"from the sound of things will be stuff folks are used to getting for free,like support for "advanced gaming technologies"(DirectX) and "enhanced multimedia"(A DRM laden MCE shell)."
Win7: Play Movie? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
---
Win7: Play Game? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
---
Win7: Listen to Music? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
---
Win7: Check email? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
the more crap I see coming from M$ the more I begin to think I'll be using XP forever.
"Allen was charged, essentially, with gaining "access" to Southwestern Bell's computers without authorization. The State's evidence showed that, in this era of dial-up connections, Allen had been wardialing, i.e., had used his computer to repeatedly call Southwestern Bell modems that could let a caller "enter" the Southwestern Bell computer system. The evidence also showed that if a call went through, the computer determined if it was answered by a modem or by a person, after which it terminated the connection.
The Kansas statute (like some state statutes in effect today) defined "access" as "to approach, instruct, communicate with, store data in, retrieve data from, or otherwise make use of" a computer. Kansas Statute Annotated section 21-3755. The state argued that, at a minimum, Allen had "approached" the Southwestern Bell computers, but the Kansas Supreme court disagreed. It agreed with a U.S. Department of Justice report which concluded that this use of "access" was unconstitutionally vague because it did not provide sufficient notice of what is forbidden; as the DOJ report pointed out, this interpretation of "access" would criminalze mere physical proximity to a computer... It therefore upheld the lower court's dismissal of the charge against Allen.
"anybody who 'intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access"
Actually that's not stealing wi-fi. According to the wikipedia on wardriving"The court ruled that although he had "contacted" or "approached" the computer system, this did not constitute "access" of the company's network." because when he connected to networks that had password protected routers he didn't try to bypass them.
So, using a open wi-fi network is not considered "accessing" a company's network and is not illegal.
"the internet makes knowing 'facts' irrelevant, no one has to memorise** information anymore. "
Exactly! No longer to you need to remember anything, you can just google it. But then you never really learn do you? If you weren't forced to remember things in school could you recent them?
For example, why do you need spelling words anymore? We've had spell checkers for 20+ years, why do children still memorize these irrelevant facts? Perhaps it's because people still misspell memorize as memorise**. So as you can see you still need the facts, google gives you easy access but you still need to memorize them. Google should be used as a Encyclopedia instead of a crutch. So I'd say yes, google makes people stupid.
"It turned out people wanted inexpensive, hard-working Linux laptops"
The entire story is about XP being kept alive simply because people are BUYING a PC (er, laptop) with Linux. So yes, people are buying Linux PCs, enough so that M$ is scared.
""Just think, one day, the R&D that Nintendo put into Wii bowling could end up influencing basic training"
Actually in basic we had a SNES with a training game on it in the barracks. It was a shooting game with pop-up targets and we had a full-size M16 "zapper". Graphics were very simple but it was effective, had to be very accurate to actually hit the target. Only thing it missed was the kick-back. Some of the guys that weren't very good did improve using the training simulation.
"It's just one more example of Internet disintermediation changing economics."
Actually no, it's not. Realtors pay a lot of money to have personal access to the MLS. This is equivalent to if you paid for personal access to a particular website, like if Microsoft had a special site for checking on bug fixes, looking code, etc.
This ruling basically just gave everyone open access to the MLS. Now licensed realtors are stuck paying big bucks for services that everyone has free access to. This ruling will, basically, make real estate agents obsolete, since you have complete access to the MLS now.
"Following the logic, it would be an open door to judicial review of the entire patent system."
Agreed. This guy got a patent on the wheel essentially. Clearly the patent system needs reform.
i don't really blame the guy, I blame the system that allowed this to fall through the cracks. Patents shouldn't be handed out like candy and force companies to pay millions to battle them in court.
People applying for patents should have to prove, without a doubt, that their invention does not exist anywhere and if they're found to be wrong they should be punished. Since this is Singapore I believe a caning would be sufficient.
"The better one was the Tom's Hardware one where they tested an AMD chip and Intel chip..."
I couldn't find the video on Tom's Hardware but this video was uploaded in 2005 and I found this article from 2001 talking about the video so Tom "Pushed a CPU to Heat Death, Intentionally" seven years ago making this article Not News Worthy.
"it's a real shame that people don't take the time to find out every single idea anyone has ever had so they don't duplicate things"
I know! It's not like you can just do a "search" of the "internet" for words like "1 gigapixel" and get results!.
say... that would be useful, if there was a website where you could search the entire internet with just a few key words... someone should invent that! I'd use it everyday!
but seriously this isn't news worthy at all. It was 5 years ago when 6 megapixel cameras were $1,000+, but I can buy a 10 megapixel from walmart for $150.
Give me $15,000 and I can do the same thing.
"Lying to someone about your identity isn't a crime (generally speaking)."
really? even when lying to a child? So an adult can walk up to a child and say they're someone in authority (not a cop, obviously that's illegal) and that's not a crime somehow? If it's not, I think it should be. I'd hate to think creepy old men could walk up to little girls in the mall and say "I'm the mall manager you need to come with me we believe you have shoplifted" or "Your mommy has been hurt and told me to come get you" and that's not somehow illegal.
"But what about email access through a company machine, or using company infrastructure? "
I'd imagine anything you do on a company machine is company property. I don't care if you checked your Gmail email or surfed porn sites, if you did it on company-owned hardware then all your base are belong to them.
Why is this shocking to anyone? Why do people think they should have privacy at work? They're paying you to be there, do you think they should pay you but they shouldn't know what you're doing?
""That would fix the 31-yr-old posing as 15-yr-old problem."
Is that a significant problem?"
You're joking, right? Unless you've living under a log everyone has heard about the 47 yr old woman posing as a 16 yr old boy on Myspace to chat with a 13 yr old neighbor girl.
And who would think it's ok for adults to pose as children online or anywhere else unless they're doing it themselves?.... Care to tell us anything "lgw"?
"The light turned yellow, the driver in front of her stopped, and she rear-ended the other driver. Evil-X's friend was livid that the other driver had the gall to stop for a yellow light! "
Depends on the situation. I've seen people slam on their brakes when they're practically underneath the intersection just because the light turned yellow when they could have easily rolled through the intersection, even without speeding up at all. They come to a complete stop and the light's still yellow for 2 more seconds. That annoys the piss out of me too!
"The problem with Redlight cameras and the changing of the light timing is that people are getting burnt when there isn't enough time between the yellow light and for a normal person to come to a complete and safe stop."
Actually you're completely wrong.
the problem with changing the timing is all the other lights are still at the same timing.
You're driving along, see the light turn yellow and expect to have the normal 3 seconds (or whatever it is) before it turns red. So you're close so you floor it knowing you'll make it with no problem.
But no, the city wants more $$$$, so they shorten the time to 1.5 seconds but you don't know that. You're thinking "I've been driving for 20 years and know how long a light should be yellow, I have plenty of time" but to make sure, you speed up. It turns red 40 feet before reach the light (at 35 mph you travel 50 per second). The cars just begin to cross. You slam on the brakes. Even at 35 mph it takes 59 feet to stop, 19 feet more than what you have (assuming you slammed on the brakes instantly, which is impossible of course), so you slid right through the intersection and T-bone some compact car, killing the driver and baby in the backseat.
So that is why light timing should not be messed with. I think it should be a federal law to make all red lights everywhere the same, which makes sense because my license allows me to drive in other states so I think the traffic laws and lights should be similar to what I deal with in my state. I also think it should be illegal to tamper with redlights... actually it is illegal to tamper with a traffic signal, but who's going to arrest the cities?
Huh?? Who said his tires were bald? Good tires never skid in the rain? You don't know the road conditions, some old Ford could have dropped it's tranny fluid all over the road an hour earlier.
"2. Drive slower in the rain"
Did he say he was speeding? Do you know the speed limit there? We have red lights on roads with 55mph limits, how long would it take to stop when traveling 55mph in the rain? You're making a lot of assumptions here.
"3. Be more aware of intersections"
By doing what, exactly? Slow down to a crawl every time he approaches and intersection in the rain because it might turn red? Wouldn't that cause an accident too? If I'm driving in the rain in a 55mph zone and the idiot in front of me suddenly slows down to 25 because there's a green light in front of him there's going to be a lot of cussing and lane changing.
FYI I'd say go through the yellow light in the rain, even if it turns red milliseconds before you cross the light. Chances are the vehicles crossing won't have any better traction than you do and won't be darting out into the intersection anyway. Far better to fly through the intersection safely than to slam on your brakes and skid into the vehicles crossing.
"Sure, they tell you to pay the fine, and nothing goes on your record...HOWEVER, the statistic of a moving violation goes on the record. If you take into account the shortening of yellow light times just to raise the number of 'red light' violations for revenue...you are generating more and more statistics that your city/state has a severe problem with moving violations."
I don't think that's correct. We have redlight cameras in some Missouri cities and they're also operated by private companies and the cities get tiny portion of the fines. However if you don't pay the fines nothing happens. I received a red light ticket over a year ago and nothing has shown up on my record, but if I don't pay a normal speeding ticket or other traffic ticket there's warrants out for arrest the day after I miss the court date or date the ticket's due.
I'm beginning to think the redlight cameras are wholly operated by the private companies and they don't have any court appointed right to issue warrants or do anything anymore than any other business owner. Only thing I've received were some nasty letters saying to pay the fine, it doesn't even show up on credit.
Oh and the 6 cities they mentioned aren't the only cities doing this. I know of several lights locally that are timed faster than normal. I feel like the cities are playing chicken with real people's lives, testing to see if we'll kill each other by shaving a second off the yellow light. That'd be funny on a video game, not so funny in real life.
"They always play on the 'boy genius' BS. He's just a normal kid making inexperienced mistakes along the way."
Exactly. He's just like any other computer-addicted 11 yr old, but instead of wasting his knowledge being forced to play silly final fantasy ps3 games like most kids his age he's been given the opportunity to help his mom** admin a school.
Average users would call him a "boy genius", slashdotters would probably describe him as "me when I was 11".
"BTW, couldn't he have just downloaded some free Windows or Linux based A/V rather than buying crap at CompUSA?"
probably because it's a school network and most free Windows software is for home users. Probably didn't use Linux because I'm sure he's not that familiar with linux to run 60 networked PCs from it, and besides schools get huge discounts from M$ so why run Linux? And when these kids go to high school and college and the corporate world they'll probably be running Windows anyway so why introduce them to Linux?
What I want to know why is a 11 yr old doing this? Sure it makes for great news but being the network admin for a 60 PC school network is a full time job, where's the child labor laws? Or are they using him for free labor?
Ah here it is: "For his technical recommendations, Jon has had to present his suggestions to the school's management for approval ("Because he's not an adult, I've been hovering around," his mother says.) "**
So he suggests stuff and the adults decide whether it's a good idea or not. Oh I understand. Kind of like asking your kids what the family should have for dinner.
"I doubt silicon will be going anywhere anytime soon - its simply too affordable."
Agreed. Besides, they've been saying this since the 90s, that silicon can't possibly get any faster and it'll be replaced very soon.
I call BS. They had 350 gigahertz silicon chips 2 years ago: "At room temperature, the IBM-Georgia Tech chip operates at 350GHz, or 350 billion cycles per second. That's far faster than standard PC processors today, which range from 3.8GHz to 1.8GHz. But SiGe chips can gain additional performance in colder temperatures....SiGe chips, the scientists theorized, could eventually hit 1 terahertz, or 1 trillion cycles a second."
Slashdot Mirror
"from the sound of things will be stuff folks are used to getting for free,like support for "advanced gaming technologies"(DirectX) and "enhanced multimedia"(A DRM laden MCE shell)."
Win7: Play Movie? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
---
Win7: Play Game? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
---
Win7: Listen to Music? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
---
Win7: Check email? Yes/No
user: yes
Win7: Please swipe cc
the more crap I see coming from M$ the more I begin to think I'll be using XP forever.
"covers anybody who 'intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access').""
Someone didn't look up what "access" means.
http://cyb3rcrim3.blogspot.com/2006/02/access.html
"Allen was charged, essentially, with gaining "access" to Southwestern Bell's computers without authorization. The State's evidence showed that, in this era of dial-up connections, Allen had been wardialing, i.e., had used his computer to repeatedly call Southwestern Bell modems that could let a caller "enter" the Southwestern Bell computer system. The evidence also showed that if a call went through, the computer determined if it was answered by a modem or by a person, after which it terminated the connection.
The Kansas statute (like some state statutes in effect today) defined "access" as "to approach, instruct, communicate with, store data in, retrieve data from, or otherwise make use of" a computer. Kansas Statute Annotated section 21-3755. The state argued that, at a minimum, Allen had "approached" the Southwestern Bell computers, but the Kansas Supreme court disagreed. It agreed with a U.S. Department of Justice report which concluded that this use of "access" was unconstitutionally vague because it did not provide sufficient notice of what is forbidden; as the DOJ report pointed out, this interpretation of "access" would criminalze mere physical proximity to a computer... It therefore upheld the lower court's dismissal of the charge against Allen.
"anybody who 'intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access"
Actually that's not stealing wi-fi. According to the wikipedia on wardriving "The court ruled that although he had "contacted" or "approached" the computer system, this did not constitute "access" of the company's network." because when he connected to networks that had password protected routers he didn't try to bypass them.
So, using a open wi-fi network is not considered "accessing" a company's network and is not illegal.
"-light -safe -cheap Pick any two."
No, you can have all three
Two words: roll cage
"the internet makes knowing 'facts' irrelevant, no one has to memorise** information anymore. "
Exactly! No longer to you need to remember anything, you can just google it. But then you never really learn do you? If you weren't forced to remember things in school could you recent them?
For example, why do you need spelling words anymore? We've had spell checkers for 20+ years, why do children still memorize these irrelevant facts? Perhaps it's because people still misspell memorize as memorise**. So as you can see you still need the facts, google gives you easy access but you still need to memorize them. Google should be used as a Encyclopedia instead of a crutch. So I'd say yes, google makes people stupid.
"Who BUYS a PC with Linux?"
did you not read the article summary above?
"It turned out people wanted inexpensive, hard-working Linux laptops"
The entire story is about XP being kept alive simply because people are BUYING a PC (er, laptop) with Linux. So yes, people are buying Linux PCs, enough so that M$ is scared.
""Just think, one day, the R&D that Nintendo put into Wii bowling could end up influencing basic training"
Actually in basic we had a SNES with a training game on it in the barracks. It was a shooting game with pop-up targets and we had a full-size M16 "zapper". Graphics were very simple but it was effective, had to be very accurate to actually hit the target. Only thing it missed was the kick-back. Some of the guys that weren't very good did improve using the training simulation.
This wasn't 10 yrs ago either, this was 2005.
"It's just one more example of Internet disintermediation changing economics."
Actually no, it's not. Realtors pay a lot of money to have personal access to the MLS. This is equivalent to if you paid for personal access to a particular website, like if Microsoft had a special site for checking on bug fixes, looking code, etc.
This ruling basically just gave everyone open access to the MLS. Now licensed realtors are stuck paying big bucks for services that everyone has free access to. This ruling will, basically, make real estate agents obsolete, since you have complete access to the MLS now.
"Following the logic, it would be an open door to judicial review of the entire patent system."
Agreed. This guy got a patent on the wheel essentially. Clearly the patent system needs reform.
i don't really blame the guy, I blame the system that allowed this to fall through the cracks. Patents shouldn't be handed out like candy and force companies to pay millions to battle them in court.
People applying for patents should have to prove, without a doubt, that their invention does not exist anywhere and if they're found to be wrong they should be punished. Since this is Singapore I believe a caning would be sufficient.
Wow this is getting expensive! Renting equipment, hiring contractors... just diy long distance wifi
/.? This has even been on /. before.
don't people google anymore before asking
"The better one was the Tom's Hardware one where they tested an AMD chip and Intel chip..."
I couldn't find the video on Tom's Hardware but this video was uploaded in 2005 and I found this article from 2001 talking about the video so Tom "Pushed a CPU to Heat Death, Intentionally" seven years ago making this article Not News Worthy.
"it's a real shame that people don't take the time to find out every single idea anyone has ever had so they don't duplicate things"
I know! It's not like you can just do a "search" of the "internet" for words like "1 gigapixel" and get results!.
say... that would be useful, if there was a website where you could search the entire internet with just a few key words... someone should invent that! I'd use it everyday!
but seriously this isn't news worthy at all. It was 5 years ago when 6 megapixel cameras were $1,000+, but I can buy a 10 megapixel from walmart for $150. Give me $15,000 and I can do the same thing.
"Lying to someone about your identity isn't a crime (generally speaking)."
really? even when lying to a child? So an adult can walk up to a child and say they're someone in authority (not a cop, obviously that's illegal) and that's not a crime somehow? If it's not, I think it should be. I'd hate to think creepy old men could walk up to little girls in the mall and say "I'm the mall manager you need to come with me we believe you have shoplifted" or "Your mommy has been hurt and told me to come get you" and that's not somehow illegal.
All your undersea cables are belong to us
....
You are on the way to no internet access
You have no chance to network make your time.
Ha Ha Ha Ha
"But what about email access through a company machine, or using company infrastructure? "
I'd imagine anything you do on a company machine is company property. I don't care if you checked your Gmail email or surfed porn sites, if you did it on company-owned hardware then all your base are belong to them.
Why is this shocking to anyone? Why do people think they should have privacy at work? They're paying you to be there, do you think they should pay you but they shouldn't know what you're doing?
""That would fix the 31-yr-old posing as 15-yr-old problem."
.... Care to tell us anything "lgw"?
Is that a significant problem?"
You're joking, right? Unless you've living under a log everyone has heard about the 47 yr old woman posing as a 16 yr old boy on Myspace to chat with a 13 yr old neighbor girl.
And a google search brings up dozens of articles.
And who would think it's ok for adults to pose as children online or anywhere else unless they're doing it themselves?
i can't believe the best method anyone's found of creating a "cyberwalk" is a dozen small treadmills wrapped around another giant treadmill.
Guess I won't be seeing one of these hooked to my Wii anytime soon.
"The fact that four more people behind you also go is their problem."
You must be my neighbor because that happens nearly every time the light changes at the intersection up the street.
"The light turned yellow, the driver in front of her stopped, and she rear-ended the other driver. Evil-X's friend was livid that the other driver had the gall to stop for a yellow light! "
Depends on the situation. I've seen people slam on their brakes when they're practically underneath the intersection just because the light turned yellow when they could have easily rolled through the intersection, even without speeding up at all. They come to a complete stop and the light's still yellow for 2 more seconds. That annoys the piss out of me too!
"The problem with Redlight cameras and the changing of the light timing is that people are getting burnt when there isn't enough time between the yellow light and for a normal person to come to a complete and safe stop." Actually you're completely wrong.
the problem with changing the timing is all the other lights are still at the same timing .
You're driving along, see the light turn yellow and expect to have the normal 3 seconds (or whatever it is) before it turns red. So you're close so you floor it knowing you'll make it with no problem.
But no, the city wants more $$$$, so they shorten the time to 1.5 seconds but you don't know that. You're thinking "I've been driving for 20 years and know how long a light should be yellow, I have plenty of time" but to make sure, you speed up. It turns red 40 feet before reach the light (at 35 mph you travel 50 per second). The cars just begin to cross. You slam on the brakes. Even at 35 mph it takes 59 feet to stop, 19 feet more than what you have (assuming you slammed on the brakes instantly, which is impossible of course), so you slid right through the intersection and T-bone some compact car, killing the driver and baby in the backseat.
So that is why light timing should not be messed with. I think it should be a federal law to make all red lights everywhere the same, which makes sense because my license allows me to drive in other states so I think the traffic laws and lights should be similar to what I deal with in my state. I also think it should be illegal to tamper with redlights... actually it is illegal to tamper with a traffic signal, but who's going to arrest the cities?
"1. Buy tires which are not bald"
Huh?? Who said his tires were bald? Good tires never skid in the rain? You don't know the road conditions, some old Ford could have dropped it's tranny fluid all over the road an hour earlier.
"2. Drive slower in the rain"
Did he say he was speeding? Do you know the speed limit there? We have red lights on roads with 55mph limits, how long would it take to stop when traveling 55mph in the rain? You're making a lot of assumptions here.
"3. Be more aware of intersections"
By doing what, exactly? Slow down to a crawl every time he approaches and intersection in the rain because it might turn red? Wouldn't that cause an accident too? If I'm driving in the rain in a 55mph zone and the idiot in front of me suddenly slows down to 25 because there's a green light in front of him there's going to be a lot of cussing and lane changing.
FYI I'd say go through the yellow light in the rain, even if it turns red milliseconds before you cross the light. Chances are the vehicles crossing won't have any better traction than you do and won't be darting out into the intersection anyway. Far better to fly through the intersection safely than to slam on your brakes and skid into the vehicles crossing.
"Sure, they tell you to pay the fine, and nothing goes on your record...HOWEVER, the statistic of a moving violation goes on the record. If you take into account the shortening of yellow light times just to raise the number of 'red light' violations for revenue...you are generating more and more statistics that your city/state has a severe problem with moving violations."
I don't think that's correct. We have redlight cameras in some Missouri cities and they're also operated by private companies and the cities get tiny portion of the fines. However if you don't pay the fines nothing happens. I received a red light ticket over a year ago and nothing has shown up on my record, but if I don't pay a normal speeding ticket or other traffic ticket there's warrants out for arrest the day after I miss the court date or date the ticket's due.
I'm beginning to think the redlight cameras are wholly operated by the private companies and they don't have any court appointed right to issue warrants or do anything anymore than any other business owner. Only thing I've received were some nasty letters saying to pay the fine, it doesn't even show up on credit.
Oh and the 6 cities they mentioned aren't the only cities doing this. I know of several lights locally that are timed faster than normal. I feel like the cities are playing chicken with real people's lives, testing to see if we'll kill each other by shaving a second off the yellow light. That'd be funny on a video game, not so funny in real life.
"This is a fine idea - The internet is a treacherous place for children."
Agreed. Now let's take it a step further: make it illegal for adults (over 18) to pose as children (under 18) online.
That would fix the 31-yr-old posing as 15-yr-old problem.
"They always play on the 'boy genius' BS. He's just a normal kid making inexperienced mistakes along the way."
Exactly. He's just like any other computer-addicted 11 yr old, but instead of wasting his knowledge being forced to play silly final fantasy ps3 games like most kids his age he's been given the opportunity to help his mom ** admin a school.
Average users would call him a "boy genius", slashdotters would probably describe him as "me when I was 11".
"BTW, couldn't he have just downloaded some free Windows or Linux based A/V rather than buying crap at CompUSA?"
probably because it's a school network and most free Windows software is for home users. Probably didn't use Linux because I'm sure he's not that familiar with linux to run 60 networked PCs from it, and besides schools get huge discounts from M$ so why run Linux? And when these kids go to high school and college and the corporate world they'll probably be running Windows anyway so why introduce them to Linux?
What I want to know why is a 11 yr old doing this? Sure it makes for great news but being the network admin for a 60 PC school network is a full time job, where's the child labor laws? Or are they using him for free labor? Ah here it is:
"For his technical recommendations, Jon has had to present his suggestions to the school's management for approval ("Because he's not an adult, I've been hovering around," his mother says.) " **
So he suggests stuff and the adults decide whether it's a good idea or not. Oh I understand. Kind of like asking your kids what the family should have for dinner.
"I doubt silicon will be going anywhere anytime soon - its simply too affordable."
Agreed. Besides, they've been saying this since the 90s, that silicon can't possibly get any faster and it'll be replaced very soon.
I call BS. They had 350 gigahertz silicon chips 2 years ago:
"At room temperature, the IBM-Georgia Tech chip operates at 350GHz, or 350 billion cycles per second. That's far faster than standard PC processors today, which range from 3.8GHz to 1.8GHz. But SiGe chips can gain additional performance in colder temperatures....SiGe chips, the scientists theorized, could eventually hit 1 terahertz, or 1 trillion cycles a second."
I think silicon is safe for awhile longer.