I'll raise you one further, in that not only do you have to be aware of wher eyou are losing privacy, to have it, but you must also have the choice to assert your wish for privacy.
Personally, I could care less if someone knows my name, mailing address, email address, ICQ number, website, what I ate for lunch, who I'm fucking... In fact, if I choose to reveal those things, so be it. But those are concsious choices. Many people also believe in the right to carry a firearm, yet own none. Many people believe in the right to practice your prefered religion, yet have no religion of their own. Many people also have the means to remain in complete anonymity, yet choose not to.
Choice and autonomy is the fundamental element in freedom, privacy, anonymity and every other concern over a basic human right. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
There is a difference between volunteering information and being forced by a government agency or business to provide it.
There is a further distinction between divulging one's own chosen material and the divulging of finger prints, medical history, SSN and other very private information. Nobody ever had their identify stolen from reading a dream, but they've had it stolen from acquiring an social security number and a little prior history.
People need to understand that privacy does not suggest non-existance or reclusiveness; walking in the shadows and avoiding attention. Privacy is the ability to choose what, when, how and to whom you reveal information that is legally and/or rightfully yours. If someone posts personal stories or dreams about you online, or puts them in a magazine, that is an invasion of your privacy. Doing so yourself is not, as it is a choice you have made.
Likewise, being required to offer a fingerprint and SSN for an identification card or having to pay someone not to publish your information (such as your phone number in a phone book, which sounds like a degree of extortion to me, however minimalistic) is to have that afforded privacy brutally treaded upon. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
I'm going to plug the book Database Nation again, because it is something I just picked up and have not been able to put down. It's fascinating how many ways we're being taped, catalogued, archived, indexed, cross-referenced...
It isn't just online, either. Let me review the most recent events that have really irritated me in this regard:
PG&E I've recently moved and PG&E wanted my social security number, to turn on the electricity. I debated it and they very nearly refused to work with me, only giving in at the very end when I threatened to contact the utilities commission.
PacBell Pacific Bell required my social security number to initiate phone service. I refused and, only after speaking with a manager, was allowed to decline. In addition, they required a fee for not publishing my name in the phonebook. And, to add further insult, asked if I would be willing to sign up for junkmail from them and their co-operative companies which "might be of interest". In other words, they want to sell my name and address and phone number to every dick trying to make a quick buck.
California DMV The DMV was the worst experience. I wasn't even getting a license, but only a State ID. First, they required my social security number. It was my understanding that this could not be required of me. In fact, there are only very few agencies (all of them government agencies, other than your employer) who can require this. In fact, most government agencies are supposedly not allowed to require or request this information of you.
Not only did the DMV require it (the manager and supervisors told me I could leave if I refused to provide it and said that there was absolutely no possibility of ever getting an ID or license without this information -- which I'm not sure serves any honorable purpose other than just gathering data).
Second, they required that I sign my name with a stylus on a digital pad. I usually sign my name with a flared hash mark across the entire last name. The person manning this stylus told me the computer would not accept such overlapping signatures and that it would not be valid; do it again.
"Not valid?!" I asked, shocked, "How can it not be valid? That's how I sign my name!"
"Well, it won't accept it. Sorry," was the reply.
"Then the signature on my StateID will be invalid, because it isn't the signature I use everywhere else. Doesn't that invalidate the whole thing?"
Besides, since most people verify your signature by comparing it to the one on your ID card or license, this means that your real signature is no longer valid, thanks to the DMV!
Further, the digitized signature that was sent on my ID card six weeks later (another gripe, considering in Oregon, I can go in and have my card or license in my hand when I walk out fifteene minutes later), was nothing like my real signature, even without consideration of the flared hash that it should have had across it. It looked like some etch-a-sketch hack by a two year-old Pablo Picasso.
The final straw was just before I went to have my picture taken at the other end of the DMV office. They thumb-printed me. With a little digital scanner. I couldn't believe this was legal! What happens next year, they require a pinky print? Then an index finger? How in the hell is it that the police department isn't allowed to just require everyone in the world to provide prints, but the DMV can? And to say "well, don't get a license or an ID card" is rediculous. You can't cash a check, work anyone, or rent a video without ID.
And, last of all -- after providing a print, the guy behind the counter took a small one inch square cotton-like swab, wrapped cleaned off the scanner, and took the swab into the back of the office with my paper work.
Okay, I'm not a conspiracy theorist and I'm not the avid ArtBell listener or anything, but this struck me as at least a bit odd. In one visit, you are basically giving them your address, work information, birth certificate, social security number, mother's maiden name, photograph, signature (that invalidates your real one?!), a thumb-print and DNA?
I'm probably crazy. My mind must have been overly imaginative that day. I mean, would my own government be hording all this information, including prints and DNA off in a massive archive somewhere? Surely, not.... *cough* --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Re:I won the last year's competition -- here's how
on
Rock-Paper-Scissors
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· Score: 2
Christ, post #44 needs to be moderated to a +5, urgently. The explanation egnor gives at http://ofb.net/%7Eegnor/iocaine.html is incredibly easy to understand and makes this whole competition clear to me. In fact, it makes me wonder if I should put down Database Nation to start reading Programming Algorithms.
Having such a limited background in math, it's just this sort of walkthrough that hosers like myself need. The kicker, as is always the case, is that it's so fucking simple once you see what is being implemented and how successful it is.
Thanks for the information, egnor! --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Re:This Must Be More Complex Than It Sounds . . .
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Rock-Paper-Scissors
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· Score: 1
Okay, well, I am completely at a loss then. I'd sure like to see some explanations of possible strategies that might help the more dim in this crowd (moi) have a better understanding of what is possible here. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
This Must Be More Complex Than It Sounds . . . ?
on
Rock-Paper-Scissors
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· Score: 2
I do PERL, but not C (not confidently, at least). From a brief read of the Intro and Rules on the site, it doesn't seem like this is anything too difficult -- and the chances that the best handful will stalemate is likely.
There are three variables: Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Without considering the other person's moves, the initial best method of what to choose on each turn is obviously a completely random choice. Anything predictable will, of course, be predicted.
While you're playing your random moves, you could cache and analyze your opponent's plays and then alter your methods of attack based on that.
However, since he's probably going to be smart enough not to start with obvious attacks, he'll probably choose randomly, too -- and perhaps analyze your moves, which will wisely be random.
So it would seem analysis is useless -- because both players would do best to choose random, non-predictable plays. And since you can only predict random choices (with three variables) a third of the time, you'd likely maintain a close average.
Perhaps a decent strategy would be to choose obviously repetitive moves at first, so that the other player can analyze them and then begin to attack -- but by the time he starts attacking your repetitions, you switch to completely random choices (again, the wise move). But he'd likely do the same, and you're both averaging the same wins again.
Is it just me or does this seem like futile ThermoNuclear Global War, where the only way to win is to abstain from the game?
Of course, I'm not a mathematician and I'm a pretty lousy philosopher, so perhaps I'm way off here and it's more complex than I'm thinking. But anything other than random plays will be detected by a less-than-intelligent program and thoroughly exploited. And if everyone is completely random, statistics reign and come out the only 'winners'.
Hope I'm wrong, because on the face of it, this sounds cool. Just seems like the wrong choice of 'subject' for the competition. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Of course, the Mac is built to be difficult to open, so the little bits and pieces that need to exist for easy manual extraction of hardware are less frequent than in a standard PC. I think that lends itself a lot to decreasing the sound.
I'm planning on taking a lot more care in building my next PC. I usually get eager about all the cool new stuff I'm going to throw into a box and can't wait to get it up or running. The next box I build is going to have a customized case -- specifically designed for both noise reduction and cooling. I think a lot of planning for this next machine will be spent on those two items of interest, over and above the other components.
Of course, I really don't have much use for anything beyond the AMD K6-2/400mhz that I have right now (well, I haven't had it for about six months -- it's still up in Portland with my parents). I probably won't put another machine together until the 1ghz chips have become old news. I don't play many video games on my boxes and putting a massive box together just for coding, MP3s and surfing is total over-kill. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
This is a government conspiracy. I'm surprised none of you (especially Signal 11) didn't pick up on it right away.
Any webmaster worth his weight in HTML can use LWP or even a simple GUI-based Xenu (freeware linkchecker) to check on the current status of links on their site, and elsewhere.
The only obvious benefit to something like Linkguard, is for the government to keep track of you. You have 20% dead links on your site? Bad webmaster -- BAD!".
Next thing you know, your name is published in the paper, your wife leaves you, your house is forclosed, and your children are taken away from you and put into foster care, with a family who does know how to maintain their links. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Eventually, companies will purchase advertising space on your 404's. User runs into a non-existant page and, suddenly, they're confronted with the picture of a big juicy Whopper and a coupon to print out and take to Burger King.
Or better, Linkguard will work with Netscape and Microsoft to have the browsers automatically redirect you to companies who have paid money to have 404's intercepted and -- instead of redirecting you to the original site as the designer intended, will steal you away to some big corporate website.
"Jeeze, every time I run into a 404, I wind up at eBay.com!"
When you're in an office where every person has three 21" monitors, a couple Ultra 10's, a couple P3/600mhz's and a laptop on their desk, you'll definitely notice just how noisey they really are.
Our division recently moved from Mountain View to Santa Clara and I stayed behind for awhile in the old office. Even with just a hand full of machines running and nobody in the office, the noise was enough to drive you nutty.
Thankfully, our new offices are real offices (not cubicles). Granted, they have goofy sliding doors instead of real solid wood doors, but at least the glass is somewhat sound-proofed. With my door closed and the lights off, I can tolerate the noise of my boxes purring along, even when I have my music turned off. But throw fifty of these things together -- or even a hundred or two hundred, in the same general and open office space and although the noise cancels itself out, it still registers in your poor head. It's a wonder people have headaches so often in these environments.
Even my dinky Dell Latitude CPi laptop drives me nuts with it's horribly clanky CD drive and hard drives.
As long as the need for mechanical moving parts continues, the noise will also remain. I don't see any inexpensive or simple ways to avoid all of these noises so long as there are plates spinning in your hard drive, CD's spinning in your CDROM, and fans cooling your system off.
Perhaps some sort of additional enclosure around the PC case -- with slots for peripherals -- will help ease the noise, but this would probably have to be a custom job. Maybe something like a big Tupper-Ware box with the same sort of sound-abosrbing tiles that you find in an office ceiling fastened about the entire inside of the secondary case -- with a couple small slits in each corner to allow for air-flow. If it's made out of the right material, you could probably avoid any aditional cooling technology to be implemented.
I don't know -- just an idea. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Run the distributed.net RC5 client on your machine, pipe the updates to the printer (it must be an old clunky dot-matrix) and then you've got yourself a nice little white-noise generator -- equivalent to using electronic devices that play sounds of the forest or rain to sooth you to sleep in noisey apartment complexes.
Trust me, with a dot-matrix continually printing through the day, the last thing you'll be concerned with is the noice of your computer fans and drives! --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
I agree. And I have to say that I'm glad he is one of the great people who isn't going to ever be forgotten.
There are great people in the industry who have accomplished amazing things, but they'll fade away in time. A handfull will forever stand out. Woz is one of those. And when your grand-kids see a picture of him, next to the goofy suits like Gates and Jobs and the rest, he will stand out as the dude who looks like he just spent the afternoon kicking a pin-ball machine's ass and plans to spend the evening having a beer with some good friends, followed by a little coding.
I think that what sums up how people feel about him is that he is one of us. Not only that, but he makes no presumptions to be anything else. Can you ever see this guy pulling a "Do you know who *I* am?"?
I'm certain he reads Slashdot (or will read it this time!) and I would really enjoy seeing him sit down with us and be our guest interview one of these days. I think that would put smiles on many of our faces, no?:) --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Only time I've ever touched an Apple in my life was back in grade school when monitors were green monochrome and Math Cruncher was the killer-app -- but I've always really dug the Woz.
To hell with Jim Clark, Marc Andreeson, McNealy and Pierre OmiDyar. Woz was and is the root of the biggest technology revolution since the industrial age.
And he's maintained the same friendly, geeky, let's talk-shop attitude the whole way. Go take a look at http://woz.org/ and tell me if you think Bill or Steve or any of the other big 'revolutionaries' would take such appreciation of their fans and users as The Woz.
So is Lars going to start taking on Microsoft and SightSound, too? That would be great. Even more fodder for online parodies.
I'm a little curious as to how they're going to 'distribute it via Gnutella'. Gnutella is just a bunch of clients talking to each other and sharing files. So I guess SightSound is going to stick a bunch of Microsoft 'enhanced' and 'protected' files on their client and leave it connected to Gnutella full-time? And how are they going to be sure people pay for it? "Please visit our website, pay us some money and then launch Gnutella and download our files." -- Why the hell not just download it from their website or FTP site? Gnutella seems like an uneeded step here. If you don't intend for your files to be access and spread about the all of the connected machines and shared users, what is the point of using Gnutella beyond publicity?
Am I making sense here? Is gnutella going to say that you can't download their files and make them available on your Gnutella connection? If so, what is the point? And if they let you put them on your machine to share with other Gnutella users, but they require a fee for viewing the files or using them, who is going to bother wasting their own precious bandwidth and storage to host SightSounds big video files? To hell with that.
All I can say is GIMMICK - GIMMICK - GIMMICK. They saw a great chance for publicity and ran with it.
On another note, from the article:
"It's somewhat irresponsible for (SightSound) to be pushing a software that's fundamentally insecure as this," he said.
Insecure? By that logic, every machine and person connected to a network or the internet in any way whatsoever is irresponsible. What is irresponsible is being stupid enough not to run a scanner over your downloads if they're executable or just launching everything with a fun-sounding name because you're a bit too clueless to know better.
I say, don't download their crap. Make them wish they'd never bothered to waste their time getting on Gnutella and send them back to serving that crap from their own servers, unless they plan to start sharing the files with all Gnutella users and sharing profits with them for any files delivered to the end-consumer via their (the random Gnutella user's) private Gnutella hosts. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Re:Why does Quicken run all the time?
on
Mattel Spyware
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· Score: 5
Also when I was beta testing Windows 2000 I noticed that often I couldn't get my programs to compile because realplay.exe was consuming 99% of the CPU time - when I wasn't connected to the net or listening to music.
Just wait a couple weeks and then go check-out RealNetworks' RC5 crunching stats on distributed.net -- then you'll know where your cycles are going!;) --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Re:The Really Ironic thing is
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· Score: 3
Yeah, but I physically went to the Fatbrain/ComputerLiteracy bookstore.
I'm pretty sure they didn't stick any cookies in my pants when I walked in the door.;)
This is also another good reason to use a program such as ZoneAlarm (free) or other similar individual firewalls and proxies. Just because you're stuck on Windows doesn't mean you should forfeit all of your privacy. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
I was just at ComputerLiteracy/Fatbrain today and after picking up a bunch of Oreilly books and a couple Neal Stephenson books, found myself thumbing through Database Nation (Simson Garfkinkel/O'Reilly). It looks like an interesting read. I think there was a slashdot review on it, but I missed most of it. Anyway, after reading the absurd account on Salon, I'm going to move Database Nation to the top of my reading list and get started immediately.
You know, it seems that this kind of behavior on Mattel's part would fly directly in the face of the recently passed law requiring that websites who know their users are under 13 years old and collect personal data on them, must require parental authorization. Sure, this isn't a website, but it's virtually the same thing -- and probably just as bad.
It seems we're no longer raising children, but breeding consumer pods. Fuck it, let Mattel and MTV raise your kids, I guess. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
"A great writer named Neal Stephenson said that America does four things better than any other country in the world: rock music, movies, software and high-speed pizza delivery."
You know, throw this onto the pile of other things she's said and eluded to -- and she starts to strike me as a bit of a geek. I mean, even a lot of geeks I know aren't familiar with Stephenson. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
I actually read the article two times through in its entirety and dropped the URL to about a dozen friends.
Courtney's statements on Napster and the RIAA and artists in general are easily the best I have read throughout this entire fiasco and I have to say she has my complete respect. I always saw her as one of the few true female rock artists left in the world (although I must say I'm not particularly a fan -- though I'll listen to her music and have MP3's of most of her songs at work -- heh), but I can see that she easily has more balls than just about any of the other real rock groups around.
I'm sure Trent Reznor would have a lot to say on this issue and I'm disapointed that he hasn't uttered anything yet. I'd also like to see people like Aerosmith and Metallica and some other big name groups take the same stand that she's taken here.
Her dig on Ulrich and his apparent inability to communicate his thoughts well (enough for soundbites) was amusing and I was impressed by her obvious familiarity with the Internet. I don't think Lars or James could find the AnyKey on their fucking keyboard, but I have a feeling you could get Courtney putzing around with a command prompt pretty easily and she probably wouldn't be too shy with the bash prompt.
Anyway, glad to know that my suspicions of her being one of the brighter bulbs in the music scene are now confirmed. Anyone who digs her music or has any of her MP3's should find out (probably from her website?) how to send a couple bucks along with a note that you appreciated her stance and that you wanted to leave her the "tip" she spoke about for any Hole MP3's you might have laying around. -- I like Metallica, but I wouldn't give those fuckers a dime the way they're headed now. They're attacks on the fans are legitimate, but it's like worrying about a bruise on your arm while your foot is on fire. --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Well, since the fears of the uninformed American population have driven nuclear power into the realm of the ultimate evil (while the French have turned it into a relatively safe, standardized and affordable power source), it leaves us with only one alternative. ..
. . . Soylent Green . ..
Yes, it's made of people, but it may prove to be one of mankind's greatest conributions! Forget donating your loved-one's body to science -- donate them to the power grid! What better way for the voluntary self-extinction people to off themselves than being processed into a vat of green goo, to be turned into paper, plastic or fuel! --- icq:2057699 seumas.com
Slashdot Mirror
Personally, I could care less if someone knows my name, mailing address, email address, ICQ number, website, what I ate for lunch, who I'm fucking... In fact, if I choose to reveal those things, so be it. But those are concsious choices. Many people also believe in the right to carry a firearm, yet own none. Many people believe in the right to practice your prefered religion, yet have no religion of their own. Many people also have the means to remain in complete anonymity, yet choose not to.
Choice and autonomy is the fundamental element in freedom, privacy, anonymity and every other concern over a basic human right.
---
icq:2057699
seumas.com
There is a further distinction between divulging one's own chosen material and the divulging of finger prints, medical history, SSN and other very private information. Nobody ever had their identify stolen from reading a dream, but they've had it stolen from acquiring an social security number and a little prior history.
People need to understand that privacy does not suggest non-existance or reclusiveness; walking in the shadows and avoiding attention. Privacy is the ability to choose what, when, how and to whom you reveal information that is legally and/or rightfully yours. If someone posts personal stories or dreams about you online, or puts them in a magazine, that is an invasion of your privacy. Doing so yourself is not, as it is a choice you have made.
Likewise, being required to offer a fingerprint and SSN for an identification card or having to pay someone not to publish your information (such as your phone number in a phone book, which sounds like a degree of extortion to me, however minimalistic) is to have that afforded privacy brutally treaded upon.
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
It isn't just online, either. Let me review the most recent events that have really irritated me in this regard:
PG&E
I've recently moved and PG&E wanted my social security number, to turn on the electricity. I debated it and they very nearly refused to work with me, only giving in at the very end when I threatened to contact the utilities commission.
PacBell
Pacific Bell required my social security number to initiate phone service. I refused and, only after speaking with a manager, was allowed to decline. In addition, they required a fee for not publishing my name in the phonebook. And, to add further insult, asked if I would be willing to sign up for junkmail from them and their co-operative companies which "might be of interest". In other words, they want to sell my name and address and phone number to every dick trying to make a quick buck.
California DMV
The DMV was the worst experience. I wasn't even getting a license, but only a State ID. First, they required my social security number. It was my understanding that this could not be required of me. In fact, there are only very few agencies (all of them government agencies, other than your employer) who can require this. In fact, most government agencies are supposedly not allowed to require or request this information of you.
Not only did the DMV require it (the manager and supervisors told me I could leave if I refused to provide it and said that there was absolutely no possibility of ever getting an ID or license without this information -- which I'm not sure serves any honorable purpose other than just gathering data).
Second, they required that I sign my name with a stylus on a digital pad. I usually sign my name with a flared hash mark across the entire last name. The person manning this stylus told me the computer would not accept such overlapping signatures and that it would not be valid; do it again.
"Not valid?!" I asked, shocked, "How can it not be valid? That's how I sign my name!"
"Well, it won't accept it. Sorry," was the reply.
"Then the signature on my StateID will be invalid, because it isn't the signature I use everywhere else. Doesn't that invalidate the whole thing?"
Besides, since most people verify your signature by comparing it to the one on your ID card or license, this means that your real signature is no longer valid, thanks to the DMV!
Further, the digitized signature that was sent on my ID card six weeks later (another gripe, considering in Oregon, I can go in and have my card or license in my hand when I walk out fifteene minutes later), was nothing like my real signature, even without consideration of the flared hash that it should have had across it. It looked like some etch-a-sketch hack by a two year-old Pablo Picasso.
The final straw was just before I went to have my picture taken at the other end of the DMV office. They thumb-printed me. With a little digital scanner. I couldn't believe this was legal! What happens next year, they require a pinky print? Then an index finger? How in the hell is it that the police department isn't allowed to just require everyone in the world to provide prints, but the DMV can? And to say "well, don't get a license or an ID card" is rediculous. You can't cash a check, work anyone, or rent a video without ID.
And, last of all -- after providing a print, the guy behind the counter took a small one inch square cotton-like swab, wrapped cleaned off the scanner, and took the swab into the back of the office with my paper work.
Okay, I'm not a conspiracy theorist and I'm not the avid ArtBell listener or anything, but this struck me as at least a bit odd. In one visit, you are basically giving them your address, work information, birth certificate, social security number, mother's maiden name, photograph, signature (that invalidates your real one?!), a thumb-print and DNA?
I'm probably crazy. My mind must have been overly imaginative that day. I mean, would my own government be hording all this information, including prints and DNA off in a massive archive somewhere? Surely, not.... *cough*
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
Having such a limited background in math, it's just this sort of walkthrough that hosers like myself need. The kicker, as is always the case, is that it's so fucking simple once you see what is being implemented and how successful it is.
Thanks for the information, egnor!
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
Okay, well, I am completely at a loss then. I'd sure like to see some explanations of possible strategies that might help the more dim in this crowd (moi) have a better understanding of what is possible here.
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
There are three variables: Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Without considering the other person's moves, the initial best method of what to choose on each turn is obviously a completely random choice. Anything predictable will, of course, be predicted .
While you're playing your random moves, you could cache and analyze your opponent's plays and then alter your methods of attack based on that.
However, since he's probably going to be smart enough not to start with obvious attacks, he'll probably choose randomly, too -- and perhaps analyze your moves, which will wisely be random.
So it would seem analysis is useless -- because both players would do best to choose random, non-predictable plays. And since you can only predict random choices (with three variables) a third of the time, you'd likely maintain a close average.
Perhaps a decent strategy would be to choose obviously repetitive moves at first, so that the other player can analyze them and then begin to attack -- but by the time he starts attacking your repetitions, you switch to completely random choices (again, the wise move). But he'd likely do the same, and you're both averaging the same wins again.
Is it just me or does this seem like futile ThermoNuclear Global War, where the only way to win is to abstain from the game?
Of course, I'm not a mathematician and I'm a pretty lousy philosopher, so perhaps I'm way off here and it's more complex than I'm thinking. But anything other than random plays will be detected by a less-than-intelligent program and thoroughly exploited. And if everyone is completely random, statistics reign and come out the only 'winners'.
Hope I'm wrong, because on the face of it, this sounds cool. Just seems like the wrong choice of 'subject' for the competition.
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
I'm planning on taking a lot more care in building my next PC. I usually get eager about all the cool new stuff I'm going to throw into a box and can't wait to get it up or running. The next box I build is going to have a customized case -- specifically designed for both noise reduction and cooling. I think a lot of planning for this next machine will be spent on those two items of interest, over and above the other components.
Of course, I really don't have much use for anything beyond the AMD K6-2/400mhz that I have right now (well, I haven't had it for about six months -- it's still up in Portland with my parents). I probably won't put another machine together until the 1ghz chips have become old news. I don't play many video games on my boxes and putting a massive box together just for coding, MP3s and surfing is total over-kill.
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
This is a government conspiracy. I'm surprised none of you (especially Signal 11) didn't pick up on it right away.
Any webmaster worth his weight in HTML can use LWP or even a simple GUI-based Xenu (freeware linkchecker) to check on the current status of links on their site, and elsewhere.
The only obvious benefit to something like Linkguard, is for the government to keep track of you. You have 20% dead links on your site? Bad webmaster -- BAD!".
Next thing you know, your name is published in the paper, your wife leaves you, your house is forclosed, and your children are taken away from you and put into foster care, with a family who does know how to maintain their links.
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
Or better, Linkguard will work with Netscape and Microsoft to have the browsers automatically redirect you to companies who have paid money to have 404's intercepted and -- instead of redirecting you to the original site as the designer intended, will steal you away to some big corporate website.
"Jeeze, every time I run into a 404, I wind up at eBay.com!"
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
That's what Das Blinkenlights (BeOs) are for!
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icq:2057699
seumas.com
Our division recently moved from Mountain View to Santa Clara and I stayed behind for awhile in the old office. Even with just a hand full of machines running and nobody in the office, the noise was enough to drive you nutty.
Thankfully, our new offices are real offices (not cubicles). Granted, they have goofy sliding doors instead of real solid wood doors, but at least the glass is somewhat sound-proofed. With my door closed and the lights off, I can tolerate the noise of my boxes purring along, even when I have my music turned off. But throw fifty of these things together -- or even a hundred or two hundred, in the same general and open office space and although the noise cancels itself out, it still registers in your poor head. It's a wonder people have headaches so often in these environments.
Even my dinky Dell Latitude CPi laptop drives me nuts with it's horribly clanky CD drive and hard drives.
As long as the need for mechanical moving parts continues, the noise will also remain. I don't see any inexpensive or simple ways to avoid all of these noises so long as there are plates spinning in your hard drive, CD's spinning in your CDROM, and fans cooling your system off.
Perhaps some sort of additional enclosure around the PC case -- with slots for peripherals -- will help ease the noise, but this would probably have to be a custom job. Maybe something like a big Tupper-Ware box with the same sort of sound-abosrbing tiles that you find in an office ceiling fastened about the entire inside of the secondary case -- with a couple small slits in each corner to allow for air-flow. If it's made out of the right material, you could probably avoid any aditional cooling technology to be implemented.
I don't know -- just an idea.
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Trust me, with a dot-matrix continually printing through the day, the last thing you'll be concerned with is the noice of your computer fans and drives!
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There are great people in the industry who have accomplished amazing things, but they'll fade away in time. A handfull will forever stand out. Woz is one of those. And when your grand-kids see a picture of him, next to the goofy suits like Gates and Jobs and the rest, he will stand out as the dude who looks like he just spent the afternoon kicking a pin-ball machine's ass and plans to spend the evening having a beer with some good friends, followed by a little coding.
I think that what sums up how people feel about him is that he is one of us. Not only that, but he makes no presumptions to be anything else. Can you ever see this guy pulling a "Do you know who *I* am?"?
I'm certain he reads Slashdot (or will read it this time!) and I would really enjoy seeing him sit down with us and be our guest interview one of these days. I think that would put smiles on many of our faces, no? :)
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To hell with Jim Clark, Marc Andreeson, McNealy and Pierre OmiDyar. Woz was and is the root of the biggest technology revolution since the industrial age.
And he's maintained the same friendly, geeky, let's talk-shop attitude the whole way. Go take a look at http://woz.org/ and tell me if you think Bill or Steve or any of the other big 'revolutionaries' would take such appreciation of their fans and users as The Woz.
Congratulations!
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Hey, by the way -- what's up with marking that last post "Troll"? Lame.
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I'm a little curious as to how they're going to 'distribute it via Gnutella'. Gnutella is just a bunch of clients talking to each other and sharing files. So I guess SightSound is going to stick a bunch of Microsoft 'enhanced' and 'protected' files on their client and leave it connected to Gnutella full-time? And how are they going to be sure people pay for it? "Please visit our website, pay us some money and then launch Gnutella and download our files." -- Why the hell not just download it from their website or FTP site? Gnutella seems like an uneeded step here. If you don't intend for your files to be access and spread about the all of the connected machines and shared users, what is the point of using Gnutella beyond publicity?
Am I making sense here? Is gnutella going to say that you can't download their files and make them available on your Gnutella connection? If so, what is the point? And if they let you put them on your machine to share with other Gnutella users, but they require a fee for viewing the files or using them, who is going to bother wasting their own precious bandwidth and storage to host SightSounds big video files? To hell with that.
All I can say is GIMMICK - GIMMICK - GIMMICK. They saw a great chance for publicity and ran with it.
On another note, from the article:
"It's somewhat irresponsible for (SightSound) to be pushing a software that's fundamentally insecure as this," he said.
Insecure? By that logic, every machine and person connected to a network or the internet in any way whatsoever is irresponsible. What is irresponsible is being stupid enough not to run a scanner over your downloads if they're executable or just launching everything with a fun-sounding name because you're a bit too clueless to know better.
I say, don't download their crap. Make them wish they'd never bothered to waste their time getting on Gnutella and send them back to serving that crap from their own servers, unless they plan to start sharing the files with all Gnutella users and sharing profits with them for any files delivered to the end-consumer via their (the random Gnutella user's) private Gnutella hosts.
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Just wait a couple weeks and then go check-out RealNetworks' RC5 crunching stats on distributed.net -- then you'll know where your cycles are going! ;)
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I'm pretty sure they didn't stick any cookies in my pants when I walked in the door. ;)
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This is also another good reason to use a program such as ZoneAlarm (free) or other similar individual firewalls and proxies. Just because you're stuck on Windows doesn't mean you should forfeit all of your privacy.
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I was just at ComputerLiteracy/Fatbrain today and after picking up a bunch of Oreilly books and a couple Neal Stephenson books, found myself thumbing through Database Nation (Simson Garfkinkel/O'Reilly). It looks like an interesting read. I think there was a slashdot review on it, but I missed most of it. Anyway, after reading the absurd account on Salon, I'm going to move Database Nation to the top of my reading list and get started immediately.
You know, it seems that this kind of behavior on Mattel's part would fly directly in the face of the recently passed law requiring that websites who know their users are under 13 years old and collect personal data on them, must require parental authorization. Sure, this isn't a website, but it's virtually the same thing -- and probably just as bad.
It seems we're no longer raising children, but breeding consumer pods. Fuck it, let Mattel and MTV raise your kids, I guess.
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You know, throw this onto the pile of other things she's said and eluded to -- and she starts to strike me as a bit of a geek. I mean, even a lot of geeks I know aren't familiar with Stephenson.
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Courtney's statements on Napster and the RIAA and artists in general are easily the best I have read throughout this entire fiasco and I have to say she has my complete respect. I always saw her as one of the few true female rock artists left in the world (although I must say I'm not particularly a fan -- though I'll listen to her music and have MP3's of most of her songs at work -- heh), but I can see that she easily has more balls than just about any of the other real rock groups around.
I'm sure Trent Reznor would have a lot to say on this issue and I'm disapointed that he hasn't uttered anything yet. I'd also like to see people like Aerosmith and Metallica and some other big name groups take the same stand that she's taken here.
Her dig on Ulrich and his apparent inability to communicate his thoughts well (enough for soundbites) was amusing and I was impressed by her obvious familiarity with the Internet. I don't think Lars or James could find the AnyKey on their fucking keyboard, but I have a feeling you could get Courtney putzing around with a command prompt pretty easily and she probably wouldn't be too shy with the bash prompt.
Anyway, glad to know that my suspicions of her being one of the brighter bulbs in the music scene are now confirmed. Anyone who digs her music or has any of her MP3's should find out (probably from her website?) how to send a couple bucks along with a note that you appreciated her stance and that you wanted to leave her the "tip" she spoke about for any Hole MP3's you might have laying around. -- I like Metallica, but I wouldn't give those fuckers a dime the way they're headed now. They're attacks on the fans are legitimate, but it's like worrying about a bruise on your arm while your foot is on fire.
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. . . Soylent Green . . .
Yes, it's made of people, but it may prove to be one of mankind's greatest conributions! Forget donating your loved-one's body to science -- donate them to the power grid! What better way for the voluntary self-extinction people to off themselves than being processed into a vat of green goo, to be turned into paper, plastic or fuel!
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