OK, so the software can turn away a jet travelling 500 mph once it gets into a 1 mile radius of a certain metro area. Will that stop a 747 that's diving from 35000 feet at a 85 degrees down? If the pilot has final authority to push the jet into such a dive, I'm thinking there's not much the software will be able to do once it kicks in automatically. Maybe it'll attempt to pull out, which means the terrorists aim a little lower than their intended target...
No they would not be (and they are not). Operating systems should not allow root access or even administrator access for certain functions (like installing software) without explicitly notifying the user of said installation and requiring an administrative password or phrase.
Unfortunately, spyware is smarter than Microsoft. The spyware installs even if the user has NO administrative rights. What makes it even harder is that to remove the spyware, you do need administrative rights, thus you can't have users clean the system themselves. Real PITA.
At least the latest Norton Antivirus scans some of it and so does Network Associate's antivirus. I wish Trend Micro's would do it too, it probably will soon...
Trend Micro's OfficeScan already detects spyware and spyware based javascript, it's been doing it for at least a year now. Unfortunately, it can't always kill the spyware; my logs show it quarrantining the spyware only to have the spyware reinstall itself and repeating this process each morning several times, but the spyware is winning out.
My New Year's Resolution is to switch completely off MS products. After a month, MS still has not come up with a patch to fix the IE "double page scroll" bug (introduced in a critical security patch). Not being able to scroll down a page made reading/. a real pain in the ass.
Yeah, I could replace the offending file myself, or use the PgUp/Dn keys, but really, a security patch for IE that breaks IE is too much.
I've been using Mozilla Firebird about half the time, and IE the other half since it's just easier to keep using it after I've opened it to get to sites reqiring IE.
But to hell with those sites. To hell with Microsoft. I'll be spending the rest of my holidays purging the last remnants of MS from my desktops and my laptop. I'd been straddling the fence for years... thanks Bill, you've made up my mind for me.
I say give him a year in prison. And give his cell mate a year's worth of viagra...
Re:Yeah, that's interesting until you consider...
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Japan's Empire of Cool
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· Score: 1
An "Al Sharpton" like character in Japan would be taken out in a week, max, by the people in the black vans/buses.
And turn him into a MLK type martyr? That might work, although I expect the entire nation will go humbly apologetic mode, be annoyingly apologetic but still not get the point.
Yeah, what you say is true, if MS did build on Linux, OEMs would start making Linux drivers. Would the drivers be any better than they are on Windows? Probably not, there are always driver problems.
What I was saying was that any problems with Linux, MS would get the blame, because that's all users really know, that it's Microsoft Windows they're using. If the power strip fails, they call Microsoft. If there's solar flares, they call Microsoft. If there is any problem with driver incompatibility, they can't call Linus can they?
I lived in a small town of 50,000, and for several years I hung out at the local diner which was the closest thing to a local coffee shop. In 10 years, I was the only one to show up there with any regularity with a laptop since I was there to do more work than socialize.
I'm one who can't sit at home and get any work done, I need background noise. Still, in all those years, I very rarely needed to connect to the internet. If I did, I'd use my cell phone, just to check some facts but it wasn't a necessity.
From my experience, people, in general, don't want to surf the web when they're sitting at a coffee shop. They're mostly there to eat, drink, or socialize. At least the regulars are there to do so, which is why they're regulars. If there's an internet terminal, sure some will hop on; mostly those who need to check email or don't have internet access at home. Surfing the web seems to be a "personal" pasttime, which is why most internet cafe's died out, people just preferred to surf from home (if they had access).
Laptops are still expensive. WiFi is still in the realm of geek, slowly making it's way out to the world.
I would definitely check with the customers. The important thing is to find out how many people would use it regularly and pay regularly. I expect you'll have a lot of interest the first few months, but it'll drop off as people find they really don't need to surf the web in the 30 minutes they're at the coffee shop chatting with friends. You may only end up with a handful of dedicated users, who now sit at the coffee shop for hours.
Which brings in another problem; it's not making any money for the coffee shop if they come in and order one cup of coffee and sit there for a few hours. Coffee shop owners need to make money, and count on a turnover of tables. Have you asked the shop owners? They might not be too keen on having people around all day who just take up tables but don't order more than a cup or two of coffee. They'll dislike it even more if they have "endless" cups of coffee...
The consumers didn't lose out in the Betamax/VHS wars. They didn't lose out in the DVD/Divx wars. They didn't lose out in the DVD +/- wars. And they won't lose out in the new DVD format wars.
Betamax sold some 30,000 units total. Today, DVD player sales easily exceed that number per month. Did the consumer lose in the DVD/Divx wars? Not at all. Have they lost in the +/- wars? Nope. Why? Simple. By the time the *average* consumer gets around to buying the product, market forces have already decided a winner.
In the case of Divx vs DVD, half the "prosumers", the early adopters, lost out when they chose Divx. The other half made what turned out to be the right decision. For the average consumer, the bulk of the market, the decision need not be made, it's already been decided for them.
Ditto with the DVD +/- market. The prosumers jumped on the first available DVD writers, and half of them may end up with useless writers. The vast majority of consumers will start buying DVD writers sometime this year (if ever), when technology has made the arguement moot with dual format writers.
It happens in almost every market, with every technology. Yes, the prosumers sometimes lose, but that's the price they pay for buying into the cutting edge of technology. The average consumers don't lose, by the time they're ready to accept the technology it's all been sorted out for them.
So new DVD format wars won't make any difference to consumers. If the format that wins the prosumer market isn't backwards compatible, by the time it reaches the consumer market, manufacturers will produce multi-format devices that are.
Well, it depends. Ask my wife, and she'll say yes, that signals from the TV erase any short term memory I have, like requests to take out the trash or mow the lawn.
As me, and I'll say no, that whatever's in the air at the hair salon just reinforces the memory of any mistake I've ever made in my life...
Most interesting new game I've played in a while. PC version had problems with the FMVs crashing the game, but still enjoyed it. I was hoping "The Longest Journey 2" (odd name huh?) would be out in 2003, but of course that's a sequel.
I've been playing Final Fantasy for years... oddly enough FFX2 they just released is the first real 'sequel' they've put out.
Re:Yeah, that's interesting until you consider...
on
Japan's Empire of Cool
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· Score: 4, Insightful
This brings up an interesting question: Why are the Japanese so keen to take, modify and integrate other cultures to suit their needs, yet they're still incredibly racist of other cultures?
It's pretty simple, same reason you find racism in certain parts of the States and in ethnic neighborhoods in cities. In monocultures, there's nobody around to point out that you're being a racist when everyone thinks the same.
I'm Japanese, growing up in the burbs of NYC, I was stereotyped and the subject of racist remarks my entire childhood. It wasn't until I moved away to more metro areas that I found more acceptance. So racism still runs strong in the States, make no mistake about it.
"National Pride" is ok, we see a lot of pride parades here in NYC. But just start to say something bad about another race, everyone jumps all over you for being a racist. You can't say anything about another culture without being condemned as a racist. We're forced to be politcally correct or face a civil lawsuit. That's a long ways away from being an integrated "melting pot" society as we'd like to believe.
Japan isn't much different in terms of racism; the only difference is that there aren't people forcing them to watch everything they say, so they don't think about it. Yeah, many will openly discriminate and don't think twice about it, I hear about it from my caucasian friends who live in Japan. It's really that they haven't been forced to accept other cultures, socially or legally.
What Japan really needs is Al Sharpton to stir things up, make them more aware of how racist the society is. Not sure if even he can do it, but it'd be a good start.
But could they? It would destroy their MSWind system.
Remember there are two Windows OSes, Server and Desktop. Linux has been eating away at the Server OS and looks like it's winning, but MS is still strong since they have AD and strong integration on the back end. That won't last long with Novell and Suse attacking it.
As for the desktop OS, people will still be reluctant to use anything but MS Office; OO may be good, but when it comes to documents which have been edited by dozens of people and have hundreds of pages with different formatting everywhere, only the same version of Word that created that document opens it without any errors. Even if OO does open it correctly, the cost of reviewing the document just once for formatting inconsistancies makes buying the same version of Word worth the price.
MS could port MS Office to Linux/BSD, which would ensure their cash cow continues to bring in money. But would they do it? Probably not since Office is about the only reason people don't desert Windows. And without the desktop Windows OS, the server OS loses a lot of the functionality.
They could build Windows on top of existing distributions; but then they lose control of plug and play, which would be the biggest complaint from users of Windows on Linux; people would blame MS for Linux's shortcomings when their brand new digital camera failed to connect properly. They could build their own distribution to have better control of plug and play, but then they'd have to release under GPL... I doubt MS would be willing to do that. To build a hybrid OS like Apple and keep it closed source would do nothing for MS since it's no different from what they have now.
So unless (until?) there's a shift in their thinking about Open Source, I think they're just gonna keep fighting (losing) the battle by adding new bells and whistles and spending a lot more money on the PR FUD front.
In the past three months, I've been through Kennedy four times, La Guardia 2x, Newark 4x, times, Detroit, Chicago O'Hare, LAX, Tokyo Narita 4x, Singapore 2x... and never have I been asked to turn on my laptop. They never bothered me about my PDA. They checked my shoes a few times, my flip-flops a few times as well, deep searched my backpack a few times. Maybe since I was travelling business class they didn't give me as hard a time as others.
And yet, my daypack has four steel stays that make up the frame... pretty easily removed. Surprised they let me on with it. Aluminum uprights in pullman could also be used as weapons, broken duty free bottles of whiskey... I think the "security" measures are just to give travellers the warm fuzzys, I feel they're kinda worthless considering what you can bring on the flight..
An important skill for fast road riding (even more so than on the track) is a zen-like ability to scan your visual field without fixating on anything. Particularly when you 'see' something you must avoid. Looking at an obstacle will often result you riding right into it! Anything that adds distraction in that visual field is not useful. I hold that a rider at the edge needs less information (just the important stuff), not more.
Exactly. You get in the zone, and you see everything. You feel the bike, you hear the bike. You don't need to look at instruments to know what your bike is doing. The last thing I want to do when I'm riding is to glance away from the road and check out how fast I'm going.
And it's not like a car HUD, where it always stays in a spot that's relatively unobtrusive. For a motorcyclist, you may be looking "ahead" of you, but your peripheral vision is scanning much further and to one side, the upper corners of the field of vision. In the lower corner, you have a blob that's the guy next to you. So really there's nowhere in the visor where it wouldn't be obtrusive or obstructive.
Spare me the head up display. I can see it now, mounted on the helmets of Gold Wing riders everywhere, helping them know the speed at which they are adjusting their radio pre-sets.
Heh heh... yeah and getting weather updates scrolling across the bottom, text messages from relatives, ads for nearby restaurants...
That will not work unless you put the card in a lead box. E-Z Pass boxes are designed to work through large metalic objects, probably because they have to be able to do so to operate. The cheif subscribers to E-Z Pass are trucking companies, as it's cheaper, faster, and means that drivers dont have to know how to count change. Those trucks are perfect for jamming a standard RFID signal, but E-X Pass still operates. Hiding the box will most likley put it closer to the ground where the speeding sensors are, not farther.
You sure you're talking about the same thing?
All EZPass detectors are mounted above the car lanes, those big white panels. That's the way it works for all Metro NYC bridges and tunnels, the NYS Thruway (up to Albany, I haven't been west).
The readers will NOT work in the glove compartment. I got a new car with new plates, didn't have the velcro so I had it sitting in the glove compartment. Went through three red lights before I realized that it wasn't the lane was broken but the pass wasn't mounted... and got fined for each of those three violations. So no, it does NOT read from within the glovebox.
In rentals, I've tried rubber banding it to the visor, and flipping the visor forward when I pass under. It sorta works, but I have to drive the car a little to one side so the device is directly under the antenna. I've gotten fined a few times because I'd forgotten to either flip the visor forward, or to have it precicely in the center of the lane.
I've also tucked the pass under my leg when going through some tolls and pay cash, when I *don't* want them to know where I'm going and when. Or if I know I've got to make point A to point B much faster than I want their computers to know.
So no, it does not read through metal. It doesn't read through body parts. It had a hard time reading unless it's sitting in the middle of the winshield directly in the middle of the lane. Really, it's pitiful how poorly it does work.
"light cube" in your drink which releases a stream of photons as it melts.
Ah, but if those photons come out in phase and all at the same time, you have a laser pulse! Frozen lazer pulses stored in ice "bullets", hey, we may yet see laser pistols in our lifetime!
It's not as if this is a continuing problem, and every week there's some yahoo who needs to buy fuel because he was a dumb-ass.
Um... yeah, it is. Maybe not at the moment in the Antarctic, but it's definitely a problem in national parks all across the US, where SAR teams have put their lives at risk and spend tens of thousands of dollars to rescue some bumbling adventurers who went in with no plans for an emergency except a cell phone. It's a huge trend that's happening everywhere, not only in the US. It's a drain on the resources of the rescue squads, the communities in that area, and the goverment who has to send in rescues.
YOSAR, one of the most famous Search and Rescue teams, had in 2002, 182 rescues, of which only 116 had injuries or illnesses. No details on the others, but a good bet the others were lost/stranded. Still, a rescue every other day, that costs taxpayers a lot of money. Las Vegas SAR has similar numbers, where hikers and climbers get stranded out after dark and need to be rescued once a week. The outdoor craze has led many people to head out, inexperienced and unprepared, with the idea that if they get stuck a quick cell phone call will save them.
So it's with good reason they are denying him the fuel, setting a good precedent. If they give him fuel, what's next? Maybe the next idiot will run out of fuel before he reaches the base, and they'll have to dispatch some rescuers. And the next may not know where they are, they'll have to send out rescue teams in all directions. And who pays for it? Me and all the other taxpayers.
He's fine. He's safe. Ship him out on the next flight, box up his plane and let him pay for delivery if he wants his plane shipped to him. Charge him storage costs, charge him for the food and room. Charge him up the @ss for all of it and send him on his way.
Let's add another reason to the list of why I'm glad that US laws have no effect in Canada...
Which does not mean that you won't be prosecuted under Canadian law for violating Canadian Copyright laws. Won't be long before RIAA pressures the CMRRA to follow its lead.
Of course, maybe it's all part the grand plan; the RIAA finds tens of thousands of Canadians trading music illegally but getting away with slaps on the wrists, and thus gives Shrub another reason to invade Canada...
That situation will be prosecuted by the copyright owners. Microsoft and others large software mfgs have been known to come in and pull inspections based on "tips", and often with the help of local law agencies. Several firms have been fined large amounts. So if an employee wants the firm they work for to not get hammered with a fine (which could be the difference between staying solvent and going under)then they should report unlicensed software.
WTF? So you're saying if you see an employee loading Dungeon Siege on his computer at work, you should call the BSA? How about notifying management first? Let management reimage his system and discipline or fire the guy, instead of calling in the BSA and costing the company much more in lost time, productivity, and legal fees.
Yeah, if it's the management that's using illegal software (and they don't do anything when you mention it) or they tell you to use illegal software, or they fire you when you bring it up, sure, call in the BSA. But if the management isn't aware, you should tell them first before calling in the BSA.
I did. It's not much of an article though.
I was commenting that it would be useful for those of us in the library, not just for those who can't get to the library.
Have the robots run around the library to get a display of all the books on a shelf, feed it right into computers at the end of the aisles (or at the front desk) so you can visually see what's on the shelves. The way I look for a book, I do a search (over the 'net), see what book the library has, and check out other books that match the description. However, when I end up at the bookshelf, there are many other books in the same section which look interesting. So I stand there, in the aisle, with my head craned looking at the titles. How nice it would be to view the robotic feed of the titles, rotated 90 degrees, so I can just browse without getting a cramp. I wouldn't need the robot to open and glance at the books, I can go to the library for that, but with the video I can spend much less time by going directly to the books which look promising.
Clearly, digitizing the text is a faster and easier solution.
Well, you'll need some expensive equipment to digitize an entire library. The fastest way is to rip the books apart, and feed all the pages into a fast scanner. No problem, unless you want to use the books again. Most of the books in libraries are expensive, out of print books, so you probably don't want to destroy them. Clearly this option is out.
So you're left with scanning by hand. This is an arduous process. Especially for larger books, pages are difficult to scan properly thanks to the binding. It will take a hundred years to do this by hand. Because the sloppy scanning, OCR is a nightmare; so you'll have to either spend another century correcting the OCR, or leaving the pages as sloppy images. Neither sounds appealing.
Suppose you've done it, and put every book online. Now you hire lawyers to protect you from the publishers and authors who's work you copied and distributed illegally and are now suing you. As this is Japan, you'll apologize for putting the university in such a shameful position and resign in disgrace, never to work again. Your children will be ostricized in school and will hate you for it.
Having RFID sensors on the shelf would alert you to a book that doesn't belong on the shelf. The difficult thing would be isolating by individual shelves; a sensor in the middle of the shelf would pick up tags above and below since they're closer than books on the end of the shelf. You could put several sensors on the shelves, or one very low level sensor that runs on a track and zips along each shelf reading each RFID tag individually. There you could easily find books that are out of place.
Ah, so that's why the Terminator broke into the humans hideout, to collect a past due fine. Reese probably just edited it out of his flashback/nightmare, it was probably pretty scary seeing the Terminator break into the compound shouting "I want my two dollars!"
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OK, so the software can turn away a jet travelling 500 mph once it gets into a 1 mile radius of a certain metro area. Will that stop a 747 that's diving from 35000 feet at a 85 degrees down? If the pilot has final authority to push the jet into such a dive, I'm thinking there's not much the software will be able to do once it kicks in automatically. Maybe it'll attempt to pull out, which means the terrorists aim a little lower than their intended target...
No they would not be (and they are not). Operating systems should not allow root access or even administrator access for certain functions (like installing software) without explicitly notifying the user of said installation and requiring an administrative password or phrase.
Unfortunately, spyware is smarter than Microsoft. The spyware installs even if the user has NO administrative rights. What makes it even harder is that to remove the spyware, you do need administrative rights, thus you can't have users clean the system themselves. Real PITA.
At least the latest Norton Antivirus scans some of it and so does Network Associate's antivirus. I wish Trend Micro's would do it too, it probably will soon...
Trend Micro's OfficeScan already detects spyware and spyware based javascript, it's been doing it for at least a year now. Unfortunately, it can't always kill the spyware; my logs show it quarrantining the spyware only to have the spyware reinstall itself and repeating this process each morning several times, but the spyware is winning out.
My New Year's Resolution is to switch completely off MS products. After a month, MS still has not come up with a patch to fix the IE "double page scroll" bug (introduced in a critical security patch). Not being able to scroll down a page made reading /. a real pain in the ass.
Yeah, I could replace the offending file myself, or use the PgUp/Dn keys, but really, a security patch for IE that breaks IE is too much.
I've been using Mozilla Firebird about half the time, and IE the other half since it's just easier to keep using it after I've opened it to get to sites reqiring IE.
But to hell with those sites. To hell with Microsoft. I'll be spending the rest of my holidays purging the last remnants of MS from my desktops and my laptop. I'd been straddling the fence for years... thanks Bill, you've made up my mind for me.
I say give him a year in prison. And give his cell mate a year's worth of viagra...
An "Al Sharpton" like character in Japan would be taken out in a week, max, by the people in the black vans/buses.
And turn him into a MLK type martyr? That might work, although I expect the entire nation will go humbly apologetic mode, be annoyingly apologetic but still not get the point.
Yeah, what you say is true, if MS did build on Linux, OEMs would start making Linux drivers. Would the drivers be any better than they are on Windows? Probably not, there are always driver problems.
What I was saying was that any problems with Linux, MS would get the blame, because that's all users really know, that it's Microsoft Windows they're using. If the power strip fails, they call Microsoft. If there's solar flares, they call Microsoft. If there is any problem with driver incompatibility, they can't call Linus can they?
I lived in a small town of 50,000, and for several years I hung out at the local diner which was the closest thing to a local coffee shop. In 10 years, I was the only one to show up there with any regularity with a laptop since I was there to do more work than socialize.
I'm one who can't sit at home and get any work done, I need background noise. Still, in all those years, I very rarely needed to connect to the internet. If I did, I'd use my cell phone, just to check some facts but it wasn't a necessity.
From my experience, people, in general, don't want to surf the web when they're sitting at a coffee shop. They're mostly there to eat, drink, or socialize. At least the regulars are there to do so, which is why they're regulars. If there's an internet terminal, sure some will hop on; mostly those who need to check email or don't have internet access at home. Surfing the web seems to be a "personal" pasttime, which is why most internet cafe's died out, people just preferred to surf from home (if they had access).
Laptops are still expensive. WiFi is still in the realm of geek, slowly making it's way out to the world.
I would definitely check with the customers. The important thing is to find out how many people would use it regularly and pay regularly. I expect you'll have a lot of interest the first few months, but it'll drop off as people find they really don't need to surf the web in the 30 minutes they're at the coffee shop chatting with friends. You may only end up with a handful of dedicated users, who now sit at the coffee shop for hours.
Which brings in another problem; it's not making any money for the coffee shop if they come in and order one cup of coffee and sit there for a few hours. Coffee shop owners need to make money, and count on a turnover of tables. Have you asked the shop owners? They might not be too keen on having people around all day who just take up tables but don't order more than a cup or two of coffee. They'll dislike it even more if they have "endless" cups of coffee...
The consumers didn't lose out in the Betamax/VHS wars. They didn't lose out in the DVD/Divx wars. They didn't lose out in the DVD +/- wars. And they won't lose out in the new DVD format wars.
Betamax sold some 30,000 units total. Today, DVD player sales easily exceed that number per month. Did the consumer lose in the DVD/Divx wars? Not at all. Have they lost in the +/- wars? Nope. Why? Simple. By the time the *average* consumer gets around to buying the product, market forces have already decided a winner.
In the case of Divx vs DVD, half the "prosumers", the early adopters, lost out when they chose Divx. The other half made what turned out to be the right decision. For the average consumer, the bulk of the market, the decision need not be made, it's already been decided for them.
Ditto with the DVD +/- market. The prosumers jumped on the first available DVD writers, and half of them may end up with useless writers. The vast majority of consumers will start buying DVD writers sometime this year (if ever), when technology has made the arguement moot with dual format writers.
It happens in almost every market, with every technology. Yes, the prosumers sometimes lose, but that's the price they pay for buying into the cutting edge of technology. The average consumers don't lose, by the time they're ready to accept the technology it's all been sorted out for them.
So new DVD format wars won't make any difference to consumers. If the format that wins the prosumer market isn't backwards compatible, by the time it reaches the consumer market, manufacturers will produce multi-format devices that are.
Is that possible?
No.
Well, it depends. Ask my wife, and she'll say yes, that signals from the TV erase any short term memory I have, like requests to take out the trash or mow the lawn.
As me, and I'll say no, that whatever's in the air at the hair salon just reinforces the memory of any mistake I've ever made in my life...
Most interesting new game I've played in a while. PC version had problems with the FMVs crashing the game, but still enjoyed it. I was hoping "The Longest Journey 2" (odd name huh?) would be out in 2003, but of course that's a sequel.
I've been playing Final Fantasy for years... oddly enough FFX2 they just released is the first real 'sequel' they've put out.
This brings up an interesting question: Why are the Japanese so keen to take, modify and integrate other cultures to suit their needs, yet they're still incredibly racist of other cultures?
It's pretty simple, same reason you find racism in certain parts of the States and in ethnic neighborhoods in cities. In monocultures, there's nobody around to point out that you're being a racist when everyone thinks the same.
I'm Japanese, growing up in the burbs of NYC, I was stereotyped and the subject of racist remarks my entire childhood. It wasn't until I moved away to more metro areas that I found more acceptance. So racism still runs strong in the States, make no mistake about it.
"National Pride" is ok, we see a lot of pride parades here in NYC. But just start to say something bad about another race, everyone jumps all over you for being a racist. You can't say anything about another culture without being condemned as a racist. We're forced to be politcally correct or face a civil lawsuit. That's a long ways away from being an integrated "melting pot" society as we'd like to believe.
Japan isn't much different in terms of racism; the only difference is that there aren't people forcing them to watch everything they say, so they don't think about it. Yeah, many will openly discriminate and don't think twice about it, I hear about it from my caucasian friends who live in Japan. It's really that they haven't been forced to accept other cultures, socially or legally.
What Japan really needs is Al Sharpton to stir things up, make them more aware of how racist the society is. Not sure if even he can do it, but it'd be a good start.
But could they? It would destroy their MSWind system.
Remember there are two Windows OSes, Server and Desktop. Linux has been eating away at the Server OS and looks like it's winning, but MS is still strong since they have AD and strong integration on the back end. That won't last long with Novell and Suse attacking it.
As for the desktop OS, people will still be reluctant to use anything but MS Office; OO may be good, but when it comes to documents which have been edited by dozens of people and have hundreds of pages with different formatting everywhere, only the same version of Word that created that document opens it without any errors. Even if OO does open it correctly, the cost of reviewing the document just once for formatting inconsistancies makes buying the same version of Word worth the price.
MS could port MS Office to Linux/BSD, which would ensure their cash cow continues to bring in money. But would they do it? Probably not since Office is about the only reason people don't desert Windows. And without the desktop Windows OS, the server OS loses a lot of the functionality.
They could build Windows on top of existing distributions; but then they lose control of plug and play, which would be the biggest complaint from users of Windows on Linux; people would blame MS for Linux's shortcomings when their brand new digital camera failed to connect properly. They could build their own distribution to have better control of plug and play, but then they'd have to release under GPL... I doubt MS would be willing to do that. To build a hybrid OS like Apple and keep it closed source would do nothing for MS since it's no different from what they have now.
So unless (until?) there's a shift in their thinking about Open Source, I think they're just gonna keep fighting (losing) the battle by adding new bells and whistles and spending a lot more money on the PR FUD front.
In the past three months, I've been through Kennedy four times, La Guardia 2x, Newark 4x, times, Detroit, Chicago O'Hare, LAX, Tokyo Narita 4x, Singapore 2x... and never have I been asked to turn on my laptop. They never bothered me about my PDA. They checked my shoes a few times, my flip-flops a few times as well, deep searched my backpack a few times. Maybe since I was travelling business class they didn't give me as hard a time as others.
And yet, my daypack has four steel stays that make up the frame... pretty easily removed. Surprised they let me on with it. Aluminum uprights in pullman could also be used as weapons, broken duty free bottles of whiskey... I think the "security" measures are just to give travellers the warm fuzzys, I feel they're kinda worthless considering what you can bring on the flight..
An important skill for fast road riding (even more so than on the track) is a zen-like ability to scan your visual field without fixating on anything. Particularly when you 'see' something you must avoid. Looking at an obstacle will often result you riding right into it! Anything that adds distraction in that visual field is not useful. I hold that a rider at the edge needs less information (just the important stuff), not more.
Exactly. You get in the zone, and you see everything. You feel the bike, you hear the bike. You don't need to look at instruments to know what your bike is doing. The last thing I want to do when I'm riding is to glance away from the road and check out how fast I'm going.
And it's not like a car HUD, where it always stays in a spot that's relatively unobtrusive. For a motorcyclist, you may be looking "ahead" of you, but your peripheral vision is scanning much further and to one side, the upper corners of the field of vision. In the lower corner, you have a blob that's the guy next to you. So really there's nowhere in the visor where it wouldn't be obtrusive or obstructive.
Spare me the head up display. I can see it now, mounted on the helmets of Gold Wing riders everywhere, helping them know the speed at which they are adjusting their radio pre-sets.
Heh heh... yeah and getting weather updates scrolling across the bottom, text messages from relatives, ads for nearby restaurants...
That will not work unless you put the card in a lead box. E-Z Pass boxes are designed to work through large metalic objects, probably because they have to be able to do so to operate. The cheif subscribers to E-Z Pass are trucking companies, as it's cheaper, faster, and means that drivers dont have to know how to count change. Those trucks are perfect for jamming a standard RFID signal, but E-X Pass still operates. Hiding the box will most likley put it closer to the ground where the speeding sensors are, not farther.
You sure you're talking about the same thing?
All EZPass detectors are mounted above the car lanes, those big white panels. That's the way it works for all Metro NYC bridges and tunnels, the NYS Thruway (up to Albany, I haven't been west).
The readers will NOT work in the glove compartment. I got a new car with new plates, didn't have the velcro so I had it sitting in the glove compartment. Went through three red lights before I realized that it wasn't the lane was broken but the pass wasn't mounted... and got fined for each of those three violations. So no, it does NOT read from within the glovebox.
In rentals, I've tried rubber banding it to the visor, and flipping the visor forward when I pass under. It sorta works, but I have to drive the car a little to one side so the device is directly under the antenna. I've gotten fined a few times because I'd forgotten to either flip the visor forward, or to have it precicely in the center of the lane.
I've also tucked the pass under my leg when going through some tolls and pay cash, when I *don't* want them to know where I'm going and when. Or if I know I've got to make point A to point B much faster than I want their computers to know.
So no, it does not read through metal. It doesn't read through body parts. It had a hard time reading unless it's sitting in the middle of the winshield directly in the middle of the lane. Really, it's pitiful how poorly it does work.
"light cube" in your drink which releases a stream of photons as it melts.
Ah, but if those photons come out in phase and all at the same time, you have a laser pulse! Frozen lazer pulses stored in ice "bullets", hey, we may yet see laser pistols in our lifetime!
It's not as if this is a continuing problem, and every week there's some yahoo who needs to buy fuel because he was a dumb-ass.
Um... yeah, it is. Maybe not at the moment in the Antarctic, but it's definitely a problem in national parks all across the US, where SAR teams have put their lives at risk and spend tens of thousands of dollars to rescue some bumbling adventurers who went in with no plans for an emergency except a cell phone. It's a huge trend that's happening everywhere, not only in the US. It's a drain on the resources of the rescue squads, the communities in that area, and the goverment who has to send in rescues.
YOSAR, one of the most famous Search and Rescue teams, had in 2002, 182 rescues, of which only 116 had injuries or illnesses. No details on the others, but a good bet the others were lost/stranded. Still, a rescue every other day, that costs taxpayers a lot of money. Las Vegas SAR has similar numbers, where hikers and climbers get stranded out after dark and need to be rescued once a week. The outdoor craze has led many people to head out, inexperienced and unprepared, with the idea that if they get stuck a quick cell phone call will save them.
So it's with good reason they are denying him the fuel, setting a good precedent. If they give him fuel, what's next? Maybe the next idiot will run out of fuel before he reaches the base, and they'll have to dispatch some rescuers. And the next may not know where they are, they'll have to send out rescue teams in all directions. And who pays for it? Me and all the other taxpayers.
He's fine. He's safe. Ship him out on the next flight, box up his plane and let him pay for delivery if he wants his plane shipped to him. Charge him storage costs, charge him for the food and room. Charge him up the @ss for all of it and send him on his way.
Let's add another reason to the list of why I'm glad that US laws have no effect in Canada...
Which does not mean that you won't be prosecuted under Canadian law for violating Canadian Copyright laws. Won't be long before RIAA pressures the CMRRA to follow its lead.
Of course, maybe it's all part the grand plan; the RIAA finds tens of thousands of Canadians trading music illegally but getting away with slaps on the wrists, and thus gives Shrub another reason to invade Canada...
That situation will be prosecuted by the copyright owners. Microsoft and others large software mfgs have been known to come in and pull inspections based on "tips", and often with the help of local law agencies. Several firms have been fined large amounts. So if an employee wants the firm they work for to not get hammered with a fine (which could be the difference between staying solvent and going under)then they should report unlicensed software.
WTF? So you're saying if you see an employee loading Dungeon Siege on his computer at work, you should call the BSA? How about notifying management first? Let management reimage his system and discipline or fire the guy, instead of calling in the BSA and costing the company much more in lost time, productivity, and legal fees.
Yeah, if it's the management that's using illegal software (and they don't do anything when you mention it) or they tell you to use illegal software, or they fire you when you bring it up, sure, call in the BSA. But if the management isn't aware, you should tell them first before calling in the BSA.
Why speculate when we know the answer?
Because IANAL, and I don't know the answer, regardless what the Authors Guild says, what Amazon says. Therefore I can only speculate...
I did. It's not much of an article though. I was commenting that it would be useful for those of us in the library, not just for those who can't get to the library.
Have the robots run around the library to get a display of all the books on a shelf, feed it right into computers at the end of the aisles (or at the front desk) so you can visually see what's on the shelves. The way I look for a book, I do a search (over the 'net), see what book the library has, and check out other books that match the description. However, when I end up at the bookshelf, there are many other books in the same section which look interesting. So I stand there, in the aisle, with my head craned looking at the titles. How nice it would be to view the robotic feed of the titles, rotated 90 degrees, so I can just browse without getting a cramp. I wouldn't need the robot to open and glance at the books, I can go to the library for that, but with the video I can spend much less time by going directly to the books which look promising.
Clearly, digitizing the text is a faster and easier solution.
Well, you'll need some expensive equipment to digitize an entire library. The fastest way is to rip the books apart, and feed all the pages into a fast scanner. No problem, unless you want to use the books again. Most of the books in libraries are expensive, out of print books, so you probably don't want to destroy them. Clearly this option is out.
So you're left with scanning by hand. This is an arduous process. Especially for larger books, pages are difficult to scan properly thanks to the binding. It will take a hundred years to do this by hand. Because the sloppy scanning, OCR is a nightmare; so you'll have to either spend another century correcting the OCR, or leaving the pages as sloppy images. Neither sounds appealing.
Suppose you've done it, and put every book online. Now you hire lawyers to protect you from the publishers and authors who's work you copied and distributed illegally and are now suing you. As this is Japan, you'll apologize for putting the university in such a shameful position and resign in disgrace, never to work again. Your children will be ostricized in school and will hate you for it.
The robot is a much better solution.
Having RFID sensors on the shelf would alert you to a book that doesn't belong on the shelf. The difficult thing would be isolating by individual shelves; a sensor in the middle of the shelf would pick up tags above and below since they're closer than books on the end of the shelf. You could put several sensors on the shelves, or one very low level sensor that runs on a track and zips along each shelf reading each RFID tag individually. There you could easily find books that are out of place.
Ah, so that's why the Terminator broke into the humans hideout, to collect a past due fine. Reese probably just edited it out of his flashback/nightmare, it was probably pretty scary seeing the Terminator break into the compound shouting "I want my two dollars!"