I can't believe that DIVX is still around. I thought we had stopped it years ago. Divx is just another way for Big Business to take more rights away from the consumer. They try and pass it off as an alternative to "renting" movies, but in reality it's just another way to steal our money using underhanded Pay Per Use tricks that most of us Slashdoters have spent the last few years fighting against.
We need to take action immediately and warn our friends and family before this technology catches on and becomes a mainstay in the average consumer household. Write a letter to your representative or elected official and let them know how you feel. We simply CANNOT allow any more of our rights to be taken away.
Joe: I think it's fantastic that you're teaching your son to program. I only wish my parents and teachers recognized the importance of learning computers when I was your son's age. But don't you think that there are better ways of teaching programming than encouraging unnecessary violence? There is enough sex and violence present in the media already without intermingling it with education. The road to knowledge should not be paved with death and destruction. This is certainly not the way to encourage our children to expand their horizons.
I say, reward our children for their good deeds with positive reinforcement. The violence is completely unnecessary, and can warp an impressionable young mind.
Children are notoriously suceptible to the power of suggestion, and if you present violence to your son as a prize for doing something good, he will receive the message that violence is okay and should be encouraged. This is unacceptable, and should be stopped immediately.
This isn't an argument about the DMCA, so I'll leave that part out. Hopefully the courts will do the right thing and deem it unconstitutional, but if you have broken a law, be it the DMCA or any other law, and you are in a public place, then you are running the risk of being identified. Computer imaging doesn't change this, it's been happening for hundereds of years. That's why we have wanted posters in the post office. To encourage citizens to make identifications of known criminals in their area.
The Constitution protects you from unreasonable search and seisure. This means that DEA officers cannot kick in your door and ransack your apartment without having evidence of your wrongdoing. This means that the FBI cannot tap your phone or Internet connection without sufficient evidence against you.
The Constitution does NOT guarantee you the right to remain completely anonymous in a public place. If you don't want your face to be seen in public for whatever reason, don't go out in public. It's as simple as that.
The cameras are not going to be used as a definitive identification device. There is a margin of error with all forms of identification. Eyewitness accounts have been proven to be inaccurate numerous times in the past. The cameras are simply a tool to help law enforcement officers perform their job more effectively. They are NOT the judge, jury and excecutioner. They ARE an effective method of helping the police identify possible fugitives. I think anything that takes some of the strain off of law enforcement officers and increases police efficiency should be embraced with open arms.
The cameras aren't infringing upon anyone's rights. You ARE NOT entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy when you are in a public place. You ARE entitled to privacy within the confines of your home or private property. But that's not the issue. I don't understand how you can possibly be upset about someone taking your picture in public. If you've done nothing wrong, you should have nothing to hide, and applaud this system for making the streets safer for our children.
I must've had thousands of those things when I was a kid. I don't think they had the fancy computer-controlled blocks back then, but I had a lot of fun with them, anyway. I can remember spending entire days building intricate cities out of legos, only to destroy them in a matter of minutes. I learned a lot from legos too! Legos teach mechanical and spacial reasoning, and encourage imagination.
The only thing that worries me, is that Legos don't seem to encourage social interaction. Out of all my fond childhood memories involving Legos, I can't seem to remember any involving other kids. Maybe that's why so many of today's generation of geeks are lacking in basic social skills. It's a shame that Lego can't come up with some sort of toy that involves group play, and encourages the development of social bonds. The benefit of this could potentially affect millions of our nation's children. Maybe I'll write a letter to Lego and share my suggestions with them. Imagine what would be different today if Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had been taught basic social skills, instead of their imaginations being allowed to spiral down dangerous and self-destructive paths.
Point-Counterpoint: Portable wireless viruses such as Palms, PocketPCs, and wireless phones are, in my opinion even more vulnerable to attacks. Think about it for a moment, when was the last time you installed a firewall or virus protection software on your cell phone? Never...that's because it doesn't exist. Portable software is written with the number one priority being size. Flash storage is expensive, and most devices don't have more than 32 MB at most available. Software needs to be extremely compact, and in the process, loses some of it's functionality. The focus is on cramming as many features into as little space as possible, and security is often overlooked.
Also, many portable devices aren't easily programmed, and some cannot be programmed without physically modifying the device. Sure you can download a dev kit for your PDA, but not that many people know how to code for them. Cell phones are even harder to write code for. That means bugfixes and patches are going to be slow or non-existant, leaving them even more vulnerable to security exploits.
Finally, the userbase of most cellular phones and PDA's aren't exactly the most technically saavy people out there. Most users of these devices are ignorant yuppies who could care less about security issues of the WAP protocol vs. Bluetooth. These people don't care/don't know better. All they want to do is talk to their girlfriends/write a grocery list while they're driving home in their BMW or SUV. Most, if not all cell phone users are simply too ignorant to care about security.
Re:what can ppl post about?
on
Linux Is 10 Today
·
· Score: -1, Flamebait
If you're not interested in a story, or don't have anything to say, DON'T FUCKING POST!
Why is it that some people feel compelled to post when they have absolutely nothing important to say? Please stick to AOL chatrooms in the future and leave discussions here on Slashdot to the grown-ups.
WRONG! I posted the original in effort to make the point that FUD goes both ways. It's not some secret trick used only in Redmond, and statistics can be skewed to make almost anything look good. Both Windows and Linux have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages, and anyone who tries to claim that one is superior to the other is full of shit.
I posted something that is based entirely upon fact, well written, and also supported by statistic. Because it goes against the Slashdot groupthink, I'll get flamed and senselessly modded down for it. That is why I posted AC.
Ask yourself, who is REALLY the moron in this situation: Myself, who follows up an informative article with a well-reasoned counterpoint, or you, sir, whose blind allegiance to SOFTWARE, of all things forces you to personally attack those who disagree. Perhaps you should rethink your value system, sir.
Re:better *hardware* not better wince
on
Palm In Trouble?
·
· Score: 2
-1. Heh.
Re:better *hardware* not better wince
on
Palm In Trouble?
·
· Score: 2
"Now, you reference to "out of the box" is just what Microsoft wants. It wants you to feel "confortable" with whatever they provide. They want to literally "own" you, so you don't go out and look for the applications that better suit you. Why would you go out and test other applications if you have "everything that you need" (read: everything that MS thinks is good enough for you) out of the box?"
While it may be true that Microsoft wants to make sure users use their software, I don't really see that as a problem. I'm sure Palm, Sony, and most other PDA manufacturers would like users to use all THEIR software as well.
The deciding factor for me was actually going down to the local Best Buy, Circuit City, and doing a side by side comparison. Let's say I've got $400 to spend on a PDA. I can get a Palm with a greyscale display and 8 megs of memory, or for the SAME PRICE I can get a WinCE PDA with 4 times the memory, a 10 times faster processor, 16 bit color high res display, and superior software that allows me to do more with the device. The choice is obvious.
Coming from someone with a default score of 0, I'm not terribly offended.
Re:better *hardware* not better wince
on
Palm In Trouble?
·
· Score: 4
You people just keep getting wilder and wilder with your anti-MS accusations. Most of what you said isn't even the truth, so before you go off blathering aimlessly about how horrible a product that you've never even used is, perhaps you should do some research so you don't risk misinforming other readers.
WindowsCE is NOT a dumbed down version of Windows. The 9x or NT/2K kernels will not boot on a MIPS or SH3 processor. WinCE was designed from the GROUND UP specifically for portable devices. I've had a WinCE device, as well as a Palm III for over a year now, and I can honestly say that the backlit screen on the WinCE device is in fact, more intuitive and easier to read than the recycled GameBoy screen in the Palm. As far as WinCE being crappy, prove it. My experience has been nothing but pleasurable, and I've yet to see a Palm that can:
Play MP3's Play MPEG movies open office files display REAL web pages, and not some clipped text-only crap
out of the box. PalmOS simply cannot compete with these features that come standard with EVERY WinCE device.
You might not like MS, but there's no reason to FABRICATE LIES about their products in order to show them in a poor light.
It's not new to Coke machines and your summertime experience in the park. It's been practiced for thousands of years, all the way back to the days of the spice trade, and caravans to the Orient.
It's also been the basis of our thriving capitalist society for the past 250 years. Don't like it? Move to Russia and see if you prefer standing in line for 6 hours in subzero temperatures for a single head of cabbage. Otherwise, shut the fuck up.
Exactly. Most people think of flipping burgers when they hear I'm paid hourly instead of salaried, but from my prospective hourly's the way to go. I can work a *very* small number of hours and still bring home enough money to support my family. Not only that, but I actually get to spend time with my family. When I see executives and stressed out programmers or admins who are making $100k or more, I always wonder what they need all that money for since they don't have any time to do anything with it.
Actually it is possible to slow down light. Granted, this we're still a few years away from seeing any usable applications for this technology, but it's still a pretty cool concept.
In a related story, in an effort to promote their latest 1.7 Ghz P4, Intel has solicited the endorsement of former boxer George Foreman, and will be giving away a free drip tray and jar of grilling sauce with every P4 purchased.
In a recent press conference, Intel stated: "Not only is the new Pentium 4 a technological breakthrough in terms of processing performance, but users can cook 4 hamburgers in under 10 minutes on it's new larger-sized heatsink"
It's been said before, but Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a processor, not the clock speed, will double approximately every 18 months.
Not only that, but if they get rid of pay phones, where will I get all my drugs and whores? How do they expect me to get drugs and whores without convenient payphones on the streetcorner?
Slashdot Mirror
I think RedHat, Debian, etc... would answer "Yes" to that question.
We need to take action immediately and warn our friends and family before this technology catches on and becomes a mainstay in the average consumer household. Write a letter to your representative or elected official and let them know how you feel. We simply CANNOT allow any more of our rights to be taken away.
Joe: I think it's fantastic that you're teaching your son to program. I only wish my parents and teachers recognized the importance of learning computers when I was your son's age. But don't you think that there are better ways of teaching programming than encouraging unnecessary violence? There is enough sex and violence present in the media already without intermingling it with education. The road to knowledge should not be paved with death and destruction. This is certainly not the way to encourage our children to expand their horizons.
I say, reward our children for their good deeds with positive reinforcement. The violence is completely unnecessary, and can warp an impressionable young mind.
Children are notoriously suceptible to the power of suggestion, and if you present violence to your son as a prize for doing something good, he will receive the message that violence is okay and should be encouraged. This is unacceptable, and should be stopped immediately.
This isn't an argument about the DMCA, so I'll leave that part out. Hopefully the courts will do the right thing and deem it unconstitutional, but if you have broken a law, be it the DMCA or any other law, and you are in a public place, then you are running the risk of being identified. Computer imaging doesn't change this, it's been happening for hundereds of years. That's why we have wanted posters in the post office. To encourage citizens to make identifications of known criminals in their area.
The Constitution protects you from unreasonable search and seisure. This means that DEA officers cannot kick in your door and ransack your apartment without having evidence of your wrongdoing. This means that the FBI cannot tap your phone or Internet connection without sufficient evidence against you.
The Constitution does NOT guarantee you the right to remain completely anonymous in a public place. If you don't want your face to be seen in public for whatever reason, don't go out in public. It's as simple as that.
You don't have kids, do you?
The cameras are not going to be used as a definitive identification device. There is a margin of error with all forms of identification. Eyewitness accounts have been proven to be inaccurate numerous times in the past. The cameras are simply a tool to help law enforcement officers perform their job more effectively. They are NOT the judge, jury and excecutioner. They ARE an effective method of helping the police identify possible fugitives. I think anything that takes some of the strain off of law enforcement officers and increases police efficiency should be embraced with open arms.
The cameras aren't infringing upon anyone's rights. You ARE NOT entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy when you are in a public place. You ARE entitled to privacy within the confines of your home or private property. But that's not the issue. I don't understand how you can possibly be upset about someone taking your picture in public. If you've done nothing wrong, you should have nothing to hide, and applaud this system for making the streets safer for our children.
The only thing that worries me, is that Legos don't seem to encourage social interaction. Out of all my fond childhood memories involving Legos, I can't seem to remember any involving other kids. Maybe that's why so many of today's generation of geeks are lacking in basic social skills. It's a shame that Lego can't come up with some sort of toy that involves group play, and encourages the development of social bonds. The benefit of this could potentially affect millions of our nation's children. Maybe I'll write a letter to Lego and share my suggestions with them. Imagine what would be different today if Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had been taught basic social skills, instead of their imaginations being allowed to spiral down dangerous and self-destructive paths.
And speaking of stupid ports, why in the hell would you want to do professional graphics editing on a three inch 320x240 screen.
Also, many portable devices aren't easily programmed, and some cannot be programmed without physically modifying the device. Sure you can download a dev kit for your PDA, but not that many people know how to code for them. Cell phones are even harder to write code for. That means bugfixes and patches are going to be slow or non-existant, leaving them even more vulnerable to security exploits.
Finally, the userbase of most cellular phones and PDA's aren't exactly the most technically saavy people out there. Most users of these devices are ignorant yuppies who could care less about security issues of the WAP protocol vs. Bluetooth. These people don't care/don't know better. All they want to do is talk to their girlfriends/write a grocery list while they're driving home in their BMW or SUV. Most, if not all cell phone users are simply too ignorant to care about security.
Why is it that some people feel compelled to post when they have absolutely nothing important to say? Please stick to AOL chatrooms in the future and leave discussions here on Slashdot to the grown-ups.
Yeah, and when was the last time you saw a Wang for sale?
I posted something that is based entirely upon fact, well written, and also supported by statistic. Because it goes against the Slashdot groupthink, I'll get flamed and senselessly modded down for it. That is why I posted AC.
Ask yourself, who is REALLY the moron in this situation: Myself, who follows up an informative article with a well-reasoned counterpoint, or you, sir, whose blind allegiance to SOFTWARE, of all things forces you to personally attack those who disagree. Perhaps you should rethink your value system, sir.
-1. Heh.
While it may be true that Microsoft wants to make sure users use their software, I don't really see that as a problem. I'm sure Palm, Sony, and most other PDA manufacturers would like users to use all THEIR software as well.
The deciding factor for me was actually going down to the local Best Buy, Circuit City, and doing a side by side comparison. Let's say I've got $400 to spend on a PDA. I can get a Palm with a greyscale display and 8 megs of memory, or for the SAME PRICE I can get a WinCE PDA with 4 times the memory, a 10 times faster processor, 16 bit color high res display, and superior software that allows me to do more with the device. The choice is obvious.
I can fix that if you'd like.
I thought you got a default of 0 if you dropped below -10 karma. I though -1 constituted one of Michael's bitchslaps. Regardless, I've been there.
Coming from someone with a default score of 0, I'm not terribly offended.
WindowsCE is NOT a dumbed down version of Windows. The 9x or NT/2K kernels will not boot on a MIPS or SH3 processor. WinCE was designed from the GROUND UP specifically for portable devices. I've had a WinCE device, as well as a Palm III for over a year now, and I can honestly say that the backlit screen on the WinCE device is in fact, more intuitive and easier to read than the recycled GameBoy screen in the Palm. As far as WinCE being crappy, prove it. My experience has been nothing but pleasurable, and I've yet to see a Palm that can:
Play MP3's
Play MPEG movies
open office files
display REAL web pages, and not some clipped text-only crap
out of the box. PalmOS simply cannot compete with these features that come standard with EVERY WinCE device.
You might not like MS, but there's no reason to FABRICATE LIES about their products in order to show them in a poor light.
Yeah, like THAT'S hard to do.
It's not new to Coke machines and your summertime experience in the park. It's been practiced for thousands of years, all the way back to the days of the spice trade, and caravans to the Orient.
It's also been the basis of our thriving capitalist society for the past 250 years. Don't like it? Move to Russia and see if you prefer standing in line for 6 hours in subzero temperatures for a single head of cabbage. Otherwise, shut the fuck up.
Exactly. Most people think of flipping burgers when they hear I'm paid hourly instead of salaried, but from my prospective hourly's the way to go. I can work a *very* small number of hours and still bring home enough money to support my family. Not only that, but I actually get to spend time with my family. When I see executives and stressed out programmers or admins who are making $100k or more, I always wonder what they need all that money for since they don't have any time to do anything with it.
Actually it is possible to slow down light. Granted, this we're still a few years away from seeing any usable applications for this technology, but it's still a pretty cool concept.
In a recent press conference, Intel stated: "Not only is the new Pentium 4 a technological breakthrough in terms of processing performance, but users can cook 4 hamburgers in under 10 minutes on it's new larger-sized heatsink"
It's been said before, but Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a processor, not the clock speed, will double approximately every 18 months.
Not only that, but if they get rid of pay phones, where will I get all my drugs and whores? How do they expect me to get drugs and whores without convenient payphones on the streetcorner?
Thin is good. There's less of her to petrify!