Who's freaking bright idea was it to say "HEY these kids have no water, no schools, no food, no education, no future...man I bet if we gave them a laptop a beautiful rainbow would appear, bunnies would pop out of nowhere and everything would be better"...and then we can pat ourselves in the back and tell ourselves we're really helping the third world...
Neal Stephenson among other people. Don't underestimate the power of access to knowledge. Weather forecasts alone can save farmer's family from hunger.
What kind of good karma? If you literally save the world, perhaps the society doesn't have the right to imprison you for a single personal crime, no matter how much people condemn you privately. In more common cases, juries already consider character testimonies to decide on death penalty and judges impose sentences based on prior criminal background. In any case, why should society punish itself by not making use of someone's extraordinary abilities even as that person is being punished?
And why is that exactly? People should get credit for their contributions to society, just as they are punished for causing harm to the same. Nobody is suggesting letting convicted murderers go free, but perhaps someone who led an exemplarily life - volunteer work, good parenting, clean record - until the age of 40 shouldn't spend the rest of his/her life in prison for a single murder. Certainly a person who still have a high potential to contribute shouldn't be denied this opportunity even in jail. Think of a PC/broadband setup in a cell, parole to work in a science lab, canvas and paint and so on. Would you deny pen and paper to a jailed poet?
Only if I am running after whoever put this flash ad on top of the article. I promise to contribute a more substantial comment if only I am allowed to RT to FA.
by sjs132 (631745) on Monday October 09, @09:47PM (#16373281) I write all my secrets onto yellow stickies... Then make the person that reads it shred and eat...
by cybercobra (856248) on Monday October 09, @09:47PM (#16373285) Bad Idea. If there's a backdoor, crackers will find it and they will exploit it.
And why do you think of it as an unreasonable assumption without knowing the real story? This technology is feasible and would be less prone to abuse than remotes - a cop can easily spot a Corolla with a glued on siren or flashing high beams.
Do you really want to keep talking to your pocket in an airplane or in your cubicle? The situations where you use a portable device with headphones are not really suitable for voice recognition.
Oh yeah? Checked heart disease/diabetes/childhood obesity statistics lately? How does it compare to teens coming to irreversible physical harm due to online conversations?
State-paid healthcare, which can afford to purchase reliable computers.
and
There should be peace on Earth and good will amongst men.
Reply to yourself much?
In any case, a basic Windows computer+tracking software can be purchased by a senior for $500 without any government overhead and provide benefit "X". Are you suggesting seniors and "future seniors" pay taxes to purchase themselves/poorer people an $5000 special purpose system and $10000 towards Ferrari for the program's administrator to get benefit of "1.1X" because of increased reliability?
Even though more advanced gadgets/control methods will come, people may still prefer the familiar click wheel interface of the Nano for basic music listening. Perhaps it will not be made by Apple, will have much higher quality/capacity or be a part of a multi-function gadget, but I think the design itself has made a lasting impact.
What do you propose as alternative for low-income, low-computer skill seniors? It's at least 10 times more likely that the program alerts you to a non-obvious illness than that it discourages you from seeing a doctor as needed. However knowingly breaking its functionality should make companies involved at least financially responsible and ideally cause top executives to spend time in federal penitentiary.
There is no current try-before-you-buy except Top40 rotations on pop stations
Where do you live? In SF Bay Area there are Hear Music shops with a bunch of headphones that can be used to listen to every song of every CD they sell. If you are using Windows, there are a plenty of cheap streaming services that you can use to sample music, although you have my sympathies otherwise. If you like something, you can always buy a used CD from Amazon and import into MP3/ogg.
Alot of people purchased $1,000-2,500 macs and can't run the latest OS.
You should point them to XPostFacto. As for Windows XP, yes it runs Ok on hardware that was made around its release date. Good luck running Vista+Aero on anything released a couple of years ago.
Not everything is so black-and-white. It's perfectly reasonable to use a standard Dell+Windows PC to run an app that lets you enter your blood sugar/blood pressure/pulse periodically and advises you to see a doctor if your current medication doesn't seam to be working. If this software/hardware fails accidentally, you are of course on your own for losing this extra protection. But if someone dies because Microsoft locked out the machine on purpose, they'll face class-action lawsuits like tobacco and asbestos companies.
All it takes for one non-technical person to somehow get a machine with a pirated/falsely tagged copy and he/she will tell all friends that Windows looks like shit and doesn't support any word processors or games - only a web browser. I am just waiting for screenshots of the damage in a "I am a PC and I am a Mac" ad early next year. XP Activation screen was already "featured" in this WWDC keynote.
So we are going to rely on fly times and e-mails displayed while WiFi is off? A cellphone this day is not more difficult to use than that second screen and it can get up-to-date information through GPRS. In any case, if that second screen is that useful, why not make it detachable from the laptop's cover so that we can show friends our photos without lagging around the powered off laptop? If it replaces the dell's round badge, even I will see the utility.
This may be true, but I would bet that online contact is a more frequent cause of harm to teens than slip and fall in the shower.
Can you say the same about:
Traffic accidents, including while walking
Abduction/rape by a stranger on the street.
Assault by classmates
Assault by relatives, including siblings and parents
Phone scums
Junk food
What kind of V-chip are you suggesting to deal with those? Why should Internet use monitoring take so much of parent's time rather than say, sending the kid to a Karate class?
In the age where most communication takes place online, you can not just restrict a 17 year old from using Internet without a truly exceptional reason - or spy on every word of a conversation. Even homework may require some information only available through a search engine. You probably wouldn't hire a security guard to follow your kid and block any attempts for in-person and phone conversation. All that remains is education to help him/her make intelligent choices.
Slashdot Mirror
Who's freaking bright idea was it to say "HEY these kids have no water, no schools, no food, no education, no future...man I bet if we gave them a laptop a beautiful rainbow would appear, bunnies would pop out of nowhere and everything would be better"...and then we can pat ourselves in the back and tell ourselves we're really helping the third world...
Neal Stephenson among other people. Don't underestimate the power of access to knowledge. Weather forecasts alone can save farmer's family from hunger.
What kind of good karma? If you literally save the world, perhaps the society doesn't have the right to imprison you for a single personal crime, no matter how much people condemn you privately. In more common cases, juries already consider character testimonies to decide on death penalty and judges impose sentences based on prior criminal background. In any case, why should society punish itself by not making use of someone's extraordinary abilities even as that person is being punished?
And why is that exactly? People should get credit for their contributions to society, just as they are punished for causing harm to the same. Nobody is suggesting letting convicted murderers go free, but perhaps someone who led an exemplarily life - volunteer work, good parenting, clean record - until the age of 40 shouldn't spend the rest of his/her life in prison for a single murder. Certainly a person who still have a high potential to contribute shouldn't be denied this opportunity even in jail. Think of a PC/broadband setup in a cell, parole to work in a science lab, canvas and paint and so on. Would you deny pen and paper to a jailed poet?
We don't even get fiber to premises in Bay Area.
Only if I am running after whoever put this flash ad on top of the article. I promise to contribute a more substantial comment if only I am allowed to RT to FA.
by sjs132 (631745) on Monday October 09, @09:47PM (#16373281)
I write all my secrets onto yellow stickies... Then make the person that reads it shred and eat...
by cybercobra (856248) on Monday October 09, @09:47PM (#16373285)
Bad Idea.
If there's a backdoor, crackers will find it and they will exploit it.
And why do you think of it as an unreasonable assumption without knowing the real story? This technology is feasible and would be less prone to abuse than remotes - a cop can easily spot a Corolla with a glued on siren or flashing high beams.
since detecting it could be considered as hindering law enforcement
Didn't put much of a dent on Radio Shark radar detector sales.
Do you mean it's replaced by transmission which is not automatic?
When did I say future MP3 players will be iPod-like inside?
Do you really want to keep talking to your pocket in an airplane or in your cubicle? The situations where you use a portable device with headphones are not really suitable for voice recognition.
You mean they are not controlled by P-R-N-D levers?
Internet danger beats junk food
Oh yeah? Checked heart disease/diabetes/childhood obesity statistics lately? How does it compare to teens coming to irreversible physical harm due to online conversations?
State-paid healthcare, which can afford to purchase reliable computers.
and
There should be peace on Earth and good will amongst men.
Reply to yourself much?
In any case, a basic Windows computer+tracking software can be purchased by a senior for $500 without any government overhead and provide benefit "X". Are you suggesting seniors and "future seniors" pay taxes to purchase themselves/poorer people an $5000 special purpose system and $10000 towards Ferrari for the program's administrator to get benefit of "1.1X" because of increased reliability?
Even though more advanced gadgets/control methods will come, people may still prefer the familiar click wheel interface of the Nano for basic music listening. Perhaps it will not be made by Apple, will have much higher quality/capacity or be a part of a multi-function gadget, but I think the design itself has made a lasting impact.
What do you propose as alternative for low-income, low-computer skill seniors? It's at least 10 times more likely that the program alerts you to a non-obvious illness than that it discourages you from seeing a doctor as needed. However knowingly breaking its functionality should make companies involved at least financially responsible and ideally cause top executives to spend time in federal penitentiary.
There is no current try-before-you-buy except Top40 rotations on pop stations
Where do you live? In SF Bay Area there are Hear Music shops with a bunch of headphones that can be used to listen to every song of every CD they sell. If you are using Windows, there are a plenty of cheap streaming services that you can use to sample music, although you have my sympathies otherwise. If you like something, you can always buy a used CD from Amazon and import into MP3/ogg.
Alot of people purchased $1,000-2,500 macs and can't run the latest OS.
You should point them to XPostFacto. As for Windows XP, yes it runs Ok on hardware that was made around its release date. Good luck running Vista+Aero on anything released a couple of years ago.
Not everything is so black-and-white. It's perfectly reasonable to use a standard Dell+Windows PC to run an app that lets you enter your blood sugar/blood pressure/pulse periodically and advises you to see a doctor if your current medication doesn't seam to be working. If this software/hardware fails accidentally, you are of course on your own for losing this extra protection. But if someone dies because Microsoft locked out the machine on purpose, they'll face class-action lawsuits like tobacco and asbestos companies.
All it takes for one non-technical person to somehow get a machine with a pirated/falsely tagged copy and he/she will tell all friends that Windows looks like shit and doesn't support any word processors or games - only a web browser. I am just waiting for screenshots of the damage in a "I am a PC and I am a Mac" ad early next year. XP Activation screen was already "featured" in this WWDC keynote.
So we are going to rely on fly times and e-mails displayed while WiFi is off? A cellphone this day is not more difficult to use than that second screen and it can get up-to-date information through GPRS. In any case, if that second screen is that useful, why not make it detachable from the laptop's cover so that we can show friends our photos without lagging around the powered off laptop? If it replaces the dell's round badge, even I will see the utility.
Can you say the same about:
What kind of V-chip are you suggesting to deal with those? Why should Internet use monitoring take so much of parent's time rather than say, sending the kid to a Karate class?
Other than that it is my house my rules my way.
Agreed, did you give all the inhibitants an option to move out and strike it out on their own (or say, with their boyfriend/girlfriend)?
Kids have no right to privacy when it comes to areas that can cause them harm.
I would bet that slip and fall in the shower is a more frequent cause of death for teens than online predators. Did you also install a bathroom cam?
In the age where most communication takes place online, you can not just restrict a 17 year old from using Internet without a truly exceptional reason - or spy on every word of a conversation. Even homework may require some information only available through a search engine. You probably wouldn't hire a security guard to follow your kid and block any attempts for in-person and phone conversation. All that remains is education to help him/her make intelligent choices.