The news wasn't too bad for Wal-Mart considering that they broke the record for a Single-Day Sale. Sales went from $1.25 billion last year to $1.45 billion this year. Your arguments as to why they would pursue this make sense, but you have to wonder if this actually increased their profits.
I've been following the associated bug on this for a while and it isn't sounding too promising. Most recent threads are people pleading for a solution and coders saying it won't/can't be done. You'll have to copy and paste the link due to bugzilla blocking the Slashdot referrer: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23679 . Also, this NTLM auth proxy being written in Python that looks promising. It sounds like the proxy sits local and performs the NTLM auth. I've heard.net will have it's own authentication, but I can't find anything on it (argh, generic search terms).
You've heard an exaggeration from the previous SlashDot article.
In another early simulation, Jackson and Regelous watched as several thousand characters fought like hell while, in the background, a small contingent of combatants seemed to think better of it and ran away. They weren't programmed to do this. It just happened. 'It was spooky.' Jackson said in an interview last year.
You're not the first person to laugh at the concept. In this article the owner of Cirrus Design Corp says that the rest of the industry harshly ridiculed the idea all through development. Now vindicated, he countered, "We spent more than $10 million developing our parachute system, and if this is the only life we save, it will have been worth it."
Be wary of smaller companies. I was using x-drive to store a few valuable files like pictures and financials and I didn't get the emails that said that if you don't pay then your files will be gone. I'm using the 30 Mb free at http://briefcase.yahoo.com/ for now, although I bet they'll start charging soon.
If you pound it into dust with nukes, won't it be highly radioactive dust??
For some reason this thread reminds me of the highly detailed dissertation about the Endor Holocaust that attempts to prove that Luke killed all of the poor little Ewoks when he destroyed the death star. Yes, the proof is tongue-in-cheek, but it still gives some interesting science about what happens when a large mass is destroyed within range of a planet.
Just like the parent article, you can configure ICQ to only allow messages from authorized contacts. In the latest versions, go to 'Main', 'Security and Privacy Permissions', 'Messages' on the left and check 'Accept messages only from users on my contact list. Try the other checkboxes for even more spam protection. Actually most IM tools make it pretty easy to block all except those on your contact list.
Also, this has been talked about before, but ICQ is ripe for spamming because it uses numbers for ID's which makes it simple to spam a range of users. Also, be careful with IM nicknames since, like email, they get harvested from web pages, IRC and other chat rooms especially yahoo/msn/aol chat rooms.
Re:Spam comes from unlikely places...
on
As the Spam Turns
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Rich Kyanka, one of the Something Awful gang, pulled a hilarious series of pranks on the Nigerian money launderers. Some of their other pranks on spammers (scroll down to email section) are pretty damn funny as well.
Re:Might as well post a joke -
on
Science Askew
·
· Score: 5, Funny
If you're in the mood to laugh.. you can find some great geek humor at the QDB Top 50 and Top 50-100 IRC quotes.
Disclaimer: Above links only intended for use by intoxicated consenting adults
Set up a mail filter to bounce all spam you get to her address! Genius.
Beware! My bet is the AC is Laura herself with an evil plan to get everyone to email her account so that she can harvest all those fresh plump addresses.;)
If anyone is still remotely interested, here's Herbert's exact words from _Eye_ where he is discussing the making of the Dune movie: David had trouble with the fact that Star Wars used up so much of Dune. We found sixteen points of identity between my novel and Star Wars. That is not to say this was other than coincidence, even though we figured the odds against coincidence and produced a number larger than the number of stars in the universe.
An ign reviewer (click-thru ad) interprets Herbert's phrase as In other words, anyone in the early 80s making a movie about a psionically-gifted young man on a desert planet overthrowing a corrupt interstellar empire had better come up with a different take, something a little more stylistic, a little more Blade Runner-ish, than Lucas' powerhouse adventure story of intergalactic derring-do.
The list of coincidences linked in my previous post mentioned spice miners and I also noticed in the AOTC a reference to 'spice miners' on a moon of Naboo that could possibly be attempting to assassinate Amedala. It seems to me that it would take a great leap of imagination to come up with the concept of spices that are mined. I guess a more positive viewpoint would be that Lucas is just using the ideas that are out there and is just paying homage to Dune.
I posted the following in a recent comment about this: "Actually, Frank Herbert himself was the one that originally complained about Lucas ripping off the story. I've read in various places that he considered a lawsuit. He wrote several pages in a short essay within Eye about this topic where he points out that there are statistically too many similarities for this to be mere coincidence."
Now Rolling Stone is behind P2P and Internet radio according to this full page ad that they ran in the NYT yesterday in support of P2P. They may be just fishing for new readersip, but it is still an entertaining read. The full text of ad is available in PDF format, or as follows:
A big fat thanks to record execs
Thank you for fighting the good fight against Internet MP3 file-swapping. Because of you, millions of kids will stop wasting time listening to new music and seeking out new bands. No more spreading the word to complete strangers about your artists. No more harmful exposure to thousands of bands via Internet radio either. With any luck they won't talk about music at all. You probably knew you'd make millions by embracing the technology. After all, the kids swapping were like ten times more likely to buy CD's, making your cause all the more admirable. It must have cost a bundle in future revenu, but don't worry - computers are just a fad anyway, and the Internet is just plain stupid. -Rolling Stone
Perhaps we all just feel more competent discussing rotting feces than we do even thinking about the relative merits of a proof that neutron stars really are neutron superfluids. Not to mention that articles not posted to the front page never get as many posts anyway.
Re:Why should we care?
on
Root Zone Changed
·
· Score: 5, Informative
I think your suspicion has been confirmed by a this recent New Scientist article. It says one of the Versign root servers was actually moved to a new location so that two servers wouldn't be relying on the same infrastructure. It does not mention the IP change, but it seems to make sense.
Re:Thanks Micheal, you're gonna /.
on
Root Zone Changed
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Oddly, the reply to the NANOG post about the change encourages people to hold off on downloding the hints file to prevent Slashdotting internic.net since. The reply claims that the update is not at all critical.
Company Statement
Sendo has terminated its Smartphone development program utilising the Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone 2002 software.
As a result, Sendo regrets to announce that it will not be shipping the Z100 Smartphone.
It has been a very difficult decision for Sendo given its leadership position in the development of smart devices. We are disappointed that we will not be able to ship the Z100 given the high level of interest shown in the device.
Although a set back, we are pleased to announce today that we have licensed the Series 60 platform from Nokia for our smartphone category. We believe this will create the opportunity for us to continue as a lead player in the development of smartphone products for 2003.
SENDO CHOOSES NOKIA'S SERIES 60 PLATFORM FOR ITS SMART PHONES
Thu Nov 7 2002
Sendo, a British mobile phone manufacturer, today announced that the company has decided to license Series 60 Platform from Nokia for its smart phone category. The Series 60 is a software platform for feature- and application rich smart phones that Nokia licenses to mobile handset manufacturers. The platform is optimised to run on top of the Symbian OS. Sendo joins as the newest member to the Series 60 licensing community with Matsushita, Samsung, Siemens and Nokia.
"Earlier this fall we reviewed our smart phone strategy. While our mission of providing customers with feature-rich and ubiquitous devices remains unaltered, seeing that the Series 60 fully embraces both our mission and the new strategy we decided to approach Nokia," said Hugh Brogan, Chief Executive Officer of Sendo Holdings Plc. "The platform utilises open standards and technologies, such as MMS and Java , jointly developed by the industry. The platform is robust, yet uniquely flexible, bringing great benefits to licensees, operators, developers and consumers."
"We welcome Sendo, a pioneer in smart phone development, to join our Series 60 community. We see that a combination of Sendo's technical expertise and growing market presence will bring significant contribution to the mobile market with Series 60 devices. Interoperable solutions that are built on open and common industry standards are proving to be the winning formula in meeting demands of business users and consumers alike," said Niklas Savander, Vice President and General Manager, Nokia Mobile Software.
Nokia licenses Series 60 Platform as a source code. The model enables licensees to contribute to the development of the platform while fully executing their individual business strategy, brand and customer requirements in fast developing and highly competitive mobile communications market. Licensees will be able to include the Series 60 into their own smart phone designs, thus speeding up the rollout of new phone models at lower costs.
The Series 60 is a comprehensive software platform for smart phones, created for mobile phone users that demand easy-to-use, one-hand operated handsets with high-quality colour screens, rich communications and enhanced applications. The Series 60 platform consists of the key telephony and personal information management applications, the browser and messaging clients, as well as a complete and modifiable user interface, all designed to run on top of the Symbian OS, an operating system for advanced, data enabled mobile phones.
The winner is giving 8 grand to the FSF. Monico, who took up the challenge to "raise awareness of cryptography", will donate the bulk of his prize money to the Free Software Foundation and the remaining $2,000 to two men whose computers helped solve the problem.
Re:Looking for proof.
on
Halloween VII
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Perhaps it's only marginally a derivative work since he's attempting to use the copyright statement to show that the work is his own as commentary and satire. From the FAQ:
Would you please make un-annotated versions available?
No. As it is, my defense against a copyright-violation suit by Microsoft would have to make rather creative use of the exemptions in copyright case law relating to journalism, satire and commentary. I fear that making un-annotated copies available would place me at significant legal risk.
The Mythical Man Month says that adding people to a project won't make development go faster due to additional overhead. However, sometimes the scope and requirements of a project sometimes dictate adding additional help. In this case, having one set of people, who are highly trained in coding and optimizations on their particular platform, do all of the platform specific work would alleviate the burden on the other part of the team and allow them to begin adding new features. The architecture team could prototype and develop new pieces, while the implementation teams hammer out the details on the target machines.
Granted the complete LotR pales in comparison to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, but nobody who reads that (myself included) can be considered in his right mind.
I guess I'm crazy because I read them too. I would highly recommend the Book-A-Minute version of the Wheel of Time books for anyone without extra time on their hands. (scroll down on the SF/F page for rest of the series)
My take... the thing that made Frank Herbert's books great to me is that after I read a book I felt like I'd learned more about myself, humanity, history and the motives of religion. He got into the characters head and really made you understand what cultural things made people tick. His parallels between the modern world and his fantasy world also helped to understand things like trade with scarcity of recources (spice vs. oil) and the power of holy war. Brian Herbert's stories are very entertaining, but not subtle and leave you feeling more like you watched a sitcom than read a worthwhile book. The advantage of this is this book in particular really moves along and perhaps the audience will be bigger since many people, unlike me, didn't like the preachiness and the slow pace of his father's books.
If you don't try to compare their writing styles and just enjoy the book, I think you'll enjoy the read.SPOILER SPOILER - Also, he does flesh out the history of the Fremen somewhat with things like the origin of the Zensunni wanderers, the beginnings of the spice trade, the beginning of the distrust of outsiders, the abandoning peace loving Zensunni tradition and travel into deep desert. The Missionaria Protectiva won't have arrived yet, since the Bene Gesseret hasn't even been founded.
Actually, Frank Herbert himself was the one that originally complained about Lucas ripping off the story. I've read in various places that he considered a lawsuit. He wrote several pages in a short essay within Eye about this topic where he points out that there are statistically too many similarities for this to be mere coincidence.
I actually finished this book last week. Although, you cannot even begin to compare the writing abilities of father and son, I've enjoyed the new books. Each book has gotten a little bit better and I actually enjoyed this book.. it had good pacing and got you involved in the story. SPOILER??... My only complaint is that it seemed to me that several things that were claimed on the book jacket, like the betrayal that made mortal enemies of Harkonnen and Atreides, were not actually in the story! Maybe I missed something?
Slashdot Mirror
Obviously, this is bad news for the retailers.
The news wasn't too bad for Wal-Mart considering that they broke the record for a Single-Day Sale. Sales went from $1.25 billion last year to $1.45 billion this year. Your arguments as to why they would pursue this make sense, but you have to wonder if this actually increased their profits.
I've been following the associated bug on this for a while and it isn't sounding too promising. Most recent threads are people pleading for a solution and coders saying it won't/can't be done. You'll have to copy and paste the link due to bugzilla blocking the Slashdot referrer: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23679 . Also, this NTLM auth proxy being written in Python that looks promising. It sounds like the proxy sits local and performs the NTLM auth. I've heard .net will have it's own authentication, but I can't find anything on it (argh, generic search terms).
You've heard an exaggeration from the previous SlashDot article.
In another early simulation, Jackson and Regelous watched as several thousand characters fought like hell while, in the background, a small contingent of combatants seemed to think better of it and ran away. They weren't programmed to do this. It just happened. 'It was spooky.' Jackson said in an interview last year.
...case of a dead engine over water ... can walk away from ... Jesus saves ...
;)
I guess Jesus really is your co-pilot.
You're not the first person to laugh at the concept. In this article the owner of Cirrus Design Corp says that the rest of the industry harshly ridiculed the idea all through development. Now vindicated, he countered, "We spent more than $10 million developing our parachute system, and if this is the only life we save, it will have been worth it."
Be wary of smaller companies. I was using x-drive to store a few valuable files like pictures and financials and I didn't get the emails that said that if you don't pay then your files will be gone. I'm using the 30 Mb free at http://briefcase.yahoo.com/ for now, although I bet they'll start charging soon.
If you pound it into dust with nukes, won't it be highly radioactive dust??
For some reason this thread reminds me of the highly detailed dissertation about the Endor Holocaust that attempts to prove that Luke killed all of the poor little Ewoks when he destroyed the death star. Yes, the proof is tongue-in-cheek, but it still gives some interesting science about what happens when a large mass is destroyed within range of a planet.
Just like the parent article, you can configure ICQ to only allow messages from authorized contacts. In the latest versions, go to 'Main', 'Security and Privacy Permissions', 'Messages' on the left and check 'Accept messages only from users on my contact list. Try the other checkboxes for even more spam protection. Actually most IM tools make it pretty easy to block all except those on your contact list.
Also, this has been talked about before, but ICQ is ripe for spamming because it uses numbers for ID's which makes it simple to spam a range of users. Also, be careful with IM nicknames since, like email, they get harvested from web pages, IRC and other chat rooms especially yahoo/msn/aol chat rooms.
Rich Kyanka, one of the Something Awful gang, pulled a hilarious series of pranks on the Nigerian money launderers. Some of their other pranks on spammers (scroll down to email section) are pretty damn funny as well.
If you're in the mood to laugh.. you can find some great geek humor at the QDB Top 50 and Top 50-100 IRC quotes.
Disclaimer: Above links only intended for use by intoxicated consenting adults
bounce all spam you get to her address
Even if it is possible, wouldn't you be able to bounce only to the originator and not to a third party?
Set up a mail filter to bounce all spam you get to her address! Genius.
;)
Beware! My bet is the AC is Laura herself with an evil plan to get everyone to email her account so that she can harvest all those fresh plump addresses.
If anyone is still remotely interested, here's Herbert's exact words from _Eye_ where he is discussing the making of the Dune movie: David had trouble with the fact that Star Wars used up so much of Dune. We found sixteen points of identity between my novel and Star Wars. That is not to say this was other than coincidence, even though we figured the odds against coincidence and produced a number larger than the number of stars in the universe.
An ign reviewer (click-thru ad) interprets Herbert's phrase as In other words, anyone in the early 80s making a movie about a psionically-gifted young man on a desert planet overthrowing a corrupt interstellar empire had better come up with a different take, something a little more stylistic, a little more Blade Runner-ish, than Lucas' powerhouse adventure story of intergalactic derring-do.
The list of coincidences linked in my previous post mentioned spice miners and I also noticed in the AOTC a reference to 'spice miners' on a moon of Naboo that could possibly be attempting to assassinate Amedala. It seems to me that it would take a great leap of imagination to come up with the concept of spices that are mined. I guess a more positive viewpoint would be that Lucas is just using the ideas that are out there and is just paying homage to Dune.
I posted the following in a recent comment about this: "Actually, Frank Herbert himself was the one that originally complained about Lucas ripping off the story. I've read in various places that he considered a lawsuit. He wrote several pages in a short essay within Eye about this topic where he points out that there are statistically too many similarities for this to be mere coincidence."
Now Rolling Stone is behind P2P and Internet radio according to this full page ad that they ran in the NYT yesterday in support of P2P. They may be just fishing for new readersip, but it is still an entertaining read. The full text of ad is available in PDF format, or as follows:
A big fat thanks to record execs
Thank you for fighting the good fight against Internet MP3 file-swapping. Because of you, millions of kids will stop wasting time listening to new music and seeking out new bands. No more spreading the word to complete strangers about your artists. No more harmful exposure to thousands of bands via Internet radio either. With any luck they won't talk about music at all. You probably knew you'd make millions by embracing the technology. After all, the kids swapping were like ten times more likely to buy CD's, making your cause all the more admirable. It must have cost a bundle in future revenu, but don't worry - computers are just a fad anyway, and the Internet is just plain stupid. -Rolling Stone
Perhaps we all just feel more competent discussing rotting feces than we do even thinking about the relative merits of a proof that neutron stars really are neutron superfluids. Not to mention that articles not posted to the front page never get as many posts anyway.
I think your suspicion has been confirmed by a this recent New Scientist article. It says one of the Versign root servers was actually moved to a new location so that two servers wouldn't be relying on the same infrastructure. It does not mention the IP change, but it seems to make sense.
Oddly, the reply to the NANOG post about the change encourages people to hold off on downloding the hints file to prevent Slashdotting internic.net since. The reply claims that the update is not at all critical.
Sendo Z100 NOT TO LAUNCH
Company Statement
Sendo has terminated its Smartphone development program utilising the Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone 2002 software.
As a result, Sendo regrets to announce that it will not be shipping the Z100 Smartphone.
It has been a very difficult decision for Sendo given its leadership position in the development of smart devices. We are disappointed that we will not be able to ship the Z100 given the high level of interest shown in the device.
Although a set back, we are pleased to announce today that we have licensed the Series 60 platform from Nokia for our smartphone category. We believe this will create the opportunity for us to continue as a lead player in the development of smartphone products for 2003.
SENDO CHOOSES NOKIA'S SERIES 60 PLATFORM FOR ITS SMART PHONES
Thu Nov 7 2002
Sendo, a British mobile phone manufacturer, today announced that the company has decided to license Series 60 Platform from Nokia for its smart phone category. The Series 60 is a software platform for feature- and application rich smart phones that Nokia licenses to mobile handset manufacturers. The platform is optimised to run on top of the Symbian OS. Sendo joins as the newest member to the Series 60 licensing community with Matsushita, Samsung, Siemens and Nokia.
"Earlier this fall we reviewed our smart phone strategy. While our mission of providing customers with feature-rich and ubiquitous devices remains unaltered, seeing that the Series 60 fully embraces both our mission and the new strategy we decided to approach Nokia," said Hugh Brogan, Chief Executive Officer of Sendo Holdings Plc. "The platform utilises open standards and technologies, such as MMS and Java , jointly developed by the industry. The platform is robust, yet uniquely flexible, bringing great benefits to licensees, operators, developers and consumers."
"We welcome Sendo, a pioneer in smart phone development, to join our Series 60 community. We see that a combination of Sendo's technical expertise and growing market presence will bring significant contribution to the mobile market with Series 60 devices. Interoperable solutions that are built on open and common industry standards are proving to be the winning formula in meeting demands of business users and consumers alike," said Niklas Savander, Vice President and General Manager, Nokia Mobile Software.
Nokia licenses Series 60 Platform as a source code. The model enables licensees to contribute to the development of the platform while fully executing their individual business strategy, brand and customer requirements in fast developing and highly competitive mobile communications market. Licensees will be able to include the Series 60 into their own smart phone designs, thus speeding up the rollout of new phone models at lower costs.
The Series 60 is a comprehensive software platform for smart phones, created for mobile phone users that demand easy-to-use, one-hand operated handsets with high-quality colour screens, rich communications and enhanced applications. The Series 60 platform consists of the key telephony and personal information management applications, the browser and messaging clients, as well as a complete and modifiable user interface, all designed to run on top of the Symbian OS, an operating system for advanced, data enabled mobile phones.
The winner is giving 8 grand to the FSF. Monico, who took up the challenge to "raise awareness of cryptography", will donate the bulk of his prize money to the Free Software Foundation and the remaining $2,000 to two men whose computers helped solve the problem.
The Mythical Man Month says that adding people to a project won't make development go faster due to additional overhead. However, sometimes the scope and requirements of a project sometimes dictate adding additional help. In this case, having one set of people, who are highly trained in coding and optimizations on their particular platform, do all of the platform specific work would alleviate the burden on the other part of the team and allow them to begin adding new features. The architecture team could prototype and develop new pieces, while the implementation teams hammer out the details on the target machines.
My take... the thing that made Frank Herbert's books great to me is that after I read a book I felt like I'd learned more about myself, humanity, history and the motives of religion. He got into the characters head and really made you understand what cultural things made people tick. His parallels between the modern world and his fantasy world also helped to understand things like trade with scarcity of recources (spice vs. oil) and the power of holy war. Brian Herbert's stories are very entertaining, but not subtle and leave you feeling more like you watched a sitcom than read a worthwhile book. The advantage of this is this book in particular really moves along and perhaps the audience will be bigger since many people, unlike me, didn't like the preachiness and the slow pace of his father's books.
If you don't try to compare their writing styles and just enjoy the book, I think you'll enjoy the read.SPOILER SPOILER - Also, he does flesh out the history of the Fremen somewhat with things like the origin of the Zensunni wanderers, the beginnings of the spice trade, the beginning of the distrust of outsiders, the abandoning peace loving Zensunni tradition and travel into deep desert. The Missionaria Protectiva won't have arrived yet, since the Bene Gesseret hasn't even been founded.
Actually, Frank Herbert himself was the one that originally complained about Lucas ripping off the story. I've read in various places that he considered a lawsuit. He wrote several pages in a short essay within Eye about this topic where he points out that there are statistically too many similarities for this to be mere coincidence.
I actually finished this book last week. Although, you cannot even begin to compare the writing abilities of father and son, I've enjoyed the new books. Each book has gotten a little bit better and I actually enjoyed this book.. it had good pacing and got you involved in the story. SPOILER??... My only complaint is that it seemed to me that several things that were claimed on the book jacket, like the betrayal that made mortal enemies of Harkonnen and Atreides, were not actually in the story! Maybe I missed something?