There's a version of the 1812 Overture with real cannon fire that will blow out your speakers if the volume is too high.
True story. A small set of speakers and a KW amp will do the trick. With Klipshorn speakers, we didn't blow the speakers, but dislodged the plate glass window in the living room. I have the CD. You need an amplifier that won't do a DC protection shutdown on high amplitude low frequencies. It's the Telarc recording that has gained elite status for it's dynamics and SN ratio.
You will need a serious system and remember to turn it down again before playing any current CD. Recent CD's normal peak level is at the exact same level as the cannon fire in the Telarc recording and will be playing at cannon fire level within 10 seconds of the start through the remainder of the songs. Most of the music is recorded about 30-40 DB below modern recordings. If you don't crank it up, most of the music will be almost as loud as my refrigerator in the kitchen.
To see the effects of audio compression on recent audio CDs, use a good CD ripping program such as CDEX. rip a few CDs and watch how far you get into each song before you hit within 6DB of 100%. On the Telarc recording of 1812, you don't get within 20 DB for quite a while. The punch comes later with the cannons.
The other Telarc recording that is lots of fun for dynamics is the Halloween release that spoofs the album Thriller. It is called Chiller and has a very impressive thunder sequence in the opening. Be sure to crank it up.
It's not that people wouldn't buy content, despite it being overpriced IMO.
Excelent point. It is overpriced. When pre-recorded VHS tapes were $35-$65 we went out of our way to defeat Magnavision copy guard protection and copy the tapes onto $15-$20 blank tapes. Now that I buy movies for 2 for $10 and less,and blank tapes are under a dollar, I don't bother trading with my neighbor to make copies of movies. The music industry hasen't figured this out yet along with some movie studios (Disney) who still try to price movies in the over $15 range. Get a clue.. I rarely buy over $15 movies. I buy lots of under $10 movies. Kids shows are the ones most likely to be mistreated, broken, lost, scratched, etc. Along with the high prices on Disney content, they are the first ones to be ripped to a server.
High priced copy protected content has little value. Improperly labeled packaging poisons the pool of content. There was no warning on some recent SONY releases. Open Season came with copy protection that blocked Acidrip. Even though SONY replaced the disk at their expense, the damage was done. Any future SONY release is viewed in the light of requiring online research to see if it is worth purchase. Enough Audo CD's are released with copy protection and high prices to simply prevent me from bothering to look at retail CD's anymore. So few of them have the Compact Disc logo to claim meeting manufacturing specifications for the Philips standard that I don't bother looking for it anymore. Also missing from most all recent CD's are the DDD or other quality indicators. So few people look for the indicators of quality, and just go for who the band is, that quality and compatibility is lost in the marketing spin.
I don't buy any popular under $5 CD's simply because they don't exist. I don't buy over $5 CD's because they are overpriced as well as overcompressed. I buy movies instead. Movies still have dynamic range and good S/N ratio for THX certification.
He didn't care about DRM until this moment when his CD didn't work anymore as expected.
I'm a little bit older. I became interested in backing up music when 8 track tapes appeared to come in two flavors, those which have tangled and those about to. Compact Cassettes suffered the same fate. I frequently made back-up copies. When I went into the service, I found I could replace many of the have tangled tapes by borrowing LP's in the barracks. I bought the best turntable and cassette deck I could find.
Videotape came out with very expensive pre-recorded tapes. I taped lots off TV and fought the ills of early videotape DRM (Magnaguard copy protection followed by Macrovision) Later CD's came out, followed by expensive CD burners which was followed by CD ripping software and internet.
Expensive content that was hobbled so bad it wouldn't play properly was the biggest reason to avoid DRM and Copy Protection. The fragility of the delivery medium and the inability to format shift and back it up was and still is the biggest reason to avoid DRM and Copy Protection. The iTunes croud is quick to point out that you can burn it to a regular CD. They fail to point out the cost. 1 conversion is not losseless. It's doubled if you convert again to MP3 to use in a MP3 player or burn a MP3 compilation CD for the DVD player. Don't forget to add in the cost of the blank media required and the time to re-enter the track metadata if you re-rip to MP3. Again high prices, restricted use, work-arounds, cost in time and money, and loss of quality to make a usable back-upable file.
All these restrictions make the free alternative a much better product. It comes in the desired format at better quality and can be used as intended in it's original format. No tweaking required.
So when is the industry going to release a reasonably priced quality product? Hey, RIAA, anybody home? RIAA, get rid of the lawyers and get some engineers. THX has set sound standards for film. How about quality standards for CD's instead of compressed to sound loud?
Enjoy the show... and take the special if you get caught. It's the best deal you'll see from anyone.
I'm not going to get caught. I'm not connected. There is nothing between the cable modem and the street except for a grounding block for lightning protection. When you sweep, bring a TDR.
While there are certainly spambots in first-world contries running on legit version of Windows that are kept up to date, the vast majority come from Asian and African countries
Time to dig in your spam folder and check headers. Much of my spam comes from.ru but is using a Comcast IP address. I didn't think Comcast did business in the.ru domain. Over 1/3rd of my spam is from the USA.
Even if you consider SP2, Ubuntu distros of that era were essentially unusable (hell, version 5.xx had showstopper bugs when I tried less than 18 months ago). Vista is a lot better about not assuming that the user knows how to safely use a computer.
I agree on much of the older versions being full of bugs. I was comparing the LTS distro Daper Drake with XP SP2 because they are both pre Vista. I have not compaired Vista with Fiesty as I haven't met the hardware requirements for either the Aero 3D or Fiesty 3D interface. I tried the live CD of Fiesty which showed my video memory is severly lacking. There is no Vista free live CD to test Aero.
As far as Vista security by default, it expects the user to perform so many "Administrator" tasks, that the user soon glosses over the warnings whatever they are and click OK to continue. In Ubuntu, most work is done as a user without the endless supply of user warnings and prompts. Administration is left to the administrator instead of everyone checking their e-mail.
I wonder if the author realizes that all of the over the air HDTV stations are broadcast on UHF frequencies so you need only a standard UHF attenna.
The author mentioned marginal over the air signal which frequently cut out. It's time to ditch the loop antenna and put up a proper stacked bowtie or yagi antenna. I used to live in the boonies and didn't have a local VHF station so our TV was telecast and re-broadcast on high UHF channels. My folks still had the yagi antenna kicking about so I put it up and have very solid signal now. I would recommend the author do the same.
I don't dare connect my set to Comcast. I use just the internet. To steal TV content can be a RIAA lawsuit type expense. To prevent theft of cable TV service, they changed the rules so now if you steal only one channel for one month, they can collect as if you took all channels including pay per view for quite a period of time. I don't remember the time frame, but it's insane. That is the primary reason I tried to get DSL instead of cable. Giving in to the temptation could get very expensive very quickly.
If you surf unencrypted channels, be sure you have at least basic TV subscription, otherwise the punitive damage could be devestating.
ok, so how do you compress the window partition and setup a dual boot. Please send me instructions,
OK, 1 use the disk utility in Windows to Compress the hard drive and clear free sectors This moves everything to the first part of the drive so stuff doesn't get lost in repartitioning.
2 Make a backup of your data. Repartitioning has been known to trash a Windows install. It has never happened to me yet. Your milage may vary.
3 Use a Ubuntu CD to boot the computer. Follow the prompts to repartition and install. Do not use the option to use the entire disk as that will remove Windows.
4 Reboot and enjoy. Some Windows installs have a hidden boot partition, so 2 Windows partitions in the boot menu is normal. Use the first windows item to boot Windows. There may be more than one Linus boot item, the other one is for recovery (safe mode). Use the first Windows or First Ubuntu boot item for each OS and you should be fine.
No offense, but you're presenting both Linux and Windows in a quite unfair light if you're touting running as a non-admin the main advantage.
The entire point is default security. When you check your email at a friends, do you check they show all file extensions? Do you check you are running as user instead of administrator? When Grandma gets a PC for sending photos to family, would she even know to check that the file extensions are shown?
Most people new to XP were owned before they learned about these things as evidenced by the large spambot population filling my inbox. These things don't happen to new Ubuntu users.
Honestly, I think if you are selling them on dual booting, you may have won the battle but lost the war.
Not running TurboTax, (insert favorite name here) game, and other Windows only is the fast way to lose the war. Having a secure internet experiance and learning to use Linux takes a dent out of the steep learning curve. In a few steps they may be ready to install flash in Firefox and learn how.
You don't win the war in one giant battle. Too many casualties all at once to survive. Win the war by winning lots of small battles. It's how I converted. I started with one older machine. It ran much better than newer faster hardware. From there, I converted my Win 2K laptop and dual boot another machine. The dual boot machine is the only one now that I use for Windows only programs. As soon as the Windows Only stuff is replaced, it's toast.
Windows only at the moment means Turbo Tax, Freestyler, National Geographic's Off Road Explorer, and the software to upload maps to my GPS. GPS waypoint management is OK in Linux, but uploading maps is still dead. Good TOPO maps in Linux just isn't on par with Backroads Explorer and the State high res maps. I hope they release a Linux program that uses these great maps. Qlight does not replace Freestyler yet, but it's getting there.
You idiots spent years screeching about how Vista was going to require jilliobytes of RAM so everyone was going was going to switch to Ubuntu.
The biggie for me was the jilliobucks of dollars. Due to security reasons I migrated 2 Windows 98SE machines and one Windows 2000 Pro to Ubuntu. The Windows 2000 pro got migrated because I just got tired of the search for drivers for every odd brand of thumb drive I stuck in it. The Vista and office upgrade price would have been much more than the older Thinkpad's value and would have been a major strain on the installed 20 gig hard drive and 512 Meg of memory. The cheap upgrade to Ubuntu and Open Office + Gimp was a simple decision. It was a no cost major upgrade. It fixed the driver issues, old version of MS office issues, and was pretty much plug and play for most hardware I plugged in. Being able to rip DVD's, Burn CD's and DVD's without buying more software was a plus.
I found relief from most of the demoware shipped with most PC's nowdays. I don't have to buy the full version to burn an ISO to CD or DVD or make an ISO. I don't have to buy the full version to do extended photo editing. I don't have to buy the full version to rip to MP3 instead of some other incompatible format.
There are cavits on the flipside, but they are minor such as playing/ripping DVD's with CSS, encoding and playing MP3's, wma, etc, but the fixes are easy to find and install. Wireless support, MTP devices, Flash, and some other items are a little more work, but worth the effort.
Whatever, then. I'm building a new computer at the moment, so where are my damn price breaks with this glut of unsellable RAM on the market?
Pay attention. My first computer used 8K modules. It was expandable from the base 8K to 24K. Modules were $72 each. My first PC (an XT clone) had 1 Meg of memory at a cost of $400.
Checking my local supplier, 1,000 Meg of memory is under $50 in some formats. Pay attention. When was the last time you could buy 1Gig of memory for under $50? Back when I built my P4 system, 512 Meg was well over $100 which is why I didn't go with a Gig or two at the time. I may well expand all my systems this week due to low RAM prices. I can fill out 3 machines to a Gig for less than what it cost to stuff in 1/2 Gig a year and a half ago.
Thank you, I'll be using that phrase against a few Ubuntu-users I know.
Actualy, when you show the reasons it's not Windows, it's an easy sell. Yesterday I demo'ed Ubuntu. Our visitors wanted to know what made it diffrent and what's all the fuss about security. I was already booted up and online as a normal user. They were quick to note wow, it runs Firefox. I showed the menu and how it works like Windows and had much the same menu items such as accessories, games, etc. Then I explained the not so same as in Windows everyone is an administrator by default.
I turned over the computer and had them try to change printer settings, internet settings, display settings. I even had them go into another user's directory that was shared and asked them to delete any file. I then showed them the file permissions. I then explained these are the defalt permissions. I then showed how the common Windows exploits such as web pages with a Windows system error look very out of place on Ubuntu and hidden known file extensions are not a problem. There is not much exploitation of running a picture attachment on Ubuntu called MyNakedWife.jpg.exe and why it won't run if clicked on in Ubuntu. It asks if you want to save the file or what program to open it with. It just doesn't install a rootkit with no prompts like what happens to Windows users who only see MyNakedWife.jpg.
They were concerned about replacing Windows due to the many Windows only programs. I then gave them the directions on compressing the Windows partition, repartitioning after booting Ubuntu and dual booting.
In short, being like Windows by having familiar menu's and running Firefox is a plus. Being not like Windows in default security was the selling point. I think they will be dual booting by the end of the week.
That's simple. Set the controls to block all violence, cursing, adult situations, etc and foreget it as there is nothing on except "BLOCKED CONTENT".
Really, you have to ask "What would Jesus do?". I think he would be too busy to waste time not talking to people in person. Somehow I just can't picture him kicking back in a recliner and flipping on The Simpsons.
I also strongly doubt he would have cable, satelite, a PVR, or even a TV.
You did bring up a beef I have.
Being entertained is a privilege, not a right.
I mean, sure, you paid to buy the TV. And you pay your cable or satellite bill.
Cable TV was originaly billed as advertisement free. You paid directly for the privilage of commercial free TV in place of advertising sponsored TV. Cable providers pay a premium for content to provide. In the contract they must carry the commercials with a few local commercial breaks for local market advertisement insertions. That is why you not only get National Ford commercials (Time Magazine, Sports Ilistrated) you also get local car dealership advertisements. My beef is since there is so much sponsorship, why is a cable bill so expensive? If it is so expensive (I buy content) why is it so jam packed with sponsor messages?
It got so bad I dropped subscription TV when basic went from 6.95/month to 12.95/month. The prices have never come back and I have never come back. I found life much fuller without mind deadning least common denominator suggestive situation comedy. Internet has replaced TV. We finaly picked up a HDTV (we watch a lot of commercial free (no interuptions) videos. I put up an antenna so we can get the local DTV, but we rarely watch it. If I want the news, I grab the laptop instead. I don't have to wait for the news and I can dig further into a story if needed. TV is for local news.
After I build a Myth TV box, I will probably watch more TV as I could then record NOVA and other shows I simply forget to watch when they are on. So even though I don't have a DVR yet, I would have to agree with the article bacause I would go from watching less than 2 hours of TV a week to more and in the process I would be exposed to advertisements I simply don't even have on now.
Personally, (most) MP3 players I've hooked up to Linux through a USB have been recognized as just plain old drives. You put the MP3 in the right folder (sometimes takes testing) and there it is, ready to play.
Many MTP devices (newer version of plays for sure) has 2 modes of operation. 1 is the music mode requiring MTP for transfers. Having the MTP library and a proper player to handle sync is essential. I went through that for a newer version of the Zen V video player. The other mode is mass USB storage mode. The device usualy has to be partitioned to set aside some space for mass storage. The player won't tough anything stuffed in that partition with a 10 foot pole. It is storage space and nothing else. It is one of the evils of MTP devices to prevent casusal copying of the music library. Fortunately on Linux, the Banchee and other players which sync to MTP devices through the MTP library, are perfectly able to copy both ways unlike the software that ships with the player which will happly delete removed songs on the next sync.
Me personaly, I prefer a driverless MP3 player. The cheaper the better. My under $40 Coby player includes mic and FM recording to MP3 file, SD slot for expansion, backlit LCD display, driverless USB connection for drag and drop file maitenance, and runs on a rechargable AAA battery. It's easy to use at home, or on work PC's where we are not allowed to install software. I often will find an MP3 podcast which I directly DL to the player at work. Most DRM players will not function that way. It is important to find a player which meets your needs.
The only thing I haven't figured out how to do without it's driver software is build playlists. Someday I'll find a Windows PC to load the software on to build a playlist to use as an editable template.
Without a playlist the player still functions well just navigating the directories instead.
1. no compensation ensues; 2. First Nations installs signal blockers; 3. the chief almost dies because his cell phone couldn't reach 911 at home 4. Cell service is permited but has an extra transport tax in tribal land to cover the tribe's tarriff 5. Profit for tribe and cell companies 6. First Nations realise how stupid the whole exercise is when phone service is $6 per minute
I want revenue sharing for all cell-phone signals that go through my body. WiFi too. Oh, and walktie talkies. And ham radios, AM, FM, and XM. You know what, since it's all just EM waves anyway, I also want revenue for each ray of light that bounces off me and onto anything else. Got a microwave oven? Pay up.
You need a good ICBM silo. They cover about every EM signal you listed. When you get tired of the dark with no reception for your pager, phone, TV, etc, I'm sure someone will be glad to charge you to provide a signal.
Then they should pay for any cell phone signal originating from their territory, too.
Let's not go nuts. Let's just stick with the electromagnetic spectrum. Does the country happen to have a radio or TV station? Does the government use 2 way radio? Do they do anything to stop the signal at the boarder? If not the best they can do since they are intruding on their neighbors resources is a cross license agreement. It would be very much like the agreement the US has with it's boarder neighbors to the North and South. The US has allocation agreements with both Mexico and Canada so commercial broadcasters do not cause problems using the same frequencies next to each other cross the line. Near the boarder, there are some frequencies the US won't use and some Canada won't use to ensuere good reception for all.
I do have one concern: if somebody does a legitimate transfer of their music (deleting all of the copies they own in the process), what happens if the new owner decides to put the stuff on a P2P network?
Same thing you do when you sell your car.. Keep reciepts. There should be a way to record the sale on iTunes, but I doubt there is because they don't want to support used sales. It's up to the RIAA to tie the sharing after the sale date to your IP address or account. The reciept may be your get out of jail an put your friend in jail card.
That could also be because taking a Prius for a joyride is a bit of an oxymoron.
"Hey look, we're almost up to 40!!"
Truly spoken by someone who has never driven one. An electric motor has full torque at a stall unlike a gas engine. My car has lots more pep than the Mustang I traded in. The Mustang was a gutless 4 banger with almost as much get up and go as my old VW beetle. The Prius on the other hand will pass people going uphill at freeway speeds. Stock a new Prius will do well over 100 MPH unlike most economy cars.
Just like the Zune, any non-iPod device is something you only show to your very closest friends, amongst nervous laughter, as you explain to them the embarrassing chain of events that led you to buying it.
Not always the case. If you have valid reasons, a wise purchase isn't hidden. Here on Slashdot I have mentioned several times I bought an MP3 player. My shopping list included;
1 Cheap Players break, get lost and stolen. Keep loss low by having low investment cost 2 OS agnostic 3 Standard file types 4 Recording 5 Radio 6 Expandible if small 7 Small, use standard batteries
Result;
1 Under $40 2 USB plug and play flash device, driverless under Windows, Mac, Linux, or any USB capible OS. 3 MP3 & WMA playback MP3 for recording 4 Mic and FM Recording at various bitrates 5 FM Radio 6 SD card slot 512 Meg built in. A cheap 2 Gig SD card makes it very usable. 7 Small. Runs on single AAA battery. I use rechargables. Brand Coby.
With the Zune, you pay as much as an iPod but don't get the dock interface and get a huge brick. I would hide if I bought a Zune. Other than squirting, (limited value) you gain little and lose a lot. Put the Zune and iPod and Zune against the above shopping list. A 30 Gig HD would be nice, but would have cut battery life and made the player larger.
One of the selling points on my Prius is the fact the computer won't let the car be driven without the proper chip in the key. It has no 12 volt starter. It has electronic transmission. There is no mechanical way to hotwire it and drive it off. It won't start, or enguage the transmission.
Breaking in to steal the stereo is one thing. Breaking in for a joyride is next to impossible. Chop shop operators have to tow, not drive the targets.
Look it up on the internet. Search for car thefts by model. Unless the keys are hanging in the ignition, Prius cars are not taken for joy rides like Hondas.
Re:Reading between the lines, or what isn't said..
on
A Million Zunes Sold
·
· Score: 1
Maybe he is just a zune owner and wants to "squirt" your daughter.
His Zune has to have real long range. She is away at school.
Re:Reading between the lines, or what isn't said..
on
A Million Zunes Sold
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Who does Microsoft sell to? That is the question. Have you been in a Microsoft store lately? Microsoft sells to retailers. How many Zunes are in retailers wareshouses awaiting retail sale? I bet the sales guy gets a pretty good spiff for selling a Zune over a Zen.
My daughter away in school wanted a Xen Video. We went to a retailer and asked for one. The salesman convienently heard me say Zune. They acted like they didn't know what or where the Zen's were. Either I got a real diwit for a salesman, or they were blinded by the possible spiff for selling a Zune. The store did have Zen's, but were sold out of the video model.
Slashdot Mirror
There's a version of the 1812 Overture with real cannon fire that will blow out your speakers if the volume is too high.
True story. A small set of speakers and a KW amp will do the trick. With Klipshorn speakers, we didn't blow the speakers, but dislodged the plate glass window in the living room. I have the CD. You need an amplifier that won't do a DC protection shutdown on high amplitude low frequencies. It's the Telarc recording that has gained elite status for it's dynamics and SN ratio.
You will need a serious system and remember to turn it down again before playing any current CD. Recent CD's normal peak level is at the exact same level as the cannon fire in the Telarc recording and will be playing at cannon fire level within 10 seconds of the start through the remainder of the songs. Most of the music is recorded about 30-40 DB below modern recordings. If you don't crank it up, most of the music will be almost as loud as my refrigerator in the kitchen.
To see the effects of audio compression on recent audio CDs, use a good CD ripping program such as CDEX.
rip a few CDs and watch how far you get into each song before you hit within 6DB of 100%. On the Telarc recording of 1812, you don't get within 20 DB for quite a while. The punch comes later with the cannons.
The other Telarc recording that is lots of fun for dynamics is the Halloween release that spoofs the album Thriller. It is called Chiller and has a very impressive thunder sequence in the opening. Be sure to crank it up.
It's not that people wouldn't buy content, despite it being overpriced IMO.
Excelent point. It is overpriced. When pre-recorded VHS tapes were $35-$65 we went out of our way to defeat Magnavision copy guard protection and copy the tapes onto $15-$20 blank tapes. Now that I buy movies for 2 for $10 and less,and blank tapes are under a dollar, I don't bother trading with my neighbor to make copies of movies. The music industry hasen't figured this out yet along with some movie studios (Disney) who still try to price movies in the over $15 range. Get a clue.. I rarely buy over $15 movies. I buy lots of under $10 movies. Kids shows are the ones most likely to be mistreated, broken, lost, scratched, etc. Along with the high prices on Disney content, they are the first ones to be ripped to a server.
High priced copy protected content has little value. Improperly labeled packaging poisons the pool of content. There was no warning on some recent SONY releases. Open Season came with copy protection that blocked Acidrip. Even though SONY replaced the disk at their expense, the damage was done. Any future SONY release is viewed in the light of requiring online research to see if it is worth purchase. Enough Audo CD's are released with copy protection and high prices to simply prevent me from bothering to look at retail CD's anymore. So few of them have the Compact Disc logo to claim meeting manufacturing specifications for the Philips standard that I don't bother looking for it anymore. Also missing from most all recent CD's are the DDD or other quality indicators. So few people look for the indicators of quality, and just go for who the band is, that quality and compatibility is lost in the marketing spin.
I don't buy any popular under $5 CD's simply because they don't exist. I don't buy over $5 CD's because they are overpriced as well as overcompressed. I buy movies instead. Movies still have dynamic range and good S/N ratio for THX certification.
He didn't care about DRM until this moment when his CD didn't work anymore as expected.
I'm a little bit older. I became interested in backing up music when 8 track tapes appeared to come in two flavors, those which have tangled and those about to. Compact Cassettes suffered the same fate. I frequently made back-up copies. When I went into the service, I found I could replace many of the have tangled tapes by borrowing LP's in the barracks. I bought the best turntable and cassette deck I could find.
Videotape came out with very expensive pre-recorded tapes. I taped lots off TV and fought the ills of early videotape DRM (Magnaguard copy protection followed by Macrovision) Later CD's came out, followed by expensive CD burners which was followed by CD ripping software and internet.
Expensive content that was hobbled so bad it wouldn't play properly was the biggest reason to avoid DRM and Copy Protection. The fragility of the delivery medium and the inability to format shift and back it up was and still is the biggest reason to avoid DRM and Copy Protection. The iTunes croud is quick to point out that you can burn it to a regular CD. They fail to point out the cost. 1 conversion is not losseless. It's doubled if you convert again to MP3 to use in a MP3 player or burn a MP3 compilation CD for the DVD player. Don't forget to add in the cost of the blank media required and the time to re-enter the track metadata if you re-rip to MP3. Again high prices, restricted use, work-arounds, cost in time and money, and loss of quality to make a usable back-upable file.
All these restrictions make the free alternative a much better product. It comes in the desired format at better quality and can be used as intended in it's original format. No tweaking required.
So when is the industry going to release a reasonably priced quality product? Hey, RIAA, anybody home? RIAA, get rid of the lawyers and get some engineers. THX has set sound standards for film. How about quality standards for CD's instead of compressed to sound loud?
Enjoy the show... and take the special if you get caught. It's the best deal you'll see from anyone.
I'm not going to get caught. I'm not connected. There is nothing between the cable modem and the street except for a grounding block for lightning protection. When you sweep, bring a TDR.
While there are certainly spambots in first-world contries running on legit version of Windows that are kept up to date, the vast majority come from Asian and African countries
.ru but is using a Comcast IP address. I didn't think Comcast did business in the .ru domain. Over 1/3rd of my spam is from the USA.
Time to dig in your spam folder and check headers. Much of my spam comes from
Even if you consider SP2, Ubuntu distros of that era were essentially unusable (hell, version 5.xx had showstopper bugs when I tried less than 18 months ago). Vista is a lot better about not assuming that the user knows how to safely use a computer.
I agree on much of the older versions being full of bugs. I was comparing the LTS distro Daper Drake with XP SP2 because they are both pre Vista. I have not compaired Vista with Fiesty as I haven't met the hardware requirements for either the Aero 3D or Fiesty 3D interface. I tried the live CD of Fiesty which showed my video memory is severly lacking. There is no Vista free live CD to test Aero.
As far as Vista security by default, it expects the user to perform so many "Administrator" tasks, that the user soon glosses over the warnings whatever they are and click OK to continue. In Ubuntu, most work is done as a user without the endless supply of user warnings and prompts. Administration is left to the administrator instead of everyone checking their e-mail.
I wonder if the author realizes that all of the over the air HDTV stations are broadcast on UHF frequencies so you need only a standard UHF attenna.
The author mentioned marginal over the air signal which frequently cut out. It's time to ditch the loop antenna and put up a proper stacked bowtie or yagi antenna. I used to live in the boonies and didn't have a local VHF station so our TV was telecast and re-broadcast on high UHF channels. My folks still had the yagi antenna kicking about so I put it up and have very solid signal now. I would recommend the author do the same.
I don't dare connect my set to Comcast. I use just the internet. To steal TV content can be a RIAA lawsuit type expense. To prevent theft of cable TV service, they changed the rules so now if you steal only one channel for one month, they can collect as if you took all channels including pay per view for quite a period of time. I don't remember the time frame, but it's insane. That is the primary reason I tried to get DSL instead of cable. Giving in to the temptation could get very expensive very quickly.
If you surf unencrypted channels, be sure you have at least basic TV subscription, otherwise the punitive damage could be devestating.
ok, so how do you compress the window partition and setup a dual boot. Please send me instructions,
OK,
1 use the disk utility in Windows to Compress the hard drive and clear free sectors This moves everything to the first part of the drive so stuff doesn't get lost in repartitioning.
2 Make a backup of your data. Repartitioning has been known to trash a Windows install. It has never happened to me yet. Your milage may vary.
3 Use a Ubuntu CD to boot the computer. Follow the prompts to repartition and install. Do not use the option to use the entire disk as that will remove Windows.
4 Reboot and enjoy. Some Windows installs have a hidden boot partition, so 2 Windows partitions in the boot menu is normal. Use the first windows item to boot Windows. There may be more than one Linus boot item, the other one is for recovery (safe mode). Use the first Windows or First Ubuntu boot item for each OS and you should be fine.
No offense, but you're presenting both Linux and Windows in a quite unfair light if you're touting running as a non-admin the main advantage.
The entire point is default security. When you check your email at a friends, do you check they show all file extensions? Do you check you are running as user instead of administrator? When Grandma gets a PC for sending photos to family, would she even know to check that the file extensions are shown?
Most people new to XP were owned before they learned about these things as evidenced by the large spambot population filling my inbox. These things don't happen to new Ubuntu users.
Honestly, I think if you are selling them on dual booting, you may have won the battle but lost the war.
Not running TurboTax, (insert favorite name here) game, and other Windows only is the fast way to lose the war. Having a secure internet experiance and learning to use Linux takes a dent out of the steep learning curve. In a few steps they may be ready to install flash in Firefox and learn how.
You don't win the war in one giant battle. Too many casualties all at once to survive. Win the war by winning lots of small battles. It's how I converted. I started with one older machine. It ran much better than newer faster hardware. From there, I converted my Win 2K laptop and dual boot another machine. The dual boot machine is the only one now that I use for Windows only programs. As soon as the Windows Only stuff is replaced, it's toast.
Windows only at the moment means Turbo Tax, Freestyler, National Geographic's Off Road Explorer, and the software to upload maps to my GPS. GPS waypoint management is OK in Linux, but uploading maps is still dead. Good TOPO maps in Linux just isn't on par with Backroads Explorer and the State high res maps. I hope they release a Linux program that uses these great maps. Qlight does not replace Freestyler yet, but it's getting there.
You idiots spent years screeching about how Vista was going to require jilliobytes of RAM so everyone was going was going to switch to Ubuntu.
The biggie for me was the jilliobucks of dollars. Due to security reasons I migrated 2 Windows 98SE machines and one Windows 2000 Pro to Ubuntu. The Windows 2000 pro got migrated because I just got tired of the search for drivers for every odd brand of thumb drive I stuck in it. The Vista and office upgrade price would have been much more than the older Thinkpad's value and would have been a major strain on the installed 20 gig hard drive and 512 Meg of memory. The cheap upgrade to Ubuntu and Open Office + Gimp was a simple decision. It was a no cost major upgrade. It fixed the driver issues, old version of MS office issues, and was pretty much plug and play for most hardware I plugged in. Being able to rip DVD's, Burn CD's and DVD's without buying more software was a plus.
I found relief from most of the demoware shipped with most PC's nowdays. I don't have to buy the full version to burn an ISO to CD or DVD or make an ISO. I don't have to buy the full version to do extended photo editing. I don't have to buy the full version to rip to MP3 instead of some other incompatible format.
There are cavits on the flipside, but they are minor such as playing/ripping DVD's with CSS, encoding and playing MP3's, wma, etc, but the fixes are easy to find and install. Wireless support, MTP devices, Flash, and some other items are a little more work, but worth the effort.
Whatever, then. I'm building a new computer at the moment, so where are my damn price breaks with this glut of unsellable RAM on the market?
Pay attention. My first computer used 8K modules. It was expandable from the base 8K to 24K. Modules were $72 each. My first PC (an XT clone) had 1 Meg of memory at a cost of $400.
Checking my local supplier, 1,000 Meg of memory is under $50 in some formats. Pay attention. When was the last time you could buy 1Gig of memory for under $50? Back when I built my P4 system, 512 Meg was well over $100 which is why I didn't go with a Gig or two at the time. I may well expand all my systems this week due to low RAM prices. I can fill out 3 machines to a Gig for less than what it cost to stuff in 1/2 Gig a year and a half ago.
Thank you, I'll be using that phrase against a few Ubuntu-users I know.
Actualy, when you show the reasons it's not Windows, it's an easy sell. Yesterday I demo'ed Ubuntu. Our visitors wanted to know what made it diffrent and what's all the fuss about security. I was already booted up and online as a normal user. They were quick to note wow, it runs Firefox. I showed the menu and how it works like Windows and had much the same menu items such as accessories, games, etc. Then I explained the not so same as in Windows everyone is an administrator by default.
I turned over the computer and had them try to change printer settings, internet settings, display settings. I even had them go into another user's directory that was shared and asked them to delete any file. I then showed them the file permissions. I then explained these are the defalt permissions. I then showed how the common Windows exploits such as web pages with a Windows system error look very out of place on Ubuntu and hidden known file extensions are not a problem. There is not much exploitation of running a picture attachment on Ubuntu called MyNakedWife.jpg.exe and why it won't run if clicked on in Ubuntu. It asks if you want to save the file or what program to open it with. It just doesn't install a rootkit with no prompts like what happens to Windows users who only see MyNakedWife.jpg.
They were concerned about replacing Windows due to the many Windows only programs. I then gave them the directions on compressing the Windows partition, repartitioning after booting Ubuntu and dual booting.
In short, being like Windows by having familiar menu's and running Firefox is a plus. Being not like Windows in default security was the selling point. I think they will be dual booting by the end of the week.
It's time to ask yourself what Jesus would do.
r a/4/install-1.html
That's simple. Set the controls to block all violence, cursing, adult situations, etc and foreget it as there is nothing on except "BLOCKED CONTENT".
Really, you have to ask "What would Jesus do?". I think he would be too busy to waste time not talking to people in person. Somehow I just can't picture him kicking back in a recliner and flipping on The Simpsons.
I also strongly doubt he would have cable, satelite, a PVR, or even a TV.
You did bring up a beef I have.
Being entertained is a privilege, not a right.
I mean, sure, you paid to buy the TV. And you pay your cable or satellite bill.
Cable TV was originaly billed as advertisement free. You paid directly for the privilage of commercial free TV in place of advertising sponsored TV. Cable providers pay a premium for content to provide. In the contract they must carry the commercials with a few local commercial breaks for local market advertisement insertions. That is why you not only get National Ford commercials (Time Magazine, Sports Ilistrated) you also get local car dealership advertisements. My beef is since there is so much sponsorship, why is a cable bill so expensive? If it is so expensive (I buy content) why is it so jam packed with sponsor messages?
It got so bad I dropped subscription TV when basic went from 6.95/month to 12.95/month. The prices have never come back and I have never come back. I found life much fuller without mind deadning least common denominator suggestive situation comedy. Internet has replaced TV. We finaly picked up a HDTV (we watch a lot of commercial free (no interuptions) videos. I put up an antenna so we can get the local DTV, but we rarely watch it. If I want the news, I grab the laptop instead. I don't have to wait for the news and I can dig further into a story if needed. TV is for local news.
After I build a Myth TV box, I will probably watch more TV as I could then record NOVA and other shows I simply forget to watch when they are on. So even though I don't have a DVR yet, I would have to agree with the article bacause I would go from watching less than 2 hours of TV a week to more and in the process I would be exposed to advertisements I simply don't even have on now.
Myth TV just got easier to build and configure for newbies.
http://www.mythpvr.com/mythtv/distribution/mythdo
Personally, (most) MP3 players I've hooked up to Linux through a USB have been recognized as just plain old drives. You put the MP3 in the right folder (sometimes takes testing) and there it is, ready to play.
Many MTP devices (newer version of plays for sure) has 2 modes of operation. 1 is the music mode requiring MTP for transfers. Having the MTP library and a proper player to handle sync is essential. I went through that for a newer version of the Zen V video player. The other mode is mass USB storage mode. The device usualy has to be partitioned to set aside some space for mass storage. The player won't tough anything stuffed in that partition with a 10 foot pole. It is storage space and nothing else. It is one of the evils of MTP devices to prevent casusal copying of the music library. Fortunately on Linux, the Banchee and other players which sync to MTP devices through the MTP library, are perfectly able to copy both ways unlike the software that ships with the player which will happly delete removed songs on the next sync.
Me personaly, I prefer a driverless MP3 player. The cheaper the better. My under $40 Coby player includes mic and FM recording to MP3 file, SD slot for expansion, backlit LCD display, driverless USB connection for drag and drop file maitenance, and runs on a rechargable AAA battery. It's easy to use at home, or on work PC's where we are not allowed to install software. I often will find an MP3 podcast which I directly DL to the player at work. Most DRM players will not function that way. It is important to find a player which meets your needs.
The only thing I haven't figured out how to do without it's driver software is build playlists. Someday I'll find a Windows PC to load the software on to build a playlist to use as an editable template.
Without a playlist the player still functions well just navigating the directories instead.
1. no compensation ensues;
2. First Nations installs signal blockers;
3. the chief almost dies because his cell phone couldn't reach 911 at home
4. Cell service is permited but has an extra transport tax in tribal land to cover the tribe's tarriff
5. Profit for tribe and cell companies
6. First Nations realise how stupid the whole exercise is when phone service is $6 per minute
I want revenue sharing for all cell-phone signals that go through my body. WiFi too. Oh, and walktie talkies. And ham radios, AM, FM, and XM. You know what, since it's all just EM waves anyway, I also want revenue for each ray of light that bounces off me and onto anything else. Got a microwave oven? Pay up.
You need a good ICBM silo. They cover about every EM signal you listed. When you get tired of the dark with no reception for your pager, phone, TV, etc, I'm sure someone will be glad to charge you to provide a signal.
Then they should pay for any cell phone signal originating from their territory, too.
Let's not go nuts. Let's just stick with the electromagnetic spectrum. Does the country happen to have a radio or TV station? Does the government use 2 way radio? Do they do anything to stop the signal at the boarder? If not the best they can do since they are intruding on their neighbors resources is a cross license agreement. It would be very much like the agreement the US has with it's boarder neighbors to the North and South. The US has allocation agreements with both Mexico and Canada so commercial broadcasters do not cause problems using the same frequencies next to each other cross the line. Near the boarder, there are some frequencies the US won't use and some Canada won't use to ensuere good reception for all.
How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
Duh... When you no longer get invisible printing. Check you printouts for invisible printing.
I do have one concern: if somebody does a legitimate transfer of their music (deleting all of the copies they own in the process), what happens if the new owner decides to put the stuff on a P2P network?
Same thing you do when you sell your car.. Keep reciepts. There should be a way to record the sale on iTunes, but I doubt there is because they don't want to support used sales. It's up to the RIAA to tie the sharing after the sale date to your IP address or account. The reciept may be your get out of jail an put your friend in jail card.
That could also be because taking a Prius for a joyride is a bit of an oxymoron.
g .htmly _win/specs_price.html
"Hey look, we're almost up to 40!!"
Truly spoken by someone who has never driven one. An electric motor has full torque at a stall unlike a gas engine. My car has lots more pep than the Mustang I traded in. The Mustang was a gutless 4 banger with almost as much get up and go as my old VW beetle. The Prius on the other hand will pass people going uphill at freeway speeds. Stock a new Prius will do well over 100 MPH unlike most economy cars.
Here are some drag strip stats for these gutless econo cars.
http://www.dragtimes.com/Toyota--Prius-Drag-Racin
http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/car/112_04_co
Just like the Zune, any non-iPod device is something you only show to your very closest friends, amongst nervous laughter, as you explain to them the embarrassing chain of events that led you to buying it.
Not always the case. If you have valid reasons, a wise purchase isn't hidden. Here on Slashdot I have mentioned several times I bought an MP3 player. My shopping list included;
1 Cheap Players break, get lost and stolen. Keep loss low by having low investment cost
2 OS agnostic
3 Standard file types
4 Recording
5 Radio
6 Expandible if small
7 Small, use standard batteries
Result;
1 Under $40
2 USB plug and play flash device, driverless under Windows, Mac, Linux, or any USB capible OS.
3 MP3 & WMA playback MP3 for recording
4 Mic and FM Recording at various bitrates
5 FM Radio
6 SD card slot 512 Meg built in. A cheap 2 Gig SD card makes it very usable.
7 Small. Runs on single AAA battery. I use rechargables.
Brand Coby.
With the Zune, you pay as much as an iPod but don't get the dock interface and get a huge brick. I would hide if I bought a Zune. Other than squirting, (limited value) you gain little and lose a lot. Put the Zune and iPod and Zune against the above shopping list. A 30 Gig HD would be nice, but would have cut battery life and made the player larger.
Why don't they burn radios or TVs instead?
r s_in_Response_to_Opie_Anthony_Suspension
They do when their favorite content is pulled.
http://digg.com/celebrity/People_Smash_XM_Receive
I'll take a mechanical lock anyday.
I see you have never had your car stolen.
One of the selling points on my Prius is the fact the computer won't let the car be driven without the proper chip in the key. It has no 12 volt starter. It has electronic transmission. There is no mechanical way to hotwire it and drive it off. It won't start, or enguage the transmission.
Breaking in to steal the stereo is one thing. Breaking in for a joyride is next to impossible. Chop shop operators have to tow, not drive the targets.
Look it up on the internet.
Search for car thefts by model. Unless the keys are hanging in the ignition, Prius cars are not taken for joy rides like Hondas.
Maybe he is just a zune owner and wants to "squirt" your daughter.
His Zune has to have real long range. She is away at school.
Who does Microsoft sell to? That is the question. Have you been in a Microsoft store lately? Microsoft sells to retailers. How many Zunes are in retailers wareshouses awaiting retail sale? I bet the sales guy gets a pretty good spiff for selling a Zune over a Zen.
My daughter away in school wanted a Xen Video. We went to a retailer and asked for one. The salesman convienently heard me say Zune. They acted like they didn't know what or where the Zen's were. Either I got a real diwit for a salesman, or they were blinded by the possible spiff for selling a Zune. The store did have Zen's, but were sold out of the video model.