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User: SuluSulu

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Comments · 87

  1. Nope. I'm already working on moving all of my notes out and closing my account. I'm encouraging others to do the same.

    What are you moving to?

  2. Re:All these fancy features, but unable to schedul on Google Allo Messaging App Launches For iOS and Android (phonedog.com) · · Score: 1

    I use it to schedule birthday messages. I also find it very useful to send messages when a person is most likely to notice the message when it arrives so that it doesn't get lost among all their other notifications.

  3. Can someone please explain this for us dumb foreigners? I never could make any sense of the US telephone system. Its crazy with being charged for *incoming* calls, and roaming charges when you have not even left the country. Why would the network care if you change handsets? Can't you just buy a new phone from the local tech-shop and swap the SIM over? Upgrade/Activation fees are charged when you purchase a phone under a contract or installment plan to pay for the phone. The carriers claim that it is to cover the costs associated with setting up the new phone which often involves transferring your data one phone to another, walking the customer through the setup of the new phone, etc. The activation fee is essentially paid back the local retailer in the form of commissions or other similar reimbursement systems. This is why online phone purchases often have "free activation" since you don't have to pay for the person behind the counter. (I have about 5 years of experience in cell phone sales.) Really they only stopped charging upgrade fees because they wanted to promote the use of their installment plans to pay for the phones. I have personally been expecting Verizon do go back to charging upgrade fees for awhile now.

  4. I like owning things... on Sony's Ultra 4K Streaming Service Launching On April 4; Titles Priced At $30 (variety.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I for one prefer to "own" the copies that I buy. If I'm to buy a digital only copy that I will never actually "own" why should I pay the same price, or even more, as a physical copy? No thank you Sony.

  5. Re:Jumping ship? on AT&T Says Malware Secretly Unlocked Hundreds of Thousands of Phones · · Score: 1

    an important tool used by cellular carriers to prevent customers from jumping ship.

    Handset locks don't stop anything, it is contract law which ensures people pay for the remainder of their contract terms... Handset locks just decrease the usefulness and resale value of the handset, while creating an artificial grey market in unlocking methods.

    I intentionally avoid any operator who supplies locked handsets.

    The purpose of locked phones isn't to keep people from switching carriers. Having similar plan pricing, focusing on "best coverage" in specific areas, employer discount programs, retention offers, different network technology and most importantly individuals own reluctance to change does that.

    Lots of people want to believe that the big companies lock phones to trap them but the real reason is fraud. Cell phone fraud is a lot bigger than most people think.

    It works like this: Company A sells phones and service for Verizon. Company A buys Iphone 6's for about $600. A person comes in and buys 2 iphones for $150 each totaling $300 with a contract. The person then goes to another location to buy more phones. As many as they can get away with. Then the person never pays their bill so Company A NEVER GETS PAID BY VERIZON. Thus they lose $600 per phone. 2 phone = $1200 loss, 5 phones = $3000.

    It used to be that people doing this would focus on AT&T. Now they just want Verizon phones because they are unlocked for international use. That makes it lot easier to resell them overseas.

    I'm just glad that things are moving to installment plans/ full price phones. Now the carrier is the one taking on the liability. And since installment plans require a higher level credit check it's a lot more difficult to commit fraud. Of course, what it means now is that those with poor credit (mostly low income) are now stuck with cheap phones. They come in to get a good phones and now they have to make a 30-40% down payment, if they can get them at all. It use to be that they would just buy last years flagship phones on contract for $0-$50.

  6. Re:Good guy teleco emplyees... on AT&T Says Malware Secretly Unlocked Hundreds of Thousands of Phones · · Score: 1

    If only the idea of a carrier-locked phone could be made illegal... It would put more pressure on the companies to actually come up with decent pricing and plans to secure their customers!

    Having all phones unlocked would have no effect on plan pricing in the US. There are already reasonably priced plans out there from MVNOs. You just have to pay full price for your phone and sacrifice some on customer service. It might have some effect on the price of the phones themselves but the only sure result is that you would have to pay full price for your phone up front all the time, and only those with the very best credit would be able to use installment plans to pay for phones.

  7. Re:No big deal (except the encryption part) on Dropbox Head Responds To Snowden Claims About Privacy · · Score: 1

    You might consider checking out Spideroak.com as they claim to not store your password on their servers so that it is impossible for them to decrypt your files without you. Also they have a decent synchronization client for all major OSs. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Spideroak, just a user.

  8. Re:re-auction them every 5 years on Wireless Carriers In Huge Washington Lobby Fight Over Spectrum Auction · · Score: 1

    If you actually did that it would put a huge cost burden on the customers. The carriers would have to set aside a large portion of their earnings every year to ensure that they would have enough just to keep the spectrum that they have let alone expand. Not to mention that if they lost an auction they would also loose most if not everything that they invested in their network. The companies that survive would be the ones that are able to squeeze the most money out of their customers and are the best at making back room deals with their competitors. And it wouldn't be the small companies. It would be far better at this point if the FCC just gave the spectrum to some of the smaller carriers so that they could expand their markets and offer more choice to customers. Or just nationalize the network and let companies resell service.

  9. Re:Bah. on How Intuit Manages 10 Million Lines of Code · · Score: 2

    Real programmers keep their code on punch cards.

    No, real programmers do it by hand.

  10. Re:They must have felt the 'heat' on HTC To Unlock Smartphones' Bootloader · · Score: 1

    it is sad though, that HTC appears to be paying at least US$5 to Microsoft for their patents...one more reason for me to avoid HTC.

    That doesn't make any sense. It's not as if HTC wants to pay Microsoft money. They are a relatively small company and don't have a choice. If anything, this is yet another reason to avoid Microsoft products and buy an Android based phone.

  11. Re:I'm using the 105Mbit service and the cap is re on Comcast's 105MBit Service Comes With Data Cap · · Score: 1

    But it isn't that bad.I haven't come close to maxing it out and I tried. I don't know, how exactly do you use more than 250GB in a month?

    You give up broadcast TV and just use and have more than one person use Netflix and Hulu.

  12. Re:As ken said: on Watson Wins Jeopardy Contest · · Score: 1

    I for one welcome our new computer overload.

    As do I. Especially since this one answers questions so readily, unlike our usual overlords.

  13. Obligatory... on Star Wars Films In 3D Due In 2012 · · Score: 5, Funny
  14. Re:If I could do it, I would! on What the Top US Companies Pay In Taxes · · Score: 1

    I have thought of the lawyers... and the sharks too! ;-)

  15. Re:Lol on Living Free With Linux, Round 2 · · Score: 1

    i proclaim the name of the new debian package manager - FUCK fuck this fuck install fuck remove fuck search

    All you need to add is "fuck restart" and it would sound just like the last time I had to do a complete reinstall of my Windows box!

  16. Re:Oh no... on Largest Aussie ISP Agrees To "Ridiculous" Net-Filter Trial · · Score: 2, Interesting

    why don't they just go after the site owners?

    Because this isn't, and never has been, actually about protecting the children.

    No, it's far more likely that the kiddie porn site operators themselves are much harder to find even if their sites aren't. They would have to be pretty stupid to run their sites with real names and addresses. Not to mention that they are likely to operate in countries that have different laws about what is illegal (like the age of consent).
    I think that it would be better to go after the credit card processors. Make it more difficult to get peoples money.

  17. Re:ISBN-10? on Website Optimization · · Score: 1

    This is most likely because of old ordering, warehousing, and library software. There is some information here.

  18. Re:I write off thousands every year to OSS on Tax Write-Offs For Free (As In Speech) Work? · · Score: 1

    You can't swing an open source cat without hitting a 501(c)3.

    So does you open source cat run Linux, and where can I get the source code?

  19. Re:Web advertising on Microsoft Circles Back to Yahoo With New Offer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because regardless of how many hits you get, if you don't tell people that your product exists then no one will ever buy it, and advertising on TV is too expensive, especially, when you are trying to reach a geographically diverse audience.

  20. Re:Aperture Science on The Worst Workspaces In Tech · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aperture Science. Despite the nice, clean looking test chambers, the rest of the facility is quite a dump.

    There's also an AI who flooded the place with a deadly neurotoxin...
    Sacrifices must be made for the good of all of us, except the ones who are dead.
  21. Re:Is it really "old" tech? on Why OldTech Keeps Kicking · · Score: 1

    Mainframes are freight trains, personal computers are sports cars, and little UNIX boxes are trucks. :-)
    So does that make a PC running Windows analogous to a Ford Pinto?
  22. Re:Just be happy it didn't say THIS: on IT Workers Split For McCain, Obama · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey! At least when the time comes we'll be able to use our uber computer skills to manipulate the vote properly, you insensitive clod!

  23. Re:AM Radio = Range on Australian WiMax Pioneer Calls It a Disaster · · Score: 1

    Wish I still had my mod points. Mod parent up!

  24. Re:Reason for using solid-state drives on Intel Confirms It Will Ship 160GB Flash Drives · · Score: 1

    I'm looking forward to the day that we can just get rent movies from the store in a worm drive read only card format.

    Think, if you could get hd format movies in full length put onto an SSD that simply plays the movies. No more CD scratching.... Errors, etc.
    Your expectations are to low. Forget getting out of my chair to go to the store! I'm waiting for full HD streaming over fiber.
  25. Re:ID Theft? on House IP Leader Endorses P2P Blocking · · Score: 1

    I am just glad Huckabee dropped out,as I live in AR,and trust me,you DID NOT want that bozo! He even went so far as to have all the hard drives destroyed from the computers his people used as he left office! I can just imagine what he was doing that made him THAT paranoid.
    You would prefer that they just throw them in the trash or sell them on Ebay WITHOUT destroying the data on them?