Flash + silverlight = can play video = browser plugins = win for particular corporations with vested interests to win at any cost
HTML5 (ie iOS, firefox 4) = can play video = html5 inside webbrowser = open standards = win for all
Exactly.
What point was missed in the stats was that while 97% of people may have flash installed and 51% have silverlight 100% of "web surfers" (hate that term) have a web browser installed.
Rather than 3rd party extensions to get the functionality needed for media doesn't it make a lot more sense to have open standards so that all browsers can display the media by implementing the standard? It becomes platform agnostic when you don't have to rely on a single vendor to release a binary for your particular platform (in this case platform being OS and browser combination).
.. the entertainment industry as it pretends to die from losses to piracy while reporting massive profits.
Last time I checked they also pretend to not make any money. They may report huge gross income and brag about biggest box office sales ever, but somehow they never make a net profit (even before the days of internet piracy).
Good thing we have all these philanthropists funding the movie industry, because between piracy and films just not being profitable all the big film companies would collapse under a mountain of debt!
Congratulations Broadcom, you have just made at least one geek very happy.
It would be more if they had done this years ago. I have many not so fond memories of trying to configure broadcom cards under linux. I can partially blame the status of my hair on broadcom wireless cards.
Broadcom, you owe me sleep retroactively and some thicker hair!!!
Quite the contrary. The easiest way into a woman's pants is often through her stomach.
Being able to cook an impressive meal is, well, impressive to most women. That combined with a healthy wage indicates and ability to take care of her. If you are not entirely unattractive (which could be interpreted as poor gene stock) and can manage basic hygiene then getting her clothes off should not be difficult at all (she may even initiate). As long as you don't thoroughly disappoint her in the bedroom she'll want to marry you.
Anecdotally I've found that after cooking for female friends they show a greater interest in me regardless of relationship status. Women like men who can cook.
My preferred way to avoid unsightly stickers is to pickup some rubber cement (couple of dollars at the craft store) and affix a merkin. Who doesn't like a little padding?
in fact, I think the French don't like Quebec either, for butchering their language..
As I assume the Brits aren't huge fans of Texans.
When I was in highschool I went to France with my remedial Canadian school system "French" (every useless noun you could ever learn, but not enough verbs to have a proper conversation). I was able to understand the French people no problem. They speak clear, slow, enunciate.. honestly it's a beautiful language.
Now compare that to the Québécois. Messy, fast, slurred with lots and lots of slang. To me it's like ear rape by comparison. They're shoving their dirty words in your ears as fast and hard as they can.
Speeding is a civil charge. It just has to be shown as more likely than not he did speed.
Not in the US, and it seems kind of odd that it would be in Canada since the government is the one bringing the case.
Depends on what the actual charges are but there are generally both civil and criminal charges that can be applied.
For example: my vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. Criminal charges would not stick as he ran from his vehicle into his own home (and he can claim he drank more inside, which pushed him over the limit.. thanks to a precedent setting case). Instead they applied all the civil charges they could. They were able to revoke his license for a period due to his blood alch level, charge him for leaving the scene of an accident and a few other misdemeanors. A criminal DUI charge wouldn't have stuck.
Speeding is a civil charge. It just has to be shown as more likely than not he did speed.
Drugs? That's criminal. That would require a much higher standard of proof. Sex? Canadian laws are much more flexible than american (youths can have sex with youths.. we just raised the age of consent though.. to 16). If you are implying statutory rape charges, again that is criminal so a single post isn't going to be proof enough either.
My best guess is that the person in question has a driving history as well. That combined with the online bragging made the judge believe it was more likely than not he did do something along the lines of 140km/h in a 40km/h zone.
It only takes 20km/h over the limit to be charged with excessive. That combined with previous speeding offences can result in having your license suspended. 6 months is the norm in my province (he may be able to get it reduced though). What is really disturbing is that he was in a 40. Going 200km/h on a stretch of highway rated 100km/h is entirely different from doing 100 over the limit in a reduced speed zone (normal limit is 50km/h so 40 is an area that requires a reduced speed. There is usually a good reason for that.).
I am a canadian tech worker. I work for a small/medium tech company and we've had a hell of a time finding quality lead developers, and even difficulty getting mid level positions filled (entry level is no problem). It took us 6 months to find a new software lead for one project, and he was a compromise. The new mid level we found (after interviewing many applicants) I ended up poaching from another company. There is talent in this town, but people who live here already have good jobs. That leaves you with hiring from out of town or poaching. Most of the out-of-town applicants weren't worth the time and money to fly in for an interview. Everyone I graduated with from compsci/compeng/eleceng is employed.
On the other side of the coin we had an opening for a mechanical engineer. We had a plethora of useful applicants for that position. It was more akin to shooting fish in a barrel, while the software positions were like dropping a baited hook in an empty fish tank hoping it would encourage fish to jump into the tank.
The tank in question was Victoria btw. Generally no problem attracting people here. The climate is a little milder than Vancouver and property is a little cheaper. It's also only 1/3 as rainy as Seattle (for people concerned about the proximity). It's basically the Florida of Canada (i.e. Canada's #1 retirement location). Finding people willing to relocate isn't a problem. Finding worthwhile people to relocate is. Part of the issue is wages. The local tech sector is notorious for underpaying tech employees. Previously the excuse being, "Living in Victoria is part of your bonus of working here." The cost of living is very comparable to Vancouver, and yet wages are around 20% less. If you aren't willing to pay for talent then you have to settle for mediocrity.
Have you looked at any of the competitions on these sorts of sites?
I've voted on about 10+ logo competitions on one of these sites and I haven't seen any "design in a box" regurgitated designs (at least in the good designs, there are always a few that look like they were done by 12 year olds who just learned about filters, or did one web2.0 style tutorial). There is a market for this service and obviously people with talent who are willing to design stuff for the sake of design. Heck, if I had better skills I'd do some for fun in my spare time. Competing is fun.
This is actually a pretty good choice. As a Canadian, I'm more than happy for Kirk to be the guy schmoozing on behalf of my country.
Seconded.
Would I want him as a premier or worse yet prime minister? Hell no. However, having someone used to being in front of a camera and group speaking that is known throughout the world is exactly what you want for the role of GG.
How many people in other countries know who Canada's current GovGen is? How about how many Canadians? I had to look it up (I got the last two mixed up somehow). Having Shatner as GG would ensure ALL canadians know who the current GG is and a lot of the world (well maybe they wouldn't know the role, but they would know he's some kind of a rep for Canada). Canada doesn't get a lot of worldly recognition. This could help.
Exactly. It's optical. If it was magnetic you'd probably need some specialized head to read it, but since it's optical you can just use a scanner then go straight to processing it with software. Seems like the most cost effective and easiest solution. Not as cool as building a machine, but what's the point?
Public schools should never require parents to pay for expensive items or programs. This is dead wrong.
I completely agree. Requiring students to purchase a netbook is going too far. Yes, you may need a computer these days, but a student doesn't necessarily need their own computer, let alone their own laptop, let alone a mac. It's absurd.
If it were a private school, then it would be a different story. Of course with my experience in private schools this wouldn't happen. When parents are directly paying for the education and it's optional you are a little more careful about pissing them off.
Well it removes the platform scope issue, which was your original complaint (not.net and the CLI "sucking").
Having worked with both Java and.Net I actually prefer.net. Plus I'd have a hard time living without linq and some of the other fun items that make me more productive.
Not in all countries. Don't assume everyone lives in the US.
Due to a precedent setting case file sharing is viewed the same as copying a cd (fine for personal use, however illegal if sold). Until legislation is put in place to overturn that verdict sharing media files is fine.
Regardless of it being legal to download for free I would pay for the convenience of commercial downloads. Of course instead of tapping into a market that is willing to pay they attempt to lobby for legislation that would make it illegal to freely share files so they can stick with their outdated business model (which completely ignores price elasticity).
And I'd gladly pay $42 for a new 2010 Mercedes E350.
Huge difference. I'm not talking about selling at a loss. I'm talking about the product creators selling directly and making the same profit, but selling in an up-to-date format.
How much is actually made per DVD sale or per TV viewing by the production company? We're talking in the dollars range. You pay $18 for a dvd. How much is the media, the shipping, the distributor's fee, the store's markup.. etc? How much is actually made by the studios?
Soooooo.. why not sell it for the same profit directly online like people want? Why the fuck not? This is 2010. We have the technology and people are chomping at the bit to be able to download what they want, but the service/product just isn't there. It makes absolutely no sense. There's a huge market that isn't being capitalized on because an industry doesn't want to change its outdated business model. Instead they'd rather lobby and sue to attempt to keep their paleolithic model intact.
A large fraction of these kids will probably gladly pay a small price for each download in a similar service, but will stick to BitTorrent if you try to take their freedom, convenience and inexpensive cost away from them.
Or even a large fraction of the population. I really cannot comprehend why I can't readily pay to download a movie to my computer in a format I am guaranteed to be able to play. I'd gladly pay a few bucks (my limit is probably around $5 and that'd have to be 1080P and a fast DL), but I'd do it often. I'd give up cable if I could pay to download the shows I actually watch for the same price as I pay per month in cable and the show producers would make more money (my local cable provider would still make money as they provide my internet service).
I really don't get it. Make downloads cheap enough and fast enough that it's more convenient to pay for a DL and there goes the majority of your pirating problem. Hell, even continue the posting of fakes etc to make the free DLs less attractive.. just offer me a legal alternative that isn't DRM encumbered. There are potential customers waiting, someone just has to offer the service.
Beets straight off the in-law's farm, when cooked properly melt in your mouth and taste like they're buttered (when nothing has been added). Just season with a little salt and maybe drizzle a little balsamic vinegar (if that's to your taste). Even people who "hate" beets will rave about them.
Old beets taste like boiled stumps and are equivalently difficult to eat.
Same thing goes for a lot of veggies though. Fresh is best. I just had some fresh asparagus (just picked), and it was the best I had ever tasted. Delicate flavor, extremely tender. I can't wait for corn season. The early season corn cooks up to perfection in less than 2 minutes, is sweet, flavorful and not the least bit starchy (unlike corn from the grocery store which even if it has been hydro-cooled has often become extremely starchy). If corn is grown locally you should try purchasing it straight off the farm if possible (here most have stands that sell corn picked that day). My experience with local stores (even the ones that pretend to be more of a "farmer's market") is that they take too much time to get the produce on the shelves. They may have received it fresh picked earlier that day, but it won't be on the shelves for a day or two.
and to think, in my day we were happy with a plastic woman whose undies floated off when you tipped it up.
Think of how that can be improved on! Just add an accelerometer and it can cue a video of woman stripping when tipped. Shake the pen and it will skip to a different woman (3 stock woman but you can either have a monthly subscription or purchase individual new penstrip avatars for $0.99 each). Algorithms can determine your preferences and suggest new avatars... etc
The future is awesome. It can't come quick enough.
Slashdot Mirror
Flash + silverlight = can play video = browser plugins = win for particular corporations with vested interests to win at any cost HTML5 (ie iOS, firefox 4) = can play video = html5 inside webbrowser = open standards = win for all
Exactly.
What point was missed in the stats was that while 97% of people may have flash installed and 51% have silverlight 100% of "web surfers" (hate that term) have a web browser installed.
Rather than 3rd party extensions to get the functionality needed for media doesn't it make a lot more sense to have open standards so that all browsers can display the media by implementing the standard? It becomes platform agnostic when you don't have to rely on a single vendor to release a binary for your particular platform (in this case platform being OS and browser combination).
.. the entertainment industry as it pretends to die from losses to piracy while reporting massive profits.
Last time I checked they also pretend to not make any money. They may report huge gross income and brag about biggest box office sales ever, but somehow they never make a net profit (even before the days of internet piracy).
Good thing we have all these philanthropists funding the movie industry, because between piracy and films just not being profitable all the big film companies would collapse under a mountain of debt!
Congratulations Broadcom, you have just made at least one geek very happy.
It would be more if they had done this years ago. I have many not so fond memories of trying to configure broadcom cards under linux. I can partially blame the status of my hair on broadcom wireless cards.
Broadcom, you owe me sleep retroactively and some thicker hair!!!
Because it's a messy chore that takes time away from other activities.
The same could be said about developing software. If it's a messy chore you are doing it wrong. Plain and simple.
That's just gay. Not Geek.
Quite the contrary. The easiest way into a woman's pants is often through her stomach.
Being able to cook an impressive meal is, well, impressive to most women. That combined with a healthy wage indicates and ability to take care of her. If you are not entirely unattractive (which could be interpreted as poor gene stock) and can manage basic hygiene then getting her clothes off should not be difficult at all (she may even initiate). As long as you don't thoroughly disappoint her in the bedroom she'll want to marry you.
Anecdotally I've found that after cooking for female friends they show a greater interest in me regardless of relationship status. Women like men who can cook.
Leaves your laptop looking nice and bare.
If you're into that.
My preferred way to avoid unsightly stickers is to pickup some rubber cement (couple of dollars at the craft store) and affix a merkin. Who doesn't like a little padding?
I bought the new iPad, and it made my penis grow 2 inches longer! True story!
It's called an erection.
in fact, I think the French don't like Quebec either, for butchering their language..
As I assume the Brits aren't huge fans of Texans.
When I was in highschool I went to France with my remedial Canadian school system "French" (every useless noun you could ever learn, but not enough verbs to have a proper conversation). I was able to understand the French people no problem. They speak clear, slow, enunciate.. honestly it's a beautiful language.
Now compare that to the Québécois. Messy, fast, slurred with lots and lots of slang. To me it's like ear rape by comparison. They're shoving their dirty words in your ears as fast and hard as they can.
Speeding is a civil charge. It just has to be shown as more likely than not he did speed.
Not in the US, and it seems kind of odd that it would be in Canada since the government is the one bringing the case.
Depends on what the actual charges are but there are generally both civil and criminal charges that can be applied.
For example: my vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. Criminal charges would not stick as he ran from his vehicle into his own home (and he can claim he drank more inside, which pushed him over the limit.. thanks to a precedent setting case). Instead they applied all the civil charges they could. They were able to revoke his license for a period due to his blood alch level, charge him for leaving the scene of an accident and a few other misdemeanors. A criminal DUI charge wouldn't have stuck.
Speeding is a civil charge. It just has to be shown as more likely than not he did speed.
Drugs? That's criminal. That would require a much higher standard of proof. Sex? Canadian laws are much more flexible than american (youths can have sex with youths.. we just raised the age of consent though.. to 16). If you are implying statutory rape charges, again that is criminal so a single post isn't going to be proof enough either.
My best guess is that the person in question has a driving history as well. That combined with the online bragging made the judge believe it was more likely than not he did do something along the lines of 140km/h in a 40km/h zone.
It only takes 20km/h over the limit to be charged with excessive. That combined with previous speeding offences can result in having your license suspended. 6 months is the norm in my province (he may be able to get it reduced though). What is really disturbing is that he was in a 40. Going 200km/h on a stretch of highway rated 100km/h is entirely different from doing 100 over the limit in a reduced speed zone (normal limit is 50km/h so 40 is an area that requires a reduced speed. There is usually a good reason for that.).
I counter your anecdote with another:
I am a canadian tech worker. I work for a small/medium tech company and we've had a hell of a time finding quality lead developers, and even difficulty getting mid level positions filled (entry level is no problem). It took us 6 months to find a new software lead for one project, and he was a compromise. The new mid level we found (after interviewing many applicants) I ended up poaching from another company. There is talent in this town, but people who live here already have good jobs. That leaves you with hiring from out of town or poaching. Most of the out-of-town applicants weren't worth the time and money to fly in for an interview. Everyone I graduated with from compsci/compeng/eleceng is employed.
On the other side of the coin we had an opening for a mechanical engineer. We had a plethora of useful applicants for that position. It was more akin to shooting fish in a barrel, while the software positions were like dropping a baited hook in an empty fish tank hoping it would encourage fish to jump into the tank.
The tank in question was Victoria btw. Generally no problem attracting people here. The climate is a little milder than Vancouver and property is a little cheaper. It's also only 1/3 as rainy as Seattle (for people concerned about the proximity). It's basically the Florida of Canada (i.e. Canada's #1 retirement location). Finding people willing to relocate isn't a problem. Finding worthwhile people to relocate is. Part of the issue is wages. The local tech sector is notorious for underpaying tech employees. Previously the excuse being, "Living in Victoria is part of your bonus of working here." The cost of living is very comparable to Vancouver, and yet wages are around 20% less. If you aren't willing to pay for talent then you have to settle for mediocrity.
Have you looked at any of the competitions on these sorts of sites?
I've voted on about 10+ logo competitions on one of these sites and I haven't seen any "design in a box" regurgitated designs (at least in the good designs, there are always a few that look like they were done by 12 year olds who just learned about filters, or did one web2.0 style tutorial). There is a market for this service and obviously people with talent who are willing to design stuff for the sake of design. Heck, if I had better skills I'd do some for fun in my spare time. Competing is fun.
Would you do business with a company that uses comic sans on their business cards?
This is actually a pretty good choice. As a Canadian, I'm more than happy for Kirk to be the guy schmoozing on behalf of my country.
Seconded.
Would I want him as a premier or worse yet prime minister? Hell no. However, having someone used to being in front of a camera and group speaking that is known throughout the world is exactly what you want for the role of GG.
How many people in other countries know who Canada's current GovGen is? How about how many Canadians? I had to look it up (I got the last two mixed up somehow). Having Shatner as GG would ensure ALL canadians know who the current GG is and a lot of the world (well maybe they wouldn't know the role, but they would know he's some kind of a rep for Canada). Canada doesn't get a lot of worldly recognition. This could help.
Exactly. It's optical. If it was magnetic you'd probably need some specialized head to read it, but since it's optical you can just use a scanner then go straight to processing it with software. Seems like the most cost effective and easiest solution. Not as cool as building a machine, but what's the point?
Public schools should never require parents to pay for expensive items or programs. This is dead wrong.
I completely agree. Requiring students to purchase a netbook is going too far. Yes, you may need a computer these days, but a student doesn't necessarily need their own computer, let alone their own laptop, let alone a mac. It's absurd.
If it were a private school, then it would be a different story. Of course with my experience in private schools this wouldn't happen. When parents are directly paying for the education and it's optional you are a little more careful about pissing them off.
Well it removes the platform scope issue, which was your original complaint (not .net and the CLI "sucking").
.Net I actually prefer .net. Plus I'd have a hard time living without linq and some of the other fun items that make me more productive.
Having worked with both Java and
C# is a wonderful language, in my opinion, but its ties to the .NET framework limits its platform scope and, to me at least, its appeal.
You have heard of mono right?
It's the breaking the law ..
Not in all countries. Don't assume everyone lives in the US.
Due to a precedent setting case file sharing is viewed the same as copying a cd (fine for personal use, however illegal if sold). Until legislation is put in place to overturn that verdict sharing media files is fine.
Regardless of it being legal to download for free I would pay for the convenience of commercial downloads. Of course instead of tapping into a market that is willing to pay they attempt to lobby for legislation that would make it illegal to freely share files so they can stick with their outdated business model (which completely ignores price elasticity).
And I'd gladly pay $42 for a new 2010 Mercedes E350.
Huge difference. I'm not talking about selling at a loss. I'm talking about the product creators selling directly and making the same profit, but selling in an up-to-date format.
How much is actually made per DVD sale or per TV viewing by the production company? We're talking in the dollars range. You pay $18 for a dvd. How much is the media, the shipping, the distributor's fee, the store's markup.. etc? How much is actually made by the studios?
Soooooo.. why not sell it for the same profit directly online like people want? Why the fuck not? This is 2010. We have the technology and people are chomping at the bit to be able to download what they want, but the service/product just isn't there. It makes absolutely no sense. There's a huge market that isn't being capitalized on because an industry doesn't want to change its outdated business model. Instead they'd rather lobby and sue to attempt to keep their paleolithic model intact.
A large fraction of these kids will probably gladly pay a small price for each download in a similar service, but will stick to BitTorrent if you try to take their freedom, convenience and inexpensive cost away from them.
Or even a large fraction of the population. I really cannot comprehend why I can't readily pay to download a movie to my computer in a format I am guaranteed to be able to play. I'd gladly pay a few bucks (my limit is probably around $5 and that'd have to be 1080P and a fast DL), but I'd do it often. I'd give up cable if I could pay to download the shows I actually watch for the same price as I pay per month in cable and the show producers would make more money (my local cable provider would still make money as they provide my internet service).
I really don't get it. Make downloads cheap enough and fast enough that it's more convenient to pay for a DL and there goes the majority of your pirating problem. Hell, even continue the posting of fakes etc to make the free DLs less attractive.. just offer me a legal alternative that isn't DRM encumbered. There are potential customers waiting, someone just has to offer the service.
Seconded. BUT (big but), freshness is key.
Beets straight off the in-law's farm, when cooked properly melt in your mouth and taste like they're buttered (when nothing has been added). Just season with a little salt and maybe drizzle a little balsamic vinegar (if that's to your taste). Even people who "hate" beets will rave about them.
Old beets taste like boiled stumps and are equivalently difficult to eat.
Same thing goes for a lot of veggies though. Fresh is best. I just had some fresh asparagus (just picked), and it was the best I had ever tasted. Delicate flavor, extremely tender. I can't wait for corn season. The early season corn cooks up to perfection in less than 2 minutes, is sweet, flavorful and not the least bit starchy (unlike corn from the grocery store which even if it has been hydro-cooled has often become extremely starchy). If corn is grown locally you should try purchasing it straight off the farm if possible (here most have stands that sell corn picked that day). My experience with local stores (even the ones that pretend to be more of a "farmer's market") is that they take too much time to get the produce on the shelves. They may have received it fresh picked earlier that day, but it won't be on the shelves for a day or two.
and to think, in my day we were happy with a plastic woman whose undies floated off when you tipped it up.
Think of how that can be improved on! Just add an accelerometer and it can cue a video of woman stripping when tipped. Shake the pen and it will skip to a different woman (3 stock woman but you can either have a monthly subscription or purchase individual new penstrip avatars for $0.99 each). Algorithms can determine your preferences and suggest new avatars... etc
The future is awesome. It can't come quick enough.
Wrote the text editor vi.
That of course raises the question:
Who would win in a fight: Bill Joy or Richard Stallman?
Sure Stallman looks all scary with his beard and he has the benefit of mass, but BJ is wiry!
Yet civilians still need protection from things they don't understand.
So we should protect ICP from magnets?