Just great, another advertiser-based Internet-distribution video service. And naturally not compatible with any other service and/or PMP.
Here we go...
1) download
2) crack (?)
3) strip advertising/convert format
4) watch
5) share (optional)
6) delete when DVDs are released
7) repeat steps 1-5 with DVDs
8) when pay service starts change 1 to "pay & download".
Meh. As long as my PVR keeps working I'll stick with 1,3,4 & maybe 6.
This is already covered by at least two existing laws - 1) DUI the influence can be anything that will distract the driver from full control of the vehicle, and 2) Reckless driving. All that is needed is for these laws to be Federal so as to cover all US states equally.
Note - I turn off the cell when driving, or if I'm expecting a call I pull over before answering.
No, I don't expect Congress to unfairly punish a single person/corporation (otherwise MS would be next behind Halliburton). I would like to see all corporations that move from the US to another country be punished. Some action should be able to be taken to stop these companies from leaving the US, and that action should not be tax breaks or other direct monetary incentives to stay.
I am just very tired of corporations being given the same or greater rights and privileges than actual human citizens. Amongst those rights and privileges that is most abused is influence in government and politics. The original founders of the US fought against the English monarchy due to the corporate influence and greed in that system at that time. If they were alive today they would be very disgusted with the system and the perversion that has been allowed to happen.
The US government should offer the advice that this move is not a good idea. If they leave any and all remaining assets (and any profits) will be taxed 500% for 10 years and ALL contracts will be canceled as they will become a foreign corporation and cannot have contracts that may/do have implications for national security.
To make things fair, these and more rules should be applied to any US company that leaves.
On another note, what does this topic have to do with the usual technology issues on Slashdot?
I watch over my online purchases very carefully. If I bought something and was charged the wrong amount, I would expect to be contacted regarding a correction. If the product or service was used, or is in an unreturnable state, then that option is disregarded. If the product or service was bought under some special, then I'll authorize up to the correct amount to be charged. Any more than that amount and the charge will be disputed. I will have contacted the credit card service before this and made sure they were aware of a potential frauduent charge problem and that an attempt at correction was taking place.
Interesting. I thought the US just made copyright infringement a criminal action punishable by law. If that is the case and the actions occurred in the US then the FBI and/or local law enforcement must investigate this alleged criminal action. If the FBI and/or local law enforcement chooses not to investigate this allegation of a criminal action then the FBI and/or all local law enforcement cannot investigate any copyright 'crimes' (in particular those being reported to the FBI and/or law enforcement). Fairness under law or no law - enforce the law fairly or not at all.
Yet another case where a corporation has illegally (IMHO) lobbied against a bill that would had been good for the citizens. A bill like this should clear committees then if it fails in house/senate go a voter ballot item. The bill was written for the good of the citizens - it should be voted on by the citizens if it passes legal checks (such as that it does not violate state/federal constitutions).
"Corporations have been enthroned...an era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people...until wealth is aggregated in a few hands...and the Republic is destroyed" - Abraham Lincoln
IMHO, Google/Blogger has every reason to keep sites open that do not violate TOS or US laws/rights. If there existed a blogger.co.au then the Aussies getting upset by racial insensitivity could affect a change on those nation specific servers. Also, likewise, if there existed a neo-nazi site on a Germany based Blogger server then the offending site could be easily removed.
Like it or not, Blogger.com is a US based company, and chances are high that the servers are also located in the US. People/entities creating & posting to the blogs should only stay within the TOS and US laws. Either get Google/Blogger to change & enforce the new TOS or try to fight the creater(s)/poster(s) in US court.
While I don't doubt that a lot of PMP (personal media player) owners get music on the players via the old tried-and-high-quality methods of ripping CDs, I still like downloading from the iTunes store. Yes, sometimes the sample of the music is too short or was taken from a poor section of the recording (solution would be to allow three 30 second samples per track as long as song is over 2.5 minutes long), and the quality is somewhat low for complex pieces (for example, always rip Pink Floyd and The Crystal Method - PF deserves it and TCM requires it), but the price is right for legally purchased tracks.
I look forward to new music Tuesday to listen for new tracks by my favorite artists and for trying to find artists that deserve my attention. With radio being as commercial as possible, iTunes is about my only source for new and fresh music.
I have an old NEC Versa 4080H laptop that is so old that Windows 98 barely runs with any speed. The thing has a completely dead battery but will only run on AC adapter. The thing is that the battery must be installed for the laptop to run. Strange design, but I don't really use it very much.
I hope that laptop manufacturers have designed current models to be able to run using either battery or adapter power. I would hate to have to get an airline to give me and AC outlet capable of doing 120 watts so my current HP laptop would run (default battery life is about 90 minutes w/o CD/DVD activity, min HD activity and a very dimmed display).
I use a PVR and edit the commercials out of the shows before I watch them. One type of commercial I've seen increasing lately is the one placed between the end of a local break and the end of the network break. The previous commercial will go to black as if to return to the show, but instead shows a brief fraction of another commercial. Breaks like that are annoying as you have to check the black space in all breaks.
Editing commercials, other than that above, are easy to edit. When a break starts just jump ahead 2:30 to 3:30 and scrub until you find the show. It is rare that you will find a break less than 2:30, and most breaks are 3:00 or slightly longer.
If networks & channels want me to watch their commercials they are going to find that tricky as I already edit commercials out of everything I watch. When they go back to directed product placement (with actors referencing a product & the features) then they will simply lose another viewer.
TV as entertainment is optional. I can and will drop it if advertisers make it worthwhile.
I was looking for the 'obvious' tag, but then I remembered this is not fark. Oh, well, time to engage the brain.
Anybody who has watched the show should be able to figure out that Jamie is an introverted control freak with a passion for safety and thinking things through. Savage is an extroverted exhibitionist who baresly remembers safety or forethought. Together they make a great odd-couple/buddy-buddy duo. I think part of the reason to watch the show is observe the interactions between the two hosts.
The addition of Grant (the geek), Tory & Kari (Joe & Jane public?) have been positive for the show. Having the two groups intermix on different projects almost lets you see the dynamics of group interaction.
This will be a nice DVR once they get all the features active and working. After that I may just have to reconsider getting the service with HD...At least until this HD-/BD-DVD drama plays out.
MacBookPro is a single Core Duo chip (for now). I wrote I wanted a Core 2 Duo chip. A few more bits there. Also, I do not want a compact,portable,all-in-one,desktop (formerly called laptop) computer. I want the tower with the all the bells and whistles that come with it (no shortcuts for portability, exploding batteries, ignitable external power connections, etc.).
I would love to buy another mac, but a Mac Pro is just too much (money & power).
I was hoping Apple would have produced an in-between system. Maybe using a single Core 2 Duo chip and calling it a Mac2Pro (two core). Then the quad core one just introduced could be named Mac4Pro.
The UK legal system is probably referring to anti-social as antisocial personality disorder and actions that may present a borderline case. Check out the Wiki.
I thought the iSee 360 was an interesting device when I first read an article about it. But the screen is really too small to watch anything more than short internet videos (or music videos, if they are still being produced & shown). I think I would be hard pressed to want to watch a 20 or 40 minute TV show on a 3.6" screen, and forget about a +1.5 hour movie.
Like I wrote - interesting product with good features. Just needs a +7" screen (& +6 hour battery) to make it a great player/accessory.
The easy solution to a president [ab]using executive privilege to cover the action of the administration is to make executive privilege carry responsibility. If a president [ab]uses executive privilege to stop, obstruct or unduly hinder an investigation then that president should have to answer to an inquiry/subpoena/warrant (under oath & in a public court) and/or be allowed to be charged with the crime being investigated. I believe a court can motivate a normal person to reveal the actual perpetrator of a crime by charging that person with either the crime being investigated or an obstruction charge. Obviously a president should be able to be likewise charged.
Aol may be proposing to provide free access to services to subscribers that already have internet access. That sounds like it makes alot of sense, if you want the aol service.
When I worked a short job in telephone tech support, I could never understand why someone would want aol in addition to DSL/cable/etc. I actually worked people through getting them connected to the Internet (and proved it by getting them to CNN/Yahoo/Slashdot/etc. but they didn't think they were actually connected until the aol software decided that it wanted to connect (I passed them off to aol for support since they are connected to the Internet).
I guess I just don't understand the business side of technology services. This proposed free access for highspeed subscribers should have been done years ago. Better very late (if they do it), than absolutely never, I guess.
Thanks for the info. Some tasks hang so thoroughly that I can't use the Dock and can't start terminal/console, so it is power-cycle at that stage. But like I wrote before, it is a rare occurance.
The more likely issue is hanging on shutdown. After the Dock, Dashboard, icons, etc., go away and you are left with just the Desktop (wallpaper). Fortunately power-cycles on a Mac are not anywhere near as bad as on a Windows box.
As one who has recently switched (or joined) to Mac, I am very impressed with Apple and my Intel iMac. From a users point of view, working with Tiger is a joy compared to WinXP. Tasks are rarely unresponsive or hang, and when that happens a simple & fast power-cycle will cure the problem. Memory is not as big a problem as on WinXP - my iMac had no problem with the inital 512MB and the 1GB I added doesn't appear to be used all that often. I don't even notice when/if swapping is occuring. There are a few items I would like to change, but nothing like the hundreds on the WinXP list.
As on the subject line - I am very impressed with Tiger and cannot wait for Leopard.
Apparently NASA has failed to have a good weather analysis completed. I don't know of too many people who have lived in Florida for over five years that don't know about our semi-scheduled summer afternoon thunderstorms. Then, on top of that, there is a lot of weather coming in from the Gulf for the next few days. These next few days are not good for any important space launches.
Apple's Fairplay DRM scheme is one of the best I've used. Apple allows you to make audio CDs and doesn't have a problem with file/image backup applications.
Do I wish Apple's DRM were better and less restrictive - you betcha! The price per song should be lower and with public disclosure of how much each party receives from each sale. The bitrate should also be higher to handle some more complex pieces of music. The number of CD burn times for each song should also be increased, not decreased. Video content should be able to be burned onto a standard and/or HD/BD DVD.
Too bad emusic cannot charge on per song basis; non-DRMed content is great (subscriptions suck).
Yes, I agree with what you write. The ultimate choice is to make a choice not participate (even in passive entertainment). However, that is not a realistic scenario for most people. It is like asking teenagers not to have sex, criminals to turn themselves in for punishment, religious fanatics to be reasonable, lawyers to commit suicide, politicians not to take bribes, and the sun & moon not to rise & set.
This type of patent should be illegal as it removes choice from the consumer. If the consumer has no other choice than to watch advertising, pay a fine (for not watching the advert), or commit a criminal act (by downloading the content without adverts), then the companies that hold the patent and use the patent should be charged if any consumers take the last option. Consumers like free passive entertainment and will usually do whatever is the easiest to obtain that goal. Telling consumers they have a choice not to consume is not giving consumers a realistic choice.
Slashdot Mirror
Just great, another advertiser-based Internet-distribution video service. And naturally not compatible with any other service and/or PMP.
Here we go...
1) download
2) crack (?)
3) strip advertising/convert format
4) watch
5) share (optional)
6) delete when DVDs are released
7) repeat steps 1-5 with DVDs
8) when pay service starts change 1 to "pay & download".
Meh. As long as my PVR keeps working I'll stick with 1,3,4 & maybe 6.
This is already covered by at least two existing laws - 1) DUI the influence can be anything that will distract the driver from full control of the vehicle, and 2) Reckless driving. All that is needed is for these laws to be Federal so as to cover all US states equally.
Note - I turn off the cell when driving, or if I'm expecting a call I pull over before answering.
An intelligent reply. Thank you.
No, I don't expect Congress to unfairly punish a single person/corporation (otherwise MS would be next behind Halliburton). I would like to see all corporations that move from the US to another country be punished. Some action should be able to be taken to stop these companies from leaving the US, and that action should not be tax breaks or other direct monetary incentives to stay.
I am just very tired of corporations being given the same or greater rights and privileges than actual human citizens. Amongst those rights and privileges that is most abused is influence in government and politics. The original founders of the US fought against the English monarchy due to the corporate influence and greed in that system at that time. If they were alive today they would be very disgusted with the system and the perversion that has been allowed to happen.
The US government should offer the advice that this move is not a good idea. If they leave any and all remaining assets (and any profits) will be taxed 500% for 10 years and ALL contracts will be canceled as they will become a foreign corporation and cannot have contracts that may/do have implications for national security.
To make things fair, these and more rules should be applied to any US company that leaves.
On another note, what does this topic have to do with the usual technology issues on Slashdot?
I watch over my online purchases very carefully. If I bought something and was charged the wrong amount, I would expect to be contacted regarding a correction. If the product or service was used, or is in an unreturnable state, then that option is disregarded. If the product or service was bought under some special, then I'll authorize up to the correct amount to be charged. Any more than that amount and the charge will be disputed. I will have contacted the credit card service before this and made sure they were aware of a potential frauduent charge problem and that an attempt at correction was taking place.
Interesting. I thought the US just made copyright infringement a criminal action punishable by law. If that is the case and the actions occurred in the US then the FBI and/or local law enforcement must investigate this alleged criminal action. If the FBI and/or local law enforcement chooses not to investigate this allegation of a criminal action then the FBI and/or all local law enforcement cannot investigate any copyright 'crimes' (in particular those being reported to the FBI and/or law enforcement). Fairness under law or no law - enforce the law fairly or not at all.
Yet another case where a corporation has illegally (IMHO) lobbied against a bill that would had been good for the citizens. A bill like this should clear committees then if it fails in house/senate go a voter ballot item. The bill was written for the good of the citizens - it should be voted on by the citizens if it passes legal checks (such as that it does not violate state/federal constitutions).
"Corporations have been enthroned...an era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people...until wealth is aggregated in a few hands...and the Republic is destroyed" - Abraham Lincoln
IMHO, Google/Blogger has every reason to keep sites open that do not violate TOS or US laws/rights. If there existed a blogger.co.au then the Aussies getting upset by racial insensitivity could affect a change on those nation specific servers. Also, likewise, if there existed a neo-nazi site on a Germany based Blogger server then the offending site could be easily removed.
Like it or not, Blogger.com is a US based company, and chances are high that the servers are also located in the US. People/entities creating & posting to the blogs should only stay within the TOS and US laws. Either get Google/Blogger to change & enforce the new TOS or try to fight the creater(s)/poster(s) in US court.
While I don't doubt that a lot of PMP (personal media player) owners get music on the players via the old tried-and-high-quality methods of ripping CDs, I still like downloading from the iTunes store. Yes, sometimes the sample of the music is too short or was taken from a poor section of the recording (solution would be to allow three 30 second samples per track as long as song is over 2.5 minutes long), and the quality is somewhat low for complex pieces (for example, always rip Pink Floyd and The Crystal Method - PF deserves it and TCM requires it), but the price is right for legally purchased tracks.
I look forward to new music Tuesday to listen for new tracks by my favorite artists and for trying to find artists that deserve my attention. With radio being as commercial as possible, iTunes is about my only source for new and fresh music.
I have an old NEC Versa 4080H laptop that is so old that Windows 98 barely runs with any speed. The thing has a completely dead battery but will only run on AC adapter. The thing is that the battery must be installed for the laptop to run. Strange design, but I don't really use it very much.
I hope that laptop manufacturers have designed current models to be able to run using either battery or adapter power. I would hate to have to get an airline to give me and AC outlet capable of doing 120 watts so my current HP laptop would run (default battery life is about 90 minutes w/o CD/DVD activity, min HD activity and a very dimmed display).
I use a PVR and edit the commercials out of the shows before I watch them. One type of commercial I've seen increasing lately is the one placed between the end of a local break and the end of the network break. The previous commercial will go to black as if to return to the show, but instead shows a brief fraction of another commercial. Breaks like that are annoying as you have to check the black space in all breaks.
Editing commercials, other than that above, are easy to edit. When a break starts just jump ahead 2:30 to 3:30 and scrub until you find the show. It is rare that you will find a break less than 2:30, and most breaks are 3:00 or slightly longer.
If networks & channels want me to watch their commercials they are going to find that tricky as I already edit commercials out of everything I watch. When they go back to directed product placement (with actors referencing a product & the features) then they will simply lose another viewer.
TV as entertainment is optional. I can and will drop it if advertisers make it worthwhile.
I was looking for the 'obvious' tag, but then I remembered this is not fark. Oh, well, time to engage the brain.
Anybody who has watched the show should be able to figure out that Jamie is an introverted control freak with a passion for safety and thinking things through. Savage is an extroverted exhibitionist who baresly remembers safety or forethought. Together they make a great odd-couple/buddy-buddy duo. I think part of the reason to watch the show is observe the interactions between the two hosts.
The addition of Grant (the geek), Tory & Kari (Joe & Jane public?) have been positive for the show. Having the two groups intermix on different projects almost lets you see the dynamics of group interaction.
This will be a nice DVR once they get all the features active and working. After that I may just have to reconsider getting the service with HD...At least until this HD-/BD-DVD drama plays out.
MacBookPro is a single Core Duo chip (for now). I wrote I wanted a Core 2 Duo chip. A few more bits there. Also, I do not want a compact,portable,all-in-one,desktop (formerly called laptop) computer. I want the tower with the all the bells and whistles that come with it (no shortcuts for portability, exploding batteries, ignitable external power connections, etc.).
I would love to buy another mac, but a Mac Pro is just too much (money & power).
I was hoping Apple would have produced an in-between system. Maybe using a single Core 2 Duo chip and calling it a Mac2Pro (two core). Then the quad core one just introduced could be named Mac4Pro.
The UK legal system is probably referring to anti-social as antisocial personality disorder and actions that may present a borderline case. Check out the Wiki.
I thought the iSee 360 was an interesting device when I first read an article about it. But the screen is really too small to watch anything more than short internet videos (or music videos, if they are still being produced & shown). I think I would be hard pressed to want to watch a 20 or 40 minute TV show on a 3.6" screen, and forget about a +1.5 hour movie.
Like I wrote - interesting product with good features. Just needs a +7" screen (& +6 hour battery) to make it a great player/accessory.
The easy solution to a president [ab]using executive privilege to cover the action of the administration is to make executive privilege carry responsibility. If a president [ab]uses executive privilege to stop, obstruct or unduly hinder an investigation then that president should have to answer to an inquiry/subpoena/warrant (under oath & in a public court) and/or be allowed to be charged with the crime being investigated. I believe a court can motivate a normal person to reveal the actual perpetrator of a crime by charging that person with either the crime being investigated or an obstruction charge. Obviously a president should be able to be likewise charged.
Aol may be proposing to provide free access to services to subscribers that already have internet access. That sounds like it makes alot of sense, if you want the aol service.
When I worked a short job in telephone tech support, I could never understand why someone would want aol in addition to DSL/cable/etc. I actually worked people through getting them connected to the Internet (and proved it by getting them to CNN/Yahoo/Slashdot/etc. but they didn't think they were actually connected until the aol software decided that it wanted to connect (I passed them off to aol for support since they are connected to the Internet).
I guess I just don't understand the business side of technology services. This proposed free access for highspeed subscribers should have been done years ago. Better very late (if they do it), than absolutely never, I guess.
Thanks for the info. Some tasks hang so thoroughly that I can't use the Dock and can't start terminal/console, so it is power-cycle at that stage. But like I wrote before, it is a rare occurance.
The more likely issue is hanging on shutdown. After the Dock, Dashboard, icons, etc., go away and you are left with just the Desktop (wallpaper). Fortunately power-cycles on a Mac are not anywhere near as bad as on a Windows box.
As one who has recently switched (or joined) to Mac, I am very impressed with Apple and my Intel iMac. From a users point of view, working with Tiger is a joy compared to WinXP. Tasks are rarely unresponsive or hang, and when that happens a simple & fast power-cycle will cure the problem. Memory is not as big a problem as on WinXP - my iMac had no problem with the inital 512MB and the 1GB I added doesn't appear to be used all that often. I don't even notice when/if swapping is occuring. There are a few items I would like to change, but nothing like the hundreds on the WinXP list.
As on the subject line - I am very impressed with Tiger and cannot wait for Leopard.
Apparently NASA has failed to have a good weather analysis completed. I don't know of too many people who have lived in Florida for over five years that don't know about our semi-scheduled summer afternoon thunderstorms. Then, on top of that, there is a lot of weather coming in from the Gulf for the next few days. These next few days are not good for any important space launches.
Apple's Fairplay DRM scheme is one of the best I've used. Apple allows you to make audio CDs and doesn't have a problem with file/image backup applications.
Do I wish Apple's DRM were better and less restrictive - you betcha! The price per song should be lower and with public disclosure of how much each party receives from each sale. The bitrate should also be higher to handle some more complex pieces of music. The number of CD burn times for each song should also be increased, not decreased. Video content should be able to be burned onto a standard and/or HD/BD DVD.
Too bad emusic cannot charge on per song basis; non-DRMed content is great (subscriptions suck).
This type of patent should be illegal as it removes choice from the consumer. If the consumer has no other choice than to watch advertising, pay a fine (for not watching the advert), or commit a criminal act (by downloading the content without adverts), then the companies that hold the patent and use the patent should be charged if any consumers take the last option. Consumers like free passive entertainment and will usually do whatever is the easiest to obtain that goal. Telling consumers they have a choice not to consume is not giving consumers a realistic choice.