Ugh... I'm definitely with Toshiba as a (mostly) educated consumer on this one. Cartridges? No thanks. More mechanical parts to break down, and as long as you handle your DVDs / CDs carefully (hell, not all that carefully... the things are practically indestructible with the ECC they've got...) then they last forever anyway.
More compression (even with MPEG-4, which BTW was designed for low-bandwidth applications, certainly not HD streams) equals more compression artifacts, which I do not want on my dearly-bought HDTV. If blue lasers are around, why not upgrade the lasers? Either way, current DVD players won't be able to play them, and the blue lasers will still be backwards-compatible with the current DVD and CD laser standards.
Finally, Toshiba's idea keeps the same physical format, which IMO is very important - it lets a billion storage cases out there be kept, and lets HD-DVD / DVD / CD changers be built easily.
The music industry, on the other hand, is a different matter - all the greed with none of the brains. I expect Hilary Rosen's RIAA to go hook line and sinker for Microsoft's promises. If they had two synapses to rub together they would have seen the power of Napster and turned it to their own advantage, but now, they'll be completely dependent on Microsoft for delivery, and that's going to cost them plenty.
First of all, who writes a serious article like this with that kind of language. "Two synapses to rub together"... excuse me? That might be good for Slashdot-type casual discussion but if you want your article to be taken seriously by small business owners you can't be talking like that.
Also, seen what power of Napster? The power to download music for free? Because let me assure you, that if they had 'leveraged the power of Napster' by charging some sort of money to get songs through it, that would have killed Napster just as effectively as suing the company did. Overall, this guy seems more like an angry geek with a vendetta than a serious business analyst.
It's because it costs a _lot_ to make those data, and only a few people will ever pay for it, and for those people, it's _very_ useful. It's the same kind of idea as why AutoCAD or AIDS drugs cost an arm and a leg for what doesn't cost much to actually 'produce'. If it was your job to know this kind of thing (say, sysadmin of a very large network), you'd pay it. Or rather, the company would.
What will be interesting will be to see if he actually does make money off his book. All the fabulous word-of-mouth in the world is no good to him if nobody actually buys it.
He does mention in the article, though, that it's first-time authors that lack reputation: maybe this is an indication that he's doing this for his first book to build reputation and then he will be getting a 'traditional' book contract for future books? Either way I support him. More work in the commons is always a good thing.
Because paying things like $40 (American that is... try like $60 up here in Canada) for a stinking ink cartridge is the most fair thing in the world. As long as there the third-party companies are not using the original companies name on their ink-cartridge, I don't see how they're breaking the law. Ford and GM have all the rights in the world to sell high-priced replacement parts, but people are perfectly free to use cheap Taiwanese replacements. The Big Three combat this using a thing called Marketing.
If the genuine Lexmark ink cartridges are that good, then they shouldn't have a problem convincing people to buy genuine ones. Oh wait... the ink cartridges are only expensive because of an artificial monopoly on replacement parts? Not because they're actually that good? Yeah, that's what I thought.
...manipulates a preprogrammed "little seed" of music and helps it "grow" by the way he or she shapes it... I just love this description. It's like the market-speak people have infiltrated already...:D
This well end up in techno / rave music, I just know it:) DJs can't resist anything technological that makes new sounds... On the other hand, that works out good for me, since I have no musical talent and love techno music...
I read somewhere (and I think it's a great idea) that all good security should have three things: something you have (in this case, your ATM card), something you know (in this case, your password), and something you are. This iris recognition completes the triangle. With all three of those systems in place (you need a card, password, and you have to be the right person) it gets quite hard to get at someone's money unlawfully through an ATM. Assuming (and yes, this is a HUGE assumption) that the database is kept securely, then this is good news.
We have universities actually giving out things like ShareScan (e.g. university of Toronto). At McMaster they give out ResX, a KaZaA clone that works within the university only (to only take down the LAN, not the pipe to the net at least:D ). In fact of most of the universities I've visited (I'm in grade 13 getting ready to go next year) the universities have been basically anti-file-sharing in press releases but in reality very much pro-file-sharing. Whatever keeps the students happy I guess.
...never be able to get rid of every vulnerability. Anyone who says the opposite is not living on this planet...
So NetBSD, Apache, ErOS users are all... in space? Someone call NASA, I think we have a Mars program...!
Re:Don't throw out your CRT
on
Thin, Flat LEDs
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· Score: 5, Interesting
So I was thinking, why would an AC post such an insightful comment, and yet so oddly out of place? (The discussion wasn't about airplane CRTs specifically...
Oh. He stole it from here.. Give credit next time, dude.
The songs you download will probably be in an encrypted format that CD-burning programs can't read. Of course this won't stop that encrypted format from being broken quite quickly, but still... it requires the resources of those crazy Russian hackers about 30 seconds to break this kind of stuff, but only when they want to. What's the point of breaking AOL's encryption when all the music is already on KaZaA? Breaking this encryption would obviously be illegal (sous DMCA), but that wouldn't stop anyone.
Anyway this is al speculation. That is what has happened in the past with other subscription services, though. You get the files as a.AOM (American Online music) file or something that is encrypted.
You can be sure that they're not actually doing anything with it. What I mean is, me and the other 20,000,000 people with a pirated copy of Microsoft Office don't have a whole lot to be afraid of. If Microsoft starts using the information to go after these people then they'd have to admit how they got the information in the first place, which would expose this to the whole world (as opposed to just the audience on Slashdot and that German site...).
Actually, this has been the case for a long time.. there are just too many people interested in tech out there that aren't interested _enough_ to run Linux. Including me:) (of course, I'm at work right now, on a scrounged celeron running win98, but even at home I use winXP)
And you know what? I'm happy with that. I think it's good if Linux beats Microsoft because Microsoft sucks. But if Microsoft changes so they don't suck anymore, then what does it matter if they win, to me, the average user? (well, more than 'average' user, but you get the idea). What I mean is, as Linux gets better, so does Windows. So the proportion of people on/. using windows will probably stay the same.
Actually, there is one feature that justifies office XP for me... the actually-good document recovery. Although with the increased stability of windows XP (i'm serious! Way more than 9x, anyway...) it doesn't crash as much, the document recovery in Office XP simply kicks ass. It's almost AutoCAD-good now.
In addition, though it's not enough to justify upgrading every time (maybe every two or three versions...) the Office package is getting more and more tightly integrated. It used to be clear that Excel and Word were led by different teams. Now they have been grouped together as Office for long enough that it finally _feels_ like one package. They have extremely consistent UI, features, menu selections, etc.
Partly true, but police don't generally launch 'attacks' or 'raids' on college kids with a gram and a half in their room. They do it for dealers, you know, people with lots of drugs to sell to other people. The Berman bill would be like allowing police to enter every dorm room and not be liable for damages simply because they thought there might be some weed in there.
Of course, dorm-wide searches with dogs are done (are they? I assume they are... I mean they're done in high schools...), which I guess is like what the MPAA is planning to do, but on the other hand, the MPAA / RIAA are not police. That is what we have to remember. Despite any shortcomings of the police, they are still public defenders, whereas the MPAA / RIAA are defending one thing only: the profits of their member companies. As such, they work for different masters and would be a lot less likely to be careful with your computer.
Well, actually, they do have to stay in a large city. Salon is known for being on the 'trendy' liberal view of things (regardless of whether you find that view intolerable:) ), so it's hard for them to stay up on top of the latest in lifestyles and trends from Cow's Neck, Iowa, or something like that.
I thought about doing that, but then I thought this:
You know what? Do I want a new car now, or when I'm 45? Do I want to be able to live it up now, or when I'm middle aged and everybody will just think I'm going through some sort of 'mid-life crisis' or something? I'd rather spend now, save prudently (not outrageously), and then make a million dollars some other way:).
Possibly they're not actually in the file, but in the office package. I'm not sure how it works but it would be elegant (well, slightly elegant... not that any DRM is really that elegant) to just have the controls in the program but just modify the actual file properties in the file system? Of course this assumes that people are using an NT-based Windows, as 9x doesn't support permissions... (neither does XP-Home if I recall)
Seriously... read this short story... it has to do with the heat-death of the universe and is a fabulous read. It blew my mind the first time I read it.
Oh yes, at our school board (Halton School Board in Ontario) we use software called Deep Freeze. Which worked great (people would download and install MSN, mIRC, Quake II, etc. and it would disappear next time the computer was turned on) until some of the computer-oriented kids used a miniscule (literally, asking a teacher that didn't know much about the system) to get the Deep Freeze password.
We then had every computer in the school getting installed with many games and chat programs every time the computer got turned on. Not only that, the password was changed so the teachers couldn't change it back.
My point is this: perfect physical security is nothing without dedication by the humans that have to use it.
I helped found the BSA. And let me tell you, it is a necessary organization. Hard-working coders at companies like Microsoft, and, uh, Oracle are literally starving on the streets because people are not coughing up the measly $12,000 for a single-seat license of Office XP. And, uh, uh...
SCREW THIS. So much for 'taking the opposing point of view'. You know why the BSA exists? Because executives at giant software companies had a dream. And that dream was to have six supermodels wrestling nightly in Cristal champagne. And 0-day warez is THREATENING THAT DREAM! Think about it! Do you want to kill that dream? SUPPORT THE BSA!
For more indications of how liability issues are killing scientific exploration in young people, read Uncle Tungsten. As many Slashdotters can probably attest to (it was recently reviewed on here) - it's a fabulous book.
This post IS on topic ! It has to do with how people can't get chemicals because of dangers they might cause.
Slashdot Mirror
More compression (even with MPEG-4, which BTW was designed for low-bandwidth applications, certainly not HD streams) equals more compression artifacts, which I do not want on my dearly-bought HDTV. If blue lasers are around, why not upgrade the lasers? Either way, current DVD players won't be able to play them, and the blue lasers will still be backwards-compatible with the current DVD and CD laser standards.
Finally, Toshiba's idea keeps the same physical format, which IMO is very important - it lets a billion storage cases out there be kept, and lets HD-DVD / DVD / CD changers be built easily.
First of all, who writes a serious article like this with that kind of language. "Two synapses to rub together"... excuse me? That might be good for Slashdot-type casual discussion but if you want your article to be taken seriously by small business owners you can't be talking like that.
Also, seen what power of Napster? The power to download music for free? Because let me assure you, that if they had 'leveraged the power of Napster' by charging some sort of money to get songs through it, that would have killed Napster just as effectively as suing the company did. Overall, this guy seems more like an angry geek with a vendetta than a serious business analyst.
A use for 64-bit computing? Larger RAM spaces? I just picked up 256 MB of RAM for $59 Canadian... the stuff isn't exactly expensive right now...
So I guess these devices, like most living things, would be attracted to this then... :)
It's because it costs a _lot_ to make those data, and only a few people will ever pay for it, and for those people, it's _very_ useful. It's the same kind of idea as why AutoCAD or AIDS drugs cost an arm and a leg for what doesn't cost much to actually 'produce'. If it was your job to know this kind of thing (say, sysadmin of a very large network), you'd pay it. Or rather, the company would.
He does mention in the article, though, that it's first-time authors that lack reputation: maybe this is an indication that he's doing this for his first book to build reputation and then he will be getting a 'traditional' book contract for future books? Either way I support him. More work in the commons is always a good thing.
If the genuine Lexmark ink cartridges are that good, then they shouldn't have a problem convincing people to buy genuine ones. Oh wait... the ink cartridges are only expensive because of an artificial monopoly on replacement parts? Not because they're actually that good? Yeah, that's what I thought.
This well end up in techno / rave music, I just know it :) DJs can't resist anything technological that makes new sounds... On the other hand, that works out good for me, since I have no musical talent and love techno music...
I read somewhere (and I think it's a great idea) that all good security should have three things: something you have (in this case, your ATM card), something you know (in this case, your password), and something you are. This iris recognition completes the triangle. With all three of those systems in place (you need a card, password, and you have to be the right person) it gets quite hard to get at someone's money unlawfully through an ATM. Assuming (and yes, this is a HUGE assumption) that the database is kept securely, then this is good news.
We have universities actually giving out things like ShareScan (e.g. university of Toronto). At McMaster they give out ResX, a KaZaA clone that works within the university only (to only take down the LAN, not the pipe to the net at least :D ). In fact of most of the universities I've visited (I'm in grade 13 getting ready to go next year) the universities have been basically anti-file-sharing in press releases but in reality very much pro-file-sharing. Whatever keeps the students happy I guess.
Kind of like, you can't fight us. This belongs to us now. Don't even try to oppose us... Of course, that's the point of doing it, isn't it :S ...
So NetBSD, Apache, ErOS users are all... in space? Someone call NASA, I think we have a Mars program...!
Oh. He stole it from here.. Give credit next time, dude.
Anyway this is al speculation. That is what has happened in the past with other subscription services, though. You get the files as a .AOM (American Online music) file or something that is encrypted.
You can be sure that they're not actually doing anything with it. What I mean is, me and the other 20,000,000 people with a pirated copy of Microsoft Office don't have a whole lot to be afraid of. If Microsoft starts using the information to go after these people then they'd have to admit how they got the information in the first place, which would expose this to the whole world (as opposed to just the audience on Slashdot and that German site...).
And you know what? I'm happy with that. I think it's good if Linux beats Microsoft because Microsoft sucks. But if Microsoft changes so they don't suck anymore, then what does it matter if they win, to me, the average user? (well, more than 'average' user, but you get the idea). What I mean is, as Linux gets better, so does Windows. So the proportion of people on /. using windows will probably stay the same.
In addition, though it's not enough to justify upgrading every time (maybe every two or three versions...) the Office package is getting more and more tightly integrated. It used to be clear that Excel and Word were led by different teams. Now they have been grouped together as Office for long enough that it finally _feels_ like one package. They have extremely consistent UI, features, menu selections, etc.
Of course, dorm-wide searches with dogs are done (are they? I assume they are... I mean they're done in high schools...), which I guess is like what the MPAA is planning to do, but on the other hand, the MPAA / RIAA are not police. That is what we have to remember. Despite any shortcomings of the police, they are still public defenders, whereas the MPAA / RIAA are defending one thing only: the profits of their member companies. As such, they work for different masters and would be a lot less likely to be careful with your computer.
Well, actually, they do have to stay in a large city. Salon is known for being on the 'trendy' liberal view of things (regardless of whether you find that view intolerable :) ), so it's hard for them to stay up on top of the latest in lifestyles and trends from Cow's Neck, Iowa, or something like that.
You know what? Do I want a new car now, or when I'm 45? Do I want to be able to live it up now, or when I'm middle aged and everybody will just think I'm going through some sort of 'mid-life crisis' or something? I'd rather spend now, save prudently (not outrageously), and then make a million dollars some other way :).
Possibly they're not actually in the file, but in the office package. I'm not sure how it works but it would be elegant (well, slightly elegant... not that any DRM is really that elegant) to just have the controls in the program but just modify the actual file properties in the file system? Of course this assumes that people are using an NT-based Windows, as 9x doesn't support permissions... (neither does XP-Home if I recall)
Isaac Asimov, The Last Question
We then had every computer in the school getting installed with many games and chat programs every time the computer got turned on. Not only that, the password was changed so the teachers couldn't change it back.
My point is this: perfect physical security is nothing without dedication by the humans that have to use it.
SCREW THIS. So much for 'taking the opposing point of view'. You know why the BSA exists? Because executives at giant software companies had a dream. And that dream was to have six supermodels wrestling nightly in Cristal champagne. And 0-day warez is THREATENING THAT DREAM! Think about it! Do you want to kill that dream? SUPPORT THE BSA!
This post IS on topic ! It has to do with how people can't get chemicals because of dangers they might cause.