Remember those guys who were pulled over in a van in Michigan with 50-something non-activated prepaid cell phones in the back and were arrested under suspicion of being terrorists, etc.? They were Tracphones, one article mentioned, and that they are popular with terrorists because you don't need to identify yourself in order to buy or activate one. I went right out and paid $20 cash for one a couple days later at Target, and it's true!
Nobody at Tracphone or Target knows or cares who I am or where I live. I've added time and minutes since then the same way; the cards are for sale at CVS. For a frequent cell phone user, it would be a more expensive way to go, but for someone who loves privacy, hates being on mailing lists, and uses a cell phone infrequently, it works out just fine. The annual cost is definitely much less than any $39.99/mo plan.
Of course, if you buy the phone on their site, they will have your name, credit card, and shipping address!
Everybody please go listen to the fun, funny, smart, tech-savvy, pop rock of Jim's Big Ego right now. The Boston-based band's lead singer, Jim Infantino, "gets it."
Their song Mix Tape (free download) was written about the music industry's inability to understand that people have always shared their favorite music and will continue to.
> Just build a nice commuter car with fantastic > mileage, that's what we really want.
Absolutely! It's time to replace my Honda Insight - where shall I look? I've got the money and am ready to buy. It would be nice to buy American, but the only American option is a big honking SUV with half the MPG or less. Now we have this electric car that recharges itself... just need a hydrogen infrastructure to support it. Is this "ten years off," Ford, or what? I have the money and am ready to buy! Where's my plug-in hybrid?
Grandparents / hacker dude / Mitt Romney - it's not for you!
I'm surprised if the OLPC project is really doing this.
The project's goal, as I heard Nicholas explain it, is for governments to buy these computers on a LARGE scale, so the funding is not an issue. After his speech at LinuxWorld Boston, someone proposed a similar "let me buy one for $200" idea. Negroponte said that it's great that you want to help, and the best way you could do that would be to do something similar in your own neighborhood. Buy a cheap laptop from Ebay and give it to a local needy student. Negroponte and his wife had been buying used laptops for years and bringing them to a needy village school (in Africa, I think?) where they were used in education.
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, probably after reading a blurb (but not TFA) about OLPC and a "$100 laptop," said that he'd support the idea of buying them for Massachusetts students.
Mitt, it's not for you!
Someone pledges to pay $300 for one so that needy children (and he himself) can get one.
Hacker dude, it's not for you!
The project's goal, as I heard Nicholas explain it, is for governments to buy these computers on a LARGE scale, so the funding is not an issue. After his speech at LinuxWorld Boston, someone proposed a similar "let me buy one for $200" idea. Negroponte said that it's great that you want to help, and the best way you could do that would be to do something similar in your own neighborhood. Buy a cheap laptop from Ebay and give it to a local needy student. Negroponte and his wife had been buying used laptops for years and bringing them to a needy village school (in Africa, I think?) where they were used in education.
Something else he said was that there definitely are other basic needs in some places, such as water, food, etc., and that there are organizations that work on that, and if you want to support those organizations, then that truly is wonderful, and you should do that.
1. Go to the control panel, Add/Remove Software, and choose AOL. I think it asks you to restart after this.
All done, right? Not yet!
2. Follow the same steps to remove "Real Player," assuming you don't want it! (Spyware, intrusive.)
3. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Coach." Apparently uninstalling AOL doen't uninstall this, whatever it is.
4. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Desk Bar." Hmmm... Maybe this was the icon in the task bar?
5. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Spyware Protection."
6. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Toolbar."
7. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL You've Got Pictures Screensaver."
I think we're almost done!
8. Follow the same steps to remove "Pure Networks Port Magic." (What the heck is THAT?)
9. Follow the same steps to remove "Viewpoint Experience Technology."
Not done yet...
I find it hard to be negative about this at all - maybe I need to read more about it, but it seems very altruistic to me. There are some smart folks behind this, and the individual governments and ministries of education will use their heads as well, probably using care not to just hand them out on streetcorners to passersby. I know that there will someday be photos of one of these laptops that gets used as a doorstop, but I think that there will be many more that will trigger thoughts of "how does this work," and "how can I make this do something that I want it to do?" These are the kind of thoughts that got us all into computers.
It's too bad that Mr. Negroponte's group had to put a statement on their web site saying that "the $100 laptops--not yet in production--will not be available for sale." I think a less tactful person would say, "They're not for you! They're for someone less fortunate than you!"
"Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has proposed a US$54 million program to equip each of his state's 500,000 middle- and high-schoolers with the laptops, which the students would be allowed to keep. Other states may follow suit."
Boston's fun, funny, hip, and technologically-aware Jim's Big Ego did this in May 2004. Their song, "Mix Tape," makes some good statements about the RIAA. Several contest entries and the original song and component tracks are available for download.
I would really like to get the bottom line on whether these HDTV tuners are Broadcast-Flag compliant. (Of course, I want the answer to be "no" to all.)
ATI HDTV Wonder DVICO FusionHDTV III Hauppauge WinTV-HD Itech AccessDTV MIT MyHD MDP-120 pcHDTV HD-2000 Sasem OnAirUSB-HDTV
I pressed and pressed ATI support for an answer, and finally got them to say it DOESN'T respect the BF. I'm just not 100% sure I believe them.
Does anyone know about these??? How do we get a reliable answer? The listings on the EFF page don't explicitly say that they don't honor it...
Just FYI, there are many links above to the "introduced" version of the bill from February, but it changed a lot before it was "chaptered" September 21st.
It no longer mentions physical addresses or phone numbers. It doesn't apply to sharing within your "immediate family" or "immediate household." And it is VERY clear on exceptions, like when you own the copyright, or when you have permission to share.
Not that I like this bill, and not that it really holds any water at all... It's definitely abuse.
Following one of the Homeland Security links, and searching for the particular kind of duct tape that I should run out and buy, I found this (PDF!) page that has a spooky image of Tom Ridge. If you don't see it when the page is loading, then drag the scroll bar up and down.
Leftover artifact from composing the document, or high-tech method of watching us at our desks? You decide! I think I saw his eyes move!
When the weather is warm, and that seems to be the biggest factor, I get the EPA-rated 70 mpg or more in my 2000 Honda Insight. 55 on cold winter days.
You have some good concerns about getting those batteries back for recycling.
For what it's worth, the battery pack on the Honda Insight is made up of 120 individual cells, so I would think that the chance of a large-scale spilling of the chemical contents is reduced.
And from what I understand, since this is new technology, Honda warranteed the electrical system, including the battery pack, for 8 years. After that I've heard it's around $1200 for a new one... We'll see! I hope not to have to putt around with just the three-cylinder 67-horsepower gas engine, if that's even possible.
I did hear a general concern (somewhere...) about rescue workers worried about cutting into vehicles that have large battery packs, hitting a wire, etc., but I also heard that the electrical lines are bright orange to alert them to that. Sorry - kinda off-topic.
The year 2000 Insight with manual transmission was rated at 70mpg. As the parent said, I also never get below 50mpg, ever, and don't ever get more than 78mpg, unless the trip I'm taking is all downhill.
I've found that keeping the speed around 60 max is a big factor, but even bigger is outside temperature. In the dead of winter on my 17 mi commute, I get 52mpg, and on nice warm days I can do 73-74. I suspect that temperature affects everyone's mpg. Also, as the article mentions, driving habits have big effects, and you can learn the right habits by watching the constant feedback on the dash.
For those reading outside the US who might be having trouble with miles and gallons, we're talking about under 4 liters per 100 km. (Isn't it interesting that time and distance are inverted?)
After I read the news story on boston.com and before there was a Slashdot story posted for this,
this was my feedback to the Senator through the form on his web site. It's a little quick and rough, but I thought I should direct him (his staff) to check Slashdot for reaction:
Ouch! What's next? Blow up a car when the parking meter runs out? You're interested in destroying a person's computer when an industry group says they did something wrong with it? No notice, no trial, no warrant, no judicial checks on this? Would there be any legitimate authority in charge of the zapper, or would you hand over control to whatever record company or industry group wanted it? And who's going to be monitoring my communications on the internet to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong? Will you be opening my mail to check for diskettes with copyrighted material on them, or papers even? How would you plan to check to see if the copyright on a particular recording has expired and the work is in the public domain? Or if the recording artist WANTS his or her work to be as widely distributed as possible? Sorry to be so sarcastic, but as a senator with serious responsibilities, you've got to be a little more realistic, for the sake of the people of Utah and the rest of the country. Be sure to check slashdot.org for reaction - there's sure to be a story on your remarks. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss any of this.
> some users report more than 3 L/100 km > (75 mpg) in particularly snarled traffic.
Did anyone else notice that the IEEE seems to be mishandling its ratio here? In saying that some users have better efficiency, they could say "more than X mpg," but shouldn't they say that "some users report LESS than 3 L/100 km," when a smaller ratio is better?
I also had the opportunity to use one for a few minutes. It was a blast.
One of the points stressed by the Segway engineers who were demonstrating it was that collisions are not a big deal. To demonstrate, he drove toward a volunteer and hit him. The first thing that hits is the the handlebars, which are light. This causes the Segway to tip slightly backwards, which is a signal to the Segway that it should stop moving forwards and start moving backwards, which it did right away.
Another important point is that the Segway doesn't automatically go 12 mph. It goes exactly as slowly as you want it to go.
It has a small kickstand to hold it upright when you power it off, and seems to lean easily up against a wall, too.
It was pretty simple and quiet and fun. It doesn't seem to me that it will cause chaos on sidewalks, but it'll be interesting to see what happens.
Oh, BTW, a machine takes me to and from work each day (my Jeep,) but I haven't put on excessive weight as a result.
I'm able to edit the agreement as-is in Netscape 4.79. I added some things about making the peanuts easier to open, deleted the part about keeping my seatbelt on while browsing the site, then clicked Agree.
Another great thing about local bands is that you can get close to them without paying Ticketmaster a chunk of money, and without buying months in advance. Local bands are often grateful if you bring a camera and take their picture, and often don't mind you recording the show. Jim Infantino of Boston band Jim's Big Ego (http://bigego.com) told me directly a few years ago, "Please Napster our stuff!" Jim is a Slashdot reader, an opponent of webcasting fees, and turns out new MP3s every month.
Another great thing is that when you go to a show, you'll be exposed to 2-3 other bands. Many of them are awful... But one in 20 is really good, and you'll end up hooked on their music, too.
Douglas Adams at MIT 2 November 2000 Douglas Adams spoke to a packed auditorium (and to an overflow room by closed-citcuit camera) at MIT on 2 November 2000. The topic was his 1990 (?) book "Last Chance to See."
It's my first post ever and I'm only slightly off-topic. Please be kind!
Douglas Adams spoke at MIT in Cambridge MA on 2 November 2000. Ironically, his topic was "Last Chance to See." He was funny and entertaining, though most of his talk consisted of stories from the book. After the Q&A, he sat and signed a large number of autographs.
Slashdot Mirror
Remember those guys who were pulled over in a van in Michigan with 50-something non-activated prepaid cell phones in the back and were arrested under suspicion of being terrorists, etc.? They were Tracphones, one article mentioned, and that they are popular with terrorists because you don't need to identify yourself in order to buy or activate one. I went right out and paid $20 cash for one a couple days later at Target, and it's true!
Nobody at Tracphone or Target knows or cares who I am or where I live. I've added time and minutes since then the same way; the cards are for sale at CVS. For a frequent cell phone user, it would be a more expensive way to go, but for someone who loves privacy, hates being on mailing lists, and uses a cell phone infrequently, it works out just fine. The annual cost is definitely much less than any $39.99/mo plan.
Of course, if you buy the phone on their site, they will have your name, credit card, and shipping address!
Okay,
Everybody please go listen to the fun, funny, smart, tech-savvy, pop rock of Jim's Big Ego right now. The Boston-based band's lead singer, Jim Infantino, "gets it."
"JBE Radio" is waiting to fill your speakers.
Their song Mix Tape (free download) was written about the music industry's inability to understand that people have always shared their favorite music and will continue to.
Their music is released with a Creative Commons license. "Jim's Big Ego Won't Sue You!"
Listen to previews of the tracks from their album "They're Everywhere" (and other albums.) Buy the album in 192kbps MP3 unrestricted shareable copyable non-DRM format.
Okay, thanks. Back to your regularly scheduled John Mayer and Jack Johnson.
Tom.
> Just build a nice commuter car with fantastic
> mileage, that's what we really want.
Absolutely! It's time to replace my Honda Insight - where shall I look? I've got the money and am ready to buy. It would be nice to buy American, but the only American option is a big honking SUV with half the MPG or less. Now we have this electric car that recharges itself... just need a hydrogen infrastructure to support it. Is this "ten years off," Ford, or what? I have the money and am ready to buy! Where's my plug-in hybrid?
Grandparents / hacker dude / Mitt Romney - it's not for you!
I'm surprised if the OLPC project is really doing this.
The project's goal, as I heard Nicholas explain it, is for governments to buy these computers on a LARGE scale, so the funding is not an issue. After his speech at LinuxWorld Boston, someone proposed a similar "let me buy one for $200" idea. Negroponte said that it's great that you want to help, and the best way you could do that would be to do something similar in your own neighborhood. Buy a cheap laptop from Ebay and give it to a local needy student. Negroponte and his wife had been buying used laptops for years and bringing them to a needy village school (in Africa, I think?) where they were used in education.
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, probably after reading a blurb (but not TFA) about OLPC and a "$100 laptop," said that he'd support the idea of buying them for Massachusetts students.
Mitt, it's not for you!
Someone pledges to pay $300 for one so that needy children (and he himself) can get one.
Hacker dude, it's not for you!
The project's goal, as I heard Nicholas explain it, is for governments to buy these computers on a LARGE scale, so the funding is not an issue. After his speech at LinuxWorld Boston, someone proposed a similar "let me buy one for $200" idea. Negroponte said that it's great that you want to help, and the best way you could do that would be to do something similar in your own neighborhood. Buy a cheap laptop from Ebay and give it to a local needy student. Negroponte and his wife had been buying used laptops for years and bringing them to a needy village school (in Africa, I think?) where they were used in education.
Something else he said was that there definitely are other basic needs in some places, such as water, food, etc., and that there are organizations that work on that, and if you want to support those organizations, then that truly is wonderful, and you should do that.
http://websiteperson.com/advocate/uninstallaol90.h tm
1. Go to the control panel, Add/Remove Software, and choose AOL. I think it asks you to restart after this.
All done, right? Not yet!
2. Follow the same steps to remove "Real Player," assuming you don't want it! (Spyware, intrusive.)
3. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Coach." Apparently uninstalling AOL doen't uninstall this, whatever it is.
4. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Desk Bar." Hmmm... Maybe this was the icon in the task bar?
5. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Spyware Protection."
6. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Toolbar."
7. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL You've Got Pictures Screensaver."
I think we're almost done!
8. Follow the same steps to remove "Pure Networks Port Magic." (What the heck is THAT?)
9. Follow the same steps to remove "Viewpoint Experience Technology."
Not done yet...
I find it hard to be negative about this at all - maybe I need to read more about it, but it seems very altruistic to me. There are some smart folks behind this, and the individual governments and ministries of education will use their heads as well, probably using care not to just hand them out on streetcorners to passersby. I know that there will someday be photos of one of these laptops that gets used as a doorstop, but I think that there will be many more that will trigger thoughts of "how does this work," and "how can I make this do something that I want it to do?" These are the kind of thoughts that got us all into computers.
It's too bad that Mr. Negroponte's group had to put a statement on their web site saying that "the $100 laptops--not yet in production--will not be available for sale." I think a less tactful person would say, "They're not for you! They're for someone less fortunate than you!"
"Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has proposed a US$54 million program to equip each of his state's 500,000 middle- and high-schoolers with the laptops, which the students would be allowed to keep. Other states may follow suit."
Hey Governor Romney - they're not for you!
Boston's fun, funny, hip, and technologically-aware Jim's Big Ego did this in May 2004. Their song, "Mix Tape," makes some good statements about the RIAA. Several contest entries and the original song and component tracks are available for download.
0 504090919481
http://www.bigego.com/egog/article.php?story=2004
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/4162
Folks,
I would really like to get the bottom line on whether these HDTV tuners are Broadcast-Flag compliant. (Of course, I want the answer to be "no" to all.)
ATI HDTV Wonder
DVICO FusionHDTV III
Hauppauge WinTV-HD
Itech AccessDTV
MIT MyHD MDP-120
pcHDTV HD-2000
Sasem OnAirUSB-HDTV
I pressed and pressed ATI support for an answer, and finally got them to say it DOESN'T respect the BF. I'm just not 100% sure I believe them.
Does anyone know about these??? How do we get a reliable answer? The listings on the EFF page don't explicitly say that they don't honor it...
Tom.
Hi All,
5 0/sb_1506_bill_20040921_chaptered.html
Just FYI, there are many links above to the "introduced" version of the bill from February, but it changed a lot before it was "chaptered" September 21st.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_1501-15
It no longer mentions physical addresses or phone numbers. It doesn't apply to sharing within your "immediate family" or "immediate household." And it is VERY clear on exceptions, like when you own the copyright, or when you have permission to share.
Not that I like this bill, and not that it really holds any water at all... It's definitely abuse.
Following one of the Homeland Security links, and searching for the particular kind of duct tape that I should run out and buy, I found this (PDF!) page that has a spooky image of Tom Ridge. If you don't see it when the page is loading, then drag the scroll bar up and down.
e _Flag_Full_Page.pdf
Leftover artifact from composing the document, or high-tech method of watching us at our desks? You decide! I think I saw his eyes move!
http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/Flown_th
When the weather is warm, and that seems to be the biggest factor, I get the EPA-rated 70 mpg or more in my 2000 Honda Insight. 55 on cold winter days.
Driving at moderate speeds is also a big factor.
Having driven by the building one day, I think I can speak for the company's strategic direction... And get rated +5 Informative! Funny.
You have some good concerns about getting those batteries back for recycling.
For what it's worth, the battery pack on the Honda Insight is made up of 120 individual cells, so I would think that the chance of a large-scale spilling of the chemical contents is reduced.
And from what I understand, since this is new technology, Honda warranteed the electrical system, including the battery pack, for 8 years. After that I've heard it's around $1200 for a new one... We'll see! I hope not to have to putt around with just the three-cylinder 67-horsepower gas engine, if that's even possible.
I did hear a general concern (somewhere...) about rescue workers worried about cutting into vehicles that have large battery packs, hitting a wire, etc., but I also heard that the electrical lines are bright orange to alert them to that. Sorry - kinda off-topic.
The year 2000 Insight with manual transmission was rated at 70mpg. As the parent said, I also never get below 50mpg, ever, and don't ever get more than 78mpg, unless the trip I'm taking is all downhill.
I've found that keeping the speed around 60 max is a big factor, but even bigger is outside temperature. In the dead of winter on my 17 mi commute, I get 52mpg, and on nice warm days I can do 73-74. I suspect that temperature affects everyone's mpg. Also, as the article mentions, driving habits have big effects, and you can learn the right habits by watching the constant feedback on the dash.
For those reading outside the US who might be having trouble with miles and gallons, we're talking about under 4 liters per 100 km. (Isn't it interesting that time and distance are inverted?)
Here's a Terraserver view of the island. I don't see anything dangerous! Well, nothing bigger than 1 meter, anyway.
I just read a great article in the Boston Globe Magazine from this weekend that detailed some efforts and dilemmas.
l es /2003/10/05/spambusters/
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/artic
Ouch! What's next? Blow up a car when the parking meter runs out? You're interested in destroying a person's computer when an industry group says they did something wrong with it? No notice, no trial, no warrant, no judicial checks on this? Would there be any legitimate authority in charge of the zapper, or would you hand over control to whatever record company or industry group wanted it? And who's going to be monitoring my communications on the internet to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong? Will you be opening my mail to check for diskettes with copyrighted material on them, or papers even? How would you plan to check to see if the copyright on a particular recording has expired and the work is in the public domain? Or if the recording artist WANTS his or her work to be as widely distributed as possible? Sorry to be so sarcastic, but as a senator with serious responsibilities, you've got to be a little more realistic, for the sake of the people of Utah and the rest of the country. Be sure to check slashdot.org for reaction - there's sure to be a story on your remarks. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss any of this.
> some users report more than 3 L/100 km
> (75 mpg) in particularly snarled traffic.
Did anyone else notice that the IEEE seems to be mishandling its ratio here? In saying that some users have better efficiency, they could say "more than X mpg," but shouldn't they say that "some users report LESS than 3 L/100 km," when a smaller ratio is better?
I also had the opportunity to use one for a few minutes. It was a blast.
One of the points stressed by the Segway engineers who were demonstrating it was that collisions are not a big deal. To demonstrate, he drove toward a volunteer and hit him. The first thing that hits is the the handlebars, which are light. This causes the Segway to tip slightly backwards, which is a signal to the Segway that it should stop moving forwards and start moving backwards, which it did right away.
Another important point is that the Segway doesn't automatically go 12 mph. It goes exactly as slowly as you want it to go.
It has a small kickstand to hold it upright when you power it off, and seems to lean easily up against a wall, too.
It was pretty simple and quiet and fun. It doesn't seem to me that it will cause chaos on sidewalks, but it'll be interesting to see what happens.
Oh, BTW, a machine takes me to and from work each day (my Jeep,) but I haven't put on excessive weight as a result.
I'm able to edit the agreement as-is in Netscape 4.79. I added some things about making the peanuts easier to open, deleted the part about keeping my seatbelt on while browsing the site, then clicked Agree.
Another great thing about local bands is that you can get close to them without paying Ticketmaster a chunk of money, and without buying months in advance. Local bands are often grateful if you bring a camera and take their picture, and often don't mind you recording the show. Jim Infantino of Boston band Jim's Big Ego (http://bigego.com) told me directly a few years ago, "Please Napster our stuff!" Jim is a Slashdot reader, an opponent of webcasting fees, and turns out new MP3s every month.
Another great thing is that when you go to a show, you'll be exposed to 2-3 other bands. Many of them are awful... But one in 20 is really good, and you'll end up hooked on their music, too.
Got to love live local music.
Tom in Boston
http://bostonrock.home.attbi.com
Douglas Adams at MIT
2 November 2000
Douglas Adams spoke to a packed auditorium (and to an overflow room by closed-citcuit camera) at MIT on 2 November 2000. The topic was his 1990 (?) book "Last Chance to See."
http://geocities.com/tmcgonegal/dna
Douglas Adams spoke at MIT in Cambridge MA on 2 November 2000. Ironically, his topic was "Last Chance to See." He was funny and entertaining, though most of his talk consisted of stories from the book. After the Q&A, he sat and signed a large number of autographs.
Here are my pictures from that evening.
http://www.geocities.com/tmcgonegal/dna/
Tom.