This actually sounds like a great way to poke one bat in the RIAA's eye.
They're going on screaming about how it's not fair to use someone's work without paying them for it. If that's true, then they shouldn't have any problem paying people for the use of the MP3 format.
By emphasizing that the kids were "inner city" kids, I suppose it implies that they are disadvantaged economically, and maybe don't have computers at home. Or maybe that as a part of avoiding the daily violence of the inner city they may not have as much time to study as suburban kids.
Once again John boy takes a legitimate concern and instead of taking a reasonable position he runs straight into the realm of absurdity.
Dvorak says "Broadband may be decades away."
WHAT? This is like saying that since we Americans like SUVs and pickup trucks so much, fuel efficient cars may be decades away.
Sure, our vehicles aren't as efficient as they could be, but we're doing better than we were 20 years ago. To draw the tangent, sure only about as many people use broadband as use Macintoshes (I happen to be in both groups), but the relative newness of broadband and the fact that in many areas it's not an option should bring that into perspective. In 5 years even web browising will be so plug-in heavy that people with 56k modems will be like those poor SOBs today with 14.4k modems.
Dvorak assumes that we will continue to have the same crop of users forever. As people younger than us venture out into the world high bandwidth will be a must. People who are college freshmen today are NOT going to go back to dialup when they move into their first apartments after they graduate.
Dialup has taken a shot through the heart, death is certain, the only question is "How good are those paramedics?"
I have had an awful glimpse of the future.
on
Hardwoodware
·
· Score: 4
If these things ever take off in terms of popularity, every time someone's fan dies there will be a smoldering box of wood ash, molten plastic, and copper lying in an office building, den or bedroom somewhere.
Insurance companies will HATE these things.
"Before we can insure you Mr. Goldstein, I have a few questions. Do you use tobacco? No. Good. Do you have any of those silly flamable wooden computers? Ok, then you monthly premium is...DAMN, I pay this much per year, um,,,"
I've been outdone again.
on
Hardwoodware
·
· Score: 2
Now I guess I'm going to have to make that case out of chicken wire, coat hangers, and packing foam.
DAMNIT, I've been outdone
on
Duct Tape
·
· Score: 2
I thought that I had done something really remarkable when I made TNT in my high school's anatomy/chemistry lab.
That the hotel/convention center did M$'s bidding.
They are a business. They are out to make money. If they thought that Microsoft would consider throwing business to their competitors they would have done just about anything.
Once I lost my account with an ISP because I sent weekly emails to the people at Adelphia, bugging them to introduce cable modems in my area.
Tim Gaiches, the contact person for this ISP said to me words to the effect of "I don't care that you didn't violate our terms of service. The $20 per month that we get from you doesn't matter compared to the headache we'll face if Adelphia blocks all incoming mail from our server."
timg@telerama.com is his address, ask him if you think I'm lying.
BTW, yes I'm still bitter and this type of thing pisses me off.
I injured my back last year, while dunking a basketball.
My regimen consisted of daily stretching and weekly hour long dips in a hot tub, I missed two days of work, and it took a over a month before my back was normal again. But after a week, I was able to work with minimal problems.
>>Which is why it fucking BAFFLES me why the computer industry is bowing to 'intellectual' property owners' every demand.
1. Because they don't want to spend the money fighting off the lawsuits.
2. Because they are IP owners themselves. Microsoft would collectively shit a brick if there were a service like Napster for software(Gnutella excluded).
You may joke, but the legal precedents are being established that people CAN be sued for creating a legitimate tool that gets used in the commission of a crime.
Smith and Wesson signed an agreement with the Clinton justice department to gaim immunity from future lawsuits for the criminal misuse of their legal products.
How long until the RIAA grows the cajones to go after Microsoft? Force microsoft to build License Management into Window 2005? I doubt it, but if the trend continues, they would have the legal foundation to build that arguement upon.
Think about this for a minute. Wireless keyboard and mouse. How do you think that the data gets to the computer, magic?
IR seemes to be too unreliable, being that line of site was necessary and a dusty or smoky room would cause unreliable transmission of information.
What's left? RF. The properties of RF that make it so desirable are the same ones that make it sniffable.
Leaving a note on your monitor with your login and password will insure that you never forget, but it also eliminates the point of having password security.
Re:HIV is older than you think
on
The DNA Bomb
·
· Score: 2
I can't provide specific details, because I don't remember them. I do however, remember a case that goes back to 1968. Where a guy who was recently out of high school died and the death was mysterious that samples of his bodily fluid were preserved. In the late 1980's someone decided to have another look at those fluids and HIV was found.
HIV has been with us for a while. While I do not discount the *possibility* that HIV was "man made", it had to have been fasioned from a pre existing precursor.
Ethnicity specific pathogens
on
The DNA Bomb
·
· Score: 3
Two or three years ago, Israel admitted to working on biological agents that would target Iraqi people because of some unique genetic trait.
I don't know how much progress they made, or even if they are still trying but the work was being done.
Slashdot Mirror
This actually sounds like a great way to poke one bat in the RIAA's eye.
They're going on screaming about how it's not fair to use someone's work without paying them for it. If that's true, then they shouldn't have any problem paying people for the use of the MP3 format.
I didn't take this as being racist.
By emphasizing that the kids were "inner city" kids, I suppose it implies that they are disadvantaged economically, and maybe don't have computers at home. Or maybe that as a part of avoiding the daily violence of the inner city they may not have as much time to study as suburban kids.
Once again John boy takes a legitimate concern and instead of taking a reasonable position he runs straight into the realm of absurdity.
Dvorak says "Broadband may be decades away."
WHAT? This is like saying that since we Americans like SUVs and pickup trucks so much, fuel efficient cars may be decades away.
Sure, our vehicles aren't as efficient as they could be, but we're doing better than we were 20 years ago. To draw the tangent, sure only about as many people use broadband as use Macintoshes (I happen to be in both groups), but the relative newness of broadband and the fact that in many areas it's not an option should bring that into perspective. In 5 years even web browising will be so plug-in heavy that people with 56k modems will be like those poor SOBs today with 14.4k modems.
Dvorak assumes that we will continue to have the same crop of users forever. As people younger than us venture out into the world high bandwidth will be a must. People who are college freshmen today are NOT going to go back to dialup when they move into their first apartments after they graduate.
Dialup has taken a shot through the heart, death is certain, the only question is "How good are those paramedics?"
If these things ever take off in terms of popularity, every time someone's fan dies there will be a smoldering box of wood ash, molten plastic, and copper lying in an office building, den or bedroom somewhere.
Insurance companies will HATE these things.
"Before we can insure you Mr. Goldstein, I have a few questions. Do you use tobacco? No. Good. Do you have any of those silly flamable wooden computers? Ok, then you monthly premium is...DAMN, I pay this much per year, um,,,"
Now I guess I'm going to have to make that case out of chicken wire, coat hangers, and packing foam.
I thought that I had done something really remarkable when I made TNT in my high school's anatomy/chemistry lab.
That the hotel/convention center did M$'s bidding.
They are a business. They are out to make money. If they thought that Microsoft would consider throwing business to their competitors they would have done just about anything.
Once I lost my account with an ISP because I sent weekly emails to the people at Adelphia, bugging them to introduce cable modems in my area.
Tim Gaiches, the contact person for this ISP said to me words to the effect of "I don't care that you didn't violate our terms of service. The $20 per month that we get from you doesn't matter compared to the headache we'll face if Adelphia blocks all incoming mail from our server."
timg@telerama.com is his address, ask him if you think I'm lying.
BTW, yes I'm still bitter and this type of thing pisses me off.
Apple went after folks that made PC-based iMac case knockoffs.
Apple also threatened to sue people for making themes that looked "too much" like Mac OS X. Apple has, in the past, been a litigious company.
His comment seems ask a legitimate question.
I injured my back last year, while dunking a basketball.
My regimen consisted of daily stretching and weekly hour long dips in a hot tub, I missed two days of work, and it took a over a month before my back was normal again. But after a week, I was able to work with minimal problems.
>>Which is why it fucking BAFFLES me why the computer industry is bowing to 'intellectual' property owners' every demand.
1. Because they don't want to spend the money fighting off the lawsuits.
2. Because they are IP owners themselves. Microsoft would collectively shit a brick if there were a service like Napster for software(Gnutella excluded).
You may joke, but the legal precedents are being established that people CAN be sued for creating a legitimate tool that gets used in the commission of a crime.
Smith and Wesson signed an agreement with the Clinton justice department to gaim immunity from future lawsuits for the criminal misuse of their legal products.
How long until the RIAA grows the cajones to go after Microsoft? Force microsoft to build License Management into Window 2005? I doubt it, but if the trend continues, they would have the legal foundation to build that arguement upon.
I don't know if the tide can be turned.
Think about this for a minute. Wireless keyboard and mouse. How do you think that the data gets to the computer, magic?
IR seemes to be too unreliable, being that line of site was necessary and a dusty or smoky room would cause unreliable transmission of information.
What's left? RF. The properties of RF that make it so desirable are the same ones that make it sniffable.
Leaving a note on your monitor with your login and password will insure that you never forget, but it also eliminates the point of having password security.
I can't provide specific details, because I don't remember them. I do however, remember a case that goes back to 1968. Where a guy who was recently out of high school died and the death was mysterious that samples of his bodily fluid were preserved. In the late 1980's someone decided to have another look at those fluids and HIV was found.
HIV has been with us for a while. While I do not discount the *possibility* that HIV was "man made", it had to have been fasioned from a pre existing precursor.
Two or three years ago, Israel admitted to working on biological agents that would target Iraqi people because of some unique genetic trait.
I don't know how much progress they made, or even if they are still trying but the work was being done.