Deals with that very issue... "Labors" are larish robotic suits about 15-25' tall, used for construction.
Of course, when a Labor driver decides to knock over the local bank, what do you do?
You call the Patrol Labor ("PatLabor") division of the police...
Exoskeletons, like anything else we've discovered and invented, are neither good nor evil. They're just tools. A hammer can be used to cave the side of your skull in. Should we then declare hammers as having no real peacetime benefit?
I know a lot of people who don't have a drivers liscense (live in large cities - don't need one.)
Sure, there are state IDs, but I'm sure we've all heard stories about how these aren't even readily accepted within the state they were issued in as pieces of valid ID.
the same people that complain about RealPlayer,doubleclick and spyware are the same people that own a TIVO, where do you draw the line ?
Well, do you TRUST the company in question? Does the company tell you - up front - what information it will gather, why it's gathering it, and what it will do with it? Does the company offer you a way to not participate in this gathering? And finally, does the company keep its word? If you opt-out, do they respect that?
Real LIED. They don't tell you what information they're gathering - in fact, they don't tell you anything. You can't decline to have your information gathered. They don't tell you what they're doing with your information. They don't respect your wishes to privacy. Even if you click all their "Do not mail me - ever" options, guess what shows up in your mailbox down the road? If I can't even trust a company to understand a "Do not mail" request, what makes you think I can trust them with anything else?
Yes, Tivo does gather information. They also have a very complete privacy policy - and unlike Real (and many other scummy companies) THEY FOLLOW IT. Companies that earn my trust, earn my business. Those that don't, lose me as a customer.
According to Tivo, the most requested feature is the ability to record 2 shows at once.
I'd hardly call that a feature that very few people would use.
DirecTivo supports two tuners, and nearly EVERYONE with one uses it...
I agree, it is some extra hardware...but how much would an extra tuner and encoder cost? Probably not more than $50 in parts, and I know I'd gladly pay $100-150 on top of retail for this ability...
While you can currentally use TivoNet to give your Tivo ethernet access, and shell, this doesn't mean you can access the recorded streams on the disks...
Tivo doesn't store its video streams using a standard filesystem. This means you can't simply NFS-mount your Tivo and start copying or streaming the recorded programs.
Someone did write a tool which allowed you to copy/convert a stream from Tivo's format to an MPG file on your local computer. However, when the 2.5 version of software was pushed to Tivo units, these streams are now encrypted. So far, I don't think anyone has managed (or bothered) to come up with a workaround.
Now then... With series2 coming with USB ports, and supposedly supports USB-ethernet adapters, maybe they'll allow you to do a "Dump to VCR" over ethernet to your local machine where you can burn the resulting file to the format of your choice.
Right now, there aren't a whole lot of details from Tivo so we'll just have to wait and see.
1: You can call up Tivo and tell them not to collect data from you.
2: The data they do collect is agragated across all their customers. This means they can say "100,000 people watched Buffy last night." but they don't know who those 100,000 were.
The $10/mo or $250 lifetime fee isn't just for the guide data. It enables most of the software features that make Tivo a "Tivo" - like the "Season Pass" and "Wishlist."
So for $10/mo, I don't have to worry about the TV schedule. Shows may get moved around, run repeats, or reappear suddenly at really wacky times - I don't care. Tivo finds the shows I tell it to and records them for me.
For instance, did you know 'Daria' is back on MTV...at 6am?!? Sure, you could have looked at TVGuide.com and found this - but that subscription fee means I don't have to waste my time poring over schedules figuring out what to record. Instead, I simply told Tivo to record Daria, if it was on. That's all. Took me all of 30 seconds.
Oddly enough, Pelican (maker of Playstation accessories) has a video switch which allows you to connect up to 4 different sources (either composite or s-video) to a single composite or s-video out. The only problem is that the box does not have a remote - you have to punch the appropriate button on the front. But for $20, it's most useful.
I've used so my Dreamcast and Tivo can share the single s-video input on my TV. No problems.
You can find the Pelican switch box next to all the other Playstation2 accessories at your local store.
If I spent a lot of my time driving from one side of the country to the other (eg. truck driver) the ability to listen to the same station(s) regardless of where I was located would be a plus.
Yeah, yeah, "what about a 100GB HD with MP3s?" Well, what about things like news? What, you think I'll just rip NPR to mp3 and pick up a disk next time I'm home? MP3 may be nice, but there are problems MP3 can't solve.
* DirecTivo (Philips, Hughes, others?) - Tivo in a Direct TV satellite receiver. Can record two separate channels at once with the latest software upgrade (which happens automatically.) Can ONLY handle the digital signal from the dish. Nothing else. This model record the raw digital streams from the satellite, so you don't have to worry about recompressing the signal locally. Requires Direct TV subscription.
* "standalone" Tivo (Philips, Sony) - This model contains a TV tuner as well as an MPEG encoder. Will work with satellite systems, cable boxes, antennas, etc. Takes the signal that would go to your TV and compresses it. You can choose the compression level (Basic, Medium, High, Best). Can only record one channel at a given time (only 1 receiver/encoder.) These don't require any particular TV service, and so are more expensive (eg. $200 for a 30hr.)
here's an idea... would this work? set up a service somewhere so people could submit e-mail addys and ip addresses from spammers. then we could all block those individuals. perhaps this is already done... and perhaps it won't work.
By default, I leave java and javascript off in my browser. If I go to a site that needs these AND I trust that site, I'll turn them on. But when I'm done with that site, they get turned off again.
IMHO, I wish I could turn flash *off* without turning javascript off since I really hate flash animated banner ads...
Sorry, but spam is anything but a "minor annoyance."
From the end-user's point of view, spam threatens to make their mailbox unusable. Over the weekend, I got over 100 messages to my personal ISP account. Eighty of them were spam. While my filters caught about half the stuff, my Inbox was littered with 40 spam messages, and 40 legitimate messages. Yuck.
Also, don't forget most ISPs enforce quotas. Get too much mail, and stuff will bounce.
From an ISP point of view, spam is a much more major problem in that they have to store the garbage until their users can take care of it. Wasn't it AOL who claimed that 30% of their network utilization is just spam? You can't deny that this won't have an impact on their costs of operation, which then get passed to their subscribers...
This is why many ISPs have been taking more drastic measures against the ISPs that allow spammers to remain on the internet. Many have begun to instruct their edge routers to drop any packets from "rogue" ISPs. Others have been using managed blacklists like MAPS or SPEWS.
At least if you get listed on one of these blacklists, you have a chance of getting de-listed from the 1000s of routers/servers. As for the personal blacklists....well, let's just say that some ISPs will need to apply for new IP#s if they ever get a clue.
But don't assume for a minute that the spammers are winning. If anything, they're being herded onto the few ISPs that allow their shenanigans...and those ISPs aren't welcome many places on the internet.
Cable and Sattelite companies are the sworn enemies of PVR manufacturers...
Which, of course, is why all satellite systems have a PVR option (eg. Direct TV's DirecTivo), and even AT&T's cable division will sell you a model of Tivo exclusive to them.
At least, not until they fix the bugs that were mentioned in the review.
I can't see using this as a DVD player - ever. It doesn't support component video. I bought my current TV specifically because it has component video jacks.
The big advantage to the Zapstation should be its UI - which according to the review has several usability problems.
Sounds like they tried to make a jack-of-all-trades, but ended up with a master-of-none.
Suddenly, I felt really sick. My head hurt, my stomach hurt, and I felt faint. I looked up only to see that it was dark out and I'd been playing 16 hours straight. No wonder I felt so bad.
Fortunatly, that doesn't happen to me often... (in fact, the last time I did something like that was with the original Civ.)
I've personally found the more addictive games have that "...just one more..." quality to them.
This came from turn based strategy games (MOO, Civ, etc.) in which each turn is usually only a couple of minutes long, then *click* it's the next turn. Aw, just *one more turn* won't hurt...*click*
I saw this in Diablo II (Just one more dungeon...) and RTS games (just one more objective/base...)
Even before you found games, how many have stayed up really, really late reading a good book saying "Just one more page/chapter...ack! it's 3am already?!"
MMORPGs, like MUDs, MUSHes, and MU*'s before them are different. They really are their own little worlds, which can suck you in entirely - much to the detriment of your "real life."
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder what a "rice boy" mod to these suits would be?
Wouldn't that just consist of slapping "Honda V-Tec" stickers and "go faster stripes" all over it?
Re: mechanized suits being used for crime...
Ever hear of PatLabor?
Deals with that very issue... "Labors" are larish robotic suits about 15-25' tall, used for construction.
Of course, when a Labor driver decides to knock over the local bank, what do you do?
You call the Patrol Labor ("PatLabor") division of the police...
Exoskeletons, like anything else we've discovered and invented, are neither good nor evil. They're just tools. A hammer can be used to cave the side of your skull in. Should we then declare hammers as having no real peacetime benefit?
I know a lot of people who don't have a drivers liscense (live in large cities - don't need one.)
Sure, there are state IDs, but I'm sure we've all heard stories about how these aren't even readily accepted within the state they were issued in as pieces of valid ID.
the same people that complain about RealPlayer,doubleclick and spyware are the same people that own a TIVO, where do you draw the line ?
Well, do you TRUST the company in question? Does the company tell you - up front - what information it will gather, why it's gathering it, and what it will do with it? Does the company offer you a way to not participate in this gathering? And finally, does the company keep its word? If you opt-out, do they respect that?
Real LIED. They don't tell you what information they're gathering - in fact, they don't tell you anything. You can't decline to have your information gathered. They don't tell you what they're doing with your information. They don't respect your wishes to privacy. Even if you click all their "Do not mail me - ever" options, guess what shows up in your mailbox down the road? If I can't even trust a company to understand a "Do not mail" request, what makes you think I can trust them with anything else?
Yes, Tivo does gather information. They also have a very complete privacy policy - and unlike Real (and many other scummy companies) THEY FOLLOW IT. Companies that earn my trust, earn my business. Those that don't, lose me as a customer.
According to Tivo, the most requested feature is the ability to record 2 shows at once.
I'd hardly call that a feature that very few people would use.
DirecTivo supports two tuners, and nearly EVERYONE with one uses it...
I agree, it is some extra hardware...but how much would an extra tuner and encoder cost? Probably not more than $50 in parts, and I know I'd gladly pay $100-150 on top of retail for this ability...
Re: Accessing Tivo's filesystem.
While you can currentally use TivoNet to give your Tivo ethernet access, and shell, this doesn't mean you can access the recorded streams on the disks...
Tivo doesn't store its video streams using a standard filesystem. This means you can't simply NFS-mount your Tivo and start copying or streaming the recorded programs.
Someone did write a tool which allowed you to copy/convert a stream from Tivo's format to an MPG file on your local computer. However, when the 2.5 version of software was pushed to Tivo units, these streams are now encrypted. So far, I don't think anyone has managed (or bothered) to come up with a workaround.
Now then... With series2 coming with USB ports, and supposedly supports USB-ethernet adapters, maybe they'll allow you to do a "Dump to VCR" over ethernet to your local machine where you can burn the resulting file to the format of your choice.
Right now, there aren't a whole lot of details from Tivo so we'll just have to wait and see.
Yes, Tivo does collect viewer information, but:
1: You can call up Tivo and tell them not to collect data from you.
2: The data they do collect is agragated across all their customers. This means they can say "100,000 people watched Buffy last night." but they don't know who those 100,000 were.
The $10/mo or $250 lifetime fee isn't just for the guide data. It enables most of the software features that make Tivo a "Tivo" - like the "Season Pass" and "Wishlist."
So for $10/mo, I don't have to worry about the TV schedule. Shows may get moved around, run repeats, or reappear suddenly at really wacky times - I don't care. Tivo finds the shows I tell it to and records them for me.
For instance, did you know 'Daria' is back on MTV...at 6am?!? Sure, you could have looked at TVGuide.com and found this - but that subscription fee means I don't have to waste my time poring over schedules figuring out what to record. Instead, I simply told Tivo to record Daria, if it was on. That's all. Took me all of 30 seconds.
The convience is what you're paying for.
Oddly enough, Pelican (maker of Playstation accessories) has a video switch which allows you to connect up to 4 different sources (either composite or s-video) to a single composite or s-video out. The only problem is that the box does not have a remote - you have to punch the appropriate button on the front. But for $20, it's most useful.
I've used so my Dreamcast and Tivo can share the single s-video input on my TV. No problems.
You can find the Pelican switch box next to all the other Playstation2 accessories at your local store.
I do see one market for satellite radio...
If I spent a lot of my time driving from one side of the country to the other (eg. truck driver) the ability to listen to the same station(s) regardless of where I was located would be a plus.
Yeah, yeah, "what about a 100GB HD with MP3s?" Well, what about things like news? What, you think I'll just rip NPR to mp3 and pick up a disk next time I'm home? MP3 may be nice, but there are problems MP3 can't solve.
Please note that there are two versions of Tivo:
* DirecTivo (Philips, Hughes, others?) - Tivo in a Direct TV satellite receiver. Can record two separate channels at once with the latest software upgrade (which happens automatically.) Can ONLY handle the digital signal from the dish. Nothing else. This model record the raw digital streams from the satellite, so you don't have to worry about recompressing the signal locally. Requires Direct TV subscription.
* "standalone" Tivo (Philips, Sony) - This model contains a TV tuner as well as an MPEG encoder. Will work with satellite systems, cable boxes, antennas, etc. Takes the signal that would go to your TV and compresses it. You can choose the compression level (Basic, Medium, High, Best). Can only record one channel at a given time (only 1 receiver/encoder.) These don't require any particular TV service, and so are more expensive (eg. $200 for a 30hr.)
If your ISP lets you use procmail, you have your mail sent through procmail before Pine (or whatever reader you use) ever sees it.
Whoops. Typo.
40 spams filtered
40 spams unfiltered
20 legit messages.
here's an idea... would this work? set up a service somewhere so people could submit e-mail addys and ip addresses from spammers. then we could all block those individuals. perhaps this is already done... and perhaps it won't work.
Already done. Check out MAPS and SPEWS.
These systems are primarily designed to be used at a server or router level. However with a bit of work, you can integrate them into procmail.
By default, I leave java and javascript off in my browser. If I go to a site that needs these AND I trust that site, I'll turn them on. But when I'm done with that site, they get turned off again.
IMHO, I wish I could turn flash *off* without turning javascript off since I really hate flash animated banner ads...
Sorry, but spam is anything but a "minor annoyance."
From the end-user's point of view, spam threatens to make their mailbox unusable. Over the weekend, I got over 100 messages to my personal ISP account. Eighty of them were spam. While my filters caught about half the stuff, my Inbox was littered with 40 spam messages, and 40 legitimate messages. Yuck.
Also, don't forget most ISPs enforce quotas. Get too much mail, and stuff will bounce.
From an ISP point of view, spam is a much more major problem in that they have to store the garbage until their users can take care of it. Wasn't it AOL who claimed that 30% of their network utilization is just spam? You can't deny that this won't have an impact on their costs of operation, which then get passed to their subscribers...
This is why many ISPs have been taking more drastic measures against the ISPs that allow spammers to remain on the internet. Many have begun to instruct their edge routers to drop any packets from "rogue" ISPs. Others have been using managed blacklists like MAPS or SPEWS.
At least if you get listed on one of these blacklists, you have a chance of getting de-listed from the 1000s of routers/servers. As for the personal blacklists....well, let's just say that some ISPs will need to apply for new IP#s if they ever get a clue.
But don't assume for a minute that the spammers are winning. If anything, they're being herded onto the few ISPs that allow their shenanigans...and those ISPs aren't welcome many places on the internet.
I think filters were added to Pine in 4.10 or so.
Again, I just use procmail.
There are several things you can look for when filtering spam.
Personally, I use procmail - which will work with whatever mail reader you use, so long as your ISP lets you use it...
This site is a good starting point on learning to use procmail for spam filtering.
As they say, "Procmail is your friend."
Cable and Sattelite companies are the sworn enemies of PVR manufacturers...
Which, of course, is why all satellite systems have a PVR option (eg. Direct TV's DirecTivo), and even AT&T's cable division will sell you a model of Tivo exclusive to them.
Even at $500 I don't see this being very useful.
At least, not until they fix the bugs that were mentioned in the review.
I can't see using this as a DVD player - ever. It doesn't support component video. I bought my current TV specifically because it has component video jacks.
The big advantage to the Zapstation should be its UI - which according to the review has several usability problems.
Sounds like they tried to make a jack-of-all-trades, but ended up with a master-of-none.
Well, the examples are sort of poor, because those people turned their hobby into a career...
:-)
But there are those who are addicted to a hobby that is about creating things.
Dolls, dollhouses, model railroads, woodworking, etc.
All of which have people who are equally enveloped in their hobby, just as others are into gaming.
Only, I doubt anyone would understand you if you called your grandmother a 'needlepoint otaku'
A friend of mine convinced me to buy Diablo 2.
So, on a Saturday morning, I started playing.
Suddenly, I felt really sick. My head hurt, my stomach hurt, and I felt faint. I looked up only to see that it was dark out and I'd been playing 16 hours straight. No wonder I felt so bad.
Fortunatly, that doesn't happen to me often... (in fact, the last time I did something like that was with the original Civ.)
I've personally found the more addictive games have that "...just one more..." quality to them.
This came from turn based strategy games (MOO, Civ, etc.) in which each turn is usually only a couple of minutes long, then *click* it's the next turn. Aw, just *one more turn* won't hurt...*click*
I saw this in Diablo II (Just one more dungeon...) and RTS games (just one more objective/base...)
Even before you found games, how many have stayed up really, really late reading a good book saying "Just one more page/chapter...ack! it's 3am already?!"
MMORPGs, like MUDs, MUSHes, and MU*'s before them are different. They really are their own little worlds, which can suck you in entirely - much to the detriment of your "real life."
Well, I'll certainly notice a drop in spam that uses an @excite.com return address.
Why should "we" support bad sci-fi shows?
Support good shows, yes.
Support a show simply because it's sci-fi or Sci-Fi Channel? No.
I'll watch this Dune mini-series, but after the last one, Sci-Fi Channel has a lot of work to do.
They got some things right, a lot of things wrong. Hopefully it only gets better from here on.