People said the exact same thing about cable TV in the 1970's. "Why would I pay for something I can get for fee with an antenna?"

Amazon has to make it worth it. Time will tell. There are a ton of crappy podcasts out there. Maybe some pre-filtering would be worth it.

Not for me, mind you...I'm too cheap to pay for anything like that, but Amazon seems to think that they have something worth paying for.

Just my $0.02.

-JJS

Security companies of all types release information about vulnerabilities...that's nothing new.

Sophos has been around for years and are widely acknowledged as a leader in security software...they simply aren't that well know in the US. Same goes for Kaspersky...been around for years, but the marketing giants of McAfee and Symantec are simply more well known in the states.

I'd rather someone out there let folks know about these issues when they find out and it never hurts if they also provide a solution.

If they had known and *not* told anyone, they'd take a beating for that.

Just my $0.02.

-JJS

I know a perfect way to bypass Amazon's API to loan and borrow books.

Let's consider having a building where we can store them paid for by our taxes. Then we can go and get free memberships and atually have a real book.

Let's call it a "library".

Then we can borrow and lend and no one can stop us.

In all seriousness...this very thing (and similar cases of "big brother-ishness" from Amazon and others) is why I have been anti e-reader. You're granting power to a company to control what you read and how you read it...and you are paying them to do it to you.

Don't give up freedom for convenience. Amazon has gotten too large in this market and wields too much influence.

While I hate to see it happen, I foresee some sort of federal regulation of "e-reader's rights".

Just my $0.02.

-JJS

Whoosh. (...or "double-whoosh" on my part).

Agreed. I haven't liked any of online content e-reader devices for reasons just like this.

I resent paying someone for something just to let them decide what I can and can't have on the device (and numerous electronic devices fall under this issue).

I don't know laws in other parts of the world, but I live in the USA and people here simply wouldn't stand for it if someone attempted to remove books from a bookshelf in their house. I have no idea why people will stand by and quietly allow this type of crap to go on. They just can't realize they are giving up freedoms a tiny bit at a time.

-JJS

Point of context:

You're correct, except that Lot's daughters thought they were the last living humans on the earth. So they got him drunk and seduced him and justified by by wanting to continue humanity. Lot wasn't to blame except that he got drunk enough to let his daughters seduce him. "I was drunk" has never been a valid legal defense.

The point of the story was that even his daughters had fallen victim to the environment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot was pretty much a "tragic protagonist" in the story.

Don't flame me...I'm just adding a bit of context to the original comment.

-JJS

Amazing how corporations will justify whatever they want.

Because people are not given a choice but to work in less space, they therefore say that they don't need it or want it.

Question: did they ask the workers (really ask them...anonymously)? .02

-JJS

Not arguing here (don't flame me if you disagree)...just providing a little clarification:

Quote: "Mary had Jesus by God which was a 1 Mother, 0 Father scenario (God is generally regarded as the spiritual father. I don't think many Christians envisage actual physical sex with God as evidenced by the virginity of Mary remaining intact)"

Some Christians would interpret this is 1 Father, 0 [genetic] Mother. Some interpretations have it that Mary was mainly the surrogate mother and Jesus was God incarnate. He used Mary's womb as His starting point...thereby completely experiencing what it was to be human from the start. Again...that kept Mary's viginity intact, however she was considered holy enough for this honor...which is why some tenets of Christianity (Catholicism) honor Mary greatly.

-JJS

If only there were some internet website that the true details could be posted to.

Oh, wait...never mind.

Dang...that brings back memories. I remember the code that worked every time for Win95. It had a lot of sevens and a few zeros (No, I'm not posting here). I never installed a pirated copy, but just used that number to save time when installing.

Wow...I feel like a grizzled old soldier reminiscing about the "good old days".

I won't bother to tell you to get off my lawn. You'll figure it out when you see my field of land mines.

-JJS

True...it is still there, but they still try to make it hard to spot the free link.

They prey on folks that they are hoping either 1) aren't very tech savvy, or 2) are in "panic" mode to install something and will click on the first thing they find.

Back when I stopped recommending AVG was when I had several folks I had sent there and they all got the "trial" version by mistake and not the free version.

You've got to remember, Slashdot folks, not everyone using computers is as savvy as most folks here are. AVG started preying on that by moving the "free dowload" link to the bottom of the page where it was a very nondescript link.

That's also why I'm careful about directing folks to CNET since CNET allows ads on their site that have huge green "click here to dowload now" as part of the ad...and the ad will be something similar (but not free) to the software folks might be looking for.

It's the same trick AVG started using...still offering the free stuff, but making it hard to find how to actually download it without knowing the tricks to watch out for.

-JJS

I've been discouraging my friends/customers from using it for about 18 months now.

Agreed that it was once awesome, but they took a dive when they starting including that crappy IE plugin tool that pre-verifies all the results of your searches.

They also make it nigh on impossible to find the free version on their site (or it was hard last time I looked, which has been a while).

While all AV programs are prone to screwing something up, this one won't help their already soured reputation.

I've been using Avast and Sophos for a while now and had little issues with either of them.

-JJS

Not only isn't the example right, they've not taken into account the "rolling upgrades" that the new consoles have gone though and the firmware upgrades.

Time was, when you bought a console, it was the same no matter when you bought it. Now, the PS3 you buy isn't even close to the original PS3. The two are differnt hardware, software, etc... The only commonality is they look similar and run (most of) the same games. The Wii is about the only current console that is almost identical to it's original offering.

-JJS

Indeed. While they are all very cool, SW:TESB was, by far, the best of the lot. Lucas is good (well...okay at it, anyway) and they are all enjoyable to a certain degree, Episode 5 is the one I revisit most often.

-JJS

I didn't say it was right, but that's the way it is.

If you trash your boss or your workplace in a public forum, then they can find lots of "legal" reasons to let you go. Think about it...if your boss was looking for a reason to get rid of you, how many of you out there come in two or three minutes late, take a personal call at work, browse the web, etc... If you're on the boss' good side, he/she turns a blind eye...if they don't like you, then you get written up.

There's laws to protect workers, sure...but there's lots of ways for companies to still fire you, but stay within the confines of those laws.

Someone shouldn't realistically be surprised that the company will start watching them looking for a legit reason to get rid of them if they trash their boss or workplace publicly.

Again...doesn't make it right, but that's just the way it is.

Later,
-JJS