Most of what I know about the legal system I learned from watching Law & Order, so maybe a real lawyer can pipe in here: Would the whistle blower's work be protected from disclosure as attorney-client work product? But if the information he had was evidence of a continuing criminal conspiracy, wouldn't the attorney-client privledge be invalidated? BTW, the man (Stephen Heller) was not an employee (as started in the blurb), but a subcontractor. Does this change the legal questions?
One thing that I don't need a JD to see is that the prosecutors have their work cut out for them in convincing a jury that this man deserves to go to prision. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a politician who's up for reelection in November introduce and grandstand over some new legistlation that would have protected this guy.
But Unipages are superior to PDF in their ability to hold functionality (Javascript), Flash animations and practically anything normally possible in a web page.
Someone didn't do their homework. Javascript is used extensively in PDFs to provide interactive functionality. Does this new produce also:
- Support vector-based documents, allowing both text and graphics to scale to any size?
- Provide a way to cryptographicly sign a document?
- Attempt to tackle the "portable" in PDF? Are you kidding me? It looks like a Windows-only download.
- Support e-book DRM features?
- etc, etc...
Actually, nowhere on the product's website do they claim to be a "PDF killer". It just looks like an independent developer's attempt to make a cool little (beta) application. Interesting, but I'm left to wonder why I'm reading about this on the front page of Slashdot? Not to mention IE has this functionality for years.
Meh... Color me unimpressed.
on
Flexible Body Armor
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Skiwear company Spyder, based in Colorado, US, developed racing suits incorporating d3o along the shins and forearms and offered members of the US and Canadian Olympic alpine ski teams the chance to try them out several months ago. "Now they love it and won't ski without it," claims Richard Palmer, CEO of UK-based d3o Labs, which developed the material.
I don't get it. What's the advantage of using flexible armor on body parts that don't flex? If it works as advertised, seems like this product would be more useful on the torso, back, neck, or near joints. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I'd bet that the skiers really couldn't care less about it. The CEO, on the other hand, now gets to brag about his new technology being used in the Olympics. Cycling and golf is full of this type of crap--technology and jargon used more as a marketing tool than to really enhance the product's performance.
First off, let me say that I'm a strong supporter of the EFF, Creative Commons, and hold many libertarian (lower-case "l") beliefs. The thought of the government mandating the instruction of agenda-based ethics makes my skin crawl. However, in the interest of balance, here's a different viewpoint:
Like it or not, copyright violation is against the law. When you're learning about how to handle firearms, drive a car, invest in stocks, skydive--pratically anything that involves risk, the you're *always* taught how do those activities safely and in accordance with the law. Many people hate mandatory motorcycle helmet laws. However, does anyone really beleive that riders shouldn't be educated on this law and the reasons for having it? People who misuse technology are doing risky things: opening themselves (or their parents) upto identity theft by getting a trojan from a P2P app, allowing their PC to be turned into a DDoS zombie, sexual predators, and criminal and civil liablity incurred by swapping pirated music and software. Many of these risks are blown out of proportion by the press, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. Computer users need all the education they can get. Too much technical training is focused on the nuts-and-bolts on how to do something with a PC. As pervasive as the Internet has become in our lives, perhaps we should begin to explore the larger social issues in intro-level instruction as well?
lol... "Is freely giving away our service a sustainable business model?" Where (or better stated, when) have we heard that before?
Nah, Skype isn't even on our radar. At least not with my company since we focus exclusively on VoIP for small businesses. And we love Vonage and the handful of other major players because they are leading the charge against regulation and fighting the legal battles with telcos. Plus their marketing saturation lends creditiblity to the concept of Internet telephony.
And to the GP, I wasn't claiming that Skype will fail for the same reason as Napster. I simply said that they will have the same historical significance. Also see: CP/M, Altair 8800, Lycos, and the thousands of other technological pioneers who were later runover by more nimble players in the market. They all failed for different reasons.
Heh... In five years Skype is going to be as relavant as Napster is today: a historial footnote to a great idea that could have been much more. The dot-bomb hangover is finally fading and there's a resurging interest in funding Internet-based technologies. Some people have called it a "new boom". VoIP is far and away the biggest reason for this new boom. New VoIP providers are coming out the woodwork because the industry finally matured enough to standardize on SIP as the defacto VoIP-standard. Vendors are cranking out interoperable SIP hardware, which allows us (as part of a recent VoIP startup) to rapidly roll out services without having to second guess whether we're using the right tech. Open standards makes things cheaper. It makes it easier to find, hire and train knowledgable engineers. Etc, etc... Skype, however, is still locked into a propietary protocol. Compare the history of the CD to that of the Minidisc to see difference that open standards makes. Like Napster, the only value of Skype in five years will be the brand name.
My first computer was a Packard Bell Legend II AT (286), purchased by my father in 1988. The interesting thing is that my parents were absolutely steadfast about not allowing me to have a modem. My father was overly concerned about me calling Sydney Australlia (always Sydney for some reason?) for hours at a time. My solution was to illicitly buy second-hand 2400 bps modems from the kids at school who were, at the time, upgrading to expensive new 14.4kbps ones. And I do say "modems"--I went through three of them after my parents kept discovering them. I would get up at 3am and run a 100 foot telephone cable from our living room to the basement, where I would spend about three hours a night chatting and playing Tradewars 2002 and Legend of the Red Dragon. Always by dialing only local BBSs of course. Kinda funny that 15 years later I would help found a VoIP company, which helps people save on calls to Sydney.;-)
Much of the criminal activity at Enron was IT-based. When your accouting system is an application, your IT had to know that the books were being cooked.
That's a pretty ignorant assumption. I dunno about everyone else, but as a systems dude, I don't even know how to use some of the applications I support. The network support guys are even further removed. Is a drunk's car mechanic liable if after a bender, he runs down a few kids?
It's extremely difficult to tell a non-tech savvy person that these header fields are purely cosmetic.
I don't know why it would such a difficult concept to convey? I can send you a first class letter with Hugh Hefner's name and address scrawled in the upper left corner. It doesn't mean that you've finally received your invitation to the Playboy mansion.
Re:Business voip?
on
Vonage IPO
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Wow. Strange timing. Might I shamelessly suggest a company that I'm part of: Bright Idea VoIP?:-) We focus exclusively on small business VoIP (between five and forty extensions). We also offer a unique reseller/partner program for IT support people if they're willing to provide first level support to subscribers.
Way back in the day (think Compuserve), this is how things used to be. However, eventually competition forced providers to offer flat-rate service because that's what the market demanded. How is this any different? Any provider that abandons flat-rate pricing risks losing customers in droves.
Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?
The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet...the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!
We're going away. Pack your shit, folks. We're going away. And we won't leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet'll be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.
You wanna know how the planet's doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet's doing. You wanna know if the planet's all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.
The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, "Why are we here?" Plastic...asshole.
If you do a lot of long distance calling, and I as a VoIP company, can save you 50% (or more) you'll most likely switch to me. If you discover that your BS DSL connection is preventing you from fully ultilizing my service (and saving your big money), you'll switch to the local cable company and get a cable modem instead, or maybe a WISP in the area.
It's really a self-correcting market. The only way that both small VoIP companies and consumers will both get screwed is if the major telcos successfully use their massive lobbying power to pass laws that artificially alter the market in order to prop up an obsolete business model (think "entertainment industry").:-\
Re:kinda crap but makes sense in the UK
on
Supermarket VOIP
·
· Score: 1
It's because the two locations are in different "rate centers". It's similar to school districts. You could live across the street from one high school, but your kids have to attend a different one a few miles away because you happend to be the border of the district. And as much as I love to hate SBC, they really can't be faulted for this. Rate centers are determined by the state.
You recently and candidly discussed the supposed "conspiracy" surrounding article submissions. One thing that I felt was left conspicuously unmentioned was what has been coined "Slashvertisements" e.g. enthusiastic submissions that promote underwhelming and uninteresting products. I remember seeing this keyboard in CompUSA (of all mundane places), at least six months ago. The only logical conclusions are: a) the editors don't get out much and have lost touch with what's considered new and exciting tech or b) OSDN is being compensated to provide stealth marketing services. Please provide some insight.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - January 16, 2011 - Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) today announced it acquired France, a country located in Western Europe, mostly associated with fine cheeses, wine, berets, and the 5-yr old search engine "Quaero".
Proving that iPod users are either scrupulously honest or more paranoid they'll get sued by RIAA than owners of lesser music players.
Option C:) Apple has successfully eliminated the incentive to "steal" music by making it cheaper to buy iTunes tracks than to use alternative backchannels. We all make time/money trade-offs everyday: eating out vs. cooking our own food, changing our own oil vs. paying someone else $25 to do it, buying a Roomba or vacuuming our place more often. Buying music isn't any different. iTunes with an iPod can't get any easier and therefore saves a lot of people valuable time.
I'm no Apple fanboy, but I give them major kudos to pull off what the RIAA and the major labels are too stupid to understand. This was a technological and economical war from the beginning. Damn them for perverting it into a legal one as well.
Lots of you found yourself logging in, probably multiple times, using passwords you could barely remember because you are forced to change them so often. Then, you entered a world of computing where much of the power and variety of the technology was closed off to you in the name of security or conformity by an information-technology department in your large corporation or organization. Various Web sites were off-limits, as were tools like instant messaging, even though they might have legitimate business purposes.
Others of you, lucky enough to work in a home-based business or in any business or organization too small to have an IT department, could get right to work, using the full range of changing resources and tools offered by software and Internet companies.
Yep... this guy sounds exactly like a typical user. Why don't these people ever whine instead about not being able to adjust the thermostat to suit their personal tastes at corporate HQ? Or complain about not being able to wear their favorite bathrobe to the office? After all, you can do both of those things while working in a home-office. He mentions not being able to use his instant messanger. I guess he hasn't been paying attention to the rash of IM-based worms recently. All it takes is one user to break corporate policy simply because they don't understand it, and hundreds or even thousands of other people are affected. Suddenly the IT support guys are working OT for a week because someone thought that they were smarter than the people who wrote the rules.
'course, I'm preaching to the choir here on Slashdot. He may have some good points elsewhere in the article, but his asinine tunnel vision wrecks his creditiblity. He's just pandering to all the "Sues in Accounting" who gets upset because they can't install a holiday screen saver they downloaded on "their" computer.
The two patents in question are not for inventions, but processes relating to using a regular telephone to make long distance calls. The patents focus on the use of a centralized database with pricing information for the purposes of determining the cheapest phone call carrier on the fly.
Are you kidding me? It's called "least cost call routing" and is pretty much a no-brainer. The VoIP service company that I run has six different trunks from four carriers for redundancy reasons. It didn't take long for it to dawn on me that maybe I should take advantage of the different rates to different destinations. One carrier might be cheaper for calls to Italy, while another is cheaper to Japan.
As for prior art, can we cite OSPF? How about using a map to avoid toll roads on a trip? Or choosing from several of those 10-10 long distance services, depending on who's cheaper at the moment? It's all the same process (which is the basis for the claim). Just because the calculation is done with a computer instead of a human brain doesn't make it any different.
Somehow I'm not worried about a legal precedent being set though. Rates Technology Inc. just put a company with a $123 billion market cap in their crosshairs. They might as well be using a slingshot and they know it. This is a blatent effort to extort a settlement out of someone with deep pockets. RTI would never try this crap with my company. I hope that Google viciously spanks them on principle.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's the section of the US Code he is charged with violating, as listed in the above booking information.
The poor (rich?) sap's booking photo, complete with ::gulp:: his address. Too bad spammers aren't required to disclose their email address on arrest.
Most of what I know about the legal system I learned from watching Law & Order, so maybe a real lawyer can pipe in here: Would the whistle blower's work be protected from disclosure as attorney-client work product? But if the information he had was evidence of a continuing criminal conspiracy, wouldn't the attorney-client privledge be invalidated? BTW, the man (Stephen Heller) was not an employee (as started in the blurb), but a subcontractor. Does this change the legal questions?
One thing that I don't need a JD to see is that the prosecutors have their work cut out for them in convincing a jury that this man deserves to go to prision. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a politician who's up for reelection in November introduce and grandstand over some new legistlation that would have protected this guy.
- Support vector-based documents, allowing both text and graphics to scale to any size?
- Provide a way to cryptographicly sign a document?
- Attempt to tackle the "portable" in PDF? Are you kidding me? It looks like a Windows-only download.
- Support e-book DRM features?
- etc, etc...
Actually, nowhere on the product's website do they claim to be a "PDF killer". It just looks like an independent developer's attempt to make a cool little (beta) application. Interesting, but I'm left to wonder why I'm reading about this on the front page of Slashdot? Not to mention IE has this functionality for years.
First off, let me say that I'm a strong supporter of the EFF, Creative Commons, and hold many libertarian (lower-case "l") beliefs. The thought of the government mandating the instruction of agenda-based ethics makes my skin crawl. However, in the interest of balance, here's a different viewpoint:
Like it or not, copyright violation is against the law. When you're learning about how to handle firearms, drive a car, invest in stocks, skydive--pratically anything that involves risk, the you're *always* taught how do those activities safely and in accordance with the law. Many people hate mandatory motorcycle helmet laws. However, does anyone really beleive that riders shouldn't be educated on this law and the reasons for having it? People who misuse technology are doing risky things: opening themselves (or their parents) upto identity theft by getting a trojan from a P2P app, allowing their PC to be turned into a DDoS zombie, sexual predators, and criminal and civil liablity incurred by swapping pirated music and software. Many of these risks are blown out of proportion by the press, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. Computer users need all the education they can get. Too much technical training is focused on the nuts-and-bolts on how to do something with a PC. As pervasive as the Internet has become in our lives, perhaps we should begin to explore the larger social issues in intro-level instruction as well?
lol... "Is freely giving away our service a sustainable business model?" Where (or better stated, when) have we heard that before?
Nah, Skype isn't even on our radar. At least not with my company since we focus exclusively on VoIP for small businesses. And we love Vonage and the handful of other major players because they are leading the charge against regulation and fighting the legal battles with telcos. Plus their marketing saturation lends creditiblity to the concept of Internet telephony.
And to the GP, I wasn't claiming that Skype will fail for the same reason as Napster. I simply said that they will have the same historical significance. Also see: CP/M, Altair 8800, Lycos, and the thousands of other technological pioneers who were later runover by more nimble players in the market. They all failed for different reasons.
Correction: VHS vs. Betamax is a better comparison than CD vs. Minidisc.
Heh... In five years Skype is going to be as relavant as Napster is today: a historial footnote to a great idea that could have been much more. The dot-bomb hangover is finally fading and there's a resurging interest in funding Internet-based technologies. Some people have called it a "new boom". VoIP is far and away the biggest reason for this new boom. New VoIP providers are coming out the woodwork because the industry finally matured enough to standardize on SIP as the defacto VoIP-standard. Vendors are cranking out interoperable SIP hardware, which allows us (as part of a recent VoIP startup) to rapidly roll out services without having to second guess whether we're using the right tech. Open standards makes things cheaper. It makes it easier to find, hire and train knowledgable engineers. Etc, etc... Skype, however, is still locked into a propietary protocol. Compare the history of the CD to that of the Minidisc to see difference that open standards makes. Like Napster, the only value of Skype in five years will be the brand name.
A prophetic interview with the CEO of Gillette, two years before they introduced their "Fusion" model. NSFW words.
My first computer was a Packard Bell Legend II AT (286), purchased by my father in 1988. The interesting thing is that my parents were absolutely steadfast about not allowing me to have a modem. My father was overly concerned about me calling Sydney Australlia (always Sydney for some reason?) for hours at a time. My solution was to illicitly buy second-hand 2400 bps modems from the kids at school who were, at the time, upgrading to expensive new 14.4kbps ones. And I do say "modems"--I went through three of them after my parents kept discovering them. I would get up at 3am and run a 100 foot telephone cable from our living room to the basement, where I would spend about three hours a night chatting and playing Tradewars 2002 and Legend of the Red Dragon. Always by dialing only local BBSs of course. Kinda funny that 15 years later I would help found a VoIP company, which helps people save on calls to Sydney. ;-)
Wow. Strange timing. Might I shamelessly suggest a company that I'm part of: Bright Idea VoIP? :-) We focus exclusively on small business VoIP (between five and forty extensions). We also offer a unique reseller/partner program for IT support people if they're willing to provide first level support to subscribers.
/end plug
Way back in the day (think Compuserve), this is how things used to be. However, eventually competition forced providers to offer flat-rate service because that's what the market demanded. How is this any different? Any provider that abandons flat-rate pricing risks losing customers in droves.
If you do a lot of long distance calling, and I as a VoIP company, can save you 50% (or more) you'll most likely switch to me. If you discover that your BS DSL connection is preventing you from fully ultilizing my service (and saving your big money), you'll switch to the local cable company and get a cable modem instead, or maybe a WISP in the area.
:-\
It's really a self-correcting market. The only way that both small VoIP companies and consumers will both get screwed is if the major telcos successfully use their massive lobbying power to pass laws that artificially alter the market in order to prop up an obsolete business model (think "entertainment industry").
It's because the two locations are in different "rate centers". It's similar to school districts. You could live across the street from one high school, but your kids have to attend a different one a few miles away because you happend to be the border of the district. And as much as I love to hate SBC, they really can't be faulted for this. Rate centers are determined by the state.
Taco,
You recently and candidly discussed the supposed "conspiracy" surrounding article submissions. One thing that I felt was left conspicuously unmentioned was what has been coined "Slashvertisements" e.g. enthusiastic submissions that promote underwhelming and uninteresting products. I remember seeing this keyboard in CompUSA (of all mundane places), at least six months ago. The only logical conclusions are: a) the editors don't get out much and have lost touch with what's considered new and exciting tech or b) OSDN is being compensated to provide stealth marketing services. Please provide some insight.
Thank you,
The Slashdot Community.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - January 16, 2011 - Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) today announced it acquired France, a country located in Western Europe, mostly associated with fine cheeses, wine, berets, and the 5-yr old search engine "Quaero".
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
I'm no Apple fanboy, but I give them major kudos to pull off what the RIAA and the major labels are too stupid to understand. This was a technological and economical war from the beginning. Damn them for perverting it into a legal one as well.
Try Acronis True Image and leave the dark side behind entirely. ;-) It's definately better than Ghost.
WTF? Since when is anyone over the age of 25 an "old gamer?" Now, Old Grandma Hardcore is an old gamer.
'course, I'm preaching to the choir here on Slashdot. He may have some good points elsewhere in the article, but his asinine tunnel vision wrecks his creditiblity. He's just pandering to all the "Sues in Accounting" who gets upset because they can't install a holiday screen saver they downloaded on "their" computer.
As for prior art, can we cite OSPF? How about using a map to avoid toll roads on a trip? Or choosing from several of those 10-10 long distance services, depending on who's cheaper at the moment? It's all the same process (which is the basis for the claim). Just because the calculation is done with a computer instead of a human brain doesn't make it any different.
Somehow I'm not worried about a legal precedent being set though. Rates Technology Inc. just put a company with a $123 billion market cap in their crosshairs. They might as well be using a slingshot and they know it. This is a blatent effort to extort a settlement out of someone with deep pockets. RTI would never try this crap with my company. I hope that Google viciously spanks them on principle.