Most of Europe has phones unlocked, I think only UK locks to providers. Even then you can buy software that will unlock pretty much any GSM phone. All European phones support 900 and 1800 Mhz so any GSM phone will work on any network operator. I've used French, English, Italian, Ukranian, and other SIM cards in my Nokia E71 without any problems.
Don't be afraid to try again. When I was younger, I build a fantastic state-of-the-art press release management system that plugged into corporate web sites. Everybody I showed loved it, a blue-chip client told me they were ready to sign up, and a couple of my larger rivals (but more generic cms) were prepared to offer it as a part of their package. Even though I had to give up my London home, and started to borrow money from family to keep going, I wanted to hold up release until it was 'perfect'.
Unfortunately the moment it was ready for release, the.com crash happened. My potential partners went bust, and suddenly companies were more wary about investing in online solutions. I decided to suspend the software and do freelance work for a while until the market bounced back and sales were 'easy' again. And gradually the opportunity slipped away.
Not long ago I bumped into a friend, who's daughter had just started working for another firm that started doing something similar at around the same time. His software was, in my opinion, rubbish. However he just kept plugging along and is now a multi-millionaire. He may have been inferior on implementation, but he was wiser to know the route is long and perseverance is equally if not more important.
It knocked my confidence too, for a while, but it's opened my eyes and taught me a lot. The lessons I learned helped me save my current (successful) company from the current financial crisis when a lot of my rivals went under.
Listen to MartinSchou. You are not in the same position as before. You've just paid to go to business school, and if you are in the same state financially then it was still cheaper than doing an MBA. You also now have a track record and some experience, which investors value even if the company was not a storming success. Best of luck in your next venture.
In addition to the advice of Hairy1 below, none of which are particularly easier than trying to sell the software yourself in practice, is to find a business partner with a character complimentary to yourself. It was a key difference to making my second company a success.
Same thing was leveled at student protests in the UK and Twitter were absolutely adamant they were not interfering or being influenced by any authorities.
You must have been asleep on December 31st at 23:59 in the year 1999, when computer programmers averted a world-wide apocalypse. January 1st was henceforward declared a national holiday in their honour, as you will find it is this year if you check your diary.
Whereas Christmas has slowly died along with its associated religion, apart from strong poultry sales, the New Year and the fresh start it symbolises is still celebrated strongly to this day.
It's not somebody else's rights you are talking about, it is somebody's copyright. The copyright is a government licensed monopoly, exclusivity for a short period in which to exploit the work, as a reward for then placing it in the public domain. This contract between a government and a creative body can be reviewed at any time.
Personally I think it is ridiculous that the age of the author has anything to do with the exploitation rights. So society gets a bonanza because a great author gets run over and killed? How much money does an author make 30 years after publication anyway?
How about a geek advent calendar that features non-fictional historical events?
Eg: Ala Lovelace, the first programmer, born 10 December 1815 Charles Babbage, inventor of the computer, born 26 December 1791 Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, born December 28, 1969 (ok I know advent calendars normally stop at xmas, but most people celebrate New Year more these days anyway)
Democracy faces threats from without and within. Transparency is all very well fighting the threats from within, but history has shown that if you give the foreign enemy details about your placements, logistics, tactics, and weaknesses then this is a bad thing.
Equally important is that war is, and has always been, as much about propaganda as men in the field. This is not a good or a bad thing, just the way it is.
Wikileaks is an anti-censorship publication, but even they have tried to act with a modicum of journalistic integrity. Even the US military had to admit the last leak was redacted enough not to intentionally cause any loss of life.
However, Manning was given a trust. The rules were in black and white, which he put his signature (ergo his honour and his bond) behind. We've not learned his motives yet, whether altruism or some petty vengence, but he definitely betrayed the trust that was placed in him. He dumped the information completely unredacted with no knowledge or certainty as to what Wikileaks would do with that information. He certainly deserves his punishment. Maybe he will think it was worth it? We don't know but he was in the wrong. Hero? Certainly not. Martyr? Only history will tell, but in my opinion unlikely.
We need to put up a transmitter broadcasting this. In 1,024 years when the electromagnetic radiation hits Microsoftopia, the people will finally receive a beacon of hope.
They could go back to subsistence farming, even abandon the euro and go to a bartering system, but that is not the model they have decided to go with. Ireland decided to attract top-level business from all over the world via a highly educated workforce and a business-friendly environment.
Yes this means working to remain competitive, but I don't think throwing a successful business model out in a tantrum is going to help them long term. The Irish banking crisis was not caused by low corporation tax, it was both private and public debt spiraling out of control exacerbated by a ridiculous property bubble.
I am quite proud of the new UK government rolling back the Fascist policies of New Labour. ID cards? In the bin. Biometric passports? In the bin. Centralised database for tracking citizens? In the bin. Holding DNA of anybody that passes through the police station, even if not accused of a crime? In the bin.
The roll towards a totalitarian state isn't inevitable, no matter how much the TSA tries to convince you. Take a look at Britain and follow our lead!
Actually from what I've seen of the leaks so far it seems that the Americans were surprisingly professional, and apart from an occassional individual loss of control that they didn't commit any war crimes. The civilian deaths were tragic but accidental.
The waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, etc should be punished, and Bush is responsible for this, but it has nothing to do with the information from Wikileaks afaik.
I agree. Wikileaks has become a bit of a lightning rod, but let's not forget it is just a conduit for information. The guy that leaked the information has been disloyal to his country, but you cannot blame a journalist for wanting to publish such information (bearing in mind he did offer the US military the opportunity to censor it to protect troops first).
Chess is fun, but it's more fun playing with a human. However, plenty of chess sites have interesting daily puzzles on them.
Another to consider is Vendetta Online, more like the original Elite than the more RPG-style Eve Online. A poster down below mentioned Portal as an original and challenging game. You can get some golden oldies at bargain bucket prices: Command and Conquer, Red Alert, and the myriad of civilisation building sims.
Alternatively, you could learn a new computer language and try writing your own operating system. It's just as fun.
Very disappointed in the Pirate Party. If they were winning seats in elections, successfully introducing legslation into parliaments, and making headway in making reforms relecting their policies, then I would understand their calls for Anon to stand down. However, I cannot see what platform upon which they have built their moral authority.
They can distance themselves from illegal actions, other than the illegal actions that *they* have decided should not be illegal, but maybe they should concentrate on changing the system from within in the way they wish rather than ordering the cessation of the civil disobedience actions of Anon. They know perfectly well Anon doesn't care what anybody else thinks and such pointless political grandstanding is a little unpleasant.
Agreed. The security of the code is irrelevant. None of mock-up proto-type code at the design phase will exist once it goes into production phase. As MaskedSlacker says, it will obviously be rewritten (probably several times by people who implement in their preferred languages). It is the protocol and APIs that are important. How resistant are they to spoofing? Man-in-the-middle attacks? Replay attacks? What kind of encryption and authentication is used? How is key management done?
Of course security plays only a minor role. Major factors are what functionality does it offer? How extensible is it? What is the roadmap? How often do they plan to break backward compatibility? How well is it documented? Will there be plenty of example code for people to play with? How do they plan to allow user feedback for new ideas or patches?
It's an ambitious project, and there is no reason it will not work, but it needs a clear vision.
It's only a trade-off if the backscatter machines actually successfully stop a terrorist hiding a bomb wrapped around their genitals. As this is pretty much zero, it's not a trade-off... it's just an expensive affront on dignity, human rights, and common sense. In fact diversion of funds away from real anti-terror measures (targetted surveillance, infiltration, etc) is probably meaning it is costing even more lives than if they didn't waste their money on expensive theatre. I strongly object to my money being wasted in this fashion.
I am sure you know far more than me about this subject, but your explanation is lacking as it does not make logical sense. If x-ray radiation from a backscatter machine was significantly lower than background radiation, which is what you are implying, then you would not be able to determine an image as your x-rays would be indistinguishable amonst the background noise.
Wikipedia states that the radiation level from the backscatter x-ray is 3,600,000 times the level of background radiation. This sounds significantly higher, not lower.
Did you know that the standard "File Edit View Window Help" menu layout originated at Apple?
That's a standard? Isn't it just a bunch of random words used that Windows may have copied but to be honest doesn't make much sense? I never understood why "Quit application" would be under "File". It's all a bit arbitrary.
Undeterred, the anonymous cabal of Apple-haters that has taken hold on Slashdot in the last six months will continue their efforts
Not particularly anonymous, it's just most people. Before it was just for their over-priced under-powered machines with the silly 1-button mouse. Now it is because they license your phone/tablet to you, and tell you what you can and cannot have on there, rather than just sell you the machine.
I've found the opposite. Much of the small amount rudeness I've seen has mostly been deserved. People that can't be bothered to use Google, those that want free tech support that they wouldn't hesitate to drop $100 for if MS Windows, sometimes questions that have already been answered on the same forum.
On the other hand I have been amazed at the amount of free help I have been given from newb until today. I've never had anybody be rude, but that is because I treat other people's time as valuable as my own.
As opposed to being in the default bashrc and work out-of-the-box?
Somehow I don't think the difference between pasting into a bashrc file or recompiling the kernel has been the deciding factor between Linux and Windows/Mac.
In the UK, Sky owns newspapers, TV, as well as an ISP. They recently put The Times behind a pay wall where it is dying a rapid and painful death. The logical thing for them to do would be to throttle the speed of rival newspapers to make them unreadable, leaving paying £1/day to Murdoch as the only reasonable way of getting news. They can do the same with TV, making their VoD the only usable one.
Slashdot Mirror
Most of Europe has phones unlocked, I think only UK locks to providers. Even then you can buy software that will unlock pretty much any GSM phone. All European phones support 900 and 1800 Mhz so any GSM phone will work on any network operator. I've used French, English, Italian, Ukranian, and other SIM cards in my Nokia E71 without any problems.
Phillip.
Don't be afraid to try again. When I was younger, I build a fantastic state-of-the-art press release management system that plugged into corporate web sites. Everybody I showed loved it, a blue-chip client told me they were ready to sign up, and a couple of my larger rivals (but more generic cms) were prepared to offer it as a part of their package. Even though I had to give up my London home, and started to borrow money from family to keep going, I wanted to hold up release until it was 'perfect'.
Unfortunately the moment it was ready for release, the .com crash happened. My potential partners went bust, and suddenly companies were more wary about investing in online solutions. I decided to suspend the software and do freelance work for a while until the market bounced back and sales were 'easy' again. And gradually the opportunity slipped away.
Not long ago I bumped into a friend, who's daughter had just started working for another firm that started doing something similar at around the same time. His software was, in my opinion, rubbish. However he just kept plugging along and is now a multi-millionaire. He may have been inferior on implementation, but he was wiser to know the route is long and perseverance is equally if not more important.
It knocked my confidence too, for a while, but it's opened my eyes and taught me a lot. The lessons I learned helped me save my current (successful) company from the current financial crisis when a lot of my rivals went under.
Listen to MartinSchou. You are not in the same position as before. You've just paid to go to business school, and if you are in the same state financially then it was still cheaper than doing an MBA. You also now have a track record and some experience, which investors value even if the company was not a storming success. Best of luck in your next venture.
In addition to the advice of Hairy1 below, none of which are particularly easier than trying to sell the software yourself in practice, is to find a business partner with a character complimentary to yourself. It was a key difference to making my second company a success.
Phillip.
Same thing was leveled at student protests in the UK and Twitter were absolutely adamant they were not interfering or being influenced by any authorities.
Phillip.
You must have been asleep on December 31st at 23:59 in the year 1999, when computer programmers averted a world-wide apocalypse. January 1st was henceforward declared a national holiday in their honour, as you will find it is this year if you check your diary.
Whereas Christmas has slowly died along with its associated religion, apart from strong poultry sales, the New Year and the fresh start it symbolises is still celebrated strongly to this day.
Phillip.
Did you not read the first couple of posts explaining that the supposed arrest is a hoax?
Phillip.
No reason a 386 with VB script couldn't orchestrate a 10Gbps DDoS attack, as long as his IRC link to the botnet remains intact.
Phillip.
It's not somebody else's rights you are talking about, it is somebody's copyright. The copyright is a government licensed monopoly, exclusivity for a short period in which to exploit the work, as a reward for then placing it in the public domain. This contract between a government and a creative body can be reviewed at any time.
Personally I think it is ridiculous that the age of the author has anything to do with the exploitation rights. So society gets a bonanza because a great author gets run over and killed? How much money does an author make 30 years after publication anyway?
Phillip.
How about a geek advent calendar that features non-fictional historical events?
Eg:
Ala Lovelace, the first programmer, born 10 December 1815
Charles Babbage, inventor of the computer, born 26 December 1791
Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, born December 28, 1969
(ok I know advent calendars normally stop at xmas, but most people celebrate New Year more these days anyway)
I'm sure others can fill in the gaps...
Phillip.
Democracy faces threats from without and within. Transparency is all very well fighting the threats from within, but history has shown that if you give the foreign enemy details about your placements, logistics, tactics, and weaknesses then this is a bad thing.
Equally important is that war is, and has always been, as much about propaganda as men in the field. This is not a good or a bad thing, just the way it is.
Wikileaks is an anti-censorship publication, but even they have tried to act with a modicum of journalistic integrity. Even the US military had to admit the last leak was redacted enough not to intentionally cause any loss of life.
However, Manning was given a trust. The rules were in black and white, which he put his signature (ergo his honour and his bond) behind. We've not learned his motives yet, whether altruism or some petty vengence, but he definitely betrayed the trust that was placed in him. He dumped the information completely unredacted with no knowledge or certainty as to what Wikileaks would do with that information. He certainly deserves his punishment. Maybe he will think it was worth it? We don't know but he was in the wrong. Hero? Certainly not. Martyr? Only history will tell, but in my opinion unlikely.
Phillip.
We need to put up a transmitter broadcasting this. In 1,024 years when the electromagnetic radiation hits Microsoftopia, the people will finally receive a beacon of hope.
Phillip.
They could go back to subsistence farming, even abandon the euro and go to a bartering system, but that is not the model they have decided to go with. Ireland decided to attract top-level business from all over the world via a highly educated workforce and a business-friendly environment.
Yes this means working to remain competitive, but I don't think throwing a successful business model out in a tantrum is going to help them long term. The Irish banking crisis was not caused by low corporation tax, it was both private and public debt spiraling out of control exacerbated by a ridiculous property bubble.
Phillip
The US government didn't seem to have a problem with AT&T providing mass surveillance for the NSA either.
Phillip.
I am quite proud of the new UK government rolling back the Fascist policies of New Labour. ID cards? In the bin. Biometric passports? In the bin. Centralised database for tracking citizens? In the bin. Holding DNA of anybody that passes through the police station, even if not accused of a crime? In the bin.
The roll towards a totalitarian state isn't inevitable, no matter how much the TSA tries to convince you. Take a look at Britain and follow our lead!
Phillip.
Actually from what I've seen of the leaks so far it seems that the Americans were surprisingly professional, and apart from an occassional individual loss of control that they didn't commit any war crimes. The civilian deaths were tragic but accidental.
The waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, etc should be punished, and Bush is responsible for this, but it has nothing to do with the information from Wikileaks afaik.
Phillip.
I agree. Wikileaks has become a bit of a lightning rod, but let's not forget it is just a conduit for information. The guy that leaked the information has been disloyal to his country, but you cannot blame a journalist for wanting to publish such information (bearing in mind he did offer the US military the opportunity to censor it to protect troops first).
Phillip.
Chess is fun, but it's more fun playing with a human. However, plenty of chess sites have interesting daily puzzles on them.
Another to consider is Vendetta Online, more like the original Elite than the more RPG-style Eve Online. A poster down below mentioned Portal as an original and challenging game. You can get some golden oldies at bargain bucket prices: Command and Conquer, Red Alert, and the myriad of civilisation building sims.
Alternatively, you could learn a new computer language and try writing your own operating system. It's just as fun.
Phillip.
Very disappointed in the Pirate Party. If they were winning seats in elections, successfully introducing legslation into parliaments, and making headway in making reforms relecting their policies, then I would understand their calls for Anon to stand down. However, I cannot see what platform upon which they have built their moral authority.
They can distance themselves from illegal actions, other than the illegal actions that *they* have decided should not be illegal, but maybe they should concentrate on changing the system from within in the way they wish rather than ordering the cessation of the civil disobedience actions of Anon. They know perfectly well Anon doesn't care what anybody else thinks and such pointless political grandstanding is a little unpleasant.
Phillip.
Agreed. The security of the code is irrelevant. None of mock-up proto-type code at the design phase will exist once it goes into production phase. As MaskedSlacker says, it will obviously be rewritten (probably several times by people who implement in their preferred languages). It is the protocol and APIs that are important. How resistant are they to spoofing? Man-in-the-middle attacks? Replay attacks? What kind of encryption and authentication is used? How is key management done?
Of course security plays only a minor role. Major factors are what functionality does it offer? How extensible is it? What is the roadmap? How often do they plan to break backward compatibility? How well is it documented? Will there be plenty of example code for people to play with? How do they plan to allow user feedback for new ideas or patches?
It's an ambitious project, and there is no reason it will not work, but it needs a clear vision.
Phillip.
It's only a trade-off if the backscatter machines actually successfully stop a terrorist hiding a bomb wrapped around their genitals. As this is pretty much zero, it's not a trade-off... it's just an expensive affront on dignity, human rights, and common sense. In fact diversion of funds away from real anti-terror measures (targetted surveillance, infiltration, etc) is probably meaning it is costing even more lives than if they didn't waste their money on expensive theatre. I strongly object to my money being wasted in this fashion.
Phillip.
I am sure you know far more than me about this subject, but your explanation is lacking as it does not make logical sense. If x-ray radiation from a backscatter machine was significantly lower than background radiation, which is what you are implying, then you would not be able to determine an image as your x-rays would be indistinguishable amonst the background noise.
Wikipedia states that the radiation level from the backscatter x-ray is 3,600,000 times the level of background radiation. This sounds significantly higher, not lower.
Phillip.
Not very observant then. Pass Trafalgar Square often?
Phillip.
Did you know that the standard "File Edit View Window Help" menu layout originated at Apple?
That's a standard? Isn't it just a bunch of random words used that Windows may have copied but to be honest doesn't make much sense? I never understood why "Quit application" would be under "File". It's all a bit arbitrary.
As did "cut-and-paste?"
Really? Not according to Wikipedia, it was Xerox.
Undeterred, the anonymous cabal of Apple-haters that has taken hold on Slashdot in the last six months will continue their efforts
Not particularly anonymous, it's just most people. Before it was just for their over-priced under-powered machines with the silly 1-button mouse. Now it is because they license your phone/tablet to you, and tell you what you can and cannot have on there, rather than just sell you the machine.
Phillip.
I've found the opposite. Much of the small amount rudeness I've seen has mostly been deserved. People that can't be bothered to use Google, those that want free tech support that they wouldn't hesitate to drop $100 for if MS Windows, sometimes questions that have already been answered on the same forum.
On the other hand I have been amazed at the amount of free help I have been given from newb until today. I've never had anybody be rude, but that is because I treat other people's time as valuable as my own.
Phillip.
As opposed to being in the default bashrc and work out-of-the-box?
Somehow I don't think the difference between pasting into a bashrc file or recompiling the kernel has been the deciding factor between Linux and Windows/Mac.
Phillip.
In the UK, Sky owns newspapers, TV, as well as an ISP. They recently put The Times behind a pay wall where it is dying a rapid and painful death. The logical thing for them to do would be to throttle the speed of rival newspapers to make them unreadable, leaving paying £1/day to Murdoch as the only reasonable way of getting news. They can do the same with TV, making their VoD the only usable one.
Phillip.