We've had public video cameras with facial recognition over here in Europe for a few years now, and it's never been a problem for us. In fact, I'd think that most Brits would tell you that they feel MORE secure knowing that the cameras are there. If you're not doing anything you're not supposed to, why would you need to worry about being watched in public? I, as a law abiding citizen, know that the cameras only exist to benefit the common man, and keep the streets safe from hoodlums and thuggery.
Of course, we tend to trust our government a bit more than you Americans on the other side of the pond, so maybe that's why you're opposed to the cameras. If I were living in a gun crazed, liberal nation such as the US, I'd certainly want the government to patrol the streets in order to keep me safe. In Britain, I can walk down the streets of Soho late at night without having to worry about being mugged or killed. I've never carried a gun and feel no need to.
More FUD from someone who didn't read the article. The X-box in question crashed at a meeting of Microsoft's X-box development team. The meeting was NOT open to the public. I'd hardly call that showing it "to the world". You can't just make things up and magically have them become true.
"then we will all have to go start a new planet just to prevent the the glorious self regulated industry from implanting chips in our asses to know where we are, what we are doing, and with who."
Rob, why would they need to put a chip in your ass to know what you're doing? What exactly ARE you doing? Oh and the last sentence should read "with whom".
A more accurate story about the crash is here The link is on Microsoft's front page, and the machine that crashed was the first ever working prototype. The machine was running pre-alpha code. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a few crashes during the development phase of a system, do you? I'm sure your code always compiles perfectly the first time you run it, with no bugs whatsoever. I'm sure Linus never had a kernel panic either when Linux was in the prototype phase of development.
If you're going to bash Microsoft, at least come up with some legitimate gripes, otherwise, you come off sounding like a bunch of raving lunatics.
You're right. I misunderstood the article, and spoke out of place. (Don't see that too much on Slashdot, do you) The story is actually talking about the number of files available, and not the number of trades taking place.
I did, however find this story on The Register that claims the number of transfers has dropped by 50%, so my original points are still valid.
I think it was fairly obvious that after the filter was implemented, the number of transfers going across Napster's network would drop, but the numbers surprise me a bit. According to the article there was a 60% drop in transfers, but that means there are 40% still going on. Not an insignifigant number.
I see two possible causes for this, first, the filter may be ineffective, and copyrighted works may still be being traded.
Second, the RIAA greatly underestimated the number of legitimate downloads going through the network, or fudged the figures a bit to improve their position during the trial. Maybe 40% of Napster's users really *do* use the service to trade bootlegs, live recordings, and other unregulated music.
All constitutional issues aside, A sales tax imposed upon internet purchases would be unfair to web merchants.
Web merchants are already struggling to keep pace with brick and mortar stores in the sense that all web orders must include shipping to the customers home. This additional burden places additional pressure on Internet retailers and forces them to cut margins even further to maintain competitive pricing with local shops.
The presence of a state sales tax, in most states, serves to help even the playing field, and equalize pricing betweeen on-line, and in-store merchants. Adding sales tax to internet purchases would place an undue strain on web retailers, most of whom are already struggling to stay afloat. With the recent downslide of the stock market, and the lack of venture capital funding, many on-line companies are already struggling with an unacceptable burn rate, and would surely go bankrupt if this proposed sales tax legislation were to pass.
I think that multiple distro's are actually hurting Linux. If there were only two or three, each would be constantly striving to best the others, and a staunch competition would ensue that would improve the product of each, but as it stands right now, there are literally dozens of distros, each with it's own "specialty" if you will. This can not possible by good for the advancement of Linux.
Allow me to explain: There are a fixed number of kernel hackers in the world. Granted, more and more people are switching to Linux each year, but in any given moment, there are a limited, fixed number of people who write code for Linux. Dividing these people up between so many distros only serves to impede the process of advancement. Let's say there are 10,000 kernel hackers out there (the number is probably much larger, but hey, it's an example). If these hackers are distributed among 20 seperate entities working for 20 seperate goal, each goal will be lesser than if they were working in unison for a common cause. This is why fragmentation and code forks can only hurt Linux as a viable MS alternative.
While paper phones are definitely a cool idea, the whole concept seems a bit wasteful. America's landfills are already brimming with trash, and the problem is not getting any better. It seems that most of you Americans would rather spend $10 on a cheap throwaway phone than spend $100 on a more durable model that will last for years. This type of irresponsible, wasteful consumerism disgusts me. It is highly irresponsible to the environment to purchase disposable products such as these, as paper is a non-renewable resource. Imagine how many millions of acres of forests are destroyed each year so the you Americans can have disposable paper plates and Dixie cups. Now even your electronics are disposable. What ever happened to buying something that you were planning on keeping for a while?
With the recent slowdown of the economy and the drastic drop in the selling price of most tech sector stocks, the market is growing tougher than ever for potential startups. Venture capital is becoming quite scarce, and unless you can prove a clear route to profitability in your business model, you're not going to get much funding.
With recent trends leaning away from banner advertising in favor of direct profitability, how do you think this will effect sites (such as Slashdot) that operate without charge to the user. Will these sites be able to sustain themselves without a solid source of income? Do you think we will begin to see more targeted advertising being used that could possibly infringe on the privacy of the user, or do you think a subscription-based service is more feasible?
I know others have said it previously, but Gnutilla really can't scale. It's a great idea, but until it's either implemented better or farms out search queries to a central server, it's not going to be a practical alternative to Napster. I'm on a 56k dialup at home, and just being logged in to the network brings my machine to a grinding halt. Search queries consume all of my bandwidth, making it impossible for me to download anything. The idea behind Gnutilla was ingenius, but until we start to see affordable residential T-3 service, I think I'll have to pass. Peer-to-peer file sharing is wonderful in theory, but at this point, it's just not practical.
I completely understand the need for privacy, especially for college students who have a reputation of trading MP3's, warez, and other illegal files. In some schools around the country, this warez trading problem is so severe that students who have a legitimate need for bandwidth are having trouble connecting to sites hosted outside of the school's network. Clearly, something needs to be done to verify that students who are using their school's bandwidth are using it for legal and reasonable purposes. Most major companies have already implemented a proxy server/packet sniffer monitoring solution to cut down on illegal usage.
I don't see this as a violation of a user's rights or of a user's privacy. The simple truth is, it's not your bandwidth in the first place. If you're going to use a network provided to you by an educational institution or business, you must adhere to their rules and restrictions. Don't like it? Go out and pay for your own bandwidth.
Never happen. Technology can do wonderful things, but nothing can replace the experience of reading a good hardback book. I, for one cherish the experience of opening up a weathered classic and smelling the musty scent of paper and ink. Flipping the pages of an old book is a comforting and relaxing experience that no amount of technology can replace. In my experience, a good read is not based solely upon text and pictures, but the sum of all the readers surroundings come together to provide an almost surreal experience.
Sadly, some people seem to be under the impression that shiny gadgets can replace age old methods of human communication. Books have been an integral part of human enlightenment for several thousands of years. Would the Bible be the same had it been written on a microchip instead of parchment. Would the works of such great literary minds as Shakespere or Mark Twain have had the same impact on our society if they had been strings of ones and zeros on magnetic media. Would Uncle Tom's Cabin have caused the same revolutionary way of thinking if was something intangible that you could not hold in your hands? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding "NO!" Technology can do wonderful things, but it will never replace genuine human communication.
Funny you should mention that, because I was just thinking the same thing. Near Natural Bridge, Virginia there is a commercial cave that does just this. It's been a while since I've been there, but I think the name was Endless Caverns or something of the like. Anyway, they've discovered an extremely rare crystal that cannot exist in an oxygenated environment. (It was packed in mud before it was discovered) They managed to construct a glass enclosure that allows tourists to get an up-close view of the crystals while keeping the crystals themselves in near-vacuum suroundings. I'm sure a similar setup wouldn't be to hard to implement for other caves as well.
It sounds nice at first, but it may be more destructive than it sounds. I've been spelunking and studying geology as a hobby for several years now, and it is quite possible that the act of opening the caves to the public alone can destroy some crystals. These crystals probably spend the past few million years enclosed in the cave without the presence of light, human contact, or the cooler outside air. Sadly, this alone may be enough to erode or destroy the crystals. I cannot begin to tell you how depressing it is when you're exploring a cave, enjoying the beauty and solitude, only to find that previous explorations have broken pieces off of walls, spraypainted the interior, or left behind trash in their wake. Not only that, but certain types of crystals break down on a molecular level as selenite reacts with oxygen and light that is not generally found in it's natural growing environment. On the surface, it sounds as if the company is taking steps to preserve the crystals for all to see, but in fact they may be slowly destroying them.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, we tend to trust our government a bit more than you Americans on the other side of the pond, so maybe that's why you're opposed to the cameras. If I were living in a gun crazed, liberal nation such as the US, I'd certainly want the government to patrol the streets in order to keep me safe. In Britain, I can walk down the streets of Soho late at night without having to worry about being mugged or killed. I've never carried a gun and feel no need to.
And now you run a porn site. Your parents must be SO proud.
I wouldn't call it worthless. I bet Taco is feeling pretty good about his grammar and spelling skills after reading that crap.
More FUD from someone who didn't read the article. The X-box in question crashed at a meeting of Microsoft's X-box development team. The meeting was NOT open to the public. I'd hardly call that showing it "to the world". You can't just make things up and magically have them become true.
Rob, why would they need to put a chip in your ass to know what you're doing? What exactly ARE you doing? Oh and the last sentence should read "with whom".
A more accurate story about the crash is here The link is on Microsoft's front page, and the machine that crashed was the first ever working prototype. The machine was running pre-alpha code. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a few crashes during the development phase of a system, do you? I'm sure your code always compiles perfectly the first time you run it, with no bugs whatsoever. I'm sure Linus never had a kernel panic either when Linux was in the prototype phase of development.
If you're going to bash Microsoft, at least come up with some legitimate gripes, otherwise, you come off sounding like a bunch of raving lunatics.
crapflood.
I did, however find this story on The Register that claims the number of transfers has dropped by 50%, so my original points are still valid.
Slightly offtopic, but do you *really* need an encoder for Pig Latin?
I see two possible causes for this, first, the filter may be ineffective, and copyrighted works may still be being traded.
Second, the RIAA greatly underestimated the number of legitimate downloads going through the network, or fudged the figures a bit to improve their position during the trial. Maybe 40% of Napster's users really *do* use the service to trade bootlegs, live recordings, and other unregulated music.
Obi-Wan"You Bastards!"
Please show me one of these PIII 333's you're talking about. I thought the slowest PIII was clocked at 450.
Web merchants are already struggling to keep pace with brick and mortar stores in the sense that all web orders must include shipping to the customers home. This additional burden places additional pressure on Internet retailers and forces them to cut margins even further to maintain competitive pricing with local shops.
The presence of a state sales tax, in most states, serves to help even the playing field, and equalize pricing betweeen on-line, and in-store merchants. Adding sales tax to internet purchases would place an undue strain on web retailers, most of whom are already struggling to stay afloat. With the recent downslide of the stock market, and the lack of venture capital funding, many on-line companies are already struggling with an unacceptable burn rate, and would surely go bankrupt if this proposed sales tax legislation were to pass.
Allow me to explain: There are a fixed number of kernel hackers in the world. Granted, more and more people are switching to Linux each year, but in any given moment, there are a limited, fixed number of people who write code for Linux. Dividing these people up between so many distros only serves to impede the process of advancement. Let's say there are 10,000 kernel hackers out there (the number is probably much larger, but hey, it's an example). If these hackers are distributed among 20 seperate entities working for 20 seperate goal, each goal will be lesser than if they were working in unison for a common cause. This is why fragmentation and code forks can only hurt Linux as a viable MS alternative.
While paper phones are definitely a cool idea, the whole concept seems a bit wasteful. America's landfills are already brimming with trash, and the problem is not getting any better. It seems that most of you Americans would rather spend $10 on a cheap throwaway phone than spend $100 on a more durable model that will last for years. This type of irresponsible, wasteful consumerism disgusts me. It is highly irresponsible to the environment to purchase disposable products such as these, as paper is a non-renewable resource. Imagine how many millions of acres of forests are destroyed each year so the you Americans can have disposable paper plates and Dixie cups. Now even your electronics are disposable. What ever happened to buying something that you were planning on keeping for a while?
Great, now I can't duck into the bathroom when the boss comes looking for me. And I though my cell phone added a lot to the leash factor.
With recent trends leaning away from banner advertising in favor of direct profitability, how do you think this will effect sites (such as Slashdot) that operate without charge to the user. Will these sites be able to sustain themselves without a solid source of income? Do you think we will begin to see more targeted advertising being used that could possibly infringe on the privacy of the user, or do you think a subscription-based service is more feasible?
Let me guess...You're the type of guy who owns a leafblower and wakes up early on Saturday, aren't you?
I know others have said it previously, but Gnutilla really can't scale. It's a great idea, but until it's either implemented better or farms out search queries to a central server, it's not going to be a practical alternative to Napster. I'm on a 56k dialup at home, and just being logged in to the network brings my machine to a grinding halt. Search queries consume all of my bandwidth, making it impossible for me to download anything. The idea behind Gnutilla was ingenius, but until we start to see affordable residential T-3 service, I think I'll have to pass. Peer-to-peer file sharing is wonderful in theory, but at this point, it's just not practical.
Hmmm. Hardware designs...consortium...not disclosing ideas to others...I've got it! He works for Rambus!
I don't see this as a violation of a user's rights or of a user's privacy. The simple truth is, it's not your bandwidth in the first place. If you're going to use a network provided to you by an educational institution or business, you must adhere to their rules and restrictions. Don't like it? Go out and pay for your own bandwidth.
Sadly, some people seem to be under the impression that shiny gadgets can replace age old methods of human communication. Books have been an integral part of human enlightenment for several thousands of years. Would the Bible be the same had it been written on a microchip instead of parchment. Would the works of such great literary minds as Shakespere or Mark Twain have had the same impact on our society if they had been strings of ones and zeros on magnetic media. Would Uncle Tom's Cabin have caused the same revolutionary way of thinking if was something intangible that you could not hold in your hands? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding "NO!" Technology can do wonderful things, but it will never replace genuine human communication.
Funny you should mention that, because I was just thinking the same thing. Near Natural Bridge, Virginia there is a commercial cave that does just this. It's been a while since I've been there, but I think the name was Endless Caverns or something of the like. Anyway, they've discovered an extremely rare crystal that cannot exist in an oxygenated environment. (It was packed in mud before it was discovered) They managed to construct a glass enclosure that allows tourists to get an up-close view of the crystals while keeping the crystals themselves in near-vacuum suroundings. I'm sure a similar setup wouldn't be to hard to implement for other caves as well.
It sounds nice at first, but it may be more destructive than it sounds. I've been spelunking and studying geology as a hobby for several years now, and it is quite possible that the act of opening the caves to the public alone can destroy some crystals. These crystals probably spend the past few million years enclosed in the cave without the presence of light, human contact, or the cooler outside air. Sadly, this alone may be enough to erode or destroy the crystals. I cannot begin to tell you how depressing it is when you're exploring a cave, enjoying the beauty and solitude, only to find that previous explorations have broken pieces off of walls, spraypainted the interior, or left behind trash in their wake. Not only that, but certain types of crystals break down on a molecular level as selenite reacts with oxygen and light that is not generally found in it's natural growing environment. On the surface, it sounds as if the company is taking steps to preserve the crystals for all to see, but in fact they may be slowly destroying them.
If you don't like my name, I'll be happy to let you know where you can go.
From my user info:
Yes, I am of Irish descent. And yes, that is my real name.
If you're thinking of being clever and coming up with some kind of witty joke about it please keep in mind the following:
a) I've already heard that one, and
b) You're not very clever.
Thanks.
I'll be happy to fax you a copy of my birth certificate if you'd like.