Clinton got put on the chopping block for lying about boning an intern. Why not Cheney and Bush, who's lies have cost tens of thousands of lives, billions of dollars, and created a bigger radical Islamic movement? I agree with your assessment of the situation, but under the force of impeachment proceedings who knows what skeletons will fall out of the administration's closet when people start opening doors that thus far have remained locked?
My take is that there's no compelling reason to upgrade to Vista. An average IT department would have to be insane to deploy it given the system requirements...They'd probably have to forklift upgrade all of their workstations. And what would they get from Vista that they don't get from XP for the trouble? Nothing. Process protection? It's already been broken. Say hello to super spyware. So all you really get is a bunch of pain in the ass security hurdles and pretty windows. I think home users largely feel the same way.
But I also can't deny reality. If Microsoft wants us to switch to Vista, they're going to make it happen. They'll eventually pull support from XP, stop updates, and nag us to death about upgrading. They'll make their new software work only with Vista. They might even try to force some developers to do the same. Oh they're doing it with games already (think DX10) but can see this happening to regular applications, too.
But for now, what I am telling everyone is to buy their new computers with Windows XP and keep the free upgrade to Vista on standby in case it takes root. As for people running on rigs they've owned for awhile and talk about upgrading, I strongly discourage them from doing so.
-One is my Windows box, for gaming and Windows-specific stuff (Photoshop, etc). -One is my Linux server, running CentOS, which hosts my email, file storage, wireless gateway, DHCP, etc. -I have a "play box", on which I load different distros of Linux to play around with them. Went from Fedora Core 1, to Gentoo, to CentOS, to Ubuntu, but I don't really like Ubuntu that much, so I'm going to try Fedora again. -Laptop, with both Windows and Linux. I use it for security analysis and maintenance of networks out on the field, as well as to establish an encrypted tunnel back home to check my email, browse the web, etc. (I don't always know what's on someone's network or who's watching) -A legacy box with a CM-32L for all the old sk00l Sierra games I still like to play
Trivial: Just follow the routing information for the Vonage customers' telephone numbers to find the bridge.
Well, that assumes that Verizon knows all the Vonage customers' phone numbers. Since number portability laws are in effect, perhaps Vonage would be able to move their customers' numbers away form any Verizon carriers to keep that information away form them.
Disclaimer: No I don't know the grand scale of Vonage's network and what I'm saying is probably wrong or not feasible. But I do believe there are things Vonage can do to protect itself since their services are based on IP. Sure, it's shady, but so is what Verizon is doing.
The system would still violate the Verizon patent claims. The location of the bridge in the US and the sale of the service to US customers would each give the necessary jurisdiction for the US patents to apply.
I know. But my assumption is that Verizon is not going after Vonage because IP was stolen. They are whipping out this BS patent to put them out of business and make them an example for any other company that dares to bypass the big telecoms. The system I was talking about wasn't about getting around the patents. It's supposed to make it as difficult as possible for them to be enforced. Think of it as civil disobedience. And besides, I don't see anyone having sympathy pangs for Verizon.
When you enabled these services of your Nortel box you started violating at least the following Vonage Verizon patents: 6,282,574, 6,104,711, 6,359,880. (Presuming they stand up to court scrutiny.)
They will if they succeed in this suit, then go after Nortel and its customers.
I'd like to see that...Verizon sues its own vendors. I don't think it will happen. If it did, they would probably suddenly find it very expensive to buy new gear. But again, this patent thing is about Verizon engaging in anticompetitive behavior. There is no other reason they could possibly be doing this. Don't forget, they're spending billions of dollars on FIOS and they want to push the TV/phone/Net package. They don't want services by 3rd parties going through their IP network without some payola. VoIP is just the beginning. If someone rolls out a VoD service over IP, Verizon will figure out a way to come after them, too. If this patent angle fails, they're going to go back to trying to abolish Net neutrality (actually, they'll do that regardless). What do you think is the first thing they will do if they are successful?
Do they, though? They could move ops out of the US, and create a bunch of front companies within the US that buys lots of PRI lines from the local LECs, and install their VoIP routing gear locally. Verizon would have one hell of a time untangling that rat's nest.
I'm doing this myself, but on a much smaller scale. For instance, my company has a satellite warehouse in Mexico, and we have a fractional 512K T1 down to them. In the old days, we spend about $600/mo calling back and forth, plus the $1200/mo for the fractional. But then we got a Nortel BCM and I started using the VoIP features in it and put the calls down the fractional. Our Mexico office can now use their VoIP sets not only to call conventionally wired extensions here in the office, but they can also place outbound calls. To the recipient, it looks like the call is coming from our BCM, and therefore a local US number, but actually it's coming from people in Mexico. I've also assigned them US based numbers, so calling a US number will ring them down there, too. In other words, it's completely transparent, and the phone company couldn't possibly have any idea what's going on.
So my question is, why couldn't Vonage insulate itself my moving the corporate entity outside of the country where it will be hard to touch them with patents, establish satellite offices with local numbers and lines from the LECs within the US using shell corporations, and use the 'Net to route to VoIP switches?
It's very clear what Verizon is doing. They see Vonage as a threat and they're pulling their BS overly broad patents to put them out of business. Because, technically, my BCM would violate those patents as well. So Verizon was REALLY concerned about their patent they would have to sue Nortel. And Cisco. And Lucent. Yeah right. Guess who their vendors are? But what I'm saying if Verizon wants to play dirty, so should Vonage.
I agree...You should do what I do, and set the alarm for a bit earlier so you can keep slapping the clock. It takes me about 30-40 mins to get my lazy ass out of bed in the morning, but it's better that IMHO than waking up at 5am and not being able to get back to sleep, which is why I normally go to bed at 2am-3am.
I browse at +3, so maybe I missed a comment thread regarding this, but since Vonage does VoIP - why couldn't they just move their operations out of the US like what Kazaa was doing when they were pursued by the RIAA?
You noticed that too, eh? The thing does spend an inordinate amount of time repeatedly bumping into walls. That thing wouldn't get far in my house either. It'd just get caught on all the clothes on the floor and I'd end up stepping on it. I'll stick with my usual MO. Hit the snooze for 40 minutes and get up 10 minutes before I'm supposed to leave for work, take 10 minutes to get ready and somehow show up 15 minutes late. The boss once called me on it. I replied "Well, OK I can show up on time, but I'll leave at 5 sharp like everyone else around here.". Never heard about it again.
IT has its perks. I doubt I could be such a slovenly bastard in any other position.
Wow, I guess some people _really_ don't want to pay taxes. No wonder they let you guys pack heat. Well if it makes you feel any better, I would most certainly not shoot at an IRS officer coming to my door...Though granted, I try to avoid activities that attract their attention in the first place.
Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't feel too bad about not being picked for jury duty. The system certainly gravitates towards the lowest common denominator, so that's probably why you were passed up in favor of your new friend.
I've seen a lot of posts on this thread addressing the threatening posts themselves, but what I don't understand is what this lady write that prompted people to start putting up these threats. Granted, I hadn't heard of Kathy Serra until I read the article, but what could a tech blogger write that gets this type of reaction out of people? It looks like it started relatively recently... Anyone care to enlighten me as to what's going on here?
Yeah right. When was the last time a proprietary Microsoft format overtook a reigning defacto standard? I also didn't see anything in the article that indicated technology licensing fees. Given that it's Microsoft, I'm pretty sure they're going to charge for it. If they don't, they will once enough people start adopt it. After all, this is Microsoft we're talking about, guys.
Actually, never mind Microsoft. Let's look at the audio arena. The royalty-free OGG format should have bumped off MPG, but still device manufacturers are all too happy to pay Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft to use MP3. In fact, it's still hard to find devices that support OGG at all. The moral of the story is that it's really hard to get anyone to commit development costs to support a new standard, let alone beat out one that's widely supported, even if you are giving away the tech for free.
I'm not really sure an "open source" phone is possible. These things are too miniaturized to be able to build in your garage. There are guys out there who build their own GSM phones, but these things are not something you can carry around in your pocket.
Hopefully, Open software for phones will fall a "build it, and they will come" path. Coming from the US, I hate how every phone is branded to a particular company. You have to jump through hoops to unlock it to use with another provider, if it's even possible at all. The phones are almost always crippled, too - Verizon disables a lot of the Bluetooth functions on their phones unless you pay to unlock them. If you want a new software Feature X on your phone, you pretty much have to throw it out and buy a new one with Feature X on it. Buying a phone is a game where you have to choose between what you want and what you can live without. Choose carefully, because you're going to be stuck with the phone for two years unless you want to pay $500 for it to go month to month. It's total bullcrap.
It'd be really nice if companies would start rolling out phones designed to work on an open platform, like what FIC did with the Neo1973.
People who might have called themselves webmasters before now call themselves bloggers. These days it is quite trivial to make a web page, especially with all the on-line tools around. Maybe back in the day you had to know a little HTML to put up your own personal web page, and you might have felt special enough about it that you gave yourself a title. Not so anymore. When your average 12 year old can churn out a Myspace page (albeit a blinding, noisy, tooth grinding affront to all that is holy) being a "Webmaster" just doesn't give you the street cred it did back in the 90s.
On the flip side, large Web sites these days are not one man shows anymore. Network engineers, graphic artists, db admins, and scripters are all involved. On sites like that, there's no one who can take the title of "Webmaster" since the whole thing is pretty much a team effort.
How does RFID work? Well a scanner emits an alternating electromagnetic field. The RFID chip induces this field and gets enough electrical potential within it to activate and emits its code to the scanner. Clearly, in order to do this there must be an integrated circuit involved in the RFID chip itself.
Here is what I don't understand - If this "tattoo" contains no metallic elements of any sort, how precisely is it supposed to induce an electromagnetic field from a 4 ft away, let alone kick back a serial number? I mean, the "RF" in RFID stands for Radio Frequency, right? Their site contains no more information than the press releases we've already seen. There's a lot of "look how great our technology is", but I haven't yet seen anything on the Net that describes how it works. It crossed my mind that it could read directly with a sensor using a spectrum that goes through hair, but then calling it RFID would be a misnomer since technically it would be an optical scanning technology.
Take a look at the partners, Ramos M. Mays and Mark C. Pydynowski. Take a look at Mark's profile on Somark itself. If I were an investor I wouldn't be too thrilled with his accomplishments:
Mark's talents are his ability to lead, persuade, and make things happen. His first entrepreneurial adventure began during his teenage years as the sole-proprietor of a lawn care service. He partnered with Mays on an IT service based start-up while at Washington University, but pulled the plug in the late planning stage. His previous industry experience is not limited to business development at a top tier management consulting firm.
I'll let you guys make of that what you will. I can't find anything on Ramos Mays other than that he is/was a computer science grad. I can find nothing about the claim that he has training in "Condensed Matter Physics".
Additionally, don't you think there would at least be a patent application for something like this? I can find nothing at the USPTO. Perhaps someone else might have better luck...
The point that I am trying to make is that this reeks of vaporware. The cynic in me says that this is a company that is hot on buzzwords but a little short on product. The profiles of the founders on the company's page by itself makes me wonder...And so do the grants they are generating.
It won't work. Right now, they're just figuring out how to get the title keys. It's kind of inconvenient because the only way you can decrypt a movie is to have the code for a particular title, and maintaining such a database will be a pain. Title keys can be revoked, but obviously it will not affect movies which have already been pressed. The whole thing may be moot, however, if someone writes a utility that can grab the title key on the fly. We already know that software players hold the key in memory - I would imagine it's just a matter of time before the process of getting it is automated.
It's also likely a matter of time before someone figures out what the player keys are. That's the Holy Grail. Player keys can be revoked, too, but it isn't practical to do so. If someone was able to get a list of player keys (ala DeCSS), the HDDVD consortium can revoke them all they want. They'll just have to explain to Joe Sixpack why his $500 HDDVD player won't run any new movies.
The Z-Corp printers have a special type of powder you can use to make metal castings, but this desktop printer doesn't look like it has any sort of equivalent. Pouring hot metal into a casting that isn't designed for such an application would probably result in an explosion.
As for plastic, it's too viscous to be gravity cast. Plastic needs to be pressure injected, and the problem there is that a gypsum mold probably wouldn't survive the pressure unless it were treated.
Amen. It would be simply awesome if there was a cheap way to print custom parts out of ABS plastic. It may not look the greatest because you'd be able to see the "steps" from the printing process. Because of this I doubt it would be practical to print Lego bricks or such things as that because the layers created during printing are where the part is weakest. When exposed to stress the part would be more likely to break on the layer lines. But even so, for hobbyists it would beat the hell out of having to commission a custom injection mold which usually costs at least $10,000.
Unfortunately, the materials page is absent of things like plastic, but there are some interesting ones: Gypsum (same stuff the Z-Corp 3D printers use), silicone, conductive paste and ink (prototype circuit boards), and even some metals. At this stage, I don't see these machines replacing traditional CNC/forging/casting/injection processes, but cheap desktop prototyping will certainly bring about a revolution in manufacturing.
I'm going to have to run with a lot of what the Slashdotters are saying about this article and say that small companies are really nice to work for. I work for a small manufacturer about 10 minutes away from where I live. The pay is good and we get bennies. The flexibility I have is second to none. I can clock out, walk downstairs and tell the girls up front that "I'm leaving and I don't know when I'll be back, but you can get me by phone if you need me." Plus it's probably the only place I can wear a T-shirt depicting a newly married couple with the huge letters "BIG MISTAKE" below it three days after my boss' wedding. Additionally, I take off a day a week for my "own projects". So there's my 20%. True, I don't get paid for it, but since my project is a consulting company I make up for it.
It sounds like the late 90's are coming back at Google. It's nice to have little perks like what they offer I guess, but it isn't for me. I like to know everything that's going on and hate the idea of being just another cog in the machine. Gourmet meals and massages wouldn't make up for the diminutive part I would play in a large corp, even if it is Google.
At this company I'm at, the buck stops with me regarding the administration of this network. The pay is 25K less than what I was offered at a large corporation, but when you factor in power of decision-making, flexibility, the commute, and the overall freedom in a small company like this one I would have to say it's worth the pay cut.
IMHO, Google isn't any different from any other large corp except that they can burn more cash and seem to try to treat their employees well. But keep in mind that even if they offered a large starting salary it would be sucked up matching the insane cost of living in the area they're in, with a terrible commute as an added bonus. Maybe those applying in droves want to be a part of history and say "I worked for Google", but not me. I'm perfectly happy right where I am, and am not buying into the hype.
I'm getting just a little tired of hearing about this woman. "Oh look at me I own a million dollars of virtual real estate located on servers subject to regular DoS attacks. And neither insurance companies or the law offer any recourse if it all gets wiped out." Please.
She loves being in the news as long as the press is favorable, but one dildo attack gets written about and all of a sudden she brings out the DMCA stick. I will place a bet that we're about to see how mob rule on Second Life works. Attacks against her will most certainly be scaled up now that this news broke.
Yeah, I pretty much thought the same thing you did as far as the operation of microwave ovens, but this business of saying how "natural" sources of microwave radiation are based on DC current kind of makes me think that the rest of the article is bunk.
As you said, the bottom line is that ALL cooking breaks down proteins and I fail to to see how exciting water molecules as opposed to holding said food over a flame or putting it on a skillet makes them break down in such a way as to be unhealthy. Indeed, I've heard that the carbon that forms on our delicious steaks when cooking them over a flame has carcinogenic material in it. Uncooked food can have nasty bacteria in it like e coli. I guess the only solution is not to eat, only then can we live forever!
I'd like to see some of the resident RF specialists around here take this apart. My favorite line from the whole thing:
Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based.
Slashdot Mirror
Clinton got put on the chopping block for lying about boning an intern. Why not Cheney and Bush, who's lies have cost tens of thousands of lives, billions of dollars, and created a bigger radical Islamic movement? I agree with your assessment of the situation, but under the force of impeachment proceedings who knows what skeletons will fall out of the administration's closet when people start opening doors that thus far have remained locked?
My take is that there's no compelling reason to upgrade to Vista. An average IT department would have to be insane to deploy it given the system requirements...They'd probably have to forklift upgrade all of their workstations. And what would they get from Vista that they don't get from XP for the trouble? Nothing. Process protection? It's already been broken. Say hello to super spyware. So all you really get is a bunch of pain in the ass security hurdles and pretty windows. I think home users largely feel the same way.
But I also can't deny reality. If Microsoft wants us to switch to Vista, they're going to make it happen. They'll eventually pull support from XP, stop updates, and nag us to death about upgrading. They'll make their new software work only with Vista. They might even try to force some developers to do the same. Oh they're doing it with games already (think DX10) but can see this happening to regular applications, too.
But for now, what I am telling everyone is to buy their new computers with Windows XP and keep the free upgrade to Vista on standby in case it takes root. As for people running on rigs they've owned for awhile and talk about upgrading, I strongly discourage them from doing so.
It's not out of sight. I've got 5 PCs.
-One is my Windows box, for gaming and Windows-specific stuff (Photoshop, etc).
-One is my Linux server, running CentOS, which hosts my email, file storage, wireless gateway, DHCP, etc.
-I have a "play box", on which I load different distros of Linux to play around with them. Went from Fedora Core 1, to Gentoo, to CentOS, to Ubuntu, but I don't really like Ubuntu that much, so I'm going to try Fedora again.
-Laptop, with both Windows and Linux. I use it for security analysis and maintenance of networks out on the field, as well as to establish an encrypted tunnel back home to check my email, browse the web, etc. (I don't always know what's on someone's network or who's watching)
-A legacy box with a CM-32L for all the old sk00l Sierra games I still like to play
Trivial: Just follow the routing information for the Vonage customers' telephone numbers to find the bridge.
Well, that assumes that Verizon knows all the Vonage customers' phone numbers. Since number portability laws are in effect, perhaps Vonage would be able to move their customers' numbers away form any Verizon carriers to keep that information away form them.
Disclaimer: No I don't know the grand scale of Vonage's network and what I'm saying is probably wrong or not feasible. But I do believe there are things Vonage can do to protect itself since their services are based on IP. Sure, it's shady, but so is what Verizon is doing.
The system would still violate the Verizon patent claims. The location of the bridge in the US and the sale of the service to US customers would each give the necessary jurisdiction for the US patents to apply.
I know. But my assumption is that Verizon is not going after Vonage because IP was stolen. They are whipping out this BS patent to put them out of business and make them an example for any other company that dares to bypass the big telecoms. The system I was talking about wasn't about getting around the patents. It's supposed to make it as difficult as possible for them to be enforced. Think of it as civil disobedience. And besides, I don't see anyone having sympathy pangs for Verizon.
When you enabled these services of your Nortel box you started violating at least the following Vonage Verizon patents: 6,282,574, 6,104,711, 6,359,880. (Presuming they stand up to court scrutiny.)
They will if they succeed in this suit, then go after Nortel and its customers.
I'd like to see that...Verizon sues its own vendors. I don't think it will happen. If it did, they would probably suddenly find it very expensive to buy new gear. But again, this patent thing is about Verizon engaging in anticompetitive behavior. There is no other reason they could possibly be doing this. Don't forget, they're spending billions of dollars on FIOS and they want to push the TV/phone/Net package. They don't want services by 3rd parties going through their IP network without some payola. VoIP is just the beginning. If someone rolls out a VoD service over IP, Verizon will figure out a way to come after them, too. If this patent angle fails, they're going to go back to trying to abolish Net neutrality (actually, they'll do that regardless). What do you think is the first thing they will do if they are successful?
Do they, though? They could move ops out of the US, and create a bunch of front companies within the US that buys lots of PRI lines from the local LECs, and install their VoIP routing gear locally. Verizon would have one hell of a time untangling that rat's nest.
I'm doing this myself, but on a much smaller scale. For instance, my company has a satellite warehouse in Mexico, and we have a fractional 512K T1 down to them. In the old days, we spend about $600/mo calling back and forth, plus the $1200/mo for the fractional. But then we got a Nortel BCM and I started using the VoIP features in it and put the calls down the fractional. Our Mexico office can now use their VoIP sets not only to call conventionally wired extensions here in the office, but they can also place outbound calls. To the recipient, it looks like the call is coming from our BCM, and therefore a local US number, but actually it's coming from people in Mexico. I've also assigned them US based numbers, so calling a US number will ring them down there, too. In other words, it's completely transparent, and the phone company couldn't possibly have any idea what's going on.
So my question is, why couldn't Vonage insulate itself my moving the corporate entity outside of the country where it will be hard to touch them with patents, establish satellite offices with local numbers and lines from the LECs within the US using shell corporations, and use the 'Net to route to VoIP switches?
It's very clear what Verizon is doing. They see Vonage as a threat and they're pulling their BS overly broad patents to put them out of business. Because, technically, my BCM would violate those patents as well. So Verizon was REALLY concerned about their patent they would have to sue Nortel. And Cisco. And Lucent. Yeah right. Guess who their vendors are? But what I'm saying if Verizon wants to play dirty, so should Vonage.
I agree...You should do what I do, and set the alarm for a bit earlier so you can keep slapping the clock. It takes me about 30-40 mins to get my lazy ass out of bed in the morning, but it's better that IMHO than waking up at 5am and not being able to get back to sleep, which is why I normally go to bed at 2am-3am.
I browse at +3, so maybe I missed a comment thread regarding this, but since Vonage does VoIP - why couldn't they just move their operations out of the US like what Kazaa was doing when they were pursued by the RIAA?
You noticed that too, eh? The thing does spend an inordinate amount of time repeatedly bumping into walls. That thing wouldn't get far in my house either. It'd just get caught on all the clothes on the floor and I'd end up stepping on it. I'll stick with my usual MO. Hit the snooze for 40 minutes and get up 10 minutes before I'm supposed to leave for work, take 10 minutes to get ready and somehow show up 15 minutes late. The boss once called me on it. I replied "Well, OK I can show up on time, but I'll leave at 5 sharp like everyone else around here.". Never heard about it again.
IT has its perks. I doubt I could be such a slovenly bastard in any other position.
What did you expect from the company that foisted DIVX upon us?
That's way too much kinetic energy in the hands of John Q. Public.
I believe that's what they said about the automobile 100 years ago.
Wow, I guess some people _really_ don't want to pay taxes. No wonder they let you guys pack heat. Well if it makes you feel any better, I would most certainly not shoot at an IRS officer coming to my door...Though granted, I try to avoid activities that attract their attention in the first place.
Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't feel too bad about not being picked for jury duty. The system certainly gravitates towards the lowest common denominator, so that's probably why you were passed up in favor of your new friend.
I've seen a lot of posts on this thread addressing the threatening posts themselves, but what I don't understand is what this lady write that prompted people to start putting up these threats. Granted, I hadn't heard of Kathy Serra until I read the article, but what could a tech blogger write that gets this type of reaction out of people? It looks like it started relatively recently... Anyone care to enlighten me as to what's going on here?
Dude. What the hell is it that you do for a living?
Dell does not know their customers. I'm not participating in any Linux poll that does not have a CowboyNeal option.
Yeah right. When was the last time a proprietary Microsoft format overtook a reigning defacto standard? I also didn't see anything in the article that indicated technology licensing fees. Given that it's Microsoft, I'm pretty sure they're going to charge for it. If they don't, they will once enough people start adopt it. After all, this is Microsoft we're talking about, guys.
Actually, never mind Microsoft. Let's look at the audio arena. The royalty-free OGG format should have bumped off MPG, but still device manufacturers are all too happy to pay Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft to use MP3. In fact, it's still hard to find devices that support OGG at all. The moral of the story is that it's really hard to get anyone to commit development costs to support a new standard, let alone beat out one that's widely supported, even if you are giving away the tech for free.
I'm not really sure an "open source" phone is possible. These things are too miniaturized to be able to build in your garage. There are guys out there who build their own GSM phones, but these things are not something you can carry around in your pocket.
Hopefully, Open software for phones will fall a "build it, and they will come" path. Coming from the US, I hate how every phone is branded to a particular company. You have to jump through hoops to unlock it to use with another provider, if it's even possible at all. The phones are almost always crippled, too - Verizon disables a lot of the Bluetooth functions on their phones unless you pay to unlock them. If you want a new software Feature X on your phone, you pretty much have to throw it out and buy a new one with Feature X on it. Buying a phone is a game where you have to choose between what you want and what you can live without. Choose carefully, because you're going to be stuck with the phone for two years unless you want to pay $500 for it to go month to month. It's total bullcrap.
It'd be really nice if companies would start rolling out phones designed to work on an open platform, like what FIC did with the Neo1973.
My thoughts, FWIW -
People who might have called themselves webmasters before now call themselves bloggers. These days it is quite trivial to make a web page, especially with all the on-line tools around. Maybe back in the day you had to know a little HTML to put up your own personal web page, and you might have felt special enough about it that you gave yourself a title. Not so anymore. When your average 12 year old can churn out a Myspace page (albeit a blinding, noisy, tooth grinding affront to all that is holy) being a "Webmaster" just doesn't give you the street cred it did back in the 90s.
On the flip side, large Web sites these days are not one man shows anymore. Network engineers, graphic artists, db admins, and scripters are all involved. On sites like that, there's no one who can take the title of "Webmaster" since the whole thing is pretty much a team effort.
Here is what I don't understand - If this "tattoo" contains no metallic elements of any sort, how precisely is it supposed to induce an electromagnetic field from a 4 ft away, let alone kick back a serial number? I mean, the "RF" in RFID stands for Radio Frequency, right? Their site contains no more information than the press releases we've already seen. There's a lot of "look how great our technology is", but I haven't yet seen anything on the Net that describes how it works. It crossed my mind that it could read directly with a sensor using a spectrum that goes through hair, but then calling it RFID would be a misnomer since technically it would be an optical scanning technology.
Take a look at the partners, Ramos M. Mays and Mark C. Pydynowski. Take a look at Mark's profile on Somark itself. If I were an investor I wouldn't be too thrilled with his accomplishments:
I'll let you guys make of that what you will. I can't find anything on Ramos Mays other than that he is/was a computer science grad. I can find nothing about the claim that he has training in "Condensed Matter Physics".
Additionally, don't you think there would at least be a patent application for something like this? I can find nothing at the USPTO. Perhaps someone else might have better luck...
The point that I am trying to make is that this reeks of vaporware. The cynic in me says that this is a company that is hot on buzzwords but a little short on product. The profiles of the founders on the company's page by itself makes me wonder...And so do the grants they are generating.
Revoke the key. It will happen each time.
It won't work. Right now, they're just figuring out how to get the title keys. It's kind of inconvenient because the only way you can decrypt a movie is to have the code for a particular title, and maintaining such a database will be a pain. Title keys can be revoked, but obviously it will not affect movies which have already been pressed. The whole thing may be moot, however, if someone writes a utility that can grab the title key on the fly. We already know that software players hold the key in memory - I would imagine it's just a matter of time before the process of getting it is automated.
It's also likely a matter of time before someone figures out what the player keys are. That's the Holy Grail. Player keys can be revoked, too, but it isn't practical to do so. If someone was able to get a list of player keys (ala DeCSS), the HDDVD consortium can revoke them all they want. They'll just have to explain to Joe Sixpack why his $500 HDDVD player won't run any new movies.
The Z-Corp printers have a special type of powder you can use to make metal castings, but this desktop printer doesn't look like it has any sort of equivalent. Pouring hot metal into a casting that isn't designed for such an application would probably result in an explosion.
As for plastic, it's too viscous to be gravity cast. Plastic needs to be pressure injected, and the problem there is that a gypsum mold probably wouldn't survive the pressure unless it were treated.
Amen. It would be simply awesome if there was a cheap way to print custom parts out of ABS plastic. It may not look the greatest because you'd be able to see the "steps" from the printing process. Because of this I doubt it would be practical to print Lego bricks or such things as that because the layers created during printing are where the part is weakest. When exposed to stress the part would be more likely to break on the layer lines. But even so, for hobbyists it would beat the hell out of having to commission a custom injection mold which usually costs at least $10,000.
Unfortunately, the materials page is absent of things like plastic, but there are some interesting ones: Gypsum (same stuff the Z-Corp 3D printers use), silicone, conductive paste and ink (prototype circuit boards), and even some metals. At this stage, I don't see these machines replacing traditional CNC/forging/casting/injection processes, but cheap desktop prototyping will certainly bring about a revolution in manufacturing.
I'm going to have to run with a lot of what the Slashdotters are saying about this article and say that small companies are really nice to work for. I work for a small manufacturer about 10 minutes away from where I live. The pay is good and we get bennies. The flexibility I have is second to none. I can clock out, walk downstairs and tell the girls up front that "I'm leaving and I don't know when I'll be back, but you can get me by phone if you need me." Plus it's probably the only place I can wear a T-shirt depicting a newly married couple with the huge letters "BIG MISTAKE" below it three days after my boss' wedding. Additionally, I take off a day a week for my "own projects". So there's my 20%. True, I don't get paid for it, but since my project is a consulting company I make up for it.
It sounds like the late 90's are coming back at Google. It's nice to have little perks like what they offer I guess, but it isn't for me. I like to know everything that's going on and hate the idea of being just another cog in the machine. Gourmet meals and massages wouldn't make up for the diminutive part I would play in a large corp, even if it is Google.
At this company I'm at, the buck stops with me regarding the administration of this network. The pay is 25K less than what I was offered at a large corporation, but when you factor in power of decision-making, flexibility, the commute, and the overall freedom in a small company like this one I would have to say it's worth the pay cut.
IMHO, Google isn't any different from any other large corp except that they can burn more cash and seem to try to treat their employees well. But keep in mind that even if they offered a large starting salary it would be sucked up matching the insane cost of living in the area they're in, with a terrible commute as an added bonus. Maybe those applying in droves want to be a part of history and say "I worked for Google", but not me. I'm perfectly happy right where I am, and am not buying into the hype.
I'm getting just a little tired of hearing about this woman. "Oh look at me I own a million dollars of virtual real estate located on servers subject to regular DoS attacks. And neither insurance companies or the law offer any recourse if it all gets wiped out." Please.
She loves being in the news as long as the press is favorable, but one dildo attack gets written about and all of a sudden she brings out the DMCA stick. I will place a bet that we're about to see how mob rule on Second Life works. Attacks against her will most certainly be scaled up now that this news broke.
Yeah, I pretty much thought the same thing you did as far as the operation of microwave ovens, but this business of saying how "natural" sources of microwave radiation are based on DC current kind of makes me think that the rest of the article is bunk.
As you said, the bottom line is that ALL cooking breaks down proteins and I fail to to see how exciting water molecules as opposed to holding said food over a flame or putting it on a skillet makes them break down in such a way as to be unhealthy. Indeed, I've heard that the carbon that forms on our delicious steaks when cooking them over a flame has carcinogenic material in it. Uncooked food can have nasty bacteria in it like e coli. I guess the only solution is not to eat, only then can we live forever!
Reminds me of this link I ran across recently:
h tm
http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.
I'd like to see some of the resident RF specialists around here take this apart. My favorite line from the whole thing:
Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based.
There are many other gems in there though.