While I am surprised that they built a violin-playing robot, I am not surprised by their advances in robotics. Since they probably use similar robots in all of their plants to manufacture cars with increasing precision, they would naturally develop the same knowledge to build the robot they did. Notice that the robot's real advances are not in software, but in mechanical precision -- being able to move in the very technical manner of a violinist's bow and fingers.
If their robotic arms can play the violin, what kind of advances in automobile manufacturing could they make with such a huge core skill?
Basically, most EULAs will leave you hanging out to dry in this regard. They'll make sure you acknowledge that the company isn't responsible for security breaches, or at the very least you waive your right to sue for damages in such an instance.
It sounds like the problem is not that they only come out once a month, but that so many are released that it takes a long time to apply the patches. If they released one patch every day, it would still take a while to patch every system, especially for large companies or companies with tons of computers.
It sounds to me like the only real solution is to make better code so that you do not have to release patches as often. It might just be an inevitability that IT must live with.
No doubt this story will stir up our global warming debate again. Rather than continue the same litany of posts, can we focus on informative or interesting posts about how sunspots could affect various parts of our climate (polar temperature, magnetism, radiation, ozone holes, etc.)? Do they have an effect? How large? Is it significant? Is this accurate? That would be something new and helpful.
I think the last thing most/.ers want to read is another string of the same people posting the same links to previous posts and pasting the same arguments, counterarguments, sources, and denouncements of those sources as in the multiple threads we've had.
When I read the headline, I thought it was actually the other way around--turn in your video games and get guns. Glad the article cleared that one up. I wouldn't go to Mexico ever again!
I'm not quite sure I follow your argument. Gresham's Law being more or less "bad money drives out good money." But Gresham's law applies to legal tender and the difference in face value and commodity value. The example he gave was of coins made of metals. If the value of the coin exceeded the value of the metal it was made of, the gov't would debase the currency through fiat or mixing it with alloys so as to avoid printing money at a loss. Then all the coins with more precious metal were horded by individuals and the ones with less precious metal were the ones that people circulated.
The thing about the QQ coin is that, as far as I know, isn't really legal tender. Each merchant is able to discern whether or not the QQ coin is valuable or not. Given the choice between the yuan and the QQ, the vendor will accept whichever is better for him. If he benefits more from using the QQ coin, he could very well refuse to accept the yuan. That may sound silly, but it's no different than using a currency exchange for hard currency, or selling WOW gold or Wii Points or something like that.
To me it seems that this lawsuit will come down to whose fine print trumps whose. It was posted above that, according to Turnitin.com's Terms of Use:
any communications or material of any kind that you e-mail, post, or transmit through the Site (excluding personally identifiable information of students and any papers submitted to the Site), including, questions, comments, suggestions, and other data and information (your "Communications") will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. You grant iParadigms a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, world-wide, irrevocable license to reproduce, transmit, display, disclose, and otherwise use your Communications on the Site or elsewhere for our business purposes. We are free to use any ideas, concepts, techniques, know-how in your Communications for any purpose, including, but not limited to, the development and use of products and services based on the Communications. This is made with the purchaser of the software, presumably the school. So anything the school submits to Turnitin, according to this, is treated as non-proprietary. Basically Turnitin says that they can do whatever they like with what you give them.
At the high school level, a student doesn't sign any contract with the public school system as far as I know regarding the copyright of material (it's high school, what are the odds that it's worth copyrighting?). So the school does not hold the copyright--the students do.
So if the student is compelled to use Turnitin.com, of if the teacher uses Turnitin.com without the student's knowledge, this could constitute copyright infringement I think. Even if the student (say, at a private university) had signed a contract on admission that all work submitted to the school became the intellectual property of the school, the work would still have the copyright of the student because they received that right before they turned it in.
So one person's document says that it is proprietary and belongs to the student. The other states it is non-proprietary and belongs to Turnitin.com. So whose fine print wins? I think that, if the student did not freely choose to submit it to Turnitin.com, then the copyright should stay with the student and the students should win.
(Personally I think Turnitin.com's Terms of Service are horrible and nasty, since they also make the school defend them. You agree to indemnify and defend iParadigms from any claim (including attorneys fees and costs) arising from your (a) use of the Site, (b) violation of any third party right, or (c) breach of any of these Terms and Conditions. I sure wouldn't do that.)
From the article:
When the product IDs and product keys found belong to legal software, Microsoft will delete the data right away; only in cases of suspected software piracy will it store the data, the company has said. In the blog, the company once again explicitly states that it does not use the information gathered to identify or contact users.
Seeing that Microsoft has done very poorly in correctly determining which installations of Windows are legitimate, how competently can they track legal software?
Yes, this is off-topic, but I also have a messed up header bar. I figured it's something I did in Firefox with my extensions. I haven't done any careful testing and just put up with it for now.
I would like to say that, out of this entire/. discussion, this has been by far the best thread I have read. Not only is it informative, but you treat each other with respect, openly admitting that you want to look into more things or that you didn't understand something. If I could, I would mod you both +5 Gentlemen and Scholars. You are a rare pair here and I appreciate your civility while posting.
This sounds like it would be great for the Wii. At first, I thought using the nunchuk would be great for strumming, but the WiiMote just isn't suited for playing the guitar. Fortunately, the Wiimote could easily become the strumming mechanism with a GH dongle plugging into the base. rotate the Wiimote to strumm, move horizontally for whammi... I could see that.
The only thing I'd be concerned about with the dongle is utility. If I've got 5 buttons up there, it sure would be nice to have a neck to slide my hand up and down. I can't really imagine playing it well without it. This will probably be the reason you'll see a full-bodied guitar--meaning GH won't utilize many of the qualities of the Wiimote. Oh well.
The second link leads to an article dated 17 August 2005. It isn't about the same distribution, but about a past incident of French kids receiving OSS on CDs.
Still, it looks pretty exciting. I'd love to have that stuff on the go. If France can break out of the grip of Microsoft, then perhaps the end of the monopoly is near.
I think this is a very informed post, and I'm glad you bring up how ISPs restrict users from using their own web servers. As far as I can tell, I pay for the ability to send and receive packets. It shouldn't matter what application sends the packets. In this respect, I am no different from Google, who also pays to send and receive packets. As long as the user fees are enough to cover the cost of operating, maintaining, and improving fiber, routers, etc. then I see no reason why they should charge anyone more than anyone else.
The only reason I can see that telcos would go after companies like Google is that Google has oodles of money. Because they have the ability to may far more than they do now, the telcos would love to make some extra cash via packet "protection money." It'd be a shame if your packets should come across a Moe Green Special. But a special contribution to our humble efforts might keep your packets from bein' found in the Hudson wid' a pair of cement shoes. Don't think they wouldn't hesitate to do the same to the average consumer if they felt they could earn a few quick bucks. Fortunately, the very reason that Google has oodles of money is because consumers love them. So if Google decided not to send packets via particular ISPs, consumers would be in an uproar. After seeing that, no other ISP would consider doing anything like that, and the other one would lose a large customer base.
This is probably too basic to really count as insightful, but who knows. I just think the guy defined the answer, then when he got to the part where everyone else stops (i.e. 0/0) he plugged in his definition and let it loose.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like in a world without intellectual property, trademarks, patents, etc. then you've found it. Programs like CopyBot do not serve the community interest, and in the long term will hurt the individuals using the program. If your business' products are entirely reproducible and then sold for cheap, you cannot sustain a living in such a place. It kills innovation because there is no longer a reward for it. There is no gift culture like in OSS, no list of contributors to your code. Without reward, few will continue to produce in SL. This, ultimately, means there will be little to copy, and so those who use it will lose the advantage they have.
Of course, the more the community respects intellectual property in SL, the greater the benefits of using CopyBot. It's the Prisoners Dilemma all over again.
Right on the money. As a novice Linux user, I've found my biggest hurdle to using it for more tasks has been simply not knowing how to do what I want to do (I use Ubuntu 6.0.6). For example, when I install a program and want to run it, it it isn't in the Applications menu (using Gnome), I only have the first idea of what to do --use the terminal. But I don't know what to do from there. If there isn't an option listed somewhere in those menus, I have to search forums to try and find solutions.
It's not that I'm ignorant, certainly. I use Firefox, OpenOffice, Gaim, and other open-source software regularly. I've learned some Java, SQL, HTML, C++, and consider myself "computer savvy." But because I am not familiar with the language of the Linux OS (like the CHAR(3) names for the folders on the \ or the keywords for taking advantage of the terminal), I am extremely limited in what I can do. I tried to install FF2.0 the other day, but after I extracted the tar.gz, I didn't know what to do. I tried a HOWTO I found on Ubuntu's community site, tried apt-get, but neither didn't work for some reason. So I'm stuck with FF1.5 for now. It's probably a simple fix, but that all the more profoundly demonstrates how difficult it can be to use even one of the most user-friendly distros available.
Don't get me wrong; I love the idea behind OSS and want to learn to use Linux better--I wouldn't be trying it out if I didn't. But I simply cannot use it for anything more than simple tasks like web surfing and office utilities because there is a high knowledge barrier that will just take time to overcome. If Linux can adapt like Nintendo and find a way to make Linux more accessible and bring those who can only handle Windows well into the Linux world, then we've got something. Until then, I'm afraid the author is right.
I guess the/. editors will finally have to change an icon... It's been a long time coming, but since E3 has been replaced, it only makes sense that/.'s E3 icon should change with it. In with the new, out with the old.
Combined with this Pen-based Interface and the many different ways of interacting with files in this system, we could be on to something extremely cool, functional, and versatile.
"Occam's razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or "shaving off," those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory."
I think the two razors need to meet somewhere, or things will get pretty crazy. Just liked the irony mostly.
Exactly. Having a pool of experts does not mean you will have a better outcome. The odds of any one expert being correct every time are very slim. But the odds of a group being correct every time are actually better. For those that watch the football announcers (our experts) make predictions about who will win today, they disagree and none have perfect records. But when it comes to predicting spreads, the guys controlling how many points one team will win by are much more accurate because a large number of people, all with private knowledge and information plus sharing some general knowledge, all weigh in on the outcome. This diverse group (which includes experts) generally gets the correct spread (if they don't, the sports gambler in charge is losing lots of money).
Experts are great, and their knowledge is valuable. But in making certain kinds of decisions, it is better to tap into the Wisdom of Crowds.
Slashdot Mirror
While I am surprised that they built a violin-playing robot, I am not surprised by their advances in robotics. Since they probably use similar robots in all of their plants to manufacture cars with increasing precision, they would naturally develop the same knowledge to build the robot they did. Notice that the robot's real advances are not in software, but in mechanical precision -- being able to move in the very technical manner of a violinist's bow and fingers.
If their robotic arms can play the violin, what kind of advances in automobile manufacturing could they make with such a huge core skill?
No. In Soviet Russia You update Windows. In America Windows update you. Kind of sad, really.
I believe the phrase you're looking for is "In Soviet Korea..."
etc.
Basically, most EULAs will leave you hanging out to dry in this regard. They'll make sure you acknowledge that the company isn't responsible for security breaches, or at the very least you waive your right to sue for damages in such an instance.
It sounds like the problem is not that they only come out once a month, but that so many are released that it takes a long time to apply the patches. If they released one patch every day, it would still take a while to patch every system, especially for large companies or companies with tons of computers.
It sounds to me like the only real solution is to make better code so that you do not have to release patches as often. It might just be an inevitability that IT must live with.
But the odds are, if you're in the US, you're a bitch.
Oooh, never have I wanted mod point more. +5 Funny to you.
No doubt this story will stir up our global warming debate again. Rather than continue the same litany of posts, can we focus on informative or interesting posts about how sunspots could affect various parts of our climate (polar temperature, magnetism, radiation, ozone holes, etc.)? Do they have an effect? How large? Is it significant? Is this accurate? That would be something new and helpful.
/.ers want to read is another string of the same people posting the same links to previous posts and pasting the same arguments, counterarguments, sources, and denouncements of those sources as in the multiple threads we've had.
I think the last thing most
Just a thought.
When I read the headline, I thought it was actually the other way around--turn in your video games and get guns. Glad the article cleared that one up. I wouldn't go to Mexico ever again!
I'm not quite sure I follow your argument. Gresham's Law being more or less "bad money drives out good money." But Gresham's law applies to legal tender and the difference in face value and commodity value. The example he gave was of coins made of metals. If the value of the coin exceeded the value of the metal it was made of, the gov't would debase the currency through fiat or mixing it with alloys so as to avoid printing money at a loss. Then all the coins with more precious metal were horded by individuals and the ones with less precious metal were the ones that people circulated.
The thing about the QQ coin is that, as far as I know, isn't really legal tender. Each merchant is able to discern whether or not the QQ coin is valuable or not. Given the choice between the yuan and the QQ, the vendor will accept whichever is better for him. If he benefits more from using the QQ coin, he could very well refuse to accept the yuan. That may sound silly, but it's no different than using a currency exchange for hard currency, or selling WOW gold or Wii Points or something like that.
Just my two QQ cents.
At the high school level, a student doesn't sign any contract with the public school system as far as I know regarding the copyright of material (it's high school, what are the odds that it's worth copyrighting?). So the school does not hold the copyright--the students do.
So if the student is compelled to use Turnitin.com, of if the teacher uses Turnitin.com without the student's knowledge, this could constitute copyright infringement I think. Even if the student (say, at a private university) had signed a contract on admission that all work submitted to the school became the intellectual property of the school, the work would still have the copyright of the student because they received that right before they turned it in.
So one person's document says that it is proprietary and belongs to the student. The other states it is non-proprietary and belongs to Turnitin.com. So whose fine print wins? I think that, if the student did not freely choose to submit it to Turnitin.com, then the copyright should stay with the student and the students should win.
(Personally I think Turnitin.com's Terms of Service are horrible and nasty, since they also make the school defend them. You agree to indemnify and defend iParadigms from any claim (including attorneys fees and costs) arising from your (a) use of the Site, (b) violation of any third party right, or (c) breach of any of these Terms and Conditions. I sure wouldn't do that.)
Seeing that Microsoft has done very poorly in correctly determining which installations of Windows are legitimate, how competently can they track legal software?
Yes, this is off-topic, but I also have a messed up header bar. I figured it's something I did in Firefox with my extensions. I haven't done any careful testing and just put up with it for now.
I would like to say that, out of this entire /. discussion, this has been by far the best thread I have read. Not only is it informative, but you treat each other with respect, openly admitting that you want to look into more things or that you didn't understand something. If I could, I would mod you both +5 Gentlemen and Scholars. You are a rare pair here and I appreciate your civility while posting.
The only thing I'd be concerned about with the dongle is utility. If I've got 5 buttons up there, it sure would be nice to have a neck to slide my hand up and down. I can't really imagine playing it well without it. This will probably be the reason you'll see a full-bodied guitar--meaning GH won't utilize many of the qualities of the Wiimote. Oh well.
Still, it looks pretty exciting. I'd love to have that stuff on the go. If France can break out of the grip of Microsoft, then perhaps the end of the monopoly is near.
The only reason I can see that telcos would go after companies like Google is that Google has oodles of money. Because they have the ability to may far more than they do now, the telcos would love to make some extra cash via packet "protection money." It'd be a shame if your packets should come across a Moe Green Special. But a special contribution to our humble efforts might keep your packets from bein' found in the Hudson wid' a pair of cement shoes. Don't think they wouldn't hesitate to do the same to the average consumer if they felt they could earn a few quick bucks. Fortunately, the very reason that Google has oodles of money is because consumers love them. So if Google decided not to send packets via particular ISPs, consumers would be in an uproar. After seeing that, no other ISP would consider doing anything like that, and the other one would lose a large customer base.
infinity = 1/0
0*infinity = 1
0*(1/0) = 1
There are several ways to go with this:
PATH A:
0 = 0/1
therefore 0*(1/0) = (0/1) * (1/0) = nullity
therefore nullity = 1
therefore 0/0 = 1
PATH B:
(0*1/0)/1 = 1/1 --divide both sides by 1.
(0/1) * ((1/0)/1) = 1
(0/1) * (1/0) = 1
0/0 = 1
This is probably too basic to really count as insightful, but who knows. I just think the guy defined the answer, then when he got to the part where everyone else stops (i.e. 0/0) he plugged in his definition and let it loose.
Of course, the more the community respects intellectual property in SL, the greater the benefits of using CopyBot. It's the Prisoners Dilemma all over again.
It's not that I'm ignorant, certainly. I use Firefox, OpenOffice, Gaim, and other open-source software regularly. I've learned some Java, SQL, HTML, C++, and consider myself "computer savvy." But because I am not familiar with the language of the Linux OS (like the CHAR(3) names for the folders on the \ or the keywords for taking advantage of the terminal), I am extremely limited in what I can do. I tried to install FF2.0 the other day, but after I extracted the tar.gz, I didn't know what to do. I tried a HOWTO I found on Ubuntu's community site, tried apt-get, but neither didn't work for some reason. So I'm stuck with FF1.5 for now. It's probably a simple fix, but that all the more profoundly demonstrates how difficult it can be to use even one of the most user-friendly distros available.
Don't get me wrong; I love the idea behind OSS and want to learn to use Linux better--I wouldn't be trying it out if I didn't. But I simply cannot use it for anything more than simple tasks like web surfing and office utilities because there is a high knowledge barrier that will just take time to overcome. If Linux can adapt like Nintendo and find a way to make Linux more accessible and bring those who can only handle Windows well into the Linux world, then we've got something. Until then, I'm afraid the author is right.
Combined with this Pen-based Interface and the many different ways of interacting with files in this system, we could be on to something extremely cool, functional, and versatile.
"Occam's razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or "shaving off," those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory."
I think the two razors need to meet somewhere, or things will get pretty crazy. Just liked the irony mostly.
Experts are great, and their knowledge is valuable. But in making certain kinds of decisions, it is better to tap into the Wisdom of Crowds.