Parallel parking isn't too difficult - I did it in my car all the time (I've moved to a location where I no longer need the car, public transport suits me fine and I like not having to pay all the taxes)... tight spots aren't a problem.
But along comes some asshole who turns that tight spot into an impossible spot by parking in front of / behind you without leaving enough room for you to get out comfortably. More often than not, you're not going to find the person to ask them to please move their car - or perhaps they can't anymore either. Rather than zig-zagging numerous times to edge my way out, I'd gently push the other car out of the way first - and if gently didn't work, firmly would; alarms be damned.
A system that can get you out of those -those- situations would be much more appreciated - like another commenter mentioned, those videos of cars with all four wheels turning a full 90 degrees, that's what we'd need.
well you gotta hand it to him... abstinence would indeed 'cure' AIDS. It would take several decades, but AIDS, at least among humans, would cease to exist. Of course, so would humanity %)
--
Okay, back to all seriousness - there is currently no cure for AIDS, and I'm sure he never said that. I'm also quite sure he never mentioned that everybody should abstain indefinitely, as that indeed would mean no procreation and thus extinction of the human race. I'm going to guess that he was referring to not having sex before marriage, or at least not promiscuous sex. However you may feel about that, he has a point with it. Even when accounting for all the people who cheat on their spouses, and accounting for infection through blood transfusion, etc. there would be an undeniably large portion of society who - if they were to live by it - would have sex with one partner and one partner only. If in some tragic event one or the other had AIDS (e.g. through transfusion/whatever) before marriage, and the other contracts it upon consummation or some other point in their marriage, the spread will be limited to that one other person. Compare this to many youngsters spreading STDs - not even referring to HIV here - among several people simply because they choose to have intimate sexual relations with multiple persons without being safe, etc. etc.
Of course they are both near the two ends of a wide spectrum of people's sexual activity, but I don't think it can be denied that the one end is inherently 'safer' than the other; exceptions (as usual) notwithstanding
--
Personally I'm all for people having sex/responsibly/ - whether that's before or after marriage, with one person or 50 persons, opposite or same sex, doesn't really matter. Unfortunately common sense fails upon many of today's youth (13-17 year olds asking money or gifts in exchange for sexual favors in The Netherlands, for example. *cringe*).
The updated paint doesn't look that different, and anyone with any serious graphics needs isn't going to use it anyway
Of course if they included something that a serious graphics needy person/would/ use, they would get sued shortly for antitrust/monopoly/whatever reasons.
And when they offer a graphics application separately, the comments are just along the line of... - bah, they just bought another company - pff, it's not Photoshop - boo, I'll stick with The Gimp
the bit about the TV stations is just the explanation I got from a local broadcaster - I'm not sure if it works differently in different countries/etc. I had to ring them up because I hadn't the foggiest what would be different in their 'journaal' (etc. o'clock news) broadcast when they were showing the anchor/live footage versus pre-taped footage and regular shows.. they're the ones suggesting I poke at the sync pulse circuitry:)
The sync pulse itself had a measurably lesser intensity on the scope when we hooked it up to check... we ended up tuning to CNN as that's almost all live, with the exception of the commercials. commercials cut in, sync pulse intensity dropped, TV picture drops (audio keeps going). commercials cut out, sync pulse intensity increased, TV picture back once more.
It's like a Flash RAID stuck in a PCMCIA housing. Except you pay a premium for it. Which they can charge as there's no real aternative (other than tapes and HDDs)
The cause is in the Sync Pulse. When a TV receives that pulse, it can sync the beam up with the actual frames being broadcast. The Sync Pulse itself has to be within a particular region of levels below the 'black' level for the TV circuitry to identify it as such.
Now here's the kicker... many TV stations record the sync pulse with any footage, store it away, and re-use it. However, when they do so, a very slight difference in the Sync Pulse level can often be observed. This shouldn't be an issue, but if your TV is in the triggerhappy state mentioned, it just might say "that's no Sync Pulse" when it gets the lower level. Of course, when they're broadcasting the news, it's Live TV, and the Sync Pulse is generated on-the-fly, and thus at full strength.
That's why the TV will display fine when the News is on, until an earlier report is shown, and then is fine again once they go back to the anchorman/woman/team:)
I think you're leaving out a few factors, though... tradition and religion, for example.
If a society traditionally has large families, then it doesn't matter whether they live in poverty or health - they're likely keep that tradition.
As for religion - there's highly catholic families here who have 7-9 children. Not because they're poor - in fact, most of them lived in wealth/until/ they had the 5th or 6th child and had to pay for their education, etc.
Of course these probably don't even begin to offset all the people who decide to have only 1 child or no children at all.
I -have- worked in the repair/service industry - 70-odd TVs in total, just as part of an internship. That was some 6 years ago. Here's the deal...
Let's say somebody brings in a TV which doesn't work anymore, or just flips out after being on for a while. What's the likely cause? Bad solder joint - typically around one of the FETs or around the HV transformer. Easy enough to fix - open up the casing, unplug the wires, slide the board out, re-solder all joints (when one fails, more fail, and you don't want the customer to come back in 2 weeks claiming your repair was botched and you'll have to open it up again, for free.), and put it all back together again. All in all, it's an hour or an hour and them some later. You have to bill them at least for that. If it's an hour and then some - 2 hours, 2 * $30 (and that's a low price) is $60. When TVs start costing only $180, who is going to pay $60 to get their old TV repaired? They'll just get a new one.
And this goes moreso when there are actual parts to replace, as you mentioned. And even moreso if the problem isn't trivial ( here's a nice one I encountered a couple of times... The TV display flips on and off all the time. When the news is on, it's fine - until they show a an earlier report. Cookies for those who know what's up and how to fix it:) ) and you have to dig for the solution for the specific board in question.
Most phones can play MP3 files now.. heck, they could 2 years ago. The problem is that the phone operators deliberately disable functionality to, for example, copy files to the device or download them off the web if it has a browser. So you're forced to go through the provider or a third party 'ringtone' store such as Ringtone King, Jamba!, etc. in the EU (same company, different name, practically a monopoly) from which the provider gets a kickback.
Doesn't mean you can't get a phone which you -can- copy files with, though.. my $80 prepaid Sagem does it, and a $400 S/E w800i does it. Plenty of choice if you actually go and look for it.
Lindsey says the negative associations surrounding Lara will be swept away with a single decent iteration, arguing that Lara, far from being a one-decade wonder, has legs
Well, I suppose after all those Chest Reductions, somebody at Eidos was bound to notice eventually;)
I don't know why people bother with these 'obfuscation' / garble techniques on Slashdot comment threads. I wrote a mIRC script that unscrambles practically all of them with ease. The only ones it doesn't are the ones the user scrambled themselves - but all the automated slashdot stuff is a piece of cake. If I can do it with a mIRC script, you bet an e-mail harvest is already doing it with a more dedicated tool.
Right.. physical security is a different beast entirely. Basically what I meant was this...
Let's say I put highly secret material on my site at http://www.mysite.com/abc.html - I don't index it, I don't link to it. I'm the only person who knows that the name of that file is "abc.html" ( short of my service provider, people inbetween when I visit, etc.; ignore them for a moment for the sake of the argument:) ) Many people would say that it is merely security through obscurity.
Now let's shift that to, say, an archive file that has been encrypted. Many would argue that its security is not security through obscurity - yet everybody can get at the file's contents.. if they knew what the key was.
It seems to me that any real level of security would not only make it (exceedingly) difficult to guess the passwords/keys - it would also lock you out (even if it's temporarily) if you guess wrong (be it once, twice, thrice.. whatever). Though that would be security through obscurity combined with security through throttling - or whatever that would be labeled.
Essentially, I'm not sure what software system of security isn't essentially one where its primary basis of security is that of obscurity - that of making it (exceedingly) difficult to guess the wrong password/key.
The literature bought for the Librie - did it include the clause that it was only good for 60 days? I haven't read up... if no, yeah - that's f'ed up. If yes - then I guess you really can't complain.
And -that- is what I was saying. Go ahead, boycott SONY all you want - that's fine. I'm just saying that it is unrealistic and you're essentially hurting the company and people with jobs behind it that had shit all to do with it.
Now you may have an interesting view on morals and, if you were working for SONY's, say... medical appliances division..that you would've said "holy crap - what SONY Music did with that rootkit!? I'm quitting my job!" But for most people, that's just BS.
That doesn't mean those people don't have morals, or that they support SONY Music's decisions. Nor does it mean that those who DO still buy SONY cameras, projectors, medical appliances, e-book readers, etc. support SONY Music's decisions.
Isn't all computer security in essence a security through obscurity ?
Sure.. you can have a 256-bit key encrypted thingamabob - but the obscurity lays in the fact that you should be the only person with the key. If somebody else, in whatever way, gets at the key, they can get in just like you did.
It's just a -better- form of security than, say, putting a file on a server, not indexing it, and leaving it with a random name. Yes, if somebody were to try all possible filenames on your server, they'll hit it eventually (if they don't drain your monthly bandwidth first), and that may be easier than getting hold of your 256-bit key. But that just makes it a -lesser- form of security.. not a particularly different kind when talking about 'security through obscurity'.
I'm getting quite tired of the "boycott SONY!" tirades some people go on.
Yes, the music/CDs branch of SONY f'ed up royally.. and if you want to boycott them - by all means.
But boycott the entire company? That's just a little strange - do you really think that, for example, their overhead projector group has *anything* to do with the music division? Yet you're perfectly willing to 'punish' them equally. It's like as if you were to scratch up my car, and I suddenly shun business from your entire family - and make this clear to everybody, too.
So far my thoughts on it.. and I respect that you may not share those thoughts. You may still wish to boycott all of SONY. So be it.
However, have you considered just exactly how much you will be needing to boycott?
Just for kicks - did you happen to see "Memoirs of a geisha"? Let's say you did - oops: you already screwed up.. Memoirs of a geisha is a Sony Pictures Entertainment distribution. Maybe you didn't see it - but you'd like to go see "The DaVinci Code", "Spider-Man 3", "Hellboy 2", etc. Well, if you were to stick to your "boycott SONY", then you'll have to shun those, too. I'm sure your friends will understand when they ask you to go out with them, and you tell them "no - I'm boycotting SONY".
Of course it's not just these new movies. Did you happen to watch, rent, or buy any Columbia, Tristar or MGM movie? Yes? Oops again - SONY owns most of them. Yes, that's right - watching Tom & Jerry cartoons (that you didn't already own) means you're supporting SONY financially. Maybe you don't care for those, though - I've yet to see any Slashdot person not like Stargate SG-1, however... and assuming you are among them.. I feel for you - for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are Sony Pictures Television productions.
Now, obviously you didn't buy a PSP - but maybe some of your friends have, and you know they would really, really like this game for it.. and their birthday is coming up. Well, tough for them - because buying a PSP game also supports SONY.
And you certainly won't buy any CDs, yes (if you aren't already)? As, of course, SONY (and Philips) still get a tiny scraping of a dollar for every CD made - even if the music isn't connected to SONY in any way.
Come next hardware-upgrade, please also be sure to bring a magnifying glass so that you can check out the components on the PCB. Good chance there's some SONY Semiconductor...semiconductors on there.
The list goes on and on... quite honestly, you would be hurting yourself more than you would be hurting SONY. And what tiny little hurt you -do- do to SONY is being done to divisions that had zilch to do with the goof-up at SONY's music branch.
I'd love to see the day that Unilever, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble would all do something so outrageous (maybe RFID tracking) that somebody wishes to boycott them - hell, somebody make a documentary about that, and I'll gladly pay to see it:D
..because it wouldn't run under Windows 98. That's right, there were no drivers for the SCSI card that came with the 3c beyond Windows 95. You could purchase a SCSI card from a third party vendor with which it should work.
I said 'screw that' and purchased a whole new flatbed scanner for only slightly more, much later ( I actually got it running under 98 by disabling the DOS device drivers - but it was quite flakey; only scanned once in a series of attempts. )
That said.. I miss the 3c. It was relatively fast and quiet. This new one's fairly noisy; but faster, much higer actual resolution, can scan film and slides properly, and I can get 16bit color output from it. But still.. I miss the 3c.
Makes me wish I'd kept it around - just to sell to one of you Linux people, though;)
I'm sure you'll enjoy being the first to hear on a podcast how there how such-and-such died or so-and-so plane crashed... the day after it happened.
This applies to many things, really... don't forget that a 'podcast' is nothing more than a fancy word for easy 'subscription' to downloadable audio files. So you download the podcast, and listen to it on your way to work, etc. But once over - oh well, I guess you can listen to the same podcast again. And again. It's like having all your favorite music on there, except labeling it a 'podcast' from a 'podcast station'.
and who says they're slow? rather, who says they should be slow ?
here's the deal... there's a center bit (let's call it the axle) which picks up and, if at all done properly, holds the CD so that it can spin. The speed at which it can spin it is a limit of the motor, not anything else**
The amount of pick up, in the case of damages, is crucial*. Say the mechanism picks it up 1mm from the surface of the tray (assuming tray-loading). That's perfectly fine just for playing the CD/DVD back, even at high velocities. But if you change the angle of the device rapidly enough, you get gyro effects, and the CD/DVD will want to stay straight while the rest of the device tilts. So.. relative to the device, the CD/DVD will appear to tilt. Guess what happens if that tilt, at the edge, is just more than the 1mm of pick up?
So yes, this is a silly problem - they should have used drives with a higher pick up. That said, people need to quit screwing around with their devices' tilts angles unless it's when the thing is off and you're relocating it.
* another item, in case of extremely sudden tilt, is that the axle needs to be non-rigid, as otherwise the CD/DVD may break from the center (as the center would still be rigidly held by the axle).
** there's friction (with the air), of course, and a smaller pick up may actually lead to slightly higher friction, then there's instability of the CD/DVD which may cause vibrations which in turn limits the speed, etc. But overall, there's no technical reason a laptop/portable drive can't do 52x when a destop drive can.
Slashdot Mirror
Parallel parking isn't too difficult - I did it in my car all the time (I've moved to a location where I no longer need the car, public transport suits me fine and I like not having to pay all the taxes)... tight spots aren't a problem.
But along comes some asshole who turns that tight spot into an impossible spot by parking in front of / behind you without leaving enough room for you to get out comfortably. More often than not, you're not going to find the person to ask them to please move their car - or perhaps they can't anymore either. Rather than zig-zagging numerous times to edge my way out, I'd gently push the other car out of the way first - and if gently didn't work, firmly would; alarms be damned.
A system that can get you out of those -those- situations would be much more appreciated - like another commenter mentioned, those videos of cars with all four wheels turning a full 90 degrees, that's what we'd need.
well you gotta hand it to him... abstinence would indeed 'cure' AIDS. It would take several decades, but AIDS, at least among humans, would cease to exist. Of course, so would humanity %)
/responsibly/ - whether that's before or after marriage, with one person or 50 persons, opposite or same sex, doesn't really matter. Unfortunately common sense fails upon many of today's youth (13-17 year olds asking money or gifts in exchange for sexual favors in The Netherlands, for example. *cringe*).
--
Okay, back to all seriousness - there is currently no cure for AIDS, and I'm sure he never said that. I'm also quite sure he never mentioned that everybody should abstain indefinitely, as that indeed would mean no procreation and thus extinction of the human race. I'm going to guess that he was referring to not having sex before marriage, or at least not promiscuous sex. However you may feel about that, he has a point with it. Even when accounting for all the people who cheat on their spouses, and accounting for infection through blood transfusion, etc. there would be an undeniably large portion of society who - if they were to live by it - would have sex with one partner and one partner only. If in some tragic event one or the other had AIDS (e.g. through transfusion/whatever) before marriage, and the other contracts it upon consummation or some other point in their marriage, the spread will be limited to that one other person.
Compare this to many youngsters spreading STDs - not even referring to HIV here - among several people simply because they choose to have intimate sexual relations with multiple persons without being safe, etc. etc.
Of course they are both near the two ends of a wide spectrum of people's sexual activity, but I don't think it can be denied that the one end is inherently 'safer' than the other; exceptions (as usual) notwithstanding
--
Personally I'm all for people having sex
Of course if they included something that a serious graphics needy person
And when they offer a graphics application separately, the comments are just along the line of...
- bah, they just bought another company
- pff, it's not Photoshop
- boo, I'll stick with The Gimp
*yawn*
the bit about the TV stations is just the explanation I got from a local broadcaster - I'm not sure if it works differently in different countries/etc. I had to ring them up because I hadn't the foggiest what would be different in their 'journaal' (etc. o'clock news) broadcast when they were showing the anchor/live footage versus pre-taped footage and regular shows.. they're the ones suggesting I poke at the sync pulse circuitry :)
The sync pulse itself had a measurably lesser intensity on the scope when we hooked it up to check... we ended up tuning to CNN as that's almost all live, with the exception of the commercials. commercials cut in, sync pulse intensity dropped, TV picture drops (audio keeps going). commercials cut out, sync pulse intensity increased, TV picture back once more.
Of course it's too expensive... consider what it is;2 -Format-Explained.htm
"The PCMCIA card is actually an array of secure digital cards designed to work swiftly and in harmony to record large amounts of data"
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonics-P
It's like a Flash RAID stuck in a PCMCIA housing. Except you pay a premium for it. Which they can charge as there's no real aternative (other than tapes and HDDs)
Roughly right - related anyway.
The cause is in the Sync Pulse. When a TV receives that pulse, it can sync the beam up with the actual frames being broadcast. The Sync Pulse itself has to be within a particular region of levels below the 'black' level for the TV circuitry to identify it as such.
Now here's the kicker... many TV stations record the sync pulse with any footage, store it away, and re-use it. However, when they do so, a very slight difference in the Sync Pulse level can often be observed. This shouldn't be an issue, but if your TV is in the triggerhappy state mentioned, it just might say "that's no Sync Pulse" when it gets the lower level. Of course, when they're broadcasting the news, it's Live TV, and the Sync Pulse is generated on-the-fly, and thus at full strength.
That's why the TV will display fine when the News is on, until an earlier report is shown, and then is fine again once they go back to the anchorman/woman/team
More details on Sync Pulse: http://freespace.virgin.net/ljmayes.mal/var/tvsyn
I think you're leaving out a few factors, though... tradition and religion, for example.
/until/ they had the 5th or 6th child and had to pay for their education, etc.
If a society traditionally has large families, then it doesn't matter whether they live in poverty or health - they're likely keep that tradition.
As for religion - there's highly catholic families here who have 7-9 children. Not because they're poor - in fact, most of them lived in wealth
Of course these probably don't even begin to offset all the people who decide to have only 1 child or no children at all.
so a negative population growth, or a population decline if you will; negative birthrate is.. well I suppose it's what the GP poster described it as :)
I -have- worked in the repair/service industry - 70-odd TVs in total, just as part of an internship. That was some 6 years ago. Here's the deal...
:) ) and you have to dig for the solution for the specific board in question.
Let's say somebody brings in a TV which doesn't work anymore, or just flips out after being on for a while. What's the likely cause? Bad solder joint - typically around one of the FETs or around the HV transformer. Easy enough to fix - open up the casing, unplug the wires, slide the board out, re-solder all joints (when one fails, more fail, and you don't want the customer to come back in 2 weeks claiming your repair was botched and you'll have to open it up again, for free.), and put it all back together again.
All in all, it's an hour or an hour and them some later. You have to bill them at least for that. If it's an hour and then some - 2 hours, 2 * $30 (and that's a low price) is $60.
When TVs start costing only $180, who is going to pay $60 to get their old TV repaired? They'll just get a new one.
And this goes moreso when there are actual parts to replace, as you mentioned. And even moreso if the problem isn't trivial ( here's a nice one I encountered a couple of times... The TV display flips on and off all the time. When the news is on, it's fine - until they show a an earlier report. Cookies for those who know what's up and how to fix it
Additional variety, I suppose...
;)
o_o = blank stare
O_O = surprised?
ô_o = raising an eyebrow, possibly
o_O = confused-ish
ò_ó = pissed
ó_ò = sad or something
>_< = $^#&^#$&*!!!!!
^.^' = typical us/japanese cartoon eyes with the ol' giant drop of.. sweat, I suppose
And in addition, you can combine them with other characters for added personality
(>_<) = $^#&^#$&* CARTMAN!!!!!
[-_-].zZ = sleeping
Most phones can play MP3 files now.. heck, they could 2 years ago. The problem is that the phone operators deliberately disable functionality to, for example, copy files to the device or download them off the web if it has a browser. So you're forced to go through the provider or a third party 'ringtone' store such as Ringtone King, Jamba!, etc. in the EU (same company, different name, practically a monopoly) from which the provider gets a kickback.
Doesn't mean you can't get a phone which you -can- copy files with, though.. my $80 prepaid Sagem does it, and a $400 S/E w800i does it. Plenty of choice if you actually go and look for it.
Well, I suppose after all those Chest Reductions, somebody at Eidos was bound to notice eventually
I don't know why people bother with these 'obfuscation' / garble techniques on Slashdot comment threads. I wrote a mIRC script that unscrambles practically all of them with ease. The only ones it doesn't are the ones the user scrambled themselves - but all the automated slashdot stuff is a piece of cake.
If I can do it with a mIRC script, you bet an e-mail harvest is already doing it with a more dedicated tool.
n/t
I agree that Brainiac is a pretty shite show...
9 3318372088
However, they did manage to get one experiment done that the Mythbusters couldn't due to insurance reasons: an airplane's backwash blowing a car away.
The Mythbusters ended up using two low-power turbines on a rig, which blew off a fender and got the car quite hot, but that's about it.
Brainiac, on the other hand...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-13096106
Right.. physical security is a different beast entirely. Basically what I meant was this...
:) )
e gdudg19278egdeubchahd89q7y93y8vduasdhc8ew.html
Let's say I put highly secret material on my site at
http://www.mysite.com/abc.html - I don't index it, I don't link to it. I'm the only person who knows that the name of that file is "abc.html" ( short of my service provider, people inbetween when I visit, etc.; ignore them for a moment for the sake of the argument
Many people would say that it is merely security through obscurity.
Now let's say I make it:
http://www.mysite.com/ughe8hgva87g23y8ogh9a8g379y
Good luck guessing that any time soon. But isn't it still security through obscurity? Basically there is no real security - everybody can get at that file - if they knew what the filename was.
Now let's shift that to, say, an archive file that has been encrypted. Many would argue that its security is not security through obscurity - yet everybody can get at the file's contents.. if they knew what the key was.
It seems to me that any real level of security would not only make it (exceedingly) difficult to guess the passwords/keys - it would also lock you out (even if it's temporarily) if you guess wrong (be it once, twice, thrice.. whatever). Though that would be security through obscurity combined with security through throttling - or whatever that would be labeled.
Essentially, I'm not sure what software system of security isn't essentially one where its primary basis of security is that of obscurity - that of making it (exceedingly) difficult to guess the wrong password/key.
http://www.snopes.com/language/notthink/deserts.ht m
:| *eyes watch*
Slashdot requires you to wait at least 15 seconds before blablabla
At the time of this writing, it's not just Slashdotted - no, it's "Dugg/Slashdotted". Digg gets first mention... poor /. ;)
The literature bought for the Librie - did it include the clause that it was only good for 60 days?
I haven't read up... if no, yeah - that's f'ed up.
If yes - then I guess you really can't complain.
As for memorysticks having DRM - well, so does SD:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_Card
And -that- is what I was saying. Go ahead, boycott SONY all you want - that's fine. I'm just saying that it is unrealistic and you're essentially hurting the company and people with jobs behind it that had shit all to do with it.
..that you would've said "holy crap - what SONY Music did with that rootkit!? I'm quitting my job!"
Now you may have an interesting view on morals and, if you were working for SONY's, say... medical appliances division
But for most people, that's just BS.
That doesn't mean those people don't have morals, or that they support SONY Music's decisions. Nor does it mean that those who DO still buy SONY cameras, projectors, medical appliances, e-book readers, etc. support SONY Music's decisions.
Isn't all computer security in essence a security through obscurity ?
Sure.. you can have a 256-bit key encrypted thingamabob - but the obscurity lays in the fact that you should be the only person with the key. If somebody else, in whatever way, gets at the key, they can get in just like you did.
It's just a -better- form of security than, say, putting a file on a server, not indexing it, and leaving it with a random name. Yes, if somebody were to try all possible filenames on your server, they'll hit it eventually (if they don't drain your monthly bandwidth first), and that may be easier than getting hold of your 256-bit key. But that just makes it a -lesser- form of security.. not a particularly different kind when talking about 'security through obscurity'.
I'm getting quite tired of the "boycott SONY!" tirades some people go on.
:D
Yes, the music/CDs branch of SONY f'ed up royally.. and if you want to boycott them - by all means.
But boycott the entire company? That's just a little strange - do you really think that, for example, their overhead projector group has *anything* to do with the music division? Yet you're perfectly willing to 'punish' them equally. It's like as if you were to scratch up my car, and I suddenly shun business from your entire family - and make this clear to everybody, too.
So far my thoughts on it.. and I respect that you may not share those thoughts. You may still wish to boycott all of SONY. So be it.
However, have you considered just exactly how much you will be needing to boycott?
Just for kicks - did you happen to see "Memoirs of a geisha"? Let's say you did - oops: you already screwed up.. Memoirs of a geisha is a Sony Pictures Entertainment distribution. Maybe you didn't see it - but you'd like to go see "The DaVinci Code", "Spider-Man 3", "Hellboy 2", etc. Well, if you were to stick to your "boycott SONY", then you'll have to shun those, too. I'm sure your friends will understand when they ask you to go out with them, and you tell them "no - I'm boycotting SONY".
Of course it's not just these new movies. Did you happen to watch, rent, or buy any Columbia, Tristar or MGM movie? Yes? Oops again - SONY owns most of them. Yes, that's right - watching Tom & Jerry cartoons (that you didn't already own) means you're supporting SONY financially.
Maybe you don't care for those, though - I've yet to see any Slashdot person not like Stargate SG-1, however... and assuming you are among them.. I feel for you - for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are Sony Pictures Television productions.
Now, obviously you didn't buy a PSP - but maybe some of your friends have, and you know they would really, really like this game for it.. and their birthday is coming up. Well, tough for them - because buying a PSP game also supports SONY.
And you certainly won't buy any CDs, yes (if you aren't already)? As, of course, SONY (and Philips) still get a tiny scraping of a dollar for every CD made - even if the music isn't connected to SONY in any way.
Come next hardware-upgrade, please also be sure to bring a magnifying glass so that you can check out the components on the PCB. Good chance there's some SONY Semiconductor...semiconductors on there.
The list goes on and on... quite honestly, you would be hurting yourself more than you would be hurting SONY. And what tiny little hurt you -do- do to SONY is being done to divisions that had zilch to do with the goof-up at SONY's music branch.
I'd love to see the day that Unilever, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble would all do something so outrageous (maybe RFID tracking) that somebody wishes to boycott them - hell, somebody make a documentary about that, and I'll gladly pay to see it
..because it wouldn't run under Windows 98. That's right, there were no drivers for the SCSI card that came with the 3c beyond Windows 95. You could purchase a SCSI card from a third party vendor with which it should work.
;)
I said 'screw that' and purchased a whole new flatbed scanner for only slightly more, much later
( I actually got it running under 98 by disabling the DOS device drivers - but it was quite flakey; only scanned once in a series of attempts. )
That said.. I miss the 3c. It was relatively fast and quiet. This new one's fairly noisy; but faster, much higer actual resolution, can scan film and slides properly, and I can get 16bit color output from it.
But still.. I miss the 3c.
Makes me wish I'd kept it around - just to sell to one of you Linux people, though
news broadcast
I'm sure you'll enjoy being the first to hear on a podcast how there how such-and-such died or so-and-so plane crashed... the day after it happened.
This applies to many things, really... don't forget that a 'podcast' is nothing more than a fancy word for easy 'subscription' to downloadable audio files. So you download the podcast, and listen to it on your way to work, etc. But once over - oh well, I guess you can listen to the same podcast again. And again. It's like having all your favorite music on there, except labeling it a 'podcast' from a 'podcast station'.
Sorry, but no - podcasts aren't radio.
caddies? what modern-day laptop uses caddies ?
and who says they're slow? rather, who says they should be slow ?
here's the deal... there's a center bit (let's call it the axle) which picks up and, if at all done properly, holds the CD so that it can spin. The speed at which it can spin it is a limit of the motor, not anything else**
The amount of pick up, in the case of damages, is crucial*. Say the mechanism picks it up 1mm from the surface of the tray (assuming tray-loading). That's perfectly fine just for playing the CD/DVD back, even at high velocities. But if you change the angle of the device rapidly enough, you get gyro effects, and the CD/DVD will want to stay straight while the rest of the device tilts. So.. relative to the device, the CD/DVD will appear to tilt. Guess what happens if that tilt, at the edge, is just more than the 1mm of pick up?
So yes, this is a silly problem - they should have used drives with a higher pick up. That said, people need to quit screwing around with their devices' tilts angles unless it's when the thing is off and you're relocating it.
* another item, in case of extremely sudden tilt, is that the axle needs to be non-rigid, as otherwise the CD/DVD may break from the center (as the center would still be rigidly held by the axle).
** there's friction (with the air), of course, and a smaller pick up may actually lead to slightly higher friction, then there's instability of the CD/DVD which may cause vibrations which in turn limits the speed, etc. But overall, there's no technical reason a laptop/portable drive can't do 52x when a destop drive can.