even sometimes preventing consumers the product they thought/assumed they'd paid for. (I've already posted about a CD I had recently purchased that would not play on my car CD player... and its replacement (exchange) from the store failed in exactly the same places in exactly the same ways.)
The diffrence between a DVD and an I-tunes song, is I can sell the DVD when I'm done with it. It will work in someone elses player.
The music industry has simply screwed up the system. If I buy a CD, it might not work in all my players. You discovered this. A defective music delivery medium does not increase the value of the contained music. In spite of this, music prices are higher than the price of movies (figured in $/minute). They music industry can't figure out why I don't buy music anymore. It's worth less than my existing collection on LP's and CD's (the real red book variety with the Compact Disk logo)
admittedly I no longer have to spring for four, (only two now),
I was there, but the wife got the empty nest syndorne. We now have foster kids. That's a little offtopic, but does directly influence the price of going to see a movie.
increasingly poorly maintained dvd's we're seeing when we DO rent
Hint.. Rent it.. If it's in good shape, then use the purchase option. You get the rental fee back and just pay the purchase. An unplayable DVD gets exchanged, then purchased. If it's playable but in poor shape, than I just return it.
I've had much better luck with DVD's than with Videotapes which are almost always messed up at one spot or another. Most DVD's I buy are in New or Nearly New condition.
Now, if we could only spread this idle time-wasting idea to the Pentagon, maybe Iraqis and other people who are under the thumb of the empire could breath a little easier...
And people who work in tall buildings get more stressed out.
These people failed their first attempt and came back years later to try again on 9-11. Maybe we should make them sweat a little so we can breath a little easier.
I think they just stamp a piece of paper that you keep with your passport. It's not really in Cuba's intererst to keep tourists out, after all.
Cuba needs hard currancy. I've seen first hand tourists going to Cuba. I lived in Grand Cayman for a while. They are technicaly supposed to stamp the passport. They just put a slip of paper in the passport and stamp it in the passport. If it happens to fall out later...
I didn't take the risk. I was already on a tropical island. I went to the Bahamas instead for a trip.
Mostly what I heard from Cuban tourists is they have some nice hotels with good booze prices. They also have some good dive sites. Since I'm not into booze, and I had great dive sites in Grand Cayman, I didn't see the point.
Instead they'll just use the radio, go to the movie theater, whatever.
Have you been to a theatre lately? Do you have a family? I can get a movie I didn't watch in the theater last year for much less than the price of tickets for the family. There isn't a better way to get a movie for a family of 4 than buy an under $10 DVD. Check the pre-viewed section at Blockbuster. I don't have to return it, and I can watch it again next year for free.
Later I can still sell it and get most of my money back.
I don't watch many movies in the theatre anymore. At home I can make my own popcorn. The money saved on popcorn for the family buys the movie.
Considering I still listen to my grandfather's 78's that price just keeps going up and up.
Playback equipment is getting scarce. I would recommend transferrin it to new media as soon as possible. My last working turntable only does 33-1/3 and 45's. My changer that would do 78's and 16's died.
In the future, nobody has mentioned what happens when your I-Pod dies.. Can you transfer the songs to new hardware? Remember, they don't last the 80 years that was used in the parent arguement. I would recommend burning everything on back-up CDR's, then duplicate the CDR's every 5 years or so to guard against CDR rot.
It "locks" a computer to keep it from playing non-DRM content.
Close but not quite. It locks a computer to keep it from producing non-DRM content from DRM content. It also prevents it from playing DRM content it isn't authorised to play. In a nutshell. You can't share DRM content.
Non-DRM content is still open. It may be disabled or even attacked while you run a DRM application. Watch for Trojans in DRM software.
# How far does it extend? (software apps run only if trusted?.... or can user override, much like browser certificates).
Let me take these one at a time;
# What does it mean for linux installs? Dual boot installs?
Nothing. Linux installs and runs. The application that connects to the Corporate LAN and the encrypted media files won't work while untrusted software is running however. The content is still protected.
# Who controls these "keys"?
The content provider. This may be your employer or subscription provider.
# Who controls "trust"?
The content provider.
# Is there a mod classification of "paranoid" for this post?
No. Trusted computing simply means you will not be able to run the keylogger on your workplace PC while logged into the corprate LAN. It means the Winamp ripping plug-in won't run while you run MusicMatch. It means if you boot into another OS to bypass the restrictions, the encrypted content won't play. Other than that, it should work like a PC except for the way protected content is handled. Your un-encrypted MP3's should play fine. Just watch out for any applications that offer to protect them for you. I would recommend keeping your MP3's on CDR's so they can't be destroyed by a trusted application.
Well, get toasters that are locked to that specific kind of bread, problem solved!!!
Until you buy much less bread because it might not work in one of your toasters. Find the best bread, buy it and the toaster needed and let the other rot on the shelf. That's exactly what I do.
That's why I support MP3's and Red Book CD's. The other ones don't work in my toasters. I let the sellers know that up front. Meet the local standard and provide a fair price. Otherwise, get lost.
The fact shiny round disks are on the market that look like a CD but don't carry the Compact Disk logo kills most CD sales for me. It's getting so hard to find CD's with the logo, I've mostly stopped looking. The high prices are the other reason. I buy a DVD compatible with my toaster instead for less money.
What where they thinking. I went and looked at a copy of the CD The Phantom of the Opera. It was over $30! It's about 3 to 4 times the price I pay for movies. Needless to say, I didn't buy it. I don't buy many CD's anymore and it's not because of Piracy. It's because better values are found elsewhere.
Public Domain MP3's are great. I've been enjoying old time radio lately.
How about trusted users?
How about it? IBM, Dell, and Intel make hardware. They are in the business of selling hardware. Some content providers (IP owners) will bundle trusted hardware for the sharing of their content to trusted parties. Nothing unusual here. It's the same as a Cable TV box, a Satelite TV box, a Satelite Radio box, etc. The hardware buyers are the content providers such as your employer. They wan their content locked down but viewable by the employee. They don't want it viewed by outside third parties. That's what trusted computing is all about. It won't connect to your thumb flash drive and save the latest company project in an unprotected format.
For the rest of us, we simply want general puropse computers that can do what we want. For the most part, these computers don't pick up Satelite TV, Satelite Radio, or pay cable channels or connect to the secure corprate LAN. For that, you need other hardware.
The trusted computing is the hardware you will have at work supplied by your employer. If you want a subscription service such as Musicmatch or I-tunes, then you may be required to purchase additional hardware to support the content. For most home users, there is little interest in trusted computing except by those who want to subscribe to a pay TV, Video, or Sound feed. The rest of us will do fine using hardware that does not participate in subscription services and will only use it at work so we don't steal from our employer by adding trojan's and keyloggers.
The only reason Joe six-pack would be interested in upgrading is the additonal stability provided by the hardware refusing to run the latest e-mail attachment or buffer overrun.
Your post was so painfully lacking in amusement that upon reading it, I shattered my coffee mug into small fragments and continued to swallow each of them.
;-)
;-)
I'm sorry to hear you don't have a wife that likes to use the computer once in a while.
I like mine to use the computer. She does my bookeeping and taxes so I don't worry about them. I like it when she wants to logon.
If she needs a sample from me, I'll like it even more.
I shattered my coffee mug into small fragments
May I recommend a good stainless steel cup?
Anytime I'm not on my home ISP, I log in to my bank using it's IP address, not the URL. Then I get the SSL connection without getting re-directed by a cafe's hacked DNS server.
Just to be safe, I recheck the tracert once logged in. The tracert and the IP I punched in should match. If they don't, then I never attempt to log in from that location again. So far I've not had any mis-matches indicating a re-direct of a URL. A good URL to keep the IP address for is not only your bank, but PayPal, Google (get the real one) and Slashdot.
Google 216.239.39.99
Slashdot 66.35.250.150
Paypal 216.113.188.34
Bank of America 171.159.193.173
Keep these numbers handy when using any wireless connection. You never know what the free access provider is doing with your information. Get a SSL connection and don't be sent to an alternate phishing site. Check the connected IP address.
The proposed 2-factor authentication involves both a blood and semen sample.
;-)
Maybe my wife will want to see me more often now.