Comment Re:I wonder how many (Score 1) 184
There's a High Street Road just near where I live...
Submission + - ISPs Oversubscribe Bandwidth, Blame Users (arstechnica.com)
blair1q writes: Belgian ISP Telenet recently offered a rare picture of the individual subscribers on its network who download the most data. The company offers several tiers of service, with bandwidth caps up to 100 Mbps, and monthly consumption caps on the lower tiers. But if an upper tier is deemed to be hogging the network, the ISP will throttle their multi-megabit service down to 512 Kbps. Which forces the question: If it's possible for someone to use up all the bandwidth and interfere with other users' service, why did you organize it that way, Telenet? Why not sign up only the number of subscribers you can support even if one or more are running their pipes at full rate? Or is it that you oversubscribe your bandwidth to make more money, and then blame the users for using the service they bought from you? And why punish them for the rest of the month, instead of apportioning bandwidth while multiple high-volume users are online? Is it their fault for paying you to get the bandwidth they need, or yours for charging them for bandwidth they will never get?
Comment Re:Dongles (Score 1) 266
Depends on the software. I use one software package that is pretty much the best type in the world. It has a dongle. For me to write another program that is as good as the one I already use would just stupid. The licence cost vs the new development cost just wouldn't be worth it...
Comment XKCD (Score 2, Funny) 417
The obligitory...
Comment Re:I have a saying (Score 0, Redundant) 426
Yes, but you also require the user to have Python installed. I know that I don't have Python on my computer.
A Windows batch file requires you to have Windows installed. I know that I do have Windows though...
Comment Re:Would it be legal to do this to an adult? (Score 1) 709
This.
Very. Much. This.
I hear stories along the same lines as these about schools in Australia and I say to myself "That isn't bullying, that's out and out assault!".
Beatings and bashings aren't the occasional nipple cripple. One you can potentially tolerate, the other requires police intervention.
Submission + - Rendering 3D with Unlimited Detail (unlimiteddetailtechnology.com)
jannone writes: A small company claims to have developed a new sorting algorithm capable of processing huge amounts of 3D point could data in real-time, or at least powerful enough to generate extremely detailed real-time graphics using only a single-core CPU. This would be a departure from traditional polygon-based rendering: "Unlimited Detail is basically a point cloud search algorithm. We can build enormous worlds with huge numbers of points, then compress them down to be very small. The Unlimited Detail engine works out which direction the camera is facing and then searches the data to find only the points it needs to put on the screen it doesn’t touch any unneeded points, all it wants is 1024*768 (if that is our resolution) points, one for each pixel of the screen. It has a few tricky things to work out, like: what objects are closest to the camera, what objects cover each other, how big should an object be as it gets further back. But all of this is done by a new sort of method that we call MASS CONNECTED PROCESSING. Mass connected processing is where we have a way of processing masses of data at the same time and then applying the small changes to each part at the end.". The company expects to launch an SDK "in about 16 months".
Comment Re:Users only infringe *once* per file (Score 1) 252
I can see what you mean there; it is a fine line..
Although the analogy would be more along the lines of you have one book, and the passers-by photocopy it for themselves...
Comment Re:Users only infringe *once* per file (Score 5, Insightful) 252
So it looks like merely making a file available isn't an infringement. This is congruent with the finding that
20. The law recognises no positive obligation on any person to protect the copyright of another. The law only recognises a prohibition on the doing of copyright acts without the licence of the copyright owner or exclusive licensee, or the authorisation of those acts. In the circumstances outlined above and discussed in greater detail in my judgment, it is impossible to conclude that iiNet has authorised copyright infringement.
Just because you're able to copy my file doesn't make me responsible.
Comment Re:SAP (Score 1) 187
No. SAP was instigated by our previous CEO. Our current CEO was responsible for removing SAP from the last company they were CEO at, so we may have some hope.
An example of the crappiness: In order to reconcile our credit card accounts, we are required to "go on a trip". Yes, the writers of this software think that the only time we spend money on our credit card is when we go away. I know that I use my credit card to get around the awful ordering process we are supposed to use - it's a lot easier to go on a "trip" than it is to actually order something.
Comment Re:Is it just D&D ? (Score 1) 496
As has been discussed before, that's one definition (capital F fundamentalism).
No, it's not. Can you show me any dictionary that defines fundamentalism as "Let's strip off all of the ritual, tradition, cruft, and bloat that's crept into Christianity over the past 2000 years, and get back to what was preached and practiced back in the First Century"? I didn't think so. That's your own interpretation, and is significantly off the mark, as fundamentalism (being a recent re-interpretration of Christianity) adds its own cruft and bloat.
Comment Re:Experience? (Score 1) 249
The spam feature was great when I needed a quote to ship a car across the country. I got the quote, but didn't need the service. I told them the company that, in a week they called me back asking if I needed it. They immediately went on my spam list.
What if you date someone who doesn't get a hint?
That hasn't happened to me but I'm now prepared.
What if you date someone who doesn't get a hint?
That hasn't happened to me but I'm now prepared.
Comment Re:We are becoming more disposable (Score 1) 844
Unions have helped bring the human component to our work lives
Biggest laugh I've had all day. Unions have no interest in the outperformer. To the extent that they seem to help members, they protect the mediocre, the inferior, and those that could make an effective cause celebre. Unions want their members to appear interchangable, otherwise collective bargaining is an obvious fraud.
Comment Outsourcing (Score 3, Informative) 187
Anyone know of any large outsourcing company that deliver what they promised, to a decent quality?
Capita are another company that comes to mind. They have ripped off most public services in the UK with their poor products. Capita did a good job at ripping Birmingham City Council off with their new web site.
Comment Re:Too cheap of a hack (Score 1) 454
This is a great idea. If you know you have to leave for work at a certain hour, you can use an online calendar program that has the option to send you an alarm by sms. It sounds a really interesting project that many of us would like to read about. If you aren't good at putting together web pages, then get a free blog account such as Blogger or Livejournal. Make each aspect of the project into an article you post online.
Phillip.
