I thought it was going to be a cheap and easy way to mount a sniper rifle on a powered pan/tilt tripod head and use bluetooth to control it remotely, like Brice Willis did in that lame remake of 'Day Of The Jackal' only with higher geek cred. I was disappointed.
Seriously, though, according to TFA, they're going after uploaders (sharing thousands of files) rather than downloaders. For the time being, at least. So my quest to find a decent MP3 of Love Affair's 'Everlasting Love' can continue for a little while longer.
The Tories always accused the BBC of being biased against them.
Now Labour is always accusing the BBC of being biased against them.
If by some fluke the Lib-Dems won the next election, no doubt they would always be accusing the BBC of being biased against them.
Personally, I think it's great that the 'state' broadcaster is always willing to challenge the government of the day, no matter what political persuasion it may be. And frankly, I think that the vast majority of people in Britain are proud of the BBC and want the government - any government - to keep their hands off it. A government that proposed privatising it would find themselves out of office at the next election... if not strung up in Parliament Square!
There's a big thread over at TrekBBS discussing the finale, with spoilers provided by a poster whom numerous people there consider a highly reliable source.
He hates it.
Spoilers coming up...
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.
.
.
TNG's Riker and Troi are in 1/3 of the episode, on the Enterprise-D's (yes, D, the one that got wrecked in Generations more than a decade ago) holodeck watching some sort of 'historical record' of the NX-01's mission. Trip Tucker dies at the end of the story... well, series.
This is what Rick Berman has described as a "valentine" to the fans. Well, I didn't even get a card on Feb 14th, but that's still better than being fucked up the ass!
Oh, that must be the thing where I keep getting a box with a broken jigsaw-puzzle icon and the message 'Click here to get the plug-in'.
It's strange, but I've yet to find any compelling reason to click 'there'...
(I have experienced a whole two of these floaters in the last couple of months, though. Must be time to downgrade my browser again, or switch to Lynx!)
Re:One thing the editor left off..
on
Apple Updates iPod
·
· Score: 4, Funny
** MISSING **
Ah! So this answers what the 'dark galaxy' in the story above this one is made of - a near-infinite number of unsold 40Gb, $399 iPods. (Must be the U2 model, being black and all...)
We do pay for Trek. Channel 4 is a commercial channel. Sky One is a subscription channel and has commercials.
Besides, if all those writers had made Enterprise interesting instead of a steaming pile of shite, then it might not be scheduled for cancellation either!
Furthermore, since they are working in a reality that is lacking quite a few of the standard Star Trek devices (meaning both technology and plot devices), they can't just fall back on old storylines like holodecks (not invented yet)
Holodecks/holographic technology featured in season 1 episodes 'Unexpected' and 'Oasis' (a direct rewrite of DS9's 'Shadowplay', even featuring Rene 'Odo' Auberjonois as guest star!)
Q continuum (won't meet them for centuries)
I'll grant you this one. But have you seen how fat John DeLancie's looking lately? He's a continuum in his own right!
the Borg (likewise)
Featured in the season 2 episode 'Regeneration'.
or even original Trek conventions like the Klingon War or the Romulan Neutral Zone (yet to happen/be established.)
That hasn't stopped numerous appearances by the Klingons and the Romulans, the former strangely not responding to "disastrous first contact" with "decades of war" as Picard said in TNG, the latter using cloaking technology which according to TOS shouldn't exist yet. They've also used the Ferengi, who shouldn't be encountered until TNG. Oh, but it doesn't violate continuity because they forgot to ask them their name!
[geek]And the NX-01 transporter works even faster than Kirk's from a century later.[/geek]
TFA: "Napster To Go is very similar to the P2P experience"
Er, yeah. Apart from the whole paying for it part. So Napster compares renting your music for a fee (and losing it if you stop paying) to getting it for free (and keeping it forever), and follows that up by implying that if you have an iPod, you're stupid. Fucking moron. Way to drum up custom!
Or does he mean there's a tiny chance of the RIAA sueing you if you use Napster?
SPIEGEL: But your small competitor Apple, for example, is much less frequently a victim of virus attacks...
Gates:... put so sweepingly, that is not correct.
WTF? The last time I, or any other Mac user I know (I used to work in publishing, which certainly at my company was a 95% Mac landscape), got hit by a virus was a good four years ago at least. Ironically enough, it was a Microsoft Word macro-virus!
Hey, Bill, here's a challenge - you switch off the virus scanner and firewall on your Win XP box at the same time as I switch off the same on my iMac running OS8.6. Let's see who gets pwned first!
This has been how things work in the UK for years with regard to games, just as it does with videos and DVDs, and there's no 'chilling effect' here.
Games can be rated in two ways - there's the voluntary ELSPA/PEGI code, and the statutory BBFC code (the same as is used for movies). If a game contains subject matter that falls into the BBFC's purview ('realistic' violence, sex, language) then it has by law to go through BBFC certification, and selling a game to someone younger than the age rating (12, 15 or 18) is an offence, just as it would be to sell an 18-rated film to a 14-year-old.
While I've got no doubt that there are shops that couldn't give a toss about checking buyers' ages, the major chains do, because they know they'll not only get fined if caught, but they'll get some serious bad publicity from the tabloids. For the most part, the system puts control back in the hands of the parents, where it should be. If little Timmy wants to play San Andreas and Dad's fine with that, then Dad's the one who has to buy it for him. If Dad's not fine with that, then little Timmy's out of luck. (Until he borrows a copy from a mate whose parents did let him play it, but that's a whole different matter...)
It's not censorship, because I can't think of an example where a game company was ordered by the BBFC to cut something from a game (and the BBFC is no longer the draconian nightmare it used to be - films that would in the past have been an 18, heavily cut, or even banned, are now routinely given a 15 rating). It's just a way of pointing out that some things aren't meant for kids, however much disposable income they may have. If the parents disagree with the ratings and are happy to let their kids play the games and watch the DVDs, they can do that.
IMO the US is going down an increasingly authoritarian road, but (to my surprise) I don't see this as a step along it.
Funnily enough, the BMW Mini One can be 'overclocked' too. Like the CPU in the two Mac Mini models, both the One and the Cooper have the same 1.6 litre engine, the only difference being the engine management software. Must be something in the name 'Mini'...
I never paid much attention to programs like Quicken, Money or whatever because my personal finances have so far been simple enough not to need them. (I may reconsider that now I'm self-employed and actually have to do my own taxes...)
But after reading the posts here about exactly what people in the States use Quicken for (primarily online bill-paying rather than using cheques... er, 'checks') I have to ask - is there no equivalent in the US of the UK's Direct Debit system, whereby the banks themselves automatically pay your bills on a set date from your account, usually free of charge?
Slashdot Mirror
I thought it was going to be a cheap and easy way to mount a sniper rifle on a powered pan/tilt tripod head and use bluetooth to control it remotely, like Brice Willis did in that lame remake of 'Day Of The Jackal' only with higher geek cred. I was disappointed.
So, if you sent a libellous comment via AIM, would that make AOL liable for it?
What colour was her hardsuit?
Seriously, though, according to TFA, they're going after uploaders (sharing thousands of files) rather than downloaders. For the time being, at least. So my quest to find a decent MP3 of Love Affair's 'Everlasting Love' can continue for a little while longer.
[glances around nervously] Er, I hope.
Now Labour is always accusing the BBC of being biased against them.
If by some fluke the Lib-Dems won the next election, no doubt they would always be accusing the BBC of being biased against them.
Personally, I think it's great that the 'state' broadcaster is always willing to challenge the government of the day, no matter what political persuasion it may be. And frankly, I think that the vast majority of people in Britain are proud of the BBC and want the government - any government - to keep their hands off it. A government that proposed privatising it would find themselves out of office at the next election... if not strung up in Parliament Square!
He hates it.
Spoilers coming up...
.
.
.
.
TNG's Riker and Troi are in 1/3 of the episode, on the Enterprise-D's (yes, D, the one that got wrecked in Generations more than a decade ago) holodeck watching some sort of 'historical record' of the NX-01's mission. Trip Tucker dies at the end of the story... well, series.
This is what Rick Berman has described as a "valentine" to the fans. Well, I didn't even get a card on Feb 14th, but that's still better than being fucked up the ass!
Harsh? Perhaps. But entirely justifiable.
...Metroid Prime. I would finally have had a new game for my Gamecube!
It's strange, but I've yet to find any compelling reason to click 'there'...
(I have experienced a whole two of these floaters in the last couple of months, though. Must be time to downgrade my browser again, or switch to Lynx!)
Ah! So this answers what the 'dark galaxy' in the story above this one is made of - a near-infinite number of unsold 40Gb, $399 iPods. (Must be the U2 model, being black and all...)
Besides, if all those writers had made Enterprise interesting instead of a steaming pile of shite, then it might not be scheduled for cancellation either!
Wow, I guess they really are behind the times in Alabama!
Finally, we can tell Alexei Sayle that there is life on Mars! Results for Peckham, however, remain inconclusive.
Holodecks/holographic technology featured in season 1 episodes 'Unexpected' and 'Oasis' (a direct rewrite of DS9's 'Shadowplay', even featuring Rene 'Odo' Auberjonois as guest star!)
Q continuum (won't meet them for centuries)
I'll grant you this one. But have you seen how fat John DeLancie's looking lately? He's a continuum in his own right!
the Borg (likewise)
Featured in the season 2 episode 'Regeneration'.
or even original Trek conventions like the Klingon War or the Romulan Neutral Zone (yet to happen/be established.)
That hasn't stopped numerous appearances by the Klingons and the Romulans, the former strangely not responding to "disastrous first contact" with "decades of war" as Picard said in TNG, the latter using cloaking technology which according to TOS shouldn't exist yet. They've also used the Ferengi, who shouldn't be encountered until TNG. Oh, but it doesn't violate continuity because they forgot to ask them their name!
[geek]And the NX-01 transporter works even faster than Kirk's from a century later.[/geek]
Well, Phoebe Halliwell can see the future. And her sister Piper can 'guide' me any time she likes!
Er, yeah. Apart from the whole paying for it part. So Napster compares renting your music for a fee (and losing it if you stop paying) to getting it for free (and keeping it forever), and follows that up by implying that if you have an iPod, you're stupid. Fucking moron. Way to drum up custom!
Or does he mean there's a tiny chance of the RIAA sueing you if you use Napster?
Wait, if a film's being downloaded, then it's already been made... so surely all these thousands of people have already been paid?
and stifles creativity.
Hollywood's managed that all by itself without any help from downloaders!
SPIEGEL: But your small competitor Apple, for example, is much less frequently a victim of virus attacks ...
Gates: ... put so sweepingly, that is not correct.
WTF? The last time I, or any other Mac user I know (I used to work in publishing, which certainly at my company was a 95% Mac landscape), got hit by a virus was a good four years ago at least. Ironically enough, it was a Microsoft Word macro-virus!
Hey, Bill, here's a challenge - you switch off the virus scanner and firewall on your Win XP box at the same time as I switch off the same on my iMac running OS8.6. Let's see who gets pwned first!
Games can be rated in two ways - there's the voluntary ELSPA/PEGI code, and the statutory BBFC code (the same as is used for movies). If a game contains subject matter that falls into the BBFC's purview ('realistic' violence, sex, language) then it has by law to go through BBFC certification, and selling a game to someone younger than the age rating (12, 15 or 18) is an offence, just as it would be to sell an 18-rated film to a 14-year-old.
While I've got no doubt that there are shops that couldn't give a toss about checking buyers' ages, the major chains do, because they know they'll not only get fined if caught, but they'll get some serious bad publicity from the tabloids. For the most part, the system puts control back in the hands of the parents, where it should be. If little Timmy wants to play San Andreas and Dad's fine with that, then Dad's the one who has to buy it for him. If Dad's not fine with that, then little Timmy's out of luck. (Until he borrows a copy from a mate whose parents did let him play it, but that's a whole different matter...)
It's not censorship, because I can't think of an example where a game company was ordered by the BBFC to cut something from a game (and the BBFC is no longer the draconian nightmare it used to be - films that would in the past have been an 18, heavily cut, or even banned, are now routinely given a 15 rating). It's just a way of pointing out that some things aren't meant for kids, however much disposable income they may have. If the parents disagree with the ratings and are happy to let their kids play the games and watch the DVDs, they can do that.
IMO the US is going down an increasingly authoritarian road, but (to my surprise) I don't see this as a step along it.
Funnily enough, the BMW Mini One can be 'overclocked' too. Like the CPU in the two Mac Mini models, both the One and the Cooper have the same 1.6 litre engine, the only difference being the engine management software. Must be something in the name 'Mini'...
What about the boozy ones? C'mon, I want to see Bender collapsing in a gutter in my street before I die!
Just use Google to get tips!
Now the green iMac... that's nasty!
But after reading the posts here about exactly what people in the States use Quicken for (primarily online bill-paying rather than using cheques... er, 'checks') I have to ask - is there no equivalent in the US of the UK's Direct Debit system, whereby the banks themselves automatically pay your bills on a set date from your account, usually free of charge?