Imagine what a company that cared about its customers could do with those resources.
Yeah, just look at Apple. They release a touchscreen cellphone with a name that infringes on another company's trademark. The customers love the phone, and love Apple, while Apple screws over other companies.
Just this week, I was getting a couple dozen PCs ready to be installed with an OS. Most of them had no RAM or Hard drives, so those were the first things to be installed. These were Compaq desktops circa 2002, so I figured I would bring the BIOS up-to-date on all of them before installing the OS.
It turns out that Compaq engineers were drinking heavily when they designed these, because the bios image will *FIT* on a floppy disk, but the flash program requires a WINDOWS OS in order to run! I now have 20 PCs with no OS that need to run freekin Windows just so I can flash the bios.
The solution was to install windows 2000, flash the bios, then open the case and take the hard disk out and put it in the remaining machines one at a time.
You know what? Floppies make BIOS upgrades easier. DOS makes BIOS upgrades easier. Keep them around just to make BIOS upgrades easier.
Now, ask me about how to get a 20MB network card driver onto a machine when you don't have a CD-ROM. I'll let you in on a secret: It's the SAME FREEKIN COMPAQS!
Revoking the keys of a hardware player WOULD really ick off the consumers.... But WHO would the consumers get mad at?
If I understand the blu-ray scheme properly (and I might not), new commercially-sold disks with protected content on them also carry revokation lists, and updated keys. When you insert this new disk into your player, it will revoke the player's key essentially BREAKING it, so it won't even play discs that it played BEFORE you inserted the new one.
Consumers will see this: They bought Shrek 3 on blu-ray, put it in the player, and after that, the player won't work. They will think that the player is broken, and complain to the manufacturer of the player. This way, the content companies can be jerks, and the player manufacturers have to work to get the player working again for the consumer (probably by sending out a cd with a new key or algorithm in it).
The content companies are offloading the cost of piracy protection to the hardware manufacturers by making them spend WAY more money on engineers, programmers, High-speed CPUs, customer support, etc... How much do you want to be that the extra cost will be passed down to the consumer?
Personally, I believe if the content providers want to protect their content, then THEY should be paying for it directly. This might be fine for Sony, who publishes content AND makes the hardware, but I bet even they will have trouble keeping costs down.
The Bridge home theater is good. Real good!...and it's cool. Real Cool. Everyone who reads slashdot looks at those pictures and says "Wow! That's neat! I wish I had one in *MY* basement." However, these same people are afraid. They are afraid that if they express their appreciation of the Bridge HT, that others would judge them to be geeks, so they bash it.
You can tell how good of a job it was just by how many people say what a waste of time it was, and how the guy who built it has no life. All he has to do is sit back, smile, and say "Yes, it is a nice theate. Thank you for your appreciation of it."
BAH! That's the SHUFFLE, not the Nano! I could have sworn that I hit the Preview button instead of the Submit button. It's not my fault, they were only four nanopixels apart!
I would have thought that a correct use of the prefix 'nano' would involve an object, device or effect, the WHOLE of which is on a nanometre scale. So for example, a 'nanobattery' would be a battery the WHOLE of which is on a nanometre scale.
That's probably why the new iPod nano has a clip on it... so you don't lose it.
This week the hard disk died in my cable company supplied DVR for the third time. The last failure was less than a year ago. It's only because the Scientific Atlanta boxes that Time Warner was renting me had the crappiest Maxtor drives in them that were probably the cheapest at the time.
I would gladly buy my own DVR box if it also meant I could install a QUALITY hard disk in the damn thing, and not have to lug it to the cable office, get a replacement, and then re-program all my favorites MANUALLY (The thing has a USB port on it, but what's it for?) and re-add all my scheduled recordings.
Gates is too rich to go to prison. He could easily buy the prison, it's staff, the island it's on, the airspace over it, and make it his own personal pleasure palace.
If you assume that the "i" that Apple puts in front of everything stands for "Internet", then maybe you can infer that Apple's stance is one of "We invented putting the i in front of everything". It's not too far fetched seeing that Al Gore is on the board of directors....
I'm a full time Office guy. I ALWAYS come into the office (because that is where my job is - You can't repair the computers when you're at home).
Just today, one of our Account Management Reps (who usually works from home, but comes into the office 1-2 days a month) came in and brought Soup, Cake, and christmas cards for everyone in the office.
She loves to cook, and she loves working at home, and the people who work in the office get positive reinforcement for working in the office.
Of course, there are the occasional remote users who never bring munchies, and only call to bitch that comcast sucks.... but screw them.... No soup for you!
Dilithium is just a catalyst for the matter/antimatter reaction. You would still need a supply of matter, and antimatter, and containment, which would add way too much to the weight for your puny earth laptop.
In TNG, all their hand-held and portable devices use Sarium-Krellide power cells.
Try asking a kid a really important question or one that requires a lot of thought or evaluation, and you're just going to get the shortest, most non-commital answer. Is it because the kid is lazy? Not necessarily.
You come home to find your living room carpet on fire, and your 5 year old with a box of matches in his hand. After a lot of frantic screaming, yelling, and putting the fire out, you ask your child what he was thinking. He will just sit there, look at you, shrug, and say "I don't know".
Does he know what he was thinking? Probably, but he would rather you just stop yelling at him. It's entirely possible that the same thing was happening here. The author said that he couldn't effectively explain to the kid what the difference was, so he probably got frustrated, and just blurted "What difference do you see?"
Slashdot Mirror
My bank's ATMs consist of a pile of money and a clipboard, but someone stole the clipboard.
...And the money.
Just this week, I was getting a couple dozen PCs ready to be installed with an OS. Most of them had no RAM or Hard drives, so those were the first things to be installed. These were Compaq desktops circa 2002, so I figured I would bring the BIOS up-to-date on all of them before installing the OS.
It turns out that Compaq engineers were drinking heavily when they designed these, because the bios image will *FIT* on a floppy disk, but the flash program requires a WINDOWS OS in order to run! I now have 20 PCs with no OS that need to run freekin Windows just so I can flash the bios.
The solution was to install windows 2000, flash the bios, then open the case and take the hard disk out and put it in the remaining machines one at a time.
You know what? Floppies make BIOS upgrades easier. DOS makes BIOS upgrades easier. Keep them around just to make BIOS upgrades easier.
Now, ask me about how to get a 20MB network card driver onto a machine when you don't have a CD-ROM. I'll let you in on a secret: It's the SAME FREEKIN COMPAQS!
Isn't that one of the laws of acquisition? "War is good for business"?
Someone installed Windows Vista on him.... He's still booting.
Revoking the keys of a hardware player WOULD really ick off the consumers.... But WHO would the consumers get mad at?
If I understand the blu-ray scheme properly (and I might not), new commercially-sold disks with protected content on them also carry revokation lists, and updated keys. When you insert this new disk into your player, it will revoke the player's key essentially BREAKING it, so it won't even play discs that it played BEFORE you inserted the new one.
Consumers will see this: They bought Shrek 3 on blu-ray, put it in the player, and after that, the player won't work. They will think that the player is broken, and complain to the manufacturer of the player. This way, the content companies can be jerks, and the player manufacturers have to work to get the player working again for the consumer (probably by sending out a cd with a new key or algorithm in it).
The content companies are offloading the cost of piracy protection to the hardware manufacturers by making them spend WAY more money on engineers, programmers, High-speed CPUs, customer support, etc... How much do you want to be that the extra cost will be passed down to the consumer?
Personally, I believe if the content providers want to protect their content, then THEY should be paying for it directly. This might be fine for Sony, who publishes content AND makes the hardware, but I bet even they will have trouble keeping costs down.
This Activia reminds me of The Stuff.
I'm using slow light processors to post this message. I posted it 2 days in the future, but it only arrived right now.
I look at it this way. It's much simpler.
...and it's cool. Real Cool. Everyone who reads slashdot looks at those pictures and says "Wow! That's neat! I wish I had one in *MY* basement."
The Bridge home theater is good. Real good!
However, these same people are afraid. They are afraid that if they express their appreciation of the Bridge HT, that others would judge them to be geeks, so they bash it.
You can tell how good of a job it was just by how many people say what a waste of time it was, and how the guy who built it has no life. All he has to do is sit back, smile, and say "Yes, it is a nice theate. Thank you for your appreciation of it."
That didn't stop L'waxanna Troi from sitting right on Picard's lap.
BAH! That's the SHUFFLE, not the Nano!
I could have sworn that I hit the Preview button instead of the Submit button. It's not my fault, they were only four nanopixels apart!
Why waste $100 Million just to disappoint the fans in 2 years, when you can disappoint the fans right away for free.
This week the hard disk died in my cable company supplied DVR for the third time. The last failure was less than a year ago. It's only because the Scientific Atlanta boxes that Time Warner was renting me had the crappiest Maxtor drives in them that were probably the cheapest at the time.
I would gladly buy my own DVR box if it also meant I could install a QUALITY hard disk in the damn thing, and not have to lug it to the cable office, get a replacement, and then re-program all my favorites MANUALLY (The thing has a USB port on it, but what's it for?) and re-add all my scheduled recordings.
Gates is too rich to go to prison. He could easily buy the prison, it's staff, the island it's on, the airspace over it, and make it his own personal pleasure palace.
Turn a disadvantage into an advantage.
If you assume that the "i" that Apple puts in front of everything stands for "Internet", then maybe you can infer that Apple's stance is one of "We invented putting the i in front of everything". It's not too far fetched seeing that Al Gore is on the board of directors....
It will only be able to print the silicone parts... Or Pamela Anderson. Whichever has more silicone.
I'm sure you could find a print kit on ebay. That way, if it ever happens again, you'll be prepared.
You must mean Leisure Suit Larry.
"It's the person-behind-you's turn to look for the reset button/power cord."
I'm a full time Office guy. I ALWAYS come into the office (because that is where my job is - You can't repair the computers when you're at home).
Just today, one of our Account Management Reps (who usually works from home, but comes into the office 1-2 days a month) came in and brought Soup, Cake, and christmas cards for everyone in the office.
She loves to cook, and she loves working at home, and the people who work in the office get positive reinforcement for working in the office.
Of course, there are the occasional remote users who never bring munchies, and only call to bitch that comcast sucks.... but screw them.... No soup for you!
Dilithium is just a catalyst for the matter/antimatter reaction. You would still need a supply of matter, and antimatter, and containment, which would add way too much to the weight for your puny earth laptop.
In TNG, all their hand-held and portable devices use Sarium-Krellide power cells.
Try asking a kid a really important question or one that requires a lot of thought or evaluation, and you're just going to get the shortest, most non-commital answer. Is it because the kid is lazy? Not necessarily.
You come home to find your living room carpet on fire, and your 5 year old with a box of matches in his hand. After a lot of frantic screaming, yelling, and putting the fire out, you ask your child what he was thinking.
He will just sit there, look at you, shrug, and say "I don't know".
Does he know what he was thinking? Probably, but he would rather you just stop yelling at him. It's entirely possible that the same thing was happening here. The author said that he couldn't effectively explain to the kid what the difference was, so he probably got frustrated, and just blurted "What difference do you see?"