Execrable. Possibly fit for lining cages. Only a truly bad book should ever get a 1, and the review should justify this well.
A thoroughly bad book, but not perhaps quite so bad as to deserve a 1.
A "3" book might have flashes of good, but is one you're disappointed with in most respects
Mediocre; it may have some redeeming qualities, but they're overshadowed by the flaws, or is simply mis-aimed. A book might rank a "4" but still be worthwhile for particular readers.
Neither terrible nor terribly good, but with enough good points to make it useful for a fair number of readers.
Decent and useful (or enjoyable), but difficult to strongly recommend for reasons outlined in the review; run of the mill.
A good book; better than merely adequate, though not outstanding.
Very good.
Outstanding, but with enough shortcomings that a perfect score would be stretching things.
Excellent; unsurpassed in its niche, a classic work. A review which makes a book sound merely Good should not be paired with a "10" rating.
Not Likely - as the story states, recording devices must be "robust against user modification" - a non-robust device for recording HDTV signals will be illegal.
The above relates directly to recorders, but I wonder if an HDTV receiver has to output the broadcast signal to the recorder in the first place? If it were possible to take a broadcast flag sensitive recorder and feed it an HDTV signal from a receiver that strips out the Broadcast Flag?
The RFID tags used on cars are much larger than any chip I've ever seen in a casino - and there are good reasons they are as big as they are - they need to absorb enough energy to send the signal back to the detector/antenna 10-15 feet away...
Also, casinos already know where the players are, they don't need to track them based on chip movement...
I think the real application will be the action at the table (a computer could watch the volume of betting and act as a virtual pit boss, signalling when the action is getting heavy/slacking off) and in the cashier (count and verify chips quickly). I also wonder if they will also use sensors in the doorways to try and keep their chips in their casino, and know when someone comes in with chips from another casino...
Ken
Re:Solaris 10 on Sun Ultra 5/Ultra 10 questions
on
Solaris 10 Released
·
· Score: 1
I've two Ultra 5 boxes, and two AXi rackmount boxes, and in my experience, the best way to buy RAM is inside a protective System Case.
I got an Ultra 5 with 1 Gig of RAM for around $100-120 (I can't recall now) - reasonable in my opinion (but then you have the spare box to contend with:^)...
There are physical constraints that limit the memory size in the Ultra 5 - the Sun 512 Meg DIMMs were too large for the Ultra 5 case, unless you removed the floppy drive. Third-party DIMMs may not have this same issue.
I am curious about Solaris 10 compatible IDE controllers - I'll have to go look at the HCL...
The Codebreakers is a very large book, and very well researched. This is a book about the people involved in Cryptology/Cryptanalysis, with discussion about various forms of encoding information. I'm currently on page 302 (+/-) and have nearly 600 more to go, IIRC - it is *the* book on the history of Codebreakers - I got my copy (1960's edition) in a used book shop for about $14 (Hardover, Very Good condition with book sleeve). Very happy with my purchase...
BMW already had a "plain" MP3 player interface - an AUX adapter that put a 1/8" mini stereo jack in the glove compartment. Add a 6' cable, and you can put the iPod anywhere (within 6' of the glove compartment that is;^)
But, this option runs down the battery, requires that you look at your iPod to change songs/playlists, and costs almost $200 installed.
The new adapter supports a "sixth" full unit playlist that alows access to all tracks on iPod.
I think this will be very well received, esp. in trendy Minis...
To specifcally find something like wedding photos from a local search engine, the answer is simple - integrate "MS Outlook" to your local search engine, then when you say wedding, it will grep MS Outlook to see when the various weddings you attended were, apply a meaningful "window" (say 24 hours), and return all photos within those windows.
Of course, you will need to keep outlook up to date, and complete with your comings and goings, as well as keeping the clock in your camera reasonably accurate...
When I first read this, I thought it was about pieces like "2:42", which is a carefully "composed" piece that dictates the manner the piece is to be approached, the behaviour of the "player" while the piece is performed, and is really a study in what is, and is not, music. The "piece" is composed of full rests, and is typically performed by approaching, sitting down and being ready to play the piano for, you guessed it, two minutes and fourty-two seconds.
The crowd reaction/noises are, in effect, the composition.
It has been transcribed to other instruments, if you don' thave a piano handy...;^)
My company has just over 200 employees, and a great majority of them (nearly all except developers) run on Citrix...
Dektops cost between $150 -> $450 (PII or greater is really sufficient), all files are stored on the servers, and I have the same desktop available on anyones desk in the company *or* remotely.
Dial-up performance is spotty, based on who your ISP is, but Cable modem/DSL owners have an experience that is nearly the same as users in the office...
Oh, and we can support all 200+ users with a 4 person IT group...
Wait a minute - the Linux version of StarOffice 5.2 generates no revenue now, mainly because they don't charge for it;^)
If they charge for the Linux version of StarOffice 6.0, and it doesn't sell - how have they "losing lots of profit"?
I can't believe you think they should have waited till it was popular, then charged for the software! Sun is a hardware business, that has a very aggressive software business. Their goal, as I understand it, is to sell a lot of servers, right? Why wouldn't a large installation that adopted StarOffice simply purchase a large Sun server and deploy trivial workstations around the office (SunRays, low-end workstations, PCs running Linux, etc.) and run StarOffice sessions remotely off the big server?
ASN.1, as I understand it is structured as follows:
[data_type][data_length][data......]
so, to convert
data string
(30 bytes)
to an ASN.1 format would result in:
[4][11][data string]
(13 bytes)
BUT the sender and receiver need to have already agreed that a data_type value of "4" indicates a datatype of "xml_tag", that the length code that follows is of size 8 bits - thus removing the self-describing value of an XML file type.
If you want to compare apples to apples, you need to add in the size of the tables that will map the "data_type" values to their corresponding xml tag types...
How is this a huge improvement over comma-delimited text, since the sender and receiver have to know the layout before the data can be sent???
Ken
"They told us, all they wanted, was a sound..."
on
The Sound of Safety?
·
· Score: 1
This was a Kate Bush song *years ago* (sort of)... Experiment IV.
"They told us, all they wanted, was sound that could kill some one, from a distance..."
See http://www.davemcnally.com/lyrics/KateBush/Experim entIV.asp
Take a look at ITXC - they are doing great business in VoIP for real $$. They work mainly with international calling card vendors, but several large long-distance companies are also their clients...
I have done technical support for years, suffered through many different schemes, but the one that worked best (AFAIAC) is one comp day for every week of pager duty. The cost increase is minimal to the organization as a whole, and is something the technical people could use, much more so than a few extra bucks that get taxed away...
Of course, you would want to have folks working staggered shifts, so that the majority of calls can be caught by someone on duty, not the fellow at home with the family...
In the long run, this particular company may wind up saving money - and it will only cost you 1/5 of your average tech support persons salary - and it will be lost time, not increased charges for the company...
Many retailers sell the same items through different "fronts" (like some famous PC "Warehouse/Mall/etc"), and no one complains...
Many retailers sell the same items to differnt folks at different prices, based on various criteria (why do you think mail-order houses ask you for a catalog number as well as a customer number), and no one cares - I remember several years ago Victorias Secret was caught doing this - it made the news, but no one cared...
What is the problem, really?
You go to Amazon, they quote you a price, that is the price you pay if you decide to buy.
If you look today and it is $X, and then you return tomorrow and the price is $X+1 (or even $X-1), what is the harm?
Now, if the price of items changed in your "shopping basket," that would be worth talking about...
Well, all the faults you have with barcodes in catalogs exist in print as well.
Take the phrase Am I the only person here who would probably just type the damn URL in, rather than go to the trouble of picking up the thing and scanning the page? This sounds like you would see an item, walk over to the computer and type in 15-25 characters, with the magazine/catalog in hand. Well, if the magazine/catalog is there, and the computer is there, why wouldn't you scan the barcode?
You also raise the question how common is it to read magazines while conveniently next to your computer? It's not that you need to read the print catalog while at your computer, it is that you can place orders without having to type in all those silly part numbers.
I think the Radio Shack promotion, while it may ultimately fail, will be successful in that it will get technical folks back in to Radio Shack to get the cool toy (the five cell D-battery flashlight has morphed into the new barcode scanner)!
This play gets Radio Shack back in the mindset of their target market - the folks that influence non-technical user's purchases.
The guarantees SBC are making are not what most people think they are. They are guaranteeing the rate between their CO and your network device. If you have a DSL account from a Baby Bell, look at your agreement - the RBOC is providing *no* content, only access, you are paying a few dollars ($3 for me with Bell Atlantic/Verizon) to a third party ISP. It is the third-party ISP that is limiting the rate they feed you information, not SBC.
The Baby Bells had to allow for choice in ISP, and they did not want to be liable for any content they provide.
SBC is just the pipe, and as long as you can get 384K data through that pipe 24x7, they are doing what they said they would. That the ISP is limiting the feed rate is a business decision the SBC can not be held accountable for.
SBC will draw a network diagram, showing the demarcation points in their network, how the Usenet/email feeds are outside the demarcation points, and thus outside the scope of the agreement. This will be dismissed.
Volume/OEM discount ($$ per system shipped w/MS software)
model license (least expensive, includes "kickback" advertising money - ever wonder why Toshiba proudly announces their new laptop runs Win?? Cause MS helped pay for the advertisement!)
Retail is obvious, highest cost per seat.
Volume/OEM discount is when a comapny pays a lower price for each actual shipping copy of MS software - this allows a Mfg. to sell servers without WinNT at a lower cost, but each copy of WinNT they do sell costs more than their competitors.
Model License means the company agrees to pay MS for some pre-determined software collection based on the number of units of a particular model they sell (tecra 8100 laptop, for example). Now in order to get this cheapest software, the Mfg. agrees that *only* MS (OS) software will be installed, and the Mfg. will pay *per system* (meaning everyone gets the MS OS). The Mfg. take this deal because it lowers their cost for both software *and* advertising, since MS will subsidise advertising for 100% MS laptops/desktops/servers.
For a Mfg. to sell a (in this case) laptop without MS software, they need to either create a new model, that is free of the MS model license and it's MS tax (and forgo the subsidised advertising) or "eat" the MS tax and not include the MS software that was paid for.
I suspect IBM found a way to preserve the Thinkpad name and not mess up any pre-existing discounts on MS software for the other models.
I suspect that Borland has some source code (like some.h files) that *are* source code used to compile your code, and they are exerting control over the use of those *source* libraries. Once you compile your code, there is a compiled version incorporated in your application, and that is the software they are releasing.
The shareware version of Quake was a gift, and if no one bought the retial version, development would have stopped.
The way I read their license is that Borland is giving you license to redistribute their compiled-in libraries without any additional license fee or arrangement.
They can not exert any control over the source code you "feed" to their compiler, no more so than Microsoft can control your use of the text you enter into their MS-Word application.
This whole issue was built out of a quick-read of a license agreement and a "cup is half-empty" mindset... There is nothing in the snippet I read that causes me any concern...
Slashdot Mirror
From slashdot guidelines for book reviewers...
Not Likely - as the story states, recording devices must be "robust against user modification" - a non-robust device for recording HDTV signals will be illegal.
The above relates directly to recorders, but I wonder if an HDTV receiver has to output the broadcast signal to the recorder in the first place? If it were possible to take a broadcast flag sensitive recorder and feed it an HDTV signal from a receiver that strips out the Broadcast Flag?
Your imagined application sounds just like the Cue:Cat ;^)
Naw, more like "You've got mail!" ;^)
The RFID tags used on cars are much larger than any chip I've ever seen in a casino - and there are good reasons they are as big as they are - they need to absorb enough energy to send the signal back to the detector/antenna 10-15 feet away...
Also, casinos already know where the players are, they don't need to track them based on chip movement...
I think the real application will be the action at the table (a computer could watch the volume of betting and act as a virtual pit boss, signalling when the action is getting heavy/slacking off) and in the cashier (count and verify chips quickly). I also wonder if they will also use sensors in the doorways to try and keep their chips in their casino, and know when someone comes in with chips from another casino...
Ken
I've two Ultra 5 boxes, and two AXi rackmount boxes, and in my experience, the best way to buy RAM is inside a protective System Case.
:^)...
I got an Ultra 5 with 1 Gig of RAM for around $100-120 (I can't recall now) - reasonable in my opinion (but then you have the spare box to contend with
There are physical constraints that limit the memory size in the Ultra 5 - the Sun 512 Meg DIMMs were too large for the Ultra 5 case, unless you removed the floppy drive. Third-party DIMMs may not have this same issue.
I am curious about Solaris 10 compatible IDE controllers - I'll have to go look at the HCL...
The Codebreakers is a very large book, and very well researched. This is a book about the people involved in Cryptology/Cryptanalysis, with discussion about various forms of encoding information. I'm currently on page 302 (+/-) and have nearly 600 more to go, IIRC - it is *the* book on the history of Codebreakers - I got my copy (1960's edition) in a used book shop for about $14 (Hardover, Very Good condition with book sleeve). Very happy with my purchase...
BMW already had a "plain" MP3 player interface - an AUX adapter that put a 1/8" mini stereo jack in the glove compartment. Add a 6' cable, and you can put the iPod anywhere (within 6' of the glove compartment that is ;^)
But, this option runs down the battery, requires that you look at your iPod to change songs/playlists, and costs almost $200 installed.
The new adapter supports a "sixth" full unit playlist that alows access to all tracks on iPod.
I think this will be very well received, esp. in trendy Minis...
To specifcally find something like wedding photos from a local search engine, the answer is simple - integrate "MS Outlook" to your local search engine, then when you say wedding, it will grep MS Outlook to see when the various weddings you attended were, apply a meaningful "window" (say 24 hours), and return all photos within those windows.
Of course, you will need to keep outlook up to date, and complete with your comings and goings, as well as keeping the clock in your camera reasonably accurate...
When I first read this, I thought it was about pieces like "2:42", which is a carefully "composed" piece that dictates the manner the piece is to be approached, the behaviour of the "player" while the piece is performed, and is really a study in what is, and is not, music. The "piece" is composed of full rests, and is typically performed by approaching, sitting down and being ready to play the piano for, you guessed it, two minutes and fourty-two seconds.
;^)
The crowd reaction/noises are, in effect, the composition.
It has been transcribed to other instruments, if you don' thave a piano handy...
My company has just over 200 employees, and a great majority of them (nearly all except developers) run on Citrix...
Dektops cost between $150 -> $450 (PII or greater is really sufficient), all files are stored on the servers, and I have the same desktop available on anyones desk in the company *or* remotely.
Dial-up performance is spotty, based on who your ISP is, but Cable modem/DSL owners have an experience that is nearly the same as users in the office...
Oh, and we can support all 200+ users with a 4 person IT group...
Ken
Wait a minute - the Linux version of StarOffice 5.2 generates no revenue now, mainly because they don't charge for it ;^)
If they charge for the Linux version of StarOffice 6.0, and it doesn't sell - how have they "losing lots of profit"?
I can't believe you think they should have waited till it was popular, then charged for the software! Sun is a hardware business, that has a very aggressive software business. Their goal, as I understand it, is to sell a lot of servers, right? Why wouldn't a large installation that adopted StarOffice simply purchase a large Sun server and deploy trivial workstations around the office (SunRays, low-end workstations, PCs running Linux, etc.) and run StarOffice sessions remotely off the big server?
Uhm, are there really poop and puke commands in BASIC?
Ken
This is a BS compression method.
ASN.1, as I understand it is structured as follows:
[data_type][data_length][data......]
so, to convert
data string
(30 bytes)
to an ASN.1 format would result in:
[4][11][data string]
(13 bytes)
BUT the sender and receiver need to have already agreed that a data_type value of "4" indicates a datatype of "xml_tag", that the length code that follows is of size 8 bits - thus removing the self-describing value of an XML file type.
If you want to compare apples to apples, you need to add in the size of the tables that will map the "data_type" values to their corresponding xml tag types...
How is this a huge improvement over comma-delimited text, since the sender and receiver have to know the layout before the data can be sent???
Ken
This was a Kate Bush song *years ago* (sort of)... Experiment IV. "They told us, all they wanted, was sound that could kill some one, from a distance..." See http://www.davemcnally.com/lyrics/KateBush/Experim entIV.asp
Embassy.
Could I get my house declared an Embassy?
Could my Colo facility become an embassy?
Just a thought...
Take a look at ITXC - they are doing great business in VoIP for real $$. They work mainly with international calling card vendors, but several large long-distance companies are also their clients...
Of course, you would want to have folks working staggered shifts, so that the majority of calls can be caught by someone on duty, not the fellow at home with the family...
In the long run, this particular company may wind up saving money - and it will only cost you 1/5 of your average tech support persons salary - and it will be lost time, not increased charges for the company...
Many retailers sell the same items to differnt folks at different prices, based on various criteria (why do you think mail-order houses ask you for a catalog number as well as a customer number), and no one cares - I remember several years ago Victorias Secret was caught doing this - it made the news, but no one cared...
What is the problem, really?
You go to Amazon, they quote you a price, that is the price you pay if you decide to buy.
If you look today and it is $X, and then you return tomorrow and the price is $X+1 (or even $X-1), what is the harm?
Now, if the price of items changed in your "shopping basket," that would be worth talking about...
But they don't.
Puh-leeze!
Take the phrase Am I the only person here who would probably just type the damn URL in, rather than go to the trouble of picking up the thing and scanning the page? This sounds like you would see an item, walk over to the computer and type in 15-25 characters, with the magazine/catalog in hand. Well, if the magazine/catalog is there, and the computer is there, why wouldn't you scan the barcode?
You also raise the question how common is it to read magazines while conveniently next to your computer? It's not that you need to read the print catalog while at your computer, it is that you can place orders without having to type in all those silly part numbers.
I think the Radio Shack promotion, while it may ultimately fail, will be successful in that it will get technical folks back in to Radio Shack to get the cool toy (the five cell D-battery flashlight has morphed into the new barcode scanner)!
This play gets Radio Shack back in the mindset of their target market - the folks that influence non-technical user's purchases.
The Baby Bells had to allow for choice in ISP, and they did not want to be liable for any content they provide.
SBC is just the pipe, and as long as you can get 384K data through that pipe 24x7, they are doing what they said they would. That the ISP is limiting the feed rate is a business decision the SBC can not be held accountable for.
SBC will draw a network diagram, showing the demarcation points in their network, how the Usenet/email feeds are outside the demarcation points, and thus outside the scope of the agreement. This will be dismissed.
As it should be, IMHO.
- Retail (most expensive)
- Volume/OEM discount ($$ per system shipped w/MS software)
- model license (least expensive, includes "kickback" advertising money - ever wonder why Toshiba proudly announces their new laptop runs Win?? Cause MS helped pay for the advertisement!)
Retail is obvious, highest cost per seat.Volume/OEM discount is when a comapny pays a lower price for each actual shipping copy of MS software - this allows a Mfg. to sell servers without WinNT at a lower cost, but each copy of WinNT they do sell costs more than their competitors.
Model License means the company agrees to pay MS for some pre-determined software collection based on the number of units of a particular model they sell (tecra 8100 laptop, for example). Now in order to get this cheapest software, the Mfg. agrees that *only* MS (OS) software will be installed, and the Mfg. will pay *per system* (meaning everyone gets the MS OS). The Mfg. take this deal because it lowers their cost for both software *and* advertising, since MS will subsidise advertising for 100% MS laptops/desktops/servers.
For a Mfg. to sell a (in this case) laptop without MS software, they need to either create a new model, that is free of the MS model license and it's MS tax (and forgo the subsidised advertising) or "eat" the MS tax and not include the MS software that was paid for.
I suspect IBM found a way to preserve the Thinkpad name and not mess up any pre-existing discounts on MS software for the other models.
So does my wife! (She is cordless too!)
non-issue, IMHO...
The shareware version of Quake was a gift, and if no one bought the retial version, development would have stopped.
The way I read their license is that Borland is giving you license to redistribute their compiled-in libraries without any additional license fee or arrangement.
They can not exert any control over the source code you "feed" to their compiler, no more so than Microsoft can control your use of the text you enter into their MS-Word application.
This whole issue was built out of a quick-read of a license agreement and a "cup is half-empty" mindset... There is nothing in the snippet I read that causes me any concern...