In your five years as MySQL CEO, what has been your proudest moment? Do you find it difficult to lead a company based on a product that belongs to a community? Do you ever experience any fallout/backfire from running your company on such a business model?
Your website touts you as having the lowest defects per KLOC by up to 12 times the industry standard, what do you attribute as the leading factor to your success in this respect? Since cold cash is the traditional method, how do you incentivise code quality in an open source product?
In a market where people are just looking for stability, simplicity & scalability, where do you turn for innovation in your products? Is there a lot of research and development towards new features and completely new products in MySQL's community or do you aim primarily to do one thing well? How do you influence the direction of this research in such a large open source project? Do you attempt to add direction at all?
In your eyes, what's the biggest problem with MySQL? More specifically, what leaves market share room for Oracle & your competitors? Do you even see yourself as having any competitors since your product is free?
Apple: Jobs Unfazed by Zune... from the well-he-would-say-that dept.
How is this news?
Of course he's 'unfazed' by the Zune. He sits atop a company that currently has massive (and, more importantly, very loyal) fanbase in both computers and portable media players.
Microsoft is new to this market and I doubt jobs will be afraid of anybody (even Microsoft) in this market. Hell, I'll bet Jobs isn't even concerned about iRiver's or Sony's products even though they seem to have been in the market longer.
What was he supposed to do? Halt all production and support of iPods at the sight of the Zune and declare that he's beaten? Is he supposed to assume the fetal position and cower and cry when he hears the word 'Zune?' Retreat to the northern woods where he trains night and day so that one day he might come back and beat Microsoft in some other fashion?
I would be shocked if Jobs said anything otherwise. What's our next headline for Slashdot? Is it going to be "Steve Ballmer's Kids Love Zune"? What about "Jobs Says New Mac Models Are Good"? You gotta keep up those hard hitting headlines.
The questions in this article are laughable! Interviewer: "Jobs, I've pitched you so many softball questions but in an effort to pitch you another, how can the iPod lose its popularity with Dick Cheney and Queen Elizabeth owning one?" Jobs: "It can't, but let me attempt to be modest as you pop a woody for me." Interviewer: "I know you've only sold millions of iPods so let me attempt to further illustrate how great it is, will it always be about the music?" Jobs: "It's about whatever makes it sell the most."
Stop humping his leg!
I think the only way you could worry Jobs is if you made a media device that physically pleasures the user (with nods to Stanislaw Lem). Although Jobs could just fire back that the video playing iPod requires some effort but can meet the same needs.
Ever since news started filtering out about Conroe, the AMD fanboys have been deserting their old object of worship faster than it takes to cook an Athlon XP. It was a 'no-brainer': Conroe was turning the tables on the Athlon 64, and 'ass mastering' it at lower clock speeds -- with faster versions already on the way.
Did you just use the phrase 'ass mastering' in an opinion piece that is supposed to be newsworthy? Ok, I would like you to submit to me some examples of AMD fanboys deserting and some hard evidence about Conroe and its 'ass mastery.' The hyperlinks in your article are nothing but damn advertisements.
And please include a 'value' analysis in your report on 'ass mastering' because the lower range Athlon 64's are much closer to my price range than the lowest priced Conroe. You know, there's a vast market out there for people who just want CPUs that run a word processor and connect them to the internet. Vast.
Intel has clearly made a huge comeback, and intends to drive home its advantage still further with the Kentsfield quad-core part.
No way. Intel made a comeback? You mean that whenever one side comes out with a newer chip, they are beating the other side? This completely blows my mind. Completely.
Look, give AMD time to react. I don't think many people have considered them out of the running even for a second. And don't forget about the AMD/IBM alliance. IBM's research (and that is a lot of $$$ & research) backs AMD.
I find your opinion article to be largely unecessary and fear mongering -- who said AMD was in trouble in the first place?
[Setting: the Slashdot editors sit around a meeting room] CmdrTaco: Ok, it's Saturday night and anyone with a life is out doing stuff. But we need more material to keep our ad revenue coming in. *Everyone nods* CmdrTaco: So what have you got? kdawson: KILLER! CmdrTaco: Quiet, kdawson, Zonk is speaking. Zonk: Well, I could write in as an anonymous reader and we could talk about MP3 players. The kids love those, don't they? kdawson: KILLER! CmdrTaco: Kdawson, I don't want to have to warn you again. I love it, Zonk. But what will we title it? Zonk: How about 'Some More Electronics for You to Buy.' CmdrTaco: Nah, not enough edge, anyone else? kdawson, do you have something constructive to suggest? kdawson: Yeah, 'The Killer Devices that Kill iPods in the Killing Fields for the Killing Season... Killer.' CmdrTaco: You may have something there, kdawson... there's something fresh and new with the word 'killer.' Print it, push out the plum. kdawson: Killer.
So I need to license this fine piece of software to make sure my fakes are not fakes?
I believe the alternative is for you is to pay an 'expert' to analyze your work and fill out a certificate of authenticity. I'm no expert but I believe this gets pretty expensive with many many works of art requiring many different expert's (for each artist's) time.
Now, this software doesn't yet work for all artists but I would imagine that if I spent large amounts of money on art, I would prefer my auction house that I frequent to have this service ready so I can see for myself that the computer gives me a 95%+ level of confidence that it is indeed an original. That's not to say the certificate of authenticity isn't necessary, it'd just be nice to know before bidding and probably help the auction house catch frauds.
While the initial acquisition of this software might be pricey, the long term value of ensuring works are originals is, well, probably worth a lot more.
What amazes me is how many tools are out and available online regarding this sort of pattern recognition development. Since a lot of people know Java, I'm would encourage you to use the Java Media Framework (free from Sun). Once you have those libraries installed, it's quite easy to start editing sound, images & video. You might need to grab and install codecs if you're doing video analysis but I think almost all image codecs are supported.
I'm not going to lie, the video computation can be quite heavily but thankfully that framework is implemented such that the entire video doesn't have to be loaded into memory, just a one frame buffer analysis can be used if you want.
The last thing you would need is simply the know-how on programming these analysis algorithms. There are sites out there with a large wealth of up-to-date algorithms. An example would be the text book style site of pattern recognition or image processing. While this doesn't teach you how to do things, it does contain the raw resources and algorithms. General resources like the computer vision homepage exist that serve as links to all kinds of resources. Unfortunately, I know of no real solid books that contain everything out there because this field is so rapidly developing. My professors taught me from hand printed slides in a large compendium they had accumulated over the last couple years.
The last piece missing is the data to analyze. While you might not have the ultra high resolution Van Gogh images to do this yourself, it may be possible to visit museums with 6 MP cameras to obtain your own data. Failing that, there are repositories online that sometimes contain image information you can start with. While this may not satisfy your specific needs, it sure is great for the lazy developer like myself.
Lastly, I will mention citeseer and Google Scholar for cutting edge papers that you might want to try implementing. Distributing these algorithms and building a good GUI can be tricky but really anyone can build the backend. I heavily recommend experimenting with this if it interests you.
As an XP user, I'd be sorely tempted to use a simple option if available that suppressed ALL of these popups.
I think you mean to say that "as a well informed computer expert" instead of "as an XP user." These alerts and popups may be the thing needed to prevent my computer ignorant siblings from obediantly installing viruses on my parent's computer.
Granted, for you or I these would be merely annoyances, who's to say they won't actually help the average computer user? Maybe this will finally stop the zombie machines that were once ma and pa's internet machines?
I know they're Microsoft and they're stupid/evil but you have to see at least some sort of benefit from these (all be they poorly implemented) security features.
It was a couple patches ago when my wife filed for divorce. I'll never forget the day because that night, my epic tier two helm piece dropped and I won it for only 150 DKP. I don't think I'll ever understand why she did it. I was by her side the entire time she was being charged with child abuse. I know she never abused our son because I was in the other room on TeamSpeak when the alleged beating occurred and I didn't hear any screams except those of my guildmates dying from Nefarion. I know I should have attended the custody hearings for our son but the only night of the week I don't raid on is Tuesdays and the judge refused to move the dates. Call me crazy, but I never saw it coming.
Yep, the only reason she left me is because I'm in the IT field. I make a lot more cash on average & my job as software developer is one of the most highly sought after in the nation. Computers are becoming more and more prolific in everyday life so I maintain a solid job. But from what I've told you, it's pretty obvious that being in the IT field is what separated me and my wife. Looking back, I miss the times she brought me a beer as I was stacking sunders.
Sorry to make light of your situation, Frank, but honestly I think that a lot of IT people know how easy it is to find pr0n online. I've heard this is a growing concern. Honestly, the perks of an IT job would probably be desirable for the wife, I think it's just the fact that the person is more clued in to how to use computers for pleasure and addiction. IT filed offers more money and doesn't ravage your body (at least not like construction or farm work does). Whether it be Warcraft or pr0n, these addictions pay a toll on a happy marriage. If you find a correlation, it's probably in those topics, not just IT.
About the questions with kids, I don't have any but I would think that it would be very simple to get them involved with a computer project and spend plenty of weekend time with them. Then again, that's just what I would dream of happening... it would probably fail miserably with "I don't want to be a nerd like you, dad!"
In the summary you linked to the text "most secure Windows ever" where the title of the Slashdot article is "Microsoft Says Vista Most Secure OS Ever." You'll notice that the former doesn't really cause my blood to boil because I don't care which Windows is more secure. The latter, however, prompts 440 comments and the tag "lol" to appear.
You see, one is a logical statement because one would hope that newer OS's become more secure than their ancestors, while the other results in "You have offended my operating system of choice, prepare to die..."
In other news, Webster's Dictionary has replaced the word 'Machiavellian' with the word 'Dunnish' although the meaning will remain "Suggestive of or characterized by expediency, deceit, and cunning."
You know you've done something wrong when your name becomes a common term for something evil like PattyMail. I certainly hope she's still not blowing this off like she didn't do anything wrong. Then again, if everyone in corporate America does this, I hope that comes to light also.
Wish They Had Physical Cards
on
Check Out PoxNora
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Starter packs ($8.49) include 30 random Runes and boosters ($2.99) contain 10 random Runes.
There's also the option of buying 100 runes for $25 which breaks the price down to a quarter per rune.
Something that I wish they would have done is send me the cards. Yeah, I know it sounds nerdy but I still enjoy the physical ownership that comes with card games. I like putting cards in binders and looking at them--and I really don't know why. I like to appreciate the art of Magic The Gathering and used to enjoy reading the lore of the now discontinued Star Wars Collectable Card Game (Decipher).
It is neat that this is kind of treating an online game as having 'starter decks' and 'booster packs' but where's the physical cards? I think it would be neat if they sold physical packs of cards in stores with UIDs on them that you could register and play with. They could cost 10 cents more per rune and I'd still be more likely to buy them. I could have a sentimental attachment to these while the graphics & gameplay might change online with the evolution of the game. It would also be nice if there was also a non-digital game to play with the same cards--call me old fashion.
This game looks very neat and I plan on giving it a try. I like the history view of users on the forums so you can see the stats on the recent games they've played. Their forums look active which is always a good sign.
This "CrankyGeeks" club sounds right down my alley, how do I join?
I noticed that John Dvorak's title is "Head Crank," how do I pledge to become an "Associate Crank?" Is there any hazing involved? How many rants about technology and politics do I have to go on to become inducted? How many outlandish statements do I have to make? Oh, at this rate, I'll never become "Head Crank!"
So, unless someone toes a liberal party line their opinion has no value?
The problem is that this article seems to be primarily opinion oriented. Meaning it doesn't have a lot of news content.
Frankly, after reading this, I must say that this is more an opinionated editorial than an objective piece of news. I'm shocked that/. would select this report of YouTube censorship instead of another article from a more reputable news source
Sounds like this isn't so much censorship (which is the blocking objectional material) as it is a concentration on reducing bandwidth. If your school's primary interest is to serve HTML & e-mail to the students, then can you really blame them for blocking high bandwidth items?
For what it's worth, I am a masters student at George Mason University and regularly take advantage of free wireless on campus. I have had no problems accessing any sites although there are times when it just runs slow in general. Maybe this is because there are people streaming large media? I'm not sure.
Are we alone, or part of a disturbing trend?
If this is a trend, the only thing disturbing is that a new football stadium is probably a higher priority for a University than better network equipment and bandwidth. My undergrad was at the U of MN and they constantly wanted their own football stadium--they would spend any amount of money and create any parking problems necessary to get it.
let's see how well this actually goes. personally, i doubt the children will actually be using the laptops. instead i am very certain the parents will either sell it or the kids will get robbed by some local militia that always seems to pop up in every african country. eitherway, the kids won't have the laptops as projected and a black market is going to spawn up.
They want to make these laptops brightly colored so that if an adult is seen with one of them, it will be widely known that they have stolen from children. You have no idea how powerful social stigmas can be.
what i don't understand is, many places in libya don't even have electricity so how will the servers that each school is supposedly going to house, be powered? don't tell me someone will stand by 24-7 foot peddling for some juice...
Read the summary:
The laptops offer internet access and are powered by a wind-up crank.
I never thought I'd say this, but I wish India would follow Libya and reconsider--I mean this is the first time a humanitarian effort has strongly targeted learning tools. Food & medicine are important, but I sincerely hope we can show those we help how to continue to support themselves with tools like this.
I just saw a story saying that IE market share (at least in the US) had actually gone up slightly.
You did, and you'll find that oftentimes, analysts can make the numbers do whatever they want. If they want to spin it like IE is doing well, they will. If they want to root for the underdog, I'm sure there's some way to spin the numbers.
You'll also find that accurately measuring the use of browsers is not an easy task. I mean, how can you maintain that you have an unbiased sample of users? Well, you need to set up a site that everyone visits. But there's not a lot of sites like that and once you've got content on a page, you're already biased because you're catering to one particular set of internet users. So you can always be suspicious of the accuracy of these reports. Personally, I don't trust them to be accurate within 20%--and that doesn't say much about them!
What's always been confusing to me is what needs to be true in publishing. Books have always seemed to be protected from people 'publishing whatever they want.' But the more I think about it, the more I realize that politicians usually have to put up with books containing allegations that aren't entirely provable. So, for the most part, I think that books are safe from large postings of defamation.
The same can be said about magazines & newspapers (usually) though--with the National Enquirer and tabloids--it certainly does have examples of blatant slander.
But anyone can say anything on the internet and get away with it--or so I thought. Considering what I read online, I'm certainly surprised there aren't more cases like this.
It seems the more volatile the medium is, the more 'free' you are to do whatever you want.
I haven't read the actual comments online that this woman posted but I would suggest that the defendant appeal to a higher court on the grounds of free speech and try to get her story out through the media. I mean, it looks like she's boned either way so she might as well appeal and represent herself if she has to. I'm pretty certain that this could be dismissed in a higher court. After all, it sounds like she was dissatisfied with the person's service so she is more than qualified to comment on the woman's business--unless she was telling explicit lies.
Deleted Scenes from the Interview
on
Ballmer Sounds Off
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· Score: 5, Funny
The truth is what Google is doing now is transferring the wealth out of the hands of rights holders into Google.
Ballmer:That's right, once Google bought YouTube they telephoned all the banks of recording industry artists and movie association members and said explicitly, "All your wealth are belong to us." And it was that point right there when all the banks handed large sacks with green dollar signs on them to Google. Remember back to that day, it was a long time ago, do you remember? Don't you remember Google having a long mustache that they twirled as they laughed and took the money?
Interviewer: Aren't you oversimplifying things? I mean YouTube was taking down copyrighted content once they were notified of its presence.
Ballmer: I'd never be guilty of oversimplifying something--I was merely attempting to explain a situation to the rest of the world about a company that just happens to be one of our biggest competitors and a direct threat in the search and advertisment industries. You don't remember it like that? Well I do and so does DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS... sorry, I have Tourettes syndrome.
So while I was fooling around with this, I couldn't help but notice that it has the option of saving to a Portable Document Format (PDF) which, according to Wikipedia is:
a file format proprietary to Adobe Systems for representing two-dimensional documents in a device independent and resolution independent fixed-layout document format.
I bolded the word that has caused Adobe to sue Microsoft. My question is simple, doesn't Google face the same kind of lawsuit?
If I may comment more generally on this, releasing the Acrobat reader a long time ago for free use to anyone was ingenious of Adobe. Because the Writer/Creator for those files once cost tons of money (back then). Today, it's a bit cheaper but I still love and cherish the PDFCreator project under the GPL.
Really causes one to wonder how 'free' something is when it comes to standards. Now we'll just have to wait and see if Adobe begins to sue everyone who wants this functionality in their application. A lot of people I talk to regard PDF as an 'open' standard when the only part that's free is the ability to decode it--not encode it.
Because just maybe they have some sort of load-balancing setup, so everybody hammering a single machine is just as effective as pulling the domain.
That's possible, but there is a proxy design scheme they could implement for a single IP address that would allow them to stay in business. Is this uncommon or hard to do? I don't think dishing requests to other boxes is that hard of a thing to do.
Slashdot Mirror
In your five years as MySQL CEO, what has been your proudest moment? Do you find it difficult to lead a company based on a product that belongs to a community? Do you ever experience any fallout/backfire from running your company on such a business model?
Your website touts you as having the lowest defects per KLOC by up to 12 times the industry standard, what do you attribute as the leading factor to your success in this respect? Since cold cash is the traditional method, how do you incentivise code quality in an open source product?
In a market where people are just looking for stability, simplicity & scalability, where do you turn for innovation in your products? Is there a lot of research and development towards new features and completely new products in MySQL's community or do you aim primarily to do one thing well? How do you influence the direction of this research in such a large open source project? Do you attempt to add direction at all?
In your eyes, what's the biggest problem with MySQL? More specifically, what leaves market share room for Oracle & your competitors? Do you even see yourself as having any competitors since your product is free?
Of course he's 'unfazed' by the Zune. He sits atop a company that currently has massive (and, more importantly, very loyal) fanbase in both computers and portable media players.
Microsoft is new to this market and I doubt jobs will be afraid of anybody (even Microsoft) in this market. Hell, I'll bet Jobs isn't even concerned about iRiver's or Sony's products even though they seem to have been in the market longer.
What was he supposed to do? Halt all production and support of iPods at the sight of the Zune and declare that he's beaten? Is he supposed to assume the fetal position and cower and cry when he hears the word 'Zune?' Retreat to the northern woods where he trains night and day so that one day he might come back and beat Microsoft in some other fashion?
I would be shocked if Jobs said anything otherwise. What's our next headline for Slashdot? Is it going to be "Steve Ballmer's Kids Love Zune"? What about "Jobs Says New Mac Models Are Good"? You gotta keep up those hard hitting headlines.
The questions in this article are laughable! Interviewer: "Jobs, I've pitched you so many softball questions but in an effort to pitch you another, how can the iPod lose its popularity with Dick Cheney and Queen Elizabeth owning one?" Jobs: "It can't, but let me attempt to be modest as you pop a woody for me." Interviewer: "I know you've only sold millions of iPods so let me attempt to further illustrate how great it is, will it always be about the music?" Jobs: "It's about whatever makes it sell the most."
Stop humping his leg!
I think the only way you could worry Jobs is if you made a media device that physically pleasures the user (with nods to Stanislaw Lem). Although Jobs could just fire back that the video playing iPod requires some effort but can meet the same needs.
And please include a 'value' analysis in your report on 'ass mastering' because the lower range Athlon 64's are much closer to my price range than the lowest priced Conroe. You know, there's a vast market out there for people who just want CPUs that run a word processor and connect them to the internet. Vast.
No way. Intel made a comeback? You mean that whenever one side comes out with a newer chip, they are beating the other side? This completely blows my mind. Completely.
Look, give AMD time to react. I don't think many people have considered them out of the running even for a second. And don't forget about the AMD/IBM alliance. IBM's research (and that is a lot of $$$ & research) backs AMD.
I find your opinion article to be largely unecessary and fear mongering -- who said AMD was in trouble in the first place?
[Setting: the Slashdot editors sit around a meeting room] ... Killer.' ... there's something fresh and new with the word 'killer.' Print it, push out the plum.
CmdrTaco: Ok, it's Saturday night and anyone with a life is out doing stuff. But we need more material to keep our ad revenue coming in.
*Everyone nods*
CmdrTaco: So what have you got?
kdawson: KILLER!
CmdrTaco: Quiet, kdawson, Zonk is speaking.
Zonk: Well, I could write in as an anonymous reader and we could talk about MP3 players. The kids love those, don't they?
kdawson: KILLER!
CmdrTaco: Kdawson, I don't want to have to warn you again. I love it, Zonk. But what will we title it?
Zonk: How about 'Some More Electronics for You to Buy.'
CmdrTaco: Nah, not enough edge, anyone else? kdawson, do you have something constructive to suggest?
kdawson: Yeah, 'The Killer Devices that Kill iPods in the Killing Fields for the Killing Season
CmdrTaco: You may have something there, kdawson
kdawson: Killer.
Now, this software doesn't yet work for all artists but I would imagine that if I spent large amounts of money on art, I would prefer my auction house that I frequent to have this service ready so I can see for myself that the computer gives me a 95%+ level of confidence that it is indeed an original. That's not to say the certificate of authenticity isn't necessary, it'd just be nice to know before bidding and probably help the auction house catch frauds.
While the initial acquisition of this software might be pricey, the long term value of ensuring works are originals is, well, probably worth a lot more.
What amazes me is how many tools are out and available online regarding this sort of pattern recognition development. Since a lot of people know Java, I'm would encourage you to use the Java Media Framework (free from Sun). Once you have those libraries installed, it's quite easy to start editing sound, images & video. You might need to grab and install codecs if you're doing video analysis but I think almost all image codecs are supported.
I'm not going to lie, the video computation can be quite heavily but thankfully that framework is implemented such that the entire video doesn't have to be loaded into memory, just a one frame buffer analysis can be used if you want.
The last thing you would need is simply the know-how on programming these analysis algorithms. There are sites out there with a large wealth of up-to-date algorithms. An example would be the text book style site of pattern recognition or image processing. While this doesn't teach you how to do things, it does contain the raw resources and algorithms. General resources like the computer vision homepage exist that serve as links to all kinds of resources. Unfortunately, I know of no real solid books that contain everything out there because this field is so rapidly developing. My professors taught me from hand printed slides in a large compendium they had accumulated over the last couple years.
The last piece missing is the data to analyze. While you might not have the ultra high resolution Van Gogh images to do this yourself, it may be possible to visit museums with 6 MP cameras to obtain your own data. Failing that, there are repositories online that sometimes contain image information you can start with. While this may not satisfy your specific needs, it sure is great for the lazy developer like myself.
Lastly, I will mention citeseer and Google Scholar for cutting edge papers that you might want to try implementing. Distributing these algorithms and building a good GUI can be tricky but really anyone can build the backend. I heavily recommend experimenting with this if it interests you.
Granted, for you or I these would be merely annoyances, who's to say they won't actually help the average computer user? Maybe this will finally stop the zombie machines that were once ma and pa's internet machines?
I know they're Microsoft and they're stupid/evil but you have to see at least some sort of benefit from these (all be they poorly implemented) security features.
It was a couple patches ago when my wife filed for divorce. I'll never forget the day because that night, my epic tier two helm piece dropped and I won it for only 150 DKP. I don't think I'll ever understand why she did it. I was by her side the entire time she was being charged with child abuse. I know she never abused our son because I was in the other room on TeamSpeak when the alleged beating occurred and I didn't hear any screams except those of my guildmates dying from Nefarion. I know I should have attended the custody hearings for our son but the only night of the week I don't raid on is Tuesdays and the judge refused to move the dates. Call me crazy, but I never saw it coming.
... it would probably fail miserably with "I don't want to be a nerd like you, dad!"
Yep, the only reason she left me is because I'm in the IT field. I make a lot more cash on average & my job as software developer is one of the most highly sought after in the nation. Computers are becoming more and more prolific in everyday life so I maintain a solid job. But from what I've told you, it's pretty obvious that being in the IT field is what separated me and my wife. Looking back, I miss the times she brought me a beer as I was stacking sunders.
Sorry to make light of your situation, Frank, but honestly I think that a lot of IT people know how easy it is to find pr0n online. I've heard this is a growing concern. Honestly, the perks of an IT job would probably be desirable for the wife, I think it's just the fact that the person is more clued in to how to use computers for pleasure and addiction. IT filed offers more money and doesn't ravage your body (at least not like construction or farm work does). Whether it be Warcraft or pr0n, these addictions pay a toll on a happy marriage. If you find a correlation, it's probably in those topics, not just IT.
About the questions with kids, I don't have any but I would think that it would be very simple to get them involved with a computer project and spend plenty of weekend time with them. Then again, that's just what I would dream of happening
In the summary you linked to the text "most secure Windows ever" where the title of the Slashdot article is "Microsoft Says Vista Most Secure OS Ever." You'll notice that the former doesn't really cause my blood to boil because I don't care which Windows is more secure. The latter, however, prompts 440 comments and the tag "lol" to appear.
You see, one is a logical statement because one would hope that newer OS's become more secure than their ancestors, while the other results in "You have offended my operating system of choice, prepare to die..."
In other news, Webster's Dictionary has replaced the word 'Machiavellian' with the word 'Dunnish' although the meaning will remain "Suggestive of or characterized by expediency, deceit, and cunning."
You know you've done something wrong when your name becomes a common term for something evil like PattyMail. I certainly hope she's still not blowing this off like she didn't do anything wrong. Then again, if everyone in corporate America does this, I hope that comes to light also.
Something that I wish they would have done is send me the cards. Yeah, I know it sounds nerdy but I still enjoy the physical ownership that comes with card games. I like putting cards in binders and looking at them--and I really don't know why. I like to appreciate the art of Magic The Gathering and used to enjoy reading the lore of the now discontinued Star Wars Collectable Card Game (Decipher).
It is neat that this is kind of treating an online game as having 'starter decks' and 'booster packs' but where's the physical cards? I think it would be neat if they sold physical packs of cards in stores with UIDs on them that you could register and play with. They could cost 10 cents more per rune and I'd still be more likely to buy them. I could have a sentimental attachment to these while the graphics & gameplay might change online with the evolution of the game. It would also be nice if there was also a non-digital game to play with the same cards--call me old fashion.
This game looks very neat and I plan on giving it a try. I like the history view of users on the forums so you can see the stats on the recent games they've played. Their forums look active which is always a good sign.
This "CrankyGeeks" club sounds right down my alley, how do I join?
I noticed that John Dvorak's title is "Head Crank," how do I pledge to become an "Associate Crank?" Is there any hazing involved? How many rants about technology and politics do I have to go on to become inducted? How many outlandish statements do I have to make? Oh, at this rate, I'll never become "Head Crank!"
Frankly, after reading this, I must say that this is more an opinionated editorial than an objective piece of news. I'm shocked that
For what it's worth, I am a masters student at George Mason University and regularly take advantage of free wireless on campus. I have had no problems accessing any sites although there are times when it just runs slow in general. Maybe this is because there are people streaming large media? I'm not sure.
If this is a trend, the only thing disturbing is that a new football stadium is probably a higher priority for a University than better network equipment and bandwidth. My undergrad was at the U of MN and they constantly wanted their own football stadium--they would spend any amount of money and create any parking problems necessary to get it.
Ok, we have Gold Bond Medicated Powder, we have astronauts, let's get up there and fix this!
Read the summary:
I never thought I'd say this, but I wish India would follow Libya and reconsider--I mean this is the first time a humanitarian effort has strongly targeted learning tools. Food & medicine are important, but I sincerely hope we can show those we help how to continue to support themselves with tools like this.
You'll also find that accurately measuring the use of browsers is not an easy task. I mean, how can you maintain that you have an unbiased sample of users? Well, you need to set up a site that everyone visits. But there's not a lot of sites like that and once you've got content on a page, you're already biased because you're catering to one particular set of internet users. So you can always be suspicious of the accuracy of these reports. Personally, I don't trust them to be accurate within 20%--and that doesn't say much about them!
What's always been confusing to me is what needs to be true in publishing. Books have always seemed to be protected from people 'publishing whatever they want.' But the more I think about it, the more I realize that politicians usually have to put up with books containing allegations that aren't entirely provable. So, for the most part, I think that books are safe from large postings of defamation.
The same can be said about magazines & newspapers (usually) though--with the National Enquirer and tabloids--it certainly does have examples of blatant slander.
But anyone can say anything on the internet and get away with it--or so I thought. Considering what I read online, I'm certainly surprised there aren't more cases like this.
It seems the more volatile the medium is, the more 'free' you are to do whatever you want.
I haven't read the actual comments online that this woman posted but I would suggest that the defendant appeal to a higher court on the grounds of free speech and try to get her story out through the media. I mean, it looks like she's boned either way so she might as well appeal and represent herself if she has to. I'm pretty certain that this could be dismissed in a higher court. After all, it sounds like she was dissatisfied with the person's service so she is more than qualified to comment on the woman's business--unless she was telling explicit lies.
Interviewer: Aren't you oversimplifying things? I mean YouTube was taking down copyrighted content once they were notified of its presence.
Ballmer: I'd never be guilty of oversimplifying something--I was merely attempting to explain a situation to the rest of the world about a company that just happens to be one of our biggest competitors and a direct threat in the search and advertisment industries. You don't remember it like that? Well I do and so does DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
If I may comment more generally on this, releasing the Acrobat reader a long time ago for free use to anyone was ingenious of Adobe. Because the Writer/Creator for those files once cost tons of money (back then). Today, it's a bit cheaper but I still love and cherish the PDFCreator project under the GPL.
Really causes one to wonder how 'free' something is when it comes to standards. Now we'll just have to wait and see if Adobe begins to sue everyone who wants this functionality in their application. A lot of people I talk to regard PDF as an 'open' standard when the only part that's free is the ability to decode it--not encode it.