If it turns out the police KNEW or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that the company expressly allowed photography, but they harassed and *ARRESTED* a customer anyway, I want to see settlements in the tens of millions, and criminal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy.
WTF?!! Photography is a RIGHT. It is protected by the First Amendment. It is allowed by default!
There is no need for the company to have "expressly allowed" photography; the police "knew or should have known" from their high-school civics class!
There should be huge settlements for the photographer and criminal charges for the cop in this case, regardless of whether Amtrak was running a contest or not!
But they were demanding that he DELETE THE FUCKING PHOTOS! How do you avoid confronting the officer while simultaneously not suffering the permanent, irrecoverable loss of your property?
Capitalism goes both ways, you don't actually own what you think you do. Just because you buy some music doesn't give you the right to do with it what you please -- contrary to 'fair use' laws, simply because you enter into an agreement with Apple with their EULA.
You know, I'm really tired of explaining how this works over and over and over again. So here's the short version:
You're wrong. Completely. You're either a shill for the music industry, or you're an idiot who drank their kool-aid. They may try to tell you that you don't really own the music you buy, but you do! And nothing you or anyone else could possibly say will change that fact!
DVD region codes are a copy protection mechanism if you misunderstand them -- it's so they can do staggered releases in different geographic areas. Probably also due to the fact that MPEG2 is a licensed codec. If you generate a DVD in a region where the economy is cheap (India) and then shipped it over to the US to sell it without paying for the per-unit costs, then you'd be taking advantage of the lower licensing fees in India and then the lower IP costs allowed to economies that can't hold-up those costs would be forced to pay the same as America, and nobody could afford that.
Okay, I lied -- I am going to explain it, a little. There's a fundamental problem with that argument that you're ignoring: Property rights are more important than some shmuck's business model! Region coding and every other form of DRM are an infringement on my rights as the owner of the copy. If that undermines their business model, too bad -- they deserved to fail anyway!
India was a colony of the British Empire and has basically been plundered for centuries, you dickhead.
So was America. But we revolted instead of letting the British fuck us over. If that makes us "dickheads," then at least that's better than the people who bent over, took it, and used it as an excuse for the next few hundred years!
On the Mac side, there's a ton of software that's Leopard-only, dropping support for people who are using any OS more than 15 months old, and there's hardly anything wrong with Tiger.
Lots of software is Leopard-only because Leopard added a bunch of new libraries. Microsoft doesn't tend to add new libraries (except DX10 -- and people screamed bloody murder when it added that), which is why so little software is Vista-only.
It would be nice if they created a standard for that sort of thing -- especially if it were also used for all that electronic stuff that now uses wall warts. I'd love to see houses wired up with 240VAC (for the dryer, fridge, etc.), 120VAC (for other appliances), and 12VDC (for LED lights and small electronics).
For the fireplace though, some of them do require electricity to start and those seem to be the cheaper ones.
Maybe I'm just an idiot, but can't you just turn on the gas and light it with a match? Electric starters on fireplaces, just like on ranges and ovens, are merely conveniences.
I've been thinking about getting one of those. Do the batteries last significantly longer than in a comparable incandescent mini-Maglite, and are they at least equally bright?
And it's blatantly obvious that tracking people is really the reason they want it too. If they just wanted to tax people per distance traveled they could simply check the odometer once a year -- they don't need GPS tracking for that!
Since you're not being specific about what channels you're talking about, my point still stands true.
Everything that comes with the cheapest ("Basic Cable") analog package. This includes the Weather channel, local access channels, C-SPAN, etc. and (in my area) also lots of other channels including Discovery (but not Discovery Health, etc.), Cartoon Network, ESPN (but not ESPN 3+), A&E, Food Network, TNT, USA, etc. In other words, all the stuff that you can get using an analog connection and a "cable-ready" TV, without a converter/descrambler/set-top box! How much more damn specific do you want me to be?!
Here's my thesis, since I apparently wasn't quite clear and explicit enough about it before:
The channel contracts ALLOW certain channels to be broadcast UNSCRAMBLED in ANALOG. In those cases, then it should ALSO ALLOW those SAME channels to be broadcast UNENCRYPTED in DIGITAL.
Do you understand that there's no meaningful difference? It's the same, analogous, situation! If you can do it for analog, then you can do it for digital; it's that simple!
All I'm asking for is that exactly the same channels that are currently available without the need for a set-top box in analog also be available without the need for a set-top box in digital (and the only reason I even want that is that Comcast is slowly shutting off analog)! It's Not. That. Fucking. Hard!
Look, it's real simple: all I want to do is watch TV. I don't want to deal with an antenna. I don't want to deal with a set-top box. All I want is to plug my perfectly good CABLE-READY TV into my perfectly good COAXIAL WALL JACK and watch TV! A lot of work was done to make that happen. And it WORKS. And it HAS WORKED, perfectly fine, for DECADES. And now they're FUCKING IT UP!
Just because the technology exists to broadcast free and clear doesn't mean companies should violate their contracts just because you say they should.
They ARE broadcasting free and clear RIGHT NOW, on analog. If they can do that, and obviously they can because they ARE, then they can do it for digital too! There's no fucking difference; the only problem is IMAGINARY!
And besides, I said that the FCC should force them to do it ('cause they sure as Hell wouldn't do it otherwise!) -- that would trump any contract provisions anyway.
Besides that, there's the option of Netflix. With their lowest priced $9/month subscription
One thing I neglected to mention is that Comcast cable is included in my rent. Even with the shitty cable box they're now forcing me to pay for (or rather, will be forcing me to pay in about a year, after I reported them to the Better Business Bureau and they waived the fee for a while!) that's still cheaper than Netflix. And satellite, or really any other option instead of Comcast or nothing, is right out.
Slashdot Mirror
WTF?!! Photography is a RIGHT. It is protected by the First Amendment. It is allowed by default!
There is no need for the company to have "expressly allowed" photography; the police "knew or should have known" from their high-school civics class!
There should be huge settlements for the photographer and criminal charges for the cop in this case, regardless of whether Amtrak was running a contest or not!
But they were demanding that he DELETE THE FUCKING PHOTOS! How do you avoid confronting the officer while simultaneously not suffering the permanent, irrecoverable loss of your property?
Hey, look at the bright side: at least you know that if it runs fast enough in the emulator then it'll also run fast enough on the device!
You know, I'm really tired of explaining how this works over and over and over again. So here's the short version:
You're wrong. Completely. You're either a shill for the music industry, or you're an idiot who drank their kool-aid. They may try to tell you that you don't really own the music you buy, but you do! And nothing you or anyone else could possibly say will change that fact!
Okay, I lied -- I am going to explain it, a little. There's a fundamental problem with that argument that you're ignoring: Property rights are more important than some shmuck's business model! Region coding and every other form of DRM are an infringement on my rights as the owner of the copy. If that undermines their business model, too bad -- they deserved to fail anyway!
So was America. But we revolted instead of letting the British fuck us over. If that makes us "dickheads," then at least that's better than the people who bent over, took it, and used it as an excuse for the next few hundred years!
It depends on the amount of data. IIRC, above a few TB tapes become cheaper.
...from a cannon, into the Sun!
Hell, they could have spent $50 on a USB hard drive (i.e., half-assed it) and been better off!
I have no idea what software uses it, but isn't Core Data from 10.5 too?
Lots of software is Leopard-only because Leopard added a bunch of new libraries. Microsoft doesn't tend to add new libraries (except DX10 -- and people screamed bloody murder when it added that), which is why so little software is Vista-only.
-
Yeah, if you want cement all over everything!
More like they have to die, not that you have to kill them all personally. Some fraction will be wiped out without your help.
Awesome! They'd murder each other, leaving more room for me!
I can't imagine Apple making an e-ink product unless it were full-color -- but if they did do that, it'd be pretty awesome!
(I would want it to have a Wacom digitizer too, like the iRex iLiad.)
It would be nice if they created a standard for that sort of thing -- especially if it were also used for all that electronic stuff that now uses wall warts. I'd love to see houses wired up with 240VAC (for the dryer, fridge, etc.), 120VAC (for other appliances), and 12VDC (for LED lights and small electronics).
Maybe I'm just an idiot, but can't you just turn on the gas and light it with a match? Electric starters on fireplaces, just like on ranges and ovens, are merely conveniences.
Why so often for the spark plugs? On car engines, the spark plug change interval is usually way more than twice the oil change interval.
If you live in the middle of nowhere, you might have a tank like this -- but it's a wee bit larger than the tank for a grill!
I've been thinking about getting one of those. Do the batteries last significantly longer than in a comparable incandescent mini-Maglite, and are they at least equally bright?
Or four in a tetrahedron, I'd think.
And it's blatantly obvious that tracking people is really the reason they want it too. If they just wanted to tax people per distance traveled they could simply check the odometer once a year -- they don't need GPS tracking for that!
Cutting back on spending on infrastructure, which is what we're talking about here, is how we ended up with the I-35 bridge collapse (in Minnesota).
Everything that comes with the cheapest ("Basic Cable") analog package. This includes the Weather channel, local access channels, C-SPAN, etc. and (in my area) also lots of other channels including Discovery (but not Discovery Health, etc.), Cartoon Network, ESPN (but not ESPN 3+), A&E, Food Network, TNT, USA, etc. In other words, all the stuff that you can get using an analog connection and a "cable-ready" TV, without a converter/descrambler/set-top box! How much more damn specific do you want me to be?!
Here's my thesis, since I apparently wasn't quite clear and explicit enough about it before:
The channel contracts ALLOW certain channels to be broadcast UNSCRAMBLED in ANALOG. In those cases, then it should ALSO ALLOW those SAME channels to be broadcast UNENCRYPTED in DIGITAL.
Do you understand that there's no meaningful difference? It's the same, analogous, situation! If you can do it for analog, then you can do it for digital; it's that simple!
All I'm asking for is that exactly the same channels that are currently available without the need for a set-top box in analog also be available without the need for a set-top box in digital (and the only reason I even want that is that Comcast is slowly shutting off analog)! It's Not. That. Fucking. Hard!
Look, it's real simple: all I want to do is watch TV. I don't want to deal with an antenna. I don't want to deal with a set-top box. All I want is to plug my perfectly good CABLE-READY TV into my perfectly good COAXIAL WALL JACK and watch TV! A lot of work was done to make that happen. And it WORKS. And it HAS WORKED, perfectly fine, for DECADES. And now they're FUCKING IT UP!
They ARE broadcasting free and clear RIGHT NOW, on analog. If they can do that, and obviously they can because they ARE, then they can do it for digital too! There's no fucking difference; the only problem is IMAGINARY!
And besides, I said that the FCC should force them to do it ('cause they sure as Hell wouldn't do it otherwise!) -- that would trump any contract provisions anyway.
One thing I neglected to mention is that Comcast cable is included in my rent. Even with the shitty cable box they're now forcing me to pay for (or rather, will be forcing me to pay in about a year, after I reported them to the Better Business Bureau and they waived the fee for a while!) that's still cheaper than Netflix. And satellite, or really any other option instead of Comcast or nothing, is right out.