Because when I finally get a house (in about 6 months, if everything goes to plan), I would like to have a central wiring closet for everything - phone, cable, ethernet, audio, video - would all go in to this closet, which would be a cool clean environment, and easily maintainable.
I guess the whole thing wouldn't have to be in one box - if I could get cheap upgradable 1U devices - one for video, one for fileserving, another for mp3s - that would work too. Drop them in a rack mount unit, route the network, and you would be set (ideally, though - everything would be on gigabit ethernet, with access terminals at each end point - need a phone, plug it in the network, need a video feed, plug the TV in there as well - use a switch/hub as needed - would be a tad expensive at today's prices, though)...
One of the first to really think about this was Nikola Tesla.
Mr. Tesla was granted several patents related to transmitting power without wires, utilizing the earth and the ionosphere as basically opposing plates of a large capacitor, allowing one to draw off the excess energy (pumped in via remote Tesla coil systems), from anywhere on the globe, using a simple antenna-like receiving unit.
Tesla was very familiar with lightning, as his patent #1266175 "Lightning Protector" proves. This device appears similar to some of the experimental Colorado Springs "antenna" he used for various experiments - so he undoubtedly saw the possibility of using such a device to pull energy from the air as well as put it there.
I think (and this is pure conjecture), that Tesla also experimented with "free" energy - pulling off excess charge using similar equipment, and maybe actually using it to drive certain small devices. I find a reference in the book "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla" (ISBN 0-88029-812-X) about an "Alternate Current Electrostatic Induction Apparatus", which was apparently first published as an article by Tesla in "The Electrical Engineer" on May 6, 1891. In the description of the device, Tesla writes that "The output of such an apparatus is very small, but some of the effects peculiar to alternating currents of short periods may be observed."
I haven't found any patent on this device in "The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla" (edited by Jim Glenn - ISBN 1-56619-266-8), so maybe Tesla, at the time, didn't consider it something worthy of a patent, because it didn't give anything useful.
I still wonder though if maybe he thought there was a way to actually harness "free" energy in lightning and other static electricity, in a way that the "common man" could use independant of the electric "company" - which was just starting to really come into being in Tesla's time. After all, a Leydon jar is nothing more than a form of a capacitor, and a static electrical charge (like lightning) can be used to charge such a device - maybe he was looking for a way to actually use the charge. Perhaps making electricity too cheap to meter (I can imagine a large field of his lightning protectors charging Leydon jars, which are bled off and feed the electrostatic-to-AC conversion devices, the AC which is sent on the customers, or to an individual)...
It seems under the GPL you have a few options to actually make a bit of money in the distribution of the source, if you so wish. Let me outline the basics of what the GPL says in regards to this (and please, don't trust this or me, read the GPL first, instead):
1. If you distribute the source code only, "you may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee" (from the GPL, section 1).
2. If you distribute the code "in object code or executable form" (from the GPL, section 3), you must:
"a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange" (from the GPL, section 3)
OR,
"b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange." (from the GPL, section 3)
There is also a subsection "c" to section 3, but it isn't of interest to this discussion, since "This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution". (from the GPL, section 3)
So, it seems you must provide the source, in a machine-readable format, on a medium customarily used for software interchange.
Since "customarily" doesn't have any definition in the scope of this license (in fact, the word only appears twice), unless it has specific legal means (which it may, IANAL), then in theory, you could output the code on punch cards, for all the license cares!
But let us say that "customarily" alludes to the time of distribution - that is, the source code must be on a medium "of the times" - for today, that could be an FTP site, a web site - or a floppy, or CD-ROM.
You just have to provide access - it doesn't say you "must make it downloadable to the world" - just that if someone comes calling for it, you must provide it to them, on a medium "customarily" used for software interchange. So if you only wanted to distribute CD-ROMs - that would be PERFECTLY IN LINE WITH THE LICENSE.
Plus you may charge a fee for making this copy. This fee is never specified, or enumerated, within the GPL, other than to say "for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution" (from the GPL, section 3).
Now, who is to say that it doesn't cost you $100.00 (US) to create that copy? How much is you or your company's time worth? Maybe the fee might be $500.00 for the source. There is nothing in the GPL to prohibit this.
So, let's say you are selling your office productivity suite of software to Joe and Jane Public. You sell it for $50.00 (thereby undercutting the competition). In the package, on a paper license agreement (and maybe a clickthrough), you state you will provide the source code to any individual or company, for the product, via CD-ROM through the mail, for a fee of only $500.00, should they request so within 3 years from the time of purchase (require a receipt to prove time-frame). Furthermore, state someplace that the software will only receive support if purchased from you, otherwise the purchaser is "on his own" for support.
Should Joe or Jane Public see this, most of them will simply shrug their shoulders, and continue to play with great software. Those that do pay would probably be reluctant to simply give the code away (though they could, and your company could do nothing about it!). Those looking for a free version of the product might be able to get it, but Joe and Jane Public are unlikely to use it, since there wouldn't be any support from your company.
A company that might pay in order to have the source to correct flaws in the software (and hopefully give you or the community back those corrections), probably wouldn't distribute the code for free, or a fee - since anyone downloading it wouldn't be able to get support, other than from the secondary distributor, at best - and most companies would want to avoid that headache. However, those that wanted to could make a better version, and distribute it and provide support, if they want - that would be the purchaser's decision, once more.
There is the business plan and rational to sell Free, GPL'd software. The code still gets out, mods could still be made and re-incorporated back into the base product, you will probably make money off of it, and should your company go under or something, the code will still exist, for others to continue on with.
Now, once again, I am not a lawyer, but I don't see where any of this would violate the GPL - indeed, the GPL seems to allow this. So why hasn't any company done this?
Actually, in a way, they have: RedHat is the perfect example.
This is a company that sells a GPL'd product. Companies and individuals are willing to buy it, and RedHat provides support. The source code is out there, and a few other companies have rolled their own distros to compete with RedHat (Mandrake), using the base RedHat distro.
But RedHat made one mistake - they provided source with their distribution, and via FTP - for anyone at anytime to download. What would their company be doing now if they had only provided source via CD-ROM through mail, on request, for a fee? Who knows - maybe it wouldn't have worked, and everyone would be using Debian or Slackware more.
Maybe this method could only be used for software packages. Games could easily be done this way, and I would think that a lot of money could be made, and the GPL wouldn't be violated.
If I am wrong about all of this, please, somebody (especially lawyers!) point out the flaws in my argument. It would be interesting to see what I missed, etc...
What are you doing to overcome the simultaneous record/playback/pause TV issue?
While this function isn't the biggest thing needed, it is a nice function.
I can think up one way around it:
Use a dual motherboard/TV tuner/capture card setup, with independant drives, and a 100 meg dedicated network between them - one system could be doing the "taping", while the other allowed you to do the watching (via some sort of custom RAID-like solution) - you would have to have a custom switchbox on the backend for the video out, to do the video selection for the TV, plus a custom case for both systems - but it could all probably be done in some manner.
Making it small would be another issue, but I could see a such a system built be using the same motherboard for each system, with each MB having on-board 100baseT ethernet, add PCI risers for the TV cards, and stack the boards using spacers, low profile cooling fans, and a forced fan air system from front to back - probably be able to fit it in a few Us of space - be a bitch to work on/upgrade, though...
1. The ability to add drive storage as I see fit. 2. The ability to record and play back MP3s from any source (TV, radio, CD, etc), as well as load MP3s from a network or CD-ROM. 3. The ability to record into the system from any video medium (tape, DVD, VCD, mpegs off the net, etc). 4. Other file storage for regular data files, etc. 5. Network support using standard protocols. 6. Open spec system, to allow OS choice!
In other words, a very damn nice file server, with special hardware for sound and video recording, ala Tivo. I want this to act as a central home server (there could be other possibilities as well - x-10 control, video security, web admin, etc), that was nice and expandable, easily - like a PC.
It damn near can be done today with commodity hardware, but the video record/simultaneous playback/channel guide stuff isn't there yet - we need a fast filesystem for that stuff (the simultaneuous record/playback so you can "pause" TV). Does anyone know of such a filesystem being worked on?
I am planning on building a largish networked fileserver, but it won't be anything like I described - at best it would be able to play back MP3, maybe record to it, but it wouldn't be an all-in-one solution. Is there anything like this at all - even ultra-expensive solutions used by TV studios for quick DVR editing?
I doubt we'll ever see such a thing (short of a major hacking effort - though I bet the antcomputing guys could pull it off) - it would allow the user too much control...
I currently get Cox digital cable, and when they installed the service, the installer showed me how to get into the diagnostic screen on "boot-up" of the box. The box clearly details several bits of information on SCSI adaptors found, etc. As far as I know, there isn't any drives in the box, but the box is essentially a small computer with custom MPEG decompression hardware. It isn't x86 based, though (not sure what it is, and don't really care to try to crack the case - many times they put traps in the boxes to kill the service/box/both if you try to open them, from what I understand).
The crap thing is it will probably be wrapped in so many licenses, DMCA crap, etc - that it will suck as a real useful service...
There is a reason why FoodTV has gotten big and popular, and why Emeril is getting a sitcom (though I think it is a stupid thing for him to do, but hey, it's his life) - people are turning to cooking in the kitchen more!
They are watching these shows, seeing how easy cooking really is (it is, after all, controlled burning at the heart of it - plus having a "taste" for things). I have also read of studies that what people want in a new home are tending toward more "kitchen-centric" areas - dining areas and more functional kitchens. Also, given the recession we are in, people are going to cook at home more, rather than going out, because it is cheaper (provided one cooks the right meals). Cooking magazine sales are also up - new food-oriented magazines seem to pop up everyday.
So, where am I going with all of this?
Well, the one thing I hate about being in the kitchen, and cooking - especially if I am trying a new recipe - is having a usually expensive cookbook open and such, trying to use it while doing things, etc - as well as not being able to search on recipe topic easily (say, oh - show me all recipes involving beef and broccoli, for instance) - it is hard with a lot of books, recipe cards, magazines, etc.
Why not a recipe terminal - with search capabilities, etc?
I have given thought to homebrewing such a device myself - I can easily see an i-opener permanently glued to allrecipes.com - but even that would fall somewhat short.
I can imagine a monthly service and terminal, with a simple interface for navigation, plus maybe some robust detachable foot pedal type device, so that navigation can be easily performed, even if you are stirring a pot, or rolling some dough, or you have your hands dirty. A speech synthesis system could be integrated, so that the device could read you the recipe as you make it - imagine it reading off the ingredient list as you gather them around your kitchen. Remote printer functionality would have to be included - to print off shopping lists, or hard copies of the recipes (to give to unconnected friends). Also ways of using other recipes in a standard format (there is one major standard format for recipe databases out there - that could be used, or some XML system or something), so that new recipes could be added.
This is a market that would buy such a device. It would have to be pretty robust to stand up to kitchen use, have a low power CPU and a bit of memory (it doesn't need to really be a web-browsing type system), a network interface and a compact flash interface (for storage of recipes).
Market the device in Cook's Magazine, Gourmet, Martha Stewart's Living, Woman's Day, and on FoodTV as well (get Emeril to push the thing and it's a shooin!). I am sure a lot of people would buy this device, if it had a low enough price (say, $150-200, and $5-10 dollars a month for service - heck, the price for the device could even be a little higher - get KitchenAid to build it in their color scheme, and people would happily put it next to their mixer)...
I wrote to my Senator (John McCain, AZ) as well, about the DMCA and Dmitry. The letter I received back sounds suspiciously similar to yours, except there was a little Dmitry blurbage in it. I will have to check the letter when I get home, but I am wondering if there is a form letter or boilerplate being used for responses to these issues - if that is the case, then what is even the point of writing your congresscritters?
If I steal something from you, and you never, ever notice that thing is gone (ie, out of your posession), have I really stolen from you, from your viewpoint?
This would work - but a good hi-res projector is going to be expensive (it possible to build a cheap video projector though, I guess). If you are real serious about this though, price won't be an issue.
You mentioned on your site that you didn't like an all optical system, but you didn't give much in the way of detail why. You mentioned refresh rates and such, so I imagine you are talking about the scanline based systems for determining where you shot at.
Here is another possibility - optical as well, though:
The gun is optical, has a lens to focus the light from the monitor/crt onto a phototransistor. When the trigger is pulled, all the targets can flicker at different frequencies, alternating between the normal image and an all-white image. The phototransistor would pick up which one you are aiming at based on brightness and frequency.
At least, it is a theory. Probably wouldn't work great, though. Using a laser pointer is good, but the projector portion is going to be the bad part (expen$ive)...
If you still don't understand, and you really want to know why, I implore upon you to read Database Nation, for the truth, fallacies, meanings, and danger that surround the whole information/data analysis, collection, and distribution systems in use.
This camera system doesn't match a face to another face - instead it matches data to other data. If the data can be changed, or used - it can be altered to "finger" anyone - and how do you prove which is the truth and which is the forgery? People are trusting now that "the computer is always right" - ever looked at your credit report? Pray that your name isn't "John Smith" or similar! Been denied credit lately?
Read the book - it goes over all this and a lot more. FR tech and credit reporting is only the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately. It is only going to get worse, unless you really understand what can be done with this information, and then act to protect that information.
If the issue really isn't so much about the end-user not knowing how to repartition, reinstall, blah-blah - or if it really is about Microsoft keeping the users in the dark about this possibility. Let me give you an example to illustrate my point:
When I first started using computers, I was 11 years old using a TRS-80 Color Computer 2, with a cassette drive. I learned how to program in BASIC (MS Basic, at that!) on that machine, using the manuals included. These manuals even had a full schematic in the back for the machine, showing every part used. The manuals assumed I knew nothing about computers, and took me step-by-step, into a world of programming and excitement.
Later, when I was in Jr. High, I got a floppy drive - which gave me around 160K of room per floppy (double that if I made a "flippy"), but still no notion of a directory tree structure.
In High School, I got a Color Computer 3, later upgraded it to 512K (I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my dad plugging in DRAMs, with a wire wrapped around the sink spigot and my arm as a grounding strap!). Still had the same floppy drive. I tried playing around with OS-9 (no, not the Mac stuff, slash kiddies, but the ultra cool multi-tasking, multi-user software for the 6809 8-bit (!!) CPU), but I couldn't grok it too well...
Toward the end of my senior year, my parents bought me a Tandy 1400HD machine, which was a revelation in power, in a way - 768K of memory, 8MHz of speed, a 20MB hard drive - but a blue/grey screen, CGA graphics - but still nice to play with. Oh, and DOS 3.2...
What happened was a culture shock, in regards to the file system - directories!!! It took me a little bit to get used to it, but after a few hours of reading the manual and playing, I found the flexibility great.
Too great.
You see, not more than a few hours after playing, I had created a sub-directory in a directory, then at the root level tried to do an 'rmdir' - well, it worked, sorta - the files were wiped, but the directory stayed! Some minutes of frantic flipping later revealed that you had to delete the files in the subdirectory first before removing the directory, otherwise you had a big problem! This was a limitation of the version of DOS that I was using...
My heart sank - I thought I might have broke it. But I knew I didn't - everything was still working. But I didn't want that directory - in fact, I wanted things back the way they were. So I did what every budding geek who has just played with a large hard drive, a "real" OS (compared to what was on the Color Computer!), and a directory structure does - I decided to format and reinstall the OS!
Mind you - I had never before attempted or done such a thing - EVER! But I read the manual carefully, followed the steps, inserted the floppies, formatted the hard drive, re-installed the OS and programs - and everything worked again...
You know something? It wouldn't have been possible without having that manual. The same could be said when I first started with my Color Computers - I had a manual there.
Today, it is a different world. You buy a computer, and you are lucky if you get a rescue CD-ROM, let alone individual CDs for the software, or a manual, or a schematic of the machine (ok, I know that last one would be impossible in today's world - and nearly useless to boot). A bunch of assumptions are made that these items would scare people off, when we know this is untrue - it didn't scare me off as a kid of 11, why would it scare an adult? Indeed, think of the manuals and such that came with 16-bit systems in the early to mid 80's - did this documentation scare off the managers and people who used these machine? NO!
So why isn't it included in today's boxes? Even if it did "scare" some people, they would still come to view it as a resource to help them - something familiar to help them learn how to use the system, how it all fits together...
But - it would not do Microsoft (or the clone makers, to a lesser extent) any good for the users to "gain a clue" - because it would give them a measure of power over the software and hardware distributors/manufacturers. It would give the user knowledge that would allow them to _truely_ make decisions about "where they wanted to go today".
You know something - this is what many Linux distros offer today - and is something that I first noticed with my first real distro install of Redhat 5.2 - I got manuals again. They told how to do everything, how to install and maintain the system, and I got actual floppies and CDs with the system. I later moved to SuSE 6.3, now I used 7.2 - each one came with floppies, CDs and a manual - which is why I bought the distros - I knew what I would get.
SuSE 7.2 does it best - the manuals for install and configuration of the system really show and help you to do it (though I did an upgrade, not a full install - it still went really smooth) - this is something that I think people would appreciate, and see what they are missing, if they really knew of the options available to them.
Perhaps this fact is something that should be pushed in the marketing of Linux...
From what I understand, there is something different between this box and others that won't allow me to install certain PPC distros. It currently has a SCSI 8gig HD and SCSI CD-ROM drive, plus 32 meg RAM. Currently it has OS/9 on it, and boots fine.
I want to drop a distro on it, but I am not sure which one would work. I don't want to spend money or time getting a distro if it won't work for me. Can anyone give me pointers on what distro I should use with this box, as well as how I should go about getting/buying the distro (ie, if I have to burn an ISO, can I do it on my SuSE box at home easily enough)?
So we put 80 RED LEDS on the bottom of PC sat as a 3W thermal radiator for this test. And just for fun, at night we can also turn them on as
power permits as a visual experiment. Calculations suggest a magnitude of about 6 if it is pointing straight down. Eight, if it is off to one side or the other. Magnitude 8 is visible with binoculars.
So...
Which middie will be the first geek to cobble together a scrolling LED sign seen from space?
I've been thinking about doing this to my Ranger - where did you pick up the LEDs, and are you using integrated 12V ones, or do you have a seperate regulator for them?
I see a lot of posts here, both for and against what happened to this lady, as well as explanations (however brief) as to how the IP could have been spoofed, yadayada...
Nowhere have I seen any mention that someone has emailed her, leting her know more about the DMCA, making her aware of her options (such as switching services - oh! Maybe she can't do that! Maybe she doesn't _know_ that!), or lack thereof. Letting her know more about what the DMCA is being used for (2600, Dmitry, Felton, etc).
Send her an email - show her links! Show her the problem!
Here we have a jounalist who has had the DMCA used against her and her family - but maybe she didn't even know such law existed, and how it could affect her further, as well as her career as a journalist and writer. This woman could be a potential "ally", who may write further stories and do some investigative journalism into the DMCA and its abuse, and threatened abuse.
I thought my system was low end - now it might as well be "destined for the scrap pile"...
I have a Celeron 366 - my board can only go up to a 667. Last night I just maxed out my ram at 768 meg (hey, when you are running KDE and Netscrape, every bit counts - someday, I will make the switch to Konq, or Moz). I still have yet to upgrade my hard drive - I have only a couple of 4.3 gig drives in the box. Perhaps I'll get one of them new-fangled 40 (60? 80?) gig drives someday - though I am saving up for a house, so it will take a while.
I guess I should feel good that most of my system is made up of stuff no one else wanted - and it does what I need, which is all that matters...
It feels almost...retro (though if I really wanted that, I would break out my TRS-80 CoCo 3 with 512K of RAM, at a blazing 1 MHz (2 MHz with high speed poke!), and 160K floppy drive - yehaw!)...
I can't remember correctly, but I think this incident did take place in a "southern" town - however, it wasn't a racially motivated incident - the suspected individual was white, as were most of the townspeople (I would say all, but I don't know that for sure, and besides, it is unlikely)...
This actually really works, on a lot of things - including murder! I saw something on A&E, a program called (I think) "Cold Case Files"...
Basically, there was this case of a small town in which this very bad individual (I think he was a serial killer or murder/rapist, something) kept eluding the law, and settled (I believe) in his hometown, where the shit began anew. The police and the law were having a hard time getting anything on the guy, and when they did, he always seemed to get out on bail or something, and resume his ways.
He essentially had the entire town scared for their lives - no one would go out after dark, and everyone kept a gun near them.
One day, the town "boys" got together to discuss what to do, how they could get rid of the guy - drive him out of town or something. Just as the meeting was getting underway, one guy popped in and told them that the man was at the local bar (apparently the favorite watering hole). All the men in the meeting grabbed their guns, and drove over to the bar...
They all walked into the bar, the suspected murderer was still there. He noticed what was going on, decided to pay his tab, and leave. He walked out, and what happened next is "conjecture"...
Apparently, several shots were heard, the police arrived, and the suspected murdered was found shot in the front seat of his car. Stone cold dead.
The FBI was called in, and everyone at the bar was questioned. Every last one of them said they were hiding when they heard the shots. The FBI continued the questioning, eventually questioning nearly every person in the town. Everyone gave the same story - nobody knew or seen nuthin'!
The FBI knew that the "town" had murdered that man, regardless of his guilt or innocence in the crimes he supposedly committed - however, with everybody backing each other up, there was nothing they could do, nobody they could arrest. They never found the murder weapon, either.
As far as the problems the town was having prior (murders/rapes)? They stopped...
Needless to say, that is one town that you don't cross...
We have LASERs that are "pumped" (ie, stimulated) via other LASERs. Indeed, a simple ruby rod laser uses a light source (the flash tube) to pump the ruby rod into lasing.
Granted, none of these devices are the size for an optical computer - but they aren't vaporware, either...
Re:As long as I can connect...
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Taming the Web
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· Score: 2
Maybe not many - but those that do will be those that gain. I care about the "average user" - the problem is the "average user" doesn't care about me, let alone himself. We need to show these users that they should. It is becoming more difficult to do this each passing day. We are letting it slip through are fingers. I don't know the answers to how to acheive this level of education.
Today I took a look over at Columbia Journalism Review - Who Owns What - and you know what - it is fucking depressing. So depressing, somehow I half-ass expect to dig deep enough and find CJR is 0wn3d by one of the very entities it exposes...! It really is _that_bad_.
What I was trying to point out with Fidonet is the fact that things might go underground. I propose we tear down the old first, though - why should they have it - we were first, we built it - why do they get to set the rules - fuck 'em...?
Re:As long as I can connect...
on
Taming the Web
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· Score: 2
Listen - I don't give a fuck about some damn song I don't own that someone else does!
I do give a fuck about information pertaining to my fair-use-rights and freedom to copy a song or other information I have, however I wish. I also give a fuck about distributing my own songs and information Freely - thus becoming a competitor to the corrupt mass of mainstream media that exists today!
If you don't understand, then step out of the way - I will come back to help you learn later.
Very true - but the Turing test was designed to test an entity to determine whether it could appear "human-like".
Corporate entities may "think", may even be "sentient" - but this may occur in such a way that we have no way of knowing it, with certainty - it would be beyond us, as much as the sentience of our brains is beyond that of a single neuron (if a neuron was self-aware, of course).
However, one has to wonder - stop and think about it for a minute:
Why would the MPAA and their member corporations seek such a law like the DMCA, when ultimately it harms the individuals that make up the said corporations? It only benefits the corporations - ultimately it is to the detriment of the freedom of the people that make up those corporate entity. I doubt any of the individuals (heck, probably alll the way up to Valenti himself - though I wonder...) are hell-bent on taking away the freedoms of everyone worldwide - but that is what the whole corporate machine entities do...
We watch these entities do it every single day. But we have little to no understanding of what is really going on. I have been trying to wrap my brain around it for quite a while - perhaps it is impossible. Maybe it is because they don't think - or maybe it is because they do?
As long as I can connect...
on
Taming the Web
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· Score: 5, Informative
As long as I can connect two computers together, the internet will exist...
For me, it started with a null modem serial cable strung between two TRS-80 Color Computers, so that I could "share" the single floppy drive I had.
I quickly moved to a 300 baud modem - and I suddenly had a whole new world at my fingertips.
Later came a 2400 baud modem, a 14.4, a 28.8. BBS's all over town - the city - Fidonet - across America, and in some cases, around the world.
I messed around with connections over telephone wire, building funky parallel port bit-bangers, to create a po-man's networking system.
Now I have a personal network inside my house - cobbled together from parts and pieces the corps didn't want - picked off the scrap pile of electronic hubris...
I hear talk of 802.11 - lasercomm - radiocomm - it is in the air. Hackers will do it. Fidonet will be recreated.
What are they to do? Regulate radio - oops, they already do! Regulate 2.4GHz - yep, that will come. Regulate sell of lasers? That could happen, too. Regulate light making devices? Perhaps.
Maybe I will then hack together a system that only transmits/recieves during the daytime, using mirrors to reflect the sun over long distances, to be received and converted using homemade selenium photocells (and yes - I know how to make them). Regulate mirrors?
Then I will stand on the roof of my house - and shout to the heavens, and my friend beyond, who will relay my message. It may be slow - but to shut me up, you will have to kill me.
KILL ME, DAMMIT! DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND, YOU GODDAMN FUCKING CORPORATE GOVERNMENT MACHINE?!
Slashdot Mirror
Because when I finally get a house (in about 6 months, if everything goes to plan), I would like to have a central wiring closet for everything - phone, cable, ethernet, audio, video - would all go in to this closet, which would be a cool clean environment, and easily maintainable.
I guess the whole thing wouldn't have to be in one box - if I could get cheap upgradable 1U devices - one for video, one for fileserving, another for mp3s - that would work too. Drop them in a rack mount unit, route the network, and you would be set (ideally, though - everything would be on gigabit ethernet, with access terminals at each end point - need a phone, plug it in the network, need a video feed, plug the TV in there as well - use a switch/hub as needed - would be a tad expensive at today's prices, though)...
Heh, heh - you aren't the first to think this.
One of the first to really think about this was Nikola Tesla.
Mr. Tesla was granted several patents related to transmitting power without wires, utilizing the earth and the ionosphere as basically opposing plates of a large capacitor, allowing one to draw off the excess energy (pumped in via remote Tesla coil systems), from anywhere on the globe, using a simple antenna-like receiving unit.
Tesla was very familiar with lightning, as his patent #1266175 "Lightning Protector" proves. This device appears similar to some of the experimental Colorado Springs "antenna" he used for various experiments - so he undoubtedly saw the possibility of using such a device to pull energy from the air as well as put it there.
I think (and this is pure conjecture), that Tesla also experimented with "free" energy - pulling off excess charge using similar equipment, and maybe actually using it to drive certain small devices. I find a reference in the book "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla" (ISBN 0-88029-812-X) about an "Alternate Current Electrostatic Induction Apparatus", which was apparently first published as an article by Tesla in "The Electrical Engineer" on May 6, 1891. In the description of the device, Tesla writes that "The output of such an apparatus is very small, but some of the effects peculiar to alternating currents of short periods may be observed."
I haven't found any patent on this device in "The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla" (edited by Jim Glenn - ISBN 1-56619-266-8), so maybe Tesla, at the time, didn't consider it something worthy of a patent, because it didn't give anything useful.
I still wonder though if maybe he thought there was a way to actually harness "free" energy in lightning and other static electricity, in a way that the "common man" could use independant of the electric "company" - which was just starting to really come into being in Tesla's time. After all, a Leydon jar is nothing more than a form of a capacitor, and a static electrical charge (like lightning) can be used to charge such a device - maybe he was looking for a way to actually use the charge. Perhaps making electricity too cheap to meter (I can imagine a large field of his lightning protectors charging Leydon jars, which are bled off and feed the electrostatic-to-AC conversion devices, the AC which is sent on the customers, or to an individual)...
Disclaimer: IANAL...
It seems under the GPL you have a few options to actually make a bit of money in the distribution of the source, if you so wish. Let me outline the basics of what the GPL says in regards to this (and please, don't trust this or me, read the GPL first, instead):
1. If you distribute the source code only, "you may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee" (from the GPL, section 1).
2. If you distribute the code "in object code or executable form" (from the GPL, section 3), you must:
"a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange" (from the GPL, section 3)
OR,
"b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange." (from the GPL, section 3)
There is also a subsection "c" to section 3, but it isn't of interest to this discussion, since "This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution". (from the GPL, section 3)
So, it seems you must provide the source, in a machine-readable format, on a medium customarily used for software interchange.
Since "customarily" doesn't have any definition in the scope of this license (in fact, the word only appears twice), unless it has specific legal means (which it may, IANAL), then in theory, you could output the code on punch cards, for all the license cares!
But let us say that "customarily" alludes to the time of distribution - that is, the source code must be on a medium "of the times" - for today, that could be an FTP site, a web site - or a floppy, or CD-ROM.
You just have to provide access - it doesn't say you "must make it downloadable to the world" - just that if someone comes calling for it, you must provide it to them, on a medium "customarily" used for software interchange. So if you only wanted to distribute CD-ROMs - that would be PERFECTLY IN LINE WITH THE LICENSE.
Plus you may charge a fee for making this copy. This fee is never specified, or enumerated, within the GPL, other than to say "for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution" (from the GPL, section 3).
Now, who is to say that it doesn't cost you $100.00 (US) to create that copy? How much is you or your company's time worth? Maybe the fee might be $500.00 for the source. There is nothing in the GPL to prohibit this.
So, let's say you are selling your office productivity suite of software to Joe and Jane Public. You sell it for $50.00 (thereby undercutting the competition). In the package, on a paper license agreement (and maybe a clickthrough), you state you will provide the source code to any individual or company, for the product, via CD-ROM through the mail, for a fee of only $500.00, should they request so within 3 years from the time of purchase (require a receipt to prove time-frame). Furthermore, state someplace that the software will only receive support if purchased from you, otherwise the purchaser is "on his own" for support.
Should Joe or Jane Public see this, most of them will simply shrug their shoulders, and continue to play with great software. Those that do pay would probably be reluctant to simply give the code away (though they could, and your company could do nothing about it!). Those looking for a free version of the product might be able to get it, but Joe and Jane Public are unlikely to use it, since there wouldn't be any support from your company.
A company that might pay in order to have the source to correct flaws in the software (and hopefully give you or the community back those corrections), probably wouldn't distribute the code for free, or a fee - since anyone downloading it wouldn't be able to get support, other than from the secondary distributor, at best - and most companies would want to avoid that headache. However, those that wanted to could make a better version, and distribute it and provide support, if they want - that would be the purchaser's decision, once more.
There is the business plan and rational to sell Free, GPL'd software. The code still gets out, mods could still be made and re-incorporated back into the base product, you will probably make money off of it, and should your company go under or something, the code will still exist, for others to continue on with.
Now, once again, I am not a lawyer, but I don't see where any of this would violate the GPL - indeed, the GPL seems to allow this. So why hasn't any company done this?
Actually, in a way, they have: RedHat is the perfect example.
This is a company that sells a GPL'd product. Companies and individuals are willing to buy it, and RedHat provides support. The source code is out there, and a few other companies have rolled their own distros to compete with RedHat (Mandrake), using the base RedHat distro.
But RedHat made one mistake - they provided source with their distribution, and via FTP - for anyone at anytime to download. What would their company be doing now if they had only provided source via CD-ROM through mail, on request, for a fee? Who knows - maybe it wouldn't have worked, and everyone would be using Debian or Slackware more.
Maybe this method could only be used for software packages. Games could easily be done this way, and I would think that a lot of money could be made, and the GPL wouldn't be violated.
If I am wrong about all of this, please, somebody (especially lawyers!) point out the flaws in my argument. It would be interesting to see what I missed, etc...
What are you doing to overcome the simultaneous record/playback/pause TV issue?
While this function isn't the biggest thing needed, it is a nice function.
I can think up one way around it:
Use a dual motherboard/TV tuner/capture card setup, with independant drives, and a 100 meg dedicated network between them - one system could be doing the "taping", while the other allowed you to do the watching (via some sort of custom RAID-like solution) - you would have to have a custom switchbox on the backend for the video out, to do the video selection for the TV, plus a custom case for both systems - but it could all probably be done in some manner.
Making it small would be another issue, but I could see a such a system built be using the same motherboard for each system, with each MB having on-board 100baseT ethernet, add PCI risers for the TV cards, and stack the boards using spacers, low profile cooling fans, and a forced fan air system from front to back - probably be able to fit it in a few Us of space - be a bitch to work on/upgrade, though...
I want everything the Tivo offers, plus:
1. The ability to add drive storage as I see fit.
2. The ability to record and play back MP3s from any source (TV, radio, CD, etc), as well as load MP3s from a network or CD-ROM.
3. The ability to record into the system from any video medium (tape, DVD, VCD, mpegs off the net, etc).
4. Other file storage for regular data files, etc.
5. Network support using standard protocols.
6. Open spec system, to allow OS choice!
In other words, a very damn nice file server, with special hardware for sound and video recording, ala Tivo. I want this to act as a central home server (there could be other possibilities as well - x-10 control, video security, web admin, etc), that was nice and expandable, easily - like a PC.
It damn near can be done today with commodity hardware, but the video record/simultaneous playback/channel guide stuff isn't there yet - we need a fast filesystem for that stuff (the simultaneuous record/playback so you can "pause" TV). Does anyone know of such a filesystem being worked on?
I am planning on building a largish networked fileserver, but it won't be anything like I described - at best it would be able to play back MP3, maybe record to it, but it wouldn't be an all-in-one solution. Is there anything like this at all - even ultra-expensive solutions used by TV studios for quick DVR editing?
I doubt we'll ever see such a thing (short of a major hacking effort - though I bet the antcomputing guys could pull it off) - it would allow the user too much control...
I currently get Cox digital cable, and when they installed the service, the installer showed me how to get into the diagnostic screen on "boot-up" of the box. The box clearly details several bits of information on SCSI adaptors found, etc. As far as I know, there isn't any drives in the box, but the box is essentially a small computer with custom MPEG decompression hardware. It isn't x86 based, though (not sure what it is, and don't really care to try to crack the case - many times they put traps in the boxes to kill the service/box/both if you try to open them, from what I understand).
The crap thing is it will probably be wrapped in so many licenses, DMCA crap, etc - that it will suck as a real useful service...
...on a particular niche market:
There is a reason why FoodTV has gotten big and popular, and why Emeril is getting a sitcom (though I think it is a stupid thing for him to do, but hey, it's his life) - people are turning to cooking in the kitchen more!
They are watching these shows, seeing how easy cooking really is (it is, after all, controlled burning at the heart of it - plus having a "taste" for things). I have also read of studies that what people want in a new home are tending toward more "kitchen-centric" areas - dining areas and more functional kitchens. Also, given the recession we are in, people are going to cook at home more, rather than going out, because it is cheaper (provided one cooks the right meals). Cooking magazine sales are also up - new food-oriented magazines seem to pop up everyday.
So, where am I going with all of this?
Well, the one thing I hate about being in the kitchen, and cooking - especially if I am trying a new recipe - is having a usually expensive cookbook open and such, trying to use it while doing things, etc - as well as not being able to search on recipe topic easily (say, oh - show me all recipes involving beef and broccoli, for instance) - it is hard with a lot of books, recipe cards, magazines, etc.
Why not a recipe terminal - with search capabilities, etc?
I have given thought to homebrewing such a device myself - I can easily see an i-opener permanently glued to allrecipes.com - but even that would fall somewhat short.
I can imagine a monthly service and terminal, with a simple interface for navigation, plus maybe some robust detachable foot pedal type device, so that navigation can be easily performed, even if you are stirring a pot, or rolling some dough, or you have your hands dirty. A speech synthesis system could be integrated, so that the device could read you the recipe as you make it - imagine it reading off the ingredient list as you gather them around your kitchen. Remote printer functionality would have to be included - to print off shopping lists, or hard copies of the recipes (to give to unconnected friends). Also ways of using other recipes in a standard format (there is one major standard format for recipe databases out there - that could be used, or some XML system or something), so that new recipes could be added.
This is a market that would buy such a device. It would have to be pretty robust to stand up to kitchen use, have a low power CPU and a bit of memory (it doesn't need to really be a web-browsing type system), a network interface and a compact flash interface (for storage of recipes).
Market the device in Cook's Magazine, Gourmet, Martha Stewart's Living, Woman's Day, and on FoodTV as well (get Emeril to push the thing and it's a shooin!). I am sure a lot of people would buy this device, if it had a low enough price (say, $150-200, and $5-10 dollars a month for service - heck, the price for the device could even be a little higher - get KitchenAid to build it in their color scheme, and people would happily put it next to their mixer)...
I wrote to my Senator (John McCain, AZ) as well, about the DMCA and Dmitry. The letter I received back sounds suspiciously similar to yours, except there was a little Dmitry blurbage in it. I will have to check the letter when I get home, but I am wondering if there is a form letter or boilerplate being used for responses to these issues - if that is the case, then what is even the point of writing your congresscritters?
Akin to:
If I steal something from you, and you never, ever notice that thing is gone (ie, out of your posession), have I really stolen from you, from your viewpoint?
I mean, if you don't know, you don't know, right?
This would work - but a good hi-res projector is going to be expensive (it possible to build a cheap video projector though, I guess). If you are real serious about this though, price won't be an issue.
You mentioned on your site that you didn't like an all optical system, but you didn't give much in the way of detail why. You mentioned refresh rates and such, so I imagine you are talking about the scanline based systems for determining where you shot at.
Here is another possibility - optical as well, though:
The gun is optical, has a lens to focus the light from the monitor/crt onto a phototransistor. When the trigger is pulled, all the targets can flicker at different frequencies, alternating between the normal image and an all-white image. The phototransistor would pick up which one you are aiming at based on brightness and frequency.
At least, it is a theory. Probably wouldn't work great, though. Using a laser pointer is good, but the projector portion is going to be the bad part (expen$ive)...
...why this is a bad thing.
If you still don't understand, and you really want to know why, I implore upon you to read Database Nation, for the truth, fallacies, meanings, and danger that surround the whole information/data analysis, collection, and distribution systems in use.
This camera system doesn't match a face to another face - instead it matches data to other data. If the data can be changed, or used - it can be altered to "finger" anyone - and how do you prove which is the truth and which is the forgery? People are trusting now that "the computer is always right" - ever looked at your credit report? Pray that your name isn't "John Smith" or similar! Been denied credit lately?
Read the book - it goes over all this and a lot more. FR tech and credit reporting is only the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately. It is only going to get worse, unless you really understand what can be done with this information, and then act to protect that information.
If the issue really isn't so much about the end-user not knowing how to repartition, reinstall, blah-blah - or if it really is about Microsoft keeping the users in the dark about this possibility. Let me give you an example to illustrate my point:
When I first started using computers, I was 11 years old using a TRS-80 Color Computer 2, with a cassette drive. I learned how to program in BASIC (MS Basic, at that!) on that machine, using the manuals included. These manuals even had a full schematic in the back for the machine, showing every part used. The manuals assumed I knew nothing about computers, and took me step-by-step, into a world of programming and excitement.
Later, when I was in Jr. High, I got a floppy drive - which gave me around 160K of room per floppy (double that if I made a "flippy"), but still no notion of a directory tree structure.
In High School, I got a Color Computer 3, later upgraded it to 512K (I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my dad plugging in DRAMs, with a wire wrapped around the sink spigot and my arm as a grounding strap!). Still had the same floppy drive. I tried playing around with OS-9 (no, not the Mac stuff, slash kiddies, but the ultra cool multi-tasking, multi-user software for the 6809 8-bit (!!) CPU), but I couldn't grok it too well...
Toward the end of my senior year, my parents bought me a Tandy 1400HD machine, which was a revelation in power, in a way - 768K of memory, 8MHz of speed, a 20MB hard drive - but a blue/grey screen, CGA graphics - but still nice to play with. Oh, and DOS 3.2...
What happened was a culture shock, in regards to the file system - directories!!! It took me a little bit to get used to it, but after a few hours of reading the manual and playing, I found the flexibility great.
Too great.
You see, not more than a few hours after playing, I had created a sub-directory in a directory, then at the root level tried to do an 'rmdir' - well, it worked, sorta - the files were wiped, but the directory stayed! Some minutes of frantic flipping later revealed that you had to delete the files in the subdirectory first before removing the directory, otherwise you had a big problem! This was a limitation of the version of DOS that I was using...
My heart sank - I thought I might have broke it. But I knew I didn't - everything was still working. But I didn't want that directory - in fact, I wanted things back the way they were. So I did what every budding geek who has just played with a large hard drive, a "real" OS (compared to what was on the Color Computer!), and a directory structure does - I decided to format and reinstall the OS!
Mind you - I had never before attempted or done such a thing - EVER! But I read the manual carefully, followed the steps, inserted the floppies, formatted the hard drive, re-installed the OS and programs - and everything worked again...
You know something? It wouldn't have been possible without having that manual. The same could be said when I first started with my Color Computers - I had a manual there.
Today, it is a different world. You buy a computer, and you are lucky if you get a rescue CD-ROM, let alone individual CDs for the software, or a manual, or a schematic of the machine (ok, I know that last one would be impossible in today's world - and nearly useless to boot). A bunch of assumptions are made that these items would scare people off, when we know this is untrue - it didn't scare me off as a kid of 11, why would it scare an adult? Indeed, think of the manuals and such that came with 16-bit systems in the early to mid 80's - did this documentation scare off the managers and people who used these machine? NO!
So why isn't it included in today's boxes? Even if it did "scare" some people, they would still come to view it as a resource to help them - something familiar to help them learn how to use the system, how it all fits together...
But - it would not do Microsoft (or the clone makers, to a lesser extent) any good for the users to "gain a clue" - because it would give them a measure of power over the software and hardware distributors/manufacturers. It would give the user knowledge that would allow them to _truely_ make decisions about "where they wanted to go today".
You know something - this is what many Linux distros offer today - and is something that I first noticed with my first real distro install of Redhat 5.2 - I got manuals again. They told how to do everything, how to install and maintain the system, and I got actual floppies and CDs with the system. I later moved to SuSE 6.3, now I used 7.2 - each one came with floppies, CDs and a manual - which is why I bought the distros - I knew what I would get.
SuSE 7.2 does it best - the manuals for install and configuration of the system really show and help you to do it (though I did an upgrade, not a full install - it still went really smooth) - this is something that I think people would appreciate, and see what they are missing, if they really knew of the options available to them.
Perhaps this fact is something that should be pushed in the marketing of Linux...
From what I understand, there is something different between this box and others that won't allow me to install certain PPC distros. It currently has a SCSI 8gig HD and SCSI CD-ROM drive, plus 32 meg RAM. Currently it has OS/9 on it, and boots fine.
I want to drop a distro on it, but I am not sure which one would work. I don't want to spend money or time getting a distro if it won't work for me. Can anyone give me pointers on what distro I should use with this box, as well as how I should go about getting/buying the distro (ie, if I have to burn an ISO, can I do it on my SuSE box at home easily enough)?
...then I strongly encourage you to read the book Database Nation.
Just don't buy it at Borders...
Check out this text about the cooling experiment, referenced off the main PCsat page:
So we put 80 RED LEDS on the bottom of PC sat as a 3W thermal radiator for this test. And just for fun, at night we can also turn them on as
power permits as a visual experiment. Calculations suggest a magnitude of about 6 if it is pointing straight down. Eight, if it is off to one side or the other. Magnitude 8 is visible with binoculars.
So...
Which middie will be the first geek to cobble together a scrolling LED sign seen from space?
I've been thinking about doing this to my Ranger - where did you pick up the LEDs, and are you using integrated 12V ones, or do you have a seperate regulator for them?
I see a lot of posts here, both for and against what happened to this lady, as well as explanations (however brief) as to how the IP could have been spoofed, yadayada...
Nowhere have I seen any mention that someone has emailed her, leting her know more about the DMCA, making her aware of her options (such as switching services - oh! Maybe she can't do that! Maybe she doesn't _know_ that!), or lack thereof. Letting her know more about what the DMCA is being used for (2600, Dmitry, Felton, etc).
Send her an email - show her links! Show her the problem!
Here we have a jounalist who has had the DMCA used against her and her family - but maybe she didn't even know such law existed, and how it could affect her further, as well as her career as a journalist and writer. This woman could be a potential "ally", who may write further stories and do some investigative journalism into the DMCA and its abuse, and threatened abuse.
Email her - let her know more...!
1 GHz for the low-end...sheesh...
I thought my system was low end - now it might as well be "destined for the scrap pile"...
I have a Celeron 366 - my board can only go up to a 667. Last night I just maxed out my ram at 768 meg (hey, when you are running KDE and Netscrape, every bit counts - someday, I will make the switch to Konq, or Moz). I still have yet to upgrade my hard drive - I have only a couple of 4.3 gig drives in the box. Perhaps I'll get one of them new-fangled 40 (60? 80?) gig drives someday - though I am saving up for a house, so it will take a while.
I guess I should feel good that most of my system is made up of stuff no one else wanted - and it does what I need, which is all that matters...
It feels almost...retro (though if I really wanted that, I would break out my TRS-80 CoCo 3 with 512K of RAM, at a blazing 1 MHz (2 MHz with high speed poke!), and 160K floppy drive - yehaw!)...
I can't remember correctly, but I think this incident did take place in a "southern" town - however, it wasn't a racially motivated incident - the suspected individual was white, as were most of the townspeople (I would say all, but I don't know that for sure, and besides, it is unlikely)...
This actually really works, on a lot of things - including murder! I saw something on A&E, a program called (I think) "Cold Case Files"...
Basically, there was this case of a small town in which this very bad individual (I think he was a serial killer or murder/rapist, something) kept eluding the law, and settled (I believe) in his hometown, where the shit began anew. The police and the law were having a hard time getting anything on the guy, and when they did, he always seemed to get out on bail or something, and resume his ways.
He essentially had the entire town scared for their lives - no one would go out after dark, and everyone kept a gun near them.
One day, the town "boys" got together to discuss what to do, how they could get rid of the guy - drive him out of town or something. Just as the meeting was getting underway, one guy popped in and told them that the man was at the local bar (apparently the favorite watering hole). All the men in the meeting grabbed their guns, and drove over to the bar...
They all walked into the bar, the suspected murderer was still there. He noticed what was going on, decided to pay his tab, and leave. He walked out, and what happened next is "conjecture"...
Apparently, several shots were heard, the police arrived, and the suspected murdered was found shot in the front seat of his car. Stone cold dead.
The FBI was called in, and everyone at the bar was questioned. Every last one of them said they were hiding when they heard the shots. The FBI continued the questioning, eventually questioning nearly every person in the town. Everyone gave the same story - nobody knew or seen nuthin'!
The FBI knew that the "town" had murdered that man, regardless of his guilt or innocence in the crimes he supposedly committed - however, with everybody backing each other up, there was nothing they could do, nobody they could arrest. They never found the murder weapon, either.
As far as the problems the town was having prior (murders/rapes)? They stopped...
Needless to say, that is one town that you don't cross...
but we've no light controlled light amplifier
Of course we do! It is called a L.A.S.E.R.
L)ight A)mplification (by) S)timulated E)mission (of) R)adiation
We have LASERs that are "pumped" (ie, stimulated) via other LASERs. Indeed, a simple ruby rod laser uses a light source (the flash tube) to pump the ruby rod into lasing.
Granted, none of these devices are the size for an optical computer - but they aren't vaporware, either...
Maybe not many - but those that do will be those that gain. I care about the "average user" - the problem is the "average user" doesn't care about me, let alone himself. We need to show these users that they should. It is becoming more difficult to do this each passing day. We are letting it slip through are fingers. I don't know the answers to how to acheive this level of education.
Today I took a look over at Columbia Journalism Review - Who Owns What - and you know what - it is fucking depressing. So depressing, somehow I half-ass expect to dig deep enough and find CJR is 0wn3d by one of the very entities it exposes...! It really is _that_bad_.
What I was trying to point out with Fidonet is the fact that things might go underground. I propose we tear down the old first, though - why should they have it - we were first, we built it - why do they get to set the rules - fuck 'em...?
Listen - I don't give a fuck about some damn song I don't own that someone else does!
I do give a fuck about information pertaining to my fair-use-rights and freedom to copy a song or other information I have, however I wish. I also give a fuck about distributing my own songs and information Freely - thus becoming a competitor to the corrupt mass of mainstream media that exists today!
If you don't understand, then step out of the way - I will come back to help you learn later.
Very true - but the Turing test was designed to test an entity to determine whether it could appear "human-like".
Corporate entities may "think", may even be "sentient" - but this may occur in such a way that we have no way of knowing it, with certainty - it would be beyond us, as much as the sentience of our brains is beyond that of a single neuron (if a neuron was self-aware, of course).
However, one has to wonder - stop and think about it for a minute:
Why would the MPAA and their member corporations seek such a law like the DMCA, when ultimately it harms the individuals that make up the said corporations? It only benefits the corporations - ultimately it is to the detriment of the freedom of the people that make up those corporate entity. I doubt any of the individuals (heck, probably alll the way up to Valenti himself - though I wonder...) are hell-bent on taking away the freedoms of everyone worldwide - but that is what the whole corporate machine entities do...
We watch these entities do it every single day. But we have little to no understanding of what is really going on. I have been trying to wrap my brain around it for quite a while - perhaps it is impossible. Maybe it is because they don't think - or maybe it is because they do?
One book I can reccommend reading about this, and such that articulates it better than I can is called Out of Control : The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World by Kevin Kelley - a very remarkable read...
As long as I can connect two computers together, the internet will exist...
For me, it started with a null modem serial cable strung between two TRS-80 Color Computers, so that I could "share" the single floppy drive I had.
I quickly moved to a 300 baud modem - and I suddenly had a whole new world at my fingertips.
Later came a 2400 baud modem, a 14.4, a 28.8. BBS's all over town - the city - Fidonet - across America, and in some cases, around the world.
I messed around with connections over telephone wire, building funky parallel port bit-bangers, to create a po-man's networking system.
Now I have a personal network inside my house - cobbled together from parts and pieces the corps didn't want - picked off the scrap pile of electronic hubris...
I hear talk of 802.11 - lasercomm - radiocomm - it is in the air. Hackers will do it. Fidonet will be recreated.
What are they to do? Regulate radio - oops, they already do! Regulate 2.4GHz - yep, that will come. Regulate sell of lasers? That could happen, too. Regulate light making devices? Perhaps.
Maybe I will then hack together a system that only transmits/recieves during the daytime, using mirrors to reflect the sun over long distances, to be received and converted using homemade selenium photocells (and yes - I know how to make them). Regulate mirrors?
Then I will stand on the roof of my house - and shout to the heavens, and my friend beyond, who will relay my message. It may be slow - but to shut me up, you will have to kill me.
KILL ME, DAMMIT! DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND, YOU GODDAMN FUCKING CORPORATE GOVERNMENT MACHINE?!
/end...fucking...rant>