People *are* animals, and we *can* herd them around as such. People put a lot of research into the layout of stores to get people to impulse-buy things or to go in a particular direction. Research dictates where you put doors and railings to keep people from stampeding and blocking an emergency exit in the event of an actual emergency. Where there is a lack of "people control", people will trample over each other to get inside a Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving, or surge forward at a soccer (football, for the non-Yanks) match, crushing people into the front railing. They'll go rioting through your favorite large college town, burning and flipping cars, breaking into stores, looting, and throwing rocks at cops.
Yes, parents need to step up and control their children. But just because there's a "should" out there that would prevent most teens from displaying antisocial behavior doesn't mean that shop owners should sit back and let the kids whose "shoulds" are unfulfilled go rampaging through their shops. This is a great idea meant to solve huge problems of vandalism, theft, and assault because the parents who should don't. By your logic, people should just stand around and get victimized, mumbling, "Where are these kids' parents?" under their breath.
They probably chose Windows CE to make programming the GUI easier. Maybe there are pre-existing drivers for some of the hardware they are using as well (network, flash memory cards).
But I agree - why they can't hire some people to custom-write some software to do this is beyond me. It'd probably end up cheaper and more stable. Kinda makes you wonder what Diebold expects North Carolina to pay them for when Microsoft did most of their work for them.
I almost never have to restart Firefox, except on rare occasions when some third-party plugin (Acrobat, WMP) hoses things up. Something else on your machine must be borken.
Nothing exemplifies the supposed power of the extrovert more than The Apprentice. All those disgusting Type-A personalities backstabbing each other and ripping the crap out of each other for the tiniest mistakes to make themselves look good, and not only are we supposed to be amused by it, but we're also supposed to believe that that's really how you get real work done. It undoes what few remnants of "cooperation" are left from our positive Sesame Street educations and convinces us that being rude and loud at other people's expense is the only way to succeed.
DRM schemes such as XCP aren't about preventing piracy anyway, which is why it's okay that it's so easily defeated. Instead, today's DRM schemes are about indoctrinating the public, getting them so used to putting up with DRM that we won't complain loudly enough when the ultimate home invasion occurs - that is, when we all switch to digital TV, and their DRM finally puts a nail in the coffin of VCRs, DVRs, and that pesky Betamax decision.
Re:Which is actually cheaper, soda or ice?
on
Ask The Mythbusters
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· Score: 1
This is why I like getting drinks at fast-food joints that let you get your own drinks. Not only can you get free refills on a small, but you can get all beverage with no ice and it'll still be cold. I mean, sure, they're probably still ripping you off, but they make it feel like you're ripping them off.
Or whether humans and apes were created or evolved from a common ancestor, or whether the universe was created 7000 years ago or began in a big bang billions of years ago.
This is DRM that's been in your cable box for a long time now. It's called "5C" or "DTCP". It essentially prevents a cable box (or any other DTCP-compliant device) from transmitting "protected" data to noncompliant devices.
The problem here is that the CableCard licensing group (driven by the cable/satellite companies) got in bed with the content companies (RIAA/MPAA/etc., driving the DTLA, who manages DTCP licensing) and locked things up under patent protection so that you can't create a CableCard device that outputs a digital signal unless it also complies with DTCP. This doesn't really affect the cable companies at all. CableCard is already secure for managing the ability of a device to receive subscribed channels over cable. But it's a gold mine for the content companies, who now have complete control over your ability to record/rewatch/rewind/fast-forward content received over cable TV.
In other words, it's exactly like the broadcast flag, but for cable. No legislation required.
The reason that Microsoft is able to get a license for Vista to support CableCard+DTCP compliant hardware for the PC is because they are willing to put in the DRM required by the DTLA, a la "Trusted" Computing. No open-source solution will ever be able to get this license, because the content companies decree it to be so - after all, an enterprising young hacker could alter said open-source solution and then be able to skip those oh-so-precious commercials that we don't want to watch.
So don't blame Microsoft for doing what's required. Blame the content companies, and blame the cable companies for caving in. This has been locked up tight for years now, and barring public revolt or legislative prohibition, moving down this road was inevitable.
Note the announcement: "DTCP grants provisional approval to Windows Media DRM"
5C DTCP is a DRM scheme that can be used over Firewire to require that only compliant devices will receive "protected" data over the Firewire connection. Most cable boxes already have 5C support, even if they don't have it enabled yet.
My best guess would be Atari's E.T., a conclusion supported by records at MobyGames. There may have been arcade games based on movies before that, though, and there may also have been pinball games based on movies already, but I'd actually have to do research to dig those up:)
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch
on
Bad Day To Be Sony
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· Score: 1
(hint: It doesn't begin with the letter "P" or end in a "3")
Ahh, I see you've opted to go with the Laystation 69.
Given Sony's track record, I wonder if we'll find, for example, LAME binaries in the firmware of their Blu-Ray drives.
One irony, though, is that the DMCA would prevent software authors from accessing the firmware to make the determination as to whether their own copyrights were being violated.
The thing is, the content broadcaster gets paid for the ads by the advertisers when I download them, whether I watch them or not, as long as nobody but me knows that I didn't actually watch them. I could make a sandwich or use the restroom during the commercial and it would have the same effect as transcoding the media file without the commercial, just like with real TV. The only difference is that the broadcaster has more accurate stats on how many times the program has been downloaded.
I'm disappointed that there's not a front page/. article on this issue alone. If it turns out that F4I and Sony really are using LGPL code without complying with the license, that is big news, at least as big as the whole rootkit deal. It shows Sony's hypocrisy when it comes to copyrights, and reinforces the notion that content producers are only interested in copyright protections because they can make Even More Money off of them, not because it "promote[s] the Progress of Science and useful Arts".
The balloting at my polling place isn't any more secret. I have to register beforehand, and then when I arrive, I have to give my name and sign a voter roll before I cast my ballot. There's even a number on the top stub of the ballot that matches a number they write down in their records. The only time that my identity and my ballot are separated are at the very end, when the poll worker tears the top stub off the ballot and drops the rest of the ballot into the box.
And since it's generally illegal to vote by proxy, forcing the voter to show ID before they vote to prove their identity doesn't add any more anonymity concerns than what the current system already has.
Yes. Usually, the paper copy of the ballot feeds up behind a plastic window, allowing the voter to view the receipt for accuracy. When they indicate that they are satisfied that the ballot is correct, the machine then automatically feeds the ballot into a box. The paper ballots can then be used if there is doubt as to the accuracy of the electronic vote tally kept by the machine.
Slashdot Mirror
He has obviously found the true Zen of Slashdot.
People *are* animals, and we *can* herd them around as such. People put a lot of research into the layout of stores to get people to impulse-buy things or to go in a particular direction. Research dictates where you put doors and railings to keep people from stampeding and blocking an emergency exit in the event of an actual emergency. Where there is a lack of "people control", people will trample over each other to get inside a Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving, or surge forward at a soccer (football, for the non-Yanks) match, crushing people into the front railing. They'll go rioting through your favorite large college town, burning and flipping cars, breaking into stores, looting, and throwing rocks at cops.
Yes, parents need to step up and control their children. But just because there's a "should" out there that would prevent most teens from displaying antisocial behavior doesn't mean that shop owners should sit back and let the kids whose "shoulds" are unfulfilled go rampaging through their shops. This is a great idea meant to solve huge problems of vandalism, theft, and assault because the parents who should don't. By your logic, people should just stand around and get victimized, mumbling, "Where are these kids' parents?" under their breath.
They probably chose Windows CE to make programming the GUI easier. Maybe there are pre-existing drivers for some of the hardware they are using as well (network, flash memory cards).
But I agree - why they can't hire some people to custom-write some software to do this is beyond me. It'd probably end up cheaper and more stable. Kinda makes you wonder what Diebold expects North Carolina to pay them for when Microsoft did most of their work for them.
That name sounds familiar. Was he the community contact on Sovereign back before SOE canned it?
(Assuming he isn't already on the payroll, that is)
I think you mean, assuming Slashdot isn't already on his payroll.
I almost never have to restart Firefox, except on rare occasions when some third-party plugin (Acrobat, WMP) hoses things up. Something else on your machine must be borken.
Nothing exemplifies the supposed power of the extrovert more than The Apprentice. All those disgusting Type-A personalities backstabbing each other and ripping the crap out of each other for the tiniest mistakes to make themselves look good, and not only are we supposed to be amused by it, but we're also supposed to believe that that's really how you get real work done. It undoes what few remnants of "cooperation" are left from our positive Sesame Street educations and convinces us that being rude and loud at other people's expense is the only way to succeed.
They were originally going to call it the HephaestusRectum MK4, but that moniker proved a bit unwieldy, so they settled on Vulcanus instead.
DRM schemes such as XCP aren't about preventing piracy anyway, which is why it's okay that it's so easily defeated. Instead, today's DRM schemes are about indoctrinating the public, getting them so used to putting up with DRM that we won't complain loudly enough when the ultimate home invasion occurs - that is, when we all switch to digital TV, and their DRM finally puts a nail in the coffin of VCRs, DVRs, and that pesky Betamax decision.
This is why I like getting drinks at fast-food joints that let you get your own drinks. Not only can you get free refills on a small, but you can get all beverage with no ice and it'll still be cold. I mean, sure, they're probably still ripping you off, but they make it feel like you're ripping them off.
Or whether humans and apes were created or evolved from a common ancestor, or whether the universe was created 7000 years ago or began in a big bang billions of years ago.
He's in all the episodes now. In fact, he, Kari, and Tory are getting billing at the front of the show this season with Adam and Jamie.
"Can you kill me now? ....Good. I mean bad. Bad! Augh!"
The previously troubled game division, which the company had earlier been attempting to sell off,
Damn.
I guess VU is better than Electronic Arts or Sony, though.
This is DRM that's been in your cable box for a long time now. It's called "5C" or "DTCP". It essentially prevents a cable box (or any other DTCP-compliant device) from transmitting "protected" data to noncompliant devices.
The problem here is that the CableCard licensing group (driven by the cable/satellite companies) got in bed with the content companies (RIAA/MPAA/etc., driving the DTLA, who manages DTCP licensing) and locked things up under patent protection so that you can't create a CableCard device that outputs a digital signal unless it also complies with DTCP. This doesn't really affect the cable companies at all. CableCard is already secure for managing the ability of a device to receive subscribed channels over cable. But it's a gold mine for the content companies, who now have complete control over your ability to record/rewatch/rewind/fast-forward content received over cable TV.
In other words, it's exactly like the broadcast flag, but for cable. No legislation required.
The reason that Microsoft is able to get a license for Vista to support CableCard+DTCP compliant hardware for the PC is because they are willing to put in the DRM required by the DTLA, a la "Trusted" Computing. No open-source solution will ever be able to get this license, because the content companies decree it to be so - after all, an enterprising young hacker could alter said open-source solution and then be able to skip those oh-so-precious commercials that we don't want to watch.
So don't blame Microsoft for doing what's required. Blame the content companies, and blame the cable companies for caving in. This has been locked up tight for years now, and barring public revolt or legislative prohibition, moving down this road was inevitable.
Why not just plug a firewire cable from your cable box to your PC?
http://www.dtcp.com/
Note the announcement: "DTCP grants provisional approval to Windows Media DRM"
5C DTCP is a DRM scheme that can be used over Firewire to require that only compliant devices will receive "protected" data over the Firewire connection. Most cable boxes already have 5C support, even if they don't have it enabled yet.
My best guess would be Atari's E.T., a conclusion supported by records at MobyGames. There may have been arcade games based on movies before that, though, and there may also have been pinball games based on movies already, but I'd actually have to do research to dig those up :)
(hint: It doesn't begin with the letter "P" or end in a "3")
Ahh, I see you've opted to go with the Laystation 69.
Given Sony's track record, I wonder if we'll find, for example, LAME binaries in the firmware of their Blu-Ray drives.
One irony, though, is that the DMCA would prevent software authors from accessing the firmware to make the determination as to whether their own copyrights were being violated.
The thing is, the content broadcaster gets paid for the ads by the advertisers when I download them, whether I watch them or not, as long as nobody but me knows that I didn't actually watch them. I could make a sandwich or use the restroom during the commercial and it would have the same effect as transcoding the media file without the commercial, just like with real TV. The only difference is that the broadcaster has more accurate stats on how many times the program has been downloaded.
Fry: Big Pink! It's the only gum with the breath-freshening power of ham.
Bender: And it pinkens your teeth while you chew!
I'm disappointed that there's not a front page /. article on this issue alone. If it turns out that F4I and Sony really are using LGPL code without complying with the license, that is big news, at least as big as the whole rootkit deal. It shows Sony's hypocrisy when it comes to copyrights, and reinforces the notion that content producers are only interested in copyright protections because they can make Even More Money off of them, not because it "promote[s] the Progress of Science and useful Arts".
Your wish is their command.
The balloting at my polling place isn't any more secret. I have to register beforehand, and then when I arrive, I have to give my name and sign a voter roll before I cast my ballot. There's even a number on the top stub of the ballot that matches a number they write down in their records. The only time that my identity and my ballot are separated are at the very end, when the poll worker tears the top stub off the ballot and drops the rest of the ballot into the box.
And since it's generally illegal to vote by proxy, forcing the voter to show ID before they vote to prove their identity doesn't add any more anonymity concerns than what the current system already has.
Yes. Usually, the paper copy of the ballot feeds up behind a plastic window, allowing the voter to view the receipt for accuracy. When they indicate that they are satisfied that the ballot is correct, the machine then automatically feeds the ballot into a box. The paper ballots can then be used if there is doubt as to the accuracy of the electronic vote tally kept by the machine.