I was going to ask about "why get this if there's MinGW" but I see it's already been asked. I suspected someone would say Microsoft's compiler produces better code. Now where's the evidence? I'm looking for something like independent benchmarks or studying of generated code.
What about patents? A lot of the stuff that goes into a search engine must be patented by now. I'm sure that if you create a search engine you'll end up infringing a bunch of these patents. Yes, I'm sure that in many cases it's obvious, and there's probably prior art, but I expect that the patents are still there and it's like a minefield of patents.
So how do you make a search engine and not get sued for infringement, or at least be able to win in the lawsuits?
What about the Google toolbar? I always have it visible and I find it very useful. (I'm sure some people would complain about privacy issues, but the warnings are clear and the relevant features are easy to disable.)
Power IE is a good shareware toolbar which can block popups and ads had has various other useful features. It's considerably faster than using a proxy server to block ads, and you don't have that extra process running.
You can't say that all 3rd party browser add-ons are bad. You just have to be careful with what you install, especially stuff that is supposedly "FREE!!!!"
I guess I have to agree that music download stores probably depend on DRM. No that doesn't make sense logically in terms of preventing piracy. It's just that I'm sure it makes record companies more willing to release music in that format.
I guess they're just stupid. Anybody can easily download music without DRM from filesharing networks. Often it's at higher bitrates and sometimes it's even in a lossless format like Mokey's Audio (APE). Furthermore I can't see how DRM can work because if you can decode it to play it then you can strip the DRM from it and distribute it. No, the software might not support that but cracking it can't be hard.
The only thing DRM really accomplishes is it annoys people who legally download music. Compare the amount of software and hardware that can play plain MP3 files with the amount that can play DRM formats. What about if you live in a country that they won't sell to? (Where's the logic there anyways?) What about if you want to move to another country and iTunes wants to delete all the music you purchased? (I remember reading about that on Slashdot.)
Simply watermarking music so the original purchaser can be tracked might be a nice un-intrusive way to protect music. However, with all the viruses and worms going around you'd probably find that some people have their music stolen through back doors and then they'd be liable for that.
Trying to crack encryption with brute force is so pointless. I don't think it actually accomplishes anything useful. The length of time and amount of resources that are needed can be understood theoretically, without any need for running the experiment. The real threat to an encryption scheme is from new much faster methods cracking methods and these sorts of contests don't seem to encourage that; it's mostly about brute forcing it.
More importantly there are more useful distributed computing projects. Here is a pretty good index. For example there's Folding@Home which furthers our onderstanding of proteins, which are so important in so many life processes and diseases, and
fightAIDS@home which has already found a promising new drug. Or how about SETI@home? Trying to crack encryption by brute force seems like such a waste in comparison to these.
Perhaps the encryption contests are so popular just because you can win money. It's like a lottery. Maybe the only thing that could be done would be to have a cash prize for significant findings in other projects, or if who did it can't be defined due to the nature of the algorithm, maybe even just an ordinary lottery?
What about Apple and Microsoft? Apple produces software that runs on Windows and Microsoft produces stuff for the Mac. You can play Apple's DRMed tracks in Windows and Microsoft's in MacOS. Does that seem wrong to you?
Yes some camera recorded movies are so terrible that I wonder why they ever bothered encoding and uploading after seeing how their recording sucks. However, they can sometimes be pretty good. www.vcdquality.com is very useful. Before downloading a cam or telesync (often just better quality cam) check out what that site says on it.
Also remember that a cam version might be the only one out before around the time the DVD comes out. If you want to download a movie and you have no other choice what can you do?
Perhaps if you really want it that badly you should go see it in a cinema though? I usually end up doing this even after getting a cam version if the movie is good. I guess it's kind of like shareware for movies.
Oh come on, they've been around long enough and they're still spreading like wildfire. E-mail is just too important and I can't imagine that it would be abandoned. Also people don't seem to even fear attachments. These sort of viruses have been around for a while and there are still lots of people who run the attachments and install viruses on their computers.
I think things would only change if default setups of Windows were secure against this sort of thing.
Re:Yeah, Archos Jukebox 6000 had it too.
on
iPod Mini Design Flaw?
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· Score: 2, Informative
LOL (hope parent gets modded funny)
Nope, it didn't support OGG. It was the first hard-drive based MP3 player released by Archos. The hardware was not able to play anything besides uncompressed (WAV) and MP3 audio files.
The reasons for not using WD-40 are valid. Sure it works, but it might not work for long! If you want to try a spray try contact cleaner. You can get it at most places that sell electronic components.
Sprays won't fix faulty connections though. Sometimes you need to open up the case and do some soldering...
Yeah, Archos Jukebox 6000 had it too.
on
iPod Mini Design Flaw?
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I had an Archos Jukebox 6000 and it had a solder joint problem. It wasn't with the audio output but the power supply connection. The solder connection between two boards was bad. I opened it up, fixed that, and that was the end of that problem.
Unfortunately this iPod Mini problem seems more severe. Due to the design too much stress is put on the connection and if you fixed it I'm sure it'd break again soon enough. Plus eventually something that you couldn't fix easily might break, either from the disassembling and re-assembling or from the stress at that point. Hopefully there is some way to take stress off that connection.
They are killing themselves slowly. First they delayed for so long with online distribtion and now this. It's like they want file-sharing to ruin them.
Right. ATI cards with TV out also generate Macrovision when playing DVDs that say they should. ATI cards that capture video even actually detect Macrovision and stop the capture.
However, this is no big deal really. Cracks for the drivers are out there. You can also buy devices that remove Macrovision from the analog signal. They're not expensive either.
BTW Macrovision also makes software copy protection. Photoshop 8 CS activation is by them. There's a keygen for it! How retarded is that? Activation could be cryptographically secure.
I was responding to: and copy protection built right into the cable system (protected by the DMCA, naturally)
My point was that you don't need the government to take control of the cable network to have something like that happen. Well, ok, you needed the government to pass the DMCA but now that it's there private companies can do whatevertheywant. Being sued by a company is also probably worse than dealing with the government as the company may be more intent on causing financial ruin. Yes, it seems many DMCA abuses eventually end, but the chilling effect is huge.
Oh, and as for CSS and protecting property, there's also the region coding, and I can't see that as protecting property. Plus it effectively tries to stop fair use and even all use of DVDs on certain operating systems.
How about Google Groups? It's already possible to use it to store large amounts of data. You can obviously use it for anything that can be public and if you want it to be private you can just encrypt it.
In fact you can still get yEnc encoded binaries from Google Groups. I'm sure they'll start discarding them eventually but if you made an encoding that isn't used much those messages would stay permanently.
It's easy enough to put something conductive on the inside of a wooden case. It's not a new problem either; what about stuff in plastic cases? I've seen metal screens, foil or even conductive paint used in such situations.
I find that with OSes there generally isn't any stability vs. speed tradeoff. An OS that's faster tends to also be more stable because it's better written or simpler.
Slashdot Mirror
I wish I could use my mod points here. If you want cross-platform compatibility you do not want to use the Microsoft compiler!!
I was going to ask about "why get this if there's MinGW" but I see it's already been asked. I suspected someone would say Microsoft's compiler produces better code. Now where's the evidence? I'm looking for something like independent benchmarks or studying of generated code.
So how do you make a search engine and not get sued for infringement, or at least be able to win in the lawsuits?
What about when both ads and useful content are hosted from the same hostname?
Power IE is a good shareware toolbar which can block popups and ads had has various other useful features. It's considerably faster than using a proxy server to block ads, and you don't have that extra process running.
You can't say that all 3rd party browser add-ons are bad. You just have to be careful with what you install, especially stuff that is supposedly "FREE!!!!"
I guess they're just stupid. Anybody can easily download music without DRM from file sharing networks. Often it's at higher bitrates and sometimes it's even in a lossless format like Mokey's Audio (APE). Furthermore I can't see how DRM can work because if you can decode it to play it then you can strip the DRM from it and distribute it. No, the software might not support that but cracking it can't be hard.
The only thing DRM really accomplishes is it annoys people who legally download music. Compare the amount of software and hardware that can play plain MP3 files with the amount that can play DRM formats. What about if you live in a country that they won't sell to? (Where's the logic there anyways?) What about if you want to move to another country and iTunes wants to delete all the music you purchased? (I remember reading about that on Slashdot.)
Simply watermarking music so the original purchaser can be tracked might be a nice un-intrusive way to protect music. However, with all the viruses and worms going around you'd probably find that some people have their music stolen through back doors and then they'd be liable for that.
More importantly there are more useful distributed computing projects. Here is a pretty good index. For example there's Folding@Home which furthers our onderstanding of proteins, which are so important in so many life processes and diseases, and fightAIDS@home which has already found a promising new drug. Or how about SETI@home? Trying to crack encryption by brute force seems like such a waste in comparison to these.
Perhaps the encryption contests are so popular just because you can win money. It's like a lottery. Maybe the only thing that could be done would be to have a cash prize for significant findings in other projects, or if who did it can't be defined due to the nature of the algorithm, maybe even just an ordinary lottery?
What about Apple and Microsoft? Apple produces software that runs on Windows and Microsoft produces stuff for the Mac. You can play Apple's DRMed tracks in Windows and Microsoft's in MacOS. Does that seem wrong to you?
Also remember that a cam version might be the only one out before around the time the DVD comes out. If you want to download a movie and you have no other choice what can you do?
Perhaps if you really want it that badly you should go see it in a cinema though? I usually end up doing this even after getting a cam version if the movie is good. I guess it's kind of like shareware for movies.
That's not just funny, it's also insightful. I'm sure it'll be way too cautious and very annoying and people will disable it.
I think things would only change if default setups of Windows were secure against this sort of thing.
Nope, it didn't support OGG. It was the first hard-drive based MP3 player released by Archos. The hardware was not able to play anything besides uncompressed (WAV) and MP3 audio files.
But hey, at least it has alternative open source fimware.
The reasons for not using WD-40 are valid. Sure it works, but it might not work for long! If you want to try a spray try contact cleaner. You can get it at most places that sell electronic components. Sprays won't fix faulty connections though. Sometimes you need to open up the case and do some soldering...
Unfortunately this iPod Mini problem seems more severe. Due to the design too much stress is put on the connection and if you fixed it I'm sure it'd break again soon enough. Plus eventually something that you couldn't fix easily might break, either from the disassembling and re-assembling or from the stress at that point. Hopefully there is some way to take stress off that connection.
They are killing themselves slowly. First they delayed for so long with online distribtion and now this. It's like they want file-sharing to ruin them.
CRTs have been used as memory devices on some of the earlierst computers, in the form of Williams-Kilburn Tubes
However, this is no big deal really. Cracks for the drivers are out there. You can also buy devices that remove Macrovision from the analog signal. They're not expensive either.
BTW Macrovision also makes software copy protection. Photoshop 8 CS activation is by them. There's a keygen for it! How retarded is that? Activation could be cryptographically secure.
and copy protection built right into the cable system (protected by the DMCA, naturally)
My point was that you don't need the government to take control of the cable network to have something like that happen. Well, ok, you needed the government to pass the DMCA but now that it's there private companies can do whatever they want. Being sued by a company is also probably worse than dealing with the government as the company may be more intent on causing financial ruin. Yes, it seems many DMCA abuses eventually end, but the chilling effect is huge.
Oh, and as for CSS and protecting property, there's also the region coding, and I can't see that as protecting property. Plus it effectively tries to stop fair use and even all use of DVDs on certain operating systems.
Oh, and what bias do you want? Corporate or government? Are the networks fair and balanced now?
Peercast is a pretty good solution. The only problem is that it has very few stations. I've uninstalled it and I only listen to shoutcast now.
In fact you can still get yEnc encoded binaries from Google Groups. I'm sure they'll start discarding them eventually but if you made an encoding that isn't used much those messages would stay permanently.
Sorry... I had no clue it was 20% to 60%. I live in Ontario, Canada, and I don't think we have anything like that here.
Loyalty cards are your choice, and you can still buy stuff without them. I don't see how that relates to RFID.
It's easy enough to put something conductive on the inside of a wooden case. It's not a new problem either; what about stuff in plastic cases? I've seen metal screens, foil or even conductive paint used in such situations.
I find that with OSes there generally isn't any stability vs. speed tradeoff. An OS that's faster tends to also be more stable because it's better written or simpler.