Posts by Steven Hunter 232 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Jul 2007
I hardly think that this is an anti-trust case. Apple has what, 25% to 30% of the "smartphone" market (depending on how long it's been since that last new model shipped)? That's hardly a dominate position.
If they want to keep their app store closed in this was and you don't like that, then buy an Android or another brand and send an email to Steve Jobs let him know. Voting with your feet and dollars will be far more effective than the Federal Government in this case and at this stage.
As I type this we have an Osborne of this vintage on the shelf next to me. We had some people move offices in 2010 and they abandon some equipment when they did so resulting in an Osborne being unceremoniously dumped into the IT area. When we first picked it up it shook and rattled like it was full of loose screws; which is was. Apparently someone had been dropping miscellaneous screws into the heat vents over the last 20 years or so. Popped off the hood, dumped them all out, and was surprised to find that it booted straight up into CP/M on the first go.
It's much more like requiring a bank to allow ATM cards from other banks withdraw funds (and they even get to charge a fee.) And we all know how much that practice has ruined the banking industry.
Besides if forcing companies to cooperate like this makes us socialist then we're *already* socialist given that voice roaming rules have been on the books for quite some time now.
Bullshit.
I haven't run antivirus software on any of my home computers ever with exactly no virus infections during that time. And yes, I'm running Windows (2000, XP, and 7).
I don't enable any auto-run anywhere; no auto-launch from downloads, no auto-play from CD or Flash drive, no unnecessary web plugins (Adobe's PDF viewer for example). I also don't click on links blindly, I pay attention to what sort of files come in as email attachments, don't visit dodgy websites, and generally don't do anything stupid. I also keep everything behind a NATd firewall to keep the script-kiddies out.
I don't believe he incited (encouraged) anyone to violate copyright but rather provided a mechanism which would allow them to do it but which has a fully legitimate use (running Linux and/or home-brew games) which is perfectly legal.
I believe there's some case law on this matter, "Sony Corporation of America v. Universal Studios." Funny that...
"As far as piracy goes, Sony could ask game developers not to compress data on the blu-rays, which could deter pirates who don't want to download 50GB files every time they want to grab a game."
Blu-Ray Burners are less than US$80 now and DL BD-R discs can be found for less than US$10 (in bulk).
I remember when CDs were new and people said music couldn't be pirated because the file sizes were so big. Then again with DVDs... So how's that working out for everyone?
I disagree. 6 hours is short enough that any car is vulnerable. People routinely park their cars for 8 hour (or longer) stretches of time: At work, whilst they sleep, long term airport parking...
What it basically boils down to is that cars with these devices are now as vulnerable as every other car out there. It just takes time.
Lotus DID release SmartSuite for OS/2, somewhere around '98 or '99. I know because I bought a copy in college to replace my old old old (old) copy of Word for Windows 2.0. The interface was basically about the same as Office 2000 for Windows, but it had that 90's Lotus-y feel to it.
"part of the reason people responded to the census the way they did is because this was the first time an actual federal representative was coming over to the house uninvited."
Well yes, except for the fact that the census has been performed by Actual Federal Representatives every ten years since 1790 (inclusive). So unless they're less than 10 years old, immigrated to the US sometime in the last 10 years, or slept through the previous census(es) then it's already happened before and they lived to tell.
My mother was an enumerator in the 1990s Census and people were much more cooperative then. It was only the crazy (think Hannibal Lecter) or red-neck (think Early Cuyler) who didn't want the census people to count them. This current paranoid right-wing resistance is new and directly traceable to Fox News.
I absolutely DO NOT understand why any group would want to intentionally under represent themselves in the census. Census data is used to determine the distribution of representatives in the House and for purposes of determining funding for a LOT of Federal programs (road creation/repair, school funding, etc)
Some Danish guy predicted the iPhone 4 antenna's problems back in early June.
http://www.comon.dk/nyheder/Er-iPhone-4-foedt-med-antenne-problemer-1.362104.html
Translation Link:
http://translate.google.dk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comon.dk%2Fnyheder%2FEr-iPhone-4-foedt-med-antenne-problemer-1.362104.html&sl=da&tl=en
Even more important is the increasing difference between advertised capacity in TB and the real capacity in TiB. A 4TB disk is in reality only a 3.6TiB disk, or 90% of the advertised "capacity".
Either drive manufactures need to start advertising capacities with base 2 prefixes or computers need to start tracking them in base 10 prefixes but this nonsense has got to stop.
The "they" in my quote is *Google*, not the user. I am perfectly aware that your average computer user these days can't gather enough common sense to fill a teaspoon.
And just for the record, just because the average slob can't setup their wireless securely doesn't excuse them from knowing that they *need* to secure it and taking all necessary steps to accomplish this (either by learning themselves or finding someone to do it for them).
Seriously, I just do not see what the deal is about. Google did not single out these people, it did not record any useful amount of data, it got *nothing* that anyone else could have gotten by turning on a laptop and clicking the "connect" button. There was no intent to violate these people's privacy (and even if there *were*, they seem to have done a really poor job of it).
While I would love to know just what the hell they were thinking when they setup the system to do this, I'm much more concerned about Google's cookies on my browser than I am about them sniffing 1/5th of a second's worth of data from an unsecured router.
Frankly having an unsecured wireless network these days is either a freetard/pedophile court dodge or willful ignorance of network security. It's the equivalent of having big front windows and then being offended when people look in and see you watching TV or having sex or whatever.
Wow, really? *Really*? You're really upset that some scientists poked at some snails in a tub of water?
I'm not advocating animal cruelty, but to paraphrase Denis Leary "If hooking up a monkey's brain to a car battery is going to help cure cancer, I've only got one thing to say: The red one's positive and the black one's negative."
"Anascape's patent had been updated with six-axis technology in 2000 - two years after Sony released the DualShock controller with six-axis sensing on board."
Uh, no.
The original Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controllers did NOT have accelerometers. They *did* have "rumble packs" (which sure sounds better than "vibrators"). The Dual Shock 3 came out in (roughly) 2007 and did have an accelerometer and a "rumble pack".
Instead of setting up ridiculous filtering systems (or whatever they plan to do with these messages) how about this better and easier fix?
Make my SIM chip only receive text messages from a specific whitelist of other mobile users. This would effectively eliminate the problem of SMS SPAM overnight. If the spammer can't reach people by *default* then there's simply no market.
Frankly I don't know why any text messaging system was ever setup any other way. Then again as an American I don't understand how in God's name our phone companies get away with charging 20¢ per message (sending *and* receiving).
Oh, wait... *sigh*
This is exactly what Apple does with the App store and all anyone seems to do is bitch and complain about Apple's draconian control over apps. And that's *Apple*, who generally enjoys a favorable reputation amongst most IT enthusiasts*.
I cannot begin to imagine the shit-storm (both literal and figurative) that would accompany Microsoft's announcement that if you want a program for Windows you have to get it through the MS equivalent to the AppStore. I'm sure the EU would just implode given the way they handled the browser ballot deal.
*Or not depending on your particular viewpoint.
"the company claims that buyers can expect to recoup the cost in energy savings in three to five years."
I'd like to see the math backing up this assertion. Here's some math disproving it:
100KWh (kilowatt hours) is about $10 in the US[1], so a years worth of electricity would cost $87,600 on average. With a price tag of $700,000 it would take about 8 years to recoup your costs *ONLY IF ONE ASSUMES THAT THE COST OF THE FUEL IS ZERO*.
In Hawaii the price of electricity was 32.28¢ per KWh in 2008, at that rate your bloom box "pays for itself" in about 2.5 years (again *ASSUMING THE COST OF FUEL IS ZERO*).
[1] While this price varies depending on location,10.04¢ was the US average for combined residential, commercial, and industrial costs for 2008-2009.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html
I was speaking to a chemist (the kind with a PhD in chemistry) friend at lunch today and we briefly discussed the Bloom box. Apparently these units are NOT traditional hydrogen exchange membrane units (like the kind the space shuttle uses), but are some sort of new composite/ceramic material which operates at several thousands of degrees.
Apparently there is also some concern that they may produce a lot of Nitrous Oxide because of the heat which may make them unsuitable for use in areas without suitable ventilation. Might be a useful feature for hybrid street racers though...
"...[Patent number] 6,236,994 - details a 'method and apparatus for the integration of information and knowledge.' "
Hang on, let me check my dictionary real quick.
Information - (n) knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction, etc.
knowledge - (n) acquaintance with facts as from study or investigation; the fact or state of knowing
So the above quoted patent describes a "method and apparatus" for the integration of facts and, uh... other facts? You know, I think they have those already: they're called "books".
OK, so they finally nuked Entourage. Hooray!
Now they just need to fix all the remaining stupid cross-platform problems. Like not supporting embedded fonts in PowerPoint files, embedded Quicktime/WMV movies failing in PowerPoint files, embedded pictures (sometimes) failing in Word documents, and so forth.
Yes actually, it does in fact have USB.
From http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/#accessories
"The Camera Connector lets you import your photos and videos to iPad using the camera’s USB cable."
That said, I have no idea if it supports anything beyond the USB storage devices (which most camera act as), but it's a start and it's direct from Apple (and not some crazy DIY hack).
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