Your attitude is that users who aren't tech-savvy enough to prevent things like this from happening deserve to suffer
Actually, from the TWC side of things, they do deserve it. As a company, we offer all the tools included with the subscription to keep your computer safe (ie. free antivirus, firewall, spam, etc etc), and we make sure to advertise this fact in all our promotions. However, people either choose not to use it, or choose to use it but then end up not configuring it correctly or otherwise disable it so the protection no longer works. What, are you saying that us, the cable company, should come into your home and force people to install our choice of software or bugger off? Granted, they don't have to use ours, there are tons out there, but if you choose not to use, don't blame us when you lose.
ike it's going to help TW's bottom line if they lose a customer permanently because he's outraged that they charged him $300 without (from his perspective) warning, and possibly lose some other customers because this one guy convinces them TW sucks
Again, just like users that use up all their bandwidth, these are customer TWC is rather happy to lose. These are also the same people that call us for credit when their router gets knocked offline, who scream on technical phone calls when they can't figure out they have to put their TV on "Component 1" to see their HD signal, and the same people who continue to request that someone should come out to their house this very minute because they are no longer able to connect to their VPN and they can't telecomute that day and are losing thousands of dollars a day because they can't browse eBay. (All of those last things are against TOS, btw, and require a business line if they want that kind of support.) These kind of people eat up other resources from the cable company and usually end up costing the company more in additional support and help needed because they just don't get it, and they never will.
these people still have plenty to contribute online, and cutting them off just because you think they're "lusers" is foolish and short-sighted
Granted, as much as I may want to cut them off from their service, I don't, because right now they are paying customers, but we do cut people off on a regular basis when they get infected with spambots or viruses or whatnot. The problem is that the customers refuse to do anything themselves to fix it or, if they can't do it, to hire someone else to do it for them. I have seen countless accounts of people who call in because their internet has been shut off and they're receiving our virus warning page, only to look at the account screen and see multiple notes from times earlier the same year of them being in the same situation.
So no, I hold no sympathy for people who buy and attempt to use technology they are either incapable or unwilling to learn to use. You don't go out and buy a car if you don't know how to drive safely, you don't go out and buy an electric generator without learning how to use one safely, and you not buy and use the internet without learning and at least attempting to use it safely.
Actually, that's how all your new cable boxes *are* working.
As of June-July of this year, all cable boxes sold are now required to be OCAP-compliant ie. they need a cablecard. You can still receive a non-OCAP box from your cable store, but no new ones can be purchased so once the existing supply runs out, all boxes will have cablecards in them. Most of these boxes have the cards locked into them, but the cards are there.
If he was in a Time Warner cable area, it would be nearly impossible to rack up that kind of a bill without trying to do so. With all of our services added to a full package, the bill totals up to about $250 a month, and we will turn off your service after about 7 weeks if you haven't paid.
On top of that, your PPV always has a predetermined limit (Usually, that's set to about $200, but milage may vary depending on your area) and PPV is turned off even sooner than your cable if you haven't paid.
I don't blame the cable company for acting the way it did though. Everyday, we receive close to 100+ calls of people trying to give every excuse under the sun to get out of paying their cable bill. The problem has gotten bad enough to now make us have to require proof from third parties in order to make sure we're not being milked out of the money that is owed. Some people even use the death excuse (listed below) and this avenue became so abused, we now have to require people to bring in notorized death certificates as proof.
Granted, I'm not saying the treatment for the situation was correct, and usually the cable company can put you on a special discount or credit the account for the inconvenience of having to wait for the install, but it isn't rational to blame the cable company for following up on its accounts that are overdue. If you want to stick blame, blame the guy who rented before you, didn't pay his bill, didn't leave his information with the cable company, and left you with the responcibility of cleaning up his mess.
And sadly, don't blame the cable company for persuing accounts the way it does. Blame the hundreds of thousands who took advanatge of the system before you. You can only beat a dog so many times before it bites any hand off that comes near it, even if that hand has food in it. (Yes I know, cable companies are businesses, the good of the consumers should outweigh, but the business is there to make money, not provide free cable, which seems to be the prevalent view among most customers who reach our billing department.)
I distinctly remember telling them to either bury them under the ground or put them them up on poles and that, while it might sound like a compromise, just running them along the gutter wasn't a smart move. I work for TWC's customer support, and to be honest, hanging the wire under the overhang is sometimes the only option we have for securing the cable so it's not laying on your front lawn.
We have a large list of all the zones in our district, all with specific building codes and regulations that state what we can and cannot do with the cable. Some places actually ban us completely from burying any new wires or doing anything to repair them (as the construction/tearup of the ground would look unsightly), so the most that we're left to do is to try and neaten up the cable as best possible (though some city zones even forbid this. You don't want to be a customer living in those areas.)
One of the big reasons I've seen for HD-DVRs to sell out so quickly is because, for most of TWC's inventory, it's the only box widely available with an HDMI connection. At our TWC office, we offer several different varieties of plain HD boxes, but most people are sold by their local Best Buy/Fry's/Circuit City that if they want the best, they have to have HDMI.
At our local office, we offer one regular HD box with an HDMI port on it. Those things were gone within the first 3 hours of getting our shipment in. So all we've been left with, and all we can give our customers requesting HDMI, is an HD-DVR.
This is in addition to the other reasons listed above.
And for those of you wondering why we don't just get more, TWC really hates HDMI, as it's a buggy connection that isn't 100% reliable due to HDCP (the DRM for DVI/HDMI connections). While component connections will get you a very high quality picture, people want the best at any price.
Now of course, most of this discussion goes away when CableCard ver 2.0 comes out and everyone buys their own cable box, but in the meantime, live with it.
The law requires no such thing. IANAL, but I currently work for one of TWC's divisions and there are quite a lot of channels we don't broadcast that are over the air, let alone HD channels.
The cable line is only so big and can only hold so much signal. Were cable companies required to broadcast OTA HD channels unencryped, you'd be saying goodbye to almost all of your digital channel lineup. They just take up too much space.
Of course, I'd love to actually see the law that does it, as about every cable company in the SoCal area would be violating it. If you want HD here, you need a box or a card, and for that, you gotta go through TWC.
Right now, TWC is only temporarily using the prior Adelphia pricing model. I think they're letting it sit for about a year from the switchover date. Afterwards, things are planning to switch to normal TWC pricing for cable boxes, which will put your HD-DVRs at roughly $18/mo each.
Enjoy the price break while it lasts, and don't be surprised when the monster bill hits.
Yes, you can "kill" people with the right weapon, but the land your avatar is over has to have damage enabled in order for it to have any effect. Even then, when you die, it means you get teleported to your set home point. That's it. No loss of anything for death.
As far as e-abortions, the babies as I know them are fashioned out of prims (the building blocks of SL) and scripted to make certain motions or sayings, kinda like an advanced dolly that pees, cries, poops its diaper or whatever else the creator designed into it. Tossing these things is akin to tosing any other object in SL. In other words, like taking out the garbage.
Also on that note, I've known a couple of people go through the whole pregnancy thing. Some do it because they are unable to have chlidren in real life. Some do it to bring their partner closer. Some do it for companionship. Some do it for fun. One person I knew was pregnant for a month, and then abruptly went back to normal. Their response was that they had broken up with their partner and had no more reason to have a baby.
Actually, Second Life nowadays allows for user-uploaded animations. Most anything that is stored as a.bvh file can be uploaded as an animation for your avatar to do.
Some people make sets of animations that allow for almost every possible sexual position with almost as many partners as you want at one time. Some are even advanced enough to where you can sit on an animation object and switch between animations from a menu select system.
If pixel-slapping is your thing, then SL is probably one of the only "on-the-market" products that lets you have the freedom to do these things, among others.
Actually, under most versions of p2p software, there is the ability under "Options" or "Preferences" to turn off your ability to share things.
I'm not too familiar with the protocols that BT uses but I suspect it would also be possible to block the outgoing ports it uses to redistribute the file.
Not saying that it's less criminal, but it seems that most of the lawsuits have come from the ??AA suing people actually distrubuting the files, not from those who just download.
Just so happens that most people don't take this precaution, since it defeats the whole purpose, but it my eyes, it does tend to keep me a bit lower on the scope of evil wrong-doers.
cannot think of a good reason why the world wouldn't end the day after tomorrow
The world probably wouldn't want to do that, seeing as how the MPAA would want to sue the World for copyright infringement on one of last year's summer "blockbusters".
Though personally, I think the world has a bit better taste than that. ^_^
If you take a look at the large sized photograph and scan along the pier, you will see the cloud of smoke coming from the lamp right at the end of the "streak".
Hmmm, I wonder if the odds of developing a random smear on the lens at the exact moment a lamp bulb explodes are as close as a "freak astronomical event".
Regardless of whether or not it's a positive or negative review, don't buy a game based on what other people think about it.
.....but I read reviews to find out if I want to shell out that $50 bucks, plus the online fee of $15 a month in SWG's case. I have bought several MMORPGs lately (EVE, E&B, Shadowbane, AC2) and I really wish I'd been able to read a review of them before losing over $200 to (in my opinion) piles of crap that will serve no purpose but to take up space in my computer game collection. (Hey! I paid $50 bucks for these disks. These ain't free AOL ones!)
I've been reading up on SWG as it was originally looking to "take the MMORPG world by storm" or whatever other slogan is has, and frankly, these reviews have helped me. I don't think SWG is as bad as half the reviewers make it out to be, but I also think it's bad enough for them to be said, and bad enough for me not spend my $50 bucks until I hear some improvements are implimented.
Sure, opinions are like assholes....everyone's got one and most smell funny except yours....but I'd rather form an opinion based off a collection of others' opinions than go charging blindly into the void (of my credit card statement, that is)
Apparently, you haven't remembered other postings on Slashdot about Visa self-appointed owning of the word "visa" in all its forms.
Now, some may argue that it is a trademark and doesn't fall under the copyright arguement, but think of this. There are only so many things you can name a company before you will have used up the English language Even recently, things like this are going on, so my serious question is that how long do we have before every word truly falls under the arguement of copyright is no longer applicable?
Just a thought. I have no idea where I was going with it.
Geez, I hate these knee-jerk responses. If you guys had actually taken the time to read the letter, you'll see that it is not a letter accussing anyone of anything, but merely a "this is happening a lot at other places, so you should check up on it too" letter. And from what I read from the story, the Naval Academy just decided to do a random computer audit, which is entirely standard procedure in the military.
The cause of fighting for digital rights would be a lot easier if we weren't screaming bloody murder everytime the RIAA mails out a form letter!
The article about CD-Audio watermarking (which is a very good read) is in GhostScript format.
Just in case you don't have the ability to read it, you can get the viewer program by following the instructions here and here.
This might be redundant, but I didn't have it on my Windows machine, and the article was really worth the trouble to find it. Figured I'd save others the headache...unless I'm the only one here who didn't have it.
Once Google became aware of the fact Search King was profiting from Google's page ranking system it purposefully devalued Search King and the web sites it hosts
First of all, I'm sure this is majorly redundant, what did they expect? Google is not a peace-loving group of coding hippy monkies. It is a for-profit company. I liken this to someone writing a book report, and then someone else trying to sell the book using the book report as advertisment without asking the report's author for permission.
It sounds like a very sound plan, and it does put M$ in a intesting position as far as the Palladium initiative is concerned.
However, my readings from/. have told me that the main issue with Palladium has always been to secure digital entertainment content (ie. movies, music, etc) However, there is nothing saying that M$ could not develop another "technology" separate from Palladium to work on software licences (therefore negating the "patent protection" this has bought us)
I can't really give too informed an opinion without reading the actual patent filed (and I find it interesting that Lucky Green's website hasn't been updated since the symposium), but I can see M$ being able to honor this and still work around it, should they choose to.
If all else failed, they could go back to the ??IA for the political power to pull it off. "We scratched your back with Palladium. Now, you scratch ours."
Of course, this may be all a bunch of paranoid M$ bashing. Maybe they will do the right thing about it all. It's just interesting to think of the possibilities...
In the Best Buy store by my house, there is a small collection of DVD-Audio CDs, most of which are either older titles or works by artists that are more contemporary. I would comment on the need for more recent artists or more ground-breaking work, but I'm sure that some other poster will discuss that soon enough.
Anyway, my roommate purchased a copy of Sting's "Brand New Day" and we took it home to give it a listen in my DVD player. Now we know it was recognized as 5.1 since it showed up in my receiver that way. However, the actual "total listening experience" of it was not as impressive as that of a CD. Yes, everything was separated into it's own channels. However, it seemed more like a bunch of guys in corners of my room rather than a well put-together mix.
Now, maybe it's just me, but I like having the suttle things....well, suttle. I mean, I don't want to hear every single note played by every single musician in the mix. The whole point of a recorded song is to mix everything together to make one enjoyable thing, not a bunch of parts that indiviually may not sound as good as the original.
Of course, this is just my opinion. It may be for some, but not for me.
Current computer hardware does not include DRM technology or, if it does, the cracks for such have been made publicly available. Now I don't know about you, but I plan to grab myself as much current storage as possible. I mean, I don't think they'd be able to change my hardware after the fact.
On top of that, as long as I have some kind of cheap protection algorithm protecting the content of those drives/CD/floppies/whatever else, then I can have *my* content protected by the DMCA as well.
For me this all just reminds me of kindergarden way too much...."Mine! Mine! Mine! Mommy, Jack took my toy from me. Daddy! Jill wrecked my science project. Teacher! Anonymous Coward borrowed my copyright and won't give it back!...." Geez, people. Grow up.
I wouldn't have called it "contrarian", as I personally agree with most of what he was saying, and I know a lot of people who work with me would as well.
What I found interesting was his comparisons of both Microsoft and of the Linux community as a whole. Granted, they were both skewed to the extremes, but I did notice something that I think applied to most people.
I consider myself a relative above-average user. I understand how to set things up, and general low-level techie questions about certain things are no problem, but anything more technical than that confuses me, and what's scary is that the average user is worse.
However, the average computer user really doesn't have a choice between the two. Microsoft runs most all the software (both apps and games) that anyone is familiar with. Sure, there is FreeCiv, the now-defunct Loki, StarOffice, and so forth, but in the end, it comes down to brand names, and people don't know Red Hat, or StarOffice, or anything. They know Windows and Office.
The other side of the story is that most Linux users I know are extreme power-users. They tend to get so wrapped up in their exploits of compiling the latest distros that they tend to talk over everyone's (including myself) head. Even though computers are complicated by nature, that's not what sells, nor will it ever sell. Look how complicated the RIAA/MPAA is trying to make digital downloads. They're getting no where fast that way.
The only other thing that this article brought to mind was a question about what the Linux community wants to do with Linux. Say it upseats Windows. Say it takes over on both the server and the desktop. Say that 95% of all computers now run some distro of Linux...
Haven't we then just painted ourselves into the same corner that Microsoft is in, and wouldn't Linux receive the same amount of critisism for a variety of other things?
Just a thought. I'm sure it's been mentioned on here.....but just in case.....and I knew I was going somewhere with this......oh well.
In his demonstration, Bresson used a device sold online for about $200 by United Kingdom-based Canopus. The box allows people to make copies of videocassettes and DVDs even if the video is locked with software to prevent such tampering.
Now Canopus has offices in the US. I figure that Bresson would probably not be prosecuted, basically cause there's no money involved. However, since Canopus has a branch in the US, I wouldn't be surprised if they were sued.
After all the best way to stop all of us "pirates" is to eliminate the tools we use.
"It's going to take an enormous amount of software development...to really make it get up and dance." - Richard Doherty, analyst with Envisioneering
The chip will not only perform the heavy computational tasks required for graphics, but it also will contain circuitry to handle high-bandwidth communication and to run multiple devices, sources say. Ultimately, Cell will provide a "much more interactive way of delivering content, including advertising, sports and entertainment such as video," to a wide range of Internet-ready devices. - Jim Kahle, director of broadband processor technology and a research Fellow at IBM.
From earlier threads on here, even if it is geared towards Linux, I wonder if the impending inclusion of Palladium and other DRM would make it into a processor like this? It initially sounds like this would be an ideal candidate, since having different processes would make it easier to program just that one part to exclude your copied DVDs or your non-WMAs.
That, in itself, might derail this from being a powerful addition to the Linux arsenal, but then again, wouldn't that be exactly what M$ would want?
...I see wrong with this, is that it is relying a lot on a mass movement by the people. Despite our knowledge of the issue and our heated opinions, most people still only use their computers for Solitare and e-mail, and an occassional paper or two in there. Issues such as downloading music or paying for it are not too much of the concern.
To top it off, we have a lot more pressing issues as far as the country is concerned. The "war", foreign policy, medicare, etc., etc. This is not a hot topic for re-election, and I don't forsee it becoming one.
I also don't see any of these "illegal havens of piracy" disappearing anytime soon either. Don't forget that they are making money off of it too (albeit through more unscrupulous methods than even the recording industry...almost). But I believe that the average person will always have an outlet for getting his music now without paying for it, and with the method for getting that one or two songs you want taking all of 20 mintues, even over dial-up, I'll bet it will be hard to educate the masses who mistake their CD drives for cup holders to realize that they should have been paying for this all along.
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Actually, from the TWC side of things, they do deserve it. As a company, we offer all the tools included with the subscription to keep your computer safe (ie. free antivirus, firewall, spam, etc etc), and we make sure to advertise this fact in all our promotions. However, people either choose not to use it, or choose to use it but then end up not configuring it correctly or otherwise disable it so the protection no longer works. What, are you saying that us, the cable company, should come into your home and force people to install our choice of software or bugger off? Granted, they don't have to use ours, there are tons out there, but if you choose not to use, don't blame us when you lose.
Again, just like users that use up all their bandwidth, these are customer TWC is rather happy to lose. These are also the same people that call us for credit when their router gets knocked offline, who scream on technical phone calls when they can't figure out they have to put their TV on "Component 1" to see their HD signal, and the same people who continue to request that someone should come out to their house this very minute because they are no longer able to connect to their VPN and they can't telecomute that day and are losing thousands of dollars a day because they can't browse eBay. (All of those last things are against TOS, btw, and require a business line if they want that kind of support.) These kind of people eat up other resources from the cable company and usually end up costing the company more in additional support and help needed because they just don't get it, and they never will.
Granted, as much as I may want to cut them off from their service, I don't, because right now they are paying customers, but we do cut people off on a regular basis when they get infected with spambots or viruses or whatnot. The problem is that the customers refuse to do anything themselves to fix it or, if they can't do it, to hire someone else to do it for them. I have seen countless accounts of people who call in because their internet has been shut off and they're receiving our virus warning page, only to look at the account screen and see multiple notes from times earlier the same year of them being in the same situation.
So no, I hold no sympathy for people who buy and attempt to use technology they are either incapable or unwilling to learn to use. You don't go out and buy a car if you don't know how to drive safely, you don't go out and buy an electric generator without learning how to use one safely, and you not buy and use the internet without learning and at least attempting to use it safely.
Actually, that's how all your new cable boxes *are* working.
As of June-July of this year, all cable boxes sold are now required to be OCAP-compliant ie. they need a cablecard. You can still receive a non-OCAP box from your cable store, but no new ones can be purchased so once the existing supply runs out, all boxes will have cablecards in them. Most of these boxes have the cards locked into them, but the cards are there.
If he was in a Time Warner cable area, it would be nearly impossible to rack up that kind of a bill without trying to do so. With all of our services added to a full package, the bill totals up to about $250 a month, and we will turn off your service after about 7 weeks if you haven't paid.
On top of that, your PPV always has a predetermined limit (Usually, that's set to about $200, but milage may vary depending on your area) and PPV is turned off even sooner than your cable if you haven't paid.
I don't blame the cable company for acting the way it did though. Everyday, we receive close to 100+ calls of people trying to give every excuse under the sun to get out of paying their cable bill. The problem has gotten bad enough to now make us have to require proof from third parties in order to make sure we're not being milked out of the money that is owed. Some people even use the death excuse (listed below) and this avenue became so abused, we now have to require people to bring in notorized death certificates as proof.
Granted, I'm not saying the treatment for the situation was correct, and usually the cable company can put you on a special discount or credit the account for the inconvenience of having to wait for the install, but it isn't rational to blame the cable company for following up on its accounts that are overdue. If you want to stick blame, blame the guy who rented before you, didn't pay his bill, didn't leave his information with the cable company, and left you with the responcibility of cleaning up his mess.
And sadly, don't blame the cable company for persuing accounts the way it does. Blame the hundreds of thousands who took advanatge of the system before you. You can only beat a dog so many times before it bites any hand off that comes near it, even if that hand has food in it. (Yes I know, cable companies are businesses, the good of the consumers should outweigh, but the business is there to make money, not provide free cable, which seems to be the prevalent view among most customers who reach our billing department.)
We have a large list of all the zones in our district, all with specific building codes and regulations that state what we can and cannot do with the cable. Some places actually ban us completely from burying any new wires or doing anything to repair them (as the construction/tearup of the ground would look unsightly), so the most that we're left to do is to try and neaten up the cable as best possible (though some city zones even forbid this. You don't want to be a customer living in those areas.)
One of the big reasons I've seen for HD-DVRs to sell out so quickly is because, for most of TWC's inventory, it's the only box widely available with an HDMI connection. At our TWC office, we offer several different varieties of plain HD boxes, but most people are sold by their local Best Buy/Fry's/Circuit City that if they want the best, they have to have HDMI. At our local office, we offer one regular HD box with an HDMI port on it. Those things were gone within the first 3 hours of getting our shipment in. So all we've been left with, and all we can give our customers requesting HDMI, is an HD-DVR. This is in addition to the other reasons listed above. And for those of you wondering why we don't just get more, TWC really hates HDMI, as it's a buggy connection that isn't 100% reliable due to HDCP (the DRM for DVI/HDMI connections). While component connections will get you a very high quality picture, people want the best at any price. Now of course, most of this discussion goes away when CableCard ver 2.0 comes out and everyone buys their own cable box, but in the meantime, live with it.
Ummm, that's a big fat no.
The law requires no such thing. IANAL, but I currently work for one of TWC's divisions and there are quite a lot of channels we don't broadcast that are over the air, let alone HD channels.
The cable line is only so big and can only hold so much signal. Were cable companies required to broadcast OTA HD channels unencryped, you'd be saying goodbye to almost all of your digital channel lineup. They just take up too much space.
Of course, I'd love to actually see the law that does it, as about every cable company in the SoCal area would be violating it. If you want HD here, you need a box or a card, and for that, you gotta go through TWC.
You might want to watch out for this one.
Right now, TWC is only temporarily using the prior Adelphia pricing model. I think they're letting it sit for about a year from the switchover date. Afterwards, things are planning to switch to normal TWC pricing for cable boxes, which will put your HD-DVRs at roughly $18/mo each.
Enjoy the price break while it lasts, and don't be surprised when the monster bill hits.
Yes, you can "kill" people with the right weapon, but the land your avatar is over has to have damage enabled in order for it to have any effect. Even then, when you die, it means you get teleported to your set home point. That's it. No loss of anything for death.
As far as e-abortions, the babies as I know them are fashioned out of prims (the building blocks of SL) and scripted to make certain motions or sayings, kinda like an advanced dolly that pees, cries, poops its diaper or whatever else the creator designed into it. Tossing these things is akin to tosing any other object in SL. In other words, like taking out the garbage.
Also on that note, I've known a couple of people go through the whole pregnancy thing. Some do it because they are unable to have chlidren in real life. Some do it to bring their partner closer. Some do it for companionship. Some do it for fun. One person I knew was pregnant for a month, and then abruptly went back to normal. Their response was that they had broken up with their partner and had no more reason to have a baby.
It's all RP though. Take it for what you will.
Actually, Second Life nowadays allows for user-uploaded animations. Most anything that is stored as a .bvh file can be uploaded as an animation for your avatar to do.
Some people make sets of animations that allow for almost every possible sexual position with almost as many partners as you want at one time. Some are even advanced enough to where you can sit on an animation object and switch between animations from a menu select system.
If pixel-slapping is your thing, then SL is probably one of the only "on-the-market" products that lets you have the freedom to do these things, among others.
Actually, under most versions of p2p software, there is the ability under "Options" or "Preferences" to turn off your ability to share things.
I'm not too familiar with the protocols that BT uses but I suspect it would also be possible to block the outgoing ports it uses to redistribute the file.
Not saying that it's less criminal, but it seems that most of the lawsuits have come from the ??AA suing people actually distrubuting the files, not from those who just download.
Just so happens that most people don't take this precaution, since it defeats the whole purpose, but it my eyes, it does tend to keep me a bit lower on the scope of evil wrong-doers.
The world probably wouldn't want to do that, seeing as how the MPAA would want to sue the World for copyright infringement on one of last year's summer "blockbusters".
Though personally, I think the world has a bit better taste than that. ^_^
If you take a look at the large sized photograph and scan along the pier, you will see the cloud of smoke coming from the lamp right at the end of the "streak".
Hmmm, I wonder if the odds of developing a random smear on the lens at the exact moment a lamp bulb explodes are as close as a "freak astronomical event".
For those too lazy to translate it yourself:
1 1011110111010000101110010011110101001001000111 = Slashdot.ORG
0101001101101100011000010111001101101000011001000
Oh, and I really would've loved to see Dan's design (soothing green light) done. As is, I'll probably go with the Lewallen one.
I've been reading up on SWG as it was originally looking to "take the MMORPG world by storm" or whatever other slogan is has, and frankly, these reviews have helped me. I don't think SWG is as bad as half the reviewers make it out to be, but I also think it's bad enough for them to be said, and bad enough for me not spend my $50 bucks until I hear some improvements are implimented.
Sure, opinions are like assholes....everyone's got one and most smell funny except yours....but I'd rather form an opinion based off a collection of others' opinions than go charging blindly into the void (of my credit card statement, that is)
Apparently, you haven't remembered other postings on Slashdot about Visa self-appointed owning of the word "visa" in all its forms.
Now, some may argue that it is a trademark and doesn't fall under the copyright arguement, but think of this. There are only so many things you can name a company before you will have used up the English language Even recently, things like this are going on, so my serious question is that how long do we have before every word truly falls under the arguement of copyright is no longer applicable?
Just a thought. I have no idea where I was going with it.
Geez, I hate these knee-jerk responses. If you guys had actually taken the time to read the letter, you'll see that it is not a letter accussing anyone of anything, but merely a "this is happening a lot at other places, so you should check up on it too" letter. And from what I read from the story, the Naval Academy just decided to do a random computer audit, which is entirely standard procedure in the military.
The cause of fighting for digital rights would be a lot easier if we weren't screaming bloody murder everytime the RIAA mails out a form letter!
The article about CD-Audio watermarking (which is a very good read) is in GhostScript format.
Just in case you don't have the ability to read it, you can get the viewer program by following the instructions here and here.
This might be redundant, but I didn't have it on my Windows machine, and the article was really worth the trouble to find it. Figured I'd save others the headache...unless I'm the only one here who didn't have it.
From the motion filed:
First of all, I'm sure this is majorly redundant, what did they expect? Google is not a peace-loving group of coding hippy monkies. It is a for-profit company. I liken this to someone writing a book report, and then someone else trying to sell the book using the book report as advertisment without asking the report's author for permission.
...and one more thing:
That itself speaks volumes!
It sounds like a very sound plan, and it does put M$ in a intesting position as far as the Palladium initiative is concerned.
However, my readings from /. have told me that the main issue with Palladium has always been to secure digital entertainment content (ie. movies, music, etc) However, there is nothing saying that M$ could not develop another "technology" separate from Palladium to work on software licences (therefore negating the "patent protection" this has bought us)
I can't really give too informed an opinion without reading the actual patent filed (and I find it interesting that Lucky Green's website hasn't been updated since the symposium), but I can see M$ being able to honor this and still work around it, should they choose to.
If all else failed, they could go back to the ??IA for the political power to pull it off. "We scratched your back with Palladium. Now, you scratch ours."
Of course, this may be all a bunch of paranoid M$ bashing. Maybe they will do the right thing about it all. It's just interesting to think of the possibilities...
In the Best Buy store by my house, there is a small collection of DVD-Audio CDs, most of which are either older titles or works by artists that are more contemporary. I would comment on the need for more recent artists or more ground-breaking work, but I'm sure that some other poster will discuss that soon enough.
Anyway, my roommate purchased a copy of Sting's "Brand New Day" and we took it home to give it a listen in my DVD player. Now we know it was recognized as 5.1 since it showed up in my receiver that way. However, the actual "total listening experience" of it was not as impressive as that of a CD. Yes, everything was separated into it's own channels. However, it seemed more like a bunch of guys in corners of my room rather than a well put-together mix.
Now, maybe it's just me, but I like having the suttle things....well, suttle. I mean, I don't want to hear every single note played by every single musician in the mix. The whole point of a recorded song is to mix everything together to make one enjoyable thing, not a bunch of parts that indiviually may not sound as good as the original.
Of course, this is just my opinion. It may be for some, but not for me.
My thoughts on this have always been the same.
Current computer hardware does not include DRM technology or, if it does, the cracks for such have been made publicly available. Now I don't know about you, but I plan to grab myself as much current storage as possible. I mean, I don't think they'd be able to change my hardware after the fact.
On top of that, as long as I have some kind of cheap protection algorithm protecting the content of those drives/CD/floppies/whatever else, then I can have *my* content protected by the DMCA as well.
For me this all just reminds me of kindergarden way too much...."Mine! Mine! Mine! Mommy, Jack took my toy from me. Daddy! Jill wrecked my science project. Teacher! Anonymous Coward borrowed my copyright and won't give it back!...." Geez, people. Grow up.
I wouldn't have called it "contrarian", as I personally agree with most of what he was saying, and I know a lot of people who work with me would as well.
What I found interesting was his comparisons of both Microsoft and of the Linux community as a whole. Granted, they were both skewed to the extremes, but I did notice something that I think applied to most people.
I consider myself a relative above-average user. I understand how to set things up, and general low-level techie questions about certain things are no problem, but anything more technical than that confuses me, and what's scary is that the average user is worse.
However, the average computer user really doesn't have a choice between the two. Microsoft runs most all the software (both apps and games) that anyone is familiar with. Sure, there is FreeCiv, the now-defunct Loki, StarOffice, and so forth, but in the end, it comes down to brand names, and people don't know Red Hat, or StarOffice, or anything. They know Windows and Office.
The other side of the story is that most Linux users I know are extreme power-users. They tend to get so wrapped up in their exploits of compiling the latest distros that they tend to talk over everyone's (including myself) head. Even though computers are complicated by nature, that's not what sells, nor will it ever sell. Look how complicated the RIAA/MPAA is trying to make digital downloads. They're getting no where fast that way.The only other thing that this article brought to mind was a question about what the Linux community wants to do with Linux. Say it upseats Windows. Say it takes over on both the server and the desktop. Say that 95% of all computers now run some distro of Linux...
Haven't we then just painted ourselves into the same corner that Microsoft is in, and wouldn't Linux receive the same amount of critisism for a variety of other things?
Just a thought. I'm sure it's been mentioned on here.....but just in case.....and I knew I was going somewhere with this......oh well.
From the article:
Now Canopus has offices in the US. I figure that Bresson would probably not be prosecuted, basically cause there's no money involved. However, since Canopus has a branch in the US, I wouldn't be surprised if they were sued.
After all the best way to stop all of us "pirates" is to eliminate the tools we use.
From the article:
From earlier threads on here, even if it is geared towards Linux, I wonder if the impending inclusion of Palladium and other DRM would make it into a processor like this? It initially sounds like this would be an ideal candidate, since having different processes would make it easier to program just that one part to exclude your copied DVDs or your non-WMAs.
That, in itself, might derail this from being a powerful addition to the Linux arsenal, but then again, wouldn't that be exactly what M$ would want?
To top it off, we have a lot more pressing issues as far as the country is concerned. The "war", foreign policy, medicare, etc., etc. This is not a hot topic for re-election, and I don't forsee it becoming one.
I also don't see any of these "illegal havens of piracy" disappearing anytime soon either. Don't forget that they are making money off of it too (albeit through more unscrupulous methods than even the recording industry...almost). But I believe that the average person will always have an outlet for getting his music now without paying for it, and with the method for getting that one or two songs you want taking all of 20 mintues, even over dial-up, I'll bet it will be hard to educate the masses who mistake their CD drives for cup holders to realize that they should have been paying for this all along.