They were granted a monopoly, because it was in the public interest to have only one, monolithic telephone system, but they had to submit to regulation as a Common Carrier.
I'm one who argues that this should have been the case with the US cellular system. There has been a tremendous duplication of equipment by the various carriers (some of whom are defunct). There's no reason we need three different, incompatible air protocols (except to lock in customers). Every time I pass a cell tower with a half dozen antenna sets on it, I wonder what would have happened if we had one, standard specification (like GSM in Europe), and one, regulated provider. The downside is that the price would probably be higher:-(
I shop online because I'm tired of going to the store and finding that the size/color/variety I'm looking for is out of stock or not carried by that branch. Then I get to drive somewhere else to look for it. Online, click and exactly what I wanted is on its way.
I'm not convinced that it pollutes more to buy things online, but at least I get what I want without driving all over town
There are loads of unencrypted satellite feeds. Whole communities of people who explore them can be discovered with a little Googling. They'll tell you what the best receivers are and how to set up a mechanism to swing the dish to different satellites. NASA TV comes to mind
It seems like the crazy theories are getting more traction (at least, they're getting more people talking about them as if they were real).
I blame the media - Glenn Beck, FOX, CNN. It's apparently cheaper to yammer on about random stuff than to pay real journalists to gather real news. And it seems to get better ratings. Of course, this increase in ratings means that the old line news organizations see they are losing out and feel the need to climb onto the bandwagon. And, of course, we all enjoy a bit of gossip and a good conspiracy theory.
It's all fun and games until a majority of people in your town start thinking of the National Enquirer as a reliable source of news. Seriously, people, some of this stuff is from WAY out in left field. {joke alert} Even I'm starting to believe Obama's "long form" (because the "short form" and a legal affadavit from the Hawaiian secretary of state aren't good enough) birth certificate is being hidden at the UN to keep us from learning the truth!
So...how do we reverse this and encourage more critical thinking? I fear for our democracy if this silliness continues much longer.
GS runs on AA, can get spares & carry them with you. Android will want to be charged at some point, and how will it behave if it can't find a cell site? GSM units will keep transmitting, increasing battery drain.
Spend a hundred bucks on a new GPS for him.
I have reported an issue with the road I live on to Tele Atlas three times over the past three years. Every time, they acknowledge it, but their status page (nice idea) never shows any further progress. Three years. A quick scan of the forums shows my case is not unique.
Navtech acknowledged my report and changed their maps the next year. However, they do lose points for having corrected it many years ago, and then reverting it. No problem, it's fixed now.
Living on a dead end road is nice, until you get a full length trailer truck trying to turn around on your lawn because his satnav said the road went all the way through.
But, sadly, in vain. I can't help but wonder what the total cost of developing and introducing products like the Kins was. Announcing their demise within the same month as their introduction seems a strange (and unprofitable) way of doing business.
When the rest of the world is using iPhones and Droids, a "social media-only" phone seemed a strange offering indeed.
- which choice gives the largest percentage difference between old and new car mileage?
- which choice results in the least amount of gas used for a given distance?
Most people who drive a fixed mileage (i.e.: commute) would choose the second meaning, while the more mathematically inclined would use the first interpretation.
Going from a 33 to 50 mpg car is going to result in the lowest annual gas consumption, given that you drive the same number of miles in all cases. That's the result most of us are looking for: least number of dollars spent on gas.
TFP (The Fine Patent) doesn't address the effects of passing their coding through a lossy codec (or any codec for that matter). It appears to be a fairly simplistic way of marking prints with unique identifiers. No mention is made of file sharing as something they're trying to address.
"why do you think that most semi fixed transmitters have a way to separate the antenna and the actual transmitter??"
Reduces interference to receivers and RF exposure to operators. Receive sites are often remote from the transmitters to reduce interference.
Transmitters want to be close to antennas because of feedline loss, so control and audio can be remoted over twisted pair to the control location for both transmit and receive sites.
"declare in their manuals that they are for "personal use and non-commercial" purposes only."
You don't always do everything that the manual tells you to, do you? I'm pretty sure that thousands of people a day use these cameras for commercial purposes without any problem (I know we use them at work). And I'm also pretty sure the MPEG-LA doesn't want to see the issue end up in court, because they'd probably lose.
SWTPC 6800. An acquaintance had bought one, built most of it, and had several memory cards to build. He had run out of desire to solder chips, so he let me take it for a month to build the memory boards and test the system. I had a Teletype and a soldering iron, so I spent a month of my summer vacation playing with it (building the memory boards took only a day or two).
Real Computers have switches and lights. Real Hackers design and build their own computers.
Funded by your taxes and responsive to the wants and needs of the community. If you don't like the mix of resources available, join the board of your public library and advocate for change.
I'd say anything that gets kids in the door of a library is a good thing. Who knows what they'll pick up to read while waiting for a turn at the video game?
You'd think that a company that has been in the OS business since the dawn of the PC would have figured out how to write a good one by now.
A multi-billion dollar company that can afford to hire the best minds in computer science, and their flagship desktop OS product is just barely able to compete with a free OS written by a bunch of longhaired granola heads.
Slashdot Mirror
They were granted a monopoly, because it was in the public interest to have only one, monolithic telephone system, but they had to submit to regulation as a Common Carrier. I'm one who argues that this should have been the case with the US cellular system. There has been a tremendous duplication of equipment by the various carriers (some of whom are defunct). There's no reason we need three different, incompatible air protocols (except to lock in customers). Every time I pass a cell tower with a half dozen antenna sets on it, I wonder what would have happened if we had one, standard specification (like GSM in Europe), and one, regulated provider. The downside is that the price would probably be higher :-(
I shop online because I'm tired of going to the store and finding that the size/color/variety I'm looking for is out of stock or not carried by that branch. Then I get to drive somewhere else to look for it. Online, click and exactly what I wanted is on its way.
I'm not convinced that it pollutes more to buy things online, but at least I get what I want without driving all over town
There are loads of unencrypted satellite feeds. Whole communities of people who explore them can be discovered with a little Googling. They'll tell you what the best receivers are and how to set up a mechanism to swing the dish to different satellites. NASA TV comes to mind
It seems like the crazy theories are getting more traction (at least, they're getting more people talking about them as if they were real).
I blame the media - Glenn Beck, FOX, CNN. It's apparently cheaper to yammer on about random stuff than to pay real journalists to gather real news. And it seems to get better ratings. Of course, this increase in ratings means that the old line news organizations see they are losing out and feel the need to climb onto the bandwagon. And, of course, we all enjoy a bit of gossip and a good conspiracy theory.
It's all fun and games until a majority of people in your town start thinking of the National Enquirer as a reliable source of news. Seriously, people, some of this stuff is from WAY out in left field. {joke alert} Even I'm starting to believe Obama's "long form" (because the "short form" and a legal affadavit from the Hawaiian secretary of state aren't good enough) birth certificate is being hidden at the UN to keep us from learning the truth!
So...how do we reverse this and encourage more critical thinking? I fear for our democracy if this silliness continues much longer.
GS runs on AA, can get spares & carry them with you. Android will want to be charged at some point, and how will it behave if it can't find a cell site? GSM units will keep transmitting, increasing battery drain. Spend a hundred bucks on a new GPS for him.
I have reported an issue with the road I live on to Tele Atlas three times over the past three years. Every time, they acknowledge it, but their status page (nice idea) never shows any further progress. Three years. A quick scan of the forums shows my case is not unique.
Navtech acknowledged my report and changed their maps the next year. However, they do lose points for having corrected it many years ago, and then reverting it. No problem, it's fixed now.
Living on a dead end road is nice, until you get a full length trailer truck trying to turn around on your lawn because his satnav said the road went all the way through.
The roads must roll!
"the targeted marketing was done competently."
But, sadly, in vain. I can't help but wonder what the total cost of developing and introducing products like the Kins was. Announcing their demise within the same month as their introduction seems a strange (and unprofitable) way of doing business.
When the rest of the world is using iPhones and Droids, a "social media-only" phone seemed a strange offering indeed.
Nobody wants to see *your* naughty bits. Well, not as many as want to see *hers*. Not by a very long shot.
"saves more gas" can be interpreted in two ways:
- which choice gives the largest percentage difference between old and new car mileage?
- which choice results in the least amount of gas used for a given distance?
Most people who drive a fixed mileage (i.e.: commute) would choose the second meaning, while the more mathematically inclined would use the first interpretation.
Going from a 33 to 50 mpg car is going to result in the lowest annual gas consumption, given that you drive the same number of miles in all cases. That's the result most of us are looking for: least number of dollars spent on gas.
About who's going to succeed Kim Jong-Il, then.
TFP (The Fine Patent) doesn't address the effects of passing their coding through a lossy codec (or any codec for that matter). It appears to be a fairly simplistic way of marking prints with unique identifiers. No mention is made of file sharing as something they're trying to address.
When they said it, though, they didn't have testicles in mind: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=balls+out Steam power, all the way!
not nuclear reactors, actually, Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. Not that it makes that much difference if you get too close to one.
These are the folks who thought nuclear lighthouses were a great idea... http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/01/06/abandoned-russian-polar-nuclear-lighthouses/ (and they were...except for the abandoned nuclear reactor part of it)
"why do you think that most semi fixed transmitters have a way to separate the antenna and the actual transmitter??" Reduces interference to receivers and RF exposure to operators. Receive sites are often remote from the transmitters to reduce interference. Transmitters want to be close to antennas because of feedline loss, so control and audio can be remoted over twisted pair to the control location for both transmit and receive sites.
"declare in their manuals that they are for "personal use and non-commercial" purposes only."
You don't always do everything that the manual tells you to, do you? I'm pretty sure that thousands of people a day use these cameras for commercial purposes without any problem (I know we use them at work). And I'm also pretty sure the MPEG-LA doesn't want to see the issue end up in court, because they'd probably lose.
Steve Jobs should call Gray out of the audience and have *him* introduce the new iPhone at the unveiling.
It would show he has a sense of humor...and no hard feelings. Probably won't happen but would be extremely cool.
And Gray?
Take the flight. Best way to end a bad week is to fly to Germany for a few free beers!
Thanks for the inspiration.
- trying not to leave my kids with the bill for a 30 cu yd dumpster
...Mrs Peel. 'nuf said.
Beautiful aircraft. Maybe *the* most beautiful.
SWTPC 6800. An acquaintance had bought one, built most of it, and had several memory cards to build. He had run out of desire to solder chips, so he let me take it for a month to build the memory boards and test the system. I had a Teletype and a soldering iron, so I spent a month of my summer vacation playing with it (building the memory boards took only a day or two).
Real Computers have switches and lights.
Real Hackers design and build their own computers.
RIP Ed.
We don't use the bloated Adobe viewer any more. There are several alternatives; we like this one.
Funded by your taxes and responsive to the wants and needs of the community. If you don't like the mix of resources available, join the board of your public library and advocate for change.
I'd say anything that gets kids in the door of a library is a good thing. Who knows what they'll pick up to read while waiting for a turn at the video game?
Yeah. That too. Perhaps I was being too kind.
You'd think that a company that has been in the OS business since the dawn of the PC would have figured out how to write a good one by now.
A multi-billion dollar company that can afford to hire the best minds in computer science, and their flagship desktop OS product is just barely able to compete with a free OS written by a bunch of longhaired granola heads.
(I'll take the free OS)