If if the desktop fab's DRM is anything like what we have today, there's no way the plutocracy will be able to keep control anymore than they can stop p2p file sharing. In that case, they'll either realize this in time to make fabs of any kind illegal, or they will just plain die off along with their revenue streams.
The difference is that unlike pure information, physical stuff can be far more dangerous. That fact will give them a hell of a lot more leverage to legislate against it. The reasoning is so strong that I don't even think I can argue with it.
How do you live in a world where any script kiddie can kill anyone they like without being held accountable?
Buses and trains are typically government-subsidized monopolies.
Taxi Cabs, on the other hand, are competitive. I'd expect driverless taxis to become cheaper (or cab companies to cartelize) than mass transit. I'd use it a hell of a lot more, in that case, and it would get me to a hell of a lot more places. I'd imagine a lot of people would ditch the maintenance/insurance/gas headache, as well. The remainder would be the ones who enjoy having their own cars (which I understand), rather than those who just need one (and are usually forced to drive bombers anyway).
As the machine learns to drive more safely, it has the ability to instantly teach every other machine what it has learned (provided "Intellectual Property " doesn't screw this up) - a trick stock humans can't or won't do.
The technology will only improve - which is more than you can say for stock humans. In time, the debate will be over allowing humans to drive at all, because they aren't safe.
I'm looking for intelligent comments and criticism on this scheme, as well:
http://n8o.r30.net/a2z/drupal/node/view/153
It does not require (though it could benefit from) a central royalty agency, and so it can be implemented by small labels and artists today. At the same time, it ends up being a tractor app for more SSL or IPSEC deployment among common Internet users.
This technology stuff just keeps getting better and better. Now, we can have full-motion video transmitted to our cellphones over thin air! What will they think of next?...broadcast television?
Why don't they just put a TV tuner in the phone? (Because) That doesn't cost $9.99 a month.
A proposal for a collective licensing scheme, complete with technical infrastructure.
Criteria:
1. minimizes the changes required to existing and future software
2. capable of being securely implemented in software released under open-source licenses.
3. runs on existing hardware and networks without modification
4. preserves the capability to innovate new software and hardware
5. provides consumers with the digital content access to which they have become accustomed with file sharing
6. provides publishers and artists with the access to consumers and promotion to which they have become accustomed (whether they admit it or not).
7. fairly compensates publishers and artists for providing digital access to their works based on popularity of the works.
8. does not interfere with consumer's established fair use rights, including those of first sale, or the abilty to make copies for purposes of research, education, citation, review, format, device- or time-shifting, or data backups.
9. is reasonably robust against technical attack.
Let's never mind how easy this makes it for amateurs to break into systems.
How easy does this make it for *machines* to break into systems? How long before we see worms in the wild that just grab exploits straight from the site? Offering shrink-wrapped exploits sure reduces the configuration space over which a mutating worm would need to vary its programming.
As much of a curmudgeon about machine intelligence as you may be, I know a number of people who would be hard pressed to say which was dumber: your average script kiddie, or your average worm.
Depending on what you mean by "credit card", I use my debit card all the time. I have accounts with three major American banks, and all come with "check cards", which pull directly from my checking accounts. One is a MC, the others Visa, and they work just like credit cards. I can't get credit, but I can use these cards anywhere that takes "credit cards", and I can get them at almost any major bank that offers consumer checking accounts.
In the 5 seconds it took me to switch from the "Save as" browser window to the torrent status window, I was already looking at a 300KByte/s download rate, which is the fastest torrent I've ever seen. It steadily rose to *500KBytes per second* before completely dropping to - zero! Wtf?!
Of your exhaustive list, only 2, 4, and 5 are actually comprised of anything that is unattainable by unmanned robotic missions. Van Allen is not saying space exploration is a waste of time - he's saying that it's inefficient.
Given the tremendous gains (in the historical sense, if no other) being made in telecommmunications, robotics, and telepresence, there is soon going to be a lot less reason to send our wet machinery into an environment it wasn't designed for, although it may never be eliminated entirely.
Microsoft, and Microsoft alone (supposedly) indemnifies their software. even if they try to disclaim the hell out of it, they'll still foot the legal bill even if the court doesn't buy it.
Is it me, or does having all these companies offering indemnification services for (roughly) the same product look like a market being re-opened up to competition again? Even when it comes to legal services for something you probably don't need, you STILL have more choices with Linux than with Windows.
I realize that the poster is questioning for those who DO have this newfangled TV stuff, but in the interest of balance, I felt the need to put this on the record:
I don't watch TV, although I have one that has been collecting dust for months. My roomates have a family-size TV (old style) to play DVDs and Xbox games.
No one watches broadcast or cable television. ever.
There are two problems with consumer manufacturing (nano or not):
1) creating and selling the fabricators is not a business model. Once you get a few seeded out there, people will just make copies of the fabs themselves, and sell them to others, until the market is so saturated that people just give them away.
2) Regardless of whether today's police state has faded, the potential of the common people to make their own weapons, be they blades, guns, explosives, or other chemical dangers will be too much for government to tolerate.
The solution that I think will likely be deployed is a "Trusted Manufacturing" or "Trusted Fabrication" architecture much like we already see today with "Trusted Computing" and Digital Rights Management systems.
You will not be able to own a fab - you'll rent it, like your cable box, or your music CDs (*cough*) today. Tampering with someone else's property is obviously illegal (not that it will stop everyone - see below). Furthermore, the fabs will only be permitted to produce goods whose designs are whitelisted - ie, digitally signed - as "approved" by either the manufacturer, some industry consortium, or some government agency whose job it will be to thoroughly review designs to insure they are "safe" from abuses 1) or 2) above.
Unlike current TC designs like the TCPA, there will be no "taking ownership", where consumers will be able to choose whom to trust or not trust about what signed software/products to run/produce. That decision will be pre-decided when you get the fab, and you won't be permitted to change it "for public safety"....and the designs for the fab itself is NOT very likely to be on that list.
Not that the law will stop everyone. Someone will find holes in the system, and they will break it. One of the first things they will do will be to make an unrestricted fab, which will make the rest. They'll spread, underground, to anyone willing to take whatever risks are inherent in having one. Considering that the perceived dangers of possessing an unrestricted desktop fab are MUCH higher than the perceived dangers of having an unrestricted media player, I think it's likely that the legal consequences of being discovered with one will be harsher, potentially branding perpetrators as "terrorists" despite having intentions equivalent to wanting to play your own DVDs on your own Linux box in a world full of copyright piracy.
As usal, coporate/governemnt restrictions on consumer products won't be uncircumventable, but they will keep circumvention out of public life. On balance, I think such a state of affairs to help to make the transition more manageable - both for the good things, and the bad.
JOE's my right hand
on
JOE Hits 3.0
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I use JOE almost exclusively. being converted from windows notepad, I find a heavily-modded jpico configuration was easiest for me to pick up.
The only exception is when I use NEdit to copy a whole document (bigger than the screen) to the clipboard, or vi before I have JOE installed on a new system (usually just to edit/etc/apt/sources.list so that I can apt-get install joe:).
What with (weird, but usable) search & replace regexes, recordable macros, useability in non-X environemnts (I work remotely with machines with broken X forwarding a lot), insane customizability (jpico, jstar, jmacs emulation modes), and the ability to pipe stuff back and forth from the shell, I don't really need anything else, and I didn't need to re-learn a whole lot to move to it.
Besides, with the time I saved by not participating in the vi/emacs wars, I actaully got work done!
I didn't have the resources for an degree of any kind.
I, too, engaged in "lateral mobility", hopping sideways from support job to support job, learning every step of the way, but eventually, you reach a glass ceiling and the realization that support is designed specifically to burn workers out so that advancement isn't necessary.
The only way out was to start thinking like a competitive businessperson, partner with other hungry compatriots also found in dead-end positions (although in different fields), and go into some tech business or other on your own.
I've only had one bon fide w2 "job" for a total of about 6 mos since 1999, and that was just because it was there. Nevertheless, I had to push hard entrpreneurially to get that position. It wasn't a job - it was a deal. Jobs, to me, are for making new contacts and raising capital for whatever business it is you're really supposed to be in.
It's hard, but unlike the job treadmill, there's a future that isn't dependent on someone else.
I'm not saying certifications aren't worth it. I just have no experience with them, and I've never met a client that asked me for one. Granted, my clients are small...
considering that I could jsut change my password from my mobile faster than some pollster on the street could exploit it, I might, depending on how huingry I was.
For that matter, how do they know what I gave them was my password? And to what?
Slashdot Mirror
If if the desktop fab's DRM is anything like what we have today, there's no way the plutocracy will be able to keep control anymore than they can stop p2p file sharing. In that case, they'll either realize this in time to make fabs of any kind illegal, or they will just plain die off along with their revenue streams.
The difference is that unlike pure information, physical stuff can be far more dangerous. That fact will give them a hell of a lot more leverage to legislate against it. The reasoning is so strong that I don't even think I can argue with it.
How do you live in a world where any script kiddie can kill anyone they like without being held accountable?
Buses and trains are typically government-subsidized monopolies.
Taxi Cabs, on the other hand, are competitive. I'd expect driverless taxis to become cheaper (or cab companies to cartelize) than mass transit. I'd use it a hell of a lot more, in that case, and it would get me to a hell of a lot more places. I'd imagine a lot of people would ditch the maintenance/insurance/gas headache, as well. The remainder would be the ones who enjoy having their own cars (which I understand), rather than those who just need one (and are usually forced to drive bombers anyway).
As the machine learns to drive more safely, it has the ability to instantly teach every other machine what it has learned (provided "Intellectual Property " doesn't screw this up) - a trick stock humans can't or won't do.
The technology will only improve - which is more than you can say for stock humans. In time, the debate will be over allowing humans to drive at all, because they aren't safe.
What's the feasibility of producing an (much cooler and longer-life) LED bulb for these projectors?
more importantly, show me a fair, foolproof way to tell a "crackpot" from a "legitimate" candidate, and I'll declare you a genius.
Either that, or I'll show you someone who has something to lose.
Or any of them, for that matter...
I'm looking for intelligent comments and criticism on this scheme, as well:
http://n8o.r30.net/a2z/drupal/node/view/153
It does not require (though it could benefit from) a central royalty agency, and so it can be implemented by small labels and artists today. At the same time, it ends up being a tractor app for more SSL or IPSEC deployment among common Internet users.
This technology stuff just keeps getting better and better. Now, we can have full-motion video transmitted to our cellphones over thin air! What will they think of next? ...broadcast television?
Why don't they just put a TV tuner in the phone? (Because) That doesn't cost $9.99 a month.
Fucking greedos...
Why don't we try this instead?
A proposal for a collective licensing scheme, complete with technical infrastructure.
Criteria:
1. minimizes the changes required to existing and future software
2. capable of being securely implemented in software released under open-source licenses.
3. runs on existing hardware and networks without modification
4. preserves the capability to innovate new software and hardware
5. provides consumers with the digital content access to which they have become accustomed with file sharing
6. provides publishers and artists with the access to consumers and promotion to which they have become accustomed (whether they admit it or not).
7. fairly compensates publishers and artists for providing digital access to their works based on popularity of the works.
8. does not interfere with consumer's established fair use rights, including those of first sale, or the abilty to make copies for purposes of research, education, citation, review, format, device- or time-shifting, or data backups.
9. is reasonably robust against technical attack.
Send me some feedback.
Let's never mind how easy this makes it for amateurs to break into systems.
How easy does this make it for *machines* to break into systems? How long before we see worms in the wild that just grab exploits straight from the site? Offering shrink-wrapped exploits sure reduces the configuration space over which a mutating worm would need to vary its programming.
As much of a curmudgeon about machine intelligence as you may be, I know a number of people who would be hard pressed to say which was dumber: your average script kiddie, or your average worm.
Depending on what you mean by "credit card", I use my debit card all the time. I have accounts with three major American banks, and all come with "check cards", which pull directly from my checking accounts. One is a MC, the others Visa, and they work just like credit cards. I can't get credit, but I can use these cards anywhere that takes "credit cards", and I can get them at almost any major bank that offers consumer checking accounts.
In the 5 seconds it took me to switch from the "Save as" browser window to the torrent status window, I was already looking at a 300KByte/s download rate, which is the fastest torrent I've ever seen. It steadily rose to *500KBytes per second* before completely dropping to - zero! Wtf?!
...holy shit.
Because it was done.
~41 Mbytes in less than 2 minutes.
They want me to be impressed by all the things I suddenly can't code because they could afford to spend thousands of dollars on government paperwork?
Well, congratulations, assholes!
Of your exhaustive list, only 2, 4, and 5 are actually comprised of anything that is unattainable by unmanned robotic missions. Van Allen is not saying space exploration is a waste of time - he's saying that it's inefficient.
Given the tremendous gains (in the historical sense, if no other) being made in telecommmunications, robotics, and telepresence, there is soon going to be a lot less reason to send our wet machinery into an environment it wasn't designed for, although it may never be eliminated entirely.
Microsoft, and Microsoft alone (supposedly) indemnifies their software. even if they try to disclaim the hell out of it, they'll still foot the legal bill even if the court doesn't buy it.
Is it me, or does having all these companies offering indemnification services for (roughly) the same product look like a market being re-opened up to competition again? Even when it comes to legal services for something you probably don't need, you STILL have more choices with Linux than with Windows.
There is a report that says the MS spider is NOT honoring robots.txt files according to spec. This guy had a backup server, but all we all so lucky?
it's called Diggler, and you can install it into Mozilla or Mozilla Firefox right from the install screen.
Either that, or you can just "apt-get install mozilla-diggler" , and restart your browser in any Debian-based distro.
Konqueror already came with the little delete button from the get go.
Or for that matter, fork the codebase.
... oh, right. The license. What was I thinking?
Gee, while they're at it, why don't they just dump IE and just integrate MS Firefox?
I've been shopping for a new dedicated server provider lately, and I'v ebeen paying close attention to the AUPs.
...so, I run a Jabber server, instead...
In general, they look like this:
1) No spamming
2) No cracking
3) No IRC
I realize that the poster is questioning for those who DO have this newfangled TV stuff, but in the interest of balance, I felt the need to put this on the record:
I don't watch TV, although I have one that has been collecting dust for months. My roomates have a family-size TV (old style) to play DVDs and Xbox games.
No one watches broadcast or cable television. ever.
There are two problems with consumer manufacturing (nano or not):
...and the designs for the fab itself is NOT very likely to be on that list.
1) creating and selling the fabricators is not a business model. Once you get a few seeded out there, people will just make copies of the fabs themselves, and sell them to others, until the market is so saturated that people just give them away.
2) Regardless of whether today's police state has faded, the potential of the common people to make their own weapons, be they blades, guns, explosives, or other chemical dangers will be too much for government to tolerate.
The solution that I think will likely be deployed is a "Trusted Manufacturing" or "Trusted Fabrication" architecture much like we already see today with "Trusted Computing" and Digital Rights Management systems.
You will not be able to own a fab - you'll rent it, like your cable box, or your music CDs (*cough*) today. Tampering with someone else's property is obviously illegal (not that it will stop everyone - see below). Furthermore, the fabs will only be permitted to produce goods whose designs are whitelisted - ie, digitally signed - as "approved" by either the manufacturer, some industry consortium, or some government agency whose job it will be to thoroughly review designs to insure they are "safe" from abuses 1) or 2) above.
Unlike current TC designs like the TCPA, there will be no "taking ownership", where consumers will be able to choose whom to trust or not trust about what signed software/products to run/produce. That decision will be pre-decided when you get the fab, and you won't be permitted to change it "for public safety".
Not that the law will stop everyone. Someone will find holes in the system, and they will break it. One of the first things they will do will be to make an unrestricted fab, which will make the rest. They'll spread, underground, to anyone willing to take whatever risks are inherent in having one. Considering that the perceived dangers of possessing an unrestricted desktop fab are MUCH higher than the perceived dangers of having an unrestricted media player, I think it's likely that the legal consequences of being discovered with one will be harsher, potentially branding perpetrators as "terrorists" despite having intentions equivalent to wanting to play your own DVDs on your own Linux box in a world full of copyright piracy.
As usal, coporate/governemnt restrictions on consumer products won't be uncircumventable, but they will keep circumvention out of public life. On balance, I think such a state of affairs to help to make the transition more manageable - both for the good things, and the bad.
I use JOE almost exclusively. being converted from windows notepad, I find a heavily-modded jpico configuration was easiest for me to pick up.
/etc/apt/sources.list so that I can apt-get install joe :).
The only exception is when I use NEdit to copy a whole document (bigger than the screen) to the clipboard, or vi before I have JOE installed on a new system (usually just to edit
What with (weird, but usable) search & replace regexes, recordable macros, useability in non-X environemnts (I work remotely with machines with broken X forwarding a lot), insane customizability (jpico, jstar, jmacs emulation modes), and the ability to pipe stuff back and forth from the shell, I don't really need anything else, and I didn't need to re-learn a whole lot to move to it.
Besides, with the time I saved by not participating in the vi/emacs wars, I actaully got work done!
I didn't have the resources for an degree of any kind.
I, too, engaged in "lateral mobility", hopping sideways from support job to support job, learning every step of the way, but eventually, you reach a glass ceiling and the realization that support is designed specifically to burn workers out so that advancement isn't necessary.
The only way out was to start thinking like a competitive businessperson, partner with other hungry compatriots also found in dead-end positions (although in different fields), and go into some tech business or other on your own.
I've only had one bon fide w2 "job" for a total of about 6 mos since 1999, and that was just because it was there. Nevertheless, I had to push hard entrpreneurially to get that position. It wasn't a job - it was a deal. Jobs, to me, are for making new contacts and raising capital for whatever business it is you're really supposed to be in.
It's hard, but unlike the job treadmill, there's a future that isn't dependent on someone else.
I'm not saying certifications aren't worth it. I just have no experience with them, and I've never met a client that asked me for one. Granted, my clients are small...
considering that I could jsut change my password from my mobile faster than some pollster on the street could exploit it, I might, depending on how huingry I was.
For that matter, how do they know what I gave them was my password? And to what?
Sounds familiar...