I find it odd and upsetting that the journalists could be fooled so easily by actors and a Twitter storm was the source of uncovering the deception.
When I was reporting technology news it was always obvious who was the paid shill at an announcement or what wasn't being told to the audience. I remember when Lotus showed us a new 123 release in the 1980s (now I've aged myself). It was suspiciously fast and most of us spotted it after an amazingly short recalculation time. When pressed the spokeswoman admitted the CPU was a new experimental core called Pentium that Intel had loaned to Lotus for lab testing and the marketing team had usurped for Dog and Pony shows. It seems that cheating is common when a large amount of money is involved and should always be looked for. Perhaps the real story is the apparent laziness and gullibility and ignorance of the press.
Well, were the taillights modified? If so, they can be deemed illegal. However, I have heard of the same thing happening to others with DOT approved factory assemblies. My brother's 1972 GTO was deemed to have fog lights that were too low and the police officer ticketed him. They were absolutely stock. It would seem that sometimes the police just make stuff up to justify the stop.
The judge would have no idea what is legal or illegal. They usually just go with whatever the officer says in traffic court.
It's hard for me to understand how the old guard press fails to see that "Hot News" protection will soon be used against them. As they lose more and more market share and reduced revenue leads and to lack of resources, newspapers will need to "borrow" headlines from blogs and web news sites that have gathered, investigated, and reported current events and issues.
My experience is that, typically, the MS server to Linux server percentage is about 50-50 in America. Usually the MS server is there to support MS only technologies like Exchange, SQL server, SharePoint or Active Directory. Linux servers act as web, file, LDAP, SMP, Oracle, or DNS servers. So, of course, they can replace or work with any MS based function.
World-wide the numbers are probably even more significantly skewed toward Linux server use. Obviously, the numbers quoted are for preloaded shipped servers from a limited source of vendors. My observation (and practice) is that typically a Linux server is built from parts or ordered blank and Linux is added later.
Microsoft has one truly great advantage over Linux: Visual Studio. Although I am still not completely convinced of the usefulness of the .NET framework and Common Language Runtime (CLR), even after developing applications with it for several years, it is a nice development environment and there is nothing in Linux to truly compete with it - unless developing in Java, then the Linux platform is arguably superior (although I find Java libraries like Java Media Framework often more complete for Windows). The usual argument is that more development is done in Windows because there is a larger market. True, but if development becomes easier in Linux (especially if a cross compiler for Windows/.Net is available) and is cheap/free, there will be a lot more Linux development.
Additionally, when (if) OS runtime environments are all virtual and CLR common intermediate language and JRT bytecode are compatible you'll see an explosion in Linux desktop and server use. Of course, MS came up with CLR as a competitor to JRT after failing to usurp Java from Sun and this is unlikely.
Linux is also getting better on the desktop. I was not using Linux as a personal OS five years ago, but now have it on all of my workstations either as selective boot or running as a virtual machine.
If MS comes up with a Server OS as bad as Vista was on the desktop or misinterprets market demands (like the uncertain need for a cloud based Windows 8) Linux adoption will further increase.
Journalism is in a transition of format rather than waning into print oblivion. A good example is the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It did not fold, it simply went completely online. The elimination of the cost of printing may even result in a better product. What I can see is that with streaming video, room for greater detail, no time constraints, and instant updates people may stop watching televised news programming.
The 'No fangs' rule confused me more - until I read about the vegetarian vampire stuff. I guess the producers are trying to separate vampirism from blood and make it cool and wholesome. It's sort of like LBJ and Vietnam or BP and the Gulf of Mexico.
Come on. Have some respect for Mike. Your being an arm chair editor. Write your own blog and come up with material everyday.
This might happen. I was on a TV show discussing future development of the web. The interview before me was with a guy who was describing something called a "blog". It was Dave Winer (Dotto's Data Cafe Sunday, May 19, 2002). He thought it was the next big thing (it was). I thought it sounded silly (You fool!). Lesson: Dismiss ideas at your own peril.
I do get a 50% discount on my insurance but I admit it would be more effective to have more active and short term incentives for good behavior.
No, I disagree. Twilight is "fantasy". It's a fantasy to think that forever young and beautiful, super-human immortals are obsessed with a bland, whiny, teenage girl with no discernible unique traits, personality, or motivation. However, since this seems to be the target audience it's a money making machine.
I just wanted to add that I realize that not every kid can be sent to a high end camp on tax money and the idea of sending troubled teens to a remote location and giving them responsibility is an effective behavior modification therapy that can be far cheaper than paying for incarceration.
Most trucking companies have been rewarding the good drivers for several years now. On-board GPS and speed monitoring systems constantly record where and what is going on when a truck is on the road. If a driver does not speed she/he will get a bonus. Drivers that speed (even once) do not. Drivers that consistently speed are fired.
The idea works well. I would love a system that monitored my driving and gave me a large refund.
"Of course, rewarding good drivers with cash awards does not help governments rake in quite as much in revenue, but speed cameras are supposed to be about safety and not money, right?"
Well, with over 30,000 killed per year in the USA and crashes costing $230 billion (2000 estimate) not to mention lost wages and taxes from wages and spending the government would probably have more revenues by having good behavior incentives. This could probably go even further. I was always ticked off as a working class kid that really rotten some juvenile delinquents were sent, on tax payers' money, to these fantastic remote Rocky Mountain camps with and given a horse to ride and care for while spending a month on the high trails. I, as a well behaved kid, spent summer riding my bike around the local lumber mill while my dad worked his ass off in a factory earning the tax dollars to send the other kid to camp.
There's a lot of good argument in setting up a reward system for good behavior while providing no reward for bad. It's exactly how I used to handle guard dogs. Never punish or hit a dog, but always reward correct behavior. It works.
Re: Re: Re: Recording Industry Association of America's $1B court filing
I looked up a couple of old Deep Purple tracks on a torrent site. I was only experimenting. It didn't seem worth it to put that much effort into something I can get at used record store or often at a moving sales for a couple of dollars. They have the recordings on iPods and laptops and don't want to lug all the CDs to the new place.
That brings up another question. Do you think the RIAA will try to get second hand recordings banned? When will my possession of a 75 cent thrift store Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' "Whipped Cream" LP (mint condition!) make me a felon?
shows that this is all getting out of hand. In the wired article there was a comment from a reader that stated: "The thing is, why pay for something you KNOW you can get for free. It's like a guys selling bottles of water next to a drinking fountain."
Well, I have seen a vendor in the park that was selling bottled water next to the public drinking fountain and he was making loads of money on that hot day. First, the fountain attracted thirsty people (ever wonder why car dealers always build car lots next to other car dealers?). For the free water you had to stand in line, ignore the inevitable garbage and gum and spit, take a limited time, taste the chemicals used to treat it, bend over uncomfortably due to the low water flow, etcetera.
The bottled water was convenient, refreshingly chilled, you could walk over to the shade to enjoy it at leisure, and a better quality product. That was what people will pay for.
I experimented with a few free music downloads. All were very poor quality and it seemed half had viruses within them. I prefer to pay for the music I want, but I do not want a few people dictating how I shop or what I pay. This is becoming a very communist looking business model (central control with fixed rules and very limited options) and nothing like the free enterprise that politicians always claim to be supporting.
If the patent laws had a few minor changes situations such as these could be avoided. My thoughts:
Medical patents can be used by any doctor to save a life or improve severe disability as long as it is used without any profit to the institution. This may be difficult to control, but possible, and the situation described seems to be what is essentially being done.
Any proven independent development can be used if it was prior to the awarding/filing of the patent. The restriction would be that the non-patent developer could not license the idea or gain any advantage from what the patent provides the holder.
Only patent holders that actively use the patent can hold claim to it. Simply filing a patent that is believed to cover some future development so the developer can be sued would end. Patent trolls would be eliminated.
On the post: Lameflix: Netflix Hires Actors To Give Interviews Pretending To Be Excited About Canadian Netflix Launch
Hurray for Twitter, Shame on the Journalists
When I was reporting technology news it was always obvious who was the paid shill at an announcement or what wasn't being told to the audience. I remember when Lotus showed us a new 123 release in the 1980s (now I've aged myself). It was suspiciously fast and most of us spotted it after an amazingly short recalculation time. When pressed the spokeswoman admitted the CPU was a new experimental core called Pentium that Intel had loaned to Lotus for lab testing and the marketing team had usurped for Dog and Pony shows. It seems that cheating is common when a large amount of money is involved and should always be looked for. Perhaps the real story is the apparent laziness and gullibility and ignorance of the press.
On the post: Weezer Appears In Others' Viral Videos
Talent and Savvy
I feel YouTube is one of the best promotional tools ever.
On the post: Maryland Judge Declares Pontiac G8 GT's Factory Taillights Illegal; Tells Car Owner To Get A Different Car [Updated: Or Maybe Not...]
Re: Modified or Not?
Well, were the taillights modified? If so, they can be deemed illegal. However, I have heard of the same thing happening to others with DOT approved factory assemblies. My brother's 1972 GTO was deemed to have fog lights that were too low and the police officer ticketed him. They were absolutely stock. It would seem that sometimes the police just make stuff up to justify the stop.
The judge would have no idea what is legal or illegal. They usually just go with whatever the officer says in traffic court.
On the post: Woot Asks AP To Pay Up For Quoting Woot Blog Post Without Paying [Updated]
The Irony is Wonderful
On the post: Microsoft's Comparison To Linux In The Server Market Conveniently Leaves Out Free
My Observations as a developer
World-wide the numbers are probably even more significantly skewed toward Linux server use. Obviously, the numbers quoted are for preloaded shipped servers from a limited source of vendors. My observation (and practice) is that typically a Linux server is built from parts or ordered blank and Linux is added later.
Microsoft has one truly great advantage over Linux: Visual Studio. Although I am still not completely convinced of the usefulness of the .NET framework and Common Language Runtime (CLR), even after developing applications with it for several years, it is a nice development environment and there is nothing in Linux to truly compete with it - unless developing in Java, then the Linux platform is arguably superior (although I find Java libraries like Java Media Framework often more complete for Windows). The usual argument is that more development is done in Windows because there is a larger market. True, but if development becomes easier in Linux (especially if a cross compiler for Windows/.Net is available) and is cheap/free, there will be a lot more Linux development.
Additionally, when (if) OS runtime environments are all virtual and CLR common intermediate language and JRT bytecode are compatible you'll see an explosion in Linux desktop and server use. Of course, MS came up with CLR as a competitor to JRT after failing to usurp Java from Sun and this is unlikely.
Linux is also getting better on the desktop. I was not using Linux as a personal OS five years ago, but now have it on all of my workstations either as selective boot or running as a virtual machine.
If MS comes up with a Server OS as bad as Vista was on the desktop or misinterprets market demands (like the uncertain need for a cloud based Windows 8) Linux adoption will further increase.
On the post: Folk Singer Just Notices That Led Zeppelin May Have Copied His Song Forty Years Ago
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Trademark Cluelessness: The Other White Meat
Lawyers
On the post: No, We Didn't Save* Journalism, But We Did Generate A Lot Of Ideas
What's to Save?
On the post: Official Twilight T-Shirt Contest Won't Let You Use Anything From Twilight
Re: Re: Re: Apples
On the post: Instead Of Bad Drivers, What If Speed Cameras 'Caught' Good Drivers Instead?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Filler piece
On the post: Instead Of Bad Drivers, What If Speed Cameras 'Caught' Good Drivers Instead?
Re: Re: Re: Filler piece
This might happen. I was on a TV show discussing future development of the web. The interview before me was with a guy who was describing something called a "blog". It was Dave Winer (Dotto's Data Cafe Sunday, May 19, 2002). He thought it was the next big thing (it was). I thought it sounded silly (You fool!). Lesson: Dismiss ideas at your own peril.
I do get a 50% discount on my insurance but I admit it would be more effective to have more active and short term incentives for good behavior.
Mine's zero in 25 years and three in my life.
On the post: Official Twilight T-Shirt Contest Won't Let You Use Anything From Twilight
Re:
On the post: Official Twilight T-Shirt Contest Won't Let You Use Anything From Twilight
Re: Fantasy
On the post: Official Twilight T-Shirt Contest Won't Let You Use Anything From Twilight
Re: Apples
On the post: Instead Of Bad Drivers, What If Speed Cameras 'Caught' Good Drivers Instead?
Re: This is already being done
Also, sorry about the grammatical errors.
On the post: Instead Of Bad Drivers, What If Speed Cameras 'Caught' Good Drivers Instead?
Re: Filler piece
Do you have a bumper sticker reading: "PWNED by Traffic Cops"?
On the post: Instead Of Bad Drivers, What If Speed Cameras 'Caught' Good Drivers Instead?
This is already being done
The idea works well. I would love a system that monitored my driving and gave me a large refund.
"Of course, rewarding good drivers with cash awards does not help governments rake in quite as much in revenue, but speed cameras are supposed to be about safety and not money, right?"
Well, with over 30,000 killed per year in the USA and crashes costing $230 billion (2000 estimate) not to mention lost wages and taxes from wages and spending the government would probably have more revenues by having good behavior incentives. This could probably go even further. I was always ticked off as a working class kid that really rotten some juvenile delinquents were sent, on tax payers' money, to these fantastic remote Rocky Mountain camps with and given a horse to ride and care for while spending a month on the high trails. I, as a well behaved kid, spent summer riding my bike around the local lumber mill while my dad worked his ass off in a factory earning the tax dollars to send the other kid to camp.
There's a lot of good argument in setting up a reward system for good behavior while providing no reward for bad. It's exactly how I used to handle guard dogs. Never punish or hit a dog, but always reward correct behavior. It works.
On the post: Senate Oversight Of IP Czar... Only Involves Entertainment Industry Execs
Re: Re: Re: Recording Industry Association of America's $1B court filing
That brings up another question. Do you think the RIAA will try to get second hand recordings banned? When will my possession of a 75 cent thrift store Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' "Whipped Cream" LP (mint condition!) make me a felon?
On the post: Senate Oversight Of IP Czar... Only Involves Entertainment Industry Execs
Re: Recording Industry Association of America's $1B court filing
shows that this is all getting out of hand. In the wired article there was a comment from a reader that stated: "The thing is, why pay for something you KNOW you can get for free. It's like a guys selling bottles of water next to a drinking fountain."
Well, I have seen a vendor in the park that was selling bottled water next to the public drinking fountain and he was making loads of money on that hot day. First, the fountain attracted thirsty people (ever wonder why car dealers always build car lots next to other car dealers?). For the free water you had to stand in line, ignore the inevitable garbage and gum and spit, take a limited time, taste the chemicals used to treat it, bend over uncomfortably due to the low water flow, etcetera.
The bottled water was convenient, refreshingly chilled, you could walk over to the shade to enjoy it at leisure, and a better quality product. That was what people will pay for.
I experimented with a few free music downloads. All were very poor quality and it seemed half had viruses within them. I prefer to pay for the music I want, but I do not want a few people dictating how I shop or what I pay. This is becoming a very communist looking business model (central control with fixed rules and very limited options) and nothing like the free enterprise that politicians always claim to be supporting.
On the post: Children's Hospital 'Allowed' To Continue Research Using System It Developed After Patent Fight
A Solution
Medical patents can be used by any doctor to save a life or improve severe disability as long as it is used without any profit to the institution. This may be difficult to control, but possible, and the situation described seems to be what is essentially being done.
Any proven independent development can be used if it was prior to the awarding/filing of the patent. The restriction would be that the non-patent developer could not license the idea or gain any advantage from what the patent provides the holder.
Only patent holders that actively use the patent can hold claim to it. Simply filing a patent that is believed to cover some future development so the developer can be sued would end. Patent trolls would be eliminated.
Any other reader's thoughts?
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