and who wouldn't want to go inside his computer and interact with programs as people?
Me: Where am I? Program: It looks like you're trying to go to MSN. Me: How do I get out of here? Program: It looks like you're trying to buy some data. Would you like to use your Passport account? Me: Do you ever shut up? Program: It looks like you're trying to access help on help. Please have your Windows activation code ready.
It was actually a Native American telemarketer routing his spam through unprotected Chinese mail servers. The Chinese never knew what hit them.
From: hotsex@bigtent.org Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1420 02:38:12 +0800 To: qappyyfcsybuzzcb@yahoo.com Subject: re: order Received: from baoshan.sh.cn ([203.95.4.10]) by yahoo.com
(reality distortion field takes effect) Researcher 1: Hey, I think the universe is that greenish color. Jobs: It's called Bondi, you twit! Researcher 2: Nah, I think it's more bluish. Jobs: (Jumping up and down furiously) AQUA! AQUA! AQUA! Researcher 1: Let's just call it turquoise.
(after Jobs returns to Cupertino to plot his domination of the universe's color...) Researcher 2: What the hell were we thinking? The universe is beige, not turquoise! Duh! We'd better change our report. What? 'It looks like you're trying to change the color of the universe?' Stupid paper clip.
I keep waiting to see Amazon get sued by the owner of the Half-Click patent, because every "One Click" is really two half-clicks. Once that story breaks, I'm sure they'll have a real field day with DoubleClick.
I guess the half-click people are somewhat slow. It's hard to get things done when you're busy holding the mouse button down with one hand.
Meanwhile, McDonald's recently resurrected its "Eddie the Echo" ad campaign about the guy in the nerdy glasses who says everything twice and waves twice as he does so. Could he be a techno geek who would own such a watch? The character was first test-marketed in Silicon Valley. Are they conditioning us to wave our Speedpass watches twice so they can double their sales?
Funny? Insightful? Paranoid? Probably all of the above.
I once posed a similar question to a marketing droid who was advocating technology that "relieves" you of the "burden" of having to enter your credit card number when buying things online. I agree with you -- when I make a purchase, I want it to be a conscious decision.
He insisted that people (who are idiots, of course) value convenience over security. They want to be able to buy without giving a conscious thought to their purchases... and guess what? That just happens to be what corporate America wants too! You make so many mindless little purchases in a day, waving your arms about and clicking around the Web, you don't know what you bought.
The beauty of the system is that it takes far more effort to dispute/return a purchase than it took to make the purchase, so for most people it's just not worth their time. Meanwhile, the corporate fat cats rake in the dough.
The article says watches with this technology will only cost a few dollars more than watches without it. If it was really in the customer's best interest and not the corporation's, they would be charging $25 to $50 more for these watches. They would probably not have raised the price at all, but for $5 more people will feel like they're getting the "top of the line" model and be enticed to try the technology. I know I won't be buying one... for the consumer's sake, I hope it's discovered that this technology causes cancer or something.
Isn't it interesting that Jef preaches against the evils of inconsistency, yet he spells his first name in a manner that is inconsistent with the common spelling?
Jakob Nielsen would say the spelling hurts the usability of Jef's name because it goes against our conditioning. Everywhere he goes, he must bear the burden of correcting people who misspell his name.
I'd say Jef is either quite angry with his parents' creative streak or there's something inconsistent about his behavior.
This is not news... Microsoft caught on to this years ago.
They released a "Fun" version to the public that is set in 10,000 AD and called it Age of Empires. Bill Gates has his own personal version set in the present day... it's called "Windows." Why do you think the government is so determined to get their hands on the source code? They want to play too.
Software bugs cost money to fix. Car bugs kill people. The tobacco industry gets sued because they kill their own customers, but I don't think software companies do the same.
So you're saying we should wait until Windows starts killing people before we can sue Microsoft?
"At first I wondered why I needed to register my toaster with Windows XP, but the computer wouldn't let me on the Internet until I brought it the toaster! Things were fine for a while, until someone hacked into my computer and took control of my toaster! I tried to sue Microsoft, but the courts ruled that Windows didn't kill my boy, the TOASTER did!"
Its shameful, the way we try to pin the crimes of computers on people. A man buys a computer, the computer hacks into the Federal Reserve and and he goes to jail. Another man writes an operating system, a computer using that operating system smurfs AT&T but he goes to jail. The computers remain free to strike again... when will society hold computers accountable for their actions? When will we stop persecuting man for the crimes of his possessions? Perhaps some day... in the Twilight Zone. (insert cheesy dramatic music followed by annoying roll-credits music)
I doubt it will actually happen (because MS will fight it this to the end). But if it did, do you think we commoners would ever see it? And if you did get your hands on the code, what would you do with it?
Congratulations -- you have just extended the trial by a year or more by giving Microsoft ammunition to fight this court order. MS will go back to the judge with a 500-page printout of this slashdot article and submit it as "evidence" of what would happen if MS turned over the Windows source code.
"One of these hundreds of Linux hackers would get their grimy little hands on it," Microsoft's attorney would say as he waved the packet in the air, "steal Microsoft's invaluable intellectual property and give it away for free! If the court forces Microsoft to turn over the source code, it is robbing Microsoft of its key assets and condemning it to insolvency."
Of course, none of that is "true" in the traditional sense of the word, but Microsoft acquired Truth a few years ago.
Soon you'll be able to 'share' their prize Siamese.
Are they going to make the cat available on Napster? That would explain the mysterious cat logo... the music-sharing service was just a clever stealth cover for their impending pet-sharing business. (insert assorted "nine lives" and "landing on their feet" jokes)
If Harry Potter 5 was released as an e-book, it would upset the regional middleman structure of publishing industry.
As it stands now, a UK company most people have never heard of publishes the book, but that company doesn't have the distribution capability of a giant like Scholastic, so Scholastic distributes it in the U.S. and makes a bundle as a middleman.
An e-book could be sold directly from the publisher's Web site, cannibalizing Scholastic's sales in the U.S. and souring relations between the publisher and its biggest (to my knowledge) distributer.
The greater fear would be piracy. An item as hot as Harry Potter and as small as an mp3 file would quickly find its way to P2P file-sharing. Heck, AOL users could email it to each other. To circumvent piracy, the publisher would implement some kind of digital rights management, but once it has its fingers in that pot and it realizes that technology can be used to charge people per read...
Bottom line: it's too messy an issue for the publisher to touch. They're sitting on a gold mine -- why risk tainting it?
If Microsoft claims it doesn't know where all of the source code is stored (yeah, right), that's not a problem. The Marshals can seize the entire Redmond campus just as easily as they can seize a few server rooms.
Of course, MS would move the source somewhere else for safe keeping.
So if we go to Terraserver and zoom in on the Redmond, WA area, we should see a line of monkeys carrying boxes of 5.25-inch floppies from the campus to Bill Gates's house?
MS Attorney: Your Honor, my client agrees to turn over the Windows source code when it is finished. Judge: And when will that be? NY Attorney General (whispering): When no one has any money left with which to buy Windows. MS Attorney: Well, it's hard to say... Judge: You will deliver the source code in its present state to this court no later than two months from today. MS Attorney: Your Honor, my client respectfully requests that Windows be treated as an intelligent life form and therefore allowed to plead the fifth.
So? What does Microsoft have to do with Enron? Oh, I get it..It's popular to bash Enron right now.
Let's see:
Enron was a major contributor to the Bush campaign
Once "elected" the Bush administration made policy decisions that just happened to match Enron's stated wishlist (bilking the power-starved state of California in the process)
The Vice President now refuses to disclose his conversations with Enron, and Bush stands behind him, attempting to block inquiries into the propriety of Enron's influence over the White House
Microsoft was a major contributor to the Bush campiagn
Once "elected" the Bush administration made policy decisions that just happened to match Microsoft's stated wishlist (the DOJ reversed course in the anti trust case, backing off after the Clinton administration's DOJ had MS backed against the wall)
One of Bush's first acts as president was to call a closed meeting of certain business leaders (that included Microsoft) to educate him on "what's good for the economy." Clinton did the same thing when he was elected, only his meeting was open and broadcast on TV.
What does Microsoft have to do with Enron? Plenty.
Buy books in person with cash so there is no record of what you purchased.
I imagine the large booksellers are most upset about this because
It will make their customers aware of just how much information the stores collect (and sell)
Why should direct marketing companies buy customer info from the booksellers when the government gets it for free?
It will cost Amazon more than anyone else if people stop providing personal info when making book purchases
The best part is that this isn't going to stop a determined criminal who is probably already taking precautions against this, such as paying with cash or using stolen credit card info.
In other news, the Virginia Attorney General has subpoenaed a list of all public school students who borrowed Harry Potter novels from libraries. "We will catch these heathens; In God We Trust!"
You mean, as opposed to the carpal tunnel syndrome-inducing Braille screens we all use today? The only thing hands-on about reading a manual is turning the pages, but even with this device I'd still have to use a hand to scroll through a digital manual
The display achieves desk-top PC level quality in mobile environment... WIA will come with you and present all the images while you are relaxing in couch, sofa, or even in bed.
What a breakthrough in mobile computing! That's about as mobile as my 1992-model PowerBook. If only I'd thought to duct tape the laptop to my head so the display sits in front of my face... I'd be rich today!
Slashdot Mirror
Program: It looks like you're trying to go to MSN.
Me: How do I get out of here?
Program: It looks like you're trying to buy some data. Would you like to use your Passport account?
Me: Do you ever shut up?
Program: It looks like you're trying to access help on help. Please have your Windows activation code ready.
From: hotsex@bigtent.org
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1420 02:38:12 +0800
To: qappyyfcsybuzzcb@yahoo.com
Subject: re: order
Received: from baoshan.sh.cn ([203.95.4.10]) by yahoo.com
(reality distortion field takes effect)
Researcher 1: Hey, I think the universe is that greenish color.
Jobs: It's called Bondi, you twit!
Researcher 2: Nah, I think it's more bluish.
Jobs: (Jumping up and down furiously) AQUA! AQUA! AQUA!
Researcher 1: Let's just call it turquoise.
(after Jobs returns to Cupertino to plot his domination of the universe's color...)
Researcher 2: What the hell were we thinking? The universe is beige, not turquoise! Duh! We'd better change our report. What? 'It looks like you're trying to change the color of the universe?' Stupid paper clip.
As long as the answer is still 42, I'm OK. I just have to go out and buy a new matching towel. Anyone want to buy a turquoise towel set?
I guess the half-click people are somewhat slow. It's hard to get things done when you're busy holding the mouse button down with one hand.
Funny? Insightful? Paranoid? Probably all of the above.
He insisted that people (who are idiots, of course) value convenience over security. They want to be able to buy without giving a conscious thought to their purchases... and guess what? That just happens to be what corporate America wants too! You make so many mindless little purchases in a day, waving your arms about and clicking around the Web, you don't know what you bought.
The beauty of the system is that it takes far more effort to dispute/return a purchase than it took to make the purchase, so for most people it's just not worth their time. Meanwhile, the corporate fat cats rake in the dough.
The article says watches with this technology will only cost a few dollars more than watches without it. If it was really in the customer's best interest and not the corporation's, they would be charging $25 to $50 more for these watches. They would probably not have raised the price at all, but for $5 more people will feel like they're getting the "top of the line" model and be enticed to try the technology. I know I won't be buying one... for the consumer's sake, I hope it's discovered that this technology causes cancer or something.
Jakob Nielsen would say the spelling hurts the usability of Jef's name because it goes against our conditioning. Everywhere he goes, he must bear the burden of correcting people who misspell his name.
I'd say Jef is either quite angry with his parents' creative streak or there's something inconsistent about his behavior.
They released a "Fun" version to the public that is set in 10,000 AD and called it Age of Empires. Bill Gates has his own personal version set in the present day... it's called "Windows." Why do you think the government is so determined to get their hands on the source code? They want to play too.
"At first I wondered why I needed to register my toaster with Windows XP, but the computer wouldn't let me on the Internet until I brought it the toaster! Things were fine for a while, until someone hacked into my computer and took control of my toaster! I tried to sue Microsoft, but the courts ruled that Windows didn't kill my boy, the TOASTER did!"
Its shameful, the way we try to pin the crimes of computers on people. A man buys a computer, the computer hacks into the Federal Reserve and and he goes to jail. Another man writes an operating system, a computer using that operating system smurfs AT&T but he goes to jail. The computers remain free to strike again... when will society hold computers accountable for their actions? When will we stop persecuting man for the crimes of his possessions? Perhaps some day... in the Twilight Zone. (insert cheesy dramatic music followed by annoying roll-credits music)
That's OK; most Californians I know can't name the two U.S. Senators they elected (Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein)
Here's the UMD Professor's 802.11 Research page
"One of these hundreds of Linux hackers would get their grimy little hands on it," Microsoft's attorney would say as he waved the packet in the air, "steal Microsoft's invaluable intellectual property and give it away for free! If the court forces Microsoft to turn over the source code, it is robbing Microsoft of its key assets and condemning it to insolvency."
Of course, none of that is "true" in the traditional sense of the word, but Microsoft acquired Truth a few years ago.
John Stiles has the definitive collection that run on Macs at emulation.net
So when you gonna meet her, Rob? (j/k) Congratulations. :o)
- Microsoft Instant Messenger Virus Sweeps Net
- What is
.NET?
- States Demand Windows Source Code
- Details of MSFT's Antitrust Lobbying
There were none yesterday, or the day before... the calm before the storm...As it stands now, a UK company most people have never heard of publishes the book, but that company doesn't have the distribution capability of a giant like Scholastic, so Scholastic distributes it in the U.S. and makes a bundle as a middleman. An e-book could be sold directly from the publisher's Web site, cannibalizing Scholastic's sales in the U.S. and souring relations between the publisher and its biggest (to my knowledge) distributer.
The greater fear would be piracy. An item as hot as Harry Potter and as small as an mp3 file would quickly find its way to P2P file-sharing. Heck, AOL users could email it to each other. To circumvent piracy, the publisher would implement some kind of digital rights management, but once it has its fingers in that pot and it realizes that technology can be used to charge people per read...
Bottom line: it's too messy an issue for the publisher to touch. They're sitting on a gold mine -- why risk tainting it?
So if we go to Terraserver and zoom in on the Redmond, WA area, we should see a line of monkeys carrying boxes of 5.25-inch floppies from the campus to Bill Gates's house?
If only Terraserver was realtime...
MS Attorney: Your Honor, my client agrees to turn over the Windows source code when it is finished.
Judge: And when will that be?
NY Attorney General (whispering): When no one has any money left with which to buy Windows.
MS Attorney: Well, it's hard to say...
Judge: You will deliver the source code in its present state to this court no later than two months from today.
MS Attorney: Your Honor, my client respectfully requests that Windows be treated as an intelligent life form and therefore allowed to plead the fifth.
- Enron was a major contributor to the Bush campaign
- Once "elected" the Bush administration made policy decisions that just happened to match Enron's stated wishlist (bilking the power-starved state of California in the process)
- The Vice President now refuses to disclose his conversations with Enron, and Bush stands behind him, attempting to block inquiries into the propriety of Enron's influence over the White House
- Microsoft was a major contributor to the Bush campiagn
- Once "elected" the Bush administration made policy decisions that just happened to match Microsoft's stated wishlist (the DOJ reversed course in the anti trust case, backing off after the Clinton administration's DOJ had MS backed against the wall)
- One of Bush's first acts as president was to call a closed meeting of certain business leaders (that included Microsoft) to educate him on "what's good for the economy." Clinton did the same thing when he was elected, only his meeting was open and broadcast on TV.
What does Microsoft have to do with Enron? Plenty.Buy books in person with cash so there is no record of what you purchased.
I imagine the large booksellers are most upset about this because
- It will make their customers aware of just how much information the stores collect (and sell)
- Why should direct marketing companies buy customer info from the booksellers when the government gets it for free?
- It will cost Amazon more than anyone else if people stop providing personal info when making book purchases
The best part is that this isn't going to stop a determined criminal who is probably already taking precautions against this, such as paying with cash or using stolen credit card info.In other news, the Virginia Attorney General has subpoenaed a list of all public school students who borrowed Harry Potter novels from libraries. "We will catch these heathens; In God We Trust!"