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User: siriuskase

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  1. Re:IP is a wasting asset on U2 Threatens to Release Album Early on iTunes · · Score: 1

    Since you don't seem to know IP is Intellectual Property which includes data of all sorts such as music, patents, copyrights, etc. It is not a system for making laws in this or any other context. Laws are made to protect IP because it is easy to duplicate. But IP laws don't cross national boundaries and some countries don't recognize the concept of IP at all. Therefore, I suggest that people who produce IP look at it as any other asset with a shelf life.

  2. IP is a wasting asset on U2 Threatens to Release Album Early on iTunes · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The faster you get it out, the more it's worth, but the minute it's out, it will start losing value almost immediately due to the ease of duplication. It would be a shame for them to lose out by not being first to market with their own album. By recognizing the way the music market works, they will give fans who prefer a nice clean "legit" version the option of being able to buy it.

    IP of all sorts will get copied in spite of all the DRM and other crippling technology people can devise. It's not just music, if we can't prevent kids from downloading in rich countries, how can we expect to prevent motivated adults in countries without a history of IP protection from duplicating. In China, they clone cars , that's surely not frictionless. Someday, IP of all sorts will be marketed like other perishables with a finite shelf life. Copyright and trademark laws will need to adapt to this reality.

    Musicians and Authors will be like Engineers and Programmers and Farmers, if they want to live off their IP, they will need to keep producing more of it. Which was kinda the whole point of IP laws in the first place

  3. Re:It's just too difficult! on Advice for Developers: Make Common Usage Easy · · Score: 1

    And that's truly a shame, not the least bit funny IMHO. I just got back from DC, really waw impressed by the license plate there

  4. Re:It's just too difficult! on Advice for Developers: Make Common Usage Easy · · Score: 1

    As if your Senator wants to hear about Sowell's Scrabble problems. How about Monopoly? Risk?

  5. Re:It's just too difficult! on Advice for Developers: Make Common Usage Easy · · Score: 1
    It's not that hard, but you are trying to be ironic aren't you?

    If you aren't, click on both the Congressman thingy and the send button at the top of the page, you will get two windows, one with your congressman's happy face and the other with a link to this column. Use cut and paste to combine.

  6. Re:You completely missed his point... on Advice for Developers: Make Common Usage Easy · · Score: 3, Insightful
    But this brings up the point, what should be simple? The author and yourself keep doing comparisons to what was previously done. My other camera did this, now my new camera does this and this, obviously the previous camera was SIMPLER. Or, my new cell phone gets text msgs, my previous phone did not. Obviously, my old phone was SIMPLER. Or, in the case of a dictionary, what if it automatically came up with synonyms of the word you looked up. But your previous dictionary didn't do that.
    That's because for most people the replacement market is more important than the gee whiz! Nothing like this has ever been done market. Just because something has more features doesn't mean it must be harder to use. When doing the popular, age-old lookup task with the new dictionary, it shouldn't be any harder than doing it with the old dictionary. New features shouldn't get in the way of the old. Complexity doesn't equal good design. Every engineer has been taught that whether they practice it or not.
  7. Re:It's a good start on Is Dell Just Testing the Market? · · Score: 1
    But does it use a Winmodem? it was a drag when I bought my box, installed Linux and discovered that the "modem" I had purchased was simply a goof piece of audio software that was meant to run on Windows.

    If they want to use modem emulators instead of real modems, they should be implemented as mp3 files that can be run on any kind of hardware. And an ethical dealer should know to tell the customer that he is selling a modem emulator instead of a real modem, especially since I asked the dude to install a modem. Pardon the rant, it just seems common sense that if you give the customer something other than what he asks for, you verify with him that the substitution makes sense.

  8. Re:Simple: Replace the ones that don't work first! on Prioritizing Computer Replacements? · · Score: 1

    If you still have too many, acquire more desks! why replace a useful machine?

  9. Re:50/50 nation means every vote really matters on Diebold Sued (Again) Over Shoddy Voting Machines · · Score: 1

    The Montana vote is only worth something if a condidate wants 3 electoral votes. Although it might appear that the Montan vote is worth twice as much as the California vote, it isn't, otherwise, you'd see hoards of newspeople getting excited about the Montana vote.

  10. Re:50/50 nation means every vote really matters on Diebold Sued (Again) Over Shoddy Voting Machines · · Score: 1
    That's a third example of how your vote doesn't count. At this rate, soon nobody's vote will count.

    I've come up with a system where my vote always counts. Except for when I was 18 and too stupid to know anything, I always vote for a third party presidential candidate. Usually that means Libertarian which almost always makes the cut in Georgia which makes it easier for it to come back next time. And in Georgia, every election year the percentage that votes Libertarian increases s little bit - a true virtuous cycle. They are the only party that compaigns in Georgia, they just had their national convention in Atlanta earlier this year. the Dems and Reps don't bother even though we are the ninth most populous state.

  11. Re:50/50 nation means every vote really matters on Diebold Sued (Again) Over Shoddy Voting Machines · · Score: 1

    The Constitution doesn't have much to do with the way the Electoral College works. It was originally set up as a representative body and each member had a vote. Although they represented a constituency, they weren't all required to vote the same as the other reps from their state. In fact, Federal law doesn't require them to vote as a block, that is state law. A few states don't require block voting, maybe the place for us to start is at the state level.

  12. Has it occurred to you that they might want it? on Where Do Dummy Email Addresses Go? · · Score: 1

    These guys might be training their super duper spam filter. They can safely assume that everything that goes to that address is spam.

  13. Re:This is what we need... on Diebold Sued (Again) Over Shoddy Voting Machines · · Score: 1
    Some will make a St. Andrews Cross, some will make a St. Philips Cross, some will put checkmarks, others will just make a blob.

    No, the best idea is to have the electronic machine punch the card ballot when the voter has his final answer displayed on the screen. The machines can keep a tally, that's fine, but the paper cards should be tabulated as well. With machine punched holes, that process should go more smoothly. If a state wants to go with the electronic tally, the paper ballots can be used for random auditing and recounts.

  14. Re:50/50 nation means every vote really matters on Diebold Sued (Again) Over Shoddy Voting Machines · · Score: 4, Informative
    No they don't, if you aren't in one of the most populous state, your vote isn't worth shit. It's like a contest where California, Texas, and New York count, and Florida is the tie breaker. If they need another tie breaker, that's Illinois and they work their way down the list. Due to the winner takes all nature of most states, little states (all but the top 10) don't count. States with a clear majority aren't compaigned in. It's a bite being in a populous state and not be worth an ad compaign.
    55 California
    34 Texas
    31 New York
    27 Florida
    21 Illinois
    21 Pennsylvania
    20 Ohio
    17 Michigan
    15 Georgia
  15. Re:Conclusion on StorageTek Blocks 3rd Party Maintenance with DMCA · · Score: 1

    Yep, there are too many laws. Lawmakers should be able to read and understand each law before voting on it. Someone (the press?) should administer a test (press conference?) to ensure that they comprehend the laws they are voting on. The mechanism is there but it can't handle the quantity, It's a shame that they legislate faster than a diligent citizen can read. Has our society changed so much that we need all these new laws?

  16. Re:Conclusion on StorageTek Blocks 3rd Party Maintenance with DMCA · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Almost, but not quite as someone else has wisely explained. Normally, a little bit of discretion is permitted, since the details are filled in by the executive. Laws are supposed to be broader and less specific than regulations. One problem that has increased over the years is that this amount of judicial discretion has been decreasing at an alarming rate. Judges must contend with mandatory sentencing laws that don't always make sense in every individual case. Maybe we trust our lawmakers more than our judges, I don't know, but I don't think that it is a good thing for citizens to lose the right to be treated as individuals. It is impossible at the time of legislation for all contingincies and aggravating circumstances to be anticipated.

  17. Re:Conclusion on StorageTek Blocks 3rd Party Maintenance with DMCA · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You think that cops should have the power to choose which laws to enforce? No, it's especially important for the bad laws to be enforced so political pressure can be used to fix the law.

  18. Re:Here's the real answer on New Generation of MP3 Players, New Features · · Score: 1
    The other part is that U.S. consumers want it cheap. New != cheap.
    That means that Americans aren't the early adopters anymore. Traditionally, the early adopters don't care about cost, they just want to be first on the block at any cost. For decades, these are the guys that the manufacturers used to work out the bugs. Now it's the folks in Japan.
  19. Re:I don't understand ... on FCC to Require Broadcasters to Keep Tapes of Shows · · Score: 1

    They should do it like those security tapes... very slow tape, with tape reuse after a reasonable period of time. Every quickmart does it, why not TV stations?

  20. Why? on Broadband Blimps · · Score: 1

    must the dang thing look like a killer whale?

  21. Re:Nice technology on Broadband Blimps · · Score: 1

    This could be a reasonable alternative to Mobile Cell Phone Towers For Disaster Relief. It won't take up the parking space needed for more useful emergency vehicles. Maybe we should extend the idea and have firefighting blimps?

  22. I considered modding you up, but on HP Markets Cheap 4-User PCs To African Schools · · Score: 1

    you didn't provide an informatative link to go with your opinion of the Ruby kernal patch.

  23. Re:Is this really that bad? on Military on Alert for Killer Coke Cans · · Score: 1
    I doubt I would, I might let my significant other win the prize, then I'd sell the can to Bin Laden for a billion bucks with assurances that no trail would lead from him to me or vice versa.

    But, I suspect that not all electronic cokes are winners, they would all look and feel similar, with the button on the side and all. All I really need to do is make something that fools the victim into pressing the button. It certainly doesn't need to look like a real Coke, it probably doesn't even need to look like an Authentic Prizewinning Electronic Coke (APEC). It only needs to make the victim push the button, preferably while he is in or about to enter a secure area.

    Although I've been making this up in jest, the more I think about it, the dumber this Coke promotion seems to be, even dumber than New Coke if you remember that.

  24. Re:Is this really that bad? on Military on Alert for Killer Coke Cans · · Score: 1

    That's the whole beauty of this scheme! Since Coke already has cans with radio electronics in circulation, then I don't need to make my weapon look and feel like a real Coke. It only has to fool the victim who knows no more than I do what a prize Coke looks and feels like. So, it's not a real Coke soft drink, but I'm gambling that the victim can't tell the difference between my radio coke and an authentic Coke radio coke.

  25. Re:Is this really that bad? on Military on Alert for Killer Coke Cans · · Score: 1

    For illustrative purposes, pretend I'm a bad guy. What's to prevent me from obtaining one of these cans and modifying it to work differently than Coke intended? If I'm clever, I can completely replace the contents with something of my own devising, a transmitter, a GPS, or if I'm old fashioned, maybe a bomb. Sure, it's unlikely, but bringing an unknown radio transmitter into a restricted area sounds like a bad idea to me.