It's funny to see so many people griping about the 12 song capacity of the phone. Lets not forget all the cries of "why the hell would anyone want to buy an iPod when you can get something so much cheaper?" Then the iPod Mini came out and instead of griping about it competing against the product from another company, they cried "but who will buy this? Why not spend $50 more and get a full size iPod that holds so much more music?"
C'mon people. Have faith in Apple. They seem to know what they're doing (finally...we'll just forget about the Cube...). When your son or daughter (who probably helped put the iPod Mini on the 25 year (slight exaggeration) waiting list is at the wireless store comparing phones, are they going to be looking at the phones that have no ring-tone options, crappy ring-tone options, or the cool new phone that plays music from iTunes (considering they probably already own an iPod and iPod Mini).
I see a lot of "12 song only" complaints but I bet three months after release, this will be a wildly popular phone.
First, I'm surprised that there's only 18 comments on this so far. I would think there would be a whirlwind of discussion. Hmmm...
Next, I really wonder about counterfitting. I didn't see anything really that really stood out as being a supremely secure and safe solution to this. I dunno, maybe I'm just paranoid. Sometimes I think going digital would be safer and harder to counterfeit, other times I think such archaic ways (like the funky paper US money is printed on now) is safe too. Maybe a combination of a smart card and funky paper is the way to go.
The thing is: when was the last time any company did "go down" because of IE? I'm sure if a Fortune 100 company "went down" because of IE, we'd hear a lot more about it and more people would switch.
We don't really know though, do we? It's one of those hidden costs. Buggy and insecure software costs companies BILLIONS of dollars per year. You don't really read about it though because it's not as black-and-white as "CEO Mr. Smith just embezzled $15 million" or "with sales of only $53 this year, the company was forced to fold". Instead, we have the hidden costs of massive downtime, the tech support costs that are associated with fixing such bugs and security holes, the costs of data recovery, and so forth. Perhaps software such as this (it's not just IE, but all buggy software...IE just happens to be the one we're discussing now and is known to be buggy and insecure) actually IS the reason some companies die.
The main problem here isn't HOW secure you can make something, but IF you secure it or not. There are already many options available to make an 802.11b network nice and secure. Just do your homework and you can get it done.
The problem is, all these devices are shipped for easy setup. Easy setup means "security off". People set up their networks and quit there. No wonder everyone thinks WiFi is insecure. It's a network, just like a wired network. Go through the steps to secure the wireless network too fellas. If we can get people to turn on the security features right away, or do as Apple does and ship stuff with all ports closed and security functions on, then we'll be in a better place. Sure, it may make setting up your WiFi network a bit more cumbersome or time-consuming in the beginning, but that extra five minutes is well worth it.
We've been hearing about these vulnerabilities for a while. I for one have switched to using Firefox and Safari for my main browsers as soon as Safari was launched. I use IE only when I come across sites (why can't developers follow the standards that have been set by W3C?) that were coded specifically for IE and don't render properly in the other browsers. Many people in my circle, and in the Slashdot circle have been doing the same thing. But what about the masses? What about the average Joe, the average corporate user? I don't think these people understand the severity of the situation here or that they even care. Hence, we still have roughly 90% of the users out there just moving along with these secure-as-swiss-cheese browsers and not moving to more secure solutions. What major industry, company, government agency, etc has to go down in a giant ball of fire to get people to do something about this and not continue to use a sub-standard product?
Just imagine if cars were sold with this many problems. Or home security systems...
Yeah...monopolies are great! See...you can um, build a browser that doesn't really follow any w3c standards. But since you're a monopoly, it doesn't matter and it forces everyone to code for your browser instead of by the standards. And then...you don't have to worry about that pesky competition and the innovation that is created by competition. That silly innovation could lead to very secure browsers all around.
Oh wait...now it's all tumbling down. Who would have guessed being a monopoly and then not even following any standards but marching to the beat of your own drum would end up hurting you?
Yet...I still wonder how this will affect Microsoft. Do they even care?
You know what really drives me crazy? Watching how Apple's stock (aapl) moves on news. It's down 4% before trading because of the news the iMac is being delayed. Yet when is the last time you've seen the stock go UP that much on news? The best you'll see is 1.5% or so. Very frustrating if you're an investor...watching it inch up...slooooooowly...up...inch...up...BAM! Huge drop.
I know I know! Just imagine, if they aren't saving the new iMac for Steve's "Oh, and one more thing" end-of-keynote surprise, I wonder what kind of munty goodness he'll unveil now. The wait is killing me!
You gotta love this news. This comes out while Dell has their "trade in your old iPod for $100 off one of our mp3 player" deals. Sony announced their "we have a media player that isn't exactly mp3 but we plan on it killing the iPod" player. Microsoft no doubt wants to have their new device (whenever it comes out) unseat the iPod. It's a war out there, and Apple (who already holds the lead in market share of players) is upping the ante once again and rubbing everyone's nose in the fact they're about to have 100 million download. Wow...just wow. I wonder what the mp3 player and music download site scene will look like a year from now.
'We want to help drive further awareness of the products we have available and...the plusses we have to offer,' said Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn. Thus the iPod offer 'is a way to call out what separates us from the understood leader in this particular market.'
That's kinda funny. First they are nice and vague saying "the plusses we have to offer", but then they go on saying "what separates us from the understood leader". So...to paraphrase..."trade in your superior product for our inferior one. thank you"
I'll admit...it looks kinda cool, but I still think Apple has it correct with the simple design. It just works...plain and simple. And have you ever been driving down the street and have to try to find songs, adjust volume, etc? I myself like the simpler designs. That's it...no long diatribe about why one design is better than another...I just think simplicity is good and it appears that many other mp3 player users (ie, iPod owners) think so too.
The money is the brand, and everything else is second. While Apple may have a current spike in popularity, Sony is and always has been THE name for portable music. As soon as this hits the shelves, it's going to change the world for Apple, and for the worse.
I may have to disagree with you on this. The Sony MiniDisc didn't fare so well even though it was a Sony product. Or Beta. Hell...Betamax was even BETTER than VHS, but that didn't stick. The iPod supports the major music standard right now and it may be quite a fight for Sony to try to say "hey everyone, try this new one even though it won't work with..."
I read the biggest mishmash ever. "Electronic House" (which is way cool), eWeek, CIO, Maxim, FHM (we need our fix of hot bodies, yah?), Information Week, Muscle and Fitness, etc
Why? Because it's really damn cool to see the crossover of my geekiness. Oh look, an iPod in Muscle and Fitness. Or a cool funky little product in Maxim. Or CIO or Businessweek talking about how the latest server can do this. Or how the same server that gets a scaldingly bad review in PC mags will get good reviews in a business-based magazine focused more on business ROI than how fast it computes A and B.
NT Migration Tool
Tiger Server makes it a snap to upgrade your aging Windows NT network to a Mac OS X server. The new NT Migration Tool automatically extracts all of your user and group account information from an existing Windows Primary Domain Controller and moves it into Open Directory. Tiger Server can then take over as your Primary Domain Controller for your Windows clients and even host your Windows users' home directories, group folders, roaming profiles and shared printers.
So they're making it easier for NT users to migrate their network over to Tiger when it is released. And now this Rendesvous news. Sounds like Apple is quite serious about wanting to be a player in the enterprise server market if you ask me.
Wowzers. You could be correct. They just said "hey, check out AirPort Express. You can play iTunes all over the house". And then the dandy new giant displays...not bad for watching TV and such on, eh? And here's a funky little thought...the little widgets that will be released with Tiger. Sure, a nice little calculator here, an iTunes controller there...hey wait...it can control iTunes, maybe a controller for a TV tuner...and your TiVo...and...
Speculation...sure. But we're talking about Steve Jobs and his "digital hub" idea that he announced YEARS ago which finally seems to be coming to fruition. He's getting developers excited about the OS with the widgets, with Rendezvous, etc...lookout MacWorld!
Slashdotters don't even RTFA. And you expect us to RTFB? Egads!
This is an odd position to be in. We all want the most out of our toys. Most of us generally play with our toys to figure them out. And we also search online or ask our geeky friends how we can get around this and that. Then again, a book that tells us all...hmmm...
Actually, NetTrek was quite popular in the computer clusters. It was in the dorms that we played the Mac games (Marathon, Maelstrom, Macfoxes). You'd hear people screaming up and down the halls "you bastard!" from the networked Marathon games, or "use the Jack Daniel's bottle!" if you were playing Macfoxes.
There were three games that we played a lot of at Carnegie Mellon in my time. Maelstrom (ie, Asteroids), Marathon, and Macfoxes. If only they would port Macfoxes over to OS X.
Those are some pretty impressive numbers indeed. In one week iTMS is supposedly the most popular music service in Europe now. Here's my question: since there were already other services up and running in Europe, were the European users waiting for iTMS to arrive and then just went nuts when it opened? Or did everyone switch from the other services? Why the huge numbers, which are blowing the other services out of the water, when others were available?
If I recall correctly, I thought SDI back in the 80s was going to use rail guns to shoot down the missles. I thought that was the first time I ever heard anything about that, then they just seemed to drop off the face of the earth. I never understood why development didn't continue.
I wish it was easier to say "DMCA protects artists" or "it's just wrong". There will always be people who abuse the system, no matter what it is. I remember back in the day of dual cassete decks. Borrow a tape, copy it, and you've got a copy. I admit I made a couple copies from friend's tapes. But for me, it was mostly buying albums, making a copy on tape, and there ya go. It didn't keep me from buying albums (as the RIAA claims all this MP3 trading and CD burning is doing).
The point being, if someone really wants to make a copy of something, they will. I believe in protecting the artists, but when you infringe on people's rights to use their own material (ie, purchased CDs, etc) for their own use (make a copy for the car, etc), it's going to piss a lot of people off.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I think most people would simply take their CD, make a copy (if they make one at all), and be done with it. You'll have your bad seeds that pirate the crap out of things and they'll get all the attention from the RIAA press, but let the masses be.
The Vivato panels that are being used are pretty robust. They're not your $49 Linksys that you buy at Circuit City. These Vivatos are capable of blasting a few blocks with the desired wireless bandwidth. It's actually pretty impressive. So yeah, to answer your question, they won't be putting up a bazillion access points. Just a few well-placed panels that can handle tremendous usage.
Like it or not, WiFi is here to stay
on
Spokane Gets Unwired
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· Score: 5, Insightful
We've heard many people ranting on about how insecure WiFi is, how it will never catch on, and so forth. Then you hear people talk about how great it is. Like it or not, it's here to stay. I like to think of WiFi as the new "wild west", the dotcom of the new generation. Just like the earlier dotcoms, companies are scrambing to make their mark. Some will fail miserably, some will grow to be giants, and some will be successful and be eaten (or destroyed) by the giants. It's still early in the game and it's hard to tell who will win out. Cometa is gone and they had some big backers. Maybe they just didn't have the proper management or revenue model. It'll be interesting to see how this all turns out.
Don't know about you, but I think 3 minutes of weightlessness in a super-efficient aircraft making sub-orbital flight, done by private individuals is not dead-end. The first (few) that accomplish this feat will likely prove to NASA and the ESA that single gigantic booster rockets are neither efficient nor as re-usable as we were all lead to believe.
Ditto my brother. I think the things that can be learned from this will be beyond comprehension. It will have researchers around the world going "wow, I never thought of using this material or that kind of system." And proving to the world, the world's space agencies, etc that this can all be done for less than $4.5 billion a flight (imaginary number, don't quote me or anything) will be a bonus too. It may have some agencies starting programs, have other programs looking for ways to remain competitive, etc.
"Dead-end" is such a harsh term. This could be the beginning of a "private space race" with top universities around the nation (Go Carnegie Mellon!) going to space and doing their own research and not having to rely on NASA. Think of what we could learn...and how quickly we could learn all this. Good googly...now I'm getting all excited...
It's not as baffling as it sounds. Setting up a WiFi hotspot doesn't cost that much these days. A company that provides free wireless can obviously have an advantage over similar companies that don't have free WiFi when catering to patrons that are looking for WiFi. Just as some travelers may want to stay at a hotel that has a free pool as opposed to a hotel without one, a hotel (or coffee shop, or...) can draw more people simply because they have free WiFi. So for minimal cost, you can fill that room in your hotel or have more people stopping at your restaurant. Profit!
Slashdot Mirror
It's funny to see so many people griping about the 12 song capacity of the phone. Lets not forget all the cries of "why the hell would anyone want to buy an iPod when you can get something so much cheaper?" Then the iPod Mini came out and instead of griping about it competing against the product from another company, they cried "but who will buy this? Why not spend $50 more and get a full size iPod that holds so much more music?"
C'mon people. Have faith in Apple. They seem to know what they're doing (finally...we'll just forget about the Cube...). When your son or daughter (who probably helped put the iPod Mini on the 25 year (slight exaggeration) waiting list is at the wireless store comparing phones, are they going to be looking at the phones that have no ring-tone options, crappy ring-tone options, or the cool new phone that plays music from iTunes (considering they probably already own an iPod and iPod Mini).
I see a lot of "12 song only" complaints but I bet three months after release, this will be a wildly popular phone.
First, I'm surprised that there's only 18 comments on this so far. I would think there would be a whirlwind of discussion. Hmmm...
Next, I really wonder about counterfitting. I didn't see anything really that really stood out as being a supremely secure and safe solution to this. I dunno, maybe I'm just paranoid. Sometimes I think going digital would be safer and harder to counterfeit, other times I think such archaic ways (like the funky paper US money is printed on now) is safe too. Maybe a combination of a smart card and funky paper is the way to go.
The thing is: when was the last time any company did "go down" because of IE? I'm sure if a Fortune 100 company "went down" because of IE, we'd hear a lot more about it and more people would switch.
We don't really know though, do we? It's one of those hidden costs. Buggy and insecure software costs companies BILLIONS of dollars per year. You don't really read about it though because it's not as black-and-white as "CEO Mr. Smith just embezzled $15 million" or "with sales of only $53 this year, the company was forced to fold". Instead, we have the hidden costs of massive downtime, the tech support costs that are associated with fixing such bugs and security holes, the costs of data recovery, and so forth. Perhaps software such as this (it's not just IE, but all buggy software...IE just happens to be the one we're discussing now and is known to be buggy and insecure) actually IS the reason some companies die.
The main problem here isn't HOW secure you can make something, but IF you secure it or not. There are already many options available to make an 802.11b network nice and secure. Just do your homework and you can get it done.
The problem is, all these devices are shipped for easy setup. Easy setup means "security off". People set up their networks and quit there. No wonder everyone thinks WiFi is insecure. It's a network, just like a wired network. Go through the steps to secure the wireless network too fellas. If we can get people to turn on the security features right away, or do as Apple does and ship stuff with all ports closed and security functions on, then we'll be in a better place. Sure, it may make setting up your WiFi network a bit more cumbersome or time-consuming in the beginning, but that extra five minutes is well worth it.
We've been hearing about these vulnerabilities for a while. I for one have switched to using Firefox and Safari for my main browsers as soon as Safari was launched. I use IE only when I come across sites (why can't developers follow the standards that have been set by W3C?) that were coded specifically for IE and don't render properly in the other browsers. Many people in my circle, and in the Slashdot circle have been doing the same thing. But what about the masses? What about the average Joe, the average corporate user? I don't think these people understand the severity of the situation here or that they even care. Hence, we still have roughly 90% of the users out there just moving along with these secure-as-swiss-cheese browsers and not moving to more secure solutions. What major industry, company, government agency, etc has to go down in a giant ball of fire to get people to do something about this and not continue to use a sub-standard product?
Just imagine if cars were sold with this many problems. Or home security systems...
Yeah...monopolies are great! See...you can um, build a browser that doesn't really follow any w3c standards. But since you're a monopoly, it doesn't matter and it forces everyone to code for your browser instead of by the standards. And then...you don't have to worry about that pesky competition and the innovation that is created by competition. That silly innovation could lead to very secure browsers all around.
Oh wait...now it's all tumbling down. Who would have guessed being a monopoly and then not even following any standards but marching to the beat of your own drum would end up hurting you?
Yet...I still wonder how this will affect Microsoft. Do they even care?
You know what really drives me crazy? Watching how Apple's stock (aapl) moves on news. It's down 4% before trading because of the news the iMac is being delayed. Yet when is the last time you've seen the stock go UP that much on news? The best you'll see is 1.5% or so. Very frustrating if you're an investor...watching it inch up...slooooooowly...up...inch...up...BAM! Huge drop.
I know I know! Just imagine, if they aren't saving the new iMac for Steve's "Oh, and one more thing" end-of-keynote surprise, I wonder what kind of munty goodness he'll unveil now. The wait is killing me!
You gotta love this news. This comes out while Dell has their "trade in your old iPod for $100 off one of our mp3 player" deals. Sony announced their "we have a media player that isn't exactly mp3 but we plan on it killing the iPod" player. Microsoft no doubt wants to have their new device (whenever it comes out) unseat the iPod. It's a war out there, and Apple (who already holds the lead in market share of players) is upping the ante once again and rubbing everyone's nose in the fact they're about to have 100 million download. Wow...just wow. I wonder what the mp3 player and music download site scene will look like a year from now.
'We want to help drive further awareness of the products we have available and...the plusses we have to offer,' said Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn. Thus the iPod offer 'is a way to call out what separates us from the understood leader in this particular market.'
That's kinda funny. First they are nice and vague saying "the plusses we have to offer", but then they go on saying "what separates us from the understood leader". So...to paraphrase..."trade in your superior product for our inferior one. thank you"
I'll admit...it looks kinda cool, but I still think Apple has it correct with the simple design. It just works...plain and simple. And have you ever been driving down the street and have to try to find songs, adjust volume, etc? I myself like the simpler designs. That's it...no long diatribe about why one design is better than another...I just think simplicity is good and it appears that many other mp3 player users (ie, iPod owners) think so too.
The money is the brand, and everything else is second. While Apple may have a current spike in popularity, Sony is and always has been THE name for portable music. As soon as this hits the shelves, it's going to change the world for Apple, and for the worse.
I may have to disagree with you on this. The Sony MiniDisc didn't fare so well even though it was a Sony product. Or Beta. Hell...Betamax was even BETTER than VHS, but that didn't stick. The iPod supports the major music standard right now and it may be quite a fight for Sony to try to say "hey everyone, try this new one even though it won't work with..."
I read the biggest mishmash ever. "Electronic House" (which is way cool), eWeek, CIO, Maxim, FHM (we need our fix of hot bodies, yah?), Information Week, Muscle and Fitness, etc
Why? Because it's really damn cool to see the crossover of my geekiness. Oh look, an iPod in Muscle and Fitness. Or a cool funky little product in Maxim. Or CIO or Businessweek talking about how the latest server can do this. Or how the same server that gets a scaldingly bad review in PC mags will get good reviews in a business-based magazine focused more on business ROI than how fast it computes A and B.
And this from Apple's website:
NT Migration Tool Tiger Server makes it a snap to upgrade your aging Windows NT network to a Mac OS X server. The new NT Migration Tool automatically extracts all of your user and group account information from an existing Windows Primary Domain Controller and moves it into Open Directory. Tiger Server can then take over as your Primary Domain Controller for your Windows clients and even host your Windows users' home directories, group folders, roaming profiles and shared printers.
So they're making it easier for NT users to migrate their network over to Tiger when it is released. And now this Rendesvous news. Sounds like Apple is quite serious about wanting to be a player in the enterprise server market if you ask me.
Wowzers. You could be correct. They just said "hey, check out AirPort Express. You can play iTunes all over the house". And then the dandy new giant displays...not bad for watching TV and such on, eh? And here's a funky little thought...the little widgets that will be released with Tiger. Sure, a nice little calculator here, an iTunes controller there...hey wait...it can control iTunes, maybe a controller for a TV tuner...and your TiVo...and...
Speculation...sure. But we're talking about Steve Jobs and his "digital hub" idea that he announced YEARS ago which finally seems to be coming to fruition. He's getting developers excited about the OS with the widgets, with Rendezvous, etc...lookout MacWorld!
Slashdotters don't even RTFA. And you expect us to RTFB? Egads!
This is an odd position to be in. We all want the most out of our toys. Most of us generally play with our toys to figure them out. And we also search online or ask our geeky friends how we can get around this and that. Then again, a book that tells us all...hmmm...
Do we RTFB or not? Hm.
Actually, NetTrek was quite popular in the computer clusters. It was in the dorms that we played the Mac games (Marathon, Maelstrom, Macfoxes). You'd hear people screaming up and down the halls "you bastard!" from the networked Marathon games, or "use the Jack Daniel's bottle!" if you were playing Macfoxes.
Macfoxes.
There were three games that we played a lot of at Carnegie Mellon in my time. Maelstrom (ie, Asteroids), Marathon, and Macfoxes. If only they would port Macfoxes over to OS X.
Those are some pretty impressive numbers indeed. In one week iTMS is supposedly the most popular music service in Europe now. Here's my question: since there were already other services up and running in Europe, were the European users waiting for iTMS to arrive and then just went nuts when it opened? Or did everyone switch from the other services? Why the huge numbers, which are blowing the other services out of the water, when others were available?
If I recall correctly, I thought SDI back in the 80s was going to use rail guns to shoot down the missles. I thought that was the first time I ever heard anything about that, then they just seemed to drop off the face of the earth. I never understood why development didn't continue.
I wish it was easier to say "DMCA protects artists" or "it's just wrong". There will always be people who abuse the system, no matter what it is. I remember back in the day of dual cassete decks. Borrow a tape, copy it, and you've got a copy. I admit I made a couple copies from friend's tapes. But for me, it was mostly buying albums, making a copy on tape, and there ya go. It didn't keep me from buying albums (as the RIAA claims all this MP3 trading and CD burning is doing).
The point being, if someone really wants to make a copy of something, they will. I believe in protecting the artists, but when you infringe on people's rights to use their own material (ie, purchased CDs, etc) for their own use (make a copy for the car, etc), it's going to piss a lot of people off.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I think most people would simply take their CD, make a copy (if they make one at all), and be done with it. You'll have your bad seeds that pirate the crap out of things and they'll get all the attention from the RIAA press, but let the masses be.
The Vivato panels that are being used are pretty robust. They're not your $49 Linksys that you buy at Circuit City. These Vivatos are capable of blasting a few blocks with the desired wireless bandwidth. It's actually pretty impressive. So yeah, to answer your question, they won't be putting up a bazillion access points. Just a few well-placed panels that can handle tremendous usage.
We've heard many people ranting on about how insecure WiFi is, how it will never catch on, and so forth. Then you hear people talk about how great it is. Like it or not, it's here to stay. I like to think of WiFi as the new "wild west", the dotcom of the new generation. Just like the earlier dotcoms, companies are scrambing to make their mark. Some will fail miserably, some will grow to be giants, and some will be successful and be eaten (or destroyed) by the giants. It's still early in the game and it's hard to tell who will win out. Cometa is gone and they had some big backers. Maybe they just didn't have the proper management or revenue model. It'll be interesting to see how this all turns out.
Don't know about you, but I think 3 minutes of weightlessness in a super-efficient aircraft making sub-orbital flight, done by private individuals is not dead-end. The first (few) that accomplish this feat will likely prove to NASA and the ESA that single gigantic booster rockets are neither efficient nor as re-usable as we were all lead to believe.
Ditto my brother. I think the things that can be learned from this will be beyond comprehension. It will have researchers around the world going "wow, I never thought of using this material or that kind of system." And proving to the world, the world's space agencies, etc that this can all be done for less than $4.5 billion a flight (imaginary number, don't quote me or anything) will be a bonus too. It may have some agencies starting programs, have other programs looking for ways to remain competitive, etc.
"Dead-end" is such a harsh term. This could be the beginning of a "private space race" with top universities around the nation (Go Carnegie Mellon!) going to space and doing their own research and not having to rely on NASA. Think of what we could learn...and how quickly we could learn all this. Good googly...now I'm getting all excited...
It's not as baffling as it sounds. Setting up a WiFi hotspot doesn't cost that much these days. A company that provides free wireless can obviously have an advantage over similar companies that don't have free WiFi when catering to patrons that are looking for WiFi. Just as some travelers may want to stay at a hotel that has a free pool as opposed to a hotel without one, a hotel (or coffee shop, or...) can draw more people simply because they have free WiFi. So for minimal cost, you can fill that room in your hotel or have more people stopping at your restaurant. Profit!