What makes you think this law tried to do that? If this law weren't struck down, then you would still be free to let your kids play violent games, it's just that you'd have to buy them for them. The choice would still be yours, not the government's.
Really? And what form of proof do I need to show to prove that I bought it for my son?
The point is that I should not have to worry about stupid laws such as this. It's my responsibility, not the governments.
I'm a bit torn about this ruling. Part of it may be that I don't fully understand this bill, nor the implications thereof. As I understand it, this bill would have prohibited minors from renting/buying adult oriented games (M/AO) under threat of a fine. Is that it? I thought the objective here was to prevent retailers from selling these games to minors under threat of fines to the retailer.
I don't necessarily agree that video games are harmful to all children. However, I would agree that they can, somewhat, de-sensitize them. And, I would agree that certain children may be negatively influenced by some games. Granted, those children generally have a host of other behavioural issues that should have been red flagged long before video games really get into the picture.
Regardless of whether or not the games will "hurt" the children, however, they have been rated for adults. Because of this, I personally believe that retailers should be encouraged to prevent the sale of these games to minors unless an adult is present. Encouraged as in the guidelines given to them by the ESRB, not fines and laws. These guidelines are, of course, a deterant, and not something that will prevent a child from ever getting their hands on the game. That part is up to the parent.
As a parent, (yes, I'm a geek AND I got the girl.. I'm still trying to figure out how the hell that happened myself) I know what limits my children have. I pay attention to what they watch, read, play, and even who they hang out with. I'm not a dictator by any means, but I do attempt to influence what my children say and do without forcing my opinions on them. They are free to make their own decisions, within reasonable limits. I do not allow my children to play games such as GTA. I do, however, allow my older son (12) to play games such as Unreal Tournament, 007, and some of the M-rated racing games. Of course, I checked them out beforehand. And I have yet to see him driving down the street, with a BFG, taking out the neighbors.
I find it disheartening that our society seems so hell bent on not only allowing, but encouraging the government to set forth laws to regulate how I raise my children. I'm aware that there are parents out there who are completely useless and should never have been allowed to reproduce, but laws like this infringe on my rights as a parent. I should be able to raise my child as I see fit.
I think laws like this should be beaten down, but I think reasonable guidelines should be put in place. And I definitely don't like the free speach flag being waved around as an excuse for stuff like this.
Ok, so I skipped TFA and went right to Qube. Download, scan, dissect, install. Great, so I have this hefty MFC application on my system now that allows me to search without opening a browser.
Wait.. huh? No browser?
Ok, so I give it a shot. We'll skip the part where only Alt-Z seems to work and none of the right click features do. It's beta, that happens. So, anyway, I search for a few things. Can you guess my results? Yup.. Every one of them is a web page. So, uh.. How does this help me? Now I need to pop up a web browser to view the pages that I just searched for. Or, I can use the preview feature in cube which seems to be an embedded version of IE... Wait, isn't that a web browser?
The feature list is nice, but I'm not really seeing anything interesting :
Browserless search - Ok, neat I guess, but I still need a browser to view the results anyways RSS Feed Reader - I use Firefox for this already Search History - Between browser history and what some search engines already support, why do I need this? One Click Search - One click and a keypress maybe, tho it wasn't working for me.. Built in Previewer - Umm.. Doesn't this mean you're opening a web browser? albeit an embedded one? Adult Filter - Don't believe in em, don't use em. Search Refiner - Most search engines support this already... Progressive Results - Again, I believe most search engines do this already, you just need to load the page Realtime Suggestions - Another prevalent feature Dictionary - define: works fine for me... No Spyware/Malware - Notice that Adware is missing.. Not to say that Adroll will be malevolent, but it's there...
So maybe I'm missing something here, but if I'm using a search engine, and the results are all web pages, how does it help me to not have to open a web browser first?
Perhaps a BETTER institution would be one that tells you how to code your pages to work with 100% of browsers as they are today (broken features in all) and in addition to that makes suggestions for where browsers should go next.
I agree, sort of. It would be great to have a site to go to that will tell you what parts of your site won't work in what browsers, but that's more of a workaround. Albeit, a practical one.
Perhaps the issue isn't so much the standards, but the browsers. Of course, if every browser supported all of the standards, then there wouldn't be much difference between them. (Minus the security bugs of course) I'm not sure there is a good solution to this. Take a look at other "standards"... There are tons of different standards for encoding a simple text document. And not everyone supports all of them.
Why not take this further and replace the W3C altogether? It obviously doesn't work long-term, so replace it with something that will. A non-profit organization with a focus on development and maintenance of web standards. I think if you can get Opera and Mozilla on board, then I think Microsoft will be forced to follow.
Thanks slashdot.. Here I try to visit the site and see what it's all about, but it's obvious that Microsoft saw this news before me and has already squashed the site.. What a way to start a Monday...
During the past 2 years I've had the opportunity to deal directly with K12 and PAVCS. Both of my school age sons were enrolled in PAVCS.
Overall, the program is excellent. My oldest son was diagnosed ADHD and needs a more hands-on approach to learning, something the local school district refuses to provide, despite the existing legislation to force them. Unfortunately, moving is easier said than done, so we decided to look into PAVCS. From day one, they were incredibly helpful, explaining the entire process and helping us along. There is a teacher assigned to every student who makes weekly phone calls to check on the progress of the student, discuss and problems, etc. The child is provided, free of charge, all of the books and necessary materials to learn, including a computer.
One of the nicest things about the whole system is that the child does not need to be enrolled in the same grade classes for each subject. So, for instance, if your 5th grade child is deficient in math, but excelling in english, they could take a 4th grade math, but 6th grade english. This is incredibly helpful in keeping the child engaged and on-task.
They also schedule regular "meets" every 2-3 weeks that are optional. The purpose of these meets is to encourage social interaction between both the parents and the children. They also make sure that all required state and federal testing is completed, which usually turns into a 1/2 day of testing, and a 1/2 day of playing.
I like PAVCS and I wish they had it back when I was in school.. I see this as such an advantage over traditional schools. The freedom to learn when you want, in the order you want, is very powerful. I'd like to see this type of learning move even further. Personally, I tend to learn faster and better on my own rather than in a classroom setting.
It's only if the name ISN'T found in DNS that this service would do it's "magic".
Ok, ok.. I hadn't thought of it that way.. I suppose if it's done properly, that would be prevented. But that's only if it's done correctly..
However, others are correct. This is an "if you choose" service and not something being forced on the internet at large. However, I am wary of a service catered towards "newbies" that makes promises such as this.. Too much power methinks.. Of course, that's my opinion.:)
And on top of this, let's all congratulate these guys on breaking the RFCs by "helping" shovel us to the address we "meant" to type in.. Let's not report back an error and help the end user correct their mistake, but transparently forward them so they never know.
And what happens when someone registers wordpres.org? Then where are we? Well, I meant wordpres, not wordpress.. Thanks for sending me where I don't want to be.. A haven for phishers?
Excellent, thanks. It would have been nice to see this information in the summary, or at least on the linked page. As I expected this, or at least expected the FAQ on their main site to have this information, I didn't jump to the pdf. I should know better by now, I suppose...
In order to stimulate the momentum in electronic reading, iRex Technologies will support as many formats as possible in as open an environment as possible, respecting the rights of owners of content and IP.
Ok... So what formats are those again? This sounds, to me, like they will only support DRM capable formats... Which makes this a non-buy in my opinion.
So, you think you can escape this by moving to Australia? Wrong. The US has an intellectual property treaty with Australia. And most other nations. But why should you have to be a fugitive in the first place. Why should you not be able to live in plain sight where you choose?
It seems more and more to me that Big Brother is watching everywhere..
What's really amazing to me is that someone like me can easily fall prey to these types of lawsuits. I took a look at your article and I've come to the realization that I may be violating the Firestar patent as well. In fact, if I understand the patent, a ton of people are.
It boggles my mind that something like this can go on. Have you seen the patent for swinging on a swing? How the hell does something like that make it through the USPTO? (Patent 6,368,227 if you're interested) The entire patent systems needs an overhaul...
Err.. You didn't patent your article did you? I wrote and linked to it in my blog... Well, I guess that's more of a copyright thing, isn't it..
Yeah.. this post was for the funny.. As for being to young. I was around, patiently awaiting the download of Castle Wolfenstein back in the day. I was there for Doom. And I was there for Quake.
Geez, I feel old now. I remember the days when I ran a BBS complete with door mods to allow multiplayer Doom/Heretic/Hexen.. Ah, those were the days.. two player, head to head action after 15 minutes of frustrated link-up attempts.
On cable connections, you're sharing the connection -- is it so shocking that you're not getting what's advertised?
Well, yeah.. Sort of. Typically, the downstream has approximately 36 meg of available bandwidth for each set of frequencies. So, all of the users on a particular downstream share that. Upstream is, if I remember correctly, about 6 or 10 Meg.
In DSL land, you are "guaranteed" to have the bandwidth up to the DSLAM. That is, the phone line you are running on is a single run from you to the termination point (be it a CO or a remote). Once you get in the DSLAM, you begin sharing. Typical DSLAMs from companies like Paradyne or Adtran have 24-48 DSL modems and are fed with 1-8 T1s. Larger units can have several hundred modems and are fed by either a DS-3 or an OC-3.
So, while you are technically not sharing the cable from you to the provider, you are sharing once you get onto the DSLAM. It's basically the same as using a dial-up modem. You're guaranteed to be the only one using the bandwidth between your modem and the modem at the ISP. But from there, you get thrown in with everyone else...
Be that as it may, however.. I do like DSL despite more for a few reasons. For one, it's generally run by telephone companies who are pretty adamant about their 99.999% uptime.. My DSL rarely goes out. And for another, it just seems to be more stable overall. The cable networks I've had to deal with in the past were buggy at best from the head end units to the cable itself..
I can definitely agree with the fact that some IRC channels, mailing lists, etc. are not newbie friendly. And I agree that's a bit of a problem. But I wonder if there aren't some decent reasons for this.. Granted, these aren't "good" excuses, per se, but they work..
First, the people you're asking these newbie questions are often the developers of the software. Umm, wow. A programmer being introverted and arrogant? Most developers don't have the social skills and graces to handle repeated barrages of newbie questions and respond with anger.
Secondly, those mailing lists and channels with people that are willing to help often get fed up with hearing "How do I start the X service" a million times a day. FAQs and Wikis are there to handle the intro questions.
That said, if the FAQ/Wiki does not answer the question, then someone needs to fix it. Someone needs to step up to the plate and correct the mistakes and make the documentation clearer. Ultimately this should be a combination of the newbie and a guru from the list. The guru, knowing the software already, thinks the docs are fine and may not be able to fix them. The newbie, being a newbie, knows what doesnt make sense, but may not be able to fix it since they don't have the experience.
It would be nice to see a Linux Tech Support company to handle stuff like this, but I'm not sure how they'd make their money....
Agreed.. I've had an H140 for a few years now and I still can't see the draw of the iPod. Yeah, it's pretty. Yeah, the buttons are a little easier to use, but I would NEVER give up the ability to make my own directories and order my songs the way *I* want... I use it to store all sorts of information in addition to music..
I haven't jumped into the rockbox pool yet, but I've been watching it for a long time.. I'm almost ready to take the plunge.. Almost.. Just afraid of bricking my iRiver.. I use this thing *EVERY* day!
Personally, I'd rather not see ANY ads. If I need something, I'll go looking for it. And when I do, I'll base my purchases on past experience, word of mouth, and other ways of getting information that are less biased than marketing material.
That's a nice thought and all, but.. Hello reality..:) I don't see advertisements disappearing anytime soon.
I'm confident that the developers will have a pretty GUI interface in place before something like this gets rolled out, and you can disable it. That and a few extensions and you can block all those nasty ads.
I think if they popped up a notice, similar to the notices you get when you submit data on a form for the first time, and allow you to make the choice, then they've done the responsible thing. I'm not in marketing, but I think a feature like this is a win/win for both sides.
You know, I think a lot of people are missing the point here. If this works, and this tag becomes prevalent, this gives the user greater control over security. It will allow the end user to disable pings and "stop" the tracking. For those that want to be tracked, they will be. Getting tracked is not necessarily a bad thing. It allows marketing folks to target ads. Personally, I'd rather not be bombarded with a variety of ads ranging from pots and pans to viagra. I'd rather see stuff I'm interested in.
As for those who are complaining about the lack of control... Let's remember that this is in the DEVELOPMENT branch, and wasn't put in a "public" release... I'm sure it will get some more spit and polish before it's released. They have to start somewhere with new features!
"Do not try and write open source software. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth." "What truth?" "There is no open source community." "There is no open source community?" "Then you'll see that it is not the community that is open source, it is only yourself."
"What are you trying to tell me? That I can write perfect code?"
I like this idea.. Karma based nofollows.. Provided that the nofollow doesn't change over time. ie, the users karma increases and suddenly all their links switch from nofollow to follow...
I definitely think this warrants more discussion/thought...
Slashdot Mirror
What makes you think this law tried to do that? If this law weren't struck down, then you would still be free to let your kids play violent games, it's just that you'd have to buy them for them. The choice would still be yours, not the government's.
Really? And what form of proof do I need to show to prove that I bought it for my son?
The point is that I should not have to worry about stupid laws such as this. It's my responsibility, not the governments.
I'm a bit torn about this ruling. Part of it may be that I don't fully understand this bill, nor the implications thereof. As I understand it, this bill would have prohibited minors from renting/buying adult oriented games (M/AO) under threat of a fine. Is that it? I thought the objective here was to prevent retailers from selling these games to minors under threat of fines to the retailer.
I don't necessarily agree that video games are harmful to all children. However, I would agree that they can, somewhat, de-sensitize them. And, I would agree that certain children may be negatively influenced by some games. Granted, those children generally have a host of other behavioural issues that should have been red flagged long before video games really get into the picture.
Regardless of whether or not the games will "hurt" the children, however, they have been rated for adults. Because of this, I personally believe that retailers should be encouraged to prevent the sale of these games to minors unless an adult is present. Encouraged as in the guidelines given to them by the ESRB, not fines and laws. These guidelines are, of course, a deterant, and not something that will prevent a child from ever getting their hands on the game. That part is up to the parent.
As a parent, (yes, I'm a geek AND I got the girl.. I'm still trying to figure out how the hell that happened myself) I know what limits my children have. I pay attention to what they watch, read, play, and even who they hang out with. I'm not a dictator by any means, but I do attempt to influence what my children say and do without forcing my opinions on them. They are free to make their own decisions, within reasonable limits. I do not allow my children to play games such as GTA. I do, however, allow my older son (12) to play games such as Unreal Tournament, 007, and some of the M-rated racing games. Of course, I checked them out beforehand. And I have yet to see him driving down the street, with a BFG, taking out the neighbors.
I find it disheartening that our society seems so hell bent on not only allowing, but encouraging the government to set forth laws to regulate how I raise my children. I'm aware that there are parents out there who are completely useless and should never have been allowed to reproduce, but laws like this infringe on my rights as a parent. I should be able to raise my child as I see fit.
I think laws like this should be beaten down, but I think reasonable guidelines should be put in place. And I definitely don't like the free speach flag being waved around as an excuse for stuff like this.
Ok, so I skipped TFA and went right to Qube. Download, scan, dissect, install. Great, so I have this hefty MFC application on my system now that allows me to search without opening a browser.
Wait.. huh? No browser?
Ok, so I give it a shot. We'll skip the part where only Alt-Z seems to work and none of the right click features do. It's beta, that happens. So, anyway, I search for a few things. Can you guess my results? Yup.. Every one of them is a web page. So, uh.. How does this help me? Now I need to pop up a web browser to view the pages that I just searched for. Or, I can use the preview feature in cube which seems to be an embedded version of IE... Wait, isn't that a web browser?
The feature list is nice, but I'm not really seeing anything interesting :
Browserless search - Ok, neat I guess, but I still need a browser to view the results anyways
RSS Feed Reader - I use Firefox for this already
Search History - Between browser history and what some search engines already support, why do I need this?
One Click Search - One click and a keypress maybe, tho it wasn't working for me..
Built in Previewer - Umm.. Doesn't this mean you're opening a web browser? albeit an embedded one?
Adult Filter - Don't believe in em, don't use em.
Search Refiner - Most search engines support this already...
Progressive Results - Again, I believe most search engines do this already, you just need to load the page
Realtime Suggestions - Another prevalent feature
Dictionary - define: works fine for me...
No Spyware/Malware - Notice that Adware is missing.. Not to say that Adroll will be malevolent, but it's there...
So maybe I'm missing something here, but if I'm using a search engine, and the results are all web pages, how does it help me to not have to open a web browser first?
Perhaps a BETTER institution would be one that tells you how to code your pages to work with 100% of browsers as they are today (broken features in all) and in addition to that makes suggestions for where browsers should go next.
I agree, sort of. It would be great to have a site to go to that will tell you what parts of your site won't work in what browsers, but that's more of a workaround. Albeit, a practical one.
Perhaps the issue isn't so much the standards, but the browsers. Of course, if every browser supported all of the standards, then there wouldn't be much difference between them. (Minus the security bugs of course) I'm not sure there is a good solution to this. Take a look at other "standards"... There are tons of different standards for encoding a simple text document. And not everyone supports all of them.
Why not take this further and replace the W3C altogether? It obviously doesn't work long-term, so replace it with something that will. A non-profit organization with a focus on development and maintenance of web standards. I think if you can get Opera and Mozilla on board, then I think Microsoft will be forced to follow.
Is the W3C itself that important?
Thanks slashdot.. Here I try to visit the site and see what it's all about, but it's obvious that Microsoft saw this news before me and has already squashed the site.. What a way to start a Monday...
During the past 2 years I've had the opportunity to deal directly with K12 and PAVCS. Both of my school age sons were enrolled in PAVCS.
Overall, the program is excellent. My oldest son was diagnosed ADHD and needs a more hands-on approach to learning, something the local school district refuses to provide, despite the existing legislation to force them. Unfortunately, moving is easier said than done, so we decided to look into PAVCS. From day one, they were incredibly helpful, explaining the entire process and helping us along. There is a teacher assigned to every student who makes weekly phone calls to check on the progress of the student, discuss and problems, etc. The child is provided, free of charge, all of the books and necessary materials to learn, including a computer.
One of the nicest things about the whole system is that the child does not need to be enrolled in the same grade classes for each subject. So, for instance, if your 5th grade child is deficient in math, but excelling in english, they could take a 4th grade math, but 6th grade english. This is incredibly helpful in keeping the child engaged and on-task.
They also schedule regular "meets" every 2-3 weeks that are optional. The purpose of these meets is to encourage social interaction between both the parents and the children. They also make sure that all required state and federal testing is completed, which usually turns into a 1/2 day of testing, and a 1/2 day of playing.
I like PAVCS and I wish they had it back when I was in school.. I see this as such an advantage over traditional schools. The freedom to learn when you want, in the order you want, is very powerful. I'd like to see this type of learning move even further. Personally, I tend to learn faster and better on my own rather than in a classroom setting.
It's only if the name ISN'T found in DNS that this service would do it's "magic".
:)
Ok, ok.. I hadn't thought of it that way.. I suppose if it's done properly, that would be prevented. But that's only if it's done correctly..
However, others are correct. This is an "if you choose" service and not something being forced on the internet at large. However, I am wary of a service catered towards "newbies" that makes promises such as this.. Too much power methinks.. Of course, that's my opinion.
And on top of this, let's all congratulate these guys on breaking the RFCs by "helping" shovel us to the address we "meant" to type in.. Let's not report back an error and help the end user correct their mistake, but transparently forward them so they never know.
And what happens when someone registers wordpres.org? Then where are we? Well, I meant wordpres, not wordpress.. Thanks for sending me where I don't want to be.. A haven for phishers?
Excellent, thanks. It would have been nice to see this information in the summary, or at least on the linked page. As I expected this, or at least expected the FAQ on their main site to have this information, I didn't jump to the pdf. I should know better by now, I suppose...
From their FAQ:
Which formats do you support?
In order to stimulate the momentum in electronic reading, iRex Technologies will support as many formats as possible in as open an environment as possible, respecting the rights of owners of content and IP.
Ok... So what formats are those again? This sounds, to me, like they will only support DRM capable formats... Which makes this a non-buy in my opinion.
So, you think you can escape this by moving to Australia? Wrong. The US has an intellectual property treaty with Australia. And most other nations. But why should you have to be a fugitive in the first place. Why should you not be able to live in plain sight where you choose?
It seems more and more to me that Big Brother is watching everywhere..
What's really amazing to me is that someone like me can easily fall prey to these types of lawsuits. I took a look at your article and I've come to the realization that I may be violating the Firestar patent as well. In fact, if I understand the patent, a ton of people are.
It boggles my mind that something like this can go on. Have you seen the patent for swinging on a swing? How the hell does something like that make it through the USPTO? (Patent 6,368,227 if you're interested) The entire patent systems needs an overhaul...
Err.. You didn't patent your article did you? I wrote and linked to it in my blog... Well, I guess that's more of a copyright thing, isn't it..
"Honey! I heard a noise downstairs!"
..." *grabs gun from drawer*
"I'll check it out
*fumbles a bit* "Can you turn on the light? I can't see the keypad.. Ah, that's better"
*more fumbling* "Crap, the battery is dead, I need to replace it"
*further fumbling*
"Now.. what the hell was my pin again.. no, thats for the bank account.. no, thats for the locks on the car... hrm..."
*muffled scream and thud in the distance* "Honey???"
"Nevermind dear, I hit him with a bat!"
or even better :
"Umm.. Mr robber, wait there just a minute while I enter my pin number into this gun..."
> In the words of Christopher Titus... "See he GETS it!"
:)
Oh great. There goes another 15 minutes as I google this to figure out who the hell Christopher Titus is..
Yeah.. this post was for the funny.. As for being to young. I was around, patiently awaiting the download of Castle Wolfenstein back in the day. I was there for Doom. And I was there for Quake.
Geez, I feel old now. I remember the days when I ran a BBS complete with door mods to allow multiplayer Doom/Heretic/Hexen.. Ah, those were the days.. two player, head to head action after 15 minutes of frustrated link-up attempts.
My first troll mod! *tear* I'm so proud... *tear*
:)
Ah well, I guess my wife is right.. I have no humor...
blah blah blah ten years blah blah blah blah blah blah run linux blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah had sex with a goat blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah not newsworthy blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah use a spellchecker blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah damn zealots blah blah postercomment repressed blah blah
On cable connections, you're sharing the connection -- is it so shocking that you're not getting what's advertised?
Well, yeah.. Sort of. Typically, the downstream has approximately 36 meg of available bandwidth for each set of frequencies. So, all of the users on a particular downstream share that. Upstream is, if I remember correctly, about 6 or 10 Meg.
In DSL land, you are "guaranteed" to have the bandwidth up to the DSLAM. That is, the phone line you are running on is a single run from you to the termination point (be it a CO or a remote). Once you get in the DSLAM, you begin sharing. Typical DSLAMs from companies like Paradyne or Adtran have 24-48 DSL modems and are fed with 1-8 T1s. Larger units can have several hundred modems and are fed by either a DS-3 or an OC-3.
So, while you are technically not sharing the cable from you to the provider, you are sharing once you get onto the DSLAM. It's basically the same as using a dial-up modem. You're guaranteed to be the only one using the bandwidth between your modem and the modem at the ISP. But from there, you get thrown in with everyone else...
Be that as it may, however.. I do like DSL despite more for a few reasons. For one, it's generally run by telephone companies who are pretty adamant about their 99.999% uptime.. My DSL rarely goes out. And for another, it just seems to be more stable overall. The cable networks I've had to deal with in the past were buggy at best from the head end units to the cable itself..
I can definitely agree with the fact that some IRC channels, mailing lists, etc. are not newbie friendly. And I agree that's a bit of a problem. But I wonder if there aren't some decent reasons for this.. Granted, these aren't "good" excuses, per se, but they work..
First, the people you're asking these newbie questions are often the developers of the software. Umm, wow. A programmer being introverted and arrogant? Most developers don't have the social skills and graces to handle repeated barrages of newbie questions and respond with anger.
Secondly, those mailing lists and channels with people that are willing to help often get fed up with hearing "How do I start the X service" a million times a day. FAQs and Wikis are there to handle the intro questions.
That said, if the FAQ/Wiki does not answer the question, then someone needs to fix it. Someone needs to step up to the plate and correct the mistakes and make the documentation clearer. Ultimately this should be a combination of the newbie and a guru from the list. The guru, knowing the software already, thinks the docs are fine and may not be able to fix them. The newbie, being a newbie, knows what doesnt make sense, but may not be able to fix it since they don't have the experience.
It would be nice to see a Linux Tech Support company to handle stuff like this, but I'm not sure how they'd make their money....
Agreed.. I've had an H140 for a few years now and I still can't see the draw of the iPod. Yeah, it's pretty. Yeah, the buttons are a little easier to use, but I would NEVER give up the ability to make my own directories and order my songs the way *I* want... I use it to store all sorts of information in addition to music..
I haven't jumped into the rockbox pool yet, but I've been watching it for a long time.. I'm almost ready to take the plunge.. Almost.. Just afraid of bricking my iRiver.. I use this thing *EVERY* day!
Ugh .. get a new job.. I'm not sure I could stand "security" like that.. I'd spend my entire day working to get around it.. :)
Personally, I'd rather not see ANY ads. If I need something, I'll go looking for it. And when I do, I'll base my purchases on past experience, word of mouth, and other ways of getting information that are less biased than marketing material.
:) I don't see advertisements disappearing anytime soon.
That's a nice thought and all, but.. Hello reality..
I'm confident that the developers will have a pretty GUI interface in place before something like this gets rolled out, and you can disable it. That and a few extensions and you can block all those nasty ads.
I think if they popped up a notice, similar to the notices you get when you submit data on a form for the first time, and allow you to make the choice, then they've done the responsible thing. I'm not in marketing, but I think a feature like this is a win/win for both sides.
You know, I think a lot of people are missing the point here. If this works, and this tag becomes prevalent, this gives the user greater control over security. It will allow the end user to disable pings and "stop" the tracking. For those that want to be tracked, they will be. Getting tracked is not necessarily a bad thing. It allows marketing folks to target ads. Personally, I'd rather not be bombarded with a variety of ads ranging from pots and pans to viagra. I'd rather see stuff I'm interested in.
As for those who are complaining about the lack of control... Let's remember that this is in the DEVELOPMENT branch, and wasn't put in a "public" release... I'm sure it will get some more spit and polish before it's released. They have to start somewhere with new features!
"Do not try and write open source software. That's impossible. Instead ... only try to realize the truth."
"What truth?"
"There is no open source community."
"There is no open source community?"
"Then you'll see that it is not the community that is open source, it is only yourself."
"What are you trying to tell me? That I can write perfect code?"
I like this idea.. Karma based nofollows.. Provided that the nofollow doesn't change over time. ie, the users karma increases and suddenly all their links switch from nofollow to follow...
I definitely think this warrants more discussion/thought...