I love rockbox but my gigabeat died and I need a replacement, what can I get today that'll run rockbox nicely that's >=40G ?

Gigabeats were great but they're getting on a bit now to the point where the harddrives are dying and replacing them is more faffing than I'm interested in.

> HDMI sucks terribly too. I gave up trying to get HDMI to work on my computer with an ATI card. It may work but then an updated driver will put black spaces around the edges with an underscan or some other BS. Its all based on HDCP and bad programming.

WTF are you talking about ? I've never had a problem with HMDI connections, they've all just worked for me. Linux/Windows/iOS, whatever.

> I can't imagine how stupid people aka average joes would deal with this?

By not using broken hardware/software. Stick the cable in the computer, connect it to the TV/monitor, done.

Amen brother.

I have a CS/AI degree, 20 years experience in C/C++/java/Lisp/etc .. but css, save me. Complex css menus that work in ie6+, fuck me.. that made my brain hurt worse than coding efficient but stable parallel matrix inversion in a mix of OCCAM/C on a mix of sun workstations and transputers or any other hairy crap I've encountered.

You do hear a lot of elitist distain for web monkeys, but I'm wondering how many of those people have truly got their hands dirty in webdev. Sure, php is mostly derp but it has pitfalls just as nasty as c++, while css hackery is just plain awful. Then there's the language proliferation, one has to deal with at least: html/css/javascript + 1 server language + sql + the platform issues. There's a lot of details for devils to lurk in.

> Many libertarians believe individuals retain their rights when they join groups

Weasel words alert. Nobody is claiming you should loose your individual rights when you join a corporation, its just that you shouldn't gain additional rights by virtue of controlling an organisation.

Because people who are supposed to be doing other things (and are probably better at those other things) are having to do IT stuff instead.

Having said that, if I was running the place, I'd outsource it *if* I could find a good *local* outfit that dealt with that stuff.

I love that this is modded 'informative'

Nah, not true. UK is behind in some ways and ahead of the game in others (releasing government data in rdf format suitable for SPARQL queries for instance). Its a bit slow in online document filing but a leader in many areas of releasing public data.

> And on the off-chance you're being serious, how do you live day to day in such a black and white world? Just because something doesn't meet my approval doesn't make it immoral by default.

I am being serious. I'm overstating my case for effect but at heart I really mean it. My opinion doesn't matter but I'm entitled to have it and state it. Sure, lots of things don't meet with my approval without me considering them immoral, but some things I *do* consider immoral and the more innocuous seeming they are the more value there is in pointing out what's wrong with them.

The link in my first post is long winded but it does a good job of explaining the issue: Zynga's main revenue derives from the fact it has found a way to hack weaknesses in our built-in brain reward system. It's very consciously and cleverly manipulating people to get them addicted to their games because a few people end up spending $10,000 a year or so on them. There are millions of lesser victims who just end up wasting a vast amount of time doing something that's not even that fun without ever knowing why. They subvert friendships to spread their digital crack in devious ways etc etc. So, this to me is like an article explaining how low level crack dealers have an unpleasant time. I genuinely have more sympathy for crack dealers: they need the money too, their working conditions are nasty, their pay and prospects are terrible ,and their options are far more severely limited than a typical worker at Zynga. Crack is not great for society but society already knows this, there's no point in me to ranting about the evils of crack.

> Because it is inherently immoral to not plan your career around what Slashdot poster joss approves of.

Finally, someone gets it ! Its almost tautological though: if I disapprove of X, then yes, I do believe its immoral to base your career on X. Of course, other people can make their own decisions and I don't expect them to respect my views any more than I respect theirs. Invite me to feel sympathy for the poor fucks working at Zynga though and I'll laugh in your face. They're working for a company whose main revenue derives from the fact it has found a way to hack weaknesses in our built-in brain reward systems and knock-me-down-with-a-feather it's mean to its employees too.

It *should* suck to work in that stupid place. If you're doing something that is a parasite on society to make a living at least at least you should have a miserable time doing it. Do something productive instead like, I dunno, deal heroin or something.

http://insertcredit.com/2011/09/22/who-killed-videogames-a-ghost-story/chapter/2/