"as they're being shown"

So does the license cover watching programmes you've recorded, at times they're no longer being shown on TV? And if so, does it matter wether you've actually recorded it yourself or wether you've simply downloaded the recording?

If you are simply entitled to watch everything that is being shown on TV, that could (and maybe should) be construed as a license to download everything that has already been shown - but not before ti's been shown.

Wouldn't that be an upload?

Just like "on the internet", "with a touchscreen" seems to be a magic phrase that makes everything all new and improved.

I can't seem to find any reference to it, but I read about a similar system several years ago, where communications for a submarine would be split up into several waves, which only combine into a useful signal at the point the submarine is supposed to be.

Don't know wether it was an idea or something that was actually implemented, though.

RPM may or may not be more robust, but how is the documentation? All I can ever find is a decade-old book about RPM v2 or so, while Redhat's packages are at least on v5 by now. Debian's packaging manifest may be complex and unwieldy, but it's at least reasonably up to date, and you can already get quite far with the packaging guide for beginners. The .spec format I dug up didn't even want to compile on a recent RPM system - some keywords had apparently changed.

You first state 1D-2D; then 1D-3D, and then extrapolate to 3D-nD, having not modified the primary factor before.

Two arbitrary 2D objects in 3D space will also meet with a probability vanishingly close to 1.0. The same goes, then - if you *can* extrapolate that without knowing all the rules in place in higher dimensions - that two 3D objects will meet in 4D, and two 4D objects will meet in 5D; et cetera.

Thus, if our nD universe is encapsulated in an n+1D multiverse, they will certainly meet, according to your logic.

All of that, however, still assumes that said objects do not move around in the higher-D space. Two arbitrary lines moving around in a 3D plane may eventually meet, depending on their movements; and the more lines there are the more likely collisions become. Now, given that the multiverse is supposedly composed of an infinite number of universes, the probability of collisions is absolute 1.

Looking at how my boyfriend reacts to it, it is.

Microsoft, Mac, Linux clients: check.
Android, iOS, Maemo clients: check.

Mostly a backup solution so probably cronned; but apparently somethign called "sync", too, which may be as-you-save. No Symbian client, which is a shame, but might indeed be worth looking at. What I'm really looking for, per the article, is a diy setup, though. Hell, I might even pay a modest license to have their repository running on my own server. Yes, I also run my own weave for firefox synching and stuff like that :-)

The "Easy, eh" was sarcasm :-)

I'm well aware of the complexity. Csync2 works very well for bidirectional sync, but is cron-based and only exists for Linux afaik. Tying it in to inotify shouldn't be exceedingly hard; but then there's the cross-platform bit. And it should work using a simple installer, so random Joe Luser doesn't have to fuck about with rules files and key exchanges.

Not obvious indeed.

I'm not even thinking about versioning, yet. You might be able to simply handle versioning using a versioning filesystem on the server, though - the old VMS filesystem did that, and I seem to recall that BTR either does it or was planning to do it.

The oceans, yes. The life in them, however, has turned out to be either too sensitive to our pollution or simply too tasty to stand much of a chance.

What I want from a dropbox alternative, is it's most basic of functionalities: transparent multi-client sync.

I want it to both up- AND downsync the files, from multiple clients at once, without anyone having to click things; and based on filesystem triggers, not some lousy cronjob.

Could be done with iNotify + csync2, I guess; although you also need a mechanism for the server to notify the clients that a file has changed. And then you need to build a client for Macs (they have iNotify or something similar too, being BSD), then Windows (no clue what they have) and then various iThings, Android, Symbian and random stuff.

Easy, eh ?

> the avatar DOESN'T have to look exactly like you

For now. Remember how Suckerberg wants you to use your real name? Google's Schmidt commented along the same lines, at some point. Iirc, Blizzard has a similar policy on the forums. Google+ would like you to use your "common" name - not exactly the same, but close enough.

We're still safe, for now; but once it turns into an actual metaverse, how long will it be before the authorities think of the children, say well, if you've nothing to hide... and demand real-you avatars ?

Yes, far-off; out there; extreme and improbably. What if someone told you twenty years ago you'd have a choice between porn scanners and sexual harassment if you want to fly? Slippery slope, and all that.

And, honestly, for most people it still is. It's only been the "social revolution" - facebook and twitter - that has really integrated the internet, and by extension computers, in people's daily lives.

The web is fun, but most people wouldn't have missed it much before facebook. Gaming was nice, but not really a mainstay outside of the hardcores. Spreadsheets and wordprocessors are, for the most, something that smells too much of the office to be much used at home.

The computer has never had a true, neccesary function in people's lives before the social aspect popped up - email being the closest thing. Now that facebook has integrated itself in people's social habits, a computer has become a more convenient way of checking up on your friends than the telephone.

It was probably inevitable; but before that a computer was an expensive piece of metal for light diversions to most people.