We use software like that for automated dialing (yes, yes, I work for a telemarketer). Some aspects of it are okay, but learning how to use the administrative consoles is such a pain in the ass that I've been working with it for months now and still have to call people to ask them how to do things.
I would assume that the only recourse in that event is to file another lawsuit. Of course, since it's a separate case, any lawyer who takes it will want a third of any settlement or judgment, which means you'd have to seek damages in excess of 150% of your original attorney's fees.
If that happens, the ironic thing is that you could clearly argue Brennan's activities never actually resulted in monetary loss to Atlantic... but their witch hunt lawsuit sure as hell did.
Because of this silly notion that "the people" own the airwaves...
Look no further than the FCC and the huge amount of trouble you'd be in when slapped with one of their fines after exercising that "ownership" if you need help determining that this isn't true.
they came up with this converter box to pay for their hidden agendas.
The best part, I think, is that most converter boxen are $20 after coupon.
How much you wanna bet that, were the coupon $30 instead of $40, most of said boxen prices would still be $20 after coupon?
The whole thing's a money grab at the consumer, and for someone like me who welcomes the change, even I feel a little screwed for two reasons (phrased as questions for emphasis):
What the hell is an interlaced picture doing in a REWRITE of broadcast standards? [and]
WTF is MPEG-2 doing in a rewrite of broadcast standards when more modern codecs (all more appropriate for HD content) were available at the time?
This transition is better than nothing, but in classic litigation by lobbyists style, it's riddled with crap beyond belief.
one of these converter boxes could be used with cable to down-convert the digital channels to analog without monthly rental fees.
True. But, that would be good for the consumer, and in the event that you were not aware, the Internet Services dept. of your local cable company isn't the only division that's trying to fuck the customer every way possible.
Actually, in the case of Lithium Ion batteries, you should drain them every once in a while. Also, "Flat dead" for lithium ion batteries means the point at which the battery's internal circuitry stops sending power to the device--the cells themselves aren't actually dead.
Still, you should discharge fully at least once a season, and not just once a leap year:P
Nonetheless, I firmly believe it's foolhardy to assume that there's absolutely nothing about the company to be suspicious of. It's not to say that Google is full of evil and their goal is evil veiled in wonderful consumer products, by no means. One evil act by anything or anyone makes a motto of "Do no Evil" broken by default. Is that not enough?
how many people / companies pass your arbitrarily high bar for evil?
Plenty do, and yes, Google is actually one of them.
My point got a little lost in the tinfoil hat I appear to have landed on when I posted, but it was moreso that the general opinion is that Google is in no way evil, that they can do no evil, and will do no evil.
I was simply trying to say that by nature of their size and role in the world we live in, they've broken their motto at least once (their foray into the Great Firewall of China is a damn fine example) and that is all it takes.
I'm not saying that Google should be viewed as Evil incarnate, but for fuck's sake, they're not a shining star of morality, kindness, or goodwill either. It's when you compare it to other companies of its stature and influence that Google is the majority player in doing well by individuals, and I think that conveys a good message about them, but it doesn't overrule the bad one either.
Google has shown that they are by far one of the best handlers of information on the planet. It's more than natural to assume that the average person would probably object to some form of "handling" that they perform with information related to you.
I never said they're the lapdog of Satan or big brother, but still, Google shrouds its inner workings in secrecy (more than is necessary, IMHO) for a reason that I'd wager goes far beyond protecting trade secrets.
I do, however, trust Google leaps and scores more than I'd ever trust Facebook.... that's an entirely different can of worms (though I may add, their kool-aid has been getting quite tasty with all their web 2.0 flavoring).
I am really getting tired of this/. "google really is evil" meme.
It's not a meme, it's just the truth.
Until you can crack open their entire operation and show me, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Google doesn't abuse their position in at least one way (because that's all it takes, then I'd let go some of my skepticism.
After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely.... Of course though, Google does have the best kool-aid.
I would actually welcome this. Groupware and databases are the aspects of office packages that were never gone through in general Tech Ed. courses when I was in school, yet they're the portion of said packages that I use the most.
If some groupware were to be introduced to people along with traditional email when they first learn an office package, you could actually have people creating calendar events and sharing them out the door, instead of constantly sending emails to eachother, ignoring the actual capabilities of the software suite they have.
I have to imagine a F/OSS implementation of what I understand to be very solid groupware would only help to facilitate this.
I had a Vista desktop break itself through Automatic update. No fixing, had to reinstall the entire thing.
I had the same problem. It was a driver that was supplied by Windows Update for my 3ware 9650se. Turns out 3ware hadn't even released 64 bit drivers that weren't considered a steaming pile of crap at the time for Vista/2008, and the ones supplied by MS were even worse.
I seem to recall that limitation as well with the Desktops tool. I just close the window and reopen it on desktop 2 if it's really necessary... but I haven't used the tool in months (though I have it running:P).
IIRC, it has something to do with the way window management works in Windows. With X or OS X, the window manager tells the application what the window should do, where as on Windows, the application tells the window manager what it's doing.
Need large amount of computing power than you never need to move, BUY A DESKTOP.
Try telling that to the unwashed masses.
No one likes lugging a computer around, especially when they're uncertain as to when they'll need it. The shame is that people don't understand how undesirable it is to lug a laptop around... and when they realize it, they won't admit it; after all, who wants to admit that they've wasted X/2 dollars?
Software streaming is nothing new. Altiris, Citrix, and Microsft all offer solutions.
Microsoft's application streaming is the best of the three (in my opinion, from demoing each of them). They acquired it from another company, and the technology was formerly called SoftGrid.
It allows amazing flexibility, because all you really need to do is "sequence" the app, and it creates a file called Feature Block 1, which contains only the portions of the program required for initial launch. The rest of it is streamed on-demand as other parts of the app are accessed, and also in the background at all times.
You deploy apps by associating them with security or distribution groups, and as long as the client machine has the app-v client, you're set.
I've used it to sequence apps like Quake 3, Counter-Strike, and Warcraft 3 for my home network.
And where exactly would a person use a keyboard and mouse in their living room?
That's exactly the problem with keyboard/mouse in the traditional living room. Sure, you can use a keyboard on your lap, but there's just no comfortable place to put the mouse. If you put the mouse down on the surface of the couch, it's too low, hard to use, and hurts your shoulder. If you put it on the armrest, it's too high and the surface isn't wide enough.
Slashdot Mirror
And that's on top of $100k hardware, $25k/year support agreement, and per-seat licensing for the admin and client portions.
So yes, you're absolutely right.
We use software like that for automated dialing (yes, yes, I work for a telemarketer). Some aspects of it are okay, but learning how to use the administrative consoles is such a pain in the ass that I've been working with it for months now and still have to call people to ask them how to do things.
I would assume that the only recourse in that event is to file another lawsuit. Of course, since it's a separate case, any lawyer who takes it will want a third of any settlement or judgment, which means you'd have to seek damages in excess of 150% of your original attorney's fees.
If that happens, the ironic thing is that you could clearly argue Brennan's activities never actually resulted in monetary loss to Atlantic... but their witch hunt lawsuit sure as hell did.
armies would fight each other with screwdrivers.
I will make millions selling modified guns that shoot screwdrivers! Bwa hahahahahah!.
Because of this silly notion that "the people" own the airwaves...
Look no further than the FCC and the huge amount of trouble you'd be in when slapped with one of their fines after exercising that "ownership" if you need help determining that this isn't true.
they came up with this converter box to pay for their hidden agendas.
The best part, I think, is that most converter boxen are $20 after coupon.
How much you wanna bet that, were the coupon $30 instead of $40, most of said boxen prices would still be $20 after coupon?
The whole thing's a money grab at the consumer, and for someone like me who welcomes the change, even I feel a little screwed for two reasons (phrased as questions for emphasis):
This transition is better than nothing, but in classic litigation by lobbyists style, it's riddled with crap beyond belief.
one of these converter boxes could be used with cable to down-convert the digital channels to analog without monthly rental fees.
True. But, that would be good for the consumer, and in the event that you were not aware, the Internet Services dept. of your local cable company isn't the only division that's trying to fuck the customer every way possible.
Draining a battery to dead flat is never good
Actually, in the case of Lithium Ion batteries, you should drain them every once in a while. Also, "Flat dead" for lithium ion batteries means the point at which the battery's internal circuitry stops sending power to the device--the cells themselves aren't actually dead.
:P
Still, you should discharge fully at least once a season, and not just once a leap year
Oh, I bet it's George Bush fault too!
Just like the lack of coffe in the machine this morning :/
Indeed! Unfortunately, neither your coffee machine nor Micron qualified for bailout money. :(
You don't know - you suspect.
Truthfully, at least you can tell the difference.
Nonetheless, I firmly believe it's foolhardy to assume that there's absolutely nothing about the company to be suspicious of. It's not to say that Google is full of evil and their goal is evil veiled in wonderful consumer products, by no means. One evil act by anything or anyone makes a motto of "Do no Evil" broken by default. Is that not enough?
how many people / companies pass your arbitrarily high bar for evil?
Plenty do, and yes, Google is actually one of them.
My point got a little lost in the tinfoil hat I appear to have landed on when I posted, but it was moreso that the general opinion is that Google is in no way evil, that they can do no evil, and will do no evil.
I was simply trying to say that by nature of their size and role in the world we live in, they've broken their motto at least once (their foray into the Great Firewall of China is a damn fine example) and that is all it takes.
I'm not saying that Google should be viewed as Evil incarnate, but for fuck's sake, they're not a shining star of morality, kindness, or goodwill either. It's when you compare it to other companies of its stature and influence that Google is the majority player in doing well by individuals, and I think that conveys a good message about them, but it doesn't overrule the bad one either.
Ah well, Karma to spare, eh?
it's just plain paranoid delusional thinking.
No it's not, it's reasonable.
Google has shown that they are by far one of the best handlers of information on the planet. It's more than natural to assume that the average person would probably object to some form of "handling" that they perform with information related to you.
I never said they're the lapdog of Satan or big brother, but still, Google shrouds its inner workings in secrecy (more than is necessary, IMHO) for a reason that I'd wager goes far beyond protecting trade secrets.
I do, however, trust Google leaps and scores more than I'd ever trust Facebook.... that's an entirely different can of worms (though I may add, their kool-aid has been getting quite tasty with all their web 2.0 flavoring).
I am really getting tired of this /. "google really is evil" meme.
It's not a meme, it's just the truth.
Until you can crack open their entire operation and show me, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Google doesn't abuse their position in at least one way (because that's all it takes, then I'd let go some of my skepticism.
After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely.... Of course though, Google does have the best kool-aid.
I would actually welcome this. Groupware and databases are the aspects of office packages that were never gone through in general Tech Ed. courses when I was in school, yet they're the portion of said packages that I use the most.
If some groupware were to be introduced to people along with traditional email when they first learn an office package, you could actually have people creating calendar events and sharing them out the door, instead of constantly sending emails to eachother, ignoring the actual capabilities of the software suite they have.
I have to imagine a F/OSS implementation of what I understand to be very solid groupware would only help to facilitate this.
I had a Vista desktop break itself through Automatic update. No fixing, had to reinstall the entire thing.
I had the same problem. It was a driver that was supplied by Windows Update for my 3ware 9650se. Turns out 3ware hadn't even released 64 bit drivers that weren't considered a steaming pile of crap at the time for Vista/2008, and the ones supplied by MS were even worse.
They did a short demo at least 9 months ago. Here's the prerelease video demo.
It's in the latter third of the video.
I seem to recall that limitation as well with the Desktops tool. I just close the window and reopen it on desktop 2 if it's really necessary... but I haven't used the tool in months (though I have it running :P).
IIRC, it has something to do with the way window management works in Windows. With X or OS X, the window manager tells the application what the window should do, where as on Windows, the application tells the window manager what it's doing.
... But it's in addition to my full time job.
Strap some SNMP on top of multiple remote options (networkable power switches help in disaster scenarios).
They call me once or twice a week, and I see them once a month. I collect about $100 a week for maybe 4 hours of work.
It works out well.
There's a Sysinternals utility called Desktops that is quite an excellent tool for that.
Even on Linux or OS X, I don't use the multiple desktops features much at all, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt if you like.
Need large amount of computing power than you never need to move, BUY A DESKTOP.
Try telling that to the unwashed masses.
No one likes lugging a computer around, especially when they're uncertain as to when they'll need it. The shame is that people don't understand how undesirable it is to lug a laptop around... and when they realize it, they won't admit it; after all, who wants to admit that they've wasted X/2 dollars?
Software streaming is nothing new. Altiris, Citrix, and Microsft all offer solutions.
Microsoft's application streaming is the best of the three (in my opinion, from demoing each of them). They acquired it from another company, and the technology was formerly called SoftGrid.
It allows amazing flexibility, because all you really need to do is "sequence" the app, and it creates a file called Feature Block 1, which contains only the portions of the program required for initial launch. The rest of it is streamed on-demand as other parts of the app are accessed, and also in the background at all times.
You deploy apps by associating them with security or distribution groups, and as long as the client machine has the app-v client, you're set.
I've used it to sequence apps like Quake 3, Counter-Strike, and Warcraft 3 for my home network.
So you're telling me Vista is actually good for something, stimulating an industry? :-)
If the OEM's had actually bothered to buy the RAM and put it into the machines prior to sale, you would so totally be right :-(
Anybody know where I can get a cool running, silent computer with lots of hard drive space?
Buy a gaming laptop and a NAS device like a Drobo or Terastation.
(At least, I'm assuming your CPU and GPU are what're responisble for the majority of your waste heat generation).
And where exactly would a person use a keyboard and mouse in their living room?
That's exactly the problem with keyboard/mouse in the traditional living room. Sure, you can use a keyboard on your lap, but there's just no comfortable place to put the mouse. If you put the mouse down on the surface of the couch, it's too low, hard to use, and hurts your shoulder. If you put it on the armrest, it's too high and the surface isn't wide enough.
Do the violated children get the money?