Even though they say it's a no-no in Usenet land... "Me Too!"
I'm piping up just so all the Linux heads can see that we're out there. Before you complain, know that I have no problem compiling the Kernel, I have a couple of Linux boxes running web sites in my home server closet and a very active postfix mail server servicing a bunch of different purposes and etc.
I'm no expert, but then again, I don't want to be. My 13 year old daughter has an iMac and an iPod and she loves them. I'm a convert. My next "main box" will be an iMac or a G5 or something, especially now that I'm getting into the digital video thing.
In any event, thank you Apple for saving me from Config File Hell. I'm sick of editing obscure, unique, hidden freaking config files, recompiling this and that and all the rest of the headaches associated with using Linux. I want the security and performance of *nix, with the ease of Windows. That means, OS X.
I agree, it was much more fun to just flip on the switch and have a "READY" prompt pop up, eager to do your programming bidding. Made you want to mess with it.
Made my day, too, when my C=64 tape drive was in the shop (yeah, we fixed cassette tape drives back then). I wrote my own little terminal emulation program, complete with color C=64 ASCII graphics, and got it down to about 5 lines of BASIC code. Flip on the computer, type in my little terminal program, and viola! I was surfin' the BBS's.
I think the point is that I have a "free" DVD player on my Windows box. Came with my DVD drive. It's fully licensed and legal. How come there isn't a Linux player available?
We need some good DMCA-type encryption and copy protection in the kernel. Perhaps Microsoft would volunteer to write that module? To prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future, every user should be get a passport ID to use their drivers. That'll fix it.
Has anyone else experienced voice mail systems are really well secured? At most of the jobs I've had as a contractor, I've noticed that the voice mail security systems were usually locked down pretty tightly.
These voice mail systems usually have minimum password lengths of 6 digits, and of course the password is all numeric, making it hard to remember if you try to use a relatively obscure one (rather than 1-2-3-4-5-6). Furthermore, they usually prevent you from using all the same digits, or the above sequence, and some of them even prevent you from using the same password more than once!
Ummm... it's VOICEMAIL. WTF? How secure does it need to be? Meanwhile, there are no such password restrictions on the network accounts.
Do any of you have super-important voice mail messages that must be protected at all costs? Makes me wonder if voice mail administrators have god-like delusions of grandeur, just like Windows SA's (and I use the term lightly).
I'd like to know why as well. I've been involved with a Deloitte & Touche project for the last 3 years, responsible for validating and verifying their work.
This article is really creepy because they're doing the exact same things, today, that are mentioned in this article in the failing project I'm involved with now.
Luckily, we've brought in a new set of consultants and we're preparing to clean up the mess.
I think the point is that this is a study by a couple of guys that can most likely be considered "unbiased" since, well, since there isn't really any money to be made by supporting P2P file sharing.
Most other studies that show the P2P is hurting CD sales are put out by folks that are either paid by the record industry or can be otherwise deemed uncredible.
Oh, and/. readers are certainly biased... just making the (obvious) point that there's a reason why what appears to be an unbiased study is pounced on by the readers here.
Actually, if you were deterred from being an astronaut because of Challenger, then it's probably for the best. No offense, but to be an astronaut you gotta have some huge nuts (so to speak) to ride those flying bombs up to orbit.
What a great job, but you know... it's probably full of meetings and paperwork and boring-ass busy work most of the time, just like all the rest of us.
Dude, this stuff is happening Live, as you see it. The fact that they've had time to let other scientists peer review their work, even at the highest levels, is pretty cool. There will be plenty of peer review going on over the next many years, but for now I think the Mars Rover science teams are going out of their way to make sure they are only reporting what they believe they can prove. None of them has stated that there was life on mars, they're just reporting the facts as they see them.
I'll bet you they'd be willing to debate the facts with you if you had credentials to match your statements above.
For now, this is a pretty big deal and one step towards making us wonder seriously if there was life on mars.
It's marketing-speak everyone! Who do you think came up with the term "iPod killer?" The "reporter" who reported this "news story?"
This is purely a press release, nothing more.
LONDON (Reuters) - The first handheld gadgets to play music and movies on Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) "iPod killer" software will be available in Europe in the second half of 2004,
the world's largest software company said on Thursday.
First rule, if you see ticker symbols referenced in a news item, you may want to double-check your sources.
The gadgets will run on Microsoft's yet-to-be-unveiled Portable Media Center software in a direct assault on iPod, Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) hot-selling digital music player.
Ahh... vaporware. How many of you are ready to purchase this product now... umm.. without software! Anyone?
Here's a link to Ed Lu's notes from when he was on the space station. He has some great essays about life on the ISS including some notes on taking photos of earth, exercise, life in zero-g, etc. Some of it is very basic if you've got a Physics degree, but for the rest of us it's fun writing and he has a friendly writing style.
For the more on-topic note, check out letter #2, flying. Gives a good basic explanation of how propulsion works in zero-g and could give the layman (like me) a basic understanding of his proposal.
A coupon for what? Penis enlargement? Mmm, hmm.. you know you'd take it if it was offered. You've always wondered if they work, not matter what Penn and Teller say, especially if it was free.
Well, the problem here is that Timothy Roberts is a scumbag. He could have written a nice note to Kyle, who would probably have responded, "too bad, so sad. You're a scumbag and I'm not changing anything."
Mr. Roberts is just using lawyers to do his bitching and moaning so he can be perceived as some sort of threat and Kyle is just kickin' it right back at him. I say, way to go.
If you bring lawyers into the fight you'd better be right, kind of like pulling a knife in a barroom scuffle. You'd better be prepared to cut or be cut when you start going down that road.
I'm sick and tired of hearing the standard response from everyone in today's society is, "I'll sue you!" Kyle is fighting this and I'll back him up with a donation or three when the time comes.
It's a press conference, nothing more. I think they're doing a good job scientifically, but now they're in "budget mode" and really working on getting funding for some more missions.
So, what better way than to push out some press releases, have a big press conference, follow up with more press releases and voila! Funding for the next couple of decades of Mars missions!
Of course, I'm all for it. Bring back some Mars fossils!
Is it just me or is anyone else getting tired of hearing what music each rover "wakes-up" to as reported on by nasa each day on the NASA Rover Status Page?
It was cute the first few times, but now it's just getting insipid as these engineers try desperately to link the day's work with the title of some song.
Ok guys, we all know you have gigs of MP3s and you're all really cool. Now, why not just start every rover morning with Also Sprach Zarathustra?
I don't download music or movies from the internet, but I'll be damned if I'm going to buy the revised edition on DVD.
I propose a massive download party for all nerds to get a copy of a spliced edition that the parent refers to and make a statement to George in doing so.
I don't like stealing movies in general but this would be more of a "nerd political statement" then anything else. We want the original movies, that we know and love from our childhoods, including the fact that Han was a hard-ass smuggler and blasted Greedo before Greedo could blast him first.
Weak sales of the DVD release and ubiquitous downloads of a "nerd approved" splice job would be a fun way to make our point. With cheap DVD burners available now, we can all have the movies we want. I also hearby proclaim that I'll purchase the original movies on DVD when they are made available.
Unless of course he wins the lawsuit and has a big payday. A guy in a sharp suit driving a ferrari will score more ladies then a well-hung dork driving a chevette.
I suspect they had to rush this device to market. Besides, I know plenty of people who work at Dell and they're not the most creative corporate drones around. Business-savy, for sure, but creative? Naaaah.
They're trying to break out a new business model and of course there's going to be hiccups along the way. Woe to the buyers of the 1.0 device. If Apple keeps rolling in the revenues with iPods, you can bet that the competition will continue to revise and redesign as long as there's money to be made.
All very good points although if your tinfoil hat was properly sized you'd realize the ultimate goal of DRM is to be prevalent and generally accepted, and then to make it mandatory.
First it's part of the dominant media players (like it is in WMP now).
Then, content providers start providing content with DRM restrictions.
Next, the 3rd party players start including DRM so that their users can enjoy the DRM'd content and so they don't lose market share to the DRM-enabled media players.
Finally, since DRM is so prevalent, laws are passed to require DRM in all content.
Of course, the next logical step would be to outlaw tinfoil hats and then we're all doomed.
Slashdot Mirror
Even though they say it's a no-no in Usenet land... "Me Too!"
I'm piping up just so all the Linux heads can see that we're out there. Before you complain, know that I have no problem compiling the Kernel, I have a couple of Linux boxes running web sites in my home server closet and a very active postfix mail server servicing a bunch of different purposes and etc.
I'm no expert, but then again, I don't want to be. My 13 year old daughter has an iMac and an iPod and she loves them. I'm a convert. My next "main box" will be an iMac or a G5 or something, especially now that I'm getting into the digital video thing.
In any event, thank you Apple for saving me from Config File Hell. I'm sick of editing obscure, unique, hidden freaking config files, recompiling this and that and all the rest of the headaches associated with using Linux. I want the security and performance of *nix, with the ease of Windows. That means, OS X.
Klingon Wedding
So, you think *you're* a geek? How about those guys?
Yeah, but my DNA computer crashed and I had to take a dump to retrieve it.
I agree, it was much more fun to just flip on the switch and have a "READY" prompt pop up, eager to do your programming bidding. Made you want to mess with it.
Made my day, too, when my C=64 tape drive was in the shop (yeah, we fixed cassette tape drives back then). I wrote my own little terminal emulation program, complete with color C=64 ASCII graphics, and got it down to about 5 lines of BASIC code. Flip on the computer, type in my little terminal program, and viola! I was surfin' the BBS's.
I think the point is that I have a "free" DVD player on my Windows box. Came with my DVD drive. It's fully licensed and legal. How come there isn't a Linux player available?
We need some good DMCA-type encryption and copy protection in the kernel. Perhaps Microsoft would volunteer to write that module? To prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future, every user should be get a passport ID to use their drivers. That'll fix it.
Has anyone else experienced voice mail systems are really well secured? At most of the jobs I've had as a contractor, I've noticed that the voice mail security systems were usually locked down pretty tightly.
These voice mail systems usually have minimum password lengths of 6 digits, and of course the password is all numeric, making it hard to remember if you try to use a relatively obscure one (rather than 1-2-3-4-5-6). Furthermore, they usually prevent you from using all the same digits, or the above sequence, and some of them even prevent you from using the same password more than once!
Ummm... it's VOICEMAIL. WTF? How secure does it need to be? Meanwhile, there are no such password restrictions on the network accounts.
Do any of you have super-important voice mail messages that must be protected at all costs? Makes me wonder if voice mail administrators have god-like delusions of grandeur, just like Windows SA's (and I use the term lightly).
The point: Most readers will trade off accuracy for someone who's openly in their philosophical or political corner.
Ummm... Does The Daily Show count?
Oh I remember those....
but when I was a lad, the big thing was typing in pages and pages and pages of numbers that was byte code for games out of Compute! Gazzette magazine.
Strip readers, bah!
I'd like to know why as well. I've been involved with a Deloitte & Touche project for the last 3 years, responsible for validating and verifying their work.
This article is really creepy because they're doing the exact same things, today, that are mentioned in this article in the failing project I'm involved with now.
Luckily, we've brought in a new set of consultants and we're preparing to clean up the mess.
I think the point is that this is a study by a couple of guys that can most likely be considered "unbiased" since, well, since there isn't really any money to be made by supporting P2P file sharing.
/. readers are certainly biased... just making the (obvious) point that there's a reason why what appears to be an unbiased study is pounced on by the readers here.
Most other studies that show the P2P is hurting CD sales are put out by folks that are either paid by the record industry or can be otherwise deemed uncredible.
Oh, and
Actually, if you were deterred from being an astronaut because of Challenger, then it's probably for the best. No offense, but to be an astronaut you gotta have some huge nuts (so to speak) to ride those flying bombs up to orbit.
What a great job, but you know... it's probably full of meetings and paperwork and boring-ass busy work most of the time, just like all the rest of us.
Dude, this stuff is happening Live, as you see it. The fact that they've had time to let other scientists peer review their work, even at the highest levels, is pretty cool. There will be plenty of peer review going on over the next many years, but for now I think the Mars Rover science teams are going out of their way to make sure they are only reporting what they believe they can prove. None of them has stated that there was life on mars, they're just reporting the facts as they see them.
I'll bet you they'd be willing to debate the facts with you if you had credentials to match your statements above.
For now, this is a pretty big deal and one step towards making us wonder seriously if there was life on mars.
This is purely a press release, nothing more. First rule, if you see ticker symbols referenced in a news item, you may want to double-check your sources. Ahh... vaporware. How many of you are ready to purchase this product now... umm.. without software! Anyone?
The technical term you are searching for is "fascism."
Introduction to Fascism
Here's a link to Ed Lu's notes from when he was on the space station. He has some great essays about life on the ISS including some notes on taking photos of earth, exercise, life in zero-g, etc. Some of it is very basic if you've got a Physics degree, but for the rest of us it's fun writing and he has a friendly writing style.
For the more on-topic note, check out letter #2, flying. Gives a good basic explanation of how propulsion works in zero-g and could give the layman (like me) a basic understanding of his proposal.
A coupon for what? Penis enlargement? Mmm, hmm.. you know you'd take it if it was offered. You've always wondered if they work, not matter what Penn and Teller say, especially if it was free.
Well, the problem here is that Timothy Roberts is a scumbag. He could have written a nice note to Kyle, who would probably have responded, "too bad, so sad. You're a scumbag and I'm not changing anything."
Mr. Roberts is just using lawyers to do his bitching and moaning so he can be perceived as some sort of threat and Kyle is just kickin' it right back at him. I say, way to go.
If you bring lawyers into the fight you'd better be right, kind of like pulling a knife in a barroom scuffle. You'd better be prepared to cut or be cut when you start going down that road.
I'm sick and tired of hearing the standard response from everyone in today's society is, "I'll sue you!" Kyle is fighting this and I'll back him up with a donation or three when the time comes.
It's a press conference, nothing more. I think they're doing a good job scientifically, but now they're in "budget mode" and really working on getting funding for some more missions.
So, what better way than to push out some press releases, have a big press conference, follow up with more press releases and voila! Funding for the next couple of decades of Mars missions!
Of course, I'm all for it. Bring back some Mars fossils!
Is it just me or is anyone else getting tired of hearing what music each rover "wakes-up" to as reported on by nasa each day on the NASA Rover Status Page?
It was cute the first few times, but now it's just getting insipid as these engineers try desperately to link the day's work with the title of some song.
Ok guys, we all know you have gigs of MP3s and you're all really cool. Now, why not just start every rover morning with Also Sprach Zarathustra?
I don't download music or movies from the internet, but I'll be damned if I'm going to buy the revised edition on DVD.
I propose a massive download party for all nerds to get a copy of a spliced edition that the parent refers to and make a statement to George in doing so.
I don't like stealing movies in general but this would be more of a "nerd political statement" then anything else. We want the original movies, that we know and love from our childhoods, including the fact that Han was a hard-ass smuggler and blasted Greedo before Greedo could blast him first.
Weak sales of the DVD release and ubiquitous downloads of a "nerd approved" splice job would be a fun way to make our point. With cheap DVD burners available now, we can all have the movies we want. I also hearby proclaim that I'll purchase the original movies on DVD when they are made available.
Unless of course he wins the lawsuit and has a big payday. A guy in a sharp suit driving a ferrari will score more ladies then a well-hung dork driving a chevette.
I suspect they had to rush this device to market. Besides, I know plenty of people who work at Dell and they're not the most creative corporate drones around. Business-savy, for sure, but creative? Naaaah.
They're trying to break out a new business model and of course there's going to be hiccups along the way. Woe to the buyers of the 1.0 device. If Apple keeps rolling in the revenues with iPods, you can bet that the competition will continue to revise and redesign as long as there's money to be made.
But you know that Apple Computer makes computers now, don't you? They planted their meme in your brain.
You: 0 Apple: 1
All very good points although if your tinfoil hat was properly sized you'd realize the ultimate goal of DRM is to be prevalent and generally accepted, and then to make it mandatory.
First it's part of the dominant media players (like it is in WMP now).
Then, content providers start providing content with DRM restrictions.
Next, the 3rd party players start including DRM so that their users can enjoy the DRM'd content and so they don't lose market share to the DRM-enabled media players.
Finally, since DRM is so prevalent, laws are passed to require DRM in all content.
Of course, the next logical step would be to outlaw tinfoil hats and then we're all doomed.
Oh yeah:
6. Profit!