As Napster was gasping the last breath of life it had before the shutdown I was downloading songs from the library. It came in extremely handy for the 50 or so original CD cases I had where my CDs were scratched broken or otherwise lost under my car seats...
Anyway, I struck up a conversation with someone I had just downloaded a song from. He was a DJ for a radio station and used the newer songs he was getting for a show he does on unknown music. The response he was getting from listners was amazing he said.
We both lamented the fact that we'd easily pay $25-$50 a month for access to a library like this.
And that is the problem... the RIAA and record companies want to control the distribution. They need to change their thinking and understand that single songs are assets that they can license.
... as I am posting way after the topic was posted...
My thoughts are let them do it. More power to them.
Levy's thoughts are dead on. Of course I'd buy the CDs from someone used off of ebay. Of course I'd keep my current DVD and VCR.
Innovation will die. Period.
One of the great motivators on the technology front is ENABLING people to be creative. If they build in limitations to the products, read DIVX, people won't go for it at all.
And... has anyone ever checked out Sen. Hollings website? http://hollings.senate.gov/
The guy doesn't look like he even knows what ripping is let alone burning.
You are so right... It seems odd and maybe I am missing something, but for people to actively use the site and respond properly and on-topic it takes page views.
The content we all love at Slashdot is created by the people who *read* the articles and respond. The value of Slashdot isn't the articles... I can get them from NEWSGEEK.NET, etc. The value is the community.
Re:From An Overture Employee...
on
Search Engine Payola
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Absolute crock of horse shit.
This is what pisses me off about paid listings. The companies assume everyone on the internet is searching for something to buy.
We aren't. Some of us, dramatic pause, actually search for information. You know, the stuff that is useful in our lives.
Overture is nothing more than a very cool, very specific, very targeted shopping index. That's it.
The future of search engines ...
on
Search Engine Payola
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
This is one thing that has me worried about the internet. The one common thread that ties us all together on the internet is the need to find information on the billions of pages that exist.
The search engines have a right to make money. No one doubts that at all. They are for profit and they need to make money.
With that said the only pure player in the space is google, which is sad. Sad because when you know what you're looking for... a specific filename or person's name... the pay per click sites are utterly useless. Google is the only search engine that maintains a complete virgin index and keeps the paid links outside the virgin links.
If Google were to ever change we're all screwed.
The pay per click engines are fantastic for sites that sell things, but for sites with content they are abyssmal.
I would venture to say that 50% of the sites on the internet with content are not making money at all, but are labors of love. With that said you're alienating 50% of the sites when you move to a pay per click metaphor.
As a webmaster of a content site I can attest to others claims that Google is responsible for 80% of our hits. Links from other content pages is 10% and pay per click sites, which we don't pay for, are 10% more.
As long as Google is alive and uses the searching dynamic they do the internet can be a very useful tool for information. If they go to straight pay per click we're all screwed.
It is really amazing how many people search for porn through google.
On our site we have two articles that discuss child pornography and how to deal with it on the internet. We constantly get hits from google looking for child pornography and I don't mean debates about how to punish people like we discussed.
This is one of the articles: http://www.compunotes.com/OpinionSectio n/chporn2.h tm
That has generated these search criteria: 1) google.com/search?q=children+porn&hl=en&start=220& sa=N 2) google.com/search?q=kiddie+porn&hl=en&start=90&sa= N 3) google.com/search?q=free+kiddie+porn&hl=en&start=9 0&sa=N 4) google.yahoo.com child punishment pictures
This book by Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir is an excellent look at wesbite contruction. They take 50 sites and literally tear them down pointing out what is good and what isn't.
Their homepage shows which sites they look at including ESPN, Gateway and Microsoft. Their comments on the sites are priceless: http://www.useit.com/homepageusability/
This is a part of the web design process that I don't think many people think about.
We did a review here: http://www.compunotes.com/BookReviews/homepageuse. htm
The passing of a legend is never an easy thing, but in the case of Chuck Jones his work will live on forever for others to enjoy.
It's a bummer that most people will never be able to enjoy what we did as kids. A good number of his cartoons have been "cleaned up" and the violence removed.
Over at the censored cartoon page (http://www.toonzone.net/looney/ltcuts/) they have a list of what cartoons have been cut as well as what was cut.
There is a link to a few uncensored cartoons that bring back many many great Saturday morning or after school memories (http://www.nonstick.com/wmovies/index.html)
And you can buy the uncensored cartoons if you look hard enough. This site gets you off to a great start. http://www.megalink.net/~cooke/looney/amazon.html
Yes, as many have commented this is old news. There haven't been any breakthroughs on this in several years. Let me rephrase that... no significant breakthroughs.
Once a year we have a customer come to us to ask about this option. Once a year we trot out our proposal, rerun the numbers and submit it. It always comes down to two things:
1) Speed
2) Reliability
The speed of the lines is fantastic when you have a clear day and relative distance is kept. Any atmoshperic conditions out of the ordinary will kill the line. Now, if you're only interested in using it for a mail gateway or to transfer data for a nightly batch cycle it rocks. For regular WAN access you'll be answering the phone from the folks on the floor.
Reliability is a concern past the speed. Keeping the connections is sometimes more an art than science. The article does have an interesting take on parallel transmissions, but commerically available products are cost prohibitive to make it a viable alternative for most businesses.
The best line from the article is: "Transmitting lasers through the air and modulating them at gigabit rates is a new and potentially powerful development," said Dr. Daniel Leslie, a physicist at Trex Enterprises who is familiar with the new systems.
Now, if you want to see something cool check out Dr. Leslie's company web page: http://www.trexenterprises.com/laserrad.html
Yep, that is billion with a B. Do you think that the timing of the lawsuit against Microsoft had anything to do with the fact the press is catching onto the mistakes AOL has made during the merger.
According to Fortune, "Instead of adding up to the world's most valuable company, this merger has subtracted $155 billion of market cap. CEO-designate Richard Parsons promises to do the numbers a different way."
Link is at: http://www.fortune.com/articles/2002/magazine/2002 0204/206105.html
Of course I am risking the whole karma deal by posting something remotely supporting Microsoft, but here goes...
Netscape had a good product... their browser and even their servers were good.
AOL bought Netscape. TimeWarner bought AOL.
Throughout all this the focus shifted away from the products of Netscape to the online vetsiges such as the portal, etc.
AOL has done little, if any, real ground breaking development on the browser front. I remember the good old days where Netscape had a new build every other month that they submitted to the world for feedback, etc. All that stopped when AOL bought them.
Their server products have pretty much ground to a halt as well. If you try to get support you're bounced around to so many people it is amazing you don't get dizzy and fall out of your chair.
What this boils down to is that Microsoft beat Netscape at their own game and then passed them. There are many things people continue to pay for although there are free alternatives... the Netscape browser *could* have been one of those had the proper focus been kept.
There wasn't anything predatory about that. Netscape could have fought back with a better, more engaging product, but they didn't.
The consumer browser war is over. The consumer OS war is over. Through consolidation and market forces we're left with one popular choice and many fragmented choices.
Remember when there were 8 different word processors to choose from? 4 different office suites? 5 versions of DOS? Those days are long gone and companies need to realize that the future lies in operating independent applications.
Read the article and enjoyed. Will be funnier than anything to see the inventions.
As I read the last part:
"Park has now expanded the idea to make them into mini-movies where Gromit demonstrates the innovations, which include a high-powered cricket ball bowling gun and a toaster-cum-TV."
I had an idea. I ran to my daughter's room where her PC is protected by Net Nanny and put the url in. No go:-) You gotta love the protection it provides.:-)
I was at Comdex this year where the Treo was unveiled. It is boxy and not very comfortable to use. The idea is a good one, but it looked like an American car from the 70s next to a sleek Toyota of today.
Europe is a great market to move this to as folks appreciate the gadgets more than Americans do. Then again, maybe they like the design.;-)
SnapNames doesn't circumvent the process of deleted/expired domains. Basically they check the available names each day to see if yours is available. They wait like everyone else to see if it is available.
I use Name Winner at http://www.namewinner.com. They do the same thing, but for less cost.
There are several issues with contacting the current owner:
1) Sometimes they no longer exist. Their contact information such as telephone number and email are not valid. This usually happens when someone spent $500.00 one night and registered a ton of names in speculation.
2) They will reregister and then demand an outrageous fee for the domain name. That has happened more than once.
.... will still have access to the site for a fee. The agreement isn't with the CIA for exclusive use.
One of the neater features of Northern Lights was the folders. I liked how they organized the info and let it flow out of your continuous clicking.
What is funny is that Northern Light is actually a better search engine than Google for specific info. Northern Light drills down on the subject only and doesn't take into consideration links to the info as Google does.
The first patent was registered in October of 96 and was granted in August of 98. The title: Electronic document delivery system in which notification of said electronic document is sent to a recipient thereof. The link:
The second patent was applied for in April of 97 and granted in February of 2001. The title is: Private, trackable URLs for directed document delivery
The URL is: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PT O1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm &r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='6,192,407'.WKU.&OS=PN/6,192,407& RS=PN/6,192,407
Prior art exists for both of these. Thanks you wayback machine! Link from earlier post:
Slashdot Mirror
This is what the future holds if the states lawsuit or Sun's are successful.
I remember when there were three different DOS versions (DR.DOS, IBM and Microsoft). There were slight differences in all three that caused issues.
Look at the Unix space back then and it was the same thing.
I don't want ten different versions of Windows.
As Napster was gasping the last breath of life it had before the shutdown I was downloading songs from the library. It came in extremely handy for the 50 or so original CD cases I had where my CDs were scratched broken or otherwise lost under my car seats ...
... the RIAA and record companies want to control the distribution. They need to change their thinking and understand that single songs are assets that they can license.
Anyway, I struck up a conversation with someone I had just downloaded a song from. He was a DJ for a radio station and used the newer songs he was getting for a show he does on unknown music. The response he was getting from listners was amazing he said.
We both lamented the fact that we'd easily pay $25-$50 a month for access to a library like this.
And that is the problem
... as I am posting way after the topic was posted ...
... has anyone ever checked out Sen. Hollings website? http://hollings.senate.gov/
My thoughts are let them do it. More power to them.
Levy's thoughts are dead on. Of course I'd buy the CDs from someone used off of ebay. Of course I'd keep my current DVD and VCR.
Innovation will die. Period.
One of the great motivators on the technology front is ENABLING people to be creative. If they build in limitations to the products, read DIVX, people won't go for it at all.
And
The guy doesn't look like he even knows what ripping is let alone burning.
You are so right ... It seems odd and maybe I am missing something, but for people to actively use the site and respond properly and on-topic it takes page views.
... I can get them from NEWSGEEK.NET, etc. The value is the community.
The content we all love at Slashdot is created by the people who *read* the articles and respond. The value of Slashdot isn't the articles
Absolute crock of horse shit.
This is what pisses me off about paid listings. The companies assume everyone on the internet is searching for something to buy.
We aren't. Some of us, dramatic pause, actually search for information. You know, the stuff that is useful in our lives.
Overture is nothing more than a very cool, very specific, very targeted shopping index. That's it.
This is one thing that has me worried about the internet. The one common thread that ties us all together on the internet is the need to find information on the billions of pages that exist.
... a specific filename or person's name ... the pay per click sites are utterly useless. Google is the only search engine that maintains a complete virgin index and keeps the paid links outside the virgin links.
The search engines have a right to make money. No one doubts that at all. They are for profit and they need to make money.
With that said the only pure player in the space is google, which is sad. Sad because when you know what you're looking for
If Google were to ever change we're all screwed.
The pay per click engines are fantastic for sites that sell things, but for sites with content they are abyssmal.
I would venture to say that 50% of the sites on the internet with content are not making money at all, but are labors of love. With that said you're alienating 50% of the sites when you move to a pay per click metaphor.
As a webmaster of a content site I can attest to others claims that Google is responsible for 80% of our hits. Links from other content pages is 10% and pay per click sites, which we don't pay for, are 10% more.
As long as Google is alive and uses the searching dynamic they do the internet can be a very useful tool for information. If they go to straight pay per click we're all screwed.
A good point ....
o n/chporn2.h tm
& sa=N= N9 0&sa=N
It is really amazing how many people search for porn through google.
On our site we have two articles that discuss child pornography and how to deal with it on the internet. We constantly get hits from google looking for child pornography and I don't mean debates about how to punish people like we discussed.
This is one of the articles:
http://www.compunotes.com/OpinionSecti
That has generated these search criteria:
1) google.com/search?q=children+porn&hl=en&start=220
2) google.com/search?q=kiddie+porn&hl=en&start=90&sa
3) google.com/search?q=free+kiddie+porn&hl=en&start=
4) google.yahoo.com child punishment pictures
Pretty sad.
This book by Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir is an excellent look at wesbite contruction. They take 50 sites and literally tear them down pointing out what is good and what isn't.
. htm
Their homepage shows which sites they look at including ESPN, Gateway and Microsoft. Their comments on the sites are priceless: http://www.useit.com/homepageusability/
This is a part of the web design process that I don't think many people think about.
We did a review here: http://www.compunotes.com/BookReviews/homepageuse
Wrong funding link:
, 00 .html
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,21346
If you look at the history of new communication methods they always become the domain, pun intended, of governments and businesses.
a sm at/class1/tvhist.htm
m at/class1/tvhist.htm
Telegraph and Radio: http://www.ipass.net/~whitetho/part1.htm
Television:
http://www.rcc.ryerson.ca/schools/rta/brd038/cl
I am surprised that the internet has lasted this long in the public after the government ceded control to a panel.
It all comes down to funding in the end. In 1999 they started making noises: http://www.rcc.ryerson.ca/schools/rta/brd038/clas
If we think that the domain situation concerning freedom of speech is murky now, wait until countries such as China, Iran, etc. get onto the board.
The passing of a legend is never an easy thing, but in the case of Chuck Jones his work will live on forever for others to enjoy.
It's a bummer that most people will never be able to enjoy what we did as kids. A good number of his cartoons have been "cleaned up" and the violence removed.
Over at the censored cartoon page (http://www.toonzone.net/looney/ltcuts/) they have a list of what cartoons have been cut as well as what was cut.
There is a link to a few uncensored cartoons that bring back many many great Saturday morning or after school memories (http://www.nonstick.com/wmovies/index.html)
And you can buy the uncensored cartoons if you look hard enough. This site gets you off to a great start. http://www.megalink.net/~cooke/looney/amazon.html
Yes, as many have commented this is old news. There haven't been any breakthroughs on this in several years. Let me rephrase that ... no significant breakthroughs.
...
Once a year we have a customer come to us to ask about this option. Once a year we trot out our proposal, rerun the numbers and submit it. It always comes down to two things:
1) Speed
2) Reliability
The speed of the lines is fantastic when you have a clear day and relative distance is kept. Any atmoshperic conditions out of the ordinary will kill the line. Now, if you're only interested in using it for a mail gateway or to transfer data for a nightly batch cycle it rocks. For regular WAN access you'll be answering the phone from the folks on the floor.
Reliability is a concern past the speed. Keeping the connections is sometimes more an art than science. The article does have an interesting take on parallel transmissions, but commerically available products are cost prohibitive to make it a viable alternative for most businesses.
The best line from the article is: "Transmitting lasers through the air and modulating them at gigabit rates is a new and potentially powerful development," said Dr. Daniel Leslie, a physicist at Trex Enterprises who is familiar with the new systems.
Now, if you want to see something cool check out Dr. Leslie's company web page: http://www.trexenterprises.com/laserrad.html
If only we could work a Pringles can into this
I admit I don't know everything about datacom, but how is this different from DSL?
Is the video compressed to MPG and then uncompressed by the cable box?
I thought there was a limit to the amount of traffic on copper due to attenuation and cross talk?
And what is the effective bandwidth of the connection?
I guess I'm looking for a more technical description of the how and what. Can anyone provide?
Oh holy heck. You are exactly right.
;-)
I got on a rant and wasn't thinking.
What sucks about this is that I *preferred* the Netscape browser before it went into the AOL black hole.
Sorry about the misdirection to Sun. The support does suck
Yep, that is billion with a B. Do you think that the timing of the lawsuit against Microsoft had anything to do with the fact the press is catching onto the mistakes AOL has made during the merger.
2 0204/206105.html
According to Fortune, "Instead of adding up to the world's most valuable company, this merger has subtracted $155 billion of market cap. CEO-designate Richard Parsons promises to do the numbers a different way."
Link is at: http://www.fortune.com/articles/2002/magazine/200
Of course I am risking the whole karma deal by posting something remotely supporting Microsoft, but here goes ...
... their browser and even their servers were good.
... the Netscape browser *could* have been one of those had the proper focus been kept.
Netscape had a good product
AOL bought Netscape. TimeWarner bought AOL.
Throughout all this the focus shifted away from the products of Netscape to the online vetsiges such as the portal, etc.
AOL has done little, if any, real ground breaking development on the browser front. I remember the good old days where Netscape had a new build every other month that they submitted to the world for feedback, etc. All that stopped when AOL bought them.
Their server products have pretty much ground to a halt as well. If you try to get support you're bounced around to so many people it is amazing you don't get dizzy and fall out of your chair.
What this boils down to is that Microsoft beat Netscape at their own game and then passed them. There are many things people continue to pay for although there are free alternatives
There wasn't anything predatory about that. Netscape could have fought back with a better, more engaging product, but they didn't.
The consumer browser war is over. The consumer OS war is over. Through consolidation and market forces we're left with one popular choice and many fragmented choices.
Remember when there were 8 different word processors to choose from? 4 different office suites? 5 versions of DOS? Those days are long gone and companies need to realize that the future lies in operating independent applications.
If someone actually liked that site, which was low on information, you'll absolutley love this site: http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/
The doteaters examines the history of arcade, home and computer games. Anyone remember Wampus?
By far the best feature of the site is the overall timelines: http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/timescape.htm
Blackhawk Down by Mark Bowden is a great read! I asked for it for Christmas so I could read it before the movie.
After reading it I am not sure if I want to see the movie to avoid the post-book let down.
It weighs in at almost 400 pages and is pretty detail oriented.
There were two things that stood out in the book that I hope they hit in the movie:
1) Mogadishu as a place of anarchy and kids with guns.
2) The feel of 15 hours of battle. The book works as it describes what each hour feels like.
Blackhawk Down by Mark Bowden.
Read the article and enjoyed. Will be funnier than anything to see the inventions.
:-) You gotta love the protection it provides. :-)
As I read the last part:
"Park has now expanded the idea to make them into mini-movies where Gromit demonstrates the innovations, which include a high-powered cricket ball bowling gun and a toaster-cum-TV."
I had an idea. I ran to my daughter's room where her PC is protected by Net Nanny and put the url in. No go
I was at Comdex this year where the Treo was unveiled. It is boxy and not very comfortable to use. The idea is a good one, but it looked like an American car from the 70s next to a sleek Toyota of today.
;-)
Europe is a great market to move this to as folks appreciate the gadgets more than Americans do. Then again, maybe they like the design.
SnapNames doesn't circumvent the process of deleted/expired domains. Basically they check the available names each day to see if yours is available. They wait like everyone else to see if it is available.
I use Name Winner at http://www.namewinner.com. They do the same thing, but for less cost.
There are several issues with contacting the current owner:
1) Sometimes they no longer exist. Their contact information such as telephone number and email are not valid. This usually happens when someone spent $500.00 one night and registered a ton of names in speculation.
2) They will reregister and then demand an outrageous fee for the domain name. That has happened more than once.
Patrick
.... will still have access to the site for a fee. The agreement isn't with the CIA for exclusive use.
One of the neater features of Northern Lights was the folders. I liked how they organized the info and let it flow out of your continuous clicking.
What is funny is that Northern Light is actually a better search engine than Google for specific info. Northern Light drills down on the subject only and doesn't take into consideration links to the info as Google does.
What a joke this patent is ...
s /p ress_releases/2002/01_02_02.html
= PT O1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm &r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='5,790,790'.WKU.&OS=PN/5,790,790& RS=PN/5,790,790
T O1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm &r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='6,192,407'.WKU.&OS=PN/6,192,407& RS=PN/6,192,407
/ /w ww.cardclub.com/
Anyway, here is what TumbleWeed has to say:
http://www.tumbleweed.com/en/company/news_event
The first patent was registered in October of 96 and was granted in August of 98. The title: Electronic document delivery system in which notification of said electronic document is sent to a recipient thereof. The link:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1
The second patent was applied for in April of 97 and granted in February of 2001. The title is: Private, trackable URLs for directed document delivery
The URL is: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P
Prior art exists for both of these. Thanks you wayback machine! Link from earlier post:
http://web.archive.org/web/19961226182315/http:
Man o man are these guys in for a surprise:
:-)
http://www.google.com/search?q=anti-aging+pills
Especially these folks:
http://www.pure-milk-calcium.com/immunocal.htm
This product is supposed to prevent cancer by extending your life