What are the cable deals like for Slashdot readers outside of the US?
I spent four months living in France this year and my cable provider had a point system. Each channel cost a certain number of points (ranging from about 2 for something boring up to 15-25 for a premium channel) and you paid for packages with varying amounts of points. Then you could pick the channels you wanted and not waste points on something you would never watch. It seemed like a better deal (perhaps not cheaper, but much more flexible) than what we have in the US. I don't even have cable here since I'm not a huge fan of television and cable TV packages cost more than I am willing to pay.
Yeah, I know I can and have thought about doing it. The only problem is that it would take up a bunch of my time and I risk damaging my iBook. Of course the upside is that if I modded it myself and took the thing down to the local coffeee shop it would get a lot of attention.
It's all a matter of what you like. I love my iBook. I prefer the appearance of the iBook to that of the Powerbook, though I kind of wish that the iBook came in come color other than white (black, grey, blue, whatever).
He just wants to know where he can get the geeky shirt that he has already decided that he wants. He's just asking a bunch of geeks where he can find one.
I would think that all merchants would want to ban this activity from their affiliate programs. It's not like these companies are promoting the merchants in any way. They're just trying to get a cut on thousands of transactions that were going to happen without them. The whole point in an affiliate program is that the affiliate sends someone to a merchant to buy something. If the affiliate didn't even do that much than why on earth would a merchant agree to give the affiliate a cut of the sale?
I don't know how common your setup is, but it's similar to what I have. My Win2k box is my fastest machine with the best graphics card in it. The linux box on my desk has a similar CPU but a crappy graphics card because I don't use it for anything that requires more.
This dates back to long before Dartmouth went wireless with the network. I graduated from Dartmouth in 2000 and people were using Blitzmail (Dartmouth's email system) as a replacement for the telephone long before I arrived on campus. With all the public terminals on campus it was far easier to find someone by blitzing them than by calling them. I don't think I found out that our dorm phones had a different ring for calls coming from other on-campus phones than from off-campus phones until my senior year.
This, combined with the fact that cell coverage in the greater Hanover region is mediocre, slowed the adoption of cell phones. Most of my classmates seemed to get a cell phone and start using it within months of graduating, but there was just no need in Hanover.
Just give it time. Hopefully it will just be a matter of time. As a Dartmouth alum I can tell you that what you describe is pretty similar to what I was experiencing at Dartmouth two years ago (and yes, I know that Dartmouth was by no means the first school to embrace 802.11b, and I didn't choose to write this article about my alma mater).
This is an optional way of logging into Slashdot. Go to your preferences, then to the password page.
There is a line of text that says "You can automatically log in by clicking This Link and Bookmarking the resulting page. This is totally insecure, but very convenient."
If you look at the link, it is pretty much the URL that you have noted. It looks like this is not a bug, but rather a very poor feature that the authors know is insecure, but have chosen to retain. At least using it is completely optional.
Seriously. My biggest complaint about Internet advertising is that some rich media ads bring my system to a standstill. Popups are annoying, but worse is when I actually have to kill my browser to regain control of my system.
a) um, how are they not portable? its pretty easy to copy and paste them, assuming that your DB came with a GUI.
As in they are not portable across databases. Try loading a stored procedure written for Sybase into Oracle. It doesn't work. The syntax is completely different.
I agree that stored procs are great and can have performance advantages, but portable is something that they are not.
the 601 is the deal-breaker on every OS except MacOS and mklinux
Not true. I used to run LunixPPC and later Yellowdog on a 7200 with its original 601 in it. As others have mentioned, it's not the chip, it's the machine that the chip is in. If you have a 7200 or 7500 you have plenty of options. If you have an older nubus mac with a 601 in it then your options are more limited.
yeah... running windows on a mac laptop is kinda slow... (WHAT?!)
seriously, it is. I'm installing some stuff on Win98 running under Virtual PC on my iBook right now (I need some Windows-only software for work). It is relatively slow.
Running mac apps it isn't so bad. I'm relatively happy with my iBook (600 w/640 megs of RAM), though I wish I had one of the newer ones with a better graphics chip. The things aren't the fastest machines in the world, but I like OS X, they are pretty well-built (at least compared to the last few Dell laptops I have used), and the battery life is quite good.
I can attest to the fact that manual theft in the real world is still alive and well. I recently had to replace a card that was only two months old because of fraudulent use.
In the months I was using that card I used it online once to pay my wireless phone bill. I also used it many times in restaurants, shops, and a hotel. I never lost the card and I still have my copy of the receipt for everything I charged on it. The fraud was in the form of people making long-distance calls using obscure phone companies with my card. I assume that someone got my cc number and expiration date and that these companies allowed them to make phone calls with that information.
Based on where the card was used I assume that someone working at one of the businesses I patronized stole my credit card number. With the current US system of a simple name, number, and date being enough information to use a credit card there isn't much that can be done to prevent this kind of theft. The use of PIN codes would help, but the entire US credit card system would have to be overhauled (new cards, new card readers, lots and lots of consumer education) at massive cost. I'm sure that we will move to a more secure system at some point in the future, but I'm guessing that the cost of the current levels of fraud to the credit card companies may not be high enough to make investing in a new system a high priority.
Except that there are java IM clients that can be run off a web page. No software installation required. No software to remove when you're done. Convenient when you want to use an instant messenger once or twice on a machine without installing the software, but a pain for anyone who thinks that deleting the software will keep people from using the software (though it probably would keep most people from using IM).
Of course we have mobile phones in the USA. I just unplug the phone from the wall when I'm leaving home and toss it in my backpack. The thing doesn't seem to work when it's not plugged into a land line, but it's mobile enough for me.
Slashdot Mirror
Oops:
http://www.k2gravitytools.com/
Things have ome a long way since we were kids. Find a mountain and play with some real toys:
http://www.k2gravitytools.com/
What are the cable deals like for Slashdot readers outside of the US?
I spent four months living in France this year and my cable provider had a point system. Each channel cost a certain number of points (ranging from about 2 for something boring up to 15-25 for a premium channel) and you paid for packages with varying amounts of points. Then you could pick the channels you wanted and not waste points on something you would never watch. It seemed like a better deal (perhaps not cheaper, but much more flexible) than what we have in the US. I don't even have cable here since I'm not a huge fan of television and cable TV packages cost more than I am willing to pay.
-Joe
Yeah, I know I can and have thought about doing it. The only problem is that it would take up a bunch of my time and I risk damaging my iBook. Of course the upside is that if I modded it myself and took the thing down to the local coffeee shop it would get a lot of attention.
It's all a matter of what you like. I love my iBook. I prefer the appearance of the iBook to that of the Powerbook, though I kind of wish that the iBook came in come color other than white (black, grey, blue, whatever).
nope, I didn't miss the sarcasm.
No, he's not asking for fashion advice.
He just wants to know where he can get the geeky shirt that he has already decided that he wants. He's just asking a bunch of geeks where he can find one.
I would think that all merchants would want to ban this activity from their affiliate programs. It's not like these companies are promoting the merchants in any way. They're just trying to get a cut on thousands of transactions that were going to happen without them. The whole point in an affiliate program is that the affiliate sends someone to a merchant to buy something. If the affiliate didn't even do that much than why on earth would a merchant agree to give the affiliate a cut of the sale?
He's wasting his talent I'll tell ya.
No way for you to know this, but that robotics researcher is a she.
I don't know how common your setup is, but it's similar to what I have. My Win2k box is my fastest machine with the best graphics card in it. The linux box on my desk has a similar CPU but a crappy graphics card because I don't use it for anything that requires more.
This dates back to long before Dartmouth went wireless with the network. I graduated from Dartmouth in 2000 and people were using Blitzmail (Dartmouth's email system) as a replacement for the telephone long before I arrived on campus. With all the public terminals on campus it was far easier to find someone by blitzing them than by calling them. I don't think I found out that our dorm phones had a different ring for calls coming from other on-campus phones than from off-campus phones until my senior year.
This, combined with the fact that cell coverage in the greater Hanover region is mediocre, slowed the adoption of cell phones. Most of my classmates seemed to get a cell phone and start using it within months of graduating, but there was just no need in Hanover.
Just give it time. Hopefully it will just be a matter of time. As a Dartmouth alum I can tell you that what you describe is pretty similar to what I was experiencing at Dartmouth two years ago (and yes, I know that Dartmouth was by no means the first school to embrace 802.11b, and I didn't choose to write this article about my alma mater).
According to this article on news.com the Amazon email about the Segway was inaccurate:
t op
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-957746.html?tag=fd_
This is an optional way of logging into Slashdot. Go to your preferences, then to the password page.
There is a line of text that says
"You can automatically log in by clicking This Link and Bookmarking the resulting page. This is totally insecure, but very convenient."
If you look at the link, it is pretty much the URL that you have noted. It looks like this is not a bug, but rather a very poor feature that the authors know is insecure, but have chosen to retain. At least using it is completely optional.
The Technology Review recently ran an article on wind power. It's an interesting read:
7 02.asp?p=0
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/fairley0
Maybe if you're on a long kill streak and the chips are just out of reach?
Personally I get fragged enough to run to the fridge regularly without missing much.
Seriously. My biggest complaint about Internet advertising is that some rich media ads bring my system to a standstill. Popups are annoying, but worse is when I actually have to kill my browser to regain control of my system.
a) um, how are they not portable? its pretty easy to copy and paste them, assuming that your DB came with a GUI.
As in they are not portable across databases. Try loading a stored procedure written for Sybase into Oracle. It doesn't work. The syntax is completely different.
I agree that stored procs are great and can have performance advantages, but portable is something that they are not.
the 601 is the deal-breaker on every OS except MacOS and mklinux
Not true. I used to run LunixPPC and later Yellowdog on a 7200 with its original 601 in it. As others have mentioned, it's not the chip, it's the machine that the chip is in. If you have a 7200 or 7500 you have plenty of options. If you have an older nubus mac with a 601 in it then your options are more limited.
joe
yeah... running windows on a mac laptop is kinda slow... (WHAT?!)
seriously, it is. I'm installing some stuff on Win98 running under Virtual PC on my iBook right now (I need some Windows-only software for work). It is relatively slow.
Running mac apps it isn't so bad. I'm relatively happy with my iBook (600 w/640 megs of RAM), though I wish I had one of the newer ones with a better graphics chip. The things aren't the fastest machines in the world, but I like OS X, they are pretty well-built (at least compared to the last few Dell laptops I have used), and the battery life is quite good.
With the way the dollar has been doing lately I'll take Euros.
I can attest to the fact that manual theft in the real world is still alive and well. I recently had to replace a card that was only two months old because of fraudulent use.
In the months I was using that card I used it online once to pay my wireless phone bill. I also used it many times in restaurants, shops, and a hotel. I never lost the card and I still have my copy of the receipt for everything I charged on it. The fraud was in the form of people making long-distance calls using obscure phone companies with my card. I assume that someone got my cc number and expiration date and that these companies allowed them to make phone calls with that information.
Based on where the card was used I assume that someone working at one of the businesses I patronized stole my credit card number. With the current US system of a simple name, number, and date being enough information to use a credit card there isn't much that can be done to prevent this kind of theft. The use of PIN codes would help, but the entire US credit card system would have to be overhauled (new cards, new card readers, lots and lots of consumer education) at massive cost. I'm sure that we will move to a more secure system at some point in the future, but I'm guessing that the cost of the current levels of fraud to the credit card companies may not be high enough to make investing in a new system a high priority.
joe
Except that there are java IM clients that can be run off a web page. No software installation required. No software to remove when you're done. Convenient when you want to use an instant messenger once or twice on a machine without installing the software, but a pain for anyone who thinks that deleting the software will keep people from using the software (though it probably would keep most people from using IM).
joe
Of course we have mobile phones in the USA. I just unplug the phone from the wall when I'm leaving home and toss it in my backpack. The thing doesn't seem to work when it's not plugged into a land line, but it's mobile enough for me.
joe
And the followup article in which they discuss (with little datail) AT&T's plans for tiered access:
_ t.html
http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/2002/06/11/att