Richard Thompson thought it was a fine tune: he covered the tune in his "1,000 Years of Popular Music" live show. You can hear him perform it on NPR's Live in Studio 4A show and sure enough, stripped of all the pop production and processing, there's a nifty song living in there.
Actually, Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa did a heavy version of "Baby One More Time" on the Ready to Rumble soundtrack, and I'll be darned if it doesn't kick quite a bit of butt as well.
Maybe the problem with Britney's music isn't the music but the Britney?
"They may make a social statement you're interested in, but if you want to save money because of rising gas prices, you're heading down the wrong road, at least for now."
It's not just a social statement, and it's not just about saving money. You know the soundbites about our dependencies on foreign oil? Well, I want us to be less dependent on foreign oil. As I see it, driving the most fuel efficient car that I can does one person's part of lessening that dependency. Plus, I'm "voting with my wallet," telling Honda or Toyota or whatever, "make more of these," and perhaps by proxy telling Ford and GM that perhaps they should do the same.
Who said anything about unlimited copies? How is it crippled that if you only buy one you can only loan one? They can't generally make photocopies of a novel and loan those out, they have to buy additional copies of the novel, or the O'Reilly book, or whatever. Similarly, if they have one digital copiy and a license to loan it out five at a time, what's the matter with that? Why should they necessarily be able to loan unlimited copies just because it's a digital file?
You may be right that we're too tied to the idea of scarcity. But there's got to be a balance, right? I mean, if you want abundance, won't you have a situation where an author makes one digital work, sells one copy to one distributor, and then that distributor can distribute it to unlimited people just because it is in digital format? That doesn't make sense.
I for one welcome our new library DRM overlords. I do not like Microsoft's specific implementation, both because it's difficult to use across platforms and also because even with Windows and with a Microsoft DRM-capable portable you're still limited. For instance, it's possible to check out a 129MB file from the library, which doesn't fit on my 128MB mp3 player. I can check out Pimsleur Spanish, but can only listen to it on my computer because it's too big for my portable. With non-DRM files, I can load it into an editor, split it however I want, then save those new files to my portable. Can't do that with the stuff I check out of the electronic library because I can't find an editor which will do something like carry the DRM key from the main file into the split files, which stinks. But it doesn't make DRM-enforcement of loan periods evil. (lol, it just continues to make Microsoft evil)
I have to disagree on the evil, or that it makes society unacceptable. It's not an issue of DRM as much as it is physical distribution vs. digital distribution.
Non-DRM, physical system:
Library buys copies of content.
Library loans copies of the content, as many loaners as bought copies.
Library enforces a loan period through signs, due-date slips, and fines if you're late. When your loan period is over, you return the book so someone else can check it out.
If all the copies of Einstein's papers are within a loan period (checked out by someone else), you can't read them.
If the library wants to suddenly remove Orwell from their library, they physically remove the copies of the books, and maybe they call patrons with copies on loan and tell them to bring them back.
DRM, digital system:
Library buys licenses for content.
Library loans copies of the content via a website, as many loaners as bought licenses.
Library enforces a loan period through DRM. When your loan period is done, the content doesn't play anymore and the content's status is set to available, so someone else can check it out.
If all the copies of Einstein's papers are within a loan period (checked out by someone else), you can't read them.
If the library wants to suddenly remove Orwell from their library, they remove it from their digital catalog and revoke the licenses of any outstanding loans.
Where's the evil? For that matter, how is it substantially different (except for no late fees! And no late fees are good!;)
If you're trying to get a child to turn out well-adjusted, which is more important... making sure the kid is never exposed to sex, or making sure he actually goes outside sometimes and makes friends and has a life?
The problem with a statement like that is that those aren't mutually exclusive issues (i.e. you could not be exposed to sex and also go outside and make friends). Also, it kind of misses the point: it's not necessarily about keeping a kid totally unexposed to adult content. It's about keeping their exposure to that content on par with their maturity to deal with that content. You know, I like horror fiction, and it'll be fun if my kid likes it too. But I'm don't let him read my books right now: when he expressed an interest in scary books, I directed him to the Goosebumps books, which are age-appropriately "spine-tingling".
I appreciate the rating systems in assisting me keep the content on par with his maturity, whether that assistance is coming from the ESRB, MPAA or even the TV ratings. From TFA, "Parents perceive age ratings as a guide but not as a definite prohibition," said Jurgen Freund, Modulum chief executive.. That's definitely how I deal with them.
What frustrates me is that the marketers scuttle the really adult content so the ratings folks keep making the "almost-adult" rating more and more meaningless. Generally, mass-market stores won't sell an AO-rated game, mass-market movie houses won't show an NC-17-rated movie, and of course broadcast TV has limits that cable and especially pay-cable doesn't. So, it appears that the industries keep pushing the envelope of their "almost-adults-only" ratings, putting more and more content in their M-rated games, R-rated movies and TV-14 that maybe should be restricted to AO, NC-17 or TV-MA. But they don't dare actually release products with those ratings (or just show it on cable or paytv or whatever) because then they won't get the buying power of the whole Mass Market.
They're so hard-core for maximum profits that they've let this nonsense go too far, imo. Put out the adult content, label it as adult content, and let adults buy it. What's the problem? Loading up the "almost-adult" ratings with adult content is why parents may be "ignoring", or at least not trusting, some of the ratings.
I was speed-running when you Doom and Quake whippersnappers were still in diapers. Get off the lawn of my marine base!
Seriously, anyone recall using these same tactics in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on their Intellivision in 1980 or so? Talk about exploiting flaws in the physics modeling and stuff: you could actually run THROUGH the bad guys (the dragon, snake, lizard and demon). You would accrue damage (which was not fixable with a health-pak or anything, those didn't exist back then), but you could run through them. Similarly, your arrows would *ricochet* off the walls, so sometimes you could get a shot off as you sped around a corner. Overall, you could definitely complete a level without firing an arrow, just holding down the side run button on the controller the whole time. Especially useful if you were just completing a mountain to move through the terrain map and didn't actually need any of the items in the mountain.
Great, now I have to break out the intellivision AND reinstall Doom and Quake!
RTFA. Your point is valid, but is addressed in the article. You should be angry at Rockstar for breaking the rules. By making the ESRB look like a bunch of bumbling fools, it has completely undermined the entire ratings system and the good will that it had generated up to now...If you undermine the ratings though, how will I ever be able to make a decision whether that game is suitable for me or my family? How can I possibly be informed? I think you and the author agree more than you think.
My additional worry is that any game that allows modifications is going to come under fire (like The Sims 2). I mean, if someone figures out how to add dirty words to the puzzle list on the Wheel of Fortune CD-ROM game, or better yet replaces the digitized Vanna with a nude model, does that mean that the game's rating should be changed?
Perhaps all games should be rated AO for their vulnerability to being hacked/modded to add pornographic content. Similarly, all movies should be rated X since you can splice in porn (like in Fight Club).:/ There doesn't seem to be an easy answer here.
I agree. I have no problem playing Crazy Taxi and having the passenger say, "Take me to Tower Records" instead of "Take me to the music store," or "Take me to KFC" instead of "Take me to the chicken place." I would like to think that the makers of Crazy Taxi were able to charge less for the game because of such internal sponsorship, though that is probably wishful thinking.
The thing is, how effective is that form of advertising? I mean, I remember those advertisers even though I haven't played the game in a couple of years, and I'm sure that delights them, but that hasn't necessarily generated them any dollars. I'd say it did generate goodwill from me, yet it didn't make me pick KFC when I wanted some other food.
I mean, I know that it says "Sloan Royal Valve" on the top of most urinals because I've seen it so many times, but that hasn't generated them any revenue...
What angers me is game retailers pulling AO-rated titles. I'm similarly angered by movie houses not showing NC-17-rated movies. The results in both cases are the same: it is commercial suicide to release content with those ratings, so instead the content publishers keep pushing the boundaries of the next lower rating, M and R respectively.
How about just selling/exhibiting the adult content, "policing" it appropriately, and letting the bucks roll in? OK, maybe the bucks are going to be smaller because the audience is limited to those 18 and up, but come ON! Is it so big of a deal?
Better a "nerd" than a "geek" though, right? I mean, nerd had its origins in a Dr. Suess book and means "A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept"
A geek, while evidently still meaning "A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept," also means "A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken."
I mean, I'm all for the carnival crowd mistaking me for Ozzy Osborne, but...
The key is the consumer-friendliness other posters have noted. Personally, I entered the world of open source when I pulled an old Pentium II machine out of the closet and installed the Slimserver software on it (http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_features.html ). I also like SlimServer because their hardware for wireless streaming is cheap compared to other solutions (roughly $300 if I remember right), so you can have mutiroom pretty cheap if you're providing your own server. I skipped the wireless hardware they sell for now and just have a second PC hooked up to the stereo.
Recycling a couple of unused computers meant my cost of entry was almost $0. I enjoyed selecting, installing and configuring an operating system, ripping CDs using EAC and LAME or FLAC, etc. But I have to think that most consumers probably don't want anything to do with any of that! They'll spend the multiple thousands of bucks to avoid the geeked-out installation, configuration, maintenance and day-to-day usage.
While we're on the subject: if anyone is considering dropping those thousands just to utilize their iPod or similar device in their house, I'd advocate that you to do something the article mentioned, but without the Sonos or any other fancy device: go buy a 1/8 stereo to RCA adapter for <$7 at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart, and plug your iPod into your stereo that way. Sure, you get no fancy touch-screen remote and the ability to change music while you're on the toilet, but so what? Your receiver (or even your TV!) likely has front-panel inputs. Plug your portable player into that: just because there's a video plug sitting there doesn't mean you have to plug anything into it.
Since she is the model in the images, she was not the photographer and therefore has no claim to the images whatsoever. I don't believe this is true. The model has to sign a release for their photos to be used.
I'm no legal scholar but I remember recently there was a story of a real male model whose photo from an old photo shoot was used on a product (Nescafe) without his consent, and he was awarded millions. Read about it by Googling Russell Christoff and Nescafe. (Curiously, Google News doesn't come up with anything...go figure)
Best ergonomic mouse: evoluent "handshake mouse"
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Top Mice Compared
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· Score: 1
A company called Evoluent http://www.evoluent.com/ has a "Vertical," or "handshake" mouse, that is a hell of a thing. There are pictures on the web page linked above. Anyone at risk for RSI should take a serious look at it. Basically, instead of turning your palm down to the desktop, you leave your hand in the handshake position, the position it is normally in when you are standing relaxed. In addition to the ergonomic shape, it happens to be a fantastic optical mouse.
I moved from a regular mouse to a trackball, which was great until I started getting pain in the knuckle of the finger I used to move the ball. I then switched to the handshake designed and used it without problems for years.
Actually what I'm using more recently is also noteworthy: the Kinesis Evolution keyboard http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/evol_desk.htm. They keyboard is fully split in half, so you can position it as you like. Plus it has a laptop-like touchpad on both sides of the keyboard. I don't use a conventional mouse anymore: I "mouse with two hands" by usually navigating with my right hand on the right touchpad and clicking the buttons with my left. For me that's meant even less strain than the Evoluent Verticalmouse, which I didn't think was possible!
I think you may be missing the parent's point. You can create a table with a column of VARCHAR2 in an Oracle database, and you can send that SQL command using any of the languages you mentioned. But if you send that table creation command to SQL Server or DB2 or what have you, regardless of the programming language used to write the app communicating with the database, the command will fail because Oracle's VARCHAR2 datatype is proprietary (i.e. VARCHAR2 is not defined in the ANSI standards)
What you're saying is akin to saying that "Hello World" is cross-platform because you can output it using a variety of programming languages. But that forgets the recipients of the output that expect "hola mundo." (Of course this analogy doesn't fully hold up because there is no human language standards body equivalent to ANSI (yet))
You may be right, but wouldn't those protections also apply to the suprnova.org-type sites? And they were shut down. Some were apparently shut down by mere threats, just because they couldn't afford to defend themselves even if they would have won. My worry is that Bram will not be able to withstand the onslaught of lawsuits that he'll be required to defend to seek the protections you mention.
With that said, I have to wonder if this centralized search will make it easier for the various copyright organizations to hunt down people distributing infringing content? Maybe the content owners/rights organizations will welcome this because they can cherry-pick offenders? If so, maybe Bram and BitTorrent continue to revolutionize Internet file distribution (and thus Content), while people reduce the use of BitTorrent for infringing uses. Is that a possible scenario?
I think this is great, but I hope it is a step to something I've looked forward to for a long time: multi-platform multi-player. What I mean is that if you've got a PC version of DOOM3 and an XBox version of DOOM3, why not expand the base of available players by letting them play against each other over the internet?
Similarly, if a third party is making a title for both the DS and the PSP, why not figure out a way for them to play against each other, either wirelessly device-to-device or over the net? In a properly enabled home network, why not let the DS in the bedroom play against the Gamecube in the living room?
Shouldn't this stuff be possible? Has this happened and I missed it? Seems like they're missing the boat via lack of forsight.
You don't need G4 to get The Screen Savers anymore
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Something Awful on G4TV
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· Score: 2, Informative
Don't forget that (as previously reported on/.) The original Screen Savers bunch are doing weekly PodCasts now. If you were a fan of the original screen savers show, you're sure to enjoy the podcasts, which they call it TWIT: This Week in Tech.
Note: I don't read User Friendly. If you like it, read it. If you don't like it, don't read it. No need to engage in hyperbole to try and convince others that your opinion should be theirs. Let the individual read it and form his own opinion.
You would disallow criticism to use hyperbole? What about metaphor or allusion or similie or whatever? Roger Ebert may not say a movie "tastes like an ass sandwich," (hyperbole) but he might say it is "garbage." I don't have a problem with that. And if he DID say a movie tasted like an ass sandwich, I'd probably avoid it because I've never heard him use such a strong comparison.
Maybe the issue isn't hyperbole but criticism/discourse which doesn't have any gradation: it is either the most frigging orgasmic thing/experience in the whole known and unknown universe, or it is the most worthless piece of disease-ridden trash ever (also in the known and unknown universe).
I appreciate the ass sandwich comment. I haven't of User Friendly and went to read it to see if it's as bad as the parent says. If I read a bunch of content that stinks, I probably won't continue on, keeping the criticism in mind. If it's not so bad, then I can rest easy knowing that the parent is a complete and total jerkwad.
How does one customize a live CD though? For instance, the daycare I use got their computers spyware infected, and I was thinking of showing them Knoppix or another live distro. But the primary thing the kids use the machines for is to play online games at cartoonnetwork.com and what have you. The knoppix installation doesn't have Flash installed on Firefox, so it's a no go.
So, flame my flaming n00bness, but how do you customize a live CD distro and then make a new live CD distro out of it?
The cable company DVR/PVR may be better value
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TiVo to Offer SDK
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't know about Cox and other cable companies, but I have Time Warner's DVR in upstate New York. I know a few people who moved out of the area after having the Time Warner box, and, naturally being hooked on PVR, immediately bought a Tivo. They were disappointed.
They cited two things: First, Time Warner's Scientific American box can record one show while you're watching another on TV. Better yet, it can
record TWO shows while you're watching one you've already recorded! And you get full transport controls of the show you're watching. The new Tivo owners couldn't believe that they were back in the days of A/B switchboxes and stuff if they wanted to watch one show and revcord another.
While the Tivo's user interface was unquestionably easier to use and the SA box's "Season Pass"-type functionality is flawed, the SA did everything they wanted decently enough to transform their television experience and hook them, plus it was an incredibly simple, one-connection-to-the-tv hookup to do everything they wanted. (Disclaimer: my understanding is that some of the Tivos that come with satellite have multiple tuners, alleviating that problem)
Second, from what they reported and I've seen myself, the SA box has a better picture. My guess is that the Tivo is having to re-encode the stream where the SA box, built on top of digital cable, is just saving the same stream you'd be watching through the regular digital cable box.
Even though the Tivo's season pass is better, and its guide is better, and it can do predictive recording and home networking, I think that customers, faced with an additional $5 for the Time Warner DVR (it only costs an additional $5 over plain Digital Cable) or hundreds of dollars for the Tivo on top of monthly fees (or more hundreds for lifetime)...well, the Tivo is just not so much better than my cable companie's offering to be worth that much money. That was the economic decision I made myself, though I certainly covet the wish list and home networking features.
PS - Another Tivo killer: with Time Warner, if you want multiple cable boxes in your house, it costs the same price to get another DVR as it does to get a plain digital cable box. While home networking would sure be cool, we added a whole second DVR to the bedroom for the same price as a Tivo monthly fee.
I want to second this recommendation. I have the cheaper and now slightly outdated Pronto Neo. I enjoy it a lot and it pretty elegantly solves the problem with most universal remotes: you can create a buttons to match any functionality of your original remotes. You're not limited to some fixed set of buttons.
The screen is a little small and it is B&W (a problem solved by purchasing newer, more expensive models), and the included software is a little quirky, but it definitely fills the need I had, especially since I picked it up used much cheaper than retail from someone that just had to have the latest and greatest.
If you're going to the trouble of the barcode scanner and databases of on-hands and recipes, you might as well go all the way and put a web interface on it. Community-driven meal planning: Let the/.ers create your shopping lists and menus.
Similarly sort of on topic, I'm wondering if this research toward facial recognition will aid any of the ongoing Aspberger's Syndrome and Autism research. For Aspie's, it's not so much the recognition of the face that's the problem as the information the face is conveying (i.e. happiness, sadness, etc.). This could contribute toward that end of the research.
Slashdot Mirror
Richard Thompson thought it was a fine tune: he covered the tune in his "1,000 Years of Popular Music" live show. You can hear him perform it on NPR's Live in Studio 4A show and sure enough, stripped of all the pop production and processing, there's a nifty song living in there.
Actually, Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa did a heavy version of "Baby One More Time" on the Ready to Rumble soundtrack, and I'll be darned if it doesn't kick quite a bit of butt as well.
Maybe the problem with Britney's music isn't the music but the Britney?
"They may make a social statement you're interested in, but if you want to save money because of rising gas prices, you're heading down the wrong road, at least for now."
It's not just a social statement, and it's not just about saving money. You know the soundbites about our dependencies on foreign oil? Well, I want us to be less dependent on foreign oil. As I see it, driving the most fuel efficient car that I can does one person's part of lessening that dependency. Plus, I'm "voting with my wallet," telling Honda or Toyota or whatever, "make more of these," and perhaps by proxy telling Ford and GM that perhaps they should do the same.
Who said anything about unlimited copies? How is it crippled that if you only buy one you can only loan one? They can't generally make photocopies of a novel and loan those out, they have to buy additional copies of the novel, or the O'Reilly book, or whatever. Similarly, if they have one digital copiy and a license to loan it out five at a time, what's the matter with that? Why should they necessarily be able to loan unlimited copies just because it's a digital file?
You may be right that we're too tied to the idea of scarcity. But there's got to be a balance, right? I mean, if you want abundance, won't you have a situation where an author makes one digital work, sells one copy to one distributor, and then that distributor can distribute it to unlimited people just because it is in digital format? That doesn't make sense.
I for one welcome our new library DRM overlords. I do not like Microsoft's specific implementation, both because it's difficult to use across platforms and also because even with Windows and with a Microsoft DRM-capable portable you're still limited. For instance, it's possible to check out a 129MB file from the library, which doesn't fit on my 128MB mp3 player. I can check out Pimsleur Spanish, but can only listen to it on my computer because it's too big for my portable. With non-DRM files, I can load it into an editor, split it however I want, then save those new files to my portable. Can't do that with the stuff I check out of the electronic library because I can't find an editor which will do something like carry the DRM key from the main file into the split files, which stinks. But it doesn't make DRM-enforcement of loan periods evil. (lol, it just continues to make Microsoft evil)
Non-DRM, physical system:
DRM, digital system:
Where's the evil? For that matter, how is it substantially different (except for no late fees! And no late fees are good!
If you're trying to get a child to turn out well-adjusted, which is more important... making sure the kid is never exposed to sex, or making sure he actually goes outside sometimes and makes friends and has a life?
The problem with a statement like that is that those aren't mutually exclusive issues (i.e. you could not be exposed to sex and also go outside and make friends). Also, it kind of misses the point: it's not necessarily about keeping a kid totally unexposed to adult content. It's about keeping their exposure to that content on par with their maturity to deal with that content. You know, I like horror fiction, and it'll be fun if my kid likes it too. But I'm don't let him read my books right now: when he expressed an interest in scary books, I directed him to the Goosebumps books, which are age-appropriately "spine-tingling".
I appreciate the rating systems in assisting me keep the content on par with his maturity, whether that assistance is coming from the ESRB, MPAA or even the TV ratings. From TFA, "Parents perceive age ratings as a guide but not as a definite prohibition," said Jurgen Freund, Modulum chief executive.. That's definitely how I deal with them.
What frustrates me is that the marketers scuttle the really adult content so the ratings folks keep making the "almost-adult" rating more and more meaningless. Generally, mass-market stores won't sell an AO-rated game, mass-market movie houses won't show an NC-17-rated movie, and of course broadcast TV has limits that cable and especially pay-cable doesn't. So, it appears that the industries keep pushing the envelope of their "almost-adults-only" ratings, putting more and more content in their M-rated games, R-rated movies and TV-14 that maybe should be restricted to AO, NC-17 or TV-MA. But they don't dare actually release products with those ratings (or just show it on cable or paytv or whatever) because then they won't get the buying power of the whole Mass Market.
They're so hard-core for maximum profits that they've let this nonsense go too far, imo. Put out the adult content, label it as adult content, and let adults buy it. What's the problem? Loading up the "almost-adult" ratings with adult content is why parents may be "ignoring", or at least not trusting, some of the ratings.
I was speed-running when you Doom and Quake whippersnappers were still in diapers. Get off the lawn of my marine base!
Seriously, anyone recall using these same tactics in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on their Intellivision in 1980 or so? Talk about exploiting flaws in the physics modeling and stuff: you could actually run THROUGH the bad guys (the dragon, snake, lizard and demon). You would accrue damage (which was not fixable with a health-pak or anything, those didn't exist back then), but you could run through them. Similarly, your arrows would *ricochet* off the walls, so sometimes you could get a shot off as you sped around a corner. Overall, you could definitely complete a level without firing an arrow, just holding down the side run button on the controller the whole time. Especially useful if you were just completing a mountain to move through the terrain map and didn't actually need any of the items in the mountain.
Great, now I have to break out the intellivision AND reinstall Doom and Quake!
RTFA. Your point is valid, but is addressed in the article. You should be angry at Rockstar for breaking the rules. By making the ESRB look like a bunch of bumbling fools, it has completely undermined the entire ratings system and the good will that it had generated up to now...If you undermine the ratings though, how will I ever be able to make a decision whether that game is suitable for me or my family? How can I possibly be informed? I think you and the author agree more than you think.
:/ There doesn't seem to be an easy answer here.
My additional worry is that any game that allows modifications is going to come under fire (like The Sims 2). I mean, if someone figures out how to add dirty words to the puzzle list on the Wheel of Fortune CD-ROM game, or better yet replaces the digitized Vanna with a nude model, does that mean that the game's rating should be changed?
Perhaps all games should be rated AO for their vulnerability to being hacked/modded to add pornographic content. Similarly, all movies should be rated X since you can splice in porn (like in Fight Club).
>Support gaming through sponsorship = goodwill generated
>Exploit captive audience = irritating
I agree. I have no problem playing Crazy Taxi and having the passenger say, "Take me to Tower Records" instead of "Take me to the music store," or "Take me to KFC" instead of "Take me to the chicken place." I would like to think that the makers of Crazy Taxi were able to charge less for the game because of such internal sponsorship, though that is probably wishful thinking.
The thing is, how effective is that form of advertising? I mean, I remember those advertisers even though I haven't played the game in a couple of years, and I'm sure that delights them, but that hasn't necessarily generated them any dollars. I'd say it did generate goodwill from me, yet it didn't make me pick KFC when I wanted some other food.
I mean, I know that it says "Sloan Royal Valve" on the top of most urinals because I've seen it so many times, but that hasn't generated them any revenue...
What angers me is game retailers pulling AO-rated titles. I'm similarly angered by movie houses not showing NC-17-rated movies. The results in both cases are the same: it is commercial suicide to release content with those ratings, so instead the content publishers keep pushing the boundaries of the next lower rating, M and R respectively.
How about just selling/exhibiting the adult content, "policing" it appropriately, and letting the bucks roll in? OK, maybe the bucks are going to be smaller because the audience is limited to those 18 and up, but come ON! Is it so big of a deal?
LET ADULT CONTENT EXIST IN THE MARKETPLACE.
Better a "nerd" than a "geek" though, right? I mean, nerd had its origins in a Dr. Suess book and means "A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept"
A geek, while evidently still meaning "A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept," also means "A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken."
I mean, I'm all for the carnival crowd mistaking me for Ozzy Osborne, but...
Users would be confused: they'd try to drag and drop their least favorite songs into the toilet.
You're absolutely correct from what I've seen. Most of the audio manufacturers' flavors of wireless multiroom entertainment (a bunch are covered in http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?secti on_id=2&article_id=831&page_number=1) are awfully expensive, on the magnitude of dropping multiple thousands of bucks.
The key is the consumer-friendliness other posters have noted. Personally, I entered the world of open source when I pulled an old Pentium II machine out of the closet and installed the Slimserver software on it (http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_features.html ). I also like SlimServer because their hardware for wireless streaming is cheap compared to other solutions (roughly $300 if I remember right), so you can have mutiroom pretty cheap if you're providing your own server. I skipped the wireless hardware they sell for now and just have a second PC hooked up to the stereo.
Recycling a couple of unused computers meant my cost of entry was almost $0. I enjoyed selecting, installing and configuring an operating system, ripping CDs using EAC and LAME or FLAC, etc. But I have to think that most consumers probably don't want anything to do with any of that! They'll spend the multiple thousands of bucks to avoid the geeked-out installation, configuration, maintenance and day-to-day usage.
While we're on the subject: if anyone is considering dropping those thousands just to utilize their iPod or similar device in their house, I'd advocate that you to do something the article mentioned, but without the Sonos or any other fancy device: go buy a 1/8 stereo to RCA adapter for <$7 at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart, and plug your iPod into your stereo that way. Sure, you get no fancy touch-screen remote and the ability to change music while you're on the toilet, but so what? Your receiver (or even your TV!) likely has front-panel inputs. Plug your portable player into that: just because there's a video plug sitting there doesn't mean you have to plug anything into it.
Since she is the model in the images, she was not the photographer and therefore has no claim to the images whatsoever. I don't believe this is true. The model has to sign a release for their photos to be used.
I'm no legal scholar but I remember recently there was a story of a real male model whose photo from an old photo shoot was used on a product (Nescafe) without his consent, and he was awarded millions. Read about it by Googling Russell Christoff and Nescafe. (Curiously, Google News doesn't come up with anything...go figure)
A company called Evoluent http://www.evoluent.com/ has a "Vertical," or "handshake" mouse, that is a hell of a thing. There are pictures on the web page linked above. Anyone at risk for RSI should take a serious look at it. Basically, instead of turning your palm down to the desktop, you leave your hand in the handshake position, the position it is normally in when you are standing relaxed. In addition to the ergonomic shape, it happens to be a fantastic optical mouse. I moved from a regular mouse to a trackball, which was great until I started getting pain in the knuckle of the finger I used to move the ball. I then switched to the handshake designed and used it without problems for years. Actually what I'm using more recently is also noteworthy: the Kinesis Evolution keyboard http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/evol_desk.htm. They keyboard is fully split in half, so you can position it as you like. Plus it has a laptop-like touchpad on both sides of the keyboard. I don't use a conventional mouse anymore: I "mouse with two hands" by usually navigating with my right hand on the right touchpad and clicking the buttons with my left. For me that's meant even less strain than the Evoluent Verticalmouse, which I didn't think was possible!
I think you may be missing the parent's point. You can create a table with a column of VARCHAR2 in an Oracle database, and you can send that SQL command using any of the languages you mentioned. But if you send that table creation command to SQL Server or DB2 or what have you, regardless of the programming language used to write the app communicating with the database, the command will fail because Oracle's VARCHAR2 datatype is proprietary (i.e. VARCHAR2 is not defined in the ANSI standards)
What you're saying is akin to saying that "Hello World" is cross-platform because you can output it using a variety of programming languages. But that forgets the recipients of the output that expect "hola mundo." (Of course this analogy doesn't fully hold up because there is no human language standards body equivalent to ANSI (yet))
You may be right, but wouldn't those protections also apply to the suprnova.org-type sites? And they were shut down. Some were apparently shut down by mere threats, just because they couldn't afford to defend themselves even if they would have won. My worry is that Bram will not be able to withstand the onslaught of lawsuits that he'll be required to defend to seek the protections you mention.
With that said, I have to wonder if this centralized search will make it easier for the various copyright organizations to hunt down people distributing infringing content? Maybe the content owners/rights organizations will welcome this because they can cherry-pick offenders? If so, maybe Bram and BitTorrent continue to revolutionize Internet file distribution (and thus Content), while people reduce the use of BitTorrent for infringing uses. Is that a possible scenario?
I think this is great, but I hope it is a step to something I've looked forward to for a long time: multi-platform multi-player. What I mean is that if you've got a PC version of DOOM3 and an XBox version of DOOM3, why not expand the base of available players by letting them play against each other over the internet?
Similarly, if a third party is making a title for both the DS and the PSP, why not figure out a way for them to play against each other, either wirelessly device-to-device or over the net? In a properly enabled home network, why not let the DS in the bedroom play against the Gamecube in the living room?
Shouldn't this stuff be possible? Has this happened and I missed it? Seems like they're missing the boat via lack of forsight.
Don't forget that (as previously reported on /.) The original Screen Savers bunch are doing weekly PodCasts now. If you were a fan of the original screen savers show, you're sure to enjoy the podcasts, which they call it TWIT: This Week in Tech.
h e-revenge-of-the-bleep/ works right now.
http://twit.tv/ should be the permanent URL, but is still under construction as of this posting. http://leoville.com/blog/index.php/TLR/comments/t
Note: I don't read User Friendly. If you like it, read it. If you don't like it, don't read it. No need to engage in hyperbole to try and convince others that your opinion should be theirs. Let the individual read it and form his own opinion.
You would disallow criticism to use hyperbole? What about metaphor or allusion or similie or whatever? Roger Ebert may not say a movie "tastes like an ass sandwich," (hyperbole) but he might say it is "garbage." I don't have a problem with that. And if he DID say a movie tasted like an ass sandwich, I'd probably avoid it because I've never heard him use such a strong comparison.
Maybe the issue isn't hyperbole but criticism/discourse which doesn't have any gradation: it is either the most frigging orgasmic thing/experience in the whole known and unknown universe, or it is the most worthless piece of disease-ridden trash ever (also in the known and unknown universe).
I appreciate the ass sandwich comment. I haven't of User Friendly and went to read it to see if it's as bad as the parent says. If I read a bunch of content that stinks, I probably won't continue on, keeping the criticism in mind. If it's not so bad, then I can rest easy knowing that the parent is a complete and total jerkwad.
How does one customize a live CD though? For instance, the daycare I use got their computers spyware infected, and I was thinking of showing them Knoppix or another live distro. But the primary thing the kids use the machines for is to play online games at cartoonnetwork.com and what have you. The knoppix installation doesn't have Flash installed on Firefox, so it's a no go.
So, flame my flaming n00bness, but how do you customize a live CD distro and then make a new live CD distro out of it?
I don't know about Cox and other cable companies, but I have Time Warner's DVR in upstate New York. I know a few people who moved out of the area after having the Time Warner box, and, naturally being hooked on PVR, immediately bought a Tivo. They were disappointed.
They cited two things: First, Time Warner's Scientific American box can record one show while you're watching another on TV. Better yet, it can record TWO shows while you're watching one you've already recorded! And you get full transport controls of the show you're watching. The new Tivo owners couldn't believe that they were back in the days of A/B switchboxes and stuff if they wanted to watch one show and revcord another.
While the Tivo's user interface was unquestionably easier to use and the SA box's "Season Pass"-type functionality is flawed, the SA did everything they wanted decently enough to transform their television experience and hook them, plus it was an incredibly simple, one-connection-to-the-tv hookup to do everything they wanted. (Disclaimer: my understanding is that some of the Tivos that come with satellite have multiple tuners, alleviating that problem)
Second, from what they reported and I've seen myself, the SA box has a better picture. My guess is that the Tivo is having to re-encode the stream where the SA box, built on top of digital cable, is just saving the same stream you'd be watching through the regular digital cable box.
Even though the Tivo's season pass is better, and its guide is better, and it can do predictive recording and home networking, I think that customers, faced with an additional $5 for the Time Warner DVR (it only costs an additional $5 over plain Digital Cable) or hundreds of dollars for the Tivo on top of monthly fees (or more hundreds for lifetime)...well, the Tivo is just not so much better than my cable companie's offering to be worth that much money. That was the economic decision I made myself, though I certainly covet the wish list and home networking features.
PS - Another Tivo killer: with Time Warner, if you want multiple cable boxes in your house, it costs the same price to get another DVR as it does to get a plain digital cable box. While home networking would sure be cool, we added a whole second DVR to the bedroom for the same price as a Tivo monthly fee.
Is it possible that they're developing their own OS for in-house use on all of those servers of theirs, rather than developing one for public release?
I want to second this recommendation. I have the cheaper and now slightly outdated Pronto Neo. I enjoy it a lot and it pretty elegantly solves the problem with most universal remotes: you can create a buttons to match any functionality of your original remotes. You're not limited to some fixed set of buttons.
s .cgi?area=neo, too, where you can download button bitmaps and codes and whole system layouts and such.
The screen is a little small and it is B&W (a problem solved by purchasing newer, more expensive models), and the included software is a little quirky, but it definitely fills the need I had, especially since I picked it up used much cheaper than retail from someone that just had to have the latest and greatest.
There's a great user community for it (and other remotes) at http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files/rcfile
If you're going to the trouble of the barcode scanner and databases of on-hands and recipes, you might as well go all the way and put a web interface on it. Community-driven meal planning: Let the /.ers create your shopping lists and menus.
"Oh, jeez, pizza and beer again."
truly del.icio.us
Similarly sort of on topic, I'm wondering if this research toward facial recognition will aid any of the ongoing Aspberger's Syndrome and Autism research. For Aspie's, it's not so much the recognition of the face that's the problem as the information the face is conveying (i.e. happiness, sadness, etc.). This could contribute toward that end of the research.