By the way, there is no right to steal music... This is correct; shoplifting is unlawful....or break copyrights. Yes, but copyright law differs from country to country. I beleive in most countries you have the right to make backup copies of copyrighted material and to loan copyrighted material to others (otherwise libraries would be illegal!). So then the question arises: at what point does loaning become unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material? Theoretically, it should be legal to "loan" my licensed copy of a song via the internet, provided there is some mechanism to prevent two people from playing the same licensed copy at the same time. Unfortunately, companies that attempted to provide a service that guarateed a one-to-one correspondence between purchased licensed copies and playback (e.g. mp3.com) have been put out of business, as apparently the RIAA interprets copyright law differently.
Privacy doesn't include the right to hide your crimes. Aggreed. The record companies should be allowed to subpeona information if they suspect copyright infringement. I just have a problem with the "blank check" subpeonas the RIAA is currently using; they should have to go to a judge to the specifics of each case and have them issue a subpoena specifically for that case. Ever heard of "due process"?
If you obtain a copy of a song without providing compensation to the copyright holder, your are breaking law and stealing from the copyright holder. Glad you clarified this. Now I know that anytime I checkout a CD from the library and listen to it, I'm "stealing"! Point is, copyright laws aren't quite as cut and dried as you make them out to be. I will agree with you on one point, though: unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted material is WRONG and rightfully should be UNLAWFUL. The point at which a "library" becomes an "unauthorized distributor" is an issue on which even reasonably intelligent and informed people may disagree.
It seems against libertarian principles to require anything of VOIP providers (other than that they not defraud people). Agreed. "Truth in labeling" laws ARE a valid function of government. Any communication from the VoIP providers should have "Hey stupid, you can't make E911 calls via this service!" written across the top of it in large red letters. I'd have no problem with the government mandating that. But mandating that any new technology work exactly like the old technology it replaces should have a chilling effect on innovation.
Case in point: Rather than passing laws that mandate "Emmisions must be below such-and-such a level", the federal government passed laws mandating that "All cars MUST be equipped with a catalytic converter". That's right, even if you can come up with a more effective, cheaper, and longer lasting method of reducing emmissions, your are still required to use a catalytic converter instead! I strongly suspect that the manufacturer of catalytic converters had a big part in lobbying for the catalytic converter law, just like the older phone companies had a huge part in bribe^H^H^H^H^H convincing the congresscritters to pass this new VoIP legislation.
No, established phone monopolies that don't want the competition from VoIP dictate the law of the land. Mandating 911 service "just like a land line" is just an excuse to put the VoIP provider "competition" out of business. Of course, since VoIP providers and not regulated and tariffed six ways to Sunday like the old phone companies are, it's not fair competition anyway.
So now that we're establishing the legal precedent that all phone services must provide 24/7 911 access, does this mean I can sue the phone company any time my phone service is cut? (I have phone service through my cable TV provider; unfortunately their technicians ARE stupid enough to disconnect the phone as well whenever they disconnect the cable TV! So I guess I'd better not cancel my cable TV subscription...)
As part of the deal, will Wal-Mart keep Netflix supplied with cheap Chinese bootleg DVDs? Would any of Netflix's customers know or care if they were watching "pirated" movies?
There was even a push several years ago (6 maybe?) to put the desktop paradigm onto the web through DHTML. The idea never took off... Uh, there's a reason for that... it was way to0 gawdawful slow!
I thought the firewall and antivirus software were the reasons XP needed such high-end machines to run on! Seriously, at Intel we calculated the majority of CPU cycles were devoted to running Intel's fascist security programs, leaving less then 50% of the CPU for actually doing productive work... no wonder Intel is interested in dual-core CPUs!
I think you're missing the point. The Chinese government is paranoid, and quite frankly doesn't trust Microsoft to not have installed backdoors into their software allowing foreign agents to compromise their classified documents. This was why China was interested in their own Linux distro, because they beleive that if it is done within China, they can make sure nobody slips in any backdoors.
Trash that, and you'll find it difficult to secure further employment.
Except for those cases where you'll get a glowing recommendation from Intel with the provision that you go to work for AMD...
Other than the fact that a link from slashdot is indistinguishable from a DoS attack, why would the head of Sys-Con lie about this? Wouldn't he sound a lot more noble saying "We fired O'Gara because she offended our readers" than saying "We had to get rid of the bitch to stop the DoS attack"?
That fact that O'Gara is a worthless hack attempting to incite harrassment of PJ still doesn't justify a DoS attack on Sys-con. Dvorak is also a worthless hack that usually says whatever he is paid to say and deliberately attempts to be controversial in order to sell, but in this case he is making some sense. The only thing I disagree with him about is that even if O'Gara wasn't getting paid by SCO, it would certainly be a lot easier for her to ask SCO for the info it's detectives had already dug up than to do her own homework, wouldn't it? Journalists should stick to reporting just the facts as best they can, and not engage in personal vendettas... like the one Dvorak used to have against Windows!
All the more reason to drive a manual transmission car. I had a Honda CRX that the dealer misinstalled the air conditioner in so that the the cotter pin came out and jammed the throttle advance (needed to keep the engine from stalling at idle when the A/C kicks) wide open. Cars starts accelerating across parking lot, I simply push in the clutch. Car pegs RPM gage, I shut off the engine. The other point is, you don't need drive-by-wire in order to have a throttle stick wide open!
If somebody published an article with names and addresses of my family members, as well as a description of my car and the inside of my apartment, I would certainly interpret that as a threat, just like the old "We know where you live!" cliche. In fact, I would attempt to have the author and publisher charged with a hate crime, since I am in a bi-racial marriage, which people have been killed for in the past! There is a thin line between free speech and threatening speech; Moron O'Gara crossed it.
While I'm sure you can choose a selection of pages for which this speedup occurs, I seriously doubt if this will noticibly improve the experience of the typical/. reader, who spends most of his time surfing for pr0n.;-)
GWA compresses such content, which reduces the size up to 75% It compresses text and HTML by up to 75%. Unfortunately, MP3, GIF, MPEG, and JPEG are already compressed, so it can't compress them at all! Since HTML is already usually pretty small compared to audio and video, I don't really see how GWA helps much, unless you only surf to text-only sites! Yes, prefetching should help -- especially if your latency is large.
Since Linux already supports PowerPC, methinks it would be a heck of a lot easier to get Linux to run on an Xbox 360. That and the fact that anybody in the world can hack Linux to run on Xbox, but only a Microsoft employee can hack Windows.
You can ALREADY buy a capable PC from Dell for $299... what makes you think the Xbox 360 price point will be $300??? Most guesses I've seen are closer to $500. Plus the accessories (e.g. 802.11 adapter) will be more expensive because it is a closed architecture. So while this would make a great Linux box, I don't see it really undercutting PC sales.
Most police officers already using the address of their precinct office instead of their home address whenever they give out an address, precisely to keep perps from tracking down where they live.
Slashdot Mirror
... or Celine Dion!
Privacy doesn't include the right to hide your crimes. Aggreed. The record companies should be allowed to subpeona information if they suspect copyright infringement. I just have a problem with the "blank check" subpeonas the RIAA is currently using; they should have to go to a judge to the specifics of each case and have them issue a subpoena specifically for that case. Ever heard of "due process"?
If you obtain a copy of a song without providing compensation to the copyright holder, your are breaking law and stealing from the copyright holder. Glad you clarified this. Now I know that anytime I checkout a CD from the library and listen to it, I'm "stealing"! Point is, copyright laws aren't quite as cut and dried as you make them out to be. I will agree with you on one point, though: unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted material is WRONG and rightfully should be UNLAWFUL. The point at which a "library" becomes an "unauthorized distributor" is an issue on which even reasonably intelligent and informed people may disagree.
Case in point: Rather than passing laws that mandate "Emmisions must be below such-and-such a level", the federal government passed laws mandating that "All cars MUST be equipped with a catalytic converter". That's right, even if you can come up with a more effective, cheaper, and longer lasting method of reducing emmissions, your are still required to use a catalytic converter instead! I strongly suspect that the manufacturer of catalytic converters had a big part in lobbying for the catalytic converter law, just like the older phone companies had a huge part in bribe^H^H^H^H^H convincing the congresscritters to pass this new VoIP legislation.
So now that we're establishing the legal precedent that all phone services must provide 24/7 911 access, does this mean I can sue the phone company any time my phone service is cut? (I have phone service through my cable TV provider; unfortunately their technicians ARE stupid enough to disconnect the phone as well whenever they disconnect the cable TV! So I guess I'd better not cancel my cable TV subscription...)
Huh? I'm running FireFox on Linux, and I don't get any ads...
As part of the deal, will Wal-Mart keep Netflix supplied with cheap Chinese bootleg DVDs? Would any of Netflix's customers know or care if they were watching "pirated" movies?
There was even a push several years ago (6 maybe?) to put the desktop paradigm onto the web through DHTML. The idea never took off... Uh, there's a reason for that... it was way to0 gawdawful slow!
I thought the firewall and antivirus software were the reasons XP needed such high-end machines to run on! Seriously, at Intel we calculated the majority of CPU cycles were devoted to running Intel's fascist security programs, leaving less then 50% of the CPU for actually doing productive work... no wonder Intel is interested in dual-core CPUs!
I think you're missing the point. The Chinese government is paranoid, and quite frankly doesn't trust Microsoft to not have installed backdoors into their software allowing foreign agents to compromise their classified documents. This was why China was interested in their own Linux distro, because they beleive that if it is done within China, they can make sure nobody slips in any backdoors.
Don't like it? Don't work for those corporations! Unfortunately, quitting to go work for a better job is usually the only recourse you have.
Trash that, and you'll find it difficult to secure further employment. Except for those cases where you'll get a glowing recommendation from Intel with the provision that you go to work for AMD...
Other than the fact that a link from slashdot is indistinguishable from a DoS attack, why would the head of Sys-Con lie about this? Wouldn't he sound a lot more noble saying "We fired O'Gara because she offended our readers" than saying "We had to get rid of the bitch to stop the DoS attack"?
Did you really expect Dvorak to criticise O'Gara for using the exact same tactics to generate page hits (or "readership") that Dvorak does?
That fact that O'Gara is a worthless hack attempting to incite harrassment of PJ still doesn't justify a DoS attack on Sys-con. Dvorak is also a worthless hack that usually says whatever he is paid to say and deliberately attempts to be controversial in order to sell, but in this case he is making some sense. The only thing I disagree with him about is that even if O'Gara wasn't getting paid by SCO, it would certainly be a lot easier for her to ask SCO for the info it's detectives had already dug up than to do her own homework, wouldn't it? Journalists should stick to reporting just the facts as best they can, and not engage in personal vendettas... like the one Dvorak used to have against Windows!
Please try shifting your automatic into park while you're driving down the freeway in heavy traffic, then get back to me on what happens.
All the more reason to drive a manual transmission car. I had a Honda CRX that the dealer misinstalled the air conditioner in so that the the cotter pin came out and jammed the throttle advance (needed to keep the engine from stalling at idle when the A/C kicks) wide open. Cars starts accelerating across parking lot, I simply push in the clutch. Car pegs RPM gage, I shut off the engine. The other point is, you don't need drive-by-wire in order to have a throttle stick wide open!
Because they are obviously computer scientists, and all computer scientist have 9 fingers... 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9!
If somebody published an article with names and addresses of my family members, as well as a description of my car and the inside of my apartment, I would certainly interpret that as a threat, just like the old "We know where you live!" cliche. In fact, I would attempt to have the author and publisher charged with a hate crime, since I am in a bi-racial marriage, which people have been killed for in the past! There is a thin line between free speech and threatening speech; Moron O'Gara crossed it.
Why do the British drink warm beer?
Refrigeration by Lucas!
While I'm sure you can choose a selection of pages for which this speedup occurs, I seriously doubt if this will noticibly improve the experience of the typical /. reader, who spends most of his time surfing for pr0n. ;-)
GWA compresses such content, which reduces the size up to 75% It compresses text and HTML by up to 75%. Unfortunately, MP3, GIF, MPEG, and JPEG are already compressed, so it can't compress them at all! Since HTML is already usually pretty small compared to audio and video, I don't really see how GWA helps much, unless you only surf to text-only sites! Yes, prefetching should help -- especially if your latency is large.
You can ALREADY buy a capable PC from Dell for $299... what makes you think the Xbox 360 price point will be $300??? Most guesses I've seen are closer to $500. Plus the accessories (e.g. 802.11 adapter) will be more expensive because it is a closed architecture. So while this would make a great Linux box, I don't see it really undercutting PC sales.
My don't we just put the MPAA directly in charge of broadcast television technical standards?
Most police officers already using the address of their precinct office instead of their home address whenever they give out an address, precisely to keep perps from tracking down where they live.
That is because cache memory is expensive. Celerons usually have less cache than P4's, therefore they perform much worse regardless of clock rate.