If Netflix is able to obtain an injunction, then that means that people who rent through Blockbuster's online service have to find some other way or go down to the local store to rent their movies.
If the judge in the case grants an injunction against Blockbuster's online service, there will indeed be many pissed customers out there. Thankfully, Blockbuster has at least one way to mollify them in the meantime: give their customers the same X-rentals-at-a-time access to their brick and mortar stores as they do through online rental queues. Blockbuster's online rental service already includes vouchers for a fixed number of store rentals per month (in parallel with the online queue rentals). This would just make it entirely brick-and-mortar based. The store on the corner doesn't have nearly the selection, but it might hold over some customers that would otherwise quit Blockbuster. There should be some way to craft it that doesn't encroach on the patents in question.
I'm sure that such software exists (by today's standards and with computer programming, it is downright easy).
Actually, building a hardware replica isn't too difficult with some perseverance. Back in college, I took a digital electronics course that entailed a fairly difficult final project. Three people got together and made a device that recreated the enigma. They used EEPROMs instead of turning wheels, a PS/2 keyboard instead of a typewriter, and a few PALs to handle everything else (like mod26 arithmetic). It took them 3-4 tough weeks, but they cranked it out and it (ultimately) worked perfectly.
Virtual rehabilitation... engages patients who may otherwise lack interest or motivation to complete normal exercise regimens.
In one exercise, a patient attempts to wipe clean four vertical bars of "dirty" pixels that obscure a pleasant image on a computer display. The bars are erased in proportion to each finger's flexing motion, giving the patient immediate feedback on his or her performance.
Or are they removing clean pixels from a dirty image? Finger motions, eh? [wink wink]
Perhaps it is just a weird time of day, but I couldn't help reading this angle into the article. I suppose it really could be great motivation for some patients - get them to do their exercises by gradually revealing pr0n.
For those interested in this tricky situation, I'd recommend the book and movie 'House of Sand and Fog.' Jennifer Connely plays a woman who wrongly has her home taken for back taxes. It gets put on the auction block and purchased by an Iranian family (headed by Ben Kingsley. Both sides had a valid claim to the house. Tragedy ensues.
Agreed. Instead of giving them laptops and telling them to whip up some PowerPoint, give them a copy of one of Edward Tufte's works on how to really present information clearly.
I work at a large hospital that goes through thousands of computers a year. The IT guys have considered wiping and reusing old drives, except that it would take hours per drive to completely wipe them (overwriting with all 1's, then all 0's, over and over). So, instead, they just dispose of them. But, to ensure that no one can get any info (like personal, medical, or business records), they have an old drill press sitting in the corner.
Fabris, Palm's director of wireless solutions, said the company may warn customers in an upcoming newsletter about the risks of selling their used phones after AP's inquiries. "It might behoove us to raise this issue," Fabris said.
I would expect someone who uses 'behoove' so obliquely in conversation to be snappy enough to have already reached this conclusion.
Of course, radio and television haven't been killed off. What does one listen to in the car? Streaming audio from the internet? Some do, perhaps, but a lot just listen to a local radio station, or XM. When one gets home after a long day and wants to unwind, do they fire up the computer and surf youtube or other sites? An increasing number do, myself included sometimes, but probably not more than the number of folks who flop down on the couch and turn on the 50"-er across the room.
Lots of brown-skinned muslims travelling these days will be quick to confirm from experience that when you are at the border, you really don't have any rights at all, and you have very little recourse if you are mistreated.
That could be because, when you are at or in the border, or within customs area at an airport, you aren't exactly in any country. You certainly aren't in the country that the customs area happens to be located in. Consider, for example, London Heathrow or New York's JFK: until you clear customs, you aren't officially in England or the United States. As such, what laws (and rights) apply while in this weird space aren't always clear.
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: "Gosh! What do you do with the embryo's when you're done?"
Lab Tech 1: Put it right back in the freezer with the hundreds of other fertilized embryos that we got from the fertility clinic down the street. I'm sure you know that, by and large, once their customers successfully have a kid, they either keep them on ice indefinitely or simply throw them out away after a few years?
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: What? No! That's murd... [remembers own kid conceived in a petri dish]. Oh never mind.
While I personally would call yesterday's ruling a victory, Attorney General Gonzales is filing an appeal, and the President isn't stopping the program just yet. There can be no final say until the Supreme Court has had a chance to weigh in. I eagerly await it. Although the newest justices (Roberts and Alito) tend to have an expansive view of the Executive Branch's power, I think even they will find it difficult to allow the 4th ammendment, all of Congress, and the FISA courts to be so easily set aside at this or any President's whim.
As for telcos' liability, that can't begin to be settled until the final word on the program itself is out. So, while this article is an interesting study about their potential liability, I'm can't say I expect much to come of it yet.
One reason why NASA put its launch facility at Cape Canaveral (and the missile range at Vandberg AFB) is that it is usually advantageous to launch as close to the equator as possible. Because the Earth's rotation, being at the equator means you have a greater starting velocity than if you launched from, say, the north pole. The rotation of the Earth, in radians per second, is the same for everyone, but your tangential velocity increases the farther you get from the axis of rotation. (It's easier to draw or demonstrate with a ball it is to describe)
A craft launching from Cape Breton, which lies at about 45 degrees north latitude, would only have about 70% of the initial velocity, and so only 1/2 the kinetic energy, as a craft that starts from the equator. The only way to get that extra energy you'll need to reach orbit is by burning more fuel.
These folks have just been taking a few cues from Steve Jobs and Apple. They announce that they are going to announce something, then let folks speculate wildly about what exactly it will be. Instead of a product launch touting the latest features, it'll be a theory launch touting the latest features. Not too different, really.
The coolest part is when you extend this comparison to include the Reality Distortion Field. The combination of that with dark matter and cosmology could yield some amazing results!
Why wouldn't they want to embrace safety technology like this?
I'm sure they would like to encorporate it - it would be a tremendous selling point (value-added). Unfortunately, this is new technology with an unproven track record. As a result, the manufacturer can't quite guarantee that it will always prevent grave injury, whatever assurances the inventor could give or demonstrations made. As a result, the company's lawyers would be very wary about selling such a product. They know that if they were to sell it with this safety feature, and someone got injured (even superficially), the company would be open to a tremendous liability. Never mind the fact that the safety feature prevented the loss of the person's fingers - you can't expect that to save you in a lawsuit. People have sued over broken ribs resulting from life-saving CPR (albeit those are generally tossed out).
If you thought the lawsuit about spilt hot coffee burning someone was bad, think about the lawsuit about someone complaining they got cut with a very dangerous and powerful table saw. From a liability standpoint, it is better for the manufacturer to keep it dangerous and mark it as dangerous all over, rather than allow the user to have any sense of security.
It's too bad - I think it is great technology. I've worked with table saws a lot, even seen one person get a light injury from it. A table saw will take your finger off in a fraction of a second. My safety relies on treating the saw with tremendous respect, but some safeguards would be nice, too.
You make a valid point that 64-bit computing isn't very useful if the software can't take advantage of it. Sure, you can get larger memory addressing, but there aren't that many machines where 32-bit's 2GB limit has come into play.
The difference here is that Apple has been producing 64-bit software for a while. After all, the G5 processor is 64-bit, and that's been in Apple's line since summer '03. Leopard, when it comes out next year, will supposedly do a particularly good job of allowing 32- and 64-bit applications to coexist and execute at the best levels possible. I recall hearing that Apple has been reworking it's software suites to take better advantage fo 64-bit computing (rather than just recompiling to work as 32-bit applications on a 64-bit machine). So, whereas your AMD machine has barely begun to take advantage of 64-bit capabilities, the Merom-based Apple's will do so from day one.
I don't think you'll 'miss out,' because the improvement may not be apparent for some time.
The features of the Merom processors (multicore, 64-bit, aimed at mobile processing), and Apple made the Intel switch largely due to Intel's processor roadmap and what was coming down the pipeline. Based on Apple's past desire to gobble up the latest processors as soon as they are available, I'd say it was a foregone conclusion that the Merom would show up in the MacBooks as soon as they came off the fab line. So I ask: is this news?
You might be interested to read this interview with the Technology editor for NYT. One of the two measly questions he answered was in regards to the NYT discontinuing its weekly "Circuits" section. According to Mr. McKenna, the cancellation was for business reasons, but also because...
[W]e've reached a point in the digital age where technology is so central to so many coverage areas that the kinds of stories once reserved to Circuits are now being told on the front page and all over the paper.
In spite of technology's ubiquity, however, I think you are right that many people do not grasp some of the wider ramifications of a story like this beyond the fact that it involves everyday technology.
However, as the article points out, the criminality of the reporters' actions isn't really being examined. It's strange, too, because I'd say that there's something criminal in there.
The judges at the appeals court were not ruling on the guilt or innocence of the reporters and their alleged tip-off or interference in the terrorist financing investigation. The issue is not whether the reporters have the constitutional right to mess-up an ongoing investigation. The issue of the ruling is whether the courts can compel the reporters (or rather, the NYT) to hand over information about the reporters' sources, which appears much less clear-cut.
Part of that exclusivity is that the postal service, by congressional mandate, must break even year to yaer. It is not allowed to accumulate profit, or run a deficit. Naturally, they can't do this precisely, but they come pretty close.
There is also a verb form for loose, meaning to release. "To let loose on someone" or "Loose a barrage of arrows."
Using that definition, the grandparent's post makes it seem that Microsoft is somewhat impotent and lacking in content, which turns it into an "unintentionally" funny comment. I'm sure that that is not what the writer intended, so your correction is still correct.
Slashdot Mirror
If the judge in the case grants an injunction against Blockbuster's online service, there will indeed be many pissed customers out there. Thankfully, Blockbuster has at least one way to mollify them in the meantime: give their customers the same X-rentals-at-a-time access to their brick and mortar stores as they do through online rental queues. Blockbuster's online rental service already includes vouchers for a fixed number of store rentals per month (in parallel with the online queue rentals). This would just make it entirely brick-and-mortar based. The store on the corner doesn't have nearly the selection, but it might hold over some customers that would otherwise quit Blockbuster. There should be some way to craft it that doesn't encroach on the patents in question.
I'm sure that such software exists (by today's standards and with computer programming, it is downright easy).
Actually, building a hardware replica isn't too difficult with some perseverance. Back in college, I took a digital electronics course that entailed a fairly difficult final project. Three people got together and made a device that recreated the enigma. They used EEPROMs instead of turning wheels, a PS/2 keyboard instead of a typewriter, and a few PALs to handle everything else (like mod26 arithmetic). It took them 3-4 tough weeks, but they cranked it out and it (ultimately) worked perfectly.
Perhaps it is just a weird time of day, but I couldn't help reading this angle into the article. I suppose it really could be great motivation for some patients - get them to do their exercises by gradually revealing pr0n.
For those interested in this tricky situation, I'd recommend the book and movie 'House of Sand and Fog.' Jennifer Connely plays a woman who wrongly has her home taken for back taxes. It gets put on the auction block and purchased by an Iranian family (headed by Ben Kingsley. Both sides had a valid claim to the house. Tragedy ensues.
Agreed. Instead of giving them laptops and telling them to whip up some PowerPoint, give them a copy of one of Edward Tufte's works on how to really present information clearly.
I work at a large hospital that goes through thousands of computers a year. The IT guys have considered wiping and reusing old drives, except that it would take hours per drive to completely wipe them (overwriting with all 1's, then all 0's, over and over). So, instead, they just dispose of them. But, to ensure that no one can get any info (like personal, medical, or business records), they have an old drill press sitting in the corner.
I would expect someone who uses 'behoove' so obliquely in conversation to be snappy enough to have already reached this conclusion.
If Video Killed the Radio Star...
Then has Internet Killed the Video [TV] Star?
Of course, radio and television haven't been killed off. What does one listen to in the car? Streaming audio from the internet? Some do, perhaps, but a lot just listen to a local radio station, or XM. When one gets home after a long day and wants to unwind, do they fire up the computer and surf youtube or other sites? An increasing number do, myself included sometimes, but probably not more than the number of folks who flop down on the couch and turn on the 50"-er across the room.
Simpsons Reference:
...Or you could take something that already exists and find a new use for it, like...
Frink:
Homer: Hamburger earmuffs.
Frink: Mmm well, I suppose that would qualify.
Homer: Thanks sucker. (Homer throws the books and runs off)
Frink: Weh, uh, alright just stay calm Frinky. These babies will be in the stores while he's still grappling with the pickle matrix bhay-gn-flay-vn.
Lab Tech 1: Put it right back in the freezer with the hundreds of other fertilized embryos that we got from the fertility clinic down the street. I'm sure you know that, by and large, once their customers successfully have a kid, they either keep them on ice indefinitely or simply throw them out away after a few years?
Right Wing Right-to-Life Zealot: What? No! That's murd... [remembers own kid conceived in a petri dish]. Oh never mind.
While I personally would call yesterday's ruling a victory, Attorney General Gonzales is filing an appeal, and the President isn't stopping the program just yet. There can be no final say until the Supreme Court has had a chance to weigh in. I eagerly await it. Although the newest justices (Roberts and Alito) tend to have an expansive view of the Executive Branch's power, I think even they will find it difficult to allow the 4th ammendment, all of Congress, and the FISA courts to be so easily set aside at this or any President's whim.
As for telcos' liability, that can't begin to be settled until the final word on the program itself is out. So, while this article is an interesting study about their potential liability, I'm can't say I expect much to come of it yet.
One reason why NASA put its launch facility at Cape Canaveral (and the missile range at Vandberg AFB) is that it is usually advantageous to launch as close to the equator as possible. Because the Earth's rotation, being at the equator means you have a greater starting velocity than if you launched from, say, the north pole. The rotation of the Earth, in radians per second, is the same for everyone, but your tangential velocity increases the farther you get from the axis of rotation. (It's easier to draw or demonstrate with a ball it is to describe)
This is why the ESA has a major launch facility in French Guiana, at just 5 degrees latitude.
A craft launching from Cape Breton, which lies at about 45 degrees north latitude, would only have about 70% of the initial velocity, and so only 1/2 the kinetic energy, as a craft that starts from the equator. The only way to get that extra energy you'll need to reach orbit is by burning more fuel.
These folks have just been taking a few cues from Steve Jobs and Apple. They announce that they are going to announce something, then let folks speculate wildly about what exactly it will be. Instead of a product launch touting the latest features, it'll be a theory launch touting the latest features. Not too different, really.
The coolest part is when you extend this comparison to include the Reality Distortion Field. The combination of that with dark matter and cosmology could yield some amazing results!
It's also pretty good at picking out replicants (androids) from humans.
If you thought the lawsuit about spilt hot coffee burning someone was bad, think about the lawsuit about someone complaining they got cut with a very dangerous and powerful table saw. From a liability standpoint, it is better for the manufacturer to keep it dangerous and mark it as dangerous all over, rather than allow the user to have any sense of security.
It's too bad - I think it is great technology. I've worked with table saws a lot, even seen one person get a light injury from it. A table saw will take your finger off in a fraction of a second. My safety relies on treating the saw with tremendous respect, but some safeguards would be nice, too.
The folks at Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me are going to have a field day with this. The gag headlines almost write themselves.
You make a valid point that 64-bit computing isn't very useful if the software can't take advantage of it. Sure, you can get larger memory addressing, but there aren't that many machines where 32-bit's 2GB limit has come into play.
The difference here is that Apple has been producing 64-bit software for a while. After all, the G5 processor is 64-bit, and that's been in Apple's line since summer '03. Leopard, when it comes out next year, will supposedly do a particularly good job of allowing 32- and 64-bit applications to coexist and execute at the best levels possible. I recall hearing that Apple has been reworking it's software suites to take better advantage fo 64-bit computing (rather than just recompiling to work as 32-bit applications on a 64-bit machine). So, whereas your AMD machine has barely begun to take advantage of 64-bit capabilities, the Merom-based Apple's will do so from day one.
I don't think you'll 'miss out,' because the improvement may not be apparent for some time.
And you kids will have a real hard time pushing those 64-bits through the tubes, too!
The features of the Merom processors (multicore, 64-bit, aimed at mobile processing), and Apple made the Intel switch largely due to Intel's processor roadmap and what was coming down the pipeline. Based on Apple's past desire to gobble up the latest processors as soon as they are available, I'd say it was a foregone conclusion that the Merom would show up in the MacBooks as soon as they came off the fab line. So I ask: is this news?
In spite of technology's ubiquity, however, I think you are right that many people do not grasp some of the wider ramifications of a story like this beyond the fact that it involves everyday technology.
However, as the article points out, the criminality of the reporters' actions isn't really being examined. It's strange, too, because I'd say that there's something criminal in there.
The judges at the appeals court were not ruling on the guilt or innocence of the reporters and their alleged tip-off or interference in the terrorist financing investigation. The issue is not whether the reporters have the constitutional right to mess-up an ongoing investigation. The issue of the ruling is whether the courts can compel the reporters (or rather, the NYT) to hand over information about the reporters' sources, which appears much less clear-cut.
Part of that exclusivity is that the postal service, by congressional mandate, must break even year to yaer. It is not allowed to accumulate profit, or run a deficit. Naturally, they can't do this precisely, but they come pretty close.
There is also a verb form for loose, meaning to release. "To let loose on someone" or "Loose a barrage of arrows."
Using that definition, the grandparent's post makes it seem that Microsoft is somewhat impotent and lacking in content, which turns it into an "unintentionally" funny comment. I'm sure that that is not what the writer intended, so your correction is still correct.