Re:$10/month from the cable company and you're don
on
The Trouble With TiVo
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· Score: 1
Because the HD DVR my cable company provides kind of sucks.
It's not like you're comparing apples and apples here. Sure, both record HD in the end, but the Tivo does it better, both in the sense of user experience during playback (no UI lag) and in the sense of having better guide data, recording options, and repeat handling for less duplicates recorded.
It's nice to eventually archive stuff off the IMAP server onto a local drive, but the database size isn't that much of a limitation. It's not like IMAP brings the whole thing down to your local drive at once, which is kind of the point. The idea is the data lives on the server, and the client provides a window to it. The only time you have to copy stuff down in bulk is for archiving or for offline use. Otherwise, the client caches as you go, often keeping headers and such around so it can add its own tags, flags, and whatnot to them, as well as for speed purposes.
Maybe this is an opportunity for a good open source porn filter that uses moderated but user-generated content, if such a thing doesn't already exist. In other words, rely on regular users to report the porn sites, then add them if they truly are porn. The key is to make the list totally transparent, and have some sort of sensible grievance program in case something does get added (or a domain gets transferred) and the site's not really porn. It'd take a ramp-up period, but you'd probably block sites roughly in order of their visibility, which is about what you'd want.
Open source can present a problem for locking it down, but it's nothing that appropriate use of permissions and perhaps a "heartbeat" report to parents (so that they know that it hasn't been shut down) won't largely solve.
And, I'd suggest, as policy, no other types of inappropriate content should be added. Blocking anything other than stuff that's demonstrably porn or erotica will invariably end up blocking free speech. If you can at least block the porn and do it well, there are some (parents, if not government) who will use it in favor of something that also blocks free speech, even if that means letting some questionably age-appropriate content through.
If you think about it, there's really a lot of social justification for such a thing, if only to present an alternative to using the bad kind that seem to operate on a politically conservative agenda and block sociopolitical speech.
This is a case of eBay overreacting, rather than some new binding interpretation of Leegin vs. PSKS. The Supreme Court decision doesn't somehow support a magic transfer of contract liability to the consumer, and it doesn't negate doctrine of First Sale. The only legal power it conferred was the power for the manufacturer to enforce the MSRP contract with the wholesaler, if they had one. Once the cows are out of the barn, though, they're out.
As for the IP case, applying it to the resale of a manual and packaging material is ludicrous, but there's nothing that says they have to let you use their ad copy and photographs, or use their trademarks for anything other than a nominative purpose (i.e. this is my Wham-O Frisbee).
Heh. Winger wasn't a bad band either (though Kip Winger is no great singer). Beavis and Butthead was pretty much singlehandedly responsible for the demise of their image. You lose a Winger, you gain a Zombie. I'm not sure it was a good tradeoff in the long run, musically, but at least we've gotten a couple of decent horror movies out of the deal.
You're right, there's definitely appeal in the musician crowd. I think that's true for a lot of very complex music. As for Rush's image, it's the same situation as Yes, ELP, etc. The demographic became the D&D crowd when finely-crafted music became unstylish. Watch -SLC Punk- sometime for an amusingly graphic example.
I'm a Rush fan, but there is a difference between well-known and popular. We all knew the kid who ate paste in school, too; that doesn't mean we liked him. Prog really fell out of favor in/after the 80s, and Rush was viewed as largely appealing to, well, dorks. They seem to have made quite a bit of a comeback in recent years.
It really depends. Your targets probably are small shops and startups, particularly if you have any real experience, unless you can find a position that touches the bulk of your skillset.
My own resume is about 5 years of programming, a year or so of build/release, and 6 years of QA, along with a lot of general IT and strategic skills. For a while, I had problems with dilution--I wasn't really in the programming space anymore, didn't have enough build/release to be more than junior there, and didn't have enough QA to make it a slam dunk to pay me at my overall experience level.
In my case, I went to software test automation, which synthesizes all these skills, and have done quite well in that space. But in addition, I regularly get hit up by startups who want to cover two or three hats with one person. Eventually, with enough experience, you'll be in demand if you can ride out those early years.
The trick, if you go that route, is you really need to be quite competent in everything you sell yourself as (or at least be able to inspire confidence until you can get to the man page or O'Reilly book). Otherwise, you're only really as marketable as your best skill. That's why it can just be a lot easier to concentrate on one thing. Of course, if that skill goes overseas or otherwise becomes obsolete in the local workforce, you're screwed.
Gears of War, GRAW (the other versions aren't the same game as the 360 version), Forza 2, PGR3, Dead Rising, Viva Pinata, Crackdown, Condemned
That'd do for a start. I consider all of those B+ or above titles, and I believe they're all exclusive at this point. They're a hell of a lot better than Sony's exclusives to date, though I'm sure that will eventually change.
Dear lord, don't accuse Jimmy Carter of the same ethical lapses as Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. Clinton blatantly lied, and Nixon's crimes are legendary. All Carter is guilty of is having the same urges as anyone else. He didn't -act- on them, which is key.
This creates an interesting issue if Microsoft ever ends up using GPLv3 stuff within the company. IIRC, giving GPL'd code to contractors (as opposed to employees) is considered distribution per the license. Essentially, Microsoft is risking blowing the 235 patents if they have Linux or other patent-contested software available on their internal network, assuming contractors have access to it. One download, and the patents extend to everyone per the license.
This is somewhat off-topic, but I honestly wonder if this will sharply limit the use of GPLv3 software in corporations. Seems like you'd have to vet every single piece of GPLv3 software you use against your patent portfolio to be comfortable, or force contractors to download all their own tools from an external source (which is kind of a nightmare if you're trying to keep everyone on the same version).
assume that windows was technologically backwards and couln't get on the internet. Would you then agree that Linux was less secure, because the possibility exists to hack it over the internet while that possibility does not exist for windows?
Yep, I would agree with that. Linux would be less secure, because it's hackable over wire, whereas your hypothetical GimpOS can only be hacked from the console. GimpOS may be considerably less capable in many ways, though, as is often the tradeoff.
Since when does accessibility not play into security?
Last time I surfed the domain name RFCs for my QA validation, I thought I recalled a relatively recent RFC that expanded domain naming out to any character (except, presumably, the dot separator).
"However, the individual octets of which DNS names consist are not limited to valid ASCII character codes. They are 8-bit bytes, and all values are allowed. Many applications, however, interpret them as ASCII characters."
Before that, underscore was definitely not a valid character in domains.
If you believe the advertising, one good choice might be the HP Officejet Pro L7680, at 1.5c and 6c a page for b/w and color respectively. I just purchased one of these and am quite happy with it.
How do you figure 10%? Cost per page on my Officejet Pro L7680 is advertised as 1.5c and 6c for b/w and color respectively. The best color laser I could find was advertised at something like 2c and 8c respectively.
Obviously, inkjet prices are all over the place, depending on which printer you buy, and the OJP -is- a $400 printer (which buys lots of pages in a printer with higher per-page cost), but I think your information may be a little out of date. I think once you start comparing lasers and inkjets at the same price points, the cost differences will be much less than you indicate.
No, please do cheer. You can't get a victory unless someone fights back, and it has to be someone getting victimized by the RIAA to have real currency. We've gone years now without someone stepping up to the plate, so I would consider this to be a huge step. We've needed this for a long time.
It's not a completely invalid point. I'm not working on an open source product that competes directly with my own day job, but I might be working on one that competes with your job, and you might be working on one that competes with my job. With two people, it's a coincidence, but with a wide open source community, it's probable. If you're talking about a movement that theoretically changes the distribution model of software as a whole, then everyone with a software job is theoretically affected.
After buying a Nokia N800, I don't think so. I think having the connectivity be in a separate device from the computing is a huge win, for most of the same reasons we went away (or never adopted) the all-in-one model on the desktop.
1) In a convergence device, if two parts are important and are still in active development, one part will always obsolesce faster than the other part and force replacement of both.
2) In the particular case of a cell phone/computer, you -can't- replace the phone cheaply and easily until your plan's up (yes, eBay, but that can be tricky), forcing you to use an obsolete computer for the duration.
3) The design considerations for a phone and the design considerations for a portable computer are similar, yes--you want small, thin, and simple to use for both. However, if you want any sort of real power from the portable computer, it's nearly a given that it will need to be bigger and thicker and less simple than a cell phone of the same tech level would be. It needs to do more stuff.
4) Not -all- the design considerations are the same. The portable computer probably wants a relatively large, high resolution screen, and it probably wants to have a touchscreen. A phone doesn't need the complexity or defect rates of a touchscreen, and a high resolution screen on a phone means either a large phone or a relatively high defect rate from a high-pixel-density screen.
5) You don't always want all of your functionality wherever you go. Sometimes you just need a phone. It'd be nice if you could take your 2oz phone with you, instead of your 7oz smartphone.
6) If your phone breaks, you lose your computer, and vice versa.
7) We just don't really need to do it that way, now that bluetooth lets you essentially wear modules in a jacket or nearby bag. You can make a really small phone, if you're not trying to hang a computer off it. You can make it even smaller if you position it to use a bluetooth headset as the primary mic/speaker cluster (of course, you still have built-in ones as backups, but they don't have to be super-comfortable). The classic argument against multiple devices is too much space taken, but if you can make everything as small as they possibly can be for their focused purpose, you can minimize that. Making things smaller is one thing we generally get good at as time goes on.
Sure, there's always going to be a market for phones like the Verizon V/NV or the Sidekick, that do a relatively large subset of the functions of a smartphone for people who don't need more. And eventually, the phone/modem part will hopefully end up standardizing and will be a commodity item that you don't have to chase advancements on. Maybe we'll even drop the current handcuffs model on phone plans. At that point, moving phone functionality into the portable computer makes a lot more sense.
For now though, if you really need a -smart- setup, use separate devices. It seems clunkier and more expensive at the beginning, but you'll always be able to stay at the front of the curve if you want to, and you won't have conflicting buying priorities holding you back.
Heh, yeah. Or, in the modern mode, we can give out Green Lantern rings.:)
You joke, but that's one important factor of a multifactor ID. True, most of us have SecureID keyfobs instead of Green Lantern rings, but same idea.
You're right, though. If they don't go for a split ID that has one public identifier and one private secret, we're back in the same boat. This would be why computer sites don't just have you sign in with your username or identify you by your password. I -hope- that the state of security has advanced sufficiently to rub off on the mainstream a little.
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Because the HD DVR my cable company provides kind of sucks.
It's not like you're comparing apples and apples here. Sure, both record HD in the end, but the Tivo does it better, both in the sense of user experience during playback (no UI lag) and in the sense of having better guide data, recording options, and repeat handling for less duplicates recorded.
Ah, I see. I thought you were referring to running your own, where the limit is more arbitrary. .mac, in particular, has a famously low limit. :(
It's nice to eventually archive stuff off the IMAP server onto a local drive, but the database size isn't that much of a limitation. It's not like IMAP brings the whole thing down to your local drive at once, which is kind of the point. The idea is the data lives on the server, and the client provides a window to it. The only time you have to copy stuff down in bulk is for archiving or for offline use. Otherwise, the client caches as you go, often keeping headers and such around so it can add its own tags, flags, and whatnot to them, as well as for speed purposes.
Maybe this is an opportunity for a good open source porn filter that uses moderated but user-generated content, if such a thing doesn't already exist. In other words, rely on regular users to report the porn sites, then add them if they truly are porn. The key is to make the list totally transparent, and have some sort of sensible grievance program in case something does get added (or a domain gets transferred) and the site's not really porn. It'd take a ramp-up period, but you'd probably block sites roughly in order of their visibility, which is about what you'd want.
Open source can present a problem for locking it down, but it's nothing that appropriate use of permissions and perhaps a "heartbeat" report to parents (so that they know that it hasn't been shut down) won't largely solve.
And, I'd suggest, as policy, no other types of inappropriate content should be added. Blocking anything other than stuff that's demonstrably porn or erotica will invariably end up blocking free speech. If you can at least block the porn and do it well, there are some (parents, if not government) who will use it in favor of something that also blocks free speech, even if that means letting some questionably age-appropriate content through.
If you think about it, there's really a lot of social justification for such a thing, if only to present an alternative to using the bad kind that seem to operate on a politically conservative agenda and block sociopolitical speech.
This is a case of eBay overreacting, rather than some new binding interpretation of Leegin vs. PSKS. The Supreme Court decision doesn't somehow support a magic transfer of contract liability to the consumer, and it doesn't negate doctrine of First Sale. The only legal power it conferred was the power for the manufacturer to enforce the MSRP contract with the wholesaler, if they had one. Once the cows are out of the barn, though, they're out.
As for the IP case, applying it to the resale of a manual and packaging material is ludicrous, but there's nothing that says they have to let you use their ad copy and photographs, or use their trademarks for anything other than a nominative purpose (i.e. this is my Wham-O Frisbee).
I believe it's a choice. The "upscaling" in the old ones amounted to rolling out the software emulation and giving you the option to run under it.
Heh. Winger wasn't a bad band either (though Kip Winger is no great singer). Beavis and Butthead was pretty much singlehandedly responsible for the demise of their image. You lose a Winger, you gain a Zombie. I'm not sure it was a good tradeoff in the long run, musically, but at least we've gotten a couple of decent horror movies out of the deal.
You're right, there's definitely appeal in the musician crowd. I think that's true for a lot of very complex music. As for Rush's image, it's the same situation as Yes, ELP, etc. The demographic became the D&D crowd when finely-crafted music became unstylish. Watch -SLC Punk- sometime for an amusingly graphic example.
I'm a Rush fan, but there is a difference between well-known and popular. We all knew the kid who ate paste in school, too; that doesn't mean we liked him. Prog really fell out of favor in/after the 80s, and Rush was viewed as largely appealing to, well, dorks. They seem to have made quite a bit of a comeback in recent years.
It really depends. Your targets probably are small shops and startups, particularly if you have any real experience, unless you can find a position that touches the bulk of your skillset.
My own resume is about 5 years of programming, a year or so of build/release, and 6 years of QA, along with a lot of general IT and strategic skills. For a while, I had problems with dilution--I wasn't really in the programming space anymore, didn't have enough build/release to be more than junior there, and didn't have enough QA to make it a slam dunk to pay me at my overall experience level.
In my case, I went to software test automation, which synthesizes all these skills, and have done quite well in that space. But in addition, I regularly get hit up by startups who want to cover two or three hats with one person. Eventually, with enough experience, you'll be in demand if you can ride out those early years.
The trick, if you go that route, is you really need to be quite competent in everything you sell yourself as (or at least be able to inspire confidence until you can get to the man page or O'Reilly book). Otherwise, you're only really as marketable as your best skill. That's why it can just be a lot easier to concentrate on one thing. Of course, if that skill goes overseas or otherwise becomes obsolete in the local workforce, you're screwed.
Gears of War, GRAW (the other versions aren't the same game as the 360 version), Forza 2, PGR3, Dead Rising, Viva Pinata, Crackdown, Condemned
That'd do for a start. I consider all of those B+ or above titles, and I believe they're all exclusive at this point. They're a hell of a lot better than Sony's exclusives to date, though I'm sure that will eventually change.
Only with a Sharpie, but I don't recommend it. :)
Dear lord, don't accuse Jimmy Carter of the same ethical lapses as Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. Clinton blatantly lied, and Nixon's crimes are legendary. All Carter is guilty of is having the same urges as anyone else. He didn't -act- on them, which is key.
This creates an interesting issue if Microsoft ever ends up using GPLv3 stuff within the company. IIRC, giving GPL'd code to contractors (as opposed to employees) is considered distribution per the license. Essentially, Microsoft is risking blowing the 235 patents if they have Linux or other patent-contested software available on their internal network, assuming contractors have access to it. One download, and the patents extend to everyone per the license.
This is somewhat off-topic, but I honestly wonder if this will sharply limit the use of GPLv3 software in corporations. Seems like you'd have to vet every single piece of GPLv3 software you use against your patent portfolio to be comfortable, or force contractors to download all their own tools from an external source (which is kind of a nightmare if you're trying to keep everyone on the same version).
assume that windows was technologically backwards and couln't get on the internet. Would you then agree that Linux was less secure, because the possibility exists to hack it over the internet while that possibility does not exist for windows?
Yep, I would agree with that. Linux would be less secure, because it's hackable over wire, whereas your hypothetical GimpOS can only be hacked from the console. GimpOS may be considerably less capable in many ways, though, as is often the tradeoff.
Since when does accessibility not play into security?
Last time I surfed the domain name RFCs for my QA validation, I thought I recalled a relatively recent RFC that expanded domain naming out to any character (except, presumably, the dot separator).
I think it was http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4343 though it could have been one of the internationalization RFCs
"However, the individual octets of which DNS names consist are not limited to valid ASCII character codes. They are 8-bit bytes, and all values are allowed. Many applications, however, interpret them as ASCII characters."
Before that, underscore was definitely not a valid character in domains.
If you believe the advertising, one good choice might be the HP Officejet Pro L7680, at 1.5c and 6c a page for b/w and color respectively. I just purchased one of these and am quite happy with it.
How do you figure 10%? Cost per page on my Officejet Pro L7680 is advertised as 1.5c and 6c for b/w and color respectively. The best color laser I could find was advertised at something like 2c and 8c respectively.
Obviously, inkjet prices are all over the place, depending on which printer you buy, and the OJP -is- a $400 printer (which buys lots of pages in a printer with higher per-page cost), but I think your information may be a little out of date. I think once you start comparing lasers and inkjets at the same price points, the cost differences will be much less than you indicate.
C:\> NET STOP CISVC
Even if your installer builder of choice doesn't do it natively, you can just issue that as a shell command.
You're forgetting the various apps like Mail that store personal information online on their servers.
Sometimes you kill the bear, sometimes the bear kills you. All I know is that hiding from the frickin' bear forever is no way to live.
Oh yeah, in a car.
No, please do cheer. You can't get a victory unless someone fights back, and it has to be someone getting victimized by the RIAA to have real currency. We've gone years now without someone stepping up to the plate, so I would consider this to be a huge step. We've needed this for a long time.
I'm not sure that argument applies to a horizontal surface. You can always designate a portion of it as "the touchpad" if that's the effect you want.
It's not a completely invalid point. I'm not working on an open source product that competes directly with my own day job, but I might be working on one that competes with your job, and you might be working on one that competes with my job. With two people, it's a coincidence, but with a wide open source community, it's probable. If you're talking about a movement that theoretically changes the distribution model of software as a whole, then everyone with a software job is theoretically affected.
After buying a Nokia N800, I don't think so. I think having the connectivity be in a separate device from the computing is a huge win, for most of the same reasons we went away (or never adopted) the all-in-one model on the desktop.
1) In a convergence device, if two parts are important and are still in active development, one part will always obsolesce faster than the other part and force replacement of both.
2) In the particular case of a cell phone/computer, you -can't- replace the phone cheaply and easily until your plan's up (yes, eBay, but that can be tricky), forcing you to use an obsolete computer for the duration.
3) The design considerations for a phone and the design considerations for a portable computer are similar, yes--you want small, thin, and simple to use for both. However, if you want any sort of real power from the portable computer, it's nearly a given that it will need to be bigger and thicker and less simple than a cell phone of the same tech level would be. It needs to do more stuff.
4) Not -all- the design considerations are the same. The portable computer probably wants a relatively large, high resolution screen, and it probably wants to have a touchscreen. A phone doesn't need the complexity or defect rates of a touchscreen, and a high resolution screen on a phone means either a large phone or a relatively high defect rate from a high-pixel-density screen.
5) You don't always want all of your functionality wherever you go. Sometimes you just need a phone. It'd be nice if you could take your 2oz phone with you, instead of your 7oz smartphone.
6) If your phone breaks, you lose your computer, and vice versa.
7) We just don't really need to do it that way, now that bluetooth lets you essentially wear modules in a jacket or nearby bag. You can make a really small phone, if you're not trying to hang a computer off it. You can make it even smaller if you position it to use a bluetooth headset as the primary mic/speaker cluster (of course, you still have built-in ones as backups, but they don't have to be super-comfortable). The classic argument against multiple devices is too much space taken, but if you can make everything as small as they possibly can be for their focused purpose, you can minimize that. Making things smaller is one thing we generally get good at as time goes on.
Sure, there's always going to be a market for phones like the Verizon V/NV or the Sidekick, that do a relatively large subset of the functions of a smartphone for people who don't need more. And eventually, the phone/modem part will hopefully end up standardizing and will be a commodity item that you don't have to chase advancements on. Maybe we'll even drop the current handcuffs model on phone plans. At that point, moving phone functionality into the portable computer makes a lot more sense.
For now though, if you really need a -smart- setup, use separate devices. It seems clunkier and more expensive at the beginning, but you'll always be able to stay at the front of the curve if you want to, and you won't have conflicting buying priorities holding you back.
Heh, yeah. Or, in the modern mode, we can give out Green Lantern rings. :)
You joke, but that's one important factor of a multifactor ID. True, most of us have SecureID keyfobs instead of Green Lantern rings, but same idea.
You're right, though. If they don't go for a split ID that has one public identifier and one private secret, we're back in the same boat. This would be why computer sites don't just have you sign in with your username or identify you by your password. I -hope- that the state of security has advanced sufficiently to rub off on the mainstream a little.