Well thanks for all the advice on what to do with iTunes, but if I don't use it on a PC, how will I go about installing songs onto my iPod without it freaking out? iTunes does have some anti-piracy features, such as not allowing buyers to download songs they have purchased more than once. I'll tell it not to manage my library and see if that works. My parents plan on buying a mac G5 though, so this might not be a problem for much longer:) And no, iTunes is not difficult to use, except for it wiping my library. To fix this I have to disable iTunes, plug in my iPod and open it up as a removable drive, copy the.m4a files and click-and-drag them into iTunes. Otherwise, iTunes updates my iPod when I plug it in, meaning it's updated to nothing.
And yes, jmnormand, you're right, the media probably does exaggerate the numbers...
Very true. My friend was a victim of the difficulties installing the Battle For Middle Earth 2 Beta test which he paid for. You're right though, but companies didn't start doing this for fun.
I have no idea how they managed to pirate $6.5 million in software. Assuming the average price of a movie is $7, they would have needed to pirate over 900,000 movies. And to think that they can only be given up to 5 years of prison. They should have to pay for all that stolen software, which is quite a figure even when divided by 19.
It's people like these who make it more and more difficult just to use software because of the security features they add. I can't tell you how many times iTunes has spontaniously wiped all the files on it.
I completely agree with you, but I also think this is a bit difficult. IE's "standards" are so bizarrely malformed I find it hard to believe. For example, I'm sure you've heard of the IE5 box model error. Interestingly enough, using the XML DTD (<?xml version="1.0"?>) in IE6 causes the box model error. While it is good to implement cross-browser design, it would be best for microsoft to start moving closer to web standards. Soon enough, IE7 or IE8 might be closer to propper web standards and will take over current (IE5 and IE6) browsers.
If every JPEG was 500 KB, 4,708,523,520 of them. This doesn't account for the operating system, if there is one. Still, when would you ever need to store nearly 5 trillion JPEGs, unless you're Google Caching?
Precisely what I was thinking. iTunes (interesting, starting a sentence with a propper noun whose first letter is lower case...) seems much more fair toward the artists of the music. There must be some catch, like you cannot burn it to a CD or any other portable media, because otherwise anybody with a computer and an internet connection (or a friend with both) could do this and CD prices would drop.
No money means no music. No music means no money. It's an endless loop that the RIAA would fight against 'til the death.
You all make a good point, so i'll respond in one post.
bigtallmofo: I appologize for my daze of ignorance. Let it be a lesson to all to think twice before you speak, or type for that matter.
secolactico: You may have misunderstood, I was referring to the voters and not the members of Congress. Still, you are somewhat right. I must conclude, along with crimson30, that there are other tests needed. So not only a literacy test, per se, but some sort of test of general knowledge (like an IQ test that tests for more than cognitive intelligence, with much more concerning basic history) as I have heard polls before (which I unfortunately cannot find) which report that outrageous percentages of high school students can't tell us where Iraq is on a map. You all may of course remember a scene from "Supersize Me" in which they show children a picture of Jesus (the general modern conception), and while they could all name Ronald McDonald, the only guess at the picture of Jesus was George W. Bush. Basic history (specifically American with a mix of other important time periods / nations), basic geography and cognitive intelligence as well as of course literacy should be required to vote before the first time they vote, and after any injuries with potential brain damage.
hunterx11: As stated above, literacy tests were only the smallest part of the problem and I was not specific enough in my responses. And yes, more people should vote but it is a privilege that they may give up freely. It still should be noted however that you should not vote only because P.Diddy will kill you otherwise.
His efforts include using a childhood game system that can be played by moving a joystick with his right hand and slamming his more rigid left hand into one button.
While for some people that is even impossible, there's one way to do it. I suppose one could use the side of their one hand as well.
While this is a possible alternative, excessive database calls every time one loads a page for multiple users many times a day could bring a server to its knees. This of course only applies to MySQL or Oracle and other third party database applications that take up large ammounts of CPU. It might be preferable to place this information in a flat database text file in a directory inacessible via the web for example:/inacessiblefolderwithsomesalttomakesureitssafe123 4554321/cookies.txt instead of/public_html/inacessiblefolderwithsomesalttomakesu reitssafe1234554321/cookies.txt
Secured sessions are another option, but they cost some extra money on shared hosts. Digitally signing cookies are definitely a must.
As an off-topic but security / cookie related note, while researching PGP Keys for this reply I performed a google search for "pgp key cookies" (without the quotations in the search) and I was offered an unkwown security certificate from www.lokmail.net, an allegedly "secure" email site with a certificate signed by "unknown authority". A bit ironic methinks.
What disturbs me more is the idea that the people we elect to Congress behave childishly enough to get Federal IP addresses blocked from a major website. Quite honestly, I move to give literacy tests before giving voting privelidges...
With a patent on wireless networks in moving vehicles in general, they can screw over other companies. The patent system is utterly useless if people are going to start patenting all of this...
Maybe I should apply for a patent on leaves and start sueing plant owners. It's just as logical as recent patents...
Ah yes! That's that company who've never received a penny from me or anybody I know, yet whose marvelous Windows skinning program seems to be somehow installed in full version mode on all our computers!
I guarantee with all their marvelous skinning programs you've also received their marvelous spyware that you agreed to install. The ammount of malware they couple with their "free trials" are incredible. I'm just fine with windows classic theme and the gnome theme for now.
I spotted this on del.icio.us a while before either Digg or Slashdot. I really do feel bad for their server, del.icio.us(ed)/Dugg/Slashdotted all in one day.
I think Transmogrify_UK was refering to websites that say you should use Windows 98/2000/XP and don't provide support for any browser besides IE, leaving you unable to view anything because of the massive ammount of ActiveX plugins used in the site. And even if there are no ActiveX plugins, i'm sure most Windows-using webmasters couldn't care less about standards compliance and modifying their websites to work with Firefox / Safari / Konqueror.
Still, I have in fact run into websites from my school's macs that completely deny mac access. A little tweaking can solve that, however.
My father worked upstairs in a loan firm for a bank in an old building. I frankly can't see how if banks were all this secure they could be robbed.
The vault is time sealed, and can only be opened at certain times of the day. To open it, one needs a combination and two keys. No one person holds both keys, and there are only two of each key. The vault is also heavily guarded and there are security camaras.
Inside the vault, the safety deposit boxes line the walls, and in the back of the room, an even bigger box with all the money in it. One out of ten of the bundles of $5, $20 and $100 dollar bills are fake bundles. They have a tiny machine inside them. If the burglar was to walk out of the bank with this bundle, they would trip an alarm, releasing a colored gas from the bundle. The substance would dye all the money red as well as sting the hands of the intruder.
If you call that insecure, you might as well bury your money under your house.
Slashdot Mirror
Well thanks for all the advice on what to do with iTunes, but if I don't use it on a PC, how will I go about installing songs onto my iPod without it freaking out? iTunes does have some anti-piracy features, such as not allowing buyers to download songs they have purchased more than once. I'll tell it not to manage my library and see if that works. My parents plan on buying a mac G5 though, so this might not be a problem for much longer :) And no, iTunes is not difficult to use, except for it wiping my library. To fix this I have to disable iTunes, plug in my iPod and open it up as a removable drive, copy the .m4a files and click-and-drag them into iTunes. Otherwise, iTunes updates my iPod when I plug it in, meaning it's updated to nothing.
And yes, jmnormand, you're right, the media probably does exaggerate the numbers...
Very true. My friend was a victim of the difficulties installing the Battle For Middle Earth 2 Beta test which he paid for. You're right though, but companies didn't start doing this for fun.
Sorry for the trillions != billions thing, happens to me sometimes. For example once I was thinking to say "blazer" and "jacket" and I said "jazer"...
I have no idea how they managed to pirate $6.5 million in software. Assuming the average price of a movie is $7, they would have needed to pirate over 900,000 movies. And to think that they can only be given up to 5 years of prison. They should have to pay for all that stolen software, which is quite a figure even when divided by 19.
It's people like these who make it more and more difficult just to use software because of the security features they add. I can't tell you how many times iTunes has spontaniously wiped all the files on it.
I completely agree with you, but I also think this is a bit difficult. IE's "standards" are so bizarrely malformed I find it hard to believe. For example, I'm sure you've heard of the IE5 box model error. Interestingly enough, using the XML DTD (<?xml version="1.0"?>) in IE6 causes the box model error. While it is good to implement cross-browser design, it would be best for microsoft to start moving closer to web standards. Soon enough, IE7 or IE8 might be closer to propper web standards and will take over current (IE5 and IE6) browsers.
Cheers.
If every JPEG was 500 KB, 4,708,523,520 of them. This doesn't account for the operating system, if there is one. Still, when would you ever need to store nearly 5 trillion JPEGs, unless you're Google Caching?
Precisely what I was thinking. iTunes (interesting, starting a sentence with a propper noun whose first letter is lower case...) seems much more fair toward the artists of the music. There must be some catch, like you cannot burn it to a CD or any other portable media, because otherwise anybody with a computer and an internet connection (or a friend with both) could do this and CD prices would drop.
No money means no music. No music means no money. It's an endless loop that the RIAA would fight against 'til the death.
You all make a good point, so i'll respond in one post.
bigtallmofo: I appologize for my daze of ignorance. Let it be a lesson to all to think twice before you speak, or type for that matter.
secolactico: You may have misunderstood, I was referring to the voters and not the members of Congress. Still, you are somewhat right. I must conclude, along with crimson30, that there are other tests needed. So not only a literacy test, per se, but some sort of test of general knowledge (like an IQ test that tests for more than cognitive intelligence, with much more concerning basic history) as I have heard polls before (which I unfortunately cannot find) which report that outrageous percentages of high school students can't tell us where Iraq is on a map. You all may of course remember a scene from "Supersize Me" in which they show children a picture of Jesus (the general modern conception), and while they could all name Ronald McDonald, the only guess at the picture of Jesus was George W. Bush. Basic history (specifically American with a mix of other important time periods / nations), basic geography and cognitive intelligence as well as of course literacy should be required to vote before the first time they vote, and after any injuries with potential brain damage.
hunterx11: As stated above, literacy tests were only the smallest part of the problem and I was not specific enough in my responses. And yes, more people should vote but it is a privilege that they may give up freely. It still should be noted however that you should not vote only because P.Diddy will kill you otherwise.
His efforts include using a childhood game system that can be played by moving a joystick with his right hand and slamming his more rigid left hand into one button.
While for some people that is even impossible, there's one way to do it. I suppose one could use the side of their one hand as well.
While this is a possible alternative, excessive database calls every time one loads a page for multiple users many times a day could bring a server to its knees. This of course only applies to MySQL or Oracle and other third party database applications that take up large ammounts of CPU. It might be preferable to place this information in a flat database text file in a directory inacessible via the web for example: /inacessiblefolderwithsomesalttomakesureitssafe123 4554321/cookies.txt instead of /public_html/inacessiblefolderwithsomesalttomakesu reitssafe1234554321/cookies.txt
Secured sessions are another option, but they cost some extra money on shared hosts. Digitally signing cookies are definitely a must.
As an off-topic but security / cookie related note, while researching PGP Keys for this reply I performed a google search for "pgp key cookies" (without the quotations in the search) and I was offered an unkwown security certificate from www.lokmail.net, an allegedly "secure" email site with a certificate signed by "unknown authority". A bit ironic methinks.
I said literacy not spelling. Still, this always seems to happen to me.
Sorry, but the last time I installed Stardock, I thought McAffe would explode. If this is true, then that was a very interesting coincidence.
What disturbs me more is the idea that the people we elect to Congress behave childishly enough to get Federal IP addresses blocked from a major website. Quite honestly, I move to give literacy tests before giving voting privelidges...
With a patent on wireless networks in moving vehicles in general, they can screw over other companies. The patent system is utterly useless if people are going to start patenting all of this...
Maybe I should apply for a patent on leaves and start sueing plant owners. It's just as logical as recent patents...
Ah yes! That's that company who've never received a penny from me or anybody I know, yet whose marvelous Windows skinning program seems to be somehow installed in full version mode on all our computers!
I guarantee with all their marvelous skinning programs you've also received their marvelous spyware that you agreed to install. The ammount of malware they couple with their "free trials" are incredible. I'm just fine with windows classic theme and the gnome theme for now.
Pretty much.
A few months from now, we're all going to get arrested because somebody patented the letter 'a'...
I spotted this on del.icio.us a while before either Digg or Slashdot. I really do feel bad for their server, del.icio.us(ed)/Dugg/Slashdotted all in one day.
I think Transmogrify_UK was refering to websites that say you should use Windows 98/2000/XP and don't provide support for any browser besides IE, leaving you unable to view anything because of the massive ammount of ActiveX plugins used in the site. And even if there are no ActiveX plugins, i'm sure most Windows-using webmasters couldn't care less about standards compliance and modifying their websites to work with Firefox / Safari / Konqueror. Still, I have in fact run into websites from my school's macs that completely deny mac access. A little tweaking can solve that, however.
The vault is time sealed, and can only be opened at certain times of the day. To open it, one needs a combination and two keys. No one person holds both keys, and there are only two of each key. The vault is also heavily guarded and there are security camaras.
Inside the vault, the safety deposit boxes line the walls, and in the back of the room, an even bigger box with all the money in it. One out of ten of the bundles of $5, $20 and $100 dollar bills are fake bundles. They have a tiny machine inside them. If the burglar was to walk out of the bank with this bundle, they would trip an alarm, releasing a colored gas from the bundle. The substance would dye all the money red as well as sting the hands of the intruder.
If you call that insecure, you might as well bury your money under your house.