Umm... my DSL line at home is faster than our T1 at work because at work there are over a hundred people on it surfing the net!
But seriously, I couldn't do my job if I didn't have the net. Sure I browse/. for about an hour a day, but I'm there 9 or 10 hours somedays, so what's the big deal? Also, every bigwig in my company has AIM or YahooIM installed, so do you really think they will block all that stuff? When the big guys visited our location last time, I got pulled out of a very important meeting to help one of them get connected to YahooIM.
and I love it!
They greatest thing that I liked about it was the built-in support for those Alcatel USB DSL modems. I got stuck with one of those and had trouble getting it to work in other distros. I had to tweak a little to get it to work in the Beta, but it should be all good in the final version.
Mandrake is a very good distro for the beginner and advanced user alike. I have tried several and this is definitely my favorite. This install is really great and warns you if you are installing anything that is a potential security risk. If you haven't tried it, what are you waiting for?
You might as well give up my friend... people have been pointing out the grammar errors on/. for as long as I can remember and it has never changed anything. People still don't know the difference between there (place), their (belonging to them) and they're (short for they are), your (belonging to you) and you're (short for you are) or even then (time) and than (used in a comparison, see the last line of this story.)
He said in the movie that a drug dealer approached Obi Wan and tried to sell him some Death sticks... I find it difficult to belive that George Lucas couldn't come up with a better name for a drug than DEATH STICKS! What did those annoying people at truth.com or whatever that play those anti smoking ads sponser this movie? Come on. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever read.
Open your HOSTS file (found in C:\WINDOWS for 9x or C:\WINT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC for NT\2k) and add the following line:
127.0.0.0 info.netscape.com
That will prevent any information from going to or from that server. Since it's only function appears to be to receive spy data, problem solved.
'Course to enforce that, those assholes will have to force a law through congress requiring the DESTRUCTION of old recording devices.
The US Government is not going to pass a law that prohibits anyone from using raw analog for several reasons.
1) There is no way to enforce it. (see Prohibition)
2) Any elected official who helped pass it would be voted out of office and the law repealed. (see Prohibition)
3) There are enough of us out here that are smart enough to build our own electronics, and would cannibalize what we could get our hands on and build whatever we needed. If people can't buy what they want, they will make it them selves. (see Moonshiners)
4) The technology required to accomplish this would be expensive, and no one would buy it. If no one has the equipment, no one buys music. If no one buys music, the RIAA has no money. If the RIAA has no money, they have no power and the government won't even listen to them.
Yes, there has been a lot of insanity in history. Any when it was brought about by the government, it was usually unsuccessful. If the populace brought it about, it usually continued until it ran its course, despite the government?s interference. Despite what most people think, the people of the US still have power, the power of the mighty dollar.
So (for example) you can plug your audio cable from your CD player into your PC and sample the CD. However, your PC then refuses to play the audio, because it contains a watermark identifying it as needing a keyed source to play from and it doesn't have one.
Even with this method of CP, at SOME POINT, the sound must go to the speakers. As far as I know, no speakers that exist today will refuse to play whatever analog signal is sent to them. The sound can always at this point be recorded. Even if the come up with speakers that have to have some sort of watermark to play them. I have a lot of very good speakers that don't have this technology, why would I by ones that do? OK, the new stereo equipment won't work with the old speakers? OK, even the new "copy protecting" speakers must output a sound wave. THIS can then be recorded. When the record company starts asking me to have surgery to "copy protect" my ears is when I tell them to sod off.
Well, I'm glad to see that at least one of our congressmen doesn't have his head completely up his ass. I hope he is doing this because he really cares about or rights and wants to see fair use upheld. I'm not that naive however, so it would think it is probably some sort of publicity stunt. Either way, I don't think it can hurt.
The thing that kills me it, COPY PREVENTION DOESN'T WORK! I've said before and I'll say it again, If I can listen to it, I can copy it. It's as simple as that. They only way they can stop people from copying CDs it to fix them to where they will not play in any device. Don't laugh, some of these new "Copy protected" CDs are halfway there.
If you buy a car you can drive drunk, commit vehicular homicide, drive by shootings, run red lights, or even speed! Since most people speed, rather than use these cars for legitimate uses, they should not be allowed to sell cars any longer. Please people, look at what you are saying before you go on national TV and make an ass out of yourself.
Note to Moderators: The above was SARCASM, not a TROLL.
True, but I wish the rechargeable batteries were more standardized. I know they need different sizes for different devices, but there could be SOME standardization. Most devices that use a Lithium Ion battery uses a proprietary size, shape, voltage, current, etc. This is partly because they design the battery around the device, rather than vice-versa, but more than likely is also a marketing decision, because they can charge you out the nose for their special batteries. Unfortunately, if they stop making those batteries for whatever reason, your equipment may soon become unusable. Even rechargables die eventually. I would be more likely buy products that use standard rechargeables, than a proprietary one.
This is really ironic timing considering the journal I wrote yesterday called Roll your own ad remover. Everyone take a look. I don't agree with ANY subscription based site, simply because I can't afford to pay for all the sites I frequent. I already pay $45/month for high speed internet access. That really is all I can afford to spend on something that is as much entertainment as tool. I don't blame them for doing it, and I'm glad these guys can make a living doing what they enjoy, but it seems to me that/. is doing well. This is (and I'm just speculating) corporate greed, brought about by VA Whatever's desire to increase the bottom line. I doubt Taco had much of a choice. He probably had to fight to get the subscription set up in this way. I know how corporations work, and I've been the brunt of these type desicions before. I just hope/. doesn't suffer because of a management dscision. Then again, I could be wrong, it has happened on occasion.;-)
I recently went in a CompUSA and overheard a man talking about 802.11 to employee. The employee responded, "yeah, you should get 802.11b because it runs at 54Mb/s, where 802.11a only runs at 11!" I interrupted and said, "I think you have that reversed." I had to show him the box to convince him, at which point he muttered something about it being stupid because b was "bigger" than a. I ended up answering the customers questions.
As for stealing the software, I know Wal-Mart used to disable to floppy drives to keep people from copying (and installing) software. Makes you wonder though, with a lot of these places having PC with a high speed net connection, if people aren't dumping stuff to an ftp site. Who needs and iPod?
Unfortunately, it is not only the legal system, but much of American society. For example, we don't blame the parents for kids being messed up, we blame the TV shows and video games instead. Why didn't the parents tell them not to watch those shows or play those games? We always try to blame a big company or something ethereal, not the people. Maybe it's easier that way because it doesn't hurt our feelings if a big company is mad at us.
Because nobody builds there own PCs. All geeks buy their PCs prefab. Are these guys smoking crack?
If you try to make it a hardware device, I won't buy it, or people that buy preassembled PCs will pay a geek to remove it.
If you make it software, I won't install it. If you build it into Windows, that's OK, I'll just boot into Linux. Want to include it in Linux? Fine, I have the source code and the knowledge to remove it.
So, once you've ridden it 3 blocks to your office building, you can carry an 80 bulky thing up a few flights of stairs or over to the elevator.
Considering that it can be leaned on something...
I thought it was supposed to stand up straight by itself!:-)
Sorry, I just think (like several other posters have said) these are a solution looking for a problem.
Will it go up stairs? If so, am I going to keep this massive hunk of metal in my cubicle? If not, am I going to trust a dinky bike chain to keep someone from stealing it?
I guess if these things take off, I could make a fortune selling satellite tracking segway alarm systems! Put a blinking LED and a GPS tracking chip in it and sell it for a couple hundred... Anybody want to form an LLC?
I've seen what can happen when there is no competition. Like with cable, defore digital satellite, they charged us out the nose for 50 channels. Now I have 3 times the channels for 1/2 the price.
On the other hand, my DSL provider is a baby bell, and it's the only game in town. However, our prices are actually a little lower than some places that have cable and a couple of DSL providers. They know if they jack the prices up, we won't subscribe. These baby bells have been a monopoly for a long time, and they know how to make a lot of money, without pissing us off too much. In general, though, competition is usually a big plus.
Stargate SG1 was a great series. I can't understand why everytime they get a great thing going, they try to imitate something else and end up a failed ripoff of another show's concept. Seems like everytime I find a show I like, they change it or cancel it. Meanwhile usless garbage like Crossing Over with John Edward is STILL on. I didn't buy it the first season. Who is watching that con man?
Our corporate intranet has an excite search on it, and the intranet is not accessible from the net. I doubt they would have paid $20k for it either. Does anyone else have something like this, because I was under the impression it was common to have an internal search engine?
I actually have DSL through a big telco ISP, and I love it. I have gotten great customer service, they are about $10/month cheaper than the idependant ISP's DSL offering, I have an extremely fast connection, and I can't tell a difference between peak and offpeak times. However, I DO live (almost) close enough to the switching office to spit on it. And there aren't many people on DSL in my area yet. I guess time will tell if they keep up the good work.
In my state we have a state opt-out phone list. My number is on it, and supposedly it is illegal for them to call me. I still get a few calls a week. When I tell them I am on the do not call list, sometimes they apologize and tell me they will remove me, most of the time the are from out of state and they say it doesn't apply to them, or they say, you used a service of ours and that counts as an opt-in. (yes, I know the VT law isn't about calls it's about selling info. My point is they can get around these type laws.)
My method of fighting back is to simply be an asshole. If you piss enough phone jockeys off, they remember and they don't call back until they get a new guy, and I can usually make the new ones cry. One girl called trying to get me to take a survey and they would put me in a drawing for $25,000 cash. I asked her the odds and how long the survey would take. Then I did a quick calculation out loud for her about how I would have to do so many of these to win, it would take this long, divide that by the $25 thousand, and it came out to like $2/hour. I told her I make a LOT more than that and it wasn't worth my time. She said she just didn't understand why anyone wouldn't want a free chance to win. I told her if she had done well in school and learned math, she would understand, but then she would have gotten a real job and we wouldn't be having the discussion. She cried. (Yeah, I know a lot of you are saying that was cruel and she's only trying to earn a living, but they are STEALING (taking without my permission) my time. Theives are only trying to make a living as well, but I don't give them any breaks either. There are legit ways to make a living, every McDonalds around here is looking for outgoing, friendly people.) It may have been cruel but they had called twice a week for the past 3 weeks, during dinner every night, and I had told them I was on the list and asked them not to call back. That stopped them.
Securityfocus is the definitive sight for security news. To say the numbers are "purely for entertainment" is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You only proved your ignorance later in the post when you said, "the WinInformant site is Slashdotted (they must be running Windows, haha)" when OBVIOUSLY this would have more to do with their BANDWIDTH than their OS. I know I'll get modded down for posting this, but I don't care. I hate to see people discount anything that doesn't agree with their opinions. Oh, and I run Windows NT at work, Windows2000 and Mardarke 8 at home. I love Linux, but I love MS more for some things (games, word processing, etc.)
Slashdot Mirror
But seriously, I couldn't do my job if I didn't have the net. Sure I browse /. for about an hour a day, but I'm there 9 or 10 hours somedays, so what's the big deal? Also, every bigwig in my company has AIM or YahooIM installed, so do you really think they will block all that stuff? When the big guys visited our location last time, I got pulled out of a very important meeting to help one of them get connected to YahooIM.
A general rule of thumb is, if you are too big af a baby to put you login by your comment, then you should stay out of the adult's conversations.
If you will notice... it has changed! Somebody must be reading our little thread.
Mandrake is a very good distro for the beginner and advanced user alike. I have tried several and this is definitely my favorite. This install is really great and warns you if you are installing anything that is a potential security risk. If you haven't tried it, what are you waiting for?
You might as well give up my friend... people have been pointing out the grammar errors on /. for as long as I can remember and it has never changed anything. People still don't know the difference between there (place), their (belonging to them) and they're (short for they are), your (belonging to you) and you're (short for you are) or even then (time) and than (used in a comparison, see the last line of this story.)
He said in the movie that a drug dealer approached Obi Wan and tried to sell him some Death sticks... I find it difficult to belive that George Lucas couldn't come up with a better name for a drug than DEATH STICKS! What did those annoying people at truth.com or whatever that play those anti smoking ads sponser this movie? Come on. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever read.
Open your HOSTS file (found in C:\WINDOWS for 9x or C:\WINT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC for NT\2k) and add the following line:
127.0.0.0 info.netscape.com
That will prevent any information from going to or from that server. Since it's only function appears to be to receive spy data, problem solved.
The US Government is not going to pass a law that prohibits anyone from using raw analog for several reasons.
1) There is no way to enforce it. (see Prohibition)
2) Any elected official who helped pass it would be voted out of office and the law repealed. (see Prohibition)
3) There are enough of us out here that are smart enough to build our own electronics, and would cannibalize what we could get our hands on and build whatever we needed. If people can't buy what they want, they will make it them selves. (see Moonshiners)
4) The technology required to accomplish this would be expensive, and no one would buy it. If no one has the equipment, no one buys music. If no one buys music, the RIAA has no money. If the RIAA has no money, they have no power and the government won't even listen to them.
Yes, there has been a lot of insanity in history. Any when it was brought about by the government, it was usually unsuccessful. If the populace brought it about, it usually continued until it ran its course, despite the government?s interference. Despite what most people think, the people of the US still have power, the power of the mighty dollar.
So (for example) you can plug your audio cable from your CD player into your PC and sample the CD. However, your PC then refuses to play the audio, because it contains a watermark identifying it as needing a keyed source to play from and it doesn't have one.
Even with this method of CP, at SOME POINT, the sound must go to the speakers. As far as I know, no speakers that exist today will refuse to play whatever analog signal is sent to them. The sound can always at this point be recorded. Even if the come up with speakers that have to have some sort of watermark to play them. I have a lot of very good speakers that don't have this technology, why would I by ones that do? OK, the new stereo equipment won't work with the old speakers? OK, even the new "copy protecting" speakers must output a sound wave. THIS can then be recorded. When the record company starts asking me to have surgery to "copy protect" my ears is when I tell them to sod off.
The thing that kills me it, COPY PREVENTION DOESN'T WORK! I've said before and I'll say it again, If I can listen to it, I can copy it. It's as simple as that. They only way they can stop people from copying CDs it to fix them to where they will not play in any device. Don't laugh, some of these new "Copy protected" CDs are halfway there.
Not bloody likely... most laptops now use Lithium Ion. I wouldn't recommend opening those.
Note to Moderators: The above was SARCASM, not a TROLL.
True, but I wish the rechargeable batteries were more standardized. I know they need different sizes for different devices, but there could be SOME standardization. Most devices that use a Lithium Ion battery uses a proprietary size, shape, voltage, current, etc. This is partly because they design the battery around the device, rather than vice-versa, but more than likely is also a marketing decision, because they can charge you out the nose for their special batteries. Unfortunately, if they stop making those batteries for whatever reason, your equipment may soon become unusable. Even rechargables die eventually. I would be more likely buy products that use standard rechargeables, than a proprietary one.
This is really ironic timing considering the journal I wrote yesterday called Roll your own ad remover. Everyone take a look. I don't agree with ANY subscription based site, simply because I can't afford to pay for all the sites I frequent. I already pay $45/month for high speed internet access. That really is all I can afford to spend on something that is as much entertainment as tool. I don't blame them for doing it, and I'm glad these guys can make a living doing what they enjoy, but it seems to me that /. is doing well. This is (and I'm just speculating) corporate greed, brought about by VA Whatever's desire to increase the bottom line. I doubt Taco had much of a choice. He probably had to fight to get the subscription set up in this way. I know how corporations work, and I've been the brunt of these type desicions before. I just hope /. doesn't suffer because of a management dscision. Then again, I could be wrong, it has happened on occasion. ;-)
As for stealing the software, I know Wal-Mart used to disable to floppy drives to keep people from copying (and installing) software. Makes you wonder though, with a lot of these places having PC with a high speed net connection, if people aren't dumping stuff to an ftp site. Who needs and iPod?
Unfortunately, it is not only the legal system, but much of American society. For example, we don't blame the parents for kids being messed up, we blame the TV shows and video games instead. Why didn't the parents tell them not to watch those shows or play those games? We always try to blame a big company or something ethereal, not the people. Maybe it's easier that way because it doesn't hurt our feelings if a big company is mad at us.
If you try to make it a hardware device, I won't buy it, or people that buy preassembled PCs will pay a geek to remove it.
If you make it software, I won't install it. If you build it into Windows, that's OK, I'll just boot into Linux. Want to include it in Linux? Fine, I have the source code and the knowledge to remove it.
Considering that it can be leaned on something... :-)
I thought it was supposed to stand up straight by itself!
Sorry, I just think (like several other posters have said) these are a solution looking for a problem.
I guess if these things take off, I could make a fortune selling satellite tracking segway alarm systems! Put a blinking LED and a GPS tracking chip in it and sell it for a couple hundred... Anybody want to form an LLC?
I've seen what can happen when there is no competition. Like with cable, defore digital satellite, they charged us out the nose for 50 channels. Now I have 3 times the channels for 1/2 the price.
On the other hand, my DSL provider is a baby bell, and it's the only game in town. However, our prices are actually a little lower than some places that have cable and a couple of DSL providers. They know if they jack the prices up, we won't subscribe.
These baby bells have been a monopoly for a long time, and they know how to make a lot of money, without pissing us off too much. In general, though, competition is usually a big plus.
Stargate SG1 was a great series. I can't understand why everytime they get a great thing going, they try to imitate something else and end up a failed ripoff of another show's concept. Seems like everytime I find a show I like, they change it or cancel it. Meanwhile usless garbage like Crossing Over with John Edward is STILL on. I didn't buy it the first season. Who is watching that con man?
Our corporate intranet has an excite search on it, and the intranet is not accessible from the net. I doubt they would have paid $20k for it either. Does anyone else have something like this, because I was under the impression it was common to have an internal search engine?
I actually have DSL through a big telco ISP, and I love it. I have gotten great customer service, they are about $10/month cheaper than the idependant ISP's DSL offering, I have an extremely fast connection, and I can't tell a difference between peak and offpeak times. However, I DO live (almost) close enough to the switching office to spit on it. And there aren't many people on DSL in my area yet. I guess time will tell if they keep up the good work.
My method of fighting back is to simply be an asshole. If you piss enough phone jockeys off, they remember and they don't call back until they get a new guy, and I can usually make the new ones cry. One girl called trying to get me to take a survey and they would put me in a drawing for $25,000 cash. I asked her the odds and how long the survey would take. Then I did a quick calculation out loud for her about how I would have to do so many of these to win, it would take this long, divide that by the $25 thousand, and it came out to like $2/hour. I told her I make a LOT more than that and it wasn't worth my time. She said she just didn't understand why anyone wouldn't want a free chance to win. I told her if she had done well in school and learned math, she would understand, but then she would have gotten a real job and we wouldn't be having the discussion. She cried. (Yeah, I know a lot of you are saying that was cruel and she's only trying to earn a living, but they are STEALING (taking without my permission) my time. Theives are only trying to make a living as well, but I don't give them any breaks either. There are legit ways to make a living, every McDonalds around here is looking for outgoing, friendly people.) It may have been cruel but they had called twice a week for the past 3 weeks, during dinner every night, and I had told them I was on the list and asked them not to call back. That stopped them.
Securityfocus is the definitive sight for security news. To say the numbers are "purely for entertainment" is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You only proved your ignorance later in the post when you said, "the WinInformant site is Slashdotted (they must be running Windows, haha)" when OBVIOUSLY this would have more to do with their BANDWIDTH than their OS. I know I'll get modded down for posting this, but I don't care. I hate to see people discount anything that doesn't agree with their opinions. Oh, and I run Windows NT at work, Windows2000 and Mardarke 8 at home. I love Linux, but I love MS more for some things (games, word processing, etc.)