I wholeheartedly agree with you, if it makes you feel any better. We don't spend billions of dollars sending astronauts into space so they can float around watching Star Wars (although that would be an interesting experience, I must say)
Seriously? There's maybe you and five other people that think that on the face of this planet. I'm fairly certain that ensuring that the astronauts had proper playback codecs was not on the list of priorities at NASA. I'd quite frankly be upset if it *was*, given that the only reason that they had an extra day was that the unforseen thunderstorm made landing impossible, and it's impossible to reliably predict *those* weeks in advance. To dedicate resources to seeing to petty details such as video playback software would be the epitome of waste and inefficiency that you are decrying. The astronauts should absolutely not be wasting time and money watching movies in space (of course, unless it's in a situation like this one where there is no more scheduled work left to be done).
Granted, maybe NASA wasn't once the wonder it once was, but that was only because of the Cold War, after the Russians and Sputnik scared the crap out of everybody this side of the Pacific. The only reason the politicians were willing to allow NASA to spend the money to send a man to the moon was so we could beat the Soviets there. But NASA has still done some pretty amazing things since. I couldn't count on one hand the number of probes and rovers they've sent to places like Mars and Jupiter, and most of those have *way* outlived their expected useful lifespan. They've been way more successful than expected. Contrast this with the Beagle 2, which was completely lost before it even had the chance to do anything even remotely useful (It was British, by the way).
I am perhaps among the few who think that illegal does not necessarily equal immoral [actually, here on Slashdot, that does not apply as much]. Think back to the 50’s: What Rosa Parks did was illegal. No questions about it. Was it wrong? Few people now would be willing to argue that it was wrong to not give up her seat to a white person, however no one would deny that it was indeed illegal at the time. Similarly, I strongly believe it is not wrong to âoepirateâ information just because it is prohibited by our pathetically archaic copyright law.
If you bought the book used, who would get the money? Not the author. Not the publisher. The individual selling the book would be the only one who would benefit from you buying a used copy. The author would receive no compensation, therefore the argument of Russel Davis that you mentioned does not apply. By his reasoning, buying a used copy would be just as much âoetheftâ as downloading the book off the internet. Think about that one for a moment. Granted, if you had downloaded the book instead of buying it from the author or the publisher, that might be a different story, as you are not actively supporting the author so they can produce more works. However, in this instance, you have actively searched for the book in a form that you can use, and have been turned down by the publisher. They have no intention of making any more profit from the book and have abandoned all claims of interest in the matter.
Information wants to be unlimited and free. It is stubborn, neolithic individuals like the publisher you mentioned above that are impeding the spread of universal knowledge, knowledge that would often possibly result in the general betterment of mankind. Download the copy of the book, and then perhaps send a few dollars to the author along with a note explaining what you did and why. Be sure to thank her for writing such a great book, and encourage more to write more like it. There’s nothing more you can do.
I've been considering buying a non-iPod for my next Mp3 player, but wasn't sure. Now Apple has done the nice thing for me and solidified my decision -- Any suggestions on what my next non-evil Mp3 player should be?
Does anybody know if OpenBSD (or any *BSD for that matter) has ever received a rating? Or at least, what it would probably rate if it were to receive a rating? I would suspect that it would rate at least with Linux or perhaps one higher, seeing as their slogan is "only two remote holes in the default install in over a decade."
The linked wikipedia article says that OpenCL will be introduced in OS X Snow Leopard. According to a post by DigiShaman above, Nvidia cards are GPGPU with their Cuda API. I don't know much about the technology, but maybe this is what Apple had in mind when they put Nvidia cards in all the new Macbooks?
Sorry, I just got finished reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and am feeling overly paranoid. I used to laugh at the idea of having copyright cops who would go around and arrest kids who had pirated music on their iPods, but it seems that day is growing ever nearer. Am I the only one who feels helpless against this growing insanity of the *AA controlled congress?
This is just pure speculation, but maybe Apple is moving away from the traditional idea of computing and betting that "cloud" computing will be the next big thing in laptops. Back in 98 the iMac was the first computer without a floppy disk, and I know I wasn't alone when I looked at it and thought "What? They must be insane", and yet you'd be hard pressed to find a computer nowadays that has a floppy drive built in. Maybe they are continuing this trend, taking a chance that people will be moving away from using USB/Firewire and towards storing everything on a remote server (MobileMe, anyone?) using the new shiny 802.11 N. I like OS X, but I can't see myself buying a Macbook right now because you pay a rediculous premium to get it in black, it has no cardreader/expansion slot, and has a crappy intel graphics card. Hopefully this release will remedy the latter.
My university uses Gmail for students, and Exchange for staff. We all get an @asu.edu email address. I haven't ever used exchange, so I'm not qualified to comment on that, but Gmail is great for me. I can use any mail client I want (Thunderbird, Sylpheed, Outlook, etc.) with either POP or IMAP as well as the web interface, and as of right now the quota is around 8GB. Calendar and Documents support is included, so collaboration is a breeze and is nice when I need to do some peer editing with my classmates (my English prof uses this feature quite a bit). We also get Google sites, so our LUG created a page to point people in the right direction with help on Linux, my friend created a page for his COD clan, my CS professor created one to put new assignments on, and so on.
Overall It's been painless, I would highly recomend it. The big selling point for me is being able to check my mail from any machine which has an POP/IMAP client/browser (including my Linux box and my iPod). Of course, YMMV, the standard disclaimers apply for outsourcing any of your systems to a single vendor
... Then Iran and N.K. get the bomb and we're all screwed Because martyrs get 72 virgins in the nude ahmadinejad says he's not insane what about when they bombed spain?
Kim jong il says "I want a nuclear power plant" Good ol GW says "No you can't" He says it's so we won't have to live in fear Don't we have a double standard here?
We all know there were weapons in Iraq Blix just couldn't find them because he was wack He was probably over there smokin crack While drinking whiskey and playing blackjack
Killing our freedoms, one by one is something the government thinks is fun American citizens can own a gun but give iran a nuke and armageddon's begun
The democrats were right, we knew all along that we shouldn't vote in a politician with no schlong (or if you want you can call it a dong) We see everyday george bush is wrong
Impose sanctions on the axis of evil because dictators are such weevils To kill soldiers and get cheap oil, is "definately not the reason we're on iraq soil"
Now we're just two days before an election The G.O.P isn't liking the rejection "Our party is without a flaw" (by the way: "no timetable for withdrawal")
Kerry was criticizing the president, you see maybe luckier next time you will be do your homework, study hard, and you won't get stuck in the national gaurd
(I ran out of ideas, would any/.ers like to keep the rhyme going for me?)
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
Multiple browser windows, why didn't somebody else think of that before? These people are geniuses, I tell you! </sarcasm>
If I want to browse web pages, I'll use my computer. If I want to play DVDs, I'll use my DVD player. If I want to play games, I'll use my Wii. Why sony doesn't just focus on games is beyond me.
From the section on keyword autocompletion: "I press the key combination [Ctrl+x] [Ctrl+o] and Vim will smartly guess the correct keyword and insert it"
Anything that doesn't include ":" is the antivi! The believers must stay strong through these hard times! We must not aldulterate our holy editor with control and meta keys!
From Wikipedia: "Election of President of the United States and Vice President of the United States is indirect. Presidential Electors are chosen by the popular vote every four years on Election Day. Although ballots list the names of the presidential candidates, voters within the 50 states and the District of Columbia are actually choosing Electors when they vote for President and Vice President. These Presidential Electors in turn cast the official (electoral) votes for those two offices." (emphasis added)
I find it amazing the sheer number of americans who find time to bitch about the government and don't take the time to understand it. Maybe 1 out of every 5 people I'll talk to know that you aren't voting for the president when it comes time to vote. Having moved from canada just 6 years ago, and knowing more about american government than most americans do, I find this very sad.
It's a few months before the congressional election, and/. is waiting till NOW to publish this story? I mean, this was A) A Rolling Stone story and B) A June Article. Something that was published THREE MONTHS ago IS NOT NEWS. Secondly, when did Rolling Stone become a reliable news source that was fair and balanced? When did they suddenly become political experts?
(I am neither Democrat nor Republican, I am for which is actually making sense, and who I happen to agree with at the time, unlike some who are fanatically and unwaveringly either on the right or left)
Website #3, Cartoonnetwok.com: "FTC investigators visiting one of his sites found their screens filled with 29 new browser windows for instant credit, online psychics, gambling, and porn sites. When they hit the Back button, another 7 windows opened--a technique known as "mousetrapping.""
Well, it's their fault for not using Firefox!
(Yes, I know firefox didn't exist back then, it's a joke)
The pass is not broken, at least the times I've tried it. I usually get some lame partner who quits after the second image, but maybe that's just a result of getting masses of people directed your way who are just curious and don't really want to play
It's kind of like, charades or something. Only on the computer. Hopefully this really will result in better results for image searches.
Suggestions for google to make it better:
They need to make the images bigger! About 1/3 the time I couldn't tell what it was, and had to zoom in (thank god for XGL: win key + right click zooms in quite nicely) to tell, and even then it was a picture of some strange evil-looking machine or jumble of vegetation that I couldn't really tell what it was.
It would be nice after you've matched the image to see what your partners tags were, so you can kind of see what kind of person they are. If he's spamming tags and/or being a moron I'd like to know, also it would let me get into their frame of mind: once I had a picture of a mountain, and we both had to go through about 7 tags before we got "snow"
"It was me and a gruff, humorless customs official. He unpacked my luggage entirely, ran the contents of my wallet through a bomb sweep, and carefully examined all of my belongings. He then asked me to turn on my laptop. I did, and he began using it. I saw him open Spotlight and begin searching."
Luckily for me, if he'd turned on my laptop all he'd of gotten would be a $ prompt:
Official: Umm... What's this $ mean? And why is it all text? Is this dos or something? Me: Oh, that's just the bash shell, it means you're logged on as a user in a Unix system. Official: And what exactly is unix? is it some sort of anarchist tyranny virus? Me: Umm... No, it's just an operating system. Like Windows. Official: I see, and where did you buy this "unix"? Me: Well, actually it's called Ubuntu Linux, and I downloaded it off a torrent. Official: (Into his radio) I think we have a software pirate here.... Me: Actually, it's free. Canonical will ship you free CDs. Official: And who exactly is canonical? Are they some muslim extremist group trying to destroy the United States with computer viruses? Me: Umm... No... Actually they're -- Official: Shut up! We're taking you into custody!
He says that he is dissapointed in Konqueror as the default browser (which by the way I haven't had any problem with, ever, but I still use opera) but in the summary he says this:
Price: Free download. Pros: Easy to install; KDE desktop; good software selection. Cons: Uses Firefox as the default browser; feels like it needs a little fine tuning to make it as slick as Xandros; didn't automatically install the right drivers for my nvidia card. Summary: A decent Linux distro that provides a fair amount of useful software, Ark Linux lags behind Ubuntu and Xandros in polish. It seems to be trying to find its place under the sun.
(emphasis added) This article wasn't too particularly useful, and even contradicted itself! Well, maybe next time.
First, they rip off OS X and create Vista, now they rip off the iPod and create "zune".
Steve: Well, Bill, what successful thing is there left in the market that we *HAVENT* ripped off? Bill: Umm... There's the PSP, and the DS... Steve: The team is way ahead of you bill, they've already got a Xbox360M in the works!
I can get $1,000,000 by answering 15 questions on "Who wants to be a millionare", or even better yet, by giving money to some poor nigerian who can transfer vast sums of money into my account:)
(Am I the only one who read the title "Porncare conjecture proof completed"?)
Slashdot Mirror
I wholeheartedly agree with you, if it makes you feel any better. We don't spend billions of dollars sending astronauts into space so they can float around watching Star Wars (although that would be an interesting experience, I must say)
Seriously? There's maybe you and five other people that think that on the face of this planet. I'm fairly certain that ensuring that the astronauts had proper playback codecs was not on the list of priorities at NASA. I'd quite frankly be upset if it *was*, given that the only reason that they had an extra day was that the unforseen thunderstorm made landing impossible, and it's impossible to reliably predict *those* weeks in advance. To dedicate resources to seeing to petty details such as video playback software would be the epitome of waste and inefficiency that you are decrying. The astronauts should absolutely not be wasting time and money watching movies in space (of course, unless it's in a situation like this one where there is no more scheduled work left to be done).
Granted, maybe NASA wasn't once the wonder it once was, but that was only because of the Cold War, after the Russians and Sputnik scared the crap out of everybody this side of the Pacific. The only reason the politicians were willing to allow NASA to spend the money to send a man to the moon was so we could beat the Soviets there. But NASA has still done some pretty amazing things since. I couldn't count on one hand the number of probes and rovers they've sent to places like Mars and Jupiter, and most of those have *way* outlived their expected useful lifespan. They've been way more successful than expected. Contrast this with the Beagle 2, which was completely lost before it even had the chance to do anything even remotely useful (It was British, by the way).
I am perhaps among the few who think that illegal does not necessarily equal immoral [actually, here on Slashdot, that does not apply as much]. Think back to the 50’s: What Rosa Parks did was illegal. No questions about it. Was it wrong? Few people now would be willing to argue that it was wrong to not give up her seat to a white person, however no one would deny that it was indeed illegal at the time. Similarly, I strongly believe it is not wrong to âoepirateâ information just because it is prohibited by our pathetically archaic copyright law.
If you bought the book used, who would get the money? Not the author. Not the publisher. The individual selling the book would be the only one who would benefit from you buying a used copy. The author would receive no compensation, therefore the argument of Russel Davis that you mentioned does not apply. By his reasoning, buying a used copy would be just as much âoetheftâ as downloading the book off the internet. Think about that one for a moment. Granted, if you had downloaded the book instead of buying it from the author or the publisher, that might be a different story, as you are not actively supporting the author so they can produce more works. However, in this instance, you have actively searched for the book in a form that you can use, and have been turned down by the publisher. They have no intention of making any more profit from the book and have abandoned all claims of interest in the matter.
Information wants to be unlimited and free. It is stubborn, neolithic individuals like the publisher you mentioned above that are impeding the spread of universal knowledge, knowledge that would often possibly result in the general betterment of mankind. Download the copy of the book, and then perhaps send a few dollars to the author along with a note explaining what you did and why. Be sure to thank her for writing such a great book, and encourage more to write more like it. There’s nothing more you can do.
I've been considering buying a non-iPod for my next Mp3 player, but wasn't sure. Now Apple has done the nice thing for me and solidified my decision -- Any suggestions on what my next non-evil Mp3 player should be?
Does anybody know if OpenBSD (or any *BSD for that matter) has ever received a rating? Or at least, what it would probably rate if it were to receive a rating? I would suspect that it would rate at least with Linux or perhaps one higher, seeing as their slogan is "only two remote holes in the default install in over a decade."
The linked wikipedia article says that OpenCL will be introduced in OS X Snow Leopard. According to a post by DigiShaman above, Nvidia cards are GPGPU with their Cuda API. I don't know much about the technology, but maybe this is what Apple had in mind when they put Nvidia cards in all the new Macbooks?
Sorry, I just got finished reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and am feeling overly paranoid. I used to laugh at the idea of having copyright cops who would go around and arrest kids who had pirated music on their iPods, but it seems that day is growing ever nearer. Am I the only one who feels helpless against this growing insanity of the *AA controlled congress?
This is just pure speculation, but maybe Apple is moving away from the traditional idea of computing and betting that "cloud" computing will be the next big thing in laptops. Back in 98 the iMac was the first computer without a floppy disk, and I know I wasn't alone when I looked at it and thought "What? They must be insane", and yet you'd be hard pressed to find a computer nowadays that has a floppy drive built in. Maybe they are continuing this trend, taking a chance that people will be moving away from using USB/Firewire and towards storing everything on a remote server (MobileMe, anyone?) using the new shiny 802.11 N. I like OS X, but I can't see myself buying a Macbook right now because you pay a rediculous premium to get it in black, it has no cardreader/expansion slot, and has a crappy intel graphics card. Hopefully this release will remedy the latter.
My university uses Gmail for students, and Exchange for staff. We all get an @asu.edu email address. I haven't ever used exchange, so I'm not qualified to comment on that, but Gmail is great for me. I can use any mail client I want (Thunderbird, Sylpheed, Outlook, etc.) with either POP or IMAP as well as the web interface, and as of right now the quota is around 8GB. Calendar and Documents support is included, so collaboration is a breeze and is nice when I need to do some peer editing with my classmates (my English prof uses this feature quite a bit). We also get Google sites, so our LUG created a page to point people in the right direction with help on Linux, my friend created a page for his COD clan, my CS professor created one to put new assignments on, and so on.
Overall It's been painless, I would highly recomend it. The big selling point for me is being able to check my mail from any machine which has an POP/IMAP client/browser (including my Linux box and my iPod). Of course, YMMV, the standard disclaimers apply for outsourcing any of your systems to a single vendor
I can't believe that anybody would have the audacity to pirate music from an online music service! What has our society come to? ;)
...
/.ers like to keep the rhyme going for me?)
Then Iran and N.K. get the bomb and we're all screwed
Because martyrs get 72 virgins in the nude
ahmadinejad says he's not insane
what about when they bombed spain?
Kim jong il says "I want a nuclear power plant"
Good ol GW says "No you can't"
He says it's so we won't have to live in fear
Don't we have a double standard here?
We all know there were weapons in Iraq
Blix just couldn't find them because he was wack
He was probably over there smokin crack
While drinking whiskey and playing blackjack
Killing our freedoms, one by one
is something the government thinks is fun
American citizens can own a gun
but give iran a nuke and armageddon's begun
The democrats were right, we knew all along
that we shouldn't vote in a politician with no schlong
(or if you want you can call it a dong)
We see everyday george bush is wrong
Impose sanctions on the axis of evil
because dictators are such weevils
To kill soldiers and get cheap oil,
is "definately not the reason we're on iraq soil"
Now we're just two days before an election
The G.O.P isn't liking the rejection
"Our party is without a flaw"
(by the way: "no timetable for withdrawal")
Kerry was criticizing the president, you see
maybe luckier next time you will be
do your homework, study hard,
and you won't get stuck in the national gaurd
(I ran out of ideas, would any
It would be interesting to see this integrated with Sun's looking glass desktop...
And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
(you can read the rest here)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convictism_in_Austral ia
;)
(I know, that was generations ago, and one of my best friends is australian
Multiple browser windows, why didn't somebody else think of that before? These people are geniuses, I tell you!
</sarcasm>
If I want to browse web pages, I'll use my computer. If I want to play DVDs, I'll use my DVD player. If I want to play games, I'll use my Wii. Why sony doesn't just focus on games is beyond me.
From the section on keyword autocompletion:
"I press the key combination [Ctrl+x] [Ctrl+o] and Vim will smartly guess the correct keyword and insert it"
Anything that doesn't include ":" is the antivi! The believers must stay strong through these hard times! We must not aldulterate our holy editor with control and meta keys!
From Wikipedia:
/. is waiting till NOW to publish this story? I mean, this was A) A Rolling Stone story and B) A June Article. Something that was published THREE MONTHS ago IS NOT NEWS. Secondly, when did Rolling Stone become a reliable news source that was fair and balanced? When did they suddenly become political experts?
"Election of President of the United States and Vice President of the United States is indirect. Presidential Electors are chosen by the popular vote every four years on Election Day. Although ballots list the names of the presidential candidates, voters within the 50 states and the District of Columbia are actually choosing Electors when they vote for President and Vice President. These Presidential Electors in turn cast the official (electoral) votes for those two offices."
(emphasis added)
I find it amazing the sheer number of americans who find time to bitch about the government and don't take the time to understand it. Maybe 1 out of every 5 people I'll talk to know that you aren't voting for the president when it comes time to vote. Having moved from canada just 6 years ago, and knowing more about american government than most americans do, I find this very sad.
It's a few months before the congressional election, and
(I am neither Democrat nor Republican, I am for which is actually making sense, and who I happen to agree with at the time, unlike some who are fanatically and unwaveringly either on the right or left)
Website #3, Cartoonnetwok.com:
"FTC investigators visiting one of his sites found their screens filled with 29 new browser windows for instant credit, online psychics, gambling, and porn sites. When they hit the Back button, another 7 windows opened--a technique known as "mousetrapping.""
Well, it's their fault for not using Firefox!
(Yes, I know firefox didn't exist back then, it's a joke)
The pass is not broken, at least the times I've tried it. I usually get some lame partner who quits after the second image, but maybe that's just a result of getting masses of people directed your way who are just curious and don't really want to play
It's kind of like, charades or something. Only on the computer. Hopefully this really will result in better results for image searches.
Suggestions for google to make it better:
They need to make the images bigger! About 1/3 the time I couldn't tell what it was, and had to zoom in (thank god for XGL: win key + right click zooms in quite nicely) to tell, and even then it was a picture of some strange evil-looking machine or jumble of vegetation that I couldn't really tell what it was.
It would be nice after you've matched the image to see what your partners tags were, so you can kind of see what kind of person they are. If he's spamming tags and/or being a moron I'd like to know, also it would let me get into their frame of mind: once I had a picture of a mountain, and we both had to go through about 7 tags before we got "snow"
"It was me and a gruff, humorless customs official. He unpacked my luggage entirely, ran the contents of my wallet through a bomb sweep, and carefully examined all of my belongings. He then asked me to turn on my laptop. I did, and he began using it. I saw him open Spotlight and begin searching."
Luckily for me, if he'd turned on my laptop all he'd of gotten would be a $ prompt:
Official: Umm... What's this $ mean? And why is it all text? Is this dos or something?
Me: Oh, that's just the bash shell, it means you're logged on as a user in a Unix system.
Official: And what exactly is unix? is it some sort of anarchist tyranny virus?
Me: Umm... No, it's just an operating system. Like Windows.
Official: I see, and where did you buy this "unix"?
Me: Well, actually it's called Ubuntu Linux, and I downloaded it off a torrent.
Official: (Into his radio) I think we have a software pirate here....
Me: Actually, it's free. Canonical will ship you free CDs.
Official: And who exactly is canonical? Are they some muslim extremist group trying to destroy the United States with computer viruses?
Me: Umm... No... Actually they're --
Official: Shut up! We're taking you into custody!
He says that he is dissapointed in Konqueror as the default browser (which by the way I haven't had any problem with, ever, but I still use opera) but in the summary he says this:
Price: Free download.
Pros: Easy to install; KDE desktop; good software selection.
Cons: Uses Firefox as the default browser; feels like it needs a little fine tuning to make it as slick as Xandros; didn't automatically install the right drivers for my nvidia card.
Summary: A decent Linux distro that provides a fair amount of useful software, Ark Linux lags behind Ubuntu and Xandros in polish. It seems to be trying to find its place under the sun.
(emphasis added)
This article wasn't too particularly useful, and even contradicted itself! Well, maybe next time.
First, they rip off OS X and create Vista, now they rip off the iPod and create "zune".
Steve: Well, Bill, what successful thing is there left in the market that we *HAVENT* ripped off?
Bill: Umm... There's the PSP, and the DS...
Steve: The team is way ahead of you bill, they've already got a Xbox360M in the works!
(Just my speculation, of course)
I can get $1,000,000 by answering 15 questions on "Who wants to be a millionare", or even better yet, by giving money to some poor nigerian who can transfer vast sums of money into my account :)
(Am I the only one who read the title "Porncare conjecture proof completed"?)
If you're concerned about privacy:
THAN DON'T USE *&#^ING WINDOWS VISTA!
Of course, for us more hardcore hackers, we have the ultimate ergonomic solution: no mouse (I swear GUIs were sent from hell to make us suffer).