Who pays? Well, thus far it has been mostly US taxpayers I guess. And to an extent, the other governments of the world that actually have space programs.
Who WILL pay in the future? Likely the rich benefactors behind private groups going to space...who will then be contracted by the US govt, and then the taxpayers are once again footing the bill. Only this time with some markup from the contracted private company.
I think it's great that we do stuff in space, explore our little corner of the galaxy some more. But I don't know if space spiders is the way to go. We can't even build a shuttle that can take off without dropping dangerous deadly FOAM on itself when it takes off. Which seems like total bullshit to me...how many damn engineers does it take to figure out that shit tends to fall off when you start moving very fast?
Ok, fine. Head on down to St Kitts, or some other small island nation. The government won't be watching your telecommunications because you won't have any. You will, however, have no interest in computers anymore because the beautiful weather will keep you outdoors all day.
Honestly, you just have to face the fact that in every developed nation, they are going to be watching what you do to an extent. You just have to hope that they only do things like stop people from sending/receiving kiddie porn or stealing music. Even those are questionable sometimes, I understand that point of view as well.
Bottom line, if you don't do things to draw their attention you likely won't be watched. If you show up on a few warez ftp sites, or in some irc room where movies get posted 0-day you are going to be watched I imagine.
Just what the people in our government should be worrying about right now is ODF, who the hell cares what kind of documents they are using or are going to use. Regardless of your opinion on the subjects, there is the war in Iraq, Social Security, Health Care, Education, the Economy and about a dozen other topics that deserve some attention before anyone should be cusading for a new document format. I mean seriously, there are so many other more important issues on the table...
Because not every great coder is a great business man. In this day, you have to have some very smart (financially and fiscally) people on your side as well. Besides, after winning this thing you could go do your internship and then quit a year later. The "fame" from the contest will likely provide some sort of venture capital which would hopefully make it easier to start the business anyway.
Yeah, well it made me laugh after a long day at work...so it was worth his 10 seconds of typing. Just because it's irrelevant, wrong, or just plain stupid doesn't mean no one wants to read it. Well done, grandparent post.
You may be off topic, but it echoes my sentiments. I often sit through Dvd's programming away on my latest home project, which tends to irritate the wife a bit. I guess I was using the word "fashion" to mean cool or chic, as the article suggests that the word geek is becoming. Perhaps I should have said "fad" instead.
Unfortunately, I usually drive because the wife likes to play with the laptop/gps/ipod that I taught her how to use! Man, what was I thinking the day I showed her how to do that?
Yes, if you spend some time getting people to sign up. You "pay" nothing, but you have to spend a bit of time and create a spam email account for signing up with. No biggie...
Wearing a "Save Pedro" shirt isn't cool anymore. My youngest brother is in highschool, and probably three quarters of his friends have (and regularly wear) these shirts. When a "fashion" has made it to high school it's no longer cool.
At least you started with Fox News...fair and balanced my ass. Fox News is enough to make me sick. I can appreciate that the news will not always be "on my side" and that I will disagree with a lot of things news agencies say, but I'm not sure where the "balanced" part of Fox News is. Is that the part where Bill O'Reilly tells me to shut up and turns off my mic?
But you're right, most of the news I consider balanced and fair comes from the international news agencies. Some of them like the US policy, some don't but at least they are a little bit less biased.
Ok, I get the cool factor behind this, but after playing two rounds of this (days ago thanks to a post on Digg) I came to realize that the $5 shareware game I have from years back beats the pants off this version. There is no multiplayer (aside from hot seat, which we can all agree sucks) and no way to save a game for later (come on who can finish a real game in one sitting) and the interface is awkward at best.
I love Risk, and I love Google maps...but other than being a great proof of concept, this game sucks. I'd rather people spend their time writing good programs (web based is fine) rather than piggybacking on Google Maps just because it is the "geek thing to do" these days.
Risk has been done, and it has been done well already. If you're going to do something with Google Maps, make it new and exciting. Don't give me a clone of a tired old board game. (and I repeat, I love Risk but we can all agree it has been done before)
Re:Let us hope it is as easy to mod as dreamcast
on
XBOX 360=Dreamcast 2.0?
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· Score: 5, Informative
They don't care if your mods help sell consoles. They lose money on the consoles. They make the money on the software and accessories. So, by you modding the console, and buying nothing else (save for maybe a memory card to perform the 'raincoat mod' or something) they get nothing else from you. How is this good for them? Why is Microsoft happy that they sold more Xbox's to people when they lost so much money on each one? If you don't get Xbox live, don't buy games, and never get the latest greatest accessory, then they lose money on you. They couldn't care less that you are running Linux on it, or playing homebrew games that make them no money...
The only possible benefit is that if you modded their console, you are probably more likely to have modded the competitions console as well, and thus their competitor also lost money on you...
Now DRM is a little different, I find it annoying in most cases and believe that it doesn't really help stop piracy in most cases. And I am a software engineer, so I can relate to not wanting my stuff pirated. I know a lot of musicians who also beleive DRM is not the right way to solve the problem, we're all just waiting for a better alternative unfortunately.
True, the military will care about efficient power cells but is it really worth it to go the solar route? I mean we've been hearing a lot about other small energy sources as well...in my opinion solar is a pretty bad way to go from what I know about it. They're not very rugged from what I know either, which kind of describes where most of our troops end up.
While I agree sometimes it is better to spend the money and get more efficient, I'm not sure I want my tax dollars wasted on something like this if the govt decides to buy a single expensive solar cell rather than some body armor for some troops on the ground facing suicide bombers...
Honestly, the people who you are worried about are likely to see this article and go visit the room for a day or two and then forget about it. So for the next few days it might not live up to the expectations portrayed, but give it a week o rso and I bet it will be back to normal.
Imagine what John Johansen (and the others) could have done if they weren't "wasting time" chatting all day long!
I'm not sure this would be much more effective than the countless forums out there dedicated to coding, but can honestly say I have never been in a coding chat room...anyone have a preference when it comes to finding help coding online?
I would say go to the post office and fill out a change of address form just before tax time. Fill it out for your target person, and drop it in the mail somewhere around Dec 31st. Have the forwarding address sent to you (or better yet a PO Box or something.
A lot of companies send W2's in the mail I would imagine...and they will have your SSN on them. So now you have bak statements, SSN, credit card stuff, just about everything in some cases.
This seems pretty easy when you think about it...which is why I always have my bills and credit card statements delievered online, preferably not to an email address directly, but so that I have to go view the bill each month with a password protected page...at least then someone has to be sniffing my network at the actual time I type the info in (and hopefully then it will be a secure page).
Fortunately, messing with someones mail is a pretty serious federal offense, so most people will not cross this line and redirect your mail. Also, the post office eventually sends out a notice to the old address which basically confirms the change of address, so you would have to intercept that as well in order to delay the person from finding out you're stealing their mail.
This is probably all pretty far fetched, but certainly possible under the right circumstances.
I am not sure this is a troll...here's a few valid moderations, take your pick....or it could be 'funny' because we all see the irony in the fact that our president (and apparently his staff) were so damn sure they would find something that they risked looking terrible to the world...and failed to find anything...or it could be 'off topic' because it really has nothing to do with the story. I'd buy that one too....it could be 'interesting' because if the Bush administration was right in going into Iraq (which I believe they were NOT) then the guy who hid the WMD's really should be found, he's one tricky guy, and some of the Bush staff may need someone to hide their mess in the next few years.
Just because you don't agree with the post doesn't make it a troll. I happen to think that some of the posts rated as trolls start the most interesting commentary. Troll is an over used moderation, don't mod it a troll because you disagree.
A failsafe way to prevent piracy? Try never putting it on any form of media readable on a PC then. Or better yet, never put it on any media. Spoken word, live performances for a naked audience (so they can't smuggle in audio recorders of course). And still...not even close.
Come on, they just need to embrace the internet and trust that most of us will pay for it when it is easy to get. I know I will. Same with tv, when I miss my favorite show, rather than download it, I would pay a few bucks to get the commercial free version online...
At least I read this story on Digg this morning, so I have already gotten my vaccine while you Slashdot readers scamper to your local flu clinic for the vaccination (which is now in short supply due to the late breaking news here).
Poor dead slashdotters...if only the news had been here earlier!
Totally agree. Half the time the credit card scanners at the grocery store don't read my card as it is. I can only imagine how quickly the finger scanners will wear out and then you sit there waiting for the cashier to call the manager who is the only one that knows the special code to override the damn finger scanner...
Credit cards (or better yet, something like the Mobil Speedpass) are perfectly fine for now. No need to spend all the money upgrading the systems just yet...
I am sure this was going to be groundbreaking 3 years ago when they started it. Ooooohhh...Java!
All joking aside, I am downloading it now to try it out. The screenshots make it look pretty decent. Although in the age of the new beta Yahoo! mail and Gmail it's going to have to be pretty damn good to get anyone to really use it I think.
Had this story like 3 days ago. Does that mean that "News for Nerds" is the same as "Old News"? Slashdot seems to be more of a collection of day-old news taken from other sites these days. (I realize it has always been news taken from elsewhere, but they used to at least get it on Slashdot early)
I completely agree. They are never going to release an innovative product for the future if they fire the engineers and cut R&D. Corporate jets, however, are simply not necessary in a world where anyone can be across the country on a commercial airline at the drop of a hat. They could even (gasp) fly coach to save money like the rest of us.
Does this mean that we are going to see a huge rise in crappy Sparkle menus and animations on every web site?
Or maybe some sweet pop-over Sparkle ads? Microsoft just created their next enemy. Will the IE popup blocker block Sparkle ads? Or will that be a selling point?
The best thing that can possibly come of this is new games. That's the one thing I still enjoy about Flash on occasion.
Slashdot Mirror
Who pays? Well, thus far it has been mostly US taxpayers I guess. And to an extent, the other governments of the world that actually have space programs.
Who WILL pay in the future? Likely the rich benefactors behind private groups going to space...who will then be contracted by the US govt, and then the taxpayers are once again footing the bill. Only this time with some markup from the contracted private company.
I think it's great that we do stuff in space, explore our little corner of the galaxy some more. But I don't know if space spiders is the way to go. We can't even build a shuttle that can take off without dropping dangerous deadly FOAM on itself when it takes off. Which seems like total bullshit to me...how many damn engineers does it take to figure out that shit tends to fall off when you start moving very fast?
Ok, fine. Head on down to St Kitts, or some other small island nation. The government won't be watching your telecommunications because you won't have any. You will, however, have no interest in computers anymore because the beautiful weather will keep you outdoors all day.
Honestly, you just have to face the fact that in every developed nation, they are going to be watching what you do to an extent. You just have to hope that they only do things like stop people from sending/receiving kiddie porn or stealing music. Even those are questionable sometimes, I understand that point of view as well.
Bottom line, if you don't do things to draw their attention you likely won't be watched. If you show up on a few warez ftp sites, or in some irc room where movies get posted 0-day you are going to be watched I imagine.
Just what the people in our government should be worrying about right now is ODF, who the hell cares what kind of documents they are using or are going to use. Regardless of your opinion on the subjects, there is the war in Iraq, Social Security, Health Care, Education, the Economy and about a dozen other topics that deserve some attention before anyone should be cusading for a new document format. I mean seriously, there are so many other more important issues on the table...
Because not every great coder is a great business man. In this day, you have to have some very smart (financially and fiscally) people on your side as well. Besides, after winning this thing you could go do your internship and then quit a year later. The "fame" from the contest will likely provide some sort of venture capital which would hopefully make it easier to start the business anyway.
Plus, think of all the chicks you'd get...
Yeah, well it made me laugh after a long day at work...so it was worth his 10 seconds of typing. Just because it's irrelevant, wrong, or just plain stupid doesn't mean no one wants to read it. Well done, grandparent post.
You may be off topic, but it echoes my sentiments. I often sit through Dvd's programming away on my latest home project, which tends to irritate the wife a bit. I guess I was using the word "fashion" to mean cool or chic, as the article suggests that the word geek is becoming. Perhaps I should have said "fad" instead.
Unfortunately, I usually drive because the wife likes to play with the laptop/gps/ipod that I taught her how to use! Man, what was I thinking the day I showed her how to do that?
Yes, if you spend some time getting people to sign up. You "pay" nothing, but you have to spend a bit of time and create a spam email account for signing up with. No biggie...
Wearing a "Save Pedro" shirt isn't cool anymore. My youngest brother is in highschool, and probably three quarters of his friends have (and regularly wear) these shirts. When a "fashion" has made it to high school it's no longer cool.
At least you started with Fox News...fair and balanced my ass. Fox News is enough to make me sick. I can appreciate that the news will not always be "on my side" and that I will disagree with a lot of things news agencies say, but I'm not sure where the "balanced" part of Fox News is. Is that the part where Bill O'Reilly tells me to shut up and turns off my mic?
But you're right, most of the news I consider balanced and fair comes from the international news agencies. Some of them like the US policy, some don't but at least they are a little bit less biased.
Ok, I get the cool factor behind this, but after playing two rounds of this (days ago thanks to a post on Digg) I came to realize that the $5 shareware game I have from years back beats the pants off this version. There is no multiplayer (aside from hot seat, which we can all agree sucks) and no way to save a game for later (come on who can finish a real game in one sitting) and the interface is awkward at best.
I love Risk, and I love Google maps...but other than being a great proof of concept, this game sucks. I'd rather people spend their time writing good programs (web based is fine) rather than piggybacking on Google Maps just because it is the "geek thing to do" these days.
Risk has been done, and it has been done well already. If you're going to do something with Google Maps, make it new and exciting. Don't give me a clone of a tired old board game. (and I repeat, I love Risk but we can all agree it has been done before)
They don't care if your mods help sell consoles. They lose money on the consoles. They make the money on the software and accessories. So, by you modding the console, and buying nothing else (save for maybe a memory card to perform the 'raincoat mod' or something) they get nothing else from you. How is this good for them? Why is Microsoft happy that they sold more Xbox's to people when they lost so much money on each one? If you don't get Xbox live, don't buy games, and never get the latest greatest accessory, then they lose money on you. They couldn't care less that you are running Linux on it, or playing homebrew games that make them no money...
The only possible benefit is that if you modded their console, you are probably more likely to have modded the competitions console as well, and thus their competitor also lost money on you...
Now DRM is a little different, I find it annoying in most cases and believe that it doesn't really help stop piracy in most cases. And I am a software engineer, so I can relate to not wanting my stuff pirated. I know a lot of musicians who also beleive DRM is not the right way to solve the problem, we're all just waiting for a better alternative unfortunately.
True, the military will care about efficient power cells but is it really worth it to go the solar route? I mean we've been hearing a lot about other small energy sources as well...in my opinion solar is a pretty bad way to go from what I know about it. They're not very rugged from what I know either, which kind of describes where most of our troops end up.
While I agree sometimes it is better to spend the money and get more efficient, I'm not sure I want my tax dollars wasted on something like this if the govt decides to buy a single expensive solar cell rather than some body armor for some troops on the ground facing suicide bombers...
Honestly, the people who you are worried about are likely to see this article and go visit the room for a day or two and then forget about it. So for the next few days it might not live up to the expectations portrayed, but give it a week o rso and I bet it will be back to normal.
Imagine what John Johansen (and the others) could have done if they weren't "wasting time" chatting all day long!
I'm not sure this would be much more effective than the countless forums out there dedicated to coding, but can honestly say I have never been in a coding chat room...anyone have a preference when it comes to finding help coding online?
I would say go to the post office and fill out a change of address form just before tax time. Fill it out for your target person, and drop it in the mail somewhere around Dec 31st. Have the forwarding address sent to you (or better yet a PO Box or something.
A lot of companies send W2's in the mail I would imagine...and they will have your SSN on them. So now you have bak statements, SSN, credit card stuff, just about everything in some cases.
This seems pretty easy when you think about it...which is why I always have my bills and credit card statements delievered online, preferably not to an email address directly, but so that I have to go view the bill each month with a password protected page...at least then someone has to be sniffing my network at the actual time I type the info in (and hopefully then it will be a secure page).
Fortunately, messing with someones mail is a pretty serious federal offense, so most people will not cross this line and redirect your mail. Also, the post office eventually sends out a notice to the old address which basically confirms the change of address, so you would have to intercept that as well in order to delay the person from finding out you're stealing their mail.
This is probably all pretty far fetched, but certainly possible under the right circumstances.
I am not sure this is a troll...here's a few valid moderations, take your pick.
Just because you don't agree with the post doesn't make it a troll. I happen to think that some of the posts rated as trolls start the most interesting commentary. Troll is an over used moderation, don't mod it a troll because you disagree.
"the studio's entry into the Internet sphere must be accompanied by fail-safe methods to prevent the films from being copied"
That is where I got failsafe...did you not even read the summary?
A failsafe way to prevent piracy? Try never putting it on any form of media readable on a PC then. Or better yet, never put it on any media. Spoken word, live performances for a naked audience (so they can't smuggle in audio recorders of course). And still...not even close.
Come on, they just need to embrace the internet and trust that most of us will pay for it when it is easy to get. I know I will. Same with tv, when I miss my favorite show, rather than download it, I would pay a few bucks to get the commercial free version online...
At least I read this story on Digg this morning, so I have already gotten my vaccine while you Slashdot readers scamper to your local flu clinic for the vaccination (which is now in short supply due to the late breaking news here).
Poor dead slashdotters...if only the news had been here earlier!
"Slashdot, Speculation For Nerds." I am going to get a copyright on that.
Totally agree. Half the time the credit card scanners at the grocery store don't read my card as it is. I can only imagine how quickly the finger scanners will wear out and then you sit there waiting for the cashier to call the manager who is the only one that knows the special code to override the damn finger scanner...
Credit cards (or better yet, something like the Mobil Speedpass) are perfectly fine for now. No need to spend all the money upgrading the systems just yet...
I am sure this was going to be groundbreaking 3 years ago when they started it. Ooooohhh...Java!
All joking aside, I am downloading it now to try it out. The screenshots make it look pretty decent. Although in the age of the new beta Yahoo! mail and Gmail it's going to have to be pretty damn good to get anyone to really use it I think.
Had this story like 3 days ago. Does that mean that "News for Nerds" is the same as "Old News"? Slashdot seems to be more of a collection of day-old news taken from other sites these days. (I realize it has always been news taken from elsewhere, but they used to at least get it on Slashdot early)
I completely agree. They are never going to release an innovative product for the future if they fire the engineers and cut R&D. Corporate jets, however, are simply not necessary in a world where anyone can be across the country on a commercial airline at the drop of a hat. They could even (gasp) fly coach to save money like the rest of us.
Does this mean that we are going to see a huge rise in crappy Sparkle menus and animations on every web site?
Or maybe some sweet pop-over Sparkle ads? Microsoft just created their next enemy. Will the IE popup blocker block Sparkle ads? Or will that be a selling point?
The best thing that can possibly come of this is new games. That's the one thing I still enjoy about Flash on occasion.