"Streaming is a synonym for downloading if it's multimedia and you're tech-challenged."
Could you provide some reference materials? I've never heard of streaming media being referred to as a synonym for downloadable media and I'd be interested to know if I've really had my head in the sand or if you are just being a troll. Here are a few references pulled from a quick Google search.
http://www.clickandgovideo.ac.uk/Glossary.htm#S
streaming: Process of sending media over the Internet or other network, allowing playback on the desktop as the video is received, rather than requiring that the entire file be downloaded prior to playback.
http://www.walthowe.com/glossary/s.html
streaming audio, streaming video: Technologies which permit listening and watching continuously as the signal is transferred to your system from a remote web site.
A sampling of "crappy organizations" that have lost sensitive peronal information of their clients in the last couple of months:
Ernst & Young
Humana
AIG
Union Pacific Railroad
The State of Colorado
The State of Oregon
The State of Minnesota
Hotels.com
University of Miami
University of Kentucky
Miami University of Ohio
The YMCA
The Red Cross
The Department of Energy
The IRS
The Veterans Administration
The IRS
I've stopped worrying about whether or not my information is out there. Having been involved in IT security in the financial services industry for some time now, I know how haphazardly our personal information can be treated. Many company executives don't want to spend the money to turn already functional and profitable systems into secure data stores or the money to hire enough skilled security personnel as they are cost centers, not revenue producers.
Instead I've gone on the defensive and assumed that my identity is already compromised. I coughed up $130 for 3 in 1 credit monitoring services (one of the big three credit bureaus has a two for one going if you call them. got a spouse?). I also keep close tabs on my credit and debit card activities, which doesn't require all that much effort since I cancelled all but 2 credit cards and my debit card. It means some money and time spent up front, but it's not too intrusive and it gives me a reasonable degree of confidence.
As long was we maintain some degree of privacy, identity theft is here for the forseeable future. I'm not saying don't hold companies responsible. I am saying realize that many companies in control of your information will be irresponsible regardless of what they can be held accountable for and that it's a good idea to take some personal responsibility for protecting yourself.
"The turnover is high, and the competition for good people is strong."
My company is currently using Indian developers to augment our in-house staff. Every time the offshore company presents someone to us that cuts the mustard, we end up having to rotate someone else on after that person bolts for another company in India three months later. We keep getting told that demand is so high for QUALITY Indian developers that no one can keep them. They keep bouncing from outfit to outfit, getting salary bumps with each move. It's second hand information obviously, but it certainly does synch with what we've experienced.
Knowledge on demand? Check out the short net novel "Manna" by Marshall Brain. I believe this was a post on Slashdot a while back. It's the best (and happiest) postulation of that scenario I've read.
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
Sorry, I should have explained that. I don't consider my card to be "something I have". This is based on the generally accepted idea that when referring to the physical piece of two factor authentication, one is speaking to something that is possessed only by those who are authorized. Since I give my card number to every cashier I ever hand my plastic to, I consider that an already compromised piece of information.
I would like to see something along the lines of biometrics at ATMs (don't bother with the arguments against biometrics-i know. it's about raising the bar, not foolproofing.) or Secure ID tokens.
I couldn't tell you, but I wouldn't feel much safer with a longer pin code. If someone gets your card number, what's the chance they'll guess the right one out of 10,000 before the bank shuts the card down? If someone steals a bunch of pin numbers from a computer system, it doesn't really matter if they are 4 digits or 9 digits - the end result is the same. The one advantage I can see with longer pin numbers is that they'd be harder to shoulder surf, but like I said, that wouldn't make me feel much safer.
I think a better question is when ATMs will start using two factor authentication.
Actually, the Christian Science viewpoint (having been raised in a CS household without having chosen to subscribe myself in my adult years) is that God and sprituality must operate by a set of governing laws as measurable and static as any set of scientific principles. IE, God isn't a magical being with a beard/4 arms/turban and a mysterious agenda, but a "greater" entity bound by the laws of the universe/creation/reality/[insert definition for everything here].
Interestingly, some CS'ers claim that Einstein did some hanging around CS reading rooms later in his life. I have to think that if this is true, the inability to describe matter as anything other than energy-equivalent in increasingly shrinking component pieces played into an interest in the CS theory that matter is an illusion (hence the occasional wack job offing their kid with a bedroom seance instead of antibiotics).
http://www.christianscience.org/Einstein.htm
Verizon networks - built with Google's money?
on
Is Verizon a Network Hog?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
As much as I am a proponent for the Good Of All Mankind, I am confused by the idea of a mandate that says Verizon must use their bandwidth in this way or that way. I understand that Verizon (MCI) owns a lot of Internet backbone, but the Internet is a public entity. Verizon is not. The money they spent to build those fiber highways did not come from public coffers (unless I don't know about some kind of subsidy program).
Professional? We are in the middle of a $5 million Oracle Financials implementation. I have never met so many inept consultants in my life. Granted, IT consultants in general are oversold, but these guys and girls take the cake. I had a "Senior DBA" that required three conversations to be able to change her password at the CLI. When I bitched to the Oracle project manager about it (imagine this type of thing about 8 times a day), he said Oracle doesn't expect it's senior DBA's to be UNIX literate. Ok, I'm expecting someone to configure my production systems in a UNIX environment that doesn't have to know ANYTHING about UNIX?
We are paying $255/hr for consultants that I've caught gathered around watching flash cartoons twice in as many days, claim 43 hours in a week of administrative work but only log into the environment four times for a total of 12 hours (a decent amount of which was spent issuing invalid commands) and that implement code in a production environment from their offshore developers with no QA testing. What?
We spent 2 weeks trying to get a bug identified by Oracle support (Oracle recommended we run Solaris 10 with 10g and we listened - brilliant.). After 2 weeks of being told to read TARs, one of our guys attached a debugger and managed to identify the actual source file and line number of the problem (they left debugging flags in when they compiled). We sent this to them. Three weeks later, still nothing. I'm no fan of MS, but when we call their support they at least act concerned.
I know our options are limited when it comes to integrated financials, but surely we can't be the only ones suffering the comedy that is Oracle consulting. Or maybe $5 million wasn't enough to warrant us getting the good consultants? I'd love to hear from people who have had better experiences, because I'm praying their product is better than the people they sent us.
This sounds great in theory, but where in the US are we going to put free roaming lions so they will be no danger to persistantly encroaching civilization?
I think this is pretty interesting. I have to admit my ignorance of the WBEL intiative before tonight, but I am now looking at all the Redhat Enterprise licenses I was about to go buy and am wondering if this isn't a better alternative.
Most of the Enterprise licenses I've purchased have been acquired to avoid the upgrade dance. I know linux well enough to troubleshoot just about anything that comes up outside of obscure kernel and driver issues. In my two years using Redhat Enterprise, I've had to use their tech support once to resolve a hardware issue. I wonder how many other corporate IT depts are in a similiar situation and how this will ultimately affect Redhat revenue?
There is a great study screaming to be done on morality is video games. Violence in video games (for me) is associated with pushing buttons to achieve an arbitrary objective as opposed to, say, beating up a real random person with a baseball bat. However, morality in entertainment of the type seen in The Sims, or in role playing games such as Star Wars KOTOR, involves making conscious, deliberate decisions about whether or not representations of humanity should suffer.
Are certain demographics more prone to a "good" moral path than others? Would a country's mix of cultures and values make its populations more likely to inflict pain and destruction than fruitfulness and joy? Does a person's upbringing have a significant effect on the way they treat digital people?
Given the depth of the human psyche, I wouldn't be surprised if morality in video games could serve as an outlet for some not so trivial underlying issues. Some would probably say that this is far too heady of a look to take at a video game, but I'd be willing to bet my next paycheck that there are some really interesting results waiting to be discovered.
I don't think this is anything to get worked up about. One cannot equate this with SCO's maliciously litigous actions, nor do I view this as an unfair turnabout on Sun's part. To claim that Sun is duplicitous for using Linux as part of a desktop solution while it is stating that the Solaris line of Operating Systems and its proprietary architecture is better suited to various aspects of enterprise computing is mob mentality.
Did anyone imagine the millions of dollars Sun has invested over the years in its products would simply be forgotten upon Sun's first exploration of supporting Linux commercially? Competition is the mother of all commercial software improvement. Sun is free to make the claim that its non-Linux products will serve enterprises more efficiently in certain capacities just as we are free to vet those claims.
As far as Sun being more prepared than Redhat to support large enterprise, it would seem to me that this goes without saying. Linux is still a relatively virgin product in large scale enterprise deployments and I think Redhat has yet to stake its/Linux's rightful claim in the enterprise computing space. I love Linux and choose to use it over Solaris where I work, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't consider Solaris for a larger deployment if Sun could come up with some compelling reasons.
The corporate world is aware enough of Linux now that mindless marketing will not dissuade companies from its use. Let Sun throw the gauntlet and we'll see where it goes. Who knows, maybe it will result in a couple of improved OS's.
It would actually appear, that in this sense, it's far more than verification of the software's functionality.
Using the "Vision to Reality" method we provide complete command of your IT initiative from inception to vendor negotiation to complete company transition and all projects are set price.
Perhaps I'm reading it wrong, but I get the sense of comprehensive implementation consulting marketed as distinct steps in an overall strategy (hence the whole tactical spin). Of course, that could be my Marine Corps days speaking to me. Oohrah.
Tactics are components of an overall strategy. Strategy wins the war, tactics will win the battles. In this case, "tactical deployments" probably means "we don't really know how well this is going to work, we certainly are not going to risk our mission critical functions (and jobs) on this, so we'll figure out where to use it and let you know how things pan out".
I find it pretty interesting that Sun was able to score this deal in an area where security is such an important aspect. Or perhaps that's why they were able to do so? Either way, it seems like a solid jab for the open source community.
Slashdot Mirror
This takes my breath away!
Ah, thanks for the clarification. I read it as though you were stating I was tech-challenged. Apologies.
"Streaming is a synonym for downloading if it's multimedia and you're tech-challenged."
r eaming_Media.htm
Could you provide some reference materials? I've never heard of streaming media being referred to as a synonym for downloadable media and I'd be interested to know if I've really had my head in the sand or if you are just being a troll. Here are a few references pulled from a quick Google search.
http://www.clickandgovideo.ac.uk/Glossary.htm#S
streaming: Process of sending media over the Internet or other network, allowing playback on the desktop as the video is received, rather than requiring that the entire file be downloaded prior to playback.
http://www.walthowe.com/glossary/s.html
streaming audio, streaming video: Technologies which permit listening and watching continuously as the signal is transferred to your system from a remote web site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media
Streaming media is media that is consumed (read, heard, viewed) while it is being delivered.
http://home.real.com/product/help/rp10v8_ts/en/St
Streaming Media is media (audio, video, or graphics) that is delivered as a stream of data, and played as it is received.
I'm not sure how one provides streaming video via BitTorrent. Video is linear. BT downloads are inherently non-linear.
Any attempt to explain is appreciated. Thanks!
J
Banner on the site says "Last stable version: 0.43". I'm a little nervous about putting my mission critical doodling on a new release.
A sampling of "crappy organizations" that have lost sensitive peronal information of their clients in the last couple of months:
Ernst & Young
Humana
AIG
Union Pacific Railroad
The State of Colorado
The State of Oregon
The State of Minnesota
Hotels.com
University of Miami
University of Kentucky
Miami University of Ohio
The YMCA
The Red Cross
The Department of Energy
The IRS
The Veterans Administration
The IRS
I've stopped worrying about whether or not my information is out there. Having been involved in IT security in the financial services industry for some time now, I know how haphazardly our personal information can be treated. Many company executives don't want to spend the money to turn already functional and profitable systems into secure data stores or the money to hire enough skilled security personnel as they are cost centers, not revenue producers.
Instead I've gone on the defensive and assumed that my identity is already compromised. I coughed up $130 for 3 in 1 credit monitoring services (one of the big three credit bureaus has a two for one going if you call them. got a spouse?). I also keep close tabs on my credit and debit card activities, which doesn't require all that much effort since I cancelled all but 2 credit cards and my debit card. It means some money and time spent up front, but it's not too intrusive and it gives me a reasonable degree of confidence.
As long was we maintain some degree of privacy, identity theft is here for the forseeable future. I'm not saying don't hold companies responsible. I am saying realize that many companies in control of your information will be irresponsible regardless of what they can be held accountable for and that it's a good idea to take some personal responsibility for protecting yourself.
"The turnover is high, and the competition for good people is strong."
My company is currently using Indian developers to augment our in-house staff. Every time the offshore company presents someone to us that cuts the mustard, we end up having to rotate someone else on after that person bolts for another company in India three months later. We keep getting told that demand is so high for QUALITY Indian developers that no one can keep them. They keep bouncing from outfit to outfit, getting salary bumps with each move. It's second hand information obviously, but it certainly does synch with what we've experienced.
In other news, the global warming index increased unexpectedly by 1.2% this morning.
Knowledge on demand? Check out the short net novel "Manna" by Marshall Brain. I believe this was a post on Slashdot a while back. It's the best (and happiest) postulation of that scenario I've read. http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
I would like to see something along the lines of biometrics at ATMs (don't bother with the arguments against biometrics-i know. it's about raising the bar, not foolproofing.) or Secure ID tokens.
I couldn't tell you, but I wouldn't feel much safer with a longer pin code. If someone gets your card number, what's the chance they'll guess the right one out of 10,000 before the bank shuts the card down? If someone steals a bunch of pin numbers from a computer system, it doesn't really matter if they are 4 digits or 9 digits - the end result is the same. The one advantage I can see with longer pin numbers is that they'd be harder to shoulder surf, but like I said, that wouldn't make me feel much safer. I think a better question is when ATMs will start using two factor authentication.
Interestingly, some CS'ers claim that Einstein did some hanging around CS reading rooms later in his life. I have to think that if this is true, the inability to describe matter as anything other than energy-equivalent in increasingly shrinking component pieces played into an interest in the CS theory that matter is an illusion (hence the occasional wack job offing their kid with a bedroom seance instead of antibiotics). http://www.christianscience.org/Einstein.htm
As a side note, Jill Carroll, whose abduction in Iraq has caused a bit of a ruckus for a few weeks now, was a freelance write for the CS Monitor. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1666314&page=1
As much as I am a proponent for the Good Of All Mankind, I am confused by the idea of a mandate that says Verizon must use their bandwidth in this way or that way. I understand that Verizon (MCI) owns a lot of Internet backbone, but the Internet is a public entity. Verizon is not. The money they spent to build those fiber highways did not come from public coffers (unless I don't know about some kind of subsidy program).
Queue the negative Karma, but...
Professional? We are in the middle of a $5 million Oracle Financials implementation. I have never met so many inept consultants in my life. Granted, IT consultants in general are oversold, but these guys and girls take the cake. I had a "Senior DBA" that required three conversations to be able to change her password at the CLI. When I bitched to the Oracle project manager about it (imagine this type of thing about 8 times a day), he said Oracle doesn't expect it's senior DBA's to be UNIX literate. Ok, I'm expecting someone to configure my production systems in a UNIX environment that doesn't have to know ANYTHING about UNIX?
We are paying $255/hr for consultants that I've caught gathered around watching flash cartoons twice in as many days, claim 43 hours in a week of administrative work but only log into the environment four times for a total of 12 hours (a decent amount of which was spent issuing invalid commands) and that implement code in a production environment from their offshore developers with no QA testing. What?
We spent 2 weeks trying to get a bug identified by Oracle support (Oracle recommended we run Solaris 10 with 10g and we listened - brilliant.). After 2 weeks of being told to read TARs, one of our guys attached a debugger and managed to identify the actual source file and line number of the problem (they left debugging flags in when they compiled). We sent this to them. Three weeks later, still nothing. I'm no fan of MS, but when we call their support they at least act concerned.
I know our options are limited when it comes to integrated financials, but surely we can't be the only ones suffering the comedy that is Oracle consulting. Or maybe $5 million wasn't enough to warrant us getting the good consultants? I'd love to hear from people who have had better experiences, because I'm praying their product is better than the people they sent us.
This sounds great in theory, but where in the US are we going to put free roaming lions so they will be no danger to persistantly encroaching civilization?
I think this is pretty interesting. I have to admit my ignorance of the WBEL intiative before tonight, but I am now looking at all the Redhat Enterprise licenses I was about to go buy and am wondering if this isn't a better alternative.
Most of the Enterprise licenses I've purchased have been acquired to avoid the upgrade dance. I know linux well enough to troubleshoot just about anything that comes up outside of obscure kernel and driver issues. In my two years using Redhat Enterprise, I've had to use their tech support once to resolve a hardware issue. I wonder how many other corporate IT depts are in a similiar situation and how this will ultimately affect Redhat revenue?
There is a great study screaming to be done on morality is video games. Violence in video games (for me) is associated with pushing buttons to achieve an arbitrary objective as opposed to, say, beating up a real random person with a baseball bat. However, morality in entertainment of the type seen in The Sims, or in role playing games such as Star Wars KOTOR, involves making conscious, deliberate decisions about whether or not representations of humanity should suffer.
Are certain demographics more prone to a "good" moral path than others? Would a country's mix of cultures and values make its populations more likely to inflict pain and destruction than fruitfulness and joy? Does a person's upbringing have a significant effect on the way they treat digital people?
Given the depth of the human psyche, I wouldn't be surprised if morality in video games could serve as an outlet for some not so trivial underlying issues. Some would probably say that this is far too heady of a look to take at a video game, but I'd be willing to bet my next paycheck that there are some really interesting results waiting to be discovered.
I don't think this is anything to get worked up about. One cannot equate this with SCO's maliciously litigous actions, nor do I view this as an unfair turnabout on Sun's part. To claim that Sun is duplicitous for using Linux as part of a desktop solution while it is stating that the Solaris line of Operating Systems and its proprietary architecture is better suited to various aspects of enterprise computing is mob mentality.
Did anyone imagine the millions of dollars Sun has invested over the years in its products would simply be forgotten upon Sun's first exploration of supporting Linux commercially? Competition is the mother of all commercial software improvement. Sun is free to make the claim that its non-Linux products will serve enterprises more efficiently in certain capacities just as we are free to vet those claims.
As far as Sun being more prepared than Redhat to support large enterprise, it would seem to me that this goes without saying. Linux is still a relatively virgin product in large scale enterprise deployments and I think Redhat has yet to stake its/Linux's rightful claim in the enterprise computing space. I love Linux and choose to use it over Solaris where I work, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't consider Solaris for a larger deployment if Sun could come up with some compelling reasons.
The corporate world is aware enough of Linux now that mindless marketing will not dissuade companies from its use. Let Sun throw the gauntlet and we'll see where it goes. Who knows, maybe it will result in a couple of improved OS's.
It would actually appear, that in this sense, it's far more than verification of the software's functionality.
Using the "Vision to Reality" method we provide complete command of your IT initiative from inception to vendor negotiation to complete company transition and all projects are set price.
Perhaps I'm reading it wrong, but I get the sense of comprehensive implementation consulting marketed as distinct steps in an overall strategy (hence the whole tactical spin). Of course, that could be my Marine Corps days speaking to me. Oohrah.
Tactics are components of an overall strategy. Strategy wins the war, tactics will win the battles. In this case, "tactical deployments" probably means "we don't really know how well this is going to work, we certainly are not going to risk our mission critical functions (and jobs) on this, so we'll figure out where to use it and let you know how things pan out".
I find it pretty interesting that Sun was able to score this deal in an area where security is such an important aspect. Or perhaps that's why they were able to do so? Either way, it seems like a solid jab for the open source community.