Vista is often criticized for its lack of killer features [...]. One could argue that the over-reliance on DRM by Vista is a "killer" feature... but in the opposite way of how the expression is used commonly. Adding those artificial restrictions to all kinds of common tasks at the least will add more overhead and slow-down.
Using this on 2.0.0.13 on Mac OSX 10.3.9 (iBook G4) it works fine - less problems with missing comments like I had a few days ago (abbreviated comments not visible), and it works actually pretty fast. I have the feeling it's even faster than the previous incarnation. But then maybe my 'net connection has a good evening, that also varies now and then.
All in all I like it. Haven't tried out the keybindings yet (12 of them already! Getting confusing), inline reply is great, but those buttons are too big.
The server is to be written off in three years, so that makes your $1600 server cost $480 per year.
Your sever will use about 500W, including losses in the UPS. That sounds high. But this 500W ends up almost completely as heat in the surrounding area: this has to be cooled. Assuming active airco systems (in contrast to just pumping in cool air from outside of the building) this easily costs another 250W on airco losses. So your 300W computer actually uses 750W!
So then we are at 750W x 8,760hrs/yr = 6,570 kWh, at a price of $0.06 that is $394.20 per year. Pretty close to the cost of your computer! And even more than what the article suggests.
Your computer costs about $2300 per year, and will draw easily double the power. So then you're at just over $0.31 electricity per $1 worth of server hardware. Now do the calculations at $0.10 per kwh and you're at $0.5 electricity per $1 server.
This interest has caused the website's servers to be unable to meet the enormous demand of over 164 gigabytes of download traffic within twenty-four hours, leading the site to be temporarily inaccessible." And so you post the story to slashdot with a link to the site in the summary. Why don't you give 'em papercut and pour lemon juice in, too? I was thinking EXACTLY the same. But the site is still up so it seems they have done something about it.
OTOH, it seems it was because they put the video Fitna on their site and that draw all the traffic. The/. summary links to a text only page so byte traffic should be relatively light.
No matter what, good for them, more publicity for their cause.
This sounds like a typical software-related patent issue, as they are talking about the communication between the storage device and the computer. So if they sue, and are successful, then the whole world will be using SSD drives, except for poor old USA, stuck with the mechanical devices.
Now I am pro-patents, but software does not belong in the patent world. This could be the ultimate example of how patents stop innovation and technical progress.
By the way, I wonder how a SSD hard disk is really different from a standard memory card.
Let's say both companies did all the same exact things, spent the same amount of time and money, but because Company B started a hair earlier, they got the patent on the invention.
Company A would now be required to pay to use the invention they just spent 5 years developing themselves because Company B got a patent on the invention before they did. Things like that happen, really. One example of this is the Twaron vs. Kevlar issue: around 1980 both Akzo (now Akzo-Nobel) and DuPont developed a superstrong aramid fibre, and started marketing their fibres. But they both had patents on the technology.
In that case the two companies made a gentlemen's agreement: Dutch company AKZO would market and sell their aramid in the European market, American company DuPont would get the monopoly in the Americas, and only in the Asian market they would both sell and compete.
By now the patents should be expired, and there are also many more superstrong fibres in the market. It has changed a lot since then. But still the point is that here two companies worked independently very hard to develop a technology, and both applied for patents (and got it).
I think She was using a GNOME on desktop because there was GAIM (Pidgin) installed. Correct.
There is big difference still in Linux when talking about usability against other OS's and it's about what desktop enviroment or window manager is used. Not correct - not anymore. Most of the distro's nowadays have the Gnome and KDE interfaces look and mostly work identical. It'd be better to say "I'm using Mandriva 2007 Spring" which is my distro of choice. And historically I'm more a fan of Gnome than KDE so I always choose Gnome. Once tried KDE, didn't like it, never tried it again. I just can't be bothered because my Gnome desktop works fine.
The exact same accounts for anyone using Windows or whatever O/S as well. Many administer their computers themselves, but even more (partners, children of the owner; people who ask a friend/relative) need someone else to do that for them.
For the risk of really running off-topic, a small anecdote regarding Linux for the user.
I'm running a small business: I have only one staff who is not a technophobe, but all but geeky either. My computers come with Linux as I can manage that well, I just don't know Windows and don't want to learn it as Linux is working fine for me.
So now how is she coping with Linux on the computer? No problems. She didn't realise we're not using Word but using OpenOffice.org until I mentioned it. E-mail using Evolution is also easy; I set up the accounts of course but with a little coaching setting up mail folders and the like is now also done by herself. After a few days I noticed she changed the background of the desktop, found it out herself.
No problems with it. Not at all. I got the request from her today to set up MSN Messenger, for contact with a customer, and then told her it's there already, called GAIM. The reaction she gave when seeing all the supported protocols was "wow that's convenient, saves downloading and installing a lot of programs!"
Linux is getting there, and is doing so quickly. I think really the main reason most people still buy Windows is mindshare. Linux is different, is scary. But for most of the users, what they do does not require ANY knowledge of the underlying system at all: they now already ask their friends to maintain their Windows. They will just have to call less frequently.
Oh yeah and I'm also a proud owner of an EEE PC. That one I don't recommend to the casual user as it has way too many rough edges. This is not a complaint towards Linux as such but towards the UI makers that do not think of anything smaller than 1024x768 pixels. It all is just a little too much hacking.
On top of that I would guess that for on-line sales one doesn't need that much sales volume to make it profitable than for off-line sales. On-line a product doesn't take up shelf space, and the stock is much easier managed over say five warehouses than say five thousand shops. It sounds like they sold OK but not good enough to dedicate shelf space in the shops, but selling good enough online to keep selling that way.
Currently I am paying HK$488, or about USD 62 per month on mobile broadband, for laptop use. That is on a 3G (CDMS/HSPCA) network. Works quite OK but the network is not very well covering.
And if you are happy with GPRS, then you can get unlimited mobile Internet for as little as $128 per month (USD 16,40).
International roaming is also worked on; HK carriers offer unlimited China data roaming for about USD 120 per month.
And of course WiFi hotspots remain cheaper, just like phone booths are/were cheaper than a mobile phone, but those work only in certain spots. Not on the train or the bus, for example.
This is a US centric site, I know, so people please remember that the USA is about 10 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to mobile communication. If not more. Ericsson is a European company and their ideas are more for the European and Asian markets than for the USA market.
Incidentally, do you know how many terrorist attacks that airport security at check-in have prevented?:) This is a very, very bad argument you try to use against these checks. Of course no-one can tell you how many have been prevented, in other words how many attacks would have succeeded without this, or any checks in place. We don't know, it's preventive.
Many safety measures are preventive. Incidents are prevented - it is impossible to tell how many incidents would have taken place, and how much damage if any they would have caused. The incidents were prevented, nothing happened. In case of air traffic related attacks, safety measures like metal detectors will prevent many would-be terrorists and hijackers to even try.
That said I do not agree with the current state of security, but your argument is exactly what the proponents can use as well, and which can never be substantiated either way (and if so it supports the proponents even more than the opponents), so don't use it.
Here in Hong Kong, a lot of the movies sold are actually still in VCD format. Most of the movies I have we bought for HK$5-10 (USD 0.6-1.2) each, legally I always have to add as this is Hong Kong we're talking about. Maybe not the newest stuff but good enough for an evening of entertainment.
Most of the movies do not go bad when they get older. They become a bit dated, but not worse or better. And the vast majority we watch only once anyway. Or am I really alone in that once-watching?
HD is all interesting and so, but for me it's a no-go. I've got myself a nice 25"SD TV, and I'm not going to replace it anytime soon - those new-fashioned wide-screen TV's are just horrible to watch normal TV as everything gets stretched out, and 25" is a big enough piece of furniture in my living room. I simply don't have a 42' piece of wall available.
To take the canoe example, do you think the Polynesians powered their canoes by facing backward and throwing shit overboard?
Actually, I think you are not even that far off.
A rowing boat (OK not really a canoe) is propelled easiest when sitting backwards.
More importantly, the canoes were powered by the people in it pulling the paddles. That takes energy, this energy was likely to be taken in at the start in the form of food, maybe at stops on the way (landing at some island, gathering new food). And what do you think the people did with their shit after digesting the food? They won't have it kept on board!
So all and all it is not that far from a manned Mars mission. Most of the energy is taken in at the start (rocket fuel), and used on the way. Then arriving on Mars hopefully they can get new energy.
Indeed the later explorers were smarter, they used sails and used the wind to collect energy while they were going. And as such could make further and, usually, return trips.
It seems indeed space exploration is now at the "Polynesian canoe" stage, only later to move to the "European sailing boat" stage.
Assuming you are talking US$ here (there are so many $ in the world), you obviously don't know what you are talking about. US$1 per hour is a very good salary there. No kidding. More common salaries for assembly workers in China are about USD3-4 per day, 10-12 hour working days. In India maybe a little higher but not much, certainly not on the countryside.
And still many of those workers consider it good money.
The rest of your sentiments are very reasonable though.
What happened to Imaginary Property Rights???
Why is it okay for a geek to sue for this?
I mean data wants to be free and that picture is just data. 1) It is called "intellectual property", and this case sounds to me very much like how it is meant to work. This guy is making photographs for a living, and people should not use it without his consent. The damages also sound quite reasonable to me. Note that a photograph for use in your own publication normally costs much more than an audio recording in a retail shop, which you (and everyone around here) will probably want to compare it against.
2) It is OK for a anyone to sue for it. It is imho in principle even OK for an RIAA or MPAA to sue - as long as they follow the proper legal procedures, which they don't, and the damages demanded are reasonable, which they are not. This guy got like 10, 20 times the original price of the photo. That is a reasonable outcome I think. A price of USD1000-2000 for a photo with reproduction license is quite normal.
3) The expression is "information wants to be free", and this photo may be data, it is not information.
you need privacy even as a child, it's not like a parent has direct access to a childs brain. There are secrets that you should be able to keep. A strong password is not necessary for this - and anyway, a password has no use to an attacker with physical access to a computer. Unless heavy encryption comes into play.
But then still, a child may need privacy, but the parents need to have a way to access it. Whether they should do it or not, that is another discussion. You are talking about a seven-year-old here. They need parental supervision, and a certain degree of control. Clear limits within where to operate. Keeping things secret as a child from their parents is one thing; completely undermining parents' controls is another. And with that I am not talking about the software based "parental controls".
Surely as the computer in question will be exposed to the internet, a decent password is required. But why all the effort of keeping everything inaccessible to the parents? That is going too far.
Pardon? How does trusted computing plug the analogue hole, and what has 64 bits got to do with it? One of the goals of TCP is to in fact "plug" the analogue hole. The idea being that hardware would be harder to crack than software, and the hardware thus helping the OS to police the software and policies set forth within, that designate user restrictions (such as copying). There, fixed that for you.
Remember, DRM stands for Digital Restrictions Management. It doesn't give you any rights, it at most takes away some. DRM just adds restrictions.
Ah, the infamous second shift. Production continues after the actual order has been fulfilled, to sell the products under the own brand. Yes a very familiar issue in the China market. I'm not working directly with the factories (located in Hong Kong, I sell raw materials for recycling to China), but close enough to know quite a bit about it.
The issue here is NOT a second shift. Apple KNOWS those phones are produced, actually released the sales numbers so this is the actual production as ordered by Apple. A lot of them are just not registered to the official partner networks, instead unlocked and resold or whatever people are doing with it.
Preventing a second shift is, in case you have a truly unique product, quite simple: keep the production of a key component in your own hand. A self-designed chip for example, that is really tough to copy. Then the OEM can not produce more than the chips you supply. Otherwise, no matter how good the policing, you will be copied. And more often than not the copycats get their products to market sooner than the original. Sad but true.
Probably exactly the same way as it happens with the tobacco.
Where do all the illegal cigarettes come from? From legal factories who sell to traders who resell in the grey markets. And then it ends up duty-not-paid on the streets.
Apple KNOWS there are more phones produced than locked in AT&T's network. These phones are simply sold through the official channels to the retailers, who sell them to buyers, who in turn re-sell the phone uncontrolled on the grey market. Very simple.
The second shift as another respondant indicates is also an issue, but not the case here. More in reply to that comment.
Monday, while shopping for a simple mobile phone, I saw the iPhone on display in a mobile phone shop here in Hong Kong. I didn't ask for the price or so (I was looking for a simple phone, just for making phone calls), actually I wonder whether it is cheaper or more expensive than in the USA. And about two months ago I saw one "in the wild", a friend showed it off at a party. Also in Hong Kong of course.
Oh and of course no SIM lock.
Imagine your favourite author stating that they are not going to start writing another book until they get x dollars to do it, but once they are done, the book is available for all in electronic form. Sure, there will be lots of freeloaders, but as long as the artist gets what they want, who cares? This will likely never work. This is like people have to actually invest something in this author, and hoping they get results. But what if the work that comes out is not of your liking? Even a favourite author is not guaranteed to write a work you like so much you really want it. Investment is supposed to give results, it has risks, and the higher the risk the higher the potential reward should be. This book writing case I'd say is a very high risk investment, with a relatively low return, unless you are really totally heads over heels in love with that author.
Copyright I think is a good thing, in principle. Not the way it is implemented now, but that's another discussion. The author should have a right to sell his copies, and get money for every copy sold. That is how a business works: the entrepeneur (the author) invests money/time/whatever in their business (writing a book, this takes time and costs money: the author has to live during the writing, and living costs money), hoping in the long term to make more money out of this. In case of an author, by selling copies of his work.
Now it is up to the author to limit the number of copies, or not. To give it away freely, or not. For an author of a book, they may post some chapters on the Internet for free, and sell the rest in a hardcopy. Fifteen years or so ago I also bought a hard copy of THHGTTG, after reading fragments of it for free, downloaded from a BBS system. Whether those copies are legal or not, I don't know. But now I'm the happy owner of the book.
Software is a bit different, there is a clear service to be sold related to the software use. Software-as-a-service we call it already. Books, music, paintings, they do not fall under this category (well music maybe). So while for some forms of intellectual property TFA has quite a good point, I don't believe it will work for all kinds of IP. Not all IP is the same.
Wouter.
For a start: my laptop has a 10Mbit Ethernet port. Now 100 Mb is standard, and 1 Gb available. Is there any reason why I should expect my laptop to get a free upgrade? I don't think so.
That depends, actually. Did the laptop's specification state it has an "Ethernet port" or a "10MBit Ethernet port" ? Because if it is the former, it seems like willfull lie by omission to me.
This of course I don't remember as it is now like three, four years old.
That's what this lawsuit also comes down to: did the advertizement state that this is a "Blu-Ray 1.0" player, or did it simply call it a "Blu-Ray" player ? Joe Average can't be reasonably expected to know that there are more than one version of Blu-Ray - after all, neither VHS nor DVD have those.
At the time, Blu-Ray 1.0 was the ONLY spec available. No reason to write it down that it is "v.1.0" or so. It was state-of-the-art. Just like older computers with the first version of USB ports, came with "2 USB ports", not with "2 USB 1.0 ports" or so. At the time there was simply only one USB version, and of course everyone could know that there would be a next version some time in the future. That is simply how things go in the tech world. But you can not complain that the first USB equipment did not indicate "v.1.0" for the simple reason that there was only one version.
Slashdot Mirror
Using this on 2.0.0.13 on Mac OSX 10.3.9 (iBook G4) it works fine - less problems with missing comments like I had a few days ago (abbreviated comments not visible), and it works actually pretty fast. I have the feeling it's even faster than the previous incarnation. But then maybe my 'net connection has a good evening, that also varies now and then.
All in all I like it. Haven't tried out the keybindings yet (12 of them already! Getting confusing), inline reply is great, but those buttons are too big.
- The server is to be written off in three years, so that makes your $1600 server cost $480 per year.
- Your sever will use about 500W, including losses in the UPS. That sounds high. But this 500W ends up almost completely as heat in the surrounding area: this has to be cooled. Assuming active airco systems (in contrast to just pumping in cool air from outside of the building) this easily costs another 250W on airco losses. So your 300W computer actually uses 750W!
So then we are at 750W x 8,760hrs/yr = 6,570 kWh, at a price of $0.06 that is $394.20 per year. Pretty close to the cost of your computer! And even more than what the article suggests.Your computer costs about $2300 per year, and will draw easily double the power. So then you're at just over $0.31 electricity per $1 worth of server hardware. Now do the calculations at $0.10 per kwh and you're at $0.5 electricity per $1 server.
OTOH, it seems it was because they put the video Fitna on their site and that draw all the traffic. The
No matter what, good for them, more publicity for their cause.
This sounds like a typical software-related patent issue, as they are talking about the communication between the storage device and the computer. So if they sue, and are successful, then the whole world will be using SSD drives, except for poor old USA, stuck with the mechanical devices.
Now I am pro-patents, but software does not belong in the patent world. This could be the ultimate example of how patents stop innovation and technical progress.
By the way, I wonder how a SSD hard disk is really different from a standard memory card.
Company A would now be required to pay to use the invention they just spent 5 years developing themselves because Company B got a patent on the invention before they did.
Things like that happen, really. One example of this is the Twaron vs. Kevlar issue: around 1980 both Akzo (now Akzo-Nobel) and DuPont developed a superstrong aramid fibre, and started marketing their fibres. But they both had patents on the technology.
In that case the two companies made a gentlemen's agreement: Dutch company AKZO would market and sell their aramid in the European market, American company DuPont would get the monopoly in the Americas, and only in the Asian market they would both sell and compete.
By now the patents should be expired, and there are also many more superstrong fibres in the market. It has changed a lot since then. But still the point is that here two companies worked independently very hard to develop a technology, and both applied for patents (and got it).
The exact same accounts for anyone using Windows or whatever O/S as well. Many administer their computers themselves, but even more (partners, children of the owner; people who ask a friend/relative) need someone else to do that for them.
For the risk of really running off-topic, a small anecdote regarding Linux for the user.
I'm running a small business: I have only one staff who is not a technophobe, but all but geeky either. My computers come with Linux as I can manage that well, I just don't know Windows and don't want to learn it as Linux is working fine for me.
So now how is she coping with Linux on the computer? No problems. She didn't realise we're not using Word but using OpenOffice.org until I mentioned it. E-mail using Evolution is also easy; I set up the accounts of course but with a little coaching setting up mail folders and the like is now also done by herself. After a few days I noticed she changed the background of the desktop, found it out herself.
No problems with it. Not at all. I got the request from her today to set up MSN Messenger, for contact with a customer, and then told her it's there already, called GAIM. The reaction she gave when seeing all the supported protocols was "wow that's convenient, saves downloading and installing a lot of programs!"
Linux is getting there, and is doing so quickly. I think really the main reason most people still buy Windows is mindshare. Linux is different, is scary. But for most of the users, what they do does not require ANY knowledge of the underlying system at all: they now already ask their friends to maintain their Windows. They will just have to call less frequently.
Oh yeah and I'm also a proud owner of an EEE PC. That one I don't recommend to the casual user as it has way too many rough edges. This is not a complaint towards Linux as such but towards the UI makers that do not think of anything smaller than 1024x768 pixels. It all is just a little too much hacking.
On top of that I would guess that for on-line sales one doesn't need that much sales volume to make it profitable than for off-line sales. On-line a product doesn't take up shelf space, and the stock is much easier managed over say five warehouses than say five thousand shops.
It sounds like they sold OK but not good enough to dedicate shelf space in the shops, but selling good enough online to keep selling that way.
Currently I am paying HK$488, or about USD 62 per month on mobile broadband, for laptop use. That is on a 3G (CDMS/HSPCA) network. Works quite OK but the network is not very well covering.
And if you are happy with GPRS, then you can get unlimited mobile Internet for as little as $128 per month (USD 16,40).
International roaming is also worked on; HK carriers offer unlimited China data roaming for about USD 120 per month.
And of course WiFi hotspots remain cheaper, just like phone booths are/were cheaper than a mobile phone, but those work only in certain spots. Not on the train or the bus, for example.
This is a US centric site, I know, so people please remember that the USA is about 10 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to mobile communication. If not more. Ericsson is a European company and their ideas are more for the European and Asian markets than for the USA market.
Many safety measures are preventive. Incidents are prevented - it is impossible to tell how many incidents would have taken place, and how much damage if any they would have caused. The incidents were prevented, nothing happened. In case of air traffic related attacks, safety measures like metal detectors will prevent many would-be terrorists and hijackers to even try.
That said I do not agree with the current state of security, but your argument is exactly what the proponents can use as well, and which can never be substantiated either way (and if so it supports the proponents even more than the opponents), so don't use it.
Here in Hong Kong, a lot of the movies sold are actually still in VCD format. Most of the movies I have we bought for HK$5-10 (USD 0.6-1.2) each, legally I always have to add as this is Hong Kong we're talking about. Maybe not the newest stuff but good enough for an evening of entertainment.
Most of the movies do not go bad when they get older. They become a bit dated, but not worse or better. And the vast majority we watch only once anyway. Or am I really alone in that once-watching?
HD is all interesting and so, but for me it's a no-go. I've got myself a nice 25"SD TV, and I'm not going to replace it anytime soon - those new-fashioned wide-screen TV's are just horrible to watch normal TV as everything gets stretched out, and 25" is a big enough piece of furniture in my living room. I simply don't have a 42' piece of wall available.
To take the canoe example, do you think the Polynesians powered their canoes by facing backward and throwing shit overboard?
Actually, I think you are not even that far off.A rowing boat (OK not really a canoe) is propelled easiest when sitting backwards.
More importantly, the canoes were powered by the people in it pulling the paddles. That takes energy, this energy was likely to be taken in at the start in the form of food, maybe at stops on the way (landing at some island, gathering new food). And what do you think the people did with their shit after digesting the food? They won't have it kept on board!
So all and all it is not that far from a manned Mars mission. Most of the energy is taken in at the start (rocket fuel), and used on the way. Then arriving on Mars hopefully they can get new energy.
Indeed the later explorers were smarter, they used sails and used the wind to collect energy while they were going. And as such could make further and, usually, return trips.
It seems indeed space exploration is now at the "Polynesian canoe" stage, only later to move to the "European sailing boat" stage.
Wouter.
And still many of those workers consider it good money.
The rest of your sentiments are very reasonable though.
Why is it okay for a geek to sue for this?
I mean data wants to be free and that picture is just data.
1) It is called "intellectual property", and this case sounds to me very much like how it is meant to work. This guy is making photographs for a living, and people should not use it without his consent. The damages also sound quite reasonable to me. Note that a photograph for use in your own publication normally costs much more than an audio recording in a retail shop, which you (and everyone around here) will probably want to compare it against.
2) It is OK for a anyone to sue for it. It is imho in principle even OK for an RIAA or MPAA to sue - as long as they follow the proper legal procedures, which they don't, and the damages demanded are reasonable, which they are not. This guy got like 10, 20 times the original price of the photo. That is a reasonable outcome I think. A price of USD1000-2000 for a photo with reproduction license is quite normal.
3) The expression is "information wants to be free", and this photo may be data, it is not information.
Wouter.
But then still, a child may need privacy, but the parents need to have a way to access it. Whether they should do it or not, that is another discussion. You are talking about a seven-year-old here. They need parental supervision, and a certain degree of control. Clear limits within where to operate. Keeping things secret as a child from their parents is one thing; completely undermining parents' controls is another. And with that I am not talking about the software based "parental controls".
Surely as the computer in question will be exposed to the internet, a decent password is required. But why all the effort of keeping everything inaccessible to the parents? That is going too far.
Remember, DRM stands for Digital Restrictions Management. It doesn't give you any rights, it at most takes away some. DRM just adds restrictions.
Ah, the infamous second shift. Production continues after the actual order has been fulfilled, to sell the products under the own brand. Yes a very familiar issue in the China market. I'm not working directly with the factories (located in Hong Kong, I sell raw materials for recycling to China), but close enough to know quite a bit about it.
The issue here is NOT a second shift. Apple KNOWS those phones are produced, actually released the sales numbers so this is the actual production as ordered by Apple. A lot of them are just not registered to the official partner networks, instead unlocked and resold or whatever people are doing with it.
Preventing a second shift is, in case you have a truly unique product, quite simple: keep the production of a key component in your own hand. A self-designed chip for example, that is really tough to copy. Then the OEM can not produce more than the chips you supply. Otherwise, no matter how good the policing, you will be copied. And more often than not the copycats get their products to market sooner than the original. Sad but true.
Probably exactly the same way as it happens with the tobacco.
Where do all the illegal cigarettes come from? From legal factories who sell to traders who resell in the grey markets. And then it ends up duty-not-paid on the streets.
Apple KNOWS there are more phones produced than locked in AT&T's network. These phones are simply sold through the official channels to the retailers, who sell them to buyers, who in turn re-sell the phone uncontrolled on the grey market. Very simple.
The second shift as another respondant indicates is also an issue, but not the case here. More in reply to that comment.
Monday, while shopping for a simple mobile phone, I saw the iPhone on display in a mobile phone shop here in Hong Kong. I didn't ask for the price or so (I was looking for a simple phone, just for making phone calls), actually I wonder whether it is cheaper or more expensive than in the USA. And about two months ago I saw one "in the wild", a friend showed it off at a party. Also in Hong Kong of course.
Oh and of course no SIM lock.
Copyright I think is a good thing, in principle. Not the way it is implemented now, but that's another discussion. The author should have a right to sell his copies, and get money for every copy sold. That is how a business works: the entrepeneur (the author) invests money/time/whatever in their business (writing a book, this takes time and costs money: the author has to live during the writing, and living costs money), hoping in the long term to make more money out of this. In case of an author, by selling copies of his work.
Now it is up to the author to limit the number of copies, or not. To give it away freely, or not. For an author of a book, they may post some chapters on the Internet for free, and sell the rest in a hardcopy. Fifteen years or so ago I also bought a hard copy of THHGTTG, after reading fragments of it for free, downloaded from a BBS system. Whether those copies are legal or not, I don't know. But now I'm the happy owner of the book.
Software is a bit different, there is a clear service to be sold related to the software use. Software-as-a-service we call it already. Books, music, paintings, they do not fall under this category (well music maybe). So while for some forms of intellectual property TFA has quite a good point, I don't believe it will work for all kinds of IP. Not all IP is the same.
Wouter.
That depends, actually. Did the laptop's specification state it has an "Ethernet port" or a "10MBit Ethernet port" ? Because if it is the former, it seems like willfull lie by omission to me.
This of course I don't remember as it is now like three, four years old.That's what this lawsuit also comes down to: did the advertizement state that this is a "Blu-Ray 1.0" player, or did it simply call it a "Blu-Ray" player ? Joe Average can't be reasonably expected to know that there are more than one version of Blu-Ray - after all, neither VHS nor DVD have those.
At the time, Blu-Ray 1.0 was the ONLY spec available. No reason to write it down that it is "v.1.0" or so. It was state-of-the-art. Just like older computers with the first version of USB ports, came with "2 USB ports", not with "2 USB 1.0 ports" or so. At the time there was simply only one USB version, and of course everyone could know that there would be a next version some time in the future. That is simply how things go in the tech world. But you can not complain that the first USB equipment did not indicate "v.1.0" for the simple reason that there was only one version.