The problem with most mod-chips is that they usually contain MS's copyrighted code - and therefore violate copyright law pretty much wherever they're sold. Only way around this currently is to sell them blank with the capability for the end user to load on whatever code we wants using his computer (e.g. Xecuter Pro) or sell them with an Open source Bios installed (e.g. Cromwell). The problem with the later is that it's currently pretty fiddly to swap it for the one you most probably want on your mod chip.
I'm highly dubious of any law passed that's purpose is to protect the morality of others, who it is always inferred are unable to deal with it themselves. Whilst I'm not advocating the inclusion of pornography on the school syllabus, it seems completely barking mad to try to develop a system where every possible contact with particular topics are banned until a single day - and then suddenly expect your new adult to deal with it all. If content were illegal there are many ways to deal with it as laws currently stand, for everything else surely a gradual exposure is more beneficial for all concerned.
The bulk mail subsidises your 'regular' mail. Your post office runs an infrastructure to let you buy individual bits of gummed paper, tramps around the country individually receiving each bit of mail you've written, tries to decipher the scrawl you've made across the front with the biro and then delivers- all for your 37 cents a pop. The junk mail sender just drops several thousand pre-paid, pre-typeface-addressed identically sized mailshots on their doorstep. They're obviously a lot cheaper to process, but bring up the number of items they handle allowing them to pass on the ability to send a 37c letter to you due to economies of scale.
students, the intellectual future and security of a nation, all turning up on his doorstep turning themselves in for 3 years jailtime. A great way to point out the stupidity of his words, and secure free accomodation until the end of your education.
A friend of mine is heavily involved in the EU satellite program (building them). Not only are we going to be getting non-US global positioning, we're also getting some other very clever satellites loaded with all sorts of clever gizmos which we're not allowed to talk about without our families being abducted in the middle of the night. Will help us spot the little errors that sometimes arise from US satellite intelligence e.g. "Oh look, we can see several hundred thousand Iraqi troops on your [Saudi Arabia] border - can we base our troops there to protect your oil fields population?
Whilst I would love to be a pacifist, I accept the fact that war should always remain an option to be threatened and used as a last resort. I am not a secret admirer of Sadam, nor do would I in any way want to hinder the human rights of the Iraqi people - I'd probably be quite happy to support a military attempt to overthrow him - I just don't trust the motives behind what's about to happen. The official line is obviously a lie, and if we aren't being told the truth, it's a pretty safe assumption to say we therefore wouldn't like it if we did. US foreign policy is a complete disgrace, packed with double standards and has managed to amass such a level of distaste from the majority of the planet it has left pretty much the entire planet with a gut instinct to resist it at every opportunity. If anybody fancies some topical reading on the previous US policy of support for those who reported and provided proof of nuclear weapons existance in the middle east try Googling for Mordechai Vanunu
Now not only do I have to sit back and watch my government join in on an illegal war - I can now spend my days getting lost in gridlock as my GPS starts randomly positioning me. *sighs*
who thinks this might be a less than subtle attempt to get Microsoft's team of crack PR monkeys to come swooping in scattering a few million dollars worth of licenses about the place? or am I just getting cynical...
On the ground You can usually only pick up a signal from a few base stations, of which you lock onto the one with the best signal and has free time slots. Sitting in the air your phone can cover a much larger footprint, and uses a great deal more of the operators resources. Basically if everybody in the plane turned on their roaming GSM phone it would seriously screw up the networks they flew over. Combine this with flight paths where you have multiple planes, with passengers all carrying mobiles...
I accept control is important - but they only want to keep control as money and customers would follow after they'd lost it. Personally I'm quite happy for my modded Xbox not to be allowed onto Live. Live is a service they offer with conditions attached - if you don't like the conditions then don't accept the service.
They've already increased the number of buses, now hopefully people will actually be able to get somewhere on them. I've absolutely no idea whether the scheme will work, but something had to be done and it's not often you get a politician prepared to risk his hide on something risky.
to use an online resource, I do think there is a moral duty to pay in some way the provider of the information. Maybe if the provider actually created an easy API to retrieve information they could then ask coders to reciprocate the gesture. For example hyperlink them, or embed supplied advertisements. Unless a compromise can be reached then we get a confrontational attitude where both sides waste resources, the data source trying to protect itself and the other side continually trying to break the protection. CDDB is a nice example, it's embedded into loads of programs, but they all (or are supposed to) ask you to supply CDDB your email address before it'll become functional.
#1 Revenue gained from CD sales from consumers who bought CD after sampling and wouldn't have bought it previously minus #2 Revenue lost from consumers who would have bought CD not buying it after sampling it. minus
#3 Revenue lost from consumers who would have bought the CD and after sampling it decided not to.
If this was a positive value then the record company would be happy, if negative then they will oppose P2P. Usually the RIAA pushes #2 as their argument and then it's countered with #1 by P2P representatives. I'm pretty sure it's actually #3 that's scaring the industry.
The relationship between their protest therefore directly relates to the number of people disliking their music - louder you hear the artist or label whining the worse their music.
I'm entirely with you in thinking that this is a stupid ruling, but I can see the logic behind it.
The taxi driver is charging for a service, the main one being moving your lazy ass from one place to another. You take a taxi as it's faster than the bus and cheaper than a limo - you balance the service you want against what you'd get in return. Having music in your cab could be seen as a service you offer to your passenger increasing the value of the ride. If you're exploiting somebody's desire to listen to music whilst they ride to put money in your pocket then it's fair that some of that money should go to the producers of the music.
Perhaps this is easier to see if instead of considering music which we have the ingrained notion we should be allowed to listen to freely for video. Maybe the Taxi driver likes watching his DVDs on a little screen as he gets trapped in traffic jams - that would be fine. Maybe his passengers watch them over his shoulder? Maybe he puts a screen in the back so they can get a better view? Maybe his customers ask for his cab when booking one as he's "the cabby that shows the films". Should the cabbie be allowed to increase his income by showing the films? Whilst we're mentally following this thread why shouldn't we all set up cinemas in our living rooms - rent a few DVDs and charge the passing public a few dollars to watch them.
is encrypting all my personal data into a file called 'Britney_sucking_off_donkey.avi' and popping it in my Kazaa shared folder. Millions of copies distributed around the world in hours.
Could somebody please tell the nice people at Lucasarts to stop buggering about with StarWars for one frickin' minute and get me my long awaited Sam and Max sequel? *wanders off muttering something about murdering coders first-born if it's done by the same team that did the last two Monkey Islands*
If it's in the Bios or HD then is can be already be replaced/faked - I've undoubtedly trashed both of mine if it is anyway with OpenBios and new HD. MAC address? If it's the MAC then this could be spoofed or simply plug your Xbox in via a router - and many of these let you alter their MAC addresses manually. If MS do start banning people then the banned (who are undoubtedly the more resourceful section of the XBox community) will start fiddling. What's going to happen if they spoof their machine as somebody elses unmodded one - will MS ban the machine that the modded machine was spoofing as? It'll be a consumer nightmare if little Johnny's XBox suddenly decides to lock him out for as far as he can see, 'no reason'. A much better solution in my eyes would be to include CRC checking on the ROM being executed. When you try to connect a game to the network it is quizzed by the server and if it's unable to verify that it's the original code it'll boot the user.
Lik-Sang provide all the bits and pieces you need apart from soldering iron, solder, dremmel and canned air. My soldering is pretty basic, having been solely used for installing various mod chips but even so I found the soldering very very easy. Cutting the case to fit the afterburner is also remarkably easy with a dremmel (or the cheap ripoff of one I have). Only two parts of the installation posed any real problem. Firstly installation of the potentiometer is a little tricky. You can easily drill holes for the legs through the GBA case with the dremmel, but the plastic is a bit thick so it's hard to solder the tiny tips of the legs that protrude inside. Before drilling you should grind down the plastic to about half it's current thickness - or alternatively use the tip of the soldering iron to melt the plastic around the legs from the inside which additionally secures the potentiometer. I did the latter, which works, but is a little messy. The second problem which somebody else mentioned is the dust - hence needing canned air. It's probably worth buying a spare anti-glare film from lik-sang with your kit. They're very cheap and it saves you having to dab away with sticky tape as I had to to get every last speck of dust removed.
When it's all installed, it took me about an hour from opening the jiffy bag to firing up the GBA it looks incredible - everything you've been told is true.
My DVD player and library shall be kept in a Nitrogen flooded tank system and operated solely through the use of those nuclear-powerstation-style gloves. My films will last forever - screw you Blockbuster! *wanders off chuckling manically*
Is the best they can come up with? Has the entire Apple PR division got their heads together and spat out this as the definitive power reason you should buy a Mac? The marketing policy spiel should just be "Look how fucking gorgeous it looks - bet it would get you laid more", works for me - I'm tempted.
erm T68 already has all those plus tri-band - but as has been mentioned, it really needs overclocking and is prone to screwing up. I'm on my third in I think 8 months (vanilla T68).
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with most mod-chips is that they usually contain MS's copyrighted code - and therefore violate copyright law pretty much wherever they're sold. Only way around this currently is to sell them blank with the capability for the end user to load on whatever code we wants using his computer (e.g. Xecuter Pro) or sell them with an Open source Bios installed (e.g. Cromwell). The problem with the later is that it's currently pretty fiddly to swap it for the one you most probably want on your mod chip.
erm don't you mean 38461% or 384-fold?
Am I missing something here or does that make it all but useless?
I'm highly dubious of any law passed that's purpose is to protect the morality of others, who it is always inferred are unable to deal with it themselves. Whilst I'm not advocating the inclusion of pornography on the school syllabus, it seems completely barking mad to try to develop a system where every possible contact with particular topics are banned until a single day - and then suddenly expect your new adult to deal with it all. If content were illegal there are many ways to deal with it as laws currently stand, for everything else surely a gradual exposure is more beneficial for all concerned.
if the main server starts getting clogged up with rubberneckers.
The bulk mail subsidises your 'regular' mail. Your post office runs an infrastructure to let you buy individual bits of gummed paper, tramps around the country individually receiving each bit of mail you've written, tries to decipher the scrawl you've made across the front with the biro and then delivers- all for your 37 cents a pop. The junk mail sender just drops several thousand pre-paid, pre-typeface-addressed identically sized mailshots on their doorstep. They're obviously a lot cheaper to process, but bring up the number of items they handle allowing them to pass on the ability to send a 37c letter to you due to economies of scale.
students, the intellectual future and security of a nation, all turning up on his doorstep turning themselves in for 3 years jailtime. A great way to point out the stupidity of his words, and secure free accomodation until the end of your education.
A friend of mine is heavily involved in the EU satellite program (building them). Not only are we going to be getting non-US global positioning, we're also getting some other very clever satellites loaded with all sorts of clever gizmos which we're not allowed to talk about without our families being abducted in the middle of the night. Will help us spot the little errors that sometimes arise from US satellite intelligence e.g. "Oh look, we can see several hundred thousand Iraqi troops on your [Saudi Arabia] border - can we base our troops there to protect your oil fields population?
Whilst I would love to be a pacifist, I accept the fact that war should always remain an option to be threatened and used as a last resort. I am not a secret admirer of Sadam, nor do would I in any way want to hinder the human rights of the Iraqi people - I'd probably be quite happy to support a military attempt to overthrow him - I just don't trust the motives behind what's about to happen. The official line is obviously a lie, and if we aren't being told the truth, it's a pretty safe assumption to say we therefore wouldn't like it if we did. US foreign policy is a complete disgrace, packed with double standards and has managed to amass such a level of distaste from the majority of the planet it has left pretty much the entire planet with a gut instinct to resist it at every opportunity. If anybody fancies some topical reading on the previous US policy of support for those who reported and provided proof of nuclear weapons existance in the middle east try Googling for Mordechai Vanunu
Now not only do I have to sit back and watch my government join in on an illegal war - I can now spend my days getting lost in gridlock as my GPS starts randomly positioning me. *sighs*
who thinks this might be a less than subtle attempt to get Microsoft's team of crack PR monkeys to come swooping in scattering a few million dollars worth of licenses about the place? or am I just getting cynical...
On the ground You can usually only pick up a signal from a few base stations, of which you lock onto the one with the best signal and has free time slots. Sitting in the air your phone can cover a much larger footprint, and uses a great deal more of the operators resources. Basically if everybody in the plane turned on their roaming GSM phone it would seriously screw up the networks they flew over. Combine this with flight paths where you have multiple planes, with passengers all carrying mobiles...
I accept control is important - but they only want to keep control as money and customers would follow after they'd lost it. Personally I'm quite happy for my modded Xbox not to be allowed onto Live. Live is a service they offer with conditions attached - if you don't like the conditions then don't accept the service.
They've already increased the number of buses, now hopefully people will actually be able to get somewhere on them. I've absolutely no idea whether the scheme will work, but something had to be done and it's not often you get a politician prepared to risk his hide on something risky.
to use an online resource, I do think there is a moral duty to pay in some way the provider of the information. Maybe if the provider actually created an easy API to retrieve information they could then ask coders to reciprocate the gesture. For example hyperlink them, or embed supplied advertisements. Unless a compromise can be reached then we get a confrontational attitude where both sides waste resources, the data source trying to protect itself and the other side continually trying to break the protection. CDDB is a nice example, it's embedded into loads of programs, but they all (or are supposed to) ask you to supply CDDB your email address before it'll become functional.
The effect of P2P has on a record company is:
#1 Revenue gained from CD sales from consumers who bought CD after sampling and wouldn't have bought it previously
minus
#2 Revenue lost from consumers who would have bought CD not buying it after sampling it.
minus
#3 Revenue lost from consumers who would have bought the CD and after sampling it decided not to.
If this was a positive value then the record company would be happy, if negative then they will oppose P2P.
Usually the RIAA pushes #2 as their argument and then it's countered with #1 by P2P representatives. I'm pretty sure it's actually #3 that's scaring the industry.
The relationship between their protest therefore directly relates to the number of people disliking their music - louder you hear the artist or label whining the worse their music.
I'm entirely with you in thinking that this is a stupid ruling, but I can see the logic behind it.
The taxi driver is charging for a service, the main one being moving your lazy ass from one place to another. You take a taxi as it's faster than the bus and cheaper than a limo - you balance the service you want against what you'd get in return. Having music in your cab could be seen as a service you offer to your passenger increasing the value of the ride. If you're exploiting somebody's desire to listen to music whilst they ride to put money in your pocket then it's fair that some of that money should go to the producers of the music.
Perhaps this is easier to see if instead of considering music which we have the ingrained notion we should be allowed to listen to freely for video. Maybe the Taxi driver likes watching his DVDs on a little screen as he gets trapped in traffic jams - that would be fine. Maybe his passengers watch them over his shoulder? Maybe he puts a screen in the back so they can get a better view? Maybe his customers ask for his cab when booking one as he's "the cabby that shows the films".
Should the cabbie be allowed to increase his income by showing the films?
Whilst we're mentally following this thread why shouldn't we all set up cinemas in our living rooms - rent a few DVDs and charge the passing public a few dollars to watch them.
is encrypting all my personal data into a file called 'Britney_sucking_off_donkey.avi' and popping it in my Kazaa shared folder. Millions of copies distributed around the world in hours.
Could somebody please tell the nice people at Lucasarts to stop buggering about with StarWars for one frickin' minute and get me my long awaited Sam and Max sequel?
*wanders off muttering something about murdering coders first-born if it's done by the same team that did the last two Monkey Islands*
Naw - we have enough difficulty getting Billy-Bob to stop playing GTA3 down the station when the boys want to watch the Bold and the Beautiful.
If it's in the Bios or HD then is can be already be replaced/faked - I've undoubtedly trashed both of mine if it is anyway with OpenBios and new HD. MAC address? If it's the MAC then this could be spoofed or simply plug your Xbox in via a router - and many of these let you alter their MAC addresses manually. If MS do start banning people then the banned (who are undoubtedly the more resourceful section of the XBox community) will start fiddling. What's going to happen if they spoof their machine as somebody elses unmodded one - will MS ban the machine that the modded machine was spoofing as? It'll be a consumer nightmare if little Johnny's XBox suddenly decides to lock him out for as far as he can see, 'no reason'.
A much better solution in my eyes would be to include CRC checking on the ROM being executed. When you try to connect a game to the network it is quizzed by the server and if it's unable to verify that it's the original code it'll boot the user.
Lik-Sang provide all the bits and pieces you need apart from soldering iron, solder, dremmel and canned air. My soldering is pretty basic, having been solely used for installing various mod chips but even so I found the soldering very very easy. Cutting the case to fit the afterburner is also remarkably easy with a dremmel (or the cheap ripoff of one I have). Only two parts of the installation posed any real problem. Firstly installation of the potentiometer is a little tricky. You can easily drill holes for the legs through the GBA case with the dremmel, but the plastic is a bit thick so it's hard to solder the tiny tips of the legs that protrude inside. Before drilling you should grind down the plastic to about half it's current thickness - or alternatively use the tip of the soldering iron to melt the plastic around the legs from the inside which additionally secures the potentiometer. I did the latter, which works, but is a little messy. The second problem which somebody else mentioned is the dust - hence needing canned air. It's probably worth buying a spare anti-glare film from lik-sang with your kit. They're very cheap and it saves you having to dab away with sticky tape as I had to to get every last speck of dust removed. When it's all installed, it took me about an hour from opening the jiffy bag to firing up the GBA it looks incredible - everything you've been told is true.
My DVD player and library shall be kept in a Nitrogen flooded tank system and operated solely through the use of those nuclear-powerstation-style gloves. My films will last forever - screw you Blockbuster! *wanders off chuckling manically*
* Against a 1GHz Intel ** Photoshop
Is the best they can come up with? Has the entire Apple PR division got their heads together and spat out this as the definitive power reason you should buy a Mac?
The marketing policy spiel should just be "Look how fucking gorgeous it looks - bet it would get you laid more", works for me - I'm tempted.
erm T68 already has all those plus tri-band - but as has been mentioned, it really needs overclocking and is prone to screwing up. I'm on my third in I think 8 months (vanilla T68).