Legal or not, the software already exists (because people are ignoring the law, and also because laws are different around the world), and because there is an exemption in the DMCA for libraries, I don't think there would be any issue with them using such software.
LOL....great conspiracy theory (I really love reading the stuff people on here come up with), but do you SERIOUSLY think the media industries are thinking and planning THAT far ahead? Not to mention the fact that, as far as they are concerned, old cultural products are nearly irrelevant to their profits. How many people under 30 are watching black and white movies (or even movies from the 70s), or listening to bands from the 60's and earlier? Yeah, there are a few notable exceptions, but for the most part, old stuff is dead to younger generations. There's no need to make the old stuff disappear because it just gets ignored anyway.
I think you may have misread my post, because I don't see how being from Nevada (or any specific place at all) would make it any easier for you to read the headline '100/1 Odds On "First Contact" Within a Year' and automatically know that the wording is inaccurate, and that the bet is not about "First Contact" but instead about an announcement from the US President or UK Prime Minister.
No, it's just that you have to have patience and build yourself a reputation (a step businesses always seem to want to skip over), and then you get those pre-release privileges, but only for games you like. It goes like this
Game X comes out. You buy it on release day and post a favorable review. Game X part 2 comes out. You buy it on release day and post a favorable review. Game X part 3 is about to come out. The manufacturer says "hey, we like this guy's previous reviews". A week before release, you get a review copy of the game in the mail. Game Y is about to come out. Manufacturer looks at your previous reviews and tries to anticipate if you will be favorable or unfavorable in your review. You may or may not get a pre-release copy, depending on their determination.
The summary is incorrect. The 100 to 1 odds aren't even for first contact, but merely that the US/UK will announce the existence of aliens. From TFA:
the gambling company is offering odds of 100/1 on either the US President or the serving British Prime Minister to announce the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrials within a year of the bet being placed.
No, I'm serious, so stop making stupidly absurd statements. Go look up the info on the iBOT wheelchair. It was able to stand up on 2 wheels and used the same methods as the Segway to keep the chair balanced on those 2 wheels. Go look at the following video at the 2 minute 40 second mark...does it not look remarkably similar to the way the Segway functions? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK5uAeEV7tI&t=2m40s
But no, please go ahead making stupid comments if it makes you happy.
Can we please get a citation for this, because this is the first I've ever heard of it, and as far as I know, is totally inaccurate. The Segway is based on the technology that Dean Kamen developed for the iBOT, which is a really cool wheelchair that can climb stairs, drive over rocks, sand, etc. The Segway was merely a refinement and repackaging of that wheelchair's technology. I suspect this guy you work with is BSing you (or his own brother BSed him and he fell for it).
Phone, Tunes, Photo, Movie, and Book were already terms that had meaning and common usage in the fields for which iPhone, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iBook function. Therefore it wouldn't be reasonable to give Apple any exclusivity to these terms because they didn't create the usage...they chose those words specifically because they were already used in that field.
I'm not familiar with the the other "i" products (except Pad) you referred to, so I can't comment on them (though Chat, DVD, and Web sound like they'd be the same scenario). iPad is a bit different. The closest you can come up with is a pad of paper, but that's not really the same thing as what an iPad does. I don't think I'd lump this one in with the others, though I suppose you could stretch it a bit.
Pod, on the other hand, is a word which (as far as I'm aware) has absolutely no previously existing meaning in the field for which the iPod operates, which is media playback.
Perhaps you misunderstood my post. I never said I couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to rent from a video store. I can totally see all the reasons people would prefer netflix or something similar. But my point was, if you DO rent from a video store, I can't understand why returning it on time is such an issue.
there's no connection between "I saw a movie last night" and "I must return the movie"
Wow, you can't even remember for 24 hours (or 2 days, or however long your rental is)? I don't know what to say. Perhaps I'd just suggest that, when you're done watching, instead of throwing the movie on top of your entertainment center or somewhere out of the way, perhaps you can set it with your car keys or something, so that it's very obvious to you. I expect your response will probably be "no thanks, I'd just prefer not to rent movies instead", but if you have that much trouble remembering things, then just take it as general advice.
I'm sure you can be anal about it and never get a late fee, but I'd rather have not go through that effort just to watch a damn movie.
Anal? WTF? You say that like I sit there all day saying "gotta return that movie, gotta return that movie", post notes all over the house reminding me, and have a daily checklist with an item labeled "returned rentals (if applicable)". Is it anal that I remember to put on pants before leaving the house, too?
...it should do whatever it can to pass along its remaining value directly back to its shareholders before it squanders it...
If the shareholders really want that, all they need to do is sell their shares. It's really not that difficult. The simply fact they they haven't, and instead still have their money invested in Blockbuster, that's a clear indication that the stockholders do NOT want that to happen. Clearly they believe that the rewards of holding onto their investment will be worth the risk of losing it all.
Getting hit with late return fees just doesn't hold up to on demand streaming of tens of thousands of titles. Guess I'm just not a Luddite.
You say this like the late fee is a required part of the rental experience. I've rented a lot of movies over the last 20 years, and never once have I had a late fee. How hard is it to return something on time? Apparently pretty hard, based one how many people get them, but I just don't understand it.
Hey Buckyballs...ever hear about the Streisand effect? Someone here in the office has a set of buckyballs and I thought they were pretty cool. I was thinking about picking up a set sometime. I've never heard of Zen Magnets before today. Now that I watched the video you had taken down, I'm thinking maybe Zen Magnets would be the better purchase. Thanks for helping me open my eyes to your competition.
Server-based and gatekeeper solutions are useless when the compromise comes from other systems on the same network.
Also, the server firewall is pretty much unable to deal with filtering outbound traffic in a nice way. The desktop firewall is integrated into the system, and can query the OS for important information. This allows the desktop firewall to know that the IP packet destined for some random IP's port 80 came from firefox rather than some other software which (without the user's consent) is spying and sending data back to it's maker. The desktop based firewall can then pop up a nice prompt to let the user know and see if it should be allowed. I'm not aware of any way that server based firewalls can do that.
Or you can withhold nothing, and just pay what you owe each year. Of course, then you have to make quarterly tax payments, which is more-or-less the same thing as withholding
Not quite. The difference with quarterly payments is that they can fine you if you don't withhold the proper amount each quarter. If your income is steady throughout the year, this isn't much of an issue, but if you get a raise or a bonus, then you need to make sure you adjust the payments appropriately.
A better option to accomplish much the same thing is to withhold nothing all year and then do all of your withholding in your last paycheck or two. My understanding (and I'd suggest verifying this before acting on it, in case I'm wrong) is that withholding is treated as if it were spread evenly across the year, regardless of how it actually occurred. Thus withholding nothing for 51 weeks and then withholding $5200 in your final paycheck of the year is treated exactly the same as if you withheld $100 every week.
Because it's cheaper to buy the table than it is to buy the table saw, router, planer, joiner, and clamps.....oh, and the lathe for the legs. Also, don't forget about the amount of wood you'd go through learning from mistakes. And the space you'd need to use and store all this equipment. If you are a woodworker and already have this stuff at your disposal, then good for you...you are in the minority.
Oh yeah, by the way....just the cost of the wood? As a amateur woodworker, I'm very interested in your source of free hardware, glue, stain, and varnish. It would be very appreciated, thanks.
You would think so, but the employer can't be the one to decide that sort of information. The process can get really tricky, and is very much affected by a lot of info that the employer does not (and should not) have access to, such as whether the spouse works and how much he/she makes (if you earn significantly more/less than your spouse, that can really throw off the employer's calculations), what sort of deductions you take for education, childcare, property taxes, charitable contributions, retirement contributions other than through employer sponsored retirement plans, etc.
It's extremely tricky, and therefore most companies just follow the government suggested plan, which is to calculate based off of the little bit of info that is provided on the form W-4. There is then plenty of documentation and websites which walk you through the process of calculating the correct values for your W-4. You use the info that you know (but your employer doesn't), figure out what the expected tax will be, and then figure the right values to fill in to get you right in the ballpark to minimize your withholding without ending up owing anything next April.
Of course, once you get this all worked out and get the correct withholding, the tax-clueless will simply then wait until next April to complain about how small of a tax return they received. You can't win either way:)
Reread his post. He didn't say he earns less, he said his TAKE HOME pay is less after the raise. In other words, the guy needs to learn to submit an updated W-4 to fix his withholding schedule, or else he can just wait and then rave about how big of a tax refund he gets next April since he's currently grossly over-withholding. Either way, the guy doesn't understand taxes and is ranting about nothing.
Heh, guess so. So who even cares then? All he wants to do is make sure the new Senior Center remains funded and the Bingo games keep running.
Bill Gates Sr has personally donated $500K to the "yes on 1098" campaign. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have taken more than $500K to keep the bingo games running, so I'm pretty sure this isn't a self-serving interest.
Besides the fact that many other posters have pointed out these guys wouldn't be using their personal income to hire people for their corporations, there is another gross error in your post...two, in fact.
1) You fell victim to the exact same misunderstanding of tax law that other idiots like Joe the Plumber did: income taxes are levied on profits, not revenues. If you get $100k in revenue and it costs you $40K to run your business, then you only get taxed on the $60K of net profits. If you decide you want to hire another employee and pay him $30K, then you have $70K in expenses, so now you are only taxed on the $30K of profit. Taxes have no influence on the decision to hire if you properly understand how taxes work.
2) You don't understanding how to run a business. The reason to hire a person for your company is because that person will earn or save your company more than they cost in salary. So, in the above example, we hired another person and paid them $30K. The only way that makes sense is if either we expect them to reduce the original $40K in expenses to somewhere under $10K (ex: they can do work in house that we used to contract out at a higher cost), or if we expect them to (either directly or indirectly) boost our $100K of revenue to over $130K (or some combination of the 2 adding up to more than $30K). Otherwise, you are spending dollars to earn back cents, which is stupid.
Wow, you are so smart. However, you might want to stop by random.org or do a google search for "truly random number generator". More than a decade ago, Intel even built a chip to do this and included it in many systems.
any site that gives up a cookie does so for tracking reasons.
Not true. Cookies can be used for a lot of things, like remembering settings from one page to the next. Yeah, technically you can say that's "tracking" (need to track users so we can apply the correct settings for them), but that's not really what most people mean when they talk about tracking with cookies.
True. Halo: ODST even left a sort of cliffhanger at the end to make it seem like there will be an ODST2. However, the statement was not that this will be the last Halo game, but that "Bungie has returned to the IP one last time". This is clarified in the last paragraph of the review:
Bungie has built a huge fan base over the past nine years. For many, Halo: Reach will be the last true Halo game, now that Microsoft is taking over development of the series. Knowing this, Bungie really went all out to make this a game that gave players everything they could ask for.
On the other hand though, can it capture actual images as opposed to shadows, and if so, how would it do that without a lens?
Presumably this one won't do it, but if you wanted to do so, all you would need to do is put a layer of microlenses over the camera pixels, with each lens focusing the light from a specific direction. Think of it like a ray caster, where each pixel on the screen is aimed in a slightly different direction. It doesn't even have to be lenses in the traditional sense. Even just a layer that forms a tunnel over each camera pixel, so that light from the "focused" direction hits the pixel and light from other directions hits the side of the tunnel.
You are right, excepting of course the fact that in the section you cited, it clearly states the copies or phonorecords of the work havenotbeen commercially distributed has not been made available in copies for sale to the general public
Why are you being modded informative? Is it because the mods failed to read the full post as badly as you failed to? If you reread it carefully, the part that says "the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially distributed" is actually a subsection of item a3, which is defining what “work being prepared for commercial distribution”, which is important only in defining if you violate part a1C. If you violate a1A or a1B, then a1C is irrelevant, and the entirety of a3 is therefore irrelevant because it has nothing to do with a1A or a1B.
Slashdot Mirror
Legal or not, the software already exists (because people are ignoring the law, and also because laws are different around the world), and because there is an exemption in the DMCA for libraries, I don't think there would be any issue with them using such software.
LOL....great conspiracy theory (I really love reading the stuff people on here come up with), but do you SERIOUSLY think the media industries are thinking and planning THAT far ahead? Not to mention the fact that, as far as they are concerned, old cultural products are nearly irrelevant to their profits. How many people under 30 are watching black and white movies (or even movies from the 70s), or listening to bands from the 60's and earlier? Yeah, there are a few notable exceptions, but for the most part, old stuff is dead to younger generations. There's no need to make the old stuff disappear because it just gets ignored anyway.
I think you may have misread my post, because I don't see how being from Nevada (or any specific place at all) would make it any easier for you to read the headline '100/1 Odds On "First Contact" Within a Year' and automatically know that the wording is inaccurate, and that the bet is not about "First Contact" but instead about an announcement from the US President or UK Prime Minister.
No, it's just that you have to have patience and build yourself a reputation (a step businesses always seem to want to skip over), and then you get those pre-release privileges, but only for games you like. It goes like this
Game X comes out. You buy it on release day and post a favorable review.
Game X part 2 comes out. You buy it on release day and post a favorable review.
Game X part 3 is about to come out. The manufacturer says "hey, we like this guy's previous reviews". A week before release, you get a review copy of the game in the mail.
Game Y is about to come out. Manufacturer looks at your previous reviews and tries to anticipate if you will be favorable or unfavorable in your review. You may or may not get a pre-release copy, depending on their determination.
The summary is incorrect. The 100 to 1 odds aren't even for first contact, but merely that the US/UK will announce the existence of aliens. From TFA:
the gambling company is offering odds of 100/1 on either the US President or the serving British Prime Minister to announce the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrials within a year of the bet being placed.
No, I'm serious, so stop making stupidly absurd statements. Go look up the info on the iBOT wheelchair. It was able to stand up on 2 wheels and used the same methods as the Segway to keep the chair balanced on those 2 wheels. Go look at the following video at the 2 minute 40 second mark...does it not look remarkably similar to the way the Segway functions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK5uAeEV7tI&t=2m40s
But no, please go ahead making stupid comments if it makes you happy.
Can we please get a citation for this, because this is the first I've ever heard of it, and as far as I know, is totally inaccurate. The Segway is based on the technology that Dean Kamen developed for the iBOT, which is a really cool wheelchair that can climb stairs, drive over rocks, sand, etc. The Segway was merely a refinement and repackaging of that wheelchair's technology. I suspect this guy you work with is BSing you (or his own brother BSed him and he fell for it).
Phone, Tunes, Photo, Movie, and Book were already terms that had meaning and common usage in the fields for which iPhone, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iBook function. Therefore it wouldn't be reasonable to give Apple any exclusivity to these terms because they didn't create the usage...they chose those words specifically because they were already used in that field.
I'm not familiar with the the other "i" products (except Pad) you referred to, so I can't comment on them (though Chat, DVD, and Web sound like they'd be the same scenario). iPad is a bit different. The closest you can come up with is a pad of paper, but that's not really the same thing as what an iPad does. I don't think I'd lump this one in with the others, though I suppose you could stretch it a bit.
Pod, on the other hand, is a word which (as far as I'm aware) has absolutely no previously existing meaning in the field for which the iPod operates, which is media playback.
Perhaps you misunderstood my post. I never said I couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to rent from a video store. I can totally see all the reasons people would prefer netflix or something similar. But my point was, if you DO rent from a video store, I can't understand why returning it on time is such an issue.
there's no connection between "I saw a movie last night" and "I must return the movie"
Wow, you can't even remember for 24 hours (or 2 days, or however long your rental is)? I don't know what to say. Perhaps I'd just suggest that, when you're done watching, instead of throwing the movie on top of your entertainment center or somewhere out of the way, perhaps you can set it with your car keys or something, so that it's very obvious to you. I expect your response will probably be "no thanks, I'd just prefer not to rent movies instead", but if you have that much trouble remembering things, then just take it as general advice.
I'm sure you can be anal about it and never get a late fee, but I'd rather have not go through that effort just to watch a damn movie.
Anal? WTF? You say that like I sit there all day saying "gotta return that movie, gotta return that movie", post notes all over the house reminding me, and have a daily checklist with an item labeled "returned rentals (if applicable)". Is it anal that I remember to put on pants before leaving the house, too?
...it should do whatever it can to pass along its remaining value directly back to its shareholders before it squanders it...
If the shareholders really want that, all they need to do is sell their shares. It's really not that difficult. The simply fact they they haven't, and instead still have their money invested in Blockbuster, that's a clear indication that the stockholders do NOT want that to happen. Clearly they believe that the rewards of holding onto their investment will be worth the risk of losing it all.
Getting hit with late return fees just doesn't hold up to on demand streaming of tens of thousands of titles. Guess I'm just not a Luddite.
You say this like the late fee is a required part of the rental experience. I've rented a lot of movies over the last 20 years, and never once have I had a late fee. How hard is it to return something on time? Apparently pretty hard, based one how many people get them, but I just don't understand it.
Hey Buckyballs...ever hear about the Streisand effect? Someone here in the office has a set of buckyballs and I thought they were pretty cool. I was thinking about picking up a set sometime. I've never heard of Zen Magnets before today. Now that I watched the video you had taken down, I'm thinking maybe Zen Magnets would be the better purchase. Thanks for helping me open my eyes to your competition.
Definitely a bad PR move.
Server-based and gatekeeper solutions are useless when the compromise comes from other systems on the same network.
Also, the server firewall is pretty much unable to deal with filtering outbound traffic in a nice way. The desktop firewall is integrated into the system, and can query the OS for important information. This allows the desktop firewall to know that the IP packet destined for some random IP's port 80 came from firefox rather than some other software which (without the user's consent) is spying and sending data back to it's maker. The desktop based firewall can then pop up a nice prompt to let the user know and see if it should be allowed. I'm not aware of any way that server based firewalls can do that.
Or you can withhold nothing, and just pay what you owe each year. Of course, then you have to make quarterly tax payments, which is more-or-less the same thing as withholding
Not quite. The difference with quarterly payments is that they can fine you if you don't withhold the proper amount each quarter. If your income is steady throughout the year, this isn't much of an issue, but if you get a raise or a bonus, then you need to make sure you adjust the payments appropriately.
A better option to accomplish much the same thing is to withhold nothing all year and then do all of your withholding in your last paycheck or two. My understanding (and I'd suggest verifying this before acting on it, in case I'm wrong) is that withholding is treated as if it were spread evenly across the year, regardless of how it actually occurred. Thus withholding nothing for 51 weeks and then withholding $5200 in your final paycheck of the year is treated exactly the same as if you withheld $100 every week.
Because it's cheaper to buy the table than it is to buy the table saw, router, planer, joiner, and clamps.....oh, and the lathe for the legs. Also, don't forget about the amount of wood you'd go through learning from mistakes. And the space you'd need to use and store all this equipment. If you are a woodworker and already have this stuff at your disposal, then good for you...you are in the minority.
Oh yeah, by the way....just the cost of the wood? As a amateur woodworker, I'm very interested in your source of free hardware, glue, stain, and varnish. It would be very appreciated, thanks.
You would think so, but the employer can't be the one to decide that sort of information. The process can get really tricky, and is very much affected by a lot of info that the employer does not (and should not) have access to, such as whether the spouse works and how much he/she makes (if you earn significantly more/less than your spouse, that can really throw off the employer's calculations), what sort of deductions you take for education, childcare, property taxes, charitable contributions, retirement contributions other than through employer sponsored retirement plans, etc.
It's extremely tricky, and therefore most companies just follow the government suggested plan, which is to calculate based off of the little bit of info that is provided on the form W-4. There is then plenty of documentation and websites which walk you through the process of calculating the correct values for your W-4. You use the info that you know (but your employer doesn't), figure out what the expected tax will be, and then figure the right values to fill in to get you right in the ballpark to minimize your withholding without ending up owing anything next April.
Of course, once you get this all worked out and get the correct withholding, the tax-clueless will simply then wait until next April to complain about how small of a tax return they received. You can't win either way :)
Reread his post. He didn't say he earns less, he said his TAKE HOME pay is less after the raise. In other words, the guy needs to learn to submit an updated W-4 to fix his withholding schedule, or else he can just wait and then rave about how big of a tax refund he gets next April since he's currently grossly over-withholding. Either way, the guy doesn't understand taxes and is ranting about nothing.
Heh, guess so. So who even cares then? All he wants to do is make sure the new Senior Center remains funded and the Bingo games keep running.
Bill Gates Sr has personally donated $500K to the "yes on 1098" campaign. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have taken more than $500K to keep the bingo games running, so I'm pretty sure this isn't a self-serving interest.
Besides the fact that many other posters have pointed out these guys wouldn't be using their personal income to hire people for their corporations, there is another gross error in your post...two, in fact.
1) You fell victim to the exact same misunderstanding of tax law that other idiots like Joe the Plumber did: income taxes are levied on profits, not revenues. If you get $100k in revenue and it costs you $40K to run your business, then you only get taxed on the $60K of net profits. If you decide you want to hire another employee and pay him $30K, then you have $70K in expenses, so now you are only taxed on the $30K of profit. Taxes have no influence on the decision to hire if you properly understand how taxes work.
2) You don't understanding how to run a business. The reason to hire a person for your company is because that person will earn or save your company more than they cost in salary. So, in the above example, we hired another person and paid them $30K. The only way that makes sense is if either we expect them to reduce the original $40K in expenses to somewhere under $10K (ex: they can do work in house that we used to contract out at a higher cost), or if we expect them to (either directly or indirectly) boost our $100K of revenue to over $130K (or some combination of the 2 adding up to more than $30K). Otherwise, you are spending dollars to earn back cents, which is stupid.
Wow, you are so smart. However, you might want to stop by random.org or do a google search for "truly random number generator". More than a decade ago, Intel even built a chip to do this and included it in many systems.
any site that gives up a cookie does so for tracking reasons.
Not true. Cookies can be used for a lot of things, like remembering settings from one page to the next. Yeah, technically you can say that's "tracking" (need to track users so we can apply the correct settings for them), but that's not really what most people mean when they talk about tracking with cookies.
True. Halo: ODST even left a sort of cliffhanger at the end to make it seem like there will be an ODST2. However, the statement was not that this will be the last Halo game, but that "Bungie has returned to the IP one last time". This is clarified in the last paragraph of the review:
Bungie has built a huge fan base over the past nine years. For many, Halo: Reach will be the last true Halo game, now that Microsoft is taking over development of the series. Knowing this, Bungie really went all out to make this a game that gave players everything they could ask for.
On the other hand though, can it capture actual images as opposed to shadows, and if so, how would it do that without a lens?
Presumably this one won't do it, but if you wanted to do so, all you would need to do is put a layer of microlenses over the camera pixels, with each lens focusing the light from a specific direction. Think of it like a ray caster, where each pixel on the screen is aimed in a slightly different direction. It doesn't even have to be lenses in the traditional sense. Even just a layer that forms a tunnel over each camera pixel, so that light from the "focused" direction hits the pixel and light from other directions hits the side of the tunnel.
You are right, excepting of course the fact that in the section you cited, it clearly states
the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially distributed
has not been made available in copies for sale to the general public
Why are you being modded informative? Is it because the mods failed to read the full post as badly as you failed to? If you reread it carefully, the part that says "the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially distributed" is actually a subsection of item a3, which is defining what “work being prepared for commercial distribution”, which is important only in defining if you violate part a1C. If you violate a1A or a1B, then a1C is irrelevant, and the entirety of a3 is therefore irrelevant because it has nothing to do with a1A or a1B.