In other news, power companies across the nation have drafted a proposal to ban all domestic thunderstorm activity. A representative was quoted, "These thunderstorms are distributing unauthorized voltage across the nation every day. People harness these power sources all the time, in pools, on golf courses, under trees...stealing the power they should be paying for. This could irreparably damage the industry." Representatives were unavailable to comment about the recent soaring profit trends in the power industry.
CD-ROM drive recall announced
on
CD Copy Stopper
·
· Score: 3, Funny
"Please return your drive to the manufacturer so that we may upgrade it to be compatible with new and exciting technology that has become available! Don't miss your chance to make full use of this new technology, because it really is better!"
Seems to me their palindrome test is a bit limited, since they only appear to be testing base-10 numbers. What's the use in that? Why not test base-2 or base-16 or whatever? Probably because there is no useful application to this arithmetic curiosity?
I think I'm going to consider setting up a honeypot ISP in the state(s) with the best record(s) for convicting spammers. This ISP would only serve enough customers to qualify as an ISP. Its primary purpose would be to house honeypot email accounts, simply to harvest spam. The ISP's business model would be to make profit from suing spammers. While I think this may present some ethical issues I have to spend more time considering, I wonder if it would actually work as a business model, and if this could be a practical strategy in the war on spam?
It does look like good software that's worth the $50 price tag. Gotta love this recommendation of theirs, though:
Recommendations and Comparisons
1. Never ShowShift with a capture size larger than 320x240. Recording above this limit is possible but requires a powerful computer with a large hard disk size. You have been warned!
320x240...yeah, right. Obviously this suggestion is geared toward nontechie grandmothers running ancient store-bought "computators".
The first manufacturer to bring this (or any) technology to market can charge whatever they want to (provided that people will actually pay their asking price), since you won't be able to get the product anywhere else. Once competition comes into the picture, prices will drop as they compete for your dollar, approaching the actual cost of production. It's the simple concept of supply and demand, not rocket science.
I've thought the same thing for the past couple of years. Why the hell can't software companies make their products free for non-profit use? The answer is probably lawyers who are trying to protect their jobs (free for non-profit software == fewer lawsuits == fewer lawyers), lawyers who have no motivation to make good business decisions (after all, it is easier to say "there are many legal reasons why we must charge for our software" than go with the riskier approach of suggesting that it be free for non-profit use), or upper-level management with no business sense. Businesses who need it for commercial reasons and anyone who wants tech support will buy the product, or maybe just a tech support subscription. There is usually more money to be made in charging less for a popular product than charging more for a niche product, and making your software free for non-profit use would probably make it a hell of a lot more popular.
Since the hard drives being used will have a far lower sustained I/O rate, probably around 3-5 MBps (24-40 Mbps). My gripe is that, even though I use a PC, I find firewire more convenient than USB. Motherboards implementing the USB 2.0 standard are still fairly rare (I know all my computers are only USB 1.1 compliant). I bought my IEEE 1394 card a couple years ago for DV I/O. But I suppose if they are targeting Windows users, USB was probably the better choice for broad compatibility.
Agreed...it was entertaining and informative...a bit *too* informative. The way it was presented was a bit disturbing too. After reading it, the story seemed like an unimportant context (the author spent far more time on the details than on the human story) just used to create this step-by-step "for dummies" guide for obtaining, refining, and using radioactive materials.
Slashdot Mirror
Doh!
In other news, power companies across the nation have drafted a proposal to ban all domestic thunderstorm activity. A representative was quoted, "These thunderstorms are distributing unauthorized voltage across the nation every day. People harness these power sources all the time, in pools, on golf courses, under trees...stealing the power they should be paying for. This could irreparably damage the industry." Representatives were unavailable to comment about the recent soaring profit trends in the power industry.
"Please return your drive to the manufacturer so that we may upgrade it to be compatible with new and exciting technology that has become available! Don't miss your chance to make full use of this new technology, because it really is better!"
Seems to me their palindrome test is a bit limited, since they only appear to be testing base-10 numbers. What's the use in that? Why not test base-2 or base-16 or whatever? Probably because there is no useful application to this arithmetic curiosity?
I think I'm going to consider setting up a honeypot ISP in the state(s) with the best record(s) for convicting spammers. This ISP would only serve enough customers to qualify as an ISP. Its primary purpose would be to house honeypot email accounts, simply to harvest spam. The ISP's business model would be to make profit from suing spammers. While I think this may present some ethical issues I have to spend more time considering, I wonder if it would actually work as a business model, and if this could be a practical strategy in the war on spam?
It does look like good software that's worth the $50 price tag. Gotta love this recommendation of theirs, though:
Recommendations and Comparisons
1. Never ShowShift with a capture size larger than 320x240. Recording above this limit is possible but requires a powerful computer with a large hard disk size. You have been warned!
320x240...yeah, right. Obviously this suggestion is geared toward nontechie grandmothers running ancient store-bought "computators".
The first manufacturer to bring this (or any) technology to market can charge whatever they want to (provided that people will actually pay their asking price), since you won't be able to get the product anywhere else. Once competition comes into the picture, prices will drop as they compete for your dollar, approaching the actual cost of production. It's the simple concept of supply and demand, not rocket science.
I've thought the same thing for the past couple of years. Why the hell can't software companies make their products free for non-profit use? The answer is probably lawyers who are trying to protect their jobs (free for non-profit software == fewer lawsuits == fewer lawyers), lawyers who have no motivation to make good business decisions (after all, it is easier to say "there are many legal reasons why we must charge for our software" than go with the riskier approach of suggesting that it be free for non-profit use), or upper-level management with no business sense. Businesses who need it for commercial reasons and anyone who wants tech support will buy the product, or maybe just a tech support subscription. There is usually more money to be made in charging less for a popular product than charging more for a niche product, and making your software free for non-profit use would probably make it a hell of a lot more popular.
NT = no text, foo.
Doh...and I had such high hopes for UWB.
Since the hard drives being used will have a far lower sustained I/O rate, probably around 3-5 MBps (24-40 Mbps). My gripe is that, even though I use a PC, I find firewire more convenient than USB. Motherboards implementing the USB 2.0 standard are still fairly rare (I know all my computers are only USB 1.1 compliant). I bought my IEEE 1394 card a couple years ago for DV I/O. But I suppose if they are targeting Windows users, USB was probably the better choice for broad compatibility.
Agreed...it was entertaining and informative...a bit *too* informative. The way it was presented was a bit disturbing too. After reading it, the story seemed like an unimportant context (the author spent far more time on the details than on the human story) just used to create this step-by-step "for dummies" guide for obtaining, refining, and using radioactive materials.