Quick question: your trip computer - is it recording the gallons in US gallons or imperial gallons? An imperial gallon is bigger than a US gallon, and it is the gallon that is used in the UK.
The only way to compare would be to convert each gallon to a universal measurement, like a litre.
A US gallon is 3.8 litres. An imperial gallon is 4.54 litres.
So taking the example of your mini... if the trip computer is measuring in imperial gallons, and you're measuring in US gallons then:
35mpg / 4.54 is approx 7.71 miles per litre. 30mpg / 3.8 is approx 7.89 miles per litre.
...when recording from an analog signal that was reconstructed from a digital one?
i.e. I could take my XM satellite radio (if I had one) such as the XM PCR Radio (as reviewed by another site other than the XM Radio one). I could plug the output into the input of my sound card... and capture the audio going in. The article I linked to above mentions the fringe benefit of being able to record from the XM PCR Radio using a third party program, thanks to the fact that the radio is designed to be plugged into the input of a computer sound card.
Of course there could be local noise which the analog signal would be susceptible to, and the sound card needs to be good enough to re-encode the decoded digital signal...
But really... can the degradation be that great... and how good are even the 'cheap and nasty' sound cards at capturing and re-coding audio?
Because as countless others have posted, people have been taping the radio for years. And right now, the technology exists (and is likely to continue to exist for some time yet) that allows us to circumvent any so-called digital protection by going through the analog chain.
Or does it really require a very high end PC with the best sound card around? Personally, I think not, because I think that technology has advanced far enough for even 'bog standard' PC equipment that is sold even in places like Wal-Mart have just about enough computer power and sound card hardware to create a CD-quality digital recording from a suitable analog input. But then I am not an audiophile, so I cannot state this as absolute fact... and would appreciate any clarification.
Well, the domain administrator could place a stop to all the *.iq registrations by simply setting into place a number of *.(blank).iq domains like the UK does it e.g.
oilcompany.co.iq
university.ac.iq
charity.org.iq
kurdish.kd.iq
internetcompany.net.iq
government.gov.iq
Going off topic... what about all those countries that aspire to independence and have no Top Level Domain available? What would Scotland use were it to become independent?.sc,.st are all taken. I guess.ab for the scottish Alba... or.eo for Ecosse... (French of Scottish)...
Back on topic... I think going that way would be good. But of course, if there needs to be a money spinner sure... have a.co.iq domain for about $5-10 and a.iq domain for $40 a year.
Mark.
I presume here that we're treating copyright (and other similar intellectual property) the same as tangible artifacts.
Let's say that someone breaks into my home, and steals my TV. Right now, I can enlist the help of law enforcement, who might catch the person responsible for the theft. If they do, provided I want to pursue this, they could then go ahead and prosecute the thief, and if found guilty would then serve a punishment. I might not get my TV back, but the person who stole it did not 'get a free lunch'.
The same principle seems to be applied here to copyrights. The thing I need to understand, is the theft of a copyright a civil matter, or a criminal matter? If it is a civil matter, then the DoJ certainly does not need to get involved, they have enough to do in the criminal arena. Let the RIAA, the MPAA and all their cronies fund their own lawsuits, just like everyone else who has to fund a civil lawsuit. But if the theft of a copyright is now a criminal matter, and is to be considered a felony, then I see no reason why the person who has a precious artifact stolen has recourse to the police and the DoJ whereas someone who stole a copyright does not have access to these resources - especially if the consequences for the person who stole the artifact is the same for those who stole the copyright.
I personally don't care too much for the RIAA and MPAA's strong-arm tactics, but copyright certainly needs reform. Perhaps there needs to be a two tier copyright system, there would be Copyright I and Copyright II. I would envisage Copyright I to be like existing copyright. It would expire 90 years after the death of the creator, and the Copyright I holders would have recourse to the civil courts for enforcing their rights. It would be cheap to get, but expensive to enforce. There would also be Copyright II. Copyright II would be more expensive to maintain, and as someone mentioned earlier, yes there would be a 'tax', maybe a yearly tax. The Copyright would be tradeable, and would be in force as long as the 'tax' is paid on it (so the likes of Mickey Mouse would be protected forever). Copyright II would however, because of the increased fees that Copyright II holders would pay, would have recourse to law enforcement and the Department of Justice in order to enforce those copyrights, and theft of the copyrights would enjoy penalties like that in criminal theft cases.
That would be my simplistic way of reforming the copyright system.
I don't know why, but our local Christian CHR station (WBFJ) broadcasts to Greensboro on a translator , and can be heard throughout most of Guilford County on a ten watt signal. Their main transmitter is at least 100x more powerful, doesn't have 100x the range - like in the middle of Guilford County, their signal (to the west of Forsyth County - the next county over) gives up and it is necessary to tune into the translator.
Yes, I agree that the National Association of Broadcasters are a very powerful lobby group, and that they are not happy about new technologies. Why on earth when the rest of the world is going with Eureka 147 (DAB), Digital Radio Mondiale and DVB-T for replacing VHF Radio, LF/MF/HF Radio and analog TV transmissions, we in the States are replacing radio and Tv with HD-Radio and ATSC? I feel the NAB have a lot to answer to and are very short sighted in this matter.
Compare the situation: in the UK you can now buy an adapter that you can plug into your existing TV and get digital signals through your antenna, along with a greatly expanded choice of channels. Same for radio - you can buy a new DAB radio set and have in some areas over forty channels of digital radio. And this is for no additional subscription charges or fees (Except for the licence fee that you must pay anyway to watch TV in the UK, whether it is analog or digital).
In the USA, we have no ready digital subscription-free radio broadcast network in place. There are a few stations broadcasting in HD-Radio. And as for TV, all you generally have is replacements of the existing analog services. I must admit that the idea to go with high definition TV may work out to be better in the long run... but for right now I feel there would be more market value in getting a whole bunch of channels, over the air, in digital quality, and without any subscription. Broadcasters could enter into big-time competition with the cable companies and actually make some money, no? With each major urban area in a position to receive quite clearly at least six different TV stations (if not more) there exists the possibility for broadcasters to send along with their existing channel another three channels - at least - and quadruple everyones' over the air viewing choice. I'm sure technically it would be possible to broadcast six standard definition digital channels in the space of one analog channel. This would mean instead of having six or seven different channels to watch, a viewer could have 36-42 channels to watch and they wouldn't have to subscribe to cable to get them!
Anyway... back on topic...
Something indeed needs to be done about that NAB organization. Maybe we need to persuade broadcasters to leave them... but how?
definitely a good thing, because it might then encourage more people to take up Linux and have a look at it. It would give those people who are so 'married' to Windows a chance to look at what all the fuss is about, and to really evaluate Linux and see if it would be right for them. They wouldn't have to partition, re-format, re-jig their hard drive... and if things got too tough open up the appropriate Windows application to get their job done instead.
I also see it as a good thing in some corporate environments. Say you have a call center, and all the operatives have been trained to use some program for their task (let's say they're in a credit card environment) and their software is Unix based. Well, porting to Linux could be straightforward. Also for these operators they don't need to access the computer for anything much besides this application... and maybe the web and email to keep in contact with people. So these guys would have Linux desktops. Now there would also be some other administrative people who don't take calls, and who have other tasks. Like payroll, or some other fancy tasks. Maybe these programs were written for Windows, and there is no Linux port planned. Rather than trying to make these programs work through Wine or Crossover Office or something like that the obvious solution is to make Linux run on top of Windows. Then people have the best of both worlds for those kind of operations.
I also see advantages of running CoLinux in a dual boot environmemnt. That is, if you are short on disk space. I presume that CoLinux would run on the same filesystem as Windows. In a traditional dual boot system you might have a 20 gb disk, and split it up two ways - 10gb for Windows, and 10Gb for Linux. Let's suppose you are a Windows fan, and you easily eat up that 10Gb for Windows use, and hardly use Linux, except to 'play around with'. You then have 8Gb of disk space that Windows can't access natively (yes there are third party apps now that get around this) and as such you are short on space. So if Windows and Linux are sharing the same 20Gb partition, then Windows can use more than that smaller partition on those occasions it is deemed necessary (like downloading by broadband that 5Gb linux distribution on X # of CD's).
I don't see it as a "real major" security problem, because I perceive its main target is the desktop, and not for running security-critical applications which could get hacked to shreds. Also that these Windows boxes would be firewalled anyway for Internet access - behind native Linux firewalls on native Linux machines.
If SCO can be sued and they settle by agreeing to not spread their propaganda, then it's equally possible that SCO's sidekick could be sued for exactly the same thing. Since there is a court precedent, wouldn't any company willing to do this think twice - because they would be sued too?
The then-venerable Acorn Computer... their big leap into the 32 bit world was the Archimedes. Using a RISC processor, it was truly ahead of its game at its time.
If Microsoft hadn't come around, surely Acorn might have had more success with its system. It might have even spread over Stateside and then to the rest of the world. So instead of learning DOS it'd be ADFS... instead of waiting minutes for a machine to boot it'd be seconds. The GUI would most likely look the same as it does today. We'd all be fluent in BBC Basic, and not be wailing about any blue screens of death since RISC-OS isn't as crash prone as Windows is today (heck, a GUI that was originally written in BBC Basic has got to be good, no?)
So tonight in my non-MS world I'm going to *cat the contents of my hard disk looking for the work I misplaced somewhere, and play Chuckie-Egg XII, whilst firing up Webster to read the latest of Acorn vs Apple lawsuit over Acorns' inclusion of BSD code into their OS, since Apple bought out BSD, and are now trying to commoditize it.
Mark.
Why did they decide to use.pdf for then? If Office is so great then why not do it as a.doc file instead? After all the document is intended for Microsoft sales reps, so why not use Office...
Or am I wrong and Microsoft Office can now read and write.pdf files natively?
Sure there may be "underwriting" on NPR... but think about this outside the USA for a minute. There are other countries where radio *is* pretty much non-commercial. Londons' Piccadilly Circus would be a perfect example of a place where this technology would work... but what kind of listener listens to BBC Radio 4? There are no adverts, not even underwriting on BBC stations.
I guess (for the paranoid) TV Licensing could take out a series of ads. Imagine driving down the road, and seeing your name on this electronic billboard... "Hey! You! In the Blue Ford! Why haven't you paid your TV Licence?" I'd be dead scared if I saw that (yes I do drive a blue-ish coloured Ford!)
Then join the newly formed American Airborne Automobile Association - the AAAA! We cover our members with exclusive services such as emergency flight planning, jet-engine jump start and in-flight wing repair.
In due course we will be securing the domain name aaaa.com for our activities, and offering a full range of services for our fly-drive members.
pair_a_noyd said: I had SBC DSL and it was absolute SHIT, plus they screwed me everytime someone down in billing farted..
I dropped them and got RoadRunner.
They penalize me an extra $5 a month because I have internet only, I don't have cable-TV.
With the penalty and tax, I pay $54 a month for bad ass speed.
I don't know where you're at Sir, but I would see if your Time Warner Cable area offers you a choice of ISP. Here in NC, we have a choice of four (AOL, RR, Earthlink & Max.Internet) down our cable lines. I get no penalty for having Earthlink Cable Internet and no TV service, just the flat $42ish a month.
However, having said that I don't exactly understand how multiple ISP down cable lines works out. My broadband is branded Earthlink. But the bill comes from Time Warner. Does this mean that if I wanted to switch from Earthlink to RoadRunner, for example, and take advantage of a 'introductory special' I wouldn't be able to do so because I am already effectively using RoadRunner? Does anyone have experience of switching ISP's on Time Warner Cables' network? Also, does TWC often leave the TV signal on when turning on an 'Internet-Only' service?
Dearest Darl...
Thou hast a problem with ye English language? Then ye shalt readeth of the Bible of GPL until ye hearts bleed.
As thou canst tell, I am using ye ancient version of ye English language, which hast been placed in ye public domaine many moons ago.
Besides, hast thou hearest of ye King James Bible? Remindest ones of ye Ancient Unix.
humbly your servant...
He (Mr. McBride) says the GPL is against the constitution. How?
He goes on to quote a case which from the text he is quoting appears to be about extending the time that copyright applies to an item that is copyrighted and when it falls into the public domain.
How does this case apply to the GPL which is at the end of the day a licence? I would contend that it has little or no relevance whatsoever to the case in hand.
If anyone's interested I found this site contains useful information about the case Mr. McBride quotes.
Of course, anyone who is enlightened knows that the GPL in summary states a) I own my work and I keep my copyright, b) you can copy my work freely, c) if you modify my work it's ok... but most radically of all d) if you then want to distribute this modified work then you can, on the same terms i gave you the original work. Ok it's a bit more complex than that.. but you probably get the gist of it.
MCC stated:That to prevent confusion with the popular web-standard technology CSS, the CSS BIOS technology will before release be renamed to "Firebird", a name chosen after an exhaustive search based on the fact that it kind of describes "Phoenix" and hey, it's like the car.
Now are they trying to confuse it with a web browser such as this one? I think those nice Mozilla guys would have to nudge Phoenix a bit and assert any trademark rights they may have. Besides Mozilla changed its web browser project name from Phoenix to Firebird. I don't know the exact reasons for the change but I highly suspect that the Phoenix Bios company have trademarked Phoenix. However. Mozilla would have prior use of the Firebird name and would have first rights, no?
Apparently there will come a time in the US where you can switch your landline phone number to a cellular phone and vice versa.
They're not there yet. I was able to retain my landline phone number when switching providers (BellSouth to Birch). However just moving down the road required a totally new phone number - with the same phone company. Makes no sense to me, because the cell phone companies and now the VoIP phone companies can give you a number in any area when you set up or move service. Especially intriguing is the offer from iconnecthere.com to give subscribers a choice of international numbers (presently UK and Israel) that a person in the USA could have on their VoIP phone. It means that theoretically my UK family could call me for pennies at the weekend!
However, this doesn't mean people will suddenly get multiple phone numbers so that Auntie Flo can call them on the cheap. Rather, it is nationwide calling plans on landlines which will capture that market - services like former Worldcoms' Neighborhood - $50/mo and unmetered across whole USA. Speaking on nationwide calling plans it's about time European telecom operators got together to offer "unmetered" calls across Europe for a single monthly service fee. Oh, and to have a Euro plan where standard minutes are used rather than the expensive ones presently charged.
The patent however appears to cover 'communication systems' and telephone numbers were kind of used. So it could be arcane to translate internet addresses back to telephone numbers but that could be argued as such. So the patent has merit in that way.
. However, I'd argue that the patent doesn't have merit for other reasons. I'm still trying to make head or tails of the actual patent itself. I believe Ebay is safe, because it covers for automated systems explicitly when the communications device is the auctioneer. Here, E-Bay is the auctioneer, not the Internet, which is the Communications Device. However the patent does state when going over auctions as an example of the patents application "In some embodiments, the communications system itself might play the role of auctioneer.". And oh, when an Ebay auction ends, the transaction is then referred to the vendor and the consumer, to be completed outside of Ebay, or paid through PayPal. So if Ebay was a transaction manager in that example, it doesn't conclude the transaction, monies at that point don't pass from consumer to vendor.
I also would state that PayPal doesn't fall foul of the patent either because it is simply a two step process. Firstly, the consumer initiates with PayPal directly a request to obtain money from an account and place it with an account with PayPal. Then transaction #2 - a consumer requests Paypal send a vendor money from the paypal account based on a price the consumer has selected, and agreed upon with the vendor outwith the communication system, but often using a parallel separate yet intercommunicating communication system.
I can't say where Visa are but from my limited experience working for American Express I can see where my employers are at. The nearest thing approaching micropayments is ExpressPay which is more like the Exxon/Mobil SpeedPass. The Amex system to my knowledge is considered to be in trial status, mainly around Phoenix, AZ, at this time
To my knowledge there isn't any thing else in development. But if American Express at the corporate level were to see value in micropayments and that it would prove useful as a service to its premium cardmembers (and that it would generate profit for the company and fit in with the company image), I'm sure that they'd go for it.
But as other posters have said, Paypal is quite suited for micropayments as it is, and what ever happened to using your cellphone for them micropayments?
Mark.
PS: Disclaimer: The views expressed here (if I did express any) are mine, not of my employer (American Express).
This article is merely pure speculation. And nothing more. Unless that guy who runs Canopy still has a significant Novell share holding, and wants to get a bit more richer quickly, by somehow getting the speculation out there that Novell itself might be ripe for takeover.
As the article states, the only obvious candidate to take Novell over is IBM.
The reason I feel Novell wont be going anywhere soon is because you need these middle sized computer companies to exist. You can't have companies the size of Microsoft and little companies and nothing inbetween. Sure, IBM could afford to gobble up Novell, but then again so can Microsoft. Or other companies.
Besides, in my somewhat limited experience I have not seen company A purchase company B, only to be swallowed up whole by company C within weeks of these things happening.
It's a whole game of chess, except in this game there is something preventing a 'checkmate' (usually the government) and it is usually advantageous in a chess game to have all your pieces, not just your queen and your pawns.
...ask the last person to leave to turn the lights off.
Hmmm... methinks we need to make up a parody of 'The Sun' newspaper (in the UK), like they did back in the 1987 (I think it was 87 at any rate Thatcher vs Kinnock) General Election with Neil Kinnock. They put his head in a lightbulb and printed the headline which resembles... ' If Labour win the election today, would the last person to leave Britain please turn off the lights? ' (rough quote)
That circulated and sent to people who work at SCO would IMO a) knock their morale, b) the rest of the world would get a chuckle, and c) send a not-so-blunt message to SCO management as to what we really think of them.
Well, I guess that's why the UK still has paper ballots. No scantrons. No touch screens. Just a piece of paper with your candidates listed, and you put an X by the one you want. More than one vote? No problem, you get more pieces of paper for each vote.
And recounts? How long did it take for Florida to do a single recount of all their votes? And how long did it take one constituency in the UK parliamentary elections to recount their votes? I think one time there was about eight recounts for one seat and it was done by 2pm the next day, having the polls close at 9pm that night.
Me thinks the USA is trying to do democracy on the cheap. Come on, let them public officials have some time one night and count votes instead! Sure the cost of overtime will be expensive but I bet it'd be far cheaper than a lawsuit.
Has Vietnam thought about purchasing a site license for an unlimited number of computers? Then you also have immediate compliance, because anyone who has a pirated Microsoft product that would be normally licensed under a normal license would then be covered under the country-wide site license.
I'm sure special terms could be arranged, especially for Vietnam to promote Microsoft products?
Well, most employers end up self-insuring their employees, so if there was a trend and they were monitoring healthcare costs carefully then if people were being overworked then it would easily become apparent by the cost of their medical bills going up.
Nice in practice, however that doesn't work either... because health care bills over here are skyrocketing anyway (probably because of health care workers being overworked and getting ill and having to be treated so health companies own bills are rising??) and cannot see these increases due to overwork vs increases due to increased cost of healthcare.
I'm not normally one for pulling these kinds of things but my sis-in-law got one of these WebTV things and I thought it'd be a good idea to wind her up with a 'fake email'. Well, it wasn't that fake, I had my own domain (just purchased!), so an appropriate email from "MSN Postmaster" ('postmaster@....'). I can't remember what I wrote exactly but it went along the lines of we've been watching you download porn and smut and if you continue to do so we will terminate your service. Oh, and if she felt it had been sent in error she was to write back. She fell for it hook line and sinker... and even replied! I couldn't stop laughing:) My wife told me her sis had got this email and she's in a real panic about it... and I went to her room and kinda asked her 'who is the mail from? what's the email address?' and I asked her if she recognised the address and then reality dawned that it was the name of the new website i had put up!
Slashdot Mirror
Quick question: your trip computer - is it recording the gallons in US gallons or imperial gallons? An imperial gallon is bigger than a US gallon, and it is the gallon that is used in the UK.
The only way to compare would be to convert each gallon to a universal measurement, like a litre.
A US gallon is 3.8 litres.
An imperial gallon is 4.54 litres.
So taking the example of your mini... if the trip computer is measuring in imperial gallons, and you're measuring in US gallons then:
35mpg / 4.54 is approx 7.71 miles per litre.
30mpg / 3.8 is approx 7.89 miles per litre.
So the difference now is not so dramatic.
Mark.
...when recording from an analog signal that was reconstructed from a digital one?
i.e. I could take my XM satellite radio (if I had one) such as the XM PCR Radio (as reviewed by another site other than the XM Radio one). I could plug the output into the input of my sound card... and capture the audio going in. The article I linked to above mentions the fringe benefit of being able to record from the XM PCR Radio using a third party program, thanks to the fact that the radio is designed to be plugged into the input of a computer sound card.
Of course there could be local noise which the analog signal would be susceptible to, and the sound card needs to be good enough to re-encode the decoded digital signal...
But really... can the degradation be that great... and how good are even the 'cheap and nasty' sound cards at capturing and re-coding audio?
Because as countless others have posted, people have been taping the radio for years. And right now, the technology exists (and is likely to continue to exist for some time yet) that allows us to circumvent any so-called digital protection by going through the analog chain.
Or does it really require a very high end PC with the best sound card around? Personally, I think not, because I think that technology has advanced far enough for even 'bog standard' PC equipment that is sold even in places like Wal-Mart have just about enough computer power and sound card hardware to create a CD-quality digital recording from a suitable analog input. But then I am not an audiophile, so I cannot state this as absolute fact... and would appreciate any clarification.
Thanks, Mark.
Well, the domain administrator could place a stop to all the *.iq registrations by simply setting into place a number of *.(blank).iq domains like the UK does it e.g. oilcompany.co.iq university.ac.iq charity.org.iq kurdish.kd.iq internetcompany.net.iq government.gov.iq Going off topic... what about all those countries that aspire to independence and have no Top Level Domain available? What would Scotland use were it to become independent? .sc, .st are all taken. I guess .ab for the scottish Alba... or .eo for Ecosse... (French of Scottish) ...
Back on topic... I think going that way would be good. But of course, if there needs to be a money spinner sure... have a .co.iq domain for about $5-10 and a .iq domain for $40 a year.
Mark.
I presume here that we're treating copyright (and other similar intellectual property) the same as tangible artifacts.
Let's say that someone breaks into my home, and steals my TV. Right now, I can enlist the help of law enforcement, who might catch the person responsible for the theft. If they do, provided I want to pursue this, they could then go ahead and prosecute the thief, and if found guilty would then serve a punishment. I might not get my TV back, but the person who stole it did not 'get a free lunch'.
The same principle seems to be applied here to copyrights. The thing I need to understand, is the theft of a copyright a civil matter, or a criminal matter? If it is a civil matter, then the DoJ certainly does not need to get involved, they have enough to do in the criminal arena. Let the RIAA, the MPAA and all their cronies fund their own lawsuits, just like everyone else who has to fund a civil lawsuit. But if the theft of a copyright is now a criminal matter, and is to be considered a felony, then I see no reason why the person who has a precious artifact stolen has recourse to the police and the DoJ whereas someone who stole a copyright does not have access to these resources - especially if the consequences for the person who stole the artifact is the same for those who stole the copyright.
I personally don't care too much for the RIAA and MPAA's strong-arm tactics, but copyright certainly needs reform. Perhaps there needs to be a two tier copyright system, there would be Copyright I and Copyright II. I would envisage Copyright I to be like existing copyright. It would expire 90 years after the death of the creator, and the Copyright I holders would have recourse to the civil courts for enforcing their rights. It would be cheap to get, but expensive to enforce. There would also be Copyright II. Copyright II would be more expensive to maintain, and as someone mentioned earlier, yes there would be a 'tax', maybe a yearly tax. The Copyright would be tradeable, and would be in force as long as the 'tax' is paid on it (so the likes of Mickey Mouse would be protected forever). Copyright II would however, because of the increased fees that Copyright II holders would pay, would have recourse to law enforcement and the Department of Justice in order to enforce those copyrights, and theft of the copyrights would enjoy penalties like that in criminal theft cases.
That would be my simplistic way of reforming the copyright system.
Mark.
a 100 watt and 10 watt signal have no range?
I don't know why, but our local Christian CHR station (WBFJ) broadcasts to Greensboro on a translator , and can be heard throughout most of Guilford County on a ten watt signal. Their main transmitter is at least 100x more powerful, doesn't have 100x the range - like in the middle of Guilford County, their signal (to the west of Forsyth County - the next county over) gives up and it is necessary to tune into the translator.
Yes, I agree that the National Association of Broadcasters are a very powerful lobby group, and that they are not happy about new technologies. Why on earth when the rest of the world is going with Eureka 147 (DAB), Digital Radio Mondiale and DVB-T for replacing VHF Radio, LF/MF/HF Radio and analog TV transmissions, we in the States are replacing radio and Tv with HD-Radio and ATSC? I feel the NAB have a lot to answer to and are very short sighted in this matter.
Compare the situation: in the UK you can now buy an adapter that you can plug into your existing TV and get digital signals through your antenna, along with a greatly expanded choice of channels. Same for radio - you can buy a new DAB radio set and have in some areas over forty channels of digital radio. And this is for no additional subscription charges or fees (Except for the licence fee that you must pay anyway to watch TV in the UK, whether it is analog or digital).
In the USA, we have no ready digital subscription-free radio broadcast network in place. There are a few stations broadcasting in HD-Radio. And as for TV, all you generally have is replacements of the existing analog services. I must admit that the idea to go with high definition TV may work out to be better in the long run... but for right now I feel there would be more market value in getting a whole bunch of channels, over the air, in digital quality, and without any subscription. Broadcasters could enter into big-time competition with the cable companies and actually make some money, no? With each major urban area in a position to receive quite clearly at least six different TV stations (if not more) there exists the possibility for broadcasters to send along with their existing channel another three channels - at least - and quadruple everyones' over the air viewing choice. I'm sure technically it would be possible to broadcast six standard definition digital channels in the space of one analog channel. This would mean instead of having six or seven different channels to watch, a viewer could have 36-42 channels to watch and they wouldn't have to subscribe to cable to get them!
Anyway... back on topic...
Something indeed needs to be done about that NAB organization. Maybe we need to persuade broadcasters to leave them... but how?
Thanks for listening, Mark.
definitely a good thing, because it might then encourage more people to take up Linux and have a look at it. It would give those people who are so 'married' to Windows a chance to look at what all the fuss is about, and to really evaluate Linux and see if it would be right for them. They wouldn't have to partition, re-format, re-jig their hard drive... and if things got too tough open up the appropriate Windows application to get their job done instead.
I also see it as a good thing in some corporate environments. Say you have a call center, and all the operatives have been trained to use some program for their task (let's say they're in a credit card environment) and their software is Unix based. Well, porting to Linux could be straightforward. Also for these operators they don't need to access the computer for anything much besides this application... and maybe the web and email to keep in contact with people. So these guys would have Linux desktops. Now there would also be some other administrative people who don't take calls, and who have other tasks. Like payroll, or some other fancy tasks. Maybe these programs were written for Windows, and there is no Linux port planned. Rather than trying to make these programs work through Wine or Crossover Office or something like that the obvious solution is to make Linux run on top of Windows. Then people have the best of both worlds for those kind of operations.
I also see advantages of running CoLinux in a dual boot environmemnt. That is, if you are short on disk space. I presume that CoLinux would run on the same filesystem as Windows. In a traditional dual boot system you might have a 20 gb disk, and split it up two ways - 10gb for Windows, and 10Gb for Linux. Let's suppose you are a Windows fan, and you easily eat up that 10Gb for Windows use, and hardly use Linux, except to 'play around with'. You then have 8Gb of disk space that Windows can't access natively (yes there are third party apps now that get around this) and as such you are short on space. So if Windows and Linux are sharing the same 20Gb partition, then Windows can use more than that smaller partition on those occasions it is deemed necessary (like downloading by broadband that 5Gb linux distribution on X # of CD's).
I don't see it as a "real major" security problem, because I perceive its main target is the desktop, and not for running security-critical applications which could get hacked to shreds. Also that these Windows boxes would be firewalled anyway for Internet access - behind native Linux firewalls on native Linux machines.
Mark.
If SCO can be sued and they settle by agreeing to not spread their propaganda, then it's equally possible that SCO's sidekick could be sued for exactly the same thing. Since there is a court precedent, wouldn't any company willing to do this think twice - because they would be sued too?
other non-US computer companies.
The then-venerable Acorn Computer... their big leap into the 32 bit world was the Archimedes. Using a RISC processor, it was truly ahead of its game at its time.
If Microsoft hadn't come around, surely Acorn might have had more success with its system. It might have even spread over Stateside and then to the rest of the world. So instead of learning DOS it'd be ADFS... instead of waiting minutes for a machine to boot it'd be seconds. The GUI would most likely look the same as it does today. We'd all be fluent in BBC Basic, and not be wailing about any blue screens of death since RISC-OS isn't as crash prone as Windows is today (heck, a GUI that was originally written in BBC Basic has got to be good, no?)
So tonight in my non-MS world I'm going to *cat the contents of my hard disk looking for the work I misplaced somewhere, and play Chuckie-Egg XII, whilst firing up Webster to read the latest of Acorn vs Apple lawsuit over Acorns' inclusion of BSD code into their OS, since Apple bought out BSD, and are now trying to commoditize it. Mark.
Why did they decide to use .pdf for then? If Office is so great then why not do it as a .doc file instead? After all the document is intended for Microsoft sales reps, so why not use Office...
.pdf files natively?
Or am I wrong and Microsoft Office can now read and write
Mark
Sure there may be "underwriting" on NPR... but think about this outside the USA for a minute. There are other countries where radio *is* pretty much non-commercial. Londons' Piccadilly Circus would be a perfect example of a place where this technology would work... but what kind of listener listens to BBC Radio 4? There are no adverts, not even underwriting on BBC stations.
I guess (for the paranoid) TV Licensing could take out a series of ads. Imagine driving down the road, and seeing your name on this electronic billboard... "Hey! You! In the Blue Ford! Why haven't you paid your TV Licence?" I'd be dead scared if I saw that (yes I do drive a blue-ish coloured Ford!)
Mark.
Then join the newly formed American Airborne Automobile Association - the AAAA! We cover our members with exclusive services such as emergency flight planning, jet-engine jump start and in-flight wing repair.
In due course we will be securing the domain name aaaa.com for our activities, and offering a full range of services for our fly-drive members.
However, having said that I don't exactly understand how multiple ISP down cable lines works out. My broadband is branded Earthlink. But the bill comes from Time Warner. Does this mean that if I wanted to switch from Earthlink to RoadRunner, for example, and take advantage of a 'introductory special' I wouldn't be able to do so because I am already effectively using RoadRunner? Does anyone have experience of switching ISP's on Time Warner Cables' network? Also, does TWC often leave the TV signal on when turning on an 'Internet-Only' service?
Mark.
Dearest Darl... Thou hast a problem with ye English language? Then ye shalt readeth of the Bible of GPL until ye hearts bleed. As thou canst tell, I am using ye ancient version of ye English language, which hast been placed in ye public domaine many moons ago. Besides, hast thou hearest of ye King James Bible? Remindest ones of ye Ancient Unix. humbly your servant...
He (Mr. McBride) says the GPL is against the constitution. How?
... but most radically of all d) if you then want to distribute this modified work then you can, on the same terms i gave you the original work. Ok it's a bit more complex than that.. but you probably get the gist of it.
He goes on to quote a case which from the text he is quoting appears to be about extending the time that copyright applies to an item that is copyrighted and when it falls into the public domain.
How does this case apply to the GPL which is at the end of the day a licence? I would contend that it has little or no relevance whatsoever to the case in hand.
If anyone's interested I found this site contains useful information about the case Mr. McBride quotes.
Of course, anyone who is enlightened knows that the GPL in summary states a) I own my work and I keep my copyright, b) you can copy my work freely, c) if you modify my work it's ok
Mark.
Now are they trying to confuse it with a web browser such as this one? I think those nice Mozilla guys would have to nudge Phoenix a bit and assert any trademark rights they may have. Besides Mozilla changed its web browser project name from Phoenix to Firebird. I don't know the exact reasons for the change but I highly suspect that the Phoenix Bios company have trademarked Phoenix. However. Mozilla would have prior use of the Firebird name and would have first rights, no?
Mark.
Apparently there will come a time in the US where you can switch your landline phone number to a cellular phone and vice versa.
They're not there yet. I was able to retain my landline phone number when switching providers (BellSouth to Birch). However just moving down the road required a totally new phone number - with the same phone company. Makes no sense to me, because the cell phone companies and now the VoIP phone companies can give you a number in any area when you set up or move service. Especially intriguing is the offer from iconnecthere.com to give subscribers a choice of international numbers (presently UK and Israel) that a person in the USA could have on their VoIP phone. It means that theoretically my UK family could call me for pennies at the weekend!
However, this doesn't mean people will suddenly get multiple phone numbers so that Auntie Flo can call them on the cheap. Rather, it is nationwide calling plans on landlines which will capture that market - services like former Worldcoms' Neighborhood - $50/mo and unmetered across whole USA. Speaking on nationwide calling plans it's about time European telecom operators got together to offer "unmetered" calls across Europe for a single monthly service fee. Oh, and to have a Euro plan where standard minutes are used rather than the expensive ones presently charged.
Mark.
The patent however appears to cover 'communication systems' and telephone numbers were kind of used. So it could be arcane to translate internet addresses back to telephone numbers but that could be argued as such. So the patent has merit in that way.
.
However, I'd argue that the patent doesn't have merit for other reasons. I'm still trying to make head or tails of the actual patent itself. I believe Ebay is safe, because it covers for automated systems explicitly when the communications device is the auctioneer. Here, E-Bay is the auctioneer, not the Internet, which is the Communications Device. However the patent does state when going over auctions as an example of the patents application "In some embodiments, the communications system itself might play the role of auctioneer.". And oh, when an Ebay auction ends, the transaction is then referred to the vendor and the consumer, to be completed outside of Ebay, or paid through PayPal. So if Ebay was a transaction manager in that example, it doesn't conclude the transaction, monies at that point don't pass from consumer to vendor.
I also would state that PayPal doesn't fall foul of the patent either because it is simply a two step process. Firstly, the consumer initiates with PayPal directly a request to obtain money from an account and place it with an account with PayPal. Then transaction #2 - a consumer requests Paypal send a vendor money from the paypal account based on a price the consumer has selected, and agreed upon with the vendor outwith the communication system, but often using a parallel separate yet intercommunicating communication system.
Mark.
I can't say where Visa are but from my limited experience working for American Express I can see where my employers are at. The nearest thing approaching micropayments is ExpressPay which is more like the Exxon/Mobil SpeedPass. The Amex system to my knowledge is considered to be in trial status, mainly around Phoenix, AZ, at this time
To my knowledge there isn't any thing else in development. But if American Express at the corporate level were to see value in micropayments and that it would prove useful as a service to its premium cardmembers (and that it would generate profit for the company and fit in with the company image), I'm sure that they'd go for it.
But as other posters have said, Paypal is quite suited for micropayments as it is, and what ever happened to using your cellphone for them micropayments?
Mark.
PS: Disclaimer: The views expressed here (if I did express any) are mine, not of my employer (American Express).
This article is merely pure speculation. And nothing more. Unless that guy who runs Canopy still has a significant Novell share holding, and wants to get a bit more richer quickly, by somehow getting the speculation out there that Novell itself might be ripe for takeover.
As the article states, the only obvious candidate to take Novell over is IBM.
The reason I feel Novell wont be going anywhere soon is because you need these middle sized computer companies to exist. You can't have companies the size of Microsoft and little companies and nothing inbetween. Sure, IBM could afford to gobble up Novell, but then again so can Microsoft. Or other companies.
Besides, in my somewhat limited experience I have not seen company A purchase company B, only to be swallowed up whole by company C within weeks of these things happening.
It's a whole game of chess, except in this game there is something preventing a 'checkmate' (usually the government) and it is usually advantageous in a chess game to have all your pieces, not just your queen and your pawns.
Mark.
...ask the last person to leave to turn the lights off.
Hmmm... methinks we need to make up a parody of 'The Sun' newspaper (in the UK), like they did back in the 1987 (I think it was 87 at any rate Thatcher vs Kinnock) General Election with Neil Kinnock. They put his head in a lightbulb and printed the headline which resembles... ' If Labour win the election today, would the last person to leave Britain please turn off the lights? ' (rough quote)
That circulated and sent to people who work at SCO would IMO a) knock their morale, b) the rest of the world would get a chuckle, and c) send a not-so-blunt message to SCO management as to what we really think of them.
Mark.
Well, I guess that's why the UK still has paper ballots. No scantrons. No touch screens. Just a piece of paper with your candidates listed, and you put an X by the one you want. More than one vote? No problem, you get more pieces of paper for each vote.
And recounts? How long did it take for Florida to do a single recount of all their votes? And how long did it take one constituency in the UK parliamentary elections to recount their votes? I think one time there was about eight recounts for one seat and it was done by 2pm the next day, having the polls close at 9pm that night.
Me thinks the USA is trying to do democracy on the cheap. Come on, let them public officials have some time one night and count votes instead! Sure the cost of overtime will be expensive but I bet it'd be far cheaper than a lawsuit.
Mark.
Has Vietnam thought about purchasing a site license for an unlimited number of computers? Then you also have immediate compliance, because anyone who has a pirated Microsoft product that would be normally licensed under a normal license would then be covered under the country-wide site license.
I'm sure special terms could be arranged, especially for Vietnam to promote Microsoft products?
Mark.
Well, most employers end up self-insuring their employees, so if there was a trend and they were monitoring healthcare costs carefully then if people were being overworked then it would easily become apparent by the cost of their medical bills going up.
Nice in practice, however that doesn't work either... because health care bills over here are skyrocketing anyway (probably because of health care workers being overworked and getting ill and having to be treated so health companies own bills are rising??) and cannot see these increases due to overwork vs increases due to increased cost of healthcare.
Mark.
I'm not normally one for pulling these kinds of things but my sis-in-law got one of these WebTV things and I thought it'd be a good idea to wind her up with a 'fake email'. Well, it wasn't that fake, I had my own domain (just purchased!), so an appropriate email from "MSN Postmaster" ('postmaster@....'). I can't remember what I wrote exactly but it went along the lines of we've been watching you download porn and smut and if you continue to do so we will terminate your service. Oh, and if she felt it had been sent in error she was to write back. She fell for it hook line and sinker... and even replied! I couldn't stop laughing :) My wife told me her sis had got this email and she's in a real panic about it... and I went to her room and kinda asked her 'who is the mail from? what's the email address?' and I asked her if she recognised the address and then reality dawned that it was the name of the new website i had put up!