Nothing more annoying than searching for a product, BUYING said product, and then for weeks/months later being shown ads for said product that I no longer have an interest in... BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY GOT ONE, YOU SEE?!?!"/French accent
I havent seen it in a while, but for a while we kept having issues with some implementations of Exchange refusing email based on our perfectly valid SPF records. The problem only occurred if we had both SPF AND SenderID (M$' so called "SPF 2.0") records for our domain. If we deleted our SPF records and only left the SenderID record, the mail would be delivered.
Way to go Microsoft in taking a perfectly good standard and deciding its not QUITE good enough and muddying the waters with your own crap.
(Still want one after seeing a similar setup on a former boss' cabin cruiser. kinda cool to remove the bit of removable countertop that plugged the hole and just drop the pitcher onto the base. No messing with the motor, plugging it in, etc. and motor storage was the best part... it was permanently in what would have been dead space under the counter.)
And on a side note - if the computer recording your cameras is in a place where a 3 year old can access it, this computer will probably be the very first thing stolen - so i think you are making this crap up.
Nobody said Grandpa was smart or thought his cunning plan through... LOL
yep. I can see that happening again... and coincidentally I just finished firing off an email to an up and coming IP camera and managed wifi vendor that provides free NVR and WAP controller software... too bad none of their "server" software installs as a service. So not even a CHANCE of hiding it from little hands. (unless you want to jump through a bunch of hoops to force it into service mode)
And in this case all the kid would have had to do was THREE clicks to log grandpa's PC off. (thus shutting down the NVR... DOH!)
Meh. I could buy a comparable Linksys for about the same cost, so not necessarily true.
I still have some bad blood with my inlaws relating to Belkin. I tried to assist them with setting up a home file sharing network on brand new belkin gear across the board (usb wifi adapters, router, etc) After two hours of work I could never get it to work right. I noticed odd things, including only two bars of signal on one PC even though the router was 15' away on the other side of a wall. I advised them to replace the gear as that was the problem. They didnt believe me when I told them.
Then next weekend they were making snide comments about how my 15 years of experience was useless because they got it running later. They apparently talked pretty harshly about me because their kids who were too young to pick up on the subtleties of social interaction started making rather derisive comments to my face about how bad of a computer guy I am. (they were too young to care about it in general and were obviously trying to )
The very NEXT weekend I was there and noticed all new linksys gear... Sure enough, simply replacing the Belkin crap made all of my settings work. But in their eyes, I failed and they were gods.
...Hotair.com aka mouthpiece of the most delusional of fringe republicans.
So? If its factually accurate, who the fark cares? If Hitler said "the sky is blue and the grass is green" does it make his statement any less factual?
(Im a Libertarian so dont start pointing fingers too quickly)
ITs about damn time we started talking standards. We should also talk vote verification too...
Ive always said the best voting solution, and the only way to guarantee accurate results with electronic ballots is to use a blind serialized receipt system. For example:
When you insert the scantron form into the reader, push the buttons on the fully electronic machine, etc. it should show the votes registered and give you the chance to protest a machine error. (circled the box for Obama but Romney showed on the screen, etc.). You then approve the final and correct ballot to be submitted to the public record and it spits out the unique serial number of your vote on a recept, timestamped with all pertinent info like the machine serial, etc (which is all recorded in the official count log). Days later you would be able to verify what votes were cast (anonymously of course) by serial number. That would prove that your vote was indeed counted.*
You could also possibly look for fraud in the timestamps as well (a sudden flurry of near-simultaneous votes for candidate X within seconds of each other from the same machine, etc.) Statisticians should LOVE that. Imagine being able to get voter stats not only by precinct, but time of day, etc. hell, not that it does any good, but by individual machine too!
In my precincts we use the scantron forms. We fill in the circles and then walk up to a big scanner and feed it to the machine to be counted. The best verification I get as to whether my vote was cast is to watch the simple LCD on the scanner "total ballots cast" display increment by one after I feed the form. I have no idea if my votes were cast as intended, just that it registered my form as being accepted. Not real reassuring overall.
*On a related note, the other day I got a mailer from an obviously strongly Libertarian group... something about being for smaller govt, I dont recall the exact organization name. They showed an audit of sorts of votes in my immediate vicinity. It was the voter name, street address and name, and if they voted in 2008, 2010, and 2012(curiously, since they all said essentially "not yet" for that year... duh.). For 2010 There was my name and address with a "NO" under vote cast. I distinctly recall voting in that election. Hmmmmm... (the 2008 entry was correct)
Not that Im overly concerned since I cant verify it wasnt a ploy of some sort, but it is slightly unnerving since there was nothing on the mailer enticing me to call, email, donate, etc. Just a "FYI, Here's a voting record for your address and several of your neighbors around you for the past several elections. Dont forget to vote. Thank you."
Keeping info private on Facebook is like living in a dorm with no locks on the doors that go from the hallway to the rooms, and you are only allowed to lock or unlock your own windows.
You can bar your dorm room window, wall it up with bricks, etc. But every so often an RA comes around and quietly unlocks it again without saying anything. On top of that, your lazy neighbors dont bother locking THEIR windows. EVER.
What happens is eventually some prick climbs through either your window you THOUGHT was locked, or even worse, your neighbor's window. Next thing you know your "stuff" is missing because the burglar just went from the neighbor's unlocked window, through his room, and through your interior door.
Dont like it? then move out of the dorm. thats the only answer to security. Sure you dont get a cool place to hang out with your freinds, keep in touch, etc. but your "stuff" is safe.
Case in point: Two days after attending a Gary Johnson rally and subsequently planting one of his signs in my yard that night, my extended family came over for an event. As I am helping Mom carry stuff in (past the sign) This exchange occurs: "Gary Johnson? Who's that?" "The Libertarian candidate for President, mom." "Never heard of him." /CSB
The 15% is a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. How can you get 15% if you dont debate? If you dont have 15% you cant debate. o_O
/that is unless you accept corp donations that tie your hands and create obligations to special interests, etc. //oh, wait, thats how our corrupt system works. Silly me.
Small world! Thanks for linking to my company's youtube channel. LOL
(for some reason we dont have the "are you protected" on our channel or I would have posted from there. I know for a fact I encoded it...hmmmm need to talk to the marketing folks about that...)
Dont forget you also need AC in the dead of winter. So if you DONT have a dedicated AC unit in the room, you will find it VERY hostile in the room when your shared cooling source goes from cool to heat, and instead of it removing heat from the room, it dumps more in. o_O
Also, dont skimp on a clean agent fire supression system. the last thing you want is a water based sprinkler system in the room flooding the equipment with water when a fire starts. If you have a fire and you have a water based system, the equipment is a total write-off. If its protected by a clean agent system, anything not touched by the fire/heat will be fine. so if you have a trashcan in the room and somebody accidentally puts a cigarette into it, the sprinkler system would destroy the equipment across the room even though it was nowhere near the flames. If a clean agent system fires, you can be in the room again within hours and the equipment is fine.
here is a cool example. Dated, but cool. This shows a real world demo of a fire in a data room and what happens when both types of suppression systems go off. The fun starts at about the 30 second mark. http://youtu.be/0WelmCXtsyI
Take your current 8 TB of backed up data (which is on redundant drives you said), store them in your mom's basement...
If he is on/. odds are that is where the live drives are already sitting... right next to his stacks of comic books, gaming mags, and empty pizza boxes. Down the hall in the closet is not exactly offsite if you ask me.
Oh, and dont forget that most of the portable fire safes rely on being INSIDE a fireproof file cabinet to be effective in protecting data devices.
So as long as you own one of those special 4 drawer filing cabinets that weighs 500lbs because the voids in between the steel walls are filled with concrete, you are good. All you have to do is to remember to always keep your drives in the portable safe, and the portable always stored in the cabinet.:\
I use a SageTV server that works BEAUTIFULLY. $100 media extenders allow me to stream to them live AND recorded shows. I can watch as many live shows and timeshift on as many TVs with media extenders as I have TV tuners installed in the server. In my case, all free, OTA HD receivers.
I would suggest you look into it, but thanks to Google buying them out, the software is no longer for sale.
While the bone they threw us of allowing those of us 1 version back to upgrade for free to the final release, I find it annoying they didnt also turn loose the media extender licenses required to connect more STBs to the server. Hell, I just wish Google would have continued to sell the product. I have two TVs I would love to bring onboard but I cant because I cant buy more licenses!
The only upside is my assumption is that GoogleTV will get better with improvements using technology SageTV developed. Then again this could simply be a power grab to essentially shut down competition by buying them out and shelving the technology like the holy grail in a government warehouse.
It's worse than that. Imagine the enhanced DRM this would enable. "Sorry, We have detected more than the allotted number of audience members. Your account has been charged $9.99 per extra viewer."
Or: "Sorry. John Q Public rented this video. You appear to be his wife, Sally V Public. If you wish to view this video John must be present or you must rent it again."
Once for the subscription and once again for the fucking ads? One of cable TVs big "draws" in the early days was "no commercials..." That didn't last.
I hear ya. Same for Satellite radio. Bought my first new car with one two months back and I was quite surprised to hear commercials on the non-native channels (Fox, CNN, etc).
Even more annoying was that they appeared to be the same 5 damned UBER obnoxious ones over and over. Hell, the most obnoxious one was for one of the native Sirius channels that I expect doesnt get much listenership. (I dont recall the channel but it was VERY niche... ) While they love to tout the fact that you can listen to the same station cross country without losing it, they make it so you dont WANT to listen to it cross country...
Aren't people who make false claims supposed to go to jail?
Aren't people in government who seize things without cause, or who deny timely prosecution supposed to go to jail?
The double standards in our justice system make me sick. You or I pull this shit and we get a fine and/or contempt of court. Big business/big media pulls this crap and its no biggie.
On a related note... See rich/famous people who "...Is expected to start [his/her] sentence in 3 weeks for [insert nonviolent federal crime here] after being convicted 6 months ago."
Money is power, power is money. You or I get nailed for something and we get thrown in the slammer on the spot, maybe get bond that we can afford, maybe not. Later after the trial, at sentencing we are handcuffed and remanded to custody on the spot. Famous and/or rich person gets nicked for the same/similarly bad (sometimes worse) offense, and because of who they are, they are granted a delayed sentence.
They wont delay my sentence because I am the only qualified staff member to finish a project for my private employer, but if LiLo has some contract to sign autographs at a car dealership in 3 weeks, do a playboy shoot, etc she can have all the time she needs to fulfill *HER* obligations.
In context, I have always seen patent trolls portrayed as non-practicing entities- do nothing companies that sit on and exploit patents for monetary gain. While we can argue that Honeywell is cynically exploiting its patents for monetary gain, it's certainly not a non-practicing entity. They're a huge manufacturer, a leader in their field. They just happen to be using any means to help protect their market share.
Normally I would agree. However they have been enforcing a petty "its round. your thermostat cant be round. ours was round first, so therefore we win." tack for the last 20+ years. Even though the shape was used to facilitate a circular spring mechanism that similar round solid state devices didnt exhibit.
So simply by being round, AND NOT CONTAINING THE UBER IMPORTANT VIAL FULL OF MERCURY ATTACHED TO THE SPRING you are still in violation. 0.o
While they arent trolls in the traditional sense, they are still pretty trolltastic based on the "prior art" of their behavior.
FTA: "...Through a lawsuit, the company might seek to force GPS vendors to make their receivers filter out LightSquared's frequencies, the Journal said..."
Seriously? I would love to hear from this idiot how he proposes to do this for existing units. Horses, barn doors, yadda yadda... I'm no EE/RF guy, but I'm sure its a bit more than simple software patches to the units. And I'll be DAMNED if I have to go buy another unit just because "his" part of the spectrum isnt quite up to par with what he wants to do with it.
Somebody needs a good cockpunch to remind him that while its often disappointing that you cant achieve your goal due to outside forces, sometimes those forces are just plain beyond your control and you need to move on instead of lawyering up and being a dickhead about it.
When they announced the "new lower* prices on downloads!" based on the popularity of music, I kinda wondered how long it would take a company to get nailed for something like this.
IF you recall when they announced this new variable price model, All tracks were $.99. They said they would lower the cost of "most" (yeah right) tracks as low as $.69. Also some tracks would stay the same, and a few hot/trending tracks would increase "slightly" to $1.29 (since when was 29% "slightly"?)
Most artists see a spike in purchases postmortem as fans reminisce and realize they dont have their fave tracks and now want to listen to them due to the increased publicity. As I recall when Jackson died, the week following his death, he sold millions of tracks. Im actually surprised nobody did this price spike at that time. (maybe it was before the variable pricing model? I dont recall.)
I actually wondered to myself how long it would take a label to take one of those low to original priced artist tracks and bump them to premium since they knew the purchases would spike?
I guess we now know....
In my effort to show how the government can essentially force consumers to buy new gear because the old crap will stop working, I confused my spectrums. (I was also discussing the new deployments of "Super WiFi" with my coworkers so that probably had a bit of an effect)
My depest heartfelt apologies. Apparently I offended your superior intellect(s). I'll be in the corner commiting hara-kiri for such an aggregious mistake./snark
The point was that there is precedent in forcing a technology offline. Not that its practical in this instance, but its been done before.
...Expecting millions of GPS users to upgrade their GPS receivers just because LS wants to repurpose an existing band for a new use is ridiculous...
Sure they can; they already did that. How do you think this spectrum came open in the first place? They forced consumers that were still using old TVs to receive analog TV signals to buy new equipment.
I really dont see this requirement as anything different. The only difference I see is the majority of the last lot of impacted consumers were mainly low income that couldnt really fight the change, whereas this class of impacted consumers are likely to be more well off and connected as they obviously have the disposable income to buy shiny gizmos like GPS units, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
"I already bought this shit. GTFO!"
Nothing more annoying than searching for a product, BUYING said product, and then for weeks/months later being shown ads for said product that I no longer have an interest in... BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY GOT ONE, YOU SEE?!?!" /French accent
I havent seen it in a while, but for a while we kept having issues with some implementations of Exchange refusing email based on our perfectly valid SPF records. The problem only occurred if we had both SPF AND SenderID (M$' so called "SPF 2.0") records for our domain. If we deleted our SPF records and only left the SenderID record, the mail would be delivered.
Way to go Microsoft in taking a perfectly good standard and deciding its not QUITE good enough and muddying the waters with your own crap.
On a related note they do have a pro model that the motor base is mounted UNDER your counter. (think permanent install)
Nice, but sorry, $650 is a ripoff. I dont care if it can shit tiffany cufflinks. I just want to make a smoothie.
http://www.blendtec.com/products/professional_series
(Still want one after seeing a similar setup on a former boss' cabin cruiser. kinda cool to remove the bit of removable countertop that plugged the hole and just drop the pitcher onto the base. No messing with the motor, plugging it in, etc. and motor storage was the best part... it was permanently in what would have been dead space under the counter.)
And on a side note - if the computer recording your cameras is in a place where a 3 year old can access it, this computer will probably be the very first thing stolen - so i think you are making this crap up.
Nobody said Grandpa was smart or thought his cunning plan through... LOL
yep. I can see that happening again... and coincidentally I just finished firing off an email to an up and coming IP camera and managed wifi vendor that provides free NVR and WAP controller software... too bad none of their "server" software installs as a service. So not even a CHANCE of hiding it from little hands. (unless you want to jump through a bunch of hoops to force it into service mode)
And in this case all the kid would have had to do was THREE clicks to log grandpa's PC off. (thus shutting down the NVR... DOH!)
Wow Sardaukar86, you have your very own personal troll. Were can I buy one?
(reposted, because I forgot to login)
No good consumer router on the market? Are you MAD?
Total cost for these buggers? $99. Warning, they are on backorder with all the distributors until roughly middle of Feb.
Oh, and you're welcome.
I swear by this company's gear. They have their annoyances of announcing product before they should, but its solid stuff.
They keep pricing low because they purposefully don't spend cash on advertising. They get their best promotions via word of mouth like this.
Meh. I could buy a comparable Linksys for about the same cost, so not necessarily true.
I still have some bad blood with my inlaws relating to Belkin. I tried to assist them with setting up a home file sharing network on brand new belkin gear across the board (usb wifi adapters, router, etc) After two hours of work I could never get it to work right. I noticed odd things, including only two bars of signal on one PC even though the router was 15' away on the other side of a wall. I advised them to replace the gear as that was the problem. They didnt believe me when I told them.
Then next weekend they were making snide comments about how my 15 years of experience was useless because they got it running later. They apparently talked pretty harshly about me because their kids who were too young to pick up on the subtleties of social interaction started making rather derisive comments to my face about how bad of a computer guy I am. (they were too young to care about it in general and were obviously trying to )
The very NEXT weekend I was there and noticed all new linksys gear... Sure enough, simply replacing the Belkin crap made all of my settings work. But in their eyes, I failed and they were gods.
...Hotair.com aka mouthpiece of the most delusional of fringe republicans.
So? If its factually accurate, who the fark cares? If Hitler said "the sky is blue and the grass is green" does it make his statement any less factual?
(Im a Libertarian so dont start pointing fingers too quickly)
ITs about damn time we started talking standards. We should also talk vote verification too...
Ive always said the best voting solution, and the only way to guarantee accurate results with electronic ballots is to use a blind serialized receipt system. For example:
When you insert the scantron form into the reader, push the buttons on the fully electronic machine, etc. it should show the votes registered and give you the chance to protest a machine error. (circled the box for Obama but Romney showed on the screen, etc.). You then approve the final and correct ballot to be submitted to the public record and it spits out the unique serial number of your vote on a recept, timestamped with all pertinent info like the machine serial, etc (which is all recorded in the official count log). Days later you would be able to verify what votes were cast (anonymously of course) by serial number. That would prove that your vote was indeed counted.*
You could also possibly look for fraud in the timestamps as well (a sudden flurry of near-simultaneous votes for candidate X within seconds of each other from the same machine, etc.) Statisticians should LOVE that. Imagine being able to get voter stats not only by precinct, but time of day, etc. hell, not that it does any good, but by individual machine too!
In my precincts we use the scantron forms. We fill in the circles and then walk up to a big scanner and feed it to the machine to be counted. The best verification I get as to whether my vote was cast is to watch the simple LCD on the scanner "total ballots cast" display increment by one after I feed the form. I have no idea if my votes were cast as intended, just that it registered my form as being accepted. Not real reassuring overall.
*On a related note, the other day I got a mailer from an obviously strongly Libertarian group... something about being for smaller govt, I dont recall the exact organization name. They showed an audit of sorts of votes in my immediate vicinity. It was the voter name, street address and name, and if they voted in 2008, 2010, and 2012(curiously, since they all said essentially "not yet" for that year... duh.). For 2010 There was my name and address with a "NO" under vote cast. I distinctly recall voting in that election. Hmmmmm... (the 2008 entry was correct)
Not that Im overly concerned since I cant verify it wasnt a ploy of some sort, but it is slightly unnerving since there was nothing on the mailer enticing me to call, email, donate, etc. Just a "FYI, Here's a voting record for your address and several of your neighbors around you for the past several elections. Dont forget to vote. Thank you."
Keeping info private on Facebook is like living in a dorm with no locks on the doors that go from the hallway to the rooms, and you are only allowed to lock or unlock your own windows.
You can bar your dorm room window, wall it up with bricks, etc. But every so often an RA comes around and quietly unlocks it again without saying anything. On top of that, your lazy neighbors dont bother locking THEIR windows. EVER.
What happens is eventually some prick climbs through either your window you THOUGHT was locked, or even worse, your neighbor's window. Next thing you know your "stuff" is missing because the burglar just went from the neighbor's unlocked window, through his room, and through your interior door.
Dont like it? then move out of the dorm. thats the only answer to security. Sure you dont get a cool place to hang out with your freinds, keep in touch, etc. but your "stuff" is safe.
.... You are not in debates = you don't exist....
Case in point: Two days after attending a Gary Johnson rally and subsequently planting one of his signs in my yard that night, my extended family came over for an event. As I am helping Mom carry stuff in (past the sign) This exchange occurs:
/CSB
"Gary Johnson? Who's that?"
"The Libertarian candidate for President, mom."
"Never heard of him."
The 15% is a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. How can you get 15% if you dont debate? If you dont have 15% you cant debate. o_O
Small world! Thanks for linking to my company's youtube channel. LOL
(for some reason we dont have the "are you protected" on our channel or I would have posted from there. I know for a fact I encoded it...hmmmm need to talk to the marketing folks about that...)
Dont forget you also need AC in the dead of winter. So if you DONT have a dedicated AC unit in the room, you will find it VERY hostile in the room when your shared cooling source goes from cool to heat, and instead of it removing heat from the room, it dumps more in. o_O
Also, dont skimp on a clean agent fire supression system. the last thing you want is a water based sprinkler system in the room flooding the equipment with water when a fire starts. If you have a fire and you have a water based system, the equipment is a total write-off. If its protected by a clean agent system, anything not touched by the fire/heat will be fine. so if you have a trashcan in the room and somebody accidentally puts a cigarette into it, the sprinkler system would destroy the equipment across the room even though it was nowhere near the flames. If a clean agent system fires, you can be in the room again within hours and the equipment is fine.
here is a cool example. Dated, but cool. This shows a real world demo of a fire in a data room and what happens when both types of suppression systems go off.
The fun starts at about the 30 second mark.
http://youtu.be/0WelmCXtsyI
Take your current 8 TB of backed up data (which is on redundant drives you said), store them in your mom's basement...
If he is on /. odds are that is where the live drives are already sitting... right next to his stacks of comic books, gaming mags, and empty pizza boxes. Down the hall in the closet is not exactly offsite if you ask me.
Oh, and dont forget that most of the portable fire safes rely on being INSIDE a fireproof file cabinet to be effective in protecting data devices.
So as long as you own one of those special 4 drawer filing cabinets that weighs 500lbs because the voids in between the steel walls are filled with concrete, you are good. All you have to do is to remember to always keep your drives in the portable safe, and the portable always stored in the cabinet. :\
I still wouldnt bet my data on it.
I use a SageTV server that works BEAUTIFULLY. $100 media extenders allow me to stream to them live AND recorded shows. I can watch as many live shows and timeshift on as many TVs with media extenders as I have TV tuners installed in the server. In my case, all free, OTA HD receivers.
I would suggest you look into it, but thanks to Google buying them out, the software is no longer for sale.
While the bone they threw us of allowing those of us 1 version back to upgrade for free to the final release, I find it annoying they didnt also turn loose the media extender licenses required to connect more STBs to the server. Hell, I just wish Google would have continued to sell the product. I have two TVs I would love to bring onboard but I cant because I cant buy more licenses!
The only upside is my assumption is that GoogleTV will get better with improvements using technology SageTV developed. Then again this could simply be a power grab to essentially shut down competition by buying them out and shelving the technology like the holy grail in a government warehouse.
It's worse than that. Imagine the enhanced DRM this would enable. "Sorry, We have detected more than the allotted number of audience members. Your account has been charged $9.99 per extra viewer."
Or:
"Sorry. John Q Public rented this video. You appear to be his wife, Sally V Public. If you wish to view this video John must be present or you must rent it again."
Once for the subscription and once again for the fucking ads? One of cable TVs big "draws" in the early days was "no commercials..." That didn't last.
I hear ya. Same for Satellite radio. Bought my first new car with one two months back and I was quite surprised to hear commercials on the non-native channels (Fox, CNN, etc).
Even more annoying was that they appeared to be the same 5 damned UBER obnoxious ones over and over. Hell, the most obnoxious one was for one of the native Sirius channels that I expect doesnt get much listenership. (I dont recall the channel but it was VERY niche... ) While they love to tout the fact that you can listen to the same station cross country without losing it, they make it so you dont WANT to listen to it cross country...
Aren't people who make false claims supposed to go to jail?
Aren't people in government who seize things without cause, or who deny timely prosecution supposed to go to jail?
The double standards in our justice system make me sick. You or I pull this shit and we get a fine and/or contempt of court. Big business/big media pulls this crap and its no biggie.
On a related note... See rich/famous people who "...Is expected to start [his/her] sentence in 3 weeks for [insert nonviolent federal crime here] after being convicted 6 months ago."
Money is power, power is money. You or I get nailed for something and we get thrown in the slammer on the spot, maybe get bond that we can afford, maybe not. Later after the trial, at sentencing we are handcuffed and remanded to custody on the spot. Famous and/or rich person gets nicked for the same/similarly bad (sometimes worse) offense, and because of who they are, they are granted a delayed sentence.
They wont delay my sentence because I am the only qualified staff member to finish a project for my private employer, but if LiLo has some contract to sign autographs at a car dealership in 3 weeks, do a playboy shoot, etc she can have all the time she needs to fulfill *HER* obligations.
In context, I have always seen patent trolls portrayed as non-practicing entities- do nothing companies that sit on and exploit patents for monetary gain. While we can argue that Honeywell is cynically exploiting its patents for monetary gain, it's certainly not a non-practicing entity. They're a huge manufacturer, a leader in their field. They just happen to be using any means to help protect their market share.
Normally I would agree. However they have been enforcing a petty "its round. your thermostat cant be round. ours was round first, so therefore we win." tack for the last 20+ years. Even though the shape was used to facilitate a circular spring mechanism that similar round solid state devices didnt exhibit.
So simply by being round, AND NOT CONTAINING THE UBER IMPORTANT VIAL FULL OF MERCURY ATTACHED TO THE SPRING you are still in violation. 0.o
While they arent trolls in the traditional sense, they are still pretty trolltastic based on the "prior art" of their behavior.
FTA: "...Through a lawsuit, the company might seek to force GPS vendors to make their receivers filter out LightSquared's frequencies, the Journal said..."
Seriously? I would love to hear from this idiot how he proposes to do this for existing units. Horses, barn doors, yadda yadda... I'm no EE/RF guy, but I'm sure its a bit more than simple software patches to the units. And I'll be DAMNED if I have to go buy another unit just because "his" part of the spectrum isnt quite up to par with what he wants to do with it.
Somebody needs a good cockpunch to remind him that while its often disappointing that you cant achieve your goal due to outside forces, sometimes those forces are just plain beyond your control and you need to move on instead of lawyering up and being a dickhead about it.
When they announced the "new lower* prices on downloads!" based on the popularity of music, I kinda wondered how long it would take a company to get nailed for something like this.
IF you recall when they announced this new variable price model, All tracks were $.99. They said they would lower the cost of "most" (yeah right) tracks as low as $.69. Also some tracks would stay the same, and a few hot/trending tracks would increase "slightly" to $1.29 (since when was 29% "slightly"?)
Most artists see a spike in purchases postmortem as fans reminisce and realize they dont have their fave tracks and now want to listen to them due to the increased publicity. As I recall when Jackson died, the week following his death, he sold millions of tracks. Im actually surprised nobody did this price spike at that time. (maybe it was before the variable pricing model? I dont recall.)
I actually wondered to myself how long it would take a label to take one of those low to original priced artist tracks and bump them to premium since they knew the purchases would spike?
I guess we now know....
In my effort to show how the government can essentially force consumers to buy new gear because the old crap will stop working, I confused my spectrums. (I was also discussing the new deployments of "Super WiFi" with my coworkers so that probably had a bit of an effect)
My depest heartfelt apologies. Apparently I offended your superior intellect(s). I'll be in the corner commiting hara-kiri for such an aggregious mistake. /snark
The point was that there is precedent in forcing a technology offline. Not that its practical in this instance, but its been done before.
...Expecting millions of GPS users to upgrade their GPS receivers just because LS wants to repurpose an existing band for a new use is ridiculous...
Sure they can; they already did that. How do you think this spectrum came open in the first place? They forced consumers that were still using old TVs to receive analog TV signals to buy new equipment.
I really dont see this requirement as anything different. The only difference I see is the majority of the last lot of impacted consumers were mainly low income that couldnt really fight the change, whereas this class of impacted consumers are likely to be more well off and connected as they obviously have the disposable income to buy shiny gizmos like GPS units, etc.