There's certainly some truth to the idea that they are done, in their current form...
But when I'm sitting here thinking over a cup of hot fresh Folgers dark roast coffee one thing comes to mind. That with quality content, public radio and TV stations have a (relatively) easy time getting people to *give* them money for their "free" content. Give as in some have the nicest studios in the area (and some I suppose squeak by in areas where facts have a liberal bias). And much like the free samples of Jiffy Pop and Movie Time popcorn available at Costco today, it may be abused but it does return a net positive.
So while you are easing back into your Herman Miller "Aeron" chair (now available in "True Black!") consider that the era of $150+ dollar per year for a hand delivered stack of syndicated features and a few sheets of questionable local content may be over. The Gizmodo regurgitation engine doesn't have to be the end result. Some journalists are doing just fine with a new name tag and avoiding maintenance on a lavish building and fleet of trucks.
Who spends 45 minutes looking confused before cracking a manual.
Hell, who didn't know about iTunes. I think we're talking about two different kinds of secrecy here, one of which isn't secrecy, even if it sounds somewhat the same.
The real issue at hand is how much time nerds spend thinking of ways they are right, instead of trying to understand how they might be wrong. iPhone 3gs was never marketed as having strong encryption (http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html), the/. crowd simply saw "something" was implemented and decided that the intent was to hide data.
That is a problem, when you talk about *B*illions of dollars peoples eyes glaze over and they shut down. For many people there's no real conceptual difference between 2, 20, or 200 billion dollars. It's all just an unimaginably huge amount of money.
If there's any good to come out of the whole economic mess, one may be that trillion is the new billion. It will seem so petty to obsess over relatively minor expenses like education, social programs, and space exploration.
"Why do we pay CEOs these ridiculous salaries again? It sure isn't because they're visionaries."
It's because they are all power hungry sociopaths that are charismatic & good at extracting money from us.
Actually it's because they went to school with a bunch of other people in powerful positions at other companies. If you want anything done you've got to hire someone with connections, otherwise you get the cold shoulder.
Basically you'll fail or be last in line unless you cough up a huge salary to get in the boys club.
I don't know the technicals regarding DAB, but I do know that the current generation of HD receiver/decoders get really hot and pull a lot of current. Even if Microsoft has significantly improved the technology it's probably still going to be awfully hard on a little battery. I don't believe a 20x improvement in efficiency is likely in any case. I suspect they've made compromises to reduce power usage (and antenna size), which when paired with a technology that is problematic to begin with is probably going to mean that it has a much more limited range than typical HD radios, or they'll play games with the availability of the feature (only when plugged in or some such).
In any case it's a very nice device. It's a real shame HD radio sounds like 90's era Napster downloads. It's an interesting solution to an ongoing problem, but there's only so much you can do with 48kpbs regardless of how good your codec is.
The spec as we have seen with most other transfer specs have little to do with real world device designs. Hardware interfaces (much less devices) languish in the "has to cost less than x per part" hell... But you bet your ass they'll put a SATA 3.0 up to 6GB per second label even though the actual device isn't designed to transfer more than a fifth (peak) of the spec. data rate.
But outside of nerddom, computers are all software. People make the distinction between the motor and the radio because they interact with the stereo and the motor separately. And really, most people would identify the alternator, water pump, and headders as "motor". Most people have never opened the case to their pc and only know it as the thing they have to turn on to get at the internet.
I think it's mostly an issue of people having been trained for years that the relevant part is the hard drive and that everything else is just nerd jargon for the crap that supports the drive.
Frankly, they're right.
Everything lives on the hard drive, and when some part fucks up, it's their data that gets screwed up and the software that they interact with that tells them or quits working. The particular component that failed is pretty much irrelevant. The data on the drive is inaccessible or corrupt.
In a similar but related argument that pops up once in a while... nerds talk about hardening the Linux OS and say things like "the only thing rogue software could destroy is user data, the OS proper remains unharmed". Neglecting the fact that the whole fucking purpose is the data.
Users call it the hard drive because that's the only part that actually matters.
This is pretty much one of many scenario's where people would mock the tin foil hat crowd when they get all hysterical about companies/government keeping too much data on them. In this case in the pursuit of "customer service" (read marketing opportunity) they also get to turn every second hand product (MBA's may translate that to "missed sale") into a ticking time bomb. Forget the warranty, you can't get it fixed at any price.
Sounds like a job for the attorney general and/or the FTC. Not that you can get their attention.
Wake me when I can download all my materials onto the thing.
As-is it's just a ridiculously expensive/fragile thing I have to pack in addition to my perfectly competent laptop and 40 LBS of other books.
or
Just give me the damn PDF's and save your money. For $60k they could have made a big dent in the production of a few high quality Free textbooks and save thousands of times that in dead tree books.
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to destroy you and leave you (and or your business) reeling in economic and personal obliteration*. That our software looks like it does something productive should not be mistaken for any intent to be useful in any fashion â"the software is free for all its users.
*The GPL or authors of software using the GPL license make no guarantees regarding the efficacy of said software's destruction potential.
Mr. President you ought to know by now nobody is going to do that. The green economy is about feeling like you care without actually doing anything. It's about keeping your margins up and your expenses low.
That's just a matter of waiting until the VC money runs out. (ie not long)
And if forcing a profit out of the platform kills it.... maybe that's in Google's best interest anyway.
long term, in 10 years when everyone has the bandwidth and software to back it up we'll be serving our own damn videos and Google can go back to what it does best.
This article is basically a two paragraph summary of something I would expect to hear from a hysterical spitting nerd who hadn't showered for three days standing outside of a Gamestop. (Or in a Digg summary)
"Windows Home Basic OMG! Such shite! Install linux!"
I'm actually kind of offended it got posted. Plus also, it's already been discussed ad nauseam.
They totally intentionally installed the software. You can't make a machine Malware proof without also making it software proof.
The whole notion of "Malicious Software" is a marketing creation for the sole purpose of making money off people who would rather spend money on software to watch their back than learn (bother) to help themselves.
Anyone who tells you different is confusing the issue. OS X has plenty of problems, this isn't one of them.
Purposefully installing malicious software does not indicate a vulnerability. The user intentionally installed a piece of software that is doing exactly what it is designed to do.
There isn't an operating system on the planet that can protect you (or itself) from fraudulent user activity.
Slashdot Mirror
It's all been bullshit since Tim Berners-Lee wrote his first href.
The SX is for Sux!
There's certainly some truth to the idea that they are done, in their current form...
But when I'm sitting here thinking over a cup of hot fresh Folgers dark roast coffee one thing comes to mind. That with quality content, public radio and TV stations have a (relatively) easy time getting people to *give* them money for their "free" content. Give as in some have the nicest studios in the area (and some I suppose squeak by in areas where facts have a liberal bias). And much like the free samples of Jiffy Pop and Movie Time popcorn available at Costco today, it may be abused but it does return a net positive.
So while you are easing back into your Herman Miller "Aeron" chair (now available in "True Black!") consider that the era of $150+ dollar per year for a hand delivered stack of syndicated features and a few sheets of questionable local content may be over. The Gizmodo regurgitation engine doesn't have to be the end result. Some journalists are doing just fine with a new name tag and avoiding maintenance on a lavish building and fleet of trucks.
Who spends 45 minutes looking confused before cracking a manual.
Hell, who didn't know about iTunes. I think we're talking about two different kinds of secrecy here, one of which isn't secrecy, even if it sounds somewhat the same.
Nobody wants to spend hours waiting for their iPod to build something as nebulous as a "database" before they can use their music.
It's not a bad idea if it weren't for the access time/data rate and slow processor.
We have a winner...
The real issue at hand is how much time nerds spend thinking of ways they are right, instead of trying to understand how they might be wrong. iPhone 3gs was never marketed as having strong encryption (http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html), the /. crowd simply saw "something" was implemented and decided that the intent was to hide data.
Certainly this isn't worse than the current situation. But if my data is still at risk I have a hard time caring much about any "security" advantage.
Without my data the machine is worse than worthless.
Linux - Because your time isn't free.
Linux the operating system for people whom time has no value.
That is a problem, when you talk about *B*illions of dollars peoples eyes glaze over and they shut down. For many people there's no real conceptual difference between 2, 20, or 200 billion dollars. It's all just an unimaginably huge amount of money.
If there's any good to come out of the whole economic mess, one may be that trillion is the new billion. It will seem so petty to obsess over relatively minor expenses like education, social programs, and space exploration.
And who want's to try to explain the dead kid in the basement as a "wandering adventurer" who "invaded my dungeon".
"Why do we pay CEOs these ridiculous salaries again? It sure isn't because they're visionaries."
It's because they are all power hungry sociopaths that are charismatic & good at extracting money from us.
Actually it's because they went to school with a bunch of other people in powerful positions at other companies. If you want anything done you've got to hire someone with connections, otherwise you get the cold shoulder.
Basically you'll fail or be last in line unless you cough up a huge salary to get in the boys club.
I don't know the technicals regarding DAB, but I do know that the current generation of HD receiver/decoders get really hot and pull a lot of current. Even if Microsoft has significantly improved the technology it's probably still going to be awfully hard on a little battery. I don't believe a 20x improvement in efficiency is likely in any case.
I suspect they've made compromises to reduce power usage (and antenna size), which when paired with a technology that is problematic to begin with is probably going to mean that it has a much more limited range than typical HD radios, or they'll play games with the availability of the feature (only when plugged in or some such).
In any case it's a very nice device. It's a real shame HD radio sounds like 90's era Napster downloads. It's an interesting solution to an ongoing problem, but there's only so much you can do with 48kpbs regardless of how good your codec is.
Probably not. Even if you had a device that would supply the (most? if not all) commercial interfaces aren't actually capable of moving it that fast.
The spec as we have seen with most other transfer specs have little to do with real world device designs. Hardware interfaces (much less devices) languish in the "has to cost less than x per part" hell... But you bet your ass they'll put a SATA 3.0 up to 6GB per second label even though the actual device isn't designed to transfer more than a fifth (peak) of the spec. data rate.
But outside of nerddom, computers are all software. People make the distinction between the motor and the radio because they interact with the stereo and the motor separately. And really, most people would identify the alternator, water pump, and headders as "motor". Most people have never opened the case to their pc and only know it as the thing they have to turn on to get at the internet.
I think it's mostly an issue of people having been trained for years that the relevant part is the hard drive and that everything else is just nerd jargon for the crap that supports the drive.
Frankly, they're right.
Everything lives on the hard drive, and when some part fucks up, it's their data that gets screwed up and the software that they interact with that tells them or quits working. The particular component that failed is pretty much irrelevant. The data on the drive is inaccessible or corrupt.
In a similar but related argument that pops up once in a while... nerds talk about hardening the Linux OS and say things like "the only thing rogue software could destroy is user data, the OS proper remains unharmed". Neglecting the fact that the whole fucking purpose is the data.
Users call it the hard drive because that's the only part that actually matters.
Even if they did know about them there are so many of these and similar projects that go nowhere that C&Ding them would be a full time job.
Besides it doesn't take a copyright lawyer to know better than to make a product based on someone else's trademarks without an agreement in place.
All is hardly lost though. A name change and some modifications to the script are all that's needed to salvage their work.
At least it's not Detroit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM
This is pretty much one of many scenario's where people would mock the tin foil hat crowd when they get all hysterical about companies/government keeping too much data on them. In this case in the pursuit of "customer service" (read marketing opportunity) they also get to turn every second hand product (MBA's may translate that to "missed sale") into a ticking time bomb. Forget the warranty, you can't get it fixed at any price.
Sounds like a job for the attorney general and/or the FTC. Not that you can get their attention.
Wake me when I can download all my materials onto the thing.
As-is it's just a ridiculously expensive/fragile thing I have to pack in addition to my perfectly competent laptop and 40 LBS of other books.
or
Just give me the damn PDF's and save your money. For $60k they could have made a big dent in the production of a few high quality Free textbooks and save thousands of times that in dead tree books.
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to destroy you and leave you (and or your business) reeling in economic and personal obliteration*. That our software looks like it does something productive should not be mistaken for any intent to be useful in any fashion â"the software is free for all its users.
*The GPL or authors of software using the GPL license make no guarantees regarding the efficacy of said software's destruction potential.
Mr. President you ought to know by now nobody is going to do that. The green economy is about feeling like you care without actually doing anything. It's about keeping your margins up and your expenses low.
Marketing!
That's just a matter of waiting until the VC money runs out. (ie not long)
And if forcing a profit out of the platform kills it.... maybe that's in Google's best interest anyway.
long term, in 10 years when everyone has the bandwidth and software to back it up we'll be serving our own damn videos and Google can go back to what it does best.
This article is basically a two paragraph summary of something I would expect to hear from a hysterical spitting nerd who hadn't showered for three days standing outside of a Gamestop. (Or in a Digg summary)
"Windows Home Basic OMG! Such shite! Install linux!"
I'm actually kind of offended it got posted. Plus also, it's already been discussed ad nauseam.
Send me to troll hell, but you know it's true.
They totally intentionally installed the software. You can't make a machine Malware proof without also making it software proof.
The whole notion of "Malicious Software" is a marketing creation for the sole purpose of making money off people who would rather spend money on software to watch their back than learn (bother) to help themselves.
Anyone who tells you different is confusing the issue. OS X has plenty of problems, this isn't one of them.
Purposefully installing malicious software does not indicate a vulnerability. The user intentionally installed a piece of software that is doing exactly what it is designed to do.
There isn't an operating system on the planet that can protect you (or itself) from fraudulent user activity.