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User: Altus

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  1. Re:In a word... on Obama Proposes High-Speed Rail System For the US · · Score: 1

    no, but you might see NY to chicago and LA to Vegas.

    Once you have those it might make sense to connect the two, but obviously that would be a long way off. I dont think it would be worth it to take rail from NY to LA no matter what, even with the wait at the airport, flying has to be better.

  2. Re:So what? on Lose Your Amazon Account and Your Kindle Dies · · Score: 1

    If this were apple cutting off itunes DRM because of some returned macs they would be crucified for it.

    Yea, this story may not doom the kindle but its a good example of the problems with DRM and digital media. The company you buy from doesn't have to go under for you to end up screwed.

  3. Re:Rent-a-cops on College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior · · Score: 1

    actually, from my understanding, Boston College cops are State cops. This is because Boston College has campuses in more than one municipality. As a result, the cops cant just be Boston cops, or Newton cops, but are actually state cops so that they have jurisdiction over both campuses.

    Unfortunately I don't have any links to back this up.

  4. Re:sure it is on College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior · · Score: 2, Interesting

    yea, but since when is calling someone gay a matter for the police?

    He is accused of changing grades (a serious offense) and calling someone gay (a civil matter at best) and there is some evidence that he called that person gay so clearly thats enough evidence for a warrant?

  5. Re:sure it is on College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior · · Score: 5, Informative

    email would be libel, for words in print, just like in a newspaper.

    Slander is for spoken words.

  6. Re:The question isn't just "are Macs expensive" on Mac Tax, Dell Tax, HP Tax · · Score: 1

    why didnt you fix up that 5 year old refurb?

    If its not disposable then you would have fixed it up and kept it running.

    Laptops are disposable, desktops too for the most part. Cameras as well. Disposable means, when it breaks, unless its brand new, its often cheeper to replace it than repair it.

    My old G4 powerbook lasted 7 years before it started to become unreliable. I'm not even sure if I could buy a new motherboard for it, but it certainly made more sense for me to buy a new MacBookPro that is far beyond that old workhorse than to try to repair it and get another year out of it before something else went.

    The only reason it lasted that long is because I was willing to work on it myself, if I had to bring it to someone every time it broke I probably would have traded up a year or 2 earlier.

  7. Re:mod parent up! on Mac Tax, Dell Tax, HP Tax · · Score: 1

    This is not true if the specs you want are exactly (or very close to) the specs of the mac.

    Your right, the proper way to buy the right computer is to pick your specs and then find the machine that matches them for the lowest price, but the way to compare 2 computer manufactures is to configure 2 machines that match each others specs and compare the bottom line.

    This is a case where there are 2 different tasks that require 2 different processes.

  8. Re:I'm going to pick on his Fanboi here... on Mac Tax, Dell Tax, HP Tax · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One brand, and a premium one at that, is not well served by having hundreds of different computer models. Sure, Apple could make a cheaper laptop with a 17" screen and they could make a netbook and a mid range tower and all those other things. But now they have the over head of twice as many computers and configurations. Twice the overhead of manufacturing twice the overhead of warehousing cases and other parts that are specific to a given model. (ok, maybe not twice as much, but the overhead is non trivial)

    As a result, they might sell a few more computers, but not twice as many. The proper tactic from an economic point of view is to try to make as few models as possible while still covering the needs of as large a user base as possible. This keeps cost down and margins up while still maintaining brisk sales.

    Now one could argue that the computers that apple makes aren't the best choices for the market, but I dont know that the data really backs you up. The few extra mid range towers they might sell doesn't really make up for the cost of adding a whole new line when for the vast majority of consumers, an iMac or mac mini is quite sufficient and professionals almost always buy a top of the line machine anyway.

    Sometimes I think that we here on slashdot forget that there is a room full of economists, market analysts and manufacturing experts at apple that help shape the nature of the mac line. If a mid range tower was going to help apples bottom line significantly, then they would be making one.

  9. Re:Well it sounds better than on Hungry Crustaceans Eat Climate Change Experiment · · Score: 1

    what happens when plankton die?

  10. Re:Been following this for awhile. on Strip-Search Case Tests Limits of 4th Amendment · · Score: 1

    Who abuses prescription strength ibuprofen anyway? Can you actually get high off of it?

    I mean if we were talking about opiates that would be one thing but this just seems silly.

  11. Re:Hell yes! on Psystar Wins a Round Against Apple · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, they sell full versions, but they are only supposed to be installed on Apple branded Macs according the the dreaded EULA.

  12. Re:What? on The Broken Design of Microsoft's "Fix it" Tool · · Score: 1

    sure, that reasonable, but this is still probably not the best way to design this.

    Would it be so hard for them to pop up a dialog that says "hey, your about to download an installer for a different version of the OS than what you are running. This installer wont work on your computer. OK, cancel, download the correct installer."

    This is supposed to be a resource for people who are not particularly computer literate. Its usually a better idea to force the knowledgeable folks to click an extra box and make it easy for the people who don't know what their doing, rather than the other way around.

  13. Re:Think of the children on 6 Pennsylvania Teens Face Child Porn Charges For Pics of Selves · · Score: 1

    Do you honestly think these kids were aware that they could be charged with child pornography for taking naked pictures of themselves? Do you honestly think they knew that their actions could result in them being branded for the rest of their lives?

    Or are you just being a prude about naked pictures? There is no terrible shame or horror in taking naked pictures of yourself and sharing them with your partners. The only reason this is an issue is because the people doing it were under the age of majority.

  14. Re:Mike Murray is LDS (mormon) on Google Challenging Proposition 8 · · Score: 1

    As long as marriage confers legal rights it is a political issue, there is no getting around that.

    Personally I agree with you about civil unions, I used to espouse that view myself, but then I tried to imagine being the politician who puts this piece of legislation on the table.

    The next day on Rush: Politician X is trying to pass a law to outlaw marriage! Conservatives everywhere must ban together to end his career and preserve the sanctity of the American marriage.

    It would be career suicide.

  15. Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update on Apple Intros 17" Unibody MBP, DRM-Free iTunes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ok, so you want to force everyone to have yet another port on their laptop that adds to the weight and style just so that they can doc their laptop in one or 2 seconds less.

    You claim that the monitor and USB ports are going to get messed up over time but the docs port will likely suffer the same fate.

    Yes, docs are ok for business users who use the machine at their desks 90% of the time but Id be that mac laptops are used off of desks more often than on desks. Apple is simply targeting the needs of their users and that means a 2 second inconvenience for the minority.

    If a doc really means that much to you, buy a laptop with a doc, but I think the market has show that the majority of users don't really care that much.

  16. Re:constantly-powered battery reliability on Apple Intros 17" Unibody MBP, DRM-Free iTunes · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have seen this same problem as well, but its worht noting that the current batch of MacBook Pros apparently require the battery to be in place even if they are plugged into the wall because they cant pull enough power through the wall wart for peak performance and need the battery there for when power demands go up.

    So while you do have a good point its quite possible that, even if the battery were removable, you wouldn't be able to operate without it.

  17. Re:17" Macbook on Apple Intros 17" Unibody MBP, DRM-Free iTunes · · Score: 1

    the battery trade off is between having a removable battery and having a battery that lasts 8 hours (according to apple). If they really have managed to get that much more life out of a battery by making it non removable (saving a lot of space) then that's a much more tempting trade off.

    I might trade the removable battery for 35% more battery life.

  18. Re:Apple would do a lot better if... on How Apple Could Survive Without Steve Jobs · · Score: 1

    I agree with you that Apple could do many things to better support the Enterprise but I don't think you have show that this support will help their bottom line. Apple is a fantastically successful company that makes consumer products. All of the things you are proposing cost money and take time and energy away from their highly successful consumer products. Ultimately it might not be the best move for Apple over all. Sure they could do much better in that particular market but we arent talking about a company that is hurting.

    I also disagree about Steve Jobs getting in the way of Enterprise support. He has shown that he is quite capable of working with the enterprise back when he was CEO of NEXT. When he came back to Apple he focused on what Apple was good at and he has been extremely successful at it.

    Everyone wants Apple to do something different (enterprise support, clone hardware, return of the newton) and claims that not doing so is hurting their bottom line, but when I look at Apples bottom line, I don't see a lot of hurt. They have the potential for growth in new areas but they haven't even cornered the markets that they are successful in. I think apple would be more likely to go hard after the video editing industry before they would go hard after the enterprise (especially since experience there would give them the skilled personnel they need to better support enterprise customers).

  19. Re:iPod, iPhone, then what? on Jobs Not Giving This Year's Macworld Keynote · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ill tell you this. Planning your product schedule around trade show sucks. Why do it when your the big dog and you can easily host your own events. You plan your event when the product is close to being released.

    Your right, if you can drum up the hype any time you need to, why let someone else set your schedule.

  20. Re:Advertisements on Barack Obama Is One Step Closer To Being President · · Score: 1

    But mostly you will see comments about how this story isnt really "news for nerds" or "stuff that matters."

    Those comments are driving just as much traffic as anything political. Ive never understood why people read stories they don't want to read and then take time to post about how much the story sucks. Your just encouraging it. Let the political nuts drive the traffic and the types of stories will be determined by how many people want to read those stories rather than how many people don't want to read those stories.

    Its like a Neilson family watching a show they hate just to complain about it to each other.

  21. Re:Change Laws for Sentencing not laws against dru on Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition? · · Score: 1

    do you have any idea what the current markup on a bag of weed is? Do you have any idea how cheep it is to produce if your not worried about getting ripped off or busted by the governement?

  22. Re:dude on Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition? · · Score: 1

    You clearly know nothing of addiction.

    There are functional addicts on almost every drug available from caffeine and nicotine to heroin. These are people who are addicted to a drug but still get up every day and go to work and are productive members of society. You might very well work with a functional alcoholic or even a functional heroin user. I can be almost sure that you work with a functioning caffeine or nicotine addict.

  23. Re:Give me their names. on Maryland Court Weighs Internet Anonymity · · Score: 1

    I agree with you but If you read the article you will find that dell computer has been blacklisted because a marketing manager made a private donation. I think this goes too far. If a business makes a donation then by all means, punish them for it, but punishing a business for the private behavior of an employee is a bad idea.

    The last thing we want is to give businesses more reason to keep tabs on their employees private lives. It would be wrong for Dell to fire someone for their private political beliefs or to keep tabs on their employees political donations to make sure that they are in line with corporate policy. To punish them for the actions of an employee is to encourage them to keep tabs on such things.

  24. Re:No mention however on Maryland Court Weighs Internet Anonymity · · Score: 1

    yes, our law is based on "Innocent until proven guilty" and the person on trial is the one who is innocent until it is proven that what he said was false, believable and damaging to the business and reputation of dunking donuts.

  25. Re:Reconsideration sounds prudent.. on Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition? · · Score: 1

    That would be awesome. I love the mild kick you get from a coca candy or tea. I don't think its likely to happen though.