I felt the same way. I know of a school district that had policies in place several years before their network was even completed. The administration in this guy's district has REALLY dropped the ball. Bandwidth usage is really the least of their problems.
What's most problematic about situations like this is that big companies can often get individuals out of the game with the mere *threat* of a lawsuit. As with so many things these days, it doesn't matter if you're right or wrong, it matters whether you have the money to prove it in a court of law. Most individuals don't, thus, as David Keith said in 'They Live' - 'it's the golden rule - he who has the gold, makes the rules'.
I'm amazed Futurama has lasted as long as it has considering that it's not only in the 7 pm Sunday death slot, but that it's preempted continuously during the football season. Add to that the fact that this past season didn't start with regular new episodes until January, and you've got a recipe for lost viewers.
Whenever I hear the music industry gripe about falling profits, etc. I just think about how cd's cost twice as much as cassettes of the exact same music while the production costs of both are neglible. Has there ever been an explanation for this price gouging?
I think it's like an SNL fake commercial I saw a while back where they have 'Pet Chow Rat Poison' (Pet Chow is the name of the guy selling it) in a big dog food bag with a dog on the front (his dog) with 'rat poison' in tiny letters. The rat poison also looks and smells like dog food.
If you are selling something that looks like a cd and is packaged like a cd, sold with other cd's, but doesn't act like a cd, I think you are treading on pretty thin ice...
While just about everything on/. was a little too obvious for my April Fools tastes (I like to be actually fooled), I'm amazed just how much blowback I've seen all over various sites regarding the jokes this year (moreso than in past years). Maybe it's because people are using the net more and more as a primary newssource that they have less tolerance for this stuff.
I do have to say, though, that fake April Fools stories are much more effective in print than online, just because folks implicitly trust it more.
I've been happy with my Rio Receiver for the most part, but the screen problem is a real drag, as it renders advanced remote functions practically useless at a distance. Also, on Win2K, trying to import large playlists has a tendency to crash the Rio application.
But it's an easier sale now that the price point has started to drop a bit. When it was up near $300 it was harder to swallow.
Katz asks 'why would midwesterners grasp technology so much better than northeasterners?', but in fact, since this is based on an opinion poll in which the respondents evaluated their own expertise, the real question would be 'why do midwesterners think they grasp technology so much better than northeasterners do?'
If you'd like a review with some actual depth, check out DVDFile's, which goes into much greater detail as to the picture & sound quality as well as what the extras are all about. This thread at Home Theater Forum also has more useful feedback about the disc.
IMHO, it's a pretty nice disc. The picture quality is good, the sound is sweet and the extras really show you in great detail how it was all done.
Whether this happens because of this particular bill being passed, a future bill down the road, or industry implementing its own system, the end result is the same. That quote is relevant because if the Republican leadership involved is in favor of what the SSSCA is about in principle, we're screwed one way or another.
"We agree with Sen. Hollings that a solution to this problem has to be found," Johnson said, adding that committee chairman Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) supports the concept of the SSSCA.
Sounds like their objections are less philosophical than political.
While there's no doubt that the Democrats mentioned in the article are hardly acting with consumers' best interests in mind, it's laughable to believe that Republicans are going to lead the charge in the other direction as the author seems to suggest. Both parties are so in bed with big business that the difference between the two is is like vanilla vs. french vanilla.
Macromedia has a press release describing the 'improved' accessiblity of Flash MX - it uses Microsoft Active Accessiblity. Unfortunately, I doubt that those features will apply to any non-Windows versions of Flash player
1. Main characters use Stargate to go to strange world.
2. Something bad comes back with them (person/device/unexpected change/etc.) that wreaks havoc in the base.
3. Just before something bad becomes something worse (that destroys the world/takes over the base/makes MacGyver's eyes permanently glow/etc.) they come up witha solution.
4. Something bad is destroyed or sent back through the gate.
I've had a Tivo for almost two years now, and it really has changed the way I watch tv. But I, like a lot of geeks, am really proactive when it comes to tech stuff - I am used to digging around for detailed info on whatever interests me, whether it's Tivo, the latest DVD burner, whatever.
Most folks aren't that way, though, so they never get a real understanding of why Tivo is more than an expensive VCR. Almost every person I have shown Tivo to or described all of the great stuff you can do with it (season passes, wishlists, etc.) is bowled over by it. But the things that sell are those with a clear, simple purpose that can be sold in 30 seconds (like the iMac 'home movie' stuff). Tivo has tried to sell itself that way (with the 'tv your way' ads), but it just isn't clear enough. In the end, Tivo may end up being a victim of its own high concept.
I dunno - the complete 423 page manual for Macromedia's Fireworks (with tons of embedded graphics) is about 6.5 megs and the print quality is light years ahead of the same document reproduced in HTML. That doesn't seem outrageous to me.
They're non-editable for the most part once you make them.
I think you're truly asking for magic software that can take input from any existing application, make it universally readable while retaining the formatting and also allow you to make changes to the complex formatting within the document.
PDF is revolutionary because it enables organizations to easily take documents intended for print and quickly/cheaply make them freely available electronically for a multitude of users. Think of all of the forms, manuals, etc. that are now available because they could just run it through Acrobat.
When TCI (now a part of AT&T) stalled on upgrading cable service a few years ago, Tacoma got fed up and started their own cable/broadband Internet service Click Network. Ironically, by doing that they got TCI to actually upgrade and USWest hurried along DSL in the area as well.
Just out of curiosity, did you consumer/beta test the tiny LCD panel on the Rio Receiver? The box itself works great, but that little screen is pretty much unusable unless you are standing next to it. Kind of a fatal flaw on an otherwise great product.
Personally, what sold me on Tivo when I got it a year and a half ago was the great community at the AVS Tivo Forum. More info than you could ever want and a very supportive bunch for all kinds of questions. The Tivo FAQ is a good place to get answers to the basic questions first, though.
As I recall, when Salon first implemented their premium content, they didn't mark what content was premium, but instead when you viewed the story it would give you the first couple of paragraphs then say that you had to subscribe to read the rest. This is a big mistake, as it really makes non-subscribers resent the wasted click, and I'm glad they finally wised up and starting marking everything clearly as premium.
I had no problem subscribing to Salon, though, because these guys are the real deal. While I love sites like/. that point to noteworthy stories on the web, Salon is one of the only true purveyors of Internet journalism that provides stories worth pointing to. They have top-notch folks reporting and provides commentary on the whole spectrum of news.
Well actually, with the latest version of the Tivo software there is a backdoor in which you can activate a 30-second skip. To be honest, though, I prefer the regular FF, as rarely do networks have commercial breaks so precisely timed.
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I felt the same way. I know of a school district that had policies in place several years before their network was even completed. The administration in this guy's district has REALLY dropped the ball. Bandwidth usage is really the least of their problems.
What's most problematic about situations like this is that big companies can often get individuals out of the game with the mere *threat* of a lawsuit. As with so many things these days, it doesn't matter if you're right or wrong, it matters whether you have the money to prove it in a court of law. Most individuals don't, thus, as David Keith said in 'They Live' - 'it's the golden rule - he who has the gold, makes the rules'.
I'm amazed Futurama has lasted as long as it has considering that it's not only in the 7 pm Sunday death slot, but that it's preempted continuously during the football season. Add to that the fact that this past season didn't start with regular new episodes until January, and you've got a recipe for lost viewers.
Whenever I hear the music industry gripe about falling profits, etc. I just think about how cd's cost twice as much as cassettes of the exact same music while the production costs of both are neglible. Has there ever been an explanation for this price gouging?
I think it's like an SNL fake commercial I saw a while back where they have 'Pet Chow Rat Poison' (Pet Chow is the name of the guy selling it) in a big dog food bag with a dog on the front (his dog) with 'rat poison' in tiny letters. The rat poison also looks and smells like dog food.
If you are selling something that looks like a cd and is packaged like a cd, sold with other cd's, but doesn't act like a cd, I think you are treading on pretty thin ice...
While just about everything on /. was a little too obvious for my April Fools tastes (I like to be actually fooled), I'm amazed just how much blowback I've seen all over various sites regarding the jokes this year (moreso than in past years). Maybe it's because people are using the net more and more as a primary newssource that they have less tolerance for this stuff.
I do have to say, though, that fake April Fools stories are much more effective in print than online, just because folks implicitly trust it more.
Other pluses for the Rio:
I used to use an old PC to serve the same purpose, but after I gave that away, I decided the Rio would be a simpler, cheap alternative.
I've been happy with my Rio Receiver for the most part, but the screen problem is a real drag, as it renders advanced remote functions practically useless at a distance. Also, on Win2K, trying to import large playlists has a tendency to crash the Rio application.
But it's an easier sale now that the price point has started to drop a bit. When it was up near $300 it was harder to swallow.
The Jreceiver project takes care of the first two and this Perl server also fits the bill.
Katz asks 'why would midwesterners grasp technology so much better than northeasterners?', but in fact, since this is based on an opinion poll in which the respondents evaluated their own expertise, the real question would be 'why do midwesterners think they grasp technology so much better than northeasterners do?'
It reminds me of the Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer was trapped in the 3rd dimension:
"What's it like in there?"
Homer: "Did you ever see that movie Tron?"
Every character responds in turn: "No."
Of course, by making this Tron reference through a Simpsons reference, I have gone past 10 on the geekiness scale....
If you'd like a review with some actual depth, check out DVDFile's, which goes into much greater detail as to the picture & sound quality as well as what the extras are all about. This thread at Home Theater Forum also has more useful feedback about the disc.
IMHO, it's a pretty nice disc. The picture quality is good, the sound is sweet and the extras really show you in great detail how it was all done.
Whether this happens because of this particular bill being passed, a future bill down the road, or industry implementing its own system, the end result is the same. That quote is relevant because if the Republican leadership involved is in favor of what the SSSCA is about in principle, we're screwed one way or another.
In that very article it says:
"We agree with Sen. Hollings that a solution to this problem has to be found," Johnson said, adding that committee chairman Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) supports the concept of the SSSCA.
Sounds like their objections are less philosophical than political.
While there's no doubt that the Democrats mentioned in the article are hardly acting with consumers' best interests in mind, it's laughable to believe that Republicans are going to lead the charge in the other direction as the author seems to suggest. Both parties are so in bed with big business that the difference between the two is is like vanilla vs. french vanilla.
Macromedia has a press release describing the 'improved' accessiblity of Flash MX - it uses Microsoft Active Accessiblity. Unfortunately, I doubt that those features will apply to any non-Windows versions of Flash player
Hey,that's not true. There are the ones where:
1. Main characters use Stargate to go to strange world.
2. Something bad comes back with them (person/device/unexpected change/etc.) that wreaks havoc in the base.
3. Just before something bad becomes something worse (that destroys the world/takes over the base/makes MacGyver's eyes permanently glow/etc.) they come up witha solution.
4. Something bad is destroyed or sent back through the gate.
I've had a Tivo for almost two years now, and it really has changed the way I watch tv. But I, like a lot of geeks, am really proactive when it comes to tech stuff - I am used to digging around for detailed info on whatever interests me, whether it's Tivo, the latest DVD burner, whatever.
Most folks aren't that way, though, so they never get a real understanding of why Tivo is more than an expensive VCR. Almost every person I have shown Tivo to or described all of the great stuff you can do with it (season passes, wishlists, etc.) is bowled over by it. But the things that sell are those with a clear, simple purpose that can be sold in 30 seconds (like the iMac 'home movie' stuff). Tivo has tried to sell itself that way (with the 'tv your way' ads), but it just isn't clear enough. In the end, Tivo may end up being a victim of its own high concept.
I dunno - the complete 423 page manual for Macromedia's Fireworks (with tons of embedded graphics) is about 6.5 megs and the print quality is light years ahead of the same document reproduced in HTML. That doesn't seem outrageous to me.
They're non-editable for the most part once you make them.
I think you're truly asking for magic software that can take input from any existing application, make it universally readable while retaining the formatting and also allow you to make changes to the complex formatting within the document.
PDF is revolutionary because it enables organizations to easily take documents intended for print and quickly/cheaply make them freely available electronically for a multitude of users. Think of all of the forms, manuals, etc. that are now available because they could just run it through Acrobat.
When TCI (now a part of AT&T) stalled on upgrading cable service a few years ago, Tacoma got fed up and started their own cable/broadband Internet service Click Network. Ironically, by doing that they got TCI to actually upgrade and USWest hurried along DSL in the area as well.
Always a good time to see who owns what
Just out of curiosity, did you consumer/beta test the tiny LCD panel on the Rio Receiver? The box itself works great, but that little screen is pretty much unusable unless you are standing next to it. Kind of a fatal flaw on an otherwise great product.
Personally, what sold me on Tivo when I got it a year and a half ago was the great community at the AVS Tivo Forum. More info than you could ever want and a very supportive bunch for all kinds of questions. The Tivo FAQ is a good place to get answers to the basic questions first, though.
As I recall, when Salon first implemented their premium content, they didn't mark what content was premium, but instead when you viewed the story it would give you the first couple of paragraphs then say that you had to subscribe to read the rest. This is a big mistake, as it really makes non-subscribers resent the wasted click, and I'm glad they finally wised up and starting marking everything clearly as premium.
/. that point to noteworthy stories on the web, Salon is one of the only true purveyors of Internet journalism that provides stories worth pointing to. They have top-notch folks reporting and provides commentary on the whole spectrum of news.
I had no problem subscribing to Salon, though, because these guys are the real deal. While I love sites like
Well actually, with the latest version of the Tivo software there is a backdoor in which you can activate a 30-second skip. To be honest, though, I prefer the regular FF, as rarely do networks have commercial breaks so precisely timed.