On the one hand, business gets separate, cooperative environments for dirt-cheap labor, pollution, safety issues, and so forth. On the other hand, the increasingly confusing legal issues between jurisdictions make it difficult to estimate liability. A balkanized world would provide better business opportunities if other people's lawyers weren't so clever. Oh, what to do, what to do?
We can debate this in terms of political philosophy, if we want to sound like those peasants by the ditch in that Monty Python movie. But the ultimate fate of the world's separate governments is a function of their utility to people who have enough money to force their decisions on politicians. My guess is that eventually we will have a single world government, but it will happen when the bigger corps decide that it's better for them.
Yeah, I second that opinion. Others have commented that family history can go back a long way, but jeez, these are space travellers. No way their technology, way of life, etc. should look even remotely similar after that much time.
This could be a real display revolution, and no I don't work for them. They are talking about print quality displays here. They don't mention frame rate or gamma, but my guess is that gamma is a function of how many subpixels remain black, and if the frame rate does turn out to be low give them some time. This is v0.
You mean they actually build in the processors and make them just sit there until you pay more? So you already paid for all their manufacturing costs and everything, just not for permission to use them.
Well if there was ever any doubt in my mind, this clinches it. Business is absolutely fucking evil.
Very few/.-ers are historians, or very interested in history unless we're talking about 8-bit hardware. The greatest contribution of Christianity, in my opinion (former Catholic school kid), is all those dutiful monks painstakingly copying documents that otherwise would have perished in the Dark Ages. Now we'll get to see some more of 'em. As someone pointed out, maybe not anything that could embarrass the church, but who knows?
It will be interesting to see if this stuff is public domain (you would think), or does the Vatican claim copyright ownership, in the manner of Scientology?
Yeah the crack repair thing was mentioned, but according to the article the main goal seems to be chameleon-like camouflage for ground vehicles. Various high-tech sensing technologies keep moving closer to making visual recon obsolete. That and the time-frame mentioned, 2009 or so, makes me think this technology is aimed at battling low-tech opponents on their own turf, i.e. conquering the 3rd world.
Bean Counters and Hall Monitors
on
Suit Up Or Ship Out?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Sigh. It's the same old story. When a company is controlled by people who actually do the work, or at least understand it, crap that doesn't matter doesn't matter. When the company is controlled by bean counters and hall monitors, crap that doesn't matter matters.
Cerasale said, a federal requirement that consumers "opt in" instead of "opt out" of bulk e-mail is unacceptable. "We think the opt-in creates a true noneconomic model," Cerasale said. "We don't believe you get a viable economic model in opt-in."
In other words, the Direct Marketing business can't exist without e-mail. Never mind that it thrived for decades before anybody even thought of e-mail.
Have you noticed that in every recent movie and tv show, and every commercial for any kind of product whatsoever, almost every visible computer monitor is a flat-screen? Walk around in the real world and they are far from universal, but in media-land EVERYBODY has one.
Their product placement investment must be through the roof!
It seems to be painting Helms as the enemy of small webcasters, blocking legislation that would have given them cheaper rates. But based on a story on/. a few days ago, I believe the law in question is a 30-page RIAA rewrite of a bill that in its original 1-paragraph version would have eliminated the royalty fees entirely.
Relevant past articles have mentioned that the average small webcaster has about 7 listeners. Me pay $40+/month to play music for 7 people I don't even know? Screw that!
The RIAA knows that's going to be the reaction of 99% of hobbyists, which is why they are doing it.
It will be the first time I've ever seen more than 6 libertarians agree on *ANYTHING*. Their endless nitpicking on semantics alone will be enough to keep this thing on hold for at least the next century.
It wasn't exactly an error, but a friend of mine inherited a Mac in her office that every so often would yell out, "Hot Pants!" in James Brown's voice. She never figured out what it was trying to tell her.
Any law changes they make should be set to expire in a year, when Microsoft will have discontinued the X-Box and they'll be $49.95 at Toys-R-Us. I wonder if I will be able to interface my IntelPlay(R) Microscope to an X-Box?
Transparent panel between you and the display... like maybe a Store Window?
Busty Babe in Store Window: "Hi, [your name], I notice you like walking. How about a pair of Nike PaveHuggers?" You: Huh? Babe [tracking your eye movement]: Oh, do you like my boobs? Check out my personal website. I just sent the URL to your PDA. [Licks lips] Will I see you later?
The Hollywood McCallum sees falling apart in the next few years has a history of reinventing itself when it is supposed to fall apart. Back when VCRs were supposed to kill Hollywood, the industry reinvented itself by evolving away from the monolithic studios that maintained all their own facilities. The big studios are still there in name, but now they are mostly holding companies. Typically a big studio will create a small, temporary company that produces a single film by hiring a network of specialized subcontracters.
My guess is that as digital filmmaking gets better and cheaper Hollywood will reinvent itself again in the digital age. We will see 100% synthetic films, made without sets or locations, with actors used for voices only. Whether that will shrink overall costs enough to keep theatrical films viable who knows, but I doubt Hollywood will just roll over and die.
Slashdot Mirror
And those awful communist Bad Guys are gone and the Good Guys won. Everything's all better now.
3 cheers for Linus! What he wrote was straightforward and easy to understand. If your patches don't make it into his tree, at least you know why.
On the one hand, business gets separate, cooperative environments for dirt-cheap labor, pollution, safety issues, and so forth. On the other hand, the increasingly confusing legal issues between jurisdictions make it difficult to estimate liability. A balkanized world would provide better business opportunities if other people's lawyers weren't so clever. Oh, what to do, what to do?
We can debate this in terms of political philosophy, if we want to sound like those peasants by the ditch in that Monty Python movie. But the ultimate fate of the world's separate governments is a function of their utility to people who have enough money to force their decisions on politicians. My guess is that eventually we will have a single world government, but it will happen when the bigger corps decide that it's better for them.
Yeah, I second that opinion. Others have commented that family history can go back a long way, but jeez, these are space travellers. No way their technology, way of life, etc. should look even remotely similar after that much time.
This could be a real display revolution, and no I don't work for them. They are talking about print quality displays here. They don't mention frame rate or gamma, but my guess is that gamma is a function of how many subpixels remain black, and if the frame rate does turn out to be low give them some time. This is v0.
No they don't say, but my guess is that some of the subpixels stay black. Why else would they have subpixels?
You mean they actually build in the processors and make them just sit there until you pay more? So you already paid for all their manufacturing costs and everything, just not for permission to use them.
Well if there was ever any doubt in my mind, this clinches it. Business is absolutely fucking evil.
Very few /.-ers are historians, or very interested in history unless we're talking about 8-bit hardware. The greatest contribution of Christianity, in my opinion (former Catholic school kid), is all those dutiful monks painstakingly copying documents that otherwise would have perished in the Dark Ages. Now we'll get to see some more of 'em. As someone pointed out, maybe not anything that could embarrass the church, but who knows?
If they put it in the public domain, what's to stop me or thee from fleecing the clueless hordes by bundling, marketing and selling the content?"
Or, more to the point, showing the clueless hordes that they have already been fleeced.
It will be interesting to see if this stuff is public domain (you would think), or does the Vatican claim copyright ownership, in the manner of Scientology?
It will become increasingly important to use SOAP before SAX, especially over a dirty connection.
1. Everybody visit Intentia's site right now, taking note of the fact that they prevent your browser's BACK button from functioning.
2. File criminal charges against them for hacking your computer.
Favorite line:
Like they aren't doing enough of that on their own. Presumably they have research that backs up their damage claims. Yeah, right.
Yeah the crack repair thing was mentioned, but according to the article the main goal seems to be chameleon-like camouflage for ground vehicles. Various high-tech sensing technologies keep moving closer to making visual recon obsolete. That and the time-frame mentioned, 2009 or so, makes me think this technology is aimed at battling low-tech opponents on their own turf, i.e. conquering the 3rd world.
Sigh. It's the same old story. When a company is controlled by people who actually do the work, or at least understand it, crap that doesn't matter doesn't matter. When the company is controlled by bean counters and hall monitors, crap that doesn't matter matters.
Cerasale said, a federal requirement that consumers "opt in" instead of "opt out" of bulk e-mail is unacceptable. "We think the opt-in creates a true noneconomic model," Cerasale said. "We don't believe you get a viable economic model in opt-in."
In other words, the Direct Marketing business can't exist without e-mail. Never mind that it thrived for decades before anybody even thought of e-mail.
Have you noticed that in every recent movie and tv show, and every commercial for any kind of product whatsoever, almost every visible computer monitor is a flat-screen? Walk around in the real world and they are far from universal, but in media-land EVERYBODY has one.
Their product placement investment must be through the roof!
It seems to be painting Helms as the enemy of small webcasters, blocking legislation that would have given them cheaper rates. But based on a story on /. a few days ago, I believe the law in question is a 30-page RIAA rewrite of a bill that in its original 1-paragraph version would have eliminated the royalty fees entirely.
Yes, it is.
Relevant past articles have mentioned that the average small webcaster has about 7 listeners. Me pay $40+/month to play music for 7 people I don't even know? Screw that!
The RIAA knows that's going to be the reaction of 99% of hobbyists, which is why they are doing it.
It will be the first time I've ever seen more than 6 libertarians agree on *ANYTHING*. Their endless nitpicking on semantics alone will be enough to keep this thing on hold for at least the next century.
It wasn't exactly an error, but a friend of mine inherited a Mac in her office that every so often would yell out, "Hot Pants!" in James Brown's voice. She never figured out what it was trying to tell her.
Any law changes they make should be set to expire in a year, when Microsoft will have discontinued the X-Box and they'll be $49.95 at Toys-R-Us. I wonder if I will be able to interface my IntelPlay(R) Microscope to an X-Box?
the security people at the airport know how to identify the #$@%&* things!!!!
After all, he has a tough job.
"Hi, I'm Steve Ballmer, I made $758,810 last year running a company whose value dropped 25%, selling stuff you can get elsewhere for free."
Transparent panel between you and the display... like maybe a Store Window?
Busty Babe in Store Window: "Hi, [your name], I notice you like walking. How about a pair of Nike PaveHuggers?"
You: Huh?
Babe [tracking your eye movement]: Oh, do you like my boobs? Check out my personal website. I just sent the URL to your PDA. [Licks lips] Will I see you later?
The Hollywood McCallum sees falling apart in the next few years has a history of reinventing itself when it is supposed to fall apart. Back when VCRs were supposed to kill Hollywood, the industry reinvented itself by evolving away from the monolithic studios that maintained all their own facilities. The big studios are still there in name, but now they are mostly holding companies. Typically a big studio will create a small, temporary company that produces a single film by hiring a network of specialized subcontracters.
My guess is that as digital filmmaking gets better and cheaper Hollywood will reinvent itself again in the digital age. We will see 100% synthetic films, made without sets or locations, with actors used for voices only. Whether that will shrink overall costs enough to keep theatrical films viable who knows, but I doubt Hollywood will just roll over and die.