You know what, this guy brought the very Internet that we have all grown to know and love to the homes of millions of Americans.
He's helped all of us programmers, system administrators, and consultants earn more by adding substantially to our customer base. More computer users means more of a market for computer experts like all of us.
I only wish they would keep him around a bit longer. Sure, they waste some CDs and packaging material, but all in all they've done us a great amount of good.
Mp3 technology is mature and there will always be a way to download an entire album with a simple double-click of the mouse. Unless the Internet computers are blatantly destroyed and the network fiberoptics are ripped out of buildings across the world, we have nothing to worry about -- there will always be a fresh supply of movies, music, and pornographic images to download at little or no cost. After all, Digital Rights Management (often referred to as "DRM" by Microsoft and press officials) simply do not work and there is no paramount method for secure file protection.
What we should be focusing on, however, are those exploits that continue to exist today, years after there were first uncovered.
I'm talking about Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) that can destroy Unix boxes in mere minutes. I'm talking about SSH and SNMP problems that have been plaguing Linux and Solaris for months now U7 Line Printer Daemon (LPD). And last but certainly not least, we have millions of Sendmail, BIND/DNS, and crappy password-related installations all across the world.
It's not music that we must worry about, it's the security of our investments, retirement funds, and government registrations that we need to ensure remain on computer storages, untampered, for years to come.
Just look at Windows Media Player 9's increasing dominance. Christ, its licensing fees are half the price of the so-called "free" MPEG-4 specification.
With that kind of economics, no wonder no one can beat Microsoft.
From Damage Studios' site: As far as The Game goes, we're on track for meeting our prototype deadlines, which makes everyone pretty buzzed. We had our second art review on Friday, and the concepts are really coming along. I don't want to go too far into that, because I don't want to ruin the anticipatory magic.
Apparently, you can get frequent updates by signing up for the mailing list.
If something supposedly changes one's life and they don't even notice, then simple logic tends to suggest that nothing really ever changed in the first place.
Well, at least that's how it seems to me. Perhaps I need some more chai tea, but it seems I'm right on this particular issue.
There are barely any decent clients, the entire back-end of DNS is horribly managed, most servers suck, and the protocol is un-Godly with horrific syntactic and semantic instructions.
Someone please invent an upgrade to this archaic system so attacks like the one featured in this article no longer happen.
SMTP should be thrown out the window too, but a replacement for that is even further away than one for DNS.
If they're so dumb as to think they could possibly win a war against the US, UK, and every other Allied force, then I say let them go up in flames with the rest of Saddam's "elite" Republican Guard forces.
I watched a detailed documentary on the Persian Gulf War that took place back in 1991, and we totally dominated Hussein's crew. In fact, Schwartzkopf seriously overestimated the Iraqi forces, and 3 out of 4 Iraqi soldiers surrendered without a fight. Over 70,000 Iraqi soldiers walked miles and miles in one of the longest surrender lines ever. US and UK forces were smiling the entire time because it was like taking candy from a baby.
We didn't even finish killing all of Hussein's Republican Guard troops because Bush called the war off after pictures of how terribly we eliminated the Iraqis showed up on TV. There were thousands of charred bodies all over the place. We hit a carpool of hundreds of escaping Iraqi rebels who had just raided Kuwait houses and raped and piliged Kuwaiti citizens.
Iraq got what they deserved then, but they got off easy in the end. This time, Saddam and his regime will be finished forever.
When it comes to games, I urge you all to ditch your "only Open-Souce" principles.
The goal of gaming is to have fun. Stop worrying about device drivers, monitor drivers, serial numbers, low ping connectivity, mouse drivers, keyboard configurations, etc. and just play fun, easy-to-use games on a traditional console gaming system.
Gamecube and X-box are the two best choices these days. You can get a Gamecube for $139 (half of a day's salary) and all you do then is simply chuck one of the many amazingly fun games into the device, turn on your TV, and start smiling.
An X-box is as low as $199 and now includes special new controllers and two great games in this starter package. It's a great bargain, and with their new online play, it's better than ever. You can turn everything on and be playing HALO against someone in China and someone in France in less than 15 seconds.
Really cool!
When it comes to games, I don't care if it's Linux or Microsoft or whatever, I just stick to the proven console games that always work since all the hardware's the same. It makes life so much easier.
My dad always said that the only people who need to fear the law are those who plan on breaking it.
I realize injustices happen on rare occasions, but generally if you do to others as you'd do to yourself you'll be fine. So, keep your blog up and don't lose sleep over any potential lawsuits:-)
... the first thing I'd do is slap some Type-R stickers on this baby.
I mean, according to the specs page, it's only got 120 horsepower. I'd definitely have to keep adding and try to get that over 300.
After the stickers, I'd probably buy some shiny alloy propeller covers for the engine. Nothing says speed like a bling blingin' shine.
Then I'd alter the exhaust. To get better performance and an altogether faster ride, I'd replace the existing muffler with a stainless steel, hole-bored version. This would allow for a louder, more powerful sounding flight. Nearly everyone recognizes that fart can noises are sure signs of a ton of horses in the engine.
Last but not least, I'd get some neon lighting for above the head of the passenger, a few blacklight stickers for the interior portion, bright blue Xenon lights for nighttime flying, and a few custom Eminem and Jay-Z mixes for some kick ass in-flight tunage!
Well, I felt it was more entertaining than most films are, and the fact that it did so while presenting interesting content that's not well-known or even discussed (it was never in any of my historical textbooks) was certainly a plus.
I really enjoy DiCaprio's films, partly because he's a good, attractive young actor, but also because they tend to be very good scripts with top-notch screenwriters, directors, and producers behind them.
DiCaprio's first couple films were great, but Titanic upset some folks because they felt it was an easy role for him and they probably disliked that he got so big, so fast. Catch Me If You Can, just released last month, was also a great film, so I'm excited to see his next ones as well.
Why is everything that gets posted on Slashdot these days either:
A) A write-up done by someone boasting about their latest article, experiment, or "product", or B) A write-up done by one of the editors that sounds sneakily like an inside-job advertisement done to line the wallets of VA, OSDN, Slashdot, or whoever the hell owns this site these days
Just an honest question -- don't mean to offend anyone.
They brought Linux out from the dusty closets of computer hackers and to the front lines -- of the American economy, that is.
Mandrake is now sold pre-loaded on millions of inexpensive, high-quality computers at Wal-Mart stores country-wide.
Before you diss this newbie-tailored distro, remember that it really was Mandrake, and not Red Hat, Solaris, or Slackware that brought Linux to the masses.
Business Week, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal all write about Linux based largely in part on the inclusion of Mandrake on many popular-selling computers.
More and more we are seeing that dependability, reliability, and faster access times are paramount to overall storage capacity of hard disk drives.
Is a 100GB hard drive even worth $100.00 if it suddently stops spinning or the disk access arm breaks off after two years of use?
I do appreciate the storage capacities going higher as time progresses, but I do not appreciate the craftsmanship decreasing at such a rapid rate that warranties are now down to a year for your typical drive rather than 10 years as it should be.
I use my computer for writing code, utilizing the Internet (browsing, email, instant messaging), and printing greetings cards. Very rarely you may also catch me gaming a bit, usually just Hearts or Spider Solitaire though.
I don't even attempt to mess around with multimedia on the PC because it's just not intuitive. When I want to watch a movie, I stick a DVD disc into my DVD player and relax on the couch. When I want to listen to music, I stick a CD disc into my 6 disc changer and relax, again, on the couch while reading the newspaper or something.
I don't understand what all this fuss is about. I just choose to avoid the nonsense and anti-piracy police by not using multimedia stuff on the computer. It'll save you tons of money and lots of headaches, that I guarantee.
Most people I feel would find that playing games on console gaming systems rather than computers, and using CDs and DVDs on their TV and home stereo systems rather than the computer, will save them lots of trouble.
More wireless data zipping around through the air = Higher chance of contracting a cancerous disease
Christ, if everyone had a cellphone and one of these new wireless watches, the average lifespan would probably drop to 40 years of age, and cancer would offset AIDS as the number one killer.
I'm a hardcore geek and have expert certification on everything from Windows 2000 to A+ certs to Novell Network certs to CISCO certs to _____ . You name it, I've done it.
But I personally could probably just barely piece one of these "home media units" together. Furthermore, I wouldn't even know what to use it for.
Some of us, like myself, still buy CDs from BMG and Columbia House. Yes, you read that correctly -- some of us still buy CDs.
So, we have more need for 6 disc changes than we do for 10 GB discs of hard drives on which to store mostly-illegally-obtained mp3s.
Sorry to rant, but:
1) HP clearly is out of their league and doesn't know their market, and, 2) No one aside from the most hardcore Slashdotter would even know what to do with one of these
I realize that someone who uses their brains to actually make some money is rare around here, but try me.
How does this Demoscene DVD story pertain to the following? ->
- My sexy blonde hair, blue eyed girlfriend - My BMW 3-series convertible with all-wheel drive and both the Premium and Sport packages (yes, we're talking Xenon headlights, all leather, 6 CD changer, 200+ watt stereo, heated seats, etc.) - My summer house on Long Island - My winter house off the cost of Florida
And last, but not least - My work, where I get paid to use my mind rather than choosing, like many of you, to sit at home, unemployed, and force my family to succumb to poorness and thoughts of when the next welfare check will arrive
... compile your typical "Go two blocks, Turn left, Turn right twice, Repeat" walking algorithm into binary code and see how many people end up as road pizza.
Slashdot Mirror
You know what, this guy brought the very Internet that we have all grown to know and love to the homes of millions of Americans.
He's helped all of us programmers, system administrators, and consultants earn more by adding substantially to our customer base. More computer users means more of a market for computer experts like all of us.
I only wish they would keep him around a bit longer. Sure, they waste some CDs and packaging material, but all in all they've done us a great amount of good.
... and worrying about are the following.
Mp3 technology is mature and there will always be a way to download an entire album with a simple double-click of the mouse. Unless the Internet computers are blatantly destroyed and the network fiberoptics are ripped out of buildings across the world, we have nothing to worry about -- there will always be a fresh supply of movies, music, and pornographic images to download at little or no cost. After all, Digital Rights Management (often referred to as "DRM" by Microsoft and press officials) simply do not work and there is no paramount method for secure file protection.
What we should be focusing on, however, are those exploits that continue to exist today, years after there were first uncovered.
I'm talking about Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) that can destroy Unix boxes in mere minutes. I'm talking about SSH and SNMP problems that have been plaguing Linux and Solaris for months now
U7 Line Printer Daemon (LPD). And last but certainly not least, we have millions of Sendmail, BIND/DNS, and crappy password-related installations all across the world.
It's not music that we must worry about, it's the security of our investments, retirement funds, and government registrations that we need to ensure remain on computer storages, untampered, for years to come.
Just look at Windows Media Player 9's increasing dominance. Christ, its licensing fees are half the price of the so-called "free" MPEG-4 specification.
With that kind of economics, no wonder no one can beat Microsoft.
From Damage Studios' site:
As far as The Game goes, we're on track for meeting our prototype deadlines, which makes everyone pretty buzzed. We had our second art review on Friday, and the concepts are really coming along. I don't want to go too far into that, because I don't want to ruin the anticipatory magic.
Apparently, you can get frequent updates by signing up for the mailing list.
Nice work so far, Chris.
When the hell's Chris DiBona's (aka ChrisD) so-called "company" going to release their so-called "best game ever"?
If something supposedly changes one's life and they don't even notice, then simple logic tends to suggest that nothing really ever changed in the first place.
Well, at least that's how it seems to me. Perhaps I need some more chai tea, but it seems I'm right on this particular issue.
... I'm being naive here, but my life hasn't changed a damn bit in the past four years.
So I honestly and candidly pose this question -- What's so bad about the DMCA again?
There are barely any decent clients, the entire back-end of DNS is horribly managed, most servers suck, and the protocol is un-Godly with horrific syntactic and semantic instructions.
Someone please invent an upgrade to this archaic system so attacks like the one featured in this article no longer happen.
SMTP should be thrown out the window too, but a replacement for that is even further away than one for DNS.
If they're so dumb as to think they could possibly win a war against the US, UK, and every other Allied force, then I say let them go up in flames with the rest of Saddam's "elite" Republican Guard forces.
I watched a detailed documentary on the Persian Gulf War that took place back in 1991, and we totally dominated Hussein's crew. In fact, Schwartzkopf seriously overestimated the Iraqi forces, and 3 out of 4 Iraqi soldiers surrendered without a fight. Over 70,000 Iraqi soldiers walked miles and miles in one of the longest surrender lines ever. US and UK forces were smiling the entire time because it was like taking candy from a baby.
We didn't even finish killing all of Hussein's Republican Guard troops because Bush called the war off after pictures of how terribly we eliminated the Iraqis showed up on TV. There were thousands of charred bodies all over the place. We hit a carpool of hundreds of escaping Iraqi rebels who had just raided Kuwait houses and raped and piliged Kuwaiti citizens.
Iraq got what they deserved then, but they got off easy in the end. This time, Saddam and his regime will be finished forever.
When it comes to games, I urge you all to ditch your "only Open-Souce" principles.
The goal of gaming is to have fun. Stop worrying about device drivers, monitor drivers, serial numbers, low ping connectivity, mouse drivers, keyboard configurations, etc. and just play fun, easy-to-use games on a traditional console gaming system.
Gamecube and X-box are the two best choices these days. You can get a Gamecube for $139 (half of a day's salary) and all you do then is simply chuck one of the many amazingly fun games into the device, turn on your TV, and start smiling.
An X-box is as low as $199 and now includes special new controllers and two great games in this starter package. It's a great bargain, and with their new online play, it's better than ever. You can turn everything on and be playing HALO against someone in China and someone in France in less than 15 seconds.
Really cool!
When it comes to games, I don't care if it's Linux or Microsoft or whatever, I just stick to the proven console games that always work since all the hardware's the same. It makes life so much easier.
My dad always said that the only people who need to fear the law are those who plan on breaking it.
:-)
I realize injustices happen on rare occasions, but generally if you do to others as you'd do to yourself you'll be fine. So, keep your blog up and don't lose sleep over any potential lawsuits
... the first thing I'd do is slap some Type-R stickers on this baby.
I mean, according to the specs page, it's only got 120 horsepower. I'd definitely have to keep adding and try to get that over 300.
After the stickers, I'd probably buy some shiny alloy propeller covers for the engine. Nothing says speed like a bling blingin' shine.
Then I'd alter the exhaust. To get better performance and an altogether faster ride, I'd replace the existing muffler with a stainless steel, hole-bored version. This would allow for a louder, more powerful sounding flight. Nearly everyone recognizes that fart can noises are sure signs of a ton of horses in the engine.
Last but not least, I'd get some neon lighting for above the head of the passenger, a few blacklight stickers for the interior portion, bright blue Xenon lights for nighttime flying, and a few custom Eminem and Jay-Z mixes for some kick ass in-flight tunage!
Anyone else think laws should be open-sourced so that we all, as a community of Americans, can view, revise, and change things as need be?
(If we could do this, cruel and blatantly odd laws that allow such travesties as the DMCA, etc. wouldn't be allowed to exist.)
Well, I felt it was more entertaining than most films are, and the fact that it did so while presenting interesting content that's not well-known or even discussed (it was never in any of my historical textbooks) was certainly a plus.
I really enjoy DiCaprio's films, partly because he's a good, attractive young actor, but also because they tend to be very good scripts with top-notch screenwriters, directors, and producers behind them.
DiCaprio's first couple films were great, but Titanic upset some folks because they felt it was an easy role for him and they probably disliked that he got so big, so fast. Catch Me If You Can, just released last month, was also a great film, so I'm excited to see his next ones as well.
With a motto of News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters., it really surprises me just how few actual news pieces are posted and discussed on this blog.
Anyone else agree?
Why is everything that gets posted on Slashdot these days either:
A) A write-up done by someone boasting about their latest article, experiment, or "product",
or
B) A write-up done by one of the editors that sounds sneakily like an inside-job advertisement done to line the wallets of VA, OSDN, Slashdot, or whoever the hell owns this site these days
Just an honest question -- don't mean to offend anyone.
There hasn't been much said recently by those who keep Mandrake's books.
Their page for latest financial information hasn't had an update in several weeks.
However, their last news indicated that for fiscal year 2001-2002, revenue increased 31% and they massively reduced operating losses.
I think in the end they will stay in business because of the strength of their products and community.
They brought Linux out from the dusty closets of computer hackers and to the front lines -- of the American economy, that is.
Mandrake is now sold pre-loaded on millions of inexpensive, high-quality computers at Wal-Mart stores country-wide.
Before you diss this newbie-tailored distro, remember that it really was Mandrake, and not Red Hat, Solaris, or Slackware that brought Linux to the masses.
Business Week, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal all write about Linux based largely in part on the inclusion of Mandrake on many popular-selling computers.
More and more we are seeing that dependability, reliability, and faster access times are paramount to overall storage capacity of hard disk drives.
Is a 100GB hard drive even worth $100.00 if it suddently stops spinning or the disk access arm breaks off after two years of use?
I do appreciate the storage capacities going higher as time progresses, but I do not appreciate the craftsmanship decreasing at such a rapid rate that warranties are now down to a year for your typical drive rather than 10 years as it should be.
Now all you sketchy Linux geeks can use your favorite operating system to help you get laid.
Just drag or call women from the neighborhood over to your basement and let the drinking begin.
Your "rugged" look will start to get sexier and sexier with every drink that the girls consume courtesy of your Linux-powered virginity crusher!
I use my computer for writing code, utilizing the Internet (browsing, email, instant messaging), and printing greetings cards. Very rarely you may also catch me gaming a bit, usually just Hearts or Spider Solitaire though.
I don't even attempt to mess around with multimedia on the PC because it's just not intuitive. When I want to watch a movie, I stick a DVD disc into my DVD player and relax on the couch. When I want to listen to music, I stick a CD disc into my 6 disc changer and relax, again, on the couch while reading the newspaper or something.
I don't understand what all this fuss is about. I just choose to avoid the nonsense and anti-piracy police by not using multimedia stuff on the computer. It'll save you tons of money and lots of headaches, that I guarantee.
Most people I feel would find that playing games on console gaming systems rather than computers, and using CDs and DVDs on their TV and home stereo systems rather than the computer, will save them lots of trouble.
More wireless data zipping around through the air = Higher chance of contracting a cancerous disease
Christ, if everyone had a cellphone and one of these new wireless watches, the average lifespan would probably drop to 40 years of age, and cancer would offset AIDS as the number one killer.
... Is there a market for this kind of thing?
I'm a hardcore geek and have expert certification on everything from Windows 2000 to A+ certs to Novell Network certs to CISCO certs to _____ . You name it, I've done it.
But I personally could probably just barely piece one of these "home media units" together. Furthermore, I wouldn't even know what to use it for.
Some of us, like myself, still buy CDs from BMG and Columbia House. Yes, you read that correctly -- some of us still buy CDs.
So, we have more need for 6 disc changes than we do for 10 GB discs of hard drives on which to store mostly-illegally-obtained mp3s.
Sorry to rant, but:
1) HP clearly is out of their league and doesn't know their market,
and,
2) No one aside from the most hardcore Slashdotter would even know what to do with one of these
I realize that someone who uses their brains to actually make some money is rare around here, but try me.
How does this Demoscene DVD story pertain to the following? ->
- My sexy blonde hair, blue eyed girlfriend
- My BMW 3-series convertible with all-wheel drive and both the Premium and Sport packages (yes, we're talking Xenon headlights, all leather, 6 CD changer, 200+ watt stereo, heated seats, etc.)
- My summer house on Long Island
- My winter house off the cost of Florida
And last, but not least
- My work, where I get paid to use my mind rather than choosing, like many of you, to sit at home, unemployed, and force my family to succumb to poorness and thoughts of when the next welfare check will arrive
Thank you for your advice and support!
... compile your typical "Go two blocks, Turn left, Turn right twice, Repeat" walking algorithm into binary code and see how many people end up as road pizza.