Hook your Lego Mindstorm box up to the internet, attach a small LCD screen, and program it to check autopr0n periodically. Then it could drive around and find you to alert you to freshly-posted pr0n! YES!
Finally, that sultry CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour can encode her reports and put them up on Gnutella via satellite connection as soon as she gets back to her run-down Kabul hotel! YES! Suck on that, Fox News!:)
Greed. That's all there is to it. All those biotech IPOs tell us that genetics research could be highly lucrative. When money enters into the equation, scientists are often driven more by profits than the good they could be doing for mankind.
And that's what's happening here. There's very little difference between proprietary software and "closed-source" science. Both put profits before progress.
Despite the dubious value of this little enterprise, there is one solution that would appease the fears of all the paranoid security people out there: Open source. If any random C-literate individual is concerned about the keylogging capabilities of the system, he can just check the source code and see that it's just keys_pressed++; inside a loop.
The people who run this really ought to consider opening the source, otherwise privacy concerns could cause their project to fail.
I knew a long time ago that distributed computing would truly make a difference in humanity's quest for knowledge. But I would never have imagined that we would be able to count and analyze keystroke data from users around the world. It is truly a great day for science!:p
Blatant sarcasm aside, this is moderately interesting. Any chances we'll see a linux client?
But seriously, a fully functional WINE 1.0 would be a huge boon to current Linux users, and it may even bring in a few converts who want to use Linux exclusively but need quality Counterstrike action without rebooting into Windows.
The problem is that even with access to the amazing library of Free Software in addition to the Windows apps that WINE would provide, Linux is still not sufficiently user-friendly. My mother's head would explode if she were to peek into/etc.
Based on the Lindows review, we may be heading in the right direction. But if Linux is really going to take over the desktop, it's going to take more than being able to launch MS Word from xterm.
The title of the article seemed to suggest that this tool was for people, and you're also making that assumption. But look realistically: anyone who uses linux these days probably has a fairly good knowledge of computers. They'll know to back up their important data and be prepared to reinstall from a CD if something goes horribly awry.
Come on, people. It's okay to condescend to people who use windows or AOL, but must we condescend to Linux users, too?
It's absolutely absurd. Most major tours these days are absurdly overpriced. A friend of mine went to see U2 on their last tour. $60 for nosebleeders here in Lexington, KY. Sick, sick, sick.
Solution:
Drop the pyrotechnics. It doesn't make the music any better.
Improve the music so that people will come to the shows for something other than the pyrotechnics.
These are fairly obvious points. Companies that are not prepared to take advantage of new competitive outlets will obviously try to stifle them.
On the other hand, they're very good points. Current copyright law is so bloated, ambiguous, and restrictive, that I think we are in real danger of stifling future creative and technical endeavours. Take Lindows OS. Merging Windows software selection with Linux would be a beautiful thing. But one bullshit copyright suit later, the whole thing starts looking very unlikely.
Oh well, we certainly wouldn't want consumers to get confused.:)
There's a difference between trying to innovate the commercial OS market and being slapped with a big, juicy subpoena. Don't blame the Lindows people here.
Only a few million more miles until the onboard computer malfunctions and that trippy space sequence starts!
Paramount gets it right.
on
Star Trek TNG DVDs
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Having screwed up quite a bit in the past, it's good to see Paramount getting their act together with this boxed set. I guess they're just trying to make up for Enterprise.
Ten years ago, relatively few people knew how to operate a computer, and they were more expensive. A generation from now, almost everyone will know how to use a computer and they will be even more accessible than they are today.
The "digital divide" will clear itself up. Computers are not really as ubiquitous as people tend to think , especially in low-income areas. That will change though. Until then, I think we have better things to worry about than getting internet access to John Q. Welfare and his kids.
I got a dreamcast this summer and I have to say I played it more than my PS2, despite awesome PS2 titles like Twisted Metal: Black (quite awesome) and NBA Street (also pretty good).
Mars Matrix is awesome if you like old-school top-down shooters. Then there's the UFC game. You can pick it up and just beat the hell out of your friends, but it's a pretty deep game.
I found ICO a little underwhelming. The graphics are beautiful and the character animations were very impressive, but the gameplay just sort of dragged along for me.
Slashdot Mirror
Hook your Lego Mindstorm box up to the internet, attach a small LCD screen, and program it to check autopr0n periodically. Then it could drive around and find you to alert you to freshly-posted pr0n! YES!
The plural of "virus" is "viruses". "virii" is just an incorrect extension of the -us -> -ii plural marking you see in words like "cactus".
You read too much Ayn Rand.
Finally, that sultry CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour can encode her reports and put them up on Gnutella via satellite connection as soon as she gets back to her run-down Kabul hotel! YES! Suck on that, Fox News! :)
Greed. That's all there is to it. All those biotech IPOs tell us that genetics research could be highly lucrative. When money enters into the equation, scientists are often driven more by profits than the good they could be doing for mankind.
And that's what's happening here. There's very little difference between proprietary software and "closed-source" science. Both put profits before progress.
When are organizations going to learn that people who don't understand technology shouldn't be making decisions about that technology.
Maybe after a few hundred more NASA disasters, botched software projects, and total-idiot pieces of legislation, people will figure that out.
But that's a big maybe.
Despite the dubious value of this little enterprise, there is one solution that would appease the fears of all the paranoid security people out there: Open source. If any random C-literate individual is concerned about the keylogging capabilities of the system, he can just check the source code and see that it's just keys_pressed++; inside a loop.
The people who run this really ought to consider opening the source, otherwise privacy concerns could cause their project to fail.
I knew a long time ago that distributed computing would truly make a difference in humanity's quest for knowledge. But I would never have imagined that we would be able to count and analyze keystroke data from users around the world. It is truly a great day for science! :p
Blatant sarcasm aside, this is moderately interesting. Any chances we'll see a linux client?
My own recursive acronym!!
But seriously, a fully functional WINE 1.0 would be a huge boon to current Linux users, and it may even bring in a few converts who want to use Linux exclusively but need quality Counterstrike action without rebooting into Windows.
The problem is that even with access to the amazing library of Free Software in addition to the Windows apps that WINE would provide, Linux is still not sufficiently user-friendly. My mother's head would explode if she were to peek into /etc.
Based on the Lindows review, we may be heading in the right direction. But if Linux is really going to take over the desktop, it's going to take more than being able to launch MS Word from xterm.
The title of the article seemed to suggest that this tool was for people, and you're also making that assumption. But look realistically: anyone who uses linux these days probably has a fairly good knowledge of computers. They'll know to back up their important data and be prepared to reinstall from a CD if something goes horribly awry.
Come on, people. It's okay to condescend to people who use windows or AOL, but must we condescend to Linux users, too?
It's absolutely absurd. Most major tours these days are absurdly overpriced. A friend of mine went to see U2 on their last tour. $60 for nosebleeders here in Lexington, KY. Sick, sick, sick.
Solution:
Heh heh.
These are fairly obvious points. Companies that are not prepared to take advantage of new competitive outlets will obviously try to stifle them.
On the other hand, they're very good points. Current copyright law is so bloated, ambiguous, and restrictive, that I think we are in real danger of stifling future creative and technical endeavours. Take Lindows OS. Merging Windows software selection with Linux would be a beautiful thing. But one bullshit copyright suit later, the whole thing starts looking very unlikely.
Oh well, we certainly wouldn't want consumers to get confused. :)
Tivo and saved games on the same hard drive? I can see it now:
"You recorded over my Halo saved games with... TRL?!? AAARGH!"
*sigh*
There's a difference between trying to innovate the commercial OS market and being slapped with a big, juicy subpoena. Don't blame the Lindows people here.
Yeah, those sheilds constantly remodulate themselves. I don't think any amount of buckshot will be able to get through.
Perhaps a well-placed, penguin-shaped missile would work?
Only a few million more miles until the onboard computer malfunctions and that trippy space sequence starts!
Having screwed up quite a bit in the past, it's good to see Paramount getting their act together with this boxed set. I guess they're just trying to make up for Enterprise.
I didn't know your could specify /usr/bin/StarOffice as your shell. Cool. :)
Think: bash is gnu, gcc is gnu. These things are pretty fundamental things to a Linux system, so why not acknowledge that in the name?
Ten years ago, relatively few people knew how to operate a computer, and they were more expensive. A generation from now, almost everyone will know how to use a computer and they will be even more accessible than they are today.
The "digital divide" will clear itself up. Computers are not really as ubiquitous as people tend to think , especially in low-income areas. That will change though. Until then, I think we have better things to worry about than getting internet access to John Q. Welfare and his kids.
- Zach.
I'd love to see you get anything done with a nice, fresh Linux kernel and no GNU tools. :)
I got a dreamcast this summer and I have to say I played it more than my PS2, despite awesome PS2 titles like Twisted Metal: Black (quite awesome) and NBA Street (also pretty good). Mars Matrix is awesome if you like old-school top-down shooters. Then there's the UFC game. You can pick it up and just beat the hell out of your friends, but it's a pretty deep game.
I found ICO a little underwhelming. The graphics are beautiful and the character animations were very impressive, but the gameplay just sort of dragged along for me.