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"There is literally no where on the planet that Netflix is offered where they have relay servers that far away."

Central Northern Russia, northern China, etc..

Yes, I looked.

Apparently they did this before (over half a decade ago) and flip-flopped on it:
https://productforums.google.c...
https://www.lifehacker.com.au/...

No need to take free speech... They don't have that now.. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/...

Holy shit, they must have it really bad then... oh wait http://www.nationmaster.com/co...
If the US put as much effort into improving quality of life as pursuing this misconstrued perception of freedom, then maybe you'd actually have a higher quality of life.

What next? Free speech?

No need to take free speech... They don't have that now.. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/...

• Steve(GRC) Gibson's Blog ("http://feeds.feedburner.com/SteveGibsonsBlog")
• ASCII by Jason Scott ("http://ascii.textfiles.com/feed")
• RobOHara.com ("http://feeds.feedburner.com/robohara")
• The Baffler ("https://thebaffler.com/feed")
• Ars Technica ("http://feeds.arstechnica.com/arstechnica/index/")
• Slashdot ("http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot")
• Technology - The Huffington Post ("http://www.huffingtonpost.com/feeds/verticals/technology/index.xml")
• TechSpot ("http://feeds.feedburner.com/techspot/news")
• Wired Top Stories ("http://feeds.wired.com/wired/index")
• The Australian | Politics ("http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheAustralianPolitics")
• Al Jazeera English ("http://english.aljazeera.net/Services/Rss/?PostingId=2007731105943979989")
• Australia news | The Guardian ("http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/australia/rss")
• ABC News ("http://www.abc.net.au/news/feed/46182/rss.xml")
• Arduino Blog ("http://www.arduino.cc/blog/?feed=rss2")
• Lifehacker Australia ("http://feeds.lifehacker.com.au/LifehackerAustralia")
• MakerBot ("http://www.makerbot.com/feed/")
• Open Electronics ("http://feeds.feedburner.com/OpenElectronics")
• PlanetArduino ("http://feeds.feedburner.com/planetarduino")
• Raspberry Pi ("http://www.raspberrypi.org/feed")
• SnapFiles - 20 latest freeware programs ("http://www.snapfiles.com/feeds/sf20fw.xml")
• SparkFun: Commerce Blog ("http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/rss.php")
• TechCrunch Gadgets ("http://feeds.feedburner.com/crunchgear")
• The MagPi Magazine ("https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/feed/")
• Thingiverse - Featured Things ("http://www.thingiverse.com/rss/featured")
• GitHub Engineering ("http://githubengineering.com/atom.xml")
• BBC News - Science & Environment ("http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_edition/science/nature/rss.xml")
• English Wikinews Atom feed. ("http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NewsFeed&feed=atom&categories=Published&notcategories=No%20publish%7CArchived%7CAutoArchived%7Cdisputed&namespace=0&count=30&hourcount=124&ordermethod=categoryadd&stablepages=only")
• F-Secure Antivirus Research Weblog ("https://www.f-secure.com/weblog/weblog.rdf")

You'd pay the same price for a Jack burger in Australia as you would in the U.S., even though their minimum wage is more than twice what is here.

This tired meme has been debunked for a long time. Teenagers in Australia need not be paid the full minimum wage. Ergo, Australian fast food restaurants largely employ teenagers.

There's no such thing as the magic money tree, and there is no free lunch.

This is a good place to start.

https://www.lifehacker.com.au/...

and

https://novicearshad.wordpress...

Don't worry, the ATO can't keep track of anything:

http://www.afr.com/technology/enterprise-it/mass-data-loss-fears-as-ato-suffers-hewlett-packard-enterprise-equipment-crash-20161213-gtac9r

https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/12/ato-website-restored-after-two-days-one-petabyte-of-data-lost/

https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and-culture/an-ato-server-crash-just-erased-1000tb-of-data-so-/c9b261ce-2250-4f4f-b20f-c00c12f9d5cb.htm

BTW, I remember when this story broke and it was widely reported. Now, I can barely find mention of it online....

I assume someone last time pointed out that itunes music managed to make something of a profit despite music piracy being really really really easy.

Most consumers don't pirate. A lot of those of us who do tend to do it less when paying is an option. When I pirate, it's entirely because of extra hoops I have to jump through like having to sign up for cable to watch HBO to watch game of thrones, or "no you have to go to the movie theater to watch that movie you want to watch or wait a few months."

Some people will pirate even given other options. But paranoia about that tiny segment of the consumer population isn't justified and is a stupid reason not to do this.

Fortunately, this clause may not apply in all areas.

The cycle is repeating

Cloud stuff? Perhaps

YESTERDAY 7:30 AM:
Microsoft’s Azure cloud service suffered a lengthy outage this morning in many locations — one which might trigger the right to claim credits under its service level agreements (SLAs) which guarantee uptime of 99.9% or more.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2...

Ya think?

Companies need a system to decide who gets retrenched first due to automation improvements: Those who use self-scanners at supermarkets get laid off first. It's only fair! :-)

But how will these newly unemployed cope? :-(

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135284/How-cheating-checkouts-turning-nation-self-service-shoplifters.html
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/coles-to-combat-selfserve-thieves/story-fni0dcne-1226746394342

Problem solved! :-)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/big-y-self-checkout-machines_n_980886.html
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/06/are-self-service-checkouts-on-the-way-out/

I lack the time to search through current city codes worldwide, but this answer to a question on Server Fault and this forum post and these comments to a Lifehacker article claim that at least one Australian state requires that even licensed electricians need or needed a separate data cabling licence.

Wait 'till you see the indoor mapping...

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/03/google-launches-indoor-maps-in-australia/

Just found this article...

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/09/why-you-need-a-vpn-and-how-to-choose-one/

Apple still tries these tactics in Australia, even two years after being brought to public attention. In Australia, if a product isn't fit for purpose, you can return it to the store it was bought from, regardless of what Apple try to tell you. This is one small part of the reason for the 'Australia Tax', the other parts being inexplicable.

See
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/01/apple-stores-warranty-approach-contradicts-australian-consumer-law/
for more detail.

Phones are even more of a special case in Australia. For other products the wording of the law is that if you paid a substantial amount of money for something and it breaks before the expected lifespan you can expect replacement from the supplier or manufacturer (can't remember which, the supplier I think). For phones, if you are under contract then the phone is considered under warranty and the phone company is responsible for it.

I'd hoped this would reduce the amount of crap on the market - a store might not stock a crappy brand of TV if they knew they would be stuck with the warranty. It doesn't seem to have turned out that way though.

See http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/01/apple-stores-warranty-approach-contradicts-australian-consumer-law/ for more detail.

I got it, I was just adding to the absurdity by pointing out that it is really only the US that doesn't like public transport.

No, it isn't really only the US that doesn't like public transport. There's another country/area with geographic characteristics like the US and unlike Europe or Japan of being geographically large and with a geographically dispersed population: Australia. Turns out their public transport is also sucky much like the US http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/10/how-to-use-public-transport-effectively/ and, also like the US, they've been talking about high speed rail for decades and haven't gotten anything done.

The US dislike of public transportation is not an absurdity, it is fiscally responsible when faced with these geographic layouts. If Japan had enough land for regular people to own 2 acre plots of land they would be in the same situation.

You didn't cite a single source.

I thought I was pretty up-front about where those came from, and I don't think I presented it as my own, comprehensive research into the market intricacies of mobile platforms.

But if you wanted my search terms, I think it was something like, "piracy ios vs android" or "developer ios vs android". Going a little further for those who don't want to look...

First one was probably: http://www.diasks2.com/post/20172033158/ios-vs-android-a-comparison-for-first-time
or maybe
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2012/jun/10/apple-developer-wwdc-schmidt-android
or maybe
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/05/android-app-sales-piracy-matters-seasons-dont/

There are about a billion more if you care to read them.

Second was probably: http://www.develop-online.net/news/38848/Android-app-pirated-2300-more-than-iOS-edition
Though here's one that says 90% - http://keyeslabs.com/joomla/blogs/i-think-im-becoming-an-android/136-android-the-perfect-piracy-storm
and one that says they had 83%, if you prefer - http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/05/wired-uk-android-game-piracy/

Third was something like: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-ios-vs-android-fragmentation-2012-6
or
http://opensignalmaps.com/reports/fragmentation.php

Of course there are another 8 gazillion results for each of these. I said only what I saw.

That aside, many of these are topics we've covered extensively here on Slashdot. If you think it's all FUD, you're obviously welcome to discuss and I'll be interested to see it. I have no real vested interest in the results besides being a user.

But, isn't Windows piracy a big part of it's ubiquity? If cheap PC assemblers in the third world can't install a pirated Windows, they might install Zorin or some other windows-like Linux distro...

Hmm, where've you been?

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/12/productivity-commission-to-examine-1000-gst-free-threshold/ (just the top URL of many)

"Goods ordered online from overseas aren’t subject to GST if the total order value is less than $1,000. That rule could change depending on the outcome of a newly-announced Productivity Commission investigation into retailing in Australia."



But it seems unlikely, given it will cost more to collect than it will make.

Samsung sent them a C&D to stop advertising tat their TVs used Samsung panels............which they bought from Samsung and still have Samsung logos on them.

You can see the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8zafrNUsUs

The ad seems honest enough.

Apple also successfully stopped them from selling grey import iPads at international prices.

I couldn't find a source for this. See, for example, this article from last month. I did find that Apple got them to "voluntarily" stop selling Samsung Galaxy Tabs:

"Online retailer Ruslan Kogan has agreed to pull the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 from its store after Apple threatened to sue. Apple is currently in a legal battle with Samsung to ban the device from Australia due to patent infringements. Samsung had agreed not to sell in Australia until the hearing in Sydney is concluded."

If you're looking for a turnkey little utility to do the job, check out GoodSync. http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/07/how-to-set-up-a-file-syncing-dropbox-clone-you-control/ It is configurable with any server that has SFTP or FTPS accesss. It also works with a bunch of other cloud services, but I think this tutorial is more in line with what you want to do. The key is that it detects when new files appear in the source directory and triggers a new upload. I've since chucked Dropbox in favor of this.

Seriously, just stop. The FLOSS community hates to pay money and thinks no one should make any money from software. All one has to do is look at comments on Slashdot to see that.

Well, I'm going to lose the moderation point that I just used, but I have to reply to this.

Dude, you can't judge the way the FLOSS community thinks because of the comments on Slashdot. First, because you will have to prove first that Slashdot is a non-biased sample of the community. Second, because normally the comments on one news entry are the reaction to that event, not a proper statement from such community.

And if you want more, here is one small piece of evidence: 9000€ collected in 3 months to fund Nepomuk. Nepomuk is one of the most hated and/or more controversial pieces of KDE 4.x. From what I read on the KDE related sites, lists, etc., many people are quite vocal in stating that they don't want Nepomuk and want to disable it, or get rid of it as a forced dependency. And still got some love in the form of money.

Oh, and remember the figures from the Humble Indie Bundle: Linux users of the bundle paid (a lot) more on average that Mac or Windows users.

Links:
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/03/stop-windows-7-from-deleting-your-desktop-shortcuts/
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/9570-some-desktop-shortcuts-disappeared.html
http://www.ghacks.net/2010/03/30/fix-windows-7-desktop-shortcuts-disappearing/

BTW noticed someone modded my post as a 'Troll'. Come on Slashdot. You really need to crack down on people who mod down anyone they don't agree with. In this case the mod didn't even do rudimentary research.

This should help.

Lifehacker did a post on just this: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/2009/01/16/where_to_go_when_google_notebook_goes_down-2.html

"but also performance drops (mostly network related) and no, I'm not alone in seeing these things either."

If its the same issue I've had (which nailed every vista instance I know of) its the network AutoTuning. Made a massive difference to everything - outlook, office, browsing.

Try:
netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled

Full posting at:
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/2008/04/18/turn_off_vistas_autotuning_to_prevent_browser_slowdown-2.html

Check it out on lifehacker: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/2008/10/18/igoogle_sidebar_collapse_removes_the_new_igoogle_sidebar-2.html

your attempt to ridicule my choice is ridiculous in and of itself because a large number of people, not much less than those that prefer BoW like it.

The following of an idea has no correlation with its degree of ridiculousness.

we're preferring BoW because we're use to it from centuries of experience with paper. ... What I'm talking about is preference being affected by familiarity.

There's nothing wrong with that though. It's perfectly reasonable to prefer black on white because everything else uses it. Consistency is very important.

How many documents do you actually print out anyway? How many of them become unreadable if you print inverse? Then there's the ability to hit a print preview or even set preferences if that's what you prefer. Trouble is unless you're an advanced user you're not choosing the colour of your web pages or the background colour of most apps.

This does not address the point you were replying to. What I said was people who must context switch constantly from a black on white paper medium to a white on black computer screen would suffer from eye strain. This is a very common use case and explains easily why black on white is more often preferred.

major packages like Corel Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom - are shipping with a black theme by default.

Yet it's still not the majority preference. Even in the art field. Adobe Photoshop doesn't ship with such a theme, which is easily the most widely used art application. Even if it did, the art field doesn't even come close to representing a majority in computer usage. Or even a majority in professional computer usage.

black firefox themes are so widely varied

Again, this proves nothing. The number of black on white themed Firefox users are still the vast majority.

If you dim your screen enough the surface of the screen's starts to reflect roughly the same amount of light as it is emitting and suddenly the reflections are so bright in comaparison that that causes eye strain.

This is true. A good example of this would be using a laptop with a glossy screen outside in the bright sun. But the issue here is that the contrast is reduced. That's what causes the eye strain. In this case, whether or not the user is looking at a white on black color scheme or a black on white color scheme is far less relevant than the lack of contrast. The solution is to get into the shade, or go inside.

A piece of office paper in a properly lit room isn't going to be the same

Again true. However, a piece of paper in a properly lit room next to a black on white color scheme on a computer monitor will be far more similar to each other than the same piece of paper next to a white on black color scheme on a computer monitor.

Google the following:
black themes less eye strain

Okay. Results:

1. Author supports your position, but no evidence cited. Author's conclusion is disputed in the discussion. http://lifehacker.com/374189/darken-windows-to-reduce-eye-strain
2. Same result as above. http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/2008/04/01/darken_windows_to_reduce_eye_strain-2.html
3. Supports neither of our positions, video is comedic. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/337399/avoid_eye_strain_when_using_word/
4. A Slashdot discussion. There are highly rated comments supporting both my position and yours.