Angela Merkel, arguably the most powerful of the EU leaders, said there's no need to be nasty to the UK in response to Brexit (i.e. punish them, as you're suggesting). The reality is that the UK will be punishing itself, because it's leaving the club (the EU) and losing the benefits, including free trade with the rest of the EU. This fact alone is enough for any company which had its EU headquarters in the UK to realize they probably need to move to the continent. That's a lot of jobs leaving the country.
You can doubt it all you want, but that's what the EU has said simply because that's what EU law says: invoke article 50, then negotiations for exit will take place.
People complained about the bulk and weight of having a removable cover and another layer of hard plastic around the battery.
No, they didn't. I've never heard one actual person using a cell phone in the real world make that complaint. It's strictly an issue for the gadget review press. And besides, what are you talking about? Extra plastic? A non-removable battery is still covered by the phone case. There's no extra layer of hard plastic, just the small tabs or whatever mechanism keeps the cover attached.
Mod parent up. And I'd like to add: A non-removable battery is an issue, or shall we say plan, for the manufacturers who want to ensure obsolescence.
My friend just gave up on his iPhone -- and Apple's BS -- in favor of a cheap but totally adequate prepaid Android phone. The phone cost less than $20 on sale (normally $30). $20 vs. $500+. He did the math.
I've long used the bootable utility MHDD and its "erase" command (followed by "scan" with erase delays, and then scan with "remap"). It's a low-level diagnostic tool, and apparently erases remapped sectors (hence the need for the following scans). I've never established with certainty whether the erase command is using the ATA secure erase method or not, but it's certainly faster than using DBAN and with the added bonus of erasing remapped sectors. It's been a great tool for extending the life of old hard drives which go in computers for Craigslist or donation.
Voting for a president, whom ultimately has limited power and is limited to a 4-year term, is not the same as this, where the course of a nation is being radically thrown into the unknown and every citizen will be affected, some quite disproportionately (the younger generations).
Yes there were ways to do this already, but most people, especially in rural areas of a developing country, are simply not aware of such options, much less how to implement them.
Outside of urban areas in many developing countries (India being a great example), internet speeds can slow to a crawl during waking hours as everyone is doing their online thing and traffic is going through a single connection from that town or village, often through a repeater to a repeater to a repeater that might get you 1.0 Mbps when congestion isn't an issue (during the middle of the night).
Given that video takes huge bandwidth, and YouTube is the single largest provider of free video content, this tactic is actually long overdue. Not only will it make people's YouTube experience more pleasant, but it will also likely make the internet experience of everyone in that village/town/region/country much less frustrating.
If Google was uploading these works, they would be violating copyright. They aren't (users are) and they have an effective system for removing videos that are copyright violations -- a system so effective it has also been abused by copyright owners to takedown videos which are not in violation of copyright (their use falls under "fair use").
Your seem to be claiming that Google is making tons of money off of videos that are genuine copyright violations, but you're not offering anything to back that up.
As said above, this seems like nothing more than an attempted money grab by the usual suspects.
The FCC launched an inquiry in partnership with the FTC. I submitted a story to slashdot on the FCC inquiry, yet somehow this is what we get.
Regardless, this is a big story, as the way security patches have been handled -- or more preciesly ignored by the carriers and manufacturers -- has become a huge problem. We're talking millions of vulnerable internet-connected mobile devices out there which, the way things are now, will never get patches for severe exploits like Stagefright.
Please print out your reply, frame it, and give it to your children with the instructions to pass it on to their children - and so on. I'm pretty sure they'll find your "It STILL makes zero sense" comment interesting when sea level rise is being measured in meters.
I'm speaking from having just spent the past month in Central America, riding the hot and cramped local buses and seeing people using almost exclusively Android smartphones (still some dumbphones). Is that what you call "so far removed from reality"? Regarding Africa, like I said, there will always be hold outs for whatever reason (battery life, simplicity, durability), but what you describe isn't really relevant to the topic, which is WhatsApp no longer being supported on older devices. Those people using missed calls for replies aren't even using the data connection on their phone, so they're not exactly going to be affected by WhatsApp not being supported on them, are they?
With fully capable Android phones dropping below $10, Android is very much the smartphone OS that powers the developing world. There will always be holdouts who use dumbphones, but I'm guessing they represent a tiny percentage of WhatsApp users which is growing smaller literally by the day.
Just in case anyone in the US or elsewhere in the Americas is considering one of these, know that you won't get any LTE reception, and in the US, you'll only get 3G reception on the 1900 band used by AT&T or (in some places) by T-Mobile. It doesn't support AT&T's 850 band and or T-Mobile's 1700 (AWS) band.
In short, this is designed by Europeans, for Europeans.
The sole reason why they like automatic payment so much is the cost of handling cash.
You fail to point out that handling credit cards costs money too: generally 2% of every retail transaction. If I were a small business owner, I'd want to have the choice whether or not I have to give 2% of all sales to some bank.
I don't know about you, but I find it rather disturbing that private banks are making ~2% of every single retail credit card transaction that occurs. That's skimming a shitload of money off of the world's economy for what is ultimately a convenience.
The world already has $10 Android phones. That said, this probably has better specs than most of them with 1GB RAM, an IPS display and dual SIM slots. Combine that with the fact that for a poor person in India, making $1 for an hour of work is incentive enough, and I'm sure we'll see these on eBay in the near future.
Specs here indicate it has 3G (42Mbps) on bands 900 and 2100 used throughout Asia and Europe. Since it's not being sold by an Indian telecom, I would guess that it's unlocked, but I'm sure we'll get an answer to that question soon.
Yes, I'm aware of most of these (the Lindy one I hadn't seen). The point of my post though was that I'd like something that plugs directly into an outlet and has outlets for plugging in to, instead of something like one of these which are specific to laptops.
1. How do you know it was a surge that killed your PSU?
2. What else was your laptop plugged into when it got roached?
I was in India (Goa) and was awoken in the middle of the night to the overhead fan spinning crazy-fast, like it was going to take off. Half-asleep, I tried adjusting the switch to put it on a lower level, but it had no effect so I just turned it off. During this I noticed the a light outside seeming unusually bright, but then someone stepped out and turned it off. I went back to sleep, not realizing that what just happened was a surge - and that my laptop was plugged in to the AC (and only the AC - no network cables or anything else). When I woke in the morning I noticed my laptop was running on battery power. I checked to make sure it was plugged in and noticed this - the surge protector (a laptop specific one). It fried it (and warped the plastic casing as you can see) and killed my Thinkpad PSU as well. The laptop was fine, though I have to wonder if it would have still been fine if the surge protector hadn't been there.
Now I know 1. the symptoms of a power surge and 2. not to leave anything plugged in and unattended when in surge-prone countries. But still I'm concerned about it enough to think about carrying surge protection.
The comments here have left me thinking that maybe I'd be just as well off, or better off, with something containing a replaceable fuse. I assume that a surge like that would've killed the fuse and left my PSU undamaged, and a few spare fuses weigh practically nothing.
Alternatively, maybe I should not worry about it and just have a spare PSU in a box ready to be shipped to me if need it.
OP here. Thanks. Your comments are in line with my experience having the laptop power adapter get fried. As I asked elsewhere, what about using an outlet adapter with a replaceable fuse? Maybe even using lower rated fuses? A stock of 10 extra fuses would be a negligible size/weight addition.
OP here. My situation isn't critical enough to warrant carrying more than a half-pound of extra gear, which rules out an extra power supply and certainly a 2nd laptop. As you mention, I can always use my phone.
As for a "phone that requires the original power supply" - that was misleading. All my devices (save the laptop) can be charged from from USB, but the laptop USB ports tend put out the standard 500mAh, so it can be a long time charging compared to a 1000mAh USB charger. Also, I have encountered devices (the HP Touchpad) which, if depleted to 0% battery, will not charge without the stock charger. I no longer use a Touchpad, but the experience taught me that "USB charging" isn't so universal and the stock charger may be necessary.
OP here. I see some GFCI single outlet adapters on the market, but no GFI (and I'm not sure of the difference). If it matters (I think it does), some of the places I've been have used outlets that aren't even grounded, which further complicates the whole surge protection defense of sending excess current to ground.
Here's a question: I have a cheap international plug adapter that has "surge protection" built-in in the form of a standard user-replaceable fuse. What about using that, and maybe even putting in a lower-rated fuse?
Slashdot Mirror
Angela Merkel, arguably the most powerful of the EU leaders, said there's no need to be nasty to the UK in response to Brexit (i.e. punish them, as you're suggesting). The reality is that the UK will be punishing itself, because it's leaving the club (the EU) and losing the benefits, including free trade with the rest of the EU. This fact alone is enough for any company which had its EU headquarters in the UK to realize they probably need to move to the continent. That's a lot of jobs leaving the country.
You can doubt it all you want, but that's what the EU has said simply because that's what EU law says: invoke article 50, then negotiations for exit will take place.
People complained about the bulk and weight of having a removable cover and another layer of hard plastic around the battery.
No, they didn't. I've never heard one actual person using a cell phone in the real world make that complaint. It's strictly an issue for the gadget review press. And besides, what are you talking about? Extra plastic? A non-removable battery is still covered by the phone case. There's no extra layer of hard plastic, just the small tabs or whatever mechanism keeps the cover attached.
Mod parent up. And I'd like to add: A non-removable battery is an issue, or shall we say plan, for the manufacturers who want to ensure obsolescence.
Uber's business model should dictate it needs nothing beyond a handful of servers and headquarters.
Not true moving forward, assuming they will own the self-driving cars they use.
My friend just gave up on his iPhone -- and Apple's BS -- in favor of a cheap but totally adequate prepaid Android phone. The phone cost less than $20 on sale (normally $30). $20 vs. $500+. He did the math.
I've long used the bootable utility MHDD and its "erase" command (followed by "scan" with erase delays, and then scan with "remap"). It's a low-level diagnostic tool, and apparently erases remapped sectors (hence the need for the following scans). I've never established with certainty whether the erase command is using the ATA secure erase method or not, but it's certainly faster than using DBAN and with the added bonus of erasing remapped sectors. It's been a great tool for extending the life of old hard drives which go in computers for Craigslist or donation.
Voting for a president, whom ultimately has limited power and is limited to a 4-year term, is not the same as this, where the course of a nation is being radically thrown into the unknown and every citizen will be affected, some quite disproportionately (the younger generations).
Yes there were ways to do this already, but most people, especially in rural areas of a developing country, are simply not aware of such options, much less how to implement them.
Outside of urban areas in many developing countries (India being a great example), internet speeds can slow to a crawl during waking hours as everyone is doing their online thing and traffic is going through a single connection from that town or village, often through a repeater to a repeater to a repeater that might get you 1.0 Mbps when congestion isn't an issue (during the middle of the night).
Given that video takes huge bandwidth, and YouTube is the single largest provider of free video content, this tactic is actually long overdue. Not only will it make people's YouTube experience more pleasant, but it will also likely make the internet experience of everyone in that village/town/region/country much less frustrating.
I think you're overdoing it a bit trying to make your point, considering their real estate holdings alone.
If Google was uploading these works, they would be violating copyright. They aren't (users are) and they have an effective system for removing videos that are copyright violations -- a system so effective it has also been abused by copyright owners to takedown videos which are not in violation of copyright (their use falls under "fair use").
Your seem to be claiming that Google is making tons of money off of videos that are genuine copyright violations, but you're not offering anything to back that up.
As said above, this seems like nothing more than an attempted money grab by the usual suspects.
The FTC is doing this in partnership with the FCC, who I agree, has more power to do something about this. See my comment below.
The FCC launched an inquiry in partnership with the FTC. I submitted a story to slashdot on the FCC inquiry, yet somehow this is what we get.
Regardless, this is a big story, as the way security patches have been handled -- or more preciesly ignored by the carriers and manufacturers -- has become a huge problem. We're talking millions of vulnerable internet-connected mobile devices out there which, the way things are now, will never get patches for severe exploits like Stagefright.
Please print out your reply, frame it, and give it to your children with the instructions to pass it on to their children - and so on. I'm pretty sure they'll find your "It STILL makes zero sense" comment interesting when sea level rise is being measured in meters.
you Merkins are so removed from reality...
I'm speaking from having just spent the past month in Central America, riding the hot and cramped local buses and seeing people using almost exclusively Android smartphones (still some dumbphones). Is that what you call "so far removed from reality"? Regarding Africa, like I said, there will always be hold outs for whatever reason (battery life, simplicity, durability), but what you describe isn't really relevant to the topic, which is WhatsApp no longer being supported on older devices. Those people using missed calls for replies aren't even using the data connection on their phone, so they're not exactly going to be affected by WhatsApp not being supported on them, are they?
With fully capable Android phones dropping below $10, Android is very much the smartphone OS that powers the developing world. There will always be holdouts who use dumbphones, but I'm guessing they represent a tiny percentage of WhatsApp users which is growing smaller literally by the day.
Just in case anyone in the US or elsewhere in the Americas is considering one of these, know that you won't get any LTE reception, and in the US, you'll only get 3G reception on the 1900 band used by AT&T or (in some places) by T-Mobile. It doesn't support AT&T's 850 band and or T-Mobile's 1700 (AWS) band.
In short, this is designed by Europeans, for Europeans.
The sole reason why they like automatic payment so much is the cost of handling cash.
You fail to point out that handling credit cards costs money too: generally 2% of every retail transaction. If I were a small business owner, I'd want to have the choice whether or not I have to give 2% of all sales to some bank.
I don't know about you, but I find it rather disturbing that private banks are making ~2% of every single retail credit card transaction that occurs. That's skimming a shitload of money off of the world's economy for what is ultimately a convenience.
The world already has $10 Android phones. That said, this probably has better specs than most of them with 1GB RAM, an IPS display and dual SIM slots. Combine that with the fact that for a poor person in India, making $1 for an hour of work is incentive enough, and I'm sure we'll see these on eBay in the near future.
Specs here indicate it has 3G (42Mbps) on bands 900 and 2100 used throughout Asia and Europe. Since it's not being sold by an Indian telecom, I would guess that it's unlocked, but I'm sure we'll get an answer to that question soon.
Yes, I'm aware of most of these (the Lindy one I hadn't seen). The point of my post though was that I'd like something that plugs directly into an outlet and has outlets for plugging in to, instead of something like one of these which are specific to laptops.
Questions:
1. How do you know it was a surge that killed your PSU?
2. What else was your laptop plugged into when it got roached?
I was in India (Goa) and was awoken in the middle of the night to the overhead fan spinning crazy-fast, like it was going to take off. Half-asleep, I tried adjusting the switch to put it on a lower level, but it had no effect so I just turned it off. During this I noticed the a light outside seeming unusually bright, but then someone stepped out and turned it off. I went back to sleep, not realizing that what just happened was a surge - and that my laptop was plugged in to the AC (and only the AC - no network cables or anything else). When I woke in the morning I noticed my laptop was running on battery power. I checked to make sure it was plugged in and noticed this - the surge protector (a laptop specific one). It fried it (and warped the plastic casing as you can see) and killed my Thinkpad PSU as well. The laptop was fine, though I have to wonder if it would have still been fine if the surge protector hadn't been there.
Now I know 1. the symptoms of a power surge and 2. not to leave anything plugged in and unattended when in surge-prone countries. But still I'm concerned about it enough to think about carrying surge protection.
The comments here have left me thinking that maybe I'd be just as well off, or better off, with something containing a replaceable fuse. I assume that a surge like that would've killed the fuse and left my PSU undamaged, and a few spare fuses weigh practically nothing.
Alternatively, maybe I should not worry about it and just have a spare PSU in a box ready to be shipped to me if need it.
OP here. Thanks. Your comments are in line with my experience having the laptop power adapter get fried. As I asked elsewhere, what about using an outlet adapter with a replaceable fuse? Maybe even using lower rated fuses? A stock of 10 extra fuses would be a negligible size/weight addition.
OP here. My situation isn't critical enough to warrant carrying more than a half-pound of extra gear, which rules out an extra power supply and certainly a 2nd laptop. As you mention, I can always use my phone.
As for a "phone that requires the original power supply" - that was misleading. All my devices (save the laptop) can be charged from from USB, but the laptop USB ports tend put out the standard 500mAh, so it can be a long time charging compared to a 1000mAh USB charger. Also, I have encountered devices (the HP Touchpad) which, if depleted to 0% battery, will not charge without the stock charger. I no longer use a Touchpad, but the experience taught me that "USB charging" isn't so universal and the stock charger may be necessary.
OP here. I see some GFCI single outlet adapters on the market, but no GFI (and I'm not sure of the difference). If it matters (I think it does), some of the places I've been have used outlets that aren't even grounded, which further complicates the whole surge protection defense of sending excess current to ground.
Here's a question: I have a cheap international plug adapter that has "surge protection" built-in in the form of a standard user-replaceable fuse. What about using that, and maybe even putting in a lower-rated fuse?