Wait, what? Journalists are immune from having their computers seized? In what dreamworld? They have the exact same first amendment protections as the rest of us. No more, no less..
Journalism is an activity, not a licensed profession, and as such it is open to "the rest of us," so the law applies to anyone engaging in the activity defined in the statute as interpreted by the courts.
I read the press release and even visited the website. I can't find ANYTHING that reveals the system requirements for this software. Is it a Mac application? Windows? Linux? If it won't run on my OS of choice, why should I care about it?
This appears to be an application that was never available in retail channels in the first place and has no market share or brand equity.
But wouldn't it be sweet if Microsoft were paying Ubuntu for every copy of Linux distributed? And then we all just changed the search back to Google anyway? I know I'd like it.
This "musical instrument" cancer MUST BE STOPPED. When unlicensed amateurs are permitted to record anything they want, they devalue the musical landscape for legitimate musicians who are under corporate contracts. Do you want Miley Cyrus to starve, and Lady Gaga to go naked? Major recording studios stand to lose MILLIONS of dollars. We need legislation to control the unlicensed spread of microphones and pickup jacks. Anything capable of capturing sound should be subjected to a 60% surtax, the proceeds of which should be delivered directly to the Harry Fox Agency.
After seeing this thread, I installed Opera 10 on Ubuntu 9.10. Point, click, done. Posting with it now. Seems to work OK, but nowhere near as fast as Chrome.
I long ago standardized on cross-platform applications. After my most recent hardware upgrades (new Acer personal laptop, Macbook for work) I blew away Windows 7 and Snow Leopard and switched both to Ubuntu Karmic Koala. On my hardware, it all Just Works. Don't have to worry about viruses. Couldn't be happier.
Eons ago, I took a computer science course for nontechnical majors at the University of Illinois taught by Daniel Slotnick, creator of the Illiac-IV and a pioneer of parallel computation. He made us write code in binary for a theoretical machine. On paper.
That is the worst possible way to create a computer program of significant complexity, with all the spaghetti-code flaws of the original Beginner's All-Purpose Simplified Instruction Code (BASIC) plus many of its own, especially mind-breaking tedium. I utterly hated it, and actually took an F on that exercise, but I got the point, completely. I had a sudden deep respect for assemblers and especially macro assemblers.
Too many modern programmers have no real idea how computers work, or even how languages work, or why they're built the way they are to solve what kind of problems. Getting under the hood changes all of that. When I moved on to C, I understood how it functioned ("really a preprocessor for PDP-11 assembly language").
I don't know whether the cited blogger is right when he says this sort of thing makes your brain stronger. I do know that it prepared me to understand viscerally the significance of higher-level languages and advances in the art.
I did dabble a bit in BASIC along the way -- on a CDC Cyber-9000 and a Commodore VIC-20. The latter made me understand that all of this can be fun.
And what about the weekly exploit or two? Flash has never missed a beat. Will browsers implementing HTML5 expose us to at least the same level of risk that Flash does?
Will HTML5 also cause my browser (even if it's just a sandboxed tab) to crash several times per day, like Flash does now? I sure hope so, otherwise the experience just wouldn't be the same.
Sadly, those features are missing from early versions of HTML5 browsers, but perhaps Microsoft will step up to the plate with HTML5+ Enterprise Edition Bonus Pack.
I use my N800 daily, too... to play Klondike. The FBReader software is a terrible user interface. A pity, really.
So I've tried to use my laptop. I've tried installing Amazon's Kindle for PC under Wine. It installs but won't run, so I don't know if it's suitable for reading or not.
Calibre seems intended for downloading and feeding data to devices like the Sony reader.
All in all, the laptop doesn't seem to be a good candidate for curling up with a book. If I perch it on my stomach it has a habit of spontaneously loading up Hulu and rotting my brain.
This project isn't aimed at the $450 mini-laptops that claim to be netbooks. It's aimed at the $199 reference designs for ARM-powered true netbooks that may have touchscreens and may not necessarily have a keyboard.
If you want Ubuntu for a 10-inch, 2-gig laptop with a 250-gig drive, install the regular version.
Google Docs works offline, and has for more than two years. If you have evidence that Google is selling private Google Docs data, I suggest you provide it.
If you don't want to use Google Docs, both abiword and OO are one-click installs. Not a problem.
UNR is clearly being prepped for the coming sub-$200 ultralight, driveless, ARM-powered real netbooks, not the 2-gig, dual-core laptops that masquerade as netbooks now. For those, you're better off with a full Ubuntu install.
Yeah, it's just terrible the way Google locks down ChromeOS... no, wait a minute. ctrl-alt-T... what's this Linux thing? You mean I actually have to type my PASSWORD to get root? Evil bastards!
No worries, now Google Docs works offline:
Edit your documents and view your presentations
and spreadsheets – all from your browser.
Changes are saved offline and sync automatically
when you're back online. You don't have to do a thing.
Add a Google Docs shortcut to your desktop
to quickly access your documents.
Learn more or watch a video about Google Docs offline.
I have the same Acer Aspire 1410 (actually the dual-core SU2300 version) and it absolutely rocks, especially with Ubuntu. Love it , love it, love it and I would never consider the iPad as a replacement.
But I am intrigued by the possibility of future netbooks that might move the motherboard into the display part, make the screen touch-sensitive, and make the keyboard a snap-off (leave-at-home) component.
The iPad suggests that form factor, but the optional keyboard is clumsy and the crippled nature of the pad (lack of ports, no Flash, no camera, closed system) makes for a real disappointment.
Conceptually I don't mind the idea of cloud computing - but it does have one huge issue - it raises the bar for market entry.
I completely don't get this argument. The entire Web is cloud computing. With EC2 you can point and click and enter a credit card, and within minutes you have as much computing power as you want. You can develop your service, deploy it without capitalizing one cent of hardware (that becomes Amazon's problem), route around the entire (failing, legacy) software sales/distribution nightmare. If anything, the barriers to entry are dramatically lowered.
Where you don't get a free ride: Having an idea, identifying a poorly served niche, marketing your service, providing real value.
What makes Chrome better than say Firefox? When I did web site testing I didn't see a speed difference between Firefox and Chrome.
I'm a longtime Firefox fan, but I've been running the developer preview of Chrome on Linux for the last several weeks. The speed difference is awesome. Chrome is up and running and off to the races before the Fox gets out of bed. I didn't expect to be impressed, but now I've switched my desktop and my laptop to use Chrome as the default browser.
What benefits and features can Chrome and Chromium OS give me that Linux and Firefox cannot? What benefits and features can Chrome and Chromium OS give me that Linux and Firefox cannot?
Google is pushing a Web-centric world where there are no desktops and no local apps. If you love your local apps, you're not going to like that.
But in Google's world you would be liberated from software updates, application vulnerabilities, incompatible file formats, the special hell of device drivers, and the occasional moment of "oh crap, I left that report on the computer at home." Everything would Just Work, everywhere, and you would get to it from any computer and/or that blister-packed $150 netpad you picked up from Walmart (ARM cpu, touchscreen, no hard disk) or your phone or somebody else's computer.
Yeah, you'd need the Internet to make it work. As if computers were interesting/useful without it? And don't forget that Gears can erase the distinction between "online" and "offline" for many applications, including for example Google Docs.
Naturally the makers of $2400 computers and $800 software suites aren't going to like that world. I'm not sure I would, either, but I'm certainly not opposed to having the choice.
When deciding whether to take your laptop, consider also the need to have a British power plug adapter, which is designed for arc welding and heavier than the average netbook. On the upside, you can put it in a sock and use it as a weapon should you choose to join the locals in a round of football hooliganism.
As an American geek, you've seen lots of girls on the Internet. In Soho you can see them standing in doorways, inviting you in for a drink. They are not for you. They come equipped with bodyguards who will offer to not break your legs in exchange for your ATM card.
Wi-fi is everywhere, and you can buy access from BT Openzone. However, assume that British intelligence is logging your keystrokes. This is not an invasion of privacy, as they already were watching you from the camera you didn't notice.
If offered something that looks like a sausage and is called a pudding, don't touch it. The tube contains floor-sweepings from a slaughterhouse, mostly sawdust and blood and spilled entrails. However, the "scotch egg" is quite edible, basically a boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded, and deep fried, so you know it's good for you.
As an American you are probably unaccustomed to public transit, so you will be amazed to discover people riding quaint little trains that can take you all over the city underground. They are full of people reading something called "books" that are made out of paper, sort of a pre-technology Kindle. When not reading books, the locals read something called a "newspaper." A major continuing story is the surprising discovery every day of a large-breasted woman, usually featured on the third page. You can skip the rest of the paper, as it's completely fictional.
About the time your biological clock tells you it's time to wake up, the local time will be past midnight and the underground transit system will shut down. Avoid the night buses. They differ from the ones in Harry Potter only in their inclusion of large numbers of drunken football hooligans. Just walk. You can actually walk halfway across central London in 20 minutes. It is good practice for the transit strike that is bound to be called during at least one day of your visit.
The security flaws in my house are 9, 26, and ~50 years old, with no technical background aside from surfing the internet
No. Stop blaming the users and place the blame squarely where it belongs: Microsoft.
This is not a hard problem to fix. I've long ago moved my elderly mother, my mother-in-law and my kids to Linux. Ubuntu Just Works. They don't care whether it's Linux or OS X or Windows; they're using Firefox to browse the Web, and Facebook is Facebook on any platform. A desktop is a desktop is a desktop. Operating systems are irrelevant until they start creating trouble for you, and Windows is a constant source of trouble.
The Mac is a reasonable solution but not if you already own the computer, and it offers no real net advantage over Linux. (I am running Ubuntu in preference to OS X on my MacBook.)
If they would move past "Infotainment" and got back to writing good "News" instead of creating "Crisis" and attacking an administration simply to raise advertising funding I'd be inclined to buy a newspaper to read.
You seem to be confusing newspapers with cable TV. The print-dominated era of "you give me the pictures and I'll give you the war" is long past. All the synthetic-outrage action has moved to cable.
Today's typical American newspaper is tame to the point of being lame, filled with a mix of generic wire copy and poorly written local stories from an underpaid staff that's been cut to the bone. This endangered species typically is turning a gross profit between 10 and 30 percent of revenues even today, in the worst business recession since Herbert Hoover. The parent companies -- conglomerates that bought newspapers with borrowed money -- are in trouble because they were expecting profit margins of 20 to 40 percent on higher gross revenues than are possible today.
Newspapers aren't offending readers by taking positions -- they're offending readers by not taking positions that reinforce their prejudices. And those prejudices are being constantly fanned by the cable political-infotainment machines.
Sadly, the Nielsen ratings of the cable channels tell us clearly that people prefer to consume infotainment that reinforces their prejudices, not actual news.
Fox has demonstrated that if you put a raving lunatic in front of a TV camera and let him make up any lies he wants, he'll draw way more viewers than an actual news program.
Slashdot Mirror
Wait, what? Journalists are immune from having their computers seized? In what dreamworld? They have the exact same first amendment protections as the rest of us. No more, no less..
The State of California, like many other states, has a shield law protecting journalists. Read http://www.businessinsider.com/explaining-the-shield-law-gizmodo-is-using-in-their-search-and-sieze-case-2010-4 for an explanation of how and why it applies in this case.
Journalism is an activity, not a licensed profession, and as such it is open to "the rest of us," so the law applies to anyone engaging in the activity defined in the statute as interpreted by the courts.
I read the press release and even visited the website. I can't find ANYTHING that reveals the system requirements for this software. Is it a Mac application? Windows? Linux? If it won't run on my OS of choice, why should I care about it?
This appears to be an application that was never available in retail channels in the first place and has no market share or brand equity.
But wouldn't it be sweet if Microsoft were paying Ubuntu for every copy of Linux distributed? And then we all just changed the search back to Google anyway? I know I'd like it.
In other news, some random hammer enthusiast posted on his blog that he just can't wait for screwdrivers to die.
If you get a Blackberry from T-Mobile, it will happily connect via Wifi. The technology is called UMA:
http://www.umatechnology.org/overview/
They may have other phones that do it as well. I don't know.
No femtocell host is required.
This "musical instrument" cancer MUST BE STOPPED. When unlicensed amateurs are permitted to record anything they want, they devalue the musical landscape for legitimate musicians who are under corporate contracts. Do you want Miley Cyrus to starve, and Lady Gaga to go naked? Major recording studios stand to lose MILLIONS of dollars. We need legislation to control the unlicensed spread of microphones and pickup jacks. Anything capable of capturing sound should be subjected to a 60% surtax, the proceeds of which should be delivered directly to the Harry Fox Agency.
After seeing this thread, I installed Opera 10 on Ubuntu 9.10. Point, click, done. Posting with it now. Seems to work OK, but nowhere near as fast as Chrome.
I long ago standardized on cross-platform applications. After my most recent hardware upgrades (new Acer personal laptop, Macbook for work) I blew away Windows 7 and Snow Leopard and switched both to Ubuntu Karmic Koala. On my hardware, it all Just Works. Don't have to worry about viruses. Couldn't be happier.
Eons ago, I took a computer science course for nontechnical majors at the University of Illinois taught by Daniel Slotnick, creator of the Illiac-IV and a pioneer of parallel computation. He made us write code in binary for a theoretical machine. On paper.
That is the worst possible way to create a computer program of significant complexity, with all the spaghetti-code flaws of the original Beginner's All-Purpose Simplified Instruction Code (BASIC) plus many of its own, especially mind-breaking tedium. I utterly hated it, and actually took an F on that exercise, but I got the point, completely. I had a sudden deep respect for assemblers and especially macro assemblers.
Too many modern programmers have no real idea how computers work, or even how languages work, or why they're built the way they are to solve what kind of problems. Getting under the hood changes all of that. When I moved on to C, I understood how it functioned ("really a preprocessor for PDP-11 assembly language").
I don't know whether the cited blogger is right when he says this sort of thing makes your brain stronger. I do know that it prepared me to understand viscerally the significance of higher-level languages and advances in the art.
I did dabble a bit in BASIC along the way -- on a CDC Cyber-9000 and a Commodore VIC-20. The latter made me understand that all of this can be fun.
And what about the weekly exploit or two? Flash has never missed a beat. Will browsers implementing HTML5 expose us to at least the same level of risk that Flash does?
Will HTML5 also cause my browser (even if it's just a sandboxed tab) to crash several times per day, like Flash does now? I sure hope so, otherwise the experience just wouldn't be the same.
Sadly, those features are missing from early versions of HTML5 browsers, but perhaps Microsoft will step up to the plate with HTML5+ Enterprise Edition Bonus Pack.
I use my N800 daily, too ... to play Klondike. The FBReader software is a terrible user interface. A pity, really.
So I've tried to use my laptop. I've tried installing Amazon's Kindle for PC under Wine. It installs but won't run, so I don't know if it's suitable for reading or not.
Calibre seems intended for downloading and feeding data to devices like the Sony reader.
All in all, the laptop doesn't seem to be a good candidate for curling up with a book. If I perch it on my stomach it has a habit of spontaneously loading up Hulu and rotting my brain.
But ... it's so old! All the tops are worn off the 10110010, so they're now iuiiuuiu!
Flash is PC software, it has system requirements of a P4 or better, 2GHz or better, there is no such thing as a mobile that can run it.
I've been watching Flash videos on YouTube on a 300-megahertz ARM-powered Nokia N800 for years.
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2007/07/n800-tablet-os-release-includes-maemo-3-2-flash-9-and-skype.ars
You're living in the past.
This project isn't aimed at the $450 mini-laptops that claim to be netbooks. It's aimed at the $199 reference designs for ARM-powered true netbooks that may have touchscreens and may not necessarily have a keyboard.
If you want Ubuntu for a 10-inch, 2-gig laptop with a 250-gig drive, install the regular version.
Google Docs works offline, and has for more than two years. If you have evidence that Google is selling private Google Docs data, I suggest you provide it.
If you don't want to use Google Docs, both abiword and OO are one-click installs. Not a problem.
UNR is clearly being prepped for the coming sub-$200 ultralight, driveless, ARM-powered real netbooks, not the 2-gig, dual-core laptops that masquerade as netbooks now. For those, you're better off with a full Ubuntu install.
Yeah, it's just terrible the way Google locks down ChromeOS ... no, wait a minute. ctrl-alt-T ... what's this Linux thing? You mean I actually have to type my PASSWORD to get root? Evil bastards!
This is not new.
I have the same Acer Aspire 1410 (actually the dual-core SU2300 version) and it absolutely rocks, especially with Ubuntu. Love it , love it, love it and I would never consider the iPad as a replacement.
But I am intrigued by the possibility of future netbooks that might move the motherboard into the display part, make the screen touch-sensitive, and make the keyboard a snap-off (leave-at-home) component.
The iPad suggests that form factor, but the optional keyboard is clumsy and the crippled nature of the pad (lack of ports, no Flash, no camera, closed system) makes for a real disappointment.
To go with their new, incompatible OS, maybe they can introduce yet another new, incompatible power plug and a new, incompatible headphone jack!
Conceptually I don't mind the idea of cloud computing - but it does have one huge issue - it raises the bar for market entry.
I completely don't get this argument. The entire Web is cloud computing. With EC2 you can point and click and enter a credit card, and within minutes you have as much computing power as you want. You can develop your service, deploy it without capitalizing one cent of hardware (that becomes Amazon's problem), route around the entire (failing, legacy) software sales/distribution nightmare. If anything, the barriers to entry are dramatically lowered.
Where you don't get a free ride: Having an idea, identifying a poorly served niche, marketing your service, providing real value.
What makes Chrome better than say Firefox? When I did web site testing I didn't see a speed difference between Firefox and Chrome.
I'm a longtime Firefox fan, but I've been running the developer preview of Chrome on Linux for the last several weeks. The speed difference is awesome. Chrome is up and running and off to the races before the Fox gets out of bed. I didn't expect to be impressed, but now I've switched my desktop and my laptop to use Chrome as the default browser.
What benefits and features can Chrome and Chromium OS give me that Linux and Firefox cannot? What benefits and features can Chrome and Chromium OS give me that Linux and Firefox cannot?
Google is pushing a Web-centric world where there are no desktops and no local apps. If you love your local apps, you're not going to like that.
But in Google's world you would be liberated from software updates, application vulnerabilities, incompatible file formats, the special hell of device drivers, and the occasional moment of "oh crap, I left that report on the computer at home." Everything would Just Work, everywhere, and you would get to it from any computer and/or that blister-packed $150 netpad you picked up from Walmart (ARM cpu, touchscreen, no hard disk) or your phone or somebody else's computer.
Yeah, you'd need the Internet to make it work. As if computers were interesting/useful without it? And don't forget that Gears can erase the distinction between "online" and "offline" for many applications, including for example Google Docs.
Naturally the makers of $2400 computers and $800 software suites aren't going to like that world. I'm not sure I would, either, but I'm certainly not opposed to having the choice.
Some London travel tips for American geeks:
When deciding whether to take your laptop, consider also the need to have a British power plug adapter, which is designed for arc welding and heavier than the average netbook. On the upside, you can put it in a sock and use it as a weapon should you choose to join the locals in a round of football hooliganism.
As an American geek, you've seen lots of girls on the Internet. In Soho you can see them standing in doorways, inviting you in for a drink. They are not for you. They come equipped with bodyguards who will offer to not break your legs in exchange for your ATM card.
Wi-fi is everywhere, and you can buy access from BT Openzone. However, assume that British intelligence is logging your keystrokes. This is not an invasion of privacy, as they already were watching you from the camera you didn't notice.
If offered something that looks like a sausage and is called a pudding, don't touch it. The tube contains floor-sweepings from a slaughterhouse, mostly sawdust and blood and spilled entrails. However, the "scotch egg" is quite edible, basically a boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded, and deep fried, so you know it's good for you.
As an American you are probably unaccustomed to public transit, so you will be amazed to discover people riding quaint little trains that can take you all over the city underground. They are full of people reading something called "books" that are made out of paper, sort of a pre-technology Kindle. When not reading books, the locals read something called a "newspaper." A major continuing story is the surprising discovery every day of a large-breasted woman, usually featured on the third page. You can skip the rest of the paper, as it's completely fictional.
About the time your biological clock tells you it's time to wake up, the local time will be past midnight and the underground transit system will shut down. Avoid the night buses. They differ from the ones in Harry Potter only in their inclusion of large numbers of drunken football hooligans. Just walk. You can actually walk halfway across central London in 20 minutes. It is good practice for the transit strike that is bound to be called during at least one day of your visit.
On the contrary. Some very good beer is actually brewed with coffee.
I draw the line at some of the things Mexicans do to beer. However, it appears that Anheuser-Busch draws no such line.
No. Stop blaming the users and place the blame squarely where it belongs: Microsoft.
This is not a hard problem to fix. I've long ago moved my elderly mother, my mother-in-law and my kids to Linux. Ubuntu Just Works. They don't care whether it's Linux or OS X or Windows; they're using Firefox to browse the Web, and Facebook is Facebook on any platform. A desktop is a desktop is a desktop. Operating systems are irrelevant until they start creating trouble for you, and Windows is a constant source of trouble.
The Mac is a reasonable solution but not if you already own the computer, and it offers no real net advantage over Linux. (I am running Ubuntu in preference to OS X on my MacBook.)
If they would move past "Infotainment" and got back to writing good "News" instead of creating "Crisis" and attacking an administration simply to raise advertising funding I'd be inclined to buy a newspaper to read.
You seem to be confusing newspapers with cable TV. The print-dominated era of "you give me the pictures and I'll give you the war" is long past. All the synthetic-outrage action has moved to cable.
Today's typical American newspaper is tame to the point of being lame, filled with a mix of generic wire copy and poorly written local stories from an underpaid staff that's been cut to the bone. This endangered species typically is turning a gross profit between 10 and 30 percent of revenues even today, in the worst business recession since Herbert Hoover. The parent companies -- conglomerates that bought newspapers with borrowed money -- are in trouble because they were expecting profit margins of 20 to 40 percent on higher gross revenues than are possible today.
Newspapers aren't offending readers by taking positions -- they're offending readers by not taking positions that reinforce their prejudices. And those prejudices are being constantly fanned by the cable political-infotainment machines.
Sadly, the Nielsen ratings of the cable channels tell us clearly that people prefer to consume infotainment that reinforces their prejudices, not actual news.
Here are the prime-time ratings for last Wednesday night:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/29/cable-news-ratings-for-wednesday-october-28-2009/32044#more-32044
Fox has demonstrated that if you put a raving lunatic in front of a TV camera and let him make up any lies he wants, he'll draw way more viewers than an actual news program.
Oh, I was thinking of Varnish because:
1. It's currently quite hot in the Drupal world.
2. It's part of the secret Norwegian plan for world domination by proxy. Oh God, did I really say that?