This is interresting for several reasons beyond the obvious; The government is now making information available about open source, which means they know it exists.
And the not so interesting bit is that it's so typical of the government...doing a job that's already been done. All this information really didn't need publishing. Freshmeat, Sourceforge, linux.com's directory...
What worries me more is that managers are going to actually go to some of these project websites...let's just say most open-source project people don't have very good marketing skills, or at least never put much effort into their homepages for the "what IS this?" crowd..save the really big/popular projects like Gimp, Gnome, etc. They just don't try to sell themselves. Often times I'd kill just to have had a project that, right up front, detailed is major features and how it compared to what else was out there...
Buy a new fridge, and other suggestions.
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DIY HVAC
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· Score: 5, Interesting
May save some money, but most people's houses dont use more than 1500 kWa of electricity a month... ~140$ of electricty around here (considering we pay the "Berea College Utilities" tax). Now a worthy project would be covering your house with solar panels and breaking even on your utility bills;).
Actually, the single most worthy project would be simply buying a new refrigerator. They are the #1 electricity consumers in almost every household, because they run 24x7x365, and are never thrown out until they completely fail(after years of working below the already mediocre factory performance). Newer refrigerators are MUCH more efficient than those made 5, 10 years ago. There are even models that are so efficient, they can be run entirely off solar power.
Wanna reduce your electric bill, but can't replace your fridge? Leave enough space behind it for airflow, and vacuum/dust the coils, especially those under the unit. Oh, and properly set the controls; buy a thermometer and adjust until both compartments are cold -enough-. The freezer control, by the way, doesn't control the freezer compartment temperature- it controls the RATIO of cooling between refrigerator and freezer compartments.
All in all, even if you buy a new fridge, it could end up paying for itself in a year or two in saved electric costs. Oh, and slowly switch your lights over to fluorescent bulbs, wrap hot water pipes in foam insulation, put sealing inserts behind outlet plates+switchplates, etc. In the winter, cover windows in rooms you don't use with the window insulation you can buy at the hardware store. Find out the R-rating on the insulation in your walls, attic, etc; old insulation can be horrible compared to the latest new stuff(which can often be "blown" into place, install is a cinch). Got an old furnace? Get a new one; they're also a thousand times better these days. My folk's new gas furnace is so efficient, its exhaust is a 2" PVC pipe that is barely warm to the touch when it's going full blast...
Last but not least, turn off the damn computer when you're not using it, get an ISP account with webspace instead of running your own webserver, etc. I worked it out once...100-200W over 24x7x365 equals a LOT of money per year!
Sandia Labs developed a seal technology around fiber bundles and routing.
Read the link. It has nothing to do with routing- only the telltale marks left on the fiber ends when it is cut.
One could do exactly the same thing with a steel cable; the "technology" is simply a microscope that captures what the cut looks like. Furthermore, there's no independent way for the seal to verify itself- you have to have the image of the seal's original condition stored in the camera or printed out, and obviously those could be switched/tampered with.
"Eat up Martha", my ass. Makes Graffiti look like the kludgy hack it is.
Sorry, I have a MP2100 and the famous Simpson's reference was not far from the truth at all. You had to be exceptionally careful with your handwriting, and still often had to correct it. It would misinterpret taps, and it was impossible to correct letters out of order(say, you forgot to cross your t- out of order scribbling got me 90% of the time).
Graffiti is not a "kludgy hack", its a system that is designed to quickly and accurately enter data, which is what a PDA needs; my Handspring was much better for most of the typical PDA usage- entering phone numbers or appointment times. Sure the Newton's natural system is faster for writing large amounts of text(assuming you have perfect handwriting) but people just didn't(and still don't) use PDAs for that sort of thing. They use- gasp- notebooks(and I don't mean the electronic kind)
but wouldn't it be great to have the brakes applied if you lose attention for that one split second. Everyone I've known who has been in a car accident, (luckily they were minor) has said just that.
As someone who volunteers at his car club's high-speed driver education events and has attended one of the events as a student- um, no.
First, braking is NOT always the best choice. When you're doing 60 and a moose jumps out in front of you, you STEER, not BRAKE. Why? Because under about 200 feet, you're never going to stop in time but you probably can change lanes. Simple physics tell you why- it's a lot easier to accelerate a car enough to move 10 feet to the side than it is to bring the whole thing to a stop.
Second, when said moose jumps out in front of you, steering while braking is exactly what causes many accidents, because you unbalance the car, shift a huge amount of weight to one corner tire, which becomes drastically deformed under the weight and becomes nearly useless; meanwhile, there's next to no weight on any of the other tires, and they're useless too. Your tires have what is called a "friction circle"; draw an X-Y axis, now a circle centered. That describes how much acceleration your tire can accomplish in any one direction. Notice that there's less of any one particular axis when you're doing both? Your tires always stop better when you're not trying to steer, and vise-versa. Both controls should ALWAYS remain under control of the driver so the system doesn't try to do something while you're doing something else.
Third, proper driver education is a lot cheaper(just one $200-300 event, depending on the club, will teach you quite a bit about how to handle your car properly) in the long run.
Your friends who have been in accidents need to analyze WHY they got into the accidents they did. I'm guessing an automatic braking system would not have "fixed" any of this, but better attentiveness, good judgment, and proper knowledge of how to handle their car would have.
Perhaps not exactly the same, but it's already been done for $50
Looks exactly the same, minus the pager thing, which is probably only good for about the same range as a really loud siren.
There's also a company that made a PCMCIA version; if you moved the laptop any more than a certain amount, it started shrieking using a siren built-in to the card itself. I think it might have also had some software tie-ins, don't remember what
Why is it that people seem to think Apple's written policies simply do not apply to them?
The problem is that even Apple thinks their policies don't apply to them.
I had a friend who bought an iBook. 3-4 days after it arrived, the new iBooks were announced. Because she ordered it ground UPS, it took a while to get to her- almost a week, I believe. Now- pay close attention here- Apple's policy is that you have ten days from when you RECEIVED IT. Not when you ordered it. Fair, right?
Would be, if they honored that. Instead, they told her she couldn't return it because "it was shipped to you over ten days ago". She read the policy right off the Apple Store website, and demanded to know why the policy on the site wasn't being followed. They eventually hung up on her.
Sorry, but my experience over the years has been that their customer support/service is piss-poor. I actually got screamed at by one of their Customer Care Advocates, a department(which no longer exists) which was supposed to be a sort of "level 2" if you weren't happy with how you got treated. Why? Because after 2 repair attempts my brand-new(at the time) powerbook 1400 wasn't working properly. The only time I've ever been pleased with apple service was when I wasn't dealing with actual Apple employees. I once broke the bezel on my 8500, a few months after i bought it. I walked into an Apple dealer, asked if I could order a replacement. "Is it under warranty? Oh wait, you said 8500- they have to be under warranty. [click click click click] OK, come back in a few days, we'll have it". In college, when the 1400 lost a screen clutch cover, the resident apple-certified tech said "oh sure, I can get those", and a few days later he had a bag of 6; I got two for free.
I think the next time I see one of those, I'll key it to demonstrate my contempt.
To turn your quote back on yourself, "why is it that people think they're above the law and can damage other people's property in some lame-ass attempt at vigilantism?"
If the user interfaces are so poor, why don't you help fix them? Instead of approaching this in a manner designed to piss people off and create enemies, why don't you say things like
Why? Because he's a USER. Not a programmer. Developers have a responsibility to listen to their userbase. If you want market-share, then when your users say "I don't understand X", you DO NOT say "well, FINE, fix it yourself!" That is ENTIRELY the wrong attitude. ESR may be confrontational, but you're even more so.
Why doesn't your approach work? Because they're simply going to walk away. Software is so complex these days that many people, even programmers, couldn't possibly contribute without investing a serious amount of time. Hmm, which is a better use of resources- 12 hours of a user messing around learning your functions, conventions, library calls etc(and probably introducing more bugs than features)- or 15 minutes for you to add the button yourself?
I know -exactly- how he feels. Countless times I've found software that has a super-spiffy web page, touts how damn good it is to anyone who's reading- but you unpack the source and Jeeeeesuschriiiiiist you can't figure out which way is up- and I've been building and compiling unix packages for almost 10 years(when i was yer age, we had to edit makefile library paths ourselves! None of this automake...) Then, if you get it built, you run it and menus have confusing names, there's no help file, there are secret options nobody mentions that are in the ~/.myprogram directory, and so on.
The mldonkey p2p client was an excellent example. The developers continuously worked on all sorts of weird theoretical schemes for this and that, while the userbase clamored for a manual(there was none), a description of what each setting did(ditto- the developers would cheerfully add some oddly-named option and not explain to ANYONE what it did), or for features that were common in other clients. Such as the ability to share a file without having to restart the client(shocking!) But hey, you got three different algorithms to pick from for how it managed sources for files. Yaaaay!
A circus magician...with a net worth of about $15 billion.
...who is also widely considered to be a complete nutcase and space-shot, with little credibility. He may be worth $15B, but who gets more press? He's widely ignored, because many concepts he's tried to champion have not just failed, they've imploded before they even left the launch pad. The whole thin-client netpc is a great example.
He's just too goddamned impressed with himself, and the picture is a perfect example of that attitude, and I'm sure it was selected(or provided) for that reason. The comparison to The Rock was perfect. Like Trump, Gates, Jobs, Fiorina- any time the focus shifts from someone's talents and qualifications to their personality, you've got yourselves a genuine cult figure and some serious problems. Things are all happy-shiny while the money's pouring in...but when the -water- starts leaking in, everyone's too busy looking at how great Master is to bail, and often even when the water's up to their necks they don't realize it's really time to mutiny, or jump ship altogether. One man or woman does not make an organization, and many a corporation has discovered the dangers of simply rubber-stamping and worshipping a central figure. Boards, VP's, etc all exist exactly to prevent this sort of thing.
Frankly, what amazes me the most is that there isn't a massive explosion when he and Steve Jobs are in the same room at Apple board meetings- Steve's Reality Distortion Field meets the Ellison Ego Field.
Lastly, never confuse wealth with success. Some of the world's richest people are miserable failures as human beings. I could name a dozen people I respect far more than Ellison, or any executive officer of any corporation.
Alternatively, I begin to suspect that anime is to film what trance is to music.
Watch Cowboy Bebop, and you'll realize anime is an art form up with all the rest. Anime is like any other media; there's complete, utter crap(One Piece, Dragonball Z), and then fantastic stuff(Spirited Away for example). The Japanese take anime -very- seriously as an art form. I have not met a single person who hasn't liked Cowboy Bebop(as long as they got beyond the "anime is a cartoon" misconception), and it is widely considered one of the best series ever made; it's currently ranked #4 on Animenfo.com out of series, OVAs(miniseries, very high quality production) and movies. The movie was also excellent, but should be watched before you finish the series....I think early 20's is where you're supposed to watch it.
Bebop has probably 4-6 HOURS of soundtrack music for a 13 hour show...by one of the greatest anime soundtrack producers ever(Yoko Kanno). There are something like 7 soundtrack CDs released(although there was a lot of duplication between them). CB has everything- jazz, funk, classical, opera(Ave Maria, absolutely beautifully done btw), even a heavy metal song or two.
I've watched a great deal of anime over the years, and Bebop is still solidly at #1 on my list; nothing else compares; overall plot, each episode's strength on its own, character design, animation, and of course the soundtrack. Sure, it's the future- but there's very little use of technology for plot-fixing. There is an overall running plot to the whole series, but you never knew what to expect from the next episode. The show plays tribute to many American cultural references(for example, many eps are titled after American songs- Hard Luck Woman is one example) and they snuck in numerous cameos and recurring characters to watch for; you never know who's going to walk by in the background of that marketplace shot.
It is most -definitely- not for children. It's violent at times, and has very serious undertones despite the fun-loving characters on the surface. In fact, the first episode is shockingly tragic- but like I said, episodes run the gamut from serious to goofy(like the one where everyone eats psychedelic mushrooms by mistake, or the space-alien episode). Stick with it- you'll gain a new appreciation.
GITS Stand Alone Complex wins on my list for some similar reasons- it also has a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno, and episodes vary; there's a very serious episode about a criminal who records murder victim's vision+hearing while he kills them, but there's also an heartwarming episode about one of the AI-equipped tanks(Tachikomas- think of a tank with the personality of a little kid and curiosity of a cat- weird combo for, well, a tank:)...which sneaks out on a trip exploring the city one day when nobody's looking, and meets a little girl looking for her lost dog...
But if these machines have hard drivers still hooked up, then there might be lots of interesting stuff lying around on those (maybe mp3s too!)
Well, since professional IT people clean hard drives before they give them away...uh, no. Do you seriously think they're that stupid?
They may not be able to focus a camera to save their lives(it's so bad, you'd almost think it was intentional), but I strongly suspect every drive has been completely(for all practical purposes) wiped clean, and I mean more than just "zap the partition table". Further, I guarantee the music files were the least of their concerns. Financials, emails, etc...
Speaking of the photos, did anyone else notice a lot of the photos(harley, Hummer) were very obviously on someone's private property, and further, were rather lacking in mp3.com logos? Someone was getting some free vehicles for personal use on the company dime.
No, the greatest threat to my liberty comes from a government willing to take the freedom and liberty guaranteed me by the Constitution, and replace it with the illusion of security.
Actually, the threat is mostly from your fellow citizens, who just don't care enough. Many have forgotten that democracy and freedom have risks, and the only way to protect them is to recognize, and ignore, that risk. If I stand a.00005% chance instead of a.00001% chance of getting blown up on a plane- but I and my fellow citizens remain free(ie, i didn't have to take my shoes off, didn't have to hand over "papers") so be it. If you aren't, you are a -coward-, and you can damn well pack your bags and move somewhere else, because America was founded by a bunch of guys who got -really- tired of exactly this kind of crap. What gives -you- the right to take -my- freedom, for -your- illusion of security? Franklin said it best: "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Nevermind that the risk is infinitesimal; in one year, +10x more people died on our highways than did in all the planes+buildings involved in the terrorist attacks. Every three days more people die of heart disease than died in the terrorist attacks(700,000 people a year, roughly). Nope, I can't have universal healthcare, but I can have Johhny Ashcroft breathing down my neck.
Planes aren't being hijacked because we stop the dreaded nail clipper from coming on board.
Exactly. Further- if you want proof of just how ineffective these measures are, look at countries where "security" is tightest. Israel, for example, is indisputable proof that no matter what you do, you just can't stop someone determined enough; when they stopped Palestinian men, women started strapping bombs to themselves. Then there's England; no end of security procedures did little to stop the IRA. Those video cameras in London, which practically outnumber people, have yielded no drop in crime; same goes for their thousands of radar-speed cameras; in fact, speeding's gone -up-...
Tellmi's illuminated quills are made of soft rubber and viciously vibrate when he's turned on. I'm not going to examine the double uses for such an item, but at the very least, I could see some necks being massaged.
I've read that toy companies target adult buyers via product design, with products for young children- teddy bears for example, have proportions similar to babies, which supposedly triggers a [mat/pat]ernal instinct in parents.
Tellmi's figured out a much better instinct to trigger in the parents, it sounds like:-)
"Mommy, stop borrowing Mr. Quills! Every time you do his batteries are dead!"
I see this as a great strategy. A second one gets bought shortly after the first, for sure. The second one is in part responsible for the purchase of the third, anywhere from 9-36 months later...perfect! What's their stock symbol?
The pharmacist provides your prescription in a special bag with the Blocker tags. When the drugs are in the bag, RFID readers are blocked.
Uh...why would you need to put RFID tags on drugs or on drug containers in the first place?
If you're talking about prescription filling errors, that would be solved overnight by two things:
a)making doctors fill out prescriptions similarly to how most government forms are- one box per letter,capital letters(and when a prescription is rejected- the pharmacy makes it clear to the patient, AND the hospital, WHY. Doctors who can't be bothered to write clearly for the safety of their patient find themselves on the street).
b)training pharmacists better, holding them and their employers accountable for mistakes, and FDA(or state) conducted spot checks(we check health codes at restaurants to make sure Jenny the short order cook doesn't store that pot in the wrong place, but we can't be bothered to have someone fill a prescription a few times a month and check the results at a lab?)
If we're talking about theft(gillette's supposed reason for doing RFID), the major source of theft is armed(or claiming to be armed) robbers stealing powerful painkillers that have value on the black market.
RSA is grasping at straws here, finding a solution to the problems with a solution that was invented out of thin air(for a real problem). Say that 5 times fast.
Actually, that somewhat dorky statement about feeling guilty was relentlessly added into my post as though I said it.
You gotta be kidding me, right? Slashdot editors have followed one standard very consistently- italics are the "speech" of the submitter(also encased in quotes and proceeded with an introduction), and regular text is the editorial comment. Anyone who has made it beyond 4th grade and learned proper citing and punctuation should be able to understand this, and it's reinforced with the italics/regular text styling.
Sorry, I 'side' with the slashdot editors- this was a reader who ignored multiple clues and thought the editorial comment was your own words. Now, the dork-ness of the comment is another thing entirely...I think we're all in agreement on that one.
Fantastic! Now the alien people and the tin foil hat wearers can join forces- because not only is their life elsewhere in the universe, by golly, they're SPYING on us! Quick, someone phone Barbara Streisand so she can sue them for photographing her back yard.
There's something in this for everyone, really- even the people who think the rovers are getting sabotaged. After all, when you're a futuristic-technology-wielding, hip happenin' intergalactic alien...hmm, what's the saying? Oh yeah. When you've got a gas-giant lens, the whole universe looks like an ant in need of frying.
a)it looks like the only reason development started again was because of all the Xfree86 licensing hubbub(which isn't going to be around much longer, because Xfree86 will most likely cave). If the project did not have the merits to succeed before, I do not see how things have changed in such a way that it will be successful long-term, and this was a blatant "look at me" attempt. Y was dead, FreeDesktop was humming along quietly.
b)Most of the "I'm going to replace Xwindows" projects are doing so because its supposedly "slow" and "bloated", and we see a large number of posts in every Xwindows-related story on slashdot claiming the same thing. Most of them are wrong.
c)We already have an interesting, viable alternative(FreeDesktop)...and it's got heavy involvement with the major developers of Gnome and KDE, the two most popular desktop systems. Everyone is playing Chicken with Xfree86, while hedging their bet(and strengthening their position with Xfree86) by starting work with FreeDesktop. Y is nowhere to be seen in all of this, especially if it's only got one guy- versus a whole group of some of the best Linux programmers around.
Steve Jobs owes me thousands of dollars for the mental anguish I've experienced when trying to use the imac's original "hockey puck" mouse
Yeah, and your mother owes you millions for dropping you as a child, since those of us who weren't dropped, went to the store and bought a $40 optical scroll-wheel mouse;-)
(Sorry, pet peeve for those who complain about the fact that a computer, designed+marketed to be EASY TO USE, comes out of the box with only one mouse button but is perfectly capable of using a fancier one if your heart desires).
1.Steal technology from other companies at trade industry conference, and patent it 2.Sue other companies before its barely in use and make sure nobody uses said technology 3.Get tied up in legal battles until patent is useless 4.??? 5.Profit!
Thank you for mirroring our content, as we are a global search engine with thousands of webservers across the world and could not possibly handle the load from Slashdot. Whew, you saved us! We owe ya a cold one next time you're in CA.
there were many small, quiet sessions that revolved around using computers and the Internet to distribute information to people in neighborhoods and villages where books are now rare and expensive.
Last time I looked, for the cost of a cheap PC, you can buy dozens, if not hundreds, of books. They don't need internet connections or power, aren't affected by dust, dirt or careless handling. They also at least a couple decades.
The sad thing is, the same crap has been happening in the US for at least a decade. Yessir, Smallville has a computer in every classroom, but Johnny and Suzy need to "share" To Kill a Mockingbird because there's "no money" for more copies. The teachers have to buy supplies out of their own pockets because the school has "no money". And that computer? Sits off most of the time, or even worse, sits on, drawing inane animated pictures on the screen, running up the school's electric bill.
I strongly suggest reading Cliff Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil...
Slashdot Mirror
And the not so interesting bit is that it's so typical of the government...doing a job that's already been done. All this information really didn't need publishing. Freshmeat, Sourceforge, linux.com's directory...
What worries me more is that managers are going to actually go to some of these project websites...let's just say most open-source project people don't have very good marketing skills, or at least never put much effort into their homepages for the "what IS this?" crowd..save the really big/popular projects like Gimp, Gnome, etc. They just don't try to sell themselves. Often times I'd kill just to have had a project that, right up front, detailed is major features and how it compared to what else was out there...
Actually, the single most worthy project would be simply buying a new refrigerator. They are the #1 electricity consumers in almost every household, because they run 24x7x365, and are never thrown out until they completely fail(after years of working below the already mediocre factory performance). Newer refrigerators are MUCH more efficient than those made 5, 10 years ago. There are even models that are so efficient, they can be run entirely off solar power.
Wanna reduce your electric bill, but can't replace your fridge? Leave enough space behind it for airflow, and vacuum/dust the coils, especially those under the unit. Oh, and properly set the controls; buy a thermometer and adjust until both compartments are cold -enough-. The freezer control, by the way, doesn't control the freezer compartment temperature- it controls the RATIO of cooling between refrigerator and freezer compartments.
All in all, even if you buy a new fridge, it could end up paying for itself in a year or two in saved electric costs. Oh, and slowly switch your lights over to fluorescent bulbs, wrap hot water pipes in foam insulation, put sealing inserts behind outlet plates+switchplates, etc. In the winter, cover windows in rooms you don't use with the window insulation you can buy at the hardware store. Find out the R-rating on the insulation in your walls, attic, etc; old insulation can be horrible compared to the latest new stuff(which can often be "blown" into place, install is a cinch). Got an old furnace? Get a new one; they're also a thousand times better these days. My folk's new gas furnace is so efficient, its exhaust is a 2" PVC pipe that is barely warm to the touch when it's going full blast...
Last but not least, turn off the damn computer when you're not using it, get an ISP account with webspace instead of running your own webserver, etc. I worked it out once...100-200W over 24x7x365 equals a LOT of money per year!
Read the link. It has nothing to do with routing- only the telltale marks left on the fiber ends when it is cut.
One could do exactly the same thing with a steel cable; the "technology" is simply a microscope that captures what the cut looks like. Furthermore, there's no independent way for the seal to verify itself- you have to have the image of the seal's original condition stored in the camera or printed out, and obviously those could be switched/tampered with.
It seems incredibly useless.
Sorry, I have a MP2100 and the famous Simpson's reference was not far from the truth at all. You had to be exceptionally careful with your handwriting, and still often had to correct it. It would misinterpret taps, and it was impossible to correct letters out of order(say, you forgot to cross your t- out of order scribbling got me 90% of the time).
Graffiti is not a "kludgy hack", its a system that is designed to quickly and accurately enter data, which is what a PDA needs; my Handspring was much better for most of the typical PDA usage- entering phone numbers or appointment times. Sure the Newton's natural system is faster for writing large amounts of text(assuming you have perfect handwriting) but people just didn't(and still don't) use PDAs for that sort of thing. They use- gasp- notebooks(and I don't mean the electronic kind)
As someone who volunteers at his car club's high-speed driver education events and has attended one of the events as a student- um, no.
First, braking is NOT always the best choice. When you're doing 60 and a moose jumps out in front of you, you STEER, not BRAKE. Why? Because under about 200 feet, you're never going to stop in time but you probably can change lanes. Simple physics tell you why- it's a lot easier to accelerate a car enough to move 10 feet to the side than it is to bring the whole thing to a stop.
Second, when said moose jumps out in front of you, steering while braking is exactly what causes many accidents, because you unbalance the car, shift a huge amount of weight to one corner tire, which becomes drastically deformed under the weight and becomes nearly useless; meanwhile, there's next to no weight on any of the other tires, and they're useless too. Your tires have what is called a "friction circle"; draw an X-Y axis, now a circle centered. That describes how much acceleration your tire can accomplish in any one direction. Notice that there's less of any one particular axis when you're doing both? Your tires always stop better when you're not trying to steer, and vise-versa. Both controls should ALWAYS remain under control of the driver so the system doesn't try to do something while you're doing something else.
Third, proper driver education is a lot cheaper(just one $200-300 event, depending on the club, will teach you quite a bit about how to handle your car properly) in the long run.
Your friends who have been in accidents need to analyze WHY they got into the accidents they did. I'm guessing an automatic braking system would not have "fixed" any of this, but better attentiveness, good judgment, and proper knowledge of how to handle their car would have.
Looks exactly the same, minus the pager thing, which is probably only good for about the same range as a really loud siren.
There's also a company that made a PCMCIA version; if you moved the laptop any more than a certain amount, it started shrieking using a siren built-in to the card itself. I think it might have also had some software tie-ins, don't remember what
The problem is that even Apple thinks their policies don't apply to them.
I had a friend who bought an iBook. 3-4 days after it arrived, the new iBooks were announced. Because she ordered it ground UPS, it took a while to get to her- almost a week, I believe. Now- pay close attention here- Apple's policy is that you have ten days from when you RECEIVED IT. Not when you ordered it. Fair, right?
Would be, if they honored that. Instead, they told her she couldn't return it because "it was shipped to you over ten days ago". She read the policy right off the Apple Store website, and demanded to know why the policy on the site wasn't being followed. They eventually hung up on her.
Sorry, but my experience over the years has been that their customer support/service is piss-poor. I actually got screamed at by one of their Customer Care Advocates, a department(which no longer exists) which was supposed to be a sort of "level 2" if you weren't happy with how you got treated. Why? Because after 2 repair attempts my brand-new(at the time) powerbook 1400 wasn't working properly. The only time I've ever been pleased with apple service was when I wasn't dealing with actual Apple employees. I once broke the bezel on my 8500, a few months after i bought it. I walked into an Apple dealer, asked if I could order a replacement. "Is it under warranty? Oh wait, you said 8500- they have to be under warranty. [click click click click] OK, come back in a few days, we'll have it". In college, when the 1400 lost a screen clutch cover, the resident apple-certified tech said "oh sure, I can get those", and a few days later he had a bag of 6; I got two for free.
I think the next time I see one of those, I'll key it to demonstrate my contempt.
To turn your quote back on yourself, "why is it that people think they're above the law and can damage other people's property in some lame-ass attempt at vigilantism?"
Why? Because he's a USER. Not a programmer. Developers have a responsibility to listen to their userbase. If you want market-share, then when your users say "I don't understand X", you DO NOT say "well, FINE, fix it yourself!" That is ENTIRELY the wrong attitude. ESR may be confrontational, but you're even more so.
Why doesn't your approach work? Because they're simply going to walk away. Software is so complex these days that many people, even programmers, couldn't possibly contribute without investing a serious amount of time. Hmm, which is a better use of resources- 12 hours of a user messing around learning your functions, conventions, library calls etc(and probably introducing more bugs than features)- or 15 minutes for you to add the button yourself?
I know -exactly- how he feels. Countless times I've found software that has a super-spiffy web page, touts how damn good it is to anyone who's reading- but you unpack the source and Jeeeeesuschriiiiiist you can't figure out which way is up- and I've been building and compiling unix packages for almost 10 years(when i was yer age, we had to edit makefile library paths ourselves! None of this automake...) Then, if you get it built, you run it and menus have confusing names, there's no help file, there are secret options nobody mentions that are in the ~/.myprogram directory, and so on.
The mldonkey p2p client was an excellent example. The developers continuously worked on all sorts of weird theoretical schemes for this and that, while the userbase clamored for a manual(there was none), a description of what each setting did(ditto- the developers would cheerfully add some oddly-named option and not explain to ANYONE what it did), or for features that were common in other clients. Such as the ability to share a file without having to restart the client(shocking!) But hey, you got three different algorithms to pick from for how it managed sources for files. Yaaaay!
...who is also widely considered to be a complete nutcase and space-shot, with little credibility. He may be worth $15B, but who gets more press? He's widely ignored, because many concepts he's tried to champion have not just failed, they've imploded before they even left the launch pad. The whole thin-client netpc is a great example.
He's just too goddamned impressed with himself, and the picture is a perfect example of that attitude, and I'm sure it was selected(or provided) for that reason. The comparison to The Rock was perfect. Like Trump, Gates, Jobs, Fiorina- any time the focus shifts from someone's talents and qualifications to their personality, you've got yourselves a genuine cult figure and some serious problems. Things are all happy-shiny while the money's pouring in...but when the -water- starts leaking in, everyone's too busy looking at how great Master is to bail, and often even when the water's up to their necks they don't realize it's really time to mutiny, or jump ship altogether. One man or woman does not make an organization, and many a corporation has discovered the dangers of simply rubber-stamping and worshipping a central figure. Boards, VP's, etc all exist exactly to prevent this sort of thing.
Frankly, what amazes me the most is that there isn't a massive explosion when he and Steve Jobs are in the same room at Apple board meetings- Steve's Reality Distortion Field meets the Ellison Ego Field.
Lastly, never confuse wealth with success. Some of the world's richest people are miserable failures as human beings. I could name a dozen people I respect far more than Ellison, or any executive officer of any corporation.
Watch Cowboy Bebop, and you'll realize anime is an art form up with all the rest. Anime is like any other media; there's complete, utter crap(One Piece, Dragonball Z), and then fantastic stuff(Spirited Away for example). The Japanese take anime -very- seriously as an art form. I have not met a single person who hasn't liked Cowboy Bebop(as long as they got beyond the "anime is a cartoon" misconception), and it is widely considered one of the best series ever made; it's currently ranked #4 on Animenfo.com out of series, OVAs(miniseries, very high quality production) and movies. The movie was also excellent, but should be watched before you finish the series....I think early 20's is where you're supposed to watch it.
Bebop has probably 4-6 HOURS of soundtrack music for a 13 hour show...by one of the greatest anime soundtrack producers ever(Yoko Kanno). There are something like 7 soundtrack CDs released(although there was a lot of duplication between them). CB has everything- jazz, funk, classical, opera(Ave Maria, absolutely beautifully done btw), even a heavy metal song or two.
I've watched a great deal of anime over the years, and Bebop is still solidly at #1 on my list; nothing else compares; overall plot, each episode's strength on its own, character design, animation, and of course the soundtrack. Sure, it's the future- but there's very little use of technology for plot-fixing. There is an overall running plot to the whole series, but you never knew what to expect from the next episode. The show plays tribute to many American cultural references(for example, many eps are titled after American songs- Hard Luck Woman is one example) and they snuck in numerous cameos and recurring characters to watch for; you never know who's going to walk by in the background of that marketplace shot.
It is most -definitely- not for children. It's violent at times, and has very serious undertones despite the fun-loving characters on the surface. In fact, the first episode is shockingly tragic- but like I said, episodes run the gamut from serious to goofy(like the one where everyone eats psychedelic mushrooms by mistake, or the space-alien episode). Stick with it- you'll gain a new appreciation.
GITS Stand Alone Complex wins on my list for some similar reasons- it also has a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno, and episodes vary; there's a very serious episode about a criminal who records murder victim's vision+hearing while he kills them, but there's also an heartwarming episode about one of the AI-equipped tanks(Tachikomas- think of a tank with the personality of a little kid and curiosity of a cat- weird combo for, well, a tank :)...which sneaks out on a trip exploring the city one day when nobody's looking, and meets a little girl looking for her lost dog...
Well, since professional IT people clean hard drives before they give them away...uh, no. Do you seriously think they're that stupid?
They may not be able to focus a camera to save their lives(it's so bad, you'd almost think it was intentional), but I strongly suspect every drive has been completely(for all practical purposes) wiped clean, and I mean more than just "zap the partition table". Further, I guarantee the music files were the least of their concerns. Financials, emails, etc...
Speaking of the photos, did anyone else notice a lot of the photos(harley, Hummer) were very obviously on someone's private property, and further, were rather lacking in mp3.com logos? Someone was getting some free vehicles for personal use on the company dime.
But to make the hat, I have to buy the cans! Classic chicken/egg problem. Arrgg!
Actually, the threat is mostly from your fellow citizens, who just don't care enough. Many have forgotten that democracy and freedom have risks, and the only way to protect them is to recognize, and ignore, that risk. If I stand a .00005% chance instead of a .00001% chance of getting blown up on a plane- but I and my fellow citizens remain free(ie, i didn't have to take my shoes off, didn't have to hand over "papers") so be it. If you aren't, you are a -coward-, and you can damn well pack your bags and move somewhere else, because America was founded by a bunch of guys who got -really- tired of exactly this kind of crap. What gives -you- the right to take -my- freedom, for -your- illusion of security? Franklin said it best: "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Nevermind that the risk is infinitesimal; in one year, +10x more people died on our highways than did in all the planes+buildings involved in the terrorist attacks. Every three days more people die of heart disease than died in the terrorist attacks(700,000 people a year, roughly). Nope, I can't have universal healthcare, but I can have Johhny Ashcroft breathing down my neck.
Planes aren't being hijacked because we stop the dreaded nail clipper from coming on board.
Exactly. Further- if you want proof of just how ineffective these measures are, look at countries where "security" is tightest. Israel, for example, is indisputable proof that no matter what you do, you just can't stop someone determined enough; when they stopped Palestinian men, women started strapping bombs to themselves. Then there's England; no end of security procedures did little to stop the IRA. Those video cameras in London, which practically outnumber people, have yielded no drop in crime; same goes for their thousands of radar-speed cameras; in fact, speeding's gone -up-...
I've read that toy companies target adult buyers via product design, with products for young children- teddy bears for example, have proportions similar to babies, which supposedly triggers a [mat/pat]ernal instinct in parents.
Tellmi's figured out a much better instinct to trigger in the parents, it sounds like :-)
"Mommy, stop borrowing Mr. Quills! Every time you do his batteries are dead!"
I see this as a great strategy. A second one gets bought shortly after the first, for sure. The second one is in part responsible for the purchase of the third, anywhere from 9-36 months later...perfect! What's their stock symbol?
Uh...why would you need to put RFID tags on drugs or on drug containers in the first place?
If you're talking about prescription filling errors, that would be solved overnight by two things:
a)making doctors fill out prescriptions similarly to how most government forms are- one box per letter,capital letters(and when a prescription is rejected- the pharmacy makes it clear to the patient, AND the hospital, WHY. Doctors who can't be bothered to write clearly for the safety of their patient find themselves on the street).
b)training pharmacists better, holding them and their employers accountable for mistakes, and FDA(or state) conducted spot checks(we check health codes at restaurants to make sure Jenny the short order cook doesn't store that pot in the wrong place, but we can't be bothered to have someone fill a prescription a few times a month and check the results at a lab?)
If we're talking about theft(gillette's supposed reason for doing RFID), the major source of theft is armed(or claiming to be armed) robbers stealing powerful painkillers that have value on the black market.
RSA is grasping at straws here, finding a solution to the problems with a solution that was invented out of thin air(for a real problem). Say that 5 times fast.
You gotta be kidding me, right? Slashdot editors have followed one standard very consistently- italics are the "speech" of the submitter(also encased in quotes and proceeded with an introduction), and regular text is the editorial comment. Anyone who has made it beyond 4th grade and learned proper citing and punctuation should be able to understand this, and it's reinforced with the italics/regular text styling.
Sorry, I 'side' with the slashdot editors- this was a reader who ignored multiple clues and thought the editorial comment was your own words. Now, the dork-ness of the comment is another thing entirely...I think we're all in agreement on that one.
Uh...someone -please- tell me how this was a troll. It was a -joke-.
Thank god for the meta-moderation system.
Fantastic! Now the alien people and the tin foil hat wearers can join forces- because not only is their life elsewhere in the universe, by golly, they're SPYING on us! Quick, someone phone Barbara Streisand so she can sue them for photographing her back yard.
There's something in this for everyone, really- even the people who think the rovers are getting sabotaged. After all, when you're a futuristic-technology-wielding, hip happenin' intergalactic alien...hmm, what's the saying? Oh yeah. When you've got a gas-giant lens, the whole universe looks like an ant in need of frying.
Three points:
a)it looks like the only reason development started again was because of all the Xfree86 licensing hubbub(which isn't going to be around much longer, because Xfree86 will most likely cave). If the project did not have the merits to succeed before, I do not see how things have changed in such a way that it will be successful long-term, and this was a blatant "look at me" attempt. Y was dead, FreeDesktop was humming along quietly.
b)Most of the "I'm going to replace Xwindows" projects are doing so because its supposedly "slow" and "bloated", and we see a large number of posts in every Xwindows-related story on slashdot claiming the same thing. Most of them are wrong.
c)We already have an interesting, viable alternative(FreeDesktop)...and it's got heavy involvement with the major developers of Gnome and KDE, the two most popular desktop systems. Everyone is playing Chicken with Xfree86, while hedging their bet(and strengthening their position with Xfree86) by starting work with FreeDesktop. Y is nowhere to be seen in all of this, especially if it's only got one guy- versus a whole group of some of the best Linux programmers around.
So was I :-)
Yeah, and your mother owes you millions for dropping you as a child, since those of us who weren't dropped, went to the store and bought a $40 optical scroll-wheel mouse ;-)
(Sorry, pet peeve for those who complain about the fact that a computer, designed+marketed to be EASY TO USE, comes out of the box with only one mouse button but is perfectly capable of using a fancier one if your heart desires).
1.Steal technology from other companies at trade industry conference, and patent it
2.Sue other companies before its barely in use and make sure nobody uses said technology
3.Get tied up in legal battles until patent is useless
4.???
5.Profit!
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No, as a matter of fact, I haven't, and I live here. Could you cite some examples, please?
Last time I looked, for the cost of a cheap PC, you can buy dozens, if not hundreds, of books. They don't need internet connections or power, aren't affected by dust, dirt or careless handling. They also at least a couple decades.
The sad thing is, the same crap has been happening in the US for at least a decade. Yessir, Smallville has a computer in every classroom, but Johnny and Suzy need to "share" To Kill a Mockingbird because there's "no money" for more copies. The teachers have to buy supplies out of their own pockets because the school has "no money". And that computer? Sits off most of the time, or even worse, sits on, drawing inane animated pictures on the screen, running up the school's electric bill.
I strongly suggest reading Cliff Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil...