"If the non-compete clauses and similar restrictions are not worth the pay, then negotiate, put up with it, or work somewhere else."
That's easier said than done. Even non-technical types are having to sign these to work. Want factory work? You'll be signing one as well. Negotiate for guy-off-the-street jobs? (Union negotiated contracts are not easy to come by either, not for the places hiring.) Work somewhere else, in this economy?
No offense, but the only option for the 99.999% of the rest of us who aren't former MS execs is to put up with it. That's why this is important. This is the same crap as the EULA. There's always a technical alternative to "not signing", just as the alternative to not getting a driver's license is to walk everywhere.
When something comes to the point of being so impractical as being virtually impossible to work around, then the alternatives are no more than legal smoke screens. These contract restrictions are just another piece of the puzzle to extend the grip of power of a company over its workers. More hours, more restrictions, less pay... 30 minutes worth of break time for a 12 hour work period. You can't even smoke on company property in a lot of places, even if you are in your car, with the windows rolled up. Hair must be trimmed to company specifications. No visible piercings, even in the ears of women. No visible tatoos. No fancy wedding rings. Request all bathroom/water breaks through the supervisor. Mandatory overtime. Termination without cause clauses. No sitting while working your 50+ hour weeks. And that's for jobs paying under $8 an hour around here. Those restrictions aren't even worth twice that amount. Ask anyone making wages like that about "negotiating their contract". They'll laugh you out of the building.
The labor market is complete crap. Negotiating is for people who haven't already run out their unemployment and are thankful just to be able to keep feeding their kids and not lose their home.
We are left to rely on our public representatives who have our best in mind (smirk) to protect us from exploitative practices. Unfortunately, those people are chipping away at the existing protections, like giving companies more straight time hours. Office workers are losing to India, factory workers to China.
But company profits are up... always up. Gotta keep the DOW over 10,000!
I haven't RTFA (but will in a minute). Regardless of what it will say, I can say that it will mostly be wrong. Then again, the only prophet with any decent track record was Nostradamus, but not even he or anyone else predicted that Google Earth would be a smashing idea.
What MS figured, that nobody who didn't know they had a pirated copy would use this, has a major flaw.
Imagine a Fortune 1000 manager doing updates. Maybe this person isn't sure where the licenses came from. OEMs have given out bad copies before, and this is all a legal mine field. Now, does this person expose the company to a potential fraud scandal, or simply code in the exploit for the next round up updates (if they aren't already scared away from all updates because of SP1/SP2 horror stories) ?
Now imagine a different situation. Adware companies can easily hijack certain urls. What if fraudulent OEMs ship with adware, and they simply fire up an internal routine updater to run the hack as well?
If someone is putting illegitimate copies of Windows on computers, you can bet they know about this hack, and you can bet they will take every measure they can to cover their asses. How many off the shelf computers today come with their own custom patch/update programs? Quite a few. Adding this hack into their update, before you could hit MS's update, would not be difficult.
MS will only catch the stupid/unprepared piraters, and of those they do catch, they'll be middleman OEMs who most likely themselves were duped (just like in the past).
I know its a really dumb thing to say, but I'll still say it... I can't believe a world leading software company has the security thought process of a newb's "I'll hide my page with a 3 digit javascript code" mentality.
And then they expect me to download their security updates?!? Are you KIDDING ME?!?
There's hosting that's free as in beer, and hosting that's free as in speech. While I know you can easily find that I've argued that free as in beer is often the more important factor, many times people over look free as in speech.
Free hosting, in promoting both free's, does a great job. Unfortunately, it just takes a couple bastards to ruin it for everyone else.
Free as in speech hosting is different. The key here is to not charge too much, and to put in place your hosting policies to afford as much privacy as you possibly can. Here is an example of what I have learned, YIAAH (yes, I am a hoster):
Honor your customer's privacy. This means that you tell them what you will and won't provide to 3rd parties, explicitly. DO NOT BE VAGUE! If you are based in the US, explain: "If a US court orders us to reveal your identity, then by law, we must."
Tell your customers what speech you won't allow. If you don't allow spam (I sure as hell won't), tell them. Let them know which forms of speech you support. Everyone has their limits, and for someone to find the free as in speech host right for them, this is vital information for them to know, and will save all parties a lot of headaches.
Charge a fair price. If you can offer hosting for free, go for it. If, however, you are like 99% of the rest of hosting, charge only what you must. Don't be afraid of a little profit. Profit allows you to expand, and gets you through the slow months. Have fair refund policies. This is important, and will give you a good reputation. Bad reputations in hosting last, forever. Good refund policies are more important than what you charge. Fly by night operations tend to run by the unwritten evil-rule: NEVER REFUND! Thus, if you haggle over a refund, you will be labeled as a scammer.
For the love of all that is holy, KNOW THE TECHNOLOGY! This is listed last, but it surely the most important. If you have never hosted before, then you probably have no clue what you are up against. You better damn well know: firewalls, trusted sources, DNS, scripting/programming, IDS, load/bandwidth balancing, and a slew of other things that I could sit here for hours listing. Above all (I'm an old school thinker), you better damn well know hacking. I mean this in the sense of black hat hard core hacking. If you don't know how they can get in, then you are at a great disadvantage to the black hats. To this point, I would add: Work with other hosters! Hosters are a usually very helpful community that works together. Fellow comprimised hosts only hurt you. From their ultra-high bandwidth comprimised machines, they can reign down terror on you. Get involved in a large community of hosters, be it by OS (linux, windows, bsd), or by variant (CPanel, Ensim, Webmin... or generic RedHat, Suse, etc.). Few are truly experts. I'm the first to say, I am certainly not an expert, and I've done this for several years now. But, I know where to go for help and advice, and I have enough technical knowledge under my belt to survive long enough to get that help.
Basically, be honest and up front, know your limits, ensure your operation is financially viable, and know your shit. Getting into the hosting business sounds a LOT easier than it really is. If you get into it for moral purposes like me (as part of a not-for-profit incorporation), it is even harder. Free as in speech hosting is NOT a cash cow. There are also few rewards and thanks. Your days will be spent not only providing services equal to other top hosters, but without the benefit of a fat paycheck (or any paycheck at all).
The rest of your time will be spent always looking over your shoulder for complaint e-mail. If you host bands, maybe one of them slips in a copyrighted song on their hosting, and one wrong move with the RIAA can shut you down. Maybe someone makes a threat via e-mail, and then you have someone demanding user identity, or trying to enforce the Patriot Act on you. Maybe a site ju
What worries me is that with the new Piracy Czar, and talk about new digital terrorism laws, that spam will be declared terrorism. I utterly despise spam as much if not more than the next guy. But I would be extremely uncomfortable thinking that in the future, CIA hits on spammers would be painted as mafia or vigilante violence... and that because of the apparent support of this (everyone here, and myself a little, doesn't feel quite bad about this, considering how many grandmothers probably lost money to this guy, just because they wanted to e-mail little Johnny across the country), if something like that happened, and the press did find out about it, there would be little opposition.
Spy cloak and dagger may have gone digital, but the remedies of old for eliminating enemies won't only take the form of cyber-attacks. I'm not saying this is a conspiracy... unless we hear about other high tech "bad guys" coming to an early demise. The effect on privacy could cause an extreme chilling effect, and is why I hope this case gets a thorough investigation to find the murderer.
"And hey, since Wal-mart is selling this, I think it might just give the iPod a run for its money."
That's modded funny? That's pretty insightful to me. I think if the price comes down a bit, it'll sure give the iPod Shuffle a run for its money. On price, if Walmart wants to be it, it will.
Besides, with a built in FM tuner, even the technologically inept can use it until they figure out what an MP3 is. That's a definate Walmart winner. That feature alone makes is a definate Rio killer. It also has 5 hours more play time than the iPod Shuffle, weighs less than iPS, and actually comes in color (white is so 2004, unless you like being mugged).
The jury is out on iPod killer status, but I have to say one thing. It is pretty sexy, and a definate conversation starter (for geeks at least). If it goes hits $110 or less, I'd probably get it.
That's assuming that imperfections were not done on purpose. Yet another obstacle for us mere mortals to overcome, I suppose. A topic better suited for a theologian or philosopher than a scientist.
Other's think it was aliens, which by definition, would still fall under intelligent design. To disprove intelligent design really requires disproving not just the mainstream religious ideas, but all the odd ball ones as well. Not likely. Then again, even evolution has some very serious holes in it as well.
A lot of theories, some wild notions, few actual answers... yet.
1. Changes to time and time zones are one of the least anticipated changes to an OS. Just look at Y2K.
2. Most people don't update software if it still works to suit their needs. This isn't just the OS, but all supporting software.
3. Bill Gates wished everyone used the latest Windows OS.
Conclusion - Bill Gates isn't just pushing for changes to DST now, but for changes to time every 3-5 years to keep up with the release of new Windows OS's. Just watch as this change nearly guarantees that any business or person relying critically on Dos, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows 98 (which won't get patched anymore, iirc, and Windows 2000 joining them in the not too distant future) will be literally forced to buy new computers (Michael Dell is behind the conspiracy too) with Windows XP or better in order to operate under the new time changes.
That's the conspiracy theory at least. But, the conclusion of who will benefit is most likely a given, and that's just in the tech sector.
This change will have a serious economic impact, which will ripple across the entire world. It will weaken small and medium businesses that will be forced to upgrade, and strengthen big businesses that directly sell the necessary upgrades as well as indirect benefactors who will profit from their products being re-purchased or purchased to replace old software. (That old DOS inventory won't work on XP, you'll have to call Oracle for the latest software.)
My opinion is to get it over with and change over to the logical conclusion of all of this, Triangular Earth Calendar [TEC], which features a symmetrical and intuitive calendar, and decimal time without time zones.
Under those false assumptions, one could say that "The automobile has clearly evolved through evolution, and nobody actually designs them, because they do not come out perfect."
Intelligent Design != Perfection, Intelligent Design just means that something intelligent created life. It didn't say it created it perfectly, or even with any purpose, or anything else. The basic fundamental hypothesis of intelligent design is simple creation, not inferring intent or purpose of the intelligence.
And the mistake here is assuming that any intelligent designer would ONLY create perfection. All you proved was that life is imperfect, not that it wasn't the result of an intelligent designer.
If you are going to tout science, then by all means, actually use it. A first year journalism student could disprove the arguments here without knowing any science at all.
This is similar to the famous joke, "If God is love, and love is blind, is Ray Charles God?" You're jumping very far outside the evidence to a conclusion. That's called faith, not science.
I am a believer that both theories can be correct, and that evolution is a tool of an intelligent designer. I consider it the same as those programmers out there that create virtual life and virii on their desktops via evolution software, and that life is not perfect. This is what demonstrates, to me, the plausibility of Intelligent Evolution. But, I would never confuse that as scientific evidence.
Some want the best of both, and set their homepage (or something similar) as their desktop. I've never had great luck with them, myself. But, setting something like Yahoo or Googles homepages as your desktop background would take care of the functions you just mentioned.
Either way, I think that clutter is only a secondary problem. The primary problem, imo, is running a browser/interpreter in the background all the time. This stuff is for "teen chat queens" (AOL commercial reference), but not for gamers.
But, you know, this all boils down to being a direct move against Google in the API space. They're just countering Google's API popularity for Google Maps and other AJAX goodies. So, Yahoo just went out bought a JS company. Yeah, take that Google, Yahoo now has javascript API's too! Uhh.... let me guess, next, the companies will battle over
If you have extremely low bandwidth (or a lot of data to backup), you should consider using rsync via SSH tunnel (for transfer security). After the initial file transfer, which must sync all files the first time, even a dial-up modem should be able to keep up with daily transfers of a single user. If the business is using a cable modem connection, this should be sufficient for them as well for nightly backups.
Rsync transfers only changes made to files, not the entire files. Let's say you only change 3 or 4 files a day, like financial spreadsheets. If you rsync the entire folder, the only data that is transfered is from those 3 or 4 files, and not even the entire files, just the exact changes made. This is an extremely efficient transfer method.
Of course, there are now some incremental solutions without using rsync (which isn't perfect in all situations), but rsync should get the job done in most situations. If you need backups on a more timed scale, a CVS-like solution might suit you better.
Regardless of online backup method, RAID should still be part of your total solution if you are really concerned about data integrity.
If you don't want to be swallowed whole by your government, like in China, you have to be able to have the ability to remain 100% anonymous, no exceptions. Because the moment you give anyone the power to remove the cloak of anonymity, you destroy anonymity from tyrants completely.
I find arguments against online anonymity to be silly, usually taking two tracks:
A) Hackers will attack us! B) Bad guys (usually meaning pedophiles) will hide there!
B is a given. I support the death penalty for pedophiles (even though I generally don't support the death penalty as it is applied currently), but you have to expect that with anonymity, people are going to do things you don't agree with. That's the entire point of anonymous, is so that people who disagree with you can't track you down and throw you in jail... like living in China and proclaiming that the government there is corrupt.
A is naive. It's the weakness of the protocol/service that must be fixed. Hackers will always be anonymous, and you can never prevent that. Either by hijacking other machines or whatever, it is nearly a fundamental law of digital information. This is no reason to deny it to those using it for free speech purposes.
With respect to the principle of anonymity and privacy, I believe the good outweighs to bad, regardless of any bad someone can show me. Let the drug smugglers and terrorists plot online. That doesn't bother me (in the sense that use of the service bothers me, though the plotting itself does bother me). They can just as easily plot in a closed room or cave in the desert. What does bother me, is that these will be the excuses used to end all reasonable privacy and mark the beginning of placing all spaces under constant surveillance. Without anonymity, tyranny would rule, and would be FAR worse than any private evil anyone can imagine. Think Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong-il, etc. Those men were/are worse than 20 Bin Ladens. And the benefits of anonymity to fight evil governments are far greater than the negative benefits to private bad guys.
"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson
"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." - Napoleon Bonaparte
On the face of it, a police officer seems to already have most of what they "really" need. However, what if you could take the communications equipment of a squad car and put it on a foot cop? Add to that more armour plating. That wouldn't just reduce police fatalities, but lower the thresh hold the officer needs to use dealy force. Considering a cop could, with this, left coked out suspects over their heads and twirl them around.
Police officers could be in constant commmunications with each other, could each have individual audio/video capture equipment (later admissible in court... for either side, but better "point of view" than a car-cam), more tools (foot cop could carry most of what squad units have in their trunks), and could easily run down any suspect on foot chases (maybe even have night vision, flood lights, even flashing police lights on the shoulders).
"Don't think for a moment that military applications of super-strength will mean Superman-style punching villains in the face. It won't. Ever."
Yeah, but with Super Cops, that might be exactly one of the applications.
Yeah, but let's all be honest. We've all wanted to see the cold war go hot. This is the main event, the cage match. And it pits a giant good guy image versus a giant bad guy (with loyal fans of his own) against each other in a title match.
I wonder if the WWF( or E, or whatever letter they go by now) has tried to license any of this.
At least this time, they can't use it to attack the lower/poverty classes. Maybe there is a way, but I don't see it. If it's an international thing, and doesn't create "D.A.R.E. 2: Dare to purchase Windows!", then I'll be happy.
Otherwise, they'll end up locking up a lot of middle/upper class kids, and this country really won't stand up for that. That's a low, down, dirty way of putting it. Unfortunately, it's also the truth. If it did mostly affected lower/poverty levels, nobody would seem to care. It almost makes you want to see the "other side of the tracks" experience a war without end on them, so they could empathize with each other. Maybe then everyone would see the issues for what they really are.
"What are you in for?"
"5lb of weed in the trunk. You?"
"5 copies of Windows Vista under the passenger seat."
The UK needs a 5th Amendment, such as in the US. You cannot be forced to incriminate yourself. Now, I know what everyone is thinking. That this means they can't ask for your keys. No, if the US passed this law, they could still ask for your keys. Courts have ruled there is some evidence, which you must turn over, such as telling the police/court what your name is.
However, here's how to get around this little problem with a 5th Amendment: Encrypt your key with a passphrase that is an incriminating statement by you. You can then plead the 5th Amendment.
Best thing to do is to admit guilt to the worst thing they can assume about your encrypted files. For instance, in the reference of your friend with an offshore account, store his encrypted file in your own encrypted file. Then, make the passphrase:
This f1le contain$ my illegal drug smuggling money and the loc4tion I hid the Gun after I k1ll3d a guy.
Now, doesn't matter if that's true, but just assume the worst they could come up with. The only way they can get the key now is to guarantee you immunity from prosecution for those crimes, which is the only way the court can force you to testify against yourself. And, once they do that, you're home free. It won't help your friend (his own encrypted file, inside your encrypted file, should be set up the same way, if he's smart), but it'll save your own butt. Just make sure you get state and federal immunity first!
I'm just weird, but I see a different point personally. Having no phone, the dial up means little/nothing to me. But, ether+wireless in one card, and bridging the two to share. Well, that's just something I never knew I needed until I read this review. I don't like wireless security. But, I like to occasionally unplug and walk outside in the fresh air and read/. and comment on stories about wireless cards.
This would save people like me the hassle of popping cards in and out (potentially breaking them... and I've demolished many). The only Wifi I'm interested in is the one from my router, not from an access provider or hotel (don't travel that much). But, even for me, I find this a useful product, especially if it has linux support.
Now, if I could just find a versitile power adapter that can auto-detect a device's polarity/voltage requirements (if it ain't out there, I got first dibs on the IP, hehe).
From the perspective of a guy who pays high insurance fees...
BY GOD! The US Government did something wonderful for the citizens. With a few tax dollars (best I ever spent) and now a volunteer developer force to keep it going in the FOSS community, the government just did the equivilant of developing a free drug that doctor's can prescribe for nearly anything.
It's things like this that will bring down medical costs, not by capping lawsuit limits, or government medical savings programs (which I've seen somewhat in action via a private insurance provider... horrible waste of money if you are a healthy adult, and not very useful if you aren't).
I don't do it often, but I've got to give the government kudos on this. They get a patriotic Jesus thumbs up from me!
But, if California law specifically prohibits this, Google may not be liable to have to follow it. This is similar that States don't have to recognize gay marriages of other states.
How would a California business be under any obligation to a provision of a contract signed in a seperate state which is specifically forbidden in California? If it were a criminal matter, California would be refusing extradition of Google because the charge itself is a violation of California law.
MS does not endorse killing entire colonies of penguins with depth charges. However, it simply doesn't think they should be allowed to breed for free and in the open for all to see (think of the children!), and is humanely protecting other marine life from the terrorist penguins... by blowing them up.
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"If the non-compete clauses and similar restrictions are not worth the pay, then negotiate, put up with it, or work somewhere else."
That's easier said than done. Even non-technical types are having to sign these to work. Want factory work? You'll be signing one as well. Negotiate for guy-off-the-street jobs? (Union negotiated contracts are not easy to come by either, not for the places hiring.) Work somewhere else, in this economy?
No offense, but the only option for the 99.999% of the rest of us who aren't former MS execs is to put up with it. That's why this is important. This is the same crap as the EULA. There's always a technical alternative to "not signing", just as the alternative to not getting a driver's license is to walk everywhere.
When something comes to the point of being so impractical as being virtually impossible to work around, then the alternatives are no more than legal smoke screens. These contract restrictions are just another piece of the puzzle to extend the grip of power of a company over its workers. More hours, more restrictions, less pay... 30 minutes worth of break time for a 12 hour work period. You can't even smoke on company property in a lot of places, even if you are in your car, with the windows rolled up. Hair must be trimmed to company specifications. No visible piercings, even in the ears of women. No visible tatoos. No fancy wedding rings. Request all bathroom/water breaks through the supervisor. Mandatory overtime. Termination without cause clauses. No sitting while working your 50+ hour weeks. And that's for jobs paying under $8 an hour around here. Those restrictions aren't even worth twice that amount. Ask anyone making wages like that about "negotiating their contract". They'll laugh you out of the building.
The labor market is complete crap. Negotiating is for people who haven't already run out their unemployment and are thankful just to be able to keep feeding their kids and not lose their home.
We are left to rely on our public representatives who have our best in mind (smirk) to protect us from exploitative practices. Unfortunately, those people are chipping away at the existing protections, like giving companies more straight time hours. Office workers are losing to India, factory workers to China.
But company profits are up... always up. Gotta keep the DOW over 10,000!
I haven't RTFA (but will in a minute). Regardless of what it will say, I can say that it will mostly be wrong. Then again, the only prophet with any decent track record was Nostradamus, but not even he or anyone else predicted that Google Earth would be a smashing idea.
Then again, I'm still awaiting Google Grid.
What MS figured, that nobody who didn't know they had a pirated copy would use this, has a major flaw.
Imagine a Fortune 1000 manager doing updates. Maybe this person isn't sure where the licenses came from. OEMs have given out bad copies before, and this is all a legal mine field. Now, does this person expose the company to a potential fraud scandal, or simply code in the exploit for the next round up updates (if they aren't already scared away from all updates because of SP1/SP2 horror stories) ?
Now imagine a different situation. Adware companies can easily hijack certain urls. What if fraudulent OEMs ship with adware, and they simply fire up an internal routine updater to run the hack as well?
If someone is putting illegitimate copies of Windows on computers, you can bet they know about this hack, and you can bet they will take every measure they can to cover their asses. How many off the shelf computers today come with their own custom patch/update programs? Quite a few. Adding this hack into their update, before you could hit MS's update, would not be difficult.
MS will only catch the stupid/unprepared piraters, and of those they do catch, they'll be middleman OEMs who most likely themselves were duped (just like in the past).
I know its a really dumb thing to say, but I'll still say it... I can't believe a world leading software company has the security thought process of a newb's "I'll hide my page with a 3 digit javascript code" mentality.
And then they expect me to download their security updates?!? Are you KIDDING ME?!?
Free hosting, in promoting both free's, does a great job. Unfortunately, it just takes a couple bastards to ruin it for everyone else.
Free as in speech hosting is different. The key here is to not charge too much, and to put in place your hosting policies to afford as much privacy as you possibly can. Here is an example of what I have learned, YIAAH (yes, I am a hoster):
Basically, be honest and up front, know your limits, ensure your operation is financially viable, and know your shit. Getting into the hosting business sounds a LOT easier than it really is. If you get into it for moral purposes like me (as part of a not-for-profit incorporation), it is even harder. Free as in speech hosting is NOT a cash cow. There are also few rewards and thanks. Your days will be spent not only providing services equal to other top hosters, but without the benefit of a fat paycheck (or any paycheck at all).
The rest of your time will be spent always looking over your shoulder for complaint e-mail. If you host bands, maybe one of them slips in a copyrighted song on their hosting, and one wrong move with the RIAA can shut you down. Maybe someone makes a threat via e-mail, and then you have someone demanding user identity, or trying to enforce the Patriot Act on you. Maybe a site ju
I don't know if Dell supports these machines equally, but if they do, it *could* be due to higher tech support costs.
I think it's bullshit too, but you asked for a reason, and that's the only comprehensible one I can come up with... except that MS is a monopoly.
Am I the only one who read the headline and thought, "Why the hell are the japanese wanting 10 supercomputers?"
I just figured they wanted to hold the world's fastest LAN party.
All your campus are belong to Google, you have no chance to MSN, make your time! HA-HA-HA
Hahaha, yeah, stupid question. But, I'd be hell bent on a refund if I had to watch a commercial for something I paid for.
Ah, the good ol' days when ads meant you hadn't yet purchased the software.
What worries me is that with the new Piracy Czar, and talk about new digital terrorism laws, that spam will be declared terrorism. I utterly despise spam as much if not more than the next guy. But I would be extremely uncomfortable thinking that in the future, CIA hits on spammers would be painted as mafia or vigilante violence... and that because of the apparent support of this (everyone here, and myself a little, doesn't feel quite bad about this, considering how many grandmothers probably lost money to this guy, just because they wanted to e-mail little Johnny across the country), if something like that happened, and the press did find out about it, there would be little opposition.
Spy cloak and dagger may have gone digital, but the remedies of old for eliminating enemies won't only take the form of cyber-attacks. I'm not saying this is a conspiracy... unless we hear about other high tech "bad guys" coming to an early demise. The effect on privacy could cause an extreme chilling effect, and is why I hope this case gets a thorough investigation to find the murderer.
"And hey, since Wal-mart is selling this, I think it might just give the iPod a run for its money."
That's modded funny? That's pretty insightful to me. I think if the price comes down a bit, it'll sure give the iPod Shuffle a run for its money. On price, if Walmart wants to be it, it will.
Besides, with a built in FM tuner, even the technologically inept can use it until they figure out what an MP3 is. That's a definate Walmart winner. That feature alone makes is a definate Rio killer. It also has 5 hours more play time than the iPod Shuffle, weighs less than iPS, and actually comes in color (white is so 2004, unless you like being mugged).
The jury is out on iPod killer status, but I have to say one thing. It is pretty sexy, and a definate conversation starter (for geeks at least). If it goes hits $110 or less, I'd probably get it.
That's assuming that imperfections were not done on purpose. Yet another obstacle for us mere mortals to overcome, I suppose. A topic better suited for a theologian or philosopher than a scientist.
Other's think it was aliens, which by definition, would still fall under intelligent design. To disprove intelligent design really requires disproving not just the mainstream religious ideas, but all the odd ball ones as well. Not likely. Then again, even evolution has some very serious holes in it as well.
A lot of theories, some wild notions, few actual answers... yet.
Ok, don your tin foil hats campers, here goes!
1. Changes to time and time zones are one of the least anticipated changes to an OS. Just look at Y2K.
2. Most people don't update software if it still works to suit their needs. This isn't just the OS, but all supporting software.
3. Bill Gates wished everyone used the latest Windows OS.
Conclusion - Bill Gates isn't just pushing for changes to DST now, but for changes to time every 3-5 years to keep up with the release of new Windows OS's. Just watch as this change nearly guarantees that any business or person relying critically on Dos, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows 98 (which won't get patched anymore, iirc, and Windows 2000 joining them in the not too distant future) will be literally forced to buy new computers (Michael Dell is behind the conspiracy too) with Windows XP or better in order to operate under the new time changes.
That's the conspiracy theory at least. But, the conclusion of who will benefit is most likely a given, and that's just in the tech sector.
This change will have a serious economic impact, which will ripple across the entire world. It will weaken small and medium businesses that will be forced to upgrade, and strengthen big businesses that directly sell the necessary upgrades as well as indirect benefactors who will profit from their products being re-purchased or purchased to replace old software. (That old DOS inventory won't work on XP, you'll have to call Oracle for the latest software.)
My opinion is to get it over with and change over to the logical conclusion of all of this, Triangular Earth Calendar [TEC], which features a symmetrical and intuitive calendar, and decimal time without time zones.
Under those false assumptions, one could say that "The automobile has clearly evolved through evolution, and nobody actually designs them, because they do not come out perfect."
Intelligent Design != Perfection, Intelligent Design just means that something intelligent created life. It didn't say it created it perfectly, or even with any purpose, or anything else. The basic fundamental hypothesis of intelligent design is simple creation, not inferring intent or purpose of the intelligence.
And the mistake here is assuming that any intelligent designer would ONLY create perfection. All you proved was that life is imperfect, not that it wasn't the result of an intelligent designer.
If you are going to tout science, then by all means, actually use it. A first year journalism student could disprove the arguments here without knowing any science at all.
This is similar to the famous joke, "If God is love, and love is blind, is Ray Charles God?" You're jumping very far outside the evidence to a conclusion. That's called faith, not science.
I am a believer that both theories can be correct, and that evolution is a tool of an intelligent designer. I consider it the same as those programmers out there that create virtual life and virii on their desktops via evolution software, and that life is not perfect. This is what demonstrates, to me, the plausibility of Intelligent Evolution. But, I would never confuse that as scientific evidence.
Either way, I think that clutter is only a secondary problem. The primary problem, imo, is running a browser/interpreter in the background all the time. This stuff is for "teen chat queens" (AOL commercial reference), but not for gamers.
But, you know, this all boils down to being a direct move against Google in the API space. They're just countering Google's API popularity for Google Maps and other AJAX goodies. So, Yahoo just went out bought a JS company. Yeah, take that Google, Yahoo now has javascript API's too! Uhh.... let me guess, next, the companies will battle over if memory serves me correctly.
If you have extremely low bandwidth (or a lot of data to backup), you should consider using rsync via SSH tunnel (for transfer security). After the initial file transfer, which must sync all files the first time, even a dial-up modem should be able to keep up with daily transfers of a single user. If the business is using a cable modem connection, this should be sufficient for them as well for nightly backups.
Rsync transfers only changes made to files, not the entire files. Let's say you only change 3 or 4 files a day, like financial spreadsheets. If you rsync the entire folder, the only data that is transfered is from those 3 or 4 files, and not even the entire files, just the exact changes made. This is an extremely efficient transfer method.
Using rsync with SSH
Of course, there are now some incremental solutions without using rsync (which isn't perfect in all situations), but rsync should get the job done in most situations. If you need backups on a more timed scale, a CVS-like solution might suit you better.
Regardless of online backup method, RAID should still be part of your total solution if you are really concerned about data integrity.
If you don't want to be swallowed whole by your government, like in China, you have to be able to have the ability to remain 100% anonymous, no exceptions. Because the moment you give anyone the power to remove the cloak of anonymity, you destroy anonymity from tyrants completely.
I find arguments against online anonymity to be silly, usually taking two tracks:
A) Hackers will attack us!
B) Bad guys (usually meaning pedophiles) will hide there!
B is a given. I support the death penalty for pedophiles (even though I generally don't support the death penalty as it is applied currently), but you have to expect that with anonymity, people are going to do things you don't agree with. That's the entire point of anonymous, is so that people who disagree with you can't track you down and throw you in jail... like living in China and proclaiming that the government there is corrupt.
A is naive. It's the weakness of the protocol/service that must be fixed. Hackers will always be anonymous, and you can never prevent that. Either by hijacking other machines or whatever, it is nearly a fundamental law of digital information. This is no reason to deny it to those using it for free speech purposes.
With respect to the principle of anonymity and privacy, I believe the good outweighs to bad, regardless of any bad someone can show me. Let the drug smugglers and terrorists plot online. That doesn't bother me (in the sense that use of the service bothers me, though the plotting itself does bother me). They can just as easily plot in a closed room or cave in the desert. What does bother me, is that these will be the excuses used to end all reasonable privacy and mark the beginning of placing all spaces under constant surveillance. Without anonymity, tyranny would rule, and would be FAR worse than any private evil anyone can imagine. Think Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong-il, etc. Those men were/are worse than 20 Bin Ladens. And the benefits of anonymity to fight evil governments are far greater than the negative benefits to private bad guys.
"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson
"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." - Napoleon Bonaparte
On the face of it, a police officer seems to already have most of what they "really" need. However, what if you could take the communications equipment of a squad car and put it on a foot cop? Add to that more armour plating. That wouldn't just reduce police fatalities, but lower the thresh hold the officer needs to use dealy force. Considering a cop could, with this, left coked out suspects over their heads and twirl them around.
Police officers could be in constant commmunications with each other, could each have individual audio/video capture equipment (later admissible in court... for either side, but better "point of view" than a car-cam), more tools (foot cop could carry most of what squad units have in their trunks), and could easily run down any suspect on foot chases (maybe even have night vision, flood lights, even flashing police lights on the shoulders).
"Don't think for a moment that military applications of super-strength will mean Superman-style punching villains in the face. It won't. Ever."
Yeah, but with Super Cops, that might be exactly one of the applications.
"Either way Google and Microsoft are at WAR now."
Yeah, but let's all be honest. We've all wanted to see the cold war go hot. This is the main event, the cage match. And it pits a giant good guy image versus a giant bad guy (with loyal fans of his own) against each other in a title match.
I wonder if the WWF( or E, or whatever letter they go by now) has tried to license any of this.
At least this time, they can't use it to attack the lower/poverty classes. Maybe there is a way, but I don't see it. If it's an international thing, and doesn't create "D.A.R.E. 2: Dare to purchase Windows!", then I'll be happy.
Otherwise, they'll end up locking up a lot of middle/upper class kids, and this country really won't stand up for that. That's a low, down, dirty way of putting it. Unfortunately, it's also the truth. If it did mostly affected lower/poverty levels, nobody would seem to care. It almost makes you want to see the "other side of the tracks" experience a war without end on them, so they could empathize with each other. Maybe then everyone would see the issues for what they really are.
"What are you in for?"
"5lb of weed in the trunk. You?"
"5 copies of Windows Vista under the passenger seat."
The UK needs a 5th Amendment, such as in the US. You cannot be forced to incriminate yourself. Now, I know what everyone is thinking. That this means they can't ask for your keys. No, if the US passed this law, they could still ask for your keys. Courts have ruled there is some evidence, which you must turn over, such as telling the police/court what your name is.
However, here's how to get around this little problem with a 5th Amendment: Encrypt your key with a passphrase that is an incriminating statement by you. You can then plead the 5th Amendment.
Best thing to do is to admit guilt to the worst thing they can assume about your encrypted files. For instance, in the reference of your friend with an offshore account, store his encrypted file in your own encrypted file. Then, make the passphrase:
This f1le contain$ my illegal drug smuggling money and the loc4tion I hid the Gun after I k1ll3d a guy.
Now, doesn't matter if that's true, but just assume the worst they could come up with. The only way they can get the key now is to guarantee you immunity from prosecution for those crimes, which is the only way the court can force you to testify against yourself. And, once they do that, you're home free. It won't help your friend (his own encrypted file, inside your encrypted file, should be set up the same way, if he's smart), but it'll save your own butt. Just make sure you get state and federal immunity first!
IANAL, but I am a sneaky bastard.
And just what do you think Freud would have to same about comparing your list length to other people's list lengths?
I'm just weird, but I see a different point personally. Having no phone, the dial up means little/nothing to me. But, ether+wireless in one card, and bridging the two to share. Well, that's just something I never knew I needed until I read this review. I don't like wireless security. But, I like to occasionally unplug and walk outside in the fresh air and read /. and comment on stories about wireless cards.
This would save people like me the hassle of popping cards in and out (potentially breaking them... and I've demolished many). The only Wifi I'm interested in is the one from my router, not from an access provider or hotel (don't travel that much). But, even for me, I find this a useful product, especially if it has linux support.
Now, if I could just find a versitile power adapter that can auto-detect a device's polarity/voltage requirements (if it ain't out there, I got first dibs on the IP, hehe).
From the perspective of a guy who pays high insurance fees...
BY GOD! The US Government did something wonderful for the citizens. With a few tax dollars (best I ever spent) and now a volunteer developer force to keep it going in the FOSS community, the government just did the equivilant of developing a free drug that doctor's can prescribe for nearly anything.
It's things like this that will bring down medical costs, not by capping lawsuit limits, or government medical savings programs (which I've seen somewhat in action via a private insurance provider... horrible waste of money if you are a healthy adult, and not very useful if you aren't).
I don't do it often, but I've got to give the government kudos on this. They get a patriotic Jesus thumbs up from me!
But, if California law specifically prohibits this, Google may not be liable to have to follow it. This is similar that States don't have to recognize gay marriages of other states.
How would a California business be under any obligation to a provision of a contract signed in a seperate state which is specifically forbidden in California? If it were a criminal matter, California would be refusing extradition of Google because the charge itself is a violation of California law.
IANAL, but that's just how I see it.
What's that view the cute couple is looking at?
It's Operation Pengu-in Pengu-out, of course! Windows Vista: "The water runs red in 2006!"
MS does not endorse killing entire colonies of penguins with depth charges. However, it simply doesn't think they should be allowed to breed for free and in the open for all to see (think of the children!), and is humanely protecting other marine life from the terrorist penguins... by blowing them up.