Wow, I've been modded "troll" for criticizing Apple and Microsoft products and customers. But this is the first time I've ever seen someone modded "troll" for criticizing Wal-Mart customers. Who knew there were passionate Wal-mart customers hanging out at Slashdot?! They're probably the same idiots who bought those DRM infected songs.
What's shocking is that people actually used Wal-Mart's crappy, censored, DRM filled, and buggy service in the first place. Who are these people? Where do they live? And can we somehow take away their right vote?
"then they could very well be arrested for perjury"
Perjury is lying by a witness under oath. The spammer on the telephone call you recorded and the letter sent to the court by the spammer were not made under oath so therefore they were not perjury.
The buyer immediately went to the police, who initially treated it as a joke; when they realised he was serious, they swooped on his home and seized his camera and PC.
... never do the police a favor in the UK.
But then again, in the US they would have tasered him for no reason.
I think we're safe for a while. Media Center is simply not popular enough with the ignorant masses. The vast majority of people who use Media Center are nerds who would switch to MythTV if Microsoft annoyed them enough. I'm sure if Media Center became popular enough Microsoft would try to turn it into a cash cow, but that ain't gonna happen for the foreseeable future. For plenty of reasons, some good some ignorant, most people are against the idea having a PC connected to their TV.
"Still, the object of a patent application doesn't have to be demonstrated or proven to get a patent grant."
Once again, I must not be making myself clear, because I never said that. I'll just say it again, in a slightly different way... If your patent cannot be physically implemented in reality, and if someone challenges it, the patent will almost certainly be found invalid. This is done a posteriori, not a priori. There is simply no way the examiners can implement each and every patent for such a determination.
"The legality of this, or its ability to withstand additional scrutiny (whether through litigation or not) is dubious. But it's done."
"One doesn't have to show up at the patent office with a working model. Sorry."
Actually, I never said that. But I wasn't clear, so I'll make a second attempt. My point was that you cannot patent mere hypothetical concepts. Like a "process by which a time machine works." Your patent should be able to actually work, if it does not, there is no actual process or method that you patented. Thus, unless it can actually work, the patent is invalid.
Note that high-definition shows can only be watched or recorded from over-the-air ATSC digital broadcasts
Even XP's Media Center supported QAM and it came "free" on most computers sold. And the Vista Media Center TV pack makes Media Center about perfect. And best of all you don't have to pay a monthly fee as you do with Tivo. (As of yet, it's probably only a matter of time before M$ starts charging!)
"In trials using 140 volunteers those told to act suspicious were detected with 'about 78% accuracy on mal-intent detection, and 80% on deception,' says a DHS spokesman.""
So tests prove that it detects people acting suspicious. Are there any tests showing that it detects people who are in fact suspicious?
First, the price of the discs have to go way down. If upscaled DVDs look nearly the same (not to me, but to most idiots apparently) then they should cost nearly the same.
Second, the price of players have to come way down, for the same logic above. There should be low end blu-ray players for under 50 bucks. (USD)
Third, stop mucking with the DRM. No one should ever be forced to update the firmware on consumer electronics. But yet with a updated DRM for Blu-ray every couple of months, consumers are forced to do so. Which they'll reject in a heartbeat. The first time that new Blu-ray player refuses to work because of DRM, the average consumer will take it back to the store and demand his money back. And let's face facts Sony, DRM does not stop piracy. Any Blu-ray movie you want is available via bittorrent. Your constantly changing DRM only annoys legitimate customers, not pirates!
Yep, I'm a retard. Thanks for setting me straight. I completely misread what Moore said. I should never comment this early in the morning, especially a saturday morning. God, I wish Slashdot had a delete button!
The quote about Apple and the music industry shows an incredible amount of ignorance and assitude. Here's exactly what I'm talking about:
I am not going to be at the helm of a company that ends up like the music business that refused to stop trying to sell you CDs for £15 because it was a hugely profitable model. And the music consumer says, 'you know, I don't want to pay £15 for 12 tracks of which I want two, I don't want shiny discs anymore'. And so what did the industry do? It started suing its consumers for illegal downloads and, you know, Steve Jobs comes to the rescue to figure out a way to charge you 99 cents or whatever you're paying in the UK.
79p
Is that what it is? You're being ripped off.
First, the notion that the music industry should not have stopped selling CDs is simply asinine. I'm in my 40s and even I don't buy CDs anymore. They're outdated, obsolete, and completely unnecessary. The market has spoken, consumers don't want to buy music on shiny plastic anymore.
Second, the implication that the music industry should not have started selling singles again shows what an ass he is. And it also shows he knows nothing about the music industry. I grew up with music in the 70s and 80s. Back then we had the 45 single. If you didn't want to buy the whole record, you'd buy the singles for about a buck each. About the same price as a song off of iTunes or Amazon. Which is an awesome deal considering inflation.
And here's the deal about singles, musicians and the music industry made money back in the 80s, 70s, and 60s. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Who, all survived selling both LPs and singles. Heck, until the 60s the entire music industry was based on selling singles. Artists started creating complete works called albums and the record industry was forced to sell them kicking and screaming. They did not want to kill off their highly profitable business model selling hit songs on vinyl. Oh the irony.
And of course this shows what an ass Moore is because he honestly believes that the music industry should ignore the demands of its customers and force them to buy what they do not want. That's exactly the reason the music industry is in trouble in the first place. If that's what Moore is going to do with the gaming industry, I give it five years tops!
And last but not least, third. Exactly how is Apple ripping customers off who buy songs off of iTunes?! God, if you're going to say something that stupid, you should at least attempt to support your argument with facts. Heck, you should at least make an argument. He just concludes it as true.
Once again this shows ignorance because Apple does not make a lot of money selling songs on iTunes, most of it goes to the music industry. Apple makes its money selling hardware. So Apple is certainly not ripping anyone off selling music.
And as I point out above, the cost of buying music on iTunes is actually pretty cheap compared to the price of singles in the 70s and 80s.
So in conclusion, Moore is an ignorant retard and an ass. The Deamcast was cool but it was a financial failure. The original Xbox admittedly lost 4 billion dollars. Expect EA to go bankrupt within five years.
I understand why they have to do searches pre-flight. You certainly don't want people sneaking dangerous materials, weapons, etc. on a plane flying at high speed miles above the ground.
And I can understand why they would want to check the hardware of laptops to ensure that they're really laptops and not disguised bombs or weapons of some sort.
But what I cannot fricken understand is why they check data on laptops. Is someone really going to drop a plane out of the air because a laptop has porn on it?! Is someone really going to high-jack a plane because he has a hard drive full of copyright infringing MP3s?!
Searching data on a laptop has absolutely no relationship to the reason for pre-flight searches. It will not protect anyone and is done solely as a fishing expedition get around the US Constitution. You'd think conservatives would want to protect our Constitution. But you'd be completely wrong.
Thanks for proving my point about how attorneys cause more problems than they solve.
Under your argument, an attorney added superfluous language about trademark in the EULA just to make it more explicit. The language does not help anything or solve anything because centuries of trademark law already protects the trademark. However, it gives Mozilla a week's worth of unnecessary bad press. Problems solved: Zero. Problems created: Numerous.
Why does Red Hat, Mozilla, or any other company, need a license telling people not to use their trademarks?! Isn't that what fricken trademark law is all about?! Do they honestly believe I can use Coke's trademark anyway I want merely because Coke doesn't come with a EULA?!
Having too many lawyers never solved any problem, but they've created more than a few. This is one of those instances.
Sure, if Nvidia tried selling x86 chips in the US or Europe, the company would get its ass sued off. But what about China? What about India? What about the third world? Merely because Intel has a rock solid patent portfolio in the US does not mean diddly squat in Bangladesh.
Tibet has been part of China since 1792. Yes, for over two freaking centuries! You might not like it, but tough shit. And guess what, if a bunch of Chinese students came to the US and flung banners around Stanford demanding we give California back to Mexico, we'd probably tell them to get their butts back to China and mind their own business. Heck, we'd probably even detain a couple of them.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, I've been modded "troll" for criticizing Apple and Microsoft products and customers. But this is the first time I've ever seen someone modded "troll" for criticizing Wal-Mart customers. Who knew there were passionate Wal-mart customers hanging out at Slashdot?! They're probably the same idiots who bought those DRM infected songs.
Open Cute Library? Open Cuddly Library? Open Cutting-our-prices-below-retail Library?
What's shocking is that people actually used Wal-Mart's crappy, censored, DRM filled, and buggy service in the first place. Who are these people? Where do they live? And can we somehow take away their right vote?
"then they could very well be arrested for perjury"
Perjury is lying by a witness under oath. The spammer on the telephone call you recorded and the letter sent to the court by the spammer were not made under oath so therefore they were not perjury.
... get job at US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC., steal 19,708 pieces of computer equipment. Walk away a free man.
But then again, in the US they would have tasered him for no reason.
"I sure hope they don't start charging"
I think we're safe for a while. Media Center is simply not popular enough with the ignorant masses. The vast majority of people who use Media Center are nerds who would switch to MythTV if Microsoft annoyed them enough. I'm sure if Media Center became popular enough Microsoft would try to turn it into a cash cow, but that ain't gonna happen for the foreseeable future. For plenty of reasons, some good some ignorant, most people are against the idea having a PC connected to their TV.
"Still, the object of a patent application doesn't have to be demonstrated or proven to get a patent grant."
Once again, I must not be making myself clear, because I never said that. I'll just say it again, in a slightly different way... If your patent cannot be physically implemented in reality, and if someone challenges it, the patent will almost certainly be found invalid. This is done a posteriori, not a priori. There is simply no way the examiners can implement each and every patent for such a determination.
"The legality of this, or its ability to withstand additional scrutiny (whether through litigation or not) is dubious. But it's done."
Very true indeed!
"One doesn't have to show up at the patent office with a working model. Sorry."
Actually, I never said that. But I wasn't clear, so I'll make a second attempt. My point was that you cannot patent mere hypothetical concepts. Like a "process by which a time machine works." Your patent should be able to actually work, if it does not, there is no actual process or method that you patented. Thus, unless it can actually work, the patent is invalid.
The most famous of such a patent involved patents over the automobile. Henry Ford was sued by George Baldwin Selden who held patents on the automobile. Ford's lawyers argued that the patents were nonsense and were not physically possibly to implement. The judge ordered Selden and his lawyers to prove the patents were valid by actually implementing them in a real world design. It did not fully work so Ford eventually won.
From the article:
Even XP's Media Center supported QAM and it came "free" on most computers sold. And the Vista Media Center TV pack makes Media Center about perfect. And best of all you don't have to pay a monthly fee as you do with Tivo. (As of yet, it's probably only a matter of time before M$ starts charging!)
"for sure is not as intuitive or legal as an appleTV"
First, I highly doubt the DVR features on the AppleTV are intuitive at all mostly because they do not exist.
Second, why would a DVR be illegal? Recording TV has been legal in the US since Universal v Sony was decided in 1984.
You'd have to come up with a method or process that actually works.
"In trials using 140 volunteers those told to act suspicious were detected with 'about 78% accuracy on mal-intent detection, and 80% on deception,' says a DHS spokesman.""
So tests prove that it detects people acting suspicious. Are there any tests showing that it detects people who are in fact suspicious?
First, the price of the discs have to go way down. If upscaled DVDs look nearly the same (not to me, but to most idiots apparently) then they should cost nearly the same.
Second, the price of players have to come way down, for the same logic above. There should be low end blu-ray players for under 50 bucks. (USD)
Third, stop mucking with the DRM. No one should ever be forced to update the firmware on consumer electronics. But yet with a updated DRM for Blu-ray every couple of months, consumers are forced to do so. Which they'll reject in a heartbeat. The first time that new Blu-ray player refuses to work because of DRM, the average consumer will take it back to the store and demand his money back. And let's face facts Sony, DRM does not stop piracy. Any Blu-ray movie you want is available via bittorrent. Your constantly changing DRM only annoys legitimate customers, not pirates!
Yep, I'm a retard. Thanks for setting me straight. I completely misread what Moore said. I should never comment this early in the morning, especially a saturday morning. God, I wish Slashdot had a delete button!
The quote about Apple and the music industry shows an incredible amount of ignorance and assitude. Here's exactly what I'm talking about:
First, the notion that the music industry should not have stopped selling CDs is simply asinine. I'm in my 40s and even I don't buy CDs anymore. They're outdated, obsolete, and completely unnecessary. The market has spoken, consumers don't want to buy music on shiny plastic anymore.
Second, the implication that the music industry should not have started selling singles again shows what an ass he is. And it also shows he knows nothing about the music industry. I grew up with music in the 70s and 80s. Back then we had the 45 single. If you didn't want to buy the whole record, you'd buy the singles for about a buck each. About the same price as a song off of iTunes or Amazon. Which is an awesome deal considering inflation.
And here's the deal about singles, musicians and the music industry made money back in the 80s, 70s, and 60s. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Who, all survived selling both LPs and singles. Heck, until the 60s the entire music industry was based on selling singles. Artists started creating complete works called albums and the record industry was forced to sell them kicking and screaming. They did not want to kill off their highly profitable business model selling hit songs on vinyl. Oh the irony.
And of course this shows what an ass Moore is because he honestly believes that the music industry should ignore the demands of its customers and force them to buy what they do not want. That's exactly the reason the music industry is in trouble in the first place. If that's what Moore is going to do with the gaming industry, I give it five years tops!
And last but not least, third. Exactly how is Apple ripping customers off who buy songs off of iTunes?! God, if you're going to say something that stupid, you should at least attempt to support your argument with facts. Heck, you should at least make an argument. He just concludes it as true.
Once again this shows ignorance because Apple does not make a lot of money selling songs on iTunes, most of it goes to the music industry. Apple makes its money selling hardware. So Apple is certainly not ripping anyone off selling music.
And as I point out above, the cost of buying music on iTunes is actually pretty cheap compared to the price of singles in the 70s and 80s.
So in conclusion, Moore is an ignorant retard and an ass. The Deamcast was cool but it was a financial failure. The original Xbox admittedly lost 4 billion dollars. Expect EA to go bankrupt within five years.
Good point, I hadn't even thought of that.
I understand why they have to do searches pre-flight. You certainly don't want people sneaking dangerous materials, weapons, etc. on a plane flying at high speed miles above the ground.
And I can understand why they would want to check the hardware of laptops to ensure that they're really laptops and not disguised bombs or weapons of some sort.
But what I cannot fricken understand is why they check data on laptops. Is someone really going to drop a plane out of the air because a laptop has porn on it?! Is someone really going to high-jack a plane because he has a hard drive full of copyright infringing MP3s?!
Searching data on a laptop has absolutely no relationship to the reason for pre-flight searches. It will not protect anyone and is done solely as a fishing expedition get around the US Constitution. You'd think conservatives would want to protect our Constitution. But you'd be completely wrong.
Thanks for proving my point about how attorneys cause more problems than they solve.
Under your argument, an attorney added superfluous language about trademark in the EULA just to make it more explicit. The language does not help anything or solve anything because centuries of trademark law already protects the trademark. However, it gives Mozilla a week's worth of unnecessary bad press. Problems solved: Zero. Problems created: Numerous.
Why does Red Hat, Mozilla, or any other company, need a license telling people not to use their trademarks?! Isn't that what fricken trademark law is all about?! Do they honestly believe I can use Coke's trademark anyway I want merely because Coke doesn't come with a EULA?!
Having too many lawyers never solved any problem, but they've created more than a few. This is one of those instances.
Ok, that was funnier than mine by a longshot. Proven objectively by the diet Mt Dew that shot through my nose when I read it.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these puppies! You might actually be able to run a GUI.
Yeah, you're probably right. And I love your sig line!
Sure, if Nvidia tried selling x86 chips in the US or Europe, the company would get its ass sued off. But what about China? What about India? What about the third world? Merely because Intel has a rock solid patent portfolio in the US does not mean diddly squat in Bangladesh.
Tibet has been part of China since 1792. Yes, for over two freaking centuries! You might not like it, but tough shit. And guess what, if a bunch of Chinese students came to the US and flung banners around Stanford demanding we give California back to Mexico, we'd probably tell them to get their butts back to China and mind their own business. Heck, we'd probably even detain a couple of them.