I have read every published work of Heinlein and I have loved his stuff since I was a kid. I was wondering what authors who are still writing are most beloved by Heinlein fans?
For me: Dan Simmons, Peter Hamilton, Vernor Vinge, Neal Stephenson, John Varley, and John Barnes all are on my short list of favorite authors. What authors can always count on you buying their new Hardback and damn the expense?
I think you're a bit confused because you're used to living in the EU where regulators actually force companies to refrain from bending over and ass fucking their consumers quite so much. Here in the US the telecoms are so certain they have Congress in the palm of their hands that telecom executives actually brag about it in public speeches!
"The former CEO of AT&T, Ed Whitacre, had some interesting remarks to make about Net Neutrality during his parting speech. Choice quotes include his plans for getting anti-neutrality legislation through: "Will Congress let us do it?" Whitacre asks his colleagues. "You bet they will -- cuz we don't call it cashin' in. We call it 'deregulation.'http://slashdot.org/articles/07/06/06/1220258.shtm l
Here is information on AT&T's failure to subsidize the iPhone and the progress being made to break the Sim lock on iPhone.
Efforts to unlock Apple's iPhone continue, with hackers claiming "very significant progress".
The locked iPhone only works with AT&T's EDGE network, and cannot be used with mobile services from other providers. Locked phones are generally used to help operators recoup the cost of subsidising handsets for their customers, but AT&T is not subsidising the iPhone, which is priced at either $499 or $599 (£250 or £300), depending on the model. Instead, the phone is locked because AT&T has a five-year agreement with Apple to be the sole iPhone provider in the US.
Unlocking the iPhone would be a boon for users locked into a contract with another US carrier, or for users outside the US who want an iPhone. While initial signs indicate an unlocked iPhone is possible, hackers must first overcome several challenges. One of those involves circumventing the authentication process in iTunes that both lets users register for an AT&T service plan and turn on the phone's features, including its camera and music player.
By Monday evening, US time, hackers had made headway towards circumventing the activation process. But the phone remained locked at the time of writing.
"We have been fairly successful in spoofing iTunes activation processes. This should allow us to activate the phone," poster gj wrote on the iPhone Dev Wiki, one of several websites tracking efforts to unlock the phone. "It may in fact also prevent the SIM locking from occurring in the first place... though we haven't verified this yet."
These advances allowed hackers to set and read data on the iPhone, including the ability to query whether a phone has been activated. "The rest of our work is legwork really, in understanding how certain functions operate with the rest of the phone," the site said, adding hackers are close to the ability to browse system files on the iPhone, a key step towards unlocking the handset.
Once the activation problem has been overcome, hackers will be faced with other questions. For instance, does iTunes have the ability to recognise a phone that was not activated for use with the AT&T network? If so, how will iTunes react?
After these questions are resolved, hackers can focus on unlocking the handset itself. That task is made easier by the iPhone's use of a removable SIM (Subscriber Identity Module), a smart card that contains a user's phone number as well as storage space for contacts and messages, instead of one that was hardwired into the phone. The use of a removable SIM card means the iPhone is locked using its firmware, which can likely be cracked. http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=9 956
It's also been reported in many places that AT&T is giving Apple a portion of it's revenue from monthly iPhone service plans. I don't think either company has confirmed that, but it would explain why Apple was willing to give AT&T a five year exclusive on the iPhone even though AT&T does not pay any part of the cost of the device for consumers.
I don't think Sim locking makes sense to any reasonable person. Now if a provider wants to subsidize the cost of a cell phone and then make me reimburse them for ONLY the cost of said subsidy if I cancel my contract early, that makes perfect sense.
In any event, AT&T is not subsidizing the cost of the iPhone in any way. Locking the iPhone to their network when they are not paying any portion of it's cost for the consumer is just plain evil. Apple, by extension, is also guilty.
It's just a function of the fact that telecoms have buckets full of money and congress-persons like buckets full of money.
You notice that congress never said telecoms can't reduce consumer choice by locking cell phones. Instead, the head of the copyright office decided to make an exemption to the DMCA to cover unlocking cell phones. Perhaps the telecoms forgot to offer the head of the copyright office enough buckets full of money. Heck, I suppose it's even possible that this official is honest and has the consumers best interests in mind.
Sadly, the US totally lacks a political party that is willing to protect consumers when there is the possibility of gaining access to said buckets full of money. There was a lot of talk about network neutrality from the Democrats before they took control of congress. Now that they are in power and those buckets full of money are in the offing, they seem to have suddenly shut the fuck up about the importance of network neutrality. Sigh. Libertarians, anyone?
From Ars Technia -- November 24, 2006
The newest list of exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is out, and the Register of Copyrights is recommending six exemptions this time around. If you've been hankering for the legal authority to remove Sony's rootkit or to unlock your cell phone, then this will be big news. If you were hoping for the ability to make backup copies of your legally purchased DVDs, you're (still) out of luck.
Exemptions are allowed for 1) the educational library of a university's media studies department, in order to watch film clips in class; 2) using computer software that requires the original disks or hardware in order to run; 3) dongle-protected computer programs, if the the dongle no longer functions and a replacement cannot be found; 4) protected e-books, in order to use screen-reader software; 5) cell phone firmware that ties a phone to a specific wireless network; and 6) DRM software included on audio CDs, but only when such software creates security vulnerabilities on personal computers. You are allowed to unlock your cell phone no matter what Apple or AT&T think about it. They can't sue DVD Jon for breaking their bullshit attempts to control hardware that they have sold. The purchaser can do what they want with their own phone.
I kind of think an iPhone user would have to be retarded to want to use SMS or MMS at all.
There is an unlimited data provision for email in all the iPhone plans. You can send email instead of SMS or email with a photo attachment instead of MMS all day long and pay no additional fees. Using SMS or MMS just removes money from your pocket and sticks it into AT&T's.
Happily, the iPhone is software upgradeable, so you can look forward to the addition of an IM client to give you even more free ways to sling text around.
32 bit Vista and 64 bit Vista are two different things. Having them both on the same disc means exactly nothing. You still have to install one or the other. Blizzard ships Mac and PC versions of their games on the same disc. Amazingly they turn out to be different too!
Why does Microsoft have a web page covering 64 bit Vista if it's the same as 32 bit Vista?
Actually, the very first section in the very first chapter of the easily downloadable iPhone manual answers the question of Windows 64 bit compatibility:
What You Need
To use iPhone, you need:
A new two-year wireless service plan with AT&T
A Mac or a PC with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems:
Mac OS X version10.4.10 or later
Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition
iTunes 7.3 or later, available at www.itunes.com
An iTunes Store account
An Internet connection
You must be at least 18 years old to open a new AT&T wireless
major credit card to open a new iTunes Store account.
Do you see any mention of iPhone working with 64 bit Windows? Me either. I also assume iPhone doesn't work with Solaris, Linux, AIX, Plan 9, OS/2, or any other OS not listed as compatible.
sarcasm
Honestly, Microsoft is lucky Apple bothered to support 32 bit Vista given it's tiny market share and all. The market share of 64 bit Windows is too tiny to even be the most minuscule blip on Apple's radar. If Microsoft can't be bothered to support all their own hardware (Zune anyone?) on their own 64 bit OS offerings then I would submit that anyone expecting Apple to do so is pretty much fucked in the head. /sarcasm
If Microsoft doesn't support Zune on Windows 64 bit, then why in the heck should Apple bother to write drivers for iPhone? 64 bit Windows is *not* mainstream and never has been.
You can purchase an iPhone at AT&T or Apple. You do not have to pay for an AT&T plan at either place at the time of purchase. Then you go home and unlock the phone without using iTunes to sign up for an AT&T plan. Easy, no?
Remember how a Microsoft exec recently said iPhone was irrelevant because it couldn't access Microsoft's Exchange servers? Well, yea... iPhone can't access Microsoft's Exchange servers, because Microsoft refuses to open up the protocols needed to do so. How is this not the action of a company that is still misusing the server market share position it gained using it's illegal Monopoly? Hopefully the EU will bitch slap MS the way it deserves to be bitch slapped.
1. iTunes Subscription Service
How many times does Steve have to say that people prefer to own their music. How many different subscription services have to loose bucket loads of money before the media stops pretending apple needs subscription services just because they don't have one? If this was such a great fucking idea, then why didn't Naptster or Yahoo or one of the others make a big profit doing it?? Very lame, Crave.
2) UK iTunes Movie Downloads
Wouldn't Apple wait for the EU regulators to force the music companies to allow one EU wide Music Store before they open a country specific Movie store? I mena, really Crave.
3) Widescreen video iPod
Hey, one I agree with, although pretty damn obvious since the introduction of the iPhone.
4) Wi-Fi enabled video iPod
Hmmm... Zune has proven what a big draw a Wi-Fi enabled music player is. Those things are just flying off the shelves! Well maybe it's more their shitty DRM mania at Microsoft than something wrong with Wi-Fi. Still, how hard is it to drop your iPod in a dock to charge and sync it. We know how to share mp3's without Wi-Fi. Ever heard of a DVD burner??
5) Flash-based video iPod
6) The 100GB video iPod
Now that would be big enough to hold some serious porn. If the battery held out you'd even have time to let your buddies borrow it and have some fun too. Heck, you could even choose to carry around some actual music and some normal photos of the family too.
That would be two out of six that predictions that make some sort of sense. But only the two really obvious ones. After the iPhone demo, how bright do you have to be to know that it was also the 'future' iPod demo? How bright do you have to be to see a larger hard drive and think that Apple may use it for a video iPod hard drive? Crave... As prognosticators... You suck!
I honestly expect better from well known sources like Business Week.
EMI clearly said that music stores could made their own choice as to which digital format to make their catalog available in. WMA, AAC, MP3... It is up to the music store who licenses EMI's catalog to decide what format to make the music available in. Apple has chosen AAC. Frankly, I wish they had gone with MP3 since every music player under the sun supports MP3 playback. But with the way people who license the MP3 codec have been being successfully sued for large amounts of bank lately, I can see why Apple would avoid MP3 if they can.
Microsoft was ordered to open the protocols a Windows client uses to connect to a Windows server. Nothing whatsoever was said about opening the formats Microsoft Office documents use. Companies do try to reverse engineer those formats to make their product somewhat compatible with the office 'standard'. (Case in point Googles' Documents and Spreadsheets.) However, on complex documents things don't work quite right. As soon as companies get too close to getting Office document formats right, Microsoft changes the format again.
Slashdot Mirror
If you want a good book to start with, I would say give reading his novel, Friday, a try.
Didn't you see the review on The Daily Show? That was Doogie Himmler.
I have read every published work of Heinlein and I have loved his stuff since I was a kid. I was wondering what authors who are still writing are most beloved by Heinlein fans?
For me: Dan Simmons, Peter Hamilton, Vernor Vinge, Neal Stephenson, John Varley, and John Barnes all are on my short list of favorite authors. What authors can always count on you buying their new Hardback and damn the expense?
"The former CEO of AT&T, Ed Whitacre, had some interesting remarks to make about Net Neutrality during his parting speech. Choice quotes include his plans for getting anti-neutrality legislation through: "Will Congress let us do it?" Whitacre asks his colleagues. "You bet they will -- cuz we don't call it cashin' in. We call it 'deregulation.' http://slashdot.org/articles/07/06/06/1220258.sht
Here is information on AT&T's failure to subsidize the iPhone and the progress being made to break the Sim lock on iPhone.
Efforts to unlock Apple's iPhone continue, with hackers claiming "very significant progress".
The locked iPhone only works with AT&T's EDGE network, and cannot be used with mobile services from other providers. Locked phones are generally used to help operators recoup the cost of subsidising handsets for their customers, but AT&T is not subsidising the iPhone, which is priced at either $499 or $599 (£250 or £300), depending on the model. Instead, the phone is locked because AT&T has a five-year agreement with Apple to be the sole iPhone provider in the US.
Unlocking the iPhone would be a boon for users locked into a contract with another US carrier, or for users outside the US who want an iPhone. While initial signs indicate an unlocked iPhone is possible, hackers must first overcome several challenges. One of those involves circumventing the authentication process in iTunes that both lets users register for an AT&T service plan and turn on the phone's features, including its camera and music player.
By Monday evening, US time, hackers had made headway towards circumventing the activation process. But the phone remained locked at the time of writing.
"We have been fairly successful in spoofing iTunes activation processes. This should allow us to activate the phone," poster gj wrote on the iPhone Dev Wiki, one of several websites tracking efforts to unlock the phone. "It may in fact also prevent the SIM locking from occurring in the first place
These advances allowed hackers to set and read data on the iPhone, including the ability to query whether a phone has been activated. "The rest of our work is legwork really, in understanding how certain functions operate with the rest of the phone," the site said, adding hackers are close to the ability to browse system files on the iPhone, a key step towards unlocking the handset.
Once the activation problem has been overcome, hackers will be faced with other questions. For instance, does iTunes have the ability to recognise a phone that was not activated for use with the AT&T network? If so, how will iTunes react?
After these questions are resolved, hackers can focus on unlocking the handset itself. That task is made easier by the iPhone's use of a removable SIM (Subscriber Identity Module), a smart card that contains a user's phone number as well as storage space for contacts and messages, instead of one that was hardwired into the phone. The use of a removable SIM card means the iPhone is locked using its firmware, which can likely be cracked. http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=
It's also been reported in many places that AT&T is giving Apple a portion of it's revenue from monthly iPhone service plans. I don't think either company has confirmed that, but it would explain why Apple was willing to give AT&T a five year exclusive on the iPhone even though AT&T does not pay any part of the cost of the device for consumers.
I don't think Sim locking makes sense to any reasonable person. Now if a provider wants to subsidize the cost of a cell phone and then make me reimburse them for ONLY the cost of said subsidy if I cancel my contract early, that makes perfect sense.
In any event, AT&T is not subsidizing the cost of the iPhone in any way. Locking the iPhone to their network when they are not paying any portion of it's cost for the consumer is just plain evil. Apple, by extension, is also guilty.
Pandering, Lying
Tomato, Tomahto
I still say it's time to toss both of the current lying ass parties out and give someone else a try.
It's just a function of the fact that telecoms have buckets full of money and congress-persons like buckets full of money.
You notice that congress never said telecoms can't reduce consumer choice by locking cell phones. Instead, the head of the copyright office decided to make an exemption to the DMCA to cover unlocking cell phones. Perhaps the telecoms forgot to offer the head of the copyright office enough buckets full of money. Heck, I suppose it's even possible that this official is honest and has the consumers best interests in mind.
Sadly, the US totally lacks a political party that is willing to protect consumers when there is the possibility of gaining access to said buckets full of money. There was a lot of talk about network neutrality from the Democrats before they took control of congress. Now that they are in power and those buckets full of money are in the offing, they seem to have suddenly shut the fuck up about the importance of network neutrality. Sigh. Libertarians, anyone?
Exemptions are allowed for 1) the educational library of a university's media studies department, in order to watch film clips in class; 2) using computer software that requires the original disks or hardware in order to run; 3) dongle-protected computer programs, if the the dongle no longer functions and a replacement cannot be found; 4) protected e-books, in order to use screen-reader software; 5) cell phone firmware that ties a phone to a specific wireless network; and 6) DRM software included on audio CDs, but only when such software creates security vulnerabilities on personal computers. You are allowed to unlock your cell phone no matter what Apple or AT&T think about it. They can't sue DVD Jon for breaking their bullshit attempts to control hardware that they have sold. The purchaser can do what they want with their own phone.
Whole article is at: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061124-828
Giving you an excellent chance to berate them for their poor choice of phones!
I totally love you.
Awww now... Don't think of yourself as rabble... You're Eco-Tastic!
I kind of think an iPhone user would have to be retarded to want to use SMS or MMS at all.
There is an unlimited data provision for email in all the iPhone plans. You can send email instead of SMS or email with a photo attachment instead of MMS all day long and pay no additional fees. Using SMS or MMS just removes money from your pocket and sticks it into AT&T's.
Happily, the iPhone is software upgradeable, so you can look forward to the addition of an IM client to give you even more free ways to sling text around.
Yo, moron...
v ista/editions/64bit.mspx
32 bit Vista and 64 bit Vista are two different things. Having them both on the same disc means exactly nothing. You still have to install one or the other. Blizzard ships Mac and PC versions of their games on the same disc. Amazingly they turn out to be different too!
Why does Microsoft have a web page covering 64 bit Vista if it's the same as 32 bit Vista?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windows
What You Need To use iPhone, you need:
A new two-year wireless service plan with AT&T
A Mac or a PC with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems:
Mac OS X version10.4.10 or later
Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition
iTunes 7.3 or later, available at www.itunes.com
An iTunes Store account
An Internet connection You must be at least 18 years old to open a new AT&T wireless major credit card to open a new iTunes Store account.
Do you see any mention of iPhone working with 64 bit Windows? Me either. I also assume iPhone doesn't work with Solaris, Linux, AIX, Plan 9, OS/2, or any other OS not listed as compatible.
sarcasm
Honestly, Microsoft is lucky Apple bothered to support 32 bit Vista given it's tiny market share and all. The market share of 64 bit Windows is too tiny to even be the most minuscule blip on Apple's radar. If Microsoft can't be bothered to support all their own hardware (Zune anyone?) on their own 64 bit OS offerings then I would submit that anyone expecting Apple to do so is pretty much fucked in the head.
Not being a total retard, I decided to google for the iPhone manual to see if it was availible.
e .pdf
I went to Google and searched for -- iPhone Manual site:apple.com
I mean, how freaking hard is that?
Here's the link for those to retarded to search for it themselves.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iPhone_User_Guid
If Microsoft doesn't support Zune on Windows 64 bit, then why in the heck should Apple bother to write drivers for iPhone? 64 bit Windows is *not* mainstream and never has been.
Mind if I form a cult to worship you?
You can purchase an iPhone at AT&T or Apple. You do not have to pay for an AT&T plan at either place at the time of purchase. Then you go home and unlock the phone without using iTunes to sign up for an AT&T plan. Easy, no?
Remember how a Microsoft exec recently said iPhone was irrelevant because it couldn't access Microsoft's Exchange servers? Well, yea... iPhone can't access Microsoft's Exchange servers, because Microsoft refuses to open up the protocols needed to do so. How is this not the action of a company that is still misusing the server market share position it gained using it's illegal Monopoly? Hopefully the EU will bitch slap MS the way it deserves to be bitch slapped.
Hey, the comment system ate my comment on the flash video iPod.
Not enough room for porn. Lame.
Let's See:
1. iTunes Subscription Service
How many times does Steve have to say that people prefer to own their music. How many different subscription services have to loose bucket loads of money before the media stops pretending apple needs subscription services just because they don't have one? If this was such a great fucking idea, then why didn't Naptster or Yahoo or one of the others make a big profit doing it?? Very lame, Crave.
2) UK iTunes Movie Downloads
Wouldn't Apple wait for the EU regulators to force the music companies to allow one EU wide Music Store before they open a country specific Movie store? I mena, really Crave.
3) Widescreen video iPod
Hey, one I agree with, although pretty damn obvious since the introduction of the iPhone.
4) Wi-Fi enabled video iPod
Hmmm... Zune has proven what a big draw a Wi-Fi enabled music player is. Those things are just flying off the shelves! Well maybe it's more their shitty DRM mania at Microsoft than something wrong with Wi-Fi. Still, how hard is it to drop your iPod in a dock to charge and sync it. We know how to share mp3's without Wi-Fi. Ever heard of a DVD burner??
5) Flash-based video iPod
6) The 100GB video iPod
Now that would be big enough to hold some serious porn. If the battery held out you'd even have time to let your buddies borrow it and have some fun too. Heck, you could even choose to carry around some actual music and some normal photos of the family too.
That would be two out of six that predictions that make some sort of sense. But only the two really obvious ones. After the iPhone demo, how bright do you have to be to know that it was also the 'future' iPod demo? How bright do you have to be to see a larger hard drive and think that Apple may use it for a video iPod hard drive? Crave... As prognosticators... You suck!
I honestly expect better from well known sources like Business Week.
EMI clearly said that music stores could made their own choice as to which digital format to make their catalog available in. WMA, AAC, MP3... It is up to the music store who licenses EMI's catalog to decide what format to make the music available in. Apple has chosen AAC. Frankly, I wish they had gone with MP3 since every music player under the sun supports MP3 playback. But with the way people who license the MP3 codec have been being successfully sued for large amounts of bank lately, I can see why Apple would avoid MP3 if they can.
Microsoft was ordered to open the protocols a Windows client uses to connect to a Windows server. Nothing whatsoever was said about opening the formats Microsoft Office documents use. Companies do try to reverse engineer those formats to make their product somewhat compatible with the office 'standard'. (Case in point Googles' Documents and Spreadsheets.) However, on complex documents things don't work quite right. As soon as companies get too close to getting Office document formats right, Microsoft changes the format again.
Since the exact same songs are for sale in 'plays for sure' format, as well as other forms of DRM, it's not exactly a monopoly, is it?
Hey, is Microsoft Office illegal since Office is required to open .ppt, .doc, .mdb, or .xls files?