"I have an original iPod, the 5Gig model. At the time, it was sold as 1000 songs in your pocket. I can't help noticing that this same device is advertising 2,500 songs. So, err...bit rate? I think they're claiming a little too much for themselves."
Yes, it's the bit rate. According to the article: "2500 songs at 64kbps WMA. 1250 songs at 128kbps MP3. 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Available capacity will be less. Reported capacity will vary."
I think 2500 songs isn't enough. Encode them at 32kbps and get 5000. Better yet, encode them at 16kbps and get 10000! Or, if you want to be extreme, encode them at 1kbps and get 160,000 songs on your device! Wow!
What's to keep people from encrypting communications, and using commercial satellite systems? In fact, you could put up a satellite system and market it for commercial use. Then, when you use it to transmit your nefarious plans, the US won't want to take it down because it would be too large of a disruption to US businesses.
The number of US pennies minted in 2004 was 4,952,000,000. So the number of pennies needed for the trip is only about 0.2% of the number of pennies minted in the last year.
As this article points out (http://www.vnunet.com/news/1155836) antivirus software in Linux is pretty rare. But it does exist, if for no other reason than to detect Windows viruses on Linux file servers. Also, as linux gets more popular, I think it's only a matter of time before we see a linux virus that targets one of the major distros.
First, taking away rights to install software can be difficult if you support a user base that needs to have admin rights on their own systems.
Second, I'm just a desktop support guy. I fix computers all day and get a check at the end of the week. Creating policies is not something that's in my job description. Enforcing policies that cause friction between me and my customer base is something I tend to avoid.
I don't have a lot of confidence that complaining to management about the situation is going to get anything done. So I try to educate my customer base as well as I can. I keep my customers happy, and I don't hear any complaints from above. Besides, Cleaning off spyware = plenty of work = job security.
My company has a security policy that explicitly states that our users are not allowed to install non-approved software. Yet at the same time I spend large amounts of time removing spy/ad/malware from their computers. So since they aren't installing it, which would be against our policy, where is it coming from? Maybe our policy isn't long enough. Or perhaps we need to use a larger size font, and more BOLD TYPE.
I think it's great that Linux can run that stable. But really, outside of bragging rights, does it really matter that your computer is up that long? I'm not trying to bash either side, but there are very, very few cases (IMHO) where a computer needs to be up for 99 days without a reboot.
Yes, there are some pretty light and small laptops that can be had for not much money. Personally I like the Toshiba 7100 series for old systems that are still light-weight.
Don't just focus on toner. Yes, you will replace toner more often than anything else. But there are other consumables, like the fuser, the imaging drum, transfer kits, and pick-up rollers.
I'm curious if this is going to be a T-mobile exclusive. I got a chance to play with a pre-release version of this at another major wireless company 4 months ago. This makes me wonder if someone besides T-mobile will be offering this device, though I have not heard if my company will or will not.
How about not documenting your job? Then when your replacement finds out he can't do what you did you can get hired back as a consultant for triple the pay.
That sounds great, but as a desktop support drone at a major company (40,000 people) I can tell you it doesn't always work out that way. Here's what really happens:
The user has a 4 year old CPx laptop the company won't replace because it doesn't have the budget (unless you're a director or higher). The OS gets fried from spyware, adware, viruses, etc. All the spares are ancient systems too.
Backups and restores take longer because no one seems to keep files on any network servers. The 350 MB limit on storage space doesn't help. Those 4 year old hard drives sometimes fail, and we don't have a budget for data recovery, so it's up to desktop support to make a best effort.
Systems are often out of warranty, so we have to scavange parts from reclaimed systems. If we can't fix a system, then we have to order another reclaim in from the warehouse, which takes at least a day.
We have a couple loaners, but they won't have the user's files or custom programs. If it's not too busy we can transfer data from the old hard drive pretty quickly. But if there are a lot of tickets, take a number and expect to wait a few hours.
All that adds up to a lot of downtime over a year. I had one poor guy who went through 3 laptops in 2 weeks because of this. By then I just gave him a loaner to keep since we where getting DOA reclaims.
Oh, and as for viruses, our team here is pretty good, but we did have one virus where we had to go desk-to-desk with a patch CD. Some people where down for the entire day.
From Microsoft's own web site: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/document ation/W indows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resour ces/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc _fil_tdrn.asp
MS Windows can mount FAT 32 partitions larger than 32 GB, but will not create partitions larger than 32GB.
It seems to me that the easiest thing to do would be to have someone tap the counter on the shoulder and pull him aside for a couple of minutes. You won't have to go through the trouble of kicking him out, and he'll lose track of what's being played at the table.
Simple - use the same password. OK, I know it's not secure. Because if someone gets my New York Times password, then he can log on to slashdot, and there goes all my valuable karma. Although, that does bring up a potential advantage of a Passport type site. If I want to change my password, how many different places will I have to change it on?
When it comes to movies, you also have to consider supply and demand. Think about it this way: You have a couple of kids, and you want to take them to see a movie. There are 7 different movies playing at the local multiplex, and only 1 is rated G. You will probably see that movie, because it's the only one appropriate for your kids. Therefore that movie sells a lot of tickets. On the other hand, if 3 or 4 of the movies where rated G, you would see that the number of tickets sold for each movie would not be as high. The reason G movies have done so well is that there is a semi-captive audience, and not as many movies for that audience to watch.
Of course that wouldn't happen if it wasn't for the fact that Windows has autoplay turned on by default. And it will happily run executables without user intervention. All this to save people from the horrible inconvenience of clicking "OK" on a dialog box.
Admin access is easy to get in most places. I work in Desktop Support at a large company, so I have admin access to most systems. Just do this:
1. Call the help desk because you want to make some small system change that requires admin rights.
2. When the desktop support guy comes over mention how easy it would be for you to make the change yourself, if you just had admin rights.
3. Repeat as necessary.
If you aren't a jerk, and the desktop support guy thinks you have a clue about what you're doing, that person will likely just give you admin rights.
Slashdot Mirror
"I have an original iPod, the 5Gig model. At the time, it was sold as 1000 songs in your pocket. I can't help noticing that this same device is advertising 2,500 songs. So, err...bit rate? I think they're claiming a little too much for themselves."
Yes, it's the bit rate. According to the article:
"2500 songs at 64kbps WMA. 1250 songs at 128kbps MP3. 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Available capacity will be less. Reported capacity will vary."
I think 2500 songs isn't enough. Encode them at 32kbps and get 5000. Better yet, encode them at 16kbps and get 10000! Or, if you want to be extreme, encode them at 1kbps and get 160,000 songs on your device! Wow!
What's to keep people from encrypting communications, and using commercial satellite systems? In fact, you could put up a satellite system and market it for commercial use. Then, when you use it to transmit your nefarious plans, the US won't want to take it down because it would be too large of a disruption to US businesses.
The number of US pennies minted in 2004 was 4,952,000,000. So the number of pennies needed for the trip is only about 0.2% of the number of pennies minted in the last year.
As this article points out (http://www.vnunet.com/news/1155836) antivirus software in Linux is pretty rare. But it does exist, if for no other reason than to detect Windows viruses on Linux file servers. Also, as linux gets more popular, I think it's only a matter of time before we see a linux virus that targets one of the major distros.
First, taking away rights to install software can be difficult if you support a user base that needs to have admin rights on their own systems.
Second, I'm just a desktop support guy. I fix computers all day and get a check at the end of the week. Creating policies is not something that's in my job description. Enforcing policies that cause friction between me and my customer base is something I tend to avoid.
I don't have a lot of confidence that complaining to management about the situation is going to get anything done. So I try to educate my customer base as well as I can. I keep my customers happy, and I don't hear any complaints from above. Besides, Cleaning off spyware = plenty of work = job security.
My company has a security policy that explicitly states that our users are not allowed to install non-approved software. Yet at the same time I spend large amounts of time removing spy/ad/malware from their computers. So since they aren't installing it, which would be against our policy, where is it coming from? Maybe our policy isn't long enough. Or perhaps we need to use a larger size font, and more BOLD TYPE.
I think it's great that Linux can run that stable. But really, outside of bragging rights, does it really matter that your computer is up that long? I'm not trying to bash either side, but there are very, very few cases (IMHO) where a computer needs to be up for 99 days without a reboot.
Yes, there are some pretty light and small laptops that can be had for not much money. Personally I like the Toshiba 7100 series for old systems that are still light-weight.
I don't know. Does anyone at Pontiac know about this project? And when they find out, will they care?
Don't just focus on toner. Yes, you will replace toner more often than anything else. But there are other consumables, like the fuser, the imaging drum, transfer kits, and pick-up rollers.
I'm curious if this is going to be a T-mobile exclusive. I got a chance to play with a pre-release version of this at another major wireless company 4 months ago. This makes me wonder if someone besides T-mobile will be offering this device, though I have not heard if my company will or will not.
"The damn things have be set on fire to get them to stop working."
Is it just me, or does it sound like there's a good story behind this statement?
Unlike email, snail mail has an envelope. Hence you can check the mail for evidence of tampering.
How about not documenting your job? Then when your replacement finds out he can't do what you did you can get hired back as a consultant for triple the pay.
That sounds great, but as a desktop support drone at a major company (40,000 people) I can tell you it doesn't always work out that way. Here's what really happens:
The user has a 4 year old CPx laptop the company won't replace because it doesn't have the budget (unless you're a director or higher). The OS gets fried from spyware, adware, viruses, etc. All the spares are ancient systems too.
Backups and restores take longer because no one seems to keep files on any network servers. The 350 MB limit on storage space doesn't help. Those 4 year old hard drives sometimes fail, and we don't have a budget for data recovery, so it's up to desktop support to make a best effort.
Systems are often out of warranty, so we have to scavange parts from reclaimed systems. If we can't fix a system, then we have to order another reclaim in from the warehouse, which takes at least a day.
We have a couple loaners, but they won't have the user's files or custom programs. If it's not too busy we can transfer data from the old hard drive pretty quickly. But if there are a lot of tickets, take a number and expect to wait a few hours.
All that adds up to a lot of downtime over a year. I had one poor guy who went through 3 laptops in 2 weeks because of this. By then I just gave him a loaner to keep since we where getting DOA reclaims.
Oh, and as for viruses, our team here is pretty good, but we did have one virus where we had to go desk-to-desk with a patch CD. Some people where down for the entire day.
He's not dead. He's sitting frozen in a secret chamber underneath the olympic stadium in Tokyo.
From Microsoft's own web site:t ation/W indows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resour ces/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc _fil_tdrn.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documen
MS Windows can mount FAT 32 partitions larger than 32 GB, but will not create partitions larger than 32GB.
It seems to me that the easiest thing to do would be to have someone tap the counter on the shoulder and pull him aside for a couple of minutes. You won't have to go through the trouble of kicking him out, and he'll lose track of what's being played at the table.
Simple: The article may, in fact, be a troll. But it is a very, very funny troll. And that makes all the diference.
Well if they weren't using it before, they are using it now.
I'm holding out for the 3-headed Knight option.
Simple - use the same password. OK, I know it's not secure. Because if someone gets my New York Times password, then he can log on to slashdot, and there goes all my valuable karma. Although, that does bring up a potential advantage of a Passport type site. If I want to change my password, how many different places will I have to change it on?
When it comes to movies, you also have to consider supply and demand. Think about it this way: You have a couple of kids, and you want to take them to see a movie. There are 7 different movies playing at the local multiplex, and only 1 is rated G. You will probably see that movie, because it's the only one appropriate for your kids. Therefore that movie sells a lot of tickets. On the other hand, if 3 or 4 of the movies where rated G, you would see that the number of tickets sold for each movie would not be as high. The reason G movies have done so well is that there is a semi-captive audience, and not as many movies for that audience to watch.
Of course that wouldn't happen if it wasn't for the fact that Windows has autoplay turned on by default. And it will happily run executables without user intervention. All this to save people from the horrible inconvenience of clicking "OK" on a dialog box.
Admin access is easy to get in most places. I work in Desktop Support at a large company, so I have admin access to most systems. Just do this: 1. Call the help desk because you want to make some small system change that requires admin rights. 2. When the desktop support guy comes over mention how easy it would be for you to make the change yourself, if you just had admin rights. 3. Repeat as necessary. If you aren't a jerk, and the desktop support guy thinks you have a clue about what you're doing, that person will likely just give you admin rights.