Agreed. What would the harm have been to wait and put this on the next Slashback? Slashbacks tend to generate a bit less traffic to the target site, but they cover the story effectively.
Sorry, but as someone who's experienced several slashdottings, I can attest to the fact that a Slashdotting can be a pain to manage on it's own. It's always fun, but it sometimes takes a lot of work to keep things going. Considering that these folks had just gotten buried by Google searchers, it seems like kind of a dick thing to do to then submit them to a Slashdotting. How hard is it for a Slashdot editor to send an email to the site administrator asking if they're ready for a Slashdotting? I'm not saying in all cases - but in a case like this, it just seems like the right thing to do.
Slashdot exists because of other sites, and operates as a forum essentially for the exchange of ideas. It should respect the maintainers of websites - after all, they're what makes Slashdot what it is!
"It is just that IT is the worst I have found to date, and I see no good way to improve the situation."
You should try your hand in politics - it makes IT cubicle look like the Vatican. Or, ironically, religion.
I'm not questioning your decision - it is yours alone. At the same time, keep in mind that essentially all industries are initially funded by vaporware.
The industries that survive are the ones which maintain a decent delivery:con artist ratio. In otherwords, if IT becomes overrun by con artists, consumer confidence suffers and the industry implodes. The dotcom bust is a perfect example of this principle in action. Now it's harder for these con artists to scam investors or consumers, as nearly every financer has already been burned at least once.
I won't argue that there aren't con artists or charlatans in IT, but I will argue that the ratio has been significantly reduced in this last recession (revisit wheat/chaff analogy) - and as such, IT will fall into line with other industry practices... just as automakers and other industries had to.
Looking for ethics in capitalism is laudable, but unrealistic. Likewise, looking for a work ethic in socialism or communism is laudable, but unrealistic.
It's business, and ethics have very little to do with it aside from marketing BS. Real estate is is sold like software is sold - have you ever seen a model home? Used cars are sold everyday in the same way.
The point is, good luck finding a business sector that isn't filled with scumbags. Short of going into a monastery, the second best thing is to be an example of the ethics and morality that you hold up. And when you see someone abusing those ethics and morality, do what you can to push them out. That's not unethical - it's called separating the wheat from the chaff.
A million kids have web design website up and running. Calling most of them "actual businesses" is like calling a door-to-door vacuum salesman an "account executive."
As an aside, it seems to me that if you are going to charge to set someone up with a website, and you have a button at the bottom claiming XHTML 1.0 compliance, you'd better be compliant. At least, an "actual business" would be.
###
This page is not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional! Below are the results of attempting to parse this document with an SGML parser.
Line 247, column 59: there is no attribute "leftmargin" (explain...)...." text="#000000" id="all" leftmargin="10" topmargin="10" marginwidth="10" mar
Line 247, column 74: there is no attribute "topmargin" (explain...)...." id="all" leftmargin="10" topmargin="10" marginwidth="10" marginheight="10"
###
This goes on and on, no need to paste it all. Point is, claiming that this is an actual business is a joke.
Nice intro. A typical response when inconsistencies are pointed out.
The ends don't justify the means.
"The Diebold memos, however they were obtained, establish what amounts to a pattern of knowing violation of the election laws "
Some of the Democratic memos establish a knowing violation of public process transparency laws - ie. meetings behind closed doors derived using taxpayer funds or resources are not considered private (see FOIA).
The Republicans are asses for doing this to begin with. But saying it's ok to disperse info regardless of how they were obtained in one case while denying it in another is duplicitous as well. You may not like it, but that doesn't change the result: equal treatment equals good government. Preferential treatment to further a political goal does not.
In this case, we lose out on both ends. We're getting shafted by Diebold anyhow - and again by Republicans. But you can't reasonably get pissed about the methodology of one act while praising another.
After loading up my case with 8 fans to control the heat from an excessive amount of drives, I placed some soundproofing paneling on the inside. From there, I ran KVM cables about 10 feet or so to a closet. I close the door on that side, but the hatch to the attic is cracked just a bit to keep the closet cool.
Of course, it's not *completely* noiseless, but pretty damn close. Only costs were for the KVM cables, and maybe a couple of bucks a month for the warm air that leaks into the attic.
And I'd certainly rather spend that $1400 on a trip to Mexico, or something to that effect.
This isn't a new product. GoVideo's got something that'll do the same thing. I'm sure that 802.11G is possible on that as well if it isn't already (wired is STILL better for streaming video IMHO). If not, a simple module hack would do the trick - the cards they use are standard D-link wireless cards, not some unknown brand.
Pricing on the GoVideo is probably around 200-250 now, based on LinkSys's past price points, I'd expect they'll show up around the same.
I installed their software about a year or so ago, and checked out their media service. I found the software to be buggy, and yes - buffering was a pain in the ass, even on a broadband pipe. Even after subscribing (which I'm still kicking my own ass for), it seemed like there was always something being "offered" to me.
Using their service was really cool, for approximately 30 seconds. Then I realized that I could only listen to Otis Redding on there, essentially. Otis was a cool guy, but I'm not into listening to a bunch of b-side crap that noone else will license.
Uninstalling it was no problem. But when I found that they'd continued to bill me even after cancelling (and not using it), I had no end of trouble. As I'm not hand-to-mouth, I finally just cut the call short and took the loss, versus arguing with someone who sounded like she could barely read.
Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me. Thus, screw Real and the crappy service you barely provided.
I respect the effort and ingenuity, but the rationale that "hey, we're helping solve a problem" somehow justifies stealing someone else's resources... it's just wrong.
Be upfront with people - tell them why it's so important, what can be accomplished with it, and what it does. You'd be surprised - people might help out of *gasp* the goodness of their own hearts. A good example might be SETI, etc.
Two people working on a common goal constitutes a pair, or duo. A group would be, at the minimum, 3 people. Claiming otherwise would be akin to me claiming that having sex with my wife actually constituted having group sex.
14 days is nothing.
Respect the market, or the market won't respect you. End result of Apple's stagnation on this one? The iPod remains a niche product.
Not to dog the product, but $299 isn't realistic in this market.
Why spend 299 on a wireless mp3 player when you can get a DVD player with the same types of outputs that'll stream mpegs, photos *and* Mp3s - in either wired or wireless mode? Same setup - a server on the PC, all streamed to the player.
Zackbar,
Thanks for recognizing the hard work the EFF does - they've been an outstanding ally to the community.
Your comments and actions make running Techfocus worth it, and provide the evidence and motivation that this type of article does make a difference. I hope that others have done the same!
Bill Royle
Techfocus.org
Don't blame them for it - this *is,* as a reader above mentioned, something that's really on my end. Persistant connections are a true PITA:O
Long and short of it, Apache stayed up, which was our real concern. It's handling the load nicely, but mySQL's been rough. That being said, blame me, not/. for the problem, there's no way they could have know this. In terms of the bandwidth, that's been ok, all in all things seem to be fine there.
We've spent about a month working on preparing the site for situations like these, but unfortunately it's hard to replicate the Slashdot effect on just a few test boxes. It is a real primer though in how much testing should be done for situations like these. One of the key things that we did choose to do was to format the story first on the main page, but also to keep an html file handy *just in case*. Turned out to be the saving grace, so we're happy with that for now. You can get to the main site through the html page as well, btw.
Anyhow, our appreciation to Slashdot for the mention, our thanks to the person that pointed out a grammar error, and again - our apologies for the first hour or so's hiccups!
Bill
Slashdot Mirror
Agreed. What would the harm have been to wait and put this on the next Slashback? Slashbacks tend to generate a bit less traffic to the target site, but they cover the story effectively.
Sorry, but as someone who's experienced several slashdottings, I can attest to the fact that a Slashdotting can be a pain to manage on it's own. It's always fun, but it sometimes takes a lot of work to keep things going. Considering that these folks had just gotten buried by Google searchers, it seems like kind of a dick thing to do to then submit them to a Slashdotting. How hard is it for a Slashdot editor to send an email to the site administrator asking if they're ready for a Slashdotting? I'm not saying in all cases - but in a case like this, it just seems like the right thing to do.
Slashdot exists because of other sites, and operates as a forum essentially for the exchange of ideas. It should respect the maintainers of websites - after all, they're what makes Slashdot what it is!
"It is just that IT is the worst I have found to date, and I see no good way to improve the situation."
You should try your hand in politics - it makes IT cubicle look like the Vatican. Or, ironically, religion.
I'm not questioning your decision - it is yours alone. At the same time, keep in mind that essentially all industries are initially funded by vaporware.
The industries that survive are the ones which maintain a decent delivery:con artist ratio. In otherwords, if IT becomes overrun by con artists, consumer confidence suffers and the industry implodes. The dotcom bust is a perfect example of this principle in action. Now it's harder for these con artists to scam investors or consumers, as nearly every financer has already been burned at least once.
I won't argue that there aren't con artists or charlatans in IT, but I will argue that the ratio has been significantly reduced in this last recession (revisit wheat/chaff analogy) - and as such, IT will fall into line with other industry practices... just as automakers and other industries had to.
Looking for ethics in capitalism is laudable, but unrealistic. Likewise, looking for a work ethic in socialism or communism is laudable, but unrealistic.
It's business, and ethics have very little to do with it aside from marketing BS. Real estate is is sold like software is sold - have you ever seen a model home? Used cars are sold everyday in the same way.
The point is, good luck finding a business sector that isn't filled with scumbags. Short of going into a monastery, the second best thing is to be an example of the ethics and morality that you hold up. And when you see someone abusing those ethics and morality, do what you can to push them out. That's not unethical - it's called separating the wheat from the chaff.
Losen up and read the quote more carefully, instead of taking the first opportunity to pipe in on Palestine vs Israel.
It's a shame that Slashdot doesn't inject prozac into the cookies they serve.
"BBC thinks palestinians who blow themselves (and innocent babies) are "freedom fighters"."
It could be said that anyone that's capable of blowing themself isn't a freedom fighter - just very talented.
It certainly should be said that anyone blowing innocent babies should be blown up, Palestinian or not.
A million kids have web design website up and running. Calling most of them "actual businesses" is like calling a door-to-door vacuum salesman an "account executive."
..." text="#000000" id="all" leftmargin="10" topmargin="10" marginwidth="10" mar
..." id="all" leftmargin="10" topmargin="10" marginwidth="10" marginheight="10"
As an aside, it seems to me that if you are going to charge to set someone up with a website, and you have a button at the bottom claiming XHTML 1.0 compliance, you'd better be compliant. At least, an "actual business" would be.
###
This page is not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional!
Below are the results of attempting to parse this document with an SGML parser.
Line 247, column 59: there is no attribute "leftmargin" (explain...).
Line 247, column 74: there is no attribute "topmargin" (explain...).
###
This goes on and on, no need to paste it all. Point is, claiming that this is an actual business is a joke.
Nice intro. A typical response when inconsistencies are pointed out.
The ends don't justify the means.
"The Diebold memos, however they were obtained, establish what amounts to a pattern of knowing violation of the election laws "
Some of the Democratic memos establish a knowing violation of public process transparency laws - ie. meetings behind closed doors derived using taxpayer funds or resources are not considered private (see FOIA).
The Republicans are asses for doing this to begin with. But saying it's ok to disperse info regardless of how they were obtained in one case while denying it in another is duplicitous as well. You may not like it, but that doesn't change the result: equal treatment equals good government. Preferential treatment to further a political goal does not.
In this case, we lose out on both ends. We're getting shafted by Diebold anyhow - and again by Republicans. But you can't reasonably get pissed about the methodology of one act while praising another.
It's funny - if this was Diebold with the insecure files, most here would think it was ok as it might expose some "truth."
Since the Republicans did it, it's a travesty.
Go figure.
After loading up my case with 8 fans to control the heat from an excessive amount of drives, I placed some soundproofing paneling on the inside. From there, I ran KVM cables about 10 feet or so to a closet. I close the door on that side, but the hatch to the attic is cracked just a bit to keep the closet cool. Of course, it's not *completely* noiseless, but pretty damn close. Only costs were for the KVM cables, and maybe a couple of bucks a month for the warm air that leaks into the attic. And I'd certainly rather spend that $1400 on a trip to Mexico, or something to that effect.
Call it clustering if you wish, I'll call it a prelude to an invasion.
And this is why AMD chips burn up faster than a bag of pot in Berkeley.
This isn't a new product. GoVideo's got something that'll do the same thing. I'm sure that 802.11G is possible on that as well if it isn't already (wired is STILL better for streaming video IMHO). If not, a simple module hack would do the trick - the cards they use are standard D-link wireless cards, not some unknown brand.
Pricing on the GoVideo is probably around 200-250 now, based on LinkSys's past price points, I'd expect they'll show up around the same.
But that music service was crap.
I installed their software about a year or so ago, and checked out their media service. I found the software to be buggy, and yes - buffering was a pain in the ass, even on a broadband pipe. Even after subscribing (which I'm still kicking my own ass for), it seemed like there was always something being "offered" to me.
Using their service was really cool, for approximately 30 seconds. Then I realized that I could only listen to Otis Redding on there, essentially. Otis was a cool guy, but I'm not into listening to a bunch of b-side crap that noone else will license.
Uninstalling it was no problem. But when I found that they'd continued to bill me even after cancelling (and not using it), I had no end of trouble. As I'm not hand-to-mouth, I finally just cut the call short and took the loss, versus arguing with someone who sounded like she could barely read.
Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me. Thus, screw Real and the crappy service you barely provided.
I respect the effort and ingenuity, but the rationale that "hey, we're helping solve a problem" somehow justifies stealing someone else's resources... it's just wrong.
Be upfront with people - tell them why it's so important, what can be accomplished with it, and what it does. You'd be surprised - people might help out of *gasp* the goodness of their own hearts. A good example might be SETI, etc.
Yes, terrible. That is a terrible idea.
Two people working on a common goal constitutes a pair, or duo. A group would be, at the minimum, 3 people. Claiming otherwise would be akin to me claiming that having sex with my wife actually constituted having group sex.
Wait... that's Jon Johansen. For a moment I thought some serious retribution was going down :)
14 days is nothing. Respect the market, or the market won't respect you. End result of Apple's stagnation on this one? The iPod remains a niche product.
Not to dog the product, but $299 isn't realistic in this market.
Why spend 299 on a wireless mp3 player when you can get a DVD player with the same types of outputs that'll stream mpegs, photos *and* Mp3s - in either wired or wireless mode? Same setup - a server on the PC, all streamed to the player.
Check this one: GoVideo Networked DVD player
And THAT one is $249. It's a great unit - really added a lot to the home entertainment center.
Zackbar, Thanks for recognizing the hard work the EFF does - they've been an outstanding ally to the community. Your comments and actions make running Techfocus worth it, and provide the evidence and motivation that this type of article does make a difference. I hope that others have done the same! Bill Royle Techfocus.org
Don't blame them for it - this *is,* as a reader above mentioned, something that's really on my end. Persistant connections are a true PITA :O
Long and short of it, Apache stayed up, which was our real concern. It's handling the load nicely, but mySQL's been rough. That being said, blame me, not /. for the problem, there's no way they could have know this. In terms of the bandwidth, that's been ok, all in all things seem to be fine there.
We've spent about a month working on preparing the site for situations like these, but unfortunately it's hard to replicate the Slashdot effect on just a few test boxes. It is a real primer though in how much testing should be done for situations like these. One of the key things that we did choose to do was to format the story first on the main page, but also to keep an html file handy *just in case*. Turned out to be the saving grace, so we're happy with that for now. You can get to the main site through the html page as well, btw.
Anyhow, our appreciation to Slashdot for the mention, our thanks to the person that pointed out a grammar error, and again - our apologies for the first hour or so's hiccups!
Bill