It's really not that hard. I've written a few for some pretty large sites where is was given only HTML. There are really only 4 hard parts:
1) Storing basket contents for inter-session access (cookies / db)
2) Verifying the information supplied (address and email valid, credit card passess LUHN and hasn't expired)
3) Creating an order (via email or DB)
4) Interfacing with the Payment Gateway (xml)
Though I would certainly agree there is no reason to do it more than once.
There are statistical equations that measure the relative accuracy of your results if you have a truly random sample. The trouble is that it's hard to get a truly random sample.
Yeah, I'm going to remember 3432433.amazon.com. Is it really in the best interest of a company to turn away a surfer who has the amazon.com correct, but not the checksum?
Actually, you plug in your phone and your phone signals Cingular to forward the call to another number. All the base unit is is a charger that signals the phone to signal Cingular.
Obviously you haven't been privy to the wave of AVS approved transactions from phishers changing the address on file. I actually sued CitiCards for negligence (and won) when they charged us back after proving delivery to the AVS address. Also, is it really worth alienating 10% of your customers to save 1% in chargebacks by forcing shipment to the billing address? Obviously that questions is best answered based on many factors, but considering most large companies ship to alternate addresses, I would bet your net profit is higher shipping to alternate address (with proper verification of course).
If the sheeple knew how credit cards really worked, we would be better off sending an invoice in the mail after shipping the product. Your only recourse if the card holder pushes the issue is suing them.
The merchant takes the risk when someone uses your card. When Joe Sixpack gives his card info out to a phisher, and said phisher orders from a merchant, guess who's left holding the bags? The merchant.
First of all, I can't see anybody taking odds that these events AREN'T going to happen because the reward is not worth the risk. Secondly, if they receive one million pounds worth of bets on life on Titan, and somebody has a bacterially-contanimated module that lands on Titan and the bacteria survive, they're out 10 billion pounds.
This is a great idea, except for the fact that I would doubt this guy could payout any odds greater than 4:1. It's a good deal for him though: if he wins, he wins, and if he loses, he breaks even because you can't get blood from a turnip.
Prior Art:
Radio Stations that have contests for remembering the last X songs.
Radio Stations that have give-aways for those who register, and have to listen to hear their name called.
TV Shows that allow you to play along at home and win prizes.
So far, no one has found a road-and wheel combination in which the road has the same shape as the wheel. That's an intriguing challenge for mathematicians.
Tires = Circle, Earth = Circle. Any circular object would do assuming the force of gravity exceeds centrifugal force.
6 of one, half a dozen of the other. Final Price = Final Price. Shipping isn't free, Handling isn't free. Company's are gonna make money no matter what they do, that's their purpose.
Opinions differ wildly in the hard-drive business. While Seagate supplies hard drives with 160 GB of capacity in the ATA area, Hitachi and Western Digital already have 250 GB disks. They all pale, however, compared to Maxtor's monster, which has a full 300 GB of write space. If you're one of those people for whom "big" isn't big enough, this is the one for you.
However, criticism of manufacturers with smaller maximum capacities is inappropriate since the focus of many of these vendors' attention lies elsewhere. As one of the quietest drives spinning at 7,200 rpm, a Barracuda ATA 7200.7 is designed most of all along ergonomic lines and to deliver a good price/performance ratio. Hitachi, Maxtor and Western Digital join the running for highest performance at regular intervals. The result is larger, faster and correspondingly expensive hard drives.
With the 4A300J0, Maxtor is traveling a different route: its aim is to provide as much storage capacity as possible at an acceptable price. The recipe it has chosen consists of 5,400 rpm instead of the favored - because it's quicker - 7,200 rpm and only 2 MB in place of the 8 MB cache usual in top models. Since SATA still costs more, it uses an UltraATA/133 interface. This is ample for the coming months, as transfer rates on the fastest ATA disks are still below 70 MB/s max.
We took a closer look at how the 300 GB monster shapes up against the established major-leaguers from Hitachi, Maxtor and Western Digital.
Technical Data Capacity 300 GB Geometry 4 Platter, 80 GB pro Platter Rotation speed 5,400 Cache 2 MB Access time 12.6 ms Interface UltraATA/133 Warranty 1 Year
The technical details leave no room for criticism. This largest DiamondMax is based on platters of approx. 80 GB. Four of them are used, raising capacity to around 320 GB. However, "only" 300 GB is used - the remainder is probably reserved for error correction.
Summary: With a behemoth capacity of 300 GB, the DiamondMax is the biggest hard drive so far. Can the 5,400 rpm drive with just 2 MB of cache also deliver the performance for our times?
4A300J0 a.k.a. Diamond Max Plus: Technical Details
Technical Data Capacity 300 GB Geometry 4 Platter, 80 GB pro Platter Rotation speed 5,400 Cache 2 MB Access time 12.6 ms Interface UltraATA/133 Warranty 1 Year
The technical details leave no room for criticism. This largest DiamondMax is based on platters of approx. 80 GB. Four of them are used, raising capacity to around 320 GB. However, "only" 300 GB is used - the remainder is probably reserved for error correction.
With four platters, Maxtor is aiming pretty high. Several years ago, IBM put up to five platters per drive in its DTLA series. That offers the advantage of being able to construct very large drives. However, the increased friction causes more heat loss so that hard drives with four platters require cooling sooner than models with only one or two. Large SCSI drives are usually based on multi-platter configurations.
An UltraATA/133 controller was also included in delivery of the retail kit. Although it's labeled as a Maxtor, it in fact originates from Promise. The Maxtor website, meanwhile, contains the information that this controller is not standard in the retail kit but has to be purchased extra.
The DiamondMax Plus is scarcely audible, produces only minimal vibrations and at 39C stays comfortably cool. Active cooling can be safely dispensed with; for permanent operation, however, we still recommend it. In this context, the short guarantee period of one year should be noted. You should consider this very carefully if you're planning to operate the product continuously. We would have liked to have seen a longer guarantee period for a drive of this caliber.
Why can't the original copyright holders specifically state SCO Group cannot modify or distribute code? I know it goes against the whole purpose of GPL, but f*** SCO!
Slashdot Mirror
The Fed actually gives money back to the US Treasury because they make more money on interest on the US T-Bills they hold than is required to operate.
I'm tempted as I have 3 load balanced servers, but it's also fun to see how many people actually believe me without any sort of proof.
It's really not that hard. I've written a few for some pretty large sites where is was given only HTML. There are really only 4 hard parts:
1) Storing basket contents for inter-session access (cookies / db)
2) Verifying the information supplied (address and email valid, credit card passess LUHN and hasn't expired)
3) Creating an order (via email or DB)
4) Interfacing with the Payment Gateway (xml)
Though I would certainly agree there is no reason to do it more than once.
There are statistical equations that measure the relative accuracy of your results if you have a truly random sample. The trouble is that it's hard to get a truly random sample.
Yeah, I'm going to remember 3432433.amazon.com. Is it really in the best interest of a company to turn away a surfer who has the amazon.com correct, but not the checksum?
How are you going to remember the checksum? Wouldn't it be a lot easier to have a bookmark?
Actually, you plug in your phone and your phone signals Cingular to forward the call to another number. All the base unit is is a charger that signals the phone to signal Cingular.
Wouldn't it be: If you infringe this patent you may also *want to* infringe...
I don't really expect to get modded up. Yours was much more original.
illegal - prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules.
criminal - relating to crime or its punishment; "criminal court".
So yes; it's illegal, but not criminal.
Jesus Christ
Obviously you haven't been privy to the wave of AVS approved transactions from phishers changing the address on file. I actually sued CitiCards for negligence (and won) when they charged us back after proving delivery to the AVS address. Also, is it really worth alienating 10% of your customers to save 1% in chargebacks by forcing shipment to the billing address? Obviously that questions is best answered based on many factors, but considering most large companies ship to alternate addresses, I would bet your net profit is higher shipping to alternate address (with proper verification of course).
If the sheeple knew how credit cards really worked, we would be better off sending an invoice in the mail after shipping the product. Your only recourse if the card holder pushes the issue is suing them.
The merchant takes the risk when someone uses your card. When Joe Sixpack gives his card info out to a phisher, and said phisher orders from a merchant, guess who's left holding the bags? The merchant.
Signed,
An Internet Merchant
First of all, I can't see anybody taking odds that these events AREN'T going to happen because the reward is not worth the risk. Secondly, if they receive one million pounds worth of bets on life on Titan, and somebody has a bacterially-contanimated module that lands on Titan and the bacteria survive, they're out 10 billion pounds.
This is a great idea, except for the fact that I would doubt this guy could payout any odds greater than 4:1. It's a good deal for him though: if he wins, he wins, and if he loses, he breaks even because you can't get blood from a turnip.
I have Cingular, and you can hit '3' during a voicemail message to delete it.
Prior Art:
Radio Stations that have contests for remembering the last X songs.
Radio Stations that have give-aways for those who register, and have to listen to hear their name called.
TV Shows that allow you to play along at home and win prizes.
This is hardly new or even novel.
The utility that loads the song files could convert them on the fly.
Actually, IIRC, the clerk asked for the id when the robber asked for beer in addition to money.
6 of one, half a dozen of the other. Final Price = Final Price. Shipping isn't free, Handling isn't free. Company's are gonna make money no matter what they do, that's their purpose.
Stock Exchange Commission???
Try "Securites and Exchange Commission".
Opinions differ wildly in the hard-drive business. While Seagate supplies hard drives with 160 GB of capacity in the ATA area, Hitachi and Western Digital already have 250 GB disks. They all pale, however, compared to Maxtor's monster, which has a full 300 GB of write space. If you're one of those people for whom "big" isn't big enough, this is the one for you.
However, criticism of manufacturers with smaller maximum capacities is inappropriate since the focus of many of these vendors' attention lies elsewhere. As one of the quietest drives spinning at 7,200 rpm, a Barracuda ATA 7200.7 is designed most of all along ergonomic lines and to deliver a good price/performance ratio. Hitachi, Maxtor and Western Digital join the running for highest performance at regular intervals. The result is larger, faster and correspondingly expensive hard drives.
With the 4A300J0, Maxtor is traveling a different route: its aim is to provide as much storage capacity as possible at an acceptable price. The recipe it has chosen consists of 5,400 rpm instead of the favored - because it's quicker - 7,200 rpm and only 2 MB in place of the 8 MB cache usual in top models. Since SATA still costs more, it uses an UltraATA/133 interface. This is ample for the coming months, as transfer rates on the fastest ATA disks are still below 70 MB/s max.
We took a closer look at how the 300 GB monster shapes up against the established major-leaguers from Hitachi, Maxtor and Western Digital.
Technical Data
Capacity 300 GB
Geometry 4 Platter, 80 GB pro Platter
Rotation speed 5,400
Cache 2 MB
Access time 12.6 ms
Interface UltraATA/133
Warranty 1 Year
The technical details leave no room for criticism. This largest DiamondMax is based on platters of approx. 80 GB. Four of them are used, raising capacity to around 320 GB. However, "only" 300 GB is used - the remainder is probably reserved for error correction.
Summary:
With a behemoth capacity of 300 GB, the DiamondMax is the biggest hard drive so far. Can the 5,400 rpm drive with just 2 MB of cache also deliver the performance for our times?
4A300J0 a.k.a. Diamond Max Plus: Technical Details
Technical Data
Capacity 300 GB
Geometry 4 Platter, 80 GB pro Platter
Rotation speed 5,400
Cache 2 MB
Access time 12.6 ms
Interface UltraATA/133
Warranty 1 Year
The technical details leave no room for criticism. This largest DiamondMax is based on platters of approx. 80 GB. Four of them are used, raising capacity to around 320 GB. However, "only" 300 GB is used - the remainder is probably reserved for error correction.
With four platters, Maxtor is aiming pretty high. Several years ago, IBM put up to five platters per drive in its DTLA series. That offers the advantage of being able to construct very large drives. However, the increased friction causes more heat loss so that hard drives with four platters require cooling sooner than models with only one or two. Large SCSI drives are usually based on multi-platter configurations.
An UltraATA/133 controller was also included in delivery of the retail kit. Although it's labeled as a Maxtor, it in fact originates from Promise. The Maxtor website, meanwhile, contains the information that this controller is not standard in the retail kit but has to be purchased extra.
The DiamondMax Plus is scarcely audible, produces only minimal vibrations and at 39C stays comfortably cool. Active cooling can be safely dispensed with; for permanent operation, however, we still recommend it. In this context, the short guarantee period of one year should be noted. You should consider this very carefully if you're planning to operate the product continuously. We would have liked to have seen a longer guarantee period for a drive of this caliber.
Test Setup
Test System
Processor Intel Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz
256 KB L2-Cache (Willamette)
Motherboard Intel D845EBT, Intel 845E chipset
RAM 256 MB DDR/PC2100, CL2, Infineon
Controller i845E Ult
Sorry, not funny to me.
Other countries use period instead of a comma to deliminate thousands. It means 130,000.
Why can't the original copyright holders specifically state SCO Group cannot modify or distribute code? I know it goes against the whole purpose of GPL, but f*** SCO!