Here's an idea: why don't the anal SOB's who want everyone to view their ads place a small "ads.txt" file similar to "robots.txt" which says to the browser or ad blocker "you must view the ads or you are not allowed to view this site". Then we could just tell our browser to not load sites with that file in place, thereby solving the silly "bandwidth theft" problem.
In some areas, eye contact is considered threatening. In others, it is considered a show of sincerity and honesty.
I come from an area where eye contact is good, and unfortunately I think I am living in an area where it makes people uncomfortable. In turn, it is uncomfortable for me when I make people uncomfortable.
It would be interesting to see a study on personality types versus eye contact and geographic area vs. eye contact and how to deal with differences in perceptions of eye contact. This would help me feel more comfortable in daily life and from what I gather would help a lot of others, too.
You may be right, but if you are then it is a very ineffective clause. Hotmail gets lots and _lots_ of spam (unusable, really) and Microsoft does very little to curb the problem. Their spam filter is really bad. Yahoo's in comparison is much more effective. One of the big offenders are those sites where they have jokes and funny pictures you can send to your friends. The whole purpose is to harvest your address in most cases, but try to tell that to your well-meaning friends who want to send you a laugh or two.
Re:It doesn't take half a brain to see this.
on
Don't Stymie Nanotech
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
The oft-mentioned "grey goo" scenario is fundamentally flawed
Famous last words, friend. If there is anything humanity must learn, it is that we are imperfect. We must integrate into our planning the possibility that we are dead wrong, or face the consequences.
Anyway, by the time nanotech advances to a point where gray goo is conceivable, the world will probably suck bad enough and most people will be too self-absorbed to care if it all disappears.
On a brighter note, I believe that nanotech holds the possibility for a whole new way of living; a much happier way of living. It would turn our system upside down and revolutionalize what we spend our time on every day. The reason I have negative feelings is that the powerful and corrupt will have a hard time letting go of a world where they are on top and we are just peons. They'll be trying to find a way to stay on top.
As I recall, what really killed WordPerfect (in my experience) was awkward menus and frequent program crashes. I was an MS Word "zealot";) and frequently recommended it. That was long before I realized the truth about Microsoft and their business practices. These days, I don't recommend *anything* Microsoft. Sorry guys, but you earned it.
So what. IBM is not going to control what files people share. They are supplying the technology only. If it gets shut down, we might as well shut down the entire Internet and call it quits.
IBM starts work on computer to rival the human brain
This could revolutionalize the saying "grab a brain".
By the way, whose brain are they using for comparison?
will lack the consciousness, intellect and capacity for thought of a brain
Consciousness and intellect aren't too relevant it would seem. How many imperfect systems are in place today that pigeon hole people's financial situations, inconvenience us, etc..? The common explanation is "I can't do anything about it... that's how the system works".
with all the recent articles posted on slashdot and other news events, it seems as if capitolism is starting to eat up america.
Good point. I'm starting to wonder if most of the laws today are created to patch capitalism. What we're experiencing now is feature creep (or was that code rot?).
Apple's doing the right thing. If everyone jumps on the wrong technology for protecting movies, it will become entrenched no matter how bad it is. That will inhibit better technologies from taking hold. It's a classic scenario in the computer world. On the other hand, Apple is taking a chance by not getting involved now, but I think their customers will respect them for it and appreciate it since Apple's image, at least, is more about freedom than lockin.
Ever say something in response to a statement someone makes, only to quickly realize that somebody else said exactly the same thing and you had exactly the same response? At a high enough level of abstraction, we are pretty simple.:)
Exactly. I'm a paid Yahoo mail subscriber and I'm sure they give my information out to everyone under the sun. I didn't realize that way back when I signed up. Now that I've fully read their agreement, I think it stinks, and that's stopped me from going with Yahoo's other services such as DSL or Yahoo auctions. Yahoo provides a great service -- I don't know why they feel they have to invade your privacy *and* take your money. Because of this, I may not renew my email service next time around. But still, it's better than Hotmail.
In nature, sometimes a forest fire actually makes for a better forest once it grows back.
At work, layoffs give the company the opportunity to rid themselves of people who are slow, in pissy moods all the time, uncooperative, and incompetent.
The people who eventually replace those let go are told what the new rules are and they don't have any preconceived notions of "the good times" before the new boss arrived, etc..
I hate the thought of layoffs, but sometimes I think that companies don't trim the fat often enough so it drags the company down because of lost productivity.
I've got a ton of CDs myself and I wonder... if I lost 95% of it, would I really know what I'm missing? Probably not. I think I'm just a pack rat like the rest of you.
Slashdot Mirror
Great comment.
Here's an idea: why don't the anal SOB's who want everyone to view their ads place a small "ads.txt" file similar to "robots.txt" which says to the browser or ad blocker "you must view the ads or you are not allowed to view this site". Then we could just tell our browser to not load sites with that file in place, thereby solving the silly "bandwidth theft" problem.
Hopefully the hardware vendors saw this coming. I thought of it back in the P200 days and finally the day has come.
What the HW vendors need is to develop and push powerful hardware "killer apps", such as:
- high quality virtual reality
- massive universes to play in with very realistic physics calculations to govern play (eg. things break if you apply too much pressure)
- at home computerized movie making (like Monsters Inc, etc..)
Do people still make eye contact?
In some areas, eye contact is considered threatening. In others, it is considered a show of sincerity and honesty.
I come from an area where eye contact is good, and unfortunately I think I am living in an area where it makes people uncomfortable. In turn, it is uncomfortable for me when I make people uncomfortable.
It would be interesting to see a study on personality types versus eye contact and geographic area vs. eye contact and how to deal with differences in perceptions of eye contact. This would help me feel more comfortable in daily life and from what I gather would help a lot of others, too.
Any interesting sources anyone can point to?
You may be right, but if you are then it is a very ineffective clause. Hotmail gets lots and _lots_ of spam (unusable, really) and Microsoft does very little to curb the problem. Their spam filter is really bad. Yahoo's in comparison is much more effective.
One of the big offenders are those sites where they have jokes and funny pictures you can send to your friends. The whole purpose is to harvest your address in most cases, but try to tell that to your well-meaning friends who want to send you a laugh or two.
The oft-mentioned "grey goo" scenario is fundamentally flawed
Famous last words, friend. If there is anything humanity must learn, it is that we are imperfect. We must integrate into our planning the possibility that we are dead wrong, or face the consequences.
Anyway, by the time nanotech advances to a point where gray goo is conceivable, the world will probably suck bad enough and most people will be too self-absorbed to care if it all disappears.
On a brighter note, I believe that nanotech holds the possibility for a whole new way of living; a much happier way of living. It would turn our system upside down and revolutionalize what we spend our time on every day. The reason I have negative feelings is that the powerful and corrupt will have a hard time letting go of a world where they are on top and we are just peons. They'll be trying to find a way to stay on top.
As I recall, what really killed WordPerfect (in my experience) was awkward menus and frequent program crashes. I was an MS Word "zealot"
Realizing you're never going to get laid again: Priceless.
;)
Damn, you beat me to it.
The logical conclusion I have arrived at after reading Slashdot for 1 week straight without sleep is thus
Surgeon General's warning: This kind of behaviour could land you dead in a toilet somewhere... cyber-cafe style.
Tell that to the Microsoft trolls who probably get paid OT on Saturdays and Sundays, hehe. ;)
I'm sure that some web-accelerator software would do you a lot of good.
It could prefetch web images and pages to make your surfing a lot quicker.
...says media and tech companies should work together in the best interests of both industries.
Too bad it doesn't say "in the best interests of consumers"
So what. IBM is not going to control what files people share. They are supplying the technology only.
If it gets shut down, we might as well shut down the entire Internet and call it quits.
This sounds like something Apple would do: limit your customer base before you have gained a critical mass.
We are a poor country. We cannot develop operating systems and platforms on our own.
What a load of crap. What on Earth do they mean by on our own? Linux is a collaborative effort by people all over the globe (except India???)
I hardly believe this is the majority's sentiment there -- probably just another case of having their pockets stuffed with the evil green.
IBM starts work on computer to rival the human brain
This could revolutionalize the saying "grab a brain".
By the way, whose brain are they using for comparison?
will lack the consciousness, intellect and capacity for thought of a brain
Consciousness and intellect aren't too relevant it would seem. How many imperfect systems are in place today that pigeon hole people's financial situations, inconvenience us, etc..? The common explanation is "I can't do anything about it... that's how the system works".
This computer will do all that.. just faster.
Comdex is for sales people. Don't believe me? Count the number of people wearing propeller hats, army pants, and offensive T-shirts.
with all the recent articles posted on slashdot and other news events, it seems as if capitolism is starting to eat up america.
Good point. I'm starting to wonder if most of the laws today are created to patch capitalism. What we're experiencing now is feature creep (or was that code rot?).
Apple's doing the right thing. If everyone jumps on the wrong technology for protecting movies, it will become entrenched no matter how bad it is. That will inhibit better technologies from taking hold. It's a classic scenario in the computer world.
On the other hand, Apple is taking a chance by not getting involved now, but I think their customers will respect them for it and appreciate it since Apple's image, at least, is more about freedom than lockin.
Ever say something in response to a statement someone makes, only to quickly realize that somebody else said exactly the same thing and you had exactly the same response? At a high enough level of abstraction, we are pretty simple. :)
Which season had the Borg season finalie (or was it season premiere) episode? That's my all time favourite - STTNG and DS9 together.
I'll be buying that boxed set!
Exactly. I'm a paid Yahoo mail subscriber and I'm sure they give my information out to everyone under the sun. I didn't realize that way back when I signed up. Now that I've fully read their agreement, I think it stinks, and that's stopped me from going with Yahoo's other services such as DSL or Yahoo auctions.
Yahoo provides a great service -- I don't know why they feel they have to invade your privacy *and* take your money. Because of this, I may not renew my email service next time around. But still, it's better than Hotmail.
In nature, sometimes a forest fire actually makes for a better forest once it grows back.
At work, layoffs give the company the opportunity to rid themselves of people who are slow, in pissy moods all the time, uncooperative, and incompetent.
The people who eventually replace those let go are told what the new rules are and they don't have any preconceived notions of "the good times" before the new boss arrived, etc..
I hate the thought of layoffs, but sometimes I think that companies don't trim the fat often enough so it drags the company down because of lost productivity.
Counting lines of code has been compared to comparing art work by the number of brush strokes in it or judging an essay by the number of words alone.
Yes. A better statistic would be how many bugs per line of code for each developer.
I've got a ton of CDs myself and I wonder... if I lost 95% of it, would I really know what I'm missing? Probably not. I think I'm just a pack rat like the rest of you.
WMA = DRM. No way am I staking the value of my music collection on a "designed for vendor lockin" format. I'd rather go back to cassette tapes.