Here is how the console box app works, it is really easy.
Step 1 put your phone in mute
Step 2 open center console box
Step 3 Throw phone inside
Step 4 (This is the tricky part you CAN NOT swipe it to lock that is patented by Apple you MUST close it with three fingers.. as four fingers might also be a patented method for closing a box). Close console box
This app is only $4 on google play.. it will only appear after you send the money to my account 1111111
The point of DRM is not to limit copying of material by those in the know. It is meant, and the sole purpose of it is to limit how long the content is good for. That basically after a few years your device is now obsolete, the DRM used is no longer supported. If you want new content you need to buy a new device... if you want your current content well, you need to buy it again for the new device. There are still a significant number of people in their 40s and up that will buy into this model.
You forgot the 25% sales tax in Denmark from your calculations (sales tax a very regressive form of taxation). In the usa the average sales tax is 6%. What you are saying in essence is that the US should significantly increase taxes and then give people these services? so lets put this into better perspective:
A middle class family in the USA (most middle class have some form of health insurance and are paying lets say 400/month employee contribution) vs Denmark for comparison.
Net income of 66k USD (50k Euro) in the usa they will spend about 3k/month on taxable items (50% is housing related the rest is spent... who saves anymore?). that means in the usa
3000 * 6% = 180
Denmark
3000 * 25% = 750
so you see you are paying significantly more for your health coverage then the average person in the USA...
that 180 in sales tax in the USA is also going to subsides University, you can not compare the price of a private college to a state university for in state residents. The cost of instate is 8000/year * 4 years = 32000
Lets divide that number over a lifetime say 60 years of paying sales tax will be 45 dollars per month.
So now lets add 180 + 400 + 45 = 625 vs the 750 you are paying... overall USA is less expensive the major difference is not in quality of care but in compensation when things do not go according to plan. The reason the USA doesn't have universal health care is quite simple... malpractice to sum up the situation:
Democrats make their money as trial lawyers and many of them made their fortunes on malpractice issues so a federal health care system would also mean no more malpractice claims in the 10s of millions of dollars but more in line with Denmark system: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/video-the-denmark-option/16126/
Republicans do not want a federal system they want it controlled by the state... and thus set by insurance companies (that charge significant amount for that malpractice insurance) that they will lobby for when they leave office.
so in short both Democrats in the USA and Republicans in the USA agree that Universal healthcare is bad for their pockets...
It is also perfectly legal to lie to them... you can not commit perjury unless you are in court or with authorized law enforcement that are charging you with a crime (the case where you would plead the 5th... to a private company you don't have to... you can just outright lie) that is why they want this law to make it a crime to lie to them. In the article they used the term "criminal" investigation however in absence of law enforcement with an actual case and court order there is no criminal investigation (and if they had that... they would then have the authority to gain the information from your accounts) just a company wanting to cover its tracks, prevent whistle blowers or other such events.
You should then be looking at Lenovo x230, yes it weighs more (4lbs) then a 1 lb tablet only oh ya and it costs 4x the price or more, or the Yoga (consumer version and not as customizable) it has all most of your list (and easy enough to add GPS).
I grew up with lego, yes when I was 7 I got my first set of little bricks that could... when I was 8 I got set #575 the Coast Guard set.. it had... one set you could build from the instructions (that was in 1978) it was just the start... you built it, you got other sets you built cities, forts, mountain ranges transformers spaceships and so on the possibilities were endless. I myself had children and so I set to raise them with lego, Bionical came out and I looked at those sets scratched my head and thought what on earth can you build except what the instructions had... so I didn't buy them at first and my boys went without until a fateful birthday party and they got a gift of one... well I was proved very wrong, they created, they built and came up with spiders and monsters, giants and trucks with arms.
Now there are so many options, you could buy the current trend (star wars, lord of the rings and so on) you can buy the box o bricks that is just a huge box of bricks you can even buy lego creator these sets have instructions for a few different models. Also you can buy the lego master builder that teaches kids how to really build in an a fun but educational way, they learn to build stability, realism, and structure in a set. Branding sets is not so much of a sell out as a step to creativity, it is what kids "want" but unlike the toy story action figures that sit in a box the lego harry potter sets that they got 4 years ago are now part of a space station and a giant mother ship with loading bays
Fonts are NOT protected by copyright US copyright law (much to the chagrin of font designers... yet somehow we survive and people still come up with new ones) what is protected is the "software" to display the font can be covered by an end user license agreement (the infamous EULA) and restrict you from using the font package as provided for you in the software on another computer without a license. You can and it is entirely legal to do so in the USA is copy the exact characters (Manually not with a software program) and document with a video that is how you are doing it, then release it into public domain. The font file is protected by copyright because it involves "code" and the judge and jury on the precedent setting cases didn't know what computers were.... and felt that the code that displays the font as true type (or a font manager program) can be copyrighted without any knowledge of the code itself being unique in anyway or worthy of a copyright.
What you are referring to is a Trademark (style) this is not a copyright and a company can protect its logo or colors and can sue if another company tries to use their trademark look they have to prove though that it will cause market confusion or give them impression that it is being endorsed by that company. For example a HS football team can not take the look and colors of an NFL team without permission, however a car dealer can wave flags and display the colors of the local football team without any special permission (or any team for that matter)
There are allot of grown ups who will also go and buy the iPhone 5 today based entirely on the marketing they have seen without ever asking a fundamental question of "Is this a good idea".
IP laws are designed to help entrenched economies not new and developing ones, as such that a "new" market has a phase with little IP law surrounding it and rapid expansion in technology. It is worth comparing two technologies that appeared around the same time: The Steam Locomotive and the Telegraph. The Telegraph was no more or less expensive to build out to every community then a rail line. However, the steam engine did not suffer from many patents, and very few of the mechanics of it were patented (air brakes being the most popular invention and patented by Westinghouse however a train didn't "need" them it was a safety issue and ultimately a cost issue -- less accidents means more money). Telegraph and Telephone (its successor) where locked up into a single monopoly due to heavy patents. The railroad expanded rapidly with over 180 railroad companies at the peak and rapid innovation created lots of jobs (see recent times to the rise of the computers and the overall lack of patents until recently that created many of the companies now fighting each other).
The phone on the other hand... was locked down to one company, in 100 years there was barely any innovation (from 1876 to 1976 the phone pretty much worked and looked the same, a train even 20 years later had major improvements) until the breakup of that monopoly after that, you can see the major transformation in the phone in just a short 40 years.
Imagine for a moment if the Wright Brothers could have gotten a look and feel patents for having an engine and two wings one on top of the other, as you can see there is no wright aviation company because although they got the initial idea they had a very hard time improving on it why you might ask? because they were over protective of their patent. Imagine if they could have locked down the whole industry with the kind of patents that are allowed today (on the plus side we would never have needed TSA)
Most people who do substantive research on this find that very few emerging technologies were helped by patents, however many monopolies, or large corporations were very much protected with the use of IP laws as they helped maintain the status quo.
Wow, you mean just like a real class with teachers that are absent minded, would rather be doing their research then teach the students, and overall awful teacher experience there are bad online classes too?? who would have thought that possible...
As for feedback, I am sure this teacher is aware of those 400+ lecture halls of introductory something or other... realistically how much feedback is the teacher getting (or care about) is this online class better or worse then that?
In an ideal world a teacher would have the perfect student to teacher ratio for the class and all the students in that class would be at the same skill level with the same learning capabilities, I would expect a good teacher to be able to look at something and evaluate it based on what can be done with the tool rather then disparage the new tool for education.
A quote from the Article of interest:
"Finally, here's a core a problem that multiplies and exacerbates all the others. In normal college teaching, a truly > instructor will go through a never-ending process of constant refinement and improvement for their courses, based on two-way interaction and feedback from live students. (I know I do; I've taught my introductory statistics course several dozen times and I still sit down and note possible improvements after almost every single class session.) "
I am positive if hard pressed he would be able to identify not only in the school he teaches at but in his own department the teachers that are not dedicated and that that by and large introductory course go through very little change over 5 to 10 years. (Except the text books those apparently discover new things in introductory math every year).
Here is a better summary
>
Yes unlike this chart, it is very hard to figure out the cost of your plan.. I know charts can be very confusing
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=prepayItem&action=viewPrepayOverview
Or this one from ATT
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-plans/pyg-cell-phone-plans.jsp?wtSlotClick=1-007FTV-0-2&_requestid=186952
Or this one from Team Mobile
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go-plans
You do not have to pay.20 per txt and it is very easy to figure out the plan that works best for you (well I guess since many in the USA by the time they get to HS can not balance a checkbook so basic addition and subtraction is elusive it really is not so easy)... I can not find an actual study that has the number of people that take the very basic most expensive prepay option as you claim (ie 20c per txt or 25c/min) since an average phone call takes more then 3 min based at least on this article not just because I felt it was true (ie $1 on the perpay)
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_length_of_a_phone_call
With prepay you have to use up the funds you put on your phone it almost doesn't make sense to do the 100% pay as you go option unless you know that on any given day you will never make a call more then 3 min long and the phone is really just for emergencies (not 911 emergencies) and even then if you get the 100/year plan (that is less then 10/month for the not so math inclined) and the $2/day option the most you will pay on any given day you use the phone is $2 the least is 0 and each txt is.02 so you are better off sending a txt message then making a call if you can. Yes you do need some basic math and to pay attention to what you do.
I am not even sure why this is news that Apple decided to build an employee cafeteria, I wonder if they are going to try and patent and succeed.
Yes we know that pretty much every large company in the USA has an employee cafeteria, and we know that in some of them the employee can order their food online in the morning for a specific lunch shift to be ready right when they arrive at lunch, but I tell you non-thinking members of the patent office this is new how many can do it while talking on a mobile device? Or using a touch screen interface instead of a mouse this is novel and new....
All I can think of is how in 1577 Queen Elizabeth gave financial backing to pirates in the Caribbean to break the Spanish hold in the area at the same time publicly being very against the whole idea (why yes you would be hanged as a pirate if you were caught without the secret papers). This is not any different (well except that in this case no one was actually hung). It does put a different view on everything overall how a large company actually can benefit from some well placed and promoted piracy.
I wonder how much Amazon paid for that article... BN already has a cheep tablet that is slick, has some apps and lots of books called the Nook (and if you use the SD slot... why yes.. yes it has one you can boot android and have all the apps) and soon they will have a full featured tablet but they don't seem to push it the same way.
You would be surprised to learn how many labor laws there are in fact that mandate many of these things.
Also the USA means the united STATES of America there are federal guidelines and then state laws. The federal laws set the minimum the states must do and then states can add onto that. (for example minimum wage and now mandated health insurance)
States are mandated by law to provide certain benefits to workers this can change if you are full time or part time, if you are hourly or salaried.
There are many health and safety regulations all of them covered by OSHA and this can vary if you work in an office or a mine... for example an office would not be allowed to keep explosives in easy reach...
Yes you can be fired for no reason at all in some states (called right to work states) that also means you can leave a company for any reason at all by just not showing up and you can go and work for any company at all no matter what NDA they make you sign (you can staple it to your resignation letter with a yellow smiley on as you let them know you are going to the competitor).
In the USA companies have to pay for unemployment benefits that means if they fire you for no reason they have to pay for you as you take a month vacation some place and start looking for a new job, thus in practice very few companies will fire for no reason they will make sure to have a mound of paperwork filled out so that when you try and file for the unemployment they can show cause.
Also be aware that suing in the USA in most cases means going to a lawyer paying him $250 to draft a letter and sending it to the company, they will then settle because litigation is expensive for them also, the outcome is uncertain and if you really have a case they would rather not have a shareholder meeting about it. yes I am sure you can find cases that went on for years but then I am sure in any country you can find gross negligence and unfair labor practices because enough money went to the right people.
I take you never heard of FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) that allows for both Maternity and Paternity leave for up to to 12 weeks in a calendar year (Is that great? no can it be better yes... but we do have it). In addition many states add on to that amount.
This reminds be back in the day of Sierra... remember them anyone... They came out with excellent games like Heroes Quest and Kings Quest, but they put out a statement of why they are not going to create adventure games because (and get this) they are not AS profitable as First Person shooters back then, yes they were profitable, yes they can be made and people bought them by the droves, but they cost more to make and they couldn't pocket as much money. They also disappeared entirely despite being a highly successful company because the founders sold it off (Ken Williams) to a rather shady company CUC followed by greedy scandals. Activision owns them now and they are looking to unload them.
At the same time there is now a game called Battle for Westnoth it is a cute fun game and it is far better then many turn based games of the 1990s each new version is creative and enhances the game and it is free...
There will always be startups, people that have vision and they will take hold, unlike movies that a low budget film can cost 1 - 2 million to create games can be created for far less. Even pretty graphic games (check out Myst and the history there). Most computer game companies started in some basement some place by dedicated gamers that wanted to build a really great game and they did but then with the influx of money comes influx of investors wanting the next big thing and many companies fold at that point because it is hard to meet the demands of investors and customers at the same time (Well normally it takes 3 or 4 release of game duds for the company to get absorbed).
The article is right in that once you start to chase the money it ruins the vision, the game, and the success, ultimately that attitude ruins the company especially in a market that the barrier to enter is fairly low, yet once the founders leave pretty much anyone that takes over will care about the money/shareholders first, customers second and product third.
As for the price of games... well if you are like me and you play them on the PC and you wait about 1 1/2 years after release you get for $35 the edition with all the add on packs, all the extras and fixes and it is worth the $35.
It is actually even funnier that he mentions Railroads because in the 1800s the railroads decided NOT to patent a huge number of their innovations and that lead to massive creative advancements in the railroad (just look at the huge difference between 1850 and 1900). On the other hand the Phone industry starting with the telegraph (Same time as railroad)has always been heavily patent encumbered and we can see just how that really spurred innovation and creativity (Ie the staggeringly slow innovations in phones and phone systems).
Gaming PCs are best built on your own, the CPU case HD and stuff will run around $500 then it is a matter of Sound and Video, if you are like me you buy games that are 1 -2 years old and thus the GPU you need is not the latest and greatest and can be upgraded as needed without upgrading the base computer. I needed the computer for other things and overall the $500 box was decent I needed to spend about $170 on a new GPU + Sound card for the games
I decided to check the price of the current game I am playing Fallout 3...
PC Game of the Year version on Amazon... New $37 used $33 (Including shipping)
XBOX/PlayStation New $59 used 42 (Including Shipping)
I am not an avid gamer, I buy 1 -2 games a year so I save about $22 a game if I bought new. so figure $50 a year in savings and I made up the cost of the extra hardware needed in 3 years (ie now it is FREE hardware and already at $170 cheaper then Xbox). This doesn't count all the MODS I can download for fallout 3, free addons customization and the like that I can't get on the Xbox. In addition (children do not read this at home) I use a site that lets me do away with the need for a DVD in the drive, thus I have it installed both on my home machine and my travel laptop (No customization for it to run on said laptop and ok not the best platform for games but it works ok enough). I would have to buy 2 copies for this to work with the Xbox or travel with the Xbox in my suitcase.
If I played more games 5 per year I would make it back in less then a year and half. PC CAN cost you around $10,000 if you want to spend on every little extra and some people will pay it just like some people will buy those tire things that spin backwards... do you need them to drive (or play a game) will that 1 extra frame per second mean the game experience will blow you away? not really you can get away with a general purpose computer and go from there, not only that there are always salvageable parts to be had from all sorts of sources (DVD drives, Cases, fans...) got to love computer shows... that can bring down the cost of a computer.
Yes very true and amazingly not insightful since XP has SP1... SP2 and yes even SP3 so many people are running SP2 or 3 therefore not that old an XP version
I use XP and I have used vista and even windows 7 and you know I really don't need much in my computer now. I use the following:
MS office (PPT/Outlook/Word)
Firefox
IE
VLC and Mpack
Adobe stuff
Am I the typical user? from my experience yes yes I am... can all this be done with Linux.. yes it can but needs some tweeking
So what exactly does windows 7 give me that I don't have yet? what can I do with it that I can't do in XP without a little tweek to meet the above applications? I would love an OS that would run the above on and when I power on my Laptop and have not yet opened a single application I am at less then %20 utilization with 1 gig of memory and overall much more efficient and better use of the hardware resources rather then the opposite.
That is what corporate customers want, better use of investment not this cycle of upgrades that don't really provide anything over the last version. Hence why things like SmartPhones and Ipads and such are gaining popular momentum because they do the above (don't worry the day Steve dies is the day the Board will put flash on Ipads and Iphones and whatever as a fond farewell) because do you want to spend $300 to upgrade your computer just for another round of the same or spend that same money on something really new and innovative?
I think what most people are not realizing is that Apple is Steve Jobs and his life span is decreasing at a rapid rate now. When he reaches his end of life cycle that will also end Apple as a company since the two are one and the same. He left once before and pretty much everyone who can think long term remembers what happened. Yes they have popular products but they are not innovators they did not invent these products, they did not push the technical envelope in the field. They are a marketing company and Steve Jobs is very good at it. However with him gone that will be left to the normally greedy shareholders that have driven many good companies into oblivion. (and guess what I am sure during his funeral i-stuff will support flash as a fond farewell to him).
This needs to be addressed from two angles
1) Write a letter to your local representative in government explaining the situation and how difficult it is to deal with the banks and some solutions that are well though out and can be instituted. Do this as a real letter not an email, the truth is as much as banks have lobbies you get the right person at the right time (say right when his best friend was hit with identity theft) and it will make a real impact and make the representative less receptive to the bank lobby.
After you finish step one there are a few options for step 2 depending on the tech you have and if you travel out of your country allot.
The best option is you travel rarely out of your country, you have a smart phone and don't like to use credit cards
a) Get a bank that works with said phone online
b) make sure the bank offers a pre-paid debit card and same day fund availability when you transfer with no fees and such nonsense
c) put $50 on the card as a base
d) anytime you want to make a larger purchase transfer funds with your phone and use your card
If you travel out of the country increase the amount to say $200 and replenish as needed from internet cafes or hotel.
This way if your wallet is lost or stolen you are temporarily out the money (the per paid cards are debit cards so have the same protection as debit cards) and they are better then carrying around a wad of cash.
The other option as people have said is use a credit card normally a quick search online will reveal if people had a very hard time with a given card or bank and you will find better support from a smaller bank but not always better award points and so on.
"You're correct that this principle can be applied to any other media. I see no reason why it shouldn't."
Amazingly enough it is.... a company (monopoly) set up with exclusive rights to collect money for any works on behalf of the copyright owners where the owners must register to receive their pay and at the same time absolves the distributor for figuring out who has the copyright.
This company in the USA is called... ah yes our friend soundexchange (Some posts a while ago were rather mean spirited towards them) but the precedent for this kind of entity has already been set. They are not required to find the copyright holders, just hold on to the money and the copyright holder has to come to them.
Slashdot Mirror
"toward synergies" ...
Seriously? I thought this buzzword was gone it has been years since I saw it as they got more organic
Here is how the console box app works, it is really easy. Step 1 put your phone in mute Step 2 open center console box Step 3 Throw phone inside Step 4 (This is the tricky part you CAN NOT swipe it to lock that is patented by Apple you MUST close it with three fingers .. as four fingers might also be a patented method for closing a box). Close console box
This app is only $4 on google play .. it will only appear after you send the money to my account 1111111
The point of DRM is not to limit copying of material by those in the know. It is meant, and the sole purpose of it is to limit how long the content is good for. That basically after a few years your device is now obsolete, the DRM used is no longer supported. If you want new content you need to buy a new device ... if you want your current content well, you need to buy it again for the new device. There are still a significant number of people in their 40s and up that will buy into this model.
This is exactly the reason given when trying to sell hardware from companies not based in the USA to the US government ...
You forgot the 25% sales tax in Denmark from your calculations (sales tax a very regressive form of taxation). In the usa the average sales tax is 6%. What you are saying in essence is that the US should significantly increase taxes and then give people these services? so lets put this into better perspective: ... who saves anymore?). that means in the usa ... ... overall USA is less expensive the major difference is not in quality of care but in compensation when things do not go according to plan. The reason the USA doesn't have universal health care is quite simple ... malpractice to sum up the situation:
... and thus set by insurance companies (that charge significant amount for that malpractice insurance) that they will lobby for when they leave office. ...
A middle class family in the USA (most middle class have some form of health insurance and are paying lets say 400/month employee contribution) vs Denmark for comparison.
Net income of 66k USD (50k Euro) in the usa they will spend about 3k/month on taxable items (50% is housing related the rest is spent
3000 * 6% = 180
Denmark
3000 * 25% = 750
so you see you are paying significantly more for your health coverage then the average person in the USA
that 180 in sales tax in the USA is also going to subsides University, you can not compare the price of a private college to a state university for in state residents. The cost of instate is 8000/year * 4 years = 32000
Lets divide that number over a lifetime say 60 years of paying sales tax will be 45 dollars per month.
So now lets add 180 + 400 + 45 = 625 vs the 750 you are paying
Democrats make their money as trial lawyers and many of them made their fortunes on malpractice issues so a federal health care system would also mean no more malpractice claims in the 10s of millions of dollars but more in line with Denmark system:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/video-the-denmark-option/16126/
Republicans do not want a federal system they want it controlled by the state
so in short both Democrats in the USA and Republicans in the USA agree that Universal healthcare is bad for their pockets
It is also perfectly legal to lie to them ... you can not commit perjury unless you are in court or with authorized law enforcement that are charging you with a crime (the case where you would plead the 5th ... to a private company you don't have to ... you can just outright lie) that is why they want this law to make it a crime to lie to them. In the article they used the term "criminal" investigation however in absence of law enforcement with an actual case and court order there is no criminal investigation (and if they had that ... they would then have the authority to gain the information from your accounts) just a company wanting to cover its tracks, prevent whistle blowers or other such events.
You should then be looking at Lenovo x230, yes it weighs more (4lbs) then a 1 lb tablet only oh ya and it costs 4x the price or more, or the Yoga (consumer version and not as customizable) it has all most of your list (and easy enough to add GPS).
I grew up with lego, yes when I was 7 I got my first set of little bricks that could ... when I was 8 I got set #575 the Coast Guard set .. it had ... one set you could build from the instructions (that was in 1978) it was just the start ... you built it, you got other sets you built cities, forts, mountain ranges transformers spaceships and so on the possibilities were endless. I myself had children and so I set to raise them with lego, Bionical came out and I looked at those sets scratched my head and thought what on earth can you build except what the instructions had ... so I didn't buy them at first and my boys went without until a fateful birthday party and they got a gift of one ... well I was proved very wrong, they created, they built and came up with spiders and monsters, giants and trucks with arms.
Now there are so many options, you could buy the current trend (star wars, lord of the rings and so on) you can buy the box o bricks that is just a huge box of bricks you can even buy lego creator these sets have instructions for a few different models. Also you can buy the lego master builder that teaches kids how to really build in an a fun but educational way, they learn to build stability, realism, and structure in a set. Branding sets is not so much of a sell out as a step to creativity, it is what kids "want" but unlike the toy story action figures that sit in a box the lego harry potter sets that they got 4 years ago are now part of a space station and a giant mother ship with loading bays
Fonts are NOT protected by copyright US copyright law (much to the chagrin of font designers ... yet somehow we survive and people still come up with new ones) what is protected is the "software" to display the font can be covered by an end user license agreement (the infamous EULA) and restrict you from using the font package as provided for you in the software on another computer without a license. You can and it is entirely legal to do so in the USA is copy the exact characters (Manually not with a software program) and document with a video that is how you are doing it, then release it into public domain. The font file is protected by copyright because it involves "code" and the judge and jury on the precedent setting cases didn't know what computers were .... and felt that the code that displays the font as true type (or a font manager program) can be copyrighted without any knowledge of the code itself being unique in anyway or worthy of a copyright.
What you are referring to is a Trademark (style) this is not a copyright and a company can protect its logo or colors and can sue if another company tries to use their trademark look they have to prove though that it will cause market confusion or give them impression that it is being endorsed by that company. For example a HS football team can not take the look and colors of an NFL team without permission, however a car dealer can wave flags and display the colors of the local football team without any special permission (or any team for that matter)
There are allot of grown ups who will also go and buy the iPhone 5 today based entirely on the marketing they have seen without ever asking a fundamental question of "Is this a good idea".
... was locked down to one company, in 100 years there was barely any innovation (from 1876 to 1976 the phone pretty much worked and looked the same, a train even 20 years later had major improvements) until the breakup of that monopoly after that, you can see the major transformation in the phone in just a short 40 years.
IP laws are designed to help entrenched economies not new and developing ones, as such that a "new" market has a phase with little IP law surrounding it and rapid expansion in technology. It is worth comparing two technologies that appeared around the same time: The Steam Locomotive and the Telegraph. The Telegraph was no more or less expensive to build out to every community then a rail line. However, the steam engine did not suffer from many patents, and very few of the mechanics of it were patented (air brakes being the most popular invention and patented by Westinghouse however a train didn't "need" them it was a safety issue and ultimately a cost issue -- less accidents means more money). Telegraph and Telephone (its successor) where locked up into a single monopoly due to heavy patents. The railroad expanded rapidly with over 180 railroad companies at the peak and rapid innovation created lots of jobs (see recent times to the rise of the computers and the overall lack of patents until recently that created many of the companies now fighting each other).
The phone on the other hand
Imagine for a moment if the Wright Brothers could have gotten a look and feel patents for having an engine and two wings one on top of the other, as you can see there is no wright aviation company because although they got the initial idea they had a very hard time improving on it why you might ask? because they were over protective of their patent. Imagine if they could have locked down the whole industry with the kind of patents that are allowed today (on the plus side we would never have needed TSA)
Most people who do substantive research on this find that very few emerging technologies were helped by patents, however many monopolies, or large corporations were very much protected with the use of IP laws as they helped maintain the status quo.
Wow, you mean just like a real class with teachers that are absent minded, would rather be doing their research then teach the students, and overall awful teacher experience there are bad online classes too?? who would have thought that possible ...
As for feedback, I am sure this teacher is aware of those 400+ lecture halls of introductory something or other ... realistically how much feedback is the teacher getting (or care about) is this online class better or worse then that?
In an ideal world a teacher would have the perfect student to teacher ratio for the class and all the students in that class would be at the same skill level with the same learning capabilities, I would expect a good teacher to be able to look at something and evaluate it based on what can be done with the tool rather then disparage the new tool for education.
A quote from the Article of interest:
"Finally, here's a core a problem that multiplies and exacerbates all the others. In normal college teaching, a truly > instructor will go through a never-ending process of constant refinement and improvement for their courses, based on two-way interaction and feedback from live students. (I know I do; I've taught my introductory statistics course several dozen times and I still sit down and note possible improvements after almost every single class session.) "
I am positive if hard pressed he would be able to identify not only in the school he teaches at but in his own department the teachers that are not dedicated and that that by and large introductory course go through very little change over 5 to 10 years. (Except the text books those apparently discover new things in introductory math every year).
Here is a better summary
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Yes unlike this chart, it is very hard to figure out the cost of your plan .. I know charts can be very confusing
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=prepayItem&action=viewPrepayOverview
Or this one from ATT
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-plans/pyg-cell-phone-plans.jsp?wtSlotClick=1-007FTV-0-2&_requestid=186952
Or this one from Team Mobile
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go-plans
You do not have to pay .20 per txt and it is very easy to figure out the plan that works best for you (well I guess since many in the USA by the time they get to HS can not balance a checkbook so basic addition and subtraction is elusive it really is not so easy) ... I can not find an actual study that has the number of people that take the very basic most expensive prepay option as you claim (ie 20c per txt or 25c/min) since an average phone call takes more then 3 min based at least on this article not just because I felt it was true (ie $1 on the perpay)
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_length_of_a_phone_call
With prepay you have to use up the funds you put on your phone it almost doesn't make sense to do the 100% pay as you go option unless you know that on any given day you will never make a call more then 3 min long and the phone is really just for emergencies (not 911 emergencies) and even then if you get the 100/year plan (that is less then 10/month for the not so math inclined) and the $2/day option the most you will pay on any given day you use the phone is $2 the least is 0 and each txt is .02 so you are better off sending a txt message then making a call if you can. Yes you do need some basic math and to pay attention to what you do.
I am not even sure why this is news that Apple decided to build an employee cafeteria, I wonder if they are going to try and patent and succeed. Yes we know that pretty much every large company in the USA has an employee cafeteria, and we know that in some of them the employee can order their food online in the morning for a specific lunch shift to be ready right when they arrive at lunch, but I tell you non-thinking members of the patent office this is new how many can do it while talking on a mobile device? Or using a touch screen interface instead of a mouse this is novel and new ....
All I can think of is how in 1577 Queen Elizabeth gave financial backing to pirates in the Caribbean to break the Spanish hold in the area at the same time publicly being very against the whole idea (why yes you would be hanged as a pirate if you were caught without the secret papers). This is not any different (well except that in this case no one was actually hung). It does put a different view on everything overall how a large company actually can benefit from some well placed and promoted piracy.
Just a quick search online confirmed this was already done ...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/10/nook-color-meet-ubuntu-ubuntu-meet-nook-color/
I wonder how much Amazon paid for that article ... BN already has a cheep tablet that is slick, has some apps and lots of books called the Nook (and if you use the SD slot ... why yes .. yes it has one you can boot android and have all the apps) and soon they will have a full featured tablet but they don't seem to push it the same way.
You would be surprised to learn how many labor laws there are in fact that mandate many of these things. Also the USA means the united STATES of America there are federal guidelines and then state laws. The federal laws set the minimum the states must do and then states can add onto that. (for example minimum wage and now mandated health insurance) States are mandated by law to provide certain benefits to workers this can change if you are full time or part time, if you are hourly or salaried. There are many health and safety regulations all of them covered by OSHA and this can vary if you work in an office or a mine ... for example an office would not be allowed to keep explosives in easy reach ...
Yes you can be fired for no reason at all in some states (called right to work states) that also means you can leave a company for any reason at all by just not showing up and you can go and work for any company at all no matter what NDA they make you sign (you can staple it to your resignation letter with a yellow smiley on as you let them know you are going to the competitor).
In the USA companies have to pay for unemployment benefits that means if they fire you for no reason they have to pay for you as you take a month vacation some place and start looking for a new job, thus in practice very few companies will fire for no reason they will make sure to have a mound of paperwork filled out so that when you try and file for the unemployment they can show cause.
Also be aware that suing in the USA in most cases means going to a lawyer paying him $250 to draft a letter and sending it to the company, they will then settle because litigation is expensive for them also, the outcome is uncertain and if you really have a case they would rather not have a shareholder meeting about it. yes I am sure you can find cases that went on for years but then I am sure in any country you can find gross negligence and unfair labor practices because enough money went to the right people.
I take you never heard of FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) that allows for both Maternity and Paternity leave for up to to 12 weeks in a calendar year (Is that great? no can it be better yes ... but we do have it). In addition many states add on to that amount.
Here is the comic if you are interested ...
http://xkcd.com/327/
This reminds be back in the day of Sierra ... remember them anyone ... They came out with excellent games like Heroes Quest and Kings Quest, but they put out a statement of why they are not going to create adventure games because (and get this) they are not AS profitable as First Person shooters back then, yes they were profitable, yes they can be made and people bought them by the droves, but they cost more to make and they couldn't pocket as much money. They also disappeared entirely despite being a highly successful company because the founders sold it off (Ken Williams) to a rather shady company CUC followed by greedy scandals. Activision owns them now and they are looking to unload them.
At the same time there is now a game called Battle for Westnoth it is a cute fun game and it is far better then many turn based games of the 1990s each new version is creative and enhances the game and it is free ...
There will always be startups, people that have vision and they will take hold, unlike movies that a low budget film can cost 1 - 2 million to create games can be created for far less. Even pretty graphic games (check out Myst and the history there). Most computer game companies started in some basement some place by dedicated gamers that wanted to build a really great game and they did but then with the influx of money comes influx of investors wanting the next big thing and many companies fold at that point because it is hard to meet the demands of investors and customers at the same time (Well normally it takes 3 or 4 release of game duds for the company to get absorbed).
The article is right in that once you start to chase the money it ruins the vision, the game, and the success, ultimately that attitude ruins the company especially in a market that the barrier to enter is fairly low, yet once the founders leave pretty much anyone that takes over will care about the money/shareholders first, customers second and product third.
As for the price of games ... well if you are like me and you play them on the PC and you wait about 1 1/2 years after release you get for $35 the edition with all the add on packs, all the extras and fixes and it is worth the $35.
It is actually even funnier that he mentions Railroads because in the 1800s the railroads decided NOT to patent a huge number of their innovations and that lead to massive creative advancements in the railroad (just look at the huge difference between 1850 and 1900). On the other hand the Phone industry starting with the telegraph (Same time as railroad)has always been heavily patent encumbered and we can see just how that really spurred innovation and creativity (Ie the staggeringly slow innovations in phones and phone systems).
Gaming PCs are best built on your own, the CPU case HD and stuff will run around $500 then it is a matter of Sound and Video, if you are like me you buy games that are 1 -2 years old and thus the GPU you need is not the latest and greatest and can be upgraded as needed without upgrading the base computer. I needed the computer for other things and overall the $500 box was decent I needed to spend about $170 on a new GPU + Sound card for the games I decided to check the price of the current game I am playing Fallout 3 ...
PC Game of the Year version on Amazon ... New $37 used $33 (Including shipping)
XBOX/PlayStation New $59 used 42 (Including Shipping)
I am not an avid gamer, I buy 1 -2 games a year so I save about $22 a game if I bought new. so figure $50 a year in savings and I made up the cost of the extra hardware needed in 3 years (ie now it is FREE hardware and already at $170 cheaper then Xbox). This doesn't count all the MODS I can download for fallout 3, free addons customization and the like that I can't get on the Xbox. In addition (children do not read this at home) I use a site that lets me do away with the need for a DVD in the drive, thus I have it installed both on my home machine and my travel laptop (No customization for it to run on said laptop and ok not the best platform for games but it works ok enough). I would have to buy 2 copies for this to work with the Xbox or travel with the Xbox in my suitcase.
If I played more games 5 per year I would make it back in less then a year and half. PC CAN cost you around $10,000 if you want to spend on every little extra and some people will pay it just like some people will buy those tire things that spin backwards ... do you need them to drive (or play a game) will that 1 extra frame per second mean the game experience will blow you away? not really you can get away with a general purpose computer and go from there, not only that there are always salvageable parts to be had from all sorts of sources (DVD drives, Cases, fans ...) got to love computer shows... that can bring down the cost of a computer.
Yes very true and amazingly not insightful since XP has SP1 ... SP2 and yes even SP3 so many people are running SP2 or 3 therefore not that old an XP version
I use XP and I have used vista and even windows 7 and you know I really don't need much in my computer now. I use the following:
MS office (PPT/Outlook/Word)
Firefox
IE
VLC and Mpack
Adobe stuff
Am I the typical user? from my experience yes yes I am ... can all this be done with Linux .. yes it can but needs some tweeking
So what exactly does windows 7 give me that I don't have yet? what can I do with it that I can't do in XP without a little tweek to meet the above applications? I would love an OS that would run the above on and when I power on my Laptop and have not yet opened a single application I am at less then %20 utilization with 1 gig of memory and overall much more efficient and better use of the hardware resources rather then the opposite.
That is what corporate customers want, better use of investment not this cycle of upgrades that don't really provide anything over the last version. Hence why things like SmartPhones and Ipads and such are gaining popular momentum because they do the above (don't worry the day Steve dies is the day the Board will put flash on Ipads and Iphones and whatever as a fond farewell) because do you want to spend $300 to upgrade your computer just for another round of the same or spend that same money on something really new and innovative?
I think what most people are not realizing is that Apple is Steve Jobs and his life span is decreasing at a rapid rate now. When he reaches his end of life cycle that will also end Apple as a company since the two are one and the same. He left once before and pretty much everyone who can think long term remembers what happened. Yes they have popular products but they are not innovators they did not invent these products, they did not push the technical envelope in the field. They are a marketing company and Steve Jobs is very good at it. However with him gone that will be left to the normally greedy shareholders that have driven many good companies into oblivion. (and guess what I am sure during his funeral i-stuff will support flash as a fond farewell to him).
This needs to be addressed from two angles 1) Write a letter to your local representative in government explaining the situation and how difficult it is to deal with the banks and some solutions that are well though out and can be instituted. Do this as a real letter not an email, the truth is as much as banks have lobbies you get the right person at the right time (say right when his best friend was hit with identity theft) and it will make a real impact and make the representative less receptive to the bank lobby. After you finish step one there are a few options for step 2 depending on the tech you have and if you travel out of your country allot. The best option is you travel rarely out of your country, you have a smart phone and don't like to use credit cards a) Get a bank that works with said phone online b) make sure the bank offers a pre-paid debit card and same day fund availability when you transfer with no fees and such nonsense c) put $50 on the card as a base d) anytime you want to make a larger purchase transfer funds with your phone and use your card If you travel out of the country increase the amount to say $200 and replenish as needed from internet cafes or hotel. This way if your wallet is lost or stolen you are temporarily out the money (the per paid cards are debit cards so have the same protection as debit cards) and they are better then carrying around a wad of cash. The other option as people have said is use a credit card normally a quick search online will reveal if people had a very hard time with a given card or bank and you will find better support from a smaller bank but not always better award points and so on.
"You're correct that this principle can be applied to any other media. I see no reason why it shouldn't." Amazingly enough it is .... a company (monopoly) set up with exclusive rights to collect money for any works on behalf of the copyright owners where the owners must register to receive their pay and at the same time absolves the distributor for figuring out who has the copyright.
This company in the USA is called ... ah yes our friend soundexchange (Some posts a while ago were rather mean spirited towards them) but the precedent for this kind of entity has already been set. They are not required to find the copyright holders, just hold on to the money and the copyright holder has to come to them.