Why not just, I don't know, make the book available as soon as it is ready instead of keeping to an artificial release date.
They're trying to prevent two things:
1) Price gouging..."yeah, you can buy it 3 days early, it'll only cost you 10 extra dollars!"
2) Retailers who get the books earlier from having an unreasonable advantage over those that don't. This often translates to large retailers versus small retailers...Target already has an advantage on price, now imagine if they also had it on the shelves 2 or 3 days early.
Street dates are nothing new, and certainly not a bad thing. This has been an accepted practice on movies, music, and books for quite some time, long before Harry Potter was ever concieved. When you're releasing something like a book or a movie to thousands upon thousands or retailers, it's impossible to get it to all of them the same day...street dates are established so the item appears on everybody's shelves at the same time, thus promoting fair competition.
Why is this wardriver a "dumbass"? The only thing he did that I wouldn't do is try to hide what he was doing.
Exactly. He had two choices...either he wasn't doing anything wrong, in which case he should have just left his laptop open when the owner of the house came out, or he was, and he should have moved on the second time the owner of the house came out. You can either act nonchalant and stick around, or look suspicious and leave. But look suspicious and hang around, you're kinda a dumbass.
I've replied a couple times already, but I need to just vent my own opinion on this as a stand-alone as well...
If you knowingly leave your wireless access point open, as this man did, and instead of talking to somebody who is using it against your wishes decide to skip straight to calling the cops, as this mand did, you are both and idiot, and an asshole.
He could have secured his WAP. He didn't. He could have just walked up to the guy's car and told him to leave. He didn't. He could have just secured the WAP after he saw the guy, and then watched him leave. He didn't. He figured he'd just call the cops and waste the taxpayers money taking care of it instead.
He should be taken out into the street and beated with a rolled-up newspaper like a naughty puppy.
Granted, the world's laziest and dumbest wardriver, as I like to think of the accused from this story, should also recieve a couple whacks from the same newspaper. He is a dumbass. But in a sane world he would not be a felon.
If someone logs on to that unsecured network and steals a paypal password and empties the bank account, can they say, "What? The network was unsecure, I thought it was my money!"
No, because they accessed an account they did not own and took money out of it. They had to enter somebody else's username, somebody else's password, and transfer money from that account into their own. I'm pretty sure somewhere on the PayPal page (probably in fine print, mind you), it mentions that accessing the accounts of others without permission is forbidden, regardless of whether or not you have the password...I cannot check right now, because I can't access paypal from this computer.
To connect to an unsecured WAP using Windows, all you have to do is turn your computer on. Done. Hardly even comparable. In fact, I've in many occasions found myself connected to my neighbor's WAP because the signal from theirs is stronger where I am sitting than the signal from mine...I had to configure Windows specifically NOT to connect to it. Technically, I've committed the same felony this guy has.
In the article Dinon admits he knew how to secure the WAP, but just hadn't bothered because his neighbords were older. So he knowingly left it unsecured. He's guilty as hell:).
The parent makes a good point. I'm not as certain about the state laws that may apply, but in any case, it's hard to argue that open WAP's are not configured to be available to the general public. It's not really a case of accessing a network without permission; it's a case of requesting permission to access the network and being granted that permission by the AP. The ability of the AP to grant that permission is, after all, entirely under the control of the user.
If you take this line of thinking one farther, it is actually the owner of the WAP who is likely breaking the law, and who action should be taken against. I'm pretty sure that most ISPs don't allow their residential users to share thier connections with the general public, which is exactly what they're doing when they leave their WAP unsecured.
I think Richard Dinon's ISP should sue his ass. But maybe that's just me.
Most of your counterexamples do involve actual costs imposed on the person being taken advantage of...gas out of my car, wear and tear on my car, the possibility that my garbage could be full and I'd be charged and extra-bag fee, the electricity needed to cool down the pepsi (yes, the fridge would use more to do so), or even the inconvenience of having you in my home. Using an unsecured WAP incurs none of these, unless you pay for bandwidth (rather than flat-rate).
The fact is, that's not how private property works. What's mine is mine, what's yours is yours. Unless you have an explicit permission to use someone else's property, stay the f-word off it.
Well, when I connected to your unsecured WAP, it logged me on, and gave me very explicit permission to do so. You programmed it to behave in this way (whether passively or actively) by leaving it unsecured. So yeah, you gave me permission. Implied from you, explicit from the WAP itself. Wanna take it away? Secure your WAP (I can't use these three words enough). That or keep your damn signal off my property.
Repeat after me kids..."When you send leave your WAP unsecured, and send the signal off your property, you ARE giving this away. You have decided to share. Live with it, or change it."
Let me guess, you'd also expect me to chip in on the cable bill if you set your TV out by the curb and I watched it as I drove by, right? Guess what. No.
I like your analogy, but I disagree. It is more like running a splitter and a cable and stealing your neighbors cable TV. Or running an extension cord to a backyard outlet and stealing power. Or perhaps a cordless phone. People accept that they have to pay for electricity, phone, but the internet should be free? why?
Because I do not have to set foot on your property, or touch your property, to use your WAP, unlike tapping into your cable. Not only that, but if I am your neighbor (or even a passerby on the street) you are broadcasting this service into my property (house or car).
The cordless phone is a close one, except that A) it is unlikely you are paying any extra because I am using it, unlike long distance calls, and B) you can use it simultaneously, so I am not tying up your phone line. Though it may run slower, obviously, because the bandwidth is being split.
That, and by buying the same model cordless phone to use soembody elses base station, you are having to go to extra lengths to use their service...this shows some level of premeditation. I can basically open any modern laptop, anywhere near your property (not on your property, mind you), and use your WAP. It's designed that way.
If you catch somebody using your WAP without permission, it's easy to fix...secure the damn thing. You don't need to call the police. Set up WEP (show me a WAP that doesn't have this), and they're not using it anymore. Unless they hack it, in which case they are very definitely in the wrong, not just legally but morally.
I mean, at what point (other than logging into their WAP as "admin":) ) does using these networks constitute a crime? Isn't it incumbent upon the owner of said network to secure it? If I leave a set of tools on my front step and it disappears, then I see my neighbor with it, just how mad can I be for having left it out for anyone to walk off with?
Oh, you're being a little conservative there. The signal from a wireless access point likely goes much farther than one's front porch. This would be more like you had left a set of tools out in the street and saw him using them. Or even better, since your bandwidth isn't so much "stolen" in that it is a totally renewable resource, it would be more like he borrowed them (from the street), used them, and put them back...you found out only later.
Seriously, you don't secure your WAP, people are going to use it. Unless they're using it as a way to anonymously send kiddie porn, it isn't hurting you. If you don't like it, secure your WAP.
Dashboard is only a way to keep applications loaded in memory and display a certain subset of them at a keypress, this is absolutely nothing new. So I want to do a quick calculation, I hit the shortcut key I bound to my calculator and there it is. When I'm done with it I close it and it doesn't suck up memory. I see absolutely no value in keeping these applications running all the time when you're barely ever using them and could just pull them up on demand anyway.
That's the thing...the only things you should have in your dashboard are things you are using fairly often. When I was home, for instance, my dashboard had a package tracker, weather, phone book, calculator, and calander. Yes, every one of these could be accessed through either my browser or an application. But because these are all things that I use several times per day, it is better for me to keep them all open in the dashboard, so that with one keypress any OR all of them are available to me.
Sometimes, while seeing what day of the week the 18th will fall on, I might want to also glance to see where a particular package I'm intersted in is at the moment. Or what the temp is outside. I might glance at the forecast while looking up the number for a local chinese place. It's basically a second desktop where you can keep a few applications and "web sites" open and have them automatically update when you open it. And the package tracker widget I have, for instance, is MUCH smaller than a browser window with UPS's package tracking website when it comes to desktop real estate.
Granted, right now my dashboard isn't too exciting. Just a calculator, calander, SysStat, and two clocks...one for here and one for home. The dashboard becomes a lot less interesting when you don't have an internet connection.
What I've found is the key to using dashboard is to keep as few widgets on it as possible. The more widgets you have open, especially ones that access the net to update, the LESS useful it becomes, because it takes longer to update when you open it. But as long as you don't have more than maybe 3 or 4 widgets that access the net, it isn't bad at all, and becomes pretty useful.
...I own my computer, and my monitor. So what pops over, under, or to the side of anybody's website is not the concern of the website owner. Not even a little bit. They do not own that space in any way, shape, or form. Nobody is using their servers to send this crap to me. So it does not involve them.
For all we know, there is some jackass, somewhere, who actually knowingly installs spyware and malware, because he likes what it does. He wants ads for other sites popping up over what he's looking at. And he has the right to allow that to happen.
The actual actions that most spyware or adware programs take is NOT the concern of the courts. It's how they get there. Was the user really aware that this program was installed? Nothing aside from that really matters.
Crapware needs to be attacked for what is IS, not what it actually DOES. That's like complaining not because somebody broke into your house, but because they left footprints while they were there.
As for sounding like an intellectual - spelling errors can make you look like a retard. What do you prefer?
An internet forum is not a place where 100% accuracy in spelling and grammar is expected. Granted, a reasonable attempt IS generally expected, assuming you're not discussing pre-teen topics. However, people that correct minor spelling mistakes rather than address the overall message written are annoying*.
That said, I find it sad that being an "intellectual" has become something to avoid in the U.S. Personally, I wish people would try harder to be intellectuals, whether they come off as arrogant or not. As you pointed out, it is better than retard.
I once acted as hiring manager at a store where I worked. I've seen some of the most horrible spelling you can imagine, some from people who actually made it into college. I had somebody who actually mispelled the name of their current employer, a local theater. The -only- reason his didn't go directly into the trash is because our policy is to keep applications on file for a specified time...but you can imagine how much consideration he recieved.
Granted, simply because he couldn't spell doesn't mean he would be a subpar worker. I would prefer, however, to hire somebody who would be a good worker AND has the ablity to spell.
* - There is an exception...making fun of somebody's spelling or grammar in a post where they were correcting somebody else's is amazingly funny.
Hmmm...I think you should consider investing in a GameCube (if you haven't already). That's where the (at least more) varied and interesting gameplay is...as well as titles you can play with the kids.
Word of warning, though...you will not be able to play the latest GTA game on it, and your friends may not think you're cool if you have one.:)
I've had my iPod since last summer, and I have had to send it back 4 times. The first time it was replaced. Now, they just won't fix it when I send it in.
I don't know how that's a troll...yes, iPods DO go bad, people. Sorry to rain on your parade. My iPod crapped out after about 9 months...I sent it in, they sent a replacement, and I've had no problems since. I still love my iPod. I've also had no problems with my Shuffle. But that does NOT change the fact that my iPod (15GB 3G) crapped out within a year. Out of the 1 full-sized iPods I've bought, 100% have failed on me. It happens.
And I'm not talking battery life. I'm talking it would corrupt songs at random, or lock up during songs. And no, it wasn't the songs, because I'd update it, reload it, and those songs would play fine. And DIFFERENT songs that used to play fine would lock it up. Fun stuff.
Pointing out that Apple sometimes has product defects, however, does not a troll make.
Have you ever noticed that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy does not feature a technology expert? Learn from this!
True, but when they helped a guy pick out a going-away-to-college gift for his daughter, what did they choose? A Mac and an iPod, if I remember correctly.
Of course, I'm tempted to downgrade the iPod to the bottom because the only format they support that's not proprietary is MP3 (which kinda is). The Karma supports ogg and flac which sound better as well and are public.
AAC is no more proprietary than MP3. Protected AAC's from the iTMS are incredibly proprietary, but there are multiple players (for computers) available that will play unprotected AAC's just fine. I don't know of any other portable players that do, though I'm sure there must be a couple.
And doesn't the iPod play files in the Apple lossles format now? I'm pretty sure they do...and I doubt flac sounds too much better than that.
Though yes, all things being equal I'll take completely open formats over proprietary ones. But when talking about portable music players, all things aren't quite equal.
How many people in love with their iPods have tried other MP3 players?
Not too many, becuase most people who buy iPods never feel the need to go try anything different. I, on the other hand, have...the iPod was the latest in a string of attempts to find the right player. I've owned two other flash-based players, and one other HD-based player. I even gave a MD player a try (wouldn't say I owned it, because I returned it after about 10 days...horrible horrible player).
The only problem I have with the 3G iPod I own is the touch interface...I greatly prefer the click-wheel. Battery life leaves much to be desired. But overall usability is much better than any other player I have owned, or even friend's players that I've used. iTunes is a better music manager than most players use, as well.
And my Shuffle? Love it. Wasn't sure I'd be able to get along with a player that had no screen whatsoever, but I find I don't really miss it. The little LEDs tell me everything I really need to know.
So to answer your question, yes. There are people such as myself who have used other players, and still prefer an iPod. I would argue that there are more of us than there are former iPod users who have migrated to other players...but that might require a bit of research to prove.
The premium you pay for an iPod versus another player helps to pay for the marketing that makes it cool, and that seems to be the primary difference right there.
Well, yeah...of course, part of that premium also probably goes to Apple's design department...you know, the guys who make sure that design is a priority and not an afterthought on Apple's products in general. And no, the iPod is not groundbreaking. It is just a music player that does it's job well. I'd argue better than the rest (definitely better than most of them). That plus being physically attractive makes the (small) premium you pay worth it.
For some reason when it comes to Apple products people can't get over the idea that people will pay more for an item that looks nicer. This is nothing new...it has been this way with all kinds of appliances, furniture, clothing, cars...well, let's just say a lot of products. I'd argue that the design premium on Apple products is actually less than many other products in different markets. Is it because so many geeks want utilitarian merchandise, or because computers and music players just aren't worthy of the same attention?
What I don't understand is where's the "innovation" in the DV Forge product? It's essentially the same as the one from DLO. How is DLO squashing DV Forge's "innovation?" Maybe they're restricting DV Forge's "knock-off" but I don't see what DV Forge did that counts as unique or special to deserve not to be held accountable.
I'd say mounting it to that pretty little arm-thing, along with not enclosing the iPod (reducing scratching) would be two innovations.
To put things in perspective, they're every bit as innovative as combining a car-charger, FM transmitter, and cheap plastic dock into one piece.
Then again, if the DVForge guys thought they had a chance, I would think they'd push it in court (they could always recover the costs, right?). So they must feel they are actually on shaky ground, too.
They wouldn't even recover court costs if they lose, and would need to pay for representation either way. And no, they probably wouldn't push it just because they thought they had a chance, because such legal battles are very high-stakes games.
Imagine for a moment I walk up to you with one (six-sided) die. I tell you that 1-4 you win, 5 and 6 are mine. I'll give you even odds, so the edge is definitely yours. But the stakes are *everything you own*, and you only get to roll *once*. Would you take that? Really?
Granted, in the legal system you might get to roll more than once...but appeals cost money. Money on top of what you've already spent for the original battle, which if you lost you probably don't have. Unless your lawyers are working pro-bono (which is unlikely in a patent dispute between businesses), this is an incredibly risky proposition, even if you think your case is solid. The smarter move for a small (an Apple or Microsoft would fight this in an instant, whether they thought they'd win or not) business is to just walk away.
Even World of Warcraft is just as bad, all the profiles are stored in a subdirectory in the C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\!
Even under OSX (where use of the home directory for each user is generally encouraged), Warcraft III puts it's save information under/Applications/Warcraft III. Can't say for WoW, but I imagine it's the same. Guess they didn't bother to change that when they ported it.
Actually, in addition to a lawyer your two other best friends are going to be media attention and contacting Congresscritters...both state and possibly national. Bring their name into it and suddenly they'll desperately want to side with the team that will lose them the least votes...and the school district that wants to turn kids into felons for what sound like (relatively) minor computer-related infractions probably won't be it.
Just for sake of completeness, you'll find it extremely difficult to join the military with any felony conviction on your record. Waivers are required, and it pretty much depends if your recruiter feels you're worth spending the extra time on, and still no guarantee they'll take you. More than one and I believe it is actually impossible.
Granted, nowadays most students probably wouldn't see this as a *bad* thing, but once upon a time this was a viable option for pursuing one's future:).
And yes, I'm quite sure the list is (still) incomplete, especially if you add more state laws. Having a felony (conviction) on your record is like starting your life at the bottom of a 20-foot-deep hole with nothing but a shovel to get out. At least from what I've heard.
They should not count because they are in a class of people that either will not accept the jobs that are available or have no useful skills for the current market.
Except if they do go ahead and accept whatever jobs are available, you run into our good friend "underemployment." Now they're not technically unemployed, so the government can say things are a-ok, but they are either working too few hours or making too little to support their family. I also consider it underemployment if they are working a job that pays drastically lower than what is warranted by their qualifications (such as an electrical engineer stocking shelves at Target), but that one's up to you. Of course, often such drastic situations are caused by one's unwillingness to relocate, but when you have a family that can be easier said than done.
Personally, I'd almost rather be unemployed and at least make the government admit that the economy is in the crapper. Assuming, of course, I didn't have other mouths to feed.
Slashdot Mirror
Why not just, I don't know, make the book available as soon as it is ready instead of keeping to an artificial release date.
They're trying to prevent two things:
1) Price gouging..."yeah, you can buy it 3 days early, it'll only cost you 10 extra dollars!"
2) Retailers who get the books earlier from having an unreasonable advantage over those that don't. This often translates to large retailers versus small retailers...Target already has an advantage on price, now imagine if they also had it on the shelves 2 or 3 days early.
Street dates are nothing new, and certainly not a bad thing. This has been an accepted practice on movies, music, and books for quite some time, long before Harry Potter was ever concieved. When you're releasing something like a book or a movie to thousands upon thousands or retailers, it's impossible to get it to all of them the same day...street dates are established so the item appears on everybody's shelves at the same time, thus promoting fair competition.
We do like fair competition here, right?
Why is this wardriver a "dumbass"? The only thing he did that I wouldn't do is try to hide what he was doing.
Exactly. He had two choices...either he wasn't doing anything wrong, in which case he should have just left his laptop open when the owner of the house came out, or he was, and he should have moved on the second time the owner of the house came out. You can either act nonchalant and stick around, or look suspicious and leave. But look suspicious and hang around, you're kinda a dumbass.
I've replied a couple times already, but I need to just vent my own opinion on this as a stand-alone as well...
If you knowingly leave your wireless access point open, as this man did, and instead of talking to somebody who is using it against your wishes decide to skip straight to calling the cops, as this mand did, you are both and idiot, and an asshole.
He could have secured his WAP. He didn't. He could have just walked up to the guy's car and told him to leave. He didn't. He could have just secured the WAP after he saw the guy, and then watched him leave. He didn't. He figured he'd just call the cops and waste the taxpayers money taking care of it instead.
He should be taken out into the street and beated with a rolled-up newspaper like a naughty puppy.
Granted, the world's laziest and dumbest wardriver, as I like to think of the accused from this story, should also recieve a couple whacks from the same newspaper. He is a dumbass. But in a sane world he would not be a felon.
Done.
If someone logs on to that unsecured network and steals a paypal password and empties the bank account, can they say, "What? The network was unsecure, I thought it was my money!"
No, because they accessed an account they did not own and took money out of it. They had to enter somebody else's username, somebody else's password, and transfer money from that account into their own. I'm pretty sure somewhere on the PayPal page (probably in fine print, mind you), it mentions that accessing the accounts of others without permission is forbidden, regardless of whether or not you have the password...I cannot check right now, because I can't access paypal from this computer.
To connect to an unsecured WAP using Windows, all you have to do is turn your computer on. Done. Hardly even comparable. In fact, I've in many occasions found myself connected to my neighbor's WAP because the signal from theirs is stronger where I am sitting than the signal from mine...I had to configure Windows specifically NOT to connect to it. Technically, I've committed the same felony this guy has.
Maybe I should go turn myself in.
Oh, and replying to myself:
:).
In the article Dinon admits he knew how to secure the WAP, but just hadn't bothered because his neighbords were older. So he knowingly left it unsecured. He's guilty as hell
The parent makes a good point. I'm not as certain about the state laws that may apply, but in any case, it's hard to argue that open WAP's are not configured to be available to the general public. It's not really a case of accessing a network without permission; it's a case of requesting permission to access the network and being granted that permission by the AP. The ability of the AP to grant that permission is, after all, entirely under the control of the user.
If you take this line of thinking one farther, it is actually the owner of the WAP who is likely breaking the law, and who action should be taken against. I'm pretty sure that most ISPs don't allow their residential users to share thier connections with the general public, which is exactly what they're doing when they leave their WAP unsecured.
I think Richard Dinon's ISP should sue his ass. But maybe that's just me.
Most of your counterexamples do involve actual costs imposed on the person being taken advantage of...gas out of my car, wear and tear on my car, the possibility that my garbage could be full and I'd be charged and extra-bag fee, the electricity needed to cool down the pepsi (yes, the fridge would use more to do so), or even the inconvenience of having you in my home. Using an unsecured WAP incurs none of these, unless you pay for bandwidth (rather than flat-rate).
The fact is, that's not how private property works. What's mine is mine, what's yours is yours. Unless you have an explicit permission to use someone else's property, stay the f-word off it.
Well, when I connected to your unsecured WAP, it logged me on, and gave me very explicit permission to do so. You programmed it to behave in this way (whether passively or actively) by leaving it unsecured. So yeah, you gave me permission. Implied from you, explicit from the WAP itself. Wanna take it away? Secure your WAP (I can't use these three words enough). That or keep your damn signal off my property.
Repeat after me kids..."When you send leave your WAP unsecured, and send the signal off your property, you ARE giving this away. You have decided to share. Live with it, or change it."
Let me guess, you'd also expect me to chip in on the cable bill if you set your TV out by the curb and I watched it as I drove by, right? Guess what. No.
I like your analogy, but I disagree. It is more like running a splitter and a cable and stealing your neighbors cable TV. Or running an extension cord to a backyard outlet and stealing power. Or perhaps a cordless phone. People accept that they have to pay for electricity, phone, but the internet should be free? why?
Because I do not have to set foot on your property, or touch your property, to use your WAP, unlike tapping into your cable. Not only that, but if I am your neighbor (or even a passerby on the street) you are broadcasting this service into my property (house or car).
The cordless phone is a close one, except that A) it is unlikely you are paying any extra because I am using it, unlike long distance calls, and B) you can use it simultaneously, so I am not tying up your phone line. Though it may run slower, obviously, because the bandwidth is being split.
That, and by buying the same model cordless phone to use soembody elses base station, you are having to go to extra lengths to use their service...this shows some level of premeditation. I can basically open any modern laptop, anywhere near your property (not on your property, mind you), and use your WAP. It's designed that way.
If you catch somebody using your WAP without permission, it's easy to fix...secure the damn thing. You don't need to call the police. Set up WEP (show me a WAP that doesn't have this), and they're not using it anymore. Unless they hack it, in which case they are very definitely in the wrong, not just legally but morally.
I mean, at what point (other than logging into their WAP as "admin" :) ) does using these networks constitute a crime? Isn't it incumbent upon the owner of said network to secure it? If I leave a set of tools on my front step and it disappears, then I see my neighbor with it, just how mad can I be for having left it out for anyone to walk off with?
Oh, you're being a little conservative there. The signal from a wireless access point likely goes much farther than one's front porch. This would be more like you had left a set of tools out in the street and saw him using them. Or even better, since your bandwidth isn't so much "stolen" in that it is a totally renewable resource, it would be more like he borrowed them (from the street), used them, and put them back...you found out only later.
Seriously, you don't secure your WAP, people are going to use it. Unless they're using it as a way to anonymously send kiddie porn, it isn't hurting you. If you don't like it, secure your WAP.
Dashboard is only a way to keep applications loaded in memory and display a certain subset of them at a keypress, this is absolutely nothing new. So I want to do a quick calculation, I hit the shortcut key I bound to my calculator and there it is. When I'm done with it I close it and it doesn't suck up memory. I see absolutely no value in keeping these applications running all the time when you're barely ever using them and could just pull them up on demand anyway.
That's the thing...the only things you should have in your dashboard are things you are using fairly often. When I was home, for instance, my dashboard had a package tracker, weather, phone book, calculator, and calander. Yes, every one of these could be accessed through either my browser or an application. But because these are all things that I use several times per day, it is better for me to keep them all open in the dashboard, so that with one keypress any OR all of them are available to me.
Sometimes, while seeing what day of the week the 18th will fall on, I might want to also glance to see where a particular package I'm intersted in is at the moment. Or what the temp is outside. I might glance at the forecast while looking up the number for a local chinese place. It's basically a second desktop where you can keep a few applications and "web sites" open and have them automatically update when you open it. And the package tracker widget I have, for instance, is MUCH smaller than a browser window with UPS's package tracking website when it comes to desktop real estate.
Granted, right now my dashboard isn't too exciting. Just a calculator, calander, SysStat, and two clocks...one for here and one for home. The dashboard becomes a lot less interesting when you don't have an internet connection.
What I've found is the key to using dashboard is to keep as few widgets on it as possible. The more widgets you have open, especially ones that access the net to update, the LESS useful it becomes, because it takes longer to update when you open it. But as long as you don't have more than maybe 3 or 4 widgets that access the net, it isn't bad at all, and becomes pretty useful.
...I own my computer, and my monitor. So what pops over, under, or to the side of anybody's website is not the concern of the website owner. Not even a little bit. They do not own that space in any way, shape, or form. Nobody is using their servers to send this crap to me. So it does not involve them.
For all we know, there is some jackass, somewhere, who actually knowingly installs spyware and malware, because he likes what it does. He wants ads for other sites popping up over what he's looking at. And he has the right to allow that to happen.
The actual actions that most spyware or adware programs take is NOT the concern of the courts. It's how they get there. Was the user really aware that this program was installed? Nothing aside from that really matters.
Crapware needs to be attacked for what is IS, not what it actually DOES. That's like complaining not because somebody broke into your house, but because they left footprints while they were there.
As for sounding like an intellectual - spelling errors can make you look like a retard. What do you prefer?
An internet forum is not a place where 100% accuracy in spelling and grammar is expected. Granted, a reasonable attempt IS generally expected, assuming you're not discussing pre-teen topics. However, people that correct minor spelling mistakes rather than address the overall message written are annoying*.
That said, I find it sad that being an "intellectual" has become something to avoid in the U.S. Personally, I wish people would try harder to be intellectuals, whether they come off as arrogant or not. As you pointed out, it is better than retard.
I once acted as hiring manager at a store where I worked. I've seen some of the most horrible spelling you can imagine, some from people who actually made it into college. I had somebody who actually mispelled the name of their current employer, a local theater. The -only- reason his didn't go directly into the trash is because our policy is to keep applications on file for a specified time...but you can imagine how much consideration he recieved.
Granted, simply because he couldn't spell doesn't mean he would be a subpar worker. I would prefer, however, to hire somebody who would be a good worker AND has the ablity to spell.
* - There is an exception...making fun of somebody's spelling or grammar in a post where they were correcting somebody else's is amazingly funny.
Hmmm...I think you should consider investing in a GameCube (if you haven't already). That's where the (at least more) varied and interesting gameplay is...as well as titles you can play with the kids.
:)
Word of warning, though...you will not be able to play the latest GTA game on it, and your friends may not think you're cool if you have one.
I've had my iPod since last summer, and I have had to send it back 4 times. The first time it was replaced. Now, they just won't fix it when I send it in.
I don't know how that's a troll...yes, iPods DO go bad, people. Sorry to rain on your parade. My iPod crapped out after about 9 months...I sent it in, they sent a replacement, and I've had no problems since. I still love my iPod. I've also had no problems with my Shuffle. But that does NOT change the fact that my iPod (15GB 3G) crapped out within a year. Out of the 1 full-sized iPods I've bought, 100% have failed on me. It happens.
And I'm not talking battery life. I'm talking it would corrupt songs at random, or lock up during songs. And no, it wasn't the songs, because I'd update it, reload it, and those songs would play fine. And DIFFERENT songs that used to play fine would lock it up. Fun stuff.
Pointing out that Apple sometimes has product defects, however, does not a troll make.
Nine flash-based players? How are you going to get a strong message out about nine different players?
It's easy to do, as long as you keep the message simple. In the case of Sony, it's "They all suck."
Have you ever noticed that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy does not feature a technology expert? Learn from this!
:)
True, but when they helped a guy pick out a going-away-to-college gift for his daughter, what did they choose? A Mac and an iPod, if I remember correctly.
Learn from that!
Of course, I'm tempted to downgrade the iPod to the bottom because the only format they support that's not proprietary is MP3 (which kinda is). The Karma supports ogg and flac which sound better as well and are public.
AAC is no more proprietary than MP3. Protected AAC's from the iTMS are incredibly proprietary, but there are multiple players (for computers) available that will play unprotected AAC's just fine. I don't know of any other portable players that do, though I'm sure there must be a couple.
And doesn't the iPod play files in the Apple lossles format now? I'm pretty sure they do...and I doubt flac sounds too much better than that.
Though yes, all things being equal I'll take completely open formats over proprietary ones. But when talking about portable music players, all things aren't quite equal.
How many people in love with their iPods have tried other MP3 players?
Not too many, becuase most people who buy iPods never feel the need to go try anything different. I, on the other hand, have...the iPod was the latest in a string of attempts to find the right player. I've owned two other flash-based players, and one other HD-based player. I even gave a MD player a try (wouldn't say I owned it, because I returned it after about 10 days...horrible horrible player).
The only problem I have with the 3G iPod I own is the touch interface...I greatly prefer the click-wheel. Battery life leaves much to be desired. But overall usability is much better than any other player I have owned, or even friend's players that I've used. iTunes is a better music manager than most players use, as well.
And my Shuffle? Love it. Wasn't sure I'd be able to get along with a player that had no screen whatsoever, but I find I don't really miss it. The little LEDs tell me everything I really need to know.
So to answer your question, yes. There are people such as myself who have used other players, and still prefer an iPod. I would argue that there are more of us than there are former iPod users who have migrated to other players...but that might require a bit of research to prove.
The premium you pay for an iPod versus another player helps to pay for the marketing that makes it cool, and that seems to be the primary difference right there.
Well, yeah...of course, part of that premium also probably goes to Apple's design department...you know, the guys who make sure that design is a priority and not an afterthought on Apple's products in general. And no, the iPod is not groundbreaking. It is just a music player that does it's job well. I'd argue better than the rest (definitely better than most of them). That plus being physically attractive makes the (small) premium you pay worth it.
For some reason when it comes to Apple products people can't get over the idea that people will pay more for an item that looks nicer. This is nothing new...it has been this way with all kinds of appliances, furniture, clothing, cars...well, let's just say a lot of products. I'd argue that the design premium on Apple products is actually less than many other products in different markets. Is it because so many geeks want utilitarian merchandise, or because computers and music players just aren't worthy of the same attention?
What I don't understand is where's the "innovation" in the DV Forge product? It's essentially the same as the one from DLO. How is DLO squashing DV Forge's "innovation?" Maybe they're restricting DV Forge's "knock-off" but I don't see what DV Forge did that counts as unique or special to deserve not to be held accountable.
I'd say mounting it to that pretty little arm-thing, along with not enclosing the iPod (reducing scratching) would be two innovations.
To put things in perspective, they're every bit as innovative as combining a car-charger, FM transmitter, and cheap plastic dock into one piece.
It doesn't take a genius to stick an LCD display and an articulated arm with a charger at the end on it.
Which is exactly why I hate patents like these.
Then again, if the DVForge guys thought they had a chance, I would think they'd push it in court (they could always recover the costs, right?). So they must feel they are actually on shaky ground, too.
They wouldn't even recover court costs if they lose, and would need to pay for representation either way. And no, they probably wouldn't push it just because they thought they had a chance, because such legal battles are very high-stakes games.
Imagine for a moment I walk up to you with one (six-sided) die. I tell you that 1-4 you win, 5 and 6 are mine. I'll give you even odds, so the edge is definitely yours. But the stakes are *everything you own*, and you only get to roll *once*. Would you take that? Really?
Granted, in the legal system you might get to roll more than once...but appeals cost money. Money on top of what you've already spent for the original battle, which if you lost you probably don't have. Unless your lawyers are working pro-bono (which is unlikely in a patent dispute between businesses), this is an incredibly risky proposition, even if you think your case is solid. The smarter move for a small (an Apple or Microsoft would fight this in an instant, whether they thought they'd win or not) business is to just walk away.
Even World of Warcraft is just as bad, all the profiles are stored in a subdirectory in the C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\!
/Applications/Warcraft III. Can't say for WoW, but I imagine it's the same. Guess they didn't bother to change that when they ported it.
Even under OSX (where use of the home directory for each user is generally encouraged), Warcraft III puts it's save information under
Actually, in addition to a lawyer your two other best friends are going to be media attention and contacting Congresscritters...both state and possibly national. Bring their name into it and suddenly they'll desperately want to side with the team that will lose them the least votes...and the school district that wants to turn kids into felons for what sound like (relatively) minor computer-related infractions probably won't be it.
Felons are forbidden by law from:
:).
Just for sake of completeness, you'll find it extremely difficult to join the military with any felony conviction on your record. Waivers are required, and it pretty much depends if your recruiter feels you're worth spending the extra time on, and still no guarantee they'll take you. More than one and I believe it is actually impossible.
Granted, nowadays most students probably wouldn't see this as a *bad* thing, but once upon a time this was a viable option for pursuing one's future
And yes, I'm quite sure the list is (still) incomplete, especially if you add more state laws. Having a felony (conviction) on your record is like starting your life at the bottom of a 20-foot-deep hole with nothing but a shovel to get out. At least from what I've heard.
They should not count because they are in a class of people that either will not accept the jobs that are available or have no useful skills for the current market.
Except if they do go ahead and accept whatever jobs are available, you run into our good friend "underemployment." Now they're not technically unemployed, so the government can say things are a-ok, but they are either working too few hours or making too little to support their family. I also consider it underemployment if they are working a job that pays drastically lower than what is warranted by their qualifications (such as an electrical engineer stocking shelves at Target), but that one's up to you. Of course, often such drastic situations are caused by one's unwillingness to relocate, but when you have a family that can be easier said than done.
Personally, I'd almost rather be unemployed and at least make the government admit that the economy is in the crapper. Assuming, of course, I didn't have other mouths to feed.