We ripped a CD in EAC and then encoded the resulting WAV file in LAME. The CD was ripped from the workstation to the IT100, where LAME would then encode the WAV to MP3 and delete the old WAV file. This caused the IT100 to crash half way through every CD
Crashed because you read/write from the HD? What a POS!
It's completely useless, but hey! it's quiet! Meanwhile you can buy a cheap PC w/ assloads more HD space ($70 for 120GB at Best Buy!) for probably less moneym when it comes down to it.
Studies by private investigators in this area (Mass/RI) have shown that many of the plow operators actually complete less then 1/2 their expected route.
The previous method to determine whether things were getting done or not (checking odometers) isn't working, because the plow guys who basically do laps up and down the main street of a town with their blades up to run up the milage.
In theory, this will let the towns/cities know whether or not the guys getting paid by the hour and mile for plowing snow, are actually sitting at the donut shop.
In this case, the only other way to make this work is to pay people to go around and track the workers, which puts their lives at risk (driving in snow).
In addition, seems like hiring babysitters for the plow guys is just as bad as GPS... at least this way a GPS doesn't lie or hold a grudge if you piss off a human supervisor.
If they're doing their jobs this isn't an issue...
They want to plow their friends on city money, and eat donuts and watch TV... THAT'S the problem
1) It fell off my belt and was "kicked" by me as I walked, took a fall down several flights of steps in a parking garage... I went down 4 flights to get it (it fell down the center area)
2) A few days later it fell off the clip again while car shopping in a lot of 500+ cars... stayed in the parking lot over night in a rain storm... found the next day by someone who turned it in to the dealership...
3) Three days later, fell off in the bed of my pickup while I was doing something, spent several cold (below 30*F) nights, including one w/ rain before I found it.
I finally replaced the clip, and it hasn't fallen since...
It's about 20 months old and still works just fine... tho the battery only lasts about 6 hours and the antenna broke off 19 1/2 months ago...
Just as Europeans have enjoyed using American GPS for years in Europe, American's would now have the ability to use the Euro-GPS (Galileo) signals while in America.
The problem there is that w/ extreme precision these signals can be used on guided missles to launch attacks with relatively little brain power inside the bomb.
It's not so much that the USA wants control in other parts of the country, more that they want control in the US. Otherwise, maybe they would demand that the US and US controlled areas be left in dark-spots from the Euro-GPS system.
It's being done to protect the USA... naturally no one else in the world likes this because it means they aren't the ones w/ their fingers on the button...
But when comes down to it, the US is generally the one who goes off and polices the globe as well as prevents strong negative leaders from gaining too much power or weaponry.
w/o the US, Hitler would probably have been the ruler of this planet for a time... there was no way that Russia & UK could have won w/o support from the US, not without dragging the war out for decades and losing millions of troops.
Those who say differently are nothing but historical revisionists... it's quite easy for a 20-something person to balk at WWII and say it wasn't as bad, or as desperate, as it was... ask someone who lived through it and they will tell you.
That's exactly the feature I've always wanted... the ability to put a message into multiple folders without actually putting into multiple folders.
All messages are stored in a single database/spot... each message can be linked to muliple "views" (folders). A "folder" is nothing more then a filter that only shows messages that are specifically linked to that view.
So when I receive a schematic that requires review from Joe Smith at ABC Company, I can link it to three views: Emails from Joe Smith, Schematic Reviews and Emails from ABC Company.
I think Lotus Notes did something simliar but not quite...
But Bill is not a bad guy, and I think that comment in the headline (if accurate) is excellent.
The other theme I saw in this thread, is that it's not MS' fault that IT depts world wide did not install a patch that had been available for more then a month. I mean come on! As someone else said, it could easily happen to anyone. There are plenty of holes in all software, and as soon as they're patched that exactly when people start to work on exploiting them the hardest.
If anything they should be pushing their MSCSE folks hard on the importance of applying patches to systems within days/weeks of release rather then months.
They can't really make it any "easier" to install patches w/o the/. minded people of the world crying foul to forced updating which reduces their perceived security/privacy. Heck I think w/ XP they already download all updates to your PC as available and pop up little bubbles every 30 seconds telling you to install them!
I've seen a few stories on here from people, so I'll add mine...
Guy works IT and holds tiny 30-person startup together for litterally 3-4 years... workload is getting tougher and tougher and he says that they really need more IT help.
Finally after 6-8 months the boss' agree...
They hire a guy to be his boss, making nearly 3x what he makes...
Then they hire a helper for the boss making 50% more then the first guy...
Finally after about a year they lay off the poor bastard. The new boss and new helper keep their jobs and salaries of course...
Did this guy do a bad job? No, he kept the place running for over 3 years... was he making too much? Nope, he making the LEAST out of everyone in the company (myself included and I was CO-OP at this place!)
They just screwed him and screwed him and screwed him... it's been a good 2-3 years and I joke with him now that they literally did him a favor by laying him off because he makes nearly $20k/yr more at his new job, with regular raises and a normal work load. If they really had it in for him they would have kept him on till the bitter end (they went under about 8 months after they laid him off... hmm... I wonder...:) )
I used Nextel's for a year at one business and they were generally more a hassle then not...
First off, the walkie-talkie speakerphone stuff is annoying. I always used it on earpiece/vibrate... but I never knew if the other end was or not, so I always found myself talking in code in case the other party was in a less then ideal environment (happened ALOT).
Nextel's network is great if you use it in an area where they have service, like the Metro Boston area... the moment you leave Metro Boston (up north past Laconia, or out west past Worcester) the signal becomes spotty at best for cell phone and non-existant for DC. So it was weak as a personal cell phone for me and I switched to Verizon because they had lower prices and significantly larger network covereage (I switched in April 2002, so maybe Nextel has done aggressive expansion in the NE area since then... I don't know...)
All in all it was over priced and not worth it for non-blue collar users. If you're a plumber or an electrician and you're used to radios and you work outside (not in an office building where the signal is dead 90% of the time) it's great. If you're white collar (except for IT maybe) it sucks, stick with a cell phone...
This is all a giant conspiracy by the Level3's of the world trying to force us to get increased bandwidth... people (and ISPs) will be forced to simply accept that >30% of the bandwidth available is sucked up by digital "noise" in the form of spam, pop ups, etc...
A friend of mine was a forman on a job site several years back...
The power had been turned off the day before, but no one checked that morning... and other contractors had been in and out all day...
One of the lackys, only 22, grabbed a piece of romex to strip it... he put the dykes on it and stripped off about 2' when suddenly he had both his hands on bare wire and he got fried, 120V across his arms/chest and he was dead in 30-40 seconds it took a guy near him to pull the wire out of his hands.
Moral? 1) If you AREN'T a professional, HIRE ONE 2) If you ARE a professional, CHECK THE BREAKERS!
My friend has always blamed himself for this, even though no one else did... he had to give the news to the family (including young wife) of the guy who was killed...
I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before someone came up with a name and the actual quote.
The essence of it is very powerful (even if I didn't remember the exact wording).
I don't like the idea of people "stealing" music, and personally find it to be a pain in the ass to find decent tracks, so I usually end up on iTunes or just go buy the CD... but I also don't like the idea that some poor shmoe is out there trying to defend her/himself against legal action from the RIAA because s/he downloaded some songs. His/her life gets wrecked because s/he has to fork over thousands in legal fees, spend days in court, loses his/her job, house, car, whatever...
they don't have to win a lawsuit or even get you to trial... the cost of getting it thrown out will be in the thousands...
Hopefully a few people will win hefty counter suits and make it counter-profit-productive for the RIAA to bring up these stupid lawsuits.
Just visited my sister and she had me uninstall Kazaa from my nephew's computer because she's worried about... like he won't turn around and re-install 7 minutes later.
Otherwise, this could make a very good insurance scandal: "Yeah, he stole the cash from the safe! See, I'm missing it! And I have his name and address! That should be enough! Now gimme my money!"
Except they can barely prove they're missing any money...
We all need to keep a close eye on this and come down hard on the RIAA if they do target individual "regular joe" users because it can not be tolerated. Just remember, it could be you next.
I saw a plaque in the holocaust museum in DC... I can't remember by who or the exact words but it was something like this:
"When they came for the blacks I did not help them... when they came for the gays I did not help them... when they came for the jews I did not help them... finally when they came for me, there was no to help me"
I've read the entire article... I've read many comments here...
He needs a 48 port switch? Give me a break! Not to mention that he's added those 6-port in-wall switches in a few locations...
I have 4 PC users in my 2200sqft house, I ran cat5 to each PC location from the basement... they all connect to an 8-port switch (in the basement), which connects to a (now) wireless router which connects to my cable modem. I have a PC or two in the basement also connected to the 8 port switch.
I have a couple of laptops which are wireless almost exclusively at work and home...
I think the total cost, soup to nuts, not including the 10-15hrs of labor I put in over a weekend to wire it up, cost me $300.
From the looks of it, this guy spent between $2-4k getting this all done...
The only thing he has going for him is that he has the ability to very quickly scale his network, but considering it's a residential install to meet the needs of a handful of users (at most) it's a complete waste of time.
And what's with him using 3Com almost exclusively?
I haven't read any responses yet... and maybe this has been asked for...
But can we get a follow up to this story in the next several days, weeks, months?
I would say that the vast majority of us operate from ISP provided DHCP and other services. Seems like many many of us could be vulnerable to this type of an attack...
And of course since it's just been posted on slashdot every kiddie and his brother will be trying to do this on mom's cable modem.
if it ever gets used in ernest to convict or prove anything people will come up with ways to hack the system so that it tops out at 70 or something...
I'm all in favor of black boxes in cars, as long as the information stays in the box until physically obtained (and not via wireless means).
Even better would be some way to record the current state of traffic signals... have an accident and be able to say "see? I was doing 34mph and I had the green light!"
Link it to distance sensors to tell how fast/far another car is coming at you and their relative positions for the previous minute or so...
As long as you aren't doing anything wrong you won't have a problem...
PC's today don't let you program easily? Buy a PC from yesterday...
I picked up a Mac Quadra 610 for $1.25 on ebay... came w/ a 250MB HD and 32MB of RAM, keyboard and mouse... bought a MAC->VGA converter on ebay for $6... had an older 15" VGA monitor laying around...
System 7.5.5 is available for free from Apple... many many many games are available free... Downloaded Think Pascal 4.5 from Borland's website (it's free now too)... you can find Hypercard and other similiar tools out there as well which will let them create real applications, etc, etc...
So for under $30 (shipping was vast majority) and a few hours of my time I setup a decent Pascal development system cira 1992... I did it because it re-created the systems I used in high school, and I was able to run my old projects and remenice... but it would work ok for a kid...
Or... beg/borrow/steal a copy of Visual Basic... I bought the book "Essentials of Visual Basic 6.0 Programming" (Schneider) which includes a VB working model... the book is easy to follow and you can make real-world applications that they can run on any windows machine.
Or get shell account at an ISP that has the java environment loaded... Sun provides a great tutorial / API web site, and the programs you create are similar to those used in the 80s... plus you can web-enable things when you get more advanced. Usually these ISPs also have gcc available, but maybe vi/emacs and gcc are a bit advanced for a kid...
Point is... get creative and it can be done... but if your kid isn't into it, or isn't patient you're in trouble...
If s/he wants to sit down and create an xbox-like game in a week or two, then forget...
If I'm at Best Buy and I see a $200 part w/ $20 rebate and a $190 part w/ no rebate I'll take the $190.
Even if it means spending $10 more, it's worth it because there's a 50/50 shot I won't send the rebate in... and then a 50/50 shot that I won't get the rebate... then there's an additional 50/50 shot I won't cash the check until after the "void after 60 days" period...
So there's only a 12.5% chance I'll save $10... but there's a 87.5% chance I'll lose $10.
Nuts to that... you wouldn't dream of using a wired 10Mb connection when 100Mb (or even 1Gb) is available... so why use an (at best) 11Mb? And don't bother to say price, because then you obviously haven't been to Best Buy lately...
If they were smart they would have stuck a PC Card or USB wireless adapter in there... even just as an internal thing... that way they could update... it's not like they didn't see the a/g spec coming!
So this guy found a temporary loophole... it's slightly cheaper to buy an Apple motherboard and stuff it in a generic box, then to buy an equiv. apple model...
Apple will squish this by raising the price on replacement parts... then giving rebates/discounts to "Apple Authorized Repair Centers" (lowering the price back to standard levels), a perk that 2khappyware will never enjoy, and therefore will cause him to go out of business, since he can't remain cheaper.
Joe Macuser can still get discounted prices on replacement parts by buying direct from Apple or a repair center, but the number of parts that can be purchased per day/month/year will be limited to something larger then average-guy needs, but less then clone-maker needs.
He's basically mass producing something that you could make today if you wanted to. If you can't afford a real mac, then hurry up and buy one of this guy's (they aren't for sale yet) because he won't be around long.
Slashdot Mirror
We ripped a CD in EAC and then encoded the resulting WAV file in LAME. The CD was ripped from the workstation to the IT100, where LAME would then encode the WAV to MP3 and delete the old WAV file. This caused the IT100 to crash half way through every CD
Crashed because you read/write from the HD? What a POS!
It's completely useless, but hey! it's quiet! Meanwhile you can buy a cheap PC w/ assloads more HD space ($70 for 120GB at Best Buy!) for probably less moneym when it comes down to it.
Studies by private investigators in this area (Mass/RI) have shown that many of the plow operators actually complete less then 1/2 their expected route.
The previous method to determine whether things were getting done or not (checking odometers) isn't working, because the plow guys who basically do laps up and down the main street of a town with their blades up to run up the milage.
In theory, this will let the towns/cities know whether or not the guys getting paid by the hour and mile for plowing snow, are actually sitting at the donut shop.
In this case, the only other way to make this work is to pay people to go around and track the workers, which puts their lives at risk (driving in snow).
In addition, seems like hiring babysitters for the plow guys is just as bad as GPS... at least this way a GPS doesn't lie or hold a grudge if you piss off a human supervisor.
If they're doing their jobs this isn't an issue...
They want to plow their friends on city money, and eat donuts and watch TV... THAT'S the problem
Before I finally replaced the weak belt clip--
1) It fell off my belt and was "kicked" by me as I walked, took a fall down several flights of steps in a parking garage... I went down 4 flights to get it (it fell down the center area)
2) A few days later it fell off the clip again while car shopping in a lot of 500+ cars... stayed in the parking lot over night in a rain storm... found the next day by someone who turned it in to the dealership...
3) Three days later, fell off in the bed of my pickup while I was doing something, spent several cold (below 30*F) nights, including one w/ rain before I found it.
I finally replaced the clip, and it hasn't fallen since...
It's about 20 months old and still works just fine... tho the battery only lasts about 6 hours and the antenna broke off 19 1/2 months ago...
Just as Europeans have enjoyed using American GPS for years in Europe, American's would now have the ability to use the Euro-GPS (Galileo) signals while in America.
The problem there is that w/ extreme precision these signals can be used on guided missles to launch attacks with relatively little brain power inside the bomb.
It's not so much that the USA wants control in other parts of the country, more that they want control in the US. Otherwise, maybe they would demand that the US and US controlled areas be left in dark-spots from the Euro-GPS system.
It's being done to protect the USA... naturally no one else in the world likes this because it means they aren't the ones w/ their fingers on the button...
But when comes down to it, the US is generally the one who goes off and polices the globe as well as prevents strong negative leaders from gaining too much power or weaponry.
w/o the US, Hitler would probably have been the ruler of this planet for a time... there was no way that Russia & UK could have won w/o support from the US, not without dragging the war out for decades and losing millions of troops.
Those who say differently are nothing but historical revisionists... it's quite easy for a 20-something person to balk at WWII and say it wasn't as bad, or as desperate, as it was... ask someone who lived through it and they will tell you.
3346 as of my viewing...
I would tend to agree that the numbers are odd... but I wouldn't put this past China...
It's like a new USSR, and they did all kinds of creepy things during the cold war.
That's exactly the feature I've always wanted... the ability to put a message into multiple folders without actually putting into multiple folders.
All messages are stored in a single database/spot... each message can be linked to muliple "views" (folders). A "folder" is nothing more then a filter that only shows messages that are specifically linked to that view.
So when I receive a schematic that requires review from Joe Smith at ABC Company, I can link it to three views: Emails from Joe Smith, Schematic Reviews and Emails from ABC Company.
I think Lotus Notes did something simliar but not quite...
I have more Mac and Linux equipment then MS...
/. minded people of the world crying foul to forced updating which reduces their perceived security/privacy. Heck I think w/ XP they already download all updates to your PC as available and pop up little bubbles every 30 seconds telling you to install them!
But Bill is not a bad guy, and I think that comment in the headline (if accurate) is excellent.
The other theme I saw in this thread, is that it's not MS' fault that IT depts world wide did not install a patch that had been available for more then a month. I mean come on! As someone else said, it could easily happen to anyone. There are plenty of holes in all software, and as soon as they're patched that exactly when people start to work on exploiting them the hardest.
If anything they should be pushing their MSCSE folks hard on the importance of applying patches to systems within days/weeks of release rather then months.
They can't really make it any "easier" to install patches w/o the
I've seen a few stories on here from people, so I'll add mine...
:) )
Guy works IT and holds tiny 30-person startup together for litterally 3-4 years... workload is getting tougher and tougher and he says that they really need more IT help.
Finally after 6-8 months the boss' agree...
They hire a guy to be his boss, making nearly 3x what he makes...
Then they hire a helper for the boss making 50% more then the first guy...
Finally after about a year they lay off the poor bastard. The new boss and new helper keep their jobs and salaries of course...
Did this guy do a bad job? No, he kept the place running for over 3 years... was he making too much? Nope, he making the LEAST out of everyone in the company (myself included and I was CO-OP at this place!)
They just screwed him and screwed him and screwed him... it's been a good 2-3 years and I joke with him now that they literally did him a favor by laying him off because he makes nearly $20k/yr more at his new job, with regular raises and a normal work load. If they really had it in for him they would have kept him on till the bitter end (they went under about 8 months after they laid him off... hmm... I wonder...
I used Nextel's for a year at one business and they were generally more a hassle then not...
First off, the walkie-talkie speakerphone stuff is annoying. I always used it on earpiece/vibrate... but I never knew if the other end was or not, so I always found myself talking in code in case the other party was in a less then ideal environment (happened ALOT).
Nextel's network is great if you use it in an area where they have service, like the Metro Boston area... the moment you leave Metro Boston (up north past Laconia, or out west past Worcester) the signal becomes spotty at best for cell phone and non-existant for DC. So it was weak as a personal cell phone for me and I switched to Verizon because they had lower prices and significantly larger network covereage (I switched in April 2002, so maybe Nextel has done aggressive expansion in the NE area since then... I don't know...)
All in all it was over priced and not worth it for non-blue collar users. If you're a plumber or an electrician and you're used to radios and you work outside (not in an office building where the signal is dead 90% of the time) it's great. If you're white collar (except for IT maybe) it sucks, stick with a cell phone...
This is all a giant conspiracy by the Level3's of the world trying to force us to get increased bandwidth... people (and ISPs) will be forced to simply accept that >30% of the bandwidth available is sucked up by digital "noise" in the form of spam, pop ups, etc...
A friend of mine was a forman on a job site several years back...
The power had been turned off the day before, but no one checked that morning... and other contractors had been in and out all day...
One of the lackys, only 22, grabbed a piece of romex to strip it... he put the dykes on it and stripped off about 2' when suddenly he had both his hands on bare wire and he got fried, 120V across his arms/chest and he was dead in 30-40 seconds it took a guy near him to pull the wire out of his hands.
Moral?
1) If you AREN'T a professional, HIRE ONE
2) If you ARE a professional, CHECK THE BREAKERS!
My friend has always blamed himself for this, even though no one else did... he had to give the news to the family (including young wife) of the guy who was killed...
Who do you dispise more?
1) SCO
2) RIAA
3) MPAA
4) MS
5) CN (Cowboy Neal)
I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before someone came up with a name and the actual quote.
The essence of it is very powerful (even if I didn't remember the exact wording).
I don't like the idea of people "stealing" music, and personally find it to be a pain in the ass to find decent tracks, so I usually end up on iTunes or just go buy the CD... but I also don't like the idea that some poor shmoe is out there trying to defend her/himself against legal action from the RIAA because s/he downloaded some songs. His/her life gets wrecked because s/he has to fork over thousands in legal fees, spend days in court, loses his/her job, house, car, whatever...
they don't have to win a lawsuit or even get you to trial... the cost of getting it thrown out will be in the thousands...
Hopefully a few people will win hefty counter suits and make it counter-profit-productive for the RIAA to bring up these stupid lawsuits.
Just visited my sister and she had me uninstall Kazaa from my nephew's computer because she's worried about... like he won't turn around and re-install 7 minutes later.
Otherwise, this could make a very good insurance scandal: "Yeah, he stole the cash from the safe! See, I'm missing it! And I have his name and address! That should be enough! Now gimme my money!"
Except they can barely prove they're missing any money...
We all need to keep a close eye on this and come down hard on the RIAA if they do target individual "regular joe" users because it can not be tolerated. Just remember, it could be you next.
I saw a plaque in the holocaust museum in DC... I can't remember by who or the exact words but it was something like this:
"When they came for the blacks I did not help them... when they came for the gays I did not help them... when they came for the jews I did not help them... finally when they came for me, there was no to help me"
I've read the entire article... I've read many comments here...
He needs a 48 port switch? Give me a break! Not to mention that he's added those 6-port in-wall switches in a few locations...
I have 4 PC users in my 2200sqft house, I ran cat5 to each PC location from the basement... they all connect to an 8-port switch (in the basement), which connects to a (now) wireless router which connects to my cable modem. I have a PC or two in the basement also connected to the 8 port switch.
I have a couple of laptops which are wireless almost exclusively at work and home...
I think the total cost, soup to nuts, not including the 10-15hrs of labor I put in over a weekend to wire it up, cost me $300.
From the looks of it, this guy spent between $2-4k getting this all done...
The only thing he has going for him is that he has the ability to very quickly scale his network, but considering it's a residential install to meet the needs of a handful of users (at most) it's a complete waste of time.
And what's with him using 3Com almost exclusively?
I haven't read any responses yet... and maybe this has been asked for...
But can we get a follow up to this story in the next several days, weeks, months?
I would say that the vast majority of us operate from ISP provided DHCP and other services. Seems like many many of us could be vulnerable to this type of an attack...
And of course since it's just been posted on slashdot every kiddie and his brother will be trying to do this on mom's cable modem.
if it ever gets used in ernest to convict or prove anything people will come up with ways to hack the system so that it tops out at 70 or something...
I'm all in favor of black boxes in cars, as long as the information stays in the box until physically obtained (and not via wireless means).
Even better would be some way to record the current state of traffic signals... have an accident and be able to say "see? I was doing 34mph and I had the green light!"
Link it to distance sensors to tell how fast/far another car is coming at you and their relative positions for the previous minute or so...
As long as you aren't doing anything wrong you won't have a problem...
PC's today don't let you program easily? Buy a PC from yesterday...
I picked up a Mac Quadra 610 for $1.25 on ebay... came w/ a 250MB HD and 32MB of RAM, keyboard and mouse... bought a MAC->VGA converter on ebay for $6... had an older 15" VGA monitor laying around...
System 7.5.5 is available for free from Apple... many many many games are available free... Downloaded Think Pascal 4.5 from Borland's website (it's free now too)... you can find Hypercard and other similiar tools out there as well which will let them create real applications, etc, etc...
So for under $30 (shipping was vast majority) and a few hours of my time I setup a decent Pascal development system cira 1992... I did it because it re-created the systems I used in high school, and I was able to run my old projects and remenice... but it would work ok for a kid...
Or... beg/borrow/steal a copy of Visual Basic... I bought the book "Essentials of Visual Basic 6.0 Programming" (Schneider) which includes a VB working model... the book is easy to follow and you can make real-world applications that they can run on any windows machine.
Or get shell account at an ISP that has the java environment loaded... Sun provides a great tutorial / API web site, and the programs you create are similar to those used in the 80s... plus you can web-enable things when you get more advanced. Usually these ISPs also have gcc available, but maybe vi/emacs and gcc are a bit advanced for a kid...
Point is... get creative and it can be done... but if your kid isn't into it, or isn't patient you're in trouble...
If s/he wants to sit down and create an xbox-like game in a week or two, then forget...
so that's what ET was doing...
If I'm at Best Buy and I see a $200 part w/ $20 rebate and a $190 part w/ no rebate I'll take the $190.
Even if it means spending $10 more, it's worth it because there's a 50/50 shot I won't send the rebate in... and then a 50/50 shot that I won't get the rebate... then there's an additional 50/50 shot I won't cash the check until after the "void after 60 days" period...
So there's only a 12.5% chance I'll save $10... but there's a 87.5% chance I'll lose $10.
PS I checked all my facts 23x w/ Matlab.
eew... only 802.11b?
Nuts to that... you wouldn't dream of using a wired 10Mb connection when 100Mb (or even 1Gb) is available... so why use an (at best) 11Mb? And don't bother to say price, because then you obviously haven't been to Best Buy lately...
If they were smart they would have stuck a PC Card or USB wireless adapter in there... even just as an internal thing... that way they could update... it's not like they didn't see the a/g spec coming!
that's what my s stands for... so many painful high school memories...
Mighty Mouse wins hands down... no weaknesses like Louis Lane or Kryptonite.
Plus MM could fly up Supe's butt and tear him apart from the inside out.
Mighty Mouse had true power, Superman was just lucky his molecules were denser then ours.
So this guy found a temporary loophole... it's slightly cheaper to buy an Apple motherboard and stuff it in a generic box, then to buy an equiv. apple model...
Apple will squish this by raising the price on replacement parts... then giving rebates/discounts to "Apple Authorized Repair Centers" (lowering the price back to standard levels), a perk that 2khappyware will never enjoy, and therefore will cause him to go out of business, since he can't remain cheaper.
Joe Macuser can still get discounted prices on replacement parts by buying direct from Apple or a repair center, but the number of parts that can be purchased per day/month/year will be limited to something larger then average-guy needs, but less then clone-maker needs.
He's basically mass producing something that you could make today if you wanted to. If you can't afford a real mac, then hurry up and buy one of this guy's (they aren't for sale yet) because he won't be around long.