I rarely have the same IP for more then a few weeks.
Either way, IP addresses are still less reliable then cookies. Google has no way to know if your IP address will remain the same for another hour or 5 months.
Why do you say "Now"? They've always tracked user behavior, and I've always felt they were upfront about it, but maybe I'm just a fool. Why are they more evil now?
I was using Google during the Beta phase in 1999. The tracking was more obvious back then-- You held your mouse over a link, and the status bar showed something like "http://database.google.com/?q=www.playboy.com".
They also use Cookies to create an individual profile for each visitor, and log that information. Google provides personalized services like Gmail, Google Groups, and http://www.google.com/ig to further the usefulness for those individual profiles (Visitors are less likely to block cookies, more likely to try to maintain the same login information on different computers).
I'm not saying this is wrong--- thousands of websites do this same thing. The data is only useful in aggregate anyways-- there aren't many business reasons to look at an individual's browsing habits. There are valid business reasons to look at a GROUP of browsing habits.
Why is this a YRO article? When Yahoo or MSN changes their privacy policy, is it covered in Slashdot?
Google changes their privacy policy to reflect things that YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW.
They track your usage and produce advertisements based on your usage. Duh. That's their whole business model people-- Google is an Advertising business first, a search engine second.
Do you really think Google needs 5000 computers to serve a website? NO--- a signifigant number of those computers are for data crunching-- what are people viewing now, what advertisements should we show them? It's called "predictive marketing", it's a more advanced version of those stupid "Direct Marketing" advertisements you get in the mail.
Even advanced grammar checkers still work very poorly compaired to sitting down, reading it yourself, and then having an english inclined friend do the same.
But out here in the real world, we don't often have the luxury of asking an English-inclined friend to doublecheck our work for us. If you had a job, and asked your coworkers to doublecheck your grammar on a simple document, you would probably get laughed at.
I often need to write a document quickly. I doublecheck afterwards, but common typos (it's vs. its, then vs. than, which vs. then) are easy to miss.
The computer helps me to do this work. That what a computer is supposed to do.
You mean "No Job, Collecting unemployment" I believe.
In Europe: Small check but you survive because of cheap rent, cheap food & cheap medical care.
In the U.S.:
Unemployment = not enough money for rent, food and expensive medical care ($12000 for a family of 4!). Get a job at Starbucks for $8/hour and shut the fuck up. Oh, and you're outta here by the end of the month.
You shouldn't be at risk for starving because of unfortunate luck.
Ok, so pretend we are standing next to each other. I hop on a super bicycle and head to the star Alpha Centari at 10,000,000 KPH. Meanwhile you are standing still on Earth, and Earth is travelling through space at a slower speed.
You're saying that the speed of light will remain constant relative to both of us? I'm going in one direction incredibly fast, and I would never see the light slow down at all?
Ok everyone, let me proclaim my utter ignorance. I have been trying to understand E=MC^2 for years, and I don't get.
Honestly, I don't even understand many of the basics.
Sure-- it's the formula for "Energy to matter" or something. But why does this matter? How does this relate to Einstein's theories about gravity wells, speed of light, etc.
And I understand the legacy-- E=MC^2 changed how the world was viewed by theoretical physicists. It's different from the Newtonian models of the Universe. I just don't understand why.
Are there any good, visual examples of these ideas?
I'm listening to these Physicists. But again, most of these people are talking about the legacy of the equasion-- they talk about how the equasion impacted society. (Although Janet Conrad has a good brief description of why it matters)
Of course not-- I never really said anything otherwise.
men dont mature and stop being attracted to boobs
Absolutely not. Boobs are great things. So is a nice curvy ass.
However, at some point a man should become mature and sexually experienced enough to realize what a real woman looks like. Silicon & cartoon boobs are for woman with low self-esteem and sexually inexperienced men.
Being sexually attracted to the huge boobs in video games are the equivilant of masturbating to a barbie doll.
You just helped to prove my point. Sure, he's fit & all, but his muscles don't exactly look like the musclebound Duke Nukem cliche.
Show a woman a picture of Arnold Schwartzenneger when he was all pumped up on steroids in a Bodybuilding Contest-- strange bumps pumping out everywhere, big huge veins, etc. Most woman don't find that attractive-- a small percentage do find that attactive. Few would be attracted to a game because of it.
For as long as I can remember, American businesses have been successful for two reasons: Mindless intellectual-property grabs and stupid lawsuits. (Some may argue that screwing workers out of their benefit plans is also a major business model, but I consider that something more like a "value add" proposition).
Now, some of the leading edge buinesses such as SCO are trying a whole new type business-- making and selling software.
I don't see how companies think they can make money this way. I mean, don't they realize the time and effort involved with such an endeavor? I mean, don't they need programmers and compiler and stuff? Then they need to house the employees in an office, provide computers and desks... can you imagine the expense?
Surely a lawsuit is simpler and more productive use of their time.
Slashdot Mirror
I rarely have the same IP for more then a few weeks.
Either way, IP addresses are still less reliable then cookies. Google has no way to know if your IP address will remain the same for another hour or 5 months.
You are right, of course.
I only meant to imply that only SOME of the machines at their massive server farm are actually used as the actual frontend webservers.
A signifigant number are used for heavier applications, such as indexing or datamining.
Yahoo, MSN and all other major search engines track visitor information in the same way.
It's even simpler-- block cookies entirely, or only allow cookies for the session. If you're hardcore, use a session anonymizer like Tor/Privoxy.
Tracking by IP has severe flaws. Most DSL & Cable users have a Dynamic IP, and a thousand other people have used that Dynamic IP.
I mean they're walking the fine line now
Why do you say "Now"? They've always tracked user behavior, and I've always felt they were upfront about it, but maybe I'm just a fool. Why are they more evil now?
I was using Google during the Beta phase in 1999. The tracking was more obvious back then-- You held your mouse over a link, and the status bar showed something like "http://database.google.com/?q=www.playboy.com".
2001-10-05 12:07:15 EDT [63.161.169.137] "How much is a Brazillion?"
They also use Cookies to create an individual profile for each visitor, and log that information. Google provides personalized services like Gmail, Google Groups, and http://www.google.com/ig to further the usefulness for those individual profiles (Visitors are less likely to block cookies, more likely to try to maintain the same login information on different computers).
I'm not saying this is wrong--- thousands of websites do this same thing. The data is only useful in aggregate anyways-- there aren't many business reasons to look at an individual's browsing habits. There are valid business reasons to look at a GROUP of browsing habits.
Why is this a YRO article? When Yahoo or MSN changes their privacy policy, is it covered in Slashdot?
Google changes their privacy policy to reflect things that YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW.
They track your usage and produce advertisements based on your usage. Duh. That's their whole business model people-- Google is an Advertising business first, a search engine second.
Do you really think Google needs 5000 computers to serve a website? NO--- a signifigant number of those computers are for data crunching-- what are people viewing now, what advertisements should we show them? It's called "predictive marketing", it's a more advanced version of those stupid "Direct Marketing" advertisements you get in the mail.
Yeah, but Blue Moons only happen once in a while.
ta-da-dum.
Even advanced grammar checkers still work very poorly compaired to sitting down, reading it yourself, and then having an english inclined friend do the same.
But out here in the real world, we don't often have the luxury of asking an English-inclined friend to doublecheck our work for us. If you had a job, and asked your coworkers to doublecheck your grammar on a simple document, you would probably get laughed at.
I often need to write a document quickly. I doublecheck afterwards, but common typos (it's vs. its, then vs. than, which vs. then) are easy to miss.
The computer helps me to do this work. That what a computer is supposed to do.
Basically, in Europe:
unemployed = No income
You mean "No Job, Collecting unemployment" I believe.
In Europe:
Small check but you survive because of cheap rent, cheap food & cheap medical care.
In the U.S.:
Unemployment = not enough money for rent, food and expensive medical care ($12000 for a family of 4!). Get a job at Starbucks for $8/hour and shut the fuck up. Oh, and you're outta here by the end of the month.
You shouldn't be at risk for starving because of unfortunate luck.
They are IDIOTS. I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this. Those morons, this is BULL!!! Fsck you! Fnck me! Fuck you!
Whew, that felt better.
Where are you, Profane MuthaFucka?
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Reason: Too much repetition.
Ok, so pretend we are standing next to each other. I hop on a super bicycle and head to the star Alpha Centari at 10,000,000 KPH. Meanwhile you are standing still on Earth, and Earth is travelling through space at a slower speed.
You're saying that the speed of light will remain constant relative to both of us? I'm going in one direction incredibly fast, and I would never see the light slow down at all?
Gee, thanks genius.
Your example is like pointing to the sun and saying "Look, it's E=MC^2, duh!" or "Look, I hit the power button and the computer starts up Windows".
Ok everyone, let me proclaim my utter ignorance. I have been trying to understand E=MC^2 for years, and I don't get.
Honestly, I don't even understand many of the basics.
Sure-- it's the formula for "Energy to matter" or something. But why does this matter? How does this relate to Einstein's theories about gravity wells, speed of light, etc.
And I understand the legacy-- E=MC^2 changed how the world was viewed by theoretical physicists. It's different from the Newtonian models of the Universe. I just don't understand why.
Are there any good, visual examples of these ideas?
I'm listening to these Physicists. But again, most of these people are talking about the legacy of the equasion-- they talk about how the equasion impacted society. (Although Janet Conrad has a good brief description of why it matters)
And women want nothing but stark realism
Of course not-- I never really said anything otherwise.
men dont mature and stop being attracted to boobs
Absolutely not. Boobs are great things. So is a nice curvy ass.
However, at some point a man should become mature and sexually experienced enough to realize what a real woman looks like. Silicon & cartoon boobs are for woman with low self-esteem and sexually inexperienced men.
Being sexually attracted to the huge boobs in video games are the equivilant of masturbating to a barbie doll.
You just helped to prove my point. Sure, he's fit & all, but his muscles don't exactly look like the musclebound Duke Nukem cliche.
Show a woman a picture of Arnold Schwartzenneger when he was all pumped up on steroids in a Bodybuilding Contest-- strange bumps pumping out everywhere, big huge veins, etc. Most woman don't find that attractive-- a small percentage do find that attactive. Few would be attracted to a game because of it.
Yeah, because game portrayals of male characters are so lifelike.
You're right-- that is a big game cliche, and the author should have listed it.
It's not sexist because it's applied to both sexes.
You're not seriously implying that women are attracted to those steroid-enhanced superdudes, are you? It's not the same at all.
Look, here's how it works:
Big Muscle Male Heros: Attract an immature male audience.
Big boobs: Attract an immature male audience.
See, it's tricker then it seems.
I tried that too, but when I post that URL into a new browser that hasn't been to the site, I get the ad.
Tricky, eh?
If you have a URL that is ad free, please post it.
If you can't find such a URL, quit whining. Some sites are very clever about requiring an advertisement view before reading the article.
A few freely distributed programs, like the Linux operating system and the Apache Web server, have become well known, but most are still unproved.
Surely, Captain Kirk, wrote that, article.
Thanks for pointing that out. They redesigned while I wasn't looking.
.sig, thanks!
I fixed the
Lots of "sources" have said that he did
That's a funny way of saying "Presidential Advisors".
For as long as I can remember, American businesses have been successful for two reasons: Mindless intellectual-property grabs and stupid lawsuits. (Some may argue that screwing workers out of their benefit plans is also a major business model, but I consider that something more like a "value add" proposition).
Now, some of the leading edge buinesses such as SCO are trying a whole new type business-- making and selling software.
I don't see how companies think they can make money this way. I mean, don't they realize the time and effort involved with such an endeavor? I mean, don't they need programmers and compiler and stuff? Then they need to house the employees in an office, provide computers and desks... can you imagine the expense?
Surely a lawsuit is simpler and more productive use of their time.
Because it's a referral disguised as a legitimate post. It's not entirely honest.
$169!!!
Hopefully these ZigBee products will lower the cost of these sorts of devices substantially.