While you are partly correct, if MS were to add full CSS and PNG support into IE7, then there would at least be a light at the end of the tunnel. Although IE6 took time to proliferate, it is now one of the most widely used browsers. Without a new version of IE, there wasn't any chance that all those IE users out there would get a standards compliant browser without having to switch.
Besides, with the increasing focus on security and MS' efforts to get updates to users (Window's Update being on by default for example), IE7 might spread faster than its predecessors which required a separate download and install.
I've been using Net2Phone's Communicator (desktop based VOIP service) for awhile now and I've been pretty happy with it. They recently removed the adverts that were contained in the desktop which had been my primary annoyance (since the service costs money, essentially, you are paying to see their adverts).
I have run into problems occasionally where it will give a largely useless error stating they are having "Technical Difficulty" and can't place your call. Annoyingly, it seems to do this both when you mistype a phone number and when it is a problem on their end, so its difficult to guess where the problem is.
I also rely on Skype's PC to Phone service a good deal, particularly since it is a good deal cheaper than Net2Phone. Unfortunately, it has problems with NATs, so some (such as my girlfriend, with whom I talk the most) will have difficultly. Consequently, we're unable to use the free PC to PC service, which would probably save us lots of money.
In my experience, no one service is completely reliable (and none close to the reliability of a landline), so its good to have a backup in case one fails.
It is funny how these type of stories come up now and then because, for awhile now, I've been really set on the idea of a Grim Fandango movie. I can't think of any game which could more readily translated onto the big screen. Even as a video game it still boasted an incredibly well developed story with a wonderful atmosphere and stellar voice acting.
My dream? Pixar doing Grim Fandango. Something like that would, in my mind, help make up for all the Tomb Raiders and Mortal Combats.
I'd suggest you take a look at some of the material PBS has online, such as complete streaming episodes of Frontline, Commanding Heights, Washington Week, and a variety of other shows. Yes, this is a bit of a way from having their entire catalog online, but its still progress.
Besides, so many of the shows on PBS are produced by member stations (as are the majority of NPR shows) that its understandable that some would be more interested in having their work online while others haven't yet jumped onto richer web-based content.
And regarding NPR taking taxpayer money... goodness, do we have to go into this again?
Thank you for posting this, I was about to write one along the same lines myself. I've been using OE for about three years now and I've never gotten a virus. Granted, I am not an average user, but still, as long as you are careful its not too hard to remain safe using OE, and be happy doing so.
I had been using NS 4.7 for web and mail, but switched to IE and OE since I didn't feel like Mozilla was ready for primetime. Since then, I now use Firebird but I don't feel that Thunderbird has reached the same level. Once it does, will I switch? Probably, but until then I'll use OE.
Now would I recommend OE to a novice user? (see sig) Of course not. That is why my neophyte friend uses Mozilla for her email and doesn't notice a difference.
I am currently working in a Senate office, and I would have to say that using a webform is inherently a good thing. Basically, when you submit a message through our webform, it all goes into a database which we can search, sort, and manage in a multitude of ways. Like any database, this has a number of advantages. Since no one has to actually go through each and every email to identify the topic/individual position/ect, it frees up staff time for actually responding to constituents. The office in which I work is unique in that we respond to all messages from constituents (even the hundreds of form messages we get every week). This also allows us to tie emails with other messages, whether they be faxes or via post. Another poster pointed this out too, but it also gives it a way for us to get an idea of the global outlook on what people are concerned with, while with standard email this would be difficult since the formatting of the information would not be standardized.
However, I don't agree with the complexity that has been built into the Whitehouse form (though I wasn't able to see it, I have a good idea of the difficulties) and I also think that asking whether you agree or disagree with the Whitehouse position is a rather blunt screening method with rather obvious potential for abuse.
Lastly, it was mentioned that such a database could be used for as a campaign tool, this runs exceedingly against ethics rules and would be severely punished. The separation of campaign activities and official business is very strict, and deviation from these rules brings harsh results. Remember when Clinton allegedly used phones in the Whitehouse for campaign related work? Even as interns, there was a great effort to make sure we understood the rules to the letter.
Tiny computers running Windows are not a good idea, when I get upset at them there isn't anything to prevent me from throwing them out a real window...
(to quoteth my brother)
Re:Frontline ran a story about this a while back
on
Cable TV Ruins Bhutan
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
This was recently reran on my local station, and to be honest, I found it nearly painful to watch. As an individual who finds little redeeming qualities in TV beyond PBS, it was quite sad to see such a community that was doing quite well without the negative influences suddenly have to face a new reality. Although I feel TV has its potential, particularly in the realm of education (hence my favor for PBS) or as an avenue to facilitate political or social change, exporting WWE (or whatever its called now) to the world is hardly the most beneficial aspect of our increasingly interconnected world.
Also, here is the link, well, linked: Frontline: World Also, it has the actual video on the site, as most recent Frontline episodes are, and is worth watching.
Also, for those who have never seen Frontline, or Frontline: World for that matter, I highly recommend it as one of the last bastions of extremely high quality programming, particularly in the realm of journalism which has been so much under assault by the need to have a story make money rather than inform.
The problem with Linux is that it's an open source system, so if you are having issues or difficulties with its stability, it's like pushing on a rope; there's no single vendor to deal with.
I was going to comment on that too. Frankly, I'd rather have my choice of Red Hat, HP, IBM, etc... than no good choices (i. e. Microsoft).
I would have to agree with the other reply to the parent, AIM gets a lot of spam as well. Pretty much any client you use will give you that, name of the game unfortunately. However, with ICQ, I just set it so only people on my contact list can message me. Of course then I get spammers asking me to add them to my contact list (never stop do they...), but thats only a few times a week, if that. And its far less intrusive then getting spam messages.
Also, its not as if AIM hasn't has its share of security problems. Even then, however, AOL controls both ICQ and AIM. If there are security problems intigrating the two, its their own fault and they have the power to fix them. Its not as if they'd have to go to Microsoft and get them to fix a security hole between their client and AOL's.
CNet also has also taken a look at it. Check out their news release or the preview/review, 7 out of 10 if you don't feel like clicking. (and I'm maxed out in karma... so don't start;) )
But what I really want to know, is if AOL will ever wake the heck up and integrate AIM and ICQ. This may not seem relevant, but from the CNet article:
Even better: this AIM version lets you log on to the ICQ network so that you can talk with ICQ pals, too. Unfortunately, you'll have to log out of one IM to access the other; there's no three-way chatting with friends from the two IM networks.
Now I understand why AOL might not want to integrate with MSN, Yahoo, and the like. But they control both the software development and infrastructure for both AIM and ICQ. Is it simply due to lack of effort that they won't integrate the two? (A little off-topic yes, but since NS7 is/will be just Mozilla 1.0, the parent not really all that interesting news-wise.)
GM must have struck a deal with the producers. The majority of the cars shown are GM, including the new CTS (silver one, gets blown up unfortunately... I coulda gone for one of those) and the cops are Chevrolet Impalas. I think the car flipping over onto the CTS is an Olds, not 100% sure though and I'm not sure about the overturned SVU (don't much care for SUVs...).
Sorry, this is what happens when you are a car guy.;) </mindless babble>
I've heard good things about the film, and hopefully it will get to a screen near me. I would also highly recommend, if your interested in documentaries about the real story, Nova's excellent "Breaking the Code."
Its really amazing some of the details that people never hear about breaking the Enigma code. One quick fact/story that I remember (obviously paraphrased and correct me if I make any errors, its been a bit since I last saw it): One of the first versions of the Enigma code that the British were able to crack, was the Luftwaffe code. How? To set up the machine to decode the enigma code, you needed to base the rotors off a three letter unencrypted sequence and another three letters that were encrypted. Unfortunately for the Germans, the operators got lazy all too often. If the first three letters were HIL, any guess what the next three encrypted were? Yup, TER, spelling out "Hitler." Other operators would use their names or their girlfriend's. It wasn't that the code was flawed, it took the German operators, inadvertently of course, to help the British break their own enigma.
Its in many ways analogous to the great majority of system problems now, open ports, unpatched software, etc. Any system can be nearly perfect, until you add a human to run it.;-)
The data for each experiment was equivalent to 35 times the information available in the Library of Congress.
In terms of what, raw total of the number of bytes? Frankly that's a pretty arbitrary distinction, I didn't know that the entire content of the Library of Congress was so well broken down into its "true" essence.
I would also have to echo the comments from several other posters, couldn't they use thing for something more beneficial? And, yes, I am well aware of the spin-off effect that often happens in military techinology, but it's still a question I have to ask.
Erm, I should have been more specific, sorry. I think its little more than a probable rumor right now, but its a book not a movie, that would be the prequel to Hunt (in that it came before chronologically and stars Jack Ryan). Amazon has a good listing with a description. Ooook, seems the Ruskies are gunning for the Pope in this one. Not to be blunt/crass or anything, but if John Paul II dies in the next year or so, this could have rather bad timing, kinda like if Executive Orders came out last August.
"could you annotate any scene with more than 'this is perfect?'"
I definitely see your point, and I agree that its probably easier to make a good commentary track for a bad film, yet I would have liked to learned more from the Seven Samurai commentary. Just reading some of the notes over at IMDB on Seven Samurai or the single on Rashomon (which I had been waiting for the Criterion version to be released, haven't had a chance to peruse the special features though), there are all these juicy tidbits that made, what could have been a good film, in to the amazing films we see now.
That said, I'll be going back and listening to the Seven Samurai commentary, its been awhile since I last listened to it and its probably worth another look.
Its not that hard, pretty much the sequence of events goes backwords... well, save some parts, and the action in each scene which goes in a linear fashion throughout the narrative that... erm, ow.../me grabs head in pain
Umm... I'm not sure if your being sarcastic or not, but I'll assume your not.:) Read more about the film at UpcomingMovies.com, the trailer is also over at Quicktime.com Shockingly enough, it doesn't look like it will be horrible, though I could think of other Clancy books I'd rather see made into movies (Cardinal of the Kremlin for instance, and the new Hunt for Red October thats supposed to be in the works).
It really depends on a lot of factors whether a commentary track will be good or not. One the DVD of my favorite movies, Seven Samurai, has a commentary track by an "expert" on Kurosawa. Sounds interesting, no? Well... its just like the example you mentioned. "Here we see a scene with horses silhouetted against the sky." A minute or two later, "Kurosowa did that often." (obviously paraphrased) And it goes on and on like this for at least the first 30 minutes when I just turned it off and watched the film.
Now, quite ironically, the best commentary track I've ever listened to was also on a Criterion DVD but of a vastly different caliber of film, Michael Bay's Armageddon. If you rent/buy it, (frankly I wouldn't recommend the film by itself but the extras make up for it) I highly suggest you listen to the commentary. Its got great tidbits from Bay about the making of such a huge scale feature, from an ex-NASA guy who talks about the "facts" of the film (one of the greatest lines, "now this just couldn't happen in real life"), and others.
Its really hard to make a great commentary track, and you can never really tell what movie will have a good one and what won't. Another example, both Mel Brooks commentaries/movies, Spaceballs: boring commentary track, like a voice track for the blind; Young Frankenstein: hilarious, like Armageddon, worth listening to.
I'm not sure if this has been said or not (I didn't see any posts, but I might have missed one.) so I'll say it anyway.
How much will this report will really matter? In the average consumer sector, where the PR rating was really intended for (to combat the perceived performance vs. megahertz gab with Intel), they probably will never see or hear about this report.
Its not going to have much effect in that case, but even in the business sector, what's the chance it will make a difference? AMD has been working on building a business end to their products for awhile now, and I doubt that this would make much of a difference to those efforts. Most if the people that would be in the marked for an AMD from that area ought to know about the PR and likewise would be more likely too actually look at reviews/benchmarks/etc than base all their decisions off of what really amounts to just hype, which this report, and notably enough, the AMD PR rating both are. Though perhaps I'm giving business buyers too much credit...
Slashdot Mirror
Linux: Creating .NET C# Applications for Linux
And tune in tomorrow for our feature on how to mount a Vespa motorbike engine in your Ferrari.
While you are partly correct, if MS were to add full CSS and PNG support into IE7, then there would at least be a light at the end of the tunnel. Although IE6 took time to proliferate, it is now one of the most widely used browsers. Without a new version of IE, there wasn't any chance that all those IE users out there would get a standards compliant browser without having to switch.
Besides, with the increasing focus on security and MS' efforts to get updates to users (Window's Update being on by default for example), IE7 might spread faster than its predecessors which required a separate download and install.
I've been using Net2Phone's Communicator (desktop based VOIP service) for awhile now and I've been pretty happy with it. They recently removed the adverts that were contained in the desktop which had been my primary annoyance (since the service costs money, essentially, you are paying to see their adverts).
I have run into problems occasionally where it will give a largely useless error stating they are having "Technical Difficulty" and can't place your call. Annoyingly, it seems to do this both when you mistype a phone number and when it is a problem on their end, so its difficult to guess where the problem is.
I also rely on Skype's PC to Phone service a good deal, particularly since it is a good deal cheaper than Net2Phone. Unfortunately, it has problems with NATs, so some (such as my girlfriend, with whom I talk the most) will have difficultly. Consequently, we're unable to use the free PC to PC service, which would probably save us lots of money.
In my experience, no one service is completely reliable (and none close to the reliability of a landline), so its good to have a backup in case one fails.
It is funny how these type of stories come up now and then because, for awhile now, I've been really set on the idea of a Grim Fandango movie. I can't think of any game which could more readily translated onto the big screen. Even as a video game it still boasted an incredibly well developed story with a wonderful atmosphere and stellar voice acting.
My dream? Pixar doing Grim Fandango. Something like that would, in my mind, help make up for all the Tomb Raiders and Mortal Combats.
Oh for goodness sake... this has been in my sig for months! And for that matter, its been around for years before that!
p g
http://www.instinctdesign.com/work/humor/anykey.j
I'd suggest you take a look at some of the material PBS has online, such as complete streaming episodes of Frontline, Commanding Heights, Washington Week, and a variety of other shows. Yes, this is a bit of a way from having their entire catalog online, but its still progress.
Besides, so many of the shows on PBS are produced by member stations (as are the majority of NPR shows) that its understandable that some would be more interested in having their work online while others haven't yet jumped onto richer web-based content.
And regarding NPR taking taxpayer money... goodness, do we have to go into this again?
Thank you for posting this, I was about to write one along the same lines myself. I've been using OE for about three years now and I've never gotten a virus. Granted, I am not an average user, but still, as long as you are careful its not too hard to remain safe using OE, and be happy doing so.
I had been using NS 4.7 for web and mail, but switched to IE and OE since I didn't feel like Mozilla was ready for primetime. Since then, I now use Firebird but I don't feel that Thunderbird has reached the same level. Once it does, will I switch? Probably, but until then I'll use OE.
Now would I recommend OE to a novice user? (see sig) Of course not. That is why my neophyte friend uses Mozilla for her email and doesn't notice a difference.
If anyone thinks this is a remarkable change from the current standard, take a look at the list of contacting information for Senators on senate.gov. Very few of those actually give an email address, and instead send you to a webform.
I am currently working in a Senate office, and I would have to say that using a webform is inherently a good thing. Basically, when you submit a message through our webform, it all goes into a database which we can search, sort, and manage in a multitude of ways. Like any database, this has a number of advantages. Since no one has to actually go through each and every email to identify the topic/individual position/ect, it frees up staff time for actually responding to constituents. The office in which I work is unique in that we respond to all messages from constituents (even the hundreds of form messages we get every week). This also allows us to tie emails with other messages, whether they be faxes or via post. Another poster pointed this out too, but it also gives it a way for us to get an idea of the global outlook on what people are concerned with, while with standard email this would be difficult since the formatting of the information would not be standardized.
However, I don't agree with the complexity that has been built into the Whitehouse form (though I wasn't able to see it, I have a good idea of the difficulties) and I also think that asking whether you agree or disagree with the Whitehouse position is a rather blunt screening method with rather obvious potential for abuse.
Lastly, it was mentioned that such a database could be used for as a campaign tool, this runs exceedingly against ethics rules and would be severely punished. The separation of campaign activities and official business is very strict, and deviation from these rules brings harsh results. Remember when Clinton allegedly used phones in the Whitehouse for campaign related work? Even as interns, there was a great effort to make sure we understood the rules to the letter.
Tiny computers running Windows are not a good idea, when I get upset at them there isn't anything to prevent me from throwing them out a real window...
(to quoteth my brother)
This was recently reran on my local station, and to be honest, I found it nearly painful to watch. As an individual who finds little redeeming qualities in TV beyond PBS, it was quite sad to see such a community that was doing quite well without the negative influences suddenly have to face a new reality. Although I feel TV has its potential, particularly in the realm of education (hence my favor for PBS) or as an avenue to facilitate political or social change, exporting WWE (or whatever its called now) to the world is hardly the most beneficial aspect of our increasingly interconnected world.
Also, here is the link, well, linked: Frontline: World Also, it has the actual video on the site, as most recent Frontline episodes are, and is worth watching.
Also, for those who have never seen Frontline, or Frontline: World for that matter, I highly recommend it as one of the last bastions of extremely high quality programming, particularly in the realm of journalism which has been so much under assault by the need to have a story make money rather than inform.
There are a couple of reviews of Generals out. This review from Gamespot gave it a 8.9 of 10. Not too bad.
The other bionic eye alluded to in the title is this article from Wired and its accompanying Slashdot post. Excellent read if you missed it.
:P
(And no, I don't need the karma, its stuck on... "yahoo, you're not 100% useless 'round here" or something...)
I would have to agree with the other reply to the parent, AIM gets a lot of spam as well. Pretty much any client you use will give you that, name of the game unfortunately. However, with ICQ, I just set it so only people on my contact list can message me. Of course then I get spammers asking me to add them to my contact list (never stop do they...), but thats only a few times a week, if that. And its far less intrusive then getting spam messages.
Also, its not as if AIM hasn't has its share of security problems. Even then, however, AOL controls both ICQ and AIM. If there are security problems intigrating the two, its their own fault and they have the power to fix them. Its not as if they'd have to go to Microsoft and get them to fix a security hole between their client and AOL's.
But what I really want to know, is if AOL will ever wake the heck up and integrate AIM and ICQ. This may not seem relevant, but from the CNet article: Now I understand why AOL might not want to integrate with MSN, Yahoo, and the like. But they control both the software development and infrastructure for both AIM and ICQ. Is it simply due to lack of effort that they won't integrate the two? (A little off-topic yes, but since NS7 is/will be just Mozilla 1.0, the parent not really all that interesting news-wise.)
GM must have struck a deal with the producers. The majority of the cars shown are GM, including the new CTS (silver one, gets blown up unfortunately... I coulda gone for one of those) and the cops are Chevrolet Impalas. I think the car flipping over onto the CTS is an Olds, not 100% sure though and I'm not sure about the overturned SVU (don't much care for SUVs...).
;) </mindless babble>
Sorry, this is what happens when you are a car guy.
"HIL" Ok, yes... heh, messed up that one. You get the point anyhow. :P
I've heard good things about the film, and hopefully it will get to a screen near me. I would also highly recommend, if your interested in documentaries about the real story, Nova's excellent "Breaking the Code."
;-)
Its really amazing some of the details that people never hear about breaking the Enigma code. One quick fact/story that I remember (obviously paraphrased and correct me if I make any errors, its been a bit since I last saw it): One of the first versions of the Enigma code that the British were able to crack, was the Luftwaffe code. How? To set up the machine to decode the enigma code, you needed to base the rotors off a three letter unencrypted sequence and another three letters that were encrypted. Unfortunately for the Germans, the operators got lazy all too often. If the first three letters were HIL, any guess what the next three encrypted were? Yup, TER, spelling out "Hitler." Other operators would use their names or their girlfriend's. It wasn't that the code was flawed, it took the German operators, inadvertently of course, to help the British break their own enigma.
Its in many ways analogous to the great majority of system problems now, open ports, unpatched software, etc. Any system can be nearly perfect, until you add a human to run it.
I would also have to echo the comments from several other posters, couldn't they use thing for something more beneficial? And, yes, I am well aware of the spin-off effect that often happens in military techinology, but it's still a question I have to ask.
Erm, I should have been more specific, sorry. I think its little more than a probable rumor right now, but its a book not a movie, that would be the prequel to Hunt (in that it came before chronologically and stars Jack Ryan). Amazon has a good listing with a description. Ooook, seems the Ruskies are gunning for the Pope in this one. Not to be blunt/crass or anything, but if John Paul II dies in the next year or so, this could have rather bad timing, kinda like if Executive Orders came out last August.
That said, I'll be going back and listening to the Seven Samurai commentary, its been awhile since I last listened to it and its probably worth another look.
Its not that hard, pretty much the sequence of events goes backwords... well, save some parts, and the action in each scene which goes in a linear fashion throughout the narrative that... erm, ow... /me grabs head in pain
Umm... I'm not sure if your being sarcastic or not, but I'll assume your not. :) Read more about the film at UpcomingMovies.com, the trailer is also over at Quicktime.com Shockingly enough, it doesn't look like it will be horrible, though I could think of other Clancy books I'd rather see made into movies (Cardinal of the Kremlin for instance, and the new Hunt for Red October thats supposed to be in the works).
It really depends on a lot of factors whether a commentary track will be good or not. One the DVD of my favorite movies, Seven Samurai, has a commentary track by an "expert" on Kurosawa. Sounds interesting, no? Well... its just like the example you mentioned. "Here we see a scene with horses silhouetted against the sky." A minute or two later, "Kurosowa did that often." (obviously paraphrased) And it goes on and on like this for at least the first 30 minutes when I just turned it off and watched the film.
Now, quite ironically, the best commentary track I've ever listened to was also on a Criterion DVD but of a vastly different caliber of film, Michael Bay's Armageddon. If you rent/buy it, (frankly I wouldn't recommend the film by itself but the extras make up for it) I highly suggest you listen to the commentary. Its got great tidbits from Bay about the making of such a huge scale feature, from an ex-NASA guy who talks about the "facts" of the film (one of the greatest lines, "now this just couldn't happen in real life"), and others.
Its really hard to make a great commentary track, and you can never really tell what movie will have a good one and what won't. Another example, both Mel Brooks commentaries/movies, Spaceballs: boring commentary track, like a voice track for the blind; Young Frankenstein: hilarious, like Armageddon, worth listening to.
I'm not sure if this has been said or not (I didn't see any posts, but I might have missed one.) so I'll say it anyway.
How much will this report will really matter? In the average consumer sector, where the PR rating was really intended for (to combat the perceived performance vs. megahertz gab with Intel), they probably will never see or hear about this report.
Its not going to have much effect in that case, but even in the business sector, what's the chance it will make a difference? AMD has been working on building a business end to their products for awhile now, and I doubt that this would make much of a difference to those efforts. Most if the people that would be in the marked for an AMD from that area ought to know about the PR and likewise would be more likely too actually look at reviews/benchmarks/etc than base all their decisions off of what really amounts to just hype, which this report, and notably enough, the AMD PR rating both are. Though perhaps I'm giving business buyers too much credit...