Also don't forget that IE for Mac is nothing like IE for Windows; IE for Mac was one of the most standards-compliant browsers available on any platform at the time.
A lot of smaller ATMs do not maintain a constant network connection, but instead are simply connected to a phone line. After you insert your card, enter your PIN, and tell it what kind of transaction you want to make, then it dials the bank, sends your information, and makes the transaction. It doesn't even verify your PIN until you've already entered the amount of money you want to withdraw.
Larger ATMs with network connections don't have to work this way, but many of them still do, because that was the original design. Try entering your PIN incorrectly, and see when you get the error message (but don't enter it incorrectly too many times!).
Maybe you should adjust your expectations. Personally I thought this was the best April Fool's Slashdot has done in recent memory. Certainly better than when all the articles were dupes about the Evil Bit, which I thought ruined the IETF's otherwise-very-funny joke.
One of the most irritating things I find about television is the censorship. Even on shows that are above average as far as the brainpower of their target audience (e.g. Mythbusters), I find that I have to listen to goddamn beeps and blips all the time. I say let them swear, and don't censor it. If people don't like it, they won't watch, and will hopefully tell the producers why. Even better, implement some sort of on-demand filtering so my cable box censors it if I choose. Conservative Christian? Turn it on. Everyone else? Turn it off, enjoy the language.
This is a great idea for cable TV, but an even better idea for DVDs. I can choose whether I want the audio track to be in English or French, but I can't choose whether to bleep out all the swearing - why the hell not? There are a lot of great movies that I'd love to share with people, that I can't because they're offended by bad language; if I could turn on the beeping, we'd have no problem.
There is nothing in the Christian bible which says it is wrong to look at naked people. There isn't even anything in it that says you can't have sex before marriage.
It also doesn't say you can't bring beer to a church picnic. Try that sometime.;-)
Forget about the pathetic 14 day in store refund rubbish, that's only if you change your mind and decide you don't want it.
You've misunderstood. Any time within the first year, Apple would have repaired the problem at no charge (and my experience with Apple's warranty service has been excellent; all they asked me for was a name and phone number so they could call me when it was done).
However, repairing something like this takes time. Normally, the computer will be shipped to Apple, Apple will repair it, then it will be shipped back to the store for the customer to pick up; this usually takes about two weeks. That's not what happened here. In this case, the employee took a brand new computer off the shelf, copied the customers files from the old one, and gave the customer the new computer after a few minutes. This level of service is most certainly not required by law.
But that isn't because Apple has the policy "14-day refunds or 15 days because what the hell it's close enough." You got a new Mac Mini because the people actually working the store had a heart. You're confusing the part for the whole.
But there are other companies where an employee with a heart, who did what happened here, would be fired imediately. Apple seems to understand that bending the rules in order to make customers happy is a good thing.
Thanks for the encouragement and the tip about MA Labs; I was wondering about finding a good distributor (to give myself some ballpark ideas I was looking at newegg.com, but although their retail prices are pretty good, they don't offer quantity discounts as far as I know, and they charge per item on shipping which REALLY sucks).
Microsoft's monopoly is so entrenched in Joe Average's mind that he doesn't blame Microsoft for Windows' shortcomings; he simply assumes that the Blue Screen Of Death is part of the nature of technology. Therefore, when choosing an antivirus package, he won't distrust Microsoft for opening security holes that must now be closed; he'll think to himself "Microsoft knows Windows better than anyone, because they wrote it; fighting viruses requires that you know the operating system more intimately than the virus writers, so Microsoft is clearly the best choice. If I buy an antivirus package from some other company, who knows if it will really work?"
Sony is obvious, but Dell, besides the lack of quality in certain parts (which could be directly correlated to cheap prices), loads their new computers with tons of bloatware - you have to sit there and remove programs for an hour to get the speed you expect from your new computer and then still, remnants are left.
A friend of mine told me about a hardware review site that was reviewing a new Dell PC and tried to play a game on it. The game wouldn't run at all, because the machine was loaded with so much crap. They wiped the hard drive and did a clean install of XP, then installed the game, and it ran flawlessly with maximum settings.
I have considered building and selling my own PCs, so that when clients tell me they're looking for a new PC and ask me who I recommend, I can offer to sell them something good, because I really haven't seen a major OEM I can recommend in good faith.
How is your music on your iPod and not your PC. iPods are only meant to mirror the music you have in iTunes. Without any hacking the only music on your iPod is music you already have on your PC.
Pressing the delete key in iTunes counts as hacking now? What sad times we live in.
Seriously though, it would be nice if Apple made it easier to copy music off an iPod, so if you've ignored Apple's recommendation and haven't backed up your music, you can at least recover some of it from your iPod.
But since I don't have an iPod, I don't really care that much.:-)
As for hacks specifically, a few months ago, they started recommending a shift away from using CSS hacks and toward using conditional comments. The latter can be used to target specific IE versions with intended functionality, rather than side effects.
I wonder a little, in fact, just how much time iTunes has left as the current king of the hill.
The RIAA really hates the Apple right now, because with the marketshare they've got, Apple has become powerful enough to be able to dictate terms. The major labels can't afford to refuse to sell their content on the most popular music download site in the world (because people will buy music from another label on the iTMS, instead), so Apple can continue to insist that all songs must be sold for the same fixed price and purchased songs never expire.
As long as Apple doesn't allow a record label to dictate that purchased songs must expire, then there's no danger of what you describe. The music consumers want will be available on the iTMS (because they can't afford not to sell it), and even if something new comes along they won't re-buy their existing purchases (because they don't expire)... and I don't think the RIAA can come up with adequate motivation to drive customers away from the iTMS.
Long and short, DRM and copy protection stops casual copiers. But dedicated copiers, if left with no other alternative, still have the analog hole as a last resort. And once one dedicated copier puts something on the file sharing nets......it will be more convenient to download the pirated version of the film than to buy it in a store and jump through whatever hoops they want you to jump through in order to get it to play. Video games reached this point a few years ago - there are lots of people who go out and buy a game, then download a pirated version (or just a crack) so they can play it without all the anti-piracy crap.
Steve Jobs touched on this issue when he introduced the iTunes Music Store. Apple understands that in order to make money selling music, they have to make it significantly less hassle to buy it legally than to pirate it. The MPAA hasn't figured this out yet.
I don't watch very much TV, so I have no interest in paying for cable or satelite TV. However, I really like The Daily Show. I used to pirate it via BitTorrent, but then SuprNova got shut down, then another torrent site got shut down, TVTorrents doesn't seem to have new episodes posted on a regular basis, the P2P networks I've looked at are unreliable and slow and don't usually have new episodes... there are probably other places I could look, but it's just a pain in the ass. So when Apple announced they would be selling a monthly subscription, I jumped at the chance to throw money at them. Why? Because it's significantly easier than pirating. It's not perfect yet (iTMS MultiPass isn't as smooth and seamless as Podcasts are), but it's not a pain in the ass.
I don't have much money to spend on entertainment right now. If you want any of it, you have to give me something I want for a price I think is reasonable without being obnoxious about it. Period.
I've been deploying Horde for some of a couple of my clients lately, and they seem happy with it. It can be a pain to get set up correctly, but once you've done it a few times you begin to get the hang of it and it's not so bad. It's poorly documented, but very configurable.
Won't this only affect people who apply the "security" update (actually a "keep MS from getting sued" update) that they're going to roll out?
It's also a security update, and I'd be surprised if future security updates didn't require this patch.
What percent of users apply security updates anyways?
Not nearly enough, but as XPSP2 becomes more widely adopted, the number is definitely growing. Installing security patches used to be the second thing I did when working on a PC for a client (after cleaning up spyware); now most PCs I see already have automatic updates enabled (and hardly any spyware).
Before I got a cell phone, I thought the idea of cell phones interfering with airplane instruments was BS too. The main reason cell phones are prohibited on airplanes is because of the problems it causes with the cell network (cells trying to hand off calls to other cells every couple of seconds, figuring out which cell you're closest to when you're within range of a dozen of them simultaneously, etc.).
However, now that I actually have a cell phone, I can say that the interference it generates isn't BS at all. The amplified speakers for my computer - and in fact most sound systems with poor shielding - pick up audible interference whenever my phone is nearby and communicating with the network. I can clearly hear and recognize the sound of an incoming call about two seconds before the phone begins to ring, if the phone is within several feet of my speakers.
Re:Vista Graphics could be an issue
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Apple Joins BAPCo
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· Score: 1
I misspoke, I actually meant Quartz 2D Extreme, not Quartz Extreme. I'm aware OSX doesn't use DirectX, but I've heard the hardware requirements (for Quartz 2D Extreme and DirectX 9) are roughly the same.
Slashdot Mirror
Also don't forget that IE for Mac is nothing like IE for Windows; IE for Mac was one of the most standards-compliant browsers available on any platform at the time.
Damn it.
It was bound to happen. I knew I made some kind of error in there somewhere, I just couldn't find it.
A lot of smaller ATMs do not maintain a constant network connection, but instead are simply connected to a phone line. After you insert your card, enter your PIN, and tell it what kind of transaction you want to make, then it dials the bank, sends your information, and makes the transaction. It doesn't even verify your PIN until you've already entered the amount of money you want to withdraw.
Larger ATMs with network connections don't have to work this way, but many of them still do, because that was the original design. Try entering your PIN incorrectly, and see when you get the error message (but don't enter it incorrectly too many times!).
Did you mean "aspostrophic"? Please double-check your own spelling when criticizing someone else's grammar. ;-)
I expected something intelligent from /.
Um...
That was pretty stupid of you.
Maybe you should adjust your expectations. Personally I thought this was the best April Fool's Slashdot has done in recent memory. Certainly better than when all the articles were dupes about the Evil Bit, which I thought ruined the IETF's otherwise-very-funny joke.
The case. Definitely the case. Nobody else makes cases like that.
One of the most irritating things I find about television is the censorship. Even on shows that are above average as far as the brainpower of their target audience (e.g. Mythbusters), I find that I have to listen to goddamn beeps and blips all the time. I say let them swear, and don't censor it. If people don't like it, they won't watch, and will hopefully tell the producers why. Even better, implement some sort of on-demand filtering so my cable box censors it if I choose. Conservative Christian? Turn it on. Everyone else? Turn it off, enjoy the language.
This is a great idea for cable TV, but an even better idea for DVDs. I can choose whether I want the audio track to be in English or French, but I can't choose whether to bleep out all the swearing - why the hell not? There are a lot of great movies that I'd love to share with people, that I can't because they're offended by bad language; if I could turn on the beeping, we'd have no problem.
There is nothing in the Christian bible which says it is wrong to look at naked people. There isn't even anything in it that says you can't have sex before marriage.
;-)
It also doesn't say you can't bring beer to a church picnic. Try that sometime.
Forget about the pathetic 14 day in store refund rubbish, that's only if you change your mind and decide you don't want it.
You've misunderstood. Any time within the first year, Apple would have repaired the problem at no charge (and my experience with Apple's warranty service has been excellent; all they asked me for was a name and phone number so they could call me when it was done).
However, repairing something like this takes time. Normally, the computer will be shipped to Apple, Apple will repair it, then it will be shipped back to the store for the customer to pick up; this usually takes about two weeks. That's not what happened here. In this case, the employee took a brand new computer off the shelf, copied the customers files from the old one, and gave the customer the new computer after a few minutes. This level of service is most certainly not required by law.
I like the fact that my MP3 device isn't tied to a service and doesn't police me and is flexible and didn't cost 2-3 times as much.
The iPod isn't tied to a service in any way whatsoever, unless by "tied to a service" you mean "doesn't support WMA".
But that isn't because Apple has the policy "14-day refunds or 15 days because what the hell it's close enough." You got a new Mac Mini because the people actually working the store had a heart. You're confusing the part for the whole.
But there are other companies where an employee with a heart, who did what happened here, would be fired imediately. Apple seems to understand that bending the rules in order to make customers happy is a good thing.
Thanks for the encouragement and the tip about MA Labs; I was wondering about finding a good distributor (to give myself some ballpark ideas I was looking at newegg.com, but although their retail prices are pretty good, they don't offer quantity discounts as far as I know, and they charge per item on shipping which REALLY sucks).
Have fun with the plane!
Microsoft will just delete the competition...
Microsoft's monopoly is so entrenched in Joe Average's mind that he doesn't blame Microsoft for Windows' shortcomings; he simply assumes that the Blue Screen Of Death is part of the nature of technology. Therefore, when choosing an antivirus package, he won't distrust Microsoft for opening security holes that must now be closed; he'll think to himself "Microsoft knows Windows better than anyone, because they wrote it; fighting viruses requires that you know the operating system more intimately than the virus writers, so Microsoft is clearly the best choice. If I buy an antivirus package from some other company, who knows if it will really work?"
Sony is obvious, but Dell, besides the lack of quality in certain parts (which could be directly correlated to cheap prices), loads their new computers with tons of bloatware - you have to sit there and remove programs for an hour to get the speed you expect from your new computer and then still, remnants are left.
A friend of mine told me about a hardware review site that was reviewing a new Dell PC and tried to play a game on it. The game wouldn't run at all, because the machine was loaded with so much crap. They wiped the hard drive and did a clean install of XP, then installed the game, and it ran flawlessly with maximum settings.
I have considered building and selling my own PCs, so that when clients tell me they're looking for a new PC and ask me who I recommend, I can offer to sell them something good, because I really haven't seen a major OEM I can recommend in good faith.
Exactly what I've always thought - allthough I think Apple could blow away any market it chooses to enter.
To put this another way:
Apple chooses to enter only those markets it can blow away.
...in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard."
How is your music on your iPod and not your PC. iPods are only meant to mirror the music you have in iTunes. Without any hacking the only music on your iPod is music you already have on your PC.
:-)
Pressing the delete key in iTunes counts as hacking now? What sad times we live in.
Seriously though, it would be nice if Apple made it easier to copy music off an iPod, so if you've ignored Apple's recommendation and haven't backed up your music, you can at least recover some of it from your iPod.
But since I don't have an iPod, I don't really care that much.
As for hacks specifically, a few months ago, they started recommending a shift away from using CSS hacks and toward using conditional comments. The latter can be used to target specific IE versions with intended functionality, rather than side effects.
I agree with them. Conditional comments kick ass!
I wonder a little, in fact, just how much time iTunes has left as the current king of the hill.
The RIAA really hates the Apple right now, because with the marketshare they've got, Apple has become powerful enough to be able to dictate terms. The major labels can't afford to refuse to sell their content on the most popular music download site in the world (because people will buy music from another label on the iTMS, instead), so Apple can continue to insist that all songs must be sold for the same fixed price and purchased songs never expire.
As long as Apple doesn't allow a record label to dictate that purchased songs must expire, then there's no danger of what you describe. The music consumers want will be available on the iTMS (because they can't afford not to sell it), and even if something new comes along they won't re-buy their existing purchases (because they don't expire)... and I don't think the RIAA can come up with adequate motivation to drive customers away from the iTMS.
Long and short, DRM and copy protection stops casual copiers. But dedicated copiers, if left with no other alternative, still have the analog hole as a last resort. And once one dedicated copier puts something on the file sharing nets... ...it will be more convenient to download the pirated version of the film than to buy it in a store and jump through whatever hoops they want you to jump through in order to get it to play. Video games reached this point a few years ago - there are lots of people who go out and buy a game, then download a pirated version (or just a crack) so they can play it without all the anti-piracy crap.
Steve Jobs touched on this issue when he introduced the iTunes Music Store. Apple understands that in order to make money selling music, they have to make it significantly less hassle to buy it legally than to pirate it. The MPAA hasn't figured this out yet.
I don't watch very much TV, so I have no interest in paying for cable or satelite TV. However, I really like The Daily Show. I used to pirate it via BitTorrent, but then SuprNova got shut down, then another torrent site got shut down, TVTorrents doesn't seem to have new episodes posted on a regular basis, the P2P networks I've looked at are unreliable and slow and don't usually have new episodes... there are probably other places I could look, but it's just a pain in the ass. So when Apple announced they would be selling a monthly subscription, I jumped at the chance to throw money at them. Why? Because it's significantly easier than pirating. It's not perfect yet (iTMS MultiPass isn't as smooth and seamless as Podcasts are), but it's not a pain in the ass.
I don't have much money to spend on entertainment right now. If you want any of it, you have to give me something I want for a price I think is reasonable without being obnoxious about it. Period.
I've been deploying Horde for some of a couple of my clients lately, and they seem happy with it. It can be a pain to get set up correctly, but once you've done it a few times you begin to get the hang of it and it's not so bad. It's poorly documented, but very configurable.
Won't this only affect people who apply the "security" update (actually a "keep MS from getting sued" update) that they're going to roll out?
It's also a security update, and I'd be surprised if future security updates didn't require this patch.
What percent of users apply security updates anyways?
Not nearly enough, but as XPSP2 becomes more widely adopted, the number is definitely growing. Installing security patches used to be the second thing I did when working on a PC for a client (after cleaning up spyware); now most PCs I see already have automatic updates enabled (and hardly any spyware).
Before I got a cell phone, I thought the idea of cell phones interfering with airplane instruments was BS too. The main reason cell phones are prohibited on airplanes is because of the problems it causes with the cell network (cells trying to hand off calls to other cells every couple of seconds, figuring out which cell you're closest to when you're within range of a dozen of them simultaneously, etc.).
However, now that I actually have a cell phone, I can say that the interference it generates isn't BS at all. The amplified speakers for my computer - and in fact most sound systems with poor shielding - pick up audible interference whenever my phone is nearby and communicating with the network. I can clearly hear and recognize the sound of an incoming call about two seconds before the phone begins to ring, if the phone is within several feet of my speakers.
I misspoke, I actually meant Quartz 2D Extreme, not Quartz Extreme. I'm aware OSX doesn't use DirectX, but I've heard the hardware requirements (for Quartz 2D Extreme and DirectX 9) are roughly the same.