Pretty much anybody who has used an e-book reader for more than five minutes could tell how this marketing effort would end. Fanboys excluded, because no doubt a Kindle lover or an iPad tit will be along any minute to relate how they now use only their device of devotion, and say how great it works for reference material.
E-BOOK READERS ARE SHIT FOR REFERENCE MATERIAL!!!!
Learn it.. Live with it. The electronic backpack is not here yet.
A paper book has every reader device beaten hands down for text books. Novels are a different story.
In all honesty, they are great for pleasure reading. I've gone through I can't remember how many books in the year and a bit I have had mine. Never a second of buyer's remorse. But for reference material, forget it.
1. No, the combined data of all my Google searches (assuming I use non-anonymised Google) is far more sensitive than my insurance company, doctor and phone company records - I use a search engine to find out about insurance, medical and most other issues, so you can obtain a far more complete picture of my life thereby;
Ahh.. So if you are searching for cancer information and you are about to reapply for insurance, that is more likely to get you turned down.. Riight.. And doctors only hold trivial unimportant information on you, instead of the precise personal information that Google has.. A doctor may have recorded somewhere that you had an STD, but searching with Google PROVES it.
2. No, security services don't use a court order or search warrant when they install black boxes: that's the whole point;
And the likelihood of you getting interrogated by secret services is minuscule. Getting "noticed"by the police on the other hand, perhaps for attending a political demonstration or similar is far more likely. As is being accused of something, and later being watched without your knowledge, which includes phone records, internet search records etc..
3. Google hasn't raised a public fuss repeatedly at the requests of the US security agencies, which means it complies - just how many times has Google announced that it objects to NSA data-gathering, for example?;
Are you implying they have a choice? What exactly should they do? Barricade themselves in their offices to protect your porn history? NOBODY refuses secret services when they request information. And currently, they quite possibly do so under a non disclosure system, so can not even mention it. In the UK, even local government officials can use various anti terror powers to investigate trivial things. And have done quite a bit.
4. It doesn't matter how many other smaller institutions comply on request, just that it's dangerous to allow one organisation to collect so much data in a way which be so easily processed.
And you think that the police or any other official agency doesn't have the resources to do a search through all records for all information? Or that a quick call to your phone provider will unearth your ISP, which has far more complete records on not only what you search, but can intercept your email.. Do you honestly delude yourself into thinking that a search for Home made explosives recipes is more incriminating that associating with someone who is already being watched?
Pratt..
Tell me that you believe Google has a choice...
And how exactly is Google different to a bank or a shopping site, or an insurance company or a doctor, or a phone company, or a credit card company.. Some of which have far more sensitive information in their files than your Google porn search.
If a server is running in a geographic area that is within the jurisdiction of a government agency, that agency is able to demand (not request) any and all information they feel is necessary. In stable regions,this is covered by a court order or search warrant, in less stable areas, a bunch of police or soldiers turning up and demanding the information.
Pretty much the same internationally. I vaguely remember reading a story or two about a few service providers objecting to this, and basically, being told to shut the fuck up and hand over the data.
On the other hand.. If you have any proof that Google goes out of it's way to comply, and offers the authorities any information beyond what they are legally bound to do, please post it.
It is not free software. If you want to promote free software, you also have to make it available to parties or uses you might disagree with. Otherwise it is not free.
It's PETA.. What do you expect.. A rational argument?
You should try guild wars, it has no subscription.
And for all my fellow Linux users.. works great under WINE.
Just heard about it being Linux compatible a few days ago, downloaded the demo, and bought the full game the next day.
As you can imagine I'm fairly pissed at them, but everything I bought from them over the years is still available to me, everything I own I can still use. There are other suppliers of books, mp3s and electronics - if they don't want my business I can and will take it elsewhere.
I'm not sure how much all this would affect me if I owned a Kindle, but I don't think I would want to buy one now. (Well, it's not like they'd let me anyway...)
I'll take this as a reminder not to entrust anything important to "the cloud" and continue not to buy DRM products.
As far as I have read (not stupid enough to rent a Kindle).. No account = no way of (legally) changing the DRM code on your books = no way of transferring your books to a new device.
So if you buy say ten books a year, for the next five years, those fifty books will last as long as your current Kindle device works. Not as long as you decide you want the books.
Ownership is the same as renting. It just has an indefinite termination date.
Nope.. Renting is a different legal and logical concept. The two are not interchangeable. And do not get changed after the initial transaction. No EULA or overreaction to copyright is going to change that.
But easy enough to prove.. Rent a car in your own name and sell it.. See how long before your theory is challenged.
What I don't get about this is every time I went by the local best buy they had hundreds of the things stacked up behind the counter in the computer area. Even on launch day - around noon I was able to just walk in and I could have bought one if I wanted - I even have photo proof of this.
Something doesn't ad up if you ask me.
No.. they were all sold units.
Try looking at it in a slightly different way.. The inconvenient not believing PR releases way.
Apple said 1 million units sold. And I'm sure they were telling the truth. As far as it goes.
They didn't really emphasise very strongly that they were "sold" to retailers and Apple stores. And the iFanboys took it from there. Just like the "Apple biggest phone maker in US" story a few days ago, or "iPad killing netbooks" story yesterday.
Which means all the iPads you saw on display, and the many more in the warehouse were all counted by Apple, as sold. Even though anybody could go in and buy them from Best Buy.
So more accurately... 1 million units shipped to retail outlets.
Not 1 million purchased by members of the public. Six months from now, the same units in that million could still be sitting on a shelf in some store.
Running out of stock from Apple's end is easily done. Ship any surplus units to some low performing out of the way Apple store, delay the worldwide launch, or announce it too early, and not have a a hope of meeting it. And get more PR. Easy. Zero sales lost due to underestimating demand. Plenty of stock to go around shipped from Apple stores to the various outlets.. Job done.
Microsoft quotes shipped figures as sold to retail licenses too, when it includes every copy in every shop, every bulk buy from OEMs. Every free upgrades from Vista, every shipped by default copy that gets erased and replaced with the company image. And naturally.. All the copies that get sent to volume license customers that are still using XP, and will for a year or two more.
It's an old trick that keeps getting swallowed by the fanboys, and regurgitated over and over.
So basically, you have to wait for enough of the old apps to die out or be upgraded with newer versions that support newer browsers before you're going to get anything close to killing IE6, or IE-anything for that matter.
Well.. that, and the death of XP in 2014(I think), when companies that have yet to move form XP will have to move somewhere.Or is there away to run IE6 natively in 7?
From what I can gather, the main reason people despise the GIMP UI is because they're so used to the designs of other programs. I've heard it said before that people that get used to GIMP, when they try Photoshop, find its UI to be "horrible" as well. Personally I like the GIMP interface and I don't see what's so horrible about it; might I remind you that if you hate its current UI so much, GIMP 2.8 (being released later this year) will have a single window mode so people don't complain as loud.
That would be because you are not a drama queen. A rare commodity here. The UI you are used to is the one that you find easier. Simple as that. Gimp, Blender, Open Office, you name it. The UI is only an issue to the twits who are desperately searching for a means to make themselves appear more important.
And to be honest, some kid with a pirated copy of a professional package he would not be able to afford if he had to pay for it, is not really an objective critic. But then neither is some kid with a burning need to convert everybody to Linux. Use what you like. Or what you can afford, or what you need. Not what "everybody says is the bestest one evar"
The fun bit is going to be watching Photoshop fanboys fending off not only FOSS fanboys, but Apple fanboys too. Pull up a chair.. I think Photoshop's UI is going to be called more things than intuitive this time.
Be fair.. Some of it is very creative. My favourite to date was someone on engadget trying to make out the iPhone isn't really a phone, when someone was "hating on Apple" because the thing kept missing calls.
I've seen it in quite a few places recently. It's not a random choice. It's royalty free clip available in just about any format or resolution. So basically, do what you like so long as you don't claim it as your own work. And as it isn't advertising anything, it can be used by the BBC too.
Even test clips can have some kind of copyright attached, and can bite you in the bum when you are demoing something on TV or in public. BBB is 100% safe to use for tech demos without paying a fee, or asking specific permission.
Not on sale yet, but there is a working prototype. So perhaps like flexible e-ink and OLED monitors.. Pre production isn't really vapour ware. Saw it on demonstrated on Click yesterday.
The colour isn't as bright as normal LCD and there is a bit of ghosting, but it is supposed to give significantly lower power consumption even with a back light, so the power saving alone will be an advantage for long life products. Not just e-book readers.
The all day laptop is edging ever closer.
Where's the hack? Reads more like a commercial to me.
It's an iHack. Like a hack, but better more polished and easy for ordinary people to do. It's an innovative game changing method for safely hacking Apple's products in a magical way that will change the way we hack for ever.
What.. You expected wires and soldering irons and unofficial code and stuff? Eww.. He used a non Apple product.. What more do you want. Do you know how hard it is to open an iProduct? It could get SCRATCHED!!!!
And you know how the master gets when people try to do stuff they are not allo...(BZZZT)..Want to do.
I don't know about others, but that implies more value to me. Can you trade hardware over the ether?
Not yet.. But getting there.. http://www.thingiverse.com/
I know. Crude home made stuff. But the same could be said of computer games in the 80s. And home computers for that matter.
I think it's called the MS Bob approach.;) It's what you get, when you mix up "elegant", "emergent" or "efficient" with "simple", and listen to the loud dumb clients to make the thing useless for everyone with half a brain, while telling the intelligent critics that the dumb would not get it. Some people really think they could make more money that way...
Slashdot Mirror
Pretty much anybody who has used an e-book reader for more than five minutes could tell how this marketing effort would end. Fanboys excluded, because no doubt a Kindle lover or an iPad tit will be along any minute to relate how they now use only their device of devotion, and say how great it works for reference material.
E-BOOK READERS ARE SHIT FOR REFERENCE MATERIAL!!!!
Learn it.. Live with it. The electronic backpack is not here yet.
A paper book has every reader device beaten hands down for text books. Novels are a different story.
In all honesty, they are great for pleasure reading. I've gone through I can't remember how many books in the year and a bit I have had mine. Never a second of buyer's remorse. But for reference material, forget it.
1. No, the combined data of all my Google searches (assuming I use non-anonymised Google) is far more sensitive than my insurance company, doctor and phone company records - I use a search engine to find out about insurance, medical and most other issues, so you can obtain a far more complete picture of my life thereby;
Ahh.. So if you are searching for cancer information and you are about to reapply for insurance, that is more likely to get you turned down.. Riight.. And doctors only hold trivial unimportant information on you, instead of the precise personal information that Google has.. A doctor may have recorded somewhere that you had an STD, but searching with Google PROVES it.
2. No, security services don't use a court order or search warrant when they install black boxes: that's the whole point;
And the likelihood of you getting interrogated by secret services is minuscule. Getting "noticed"by the police on the other hand, perhaps for attending a political demonstration or similar is far more likely. As is being accused of something, and later being watched without your knowledge, which includes phone records, internet search records etc..
3. Google hasn't raised a public fuss repeatedly at the requests of the US security agencies, which means it complies - just how many times has Google announced that it objects to NSA data-gathering, for example?;
Are you implying they have a choice? What exactly should they do? Barricade themselves in their offices to protect your porn history? NOBODY refuses secret services when they request information. And currently, they quite possibly do so under a non disclosure system, so can not even mention it. In the UK, even local government officials can use various anti terror powers to investigate trivial things. And have done quite a bit.
4. It doesn't matter how many other smaller institutions comply on request, just that it's dangerous to allow one organisation to collect so much data in a way which be so easily processed.
And you think that the police or any other official agency doesn't have the resources to do a search through all records for all information? Or that a quick call to your phone provider will unearth your ISP, which has far more complete records on not only what you search, but can intercept your email.. Do you honestly delude yourself into thinking that a search for Home made explosives recipes is more incriminating that associating with someone who is already being watched? Pratt..
Tell me that you believe Google has a choice... And how exactly is Google different to a bank or a shopping site, or an insurance company or a doctor, or a phone company, or a credit card company.. Some of which have far more sensitive information in their files than your Google porn search. If a server is running in a geographic area that is within the jurisdiction of a government agency, that agency is able to demand (not request) any and all information they feel is necessary. In stable regions,this is covered by a court order or search warrant, in less stable areas, a bunch of police or soldiers turning up and demanding the information. Pretty much the same internationally. I vaguely remember reading a story or two about a few service providers objecting to this, and basically, being told to shut the fuck up and hand over the data. On the other hand.. If you have any proof that Google goes out of it's way to comply, and offers the authorities any information beyond what they are legally bound to do, please post it.
It is not free software. If you want to promote free software, you also have to make it available to parties or uses you might disagree with. Otherwise it is not free.
It's PETA.. What do you expect.. A rational argument?
Have you SEEN Boris Johnson?
Nah..Boris is human through and through.. His hair on the other hand....
You should try guild wars, it has no subscription.
And for all my fellow Linux users.. works great under WINE. Just heard about it being Linux compatible a few days ago, downloaded the demo, and bought the full game the next day.
As you can imagine I'm fairly pissed at them, but everything I bought from them over the years is still available to me, everything I own I can still use. There are other suppliers of books, mp3s and electronics - if they don't want my business I can and will take it elsewhere.
I'm not sure how much all this would affect me if I owned a Kindle, but I don't think I would want to buy one now. (Well, it's not like they'd let me anyway ...)
I'll take this as a reminder not to entrust anything important to "the cloud" and continue not to buy DRM products.
As far as I have read (not stupid enough to rent a Kindle).. No account = no way of (legally) changing the DRM code on your books = no way of transferring your books to a new device.
So if you buy say ten books a year, for the next five years, those fifty books will last as long as your current Kindle device works. Not as long as you decide you want the books.
Ownership is the same as renting. It just has an indefinite termination date.
Nope.. Renting is a different legal and logical concept. The two are not interchangeable. And do not get changed after the initial transaction. No EULA or overreaction to copyright is going to change that.
But easy enough to prove.. Rent a car in your own name and sell it.. See how long before your theory is challenged.
Supplies were low? Hardly!
What I don't get about this is every time I went by the local best buy they had hundreds of the things stacked up behind the counter in the computer area. Even on launch day - around noon I was able to just walk in and I could have bought one if I wanted - I even have photo proof of this.
Something doesn't ad up if you ask me.
No.. they were all sold units.
Try looking at it in a slightly different way.. The inconvenient not believing PR releases way.
Apple said 1 million units sold. And I'm sure they were telling the truth. As far as it goes.
They didn't really emphasise very strongly that they were "sold" to retailers and Apple stores. And the iFanboys took it from there. Just like the "Apple biggest phone maker in US" story a few days ago, or "iPad killing netbooks" story yesterday.
Which means all the iPads you saw on display, and the many more in the warehouse were all counted by Apple, as sold. Even though anybody could go in and buy them from Best Buy.
So more accurately... 1 million units shipped to retail outlets.
Not 1 million purchased by members of the public. Six months from now, the same units in that million could still be sitting on a shelf in some store.
Running out of stock from Apple's end is easily done. Ship any surplus units to some low performing out of the way Apple store, delay the worldwide launch, or announce it too early, and not have a a hope of meeting it. And get more PR. Easy. Zero sales lost due to underestimating demand. Plenty of stock to go around shipped from Apple stores to the various outlets.. Job done.
Microsoft quotes shipped figures as sold to retail licenses too, when it includes every copy in every shop, every bulk buy from OEMs. Every free upgrades from Vista, every shipped by default copy that gets erased and replaced with the company image. And naturally.. All the copies that get sent to volume license customers that are still using XP, and will for a year or two more.
It's an old trick that keeps getting swallowed by the fanboys, and regurgitated over and over.
And seatbelts don't save your life in every situation, so nobody should wear them.
Don't you people get tired of using the same defense (apple user are iDiot who buy overprice iCrap) over and over again?
Ahh.. You mean the truth.. Nope. Much easier to give a consistent solid argument that to dogmatically parrot the latest PR fluff from Apple.
But not being technologically illiterate, and not usually being someone's granny, we are obviously not the people Apple are marketing to.
So basically, you have to wait for enough of the old apps to die out or be upgraded with newer versions that support newer browsers before you're going to get anything close to killing IE6, or IE-anything for that matter.
Well.. that, and the death of XP in 2014(I think), when companies that have yet to move form XP will have to move somewhere.Or is there away to run IE6 natively in 7?
So what did he do with the talking cylon car?
And you seriously think this would hold up in court?
Three letters.. SCO..
Geordi La Forge was not carrying around a NetBook on the Starship Enterprise. He was carrying around a tablet. This is just the beginning.
And Doctor Who carries a sonic screwdriver.. Your point?
If you run out of toilet paper an iPad would be next to useless.
Be fair.. It would make a pretty good scraper.
What price beats free?
Fair.
From what I can gather, the main reason people despise the GIMP UI is because they're so used to the designs of other programs. I've heard it said before that people that get used to GIMP, when they try Photoshop, find its UI to be "horrible" as well. Personally I like the GIMP interface and I don't see what's so horrible about it; might I remind you that if you hate its current UI so much, GIMP 2.8 (being released later this year) will have a single window mode so people don't complain as loud.
That would be because you are not a drama queen. A rare commodity here. The UI you are used to is the one that you find easier. Simple as that. Gimp, Blender, Open Office, you name it. The UI is only an issue to the twits who are desperately searching for a means to make themselves appear more important. And to be honest, some kid with a pirated copy of a professional package he would not be able to afford if he had to pay for it, is not really an objective critic. But then neither is some kid with a burning need to convert everybody to Linux. Use what you like. Or what you can afford, or what you need. Not what "everybody says is the bestest one evar" The fun bit is going to be watching Photoshop fanboys fending off not only FOSS fanboys, but Apple fanboys too. Pull up a chair.. I think Photoshop's UI is going to be called more things than intuitive this time.
Be fair.. Some of it is very creative. My favourite to date was someone on engadget trying to make out the iPhone isn't really a phone, when someone was "hating on Apple" because the thing kept missing calls.
As opposed to who else at /.?
The astroturfers?
I've seen it in quite a few places recently. It's not a random choice. It's royalty free clip available in just about any format or resolution. So basically, do what you like so long as you don't claim it as your own work. And as it isn't advertising anything, it can be used by the BBC too. Even test clips can have some kind of copyright attached, and can bite you in the bum when you are demoing something on TV or in public. BBB is 100% safe to use for tech demos without paying a fee, or asking specific permission.
Not on sale yet, but there is a working prototype. So perhaps like flexible e-ink and OLED monitors.. Pre production isn't really vapour ware. Saw it on demonstrated on Click yesterday. The colour isn't as bright as normal LCD and there is a bit of ghosting, but it is supposed to give significantly lower power consumption even with a back light, so the power saving alone will be an advantage for long life products. Not just e-book readers. The all day laptop is edging ever closer.
Where's the hack? Reads more like a commercial to me.
It's an iHack. Like a hack, but better more polished and easy for ordinary people to do.
It's an innovative game changing method for safely hacking Apple's products in a magical way that will change the way we hack for ever.
What.. You expected wires and soldering irons and unofficial code and stuff? Eww.. He used a non Apple product.. What more do you want.
Do you know how hard it is to open an iProduct? It could get SCRATCHED!!!!
And you know how the master gets when people try to do stuff they are not allo...(BZZZT)..Want to do.
I don't know about others, but that implies more value to me. Can you trade hardware over the ether?
Not yet.. But getting there.. http://www.thingiverse.com/ I know. Crude home made stuff. But the same could be said of computer games in the 80s. And home computers for that matter.
I think it's called the MS Bob approach. ;)
It's what you get, when you mix up "elegant", "emergent" or "efficient" with "simple", and listen to the loud dumb clients to make the thing useless for everyone with half a brain, while telling the intelligent critics that the dumb would not get it. Some people really think they could make more money that way...
Ahh.. The Apple strategy..