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  1. Re:Nostalgia on Dial-Up Users "Don't Want Broadband" · · Score: 1

    No too hard to do, though when you get above 2400 the tones start varying between manufacturers and the vbis. now trying to lock carrier, that can be tricky.

    "That was not 12, that was 3. lord this is gonna take FOREVER..."

  2. Re:Grandma Speed on Dial-Up Users "Don't Want Broadband" · · Score: 1

    free video ichat is a major factor in grandparents (and even parents) getting broadband or a new computer.

  3. Re:Nooo! on Dial-Up Users "Don't Want Broadband" · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, loss of their email address IS a big factor for people upgrading from dialup. They don't realize what the benefits are, but can very easily recognize the chaos that's going to cause.

    What we need is a "universal portability" thing for email like we have for telephone numbers. (but I call it GMail)

  4. Re:Nooo! on Dial-Up Users "Don't Want Broadband" · · Score: 2, Insightful

    what makes you think people still stuck in the dialup days run software updates? Most of them probably don't know their computer account's password.

    I ran into one of those just yesterday. Has a five year old computer and has never ran updates. Went to do so and he had no idea his account had a password on it. So now we get to fight that later.

  5. Re:I did a bit of a war on spam... on What Happens When You Reply To ALL of Your Spam · · Score: 1

    I'd like to see an experiment to get some solid numbers (like this project did) as to the extent of the effect of replying to unsubscribe links. Yes we all know it's going to make matters worse, but I want to know how much worse, and if there are any honest unsubscribe links still left.

  6. Re:Dishwasher? on Review of Das Keyboard · · Score: 1

    we get a kick out of users that read that dangerous bit of advice. Yes it works for a few keyboards, but not most.

    My favorite is when someone brings in one of the fairly new apple keyboards, not the newest silver ones, the ones just before that with the clear acrylic base. Have to stifle a laugh when you can see water swishing back and forth in the bottom of the keyboard as they hand it to you. Those keyboards are good for holding about 1/4 cup of water, AFTER you've tried shaking it a bit.

    Don't do that. Not unless you know the keyboard can take it. Most can't. Water and electronics are never a good bet. Most electronics have exposed metals which will start to corrode, and when you apply power, the corrosion grows incredibly rapidly. Any of the "membrane key" keyboards (almost all laptops) are either it worked or it didn't, depending on if water got under the membranes. If not, you're fine. If it did, you CANNOT dry it out short of completely tearing it apart. A lot of the newer keyboards are membrane also.

  7. Re:The old IBM 101 Keyboard on Review of Das Keyboard · · Score: 1

    The only design I've ever seen where the action of pressing they moves a divider out of the way so the contacts naturally come together, rather than forcing them to come together. Brilliant idea. (so if you remove a key cap, it repeats that key as though it was being held down)

    The model-M standard keyboards also have dual leaf contacts under them. EXTREMELY reliable. Not just one contact, TWO. Rare time and again I hit a key on this keyboard and it doesn't "fire". Never seen a model-m miss a beat.

  8. Re:Short answer: no on Fresh Air For Windows? · · Score: 2, Funny

    At least the windows API has been stable for a LONG time.

    so has Latin

  9. Re:Employers look! on Your Online Profile Actually Tells a Lot About You · · Score: 1

    and that's secure, like that 17gb torrent that was floating around recently with all the "friends only" pictures they collected from everyone's profiles.

  10. Re:Short answer: no on Fresh Air For Windows? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple's policy is to provide approximately 100% transparent support ONE version back. They did an incredible job with classic (supporting OS 9 in OS X) and an even better job in the transition with rosetta. (supporting ppc on intel)

    While it was fairly obvious you were running an OS 9 app in classic, almost no one notices a rosetta app running on an intel. Now notice, intels do NOT support classic. That's their "one hop" rule at work. And you can bet their next big one will drop support for powerpc.

    So this can be done, but it's hard to get right. But when you get it right, nobody notices. And that's a good thing.

    This is a bit like Windows. The problem they've had is that there's a lot more transition from dos to 95 to 98 to 2000 to xp to vista. None of those was entirely pleasant, and none of them were very transparent. Only half of them provided major new features, but all of them clung to numerous existing problems. So in the same timeframe, Apple has made just two massive leaps, with less "transition shock" in their two bumps that windows has seen in their five. The interim transitions (os 8 to os 9, 10.1 all the way to 10.5 really) were almost completely transparent.

    They've got a lesson to learn here. XP probably would have been a good time to do a "major bump" such as mac did with 9 to X, but they dropped the ball. They chose to break less, but to fix less as a consequence. Eventually they have to bite the bullet and fix as many of the underlying design problems as they possibly can in one fell swoop. It's going to break stuff. Maybe a lot of stuff. But if they could provide something like Apple did with classic support for OS 9, it wouldn't be so bad. Apple proved that it's not necessary to just totally break all your old software if you can provide decent emulated support for your previous OS inside the new one, invisibly.

    Sadly I don't see this happening with Windows anytime soon. Microsoft has never had a knack for making those internal transparent emulators like classic and rosetta. Unless they can get something like this together, it's either going to continue to be a wreck, or it's going to be a disastrous pill to swallow. Continuing to try to make these "baby step" fixes is going to drive the world crazy.

  11. Re:Everyone should have an old touch tone phone on 40 Years After Carterphone Ended AT&T Equipment Monopoly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's where I put all the UPS's that people give me that don't work anymore, after I go to rat shack and drop $20 on a new battery for them.

    Most of the equipment in my house has a UPS. My phone, my answering machine, my stereo (keeps the channel presets), my WAP in the attic, etc. Gave one to my neighbor recently, her main phone is a cordless and wasn't working during a recent blackout.

  12. Re:Cracking at its best on Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras · · Score: 1

    sounds like a good way to give yourself a bladder infection.

    If you're going to go to all that trouble, there are little kits you can buy off the grey market that you empty a few drops from the kit vial into the cup before handing it over, and it fools the test.

    Also the catheter idea sounds like it would take a long time unless you got good at it. Doesn't usually take 10 minutes to top off a dixie cup.

  13. Re:Cracking at its best on Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras · · Score: 1

    unless you stuff the container in some orifice so its completely contained within your body, good luck with that. Popular option, doesn't work. Stuffing it between your legs or under your armpit for example, holds it at best 85 degrees.

    You're better off with a hand warmer.

  14. Re:Age-controlled vending machines have a place on Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras · · Score: 4, Insightful

    addiction and logic do not work in tandem. addiction is the defeat of logic, therefore you cannot use logic to describe the actions of the addicted.

    Try talking to someone with an addiction. Be it alcohol, nicotine, or crack. Try reasoning with them. Odds are they will agree with you but won't change their behavior.

  15. Re:because I want pain on The Interactive Linux Kernel Map · · Score: 1

    Windows would be nearly impossible to "poke around in" and come up with a map like this.

    but can't we just ask any good windows virus/rootkit developer?

    that and there's got to be a few people "in the wild" that were former coders on OS X or Windows that have this level of working knowledge they could share with the masses.

  16. Re:Jailbait detector? on Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras · · Score: 1

    it visually is looking for people that are clearly in their 30s+. Just like the people at the quick-e-mart, if you are borderline, you have to show your ID. These machines simply ask for your ID if they cannot verify your age as being safely old enough.

  17. Re:Cracking at its best on Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras · · Score: 4, Informative

    more likely temperature. When taking a urine sample for example, one of the things the tester does immediately is check the temperature of the sample. This helps prevent people from bringing in a medicine bottle etc with a 'clean' sample to drop in the cup. if it measures much below 95 deg, they will know you brought it in.

    Reminds me of something I read awhile back, guy tried this stunt and didn't get caught until later. "Mr Doe you'll be happy to know you passed your drug test. The doctors also felt they should inform you that you are approximately two months pregnant." oops...

    So expect thermal (I.R.) sensors. Most digital cameras (CCDs) are highly IR sensitive anyway if you remove their IR filter, so this has to be a really easy mod for them to make. Won't be terribly easy to fool. A bit like those thermometers used to measure high temperatures of materials. They usually have a red laser light dot shine on the target, but that's purely for aiming. It shows where the IR sensor in the test unit is focused on. They can do this same thing with the face presented to measure the surface temp of the image. (without needing the red laser dot since the target is being presented in a known location)

  18. Re:Yes it would, and yes they do... on Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras · · Score: 1

    with a url like "pink tentacle" loading a japanese web site, I was not expecting to see cigarettes.

  19. Re:Age-controlled vending machines have a place on Magazine Photos Fool Age-verification Cameras · · Score: 4, Insightful

    According to the article, if you fail the visual check you have to insert your license. My question would be why don't they just always require the license? If you're old enough to smoke you should have a license. No idea how it works over there but I thought you could get a "non driving" driver's license here in the states to use as an ID.

    I suppose this also says something about how many people there smoke, if they have to have cigarette vending machines around every corner. Here there are no such things anymore and I don't see anyone rioting over it. One would think the only reason they have those vending machines right now is to sell to underage smokers. Which is probably why the whole issue is under attack in the first place.

    Anyone have any stats on what effect the age verification systems are having on cigarette sales from machines? I wouldn't be surprised to see sales drop 80%. For the sheer convenience and that most smokers are 1 or 2 pack a day addiction, you'd think most reasonable smokers would be buying cartains, not singles. Prices in the machines tend to be higher than by the cartain too,

  20. by the numbers on The Future Has a Kill Switch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Who has the authority to limit functionality of my devices, and how do they get that authority?

    The laws will be written in a way that appears to limit their application, but the reality will be that loopholes will be woven into the rules, or that people like the CIA just plain don't care about laws and will do whatever they please. There will be no accountability. If someone does get their balls in a vice someone higher up will swoop in and "grant them immunity". (where have we heard that recently?)

    What prevents them from abusing that power?

    Given the above legal scene, nothing. That which can be abused, will be abused. We've been down that road so many times my shoes wore out. We're always promised that it's ok to make the laws a little overly broad just to "make sure we get them all", and then as a result the laws are always abused. It's not can be, it's not might be, it's will be. "Can be abused" always ends up "was abused". Unless you write the law without the wiggle room, it will be abused, guaranteed. End of story.

    History tends to show that loopholes that crop up in new laws were introduced by those who made the law, for those that made the law. Things like congress passing telemarketing rules, that they are conveniently exempt from. (where was the justification? they didn't even bother trying to justify it) People that are already in a position of power just assume the laws don't (or shouldn't) apply to them. Nixon was a hilarious example. He was totally convinced it was OK for the president to ignore the laws. He just didn't get around to making himself legally exempt from them in time. Modern equivalents exist, they just learned from his experience and make sure they have an "out" and then proceed in the same manner.

    Do I get the ability to override their limitations? In what circumstances, and how?

    Just like CSS, you can override their limits, but then they'll make it illegal to do so.

    Can they override my override?

    No (what they tell you) Yes. (the actual practice)

    We recently discussed the Pentagon's interest in kill switches for airplanes. At what point does centralizing and/or delegating operational authority over so much of our lives become a dangerous practice of its own?

    Take a look where we are now. Wouldn't you say we passed that point looong ago?

  21. because I want pain on The Interactive Linux Kernel Map · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Someone has to ask it, and I have to admit I'm more curious about it than this. I want to see something similar to this for Windows or OS X, to compare with. Not down to the code level. (I did go trolling around in the code reading some comments, interesting stuff) but at least to see the difference in how things are laid out by comparison.

    Surely there are a few that have poked around in those two systems enough to give us a rough fleshing out of the internal structure?

  22. Re:What a farce on The Interactive Linux Kernel Map · · Score: 1

    All I get from it is more of a basic feeling on the structure. How things fir together. Although it's interesting to see it's a fully populated grid. Usually things don't evolve over time to reach such symmetry and consistency.

  23. Re:Why even get out the ladder? on IRobot Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot Review · · Score: 1

    I look at that picture and that is sooo unrealistic. Clean gutter, user standing directly below, with dry clothes and groomed hair.

    That's just NOT going to happen. For most gutters that need cleaning, you can use that, but you'd better go out there with a cap and raincoat.

    I go after mine with a hose, but I have several problems. First, I have a mesh over the top of my gutter to keep the umpteen leaves from my large bertch out of it, and it still collects an amazing amount of seeds and grit from my shingles. The west side of my house is unfortunately higher than the east, and it's a bit wobbly on the ladder at that height on that end of the house, front and back.

    So I wouldn't mind a better solution, but I don't think that's the complete answer. I try to not get too wet cleaning the gutters, but it's almost unavoidable with a hose. I can't imagine waving a wand with a nozzle that points in MY direction is going to improve on that.

    Fortunately both downspouts are on the tall end, so I work my way from the other side, and use the jet to push the crud down toward the spout. But it's almost inevitable that I will have to go to the end to remove the large wad of decaying leaves/seeds etc that are now plugging the opening to the downspout.

  24. Re:My story... on What Happened To Palm? · · Score: 1

    Looks like you've discovered (painfully) the truth about Palm.

    Products are usually good, customer service is NONEXISTENT. Buy one, and then pray it never breaks.

  25. customer service? on What Happened To Palm? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What happened is they started with a good product and nonexistent customer support, and they just rested on their laurels instead of building their customer loyalty through good service. Now better products have come out, and products with actual customer service have entred the market. What happens after that is only natural.

    If you have a problem with your palm pilot, your only hope is to find a forum where some other unfortunate soul has ran into the same thing and managed to figure out how to fix it, and was generous enough to share their experience. Either that or you'll find 35 threads of others having the same issue and nobody has figured out how to fix it.

    Yes I own a palm pilot. Right now my screen refuses to re-calibrate the stylus (no it's not a "screen wedgie") so I have to press 1/8" below wherever I want to click, and there's evidently no way to fix it short of replacing it. Lucky me.