I concur. Computers can outperform people under experimental conditions where the data provided to the computer is exactly what is required to perform the job at hand. Show me a computer that can recognize a person from a brief glimpse of the the back of their head, when they're walking away, on the other side of the street, and I'll agree they've got us licked on this one.
Anyone who puts a file with their id embedded in it onto a bittorrent site deserves eveything that they get.
I'm no shill for the RIAA, but I think people would be wise to avoid putting paid-for DRM-less files on any P2P network. For years, people have harked on about how they object paying for DRM'd files, and that the main objection is the restriction of personal rights. Now a record company has released it's catalogue in a non-DRM format. If these files start cropping up on The Pirate Bay, it just demonstrates what a crock of shit the "restriction of rights" argument always was. People just want music for free.
Flood the P2P networks with these files, and it just gives strength to the RIAA's argument. To an extent, they can justifiably turn around and say "we gave you what you asked for, and you still abused it." Furthermore, it's hardly likely to encourage other record companies to follow suit. Granted the prices are too high, and you still can't get a high enough bitrate, but they've made a move more-or-less in the right direction. We need to show a bit of restraint, otherwise this little experiment will just be terminated by the rights owners and we'll be back at square one.
Holy shit. They blew $16,000 on that!? I had the video freezeframed on a closeup of the car, with the prior knowledge of when to pause it (0:32) and it still took me a while of scouring before I saw that tiny bloody penguin.
It's priceless. The goon just drives it into the wall. He's not even nudged by someone else. My wife could've taken the corner better.
Nicely put. Personally I say, the more LEDs the better. I can think of at least 3 important uses in my household.
1. With enough gadgets, the collective LEDs provide just enough glow so that I can make out the darks shapes of furniture etc., so that I can get to the bathroom in the middle of the night without turning on the lights and waking my wife (believe me, you don't wanna wake my wife).
2. They stop me walking into walls/expensive equipment, when I come home drunk and can't find the light switch.
3. And most importantly of all, what real nerd doesn't get a cheap thrill when he turns off the lights in his study (or wherever you keep most of your toys) and sees 'mission control' glowing, flashing and blinking away behind him as he heads off to bed?
I'll say one thing for all of this. Although I think it's garbage and wouldn't normally watch it, I'll certainly be interested to see the next episode of Diggnation and see what those two bozos have to say for themselves after their car-crash of a site exploded.
Now its too late for them to gain the respect of their user base without a lot of long, hard work (if even that will be enough).
Much as I'd love to believe you, I'd be willing to bet that in a month's time, Digg will be like nothing happened, all the loud-mouthed idiots who said they were quitting the site will be using it again, and nothing will have changed.
They've got their "down for maintenance" page up now. Presumably they're cleaning the site, and probably all sat around a table somewhere wondering what the fuck to do next.
Well well... AC, interesting to see you lack the balls to put a name to your comment. So you're saying that I'm wrong then, and most people would prefer to pay for things than get them for free. I might not be the best judge of character, but at least I'm not fucking stupid.
Since I basically said that people are driven by selfish motives, I'm confused as to why I need to "wake up to reality" when that's pretty much what you just repeated.
Or did you just follow the crowd and mod me troll without reading my comment.
Yeah, funny how people get that much more outraged at censorship when they're the ones being censored
I think you're right, but I'd go further. Frankly, I think this whole thing has little to do with censorship. There are a few hardcore Digg users out there who are genuinely outraged about the whole thing. But for every one of them, there are a thousand idiot 12 year-olds who are just enjoying causing chaos, like 12-year old usually do.
Frankly, the same goes for the entire MPAA/RIAA fiasco. This encryption key situation has nothing to do with the MPAA trying to censor its codes, and everything to do with the greed-driven individual wanting to be able to copy as much free music, movies and other IP as they can get there grubby mitts on. Any time the MPAA/RIAA takes action, it raises the possibility of this pot of gold being taken away. Which no one wants.
Don't get me wrong. There are a core group of genuine activists who truly care about individual freedoms: the right to use something you bought in whatever way you want, the removal of restrictive DRM etc. They eloquently advocate consumer rights and fight for the rest of us to have these freedoms. But for the average moron in the street, this has nothing to do with that. It's about being able to copy stuff for free. The genie is out of the bottle. People can get stuff without paying and now they don't want it to end. Does average Joe really care about the poor individuals being sued because they downloaded a few songs. Fuck no. Of course they don't. What they care about is whether it will affect them when they download the new Avril Lavigne album (for the record, I did, and it's shit).
The anti-DRM/consumer rights cause is a fine one. But for most people, it's nothing more than a pathetic charade. When I say "I believe that DRM is evil, and the RIAA are assholes for suing people using P2P networks" what I really mean is "I want to keep downloading free stuff without any problems". The majority of people who try and pretend otherwise are just fucking liars.
I'm sure a lot of people are aware of what a gnu is. The fact remains though that kinda resembles "a goat-like thing". However, I am really impressed with the way the artist has managed to capture RMS's aura of smug superiority in a single image.
Incidentally, I'm looking forward to the issue where Wired features its choice of "the lamest tech-related magazines"...
Actually, I'm finding that XP works better than fine, it works great.
I'm thinking this is a very clever move by Microsoft. Having suffered for years with endless rants and moans about how lame XP is, suddenly people are beginning to show it love. All they gotta do is repeat the cycle, release an even worse OS in a few years, and suddenly everyone will be praising Vista.
Sony doesn't have low sales. They've sold more consoles then Microsoft did relative to release date.
This is something of a fallacy. The 360 was in such limited supply around launch time that there were stories internet-wide about how pissed gamers were at Microsoft for screwing up the launch numbers and not being able to meet demand. Within a week or two of the PS3 launch, you could walk into a store virtually anywhere and see them sitting on shelves gathering dust. You can't really compare the two launches.
Low compared to the PS2? You betcha. Is that a surprise? No, why should it be? It's more expensive, and it's the last of the "big three" to join the party.
The PS2 was always going to be a hard act to follow, but I think the key issue here is not that its currently selling less than its competitors. It's low compared to what Sony, almost every pundit, and a large part of the industry (e.g. EA) expected and predicted. (Although I still contend that a large number of actual gamers, myself included, thought this would happen).
Rumors of the PS3's death are greatly exaggerated.
Despite my previous comments, I entirely agree with you. I think a lot of people currently dismissing the PS3 will end up buying one. With it's processing power it has the longest potential lifespan of the current consoles; no one is entirely sure what its capable of yet, and I think there's a lot better to come. Many of its big franchises are still just over the horizon. Final Fantasy alone (unless it's the greatest dog of all time) will sell a couple of million consoles in Japan, which will revitalise the Japanese development industry and have a knock-on effect elsewhere. Added to this, when the price comes down to a decent level -which will happen- it will suddenly become a very attractive buy.
it's sort of cool to have an entire page pixelate/warp/dissolve/rotate/... in.
D'ya really think so? I hate to sound like a curmudgeonly old fart, but clearly the definition of "cool" you're using isn't one I'm familiar with. Then again there are also people who apparently think myspace is cool too.
It seems to me that some of the ideas are just fundamentally flawed and not based on everyday experience. I know for a fact that when I'm walking down the street, listening to my i-Pod, I'm less attentive to what's around me. Even crossing a busy road requires a certain amount of extra care because I don't have the aural feedback to help me position the approaching traffic, that my ears would normally provide. And that's in a civilian setting with nothing other than speeding cars to threaten my existence.
If I was ever to find myself in close-combat where I was engaging a bunch of enemy combatants in a kill-or-be-killed situation, I'd want full possession of ALL my senses. Having my buddies voices buzzing away in my ears would be the first thing I'd want to shut off.
The human body and it's capabilities are the products of millions of years of evolution and refinement. This kit is just a few years old. Personally I'd rather trust what nature gave me.
Slashdot Mirror
I concur. Computers can outperform people under experimental conditions where the data provided to the computer is exactly what is required to perform the job at hand. Show me a computer that can recognize a person from a brief glimpse of the the back of their head, when they're walking away, on the other side of the street, and I'll agree they've got us licked on this one.
Anyone who puts a file with their id embedded in it onto a bittorrent site deserves eveything that they get.
I'm no shill for the RIAA, but I think people would be wise to avoid putting paid-for DRM-less files on any P2P network. For years, people have harked on about how they object paying for DRM'd files, and that the main objection is the restriction of personal rights. Now a record company has released it's catalogue in a non-DRM format. If these files start cropping up on The Pirate Bay, it just demonstrates what a crock of shit the "restriction of rights" argument always was. People just want music for free.
Flood the P2P networks with these files, and it just gives strength to the RIAA's argument. To an extent, they can justifiably turn around and say "we gave you what you asked for, and you still abused it." Furthermore, it's hardly likely to encourage other record companies to follow suit. Granted the prices are too high, and you still can't get a high enough bitrate, but they've made a move more-or-less in the right direction. We need to show a bit of restraint, otherwise this little experiment will just be terminated by the rights owners and we'll be back at square one.
Holy shit. They blew $16,000 on that!? I had the video freezeframed on a closeup of the car, with the prior knowledge of when to pause it (0:32) and it still took me a while of scouring before I saw that tiny bloody penguin.
It's priceless. The goon just drives it into the wall. He's not even nudged by someone else. My wife could've taken the corner better.
Helloooooo America! Welcome to 2004.
Ditto. I'll be buying a copy. Looks like a fascinating read.
Guess I'll have to find somewhere other than Amazon to buy it though.
Nice work.
Nicely put. Personally I say, the more LEDs the better. I can think of at least 3 important uses in my household.
1. With enough gadgets, the collective LEDs provide just enough glow so that I can make out the darks shapes of furniture etc., so that I can get to the bathroom in the middle of the night without turning on the lights and waking my wife (believe me, you don't wanna wake my wife).
2. They stop me walking into walls/expensive equipment, when I come home drunk and can't find the light switch.
3. And most importantly of all, what real nerd doesn't get a cheap thrill when he turns off the lights in his study (or wherever you keep most of your toys) and sees 'mission control' glowing, flashing and blinking away behind him as he heads off to bed?
And in that vein...
I wouldn't worry about looking for Doohan. Just wait a few weeks and he'll show up on eBay.
Actually, you'd be able to post, but your moderation would be undone -I guess we'll call that one a tie.
I'll say one thing for all of this. Although I think it's garbage and wouldn't normally watch it, I'll certainly be interested to see the next episode of Diggnation and see what those two bozos have to say for themselves after their car-crash of a site exploded.
They've got their "down for maintenance" page up now. Presumably they're cleaning the site, and probably all sat around a table somewhere wondering what the fuck to do next.
Since I basically said that people are driven by selfish motives, I'm confused as to why I need to "wake up to reality" when that's pretty much what you just repeated.
Or did you just follow the crowd and mod me troll without reading my comment.
Frankly, the same goes for the entire MPAA/RIAA fiasco. This encryption key situation has nothing to do with the MPAA trying to censor its codes, and everything to do with the greed-driven individual wanting to be able to copy as much free music, movies and other IP as they can get there grubby mitts on. Any time the MPAA/RIAA takes action, it raises the possibility of this pot of gold being taken away. Which no one wants.
Don't get me wrong. There are a core group of genuine activists who truly care about individual freedoms: the right to use something you bought in whatever way you want, the removal of restrictive DRM etc. They eloquently advocate consumer rights and fight for the rest of us to have these freedoms. But for the average moron in the street, this has nothing to do with that. It's about being able to copy stuff for free. The genie is out of the bottle. People can get stuff without paying and now they don't want it to end. Does average Joe really care about the poor individuals being sued because they downloaded a few songs. Fuck no. Of course they don't. What they care about is whether it will affect them when they download the new Avril Lavigne album (for the record, I did, and it's shit).
The anti-DRM/consumer rights cause is a fine one. But for most people, it's nothing more than a pathetic charade. When I say "I believe that DRM is evil, and the RIAA are assholes for suing people using P2P networks" what I really mean is "I want to keep downloading free stuff without any problems". The majority of people who try and pretend otherwise are just fucking liars.
The front page of Digg is actually worth a look right now. The site has gone into total meltdown.
I'm sure a lot of people are aware of what a gnu is. The fact remains though that kinda resembles "a goat-like thing". However, I am really impressed with the way the artist has managed to capture RMS's aura of smug superiority in a single image.
Incidentally, I'm looking forward to the issue where Wired features its choice of "the lamest tech-related magazines"...
It seems to me that some of the ideas are just fundamentally flawed and not based on everyday experience. I know for a fact that when I'm walking down the street, listening to my i-Pod, I'm less attentive to what's around me. Even crossing a busy road requires a certain amount of extra care because I don't have the aural feedback to help me position the approaching traffic, that my ears would normally provide. And that's in a civilian setting with nothing other than speeding cars to threaten my existence.
If I was ever to find myself in close-combat where I was engaging a bunch of enemy combatants in a kill-or-be-killed situation, I'd want full possession of ALL my senses. Having my buddies voices buzzing away in my ears would be the first thing I'd want to shut off.
The human body and it's capabilities are the products of millions of years of evolution and refinement. This kit is just a few years old. Personally I'd rather trust what nature gave me.