with that in mind, it might be good to by PC speakers with line-in! Then people can bring ipods all they want... but they'll never touch the work machines. That's what I do with mine even though I have admin. Most of our machines have USB disk drivers disabled so they can't load anything USB. But for $20 it could be a good fix that makes more people feel empowered.
that's not real card counting at all. Real counting is simply keeping track of what cards are where and the probability of what's left in the deck. If you know the good hands (considerable skill) by how other players call, you can guess what they have... and guess what's left for you. Along with that, hand shuffled decks after a few hands aren't really random as the cards are collected from winning hands and that cool shuffling by pros is very NOT random if you pay attention. There's no need to "cheat" and see cards you shouldn't at all.
That's what the cute girl spotters were for... they'd bet like a regular girl player out to play for fun, and watch for signs that the deck was about to "streak". That cut down the time the really good players would be tied up.
but what about EVERY backup copy on EVERY server and PC desktop.... even the BROKEN or workbench ones? That's how they get you.
Software licensing is like that statement "give me 6 lines from an honest man...", The one-sided structure of most EULA's makes them nearly impossible to be 100% legal in the real world.
Let's say you have a backup server cluster/SAN.. technically that software may be considered "pirated" because it's on the PC running it, and 2 backup servers that "could" run it, as well as any PC connected to the network drive. They would count your licensed backup as the one to tape... if they don't get you for "distributing" those tapes to your various backup locations. Take the case of Earnie Ball where they moved PCs from Engineers to Secretaries without properly removing ALL the software (fonts and custom drivers count too!) first (the only safe way is wipe and re-install, uninstallers don't work properly for LEGAL purposes!! ha, ha). When you replace a user's PC for a new one you take away the old one while you build the new one, right.. and make them wait a day so the licenses are "legal". you get the idea...
you have a point about the asian economies that are "booming" as Microsoft wants to say.... they don't OWN any of the work they do either in 90% of the cases, they are just cheap labor. All the ideas they might have are part of the corporate fold. From Microsoft's point of view that's great, but it's not "enabling" or "healthy" either.
exactly, the hottest selling PCs are Laptops like Macbook (non-pro). That means that you have a top-end dual core CPU tied to graphics from 4 years ago. Nobody will supply a decent option at a comparable cost to a desktop. Most new PCs on the shelf simply CANNOT play the games on the other side of the aisle at the Big Box store. That is why PC gaming is dying fast... The top end designers, combine with cheap OEMS have priced everybody right out of it. The only PC "gaming" left is stuff like Bejewled.
Even EA is getting bit by this. The best selling game for PCs is the Sims 1/2 by a mile. EA had to DUMB DOWN the Sims 2 because the graphics were too much for the NEW laptops being sold (and I play this on a 3+ year-old PC, with mid-range parts THEN). With an attitude like that, PC gaming is dead, unless Nvidia steps up with a new PC-like PLATFORM that can be COMPATIBLE and CHEAP for at least 3-5 years of game playing without upgrades and get designers to write good games for that platform rather than some random "next gen" $500 card that doesn't exist yet.
You do realize that POTS has meet all those requirements for 30+ years. They have huge battery backups at the CO so you don't lose phones when the power goes out... they call it CUSTOMER SERVICE, but it's also the rules. They also have rather nasty FBI requirements as well.. Both of which are a good deal easier to implement for a brand new all digital Cell based system that doesn't have to deal with hundreds of miles of copper wire across the country being cut by vandals and trees.
Those "new" rules will make cell phones almost as reliable as POTS, give or take a few nines.
I like the idea that other people have of using a "blackhole" email address on YOUR domain, because that can be setup to not even send the mail from the responders servers. But you are correct, how useful is an email if you don't allow the regular "reply" button to work?
I'd agree, all emails should be "correct". Perhaps we need an RFC to specify one "true" no reply function for email addresses to use. That way all MTAs would immediately identify it as a no reply and drop it no matter where they are. Sort of like how 127.0.0.1 will always drop at the nic, or 192.168.x.x will always block at the router.
Otherwise, you should expect communication. One thing I'd like is automatic threading at the server level.. something to recognize that a message is a reply and attach it and not an ugly hack or guess.
then why are you sending them email? This is part of the "breaking" of email, that the system expects the reply address to be valid, why would you send a message out and not want a reply?
Your point about WoW is exactly what the article makes. Blizzard makes their money from the subscriptions. It's only in their interest to worry about people that crack the game and ruin it for paying customers. If a small percent want to crack and run their own servers, then what is the benefit versus the cost of stopping them... what is the COST to the good will from the PAYING customers if you put stuff like StarForce on their machines that trashes the CDRWs of the HONEST people? What the CEOs are saying is that the "perfect" protection anti-piracy companies are selling is a scam, more about proving THEIR software works and not increasing YOUR sales. Tt's often counter to your HONEST, PAYING customers intentions.
Note, Stardock has a login system to get patches, you may get the game, but you won't get official patches or updates unless you pay and register. Because they don't have to pay for protection per copy, they can charge a much lower price for the game than the other titles. Also, they aren't "betting the farm" on sales either. They have a diversity of products and only spend time and money on a game they feel they can recoup REASONABLY. They budget 100,000 sales as good, if they make more money, it's all profit, but most importantly they don't LOSE money up front. That's the REAL key he's not saying... they are not putting the company in hoc to make the "best game ever" like 20 other companies are. They don't need to have the best graphics, just really good, they don't need massive amounts of content pre-generated. Keep the games simple and replayable.
Compare to say Doom 3, big, complex, a financial drain on the company and investors, loads of highly specialized content that's not reusable, VERY short actual gameplay and not replayable, etc. Doom3 cost armies of artists and developer time for what? (it was a tech demo for an engine for games, more than an actual game anyway) Because so much money is sunk, the investors demanded putting nasty copy protection that trashes machines and upsets HONEST customers, etc. Of course you can STILL find it cracked before it ships! The Stardock guy is saying why bother, and release what you can Afford and make customers happy... then they'll come back and buy another!
because they WANT regulation.. the kind they can write themselves, like all good monopolies. They'll write the regulations that they have to do lots of tracking and logging and preventing people from services... in exchange they'll get explicit permission to block WHATEVER they want to "new emerging threats" to copyright... or their business model. Everything out side of port 80 will be blocked unless you pay for a Game plan or a VPN plan or a iTunes Plan... wait for it!
common carrier is different than open access. Comcast can be a closed network to outside companies, but a common carrier to their customers. The FCC has said they don't have to share lines, but Common Carrier status is determined differently. Although port blocking VIOP and such probably disqualifies them.
The way to fix this is a lawsuit from somebody sued by the RIAA that Comcast should have blocked them from doing bad things (not a common carrier) and/or Comcast should be preventing Media Sentry from trolling Comcast IP addresses looking for infringers (not protecting privacy of it's private clients). After all, if what they manage customers to do is "private" then what other people can access about their network should be "private" too.
this was enforced in my city in Michigan about a year ago. No, it didn't get appealed, nor was mention of it being unconstitutional brought up. As far as I know, the gentleman did go to jail over it. It's the "women and children" part that keeps it legal. It would be perfectly legal in the state to swear in your home, or in a men's club where there were no women or children. But in this case it's a "public nuisance" not the actual swearing they're punishing you for.
Before all the "parent your kid" crowd chimes in... Realize that many municipalities in the USA have ordnances against PUBLIC cursing in front of women or children. The FCC regulates Broadcast TV in a similar fashion to a public sidewalk or park where Everybody's morality needs to be considered. Also, if the FCC didn't do this, then local Podunk towns in the Bible Belt would take to suing TV stations directly for such violations if only to make a point.
Just like you wouldn't expect a public park to allow a rapper to curse & swear where your children are playing on a public playground can hear, or if the local nubile exhibitionist club had ladies flashing the sidewalk thru the front window. Would you expect them to straighten up, or just tell you to walk your children down a different sidewalk across town? the FCC views Broadcast TV the same way.
Giving into Communist CHINA was like letting South win.... the "legitimate" government really did go to Taiwan and secure that provence, the Communists were the usurpers and took foreign & royal property, much like Castro in Cuba, whom we STILL have an embargo on. We've made Russia give up many territories that were part of Russia BEFORE WW2, why do we not make China let Taiwan & Tibet go? It's the same thing.
They miss the fact that we're not supposed to worry about crime before it takes place. That's why we live in society with Free Will. Perhaps social conscience of morality (whatever we can get along with) needs to be laid down earlier in life, but the whole point of free men is that government is there to check the offenders, not keep people from making mistakes.
The rule is technically the STATES that have freedom of arms. That means that YES, YOUR state should have it's own nukes, and the Prez should have to ASK to use them. Governors could say no, even if there were consequences, troops would know where their loyalties lie. We shouldn't have a large federal army, but the divisions should be under direct governor control. That way when you get illegal wars like Iraq, States can start asking for THEIR troops back to protect their states, like in Katrina, where the local troops (that know the people, and what's acceptable for their citizens) were drug away and outsiders tried to run things.
That's what happened in the Civil War. When the federal government came into question, many officers went back to their states and asked what the State had decided. According to the second amendment, that was the correct thing to do. Wether the State governments could succeed was a different issue. Europeans would understand that originally the United States was very loose, like the EU, the strong fed didn't happen until after the war.
of course the intelligence agencies are EXECUTIVE agencies that answer to the president... see a pattern.
Anyway, what's really getting the ball rolling is that the president is starting to tip his hand on the telcom immunity issue. Instead of being open and getting them proof they ask for, he's showing them he's got something to hide over and over. His continued eagerness I'm sure is showing in the Lobby the aids do... telcom immunity is essentially immunity for him, if telcoms can be punished, they can't be leaned on to rat out where their marching orders came from. One CEO from Quest has already gone to court because the CIA/NAS used government contracts as a "bribe" for illegal access and he didn't bite and messed up his books and he can't explain because of "national security".
The prez is anxious, that puts the chum of fear in the water... just the thing the Democrats needed in an election year with a lame duck Republican who thought he was going to skate.
Right wing means "right" or righteous. Left wing means "lefty" or wrong. Both sides want strong government control to make people do what they want. By the 1920's definition both democrats and republicans are very Liberal. Example: The social "left" passed prohibition, the religious "right" keeps it there.
By that definition, Amish may be mildly "socialist" but to the normal right wingers they are seen as "super right wing", maybe kooks, but more RIGHTeous than you. Remember, reality is that the whole right-left thing is a circle not a line. The religious "right" holds strongly to freedom of "right" (correct) religions. Scientiolgy is more "mainstream" than Amish are, so if nobody would mess with Amish, nobody would mess with Scientologists unless you could find them committing an actual crime (hence the reason Mormons always got hassle over the polygamy thing, because THAT was illegal and you could punish them for it, even though the reason was that you just didn't like them)
my only complaint with NBC's web player is that ads break the view settings. That's purely a programming bug and somebody should have fixed it.
As far as back episodes and such keeping only a little bit is reasonable. Of course I'd be happy if they still supported iTunes. 2/3 of the shows I bought from there are NBC related... but it wasn't making ENOUGH money. I could understand if they rotated stuff out to get you to buy DVDs and such later, or hit the video store. Let's face it, the REAL draw of iTunes is an tremendously large pay-per-view system. The trend of shows on DVD is nice but they should be promoting shows on iTunes, people are more willing to part with a few dollars as an impulse buy at at time...rather than large amounts asked for DVD collections up front (even though the DVD is sometimes better value)
Tell the truth , Cable companies could go to shows a-la-carte and let the shows duke it out. The whole problem with niche entertainment on cable is that you have to have a whole channel which has to run ads 24/7 to pay the cable company. You could condense a lot of the channels (H&G, SciFi, Anime, etc) by allowing downloads of episodes outright with ads and use part of the ads like the TV guide channel to promote new shows. As your downloading history would be known, it would be easy to advertise you the RIGHT shows that you'd like and then watch whenever. Like other people have mentioned, I think metered web will be back soon, and "TV" will be a bulk download service plan, so many shows from networks included for "free" because your provider provides highest speed local mirrors.
Slashdot Mirror
with that in mind, it might be good to by PC speakers with line-in! Then people can bring ipods all they want... but they'll never touch the work machines. That's what I do with mine even though I have admin. Most of our machines have USB disk drivers disabled so they can't load anything USB. But for $20 it could be a good fix that makes more people feel empowered.
sounds like day trading on the stock market!
that's not real card counting at all. Real counting is simply keeping track of what cards are where and the probability of what's left in the deck. If you know the good hands (considerable skill) by how other players call, you can guess what they have... and guess what's left for you. Along with that, hand shuffled decks after a few hands aren't really random as the cards are collected from winning hands and that cool shuffling by pros is very NOT random if you pay attention. There's no need to "cheat" and see cards you shouldn't at all.
That's what the cute girl spotters were for... they'd bet like a regular girl player out to play for fun, and watch for signs that the deck was about to "streak". That cut down the time the really good players would be tied up.
but what about EVERY backup copy on EVERY server and PC desktop.... even the BROKEN or workbench ones? That's how they get you.
Software licensing is like that statement "give me 6 lines from an honest man...", The one-sided structure of most EULA's makes them nearly impossible to be 100% legal in the real world.
Let's say you have a backup server cluster/SAN.. technically that software may be considered "pirated" because it's on the PC running it, and 2 backup servers that "could" run it, as well as any PC connected to the network drive. They would count your licensed backup as the one to tape... if they don't get you for "distributing" those tapes to your various backup locations. Take the case of Earnie Ball where they moved PCs from Engineers to Secretaries without properly removing ALL the software (fonts and custom drivers count too!) first (the only safe way is wipe and re-install, uninstallers don't work properly for LEGAL purposes!! ha, ha). When you replace a user's PC for a new one you take away the old one while you build the new one, right.. and make them wait a day so the licenses are "legal". you get the idea...
Considering that the RIAA and others are lobbying for just those rights for companies I'd be worried...
They need somebody more local, perhaps an african linux distro and somebody that pays people in the area to develop.
you have a point about the asian economies that are "booming" as Microsoft wants to say.... they don't OWN any of the work they do either in 90% of the cases, they are just cheap labor. All the ideas they might have are part of the corporate fold. From Microsoft's point of view that's great, but it's not "enabling" or "healthy" either.
exactly, the hottest selling PCs are Laptops like Macbook (non-pro). That means that you have a top-end dual core CPU tied to graphics from 4 years ago. Nobody will supply a decent option at a comparable cost to a desktop. Most new PCs on the shelf simply CANNOT play the games on the other side of the aisle at the Big Box store. That is why PC gaming is dying fast... The top end designers, combine with cheap OEMS have priced everybody right out of it. The only PC "gaming" left is stuff like Bejewled.
Even EA is getting bit by this. The best selling game for PCs is the Sims 1/2 by a mile. EA had to DUMB DOWN the Sims 2 because the graphics were too much for the NEW laptops being sold (and I play this on a 3+ year-old PC, with mid-range parts THEN). With an attitude like that, PC gaming is dead, unless Nvidia steps up with a new PC-like PLATFORM that can be COMPATIBLE and CHEAP for at least 3-5 years of game playing without upgrades and get designers to write good games for that platform rather than some random "next gen" $500 card that doesn't exist yet.
You do realize that POTS has meet all those requirements for 30+ years. They have huge battery backups at the CO so you don't lose phones when the power goes out... they call it CUSTOMER SERVICE, but it's also the rules. They also have rather nasty FBI requirements as well.. Both of which are a good deal easier to implement for a brand new all digital Cell based system that doesn't have to deal with hundreds of miles of copper wire across the country being cut by vandals and trees.
Those "new" rules will make cell phones almost as reliable as POTS, give or take a few nines.
I'm hungry for toasted cheese and Hormel meat product now!
great explanation!
I like the idea that other people have of using a "blackhole" email address on YOUR domain, because that can be setup to not even send the mail from the responders servers. But you are correct, how useful is an email if you don't allow the regular "reply" button to work?
I'd agree, all emails should be "correct". Perhaps we need an RFC to specify one "true" no reply function for email addresses to use. That way all MTAs would immediately identify it as a no reply and drop it no matter where they are. Sort of like how 127.0.0.1 will always drop at the nic, or 192.168.x.x will always block at the router.
Otherwise, you should expect communication. One thing I'd like is automatic threading at the server level.. something to recognize that a message is a reply and attach it and not an ugly hack or guess.
then why are you sending them email? This is part of the "breaking" of email, that the system expects the reply address to be valid, why would you send a message out and not want a reply?
Your point about WoW is exactly what the article makes. Blizzard makes their money from the subscriptions. It's only in their interest to worry about people that crack the game and ruin it for paying customers. If a small percent want to crack and run their own servers, then what is the benefit versus the cost of stopping them... what is the COST to the good will from the PAYING customers if you put stuff like StarForce on their machines that trashes the CDRWs of the HONEST people? What the CEOs are saying is that the "perfect" protection anti-piracy companies are selling is a scam, more about proving THEIR software works and not increasing YOUR sales. Tt's often counter to your HONEST, PAYING customers intentions.
Note, Stardock has a login system to get patches, you may get the game, but you won't get official patches or updates unless you pay and register. Because they don't have to pay for protection per copy, they can charge a much lower price for the game than the other titles. Also, they aren't "betting the farm" on sales either. They have a diversity of products and only spend time and money on a game they feel they can recoup REASONABLY. They budget 100,000 sales as good, if they make more money, it's all profit, but most importantly they don't LOSE money up front. That's the REAL key he's not saying... they are not putting the company in hoc to make the "best game ever" like 20 other companies are. They don't need to have the best graphics, just really good, they don't need massive amounts of content pre-generated. Keep the games simple and replayable.
Compare to say Doom 3, big, complex, a financial drain on the company and investors, loads of highly specialized content that's not reusable, VERY short actual gameplay and not replayable, etc. Doom3 cost armies of artists and developer time for what? (it was a tech demo for an engine for games, more than an actual game anyway) Because so much money is sunk, the investors demanded putting nasty copy protection that trashes machines and upsets HONEST customers, etc. Of course you can STILL find it cracked before it ships! The Stardock guy is saying why bother, and release what you can Afford and make customers happy... then they'll come back and buy another!
because they WANT regulation.. the kind they can write themselves, like all good monopolies. They'll write the regulations that they have to do lots of tracking and logging and preventing people from services... in exchange they'll get explicit permission to block WHATEVER they want to "new emerging threats" to copyright... or their business model. Everything out side of port 80 will be blocked unless you pay for a Game plan or a VPN plan or a iTunes Plan... wait for it!
common carrier is different than open access. Comcast can be a closed network to outside companies, but a common carrier to their customers. The FCC has said they don't have to share lines, but Common Carrier status is determined differently. Although port blocking VIOP and such probably disqualifies them.
The way to fix this is a lawsuit from somebody sued by the RIAA that Comcast should have blocked them from doing bad things (not a common carrier) and/or Comcast should be preventing Media Sentry from trolling Comcast IP addresses looking for infringers (not protecting privacy of it's private clients). After all, if what they manage customers to do is "private" then what other people can access about their network should be "private" too.
this was enforced in my city in Michigan about a year ago. No, it didn't get appealed, nor was mention of it being unconstitutional brought up. As far as I know, the gentleman did go to jail over it. It's the "women and children" part that keeps it legal. It would be perfectly legal in the state to swear in your home, or in a men's club where there were no women or children. But in this case it's a "public nuisance" not the actual swearing they're punishing you for.
Before all the "parent your kid" crowd chimes in... Realize that many municipalities in the USA have ordnances against PUBLIC cursing in front of women or children. The FCC regulates Broadcast TV in a similar fashion to a public sidewalk or park where Everybody's morality needs to be considered. Also, if the FCC didn't do this, then local Podunk towns in the Bible Belt would take to suing TV stations directly for such violations if only to make a point.
Just like you wouldn't expect a public park to allow a rapper to curse & swear where your children are playing on a public playground can hear, or if the local nubile exhibitionist club had ladies flashing the sidewalk thru the front window. Would you expect them to straighten up, or just tell you to walk your children down a different sidewalk across town? the FCC views Broadcast TV the same way.
Giving into Communist CHINA was like letting South win.... the "legitimate" government really did go to Taiwan and secure that provence, the Communists were the usurpers and took foreign & royal property, much like Castro in Cuba, whom we STILL have an embargo on. We've made Russia give up many territories that were part of Russia BEFORE WW2, why do we not make China let Taiwan & Tibet go? It's the same thing.
They miss the fact that we're not supposed to worry about crime before it takes place. That's why we live in society with Free Will. Perhaps social conscience of morality (whatever we can get along with) needs to be laid down earlier in life, but the whole point of free men is that government is there to check the offenders, not keep people from making mistakes.
The rule is technically the STATES that have freedom of arms. That means that YES, YOUR state should have it's own nukes, and the Prez should have to ASK to use them. Governors could say no, even if there were consequences, troops would know where their loyalties lie. We shouldn't have a large federal army, but the divisions should be under direct governor control. That way when you get illegal wars like Iraq, States can start asking for THEIR troops back to protect their states, like in Katrina, where the local troops (that know the people, and what's acceptable for their citizens) were drug away and outsiders tried to run things.
That's what happened in the Civil War. When the federal government came into question, many officers went back to their states and asked what the State had decided. According to the second amendment, that was the correct thing to do. Wether the State governments could succeed was a different issue. Europeans would understand that originally the United States was very loose, like the EU, the strong fed didn't happen until after the war.
of course the intelligence agencies are EXECUTIVE agencies that answer to the president... see a pattern.
Anyway, what's really getting the ball rolling is that the president is starting to tip his hand on the telcom immunity issue. Instead of being open and getting them proof they ask for, he's showing them he's got something to hide over and over. His continued eagerness I'm sure is showing in the Lobby the aids do... telcom immunity is essentially immunity for him, if telcoms can be punished, they can't be leaned on to rat out where their marching orders came from. One CEO from Quest has already gone to court because the CIA/NAS used government contracts as a "bribe" for illegal access and he didn't bite and messed up his books and he can't explain because of "national security".
The prez is anxious, that puts the chum of fear in the water... just the thing the Democrats needed in an election year with a lame duck Republican who thought he was going to skate.
you don't understand, the meaning has changed...
Right wing means "right" or righteous. Left wing means "lefty" or wrong. Both sides want strong government control to make people do what they want. By the 1920's definition both democrats and republicans are very Liberal. Example: The social "left" passed prohibition, the religious "right" keeps it there.
By that definition, Amish may be mildly "socialist" but to the normal right wingers they are seen as "super right wing", maybe kooks, but more RIGHTeous than you. Remember, reality is that the whole right-left thing is a circle not a line. The religious "right" holds strongly to freedom of "right" (correct) religions. Scientiolgy is more "mainstream" than Amish are, so if nobody would mess with Amish, nobody would mess with Scientologists unless you could find them committing an actual crime (hence the reason Mormons always got hassle over the polygamy thing, because THAT was illegal and you could punish them for it, even though the reason was that you just didn't like them)
my only complaint with NBC's web player is that ads break the view settings. That's purely a programming bug and somebody should have fixed it.
As far as back episodes and such keeping only a little bit is reasonable. Of course I'd be happy if they still supported iTunes. 2/3 of the shows I bought from there are NBC related... but it wasn't making ENOUGH money. I could understand if they rotated stuff out to get you to buy DVDs and such later, or hit the video store. Let's face it, the REAL draw of iTunes is an tremendously large pay-per-view system. The trend of shows on DVD is nice but they should be promoting shows on iTunes, people are more willing to part with a few dollars as an impulse buy at at time...rather than large amounts asked for DVD collections up front (even though the DVD is sometimes better value)
Tell the truth , Cable companies could go to shows a-la-carte and let the shows duke it out. The whole problem with niche entertainment on cable is that you have to have a whole channel which has to run ads 24/7 to pay the cable company. You could condense a lot of the channels (H&G, SciFi, Anime, etc) by allowing downloads of episodes outright with ads and use part of the ads like the TV guide channel to promote new shows. As your downloading history would be known, it would be easy to advertise you the RIGHT shows that you'd like and then watch whenever. Like other people have mentioned, I think metered web will be back soon, and "TV" will be a bulk download service plan, so many shows from networks included for "free" because your provider provides highest speed local mirrors.