There's a privacy concern about the digital compass metadata telling someone else what direction you were facing...when they're looking at the picture? Can't you just look at the picture and figure out what direction the photographer was facing?
At one point in time it was rumored that Apple was working on an Atom-powered device or system, and then they bought PA Semi and decided to make their own low-power microprocessor instead. There is no value for Apple to retain Atom support anymore because it has no future at the moment with any product with an Apple logo on it. Hell, they don't support AMD processors, either.
But is is dickery? Yeah, it is, but I don't think it's dickery for sheer purpose of dickery.
With a glass touchscreen on an underpowered system, I'm part of their target audience. I want a system like that in my kitchen to use while cooking: displaying the recipes I'm following, streaming video, streaming audio, but with a screen that I don't worry about ruining with splatters or smudges.
Oh, you mean like the nine servers behind the locked door next to me running Windows 2000 Server SP4? The ones that the firm relies on but doesn't want to or can't afford to upgrade/replace?
Assholes, truly.
Well, considering that like many businesses that rely on specialized pieces of software to function (mine in particular being a law firm), we have held off on deploying both XP SP3 and not even put thought into Vista because our document management software and change-tracking/metadata scrubbing software are incompatible with anything above XP SP2 for the moment.
We can't keep entirely up to date because it breaks the software my firm relies on, and replacing them isn't an option. From my experience at the law firms I've worked at, they move at one of two speeds: slowly or not at all.
The miniseries and first season of BSG was probably the best science fiction even made for television. But it has declined significantly in quality since then. I'm actually glad this is the last season of the show (since it allows them to give a definite conclusion to the series before it declines even more, and gives them a focus that they lacked in season 3). Making follow-up movies or series is a mistake, and it would only tarnish the name of a once-brilliant series. I disagree. The first season was a phenomenal accomplishment in television scifi, but I thought the third season was the best. It lacked some direction, yes, but it was the best full season presentation of probably any show I've watched. Every episode was like the train was picking up speed, even if you didn't know where it was headed and it kept changing tracks. My non-geek girlfriend and I plowed through the third season in about a week just because we couldn't bear to watch anything else and every episode was so well done.
As a partially-related aside, "Exodus, Part II" is my favorite episode of any scifi TV show I've ever watched, and if I were compiling a montage of "awesome scenes I love watching over and over" from scifi over the years, that episode would get two entries.
Judging by the grandparent poster's reference to his law-school gf, he's probably too young to recall the Bill Clinton era. Ahh, you've gotta love the youth vote. To be young and idealistic instead of old and practical again... I remember all of the Bill Clinton era, and I have a degree in Political Science partially inspired by my experiences in the 1990's, for what it's worth.
I also seem to remember that the DMCA being passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate before Clinton signed it into law. You want accountability for bad laws? Talk to your legislators.
My point about Judge Brown being a Clinton appointee was merely to help elucidate where she falls in the political spectrum, and you do a disservice to judges everywhere by reflecting any "sins of the father" on appointees of any President. Was Sandra Day O'Connor partially responsible for the Iran-Contra scandal because she was a Regan appointee? Is Justice Alito complacent for his role in any laws that may have been broken by the Bush administration purging thousands of emails by being a Bush appointee?
I think the answer you're looking for is no, they are not. Get some perspective, old-timer.
My girlfriend worked for Judge Brown last summer as a law student, and she had a consistently favorable opinion of her. Judge Brown is a Clinton appointee and is on the more liberal side of the bench compared to a couple of the other federal judges working in the same building.
She's fair and doesn't put up with bullshit from lawyers or defendants. If she finds in favor of the RIAA, it's going to be on the basis of the law and not because of pressure on her. At the very least, she's going to be very suspicious of their arguments and have some critical things to say about them and their tactics in open court--even if they do win in the end.
No, I think you're largely right. I've watched so many "for sure" predictions become patently false on this site I've begun doing the exact opposite most of the time.
Example 1:
"OGG is the new hotness and will rule the compressed music formats."
How's that market domination working out for you? I'm glad I didn't invest my personal collection heavily in that format. Does it have a use? Absolutely. Will it ever come anywhere near matching the ubiquitous MP3 format? Nope.
Example 2:
"This is the year of Linux on the desktop!"
Mind you, this was said in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001...and so on. Are there players? Sure. Microsoft's missteps with the delays of and eventual bad user experiences with Vista and their stopping sales of XP opens a door for companies like Ubuntu, but no one's quite gotten their foot in despite your personal experiences to the contrary. Apple's been the real winner there, doubling their market share in the last few years while Linux has remained constant.
My take on Android versus iPhone (disclaimer: I'm a very happy unjailbroken iPhone user) is that they're not meant to compete with each other, at least not directly. Google offered a platform that depends on vendors to customize. Lots of potential? Sure. Lots of potential for suckage? Absolutely. Look at some of the stark differences between different Symbian and Windows Mobile devices and then tell me that Android is going to win hands-down. Hell no. Some company might be able to make phone with an interface and functionality to match the iPhone, but saying that it's better just because it's open is ridiculous. Better for who? Better for the consumer? Or better for you?
Apple offered not just a platform, but an "experience" where everything, if you'll pardon the over-used expression, just works. 99% of iPhone users aren't going to care less that software isn't GPLv3'd and you can't do whatever you want with your phone, and the sales they've racked up so far pretty much indicate that.
By the end of 2008, Slashdotters may find that they have 10 million so-called "pretentious hipsters" to deal with while they're still bitching about how bad the iPhone is. Yeah, that's me all right, a pretentious hipster. Windows/Exchange admin posting on Slashdot.
As a Portland public transit rider, I took the opportunity to map out the route I take every morning and a few others I take on occasion. It's a pretty slick system, with icons showing your start position, where you catch your bus, the route itself, where you get off, and then your final destination. The route times were all accurate, but they got the fare wrong (all zone fare shown vs. the 1-zone fare required, a difference of only $0.30).
They also have an interesting estimate of how much it would cost you to drive vs. the transit fare ($1.50 fare vs. $0.84 driving, accoridng to Google), and a link to get the route in driving directions instead of the TriMet bus route. This will be an extremely handy thing for me as I take public transportation far more often than I drive. The integration with Google Maps and their driving directions has some real potential.
The only real problem I had using it was that it took me about four tries to get the start and end addresses recognized properly. Probably my fault, but I didn't think they'd need to know which state I was referring to when I entered in "101 sw main st, portland"
Keep up the good work, Google. I know I'll be using this feature far more often than TriMet's trip planner on their website.
I was just playing with one of these units (disclaimer: I work for a company making add-on software for the unit, but we're outside of Nokia's sphere of influence), and I was pretty impressed with the quality of the device. It's pretty light, and the screen is readable even at the default level, but zoom buttons on the top of the unit are helpful for looking at something close up. The speed of the unit is sluggish in places--mostly when opening/closing apps--but overall is more than acceptable. It's not Palm or PocketPC speed, in other words
We tested the browser and were able to view HomestarRunner for Flash content as well as browse Google Maps, the latter of which would be extremely handy in many situations. It also includes an audio player, and I was about to go to Digitally Imported [www.di.fm] and stream their ShoutCast stations without trouble. The "loudspeaker" is a bit tinny at higher volumes as expected, but with headphones it would make for a very nice portable music player as long as your battery life and signal strength hold out.
My biggest beef just with my initial impression of playing with it for 30 minutes is that there isn't a microphone built-in. If some sage programmer were to get Skype running on the device...that would make for a very multi-functional device. I suppose a USB microphone could be connected to the mini-USB port on the bottom, but built-in would be much more convenient. In short, my initial impressions were favorable. It's much better for web browsing than a PocketPC, both in terms of the technology in the browser as well as the screen size. I think the real key that would ensure the success of this device is add-on software to extend the basic functionality.
If anyone would like to use the opportunity tonight on the last episode to drink and salute the years Futurama has been on, I have a Futurama drinking game on my website that's handy for when you want to drink until you reboot.
Slashdot Mirror
That section of the EULA has not changed. Here it is from December 2006 with identical language: http://web.archive.org/web/20061206023303/http://www.scei.co.jp/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_en.html. You can debate the pros and cons of such language, but this is not some new sneak totalitarian attack.
I think "Supermassive Black Hole" in fact turned Muse into huge stars. Wait, isn't that what you're talking about?
There's a privacy concern about the digital compass metadata telling someone else what direction you were facing...when they're looking at the picture? Can't you just look at the picture and figure out what direction the photographer was facing?
At one point in time it was rumored that Apple was working on an Atom-powered device or system, and then they bought PA Semi and decided to make their own low-power microprocessor instead. There is no value for Apple to retain Atom support anymore because it has no future at the moment with any product with an Apple logo on it. Hell, they don't support AMD processors, either. But is is dickery? Yeah, it is, but I don't think it's dickery for sheer purpose of dickery.
This means Google is one step closer to being able to tell me where I left my keys the night before.
With a glass touchscreen on an underpowered system, I'm part of their target audience. I want a system like that in my kitchen to use while cooking: displaying the recipes I'm following, streaming video, streaming audio, but with a screen that I don't worry about ruining with splatters or smudges.
Oh, you mean like the nine servers behind the locked door next to me running Windows 2000 Server SP4? The ones that the firm relies on but doesn't want to or can't afford to upgrade/replace? Assholes, truly.
Well, considering that like many businesses that rely on specialized pieces of software to function (mine in particular being a law firm), we have held off on deploying both XP SP3 and not even put thought into Vista because our document management software and change-tracking/metadata scrubbing software are incompatible with anything above XP SP2 for the moment.
We can't keep entirely up to date because it breaks the software my firm relies on, and replacing them isn't an option. From my experience at the law firms I've worked at, they move at one of two speeds: slowly or not at all.
As a partially-related aside, "Exodus, Part II" is my favorite episode of any scifi TV show I've ever watched, and if I were compiling a montage of "awesome scenes I love watching over and over" from scifi over the years, that episode would get two entries.
I also seem to remember that the DMCA being passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate before Clinton signed it into law. You want accountability for bad laws? Talk to your legislators.
My point about Judge Brown being a Clinton appointee was merely to help elucidate where she falls in the political spectrum, and you do a disservice to judges everywhere by reflecting any "sins of the father" on appointees of any President. Was Sandra Day O'Connor partially responsible for the Iran-Contra scandal because she was a Regan appointee? Is Justice Alito complacent for his role in any laws that may have been broken by the Bush administration purging thousands of emails by being a Bush appointee?
I think the answer you're looking for is no, they are not. Get some perspective, old-timer.
My girlfriend worked for Judge Brown last summer as a law student, and she had a consistently favorable opinion of her. Judge Brown is a Clinton appointee and is on the more liberal side of the bench compared to a couple of the other federal judges working in the same building.
She's fair and doesn't put up with bullshit from lawyers or defendants. If she finds in favor of the RIAA, it's going to be on the basis of the law and not because of pressure on her. At the very least, she's going to be very suspicious of their arguments and have some critical things to say about them and their tactics in open court--even if they do win in the end.
No, I think you're largely right. I've watched so many "for sure" predictions become patently false on this site I've begun doing the exact opposite most of the time.
Example 1:
"OGG is the new hotness and will rule the compressed music formats."
How's that market domination working out for you? I'm glad I didn't invest my personal collection heavily in that format. Does it have a use? Absolutely. Will it ever come anywhere near matching the ubiquitous MP3 format? Nope.
Example 2:
"This is the year of Linux on the desktop!"
Mind you, this was said in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001...and so on. Are there players? Sure. Microsoft's missteps with the delays of and eventual bad user experiences with Vista and their stopping sales of XP opens a door for companies like Ubuntu, but no one's quite gotten their foot in despite your personal experiences to the contrary. Apple's been the real winner there, doubling their market share in the last few years while Linux has remained constant.
My take on Android versus iPhone (disclaimer: I'm a very happy unjailbroken iPhone user) is that they're not meant to compete with each other, at least not directly. Google offered a platform that depends on vendors to customize. Lots of potential? Sure. Lots of potential for suckage? Absolutely. Look at some of the stark differences between different Symbian and Windows Mobile devices and then tell me that Android is going to win hands-down. Hell no. Some company might be able to make phone with an interface and functionality to match the iPhone, but saying that it's better just because it's open is ridiculous. Better for who? Better for the consumer? Or better for you?
Apple offered not just a platform, but an "experience" where everything, if you'll pardon the over-used expression, just works. 99% of iPhone users aren't going to care less that software isn't GPLv3'd and you can't do whatever you want with your phone, and the sales they've racked up so far pretty much indicate that.
By the end of 2008, Slashdotters may find that they have 10 million so-called "pretentious hipsters" to deal with while they're still bitching about how bad the iPhone is. Yeah, that's me all right, a pretentious hipster. Windows/Exchange admin posting on Slashdot.
As a Portland public transit rider, I took the opportunity to map out the route I take every morning and a few others I take on occasion. It's a pretty slick system, with icons showing your start position, where you catch your bus, the route itself, where you get off, and then your final destination. The route times were all accurate, but they got the fare wrong (all zone fare shown vs. the 1-zone fare required, a difference of only $0.30).
They also have an interesting estimate of how much it would cost you to drive vs. the transit fare ($1.50 fare vs. $0.84 driving, accoridng to Google), and a link to get the route in driving directions instead of the TriMet bus route. This will be an extremely handy thing for me as I take public transportation far more often than I drive. The integration with Google Maps and their driving directions has some real potential.
The only real problem I had using it was that it took me about four tries to get the start and end addresses recognized properly. Probably my fault, but I didn't think they'd need to know which state I was referring to when I entered in "101 sw main st, portland"
Keep up the good work, Google. I know I'll be using this feature far more often than TriMet's trip planner on their website.
I was just playing with one of these units (disclaimer: I work for a company making add-on software for the unit, but we're outside of Nokia's sphere of influence), and I was pretty impressed with the quality of the device. It's pretty light, and the screen is readable even at the default level, but zoom buttons on the top of the unit are helpful for looking at something close up. The speed of the unit is sluggish in places--mostly when opening/closing apps--but overall is more than acceptable. It's not Palm or PocketPC speed, in other words
We tested the browser and were able to view HomestarRunner for Flash content as well as browse Google Maps, the latter of which would be extremely handy in many situations. It also includes an audio player, and I was about to go to Digitally Imported [www.di.fm] and stream their ShoutCast stations without trouble. The "loudspeaker" is a bit tinny at higher volumes as expected, but with headphones it would make for a very nice portable music player as long as your battery life and signal strength hold out.
My biggest beef just with my initial impression of playing with it for 30 minutes is that there isn't a microphone built-in. If some sage programmer were to get Skype running on the device...that would make for a very multi-functional device. I suppose a USB microphone could be connected to the mini-USB port on the bottom, but built-in would be much more convenient. In short, my initial impressions were favorable. It's much better for web browsing than a PocketPC, both in terms of the technology in the browser as well as the screen size. I think the real key that would ensure the success of this device is add-on software to extend the basic functionality.
Way to go. First their NTP servers get DOS'ed, now we /. their web servers. Can't we just give these guys a break?
If anyone would like to use the opportunity tonight on the last episode to drink and salute the years Futurama has been on, I have a Futurama drinking game on my website that's handy for when you want to drink until you reboot.
/shameless plug