What they're doing is really no different than a lot of hosting companies. It's true, you can use as much bandwidth and disk space as you like. The problem is really server processing power. You couldn't host Slashdot there. You most likely couldn't host anything popular. I'm willing to bet that just about any site hosted by Yahoo! will become unresponsive when it starts getting more than 4,000 hits an hour. Yes, this is great for small businesses who essentially have an online ad for a website that only gets maybe 10 hits a day.
That's the trick. Processing power. You can't build your 'MySpace Killer' with them because as soon as it starts to get popular, you'd hit processing power limits. Then you have to start looking at dedicated servers elsewhere.
I'm waiting for a hosting company to offer unlimited processing power. 'Your web site will never become unresponsive from too many users'. I'm not holding my breath.
As soon as RFID chips start appearing in all of our items, the market for devices that destroy them without damaging the article itself will very quickly materialize. Honestly, if I can figure out how to destroy them easily, I may be in on that market.
And then they'll make tougher RFID chips, and we'll make tougher devices to kill them. And this war will escalate just like the Radar vs Radar Detector arms race. What are the cops using now? Negatively modulated phased arrays doppler assisted with frequency hopping? Exactly.
The only thing impressive CompUSA ever did was make the idiots at Best Buy look like geniuses.
Their prices were ridiculous, the staff under-qualified. If you wanted to know what 1994 felt like, all you had to do was wander into one of their stores.
I'm not sure if maybe there are companies that, say, perform such services for a fee.
The list, provided by Kroll Inc.'s Ontrack Data Recovery unit, illustrates some of the strangest and wackiest things that people put electronic storage devices through on a regular basis.
That's from the second paragraph of the article. Didn't get too far, did ya?
Google has 222,000 results for 'damaged disk data recovery'. Think maybe one of them might help you out, or provide that 'hugely beneficial' service 'to the computing community'?
Culture is in a constant state of evolution. New traditions begun, old traditions forgotten. The language of a culture is not 'inseparable'. The language a culture uses changes. It's evolution of that culture. Even if they don't use a different language, that particular language changes as well, or are you still calling things 'rad'? Maintaining any culture in some sort of static dimension isn't possible.
Also, here's a 'me too' comment for some other posts. Less languages is a good thing. I firmly believe that miscommunication is a major part of the problems of the human condition. Anything that helps to reduce those miscommunications is a good thing.
This may just be a guess, but I don't think Apple needs their own cellular infrastructure to become a 'carrier'. To the best of my knowledge, Virgin Mobile doesn't have it's own infrastructure (they're using T-Mobile's network), yet their phones seem to work just fine. I don't believe there's any reason why Apple couldn't do the same thing Virgin Mobile is doing.
It was only a matter of time before someone managed to use Slashdot for it's ability to harness ideas and viewpoints. Usually it's just spitting into the wind with no one making any effort to record the good ideas that do pop up.
Our friend, the NewYorkCountryLawyer, has not only made Slashdot his personal soap box, what the Russians would call the 'Father of all soapboxes', but he has managed to harness all the good ideas generated from several Slashdot stories and put them to good use. Not only has he put these ideas to his own personal good use, he's doing good for society as a whole, and sticking it to the RIAA in the process.
While I agree with all the skeptics, having read about this same damn car years ago, some of the skepticism is unfounded.
Moller may never produce a 'flying car', but someone will eventually.
When that flying car hits the market, it will likely be little different than when the first automobiles we're being sold. There were no parking spots in front of the general store, only places to tie up your horse. As more of these are sold, more spots to park them will become available. More gasoline/diesel stations will accommodate them as well. It will be slow. There won't be any real regulation of them for a while, but that won't stop people from using them. And these will likely be flying deathtraps for a while. So was the car for the first two decades of it's life. Same for the train when we started laying tracks everywhere we could find a place for them but couldn't design brakes worth a shit. As dangerous as these flying cars may be, people will fly them.
If I could afford one, I would buy it to fly it to work everyday. It would be easy for me; I'd just follow the river. The first automobiles were not utilities, they were novelties, just like the flying car will be when someone eventually manages to start selling them.
"The issue is, the data on the server may have changed as well, which needs to propagate back to the laptop."
So let me get this straight.. You have the old version of the file, somewhere. The new laptop version of file, somewhere. And the new server version of the file, somewhere. And you want the software to decide which to use and copy it to both the server and the laptop?
There are even more issues here, but it kinda sounds like you want some artificial intelligence that you can download.
Why is it always California that's always ahead of the rest of the country? The best time to take care of a problem is before it starts. Everyone here in the IT business has probably heard of it. It's called preventative maintenace. California has started applying it to politics, and I applaud them for it.
I've never been to California, and I know that it's not perfect, but a good portion of their newer laws make a ton of sense, and should probably be implemented nationwide.
What's sad is that when a government body passes a law that is good for it's people, it's news.
"they just allow the image to be used for monetary gain (and I suspect - although I don't know for certain - that that's purely a "cover your backside" exercise.."
A flip through any tabloid should assure you that you don't need permission to use it for monetary gain.
If only the police would do their jobs, this wouldn't be necessary.
What crimes can this help fight that can't be helped in other ways? As it is, everything leaves a digital trail, if not a physical one.
Let's name some 'horrible' crimes. The only truly horrible crime I can think of on the internet is child pornography. It appears that, in light the large number of recent events, that they already know how to investigate this crime. In the event that didn't have a reasonable track record, there are still methods to combat this. The children are somewhere, find them. They're missing from somewhere, start there. There is money being made, follow that. The pervs get into these groups, so could the cops. The laws are pretty clear about child pornography: Have anything to do with it, and you'll go to jail for a long time.
Let's talk about other crimes. DDOS? Will this law help stop Distributed Denial of Service attacks? Not likely. Most DDOS attacks are done remotely using a net of bots. This law would require terabytes worth of retained data created by these bots, while the people that created the bot-net will have done so in a manner that isn't traceable. This law won't help any.
How about selling contraband over the internet? This law isn't necessary. The contraband is being created somewhere. The item is being shipped somewhere. Money is being transferred. There are standard methods to track all of this. The contraband is a physical item. Find it, you lazy fucks.
In short, requiring network operators to retain a record of every digital transmission is a lot like banning guns. Ban guns, and then only the criminals will have them. Require that ISPs keep records, and then only the criminals will be able to move freely about the internet.
Hey Keystone Kops, want to catch more bad guys? Work together better with your cohorts in other countries. Share that legally acquired data more efficiently. You found this item here. They're looking for this item there. Put two and two together, assholes.
Why should network operators have to pick up the slack for inefficient and incompetent law enforcement?
Aero
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
"or is it simply going to breed discontent among teachers?"
It doesn't matter if you're teaching, slinging garbage, or building rockets, there is always going to be discontent between those that get paid X amount and those that get paid Y amount. There is no way around it. Joe, the burger-flipper, is going to harbor some discontent for his neighbor, Bob, the pediatrician. You can't get rid of that discontent. Bob makes more money most likely because he's smarter and worked harder in his field. If you're 'discontent' that you're not making as much because you're not as intelligent, there isn't much you can do besides study more or kick your parents' asses. This is going to sound arrogant, but people are always going to harbor some discontent for those that are smarter and make more money. Unfortunately, I am smarter than the average person. I make more money the average person with my skills and experience. There is going to be discontent. Unless you can find a way to pay CEOs the same amount as gas station clerks, there will always be discontent.
There. I've just used the word 'discontent' eight times in one post. Make that nine.
While you're over there sitting on your ass, put some flowers on Algernon's grave for me.
Slashdot Mirror
What they're doing is really no different than a lot of hosting companies. It's true, you can use as much bandwidth and disk space as you like. The problem is really server processing power. You couldn't host Slashdot there. You most likely couldn't host anything popular. I'm willing to bet that just about any site hosted by Yahoo! will become unresponsive when it starts getting more than 4,000 hits an hour. Yes, this is great for small businesses who essentially have an online ad for a website that only gets maybe 10 hits a day.
That's the trick. Processing power. You can't build your 'MySpace Killer' with them because as soon as it starts to get popular, you'd hit processing power limits. Then you have to start looking at dedicated servers elsewhere.
I'm waiting for a hosting company to offer unlimited processing power. 'Your web site will never become unresponsive from too many users'. I'm not holding my breath.
Aero
As soon as RFID chips start appearing in all of our items, the market for devices that destroy them without damaging the article itself will very quickly materialize. Honestly, if I can figure out how to destroy them easily, I may be in on that market.
And then they'll make tougher RFID chips, and we'll make tougher devices to kill them. And this war will escalate just like the Radar vs Radar Detector arms race. What are the cops using now? Negatively modulated phased arrays doppler assisted with frequency hopping? Exactly.
Aero
The only thing impressive CompUSA ever did was make the idiots at Best Buy look like geniuses.
Their prices were ridiculous, the staff under-qualified. If you wanted to know what 1994 felt like, all you had to do was wander into one of their stores.
Aero
And who the fuck modded that INTERESTING!?
That's from the second paragraph of the article. Didn't get too far, did ya?
Google has 222,000 results for 'damaged disk data recovery'. Think maybe one of them might help you out, or provide that 'hugely beneficial' service 'to the computing community'?
Here, try this link.
Aero
- You can read it in the sunlight. 99% of most LCD screens can't be read for shit in the sunlight.
- For $9.99, I better not have to have to pay for that fucker again, ever.
And even then, I would still wait a year, so that they don't pull an 'iPhone' on me.Aero
My mother would love to have something like this on my father's computer. She calls Diablo II 'the divorce game'.
Aero
Culture is in a constant state of evolution. New traditions begun, old traditions forgotten. The language of a culture is not 'inseparable'. The language a culture uses changes. It's evolution of that culture. Even if they don't use a different language, that particular language changes as well, or are you still calling things 'rad'? Maintaining any culture in some sort of static dimension isn't possible.
Also, here's a 'me too' comment for some other posts. Less languages is a good thing. I firmly believe that miscommunication is a major part of the problems of the human condition. Anything that helps to reduce those miscommunications is a good thing.
Aero
You are right, Virgin Mobile uses Sprint in the US and Canada. And they use T-Mobile in the UK.
aero
This may just be a guess, but I don't think Apple needs their own cellular infrastructure to become a 'carrier'. To the best of my knowledge, Virgin Mobile doesn't have it's own infrastructure (they're using T-Mobile's network), yet their phones seem to work just fine. I don't believe there's any reason why Apple couldn't do the same thing Virgin Mobile is doing.
I could be wrong though.
Aero
It was only a matter of time before someone managed to use Slashdot for it's ability to harness ideas and viewpoints. Usually it's just spitting into the wind with no one making any effort to record the good ideas that do pop up.
Our friend, the NewYorkCountryLawyer, has not only made Slashdot his personal soap box, what the Russians would call the 'Father of all soapboxes', but he has managed to harness all the good ideas generated from several Slashdot stories and put them to good use. Not only has he put these ideas to his own personal good use, he's doing good for society as a whole, and sticking it to the RIAA in the process.
Sir, I tip my hat to you. Keep up the good work.
Aero
While I agree with all the skeptics, having read about this same damn car years ago, some of the skepticism is unfounded.
Moller may never produce a 'flying car', but someone will eventually.
When that flying car hits the market, it will likely be little different than when the first automobiles we're being sold. There were no parking spots in front of the general store, only places to tie up your horse. As more of these are sold, more spots to park them will become available. More gasoline/diesel stations will accommodate them as well. It will be slow. There won't be any real regulation of them for a while, but that won't stop people from using them. And these will likely be flying deathtraps for a while. So was the car for the first two decades of it's life. Same for the train when we started laying tracks everywhere we could find a place for them but couldn't design brakes worth a shit. As dangerous as these flying cars may be, people will fly them.
If I could afford one, I would buy it to fly it to work everyday. It would be easy for me; I'd just follow the river. The first automobiles were not utilities, they were novelties, just like the flying car will be when someone eventually manages to start selling them.
Aero
From the summary:
"The issue is, the data on the server may have changed as well, which needs to propagate back to the laptop."
So let me get this straight.. You have the old version of the file, somewhere. The new laptop version of file, somewhere. And the new server version of the file, somewhere. And you want the software to decide which to use and copy it to both the server and the laptop?
There are even more issues here, but it kinda sounds like you want some artificial intelligence that you can download.
Aero
"Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken!"
This is a bad idea for the same reason that it's a bad idea to be chipping our own citizens:
What happens when people who weren't intended to be reading these chips start using them to track and find the chipped?
Aero
Why is it always California that's always ahead of the rest of the country? The best time to take care of a problem is before it starts. Everyone here in the IT business has probably heard of it. It's called preventative maintenace . California has started applying it to politics, and I applaud them for it.
I've never been to California, and I know that it's not perfect, but a good portion of their newer laws make a ton of sense, and should probably be implemented nationwide.
What's sad is that when a government body passes a law that is good for it's people, it's news.
Aero
"Why didn't you tell me my ass was so big!?"
Wow, someone else that knows what Strat-O-Matic is.
By the way, backgammon boards and cups really keep the noise down quite a bit.
Aero
Hmm.. That's odd.
...
I thought April Fool's Day was yesterday!
Let's hope they manage to pass it. Common sense is hard to come these days.
Aero
Fuck.. have fun maintaining that..
"they just allow the image to be used for monetary gain (and I suspect - although I don't know for certain - that that's purely a "cover your backside" exercise.."
A flip through any tabloid should assure you that you don't need permission to use it for monetary gain.
Aero
"Once the precedent is established.."
This case was not decided by a judge. It was settled out of court.
I may be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that there is no legal precedent set when someone settles.
Aero
"mean time between failure of 5 million hours"
Didn't we just recently learn that they're pulling these numbers out of their arse, and that they're essentially useless?
Disk failures in the real world: What does an MTTF of 1,000,000 hours mean to you?
This was covered on Slashdot already.
If you're going to read Slashdot, at least fucking read it.
Aero
What crimes can this help fight that can't be helped in other ways? As it is, everything leaves a digital trail, if not a physical one.
Let's name some 'horrible' crimes. The only truly horrible crime I can think of on the internet is child pornography. It appears that, in light the large number of recent events, that they already know how to investigate this crime. In the event that didn't have a reasonable track record, there are still methods to combat this. The children are somewhere, find them. They're missing from somewhere, start there. There is money being made, follow that. The pervs get into these groups, so could the cops. The laws are pretty clear about child pornography: Have anything to do with it, and you'll go to jail for a long time.
Let's talk about other crimes. DDOS? Will this law help stop Distributed Denial of Service attacks? Not likely. Most DDOS attacks are done remotely using a net of bots. This law would require terabytes worth of retained data created by these bots, while the people that created the bot-net will have done so in a manner that isn't traceable. This law won't help any.
How about selling contraband over the internet? This law isn't necessary. The contraband is being created somewhere. The item is being shipped somewhere. Money is being transferred. There are standard methods to track all of this. The contraband is a physical item. Find it, you lazy fucks.
In short, requiring network operators to retain a record of every digital transmission is a lot like banning guns. Ban guns, and then only the criminals will have them. Require that ISPs keep records, and then only the criminals will be able to move freely about the internet.
Hey Keystone Kops, want to catch more bad guys? Work together better with your cohorts in other countries. Share that legally acquired data more efficiently. You found this item here. They're looking for this item there. Put two and two together, assholes.
Why should network operators have to pick up the slack for inefficient and incompetent law enforcement?
Aero
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Let me be the first to point out the obvious..
"or is it simply going to breed discontent among teachers?"
It doesn't matter if you're teaching, slinging garbage, or building rockets, there is always going to be discontent between those that get paid X amount and those that get paid Y amount. There is no way around it. Joe, the burger-flipper, is going to harbor some discontent for his neighbor, Bob, the pediatrician. You can't get rid of that discontent. Bob makes more money most likely because he's smarter and worked harder in his field. If you're 'discontent' that you're not making as much because you're not as intelligent, there isn't much you can do besides study more or kick your parents' asses. This is going to sound arrogant, but people are always going to harbor some discontent for those that are smarter and make more money. Unfortunately, I am smarter than the average person. I make more money the average person with my skills and experience. There is going to be discontent. Unless you can find a way to pay CEOs the same amount as gas station clerks, there will always be discontent.
There. I've just used the word 'discontent' eight times in one post. Make that nine.
While you're over there sitting on your ass, put some flowers on Algernon's grave for me.
Aero