Actually, that is exactly how fire insurance used to work. They would give you a plaque to put on your house and if it was on fire, then the local fire company would put it out for you. No plaque, no help.
This is a new strategy on the part of Microsoft to defeat open source software. First they establish a premium/nonpremium distinction. Next they make Windows basic version free. Then once everyone has Windows installed, they charge for updates and security features and rigorously pursue their intellectual property forcing the police to raid the homes of anyone caught installing third party updates.
It's great if you want to type while walking or riding a bike or something.
Seriously though, when I have my computer display sunglasses and I'm walking down the street, how do search for porn without having to break out a keyboard? We'll have to get rid of the keyboard sooner or later.
Have you been looking for you lighter the past ten minutes? Or are you just on Slashdot again?
One day when I was reading about some possible candidates of stars that were likely to develop earth like planets, I thought it would be cool to send the spark of life their way so that it could possibly spread throughout the universe. I was thinking about what kind of genetic capabilities we would have in 1000 years if we keep up the pace we're at right now.
I think we would probably be able to program organisms from scratch by that point, so what kind of organisms would you send to establish life on a distant planet? It would probably start off small, or virus like, but would need to be preprogrammed to evolve into something more complex. Since the evolution would be random, you really couldn't determine the outcome after billions of years.
Then it occurred to me that if we were going to go through all this trouble for a slight chance that these packets of life might just thrive and grow some brains, we would probably put some kind message in there. Then it occurred to me that we could possibly be the product of such a plan.
It is possible that the structure of the genetic code itself is an artificial creation of an advanced race. Maybe we should examine the fossil record to look for patterns in the earliest life on the planet. Maybe humans got an evolutionary speed pass to intelligence. Who knows? At any rate understanding the underlying structure of genetic programming would be necessary for understanding the rational behind choosing one structure over another. Just like programmers develop an understanding of the language they program in, perhaps we'll see some calculated order to it all.
"...is because the corporate market was and is resistant to buying proprietary hardware..."
OK, so the article argues that if Apple had licensed their OS then they wouldn't have necessarily made more money, because it's the model their businesses customers would have preferred and...er...umm...stuff.
I think the author of this article confuses the (Apple licensing the ability to rip off their UI to Microsoft was a mistake) argument with the idea that Mac OS should have been running on Intel hardware.
Should Apple tried to put their OS on all hardware? - No.
Should Apple have let Microsoft rip of their UI in exchange for having some office applications written on their OS? - No.
"Specifications for the ìcards are being set by members of the Open Mobile Internet Alliance (OMIA), an initiative established by the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (TEEMA) and the Taipei Computer Association (TCA)."
You are getting ahead of yourself here. Specifications haven't even been set. They are working on the ideas, the products haven't even begun to be designed or manufactured yet.
It's like saying my new computer will be able to recognize my speech and talk to me like a human being would, as soon as someone writes the software to make that happen.
You should check out the Acer Ferrari 3200.
I know, you're probabbly thinking Acer? WTF?
But it's just under $2000 and has everything your looking for. Check out these specs:
Operating System:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Processor:
Low-power mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 64 processor 2800+
Memory:
512MB (256/256)
Hard drive:
80GB
Optical drive:
(Slot loading)Super Multi Write Plus (DVD -RW, +RW, -RAM)
Display:
15.0" TFT SXGA+ (1400 x 1050)
Graphics:
ATI® MOBILITY(TM) RADEON(TM) 9700, 128MB DDR
Connectivity:
802.11b/g WLAN, Bluetooth(TM), Gigabit LAN, V.92 modem, 4-in-1 card reader, infrared, 4 USB 2.0 ports and Firewire.
This is an intermediate to mid-level, full-time position. In addition to the programming skills mentioned below, the candidate should have strong database design skills and some clue about Linux system administration and networking.Ability to multi-task; Can-do attitude; Organized; Detail-oriented; Independent, yet team-player; Flexible; Open to new ideas and ways of doing business. Monitor, track and report on progress. Salary is dependent on experience and qualifications. We offer a competitive salary, medical, paid vacation, 401K and more.
http://www.computerwork.com/cfm-bin/Jobs/Los-Ang el es/1271123.cfm
If you don't need to impress your artist friends with a cool aluminum case for your RAID array, you could always get an external RAID subsystem from Promise Tech. It costs around $3500 for the 15 drive model, but there are 8 drive($2200) and 4($1200) drive versions available too.
You would need to use a SCSI adapter on your computer, but if using RAID 5, would loose only 1 drive to redundancy. It can rebuild lost drives on the fly and has redundant and hot swappable power supplies and fans. In a couple of years as the drives become less expensive, you can replace them for more capacity. Right now a 3.5TB system would run around $7000 and would survive drive failure without data loss.
It would be interesting to see some trusted repair networks emerge which deliver fixes to unpatched vulnerabilities for users who want them, similar to those who maintain spammer lists. The patches could be delivered over a trusted P2P network which has as its only purpose to deliver these files and of course would use hashes to verify the integrity of the files it delivered. That way, the white worms would only travel where they are wanted and could be tested a lot better than by the lone hacker.
The only problem is that the users who would most benefit from this type of service aren't the type to be proactive in their fight against viruses and would probably never use something like that unless it came preloaded and turned on by default and Micro$oft would never let that happen.
Perhaps the ISPs need to take more responsibility for identifying viral network activity and block it, while notifying the end users. Something like when they go to connect to the internet, they get a page notifying them that their machine is infected and they need to call a certain phone number before they are let back on.
I was just recently thinking of posting to ask Slashdot with the following question.
I have a friend who exhibits signs of paranoid schizophrenia. He is receiving disability and living in a section 8 housing unit.
I'm not sure if he is actually schizophrenic. He has been living in houses for mentally disabled people or juvenile offenders, since he was 13 or 14(when his parents divorced). I think anyone would have some kind of F'd up understanding of the world from that kind of upbringing.
Anyway, he is paranoid somewhat, thinks people are always talking about him, and he has some weird beliefs. He doesn't seem to hear any voices or think people can read his mind though.
The question is: Is it safe for him to go on the internet unsupervised?
He doesn't have a job or any hobbies, so he really needs something to do. He doesn't have any friends besides me and his brother and we can only see him once a week at most.
Some Psychologist declared him financially responsible enough to receive his own checks, so he can do whatever he wants, on his own.
I know he would like having games, music, movies and other stuff available for free on the internet, but he can't really be expected to make rational or logical decisions about what to believe. Does a person like this belong on the internet?
He really liked the web chat on his mobile phone, but he ended up paying over $100 for his phone bill. Would it be appropriate to turn him loose on IRC?
Is it a question of internet censorship, or protecting people with disabilities?
Whether you agree with it or not, most of the "special value" of American corporations comes from their holdings of Beanie Babies and Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards.
We all know that the value of those items depends on the whim of ADD children.
All this guy is saying is that by having the Beanie Babies and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards made in China means that there will be stupid Chinese knockoffs at the swap meet.
That means that everyone will liquidate their stock portfolios because they will see that the clone products are much cheaper and will naturally want to invest in Teenie Wabies and Charlie-Go! cards at this low entry price.
If that happens then the US economy will fall to ruin and companies will have to start making actual products.
This means that all the "special consultants" and "think tank" employees will have to find real work.
And if that happens then people like Ken Brown can no longer sit at home getting drunk while "working" on such valuable articles(which they hastily fire off before bothering to spell check or even reread to see if there is any coherence).
Slashdot Mirror
This is a new strategy on the part of Microsoft to defeat open source software. First they establish a premium/nonpremium distinction. Next they make Windows basic version free. Then once everyone has Windows installed, they charge for updates and security features and rigorously pursue their intellectual property forcing the police to raid the homes of anyone caught installing third party updates.
It's great if you want to type while walking or riding a bike or something.
Seriously though, when I have my computer display sunglasses and I'm walking down the street, how do search for porn without having to break out a keyboard? We'll have to get rid of the keyboard sooner or later.
Have you been looking for you lighter the past ten minutes? Or are you just on Slashdot again?
I think we would probably be able to program organisms from scratch by that point, so what kind of organisms would you send to establish life on a distant planet? It would probably start off small, or virus like, but would need to be preprogrammed to evolve into something more complex. Since the evolution would be random, you really couldn't determine the outcome after billions of years.
Then it occurred to me that if we were going to go through all this trouble for a slight chance that these packets of life might just thrive and grow some brains, we would probably put some kind message in there. Then it occurred to me that we could possibly be the product of such a plan.
It is possible that the structure of the genetic code itself is an artificial creation of an advanced race. Maybe we should examine the fossil record to look for patterns in the earliest life on the planet. Maybe humans got an evolutionary speed pass to intelligence. Who knows? At any rate understanding the underlying structure of genetic programming would be necessary for understanding the rational behind choosing one structure over another. Just like programmers develop an understanding of the language they program in, perhaps we'll see some calculated order to it all.
OK, so the article argues that if Apple had licensed their OS then they wouldn't have necessarily made more money, because it's the model their businesses customers would have preferred and...er...umm...stuff.
I think the author of this article confuses the (Apple licensing the ability to rip off their UI to Microsoft was a mistake) argument with the idea that Mac OS should have been running on Intel hardware.
Should Apple tried to put their OS on all hardware? - No.
Should Apple have let Microsoft rip of their UI in exchange for having some office applications written on their OS? - No.
You are getting ahead of yourself here. Specifications haven't even been set. They are working on the ideas, the products haven't even begun to be designed or manufactured yet.
It's like saying my new computer will be able to recognize my speech and talk to me like a human being would, as soon as someone writes the software to make that happen.
Operating System:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Processor:
Low-power mobile AMD Athlon(TM) 64 processor 2800+
Memory:
512MB (256/256)
Hard drive:
80GB
Optical drive:
(Slot loading)Super Multi Write Plus (DVD -RW, +RW, -RAM)
Display:
15.0" TFT SXGA+ (1400 x 1050)
Graphics:
ATI® MOBILITY(TM) RADEON(TM) 9700, 128MB DDR
Connectivity:
802.11b/g WLAN, Bluetooth(TM), Gigabit LAN, V.92 modem, 4-in-1 card reader, infrared, 4 USB 2.0 ports and Firewire.
Did I mention that it's RED?
I think you are not the only one interested in it's power to kill.
Found this while searching for tech jobs online.
g el es/1271123.cfm
Live near Agoura Hills, CA? Get your resume ready.
Vivid Entertainment is looking for a new PROGRAMMER
for Vivid Entertainment
Required Technical Skills:
Linux, Design, Database design
Job Description:
This is an intermediate to mid-level, full-time position. In addition to the programming skills mentioned below, the candidate should have strong database design skills and some clue about Linux system administration and networking.Ability to multi-task; Can-do attitude; Organized; Detail-oriented; Independent, yet team-player; Flexible; Open to new ideas and ways of doing business. Monitor, track and report on progress. Salary is dependent on experience and qualifications. We offer a competitive salary, medical, paid vacation, 401K and more.
http://www.computerwork.com/cfm-bin/Jobs/Los-An
If you don't need to impress your artist friends with a cool aluminum case for your RAID array, you could always get an external RAID subsystem from Promise Tech. It costs around $3500 for the 15 drive model, but there are 8 drive($2200) and 4($1200) drive versions available too.
You would need to use a SCSI adapter on your computer, but if using RAID 5, would loose only 1 drive to redundancy. It can rebuild lost drives on the fly and has redundant and hot swappable power supplies and fans. In a couple of years as the drives become less expensive, you can replace them for more capacity. Right now a 3.5TB system would run around $7000 and would survive drive failure without data loss.
It would be interesting to see some trusted repair networks emerge which deliver fixes to unpatched vulnerabilities for users who want them, similar to those who maintain spammer lists. The patches could be delivered over a trusted P2P network which has as its only purpose to deliver these files and of course would use hashes to verify the integrity of the files it delivered. That way, the white worms would only travel where they are wanted and could be tested a lot better than by the lone hacker.
The only problem is that the users who would most benefit from this type of service aren't the type to be proactive in their fight against viruses and would probably never use something like that unless it came preloaded and turned on by default and Micro$oft would never let that happen.
Perhaps the ISPs need to take more responsibility for identifying viral network activity and block it, while notifying the end users. Something like when they go to connect to the internet, they get a page notifying them that their machine is infected and they need to call a certain phone number before they are let back on.
I was just recently thinking of posting to ask Slashdot with the following question.
I have a friend who exhibits signs of paranoid schizophrenia. He is receiving disability and living in a section 8 housing unit.
I'm not sure if he is actually schizophrenic. He has been living in houses for mentally disabled people or juvenile offenders, since he was 13 or 14(when his parents divorced). I think anyone would have some kind of F'd up understanding of the world from that kind of upbringing.
Anyway, he is paranoid somewhat, thinks people are always talking about him, and he has some weird beliefs. He doesn't seem to hear any voices or think people can read his mind though.
The question is: Is it safe for him to go on the internet unsupervised?
He doesn't have a job or any hobbies, so he really needs something to do. He doesn't have any friends besides me and his brother and we can only see him once a week at most.
Some Psychologist declared him financially responsible enough to receive his own checks, so he can do whatever he wants, on his own.
I know he would like having games, music, movies and other stuff available for free on the internet, but he can't really be expected to make rational or logical decisions about what to believe. Does a person like this belong on the internet?
He really liked the web chat on his mobile phone, but he ended up paying over $100 for his phone bill. Would it be appropriate to turn him loose on IRC?
Is it a question of internet censorship, or protecting people with disabilities?
How would you handle this situation?
Look.
Whether you agree with it or not, most of the "special value" of American corporations comes from their holdings of Beanie Babies and Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards.
We all know that the value of those items depends on the whim of ADD children.
All this guy is saying is that by having the Beanie Babies and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards made in China means that there will be stupid Chinese knockoffs at the swap meet.
That means that everyone will liquidate their stock portfolios because they will see that the clone products are much cheaper and will naturally want to invest in Teenie Wabies and Charlie-Go! cards at this low entry price.
If that happens then the US economy will fall to ruin and companies will have to start making actual products.
This means that all the "special consultants" and "think tank" employees will have to find real work.
And if that happens then people like Ken Brown can no longer sit at home getting drunk while "working" on such valuable articles(which they hastily fire off before bothering to spell check or even reread to see if there is any coherence).