Some people on IRC or in online games like to hold down the shift key and ram out a bunch of exclamation points to follow their text from time to time. Sometimes, they let go of the shift key a bit early, resulting in a few '1's instead of '!'s.
Then people started to do this on purpose. Then some people took to typing out 'one' to show that it is intentional.
I don't get it either:) Guess you have to be l33t to appreciate it.
patent rights to the process of identifying files on a peer-to-peer network using a "hash," or digital fingerprint based on the contents of the file.
Does anyone know the details of this patent. It seems to me that there's plenty of prior art for the idea of identifying files by a hash or fingerprint. However, this company may have bought and used a patent for a specific way to accomplish this; and the RIAA are using the same, patented method in order to spoof files.
Seems like a key question to me before we decide who we should hate more in this case.
Suddenly, somebody from France extradites you for attempting to sell "military munitions to civil personnel". But wait a minute... it's not illegal to own that in the US! But, it is/was being sold to people IN FRANCE!
Most extradition treaties work like this: you can only be extradited for things that are illegal in both countries. My country's treaty with the US has some additional provisions, such as exclusion of stuff that is punished much harder in the US, and exemption of criminals who are likely to face the death penalty in the US. These treaties work like this for the situation you brought up.
Unless I miss my guess, warezing (sp) is a crime in Australia as well, and this guy can be extradited.
Not being widely covered is not really the same thing as being censored.
Exactly. A good example is the whole software patent thing in Europe, and more specifically the Netherlands. We've had everything from lobbyists and manipulations to ministers lieing to parliament, but.... it wasn't about healthcare, immigrants or terrorist blowing stuff up, so the media weren't interested.
It's only a matter of time before ThinkGeek starts selling pool floats made from orbital re-entry material.
Used orbital re-entry material, I should hope. That will earn you some extra bragging rights... "Yup, yup, that thing you're floating around on has actually been in outer space!".
it's annoying enough that people talk loudly on their cell phones in resaurants etc.. can you imagine a flight with 200 people all talking on cell phones?
Already happening, at least for a short while. I noticed that the first thing people do when the 'fasten seatbelt' sign goes of after a landing, is to switch their cell phones back on. Then it's 'beep beep' for 5 minutes as the voice mail announcements trickle in over SMS, and about 15 other people just have to have their all-important phone call right then: "Yeah, No, I am still on the plane.... ON THE PLANE... yes we just landed.... I'll be through Customs in 30 minutes... Let's meet up at the taxi stand.... THE TAXI STAND, the one at the main entrance... Oh, let's have dinner this evening... know any good places around here.... By the way, how is mom?"
I really don't need that during the entire flight. Just keep the in-flight phone, and keep it like it is now, near the toilets instead of in every seat.
they will have to have cell phone sections on the plane. cell phones will be this generations cigarettes.
In public places like cinemas, trains, bars, restaurants and airplanes, I actually prefer cigarettes over cell phones... and I don't smoke.
BUT.... How can the monopolies commission come down like a ton of bricks on Microsoft for locking people into a technology, when the only way you can legally download music for the iPod is through iTunes?
There's no law against having a monopoly... the Monopoly Watchdogs come down on you for abusing your monopoly.
Apple's policies are meant to lock you into their technology and service, but you are free to choose any of the many alternatives to the iPod. Perhaps they are hoping to create a monopoly, by making the iPod the nr 1. choice... it'll have to do so on its own merits against the competition.
Microsoft on the other hand uses an existing monopoly in the Operating System market, to push other technology down your throat and locking out competitors (as well as use strongarm tactics on vendors). That's why they are in trouble with the watchdogs.
isn't the fact that the cop asks him to move on a bit worrying?
No, it seems like fairly standard behaviour. The cop probably thought that the guy had quickly switched off the WiFi card, and suspected that it would be turned back on as soon as he left. So the cop asks the guy to leave.
It's the same if a cop thinks you're defacing property or if you're up to other shenanigans, but he hasn't actually see you break the law so he cannot take you in or fine you. If he suspects you'll do something bad when he leaves, he will kindly ask you to move along. Happened to me a few times (don't ask).
But if it's purpose is that lazy kind of home desktop, it should have TV
This design just cries out for a touchscreen, so that you can control simple functions without having to use the keyboard or mouse.
This computer, at least the display, looks pretty enough for me to consider placing it in the living room. I don't know about a TV tuner, but if I had a computer in the living room, I would definitely want to use it as a home entertainment system, to play MP3s, DVDs etc. And in that case, I want a way to control the computer without an ungainly keyboard and annoying mouse in plain view. (Yes, nice as the Mac keyboards are, I still don't want to have one on the desk all day).
Nothing to worry! When one P2P goes down, there'll always be another. People get busted for drugs all the time, and yet I am always well supplied with pot. Thats the way the black market works:D
Wouldn't you rather see P2P stay legal? You will probably be able to continue to use P2P when it's outlawed, but you won't be so happy when the police come a'knocking to seize your beloved computers.
Same with pot, by the way. You probably would not enjoy being caught with some. In contrast, over here pot is legal, and I can walk into a store not 3 minutes from my house to buy some.
The RIAA however, may still realize the truth themselves,
irregardless of what they put in their press releases. And more to the point, so may the labels that comprise it.
Ohh, you said the "i"-word! You are hereby banished to PHB hell.
Seriously, it's either "irrespective", or "regardless", but not both.
Because mobiles have traditionally had very limited software capabilities, they have been able to charge outrageous sums for mobile services. Instead of browsing the web you'll be browsing some specialized service with content created specifically for mobiles.
Do you mean WAP? I agree it is somewhat limited, mainly because of the limited memory, keyboard and displays of mobile phones. IIRC, WAP is actually just toned-down HTML with some extra protocols. But anyone can create content, and my provider (Orange) at least do not limit access to these. A number of newspapers have WAP pages alongside their regular ones, and services like Google and Yahoo are available on WAP as well. Most of the premium stuff like traffic info and route finders offered by providers, can be had for free elsewhere. The best thing is that I pay only a few Euros a month for data access, but all my WAP browsing is free!
The one service that I still find greatly overpriced is direct (non-WAP) data transfer. On GPRS, usage is charged by the MB since the connection is always-on. Typical fees here range from 1,5 Euro/MB (Telfort), 3 Euro/MB (Orange) to an unbelievable 7,5 Euro/MB (KPN).
My question is: how on earth can the hope to sell these shiny new broadband 3G phones, if we are to download all that "exiting new music and movie content" to the tune of 7,5 Euro/MB? Perhaps you are right again... since these days my phone/PDA can browse proper WWW pages after a fashion, they'll charge me an arm and a leg just to encourage me to stay on WAP.
why should the government step in now unless it's to set a precedent of some sort?
It appears that the French courts recognise the right to make copies for personal use as a right, i.e. something that you are entitled to, rather than something that is allowed on sufferance. Most other countries allow you to make personal copies, but if DRM, Macrovision or whatever gets in the way, it's touch luck.
The motivation for this ruling is that this particular DRM interfered with the right to copy, and as such is was ruled illegal. This wasn't just about problems playing CDs in cars or on computers.
I know a few people with the older Citroen models (DS and CX)... these cars just glide across the road. There's other advantages too. For one, the cars simply ignore speed bumps. The best part: these cars sink low to the ground when you park them. Looks horrible, much like a car with crapped-out suspension. However, the cops will not be able to wheelclamp the car! (at least this is true on the DX model).
you'd be talking along and then all of a sudden your ear would be sore and you had just thrown the phone across the room and you weren't quite sure why.
That happens sometimes when I'm talking to certain clients on the phone. Funny thing is; I never hear any loud sounds from the phone when it happens.
More women are enrolled in law schools, journalism schools, and soon, they will exceed men in all professional schools, with the exception the dreary schools of engineering and business
Hmm, so now law and journalism are the thing to go for, whereas business and engineering are suddenly 'dreary'? Never mind the fact that graduates of business and engineering schools are often top wage earners as well.
Women are fast catching up in many of the professions with better wages, but that doesn't mean that they'll overtake men in these areas. Saying that they will "at this rate" (i.e. extrapolating today's trend into the future) doesn't mean anything.
Personally I don't see any reason why women should or will greatly outnumber men in any line of work (bar a few exceptions). From what I have seen, I'd say that, on average, women perform as well as men at any job.
Evolution is leaving men behind.
This statement implies that women have evolved, and have gained helpful abilities which men are lacking. Is there any proof or even indication that women have changed for the better where men have not? A changing statistical trend of a few decades is hardly proof to back up such a statement.
Will it ever be possible to target the makers of Kazaa and Morpheus, without the supposedly unintended consequences that everyone worries about?
I should hope not!
First of all, Kazaa and Morpheus have legal uses as well as the more common illegal ones. One such use is for transferring files that are too large for email attachments or reliable transfer by MSN or similar. I've used this myself; I had people send me files by sharing them on Kazaa.
Second, going after the authors of this software is wrong. How would you feel if a piece of software you wrote (a DVD copier program perhaps) for strictly legal reasons, found its way into the hands of people who use it mainly for illegal purposes, and you'd be subsequently sued by the RIAA/MPAA?
It is therefore my suspicion that it will be impossible to rewrite the Induce Act such that it addresses the concerns of the IEEE, CEA, EFF, and others, while still achieving its stated goal.
The ultimate goal is (or should be) to outlaw and hinder people from obtaining copies of media for which they have not paid rights. Killing P2P is (or should) not be the goal, it is the means to an end. There should be no compromise either; if the Act outlaws lawful activities along with illegal ones, then it is too broad and should not be passed. End of story.
Trying to convince people like my little sister to give up her little world of AIM for something entirely new for no real benefit would be really difficult.
I suppose a good number of people will run both clients in parallel for a while. Then, if more and more people choose Google IM and don't bother to fire up the other client anymore, others will see a shrinking list of on-line contacts on the old client and drop it as well.
It depends of course on how well Google's client will measure up:
- It better have a 'G' in front of the name... instant street cred.
- They will probably get the user interface right like they have in the past: lightweight, intuitive, attractive, instead of the bloated, confusing and fugly interface of ICQ.
- I wonder if they will allow other clients to connect... not so much to replace the Google client, but to allow people to develop clients for platforms they might not have thought of... oddball operating systems, PDA's, mobile phones, or even Perl scripts running on webservers. People have done all this with ICQ and MSN, but it is really tiring to try and keep up with ever-changing protocols and operators trying to lock you out.
- Oh and Google... please please please include off-line messaging like ICQ, instead of diverting to email. I want ONE client on which to receive messages, offine or online.
Personally, I think the world has been waiting for IM done right. Google is large and clever enough to provide enough initial momentum to their IM effort, and they have a good track record when it comes to usability.
I still can't do something primitive like use my mouse to talk to the computer.
Heh (OT, I know unless you count Star Trek related jokes under this topic...) a few years ago our mr Kok, our prime minister at the time, tried just that when confronted with a computer in public. He picked up the mouse, looked at it as if uncertain what to do with it, then spoke into it. To cover his mistake he stated: "Normally I have people to handle this [computers] for me". Pretty sad for someone who claims to have both feet planted firmly in modern day's society.
Like Asimov's robots, he started out with just 3 (albeit different) laws. But at some point they added so many insane and politically correct laws that he went berserk. "Don't walk across a ballroom with your arms swinging" and such...
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Some people on IRC or in online games like to hold down the shift key and ram out a bunch of exclamation points to follow their text from time to time. Sometimes, they let go of the shift key a bit early, resulting in a few '1's instead of '!'s.
:) Guess you have to be l33t to appreciate it.
Then people started to do this on purpose. Then some people took to typing out 'one' to show that it is intentional.
I don't get it either
Seems like a key question to me before we decide who we should hate more in this case.
Unless I miss my guess, warezing (sp) is a crime in Australia as well, and this guy can be extradited.
I really don't need that during the entire flight. Just keep the in-flight phone, and keep it like it is now, near the toilets instead of in every seat. In public places like cinemas, trains, bars, restaurants and airplanes, I actually prefer cigarettes over cell phones... and I don't smoke.
Apple's policies are meant to lock you into their technology and service, but you are free to choose any of the many alternatives to the iPod. Perhaps they are hoping to create a monopoly, by making the iPod the nr 1. choice... it'll have to do so on its own merits against the competition.
Microsoft on the other hand uses an existing monopoly in the Operating System market, to push other technology down your throat and locking out competitors (as well as use strongarm tactics on vendors). That's why they are in trouble with the watchdogs.
This comment was conceived while watching MST3K! (coincidence, or...)
It's the same if a cop thinks you're defacing property or if you're up to other shenanigans, but he hasn't actually see you break the law so he cannot take you in or fine you. If he suspects you'll do something bad when he leaves, he will kindly ask you to move along. Happened to me a few times (don't ask).
This computer, at least the display, looks pretty enough for me to consider placing it in the living room. I don't know about a TV tuner, but if I had a computer in the living room, I would definitely want to use it as a home entertainment system, to play MP3s, DVDs etc. And in that case, I want a way to control the computer without an ungainly keyboard and annoying mouse in plain view. (Yes, nice as the Mac keyboards are, I still don't want to have one on the desk all day).
Same with pot, by the way. You probably would not enjoy being caught with some. In contrast, over here pot is legal, and I can walk into a store not 3 minutes from my house to buy some.
Seriously, it's either "irrespective", or "regardless", but not both.
The one service that I still find greatly overpriced is direct (non-WAP) data transfer. On GPRS, usage is charged by the MB since the connection is always-on. Typical fees here range from 1,5 Euro/MB (Telfort), 3 Euro/MB (Orange) to an unbelievable 7,5 Euro/MB (KPN).
My question is: how on earth can the hope to sell these shiny new broadband 3G phones, if we are to download all that "exiting new music and movie content" to the tune of 7,5 Euro/MB? Perhaps you are right again... since these days my phone/PDA can browse proper WWW pages after a fashion, they'll charge me an arm and a leg just to encourage me to stay on WAP.
The motivation for this ruling is that this particular DRM interfered with the right to copy, and as such is was ruled illegal. This wasn't just about problems playing CDs in cars or on computers.
I know a few people with the older Citroen models (DS and CX)... these cars just glide across the road. There's other advantages too. For one, the cars simply ignore speed bumps. The best part: these cars sink low to the ground when you park them. Looks horrible, much like a car with crapped-out suspension. However, the cops will not be able to wheelclamp the car! (at least this is true on the DX model).
Personally I don't see any reason why women should or will greatly outnumber men in any line of work (bar a few exceptions). From what I have seen, I'd say that, on average, women perform as well as men at any job. This statement implies that women have evolved, and have gained helpful abilities which men are lacking. Is there any proof or even indication that women have changed for the better where men have not? A changing statistical trend of a few decades is hardly proof to back up such a statement.
First of all, Kazaa and Morpheus have legal uses as well as the more common illegal ones. One such use is for transferring files that are too large for email attachments or reliable transfer by MSN or similar. I've used this myself; I had people send me files by sharing them on Kazaa.
Second, going after the authors of this software is wrong. How would you feel if a piece of software you wrote (a DVD copier program perhaps) for strictly legal reasons, found its way into the hands of people who use it mainly for illegal purposes, and you'd be subsequently sued by the RIAA/MPAA?
The ultimate goal is (or should be) to outlaw and hinder people from obtaining copies of media for which they have not paid rights. Killing P2P is (or should) not be the goal, it is the means to an end. There should be no compromise either; if the Act outlaws lawful activities along with illegal ones, then it is too broad and should not be passed. End of story.
It depends of course on how well Google's client will measure up:
- It better have a 'G' in front of the name... instant street cred.
- They will probably get the user interface right like they have in the past: lightweight, intuitive, attractive, instead of the bloated, confusing and fugly interface of ICQ.
- I wonder if they will allow other clients to connect... not so much to replace the Google client, but to allow people to develop clients for platforms they might not have thought of... oddball operating systems, PDA's, mobile phones, or even Perl scripts running on webservers. People have done all this with ICQ and MSN, but it is really tiring to try and keep up with ever-changing protocols and operators trying to lock you out.
- Oh and Google... please please please include off-line messaging like ICQ, instead of diverting to email. I want ONE client on which to receive messages, offine or online.
Personally, I think the world has been waiting for IM done right. Google is large and clever enough to provide enough initial momentum to their IM effort, and they have a good track record when it comes to usability.
Like Asimov's robots, he started out with just 3 (albeit different) laws. But at some point they added so many insane and politically correct laws that he went berserk. "Don't walk across a ballroom with your arms swinging" and such...
These 10 laws are the beginning of the end.