"The BBC's Abbas Azimi reports on the rapid growth of the Internet and Internet cafes in Iran, apparently with the tacit approval of the government. Seven million Iranians have Internet access, or 10% of the population - double the rate two years ago. Access costs 60 cents/hour. The article describes how the Internet is used for everything from VoIP phone calls to chat and Web logs. Even Iran's vice-president has a daily blog on a popular site with 'musings about politics and life."
I predict a big crack down on internet use and satellite tv now that the Iran hard-liners have come out in the open to oppose democracy in Iran. The sham of an election that just occurred, where over 2000 reform candidate were forbidden from running has shown there is no real democracy in Iran. The supreme leader and the guardian council hold the real power, and are planning on pushing Islam down everyone's throats. See here for details.
I submitted this story over a month ago, but it was rejected by the editors. The technology is already available in the Athlon64s, and Prescott versions of the Pentium4, but require service pack 2 for windows. Not sure if linux supports the feature.
Does buying cds of your own free will give you the right to steal $13 from the person you bought it from, just because you don't like their offer? This lawsuit is an insult to individual freedom, and your support of it is support of oppression and tyranny.
If it was overpriced, why did you buy it? Don't use govt. thugs to limit the freedoms of others just because you don't like the deal they offer. There is no such thing as a right to a good or service from another person. That is an endorsement of a form of slavery. The hypocrisy of/. sickens me. You're all worried about your own rights, but have no qualms about treading on the rights of those you don't like.
"...by suing file-swappers for copyright infringement, and then offering to settle instead of pursuing a case where liability could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the RIAA is violating the same laws that are more typically applied to gangsters and organized crime."
The file swappers are guilty. The day you can't settle a case against someone who is guilty of a crime without being accused of a crime is the day I lose faith in the US as a country that upholds individual rights, and must conclude that majority opinion outweighs individual rights.
Most of the issues refuted by these scientists are not understood in a deterministic sense. People have merely collected statistics and used them to predict trends. If you have a prediefined agenda, it's easy to look at statistics favorable to your goal, and ignore those that are not. This is, of course not scientific. This is not an ideal world, however, and someone who calls himself a scientist, may use statistics selectively to "prove" a concept as well. It's somewhat certain that the Bush administration is using these tactics, but that doesn't mean these scientists are not doing the same thing as well to push their political agendas.
"Laughable. Aboslutely ridiculous !! Can this not happen in closed source environments ? A disgruntled employee perhaps ? "
Yes this can happen in closed source environments, but it is much less likely. Most people wouldn't risk their jobs over such a stunt. In open source however, that may be the only motive for working on a project. If you take off the OSS blinders, it's pretty clear that motive for coding for open sourece is not as well understood as coding for a paycheck.
The issue isn't whether or not secrecy provides security. The issue is, what is the motive for writing the code. If a company is writing the code, unless you're a conspiracy theorist, the company is writing the code to sell and make money. Adding security flaws purposely would harm this primary interest if caught, and cause the customer to find someone else, if possible. Therefore, it is not in a company's interest to introduce security flaws into code. Now, with open source code, the motive of a particular programmer is less clear. He's not getting paid, so he either wants to write code so he can use it for himself, gain some leel of fame, etc. It would be easier, however, if the motive was to compromise the security of a software product, to join an open source project and sabotage it, than to try and gain employment at a software company and do the same thing.
"Producing ethanol requires nothing more than the sun, some corn, and bacteria. Yes, you'll notice that list includes an energy source, but not "oil"."
Assuming ethanol is a self-sustaining fuel source,, the resulting quantity of ethanol you produce must exceed the amount you use in producing it. I believe using current farming methods, you end up burning more ethanol than you produce. Therefore, as you suggest, cruder farming methods must be implemented, such as using animals instead of machines. This will drive up the cost of the ethanol, which will impact its effectiveness as an alternative fuel source.
There is no need to worry. OSS has not been developed for selfless reasons like to benefit mankind. OSS software was developed by people who didn't like what was currently available for x86 platforms, and wanted something better for _their_ machines. The standard clique that you get what you pay for doesn't apply here, because the software wasn't developed for you. It was developed to be used by the authors. Now, the main motive to develop something, if you're not getting paid for it, is because you want it to work better than what is currently available. Therefore, don't worry that OSS is free as in beer. Because your access to it is a side affect of the development process, that give access to anyone who wants to improve the software.
This patent looks like a RISC processor patent, a couple of decades too late. It's a joke and will be struck down in court, if their is any sanity left in this world.
" Look, who has the clout in congress to get the patent mess cleaned up? Big companies. Thus, the fastest way to clean it up, have big companies get harassed with expensive lawsuits like this. A lot. If Intel, Microsoft, IBM, etc., waste enough money fighting stupid patents (note - I know nothing about the Patriot patents, they may or may not be stupid), then you can bet that things will change."
You forget that trial lawyers donate a lot of money to politicians, particularly Democrats. They have as much lobby power as big companies.
"It's not like it would be in their interests to foster competition -- competition would drive down prices, and thereby their cut."
Where did you learn economics. Competition is good for the music industry. They get their _fixed_ amount per song, but the overall price goes down for consumers as retailers compete for your download dollars. lower prices means you buy more songs with the same money, and the recording industry gets a greater percentage of that money. Competiton in retail is good for the recording industry.
Research in networking tends to occur under CS and EE programs depending on which layer of the problem you're interested in. EEs and physicists tend to focus more on the physical layer, i.e. how to tramsmit and receive the bits over a cable or fiber, while CS tends to be more interested in organization and protocols. Of course there is a lot of cross-over. Get a bs degree in one of these fields to learn the fundamentals. Then get a job or go to grad school to do actual work in the field.
"will this low-power radar system from the 1970's really help make driving safer?"
The reason this is being investigated now is that 24GHz and 77GHz systems are now feasible at a reasonable costs. Therefore, a phased-array antenna is small enough to put in a car bumper.
"I guess the obvious question, since using squares on a round wafer wastes a certain amount of silicon, is why squares? Why not build a hex grid? That would seem to maximize the usage of the available area."
Chips are generally rectangular since they are composed of rectangualar sub-blocks. These sub-blocks are rectangular in part because transitors are laid out as retangles. Also, automatic routing tools route on a manhattan grid. Also, wire bonding tools only deal with rectangualr shapes. Flip chip bond pads are typically laid out in rectangualr grids as well.
" Because Via, Apple, IBM, and others presumably use the same physics without problems?"
Via chips suck in terms of performance. Apple doesn't make chips. IBM uses half the transistors in a G5 compared to an opteron, and not surprisingly, use half the power. You can't beat physics. You can just make different design choices, depending on your priorities.
" Who bets this will be the new marketing feature to "power users"? Why don't we just stick with ATX? It's suited us fine for years, computers run too hot these days, maybe we ought to concentrate on stability and quality rather than quantity and TLA's..."
ATX sucks. There's no guaranteed airflow across the CPU, so you need to bolt a fan on the CPU heatsink.
Stallman believes in control, not freedom. The GPL is specifically designed to allow him to maintain control of any software he's written, while letting others work on it. Also it lets him have control of any software anyone else is written and has decided to place under his license. The fact that the GPL requires copyright in order to be legal says that what you're getting with GPL code has strings attached.
Amnesty International condemned Chinese dissidents, saying they were causing an increase in the human rights abuses by the Chinese government by making themselves targets for human rights abuse.
SCO isn't down because of MyDoom
on
SCO Offline
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· Score: 1
Linux is used extensively in China. Therefore the OSS community is most likely as guilty as Microsoft. They haven't made any effort to restrict software use by the Chinese govt. I'm all for boycotting China until they reform their system, but singling out Microsoft, who writes a generic operating system as well as tools to write software, is just empty rhetoric. You might as well add Intel, AMD, a dozen motherboard makers, Cisco, etc. to the list.
Slashdot Mirror
"The BBC's Abbas Azimi reports on the rapid growth of the Internet and Internet cafes in Iran, apparently with the tacit approval of the government. Seven million Iranians have Internet access, or 10% of the population - double the rate two years ago. Access costs 60 cents/hour. The article describes how the Internet is used for everything from VoIP phone calls to chat and Web logs. Even Iran's vice-president has a daily blog on a popular site with 'musings about politics and life."
I predict a big crack down on internet use and satellite tv now that the Iran hard-liners have come out in the open to oppose democracy in Iran. The sham of an election that just occurred, where over 2000 reform candidate were forbidden from running has shown there is no real democracy in Iran. The supreme leader and the guardian council hold the real power, and are planning on pushing Islam down everyone's throats. See here for details.
I submitted this story over a month ago, but it was rejected by the editors. The technology is already available in the Athlon64s, and Prescott versions of the Pentium4, but require service pack 2 for windows. Not sure if linux supports the feature.
Does buying cds of your own free will give you the right to steal $13 from the person you bought it from, just because you don't like their offer? This lawsuit is an insult to individual freedom, and your support of it is support of oppression and tyranny.
" Buying overpriced CDs for years ($1,306.19)"
/. sickens me. You're all worried about your own rights, but have no qualms about treading on the rights of those you don't like.
If it was overpriced, why did you buy it? Don't use govt. thugs to limit the freedoms of others just because you don't like the deal they offer. There is no such thing as a right to a good or service from another person. That is an endorsement of a form of slavery. The hypocrisy of
" I just read that a fedral judge told the RIAA to stop calling file sharing 'piracy'.
He said, it is something new and not yet defined, but it is not 'piracy'
I do not think I should have to pay some organazation every time i hear a tune.
I think making counterfit CD's or CHARGING for some one elses work IS piracy, but I really am not sure file sharing for free is...
And neither is the fedral judiciary
cheers"
What part of the term copyright infringement don't you understand.
"...by suing file-swappers for copyright infringement, and then offering to settle instead of pursuing a case where liability could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the RIAA is violating the same laws that are more typically applied to gangsters and organized crime."
The file swappers are guilty. The day you can't settle a case against someone who is guilty of a crime without being accused of a crime is the day I lose faith in the US as a country that upholds individual rights, and must conclude that majority opinion outweighs individual rights.
"Liars, damn liars, and statisticians" - Chrchill
Most of the issues refuted by these scientists are not understood in a deterministic sense. People have merely collected statistics and used them to predict trends. If you have a prediefined agenda, it's easy to look at statistics favorable to your goal, and ignore those that are not. This is, of course not scientific. This is not an ideal world, however, and someone who calls himself a scientist, may use statistics selectively to "prove" a concept as well. It's somewhat certain that the Bush administration is using these tactics, but that doesn't mean these scientists are not doing the same thing as well to push their political agendas.
"Laughable. Aboslutely ridiculous !! Can this not happen in closed source environments ? A disgruntled employee perhaps ? "
Yes this can happen in closed source environments, but it is much less likely. Most people wouldn't risk their jobs over such a stunt. In open source however, that may be the only motive for working on a project. If you take off the OSS blinders, it's pretty clear that motive for coding for open sourece is not as well understood as coding for a paycheck.
The issue isn't whether or not secrecy provides security. The issue is, what is the motive for writing the code. If a company is writing the code, unless you're a conspiracy theorist, the company is writing the code to sell and make money. Adding security flaws purposely would harm this primary interest if caught, and cause the customer to find someone else, if possible. Therefore, it is not in a company's interest to introduce security flaws into code. Now, with open source code, the motive of a particular programmer is less clear. He's not getting paid, so he either wants to write code so he can use it for himself, gain some leel of fame, etc. It would be easier, however, if the motive was to compromise the security of a software product, to join an open source project and sabotage it, than to try and gain employment at a software company and do the same thing.
"Producing ethanol requires nothing more than the sun, some corn, and bacteria. Yes, you'll notice that list includes an energy source, but not "oil"."
Assuming ethanol is a self-sustaining fuel source,, the resulting quantity of ethanol you produce must exceed the amount you use in producing it. I believe using current farming methods, you end up burning more ethanol than you produce. Therefore, as you suggest, cruder farming methods must be implemented, such as using animals instead of machines. This will drive up the cost of the ethanol, which will impact its effectiveness as an alternative fuel source.
Sorry, I meant cliche, not clique. Never post after drinking beer.
There is no need to worry. OSS has not been developed for selfless reasons like to benefit mankind. OSS software was developed by people who didn't like what was currently available for x86 platforms, and wanted something better for _their_ machines. The standard clique that you get what you pay for doesn't apply here, because the software wasn't developed for you. It was developed to be used by the authors. Now, the main motive to develop something, if you're not getting paid for it, is because you want it to work better than what is currently available. Therefore, don't worry that OSS is free as in beer. Because your access to it is a side affect of the development process, that give access to anyone who wants to improve the software.
This patent looks like a RISC processor patent, a couple of decades too late. It's a joke and will be struck down in court, if their is any sanity left in this world.
" Look, who has the clout in congress to get the patent mess cleaned up? Big companies. Thus, the fastest way to clean it up, have big companies get harassed with expensive lawsuits like this. A lot. If Intel, Microsoft, IBM, etc., waste enough money fighting stupid patents (note - I know nothing about the Patriot patents, they may or may not be stupid), then you can bet that things will change."
You forget that trial lawyers donate a lot of money to politicians, particularly Democrats. They have as much lobby power as big companies.
"It's not like it would be in their interests to foster competition -- competition would drive down prices, and thereby their cut."
Where did you learn economics. Competition is good for the music industry. They get their _fixed_ amount per song, but the overall price goes down for consumers as retailers compete for your download dollars. lower prices means you buy more songs with the same money, and the recording industry gets a greater percentage of that money. Competiton in retail is good for the recording industry.
"Is it time to figure out what to do when your Napster WMA files go unsupported after Napster 2 dies?"
Unless Roxio goes out of business completely, it is unlikely your WMA files will become unsupported. This sounds more like FUD from an Apple lover
Research in networking tends to occur under CS and EE programs depending on which layer of the problem you're interested in. EEs and physicists tend to focus more on the physical layer, i.e. how to tramsmit and receive the bits over a cable or fiber, while CS tends to be more interested in organization and protocols. Of course there is a lot of cross-over. Get a bs degree in one of these fields to learn the fundamentals. Then get a job or go to grad school to do actual work in the field.
"will this low-power radar system from the 1970's really help make driving safer?"
The reason this is being investigated now is that 24GHz and 77GHz systems are now feasible at a reasonable costs. Therefore, a phased-array antenna is small enough to put in a car bumper.
"I guess the obvious question, since using squares on a round wafer wastes a certain amount of silicon, is why squares? Why not build a hex grid? That would seem to maximize the usage of the available area."
Chips are generally rectangular since they are composed of rectangualar sub-blocks. These sub-blocks are rectangular in part because transitors are laid out as retangles. Also, automatic routing tools route on a manhattan grid. Also, wire bonding tools only deal with rectangualr shapes. Flip chip bond pads are typically laid out in rectangualr grids as well.
" Because Via, Apple, IBM, and others presumably use the same physics without problems?"
Via chips suck in terms of performance. Apple doesn't make chips. IBM uses half the transistors in a G5 compared to an opteron, and not surprisingly, use half the power. You can't beat physics. You can just make different design choices, depending on your priorities.
" Who bets this will be the new marketing feature to "power users"? Why don't we just stick with ATX? It's suited us fine for years, computers run too hot these days, maybe we ought to concentrate on stability and quality rather than quantity and TLA's..."
ATX sucks. There's no guaranteed airflow across the CPU, so you need to bolt a fan on the CPU heatsink.
Stallman believes in control, not freedom. The GPL is specifically designed to allow him to maintain control of any software he's written, while letting others work on it. Also it lets him have control of any software anyone else is written and has decided to place under his license. The fact that the GPL requires copyright in order to be legal says that what you're getting with GPL code has strings attached.
Amnesty International condemned Chinese dissidents, saying they were causing an increase in the human rights abuses by the Chinese government by making themselves targets for human rights abuse.
It's just the /. effect from the main post.
Linux is used extensively in China. Therefore the OSS community is most likely as guilty as Microsoft. They haven't made any effort to restrict software use by the Chinese govt. I'm all for boycotting China until they reform their system, but singling out Microsoft, who writes a generic operating system as well as tools to write software, is just empty rhetoric. You might as well add Intel, AMD, a dozen motherboard makers, Cisco, etc. to the list.