By democracy you presumably mean parliamentarism, and by freedom the freedom to choose from the options given to you by the two most powerful political parties, right?
3G in my experience doesn't really cut it in the latency and reliability department. May just be my operator, of course. I haven't performed any wide-scale testing.
Here in Finland, a company called Digita is rolling out something they call @450 broadband, basically they're using the old NMT frequencies to provide wide-coverage wireless internet access at a max speed of 1mbps. Apparently they've been open for business since april, 2007, and TeliaSonera is said to begin offering access to the network starting this December.
FAQ: http://www.450laajakaista.fi/9023/9022/9046
The main points in the FAQ seem to be: Suitable for wide-area networks, requires a separate modem, either an external box or a PCMCIA card. No pricing info released yet, my sources told me "a couple of ten euros per month". Useable on moving vehicles. Available speeds: 1024/512, 512/256.
Coverage: http://www.450laajakaista.fi/Missatoimii/9092/9093 (map dated 15th october 2007, unfortunately PDF)
Colours mean:
blue: Useable indoors without external antenna. Also useable outdoors.
dark purple: Generally useable outdoors without external antenna in parks and such, indoors with antenna. Mobile use requires external antenna.
light purple: In order to get a connection, a directional antenna must be deployed outdoors, e.g. on the roof of your home.
The coverage is being extended continuously, per schedule it should cover all of Finland by the end of 2009. In principle it sounds quite good to me, the speed however means it won't be a replacement for regular wired broadband. For mobile use, though, if the price isn't too high, it might not be too bad a deal.
Excuse me for not exactly jumping for joy over the news of shiny new HD footage from the Moon. Is this actually an improvement over previous probes? What were they using before, consumer-grade camcorders? I would have thought film, which usually still has HD beat.
Have you played a game recently? I have, and usually I can't play more than 30 minutes at a time due to it just feeling like a total chore. Less graphics, more actual innovative gameplay, please.
Only if they live in an environment with plenty of cats. They, however, live in a science lab. Maybe in that environment odd behaviour is a positive trait with regard to reproductive selection?
Personally I advocate a slightly different approach: the stupid tag. Before getting an internet connection, everyone would be required to take a basic computer competency test, perhaps with some general social questions on etiquette as well. Pass the test, and you get a regular connection. Fail it, and everything being sent out by you gets tagged with the stupid tag, which people can then filter by. Would require some infrastructure work, but I believe it would be worth it.
NASA proponents argue it makes more sense to give money to talented, productive people in exchange for scientific knowledge, than spend in on unproductive people in the form of straight welfare.
Where did this come from? I'd be surprised to find an actual, sane NASA proponent giving out statements implying the best NASA employees can strive to is to be more useful than people without jobs.
Seems to me it's part of a broad psy-ops venture on the part of the british government. Throw out enough new surveillance methods for "security" reasons, thus beating in to the minds of the population at large the implied message that everyone is a potential threat - to themselves or others. That's why you need surveillance, right? After a while, people will get used to it and will no longer question their government's need to know every detail of their lives. Hell, they'll welcome the daily scrutiny.
You know, I'd say the mid-to-low-end market is probably where the money is actually at, the high-end is there for advertising and image-building purposes. Well that, and a side-effect of R&D. But I don't buy for a moment the claim that the high-end user is the primary market of PC component manufacturers, and the reason they keep developing new tech.
Purely unscientific personal observations here, but based on what I've seen at a couple of European design schools, the students do tend to favour Macs, and at least some departments at the universities do, too. Whether there's actual logic behind it I couldn't say, these people are usually not terribly computer-savvy, but their perception at least is that Macs are easier to work with. The level of tech support Apple provides seems to be a big selling point, too. Now, what students at school prefer may not translate directly into how things work in the industry at large, but the "designers use macs" truism is not entirely false, still.
How likely is it for either of these formats to become very popular? I've probably said this before, but to get any real benefit out of HD material, you need a good, LARGE display. Large meaning somewhere in the 40+" range. I once watced PAL and full-HD material side-by-side on two 32" displays, one of which was a widescreen SONY TV and another a studio-grade HD monitor, viewed from about 3 metres away. Took me quite a while to figure out for sure which is which, finally I spotted the sharper patterns on a person's coat on the HD monitor.
Now, it seems to me it's going to take a long while for any significant number of consumers to buy tv sets that will justify buying HD players and media, so there won't be a rational market for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray for years to come. Irrational... Maybe marketers can push HD onto consumers even when they don't need it, but I don't see it happening so far. And in any case, if in 5-10 years' time I STILL have to go out and buy or rent some plastic disc to watch a movie... Well, that's a depressing idea right there.
No comment on the why, but seeing as the terms of service were, AFAIK, pretty clear to people before they bought the iPhone, and people HAVE been buying them, clearly people DO want to do business with Apple, even with "practices like this".
Why would people buy a 5-dollar piece of software when they don't feel bad about pirating something that would, when bought, set them back a hundred dollars or so? I'd wager that most people feel pirating something that's cheap in the first place is less immoral than pirating something that is expensive. And buying software always comes with hurdles, especially with MS: the process of actually buying it, with all the involved work, then activation, you name it. Piracy is easier. I don't think consumers being able to buy Windows cheaply would cut piracy down very much for MS.
Pffft.
I do computer animation and photoshop painting, and I don't see myself doing that on a device the size of a tablet, no matter how great the hardware is. The screen size is just too small. And yes, laptops are useful for me, even if finding one with a good screen can be a bit problematic. Being able to lug a workstation around is often a very good thing.
Maybe a certain segment of the laptop market will indeed be hit by smaller devices gaining popularity, but phasing out? I don't think so, not as long as display size and ease of input are dictated by the dimensions of the device.
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I don't know if I really buy the idea of Putin as a supreme leader. He seems more like a charismatic, strong front man to me.
3. It was an honest opinion, expressed in support of a guy doing things how Bush would like to, if he could.
By democracy you presumably mean parliamentarism, and by freedom the freedom to choose from the options given to you by the two most powerful political parties, right?
Of course. They're the target group for the "troll" moderation option.
We need participatory democracy like we need a kick in the groin. Have you actually talked with the people at large out there? It's damn scary.
I'll go along with the democracy idea provided I get to choose who has any influence over me.
3G in my experience doesn't really cut it in the latency and reliability department. May just be my operator, of course. I haven't performed any wide-scale testing.
Here in Finland, a company called Digita is rolling out something they call @450 broadband, basically they're using the old NMT frequencies to provide wide-coverage wireless internet access at a max speed of 1mbps. Apparently they've been open for business since april, 2007, and TeliaSonera is said to begin offering access to the network starting this December.
Some links, all in Finnish:
http://www.450laajakaista.fi/
FAQ:
http://www.450laajakaista.fi/9023/9022/9046
The main points in the FAQ seem to be: Suitable for wide-area networks, requires a separate modem, either an external box or a PCMCIA card. No pricing info released yet, my sources told me "a couple of ten euros per month". Useable on moving vehicles. Available speeds: 1024/512, 512/256.
Coverage:
http://www.450laajakaista.fi/Missatoimii/9092/9093 (map dated 15th october 2007, unfortunately PDF)
Colours mean:
blue: Useable indoors without external antenna. Also useable outdoors.
dark purple: Generally useable outdoors without external antenna in parks and such, indoors with antenna. Mobile use requires external antenna.
light purple: In order to get a connection, a directional antenna must be deployed outdoors, e.g. on the roof of your home.
The coverage is being extended continuously, per schedule it should cover all of Finland by the end of 2009. In principle it sounds quite good to me, the speed however means it won't be a replacement for regular wired broadband. For mobile use, though, if the price isn't too high, it might not be too bad a deal.
Excuse me for not exactly jumping for joy over the news of shiny new HD footage from the Moon. Is this actually an improvement over previous probes? What were they using before, consumer-grade camcorders? I would have thought film, which usually still has HD beat.
Have you played a game recently? I have, and usually I can't play more than 30 minutes at a time due to it just feeling like a total chore. Less graphics, more actual innovative gameplay, please.
Only if they live in an environment with plenty of cats. They, however, live in a science lab. Maybe in that environment odd behaviour is a positive trait with regard to reproductive selection?
Personally I advocate a slightly different approach: the stupid tag. Before getting an internet connection, everyone would be required to take a basic computer competency test, perhaps with some general social questions on etiquette as well. Pass the test, and you get a regular connection. Fail it, and everything being sent out by you gets tagged with the stupid tag, which people can then filter by. Would require some infrastructure work, but I believe it would be worth it.
Where did this come from? I'd be surprised to find an actual, sane NASA proponent giving out statements implying the best NASA employees can strive to is to be more useful than people without jobs.
It's true, with a little effort, people learn to leave you alone.
The next version, SHODAN, will no longer be restricted to understanding voice commands, but will give and enforce it's own commands.
Seems to me it's part of a broad psy-ops venture on the part of the british government. Throw out enough new surveillance methods for "security" reasons, thus beating in to the minds of the population at large the implied message that everyone is a potential threat - to themselves or others. That's why you need surveillance, right? After a while, people will get used to it and will no longer question their government's need to know every detail of their lives. Hell, they'll welcome the daily scrutiny.
You know, I'd say the mid-to-low-end market is probably where the money is actually at, the high-end is there for advertising and image-building purposes. Well that, and a side-effect of R&D. But I don't buy for a moment the claim that the high-end user is the primary market of PC component manufacturers, and the reason they keep developing new tech.
Purely unscientific personal observations here, but based on what I've seen at a couple of European design schools, the students do tend to favour Macs, and at least some departments at the universities do, too. Whether there's actual logic behind it I couldn't say, these people are usually not terribly computer-savvy, but their perception at least is that Macs are easier to work with. The level of tech support Apple provides seems to be a big selling point, too. Now, what students at school prefer may not translate directly into how things work in the industry at large, but the "designers use macs" truism is not entirely false, still.
How likely is it for either of these formats to become very popular? I've probably said this before, but to get any real benefit out of HD material, you need a good, LARGE display. Large meaning somewhere in the 40+" range. I once watced PAL and full-HD material side-by-side on two 32" displays, one of which was a widescreen SONY TV and another a studio-grade HD monitor, viewed from about 3 metres away. Took me quite a while to figure out for sure which is which, finally I spotted the sharper patterns on a person's coat on the HD monitor.
Now, it seems to me it's going to take a long while for any significant number of consumers to buy tv sets that will justify buying HD players and media, so there won't be a rational market for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray for years to come. Irrational... Maybe marketers can push HD onto consumers even when they don't need it, but I don't see it happening so far. And in any case, if in 5-10 years' time I STILL have to go out and buy or rent some plastic disc to watch a movie... Well, that's a depressing idea right there.
And that is why you use a picture you don't let anyone else in on, not your signature.
No comment on the why, but seeing as the terms of service were, AFAIK, pretty clear to people before they bought the iPhone, and people HAVE been buying them, clearly people DO want to do business with Apple, even with "practices like this".
Why would people buy a 5-dollar piece of software when they don't feel bad about pirating something that would, when bought, set them back a hundred dollars or so? I'd wager that most people feel pirating something that's cheap in the first place is less immoral than pirating something that is expensive. And buying software always comes with hurdles, especially with MS: the process of actually buying it, with all the involved work, then activation, you name it. Piracy is easier. I don't think consumers being able to buy Windows cheaply would cut piracy down very much for MS.
I thought information wants to be free?
So does it, or does it not?
Oh hell. Disregard all that, shouldn't try to reply to sarcasm this early in the morning.
Pffft. I do computer animation and photoshop painting, and I don't see myself doing that on a device the size of a tablet, no matter how great the hardware is. The screen size is just too small. And yes, laptops are useful for me, even if finding one with a good screen can be a bit problematic. Being able to lug a workstation around is often a very good thing.
Maybe a certain segment of the laptop market will indeed be hit by smaller devices gaining popularity, but phasing out? I don't think so, not as long as display size and ease of input are dictated by the dimensions of the device.
Why, so they (the stupid people) can better ensure their numerous progeny make it to breeding age as well?