Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:NO, they aren't (Score 2) 90

Small data point:

I have been selling used records and CDs at record shows and via the mail since the mid 90's. When first I started, LPs were about 20% of the game and CDs 80%. That changed with the advent of Napster (I still remember the Boston record show in September 1999 when the CD dealers all looked at each other and gasped at the crash in demand for CDs from college kids) and from then on LPs became more and more or our business.

Three years ago the percentage was probably 90% vinyl and 10% CDs. Last year CDs were showing increasing signs of strength throughout the year. Yes, this may be in part to hipster perversion, but it's also because the value for money equation has increasingly tipped towards CDs. I will happily sell you a CD for $5 when the equivalent LP would cost you $40 or more. This is particularly true of music recorded in the 90s

Many customers are also coming to understand that they do not "own" a digital file or stream.

Comment Re:Consumer to the TV: No internet for you (Score 1) 53

This!

"Use the best panel you can afford, never connect it to the net, and connect only items over which you have control"

But, for the sake of intellectual rigor, can you point us to any examples of TVs with built in cellular connectivity? (Beyond commercial panels intended for advertising)

Or are you perhaps anticipating the next wave of horror ;-)

Comment Re:Likely unconstitutional (Score 1) 92

Agreed about the Bill entrenching incumbent giants, but "Fire in a crowded theatre" is a trope that needs to go away. It is not apt for the discussion of free speech.

It’s Time to Stop Using the ‘Fire in a Crowded Theater’ Quote (The Atlantic):
https://www.theatlantic.com/na...

Hell, you can even get a hoody about it:
Free Speech Pro-Tip: You Can Yell Fire In A Crowded Theatre (Techdirt)
https://www.techdirt.com/2018/...

Comment Masnick has the customary detailed breakdown... (Score 1) 252

Now It's The Democrats Turn To Destroy The Open Internet: Mark Warner's 230 Reform Bill Is A Dumpster Fire Of Cluelessness
https://www.techdirt.com/artic...

And, according to Gizmodo:
“This legislation has some admirable goals,” Wyden said. “Unfortunately, as written, it would devastate every part of the open internet, and cause massive collateral damage to online speech.”
https://gizmodo.com/democrats-...

Comment Content moderation at scale is impossible (Score 1) 122


Mike Masnick over at Techdirt had a good take on this yesterday:
"No, Google Isn't Hiding Elizabeth Warren's Emails To Promote Mayor Pete"
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200226/22551943992/no-google-isnt-hiding-elizabeth-warrens-emails-to-promote-mayor-pete.shtml (Techdirt)
(from the not-how-it-works dept)
And, logically, it comes down to who writes the copy the least like spam

Comment Re:Its Scripting time! (Score 2) 95

+1
I cannot help code, but I'll happily evangelize to my family and friends.

Summer of 2014 I was at a party in the UK, seated next to an interesting woman who had been a reporter at Reuters and was currently working for a different outfit, "reporting on tech" for a very large organization based in Brussels. We spent an hour or more discussing the right to be forgotten. I simply could not make her understand the perils. My main argument about the dangers of the erasure of history were just not persuasive.

Comment UPDATED: Not an attack on infrastructure after all (Score 2) 37

From TFA SANS ICS cited at the end of the Slashdot summary:

*Update* A cyber analyst in Israel (Eyal Sela) messaged me to add that the media reporting so far is misleading with regards to the context around the incident. The "Israel Electric Authority" the Minister mentioned is in no way related to the networks of the Israeli electric companies, transmission, or distribution sites. The Israeli Electric Authority is a regulatory body of roughly 30 individuals and this "cyber attack" is only referencing their networks. The original purpose of this blog was to stress caution to the reports but did not try to dispel what the Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water resources had stated as reporting was too early with no evidence presented. However, new reporting shows that the "cyber attack" was simply ransomware delivered via phishing emails to the regulatory body's office network and it appears in no way endangered any infrastructure.This once again stresses the importance around individuals and media carefully evaluating statements regarding cyber attacks and infrastructure as they can carry significant weight.

Comment My sister's books are part of this part of this! (Score 1) 131

But only the UK versions:

Indonesia Etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation and The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS

Her publisher in the UK, Granta, signed up to the programme, but only for those two books and for (AFAIK) no others so far. She pretty much had to bully them into doing it. Once you've signed the book, the e-book is free (bar a small processing fee). the process has worked nicely and though the publisher hasn't pushed it hard, and we haven't yet seen huge uptake, the future looks bright.

We tried to get the US publisher (Norton) interested and they could not be persuaded. Perhaps now with all this publicity they might be.

When it comes to new tech and business methods, the publishing industry might be even more of a sclerotic dinosaur than the movie industry. Don't get me started on the horror that was getting an enhanced e-book (with slides, audio, video etc etc) done.

Comment Realistic / HP / Marantz / Thorens / Model M (Score 2) 702

  • Realistic Radio Alarm Clock - Radio Shack's house brand, bought in 1981. Pounded every day since then.
  • HP Laserjet 6P - Prints and prints. When I ordered my new box I surprised the tech who was building it by insisting sure that he include a parallel port card.
  • IBM Model M - Makes me feel like I am doing "real" work when I type. I think mine is from 1989.
  • Thorens TT - Set it up properly, replace the belt and stylus every now and then, good to go. This has been my daily driver for 20 years. But it had a long life before that.
  • Marantz amp - from the mid-70s, just sits there and sound warm and generous all day, every day. Again, relatively recent to me (15 years), and had a long life before that.
  • The point is, buy the most that you can buy at the time you need it and don't cheap out on things you use every day. (Although the durability of the Realistic brand is a bit of a surprise)

Comment Not network neutrality problem, a business problem (Score 3, Insightful) 182

(Sorry, a properly grammatical title would not fit in the space allotted)

Netflix & Level 3 Only Telling Half The Story, Won’t Detail What Changes They Want To Net Neutrality

In a fairly deep and interesting article over at StreamingMedia.com, Dan Rayburn argues that there is more to the story here and that neither Netflix nor Level 3 are giving us their proposed solutions. He goes through both the Netflix and the Level3 blog posts, taking them apart very carefully.

It is not a network neutrality problem, but rather a business problem. Worthwhile read.

Comment Re:Google wallet (Score 1) 358

Hmm, My Samsung GS IV Google Edition did not have any trouble with Google Wallet. I used it unlocked on T-Mo in the US.

Could it be that the metal back on the HTC One interfered with the NFC? That would be strange, given that the spec sheet over at gdgt.com says that it does do NFC payments.

Slashdot Top Deals

Don't tell me how hard you work. Tell me how much you get done. -- James J. Ling

Working...