Most of the tutorials on the web show the wrong way of doing things. Want to connect to MySQL? The tutorials say to use MySQL_ functions, and the really good ones tell you to use mysql_real_escape_string to ensure that don't subject yourself to sql injection attacks. Most of them leave this out. The best way to actually do it is to use PDO with prepared queries (not talking stored procedures here) so that you don't have to remember to escape your strings, and plus it speeds up queries a little. You also get the added advantage of not being tied to MySQL. Because of the terrible quality of most of the tutorials, most PHP programmers never learn the right way of doing anything, and when they do, they feel like going back and redoing all their work, because the way they did it before was so poor. I've done it myself a few times.
You're probably going to get modded into oblivion for that, but I find that it has a lot of truth. Compared other web development technologies like.Net and Java, PHP seems really unorganized and difficult to program in. Everything under the same namespace is probably the most annoying part. Next is that fact that there's about 7 different ways to do everything. I have yet to find a good IDE that does autocompletion (intellisense) for your coding. And with an API as disorganized as PHP's, I would very much appreciate it.
Well, it does say a specific item, but in the case of the Wii Virtual console, you could argue that the specific item they are buying is Wii Points. What they do with those points later is irrelevant. iTunes ties the card you buy directly to a real monetary value, so that would probable be a harder argument. Although, it does sound a lot like Sony's recent idea of how to sell music online.
After reading that (the abstract at least), I would say they patented the entire iTunes and Nintendo virtual console. At least the part where you buy the card at a retail store, in order to make a purchase at the online store.
I'm sure we can all think of a thousand things that qualify as prior art. Stores have been doing this for ages. Go to Shopper's Drug Mart, and spend $50 on seniors day, and get a free Swiss Chalet Dinner (only valid to seniors). I don't think the patent office does any real research into whether or not these patents have prior art. They probably just pass them, knowing full well that it will be decided in court.
I call BS. There's a lot they could do to increase security for banking. How about actual 2-factor authentication. Something you know, and, something you know is not 2 factor authentication. Try something you know (your password), and something you have (those little RSA tokens). If they implemented those RSA tokens that spit out a new number every 60 seconds, they could stop almost all the phishing scams. Yet they refuse to do anything to actually even offer the more secure option. I'd pay for the RSA token out of my own pocket if it meant my money would be more secure.
Yes, but to decrypt it, it has to have the key in memory. So if your open source program has access to the key in memory, you could just change the source to display it on the screen. If you can't change the source, there's no point in calling it open source.
I wish they would bring back vanilla coke. That stuff was awesome. Best alternative now is mixing vanilla vodka with Coke. However that isn't the best idea in all situations.
What if you use those special tops that allow you to pump air back into the bottle? I remember we had them as kids, although I can't recall how well they worked. In that case, you're putting extra air in the bottle. I think the logic is that the extra pressure is supposed to keep the CO2 in the pop.
Yeah, but you can accomplish the same things with a Java applet or using flash. Why the need to use ActiveX which has been proven insecure over and over again, and only works under IE?
Haven't they gotten rid of activeX(ploit) by now? I can't recall the last time I saw it being used for anything useful. It's nice that IE7 is somewhat standards compliant, and that IE8 will be even moreso, but if they can't fix/remove activeX, I think that they will really lose a lot more users to the more secure browsers.
What else can you store on a disc other than data? Multimedia is stored as data. Everything is data. I'm not sure if you just didn't explain yourself right, but I'm not sure how any of the layers could be used for anything other than storing data.
It's also more expensive, and doesn't really result in higher quality video or sound though. So to the end user, they get the same experience, but it costs more.
Actually, the latest 3 layer HD-DVD had 51 GB, which is just ahead of BluRay. I'm not sure if any players ever supported 3-layer, but from what I know, they actually had it working. Both formats had pluses and minuses. I don't think either player had a really compelling reason to buy one over the other.
Who really cares. At least the war is over. I was tired of the format war. Neither format really had a real reason to choose one over the other. They were both pretty evenly matched. I just hope that they don't try to kill off DVD now. I'm perfectly happy with DVD, and don't feel like spending more money just to watch movies.
What's with all the 2.4/5.6 GHz cordless phones. I find I get better reception with the 900 MHz cordless phones (which are getting increasingly hard to find). If what you say is true about higher frequencies being unable to penetrate walls, then why would they keep on moving to higher frequencies?
Yes, because "Gyro" has no alternate pronunciations. I've hear Gyro (in reference to the sandwich) be pronounced in no less than 4 ways. Including Jiro, Yiro, Giro (with a hard G), and Hiro (no kidding).
Slashdot Mirror
Most of the tutorials on the web show the wrong way of doing things. Want to connect to MySQL? The tutorials say to use MySQL_ functions, and the really good ones tell you to use mysql_real_escape_string to ensure that don't subject yourself to sql injection attacks. Most of them leave this out. The best way to actually do it is to use PDO with prepared queries (not talking stored procedures here) so that you don't have to remember to escape your strings, and plus it speeds up queries a little. You also get the added advantage of not being tied to MySQL. Because of the terrible quality of most of the tutorials, most PHP programmers never learn the right way of doing anything, and when they do, they feel like going back and redoing all their work, because the way they did it before was so poor. I've done it myself a few times.
You're probably going to get modded into oblivion for that, but I find that it has a lot of truth. Compared other web development technologies like .Net and Java, PHP seems really unorganized and difficult to program in. Everything under the same namespace is probably the most annoying part. Next is that fact that there's about 7 different ways to do everything. I have yet to find a good IDE that does autocompletion (intellisense) for your coding. And with an API as disorganized as PHP's, I would very much appreciate it.
Well, it does say a specific item, but in the case of the Wii Virtual console, you could argue that the specific item they are buying is Wii Points. What they do with those points later is irrelevant. iTunes ties the card you buy directly to a real monetary value, so that would probable be a harder argument. Although, it does sound a lot like Sony's recent idea of how to sell music online.
After reading that (the abstract at least), I would say they patented the entire iTunes and Nintendo virtual console. At least the part where you buy the card at a retail store, in order to make a purchase at the online store.
I'm sure we can all think of a thousand things that qualify as prior art. Stores have been doing this for ages. Go to Shopper's Drug Mart, and spend $50 on seniors day, and get a free Swiss Chalet Dinner (only valid to seniors). I don't think the patent office does any real research into whether or not these patents have prior art. They probably just pass them, knowing full well that it will be decided in court.
Isn't ETrade just for trading? Do they have standard chequing accounts. Do any North American banks offer RSA SecurID for chequing accounts?
I call BS. There's a lot they could do to increase security for banking. How about actual 2-factor authentication. Something you know, and, something you know is not 2 factor authentication. Try something you know (your password), and something you have (those little RSA tokens). If they implemented those RSA tokens that spit out a new number every 60 seconds, they could stop almost all the phishing scams. Yet they refuse to do anything to actually even offer the more secure option. I'd pay for the RSA token out of my own pocket if it meant my money would be more secure.
Yes, but to decrypt it, it has to have the key in memory. So if your open source program has access to the key in memory, you could just change the source to display it on the screen. If you can't change the source, there's no point in calling it open source.
You should have informed your GF. I informed mine. However, she says she doesn't care, and still continues to buy iTunes. Can't say I didn't try.
I wish they would bring back vanilla coke. That stuff was awesome. Best alternative now is mixing vanilla vodka with Coke. However that isn't the best idea in all situations.
What if you use those special tops that allow you to pump air back into the bottle? I remember we had them as kids, although I can't recall how well they worked. In that case, you're putting extra air in the bottle. I think the logic is that the extra pressure is supposed to keep the CO2 in the pop.
Yeah, but you can accomplish the same things with a Java applet or using flash. Why the need to use ActiveX which has been proven insecure over and over again, and only works under IE?
Haven't they gotten rid of activeX(ploit) by now? I can't recall the last time I saw it being used for anything useful. It's nice that IE7 is somewhat standards compliant, and that IE8 will be even moreso, but if they can't fix/remove activeX, I think that they will really lose a lot more users to the more secure browsers.
You can't combine open source and DRM. DRM relies on a secret. Once it's open source, and you can change the code, DRM is useless.
What else can you store on a disc other than data? Multimedia is stored as data. Everything is data. I'm not sure if you just didn't explain yourself right, but I'm not sure how any of the layers could be used for anything other than storing data.
It's also more expensive, and doesn't really result in higher quality video or sound though. So to the end user, they get the same experience, but it costs more.
With the format war over, that may just be enough to make the PS3 really attractive. It worked for the PS2.
They knew it was risk when they bought the player. Even without buyout, it was inevitable that one of the formats would lose out.
Actually, the latest 3 layer HD-DVD had 51 GB, which is just ahead of BluRay. I'm not sure if any players ever supported 3-layer, but from what I know, they actually had it working. Both formats had pluses and minuses. I don't think either player had a really compelling reason to buy one over the other.
Who really cares. At least the war is over. I was tired of the format war. Neither format really had a real reason to choose one over the other. They were both pretty evenly matched. I just hope that they don't try to kill off DVD now. I'm perfectly happy with DVD, and don't feel like spending more money just to watch movies.
Apparently they weren't expensive enough.
What's with all the 2.4/5.6 GHz cordless phones. I find I get better reception with the 900 MHz cordless phones (which are getting increasingly hard to find). If what you say is true about higher frequencies being unable to penetrate walls, then why would they keep on moving to higher frequencies?
Oh, they can have an even larger block. It just won't mean much, because it's be such a small slice of the pie.
All the 10 year old backbone routers which would cost millions (or more) to replace.
Yes, because "Gyro" has no alternate pronunciations. I've hear Gyro (in reference to the sandwich) be pronounced in no less than 4 ways. Including Jiro, Yiro, Giro (with a hard G), and Hiro (no kidding).