I'm gonna send the salesmen to YOUR door because even if you're having dinner, watching a movie, or otherwise not wanting to be disturbed, they can hammer on your doorbell and you'll simply not answer it if you're not interested, right? Because it's their right!
How is this any different from a phone ringing when you don't want to be disturbed?
I'm thrilled about the idea of a DNC list, and am hoping that Canada gets the same thing into law as quickly as possible. I'd sign up on the first day.
And to the telemarketers out there who will lose their jobs... At least you have plenty of experience making cold-calls when looking for your NEXT job... Lol
Well, it certainly wouldn't be my first choice either, but if you consider having to disrupt your vacation/trip/day-off to have to try and locate a terminal somewhere to put out a fire back home...
I'd rather be able to spend the 5 minutes to do it from my P800 than have to waste hours on the problem, or have a young PFY at work mess with things and make more of a headache for myself.
Especially good idea, if it's because I'm the only one who can do it and it looks good to the boss, and I think some extra billing would be in order... (I think fixing a server from on top of a mountain qualifies for "danger pay").
I'm afraid I don't quite follow... Doesn't this just mean the US government that all of them pay taxes to support will be hijacked for the RIAA agenda even more than they are now?
(because everything sounds cooler with an "i" infront of it).
How about an "iTip", which has a big LED digital display that automatically counts down the waiter/waitress's tip until the glass is refilled/replaced! Because with iGlassware, there's no excuse for my glass being empty!
It's much smaller when you hold it than it appears when people see photos of it. I've had one for a couple months now, and I could never imagine going back to a seperate phone or PDA. It's not perfect, but it's close.
My only P800 gripes:
- 12 bit colour screen - low res camera, fairly poor lens (webcam quality)
Other than that, it's great. Both of those gripes are addressed in the new P810 which may be released by next year.
Any company making PDA-style devices without having a GSM phone in it has missed the boat IMHO.
HL took the engine and wrapped it into a gaming experience that was much more than just "kill everything and advance to the next level".
So, imho, yes, HL revolutionized the FPS genre. I can't say I've ever had the inclination to finish one of the Quake or Doom games in single-player mode. After a few levels I got bored of "shooting stuff".
HL had me hooked, right to the end. A good plot, great voiceacting, and some clever twists. I expect the new one to be even more so...
You do realize that if you get people boycotting the RIAA, all that will happen is that the RIAA will play with their statistics again...
"Oh look, CD sales are down another 5% - THOSE EVIL EVIL PIRATES are downloading even more than before! We must get more support from the courts to ruthlessly stamp out these non-consumers!"
Funny how they never seem to cite "Bands release crap that nobody wants to listen to", or "Nobody wants to buy a $18 CD with one good song on it" when it comes to the reasons people aren't buying their garbage...
But to answer your question, I'm paying the equivilent of about $3 (cdn) per set of "ink cartridges" (1 colour, 1 black) with the CFS system, as opposed to $50 with regular epson carts.
I've bought 2 CFS systems from inksupply.com - installed one in an Epson Stylus 1200, and one in my Epson Photo 890 at home.
If I don't print for a while, the heads still clog a bit, but when I'm cranking out pages, particularly the 11x17s on the '1200, it's absolute gold.
The consumables price is dirt cheap and I can print all day long and just tip a little more ink into the bottle when it starts to get a little low. Wonderful purchase!
I have no relation to the company, just a very happy customer.
I usually shave in the shower after the stubble has softened nicely under warm water. Prolongs the life of the blades greatly, and the water keeps the blades nice and clean as well.
Re:CDBurners not the end for high-capacity Zip dri
on
DVD Burner Round-up
·
· Score: 1
I work in a technical college. The campus policy is 3-year leases, so the machines are gradually upgraded as the lease ends. The machines do all have CD-RW drives in them right now, but they're not widely utilized (too much software-hassle).
To clarify though, the school is only upgrading in the sense that they're making sure that every machine has a USB, or USB2 port on the front for easy access, and they're specifically purchasing machines that don't have ZIP drives installed.
The students/staff will have to purchase their own USB storage devices. This is pretty much the same as students buying ZIP disks right now, although the price isn't quite as good for USB, the advantages more than make up for the headaches, imho.
I'm sure that the computer resources folk will put together a list of "recommended" models, as well as what the current list price is so students know what they can buy, and what to expect to pay at a regular store.
I used to think that DVD-Rs were a good backup medium, and granted, they're better than CDs, but when you get into, or over 600GB of storage, backups are a pain, no matter what format you use. There's just nothing else out there that even comes close to being cheap and easy for backing up that much data (yet).
The best alternative at this point, at least for me, is more HDs, probably removeable firewire drives that I can back-up on, then stash somewhere safe.
Re:CDBurners not the end for high-capacity Zip dri
on
DVD Burner Round-up
·
· Score: 1
The school I work at is in the process of dumping all of our zip drives on hundreds of lab and office computers, and moving exclusively to solid-state USB storage for students & staff moving files around (and floppies I suppose, if all else fails).
They'll never buy any more machines with ZIP drives in them. Too many problems with students getting disks stuck in the drive when labels peel off, corrupted filesystems & lost files, and of course, the IDE ZIP drives we have are SLOW.
Most new drives are dual-format burners, so it's a moot point anyway. Pioneer has just released their A06 which burns both formats.
But as with all things, it's not always the technically superior product that's the standard, it's whatever is cheapest and easiest for people to get their hands on.
Ya, I didn't mean to imply that Japanese companies don't want to make money as much, or more than North American companies - I was more thinking along the lines that Japanese companies like to innovate, whereas North American companies are satisfied with the status-quo so long as it turns a profit.
You bet. The whole idea on this side of the pond isn't to "make stuff better", it's to get maximum income for the least possible investment.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the "broadband" providers (and I use the term rather loosely, considering how much most providers have capped/restricted their service), would be at their absolute happiest if people were paying $50/month or more for the priveledge of checking their email. Actually, when you get right down to it, I suppose they'd be even happier if you gave them money, and they didn't have to provide any service at all, but heavily restricted DSL/Cable seems to be the next best thing.
Any data you transfer on top of "checking your email", such as, visiting websites, playing games, or (GASP!) downloading stuff is money out of THEIR pockets. They don't like that, mmm'kay?
So you keep your speeds restricted, you keep people's expectations low by having bandwidth and usage caps and server/software restrictions to help discourage them from finding new and interesting things to do with the connection which might possibly use MORE bandwidth (bad, mmm'kay?)
Think of the possibilities - with a 12 megabit connection, you can watch full DVD Movies in real time, you could use your buddy's computer as network attached storage, realtime DV editing (like what I'm doing right now in an edit suite, waiting for a damn render:), but have the media on one side of the city, and your editing interface comfortably at home, or wherever you happen to be.
I'd like that. A lot.
Ah well, as with most other things, Japan and Europe will lead, and North America will get dragged along eventually, kicking and screaming, bleeding corporate profits all along the way.
Yes, but what the article was proposing was that joe-backyard with his old 12 foot dish, and a bit of extra hardware could DOS the satellites.
Not quite the same as a guy who works at a regular satellite uplink pointing the dish elsewhere and cranking up the power. There's nothing especially difficult.
For a number of years I worked with a C-band uplink (originally analog, then digitally compressed). We normally ran around 70-80 watts as I recall, but we could boost the power in the event of bad weather, etc.
Satellite operators always keep a close eye on the uplink power that sites are putting out, and tend to get very vocal, very quickly if you start hammering the bird enough to cause interference on other transponders. Of course it goes without saying that the uplink frequency is also rather important as transmitting on the downlink freq. won't accomplish too much.
But that said, it's not terribly difficult to do - anyone with a moderate size dish (and they can be quite small as were displayed at the recent NAB trade show), a decent power transmitter, and a knowledge of the uplink frequencies used could interfere with satellite relatively easily.
Using a regular dish could be a little tricky - you need a dish that has a proper waveguide from the transmitter to focus the beam properly on the dish and send it up. It may be possible to modify a regular receive-only dish to transmit this way, but I doubt it would be anywhere near as efficient as professional gear.
If someone was using portable professional gear, it could be difficult to trace people doing this because they could conceivably be anywhere within the satellite footprint, and they'd be broadcasting a rather narrow beam upwards. The old vans driving around with the direction finders wouldn't be picking up too much if it was aligned carefully with good shielding to reduce leakage.
Good info on GSM technology in that link. I've always had a preference for GSM over the competing standards. It's always seemed like a more elegant solution, especially when it comes to using SIMs.
Seemed for quite a while that GSM was going to die in Canada, but with two networks now, we're going pretty strong. With the exception of the first (analog) phone I bought, everything else has been GSM and I love the convenience of just moving my SIM from phone to phone and never having to call the company to register a handset, transfer details, worry about programming, etc.
As posted, the GSM encryption is more than secure enough to stop casual evesdropping. It wouldn't stop law enforcement or government for long, but they can always just monitor at the cell cite, or have the service provider archive the data stream from suspect handsets anyway.
By contrast, my 900mhz cordless phone at home has absolutely no encryption and could be monitored (albiet at short range) by anyone with a scanner. Consequently, I'd rather use the cell for talking to banks, making purchases with credit cards, etc.
If you have some programming ability and a PDA/Phone with a mobile internet link, you could write your own software to process the data however you wish for free.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm gonna send the salesmen to YOUR door because even if you're having dinner, watching a movie, or otherwise not wanting to be disturbed, they can hammer on your doorbell and you'll simply not answer it if you're not interested, right? Because it's their right!
How is this any different from a phone ringing when you don't want to be disturbed?
I'm thrilled about the idea of a DNC list, and am hoping that Canada gets the same thing into law as quickly as possible. I'd sign up on the first day.
And to the telemarketers out there who will lose their jobs... At least you have plenty of experience making cold-calls when looking for your NEXT job... Lol
N.
Well, it certainly wouldn't be my first choice either, but if you consider having to disrupt your vacation/trip/day-off to have to try and locate a terminal somewhere to put out a fire back home...
I'd rather be able to spend the 5 minutes to do it from my P800 than have to waste hours on the problem, or have a young PFY at work mess with things and make more of a headache for myself.
Especially good idea, if it's because I'm the only one who can do it and it looks good to the boss, and I think some extra billing would be in order... (I think fixing a server from on top of a mountain qualifies for "danger pay").
I'm afraid I don't quite follow... Doesn't this just mean the US government that all of them pay taxes to support will be hijacked for the RIAA agenda even more than they are now?
N.
iThought iOf iAn iAddon iTo iThe iGlassware!
(because everything sounds cooler with an "i" infront of it).
How about an "iTip", which has a big LED digital display that automatically counts down the waiter/waitress's tip until the glass is refilled/replaced! Because with iGlassware, there's no excuse for my glass being empty!
N.
Hmm...
Maybe we should work this from the opposite end... Use the highest power transmitters available to broadcast something for years and years!
How about Pr0n, for example? I'd love to see what aliens would think about "That blue Pr0nWorld orbiting the yellow star".
Perhaps they'd have anal-probe tours... Perhaps they ALREADY DO!
N.
Well, it could be argued that Zahn's books are far better than the last two movies that Lucas has made...
N.
Fark said it best:
"[STUPID TAG] Latest fad: Flash mobbing, where a bunch of morons gather in an assigned area and pretend to be performance artists"
N.
It's much smaller when you hold it than it appears when people see photos of it. I've had one for a couple months now, and I could never imagine going back to a seperate phone or PDA. It's not perfect, but it's close.
My only P800 gripes:
- 12 bit colour screen
- low res camera, fairly poor lens (webcam quality)
Other than that, it's great. Both of those gripes are addressed in the new P810 which may be released by next year.
Any company making PDA-style devices without having a GSM phone in it has missed the boat IMHO.
N.
Quake and Doom were always nice engines.
HL took the engine and wrapped it into a gaming experience that was much more than just "kill everything and advance to the next level".
So, imho, yes, HL revolutionized the FPS genre. I can't say I've ever had the inclination to finish one of the Quake or Doom games in single-player mode. After a few levels I got bored of "shooting stuff".
HL had me hooked, right to the end. A good plot, great voiceacting, and some clever twists. I expect the new one to be even more so...
N.
You do realize that if you get people boycotting the RIAA, all that will happen is that the RIAA will play with their statistics again...
"Oh look, CD sales are down another 5% - THOSE EVIL EVIL PIRATES are downloading even more than before! We must get more support from the courts to ruthlessly stamp out these non-consumers!"
Funny how they never seem to cite "Bands release crap that nobody wants to listen to", or "Nobody wants to buy a $18 CD with one good song on it" when it comes to the reasons people aren't buying their garbage...
N.
See above ;)
But to answer your question, I'm paying the equivilent of about $3 (cdn) per set of "ink cartridges" (1 colour, 1 black) with the CFS system, as opposed to $50 with regular epson carts.
An easy decision!
N.
I've bought 2 CFS systems from inksupply.com - installed one in an Epson Stylus 1200, and one in my Epson Photo 890 at home.
If I don't print for a while, the heads still clog a bit, but when I'm cranking out pages, particularly the 11x17s on the '1200, it's absolute gold.
The consumables price is dirt cheap and I can print all day long and just tip a little more ink into the bottle when it starts to get a little low. Wonderful purchase!
I have no relation to the company, just a very happy customer.
N.
I usually shave in the shower after the stubble has softened nicely under warm water. Prolongs the life of the blades greatly, and the water keeps the blades nice and clean as well.
Works great!
N.
I've given it a try a few times. The biggest problem I see is that it's slow. Really slow. I mean my old 300-baud modem would beat it in a race slow.
Transfer a 10mb file over it? Not in my lifetime...
N.
PC LOAD LETTER!!!
:)
Ya, obvious, but it had to be done
N.
I work in a technical college. The campus policy is 3-year leases, so the machines are gradually upgraded as the lease ends. The machines do all have CD-RW drives in them right now, but they're not widely utilized (too much software-hassle).
To clarify though, the school is only upgrading in the sense that they're making sure that every machine has a USB, or USB2 port on the front for easy access, and they're specifically purchasing machines that don't have ZIP drives installed.
The students/staff will have to purchase their own USB storage devices. This is pretty much the same as students buying ZIP disks right now, although the price isn't quite as good for USB, the advantages more than make up for the headaches, imho.
I'm sure that the computer resources folk will put together a list of "recommended" models, as well as what the current list price is so students know what they can buy, and what to expect to pay at a regular store.
I used to think that DVD-Rs were a good backup medium, and granted, they're better than CDs, but when you get into, or over 600GB of storage, backups are a pain, no matter what format you use. There's just nothing else out there that even comes close to being cheap and easy for backing up that much data (yet).
The best alternative at this point, at least for me, is more HDs, probably removeable firewire drives that I can back-up on, then stash somewhere safe.
The school I work at is in the process of dumping all of our zip drives on hundreds of lab and office computers, and moving exclusively to solid-state USB storage for students & staff moving files around (and floppies I suppose, if all else fails).
They'll never buy any more machines with ZIP drives in them. Too many problems with students getting disks stuck in the drive when labels peel off, corrupted filesystems & lost files, and of course, the IDE ZIP drives we have are SLOW.
I'm looking forward to it!
N.
Most new drives are dual-format burners, so it's a moot point anyway. Pioneer has just released their A06 which burns both formats.
But as with all things, it's not always the technically superior product that's the standard, it's whatever is cheapest and easiest for people to get their hands on.
N.
Ya, I didn't mean to imply that Japanese companies don't want to make money as much, or more than North American companies - I was more thinking along the lines that Japanese companies like to innovate, whereas North American companies are satisfied with the status-quo so long as it turns a profit.
N.
You bet. The whole idea on this side of the pond isn't to "make stuff better", it's to get maximum income for the least possible investment.
:), but have the media on one side of the city, and your editing interface comfortably at home, or wherever you happen to be.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the "broadband" providers (and I use the term rather loosely, considering how much most providers have capped/restricted their service), would be at their absolute happiest if people were paying $50/month or more for the priveledge of checking their email. Actually, when you get right down to it, I suppose they'd be even happier if you gave them money, and they didn't have to provide any service at all, but heavily restricted DSL/Cable seems to be the next best thing.
Any data you transfer on top of "checking your email", such as, visiting websites, playing games, or (GASP!) downloading stuff is money out of THEIR pockets. They don't like that, mmm'kay?
So you keep your speeds restricted, you keep people's expectations low by having bandwidth and usage caps and server/software restrictions to help discourage them from finding new and interesting things to do with the connection which might possibly use MORE bandwidth (bad, mmm'kay?)
Think of the possibilities - with a 12 megabit connection, you can watch full DVD Movies in real time, you could use your buddy's computer as network attached storage, realtime DV editing (like what I'm doing right now in an edit suite, waiting for a damn render
I'd like that. A lot.
Ah well, as with most other things, Japan and Europe will lead, and North America will get dragged along eventually, kicking and screaming, bleeding corporate profits all along the way.
Fun, huh?
N.
Yes, but what the article was proposing was that joe-backyard with his old 12 foot dish, and a bit of extra hardware could DOS the satellites.
Not quite the same as a guy who works at a regular satellite uplink pointing the dish elsewhere and cranking up the power. There's nothing especially difficult.
For a number of years I worked with a C-band uplink (originally analog, then digitally compressed). We normally ran around 70-80 watts as I recall, but we could boost the power in the event of bad weather, etc.
Satellite operators always keep a close eye on the uplink power that sites are putting out, and tend to get very vocal, very quickly if you start hammering the bird enough to cause interference on other transponders. Of course it goes without saying that the uplink frequency is also rather important as transmitting on the downlink freq. won't accomplish too much.
But that said, it's not terribly difficult to do - anyone with a moderate size dish (and they can be quite small as were displayed at the recent NAB trade show), a decent power transmitter, and a knowledge of the uplink frequencies used could interfere with satellite relatively easily.
Using a regular dish could be a little tricky - you need a dish that has a proper waveguide from the transmitter to focus the beam properly on the dish and send it up. It may be possible to modify a regular receive-only dish to transmit this way, but I doubt it would be anywhere near as efficient as professional gear.
If someone was using portable professional gear, it could be difficult to trace people doing this because they could conceivably be anywhere within the satellite footprint, and they'd be broadcasting a rather narrow beam upwards. The old vans driving around with the direction finders wouldn't be picking up too much if it was aligned carefully with good shielding to reduce leakage.
N.
Good info on GSM technology in that link. I've always had a preference for GSM over the competing standards. It's always seemed like a more elegant solution, especially when it comes to using SIMs.
Seemed for quite a while that GSM was going to die in Canada, but with two networks now, we're going pretty strong. With the exception of the first (analog) phone I bought, everything else has been GSM and I love the convenience of just moving my SIM from phone to phone and never having to call the company to register a handset, transfer details, worry about programming, etc.
As posted, the GSM encryption is more than secure enough to stop casual evesdropping. It wouldn't stop law enforcement or government for long, but they can always just monitor at the cell cite, or have the service provider archive the data stream from suspect handsets anyway.
By contrast, my 900mhz cordless phone at home has absolutely no encryption and could be monitored (albiet at short range) by anyone with a scanner. Consequently, I'd rather use the cell for talking to banks, making purchases with credit cards, etc.
N.
Yup, they're blaming a browser-based RPG game for a violent act...
Wonder if I broke into a dam control room and opened the floodgates if they'd blame ZORK?
Perhaps I can plan some horrible "Leisure Suit Larry"-inspired crime!
N.
I like that all of their data is available to the public too..
Specs for the WSDOT data files
If you have some programming ability and a PDA/Phone with a mobile internet link, you could write your own software to process the data however you wish for free.
Nice!