Not sure how you got modded insightful. They are not the same machines we had 10 years ago. I can only assume you were not using them 10 years ago.
It is like saying Cars are like cars 10 years ago, they still have tyres and doors and windscreens so nothing has changed with them.
"Optimus keyboards? That's still just a keyboard, it may be a keyboard with fancy lettering on it,"
No it isn't. It is a keyboard that can dynamically change the key caps depending on the situation. There was no such keyboard in existence 10 years ago.
"3D Displays? When was the last time you actually seen one of those on a laptop?"
Last month. It is quite a nice add-on for those with the gaming rigs to handle it. Certainly a PC from 10 years ago wouldn't be powerful enough to render the level of graphics you get these days.
"how many people do you see with tablet PC's running around, as useful as they are?"
Well obviously you have never used them. I own two (Samsung Q1 + Lenovo X61). They are very useful and more comfy to use then standard keyboard. But to say they are the same as technology from 10 years ago is laughable.
I can't see large companies (like ISP) trying to push this. It opens a serious can of worms.
In Ireland for example we have a law that prevents the ISP from being sued for content that passes through their servers based on the fact that they don't analyze the data. It was a big deal some years back over the USENET alt.binaries.* being available.
By blocking certain kinds of traffic they are effectively determining what is legal. As such if something illegal was to get through it would be the ISP at fault.
One I saw years ago (I no longer have the link). Back when unsolicited spam was coming from actual companies one actually would reply complaining that they got an offensive letter from them.
The response spam mail he sent back had various words changed to various expletives. He actually got a few spammers to apologise.
From the years playing MMOs the majority of hacks on accounts relate to the following. - A ex-SO or friend upset with you. - Sharing your password with your clan. - Overly obvious passwords.
After that the two common ones are. - Installing third party programs. - Clan phishing.
Clan phishing by works be joining a clan, getting friendly with them then posting a joke/quiz where the people answer with questions like "Mothers last maiden name, "Date of birth", etc. They use that to hack mail accounts.
I have seen one instance where two people in the class gave an overview, word for word of the exact same code claiming they both wrote it not realizing they were the same. Another in the class had every second line deleted from his code (because he annoyed the wrong person) and never once noticed when giving his presentation.
The technically savvy are not going to bring their personal data through customs. If you have a read around, it isn't just rummaging through your files.
They will ask you questions about the laptop like what word processor do you use, where are your bookmarks stored and what do you look at frequently.
If your device is encrypted or the machine looks in any way suspect they will take it off you. If your lucky you will get it back. But there are many cases of some people never seeing them again.
One thing that annoys me with this story is "Americans". This law sucks for everyone, not just Americans.
My workplace have said just not to bring any laptops or business information if doing business in the US. We get one over there and then just use the business network and hand back the machine when done.
> since it is assumed that the person would have spent money on bread and board.
Sorry but I can't see how anyone can spin this as a positive thing. The person is falsely imprisoned and detained. In the time they are detained they could of been paying a morgage, owned a car, a job, children growing up. All you get is "Whoops sorry about that, btw here is the bill".
Do people who actually get charged with a crime have to pay the same bill when they leave prison?
Compensation isn't supposed to be fair for the person being paying it. It is supposed to deter those who would try the same thing again.
There was an article years ago on this (think IEEE). As I understand it you have broadcast towers which the plane picks up, with GPS can determine if it has moved into restricted space buffer zone then forces the plane to move itself out of the direction. Normally a warning well beforehand.
The system would be outside of the ability to be compromised while in flight. Of course still possible to hack I'd reckon.
Most suggestions to increase security in USA tends to be more about giving insane amounts of taxpayers cash to companies that are friends with the administration.
Not sure what you are talking about but the UK will actually bill prisoners who were falsely detained. For example the Birmingham six were charged for bed and board after being released as innocent.
I recall a famous Irish comedian trying to make fun of these sort of things. Years ago when Irish people were "potential terrorists" he had to fill out an anti-terrorist form.
Anyway, for purpose of visit the guy wrote "Friendly". They kept him detained for over a day.
I've had to fill one out as well (because I had paid for my flight in cash, because no credit card at that time), it is quite annoying. You have to list in detail everything and they ask you various questions about where you work, the industry, where you live, what buildings are nearby, etc.
In my case I had no clue what was going on until I was told 40 minutes later I could go to my connecting flight. I got an armed escort on the way walking 10-20ft behind me. Was funny for me because I got lost on the way and walked down the wrong corridor and they came running after me. Rather embarrassed I walked over to them and said I was lost, at which point they laughed, pointed me in the right direction and left me alone.
Actually while your spirit of your message is correct the main issues I found was. - Needless sending of parts. - Getting me to do pointless tasks over and over when the core issue was identified. - Phone punting with the next person in line having no clue what I was on the line for. - Being kept on the line until something can be found to get rid of you (See above).
What you are talking about is business support. Which you are probably correct. Others I have spoken to tend to find that pretty good as well.
I have 3 Dell machines. One of them is on the business contract. When it broke someone came out replaced the part the next day, no questions asked, no messing.
Of the other machines.
- Got a new machine. The mouse converter was missing to allow me to plug it into the USB port. I rang support. Numerous holds, disconnects and asking the same details over and over I was finally told that Dell do not support Logitech mouse and I was on my own. I tried explaining the converter to her and she said I would need to speak to Logitech. I explained I bought it off Dell and she tells me I am wrong they don't sell it. I actually had to step through the Dell website with her and then send screenshots to prove it. She puts me on hold for 20 minutes. Comes back and tells me that the mouse will work and I just need to use the converter. I lost it at that point. Her manager came on, says "sorry" and is sending it out and a 256MB USB key for my troubles. Told him the key was an insult as you can get 1GB keys dirt cheap at this stage.
- Another machine which had a serious hardware fault. I had checked all the bluescreen codes and knew it was a hardware fault. In fact the Dell website even explained what the issue may be. Rang support and explained (numerous times).
I was told to reformat the machine. Then after that didn't work to run a diagnostics, which I did (which didn't need a reformat to run). Then told they would replace part X. This went on for a couple of months (cpu, fan, motherboard, memory, harddrive). Each time not fixing it. The third time the guy turned up to replace a new part I asked him to hang about as it will normally start crashing 20 minutes or so. Said he doesn't check it, just replaces the parts.
So a 4 months down the line I still have a broken machine still, dealing with support is a nightmare. It came to a head when I explained the machine was still not working (and giving all details again) they hung up on me mid conversation. I rang back again, did all the questions again and they asked me to reformat the machine. I explained it was already reformatted, but they said they would not continue the call unless I reformatted the machine AGAIN. I lost it at this point. I explained either I get a new machine or a full refund. If that doesn't happen I will be lodging a small claims against them.
At this point I get put through to what I suspect is their business line. The woman is American, there is no messing around with repeating questions, she clearly knows what she is talking about. We go through some other stuff on the system. She mentions she wants to try replacing some other item. That doesn't work so I explain I want a refund or new machine. She puts me back to the home support people.
Who do the exact same mess again. I loose it at this point. Thankfully after the first month I was keeping records of dates and times, holds and disconnects. So I send the email in full detail to the idiot who is asking me to reformat again. I explain based on this I have a case to small claims court.
I get a manager ringing me back saying they are very sorry of the way I am being messed around and are sending out the top of the range PC to the one I have broken (much better spec) and would reset the suppoort contract. I am somewhat less annoyed now. He explains that the paperwork would be done and sent out within a week.
4 days later I hear nothing so I ring up. Apparently no one had even heard of me getting a new machine. Worse still they start asking me the same questions over again. I actually tell the guy to stop talking. Told him straight off I was filing a small claims.
I get a manager straight away who says it was an oversight, I get the confirmation the same day and the new machine 2 days later.
So close to 5 months, numerous parts wasted, hours wasted with them. No I would not say their general customer support is any good. Dell as a machine, if it works is a good machine though. But not worth the hassle of dealing with their support people.
I've since moved onto Lenovo PCs. Haven't had any issues as of yet.
"I must applaud President Bush for being foresighted enough to pass this legislation"
Personally I would hold the applause until you actually read the act. 99 times out of a 100 the bill name means nothing about the content.
Having a quick look at thomas.loc.gov it looks like the bill is [H.R.493]. Reading some bits...
While you can't discriminate based on genetic material the section 210 states that if the information is found by any other means it is permissible (even if it is a genetic related issue). So this for the most part will have no effect on Medical Insurance companies.
For example if one of my parents suffered from a genetic disease then they could discriminate against me based on that information and not on actually checking if I have the genetic markers or not.
Section 103 seems to mention that if a health company came by your genetic information via another source (3rd party) then it is permissible to use it.
Also there is mention of Genetic testing IS NOT..
"an analysis of proteins or metabolites that is directly related to a manifested disease, disorder, or pathological condition that could reasonably be detected by a health care professional with appropriate training and expertise in the field of medicine involved."
So, IANAL or biologist but even casual reading there appears to be loads of outs for private medical companies.
Actually the really long haul flights (not sure about USA) I have found that the seat size is perfect.
Eg, England -> Singapore / France -> Korea. Both cases the seats were fine, had your own TV/games console and could get up at any time and get more food/drink.
It is the short flights (up to 5 hours) that steerage tended to be bad.
Another thought is maybe you just need to loose weight.:)
I know loads of people who carry the laptop like this. Much to the annoyance of the IT department. However with the new tablet PCs and the hard drive air bag it is much easier to carry a laptop around. Also I find I use the keyboard less and less, for example this slashdot entry was written using the speech recognition system in Vista.
> core problem of terrorist. You catch or kill one and > there is ten more to replace him.
While you are correct somewhat here your premise as how to combat it is flawed.
When dealing with terrorism you need to determine why those ten would want to replace him. For example if you were fire a missile into a market during its busy hours to kill one terrorist and maim/kill many bystanders. Actions like that is what grows more terrorists.
Even if you don't do this then the actions tend to be related to civil rights abuses. Terrorism is normally the weapon of the desperate against an opposing force. If they are on our side then we call them "freedom fighters".
Ignoring the middle east the best example of this is Northern Ireland. Prior to the civil rights abuses in Northern Ireland the IRA didn't really have any real following. Sure you still get the gangsters and loons joining, but those who would normally define as rational/sane would of been in the minority if at all. It took actions from the British like Internment and Bloody Sunday to really get the ranks of the IRA up. That lead to 30 years of violence.
Once civil rights abuses were addressed in Northern Ireland the violence and support went away. It is not gone. You will always have some level of people who will disagree with actions. But the point is to stop the recruits. That you can't fight with weapons.
I was there in 2002/2003. The hotel was called a "Friendship Hotel". Chinese people could come in to meet guests but they weren't allowed in your room. I believe your correct that it was a lot worse before in the same hotel (much more restrictive). Probably changed since then.
There were also shops there where only non-nationals were allowed. I forget the names of the shops but it was generally full of over priced kitch (which is probably why no sane Chinese person would be in them:).
Other then that except for the number of Chinese people the major cities of China don't look that much different most major cities in the USA.
Slashdot Mirror
Not sure how you got modded insightful. They are not the same machines we had 10 years ago. I can only assume you were not using them 10 years ago.
It is like saying Cars are like cars 10 years ago, they still have tyres and doors and windscreens so nothing has changed with them.
"Optimus keyboards? That's still just a keyboard, it may be a keyboard with fancy lettering on it,"
No it isn't. It is a keyboard that can dynamically change the key caps depending on the situation. There was no such keyboard in existence 10 years ago.
"3D Displays? When was the last time you actually seen one of those on a laptop?"
Last month. It is quite a nice add-on for those with the gaming rigs to handle it. Certainly a PC from 10 years ago wouldn't be powerful enough to render the level of graphics you get these days.
"how many people do you see with tablet PC's running around, as useful as they are?"
Well obviously you have never used them. I own two (Samsung Q1 + Lenovo X61). They are very useful and more comfy to use then standard keyboard. But to say they are the same as technology from 10 years ago is laughable.
Sorry but that's bull. Processor speed, memory, graphics, storage methods. Even input devices (touchscreen, optimus keyboards, voice recognition), display devices like smart projection systems, 3-D displays, biometrics, high speed internet, terabyte desktops, etc.
I don't know what your making your comparison on but it isn't reality.
largely the same? o_O
Released in 1989.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable
Now
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air
although I have a mobile phone more powerful then most desktops from 1989.
I can't see large companies (like ISP) trying to push this. It opens a serious can of worms.
In Ireland for example we have a law that prevents the ISP from being sued for content that passes through their servers based on the fact that they don't analyze the data. It was a big deal some years back over the USENET alt.binaries.* being available.
By blocking certain kinds of traffic they are effectively determining what is legal. As such if something illegal was to get through it would be the ISP at fault.
One I saw years ago (I no longer have the link). Back when unsolicited spam was coming from actual companies one actually would reply complaining that they got an offensive letter from them.
The response spam mail he sent back had various words changed to various expletives. He actually got a few spammers to apologise.
From the years playing MMOs the majority of hacks on accounts relate to the following.
- A ex-SO or friend upset with you.
- Sharing your password with your clan.
- Overly obvious passwords.
After that the two common ones are.
- Installing third party programs.
- Clan phishing.
Clan phishing by works be joining a clan, getting friendly with them then posting a joke/quiz where the people answer with questions like "Mothers last maiden name, "Date of birth", etc. They use that to hack mail accounts.
I have seen one instance where two people in the class gave an overview, word for word of the exact same code claiming they both wrote it not realizing they were the same. Another in the class had every second line deleted from his code (because he annoyed the wrong person) and never once noticed when giving his presentation.
The technically savvy are not going to bring their personal data through customs. If you have a read around, it isn't just rummaging through your files.
They will ask you questions about the laptop like what word processor do you use, where are your bookmarks stored and what do you look at frequently.
If your device is encrypted or the machine looks in any way suspect they will take it off you. If your lucky you will get it back. But there are many cases of some people never seeing them again.
One thing that annoys me with this story is "Americans". This law sucks for everyone, not just Americans.
My workplace have said just not to bring any laptops or business information if doing business in the US. We get one over there and then just use the business network and hand back the machine when done.
"Increasing the cost of obesity reduces obesity. "
Either that or the government invades another country that has more food. :p
> since it is assumed that the person would have spent money on bread and board.
Sorry but I can't see how anyone can spin this as a positive thing. The person is falsely imprisoned and detained. In the time they are detained they could of been paying a morgage, owned a car, a job, children growing up. All you get is "Whoops sorry about that, btw here is the bill".
Do people who actually get charged with a crime have to pay the same bill when they leave prison?
Compensation isn't supposed to be fair for the person being paying it. It is supposed to deter those who would try the same thing again.
There was an article years ago on this (think IEEE). As I understand it you have broadcast towers which the plane picks up, with GPS can determine if it has moved into restricted space buffer zone then forces the plane to move itself out of the direction. Normally a warning well beforehand.
The system would be outside of the ability to be compromised while in flight. Of course still possible to hack I'd reckon.
Most suggestions to increase security in USA tends to be more about giving insane amounts of taxpayers cash to companies that are friends with the administration.
Not sure what you are talking about but the UK will actually bill prisoners who were falsely detained. For example the Birmingham six were charged for bed and board after being released as innocent.
I recall a famous Irish comedian trying to make fun of these sort of things. Years ago when Irish people were "potential terrorists" he had to fill out an anti-terrorist form.
Anyway, for purpose of visit the guy wrote "Friendly". They kept him detained for over a day.
I've had to fill one out as well (because I had paid for my flight in cash, because no credit card at that time), it is quite annoying. You have to list in detail everything and they ask you various questions about where you work, the industry, where you live, what buildings are nearby, etc.
In my case I had no clue what was going on until I was told 40 minutes later I could go to my connecting flight. I got an armed escort on the way walking 10-20ft behind me. Was funny for me because I got lost on the way and walked down the wrong corridor and they came running after me. Rather embarrassed I walked over to them and said I was lost, at which point they laughed, pointed me in the right direction and left me alone.
Your correct. But the US Media is running out of things to scare the people about.
The article is less to do on bananas going extinct then rather trying to sell GM crops to the public.
I'd mod you up if I could. :) Your the perfect example of what people should be doing when reading bills (myself included).
Actually while your spirit of your message is correct the main issues I found was.
- Needless sending of parts.
- Getting me to do pointless tasks over and over when the core issue was identified.
- Phone punting with the next person in line having no clue what I was on the line for.
- Being kept on the line until something can be found to get rid of you (See above).
What you are talking about is business support. Which you are probably correct. Others I have spoken to tend to find that pretty good as well.
I have 3 Dell machines. One of them is on the business contract. When it broke someone came out replaced the part the next day, no questions asked, no messing.
Of the other machines.
- Got a new machine. The mouse converter was missing to allow me to plug it into the USB port. I rang support. Numerous holds, disconnects and asking the same details over and over I was finally told that Dell do not support Logitech mouse and I was on my own. I tried explaining the converter to her and she said I would need to speak to Logitech. I explained I bought it off Dell and she tells me I am wrong they don't sell it. I actually had to step through the Dell website with her and then send screenshots to prove it. She puts me on hold for 20 minutes. Comes back and tells me that the mouse will work and I just need to use the converter. I lost it at that point. Her manager came on, says "sorry" and is sending it out and a 256MB USB key for my troubles. Told him the key was an insult as you can get 1GB keys dirt cheap at this stage.
- Another machine which had a serious hardware fault. I had checked all the bluescreen codes and knew it was a hardware fault. In fact the Dell website even explained what the issue may be. Rang support and explained (numerous times).
I was told to reformat the machine. Then after that didn't work to run a diagnostics, which I did (which didn't need a reformat to run). Then told they would replace part X. This went on for a couple of months (cpu, fan, motherboard, memory, harddrive). Each time not fixing it. The third time the guy turned up to replace a new part I asked him to hang about as it will normally start crashing 20 minutes or so. Said he doesn't check it, just replaces the parts.
So a 4 months down the line I still have a broken machine still, dealing with support is a nightmare. It came to a head when I explained the machine was still not working (and giving all details again) they hung up on me mid conversation. I rang back again, did all the questions again and they asked me to reformat the machine. I explained it was already reformatted, but they said they would not continue the call unless I reformatted the machine AGAIN. I lost it at this point. I explained either I get a new machine or a full refund. If that doesn't happen I will be lodging a small claims against them.
At this point I get put through to what I suspect is their business line. The woman is American, there is no messing around with repeating questions, she clearly knows what she is talking about. We go through some other stuff on the system. She mentions she wants to try replacing some other item. That doesn't work so I explain I want a refund or new machine. She puts me back to the home support people.
Who do the exact same mess again. I loose it at this point. Thankfully after the first month I was keeping records of dates and times, holds and disconnects. So I send the email in full detail to the idiot who is asking me to reformat again. I explain based on this I have a case to small claims court.
I get a manager ringing me back saying they are very sorry of the way I am being messed around and are sending out the top of the range PC to the one I have broken (much better spec) and would reset the suppoort contract. I am somewhat less annoyed now. He explains that the paperwork would be done and sent out within a week.
4 days later I hear nothing so I ring up. Apparently no one had even heard of me getting a new machine. Worse still they start asking me the same questions over again. I actually tell the guy to stop talking. Told him straight off I was filing a small claims.
I get a manager straight away who says it was an oversight, I get the confirmation the same day and the new machine 2 days later.
So close to 5 months, numerous parts wasted, hours wasted with them. No I would not say their general customer support is any good. Dell as a machine, if it works is a good machine though. But not worth the hassle of dealing with their support people.
I've since moved onto Lenovo PCs. Haven't had any issues as of yet.
"I must applaud President Bush for being foresighted enough to pass this legislation"
Personally I would hold the applause until you actually read the act. 99 times out of a 100 the bill name means nothing about the content.
Having a quick look at thomas.loc.gov it looks like the bill is [H.R.493]. Reading some bits...
While you can't discriminate based on genetic material the section 210 states that if the information is found by any other means it is permissible (even if it is a genetic related issue). So this for the most part will have no effect on Medical Insurance companies.
For example if one of my parents suffered from a genetic disease then they could discriminate against me based on that information and not on actually checking if I have the genetic markers or not.
Section 103 seems to mention that if a health company came by your genetic information via another source (3rd party) then it is permissible to use it.
Also there is mention of Genetic testing IS NOT..
"an analysis of proteins or metabolites that is directly related to a manifested disease, disorder, or pathological condition that could reasonably be detected by a health care professional with appropriate training and expertise in the field of medicine involved."
So, IANAL or biologist but even casual reading there appears to be loads of outs for private medical companies.
Actually the really long haul flights (not sure about USA) I have found that the seat size is perfect.
:)
Eg, England -> Singapore / France -> Korea. Both cases the seats were fine, had your own TV/games console and could get up at any time and get more food/drink.
It is the short flights (up to 5 hours) that steerage tended to be bad.
Another thought is maybe you just need to loose weight.
I believe penny arcade explained it better that he was raped by pac-man as a child (Can't find the link to the cartoon).
I know loads of people who carry the laptop like this. Much to the annoyance of the IT department. However with the new tablet PCs and the hard drive air bag it is much easier to carry a laptop around. Also I find I use the keyboard less and less, for example this slashdot entry was written using the speech recognition system in Vista.
> core problem of terrorist. You catch or kill one and
> there is ten more to replace him.
While you are correct somewhat here your premise as how to combat it is flawed.
When dealing with terrorism you need to determine why those ten would want to replace him. For example if you were fire a missile into a market during its busy hours to kill one terrorist and maim/kill many bystanders. Actions like that is what grows more terrorists.
Even if you don't do this then the actions tend to be related to civil rights abuses. Terrorism is normally the weapon of the desperate against an opposing force. If they are on our side then we call them "freedom fighters".
Ignoring the middle east the best example of this is Northern Ireland. Prior to the civil rights abuses in Northern Ireland the IRA didn't really have any real following. Sure you still get the gangsters and loons joining, but those who would normally define as rational/sane would of been in the minority if at all. It took actions from the British like Internment and Bloody Sunday to really get the ranks of the IRA up. That lead to 30 years of violence.
Once civil rights abuses were addressed in Northern Ireland the violence and support went away. It is not gone. You will always have some level of people who will disagree with actions. But the point is to stop the recruits. That you can't fight with weapons.
Had a look, I might be confusing the name with the "Friendship Store" which is the store I mentioned.
Here is an article explaining it a bit better from the other side of things.
http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/2765.cfm
I was there in 2002/2003. The hotel was called a "Friendship Hotel". Chinese people could come in to meet guests but they weren't allowed in your room. I believe your correct that it was a lot worse before in the same hotel (much more restrictive). Probably changed since then.
:).
There were also shops there where only non-nationals were allowed. I forget the names of the shops but it was generally full of over priced kitch (which is probably why no sane Chinese person would be in them
Other then that except for the number of Chinese people the major cities of China don't look that much different most major cities in the USA.