Re:probably better to just get the real thing
on
Build Your Own DVR
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· Score: 1
I've actually found the MythTV program guide (with listings by Zap2It) to be *far* superior to the guide on a Scientific Atlanta 8000 (Time Warner uses a lot of these), and Myth is a WHOLE lot more configurable/controllable.
Common sense says that if there's anything you don't want people to find out about, you won't use company resources.
Agreed. Consequently, any personal e-mails or IMs go through an SSH link to my network at home, and from there to wherever. If my employer chooses to eliminate that option via the firewall, that's certainly their right to do so. I'd never do anything to compromise my employer's business, but that doesn't mean I particularly like them taking an interest in every single thing I do. I suppose they could still use a keylogger or screengrabber to keep tabs on us, but the moment I find out they are, I'm looking for a new job. That's one of the pesky things about employing people with systems-level experience - they tend to be able to find if their box is being monitored fairly easily.:-)
I just looked this up, and you're correct that businesses can monitor their own lines, but that only applies where the conversation being recorded is business-related. If I call my wife from my company phone to ask her to pick something up at the grocery store, the exemption no longer applies, and it's then illegal for my employer to monitor/record the call beyond that which is necessary to determine that the call was not business-related.
Most companies own their own PBX and corporate phone systems these days, so are free to use it any way they see fit, including monitoring calls because the monitoring occurs before it hits the trunk lines.
That's true if you're monitoring a conversation between extensions on the same PBX, but if you're monitoring a conversation between one of your employees and someone outside your organization's system that goes over a common carrier, it's a much different story.
Wow, LAN Manager - there's a term I haven't heard in a while. Back in '89 I was doing mostly DOS-oriented coding (I still remember how to write TSRs, which today in combination with a dollar will get me a cup of coffee), but I did get to do some cool OS/2 1.3/2.0 PM stuff as well. And then Windows took over the world. Dammit.
It doesn't screw my buddy list up per se, but I get a couple hundred (literally) windows telling me a buddy list request needs to be sent to someone that's been on my list for years, and I end up having to kill the process to get everything cleaned up. Doesn't do it on the Linux version, only the Windows one. I normally use Trillian otherwise, but I find the tabbed windowing to be a bit spotty at times.
I wouldn't even worry about it. If you're shipped an illegitimate version, then that's not the item you ordered. Under Federal law you have no duty to return an item you didn't order, and the supplier is still on the hook to deliver the merchandise you've already paid for.
If they want to be jerks about it, then do as you mentioned and dispute the charge. If Apple does in fact figure out some way to identify and exclude the early users from the support they're owed, they'd best make sure those people get a totally legitimate copy. Otherwise, they just grabbed the biggest shovel in the shed to dig a very public hole around themselves.
Be sure you let Nikon know that, and don't forget to include a copy of the Canon receipt so they know you're serious. We can't expect Nikon or any other company to change their ways because we ask them to. We have to show them that their actions are in fact costing them money. It's been my experience that big companies will listen to you if you write a calm, well-reasoned letter and send it via snail mail - that's how I finally got Microsoft to replace my Xbox's bum Thomson drive at no charge even though the machine was out of warranty and I had already been through the wringer with the telephone support folks.
Of course, this is all a moot point if Nikon's sales of their proprietary software are offsetting any camera sales lost over this issue.:-)
It really doesn't matter whether our friends/relatives are in the market for a professional camera or not. Many more people buy mid-range cameras than do the pro units, and it's here where word-of-mouth could be detrimental to Nikon. Also consider the fact that Nikon makes digital cameras just like every other camera manufacturer. I for one won't consider a Nikon for my next digital cam purchase, but I sure as hell will be looking at the Canons.
The listing only contains the BIOS. BASIC, while being in ROM, wasn't actually a part of the BIOS, and I'm pretty sure you didn't really need it as long as you had a drive to boot from.
Maybe "Balance" is the trademark for a bleach-like cleaner that kills midichlorians on contact? I understand those little pests are *everywhere* in the SW universe. A good cleaner would be beneficial to everyone, what with all the dirty spaceships and such to be seen there.
Starship Troopers entertained me mostly by making no bones about the fact that it was strictly eye candy, and the story was a very basic device consisting only of what was necessary to get the audience from one CGI-fest to the next. It was unabashedly an action flick, and appeared to take very great pains to ensure the audience didn't take it seriously. It also did not let the audience down in the least regarding the FX.
Let's not forget the speed at which ships fly in the Star Wars universe, too. In most scenes with the Millenium Falcon, the ship appears to take about a second or so to traverse its length past the camera POV, which works out to about 100 mph or so. Even in the opening scene of Star Wars, the Star Destroyer flying over the camera is doing less than 400 mph, assuming a stationary camera. 400 mph isn't fast enough to keep you in orbit around much of anything, and one would think the Tantive IV could offer a little bit more of a pursuit than that. Realistic speeds just aren't very photogenic, since nothing would remain in the frame for any length of time, and protracted space battles wouldn't be practical.
One could also argue that the larger the organism, the less responsive it has to be to its environment since it likely will have fewer predators to contend with and otherwise will be less affected by said environment. A small tree falling on a mouse is a big deal for the mouse, but probably wouldn't be for a rhinoceros.
There are still some larger creatures that are remarkably intelligent. Elephants come to mind, and as regards their ability to deal with their environment, we'll just wish a lot of luck to the lion that tries to take down a full-grown bull.:-)
I certainly haven't had my childhood ruined by the latest batch of Star Wars flicks, nor do I particularly care about coming across as cool or other such silliness.
That said, with the budget that Lucas undoubtedly had going into these movies, I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed by Jar Jar. I'm disappointed with the casting of Jake Lloyd when actors such as Haley Joel Osment were available. I'm disappointed with the scene where Padme is telling Anakin they have to remain apart whilst sitting in front of a romantic fire wearing a sexy tight leather/rubber number. I'm disappointed with the silly "lava surfing" scene which apparently made it into the final cut of the new film, judging from the latest trailers. I'm disappointed with the whole thrown-together idea of bacterial creatures that apparently bind the universe together, even inanimate matter. I'm disappointed by the fact that with all the money that was available, Lucas couldn't recognize his limitations and let someone more capable than himself take the reins, and turn it into something truly wonderful. It's rather like the way Michael Eisner micromanages at Disney, and can't let people do what they're best at because he has to have his hands in everything.
Do I think Lucas sucks? No, there are positives to the new movies as well. Having Ian McDiarmid reprise his role was well worth whatever it cost. Likewise, no one but John Williams could score these films effectively. However, I really don't think the new films are in the same league as the older ones in terms of casting, direction, and most of all, story. I sincerely hope that the new film will be good, and from the leaked screenplays I've seen, it looks like it might actually have a fighting chance.
The lady in question did not sue the RIAA, nor dispute the charge. Her two teenage kids probably did do exactly what they are accused of. Nowhere in the article does she say she is going to contest that.
She should. If it truly was a collection agency that contacted her, it's a simple matter for her to send a letter right back to them demanding verification of the debt. There's been no court case establishing said debt, and I don't see how she could owe the RIAA itself anything. A member company, perhaps, but the RIAA is a separate corporation. I suppose the member company(ies) could have assigned the "debt" to the RIAA, but I don't think the collection agency would have a very fun time trying to prove the debt exists, and when they can't, the real fun can begin where prizes can get up into the thousands and thousands of dollars.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm curious if they can unilaterally amend an existing contract like that. As I understand contracts, for a contract to be valid there has to be an exchange of value, and if an existing contract is changed to give value to one party at the expense of another, there has to be some kind of consideration (compensation) involved or else the agreement (or at least the added terms) could very well be found unenforceable. I could perhaps see them changing the terms and then saying that continued use of the service after the next billing cycle constitutes acceptance, but not just changing the terms whenever they feel like without any kind of real notice. A similar situation might be if a landlord were to try to raise the rent in the middle of a lease period instead of notifying the tenants and then raising the rent upon renewal of the lease.
Any lawyers on here that actually know about this stuff want to offer their take?
I'll second that, given that I own a MythTV setup with two Hauppage cards. Runs just fine on my ancient PIII-700 with a 440BX chipset, won't run acceptably at all on my VIA-equipped machine with a CPU clocked at more than twice that. Heaven forbid VIA might consider DMA performance to be important.
It's a real shame too - those Hauppage cards bring CPU utilization down to almost nothing, so you can still get some reasonably use out of your machine while you're recording two channels and playing back a pre-recorded show to another client.
Nein Nunb (Lando's co-pilot in "Return of the Jedi") was a Sullustan. I'm rather ashamed that I remembered his name, but at least I did have to look up the species.:-)
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I've actually found the MythTV program guide (with listings by Zap2It) to be *far* superior to the guide on a Scientific Atlanta 8000 (Time Warner uses a lot of these), and Myth is a WHOLE lot more configurable/controllable.
Common sense says that if there's anything you don't want people to find out about, you won't use company resources.
:-)
Agreed. Consequently, any personal e-mails or IMs go through an SSH link to my network at home, and from there to wherever. If my employer chooses to eliminate that option via the firewall, that's certainly their right to do so. I'd never do anything to compromise my employer's business, but that doesn't mean I particularly like them taking an interest in every single thing I do. I suppose they could still use a keylogger or screengrabber to keep tabs on us, but the moment I find out they are, I'm looking for a new job. That's one of the pesky things about employing people with systems-level experience - they tend to be able to find if their box is being monitored fairly easily.
I just looked this up, and you're correct that businesses can monitor their own lines, but that only applies where the conversation being recorded is business-related. If I call my wife from my company phone to ask her to pick something up at the grocery store, the exemption no longer applies, and it's then illegal for my employer to monitor/record the call beyond that which is necessary to determine that the call was not business-related.
Most companies own their own PBX and corporate phone systems these days, so are free to use it any way they see fit, including monitoring calls because the monitoring occurs before it hits the trunk lines.
That's true if you're monitoring a conversation between extensions on the same PBX, but if you're monitoring a conversation between one of your employees and someone outside your organization's system that goes over a common carrier, it's a much different story.
Wow, LAN Manager - there's a term I haven't heard in a while. Back in '89 I was doing mostly DOS-oriented coding (I still remember how to write TSRs, which today in combination with a dollar will get me a cup of coffee), but I did get to do some cool OS/2 1.3/2.0 PM stuff as well. And then Windows took over the world. Dammit.
In '89 you could be virtually ensured $50k/yr with a MSCE.
They had MSCEs even before Windows 3.0?
It doesn't screw my buddy list up per se, but I get a couple hundred (literally) windows telling me a buddy list request needs to be sent to someone that's been on my list for years, and I end up having to kill the process to get everything cleaned up. Doesn't do it on the Linux version, only the Windows one. I normally use Trillian otherwise, but I find the tabbed windowing to be a bit spotty at times.
I wouldn't even worry about it. If you're shipped an illegitimate version, then that's not the item you ordered. Under Federal law you have no duty to return an item you didn't order, and the supplier is still on the hook to deliver the merchandise you've already paid for.
If they want to be jerks about it, then do as you mentioned and dispute the charge. If Apple does in fact figure out some way to identify and exclude the early users from the support they're owed, they'd best make sure those people get a totally legitimate copy. Otherwise, they just grabbed the biggest shovel in the shed to dig a very public hole around themselves.
Be sure you let Nikon know that, and don't forget to include a copy of the Canon receipt so they know you're serious. We can't expect Nikon or any other company to change their ways because we ask them to. We have to show them that their actions are in fact costing them money. It's been my experience that big companies will listen to you if you write a calm, well-reasoned letter and send it via snail mail - that's how I finally got Microsoft to replace my Xbox's bum Thomson drive at no charge even though the machine was out of warranty and I had already been through the wringer with the telephone support folks.
:-)
Of course, this is all a moot point if Nikon's sales of their proprietary software are offsetting any camera sales lost over this issue.
It really doesn't matter whether our friends/relatives are in the market for a professional camera or not. Many more people buy mid-range cameras than do the pro units, and it's here where word-of-mouth could be detrimental to Nikon. Also consider the fact that Nikon makes digital cameras just like every other camera manufacturer. I for one won't consider a Nikon for my next digital cam purchase, but I sure as hell will be looking at the Canons.
The listing only contains the BIOS. BASIC, while being in ROM, wasn't actually a part of the BIOS, and I'm pretty sure you didn't really need it as long as you had a drive to boot from.
The fully-commented source for the BIOS was in the Technical Reference manuals for the PC, XT, and I believe maybe even the AT.
Maybe "Balance" is the trademark for a bleach-like cleaner that kills midichlorians on contact? I understand those little pests are *everywhere* in the SW universe. A good cleaner would be beneficial to everyone, what with all the dirty spaceships and such to be seen there.
Starship Troopers entertained me mostly by making no bones about the fact that it was strictly eye candy, and the story was a very basic device consisting only of what was necessary to get the audience from one CGI-fest to the next. It was unabashedly an action flick, and appeared to take very great pains to ensure the audience didn't take it seriously. It also did not let the audience down in the least regarding the FX.
/owns ST on DVD
"Would you like to know more?"
Let's not forget the speed at which ships fly in the Star Wars universe, too. In most scenes with the Millenium Falcon, the ship appears to take about a second or so to traverse its length past the camera POV, which works out to about 100 mph or so. Even in the opening scene of Star Wars, the Star Destroyer flying over the camera is doing less than 400 mph, assuming a stationary camera. 400 mph isn't fast enough to keep you in orbit around much of anything, and one would think the Tantive IV could offer a little bit more of a pursuit than that. Realistic speeds just aren't very photogenic, since nothing would remain in the frame for any length of time, and protracted space battles wouldn't be practical.
One could also argue that the larger the organism, the less responsive it has to be to its environment since it likely will have fewer predators to contend with and otherwise will be less affected by said environment. A small tree falling on a mouse is a big deal for the mouse, but probably wouldn't be for a rhinoceros.
:-)
There are still some larger creatures that are remarkably intelligent. Elephants come to mind, and as regards their ability to deal with their environment, we'll just wish a lot of luck to the lion that tries to take down a full-grown bull.
I certainly haven't had my childhood ruined by the latest batch of Star Wars flicks, nor do I particularly care about coming across as cool or other such silliness.
That said, with the budget that Lucas undoubtedly had going into these movies, I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed by Jar Jar. I'm disappointed with the casting of Jake Lloyd when actors such as Haley Joel Osment were available. I'm disappointed with the scene where Padme is telling Anakin they have to remain apart whilst sitting in front of a romantic fire wearing a sexy tight leather/rubber number. I'm disappointed with the silly "lava surfing" scene which apparently made it into the final cut of the new film, judging from the latest trailers. I'm disappointed with the whole thrown-together idea of bacterial creatures that apparently bind the universe together, even inanimate matter. I'm disappointed by the fact that with all the money that was available, Lucas couldn't recognize his limitations and let someone more capable than himself take the reins, and turn it into something truly wonderful. It's rather like the way Michael Eisner micromanages at Disney, and can't let people do what they're best at because he has to have his hands in everything.
Do I think Lucas sucks? No, there are positives to the new movies as well. Having Ian McDiarmid reprise his role was well worth whatever it cost. Likewise, no one but John Williams could score these films effectively. However, I really don't think the new films are in the same league as the older ones in terms of casting, direction, and most of all, story. I sincerely hope that the new film will be good, and from the leaked screenplays I've seen, it looks like it might actually have a fighting chance.
Oh, come on now - this may be politically incorrect, but no "Funny" mods at ALL?!?!
/survived 5 Gay Days at WDW, and got stuck driving Monorail Pink for two of them.
Or, put another way, about the size of Walt Disney World.
The lady in question did not sue the RIAA, nor dispute the charge. Her two teenage kids probably did do exactly what they are accused of. Nowhere in the article does she say she is going to contest that.
She should. If it truly was a collection agency that contacted her, it's a simple matter for her to send a letter right back to them demanding verification of the debt. There's been no court case establishing said debt, and I don't see how she could owe the RIAA itself anything. A member company, perhaps, but the RIAA is a separate corporation. I suppose the member company(ies) could have assigned the "debt" to the RIAA, but I don't think the collection agency would have a very fun time trying to prove the debt exists, and when they can't, the real fun can begin where prizes can get up into the thousands and thousands of dollars.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm curious if they can unilaterally amend an existing contract like that. As I understand contracts, for a contract to be valid there has to be an exchange of value, and if an existing contract is changed to give value to one party at the expense of another, there has to be some kind of consideration (compensation) involved or else the agreement (or at least the added terms) could very well be found unenforceable. I could perhaps see them changing the terms and then saying that continued use of the service after the next billing cycle constitutes acceptance, but not just changing the terms whenever they feel like without any kind of real notice. A similar situation might be if a landlord were to try to raise the rent in the middle of a lease period instead of notifying the tenants and then raising the rent upon renewal of the lease.
Any lawyers on here that actually know about this stuff want to offer their take?
From "Empire":
Rebel Crewman: "Your Tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker."
Han Solo: "Then I'll see you in hell!"
I'll second that, given that I own a MythTV setup with two Hauppage cards. Runs just fine on my ancient PIII-700 with a 440BX chipset, won't run acceptably at all on my VIA-equipped machine with a CPU clocked at more than twice that. Heaven forbid VIA might consider DMA performance to be important.
It's a real shame too - those Hauppage cards bring CPU utilization down to almost nothing, so you can still get some reasonably use out of your machine while you're recording two channels and playing back a pre-recorded show to another client.
Nein Nunb (Lando's co-pilot in "Return of the Jedi") was a Sullustan. I'm rather ashamed that I remembered his name, but at least I did have to look up the species. :-)
That recent Fark thread was pretty funny, wasn't it?