So..we *should* have recounts because we know *that* works fantastic.;)
Even with my previous post I'm also in the line of thinking any method used at this point is susceptible to corruption/manipulation. Its to the *point* of manipulation that is allowed. Sure you can have redundancy but if you put in a people factor in there its always going to have a point of weak security just as with computers.
I don't see why we couldn't have physical ballots spit out by the computer after we've voted.
Why not use a lazer to punch the holes?
So...
Did anyone actually RTFA?
So, it'd be nice to see how these districts re-coup the monies (tax payer monies at that) that they basically have now wasted on this tech. Which really, if they spent the time to actually fix or update the software [read:use linux] then they'd probably be alright for voting. Of course you'd need some sort of guard over the system head end so no tampering takes place, hire/get competent people at the polls [read: computer-savvy non-elderly folk].
I'm not saying its full proof, paper isn't even fool proof. Is that chad punched or not? But if time was spent to actually have technical people build one that actually had say the folks at Defcon take a look at it for testing the security I don't see why a viable solution couldn't be found.
As far as hacking/cracking the voting machines I don't care who you are any cryptography can be cracked, the only issue with that is the *time* it takes to crack it. If it takes 100+ years to crack then its not going to happen anytime soon at least until faster machines come forth, or a better algorithm for finding the keys comes about.
So the security issues are mote at best in the long run. My concern is with congress getting their sticky hands involved on who the vendors are, because at that point things can become tainted as money gets floated from one hand to another, etc etc.
I'm just tossing ideas out there. I don't claim to know this tech inside and out, but don't see why this *wouldn't* work given time to fix the issues with it. Even if it has been 5yrs or so.
I [i]knew[/i] the cops were following me and I [i]knew[/i] I could lose them in traffic, etc. You have a right to throw them off and drive as you normally do.
The GPS device would disallow this freedom. It takes away the freedom of choice when it comes to avoiding the police.
This is like driving down the road and seeing blue lights or a cop just watching traffic and making the decision to turn around because you want to avoid the police for whatever reason.
But in the world of the GPS on your car you'd be forced to drive down the road and pass the cop or stop for the checkpoint.
The idea is a little rough, but you get the picture.
Why should we make their job any easier? All it does is promote lazienss when they should have to [i]prove[/i] I'm guilty. Make them do the leg work and get warrants. As was stated they are rubber stamped for the most part. Hell you can probably get a FISA without issues nowadays that they don't have to worry about the Telcoms getting sued.
Unless you live in the state of VA...for a time it was more worthwhile for police to pull over state residents than it was out of state.
You know with the new "speeding ticket" laws that were passed, which invariably became "road taxes" illegally imposed on our residents. Thankfully they've repealed the retarded changes they made and residents have started to be refunded monies lost. Although it didn't count court costs...
lol...this reminds me of a guy I knew in a Cisco class I took a while back who worked for the military. He used to always talk about the muhajadin and how nasty these guys are etc. Very interesting stuff that I didn't know ahead of time. Puts another side to the whole 9/11, Iran, Iraq, Afghan problems we have...which seem to be motivated by our nosey-ness into other countries' affairs.
Heck Washington thought it prudent to stay out of world affairs.
Seems to me if they had SPF and turned off relaying non of this should have happened. But again that assumes all the mail is going thru their system and not some temp tiny mail server that was dropped in by a trojan/worm etc. Those (I believe) create their own server which in essence would bypass any sort of mail server they have setup. But still it is going thru a router somewhere...so they should have packet shaping setup or some other routing protocol that slows that particular connection if its utilizing a lot of bandwidth. Apparently someone's degree at those businesses means jack otherwise they would be making sure there are no compromised machines. Then again...no one is perfect nor is any business perfect. You will get compromised machines here and there from time to time. One policy that should never be laxed though, but often times is, is security. Why? Because of office politics and the idiots who are managers who don't know or want to know jack about software/IT or anything in between that make IT pros lives a miserable hell.
Government regulation is not needed in this area. Some businesses already have stipulations in their ToS that if you have an IP address (ie: a customer) who is a zombie of some sort; either a client to a worm or a spam bot. Then that particular ISP has so many warnings before their service is terminated. I remember getting e-mails like that on occasion because one of our [start sarcasm]very bright customers[/end sarcasm] had clicked on the pop up to "update windows" or "protect your computer from viruses now!" After verifying the IP address and which customer we contact that customer and tell them to either fix the PC or have their service put on hold until its fixed. Usually the customer will get the issue fixed and thanks us because they knew something was wrong, but wasn't sure what it was. It shows you how un-educated people are about computers.
Also, why should ISPs be held responsible for a private citizens PC? I think they should cut customers off because they are hurting the ISPs network, but beyond that there is no reason why ISPs should be held responsible for another's ignorance. That is like holding Myspace liable for some girl's rape because her and her dumb parents couldn't keep tabs on her. How stupid do you have to be to meet someone off of my Myspace when you're in your teens? Even an adult should be cautious when doing so and should always do so in a public place at the same time letting others you know where you are going and how long you should be...just in case.
The US isn't a socialist country no matter how many people may think or want it that way. People are given a choice and don't have to conform if they don't want to; within reason. We all have to conform to the government's "reasoning". Although eventually that too will change and will most likely result in a revolt of some sort.
As laughable as it sounds you are not far from the truth. The U.S. is the only current superpower in this world. Don't even bother with Britain. They died out as a superpower years ago. Are they a strong "Western" country? Sure. Are they a superpower? No.
The U.S. is this way because if the U.S. were to try to mind its own business we'd still have people trying to blow us up. One of the main reasons the U.S. sees fit to be in everyone else's business is that nuclear weapons are prevalent in several countries that could quiet possibly sell them to people who would much rather see our country as a pile of dust. In that is not really in the best interest of other countries no matter how many people hate this country. The thing is the US economy is so intertwined with other economies if the U.S. economy were to fail the whole world would be shoved into a depression. I'm not talking about a depression in the U.S I'm talking about a complete failure. Which not very likely to happen.
But I wouldn't put it past the **AAs to try and force other nations against a separate entity that allows downloads of any materials copyrighted or not. Eventually I think we will move to a computer system that acts as a database to maintain everything that is written, sung, filmed, etc. Much like that in the movie Time Machine. The library basically acted as this sort of database..although the database accessed thru a hologram.
One reason it would be a bad idea to leave now. As much as our country may not like it we have helped create said situation. And now it is our responsibility as the leading nation in this world (also as the power that helped to put the country in this position) to help quell this problem. It is in *no* one's interest for Iraq to go into a civil war...oh wait. yes it is. Iran would be more than happy to have a civil war break out so they can swoop in and be the savior of fixing said civil war.
As far as the money 'wasted' I don't see it that way. We have people screaming bloody murder because we have a few thousand troops die. (Iraq/Afghanistan) For our country to lose a few thousand troops in any war is not a totally bad thing. Keep in mind this is a *war*. In wars soldiers/civilians die. Its a fact of life. If you don't want soldiers to die then go try and talk those young men out of joining the military. It is *their* choice to fight for their country regardless of where the President/Congress sends them. Contrary to popular belief those troops fight to uphold the Constitution of the United States, *not* the President. Thus, our country to further help those troops survive. Throwing a ton of cash at the problem: death. In order to create troops that are far less likely to die or get harmed in combat. Which to me is a farce. No matter what we do we will have troops who die in combat. But even if we had 10 soldiers fall in combat people who don't even have family in the military would raise hell saying that 10 is too many. Well too bad. You don't have room to complain. Those families (for the most part) are proud that their family members are in the service.
It is a joke that this article talks about Medical benefits that trickle down. The money could go to a multitude of items including AIDs research, a bajillion dollar Super Computer that compute the end of wars so we wouldn't have to go to war, and could answer "The Question" without an answer of 42.
Maybe we've lost too many soldiers and should pull out...no wait...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_toll#War _and_military_action/...we've lost more in those than any other time...wait wait...might we have lost close to as many in Katrina? Where are the war drums beating for those people? Where are the people complaining that those families still don't have homes to move back into?
Funny. Last time I checked ignorance isn't an excuse when you break the law unknowingly. Why should it be in this case?
PCs are like cars. They require maintenance. If you don't want to take the responsibility of keeping your machine up to date and clean of viruses then don't bother getting a PC. I think this is what geeks/nerds get for trying to make PCs mainstream. Now we have to deal with the garbage and clean up others' messes. I guess they get their's when they see the bill we give them;)
On the flip side of the issue even some smart IT folks are starting to fall for some of these masked sites. I still can't understand how many people fall for the Myspace garbage. Wait, yes I can. Its myspace. I do realize the fake sites are looking better and better, as are the urls. But nothing can beat a www.domain.com no amount of trickery can change that. Its simple. Stick to the top level domain then go from there and be weary.
When is someone going to finally say enough is enough and call their bluff? Just about *everyone* and their brother downloads music. I don't care about that issue. I want to *see* the RIAA *prove* their case in court. Exactly what evidence do they have on someone? Eh? An IP address. Ha. Those can be spoofed my friend. MAC address? Those can be spoofed too.
I hope (or not) they have something more concrete to stand on than just some number that is supposed to be unique to each person online. I'm more than sure Kevin Mitnick could prove this otherwise in a court of law. Matter of fact he'd be a decent witness imo. Seeing as he is more than qualified in this particular area.
I also want to know how these people are getting caught. What are they using Ares? or limewire or some other such piece of garbage? Also it seems they haven't gone after anyone worthwhile such as a lawyer, doctor, et al. Seems they only go after families or teenagers nowadays.
Gee. See movies much? This exact device was in The Prestige. Matter of fact a character portraying Tesla creates the device. Its very interesting and brings around a dark twist to the movie.
As much as I use Windows there is a point here. Not *everybody* uses Windows, nor wants to. Why should they be badgered into using it? Granted it is their choice of OS they use and Blizzard's choice to not support any other OS other than Windows. But imo that is very short sighted and cuts out revenue they possibly could gain by supporting the other OSes that are somewhat as "popular" as Windows.(ie: Linux and Mac) Although I do understand there are a ton of distros and supporting them all may or may not be cost effective.
I just find it short-sighted to make a statement of convert to Windows or die. Businesses stay in business because the customer keeps them in business. To ignore your customer base is to put yourself out of business...eventually. Granted much has been said in the ways of Blizzard managing WOW and we all know how long its lasted despite all the nay saying.
But maybe the Linux programmers will come up with a fix that allows WOW's crazy little program to function as its intended. As much as I don't agree with it, I doubt WOW is any where near concerned with how much pr0n you've been downloading or that you've downloaded the latest DVD to your PC.
And a warning would probably have been more tactful than mass banning in this particular case. However poor the decision may be they still own their software and can choose to do as they wish with said software.
Wow. This comment had absolutely nothing to do with the article, yet the person is modded 2 points most likely because he/she bashed Bush. Think we could tune down the political banter around here and have posts actually relating to the tech topics at hand?
And to reply to the orig. comment that was posted about this only happening in Singapore may be correct in this case, but this happens all over the world. And there is a Computer Misuse Act in at least Britain, which was created in 1990. Currently the US *does NOT* have a law against using wifi access points. However there has been a law on the books (in the US) http://www.hg.org/redir.asp?url=http://www.law.cor nell.edu:80/uscode/18/1030.html in which I could see being twisted in order to crack down on people "stealing" wifi as its been labeled.
Personally those who have open wifi networks need to close them. Although an arguement could be made that if someone is able to just walk around on someone's wifi then why wouldn't this extend to someone who is using a very simple security hole on a large business or government network? You can't cherry pick. Regardless if the latter was a security hole that had to be exploited in order to gain access.. the same issue applies to wifi networks. It is a security issue and always has been. But I believe most APs; I live in the US so I don't know about the rest of the world; are now shipping with WEP or WAP turned on. I could be wrong in this notion... I have an older AP.
While I'm in favor of utilizing an open wifi network as long as its residential, I make no mistakes about the ethics of the action. It is wrong. Whether the person is ignorant of the issues at hand or not. I think many people just try to rationalize it so its good in their own eyes.
This only works for certain people. If you are, say, an ISP you really can't do this. You'd have a ton of angry beating down the door and ringing the phone off the hook. At my job we use SPF and our server uses OCR. The problem is that the spammers most likely use all the different types of mail software out there and find ways around the newest updates. Sort of like moles.
SPF would be a huge help, but getting everyone to use it will be a task in and of itself. Let alone spammers picking it up and using it. But that still only attacks the e-mails that are spoofs. What really needs to happen is just to scrap the current implementation of e-mail and create a whole new system which incorporates some sort of accountability. Not an easy task by any means I know and I have no suggestions on how this could work or if its even possible. I only see the spam getting more difficult to defeat in the end due to all the scanning/scripts that are in use currently. Eventually it will get to the point where false positives are just too high making the way we currently do e-mail worthless.
...that people are worried about wiki plagiarizing *other* sites. I'd love to see how many students plagiarize off of the wiki. Let alone double check all the supposed facts they get off of wikipedia. Personally I would *never* use wikipedia to help write a paper. Granted it is checked by people, but the fact that anyone and everyone can post to it leaves me with concerns. There have already been examples of abuse from Politicians and other parties with their own agendas that abuse the system.
With that said I had an English Lit teacher in my college class print out stuff from wiki and use it has handouts. I was surprised any teacher would use wiki as a source for educational information. Sure its a great idea, but there is just too much information that can't be processed for authenticity at every turn.
...what happens to the entertainment industry when half of the celeberties all board a ship and it goes into orbit and something crazy happens and it blows up?
Who is to say this isn't leathel in the long run? I say we find out 20-30 years down the road we find out it either A) does really cook your insides slowly shortening your long term life or B)Causes various types of cancer.
Before bitching about this software how many of you actually tried to use it? They offer(ed) a free download of one of the shows. Granted the selction both in DVDs and TV Shows is limited now, that selection is sure to increase over time.
The "free" download basically works out like a normal amazon purchase where you add it to your cart. You go through the normal process and then once you get to the billing part where it normally would charge you the -1.99 on the bill shows you that you owe 0.00. Thus making the purchase free.
You get 2 files, although an article I had read earlier in the day I tried it says there are supposed to be 3 files. You get a proprietary Amz file for use on designated portable video players (ie: Creative Zen Video). And the other file is a.avi file which is encoded with MS DRM. However there is a program on the net that allows you to strip the DRM from avi file so you can play it in any player you wish on your PC. However if you want to burn the dvd you'd need to convert it, then burn it to a dvd.
Now for the ugly. I don't very much like Amazon's proprietary player that they have you install. I also don't like the fact that they DRM'd the files. Granted its easy (right now) to get around, but we shouldn't have to deal with this. At least not after we've already purchsed the file.
The question that came to mind after playing around with Amazon's new product was whether any of the AA's will ever "get it" enough to where "we" are happy. Or are we as a collective just playing a mind game of "well, you're almost there, but not quiet". And around and around we go...just to justify pirating. To be honest I don't like doing it. But at the same time places like Barnes & Nobles, Borders, Musicland, Sam Goody, etc are some how able to justify their DVD prices while the likes of Walmart, Target, etc are able to offer the same exact movies for much cheaper prices. How are dvd prices not a fixed rate? The cost of producing the disc itself is roughly the same. There is nothing physically different about the products. So why the increase in price?
This again brings up another good point about Amazon's new offer. I even knew before I tried out the service that the prices would be same as their boxed DVDs...so as not to undercut the sale of regular dvds. Well wtf! We're not getting a physical DVD, we're not getting a nice DVD box, so what the hell is the extra cost coming from? Usually the price of a product is dictated by the middlemen (ie: the movie people, the disc manufacturers, the people who ship the dvds, etc) But when it comes to digital downloads there isn't all of that. So all the excess is pure revenue. Again the consumer is screwed. Again we are put in the middle of something (fight between MS, Apple, Real, et. al.). And of course this spurns on more pirating.
Honestly I've been moving away from that arena and towards legit purchases as I get older, and I can see the future being more digital, but come on. If you don't give us freedom in the usage why the hell should we buy a(n) portable video player if we can't choose are favorite compression method, our favorite device, etc. If it doesn't inter-operate then it will eventually become vaporware or us (the sad customer) will end up with about 10 devices to do basically the same thing that maybe 1 or 2 devices could accomplish.
In conclusion. I do think Amazon is leaning towards the right direction, but I'd rather not have to undo the DRM just to be able to get the sucker to play in Windows Media Player Classic, or even into a converter so I can burn it to a DVD so I can watch on my tv. That is utter nonsense. Once that is out of the way I think we have a winner.
And don't even complain about the price. The 1.99 per show is fine. Its the same as itunes. You can get 10 episodes for 20 bucks. That isn't bad by any means.
It was a cellphone and broadband package for one. And the larger issue at hand here is whether older folks have: 1)the intelligence to understand the technical terminology 2)Know the difference between right and left for clicking on a mouse (many many do not apparently.) 3)The will to teach one's self. Unless of course they have loads of cash that they want to pour into lessons, classes, etc.
Don't read the intelligence item as me saying that I think the elderly are stupid because I know they aren't stuipd. What I do think is that the elderly people think they are entitled to automatically knowing how to use a PC or special treatment when it comes to using PCs. If this is what they think then they better get back at the end of the damn line with the rest of the population as there are still younger adults (compared to 70s meaning 30s/40s) that don't know PCs very either. Although they tend to be a tad more patient and understanding of things not going the way they should. Older folks tend to think everything on PCs happens automagically until told otherwise. That is why knowing how to read helps.
My opinions come from 1. working at a retirement home for 4yrs and then working 3yrs as technical support. At both jobs I noticed various things about different aged people and the majority of people who call in constantly for support issues on PCs are the elderly. Even after you've explained something a kajillion times to them they still call back not even bothering to writed down what you tell them. This is why policies like this emerge. The cost of supporting customers like this becomes less cost effective. And I bet you there is some truth to older people not having as good a memory or usable intellect as younger folks.
Its a fact that your body slowly decays as you live anyways, what would make the brain any different? Alzheimer's anyone? Granted this doesn't hit everyone, but it at least brings up the issue of deteriating brain functionality.
Feel free to point out spelling mistakes. I'm not perfect or claim to be, grammar/spelling police. Not to mention its near impossible to even worry about such an issue when a spell check isn't even available on the forums (from what I can see).
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So..we *should* have recounts because we know *that* works fantastic. ;)
Even with my previous post I'm also in the line of thinking any method used at this point is susceptible to corruption/manipulation. Its to the *point* of manipulation that is allowed. Sure you can have redundancy but if you put in a people factor in there its always going to have a point of weak security just as with computers.
I don't see why we couldn't have physical ballots spit out by the computer after we've voted.
Why not use a lazer to punch the holes?
So... Did anyone actually RTFA? So, it'd be nice to see how these districts re-coup the monies (tax payer monies at that) that they basically have now wasted on this tech. Which really, if they spent the time to actually fix or update the software [read:use linux] then they'd probably be alright for voting. Of course you'd need some sort of guard over the system head end so no tampering takes place, hire/get competent people at the polls [read: computer-savvy non-elderly folk]. I'm not saying its full proof, paper isn't even fool proof. Is that chad punched or not? But if time was spent to actually have technical people build one that actually had say the folks at Defcon take a look at it for testing the security I don't see why a viable solution couldn't be found. As far as hacking/cracking the voting machines I don't care who you are any cryptography can be cracked, the only issue with that is the *time* it takes to crack it. If it takes 100+ years to crack then its not going to happen anytime soon at least until faster machines come forth, or a better algorithm for finding the keys comes about. So the security issues are mote at best in the long run. My concern is with congress getting their sticky hands involved on who the vendors are, because at that point things can become tainted as money gets floated from one hand to another, etc etc. I'm just tossing ideas out there. I don't claim to know this tech inside and out, but don't see why this *wouldn't* work given time to fix the issues with it. Even if it has been 5yrs or so.
Maybe its user error? Then again the software could contain a virus and or trojan.
I [i]knew[/i] the cops were following me and I [i]knew[/i] I could lose them in traffic, etc. You have a right to throw them off and drive as you normally do. The GPS device would disallow this freedom. It takes away the freedom of choice when it comes to avoiding the police. This is like driving down the road and seeing blue lights or a cop just watching traffic and making the decision to turn around because you want to avoid the police for whatever reason. But in the world of the GPS on your car you'd be forced to drive down the road and pass the cop or stop for the checkpoint. The idea is a little rough, but you get the picture. Why should we make their job any easier? All it does is promote lazienss when they should have to [i]prove[/i] I'm guilty. Make them do the leg work and get warrants. As was stated they are rubber stamped for the most part. Hell you can probably get a FISA without issues nowadays that they don't have to worry about the Telcoms getting sued.
Unless you live in the state of VA...for a time it was more worthwhile for police to pull over state residents than it was out of state. You know with the new "speeding ticket" laws that were passed, which invariably became "road taxes" illegally imposed on our residents. Thankfully they've repealed the retarded changes they made and residents have started to be refunded monies lost. Although it didn't count court costs...
lol...this reminds me of a guy I knew in a Cisco class I took a while back who worked for the military. He used to always talk about the muhajadin and how nasty these guys are etc. Very interesting stuff that I didn't know ahead of time. Puts another side to the whole 9/11, Iran, Iraq, Afghan problems we have...which seem to be motivated by our nosey-ness into other countries' affairs. Heck Washington thought it prudent to stay out of world affairs.
If you reside in the US I believe you mean to write Totalitarian democracy. ;)
Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice shame on you.
Seems to me if they had SPF and turned off relaying non of this should have happened. But again that assumes all the mail is going thru their system and not some temp tiny mail server that was dropped in by a trojan/worm etc. Those (I believe) create their own server which in essence would bypass any sort of mail server they have setup. But still it is going thru a router somewhere...so they should have packet shaping setup or some other routing protocol that slows that particular connection if its utilizing a lot of bandwidth. Apparently someone's degree at those businesses means jack otherwise they would be making sure there are no compromised machines. Then again...no one is perfect nor is any business perfect. You will get compromised machines here and there from time to time. One policy that should never be laxed though, but often times is, is security. Why? Because of office politics and the idiots who are managers who don't know or want to know jack about software/IT or anything in between that make IT pros lives a miserable hell.
Government regulation is not needed in this area. Some businesses already have stipulations in their ToS that if you have an IP address (ie: a customer) who is a zombie of some sort; either a client to a worm or a spam bot. Then that particular ISP has so many warnings before their service is terminated. I remember getting e-mails like that on occasion because one of our [start sarcasm]very bright customers[/end sarcasm] had clicked on the pop up to "update windows" or "protect your computer from viruses now!" After verifying the IP address and which customer we contact that customer and tell them to either fix the PC or have their service put on hold until its fixed. Usually the customer will get the issue fixed and thanks us because they knew something was wrong, but wasn't sure what it was. It shows you how un-educated people are about computers.
Also, why should ISPs be held responsible for a private citizens PC? I think they should cut customers off because they are hurting the ISPs network, but beyond that there is no reason why ISPs should be held responsible for another's ignorance. That is like holding Myspace liable for some girl's rape because her and her dumb parents couldn't keep tabs on her. How stupid do you have to be to meet someone off of my Myspace when you're in your teens? Even an adult should be cautious when doing so and should always do so in a public place at the same time letting others you know where you are going and how long you should be...just in case.
The US isn't a socialist country no matter how many people may think or want it that way. People are given a choice and don't have to conform if they don't want to; within reason. We all have to conform to the government's "reasoning". Although eventually that too will change and will most likely result in a revolt of some sort.
As laughable as it sounds you are not far from the truth. The U.S. is the only current superpower in this world. Don't even bother with Britain. They died out as a superpower years ago. Are they a strong "Western" country? Sure. Are they a superpower? No.
The U.S. is this way because if the U.S. were to try to mind its own business we'd still have people trying to blow us up. One of the main reasons the U.S. sees fit to be in everyone else's business is that nuclear weapons are prevalent in several countries that could quiet possibly sell them to people who would much rather see our country as a pile of dust. In that is not really in the best interest of other countries no matter how many people hate this country. The thing is the US economy is so intertwined with other economies if the U.S. economy were to fail the whole world would be shoved into a depression. I'm not talking about a depression in the U.S I'm talking about a complete failure. Which not very likely to happen.
But I wouldn't put it past the **AAs to try and force other nations against a separate entity that allows downloads of any materials copyrighted or not. Eventually I think we will move to a computer system that acts as a database to maintain everything that is written, sung, filmed, etc. Much like that in the movie Time Machine. The library basically acted as this sort of database..although the database accessed thru a hologram.
One reason it would be a bad idea to leave now. As much as our country may not like it we have helped create said situation. And now it is our responsibility as the leading nation in this world (also as the power that helped to put the country in this position) to help quell this problem. It is in *no* one's interest for Iraq to go into a civil war...oh wait. yes it is. Iran would be more than happy to have a civil war break out so they can swoop in and be the savior of fixing said civil war. As far as the money 'wasted' I don't see it that way. We have people screaming bloody murder because we have a few thousand troops die. (Iraq/Afghanistan) For our country to lose a few thousand troops in any war is not a totally bad thing. Keep in mind this is a *war*. In wars soldiers/civilians die. Its a fact of life. If you don't want soldiers to die then go try and talk those young men out of joining the military. It is *their* choice to fight for their country regardless of where the President/Congress sends them. Contrary to popular belief those troops fight to uphold the Constitution of the United States, *not* the President. Thus, our country to further help those troops survive. Throwing a ton of cash at the problem: death. In order to create troops that are far less likely to die or get harmed in combat. Which to me is a farce. No matter what we do we will have troops who die in combat. But even if we had 10 soldiers fall in combat people who don't even have family in the military would raise hell saying that 10 is too many. Well too bad. You don't have room to complain. Those families (for the most part) are proud that their family members are in the service. It is a joke that this article talks about Medical benefits that trickle down. The money could go to a multitude of items including AIDs research, a bajillion dollar Super Computer that compute the end of wars so we wouldn't have to go to war, and could answer "The Question" without an answer of 42.
No wait...we should have let Saddam get nukes...no wait...we should let President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad get nukes so he can blow up the Israelis *then* us as he has said. Because we all know the Holocaust was a myth.http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/14/ira n.israel/ And any who would help the 'Zionists' should be wiped off the face of the earth. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/26/ahma dinejad/index.html/ http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9898/
. jpg/ we did already. Maybe our country *is* wrong and we should listen to better leaders http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/20/chave z.un/index.html/ as our leader is obviously the devil incarnate.
r _and_military_action/...we've lost more in those than any other time...wait wait...might we have lost close to as many in Katrina? Where are the war drums beating for those people? Where are the people complaining that those families still don't have homes to move back into?
Because we should wait until something happens to us first...no wait http://www.september11news.com/111wtcreutersitaly
Maybe we've lost too many soldiers and should pull out...no wait...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_toll#Wa
But I digress.
Funny. Last time I checked ignorance isn't an excuse when you break the law unknowingly. Why should it be in this case?
;)
PCs are like cars. They require maintenance. If you don't want to take the responsibility of keeping your machine up to date and clean of viruses then don't bother getting a PC. I think this is what geeks/nerds get for trying to make PCs mainstream. Now we have to deal with the garbage and clean up others' messes. I guess they get their's when they see the bill we give them
On the flip side of the issue even some smart IT folks are starting to fall for some of these masked sites. I still can't understand how many people fall for the Myspace garbage. Wait, yes I can. Its myspace. I do realize the fake sites are looking better and better, as are the urls. But nothing can beat a www.domain.com no amount of trickery can change that. Its simple. Stick to the top level domain then go from there and be weary.
When is someone going to finally say enough is enough and call their bluff? Just about *everyone* and their brother downloads music. I don't care about that issue. I want to *see* the RIAA *prove* their case in court. Exactly what evidence do they have on someone? Eh? An IP address. Ha. Those can be spoofed my friend. MAC address? Those can be spoofed too.
I hope (or not) they have something more concrete to stand on than just some number that is supposed to be unique to each person online. I'm more than sure Kevin Mitnick could prove this otherwise in a court of law. Matter of fact he'd be a decent witness imo. Seeing as he is more than qualified in this particular area.
I also want to know how these people are getting caught. What are they using Ares? or limewire or some other such piece of garbage? Also it seems they haven't gone after anyone worthwhile such as a lawyer, doctor, et al. Seems they only go after families or teenagers nowadays.
Gee. See movies much? This exact device was in The Prestige. Matter of fact a character portraying Tesla creates the device. Its very interesting and brings around a dark twist to the movie.
Does this mean my skin is going to sloth off when I hit 50?
As much as I use Windows there is a point here. Not *everybody* uses Windows, nor wants to. Why should they be badgered into using it? Granted it is their choice of OS they use and Blizzard's choice to not support any other OS other than Windows. But imo that is very short sighted and cuts out revenue they possibly could gain by supporting the other OSes that are somewhat as "popular" as Windows.(ie: Linux and Mac) Although I do understand there are a ton of distros and supporting them all may or may not be cost effective. I just find it short-sighted to make a statement of convert to Windows or die. Businesses stay in business because the customer keeps them in business. To ignore your customer base is to put yourself out of business...eventually. Granted much has been said in the ways of Blizzard managing WOW and we all know how long its lasted despite all the nay saying. But maybe the Linux programmers will come up with a fix that allows WOW's crazy little program to function as its intended. As much as I don't agree with it, I doubt WOW is any where near concerned with how much pr0n you've been downloading or that you've downloaded the latest DVD to your PC. And a warning would probably have been more tactful than mass banning in this particular case. However poor the decision may be they still own their software and can choose to do as they wish with said software.
Wow. This comment had absolutely nothing to do with the article, yet the person is modded 2 points most likely because he/she bashed Bush. Think we could tune down the political banter around here and have posts actually relating to the tech topics at hand?r nell.edu:80/uscode/18/1030.html in which I could see being twisted in order to crack down on people "stealing" wifi as its been labeled.
And to reply to the orig. comment that was posted about this only happening in Singapore may be correct in this case, but this happens all over the world. And there is a Computer Misuse Act in at least Britain, which was created in 1990. Currently the US *does NOT* have a law against using wifi access points. However there has been a law on the books (in the US) http://www.hg.org/redir.asp?url=http://www.law.co
Personally those who have open wifi networks need to close them. Although an arguement could be made that if someone is able to just walk around on someone's wifi then why wouldn't this extend to someone who is using a very simple security hole on a large business or government network? You can't cherry pick. Regardless if the latter was a security hole that had to be exploited in order to gain access.. the same issue applies to wifi networks. It is a security issue and always has been. But I believe most APs; I live in the US so I don't know about the rest of the world; are now shipping with WEP or WAP turned on. I could be wrong in this notion... I have an older AP.
While I'm in favor of utilizing an open wifi network as long as its residential, I make no mistakes about the ethics of the action. It is wrong. Whether the person is ignorant of the issues at hand or not. I think many people just try to rationalize it so its good in their own eyes.
This only works for certain people. If you are, say, an ISP you really can't do this. You'd have a ton of angry beating down the door and ringing the phone off the hook. At my job we use SPF and our server uses OCR. The problem is that the spammers most likely use all the different types of mail software out there and find ways around the newest updates. Sort of like moles.
SPF would be a huge help, but getting everyone to use it will be a task in and of itself. Let alone spammers picking it up and using it. But that still only attacks the e-mails that are spoofs. What really needs to happen is just to scrap the current implementation of e-mail and create a whole new system which incorporates some sort of accountability. Not an easy task by any means I know and I have no suggestions on how this could work or if its even possible. I only see the spam getting more difficult to defeat in the end due to all the scanning/scripts that are in use currently. Eventually it will get to the point where false positives are just too high making the way we currently do e-mail worthless.
...that people are worried about wiki plagiarizing *other* sites. I'd love to see how many students plagiarize off of the wiki. Let alone double check all the supposed facts they get off of wikipedia. Personally I would *never* use wikipedia to help write a paper. Granted it is checked by people, but the fact that anyone and everyone can post to it leaves me with concerns. There have already been examples of abuse from Politicians and other parties with their own agendas that abuse the system.
With that said I had an English Lit teacher in my college class print out stuff from wiki and use it has handouts. I was surprised any teacher would use wiki as a source for educational information. Sure its a great idea, but there is just too much information that can't be processed for authenticity at every turn.
...what happens to the entertainment industry when half of the celeberties all board a ship and it goes into orbit and something crazy happens and it blows up?
Who is to say this isn't leathel in the long run? I say we find out 20-30 years down the road we find out it either A) does really cook your insides slowly shortening your long term life or B)Causes various types of cancer.
Before bitching about this software how many of you actually tried to use it? They offer(ed) a free download of one of the shows. Granted the selction both in DVDs and TV Shows is limited now, that selection is sure to increase over time.
.avi file which is encoded with MS DRM. However there is a program on the net that allows you to strip the DRM from avi file so you can play it in any player you wish on your PC. However if you want to burn the dvd you'd need to convert it, then burn it to a dvd.
The "free" download basically works out like a normal amazon purchase where you add it to your cart. You go through the normal process and then once you get to the billing part where it normally would charge you the -1.99 on the bill shows you that you owe 0.00. Thus making the purchase free.
You get 2 files, although an article I had read earlier in the day I tried it says there are supposed to be 3 files. You get a proprietary Amz file for use on designated portable video players (ie: Creative Zen Video). And the other file is a
Now for the ugly. I don't very much like Amazon's proprietary player that they have you install. I also don't like the fact that they DRM'd the files. Granted its easy (right now) to get around, but we shouldn't have to deal with this. At least not after we've already purchsed the file.
The question that came to mind after playing around with Amazon's new product was whether any of the AA's will ever "get it" enough to where "we" are happy. Or are we as a collective just playing a mind game of "well, you're almost there, but not quiet". And around and around we go...just to justify pirating. To be honest I don't like doing it. But at the same time places like Barnes & Nobles, Borders, Musicland, Sam Goody, etc are some how able to justify their DVD prices while the likes of Walmart, Target, etc are able to offer the same exact movies for much cheaper prices. How are dvd prices not a fixed rate? The cost of producing the disc itself is roughly the same. There is nothing physically different about the products. So why the increase in price?
This again brings up another good point about Amazon's new offer. I even knew before I tried out the service that the prices would be same as their boxed DVDs...so as not to undercut the sale of regular dvds. Well wtf! We're not getting a physical DVD, we're not getting a nice DVD box, so what the hell is the extra cost coming from? Usually the price of a product is dictated by the middlemen (ie: the movie people, the disc manufacturers, the people who ship the dvds, etc) But when it comes to digital downloads there isn't all of that. So all the excess is pure revenue. Again the consumer is screwed. Again we are put in the middle of something (fight between MS, Apple, Real, et. al.). And of course this spurns on more pirating.
Honestly I've been moving away from that arena and towards legit purchases as I get older, and I can see the future being more digital, but come on. If you don't give us freedom in the usage why the hell should we buy a(n) portable video player if we can't choose are favorite compression method, our favorite device, etc. If it doesn't inter-operate then it will eventually become vaporware or us (the sad customer) will end up with about 10 devices to do basically the same thing that maybe 1 or 2 devices could accomplish.
In conclusion. I do think Amazon is leaning towards the right direction, but I'd rather not have to undo the DRM just to be able to get the sucker to play in Windows Media Player Classic, or even into a converter so I can burn it to a DVD so I can watch on my tv. That is utter nonsense. Once that is out of the way I think we have a winner.
And don't even complain about the price. The 1.99 per show is fine. Its the same as itunes. You can get 10 episodes for 20 bucks. That isn't bad by any means.
It was a cellphone and broadband package for one. And the larger issue at hand here is whether older folks have:
1)the intelligence to understand the technical terminology
2)Know the difference between right and left for clicking on a mouse (many many do not apparently.)
3)The will to teach one's self. Unless of course they have loads of cash that they want to pour into lessons, classes, etc.
Don't read the intelligence item as me saying that I think the elderly are stupid because I know they aren't stuipd. What I do think is that the elderly people think they are entitled to automatically knowing how to use a PC or special treatment when it comes to using PCs. If this is what they think then they better get back at the end of the damn line with the rest of the population as there are still younger adults (compared to 70s meaning 30s/40s) that don't know PCs very either. Although they tend to be a tad more patient and understanding of things not going the way they should. Older folks tend to think everything on PCs happens automagically until told otherwise. That is why knowing how to read helps.
My opinions come from 1. working at a retirement home for 4yrs and then working 3yrs as technical support. At both jobs I noticed various things about different aged people and the majority of people who call in constantly for support issues on PCs are the elderly. Even after you've explained something a kajillion times to them they still call back not even bothering to writed down what you tell them. This is why policies like this emerge. The cost of supporting customers like this becomes less cost effective. And I bet you there is some truth to older people not having as good a memory or usable intellect as younger folks.
Its a fact that your body slowly decays as you live anyways, what would make the brain any different? Alzheimer's anyone? Granted this doesn't hit everyone, but it at least brings up the issue of deteriating brain functionality.
Feel free to point out spelling mistakes. I'm not perfect or claim to be, grammar/spelling police. Not to mention its near impossible to even worry about such an issue when a spell check isn't even available on the forums (from what I can see).