How true. These anti-monopoly lawsuits have no effect because the penalty is way too small.. slap a $10 billion penalty on 'em, we'll see just how quickly a company can straighten out (or go out of business, which is just as good.)
Why's Google wasting its time with an ancient idea like this one when there are truly innovative things out there, waiting to be done? A google search for free music online, for example, would be a major boost to independant artists, and would turn a few heads.
The point is, they have to be original if they want someone new to notice them, and webmail sure ain't original.
My concern is if VOIP is not regulated properly, it may become widespread enough that it will affect the revenue the companies that maintain the land lines
This is how competition works; there is always a trade-off between reliability, price, and a hundred other factors. If the FCC rules in favor of freedom, the consumers will get to choose whether they want reliability, cheap prices, or some combination of the two. If enough people want the reliability of land-line phones, they will stick around. If people just want the cheapest option possible, this will force land-line providers to lower their prices or go out of business. This is competition, and it is a great thing.
What we're so worried about is that the FCC will make the choice of supporting older technology for us. Not only will this set a dangerous prescedent for supressing new technology that might hurt old businesses, but it will also remove the consumers' freedom to choose what they want. Are you sure you want the government choosing your services for you?
First, you should know that the iRate radio already does exactly what you're describing.
Second, how will you ensure that this stream isn't diverted to somewhere else -- say, a hard drive? Once people start saving it, it's only a matter of time before their entire library is available on Kazaa. Programs such as StreamRipper32 already make it trivial to save shoutcast radio streams to mp3 files; I imagine this effect will be duplicated fairly quickly to save these streams.
Ever buy a print at the store? A reproduction of a work is a copyrightable work in of itself.
Actually, this is what a copyright lawyer would call a "derivative work," and it is always owned by the owner of the original. This is why I can't take the Linux source, modify a single line, and claim that I now own the copyright.
To me, this seems like a temporary layer of obscurity that would be most useful in preventing so-called 0-day exploits.
Consider this: OpenBSD is considered to be pretty much the most secure OS in existence, and over it's lifetime it has had 2 remote root exploits; both of them were in the SSH daemon. Now, suppose you leave for lunch at 11:30, a third one is discovered at 12:00, and somebody makes an attempt on your server at 12:30; your seemingly impenetrable server has now been penetrated, but what if you had "port knocking" blocking your SSH port? Any attacker would now have the additional step of trying to figure out how to activate your SSH port, which would give you plenty of time to get back from lunch and perform the upgrade. Sounds good to me.
Keep in mind that my original comment only applies to those who run web servers, not those who host websites. The point is if you're going to run your own web server, you'd better know what you're doing. If you don't, there are excellent hosting providers out there who will take care of everything for you. Needless to say, the client has to do the proper research and pick a provider that will do things in an acceptable way, whether that's throttling bandwidth usage or charging extra for it.
Whether you're the client or the admin, there is no excuse for ignorance.
You're right to a point -- no software hack can significantly increase how many pages you can serve on a limited bandwidth supply. However, one of the suggestions in my original comment is to block specific referrers once they start referring more hits than you can handle. This will still keep your site accessible to the general public, while stopping a slashdotting cold.
The point is, the webmaster gets to choose his own level of protection, ranging from a simple defense of his bandwidth supply to something more advanced.
but are there moral implications for overloading a perfectly innocent site
Oh, boo hoo. Any webmaster worthy of that title would have anticipated this possibility, and done something to handle it. Options range from using mod_bandwidth (or similar tools at the firewall level) to finely control how many people can access the server at once, to using a script to block any specific referrer once they send you 10000+ hits in one day (or redirect them to everyone's favorite site). Better yet, set up a Google adwords account beforehand and become a millionaire off the Google-dotting.
This won't stop the server from getting hammered with requests, but it will help significantly, as each request will be limited to however many bytes it takes to drop a TCP connection.
How would you feel knowing that your tax dollars put millions of dollars into the pockets of a lawyer who protected a rapist by using every means possible?
Pretty good actually, because someday I might be accused of an awful crime that I didn't commit, and I'd expect the same kind of defense.
and my mother wasn't being driven crazy by an overactive 5 year old
I think this hits at the heart of the problem, and the real reason such drugs are being overused nowadays: 5 year olds are supposed to be overactive. From the time they can walk, all non-human mammals are running around, playing/fighting with one-another, etc; this is extremely important, as those that don't get regular exercise and learn precise muscular control will soon become prey.
21st-century humans, however, are being put in school at extremely young ages. When they're supposed to be running around, getting exercise, and having fun, they're forced to sit in classroom and stare at a book. Naturally, the teacher can't do her job when the kids won't sit still, so the school will pressure the parents into giving these drugs to their kids.
Damn right 5-year-olds get distracted, and why shouldn't they?
Google to-do list..
73. Add a search for legal music downloads
This is absolutely brilliant. People here like to talk about killing the RIAA; this one Google feature, properly implemented (Pagerank-like setup to locate the best music) would literally do so overnight. Apple have demonstrated that they want to stay as far from non-RIAA music as possible; CDbaby tried to make arrangements with them - and failed. Perhaps Google will be able to do what Apple wouldn't, or couldn't
Uh, small problem: PROCESSORS ARE ALWAYS GETTING FASTER! If you create a problem that takes today's processors 10 seconds to solve, what happens when the all-new 20gHz processor comes out? If they keep the same "challenge" at this point, it is effectively negated. If you make it longer to compensate, then grandma's 300mHz system will now take about a day to send a single email. Either way, Microsoft loses.
Sure, no problem. I've been a Windows user for 10+ years and despite never using a single antivirus program, have never gotten a single trojan or spyware prog. How? First, get a good firewall; if you have a network router, that should suffice - otherwise, download ZoneAlarm. Second, find good alternatives for any Microsoft software you use that must access the Internet (in other words, ditch IE and Outlook). Configure ZoneAlarm to deny internet access to all other programs. Now just don't run untrusted executables (this means progs from Kazaa). Do all of the above, and your formerly insecure windows box will be virtually impenetrable, without ever having to buy antivirus software or even update Windows!
Dearest John: I went to the door today and the postman delivered a Partridge in a Pear Tree. What a thoroughly delightful gift! I couldn't have been more surprised. With deepest love and devotion, Agnes
Dearest John: Today the postman brought your very sweet gift. Just imagine - Two Turtle Doves! I'm just delighted at your very thoughtful gift. They are just adorable. All my love, Agnes
Dearest John: Oh, aren't you the extravagant one! Now I really must protest. I don't deserve such generosity - Three French Hens! They are just delightful, but I must insist, you've been too kind. Love, Agnes
Dearest John: Today the postman delivered Four Calling Birds. Now really, you're being too romantic. They are beautiful, but don't you think that enough is enough? Affectionately, Agnes
Dearest John: What a surprise! Today the postman delivered Five Golden Rings - one for each finger. You're just impossible, but I love it. Frankly, all those birds squawking were beginning to get on my nerves. Love, Agnes
Dear John: When I opened the door, there were actually Six Geese-A-Laying on my front steps. So you're back to the birds again, huh? Those geese are huge. Where will I keep them? The neighbors are complaining and I can't sleep through the racket. Please stop. Cordially, Agnes
John: What's with you and those fucking birds? Seven Swans-A-Swimming! What kind of a goddamn joke is this? There's bird shit all over the house and they never stop with the racket. I can't sleep at night and I'm a nervous wreck - it's not funny. So stop with those fucking birds! Sincerely, Agnes
OK Buster! I think I prefer the birds. What the hell am I going to do with 8 Maids a Milking? It's not enough with all these birds and maids a milking, but they had to bring their goddamn cows! There's shit all over the lawn and I can't move in my own house. Just lay off me, smartass! Agnes
Hey Shithead: What are you, some kind of sadist? Now there are nine Pipers Piping! And Christ do they play! They haven't stopped chasing those maids since they got here. The cows are getting upset and they're stepping all over those screeching birds. What am I going to do? The neighbors have started a petition to evict me! You'll get yours! Agnes
You Rotten Prick! Now there's Ten Ladies Dancing. I don't know why I call those sluts ladies. They've been balling those pipers all night long. The cows can't sleep and they've got diarrhea. My living room is a river of shit. The commissioner of buildings has subpoenaed me to give cause why the building shouldn't be condemned. I'm siccing the police on you. One who means it!! Agnes
Listen Fuckhead: What's with the Eleven Lords a Leaping on those Maids and Ladies? Some of those broads will never walk again. Those pipers ran through the maids and have been committing sodomy with the cows! All 23 birds are dead, they've been trampled to death in the orgy. I hope you're satisfied, you vicious, rotten swine. Your sworn enemy, Agnes
Dear Sir: This is to acknowledge receipt of your latest gift of the Twelve Drummers Drumming, which you have seen fit to inflict upon our client, Miss Agnes McHolstein. The destruction, of course, was total. All future cor-respondence should be sent to our attention. If you should attempt to contact Miss McHolstein at Happy Dale Sanitarium, the attendants have instructions to shoot on sight! With this letter you will find attached a warrant for your arrest. Cordially, Badger, Bender & Cajole
Am I really to believe that each and every one of those K-Lite download sites was hosted from a server inside the United States, and thus was vulnerable to DMCA threats? Sounds fairly hard to believe - and even if it's true, how long until someone gets it back online with a server in, say, Finland?
Slashdot Mirror
How true. These anti-monopoly lawsuits have no effect because the penalty is way too small.. slap a $10 billion penalty on 'em, we'll see just how quickly a company can straighten out (or go out of business, which is just as good.)
The point is, they have to be original if they want someone new to notice them, and webmail sure ain't original.
Don't forget your "Buying this CD funds lawsuits against children and families" stickers. Gotta have those.
How long would it take to download 5 minutes of silence on a 56k modem?
This is how competition works; there is always a trade-off between reliability, price, and a hundred other factors. If the FCC rules in favor of freedom, the consumers will get to choose whether they want reliability, cheap prices, or some combination of the two. If enough people want the reliability of land-line phones, they will stick around. If people just want the cheapest option possible, this will force land-line providers to lower their prices or go out of business. This is competition, and it is a great thing.
What we're so worried about is that the FCC will make the choice of supporting older technology for us. Not only will this set a dangerous prescedent for supressing new technology that might hurt old businesses, but it will also remove the consumers' freedom to choose what they want. Are you sure you want the government choosing your services for you?
Second, how will you ensure that this stream isn't diverted to somewhere else -- say, a hard drive? Once people start saving it, it's only a matter of time before their entire library is available on Kazaa. Programs such as StreamRipper32 already make it trivial to save shoutcast radio streams to mp3 files; I imagine this effect will be duplicated fairly quickly to save these streams.
Actually, this is what a copyright lawyer would call a "derivative work," and it is always owned by the owner of the original. This is why I can't take the Linux source, modify a single line, and claim that I now own the copyright.
LOL.. never has ThinkGeek's "see this item in action" feature seemed so useful.
Although the webpage still says 1 hole, it's actually been 2 holes for quite a while - since OpenSSH was exploited in Sept 2003.
To me, this seems like a temporary layer of obscurity that would be most useful in preventing so-called 0-day exploits.
Consider this: OpenBSD is considered to be pretty much the most secure OS in existence, and over it's lifetime it has had 2 remote root exploits; both of them were in the SSH daemon. Now, suppose you leave for lunch at 11:30, a third one is discovered at 12:00, and somebody makes an attempt on your server at 12:30; your seemingly impenetrable server has now been penetrated, but what if you had "port knocking" blocking your SSH port? Any attacker would now have the additional step of trying to figure out how to activate your SSH port, which would give you plenty of time to get back from lunch and perform the upgrade. Sounds good to me.
Keep in mind that my original comment only applies to those who run web servers, not those who host websites. The point is if you're going to run your own web server, you'd better know what you're doing. If you don't, there are excellent hosting providers out there who will take care of everything for you. Needless to say, the client has to do the proper research and pick a provider that will do things in an acceptable way, whether that's throttling bandwidth usage or charging extra for it.
Whether you're the client or the admin, there is no excuse for ignorance.
You're right to a point -- no software hack can significantly increase how many pages you can serve on a limited bandwidth supply. However, one of the suggestions in my original comment is to block specific referrers once they start referring more hits than you can handle. This will still keep your site accessible to the general public, while stopping a slashdotting cold.
The point is, the webmaster gets to choose his own level of protection, ranging from a simple defense of his bandwidth supply to something more advanced.
Oh, boo hoo. Any webmaster worthy of that title would have anticipated this possibility, and done something to handle it. Options range from using mod_bandwidth (or similar tools at the firewall level) to finely control how many people can access the server at once, to using a script to block any specific referrer once they send you 10000+ hits in one day (or redirect them to everyone's favorite site). Better yet, set up a Google adwords account beforehand and become a millionaire off the Google-dotting.
This won't stop the server from getting hammered with requests, but it will help significantly, as each request will be limited to however many bytes it takes to drop a TCP connection.
Pretty good actually, because someday I might be accused of an awful crime that I didn't commit, and I'd expect the same kind of defense.
This is an urban legend, and a false one at that. Although the coriolis force is very real, it is much too small to influence the way toilets flush.
I think this hits at the heart of the problem, and the real reason such drugs are being overused nowadays: 5 year olds are supposed to be overactive. From the time they can walk, all non-human mammals are running around, playing/fighting with one-another, etc; this is extremely important, as those that don't get regular exercise and learn precise muscular control will soon become prey.
21st-century humans, however, are being put in school at extremely young ages. When they're supposed to be running around, getting exercise, and having fun, they're forced to sit in classroom and stare at a book. Naturally, the teacher can't do her job when the kids won't sit still, so the school will pressure the parents into giving these drugs to their kids.
Damn right 5-year-olds get distracted, and why shouldn't they?
In other news, shipmakers have launched a new 'un-sinkable' ship today, and dubbed her 'The Titanic'...more to come...
No problem. Make it so the law only forbids men from being naked, and wait (and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait...) to see if anyone complains.
73. Add a search for legal music downloads
This is absolutely brilliant. People here like to talk about killing the RIAA; this one Google feature, properly implemented (Pagerank-like setup to locate the best music) would literally do so overnight. Apple have demonstrated that they want to stay as far from non-RIAA music as possible; CDbaby tried to make arrangements with them - and failed. Perhaps Google will be able to do what Apple wouldn't, or couldn't
Uh, small problem: PROCESSORS ARE ALWAYS GETTING FASTER! If you create a problem that takes today's processors 10 seconds to solve, what happens when the all-new 20gHz processor comes out? If they keep the same "challenge" at this point, it is effectively negated. If you make it longer to compensate, then grandma's 300mHz system will now take about a day to send a single email. Either way, Microsoft loses.
Sure, no problem. I've been a Windows user for 10+ years and despite never using a single antivirus program, have never gotten a single trojan or spyware prog. How? First, get a good firewall; if you have a network router, that should suffice - otherwise, download ZoneAlarm. Second, find good alternatives for any Microsoft software you use that must access the Internet (in other words, ditch IE and Outlook). Configure ZoneAlarm to deny internet access to all other programs. Now just don't run untrusted executables (this means progs from Kazaa). Do all of the above, and your formerly insecure windows box will be virtually impenetrable, without ever having to buy antivirus software or even update Windows!
Dearest John:
I went to the door today and the postman delivered a Partridge in a Pear Tree. What a thoroughly delightful gift! I couldn't have been more surprised.
With deepest love and devotion,
Agnes
Dearest John:
Today the postman brought your very sweet gift. Just imagine - Two Turtle Doves! I'm just delighted at your very thoughtful gift. They are just adorable.
All my love,
Agnes
Dearest John:
Oh, aren't you the extravagant one! Now I really must protest. I don't deserve such generosity - Three French Hens! They are just delightful, but I must insist, you've been too kind.
Love,
Agnes
Dearest John:
Today the postman delivered Four Calling Birds. Now really, you're being too romantic. They are beautiful, but don't you think that enough is enough?
Affectionately,
Agnes
Dearest John:
What a surprise! Today the postman delivered Five Golden Rings - one for each finger. You're just impossible, but I love it. Frankly, all those birds squawking were beginning to get on my nerves.
Love,
Agnes
Dear John:
When I opened the door, there were actually Six Geese-A-Laying on my front steps. So you're back to the birds again, huh? Those geese are huge. Where will I keep them? The neighbors are complaining and I can't sleep through the racket. Please stop.
Cordially,
Agnes
John:
What's with you and those fucking birds? Seven Swans-A-Swimming! What kind of a goddamn joke is this? There's bird shit all over the house and they never stop with the racket. I can't sleep at night and I'm a nervous wreck - it's not funny. So stop with those fucking birds!
Sincerely,
Agnes
OK Buster!
I think I prefer the birds. What the hell am I going to do with 8 Maids a Milking? It's not enough with all these birds and maids a milking, but they had to bring their goddamn cows! There's shit all over the lawn and I can't move in my own house.
Just lay off me, smartass!
Agnes
Hey Shithead:
What are you, some kind of sadist? Now there are nine Pipers Piping! And Christ do they play! They haven't stopped chasing those maids since they got here. The cows are getting upset and they're stepping all over those screeching birds. What am I going to do? The neighbors have started a petition to evict me!
You'll get yours!
Agnes
You Rotten Prick!
Now there's Ten Ladies Dancing. I don't know why I call those sluts ladies. They've been balling those pipers all night long. The cows can't sleep and they've got diarrhea. My living room is a river of shit. The commissioner of buildings has subpoenaed me to give cause why the building shouldn't be condemned.
I'm siccing the police on you.
One who means it!!
Agnes
Listen Fuckhead:
What's with the Eleven Lords a Leaping on those Maids and Ladies? Some of those broads will never walk again. Those pipers ran through the maids and have been committing sodomy with the cows! All 23 birds are dead, they've been trampled to death in the orgy. I hope you're satisfied, you vicious, rotten swine.
Your sworn enemy,
Agnes
Dear Sir:
This is to acknowledge receipt of your latest gift of the Twelve Drummers Drumming, which you have seen fit to inflict upon our client, Miss Agnes McHolstein. The destruction, of course, was total. All future cor-respondence should be sent to our attention. If you should attempt to contact Miss McHolstein at Happy Dale Sanitarium, the attendants have instructions to shoot on sight! With this letter you will find attached a warrant for your arrest.
Cordially,
Badger, Bender & Cajole
You mean the "embrace and extend" method?
Am I really to believe that each and every one of those K-Lite download sites was hosted from a server inside the United States, and thus was vulnerable to DMCA threats? Sounds fairly hard to believe - and even if it's true, how long until someone gets it back online with a server in, say, Finland?
Thanks to google, we can read this article without registering: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/magazine/30IPOD. html?ex=1070773200&en=6cc3b984324f9225&ei=5062&par tner=GOOGLE