I have to agree. For the last three months, I have been living at a place without a TV.
Not watching TV means that you miss out on shows like The Apprentice, but it has given me so much time to do other things like reading a book, hanging out with friends et al. With the Internet, you don't really miss out on the news. As it is the TV news is really crappy, giving us useless stuff like how the dog in the neighboring street was lost the other day.
I now find that I don't need to get my daily fix of TV, which is a Good Thing(tm). All in all, I like it!
From gmail.google.com: As we're in a testing period, we don't have more details for when Gmail will be made widely available, but we thank you for your interest in Gmail. In the meantime, if you'd like to be updated about Gmail, feel free to submit your email address below. We will only use your email to send you more information about Gmail. It will not be shared with any third parties.
I guess they're asking people (suckers?) to prove that they fell for the joke! If you sign up, I'm sure all you'll get is a big "April Fool's Joke" kinds email.
I found this ad at the bottom of the article
Microsoft - Get the facts on Microsoft(R) Windows(R) and Linux. Click here.
Why pay more for Linux than Microsoft(R) Windows(R)? Through a variety of tests and comparisons, major third-party research and analysis firms found Windows to be less expensive than Linux in the long run. Read all the studies and see for yourself. Click here to get the facts.
Quite a paradox when one compares it with what the article talks about.. Is someone who's reading the article (typical./er) really going to believe this ad? lol!
That's the impression I got after checking out the other articles written by the author (David Berlind) on the website archives. He has a few interviews with high-ranking SCO employees. Most of the articles are written from the SCO viewpoint too, IMO.
Moreover, in this article too, nowhere has he questioned the validity of SCO's claims. He seems content to criticize other companies for their indemnification programs.
Narayanan's program parses speech by transforming it into electrical waveforms. "If you plot these waveforms given off by speech -- those wiggly things -- a high energy will give a greater amplitude, which affects the way the waves come out," Narayanan said.
Do people reading Wired really need waveforms explained to them as "wiggly things"?? Are they really that dumb?:)
Article ignores technical problems!
on
The Trouble with RFID
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I have seen many of these "fear-mongering" articles now on Slashdot as well as other sites. Most oversimplify the matter without really considering the technical difficulties that make such tracking scenarios fairly impossible.
During my internship the last 6 months, I was developing precisely such item-tracking software and RFID tags.
Firstly, the range on these tag readers is so low (~ 5-10 m) that tracking anyone or anything in the world outside the store/warehouse is not a trivial task. Neither are they very accurate in their sensing capabilities. This would require millions of these readers all interconnected and interfacing with the same database.
Secondly, in order for these stores to think of tracking customers (when they are in the store) based on the items they purchase, those items would have to be bought from the same store chain right? Obviously, Walmart does not have access to Sears' database!
Thirdly, and I think someone raised this point before, that current systems and pilots track on the pallet and case level. Item-level tagging raises the challenges of managing the huge amounts of data and network traffic. These concerns are so real and serious that many are raising doubts about the potential use of RFID tags in retail stores. Most of these tags do not work at all if they are in contact with some metal, as is the case in some shoes. RFID tags have good application in warehouse scenarios, where the privacy concerns aren't that great.
I agree that RFID technology has some privacy issues, but most people seem content to object based on some imagined fears or paranoia. Look at the hard technical facts before bringing on the tin-foil hats:)
Seems as if most Americans aren't sure of their views about outsourcing.. But I guess Greenspan isn't personally affected by it and so isn't the best judge;)
Doesn't this qualify as an abuse of the Google search service? I (and I'm sure millions of others) browse through Google results to get the articles and opinions from over the world. Allowing this would mean no fair-an-balanced news via Google anymore.
Google would be wise to come up with way to prevent such abuse IMHO.
Slashdot Mirror
Has anyone out there tried fastmail.fm? The various paid versions rock, but the free one isn't too bad either!!
Not watching TV means that you miss out on shows like The Apprentice, but it has given me so much time to do other things like reading a book, hanging out with friends et al. With the Internet, you don't really miss out on the news. As it is the TV news is really crappy, giving us useless stuff like how the dog in the neighboring street was lost the other day.
I now find that I don't need to get my daily fix of TV, which is a Good Thing(tm). All in all, I like it!
As we're in a testing period, we don't have more details for when Gmail will be made widely available, but we thank you for your interest in Gmail. In the meantime, if you'd like to be updated about Gmail, feel free to submit your email address below. We will only use your email to send you more information about Gmail. It will not be shared with any third parties.
I guess they're asking people (suckers?) to prove that they fell for the joke! If you sign up, I'm sure all you'll get is a big "April Fool's Joke" kinds email.
Microsoft - Get the facts on Microsoft(R) Windows(R) and Linux. Click here. Why pay more for Linux than Microsoft(R) Windows(R)? Through a variety of tests and comparisons, major third-party research and analysis firms found Windows to be less expensive than Linux in the long run. Read all the studies and see for yourself. Click here to get the facts.
Quite a paradox when one compares it with what the article talks about.. Is someone who's reading the article (typical ./er) really going to believe this ad? lol!
Moreover, in this article too, nowhere has he questioned the validity of SCO's claims. He seems content to criticize other companies for their indemnification programs.
so most positions listed in the Bay Area Craigslist are legit IMO
Do people reading Wired really need waveforms explained to them as "wiggly things"?? Are they really that dumb? :)
I have seen many of these "fear-mongering" articles now on Slashdot as well as other sites. Most oversimplify the matter without really considering the technical difficulties that make such tracking scenarios fairly impossible.
:)
During my internship the last 6 months, I was developing precisely such item-tracking software and RFID tags.
Firstly, the range on these tag readers is so low (~ 5-10 m) that tracking anyone or anything in the world outside the store/warehouse is not a trivial task. Neither are they very accurate in their sensing capabilities. This would require millions of these readers all interconnected and interfacing with the same database.
Secondly, in order for these stores to think of tracking customers (when they are in the store) based on the items they purchase, those items would have to be bought from the same store chain right? Obviously, Walmart does not have access to Sears' database!
Thirdly, and I think someone raised this point before, that current systems and pilots track on the pallet and case level. Item-level tagging raises the challenges of managing the huge amounts of data and network traffic. These concerns are so real and serious that many are raising doubts about the potential use of RFID tags in retail stores. Most of these tags do not work at all if they are in contact with some metal, as is the case in some shoes.
RFID tags have good application in warehouse scenarios, where the privacy concerns aren't that great.
I agree that RFID technology has some privacy issues, but most people seem content to object based on some imagined fears or paranoia. Look at the hard technical facts before bringing on the tin-foil hats
How nice that the head of the Mac BU at Microsoft is named "McDonough"!
Guess that makes him qualified to be where he is.
here.
;)
Seems as if most Americans aren't sure of their views about outsourcing.. But I guess Greenspan isn't personally affected by it and so isn't the best judge
Doesn't this qualify as an abuse of the Google search service?
I (and I'm sure millions of others) browse through Google results to get the articles and opinions from over the world. Allowing this would mean no fair-an-balanced news via Google anymore.
Google would be wise to come up with way to prevent such abuse IMHO.
Are you on the rebound from diablo recently?
Or were you referring to this?
A man in Australia, claiming to be a Nigerian, dupes people in the US!
This guy can be found here too... jack of all trades