But that's the US! There's tremendous room for such a system in developing nations, european cities, and especially in command economies like China where occasionally over-powered leaders get big ideas and throw loads of taxpayer money at things like this. Problem for this company, though, is that the Chinese tend to use Chinese systems, not western ones.
You were right until you started thinking you knew the Chinese. The current only maglev implementation between Shanghai and Pudong airport was made by German company. The Chinese are also looking at using French TGVs and Japanease bullet trains for inter city connects.
Maybe the reason you think China is too socialist to use outside companies is that they absolutely will not buy American? I'm sure they're very impressed with Amtrak:-)
If we continue down taxing gas usage only, we'll get to a point where rural areas are paying a significant part of the taxes for upkeep of the road, while the city population, which would be near 100% electric in 10 ~ 30 years, gets off tax free.
You know what... It's about frickin time
Rural parts of states live off of our dime in the cities. Urban centers generate the lions share of tax revenue. At least for gas taxes, if they want to pollute, then they should pay their fair share. Hell, if it incoveniences them so much maybe they should lobby for mass transit to be improved? Urban votes are the reason things like the LA/SF fast rail project are ignored in favor of some random state pork project in the boondocks.
I tried Firefox today. Being an Opera7 user, I expected quite a bit and Firefox came up short. Specifically, I miss the scheduled autoupdate of the various tabs. I have several sites I frequent, like slashdot, that I update every 30 minutes.
This extension will help you. Just sort through the multitude of menu options and drool (you can even set autoupdate to occur slower on nonactive tabs!). Tabbrowser Extensions Rule. Now, if you want it easy, and builtin to the browser, stay with Opera. It's a nice browser. Just be careful when you say "firefox doesn't have X" because chances are, it does, and it exists as an extension because the maintainers want a small sleek mainline build.
Inline images are either on or off. Eg, no ability to prevent animations (gif or otherwise) from running.
(This is frustrating. I want to see the original images, but I absolutely hate animations of any sort.)
No Zones feature so that I can configure certain security options for certain sites.
Installed security is to save passwords, allow web sites to install software, save form information, and Java is enabled?
(Of course IE is probably even more open, but the point is that FireFox is supposed to be secure right?)
Many other configuration options are missing that would allow me to be prompted if I want to execute or do something.
None of these are absolutely critical for a browser "for the masses". Like the guy said, IE has features that Firefox doesn't have... but it also renders slower and is much bigger (when you take into account ALL the DLLs that it uses). Also, you can turn off animations... use about:config, search for animation, and select the appropriate value....but again, there are probably some extensions that fit the bill to address those concerns.
Face it, the thing is Firefox is not > IE. It's got a different mission statement. The thing that is clear, however, is that Microsoft has ceased to put much, if any development into IE. That's from their own mouth. So I place my bet on Firefox getting things that you're complaining about before IE gets any of the benefits that Firefox has.
Do you know why? In order to get a cart you have to put a quarter into the lock to get them out. When you are done, you can get that quarter back if you put your cart back. Only if you put the cart back.
Same thing in french stores; except they use 1 Euro coin... lots more than a quarter.
Linux is like Walmart....it is a race to the bottom on cost. Yes their are benefits like Walmart to the pocketbook but long term are they good??
That's the stupidest thing I've heard today. Linux is free and Free, sure... but do Redhat , SUN, et. al. give away installations for free? NO. They charge for things that cost money (support, consulting, customization, apps built on the OS, training, you name it). They don't charge for the core kernel... because they can't. Look at Tivo, Linksys, hell, even Apple. THey release great software on their hardware, taht's based on open-sourced kernels. Do their products sell for free?
Linux is not a "race to the bottom". It's about open standards and source. Two things that Brazil and India need, when dealing with massively powerful outside interests that want to rape their government (see Brazil vs. Roche).
Pretty soon, I'll have a phone that surfs the web, plays games, takes photos, cooks dinner, plays mp3s, wavs, oggs, avis, mpegs, and can predict the weather.
Agreed. You'll have all of that and it'll suck at doing all of it. My family just bought a bunch of new cameraphones and I can attest that after a month, the camera is effectively worthless (not that the first month was any good anyway). My major beef is sync. My data/media devices need to sync in standard formats/connectors. The state of sync in phones today is absolute garbage. At least the iPod doesn't suck so badly on that.
so we're gonna miss out on car based web-surfing (imagine a laptop keyboard "nipple" in your steering wheel!) when more distracting Car DVD players are available?
Sigh... I guess i have to get my commuting pr0n from dvds and not the web:-(
When there is no existing/Library/StartupItems, the Aironet installer is creating one with 775 me:staff permissions. And even when there is, I bet it creates/Library/StartupItems/Cisco with the same permissions.
Someone mod up parent!! This is clear example of where 3rd party driver/install software can break the "sane" security model of Unix. Windows has had this problem for a long time; it's only due to the relatively recent popularity of OSX that we'll the the issues with unix/linux.
just what i was looking for. i need something for http/ftp/print/etc server. and also something for a freebsd firewall, a full computer would be too much.
Jeez, if you want a microserver, check out a kurobox... it uses Linux. Or maybe go and mod a Linksys NSLU2. Both of these products are $185, and come with NAS/light server profile software already, and are hackable.
Of course, blaming Microsoft is the easy way out for those IT mangers who have the tools but get caught with their pants down because they don't know what their doing.
Then the IBM response to the bean-counters would be... do you want to reduce your overall IT costs? Sure you have all this AVS framework setup, but how much does it cost you in HW/SW/Payroll? How does that compare to our costs of $X (where $X should be well below the average AVS setup).
Remember, IT PHB's and such are powerful, but they play a very little 2nd fiddle to the Finance dept. (and guess which dept really has a strong role your stock price, etc).
You still don't have an electrical outlet. Lets hope you have 9 hours of battery life to get your money worth!
Someone please mod parent up!
When I was consulting, and traveling frequently (in coach class, company would *not* buy business class tix), I had to either
Bring extra batteries (heavy, expensive, & wear out)
Buy an external mega-battery (again, expensive)
Make all my long flights have stop-overs so that I could *hopefully* find a spare outlet to charge up my laptop on the stop-over
All of this while running at the lowest power setting, praying my P4 lap-heater would last until I got my work/game done. Forget anything like compiling or playing even starcraft... stick with editing files, typeing email/doc, and nethack.
Add wifi access, and all I'd be doing is browsing, not anything meaningful... and wifi lowers your battery faster, too:-(
He's considered by many to be one of the pioneers of cyberpunk, and Neuromancer certainly did help popularise the genre. And that definitely is something.
Well, Gibson may have popularized it, but Philip K Dick "wrote the book(s)", as it were... and he's nowhere on the list.
Honestly, I don't see either of them, as belonging on this list, as they're just meme-creators. People like Vint Cerf, Ken Thompson, and Dan Briklin actually created the infrastructure or killer apps that make what we're doing today possible. Kudos to the real mccoys, I say.
You do get pesky Mac problems though. Like the hardware falling to bits *all* the time.
Most of your evidence is anecdotal, and could be applied to any manufacturer. For example, I will never buy another Compaq product again.
I doubt that apple's failure rates are significantly higher than other manufacturers, in fact, according to this thread, Consumer Reports feels they're better than other manufacturers.
The one point I'll agree with you on is that they are the only hardware shop in town if you want to use their OS and Mac software.
I can see NO reason to pay another 79 only a year after Panther. Ask for more, when you have a big update.
Here's why Apple needs to charge whereas Microsoft doesn't:
OS maintenance and development is expensive, and a fixed expenditure (ie, not variable dependong on the number of users)
Microsoft has millions and millions of paying OS users to subsidise their costs.
Microsoft also has millions and millions of paying Office users who can subsidise almost everything else in the company (85% profit margin of $300 office packages is very powerful).
Microsoft does not release an OS update every year... in fact, more like 1 service pack every 2 years, and that's mostly security fixes, not features/products.
Given these reasons, Apple can either charge you for their OS updates, or increase the price of their products, or start to lose money. And as other people have said, you don't *need* to buy the update; often 1 update every 2 years is plenty even if you have to have the cutting edge software.
...but it's not so funny, it's very cool. Local radio (NPR and some talk radio excepted) is very stale, and does not contain the music I want to hear. I listen to techno/downtempo/ambient, and my wife likes French radio.. no way we can reliably get that on local radio.
I want to listen to what I want, when I want. and I want diversity. This company definitely has an interested customer in me.
Note the privacy notice on the webpage. There isn't one. Who are these people? It doesn't say. What are they doing with the information they collect? What are the chances of getting a software audit if you fill out a claim form?
No tinfoil hats neccessary. I filled it out with bogus info, then generated the pdf.. it didn't contain my bogus info, so I can use my real info there. Besides, they do get your snail mail info anyway, when you send in the form.
If the FCC (a state actor if there ever was one) can still arbitrary levy fines on Howard and Bono (and the companies that give them airtime) for incidents that may have occurred several years ago without due process, what hope do we have that Verisign will ever be held to the proper standards?
If you are having a "research" conference and the mere fact that you will be logged as having traveled to the conference is a problem, then you have to wonder about what is being researched.
If the purpose of your conference is legit, then this should be not a problem at all.
Hey pal, I don't know about you... but I don't like being treated like I am a criminal. I may not do research, but I can tell you that many researchers have strong beliefs (you have to have real devotion to keep searching they haystack for a needle)... and often those beliefs run counter to police state mentality. Given a choice, they'll choose not to be harrassed.
They'd better. Denver's whack. Is there any other town in the WORLD where pedestrians can cross an intersection DIAGONALLY, right through the center of the intersection? So that pedestrians can pull off this amazing stunt, you'll be sitting at a four way stop light for a minute or so to allow granny to walk through THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION.
In San Francisco, several lights in the Financial district are "all way walk" where the pedestrians have full roam over the intersection for a good minute or two. Makes sense in a dense metropolitan area.... since lots of ppl probably use bus/metro/train instead of car to get around.
Slashdot Mirror
You were right until you started thinking you knew the Chinese. The current only maglev implementation between Shanghai and Pudong airport was made by German company. The Chinese are also looking at using French TGVs and Japanease bullet trains for inter city connects.
Maybe the reason you think China is too socialist to use outside companies is that they absolutely will not buy American? I'm sure they're very impressed with Amtrak :-)
You know what... It's about frickin time
Rural parts of states live off of our dime in the cities. Urban centers generate the lions share of tax revenue. At least for gas taxes, if they want to pollute, then they should pay their fair share. Hell, if it incoveniences them so much maybe they should lobby for mass transit to be improved? Urban votes are the reason things like the LA/SF fast rail project are ignored in favor of some random state pork project in the boondocks.
This extension will help you. Just sort through the multitude of menu options and drool (you can even set autoupdate to occur slower on nonactive tabs!). Tabbrowser Extensions Rule. Now, if you want it easy, and builtin to the browser, stay with Opera. It's a nice browser. Just be careful when you say "firefox doesn't have X" because chances are, it does, and it exists as an extension because the maintainers want a small sleek mainline build.
[conspiracy] On the other hand, if they can't find it... [/conspiracy]
None of these are absolutely critical for a browser "for the masses". Like the guy said, IE has features that Firefox doesn't have... but it also renders slower and is much bigger (when you take into account ALL the DLLs that it uses). Also, you can turn off animations... use about:config, search for animation, and select the appropriate value....but again, there are probably some extensions that fit the bill to address those concerns.
Face it, the thing is Firefox is not > IE. It's got a different mission statement. The thing that is clear, however, is that Microsoft has ceased to put much, if any development into IE. That's from their own mouth. So I place my bet on Firefox getting things that you're complaining about before IE gets any of the benefits that Firefox has.
Same thing in french stores; except they use 1 Euro coin... lots more than a quarter.
That's the stupidest thing I've heard today. Linux is free and Free, sure... but do Redhat , SUN, et. al. give away installations for free? NO. They charge for things that cost money (support, consulting, customization, apps built on the OS, training, you name it). They don't charge for the core kernel... because they can't. Look at Tivo, Linksys, hell, even Apple. THey release great software on their hardware, taht's based on open-sourced kernels. Do their products sell for free?
Linux is not a "race to the bottom". It's about open standards and source. Two things that Brazil and India need, when dealing with massively powerful outside interests that want to rape their government (see Brazil vs. Roche).
Agreed. You'll have all of that and it'll suck at doing all of it. My family just bought a bunch of new cameraphones and I can attest that after a month, the camera is effectively worthless (not that the first month was any good anyway). My major beef is sync. My data/media devices need to sync in standard formats/connectors. The state of sync in phones today is absolute garbage. At least the iPod doesn't suck so badly on that.
Next Step... counter the fear. Problem is there's no direct pro-nuclear groups/funding out there. So we have to do it ourselves.
Here's a good book on how to counter an agenda
(note: it's not clear that anti-nuclear is clearly a right-wing agenda).
Sigh... I guess i have to get my commuting pr0n from dvds and not the web :-(
Well, given the screenshots I've seen are in French, we should probably assume the French word, which means "prawns"... délicieux :-)...
Tabbrowser Extensions...
Someone mod up parent!! This is clear example of where 3rd party driver/install software can break the "sane" security model of Unix. Windows has had this problem for a long time; it's only due to the relatively recent popularity of OSX that we'll the the issues with unix/linux.
Jeez, if you want a microserver, check out a kurobox... it uses Linux. Or maybe go and mod a Linksys NSLU2. Both of these products are $185, and come with NAS/light server profile software already, and are hackable.
Then the IBM response to the bean-counters would be... do you want to reduce your overall IT costs? Sure you have all this AVS framework setup, but how much does it cost you in HW/SW/Payroll? How does that compare to our costs of $X (where $X should be well below the average AVS setup).
Remember, IT PHB's and such are powerful, but they play a very little 2nd fiddle to the Finance dept. (and guess which dept really has a strong role your stock price, etc).
Someone please mod parent up!
When I was consulting, and traveling frequently (in coach class, company would *not* buy business class tix), I had to either
All of this while running at the lowest power setting, praying my P4 lap-heater would last until I got my work/game done. Forget anything like compiling or playing even starcraft... stick with editing files, typeing email/doc, and nethack.
Add wifi access, and all I'd be doing is browsing, not anything meaningful... and wifi lowers your battery faster, too :-(
Well, Gibson may have popularized it, but Philip K Dick "wrote the book(s)", as it were... and he's nowhere on the list.
Honestly, I don't see either of them, as belonging on this list, as they're just meme-creators. People like Vint Cerf, Ken Thompson, and Dan Briklin actually created the infrastructure or killer apps that make what we're doing today possible. Kudos to the real mccoys, I say.
Most of your evidence is anecdotal, and could be applied to any manufacturer. For example, I will never buy another Compaq product again.
I doubt that apple's failure rates are significantly higher than other manufacturers, in fact, according to this thread, Consumer Reports feels they're better than other manufacturers.
The one point I'll agree with you on is that they are the only hardware shop in town if you want to use their OS and Mac software.
Here's why Apple needs to charge whereas Microsoft doesn't:
Given these reasons, Apple can either charge you for their OS updates, or increase the price of their products, or start to lose money. And as other people have said, you don't *need* to buy the update; often 1 update every 2 years is plenty even if you have to have the cutting edge software.
I want to listen to what I want, when I want. and I want diversity. This company definitely has an interested customer in me.
No tinfoil hats neccessary. I filled it out with bogus info, then generated the pdf.. it didn't contain my bogus info, so I can use my real info there. Besides, they do get your snail mail info anyway, when you send in the form.
Remember that the FCC Commissioner is appointed by the President (google cache)... and that this is an election year. If you care, use your power and vote them out.
If the purpose of your conference is legit, then this should be not a problem at all.
Hey pal, I don't know about you... but I don't like being treated like I am a criminal. I may not do research, but I can tell you that many researchers have strong beliefs (you have to have real devotion to keep searching they haystack for a needle)... and often those beliefs run counter to police state mentality. Given a choice, they'll choose not to be harrassed.
In San Francisco, several lights in the Financial district are "all way walk" where the pedestrians have full roam over the intersection for a good minute or two. Makes sense in a dense metropolitan area.... since lots of ppl probably use bus/metro/train instead of car to get around.
Guess they gotta keep innovating the old fashioned Microsoft way.