Not sure truckers are the first to go but they are certainly on the list. I bet cabbies are the first to be chopped. Also on the list: UPS/Fedex, Postal Service, Delivery Services (Pizza for example). The 2nd order changes are also interesting - Parking Garage Attendants, Parking Meter enforcement, Traffic cops, and many more. None of these examples will completely go away but will be greatly reduced. We will still need truck drivers (which will become just passengers) that are trained in delivering hazmat materials to customers. Although these jobs will be lower paid than they currently are.
So I don't want to add to the debate around whether or not global warming is actually occurring or not but just assume that it is. How exactly is global warming bad?
So glaciers melt - they have melted before and came back in a few million years there is no reason to believe that this will not occur again. So we lose access to them now but this would happen eventually anyway. Sure not in our lifetimes but across the millions or billions of years before the sun kills the planet completely ice will come and go unless we find a way to control the natural process that regulates.
Glaciers melting lead to rising sea levels - well this means a few options accept the loss of land or put up barriers to protect it. You always hear that NYC will be underwater in X number of years. Of course it wont. Humans will find ways to solve that problem. Build dams, raise the island by bringing in extra soil, etc. Now a place like Florida does not have those type of options so likely it will slowly be sunk by hurricanes that destroy the sand barriers that we put up. Yes, entire towns will be destroyed in a storm but this happens today. It will likely be more frequent thus making it more difficult to make the decision to rebuild. Eventually people will move somewhere else. And during this process jobs will be created to rebuild homes, reinforce older homes, build dams, better water management process etc. It is said that global warming will cost X billion or trillion dollars. Well a lot of that will go into job creation oddly enough. "You see, father, by causing a little destruction, I am in fact encouraging life."
We are killing the planet! - Ahh this old argument. There is nothing we can do currently to kill the planet. Nothing. Sure global warming might kill off a chunk of species that cannot adapt. Hell all out nuclear war might kill off 90% of the worlds species but life will survive and adapt. Over a million years or so the radiation will decay and the adaption process will continue. It would be a blip on the radar for the earth, kind of like the meteor impact that killed the dinosaurs.
So as I see it global warming is just accelerating a natural process that would happen anyway some time in the future (hundreds, thousands or millions of years). Lots of money will be spent trying to fight or clean up the damage but that just means job creation. Species will adapt or die but over a long enough time period we will die off anyway (baring interstellar travel).
For a moment I thought it was novel too, then I thought about Shazam links in commercials. Those commercials on TV that have a popup that says use Shazam on this commercial to be taken to our website, a coupon, free samples, etc. This is almost exactly the same as what the patent is claiming however Shazam links are on a bit broader scale.
This already exists. I have seen a demo of software 2 years ago that could track customers in a store from security cameras. They could be over head cameras and didnt even need facial recognition to do it. I believe it was http://www.intellivid.com/index.html these guys but i am not sure. It could tell how long someone stayed near a particular item and how long they were in the store. At the time I do not think they had it linked directly to sales to see if the person eventually bought the item or not but that is a trivial add on. As would associating the movements to a specific person assuming they bought something with a credit card.
Yes, Nov. 19th is before Thanksgiving. I was going off the Japan Launch date of Dec. 2nd that was officially announced at 2am today. I never thought they would release Wii in the US before Japan but I guess I was wrong.
Assuming the US package is like the Japan one, it will ship without a packaged game. Wii sports will cost you another 4800 yen (around 41 USD). Hopefully they will round down on the price of the wii for the US and make it $200 rather then $250.
On a positive note the nunchuck attachment is included in the box.
What happened to the before Thanksgiving US launch?
The real problem the government has with online gaming is the loss of revenue. They don't get any tax dollars from offshore gambling. Politicians are wrapping this up in a warm fuzzy "we are protecting the children" blanket, but really it's all about the money.
If this were really the case why not just make online gambling legal? Give licenses to a certain number of companies and require outside certification of all code. While all of the online gambling is currently being done by companies outside the US, many people would switch to a US controlled entity due to the ease of using credit cards/bank accounts and the oversight of a neutral party. The US could easily tax these companies like the currently do regular casinos. Problem solved.
When I first saw it I wondered I thought what it would look like in an IMAX theater. It would be the most insane IMAX movie ever - although they would probably need to provide everyone with barf bags just in case. NASA could even make some money off the deal by distributing the film.
If you actually RTFA you linked to you will see it says "Sculpture" and not building. You can take all of the pictures of a building you want (assuming there is not some homeland security problems). However, the creator of a sculpture retains the copyrights of his work and that includes the right to any reproductions of a sculpture - including pictures. Now if a person takes a family photograph in front of it and shows his friends, that is probably fair use. However, if he takes a picture and sells posters of it, that would be a clear copyright violation. It is the in-between stuff, like posting the family photo on the internet, where things get a bit muddy. It makes sense that if I create the sculpture then I should be the one who is allowed to sell copies of that sculpture, unless I have leased/sold my rights to do so.
Whose going to build their nuclear weapon onto a missile delivery system if they know we can shoot it down? Not being able to shoot them down was the reason we put nukes on missiles in the first place.
Perhaps you are not seeing the big picture. With this system, the threat of a world-ending nuclear war has just ended. Also on a somewhat scary note: the US would be able to nuke any country with little fear of reprisal. In theory the US just became the only country capable of using nuclear missiles.
Sure there will always be the chance of suitcase bombs and such. However, the worst that would happen would be a small-scale coordinated attack taking out a few large cities. Yes, that would be horrible, but it is still much better than destroying the whole world.
US Patent No. 6,966,484 to Calonje, et al.; and
This is just a patent on their envelope that they use to both send and return the DVDs. I have no idea if blockbuster violates this but a different envelope could easily be designed.
US Patent No. 7,024,381 to Hastings, et al.
This patent is more interesting. They patented a method that uses a computer system to take the consumers choices for dvds and put the into an ordered list and then ship the dvds to the customers. Also included is using a periodic payment in the renting method.
Just a quick look at the patents shows that blockbuster is clearly infringing on them. However, blockbuster could change the way it operates and get around them. They would have to no longer use any sort of ranking system for movies instead you would need to go online an select the exact movies you want netflix to send once they receive your old movies. Also they would have to find a way around the periodic payments possibly by making it a pay per movie rented such that if you did not rent movies you would not have to pay.
So basically if Blockbuster moved its current in store business model online - where you choose exactly what movie you want from what they have in stock, you pay for that movie and it is then shipped to you - they would not infringe on the patent. Blockbuster could even price it such that the first 3 movies are $4 and then next 4 are $0.50 or something so that it would essentially be the same as 1 price for unlimited movies. The biggest problem is that blockbuster will not be able to automatically send out the next movie on your list - you would have to go and pay for it first.
Those are just my insights from reading the claims but I could be way off. IANAL.
I was at a McDonalds in Italy last year and it probably took them 4-5 minutes to fill my order. By the time my friend, who was behind me in line, got his food and sat down I was basically done with my meal. That was by far the slowest fast-food experience.
The worst part was that they charge you.10 euros for Ketchup, and it isnt even the good Heinz Ketchup they have in the US.
Yes, people are patenting genes and methods of finding genes. Do I agree with it, not really, but the argument is that allowing these types of patents has helped build the biotechnology business. However, the patent holders cannot be upset by google searching this information since a patent is A PUBLIC RECORD. Hop on over to the USPTO and you can search genes to your hearts content.
I think what the article is saying is that google will soon be indexing the genetic information of a large amount of people. Then at some point in the future if you google John Doe at 123 Fake St. you will not only get a live satellite view of his home but his entire DNA strand as well.
This will never happen and I really do not know why they are worried about it.
This lawsuit is less about facts and more about players identities. A newspaper saying ballplayer X has a.241 batting average is legal because of freedom of the press and the fact that the newspaper is not using the identity of the player for commercial reasons. However, selling a product, such as baseball cards, with a picture and stats on the back is commercially using the players identity. This is a fine line I know.
Because buyers do shop, it is extremely helpful for both buyer and seller to have real time inventory information posted on the website and actually show the buyer how many of an item are available.
I completely agree with you on the shipping cost problems. There is no reason for them not to tell you their shipping costs besides wanting to get more money off you at the last minute.
Inventory information, while useful to the buyer, is something that few firms would post online. If this info was posted online then competitors could take advantage of it and use it against the company. For example, by watching a website for a few months Company A could deduce the reorder point and lead time for shipments of Company B. Then Company A could order a large amount right before the Company B would normally order screwing up the lead-time of the Company B and possibly leading to stock outs.
Furthermore, some companies, like Amazon, dont want to tell you how many they have in stock because they use their inventory to fill the orders of their best customers first. Ever wonder why free shipping says it takes 5-9 days? They use this time to order more of a product they are running low on before they ship you your copy. They do this incase they have an overnight order come in before the stock is replenished. This allows them to keep their inventory on hand down and save the company money.
Menus? So you are mad that some menus don't work on the Dell site with Mozilla?
Have you ever tried going to The KPMG website with Mozilla? There is a nice blank page waiting for all those who do not use IE.
You would think with a company as large as KMPG, one of the big 4 accounting firms, they would check for compatibility with non-IE browsers and at least have some sort of page that the rest of us could view.
Here is the idea: convert all major highways to maglev tracks. Then sell cars that can double as a maglev train. So you could drive to the interstate input your destination and use the computer controlled maglev system to take your car to your exit. You can read the newspaper, sleep, watch dvds, ect. until you reach your exit. No more waiting for planes (except intercontinental travel and coast-to-coast journeys) and you still have your car when you get to your destination. This system would solve all of the major problems with highway transportation, cut down on commute time and cause a huge drop in fatal car crashes.
Yes, this system would take probably 50 years to implement throughout the country and yes, the cost of such a system would be ungodly, however baring the invention of star trek like transporters this seems like the best idea for the future of transportation.
It occurs to me that Antigua and Barbuda may be shooting themselves in the foot with this decision. If the US, for some reason, decides to make online gambling legal then the US casinos will have websites up in a matter of days. I don't know about you but if I had to choose between gambling online with a reputable US casino or a casino in a small Caribbean island nation I would choose the US casino. At least with the US one there would be agencies making sure that the online casino is the same as a real casino in odds and payouts. Plus, if there is ever a major dispute between you and the casino it is very easy to sue them as they are based in the US. Those Antigua and Barbuda should just shut their mouth and take what illegal profits they get instead of losing all of their current business to US companies.
It's funny, I graduate last year an Ivy League Institution with a degree CS and I would be more then happy to have that job. At least then I wouldn't have to be searching for a job in the retail sector. I have a $160,000 education and yet I can't even get a job selling computers at circuit city.
"...but most maximum prison sentences handed down for computer crime range from one year to 10 years. Hackers whose exploits result in injury or death -- if they disable emergency response networks or destroy electronic medical records, for example -- face 20 years to life in prison.
Hackers will face up to a 25 percent increase in their sentences if they hijack e-mail accounts or steal personal data -- including financial and medical records and digital photographs. Convicted virus and worm authors face a 50 percent increase.
Sentences also will increase by 50 percent for hackers who share stolen personal data with anyone. The sentences will double if the information is posted on the Internet. More than half of the sentences handed out under federal computer crime laws would be lengthened by this change alone, according to a Sentencing Commission report released in April.
Jail time also will double for hackers who break into government and military computers or networks tied to the power grid or telecommunications network.
Hackers who electronically break into bank accounts can be sentenced based on how much money is in the account, even if they don't take any of it. Under the new guidelines, however, judges can tack on a 50 percent increase to the sentence if the hacker did steal money."
So Lets see if I create a worm to hack into millitary computers to hijack email accounts and steal personal data which then sends then info in an email to George W. Bush and also posts it on slashdot all the while destroying medical records and stealing money from secret millitary accounts how many years in prison do I get?
Slashdot Mirror
Not sure truckers are the first to go but they are certainly on the list. I bet cabbies are the first to be chopped. Also on the list: UPS/Fedex, Postal Service, Delivery Services (Pizza for example). The 2nd order changes are also interesting - Parking Garage Attendants, Parking Meter enforcement, Traffic cops, and many more. None of these examples will completely go away but will be greatly reduced. We will still need truck drivers (which will become just passengers) that are trained in delivering hazmat materials to customers. Although these jobs will be lower paid than they currently are.
So glaciers melt - they have melted before and came back in a few million years there is no reason to believe that this will not occur again. So we lose access to them now but this would happen eventually anyway. Sure not in our lifetimes but across the millions or billions of years before the sun kills the planet completely ice will come and go unless we find a way to control the natural process that regulates.
Glaciers melting lead to rising sea levels - well this means a few options accept the loss of land or put up barriers to protect it. You always hear that NYC will be underwater in X number of years. Of course it wont. Humans will find ways to solve that problem. Build dams, raise the island by bringing in extra soil, etc. Now a place like Florida does not have those type of options so likely it will slowly be sunk by hurricanes that destroy the sand barriers that we put up. Yes, entire towns will be destroyed in a storm but this happens today. It will likely be more frequent thus making it more difficult to make the decision to rebuild. Eventually people will move somewhere else. And during this process jobs will be created to rebuild homes, reinforce older homes, build dams, better water management process etc. It is said that global warming will cost X billion or trillion dollars. Well a lot of that will go into job creation oddly enough. "You see, father, by causing a little destruction, I am in fact encouraging life."
We are killing the planet! - Ahh this old argument. There is nothing we can do currently to kill the planet. Nothing. Sure global warming might kill off a chunk of species that cannot adapt. Hell all out nuclear war might kill off 90% of the worlds species but life will survive and adapt. Over a million years or so the radiation will decay and the adaption process will continue. It would be a blip on the radar for the earth, kind of like the meteor impact that killed the dinosaurs.
So as I see it global warming is just accelerating a natural process that would happen anyway some time in the future (hundreds, thousands or millions of years). Lots of money will be spent trying to fight or clean up the damage but that just means job creation. Species will adapt or die but over a long enough time period we will die off anyway (baring interstellar travel).
For a moment I thought it was novel too, then I thought about Shazam links in commercials. Those commercials on TV that have a popup that says use Shazam on this commercial to be taken to our website, a coupon, free samples, etc. This is almost exactly the same as what the patent is claiming however Shazam links are on a bit broader scale.
This already exists. I have seen a demo of software 2 years ago that could track customers in a store from security cameras. They could be over head cameras and didnt even need facial recognition to do it. I believe it was http://www.intellivid.com/index.html these guys but i am not sure. It could tell how long someone stayed near a particular item and how long they were in the store. At the time I do not think they had it linked directly to sales to see if the person eventually bought the item or not but that is a trivial add on. As would associating the movements to a specific person assuming they bought something with a credit card.
Yes, Nov. 19th is before Thanksgiving. I was going off the Japan Launch date of Dec. 2nd that was officially announced at 2am today. I never thought they would release Wii in the US before Japan but I guess I was wrong.
Assuming the US package is like the Japan one, it will ship without a packaged game. Wii sports will cost you another 4800 yen (around 41 USD). Hopefully they will round down on the price of the wii for the US and make it $200 rather then $250.
On a positive note the nunchuck attachment is included in the box.
What happened to the before Thanksgiving US launch?
I guess you have not tried very hard.
Even Woot can get you drunk
The real problem the government has with online gaming is the loss of revenue. They don't get any tax dollars from offshore gambling. Politicians are wrapping this up in a warm fuzzy "we are protecting the children" blanket, but really it's all about the money.
If this were really the case why not just make online gambling legal? Give licenses to a certain number of companies and require outside certification of all code. While all of the online gambling is currently being done by companies outside the US, many people would switch to a US controlled entity due to the ease of using credit cards/bank accounts and the oversight of a neutral party. The US could easily tax these companies like the currently do regular casinos. Problem solved.
When I first saw it I wondered I thought what it would look like in an IMAX theater. It would be the most insane IMAX movie ever - although they would probably need to provide everyone with barf bags just in case. NASA could even make some money off the deal by distributing the film.
If you actually RTFA you linked to you will see it says "Sculpture" and not building. You can take all of the pictures of a building you want (assuming there is not some homeland security problems). However, the creator of a sculpture retains the copyrights of his work and that includes the right to any reproductions of a sculpture - including pictures. Now if a person takes a family photograph in front of it and shows his friends, that is probably fair use. However, if he takes a picture and sells posters of it, that would be a clear copyright violation. It is the in-between stuff, like posting the family photo on the internet, where things get a bit muddy. It makes sense that if I create the sculpture then I should be the one who is allowed to sell copies of that sculpture, unless I have leased/sold my rights to do so.
Whose going to build their nuclear weapon onto a missile delivery system if they know we can shoot it down? Not being able to shoot them down was the reason we put nukes on missiles in the first place.
Perhaps you are not seeing the big picture. With this system, the threat of a world-ending nuclear war has just ended. Also on a somewhat scary note: the US would be able to nuke any country with little fear of reprisal. In theory the US just became the only country capable of using nuclear missiles.
Sure there will always be the chance of suitcase bombs and such. However, the worst that would happen would be a small-scale coordinated attack taking out a few large cities. Yes, that would be horrible, but it is still much better than destroying the whole world.
US Patent No. 6,966,484 to Calonje, et al.; and
This is just a patent on their envelope that they use to both send and return the DVDs. I have no idea if blockbuster violates this but a different envelope could easily be designed.
US Patent No. 7,024,381 to Hastings, et al.
This patent is more interesting. They patented a method that uses a computer system to take the consumers choices for dvds and put the into an ordered list and then ship the dvds to the customers. Also included is using a periodic payment in the renting method.
Just a quick look at the patents shows that blockbuster is clearly infringing on them. However, blockbuster could change the way it operates and get around them. They would have to no longer use any sort of ranking system for movies instead you would need to go online an select the exact movies you want netflix to send once they receive your old movies. Also they would have to find a way around the periodic payments possibly by making it a pay per movie rented such that if you did not rent movies you would not have to pay.
So basically if Blockbuster moved its current in store business model online - where you choose exactly what movie you want from what they have in stock, you pay for that movie and it is then shipped to you - they would not infringe on the patent. Blockbuster could even price it such that the first 3 movies are $4 and then next 4 are $0.50 or something so that it would essentially be the same as 1 price for unlimited movies. The biggest problem is that blockbuster will not be able to automatically send out the next movie on your list - you would have to go and pay for it first.
Those are just my insights from reading the claims but I could be way off. IANAL.
I was at a McDonalds in Italy last year and it probably took them 4-5 minutes to fill my order. By the time my friend, who was behind me in line, got his food and sat down I was basically done with my meal. That was by far the slowest fast-food experience.
.10 euros for Ketchup, and it isnt even the good Heinz Ketchup they have in the US.
The worst part was that they charge you
Yes, people are patenting genes and methods of finding genes. Do I agree with it, not really, but the argument is that allowing these types of patents has helped build the biotechnology business. However, the patent holders cannot be upset by google searching this information since a patent is A PUBLIC RECORD. Hop on over to the USPTO and you can search genes to your hearts content.
I think what the article is saying is that google will soon be indexing the genetic information of a large amount of people. Then at some point in the future if you google John Doe at 123 Fake St. you will not only get a live satellite view of his home but his entire DNA strand as well.
This will never happen and I really do not know why they are worried about it.
I'll raise you This
And dont even try to raise me This
I am on to your game.
This lawsuit is less about facts and more about players identities. A newspaper saying ballplayer X has a .241 batting average is legal because of freedom of the press and the fact that the newspaper is not using the identity of the player for commercial reasons. However, selling a product, such as baseball cards, with a picture and stats on the back is commercially using the players identity. This is a fine line I know.
b er-2005/argument_schwarz_novdec05.msp
The battle going on here is whether using the players names and stats in a fantasy game amounts to using it commercially or not. This article gives a really good summary:
http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/November-Decem
I completely agree with you on the shipping cost problems. There is no reason for them not to tell you their shipping costs besides wanting to get more money off you at the last minute.
Inventory information, while useful to the buyer, is something that few firms would post online. If this info was posted online then competitors could take advantage of it and use it against the company. For example, by watching a website for a few months Company A could deduce the reorder point and lead time for shipments of Company B. Then Company A could order a large amount right before the Company B would normally order screwing up the lead-time of the Company B and possibly leading to stock outs.
Furthermore, some companies, like Amazon, dont want to tell you how many they have in stock because they use their inventory to fill the orders of their best customers first. Ever wonder why free shipping says it takes 5-9 days? They use this time to order more of a product they are running low on before they ship you your copy. They do this incase they have an overnight order come in before the stock is replenished. This allows them to keep their inventory on hand down and save the company money.
But Can it run Linux?
Have you ever tried going to The KPMG website with Mozilla? There is a nice blank page waiting for all those who do not use IE.
You would think with a company as large as KMPG, one of the big 4 accounting firms, they would check for compatibility with non-IE browsers and at least have some sort of page that the rest of us could view.
How about this for scary:
My Bank (which shall remain nameless) uses
your credit/debit card number for a login
and your pin number for the password.
I was floored when I first saw this. Its like they are asking to have their customers bank accounts cleaned out.
Here is the idea: convert all major highways to maglev tracks. Then sell cars that can double as a maglev train. So you could drive to the interstate input your destination and use the computer controlled maglev system to take your car to your exit. You can read the newspaper, sleep, watch dvds, ect. until you reach your exit. No more waiting for planes (except intercontinental travel and coast-to-coast journeys) and you still have your car when you get to your destination. This system would solve all of the major problems with highway transportation, cut down on commute time and cause a huge drop in fatal car crashes.
Yes, this system would take probably 50 years to implement throughout the country and yes, the cost of such a system would be ungodly, however baring the invention of star trek like transporters this seems like the best idea for the future of transportation.
It occurs to me that Antigua and Barbuda may be shooting themselves in the foot with this decision. If the US, for some reason, decides to make online gambling legal then the US casinos will have websites up in a matter of days. I don't know about you but if I had to choose between gambling online with a reputable US casino or a casino in a small Caribbean island nation I would choose the US casino. At least with the US one there would be agencies making sure that the online casino is the same as a real casino in odds and payouts. Plus, if there is ever a major dispute between you and the casino it is very easy to sue them as they are based in the US. Those Antigua and Barbuda should just shut their mouth and take what illegal profits they get instead of losing all of their current business to US companies.
Which school? Dartmouth College
It's funny, I graduate last year an Ivy League Institution with a degree CS and I would be more then happy to have that job. At least then I wouldn't have to be searching for a job in the retail sector. I have a $160,000 education and yet I can't even get a job selling computers at circuit city.
"...but most maximum prison sentences handed down for computer crime range from one year to 10 years. Hackers whose exploits result in injury or death -- if they disable emergency response networks or destroy electronic medical records, for example -- face 20 years to life in prison.
Hackers will face up to a 25 percent increase in their sentences if they hijack e-mail accounts or steal personal data -- including financial and medical records and digital photographs. Convicted virus and worm authors face a 50 percent increase.
Sentences also will increase by 50 percent for hackers who share stolen personal data with anyone. The sentences will double if the information is posted on the Internet. More than half of the sentences handed out under federal computer crime laws would be lengthened by this change alone, according to a Sentencing Commission report released in April.
Jail time also will double for hackers who break into government and military computers or networks tied to the power grid or telecommunications network.
Hackers who electronically break into bank accounts can be sentenced based on how much money is in the account, even if they don't take any of it. Under the new guidelines, however, judges can tack on a 50 percent increase to the sentence if the hacker did steal money."
So Lets see if I create a worm to hack into millitary computers to hijack email accounts and steal personal data which then sends then info in an email to George W. Bush and also posts it on slashdot all the while destroying medical records and stealing money from secret millitary accounts how many years in prison do I get?