Well, you have the DMCA which was introduced by the US Goverment. Pretty high level of influence when you consider that private entities can force search engines to remove certain results.
I always fly Lufthansa whenever travelling trans-atlantic, providing you're willing to pay the WiFi premium, you get WiFi internet access for the duration of the flight.
For shorter flights within the UK and Europe, it's safe to say I can cope without internet access for two hours.
C:\Program Files does make sense though.. it perfectly describes what's in there. Whereas something like/usr/bin like you'd use in Linux, it doesn't really describe what's in there. I've dabbled with Linux over the past few years quite regularly and although I know the file structure and where files/apps should go, i don't understand *why* an application is stored in a directory named "bin", nor "bin" is in/usr.
I don't think it does, depending of course on what purpose the laptop has.
I use my laptop (Wintel) with a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse most of the time; it's a desktop replacement for the most part and having a real keyboard and mouse (with number pad/special keys/scroll wheel etc) is so handy compared to using the cramped keyboard and trackpad (with no number pad and scroll wheel).
So, I have the basic functionality of a "normal" PC, except for the LCD screen which is a standard 15" laptop screen, but when I go away travelling or to another location where I need the laptop, I just unplug the wireless transmitter and voila.
Better that the author submits the story as this guy did rather than submit it under a pseudonym praising "some other guy's" extension.
I think it deserves to make front page as it did anyway; for people who aren't interested, fair enough - it's just another story you aren't interested in. For people like myself and many others who had never heard of this extension, it's great that we've now been informed.
The kind of mind that takes a keen interest in government and politics and the kind of mind that has a strong interest in computers and technology typically do not mix. This is one of THE biggest problems with the net. We have people who are either "wannabe" career politicians or are virtual lobbyists astroturfing the view of their employers.
I'm not the original poster, but I must question your assumption that these two types of mind mix. I've got as strong an interest in computers and technology as anyone yet I still take a very strong interest in politics and Government matters. Fortunately, I also have the ability to look at things objectively without forming a knee-jerk "typical" reaction which the majority agree with.
I don't see this problem with the Internet that you see, I don't even post on the net either in favour of or against my employer; it's simply not worth my job.
I totall understand what you're saying and to some extent I do agree with you. For example, on my summer holidays I wouldn't dream of travelling anywhere without a good digital camera. Same if I was going for a weekend away somewhere.
On the other hand, there are certain situations where people won't necessarily have digital cameras or where it may not be appropriate to be carrying a digital camera. Examples of this would be nights out, shopping (where you can simply video call someone else and quickly show them what you're considering as a purchase), and events/times when you don't want to have a £200-£300 camera on your person.
To use a real world example, the July 7th bombings in London produced a lot of amateur "journalists" where commuters with camera phones were taking photos and videos and forwarded these to the news agencies.
My point is, phones with cameras built in are certainly not the best for a lot of situations, but I would definitely consider it essential for a true convergence device. They are definitely improving in quality too; at least one of the Nokia handsets features Carl Zeiss lenses, and most new mobile devices (with cameras) feature at least 2MP cameras if not higher.
I don't see this as the first example of mobile device convergence everyone's been waiting for; the first obvious feature missing is the ubiquitous mobile camera.
From looking at the market and hardware available, there's no one device which does anything and everything the "ultimate mobile device" would do. What I do see, is a few devices which merge some features, but miss out others.
For example, this new Blackberry device gives instant email, phone service, and 3G data access, but it's big and bulky and doesn't feature a mobile camera. The Nokia N-Series provides smartphone capability using Series 60, multimedia features, and high spec cameras, but it's small and only has a standard mobile phone keyboard.
The above examples are the way I see the mobile device market going; there will be many devices which offer convergence in many different ways. But, I don't see it possible to create a "one device fits all" type handset, purely because there are so many different market sections and types of people who use them.
4. I also can't answer whether OO.org needs a re-write. But it's good enough that my wife and my parents can use it (at least as much as they can use MS Office). And no one owns 64bit chips yet, so who cares? I'm talking worldwide, of course. Anyone who currently has a 64 bit chip already has an old 32 bit chip computer and/or the money to get one.
I know a few people who only have 64 bit computers. One has a G4 iBook and a 64 bit AMD running 64 bit XP, the other just has the AMD 64 bit desktop.
I'm sure many people worldwide have 64 bit computers and, given the choice of spending x amount of money on a software suit or x amount of money on yet another piece of electrical equipment with running costs, I know which I'd pick.
That's hardly the point; in fact, I'd call it purposely avoiding the point.
Humour the debate... what happens if/when a large enough majority of people are using ad-blockers? Will you be happy that no-one's viewing those nasty adverts anymore even though the new alternative is to pay $5 per month to each and every website whose content you'd like to view?
IRC isn't usually logged by the actual network in my experience, but it can be depending on the IRCd used. I suspect this mainly goes back to the fact that it's quite an "old" communications medium and isn't mainstream.
However, it could quite feasibly be logged; some networks use channel bots, such as P on Netgamers and Q on Quakenet, which could quite easily be instructed to log all lines from any channel it resides in.
I had my debit card replaced with a shiny new chip & PIN model after my original one was stolen last year.
When I insert the new chip & PIN card into an ATM, the on-screen display now states that it is "processing the card data" and takes significantly longer to do so than my old swipe card.
I don't know about all countries, but certainly in the UK you can usually change both your debit and credit card PINs.
For security reasons, an automated PIN is generated initially and posted to the cardholder's address; however, this can be changed to a PIN of your own choice via an ATM.
That would cause more problems than it would solve, mainly from the point of view that management might not take very kindly to an employee not doing things by the book and "speaking up when something's wrong".
It wouldn't solve the legal issue either; in accordance with the DPA, any CCTV scheme must have signs stating the name of the operator and a contact telephone number - anything less isn't enough.
In this sort of situation, I'd approach my line manager in the first instance. If no action was taken within a reasonable timeframe, I'd email my concerns directly to my employer's Data Protection Officer. However, I do note that the original poster mentioned internal politics as a reason why this course of action may be inappropriate. I do sympathise with that situation having been there myself in a previous job. In this case, I'd probably contact the Data Protection Registrar directly and report the DPA breach anonymously.
Your post might have had more credibility if the BBC News article you linked to wasn't five years old. I don't know about protection, but I'd wager that Britain having the most number of CCTV camera per sq. mile certainly is some sort of deterrent.
Regardless of crime figures, I'd rather be in hospital with a broken leg or resting with a black eye than sleeping peacefully in a coffin.
As for firearms, I'm fairly confident the UK would rather not have mass shootings in its schools every now and in regards to your comments protection, I'm sure Mr de Menzes might have something to say about that; if he was still alive that is.
Get off your "Britain is better" high horse, because it's completely wrong.
Forgive me if I'm wrongly assuming you believe that the USA is "better"; it's not. To be perfectly honest, the UK and the USA are both as bad as each other in most if not all respects.
When did it become illegal for an employer to filter their employees' internet access?
I'm sure any of the employees with a brain are capable of going to the "internet cafes" mentioned in several other posts and reading any website to their hearts' content.
i submit that before 2008 we'll see people 'defecting' from britain.
You're entirely correct.
Right now, I'm not in a position to move to another country and leave my life in Britain. In the future, it's something I see myself doing.
With CCTV cameras on every corner, Government intrustion to subjects' personal lives, and this new ID card farce, the UK is not a country in which I wish to live. In 2007 I plan to renew my passport for 10 years (the standard renewal period) which will give me time to learn the necessary foreign language (most likely Dutch or German) and plan for a life outside the UK.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, you have the DMCA which was introduced by the US Goverment. Pretty high level of influence when you consider that private entities can force search engines to remove certain results.
For shorter flights within the UK and Europe, it's safe to say I can cope without internet access for two hours.
C:\Program Files does make sense though.. it perfectly describes what's in there. Whereas something like /usr/bin like you'd use in Linux, it doesn't really describe what's in there. I've dabbled with Linux over the past few years quite regularly and although I know the file structure and where files/apps should go, i don't understand *why* an application is stored in a directory named "bin", nor "bin" is in /usr.
I use my laptop (Wintel) with a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse most of the time; it's a desktop replacement for the most part and having a real keyboard and mouse (with number pad/special keys/scroll wheel etc) is so handy compared to using the cramped keyboard and trackpad (with no number pad and scroll wheel).
So, I have the basic functionality of a "normal" PC, except for the LCD screen which is a standard 15" laptop screen, but when I go away travelling or to another location where I need the laptop, I just unplug the wireless transmitter and voila.
I think it deserves to make front page as it did anyway; for people who aren't interested, fair enough - it's just another story you aren't interested in. For people like myself and many others who had never heard of this extension, it's great that we've now been informed.
I'm not the original poster, but I must question your assumption that these two types of mind mix. I've got as strong an interest in computers and technology as anyone yet I still take a very strong interest in politics and Government matters. Fortunately, I also have the ability to look at things objectively without forming a knee-jerk "typical" reaction which the majority agree with.
I don't see this problem with the Internet that you see, I don't even post on the net either in favour of or against my employer; it's simply not worth my job.
On the other hand, there are certain situations where people won't necessarily have digital cameras or where it may not be appropriate to be carrying a digital camera. Examples of this would be nights out, shopping (where you can simply video call someone else and quickly show them what you're considering as a purchase), and events/times when you don't want to have a £200-£300 camera on your person.
To use a real world example, the July 7th bombings in London produced a lot of amateur "journalists" where commuters with camera phones were taking photos and videos and forwarded these to the news agencies.
My point is, phones with cameras built in are certainly not the best for a lot of situations, but I would definitely consider it essential for a true convergence device. They are definitely improving in quality too; at least one of the Nokia handsets features Carl Zeiss lenses, and most new mobile devices (with cameras) feature at least 2MP cameras if not higher.
From looking at the market and hardware available, there's no one device which does anything and everything the "ultimate mobile device" would do. What I do see, is a few devices which merge some features, but miss out others.
For example, this new Blackberry device gives instant email, phone service, and 3G data access, but it's big and bulky and doesn't feature a mobile camera. The Nokia N-Series provides smartphone capability using Series 60, multimedia features, and high spec cameras, but it's small and only has a standard mobile phone keyboard.
The above examples are the way I see the mobile device market going; there will be many devices which offer convergence in many different ways. But, I don't see it possible to create a "one device fits all" type handset, purely because there are so many different market sections and types of people who use them.
I know a few people who only have 64 bit computers. One has a G4 iBook and a 64 bit AMD running 64 bit XP, the other just has the AMD 64 bit desktop.
I'm sure many people worldwide have 64 bit computers and, given the choice of spending x amount of money on a software suit or x amount of money on yet another piece of electrical equipment with running costs, I know which I'd pick.
Humour the debate... what happens if/when a large enough majority of people are using ad-blockers? Will you be happy that no-one's viewing those nasty adverts anymore even though the new alternative is to pay $5 per month to each and every website whose content you'd like to view?
However, it could quite feasibly be logged; some networks use channel bots, such as P on Netgamers and Q on Quakenet, which could quite easily be instructed to log all lines from any channel it resides in.
Somehow I think he was referring to the legal implications rather than the lack of backups involved.
I had my debit card replaced with a shiny new chip & PIN model after my original one was stolen last year.
When I insert the new chip & PIN card into an ATM, the on-screen display now states that it is "processing the card data" and takes significantly longer to do so than my old swipe card.
For security reasons, an automated PIN is generated initially and posted to the cardholder's address; however, this can be changed to a PIN of your own choice via an ATM.
Apple's operating system and software don't require this feature; thus, inclusion of it would be unnecessary bloat.
It wouldn't solve the legal issue either; in accordance with the DPA, any CCTV scheme must have signs stating the name of the operator and a contact telephone number - anything less isn't enough.
In this sort of situation, I'd approach my line manager in the first instance. If no action was taken within a reasonable timeframe, I'd email my concerns directly to my employer's Data Protection Officer. However, I do note that the original poster mentioned internal politics as a reason why this course of action may be inappropriate. I do sympathise with that situation having been there myself in a previous job. In this case, I'd probably contact the Data Protection Registrar directly and report the DPA breach anonymously.
Well yes, but when you have applications such as this one which is merely a standard web browser, then there isn't really any distinction.
Regardless of crime figures, I'd rather be in hospital with a broken leg or resting with a black eye than sleeping peacefully in a coffin.
As for firearms, I'm fairly confident the UK would rather not have mass shootings in its schools every now and in regards to your comments protection, I'm sure Mr de Menzes might have something to say about that; if he was still alive that is.
Get off your "Britain is better" high horse, because it's completely wrong.
Forgive me if I'm wrongly assuming you believe that the USA is "better"; it's not. To be perfectly honest, the UK and the USA are both as bad as each other in most if not all respects.
I'm sure any of the employees with a brain are capable of going to the "internet cafes" mentioned in several other posts and reading any website to their hearts' content.
Outlook 97 was obviously so much better without this "unnecessary bloat."
Copyright gives the creator/owner of the work the right to control distribution of his/her work and to have a "temporary" monopoly on the work.
I wasn't aware the Sony vs Universal court case applied uniformly outside the US.
Thankfully you don't live in Scotland or any other countries where so-called shrinkwrap licenses have been ruled enforceable by the courts.
There is precedent; the 2002 Olympics were held in the US.
You're entirely correct.
Right now, I'm not in a position to move to another country and leave my life in Britain. In the future, it's something I see myself doing.
With CCTV cameras on every corner, Government intrustion to subjects' personal lives, and this new ID card farce, the UK is not a country in which I wish to live. In 2007 I plan to renew my passport for 10 years (the standard renewal period) which will give me time to learn the necessary foreign language (most likely Dutch or German) and plan for a life outside the UK.