"Due to complaints about the ink provided with our HP Deskjet series of printers, we have chosen to no longer provide ink cartridges with our printers."
Then no one can complain that they're only getting a half-full or half-empty cartridge, right?
The connection is shitty, with frequent lag spikes. Ever had a Google search page stall while loading? It's pretty sad, and I experience it multiple times every day. $55 is already outrageous for the crap quality of the connection they give me, and now I'll be expected to pay more for those laggy, stalling downloads of MP3s I've already paid for.
So don't. Get another company; or get dial-up if you don't have another company. Set up your downloads for when you're out the door for work or when you're going to sleep--what else are you going to do with your internet access during those hours?
**Shrugs** People have lived with dial-up a long longer than they've lived with high-speed access. High-speed access is a "gee-whiz," when you get right down to it. I had similar access with Bellsouth, but I'm not still paying them $50 for crappy service.
Hasn't DeCSS already experience wide spread disclosure. This is kind of like closing the barn door after the horse has left the building.
Left the building, jumped the fence, galloped through the meadows, met the business end of an 18-wheeler, and got repackaged into little bottles marked "Elmer's."
That is a good point. And it's why I don't buy games when they're first released.
See, if I wait for a year or so to buy a game, its price has dropped considerably. Part of what you're paying $50 for is the prestige of getting the game when it's first released. In other words, you're paying $50 so you can get all the bugs that are taken out of the game by the time I pay $20 for it.
*Ahem* Anyway, CDs don't follow the same pricing model: many do go down over time; but it may take them ten or twenty years to do so, and if they remain popular, their price only goes up.
A couple more points. . . a lot of people don't mind paying $40-$50 for a game, because most of the games released at that price are of very high quality. No matter what you may think of "Deer Hunter," it was only $20 from the day it hit the shelves.
Finally: after twenty or so years in the PC game market, most game companies have come to accept the role of software piracy in their business model. Companies used various copy protection schemes to try and minimize piracy--Starflight's was unique in its variant of "read the manual" copy protection--but the focus was on minimizing piracy as opposed to eliminating it. The former is an attainable goal, whereas the latter is not. On the other hand, software piracy does inflate the price of legitimate copies, as companies have to make up the lost revenue from somewhere.
In short: I find it more tasteful to pay $40 for a well-made game, produced by a company with realistic expectations concerning product revenue, than I do to pay $20 which will end up funding a propaganda campaign that portrays multi-million-dollar executives as starving victims of ruthless intellectual-property terrorists.
Based on the demands of Hollywood and the recording industry to date, and the trends in Washington, how on earth can you justify a "don't worry, be happy" attitude like this?
Did I miss the bulletin where television was made a requirement in my life? I hope not, because I haven't owned a television for two years now; and I've gotten along quite well without it.
If you don't like the current entertainment market, read a book or go for a walk. Do something healthy and productive with your life. But stop whining when there's really not much you can do about it in the first place. ..
. ..and for Gods' sake, don't compare this little television "crisis" to the Cambodian or Soviet massacres. Your having to sit through one more annoying car dealership ad cannot possibly compare to the obscene conditions under which millions of Cambodians and Soviets lived and died.
Northpoint wireless wants to offer wireless broadband (tv/music/inet) but the FCC wants to charge for the spectrum, which northpoint owns the copyright for.
This is silly. You can't own a copyright for a radio frequency.
Implications for Radio Astronomy. . .
on
Unlimited Airwaves
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
While radio waves may not interfere with one-another directly the way sound waves do, what would happen to radio astronomy if we opened up every possible frequency to exploitation? Is it even remotely possible that's what the FCC bureaucrats are considering, and not simply their own necks?
As an aside: the Internet should have made the TelCos obsolete years ago; but it hasn't happened yet. I wouldn't hold my breath on newer radio technology making old radio obsolete anytime in the next ten years, at least.
Re:How space will be used (was: Re:I wonder...)
on
China Plans Moonbase
·
· Score: 2, Funny
I only wish that I could find some way to make money off my prediction when it comes to pass...
Quick, patent it!
Re:it should have gone like this...
on
Disconnecting
·
· Score: 1
That and he can't tie AOL in with Columbine or 9-11. ..
No, Napster was killed by already-existing copyright law--it was illegal to facilitate the distribution of pirated music before the DMCA as well as after.
Yahoo sells its services, not for money, but for marketing data. It sells that marketing data to generate revenue. Thing is, of course, they don't verify that the marketing data you give them is accurate.
This is equivalent to a grocery store charging you $10 for a loaf of bread but letting you pay in Monopoly money. Where's the problem, here?
I'm not sure using Metallica as the RIAA's poster child was a great idea, either for Metallica or for RIAA. I mean, what's Metallica supposed so say? "Poor us, we're starving because of Napster! Baby Jesus cries because of music pirates!"
No one cares if Metallica thinks they're losing money except Metallica, because they already have obscene amounts of money as it is. It just makes them the Nottingham sheriff to the RIAA's King John.
Just cut them off. One geek at a time. It will eventually work.
No, it won't, because Geeks are a small minority of the desktop computer market. Only if geeks were the majority would this be an effective tactic against Microsoft.
What will eventually work is to have a Geek (or a flock of Geeks) design an operating system that is both technically sound and easy to use for Geeks and Grandmas. And on top of that, the Geek(s) will have to market their product as something that works better than Windows and is both easy and fun to use.
I read an article similar to the one linked to at MSNBC's site this morning; the difference between the two agencies is that NORAD tracks anything over ten centimeters in diameter; whereas the NASA office is trying to track objects smaller than that.
But it is important. . . isn't it? If I recall my physics correctly, neutrinos with mass = closed universe.
It's funny when you think about it, that probably the smallest particle in the universe will decide its fate. . . but it's true. Pretty amazing stuff, physics.
STAR WARS EPISODE II: Anakin's mom gets killed by Sandpeople. He freaks out and slays an entire village. Later in the movie, Anakin loses an arm to the evil Count Dooku -- who turns out to be Darth Tyranus. Anakin marries Padme.
You just saved me $5! . ..Umm, no, you can't have it, it's mine.
BRAVEHEART: He arrested, then gets his intestines ripped out to the music of Enya.
I've gotten that intestines-ripped-out feeling from some of Enya's music, but not lately. ..
Anyway, don't think of it as spoiling shows/movies. . . think of it as Open Source, for television!
Will the computers that control this be the same computers that subject members of the US Armed Forces (such as myself) to extensive searches every time they board a flight?
If you're looking for an "official" Phantom Edit on the web, you're not going to find one. The Phantom Editor explains:
I am The Phantom Editor. The guy that created, Episode 1.1, The Phantom Edit on my bottom of the line Macintosh G4 using an editing program called Final Cut Pro. I did not upload it onto the Internet and as a matter of fact, I am still only a 56k modem guy with no high-speed connection so to this day, I still haven't even downloaded it. Different "spirited individuals" (some knowledgable about what they are doing, and some... well...not) have digitized and converted the movie into multiple file formats...
In short, the only versions of the Edit that are online are unofficial. You can probably find something with a Google search, but downloader beware.
Slashdot Mirror
Give her what every shy, young, sweet, innocent, 18-year-old female college freshman needs. . .
That is, presuming you can find an 18-year-old college coed who's still shy, sweet, or innocent.
"Due to complaints about the ink provided with our HP Deskjet series of printers, we have chosen to no longer provide ink cartridges with our printers."
Then no one can complain that they're only getting a half-full or half-empty cartridge, right?
May I suggest a change of motto?
Rumors for Nerds. Tabloid that Thinks it Matters.
1. The voice menu "from hell" system. I think Jon Katz could write another popular column on this one.
Sure, he could, but do we all want to hear about how crappy voicemail relates to post-Columbine society and the aftermath of 9/11?
There, OsamaBin Ladoni wields the Death Jet, a Jet with the power to destroy an entire building.
I wonder how "funny" this is to the survivors of September 11th.
The connection is shitty, with frequent lag spikes. Ever had a Google search page stall while loading? It's pretty sad, and I experience it multiple times every day. $55 is already outrageous for the crap quality of the connection they give me, and now I'll be expected to pay more for those laggy, stalling downloads of MP3s I've already paid for.
So don't. Get another company; or get dial-up if you don't have another company. Set up your downloads for when you're out the door for work or when you're going to sleep--what else are you going to do with your internet access during those hours?
**Shrugs** People have lived with dial-up a long longer than they've lived with high-speed access. High-speed access is a "gee-whiz," when you get right down to it. I had similar access with Bellsouth, but I'm not still paying them $50 for crappy service.
Hasn't DeCSS already experience wide spread disclosure. This is kind of like closing the barn door after the horse has left the building.
Left the building, jumped the fence, galloped through the meadows, met the business end of an 18-wheeler, and got repackaged into little bottles marked "Elmer's."
That is a good point. And it's why I don't buy games when they're first released.
See, if I wait for a year or so to buy a game, its price has dropped considerably. Part of what you're paying $50 for is the prestige of getting the game when it's first released. In other words, you're paying $50 so you can get all the bugs that are taken out of the game by the time I pay $20 for it.
*Ahem* Anyway, CDs don't follow the same pricing model: many do go down over time; but it may take them ten or twenty years to do so, and if they remain popular, their price only goes up.
A couple more points. . . a lot of people don't mind paying $40-$50 for a game, because most of the games released at that price are of very high quality. No matter what you may think of "Deer Hunter," it was only $20 from the day it hit the shelves.
Finally: after twenty or so years in the PC game market, most game companies have come to accept the role of software piracy in their business model. Companies used various copy protection schemes to try and minimize piracy--Starflight's was unique in its variant of "read the manual" copy protection--but the focus was on minimizing piracy as opposed to eliminating it. The former is an attainable goal, whereas the latter is not. On the other hand, software piracy does inflate the price of legitimate copies, as companies have to make up the lost revenue from somewhere.
In short: I find it more tasteful to pay $40 for a well-made game, produced by a company with realistic expectations concerning product revenue, than I do to pay $20 which will end up funding a propaganda campaign that portrays multi-million-dollar executives as starving victims of ruthless intellectual-property terrorists.
Based on the demands of Hollywood and the recording industry to date, and the trends in Washington, how on earth can you justify a "don't worry, be happy" attitude like this?
Did I miss the bulletin where television was made a requirement in my life? I hope not, because I haven't owned a television for two years now; and I've gotten along quite well without it.
If you don't like the current entertainment market, read a book or go for a walk. Do something healthy and productive with your life. But stop whining when there's really not much you can do about it in the first place. . .
. . .and for Gods' sake, don't compare this little television "crisis" to the Cambodian or Soviet massacres. Your having to sit through one more annoying car dealership ad cannot possibly compare to the obscene conditions under which millions of Cambodians and Soviets lived and died.
Northpoint wireless wants to offer wireless broadband (tv/music/inet) but the FCC wants to charge for the spectrum, which northpoint owns the copyright for.
This is silly. You can't own a copyright for a radio frequency.
While radio waves may not interfere with one-another directly the way sound waves do, what would happen to radio astronomy if we opened up every possible frequency to exploitation? Is it even remotely possible that's what the FCC bureaucrats are considering, and not simply their own necks?
As an aside: the Internet should have made the TelCos obsolete years ago; but it hasn't happened yet. I wouldn't hold my breath on newer radio technology making old radio obsolete anytime in the next ten years, at least.
I only wish that I could find some way to make money off my prediction when it comes to pass...
Quick, patent it!
That and he can't tie AOL in with Columbine or 9-11. . .
No, Napster was killed by already-existing copyright law--it was illegal to facilitate the distribution of pirated music before the DMCA as well as after.
When will corporate folks look at this progression and contemplate something else?
You mean, like, something we want? **Scoffs** It'll never happen.
Yahoo sells its services, not for money, but for marketing data. It sells that marketing data to generate revenue. Thing is, of course, they don't verify that the marketing data you give them is accurate.
This is equivalent to a grocery store charging you $10 for a loaf of bread but letting you pay in Monopoly money. Where's the problem, here?
I'm not sure using Metallica as the RIAA's poster child was a great idea, either for Metallica or for RIAA. I mean, what's Metallica supposed so say? "Poor us, we're starving because of Napster! Baby Jesus cries because of music pirates!"
No one cares if Metallica thinks they're losing money except Metallica, because they already have obscene amounts of money as it is. It just makes them the Nottingham sheriff to the RIAA's King John.
Just cut them off. One geek at a time. It will eventually work.
No, it won't, because Geeks are a small minority of the desktop computer market. Only if geeks were the majority would this be an effective tactic against Microsoft.
What will eventually work is to have a Geek (or a flock of Geeks) design an operating system that is both technically sound and easy to use for Geeks and Grandmas. And on top of that, the Geek(s) will have to market their product as something that works better than Windows and is both easy and fun to use.
Try buying a case of beer with a "non-driver identification card" some time. Or god forbid, a passport.
My military ID works just fine, actually. . .
I read an article similar to the one linked to at MSNBC's site this morning; the difference between the two agencies is that NORAD tracks anything over ten centimeters in diameter; whereas the NASA office is trying to track objects smaller than that.
But it is important. . . isn't it? If I recall my physics correctly, neutrinos with mass = closed universe.
It's funny when you think about it, that probably the smallest particle in the universe will decide its fate. . . but it's true. Pretty amazing stuff, physics.
Ummm....scream hopelessly at him and then proceed to be torn limb from limb?
No, chase him up to the top of a tall skyscraper and harass him with puny weapons until he plummets to his death.
STAR WARS EPISODE II: Anakin's mom gets killed by Sandpeople. He freaks out and slays an entire village. Later in the movie, Anakin loses an arm to the evil Count Dooku -- who turns out to be Darth Tyranus. Anakin marries Padme.
You just saved me $5! . . .Umm, no, you can't have it, it's mine.
BRAVEHEART: He arrested, then gets his intestines ripped out to the music of Enya.
I've gotten that intestines-ripped-out feeling from some of Enya's music, but not lately. . .
Anyway, don't think of it as spoiling shows/movies. . . think of it as Open Source, for television!
Will the computers that control this be the same computers that subject members of the US Armed Forces (such as myself) to extensive searches every time they board a flight?
If you're looking for an "official" Phantom Edit on the web, you're not going to find one. The Phantom Editor explains:
In short, the only versions of the Edit that are online are unofficial. You can probably find something with a Google search, but downloader beware.