I did try the free edition of the drivers, and the installation was relatively painless and the print quality did seem pretty good considering my limited testing.
That aside, Canon's support policy extends to all of their product range - camera's, scanners, printers, etc - as I've been told by two people at Canon, and I'm not willing to pay nearly 50% of the cost of a printer to get a single driver file for it to run on Linux.
It's not just bad support for OS's other than Linux which has me so pissed with Canon either. From what I've read online, and this is just an example of one particular Canon product, the Canon BJC-5000 was one printer which came out shortly before XP, but was made "obsolete" by a slightly later model of printer shortly after, so Canon decided not to produce 5000 drivers for XP.
HP and Epson may have problems with people using third-party ink and cartridges, but for what I use my computer and printer for, I'd rather buy hardware that I know is going to work properly - whether it's on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux - with drivers that I've already implicity paid for in the purchase of the hardware then skimp a few bucks on ink.
I was told by the first person I spoke to at Canon that Mac OS X is only supported just recently - last two years - because it's getting to "5% usage in the market", and Canon is not a software company so they, get this, "cannot support all the different distributions of Linux".
That's a weak, lame excuse that points to one thing - they don't give a shit about supporting the customer any further than Canon's perception of what will make them more money for minimal effort.
That perception is flawed by the fact that even if they didn't write the drivers themselves, open access to the hardware specs would let more than a single, NDA-silenced third-party write drivers for their hardware, and more F/OSS people would buy their stuff and recommend it as an, if not good, acceptable purchase for the price to their friends and acquaintances.
We have reached a point today where you have to weigh up the bad points of buying a product from Company A or Company B. We are no longer going for "the good guys". We are buying from the lesser of "evils/stupids".
For me, HP or Epson is less "evil" than Canon, and my next purchase of a printer will likely be one from either of them.
My next camera? I don't know, but I will be reading a fuck-load of information and other buyers complaints on the net.
My next scanner? Same deal, I'll be looking to see who has the features I want, and the least complaints.
It's really fucking pathetic. I am no longer a "valued customer", I'm a potential nuisance and hindrance to "the bottom line".
Yeah but forget about Canon if you want to use Linux. As I've been told on the phone, their official stance is that they don't, and will not, support Linux in any way, shape, or form - no official drivers, no disclosure of how anything works, etc.
I've got a Canon PIXMA iP3000. Nice printer, nice functions, fucked support for Linux.
I can use Canon BJC-7004 drivers, or I can pay about AU$50 (nearly half the cost of the printer) to Turboprint.de for a driver they've cobbled together (amongst others) after they signed some sort of draconian NDA with Canon.
Using Windows? Nice printer. Using Mac OS X? Drivers are downloadable but I didn't see all the extra software that is available from Canon for Windows. Using Linux? Get a HP or Epson.
I don't know if the your IIRC addendum is refering to this, but I saw this video while working at a manufacturing plant in Brisbane, while we we learning about Kaizan (sp?) Groups and what not in the work place.
2.5 hours, around about, to build TWO homes that met building code in San Diego.
I could go as Bruce Willis's character from Unbreakable. Thanks to the latest Bizzaro World IT developments I could even do the moody, "what the fuck is wrong with my life" attitude.
We need all this DRM stuff put in everything. We need the industries to stop listening to the consumers. We need the world to wake up one morning and suddenly ask,
"What's wrong with my computer?"
I got into this game when I was three years old - 29 as of April - and I've watched it and "played" in it with child-like wonderment up until 1992, then I was even more enthused when I saw my first TV-tuner card at the Brisbane RNA Computer Show.
Since then I haven't really seen any "new" tech, just maturing tech. DRM will be the new tech, and I'm hoping it pushes home computer use back to 1980 levels.
Why?
Because the only way that the industry is going to listen to us, the people buying their products, is when they suddenly find themselves without a revenue stream.
When Little Johnny and Sally Doe can't play their music on their computer... When Grandma Josephine can't watch movies sent to her by her grandchildren... When Joe Sixpack can't rip a music CD and play a copy elsewhere... When opening the Internet is suddenly nothing but Access Denied errors... When the average coder finds he has to pay to distribute his own software... When using a computer is as "arcane" and "difficult" to use as old PDP mainframes... When DRM kills anything on the computer that involves the greater sense of community that the Internet has helped foster... We will leave.
People will only use computers when they have to. The console industry will rise, and the Personal Computer will disappear, replaced by millions of gadgets that either do the job they're required to do, or be discarded by consumers who will perceive them as broken.
We need the DRM to be put into everything it can. We need it be as invasive and putrid as possible. We need hundreds of thousands of salesmen telling customers "No, it's not broken, you just can't do that any more because...". We need millions of personal computer users to get so frustrated that they junk their computers.
We need the IT industry to collapse and nearly disappear thanks to "protecting the consumer". It's the only way they'll wake up and smell what they're shovelling.
I don't want the industry to disappear, but we need it to happen. Those of us who can see what's going on are only a minority. We need the vast majority to once again ignore computers and treat them as a business only, difficult to use device.
There's no piracy excuse for when suddenly no-one is making money selling hardware.
So I say goodbye IT. It was fun while it lasted, starting with playing my first game on that funky little blue paddle box gadget that plugged in to my parents old black and white tv, and perhaps finishing on this Athlon XP with it's LCD display and surround sound...
Goodbye Commodore Vic 20 and 64 fun times, relived on MAME. Goodbye x86 and PowerPC, I never did get around to learning ASM for either of you. Goodbye ease-of-use, user-friendly, plug-and-pray, P2P, HTTP, FTP. Goodbye Mr Computer Salesman, with your mystical devices of sound and vision.
There's a nice selection of games on this
page, including a few popular FPS shooters and even Doom 3.
Weren't there a lot of jokes about D3 requiring huge system upgrades because it was such a resource hungry game?
Regardless of whether the suit is coming back...
on
Paul Graham on PR
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· Score: 1
Or not, I think the bigger problem is that almost nobody these days wears a suit properly.
Go to one of those upbeat cafes one day at lunchtime, the sort where professionals "do lunch", and look at the way these people are wearing their suits.
Most of the time they're wearing a "perfect fit", but I think people forget that the way they stand when they try on a suit or get measured for a fitting doesn't have the same sort of "pull" as when they are sitting.
For example, how many times have you bought a pair of jeans or slacks that fit in the store, even felt okay to walk around in, but after a while of wearing them, sitting down, standing up, reclining at home, maybe going on a little impromptu jog, you found that they maybe pulled up a bit in the crotch, had to be adjusted when you sat down, or were just becoming a little bit uncomfortable after a while?
I own two suits, a spare sports jacket, and several pairs of slacks. They are all slightly too big for my size, and are always comfortable.
The suit jackets - the cuffs reach my knuckles when I'm standing perfectly straight, the shoulders are just a little wider than my own, there's plenty of room inside without being baggy, and when I sit down they're comfortable buttoned or unbuttoned, handy if you're mirroring someone to subconciously portray a professional interest in them.
The suit pants - you want to get a pair with a deep crotch or you'll regret it the first time you sit down. I've never found a pair of slacks that weren't sewn with a seam in a convenient location. This means that the legs will probably be a bit long, but nothing that a needle and thread won't fix.
Also, make sure that there are at least two belt loops at the back, never one. One loop will pull at your belt and fold it annoyingly, or the pants will end up folded on either side of the single loop.
Now, the shirt. Who decreed that you had to wear a shirt that a)Had to be ironed in order to be flat, b)Had to fit perfectly, and c)Had to be white?
I will on occasion wear a white shirt when I wear a suit, but I prefer to wear my slightly-too-big, dark golden orange silk shirt with my deep navy blue microfibre suit. Very comfortable, and I don't slip out of furniture as much as you'd think.:)
The big advantage of wearing shirts that are slightly too big is the way the tie fits the shirt. I've met a lot of people - lawyers, IT managers, restaurant owners, etc - who, when I ask about their tie, will complain quietly that they like the tie, but it feels a bit constrictive. No surprise there. They're wearing a tie that's done up around a collar that is touching their neck on all sides constantly. It feels like someone's slowly choking you.
Wear a slightly oversized shirt and that tie will do up nice and snug to the shirt, and not your neck. I forget I'm wearing the tie until I step outside on a windy day.
So if you have to wear a suit, or you just feel like giving off the impression of professionalism, wear a suit and shirt that are slightly too big for you. Not too big, you don't want to give the impression that you can't dress yourself, but just big enough so that when you sit down, stand up, move around, and generally act human, you're comfortable.
Feel comfortable, look professional, and give off the impression that "no matter what happens, I'm totally at ease with the situation".
Or maybe it's just from living in a country where we don't share any land borders - and really, who decided those? - but I just don't get the idea of passports and countries in this day and age.
As far as I can tell most people in this world just want to live their lives - have a bit of fun, eat a hearty meal, live in a house that provides a comfortable shelter, and get from point a to point b without too much effort.
Whether you're from Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Japan, England, The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Australia, Kenya, Brazil (Brasil?), or where-ever, I bet that right now you're probably worried about mainly the same things as some guy on the other side of the world - "Can I get something to eat when I'm hungry?", "Can I be entertained when I'm bored?", "I hope I stay dry when it rains" and so on.
As far as I can tell, there isn't any benefit to having artificial borders superimposed on the landscape of the earth any more. A lot of big companies work internationally with little needed regard to borders, and a lot of small companies only deal with local business simply because it's cheaper to deal locally.
People, your average Joe Blogs, probably doesn't even think of countries - with regards to borders and where you can't go without funny bits of paper - unless he's going on holiday, and I doubt that he's thinking of the wonderful convenience of paying money - which he'd rather spend on food, clothes, and trinkets - for the funny bits of paper that say he "belongs" to a certain country.
The internet is international, without borders other than those of language and culture, and it thrives, sometimes with nastiness, but more often with usefulness.
Imagine for a moment that everyone ignored the borders. We all just decide "to hell with the red tape and bureaucratic nonsense, I want to visit somewhere different and get a taste of what's over there".
What about laws? What about the different laws that various nations have?
I only know of a few laws that are international, and not created by someone, somewhere, who had a financial stake in getting the law passed and perceived that they could make a buck out of it.
Don't kill. Don't rape. Don't steal.
So, we lose the borders, obliterate thousands of laws that make no sense and only benefit those who either know how to exploit the loop-holes (or ignore them all together, i.e. black market), and change the standing armies of the world into police forces to enforce the core laws mentioned above.
Anarchy, with consideration.
It's a very simplistic view, but I can't see much in the governments of the world that hasn't been created merely for the purposes of putting more money into the pockets of those in charge while creating the illusion that they're doing something for their citizens.
We don't need the government any more. We just need an organisation that ensures that people are able to live out their lives in relative peace - although harmony might be a bit late on delivery - and ensures that the core services we enjoy today - safe transportation, healthcare, emergency services - are provided in the future.
There is no need for all the other fluff. What added benefit does the government provide to film makers? Television studios? Home viewers? Farmers? Chefs? Clothing manufacturers? Okay, add a non-exploitation law for manufacturing.
What benefit is there today in passports and international boundaries?
If you were looking at Earth from another planet, wouldn't you think that our bad distribution of life-enhancing services, petty squabbles over oil, and complete ignorance of the fact we have to share this little blue-green speck, amongst a myriad of other problems, was pretty fucking stupid?
When you own a device - regardless of it's complexity or sophistication - you owe it to yourself to learn, at the very least, basic maintenance for that device, and it's not just computers or cars.
Go back two hundred years. Any man that owned an axe would either know how to look after it, lest the handle split, the head fly off, the edge became dull, or some other issue.
That axe was important, as any tool is in a society where DIY isn't just a hobby, and people knew how to look after their tools.
Today we still have axes and hammers and other manual tools - and good crafts/tradesmen still look after their tools - and we also have more sophisticated devices like VCR's, Televisions, Computers, Cars, etc...
And today, perhaps even more so than yesterday, it still pays to learn the basics of maintaining your PC, car, or VCR, if not in time then in money.
How much does it cost to take a computer to repair shop near where you live, or have someone come and fix it? What if you knew the problem was as simple as defragmenting the hard drive?
I am still amazed by people's apathy towards the devices they use in everyday life, and even more incredible, their general lack of a plan in case something fails.
When the photocopier "breaks", and no-one knows what to do or who to call, the amateur who knows the answer is the hero to the ignorant.
That would start playing the currently tuned radio station 10 minutes before the set alarm time if you have the switch clicked on "Radio/Alarm".
I'd wake up slowly, listening to the soft, dulcit tones of a warmly-spoken female DJ on 4ZZZ - local Brisbane community station - and be about ready for the alarm when it went off.
I was woken up gently and alerted when it was time to get out of bed and get ready for work, and I found it quite unannoying.
Anyone know where I can get a clock radio like that again? The old one just stopped working properly one day and now it'll only turn on and off manually, buggrit.
I'm thinking about this Bang. Nothing, not absence of something nothing, but Nothing. Nothing exploding.
Fire. An explosion is fire, burning combustible materials and releasing hot gases that expand.
In the middle of Nothing, there was an Explosion.
Is it possible that our universe is bounded, instead of Nothing, by Anti-Energy? The quantum equivalent of reverse-charged light?
Could a single, "mutated" quark, quasar, or thing, become charged the wrong way from subtle interaction with it's surrounding particles?
Matter and Anti-Matter. Touch one to another, and stand well back.
The universe is expanding, and it encompasses all space and time as we know it.
Could it be like a big sheet of paper (paper == anti-energy) and someone (rogue element) "ignites", switches polarity, triggers a "burn"?
When you light the centre of a sheet of paper, it expands, sometimes uniformly.
Are the boundaries of our universe a massive bluish-white of fire? Masses of matter reacting against the inverse Nothing of anti-matter, burning, accelerating like a brush-fire on a hot day.
If the universe is all time and space then it doesn't necessarily have to be planets and stars out there on the boundaries.
It could be the Burn, already moving faster then light from the instant it started, expanding constantly, releasing energy that is recycled back into matter in our own space-time.
And I hope someone here, who lives in the U.S. and has bought a few phones on plans and for full price, what is the deal with mobile carriers in the U.S.?
I live in Australia, for those don't already know, and if I have a mobile phone I want to use then all I have to do is put my SIM card in it.
I used to own a Nokia 8210 I bought on a plan two year from B - carrier is Optus.
It was stolen - right after a I bought a nice shell for it with a stylish white dragon on black background, buggrit - and while I was going through the motions of waiting for the insurance to process so I could get a new one, my Mum bought me a Nokia 7650 for my birthday.
All I did was stick my replacement SIM - sent very quickly by B - into the 7650 and started using it straight after it's first charge.
I didn't have to talk to the phone company about having a different phone, unless I wanted to turn on various services that the phone supports, and I still use the 7650 today.
From the various stories I've read here on/. I'm getting the impression that your mobile phone carriers are dictating what features customers can have on their own phones, regardless of whether or not the feature has anything to do with the mobile service.
How the hell does Verizon or Cingular dictate to Apple and Motorola that they can't let the owner of the phone directly transfer music onto the phone from their iPod or personal computer?
When did the telephone carriers suddenly become the judges of how phone companies construct their devices?
If you want to sell a mobile phone, or other comms device, don't you just build a device that conforms to the FCC specs and then sell it?
Why does Verizon have any say over how your phone works, other than asking you not to put a device on the network which might interfer with it?
I'm pretty sure it was Asimov who wrote a short story, based on Moses and Aaron, where Moses wanted to write the fifteen billion year history of the Universe, but Aaron talked him into compressing it into seven days as they couldn't afford that much papyrus.
I just had to look that up after having a chuckle at the thought, and
this is what I found with Google after searching for "Asimov Moses Aaron" (minus the quotes).
Firstly, use this research to remove the keyboard and mouse combo.
Then use the interface that Jerryuses to see and remove the monitor.
Thirdly, redesign the UI so that the computer interface becomes a 3D interactive environment - icons are no longer merely representative of programs and data, they are the programs and data, and able to be themed at the user's whim.
Ever played the RPG Shadowrun? As a decker? Would you like to?
As Rincewind the Wizzard was running from a particularly violent-looking mouse ("He had an eye-patch! And scars."), he failed to notice a curious uniformly circular object with a bluish tint on one side that had stuck to his tattered shoes.
It fell off his foot at UU where by it was found by Mustrum Ridcully, and immediately dismissed as a student's toy, however Ponder Stibbons foresaw something interesting might come of the disc - strange thoughts of moving pictures on a crystal ball drifting through his mind - and so took it to the H.E.M. Building for further study.
After much tinkering - resulting in the loss of five crystal balls, two sparrows, fifty yards of steel wire, and the inability of Hex to say anything other than "Huge Boobies! Girls, Girls, Girls!" for twenty minutes - he took it to the next highest authority in Ankh-Morpork, the Patrician, to appeal for the help of Leonard of Quirm in deciphering the strange and mystical shiny disc.
Leonard got distracted while investigating the apparent magical properties of the disc and created simple luke-warm fusion, a new kind of parrot that understood how to shut up, and a small mechanical man that could dance upon dropping a coin in it's head - inexplicably moving with a drunken gait when ale was spilt upon despite being mechanically sound.
Ponder harangued and cajoled and, eventually, they worked out the secret properties of the disc to hold magical datum in vast quantities.
Leonard invented a special device to infuse datum to the disc - using what he refered to as "bi-ocular sensorium et quill minitur" - and Ponder then put forward the idea that UU could use the new device to store all the more selacious books in the UU library and saved a bundle on ice.
The new magic was surprisingly easy to copy and was nick-named Datum Videorem Disastrum by enterprising students who discovered a curious property of the devices was the ability to store moving imagery when you placed a specially blackened crystal ball on the device, and the disc world's second moving pictures industry was born.
It was quietly killed off when amateur wench porn started turning up on the streets of Ankh-Morpork.
I'm a cheap bastard - so god only knows why I want to buy a Powerbook - and I bought myself a cheap bastard's mouse about twelve months ago - AU$20 optical wired two button plus scroll wheel/middle button.
I don't know what the brand is other then it's got "BTC" on the back of the mouse body and underneath on the label, and the grey shell - which doubles as the mouse buttons - can be changed for a pastel blue or pastel orange shell, both of which came with it.
About three months ago the scroll wheel started playing up. Scrolling down might go down-up-down-down-up, and the same with scrolling up.
I opened it up, hoping to find that the scroll wheel had a similar black disc light censor like my old ball mouse, but no dice. The wheel was connected to a solid black housing that I wasn't about to crack open.
Annoyed and a bit miffed that my cheap mouse wasn't up to snuff after so little use I did the only thing I could think of - I saturated the guts of it with WD40, every square millimeter.
I left it sit untouched for a few days with the cover back on it while I used an old "back-up" mouse, and then when I thought the WD40 should have all dried up, I plugged it in.
Well bugger me, it works, and the scrolling action feels smoother now too.:)
Now to keep this on-topic and show what relevance it has, if I had one of these Apple mice and it had a scroll wheel - or any mouse that cost more than AU$20 - I'd do the same thing, and you never know, it might be just the right way to fix a bunged up scrolling action.
I don't encourage anyone to try it if their mouse isn't broken, but next time your mouse starts giving skewed scrolling results, think of trying this before you junk the mouse. If you're going to have to buy a new one anyway, you might as well see if WD40 can save the mouse and your wallet.
How long before large companies start using covert means to remove "problems" from the world of making money?
Sure, it seems like a ridiculous idea to think of a CEO on the phone saying something like,
`Is this Mr Pin? Yeah, S.G. here. I got a little problem with a fellow down in Tokyo... You'll take care of it? Wonderful. Payment in the usual way.'
Somewhere in the world a hitman with an imagination is buying himself some nice suits and ties in order to present himself with a better, more "friendly", corporate image.
I expect he'll probably start wearing them in five to ten years when business gets more, interesting.
Slashdot Mirror
Damnit. Third paragraph, first instance of Linux, swap for Windows.
I'm tired.
I did try the free edition of the drivers, and the installation was relatively painless and the print quality did seem pretty good considering my limited testing.
That aside, Canon's support policy extends to all of their product range - camera's, scanners, printers, etc - as I've been told by two people at Canon, and I'm not willing to pay nearly 50% of the cost of a printer to get a single driver file for it to run on Linux.
It's not just bad support for OS's other than Linux which has me so pissed with Canon either. From what I've read online, and this is just an example of one particular Canon product, the Canon BJC-5000 was one printer which came out shortly before XP, but was made "obsolete" by a slightly later model of printer shortly after, so Canon decided not to produce 5000 drivers for XP.
HP and Epson may have problems with people using third-party ink and cartridges, but for what I use my computer and printer for, I'd rather buy hardware that I know is going to work properly - whether it's on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux - with drivers that I've already implicity paid for in the purchase of the hardware then skimp a few bucks on ink.
I was told by the first person I spoke to at Canon that Mac OS X is only supported just recently - last two years - because it's getting to "5% usage in the market", and Canon is not a software company so they, get this, "cannot support all the different distributions of Linux".
That's a weak, lame excuse that points to one thing - they don't give a shit about supporting the customer any further than Canon's perception of what will make them more money for minimal effort.
That perception is flawed by the fact that even if they didn't write the drivers themselves, open access to the hardware specs would let more than a single, NDA-silenced third-party write drivers for their hardware, and more F/OSS people would buy their stuff and recommend it as an, if not good, acceptable purchase for the price to their friends and acquaintances.
We have reached a point today where you have to weigh up the bad points of buying a product from Company A or Company B. We are no longer going for "the good guys". We are buying from the lesser of "evils/stupids".
For me, HP or Epson is less "evil" than Canon, and my next purchase of a printer will likely be one from either of them.
My next camera? I don't know, but I will be reading a fuck-load of information and other buyers complaints on the net.
My next scanner? Same deal, I'll be looking to see who has the features I want, and the least complaints.
It's really fucking pathetic. I am no longer a "valued customer", I'm a potential nuisance and hindrance to "the bottom line".
Yeah but forget about Canon if you want to use Linux. As I've been told on the phone, their official stance is that they don't, and will not, support Linux in any way, shape, or form - no official drivers, no disclosure of how anything works, etc.
I've got a Canon PIXMA iP3000. Nice printer, nice functions, fucked support for Linux.
I can use Canon BJC-7004 drivers, or I can pay about AU$50 (nearly half the cost of the printer) to Turboprint.de for a driver they've cobbled together (amongst others) after they signed some sort of draconian NDA with Canon.
Using Windows? Nice printer. Using Mac OS X? Drivers are downloadable but I didn't see all the extra software that is available from Canon for Windows. Using Linux? Get a HP or Epson.
Caveat Emptor, as they say.
The old school "science" of Phrenology gets a new, snappy update for the 21st century.
"Here Bob, you hold him down while I measure the space between his eyes, and his kerning!"
is, if you bought one of these, would a simple BIOS update let you run 4 quad cores together? *dribble*
Or, in the future, 4x32 core? In one single workstation? *drool*
Sorry, that makes it seem like they built one, then the other.
They built both houses at the same time. It was a competition to see which team could finish first.
I don't know if the your IIRC addendum is refering to this, but I saw this video while working at a manufacturing plant in Brisbane, while we we learning about Kaizan (sp?) Groups and what not in the work place.
2.5 hours, around about, to build TWO homes that met building code in San Diego.
I could go as Bruce Willis's character from Unbreakable. Thanks to the latest Bizzaro World IT developments I could even do the moody, "what the fuck is wrong with my life" attitude.
I say this. A calm rage fills me.
We need all this DRM stuff put in everything. We need the industries to stop listening to the consumers. We need the world to wake up one morning and suddenly ask,
"What's wrong with my computer?"
I got into this game when I was three years old - 29 as of April - and I've watched it and "played" in it with child-like wonderment up until 1992, then I was even more enthused when I saw my first TV-tuner card at the Brisbane RNA Computer Show.
Since then I haven't really seen any "new" tech, just maturing tech. DRM will be the new tech, and I'm hoping it pushes home computer use back to 1980 levels.
Why?
Because the only way that the industry is going to listen to us, the people buying their products, is when they suddenly find themselves without a revenue stream.
When Little Johnny and Sally Doe can't play their music on their computer... When Grandma Josephine can't watch movies sent to her by her grandchildren... When Joe Sixpack can't rip a music CD and play a copy elsewhere... When opening the Internet is suddenly nothing but Access Denied errors... When the average coder finds he has to pay to distribute his own software... When using a computer is as "arcane" and "difficult" to use as old PDP mainframes... When DRM kills anything on the computer that involves the greater sense of community that the Internet has helped foster... We will leave.
People will only use computers when they have to. The console industry will rise, and the Personal Computer will disappear, replaced by millions of gadgets that either do the job they're required to do, or be discarded by consumers who will perceive them as broken.
We need the DRM to be put into everything it can. We need it be as invasive and putrid as possible. We need hundreds of thousands of salesmen telling customers "No, it's not broken, you just can't do that any more because...". We need millions of personal computer users to get so frustrated that they junk their computers.
We need the IT industry to collapse and nearly disappear thanks to "protecting the consumer". It's the only way they'll wake up and smell what they're shovelling.
I don't want the industry to disappear, but we need it to happen. Those of us who can see what's going on are only a minority. We need the vast majority to once again ignore computers and treat them as a business only, difficult to use device.
There's no piracy excuse for when suddenly no-one is making money selling hardware.
So I say goodbye IT. It was fun while it lasted, starting with playing my first game on that funky little blue paddle box gadget that plugged in to my parents old black and white tv, and perhaps finishing on this Athlon XP with it's LCD display and surround sound...
Goodbye Commodore Vic 20 and 64 fun times, relived on MAME. Goodbye x86 and PowerPC, I never did get around to learning ASM for either of you. Goodbye ease-of-use, user-friendly, plug-and-pray, P2P, HTTP, FTP. Goodbye Mr Computer Salesman, with your mystical devices of sound and vision.
Goodbye.
I'll take all three so I can at least pretend to be an Evil Overlord. :)
There's a nice selection of games on this page, including a few popular FPS shooters and even Doom 3.
Weren't there a lot of jokes about D3 requiring huge system upgrades because it was such a resource hungry game?
Or not, I think the bigger problem is that almost nobody these days wears a suit properly.
Go to one of those upbeat cafes one day at lunchtime, the sort where professionals "do lunch", and look at the way these people are wearing their suits.
Most of the time they're wearing a "perfect fit", but I think people forget that the way they stand when they try on a suit or get measured for a fitting doesn't have the same sort of "pull" as when they are sitting.
For example, how many times have you bought a pair of jeans or slacks that fit in the store, even felt okay to walk around in, but after a while of wearing them, sitting down, standing up, reclining at home, maybe going on a little impromptu jog, you found that they maybe pulled up a bit in the crotch, had to be adjusted when you sat down, or were just becoming a little bit uncomfortable after a while?
I own two suits, a spare sports jacket, and several pairs of slacks. They are all slightly too big for my size, and are always comfortable.
The suit jackets - the cuffs reach my knuckles when I'm standing perfectly straight, the shoulders are just a little wider than my own, there's plenty of room inside without being baggy, and when I sit down they're comfortable buttoned or unbuttoned, handy if you're mirroring someone to subconciously portray a professional interest in them.
The suit pants - you want to get a pair with a deep crotch or you'll regret it the first time you sit down. I've never found a pair of slacks that weren't sewn with a seam in a convenient location. This means that the legs will probably be a bit long, but nothing that a needle and thread won't fix.
Also, make sure that there are at least two belt loops at the back, never one. One loop will pull at your belt and fold it annoyingly, or the pants will end up folded on either side of the single loop.
Now, the shirt. Who decreed that you had to wear a shirt that a)Had to be ironed in order to be flat, b)Had to fit perfectly, and c)Had to be white?
I will on occasion wear a white shirt when I wear a suit, but I prefer to wear my slightly-too-big, dark golden orange silk shirt with my deep navy blue microfibre suit. Very comfortable, and I don't slip out of furniture as much as you'd think. :)
The big advantage of wearing shirts that are slightly too big is the way the tie fits the shirt. I've met a lot of people - lawyers, IT managers, restaurant owners, etc - who, when I ask about their tie, will complain quietly that they like the tie, but it feels a bit constrictive. No surprise there. They're wearing a tie that's done up around a collar that is touching their neck on all sides constantly. It feels like someone's slowly choking you.
Wear a slightly oversized shirt and that tie will do up nice and snug to the shirt, and not your neck. I forget I'm wearing the tie until I step outside on a windy day.
So if you have to wear a suit, or you just feel like giving off the impression of professionalism, wear a suit and shirt that are slightly too big for you. Not too big, you don't want to give the impression that you can't dress yourself, but just big enough so that when you sit down, stand up, move around, and generally act human, you're comfortable.
Feel comfortable, look professional, and give off the impression that "no matter what happens, I'm totally at ease with the situation".
Or maybe it's just from living in a country where we don't share any land borders - and really, who decided those? - but I just don't get the idea of passports and countries in this day and age.
As far as I can tell most people in this world just want to live their lives - have a bit of fun, eat a hearty meal, live in a house that provides a comfortable shelter, and get from point a to point b without too much effort.
Whether you're from Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Japan, England, The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Australia, Kenya, Brazil (Brasil?), or where-ever, I bet that right now you're probably worried about mainly the same things as some guy on the other side of the world - "Can I get something to eat when I'm hungry?", "Can I be entertained when I'm bored?", "I hope I stay dry when it rains" and so on.
As far as I can tell, there isn't any benefit to having artificial borders superimposed on the landscape of the earth any more. A lot of big companies work internationally with little needed regard to borders, and a lot of small companies only deal with local business simply because it's cheaper to deal locally.
People, your average Joe Blogs, probably doesn't even think of countries - with regards to borders and where you can't go without funny bits of paper - unless he's going on holiday, and I doubt that he's thinking of the wonderful convenience of paying money - which he'd rather spend on food, clothes, and trinkets - for the funny bits of paper that say he "belongs" to a certain country.
The internet is international, without borders other than those of language and culture, and it thrives, sometimes with nastiness, but more often with usefulness.
Imagine for a moment that everyone ignored the borders. We all just decide "to hell with the red tape and bureaucratic nonsense, I want to visit somewhere different and get a taste of what's over there".
What about laws? What about the different laws that various nations have?
I only know of a few laws that are international, and not created by someone, somewhere, who had a financial stake in getting the law passed and perceived that they could make a buck out of it.
Don't kill. Don't rape. Don't steal.
So, we lose the borders, obliterate thousands of laws that make no sense and only benefit those who either know how to exploit the loop-holes (or ignore them all together, i.e. black market), and change the standing armies of the world into police forces to enforce the core laws mentioned above.
Anarchy, with consideration.
It's a very simplistic view, but I can't see much in the governments of the world that hasn't been created merely for the purposes of putting more money into the pockets of those in charge while creating the illusion that they're doing something for their citizens.
We don't need the government any more. We just need an organisation that ensures that people are able to live out their lives in relative peace - although harmony might be a bit late on delivery - and ensures that the core services we enjoy today - safe transportation, healthcare, emergency services - are provided in the future.
There is no need for all the other fluff. What added benefit does the government provide to film makers? Television studios? Home viewers? Farmers? Chefs? Clothing manufacturers? Okay, add a non-exploitation law for manufacturing. What benefit is there today in passports and international boundaries?
If you were looking at Earth from another planet, wouldn't you think that our bad distribution of life-enhancing services, petty squabbles over oil, and complete ignorance of the fact we have to share this little blue-green speck, amongst a myriad of other problems, was pretty fucking stupid?
When you own a device - regardless of it's complexity or sophistication - you owe it to yourself to learn, at the very least, basic maintenance for that device, and it's not just computers or cars.
Go back two hundred years. Any man that owned an axe would either know how to look after it, lest the handle split, the head fly off, the edge became dull, or some other issue.
That axe was important, as any tool is in a society where DIY isn't just a hobby, and people knew how to look after their tools.
Today we still have axes and hammers and other manual tools - and good crafts/tradesmen still look after their tools - and we also have more sophisticated devices like VCR's, Televisions, Computers, Cars, etc...
And today, perhaps even more so than yesterday, it still pays to learn the basics of maintaining your PC, car, or VCR, if not in time then in money.
How much does it cost to take a computer to repair shop near where you live, or have someone come and fix it? What if you knew the problem was as simple as defragmenting the hard drive?
I am still amazed by people's apathy towards the devices they use in everyday life, and even more incredible, their general lack of a plan in case something fails.
When the photocopier "breaks", and no-one knows what to do or who to call, the amateur who knows the answer is the hero to the ignorant.
That would start playing the currently tuned radio station 10 minutes before the set alarm time if you have the switch clicked on "Radio/Alarm".
I'd wake up slowly, listening to the soft, dulcit tones of a warmly-spoken female DJ on 4ZZZ - local Brisbane community station - and be about ready for the alarm when it went off.
I was woken up gently and alerted when it was time to get out of bed and get ready for work, and I found it quite unannoying.
Anyone know where I can get a clock radio like that again? The old one just stopped working properly one day and now it'll only turn on and off manually, buggrit.
It's fire.
In the beginning was nothing right? Then a Bang.
I'm thinking about this Bang. Nothing, not absence of something nothing, but Nothing. Nothing exploding.
Fire. An explosion is fire, burning combustible materials and releasing hot gases that expand.
In the middle of Nothing, there was an Explosion.
Is it possible that our universe is bounded, instead of Nothing, by Anti-Energy? The quantum equivalent of reverse-charged light?
Could a single, "mutated" quark, quasar, or thing, become charged the wrong way from subtle interaction with it's surrounding particles?
Matter and Anti-Matter. Touch one to another, and stand well back.
The universe is expanding, and it encompasses all space and time as we know it.
Could it be like a big sheet of paper (paper == anti-energy) and someone (rogue element) "ignites", switches polarity, triggers a "burn"?
When you light the centre of a sheet of paper, it expands, sometimes uniformly.
Are the boundaries of our universe a massive bluish-white of fire? Masses of matter reacting against the inverse Nothing of anti-matter, burning, accelerating like a brush-fire on a hot day.
If the universe is all time and space then it doesn't necessarily have to be planets and stars out there on the boundaries.
It could be the Burn, already moving faster then light from the instant it started, expanding constantly, releasing energy that is recycled back into matter in our own space-time.
And I hope someone here, who lives in the U.S. and has bought a few phones on plans and for full price, what is the deal with mobile carriers in the U.S.?
I live in Australia, for those don't already know, and if I have a mobile phone I want to use then all I have to do is put my SIM card in it.
I used to own a Nokia 8210 I bought on a plan two year from B - carrier is Optus.
It was stolen - right after a I bought a nice shell for it with a stylish white dragon on black background, buggrit - and while I was going through the motions of waiting for the insurance to process so I could get a new one, my Mum bought me a Nokia 7650 for my birthday.
All I did was stick my replacement SIM - sent very quickly by B - into the 7650 and started using it straight after it's first charge.
I didn't have to talk to the phone company about having a different phone, unless I wanted to turn on various services that the phone supports, and I still use the 7650 today.
From the various stories I've read here on /. I'm getting the impression that your mobile phone carriers are dictating what features customers can have on their own phones, regardless of whether or not the feature has anything to do with the mobile service.
How the hell does Verizon or Cingular dictate to Apple and Motorola that they can't let the owner of the phone directly transfer music onto the phone from their iPod or personal computer?
When did the telephone carriers suddenly become the judges of how phone companies construct their devices?
If you want to sell a mobile phone, or other comms device, don't you just build a device that conforms to the FCC specs and then sell it?
Why does Verizon have any say over how your phone works, other than asking you not to put a device on the network which might interfer with it?
I just had to look that up after having a chuckle at the thought, and this is what I found with Google after searching for "Asimov Moses Aaron" (minus the quotes).
Firstly, use this research to remove the keyboard and mouse combo.
Then use the interface that Jerry uses to see and remove the monitor.
Thirdly, redesign the UI so that the computer interface becomes a 3D interactive environment - icons are no longer merely representative of programs and data, they are the programs and data, and able to be themed at the user's whim.
Ever played the RPG Shadowrun? As a decker? Would you like to?
As Rincewind the Wizzard was running from a particularly violent-looking mouse ("He had an eye-patch! And scars."), he failed to notice a curious uniformly circular object with a bluish tint on one side that had stuck to his tattered shoes.
It fell off his foot at UU where by it was found by Mustrum Ridcully, and immediately dismissed as a student's toy, however Ponder Stibbons foresaw something interesting might come of the disc - strange thoughts of moving pictures on a crystal ball drifting through his mind - and so took it to the H.E.M. Building for further study.
After much tinkering - resulting in the loss of five crystal balls, two sparrows, fifty yards of steel wire, and the inability of Hex to say anything other than "Huge Boobies! Girls, Girls, Girls!" for twenty minutes - he took it to the next highest authority in Ankh-Morpork, the Patrician, to appeal for the help of Leonard of Quirm in deciphering the strange and mystical shiny disc.
Leonard got distracted while investigating the apparent magical properties of the disc and created simple luke-warm fusion, a new kind of parrot that understood how to shut up, and a small mechanical man that could dance upon dropping a coin in it's head - inexplicably moving with a drunken gait when ale was spilt upon despite being mechanically sound.
Ponder harangued and cajoled and, eventually, they worked out the secret properties of the disc to hold magical datum in vast quantities.
Leonard invented a special device to infuse datum to the disc - using what he refered to as "bi-ocular sensorium et quill minitur" - and Ponder then put forward the idea that UU could use the new device to store all the more selacious books in the UU library and saved a bundle on ice.
The new magic was surprisingly easy to copy and was nick-named Datum Videorem Disastrum by enterprising students who discovered a curious property of the devices was the ability to store moving imagery when you placed a specially blackened crystal ball on the device, and the disc world's second moving pictures industry was born.
It was quietly killed off when amateur wench porn started turning up on the streets of Ankh-Morpork.
I'm a cheap bastard - so god only knows why I want to buy a Powerbook - and I bought myself a cheap bastard's mouse about twelve months ago - AU$20 optical wired two button plus scroll wheel/middle button.
I don't know what the brand is other then it's got "BTC" on the back of the mouse body and underneath on the label, and the grey shell - which doubles as the mouse buttons - can be changed for a pastel blue or pastel orange shell, both of which came with it.
About three months ago the scroll wheel started playing up. Scrolling down might go down-up-down-down-up, and the same with scrolling up.
I opened it up, hoping to find that the scroll wheel had a similar black disc light censor like my old ball mouse, but no dice. The wheel was connected to a solid black housing that I wasn't about to crack open.
Annoyed and a bit miffed that my cheap mouse wasn't up to snuff after so little use I did the only thing I could think of - I saturated the guts of it with WD40, every square millimeter.
I left it sit untouched for a few days with the cover back on it while I used an old "back-up" mouse, and then when I thought the WD40 should have all dried up, I plugged it in.
Well bugger me, it works, and the scrolling action feels smoother now too. :)
Now to keep this on-topic and show what relevance it has, if I had one of these Apple mice and it had a scroll wheel - or any mouse that cost more than AU$20 - I'd do the same thing, and you never know, it might be just the right way to fix a bunged up scrolling action.
I don't encourage anyone to try it if their mouse isn't broken, but next time your mouse starts giving skewed scrolling results, think of trying this before you junk the mouse. If you're going to have to buy a new one anyway, you might as well see if WD40 can save the mouse and your wallet.
Disclaimer: I don't work for the WD40 company.
I saw that there was two slots, and that they're not together, so it's pretty obvious this is a non-SLI board.
But why?
What was stopping them putting the AMD daughterboard slot on the top and adding SLI capability?
I still think it's a good idea that's been implemented wrong.
I think they've made one crucial mistake in their implementation.
Look at the pictures in the article and you'll notice something annoying about the position of the AMD daughterboard slot.
It blocks the top PCI slot, turning it into useless space when there is an AMD CPU mounted on the board.
I wonder why they didn't make the AMD daughterboard slot the uppermost slot on the board?
How long before large companies start using covert means to remove "problems" from the world of making money?
Sure, it seems like a ridiculous idea to think of a CEO on the phone saying something like,
`Is this Mr Pin? Yeah, S.G. here. I got a little problem with a fellow down in Tokyo... You'll take care of it? Wonderful. Payment in the usual way.'
Somewhere in the world a hitman with an imagination is buying himself some nice suits and ties in order to present himself with a better, more "friendly", corporate image.
I expect he'll probably start wearing them in five to ten years when business gets more, interesting.
Here's an example of a card with more than 512MB's of RAM, the "Wildcat Realizm 800".
And the majority of you dare to call yourselves "Uber-geeks" while drooling over commodity hardware, pah!.