good point, wish i could give you some of my informative points. I often use imdb to demonstrate the overall power of the web (collaberation, free association, information aggregation, and utility) to unsophisticated users. I can always find them a new, interesting (to them) piece of information in just a few seconds. created quite a few addicts.
Re:What About Amazon?
on
An IMDb for Books
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· Score: 5, Informative
IMDB was originally started by some english blokes as a free universal database project much like the original cddb and the like. You can see its' origins in some of the odd bits of information - they'll often have finnish or irish box office figures for an obscure movie but not U.S.. In my opinion those boys did one hell of a job setting it up. A few years back they sold out to Amazon for a (rumoured) $100M, not a bad chunk of change. Amazon has linked dvd sales to the site be seems to otherwise have left it to it's own devices. The greater clunkiness of the site these days owes more to the business folks who are running the site for amazon who seem to be trying to turn it into another Daily Variety.
On the road, doubt this will be modded up as it's a bit OT. It is important to understand that while the tech infrastructure is pathetic, that does not mean that the individual staff (the people using that infrastructure) are not tech savvy. A combination of administrative red tape CYA and woefully inadequate funding keeps it that way, regardless of what some of the more informed staffers may want.
Now, on the other hand, I am not saying that most Congressional staff are tech savvy - most are drawn from the same pool as staffs most law firms (for those who can't help themselves insert pol/lawyer joke here) and as many techies know law firms were basically the last part of the economy to computerize. In fact, if it were not for lexis/westlaw, they would probably still be using paper and secretaries. The kind of people who get involved with law GENERALLY (i just know someone will assume I'm making a blanket statement) are less interested in technology and less sensible to it's uses then people in other fields.
Also, while many of the legislative staff writing tech legislation would not know linux from dos or... well I can't come up with anything good right now, does not immediately call into question the legislation they produce (that sound you hear is the mass of/.ers guffawing.) Some of these same talented people produce good legislation on health care despite not being MDs, on wall street despite not being financiers, and on aviation despite not being airline pilots. Sure plenty of bad legislation gets written, but that has more to do with actual malice aforethought then a lack of understanding of technology.
I'm sorry that I don't have a lot of time to respond right now, I'm leaving town in the morning but I will try to respond more fully sometime late next week. A few items:
1) Historical - The Senate did not have access to the internet at all until 1996. It was only accomplished then by a group of staffers who hacked the existing e-mail system to connect to the internet. Rather then allow this, the Sgt at Arms (Admin) finally establish regular web access.
2) That email - until three short months ago the Senate was using cc:mail for all communications. Not Notes, cc:mail. Despite the fact that it had been unsupported for years and regularly went down (and was unable to handle the volume of constituent e-mail.) The successor is a bastardized implementation of exchange. The actual exchange migration project was started 4 years before it was completed. In the first three months the Senate has suffered 5 days of downtime, and selective delivery of e-mails in high volume periods.
3) Only Compaq, and one configuration of compaq, are allowed to be purchased at any time. This is despite the fact that the SAA provides very little support for the in-office systems. A Senator-employed SysAdmin provides all of the local support. Dell is strictly prohibited. The price paid for the compaq systems is regularly at least 15% above the rate one would pay if you bought directly from the compaq website, for an identical system, software included.
4) The above mentioned sysadmins average a salary of approximately $40,000 per year. Most manage a 30+ system office with 3 servers, 4+ remote offices, and an entirely non-technical staff. The salary is a function of the fact that all Senate salaries are absurdly low for the work involved. While public service is a privilege, for the most part all mid-level (Sys Admins, Legislative Aides) and senior staff see a 2.5 to 3X increase in their compensation when moving to the private sector. The effects of this situation should be obvious.
5) A e-mails must be PRINTED and responded to on paper. The Senate has refused to invest in a sufficient authentication system to ensure that it would be very difficult to forge or redirect a Senator's e-mail communication (many law offices use systems for this.) Regardless, it is impossible to use the Senate's $35,000 per year per office correspondence system to respond directly to e-mails.
6) Senate offices are prohibited from using their technology budgets to a) pay a better sysadmin, or b) hire programers to improve the systems we do have.
For the record, I am not a Senate SA, but I have employed them. That's all I have off the top of my head.
In order to prevent a Senator from using the Senate resources to develop a national e-mail list of supporters they are directed to only reply to e-mails from their own state. This prevents the use of a (unfortunately limited due to the sorry state of senate technology) resource meant for constituent contact for other purposes.
Maybe Wyden will rub off on Smith...until then, bombard Smith with anti-MPAA/RIAA mail and informed information. Perhaps we can get a convert in the form of the Senior Senator from the state of Oregon.
I agree with you, though unfortunately, I think alternate history is never high on hollywoods list of viable plots - I could count on my hands, no make that one hand, hell, a finger will do, the number of major movies made around the idea of alternative history. (and land of the lost type stuff doesn't count)
Actually the entire motivation for my reply was that Johnny M was a spectacular basis for a movie - the style was there, the story was short and tight, it was an easy basic chase plot, it began with a nice action scene. It could have been a minor action hit and a nice entry to the cyberpunk films genre, but instead Longo decided to turn it into something bigger then it needed to be and killed it in the process. Gibson is listed as the screenwriter, but I find it hard to believe that he butchered his own work like that - afterall, it was already a short story, he could have scripted the text and been down with it.
On a similar note, New Rose Hotel would make an excellent Guy Ritchie project. The Ferrara film is just a mess (tip for hollywood, just because it's cyberpunk, it doesn't need to be strange). Ignoring his recent fiasco, he has a gift for the double cross storyline, has shown how to use voice-over in film effectively (a necessity in Gibson stories) and could put some real energy into it. Again, as a short story, the script is halfway there. You got some nice locations, a couple of meaty male roles, and a chance to do something original with an old form.
Bah, why do I ever hope for anything good out of these people.
same here, though I went into a fairly recession proof field, it was still a rough time. I drove one old car into the ground, and I currently drive a ten year old car - and I'm a car guy, I can quote specs on every cool model out there. I rebuilt and restored a 60's convertible when I was in high school. At some point you have to grow up and not buy that three series convertible just because you want it.
It may be foolish to wave people out of the home market even now - the population is increasing faster then the stock, so while there may be local bubbles, the price increases are largely rationally market driven. On the other hand, you still have to buy smart (location, amenities, schools) or you can easily lose money in any market.
The fact is, we have been nicely screwed by the calender, started off in the hole, saw the false promise of a "new economy" which encouraged our less cautious brethern to spend beyond their means, and now we are seeing our carfully marshalled retirement savings of 25-50k cut in half by a market where even the blue chips are down 40% - not a problem short term, but the magic of long-term compounding will not be working for all that seed money that was lost.
Many of us are doing fine, but not nearly as well as we reasonably would have hoped. We are the other "lost generation" '04 - '14, too young for ww1, too old for ww2, trying to start a family during the depression. Their history is not a happy one.
Oh, you mean the recession that most of us came out of college and looked for a job in? You seem to be using the same math skills you oldtimers used to come up with the social security formulas that will leave you with nothing that isn't taken out of our pockets.
Yes, but everything is very expensive (compared to NorCal) there's humidity sometime (aaaaahhhhhh!) and the Typhoons and volcanos can really ruin a nice day. Oh, and you can't drive to Yosemite, Point Reyes, Shasta, Tahoe, or the coast for a short weekend. On the other hand, you are in Hawaii.
This place already makes New Orleans city politics look bush league - I've worked both places.
Oh, and the most important thing: As far as Valerie goes, yes the weather is that bad, but you get to skip the worst parts, and representing the bay area, you would not need to move your family to Washington.
I speak as a Walnut Creek, CA native - the weather anywhere outside of NorCal stinks compared to NorCal. If the capitol wasn't here, you couldn't keep me out of CA for a minute - but if we leave DC to only those who can take the weather, then we really will be leaving it to the swamp dwellers.
There are a number of good competitive districts immediately surrounding Barbara's, at least a couple of which could be sympathetic to a candidacy like yours. I do this for a living, and while I have not taken the time to review your background to the extent that I could comment on your political viability, you're public persona is one that could be very appealing to voters in that region.
I have spent years trying to get more techies involved with politics. While the majority would not be best used by getting directly involved and running themselves, you are one of the few individuals who may fit the mold. To the extent that a politically tenable techie is such a rarity this is something I would urge you to consider and explore.
Again, knowing nothing of your financial situation, if you are able, this would be the opportune time to take a position that would boost your political prospects.
How does everyone here feel about the idea of a Congressman Bruce Perens?
Ok, this is a start, I'm hoping to get more input from some experts here (either in electronics, DRM software design or broadcast standards) because believe it or not, no one in this town seems to know. One thing is certain, those arguing for the flag claim it will have no effect but they have no technological explanation as to how that will be achieved.
I can say confidently that if the broadcast flag makes current tuners obsolete, it CAN be stopped. The political cost of implementing it will be high. Not so high that the entertainment industry can't make headway, but a concerted opposition by the CEA and users could suceeded, despite the normally defeatist attitute on this issue.
example: The current fcc decision. policy wise, the best move here is to require every tv manufacturer to manufacture and sell external digital to analog tuners by a date certain. This would eliminate anyone paying for electronics they don't need and provide for the digital tuner infrastructure when it is actually needed, for only those who need it. Prices will be lower (a $200 dig tuner in 2004 is a $70 dig tuner in 2007 - not to mention the opportunity cost of the $130), and most (85%) of the tv viewers will not need the tuner at all (cable box, sat tv). Why was this approach not taken? Because it meant that at some point in the next six years, the federal government was going to be forced to "throw a switch" that would make about 15% of the population buy a $100 tuner box in order to keep getting their hee haw reruns. There is nothing more frightening to a politico then that situation.
Now, with the digital flag, we may only be talking about 3-4% of the viewing public, but they (generally) wealthier, better educated, and more geographically diverse - in pure political calculus that puts them on par with the 15% of broadcast receivers. If they are going to be screwed, in a mush more profound way then the 15%, they will be allies that a/.er could only dream of.
This is why I would like to get this nailed down once and for all. I cannot get a straight answer from anyone on this - the content guys say "don't worry, we can make it work - the techies are lying" the CEA won't answer, most tech cos. tell me "we think" it will junk the TVs, but we haven't looked at it "now will you get us some more H1Bs" (still). It would be nice to get one of those expert, reasoned, backed-up explanations that/. is famous for hell I'm desperate and at least here I've got a 1-400,000 chance of a straight answer.
I appreciate the mods, but PLEASE, we have a lot of techies around here, SOMEONE, one of you must actually design these things, I need an ANSWER to THIS QUESTION.
I don't mean to shout, but I'm an amateur techie myself, I am involved with the "political" end of this, and no one seems to be able to address this issue.
Ok here is the big question I cannot seem to get an answer to. In the FCCs meeting this week they are also beginning the process to require a digital broadcast flag "reader" in digital tuners. A regulation is expected by January.
What is the effect of a broadcast flag on digital tuners that are currently on the market? Do they bypass the flag? Will they not work? Will they somehow recognize and follow the flag?
Given that the flag issues is not yet worked out, and we're now mandating the digital tuners, are we designing a great big hole in the system or are we requiring millions of people to buy equipment that will be obsolete in just a couple of years?
hmm - is the reason the broadcasters and content guys are pushing the integrated tuner because they know that means when the old pre-flag set wear out, those tuners will be gone?
Also - can't manufacturers get around this by calling their sets "monitors" and not televisions. In the old days a "monitor" was a tunerless tv, and with advent of hdtv resolutions/capabilities, the dividing line between the newer meaning of (computer) monitor and tuner-less TV essentially disappears.
Ok, I can whup it on basic, but I cannot win at all on advanced - hell, I can see every computer move to beat me before he makes it, but I can't seem to figure out how to beat it. I also CAN'T STOP TRYING TO BEAT IT. YOU HAVE STOLEN HOURS OF MY LIFE!!! DAMN YOU DRIOD_RAGE!!!! DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!!!!
More importantly, if they require digital tuners now, and haven't yet mandated a broadcast flag, they are going to be hard pressed to implement drm in the next 5-10 years, as they revolt of people forced to buy tvs that now cannot receive all content will be a thing to see. People can be pretty much lumps on these issues, but take away the functionality of one of their big ticket items and watch the fur fly.
Amen to The White Mountains. I put that series up there with LotR and C.S. Lewis when I was a kid (I'm not saying they're the same literary quality, just that they excite the imagination of a 7-11 year old. Add in the Dark is Rising series (shamelessly ripped off in Harry Potter) and the kid can't go wrong.
I was hoping I was the only one who thought the White Mountains would make a great film - I was planning to option the rights for a song.
Many movies show that eyesight is more valuable to people than their lives. This will simply create a city full of suicide bombers. Imagine it - if you could never see anything again, would you kill the person that did it to you, even if it meant your own life >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
rrrightttttt..
Ok everybody, arm your bombs, no run THAT WAY (directs them toward edge of cliff)
blind suicide bombers worrys me about as much as shark mounted lasers.
I have to echo this. MusicMatch can be great, and I have turned many friends onto it. It is the best combined music ripper/manager/player I have found. Also, their model of an initial $29 payment and free lifetime updates is a model for other companies hoping to commercialize a utility program.
The problem is, there are poorly designed parts of their UI that have never changed over the years. These are seemingly simple things that could have been addressed at some point on the march to version 7.2 The search feature can work well, all in all, it may be your best bet
I have been using the web since the beginning - literally. I use it enough to often wonder if I use it too much. I have had one highly used e-mail address I have used for 9 years, and serveral others. I am a regular poster to a number of special interest groups. My job puts me in a position of public visibility and some small public interest. I have been featured in a couple of newspaper stories over the past 10 years.
Despite all of these things, a google search for me, my e-mail address, and a couple of my more common aliases (sp?) turns up a couple of entries found in very public directories of people who do my job, a couple of pages of entries on people who share my (not very common) name and who post themselves on the net and that's it.
All of these people who find themselver plastered around the net have done it themselves. Out of bad judgement, immaturity, or lack of intelligence, they put something out there publicly that they are now embarrassed about - this is no one's fault but their own. The fact that their grievance gets any credence at all on/. truly makes me fear for the future of the Internet and unrestricted speech in general.
Finally - the bozo who feels stifled from signing petitions - 1) No one is not going to hire you becuase of a petition you signed, unless maybe it was pro-nambla or neo-nazi. It is also possible you were supporting an issue that displayed a certain lack of intellect (book banning, flat earth society), in which case every one of your potential co-workers is grateful that such information was publicly available. 2) If you are not willing to take a public position on an issue WHY ARE YOU SIGNING A PUBLIC PETITION??? (sorry, I rarely yell, but jeez) and 3) If you would not take a position on a important issue becase you're afraid of who might know about it, maybe you shouldn't be taking that position. Dear god man, have the courage of your convictions or don't bother.
You are mistaken with the Rambus situation. They shared their (applied for) patents with all of the memory makers back in 1989 under NDAs, 4 years before their involvement in JEDEC. The question in that case is whether the company encouraged the use of their pending patents in a standard in violation of the rules of the organization. Unlike this situation, the producers knew about the patents in question, they just didn't expect to have to pay to license them. As far as the delay, the patents in question we're issued until 1997, which is when the suits/counter suits started, Rambus couldn't enforce the patents until they were granted. In this case, the patents were granted but unenforced for years.
For all those who are complaining about the lack of performance from electric, and suggesting that it dooms the idea to failure, you don't have enough imagination. When I was a kid, I build a go-kart with an old Datsun starter moter (indestructible little bugger.) The potential torque from an electric drive (and related acceleration) beats anything Enzo ever designed. Admittedly, this was really a drag racing kart - I had enough juice to run for about 30 seconds flat out, but that was more then enough time to 1) dissolve the drive chain into little metal projectiles 2) reach absurdly unsafe speeds 3) break your leg and arm (last run only.)
Electric drive is the way to go - most ships, and the entire navy is moving in that direction if they're not there already. The diesels or reactor generate electricity that run electric motors attached to the screws. The power source no longer drives the ship directly, just like an efficient electric drive car could have any power source, but drive the wheels with electric motors.
Because the amount of energy required increases substantially with speed, it is unlikely forseeable technology will give us an electric drive car that can do 130mph all day on the autobahn. But I would happily buy a 4 passenge convertible that could do 0-60 in 4 seconds and top out at 90mph with at least 250 miles without refueling. I'm not saying I need 0-60 times like that from every stoplight, but that's what will sell the average American (picture an ad with a slightly square young professional type being challenged at a stoplight by some undesirables in a mustang, and promptly smoking them - electric cars become penis replacement sexy)
You should know that there are a lot of us who would be happy to grant H1B holders direct access to citizenship. You have skills and education, you have shown the gumption to leave your home and everything you know to better yourself and your future - if you wanted to be an American, I can think of few native born citizens who better exemplify what it means to be one.
Slashdot Mirror
good point, wish i could give you some of my informative points. I often use imdb to demonstrate the overall power of the web (collaberation, free association, information aggregation, and utility) to unsophisticated users. I can always find them a new, interesting (to them) piece of information in just a few seconds. created quite a few addicts.
IMDB was originally started by some english blokes as a free universal database project much like the original cddb and the like. You can see its' origins in some of the odd bits of information - they'll often have finnish or irish box office figures for an obscure movie but not U.S.. In my opinion those boys did one hell of a job setting it up. A few years back they sold out to Amazon for a (rumoured) $100M, not a bad chunk of change. Amazon has linked dvd sales to the site be seems to otherwise have left it to it's own devices. The greater clunkiness of the site these days owes more to the business folks who are running the site for amazon who seem to be trying to turn it into another Daily Variety.
On the road, doubt this will be modded up as it's a bit OT. It is important to understand that while the tech infrastructure is pathetic, that does not mean that the individual staff (the people using that infrastructure) are not tech savvy. A combination of administrative red tape CYA and woefully inadequate funding keeps it that way, regardless of what some of the more informed staffers may want.
... well I can't come up with anything good right now, does not immediately call into question the legislation they produce (that sound you hear is the mass of /.ers guffawing.) Some of these same talented people produce good legislation on health care despite not being MDs, on wall street despite not being financiers, and on aviation despite not being airline pilots. Sure plenty of bad legislation gets written, but that has more to do with actual malice aforethought then a lack of understanding of technology.
Now, on the other hand, I am not saying that most Congressional staff are tech savvy - most are drawn from the same pool as staffs most law firms (for those who can't help themselves insert pol/lawyer joke here) and as many techies know law firms were basically the last part of the economy to computerize. In fact, if it were not for lexis/westlaw, they would probably still be using paper and secretaries. The kind of people who get involved with law GENERALLY (i just know someone will assume I'm making a blanket statement) are less interested in technology and less sensible to it's uses then people in other fields.
Also, while many of the legislative staff writing tech legislation would not know linux from dos or
gotta love this new notification system.
I'm sorry that I don't have a lot of time to respond right now, I'm leaving town in the morning but I will try to respond more fully sometime late next week. A few items:
1) Historical - The Senate did not have access to the internet at all until 1996. It was only accomplished then by a group of staffers who hacked the existing e-mail system to connect to the internet. Rather then allow this, the Sgt at Arms (Admin) finally establish regular web access.
2) That email - until three short months ago the Senate was using cc:mail for all communications. Not Notes, cc:mail. Despite the fact that it had been unsupported for years and regularly went down (and was unable to handle the volume of constituent e-mail.) The successor is a bastardized implementation of exchange. The actual exchange migration project was started 4 years before it was completed. In the first three months the Senate has suffered 5 days of downtime, and selective delivery of e-mails in high volume periods.
3) Only Compaq, and one configuration of compaq, are allowed to be purchased at any time. This is despite the fact that the SAA provides very little support for the in-office systems. A Senator-employed SysAdmin provides all of the local support. Dell is strictly prohibited. The price paid for the compaq systems is regularly at least 15% above the rate one would pay if you bought directly from the compaq website, for an identical system, software included.
4) The above mentioned sysadmins average a salary of approximately $40,000 per year. Most manage a 30+ system office with 3 servers, 4+ remote offices, and an entirely non-technical staff. The salary is a function of the fact that all Senate salaries are absurdly low for the work involved. While public service is a privilege, for the most part all mid-level (Sys Admins, Legislative Aides) and senior staff see a 2.5 to 3X increase in their compensation when moving to the private sector. The effects of this situation should be obvious.
5) A e-mails must be PRINTED and responded to on paper. The Senate has refused to invest in a sufficient authentication system to ensure that it would be very difficult to forge or redirect a Senator's e-mail communication (many law offices use systems for this.) Regardless, it is impossible to use the Senate's $35,000 per year per office correspondence system to respond directly to e-mails.
6) Senate offices are prohibited from using their technology budgets to a) pay a better sysadmin, or b) hire programers to improve the systems we do have.
For the record, I am not a Senate SA, but I have employed them. That's all I have off the top of my head.
Actually no...
In order to prevent a Senator from using the Senate resources to develop a national e-mail list of supporters they are directed to only reply to e-mails from their own state. This prevents the use of a (unfortunately limited due to the sorry state of senate technology) resource meant for constituent contact for other purposes.
Don't assume what you do not know.
Actually, Wyden IS the Senior Senator from Oregon
I agree with you, though unfortunately, I think alternate history is never high on hollywoods list of viable plots - I could count on my hands, no make that one hand, hell, a finger will do, the number of major movies made around the idea of alternative history. (and land of the lost type stuff doesn't count)
Actually the entire motivation for my reply was that Johnny M was a spectacular basis for a movie - the style was there, the story was short and tight, it was an easy basic chase plot, it began with a nice action scene. It could have been a minor action hit and a nice entry to the cyberpunk films genre, but instead Longo decided to turn it into something bigger then it needed to be and killed it in the process. Gibson is listed as the screenwriter, but I find it hard to believe that he butchered his own work like that - afterall, it was already a short story, he could have scripted the text and been down with it.
On a similar note, New Rose Hotel would make an excellent Guy Ritchie project. The Ferrara film is just a mess (tip for hollywood, just because it's cyberpunk, it doesn't need to be strange). Ignoring his recent fiasco, he has a gift for the double cross storyline, has shown how to use voice-over in film effectively (a necessity in Gibson stories) and could put some real energy into it. Again, as a short story, the script is halfway there. You got some nice locations, a couple of meaty male roles, and a chance to do something original with an old form.
Bah, why do I ever hope for anything good out of these people.
same here, though I went into a fairly recession proof field, it was still a rough time. I drove one old car into the ground, and I currently drive a ten year old car - and I'm a car guy, I can quote specs on every cool model out there. I rebuilt and restored a 60's convertible when I was in high school. At some point you have to grow up and not buy that three series convertible just because you want it.
It may be foolish to wave people out of the home market even now - the population is increasing faster then the stock, so while there may be local bubbles, the price increases are largely rationally market driven. On the other hand, you still have to buy smart (location, amenities, schools) or you can easily lose money in any market.
The fact is, we have been nicely screwed by the calender, started off in the hole, saw the false promise of a "new economy" which encouraged our less cautious brethern to spend beyond their means, and now we are seeing our carfully marshalled retirement savings of 25-50k cut in half by a market where even the blue chips are down 40% - not a problem short term, but the magic of long-term compounding will not be working for all that seed money that was lost.
Many of us are doing fine, but not nearly as well as we reasonably would have hoped. We are the other "lost generation" '04 - '14, too young for ww1, too old for ww2, trying to start a family during the depression. Their history is not a happy one.
Oh, you mean the recession that most of us came out of college and looked for a job in? You seem to be using the same math skills you oldtimers used to come up with the social security formulas that will leave you with nothing that isn't taken out of our pockets.
Yes, but everything is very expensive (compared to NorCal) there's humidity sometime (aaaaahhhhhh!) and the Typhoons and volcanos can really ruin a nice day. Oh, and you can't drive to Yosemite, Point Reyes, Shasta, Tahoe, or the coast for a short weekend. On the other hand, you are in Hawaii.
This place already makes New Orleans city politics look bush league - I've worked both places.
At least you've got that secret ballot thing down pat AC.
Oh, and the most important thing: As far as Valerie goes, yes the weather is that bad, but you get to skip the worst parts, and representing the bay area, you would not need to move your family to Washington.
I speak as a Walnut Creek, CA native - the weather anywhere outside of NorCal stinks compared to NorCal. If the capitol wasn't here, you couldn't keep me out of CA for a minute - but if we leave DC to only those who can take the weather, then we really will be leaving it to the swamp dwellers.
Bruce
There are a number of good competitive districts immediately surrounding Barbara's, at least a couple of which could be sympathetic to a candidacy like yours. I do this for a living, and while I have not taken the time to review your background to the extent that I could comment on your political viability, you're public persona is one that could be very appealing to voters in that region.
I have spent years trying to get more techies involved with politics. While the majority would not be best used by getting directly involved and running themselves, you are one of the few individuals who may fit the mold. To the extent that a politically tenable techie is such a rarity this is something I would urge you to consider and explore.
Again, knowing nothing of your financial situation, if you are able, this would be the opportune time to take a position that would boost your political prospects.
How does everyone here feel about the idea of a Congressman Bruce Perens?
Ok, this is a start, I'm hoping to get more input from some experts here (either in electronics, DRM software design or broadcast standards) because believe it or not, no one in this town seems to know. One thing is certain, those arguing for the flag claim it will have no effect but they have no technological explanation as to how that will be achieved.
/.er could only dream of.
/. is famous for hell I'm desperate and at least here I've got a 1-400,000 chance of a straight answer.
I can say confidently that if the broadcast flag makes current tuners obsolete, it CAN be stopped. The political cost of implementing it will be high. Not so high that the entertainment industry can't make headway, but a concerted opposition by the CEA and users could suceeded, despite the normally defeatist attitute on this issue.
example: The current fcc decision. policy wise, the best move here is to require every tv manufacturer to manufacture and sell external digital to analog tuners by a date certain. This would eliminate anyone paying for electronics they don't need and provide for the digital tuner infrastructure when it is actually needed, for only those who need it. Prices will be lower (a $200 dig tuner in 2004 is a $70 dig tuner in 2007 - not to mention the opportunity cost of the $130), and most (85%) of the tv viewers will not need the tuner at all (cable box, sat tv). Why was this approach not taken? Because it meant that at some point in the next six years, the federal government was going to be forced to "throw a switch" that would make about 15% of the population buy a $100 tuner box in order to keep getting their hee haw reruns. There is nothing more frightening to a politico then that situation.
Now, with the digital flag, we may only be talking about 3-4% of the viewing public, but they (generally) wealthier, better educated, and more geographically diverse - in pure political calculus that puts them on par with the 15% of broadcast receivers. If they are going to be screwed, in a mush more profound way then the 15%, they will be allies that a
This is why I would like to get this nailed down once and for all. I cannot get a straight answer from anyone on this - the content guys say "don't worry, we can make it work - the techies are lying" the CEA won't answer, most tech cos. tell me "we think" it will junk the TVs, but we haven't looked at it "now will you get us some more H1Bs" (still). It would be nice to get one of those expert, reasoned, backed-up explanations that
I appreciate the mods, but PLEASE, we have a lot of techies around here, SOMEONE, one of you must actually design these things, I need an ANSWER to THIS QUESTION.
I don't mean to shout, but I'm an amateur techie myself, I am involved with the "political" end of this, and no one seems to be able to address this issue.
What is the effect of a broadcast flag on digital tuners that are currently on the market? Do they bypass the flag? Will they not work? Will they somehow recognize and follow the flag?
Given that the flag issues is not yet worked out, and we're now mandating the digital tuners, are we designing a great big hole in the system or are we requiring millions of people to buy equipment that will be obsolete in just a couple of years?
hmm - is the reason the broadcasters and content guys are pushing the integrated tuner because they know that means when the old pre-flag set wear out, those tuners will be gone?
Also - can't manufacturers get around this by calling their sets "monitors" and not televisions. In the old days a "monitor" was a tunerless tv, and with advent of hdtv resolutions/capabilities, the dividing line between the newer meaning of (computer) monitor and tuner-less TV essentially disappears.
Ok, I can whup it on basic, but I cannot win at all on advanced - hell, I can see every computer move to beat me before he makes it, but I can't seem to figure out how to beat it. I also CAN'T STOP TRYING TO BEAT IT. YOU HAVE STOLEN HOURS OF MY LIFE!!! DAMN YOU DRIOD_RAGE!!!! DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!!!!
More importantly, if they require digital tuners now, and haven't yet mandated a broadcast flag, they are going to be hard pressed to implement drm in the next 5-10 years, as they revolt of people forced to buy tvs that now cannot receive all content will be a thing to see. People can be pretty much lumps on these issues, but take away the functionality of one of their big ticket items and watch the fur fly.
Amen to The White Mountains. I put that series up there with LotR and C.S. Lewis when I was a kid (I'm not saying they're the same literary quality, just that they excite the imagination of a 7-11 year old. Add in the Dark is Rising series (shamelessly ripped off in Harry Potter) and the kid can't go wrong.
I was hoping I was the only one who thought the White Mountains would make a great film - I was planning to option the rights for a song.
Many movies show that eyesight is more valuable to people than their lives. This will simply create a city full of suicide bombers. Imagine it - if you could never see anything again, would you kill the person that did it to you, even if it meant your own life .
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
rrrightttttt..
Ok everybody, arm your bombs, no run THAT WAY (directs them toward edge of cliff)
blind suicide bombers worrys me about as much as shark mounted lasers.
I have to echo this. MusicMatch can be great, and I have turned many friends onto it. It is the best combined music ripper/manager/player I have found. Also, their model of an initial $29 payment and free lifetime updates is a model for other companies hoping to commercialize a utility program.
The problem is, there are poorly designed parts of their UI that have never changed over the years. These are seemingly simple things that could have been addressed at some point on the march to version 7.2 The search feature can work well, all in all, it may be your best bet
I have been using the web since the beginning - literally. I use it enough to often wonder if I use it too much. I have had one highly used e-mail address I have used for 9 years, and serveral others. I am a regular poster to a number of special interest groups. My job puts me in a position of public visibility and some small public interest. I have been featured in a couple of newspaper stories over the past 10 years.
/. truly makes me fear for the future of the Internet and unrestricted speech in general.
Despite all of these things, a google search for me, my e-mail address, and a couple of my more common aliases (sp?) turns up a couple of entries found in very public directories of people who do my job, a couple of pages of entries on people who share my (not very common) name and who post themselves on the net and that's it.
All of these people who find themselver plastered around the net have done it themselves. Out of bad judgement, immaturity, or lack of intelligence, they put something out there publicly that they are now embarrassed about - this is no one's fault but their own. The fact that their grievance gets any credence at all on
Finally - the bozo who feels stifled from signing petitions - 1) No one is not going to hire you becuase of a petition you signed, unless maybe it was pro-nambla or neo-nazi. It is also possible you were supporting an issue that displayed a certain lack of intellect (book banning, flat earth society), in which case every one of your potential co-workers is grateful that such information was publicly available. 2) If you are not willing to take a public position on an issue WHY ARE YOU SIGNING A PUBLIC PETITION??? (sorry, I rarely yell, but jeez) and 3) If you would not take a position on a important issue becase you're afraid of who might know about it, maybe you shouldn't be taking that position. Dear god man, have the courage of your convictions or don't bother.
You are mistaken with the Rambus situation. They shared their (applied for) patents with all of the memory makers back in 1989 under NDAs, 4 years before their involvement in JEDEC. The question in that case is whether the company encouraged the use of their pending patents in a standard in violation of the rules of the organization. Unlike this situation, the producers knew about the patents in question, they just didn't expect to have to pay to license them. As far as the delay, the patents in question we're issued until 1997, which is when the suits/counter suits started, Rambus couldn't enforce the patents until they were granted. In this case, the patents were granted but unenforced for years.
For all those who are complaining about the lack of performance from electric, and suggesting that it dooms the idea to failure, you don't have enough imagination. When I was a kid, I build a go-kart with an old Datsun starter moter (indestructible little bugger.) The potential torque from an electric drive (and related acceleration) beats anything Enzo ever designed. Admittedly, this was really a drag racing kart - I had enough juice to run for about 30 seconds flat out, but that was more then enough time to 1) dissolve the drive chain into little metal projectiles 2) reach absurdly unsafe speeds 3) break your leg and arm (last run only.)
Electric drive is the way to go - most ships, and the entire navy is moving in that direction if they're not there already. The diesels or reactor generate electricity that run electric motors attached to the screws. The power source no longer drives the ship directly, just like an efficient electric drive car could have any power source, but drive the wheels with electric motors.
Because the amount of energy required increases substantially with speed, it is unlikely forseeable technology will give us an electric drive car that can do 130mph all day on the autobahn. But I would happily buy a 4 passenge convertible that could do 0-60 in 4 seconds and top out at 90mph with at least 250 miles without refueling. I'm not saying I need 0-60 times like that from every stoplight, but that's what will sell the average American (picture an ad with a slightly square young professional type being challenged at a stoplight by some undesirables in a mustang, and promptly smoking them - electric cars become penis replacement sexy)
at this point, it's just an engineering problem.
You should know that there are a lot of us who would be happy to grant H1B holders direct access to citizenship. You have skills and education, you have shown the gumption to leave your home and everything you know to better yourself and your future - if you wanted to be an American, I can think of few native born citizens who better exemplify what it means to be one.