Again, I am forced to post in a Cable Industry thread.
Finally, the cablecard spec is still only 1 way. The real spec will be the 2.0/ocap system, but there still seems to be some work to do. This will allow 2 way services to be implemented but there is a lot of back office stuff that needs to be addressed, some of which has never been tried outside of a lab. The 1.0 cablecard slot is not compatible with the 2.0 cards (it is not a firmware upgrade).
Regarding CableCARDs, please know your stuff before posting consumer FUD. CableCARD 1.0 has always been 2-way compatible, provided you have a 2-way TV. With the exception of one model from Samsung which isn't on the general market anymore, NONE of the consumer electronics companies have built this feature into their sets.
"The media has frequently reported that first-generation CableCARD 1.0 modules are one-way devices1. This is simply not true. CableLabs had always intended to develop the CableCARD module and host receiver standards with two-way capability. However the manufacturers of digital TVs requested that a host standard be developed that only had one-way capability. This one-way cable-ready receiver was defined by the FCC's Plug & Play order and by the Joint Test Suite (JTS). It is the definition of this one-way receiver that lacks the ability for two-way functionality, not the CableCARD module. While the FCC defined the elements of the one-way cable-ready receiver, CableLabs continued to define specifications for two-way receivers.
When a CableCARD 1.0 module is used with a two-way receiver (e.g., Samsung HLR5067C) that card supports all the necessary two-way functionality for VOD, SDV, and other interactive services."
I would suggest reading that page thoroughly before ever speaking publicly about CableCARDs again.
Secondly, to say that cable customer service reps have minimal training is in accurate. Yes, when I was a field technician, I would joke that CSSR's were dumb as a box of rocks when they made mistakes, but when I moved to the billing department, I was amazed by the complexity of it. There is a lot of training involved to learn it, and yes, part of the job description is data entry. Some of those girls can pound a 10-key like you've never dreamed of... Anyway, My company uses Cable Data from Amdocs (formerly DST Innovis), so I cannot speak for CSG companies.
I would address the rest of your comment, but I have a feeling Baby just dropped a steamer...
You are essentially correct in what I said. If the customer wanted only ESPN or ESPN HD, they would pay $9.00 per channel in programming costs in addition to whatever other fixed charge would be levied to finance service and maintenance per active sub. Currently, our pricing is equal to sum(programming charges + fixed expenses + operating margin - local ad sales) so with a la carte, it may be charged as a fixed cost, or rolled into the cost per channel..who knows?
It is not cable companies that are so committed to the bundling system, at least when you talk about channels. That is the brainchild of the content producers. We would love to pick and choose specifically which channels to offer and where to put them. However, content producers demand certain perks for their pet channels. For example: NFL Network demands carriage on our basic tier, knowing that positions them to reach the highest number of eyeballs. They also want $2/mo/sub. We said no, but we would be happy to carry them on our digital package. They say, "Too bad." They end up losing money AND viewers. We would not charge each and every basic sub $2 more per month simply to add what is a niche channel.
The same can be applied to many of our other channels. For example, we have 3 channels eating up bandwidth (1 analog, 2 digital) that we are required to carry because of contracts with TV Guide, our guide software provider. One is a horse-racing channel...one is just the analog guide...etc.
On a personal level, I agree strongly with your desire to have a la carte programming. I work at our corporate office which is in an area serviced by Cox, and their lineup is NOT worth the $47.25 they charge. But from a professional level, I am aware of the hurdles.
I've posted about CableCards before, and yes they DO work...when they work. When each piece of the system is compatible, CableCards work great. We have verified that our Motorola DAC will talk to our CableCards via our billing system, in a host with compatible firmware. Unfortunately, the host is the customer's TV/Tivo from any number of manufacturers. When their firmware is incompatible, or the proprietary guide doesn't populate, the cable co gets blamed for these problems. We do our best to solve many of these situations, even though they are not our responsibility. The original 1.0 revision of CableCards was capable of two-way communication, but Consumer Electronics companies decided not to utilize this capability. Link: http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.h tml The older cards were single-stream cards, meaning they could tune a single channel at once. The newer revision which are preinstalled in our Motorola DCH's are M-Cards, capable of decoding multiple digital streams at once. Unfortunately for the consumers, CE manufacturers continue to build TV's that lack a diplex filter and other parts necessary for integrated 2-way functionality.
To drop analog cable would requires a digital tuner in or behind every TV in every home for our subscribers. We could go all-digital in a very short time, effectively eliminating ourselves as a competitor for those who can not purchase a new TV. We are currently working with Motorola to create a "dongle" style digital converter. The "mini-box" would be capable of being authorized on a channel-by-channel basis, using the removable security (CableCARD) currently mandated by the FCC, and still provide compatibility with older analog TVs. If we could get such a product for less than $100 cost per unit, we would order 20,000 of them tomorrow.
A la carte depends on all-digital, and it is technically feasible. There is a reason DISH Network advertises their content as all digital...on transmission it is, but once you hook up your sexy Dish HDDVR via regular coax and tune to CH 3 to watch, you're back on analog. However, the upfront AND longterm cost for cable companies to do so AND offer a la carte will be quite high, and like ANY business, cable companies will pass the increased cost to consumers. Additionally, contracts will need changed, something that will move at the speed of a jellyfish in January.
I work in the billing department at a smaller cable company, so maybe this post is biased. At least it's biased in the direction of truth, rather than ranting consumer speculation. I also used to work as a field technician for the same company, so I am in a position to know this issue.
First, most cable and satellite companies would be contractually prohibited from complying with any such mandate from the FCC, if it were to be announced tomorrow. Viacom, HBO, Universal, Disney and the over-the-air corporations demand carriage of their lesser-known networks in exchange for a reduced rate on their main programming. For example, our customers demand - and we willingly pay - for ESPN and ESPN HD. The cost per subscriber per month is about $14. We also carry ESPN2, at a discount. If we dropped ESPN 2 from our expanded basic tier, the SD and HD ESPN channels would cost us $9/mo per sub. We are currently in month 4 of a 36 month contract at this rate. Thus, we cannot break this portion of the bundling in our lineup for the better part of 3 years.
Additionally, it is a simple fact that forced a la carte offerings would lead to higher customer cost, and reduced quality. Most cable companies continue to carry their basic tier in analog. A la carte analog results in a daisy chain of traps at the pole or pedestal, degrading the signal across the spectrum. A la carte digital requires equipment in customer's homes with remotely accessible security. You can achieve this with CableCards or Switched Digital. The two are not currently compatible, so it's an either-or situation. In all honesty, MY employer wants CableCards to work correctly. When they don't, it generates higher costs in the form of truck rolls, and lower customer satisfaction.
This is to say nothing of the increased cost due to the creation of rate codes in the billing software for each channel, and the corresponding training of 1700 CSSR's on how to use them. It also ignores the time/cost of converting 79,000 video subscribers to an a la carte plan, so on and so forth.
Kevin Martin has a lot of dreams, most of which seem to be based in fantasyland regarding cable companies. I would be happy to have him shadow me for a week to see how these companies actually operate, so he can realize the true costs of what he dreams up.
This comment likely has nothing to do with Airbus vs. Boeing safety statistics. You may recall the early 1960's in the US when the back of the bus was a stigmatized area. Blacks in back, whites rode up front. The phrase "(Move to the) Back of the bus, Rosa" still gets thrown around as a racial joke in my area, although rarely in seriousness. I believe the submitter was attempting to create a witty wordplay which was lost on many Slashdotters.
For once, TFA has nothing to do with the "piracy" of music or the RIAA or any of the news that we associate with digital music lately.
It's some musicians with a few mediocre tracks providing a service to those sentimental enough for a customized song. Admit it, most people (read: women) are suckers for sweet songs with their names in it. They've realized that their product isn't going to bring in the cash, so they have taken what they've got and are reselling it as a personalized service. If they'd had a few more buzzword-loving execs, they'd be calling it Music 2.0.
I'm no bleeding-heart treehugger, but these recent advances in medicine using biological compounds found in snails, non-engineered bacteria and goat milk (okay, i made the last one up) are really impressive. My pharmacological background is limited, but I imagine that side effects with naturally created drugs are minimized compared to those synthesized in a lab. For example, the same compounds in aspirin that relieve headaches are also found in willow bark, something known to pre-industrial cultures.
The sheer amount of medicine-man knowledge that has been lost by the modernization of medicine is incredible. Nowadays, we pop a pill for what ails us, not knowing what is really in it. Some cultures today still value the beneficial effects of a proper herbal tea, such as the Chinese. Of course, their insistence that ground rhino horn will bring back a man's impotent tallywhacker....the jury's still out.
I'm glad I RTFA this time around. I'm headed to Vancouver in a week, and I had been wondering what sort of measures I need to take against all these swashbuckling Canucks. Thankfully, it seems the problem is smaller than anticipated. Still, I wonder why the customs agent kept saying "Yarr..." during our phone conversation.
Can someone please explain the rationale for declaring that a metric change will "hurt Google"? When is the last time someone decided to use a particular site based on a commercial web-rating? I certainly don't use Alexa to decide which news sites interest me, at which banks to do online banking, etc.
Certainly there are a few closet Google employees around here... So tell me, are the higher-ups even remotely concerned with a traffic ranking? I mean, if suddenly MSN Search spikes up over Google in the ratings because its so goddamned user-hating that it takes 3 minutes to search a single topic...is anyone going to blow a gasket, provided traffic and revenue remain at present expected levels?
I never stated that failure was imminent; in fact Bigelow's first test craft remains in space to this day: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060721_bigelo w_genesis-1.html as referenced by TFA. So far, they have been successful on both of your points. My original post was intended to point out the dangers inherent to all spacecraft, and raise discussion of the potential merits of an inflatable structure. I see obvious benefits to the inflatables. While they do not decrease launch mass, the volume can be reduced, making it possible to send up more equipment on a certain launch vehicle, provided the mass envelope is not exceeded.
If humans plan to move boldly into space, private investment and development is critical. Imagine the westward expansion of the United States if it had only been performed by governmental institutions. Like most projects, it would have been slow, mismanaged, and innovation would have been stifled. Like wearing denim jeans? Thank Levi Strauss and his creativity during the Gold Rush. Now imagine no westward rushes - only slow, methodical probes such as the Lewis and Clark expedition. Lewis and Clark did a lot of knowledge of the Louisiana Purchase, but the percentage of territory actually explored was miniscule. Did private exploration lead to increased risk and loss of life. Defintitely, but that was a risk that those pioneers were willing to accept. Those who were scared of harm during the voyage stayed home.
How does this all relate to space? Simple - governmental programs by the US, UK, Europe, China, et al, likely will not be the place where true discovery is made. Once commercial interests develop space-based platforms, we will begin to see true innovation, and perhaps, affordable spacebased transit and colonization in the very-long term. It wasn't always pretty, but hard work and planning got people from cities to the frontier of the New World in the 1850's. I believe the same will happen with space.
At the same time, I was unable to find any mention of protection for the craft from micrometeorites and space debris. An inflatable structure will be at greater risk of catastrophic failure from micropunctures than would a traditional aluminum/titanium shell. It will be interesting as well to see what sorts of atmospheric pressure can be contained in the vacuum of space in inflatable structure and their airlock ideas. The psi differences will be drastic, and many inflatable materials do not respond well to the temperature swings of space.
I find it interesting that the first electronic computing gates devised were the AND/OR gates, using basic diode logic. Quantum computing research develops the NOT gate first. I think this has something to do with the esoteric nature of quantum computing. AND/OR gates require two inputs to change to a single value, where NOT is merely an inverter. The idea of entanglement makes the inversion process a likely first step in quantum research.
For those wondering why this is important, the first true electronic gates were invented in the early 1920's. This predates point-contact transistors by about 20 years, invented in 1947. 60 years later, here we are with transistor computing in every aspect of our lives.
At the rate quantum computing is advancing, I think we can expect to see quantum transistors (in the lab, at least) by 2020. A true useful quantum computer may be available less than 50 years from now. Hopefully by then someone will pick up the slack and have the Linux kernel ported to the Q-CPU architecture!
Apple has dropped just enough information at just regular enough intervals to create a level of anticipation for the iPhone that can only be described as off the hook.
iPhone? Off the hook? I've not seen a more subtle pun in a LONG time.
The 6th Amendment:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. The RIAA is filing in civil courts on their own behalf, for financial satisfaction in the matter of copyright infringement. It is constitutional for the defendants to never know the true identity of the accuser in a civil matter. For example, my alma mater high school district was sued on behalf of a current student by the ALCU after the district did not stop a parent from reciting the Lord's Prayer at graduation. Neither the district nor student body knew who the plaintiff was.
IANAL, but the 6th Amendment protection is meant to protect citizens from being prosecuted by the State for criminal action. When and if the RIAA decides to bring criminal charges, rather than suing in civil court, the 6th Amendment will apply to all the John Does.
I read this article on Slate an hour before it hit Slashdot...and I'm still amazed that Comcast is doing this. Most cable providers encrypt ALL premium services, including the one at which I am employed. Our company does not offer VOD yet, however our digital pay-per-view works in the same manner VOD would, albeit one-way.
For those outside the cable world, digital signals are transmitted in the same freqencies analog channels are trnasmitted, in a digital format (obviously). QAM is nothing more complicated than a discrete amplitude-modulated analog level being using to encode information as data within that 6 MHz (in the US) bandwidth. Within that QAM constellation, encryption is possible. Think of it as a public key. When your Cablecard/DCT/settop box is authorized for that particular service, the headend controller unit (typically a DAC) sends the corresponding information for that box to decode those channels. Think of that as the private key. Put the two together, and you get information on screen in living color. Channels transmitted in the clear in QAM format need only a QAM tuner in a receiving device. In addition, even though you may only be paying for mini-basic or expanded basic, the full RF spectrum of that provider is probably coming down the wire. Unless they use traps or filters at every install (an increasingly uncommon practice) you're getting every channel as I speak...just maybe not in a format you can easily access.
However, what Comcast appears to be doing is sending the premium content in the clear as soon as it is ordered. Since all customers on a run feed off the same feeder/trunk/node hierarchy, Comcast's fiber transmitters apparently send that information in the clear to the closest active device with a direct link to the headend: the node. Each subscriber on the forward path in that node is then getting those digital signals in the clear. WHY?? Is it really that hard to do VOD with end-to-end encryption? Probably not. This is nothing more than security through obscurity. My guess from industry experience is that the amount of revenue lost to "stolen" VOD is minimal compared to the expense of more robust security.
To those who claim that he could go to jail for cable theft, keep in mind that cable operators are responsible for their own security. If they are transmitting in the clear...It's Comcast's issue to resolve.
Sure, I'm relatively new here, but it sure is nice to see a/. headline that I truly love. Did you notice the word 'hacker'? It was used correctly!
Hacking has always been about using technology to do something you normally couldn't do. The original hackers built the foundations on which the Web lives. The media and other public opinion sources have vilified all the good hackers by lumping them in with the crackers, script kiddies, and other generally nasty online personas.
Hackers continue to advance the state of technology, whether its writing new bits of the Linux kernel or by upgrading a typically non-user-servicable iPod. The article says it itself: Apple will eventually offer a Flash-based model. Granted, they might have done this themselves eventually, but if the populace starts modding their iPods to run Flash, it only pressures Apple to move forward. Think about the early case modders: Windows, lights, case paint other than beige....Now about 70% of cases I see on Newegg have windows and LEDs.
Whether Fox News wants to admit it or not, hackers will continue to drive innovation. Not MS, not Apple...
A year in Iraq
Developments in Iraq
Developments in Iraq
Zarqawi killed in Iraq
Iraq study group calls Iraq situation "grave"
Bush to send more troops to Iraq
Hehe, I agree with you on merit. But I'm a student, not a novelist. My work has to look good, and I have to be the one to do it. If you can find me a typesetter for my composition class, great!
The kerning issue should help OpenOffice immensely. Most of the folks that call me asking for a "real" word processor after they bought their bottom-dollar Dell have complained that many of the fonts "look funny". Personally, that was my only complaint about OO. Many times, during an edit, I would try to delete that small space between characters thinking I had fat-fingered the space bar while typing.
To the first poster: No, I assure you it is NOT 100% compatible with all the bells, whistles, proprietary hidden tags, and closed formats of Office 2007. Nothing short of MS switching to ODF will allow that to happen. It WILL however, produce.doc documents that are readable by those still stuck with no other option than MS products. It will also allow you to read the flood of.doc-only documentation out there.
Hmmm, methinks we need more ODFmentation in online manuals. The switching by several European goverments is a good start....
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, but it's the fscking Enterprise!!
By the way, call me next time you pull up that Asian strippers program on the Holodeck. I hear it's _awesome_.
Finally, the cablecard spec is still only 1 way. The real spec will be the 2.0/ocap system, but there still seems to be some work to do. This will allow 2 way services to be implemented but there is a lot of back office stuff that needs to be addressed, some of which has never been tried outside of a lab. The 1.0 cablecard slot is not compatible with the 2.0 cards (it is not a firmware upgrade).
Regarding CableCARDs, please know your stuff before posting consumer FUD. CableCARD 1.0 has always been 2-way compatible, provided you have a 2-way TV. With the exception of one model from Samsung which isn't on the general market anymore, NONE of the consumer electronics companies have built this feature into their sets.
"The media has frequently reported that first-generation CableCARD 1.0 modules are one-way devices1. This is simply not true. CableLabs had always intended to develop the CableCARD module and host receiver standards with two-way capability. However the manufacturers of digital TVs requested that a host standard be developed that only had one-way capability. This one-way cable-ready receiver was defined by the FCC's Plug & Play order and by the Joint Test Suite (JTS). It is the definition of this one-way receiver that lacks the ability for two-way functionality, not the CableCARD module. While the FCC defined the elements of the one-way cable-ready receiver, CableLabs continued to define specifications for two-way receivers.
When a CableCARD 1.0 module is used with a two-way receiver (e.g., Samsung HLR5067C) that card supports all the necessary two-way functionality for VOD, SDV, and other interactive services."
Citation: http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.
I would suggest reading that page thoroughly before ever speaking publicly about CableCARDs again.
Secondly, to say that cable customer service reps have minimal training is in accurate. Yes, when I was a field technician, I would joke that CSSR's were dumb as a box of rocks when they made mistakes, but when I moved to the billing department, I was amazed by the complexity of it. There is a lot of training involved to learn it, and yes, part of the job description is data entry. Some of those girls can pound a 10-key like you've never dreamed of... Anyway, My company uses Cable Data from Amdocs (formerly DST Innovis), so I cannot speak for CSG companies.
I would address the rest of your comment, but I have a feeling Baby just dropped a steamer...
I cannot speak of other cable companies, but we charge per service. 5 MB Internet is $39.95/mo whether you have video service or not.
You are essentially correct in what I said. If the customer wanted only ESPN or ESPN HD, they would pay $9.00 per channel in programming costs in addition to whatever other fixed charge would be levied to finance service and maintenance per active sub. Currently, our pricing is equal to sum(programming charges + fixed expenses + operating margin - local ad sales) so with a la carte, it may be charged as a fixed cost, or rolled into the cost per channel..who knows?
It is not cable companies that are so committed to the bundling system, at least when you talk about channels. That is the brainchild of the content producers. We would love to pick and choose specifically which channels to offer and where to put them. However, content producers demand certain perks for their pet channels. For example: NFL Network demands carriage on our basic tier, knowing that positions them to reach the highest number of eyeballs. They also want $2/mo/sub. We said no, but we would be happy to carry them on our digital package. They say, "Too bad." They end up losing money AND viewers. We would not charge each and every basic sub $2 more per month simply to add what is a niche channel.
The same can be applied to many of our other channels. For example, we have 3 channels eating up bandwidth (1 analog, 2 digital) that we are required to carry because of contracts with TV Guide, our guide software provider. One is a horse-racing channel...one is just the analog guide...etc.
On a personal level, I agree strongly with your desire to have a la carte programming. I work at our corporate office which is in an area serviced by Cox, and their lineup is NOT worth the $47.25 they charge. But from a professional level, I am aware of the hurdles.
And a couple of honest answers:
h tml The older cards were single-stream cards, meaning they could tune a single channel at once. The newer revision which are preinstalled in our Motorola DCH's are M-Cards, capable of decoding multiple digital streams at once. Unfortunately for the consumers, CE manufacturers continue to build TV's that lack a diplex filter and other parts necessary for integrated 2-way functionality.
I've posted about CableCards before, and yes they DO work...when they work. When each piece of the system is compatible, CableCards work great. We have verified that our Motorola DAC will talk to our CableCards via our billing system, in a host with compatible firmware. Unfortunately, the host is the customer's TV/Tivo from any number of manufacturers. When their firmware is incompatible, or the proprietary guide doesn't populate, the cable co gets blamed for these problems. We do our best to solve many of these situations, even though they are not our responsibility. The original 1.0 revision of CableCards was capable of two-way communication, but Consumer Electronics companies decided not to utilize this capability. Link: http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.
To drop analog cable would requires a digital tuner in or behind every TV in every home for our subscribers. We could go all-digital in a very short time, effectively eliminating ourselves as a competitor for those who can not purchase a new TV. We are currently working with Motorola to create a "dongle" style digital converter. The "mini-box" would be capable of being authorized on a channel-by-channel basis, using the removable security (CableCARD) currently mandated by the FCC, and still provide compatibility with older analog TVs. If we could get such a product for less than $100 cost per unit, we would order 20,000 of them tomorrow.
A la carte depends on all-digital, and it is technically feasible. There is a reason DISH Network advertises their content as all digital...on transmission it is, but once you hook up your sexy Dish HDDVR via regular coax and tune to CH 3 to watch, you're back on analog. However, the upfront AND longterm cost for cable companies to do so AND offer a la carte will be quite high, and like ANY business, cable companies will pass the increased cost to consumers. Additionally, contracts will need changed, something that will move at the speed of a jellyfish in January.
The doctrine of ex post facto law, for starters....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_f acto
I work in the billing department at a smaller cable company, so maybe this post is biased. At least it's biased in the direction of truth, rather than ranting consumer speculation. I also used to work as a field technician for the same company, so I am in a position to know this issue.
First, most cable and satellite companies would be contractually prohibited from complying with any such mandate from the FCC, if it were to be announced tomorrow. Viacom, HBO, Universal, Disney and the over-the-air corporations demand carriage of their lesser-known networks in exchange for a reduced rate on their main programming. For example, our customers demand - and we willingly pay - for ESPN and ESPN HD. The cost per subscriber per month is about $14. We also carry ESPN2, at a discount. If we dropped ESPN 2 from our expanded basic tier, the SD and HD ESPN channels would cost us $9/mo per sub. We are currently in month 4 of a 36 month contract at this rate. Thus, we cannot break this portion of the bundling in our lineup for the better part of 3 years.
Additionally, it is a simple fact that forced a la carte offerings would lead to higher customer cost, and reduced quality. Most cable companies continue to carry their basic tier in analog. A la carte analog results in a daisy chain of traps at the pole or pedestal, degrading the signal across the spectrum. A la carte digital requires equipment in customer's homes with remotely accessible security. You can achieve this with CableCards or Switched Digital. The two are not currently compatible, so it's an either-or situation. In all honesty, MY employer wants CableCards to work correctly. When they don't, it generates higher costs in the form of truck rolls, and lower customer satisfaction.
This is to say nothing of the increased cost due to the creation of rate codes in the billing software for each channel, and the corresponding training of 1700 CSSR's on how to use them. It also ignores the time/cost of converting 79,000 video subscribers to an a la carte plan, so on and so forth.
Kevin Martin has a lot of dreams, most of which seem to be based in fantasyland regarding cable companies. I would be happy to have him shadow me for a week to see how these companies actually operate, so he can realize the true costs of what he dreams up.
Unfortunately, while Ubuntu enjoys more attention than other distros, Linux interest overall is on the decline:
% 2Credhat%2Clinux&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
http://google.com/trends?q=suse%2Cfedora%2Cubuntu
This comment likely has nothing to do with Airbus vs. Boeing safety statistics. You may recall the early 1960's in the US when the back of the bus was a stigmatized area. Blacks in back, whites rode up front. The phrase "(Move to the) Back of the bus, Rosa" still gets thrown around as a racial joke in my area, although rarely in seriousness. I believe the submitter was attempting to create a witty wordplay which was lost on many Slashdotters.
For once, TFA has nothing to do with the "piracy" of music or the RIAA or any of the news that we associate with digital music lately.
It's some musicians with a few mediocre tracks providing a service to those sentimental enough for a customized song. Admit it, most people (read: women) are suckers for sweet songs with their names in it. They've realized that their product isn't going to bring in the cash, so they have taken what they've got and are reselling it as a personalized service. If they'd had a few more buzzword-loving execs, they'd be calling it Music 2.0.
I'm no bleeding-heart treehugger, but these recent advances in medicine using biological compounds found in snails, non-engineered bacteria and goat milk (okay, i made the last one up) are really impressive. My pharmacological background is limited, but I imagine that side effects with naturally created drugs are minimized compared to those synthesized in a lab. For example, the same compounds in aspirin that relieve headaches are also found in willow bark, something known to pre-industrial cultures.
The sheer amount of medicine-man knowledge that has been lost by the modernization of medicine is incredible. Nowadays, we pop a pill for what ails us, not knowing what is really in it. Some cultures today still value the beneficial effects of a proper herbal tea, such as the Chinese. Of course, their insistence that ground rhino horn will bring back a man's impotent tallywhacker....the jury's still out.
Of all the places to get busted for doing something criminal at work, I'd imagine the FBI has to be one of the worst.
I'm glad I RTFA this time around. I'm headed to Vancouver in a week, and I had been wondering what sort of measures I need to take against all these swashbuckling Canucks. Thankfully, it seems the problem is smaller than anticipated. Still, I wonder why the customs agent kept saying "Yarr..." during our phone conversation.
Can someone please explain the rationale for declaring that a metric change will "hurt Google"? When is the last time someone decided to use a particular site based on a commercial web-rating? I certainly don't use Alexa to decide which news sites interest me, at which banks to do online banking, etc.
Certainly there are a few closet Google employees around here... So tell me, are the higher-ups even remotely concerned with a traffic ranking? I mean, if suddenly MSN Search spikes up over Google in the ratings because its so goddamned user-hating that it takes 3 minutes to search a single topic...is anyone going to blow a gasket, provided traffic and revenue remain at present expected levels?
I sincerely doubt it.
I never stated that failure was imminent; in fact Bigelow's first test craft remains in space to this day: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060721_bigelo w_genesis-1.html as referenced by TFA. So far, they have been successful on both of your points. My original post was intended to point out the dangers inherent to all spacecraft, and raise discussion of the potential merits of an inflatable structure. I see obvious benefits to the inflatables. While they do not decrease launch mass, the volume can be reduced, making it possible to send up more equipment on a certain launch vehicle, provided the mass envelope is not exceeded.
If humans plan to move boldly into space, private investment and development is critical. Imagine the westward expansion of the United States if it had only been performed by governmental institutions. Like most projects, it would have been slow, mismanaged, and innovation would have been stifled. Like wearing denim jeans? Thank Levi Strauss and his creativity during the Gold Rush. Now imagine no westward rushes - only slow, methodical probes such as the Lewis and Clark expedition. Lewis and Clark did a lot of knowledge of the Louisiana Purchase, but the percentage of territory actually explored was miniscule. Did private exploration lead to increased risk and loss of life. Defintitely, but that was a risk that those pioneers were willing to accept. Those who were scared of harm during the voyage stayed home.
How does this all relate to space? Simple - governmental programs by the US, UK, Europe, China, et al, likely will not be the place where true discovery is made. Once commercial interests develop space-based platforms, we will begin to see true innovation, and perhaps, affordable spacebased transit and colonization in the very-long term. It wasn't always pretty, but hard work and planning got people from cities to the frontier of the New World in the 1850's. I believe the same will happen with space.
At the same time, I was unable to find any mention of protection for the craft from micrometeorites and space debris. An inflatable structure will be at greater risk of catastrophic failure from micropunctures than would a traditional aluminum/titanium shell. It will be interesting as well to see what sorts of atmospheric pressure can be contained in the vacuum of space in inflatable structure and their airlock ideas. The psi differences will be drastic, and many inflatable materials do not respond well to the temperature swings of space.
I find it interesting that the first electronic computing gates devised were the AND/OR gates, using basic diode logic. Quantum computing research develops the NOT gate first. I think this has something to do with the esoteric nature of quantum computing. AND/OR gates require two inputs to change to a single value, where NOT is merely an inverter. The idea of entanglement makes the inversion process a likely first step in quantum research.
For those wondering why this is important, the first true electronic gates were invented in the early 1920's. This predates point-contact transistors by about 20 years, invented in 1947. 60 years later, here we are with transistor computing in every aspect of our lives.
At the rate quantum computing is advancing, I think we can expect to see quantum transistors (in the lab, at least) by 2020. A true useful quantum computer may be available less than 50 years from now. Hopefully by then someone will pick up the slack and have the Linux kernel ported to the Q-CPU architecture!
iPhone? Off the hook? I've not seen a more subtle pun in a LONG time.
Aye, the typo police make another arrest.
IANAL, but the 6th Amendment protection is meant to protect citizens from being prosecuted by the State for criminal action. When and if the RIAA decides to bring criminal charges, rather than suing in civil court, the 6th Amendment will apply to all the John Does.
I read this article on Slate an hour before it hit Slashdot...and I'm still amazed that Comcast is doing this. Most cable providers encrypt ALL premium services, including the one at which I am employed. Our company does not offer VOD yet, however our digital pay-per-view works in the same manner VOD would, albeit one-way.
For those outside the cable world, digital signals are transmitted in the same freqencies analog channels are trnasmitted, in a digital format (obviously). QAM is nothing more complicated than a discrete amplitude-modulated analog level being using to encode information as data within that 6 MHz (in the US) bandwidth. Within that QAM constellation, encryption is possible. Think of it as a public key. When your Cablecard/DCT/settop box is authorized for that particular service, the headend controller unit (typically a DAC) sends the corresponding information for that box to decode those channels. Think of that as the private key. Put the two together, and you get information on screen in living color. Channels transmitted in the clear in QAM format need only a QAM tuner in a receiving device. In addition, even though you may only be paying for mini-basic or expanded basic, the full RF spectrum of that provider is probably coming down the wire. Unless they use traps or filters at every install (an increasingly uncommon practice) you're getting every channel as I speak...just maybe not in a format you can easily access.
However, what Comcast appears to be doing is sending the premium content in the clear as soon as it is ordered. Since all customers on a run feed off the same feeder/trunk/node hierarchy, Comcast's fiber transmitters apparently send that information in the clear to the closest active device with a direct link to the headend: the node. Each subscriber on the forward path in that node is then getting those digital signals in the clear. WHY?? Is it really that hard to do VOD with end-to-end encryption? Probably not. This is nothing more than security through obscurity. My guess from industry experience is that the amount of revenue lost to "stolen" VOD is minimal compared to the expense of more robust security.
To those who claim that he could go to jail for cable theft, keep in mind that cable operators are responsible for their own security. If they are transmitting in the clear...It's Comcast's issue to resolve.
Sure, I'm relatively new here, but it sure is nice to see a /. headline that I truly love. Did you notice the word 'hacker'? It was used correctly!
Hacking has always been about using technology to do something you normally couldn't do. The original hackers built the foundations on which the Web lives. The media and other public opinion sources have vilified all the good hackers by lumping them in with the crackers, script kiddies, and other generally nasty online personas.
Hackers continue to advance the state of technology, whether its writing new bits of the Linux kernel or by upgrading a typically non-user-servicable iPod. The article says it itself: Apple will eventually offer a Flash-based model. Granted, they might have done this themselves eventually, but if the populace starts modding their iPods to run Flash, it only pressures Apple to move forward. Think about the early case modders: Windows, lights, case paint other than beige....Now about 70% of cases I see on Newegg have windows and LEDs.
Whether Fox News wants to admit it or not, hackers will continue to drive innovation. Not MS, not Apple...
Aye,
l &date=all
The Zune trend is funny, but the trend for Iraq is saddening.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=iraq&ctab=0&geo=al
A year in Iraq
Developments in Iraq
Developments in Iraq
Zarqawi killed in Iraq
Iraq study group calls Iraq situation "grave"
Bush to send more troops to Iraq
Hehe, I agree with you on merit. But I'm a student, not a novelist. My work has to look good, and I have to be the one to do it. If you can find me a typesetter for my composition class, great!
The kerning issue should help OpenOffice immensely. Most of the folks that call me asking for a "real" word processor after they bought their bottom-dollar Dell have complained that many of the fonts "look funny". Personally, that was my only complaint about OO. Many times, during an edit, I would try to delete that small space between characters thinking I had fat-fingered the space bar while typing.
.doc documents that are readable by those still stuck with no other option than MS products. It will also allow you to read the flood of .doc-only documentation out there.
To the first poster: No, I assure you it is NOT 100% compatible with all the bells, whistles, proprietary hidden tags, and closed formats of Office 2007. Nothing short of MS switching to ODF will allow that to happen. It WILL however, produce
Hmmm, methinks we need more ODFmentation in online manuals. The switching by several European goverments is a good start....