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  1. Re:So this implies... on Judge Thinks Linking To Copyrighted Material Should Be Illegal · · Score: 1

    The problem is that Newspapers don't want Google news to link to specific pages, but the want the "normal" Google to link to their main page, and Google said they can't have both.

    Nor should they have both. It comes down to news papers not figuring out a business model that works and thus are trying everything to keep relevant and remain in control.

  2. Transport based on level on Why Don't MMOs Allow Easier Transportation? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I played EQ for a while and I never acheived an uber level--traveling was still risky for me. I could buff up and avoid the worst of it, but yeah, getting from here to there was often a difficult choice. For the areas where I felt no risk traveling through, those were short.

    I think what would make sense is to base a teleport on the players level, the area level, and distance. If you are at a high enough level that the area doesn't pose much risk, then let them transport over it, especially if you have to go from one place to another through easy levels. It makes the game play better for high level players and gives an extra benefit for long term play.

  3. Re:The point he is making on Doctorow Says Google & Amazon Stifle Progress · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Disclaimer: I don't necessarily agree with Doctrow's position, but I also have looked into it very deeply, either.

    His claim, however, is that Google settled with the Authors Guild to pay a one time fee to authors if their books are indexed. I know this because my wife, who is a novelist, filled out the form for her publisher. The settlement was going to be quite small. Anyway, Doctrow's position is that Google, being a big honking company with deep profits negotiated with the Authors Guild to Google benefit *because* it was cheaper and IMHO, not Doctrow's, better PR. The Authors Guild, on the other hand, was not funded enough for a prolonged legal battle, so too the settelment. The Guild gets some press.

    Now lets say you have an innovative idea to do something with book text. Maybe it falls into "Fair Use", maybe not. You haven't thought of that because your spending time developing your idea. So you build a service and start indexing books. Uh oh, the Authors Guild gets their dander up and gets their lawyers on your ass. Your start-up company is in a vastly different position than Google. You don't have deep pockets and you don't have market power to throw around, nor are probably going to be able to fund a prolonged legal battle which you may or may not win. In Doctrow's view, you won't be able to negotiate a favorable settlement and you will close up shop. Thus, you and your innovative idea are stifled.

  4. The point he is making on Doctorow Says Google & Amazon Stifle Progress · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Here is what he is talking about:
    • Copyrighted material (books, music, video, etc) is distributed by a relatively few number of distributors
    • The distributors etc are the gatekeepers to copyrighted material both directly by only buying the things that they think they can sell and indirectly becuase if they don't buy something, the producers and publishers will stop producing said stuff.
    • In some cases,Walmart, etc, the retail outlets have asked, and received, modified content
    • In some cases, upstarts have thumbed their noses at the incumbents (record companies to sheet mnusic, radio to record companies, internet radio to over the air radio, Apply iTunes to record companies, etc) continued to take what they wanted and let congress decide,often in their favor. This usually included some negotiated licensing fee.
    • The distributors and search engines have raised, or attempt to raise, the barrier to entry into retailing and content distribution to effectively lock out competition.

    These things, Doctrow, says combined has led to a stifled market. I don't know if I agree, since each evolution has been innovative and I hope Doctrow isn't making the claim that Google et al are going to be the last and final stage.

    Unfortunately, Doctrow isn't an economist or a social researcher, he is an author and blogger of some repute. That doesn't give him the innate ability to investigate the market and social dynamics taking place.

  5. Re:The keyboard on Palm Pre Reviewed · · Score: 1

    I like my Treo 700P, but I hate the keyboard. The rounded buttons are hard to hit authoritatively. I find I have to use the edge of my thumb. I much prefer flatter or even cupped keys like the Blackbarry (earlier ones).

  6. Re:vs iPhone on Palm Pre Reviewed · · Score: 1

    I've never personally come across anyone who's bought a Mac or iPod/iPhone because of the supposed "cool" factor.

    I certainly wouldn't expect people who buy stuff for the cool factor would either admit it or even are aware of it. But I bet if you spent some time talking to them about why they bought an iPhone, or any hot gadget for that matter, you could discern whether they bought the device for primarily practical reasons. I'd even go so far as to say in my unqualifed opinion, the most of the people who stood in-line for hours after the iPhone release where motivated by the cool factor.

    And I am not an iPhone hater. I think it is great technology and if they were weren't ATT exclusive and if Apple wasn't so draconian in locking the damn thing down, I might get one for myself. I find that fact that I have to jailbreak and violate the ToS appalling. Hell, I even tried to talk my sister into one because she would benefit from the ease of use and applications.

  7. Re:vs iPhone on Palm Pre Reviewed · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Devices similar to it have been around quite a bit longer than first-generation iPhones. Just like most any palm, they've never been cool, though. So even if Palm would've gotten out a TX cell, it's extremely unprobable that this would've changed anything. They might've gotten a few percentage points out of RIM's market share. Maybe some of Microsoft's. But an Apple product's hype isn't based on features, or the price, or the design. It's marketing coupled with hordes of rabid fanboys.

    Much applause. Very well said.

  8. Mod approprately! on Apple Plans $1 Billion iDataCenter · · Score: 1

    The parent is not flamebait. You may not agree with the opinion, but the poster is making a reasoned argument. If you can't understand that, you need to turn in your mod points.

  9. Re:could someone explain what the issue is here? on Dealing With ISPs That Use NXDomain Redirection? · · Score: 1

    Luckily, it isn't that busy a thread.

    The IT guy would have to intercept all DNS requests over the VPN and proxy them to his own DNS server. That's not a bad answer. Too bad I'm buried in the middle of this thread.

    You're right. If the VPN is set-up to send all traffic over the tunnel, then the host *should* resolve using the company DNS servers. If the VPN is set-up for split tunneling, then the DNS will goto the ISP DNS. However, few VPN clients have the option to capture all DNS requests.

    The solution is to put your internal server records in your public DNS or modify the hosts file.

  10. Re:Twitter - "triumph of humanity" on Apple Rumored To Want To Buy Twitter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The parent comment is not insightful.Twitter can be all the inane things the parent describes. Just like small talk can be inane, launching and goofing around can be inane, and school kid chatter is inane. But that is only one use of Twitter.

    I work from home and I am relatively secluded during my work day. I am not a social butterfly by any means, but I like to talk and socialize to take a small break. Twitter gives me the opportunity to have those quick social interactions during my work-day.

    I am also an in a field where there are a lot of others in the same or similar fields on Twitter. I get professional benefit from following them and, hopefully, them following me (thought I don't subscribe to quid pro quo following. If I find you interesting, I will follow you.) I am able to ask and answer questions, be alerted by events relevant to my job, and generally share outwardly. Not all the chatter is professionally focused, but enough is that it is worth while.

    Twitter is a tool that unlike the IRC is open enough that you can more or less control how much stuff is sent to you by following folks and is closed enough that you can really limit the spam you receive. In fact, I rarely, if ever, get a spam Tweet. The trick to make Twitter successful for you is to build a network that is relevant to you. I don't view my follow or following count as a contest (thought others do). I view it from a quality stand point. I have far more followers than I follow. Frankly, I don't know why some of my followers follow me (and I don't mean spam bots, either).

    If, however, you focus on the numbers, then you become innundated with spam and other bad behavior.

  11. Re:Everybody pile on Microsoft... on Office 2007SP2 ODF Interoperability Very Bad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the meantime, how the HELL is it possible the spec is so bad that you can be technically-compliant with it, and yet not be read by (almost) any existing implementation?

    Because specifications are written by people and then read and interpreted by others. While specification creators try to be as complete and thorough as possible, there are still gaps. In something as complex as a document format like spreadsheets, I'd imagine it's an impossible task. Bake-offs where all the stakeholders get into a room, try to get this shit to interoperate, and then decided the proper interpretation, is where the interoperation work gets done. All of the Internet protocols went through a similar cycle. Then, when there is consensus on the interpretations, guidance and reference implementations can be written.

  12. Spreadsheets, people, spreadsheets on Office 2007SP2 ODF Interoperability Very Bad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    TFN talks ONLY about spread sheet interoperability. It's important to note that. Has interoperability testing been done with documents?

  13. Re:How can this work? on Elderly To Get Satellite Navigation To Find Their Way Around Supermarkets · · Score: 1

    Dude, any digital navigation is automatically labeled "GPS" because digital navigation is too foreign to the common press. Calling all digital navigation GPS wildly inaccurate, yes, but easier than trying to explain what is actually going on.

    And yer right, GPS won't work in a building or even under heavy canopy of trees and if it did, it's not accurate enough. 30ft difference isn't much for a conventoinal or nuclear bomb, but it is when choosing potted beef and mightydog dog food.

  14. Buy them. It's cheaper and easier on Handmade vs. Commercially Produced Ethernet Cables · · Score: 1

    Really, it is. And for a 20MB line, cat 5 will do nicely.

  15. Re:New medium? on Paid Shilling Comes to Twitter · · Score: 1

    Twitter is not like Skype or IM at all. It's more like IRC but you can choose (mostly) who you associate with. It's also one of the first services that let you easily participate via client, web, SMS and included an API.

    It is a bit revolutionary in extending communication further.

  16. Re:Wheres the friking backlash? on Time Warner To Offer Unlimited Bandwidth For $150 · · Score: 1

    Because I, the ISP, have formed a pact with your local government to prevent Speakeasy (or any other meaningful competition) from servicing your area of the country.

    Economics has stopped competition. Speakeasy could service your part of the country if they wanted to run cables through right of ways to complete the local loop, build a bunch of CO's to interconnect the local loops. It's too frigging expensive to build the plant.

  17. Q: anonymous in an organization? on Slashdot Mentioned In Virginia Terrorism Report · · Score: 1

    Are they talking about anonymity in general or a group that called Anonymous? Confused.

  18. Re:203 decibels? on Powerful Sonar Causes Deafness In Dolphins · · Score: 1

    So for a submarine, the use of active sonar is useful to get a final target and bearing before firing a torpedo. Passive sonar is good for getting a ball park range track.

    Torpedos aren't perfect, so getting an accurate range and bearing is pretty imporant. Active sonar really doensn't give anything away since once you launch a torpedo, the target, or anyone else in the area, is going to know where the sub is anyway.

  19. Re:This Just In... on Google CEO Warns Newspapers Not To Anger Readers · · Score: 1

    What is news is that in 2009, this is still being discussed. The problem is the old guard running news sites don't know how or don't want to adapt.

    Come on. Creating relevant content on a daily basis is hard and takes money. I read or watch the news and a dozen questions pop into my mind about the story, but finding the answers is work and the news cycle is so quick, that those answers can't be had in time.

  20. Re:Idiot? on The Pirate Bay Comes To Facebook · · Score: 1

    > but it wouldn't exist in the first place without support from my customers. So find out a non-forceful way to get their support. If you can't, they obviously do not _want_ to support you, fully knowing that you wont be able to continue your art. Your assumption is that IF people liked what they downloaded, THEN they would pay for it in some way.

    So where are all the checks flooding into artists pockets? They don't exist becuase people WON'T pay for what they can get for free. Face it.

    Hey, I am all for the utopian vision where IF people would act ethically AND if they downloaded a file that the copyright holder charged for, AND (they liked it, AND they paid for it) OR (they deleted they deleted the file and never used it again) then I think you have a argument. But that is generally not what happens.

  21. Re:Idiot? on The Pirate Bay Comes To Facebook · · Score: 1
    So your argument boils down to:
    • I can do what ever I want because I say so, laws be damned
    • People who spend their time, talent, and energy who want to control the rights to their work either play by YOUR rules or they can go flip burgers.
    • And because you CAN illegally copy stuff, it's OK

    That sum it up correctly?

    What you want to do with your creative works is your business. If you want to give it away under a license, or no license, that is your choice. The world benefits from all the people who create and distribute works under licenses like creative commons, GPL, etc, and other open source initiatives.

    But they choose to make their work freely available. Imagine the uproar of someone came along and said, "Nope, sorry, you have to charge money for what you do. No exceptions." The problem in that scenario is the creator has lost control of the distribution and licensing their work. Just like your ignoring their rights to require payment for use.

    Respect the copyright holders wishes.

    And by the way, you may not want to call copyright infringement theft, but if someone sells an electronic file, and you copy and use it without paying for it, you have stolen money from them. I am not going to quibble definitions. Just admit what you are and be done with it. Or are you ashamed of the truth?

  22. Re:Idiot? on The Pirate Bay Comes To Facebook · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The pirate bay exists simply to share stuff, illegal or not. Show me something where the developers/maintainers of TPB have said they designed it with the main intent being to distribute illegal content. Just because 'illegal' content is prevalent doesn't imply it's initial intent.

    This is a disingenuous argument. It doesn't matter what the creators or maintainers say or don't (ok, it matter legally, but ethically, it doens't). TPB is use *primarily* to distribute torrents, locators, to copyrighted material. Period. Copyrighted material is not a little bit of TPB torrents, or a small minority, or half. It's the main reason it exists. If there were someway to magically make illegal torrents go away, the TPB would cease to exist.

    Denying that TPB is uses primarily for distributing locators to copyrighted material shows you are either painfully ignorant, blind, or are lying.

  23. Re:Idiot? on The Pirate Bay Comes To Facebook · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    Dude. Come. Fucking. On. It's 2009 and artists still have to make a living to continue to make art. You seem to think all the people out there illegally copying files are somehow noble and who would, if they knew how, listen to the song/movie/whatever and if they liked it, pay the perform(s) or if they didn't like it, delete it never view it again.

    It ain't that way, junior mint, and your rationalizations aside, ain't never gonna be. You copy files that you 1) don't have permission to copy 2) have not paid, or 3) and are NOT exercising Fair Use you are:
    1. Committing a crime
    2. Stealing from the artist and those who have invested money in producing/distributing the thing you want to copy
    3. Removing incentive for the producers to renew the artist due to reduced sales

    If you think differently, then you have the ethics of a common thief and I'd love to see you in jail wedded to Bubba the ass fucker.

  24. Re:Business or Accounting on Best Grad Program For a Computer Science Major? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bullshit on people not being able to change after 30. Utter bullshit.

    To the poster, figure out what career you want and use that to plan out graduate work. You can always go back and get an MBA, even if you have a family and have kids. Harder? Maybe. But with work experience, you will get far more out of it.

  25. Re:Play the game on How Do You Deal With Pirated Programs At Work? · · Score: 1

    Armed with the policy, I could point to that when anyone asked me to install non-legal software without fear of retribution.

    Um, I wouldn't stake my career on that. IANAL, but you are never obligated to commit a crime and you can't commit a crime and later claim you are innocent because committing the crime was a matter of company policy or not your responsibility.