What's 'wrong' is that some Slashdot visitors have uninformed outrage due to the assumption that other companies aren't doing the exact same thing.
This sort of thing was even on the national news a few months back - people who got paid to review products and post about it on Forums. But the company behind it was 'reputable' - they wouldn't post fake reviews. On the other hand, if the reviewer didn't like the product - they simply wouldn't post much at all.
It's happening all the time, and all over the place... better get used to it instead of getting all bent out of shape, I say.
Video2000 was even better anyway. 8 hours, 4 hours per side (yes, it had two sides) in standard recording quality. Woot. Later Philips even made a 16 hour tape.
Betamax, by the way, may have lost in the war for the consumer as well, but step into any broadcast facility and Betacam - derived from Betmax - will be all over the place. Those moving on to other formats are predominantly moving on to HDDs, not Blu-Ray OR HDDVD.
And lastly (completing my SONY-fanboy image, I'm sure), MiniDisc was a complete failure? If that's an absolute truth, how come they're still selling brand new products all over the place, between music and data storage (1GB)? Sure, it's dying.. but complete failure? puh-lease.
All that said, it's a shame that the industry is so willing to milk the consumer. Given half a reasonable choice, I think most Slashdot users would rather skip the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war and wait for the war between discs that store nearer to 200-500GB per disc to be decided instead.
But the real solution would have been to put a freely turnable section on the top of the joystick's... stick. That way the top remains static to your palm instead of turning around, which would the major blister-former.
If you read the bug report, you'll note that various users are affected due to a mail sending app being naughty - including completely legit e-mail that is not spam. Nice try, though. So who cares? Those users, I daresay.
And yes, I'm sure I could have worded things better to prevent such replies:) Let me rephrase: the fix is there, but they haven't made any official update release. Meaning that...
1. existing 1.5.0.8 users will not be notified of this fix in any form of an update via automatic updates.
and...
2. won't read about this because the release notes (as the other user pointed out) were updated - but updated well after release, obviously.
So yes, there's a fix. Great. Shame the vast majority of the users don't know of the fix -or- the bug in the first place, and won't until 1.5.0.9 gets pushed out either.
You do realize that third party developers can create applications for SmartPhones and PocketPC Phones that would allow a user to sync with a Mac, right? So the question is more.. why aren't third party developers doing this? I highly doubt you can blame Microsoft for that.
They're still - but the vehicle still moves
on
Windows Live and Privacy
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Yes, they're stills - but the vehicle, and thus the camera, is still on the move. You can deduce this from many locations such as highways where there are up to at least 8 consecutive shots that I've found where the cars in front are still in the next shot. Even if they did somehow manage to stand still on the highways, I doubt they would have gotten all the other traffic to cooperate;)
That said - another posted already pointed out that it could still be done. The question is: why on Earth would they? and: are they required to, by law? Answering the latter tends to answer the former when it comes to these matters.
Beats the ThunderBird mail-eating bug.
on
Vista Hackers Get Busy
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Sorry, going to be almost entirely off-topic here because a submission on this was rejected and I think it deserves at least some exposure. If it was Outlook eating e-mails Slashdot would be having a field day, but alright.
ThunderBird v1.5.0.8 introduced an issue where malformed e-mails (namely the Referer: header value matches the Message-Id: header value) is causing the e-mails not to be displayed. They are received, they're in the mailbox file, but they're not displayed. The error is probably somewhere in the Threading code, but affects non-threaded Views all the same. Worse yet, if you compact your folders (as you are recommended to do regularly), the invisible e-mails will also actually be deleted.
This issue has been in ThunderBird since 1.5.0.8 release, obviously. It was first discovered on November 9th. A bug was logged on November 11th. It is now December 1st (here anyway), and an official fixed release is not expected until later this month.
There is no telling how many users are affected by this bug, as most users will never realize that the mail isn't arriving - and when told, the first few things they would check is spam filters, their ISP's spam filters, firewalls, junk filters, and then the MozillaZine page on disappearing e-mail (sad that there's such a page) - which makes no mention of this bug either.
I'll take an exploit any day - turn my machine into a zombie if you must - but causing me to lose mail for no good reason, knowing about it, and not officially fixing it, is inexcusable.
That said - the fix is in the 1.8 branch, in 2.0, and in the nightly builds. Thing is, only way to know about it is if you read the bug (change referrer - bugzilla.mozilla blocks slashdot referrers): https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=36040 9
Remember that this is the dollar bill we're talking about. Thousands upon thousands of machines only take dollar bills, not dollar coins; they would need to be refitted / reprogrammer. Then there's the fact that "singles" slip into strippers' garments - coins not so easily;)
But, more important than anything else... it is an icon. It is not just a 1 Dollar bill. It is THE Dollar bill. That entire bill is the embodiment of The Dollar.
That said - sure, it can be done. Hell, entire nations dropped their -entire- monetary units and associated coins+bills for a new one (hello Euro). There's no specific reason the U.S. can't either. But imho, they're not about to.
On the other hand, maybe they would like to fix their coins. The Euro got them all messed up, too, of course (why is the 5ct greater than both the 10ct and the 2ct? Why do we still have those pointless 1ct and 2ct coins? At least in the U.S. there's places to go with your 1ct 'pennies' ( wishing ponds / pennny stretch machines;) )
Btw - see related topics on the Wiki.. there are a LOT of screw heads out there.
There is one common property to them, though - if you have a good quality flat screw driver, you can open all but the dotted ones (Spanner Head in the wiki, and a crazy 3-dotted one I encountered once in a greek microwave >_ we ended up drilling those out and replacing them with philips heads on a repair. ha.)
And as you can read there, but I'll say here because I just love saying it in any MS vs Apple discussion: Apple killed support of Shake on Windows shortly after acquiring NothingReal.
So yes, GP poster, it's "Mac-only" (actually, there's the Linux version - but they charge you considerably more.) - but only because Apple made it such.
Google Earth uses the same maps as Google Maps, afaik. Google Maps does not have the highest resolution pictures for every spot on Earth; not even domestic US, but certainly not the oceans.
But let's say it did.
As far zoomed in as I can go, right at the equator, the little distance bar tells me 20 meters for 69 pixels. Obviously there's going to be a good bit of error in there, so when we take the circumference of the Earth, let's ignore ellipticity and any significance and call it 40,000 kilometers.
40,000,000 / 20 = 2,000,000 pixels.
A lat/long image only needs a 2:1 aspect ratio (360 degrees around, 180 degree up/down). Let's ignore that you don't need 2,000,000 pixels near the poles to get the same effective resolution as at the equator (but would be the only way to get them stitched together into a regular flat rectangle bitmap), and we get...
2,000,000px * 1,000,000px = 2,000,000,000,000px
So Google Maps, if it actually -had- the highest detail everywhere, when all stitched together, would be roughly a 2 -tera- pixel image.
If anybody's more bored (or happens to find a statement from Google, I suppose), a more accurate number will surely be provided;)
Indeed, there was but one link (the original article seems to have additional references now as well).
I think I'm still looking for the statement about something being quote reckless unquote, though. Saying that they are unhappy (duh), and that user's might find themselves in a pickle if relying on a product which uses a method that will be rendered defunct soon (or already is, according to that article you linked to), is hardly saying that Authentium was being reckless and endangering Windows security and whatnot.
In terms of redacting, the blurb should have at least pointed to the article you linked to on that last link, as the wording in that link suggest that Microsoft's response is to be found in the article linked to; which it is not.
"Patch Guard... is supposed to keep out... security company competitors" Uhm. Yes. According to -some- security company competitors whose entirely livelihood depends on Windows being as insecure as it is? Certainly not according to Microsoft itself.
"Microsoft immediately responded" really? Microsoft doesn't respond anywhere in that article. In fact, page 2 (yes, it's one of THOSE articles) specifically reads: "Microsoft representatives didn't immediately respond to calls seeking comment on Authentium's move."
So where -did- they respond?
"by saying their reckless..." and that whole article doesn't contain the word 'reckless' at all. So where did they say this, again?
Mind you, the article itself is in error when on page 2 it states: "Next Page: Microsoft defends itself."
And when you get to page 3, you get: - a symantec spokesperson - an industry watcher, possibly: - Andrew Jaquith of Yankee Group
But absolutely no Microsoft. So where is Microsoft defending itself?
Don't get me wrong, I think PatchGuard probably has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese... but the submitter's text needs redacting, and the original article could do with an -actual- statement from Microsoft.
keep in mind that penalties also should serve as a deterrent.
Let's say that the penalty should do no more damage than the crime it is addressing..
The crime is: speeding. 80 in a 40 zone. The damage done is: none. Unless you cause a crash - none. The penalty should be: none.
I guess you can see where that idea falls apart.
So what's the damage in copyright infringement... technically, none. Or at least, not measurable. So the penalty should also be none? ( Some would probably argue "yes", but those people can start arguing yes as soon as I can perform copyright infringement on a loaf of bread, and the baker can copyright infringe on wheat and so forth and so on. )
Now let's say that a speeding ticket for 80 in a 40 zone is $1. Who would that stop? Make it $10, and I'm sure plenty of people will still speed. $100 and we're talking plenty of people who are going to think twice. $1,000 and who would still speed except for those speeding for a very specific reason (e.g. get away from cops, rush to hospital, try and make it to a meeting where a greater interest then $1,000 out of your pocket is concerned.)
So what should the penalty for vast copyright infringement be to both 1. address the 'crime' and 2. serve as a deterrent?
doesn't that really just mean that they would have to round off their edges a bit?
The point was't in getting the sharpest ever blade... hell, go shave with a fresh surgical knife if that's what you want. The point was in having a blade that wouldn't dull out over the course of just a week's worth of shaving (mine actually recommend replacing every 5 shaves).
And I *know* there was a Dutch team that did much the same as well, and a Dutch commercial venture (was it KPN - Dutch telecom?) has one still up and running, I think.
But I guess they didn't use the Ooh! Shiny! blue LEDs:)
Odd.. I can drag any media file to my PocketPC, and simply let the PocketPC media player of choice figure out any databasing of Artist, Album, Genre, etc. (from ID3 tags/whatnot) Why, exactly, would it be a -necessity- to do this on the host computer-end first?
*grin* maybe I am saying Fox viewers are stupid, and I'm just being really subtle about it;)
But really, you should have listened to their initial coverage of the story, the fact that he was republican was hardly mentioned at all.
Now personally I think that's a good thing, because quite frankly it really doesn't matter what party he was in. But that doesn't take away the subtetly of a misrepresentation of (R) vs (D) when the actual coverage in audio, video and closed captions (I watch with closed captions because sometimes I miss what they said, and I can still quickly catch it on the closed captions).
Now I'm sure this was an accident, but Fox tends to have these particular "oops, wrong party" accidents apparently frequently. But it might be just that I've been paying attention more since I noticed it three times during my stay here so far.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope so, because unfortunately SOHO has been doings its CCD maintenance run while that tsunami occurred.
What's 'wrong' is that some Slashdot visitors have uninformed outrage due to the assumption that other companies aren't doing the exact same thing.
This sort of thing was even on the national news a few months back - people who got paid to review products and post about it on Forums. But the company behind it was 'reputable' - they wouldn't post fake reviews. On the other hand, if the reviewer didn't like the product - they simply wouldn't post much at all.
It's happening all the time, and all over the place... better get used to it instead of getting all bent out of shape, I say.
No country is perfect, and no man. So this guy is a little naive, but hey.. one might think the same of half of Slashdot. Hint: Eric S. Raymond %)
Video2000 was even better anyway. 8 hours, 4 hours per side (yes, it had two sides) in standard recording quality. Woot. Later Philips even made a 16 hour tape.
r _DATA
Video2000: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_2000 . Check out some of the reasons it lost out - only one was technical, slightly lower resolution.
Betamax, by the way, may have lost in the war for the consumer as well, but step into any broadcast facility and Betacam - derived from Betmax - will be all over the place. Those moving on to other formats are predominantly moving on to HDDs, not Blu-Ray OR HDDVD.
Though those not ready to move over to HDD may move over to another SONY product, the PDD, which is very closely related to Blu-Ray;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Disc_fo
And lastly (completing my SONY-fanboy image, I'm sure), MiniDisc was a complete failure? If that's an absolute truth, how come they're still selling brand new products all over the place, between music and data storage (1GB)? Sure, it's dying.. but complete failure? puh-lease.
All that said, it's a shame that the industry is so willing to milk the consumer. Given half a reasonable choice, I think most Slashdot users would rather skip the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war and wait for the war between discs that store nearer to 200-500GB per disc to be decided instead.
gloves? that's funny as hell :)
But the real solution would have been to put a freely turnable section on the top of the joystick's... stick. That way the top remains static to your palm instead of turning around, which would the major blister-former.
alternatively...
:)
http://carl.kenner.googlepages.com/glovepie
I wonder why it's news when it's on a Mac
If you read the bug report, you'll note that various users are affected due to a mail sending app being naughty - including completely legit e-mail that is not spam. Nice try, though. So who cares? Those users, I daresay.
:) Let me rephrase: the fix is there, but they haven't made any official update release. Meaning that...
And yes, I'm sure I could have worded things better to prevent such replies
1. existing 1.5.0.8 users will not be notified of this fix in any form of an update via automatic updates.
and...
2. won't read about this because the release notes (as the other user pointed out) were updated - but updated well after release, obviously.
So yes, there's a fix. Great. Shame the vast majority of the users don't know of the fix -or- the bug in the first place, and won't until 1.5.0.9 gets pushed out either.
Ah, they did update that, didn't they...
Release Date: November 7, 2006
Addendum: November 22, 2006 - new known issue with identical message headers
Whoops.. meant to just include the google query, not the first result. Oh well:
http://www.google.com/search?q=pocketpc+mac
The Missing Sync I have heard mentioned on forums like xda-developers numerous times.
You do realize that third party developers can create applications for SmartPhones and PocketPC Phones that would allow a user to sync with a Mac, right? So the question is more.. why aren't third party developers doing this? I highly doubt you can blame Microsoft for that.
Oh, and just to note...
http://www.pocketmac.net/
You're welcome.
Yes, they're stills - but the vehicle, and thus the camera, is still on the move. You can deduce this from many locations such as highways where there are up to at least 8 consecutive shots that I've found where the cars in front are still in the next shot. Even if they did somehow manage to stand still on the highways, I doubt they would have gotten all the other traffic to cooperate ;)
That said - another posted already pointed out that it could still be done. The question is: why on Earth would they? and: are they required to, by law? Answering the latter tends to answer the former when it comes to these matters.
Sorry, going to be almost entirely off-topic here because a submission on this was rejected and I think it deserves at least some exposure. If it was Outlook eating e-mails Slashdot would be having a field day, but alright.
0 9
ThunderBird v1.5.0.8 introduced an issue where malformed e-mails (namely the Referer: header value matches the Message-Id: header value) is causing the e-mails not to be displayed. They are received, they're in the mailbox file, but they're not displayed. The error is probably somewhere in the Threading code, but affects non-threaded Views all the same. Worse yet, if you compact your folders (as you are recommended to do regularly), the invisible e-mails will also actually be deleted.
This issue has been in ThunderBird since 1.5.0.8 release, obviously. It was first discovered on November 9th. A bug was logged on November 11th. It is now December 1st (here anyway), and an official fixed release is not expected until later this month.
There is no telling how many users are affected by this bug, as most users will never realize that the mail isn't arriving - and when told, the first few things they would check is spam filters, their ISP's spam filters, firewalls, junk filters, and then the MozillaZine page on disappearing e-mail (sad that there's such a page) - which makes no mention of this bug either.
I'll take an exploit any day - turn my machine into a zombie if you must - but causing me to lose mail for no good reason, knowing about it, and not officially fixing it, is inexcusable.
That said - the fix is in the 1.8 branch, in 2.0, and in the nightly builds. Thing is, only way to know about it is if you read the bug (change referrer - bugzilla.mozilla blocks slashdot referrers):
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3604
Remember that this is the dollar bill we're talking about. Thousands upon thousands of machines only take dollar bills, not dollar coins; they would need to be refitted / reprogrammer. Then there's the fact that "singles" slip into strippers' garments - coins not so easily ;)
;) )
But, more important than anything else... it is an icon. It is not just a 1 Dollar bill. It is THE Dollar bill. That entire bill is the embodiment of The Dollar.
That said - sure, it can be done. Hell, entire nations dropped their -entire- monetary units and associated coins+bills for a new one (hello Euro). There's no specific reason the U.S. can't either. But imho, they're not about to.
On the other hand, maybe they would like to fix their coins. The Euro got them all messed up, too, of course (why is the 5ct greater than both the 10ct and the 2ct? Why do we still have those pointless 1ct and 2ct coins? At least in the U.S. there's places to go with your 1ct 'pennies' ( wishing ponds / pennny stretch machines
You are also less likely to kill
- the screw head
- the screw driver
while being able to apply a great amount of force, or a set amount of force with factory tools.
For more info, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_10664
Btw - see related topics on the Wiki.. there are a LOT of screw heads out there.
There is one common property to them, though - if you have a good quality flat screw driver, you can open all but the dotted ones (Spanner Head in the wiki, and a crazy 3-dotted one I encountered once in a greek microwave >_ we ended up drilling those out and replacing them with philips heads on a repair. ha.)
Just to note... Shake is a compositing application, and a fairly nice one at that.
s oftware)&oldid=84014269
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shake_(
And as you can read there, but I'll say here because I just love saying it in any MS vs Apple discussion: Apple killed support of Shake on Windows shortly after acquiring NothingReal.
So yes, GP poster, it's "Mac-only" (actually, there's the Linux version - but they charge you considerably more.) - but only because Apple made it such.
whoops - totally forgot by divide by 69 >_
just 'cos I'm bored...
;)
Google Earth uses the same maps as Google Maps, afaik. Google Maps does not have the highest resolution pictures for every spot on Earth; not even domestic US, but certainly not the oceans.
But let's say it did.
As far zoomed in as I can go, right at the equator, the little distance bar tells me 20 meters for 69 pixels. Obviously there's going to be a good bit of error in there, so when we take the circumference of the Earth, let's ignore ellipticity and any significance and call it 40,000 kilometers.
40,000,000 / 20 = 2,000,000 pixels.
A lat/long image only needs a 2:1 aspect ratio (360 degrees around, 180 degree up/down). Let's ignore that you don't need 2,000,000 pixels near the poles to get the same effective resolution as at the equator (but would be the only way to get them stitched together into a regular flat rectangle bitmap), and we get...
2,000,000px * 1,000,000px = 2,000,000,000,000px
So Google Maps, if it actually -had- the highest detail everywhere, when all stitched together, would be roughly a 2 -tera- pixel image.
If anybody's more bored (or happens to find a statement from Google, I suppose), a more accurate number will surely be provided
Indeed, there was but one link (the original article seems to have additional references now as well).
I think I'm still looking for the statement about something being quote reckless unquote, though. Saying that they are unhappy (duh), and that user's might find themselves in a pickle if relying on a product which uses a method that will be rendered defunct soon (or already is, according to that article you linked to), is hardly saying that Authentium was being reckless and endangering Windows security and whatnot.
In terms of redacting, the blurb should have at least pointed to the article you linked to on that last link, as the wording in that link suggest that Microsoft's response is to be found in the article linked to; which it is not.
"Patch Guard ... is supposed to keep out ... security company competitors"
..."
Uhm. Yes. According to -some- security company competitors whose entirely livelihood depends on Windows being as insecure as it is? Certainly not according to Microsoft itself.
"Microsoft immediately responded"
really?
Microsoft doesn't respond anywhere in that article. In fact, page 2 (yes, it's one of THOSE articles) specifically reads:
"Microsoft representatives didn't immediately respond to calls seeking comment on Authentium's move."
So where -did- they respond?
"by saying their reckless
and that whole article doesn't contain the word 'reckless' at all. So where did they say this, again?
Mind you, the article itself is in error when on page 2 it states:
"Next Page: Microsoft defends itself."
And when you get to page 3, you get:
- a symantec spokesperson
- an industry watcher, possibly:
- Andrew Jaquith of Yankee Group
But absolutely no Microsoft. So where is Microsoft defending itself?
Don't get me wrong, I think PatchGuard probably has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese... but the submitter's text needs redacting, and the original article could do with an -actual- statement from Microsoft.
For 99% of the websites, all you need to know as 'the difference from HTML' is: http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/xhtml_html.asp
That is for XHTML 1.0, though. XHTML 1.1, and the remaining 1% of websites which go deep into further XHTML functionality are a different matter.
keep in mind that penalties also should serve as a deterrent.
Let's say that the penalty should do no more damage than the crime it is addressing..
The crime is: speeding. 80 in a 40 zone.
The damage done is: none. Unless you cause a crash - none.
The penalty should be: none.
I guess you can see where that idea falls apart.
So what's the damage in copyright infringement... technically, none. Or at least, not measurable.
So the penalty should also be none?
( Some would probably argue "yes", but those people can start arguing yes as soon as I can perform copyright infringement on a loaf of bread, and the baker can copyright infringe on wheat and so forth and so on. )
Now let's say that a speeding ticket for 80 in a 40 zone is $1. Who would that stop? Make it $10, and I'm sure plenty of people will still speed. $100 and we're talking plenty of people who are going to think twice. $1,000 and who would still speed except for those speeding for a very specific reason (e.g. get away from cops, rush to hospital, try and make it to a meeting where a greater interest then $1,000 out of your pocket is concerned.)
So what should the penalty for vast copyright infringement be to both 1. address the 'crime' and 2. serve as a deterrent?
doesn't that really just mean that they would have to round off their edges a bit?
The point was't in getting the sharpest ever blade... hell, go shave with a fresh surgical knife if that's what you want. The point was in having a blade that wouldn't dull out over the course of just a week's worth of shaving (mine actually recommend replacing every 5 shaves).
http://www.blinkenlights.de/index.en.html
:)
And I *know* there was a Dutch team that did much the same as well, and a Dutch commercial venture (was it KPN - Dutch telecom?) has one still up and running, I think.
But I guess they didn't use the Ooh! Shiny! blue LEDs
Odd.. I can drag any media file to my PocketPC, and simply let the PocketPC media player of choice figure out any databasing of Artist, Album, Genre, etc. (from ID3 tags/whatnot) Why, exactly, would it be a -necessity- to do this on the host computer-end first?
*grin* maybe I am saying Fox viewers are stupid, and I'm just being really subtle about it ;)
But really, you should have listened to their initial coverage of the story, the fact that he was republican was hardly mentioned at all.
Now personally I think that's a good thing, because quite frankly it really doesn't matter what party he was in. But that doesn't take away the subtetly of a misrepresentation of (R) vs (D) when the actual coverage in audio, video and closed captions (I watch with closed captions because sometimes I miss what they said, and I can still quickly catch it on the closed captions).
Now I'm sure this was an accident, but Fox tends to have these particular "oops, wrong party" accidents apparently frequently. But it might be just that I've been paying attention more since I noticed it three times during my stay here so far.