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Comment Re:Okay... (Score 2, Informative) 443

by robpoe (#34198286) Attached to: UK Games Retailers Threaten Boycott of Steam Games
But on the other hand things like Steam (or worse AC2 style online "activation") are killing the used PC game market for ALL of us not just Gamestop. And don't forget this is DRM folks

I'm tired of invasive DRM. Steam handles DRM quite nicely. I'm not totally against DRM if it's not invasive.

You don't want any DRM? Ok, so take a look at Crysis - probably (arguably) the most pirated PC exclusive FPS made. And let me tell you, that game was pretty damn good! Now, because of piracy, Crytek (the makers of Crysis) are never going to do a PC exclusive game. Meaning longer dev times, and maybe a lesser experience for PC's (since they can't just focus on one platform). At least they didn't give us all the middle finger and go out of business. Now, if it'd been offered in Steam and the DRM (which you cry so hard about) keeps the piracy numbers way down -- ultimately the company makes money and piracy is much lower.

Also, Steam makes updates almost painless for the end user. Dev pushes a patch, game is patched. No waiting for Fileshack / etc to be able to get a download at 75k/sec.

Comment Re:transferring Window license? (Score 1) 606

by robpoe (#33931286) Attached to: Generic PCs For Corporate Use?

Forgetting something?

AMD Quad + 2g ram for $269. +$25 for power supply, $50 for the HD, $25 for the optical drive, $20 keyboard, $20 mouse (not a cheapo no-name, logitech or MS), $35 for case. Then you gotta spend 30m-1.5 hour per machine assembling, troubleshooting, since you went with bottom of the line crap. Even if you think your time is zero, it's not (unless you're a volunteer).

And you haven't even thought of licensing (unless you're buying your Windows licenses on the Select program). So, add $200 for a MS OS. Plus monitor.

$800-$1000 isn't actually that unreasonable. And if you're not using select licensing (you'd be surprised), and buy your office from Dell then it IS $1k.

Comment $2 ?? (Score 1) 434

by robpoe (#33794896) Attached to: Google Patent Proposes $2 Fee To Skip Commercials

I'm not going to pay ANYTHING to skip the commercials. I use my DVR to record programs, then watch them "later" (at least 30 minutes later) so that I can fast forward past the commercials.

Being *forced* to sit through advertising (I'm looking at the websites that MAKE you watch a video before you see content -- especially Discovery.com -- where you get a 1-2 minute clip then a 30 second commercial) makes me not want the product being advertised. They actually cause me to NOT buy or use the service..
Music

String Quartets On the Web? 228

Posted by kdawson from the allegro-non-troppo dept.
rueger writes "Lots of people love iTunes. I'm partial to emusic.com. Ubuntu comes pre-equipped for Jamendo and Magnatune. These are great for those of us hunting popular music — but where do lovers of classical music go to find new artists and albums, download music, and generally keep informed, up to date, and satisfied? As my girlfriend put it, 'I used to go to the big classical record stores downtown, but they're gone.' Where do people go to find the newest Ligeti String Quartet recording?"
Science

'Bizarre' Nanobubbles Found In Strained Graphene 84

Posted by timothy from the put-them-in-very-small-asylums dept.
schliz writes "Physicists have observed 'bizarre' behaviour in graphene electrons that they say could make the material even more suitable to replace silicon in future electronic devices. When strained in a particular manner, nanobubbles formed on a sheet of graphene, within which electrons came to occupy particular, quantum energy levels rather than the usual, continuous range of energies in unstrained graphene. By controlling electrons' energy levels, researchers could control how easily they moved through graphene — in effect, controlling their conductivity, optical, or microwave properties."
Cellphones

The Kafka-esque Nightmare of Palm App Submission 332

Posted by kdawson from the next-the-hoop-of-fire dept.
MBCook writes "Jamie Zawinski, shortly after the release of the Palm Pre, wrote two free software programs for the phone: a Tip Calculator and a port of Dali Clock. In trying to get the apps published to the App Catalog, he has had to sign up to be a developer twice; fax contracts around; been told (apparently incorrectly) that he was not allowed to release free software for the phone; and told he had to give PayPal his checking account number. 'It's been two weeks, and I have received no reply. In the months since this process began, other third-party developers seem to have managed to get their applications into the App Catalog. Apparently these people are better at jumping through ridiculous hoops than I am.'"

Comment Re:Tethering on AT&T was a hack (Score 1) 684

by robpoe (#29413723) Attached to: IPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering
(Oh, and the Pre and it's "free" homebrew community? What about those mandatory updates that install themselves after ten days? And the data collection Palm does? Apple doesn't even do either of those.)

Every provider keeps that kind of data on you. It's just that someone found the API on the Pre.

You can make the updates not happen on the Pre. You just make the updater not executable on the filesystem.

And it is free -- no matter how you use the quotes.

Comment Disagreement (Score 4, Insightful) 429

by robpoe (#29279309) Attached to: Judge Won't Lower $5M Bail For Jailed SF IT Admin
Terry Childs played the "battle of wills" game and lost. He's not the innocent child that some are alluding to - he did willfully not give the passwords out.

When I was a corporate IT guy (about 3 years in the middle of about 16 years as a consultant), I took responsibility over a large part of the network in a multi facility health care business. This wasn't life or death stuff, but network outages did cause problems with appointments and general "face" of the corporation. When I came on board, the network was down a lot. No change control, no "chief" in charge of the network, and about 9 people mucking with stuff constantly.

I put my job on the line, in exchange for FULL control of that system (It was a 85 server Netware + Groupwise environment). The first thing I did was take *everyone's* admin away, removed "admin" from supervisory rights to the tree. I then doled out the appropriate levels of access to the security team (read new users, password resetters), put in a hidden OU with a tree supervisor in it and then wrote the "master" admin/login information down. Lightly, in pencil. Folded it up, put it in an envelope with a tamper seal, that went into another tamper evident envelope and that went into the safe. Every month or two I changed the password and replaced the envelope.

That was in case I died, they could easily get in. That is what Terry should have done. Then it wouldn't have come to this - he might have gotten sacked, and/or lost control over what he considered to be his "creation" -- but he wouldn't be rotting in jail....

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