Is there a single case of someone being able to recover usable data from a drive that was properly wiped more than once with random data? More importantly, has there ever been a case that DOESN'T involve advanced recovery tools that only governments have access to?
You seem to be refering to hacked codecs, so any quality comparison is sort of a crap-shoot. Only real as far as I know supports native streaming. As far as radio, MPEG streaming seems to always work so long as the server is responding, what sort of radio streams do you have problem with?
I do understand that there is enormous amounts of research and new technology poured into streaming media, but I still think to end-users (and myself), streaming is still a disappointing technology. Right now, with windows media and real, it often times is a crap shoot if the media will be there when you're watching it, leading to pauses and the infamous buffering problems. Real and Windows Media are sketchy programs that seem more interested in an attractive interface than ensuring the media looks good. Sure, we can go back and forth about if more people had broadband why it would be better, but right now the crappy resolution, encoding artifacts, and sub-par audio on many streams is unacceptable/unusable. The best streaming I have seen is simple net-radio MPEG streams (or ogg), or apple quicktime. Apple trailers, though they take longer to buffer being such large files, tend to "guess" when to play it more accurately and are encoded like a professional video should look. What I simply do not understand is why more websites, if they're pushing the same amount of bits either way, don't offer the complete file for download. I know that sometimes it is streamed to prevent copying, but more often than not, streamed media is not stuff that one would not want copied (being public an all). It may even reduce strain on the server with re-viewings done locally. I think users would be much happier to wait a minute longer if they get a high-quality video/audio file and they know won't stop half way. It's a cool idea, but even after 10 years, its got a way to go.
Is anybody else thinking of the replicators from Stargate SG-1?
But assuming we find the weapon of the ancients in time, then yes, this sounds awesome.
Hate to break it to you, but you have thousands of "radio waves" (actually consisting of many different frequencies, there's nothing magic about radio) going through your body like it or not. If you can prove there's something wrong, then by all means, tell us, with a link, to a peer-reviewed source.
While I am not apoligizing for the apparent poor programing on Microsoft's part, maybe we should also consider what they would perform like if IE did not block automatic installers or have a passable firewall.
Also, before people post links disproving how secure it is, I already understand but I also understand change comes in babysteps.
I am greatly disappointed in so far as the chart offered automatically discounts legitimate artists that do not choose to sell their tracks online but give them away for free. Examples being Brad Sucks and the Acedia Music Netlabel under licenses such as the Creative Commons music license. It will take something like the BBC or other mainstream music outlets (MTV or other such dribble) to recognize this music distribution model to get artists any exposure.
That being said I can see how from a purely practical level that one would have to rely either on the artists themselves or mirrors to provide statistics which may be skewered. In addition, artists like Brad Sucks may get significantly more downloads from the simple fact of being free (in every sense) rather than another indie band that has only pay downloads.
For those of us who failed High School physics, from Wikipedia:
A qubit (quantum + bit; pronounced/kyoobit/ [1] ) is a unit of quantum information. That information is described by state in a 2-level quantum mechanical system.
To be perfectly honest, quantum computing scares me to some extent. Things like PGP encryption and other very sensitive operations could, quite literally overnight, be blown away and dangerously shift power quickly. Then again we will also usher in a new age of unlimited (well, from a 2004 perspective, matter itself ultimately has a limit for storage and processing) computing that can make engineering in all fields like nothing we have seen before. And, the best part, we will see it in our lifetimes.
Recently I was cleaning rather obnoxious spyware off of my sister's laptop. To prevent further infection, I was asking her to install Firefox. I said it'll block popups. Still reluctant. Tabbed browsing? Nope. More secure? Nu uh, still stubborn. Stop the spyware? No. (She's getting irritated at this point). CERT Recommended to stop using IE? Still won't let me install it. *pause* She then asks if our mother uses it. I said yes (thanks to me). "Ok, install it."
Homeland security be damned, it's the MOTHERS we need to convert.
This is good news for Apple (obviously) but what will be more interesting is how this affects iPod sales. We all know the iTunes Music store is a pimp for the iPod, so now that we have a controlled environment that we can monitor closely, I guess we can prove if Apple's music model really works the way they planned.
I love Mozilla Firefox, love it. The AdBlock plugin and a custom host file keep me free of almost all ads, flash banners, and otherwise annoying Internet ads. However, we like to preach about just switch and all your problems go away. For the most part that holds true, a switch to Linux, or even just Mozilla infinitely improves the quality of the computer. However, most of the spyware comes as a result of user initiated stupidity or ignorance. Now I understand stupid default choices by Microsoft and browser cause most of these problems, but if Linux does become a major player on the desktop (god willing) I think we will see more crappy scumware. Linux isn't a magic pill, just a better designed OS. It isn't idiot proof. Right now I'm going to keep on recommending Firefox and keep getting signatures to get my school to, but in the future, I hope at least most of these problems will go away with the switch to linux (but I doubt it).
This makes me wonder just how long exactly the rover will last. Another month? Year? Just how much battery power is there to last it? Will it last simply until a martian storm hits it?
I personally think this is a great mission and every nugget of data is opening new doors. I would like to see it last for quite a while, even if there is no press coverage.
P.S. The earlier comment about adding a mic to record the sounds on mars may seem trivial, but I say it'd be a great idea and inspire wonder (and a neato MP3;)
This is exactly why we should take a serious look at whether the United States should have a patent office at all. The original concept of the patent system was fine in an era or rural agriculture and home shops. The economics of Perfect Competition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_competition) required something governmental to effectively reward the researcher.
Today that is quite different.
The small, lone inventor is now a myth because 1) research on technical things (Software Patents aside, those are just bad period.) is done now by large universities and businesses who only can license other technologies and pay the research. 2) the patent application system is prohibitively expensive for any small player. Furthermore, so many applications are filed a year, the office spends about 17 hours an application. 17 hours is not enough to have a generally education person (not even necessarily someone in the field) to take a serious look at the invention. The only way one can compete with a patent is through cross-licensing one technology for another which allows the companies in competition to produce the same product. That makes the patent system moot to all but those entering the market, who get screwed.
The argument goes on, but for the sake of briefness I'll cut it off there at a gross generalization.
Why, for the sake of God's Green Earth, can anybody claim a patent on something that has grown in the ground, DISCOVERED (not invented), and not researched. I don't care, quite frankly, who discovered it, I want to know if there was any human invention in its creation. If there isn't, the patent system has failed on a fundamental level because it's. Not. An. Invention.
Are there any nations with sane copyright, patent, and other laws?
I. Don't. Care.
The only people that will encode with this are the ones who encode with WMA or use Internet Explorer. Because it's the default and that's exactly what they'll use if it works.
I, on the other hand, care about sound quality and being able to redistribute the files. I don't listen to music from RIAA (www.magnetbox.com/riaa/) and most of it I do is from artists that encourage or post their songs on the web. They won't use this crap, WMA, or DRM-boxed AAC. They WANT people to use these p2p apps because they love the music and makes them more popular at live shows.
The point is the format is only important to those who are against P2P or the new wave of music. Those of us who aren't interested in that music will continue using MP3's or Ogg. Makes life simple, really.
Seems there is a lot of discussion as to why people would pay for a (free) gmail service.
1) It's forbidden. It's closed. We are human, do the math.
2) Easy personal contact information is tough on the web and saturated services like free email (such as hotmail or yahoo). Address like foobar374728284748493@foobar.net are hard to remember and are taken less seriously than roberts@company.net. Early, high value names (such as god@ or hacker@) show some level of professionalism (or at least something about the f00bar3432 people). That is the kind of value people are paying for, not necessarily the gig or webmail.
I own a domain name forward mail to my other accounts for professional contact or such. It works out very well if you put some thought into the domains and name. Of course, I don't use it as contact info on boards or websites:-D
Slashdot Mirror
Is there a single case of someone being able to recover usable data from a drive that was properly wiped more than once with random data? More importantly, has there ever been a case that DOESN'T involve advanced recovery tools that only governments have access to?
You seem to be refering to hacked codecs, so any quality comparison is sort of a crap-shoot. Only real as far as I know supports native streaming. As far as radio, MPEG streaming seems to always work so long as the server is responding, what sort of radio streams do you have problem with?
I do understand that there is enormous amounts of research and new technology poured into streaming media, but I still think to end-users (and myself), streaming is still a disappointing technology. Right now, with windows media and real, it often times is a crap shoot if the media will be there when you're watching it, leading to pauses and the infamous buffering problems. Real and Windows Media are sketchy programs that seem more interested in an attractive interface than ensuring the media looks good. Sure, we can go back and forth about if more people had broadband why it would be better, but right now the crappy resolution, encoding artifacts, and sub-par audio on many streams is unacceptable/unusable.
The best streaming I have seen is simple net-radio MPEG streams (or ogg), or apple quicktime. Apple trailers, though they take longer to buffer being such large files, tend to "guess" when to play it more accurately and are encoded like a professional video should look.
What I simply do not understand is why more websites, if they're pushing the same amount of bits either way, don't offer the complete file for download. I know that sometimes it is streamed to prevent copying, but more often than not, streamed media is not stuff that one would not want copied (being public an all). It may even reduce strain on the server with re-viewings done locally. I think users would be much happier to wait a minute longer if they get a high-quality video/audio file and they know won't stop half way.
It's a cool idea, but even after 10 years, its got a way to go.
Is anybody else thinking of the replicators from Stargate SG-1? But assuming we find the weapon of the ancients in time, then yes, this sounds awesome.
Hate to break it to you, but you have thousands of "radio waves" (actually consisting of many different frequencies, there's nothing magic about radio) going through your body like it or not. If you can prove there's something wrong, then by all means, tell us, with a link, to a peer-reviewed source.
NASA discovered microbes in the immediate area...
Actually Counterstrike started as an independent team making a mod for no money out of sheer love for the game.
While I am not apoligizing for the apparent poor programing on Microsoft's part, maybe we should also consider what they would perform like if IE did not block automatic installers or have a passable firewall.
Also, before people post links disproving how secure it is, I already understand but I also understand change comes in babysteps.
I am greatly disappointed in so far as the chart offered automatically discounts legitimate artists that do not choose to sell their tracks online but give them away for free. Examples being Brad Sucks and the Acedia Music Netlabel under licenses such as the Creative Commons music license. It will take something like the BBC or other mainstream music outlets (MTV or other such dribble) to recognize this music distribution model to get artists any exposure. That being said I can see how from a purely practical level that one would have to rely either on the artists themselves or mirrors to provide statistics which may be skewered. In addition, artists like Brad Sucks may get significantly more downloads from the simple fact of being free (in every sense) rather than another indie band that has only pay downloads.
Bah humbug.
P.S. Brad Sucks is one of my favourite bands
I am 17, so my chances are pretty good of seeing it in my lifetime ;)
For those of us who failed High School physics, from Wikipedia: A qubit (quantum + bit; pronounced /kyoobit/ [1] ) is a unit of quantum information. That information is described by state in a 2-level quantum mechanical system.
To be perfectly honest, quantum computing scares me to some extent. Things like PGP encryption and other very sensitive operations could, quite literally overnight, be blown away and dangerously shift power quickly. Then again we will also usher in a new age of unlimited (well, from a 2004 perspective, matter itself ultimately has a limit for storage and processing) computing that can make engineering in all fields like nothing we have seen before. And, the best part, we will see it in our lifetimes.
*gasp* businesses adapting to new technology!
Recently I was cleaning rather obnoxious spyware off of my sister's laptop. To prevent further infection, I was asking her to install Firefox. I said it'll block popups. Still reluctant. Tabbed browsing? Nope. More secure? Nu uh, still stubborn. Stop the spyware? No. (She's getting irritated at this point). CERT Recommended to stop using IE? Still won't let me install it.
*pause*
She then asks if our mother uses it. I said yes (thanks to me).
"Ok, install it."
Homeland security be damned, it's the MOTHERS we need to convert.
Hi Microsoft, I know you're new to the whole competition thing, but welecome to the free market.
This is good news for Apple (obviously) but what will be more interesting is how this affects iPod sales. We all know the iTunes Music store is a pimp for the iPod, so now that we have a controlled environment that we can monitor closely, I guess we can prove if Apple's music model really works the way they planned.
I love Mozilla Firefox, love it. The AdBlock plugin and a custom host file keep me free of almost all ads, flash banners, and otherwise annoying Internet ads.
However, we like to preach about just switch and all your problems go away. For the most part that holds true, a switch to Linux, or even just Mozilla infinitely improves the quality of the computer.
However, most of the spyware comes as a result of user initiated stupidity or ignorance.
Now I understand stupid default choices by Microsoft and browser cause most of these problems, but if Linux does become a major player on the desktop (god willing) I think we will see more crappy scumware. Linux isn't a magic pill, just a better designed OS. It isn't idiot proof.
Right now I'm going to keep on recommending Firefox and keep getting signatures to get my school to, but in the future, I hope at least most of these problems will go away with the switch to linux (but I doubt it).
*NSA Laughs and nervously rubs neck*
Yeah, that Splinter Cell is just a silly ol' game too.
This makes me wonder just how long exactly the rover will last. Another month? Year? Just how much battery power is there to last it? Will it last simply until a martian storm hits it? I personally think this is a great mission and every nugget of data is opening new doors. I would like to see it last for quite a while, even if there is no press coverage. P.S. The earlier comment about adding a mic to record the sounds on mars may seem trivial, but I say it'd be a great idea and inspire wonder (and a neato MP3 ;)
This is exactly why we should take a serious look at whether the United States should have a patent office at all.) required something governmental to effectively reward the researcher.
The original concept of the patent system was fine in an era or rural agriculture and home shops. The economics of Perfect Competition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_competition
Today that is quite different.
The small, lone inventor is now a myth because 1) research on technical things (Software Patents aside, those are just bad period.) is done now by large universities and businesses who only can license other technologies and pay the research. 2) the patent application system is prohibitively expensive for any small player. Furthermore, so many applications are filed a year, the office spends about 17 hours an application. 17 hours is not enough to have a generally education person (not even necessarily someone in the field) to take a serious look at the invention. The only way one can compete with a patent is through cross-licensing one technology for another which allows the companies in competition to produce the same product. That makes the patent system moot to all but those entering the market, who get screwed.
The argument goes on, but for the sake of briefness I'll cut it off there at a gross generalization.
Why, for the sake of God's Green Earth, can anybody claim a patent on something that has grown in the ground, DISCOVERED (not invented), and not researched. I don't care, quite frankly, who discovered it, I want to know if there was any human invention in its creation. If there isn't, the patent system has failed on a fundamental level because it's. Not. An. Invention.
Are there any nations with sane copyright, patent, and other laws?
I. Don't. Care. The only people that will encode with this are the ones who encode with WMA or use Internet Explorer. Because it's the default and that's exactly what they'll use if it works. I, on the other hand, care about sound quality and being able to redistribute the files. I don't listen to music from RIAA (www.magnetbox.com/riaa/) and most of it I do is from artists that encourage or post their songs on the web. They won't use this crap, WMA, or DRM-boxed AAC. They WANT people to use these p2p apps because they love the music and makes them more popular at live shows. The point is the format is only important to those who are against P2P or the new wave of music. Those of us who aren't interested in that music will continue using MP3's or Ogg. Makes life simple, really.
Seems there is a lot of discussion as to why people would pay for a (free) gmail service. 1) It's forbidden. It's closed. We are human, do the math. 2) Easy personal contact information is tough on the web and saturated services like free email (such as hotmail or yahoo). Address like foobar374728284748493@foobar.net are hard to remember and are taken less seriously than roberts@company.net. Early, high value names (such as god@ or hacker@) show some level of professionalism (or at least something about the f00bar3432 people). That is the kind of value people are paying for, not necessarily the gig or webmail. I own a domain name forward mail to my other accounts for professional contact or such. It works out very well if you put some thought into the domains and name. Of course, I don't use it as contact info on boards or websites :-D