When all is said and done, I'm guessing IBM is gonna buy them out, simply because it's cheaper. However, what I don't know is how that is going to happen. Who will get money from it? I certainly wouldn't want some scumbag CEO who instigated all this to get a large chunk of money and then go home laughing and retired. Is there anyway we can financially deprive the people who caused all this? Any way to make sure they don't get the money from the buyout? Yeah it would be funny if IBM bought them out, fired everybody, and released it all open source, but it still seems like someone would get money from the buyout.
And aside from that....anybody have the publicly obtainable personal info for the SCO CEO? It's not exactly the same as spamming a spammer, but in this case, it can't hurt.
"but which do you think is the better deal: $7500 to fill a 30GB player (7500 songs at $1 each) with iTunes Music Store, or $120 a year with the ability to swap in new music whenever you want?"
Neither is the better deal for me. I won't go in for any pay service until the following occurs:
1.I can actually afford it....i'm sorry, but i'm a broke college student, and while I wish I could support the starving artists, I need to support starving me first, and I'm not willing to give up music to do so when I am able to get it for free, but once I can afford it, i'd be happy to.
2.They have the music I want....Sorry, Britney and Eminem don't cut it, I listen to a lot of electronic music and what I want is full DJ sets, such as those from the BBC's Radio1 Essential Mix. The only way I've found to get those so far is to download them off P2P apps. But god would I die for a high bitrate version that had the tracks available seperately, but still in mix form so I don't have to have one 100 MB file for a 1 hour set, but rather many smaller tracks that blend together seemlessly so that I can skip around the set easier.
3. Apple makes a version of their service for Windows. Right now, there's not a chance in hell I'd sell my soul over to M$. Sorry, but if a better service comes along that steals the show from M$ and Apple, I don't want to have my entire music collection evaporate (sorry, it wouldn't evaporate, it would still be there taking up space, just useless) just because I have found a better place to spend my money.
Yeah, you could pony up the extra bucks.....but with all the player run servers these days, it might simply be a better option to find one that suits your play style and emigrate there.
But I have to say, of all the MMORPGs I've played (and thats a shitload, definitely all the major ones plus countless MUDs) UO has the best trade skill system hands down. They somehow made it actually FUN to run into the forest, chop wood till your backpack is full, and make crossbows to sell in town. Doesn't take too much time per run, and you see a nice return on it that will let you go buy things to practice magic with or something. I have yet to see another MMORPG come close, even A Tale in the Desert which is a game based ENTIRELY on trade skills....but their trade skills are very time consuming, and you see very little return to keep you happy.
Imagine if you could take a rollup version of this, and place it on top of something, such as say.......a document and blueprints. Maybe build in a scanner or something and suddenly you have a monitor which you can place onto things which will respond to what is behind it. You could do things similar to augmented computing with this, where bits of relevant information are overlayed on top of things.
This whole article wasn't just about some kid wanting to watch dog-headed actors doing kungfu, it was about the idea that in the future, when the technology is no where nearly as limiting to the end-users creativity, we will be able to have a whole new level of control of our end media. What he is proposing is that in terms of evolution, things are always added, like color to B&W, and the myriad of options we can now select while watching a DVD.
He thinks that once it is technologically feasible, and by that I don't mean having some movie studio produce a movie with crazy realistic special effect, rather, I mean that the home user can pick and choose things and change elements of their media that they view/listen to/experience on the fly, that THAT will be the next evolution of our media. So again, it is not simply that we will be able to have dog-headed actors doing kungfu, but instead lets say you're watching a movie, and you wished it would play out in a different way, or you wished you could change a certain element of it, the technology would be so simple to use and so embedded in the media (read: completely digital) that you would be able to do so with a simple command. This is big, very big, but unfortunately, we are very unlikely to see its realization in our lifetime in anything other than perhaps a scene in a good sci-fi movie that demonstrates this through a mock-up.
"The environment itself will be smart, rather than various function-specific nodes scattered through it. Genuinely ubiquitous computing spreads like warm Vaseline."
mmmmmmmmm..............warm Vaseline.........
So here's yet another step in the evolution
on
P2P Meets Push
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· Score: 1
First there was napster, and the masses liked it. Then there were other services that sprang up on napsters demise. Kazaa, Morpheus, Limewire, Audiogalaxy etc. Each of these systems has evolved in some way. The first obvious evolution was to enable it to send not only music, but any file. The next obvious step was to make it decentralized, and now we are starting to add encryption to P2P apps. Additionally, we are at the point where broadband is prevalent enough for the predominant users of this technology (college students) that there are steps being made to make the distribution of bandwidth amongst users more efficient, in essence, attempting to give reliable download speeds (isn't that what people on here mark as a service they'd pay for with something like iTUNES?) There has also been some headway made in simplifying the interface, ala iTunes. So we have these steps so far:
1. Add support for all file types 2. Decentralize so that the P2P program does not become illegal to use or is shutdown. Protection for the P2P app. 3.Encrypt connection so that users are now protected as well.(*cough* $94 billion lawsuit *cough*). 4.Make more efficient use of bandwidth so that on the whole, EVERYBODY using it benefits from everybody else and giving reliably fast downloads. 5.????? 6. PROFIT!!!!! (sorry, I couldn't help myself)
So this seems to be a pretty logical evolution that even Darwin would be proud of. Those that survive pass on their traits. And those that come after that build on the existing traits that have been proven effective. The question begs to be asked, where will the evolution of P2P take us? Where will it be 10 years from now. What will determine its evolution? Will it be mostly based in response to legal actions? The main problem I see with the evolution of P2P is that once a good system is in place, and everybody has jumped on board and it now has a sizable amount of content, nobody is really eager to leave to go try out/support a new P2P system, even if it offers significant advantages. What we need is some way to seperate the content management system from the delivery system in such a way that upgrading to a new P2P system doesn't entail leaving behind all the content from your old P2P network, because it can tap into that as well. I'm dying to know how people think P2P will evolve. And i'm not just talking about where it'll be next year, but rather 10 years from now......hell, 50 years from now.
Funny you should mention this....i don't know how relevant this is, being a college student who's father still pays his taxes, but my tax return came back fairly late this year. Is it possible I've been marked as a "suspected terrorist"? I could see why I might....I read/., I agree with many of the anti-Orwellian government views, o.....and I "pirate" music, can't forget that one. So how does someone go about finding out if they are on such a list? Is there no way to find out until their investigation gets to the point where you are um......disappeared?
I've been thinking about all of the ridiculous patent issues that have come up in the past couple of years. Does anybody else here see a direct link between whats happening there and the "Tragedy of the Commons"? For those who aren't familiar with the economic/socioeconomic concept, here's a somewhat brief rundown of it at http://members.aol.com/trajcom/private/commons.htm
I really can't wait till the various "commons" that our society houses collapse on themselves. The IP commons is one of the ones that I think will be first to go....unless the corporate bank accounts and lawyers can somehow manage to delay it ad infinitum. Another contender for First Commons to Collapse is the entertainment industry....lets see if you can figure out why.
" Ahh the wonders of War Driving. If all goes well now people will have to fight off for some of tbe best spots for WI-FI."
Well, here's the first new show for this kind of cable network.....a reality show where contestants fight for the free (pirated) WiFi cable connection.
that would be useful for marketing types (not all marketing is evil mind you). Imagine degradable dvds that offered a glimpse of content from the new cable tech that lets you choose from multiple shows on one channel. Granted, this is very time specific.......ie. it wouldn't work well when dvd copying becomes much more commonplace, but this type of thing would definitely give a sense of urgency to average joe-consumer to get the service if they like it "hey, i enjoyed watching tv like this...i guess i need to get the service if i want to see me (or at least different episodes cuz nothing would stop them from getting another disc if they really wanted). Just an idea, but just because an invention has some potential bad uses, don't be so quick to completely condemn it.
"That information is simply real people speaking plainly in their own voices. Complete with lies, swear words, misunderstandings, misspellings, everything. it's completely devoid of slick, corporate, boardroom approved, focus-group tested, marketing speak. People like that, it seems. They like it enough to shut off Letterman and hang here."
Funny you said that.....my parents always harp on me for taking up the viewpoint of something I've read on forums or on slashdot, and say that they're not accurate news sources, and that I need to find more reliable sources. I almost busted several internal organs trying to stifle the laughter as I thought of what those "reliable sources" might be....TV? Newspapers? I really should bring up this discussion again now that whatshisname got busted for lying in his reports. If millions of people discussing issues without financial incentive isn't more reliable than the traditional news sources, what is?
Now if only M$, the RIAA, the MPAA, I guess the MPA now too, would be this socially responsible and aware. Kevin, I'd just like to say thanks for being one of the few business men in this world who doesn't just force things down its customers (notice I didn't say consumers) throats. Merely responding to things such as this shows that you value your customers more than your lawyers. And that's saying a lot, especially since the majority of us are not your customers, it just shows you want to go the extra mile. We need more businessmen like you.
Let me ask you this then. I'm a college student, and my studies focus towards communication and visualization. I'm as much a geek as the rest of the/. crowd, yet I don't have as much technical knowledge in some areas as others might, namely engineering and programming. I'm also in talks with a patent lawyer now regarding an idea of mine which works with cellphones and would be kind of a social innovation in that area. Do you feel I should not be able to profit from that idea simply because I lack the technical skills, or especially in this circumstance, the financial might or infrastructure to bring it to fruition?
My plan then is to try to get this idea patented, and if I succeed, pitch it to cellphone companies who have the financial ability and existing infrastructure to bring my innovation to reality. Obviously they would be the ones profiting the most from this, but do you feel I should just hand over the idea to them and say "Hey guys, I can't really do this on my own, so here's my idea, free of charge, do whatever you want with it"? Technical people are not the only ones who should be able to benefit from patents, Creatives should as well, cuz lets face it, not everybody is able to come up with certain types of innovation.
such that many of the artists really don't control their works as they've essentially signed over their souls to the devil. However, consider this. For every site that is legally attacked in this manner, send letters off (and get as many people to do so as possible) to the artists who have material on the site. One method of attacking this beast of the entertainment industry is from within, get more artists to turn on them, show the artists how the people paying their bills (sorry, stealing their income) are alienating their listeners and fans. The more educated everybody is about this, the sooner things will start to change for the better.
is how they define "prior business relationship" at the ISP level. Because in the vast majority of cases the mail goes through the ISP and then to the user. I sure hope this doesn't affect the ISPs ability to sue the spammers, as neglible an action as it might be.
At least when the ISPs sue it gets the media's attention and in turn hopefully has the same affect as the RIAA suing for eleventybilliongazillion dollars, which is that it scares the piss out of many people who do it and they stop from fear. (well, alright, we all know how well THAT has worked...)
" You naysayers, skeptics, nerds, virgins, stupid geeks all of you.
Have any of you ever actually *tried* any of the offers you get in your inbox?
I'm not as stupid as all of you. I have taken advantage of every fantastic offer. My penis is now HUGE I can no longer leave my chair on account of my stupendous GIRTH and solid mass. A female friend came over the other day and saw my TREMENDOUS BULGE and ran away screaming in shock!
"
"What kind of a world do we live in when the top priority is stopping spam from hitting our inboxes? What about social issues facing us every day? Cleaner air, water, nutritious food, mental health, affordable living, I could go on and on."
Simply put, not everybody can work on what you consider "social issues". And this isn't meant as an attack, but who are you to determine the priority of those things? And i'd certainly say spam is directly related to mental health, do you have any idea how much stress it causes some people?
Re:lapse of television
on
ScavHunt211
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· Score: 1
"Anyone else feel that Mr. Rodgers or Seaseme Street ruined our childhoods by not doing this.
#504 A typical example of someone on Slashdot butchering the spelling of not one, but two childhood memories. [1 point]
Now, its only a given this will advance to clothing. What will the first applications be with clothing? i'm guessing accessories that can change patterns/color when you want, or are animated (albeit slowly).
Now, for my other suggestion.....how about once we all have genetic identifiers given to us by the MicroRIMPAAment (that is M$, RIAA, MPAA, and government for those who didn't get it) we can have clothing that senses our embedded (as in under your skin) identifier chip and helps make society more "secure". All of a sudden in the school lab, my shirt starts blinking bright red and messages saying "PIRATE" start flashing all over me. Or how about when a nice muslim man tries to fly somewhere. Well, why bother hiring the minimum wage people to frisk him when you can simply have a detector that makes his shirt read TERRORIST when he walks through. You laugh now....but I will be safe with my tin foil ha........err.......body suit.
To all the people bitching about the science behind humans being stored as batteries etc......well, I just have one thing to say to you, this isn't Star Trek. They don't have tons of technical journals that go over the schematics for a holodeck, this is the Matrix, it's supposed to be enjoyed with a willing suspense of disbelief. And if you needed any more proof that the Matrix isn't supposed to be very technical.....well, Keanu Reeves is the star, there's your proof.
Is there any possibility at all of getting Slashdot to do an interview with this kid? While I understand its practically impossible to have a neutral news source, and Slashdot would be no different....I still think there would be some valuable insights gained from an interview with him, and at the least, if he reads the responses he can get some ideas that may help him with his battle. And just out of curiosity, why has no lawyer offered to work for him pro bono.....can you imagine the kind of press that person would get? (Yes I realize not all of it would be good press, but a lot of it would be, this kid is the underdog and all.)
Slashdot Mirror
And aside from that....anybody have the publicly obtainable personal info for the SCO CEO? It's not exactly the same as spamming a spammer, but in this case, it can't hurt.
Neither is the better deal for me. I won't go in for any pay service until the following occurs:
1.I can actually afford it....i'm sorry, but i'm a broke college student, and while I wish I could support the starving artists, I need to support starving me first, and I'm not willing to give up music to do so when I am able to get it for free, but once I can afford it, i'd be happy to.
2.They have the music I want....Sorry, Britney and Eminem don't cut it, I listen to a lot of electronic music and what I want is full DJ sets, such as those from the BBC's Radio1 Essential Mix. The only way I've found to get those so far is to download them off P2P apps. But god would I die for a high bitrate version that had the tracks available seperately, but still in mix form so I don't have to have one 100 MB file for a 1 hour set, but rather many smaller tracks that blend together seemlessly so that I can skip around the set easier.
3. Apple makes a version of their service for Windows. Right now, there's not a chance in hell I'd sell my soul over to M$. Sorry, but if a better service comes along that steals the show from M$ and Apple, I don't want to have my entire music collection evaporate (sorry, it wouldn't evaporate, it would still be there taking up space, just useless) just because I have found a better place to spend my money.
and i'm allowed to say that because i'm jewish ;P
But I have to say, of all the MMORPGs I've played (and thats a shitload, definitely all the major ones plus countless MUDs) UO has the best trade skill system hands down. They somehow made it actually FUN to run into the forest, chop wood till your backpack is full, and make crossbows to sell in town. Doesn't take too much time per run, and you see a nice return on it that will let you go buy things to practice magic with or something. I have yet to see another MMORPG come close, even A Tale in the Desert which is a game based ENTIRELY on trade skills....but their trade skills are very time consuming, and you see very little return to keep you happy.
He thinks that once it is technologically feasible, and by that I don't mean having some movie studio produce a movie with crazy realistic special effect, rather, I mean that the home user can pick and choose things and change elements of their media that they view/listen to/experience on the fly, that THAT will be the next evolution of our media. So again, it is not simply that we will be able to have dog-headed actors doing kungfu, but instead lets say you're watching a movie, and you wished it would play out in a different way, or you wished you could change a certain element of it, the technology would be so simple to use and so embedded in the media (read: completely digital) that you would be able to do so with a simple command. This is big, very big, but unfortunately, we are very unlikely to see its realization in our lifetime in anything other than perhaps a scene in a good sci-fi movie that demonstrates this through a mock-up.
mmmmmmmmm..............warm Vaseline.........
1. Add support for all file types
2. Decentralize so that the P2P program does not become illegal to use or is shutdown. Protection for the P2P app.
3.Encrypt connection so that users are now protected as well.(*cough* $94 billion lawsuit *cough*).
4.Make more efficient use of bandwidth so that on the whole, EVERYBODY using it benefits from everybody else and giving reliably fast downloads.
5.?????
6. PROFIT!!!!! (sorry, I couldn't help myself)
So this seems to be a pretty logical evolution that even Darwin would be proud of. Those that survive pass on their traits. And those that come after that build on the existing traits that have been proven effective. The question begs to be asked, where will the evolution of P2P take us? Where will it be 10 years from now. What will determine its evolution? Will it be mostly based in response to legal actions? The main problem I see with the evolution of P2P is that once a good system is in place, and everybody has jumped on board and it now has a sizable amount of content, nobody is really eager to leave to go try out/support a new P2P system, even if it offers significant advantages. What we need is some way to seperate the content management system from the delivery system in such a way that upgrading to a new P2P system doesn't entail leaving behind all the content from your old P2P network, because it can tap into that as well. I'm dying to know how people think P2P will evolve. And i'm not just talking about where it'll be next year, but rather 10 years from now......hell, 50 years from now.
I really can't wait till the various "commons" that our society houses collapse on themselves. The IP commons is one of the ones that I think will be first to go....unless the corporate bank accounts and lawyers can somehow manage to delay it ad infinitum. Another contender for First Commons to Collapse is the entertainment industry....lets see if you can figure out why.
Well, here's the first new show for this kind of cable network.....a reality show where contestants fight for the free (pirated) WiFi cable connection.
1.Find location of body where GPS unit is
2.Stick said body part into microwave
3.profi......o.....wait.......
Funny you said that.....my parents always harp on me for taking up the viewpoint of something I've read on forums or on slashdot, and say that they're not accurate news sources, and that I need to find more reliable sources. I almost busted several internal organs trying to stifle the laughter as I thought of what those "reliable sources" might be....TV? Newspapers? I really should bring up this discussion again now that whatshisname got busted for lying in his reports. If millions of people discussing issues without financial incentive isn't more reliable than the traditional news sources, what is?
My plan then is to try to get this idea patented, and if I succeed, pitch it to cellphone companies who have the financial ability and existing infrastructure to bring my innovation to reality. Obviously they would be the ones profiting the most from this, but do you feel I should just hand over the idea to them and say "Hey guys, I can't really do this on my own, so here's my idea, free of charge, do whatever you want with it"? Technical people are not the only ones who should be able to benefit from patents, Creatives should as well, cuz lets face it, not everybody is able to come up with certain types of innovation.
At least when the ISPs sue it gets the media's attention and in turn hopefully has the same affect as the RIAA suing for eleventybilliongazillion dollars, which is that it scares the piss out of many people who do it and they stop from fear. (well, alright, we all know how well THAT has worked...)
Stop trying to manipulate us Alan Ralsky
Simply put, not everybody can work on what you consider "social issues". And this isn't meant as an attack, but who are you to determine the priority of those things? And i'd certainly say spam is directly related to mental health, do you have any idea how much stress it causes some people?
#504 A typical example of someone on Slashdot butchering the spelling of not one, but two childhood memories. [1 point]
Now, for my other suggestion.....how about once we all have genetic identifiers given to us by the MicroRIMPAAment (that is M$, RIAA, MPAA, and government for those who didn't get it) we can have clothing that senses our embedded (as in under your skin) identifier chip and helps make society more "secure". All of a sudden in the school lab, my shirt starts blinking bright red and messages saying "PIRATE" start flashing all over me. Or how about when a nice muslim man tries to fly somewhere. Well, why bother hiring the minimum wage people to frisk him when you can simply have a detector that makes his shirt read TERRORIST when he walks through. You laugh now....but I will be safe with my tin foil ha........err.......body suit.