I don't find it funny that three companies have by chance chosen the same stock photo. What's is completely ROTFFL funny is that fact that SCO uses the photo and tries to cover up the fact that it is a derivative work based on a red hat.
Cheap Linux PCs. What an origional idea! Maybe they can use little cubes for cases and paint them Cobalt blue.
rightHand, I would like to introduce you to leftHand.
I hereby release this Make-More-Money idea under the GPLOTR:
Puzzle Pieces:
1. Negotiate rights to an animated Hobbit/LOTR series.
1a. This need not even be an existing company like Pixar/Disney. As you read more of my idea you will see how this could be a brand new company started w/VC money. Hell, they could even IPO before even release so much as a static pencil storyboard cell.
2. Take "today's" current CG-movie technology (ala Monsters, inc., Final Fantasy, Shrek) and start production on the first 60 minutes of the series.
3. Be 100% faithful, word for word when possible, to the original text of the series.
4. Work on the series continuously, never stopping production, until the entire 4-book series is completed (Silmarillion would be available only on the Director's cut, all three directors (1 dead, 1 moved to Mars, 1 now working on "Matrix 42: Neo Rebooted", platinum-coated MPEG-12 encoded DVD5+ format in the year 2010)
Here's the kicker...
5. With each release of an episode (oh, every three months or so) they re-render the previously released episodes using the latest technologies. Each rendering being incrementally more realistic. (Well, as realistic as one can make a fictitious Middle-Earth).
Imagine what a first-edition episode one DVD would be worth when the final episode is released. Or better yet, the whole series is released on a 1cm^3 data-cube 12 years after the first episode was released.
Seriously though, I cannot imagine that somebody hasn't seriously looked into doing something similar to this by now.
JoesChickenShack.org was shut down today as the result of yet another unbelievably ignorant court ruling. Due to complete techno illiteracy amongst the entire judicial ranks Judge I.P. Luddite said that Joes Chicken Shack was stealing customers from AOLTimeWarnerWallMartAmazonWebVanNike.com by taking advantage of the TCP/IP address space.
Judge Luddite ruling stated, "It is obvious what Joe is up to. 192.168.123.50 is just typosquatting. I'm sure it is no coincidence that AOLTimeWarnerWallMartAmazonWebVanNike.com's IP address is 192.168.123.05"
After this commercial break we Ask Slashdot: Should all Judges be MSCE certified?
Does anybody have an informed guess as to what it would cost to encrypt all email?
Does anybody have any recent numbers? I believe that email packets make up a majority of the Net's traffic.
I believe that if MTAs were responsible for encrypting and decrypting all email, the network would grind to a halt as CPUs everywhere are overloaded. It seems that the only solution to that problem is distributed computing. IOW client-side en/decryption. Now we are full circle back to the client-side usability problems.
Couldn't MTA-to-MTA traffic be handled by SSL? That would add some anti-snooping. Probably enough for most people's concerns. Then we just need to make client to MTA connections default to SSL. In an ideal world (meaning most of the general public) would have a email client that used APOP to pass their password, use SSL when talking to their mail server, and mail servers would use SSL to talk to each other.
The problem is that some of those 800 numbers forward you to another number. Those are toll calls and end up on your bill. They often con you into "agreeing" to the charge with a message up from like "If want to take advantage of the offer we emailed you, press 1." If you press 1 thinking you will get a chance to yell at a real person, you are wrong, You just agreed to have your phone bill charged.
Bottom line: be carefull when calling "free" phone numbers.
I saw Antitrust yesterday and of course I went to check out skullbocks.com, skullbocks.net, and skullbocks.org when I got home. It looks like MGM hasn't thought of a good idea for what to host there. (At the time of this posting they have a generic "under construction" page posted at all sites)
Then I had an idea... I wondered what would happen if somebody like Jon Katz posted an open email to MGM with some of the following ideas:
Post the source code to DeCSS on the skullbocks.* sites.
Create and seed fund the cerebellum-project. The cerebellum-project would be an open source project to build a server to archive and search digital video. A joint search engine and archive. MGM should also seed the archive by releasing old movies under some audio/video GPL.
Just an open idea. What else can you think to add?
I have heard it mentioned in several places that music CD sales have increased lately. Some then add parenthetically that this is despite the popularity of MP3s. Others go so far as to attempt to relate the two.
There is no way to prove the two are related. MP3 lovers just throw this statistic out there to defend against the claim that much of the MP3s available are pirated copies of commercial music CDs. MP3ers can't prove MP3s help CD sales, and likewise record companies can't prove that MP3s hurt CD sales.
However, I would venture to guess that MP3s probably have contributed to CD sales. Many people probably download a few MP3 and then go out and buy the CD. Why?
Most people probably have a 56K modem connection and can only realistically download two or three songs at a time. They probably heard something on the radio and wanted the MP3. They can't download a whole album, let alone multiple albums, on such a slow connection. But this will change as DSL and cable modems become more prolific.
Most people don't have an MP3 player in their car. I would venture that some plug their portable MP3 players into their car stereo, but most probably don't. I am sure this will change soon. I am sure Sony has quite a quandary on their hands over the following: Memory stick in VAIO, RIP CD to MP3, put memory stick in MP3 walkman while jog, put same memory stick in Sony in-dash stereo in your SUV while you drive over subcompacts on the way to work. Quite tough to look at potential $ sales of electronics based on MP3 technology and also be a record label.
Boomboxes! None of the portable boomboxes out there support MP3 yet. Until then, CD sales. Once there is MP3 support for portables that have loudspeakers and bass tubes, no more need to buy CDs for your current boomboxes for those late night parties in the local park.
So CD sales are probably up because people are listening to more music because of MP3's popularity, but the technology isn't fully accepted into the mainstream electronics market. Once people can download MP3's in seconds over their cable modems to memory sticks and then put them in car stereos and boomboxes, I am sure CD sales will suffer.
I have thought about this a bit since posting the question and what what I have thought of is something along the lines of a database coupled with a google-like daemon. You add bookmarks to the database. The daemon goes out to the page and caches the page in the database. The google daemon (god) then suggests a catagory to file it in. The user, or course, can hand tweak the suggestion. When you are looking for the bookmark a search can be run against any or all of the following: page title, URL, catagory(ies), or FTS of the cached page.
Slashdot Mirror
Ask him. He's the one that believes in sequels.
I don't find it funny that three companies have by chance chosen the same stock photo. What's is completely ROTFFL funny is that fact that SCO uses the photo and tries to cover up the fact that it is a derivative work based on a red hat.
Buckyballs, Bonsais, and Bits
Cheap Linux PCs. What an origional idea! Maybe they can use little cubes for cases and paint them Cobalt blue. rightHand, I would like to introduce you to leftHand.
I thought that this was one of the better articles I have seen on /. in a long time. Kudos to al3x.
He should change the lyrics to "Don't you know that nobody buys it who's techno"
I hereby release this Make-More-Money idea under the GPLOTR:
Puzzle Pieces:
1. Negotiate rights to an animated Hobbit/LOTR series.
1a. This need not even be an existing company like Pixar/Disney. As you read more of my idea you will see how this could be a brand new company started w/VC money. Hell, they could even IPO before even release so much as a static pencil storyboard cell.
2. Take "today's" current CG-movie technology (ala Monsters, inc., Final Fantasy, Shrek) and start production on the first 60 minutes of the series.
3. Be 100% faithful, word for word when possible, to the original text of the series.
4. Work on the series continuously, never stopping production, until the entire 4-book series is completed (Silmarillion would be available only on the Director's cut, all three directors (1 dead, 1 moved to Mars, 1 now working on "Matrix 42: Neo Rebooted", platinum-coated MPEG-12 encoded DVD5+ format in the year 2010)
Here's the kicker...
5. With each release of an episode (oh, every three months or so) they re-render the previously released episodes using the latest technologies. Each rendering being incrementally more realistic. (Well, as realistic as one can make a fictitious Middle-Earth).
Imagine what a first-edition episode one DVD would be worth when the final episode is released. Or better yet, the whole series is released on a 1cm^3 data-cube 12 years after the first episode was released.
Seriously though, I cannot imagine that somebody hasn't seriously looked into doing something similar to this by now.
JoesChickenShack.org was shut down today as the result of yet another unbelievably ignorant court ruling. Due to complete techno illiteracy amongst the entire judicial ranks Judge I.P. Luddite said that Joes Chicken Shack was stealing customers from AOLTimeWarnerWallMartAmazonWebVanNike.com by taking advantage of the TCP/IP address space. Judge Luddite ruling stated, "It is obvious what Joe is up to. 192.168.123.50 is just typosquatting. I'm sure it is no coincidence that AOLTimeWarnerWallMartAmazonWebVanNike.com's IP address is 192.168.123.05"
After this commercial break we Ask Slashdot: Should all Judges be MSCE certified?
Does anybody have an informed guess as to what it would cost to encrypt all email?
Does anybody have any recent numbers? I believe that email packets make up a majority of the Net's traffic.
I believe that if MTAs were responsible for encrypting and decrypting all email, the network would grind to a halt as CPUs everywhere are overloaded. It seems that the only solution to that problem is distributed computing. IOW client-side en/decryption. Now we are full circle back to the client-side usability problems.
Couldn't MTA-to-MTA traffic be handled by SSL? That would add some anti-snooping. Probably enough for most people's concerns. Then we just need to make client to MTA connections default to SSL. In an ideal world (meaning most of the general public) would have a email client that used APOP to pass their password, use SSL when talking to their mail server, and mail servers would use SSL to talk to each other.
Or am I just ignorant of this topic?
Bottom line: be carefull when calling "free" phone numbers.
 
I saw Antitrust yesterday and of course I went to check out skullbocks.com, skullbocks.net, and skullbocks.org when I got home. It looks like MGM hasn't thought of a good idea for what to host there. (At the time of this posting they have a generic "under construction" page posted at all sites)
Then I had an idea... I wondered what would happen if somebody like Jon Katz posted an open email to MGM with some of the following ideas:
Just an open idea. What else can you think to add?
thanx, chaim
I have heard it mentioned in several places that music CD sales have increased lately. Some then add parenthetically that this is despite the popularity of MP3s. Others go so far as to attempt to relate the two.
There is no way to prove the two are related. MP3 lovers just throw this statistic out there to defend against the claim that much of the MP3s available are pirated copies of commercial music CDs. MP3ers can't prove MP3s help CD sales, and likewise record companies can't prove that MP3s hurt CD sales.
However, I would venture to guess that MP3s probably have contributed to CD sales. Many people probably download a few MP3 and then go out and buy the CD. Why?
Most people probably have a 56K modem connection and can only realistically download two or three songs at a time. They probably heard something on the radio and wanted the MP3. They can't download a whole album, let alone multiple albums, on such a slow connection. But this will change as DSL and cable modems become more prolific.
Most people don't have an MP3 player in their car. I would venture that some plug their portable MP3 players into their car stereo, but most probably don't. I am sure this will change soon. I am sure Sony has quite a quandary on their hands over the following: Memory stick in VAIO, RIP CD to MP3, put memory stick in MP3 walkman while jog, put same memory stick in Sony in-dash stereo in your SUV while you drive over subcompacts on the way to work. Quite tough to look at potential $ sales of electronics based on MP3 technology and also be a record label.
Boomboxes! None of the portable boomboxes out there support MP3 yet. Until then, CD sales. Once there is MP3 support for portables that have loudspeakers and bass tubes, no more need to buy CDs for your current boomboxes for those late night parties in the local park.
So CD sales are probably up because people are listening to more music because of MP3's popularity, but the technology isn't fully accepted into the mainstream electronics market. Once people can download MP3's in seconds over their cable modems to memory sticks and then put them in car stereos and boomboxes, I am sure CD sales will suffer.
I have thought about this a bit since posting the question and what what I have thought of is something along the lines of a database coupled with a google-like daemon. You add bookmarks to the database. The daemon goes out to the page and caches the page in the database. The google daemon (god) then suggests a catagory to file it in. The user, or course, can hand tweak the suggestion. When you are looking for the bookmark a search can be run against any or all of the following: page title, URL, catagory(ies), or FTS of the cached page.