Yes, but for the typical slashdotter a neural powered grill might be a bad idea. Imagine the fire hazzard if they were hooked up when they read the latest DRM or MS article!!!
I read the article but I don't get how the pet actually influences the monitoring side of things. I suppose that having the pet there reminds the kid they are being watched but you don't need a visible pet in order to monitor a conversation.
Seems like a gimmick to sell more of the product. Good idea actually. "My friend has a pet so I want one too!" Monitoring software that sells itself to parents through their children.
The other issue that I have is just like any software it will likely have trouble completely understanding language. Just like spam filtering there is no way to predict every possible way that people will come up with to get around existing technology. This thing will also need to understand every new evolution of IM speak. Good luck!
In fact, if it was public record, that would negate the "fears" the FCC has of it being a competitive advantage to one company over another. The "fear" is that another company will find out that for example: Verizon is focusing on a build out in your neighboring city but ignoring yours. Another company could then move in quickly to offer services where they know Verizon is weak.
So while their "fear" would likely come true, it has nothing to do with protecting the public.
the CPI isn't a broadband service provider, so I suspect that other than verifying the FCC's results (or disproving them), the data is in pretty good hands. From what I understand CPI wants to post the information on their website to provide coverage information. While I agree that keeping this information secret is stupid it wouldn't just be seen by CPI.
Ah, thanks for posting this. I needed a good laugh. Whenever I hear web 2.0 I get this nervous tick and the desire to send O'Reilly a box of slaughtered kittens. I feel much better now!
I bet O'Reilly is beside himself. He probably thought up this drivel an hour before his lecture. Now he's got the most referenced article on Wikipedia? Not bad publicity for coming up with something so lame.
I completely agree with you on that point. However that can be said of most bleeding edge early adopter tech. The same cost/benefit considerations had to be made when the first graphics accelerators were introduced. Yet now I'd find it extremely difficult to find a home PC that didn't have some form of graphics acceleration.
The first graphics accelerators were introduced when I was a teenager; I'm in my 20's now. Things move quickly. I'll take a wild guess and say that within the next 5-10 years over half of new PC's will come with some form of physics acceleration. Adoption will be even quicker once the next gen consoles have dedicated physics processors. Game makers will know that they have a large user base guaranteed to be able to run the games so they will make games that utilize PPU's.
The only thing that would bother me is how much of that bandwidth is guaranteed. I pay $80 to Verizon for a 1.5/384 DSL, but that's guaranteed bandwidth. Cable is notorious for fluctuations in bandwidth. If I could get anywhere near that 3mbps cap _consistently_, it would be worth it compared to my current service.
I'm not comparing audio codecs to video codecs as technologies. I'm comparing usage. It might as well have been a comparison to car fuel usage, audio is just more convenient.
You don't have to agree with me, but I NEVER troll. I have more honor than that.
I think it is very possible. The reason ogg really hasn't taken a significant portion of the market away from mp3 is that mp3 is so well established. It is so quick and easy to make an mp3. It's very easy to come by software for making mp3s and you can rip and encode an entire album in less time than it takes to play it. Anyone can do it.
By comparison, DivX is widely used, but _not_ established. Here's why: There are far fewer people making DivX movies than mp3s; The software is slightly more difficult to come by; Ripping takes longer because most DVD drives are slower than CD; The raw video takes a lot of disk space; Encoding takes a VERY long time compared to mp3.
Overall this means that those making DivX tend to be a few savvy users and it will be easy for those users to switch to a new standard. So that being the case it will only take a few people changing over to a new standard to affect a change. Of course these people will have to see that Xiph/On2's way of doing things is better, but if Xiph/On2 can prove that, I'd say they have a very good chance.
I agree. Play was OK. I liked most of it for what it was, but there were one or two tracks that annoyed me. I bought it because I was a fan of some of his earlier stuff, but I could already see his music changing with that record.
Now I just consider him a sellout and try to change the station whenever I hear his awful new music. I don't know who told him he could sing, but that was a mistake.
It's really sad. If he'd just stayed true to his endeavors in electronic music he wouldn't have alienated his fans and he wouldn't be in this position.
Say my mother had a PVR and she recorded some ABC movie that she thought my grandmother would like. Now they are sitting there watching it and a Victoria's Secret commercial comes on. My grandmother is offended by this display and believes it it morally wrong to use sex to sell products. According to the content providers she would be doing something illegal by not watching the commercial!?! Give me a break!
I'd say buy one, perform a perfectly innocuous hack that isn't illegal and only benefits you, and then wait.
If they toast you, you can take them to court and bring home a big check when they try to explain to the judge why they are above destruction of property laws.
If they do nothing, you have a better unit, and you have further weakened the enforcibility of EULAs.
I honestly want companies continue to release more and more audacious EULAs. Eventually people will realize that the situation is out of hand and make corporate America shove it. Until then, EULAs are a minor annoyance to most people and its not worth it for lawyers.
I hope that someday this unrightful practice will be killed altogether and that a few corporations will get their greedy fingers pinched when the door slams, but maybe that's just a pipe dream.
Yes, it's still hacking. Hacking refers to actions, not to the legality of those actions. Hacking does not mean you are doing something illegal. In fact, some companies will actually pay a consultant to hack their system so that vulnerabilities can be discovered and fixed.
Example: Fighting is perfectly legal, but only when it is consensual(ie. boxing). Yet it is still called fighting whether legal or not.
Did we get bored with trying to solve real threats so the government has to pick on amusement parks? All the energy they are putting into this lame legislation could save many more lives if properly channeled to a REAL problem. Do enough people die from coasters to really make it a problem? You could die walking down the street. People die...it happens.
I'm sorry to sound cynical, but this sounds like some legislator had a family member die and now they are trying to find someone to blame.
I'd like to see Microsoft and the RIAA pissed off at each other. I'd say they deserve each other. It would be interesting to see them pick on someone their own size for a change because this abusive bullying of the little guys is getting old.
[rant] And I hope this invention receives the same warm reception New Coke got. Maybe if there are enough flops companies will learn not to overhype a steaming pile of cow dung.
For Pete's sake, they say that this is one of the most important inventions of the 21st century for mankind...but mankind can't even afford it. They had people expecting something like a cure for cancer and they deliver an overpriced scooter.
Finally seeing the product, I'm shocked at some of the celebrity participants of the hype campaign. If I was a public icon I wouldn't want to blatantly lie to the public. If they actually believe the things they said then there are a lot more morons in high places than I originally thought.
The whole thing makes me sick and I wish the worst to all involved. [/rant]
If you're going to be powering this thing off of your mp3 player, what kind of power draw does it have? If it is applying 600lb of pressure it seems like it might have a slightly larger draw than headphones.
ooh, "sheeple". I like that term. A very apt description for the outright stupidity of the average American. Apparently, someone forgot to tell America that the media never has our best interests at heart, and NEVER reflects reality. The idea that people do something, just because their TV told them to, makes me sick.
But you're right, people will stupidly adopt this if it has the proper spin, even if it means they'll lose their personal freedom.
Yeah, how 'bout a trade? The cops get a sensor to tell if I've been drinking, and I get a sensor that tells me when a cop is hiding in the bushes just to meet his quota of speeders.
Slashdot Mirror
No kidding. Too bad I can't modify -7 Tired Argument in my preferences.
Yes, but for the typical slashdotter a neural powered grill might be a bad idea. Imagine the fire hazzard if they were hooked up when they read the latest DRM or MS article!!!
I read the article but I don't get how the pet actually influences the monitoring side of things. I suppose that having the pet there reminds the kid they are being watched but you don't need a visible pet in order to monitor a conversation.
Seems like a gimmick to sell more of the product. Good idea actually. "My friend has a pet so I want one too!" Monitoring software that sells itself to parents through their children.
The other issue that I have is just like any software it will likely have trouble completely understanding language. Just like spam filtering there is no way to predict every possible way that people will come up with to get around existing technology. This thing will also need to understand every new evolution of IM speak. Good luck!
So while their "fear" would likely come true, it has nothing to do with protecting the public.
If we could easily push asteroids into a planet why not just push them away when they approach Earth?
Ah, thanks for posting this. I needed a good laugh. Whenever I hear web 2.0 I get this nervous tick and the desire to send O'Reilly a box of slaughtered kittens. I feel much better now!
I bet O'Reilly is beside himself. He probably thought up this drivel an hour before his lecture. Now he's got the most referenced article on Wikipedia? Not bad publicity for coming up with something so lame.
Apparently it's a little known fact that Bush is actually four thirds Thai!
"I just don't see that happening any time soon."
I completely agree with you on that point. However that can be said of most bleeding edge early adopter tech. The same cost/benefit considerations had to be made when the first graphics accelerators were introduced. Yet now I'd find it extremely difficult to find a home PC that didn't have some form of graphics acceleration.
The first graphics accelerators were introduced when I was a teenager; I'm in my 20's now. Things move quickly. I'll take a wild guess and say that within the next 5-10 years over half of new PC's will come with some form of physics acceleration. Adoption will be even quicker once the next gen consoles have dedicated physics processors. Game makers will know that they have a large user base guaranteed to be able to run the games so they will make games that utilize PPU's.
The only thing that would bother me is how much of that bandwidth is guaranteed. I pay $80 to Verizon for a 1.5/384 DSL, but that's guaranteed bandwidth. Cable is notorious for fluctuations in bandwidth. If I could get anywhere near that 3mbps cap _consistently_, it would be worth it compared to my current service.
I'm not comparing audio codecs to video codecs as technologies. I'm comparing usage. It might as well have been a comparison to car fuel usage, audio is just more convenient.
You don't have to agree with me, but I NEVER troll. I have more honor than that.
I think it is very possible. The reason ogg really hasn't taken a significant portion of the market away from mp3 is that mp3 is so well established. It is so quick and easy to make an mp3. It's very easy to come by software for making mp3s and you can rip and encode an entire album in less time than it takes to play it. Anyone can do it.
By comparison, DivX is widely used, but _not_ established. Here's why:
There are far fewer people making DivX movies than mp3s;
The software is slightly more difficult to come by;
Ripping takes longer because most DVD drives are slower than CD;
The raw video takes a lot of disk space;
Encoding takes a VERY long time compared to mp3.
Overall this means that those making DivX tend to be a few savvy users and it will be easy for those users to switch to a new standard. So that being the case it will only take a few people changing over to a new standard to affect a change. Of course these people will have to see that Xiph/On2's way of doing things is better, but if Xiph/On2 can prove that, I'd say they have a very good chance.
I agree. Play was OK. I liked most of it for what it was, but there were one or two tracks that annoyed me. I bought it because I was a fan of some of his earlier stuff, but I could already see his music changing with that record.
Now I just consider him a sellout and try to change the station whenever I hear his awful new music. I don't know who told him he could sing, but that was a mistake.
It's really sad. If he'd just stayed true to his endeavors in electronic music he wouldn't have alienated his fans and he wouldn't be in this position.
Say my mother had a PVR and she recorded some ABC movie that she thought my grandmother would like. Now they are sitting there watching it and a Victoria's Secret commercial comes on. My grandmother is offended by this display and believes it it morally wrong to use sex to sell products. According to the content providers she would be doing something illegal by not watching the commercial!?! Give me a break!
I'd say buy one, perform a perfectly innocuous hack that isn't illegal and only benefits you, and then wait.
If they toast you, you can take them to court and bring home a big check when they try to explain to the judge why they are above destruction of property laws.
If they do nothing, you have a better unit, and you have further weakened the enforcibility of EULAs.
Either way it looks like the consumer wins.
I honestly want companies continue to release more and more audacious EULAs. Eventually people will realize that the situation is out of hand and make corporate America shove it. Until then, EULAs are a minor annoyance to most people and its not worth it for lawyers.
I hope that someday this unrightful practice will be killed altogether and that a few corporations will get their greedy fingers pinched when the door slams, but maybe that's just a pipe dream.
Yes, it's still hacking. Hacking refers to actions, not to the legality of those actions. Hacking does not mean you are doing something illegal. In fact, some companies will actually pay a consultant to hack their system so that vulnerabilities can be discovered and fixed.
Example: Fighting is perfectly legal, but only when it is consensual(ie. boxing). Yet it is still called fighting whether legal or not.
Beat Dead Horse
Kick Dead Horse
Beat Dead Horse Again
Hell Jon, why do you insist on putting readers to sleep? Here's a novel idea: don't use two words when one will do.
Oh and apparently this whole Spidey vs. Skywalker thing is obvious to everyone except you. We've already been over it, thank you.
*Note to Moderators: Stop accepting Jon's stuff. It only encourages him. There are much better ways to use the front page!
Did we get bored with trying to solve real threats so the government has to pick on amusement parks? All the energy they are putting into this lame legislation could save many more lives if properly channeled to a REAL problem. Do enough people die from coasters to really make it a problem? You could die walking down the street. People die...it happens.
I'm sorry to sound cynical, but this sounds like some legislator had a family member die and now they are trying to find someone to blame.
I'd like to see Microsoft and the RIAA pissed off at each other. I'd say they deserve each other. It would be interesting to see them pick on someone their own size for a change because this abusive bullying of the little guys is getting old.
[rant]
And I hope this invention receives the same warm reception New Coke got. Maybe if there are enough flops companies will learn not to overhype a steaming pile of cow dung.
For Pete's sake, they say that this is one of the most important inventions of the 21st century for mankind...but mankind can't even afford it. They had people expecting something like a cure for cancer and they deliver an overpriced scooter.
Finally seeing the product, I'm shocked at some of the celebrity participants of the hype campaign. If I was a public icon I wouldn't want to blatantly lie to the public. If they actually believe the things they said then there are a lot more morons in high places than I originally thought.
The whole thing makes me sick and I wish the worst to all involved.
[/rant]
If you're going to be powering this thing off of your mp3 player, what kind of power draw does it have? If it is applying 600lb of pressure it seems like it might have a slightly larger draw than headphones.
ooh, "sheeple". I like that term. A very apt description for the outright stupidity of the average American. Apparently, someone forgot to tell America that the media never has our best interests at heart, and NEVER reflects reality. The idea that people do something, just because their TV told them to, makes me sick.
But you're right, people will stupidly adopt this if it has the proper spin, even if it means they'll lose their personal freedom.
Yeah, how 'bout a trade? The cops get a sensor to tell if I've been drinking, and I get a sensor that tells me when a cop is hiding in the bushes just to meet his quota of speeders.