Yep, this was student run. I graduated from UTD in the spring, and was involved in the honors program there - friends of mine in the program currently went around and posted hilighted copies of the FCC stuff to IR's office, the student paper, etc.
I don't know if they were the only ones to do this, though.
For the record, I'm a UTD alumnus (spring 2004). Everyone should note that the campus has no dormitories, only an apartment complex. I lived in Waterview while there, and the 2nd year we had DSL. My old roommates still do. We went DSL for a few reasons:
1) We had a 4 bedroom apartment, so cost was minimal per person. 2) AirUTD, especially in areas of the apartments, sucks. It's worse in some phases than in others. In some places you can get a connection in your living room but not bedroom or the like.
On the other hand, I did have problems the year before last because some jackass was running an ad-hoc with the name "wlan01" (the network name at UTD). Friend of mine and I tracked it to his apartment using a PDA with wireless but couldn't do anything about it.
What makes this interesting is that non-UTD students can't use the wireless network. You have to be a student and have a special login name to add a MAC address to your account. Not a student? Visiting for the weekend? Guess that means wires!
We used ethernet in our apartment between the desktops but still kept wireless around for the laptops. I should say, however, that my roommates are wireless gurus and so it was set up correctly. Joe Sixpack with default Linksys router and Jill Sixpack with a laptop are problems. Interestingly enough there are dumb people, at a school which prides it self on engineering and CS.
As for the apartments, if I recall, at least one phase of them IS owned by the University - that's phases 8, 8A, and "9" (aka 8B). Not sure as to the status of the other phases as I remember there being an article in the Mercury (campus paper) about possibly buying them from First Worthing (the parent of Waterview). This may answer the university issue but the FCC/legal questions still remain. Phase 8 is where the freshmen live and is subject to additional oversight by Student Life. There are RAs in the buildings, for example, which are University employees.
I suspect that enforcement may come through Waterview itself, who could possibly add it as a lease addendum. It's also a part of the lease that you can't have a firearm in your apartment, for example. There is still the issue of forcing residents to comply with the new addendum - I don't recall what the last batch of leases states in terms of ammending the contract before expiration. But September 15 sounds a bit soon for any contract.
Several people have quoted the FCC decision regarding the airlines, that in the event the "central antenna" provides equal or better performance the venue may limit individual antennae. Anyone who lives in Waterview for a day will know that private wireless will always be better than the university wireless.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out.
From the parent: A corporate spokesman says the company, " is working with law enforcement at the highest levels possible, to RECTUMFY the problem and catch the people responsible." (all caps mine)
I wonder just what rectumfying is. Maybe it's like "radidzomai" in Greek (to be buggered by a raddish), or the Tossed Salad Man. I'll bet rectumfying would deter anyone else from hacking gift cards!
Has anyone considered the possibility that he filed for this patent to make an example of how stupid the patent office is? I know I've done stuff like this before, usually involving the grad students who "graded" my physics homework. It could be that Mr. Olsen finds this to be just as absurd as the rest of us.
You know, I find this amusing: what if the PC had a Sony DVD or CD drive? Would it still crash then?
Talk about absurd. When product crashes another product made by the same company...well, maybe it's not so absurd after all. I mean, Microsoft stays in business...
He's got a good idea, but I don't agree with the implementation. This has probably been submitted, but it seems to me that instead of the software just outright not working, after a certain time, it would simply display a message every now and then advising you to update.
This could be a good task for some sort of mini-program to be included in all kernels that collects these messages from all programs on the system and displays them, so you would run "progupdates" or something and a list would be generated of everything you need to update. This program could also be made to connect to a database and compare version numbers with a list to determine if a new update is available, and then advise the user that it is available. Imagine it sort of like Battle.net, on connect, it checks your version against the server and informs you if your version is out of date. (Unlike b.net, though, software patches should not be required, rather, just advised).
I think it was a tad unfair to compare a Duron using DDR to a Celeron on PC100/133 (depends on the motherboard and how they set it up). They did acknowledge it directly when discussing the memory bandwidth (which showed the expected numbers, Duron was around 2x Celeron), but I think it shows only part of the picture (especially with DDR prices back up in the stratosphere compared to say, a month or two ago). This is one reason I take benchmarks with a grain of salt...it's very difficult to objectively compare AMD and Intel CPU's now due to the drastically different architectures.
The article also mentioned the Intel headspreaders...these should be reflexive on all processors. I can't count how many "Cracked core" thread's I've read on the [H]ardOCP forums...and a reasonable number of these guys are shall we say slightly above your average user.
I'm affraid I don't agree with that...As unjust as a law may be, disregarding it because one may think it is "unjust" is an invitation to anarchy.
The system is designed such that laws of questionable nature would get weeded out by the courts by various parties litigating for and against it. Examples of flagrantly "unjust" laws would be (rather fitting IMHO) the Sedition act from early in US history (sorry, the exact date escapes me); and perhaps the Prohibition laws; which weren't repealed for many years after they were passed. It took years before all of us Americans could again enjoy alcohol...the repealing of that law did not happen overnight.
Other examples of "unjust" things that took forever to be made "just:" Women's voting rights, Civil rights laws of the 60's, etc. We fought a war over slavery (OK, actually that war was really over who has the right to interpret the Constitution and how, which is exactly where we are now).
The question then becomes, "when is it right to disobey a law?" Martin Luther King was considered a criminal; now he is revered as a hero. Now we're faced with a situation where we must chose what is right; whether this issue is of great enough importance to stand up and declare we don't agree. This of course is already happening...but to simply outright say that any unjust law should be broken is outright madness. If I was alive during Prohibition, and didnt already drink alcohol, then me suddenly beginning consumption simply to protest the law is downright absurd.
I think that some people go just a tad too far with their resistance on issues like this. Unfortunately issues like this are in the horrid grey mess between black and white...everyone has an opinion and its almost impossible to say exactly what is "right" and what is "wrong."
Therefore it is necessary to choose peaceful venues of protesting laws (although I would find it amusing to see a bunch of programmers clash with riot police)...by doing things like supporting those who pay the legal bills. It's certainly not wise to simply jump up and stop traffic on a roadway to protest the whole matter...any resistance must be carefully calculated and planned (I think WWI is a good example of what happens when you jump up and run without thinking)...anything else is just simply not wise.
My 2 cents worth.
-Colin McKinney
Inter arma enim silent leges (In time of war, the law falls silent)
-Cicero
Slashdot Mirror
Yep, this was student run. I graduated from UTD in the spring, and was involved in the honors program there - friends of mine in the program currently went around and posted hilighted copies of the FCC stuff to IR's office, the student paper, etc.
I don't know if they were the only ones to do this, though.
-Colin
For the record, I'm a UTD alumnus (spring 2004). Everyone should note that the campus has no dormitories, only an apartment complex. I lived in Waterview while there, and the 2nd year we had DSL. My old roommates still do. We went DSL for a few reasons:
1) We had a 4 bedroom apartment, so cost was minimal per person.
2) AirUTD, especially in areas of the apartments, sucks. It's worse in some phases than in others. In some places you can get a connection in your living room but not bedroom or the like.
On the other hand, I did have problems the year before last because some jackass was running an ad-hoc with the name "wlan01" (the network name at UTD). Friend of mine and I tracked it to his apartment using a PDA with wireless but couldn't do anything about it.
What makes this interesting is that non-UTD students can't use the wireless network. You have to be a student and have a special login name to add a MAC address to your account. Not a student? Visiting for the weekend? Guess that means wires!
We used ethernet in our apartment between the desktops but still kept wireless around for the laptops. I should say, however, that my roommates are wireless gurus and so it was set up correctly. Joe Sixpack with default Linksys router and Jill Sixpack with a laptop are problems. Interestingly enough there are dumb people, at a school which prides it self on engineering and CS.
As for the apartments, if I recall, at least one phase of them IS owned by the University - that's phases 8, 8A, and "9" (aka 8B). Not sure as to the status of the other phases as I remember there being an article in the Mercury (campus paper) about possibly buying them from First Worthing (the parent of Waterview). This may answer the university issue but the FCC/legal questions still remain. Phase 8 is where the freshmen live and is subject to additional oversight by Student Life. There are RAs in the buildings, for example, which are University employees.
I suspect that enforcement may come through Waterview itself, who could possibly add it as a lease addendum. It's also a part of the lease that you can't have a firearm in your apartment, for example. There is still the issue of forcing residents to comply with the new addendum - I don't recall what the last batch of leases states in terms of ammending the contract before expiration. But September 15 sounds a bit soon for any contract.
Several people have quoted the FCC decision regarding the airlines, that in the event the "central antenna" provides equal or better performance the venue may limit individual antennae. Anyone who lives in Waterview for a day will know that private wireless will always be better than the university wireless.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out.
-Colin
From the parent: A corporate spokesman says the company, " is working with law enforcement at the highest levels possible, to RECTUMFY the problem and catch the people responsible." (all caps mine)
I wonder just what rectumfying is. Maybe it's like "radidzomai" in Greek (to be buggered by a raddish), or the Tossed Salad Man. I'll bet rectumfying would deter anyone else from hacking gift cards!
-Colin
Somehow I think we'd have too many broken arrows... /me ducks
Has anyone considered the possibility that he filed for this patent to make an example of how stupid the patent office is? I know I've done stuff like this before, usually involving the grad students who "graded" my physics homework. It could be that Mr. Olsen finds this to be just as absurd as the rest of us.
-Colin
You know, I find this amusing: what if the PC had a Sony DVD or CD drive? Would it still crash then?
Talk about absurd. When product crashes another product made by the same company...well, maybe it's not so absurd after all. I mean, Microsoft stays in business...
-Colin
He's got a good idea, but I don't agree with the implementation. This has probably been submitted, but it seems to me that instead of the software just outright not working, after a certain time, it would simply display a message every now and then advising you to update.
This could be a good task for some sort of mini-program to be included in all kernels that collects these messages from all programs on the system and displays them, so you would run "progupdates" or something and a list would be generated of everything you need to update. This program could also be made to connect to a database and compare version numbers with a list to determine if a new update is available, and then advise the user that it is available. Imagine it sort of like Battle.net, on connect, it checks your version against the server and informs you if your version is out of date. (Unlike b.net, though, software patches should not be required, rather, just advised).
-Colin
I'm referring to the trends I observe on Pricewatch (for bottom of the barrel) and Crucial.com (for "premium.").
-Colin
A decent review, I suppose.
I think it was a tad unfair to compare a Duron using DDR to a Celeron on PC100/133 (depends on the motherboard and how they set it up). They did acknowledge it directly when discussing the memory bandwidth (which showed the expected numbers, Duron was around 2x Celeron), but I think it shows only part of the picture (especially with DDR prices back up in the stratosphere compared to say, a month or two ago). This is one reason I take benchmarks with a grain of salt...it's very difficult to objectively compare AMD and Intel CPU's now due to the drastically different architectures.
The article also mentioned the Intel headspreaders...these should be reflexive on all processors. I can't count how many "Cracked core" thread's I've read on the [H]ardOCP forums...and a reasonable number of these guys are shall we say slightly above your average user.
My $0.02...
-Colin
I'm affraid I don't agree with that...As unjust as a law may be, disregarding it because one may think it is "unjust" is an invitation to anarchy.
The system is designed such that laws of questionable nature would get weeded out by the courts by various parties litigating for and against it. Examples of flagrantly "unjust" laws would be (rather fitting IMHO) the Sedition act from early in US history (sorry, the exact date escapes me); and perhaps the Prohibition laws; which weren't repealed for many years after they were passed. It took years before all of us Americans could again enjoy alcohol...the repealing of that law did not happen overnight.
Other examples of "unjust" things that took forever to be made "just:" Women's voting rights, Civil rights laws of the 60's, etc. We fought a war over slavery (OK, actually that war was really over who has the right to interpret the Constitution and how, which is exactly where we are now).
The question then becomes, "when is it right to disobey a law?" Martin Luther King was considered a criminal; now he is revered as a hero. Now we're faced with a situation where we must chose what is right; whether this issue is of great enough importance to stand up and declare we don't agree. This of course is already happening...but to simply outright say that any unjust law should be broken is outright madness. If I was alive during Prohibition, and didnt already drink alcohol, then me suddenly beginning consumption simply to protest the law is downright absurd.
I think that some people go just a tad too far with their resistance on issues like this. Unfortunately issues like this are in the horrid grey mess between black and white...everyone has an opinion and its almost impossible to say exactly what is "right" and what is "wrong."
Therefore it is necessary to choose peaceful venues of protesting laws (although I would find it amusing to see a bunch of programmers clash with riot police)...by doing things like supporting those who pay the legal bills. It's certainly not wise to simply jump up and stop traffic on a roadway to protest the whole matter...any resistance must be carefully calculated and planned (I think WWI is a good example of what happens when you jump up and run without thinking)...anything else is just simply not wise.
My 2 cents worth.
-Colin McKinney
Inter arma enim silent leges (In time of war, the law falls silent) -Cicero