A few years ago, I remember reading an article about the IRS (the government tax division) that had seven or eight regional data centers around the U.S. -- each with many petabytes of storage to store current and historical tax data on hundreds of millions of Americans, corporations, etc. I can't find the article now but it seems like *it* should make the list... maybe even top the list.
Mr. Gaspin said, "piracy was and is our No. 1 priority." He said that the music industry had been devastated by the free exchange of music, much of it facilitated by iTunes.
Holy smokes: the most succesful legal online music distribution service on the Internet is actually a haven for piracy? Up is down, war is peace. Next up: the beef market has been terribly devastated by the popularity of McDonald's restaurants.
...the files, which would be downloaded overnight to home computers, would contain commercials that viewers would not be able to skip through. And the file would not be transferable to a disk or to another computer.
The files would degrade after the seven-day period and be unwatchable. "Kind of like 'Mission: Impossible,' only I don't think there would be any explosion and smoke," Mr. Gaspin said.
The programs will initially be downloadable only to PCs with the Windows operating system, but NBC said it planned to make the service available to Mac computers and iPods later.
You can't skip through the commercials? Can't transfer them to a disk or other computer? Any bets on how long this will last?
But maybe this will help...
In a second phase of the NBC rollout, customers would pay a fee for downloads of episodes that they would then own, and the files would be transferable to other devices. NBC hopes to offer this service by mid-2008, depending on how quickly the company can put in place the secure software necessary to allow payment by credit card. [emphasis added]
Right, because online payment systems are magical. Only the top wizards understand the spells that make them work. That's why nobody except Apple has secure software to allow payment by credit cards: Steve Jobs is the toppest of the top wizards.
FTA: "Metaplace will support everything from 2d overhead grids through first-person 3d. However, right now we only have clients that do 2d of various sorts, including grid view, 2d isometric, 2.5d heightfields, and so on. We expect to keep working on the 3d client support."
The problem I have is that he assumes that an average user who can't configure a few things and download some codecs can find the appropriate anti-virus software, configure it and keep their machine from becoming part of a virus supercomputer.
Mossberg isn't reviewing it for safety. He's reviewing it for ease of use. Even Dell's cheapest Windows systems include trial version of security software -- so there is no finding needed. Now, the user may disable it, but that's something elese entirely......
Back in my day, if you died after three days of a gaming marathon, it was because one of the other gladiators had run you through with a sword. And we didn't have paramedics, either.
I agree we've come a long way, but does that really matter when someone is considering a new computer? Would you buy a car with a problematic transmission just because it works better than last year's model? It needs to work correctly, not just better than before.
Mossberg isn't just dumping on Linux or open source. He generally likes the idea of OSS:
Ubuntu and other versions of Linux have several advantages. Unlike Windows and OS X, they're free. Unlike Mac OS X, they can be run on the least-expensive popular hardware configurations. Unlike Windows, but like the Mac, they are essentially free of viruses and spyware. And unlike Windows and Mac OS X, they are built and constantly improved by a world-wide network of developers, professional and amateur -- the so-called open-source concept that produced the excellent Firefox Web browser.
It makes sense that all the best software brains can't be located in just two places: Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft is based, and Cupertino, Calif., Apple's base. And plenty of people reading this have had lots of frustrations with the two better-known operating systems, especially Windows, whose latest iteration, Vista, is disappointing in many ways.
Rather, he notes some average-user-level problems with Ubuntu (simple things like video, audio, and mouse issues). He's talking about usability by people who don't read Slashdot and are not related to (or dating) someone who DOES read Slashdot.
Of course, he still thinks that "the Apple iMac as the best consumer desktop computer on the market." And we all know the iMac is horrible to use and support!
Of all the music I heard on the way to work today, the catchiest tune was someone's ringtone in the elevator. It's about time they started realizing it's the music version of viral marketing.
The ridiculous price is something else. But the concept is good.
Only a fool would pay 2.50 for a ringtone from AT&T as well. Just because other companies overcharge doesn't make Apple's fees reasonable.
You're assuming that Apple has the freedome to make it free. Groups like the RIAA want to control the revenue streams from ringtones -- resulting in a higher cost for a ringtone than it would cost to buy the whole song legally. Said the president of Warner Music, "We think of the ringtone as the new single. It definitely functions as a buzz builder. It reaches a younger audience effectively." Ergo, we're gonna make money off of it!!!!
You're right. My apologies for a classic knee-jerk reaction to the opening lines of the discussion: "Not all of my coworkers are careful about spelling errors. Sometimes this causes real embarrassment as spelling errors creep into software interfaces." As you've noted, UI is a wholly separate issue from spelling errors in the code itself (function names, variable names, etc.).
Nothing personal, but it's not actually a programmer's job to make sure everything is speelled correktly. This is part of the QA process before a product rolls out the door. Sure, you should do your best, but you need another pair of eyes (or several pairs of eyes) looking at the UI in addition to your own. You can easily miss the forest for the trees.
Seriously? All the DVD players I own let me use the "chapter skip" button to forward past the irritating previews and warnings. Although every preview requires its own "chapter skip", I can get to the DVD menu in less than ten seconds on most discs.
As David Pogue recently wrote, "When the iPhone came out, everybody grumbled and moaned about how Apple had chosen AT&T as its exclusive carrier. I grumbled along with them--and then it hit me: Whom wouldn't people have grumbled about? People also hate Verizon, and T-Mobile, and Sprint."
Similar language appears in most grant contracts from USAID and other international development agencies. Basically, they pay for the services/work/etc., so they insist on getting a non-exclusive but permanent right to use the materials, but the contractee retains full copyright ownership and can permit/deny use by other organizations. They also have other contracts that are work-for-hire -- e.g. they own your work, copyright and all -- but you know that before you bid on the RFP.
I don't see how Google's clause (particularly with the stipulation of "intended for the public") presents any danger. Maybe it's a problem if you said something stupid in a public newsgroup and wish you could take it back, but that is your fault, not Google's.
Heck, I live in upstate NY (more rural than not) between NYC and Albany, and I can't get municipal water to my house. Ditto for heating fuel. The phone lines here (owned by Verizon) are so crappy that modems cap out at 28.8kb, I hear static on the line with every call, and features like Caller ID just don't work. No DSL to the area. Electricity is fine, though; in fact, my meter is equipped with a wireless transmitter so the meter-reading guy can just cruise past my house instead of pulling into my driveway and trudging around the house. Fortunately, the local cable company offers decent cable modem speeds at $50/month, and with a VOIP service, I finally have decent phone service too.
For the guy who moved to the middle of nowhere... what about satellite Internet? Or Verizon's wireless services (NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess)? Is there somebody within a few miles who can get broadband and would let him set up a long-distance WiFi link to his house? It seems like there must be a cheaper way...
I do believe your confusing porn with something emotional and meaningfull, like say a relationship. Its a quick physical release, nothing more.
I'm not going to suggest that porn doesn't feel good. But you imply that it is emotionless and meaningless, which is absurd. Porn affects your thoughts, your perspectives and attitudes regarding other people (as well as yourself), and the things you may expect or attempt when actually engaged in sex (as opposed to just watching it on video). This has consequences, which arefrequentlynegative (PDF).
Anyway, whether you agree or not, here's a Wired article for the discussion...
Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers testifying before a Senate committee Thursday.
Witnesses before the Senate Commerce Committee's Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee spared no superlative in their description of the negative effects of pornography.
Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Therapy, called porn the "most concerning thing to psychological health that I know of existing today."
"The internet is a perfect drug delivery system because you are anonymous, aroused and have role models for these behaviors," Layden said. "To have drug pumped into your house 24/7, free, and children know how to use it better than grown-ups know how to use it -- it's a perfect delivery system if we want to have a whole generation of young addicts who will never have the drug out of their mind."
Pornography addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their addiction than cocaine addicts, since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever, Layden said.
Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist and advisor to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality echoed Layden's concern about the internet and the somatic effects of pornography.
"Pornography really does, unlike other addictions, biologically cause direct release of the most perfect addictive substance," Satinover said. "That is, it causes masturbation, which causes release of the naturally occurring opioids. It does what heroin can't do, in effect."
The internet is dangerous because it removes the inefficiency in the delivery of pornography, making porn much more ubiquitous than in the days when guys in trench coats would sell nudie postcards, Satinover said.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the subcommittee's chairman, called the hearing the most disturbing one he'd ever seen in the Senate. Brownback said porn was ubiquitous now, compared to when he was growing up and "some guy would sneak a magazine in somewhere and show some of us, but you had to find him at the right time."
The hearing came just days after a controversy over a sexually suggestive Monday Night Football ad that has many foreseeing a crackdown on indecency by the Federal Communications Commission.
It is unclear what the consequences of Thursday's hearing will be since it was not connected to any pending or proposed legislation.
Brownback, a conservative Christian, is also scheduled to be rotated off the sub-committee in the next session.
When Brownback asked the panelists for suggestions about what should be done, the responses were mild, considering their earlier indictment of pornography. Several suggested that federal money be alloc
Same in New York. I live in a fairly rural community, and there are three voting booths at the voting station (the local firehouse). There's one check-in line when you enter, then you just line up at whatever booth you want to use. I think it would be very unlikely for someone to correlate the sign-in sequence with the voting sequences.
...why it's more acceptable in the media to see a gun being fired than to see a woman taking off her shirt...
Well, I'm not sure I agree that the media thinks sexuality is less acceptable than violence; it seems like they get equal play on television.
But assuming you are right... I think the reason is that when you see one man kill another on a TV show or in a movie, you know it's a stunt, and nobody really died. But when you see people naked in bed together, you know they are actually naked in bed. It's a different level of reality.
Suppose you are a married man, and you came home to find a masked man chasing your wife with a bloody knife. You would (hopefully) stop him -- and when you found out it was a fake knife and fake blood, and your spouse was in on the joke all along, you might laugh about it later (after you got over your irritation). But if you came home and found your wife naked in bed with another man, I don't think any amount of explanation would calm your concerns. You might even go looking for that bloody knife....
childhood that lasts until the age of 18 or 21... is a relatively modern invention
Agreed. In the not too distant past, people by age 18 would have been married with children. This is still the norm in some countries (usually one called "developing countries").
That's what I was thinking... like, aren't MORE people seeing those resumes now? Isn't that a GOOD thing?
Of course, it's really a problem for identity theft, since there are many details of a persons' life on their resume. In fact you could call them up and make yourself sound like you knew them: "Hey, this is Jamie over at First Bank of Goobersville... yeah, remember when we worked together before you left for Retail Mega-Schmaltz?" I've even seen resumes where people put down the names of their pets -- hello password-reset questions!
Slashdot Mirror
A few years ago, I remember reading an article about the IRS (the government tax division) that had seven or eight regional data centers around the U.S. -- each with many petabytes of storage to store current and historical tax data on hundreds of millions of Americans, corporations, etc. I can't find the article now but it seems like *it* should make the list... maybe even top the list.
FTA:
Holy smokes: the most succesful legal online music distribution service on the Internet is actually a haven for piracy? Up is down, war is peace. Next up: the beef market has been terribly devastated by the popularity of McDonald's restaurants.
From the article:
You can't skip through the commercials? Can't transfer them to a disk or other computer? Any bets on how long this will last?
But maybe this will help...
Right, because online payment systems are magical. Only the top wizards understand the spells that make them work. That's why nobody except Apple has secure software to allow payment by credit cards: Steve Jobs is the toppest of the top wizards.
FTA: "Metaplace will support everything from 2d overhead grids through first-person 3d. However, right now we only have clients that do 2d of various sorts, including grid view, 2d isometric, 2.5d heightfields, and so on. We expect to keep working on the 3d client support."
Ergo, 3D is on its way.
Isn't it lame enough in 2D?
If you don't want to (or can't) sign up, perhaps a review is what you need.
A look inside SpiralFrog...
Inside SpiralFrog Beta
SpiralFrog... Mixed Reviews
And many more.
Mossberg isn't reviewing it for safety. He's reviewing it for ease of use. Even Dell's cheapest Windows systems include trial version of security software -- so there is no finding needed. Now, the user may disable it, but that's something elese entirely......
Back in my day, if you died after three days of a gaming marathon, it was because one of the other gladiators had run you through with a sword. And we didn't have paramedics, either.
I agree we've come a long way, but does that really matter when someone is considering a new computer? Would you buy a car with a problematic transmission just because it works better than last year's model? It needs to work correctly, not just better than before.
Mossberg isn't just dumping on Linux or open source. He generally likes the idea of OSS:
Rather, he notes some average-user-level problems with Ubuntu (simple things like video, audio, and mouse issues). He's talking about usability by people who don't read Slashdot and are not related to (or dating) someone who DOES read Slashdot.
Of course, he still thinks that "the Apple iMac as the best consumer desktop computer on the market." And we all know the iMac is horrible to use and support!
Slashdot just OWNS those grammar nazis, word!
Of all the music I heard on the way to work today, the catchiest tune was someone's ringtone in the elevator. It's about time they started realizing it's the music version of viral marketing.
The ridiculous price is something else. But the concept is good.
You're assuming that Apple has the freedome to make it free. Groups like the RIAA want to control the revenue streams from ringtones -- resulting in a higher cost for a ringtone than it would cost to buy the whole song legally. Said the president of Warner Music, "We think of the ringtone as the new single. It definitely functions as a buzz builder. It reaches a younger audience effectively." Ergo, we're gonna make money off of it!!!!
You're right. My apologies for a classic knee-jerk reaction to the opening lines of the discussion: "Not all of my coworkers are careful about spelling errors. Sometimes this causes real embarrassment as spelling errors creep into software interfaces." As you've noted, UI is a wholly separate issue from spelling errors in the code itself (function names, variable names, etc.).
Nothing personal, but it's not actually a programmer's job to make sure everything is speelled correktly. This is part of the QA process before a product rolls out the door. Sure, you should do your best, but you need another pair of eyes (or several pairs of eyes) looking at the UI in addition to your own. You can easily miss the forest for the trees.
Seriously? All the DVD players I own let me use the "chapter skip" button to forward past the irritating previews and warnings. Although every preview requires its own "chapter skip", I can get to the DVD menu in less than ten seconds on most discs.
As David Pogue recently wrote, "When the iPhone came out, everybody grumbled and moaned about how Apple had chosen AT&T as its exclusive carrier. I grumbled along with them--and then it hit me: Whom wouldn't people have grumbled about? People also hate Verizon, and T-Mobile, and Sprint."
Similar language appears in most grant contracts from USAID and other international development agencies. Basically, they pay for the services/work/etc., so they insist on getting a non-exclusive but permanent right to use the materials, but the contractee retains full copyright ownership and can permit/deny use by other organizations. They also have other contracts that are work-for-hire -- e.g. they own your work, copyright and all -- but you know that before you bid on the RFP.
I don't see how Google's clause (particularly with the stipulation of "intended for the public") presents any danger. Maybe it's a problem if you said something stupid in a public newsgroup and wish you could take it back, but that is your fault, not Google's.
Heck, I live in upstate NY (more rural than not) between NYC and Albany, and I can't get municipal water to my house. Ditto for heating fuel. The phone lines here (owned by Verizon) are so crappy that modems cap out at 28.8kb, I hear static on the line with every call, and features like Caller ID just don't work. No DSL to the area. Electricity is fine, though; in fact, my meter is equipped with a wireless transmitter so the meter-reading guy can just cruise past my house instead of pulling into my driveway and trudging around the house. Fortunately, the local cable company offers decent cable modem speeds at $50/month, and with a VOIP service, I finally have decent phone service too.
For the guy who moved to the middle of nowhere... what about satellite Internet? Or Verizon's wireless services (NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess)? Is there somebody within a few miles who can get broadband and would let him set up a long-distance WiFi link to his house? It seems like there must be a cheaper way...
I'm not going to suggest that porn doesn't feel good. But you imply that it is emotionless and meaningless, which is absurd. Porn affects your thoughts, your perspectives and attitudes regarding other people (as well as yourself), and the things you may expect or attempt when actually engaged in sex (as opposed to just watching it on video). This has consequences, which are frequently negative (PDF).
Anyway, whether you agree or not, here's a Wired article for the discussion...
Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack?
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004 /11/65772
Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers testifying before a Senate committee Thursday.
Witnesses before the Senate Commerce Committee's Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee spared no superlative in their description of the negative effects of pornography.
Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Therapy, called porn the "most concerning thing to psychological health that I know of existing today."
"The internet is a perfect drug delivery system because you are anonymous, aroused and have role models for these behaviors," Layden said. "To have drug pumped into your house 24/7, free, and children know how to use it better than grown-ups know how to use it -- it's a perfect delivery system if we want to have a whole generation of young addicts who will never have the drug out of their mind."
Pornography addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their addiction than cocaine addicts, since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever, Layden said.
Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist and advisor to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality echoed Layden's concern about the internet and the somatic effects of pornography.
"Pornography really does, unlike other addictions, biologically cause direct release of the most perfect addictive substance," Satinover said. "That is, it causes masturbation, which causes release of the naturally occurring opioids. It does what heroin can't do, in effect."
The internet is dangerous because it removes the inefficiency in the delivery of pornography, making porn much more ubiquitous than in the days when guys in trench coats would sell nudie postcards, Satinover said.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the subcommittee's chairman, called the hearing the most disturbing one he'd ever seen in the Senate. Brownback said porn was ubiquitous now, compared to when he was growing up and "some guy would sneak a magazine in somewhere and show some of us, but you had to find him at the right time."
The hearing came just days after a controversy over a sexually suggestive Monday Night Football ad that has many foreseeing a crackdown on indecency by the Federal Communications Commission.
It is unclear what the consequences of Thursday's hearing will be since it was not connected to any pending or proposed legislation.
Brownback, a conservative Christian, is also scheduled to be rotated off the sub-committee in the next session.
When Brownback asked the panelists for suggestions about what should be done, the responses were mild, considering their earlier indictment of pornography. Several suggested that federal money be alloc
Same in New York. I live in a fairly rural community, and there are three voting booths at the voting station (the local firehouse). There's one check-in line when you enter, then you just line up at whatever booth you want to use. I think it would be very unlikely for someone to correlate the sign-in sequence with the voting sequences.
Well, I'm not sure I agree that the media thinks sexuality is less acceptable than violence; it seems like they get equal play on television.
But assuming you are right... I think the reason is that when you see one man kill another on a TV show or in a movie, you know it's a stunt, and nobody really died. But when you see people naked in bed together, you know they are actually naked in bed. It's a different level of reality.
Suppose you are a married man, and you came home to find a masked man chasing your wife with a bloody knife. You would (hopefully) stop him -- and when you found out it was a fake knife and fake blood, and your spouse was in on the joke all along, you might laugh about it later (after you got over your irritation). But if you came home and found your wife naked in bed with another man, I don't think any amount of explanation would calm your concerns. You might even go looking for that bloody knife....
Agreed. In the not too distant past, people by age 18 would have been married with children. This is still the norm in some countries (usually one called "developing countries").
That's what I was thinking... like, aren't MORE people seeing those resumes now? Isn't that a GOOD thing?
Of course, it's really a problem for identity theft, since there are many details of a persons' life on their resume. In fact you could call them up and make yourself sound like you knew them: "Hey, this is Jamie over at First Bank of Goobersville... yeah, remember when we worked together before you left for Retail Mega-Schmaltz?" I've even seen resumes where people put down the names of their pets -- hello password-reset questions!
"They probably won an award."
(from The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman)