I'm a big fan of On The Media - a weekly NPR radio show which I probably wouldn't hear if it wasn't for their graciously provided RSS feed. The show covers print and broadcast media from an ethical perspective, in contrast from MediaGuardian's obsession with CEOs and ratings. Its not all US centred and they do a lot on Iraq and even the UK. Worth a listen.
'I think it's okay to release a [extended PS3] configuration every year'. It's clear from the comments that Sony is indicating that it will be possible to upgrade hard drives and perhaps even other components easily."
That's a great idea! Maybe they should talk to Sega about their mid-90s console successes.
Reminds me of an idle Tuesday afternoon (UK time) back in September 2001, when yet another refresh of the/. homepage brought up a curious story about a plane in the side of a building. First thoughts were "some kind of silly advertising stunt with a giant inflatable?", but the unbelievable summary suggested otherwise. Slashdot was taking forever to load the story, so I tried BBC news... and then Sky news, then CNN, and several other news sites, finding that they were all extremely slow. Finally, we tracked down a tv set in the office and learned the full extent of the events occurring in NY. That's as close to a meltdown as I've seen, although that's probably more those particular news sites being swamped, rather than the entire net grinding to a halt.
I seem to remember the BBC's own servers were knocked out during 9/11 due to a power outage...
But, as my sister told me when we discussed this, they will likely chalk it up to "technology has moved on" and view it the same way they view VHS as not playing in DVD players, and simply rebuy the same movie/album, again. I sure hope that doesn't become the mainstream attitude - it will give the record companies and movie studios yet-another-reason to implement DRM any chance they get.
Just my 2p, but I found that when you actually explain what DRM is and how it restricts bought music content to a new user, it puts them right off it from the start. Recently my sister was looking for somewhere to purchase some songs, but hadn't yet bought an mp3 player. I told her that if she used iTunes or any other equivilant service she could find that the mp3 player on eBay for £30 that she wanted would not play it. She forgot about it in the end and got the track off a friend.
You still need to add it to your list to startup programs in Sessions for it to do anything useful. Like I said, not exactly difficult, but might be confusing for some users - a solution which allowed you to switch between the two screensaver packages and activated them would have been better.
Ubuntu-desktop is just a meta-package - it installs default ubuntu desktop components. It doesn't have to be there, inless you are using a development version and wish to follow changes to the defaults as they are made. You can happily remove it if you need to.
Focus ST. Ok, the name is ill-chosen, you can get it in a sort of orange tracksuit colour that wouldn't look out of place on a rapper and it's bound to become the car of choice for Burberry check-wearers across Essex - but that doesn't stop it from being a fantastic car.
Err, not exactly. I have that package installed, and it does not run at startup by default. Sure, getting it to do the latter isn't exactly hard, but it's not out of the box either - and will surely become a subject of the Automatix/EasyUbuntu scripts out there.
Having used Dapper for the last few months as a desktop user, I can say its a pretty neat system, but carries a few flaws. It boots far quicker than Breezy, seems to close down faster as well, has a smartend orange look (albeit resembling Vista a little but dumping that uniform Brown look for good), while the new shutdown dialog is quite cool. It remains the free easy-to-use distro of choice, at least for me.
So what sucks? SAMBA's graphical configuration is still useless for setting up Linux-Windows shares. The new Gnome Screensaver actually seems a retrograde step, losing RSS, per-screensaver settings and several popular XScreensaver hacks - supposedly in the name of ease-of-use. I can imagine users will fall over themselves with hacks to get XScreensaver working again.
The FSF's most recent effort -- an anti-DRM protest staged at Microsoft's WinHEC conference last week, complete with demonstrators costumed in hazmat suits -- was particularly troubling. It signals a shift in the FSF, from an advocacy organization to one that engages in hysterical activism cut from the PETA mold.
Um, what? FSF's tiny flashmob, equipped with some dodgy boiler suits, hardly compares to the work of an organisation which aggressivly targets firms and other organisations for mistreating animals.
Hysterical? Almost polite.
I remember portals in the late 90s, and the fuss and bother firms made over what was meant to be the cash-cow of the future. Much was made about Netscape's Netcenter site, which is still operating, tho' I suspect with far fewer visitors.
What I want to know is... who uses these damn sites? If portals are so important as a source of revenue, then why did Google - who's original site was stripped of the over-complicated design which marked sites like Yahoo!, MSN and excite - become a dominant market player? Could it be - shock - users don't want to see everything piled into one place and are intelligent enough to get services from different websites? eBay for auctions, BBC/CNN/whoever for news, Google for their search. I certainly never liked those kind of sites and I never heard anyone else who did - except of course, the corporations which ran them.
Well it works.... just like the Windows version. With the exception of slightly crummy looking fonts in the menus, the interface is quite slick and near-identical to the original, and appears to be as fast and slick as the original. Nice job.
One or two problems remain (and I'm sure more will pop up after I play with it for more than 10 minutes). It doesn't integrate into any desktop environment at all - its very much a Windows application hacked to bits so it runs smoothly in Linux, and it shows at points. With the exception of Desktop, it does not remember stored folders from either Konqueror or Nautilus, and maintains meaningless links to "My Documents", "My Pictures", "My Music" and other folders which don't exist in the file requesters. This could use some work.
2. That there is some semblance of similarity between a person and a giant corporation like AT&T. --Corporations have been demonstrated countless times to function without social conscience, without moral grounding, and with reckless disregard for others, among a whole host of other elements which give them all the basic behavioral traits as those held by psychopaths.
Yes, The Corporation is a rather good documentary, isn't it?
Why should the hijacking of an historical figure's name, against the dead man's willing, by a worthless supermarket novel hack stop you from appreciating art? You can't exactly blame Da Vinci for the massification of culture.
Slashdot Mirror
I think the Voice of Iran is a very important service. Who else would warn us of the threat of Zionist pig-dogs?
I'm a big fan of On The Media - a weekly NPR radio show which I probably wouldn't hear if it wasn't for their graciously provided RSS feed. The show covers print and broadcast media from an ethical perspective, in contrast from MediaGuardian's obsession with CEOs and ratings. Its not all US centred and they do a lot on Iraq and even the UK. Worth a listen.
That's a great idea! Maybe they should talk to Sega about their mid-90s console successes.
I seem to remember the BBC's own servers were knocked out during 9/11 due to a power outage...
Just my 2p, but I found that when you actually explain what DRM is and how it restricts bought music content to a new user, it puts them right off it from the start. Recently my sister was looking for somewhere to purchase some songs, but hadn't yet bought an mp3 player. I told her that if she used iTunes or any other equivilant service she could find that the mp3 player on eBay for £30 that she wanted would not play it. She forgot about it in the end and got the track off a friend.
Way to go DRM, you missed a sale.
You still need to add it to your list to startup programs in Sessions for it to do anything useful. Like I said, not exactly difficult, but might be confusing for some users - a solution which allowed you to switch between the two screensaver packages and activated them would have been better.
Ubuntu-desktop is just a meta-package - it installs default ubuntu desktop components. It doesn't have to be there, inless you are using a development version and wish to follow changes to the defaults as they are made. You can happily remove it if you need to.
Whats an Eft?
Mmmmm, Burberry windows :-D
Err, not exactly. I have that package installed, and it does not run at startup by default. Sure, getting it to do the latter isn't exactly hard, but it's not out of the box either - and will surely become a subject of the Automatix/EasyUbuntu scripts out there.
Having used Dapper for the last few months as a desktop user, I can say its a pretty neat system, but carries a few flaws. It boots far quicker than Breezy, seems to close down faster as well, has a smartend orange look (albeit resembling Vista a little but dumping that uniform Brown look for good), while the new shutdown dialog is quite cool. It remains the free easy-to-use distro of choice, at least for me.
So what sucks? SAMBA's graphical configuration is still useless for setting up Linux-Windows shares. The new Gnome Screensaver actually seems a retrograde step, losing RSS, per-screensaver settings and several popular XScreensaver hacks - supposedly in the name of ease-of-use. I can imagine users will fall over themselves with hacks to get XScreensaver working again.
I for one welcome our glass-lift overlords...
Please see: The Local in English. Aftonbladet in b0rk b0rk.
Parent is insightful? Do you have some evidence for that statement, oh Mr Coward?
/sarcasm
This counts as a front page story? Did I tred into OSNews by mistake?
Oh, nevermind.
The FSF's most recent effort -- an anti-DRM protest staged at Microsoft's WinHEC conference last week, complete with demonstrators costumed in hazmat suits -- was particularly troubling. It signals a shift in the FSF, from an advocacy organization to one that engages in hysterical activism cut from the PETA mold. Um, what? FSF's tiny flashmob, equipped with some dodgy boiler suits, hardly compares to the work of an organisation which aggressivly targets firms and other organisations for mistreating animals. Hysterical? Almost polite.
Hell, this could open the floodgates for any kind of crazed nut-case.
What I want to know is... who uses these damn sites? If portals are so important as a source of revenue, then why did Google - who's original site was stripped of the over-complicated design which marked sites like Yahoo!, MSN and excite - become a dominant market player? Could it be - shock - users don't want to see everything piled into one place and are intelligent enough to get services from different websites? eBay for auctions, BBC/CNN/whoever for news, Google for their search. I certainly never liked those kind of sites and I never heard anyone else who did - except of course, the corporations which ran them.
One or two problems remain (and I'm sure more will pop up after I play with it for more than 10 minutes). It doesn't integrate into any desktop environment at all - its very much a Windows application hacked to bits so it runs smoothly in Linux, and it shows at points. With the exception of Desktop, it does not remember stored folders from either Konqueror or Nautilus, and maintains meaningless links to "My Documents", "My Pictures", "My Music" and other folders which don't exist in the file requesters. This could use some work.
Isn't this kind of problem what LiveJournal's "Friends Only" posting feature meant to tackle? MySpace must have this kind of functionality, surely?
MY EYES! MY EYES! Slightly flabby geeks dance to random euro-pop track. Thanks!
Cut, paste, find and replace?
Yes, The Corporation is a rather good documentary, isn't it?
Why should the hijacking of an historical figure's name, against the dead man's willing, by a worthless supermarket novel hack stop you from appreciating art? You can't exactly blame Da Vinci for the massification of culture.