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User: toddestan

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  1. Re:also quite useless on Worm Claimed For Apple OS X · · Score: 1

    By your logic, that means that no one would be bothering to mess with Windows XP, since Vista is already out. However, that is hardly the case from what I have seen.

  2. Re:MAC filtering is not a solution on IPhones Flooding Wireless LAN At Duke · · Score: 1

    If it's anything like what my school does, it is MAC filtering. What they do when you type in your user name and password is tie that machine to you by its MAC address. The typical user has no idea what is going on either, as they can get your MAC address from the DHCP request so no special software needed, and works on any computer. If it's like my school too, you only get one MAC address without special authorization. It's still venerable to MAC filtering obviously.

  3. Re:Maybe their server will work now. on CUPS Purchased By Apple Inc. · · Score: 1

    But then again setting up a network printer in OS X is trivial compared to the lunacy you have to go through on XP.

    One of the questions XP asks during the Add Printer wizard is if you want to share your printer. Is two mouse clicks too tough for you?

  4. Re:What else are they tracking, you ask? on Latest Revelations on the FBI's Data Mining of America · · Score: 1

    What is really scary is that there were millions of Democrats who probably could have beaten Bush, and they nominated one of the few who couldn't.

    The amazing part is, he almost beat him anyway.

  5. Re:Anybody doing and Accounting of the ... on Surgeon General Describes Censorship From Bush Administration · · Score: 1

    So, to boil down your argument, because you feel that Clinton managed to get away with something, we should let Bush get away with it to? You're an idiot.

  6. Re:Buy now... on Apple Plans Cheaper Nano-Based iPhone · · Score: 1

    The comparison to Dell is an interesting one. Apple seems to have a tendency to do updates pretty sparingly (perhaps a habit they got into from the PPC days). As such, when they do an update to their product line, the updates are pretty substantial. Compare to most PC manufacturers like Dell, where they are constantly making lots of small updates. So when you buy a Dell, you can expect that there will soon be a faster/better/cheaper Dell than what you just bought. But it will only be slightly faster/cheaper/better Dell so you aren't going to feel that bad, because that's the way computers are. When you buy an Apple, generally you can expect that they will be selling the same model for the same price for the next few months. However, sometimes you end up buying right before an update and when the drastically faster/better/cheaper Apple's roll out, I can see how people feel they got burnt. The key with Apple, if you can wait it out, is to wait for an update to the product you're interested in then buy it immediately when it hits the stores.

  7. Re:That's cool.. on Text Compressor 1% Away From AI Threshold · · Score: 1

    I think he was saying that since MPEG4 is lossy, that the compressor has to deal with a bunch of data that decompressor does not have to (because the compression algorithm threw it away). I can't say I know enough about MPEG4 to say that's really the reason why compression takes a lot longer than decompression though.

  8. Re:Does it really matter? on Analyst Says Blu-ray DRM Safe For 10 Years · · Score: 1

    They don't need a DVD or a player. How far away is it until thumb drives can store enough information to effectively play a movie that with all the data included in an entire HD-DVD or Blue-Ray disk?

    What about USB harddrives? Or even an iPod? That sounds like a geek toy I need to get my hands on.

  9. Re:I call Liar!! on 2008 - Year of Linux Desktop? · · Score: 1

    The original XP disks do not support SATA because when XP was released back in 2001, it had no idea what SATA is. However, as time went by, Microsoft updated the XP disks with drivers for never hardware. The newer XP SP2 disks recognize many SATA controllers eliminating the need for the dreaded floppy disk.

  10. Re:Can't they make a 12"/13" Macbook Pro instead? on The Next-Gen iMac With Brushed Aluminum In August? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Lenovo still makes the X series of the Thinkpad, which is a 12" laptop with a XGA screen. Otherwise, the ultraportable laptop market seems to be rather dead. Heck, my 14" laptop is noticably smaller than most of my coworker's laptops, and just a few years ago it would have been average.

  11. Re:Can't they make a 12"/13" Macbook Pro instead? on The Next-Gen iMac With Brushed Aluminum In August? · · Score: 1

    wtf are you going to do with a 12" screen? if your screen is that small, you might as well just use a cellphone instead (iphone).

    Yeah, you're right. Apple should immediately discontinue the whole Macbook line with their useless 13" screens.

  12. Re:No Viral Apple Marketing On Slashdot, PLEASE!!! on The Next-Gen iMac With Brushed Aluminum In August? · · Score: 1

    Who cares what your car looks like it might as well be a big box on wheels because it's just a tool to get you from A to B.

    Hey, a big box is a pretty practical design, and it's no surprise to me that most commercial vehicles are basically a some kind of box on wheels. But hey, leave it to the Apple fan to advocate form over function.

  13. Re:No Viral Apple Marketing On Slashdot, PLEASE!!! on The Next-Gen iMac With Brushed Aluminum In August? · · Score: 1

    This article is silly, I concede. But the enclosures being built by Apple are particularly good. No other OEMs bother to make desktops into ergonomic or stylish designs. This work by Apple is 'ground-breaking' in a sense. Although rumour and conjecture about up-coming designs is really not worth debating.

    What is this, 1992? The utilitarion biege box is dead. PC manufacturers have been making ergonomic and stylish designs for years, or atleast trying to. Apple really didn't anything of the such into 1998 with the introduction of the iMac, unless you want to count strange one-off things like the 20th Anniversery Mac.

  14. Re:This is Madness - eradicate all copyright! on RIAA Forces YouTube to Remove Free Guitar Lessons · · Score: 1

    Something that people miss is that even if the copyright expires, that doesn't mean you still can't make money from it. You can still sell it even if it's in the public domain, some people are still willing to buy it anyway for whatever reasons and there is nothing wrong with that.

    Besides, if I remember right, the original copyright law allowed for items to be renewed once for another 14 years. While 14 years does seem a little short, I would think that 28 years would be enough.

  15. Re:Cuts both ways on Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn · · Score: 1

    I get what you're saying. It would suck if the job description for "computer repair tech" included "FBI snitch" and that, just by taking the job, you had to accept that part of the gig.

    But then again, I really don't like child pornography. I think it's criminal.

    I'll tell you something else I don't like: Violent crime. I bet you don't like it either. So look at it this way. Say you're walking down the street, and there's a woman walking along, and out of nowhere this guy jumps off his front porch, runs down in front of the woman and socks her in the face, breaking her jaw. He does this right in front of you. There's blood and teeth everywhere. Then he runs away.

    Let's say for the sake of argument that when all this happened you were on your way to your job as a computer repair tech. Should it be "compulsory" for you to do something about this violent crime you just saw?

    A lot of people might say no. I can think of plenty of reasons why you might not want to get involved. But I dunno... if you had a cell phone in your pocket, wouldn't you maybe think about at least calling the cops? Even if you had no intention of sticking around? Isn't it kind of "compulsory" for us all to do that sort of thing, because that's what allows us to live in a civil society?

    You seem to be leaning toward the side that says "so he had some child porn, no big deal, none of my business." I say it is kind of a big deal. It's a crime and it's not a victimless one. Maybe it is compulsory that we do something about it -- no matter who we are.


    On the other hand, should computer technitions be poking through harddrives looking for evidence of illegal activity? I don't think so. Sure, if the person is an idiot and left stuff all over his desktop or something simliarly stupid so that you're going to run accross it while fixing the computer, then absolutely report it. However, rifling through someone's harddrive when you have no reason to do so is a violation of privacy - even if you mean well. In your example, that would be like looking through people's windows to make sure that someone isn't beating women inside their house, whereas the woman gutting hit out in the street is more like you seeing a folder labeled "child porn" sitting on the desktop when you boot the computer up.

  16. Re:STOP REDEFINING "THEFT"! on Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn · · Score: 1

    From m-w.com (Mirriam-Webster dictionary):

    steal ...
    1 a : to take or appropriate without right or leave and with intent to keep or make use of wrongfully


    'Approriate' mean "to take exclusive possession of", according to m-w.com.

    'exclusive' mean "limiting or limited to possession, control, or use by a single individual or group"

    Kinda hard for the original owner to use something one I have "exclusive possession" of it.


    However, it would seem that you missed the word 'or' in there, which means that taking something that you do not have permission to do so means you are stealing. Taking files off of someone's harddrive would count.
  17. Re:Same at Fry's on Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn · · Score: 1

    When I worked as a technician at Fry's, I regularly observed *supervisors* grabbing "interesting" material off a customer's machine. Honestly I don't see what the big deal is. It's small time copyright violation, big deal. I personally didn't do it since I rarely saw anything worth taking, but I never felt grossly offended when other guys did.

    You're not getting the point. I wouldn't really care about someone having copies of the MP3's on my harddrive. What I do care about is someone rifling through my shit. It would be the same thing as going into someone's home and looking around, opening drawers, reading their mail they left out, looking in the medicine cabinet, and whatnot - even if they didn't take anything and made an effort not to leave any trace. It's a privacy issue - they have no right or reason to be looking through that stuff, so they should simply stay out of it, even it is just c:\My Documents\Music\.

  18. Re:That must be how... on Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn · · Score: 1

    It's still a valid point. He was snooping around where he shouldn't have been. Just because he did do the right thing in the end doesn't mean he's a moral or ethical person. People were right to not trust him after that, as he demonstrated that he'll rifle through your shit. Same thing with your theif example, the right thing to do is to report it to the police, but the loss of any trust towards the theif is pretty much expected.

  19. Re:The decline of ethics????? on Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn · · Score: 1

    Remember when the CEO of Seagate said something about regretting making all these high capacity HDDs only to find that they are being used to store all this pirated content?

    Well, how on earth do you think he knew the content was there? His people are violating customer privacy by examining the contents of the drives. Can you imagine finding racy pictures of your wife or girl friend on the internet from these guys stealing your photos off crashed hard drives?


    I wouldn't go so far as to say Seagate is examing the contents of failed harddrives that come in from just that quote. It's pretty obvious that the one of the main reasons people buy large harddrives is to hold large amounhs of media, and it's also pretty obvious to me that if you need high end large capacity harddrives to hold your media collection, chances are pretty good you've pirated atleast some of it.

  20. Re:ahh on Arrest Under New NY Anti-Piracy Law · · Score: 1

    The worst part is that the most common sized LCD I see out there are 17", followed by 19". These have a 5:4 aspect ratio to accomodate the oddball 1280x1024 resolution, which means that if you run it an any other resolution you also stretch the picture vertically. Just plain ugly.

    I really wish that manufacturers would start selling high DPI desktop LCD's. A 1600x1200 resolution 15-17" LCD would be totally awesome.

  21. Re:Also on iPhone Battery Replacement An Unwelcome Surprise · · Score: 1

    Sony doesn't tell people how much it would cost to replace there power supple on their TVs, and my blender didn't come with a statement telling me how much it would cost to replace the motor, and none of my mother boards post how much it will cost to replace the battery on the motherboard. I think the gravy train just rolled in! get me a lawyer.

    Battries are a consumable, power supplies and motors (generally) are not. People expect having to replace the battery. That's the difference.

  22. Re:Warranty repair? on iPhone Battery Replacement An Unwelcome Surprise · · Score: 1

    I fired up the old Super Nintendo not too long ago, and all my games that had a battery backup still held data just fine. Even the ones that were new in 1991. A couple of years ago, I did have one lose it's memory which made me think that it had a bad battery, but after that it's been working fine since so it was probably some fluke.

    The trick to replacing them as far as I can tell is having the special screwdriver. The battery itself is a standard button battery.

  23. Re:whats going on? on iPhone Battery Replacement An Unwelcome Surprise · · Score: 1

    Funny, but when I google for "iPod battery" I get dozens of services who aren't apple who'll swap it out for me. Where's the forced obsolescence, or force no-third-party part again?

    The point isn't that you can't replace the battery, it's just that they make it hard enough/expensive enough that most people aren't going to bother with it.

  24. Re:$87? Big deal! on iPhone Battery Replacement An Unwelcome Surprise · · Score: 1

    His point still stands, form over function leads to crappy bus powered USB ports on the keyboard instead of easily accessible front USB ports on the computer.

    Also, I would guess that the thumbdrive would work in a fair number of bus powered hubs. You might be surprised at how many devices don't follow the spec, though I'm not blaming Apple for doing it right.

  25. Re:record clarification on iPhone Battery Replacement An Unwelcome Surprise · · Score: 1

    Commodore sold 17 millions C64's which is the record for number of computers sold as far as I know. I seriously doubt that Apple has sold that iMac G3's, and maybe not even that many iMacs total.