I use the pop3 support in gmail and have Thunderbird handle everything (via enigmail extension). Also works with Kmail (which integrates spamassassin and clamav nicely). Besides, I usually use Konqueror or Lynx.
1. You could design your own clothing
2. You could share your clothing designs with others (Creative Commons clothing?)
3. Sony will release designer styles with clothing DRM.
4. Someone will break the DRM, but no one will want the overpriced designs to begin with. The FCC and MAFIAA will get involved somehow.
5. Microsoft will release MS Tailor, but it will be bloated and all the geeks will use OpenWardrobe.Org.
6. School uniforms will be made available as a firmware upgrade.
7. I will have a shirt that randomly rotates through the designs on T-Shirt Hell.
We need someone who will get the government's mitts out of our lives. There are too many grandiose plans going about. Everyone wants a quick fix in his(her) lifetime. The best thing I ever read about Coolidge: there were no grand schemes, but there were no headaches, either.
We need a president who won't go trying to change the world (and ruin our economy in the process). We need a president who will let things run their course and let the private sector get our economy going again.
Can I just have Firefox use my existing MySQL server instead? Why does a browser need its own private SQL backend?
Maybe they'll take a hint from the wonderful folks making Amarok. Amarok lets you pick your SQL backend, and only forces SQLite when there's nothing else.
As hard as it is for me to say, I have to agree. If the markets demand DRM, it's a right of the people to make it to meet demand, and it's the distributor's right to use it. That's how a free-market economy is supposed to work.
There are laws against piracy, but they are weak in practice due to Fair Use and similar conventions. The state can't easily punish piracy because it's difficult to catch and difficult to prove.
DRM because is a market-oriented solution to piracy. Instead of relying on laws to threaten people, the market is trying to protect itself. However, the protection methods (those listed in the article, at least) are common and breakable. Breaking the DRM once is all it takes for all of the content under that scheme to be made freely available for piracy.
The DMCA is a move back toward a state-level solution, but it still relies on the presence of some rudimentary DRM. It is now illegal to break a DRM scheme. The difference between this legal solution and the previous is that this one can be proven more readily.
Hypothetically, if I used a software program to undo the encryption on one of my legally-purchased DVDs (I'm not implying anything, I swear!), it would be near-impossible to catch me by the first level of antipiracy I mentioned, and it would be similarly impossible to prove that I was doing anything illegal if I actually got caught (I could be making a backup copy or storing the contents on my laptop to watch on while travelling). The second obviously hasn't stopped me, as the software took care of that. The third, DMCA, takes care of that burden of proof in the first level. By using the software to undo the encryption, I am guilty and all they have to do is catch me.
Piracy networks are getting more and more advanced, so catching someone in the act is very difficult. What usually leads to an arrest is carelessness on the part of the pirate, which can be neither designed nor legislated. Even if the content is geting pirated, the DRM is undone, and the encryption's removal is illegal, nothing can be done if no one gets caught.
And did anyone else think that a spoofed BD+ update disc can be used to undo DRM in Blu-ray players? Seems like the door's open...
It really depends. There's no way you can have a good RPG without a good story. In fact, the whole point is playing out the story. I've replayed Chrono Trigger more times than I can count because of the story.
With FPS games, the story sets up the universe and helps me get my head in the game. There's a difference between Unreal and Wolfenstein in feel, but the two draw on the same set of skills.
The same goes for RTS. Starcraft and C&C are essentially the same game, and the story sets them apart. You need to know the subtleties, but playing one is not far from playing the other. C&C isn't the equivalent of a sport in any country.
Another point to bring up is that multiplayer (except for co-op mode) doesn't have a story. I think that some people like games without a story because they may prefer playing against other people, not NPCs.
Some people don't care about the story at all. Some like RTS games or FPS games because they just like that style of play. They want to play the game, regardless of the story. A game without a story will appeal to that segment of the market.
I heard from a friend that it takes ~40 gallons of fuel to move one of those big cruise ships. This would be a great idea for recreational ships in terms of fuel savings. Not only that, it would be a great idea in terms of the novelty. People would think it's neat to ride on a cruise ship pulled by a huge kite. Who knows? Maybe someone will find a way to take people up in the kite (for a fee). Maybe not. That would be dangerous.
This would take some getting used to. You hear your own voice through bone conduction, but others' voices conducted through the air. This is the origin of that phenomenon where your voice sounds different when it's played back from a recording. The bone mic would let others hear my voice like I hear it (conducted through my jaw), not like they're used to (through the air).
The New York Daily News reported that the scheme was to blow up the Holland Tunnel...
This article is from The Guardian. It gets its material from another article and doesn't really add anything new. We just know that the source has some flaws.
The government's watching. I'm glad they actually did something useful, though. There's been a lot of spying for the sake of privacy violation. It's nice to get results once in a while.
Remember the RSAC when they still rated video games? They had a different method, whereby the content of a game was rated in four categories: language, sexual situations, violence, and... I can't remember the last one. It's been too long. But I liked it because parents could decide "My child can handle himself around violence, but I don't want him looking at nudie pics" and know what the game has. It was more specific than giving a letter, and didn't preach on age levels. It simply gauged the content and let parents decide what was appropriate.
I tried CDigix for all of 12 minutes. It didn't work with FireFox (at the time, it needed ActiveX), and they didn't have any of the music that I want to listen to. I asked them to remove my account, and they did. At least their customer service was prompt!
In spite of not having the script, many fansub groups do a superior job of translating as compared with "professional" translation. One of the major benefits of fansubs is the cultural and translation notes that are becoming more common with digisubbing (assuming a competent sub group). Part of the problem with DVD distribution is that the technology doesn't really support these notes. ADV has pushed the the DVD spec as far as it can with its "AD-Vid notes" (found on the "Excel Saga" DVDs). I preferred the capsule option that came on the "Akira" DVD, because you could pause for a sec to read a translation of the grafitti or ignore the capsule icon and keep watching the movie.
You're right. I went a bit too far with my analogy. I'm just a little peeved about this situation with complaints about game content getting out of hand.
You can interpret tht last sentence two ways, and both are correct.
At least three raters watch the videotape and answer a series of questions about its content. They are more likely to be homemakers than hard-core gamers.
They have homemakers rate games? That's like asking the [stereotypical] humanities major to look over your PCB design for an EE project!
I wouldn't be surprised if the offensive bit of the game was there, and the raters just couldn't find it. Rockstar probably figured that if the ESRB couldn't, it wasn't going to be a problem.
Solution: always have a real gamer involved in rating games.
Interesting. I honestly didn't know, and that's why I got all wishy-washy in my statement.
I can't read the whole article (I'm not a subscriber), but the byline says that there are still "several key challenges" to deal with. I've been a supporter of fuel cell tech for basically that reason though. We can be more efficient in a stationary facility specialized for efficient production than in millions of machines designed for another purpose.
Since I couldn't read more than the first two paragraphs, I have to ask: what about the effects of pumping the Carbon dioxide into the ground? Does it break down? Does it affect ground water? Does it just sit there until the ground is saturated?
Hydrogen cells are essentially "batteries" for the car of the future. Produce those batteries in the most efficient manner possible, then ship them out to where they'll be used. The question is can those batteries be charged efficiently enough to have lower overall pollution than the common internal-combustion engine method?
I don't have the numbers, so I can't say for sure what would pollute less. I've seen one side complain about Carbon dioxide from cars, and the other complain about the costs (environmental, mostly) of producing Hydrogen for fuel cells.
What I can say is that it's not fair to either side to just assume that production of Hyrdogen for fuel cells will be just as bad is the waste from the millions of cars in use today.
I think that if we're taking into account the pollution caused by the production of the Hydrogen, we should also take into account the pollution produced in making consumer-grade gasoline from crude oil.
Besides, how are we getting that Hydrogen fuel? I remember that in chemistry class, we tried both electrolysis (which could be powered by nuclear energy or cleaner renewable energy sources on a large scale) and introduction of a Manganese compound to water (but where would we get the amount of reagent we need, and what to do with the Manganese dioxide leftovers?).
I think it would be rather appropriate to charge the "batteries" with nuclear power. This article shows that we are a step closer to an economically feasable process.
I wouldn't necessarily want a fusion reactor in my car, but I'd like to tell my friends that my car is nuclear powered.
Do you want them to know what you're watching? Then go ahead.
I like the anonymity of tuning in whatever frequency I want of the spectrum that comes over the coax. For all the corp. execs know, I'm watching Home Shopping Network 24/7. If they don't know what I watch, then they don't know where to put the adds. That means fewer adds on the channels I DO watch.
so will the tech to fool it. It's only a matter of time until someone finds a way to spoof a compliant monitor. Maybe it will be entirely software, like a tweaked video driver. Maybe it will be a pass-through dongle that you connect between the monitor and video card. Maybe a combination of the two. But it's possible.
And you know it will be slashdotted when it happens. ^_^
I already have the Chrono Trigger Soundtrack (what a game...). Sadly, I bought it before eBay was an option.
As for music recommendation, look for Nobuo Uematsu. If you know Square, you know what Uematsu composed for.
(Okay, that was very OT. But I felt it needed to be said.)
Does anyone know of lawsuits over bootlegged video game music or classical (or other less-common genres of music)? I suppose that since most classical is public domain, there wouldn't be an issue, but would the RIAA throw a fit if, say, someone was sharing mp3s ripped from a classical CD published by one of the RIAA members? Can they own a particular performance of a classical work?
eBay, my friend. eBay. I can get numerous CDs that the RIAA is soiling themselves over for a bid that's less than the shipping cost. When the RIAA kicks down my door, I'll kindly smile and show them the album that I ripped my music from.
Slashdot Mirror
I always considered the two equivalent, but it seems I was wrong. Thanks for the heads-up!
I use the pop3 support in gmail and have Thunderbird handle everything (via enigmail extension). Also works with Kmail (which integrates spamassassin and clamav nicely). Besides, I usually use Konqueror or Lynx.
"even worn as clothing"
1. You could design your own clothing
2. You could share your clothing designs with others (Creative Commons clothing?)
3. Sony will release designer styles with clothing DRM.
4. Someone will break the DRM, but no one will want the overpriced designs to begin with. The FCC and MAFIAA will get involved somehow.
5. Microsoft will release MS Tailor, but it will be bloated and all the geeks will use OpenWardrobe.Org.
6. School uniforms will be made available as a firmware upgrade.
7. I will have a shirt that randomly rotates through the designs on T-Shirt Hell.
We need someone who will get the government's mitts out of our lives. There are too many grandiose plans going about. Everyone wants a quick fix in his(her) lifetime. The best thing I ever read about Coolidge: there were no grand schemes, but there were no headaches, either.
We need a president who won't go trying to change the world (and ruin our economy in the process). We need a president who will let things run their course and let the private sector get our economy going again.
Can I just have Firefox use my existing MySQL server instead? Why does a browser need its own private SQL backend?
Maybe they'll take a hint from the wonderful folks making Amarok. Amarok lets you pick your SQL backend, and only forces SQLite when there's nothing else.
As hard as it is for me to say, I have to agree. If the markets demand DRM, it's a right of the people to make it to meet demand, and it's the distributor's right to use it. That's how a free-market economy is supposed to work.
There are laws against piracy, but they are weak in practice due to Fair Use and similar conventions. The state can't easily punish piracy because it's difficult to catch and difficult to prove.
DRM because is a market-oriented solution to piracy. Instead of relying on laws to threaten people, the market is trying to protect itself. However, the protection methods (those listed in the article, at least) are common and breakable. Breaking the DRM once is all it takes for all of the content under that scheme to be made freely available for piracy.
The DMCA is a move back toward a state-level solution, but it still relies on the presence of some rudimentary DRM. It is now illegal to break a DRM scheme. The difference between this legal solution and the previous is that this one can be proven more readily.
Hypothetically, if I used a software program to undo the encryption on one of my legally-purchased DVDs (I'm not implying anything, I swear!), it would be near-impossible to catch me by the first level of antipiracy I mentioned, and it would be similarly impossible to prove that I was doing anything illegal if I actually got caught (I could be making a backup copy or storing the contents on my laptop to watch on while travelling). The second obviously hasn't stopped me, as the software took care of that. The third, DMCA, takes care of that burden of proof in the first level. By using the software to undo the encryption, I am guilty and all they have to do is catch me.
Piracy networks are getting more and more advanced, so catching someone in the act is very difficult. What usually leads to an arrest is carelessness on the part of the pirate, which can be neither designed nor legislated. Even if the content is geting pirated, the DRM is undone, and the encryption's removal is illegal, nothing can be done if no one gets caught.
And did anyone else think that a spoofed BD+ update disc can be used to undo DRM in Blu-ray players? Seems like the door's open...
It really depends. There's no way you can have a good RPG without a good story. In fact, the whole point is playing out the story. I've replayed Chrono Trigger more times than I can count because of the story.
With FPS games, the story sets up the universe and helps me get my head in the game. There's a difference between Unreal and Wolfenstein in feel, but the two draw on the same set of skills.
The same goes for RTS. Starcraft and C&C are essentially the same game, and the story sets them apart. You need to know the subtleties, but playing one is not far from playing the other. C&C isn't the equivalent of a sport in any country.
Another point to bring up is that multiplayer (except for co-op mode) doesn't have a story. I think that some people like games without a story because they may prefer playing against other people, not NPCs.
Some people don't care about the story at all. Some like RTS games or FPS games because they just like that style of play. They want to play the game, regardless of the story. A game without a story will appeal to that segment of the market.
MC Plus+ http://www.mcplusplus.com/ He's a CS PhD student here at Purdue University. And he's the reason Monzy wrote "Drama in the PhD."
I heard from a friend that it takes ~40 gallons of fuel to move one of those big cruise ships. This would be a great idea for recreational ships in terms of fuel savings. Not only that, it would be a great idea in terms of the novelty. People would think it's neat to ride on a cruise ship pulled by a huge kite. Who knows? Maybe someone will find a way to take people up in the kite (for a fee). Maybe not. That would be dangerous.
This would take some getting used to. You hear your own voice through bone conduction, but others' voices conducted through the air. This is the origin of that phenomenon where your voice sounds different when it's played back from a recording. The bone mic would let others hear my voice like I hear it (conducted through my jaw), not like they're used to (through the air).
The New York Daily News reported that the scheme was to blow up the Holland Tunnel...
This article is from The Guardian. It gets its material from another article and doesn't really add anything new. We just know that the source has some flaws.
The government's watching. I'm glad they actually did something useful, though. There's been a lot of spying for the sake of privacy violation. It's nice to get results once in a while.
First post?
Remember the RSAC when they still rated video games? They had a different method, whereby the content of a game was rated in four categories: language, sexual situations, violence, and... I can't remember the last one. It's been too long.
But I liked it because parents could decide "My child can handle himself around violence, but I don't want him looking at nudie pics" and know what the game has.
It was more specific than giving a letter, and didn't preach on age levels. It simply gauged the content and let parents decide what was appropriate.
I tried CDigix for all of 12 minutes. It didn't work with FireFox (at the time, it needed ActiveX), and they didn't have any of the music that I want to listen to. I asked them to remove my account, and they did. At least their customer service was prompt!
In spite of not having the script, many fansub groups do a superior job of translating as compared with "professional" translation.
One of the major benefits of fansubs is the cultural and translation notes that are becoming more common with digisubbing (assuming a competent sub group).
Part of the problem with DVD distribution is that the technology doesn't really support these notes. ADV has pushed the the DVD spec as far as it can with its "AD-Vid notes" (found on the "Excel Saga" DVDs). I preferred the capsule option that came on the "Akira" DVD, because you could pause for a sec to read a translation of the grafitti or ignore the capsule icon and keep watching the movie.
You're right. I went a bit too far with my analogy. I'm just a little peeved about this situation with complaints about game content getting out of hand.
You can interpret tht last sentence two ways, and both are correct.
At least three raters watch the videotape and answer a series of questions about its content. They are more likely to be homemakers than hard-core gamers.
They have homemakers rate games? That's like asking the [stereotypical] humanities major to look over your PCB design for an EE project!
I wouldn't be surprised if the offensive bit of the game was there, and the raters just couldn't find it. Rockstar probably figured that if the ESRB couldn't, it wasn't going to be a problem.
Solution: always have a real gamer involved in rating games.
Ironic that women can engage in full-duplex conversation, while men are restricted to half-duplex.
Or should I put the analogy in terms of TCP (men) and UDP (women)?
Not a perfect analogy, but it makes you wonder about the multi-threaded nature of the sexes' thought process.
Interesting. I honestly didn't know, and that's why I got all wishy-washy in my statement.
I can't read the whole article (I'm not a subscriber), but the byline says that there are still "several key challenges" to deal with. I've been a supporter of fuel cell tech for basically that reason though. We can be more efficient in a stationary facility specialized for efficient production than in millions of machines designed for another purpose.
Since I couldn't read more than the first two paragraphs, I have to ask: what about the effects of pumping the Carbon dioxide into the ground? Does it break down? Does it affect ground water? Does it just sit there until the ground is saturated?
Hydrogen cells are essentially "batteries" for the car of the future. Produce those batteries in the most efficient manner possible, then ship them out to where they'll be used. The question is can those batteries be charged efficiently enough to have lower overall pollution than the common internal-combustion engine method?
I don't have the numbers, so I can't say for sure what would pollute less. I've seen one side complain about Carbon dioxide from cars, and the other complain about the costs (environmental, mostly) of producing Hydrogen for fuel cells. What I can say is that it's not fair to either side to just assume that production of Hyrdogen for fuel cells will be just as bad is the waste from the millions of cars in use today.
I think that if we're taking into account the pollution caused by the production of the Hydrogen, we should also take into account the pollution produced in making consumer-grade gasoline from crude oil.
Besides, how are we getting that Hydrogen fuel? I remember that in chemistry class, we tried both electrolysis (which could be powered by nuclear energy or cleaner renewable energy sources on a large scale) and introduction of a Manganese compound to water (but where would we get the amount of reagent we need, and what to do with the Manganese dioxide leftovers?).
I think it would be rather appropriate to charge the "batteries" with nuclear power. This article shows that we are a step closer to an economically feasable process.
I wouldn't necessarily want a fusion reactor in my car, but I'd like to tell my friends that my car is nuclear powered.
One more thing... Hail Purdue!
If you literally KNEW what people were watching
Do you want them to know what you're watching? Then go ahead.
I like the anonymity of tuning in whatever frequency I want of the spectrum that comes over the coax. For all the corp. execs know, I'm watching Home Shopping Network 24/7. If they don't know what I watch, then they don't know where to put the adds. That means fewer adds on the channels I DO watch.
so will the tech to fool it. It's only a matter of time until someone finds a way to spoof a compliant monitor. Maybe it will be entirely software, like a tweaked video driver. Maybe it will be a pass-through dongle that you connect between the monitor and video card. Maybe a combination of the two. But it's possible. And you know it will be slashdotted when it happens. ^_^
This is a little OT:
I already have the Chrono Trigger Soundtrack (what a game...). Sadly, I bought it before eBay was an option.
As for music recommendation, look for Nobuo Uematsu. If you know Square, you know what Uematsu composed for.
(Okay, that was very OT. But I felt it needed to be said.)
Does anyone know of lawsuits over bootlegged video game music or classical (or other less-common genres of music)? I suppose that since most classical is public domain, there wouldn't be an issue, but would the RIAA throw a fit if, say, someone was sharing mp3s ripped from a classical CD published by one of the RIAA members? Can they own a particular performance of a classical work?
(There. Back on topic, sorta...)
eBay, my friend. eBay. I can get numerous CDs that the RIAA is soiling themselves over for a bid that's less than the shipping cost. When the RIAA kicks down my door, I'll kindly smile and show them the album that I ripped my music from.