Slashback: Favoritism, Alternacy, Moo 222
Speak of the devil -- Arrgh writes: "PC Magazine has posted a more favourable review (4 out of 5 stars) of the Zaurus--they had none of the sync problems Walt Mossberg wrote about."
Give money to these guys, please. Jeff Gerhardt of the American Open Technology Consortium writes after the post about this "GeekPAC" on Slashdot.
"Although the last 24 hours was one hell of a pain in the ass, at 4:00 am we were through with that second draft and in large measure due to the constructive comments from the /. community. Yes I got a lot of nutty emails about how I should be working on more important issues like global warming and ending "greed" (can you believe that one??? how the hell can we do that.), but for the most part the comments were well thought out. As a whole I think that the whole /. community should be proud.In particular I have pages of operational suggestions and contact names across the US. The suggestion that has tickled me the most is a suggestion for a fund raising methodology for the "PAC" organization. This came from a couple guys who were debating the idea between the two of them, until it really solidified into a plan. And, we are going to do it. The plan is simple and uses the thing we love so much, technology.
We will set up a series of paypal account links, having created a category for every House or Senate member that appeals to our overall goals and objectives. If then there is a news item about an issue and one of these "good guy" politicos does something to help the cause, the PAC will write a 2-3 sentence quote that will happen to have the paypal link included inside the quote. Media sites will then be able to include the link as a part of the quote, because afterall its news right (wink wink)!!!!
This would then facilitate the people _out there_ to throw a buck at the good guy as a impulse purchase to show gratitude. It need some refinement, but I think it provides portals an opportunity to provide a political opportunity to their communities, without looking too overtly political in the process."
No more Portable Monopoly. Dr.Jones writes "...well, not really. It seems Portable Monopoly is being forced to give up their web address 'Due to legal issues with Hasbro over the usage of the word "monopoly"'. Fortunately, they will have a new site up next week (Triton Labs), and they're still on target to ship the lighting kit next month. Seems like a bit of a stretch on Hasbro's part though."
Not as much of a stretch maybe as Parker Brothers claiming the word clue.com.;)
Do cows wake up and smell the Rosen? prostoalex writes: "Newsfactor has a story on Hillary Rosen expressing dissatisfaction with Gateway's ad campaign. Who would have thought?"
... and routing around it. With a nice detailed followup to a recent Ask Slashdot post, Dr. Zowie writes: "For those who want to use alternative DNS roots but are stuck behind port-80 proxies, a simple solution may exist, thanks to several folks who wrote in to suggest it. Section 5 of RFC 2068 gently deprecates using relative URI's in HTTP requests, and in fact most web clients generate absolute URI's even though relative URI's are allowed by the standard. My ISP's not-quite-transparent proxy directs outbound port 80 packets correctly if (and only if) there's a relative URI in the request. A little 10-line local proxy that munges absolute URI's into relative URI's before emitting them to the ISP seems to solve the problem for now: I can retrieve all the nice goodies that most of you can't at www.dev.null, , www.computer.geek, and paradox.null.
Oh, and if you live near the Colorado front range and aren't a purist about routing, Peak to Peak is a pretty good outfit for dialup and DSL service. Their tech support is extremely accessible and quite good (though our views differ on the correctness of payload-switched routing)."
Update: 04/12 06:41 GMT by T : Richard Sexton writes: "While it's great to see your continued coverage of Open Roots can I just put in a quick plug for ORSC? We're older and have way more tlds.
The coordination amongst Open Roots takes place at IRON; for lack of a better term, it's the Open IANA."
Kissing and making nice. panker writes "Sun had previously given JavaRanch a cease and desist order because of a trademark issue. Sun is now backing down and being friends. Slashdot covered the first half of this issue earlier."
Only a monopoly... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Only a monopoly... (Score:2)
My favorite part:
Re:Only a monopoly... (Score:2)
Portable Monopoly (Score:5, Funny)
Soooo ... Hasbro has a monopoly on the word Monopoly?
Re:Portable Monopoly (Score:1, Troll)
I thought that was Microsoft?
</karma whore>
Re:Portable Monopoly (Score:2, Funny)
Federal Judge Rules Parker Brothers Holds Monopoly Monopoly [theonion.com]
Re:Portable Monopoly (Score:3, Informative)
See here [archive.org] for what I mean.
Besides, he's been dragging his feet on those kits forever now. He should have just released the plans like a nice boy.
Re:Portable Monopoly (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.mycounsel.com/content/intelprop/trad
Hasbro does NOT own a trademark on the word "Monopoly". It's a generic term now.
So I don't know what Hasbro is smoking.. obviously trying to intimidate, knowing full well they don't have a legal leg to stand on.
Hope they don't come after me for this... (Score:2)
....and Ogg plays on Zaurus! (Score:5, Informative)
theKompany [thekompany.com] released their Ogg player for the Zaurus [thekompany.com] today. Oh, right, and it plays those legacy mp3s too ;-)
Another reason to get a Zaurus!
Monty
xiph.org
Hasbro. (Score:3, Insightful)
In a "free" country, the only legal issue would be the punitive damages Hasbro had to pay for trying to intimidate someone from using a word that they clearly have no reasonable claim over.
Unless, that is, Hasbro invented the word. But either way, I guess that doesn't apply around here.
Re:Hasbro. (Score:2)
<< In a "free" country, the only legal issue would be the punitive damages Hasbro had to pay for trying to intimidate someone from using a word that they clearly have no reasonable claim over. >>
True ... however, "legal issues" means they're not interested in entering into litigation, which can be costly and time consuming, and has the danger of said punitive damages.
Hence, we're in a "free country" ... but they still have to deal with the legal issues. One side simply has bigger lawyers.
<< Unless, that is, Hasbro invented the word. But either way, I guess that doesn't apply around here. >>
They didn't ... "Parker Brothers" might have, though. :-)
Re:Hasbro. (Score:2)
Maybe now's a good time for a countersuit in the name of defamation and barratry. The Cease and Desist letter alledged(sp?) that they were infringing on the copyright. They didn't get what they want, but now they aren't gonna sue over it? Stupid corporation.
Re:Hasbro. (Score:2, Informative)
Your description about barratry is correct, however, it does not even come close to applying in this case.
Hasbro has a trademark on the term "Monopoly" as used in connection with toys and games. They have the legal right to prevent anyone else from using that term (through C&D letters, and if persuasion doesn't work, then litigation).
While they can't prevent someone from using "Monopoly" if it is outside of the toy & game field, I certainly think that a Game Boy Advance would fall within the protected area.
Re:Hasbro. (Score:2)
What? No Mention of PC-EPhone? (Score:3, Informative)
Memo to Hillary Rosen: (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you have any idea how stupid you sound given the blatant fact biasing found in every single RIAA report?
No, nor if you gave a few million dollars to the underground artists, that wouldn't improve the quality of music available for sale would it?
Re: Fun RIAA Quotes (Score:5, Insightful)
Point... but I like THIS better:
- "The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has charged that a Gateway (NYSE: GTW) advertising campaign that declares support for digital music downloads uses "misleading scare tactics" to frighten consumers into buying more of the company's products."
This from a consortium almost as good at scare tactics as Microsoft! (Meaning when they're convincing congress they need 'protecting' -- tariffs on blank media, copyright extensions, etc...) Oh well. I guess they know 'em when they see 'em.(My emphasis, of course.)
Re: Fun RIAA Quotes (Score:2)
The RIAA seems to prefer to scare the government into subsidizing theirs.
Re: Fun RIAA Quotes (Score:2)
Re:Memo to Hillary Rosen: (Score:2, Interesting)
Ending Greed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ending Greed (Score:2)
Now, now...if they want to canter^H^H^H^Hter to the horse market, that's their business.
Portable Monopoly (Score:2, Insightful)
Forced to give up their website? From the news on the site, I would guess that the URL is being changed simply to avoid hassle and pricy legal bills that are necessary to fight this out in court. When will companies realise that going after companies and websites with similar words to their products does nothing but anger techies and bring them a lot of hostile PR.
I would think Portable Monopoly would win in court in this one, it was not registered in bad faith, it has a legit function, and is not confusing to hasbro.com
I suppose hasbro will argue that they have a portable version of their monopoly game.
Re:Portable Monopoly (Score:2, Informative)
Incidentally, they do [handmark.com].
Re:Portable Monopoly (Score:2)
http://www.we-are-not-hasbro.com
=)
I think it is well stated (Score:5, Insightful)
This pretty well states it all.
Re:I think it is well stated (Score:3, Insightful)
First of all, if the RIAA was interested in "working with" digital manufacturers, they wouldn't be pushing legislation that dictates to those manufacturers.
Secondly, how arrogant is it to assume that the only solution is going to come from the RIAA. Maybe they're entirely off the wall and working with them would be counterproductive. Maybe they misunderstand the issue so thoroughly, so disingenuously, and so deliberately, as to render them more part of the problem than of the solution.
Maybe it's time the RIAA and MPAA face what, ultimately, is their greatest dread of the digital revolution: We don't need them anymore. Maybe we never did. Maybe this "problem" will be solved without them.
Re:I think it is well stated (Score:2, Insightful)
there is no reason Gateway should feel compelled to worry about the RIAA's interests, especially when doing so would decrease their profits.
Gateways advertising campaign, is not in support of the Napster's, Kazaa's etc of the world, it's trying to show how poor a bill the CDBTPA is...if the RIAA wants to protect material they should be responsible for it themselves, not at the expense of hardware manufacturers...
you have to expect them to fight copying somehow though, they just wont stand pat on this subject, the big question is:
can they come up with a anti-copying technology which also allows for fair use (ie. backup copies, loadable to a mp3 player, etc)... if they can do it, it would be the first isssue i agree with the RIAA on, because if it's possible they do deserve at least that much
Re:I think it is well stated (Score:2)
Re:I think it is well stated (Score:2)
Which Police Acadamy was that?
How about these sites? (Score:4, Funny)
http://www.psmonopoly.com/
http://space.monopoly.iwarp.com/
http://www.monopolyinc.com/
http://www.themonopolystore.com/ (not affiliated with Hasbro)
http://www.newmonopoly.com/
http://www.monopoly-builders.com/ (must be one of MS's consulting firms)
Re:How about these sites? (Score:2)
I'm surprised this URL doesn't point to the White House. After all, they're the ones in the business of selling monopolies.
Re:How about these sites? (Score:2)
1) Portable Monopoly is in the game business (add-ons to GameBoy), so they are competing for consumer dollars with Hasbro.
2) The first thing I thought of when I read "Portable Monopoly" was the board game.
3) Although "Portable Monopoly" has a reasonable derivation unrelated to Hasbro's trademark, if the web site designers used graphics reminiscent of the board game, there's proof that they had noticed the resemblance...
I want my moo (Score:2, Funny)
Sharp Zaurus (Score:4, Interesting)
- Requires: 64MB RAM; 30MB free hard drive space; Microsoft Windows 98, 98SE, 2000 Professional, Me, NT 4.0 SP6, or XP
So they managed to get it working with practicallly every version of Windows, but they haven't even got anything to work with Linux, which it runs?[!] That's pretty absurd.Re:Sharp Zaurus (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm typing this post on my 802.11b-equipped Zaurus btw... The keyboard isn't so bad--easily 2x faster than Graffiti.
Re:Sharp Zaurus (Score:2)
Huh? (Score:2, Interesting)
Wait... I thought the RIAA website was the gateway to misinformation. I mean, they were the ones that tried to claim that making backup copies of CDs you have purchased was illegal, and they were just being really nice by not prosecuting you for it... I'm so confused.
Political Action (Score:5, Informative)
But it would take more dedication then the usual chit chart you see in online forums, etc.
Re:Political Action (Score:3, Informative)
Anyway, he entered the race after 5 other Democratic candidates, only a few weeks before the state caucuses. The entire focus of his campaign on day one was to urge activists (not party activists, any old activists) to spend a Saturday at their local caucus. Voila, people who had never been to these things suddenly found themselves selected as delegates to the state convention. It looks like Reich will have no problem getting enough delegates to be on the ballot.
Re:Political Action (Score:2)
Re:Political Action (Score:2)
It's so hard to tell...
They tried something like this in Germany (Score:2)
So some students in effect overwhelmed the Berlin office of the FDP by joining it en masse. The FDP, though, actually welcomed it (what *else* could they do) and interestingly chose to start to work with the students, and now they have been in effect absorbed into the party with little effect other than to cheer up the FDP. (Which is not really a bad thing anyway. The two big parties are full of idiots, especially the Christian Democrats.) Some of the students stayed and were assimilated, many lost interest and left, but in the end it had little real effect.
For that matter, I also ran as a delegate in the Democratic caucus in Minnesota in 1996 (I was a Tsongas guy, if you remember him). I easily got elected because, as you say, there was hardly anyone at the caucus in my district (and those that were there were all loony-left types worshipping Tom Harkin and/or Jerry Brown). But once I got to the district level, I was simply outnumbered by the usual party hacks and had little to do other than watch them elect the delegates they always elect. So again, in the end it really doesn't seem to make a difference long-term. (Sad to say.)
Cheers,
Ethelred [grantham.de]
Political Action... Seize the democratic party? (Score:2)
I've seen many of the following tactics in action myself:
CHICAGO RULES OF ELECTION FRAUD
HOW TO STEAL AN ELECTION
VOTE EARLY AND VOTE OFTEN: Our election get-out-the-vote effort was pioneered by Mayor Richard Daley in 1960 when he stole the election from Richard Nixon.
- CEMETARY VOTERS: Read the obituaries every day. One must keep track of
everyone who dies, so that they can be registered in the appropriate cemetary
precinct. We have voters in the Mt. Olive Cemetary who have been voting for 100 years. Relatives will often assist as keeping the dead voter on the rolls also keep the Social Security checks coming in. If you know of someone who used to live in Chicago and who died, they are still eligible to vote.
- HOMELESS VOTERS: Register the homeless at the Cook County Courthouse instead of General Delivery. All they have to do is hang out at the courthouse one day a year to claim residency. Then round them up and give them free cigarettes to vote. We used to give them bottles of wine, but they couldn't remember to vote our way.
- NURSING HOME VOTERS: Early (or absentee) voting has greatly expanded our capabilities of increasing the turnout. Take bags full of early ballots to nursing homes, and get everyone in the home to vote...especially the Alzheimer's cases.
- COLLEGE STUDENTS: College kids like to screw the system, and they'll vote
more than once just for the sheer pleasure of it, especially kids at Catholic
universities.
- Voters who have moved often can vote in the
precinct where they used to live, and then in their new precinct. They will not be on the rolls in the new precinct, so they'll vote a "Questioned Ballot". Not to worry.When the ballot is questioned after the election, we will have our political hacks permit the votes to be counted.
- VOTERS PASSING THROUGH O'HARE: Many votes can be obtained bysoliciting voter registration at our airports. They are legally residents of Chicago,
at least for a few minutes.
- MOTOR VOTERS: Take license plate numbers of out-of-state cars passing through on the freeways, run them through DMV to get their addresses, and
automatically reguister them in Chicago. Then vote them. They won't know, since they actually live in Wyoming.
- ILLEGAL ALIENS: Some of our most reliable voters are the thousands of illegal aliens we have in the city. In exchange for not telling INS where they live or work, one can get a solid block of votes.
- NEWBORNS: Our children are more and more precocious, so we register them at birth. Maternity wards are some of our best precincts.
- RECOUNT THE VOTES: In the unlikely event our candidates don't win the first count, then demand a recount. Fill the recount room with loyal supporters, and tow away the cars belonging to the enemy. If you can't win a recount, then you arenot a Chicago Democrat.
http://www.bandersnatch.com/chicago2.htm [bandersnatch.com]Microsoft (Score:1)
~D
Rosen's full quote (Score:4, Informative)
Re: Rosen's full quote (Score:3, Insightful)
Seems to me that there are perfectly good solutions to illegal downloading that the RIAA is completely oblivious to.
Re: Rosen's full quote (Score:2, Insightful)
Oblivious to? No, more like hoping they'll wither away and quit competing with the half-assed and over-priced download sites that the RIAA directly controls and profits from before Congress realizes which direction the political breeze is going and forces them to license their music libraries to anyone for a reasonable (i.e. not set by the RIAA but 'YIKES!' Congress) fee.
Re:Rosen's full quote (Score:2)
If the RIAA would devote just a little bit of that money they use to fill thier jacuzzi's with hundred dollar bills to help stamp out Gateway's rivals.. sigh, but that wouldn't help them exploit more artists, would it?
Re:Rosen's full quote (Score:2, Funny)
GeekPAC (Score:3, Insightful)
What the hell does that have to do with Congress? Are they now in the business of deciding what business models are viable or not? Does someone really think that some Senator from Podunk can wave a magic wand the laws of economics will change?
Re:GeekPAC (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes. They've been in that business for more than a century, and they are getting deeper into it every day. They call it 'regulation'.
Re:GeekPAC (Score:1, Informative)
wtf (Score:2, Insightful)
Bleh
Responsiblity? (Score:5, Insightful)
Said by Hilary Rosen.
How is it Gateway's responsiblity to spend actual money to police that? Somehow I don't see Gateway having Morpheous-type software preinstalled on its systems. A computer company sells a computer to its users and provides support for the software it provides with the computer, thats it. No more. Do you actually expect Gateway, Dell, HP or any other OEM to limit its user's options? Its called capitialism Hilary, it means that people sell things to make money. If somebody uses some product you sell for an illegal use, its not your problem. Its the Polices' problem.
While we are at it, lets sue the gun industry for making things that kill people. Lets sue the beer industry for drunk drivers. Lets sue the auto industry for making 2000 lb. objects that hit people walking on the sidewalk every once and a while. Etc Etc Etc
Its the users responsibility to police themselves, you break the law, you go to jail, not the person who sold you the computer.
Re:Responsiblity? (Score:3, Funny)
You've never tried to install hardware in a Compaq, have you? ;) :)
Otherwise, I agree with you.
Re:Responsiblity? (Score:2, Insightful)
Sorry, Tranvisor, I'm in full agreement with the letter and the spirit of your post. Just had to point out that sadly, our government is leaning towards that very position -- we punish the toolmakers for the bad things that come from them instead of punishing those who use the tools for bad things.
Dammit, now I'm depressed.
Re:Responsiblity? (Score:2)
Even though tobacco, unlike guns, cars, and chainsaws, has _no_ safe uses, I agree that the smokers have the primary responsibility for their lung cancers, etc. And in fact, I don't think I have ever heard of a jury awarding damages to a smoker solely on the basis that the smokes caused their cancer, heart disease, emphysema, or whatever. IIRC, the first time the tobacco companies lost a jury case, the plaintiff was a non-smoker with lung cancer who had worked her whole life in smoke-filled rooms. Now plenty of evidence has come out about tobacco companies burying reports of the harmfulness of their products, but I'm not sure if any trial based on that has gone to a jury verdict, or if the tobacco companies have settled every time...
On the other hand, gun companies offer gun safety courses (or at least tell you how to find the NRA, whose training is as good as you can get), include pamphlets with safety tips such as "Never point the gun at yourself or anyone else", and in general do everything they can to encourage safe use of their product. Tobacco companies are in a bit of a bind there -- the only accurate and complete statement they could make about cigarette safety is "don't light it, don't eat it, and don't let the kids get it."
So Gateway is selling equipment that has both legal and illegal uses -- and they are running ads to educate their customers to know the difference. Sounds like they've pretty well covered their arse.
Re:Responsiblity? (Score:2)
I have yet to see a warning sticker.
Re:Responsiblity? (Score:2)
Scare tactics is right. (Score:1)
Re:Scare tactics is right. (Score:1)
I've been known to randomly yell
"mother of pearl!"
in an odd moment
Work on something important! (Score:2)
Screw greed. You should be working for peace on Earth and good will toward
men. Or maybe a better mousetrap.
-
Re:Work on something important! (Score:3, Funny)
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
[...grumble, grumble, grumble...]
All right -- I'll see what I can do.
Whip it! (Score:5, Funny)
The RIAA has you down?
You must whip it
When Mr. Rosen comes to town
You must whip it
When they manipulate the facts
You must whip it
They lobby regulate and tax
You must whip it
Here's a box
For cheap
Good speakers
Free blanks
Mister Rosen
You can shove
Senator Hollings
Up your ass!
We whip ya!
We whip ya good!
(Am I the only one here who believes that Gateway is giving the RIAA exactly what they deserve?)
Re:Whip it! (Score:2)
Re:Whip it! (Score:2)
Liked the song, though. Devo filk is not something you see every day.
/brian
Re:Whip it! (Score:2)
I don't think enough of Ms. Rosen to get her gender right, so II'm not going to worry myself abour her marital status.
Thanks!!
Pot, kettle (Score:2)
Well if that isn't the most hypocritcal thing i've heard all week, I'll suck my toe.
Re:Pot, kettle (Score:2)
- sheer hyprocrisy and most hypocritical [google.com]
- the same, but on usenet [google.com]
Mossberg Must Die (Score:5, Interesting)
It's like you're revising "Cooking for Dummies." The right person to do that is a good cook who knows how to talk to bad cooks. But by Mossberg's logic, you should hire somebody who can't cook and who doesn't want to learn. Then you end up with a manual on microwave and can-opener operation, padded out with complaints that fresh ingredients are overrated commodities.
Perhaps Mossberg's sync issues really do represent some design flaw in the Zaurus. But we'll never know for sure. All we have from Walter is the silly assertion that Sharp "doesn't care about synchronization". Not likely, but I guess it's the best explanation he could come up with, given his resources.
Firewalls are stupid. (Score:2)
Plus it means my company doesn't need as much IP space. That was the original purpose of this concept.
Portable Monopoly - not good faith (Score:2, Interesting)
First of all, there is a Game Boy version of their board game, a "portable Monopoly" if you will. This shows that the word Monopoly as it applies to their trademark has already been introduced into this particular industry and confusion is both possible and likely.
Secondly, during part of their "we've invented this great thing that's ready to go but we aren't releasing it for several months for no apparent reason" phase, the Portable Monopoly website used the same mint green color as Monopoly boards and the Rich Uncle Pennybags character. While it was intended as a joke, it was obviously a reference to Hasbro's Monopoly even though their product had nothing to do with it.
Either of these facts would defeat Portable Monopoly's "good faith" claim in court.
Correlation != Causation (Score:2, Insightful)
"Certainly, digital media has hurt the record industry, there's no doubt about that. But who knows whether it was the economy, the fact that they weren't putting out hit records, or whether it really was digital downloads," Jones said.
Sounds like the RIAA is trying to use the same type of login the pro-Napster folks were using (when Napster was up and running, record sales were up, so Napster was good for the industry). Neither arguments are very good, since so many factors influence the way people buy music. Correlation != Causation.
BlackBerry 5810 in Europe (Score:2, Informative)
Check out the product matrix chart on RIM's web site:
http://www.rim.net/products/handhelds/specificati
Alt-DNS Local Proxy? Where? (Score:3, Insightful)
A Zaurus opinion or two (Score:2)
That said, I think it's a pretty interesting gadget. I was playing with one in my local Best Buy (Hyannis, MA) today and had to say that even though I didn't get to fiddle with the keyboard it was pretty impressive. Handwriting recognition is Graffiti-like but cleaner, and the screen quality is amazingly good. A hard reboot was done mostly for amusement, but since I couldn't find a terminal, no dmesg after boot time. The salesperson told me they'd found quite a large number of games on there, and I was pretty impressed with the Snake game it came with.
The only downside is that it's a bit on the large side, somewhat larger than an iPaq but quite a bit smaller than a Newton. I think it says a lot in Sharp's favor two; it's a trip upmarket for them into the realm of "better-quality electronics". If they pull the Linux Zaurus off, I think they get to move up into the same territory as TI, HP, Compaq, and Palm for Good Shit (tm).
I do think that it might be wise to streamline the next version, though, and possibly make the keyboard optional. It doesn't seem like it would fit in most pockets, and I'm not about to go looking for a holster for it if I ever decide I want one.
/Brian
Re:A Zaurus opinion or two (Score:2)
/Brian
Double barrel Mossberg? (Score:2)
BTW, I don't see anything here with double barrels, unless you count this [mossberg.com]. Hmm... Wonder how that works.
Re:Double barrel Mossberg? (Score:2)
Personally, a Smith and Wesson 'Mountain Revolver' in
Re:Double barrel Mossberg? (Score:2)
Actually, for home defense, a large bird-shot shell is quite effective. Ranges are very short inside your house, and bird-shot is less likely than 000-buck to pass completely through walls. The
Re:Double barrel Mossberg? (Score:2)
actually I'd like to not have to drop the hammer at all, and the sound of a shotgun slide being racked is more terrifying than a large bore handgun.
I agree about birdshot, but I'm kinda paranoid: if I have to pull the trigger, I want no doubt about what happens.
Re:Double barrel Mossberg? (Score:2)
Re:Double barrel Mossberg? (Score:2)
I keep my Mossberg 590 uncocked, empty chanber, full magazine. Nice, loud *clack-clack* that is instantly recognizable. Great physcological edge. 8 rounds of heavy bird or light buck without having to worry about loading, and I am very confident that I am effectively armed if there is an intruder in my home.
Rosen vs. Gateway: Dinosaur vs. Asteroid (Score:3, Interesting)
The commercial offers a free "Sundown" MP3 download on the company's Web site and urges viewers to burn it onto a CD or load it into an MP3 player.
And Hilary Rosen says this:
The Gateway commercial is fun, but their Web site is nothing but a gateway to misinformation,
Now, I'm just a well-educated engineer, but to me, it would seem that Gateway's web site is a gateway to legally downloadable free music. What illogic does it take to see otherwise? Rosen continues:
No one has proposed anything that would 'prevent all digital copying.'
No, just all digital copying not specifically blessed by Ms. Rosen/Fritz Hollings/etc. Some people don't like the idea of being told that they can't copy music they created or others have made freely available.
If Gateway truly believed that illegal copying hurts all artists and labels who make the music we enjoy, they'd be working with us to find a solution to the piracy problem,
Well, either they don't believe that illegal copying hurts the music industry, or they see their efforts to promote music that can be distributed freely as a solution to the "piracy problem," making restricted works less appealing for download (and less likely to be purchased). The "my way or the highway" attitude isn't very polite.
the RIAA has energized its campaign in Congress with a letter to the House Judiciary Committee requesting that legislators further address widespread digital piracy.
Ok, one letter in favor of the Hollings bill, thousands and thousands opposed. That'll win 'em over...
The letter claims piracy has caused "serious damage to those who make and market music."
Right, and the solution is to cause serious damage to those who make and market music without giving over control to the RIAA. Does the RIAA expect us to believe that the RIAA is the only source of music in the world? Or that nobody in the entire world WANTS their music distributed freely? Does anyone even still believe that the issue is piracy and not control over the music industry? Can Ms. Rosen make it any more obvious?
After some intelligent comments, Yankee Group media and entertainment analyst Ryan Jones produced this gem:
Certainly, digital media has hurt the record industry, there's no doubt about that.
Yup, no doubt that digital media is bad for the record industry, those DIGITAL CDs aren't generating any revenue, and nobody would buy a CD when they can hunt around online for songs of questionable quality. And VCRs have killed the movie industry, the internet has killed the publishing industry, etc. Damn technology, why can't you be profitable!
But who knows whether it was the economy, the fact that they weren't putting out hit records, or whether it really was digital downloads," Jones said.
Wow, ya think the lack of hit records and a downswinging economy could hurt record sales? No, couldn't be, people always put crappy music ahead of food and utilities...
Re:Rosen vs. Gateway: Dinosaur vs. Asteroid (Score:3, Interesting)
Ah, Ms. Rosen, you mean the same kind of scare tactics that you're using to paint everyone in favor of fair use as pirates? Not fun having your only weapon turned against you, is it?
This is not to say that some people aren't abusing the fair use policies.
If there was no RIAA, would musicians still get paid? If there was no RIAA, would musicians get paid for their talents instead? If there was no RIAA, would Britney Spears be a pop star or a porn star?
If there was no RIAA, would there still be music?
I love live Jazz, and will drop a Jackson in the jar before I leave. That's a CD. Straight to the artist(s). Sure, maybe not everyone is as generous, but the RIAA gets nothing. Sometimes the band will have a CD they put together themselves, no label, no contracts, just some time in a studio and some CD presses. They usually go for about $10. Sometimes I buy one. Sometimes I don't. Dunno how much a small run costs per disc, but it's got to be way more than a billion run of 'NCrap. That's the first reason we hate you, Rosen. Everything else is just gravy. And you're doing your best to drown us in gravy.
I'm not buying new discs just to spite you now. I've got plenty of music to listen to already. I can live without most music, and what I can't, I can borrow from my deluded disc-buying friends who still believe your crap. Of course, they're not calling me anymore, because I always deluge them with this same information.
But my father hates your tactics now as well. You and your copy-protected "CDs" that won't play on his Mac. He's never bought one, but he knows your kind of game, and he just stopped playing.
I can't be the only one who feels like this. Maybe we need the Infect Truth people to run ads about the dangers of RIAA along with the dangers of cigarettes.
Oh, and I applaud Gateway for beating Michael Dell to the punch to emulate Apple.
Re:Rosen vs. Gateway: Dinosaur vs. Asteroid (Score:2)
Unfortunately, that's one letter from companies that not only hand out millions in campaign contributions, but also control the media and tell the sheeple what to think...
There can be only thirty-six thousand songs (Score:2)
Some people don't like the idea of being told that they can't copy music they created or others have made freely available.
"They created"? Eventually, it'll become impossible to write new songs. United States courts have defined copyright infringement on a musical work as the use of a "substantially similar" melody of at least four consecutive notes [everything2.com] that are substantially similar to the melody of a copyrighted musical work. Given that there are only about 36,000 possible runs of four notes under a possible model of the "substantially similar" [google.com] standard (transpose melodies to start on middle C, fold rests into previous note, fold notes outside an 11-note range inward an octave, quantize durations to short/medium/long, last note is always long), I'm afraid that the day will come when composers will no longer be able to write new music [baen.com] without accidentally stepping on a copyright.
Ok, one letter in favor of the Hollings bill, thousands and thousands opposed. That'll win 'em over...
Make that ten million dollars in favor of the Hollings bill and ten thousand opposed.
Port-80 fix isn't general. Here's how to really d (Score:2)
If you find yourself behind a shitpile^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hrouting HTTP proxy, the most straightforward solution is to install your own proxy that translates all requests to numeric-IP CONNECT requests. Then your proxy can talk via direct TCP connection to the original host.
I mentioned a short hack I used to test some ideas, but a full-featured local proxy needs more than that. Squid is a good starting point and I plan to cruft together an appropriate mod to it soon.
Dissenting Opinion on Peak to Peak (Score:2)
I was out of town at one point so I used their webmail. Then I discovered that it put an ad at the bottom of each outgoing message. This was webmail that came with a dial-up account. I don't see how this is any different than if they put an ad on all mail that goes out through their SMTP server. When I complained (graciously, I used to do phone support) the guy gave me attitude and told me . . . wait for it . . . that this was "the industry standard." I explained that I expected such a thing from a "free webmail" account, like yahoo mail or whatever, but not from something that it part of my dial up service. He replied that I was the only one who complained.
That very day someone on the BLUG (Boulder LUG) was complaining/apologizing that he was posting to the list from his peakpeak webmail that includes SPAM at the bottom.
So it wasn't that no one else was complaining, it was that they weren't listening.
That's just an example. I understand that I am a "demanding" customer (mostly because I won't buy a line of bullshit and because I usually know what the problem is before the support drone does), but I have no complaints about my current ISP, Fairplay Communications [fpcc.net] (or the ISP I had previous to peakpeak, Blackhat Networking [blackhat.net] out of Austin, whom I can't say enough good about*). Oh, and for the same price FPCC give a shell and doesn't have an auto-disconnect (which is another "industry standard" "feature" of peakpeak). So it must not just be that I'm an a-hole who hates all ISPs.
Anyway, contrary to what the article above says, peakpeak ain't so great.
-Peter
* While checking my links (I'm over-qualified to be a
Is it a coincidence... (Score:3, Funny)
I can imagine it now:
NewsFactor technician: We're getting a hundred thousand clickthroughs from...64.28.67.150...erm...resolving...oh, it's Slashdot... Dear God we're being Slashdotted!!
NewsFactor editor: Yes! My plan worked!! Quickly, put up the ads for Cobalt! Sun will pay us millions for all the hits!
Humm?
Aaargh (Score:3, Insightful)
But on the other, giving congressmonkeys monetary tips for doing what we want... that is just... icky. WTF, the system done got broke somewhere if this is the only way we can get our elected representatives to represent us. What a drag.
.null ? (Score:2, Interesting)
Thanks.
Elementary, My Dear Einer (Score:2)
Nuthin' to it but to do it!
Monopoly monopoly (Score:2)
Quick Zaurus Review (Score:2)
There was also some discussion on the zaurus-general list that the "selector circle" could prove to be a killer difference between the Z and some of the other PDAs. When programmed properly, you can run your Z entirely from that circle with your thumb. Try that with a Palm. Blackberry has it close with the thumbwheel, but the selector circle can potentially give you two dimensional cursor, not just the back-and-forth of the wheel. I haven't seen any reviews really pick up on this fact yet (probably because the standard apps aren't programmed to 100% support it).
Hasbro not Parker Brothers for clue.com (Score:2)
It was Hasbro that also tried to claim clue.com and ultimately wound up losing, not parker brothers. I know the owner of clue.com personally, and got to hear all about the multi-year legal battle.
Re:As long as we're plugging ISPs: frii.com (Score:2)
And if they offer DSL over here, I'll be switching over.
Re:As long as we're plugging ISPs: frii.com (Score:2)
I agree. I've been using them for 2-3 years now and have been quite pleased. Reasonably fast DSL and 5 static IPs for not that much more than Qwest DSL. The only caveat is that if you opt for static IPs, you will be charged for using more than ~3gB of bandwidth in a month. It's a tradeoff I'm willing to make so I can run my own servers hassle free, check them out if you're into that sort of thing.