at a WalMart, scuffling over an X-Box. All the Corporate Goodies in one bag here, pepper spray, Capitalism, WalMart, Microsoft, greed, all in one fell swoop. On the main YouTube video of UC Davis Occupy being peppersprayed, 30 thousand comments and most from a tiny minority of the viewers, Right Wing Retards cheering for violence against their Fellow Americans. Now the Corporate Whores are seeing what their system is promoting in a different light, and I bet none of them like what's happening. They'll try, probably, to blame Occupy, Liberals in general, Hippies, pot smoking, everything other than the greed their corporate Masters need to justify the very existence of Capitalism At another Wally World, a shooting. Merry Christmas you stupid stupid bastards.
Tag: Microsoft
Hillary says “Free the internet from political control”
And neglects the NeuenRealpolitik of Corporate control of Politics in America and its vassal states, and the strange silence on her part about Net Neutrality, just, you know, allow Corporate Overlords to control every aspect of the Internet through"free" Market business decisions. As though the Internet wasn't developed at PUBLIC expense. Kind of like the Military are PUBLICLY funded institutions but somehow, all the profits from their Corporate Warfare go to the same very small group of very rich Thieves. AT&T, Microsoft, the "Baby Bells", IBM, Intel... they were very handsomely paid for their "contributions" to developing the Internet. But somehow, I just don't believe that their engineers, the ones who did all the work, got paid a double digit percentage (> = 10%) of the amount paid to the tiny minority of shareholders who own most of the shares. Remember Ross Perot? Made $20bn by having the GOVERNMENT provide the research, the recruitment and training of his Data Management team, the equipment to build "his" corporation, EDS... but it was "his" so-called leadership that was the most valuable asset. Even then, after he immediately sold the company for the aforementioned twenty thousand x a million dollars, fudges on his income tax. Oh, and it was to build the Social Security Medicare database, he being an outspoken critic of Non-Privatized Social Security. More recently, he got a fat cat contract, no bids, to provide the data management through the company he no longer officially owns, and his Country Club/Military Industrial Complex buddy former Gov. Bill Owens, the term "thick as thieves" applies here... to "manage" the Electronic Benefits Transfers... Medicaid and Food Assistance and AFDC and some very sore spots for Republicans, Child Protective Services... (Why do "conservatives" hate American kids?) When the system, no bid, patched together and really shoddy, experienced several hiccups during the first 6 months that cost Human Beings Their Irreplaceable Lives, Bill Owens laughed it off with a militaristic quote that it was like launching a new Aircraft Carrier, "you gotta run it for a wile to get all the bugs out of it." Ignore the fact that a carrier is designed to KILL large numbers of people. Basically, it's the notion that "Why should we let the lives of PEASANTS interfere with our profit margins?" Bill Owens has yet to answer for how much he made in kickbacks from EDS and his old friend Ross Perot. Hillary has yet to answer for how much she's making in kickbacks from AT&T, Comcast, Microsux etc over her effective blocking of Net Neutrality. But these are the flag-carriers for "freedom". And somehow in such a high position of moral authority that they can tell other countries what to do.
Full of it, Steeped in it, Stepped in a big stinky pile of it…
The India Laptop slammed by tech sales reporter, because he can't understand altruism, patriotism or any other motives other than profit. Now, the Capitalist Overlords use Altruistic and Patriotic sentiments as Sales Gimmicks and really, nothing more. Country means exactly the same to them as God, in other words, a way to skin gullible people for a quick buck. Celebrate Christmas, Easter, Seder, Kwanzaa, with a promotional sale. Dutch Boy sticking his finger in a dyke, image is now used to sell paint and (I think) donuts. And haircuts but we won't go there. The whole point of the article is that nobody does anything for any other living creature without expecting some reward. Except when Fox bankrolls the TeaParty with wall-to-wall 18 hours a day coverage at no cost. Yes, they're so good to the American people. But because the IndiaPad is designed, then unveiled, without marketing strategies like building the factories, (already in existence) training the workers (done that too) and having a half million of the devices ready for sale as soon as the hype period gets to such a frenzy that people are camping outside the Radio Shack or Best Buy for a first chance to buy one. Such sad empty lives that their money could never fill. Extolling Patriotism and self-sacrifice when praising a fallen soldier, for instance, so they can lure more unsuspecting fools into enlisting with their eyes all watery and choked up with the emotion. I get the same reaction. It's a natural human reaction to toxic fumes and the stench of bullshit. Bill Gates backs up the One-Laptop-per-Child initiative for a couple of reasons. One is it's tax deductible in every country where he sells his crap. Second is he gets to use the project as a whipping boy, gleefully announcing each setback as positive proof that "Damn the little darkie kids, you need MY piece-of-slop operating system to make it work!" Which would mean the kids would have to spend a C-note apiece for just the software, and $35 an incident to get tech support if WHEN it breaks down. The editors and backers of the Business Tech website could never understand a nation wanting to build its economy by bringing the poorest up FIRST and then having the money trickle up from there. Instead the kiddoes are supposed to have the money trickle down. If, as the Capitalist propaganda chiefs assert, "A rising tide lifts all boats" why wouldn't a rising tide rising from the BOTTOM also lift the Pleasure Yachts of the wealthy? Don't they believe their own story if it means the money doesn't filter through their greedy hands and pockets, if they don't take their cut FIRST? The whole idea of Public Education escapes them, only a favored few should be allowed to even learn to Read and Write. Or have disposable income. Much like the very direct and no-bullshit Slave codes which forbade American slaves from learning to read or handle money. That deal in Huckleberry Finn where
$35 iNDIApad running Linux reveals iPad users pay for intellectual property
While MIT has been racing to design the world's first $100 computer, India has performed an end-run at a third the price, and it's a tablet no less. Running with open-source software, as genuine volks-werks will, the iNDIAPAD will reach third world schoolchildren for $35, developers at the India Institute of Science hope even as low as $10. Absent keypad and hand crank, but with camera, touchscreen and wireless. Which begs the question of course, what indispensable features drive Apple prices? Bill Gates earned his fortune on them. Patents.
Who is making a list, checking it twice
I know, right? Why won't her boyfriend take his new Playstation online, where obviously all the fun is? "What's wrong with him?!" The Sony PS3 spokesman commiserates, but he's an interested party. So what's up? Well, we have a clue this week with the Xbox. By the way, I find Sony's choice of spokesperson discordantly subversive. I'm guessing marketers of the PS3 have found their target audience watches the Mac vs. PC commercials and identifies with PC. In a sudden move that has exasperated Xbox users, Microsoft decided that all its game consoles which have been modified to play software obtained through alternative delivery systems (piracy) will now automatically be blocked from their online system. It make sense, but is it appropriate? If you've modded your car, for example to run on another fuel in addition to gasoline, would gas stations have the grounds to shut you out? And it's not like you put a sticker on it advertising the modification. How would they know? I think Microsoft's violation lies more in a Terms of Use contract which permits them to query your machine for your personalizations. What right have they to tell you what you can or cannot do with your equipment, regardless whether you bought it from them? You didn't rent it. Next are they going to dictate with which peripherals you are allowed to connect it, or atop which pedestal you must behold it? You may not feel the video gamer's pain, but look who's doing the smack-down. What would happen if Microsoft decided to apply the same policy to copies of its operating systems, or office software? Could it be coming? Google is criticized for knowing too much about internet users as they search the web. The companies who make browsers, including Microsoft, of course know where you go online. Imagine what Microsoft knows about what you do offline. And they are now asserting jurisdiction over your hardware. What if you wanted to turn off your computer, instead of putting it to sleep where it might still be answering queries about you? Maybe Microsoft will decide its Terms of Use won't let you. Microsoft hasn't been above integrating spyware into its applications, creating stealth logs whose existence its programmers deny, even as users wonder why the files regenerate themselves after they're deleted. Microsoft Windows' unceasing security vulnerabilities are due entirely to the software exploits it leaves so that its programs are inter-compatible. If that's not enough, Microsoft counterinsurgent teams load malware into community open source projects, to give Windows company looking crummy. Apple too is guilty of overreaching its intellectual rights authority. It recently stopped Psystar from adapting the OS X to work on PCs. And it disabled an element of its Snow Leopard 10.6 release to thwart a Hackintosh adaptation of Mac's OS for netbook users.
Is the Museum of Nature and Science gathering health data for insurers?
DENVER- At the Denver Museum of Nature and Science the most popular exhibit this summer is called "Expedition Health" and features high-tech diagnostic kiosks where visitors can gauge the general state of their health. Judging by the long lines, you'd think these people haven't visited a doctor lately. I suspect that unless the medical insurance underwriters of the exhibit can be trusted, many of the DMNS-goers won't get to see a doctor again. My hypothesis-- that "Expedition Health" is surreptitiously collecting personal medical data on every visitor who comes through their doors, to add actionable factors to insurance customer files. If this is happening or not, it easily could. And the DMNS is not offering any assurance that it is not. Basically, everybody who goes through the Expedition Health exhibit is surrendering personal health data, which in the hands of insurers could be critical in their decision about whether or not to offer them medical coverage. Museum staff insist that the personal information is purged every night, although with a simple internet link this explanation is disproved. Staff explain that attendee magnetic cards are erased, perhaps innocently ignorant of where the information actually accrues as the public circulate from one kiosk to the next. At pharmacies you can measure your blood pressure without a personalized magnetic card. But at the DMNS health exhibit, sponsored by Met Life, Kaiser Permanente, et al, you have to tell the machines who you are before you can learn your heart rate, your vital statistics, results of a stress test, a measure of your "stride," digital imagery of your body at rest and in motion, scans of your fingers and palm, and a 3-D imaging of your face. A telling detail, to my mind, is that the DMNS offers no printed assurance that the health information of its attendees is not being harvested by data merchants. Is it? Do I have any proof? I will offer you the clues, and you can be the judge. I think there are enough signs of subterfuge to suspect that "Expedition Health" is not serving your health. Here's how it looks to the average exhibit visitor: the attendee is given a magnetic card to use at the electronic kiosks, at the culmination of which a "Peak Pass" card will be generated to reflect the user's health results. In the process the attendee learns about positive and negative factors which govern human health. Attendee are free to initiate the card with whatever fictitious ID data they wish, depending on how helpfully relevant they want their results to be. The impression of anonymity is bolstered by several insincerities. I will illuminate a few. A. The ruse of an aliased identity Part one, the ID. Before museum-goers can attend "Expedition Health," they must obtain an admission ticket marked with the time they can be scheduled to enter. This is done ostensibly to ease congestion through the exhibit hall. In purchasing their museum passes, or submitting their DMNS membership cards, the visitors are of course revealing their verifiable identities.
Zombies infest Information Super Highway
Are you part of the growing INTERNET zombie crowd? You know what I mean, are you a cyborg zombie infested with spyware, spam, and HIV (hijacked INTERNET voices)? Are you down with the Microsoft runs? Zombie plague sweeps the internet You are sick because the police target the wrong people to harass and now you are a zombie! The cyberpolice aren't after them that made you sick, but you!
Who is against cheap laptops for kids?
How is Gill Gates supposed to make 125 bucks off of a 100 dollar laptop?