And why isn't there a site devoted to aggregating and promoting these albums that are getting released for free but with no publicity? I can imagine a site where you can legally, freely download music with a little "donate" button to pay the artists being wildly popular. MySpace already does this to a degree, but the social networking aspects of it (and the crappy music player) make it extremely bloated and not worth visiting.
I'm a little surprised to find myself saying this, but I think that the free market will be able to sort this one out. Regulation is already in place to keep airplanes from falling out of the sky; if companies are losing money because of poorly-designed software, that should be enough of an incentive to purchase more secure software.
I don't really see the issue here- as long as users can determine which of their files get uploaded to it and which don't (and I can't imagine anything other than that being the case), what is the problem? I have plenty of data that isn't sensitive in the least. My data that is sensitive isn't going on Gdrive (or.Mac, or any other server that I do not control). Maybe everyone else doesn't have as much random, unimportant junk as I do...
I'm 19 and this article is the first time I've heard of it. I have heard sound bytes of a voice saying "At the tone, the time is..." but I never knew what it was.
I'd save about $20 on the 7Mbps line, if they didn't charge me for a telephone line at the same time. I pay over $80 a month for 7Mbps because our DSL provider (Embarq) requires you to get a basic phone line as well. I don't even have a phone hooked up to it. I don't know if this is a technological restriction of DSL or just them trying to gouge as much money from me as possible, but either way I don't like it and have no say in the matter, as they're the only high-speed provider that has lines in the building.
I've got two roommates, and we're all college students. I think we could afford Copowi, and that says a lot about their pricing scheme to me.
When I lost my voice for a few days from tonsilitis, I carried around my laptop (an iBook G4) and used Apple's text-to-speech program. You can highlight any bit of text and it will read it. If she can type, this would be an option. It suited me pretty well... definitely made for an interesting game of D&D =P
If you have an old laptop lying around of any variety, I'm sure there's a program you can download for Windows or Linux that does the same thing (Vista may even have it, I haven't checked).
What about an American with an assault rifle? Someone was caught firing an SKS Assault Rifle in Ybor City just last night. Thankfully, no one was injured.
I can't believe we let the ban on assault rifles elapse and still maintain that these violations of our liberties are an absolute necessity in order to protect ourselves. Why don't we start by keeping the actual weapons off the streets?
I think it's rather simple: buying music and videos legally online has become more convenient to me than either pirating it or stripping the DRM. I'm pretty sure that if I needed to remove the DRM I could, but why? It seems like a lot of hassle to get out of paying one or two dollars, and I get to support the artists that way, which makes me happy and less worried about my favorite shows getting canceled. Whether it's because people are unable to remove the DRM or simply don't care to, it's working because not everyone takes the time to do it. I buy stuff from the Apple Store, keep it on the two computers I own and put it on my iPod... there's really nothing else I need to do in order to enjoy it, so I don't feel restricted enough to bother stripping the DRM.
Admittedly, it'd be really awesome to have a heads-up display, if this ever becomes available to the public...
But how long before there would be banners and pop-ups? Of course, there'd be restrictions to keep people from getting hit with porn ads whilst driving or anything like that, but imagine if it became used for things like VR Gaming or websurfing.
Think of how much companies would be willing to pay to have their products beamed directly onto your retina... I might be overly pessimistic, but that'd be a pretty uncool situation.
While it's true that probably a significant portion of people accessing the internet from libraries in general could or do have a connection at home, there are still many people completely unable to afford it that benefit from the program. The article mentions that to be elegible for Gates grants, the library must serve a community with ten percent of the population living below the federal poverty level. Even if the kids are just looking up song lyrics online, at least they're learning how to use a computer and search for things on the internet.
More importantly, internet access makes the library look more valuable in the public eye. People will consider how useful this is when it comes time to vote for a tax increase to maintain the library, so that raw attendence score is important. The library is fulfilling its original purpose of providing books by convincing people they're worth paying for. Without this, as it states in the article, many libraries would remain closed or delapidated.
My desktop's name is Navi, named after Link's fairy in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
She can be just as frustrating to interact with, and doesn't let me Z-Target anything >
Also: What kind of upgrades warrent a new name for an old computer? I thought about thinking up something else when I got a new hard drive, but couldn't bring myself to say goodbye.
I got Sea Monkeys... on Mars! and gave my boyfriend a computer mic so we could talk to each other while we play Half-Life online- cheaper than long distance phone calls and slightly more entertaining.
Having a geek girlfriend is wonderful, but a geek boyfriend who isn't threatened by his girlfriend kicking his ass at Half-Life is even better.
Slashdot Mirror
And why isn't there a site devoted to aggregating and promoting these albums that are getting released for free but with no publicity? I can imagine a site where you can legally, freely download music with a little "donate" button to pay the artists being wildly popular. MySpace already does this to a degree, but the social networking aspects of it (and the crappy music player) make it extremely bloated and not worth visiting.
I'm a little surprised to find myself saying this, but I think that the free market will be able to sort this one out. Regulation is already in place to keep airplanes from falling out of the sky; if companies are losing money because of poorly-designed software, that should be enough of an incentive to purchase more secure software.
I don't really see the issue here- as long as users can determine which of their files get uploaded to it and which don't (and I can't imagine anything other than that being the case), what is the problem? I have plenty of data that isn't sensitive in the least. My data that is sensitive isn't going on Gdrive (or .Mac, or any other server that I do not control). Maybe everyone else doesn't have as much random, unimportant junk as I do...
My thoughts entirely.
I'm 19 and this article is the first time I've heard of it. I have heard sound bytes of a voice saying "At the tone, the time is..." but I never knew what it was.
I'd save about $20 on the 7Mbps line, if they didn't charge me for a telephone line at the same time. I pay over $80 a month for 7Mbps because our DSL provider (Embarq) requires you to get a basic phone line as well. I don't even have a phone hooked up to it. I don't know if this is a technological restriction of DSL or just them trying to gouge as much money from me as possible, but either way I don't like it and have no say in the matter, as they're the only high-speed provider that has lines in the building. I've got two roommates, and we're all college students. I think we could afford Copowi, and that says a lot about their pricing scheme to me.
When I lost my voice for a few days from tonsilitis, I carried around my laptop (an iBook G4) and used Apple's text-to-speech program. You can highlight any bit of text and it will read it. If she can type, this would be an option. It suited me pretty well... definitely made for an interesting game of D&D =P If you have an old laptop lying around of any variety, I'm sure there's a program you can download for Windows or Linux that does the same thing (Vista may even have it, I haven't checked).
What about an American with an assault rifle? Someone was caught firing an SKS Assault Rifle in Ybor City just last night. Thankfully, no one was injured. I can't believe we let the ban on assault rifles elapse and still maintain that these violations of our liberties are an absolute necessity in order to protect ourselves. Why don't we start by keeping the actual weapons off the streets?
I think it's rather simple: buying music and videos legally online has become more convenient to me than either pirating it or stripping the DRM. I'm pretty sure that if I needed to remove the DRM I could, but why? It seems like a lot of hassle to get out of paying one or two dollars, and I get to support the artists that way, which makes me happy and less worried about my favorite shows getting canceled. Whether it's because people are unable to remove the DRM or simply don't care to, it's working because not everyone takes the time to do it. I buy stuff from the Apple Store, keep it on the two computers I own and put it on my iPod... there's really nothing else I need to do in order to enjoy it, so I don't feel restricted enough to bother stripping the DRM.
Admittedly, it'd be really awesome to have a heads-up display, if this ever becomes available to the public...
But how long before there would be banners and pop-ups? Of course, there'd be restrictions to keep people from getting hit with porn ads whilst driving or anything like that, but imagine if it became used for things like VR Gaming or websurfing.
Think of how much companies would be willing to pay to have their products beamed directly onto your retina... I might be overly pessimistic, but that'd be a pretty uncool situation.
While it's true that probably a significant portion of people accessing the internet from libraries in general could or do have a connection at home, there are still many people completely unable to afford it that benefit from the program. The article mentions that to be elegible for Gates grants, the library must serve a community with ten percent of the population living below the federal poverty level. Even if the kids are just looking up song lyrics online, at least they're learning how to use a computer and search for things on the internet.
More importantly, internet access makes the library look more valuable in the public eye. People will consider how useful this is when it comes time to vote for a tax increase to maintain the library, so that raw attendence score is important. The library is fulfilling its original purpose of providing books by convincing people they're worth paying for. Without this, as it states in the article, many libraries would remain closed or delapidated.
My desktop's name is Navi, named after Link's fairy in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. She can be just as frustrating to interact with, and doesn't let me Z-Target anything > Also: What kind of upgrades warrent a new name for an old computer? I thought about thinking up something else when I got a new hard drive, but couldn't bring myself to say goodbye.
I got Sea Monkeys... on Mars! and gave my boyfriend a computer mic so we could talk to each other while we play Half-Life online- cheaper than long distance phone calls and slightly more entertaining. Having a geek girlfriend is wonderful, but a geek boyfriend who isn't threatened by his girlfriend kicking his ass at Half-Life is even better.