And then the human police go-out and drag him back to jail, and the prosecutor uses the camera as evidence in court.
Hmmm. Let's see what the tape shows...
Oh, the crime was committed by someone in droopy jeans and a black hoodie , wearing a baseball cap at a 45 degree angle over top of the hood.
That'll narrow down the suspect list....
I'm sure some drama queen will come along to correct me, but I doubt any of Microsoft's customers had Windows forced on them.
Y'ever tried to buy a computer at any mass-market retailer without Windows?
Either they tell you that it's not possible, or they accuse you of planning on pirating Windows.
It's not "gun-to-the-head" forcing, but for the general public, it's just as effective.
Your guess would be wrong.
Can't get viruses? Can't crash? Obviously not. No computer can ever be invulnerable to these things.
But, in my experience, Linux/BSD/MacOS has that kind of problem several orders of magnitude less than any version of Windows that I've dealt with.
(Which includes the one on my brother's computer that I re-installed last weekend, due to it having several dozen malware infestations on it *again*.)
Yeah, having >90% market share on desktops has been a disaster for them.
It has been a disaster for their customers, and for the people who have to keep it "just working" (which does include quite a large number of Microsoft employees).
A little more detail would actually make the article more news worthy for/. Not just "ZOMG they made a l337 radioz and talked to space men." Details please, we aren't retarded.
Maybe we aren't, but the general public (for whom TFA was written) are probably quite impressed that someone who isn't a professional space radio engineer can actually do something like this.
Which is kind of sad.
Too many people have forgotten that making something with your own 2 hands is extremely rewarding, and not that daunting. Most seem to want to consume mass quantities of whatever the magic box tells them they need.
That's what it took me in a 50KW AM transmitter (though it was a best-case scenario replacement).
Lower power and lower freqs than you deal with. No tuned cavities down here in KHz land.
AM transmitters are dead simple compared to the toys you TV guys play with.
And, yes, I have seen what kind of a mess a 10KW tube can make during catastrophic failure. It's still probably easier, cheaper, and quicker to deal with than a similar failure in an equivalent power solid state transmitter.
The television is an entertainment device, nothing more.
*snip*
Is there something else about television that I am forgetting?
There's no way the government wants to be responsible for depriving the masses of their "bread and circuses".
Imagine what might happen if the people actually started paying attention to what the government is doing.
I have no idea what the real efficiency of a TV transmitter is, but if it were 80% input to ERP you get about 4.5 GW of energy used to keep running ATV.
Given that a TV transmitter is mostly just a huge power amplifier, and in my experience most of the higher powered ones contain at least a couple of tubes*, I'd be surprised if the efficiency got over 50%
As a matter of fact, it looks like it's lower than that. Take a look and do your own math.
* Why tubes in this day and age?
They are a proven reliable way of amplifying up to 100s of kilowatts. Transistor amplifiers get very complex even as low as 10KW (the biggest solid state transmitter I've personally worked on). And when they fail it usually takes out dozens, if not hundreds of components. Replacing a pair of final amplifier tubes, and maybe a capacitor after a lightning strike can get you back on the air in an hour or 2.
Caller ID?
Oh, right. That feature that my telephone company wants me to pay extra for...
How about the telco refuses to pass calls with invalid caller ID numbers?
I've also seen an increase in the usual scam calls recently, and it seems to be pretty evenly spread across all the phones I answer (home, 3 cell, 1 listed work and 1 unlisted work number). Only the home number is on the DNC list.
I think it's a combination of effects. Perhaps a handful of scammers going online simultaneously, wardialling, and teh DNC list being abused.
And, really, is anyone surprised that someone who is already doing something illegal (telephone scams) wouldn't illegaly use the DNC list?
I would expect (hope even) that it's against policy to run *any* software on government computers that hasn't been given a greenlight from the IT department.
Time limited licenses are already the way of business applications. Companies don't "arbitrarily" lose access to the tools. If they allow the license to expire, they can't use it anymore. It isn't like one day they suddenly have no access anymore.
Unless the permission update fails for some reason other than non-payment. This happened at the radio station I used to work for.
The software that created the daily schedule for all on-air events (called the "log" by the on-air staff) would not update and refused to allow us to create about 2 weeks worth of logs. The vendor had to fly in and do some voodo to restore everything.
Meanwhile we had to go back to creating paper logs (photocopier, liquid paper, and typewriter) for a couple of weeks.
At the next contract renewal time, we told them where they could stuff their software, and moved to another vendor who didn't have time bombs built into their software.
And you say you prefer to own your data? No shit? Are you implying that somehow this new version of windows is going to steal your data and give you access only when it wants?
If the application that is locked to that proprietary file format won't let you in, you've lost access to your data. Isn't that functionally the same as not having that data any more?
Of course 8-tracks were writable.
My parents still listen to some of their 8-track mix tapes.
Keeping their players working isn't too hard, though head alignment is a bit of a pain.
Also stage lighting and architectural lighting is being done increasingly with LEDs.
For the usual reasons. Less power, almost infinite lifespan, easily changed colors.
3. Given the high velocities - what will happen when they fly apart? Also, the gyroscopic effects they generate while spinning.
For a stationary plant, have it spin horizontally, and build it underground. If it does suffer a catastrophic failure, loss of life and damage to surrounding infrastructure should be minimal
Nah, the earth was destroyed as a beurocratic expediency. It was in the way of a hyperspace bypass, so it had to be demolished. Much like Arthur's house was in the way of a highway bypass, and had to be demolished.
Nothing personal. It's just in the way, you see.
When I encounter this type of argument, I ask them if they have ever volunteered for anything?
Why would you give away your labor/time for nothing? Isn't your time and skills worth something? Were you expecting something in return? Were you trying to scam them?
Why can't people get their heads around volunteer computer programmers?
Right now it is used to find terrorists, but this technology can be used in reverse. Flashing images of the president and the national flag, anyone don't respond positively get singled out...
Which would identify foreigners and people who voted for the other guy.
If it even works.
Slashdot Mirror
And then the human police go-out and drag him back to jail, and the prosecutor uses the camera as evidence in court.
Hmmm. Let's see what the tape shows...
Oh, the crime was committed by someone in droopy jeans and a black hoodie , wearing a baseball cap at a 45 degree angle over top of the hood.
That'll narrow down the suspect list....
Linux servers have to be constantly patched to protect them because they can and do fall victim to specifically targeted attacks
And that differs from Windows machines how?
I'm sure some drama queen will come along to correct me, but I doubt any of Microsoft's customers had Windows forced on them.
Y'ever tried to buy a computer at any mass-market retailer without Windows?
Either they tell you that it's not possible, or they accuse you of planning on pirating Windows.
It's not "gun-to-the-head" forcing, but for the general public, it's just as effective.
Your guess would be wrong.
Can't get viruses? Can't crash? Obviously not. No computer can ever be invulnerable to these things.
But, in my experience, Linux/BSD/MacOS has that kind of problem several orders of magnitude less than any version of Windows that I've dealt with.
(Which includes the one on my brother's computer that I re-installed last weekend, due to it having several dozen malware infestations on it *again*.)
Yeah, having >90% market share on desktops has been a disaster for them.
It has been a disaster for their customers, and for the people who have to keep it "just working" (which does include quite a large number of Microsoft employees).
A little more detail would actually make the article more news worthy for /. Not just "ZOMG they made a l337 radioz and talked to space men." Details please, we aren't retarded.
Maybe we aren't, but the general public (for whom TFA was written) are probably quite impressed that someone who isn't a professional space radio engineer can actually do something like this.
Which is kind of sad.
Too many people have forgotten that making something with your own 2 hands is extremely rewarding, and not that daunting. Most seem to want to consume mass quantities of whatever the magic box tells them they need.
That's what it took me in a 50KW AM transmitter (though it was a best-case scenario replacement).
Lower power and lower freqs than you deal with. No tuned cavities down here in KHz land.
AM transmitters are dead simple compared to the toys you TV guys play with.
And, yes, I have seen what kind of a mess a 10KW tube can make during catastrophic failure. It's still probably easier, cheaper, and quicker to deal with than a similar failure in an equivalent power solid state transmitter.
The television is an entertainment device, nothing more.
*snip*
Is there something else about television that I am forgetting?
There's no way the government wants to be responsible for depriving the masses of their "bread and circuses".
Imagine what might happen if the people actually started paying attention to what the government is doing.
I have no idea what the real efficiency of a TV transmitter is, but if it were 80% input to ERP you get about 4.5 GW of energy used to keep running ATV.
Given that a TV transmitter is mostly just a huge power amplifier, and in my experience most of the higher powered ones contain at least a couple of tubes*, I'd be surprised if the efficiency got over 50%
As a matter of fact, it looks like it's lower than that. Take a look and do your own math.
* Why tubes in this day and age?
They are a proven reliable way of amplifying up to 100s of kilowatts. Transistor amplifiers get very complex even as low as 10KW (the biggest solid state transmitter I've personally worked on). And when they fail it usually takes out dozens, if not hundreds of components. Replacing a pair of final amplifier tubes, and maybe a capacitor after a lightning strike can get you back on the air in an hour or 2.
Except I've been bench pressing my kids for years.
It's ok as long as you starr when they're small.
Caller ID?
Oh, right. That feature that my telephone company wants me to pay extra for...
How about the telco refuses to pass calls with invalid caller ID numbers?
I've also seen an increase in the usual scam calls recently, and it seems to be pretty evenly spread across all the phones I answer (home, 3 cell, 1 listed work and 1 unlisted work number). Only the home number is on the DNC list.
I think it's a combination of effects. Perhaps a handful of scammers going online simultaneously, wardialling, and teh DNC list being abused.
And, really, is anyone surprised that someone who is already doing something illegal (telephone scams) wouldn't illegaly use the DNC list?
I would expect (hope even) that it's against policy to run *any* software on government computers that hasn't been given a greenlight from the IT department.
Time limited licenses are already the way of business applications. Companies don't "arbitrarily" lose access to the tools. If they allow the license to expire, they can't use it anymore. It isn't like one day they suddenly have no access anymore.
Unless the permission update fails for some reason other than non-payment. This happened at the radio station I used to work for.
The software that created the daily schedule for all on-air events (called the "log" by the on-air staff) would not update and refused to allow us to create about 2 weeks worth of logs. The vendor had to fly in and do some voodo to restore everything. Meanwhile we had to go back to creating paper logs (photocopier, liquid paper, and typewriter) for a couple of weeks.
At the next contract renewal time, we told them where they could stuff their software, and moved to another vendor who didn't have time bombs built into their software.
And you say you prefer to own your data? No shit? Are you implying that somehow this new version of windows is going to steal your data and give you access only when it wants?
If the application that is locked to that proprietary file format won't let you in, you've lost access to your data. Isn't that functionally the same as not having that data any more?
Of course 8-tracks were writable.
My parents still listen to some of their 8-track mix tapes.
Keeping their players working isn't too hard, though head alignment is a bit of a pain.
Also stage lighting and architectural lighting is being done increasingly with LEDs.
For the usual reasons. Less power, almost infinite lifespan, easily changed colors.
3. Given the high velocities - what will happen when they fly apart? Also, the gyroscopic effects they generate while spinning.
For a stationary plant, have it spin horizontally, and build it underground.
If it does suffer a catastrophic failure, loss of life and damage to surrounding infrastructure should be minimal
You could do something like this.
(Edison seemed to have extraordinary luck in beating his competitors to the patent office).
Well, he did work there for a time. I'm sure he developed a good understanding of how the system worked. And how it could be made to work.
Didn't he order the destruction of Earth
Nah, the earth was destroyed as a beurocratic expediency. It was in the way of a hyperspace bypass, so it had to be demolished. Much like Arthur's house was in the way of a highway bypass, and had to be demolished.
Nothing personal. It's just in the way, you see.
dammit like this
stupid html...
it looks like this
That high quality American car
I'm sorry, but you lost me right there...
Why would you give away your labor/time for nothing?
Isn't your time and skills worth something?
Were you expecting something in return?
Were you trying to scam them?
Why can't people get their heads around volunteer computer programmers?
Right now it is used to find terrorists, but this technology can be used in reverse. Flashing images of the president and the national flag, anyone don't respond positively get singled out...
Which would identify foreigners and people who voted for the other guy.
If it even works.