I haven't used a 360, so maybe it does the caching/synching thing like the AppleTV. That's a big selling point to a lot of people. A great cross between storage on the device and accessing you larger collection. Also the AppleTV accesses the material on connected computers without having to really change the way you store or catalogue your material (for those that use iTunes anyway).
Anyway, my real point was just to pick on the
for people who use PCs instead of Macs
statement. It synchs to iTunes regardless of the platform it's running on. 360 may well be a better replacement for the gamer, or more technical crowd, but I don't think PC/Mac has anything to do with it. AppleTV is for those who wouldn't otherwise know how or want to setup the more complicated (and capable) alternatives. Or those like me who really struggle to find the time to do the once a week "manually re-organize and synch stuff" between my main computer and mediacenter due to other commitments (work/family/study/etc).
Besides, especially when coupled with something like an elgato eyeTV, it makes it a lot easier for other members of the household to view what they want, when they want.
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
Totally off topic, but this really gets to me today (some frustrating meetings with users lately). I agree most interfaces/software these days are awful, but light switch equivalence can never be achieved.
I know it's been said, but a light switch does one thing. Even then, I bet if you'd never seen a light or a light switch you wouldn't know how to work it without a demo. Look how complicated they get when they do two things, on-off-variable brightness. A switch and a dial. The dial doing nothing unless the switch is on. Look how much room they take up for this simple function. This is something that was designed from the start, what about the interface when you retrofit a function to an existing light/switch combo (like we always do to computers)? I have four stage lights with normal switches. Turn on, off then on to change brightness. Off then on again to go darker still etc.
Can't we pick a more sensible goal (so more might actually choose to follow it?)
"What if development stops"? Well, if it's a commercial product you probably have support still, but no new features, and no where to go but migrate to a new provider.
If it's GPL, then you still have support options (as shown above), in fact more options that commercial often, can support it yourself if you decide to, can take on development yourself or wait until someone continues the project... or worst case migrate, but as your content is in an open format (not the encrypted db blackboard had when I last dealt with it) it is likely to be an easier process.
I'm sure you know all of this, having entered into a RFP, but others may not.
All of which, as a participant/student, you can turn off on a per forum per course etc. basis.
Unless the facilitator of the course has mandated it, but then it's them you should be miffed with.
If you haven't already, try pacifist (http://www.charlessoft.com/).
It will allow you to open up a package and look at what it contains. You can check the pre/post flight scripts etc. You can see a map of what will be installed when the installer is run. You can selectively install just the bits you want. You can also verify that all files from an installation are still in their correct places, or check your kernel extensions to see where they came from.
It's not the end user solution you are asking for, but it's here now.
I see two other factors, making it hard to really know what the %age should be.
1-> Why wouldn't a user of a pirated copy try?
-They may not know if it's a corporate edition (or some other variant) that will pass.
-Some updates you can get without validation, so following the Ooh look, updates... update click -> ok -> ok -> process you may hit ok to the validation process every now and then.
-What's the worst that will happen? Your system doesn't validate and doesn't update... some place as before. Or do you really think MS is about to send out goon squads to those 22% of its users?
2-> I have a licensed copy here that is failing (long story). Every now and then I try again in case IT support have fixed the blinking thing yet.
I can only assume they are doing this to try and make people feel like maybe their data isn't going to be lost/locked after all, because MS are working on technology to keep it readable in time capsules... there's no way there'd be trouble reading my MS Word journal in 10 years, right??? Not if they're "this close" to making it readable after your dead?
I can count my re-installs over the last few years on one finger. A hard drive finally started flaking, so a reboot from a firewire drive with an image from the day before -> format internal drive -> run rsync(x) -> go to the pub.
Then again, Mac users (and *nix users) often have more enjoyable things to do than re-install windows.
Most of the electricity used to be produced by hydro-electric power plants. It's not anymore, but most people still call it the "hydro" when they are talking about their electricity supply.
The laptop section carried my 12 powerbook in perfect comfort. Very well padded, an inch or two of extra padding at the bottom to protect it when you put the bag down too hard, this section is water tight (well the zip is meant to be water proof, and it worked for us).
The front section holds an iPod (the cables can pass througha specially design hole to the outside) and a digital camera (Sony DSC-T1 fits perfectly). Both are stored in their own little velcro pocket, and with the headphones sticking out through the designated premade hole, we padlocked this section closed.
Side pockets for bottes of water, mobile (cell) phones, keys etc. and the back pocket is big enough to shove a jumper or two in.
We bought this backpack before we left Australia specifically to keep our three tech toys safe while we toured Japan and the US. Worked flawlessly. There is so much padding on the back it's a pleasure to carry. You can fit more in than you think, but it's quite small (which is a godsend when travelling, who wants to lug?).
The only catch is now that we've settled into Toronto for a while, the fact that it's divided into 3 sections means that it's not easy to shove extra warm clothes into it, now that we no longer take the laptop with us.
I'm sure one of their other models will suit if you don't have a 12".
So how do normal lotteries operate? Does that mean I can enter without buying one of their tickets (their "product")?
I'm guessing that you can't run a competition without allowing entry without purchase, otherwise it is a lottery and hence needs to be more regulated, taxed, 16 and over etc. etc.
Could well be wrong, but the idea of sending a postcard to enter a normal lottery had me laughing.
You're kidding right? I don't know any non-techie people who would have a clue what PGP (or possibly encryption) is, but most would have some idea of the function of.zip.
Secondly, how much do you love the idea of integrating.zip handling into the windows shell? Another attrocious idea if you ask me. Spent too much time working out why explorer (and hence nearly the whole computer) froze after pulling a file of a unix box. The XP shell (and 2000) was trying to handle the.tar.Z extension and borking on it. Renaming to.comp and problem gone. It was a tar'ed then compressed (the actual compress utility) 300mb file.
Why oh why do they have to tie so much together? It's just asking for trouble.
I think you had better be careful how that is implemented. The most simple solution might not be the best one.
If you merely place the white list filter before the baysian system, and all white listed e-mail is sent directly to your inbox bypassing the filter then the filter will miss it's oportunity to be better trained. It will efectively have very few e-mails to re-inforce what "not-spam" is and will only be fed spam. It might become overly aggressive in it's filtering and any non-whitelisted, non-spam may have a higher chance of being incorrectly classed as spam.
If you use the whitelist after the baysian filter then the filter misses out on the oportunity to be better educated again, as regardless of how it classifies the whitelisted "not-spam" e-mail, you'll still receive it.
The whitelist needs to be incorporated into the baysian system itslef to ensure the filter is continually trained with what is theoretically known good "non-spam" mail.
Where did they get this crazy theory on inhibition?
Talking to complete strangers, separated by thousands of miles, enormous landmasses and oceans, does tend to imbue a certain amount of awe and inhibition in people.
It was said in jest, not meant to be a snide remark.
I've never read the books myself, only seen the movies. Dissapointed with the second actually. The drums quote was from one of the better bits of the first movie IMHO.
More on topic, Australian radio is abuzz now Mr. Bush has finally "officially" asked us for help. It will be interesting to see how this war is presented to us. I'm sure it will depend on whether we commit troops or not.
We never feel more like an American Colony than when our media is basically just playing CNN at us! Last time was 11/9. (Don't argue with the day/month order thing... it would take too long).
Take a long hard look at yourself. What are you doing on slashdot if you have to ask that?
LOTR - TFOTR
Poser...
Re:Interactive ads vs Product placement
on
Advergames
·
· Score: 1
where eating at McDonalds increases your happiness (which is an absolutely horrible message to send to youth
I'm really stuck with how to feel here... on one hand we have the whole corporate sellout stuff, the advertising invading everything we do, and the problem of saying "McDonalds makes you happy". Then we have the problem of should we really be reacting agressively to this message? Isn't that what all advertising is about? Making people think they're better off with the product? McDonalds might not be healthy, but we all choose to swap our money for their product (let's not argue about childrens ability to make these choices etc.)...
Besides, which way does this work? If it's meant to be art imitating life, then for a lot of people eating McDonalds does bring some amount of joy. If it's life imitating art, we have bigger things to worry about.
Depends what you mean by raising the dead. If you mean "oh, make a clone of John, educate it, let it grow up to John's age, and you have John again", then obviously that's never going to work, and there was never really any doubt about that.
I think this is only obvious to the few with a decent grasp of science/genetics etc. Most of the world hears the term "clone" and/or "exact copy" and expects to get that.
It's mentioned in the article in several ways. Only a "small percentage" are just wanting "as simmilar as possible", some are even expecting the clone to still know the "old tricks"! If there are people out there thinking this, imagine what the majority are thinking? If nothing else they'd want them to be identical as far as appearance goes, and probably expect the same behaviour. I'm sure a lot of people would expect cloned humans to have the same memories as well. Whether this is just because the general public is dim-witted, poorly educated or just brain-washed by the media and movies showing this type of cloning is not the issue. This just seems to be the prevalent view, and it's one of the major misconceptions that needs to be dispelled before there can be genuinely constructive debate of cloning by the massses.
I saw it as well, and was jumping up and down screaming at the TV. What a schmuck. He didn't just hint that the levy would then make it OK to copy CD's etc., that everyone "is doing already", he actually said it would be. I've been searching for a transcript of the show all morning, but work has banned the website during working hours.
I'm sure that even if they allowed the levy, it wouldn't change copyright law. I doubt their groups have the power to try and do that, so I'm just so furious that he presented it this way.
What's more, while Australian music is becoming more and more popular lately, the great majority of our music is still produced in America. How do they expect a charge on every CD-R used in Australia should only go to re-imburse Australian organisations? It pisses me off, and I'm Australian.
Just as a side point, I found out the other day that there really isn't any sort of fair use for taping TV in Australia. The advice from the Australian Copyright Council website says explicitly it's not even allowed in order to watch the show later the same day!!! Do they really think they'll be able to change the laws so copying/trading music is perfectly legal as long as CD-R's are taxed? No matter what they raise the price to, it can only mess things up. All money will go straight to the companies, not the artists, as there will be no way to track what's being traded anyway....!
Sorry, my posts are usually more structured, and less like a giant rant, but man that interview this morning ticked me off!!!
To me it would seem that they are asking for a lawsuit from anyone using their doors that has been broken into. Maybe even others seeking refunds. I'm betting somewhere in their advertising they claim the "rolling code" feature makes sure only their remote will open the door, or that only the next code in sequence will work or something, where as really there is this huge hole in their implementation, that they are now publicising while trying to sue someone else...
To me it would seem to open them up to more damages than they could expect to claim from their case?
I've noticed this problem lately aswell. I started looking to buy a new PC recently, and couldn't believe how cheap a lot of them were compared to last time I looked. Most of them were being sold without an OS at all, which explains a couple of hundred $ of the price.
While it's great that we can now buy PC's without Windows when we as "educated" IT people know that is what we want, it is starting to become another "gotcha" for Billy the Goose down the road when he buys one.
I'm not sure about the whole "microsoft will benefit" theory, whether it's because of them being proved right or because people will start realising how much they like having an OS compared to no OS on their PC and still think MS in the only option, but it's certainly going to keep aggravating those who don't know much about PC's who get it home and can't use their latest big budget purchase.
I've heard of enough cases of people getting their PC's home, turing it on and then... nothing. Salepeople who will try to sell a PC without mentioning the lack of OS to people who don't understand the distinction between hardware and OS, and there are a lot of them out there. Think about it, they sold probably a few dollars more hardware than they would otherwise have done, and the user "has" to come back and buy an OS anyway right?
We need to be careful about how this is presented to users, or it will be like those only $14999 for a new car prices, but buy the time there is stamp duty etc. etc. it's a lot more than you were planning on spending, and it's often nearly to late to change your mind. Another option that isn't really an option.
The whole MS Office vs. OpenOffice etc. is a different matter...
I myself have resisted the temptation for this reason. It needs to be both the mobile and PDA in one. It's not that hard. You don't need colour etc. etc. I just won't carry yet another thing with me wherever and whenever I go, and if you don't do that a PDA is a waste. A mobile is enough of a pain to carry without taking a bag everywhere, but now that we are all (nearly) used to that inconvenience, they need to take advantage of that.
The main benefit is because with outlook or whatever software based scheduling tool you use, unless you check your PC a few times an hour, there is little point storing schedule infomation there. PDA's being with you all the time finally make this worthwhile.
A good friend of mine is a little too fanatical about keeping lists and records, knows how much he has spent at McDonalds for the last 5 years down to the last 5cents... He is the perfect candidate for a PDA because he's obsesive enough to use it enough, and also busy/absent minded enough to forget things/delay things if they aren't on a list.
Even HE resisted buying one until there was one that was a mobile/PDA that also supported MS Money... gotta keep track of those cheesburgers;-)
Slashdot Mirror
statement. It synchs to iTunes regardless of the platform it's running on. 360 may well be a better replacement for the gamer, or more technical crowd, but I don't think PC/Mac has anything to do with it. AppleTV is for those who wouldn't otherwise know how or want to setup the more complicated (and capable) alternatives. Or those like me who really struggle to find the time to do the once a week "manually re-organize and synch stuff" between my main computer and mediacenter due to other commitments (work/family/study/etc).Anyway, my real point was just to pick on the
Besides, especially when coupled with something like an elgato eyeTV, it makes it a lot easier for other members of the household to view what they want, when they want.
Cheers.
Totally off topic, but this really gets to me today (some frustrating meetings with users lately). I agree most interfaces/software these days are awful, but light switch equivalence can never be achieved.
I know it's been said, but a light switch does one thing. Even then, I bet if you'd never seen a light or a light switch you wouldn't know how to work it without a demo. Look how complicated they get when they do two things, on-off-variable brightness. A switch and a dial. The dial doing nothing unless the switch is on. Look how much room they take up for this simple function. This is something that was designed from the start, what about the interface when you retrofit a function to an existing light/switch combo (like we always do to computers)? I have four stage lights with normal switches. Turn on, off then on to change brightness. Off then on again to go darker still etc.
Can't we pick a more sensible goal (so more might actually choose to follow it?)
partners list
"What if development stops"? Well, if it's a commercial product you probably have support still, but no new features, and no where to go but migrate to a new provider. If it's GPL, then you still have support options (as shown above), in fact more options that commercial often, can support it yourself if you decide to, can take on development yourself or wait until someone continues the project... or worst case migrate, but as your content is in an open format (not the encrypted db blackboard had when I last dealt with it) it is likely to be an easier process.
I'm sure you know all of this, having entered into a RFP, but others may not.
All of which, as a participant/student, you can turn off on a per forum per course etc. basis. Unless the facilitator of the course has mandated it, but then it's them you should be miffed with.
It will allow you to open up a package and look at what it contains. You can check the pre/post flight scripts etc. You can see a map of what will be installed when the installer is run. You can selectively install just the bits you want. You can also verify that all files from an installation are still in their correct places, or check your kernel extensions to see where they came from.
It's not the end user solution you are asking for, but it's here now.
Cheers.
I think he missed a great chance to emphasize a point here... Vista's HDCP will only be an obstacle to playing UNcompromised HD movies in HD!
This is what would hit home hardest with most less technical users...
1-> Why wouldn't a user of a pirated copy try?
-They may not know if it's a corporate edition (or some other variant) that will pass.
-Some updates you can get without validation, so following the Ooh look, updates... update click -> ok -> ok -> process you may hit ok to the validation process every now and then.
-What's the worst that will happen? Your system doesn't validate and doesn't update... some place as before. Or do you really think MS is about to send out goon squads to those 22% of its users?
2-> I have a licensed copy here that is failing (long story). Every now and then I try again in case IT support have fixed the blinking thing yet.
I can only assume they are doing this to try and make people feel like maybe their data isn't going to be lost/locked after all, because MS are working on technology to keep it readable in time capsules... there's no way there'd be trouble reading my MS Word journal in 10 years, right??? Not if they're "this close" to making it readable after your dead?
Ask and ye shall receive...
Aperture Trial
I can count my re-installs over the last few years on one finger. A hard drive finally started flaking, so a reboot from a firewire drive with an image from the day before -> format internal drive -> run rsync(x) -> go to the pub. Then again, Mac users (and *nix users) often have more enjoyable things to do than re-install windows.
Most of the electricity used to be produced by hydro-electric power plants. It's not anymore, but most people still call it the "hydro" when they are talking about their electricity supply.
I was mighty confused to start with.
An Aussie in Toronto
They don't look like laptop bags, although they do look like upscale bags I suppose.
Head on over to
http://www.standardtm.com.au/
The one we bought was http://www.standardtm.com.au/backpacks_sphere.cfm
The laptop section carried my 12 powerbook in perfect comfort. Very well padded, an inch or two of extra padding at the bottom to protect it when you put the bag down too hard, this section is water tight (well the zip is meant to be water proof, and it worked for us).
The front section holds an iPod (the cables can pass througha specially design hole to the outside) and a digital camera (Sony DSC-T1 fits perfectly). Both are stored in their own little velcro pocket, and with the headphones sticking out through the designated premade hole, we padlocked this section closed.
Side pockets for bottes of water, mobile (cell) phones, keys etc. and the back pocket is big enough to shove a jumper or two in.
We bought this backpack before we left Australia specifically to keep our three tech toys safe while we toured Japan and the US. Worked flawlessly. There is so much padding on the back it's a pleasure to carry. You can fit more in than you think, but it's quite small (which is a godsend when travelling, who wants to lug?).
The only catch is now that we've settled into Toronto for a while, the fact that it's divided into 3 sections means that it's not easy to shove extra warm clothes into it, now that we no longer take the laptop with us.
I'm sure one of their other models will suit if you don't have a 12".
Cheers,
Oracle.
WTF does ATM stand for???
I'm guessing that you can't run a competition without allowing entry without purchase, otherwise it is a lottery and hence needs to be more regulated, taxed, 16 and over etc. etc.
Could well be wrong, but the idea of sending a postcard to enter a normal lottery had me laughing.
PGP is more universally known
You're kidding right? I don't know any non-techie people who would have a clue what PGP (or possibly encryption) is, but most would have some idea of the function of .zip.
Secondly, how much do you love the idea of integrating .zip handling into the windows shell? Another attrocious idea if you ask me. Spent too much time working out why explorer (and hence nearly the whole computer) froze after pulling a file of a unix box. The XP shell (and 2000) was trying to handle the .tar.Z extension and borking on it. Renaming to .comp and problem gone. It was a tar'ed then compressed (the actual compress utility) 300mb file.
Why oh why do they have to tie so much together? It's just asking for trouble.
If you merely place the white list filter before the baysian system, and all white listed e-mail is sent directly to your inbox bypassing the filter then the filter will miss it's oportunity to be better trained. It will efectively have very few e-mails to re-inforce what "not-spam" is and will only be fed spam. It might become overly aggressive in it's filtering and any non-whitelisted, non-spam may have a higher chance of being incorrectly classed as spam.
If you use the whitelist after the baysian filter then the filter misses out on the oportunity to be better educated again, as regardless of how it classifies the whitelisted "not-spam" e-mail, you'll still receive it.
The whitelist needs to be incorporated into the baysian system itslef to ensure the filter is continually trained with what is theoretically known good "non-spam" mail.
Where did they get this crazy theory on inhibition?
Talking to complete strangers, separated by thousands of miles, enormous landmasses and oceans, does tend to imbue a certain amount of awe and inhibition in people.
It was said in jest, not meant to be a snide remark.
I've never read the books myself, only seen the movies. Dissapointed with the second actually. The drums quote was from one of the better bits of the first movie IMHO.
More on topic, Australian radio is abuzz now Mr. Bush has finally "officially" asked us for help. It will be interesting to see how this war is presented to us. I'm sure it will depend on whether we commit troops or not.
We never feel more like an American Colony than when our media is basically just playing CNN at us! Last time was 11/9. (Don't argue with the day/month order thing... it would take too long).
Take a long hard look at yourself. What are you doing on slashdot if you have to ask that? LOTR - TFOTR Poser...
I'm really stuck with how to feel here... on one hand we have the whole corporate sellout stuff, the advertising invading everything we do, and the problem of saying "McDonalds makes you happy". Then we have the problem of should we really be reacting agressively to this message? Isn't that what all advertising is about? Making people think they're better off with the product? McDonalds might not be healthy, but we all choose to swap our money for their product (let's not argue about childrens ability to make these choices etc.)...
Besides, which way does this work? If it's meant to be art imitating life, then for a lot of people eating McDonalds does bring some amount of joy. If it's life imitating art, we have bigger things to worry about.
I think this is only obvious to the few with a decent grasp of science/genetics etc. Most of the world hears the term "clone" and/or "exact copy" and expects to get that.
It's mentioned in the article in several ways. Only a "small percentage" are just wanting "as simmilar as possible", some are even expecting the clone to still know the "old tricks"! If there are people out there thinking this, imagine what the majority are thinking? If nothing else they'd want them to be identical as far as appearance goes, and probably expect the same behaviour. I'm sure a lot of people would expect cloned humans to have the same memories as well. Whether this is just because the general public is dim-witted, poorly educated or just brain-washed by the media and movies showing this type of cloning is not the issue. This just seems to be the prevalent view, and it's one of the major misconceptions that needs to be dispelled before there can be genuinely constructive debate of cloning by the massses.
I'm sure that even if they allowed the levy, it wouldn't change copyright law. I doubt their groups have the power to try and do that, so I'm just so furious that he presented it this way.
What's more, while Australian music is becoming more and more popular lately, the great majority of our music is still produced in America. How do they expect a charge on every CD-R used in Australia should only go to re-imburse Australian organisations? It pisses me off, and I'm Australian.
Just as a side point, I found out the other day that there really isn't any sort of fair use for taping TV in Australia. The advice from the Australian Copyright Council website says explicitly it's not even allowed in order to watch the show later the same day!!! Do they really think they'll be able to change the laws so copying/trading music is perfectly legal as long as CD-R's are taxed? No matter what they raise the price to, it can only mess things up. All money will go straight to the companies, not the artists, as there will be no way to track what's being traded anyway....!
Sorry, my posts are usually more structured, and less like a giant rant, but man that interview this morning ticked me off!!!
To me it would seem to open them up to more damages than they could expect to claim from their case?
I've noticed this problem lately aswell. I started looking to buy a new PC recently, and couldn't believe how cheap a lot of them were compared to last time I looked. Most of them were being sold without an OS at all, which explains a couple of hundred $ of the price.
While it's great that we can now buy PC's without Windows when we as "educated" IT people know that is what we want, it is starting to become another "gotcha" for Billy the Goose down the road when he buys one.
I'm not sure about the whole "microsoft will benefit" theory, whether it's because of them being proved right or because people will start realising how much they like having an OS compared to no OS on their PC and still think MS in the only option, but it's certainly going to keep aggravating those who don't know much about PC's who get it home and can't use their latest big budget purchase.
I've heard of enough cases of people getting their PC's home, turing it on and then... nothing. Salepeople who will try to sell a PC without mentioning the lack of OS to people who don't understand the distinction between hardware and OS, and there are a lot of them out there. Think about it, they sold probably a few dollars more hardware than they would otherwise have done, and the user "has" to come back and buy an OS anyway right?
We need to be careful about how this is presented to users, or it will be like those only $14999 for a new car prices, but buy the time there is stamp duty etc. etc. it's a lot more than you were planning on spending, and it's often nearly to late to change your mind. Another option that isn't really an option.
The whole MS Office vs. OpenOffice etc. is a different matter...
Just something to think about.
I myself have resisted the temptation for this reason. It needs to be both the mobile and PDA in one. It's not that hard. You don't need colour etc. etc. I just won't carry yet another thing with me wherever and whenever I go, and if you don't do that a PDA is a waste. A mobile is enough of a pain to carry without taking a bag everywhere, but now that we are all (nearly) used to that inconvenience, they need to take advantage of that.
;-)
The main benefit is because with outlook or whatever software based scheduling tool you use, unless you check your PC a few times an hour, there is little point storing schedule infomation there. PDA's being with you all the time finally make this worthwhile.
A good friend of mine is a little too fanatical about keeping lists and records, knows how much he has spent at McDonalds for the last 5 years down to the last 5cents... He is the perfect candidate for a PDA because he's obsesive enough to use it enough, and also busy/absent minded enough to forget things/delay things if they aren't on a list.
Even HE resisted buying one until there was one that was a mobile/PDA that also supported MS Money... gotta keep track of those cheesburgers