Wait a minute, Rush. While you are legally correct, you are not socially or pragmatically correct.
In the Howard Stern case, Clear Channel is probably in the right. However, what if Clear Channel were removing a DJ who criticized the war in Iraq? What if a popular music group were removed from the air for criticizing the President? What if Clear Channel removed a talk show host because he was Islamic or had HIV or was physically impaired?
Clearly there is a line somewhere, and the line is crossed legally when a corporation discriminates against a protected class of citizens. If dissenters against the war and people who loved talking about sex were protected classes, then this would be a discussion of discrimination.
My point is that while legally, a private entity cannot curtail free speech, a company as large and powerful as Clear Channel or CBS can certainly become an oppressive force in society. Guarding against that oppression is the main point of the Bill of Rights.
I'm sick of people saying that a private entity can't curtail free speech. Especially in our time of revolving doors between government and private industry, one cannot be so naive to think that the desires of the government have no influence on private corporations.
I recently had a long discussion on this very topic. The eventual conclusion was that if we can backup the brain, then we should be able to restore it also. So, we will almost be able to treat life like a video game, with save-points, especially if our robot bodies come soon.
Scenario>> ME: Hmm, I wonder what it feels like to jump off of a cliff.
Paramedics arrive at the scene of the gruesome death.
Medic1: Oy, that's one mangled robot carcass. Medic2: What's that clutched in his strong, metal robot hand? A suicide note? Medic1: It says, "Please revert to 4/12/04 Backup at IP:143.233.211.2.1.1.0.3". >>
You may have years of experience in CS, but I think your logic is skewed. You seem to be saying that you have tried to resist MS in the past, and it's too dificult. Now you've just relinquished the good fight. First, if that's your choice, stop complaining. Secondly, those noble developers in the Open Source movement have done a pretty great job, and free software is becoming very usable and better than MS software in some cases. You should reconsider your choice.
Right now, I use WinXP Pro as my desktop OS, and my primary development languages are C# (.NET) and T-SQL (MS SQL Server 2k). I'm an MCSD.NET and MCDBA; I have tied my career pretty closely to the success of Microsoft's platform.
However, I still use Mozilla for browsing, because it is a far superior product. My goal is not to kill Microsoft. My goal is to have good software running on my system. If the developers at Mozilla can create a superb product, I'm going to use it. I'm sure that MS will respond with IE 7/2005, but if that new version doesn't have features like tabbed browsing, built-in (and good) popup-blocking management, and a SideBar for which I can easily write my own tabs, then I might just stick with Mozilla.
While I only use a couple pieces of Open software, Linux for a very basic DNC/Mail server and Mozilla for web browsing, I love the Open Source movement. Ignoring the idea that free (as in beer) software is good for less wealthy countries and people, think about the actual management of these Open projects. They can innovate and adapt so much more quickly than a large corporation like MS. If for no other reason, I love Open Source software and use it when appropriate, because it forces MS to be better.
And that's what matters most to me: having good, stable software that let's me do my job.
Although, your point is not diminished. I think I've known some female managers with eggs of steel.
BTW, yeah I know, huevos is Mexican slang for testes. I've always found it humorous that I can walk into any TexMex restaurant and order huevos rancheros, Ranch-hand balls.
I might be missing a critical idea. I feel that I must be. (In my defense, I was up all night playing Crimson Skies and then preparing for an 8:30AM project status meeting.)
It seems that this warranty, escrow account system would not work well with hacked computers, viruses, et cetera. Here's a simple example; please tell me that I'm wrong. My grandma makes a reasonable attempt to secure her system but leaves some holes. Some hacker, working for a spammer, gets in her system and installs a nice little backdoor program. The spammer starts emailing people from her computer until the money in grandma's escrow account can no longer cover the warranties. The recipients are obviously angered by receiving this spam and collect the money on the warranty. How is she going to get her money back?
I don't need to belabor this point, but does this plan assume that all email sent from a user's account was purposefully sent by that user? If so, I can't support that. Virus writers and hackers aren't going away. Computers may become more secure; users may become more experienced. But our increasingly interconnected world is simply too complex to eradicate every security hole.
I think you would be surprised how many developers have 56k at home. I have looked into DirecWay also; as I happen to live just between two cities. DSL might come in a year or two, but I doubt cable will be available for the next five years.
The truth is that I don't need more than 56k. I work long hours, and our netadmin is cool at my employer. He doesn't mind if I d/l legal music or non-business ISO's. I can get pretty much whatever I want; his only rule is that we don't use any P2P programs and blocks the standard ports. And you know what, when I get home late at night or have the weekend off, I don't really want to sit in front of my computer very much. I'd rather talk to my fiance or go outside or do ANYTHING different from what I do 60 hrs/week.
I understand the great beauty of an always-on connection, and if broadband were cheaply available, I'd take it. My point is just that many of us here love computers and programming, but we get so much of it during the work week that we really don't care much about having broadband at home.
Having a good dev laptop also helps assuage the need for broadband.
I was merely asking. I was using no logic to imply anything.
Judging from the responses my post received, there is much debate about exactly where that euphemistic line lies.
The only point I was trying to make is that I don't know much about law and am too lazy to search through cases. That's it.
I've read some very interesting examples of similar searches on cars stopped for speeding, and I was wondering what the precedents are for computer affairs.
Your post touched on a very important topic: If they find what they're looking for, or anything else very illegal to have, then they'll be back with the cuffs.
What is the legal scope of their search?
For example, let's pretend this Toshok fellow is completely innocent, and the FBI search of his computers establishes zero link to their original investigation. However, on one computer they find thousands of dollars of unlicensed software and thousands of pirated MP3s and divx vids. Can they confiscate his computer for such an unrelated offense? Can they charge him with a crime? What if during the search of his apartment they found some drugs and an unregistered weapon?
Your point is valid but not a rebuttal to his statement. He is questioning why this specific OS, out of the myriad hobby systems, is getting so much attention. He is yearning for knowledge of what qualities distinguish SkyOS from the pack to the degree that it should be repeatedly highlighted on Slashdot.
He is NOT questioning why somebody would develop this. He is NOT saying there is no use. He merely wants to know what makes SkyOS special.
Maybe you should actually read posts before trying to make clever responses.
I don't mind seeing spots on SkyOS; I just wish other hobby systems were highlighted also. It reminds me of an earlier Slashdot.
Some might argue that the US is made up of people just like you are describing, but the people are kept too busy by exploitive corporations and needless international toil. I try to maintain a distance from grand consipiracy theories. However, one must admit that it is somewhat difficult to rouse passion about civil rights when half of your friends are worried about friends and family fighting in Iraq/Afghanistan, and the other half are trying find some source of income to keep their families off the streets. Keep the masses too busy to notice the prison being built around them. Why do you think we Americans are so f'ing fat? Is it because we are such a happy, secure, and spiritually fulfilled people?
I too am a big supporter of keeping much power in the hands of state governments. There are problems with this though. First, there would be even more inequality among the states, with no Federal money to help smooth out the wrinkles. Second, there is the Wal-Mart effect; only the federal government has the influence to affect our huge, multi-national corporations.
A single entity cannot engage in price-fixing. Price-fixing is applicable when multiple entities collude to keep a price of multiple competing products fixed at an artificially high (or low) amount. The iPod's price is independent of Rio or any other mp3 player manufacturer, or so we believe.
You're probably just trolling, but I'll reply seriously anyway.
If she's really your best friend, I think it would pretty stupid for you not to talk to her. Some time when you are alone with her, just ask her what's up between the two of you. It makes you feel very uncomfortable when she sleeps with you and then also sleeps with your roommate.
Don't be a prick about it either. It's hard to keep calm and logical, but letting your emotions overwhelm your good sense is a path to a miserable life. Obviously you shouldn't ignore these emotions; you should just discuss your thoughts with her in an adult manner. Don't be a desperate, winy ass. That is the most unattractive personality trait in the world.
If this were just some chick, I'd recommend just ignoring her stupid games and being thankful that you didn't get too involved with a manipulative, disloyal, promiscuous, immature girl. If she's actually your best friend, then maybe she's cool and just doesn't understand what you're feeling.
For us to compete at what? To have a desktop that's just as easy to use as Windows? I'm sorry, smart software makes stupid users. I prefer to use stupid software that doesn't get in my way.
Well, Mr. GreyWolf3000, I agree with you. However, smart software can also make efficient users, which is all the corporate world cares about. Linux being free (for the OS license) is nice, but that's such a small percentage of what a corporation spends. We need to focus out efforts on showing the corporate world how linux can increase the productivity of their employees. They need to know things like that Linux is virtually unaffected by email viruses.
This attitude of preferring "stupid" software is completely specious anyway. What I (and probably you) am sick of is stupid software that tries to be intelligent and always guesses incorrectly what I want.
You use whatever software you like, but "if we are going to compete", corporate executives can't hear things like Linux "is stupid software that doesn't get in my way", especially when you consider that MS is berating them with mounds of marketing material saying how much smarter and more intuitive their new OS is.
This story reminds me a project I've had on the backburner for a few months. I have four 14in. LCD screens that I got for super cheap, and instead of selling them, I wanted to make a display grid. I'd like to be able to control the displays of all four from a single computer, and ideally I'd like to have all four be able to function as a single display. I only want to display revolving static images on them/it.
I have a spare computer that could be used for this if I could only find a suitable video display device to make them act as a grid. This computer currently has XP and RedHat 8 installed.
Obviously, I don't know much in this area; I can't even get Google to return any meaningful results. Any recommendations are much appreciated. Thanks.
I can't recite the numbers, but I know that far more non-fiction books are published each year. This new searching technique is wonderful for spot-checking specifics topics that you need a book to cover. I think it's a wonderful service that has already affected my purchases.
I don't want to be melodramatic, but how happy do you think those six billion people would be.
Take NYC, an environment more familiar to most slashdotters than Tokyo, and apply that landscape to the entire state of Texas. Maybe I'm just not a city boy, but that scenario sounds miserably depressing to me. I like being in incredibly urban environments, but only if I can get when I need to. As the urban sprawl spreads, those places of sancutary will only become more exclusive, affordable only to those with abundant resources.
Capitalism is good, but IMO, it depends on there being somewhat at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Capitalism is a system based on inequality, and I think that's okay for a temporary system for the human civilization. It only works on with a civilization in rapid growth (techonologically, culturally, etc.); when our civilization begins to stabilize in 300 or so years, I just don't think capitalism is going to be satisfactory.
There is a long precedent supporting my opinion. Look at the history of nations. In chaos, a dictator rises and creates order. After the chaos has settled, the people are no longer happy with the dictator. The dictator either subdues the populace with force or gets replaced with democracy or some semblance thereof. Obviously, I believe capitalism is that authoritarian system useful in a time of chaos, and I don't think humanity has discovered the correct economic system for the plateau. Maybe it's some form of socialism or communism, but I don't really know.
Actually, from his post, it seems that he was working in Taiwan and paying taxes in Taiwan.
If he pays the taxes, like a citizen, he deserves treatment, like a citizen.
Or does Taiwan have a weird tax structure, unlike any country with which I'm familiar, where you can get a work visa and work without paying income tax or sales tax?
While your point is not without merit, I don't understand what you would prefer.
PS/2, serial, and parallel ports are old technology with few new peripherals being released. If you want 4+ USB ports and firewire ports and ethernet ports, eventually some legacy ports are going to be removed. They just can't keep making room for new ports without losing something.
Just last week I built a new system for a friend who's still on dial-up. I have a few 56k modems lying around, but when I went to install the modem in her new computer, I realized that all of my old modems were ISA. Of course this new board didn't have any ISA slots. So I had to shell out $15 for a new PCI modem. That's just the nature of technology.
HAH. Your signature, I can't believe it. Just a few days ago I was doing my business in the restroom, and I noticed the HOSPECO toilet seat covers had a funny little sentence just below the openining. "Provided by management for you protection."
This is not like the owner of a "hangout" collecting information on his patrons to predict marketing trends.
This is like an Assisted Living community keeping track of residents' eating habits and excersize participation. They have an implicit obligation to protect the health and comfort of their residents; certain factors are useful in this goal. If a resident's eating or excersize routines change suddenly, there is a likelihood that a change has occurred in the health of the resident.
Similarly, schools have the obligation to protect a child's health and future. When you attend school, you are entering into an implied contract. There are many rules inside a school that would be violations of the constitution in the outside world. The point is that you (or your legal guardian) agrees to sacrifice some rights for the benefit gained through education. You lose the right to free assembly or a trial by a jury of peers, for example.
The right to privacy is fuzzy, because it is not laid out in a detailed manner in the Constitution. (Notice I said, "detailed manner," before you start quoting Constitution to me.) You have the explicit right not to be searched arbitrarily. However, school property is not public property, not as a sidewalk or street is public. A school can establish certain rules, such as x-raying backpacks, that would not be allowed in the public domain.
A high school has the obligation to protect you; that is the central argument here. One could argue that a federal government has the obligation to protect its citizens; therefore they can do whatever they want to the citizens, by the logic I used above.
However, there is a difference in that schools and Assisted Living communities have as subjects those citizens who voluntarily or involuntarily must sacrifice some rights as a citizen, because they are viewed as unable to function in society without external assistance. That also presents the problem of who gets to decide which people fall into categories of "half-citizens" like minors, mentally handicapped, or dependent elderly. It seems that our federal government is currently trying to stick American-born terrorists and members of militias into this half-citizen category.
Yes. This is quite slippery...beyond my reasoning ability I think. On an emotional level, I, being only 21, strongly believe that high schools have the right to monitor students' behavior at school and even search lockers if a student is reported to have a weapon. If you want to deal drugs or injure people, you can do that after school, off of school grounds. I also believe that schools have no right interfere with any extracurricular affairs or base decisions on external affairs; e.g., a high school does not have the right to search a locker or car due to a rumor that Johnny smokes weed at parties.
Many more thoughts on this topic...but I'm beginning to bore even myself.
Wait, wait everybody. Don't listen to him. He's British. Everyone knows they are just a bunch of anarchists and hippies.
Who else would use the word "realiSe" or the clause "I sincerely hope the patent office ARE sophisticated enough.."
Yeesh. Thank Jesus I understand collective singular nouns and Z.
(This is not a troll. It's Friday, and I want to be home, having a siesta in preparation for tonight's events. Instead I'm stuck at work, trying to find a squirrely bug hidden amongst a complex system of triggers spanning five DB's. No other explanation is necessary.)
For a bunch geeks, a bunch of people hear such do seem to be hating a potentially cool new technology.
Sure, maybe these things would hijack your cell-phone, and then the world would end. Somehow I doubt it.
I think the power would be more in the hands of the consumers. The article talks about infrared communication, not radio frequencies. This means that you would have to establish a direct line of sight link. If I have to point the IR port on my phone at something, I have a great amount of control over that.
I think a potential area of trouble is who gets to control what links get displayed. But I could see myself walking into a Barnes&Noble and browsing some books. One looks interesting; so I scan the "WebCode" or whatever with my phone. A couple links pop up on my screen, one to the reviews section of B&N.com for the book and one to the publisher.
Maybe I'm being too trusting, but this idea sounds pretty cool to me.
Umm. I think they mean that the user disabled the phone line functionality in the Vaio, meaning the computer doesn't respond when someone calls that phone line.
Here's how I interpeted it. Your laptop environment meets the previously outlined criteria. Someone calls your phone, which can be thought of as a small electrical current being sent to your phone. Because the the phone line is disabled on the Vaio and Sony didn't design the system correctly, the electrical current from the phone travels into the laptop hardware, the metal frame I guess. The computer is grounded, and you are touching some metal part of the laptop (read conductor). Therefore, the electrical current is passed into you, resulting into a minor shock.
I am certainly not an EE, but that makes sense to me.
Slashdot Mirror
Wait a minute, Rush. While you are legally correct, you are not socially or pragmatically correct.
In the Howard Stern case, Clear Channel is probably in the right. However, what if Clear Channel were removing a DJ who criticized the war in Iraq? What if a popular music group were removed from the air for criticizing the President? What if Clear Channel removed a talk show host because he was Islamic or had HIV or was physically impaired?
Clearly there is a line somewhere, and the line is crossed legally when a corporation discriminates against a protected class of citizens. If dissenters against the war and people who loved talking about sex were protected classes, then this would be a discussion of discrimination.
My point is that while legally, a private entity cannot curtail free speech, a company as large and powerful as Clear Channel or CBS can certainly become an oppressive force in society. Guarding against that oppression is the main point of the Bill of Rights.
I'm sick of people saying that a private entity can't curtail free speech. Especially in our time of revolving doors between government and private industry, one cannot be so naive to think that the desires of the government have no influence on private corporations.
I recently had a long discussion on this very topic. The eventual conclusion was that if we can backup the brain, then we should be able to restore it also. So, we will almost be able to treat life like a video game, with save-points, especially if our robot bodies come soon.
Scenario>>
ME: Hmm, I wonder what it feels like to jump off of a cliff.
Paramedics arrive at the scene of the gruesome death.
Medic1: Oy, that's one mangled robot carcass.
Medic2: What's that clutched in his strong, metal robot hand? A suicide note?
Medic1: It says, "Please revert to 4/12/04 Backup at IP:143.233.211.2.1.1.0.3".
>>
Oh what a wonderful world it will be.
You may have years of experience in CS, but I think your logic is skewed. You seem to be saying that you have tried to resist MS in the past, and it's too dificult. Now you've just relinquished the good fight. First, if that's your choice, stop complaining. Secondly, those noble developers in the Open Source movement have done a pretty great job, and free software is becoming very usable and better than MS software in some cases. You should reconsider your choice.
.NET and MCDBA; I have tied my career pretty closely to the success of Microsoft's platform.
Right now, I use WinXP Pro as my desktop OS, and my primary development languages are C# (.NET) and T-SQL (MS SQL Server 2k). I'm an MCSD
However, I still use Mozilla for browsing, because it is a far superior product. My goal is not to kill Microsoft. My goal is to have good software running on my system. If the developers at Mozilla can create a superb product, I'm going to use it. I'm sure that MS will respond with IE 7/2005, but if that new version doesn't have features like tabbed browsing, built-in (and good) popup-blocking management, and a SideBar for which I can easily write my own tabs, then I might just stick with Mozilla.
While I only use a couple pieces of Open software, Linux for a very basic DNC/Mail server and Mozilla for web browsing, I love the Open Source movement. Ignoring the idea that free (as in beer) software is good for less wealthy countries and people, think about the actual management of these Open projects. They can innovate and adapt so much more quickly than a large corporation like MS. If for no other reason, I love Open Source software and use it when appropriate, because it forces MS to be better.
And that's what matters most to me: having good, stable software that let's me do my job.
Uhh, dude, technically huevos means eggs.
Although, your point is not diminished. I think I've known some female managers with eggs of steel.
BTW, yeah I know, huevos is Mexican slang for testes. I've always found it humorous that I can walk into any TexMex restaurant and order huevos rancheros, Ranch-hand balls.
I might be missing a critical idea. I feel that I must be. (In my defense, I was up all night playing Crimson Skies and then preparing for an 8:30AM project status meeting.)
It seems that this warranty, escrow account system would not work well with hacked computers, viruses, et cetera. Here's a simple example; please tell me that I'm wrong. My grandma makes a reasonable attempt to secure her system but leaves some holes. Some hacker, working for a spammer, gets in her system and installs a nice little backdoor program. The spammer starts emailing people from her computer until the money in grandma's escrow account can no longer cover the warranties. The recipients are obviously angered by receiving this spam and collect the money on the warranty. How is she going to get her money back?
I don't need to belabor this point, but does this plan assume that all email sent from a user's account was purposefully sent by that user? If so, I can't support that. Virus writers and hackers aren't going away. Computers may become more secure; users may become more experienced. But our increasingly interconnected world is simply too complex to eradicate every security hole.
I think you would be surprised how many developers have 56k at home. I have looked into DirecWay also; as I happen to live just between two cities. DSL might come in a year or two, but I doubt cable will be available for the next five years.
The truth is that I don't need more than 56k. I work long hours, and our netadmin is cool at my employer. He doesn't mind if I d/l legal music or non-business ISO's. I can get pretty much whatever I want; his only rule is that we don't use any P2P programs and blocks the standard ports. And you know what, when I get home late at night or have the weekend off, I don't really want to sit in front of my computer very much. I'd rather talk to my fiance or go outside or do ANYTHING different from what I do 60 hrs/week.
I understand the great beauty of an always-on connection, and if broadband were cheaply available, I'd take it. My point is just that many of us here love computers and programming, but we get so much of it during the work week that we really don't care much about having broadband at home.
Having a good dev laptop also helps assuage the need for broadband.
I was merely asking. I was using no logic to imply anything.
Judging from the responses my post received, there is much debate about exactly where that euphemistic line lies.
The only point I was trying to make is that I don't know much about law and am too lazy to search through cases. That's it.
I've read some very interesting examples of similar searches on cars stopped for speeding, and I was wondering what the precedents are for computer affairs.
Your post touched on a very important topic: If they find what they're looking for, or anything else very illegal to have, then they'll be back with the cuffs.
What is the legal scope of their search?
For example, let's pretend this Toshok fellow is completely innocent, and the FBI search of his computers establishes zero link to their original investigation. However, on one computer they find thousands of dollars of unlicensed software and thousands of pirated MP3s and divx vids. Can they confiscate his computer for such an unrelated offense? Can they charge him with a crime? What if during the search of his apartment they found some drugs and an unregistered weapon?
Exactly where is the line?
Your point is valid but not a rebuttal to his statement. He is questioning why this specific OS, out of the myriad hobby systems, is getting so much attention. He is yearning for knowledge of what qualities distinguish SkyOS from the pack to the degree that it should be repeatedly highlighted on Slashdot.
He is NOT questioning why somebody would develop this. He is NOT saying there is no use. He merely wants to know what makes SkyOS special.
Maybe you should actually read posts before trying to make clever responses.
I don't mind seeing spots on SkyOS; I just wish other hobby systems were highlighted also. It reminds me of an earlier Slashdot.
Some might argue that the US is made up of people just like you are describing, but the people are kept too busy by exploitive corporations and needless international toil. I try to maintain a distance from grand consipiracy theories. However, one must admit that it is somewhat difficult to rouse passion about civil rights when half of your friends are worried about friends and family fighting in Iraq/Afghanistan, and the other half are trying find some source of income to keep their families off the streets. Keep the masses too busy to notice the prison being built around them. Why do you think we Americans are so f'ing fat? Is it because we are such a happy, secure, and spiritually fulfilled people?
I too am a big supporter of keeping much power in the hands of state governments. There are problems with this though. First, there would be even more inequality among the states, with no Federal money to help smooth out the wrinkles. Second, there is the Wal-Mart effect; only the federal government has the influence to affect our huge, multi-national corporations.
Peace.
A single entity cannot engage in price-fixing. Price-fixing is applicable when multiple entities collude to keep a price of multiple competing products fixed at an artificially high (or low) amount. The iPod's price is independent of Rio or any other mp3 player manufacturer, or so we believe.
Hahaha.
Just when I run out of mod points, this post comes along.
As a proud owner of both volumes, I can say, "FINALLY!" In my opinion, Family Guy is one of the smartest, most subtle shows ever on Television.
Maybe the audience over the commercial sponsors for once. That would be awesome.
You're probably just trolling, but I'll reply seriously anyway.
If she's really your best friend, I think it would pretty stupid for you not to talk to her. Some time when you are alone with her, just ask her what's up between the two of you. It makes you feel very uncomfortable when she sleeps with you and then also sleeps with your roommate.
Don't be a prick about it either. It's hard to keep calm and logical, but letting your emotions overwhelm your good sense is a path to a miserable life. Obviously you shouldn't ignore these emotions; you should just discuss your thoughts with her in an adult manner. Don't be a desperate, winy ass. That is the most unattractive personality trait in the world.
If this were just some chick, I'd recommend just ignoring her stupid games and being thankful that you didn't get too involved with a manipulative, disloyal, promiscuous, immature girl. If she's actually your best friend, then maybe she's cool and just doesn't understand what you're feeling.
In conclusion:
TALK TO HER.
For us to compete at what? To have a desktop that's just as easy to use as Windows? I'm sorry, smart software makes stupid users. I prefer to use stupid software that doesn't get in my way.
Well, Mr. GreyWolf3000, I agree with you. However, smart software can also make efficient users, which is all the corporate world cares about. Linux being free (for the OS license) is nice, but that's such a small percentage of what a corporation spends. We need to focus out efforts on showing the corporate world how linux can increase the productivity of their employees. They need to know things like that Linux is virtually unaffected by email viruses.
This attitude of preferring "stupid" software is completely specious anyway. What I (and probably you) am sick of is stupid software that tries to be intelligent and always guesses incorrectly what I want.
You use whatever software you like, but "if we are going to compete", corporate executives can't hear things like Linux "is stupid software that doesn't get in my way", especially when you consider that MS is berating them with mounds of marketing material saying how much smarter and more intuitive their new OS is.
This story reminds me a project I've had on the backburner for a few months. I have four 14in. LCD screens that I got for super cheap, and instead of selling them, I wanted to make a display grid. I'd like to be able to control the displays of all four from a single computer, and ideally I'd like to have all four be able to function as a single display. I only want to display revolving static images on them/it.
I have a spare computer that could be used for this if I could only find a suitable video display device to make them act as a grid. This computer currently has XP and RedHat 8 installed.
Obviously, I don't know much in this area; I can't even get Google to return any meaningful results. Any recommendations are much appreciated. Thanks.
I can't recite the numbers, but I know that far more non-fiction books are published each year. This new searching technique is wonderful for spot-checking specifics topics that you need a book to cover. I think it's a wonderful service that has already affected my purchases.
I don't want to be melodramatic, but how happy do you think those six billion people would be.
Take NYC, an environment more familiar to most slashdotters than Tokyo, and apply that landscape to the entire state of Texas. Maybe I'm just not a city boy, but that scenario sounds miserably depressing to me. I like being in incredibly urban environments, but only if I can get when I need to. As the urban sprawl spreads, those places of sancutary will only become more exclusive, affordable only to those with abundant resources.
Capitalism is good, but IMO, it depends on there being somewhat at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Capitalism is a system based on inequality, and I think that's okay for a temporary system for the human civilization. It only works on with a civilization in rapid growth (techonologically, culturally, etc.); when our civilization begins to stabilize in 300 or so years, I just don't think capitalism is going to be satisfactory.
There is a long precedent supporting my opinion. Look at the history of nations. In chaos, a dictator rises and creates order. After the chaos has settled, the people are no longer happy with the dictator. The dictator either subdues the populace with force or gets replaced with democracy or some semblance thereof. Obviously, I believe capitalism is that authoritarian system useful in a time of chaos, and I don't think humanity has discovered the correct economic system for the plateau. Maybe it's some form of socialism or communism, but I don't really know.
Actually, from his post, it seems that he was working in Taiwan and paying taxes in Taiwan.
If he pays the taxes, like a citizen, he deserves treatment, like a citizen.
Or does Taiwan have a weird tax structure, unlike any country with which I'm familiar, where you can get a work visa and work without paying income tax or sales tax?
While your point is not without merit, I don't understand what you would prefer.
PS/2, serial, and parallel ports are old technology with few new peripherals being released. If you want 4+ USB ports and firewire ports and ethernet ports, eventually some legacy ports are going to be removed. They just can't keep making room for new ports without losing something.
Just last week I built a new system for a friend who's still on dial-up. I have a few 56k modems lying around, but when I went to install the modem in her new computer, I realized that all of my old modems were ISA. Of course this new board didn't have any ISA slots. So I had to shell out $15 for a new PCI modem. That's just the nature of technology.
HAH. Your signature, I can't believe it. Just a few days ago I was doing my business in the restroom, and I noticed the HOSPECO toilet seat covers had a funny little sentence just below the openining. "Provided by management for you protection."
Hmm. An odd coincidence.
Your analogy is flawed.
This is not like the owner of a "hangout" collecting information on his patrons to predict marketing trends.
This is like an Assisted Living community keeping track of residents' eating habits and excersize participation. They have an implicit obligation to protect the health and comfort of their residents; certain factors are useful in this goal. If a resident's eating or excersize routines change suddenly, there is a likelihood that a change has occurred in the health of the resident.
Similarly, schools have the obligation to protect a child's health and future. When you attend school, you are entering into an implied contract. There are many rules inside a school that would be violations of the constitution in the outside world. The point is that you (or your legal guardian) agrees to sacrifice some rights for the benefit gained through education. You lose the right to free assembly or a trial by a jury of peers, for example.
The right to privacy is fuzzy, because it is not laid out in a detailed manner in the Constitution. (Notice I said, "detailed manner," before you start quoting Constitution to me.) You have the explicit right not to be searched arbitrarily. However, school property is not public property, not as a sidewalk or street is public. A school can establish certain rules, such as x-raying backpacks, that would not be allowed in the public domain.
A high school has the obligation to protect you; that is the central argument here. One could argue that a federal government has the obligation to protect its citizens; therefore they can do whatever they want to the citizens, by the logic I used above.
However, there is a difference in that schools and Assisted Living communities have as subjects those citizens who voluntarily or involuntarily must sacrifice some rights as a citizen, because they are viewed as unable to function in society without external assistance. That also presents the problem of who gets to decide which people fall into categories of "half-citizens" like minors, mentally handicapped, or dependent elderly. It seems that our federal government is currently trying to stick American-born terrorists and members of militias into this half-citizen category.
Yes. This is quite slippery...beyond my reasoning ability I think. On an emotional level, I, being only 21, strongly believe that high schools have the right to monitor students' behavior at school and even search lockers if a student is reported to have a weapon. If you want to deal drugs or injure people, you can do that after school, off of school grounds. I also believe that schools have no right interfere with any extracurricular affairs or base decisions on external affairs; e.g., a high school does not have the right to search a locker or car due to a rumor that Johnny smokes weed at parties.
Many more thoughts on this topic...but I'm beginning to bore even myself.
Wait, wait everybody. Don't listen to him. He's British. Everyone knows they are just a bunch of anarchists and hippies.
Who else would use the word "realiSe" or the clause "I sincerely hope the patent office ARE sophisticated enough.."
Yeesh. Thank Jesus I understand collective singular nouns and Z.
(This is not a troll. It's Friday, and I want to be home, having a siesta in preparation for tonight's events. Instead I'm stuck at work, trying to find a squirrely bug hidden amongst a complex system of triggers spanning five DB's. No other explanation is necessary.)
For a bunch geeks, a bunch of people hear such do seem to be hating a potentially cool new technology.
Sure, maybe these things would hijack your cell-phone, and then the world would end. Somehow I doubt it.
I think the power would be more in the hands of the consumers. The article talks about infrared communication, not radio frequencies. This means that you would have to establish a direct line of sight link. If I have to point the IR port on my phone at something, I have a great amount of control over that.
I think a potential area of trouble is who gets to control what links get displayed. But I could see myself walking into a Barnes&Noble and browsing some books. One looks interesting; so I scan the "WebCode" or whatever with my phone. A couple links pop up on my screen, one to the reviews section of B&N.com for the book and one to the publisher.
Maybe I'm being too trusting, but this idea sounds pretty cool to me.
Umm. I think they mean that the user disabled the phone line functionality in the Vaio, meaning the computer doesn't respond when someone calls that phone line.
Here's how I interpeted it. Your laptop environment meets the previously outlined criteria. Someone calls your phone, which can be thought of as a small electrical current being sent to your phone. Because the the phone line is disabled on the Vaio and Sony didn't design the system correctly, the electrical current from the phone travels into the laptop hardware, the metal frame I guess. The computer is grounded, and you are touching some metal part of the laptop (read conductor). Therefore, the electrical current is passed into you, resulting into a minor shock.
I am certainly not an EE, but that makes sense to me.