"Copying mp3 files without compensating the copyright holders is wrong."
Legally, yes. Morally, not always.
If I decide I want to MP3 a song so I can put it on a Rio to listen to while jogging, I should be able to. I'm not distributing, I'm just enabling effective use of material I've already been granted a license to use.
Or if I want to MP3 a song then stick it on my computer to give me a decent digital jukebox, I should be allowed. Same reason.
Or, for an example I actually DO:) what's wrong with my taping my CDs so I can listen to them in the car?
The problem here is that they're trying to restrict entirely fair and reasonable uses, with an exaggerated excuse.
In case whoever moderated that is reading, that's the NEW contact information, replacing the news that Tux works for Microsoft. I suspect I wasn't the only person to post that news so I don't mind redundant, but offtopic? No way.
Company Name: Microsoft Corporation Vendor ID (Decimal): 1118 Press Contact: Mark Williams Marketing Contact: Mark Williams Technology Contact: Mark Williams Other Contact: N/A USB-IF Representative: Mark Williams
I'm guessing that, in all the fun yesterday, someone worked out the Microsoft password and fancied a laugh...
Can't see how that's much more masculine than Pascal, personally - looks like a less readable, more verbose version from that code fragment, not two qualities I think we want to promote:)
Being British I haven't got much idea what their cable TV service is like, but I know I wouldn't subscribe to AOL. Doesn't matter how broad the pipe is, they'd have to be so much cheaper than the rival services for me to buy AOL over their cable.
This way, however, people who wouldn't touch AOL with a 10-foot pole will be able to use their cable, so giving them money that would otherwise have gone to a rival. After all, the ISPs have to rent the access from them.
It's a win-win for them, and a sign of how short-sighted AT&T are being that they're restricting themselves to Excite@Home.
EETimes has a story about how OpenCores is offering a free 32-bit processor IP core in a move that could undermine such commercial IP licensors as ARM and MIPS.
I'm delighted to hear that someone's actually making headway on this sort of thing, but...
That headline sounds dangerously like undermining ARM and MIPS is regarded as a positive acheivement because what they're doing is fundamentally evil. It isn't, and posting that sort of thing on the front page of slashdot only helps alienate business from the open development community. If we're going to succeed, we need their help sometimes.
My cheap Wrangler (rebadged, I suspect...) analog makes today the 29th, but it'll also make tomorrow the 30th and the day after the 31st. It just counts up to 31 - if I want a shorter month than that I have to reset it manually.
Did they phase out Vinyl or did we, though? Pressing vinyl really isn't easy. You need some specialist equipment that can be easily controlled. Ideal for the paranoid execs. But, by the time CDs were beginning to seriously challenge the market rather than just being a toy for people like us:) recorders were available. Expensive, sure, but they knew the price would come down over time. If they were that powerful, we'd still be using vinyl as they'd have starved CDs back then, when they still could. Yes, they were that paranoid then - remember how DAT got killed and the home videotaping suits. The thing is, the format only changes if the customer wants it to. They aren't so powerful and stupid as to try and force this sort of thing - they'd lose sales if the stopped doing CDs, probably to people like us buying the DVD audio discs and then burning the CDs... I mean, it's not going to stay unrippable for that long:) The public moves a format when it perceives an advantage at a fair price. You can stop a format from taking off, but once it's there it's pretty difficult to take back down again. Personally, I don't see what they're so worried about unless they're a lot sillier than they look. I've got some recordings I've made myself - tape and CD - but I also buy a lot of CDs as I like having the proper disc and artwork. I make tapes so I can listen to music in the car, I burn CDs as I like an album but haven't found it at a reasonable price, and I'm NOT paying £15 for a single CD. But do either stay as my only copy for very long? No way - I want the proper CD. home copying only serves to help them by keeping my interest in an artist alive and fed until I can afford the CD. Greg
I hate to say it, but I can hear CRT devices. Monirots, TVs - some more than others but I can definitely hear them. Dunno about anyone else but I can hear whether the TVs tuned in or not as well...
The particularly worrying one was when I realised I could hear our old photocopier - not a cooling fan or motor running, but I could tell it was on as I walked past the door.
A good deal of the appeal of an AIBO to someone like me is that you've got this thing that's obviously a robot, designed just out of any bad SF movie, but which actually works. Sure, the behaviour's nice but it's mostly just a funky little robot. I'd still go for them if they were half as powerful.
This, OTOH, looks like a rather poor stuffed toy. Now, I don't doubt it does a fantastic job of pretending to be cat, but it just doesn't look as cool. So, unfortunately, I don't want one.
Oh well. Maybe someone will produce a proper AIBO style cat? That I can afford?:)
John says he'll pay for the lawyers to get this one taken to court, while I can't see Slade suddenly backing down from what people are saying here, though I admit I'm not familiar with the case.
So this one might go to court. At which point we have the legal system poring over the GPL and deciding whether it's a valid contract or not.
This could get very interesting as last time I heard, it was untested and a good number of people didn't think it was enforceable.
Remember, it's not impossible that the result could be the exact reverse of what most people seem to want.
They could release a censored version that's entirely toothless - let's say they change:
Times have changed, our kids are getting worse They's won't obey their parents, they just want to fart and curse!
to
Times have changed, our kids are getting bad They's won't do what I ask them, they just want to fight their Dad.
to provide a particularly lame example:)
Now, that would be selling out. Which I'd actually say they did anyway in cutting it to drop the rating, but that's another matter.
But that's not the only way to rewrite.
Many people seem to be assuming they're going to rewrite to the style I've suggested, but there's nothing saying they can't rewrite so you have something that's entirely clean and innocent but taking a pop at censorship. Seeing as the original probably wouldn't get bradcast uncensored anyway...
Alternatively, they take a pop at censorship by self-censoring but excessively. Rely on the likely dirty minds in the audience and censor perfectly clean original lyrics to make people think of something worse.
For example:
Two little boys had two little toys Each had a wooden horse
once got censored on a comedy show to:
Two little boys had two little (beep) Each had a wooden (beep)
and, in the minds of the audience, a perfectly tasteful (if rather cheesy) song by Rolf Harris becomes absolutely deplorable.
Anyway, don't complain too loudly until we see what they do.
4.5 was bad, 4.6 was so unstable it made me move to IE - which I hate. Not just philosophically, I don't like the program. 4.6 was perfectly capable of totally locking up Windows and forcing a reboot, so I had to change IMO. 4.7 is back at the 4.5 level IMO - and I'll have to try 4.72 later.
But 4.0x was beautifully stable. Don't remember it crashing more than anything else. I'd change back if I could...
Palms are nice machines - I've got a III myself - but I don't think they're that special. I think they won becuase they're more readily available and they're cheaper.
Over here, I can get Palms from pretty much anywhere that even thinks about selling computers. Not so for CE boxes, though, and when they do the cheapest CE tends to be well clear the price of even a Palm V (as the most expensive model on sale in the UK).
Palms are good, sure. But so assume that they're the best technically because they won isn't logical. Price and availability are factors, too.
It was triggered by an electriccal spark - the thing was charged from flying through a lightning storm but not properly insulated. So. some panels discharge when the tow rope hits the ground, others don't, you get a spark between panels. That starts the fire. Whether the hydrogen burned or not is difficult to tell, but it isn't going to have started first automatically. Greg
The Hindenburg fire wasn't started by the Hydrogen, it was started by the envelope. It was cloth, doped in either aluminium or iron powder - I forget which. Anyway, pretty explosive stuff. As it flew through the highly charged air with an electrical storm about, it got very wet and charged itelf. Problem, though - the individual cloth panels weren't properly earthed to the frame. So, as the mooring rope goes to ground, some panels discharge and some don't. Somewhere along the line this caused a spark on a sheet of cloth doped in an explosive (in effect - and it wasn't known as an explosive then, so it's not as stupid as it sounds) which set that panel alight, which triggered others. As that burns, it heats up the hydrogen so that catches fire and the whole thing goes up in smoke.
Two problems have perpetuated the myth about it being a pure hydrogen fire: The film and the camera angle. The film was black and white so you couldn't see the colour of the flames, while the fire broke out on the tail of the opposite side to the camera so wasn't picked up on film until it had already taken hold. If you'd had colour film you'd have seen (they got eyewitness reports to test this one) that the flaems were an orangey-red, whereas hydrogen burns with a very pale blue IIRC.
Hydrogen's flammable, sure, but it doesn't just explode all by itself. Hydrogen airships are perfectly viable, now we know more about the properties of these things.
Does anyone have the proper details? This is all from memory.
I suspect this is the case, too - and I suspect that their definition of 'naked' probably doesn't refer to total nudity.
I mean, when has anyone ever seen a pornographic banner ad on a standard search engine? On a porn or warez search site, perhaps, but if you're going to them you know what you're going to get, and it's not cookie recipies...
I've seen banners with swimsuit pictures in them though, and I know some people would regard that as offensive. So I suspect that's what they found, or this has been amplified by chinese whispers.
Slashdot Mirror
"Copying mp3 files without compensating the copyright holders is wrong."
:) what's wrong with my taping my CDs so I can listen to them in the car?
Legally, yes. Morally, not always.
If I decide I want to MP3 a song so I can put it on a Rio to listen to while jogging, I should be able to. I'm not distributing, I'm just enabling effective use of material I've already been granted a license to use.
Or if I want to MP3 a song then stick it on my computer to give me a decent digital jukebox, I should be allowed. Same reason.
Or, for an example I actually DO
The problem here is that they're trying to restrict entirely fair and reasonable uses, with an exaggerated excuse.
Greg
Thanks for providing the original quotes!
I wasn't having a go at you though, don't worry. I merely wanted to make sure that people knew the difference.
Greg
Offtopic? OK...
In case whoever moderated that is reading, that's the NEW contact information, replacing the news that Tux works for Microsoft. I suspect I wasn't the only person to post that news so I don't mind redundant, but offtopic? No way.
Greg
No caffeine or nicotine? Do they have ANY computer programmers?
Most work from my friends over here would grind to a halt if you removed tea, coffee, chocolate and tobacco...
Greg
Ouch. Better, but still not good. The preventing marriage bit sticks out more than a little, too...
It worth noting that that isn't in any Bible I've used as a protestant Christian. This is Mormon belief, not general Christian.
Greg
Unfortunately no more.
Company Name: Microsoft Corporation
Vendor ID (Decimal): 1118
Press Contact: Mark Williams
Marketing Contact: Mark Williams
Technology Contact: Mark Williams
Other Contact: N/A
USB-IF Representative: Mark Williams
I'm guessing that, in all the fun yesterday, someone worked out the Microsoft password and fancied a laugh...
Greg
Can't see how that's much more masculine than Pascal, personally - looks like a less readable, more verbose version from that code fragment, not two qualities I think we want to promote :)
But what is it?
Greg
Being British I haven't got much idea what their cable TV service is like, but I know I wouldn't subscribe to AOL. Doesn't matter how broad the pipe is, they'd have to be so much cheaper than the rival services for me to buy AOL over their cable.
This way, however, people who wouldn't touch AOL with a 10-foot pole will be able to use their cable, so giving them money that would otherwise have gone to a rival. After all, the ISPs have to rent the access from them.
It's a win-win for them, and a sign of how short-sighted AT&T are being that they're restricting themselves to Excite@Home.
Greg
Well, yes, that's what I was beginning to think :)
:)
:)
A couple of C versions, Pascal, FORTH (down below over here, in case anyone hadn't yet found it), MIPS assembler...
I could probably knock it up in m68K assembler and Miranda as well, but I try to avoid both and this has got silly enough already
If anyone submits code to handle this in Brainf**k or INTERCAL I'll scream!
Greg, convinced that plenty of us DEFINITELY have too much time on our hands
That's probably a good idea, or this could end up as a new version of that 'Hello World' reference rather quickly... ;)
Greg
I'm delighted to hear that someone's actually making headway on this sort of thing, but...
That headline sounds dangerously like undermining ARM and MIPS is regarded as a positive acheivement because what they're doing is fundamentally evil. It isn't, and posting that sort of thing on the front page of slashdot only helps alienate business from the open development community. If we're going to succeed, we need their help sometimes.
Greg
Hey, why make things hard on yourself and use C? ;)
:P
:)
isleap:=false;
if (year mod 4 = 0) then
begin
isleap:=true;
if (year mod 100 = 0)
if (year mod 400 > 0) then
isleap:=false;
end;
Much easier
Greg, Pascal lover to the end
My cheap Wrangler (rebadged, I suspect...) analog makes today the 29th, but it'll also make tomorrow the 30th and the day after the 31st. It just counts up to 31 - if I want a shorter month than that I have to reset it manually.
:)
Still, it _was_ cheap
Greg
Very sorry, slash killed every tag in that between preview and submission, I PROMISE. All nicely taggged up, that was :(
Oh well...
Greg
Did they phase out Vinyl or did we, though? Pressing vinyl really isn't easy. You need some specialist equipment that can be easily controlled. Ideal for the paranoid execs. But, by the time CDs were beginning to seriously challenge the market rather than just being a toy for people like us :) recorders were available. Expensive, sure, but they knew the price would come down over time. If they were that powerful, we'd still be using vinyl as they'd have starved CDs back then, when they still could. Yes, they were that paranoid then - remember how DAT got killed and the home videotaping suits. The thing is, the format only changes if the customer wants it to. They aren't so powerful and stupid as to try and force this sort of thing - they'd lose sales if the stopped doing CDs, probably to people like us buying the DVD audio discs and then burning the CDs... I mean, it's not going to stay unrippable for that long :) The public moves a format when it perceives an advantage at a fair price. You can stop a format from taking off, but once it's there it's pretty difficult to take back down again. Personally, I don't see what they're so worried about unless they're a lot sillier than they look. I've got some recordings I've made myself - tape and CD - but I also buy a lot of CDs as I like having the proper disc and artwork. I make tapes so I can listen to music in the car, I burn CDs as I like an album but haven't found it at a reasonable price, and I'm NOT paying £15 for a single CD. But do either stay as my only copy for very long? No way - I want the proper CD. home copying only serves to help them by keeping my interest in an artist alive and fed until I can afford the CD. Greg
I hate to say it, but I can hear CRT devices. Monirots, TVs - some more than others but I can definitely hear them. Dunno about anyone else but I can hear whether the TVs tuned in or not as well...
The particularly worrying one was when I realised I could hear our old photocopier - not a cooling fan or motor running, but I could tell it was on as I walked past the door.
Greg
A good deal of the appeal of an AIBO to someone like me is that you've got this thing that's obviously a robot, designed just out of any bad SF movie, but which actually works. Sure, the behaviour's nice but it's mostly just a funky little robot. I'd still go for them if they were half as powerful.
:)
This, OTOH, looks like a rather poor stuffed toy. Now, I don't doubt it does a fantastic job of pretending to be cat, but it just doesn't look as cool. So, unfortunately, I don't want one.
Oh well. Maybe someone will produce a proper AIBO style cat? That I can afford?
Greg
John says he'll pay for the lawyers to get this one taken to court, while I can't see Slade suddenly backing down from what people are saying here, though I admit I'm not familiar with the case.
So this one might go to court. At which point we have the legal system poring over the GPL and deciding whether it's a valid contract or not.
This could get very interesting as last time I heard, it was untested and a good number of people didn't think it was enforceable.
Remember, it's not impossible that the result could be the exact reverse of what most people seem to want.
Greg
I know whenever I'm playing LAN games insults do tend to hurtle around, but nothing that bad...
:) - fairly often and we'll sometimes question parentage. But that's about it.
We say we don't like people - in varying strengths
Maybe LAN culture's just different as you can actually see the people you're playing against.
Greg
They could release a censored version that's entirely toothless - let's say they change:
Times have changed, our kids are getting worse
They's won't obey their parents, they just want to fart and curse!
to
Times have changed, our kids are getting bad
They's won't do what I ask them, they just want to fight their Dad.
to provide a particularly lame example :)
Now, that would be selling out. Which I'd actually say they did anyway in cutting it to drop the rating, but that's another matter.
But that's not the only way to rewrite.
Many people seem to be assuming they're going to rewrite to the style I've suggested, but there's nothing saying they can't rewrite so you have something that's entirely clean and innocent but taking a pop at censorship. Seeing as the original probably wouldn't get bradcast uncensored anyway...
Alternatively, they take a pop at censorship by self-censoring but excessively. Rely on the likely dirty minds in the audience and censor perfectly clean original lyrics to make people think of something worse.
For example:
Two little boys had two little toys
Each had a wooden horse
once got censored on a comedy show to:
Two little boys had two little (beep)
Each had a wooden (beep)
and, in the minds of the audience, a perfectly tasteful (if rather cheesy) song by Rolf Harris becomes absolutely deplorable.
Anyway, don't complain too loudly until we see what they do.
Greg
Oh, I'd have to disagree there.
4.5 was bad, 4.6 was so unstable it made me move to IE - which I hate. Not just philosophically, I don't like the program. 4.6 was perfectly capable of totally locking up Windows and forcing a reboot, so I had to change IMO. 4.7 is back at the 4.5 level IMO - and I'll have to try 4.72 later.
But 4.0x was beautifully stable. Don't remember it crashing more than anything else. I'd change back if I could...
Greg
I disagree.
Palms are nice machines - I've got a III myself - but I don't think they're that special. I think they won becuase they're more readily available and they're cheaper.
Over here, I can get Palms from pretty much anywhere that even thinks about selling computers. Not so for CE boxes, though, and when they do the cheapest CE tends to be well clear the price of even a Palm V (as the most expensive model on sale in the UK).
Palms are good, sure. But so assume that they're the best technically because they won isn't logical. Price and availability are factors, too.
Greg
It was triggered by an electriccal spark - the thing was charged from flying through a lightning storm but not properly insulated. So. some panels discharge when the tow rope hits the ground, others don't, you get a spark between panels. That starts the fire. Whether the hydrogen burned or not is difficult to tell, but it isn't going to have started first automatically. Greg
Pedant here...
The Hindenburg fire wasn't started by the Hydrogen, it was started by the envelope. It was cloth, doped in either aluminium or iron powder - I forget which. Anyway, pretty explosive stuff. As it flew through the highly charged air with an electrical storm about, it got very wet and charged itelf. Problem, though - the individual cloth panels weren't properly earthed to the frame. So, as the mooring rope goes to ground, some panels discharge and some don't. Somewhere along the line this caused a spark on a sheet of cloth doped in an explosive (in effect - and it wasn't known as an explosive then, so it's not as stupid as it sounds) which set that panel alight, which triggered others. As that burns, it heats up the hydrogen so that catches fire and the whole thing goes up in smoke.
Two problems have perpetuated the myth about it being a pure hydrogen fire: The film and the camera angle. The film was black and white so you couldn't see the colour of the flames, while the fire broke out on the tail of the opposite side to the camera so wasn't picked up on film until it had already taken hold. If you'd had colour film you'd have seen (they got eyewitness reports to test this one) that the flaems were an orangey-red, whereas hydrogen burns with a very pale blue IIRC.
Hydrogen's flammable, sure, but it doesn't just explode all by itself. Hydrogen airships are perfectly viable, now we know more about the properties of these things.
Does anyone have the proper details? This is all from memory.
Greg
I suspect this is the case, too - and I suspect that their definition of 'naked' probably doesn't refer to total nudity.
I mean, when has anyone ever seen a pornographic banner ad on a standard search engine? On a porn or warez search site, perhaps, but if you're going to them you know what you're going to get, and it's not cookie recipies...
I've seen banners with swimsuit pictures in them though, and I know some people would regard that as offensive. So I suspect that's what they found, or this has been amplified by chinese whispers.
Alternatively, the site was hacked.
Greg