Top 10 Things You CAN'T Have For Christmas

Zothecula writes "It's getting a little late for a last minute Christmas shopping list, but not to worry, most of us outside the Forbes Top 100 couldn't afford any of these anyway! Still, it's fascinating to look at what's possible if the word 'budget' isn't in your vocabulary, so here's a look at what you won't be getting for Christmas (CT: Warning, gizmag features really intrusive advertising) this year – the most outrageous examples of high-end overkill from 2010."

Comments

Meh

[Anrego]

Fairly poor “top 10” list. Nothing on this list was particularly extreme, and not really “geek” oriented.

I guess the problem with this kind of list is that _everything_ has an extreme. Pick something you like, and some millionaire probably has an obscenely expensive version of it. This list was mostly the extreme versions of things I have no interest in.

Often with these extreme versions they’ve just taken something existing and covered it in gold/diamonds/rare metals/rare woods.. which isn’t all that interesting to me either. I remember there was some vodka (touted as the worlds most expensive) that was basically just garden variety high-end vodka with a column of diamonds down the center.

The only thing on this list that really held any interest for me was those speakers, but at that cost it’s totally not worth the novelty, and they probably look terrible close up (as this kind of stuff tends to look great at a very specific angle but look ridiculous from everywhere else).

Ah well, can’t spend it all on philanthropic interests.. I guess after a while you run out of shit to do with that much money.

Re:Meh

[PatPending]

I didn't click on the link; there's no way I'm going to voluntarily contribute a page hit after the Gawker fiasco.

Re:Meh

[arivanov]

It is not original either.

Designs like the Domespace have been around for ages. It is a pity they are not used especially in places like Florida where you really need them.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

What does one have to do with the other?

Re:Meh

[Overzeetop]

Are you nuts? Those speakers probably sound just awful. May as well just slap a Bose badge on them.

Cool stuff, I suppose, though it's a fool that buys something electronic which has value added to it. A digital Leica with a (probably small) 18MP sensor will probably look no better than a panasonic P&S. Why would you spend so much money on a case when the internals are going to be out of date in 3 years. And titanium? Really? Can we just get over that fairly commonplace metal? Call me back when you make one from Be-Al alloy.

Re:Meh

[aliquis]

Hence (-) in Firehose.

Old gadgets we've seen before, and who gives a rats ass about a freaking TV screen?

Show some large cruisers or something like that ..

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure I won't be getting a hot wife for Christmas, especially from my current wife.

Re:Meh

[ocdscouter]

I'm pretty sure I won't be getting a hot wife for Christmas, especially from my current wife.

Well, she could, but you'd probably have to get her a hot husband in exchange.

Re:Meh

[timster]

While the titanium M9 is sort of dumb the sensor is "full-frame" (24mmx36mm) so it's going to be a whole lot better than a point-and-shoot. But no better than the regular M9 which is "only" $7000.

Re:Meh

[mlts]

The speakers looked good. However other goods such as the diamond inlaid TV set were pretty pointless.

With electronics, adding bling is pretty much the best people can do for selling ultra-expensive devices. Mainly because of the economy of scale market. If a boutique company made a cell phone that was slimmer than an iPhone, and only made 100 copies, the cost would be astronomical (tens to hundreds of millions of dollars), even factoring out the fact that the device would need a lot of QA testing. The only exception would be taking a motherboard from an existing device and putting it in a custom case, perhaps replacing some components (like the camera or screen) and making sure the OS can work with the modifications. Regression testing is important too.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

While I do agree with you about buying tarted up electronics, it's worth noting that the regular Leica M9 with steel body is good value at about $6k, because it is a full-frame CCD sensor (24*36mm). A Panasonic P&S doesn't compare

Re:Meh

[Mitchell314]

Somebody called?

Re:Meh

[Nadaka]

If you want your wife to swing that way, she should feel like she is the hottest one in the room. That way she she will feel more secure and hopefully have just as much fun as you do.

Re:Meh

[nospam007]

"The speakers looked good. However other goods such as the diamond inlaid TV set were pretty pointless."

They are all pointless. My one and only Christmas gift I'll get, I'm getting it every year:
Peace of mind.
Since a dozen years or so, I don't accept gifts and I don't give them so no shopping stress, no disappointments to see or feel for me.
It's heaven on earth.

Re:Meh

[AltairDusk]

That TV is quite possibly the most hideous thing I could think of putting in a living room. You'd have to pay me to take that.

Re:Meh

[zegota]

Agree. I especially hate it when they take an ordinary gadget and transform it into "THE MOST EXPENSIVE ____ EVER" by pasting diamonds all over it. That's not the most expensive TV ever. It's a bundle that includes a regular TV and a fuck ton of diamonds.

Re:Meh

[apoc.famine]

Well that, and the fact that the title is completely stupid.

Top 10 Things you CAN'T Have for Christmas

Funny value of "can't", for two things that are the same order of magnitude in price as a car. I could buy the speakers or the camera. I wouldn't, but to say I CAN'T is stupid.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that people think you are a jerk. Yeah you get what you want out of it and you haven't conformed to societal traditions, but other people like getting and giving gifts. If you feel it's gone too far, there are other ways to improve the issue that don't require robbing other people of their enjoyment of the traditions. An easy one is shop online or throughout the year and buy whenever you see something people might like. The money wasted on the gift, if you view it that way, isn't that big a deal in the end. It's just money and other things are more important.

Re:Meh

[Quiet_Desperation]

The money spent of even silly luxury items doesn't exactly go in to a black hole, you know.

For example, people gawk at the opulence of things like the Newport mansions and tsk tsk at the concentration of wealth, but the lavish spending on those places bootstrapped many industries in that area that exist today. Some well known architectural firms, fashion labels and art museums owe their existence to a few family's mad drive to mirror European royalty.

Re:Meh

[pspahn]

Yes, I'm pretty sure we've all read that Maxim article also.

Re:Meh

[gstoddart]

I guess the problem with this kind of list is that _everything_ has an extreme. Pick something you like, and some millionaire probably has an obscenely expensive version of it. This list was mostly the extreme versions of things I have no interest in.

But .... but ... exoskeleton!! Powered freaking exoskeleton.

Of course, I'd need the bigger LandWalker version, but it comes with guns, so that's OK.

Re:Meh

[Attila Dimedici]

Well, I'm pretty sure that I won't be getting another hot wife for Christmas, but then I only ever wanted one anyway.


br. And no, my wife doesn't read slashdot (although, I should probably show her this post).

Re:Meh

[Overzeetop]

Well, I'll stand corrected on that. Squeezing 18MP into even a DX size is dicey (which I presumed they did). Leica made very nice, if exceptionally price, film cameras.

Still, a premium like that for a camera with a limited shelf life (sensor tech and electronics tech) is pretty foolish. I still say titanium is not a very useful metal. Better to clad Mg for the weight) or go all the way to a high-nickel stainless, imho. Or, as I said, use Beryllium Aluminum. It's not that much more expensive, but it has the strength of a good aluminum (35+ksi) and the stiffness of steel (30x10^6psi). It's a real oddity.

Re:Meh

[tool462]

As I understand it, women aren't quite as obsessed with appearance as men. Though I'm betting she wouldn't mind a husband with a pleasant personality for a change.

Re:Meh

[GameboyRMH]

Yep ugly as fuck, like most diamond-encrusted things. Old faux-wood TVs are less ugly.

Re:Meh

[GameboyRMH]

Some well known architectural firms, fashion labels and art museums

And most of the money that goes into these places goes where?

Re:Meh

[nospam007]

It was never a tradition here, it was imprinted on us by US television, just like Halloween and other customs like it.
Here the tradition is to give gifts on St. Nikolaus day, on 6th of December and only to kids.

Now kids come trick and treating _and_ the original 2 times a year, Candlemas and Easterday, where the kids are making noise on the streets to call for mass, because the week before eastern, the Church bells are silent.

Re:Meh

[nospam007]

Forgot to add the video link for the kids making noise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LzP4Hlo4jQ

Re:Meh

[drinkypoo]

It's not an exoskeleton, it's a walker.

Re:Meh

[jimicus]

Don't you believe it. I hesitate to say it's common, but it's by no means unknown for women to marry an ugly nurturing man then have a wild affair with a rugged, good-looking bloke.

The ugly man winds up bringing up the good-looking man's kids as his own.

I don't know if it's always planned - my guess is it's got more to do with some primeval instinct to have the kids of the man with the best genes but have them looked after by the most kind sweet & thoughtful man.

Re:Meh

[Ihmhi]

I'm a lot like you, but I do give gifts and receive them. I just completely ignore holidays.

For instance, I was out shopping a few years ago and saw a fedora in a store that I thought a friend would like. So, I bought it and gave it to him. No need to wait for a birthday or Hallmark holiday.

Kindness (and, in turn, gratitude) knows no season.

Re:Meh

[DMUTPeregrine]

The speakers were also only $8000. Not that expensive, and not outside affordable. Plenty of people give their kids a (used) car for their birthday when that kid can get a driver's license. These speakers are in the same price range. I've seen ads in audio magazines for speakers at $375,000. And speaker cables at $40,000 for a 6 foot pair.

Re:Meh

[demonlapin]

for a camera with a limited shelf life

I've always wondered why DSLRs weren't designed to use a sensor cartridge. You buy a body, you buy a sensor, and you can swap out the sensor every few years.

Re:Meh

[gstoddart]

It's not an exoskeleton, it's a walker.

The article says it's an exoskeleton. The LandWalker article says it's an exoskeleton ... what's the difference? No working arms?

I'd probably buy that distinction.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Now this is a Slashdot post!

Anti-traditional? Check!
Anti-Capitalist? Check!
Anti-social? Check!
Sad? Check!

Unless you are trolling, I do sincerely feel sorry for you.

Re:Meh

[radish]

The body IS the sensor cartridge. Other than that it's basically a screen, CPU, shutter, battery and lens mount. You probably want to upgrade the screen and CPU every once in a while anyway, and the shutter will wear out over time.

The real money in a camera system (and the most important from a quality POV) is in the lens. You keep the lenses, you switch out the body (sensor).

Re:Meh

[asher09]

Good man

Re:Meh

[blair1q]

But it kind of does. Trickle-down is a myth. Making jobs for one construction crew is nothing economically compared with putting 40 crews to work with the same outlay.

Re:Meh

[Alarindris]

Well if that's what people think, then fuck 'em all. I'm not a christian, and I think christians continually fuck up the world in the name of Gosh, and have turned a holiday honoring their team captain into guilting everybody into a gift buying fuck fest.

I'd rather just celebrate the solstice with friends, fire, food, and booze and that's what I do.
Might I remind you that historically THAT is The Reason for the Season.

In summary:
1. Fuck christmas.
2. Fuck religion and the people who think I am a dick for not participation in their bullshit beliefs.
3. Fuck giant corporations who make shit that we don't really need.
4. Fuck materialism, I know Jesus would agree.
5. Fuck you for once again making ME have to justify something that really doesn't need to be justified.

Happy new year.

Re:Meh

[Dogtanian]

I didn't click on the link; there's no way I'm going to voluntarily contribute a page hit after the Gawker fiasco.

I don't see any connection with Gawker Media. Perhaps you're confusing Gizmag with Gizmodo?

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not a christian, and [tiresome pointless rant]

Since when does modern day Christmas have anything to do with Christianity?

Also, your post reads like something a 14-year old would write after he's finished masturbating over his Darkthrone albums.

Re:Meh

[Alarindris]

Since when does modern day Christmas have anything to do with Christianity?

Since always, the words are almost the same.

Also, your post reads like something a 14-year old would write after he's finished masturbating over his Darkthrone albums.

I don't even know what that means.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that people think you are a jerk. Yeah you get what you want out of it and you haven't conformed to societal traditions, but other people like getting and giving gifts.

So if people who like the gift exchange get things their way, that's cool, but if someone who doesn't like the gift exchange gets things his way, then he's a jerk? Interesting.

Re:Meh

[houghi]

I hate getting presents. At Christmas I am at home. Alone! And I would not have it any other way. I will not visit families or friends even when asked. If there is an option, I will also work on Christmas.

I rather give presents and attention during the rest of the year when it isn't expected. People appreciate that much more.

Re:Meh

[Quiet_Desperation]

To the owners and employees. What? Jobs are *bad* now?

Re:Meh

[Quiet_Desperation]

Those mansions supported multiple generations of craftspeople and construction workers and their families. *shrug* Whatever, kid. Merry Christmas.

Re:Meh

[GameboyRMH]

The businesses you mentioned have a small number of highly paid people working in them (although large fashion labels may have factories, but they're usually sweatshops or may even by staffed with actual slave labor). They spend it on more high-end luxury items and the cycle repeats, so the money is mostly going into a black hole as far as the middle class is concerned.

Re:Meh

[Kjella]

I think gifts in direct relation like to parents/children/siblings/SO are okay because you have at least some clue what they need/want and children may get presents from pretty much everyone. But all these gifts to and from distant family that I meet a few times a year at family gatherings are rather pointless. Mostly it ends up with a useless exchange of trinkets that neither of us would have bought on our own, and there's no net gift like with children. I have money, they have money and it's only a matter of priority if I want it - if it's outside that budget you wouldn't give it as a Christmas gift anyway. I'm not militant about it like the GP is but I've gradually built non-gift agreements with people that tend to give just as uninspired gifts as I eventually end up buying because I have to have a present but I got no clue what they need and I already got it up to here with Christmas shopping. Either you have to drag a wish out of them - and it's no fun shopping on command - or you end up buying blind.

It's a lean tree, but I still have my money instead of some cruft and go buy myself something nice. I'm very happy with the present I got for my parents though, and think they'll be pleasantly surprised. But that is because I know them, because I know them well enough to come up with something they'd need that they didn't tell me they needed. A few years back I bought a... well, kind of high-quality traditionally decorated pullover for my dad that he'd never asked for, but that I figured if he had one of those he'd use it. I was dead on the money and it's become his favorite garnment for many kinds of occasions. That kind of buying is fun and it also makes sense, it's gifts that are used and treasured. So they really span the whole scale, which is why I'd much rather take fewer and more on target gifts. If you still want to send some kind of token I'm not forgotten then a Christmas card will do just fine.

Re:Meh

[aiht]

Hear, hear!

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Gawker Media owns Gizmodo (and others).

Re:Meh

[PatPending]

Sorry, my mistake. You are correct, sir. Thank you.

Re:Meh

[Opportunist]

Great, now we only need a hot husband for his wife!

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think s'he's a jerk. I'm made a similar deal with family and friends years ago -- no more malls, no more shopping, no more crap for Xmas. We bake or host parties, or get together for musical evenings instead.

Best Buy is not part of my societal traditions.

Re:Meh

[drinkypoo]

An exoskeleton covers and protects your body. This does neither. A proper exoskeleton is what people think of when they think "powered armor"; it moves with you. Think Iron Man, or even a Shirow Suit (with the extra arms added above the user's arms.) You can have a partial exoskeleton (like Raytheon's stuff) but this isn't one.

Re:Meh

[Martin Blank]

The celebration of Christmas was not originally about Christianity. It was absorbed into the Christian faith in part as a means of converting those that celebrated the solstice. Jesus was not born in the winter, but sometime when the shepherds were still in the fields with their flocks (Luke 2:8, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"), which is spring through autumn.

The sentiment of feasting and celebrating family around the time of the solstice is much older than Christmas.

Re:Meh

[Martin Blank]

The craftspeople working on those high-end mansions are also the masters who oversee and train the journeymen. It is the responsibility of the masters to push the limits of the craft, and one of the ways to do so is to work on projects paid for by people who want something at or beyond the current limits of the craft.

Re:Meh

[Martin Blank]

An exoskeleton sits outside of your body and provides support and usually amplification for whatever you undertake. It doesn't require protecting the user, and such armor would be pointless excess weight for someone who is simply moving weight that would normally take several people or otherwise-awkward equipment.

I agree that the article shows a walker. But something like what Ripley had in Aliens and which has provided inspiration to a number of recent advances was definitely an exoskeleton, and it provided very little protection other than against dropped containers via a rollcage.

Re:Meh

[Mitchell314]

I walked into that so hard that my nose is still bleeding.

Re:Meh

[Phoobarnvaz]

I'm pretty sure I won't be getting a hot wife for Christmas, especially from my current wife.

Well, she could, but you'd probably have to get her a hot husband in exchange.

Or even a hot female model might be great enough. Would be for me!

Re:Meh

[nospam007]

Happy Hogswatch for you too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LzP4Hlo4jQ

Re:Meh

[nospam007]

You forgot Atheist and I'm not trolling, I mean it.
I feel sorry for you too.
Happy Hogswatch. :-)

Re:Meh

[Quiet_Desperation]

LOL! Whatever, Mr. Dickens.

Re:Meh

[mcvos]

The only thing on this list that really held any interest for me was those speakers,

And they're by far the cheapest thing on the list too. Not just that, but high quality speakers really can be that expensive. Whether these speakers are any good, I have no idea, but if they are, I wouldn't mind owning a set. I need some new speakers anyway. And something unobtrusive that you hardly see would be just perfect. Something that doesn't take up any space would be even better. My house isn't big.

Re:Meh

[mcvos]

It was never a tradition here, it was imprinted on us by US television, just like Halloween and other customs like it.
Here the tradition is to give gifts on St. Nikolaus day, on 6th of December and only to kids.

Where is that? I thought only Netherland and Belgium celebrated Sinterklaas (but on 5 December, rather than 6). My guess is northern Germany.

So yeah, gift-giving stress ends after 5 December. And more importantly: the poem-making and surprise-gift-crafting stress also ends there.

Re:Meh

[mcvos]

Don't forget the Christmas trees. It's a heathen festival with a thin religious sauce over it.

(Mind you, I'm Christian and intend to go to church on Christmas anyway. It may be an unhistorical perversion, but it's still nice to do something with it.)

Re:Meh

[chameleon3]

The speakers were also only $8000. Not that expensive, and not outside affordable.

Yeah, but it's an extra $2000 to make them go to 12

Re:Meh

[blair1q]

And 40 families working forever is not better than 1 family working forever exactly how?

Great

[UDChris]

Now I have exoskeleton envy

This is NEWS?

[airfoobar]

y u no post in idle?

Re:This is NEWS?

[Fibe-Piper]

Reading your post, I feel like Diablo 3 is already out (even beta would have made my top 10 list of things I can't have for xmas 2010) and You somehow made it on to the North America realm.

Re:This is NEWS?

[Anonymous Coward]

y u right like illiterate third wurld child?

Re:This is NEWS?

[Anonymous Coward]

coz i r unletterate u incensative clod!

Re:This is NEWS?

[airfoobar]

Because.

advertising?

[desertrat_it]

People still use web browsers that permit adverts to display?

Wow....

Re:advertising?

[Abstrackt]

Some of us permit adverts as long as they don't interfere with the content that got us there in the first place, though some sites will use adverts that circumvent any filtering methods you employ anyway.

Re:advertising?

[commodore64_love]

some of us like ads. I found this one poking my eye and felt a strange compulsion to touch... I mean, click it: http://www.gizmag.com/zipbuds-keep-tangles-at-bay/17337/picture/126646/
As for the presents I'll just wait for the "Billionaire Going Bankrupt" sale.

Re:advertising?

[TheRaven64]

Yup, I do. If a site is funded by adverts, then it's bad manners to take their content and not the ads. If the ads are irritating or intrusive then I simply blacklist the site and never return.

Re:advertising?

[commodore64_love]

Ditto. As I saw on a google search: "If you use ad blocking software while viewing Daily Kos, you're getting all the content without supporting the people that created it." They are correct.
  - No I don't read Daily Kos.
I prefer reason.com or asimovs.com

Re:advertising?

[TheRaven64]

Funny and troll? Interesting choices there mods - I'm completely serious, so why don't you comment and justify your moderation choices. Sites that show ads and provide content for free are typically only able to do so because of the money that they receive from adverts. If you block the ads, then this becomes less likely to be profitable in the long term and these sites will cease to exist. If the inconvenience of seeing the ads is less than the value of the site, then I am happy to see the ads. If it isn't, then I am happy to go without the content. Apparently not having an entitlement mentality is either funny or a troll.

In unrelated news, this is probably the first time that commodore64_love and I have ever agreed on anything.

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

I will permit ads when they are served by the actual host site, not some who the hell knows 3rd party. If I buy a magazine or newspaper, or tune in to a radio or tv station, those media publishers are sending me the ads and can be held responsible for them. Until websites get it through their thick skulls that I for one am tired of cleaning up infected PCs from drive-by ad vector infections, and tired of waiting on slow-assed ad servers, then they can pound sand.

Simply put, website ops: If you want me to see your ads, you had better make them YOUR ads, not some outside source.

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh please, its no different than changing the radio or tv station when a commercial comes on or flat out ignoring the ads in a magazine or newspaper, except that it consumes bandwidth that you are paying for and exposes you to unknown threats.

Can you hold a site financially responsible for the costs of cleaning up a machine that was infected because one of its advertising partners let malicious code into its ad feeds?

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, do you apply this philosophy elsewhere in life?

If you're watching TV, do you ever leave during the commercial break? Perhaps mute it? Use a TiVo and skip it entirely? Go take a leak or make a sandwich? Probably. How about the radio? Do you change the channel when an ad comes on?

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. I'm not. The ads will be there regardless, my page view will be counted. The only person I'm arguably stealing from is the advertiser, and to be quite frank, I don't care. I mean, either the ad pricing is pageview based (which I am still contributing to) or click based (I can count the times I have clicked an ad on one hand and wouldn't have contributed to anyway).

Unless I'm missing something (which I could be!), I see no reason to feel like I am 'stealing content.'

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck 'em. I don't care how they pay for their bandwidth any more than they care about how I pay for mine.

I will not, however, be advertised at.

Re:advertising?

[KublaiKhan]

There is a middle ground--not blocking ads on sites that don't have annoying intrusive advertisements.

That way, you punish the intrusive advertisement funded sites for their poor choice. Over time, they may learn their lesson.

I'm more than happy to allow ads that, for instance, don't cover up vast parts of the UI, aren't animated, don't play sounds, and don't suck my bandwidth with useless crap I have no desire for.

Text-based is nice, too. That way, I can actually get to the content, instead of having to wait 20 minutes for the browser to finish rendering fecking advertisements.

Re:advertising?

[GameboyRMH]

I used a browser with NoScript and Flashblock, nothing popped up at me...I don't remember seeing any ads to be honest.

Re:advertising?

[TheRaven64]

Yup. I don't watch broadcast TV that has ads or listen to radio stations that have ads either.

Re:advertising?

[drinkypoo]

Troll is unfortunate, but I think you're hilarious.

If you block the ads, then this becomes less likely to be profitable in the long term and these sites will cease to exist.

Okay.

Re:advertising?

[mister_playboy]

There is a middle ground

"People standing in the middle of the road look like road kill to me." - Linus Torvalds

Re:advertising?

[Coren22]

This is why I have never clicked the remove ads button on /. I don't mind supporting sites that don't have the godawful pop over flash ads. Now reading that Gizmag site nearly made my eyes bleed with the ads, I have no problem blocking the ads there...just have to find the addin for Chrome I suppose.

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

Aren't click-throughs pretty much all that pays these days? If I'm not going to click-through, why waste time downloading advertisements? And if I'm not going to click, they really aren't going to make any money, right?

Besides, I honestly cannot recall the last time I (purposely) clicked on an ad... can you?

PS Was that too many questions? Were they all just claims disguised as questions? Why can't I stop???

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm completely serious, so why don't you comment and justify your moderation choices.

You can't moderate and comment in the same thread dumbass.

Re:advertising?

[Caerdwyn]

CT: Warning, gizmag features really intrusive advertising) this year – the most outrageous examples of high-end overkill from 2010

No kidding. AdBlock identified and blocked 15 tracking items, and I'm sure it didn't get them all.

Re:advertising?

[blair1q]

If a site is funded by adverts

The Internet that the site is using to deliver its storefront for free was funded by me, as is the last mile. If I choose to listen to only half of what they're saying, then that's the way they'll have to take it.

Re:advertising?

[petgiraffe]

This is even more correct than you may have intended. The way my (and most people's, I would imagine) ad blocker works is by blocking third party content. If the site makes the ad their own content it'll display just fine. I actually DO see a few ads from time to time because of this. So far they have not been the horrifically intrusive ones of the types I used to see.

Re:advertising?

[petgiraffe]

The whole site was an ad. Don't you feel an overwhelming urge to buy pointless, expensive crap?

Re:advertising?

[mcgrew]

Mad banners are bad manners, not the other way around!

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

If they don't wish to serve me data from their server, they are perfectly able to ignore my request for transfer.

Re:advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

If the site cannot serve only a text ad or at most a static graphical ad then it deserves to go away due to lack of ad revenue because it forced users to block ads. To be clear, yes, the site deserves to cease to exist.

This means NOT using animated ads, scripting in ads, popups, popunders, windows flying into the page or intersitial ads entering onto the page. Ad providers may love this crap, but users definitely hate it due to system performance degradation in at least the browser application and it's plain and simple inconsiderate bandwidth hogging.

Re:advertising?

[Martin Blank]

Ads are not generally based on pageviews, but adviews. The ads are, to provide a simplified explanation, loaded from a URL specific to the site (for tracking purposes). If the ad is never loaded, no increase to the adview is made, and the site owner doesn't see income from that pageview.

Re:advertising?

[Martin Blank]

I don't know how you find stations that don't have ads. Those that do in the places I live and visit are religious, and that's it. Even the NPR-affiliated stations have ads, though they don't call them that. They're 15-second soundbites read by station personnel, but they reference often-corporate contributors, their slogans, products and events, and where to buy the products or tickets. The local Pacifica affiliate doesn't have ads per se, but they do basically beg the entire year for money, which is about as bad.

Re:advertising?

[TheRaven64]

I live in the UK, none of the BBC Radio stations have ads.

OpenPandora

[Anonymous Coward]

Just two more months!

Can'tz?

[alphatel]

i can't haz cheezburger?

Bleh.

[drunkennewfiemidget]

I got just a few sentences into the article and I noticed that their writers couldn't distinguish "it's" from "its".

So I closed the tab.

Re:Bleh.

[ColdWetDog]

Looser.

Re:Bleh.

[Coren22]

Be careful, you might cause him to have a coronary :)

Sex with women.

[Anonymous Coward]

That should top the list for anybody reading Slashdot.

So...

[tnk1]

Does this mean that I can actually have a pony? I didn't see that on the list.

Just saying....

Re:So...

[geekoid]

Yes, but it's coming from amazon and will be shipped in several boxes. Some assembly required.

Re:So...

[Nadaka]

Sounds delicious!

Re:So...

[cje]

Instead of pony, package contained bobcat. Would not buy again.

Re:So...

[Whorhay]

Go to the rural parts of Florida'a panhandle, where the recession is still in full swing. My sister in law was telling me that horses in great health and condition generally were selling for $25. The owners can't afford to feed them and the risk of a vet bill is just too much. Mules I think she said were 5 for $5.

Re:So...

[gstoddart]

Instead of pony, package contained bobcat. Would not buy again.

I got a cougar. Would definitely buy again. :-P

Re:So...

[blair1q]

the rural parts of Florida's panhandle, where the Great Depression is still in full swing

FTFY

Re:So...

[Caerdwyn]

Contents of boxes: a petri dish, a few tiny organic granules packed in dry ice, a test tube full of goo, and some guy wearing a trenchcoat with a video camera.

Re:So...

[Legion303]

"Mules I think she said were 5 for $5."

Hell, looks like they're cheaper than avocados. Probably don't taste as good spread on a sandwich, though.

Re:So...

[Legion303]

I prefer this more accurate definition: http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Cougar

ZipBuds girl

[wcrowe]

I don't know about the article in question, but the ZipBuds girl has reminded me that I need to check the air in my tires.

Re:ZipBuds girl

[Anonymous Coward]

She's no 1 on my "can't have for Christmas" list :)

Re:ZipBuds girl

[joebagodonuts]

She does stand out...

Re:ZipBuds girl

[GameboyRMH]

Can't find pichers, please help!

Intrusive Adverising

[drooling-dog]

Warning, gizmag features really intrusive advertising

Well, let's not link to it, then.

Re:Intrusive Adverising

[geekoid]

well than how else would I get to see boring shit I can't get?

Think people, think~

Re:Intrusive Adverising

[Anonymous Coward]

Or get adblock and noscript..

As the old saying goes...

[Anonymous Coward]

Only the rich can afford poor quality

Re:As the old saying goes...

[AlamedaStone]

Only the rich can afford poor quality

Thank god they got to keep those juicy tax breaks. Think of all the rotating wooden house builders and the hard-working people in the jet balcony industry. And the children.

God bless us, everyone.

Re:As the old saying goes...

[Whorhay]

The dome house is actually appealing to me in a few ways.

1. It's a dome, and as we all know, from geometry class, that means it has less surface area in ratio to the volume that it encloses. This means less building materials used to provide the same amount of living space. Also with less surface area there is less loss or gain of heat.

2. Because it's a dome it should be more structurally resistant to natural disaster scenarios. It will be affected less by high winds and if constructed properly to earthquakes as well.

3. The extra expense in materials and energy to make it rotate may or not pay off in energy savings depending on where it's located. But being able to change the view is probably appealing to a lot of people.

4. It's construction using untreated lumber and other renewable and environmentally friendly materials should be applauded.

Personally though I'd rather have a monolithic cement dome home, which wouldn't be practical to rotate.

Re:As the old saying goes...

[AlamedaStone]

I'd rather have a monolithic cement dome home, which wouldn't be practical to rotate.

I'd also rather spend those millions of dollars to help more than 44 million Americans below the poverty line, many of whom don't have domes, homes, apartments or boxes of their own.

But a nice rotating view does sound pretty cool. And anyway, if the impoverished really want "food" and "shelter", maybe they should pitch in and build some rotating homes. That's where the real money is.

Re:As the old saying goes...

[Caerdwyn]

...or help build them, get paid for doing so, and not be impoverished any more.

Of course, if you're demonizing and punishing "the rich" for the high crime of having money, the solution will be that money will leave the country, so there will be greater "equality" by lowering the top. After all, better that everyone have one coconut than someone has ten while everyone else has five, right?

Re:As the old saying goes...

[petgiraffe]

Domes are cool, but they're expensive to decorate. Have you priced conic-sectional couches?

Re:As the old saying goes...

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no "I agree" mod, so here's kudos in reply form!

It's one thing to give your money to charity - it's entirely another for you to tell me I need to give you stuff simply because you don't have it.

Re:As the old saying goes...

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate responses like this. the whole guilt thing, it's like your mother telling you that you have to eat your vegetables, that you were somehow hurting all those people in China. I'm sure if some rich guy doesn't buy his rotating home, those people will magically find jobs. Or perhaps Everyone will Feel Good, since it's the thought that counts. Here's a hint: I'd rather have one rat bastard evil loser, who hates everyone and makes fifteen trillion dollars a year molesting chimpanzees in a nazi uniform ( the guy , not the chimpanzees. Well, as long as I'm being ridiculous, let's put both of them in Nazi uniforms) , as long as the standard of living for the rest of the populace went up significantly. I'm willing to take that moral hit.

Re:As the old saying goes...

[ShooterNeo]

Well I looked at the dome as well, but I think it's a terrible idea.

There already is a commercial solution that has all of the advantages you listed above, for the most part.

It's one of these domes : www.aidomes.com

1. It's not only a dome, but you can order it with ridiculous R-factor insulation. (R-36 from bonded in foam, which is just about the highest you can achieve in housing anywhere) The concrete pieces hermetically seal to each other as well, preventing virtually all air from exchanging, which is a big factor in energy loss in humid climates.(you have to install an energy recovery ventilator for controlled ventilation)

Also, since the insulation is bonded to the concrete panels, it doesn't slide out of place which is what happens with fiberglass insulation in the walls of conventional "stick-built" houses.

2. The company claims that their domes can take a magnitude 8 earthquake and at least 230 mph winds. Given the dome is basically a reinforced concrete bunker to live under, this is quite plausible. They have an account of a tornado picking up several thousand pound horse trailer and slamming it into the dome, with minimal damage.

3. The company claims that construction costs are about the same as conventional housing. The catch-22 is because they are so rare, and they look uglier than conventional housing, it is difficult to get mortgage financing for a dome and/or build in existing neighborhoods. The financing thing is one of the big reasons they aren't more common. If I ever build one, I'm going to save my money for as many years as it takes to buy the structure outright. (I'll have the bank give me a loan on the land)

It doesn't rotate, but that doesn't matter : R-36 insulation is so good that you don't need passive solar heating. It takes minimal fuel to heat the place in a cold climate anyway. If you use solar panels, you can just have those rotate. And the added expense for a rotation mechanism has got to be tens of thousands of dollars, making the rotating dome a poor financial idea..

4. Is lumber more environmentally friendly than concrete? I doubt it : a concrete dome will last for a century or more, while lumber rots and burns. Long term, the impact on the environment will be less with concrete.

Mostly "Meh"

[Anonymous Coward]

While some of them are actually cool, many are just dumb. I mean, even if you had $2.2 million that you wanted to just throw away on nothing, would you actually want to have a 55-inch solid gold TV with a diamond border? What would be the point of it, other than to be able to say "I spent over two million dollars on a stupid TV that isn't even all that big by big TV standards"?

If anybody does buy that thing, then my hope for humanity is completely and utterly destroyed.

Re:Mostly "Meh"

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed. Even if I was filthy rich I wouldn't even want a diamond crusted TV. It looks extremely tacky and distasteful.

Re:Mostly "Meh"

[demonlapin]

If anybody does buy that thing

The only person who would buy it is the guy in this.For the money, you'd be better off getting four of those Panasonic 152" 4k screens.

Zipbuds

[Anonymous Coward]

I read the article, but for some reason the only thing on that page I really want is Zipbuds.

Re:Zipbuds

[jellomizer]

I didn't see any Zipbuds on that link.
The things I saw were much larger.

My #1 missing present

[Bill Hayden]

Android 2.2 for my Captivate.

Re:My #1 missing present

[bioteq]

You can already have Froyo on your capitvate; I'm currently running it now.

Look at the cognition or perception roms from XDA-developers.

Motorcycle

[Anonymous Coward]

Just in case you did not know how to ride, this motorcycle comes equipped with training wheels.

#1

[polar red]

peace and happiness ?

Here's a top 3

[BenoitRen]

1. A kid
2. Sex
3. A girlfriend

Re:Here's a top 3

[ColdWetDog]

1. A kid
2. Sex
3. A girlfriend

Umm, try reversing the order on you list. It might work better. Be most careful, however, of the inadvertent conversion of $GIRLFRIEND to $WIFE as that automatically produces a GOTO END argument that you cannot change.

Re:Here's a top 3

[jcwayne]

Interesting order.

Re:Here's a top 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, the original order is correct.

1. Offer to babysit a friend's kid. Take kid to mall, parks, beach etc.
2. Get approached by pretty women, tell them you're babysitting a friends kid so the parents can have some alone time together.
3. Woman sees what a nice, compassionate person you are (and you like kids!) and you get her number.
4. After having sex with you, woman realizes you are in fact, just another scheming arsehole, but as woman are wont to do, she becomes your girlfriend in an effort to "fix" you.

So yeah, Kid, Sex, Girlfriend is the right order.

Re:Here's a top 3

[apoc.famine]

That sort of list will get you arrested if anyone finds out...

Re:Here's a top 3

[mcgrew]

Merry Christmas!

Re:Here's a top 3

[BenoitRen]

The order is hardest to easier. A kid is on number 1 because it requires 2 and 3 first. Sex is on number 2 because it requires 3 (I'm not a free sex kind of guy).

Re:Here's a top 3

[geekoid]

That I got great news for you, there are people you can PAY to have sex with.

#11

[Anonymous Coward]

a President that isn't an incompetent hack. Maybe in two years.

Re:#11

[Anonymous Coward]

May I read the plans you've published, where you explain what you would do different on some specific issue where the President is responsibility, and how you would execute your plan, and why you would have more success in the current political climate?

Re:#11

[Octorian]

Doubtful. Half-way through the term of any president, you'll likely find someone making the same statement. It'll be especially strong if they side with the opposing political party.

You just have to hope that you agree with the positions of the puppeteer that is controlling the next incompetent hack more than the one controlling the current one.

Re:#11

[Nadaka]

Its already been at least 10 years since we had one of those.

The idea of studding something in diamonds to...

[Delusion_]

...make it the "most expensive" object in its class is more of an art stunt than a technology stunt, and a fairly unimaginative one at that. The $2.3million television is $2.3 million because it has $2.3 million worth of diamonds on it - the actual price of the television without the diamonds doesn't even change the rounding.

At what point in time is this more about the diamonds than the fact that they may or may not be attached to a gadget?

Answer: The initial concept.

It's kind of like the "most expensive pizza" being so because it's covered in luxury foods like rare caviar and then topped off with gold flakes. It's more art project than food.

i know i know!

[dominious]

A girlfriend!

ducks

Re:i know i know!

[Quirkz]

My wife would certainly object to that one!

Re:i know i know!

[mrsquid0]

To wives and girlfriends. May they never meet.

Re:i know i know!

[linuxha]

Not going to happen, Slashdot remember?!?

Re:i know i know!

[Anonymous Coward]

A pony?

Re:i know i know!

[gstoddart]

A girlfriend!

Try this. ;-)

Re:i know i know!

[Anonymous Coward]

To girlfriends and girlfriends. May they never meet.

- J. Assange.

Re:i know i know!

[DCFusor]

Too expensive even if you can afford the other things on the list.

Re:i know i know!

[mcgrew]

I hear ducks make lousy girlfriends.

Re:i know i know!

[geekoid]

I think you mean "a robot girlfriend"

Intrusive ads? Color me surprised!

[countertrolling]

I don't know what you would expect with this kind of fluff all over the front page. This site is just putting more regular mainstream crap to expand its audience. A simple news aggregator is all we have here now with the same stories like all the other ones have. Ahhh, the love of money

Re:Intrusive ads? Color me surprised!

[AlamedaStone]

I don't know what you would expect with this kind of fluff all over the front page. This site is just putting more regular mainstream crap to expand its audience. A simple news aggregator is all we have here now with the same stories like all the other ones have. Ahhh, the love of money

With ad blocking, and judicious cookie blocking, it's not really a problem. Slashdot constantly has stories I never see on network TV, so I forgive the occasional symbolic sacrifice to our oligarchic overlords. I mean, we all need good crops and a productive hunting season.

The airdeck

[bugs2squash]

viewing platform would be a cool place to party with all your skydiver buddies at 30,000'

Leica M9

[fishbowl]

I don't know (or care) about the Titanium limited edition, but I could much more easily afford a regular M9 than I could a Leica M4 when it was contemporary (or even now!) Those Summicron lenses always were, and are still, very $$$.

Things I won't get for Christmas

[SteelKidney]

Net Neutrality

Maintenance and Upkeep

[theamarand]

There's not a single item on that list that interests me. When I went to the Smithsonian in DC, I saw a lot of jewel-encrusted items (cell phones, Monopoly board). Once you spend a fortune on having a unique cellphone, what do you do with it when the next model comes out? Toss it away to the peasants? Perhaps donate it to the Smithsonian for others to gawk at? Walk through and take a look at some of the crazy jewelry and precious stones there, and for me, the only thing that comes to mind is: "You can't take it with you!" and "I wonder how many people owned these items before they ended up here?"

The submersible shark seems neat, until you realize that it's just a sub, and requires a lot of upkeep, in addition to a place to use it, and store it when not in use. As if a helicopter needs to be made more elite? Not many of us would have a place to land one, regardless of how it was outfitted. The Kid's walker seems pretty cool, but then I looked at the scale and found it frighteningly large. Would it fit through doors? At least handi-capable kids wouldn't be teased as much. Just need a few shoulder-mounted rockets, grenade launchers and machine guns.

The most expensive TV? Okay, it has diamonds...but what device besides a computer would be able to put out a signal at the native resolution of 4,096 x 2,160? For that price, it better have some sort of specialized Blu-Ray player than up-scales...I actually just realized that it's twice as many pixels as 1080i, so I guess you could watch two HD signals at once? Opulence!

I'm surprised the speakers made the list, as $8,000 isn't out of the price range of a real audiophile. I just wonder what their actual acoustic characteristics are. Glass? That can't be the ideal medium for sound.

In the end, when I see a list like this, at prices like that, I instantly wonder "how many top-of-the-line professional cameras could I buy with that?" or "wouldn't I rather have an observatory?" For the price of that TV, I could have a small secret lair, with hidden entrances, all sorts of bubbling items and at least one assistant with a hunchback for atmosphere!

Re:Maintenance and Upkeep

[Whorhay]

Actually I think you could watch four 1080 signals with that TV, since it actually has four time the pixels. It's a rectangle so if both dimensions are doubled you get four times the surface area.

Re:Maintenance and Upkeep

[Brett Buck]

I'm surprised the speakers made the list, as $8,000 isn't out of the price range of a real audiophile. I just wonder what their actual acoustic characteristics are. Glass? That can't be the ideal medium for sound.

          I agree, that's not even out of range of normal for full-range speakers. Mine cost $3800 from eBay, listed for $5500, and they are the middle of the range they come from. The glass is certainly not a particularly good material (too springy) but it all depends on the application.

          Brett

Re:Maintenance and Upkeep

[operagost]

how many top-of-the-line professional cameras could I buy with that?

Your question is rather recursive, as one of the items happens to be an OMG EXPENSIVE Leica.

Re:Maintenance and Upkeep

[theamarand]

how many top-of-the-line professional cameras could I buy with that?

Your question is rather recursive, as one of the items happens to be an OMG EXPENSIVE Leica.

I don't consider an item created under a limited production run ("limited edition to 500") made with specialty components ("sapphire-crystal glass monitor...all visible elements...made from solid titanium") a top-of-the-line professional camera. I don't think a lot of serious photographers, professional photographers, are going to be snapping this one up. It's a toy; and at $29,000, is a very expensive toy.

Re:Maintenance and Upkeep

[GameboyRMH]

I thought the bike was pretty nice, but it's a horrifically bad deal. There are plenty of bikes that are very nearly as good for a small fraction of the price.

Advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

AdBlock

Hmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

So many things I don't need to be happy.

Re:Meh - Now with even more useless extreme

[cyberfunkr]

More extreme things we can't afford:

1) Diamond-tipped pizza cutter with baby elephant ivory handle
2) Stadium seat cushion made from puma hide and filled with narwhal blubber
3) Beer cozy built from the insulation of the original NASA space suits
4) Sofa throw blanket woven from the used toupees of William Shatner
5) A 1:3 scale replica of the "Stay-Puff" Marshmallow Man crafted from albino bat guano

You can have those things

[fahlesr1]

You can acquire whatever material objects you want with a sufficient amount of cash and/or explosives.

Really, who buys this crap?

[tekrat]

I'm not sure what surprises me more... That companies produce crap like this, or that they expect there's enough of a market for people to buy crap like this.

I mean, the number of people to whom money is no object is a countable number. Furthermore, the larger percentage of people who's wealth is publicly tracked (such as Warren Buffet or Bill Gates) do not invest in expensive throw-away baubles.

Therefore have to assume that items such as these are purchased by people who's wealth is NOT tracked, such as Saudi Princes. And those guys have things that can't be talked about on web pages, such as Slave Girls, Private Armies, and Former Soviet Nuclear Weapons. After all, if you're rich enough, international law doesn't apply to you.

So do these companies make this crap because the profit margin is so obscene that they are willing to cater to these pricks, or is it just big scam, for show, so we *aren't* looking for the Slave Girls, Private Armies and Nuclear Weapons? Or just how much wealth they have that we don't know about?

Re:Really, who buys this crap?

[symbolic]

It's all part of the scumbag chain of finance. The people on Wall St. who take home obscene salaries and bonuses for completely F*CKING UP our economy need to spend their money on something, so why not this junk? It's about as superficial as their understanding of integrity and humility, which makes it a perfect match.

Re:Really, who buys this crap?

[Animats]

Who buys this crap? A surprisingly large number of people.

There are about 62 yachts in the world over 250 feet in length. There are about 120 private jets in the Boeing 747 size and up. Some are used by heads of state, but most are owned by private parties. Big jets are popular with Russian oligarchs; if you have business interests in Siberia, going there in comfort needs proper support facilities.

There are people who are just into buying expensive stuff, most of which they don't use. I've known a few people like that. It's a status thing. I'm in Silicon Valley, where you see a little of that. There's a guy who collects and restores tanks and other large military vehicles; he has about a hundred vehicles. I know some people who have Tesla cars. Being a horse person, I know people with expensive horses. But they ride them; they don't just collect them. Really overdoing it in Silicon Valley is somewhat frowned upon. Larry Ellison is snickered at by the Woodside crowd for building a house the size of a mall and redoing the surrounding terrain, which is sequoia country, to look like a misty Japanese hillside. (The fog machine was just tacky.) In Switzerland, someone might have expensive paintings in their house, but building some flamboyant mansion is seen as un-Swiss.

In Russia and Dubai, though, there's no limit to blatantly conspicuous consumption.

Re:Really, who buys this crap?

[GameboyRMH]

I'm not sure what surprises me more... That companies produce crap like this, or that they expect there's enough of a market for people to buy crap like this.

There is. You should read the leaked Citigroup "plotonomy" document. The hyper-rich are nearly half the market.

Re:Really, who buys this crap?

[dcw3]

Considering that there are around a thousand billionaires ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_the_number_of_US_dollar_billionaires ), and you'd be counting the 93,000+ "ultra-millionaires" ($30M+ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaire#Number_of_millionaires_in_the_world) for quite a while. Remember, when you make items like these, you're only hoping to sell one, two, or a very few...or use it to market your other products. You see it all the time in marketing...it brings free media attention, and interest in your company. It's the same idea as spending millions on a SuperBowl ad...only takes a couple sales to make that up in many cases.

#1 on the list

[igaborf]

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men

Re:#1 on the list

[tekrat]

We are the United States Government. We don't *do* that sort of thing!

The List

[southpolesammy]

1. Seabreacher X -- submersible shaped like a great white shark, from Innespace, $93,500
2. "Mercedes-Benz Style" helicopter -- cost not indicated
3. The Kid's Walker exoskeleton -- made by Sakakibara-Kikai, 5.25 feet tall, for kids (???), $21,000
4. The most exclusive motorcycle on the planet -- NCR M16 MotoGP streetfighter, based on Ducati's Desmosedici RR, $176,880
5. LEICA M9 'Titanium' digital camera -- $29,000
6. Top of the line television -- Panasonic PrestigeHD SUPREME Rose Edition, 152" 3D plasma w/ diamond encrusted bezel, $2,293,580
7. Domespace rotating wooden house -- cost not indicated
8. A balcony for your private jet -- Design Q, $16-18M (comes with a free plane!)
9. See-thru speakers -- Greensound Serac and Floe series speakers, $8000
10. A quiet getaway ... in a "flying" submarine -- Necker Nymph, rent for $88,000 per week

Re:The List

[Thelasko]

The most exclusive motorcycle on the planet...

Unless they broke the agreement to limit the top speed, the Hayabusa is still the most exclusive bike around.

Re:The List

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty sure you should double check your definition of "exclusive" since I can go buy a GSX1300R if I were so inclined. Not trying to knock the performance of the Suzuki - the fact that regular people can go out and buy it is great. However, the crap on this list is for people who want the arbitrarily most expensive (and thus least common), not the "best."

Re:The List

[tompaulco]

Okay, so what I see here is mostly a bunch of stuff built by companies that specialize in other industries. So I am expected to pay more for someone who builds something that they are not known for building?
I suppose I would take most of these things if I was given them for free, but only for the resale value.
I think the only thing almost worthwhile is the private jet with balcony. $12 million is less than the cost of one of those little bitty bend-over-as-you-walk-down-the-aisle regional jets that everybody is flying these days. But I have flown on one of these, and I have to tell you that having 4 smaller engines instead of two larger ones made it a very quiet plane. You can stand up in the aisle, and although nearly the width of a 737, they had 2X2 seating instead of 3X3 and it was quite roomy. I can't afford one of these (nor a decent used car), but as planes go, this is a lot of plane for the money, especially for a private jet layout, those are usually even more expensive.

One thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Airwolf

Natalie Portman

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean that I can actually have a pony? I didn't see that on the list.

Just saying....

Neither was Natalie Portman! Woohoo!

Re:The idea of studding something in diamonds to..

[DragonWriter]

It's kind of like the "most expensive pizza" being so because it's covered in luxury foods like rare caviar and then topped off with gold flakes.

Well, its like the gold flakes part.

Luxury foods like caviar are still foods, and actually relate to the intended function of pizza, unlike diamonds on a TV.

F-15E

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty sure no matter who you are you can't buy a fully functional and supported F-15.

Re:F-15E

[rossdee]

They sold F15's to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Of course neither of those do Christmas...

Make it an F22 Raptor, they aren't going to sell any of those to foreign armed forces no matter what you'd pay...

Re:F-15E

[vulgrin]

You don't have to buy the F-15 directly. You just go buy a congressperson and have them get you one. Sure it might technically "belong" to the local Civil Air Patrol, but you get to take it out on the weekends.

And congresspeople are MUCH cheaper.

This

[Overzeetop]

My kingdom for a mod point.

One gift that brings them all

[gmuslera]

A DeLorean car, including a working Flux Capacitor, and MrFusion just to be green. Not only you will be able to get all those gifts, you will own Las Vegas too. If is asking too much, i could be happy with an antigrav hoverboard.

Too bad i can't have them for christmas.

Top 11 Things I Can't Have for Christmas

[Anonymous Coward]

Same as some of the other tops in the featured page, minus the pretty princess bull shit, plus:

11. An idle section for slashdot that actually has idle drivel, and a news section that actually has news.

Crazy

[sajuuk]

Anyone who seriously wants those things for Christmas should go and look at the unemployment rate. I'd settle for a job for Christmas.

Easy one

[Anonymous Coward]

Ten robot souls

Re:Meh - Now with even more useless extreme

[operagost]

6) Flying car. With unicorn horn gearshift.

Not only that

[Sycraft-fu]

But most of it didn't matter in the slightest. So there are some thing that rich people can buy that are substantially better, or simply different, than what a normal person can. In fact I'd say that is what makes someone rich: The ability to purchase at least one thing that middle class people can't that is better or makes life better in a non-trivial way.

However that wasn't what this list was. The sub boat is really the only thing that qualifies. A diamond studded TV? No, that's all show. Doesn't matter that a normal person can't afford it, they don't need to. It is no better than their regular LCD TV, it is pure showoff. Same shit with things like ultra expensive platinum Rolex's and so on. They don't matter because an economical sports watch is just as good, if not better, as a time keeping device, it just isn't flashy.

I'm not concerned about bling I can't afford. That never bothers me, I have no interest in it. I'd only be interested in something that would actually improve my life in some way.

My list:

[mcgrew]

1. Meg
2. The Millineum Falcon
3. an SR-71
4. Fort Knox
5. RIAA labels (so I can disolve them)
6. MPAA studios (ditto)
7. The Microsoft Corporation (so I could make it suck less)
8. HTML tags that work in slashdot (like an <ol> tag that would go to 10
9. Darl McBride's head on a platter
10. Marvin's brain

Re:My list:

[bzipitidoo]

Some things I want ought to be so easy we shouldn't have to think about them, but apparently politics and business prejudice make it difficult or impossible. Here's a brief list:

• Ogg Vorbis in a mechless car radio. (Of course it must support USB or SD.) Also FLAC would be good to have. And can we have that in a mechless portable stereo (aka boom box)? And at a reasonable price, say, under $100, possibly $150? Just getting a MP3 player that can play Vorbis was difficult. The first one I got was this Samsung Yepp, and the US version could not play Vorbis. Had to flash it with a European ROM, which involved tricking their DRM. Now I make sure Rockbox works on the device before I bite. Not happy about having a Rockboxed MP3 player dangling from a cable plugged into the car radio's audio input.
• Those calendars with all the great photos? Can I have that in a digital format, without DRM? No. They'd rather stick their heads in the sand and miss out on sales, they're so scared of piracy.
• A car that gets 50 mpg plus and isn't a hybrid. In America. I hear Europe has a bunch of those.
• Metric tools. Yes, there are many, but there is more variety in SAE tools, and they're cheaper. For instance, it is surprisingly hard to find a metal meter stick. No prob to get a yard stick. Wooden meter sticks are available, but so far, I have not seen a metal meter stick at a retail outlet. Guess online is the only option.
• Libre anything. Not just software, but things like toy building blocks like Legos, design plans for houses, car parts, chairs, etc. And data! Governments are sitting on heaps of statistics. And no more publishing the research but not the data.

number 11

[Anonymous Coward]

a pandora hand held. being complete, well, idiots in well running a start up. instead of getting loans to start production of the hand held and then offering the pre-orders which would repay the loan/s they offer the pre-orders first and with that 'set' amount of cash approached other company's to produce the boards and the like. because of this those same company's took advantage of them and lied to them on how many boards they made, tested, and populated with analog nubs.

due to this it looks like they won't even last past jan since this has cost them money they don't have because they can't go and ask the people who still hold pre-orders for more money. if they did this correctly they could of just got another loan and adjusted the expected price of the pre-orders. for those of you here that managed to get one of the 600~ or so already out, i am envious but i also tell you that you should put another flavor of linux on the thing because the angstrom one they are using will also probably cease to receive pandora specific updates.

Re:The idea of studding something in diamonds to..

[clarkkent09]

It just goes to show what great times we live in. It used to be that only the rich could afford the horse carriage, then only the rich could afford a car, than only the rich could afford a tv etc etc. These days everybody (in the developed world at least) can afford pretty much all the conveniences that latest technology provides. Really poor people (as in Africa) would laugh at the people in the US calling themselves poor even though they have a flat screen TV and an SUV in the garage of their 2000 sf. home. Ok if you live in NYC you probably can't afford much more than a cockroach infested apartment, but in most areas that's pretty much true. The most advanced options for home entertainment, transportation, home appliances etc are really not that much better than the affordable ones. The rich have to settle for diamond encrusted versions of stuff just to be different.

A *real* geek top10-can't-have list

[smellsofbikes]

of things that are actually cool rather than just plain old stuff with diamonds stuck on them.

1. Space shuttle.

2. F22.

3. Megan Fox.

4. Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

5. Cray X1E

6. Having Woz as your on-staff technical advisor.

7. A copy of the NIST F1 atomic clock.

8. A gigawatt laser.

9. All the digits of pi

10. Your own website that's as popular as /.

Re:A *real* geek top10-can't-have list

[dcw3]

3. Megan Fox.

With all the other hot women on the planet, I'll never understand why guys show interest in women with attitudes.

As an old fart (50+), I've been around the block a few times...you'll learn that for more than a one-nighter, you'll always be happier with a nice woman, than with one that's just eye-candy.

Re:A *real* geek top10-can't-have list

[KingAlanI]

I never quite got all the "OMG Megan Fox is so hot" buzz either.

I too have wondered why some guys actively encourage making things more difficult on guys as a whole.
Look out for your own kind's self interest, mmkay? :)

Though I shouldn't talk, kinda like this guy:
Howard: That dolphin trainer is totally doable.
Leonard: Howard, you'd "do" the dolphin.

Re:A *real* geek top10-can't-have list

[smellsofbikes]

Frankly, as a 40-something old fart I'm not that into MF either. But young geeks sure are, hence the inclusion on the list. Devon Aoki, however, or Julie Delpy -- well, they're on MY Christmas list, and I'm not sharing.

Re:The idea of studding something in diamonds to..

[blair1q]

Think of it this way: you're not studding your universal remote in diamonds, you're enabling your diamonds as a universal remote.

Diamonds have no real value, but people pay a fortune for them. DeBeers held a monopoly on them until the Canadian kimberlite miners told them to fuck off and started dumping rocks on the market. Did the prices drop? Nope.

People are dumb. Supply and Demand is a crock of shit. And I bet those speakers sound terrible.

Re:Meh - Now with even more useless extreme

[Caerdwyn]

6) Flying car. With unicorn horn gearshift.

Oh, that's not so bad. You have the leftover narwahl horn from extracting its blubber for item 2, so there's your gearshift!

No wasted parts. You're green now!

Re:Meh - Now with even more useless extreme

[Xyrus]

11) Snorting lunar dust of an alien hookers third tit

Airwolf

[Jaxoreth]

"Airwolf is the Holy Grail. The Golden Fleece. The thing you want that you cannot have. When you go sprinting through the mall
desperate to fill the emptiness in your life through the purchase of name brand clothing and electronics, you will never achieve satisfaction. Because the one brand name you really want is the one you can never have.

Airwolf? Oh, I'm sorry, we're all sold out. That item was only available for a very limited time and in very limited supply...

One."

http://www.ernestcline.com/spokenword/airwolf.htm

Re:Airwolf

[geekoid]

We build better helicopters then Airwolf. Seriously. They can hid, target thing while hidden, stealth. The can do loops barrel rolls and walk on their nose. Airwolf is shit by todays standards.

Re:Airwolf

[Jaxoreth]

We build better helicopters then Airwolf. Seriously. They can hid, target thing while hidden, stealth. The can do loops barrel rolls and walk on their nose. Airwolf is shit by todays standards.

Yeah, but how good is their theme music?

Re:Airwolf

[MattGWU]

You could have bought Airwolf on eBay Platinum Reserve.

Re:Meh - Now with even more useless extreme

[huiwe]

I think you'll find that bat guano from albino bats is no more white than that of the usual black variety.

Warning to Santa Claus

[PopeRatzo]

Bring me a Pagani Zonda Roadster Cinque in Mandarin red and nobody gets hurt.

Two words

[geekoid]

Larry Ellison.

ok, here are some more words:

Every person who suddenly finds that have millions of dollars. Lottery winners, rap stars, sport stars are all notoriously bad with financial decisions.

What about..

[Anonymous Coward]

I am sure the most often requested Christmas gift that isn't going to happen is:

Peace on Earth

Sandy Bridge

[cyclocommuter]

I don't see Intel's Sandy Bridge on the list... won't be available 'til January.

Re:Meh - Now with even more useless extreme

[aiht]

I think you'll find that bat guano from albino bats is no more white than that of the usual black variety.

But it's more exclusive!
I only accept the finest albino bat guano hand cream.
It's good in coffee, too. It goes perfectly with civet cat scat coffee.

Okay, the JET balcony is ridiculous!

[Anonymous Coward]

I read all of these expensive things that we cannot have for Christmas. Some are REALLY cool and I'd love to have them but....what's with the Jet with a balcony??? I don't get it. You obviously can't use it while flying so uhmmm, you can get a nice view of an airport or an airplane hanger while you're having dinner on your balcony with your fiance?? What's the purpose of this??

Re:The idea of studding something in diamonds to..

[MenThal]

Luxury foods like caviar are still foods, and actually relate to the intended function of pizza, unlike diamonds on a TV.

Damnit, now I have a hankering for a pizza with Kobe beef, white trouffles, russian beluga caviar and Norwegian Fisherman anchovies from the last can in existance!