Exactly. That's what's so scary about this whole thing.
Besides, the original complaint was fairly civilised, I thought (being German...), he just said "I don't try to copy CDs, but I happen not to own a normal CD player, and they don't work in my DVD player and computers." He didn't even mention one of the best reasons to rip CDs, which certainly applies to me - portable MP3 players. Just as well, looking at the response...
I agree. The translation is pretty close to the original. Of course, the poster might have made that up, but I'm inclined to believe the story. Because I want to;-), but also because I'd dare them to pull something like that.
more data viewing than entry Web surfing, anyone? I'd just love to sit down comfortably on the couch, in the kind of posture you'd read a book, a tablet on my knees and read Slashdot. OK, a laptop is pretty nice for this, but I don't own one anyway, so I might as well dream a bit more. But back to tablets: Posting? a) Simple way: mark interesting messages and write up replies on your desktop. b) Handwriting recognition - from what I hear, it's getting better. c) Speech recognition. Already is pretty good, and I know that from experience d) Detachable keyboard, so that you can turn your tablet into a laptop.
I would like a tablet PC, definitely. Especially since they're not going to be limited to that - put it in the dock and it's a desktop, etc.
That's why I'm always in favour of Smartphones, i.e. phone and PDA combined (most phones have PDA functionality, but are still too bloody phone-shaped, stamp-sized screen & tiny buttons)... put Liberty on your Palm device (Treo, was that what the GSM Handsprings were called) and play the original Game Boy version... (Or imagine an iPaq with GSM, didn't someone port Quake to that? Why bother with Doom...? (Yes, Doom is also fun and worth it and all, but Quake is possible as well))
Wasn't there a project like that somewhere? I'm sure I read something about it a while back, but I can't even remember the name, let alone a URL. Damn.
German mag c't had an extremely good article about the technical stuff behind all this, at http://www.heise.de/ct/02/22/204/ - if you understand German, or want to try babelfishing it... and it's nice to see how critical they are of this, as it's one of the biggest and most respected IT magazines here.
Brilliant post, not much to add (ugh, yes, I plead guilty of writing a 'me too' post...)
Just one quote that comes to mind, from the booklet to Chumbawamba's 'Uneasy Listening' album: [...] Thatcher's mad dog eyes and campaigns to 'keep music light'. They said pop and politics didn't mix (they still say it now) then sung another chorus of _Greed Is Good_. Aah, the eighties..[...] Look into Chumbawamba if you like the punk ideals BTW. Although they sold out ever so slightly (as in, signed by a major label) I think they've kept the spirit - doing stuff no one expects, packing a message into their songs. Recently they sold 'Pass it Along' to GM for an ad, then gave the money ($50k I believe) to an anti-GM consumer watchdog organisation...
Hmmmm... good points - business practices, product standing on its own merits. That's just it, isn't it?
Mind you, I haven't tried WinXP, can't be bothered... but from what I hear, it's quite good technically (as in, own merits). But it's unacceptable for me (and so, very likely, is this tablet thing) because of some things MS puts in - forced registration, DRM at basic level, all of that).
That said, the idea of a tablet PC is pretty cool - even if it runs a Microsoft OS. What bothers me is that this sounds like the OS being tied even more closely to the hardware than usual.
That's an interesting point actually (I was afraid I'd have to be the one to point out the DRM aspect) - how does this relate to DRM? I mean, if the core app that holds it all together is open source, and proprietary formats are supported by plug-ins, how do you 'protect' (control?) content? To be 'secure', the RealAudio plugin, to use that as an example, would have to decode the stuff and pass it directly to the soundcard, as you can't 'trust' the open-source core. But plugins outputting stuff directly sort of negates the purpose of having a core framework thingy, doesn't it? Maybe I'm just ignorant, but this seems strange. If, however, it provides a way to convert RealMedia files into other formats, I'm all for it...
Yep... I live in Luxembourg, where you have essentially two options: a) pay-per-minute dialup (or ISDN) from the monopolist phone company (well, you can get 'weekend flatrate', i.e. unmetered on weekends, that's at least something...) b) DSL from monopolist - for ridiculous prices and a 2 GB/month cap c) DSL from someone else - using the monopoly's lines, thus paying them for the lines plus an ISP for the bandwidth - expensive as hell, but uncapped. Oh, and the basic rate is 256k down/ 64k up. Great, eh? Maximum (for even more money) is 1024 down, 128 up.
What a load of crap. The stuff that gets banned is Nazi propaganda, advocacy. Information *about* Nazis is perfectly legal. (although I agree it would be useful to visit actual propaganda sites to study the issue, and there are other reasons why it shouldn't be banned even though Nazism is evil. Still, that doesn't change the fact that it's possible, legal and accepted to publish and get historical information about all of this.)
Now what do you mean by that? Sorry, I can't help but feel a bit offended by that - do you mean to imply that Germany is still Naziland, that we still love to censor deviant opinions?
Or do you mean, and I would somewhat agree with you, that in Germany, censoring Nazi propaganda is justified because the wound from the Third Reich haven't quite healed yet? (as for this - I am for free speech all the way, but I think it's understandable that this stuff is still illegal here. It probably is time to change it now, to allow more open discussion of the whole thing, because the Neo-Nazis are becoming worryingly strong, and easing the taboo might work against them)
Interestingly, a German magazine tested various brands of CD-R and RW a while back, notably for UV exposure - put them under strong UV light equivalent to, say, a couple of days in direct sunlight, and test them. The RWs were consistently much better than the CD-Rs. Even fairly cheap CD-RWs have worked better for me than relatively expensive CD-Rs. YMMV as usual, I guess...
Seriously: This 'we have to have guns to keep our freedom' makes me scream. You wouldn't last a minute against government troops. So, you might argue, if all gun owners together oppose the government...? Well, yes, if all unarmed people together oppose the government, the result is the same, because they can't go shooting too many people all at once. Once you've got a reasonably free country, guns aren't gonna increase freedom. They're just a danger if kids take them to school and run amok, or whatever.
One of my pet peeves, and a large one. Guns are used to kill people, therefore they have to be controlled.
- acceleration sensors - inaccurate, but I believe it's been tried, though not mass-produced.
- triangulation, as someone else suggested - several variants possible - small infrared LED in the pen perhaps, or radio. Needs a kind of base station, but that's not too much of a problem, IMO.
That, IMO, is actually a good idea. Normally, chocolate consists of two basic ingredients: Sugar and cocoa, which in turn is (I believe) mostly fat. If you replace too much of that natural fat with something else (animal fat? vegetable oil? ugh.), it's officially no longer chocolate. Simple.
I agree that the apple and banana things are somewhat ridiculous, though they are probably more sensible than 'if it's too small it ain't an apple'.
Slashdot Mirror
according to official company policy.
Exactly. That's what's so scary about this whole thing.
Besides, the original complaint was fairly civilised, I thought (being German...), he just said "I don't try to copy CDs, but I happen not to own a normal CD player, and they don't work in my DVD player and computers." He didn't even mention one of the best reasons to rip CDs, which certainly applies to me - portable MP3 players. Just as well, looking at the response...
I agree. The translation is pretty close to the original. Of course, the poster might have made that up, but I'm inclined to believe the story. Because I want to ;-), but also because I'd dare them to pull something like that.
more data viewing than entry
Web surfing, anyone? I'd just love to sit down comfortably on the couch, in the kind of posture you'd read a book, a tablet on my knees and read Slashdot. OK, a laptop is pretty nice for this, but I don't own one anyway, so I might as well dream a bit more. But back to tablets: Posting?
a) Simple way: mark interesting messages and write up replies on your desktop.
b) Handwriting recognition - from what I hear, it's getting better.
c) Speech recognition. Already is pretty good, and I know that from experience
d) Detachable keyboard, so that you can turn your tablet into a laptop.
I would like a tablet PC, definitely. Especially since they're not going to be limited to that - put it in the dock and it's a desktop, etc.
That's why I'm always in favour of Smartphones, i.e. phone and PDA combined (most phones have PDA functionality, but are still too bloody phone-shaped, stamp-sized screen & tiny buttons)... put Liberty on your Palm device (Treo, was that what the GSM Handsprings were called) and play the original Game Boy version...
(Or imagine an iPaq with GSM, didn't someone port Quake to that? Why bother with Doom...? (Yes, Doom is also fun and worth it and all, but Quake is possible as well))
Wasn't there a project like that somewhere? I'm sure I read something about it a while back, but I can't even remember the name, let alone a URL. Damn.
German mag c't had an extremely good article about the technical stuff behind all this, at http://www.heise.de/ct/02/22/204/ - if you understand German, or want to try babelfishing it... and it's nice to see how critical they are of this, as it's one of the biggest and most respected IT magazines here.
Brilliant post, not much to add (ugh, yes, I plead guilty of writing a 'me too' post...)
Just one quote that comes to mind, from the booklet to Chumbawamba's 'Uneasy Listening' album:
[...] Thatcher's mad dog eyes and campaigns to 'keep music light'. They said pop and politics didn't mix (they still say it now) then sung another chorus of _Greed Is Good_. Aah, the eighties..[...]
Look into Chumbawamba if you like the punk ideals BTW. Although they sold out ever so slightly (as in, signed by a major label) I think they've kept the spirit - doing stuff no one expects, packing a message into their songs. Recently they sold 'Pass it Along' to GM for an ad, then gave the money ($50k I believe) to an anti-GM consumer watchdog organisation...
Hmmmm... good points - business practices, product standing on its own merits. That's just it, isn't it?
Mind you, I haven't tried WinXP, can't be bothered... but from what I hear, it's quite good technically (as in, own merits). But it's unacceptable for me (and so, very likely, is this tablet thing) because of some things MS puts in - forced registration, DRM at basic level, all of that).
That said, the idea of a tablet PC is pretty cool - even if it runs a Microsoft OS. What bothers me is that this sounds like the OS being tied even more closely to the hardware than usual.
That's an interesting point actually (I was afraid I'd have to be the one to point out the DRM aspect) - how does this relate to DRM? I mean, if the core app that holds it all together is open source, and proprietary formats are supported by plug-ins, how do you 'protect' (control?) content? To be 'secure', the RealAudio plugin, to use that as an example, would have to decode the stuff and pass it directly to the soundcard, as you can't 'trust' the open-source core. But plugins outputting stuff directly sort of negates the purpose of having a core framework thingy, doesn't it? Maybe I'm just ignorant, but this seems strange.
If, however, it provides a way to convert RealMedia files into other formats, I'm all for it...
Yep...
I live in Luxembourg, where you have essentially two options:
a) pay-per-minute dialup (or ISDN) from the monopolist phone company (well, you can get 'weekend flatrate', i.e. unmetered on weekends, that's at least something...)
b) DSL from monopolist - for ridiculous prices and a 2 GB/month cap
c) DSL from someone else - using the monopoly's lines, thus paying them for the lines plus an ISP for the bandwidth - expensive as hell, but uncapped. Oh, and the basic rate is 256k down/ 64k up. Great, eh? Maximum (for even more money) is 1024 down, 128 up.
aaaaaargh...
What a load of crap. The stuff that gets banned is Nazi propaganda, advocacy. Information *about* Nazis is perfectly legal.
(although I agree it would be useful to visit actual propaganda sites to study the issue, and there are other reasons why it shouldn't be banned even though Nazism is evil. Still, that doesn't change the fact that it's possible, legal and accepted to publish and get historical information about all of this.)
Now, Germany on the other hand . . .
Now what do you mean by that? Sorry, I can't help but feel a bit offended by that - do you mean to imply that Germany is still Naziland, that we still love to censor deviant opinions?
Or do you mean, and I would somewhat agree with you, that in Germany, censoring Nazi propaganda is justified because the wound from the Third Reich haven't quite healed yet?
(as for this - I am for free speech all the way, but I think it's understandable that this stuff is still illegal here. It probably is time to change it now, to allow more open discussion of the whole thing, because the Neo-Nazis are becoming worryingly strong, and easing the taboo might work against them)
*sigh* at least we don't have the DMCA... yet.
Ever heard of the European Copyright Directive, or the WIPO treaty in general? We're catching up, y'know...
Interestingly, a German magazine tested various brands of CD-R and RW a while back, notably for UV exposure - put them under strong UV light equivalent to, say, a couple of days in direct sunlight, and test them. The RWs were consistently much better than the CD-Rs.
Even fairly cheap CD-RWs have worked better for me than relatively expensive CD-Rs.
YMMV as usual, I guess...
Damn, why haven't I got any moderating points?
Seriously: This 'we have to have guns to keep our freedom' makes me scream. You wouldn't last a minute against government troops. So, you might argue, if all gun owners together oppose the government...? Well, yes, if all unarmed people together oppose the government, the result is the same, because they can't go shooting too many people all at once. Once you've got a reasonably free country, guns aren't gonna increase freedom. They're just a danger if kids take them to school and run amok, or whatever.
One of my pet peeves, and a large one. Guns are used to kill people, therefore they have to be controlled.
- acceleration sensors - inaccurate, but I believe it's been tried, though not mass-produced.
- triangulation, as someone else suggested - several variants possible - small infrared LED in the pen perhaps, or radio. Needs a kind of base station, but that's not too much of a problem, IMO.
That, IMO, is actually a good idea. Normally, chocolate consists of two basic ingredients: Sugar and cocoa, which in turn is (I believe) mostly fat. If you replace too much of that natural fat with something else (animal fat? vegetable oil? ugh.), it's officially no longer chocolate. Simple. I agree that the apple and banana things are somewhat ridiculous, though they are probably more sensible than 'if it's too small it ain't an apple'.
*cough cough* does that surprise you, considering the subject?
Actually, you were right about the 10 years, but the date was wrong: my calendar says that Linux 0. 01 was released on the 17th September 1991.