Does that mean that Grammy is rewarding talented artists too?
It'll be interesting if a pop singer pulls a similar stunt for his/her next album, and we'll have a real comparison, and see how (un)important a publisher is in terms of marketing and sales.
The only interesting part that caught my attention is:
"One of the biggest questions in evolution is, why aren't all organisms asexual?" says Adami. Given the obvious inefficiency of sex, evolutionary biologists suspect that it must confer some powerful advantage that makes it so common. But they have yet to come to a consensus about what that advantage is.
I think this built-in inefficiency is to control the population, no? So it's important to introduce the idea of "mating" to virus/robots to keep them under control.
500,000 slashdotters hitting refresh constant-simultaneously is probably still tolerable, how about 4,000,000?
Oh wait... I guess I'm confused between inefficiency and deficiency now.
This kind of "insight" can be applied to almost every company, and it's about as good as Colin Fry's cold reading ("wait, I think I smell something back there...").
It will however be interesting to see if Microsoft may one day break up voluntarily into different operating units, and thrive in different areas independantly.
Readers were removed from bathrooms when parents protested
They must have forgotten about those RFIDed toilet paper. Someone I know received a $94 invoice for "Excessive use of toilet paper" from her son's school.
Seriously though, tracking body parts is fine since they're donated "inventory", but tracking a human is a different matter entirely.
And I'm not going to make a joke about the ease of transition from that school to the university.
Maybe downloading a movie means you own a P2P-friendly file to redistribute it in the future, while stealing a DVD means you're only going to watch it at home.
Obviously owning a physical DVD also allows you to turn it into P2P-friendly files, but that can't be fined yet since it hasn't happened, while the downloader already possesses the file.
The friendly article mentioned that pressure causes smart people to think "Oh no, I can't screw up".
While it can be true since it's posted on the internet, personally I believe they (i.e. I am not one) choke when they're required to do things under a strict guideline, which restricts them from thinking outside the square, but it's thinking outside the square that makes them so smart in the first place.
So it's more like "Oh no, what are these rules and how do I follow them?" or "WhyTF should I do these?".
On the other hand, less smart people, like those who upgrade from Windows 1.0 to Windows Longhorn religously because MS told them so, are usually well trained to follow a certain set of rules, so regardless of the pressure/threats/deadline, they know only one thing - "Follow these procedures and policies and I'll be okay".
Yes it does. And it's even more important that at time of cost-cutting, you show the initiatives to help the company cutting costs whenever, wherever and however you can - So that your head is not on the chopping board.
If you're in a small, overworked and understaffed IT depatment, are you sure there's anything left to be cut besides offshoring? Does it always have to be cutting costs in IT? How about, for once, in other departments?
My company recently merged 3 production servers and 2 test servers into 1P and 1T, and saved 3 SQL2000 licenses (yeah, ex ex ex developers just set up their own "independant self sustain" web+data servers whenever they needed one).
Also, how about cutting the 'net costs/time spent on Slashdot?
What Microsoft really needs is some way of ensuring that software wears out at a similar speed to hardware
It gets me wondering why consumer is willing to pay $4999 for a Plasma TV that has a specific (say 20,000 hours) lifespan, but can't stand paying a $49 software that has an expiry date.
Hardware used to last for 10-20 years (like old radios), but hardly live past 3 years nowadays, yet consumers are rushing out buying and replacing gadgets every day.
I guess the main influence is Open Source and freeware, which sort of prevent major software makers to gang up on consumers.
Wear & Tear on hardware is by nature, Wear & Tear on software is by design, and people can choose against that design, but not many people can break nature's monopoly.
If you're doing it for people you know personally, for instance, your grandpa, sister-in-law or your mum's old schoolmate, in a sense that people are seeking your help as a favor, then I don't think it is easy to ask for something in return.
However, if you really get so many tech support requests, you may consider setting up a side business, that way you have made yourself commercially available and people know they need to pay for your service.
If they don't want to pay, they know not to call you. If they do call you but not expecting to pay, you can give good excuses like you're so busy with your new business that you can only visit them "later" (so much later that they solved the problem themselves).
Slashdot Mirror
I think DVD-CCA is indeed afraid of two billionaires swapping 78 pounds Kaleidescapes on their 50-foot yachts in the open sea.
With the proposed protection feature, they'll have to bring out their DVDs for the exchange too.
Does that mean that Grammy is rewarding talented artists too?
It'll be interesting if a pop singer pulls a similar stunt for his/her next album, and we'll have a real comparison, and see how (un)important a publisher is in terms of marketing and sales.
Is publisher still an important factor?
The only interesting part that caught my attention is:
"One of the biggest questions in evolution is, why aren't all organisms asexual?" says Adami. Given the obvious inefficiency of sex, evolutionary biologists suspect that it must confer some powerful advantage that makes it so common. But they have yet to come to a consensus about what that advantage is.
I think this built-in inefficiency is to control the population, no? So it's important to introduce the idea of "mating" to virus/robots to keep them under control.
500,000 slashdotters hitting refresh constant-simultaneously is probably still tolerable, how about 4,000,000?
Oh wait... I guess I'm confused between inefficiency and deficiency now.
You mean I don't need to subscribe to Slashdot to see the Mysterious Future?
Then maybe it can help me to win a few more Rock Paper Scissors games too.
After .Net sucks and Solaris, JVM suck too, I believe we're entering a new era in 2005, where litigation is a past tense.
It's just so much easier, and more importantly cheaper, to attack competitors like this.
Maybe Intel thinks that if their all-in-one Centrino can be successful, they might want to give it another go?
Like the bigger version of these Desktop R/C Mini-Rovers with optional wireless video cam?
:)
Here's the Coral Link since this guy put so many photos on one page, I read its hit counter at 230, we'll see how long before it's dead
Movies Included = Slashdotted Soon
This kind of "insight" can be applied to almost every company, and it's about as good as Colin Fry's cold reading ("wait, I think I smell something back there...").
It will however be interesting to see if Microsoft may one day break up voluntarily into different operating units, and thrive in different areas independantly.
Songs in iPod will grow old and users will eventually buy new ones to replace the olds, and iTunes the cash cow is waiting.
Being a satellite radio will allow users to use iPod without purchasing anything thing more from Apple.
1. Gmail
2. Gbrowser
3. Ghosting
Preview here
So, how long do you think it will be until students just give their badges to their friends?
Until they figured out how to take it out of their skulls?
Readers were removed from bathrooms when parents protested
They must have forgotten about those RFIDed toilet paper. Someone I know received a $94 invoice for "Excessive use of toilet paper" from her son's school.
Seriously though, tracking body parts is fine since they're donated "inventory", but tracking a human is a different matter entirely.
And I'm not going to make a joke about the ease of transition from that school to the university.
Normal people in Slashdot? You mean there are sharks in lakes?
Spammers are selling V|agra you silly!
Microsoft should double-dip and file a parallel lawsuits against spammers who sell Full Version WinXP PRO for $35.
Maybe downloading a movie means you own a P2P-friendly file to redistribute it in the future, while stealing a DVD means you're only going to watch it at home.
Obviously owning a physical DVD also allows you to turn it into P2P-friendly files, but that can't be fined yet since it hasn't happened, while the downloader already possesses the file.
It does happen when you only have 2 seconds left before all your precious mod points expire.
The friendly article mentioned that pressure causes smart people to think "Oh no, I can't screw up".
While it can be true since it's posted on the internet, personally I believe they (i.e. I am not one) choke when they're required to do things under a strict guideline, which restricts them from thinking outside the square, but it's thinking outside the square that makes them so smart in the first place.
So it's more like "Oh no, what are these rules and how do I follow them?" or "WhyTF should I do these?".
On the other hand, less smart people, like those who upgrade from Windows 1.0 to Windows Longhorn religously because MS told them so, are usually well trained to follow a certain set of rules, so regardless of the pressure/threats/deadline, they know only one thing - "Follow these procedures and policies and I'll be okay".
Yes it does. And it's even more important that at time of cost-cutting, you show the initiatives to help the company cutting costs whenever, wherever and however you can - So that your head is not on the chopping board.
If you're in a small, overworked and understaffed IT depatment, are you sure there's anything left to be cut besides offshoring? Does it always have to be cutting costs in IT? How about, for once, in other departments?
My company recently merged 3 production servers and 2 test servers into 1P and 1T, and saved 3 SQL2000 licenses (yeah, ex ex ex developers just set up their own "independant self sustain" web+data servers whenever they needed one).
Also, how about cutting the 'net costs/time spent on Slashdot?
The fact that this post is modded informative shows there are people out there who will buy anything a company sells.
What Microsoft really needs is some way of ensuring that software wears out at a similar speed to hardware
It gets me wondering why consumer is willing to pay $4999 for a Plasma TV that has a specific (say 20,000 hours) lifespan, but can't stand paying a $49 software that has an expiry date.
Hardware used to last for 10-20 years (like old radios), but hardly live past 3 years nowadays, yet consumers are rushing out buying and replacing gadgets every day.
I guess the main influence is Open Source and freeware, which sort of prevent major software makers to gang up on consumers.
Wear & Tear on hardware is by nature, Wear & Tear on software is by design, and people can choose against that design, but not many people can break nature's monopoly.
I hope it's not making a habit that people can forget something and fix it later, it doesn't work every time.
Didn't I warn you guys already?
So what makes this June Release by one Microsoft executive more believable than other announcements?
If you're doing it for people you know personally, for instance, your grandpa, sister-in-law or your mum's old schoolmate, in a sense that people are seeking your help as a favor, then I don't think it is easy to ask for something in return.
However, if you really get so many tech support requests, you may consider setting up a side business, that way you have made yourself commercially available and people know they need to pay for your service.
If they don't want to pay, they know not to call you. If they do call you but not expecting to pay, you can give good excuses like you're so busy with your new business that you can only visit them "later" (so much later that they solved the problem themselves).