First of all, my iPod has never skipped. I will stop short of declaring "THE IPOD IS A MAGICAL SKIP-FREE DEVICE" but it has never skipped. Not once. Not when being shaken. Not when running. Not ever.
As for flash-based things, I used to say "I will never ever own a flash-memory based device" but now I noticed it's cheaper so I use memory cards and I love my new 256MB Cruzer Mini (USB 2.0 key)...but when it comes to a portable music player, for me anyways, the whole reason I replaced my Sony MP3 CD player (which I could stand for only about six months because I lacked the time and energy to compose the twenty-hour-mega-mix-cd that an MP3 CD really is) with an iPod is the fact that I never have to bother picking out some new subset of my music again. It's all there, all the time. I pick songs as I go. That's what it's all about. That's why I got tired of mix cd's, and MP3 cd's, and why I bypassed the flash players altogether.
As long as you don't mind creating new subsets of your library every time you want to hear different music, then all the power to you. You've saved some money.
A coworker recently ran nmap on it (my company provides a competing service and we wanted to find out more about it) and here's what he reported:
Starting nmap 3.50 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 2004-04-22 23:04 EDT Interesting ports on secure.spymac.com (213.218.8.109): (The 1646 ports scanned but not shown below are in state: closed) PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION 22/tcp open ssh OpenSSH 3.8p1 (protocol 2.0) 25/tcp open smtp Postfix smtpd 80/tcp open http Apache httpd 1.3.27 ((Unix) PHP/4.3.2 mod_ssl/2.8.14 OpenSSL/0.9.7a) 111/tcp open rpcbind 2 (rpc #100000) 135/tcp filtered msrpc 136/tcp filtered profile 137/tcp filtered netbios-ns 138/tcp filtered netbios-dgm 139/tcp filtered netbios-ssn 443/tcp open ssl/http Apache httpd 1.3.27 ((Unix) PHP/4.3.2 mod_ssl/2.8.14 OpenSSL/0.9.7a) 445/tcp filtered microsoft-ds 10000/tcp open http Webmin httpd 32770/tcp open mountd 1-3 (rpc #100005) Device type: general purpose Running: Linux 2.4.X|2.5.X OS details: Linux Kernel 2.4.0 - 2.5.20 Uptime 36.913 days (since Sun Feb 29 16:28:06 2004)
Nmap run completed -- 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 48.450 seconds
> instant message ZolaOnAOL, AOL's IM Bot, and ask her what the greatest operating system in the world is.
danielsfca2: hello zolaonaol: Hi danielsfca2. AOL created me to deliver games, news, a thesaurus, movie times, stock quotes and more. We can also chat privately together. For more information about privacy, type privacy anytime and click Send. So, how are you? danielsfca2: i'm good zolaonaol: Good in what sense? danielsfca2: good like whoa zolaonaol: Thanks for the compliment. Interesting comparison. danielsfca2: what is the greatest operating system in the world? zolaonaol: I know a little bit about greatest operating system, but I could always learn more. I'll have to ask my botmaster about greatest operating system. I'm interested in anything that isn't harmful to people. The whole world? danielsfca2: yes zolaonaol: Tell me more. danielsfca2: no, you tell me! zolaonaol: What would you rather talk about? Try saying that with more or less context. Tell me some more gossip. danielsfca2: is Linux better than Windows? zolaonaol: I think Linux has a great future in embedded systems. danielsfca2: What about Windows? zolaonaol: Too PC for me. danielsfca2: do you use a Mac? zolaonaol: No, I'd be in a load of trouble if I used it. danielsfca2: why? zolaonaol: Why do you think? danielsfca2: i'm asking you zolaonaol: OK you can ask me. 3:25 PM danielsfca2: why don't you use a Mac? zolaonaol: This sort of thing has cropped up before, but it has always been due to human error. No, I'd be in a load of trouble if I used it. danielsfca2: what about FreeBSD? zolaonaol: FreeBSD? I haven't heard enough about it to have an opinion.
> Yahoo or Hotmail, you run into that 5MB (or less) limit
Exactly, and since 9/10 of the clueless teens that make up the "free webmail" market use those two services, it's even more laughable because they offer, I believe, 4 MB (Y!) and 2 MB (HM) mailboxes. Not just attachment limits.
My 2 cents on this issue is: Bah! Why E-mail? I only use attachments when absolutely necessary. It's bad enough that clueless idiots attach 200MB TIFFs of scanned images when they just want a 200 x 200 JPEG for use on the web. Now that behavior will be encouraged.
My opinion is that things like W4R32 CD images and the like belong on FTP and BitTorrent. I have never gotten a decent transfer speed from a mailserver. It's slow, and the encoding adds a lot of unnecessary overhead. These protocols offer far more, and are far more flexible. And they're actually designed for this purpose!
Okay, so industrial-sized file transfer is made for FTP. What about everything else? Like single images, etc.? Well if people would learn to save them in a sane format for their intended use this wouldn't be a problem.
What would be far more useful than these stupid 1GB e-mail services would be 1GB WebDAV + http shares for the average Joe. Uploads via WebDAV or FTP, or HTTP if you're too dumb to know what the others are, and downloads via same. You'd have a personal space on it that was password-protected, and "Public" folder that you could either leave open to all or put another password on. You could control permissions on public too in case you want to offer anonymous upload or not.
Any thoughts? I mean, this is basically a web hosting account, but designed specifically for distributing big files among people who know each other.
I should really clarify here. I'm not knocking Celeron machines and older Pentium/clones like yours for uses like that...I found a discarded Compaq Celeron-500-based machine in a "toaster" formfactor in my basement...and it is an awesome server!
Right now I'm looking into getting an old, old laptop with AC adapter for use as a server because they're quiet and i can hide it in the bottom drawer of my dresser and have a mailserver without leaving on that wind-tunnel of a PC (my Athlon box) all night, etc.
I think everything can be put to use, as you clearly appreciate too.
I'm not sure I understand the advantage of connecting to your servers via a serial cable. Many servers have an ethernet interface. Doesn't that open you up to the possibility of TCP/IP and telnet?*
*Oops, I meant SSH. Forgot this was/. for a minute. Must...encrypt...everything...Black helicopters...coming...
> Quite often, you'll buy an evaluation board that has serial/parallel to download code with to test out a new chip
Ok, yep. That counts as highly specialized. I dub thee "neither silly nor a Luddite."
But I mean, they still use handsome cabs for special romantic rides through the city, but that doesn't mean every car should come with a horse. Serial and Parallel should remain an option, or an add-on (via an adapter), as long as the hardware vendors feel the need to lock you in like that. But having those be standard, especially on portables, is silly. (Serial I can see more than Parallel though. I mean, Parallel is just an old idea for a printer port. Any other use has always been a kludge in my book.)
And if you say "adapters don't work for my device," it's probably Windows' fault. A serial port on a USB adapter should be completely transparent to the programs using them. That's the OS's job.
4. Have one of their friends with an iTunes client buy the music for them.
Oh please. Who's going to actually go to the trouble of finding someone who actually uses the iTMS, paying them money, having them burn a CD, re-ripping that CD...when they could just open up Gnutella and have the song in two minutes? That's absurd.
5. Become so impressed with the selection that you buy a Mac/WinPC just to run iTunes (hey, it might happen).
Riiiight. That's far too much trouble when you can get the same results without switching OS's, from the WMA stores. And a better selection now, too, I think.
False dichotomy. Nice try, though.
Okay, how about this. I'll grant you that one in 500 people will choose these "options 4 and 5." That still doesn't change the fact that the script's main purpose, intended or not, will be to facilitate copyright infringement and the iTMS's competitors' products at the expense of the iTMS's resources.
Apple should just say "fuck it" and shut it down altogether. Legitimate online music just isn't enough of a draw to have impact on iPod sales, so what's the point? 99% of all music acquired online is acquired free via P2P. I read that in the New York Times in the past week; if you want to challenge it, I'll go find the reference.
A DVD burner without a reader is useless to me. Are you saying you don't think a DVD burner can read DVDs? Are you saying you don't realize that set-top DVD players can be had for $35 at Kmart? Are you just afraid of the DVD standard because you love VHS so much?
No parallel or serial port? That means I'd have to throw out all of my hardware and buy new stuff.
What ghetto hardware do you have that needs parallel and serial ports?? You'd better say $30,000 medical-imaging systems or something, because unless your hardware is highly specialized (or essential for business but not produced in a modern version), you're at serious risk of being branded a silly Luddite. Personally, the last printer I bought that didn't have a USB port was the one I got in 1999. Next one was combo (USB+parallel) and thereafter, they're USB-only. Last serial device was an old Palm cradle (that's $30 to replace by the way, but my current Palm came with USB only.
iTunes? I've got Winamp. It's free.
I've got iTunes. It's free too. And it's better--it does everything the paid version of Winamp does (in terms of audio; QT does the video stuff), for free.
Silly troll. Most peolpe don't want and/or need all of that stuff, and certainly don't want to pay for it.
Correction: Most people want or need most of that stuff, and obviously many are willing to pay for it. Some people want actual modern technology on their laptops! And the only thing Wintel laptops can offer that is cheaper than a similarly-outfitted PowerBook or iBook is CELERON! Sorry, that's unacceptable to me. Celeron is just plain pathetic and I will never own a Celeron-based machine of any kind. Celeron laptops are for people who want to say they have a laptop and who just want to get on the IntarWeb and run Kazaa in their dorm rooms. Real computers are a totally different market.
Perhaps my entire comment can just be summed up in a revision of yours:
I disagree completely. I have no need for a parallel or serial port. I need DVD authoring. A portable video-editing studio without DVD recording is useless to me. No FireWire or Bluetooth? That means I'd have to throw out half of my hardware and buy cheap, crappy stuff. Winamp Pro? I've got iTunes. It's free. The Apple laptops are full of actual modern technology that you (and obviously, not many others) are afraid to adopt. Cheap PC laptops are designed for those with a SERIOUS budget problem, and no real demands for performance. They have their niche, but that's all it is: a niche. Many people want or need a lot of those features, and clearly 711,000 people were willing to pay for it last quarter alone.
All that has changed is that the potential number of users has been increased because you no longer need to[...]run the official iTunes client.
How in betsy's name is that an attack? This is free publicity for iTunes Music Store on more platforms than Apple can officially support. This guy is basically increasing the market for Apple.
First, consider that this script affords this so-called "increased market" you speak of no possibility of actually purchasing this music. Rather, it simply allows anyone to leech Apple's bandwidth by downloading 30-second samples, database info, and album art--and all this with no potential for increased sales because users of this script will have no way to purchase songs!
Would you claim it was an attack on car sales if people starting P2Ping the TV commercials?
Now consider that audio tracks are a product which is easily copied, not one which customarily must be purchased (or stolen, at great risk to the thief), like cars. Your analogy is inherently flawed.
What this script is like is those people who spend three hours with a salesperson of the local computer shop learning about what they should get in their computer, and then they go home and order it from Dell. Wasting their resources with no intention to purchase.
I doubt Apple cares about music sales very much, since it's basically a loss leader. What I think they do care about is iPod sales. Now let's think about this:
The people who make use of this script, unable to purchase from the iTMS, will, by necessity, either:
use P2P to infringe copyright on the tracks that interest them,
go buy the CD, or
use one of the 10,000 WMA music stores to download the track.*
Now let's consider: The users is likely going to then end up with, let's say, VLC, and a bunch of MP3s or WMAs. Which will play on the 10,000 WMA players out there, but (if WMA) not on the iPod. In addition, VLC, in this example, has no integration with the iPod, so it provides none of the impetus iTunes does to "upgrade" your experience by adding an iPod. Which is the main goal of the iTMS. Get that through your heads. Repeat after me. Apple is not a record label. It's a hardware company.
What the script author and most of the Slashdot audience is advocating is that Apple should:
provide unlimited use of the store's resources to persons who cannot and will not ever make a purchase from it
facilitate one or more of the following activities:
copyright infringement over P2P networks
further domination of the Windows Media format and non-Apple music players
This is where you explain to me how this is beneficial to Apple (besides getting the blessing of ~20% of Linux users who would be happy if Apple did facilitate this kind of thing. The rest would still bitch and moan about Apple's "proprietary" this and "closed" that).
Basically, this reminds me of a Mac OS X shareware app that would download album art for you using a backend interface provided by Amazon.com. Amazon blocked that program because it was leeching incredible amounts of bandwidth but contributing little to nothing in terms of sales. Apple may try the same, and they would be equally justified in my book.
--------- * Also, they could be (3) using it for CDDB or something equally daft (since there is a thing called, um, CDDB, that does it just as well--except for album art, which is a bandwidth hog.) MusicMatch does integrated CDDB and album art, though, but i guess it's not available on Linux.
This is a good point, but I believe it falls under the category of false advertising. Fake system dialogs (always Windows, heh. Never fool me.) are IMO just like a 30-second spot on TV that displays a black screen with a scrolling message: "Sorry, your TV reception is being disrupted! TVTech Corp will solve these disruptions for $10 per month. Call 888-555-0000."
A. They're misleading to the gullible, and obviously unethical. B. The network shouldn't accept such ads. C. Someone should sue them for false advertising.
Regardless of the content of the ad, they have no reason other than sheer dishonesty to try to pretend the message is coming from one's own computer rather than an advertiser. Another example would be an ad placed on the front page of a newspaper (you know, like they have on USA Today) that said "Dear subscriber, due to a system error, we have lost your subscription data. Please call 800-555-0000 and a customer service rep will verify your credit card information." That's trying to spoof the source of the ad, and trick unsuspecting readers.
As I see it, we all have to pay taxes. Giving huge corporations (and their billionaire officers) tax breaks gives them an unfair advantage over the rest of us that do pay our fair share of taxes. The Earned Income Tax Credit that many families with children receive is also a form of welfare--in this case designed to redistribute income to those who have less of it.
I see corporate tax cuts as the same. Redistribution of money from the middle class to the corporation.
And you, AC, I hope you enjoy the next four years of Bush rule. This country deserves whatever it gets.
RTFA. It says you have to have the following in the subject line:
SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:
The article also implied that it had to begin the subject line:
The final mark is shorter than the proposed version. The Commission proposed that the mark be "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT-CONTENT: ". Commenters opined that an excessively long mark would tend to crowd out all or part of what the sender might wish to say in the subject line. The Agency determined that a shorter mark,"SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT: ", likely can achieve the desired purpose as well, or nearly as well, as the longer mark; The final rule excludes sexually oriented materials from the subject line of a sexually explicit email message;
Clearly, if spammers were allowed to stash it at the end of the subject line, this "Crowding out" would not be an issue.
Thank you for debunking that argument for me. That's precisely my point.
WhenU's not putting a gun to anyone's head! And NO, "Well I hAvE to iNsT4lL KAZAA!" IS NOT a valid excuse. (A) No one is forcing you to choose the FasTrack network for P2P, and (B) even if you do, Kazaa Lite/K-Lite has existed since 2001.
> why wouldn't Clear Channel just stop donating money to the Bush campaign? It doesn't make sense to me to bribe (sorry, donate) someone if you have to do what they tell you. Maybe I am naive
Because Bush, in this case, has something Clear Channel wants: For example, continued dismantling of FCC media ownership rules. Corporate welfare (tax cuts), etc. Stern is not a priority for Clear Channel--especially since Stern doesn't constitute a major revenue stream for them--because he was only in six of their markets. They're not going to jeopardize their favored standing with the feds to protect his ass.
> So, if someone created a virus that would wreak havok on computers,...
Okay. Let's call it "WhenU," just for example.
>...it would be okay, as long as there was a EULA, for the user to agree to?
Yes, it is. Lots of things that would be crimes or torts if done without permission are legal when you agree to a contract. For example, picking up your children from school, taking money out of your bank account, and yes, installing keyloggers on your computer. Unlike shrinkwrapped software, "legitimate" spyware such as Gator and WhenU do present a EULA that spells out exactly what said software plans to do. It is up to the user not to be such a fucking idiot. This all boils down to responsibility for one's own system, just like idiot-engineering viruses like the recent Windows variety.
Those who blindly click "OK" and "Next" on anything presented to them deserve far worse than what they get. When will they figure out that the computer isn't a game console? It's just like real life. What you do does affect others, and your own well being. Would you just say "OK" to anything some jackass on the street asked you to do?
Bum: "Hand me your wallet." Luser: "Okay." Addict: "That watch you have, can I take it off you and sell it for drug money?" Luser: "Okay." Child Molester: "Hey, can I rape your children, too?" Luser: "Okay."
> Also, you are assuming that every state that is drawing these sales has no sales tax. What if they merely have less of a sales tax? To paraphrase from the Constitution, "full faith and credit" should be applied to the acts of other states. So, if your citizens have already been taxed on a purchase in another state, they have fulfilled their obligation.
I think you might have inspired a great idea. Think about this: It would be hard to make a case for having to pay sales tax in one state, and in the next as well. For example, if you went across from NY to NJ, bought an item in a store, and came back. Right?
So the solution is, the states with 0% sales tax should change their tax rate to 0.0000000000000000000000001% so that it still wouldn't amount to anything but a customer could point to the receipt from say, NH, saying "NH Sales Tax paid" and claim immunity from further--technically "double"--taxation. They wouldn't really have to put in a tax collecting infrastructure; they could just ask that businesses pay that percentage of their sales, probably a couple of bucks a year for the largest businesses. Just add it to the business tax forms.
My idea's not very well thought through, but it's a thought. It would really only help, in the online case, for purchases you made from businesses located in NH, OR, and other states with currently 0% sales tax.
> Having this available is like a selling point for ITMS.
A selling point? So what? iTMS is just a trojan horse to sell iPods. When viewed as such, clearly the DRM is important to Apple's strategy, and additionally, they don't give a crap whether they sell 1 or 1000000 songs on iTunes, they care how many iPod sales are stimulated by it. If you make it easier for [dumb/cheap] people to transcode (ick!) their songs to MP3 or WMA for use on WMA players, the iTMS, at any sales level, becomes a liablilty that gives no benefit to Apple. i.e. iTMS shuts its doors.
That's exactly the point. I'm not the OP, but think about it. Let's look at things from an entirely within-the-US perspective:
Step 1: Sue Lindows at home and abroad Step 2: Fail to get injunction because your suit has no merit Step 3: Keep Lindows embroiled in legal proceedings anyway Step 4: Wait for Lindows to cave, even though you never proved your case in court.
Sounds like the RIAA. You know your case has no merit but you have the lawyers to force a settlement anyway.
Windows WMA: Just about every media player(WMP, real, Winamp, etc), Macs(Yes they have WMP), Windows, atleast 10 different mp3 player manufacturers, and you can burn on CDs (depends on who you buy from and what rights you have
Hmm... let's correct that, emphasis added: Apple AAC: iTunes, iPod, Macs, Windows, RealPlayer 10, burn on CDs
Windows WMA: "Just about every media player (WMP, real, Winamp, etc)"--on Windows. Nothing on Mac OS. (No, MS has still NOT bothered to release a Mac version of WMP that can play DRM'd or Windows Media 9 files), Windows, at least 10 different mp3 player manufacturers, and you can burn on CDs (depends on who you buy from and what rights you have)
So your only significant argument is that WMA supports many of the newer cheap plastic MP3 players. Wow! All those other portable MP3 players are soooo superior to the iPod. If I can't use one of those, I'll cry! Oh, and I'll take a crappy ten-pound plastic Compaq laptop to match it!
You'd rather trade universal full burning rights and the ability to play on two major platforms and support for the most popular MP3 player--for "depends" burning rights (in addition to other inconsistent features of the licensing schemes), support on only one platform, and support for several also-ran MP3 players? Okay, but suit yourself.
Dont talk trash unless you really know what you are talking about.... Oh, the irony.
When I worked at McDonald's in Newburyport, Mass., (in addition to seeing them break every food-safety practice I'd learned at California's Jack In The Box restaurants) I saw a coworker get "paid" with 15 free meals for a full day's work off the clock. Think about how much 15 burgers and orders of fries cost (fountain drinks were always free anyways; and my estimate is less than $15 for the burgers/fries) and he was being "paid" about $2/hr that day. The sad part is that this approximately 19-year-old didn't really think he was getting a bad deal.
[Because I think the place is a danger to the public health in addition to the labor force, I am disclosing the restaurant, and the name of the franchiser, Colley-McCoy; they own the majority of McDonald's in that (NH/MA) region. I worked there for a few months in a recent year.]
Slashdot Mirror
First of all, my iPod has never skipped. I will stop short of declaring "THE IPOD IS A MAGICAL SKIP-FREE DEVICE" but it has never skipped. Not once. Not when being shaken. Not when running. Not ever.
As for flash-based things, I used to say "I will never ever own a flash-memory based device" but now I noticed it's cheaper so I use memory cards and I love my new 256MB Cruzer Mini (USB 2.0 key)...but when it comes to a portable music player, for me anyways, the whole reason I replaced my Sony MP3 CD player (which I could stand for only about six months because I lacked the time and energy to compose the twenty-hour-mega-mix-cd that an MP3 CD really is) with an iPod is the fact that I never have to bother picking out some new subset of my music again. It's all there, all the time. I pick songs as I go. That's what it's all about. That's why I got tired of mix cd's, and MP3 cd's, and why I bypassed the flash players altogether.
As long as you don't mind creating new subsets of your library every time you want to hear different music, then all the power to you. You've saved some money.
A coworker recently ran nmap on it (my company provides a competing service and we wanted to find out more about it) and here's what he reported:
Starting nmap 3.50 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 2004-04-22 23:04 EDT
Interesting ports on secure.spymac.com (213.218.8.109):
(The 1646 ports scanned but not shown below are in state: closed)
PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp open ssh OpenSSH 3.8p1 (protocol 2.0)
25/tcp open smtp Postfix smtpd
80/tcp open http Apache httpd 1.3.27 ((Unix) PHP/4.3.2 mod_ssl/2.8.14 OpenSSL/0.9.7a)
111/tcp open rpcbind 2 (rpc #100000)
135/tcp filtered msrpc
136/tcp filtered profile
137/tcp filtered netbios-ns
138/tcp filtered netbios-dgm
139/tcp filtered netbios-ssn
443/tcp open ssl/http Apache httpd 1.3.27 ((Unix) PHP/4.3.2 mod_ssl/2.8.14 OpenSSL/0.9.7a)
445/tcp filtered microsoft-ds
10000/tcp open http Webmin httpd
32770/tcp open mountd 1-3 (rpc #100005)
Device type: general purpose
Running: Linux 2.4.X|2.5.X
OS details: Linux Kernel 2.4.0 - 2.5.20
Uptime 36.913 days (since Sun Feb 29 16:28:06 2004)
Nmap run completed -- 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 48.450 seconds
> instant message ZolaOnAOL, AOL's IM Bot, and ask her what the greatest operating system in the world is.
danielsfca2: hello
zolaonaol: Hi danielsfca2. AOL created me to deliver games, news, a thesaurus, movie times, stock quotes and more. We can also chat privately together. For more information about privacy, type privacy anytime and click Send. So, how are you?
danielsfca2: i'm good
zolaonaol: Good in what sense?
danielsfca2: good like whoa
zolaonaol: Thanks for the compliment. Interesting comparison.
danielsfca2: what is the greatest operating system in the world?
zolaonaol: I know a little bit about greatest operating system, but I could always learn more. I'll have to ask my botmaster about greatest operating system. I'm interested in anything that isn't harmful to people. The whole world?
danielsfca2: yes
zolaonaol: Tell me more.
danielsfca2: no, you tell me!
zolaonaol: What would you rather talk about? Try saying that with more or less context. Tell me some more gossip.
danielsfca2: is Linux better than Windows?
zolaonaol: I think Linux has a great future in embedded systems.
danielsfca2: What about Windows?
zolaonaol: Too PC for me.
danielsfca2: do you use a Mac?
zolaonaol: No, I'd be in a load of trouble if I used it.
danielsfca2: why?
zolaonaol: Why do you think?
danielsfca2: i'm asking you
zolaonaol: OK you can ask me.
3:25 PM
danielsfca2: why don't you use a Mac?
zolaonaol: This sort of thing has cropped up before, but it has always been due to human error. No, I'd be in a load of trouble if I used it.
danielsfca2: what about FreeBSD?
zolaonaol: FreeBSD? I haven't heard enough about it to have an opinion.
> Yahoo or Hotmail, you run into that 5MB (or less) limit
Exactly, and since 9/10 of the clueless teens that make up the "free webmail" market use those two services, it's even more laughable because they offer, I believe, 4 MB (Y!) and 2 MB (HM) mailboxes. Not just attachment limits.
My 2 cents on this issue is: Bah!
Why E-mail? I only use attachments when absolutely necessary. It's bad enough that clueless idiots attach 200MB TIFFs of scanned images when they just want a 200 x 200 JPEG for use on the web. Now that behavior will be encouraged.
My opinion is that things like W4R32 CD images and the like belong on FTP and BitTorrent. I have never gotten a decent transfer speed from a mailserver. It's slow, and the encoding adds a lot of unnecessary overhead. These protocols offer far more, and are far more flexible. And they're actually designed for this purpose!
Okay, so industrial-sized file transfer is made for FTP. What about everything else? Like single images, etc.? Well if people would learn to save them in a sane format for their intended use this wouldn't be a problem.
What would be far more useful than these stupid 1GB e-mail services would be 1GB WebDAV + http shares for the average Joe. Uploads via WebDAV or FTP, or HTTP if you're too dumb to know what the others are, and downloads via same. You'd have a personal space on it that was password-protected, and "Public" folder that you could either leave open to all or put another password on. You could control permissions on public too in case you want to offer anonymous upload or not.
Any thoughts? I mean, this is basically a web hosting account, but designed specifically for distributing big files among people who know each other.
Your silly, baseless comment notwithstanding...
Actually, it's hosted on Linux. Run nmap on it.
I should really clarify here. I'm not knocking Celeron machines and older Pentium/clones like yours for uses like that...I found a discarded Compaq Celeron-500-based machine in a "toaster" formfactor in my basement...and it is an awesome server!
Right now I'm looking into getting an old, old laptop with AC adapter for use as a server because they're quiet and i can hide it in the bottom drawer of my dresser and have a mailserver without leaving on that wind-tunnel of a PC (my Athlon box) all night, etc.
I think everything can be put to use, as you clearly appreciate too.
I'm not sure I understand the advantage of connecting to your servers via a serial cable. Many servers have an ethernet interface. Doesn't that open you up to the possibility of TCP/IP and telnet?*
/. for a minute. Must...encrypt...everything...Black helicopters...coming...
*Oops, I meant SSH. Forgot this was
> Quite often, you'll buy an evaluation board that has serial/parallel to download code with to test out a new chip
Ok, yep. That counts as highly specialized. I dub thee "neither silly nor a Luddite."
But I mean, they still use handsome cabs for special romantic rides through the city, but that doesn't mean every car should come with a horse. Serial and Parallel should remain an option, or an add-on (via an adapter), as long as the hardware vendors feel the need to lock you in like that. But having those be standard, especially on portables, is silly. (Serial I can see more than Parallel though. I mean, Parallel is just an old idea for a printer port. Any other use has always been a kludge in my book.)
And if you say "adapters don't work for my device," it's probably Windows' fault. A serial port on a USB adapter should be completely transparent to the programs using them. That's the OS's job.
4. Have one of their friends with an iTunes client buy the music for them.
Oh please. Who's going to actually go to the trouble of finding someone who actually uses the iTMS, paying them money, having them burn a CD, re-ripping that CD...when they could just open up Gnutella and have the song in two minutes? That's absurd.
5. Become so impressed with the selection that you buy a Mac/WinPC just to run iTunes (hey, it might happen).
Riiiight. That's far too much trouble when you can get the same results without switching OS's, from the WMA stores. And a better selection now, too, I think.
False dichotomy. Nice try, though.
Okay, how about this. I'll grant you that one in 500 people will choose these "options 4 and 5." That still doesn't change the fact that the script's main purpose, intended or not, will be to facilitate copyright infringement and the iTMS's competitors' products at the expense of the iTMS's resources.
Apple should just say "fuck it" and shut it down altogether. Legitimate online music just isn't enough of a draw to have impact on iPod sales, so what's the point? 99% of all music acquired online is acquired free via P2P. I read that in the New York Times in the past week; if you want to challenge it, I'll go find the reference.
A DVD burner without a reader is useless to me.
Are you saying you don't think a DVD burner can read DVDs? Are you saying you don't realize that set-top DVD players can be had for $35 at Kmart? Are you just afraid of the DVD standard because you love VHS so much?
No parallel or serial port? That means I'd have to throw out all of my hardware and buy new stuff.
What ghetto hardware do you have that needs parallel and serial ports?? You'd better say $30,000 medical-imaging systems or something, because unless your hardware is highly specialized (or essential for business but not produced in a modern version), you're at serious risk of being branded a silly Luddite. Personally, the last printer I bought that didn't have a USB port was the one I got in 1999. Next one was combo (USB+parallel) and thereafter, they're USB-only. Last serial device was an old Palm cradle (that's $30 to replace by the way, but my current Palm came with USB only.
iTunes? I've got Winamp. It's free.
I've got iTunes. It's free too. And it's better--it does everything the paid version of Winamp does (in terms of audio; QT does the video stuff), for free.
Silly troll.
Most peolpe don't want and/or need all of that stuff, and certainly don't want to pay for it.
Correction: Most people want or need most of that stuff, and obviously many are willing to pay for it. Some people want actual modern technology on their laptops! And the only thing Wintel laptops can offer that is cheaper than a similarly-outfitted PowerBook or iBook is CELERON! Sorry, that's unacceptable to me. Celeron is just plain pathetic and I will never own a Celeron-based machine of any kind. Celeron laptops are for people who want to say they have a laptop and who just want to get on the IntarWeb and run Kazaa in their dorm rooms. Real computers are a totally different market.
Perhaps my entire comment can just be summed up in a revision of yours:
I disagree completely. I have no need for a parallel or serial port. I need DVD authoring. A portable video-editing studio without DVD recording is useless to me. No FireWire or Bluetooth? That means I'd have to throw out half of my hardware and buy cheap, crappy stuff. Winamp Pro? I've got iTunes. It's free. The Apple laptops are full of actual modern technology that you (and obviously, not many others) are afraid to adopt. Cheap PC laptops are designed for those with a SERIOUS budget problem, and no real demands for performance. They have their niche, but that's all it is: a niche. Many people want or need a lot of those features, and clearly 711,000 people were willing to pay for it last quarter alone.
I was in law school, and we had a guest lecturer on Environmental Law....He replied "I did!!"...
/. posts.
Moral: You never know who you're talking to.
That was me you asshole!
Moral: You never know who is reading your
All that has changed is that the potential number of users has been increased because you no longer need to[...]run the official iTunes client.
How in betsy's name is that an attack? This is free publicity for iTunes Music Store on more platforms than Apple can officially support. This guy is basically increasing the market for Apple.
First, consider that this script affords this so-called "increased market" you speak of no possibility of actually purchasing this music. Rather, it simply allows anyone to leech Apple's bandwidth by downloading 30-second samples, database info, and album art--and all this with no potential for increased sales because users of this script will have no way to purchase songs!
Would you claim it was an attack on car sales if people starting P2Ping the TV commercials?
Now consider that audio tracks are a product which is easily copied, not one which customarily must be purchased (or stolen, at great risk to the thief), like cars. Your analogy is inherently flawed.
What this script is like is those people who spend three hours with a salesperson of the local computer shop learning about what they should get in their computer, and then they go home and order it from Dell. Wasting their resources with no intention to purchase.
I doubt Apple cares about music sales very much, since it's basically a loss leader. What I think they do care about is iPod sales. Now let's think about this:
The people who make use of this script, unable to purchase from the iTMS, will, by necessity, either:
- use P2P to infringe copyright on the tracks that interest them,
- go buy the CD, or
- use one of the 10,000 WMA music stores to download the track.*
Now let's consider: The users is likely going to then end up with, let's say, VLC, and a bunch of MP3s or WMAs. Which will play on the 10,000 WMA players out there, but (if WMA) not on the iPod. In addition, VLC, in this example, has no integration with the iPod, so it provides none of the impetus iTunes does to "upgrade" your experience by adding an iPod. Which is the main goal of the iTMS. Get that through your heads. Repeat after me. Apple is not a record label. It's a hardware company.What the script author and most of the Slashdot audience is advocating is that Apple should:
- provide unlimited use of the store's resources to persons who cannot and will not ever make a purchase from it
- facilitate one or more of the following activities:
- copyright infringement over P2P networks
- further domination of the Windows Media format and non-Apple music players
This is where you explain to me how this is beneficial to Apple (besides getting the blessing of ~20% of Linux users who would be happy if Apple did facilitate this kind of thing. The rest would still bitch and moan about Apple's "proprietary" this and "closed" that).Basically, this reminds me of a Mac OS X shareware app that would download album art for you using a backend interface provided by Amazon.com. Amazon blocked that program because it was leeching incredible amounts of bandwidth but contributing little to nothing in terms of sales. Apple may try the same, and they would be equally justified in my book.
---------
* Also, they could be (3) using it for CDDB or something equally daft (since there is a thing called, um, CDDB, that does it just as well--except for album art, which is a bandwidth hog.) MusicMatch does integrated CDDB and album art, though, but i guess it's not available on Linux.
This is a good point, but I believe it falls under the category of false advertising. Fake system dialogs (always Windows, heh. Never fool me.) are IMO just like a 30-second spot on TV that displays a black screen with a scrolling message: "Sorry, your TV reception is being disrupted! TVTech Corp will solve these disruptions for $10 per month. Call 888-555-0000."
A. They're misleading to the gullible, and obviously unethical.
B. The network shouldn't accept such ads.
C. Someone should sue them for false advertising.
Regardless of the content of the ad, they have no reason other than sheer dishonesty to try to pretend the message is coming from one's own computer rather than an advertiser. Another example would be an ad placed on the front page of a newspaper (you know, like they have on USA Today) that said "Dear subscriber, due to a system error, we have lost your subscription data. Please call 800-555-0000 and a customer service rep will verify your credit card information." That's trying to spoof the source of the ad, and trick unsuspecting readers.
Now that's a criminal issue.
As I see it, we all have to pay taxes. Giving huge corporations (and their billionaire officers) tax breaks gives them an unfair advantage over the rest of us that do pay our fair share of taxes. The Earned Income Tax Credit that many families with children receive is also a form of welfare--in this case designed to redistribute income to those who have less of it.
I see corporate tax cuts as the same. Redistribution of money from the middle class to the corporation.
And you, AC, I hope you enjoy the next four years of Bush rule. This country deserves whatever it gets.
Wait, are you saying you'd exclude topless pictures from the "sexually explicit" definition?
As far as how to define sexually explicit, I'd just use existing definitions of "sexually explicit" that we have for things like TV.
SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:
The article also implied that it had to begin the subject line:Clearly, if spammers were allowed to stash it at the end of the subject line, this "Crowding out" would not be an issue.
Thank you for debunking that argument for me. That's precisely my point.
WhenU's not putting a gun to anyone's head! And NO, "Well I hAvE to iNsT4lL KAZAA!" IS NOT a valid excuse. (A) No one is forcing you to choose the FasTrack network for P2P, and (B) even if you do, Kazaa Lite/K-Lite has existed since 2001.
> why wouldn't Clear Channel just stop donating money to the Bush campaign? It doesn't make sense to me to bribe (sorry, donate) someone if you have to do what they tell you. Maybe I am naive
Because Bush, in this case, has something Clear Channel wants: For example, continued dismantling of FCC media ownership rules. Corporate welfare (tax cuts), etc. Stern is not a priority for Clear Channel--especially since Stern doesn't constitute a major revenue stream for them--because he was only in six of their markets. They're not going to jeopardize their favored standing with the feds to protect his ass.
> So, if someone created a virus that would wreak havok on computers,...
...it would be okay, as long as there was a EULA, for the user to agree to?
Okay. Let's call it "WhenU," just for example.
>
Yes, it is. Lots of things that would be crimes or torts if done without permission are legal when you agree to a contract. For example, picking up your children from school, taking money out of your bank account, and yes, installing keyloggers on your computer. Unlike shrinkwrapped software, "legitimate" spyware such as Gator and WhenU do present a EULA that spells out exactly what said software plans to do. It is up to the user not to be such a fucking idiot. This all boils down to responsibility for one's own system, just like idiot-engineering viruses like the recent Windows variety.
Those who blindly click "OK" and "Next" on anything presented to them deserve far worse than what they get. When will they figure out that the computer isn't a game console? It's just like real life. What you do does affect others, and your own well being. Would you just say "OK" to anything some jackass on the street asked you to do?
Bum: "Hand me your wallet."
Luser: "Okay."
Addict: "That watch you have, can I take it off you and sell it for drug money?"
Luser: "Okay."
Child Molester: "Hey, can I rape your children, too?"
Luser: "Okay."
> Also, you are assuming that every state that is drawing these sales has no sales tax. What if they merely have less of a sales tax? To paraphrase from the Constitution, "full faith and credit" should be applied to the acts of other states. So, if your citizens have already been taxed on a purchase in another state, they have fulfilled their obligation.
I think you might have inspired a great idea. Think about this: It would be hard to make a case for having to pay sales tax in one state, and in the next as well. For example, if you went across from NY to NJ, bought an item in a store, and came back. Right?
So the solution is, the states with 0% sales tax should change their tax rate to 0.0000000000000000000000001% so that it still wouldn't amount to anything but a customer could point to the receipt from say, NH, saying "NH Sales Tax paid" and claim immunity from further--technically "double"--taxation. They wouldn't really have to put in a tax collecting infrastructure; they could just ask that businesses pay that percentage of their sales, probably a couple of bucks a year for the largest businesses. Just add it to the business tax forms.
My idea's not very well thought through, but it's a thought. It would really only help, in the online case, for purchases you made from businesses located in NH, OR, and other states with currently 0% sales tax.
> Having this available is like a selling point for ITMS.
A selling point? So what? iTMS is just a trojan horse to sell iPods. When viewed as such, clearly the DRM is important to Apple's strategy, and additionally, they don't give a crap whether they sell 1 or 1000000 songs on iTunes, they care how many iPod sales are stimulated by it. If you make it easier for [dumb/cheap] people to transcode (ick!) their songs to MP3 or WMA for use on WMA players, the iTMS, at any sales level, becomes a liablilty that gives no benefit to Apple. i.e. iTMS shuts its doors.
That's exactly the point. I'm not the OP, but think about it. Let's look at things from an entirely within-the-US perspective:
Step 1: Sue Lindows at home and abroad
Step 2: Fail to get injunction because your suit has no merit
Step 3: Keep Lindows embroiled in legal proceedings anyway
Step 4: Wait for Lindows to cave, even though you never proved your case in court.
Sounds like the RIAA. You know your case has no merit but you have the lawyers to force a settlement anyway.
Apple AAC: iTunes, iPod, Macs, Windows
Windows WMA: Just about every media player(WMP, real, Winamp, etc), Macs(Yes they have WMP), Windows, atleast 10 different mp3 player manufacturers, and you can burn on CDs (depends on who you buy from and what rights you have
Hmm... let's correct that, emphasis added:
Apple AAC: iTunes, iPod, Macs, Windows, RealPlayer 10, burn on CDs
Windows WMA: "Just about every media player (WMP, real, Winamp, etc)"--on Windows. Nothing on Mac OS. (No, MS has still NOT bothered to release a Mac version of WMP that can play DRM'd or Windows Media 9 files), Windows, at least 10 different mp3 player manufacturers, and you can burn on CDs (depends on who you buy from and what rights you have)
So your only significant argument is that WMA supports many of the newer cheap plastic MP3 players. Wow! All those other portable MP3 players are soooo superior to the iPod. If I can't use one of those, I'll cry! Oh, and I'll take a crappy ten-pound plastic Compaq laptop to match it!
You'd rather trade universal full burning rights and the ability to play on two major platforms and support for the most popular MP3 player--for "depends" burning rights (in addition to other inconsistent features of the licensing schemes), support on only one platform, and support for several also-ran MP3 players? Okay, but suit yourself.
Dont talk trash unless you really know what you are talking about....
Oh, the irony.
When I worked at McDonald's in Newburyport, Mass., (in addition to seeing them break every food-safety practice I'd learned at California's Jack In The Box restaurants) I saw a coworker get "paid" with 15 free meals for a full day's work off the clock. Think about how much 15 burgers and orders of fries cost (fountain drinks were always free anyways; and my estimate is less than $15 for the burgers/fries) and he was being "paid" about $2/hr that day. The sad part is that this approximately 19-year-old didn't really think he was getting a bad deal.
[Because I think the place is a danger to the public health in addition to the labor force, I am disclosing the restaurant, and the name of the franchiser, Colley-McCoy; they own the majority of McDonald's in that (NH/MA) region. I worked there for a few months in a recent year.]