Yes, I agree completely. It's not as if Verisign is redirecting nra.org to disneyland.com, or blocking it completely. It's software that serves a purpose, even if the implementation is dodgy. The only point where I could begin to balk is if this suddenly became some federally mandated standard.
Until then, complaining about it is like complaining about Winamp's music-playing capabilities, for example. You have a large number of other players to choose from.
Not all of us are amazingly inclined when it comes to batting around in Linux. I just revived an old machine and gave RedHat a try... with no local Linux guru, these things are all I have to go on. No idea what I would do without these people putting their hearts into the documentation effort.
It does print it on the receipt. Except that Wal-mart doesn't require a receipt for merchandise credit. show up with anything that a CS drone can scan with their little gun, and they will take it, and give you all the money you want on a Gift Card.
1) Use a voucher to buy a bunch of software from Wal-mart, or other retail chain with below-average intelligence Customer Service.
2) Return said software, unopened, for merchandise credit.
3) Profit?
An excellent post, to which I will only add two things:
1) You can buy an adapter for extra power for the iPod (it's a case, so you can throw in standard or rechargable batteries, and help extend the life of the iPod for when you are not on the move, like at work)
2) If you are having troubles with iPod's internal battery: http://www.ipodlounge.com/faqs_more.php?id=103_0_1 0_0_C
That link is so-so. The author is plainly biased. Not the mention the date and the wild speculations inside sort of betray the fact that he/she is only making guesses based on a picture of the DJ, and not any actual experience (like the review linked in the article, for instance). I guess it's a nice read if you already have an iPod, and want to justify the purchase by needlessly belittling the competition.
And if these CD drives that got toasted were from the early 90's, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. Unfortunately, these are newish drives, and this is 2003. A certain amount of responsibilty is required on the part of the makers.
If I try to tell my monitor to use a refresh rate that will damage it, it will tell me to screw off. My P4 will start to slow down, automatically, if it starts getting too hot, in order to keep it from burning out. Hardware suicide is more or less a thing of the past for a large portion of things.
I would consider it poor design on the part of the hardware manufacturer is something silly could burn it out. Are you telling me the next SoBig virus is going to make everyone's monitors explode?
This, coupled with the 350MB of updates Mandrake has already released doesn't fill me with confidence concerning the "superiority" of the Open Source software business model, guys.
Pardon me for being picky, but what on earth does releasing updates and a business model have in common? A business model is how they plan to make money. Does Mandrake get a wad of cash every time they release an update?
That sort of "proof" is only valid in the court of Public Opinion, not a court with real judges. When it comes down to the nitty gritty trial in court, these things hold no water, SCO will have to float on the merits of their real case. Honestly, they could use all the help they can get: they are currently somewhere between the RIAA and convicted baby-killers as far as reputation goes.
I concur, and use that setting myself. When forced to use IE on a lab computer, I'm generally caught off guard.
And on another note, feel free to sound like a broken record whenever you please. The more we encourage people to switch over to browsers like Mozilla or Opera, the better off everyone is. I got my sister to switch to Opera, and she's the type of person who opens every e-mail attachment, uses Kazaa, and doesn't know what Ad-Aware is.
They are required to give things that 911 uptime by law, if memory serves. Legal penalties are considerable. It's not a matter of customer service or goodness of their own hearts. If it were, there would be no such thing as cable modem or DSL downtime, either.
What is your reasoning for this? Spam has done nothing but increase in volume since email came about. Spam filtering software and algorithms have accordingly ramped up in complexity just to keep up with the flood.
Where do you see spam dying off? I see the two approaching a point in the future where I'll need to hire armed guards to open my inbox. The silly people who reply to and purchase these products (ie: the people who keep the spammers in business), what do you think the chances are they they are running SpamAssassin? Your theory sounds alright, but is ultimately unrealistic.
Re:Mebbe learn to write a bayesian filter?
on
Another Whack at Spam
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Perhaps Tim needs to re-write his filter, but I think that Bayesian filters are not the solution to the problem. They are the solution to a symptom of the problem. Hiding spam email under the rug is not going to reduce the overhead incurred in transferring around junk. Those emails do not magically appear in your inbox. This solution of his is flawed in many ways, but it does what filtering doesn't: it attacks the root of the problem, instead of playing defensive hot potato.
Everything on/. renders just fine for me under Opera 7.2, I don't use Mozilla. I can't say which is the problem with certainty, but it's no secret that this place isn't 100% compliant. Better than most, not as good as some. Your particular problem sounds like a config problem though, I don't think it could be THAT out of whack.:)
The joke is on them. Opera lets you pretend to be any one of a multitude of web browsers. Right now, I'm MSIE 6.0, tomorrow I could be Mozilla 4.78. Technology is grand!
Either of them work well, but having used them both, I prefer Opera for my own use. I really like the M2 mail client, the customizability, and little things like mouse gestures, popup control, fast-forward, personalized style sheets, etc. It can do everything I want it to do, and a slew of things I never even knew existed (open all 30 of my webcomics at once? neat!). Opera isn't free, but they have an ad-supported version which works just fine.
Can't go wrong with Mozilla, though. Pretty much everything, even Netscape, is better than MSIE. IE has one advantage over the rest, but I've learned to deal without it (why, Google, WHY?).
Re:Imagine RFID type tags in bullets
on
NYT on RFID
·
· Score: 1
If RFID gains more momentum, somehow I don't see criminals picking up bullets at Wal-Mart.
But if you remember those stun-gun type personal protection thingers, if you fire one it releases thousands of tiny balls with a unique number on them that can be traced back to your weapon. Unfortunately, it's dodgy, because the ones I have heard about require that accurate records be kept at the point of sale, and the makers discovered that no such thing was going on, making the added security pointless. Maybe it will get better when things mature, but there will always be a black market.
Market research and focus groups led Microsoft to implement those lovely menus that auto-hide. Nifty idea in theory, however in practice the "play around with it" aspect of users using a program was lost, because they never saw stuff that they didn't use regularly. Sometimes users don't know what's good for them. Focus groups are not the answer to all of life's problems, unfortunately.
What we need to do is be developing newer, fresher ideas which keep microsoft on their toes
This isn't really all that true. You can't just dump a UI/functionality change on the average user and expect them to embrace it. Many have trouble with the interface that we've had since Win95.
These people have the right idea. Ease folks into it. Otherwise you will have a response similar to what happened with WinXP, where the interface was made more intuitive and easier, but casual computer users still complained (and rightly so, I think) because the things that took them so long to learn got turned topsy-turvy.
From the article:
[I]Analog publishing generates per-unit costs -- each book or magazine requires a certain amount of paper and ink, and creates storage and transportation costs. Digital publishing doesn't. Once you have a computer and internet access, you can post one weblog entry or one hundred, for ten readers or ten thousand, without paying anything per post or per reader. In fact, dividing up front costs by the number of readers means that content gets cheaper as it gets more popular, the opposite of analog regimes. [/I]
Does this person think that web hosting and bandwidth are free? The reality is completely the opposite if you look at things like webcomics, where popularity will literally bankrupt the artist, as they gain too much traffic to live in free webspace.
It's not free. You still have to pay for your internet connection, and it sounds like it has to be broadband, which is pricey.
If we communicated by way of dictating to people who tapped out messages in Morse Code... well that's a ton of overhead. It would be expensive. It would also be replaced by better and more convenient technology. As a matter of act, it already has! Meet the telephone!
My father is a typesetter, or was. Don't know what one is? Not surprising if you don't, because the job more or less doesn't exist anymore, thanks to the availibility and ease of use of computers and printers. Sticking letters on a printing press and designing graphics using proprietary business software has been supplanted by Photoshop and color printers.
The telephone as we know it is in danger of being replaced by newer technology. Welcome to progress. Check yer bags at the door.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, I agree completely. It's not as if Verisign is redirecting nra.org to disneyland.com, or blocking it completely. It's software that serves a purpose, even if the implementation is dodgy. The only point where I could begin to balk is if this suddenly became some federally mandated standard.
Until then, complaining about it is like complaining about Winamp's music-playing capabilities, for example. You have a large number of other players to choose from.
It means that not only can I not re-complile a kernel, but my grasp of English sucks, too.
Not all of us are amazingly inclined when it comes to batting around in Linux. I just revived an old machine and gave RedHat a try... with no local Linux guru, these things are all I have to go on. No idea what I would do without these people putting their hearts into the documentation effort.
It does print it on the receipt. Except that Wal-mart doesn't require a receipt for merchandise credit. show up with anything that a CS drone can scan with their little gun, and they will take it, and give you all the money you want on a Gift Card.
RTFC?
1) Use a voucher to buy a bunch of software from Wal-mart, or other retail chain with below-average intelligence Customer Service. 2) Return said software, unopened, for merchandise credit. 3) Profit?
An excellent post, to which I will only add two things:
1 0_0_C
1) You can buy an adapter for extra power for the iPod (it's a case, so you can throw in standard or rechargable batteries, and help extend the life of the iPod for when you are not on the move, like at work)
2) If you are having troubles with iPod's internal battery: http://www.ipodlounge.com/faqs_more.php?id=103_0_
That link is so-so. The author is plainly biased. Not the mention the date and the wild speculations inside sort of betray the fact that he/she is only making guesses based on a picture of the DJ, and not any actual experience (like the review linked in the article, for instance). I guess it's a nice read if you already have an iPod, and want to justify the purchase by needlessly belittling the competition.
And if these CD drives that got toasted were from the early 90's, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. Unfortunately, these are newish drives, and this is 2003. A certain amount of responsibilty is required on the part of the makers.
If I try to tell my monitor to use a refresh rate that will damage it, it will tell me to screw off. My P4 will start to slow down, automatically, if it starts getting too hot, in order to keep it from burning out. Hardware suicide is more or less a thing of the past for a large portion of things.
I would consider it poor design on the part of the hardware manufacturer is something silly could burn it out. Are you telling me the next SoBig virus is going to make everyone's monitors explode?
This, coupled with the 350MB of updates Mandrake has already released doesn't fill me with confidence concerning the "superiority" of the Open Source software business model, guys.
Pardon me for being picky, but what on earth does releasing updates and a business model have in common? A business model is how they plan to make money. Does Mandrake get a wad of cash every time they release an update?
That sort of "proof" is only valid in the court of Public Opinion, not a court with real judges. When it comes down to the nitty gritty trial in court, these things hold no water, SCO will have to float on the merits of their real case. Honestly, they could use all the help they can get: they are currently somewhere between the RIAA and convicted baby-killers as far as reputation goes.
I concur, and use that setting myself. When forced to use IE on a lab computer, I'm generally caught off guard.
And on another note, feel free to sound like a broken record whenever you please. The more we encourage people to switch over to browsers like Mozilla or Opera, the better off everyone is. I got my sister to switch to Opera, and she's the type of person who opens every e-mail attachment, uses Kazaa, and doesn't know what Ad-Aware is.
Don't give them TOO much credit.
They are required to give things that 911 uptime by law, if memory serves. Legal penalties are considerable. It's not a matter of customer service or goodness of their own hearts. If it were, there would be no such thing as cable modem or DSL downtime, either.
What is your reasoning for this? Spam has done nothing but increase in volume since email came about. Spam filtering software and algorithms have accordingly ramped up in complexity just to keep up with the flood.
Where do you see spam dying off? I see the two approaching a point in the future where I'll need to hire armed guards to open my inbox. The silly people who reply to and purchase these products (ie: the people who keep the spammers in business), what do you think the chances are they they are running SpamAssassin? Your theory sounds alright, but is ultimately unrealistic.
Perhaps Tim needs to re-write his filter, but I think that Bayesian filters are not the solution to the problem. They are the solution to a symptom of the problem. Hiding spam email under the rug is not going to reduce the overhead incurred in transferring around junk. Those emails do not magically appear in your inbox. This solution of his is flawed in many ways, but it does what filtering doesn't: it attacks the root of the problem, instead of playing defensive hot potato.
Everything on /. renders just fine for me under Opera 7.2, I don't use Mozilla. I can't say which is the problem with certainty, but it's no secret that this place isn't 100% compliant. Better than most, not as good as some. Your particular problem sounds like a config problem though, I don't think it could be THAT out of whack. :)
The joke is on them. Opera lets you pretend to be any one of a multitude of web browsers. Right now, I'm MSIE 6.0, tomorrow I could be Mozilla 4.78. Technology is grand!
Either of them work well, but having used them both, I prefer Opera for my own use. I really like the M2 mail client, the customizability, and little things like mouse gestures, popup control, fast-forward, personalized style sheets, etc. It can do everything I want it to do, and a slew of things I never even knew existed (open all 30 of my webcomics at once? neat!). Opera isn't free, but they have an ad-supported version which works just fine.
Can't go wrong with Mozilla, though. Pretty much everything, even Netscape, is better than MSIE. IE has one advantage over the rest, but I've learned to deal without it (why, Google, WHY?).
If RFID gains more momentum, somehow I don't see criminals picking up bullets at Wal-Mart.
But if you remember those stun-gun type personal protection thingers, if you fire one it releases thousands of tiny balls with a unique number on them that can be traced back to your weapon. Unfortunately, it's dodgy, because the ones I have heard about require that accurate records be kept at the point of sale, and the makers discovered that no such thing was going on, making the added security pointless. Maybe it will get better when things mature, but there will always be a black market.
That depends. If you go the other way, and Linux is a mongoose with a sword, they'd make a killing on toy sales, and software would be free forever.
Market research and focus groups led Microsoft to implement those lovely menus that auto-hide. Nifty idea in theory, however in practice the "play around with it" aspect of users using a program was lost, because they never saw stuff that they didn't use regularly. Sometimes users don't know what's good for them. Focus groups are not the answer to all of life's problems, unfortunately.
What we need to do is be developing newer, fresher ideas which keep microsoft on their toes
This isn't really all that true. You can't just dump a UI/functionality change on the average user and expect them to embrace it. Many have trouble with the interface that we've had since Win95.
These people have the right idea. Ease folks into it. Otherwise you will have a response similar to what happened with WinXP, where the interface was made more intuitive and easier, but casual computer users still complained (and rightly so, I think) because the things that took them so long to learn got turned topsy-turvy.
If there is a mistake...well, you should have used the 'Preview' button!
:P
Ahh, Slashdot, I should have listened to you.
From the article: [I]Analog publishing generates per-unit costs -- each book or magazine requires a certain amount of paper and ink, and creates storage and transportation costs. Digital publishing doesn't. Once you have a computer and internet access, you can post one weblog entry or one hundred, for ten readers or ten thousand, without paying anything per post or per reader. In fact, dividing up front costs by the number of readers means that content gets cheaper as it gets more popular, the opposite of analog regimes. [/I] Does this person think that web hosting and bandwidth are free? The reality is completely the opposite if you look at things like webcomics, where popularity will literally bankrupt the artist, as they gain too much traffic to live in free webspace.
It's not free. You still have to pay for your internet connection, and it sounds like it has to be broadband, which is pricey.
If we communicated by way of dictating to people who tapped out messages in Morse Code... well that's a ton of overhead. It would be expensive. It would also be replaced by better and more convenient technology. As a matter of act, it already has! Meet the telephone!
My father is a typesetter, or was. Don't know what one is? Not surprising if you don't, because the job more or less doesn't exist anymore, thanks to the availibility and ease of use of computers and printers. Sticking letters on a printing press and designing graphics using proprietary business software has been supplanted by Photoshop and color printers.
The telephone as we know it is in danger of being replaced by newer technology. Welcome to progress. Check yer bags at the door.