What insensitive clod would design something to replace a sexy, breasty, scantily clad bar girl???
Allow me to quote from the article:
Butz, who now works as professor of computer science at the University of Munich, specializes in human computer interaction.
They're computer scientists. They're intimidated by sexy, breasty, scantily clad bar girls. However, they're German (and university denizens at that), hence they like beer.
I believe they've found the perfect solution to their problem!
...would have been to simply enforce the "AO" rating given out by the ESRB. Why invent your own sticker and everything?
I mean, it's already enforced that children in the US cannot enter a movie rated NC-17 (no one 17 or under is admitted). Why not simply implement a similar rule that children 17 or under cannot buy AO games?
Beyond that, obviously, it's up to the parents to show a little responsibility, and maybe learn what the different ESRB ratings mean. Then, they can supervise what games their kids are buying, and make informed choices as to whether or not to allow it.
Let's consider for a moment what would have happened if this levy passed. Quite simply: Free music for everyone!
Does this sound counterintuitive, or just nonsensical? Hear me out.
As a Canadian university student, I feel I have a pretty good idea of how the music-swapping scene looks in Canada. There's one group of people who happily share as much music online as they want; then, there's a second group of people who still buy CDs (either because they like the pretty package, or because they actually want to pay for the things they receive).
However, everyone I know in that second group (including myself, among many people) stopped purchasing audio CDs after the Canadian levy was placed on blank CD media -- after all, even though it was of grey legality, the prevailing thought was, "Hey, I'm already paying the music industry each time I purchase a blank CD, to compensate them for people downloading songs and putting them on blank CDs. By that token, it is my right, since I have paid this compensation, to go and download all the songs I want and put them on this CD."
This very line of thinking played a role in trials held against music sharers in Canada in early 2004 (they were all exonerated).
Since I no longer burn songs to audio CDs, but rather put them on iPods, I (and everyone I know in that "second group") have once again started purchasing music CDs in stores. However, were a levy to be placed on iPods, well...that exact same argument used for blank CDs could be applied to iPods. And you know that wouldn't make the industry very happy. I mean...40 GB iPod vs. an audio CD...heh.
Of course, now some audio CDs in stores include copy protection. I have yet to purchase one, but I assume this would make it impossible (or difficult) to get the songs onto my iPod from the CD. So, you can probably tell exactly what will happen with that "second group" as soon as this protection becomes more prevalent. The industry is so skilled at alienating its remaining customers (with what is an illegal practice in the first place, since under Canadian copyright law, to the best of my knowledge, you must be allowed to make a backup copy of any digital media you purchase).
Now, I have to admit that this is a really cool idea! Free as in speech-beer.
But, did anyone else notice that the recipe provided on the CBC website was somewhat lacking? I mean: How much 55-60 degree water? What kind of filter? How much yeast?
I'd love to try this, but I can't seem to find a complete version of the recipe. Can anyone who speaks Danish tell me if a more complete recipe is availble on the site? Cheers!
The problem is, no matter what kind of platform you use, the ease of maintenance has a pretty big impact on how much it costs. The 'free' part of Linux is nice for individual users or companies who have full-time IT staff, but for a school I think using a distro where they get support is a good choice.
The parent is bang on here. I can't say anything for how the system works in New Zealand, but I do recall my days as a high school student in Alberta, Canada. In my high school, the technical support staff were not permanent staff working at the high school -- heck, they weren't even government employees. They were simply tech support guys from a local company that were hired as the need arose to come into the school and fix up problems.
So, you have to remember -- each tech problem == cost to the school. Hence, if the schools can get a distro that offers tech support as part of its one-time up-front charge, this could translate into savings for the schools (especially during the first year or two, when the transition from Windows to Linux is being made -- quite frankly, no matter how easy different distros try to make that transition, there are always bumps that show up, where your average school librarian will need tech support help!)
...you mean a study figured out that: An unintended consequence may be that those children who need extra work and drill the most are the ones least likely to get it?
I only wish I were on the research team that published such an insightful conclusion as: Children that need extra help are likely those who are having problems in a subject.
Linux and OS X already come as "reduced-media editions." Nothing forces me to install iTunes on my Powerbook; I can omit it from the installation. Nothing forces me to use Mozilla on a Gentoo machine; I could happily use Lynx.
The problem with Microsoft is that you don't have these choices. There is no WinXP without IE or Windows Media Player. This is what harms competition the most. This is the reason for an anti-trust case.
It's called "taking 5 minutes in the morning to make them a sandwich."
And, for those parents who want another amazingly simple idea:
I believe it to be well-accepted that children learn lifelong eating habits in their home environment, yes? So, try cooking a nutritious meal for dinner each night (instead of serving fast "food"); then, pack leftovers for lunch the next day. You've just killed two birds with one stone.
If you actually cook good food that's nutritious, kids will want to eat it -- it's delicious, and they'll feel good (ie. more energy, feel full) when they eat it!
I remember being the envy of tonnes of other students in grade school when I brought homemade lasagna, stir fry, meatballs, etc. for lunch.
Take the leftovers, throw in a favourite fruit (apple, orange, grapes, kiwi,...) and some milk or fruit juice, and you have a perfect lunch (preparation time after dinner: 1-2 minutes)
So, I read the article, and was left wondering how this new measure could do more than marginally dent the problem of credit card fraud. For those who didn't feel like reading the article, it basically outlines two potential uses for voice biometrics:
Identifying people who phone a bank (ie. for phone services or ordering a credit card)
When people first receive a credit card, they speak to it to activate it
But, here's what this type of biometrics fails to address:
From TFA, "Over-the-phone fraud already affects 12% of all banks offering e-payment services." 12%? That's it? Of all the banks offering electronic/phone services, only 12% have ever been affected by over-the-phone fraud, which this new technology is supposed to help prevent? That makes me think that most credit card frauds are being conducted another way.
Point two: This type of biometrics does nothing to protect consumers if their card or card number are stolen after their card is activated. Continuing from my above comment about how most frauds actually happen, I'd wager good money that most credit card frauds do not occur from cards being stolen from the mail before they're activated; rather, I'm guessing that most frauds happen because the little numbers on someone's card are stolen.
They need to rethink their manner of usage if they want this new biometric scheme to be anything more than a headache (I mean, how many different things could go wrong with a voice-recognition chip embedded in a little card?). I mean, a voice-authentication system is definately a better scheme than asking someone what their birthday is, but there has to be a more effective way of using it than this.
[T]he ISP should force their users to authenticate with the server, using secure SSL.
It's a shame that people are so attached to their horrid Microsoft Outlook email client. Otherwise, two problems could be solved in one fell swoop: Have users SSH into the ISP email server, and use a simple client like Pine to send and receive their email.
First, this setup would enforce strong user authentication, as the parent wisely suggested. Secondly, it would eliminate that whole host of attacks against bad email clients (eg. Outlook) that the average computer user inexplicably blames on their ISP.
Years ago, in the days of the 56K modem, the Edmonton Freenet provided email service in which people dialed in and used Pine. It worked great -- it was simple, effective, and they even provided a little manual so that all of the Pine-neophytes could learn to use the system. I remember everyone from the young to the old learning to use the system, and getting along splendidly after the rather small learning curve.
Mr Schwartz ran a demonstration of the service, showing how data could be processed in a protein folding experiment.
Of course, if your experiment is cool enough and academia-related, there are always other ways to get computing power. A similar chemistry experiment was performed using grid-computing in Canada, utilizing computing power from universities all across the country. http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~ciss/
Now, granted this wouldn't be applicable to a lot of businesses, which is Sun's target audience. But the CISS project has a cooler name:)
Though the specifications detailed in the article are definately a Good Thing, they lack (at least as far as I could tell) any way of preventing unauthorized physical access to the chip.
Physical access to machines is always a big issue in security, and one that is often overlooked. And while it's probably not a big deal for your home machine, consider large companies whose machines could conceivably be targetting for a physical attack to recover the keys directly from the TPM (Trusted Platform Module).
Stajano's "Ubiquitous Computing" book has excellent coverage of the rationale, issues, and complexity of attempting to prevent physical access to chips and devices which store sensitive information. It's an easy read, and well worth it: http://www-lce.eng.cam.ac.uk/~fms27/secubicomp/ind ex.html
Regarding the interview with Will Wright -- I found this really neat page discussing the history of the old-school Sim City franchise (prior to Sim City 4, that is):
http://www.sc3000.com/knowledge/history_contents.c fm
Who else still has the disks for Sim City Classic?:)
[F]ast food workers never want to eat where they have worked.
I have never worked in fast food, but I have worked in the food-preparation industry. And I can say that I am leery about eating anything from my former employer; and, it has nothing to do with hatred toward my employer. While it was only a summer job to get me through my first year of university, I had an excellent employer and the pay was good. Unfortunately, I saw the kind of sanitation practices that took place during the preparation of food (including, for example, people touching food with licked fingers).
[P]eople who work at many factories refuse to buy products from that factory.
This time I speak not from my own experience, but from that of a good friend of mine who worked at a pipe-fitting factory. While the factory and its management had strict safety protocols (regarding both its employees and its finished products), most employees blatently disregarded those protocols. Many close calls (including falling pipes barely missing people and chemical spills being sealed just in time) resulted from the lax attitude of most employees toward those protocols. More important for the consumer, though, many employees tried to slack off as much as possible, resulting in many pipes that were cracked or otherwise unusable, but were only discovered during the final phase of product quality checks. Arguably, with such an attitude prevalent, some faulty products must make it out of the factory. Hence, I would understand anyone's unease at buying from such a factory after seeing first hand (or, in my case, hearing second-hand) about the safety violations.
Of course, one could argue that such issues would exist at almost any factory or any fast food restaurant (or, almost anywhere, quite frankly), but I suppose something about our perception of a particular location changes after having experienced the issues up close.
...to the search, and turn SafeSearch off, then MSN gives you a whopping 12 results! Hmm...perhaps MSN is trying to censor the net, even when we set the preferences not to.
Slashdot Mirror
Allow me to quote from the article: They're computer scientists. They're intimidated by sexy, breasty, scantily clad bar girls. However, they're German (and university denizens at that), hence they like beer.
I believe they've found the perfect solution to their problem!
Suzy: My little brother is so stupid!
Johnny: Well, yeah, you're so ugly that you need a fa...oh, wait...
I mean, Schwartennegger has never made any violent media in his days.
Unfortunately, if he passes the law, there's no way to mod him "-1: Hypocrite"
...would have been to simply enforce the "AO" rating given out by the ESRB. Why invent your own sticker and everything?
I mean, it's already enforced that children in the US cannot enter a movie rated NC-17 (no one 17 or under is admitted). Why not simply implement a similar rule that children 17 or under cannot buy AO games?
Beyond that, obviously, it's up to the parents to show a little responsibility, and maybe learn what the different ESRB ratings mean. Then, they can supervise what games their kids are buying, and make informed choices as to whether or not to allow it.
My total contribution so far: One sentence (a very good one. grin) and two small corrections.
;)
...oh wait, the article was trying to stop those kinds of Wikipedia entries? Oops!
With that sort of contribution, you should make a Wikipedia page about yourself, to tell others what you have done
Let's consider for a moment what would have happened if this levy passed. Quite simply: Free music for everyone!
Does this sound counterintuitive, or just nonsensical? Hear me out.
As a Canadian university student, I feel I have a pretty good idea of how the music-swapping scene looks in Canada. There's one group of people who happily share as much music online as they want; then, there's a second group of people who still buy CDs (either because they like the pretty package, or because they actually want to pay for the things they receive).
However, everyone I know in that second group (including myself, among many people) stopped purchasing audio CDs after the Canadian levy was placed on blank CD media -- after all, even though it was of grey legality, the prevailing thought was, "Hey, I'm already paying the music industry each time I purchase a blank CD, to compensate them for people downloading songs and putting them on blank CDs. By that token, it is my right, since I have paid this compensation, to go and download all the songs I want and put them on this CD."
This very line of thinking played a role in trials held against music sharers in Canada in early 2004 (they were all exonerated).
Since I no longer burn songs to audio CDs, but rather put them on iPods, I (and everyone I know in that "second group") have once again started purchasing music CDs in stores. However, were a levy to be placed on iPods, well...that exact same argument used for blank CDs could be applied to iPods. And you know that wouldn't make the industry very happy. I mean...40 GB iPod vs. an audio CD...heh.
Of course, now some audio CDs in stores include copy protection. I have yet to purchase one, but I assume this would make it impossible (or difficult) to get the songs onto my iPod from the CD. So, you can probably tell exactly what will happen with that "second group" as soon as this protection becomes more prevalent. The industry is so skilled at alienating its remaining customers (with what is an illegal practice in the first place, since under Canadian copyright law, to the best of my knowledge, you must be allowed to make a backup copy of any digital media you purchase).
Now, I have to admit that this is a really cool idea! Free as in speech-beer.
But, did anyone else notice that the recipe provided on the CBC website was somewhat lacking? I mean: How much 55-60 degree water? What kind of filter? How much yeast?
I'd love to try this, but I can't seem to find a complete version of the recipe. Can anyone who speaks Danish tell me if a more complete recipe is availble on the site? Cheers!
The problem is, no matter what kind of platform you use, the ease of maintenance has a pretty big impact on how much it costs. The 'free' part of Linux is nice for individual users or companies who have full-time IT staff, but for a school I think using a distro where they get support is a good choice.
The parent is bang on here. I can't say anything for how the system works in New Zealand, but I do recall my days as a high school student in Alberta, Canada. In my high school, the technical support staff were not permanent staff working at the high school -- heck, they weren't even government employees. They were simply tech support guys from a local company that were hired as the need arose to come into the school and fix up problems.
So, you have to remember -- each tech problem == cost to the school. Hence, if the schools can get a distro that offers tech support as part of its one-time up-front charge, this could translate into savings for the schools (especially during the first year or two, when the transition from Windows to Linux is being made -- quite frankly, no matter how easy different distros try to make that transition, there are always bumps that show up, where your average school librarian will need tech support help!)
Thta si realyl greta fo thme ot pots thta updaet!
...you mean a study figured out that: An unintended consequence may be that those children who need extra work and drill the most are the ones least likely to get it?
I only wish I were on the research team that published such an insightful conclusion as: Children that need extra help are likely those who are having problems in a subject.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: </sarcasm>
Linux and OS X already come as "reduced-media editions." Nothing forces me to install iTunes on my Powerbook; I can omit it from the installation. Nothing forces me to use Mozilla on a Gentoo machine; I could happily use Lynx.
The problem with Microsoft is that you don't have these choices. There is no WinXP without IE or Windows Media Player. This is what harms competition the most. This is the reason for an anti-trust case.
It's called "taking 5 minutes in the morning to make them a sandwich."
...) and some milk or fruit juice, and you have a perfect lunch (preparation time after dinner: 1-2 minutes)
And, for those parents who want another amazingly simple idea:
I believe it to be well-accepted that children learn lifelong eating habits in their home environment, yes? So, try cooking a nutritious meal for dinner each night (instead of serving fast "food"); then, pack leftovers for lunch the next day. You've just killed two birds with one stone.
If you actually cook good food that's nutritious, kids will want to eat it -- it's delicious, and they'll feel good (ie. more energy, feel full) when they eat it!
I remember being the envy of tonnes of other students in grade school when I brought homemade lasagna, stir fry, meatballs, etc. for lunch.
Take the leftovers, throw in a favourite fruit (apple, orange, grapes, kiwi,
...that people using their phones while driving was a problem before?
- Identifying people who phone a bank (ie. for phone services or ordering a credit card)
- When people first receive a credit card, they speak to it to activate it
But, here's what this type of biometrics fails to address:From TFA, "Over-the-phone fraud already affects 12% of all banks offering e-payment services." 12%? That's it? Of all the banks offering electronic/phone services, only 12% have ever been affected by over-the-phone fraud, which this new technology is supposed to help prevent? That makes me think that most credit card frauds are being conducted another way.
Point two: This type of biometrics does nothing to protect consumers if their card or card number are stolen after their card is activated. Continuing from my above comment about how most frauds actually happen, I'd wager good money that most credit card frauds do not occur from cards being stolen from the mail before they're activated; rather, I'm guessing that most frauds happen because the little numbers on someone's card are stolen.
They need to rethink their manner of usage if they want this new biometric scheme to be anything more than a headache (I mean, how many different things could go wrong with a voice-recognition chip embedded in a little card?). I mean, a voice-authentication system is definately a better scheme than asking someone what their birthday is, but there has to be a more effective way of using it than this.
Infonaut writes "Blah blah blah..."
Huh? Sorry, I was listening to my iPod while you were talking...
All they need to do is go back in time and kill the Nazis that cancelled the show! ...Oh wait, that's why they're being cancelled...
[T]he ISP should force their users to authenticate with the server, using secure SSL.
It's a shame that people are so attached to their horrid Microsoft Outlook email client. Otherwise, two problems could be solved in one fell swoop: Have users SSH into the ISP email server, and use a simple client like Pine to send and receive their email.
First, this setup would enforce strong user authentication, as the parent wisely suggested. Secondly, it would eliminate that whole host of attacks against bad email clients (eg. Outlook) that the average computer user inexplicably blames on their ISP.
Years ago, in the days of the 56K modem, the Edmonton Freenet provided email service in which people dialed in and used Pine. It worked great -- it was simple, effective, and they even provided a little manual so that all of the Pine-neophytes could learn to use the system. I remember everyone from the young to the old learning to use the system, and getting along splendidly after the rather small learning curve.
From TFA:
:)
Mr Schwartz ran a demonstration of the service, showing how data could be processed in a protein folding experiment.
Of course, if your experiment is cool enough and academia-related, there are always other ways to get computing power. A similar chemistry experiment was performed using grid-computing in Canada, utilizing computing power from universities all across the country. http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~ciss/
Now, granted this wouldn't be applicable to a lot of businesses, which is Sun's target audience. But the CISS project has a cooler name
Trusted Windows
Wait, wait...you lost me on that one.
Though the specifications detailed in the article are definately a Good Thing, they lack (at least as far as I could tell) any way of preventing unauthorized physical access to the chip.
d ex.html
Physical access to machines is always a big issue in security, and one that is often overlooked. And while it's probably not a big deal for your home machine, consider large companies whose machines could conceivably be targetting for a physical attack to recover the keys directly from the TPM (Trusted Platform Module).
Stajano's "Ubiquitous Computing" book has excellent coverage of the rationale, issues, and complexity of attempting to prevent physical access to chips and devices which store sensitive information. It's an easy read, and well worth it: http://www-lce.eng.cam.ac.uk/~fms27/secubicomp/in
Regarding the interview with Will Wright -- I found this really neat page discussing the history of the old-school Sim City franchise (prior to Sim City 4, that is): http://www.sc3000.com/knowledge/history_contents.c fm
:)
Who else still has the disks for Sim City Classic?
[F]ast food workers never want to eat where they have worked.
I have never worked in fast food, but I have worked in the food-preparation industry. And I can say that I am leery about eating anything from my former employer; and, it has nothing to do with hatred toward my employer. While it was only a summer job to get me through my first year of university, I had an excellent employer and the pay was good. Unfortunately, I saw the kind of sanitation practices that took place during the preparation of food (including, for example, people touching food with licked fingers).
[P]eople who work at many factories refuse to buy products from that factory.
This time I speak not from my own experience, but from that of a good friend of mine who worked at a pipe-fitting factory. While the factory and its management had strict safety protocols (regarding both its employees and its finished products), most employees blatently disregarded those protocols. Many close calls (including falling pipes barely missing people and chemical spills being sealed just in time) resulted from the lax attitude of most employees toward those protocols. More important for the consumer, though, many employees tried to slack off as much as possible, resulting in many pipes that were cracked or otherwise unusable, but were only discovered during the final phase of product quality checks. Arguably, with such an attitude prevalent, some faulty products must make it out of the factory. Hence, I would understand anyone's unease at buying from such a factory after seeing first hand (or, in my case, hearing second-hand) about the safety violations.
Of course, one could argue that such issues would exist at almost any factory or any fast food restaurant (or, almost anywhere, quite frankly), but I suppose something about our perception of a particular location changes after having experienced the issues up close.
Perhaps the cutest line of TFA is:
Neither Apple nor Microsoft responded to requests for comment.
Apple need not say anything; the article said it all. As for Microsoft, there simply is nothing they could say.
...to the search, and turn SafeSearch off, then MSN gives you a whopping 12 results! Hmm...perhaps MSN is trying to censor the net, even when we set the preferences not to.
Interestingly, they have two versions of Suse reviewed, yet no Gentoo?