Just shipping all routers with a pseudo-random long WPA-PSK pre-loaded into each router and a sticker in the user guide telling what the PSK is will go a long way to securing routers.
California has more warning stickers than just about any other state.
They're even bleeding over to other states. Seen on a train from Boston to NY: "Warning: In accordance with Proposition ## of the State of California, diesel exhaust has been found to cause cancer and birth defects."
Lenovo/IBM's design dept is still in the US, believe it or not, and IBM still owns the trademark, so I don't think they'd let the Chinese dilute their brand. Good looks and wide screen? Who really gives a shit? Those are supposed to be business laptops, not toys. The more important features are: speed, durability, and weight.
I think this is a non argument. It seems to hinge on certain people's belief that "No way. The Steve would never bend over and let the media rape his baby. Apple will flat out refuse it."
Well, I *did* say that it wouldn't help Apple and it would push people towards the free OS's. The free OS's have the *added* benefit of often being developed in countries not subject to US law.
Personally, I find OS X to be inelegant and inconsistent. You have the Dock, where icons behave totally differently from any other icons anywhere else on the entire system, and where a whole bunch of totally different tasks -- launching applications, monitoring running tasks, etc. -- are all mixed together in one confusing zooming bouncing distracting usability nightmare.
BTW- the Dock doesn't have to be set to zoom or bounce. I think control-clicking the thing brings up an options menu that allows you to change stuff.
That being said, I much prefer the old NeXTSTEP user interface. Much cleaner looking and easier to use since icons for opened apps and application launchers are in different screen areas, unlike in the Dock which is one huge mish-mush. The only problem with classic NeXTSTEP is the lack of an ability to quickly drag-and-drop data files to the desktop, but then again, this makes for a cleaner-looking UI and NeXTSTEP has a file manager anyway.
Try WindowMaker running under Linux or BSD to see what I mean.
I actually (and perhaps naively) believe that Vista will fix a lot of the security problems the Windows platform has faced.
Vista will fix the security problems at the expence of operator freedom. What's this I hear about Vista x64 being unable to run unsigned code? At all. And try to install a driver not from an approved vendor on Vista. Won't work, apparently, possibly also due to MS pandering to the ??AA's desires to have the analog hole for video, etc, closed.
This stupidity won't help Apple, though. It'll probably push people towards the truly free OS's - read: Linux, BSD, and whatever else is come up with over the next 10 years.
I wanted a Thinkpad or a Mac for college, but I got the same machine as an MBP, minus OSX and the bells and whistles, for only $830. The Thinkpad would have cost a bit more, too.
As far as the Thinkpads - here's a little secret: buy used. Many businesses seem to replace the things after a year, so you can find lightly-used examples with plenty of life left in them for significantly less than they'd cost new. (I paid $280 for a Thinkpad T23 - granted, this is was a 3 yr old computer at time of purchase, but it's still working quite well for me and is pretty much bloody indestructable - it basically spends it's life in a backpack going to client sites and being variously knocked about and has nary a crack in the case).
Sure, when you get up to four-and-a-half grand it changed the game a bit, but I'd be willing to bet that I could build a quad-core machine out of AMD Opterons that would smoke your Mac. On the other hand, it would be running Windows.
If you like shiny GUIs with less functionality at a premium, go for it.
Less functionality? Are we talking about OS X (aka Apple Unix aka NeXTSTEP) here? You're comparing a system based on a solid UNIX core with easy-to-understand config files (notwithstanding Netinfo) to Windows - whose inner workings are much less transparent. Plus, with OS X you can get the best of both worlds - ported UNIX apps and programs from the "big names" like MS and Adobe.
On second thought, maybe you were talking about OS 9. Apple has a definite winner is OS X. The only major fault that OS X has, IMHO, was the fact that it tried to emulate the OS 9 user interface and file structure, so you ended up with a wierd two-tiered hybrid file structure with the Apple system that's visible in the Finder sitting alongside the UNIX core.
Who else makes a laptop as thin and light as the iBook/Powerbook/MacBook with just the right combo of features? Maybe Lenovo, but those seem to be heavier and just as expensive. Dell? Crap quality - I'm not talking about the batteries (an Apple problem too), I'm talking about the fact that their laptops are just generally flimsy and cheap. Sony? Same, IMHO. Failing Cardbus slots, plastic that you can flex with a finger.
Uh, recently - the Thinkpad (my only XP box at the moment) has problems waking up from sleep mode when running XP. Not so when it runs Debian with ACPI enabled. So I use Debian 99% of the time. I also had a problem with a web site that attempted to install a virus via Explorer yesterday - fortunately, this was caught by Avast! as it happened, but it still required a reboot and full system scan to make sure all files were clean.
Haven't had that problem with any of my Linux boxes yet (well, there were some pranks in college involving insecure Telnet and sniffers:)
2) Apple scoring lowest on a "Green" survey - when Dell scored second highest.
I'm running patched OS X on a Dell Precision 530. Hmm - the best OS on the most eco-friendly of hardware. It even works 99% of the time once the correct patches were applied - the only exception is that the network settings panel crashes, so the net card has to get it's address via DHCP (not a big deal since you can push a static IP address to it).
Basically, Earthlink should provide an alternative server and instructions on how to utilize it to clients who don't wish to use their automagic Site Finder service.
When you dial a non-existant telephone number you get an ear piercing tone, you have to hang up, and start all over again.
Or we get a recording "doo-dah-dee. We're sorry - the number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try again."
We don't get "This recording is sponsored by Gromyko's Widget Works of Belle PPlain, Wisconsin, North American Wireless, and Joe's Pizza. You have dialed 555-1234. If you meant 554-1234, Smith, John, press 1, if you meant 556-1234, Mierzwiak, James, press 2, or if you meant 555-2233, Yung, M., press 3?"
Set up two DNS addresses: one with the service, one without. In the setup instructions, state that to turn off the site finder service, point your DNS manually to www.xxx.yyy.zzz instead of using DHCP to configure it.
because cancer is getting worse everywhere with our 100% industrial food and environments
Is it really getting worse due to pollution, or are we just living longer on average, and we've got to die of something now that smallpox and cholera etc have been eradicated.
. Think of how easy it would be to swipe a 4 GB thumb drive if it would come in a perfectly sized cardboard package that opens easily.
If they're worried about theft, keep the small objects behind the counter. Most small electronics shops already do that, especially with OEM stuff that comes un-packaged.
if I damage something because of the extreme measures I have to take to open it first, the store's going to take it back or have one very angry person shouting at the top of their lungs about how BS their policy is.
Better yet, put on some fake blood just before you enter the store, wear a baseball cap from your AIDS advocacy group of choice, and start yelling about how the widget didn't work and you sliced your hand putting it back into the package.
Of course this leaves a few residents wondering where the heck to put all these different bins (we don't have honking great big driveways like you do in the US)
Plenty of Americans live in cities and town centers, too. Not all of us have doublewide garages, V-8 SUVs and 5000 sq ft plastic houses:D
Councils in the UK expect you to deliver your recyclables to *them*? In most places in the US, another truck just comes around weekly and picks up recycling bins.
... regulate how things are packaged. It is *fucking inexcusable* that a 3/4" x 3" USB thumb drive comes in a 6" x 6" plastic bubble package) that's difficult to open without slicing your hand open, to add injury to insult). Enourage the use of cardboard packaging which is (a) biodegradable and (b) flammable without producing too much in the way of noxious fumes.
1) money is almost never a reason why good teacher don't teach. it's usually the degree requirement (getting a degree in eduction is very difficult for good teachers).
Many states have a program where teachers with non-ed degrees in what they will be teaching can earn a degree in ed while they work. Night school, correspondence courses, etc.
2) Computers are obviously the greatest learning tool yet made. There's no reason to explain that to a/. crowd. The more computers the better.
Sarcasm? Computers are *a* learning tool. They're not necessarily the best for a given situation. If you want to learn the anatomy of a frog, you'd best obtain a dead frog and slice it to bits methodically. Animations and graphics only go so (not very!) far.
3) Seperate but equal just doesn't work. That's human nature. "Posters" and Powerpoint and this kind of thing don't help any learning style, they are just "educational welfare".
Actually, gender-seperated schools are being tried again in several cities. Results are promising - both boys and girls do significantly better. If separate is truly equal and helps both parties, then why not? Not everything has to be gender-integrated (the prime example in modern American society is sport).
4) Nobody should be lined up against the wall and shot.
... sarcasm and a twisted sense of humor, me good chap... Ok, not shot, just locked out of their offices, booted out into the street without pay or reward, and replaced with a human being with a knowledge of the nature of human children rather than an automator whose sole motivation is fear of lawyers...
Slashdot Mirror
Some older cards and computers only do WEP.
-b.
They're even bleeding over to other states. Seen on a train from Boston to NY: "Warning: In accordance with Proposition ## of the State of California, diesel exhaust has been found to cause cancer and birth defects."
-b.
-b.
Well, I *did* say that it wouldn't help Apple and it would push people towards the free OS's. The free OS's have the *added* benefit of often being developed in countries not subject to US law.
-b.
-b.
BTW- the Dock doesn't have to be set to zoom or bounce. I think control-clicking the thing brings up an options menu that allows you to change stuff.
That being said, I much prefer the old NeXTSTEP user interface. Much cleaner looking and easier to use since icons for opened apps and application launchers are in different screen areas, unlike in the Dock which is one huge mish-mush. The only problem with classic NeXTSTEP is the lack of an ability to quickly drag-and-drop data files to the desktop, but then again, this makes for a cleaner-looking UI and NeXTSTEP has a file manager anyway.
Try WindowMaker running under Linux or BSD to see what I mean.
Cheers,
-b.
Vista will fix the security problems at the expence of operator freedom. What's this I hear about Vista x64 being unable to run unsigned code? At all. And try to install a driver not from an approved vendor on Vista. Won't work, apparently, possibly also due to MS pandering to the ??AA's desires to have the analog hole for video, etc, closed.
This stupidity won't help Apple, though. It'll probably push people towards the truly free OS's - read: Linux, BSD, and whatever else is come up with over the next 10 years.
-b.
"Find it useful" - sure - but "love"!? Liar! :D
-b.
As far as the Thinkpads - here's a little secret: buy used. Many businesses seem to replace the things after a year, so you can find lightly-used examples with plenty of life left in them for significantly less than they'd cost new. (I paid $280 for a Thinkpad T23 - granted, this is was a 3 yr old computer at time of purchase, but it's still working quite well for me and is pretty much bloody indestructable - it basically spends it's life in a backpack going to client sites and being variously knocked about and has nary a crack in the case).
-b.
Linux. BSD. Why run 'doze if you don't have to?
-b.
Less functionality? Are we talking about OS X (aka Apple Unix aka NeXTSTEP) here? You're comparing a system based on a solid UNIX core with easy-to-understand config files (notwithstanding Netinfo) to Windows - whose inner workings are much less transparent. Plus, with OS X you can get the best of both worlds - ported UNIX apps and programs from the "big names" like MS and Adobe.
On second thought, maybe you were talking about OS 9. Apple has a definite winner is OS X. The only major fault that OS X has, IMHO, was the fact that it tried to emulate the OS 9 user interface and file structure, so you ended up with a wierd two-tiered hybrid file structure with the Apple system that's visible in the Finder sitting alongside the UNIX core.
-b. -b.
-b.
Uh, recently - the Thinkpad (my only XP box at the moment) has problems waking up from sleep mode when running XP. Not so when it runs Debian with ACPI enabled. So I use Debian 99% of the time. I also had a problem with a web site that attempted to install a virus via Explorer yesterday - fortunately, this was caught by Avast! as it happened, but it still required a reboot and full system scan to make sure all files were clean.
Haven't had that problem with any of my Linux boxes yet (well, there were some pranks in college involving insecure Telnet and sniffers :)
-b.
I'm running patched OS X on a Dell Precision 530. Hmm - the best OS on the most eco-friendly of hardware. It even works 99% of the time once the correct patches were applied - the only exception is that the network settings panel crashes, so the net card has to get it's address via DHCP (not a big deal since you can push a static IP address to it).
-b.
I thought PayPal *was* legally a bank.
-b.
Basically, Earthlink should provide an alternative server and instructions on how to utilize it to clients who don't wish to use their automagic Site Finder service.
-b.
Or we get a recording "doo-dah-dee. We're sorry - the number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try again."
We don't get "This recording is sponsored by Gromyko's Widget Works of Belle PPlain, Wisconsin, North American Wireless, and Joe's Pizza. You have dialed 555-1234. If you meant 554-1234, Smith, John, press 1, if you meant 556-1234, Mierzwiak, James, press 2, or if you meant 555-2233, Yung, M., press 3?"
Not to give the phone company ideas or anything :/
-b.
-b.
Is it really getting worse due to pollution, or are we just living longer on average, and we've got to die of something now that smallpox and cholera etc have been eradicated.
-b.
If they're worried about theft, keep the small objects behind the counter. Most small electronics shops already do that, especially with OEM stuff that comes un-packaged.
-b.
Better yet, put on some fake blood just before you enter the store, wear a baseball cap from your AIDS advocacy group of choice, and start yelling about how the widget didn't work and you sliced your hand putting it back into the package.
-b.
Plenty of Americans live in cities and town centers, too. Not all of us have doublewide garages, V-8 SUVs and 5000 sq ft plastic houses :D
-b.
Cotton washable diapers.
those without transport
Councils in the UK expect you to deliver your recyclables to *them*? In most places in the US, another truck just comes around weekly and picks up recycling bins.
-b.
-b.
Many states have a program where teachers with non-ed degrees in what they will be teaching can earn a degree in ed while they work. Night school, correspondence courses, etc.
2) Computers are obviously the greatest learning tool yet made. There's no reason to explain that to a /. crowd. The more computers the better.
Sarcasm? Computers are *a* learning tool. They're not necessarily the best for a given situation. If you want to learn the anatomy of a frog, you'd best obtain a dead frog and slice it to bits methodically. Animations and graphics only go so (not very!) far.
3) Seperate but equal just doesn't work. That's human nature. "Posters" and Powerpoint and this kind of thing don't help any learning style, they are just "educational welfare".
Actually, gender-seperated schools are being tried again in several cities. Results are promising - both boys and girls do significantly better. If separate is truly equal and helps both parties, then why not? Not everything has to be gender-integrated (the prime example in modern American society is sport).
4) Nobody should be lined up against the wall and shot.
-b.