I've switched from Winamp to iTunes...because syncing with my iPod is the killer app. plus the smart playlists and the play counts/ratings are not only efficient and no-brainers, but they also sync.
I wrote a letter to the guy, and perhaps if you agree (and if you disagree) you will too:
Sen. Balboni,
I strongly disagree with your anti-spyware bill.
I absolutely hate spyware and think that it is wrong, evil, and so on. Yet you won't see me calling for its criminalization, because I don't think the government should enforce "my right to computing." And you'll notice that there exist free market solutions to spyware, like Ad-Aware (www.lavasoft.de) and Mozilla Firebird (www.mozilla.org) that are actually free of charge as well ($0).
Please resist the temptation to overlegislate our country and I wish you luck on your re-election campaign.
-A former resident of East Meadow, NY and Libertarian.
The Congress is expert at (Score:4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on 16:21 Saturday 24 April 2004 (#8961805)... protecting stupid people from themselves.
Absolutely. Just because I think spyware is wrong, misleading, annoying, and is generally evil, doesn't mean that I think it should be illegal. For example, I absolutely support the EFF (I'm a paying member) against the ??AA but don't think that the ??AA should be illegal...
I see legislators promising the world right now, possibly at the expense of transforming our government into a more inefficient and costly mechanism. I wish that politicians worked towards American freedom every year. You'll notice that Mr. Balboni is running for re-election in Nassau County this year and is probably quite happy to get this slashdot article right now.
Dear senators, please stop overlegislating and please work on improving our society through major forces like education and reducing how much our country spends on iraq. thank you.
I'm sure they mean renting the actual disc, like they do for movies. I doubt that games would be downloadable, at least for the current generation of consoles.
Sony seems to be pretty interested in it as a future distribution method, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it in a couple of years. The story-driven, linear RPGs popular in Japan could work, if you are able to download the content as you go. Each night download the next few levels, and unless you run through a lot of the game in one sitting it wouldn't be a problem.
The republicans don't need to do anything other than not being the democrats to get your votes. Well, you may 'throw them away' on third-party candidates, but you aren't going to vote Dem so the Repubs are safe.
Actually, you're wrong. I'm a registered Libertarian and I am sure as fuck not voting for Bush.
1) Take care of your appearance, which means go to the gym and make sure that even if you have a gut, that it's at least obvious that you're someone who cares about your health and appearance. People are naturally wary of dating those who don't appear to take any pride in their appearance and health.
2) Don't assume that having a vagina means having no brain. Just because most girls are breeding stock, doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of girls who aren't. Some of the ones that seem to be breeding stock may in fact have a lot of intelligence and you can bring it out of them. Been there, done that.
3) Broaden your horizons. Get away from the computer and learn something that you find to be fun and that is accessible to girls who aren't computer geeks.
Parent brings up some points I agree with. Building on #2, I want to point out that the opposite is true.
Basically the implication above is that intelligent girls won't get you laid. But just hearing about the various people I know, and the things they do, I have come to a conclusion that intelligence has really no bearing on whether you'll hook up or not. You can hook up with intelligent women too.....and you might find it more rewarding. who knows, maybe her favorite organ of yours will be your cabeza.
interesting point. also I suppose he has some fame amongst geeks. if he's scoring with reasonable women because of his fame, then perhaps that would not apply either.
also, wonder where he lives? I ask because one of my high school classmates used to do...well not so well on the game. but he went to study abroad and realized that girls found him very attractive. apparently he's hooked up quite a bit, which is a contrast to college in the states.
Does anyone else find it interesting that this guy is the one giving the sex tips referenced in the article?
I mean, I was told not to judge a book by its cover but..
on a serious note, I am dating someone and she likes my geeky side. I forward her slashdot posts every week or so...it's pretty cool. yesterday we sat down and read some wikipedia together.
"George" refers to Luke's Death Star run. He notes that the Trench could be considered a vaginal corridor and talks of the great Oedipal struggle between him and his father (Vader).
But then they started making too much shit up...imho a lowlight of today's stories. I think the best are those that are funny and then make you think. Like this: Bush Addresses 8.2 Million Unemployed: 'Get a Job'. I laughed then said, hey...wait...
But if you are really interested in free stuff, may I suggest FatWallet's Free Stuff forum. FW is "known" for its Hot Deals forum so I imagine the Free forum would be of substance as well.
I would guess sites like Anandtech and bargainshare.net would have similar forums.
It's a time waster. (Score:5, Insightful) by yebb (142883) on 8:14 Tuesday 30 March 2004 (#8714683) This is a product of the fact that people want to be able to reclaim their time.
Right, COMPLETELY UNLIKE slashdot.
slashdot = time waster for me. and sure as hell it's not coming back.
I actually ended up losing my white headphones, my precious. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the Apple store and they wanted $40 for a replacement pair.
I quickly ran out. They didn't even sell the basic version...
Who cares, I'm already planning my customized license plate for it: INBOXSTR
It just works on so many levels.
cute, but sadly 8 characters--won't fit on most US license plates.
Perhaps INBOXSR. Not as cool, but 7.
Hey, I smell a good product name for a spam killer. Inboxster. Like Aimster, except the slutty girl goes to the spam file. not a single google result, either.
IGN Sports: Since you don't expect the next series of games to be released until 2005, does that mean that all of the games are now in development for Xbox 2 rather than the Xbox?
Kevin Browne: We haven't made any announcements about anything but the Xbox, so what we're talking about is this:....blah blah
We know better than to believe most PR. Perhaps much of MS's energy is being redirected towards Xbox 2?
Besides, as was pointed out earlier, Xbox sales are being driven by sports games, but largely not the ones made by MS: think EA, Sega, etc. Considering that Xbox hardware sales are not exactly a cash cow, Xbox 2 seems to be of superb strategical importance for market domination, especially compared to the idea of doing Xbox 1 sports games.
The charts show that a full $15 of the price is profit to the wholesalers, and the retailers. I'm surprised that more studios don't try the direct channel, selling right to the customer. It seems that there's some serious inefficiency there.
Valve Software, the developer of Half-Life, is trying to do just that with Steam. Basically when you buy any future Valve games, they'll come with a content-delivery program: Steam. This means you're going to Valve's portal, if you will, every single time you go to play online. I imagine it must be a huge logistics problem, but they did hire Bram Cohen (the BitTorrent guy)
This is Valve's perfect target for eyeballs, and they know it. For example, after their newest Counter-strike expansion pack released, I went to go play Half-Life online and got an ad for their new game, that I could download instantly. And 99% of the profit would goes to Valve. Smart.
But this has been covered before: hereand here. Read up more if you'd like, I think it's pretty interesting. While this probably won't spell the doom of EB Games quite yet, I do agree with the parent that there is some market inefficency in the current system.
Slashdot Mirror
I've switched from Winamp to iTunes...because syncing with my iPod is the killer app. plus the smart playlists and the play counts/ratings are not only efficient and no-brainers, but they also sync.
The Congress is expert at (Score:4, Insightful) ... protecting stupid people from themselves.
by Anonymous Coward on 16:21 Saturday 24 April 2004 (#8961805)
Absolutely. Just because I think spyware is wrong, misleading, annoying, and is generally evil, doesn't mean that I think it should be illegal. For example, I absolutely support the EFF (I'm a paying member) against the ??AA but don't think that the ??AA should be illegal...
I see legislators promising the world right now, possibly at the expense of transforming our government into a more inefficient and costly mechanism. I wish that politicians worked towards American freedom every year. You'll notice that Mr. Balboni is running for re-election in Nassau County this year and is probably quite happy to get this slashdot article right now.
Dear senators, please stop overlegislating and please work on improving our society through major forces like education and reducing how much our country spends on iraq. thank you.
After spending my life on slashdot for a few days, I came to a similar hopeful conclusion.
Sadly, it didn't work too well in real life.
PS - I posted that for us to laugh...then reflect on. As probably how the parent posted his thought.
Two words:
Watch Steam.
Actually, you're wrong. I'm a registered Libertarian and I am sure as fuck not voting for Bush.
Go Kerry.
Parent brings up some points I agree with. Building on #2, I want to point out that the opposite is true.
Basically the implication above is that intelligent girls won't get you laid. But just hearing about the various people I know, and the things they do, I have come to a conclusion that intelligence has really no bearing on whether you'll hook up or not. You can hook up with intelligent women too.....and you might find it more rewarding. who knows, maybe her favorite organ of yours will be your cabeza.
interesting point. also I suppose he has some fame amongst geeks. if he's scoring with reasonable women because of his fame, then perhaps that would not apply either.
also, wonder where he lives? I ask because one of my high school classmates used to do...well not so well on the game. but he went to study abroad and realized that girls found him very attractive. apparently he's hooked up quite a bit, which is a contrast to college in the states.
Does anyone else find it interesting that this guy is the one giving the sex tips referenced in the article?
I mean, I was told not to judge a book by its cover but..
on a serious note, I am dating someone and she likes my geeky side. I forward her slashdot posts every week or so...it's pretty cool. yesterday we sat down and read some wikipedia together.
SPOILER
"George" refers to Luke's Death Star run. He notes that the Trench could be considered a vaginal corridor and talks of the great Oedipal struggle between him and his father (Vader).
But then they started making too much shit up...imho a lowlight of today's stories. I think the best are those that are funny and then make you think. Like this: Bush Addresses 8.2 Million Unemployed: 'Get a Job'. I laughed then said, hey...wait...
Yeah, it's horrible how he's giving money away. Just like that Bill Gates Foundation....
Actually I was thinking of doing grad work at Dartmouth. I thought it would be cool to move to New Hamsphire for the Free State Project. (No joke)
Ironically, I'm a math undergrad at Berkeley.
Theoretically, they could give you a 0-second loan.
I realize it's an April Fool's story.
But if you are really interested in free stuff, may I suggest FatWallet's Free Stuff forum. FW is "known" for its Hot Deals forum so I imagine the Free forum would be of substance as well.
I would guess sites like Anandtech and bargainshare.net would have similar forums.
check out carfree cities.
Plus, their logo is Tux.
Right, COMPLETELY UNLIKE slashdot.
slashdot = time waster for me. and sure as hell it's not coming back.
I actually ended up losing my white headphones, my precious. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the Apple store and they wanted $40 for a replacement pair.
I quickly ran out. They didn't even sell the basic version...
I was recommended Debian. (First linux install). Why is Red Hat/Mandrake better?
Hope I'm not opening up a can of worms here...
What is slashdot is down? That would be a pretty nasty April Fool's prank.
cute, but sadly 8 characters--won't fit on most US license plates.
Perhaps INBOXSR. Not as cool, but 7.
Hey, I smell a good product name for a spam killer. Inboxster. Like Aimster, except the slutty girl goes to the spam file. not a single google result, either.
Nice car, but....you're telling me the spammer made $1mm+ and all AOL got was a $47k Porsche?
Well, I suppose the publicity might work, like how the RIAA got many people to think that copyright violations = stealing.
We know better than to believe most PR. Perhaps much of MS's energy is being redirected towards Xbox 2?
Besides, as was pointed out earlier, Xbox sales are being driven by sports games, but largely not the ones made by MS: think EA, Sega, etc. Considering that Xbox hardware sales are not exactly a cash cow, Xbox 2 seems to be of superb strategical importance for market domination, especially compared to the idea of doing Xbox 1 sports games.
Valve Software, the developer of Half-Life, is trying to do just that with Steam. Basically when you buy any future Valve games, they'll come with a content-delivery program: Steam. This means you're going to Valve's portal, if you will, every single time you go to play online. I imagine it must be a huge logistics problem, but they did hire Bram Cohen (the BitTorrent guy)
This is Valve's perfect target for eyeballs, and they know it. For example, after their newest Counter-strike expansion pack released, I went to go play Half-Life online and got an ad for their new game, that I could download instantly. And 99% of the profit would goes to Valve. Smart.
But this has been covered before: here and here. Read up more if you'd like, I think it's pretty interesting. While this probably won't spell the doom of EB Games quite yet, I do agree with the parent that there is some market inefficency in the current system.
If you are looking for a more academic perspective, Wikipedia is here too.
Say the whole thing to yourself in Disco Stu voice.
Hillarious. Because it fits so well.