Actually if these batteries have the same life span as todays batteries then the ability to put them in a landfill and have bacteria ingest them sounds like a really good idea from an ecological standpoint. The question is whether the paper is toxic to bacteria.
Not to nit pick (ok, so it is to nit pick) but the base of the M300 is called a "Slice" instead of a docking station since the slice is also portable. And Yes I did work for Compaq before the fall.:-) (oops....there I am putting emoticons in official documents again.)
OK maybe I am missing something but the article is talking about separate companies working together for a common goal not one company with numerous brands selling the same car (Pontiac Firebird == Chevy Camaro) with only the slightest cosmetic differences. American auto manufacturers do not work together (unless they are forced to) Having worked for an authorized AC Delco re-manufacturing shop I can attest to the fact they deliberately designed in bogus circuitry to try and prevent one of their Japanese partners from reverse engineering an ECM despite the fact I could look at the board and see what it did. It really sucked having to troubleshoot a circuit you knew didn't do anything but it still had to pass testing. Companies re-using designs and parts within it's own organization just makes economic sense. I think these Automakers simply realized what an enormous task designing, developing, and maintaining a code base would be and decided it was in their best interest to collaborate. Not to mention if they open source it they might get some really cool plug-ins from third party developers.;=) (I hope this emoticon is appropriate here)
This is just another attempt to medicate the symptom (dissent) instead of addressing the disease (apathy, corruption, disillusionment) which is a MUCH bigger issue. I'll forgo the soap box but we as a world are heading for a Roman Empire type meltdown on a global scale if we don't start appreciating what we do have instead of whining about what we don't. The world will never be perfect but it's still pretty dang amazing.
Am I the only one who isn't at all impressed when some piece of actual technology sounds like some made up thing from some fantasy novel or elderly sci-fi series?
This is from a video game which is something completely different.
/me imagines an elderly James Tiberius Kirk using a walker with built in phasers..... or was that last weeks episode of Boston Legal?
from what I've read about the DMCA and related laws, wouldn't it be illegal to modify (or remove) hardware that was designed as a DRM/copyright enforcement mechanism?
I support an energy trade floor and got to demo the beta of the Extio over a year ago. We currently have a mixed environment where every trader has a laptop and a blade that resides in our server room. The big plus for us with this device is it turned the laptops into 4 monitor blades because you can connect to it via an expresscard slot. I can say that the blades which push an Nvidia Quadro over cat5 is always washed out whereas the Extio looked very crisp and clear.
Perhaps if you compared a current generation device (Blackberry 8830) with the iPhone instead of a 2 year old model you might like them a little more. The 8830 can act as a USB storage device using it's micro-SD expansion slot (not sure if Verizon disables this feature or not as I have the 8800). It can play most audio codecs including mp4 audio and mpeg 4 video. Since RIM introduced the Pearl last year many ISV's have begun releasing java apps specifically for BB devices. My 8800 has the best battery life of any phone I have ever owned but still has enough processing power to get the job done. I have never had Verizon service but have heard they disable any file transfer capabilities to force you to pay for their services (wallpaper, ringtone, applications) which is probably why you can't do file transfers (if Verizon was selling the iPhone it would most likely also suffer from this "feature").
software has demo's (as do games), if you see the demo and wish to enjoy the product for longer, then its pretty hard to argue that you will be getting entertainment or use from it no?
I haven't seen too many demo's for console games (I have seen some just not many) and watching a "demo" of what the game looks like does not translate into true entertainment for me.....
I spoke to a guy who does DRM for an online game publisher. Once, they rewrote their algorithm which instantly rendered all existing cracks for the games useless. Sales jumped by 40% that month. Why? surely none of those who cracked the stuff would have bought it anyway?
I totally agree with your assertion here but here is the rub. What was the net profit of that 40% increase versus the cost of devoloping the DRM in the first place? How long until the DRM is cracked again and the process starts all over?
A car is made for a single user, and priced accordingly. A movie, game or application is made with some estimation of sales, based upon the market size and product quality.
Every time I see this argument it almost always leaves out a key point. The car required the purchase of metal, plastic, rubber, etc. which go into the cost of the car. The actual net profit for a car is a small fraction of it's manufacturing cost. While there is a large initial outlay at a software house once the shop is up and running the only major cost is marketing and labor. A huge investment to be sure but once a product is "completed" the cost to sustain it drops by an order of magnitude. This just means you are making an apples to watermelon comparison.
People will make all kinds of rationalisation to justify taking other peoples work for free.
I think I dissagree with you here. I believe the majority of the people who do this habitually not only realize it is wrong they see it as a challenge and it gives them a boost to their egos. The person who tries to rationalize it is the casual copier who actually feels bad about it and is looking for a way to ease their conscience.
I never said they were any good just that they actually existed. I'll still take bad support over non-existent support any day. At least I have somebody to yell at.
oops! almost forget to give you your "We are sorry to hear about the trouble you are having. Perhaps if you look at our online FAQ you will find what you need there."
this may be a little OT but..... I was recently in the market for a big ticket item and once I found the one I wanted at the price I was willing to pay I began the checkout procedure. I had been seeing the Google Checkout buttons on many of the sites and the allure of getting a little bit more taken off my purchase convinced me to sign up. I mean HAY! this is Google after all so it must be great. I dotted my i's and crossed my t's and completed the purchase. Within minutes I received an email from Google Checkout that my transaction had been denied and that I needed to correct the information and resubmit. Turns out since it was such a large amount Amex flagged the charge and contacted me to confirm I had made it (Kudos to them I say). I authorized the charge and resubmitted it to Google Checkout. I got the same note saying the charge was refused. I called Amex and they informed me the charge was never resubmitted. I tried again with the same results. I tried to contact Google Checkout support only to discover that there is no such thing. If you try hard enough you can find a contact form and fill it out but all I ever got were canned responses about being sorry for the inconvenience. I opened a complaint with the BBB and the only response I got was more of the same canned "We're sorry for the inconvenience" emails with no assistance on fixing the problem. I ended up cancelling the order and going to a brick and mortar to get my item. I expect better from a Google property and I won't be using the service again anytime soon. I've had my problems with PayPal but at least I was able to correspond with some who could actually help me.
MS helped Apple several times along the way, when they could have went in for the kill. If MS was truly predatory or evil, there would be no Apple, especially when Apple was very dependent on IE and Office.
As I understand it MS did this not to help Apple but to get Apple to settle their 10+ year legal battle. A little office and IE for the Mac and 150 Million investment in Apple and everybody is happy.
Slightly OT: You had to go and mention Taco Cabana didn't you!? I thought that was a raw deal from the start. Two Pesos had better food, better atmosphere and better prices and I NEVER confused one for the other. For Pete's sake one was neon pink and the other was pastel blue! They didn't even serve the same type of food. One was Tex Mex (Two Pesos) the other was Mexican (Yes there is a difference.) I worked the night shift during the early 90s and coming home at 2 or 3 in the morning Two Pesos was the only decent food you could get that didn't require you to wait 2 hours for. It makes me sad all over again. Thanks SOOO much for reminding me.
Slightly less OT: It will be interesting to see how the courts rule on this as I can see valid arguments on both sides of this issue. Even if this is not a case of trademark infringement it could still be argued that it damages Apple's brand by associating it with "unsavory" (not to me but to some) products.
..well...what SHOULD the response have been? "Microsoft has also set up a military strike team that can travel through time, stopping virus and trojan developers before they infect the future."
That is one of the features for VISTA that got nixed during development.
But I must be thankful that the new wave of religious moralism has not (yet) arrived here from America... But sadly, I expect it to arrive very soon...
This has very little to do with religion or morality other than fear that a lawyer will see an opportunity to make a buck by opening a class action lawsuit against the university for giving a certificate to such an "amoral" individual. Imagine the "Think of all the students who were scarred for life because of the example this teacher was setting" lawsuit this might cause the university. This is more a response to frivolous lawsuits than it is morality.
Last year I reported physical abuse from a co-worker (we were both contractors) and the next day I was released with no explanation. I had been there 20 months and had been approached about being converted to an employee. I did a little digging and found out they told my agency I was "mentally unstable". They ended up hiring the guy who hit me and making him lead tech. You'll forgive me if I am skeptical.
Slashdot Mirror
This means they're one step closer to creating Dark Angel, which I think we can all agree, is vastly more important.
I think they've already developed the beautiful woman who won't give you the time of day and can kick your ass.
My guess would be that it's a bug in the PCI code.
You misspelled feature.
Actually if these batteries have the same life span as todays batteries then the ability to put them in a landfill and have bacteria ingest them sounds like a really good idea from an ecological standpoint. The question is whether the paper is toxic to bacteria.
Not to nit pick (ok, so it is to nit pick) but the base of the M300 is called a "Slice" instead of a docking station since the slice is also portable. And Yes I did work for Compaq before the fall. :-) (oops....there I am putting emoticons in official documents again.)
Time to pull out that patent I got for a system to get people to make electricity for me by doing things they were already doing. Cha-Ching!
OK maybe I am missing something but the article is talking about separate companies working together for a common goal not one company with numerous brands selling the same car (Pontiac Firebird == Chevy Camaro) with only the slightest cosmetic differences. American auto manufacturers do not work together (unless they are forced to) Having worked for an authorized AC Delco re-manufacturing shop I can attest to the fact they deliberately designed in bogus circuitry to try and prevent one of their Japanese partners from reverse engineering an ECM despite the fact I could look at the board and see what it did. It really sucked having to troubleshoot a circuit you knew didn't do anything but it still had to pass testing. Companies re-using designs and parts within it's own organization just makes economic sense. I think these Automakers simply realized what an enormous task designing, developing, and maintaining a code base would be and decided it was in their best interest to collaborate. Not to mention if they open source it they might get some really cool plug-ins from third party developers. ;=) (I hope this emoticon is appropriate here)
This is just another attempt to medicate the symptom (dissent) instead of addressing the disease (apathy, corruption, disillusionment) which is a MUCH bigger issue. I'll forgo the soap box but we as a world are heading for a Roman Empire type meltdown on a global scale if we don't start appreciating what we do have instead of whining about what we don't. The world will never be perfect but it's still pretty dang amazing.
Am I the only one who isn't at all impressed when some piece of actual technology sounds like some made up thing from some fantasy novel or elderly sci-fi series?
/me imagines an elderly James Tiberius Kirk using a walker with built in phasers.....
This is from a video game which is something completely different.
or was that last weeks episode of Boston Legal?
from what I've read about the DMCA and related laws, wouldn't it be illegal to modify (or remove) hardware that was designed as a DRM/copyright enforcement mechanism?
What copyright are they enforcing? The GPL?
I support an energy trade floor and got to demo the beta of the Extio over a year ago. We currently have a mixed environment where every trader has a laptop and a blade that resides in our server room. The big plus for us with this device is it turned the laptops into 4 monitor blades because you can connect to it via an expresscard slot. I can say that the blades which push an Nvidia Quadro over cat5 is always washed out whereas the Extio looked very crisp and clear.
42!
As if everyone here didn't already know that!
Perhaps if you compared a current generation device (Blackberry 8830) with the iPhone instead of a 2 year old model you might like them a little more. The 8830 can act as a USB storage device using it's micro-SD expansion slot (not sure if Verizon disables this feature or not as I have the 8800). It can play most audio codecs including mp4 audio and mpeg 4 video. Since RIM introduced the Pearl last year many ISV's have begun releasing java apps specifically for BB devices. My 8800 has the best battery life of any phone I have ever owned but still has enough processing power to get the job done. I have never had Verizon service but have heard they disable any file transfer capabilities to force you to pay for their services (wallpaper, ringtone, applications) which is probably why you can't do file transfers (if Verizon was selling the iPhone it would most likely also suffer from this "feature").
I vote for a Thermite / Hydrogen mixture.
software has demo's (as do games), if you see the demo and wish to enjoy the product for longer, then its pretty hard to argue that you will be getting entertainment or use from it no?
I haven't seen too many demo's for console games (I have seen some just not many) and watching a "demo" of what the game looks like does not translate into true entertainment for me.....
I spoke to a guy who does DRM for an online game publisher. Once, they rewrote their algorithm which instantly rendered all existing cracks for the games useless. Sales jumped by 40% that month. Why? surely none of those who cracked the stuff would have bought it anyway?
I totally agree with your assertion here but here is the rub. What was the net profit of that 40% increase versus the cost of devoloping the DRM in the first place? How long until the DRM is cracked again and the process starts all over?
A car is made for a single user, and priced accordingly. A movie, game or application is made with some estimation of sales, based upon the market size and product quality.
Every time I see this argument it almost always leaves out a key point. The car required the purchase of metal, plastic, rubber, etc. which go into the cost of the car. The actual net profit for a car is a small fraction of it's manufacturing cost. While there is a large initial outlay at a software house once the shop is up and running the only major cost is marketing and labor. A huge investment to be sure but once a product is "completed" the cost to sustain it drops by an order of magnitude. This just means you are making an apples to watermelon comparison.
People will make all kinds of rationalisation to justify taking other peoples work for free.
I think I dissagree with you here. I believe the majority of the people who do this habitually not only realize it is wrong they see it as a challenge and it gives them a boost to their egos. The person who tries to rationalize it is the casual copier who actually feels bad about it and is looking for a way to ease their conscience.
I never said they were any good just that they actually existed. I'll still take bad support over non-existent support any day. At least I have somebody to yell at.
oops!
almost forget to give you your
"We are sorry to hear about the trouble you are having. Perhaps if you look at our online FAQ you will find what you need there."
That explains the why of it. It does not however explain the lack of communication with the customer during and long after the problem.
this may be a little OT but.....
I was recently in the market for a big ticket item and once I found the one I wanted at the price I was willing to pay I began the checkout procedure. I had been seeing the Google Checkout buttons on many of the sites and the allure of getting a little bit more taken off my purchase convinced me to sign up. I mean HAY! this is Google after all so it must be great. I dotted my i's and crossed my t's and completed the purchase. Within minutes I received an email from Google Checkout that my transaction had been denied and that I needed to correct the information and resubmit. Turns out since it was such a large amount Amex flagged the charge and contacted me to confirm I had made it (Kudos to them I say). I authorized the charge and resubmitted it to Google Checkout. I got the same note saying the charge was refused. I called Amex and they informed me the charge was never resubmitted. I tried again with the same results. I tried to contact Google Checkout support only to discover that there is no such thing. If you try hard enough you can find a contact form and fill it out but all I ever got were canned responses about being sorry for the inconvenience. I opened a complaint with the BBB and the only response I got was more of the same canned "We're sorry for the inconvenience" emails with no assistance on fixing the problem. I ended up cancelling the order and going to a brick and mortar to get my item. I expect better from a Google property and I won't be using the service again anytime soon. I've had my problems with PayPal but at least I was able to correspond with some who could actually help me.
MS helped Apple several times along the way, when they could have went in for the kill. If MS was truly predatory or evil, there would be no Apple, especially when Apple was very dependent on IE and Office.
As I understand it MS did this not to help Apple but to get Apple to settle their 10+ year legal battle. A little office and IE for the Mac and 150 Million investment in Apple and everybody is happy.
You must be new here.
Slightly OT:
You had to go and mention Taco Cabana didn't you!? I thought that was a raw deal from the start. Two Pesos had better food, better atmosphere and better prices and I NEVER confused one for the other. For Pete's sake one was neon pink and the other was pastel blue! They didn't even serve the same type of food. One was Tex Mex (Two Pesos) the other was Mexican (Yes there is a difference.) I worked the night shift during the early 90s and coming home at 2 or 3 in the morning Two Pesos was the only decent food you could get that didn't require you to wait 2 hours for. It makes me sad all over again. Thanks SOOO much for reminding me.
Slightly less OT:
It will be interesting to see how the courts rule on this as I can see valid arguments on both sides of this issue. Even if this is not a case of trademark infringement it could still be argued that it damages Apple's brand by associating it with "unsavory" (not to me but to some) products.
..well...what SHOULD the response have been? "Microsoft has also set up a military strike team that can travel through time, stopping virus and trojan developers before they infect the future."
That is one of the features for VISTA that got nixed during development.
I didn't say she was amoral.....the university implied it.
But I must be thankful that the new wave of religious moralism has not (yet) arrived here from America... But sadly, I expect it to arrive very soon...
This has very little to do with religion or morality other than fear that a lawyer will see an opportunity to make a buck by opening a class action lawsuit against the university for giving a certificate to such an "amoral" individual. Imagine the "Think of all the students who were scarred for life because of the example this teacher was setting" lawsuit this might cause the university. This is more a response to frivolous lawsuits than it is morality.
Last year I reported physical abuse from a co-worker (we were both contractors) and the next day I was released with no explanation. I had been there 20 months and had been approached about being converted to an employee. I did a little digging and found out they told my agency I was "mentally unstable". They ended up hiring the guy who hit me and making him lead tech. You'll forgive me if I am skeptical.
What I take seriously is Microsoft's business practices and ethics.