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User: BearRanger

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Comments · 272

  1. Ashamed of my alma mater on Stanford To Charge Reconnect Fee For DMCA Notices · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The reputation of the institution is important, yes. But somewhere along the way someone in the administration must have lost sight of certain principles.

    Piracy is wrong, and Stanford should make every effort to prevent it on their networks. I have no doubt that piracy takes place there. However a review of RIAA court cases would show that they quite often make claims they can't substantiate. In the case of Stanford and its students, where's the proof?

    In essence Stanford is being asked to provide the proof. What's worse, the university is looking to make the accused students pay for the investigation before handing them over to their accusers.

    I know there are legitimate uses for BitTorrent and the like, but I'd feel better if the university simply blocked its use. Make a proactive effort to prevent piracy, and let that be their defense against the RIAA and MPAA. Continue to educate the students in the issues of copyright and enforce that the same way you enforce other issues--through the student code of conduct.

    I understand the need to mitigate the cost of dealing with the RIAA/MPAA. Ideally this would be done by passing the costs on to the people who illegally download copyrighted content rather than all students, which is what this policy attempts to do. That's very difficult when you can't absolutely prove who the pirates are. The RIAA and MPAA have created a climate that adds this additional overhead to the cost of running a large network, and I'm saddened to see that Stanford has decided to pay this tax.

    Making deals with the RIAA/MPAA is like making deals with the devil. On the surface you may benefit but in the end you end up losing your soul.

  2. Now that we know where Oa is. . . on Ancient Star Found, Estimated at 13.2 Billion Years Old · · Score: 1

    Would the Guardians please send someone over to sort out this business with Sinestro ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H George Bush?

  3. Re:Time to appeal to the European Union on Objections Over Antibiotic Approved for Use in Cattle · · Score: 1

    Many thanks for pointing this out. I'll break with /. tradition and read to the end next time. ;-)

    In any event, it just points out that we're screwed no matter where we live and that regulation isn't necessarily doing the job it should. Which was always the case given human mobility I suppose.

    Between BSE, hormones and drugs it's increasingly looking like beef is *not* going to be on my dinner table. Not that the problem is confined to just beef. Animals might be tasty but these days they're not a necessary part of the diet.

  4. Time to appeal to the European Union on Objections Over Antibiotic Approved for Use in Cattle · · Score: 1

    Once the EU bans the import of all U.S. beef that's treated with these antibiotics (and hormones and all the other drugs that get used in our food supply) the resultant loss of income will force U.S. suppliers to change their ways. An appeal to Japan wouldn't hurt either.

    In the meantime, do your part by making sure that "Beef is *not* what's for dinner".

    Sad to say, these days the best recourse for the U.S. consumer might be to appeal to foreign governments. The current U.S. administration doesn't appear to have the average citizens' interests at heart.

  5. Microsoft's urgency not Apple's problem on Apple's Windows Apps Not Ready For Vista · · Score: 1

    I mean really, it's the same argument Adobe used with Apple regarding updating CS2 for Intel Macs. Adobe opted to provide Intel Mac support in their next release rather than spending their resources reworking their older product. Fortunately Adobe/Apple customers had a (perhaps less than ideal) workaround thanks to Rosetta.

    Apple's advisory notice also included a comment that Windows users should wait to upgrade to Vista after the next release of iTunes in "a few weeks". Sounds like Apple also rolled Vista support into their next release. The good news is that it will be available relatively soon. In the meantime, many people report that most of this software works fine on Vista now. That's their apparently acceptable workaround.

    Microsoft might wish their third party software vendors would rush their releases for Vista, but urgency on their part does not constitute an emergency for those vendors. "Wait for the next release" is a perfectly legitimate response IMO.

  6. Washington State had to challenge this on More States Challenging National Driver's Licenses · · Score: 1

    Or risk a serious conflict with their state constitution. IANAL, but Article 7 of the Washington State constitution explicitly guarantees a right to privacy to all of their citizens. I believe that would include the state making a reasonable effort to protect its citizens personal information. (but of course IANAL, so what do I really know?)

    Heck, it's a state where the police can't look in your car's trunk without your permission or a search warrant. The state should treat your personal information with equal respect.

  7. It's called Schadenfreude on MS Office Zero-Day Under Attack · · Score: 1
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude/

    Especially after that interview with Bill Gates in Newsweek. It's not that people don't feel for Microsoft's victims. It's just that when you make the claims Gates did you have to be able to back them up. Time and time again Microsoft has shown that they can't.

  8. Re:Misleading story on Vista DRM Cracked by Security Researcher · · Score: 1
    This isn't a story. Its pre-mature speculation.

    And like all premature speculation it will only lead to disappointment and embarrassment...

  9. Fear makes us fat on Does Sprawl Make Us Fat? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the U.S. at least. We're afraid of crime and/or minorities and so we move further out to be away from them. We're afraid our kids will be abducted or abused so we drive them to the bus stop so that they can go to school, even though the bus stop is just a few blocks from our home. We then sit there with the engine running and the doors locked until the kids board the bus, and drive back home. Kids can't be allowed to play on their own, we have to constantly watch them if they want to go to the park. But thanks to our commute back and forth to work we don't have time to actually supervise them. So we forbid them to go out after school and leave them at home in front of the television or with their game consoles. Not to mention their sugary snacks and processed foods. Commuting parents often don't have time to actually prepare food from scratch.

    Fear is the driving force behind sprawl, and fear sets the pattern for our sedentary lifestyles. It's our fears that make us fat.

    As a culture we need to get over it.

  10. Re:Apple bends the RIAA over, the RIAA bends MS ov on Sony and Universal Prohibit Sharing Via Zune · · Score: 3, Informative

    While you may be right about Microsoft's ultimate goal to indirectly hurt the iPod, this strategy is not without risk for the record labels.

    An out of left field idea that has been voiced before, but is now actually closer to reality. Apple has settled their dispute with Apple Records. A recent Slashdot story mentions a British band that made the Top-40 with an online-only release of their single.

    How many artists would jump at the chance to directly release their music on iTunes?

    There's plenty of money to be made in the music business without excessively bleeding the artists or the consumers. A direct to iTunes model could be a catalyst to ultimately changing the way artists reach their listeners. It's also Steve Jobs' tactical nuclear weapon in his dealings with the record labels.

  11. We haven't seen the killer iPhone app yet on iPhone Faces Uncertain Market · · Score: 1
    If, as David Pogue says http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/technology/11pog ue.html the iPhone is just a working prototype, how can we say we've seen all there is to see.

    Jobs said the iPhone OS was OS X. Let's take him at his word. A safe assumption is that it's Leopard.

    I found it interesting that he made no mention of Leopard at Macworld. Or of iLife '07, both of which we know are coming. Thinking back to the WWDC and the talk of "secret features in Leopard" I'm left to wonder how many of those deal with the iPhone. Rumor has it that iLife '07 includes a spreadsheet app.

    The iPhone appears to be a consumer device, but if Apple wanted to put a businesslike face on it they could include their own (perhaps MS-compatible) word processor and spreadsheet, and have it instantly sync when the phone is plugged in for charging, along with the calendar, etc. Allow push mail from anywhere and Microsoft will become irrelevant.

    As for the killer app, I can think of one possibility, especially if we find it's integrated into Leopard: Skype, or an Apple-branded VOIP client. They'd have a hard time getting that past Cingular, but it would definitely sell a lot of iPhones in places where WiFi is free/cheap.

  12. Not just G4 on David Pogue Takes On Vista · · Score: 1

    I have Tiger running on my old Yosemite G3, and the performance is more than adequate. I've pretty much retired that box to media service duties, but I'll occasionally use it for other things. It's still able to do useful work, and it has successfully run 5 OS revisions since I bought it in 1998.

    Show me a Windows box that can do that without installing Linux on it.

  13. Re:Developing for MacOSX on Leopard Vs. Vista · · Score: 1
    Given that MacOSX is not even a "moral" platform in the Free/Open Source respect, there's really no good reason to develop for it.

    What the heck is a "moral" platform? Tools are neither moral or immoral.

    In any event, saying this in opposition to Windows totally invalidates anything useful you might have said. Of course, if you're truly a power developer as you say why do you need an IDE in the first place? Aren't the API's enough?

  14. The American diaspora on If Not America, Then Where? · · Score: 1

    Other countries have had large numbers of people emigrate over the past few centuries, for a number of different reasons. Maybe it's just the Americans' turn?

    There's one major difference, though. Most of the people who talk about leaving seem to be among the best and the brightest. That's not a good sign if you want your country to remain an economic power. If political instability is really the driving force behind this desire to leave you certainly have it in your power to do something about it. So get cracking!

  15. Vote absentee on Diebold Disks May Have Been For Testers · · Score: 1

    My county doesn't currently use electronic voting, but if they used Diebold voting machines I would vote absentee. If enough people do this, thereby increasing election costs, the message will get out. Just the potential for shenanigans should be enough to disqualify these things.

  16. Symantec isn't going anywhere... on The Netscaping of Symantec and McAfee · · Score: 1

    because they've learned a lesson or two from Microsoft. Their antivirus product is a cash cow, much like Windows. It's not a coincidence that it comes pre-installed on a number of vendors' platforms. And like Microsoft, they're beginning to use their cash reserves to branch out into other markets.

    It's not an accident that Symantec purchased Veritas. It's a great hedge. It gives them entry into a part of the enterprise they didn't previously have, and Veritas is a company that has/had a reputation much better than their own. Rather than focusing on the antivirus product so much they should just accept that it's a slowly dying market, and work harder at not screwing up their Veritas assests going forward.

  17. Re:What's so bad about that quote? on Finger Pointing Over iPod Windows Virus · · Score: 2, Informative

    I doubt if Apple would care if the Zune shipped with OS X viruses. Like most Microsoft products the Zune doesn't work with the Mac.

    As to the quote, maybe the second half should have been included. The part that says "and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it." I personally think the comment is valid. Appple should have caught it, and Windows shouldn't be so security challenged.

  18. Re:Slashdot: Apple releases iPod on A Recap of the iPod's Life · · Score: 1
    ...the lack of Linux support for iTunes music can keep you tied to Windows.

    Not necessarily. You could always buy a Mac.

  19. Let me rephrase this for you on MySpace Organizes Sudan Fundraiser · · Score: 4, Informative
    The way the west has dealt with Africa since pretty much the beginning of time is shameful, and it doesn't look like it's going to improve any time soon.

    The way *Africans* have dealt with Africa is shameful. Sure, we can blame colonialism for many of Africa's problems, but we're more than 40 years on from the last of Europe's colonial possessions. At some point the Africans themselves have to reject corruption, violence and tribalism and begin to work cooperatively for a better life for themselves. No amount of charity on the part of the west can help them with this.

    (And yes, I know Africa is a continent and that not all African countries are in this predicament. Still, why have Europe's former Asian colonies done so much better?)

  20. What, no Evil Trio? on Rocket Men · · Score: 1

    I'm sure they're available. Well, two of them anyway. When using a rocket belt always make sure there's not a solid brick archway above your head. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/cont ent/a3033/index-9.html/

  21. Unintended consequences on Creating Water from Thin Air · · Score: 1

    This probably will never be a large scale product, but consider what would happen if large amounts of water vapor are extracted from the air.

    Of course, if the hydrogen economy ever comes to pass these things might become a necessity.

  22. Web removes the power of news editors on The Web as Political Weapon · · Score: 1

    I think we're witnessing, for lack of a better term, the democratization of the news. Under the old model the editor (and by extension the publisher) is able to control what gets printed or broadcast. If there's a bias on the editors' part it's easy to spin the facts. Little stories sometimes lead to larger ones, but only if the people who make the story assignments agree to print or show them.

    The web also removes regional biases by giving us access to news and opinions from other parts of the country and other parts of the world. My local editors might be biased, or have a set of biases that don't agree with mine. It's now a lot easier to find people who agree with my point of view, as well as see what's important in other regions.

    To paraphrase Slashdot: News for everyone. Stuff that matters.

  23. Why was this heard in the 6th Circuit? on Warrantless Surveillance To Continue For Now · · Score: 1

    Just curious, as the 6th covers Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennesee. Thanks to certain historical oddities (read: who appointed whom to the court) some circuits have, for lack of a better term, an ideological bias. As much as we'd like to believe a fair hearing can be had in each circuit that's not necessarily the case.

    It was my understanding that the original challenge originated in Texas. (which I could easily be wrong about...)

  24. Re:"Pwned"?! on Dutch Blackbox Voting Pwned · · Score: 1

    Absolutely. It's the geek equivalent of Ebonics. And like Ebonics it has no place in serious discourse.

    Yeah, yeah, I know...this is Slashdot.

  25. Text of the IM's on Rethinking IM Privacy For Kids · · Score: 1