What is your stance on the inadequacies of patent law?
Do you think it would be more fair (for consumers and developers) to restructure patents so that only IP related to an existing product can be patented?
Actually, from what I recall of my Isaac Asimov readings, in several of his book jackets (probably in the Robots Series) he goes about describing the origins of the word Robot. Asimov is attributed to the first ever use of the adjective word 'robotic'. If someone has that handy, it may be worth transcribing for us.
There is probably a natural balance with the amount of combustible material in an area and the amount of moisture in that area. Once a thicket gets too dry, it burns for one reason or another. I find it interesting that the more we fight small to medium sized forest fires, the larger and more destructive the eventual large one is. It's all a balance, and we're helping destroy it one squirt of water at a time. The more we fight nature, the harder it fights back.
If you actually read the product's specs, you'd know that's not the case.
None of those products listed on that web site you mentioned do any sort of streaming. The one that does have ethernet appears to use it for data acquisition, not real time streaming. Those limitations make them nothing more than limited local caches of your music collection. Lame.
Heck, my 1.5 year old Apex dvd player can play mp3 discs, but it's totally inconvenient. MP3 cds are only good for backups and car mp3 players.
Don't be silly. You're also talking about an MP3 player, not a cd player. It has inherently inferior audio quality.
Adding optical out is a waste of money for 90% of the people out there who don't have optical in, and a waste for the remaining 10% who do because you wouldn't hear any difference anyway. Beating your chest about your audio gear aside, it's silly to think optical out off an MP3 box is worthwhile.
100% FUD, get it while it's hot
on
Taming the Web
·
· Score: 1
Even if Freenet does not end up in the crowded graveyard of vaporware, Internet service providers can always pull the plug--treating Freenet, in essence, as an unsupported feature, in the way that many providers today do not support telnet, Usenet and other less popular services.
Uhmn... no. You can only block telnet and Usenet because the service expects a certain port number. Nobody can selectively block packets that may be targeted to any given port without a signature, and an encrypted packet shouldn't contain one.
This, among many other technological faux pas, clearly show the author's lack of internet knowledge, while reporting on it.
Also mentioned is the hardware solution to piracy/information duplication/what have you. The article states that some people may 'rip up their motherboards' to make stuff free again, but that there'd be less music and videos around because of it. Earlier on page one, he said that once you put something on the net, it can be copied infinitely. So which is it? All it takes is one unprotected copy of a document and it's free forever.
And lastly, even with hardware protection, you must be able to view/hear/use the data in question. If you can perceive it, it can be copied, even if it requires more effort than most people would put into it. For instance, most of us wouldn't sit in a theater for 3 hours holding a camcorder to get The Matrix on digibeta... but all it takes is one person to do it, and everyone else "benefits".
Incorrectly. It does not support 24 bit transparency mapped PNG, which is the only useful format option that gives quality exceeding GIF.
Due to the lossless compression method, the file sizes are typically 3x larger than an equal dimensioned JPG at equivalent quality setting.
PNG is not a valid alternative to GIF in terms of bandwidth, quality, or multilayering technique for web sites. I've done everything possible to move in the direction of PNG on two of my domains, and eventually went back to GIF for file size. When 24 bit PNG with alpha mapping is properly supported, all that will change.
In the 'cease to exist' linked article, there's a quote:
"Steve Lipner, head of Microsoft's security response centre, said the company was looking for new ways to distribute patches more efficiently."
Obviously they can't write software that doesn't have security holes big enough for the Hindenburg to fly through... so why not write a PATCH that exploits the same HOLE and repairs it, and destroys the worm, then deactivates itself after a month? At least that way, it catches and repairs the hole on all the machines whose sysadmins aren't paying attention.
(Stupid/. can't keep up with posts...) For the third time then:
I built a 240gb RAID-1 out of 4x60gb Maxtor 5400rpm drives. Total cost to me $600, not counting the computer. A month or so ago, 60gb drives had the best $/gb ratio. More drives also has better overall performance in a RAID, rather than fewer big ones. I threw them all on a single ATA/100 card and get sustained 40mb/s read throughput.
For ~1TB, you shouldn't pay more than $2600, plus computer. Rather than going high end with a monster power supply, just buy a cheap second case with a 250w and put your drives in there, leave off the cover for ventilation and cable access, and you're done.
The key is to find a web site that has an MLS for your area online, and provides addresses, _not_ necessarily maps. You can get a map anywhere if you have the address, but some MLS sites don't give you the address, just maps.
If you're looking for FSBO, I haven't seen much in that respect that is reliable. However, an MLS is typically where realtors go to find their info. Almost any large market has two or three MLS sites.
1. To teach flow control, use Rube Goldberg machines, then Basic to model them.
2. To teach Object Oriented Design, use a train set w/ cranes and logs and good stuff like that. Then use Java to model them.
3. To teach how computers work, use an Apple II (or any 8-bit machine) and teach them assembly.
4. To teach memory maintenance and performance programming, use C.
Computer Science, in almost every facet, is the phrasing of some model in a mathematical form. People learn best when they have a concrete analogy to associate with their logical model. Once they get beyond the conceptual, get mechanical.
No language is right for teaching CS. Teaching CS is a process.
A year or two ago when DSL and cable modems just began moving into the Austin,TX area, a similar scandal occurred where some middle-manager at (TW or SWBT) printed up a few hundred or thousand memos that told his employees to contact the competitor and request service, then to disconnect within a week.
The deal was either the manager promised to cover the minimal fees incurred, or there's a legal loophole in Texas when canceling a utility service... so either way, it *would* have cost a testicle for the company.
Luckily, many employees had serious moral objections to the edict and blew the whistle, even calling the local media into the fray. Someone definitely got fired.
He himself said that he created the site for the university.
He was not employed by the university, ergo it was not done for purposes of donation to the university's IP collection. Study the context in which it was said.
He doesn't own it any more than the guy who wrote the HTML for Microsoft's website owns the site itself.
Again, look carefully and you'll find that the person who wrote the HTML for MS was legally employed to create that IP for MS.
It's one thing entirely to support or not support someone. It's entirely another to claim ownership of materials that you did not produce, whether you support them or not.
The academic status is nothing that can be resolved outside of U of U administration. The rights to the intellectual property is. He owns it, and even if U of U wants to remove their 'support', as you say, they cannot forbid him to post his speech elsewhere, including all content.
Anyone who has $20 million to spend on a week long vacation would think that anything short of table top fusion in zero gravity is dull. I'd wanna see all sorts of cool shit for $20 million. He's just bitter.
90% of all game development goes into getting the first level, scenario, or 10 minutes of continuous gameplay to run. The remaining 10% is merely content integration.
I've been a Game Developer for 6 years, so I'm comfortable with the design and implementation aspect. However, the original question was asking more from a business point of view.
Anyone here ever start their own small game company? What were your steps?
I suppose there weren't enough immortality rings around his web server's network cable to keep out all the negative energy from/.'ers. I can't even check out the pseudo science site.
/. -- collaborative DoS or news site? You be the judge.
I like the concept, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I'd rather see something where two separate halves are not base units, but rather gloves with motion sensors. That way you can type while controlling a cursor, scrolling windows, jerking off, whatever.
The best way to improve speed on a desktop would be to jettison the whole keyboard idea and get something that make sense for the technology involved. Not some throwback to the 1930 with manual strikers.
What Katz points out is the status quo, and effectively shows how damaged it is compared to the country many decades ago.
What Katz (and many/.ers) misses the boat on is that free markets aren't necessarily evil, and big corporations aren't wildly uncontrollable growths. If they were, everyone here would have started one by now and grown very rich. Corporations of all sorts become larger, more wealthy, and take over more areas due to *PUBLIC SUPPORT*, due to *PUBLIC DEMAND* and *PUBLIC TOLERATION*. So, while Katz and many other/. readers are vehemently opposed to the lack of quality in our society due to decadent eating habits... how many of you have refused to eat at any fast food restaurants? What about refusing to eat at any franchises whatsoever? None of you.
You're the problem, not the corporations. You're feeding the fire. Legislation to prevent companies from growth is not a solution, it's a problem of its own. What the American public supports is a lack of quality. The solution is mass intolerance.
I clicked on the last link (the older RIS0 one) just to check out what Danish looks like. I was astonished when the Adobe Reader plugin popped up an error box stating, "There are problems reading this document."
... and I thought to myself, "No shit, it's in fscking Danish."
What hardcore user wants to reach over for the mouse and attempt gesturing something that, if you really cared to do it frequently, would be a keyboard chord already?
The only thing a mouse is good for is Quake. That is, until they invented a scrolly-wheel.
Many years ago, when the Internet had just become the focus of politicos running for presidency, I sat in a small theater on the University of Texas campus and listened to Douglas Adams speak. I hadn't made the connection before that his HHGTTG was a prophetic similitude for the internet, and sat in rapture for an hour and a half as realization hit me.
The man was entirely humorous, entirely abase of agreeability towards politics in general, even so far as to state (paraphrased, from age old memory): "The Internet Superhighway is a terrible moniker. The Internet is nothing like a highway, super or otherwise, because it is a confining concept to associate it with something familiar. The Internet is nothing like you or I have ever encountered before. It is the future."
Aside: My only complaint is traffic is traffic, on the highway or on the servers...
I'll seriously miss a 6th book in the trilogy, myself. Such a tragedy. Wearing my towel May 25th.
Slashdot Mirror
What is your stance on the inadequacies of patent law?
Do you think it would be more fair (for consumers and developers) to restructure patents so that only IP related to an existing product can be patented?
Actually, from what I recall of my Isaac Asimov readings, in several of his book jackets (probably in the Robots Series) he goes about describing the origins of the word Robot. Asimov is attributed to the first ever use of the adjective word 'robotic'. If someone has that handy, it may be worth transcribing for us.
There is probably a natural balance with the amount of combustible material in an area and the amount of moisture in that area. Once a thicket gets too dry, it burns for one reason or another. I find it interesting that the more we fight small to medium sized forest fires, the larger and more destructive the eventual large one is. It's all a balance, and we're helping destroy it one squirt of water at a time. The more we fight nature, the harder it fights back.
Cool technology, though.
Man, you guys must have small places. I have to have a 120ft cable strung through four rooms to get to my stereo from my computer. :-(
If you actually read the product's specs, you'd know that's not the case.
None of those products listed on that web site you mentioned do any sort of streaming. The one that does have ethernet appears to use it for data acquisition, not real time streaming. Those limitations make them nothing more than limited local caches of your music collection. Lame.
Heck, my 1.5 year old Apex dvd player can play mp3 discs, but it's totally inconvenient. MP3 cds are only good for backups and car mp3 players.
Don't be silly. You're also talking about an MP3 player, not a cd player. It has inherently inferior audio quality.
Adding optical out is a waste of money for 90% of the people out there who don't have optical in, and a waste for the remaining 10% who do because you wouldn't hear any difference anyway. Beating your chest about your audio gear aside, it's silly to think optical out off an MP3 box is worthwhile.
Even if Freenet does not end up in the crowded graveyard of vaporware, Internet service providers can always pull the plug--treating Freenet, in essence, as an unsupported feature, in the way that many providers today do not support telnet, Usenet and other less popular services.
Uhmn... no. You can only block telnet and Usenet because the service expects a certain port number. Nobody can selectively block packets that may be targeted to any given port without a signature, and an encrypted packet shouldn't contain one.
This, among many other technological faux pas, clearly show the author's lack of internet knowledge, while reporting on it.
Also mentioned is the hardware solution to piracy/information duplication/what have you. The article states that some people may 'rip up their motherboards' to make stuff free again, but that there'd be less music and videos around because of it. Earlier on page one, he said that once you put something on the net, it can be copied infinitely. So which is it? All it takes is one unprotected copy of a document and it's free forever.
And lastly, even with hardware protection, you must be able to view/hear/use the data in question. If you can perceive it, it can be copied, even if it requires more effort than most people would put into it. For instance, most of us wouldn't sit in a theater for 3 hours holding a camcorder to get The Matrix on digibeta... but all it takes is one person to do it, and everyone else "benefits".
FUD, FUD, FUD.
What are we going to do today, Brain?
The same thing we do every day, Pinky.
Incorrectly. It does not support 24 bit transparency mapped PNG, which is the only useful format option that gives quality exceeding GIF.
Due to the lossless compression method, the file sizes are typically 3x larger than an equal dimensioned JPG at equivalent quality setting.
PNG is not a valid alternative to GIF in terms of bandwidth, quality, or multilayering technique for web sites. I've done everything possible to move in the direction of PNG on two of my domains, and eventually went back to GIF for file size. When 24 bit PNG with alpha mapping is properly supported, all that will change.
JH
I haven't ordered a pizza by calling on the phone in 3 years. Papa John's pizza, among others, does a lot of business here in Austin online.
I'm rather partial to the wirelss coffee house idea, myself, if only I could afford a laptop and wireless modem.
In the 'cease to exist' linked article, there's a quote:
"Steve Lipner, head of Microsoft's security response centre, said the company was looking for new ways to distribute patches more efficiently."
Obviously they can't write software that doesn't have security holes big enough for the Hindenburg to fly through... so why not write a PATCH that exploits the same HOLE and repairs it, and destroys the worm, then deactivates itself after a month? At least that way, it catches and repairs the hole on all the machines whose sysadmins aren't paying attention.
JH
(Stupid /. can't keep up with posts...) For the third time then:
I built a 240gb RAID-1 out of 4x60gb Maxtor 5400rpm drives. Total cost to me $600, not counting the computer. A month or so ago, 60gb drives had the best $/gb ratio. More drives also has better overall performance in a RAID, rather than fewer big ones. I threw them all on a single ATA/100 card and get sustained 40mb/s read throughput.
For ~1TB, you shouldn't pay more than $2600, plus computer. Rather than going high end with a monster power supply, just buy a cheap second case with a 250w and put your drives in there, leave off the cover for ventilation and cable access, and you're done.
The Panther!
The key is to find a web site that has an MLS for your area online, and provides addresses, _not_ necessarily maps. You can get a map anywhere if you have the address, but some MLS sites don't give you the address, just maps.
If you're looking for FSBO, I haven't seen much in that respect that is reliable. However, an MLS is typically where realtors go to find their info. Almost any large market has two or three MLS sites.
It all depends on the intention of the course.
1. To teach flow control, use Rube Goldberg machines, then Basic to model them.
2. To teach Object Oriented Design, use a train set w/ cranes and logs and good stuff like that. Then use Java to model them.
3. To teach how computers work, use an Apple II (or any 8-bit machine) and teach them assembly.
4. To teach memory maintenance and performance programming, use C.
Computer Science, in almost every facet, is the phrasing of some model in a mathematical form. People learn best when they have a concrete analogy to associate with their logical model. Once they get beyond the conceptual, get mechanical.
No language is right for teaching CS. Teaching CS is a process.
A year or two ago when DSL and cable modems just began moving into the Austin,TX area, a similar scandal occurred where some middle-manager at (TW or SWBT) printed up a few hundred or thousand memos that told his employees to contact the competitor and request service, then to disconnect within a week.
The deal was either the manager promised to cover the minimal fees incurred, or there's a legal loophole in Texas when canceling a utility service... so either way, it *would* have cost a testicle for the company.
Luckily, many employees had serious moral objections to the edict and blew the whistle, even calling the local media into the fray. Someone definitely got fired.
He himself said that he created the site for the university.
He was not employed by the university, ergo it was not done for purposes of donation to the university's IP collection. Study the context in which it was said.
He doesn't own it any more than the guy who wrote the HTML for Microsoft's website owns the site itself.
Again, look carefully and you'll find that the person who wrote the HTML for MS was legally employed to create that IP for MS.
Neither statement is relevent.
You miss the point, zpengo.
It's one thing entirely to support or not support someone. It's entirely another to claim ownership of materials that you did not produce, whether you support them or not.
The academic status is nothing that can be resolved outside of U of U administration. The rights to the intellectual property is. He owns it, and even if U of U wants to remove their 'support', as you say, they cannot forbid him to post his speech elsewhere, including all content.
IINAL, etc.
Anyone who has $20 million to spend on a week long vacation would think that anything short of table top fusion in zero gravity is dull. I'd wanna see all sorts of cool shit for $20 million. He's just bitter.
Good comments, but a tad unrealistic.
90% of all game development goes into getting the first level, scenario, or 10 minutes of continuous gameplay to run. The remaining 10% is merely content integration.
I've been a Game Developer for 6 years, so I'm comfortable with the design and implementation aspect. However, the original question was asking more from a business point of view.
Anyone here ever start their own small game company? What were your steps?
I suppose there weren't enough immortality rings around his web server's network cable to keep out all the negative energy from /.'ers. I can't even check out the pseudo science site.
/. -- collaborative DoS or news site? You be the judge.
I like the concept, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I'd rather see something where two separate halves are not base units, but rather gloves with motion sensors. That way you can type while controlling a cursor, scrolling windows, jerking off, whatever.
The best way to improve speed on a desktop would be to jettison the whole keyboard idea and get something that make sense for the technology involved. Not some throwback to the 1930 with manual strikers.
I have to agree, to an extent.
/.ers) misses the boat on is that free markets aren't necessarily evil, and big corporations aren't wildly uncontrollable growths. If they were, everyone here would have started one by now and grown very rich. Corporations of all sorts become larger, more wealthy, and take over more areas due to *PUBLIC SUPPORT*, due to *PUBLIC DEMAND* and *PUBLIC TOLERATION*. So, while Katz and many other /. readers are vehemently opposed to the lack of quality in our society due to decadent eating habits... how many of you have refused to eat at any fast food restaurants? What about refusing to eat at any franchises whatsoever? None of you.
What Katz points out is the status quo, and effectively shows how damaged it is compared to the country many decades ago.
What Katz (and many
You're the problem, not the corporations. You're feeding the fire. Legislation to prevent companies from growth is not a solution, it's a problem of its own. What the American public supports is a lack of quality. The solution is mass intolerance.
I clicked on the last link (the older RIS0 one) just to check out what Danish looks like. I was astonished when the Adobe Reader plugin popped up an error box stating, "There are problems reading this document."
... and I thought to myself, "No shit, it's in fscking Danish."
Yet Another Useless Technology
What hardcore user wants to reach over for the mouse and attempt gesturing something that, if you really cared to do it frequently, would be a keyboard chord already?
The only thing a mouse is good for is Quake. That is, until they invented a scrolly-wheel.
Many years ago, when the Internet had just become the focus of politicos running for presidency, I sat in a small theater on the University of Texas campus and listened to Douglas Adams speak. I hadn't made the connection before that his HHGTTG was a prophetic similitude for the internet, and sat in rapture for an hour and a half as realization hit me.
The man was entirely humorous, entirely abase of agreeability towards politics in general, even so far as to state (paraphrased, from age old memory): "The Internet Superhighway is a terrible moniker. The Internet is nothing like a highway, super or otherwise, because it is a confining concept to associate it with something familiar. The Internet is nothing like you or I have ever encountered before. It is the future."
Aside: My only complaint is traffic is traffic, on the highway or on the servers...
I'll seriously miss a 6th book in the trilogy, myself. Such a tragedy. Wearing my towel May 25th.