Troll, sorry, I'm serious and name calling is such a mature thing to do.
This isn't a monopolistic issue. There is no law that I know of that states that one companies software must work with anothers (that goes for here in the US and in the EU, however I'm no law pro, so I might be wrong). No matter how big the company is. An this is the issue at hand in this case, not M$'s dirty business practices, well maybe, but no real way to prove it. The only way the EU has a leg to stand on, is if in their contract that they signed with M$, it states that M$ guarantee's that their software will work with the current EU systems. Or something along those lines. If that the case then the EU is in the right. If it's not, then they are just being cry-babies. I haven't seen anything mentioning the contract though, I'll have to dig deeper.
As much as I can't stand the way M$ does business, I still have to step back and seperate things with each issue. If the EU doesn't like what they have, then they should find something else. Sitting on their thumbs and fining a company a set ammount that the company makes in 10 seconds and will never pay isn't going to do anything.
You want to hurt M$, don't use it or use it as little as possible. I completely understand that what I say is nearly impossible from certain standpoints, but it's an option that could net more results then sitting around and waiting for M$ to do anything it doesn't want to.
My question would be this, Why should they have to comply? The EU is not an open source only market. While I do have a distain for M$ in many areas, the fact that they are a closed source company isn't one of them. Fact is, M$ is closed source and always has been. It's not like they were open and just recently said "Ah the hell with it" and closed the doors on the code. The EU knew this going in and are now trying to strongarm a company into doing what it wants. Sounds like political terrorism to me.
Any company that wants certain features in any application that they pay for normally has a few choices. They can pay the maker of the software to develope the compatability they need, in which the software maker can still say no, or they can hire developers to try and do what they need. Why does the EU think that they are special? Keep in mind folks, they arn't looking for this as a way to help the citizens of the EU, it's to help fix a problem with the EU's governmental systems.
To me it's kinda like a large group adopts Candy Company X's candy bar as their official snack. The said large groups wants chocolate sprinkles on the candy bar for whatever reason. They ask Candy Company X to do so and for the same price, and CC X says no. So rather then just add the sprinkles themselves, they sue the candy company to get their way. It's a load of crap.
Keep in mind folks that even as closed as M$'s software is, there are a ton of security issues. Now force them to open things up and what do you think you will get? A global nightmare. An the, "well, guess you shouldn't use such a flawed system" excuse from other OS zelots isn't going to cut it. Like it or not, you will be affected. What do you think your banks use, the transit systems, governments and so on. Like it or not, the world mostly runs on M$. Untill that changes, no one is exempt.
It's not the first time. Back in the mid 90's Pepsi did a test market on a similair product that they called Pepsi Kona - Link . I had some family that worked for them at the time and somehow I ened up with 2 six-packs of the stuff.
The tase took a little getting used to, but the caffine kick was amazing. I was working 3rd shift at the time so the energy boost was welcomed. 2 Cans before I went to work and I was wired all night.
I found the caffine buzz to be as good as the same ammount of Jolt but without the sugar shakes to go along with it.
Coke might be able to pull this off, have to wait and see. It's all going to boil down to taste.
As soon as they get this into humans, my side business of stealing kidney's and selling them on the blak market is going to go strait down the drain.
Is it a threat, of course
on
EZTree Shuts Down
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Because it's no longer a matter of are the files being traded illegal, it's the fact that someone could trade an illegal file if they wanted to.
Soon, you won't be able to buy a razor to shave with because you "could" break it down and use it as a weapon.
This is how the corporate world works, let something get popular then tear it down even if it's not a "real" threat So long as they are the last choice for where to get the product for a while, thats all they care. How long have CD's been at the same price when we all know that the technology's over all cost is nowhere near what it was 15 years ago?
It's a no brainer that voIP is where things are going to end up. The simple solution is for the telco's to jump on that poney and ride it to the bank. The R&D is already done, the equipment prices have come down. While I don't have any figured to work with, I'm sure the return on investment if they plan correctly can't be that bad.
It's like the US post office issue, e-mail is causing them to loose money. Simple solution. USPS internet kiosks where you pay for time to use their system to access your e-mail. Those that don't have laptops/handhelds but have $1 for 30min of time would jump on it. The market is there, just have to have the right bait to real them in. Problem is that telco's like the USPS have been doing things the same way for so long, change is a very painfull process. Welp, take a pain pill and get moving you corporate lackies.
You don't even have to go new high-tech for this. I have used older vid conferencing cams that have 180 degree pan/tilt w/8x optical and 12x digital zoom. Get a few cards for the pc that can handle multiple input's, the right software for handeling multiple cams and some software that will allow you to move the camera's via web site and you've got it made.
As for the gun thing, I've always ad guns growing up as my father used to instruct combat shooting to the NY state police way back in the day. I too have gone through the same training. If you are going to get a gun, learn how to use the damn thing. If you are going to pull it, you better use it since you never know what the person that broke into your house has. However, learn about the gun and how to aim and fire it. Last thing you want to do is injure someone that could still manage to harm you and now has even more motivation to do so. But make sure of your target, you also own want to kill little jimmy that just got up for a quick leak in the john.
Does a company name have to get reused in a failing situation befoer they realize that it's not going to %^%^*@ work??? There was a time and place for pay on-line music and it would have worked. However the RIAA had to stick it's nose into everythign and then try to sue every 9 year old and 68 year old it could fine and blew that chance right out of the water.
Napter is dead, let it die folks. The name now has more of a humorus meaning then anything. When there are jokes about it in a Marky-Mark movie, it's time to think of a batter name (the Italian Job was a decent movie though).
I still pay for my music, but now I download what I want to check out, buy it if I like it and wipe my HD clean every few weeks just in case those retards figure I'm not caughing up enough cash for them. If it's crap music, I don't want it, if I don't like it I don't want it and I won't keep it. Why I buy it, it's mine, and back the hell off.
Because someone will always find the hack around it. Some of us don't have OBDII cars, I have an 88' VW that doesn't even have proper EFI let along a way for them to check any of that great info.
Let them try and make me get rid of my car. It gets 30+mpg and can pass a smog test without trying and do all of this at 80pmh. Guess Dodge will have to kill it's entire truck line before my car goes away.
Top that off with the fact that any other means to track something in my car should be able to eb stopped with a nice led box. There is always a way around this kind of gestoppo crap. Too many of the people of this country will poke and prod these things untill there is a way to make them useless or unreliable. Hell, the car manufactures can't even make a good car anymore, these people can't build a hackproop box.
Add a Tracking System to this as well
on
Synthetic Vision
·
· Score: 1
They need to add tracking system so that we don't shoot are own troops as well. With that incotrporated along with the ideas of wire framing mountains and such to see through them, it could be a useful tool so long as it doesn't end up weighing 40lbs and require a small mini sat-dish to be sticking out of their bung.
Then again, this system could also be a peeping-tom's best friend. No more need to hang from tree's or below window sills. Just act like you are waiting for the bus or cleaning the sidewalk and wow would ya look at that.
I work in the IT Dept. for a large company and I just piggy back my backup tapes and or CD's with the ones from my employer.
I do this with my Boss's permission of course and the offsite company that stores our data is very nice, I've taken a tour of the facility. The vault is water/fire proof, climate controlled and insured out the wahzoo. Best of all, I don't have to pay for it even though I did offer.
Those of you that work for companies that use an offsite storage vendor may want to look into something similair to what I did. Even for a small fee it's well worth it.
I also keep a duplicate set close to home so that I can get to them in a major emergency.
I sure do know what it means. In a way it's a great thing if you can keep it that way acrossed the board. However, in the PC world today, trying to make things uniform 100% would be hard. I'm not downing Mac's for being proprietary, it makes them so much easier to work on then PC's at times. I'm just stating that in the PC world, the floppy or a device like it, is still needed and phasing it out is still a long way off.
I think the floppy could die, but needs to be replaced with something like the LS-120. Too many of us out there still need floppies for nework drivers, boot disks, bios flashes, diag utilities that don't like mem managers and so on.
While CD's are cheap, it sure is a waste to only have 300k or so on something that can hold 650mb. Not to mention if I drop it on the floor, theres a good chance it will get scratched.
Yes, something needs to replace the floppy, it needs to be re-writable, same size as a floppy disk or a tad smaller and hold 2mb or better.
Mac's can get away with it since most of them are so proprietary that everything is the same so everything should work the same. PC's are like people, every one is a little different and they all have different needs
We all knew this was going to happen at some point. We are already a walking advertisements (nike hats, shoes, shirts, etc..) it's really about time in this day and age that human advertising machine became interactive.
Think about the future this could bring, We advance from having a flat screen on the front and batteries on the back to an imbeded LCD/plasma screen in the chest and runs right off the electricity created by the brain. The games/advertisements are stored in the brain as well and just played back from memory.
Who needs walls and signs when the human body could do it more efficiently.
Of course, when this happens for real, I think it will be time to check myself out of the gene pool.
I've had to give it to Apple in the past, they have come out with some damn nice looking machines. However, this time, I looks like they have run out of idea. To me this thing looks like a blob of clay with a flat screen LCD jammed on it by a stick.
While I am very impressed with the lack of footprint this design brings, It's just not very appealing to me. To top it all off, I thought the Imac was a PIA to upgrade the ram in, I can't imaging how careful you must have to be with that LCD monitor wavering about above it. Maybe it has a nice access door so you don't have to flip the thing over or something.
In closing, I know I'm gonna get the stamp of flamebait, but this thing just really isn't eye appealing. Bring back the mac cube, at least it was a shape geeks could get into.
or more like hurdles and issues. First off, I see too many ways this could be used for Pure evil. As many have already said, the Gov knowing where, when and how I spend my money is none of their damn business (though they seems to think it is).
Since I'm going to guess that the RF in RFID means radio frequency, how long before your average pick pocket/mugger is using a detection device see just how much is in your wallet. An rightly so, I think that the store owner needs not know what's in my wallet either as I already can't stand it when they try to sell you up, imagine how much harder they will try if they can see how much your holding on you.
Now, onto the hurdles. I think they will have a hard time getting this to work since things like water, micro-wave emmissions, the crushing force of being sat on in a wallet are all factors that could destroy an RF device. Top that off with the need for a system that can read that signal while also keeping it secure so that average criminal's can't use it for thier own needs.
Another question would be, how much will this technology cost per bill and will it have an effect on the bills worth? While Europe seems to be very heavy in the way of tracking it's people (camera's everywhere) I think this is one way that will give them nothing but fits.
While I certainly hate to see something like this happen to MS (Massive ammounts of sarcasim in tone)
Could this not be seen as an unfair move by the government towards MS by the business world?
If this sort of thing were to happen more often (government putting ppl in place to watch a company) what is to stop the government from controling the companies and putting whoever they want out in front?
I have brought this up to my superiors several times and then get reminded that we only have 1 link to the "internet" and am told there is no need. They don't understand that attacks can come from within and that even 1 outside connection is all it takes.
I've started putting some info together on possible situations and what should be done but but I'm not a security guru and could use some tips on possible senarios or some form of an example that might wake the management up in this company.
And for those that seem to think you are reading between the lines, thats not an open invite to attack.
Yes, there is some impact, thats why i said, no real impact rather then no impact at all. Truth is, the north slope is not what most ppl think. Durring the winter months it's basicly a wasteland. While there are a few heards of several thousand moose/caribou and arctic fox in the area, over the years they have learned to stear clear of the buildings and traffic really isn't a problem.
The handful of roads and trucks that do exist there are built for the pipeline security and maintainace folks, this has been in place for years and no offence, but it's damn hard to miss a 7 foot moose with a 6 foot acrossed rack in a giant field of white. For the 14 years my relative worked up there, there was only 1 moose fatiality due to a truck and thats cause the moose rammed it while it was parked.
This new facility in the short term will have some effect yes, due to noise of construction ect. Once the facility is built things will return to normal (if it can be called that). As for high voltage systems, guess they will have to use those fences or do what most of the buildings there do, keep them on the inside and underground. Same for the cooling systems.
Most people don't know that almost everything ever done on the north slope had to go through tremendous amounts regulations as to have as little of an effect on the wild life as possible. So there was much moved into areas that just can't be accessed by animals. It's not perfect, but it's one of the best jobs that humans could do aside from not building anything there at all.
While I think this is great coming from such a large name such as Nokia, I have consernes about this project going the way of Indreama or that this is an empty promise since it is projecting a very short time line.
Just for the sake that it's true, going open source for the OS and having open architecture is a very nice touch that is sure to attract attention and hackers everywhere. Marketshare will have to depend on who they attract to write games for this system (part of the Indreama's problem).
All in all this sounds great but I will wait to see this thing in cold hard plastic and in a store near me before I start reaching for my wallet.
Even still, I find this to be an odd move for Nokia to try and break into this market suddenly.
There really wont be any impact on the animal life in the area if this site goes up. I have a relative that worked on the North Slope for many years in the employ of the oil corp. While he was there he filmed the wild life and the effect that the oil facilitied had on them as well as human presence.
Many were shocked to find that after the construction was finished the wildlife moved right back in and hardly payed the large pipes any attention. While they will keep their distance from humans they seem to care less about all the steel and concreat.
As for who would stay up there and for how long, my relatives shift was 3 weeks up at the slope and 2 weeks at home and the company flew him there and back. He always seemed to like the schedule as he felt like he was always getting a 2 week vacation.
The only real problems I can see with something liek this is hardware breakage and replacement. If something goes down and there isn't a replacement on site, it could take a few days pending on a few factors.
1. Availability of a replacement
2. Shipping time to a staging point (Usualy Ancorage)
3. Flight time (weather is a massive factor here as the cross to the slope is well into the arctice circle and the plane must cross the Brooks Range)
Other then those areas, the only other thing I could suggest is that there be 3-4 ppl on site all the time since human interaction is a must even for the most anti-social person in a place like that where going outside could mean facing -70+ temps and everyting is all white for most of the year.
Big companies like Compaq don't make the magnets themselves so how can they be responcable? They buy the components from other companies and then assemble them. So if there is a patent violation going on, shouldn't it be directed at the companies that are actually makeing these magnets and not paying the "in this case" Stupid patent fees?
I have to agree with alot of other people have said. Suing has just become another tool used byu businesses to gain income. Maybe they see it as R&D. Pour some money in, possibly get some big money out. I'm getting sick of having to pay for it at the retail store though. I think the USPO needs a serious over-hual and someone that can go in and say that a patent sucks, shouldn't have been granted and kill it.
As a Systems/Network Analyst in Georgia US, I work an average of about 45-55 hours durring a normal week.
If it's a week that I'm on call it can be anywhere from 45-55 all the way to 70+ pending on what kind of problems occure (server crash/router failure/switch blows a blade).
The hours arn't the real killer, it's something that has been covered here many times and thats the lack of pay for the extra hours. As a salaried worker, I see nothing past 40 hours in my paycheck:-(
all to well since I'm pretty much in the same boat. While I must agree with several other posts that acceptance/credability comes easier if your supervisor/manager's are closer to your age group, also try to see things from the acient's point of view.
In their time, experience and credablity could only come from many years of doing something and while times have changed remember, in a corporate world, change doesn't come easy if at all in some cases.
I work for a large company, our location containes roughly 900 workstation and there is only a team of 4 people, myself included to support them and the 24 servers that run this building. I help to cover everything from simple hardrive replacements to installing a blade in a cisco switch and bringing it online. (not as glorious as coding applications but I like it)
As the youngest (and most experienced) on the team, my 32 year old supervisor has no problems taking what I say for thruth. However, in turn our older director that must clear all projects or change thinks nothing of reminding me of my age and that there must be some other way to do things (wether I'm saving them a ton of money on the project or not).
Similar things happen as we get older which I have also seen mentioned here as well. Add family, possible health problems, and climbing salary to keep a well experienced person, you will think your back to being young again due to the treatment.
Basicly, it's unfortunate, but it's part of the corporate world and the best thing I have found that helps me deal with it all, is firing up quake when I get home and just kill everything in sight. I find it much better then going postal on fellow employee's since it keep me outta jail and closer to my computers.
Slashdot Mirror
Troll, sorry, I'm serious and name calling is such a mature thing to do.
This isn't a monopolistic issue. There is no law that I know of that states that one companies software must work with anothers (that goes for here in the US and in the EU, however I'm no law pro, so I might be wrong). No matter how big the company is. An this is the issue at hand in this case, not M$'s dirty business practices, well maybe, but no real way to prove it. The only way the EU has a leg to stand on, is if in their contract that they signed with M$, it states that M$ guarantee's that their software will work with the current EU systems. Or something along those lines. If that the case then the EU is in the right. If it's not, then they are just being cry-babies. I haven't seen anything mentioning the contract though, I'll have to dig deeper.
As much as I can't stand the way M$ does business, I still have to step back and seperate things with each issue. If the EU doesn't like what they have, then they should find something else. Sitting on their thumbs and fining a company a set ammount that the company makes in 10 seconds and will never pay isn't going to do anything.
You want to hurt M$, don't use it or use it as little as possible. I completely understand that what I say is nearly impossible from certain standpoints, but it's an option that could net more results then sitting around and waiting for M$ to do anything it doesn't want to.
My question would be this, Why should they have to comply? The EU is not an open source only market. While I do have a distain for M$ in many areas, the fact that they are a closed source company isn't one of them. Fact is, M$ is closed source and always has been. It's not like they were open and just recently said "Ah the hell with it" and closed the doors on the code. The EU knew this going in and are now trying to strongarm a company into doing what it wants. Sounds like political terrorism to me.
Any company that wants certain features in any application that they pay for normally has a few choices. They can pay the maker of the software to develope the compatability they need, in which the software maker can still say no, or they can hire developers to try and do what they need. Why does the EU think that they are special? Keep in mind folks, they arn't looking for this as a way to help the citizens of the EU, it's to help fix a problem with the EU's governmental systems.
To me it's kinda like a large group adopts Candy Company X's candy bar as their official snack. The said large groups wants chocolate sprinkles on the candy bar for whatever reason. They ask Candy Company X to do so and for the same price, and CC X says no. So rather then just add the sprinkles themselves, they sue the candy company to get their way. It's a load of crap.
Keep in mind folks that even as closed as M$'s software is, there are a ton of security issues. Now force them to open things up and what do you think you will get? A global nightmare. An the, "well, guess you shouldn't use such a flawed system" excuse from other OS zelots isn't going to cut it. Like it or not, you will be affected. What do you think your banks use, the transit systems, governments and so on. Like it or not, the world mostly runs on M$. Untill that changes, no one is exempt.
It's not the first time. Back in the mid 90's Pepsi did a test market on a similair product that they called Pepsi Kona - Link . I had some family that worked for them at the time and somehow I ened up with 2 six-packs of the stuff.
The tase took a little getting used to, but the caffine kick was amazing. I was working 3rd shift at the time so the energy boost was welcomed. 2 Cans before I went to work and I was wired all night.
I found the caffine buzz to be as good as the same ammount of Jolt but without the sugar shakes to go along with it.
Coke might be able to pull this off, have to wait and see. It's all going to boil down to taste.
As soon as they get this into humans, my side business of stealing kidney's and selling them on the blak market is going to go strait down the drain.
Because it's no longer a matter of are the files being traded illegal, it's the fact that someone could trade an illegal file if they wanted to.
Soon, you won't be able to buy a razor to shave with because you "could" break it down and use it as a weapon.
This is how the corporate world works, let something get popular then tear it down even if it's not a "real" threat So long as they are the last choice for where to get the product for a while, thats all they care. How long have CD's been at the same price when we all know that the technology's over all cost is nowhere near what it was 15 years ago?
It's a no brainer that voIP is where things are going to end up. The simple solution is for the telco's to jump on that poney and ride it to the bank. The R&D is already done, the equipment prices have come down. While I don't have any figured to work with, I'm sure the return on investment if they plan correctly can't be that bad.
It's like the US post office issue, e-mail is causing them to loose money. Simple solution. USPS internet kiosks where you pay for time to use their system to access your e-mail. Those that don't have laptops/handhelds but have $1 for 30min of time would jump on it. The market is there, just have to have the right bait to real them in. Problem is that telco's like the USPS have been doing things the same way for so long, change is a very painfull process. Welp, take a pain pill and get moving you corporate lackies.
You don't even have to go new high-tech for this. I have used older vid conferencing cams that have 180 degree pan/tilt w/8x optical and 12x digital zoom. Get a few cards for the pc that can handle multiple input's, the right software for handeling multiple cams and some software that will allow you to move the camera's via web site and you've got it made.
As for the gun thing, I've always ad guns growing up as my father used to instruct combat shooting to the NY state police way back in the day. I too have gone through the same training. If you are going to get a gun, learn how to use the damn thing. If you are going to pull it, you better use it since you never know what the person that broke into your house has. However, learn about the gun and how to aim and fire it. Last thing you want to do is injure someone that could still manage to harm you and now has even more motivation to do so. But make sure of your target, you also own want to kill little jimmy that just got up for a quick leak in the john.
Does a company name have to get reused in a failing situation befoer they realize that it's not going to %^%^*@ work??? There was a time and place for pay on-line music and it would have worked. However the RIAA had to stick it's nose into everythign and then try to sue every 9 year old and 68 year old it could fine and blew that chance right out of the water.
Napter is dead, let it die folks. The name now has more of a humorus meaning then anything. When there are jokes about it in a Marky-Mark movie, it's time to think of a batter name (the Italian Job was a decent movie though).
I still pay for my music, but now I download what I want to check out, buy it if I like it and wipe my HD clean every few weeks just in case those retards figure I'm not caughing up enough cash for them. If it's crap music, I don't want it, if I don't like it I don't want it and I won't keep it. Why I buy it, it's mine, and back the hell off.
Because someone will always find the hack around it. Some of us don't have OBDII cars, I have an 88' VW that doesn't even have proper EFI let along a way for them to check any of that great info.
Let them try and make me get rid of my car. It gets 30+mpg and can pass a smog test without trying and do all of this at 80pmh. Guess Dodge will have to kill it's entire truck line before my car goes away.
Top that off with the fact that any other means to track something in my car should be able to eb stopped with a nice led box. There is always a way around this kind of gestoppo crap. Too many of the people of this country will poke and prod these things untill there is a way to make them useless or unreliable. Hell, the car manufactures can't even make a good car anymore, these people can't build a hackproop box.
They need to add tracking system so that we don't shoot are own troops as well. With that incotrporated along with the ideas of wire framing mountains and such to see through them, it could be a useful tool so long as it doesn't end up weighing 40lbs and require a small mini sat-dish to be sticking out of their bung.
Then again, this system could also be a peeping-tom's best friend. No more need to hang from tree's or below window sills. Just act like you are waiting for the bus or cleaning the sidewalk and wow would ya look at that.
I work in the IT Dept. for a large company and I just piggy back my backup tapes and or CD's with the ones from my employer.
I do this with my Boss's permission of course and the offsite company that stores our data is very nice, I've taken a tour of the facility. The vault is water/fire proof, climate controlled and insured out the wahzoo. Best of all, I don't have to pay for it even though I did offer.
Those of you that work for companies that use an offsite storage vendor may want to look into something similair to what I did. Even for a small fee it's well worth it.
I also keep a duplicate set close to home so that I can get to them in a major emergency.
I sure do know what it means. In a way it's a great thing if you can keep it that way acrossed the board. However, in the PC world today, trying to make things uniform 100% would be hard. I'm not downing Mac's for being proprietary, it makes them so much easier to work on then PC's at times. I'm just stating that in the PC world, the floppy or a device like it, is still needed and phasing it out is still a long way off.
I think the floppy could die, but needs to be replaced with something like the LS-120. Too many of us out there still need floppies for nework drivers, boot disks, bios flashes, diag utilities that don't like mem managers and so on.
While CD's are cheap, it sure is a waste to only have 300k or so on something that can hold 650mb. Not to mention if I drop it on the floor, theres a good chance it will get scratched.
Yes, something needs to replace the floppy, it needs to be re-writable, same size as a floppy disk or a tad smaller and hold 2mb or better.
Mac's can get away with it since most of them are so proprietary that everything is the same so everything should work the same. PC's are like people, every one is a little different and they all have different needs
We all knew this was going to happen at some point. We are already a walking advertisements (nike hats, shoes, shirts, etc..) it's really about time in this day and age that human advertising machine became interactive.
Think about the future this could bring, We advance from having a flat screen on the front and batteries on the back to an imbeded LCD/plasma screen in the chest and runs right off the electricity created by the brain. The games/advertisements are stored in the brain as well and just played back from memory.
Who needs walls and signs when the human body could do it more efficiently.
Of course, when this happens for real, I think it will be time to check myself out of the gene pool.
Now the real questions is, will the remote watch work with the the Tv watch?
I've had to give it to Apple in the past, they have come out with some damn nice looking machines. However, this time, I looks like they have run out of idea. To me this thing looks like a blob of clay with a flat screen LCD jammed on it by a stick.
While I am very impressed with the lack of footprint this design brings, It's just not very appealing to me. To top it all off, I thought the Imac was a PIA to upgrade the ram in, I can't imaging how careful you must have to be with that LCD monitor wavering about above it. Maybe it has a nice access door so you don't have to flip the thing over or something.
In closing, I know I'm gonna get the stamp of flamebait, but this thing just really isn't eye appealing. Bring back the mac cube, at least it was a shape geeks could get into.
or more like hurdles and issues. First off, I see too many ways this could be used for Pure evil. As many have already said, the Gov knowing where, when and how I spend my money is none of their damn business (though they seems to think it is).
Since I'm going to guess that the RF in RFID means radio frequency, how long before your average pick pocket/mugger is using a detection device see just how much is in your wallet. An rightly so, I think that the store owner needs not know what's in my wallet either as I already can't stand it when they try to sell you up, imagine how much harder they will try if they can see how much your holding on you.
Now, onto the hurdles. I think they will have a hard time getting this to work since things like water, micro-wave emmissions, the crushing force of being sat on in a wallet are all factors that could destroy an RF device. Top that off with the need for a system that can read that signal while also keeping it secure so that average criminal's can't use it for thier own needs.
Another question would be, how much will this technology cost per bill and will it have an effect on the bills worth? While Europe seems to be very heavy in the way of tracking it's people (camera's everywhere) I think this is one way that will give them nothing but fits.
While I certainly hate to see something like this happen to MS (Massive ammounts of sarcasim in tone)
Could this not be seen as an unfair move by the government towards MS by the business world?
If this sort of thing were to happen more often (government putting ppl in place to watch a company) what is to stop the government from controling the companies and putting whoever they want out in front?
I have brought this up to my superiors several times and then get reminded that we only have 1 link to the "internet" and am told there is no need. They don't understand that attacks can come from within and that even 1 outside connection is all it takes.
I've started putting some info together on possible situations and what should be done but but I'm not a security guru and could use some tips on possible senarios or some form of an example that might wake the management up in this company.
And for those that seem to think you are reading between the lines, thats not an open invite to attack.
Yes, there is some impact, thats why i said, no real impact rather then no impact at all. Truth is, the north slope is not what most ppl think. Durring the winter months it's basicly a wasteland. While there are a few heards of several thousand moose/caribou and arctic fox in the area, over the years they have learned to stear clear of the buildings and traffic really isn't a problem.
The handful of roads and trucks that do exist there are built for the pipeline security and maintainace folks, this has been in place for years and no offence, but it's damn hard to miss a 7 foot moose with a 6 foot acrossed rack in a giant field of white. For the 14 years my relative worked up there, there was only 1 moose fatiality due to a truck and thats cause the moose rammed it while it was parked.
This new facility in the short term will have some effect yes, due to noise of construction ect. Once the facility is built things will return to normal (if it can be called that). As for high voltage systems, guess they will have to use those fences or do what most of the buildings there do, keep them on the inside and underground. Same for the cooling systems.
Most people don't know that almost everything ever done on the north slope had to go through tremendous amounts regulations as to have as little of an effect on the wild life as possible. So there was much moved into areas that just can't be accessed by animals. It's not perfect, but it's one of the best jobs that humans could do aside from not building anything there at all.
While I think this is great coming from such a large name such as Nokia, I have consernes about this project going the way of Indreama or that this is an empty promise since it is projecting a very short time line.
Just for the sake that it's true, going open source for the OS and having open architecture is a very nice touch that is sure to attract attention and hackers everywhere. Marketshare will have to depend on who they attract to write games for this system (part of the Indreama's problem).
All in all this sounds great but I will wait to see this thing in cold hard plastic and in a store near me before I start reaching for my wallet.
Even still, I find this to be an odd move for Nokia to try and break into this market suddenly.
There really wont be any impact on the animal life in the area if this site goes up. I have a relative that worked on the North Slope for many years in the employ of the oil corp. While he was there he filmed the wild life and the effect that the oil facilitied had on them as well as human presence.
Many were shocked to find that after the construction was finished the wildlife moved right back in and hardly payed the large pipes any attention. While they will keep their distance from humans they seem to care less about all the steel and concreat.
As for who would stay up there and for how long, my relatives shift was 3 weeks up at the slope and 2 weeks at home and the company flew him there and back. He always seemed to like the schedule as he felt like he was always getting a 2 week vacation.
The only real problems I can see with something liek this is hardware breakage and replacement. If something goes down and there isn't a replacement on site, it could take a few days pending on a few factors.
1. Availability of a replacement
2. Shipping time to a staging point (Usualy Ancorage)
3. Flight time (weather is a massive factor here as the cross to the slope is well into the arctice circle and the plane must cross the Brooks Range)
Other then those areas, the only other thing I could suggest is that there be 3-4 ppl on site all the time since human interaction is a must even for the most anti-social person in a place like that where going outside could mean facing -70+ temps and everyting is all white for most of the year.
Big companies like Compaq don't make the magnets themselves so how can they be responcable? They buy the components from other companies and then assemble them. So if there is a patent violation going on, shouldn't it be directed at the companies that are actually makeing these magnets and not paying the "in this case" Stupid patent fees?
I have to agree with alot of other people have said. Suing has just become another tool used byu businesses to gain income. Maybe they see it as R&D. Pour some money in, possibly get some big money out. I'm getting sick of having to pay for it at the retail store though. I think the USPO needs a serious over-hual and someone that can go in and say that a patent sucks, shouldn't have been granted and kill it.
As a Systems/Network Analyst in Georgia US, I work an average of about 45-55 hours durring a normal week. If it's a week that I'm on call it can be anywhere from 45-55 all the way to 70+ pending on what kind of problems occure (server crash/router failure/switch blows a blade). The hours arn't the real killer, it's something that has been covered here many times and thats the lack of pay for the extra hours. As a salaried worker, I see nothing past 40 hours in my paycheck :-(
all to well since I'm pretty much in the same boat. While I must agree with several other posts that acceptance/credability comes easier if your supervisor/manager's are closer to your age group, also try to see things from the acient's point of view.
In their time, experience and credablity could only come from many years of doing something and while times have changed remember, in a corporate world, change doesn't come easy if at all in some cases.
I work for a large company, our location containes roughly 900 workstation and there is only a team of 4 people, myself included to support them and the 24 servers that run this building. I help to cover everything from simple hardrive replacements to installing a blade in a cisco switch and bringing it online. (not as glorious as coding applications but I like it)
As the youngest (and most experienced) on the team, my 32 year old supervisor has no problems taking what I say for thruth. However, in turn our older director that must clear all projects or change thinks nothing of reminding me of my age and that there must be some other way to do things (wether I'm saving them a ton of money on the project or not).
Similar things happen as we get older which I have also seen mentioned here as well. Add family, possible health problems, and climbing salary to keep a well experienced person, you will think your back to being young again due to the treatment.
Basicly, it's unfortunate, but it's part of the corporate world and the best thing I have found that helps me deal with it all, is firing up quake when I get home and just kill everything in sight. I find it much better then going postal on fellow employee's since it keep me outta jail and closer to my computers.