Comments like yours are the only thing keeping me around this close-minded shitbox. It is nice to see someone posit a reasonable assumption about the intent of this company, instead of the litany of variations on "S is for Shit!!!" and "M$FT Sucks!!!" and god knows what else. Why subscribe to a site with "news for nerds" when all that happens is asinine circle-jerking?
Its sad that yours is the only post I've seen thus far that even begins to doubt the validity of the article. If I had mod points, I'd give them, but since I don't, just know that you are certainly not the only one here who views inflammatory nonsense like this with skepticism.
It's a bold move by Netflix to bring this feature to desktop. There is always the risk of someone finding out a way to break the DRM and easily distribute the files.
I wouldn't think it terribly challenging to pull these same files off of a rooted android phone. Regardless, I would imagine other avenues of getting pirated material would still be easier.
Only on slashdot are we presented with an example of a startup giving complete control of rental housing pricing to the renters, and then told that this is evil. As a renter who has lived at both ends of the spectrum, I almost impaled my face with my own palm when reading this story.
Would democrats? Yes, as it would be equally much a publicity stunt.
I guess, by technicality, you are right. There would have to be at least 2 democratic voters who would bash her. However, to make the assertion that the response would be even remotely similar to this one is beyond delusion. I'm fine with vocal commentators on this site having one bias or another; it is part of human subjectivity. But you don't all of a sudden get to pick and choose which biases you'll acknowledge when it best suits your own interests.
Or maybe you do. Why do I care enough about this to reply? Man, I need to take a break from this place.
If you have even the most basic knowledge of Group Policy editing, it takes around 15 seconds to disable updates from auto installing.
I'm fine with Microsoft forcing its more "basic" users to update. The fact that they didn't do this in the past is THE literal reason why that company still lives with the stigma of being "virus ridden" and "as full of holes as swiss cheese".
I'll never get some of you guys. When an OS doesn't force the user to update, its a security risk. When an OS does force the user to update, its an affront to freedom and choice. If you don't want to deal with forced updates, either don't use Windows or become enough of a power user to stop the OS from doing it.
You aren't wrong, but it can be a little more complicated than that. You ability to get different service is largely dependent on where you live. Since the country is so big, different corners and different population centers can have wildly varying experiences with ISPs.
For instance, I live in the center of Atlanta, GA. We don't have the best selection down here (although, my apartment community is scheduled to get Google Fiber in the next couple months, so...), but there certainly is a "selection". It may be 2-3 choices, and none of them may be great, but there are signs that people are waking up to the need for more pressure on their local legislators to overturn laws and rules that forbid competition.
This is a slight tangent, but a huge amount of the "need" for NetNeutrality wouldn't exist if ISPs could actually be competed with. Startups and municipalities are, more often than not, hamstrung out of the gate by state legislature that all but outright forbids competition against large Telcos from a smaller, more local source. Instead of adding more laws to the books, I am more in favor of getting those anti-compete laws out of here, and allowing for enterprising city councilmen and business owners to create solutions that fit the needs of their communities.
Anyway, bringing this back on point: Yes, we do generally have a harder time "switching", as it were, but it isn't quite as bleak as some foreigners make it out to be sometimes.
As much flak as American ISPs get for their noncompetitive and morally bereft behavior, we do need to be reminded that things could generally be much worse. There is nothing wrong with pressuring large businesses (especially those with government-sanctioned monopolies) to change their shameful ways, but I do occasionally breathe a sigh of relief that, at least for the moment, our biggest concerns (outside of government spying) are speed, price, and general availability of service.
It seems almost commonplace for websites or services to get blocked at an ISP level in the UK, and that fact alone seems more frightening than any increase in price that Comcast could throw at me.
I think what is shocking to the vocally anti-Microsoft (and proprietary software in general, for that matter) crowd on slashdot is that people can get away with charging MONEY for SOFTWARE.
It never ceases to amaze me how, despite the fact that the majority of us on this website make our money in tech or software, the idea of charging money for those services is revolting to some.
What is the point of this faux-pedantry? Are you looking for people to stroke your ego because you seem to think "ha, they didn't use the EXACT terminology that I would have used, thus rendering it completely wrong!" or something? If you really didn't understand what they were talking about, you could have googled it and found the answer you sought. However, I strongly doubt that is the case, and instead am led to believe that you just want slashdot points for being an internet old man.
As someone who worked extensively in a customer facing role for a consumer electronics retailer, I think you might be a little confused with what the term "most people" means.
Believe whatever you want. It is wholly like slashdotters to ridicule mainstream consumer electronics, popularly held opinions, and products that hold form over function. The target audience of this site is anything but the "average consumer". So when the lot of you hivemind and mistakenly believe that "since others around me in a controlled environment believe the same thing I do, i must be right", you move ever further and further away from reality into your own bubble.
You're kidding right? OLED is an incremental upgrade? It is fundamentally different from how modern LCD based TVs work altogether. It is a larger change from the Plasma -> LCD switch that happened years ago. If you don't understand the technology change here, that's fine, but don't downplay the importance of this change.
I mean this literally... other than CAR salespeople, who cares? Every decade or two, when it's time to get a new CAR, I go to the CAR store, and I buy something that they have in stock, within my budget. I couldn't care if it was SUV, SEDAN, or EIGHTEEN-WHEELER powered. A CAR is a CAR is a CAR.
I mean this literally... other than HOUSE salespeople, who cares? Every decade or two, when it's time to get a new HOUSE, I go to the HOUSE store, and I buy something that they have in stock, within my budget. I couldn't care if it was COTTAGE, MANSION, or YURT powered. A HOUSE is a HOUSE is a HOUSE.
I mean this literally... other than DOCTOR salespeople, who cares? Every decade or two, when it's time to get a new DOCTOR, I go to the DOCTOR store, and I buy something that they have in stock, within my budget. I couldn't care if it was PEDIATRICIAN, ONCOLOGIST, or SPIRITUAL HEALING powered. A DOCTOR is a DOCTOR is a DOCTOR.
I get the point you are trying to make here, but don't you think your angsty "bah humbug, I don't care about this particular advancement, and therefore no one should!" mindset is a little retarded?
I'm at a loss for why I would want any WiFi on my fridge, or really any appliance.
I can think of one example. Let's say you own said wifi-enabled fridge. Now lets also say that said fridge can detect the presence of small RFID chips that could someday be included on some prepackaged foods (lets say a gallon of milk). Now lets also say that said gallon of milk has a small, cheap, and disposable sensor built right into the packaging that detects a "low milk level" and flips a small internal switch to change its RFID configuration to read as "low milk". Your wifi fridge can detect, for instance, when your 7 year old takes the gallon out and empties it while you're out and about. When the fridge detects this, it can send you a text, update your digital shopping list, etc. without any further interaction. Now, as you're leaving your appointment (or whatever) you see that you need milk, and can stop on the way home.
This is a fairly specific scenario, sure. And I imagine that a lot (read: most) of the people on this site wouldn't want this kind of "invasion of privacy" in the first place. My original point was that this could be pretty cool to a lot of people, and while sure, there are doors open for advertisements and security breeches and all manner of thing, the idea of automating something as annoyingly trivial as remembering to check the supply of milk in the fridge is interesting (to me, at least).
I'm against dystopian "daddy-corp knows all" type futures, of course. But automation and IoT devices don't have to mean that. If anything, I would say we should embrace them sooner than later so that we can voice our opinions and demands now, before the rest of society just takes whatever they're given.
Just more editorial bias. The thought is that embedded wifi will only ever be a security risk, and could never possibly be of use to anyone.
On a slightly related note: I am always surprised (ok, maybe not surprised but annoyed) at how many members of this (ostensibly) "science and tech" news aggregate always seem to be so vehemently against the proliferation of technology into our daily lives. I get that there are inherent security risks and problems, but as someone who enjoys the lightning pace that society is advancing at in the last couple centuries or so, I feel perfectly willing to deal with hiccups along the way.
I do the vast overwhelming majority of my own work on a laptop
work
I think you misunderstand what kind of company Razer is. It is understandable to think that a large amount of people would do work on a Razer laptop, but they are first and foremost a gaming peripheral company. And people who buy laptops to play video games on rarely have concerns about battery life, portability, compactness, etc.
To take a break from the rhetoric for a few moments, it is interesting to think that, even with so many Note 7s still in use, the reports of "exploding batteries" have all but evaporated.
Maybe it is because the phone officially "doesn't exist" anymore, or maybe it is because people don't find it newsworthy enough to report anymore, Whatever the reason, it certainly does show how a thing's problems only really matter for as long as media hype is able to be drawn from it.
I personally have to wonder if Samsung made the product recall because of a truly flawed device or if it was because of the overwhelming negative perception about the device.
go back to making games that a small portion of people love for their own hardware and pay even less attention to what people say.
Fine by me. While the console lock-in may be annoying at times, the quality of their games and enjoyment I can get from them is much higher than any phone-based game I have ever played, period. It is high-time that we finally started accepting that phones have limitations, and that they aren't the magical "entertain everyone perfectly" devices that a lot of people seem to think they are.
It sounds like all of your complaints are really complaints against niche products or offerings in general.
1) As already pointed out, "don't sell them" (this is a C-Store, not a Wal-Mart).
2) How would this activity be impacted in any way at all?
3) I'd imagine you can read about it in the TOS, like 99.999% of other services that collect personal data on you.
4) Sounds like you aren't the target demographic.
5) This is a joke, right? Having to be a part of a club to get inside a store? What is Costco, what is Sam's Club, etc.
6) By "committing", you mean having an Amazon account, am I correct? If I am to assume correctly that you don't have (and will not have) one, then once again, you aren't the target demographic.
7) This is the first actual "concern" that makes any sense at all. I imagine this isn't tied to your phone exclusively, but probably something along the lines of facial recognition, motion capturing, etc. I wouldn't be surprised that the only thing that "signing in with your phone" at the front is doing is capturing your image for the session to determine when you walk about.
Slashdot Mirror
Comments like yours are the only thing keeping me around this close-minded shitbox. It is nice to see someone posit a reasonable assumption about the intent of this company, instead of the litany of variations on "S is for Shit!!!" and "M$FT Sucks!!!" and god knows what else. Why subscribe to a site with "news for nerds" when all that happens is asinine circle-jerking?
Its sad that yours is the only post I've seen thus far that even begins to doubt the validity of the article. If I had mod points, I'd give them, but since I don't, just know that you are certainly not the only one here who views inflammatory nonsense like this with skepticism.
Another batch of would-be luddites decrying the inevitable embracing of technology by the masses for all purposes, simple and complex.
It's a bold move by Netflix to bring this feature to desktop. There is always the risk of someone finding out a way to break the DRM and easily distribute the files.
I wouldn't think it terribly challenging to pull these same files off of a rooted android phone. Regardless, I would imagine other avenues of getting pirated material would still be easier.
Only on slashdot are we presented with an example of a startup giving complete control of rental housing pricing to the renters, and then told that this is evil. As a renter who has lived at both ends of the spectrum, I almost impaled my face with my own palm when reading this story.
It honestly sounds to me like you just don't like going out period. No need to drag the name of Movie Theaters through the mud.
Would democrats? Yes, as it would be equally much a publicity stunt.
I guess, by technicality, you are right. There would have to be at least 2 democratic voters who would bash her.
However, to make the assertion that the response would be even remotely similar to this one is beyond delusion. I'm fine with vocal commentators on this site having one bias or another; it is part of human subjectivity. But you don't all of a sudden get to pick and choose which biases you'll acknowledge when it best suits your own interests.
Or maybe you do. Why do I care enough about this to reply? Man, I need to take a break from this place.
If you have even the most basic knowledge of Group Policy editing, it takes around 15 seconds to disable updates from auto installing.
I'm fine with Microsoft forcing its more "basic" users to update. The fact that they didn't do this in the past is THE literal reason why that company still lives with the stigma of being "virus ridden" and "as full of holes as swiss cheese".
I'll never get some of you guys. When an OS doesn't force the user to update, its a security risk. When an OS does force the user to update, its an affront to freedom and choice. If you don't want to deal with forced updates, either don't use Windows or become enough of a power user to stop the OS from doing it.
You aren't wrong, but it can be a little more complicated than that. You ability to get different service is largely dependent on where you live. Since the country is so big, different corners and different population centers can have wildly varying experiences with ISPs.
For instance, I live in the center of Atlanta, GA. We don't have the best selection down here (although, my apartment community is scheduled to get Google Fiber in the next couple months, so...), but there certainly is a "selection". It may be 2-3 choices, and none of them may be great, but there are signs that people are waking up to the need for more pressure on their local legislators to overturn laws and rules that forbid competition.
This is a slight tangent, but a huge amount of the "need" for NetNeutrality wouldn't exist if ISPs could actually be competed with. Startups and municipalities are, more often than not, hamstrung out of the gate by state legislature that all but outright forbids competition against large Telcos from a smaller, more local source. Instead of adding more laws to the books, I am more in favor of getting those anti-compete laws out of here, and allowing for enterprising city councilmen and business owners to create solutions that fit the needs of their communities.
Anyway, bringing this back on point: Yes, we do generally have a harder time "switching", as it were, but it isn't quite as bleak as some foreigners make it out to be sometimes.
As much flak as American ISPs get for their noncompetitive and morally bereft behavior, we do need to be reminded that things could generally be much worse. There is nothing wrong with pressuring large businesses (especially those with government-sanctioned monopolies) to change their shameful ways, but I do occasionally breathe a sigh of relief that, at least for the moment, our biggest concerns (outside of government spying) are speed, price, and general availability of service.
It seems almost commonplace for websites or services to get blocked at an ISP level in the UK, and that fact alone seems more frightening than any increase in price that Comcast could throw at me.
I think what is shocking to the vocally anti-Microsoft (and proprietary software in general, for that matter) crowd on slashdot is that people can get away with charging MONEY for SOFTWARE.
It never ceases to amaze me how, despite the fact that the majority of us on this website make our money in tech or software, the idea of charging money for those services is revolting to some.
I'll be sure to tell my wife that, as those were her words. Great response, though!
In this day and age, sexism is any action done by the opposite sex that bothers, annoys, insults, or troubles you in any conceivable way.
What is the point of this faux-pedantry?
Are you looking for people to stroke your ego because you seem to think "ha, they didn't use the EXACT terminology that I would have used, thus rendering it completely wrong!" or something? If you really didn't understand what they were talking about, you could have googled it and found the answer you sought. However, I strongly doubt that is the case, and instead am led to believe that you just want slashdot points for being an internet old man.
he, like most people, doesn't care.
As someone who worked extensively in a customer facing role for a consumer electronics retailer, I think you might be a little confused with what the term "most people" means.
Believe whatever you want. It is wholly like slashdotters to ridicule mainstream consumer electronics, popularly held opinions, and products that hold form over function. The target audience of this site is anything but the "average consumer". So when the lot of you hivemind and mistakenly believe that "since others around me in a controlled environment believe the same thing I do, i must be right", you move ever further and further away from reality into your own bubble.
You're kidding right? OLED is an incremental upgrade? It is fundamentally different from how modern LCD based TVs work altogether. It is a larger change from the Plasma -> LCD switch that happened years ago. If you don't understand the technology change here, that's fine, but don't downplay the importance of this change.
I mean this literally... other than CAR salespeople, who cares? Every decade or two, when it's time to get a new CAR, I go to the CAR store, and I buy something that they have in stock, within my budget. I couldn't care if it was SUV, SEDAN, or EIGHTEEN-WHEELER powered. A CAR is a CAR is a CAR.
I mean this literally... other than HOUSE salespeople, who cares? Every decade or two, when it's time to get a new HOUSE, I go to the HOUSE store, and I buy something that they have in stock, within my budget. I couldn't care if it was COTTAGE, MANSION, or YURT powered. A HOUSE is a HOUSE is a HOUSE.
I mean this literally... other than DOCTOR salespeople, who cares? Every decade or two, when it's time to get a new DOCTOR, I go to the DOCTOR store, and I buy something that they have in stock, within my budget. I couldn't care if it was PEDIATRICIAN, ONCOLOGIST, or SPIRITUAL HEALING powered. A DOCTOR is a DOCTOR is a DOCTOR.
I get the point you are trying to make here, but don't you think your angsty "bah humbug, I don't care about this particular advancement, and therefore no one should!" mindset is a little retarded?
I'm at a loss for why I would want any WiFi on my fridge, or really any appliance.
I can think of one example. Let's say you own said wifi-enabled fridge. Now lets also say that said fridge can detect the presence of small RFID chips that could someday be included on some prepackaged foods (lets say a gallon of milk). Now lets also say that said gallon of milk has a small, cheap, and disposable sensor built right into the packaging that detects a "low milk level" and flips a small internal switch to change its RFID configuration to read as "low milk". Your wifi fridge can detect, for instance, when your 7 year old takes the gallon out and empties it while you're out and about. When the fridge detects this, it can send you a text, update your digital shopping list, etc. without any further interaction. Now, as you're leaving your appointment (or whatever) you see that you need milk, and can stop on the way home.
This is a fairly specific scenario, sure. And I imagine that a lot (read: most) of the people on this site wouldn't want this kind of "invasion of privacy" in the first place. My original point was that this could be pretty cool to a lot of people, and while sure, there are doors open for advertisements and security breeches and all manner of thing, the idea of automating something as annoyingly trivial as remembering to check the supply of milk in the fridge is interesting (to me, at least).
I'm against dystopian "daddy-corp knows all" type futures, of course. But automation and IoT devices don't have to mean that. If anything, I would say we should embrace them sooner than later so that we can voice our opinions and demands now, before the rest of society just takes whatever they're given.
Just more editorial bias. The thought is that embedded wifi will only ever be a security risk, and could never possibly be of use to anyone.
On a slightly related note: I am always surprised (ok, maybe not surprised but annoyed) at how many members of this (ostensibly) "science and tech" news aggregate always seem to be so vehemently against the proliferation of technology into our daily lives. I get that there are inherent security risks and problems, but as someone who enjoys the lightning pace that society is advancing at in the last couple centuries or so, I feel perfectly willing to deal with hiccups along the way.
I do the vast overwhelming majority of my own work on a laptop
work
I think you misunderstand what kind of company Razer is. It is understandable to think that a large amount of people would do work on a Razer laptop, but they are first and foremost a gaming peripheral company. And people who buy laptops to play video games on rarely have concerns about battery life, portability, compactness, etc.
Regardless of your opinions of Trump, it seems pretty ignorant to suggest that Twitter shutting down would completely de-fang him.
It is almost like you're implying that the shutdown of Twitter equates to the shutdown of social media as a concept.
To take a break from the rhetoric for a few moments, it is interesting to think that, even with so many Note 7s still in use, the reports of "exploding batteries" have all but evaporated.
Maybe it is because the phone officially "doesn't exist" anymore, or maybe it is because people don't find it newsworthy enough to report anymore, Whatever the reason, it certainly does show how a thing's problems only really matter for as long as media hype is able to be drawn from it.
I personally have to wonder if Samsung made the product recall because of a truly flawed device or if it was because of the overwhelming negative perception about the device.
go back to making games that a small portion of people love for their own hardware and pay even less attention to what people say.
Fine by me. While the console lock-in may be annoying at times, the quality of their games and enjoyment I can get from them is much higher than any phone-based game I have ever played, period. It is high-time that we finally started accepting that phones have limitations, and that they aren't the magical "entertain everyone perfectly" devices that a lot of people seem to think they are.
It sounds like all of your complaints are really complaints against niche products or offerings in general.
1) As already pointed out, "don't sell them" (this is a C-Store, not a Wal-Mart).
2) How would this activity be impacted in any way at all?
3) I'd imagine you can read about it in the TOS, like 99.999% of other services that collect personal data on you.
4) Sounds like you aren't the target demographic.
5) This is a joke, right? Having to be a part of a club to get inside a store? What is Costco, what is Sam's Club, etc.
6) By "committing", you mean having an Amazon account, am I correct? If I am to assume correctly that you don't have (and will not have) one, then once again, you aren't the target demographic.
7) This is the first actual "concern" that makes any sense at all. I imagine this isn't tied to your phone exclusively, but probably something along the lines of facial recognition, motion capturing, etc. I wouldn't be surprised that the only thing that "signing in with your phone" at the front is doing is capturing your image for the session to determine when you walk about.
It literally explains why and how that won't happen in TFA.
I know, I know: "this is slashdot, we don't need no stinking articles."