Every Apple show or product announcement shows some improvement in the iChat(AV) software... so it's not really a big leap for Apple to market a device that uses Wi-Fi (even just your home wifi) and allows you to speak with your iChat contacts for free and away from your computer, merge in the iPod (so every person in your house needs their own), add nice-to-haves like e-mail alerting/forwarding from your Mac and you could be onto a winner.
Like others have posted, I don't see the logic in Apple releasing a product to a market that is tightly controlled by other companies (the wireless carriers). Apple will want to show that they can innovate in an existing market but the cellphone market at the moment provides what carriers want to provide (and bill for) not what customers want.
It is interesting that they worked together on the product.... however, most rumors on the internet were mentioning Apple were developing the Nano around that time... so didn't want the ROKR to be *too* sucessful.
Or, perhaps once they saw the (lack of) ingenuity that seems to go into cellphones these days they thought "We can do better than that, and we don't need to share the spoils."
I used to play WoW on my Pentium M 1.3Ghz laptop and it ran ok... nothing to write home about, but it was playable.
Later I upgraded it to a Pentium M 1.6Ghz and performance improved quite a bit.
Of course (there's always a 'but' isn't there?), my laptop had an ATi Radeon 9000 Mobility with 32Mb of RAM and while not exactly cutting edge, it seemed to get the job done for PvE at least. I have heard rumours on the WoW forums that the integrated Intel graphics will run WoW... but I've little to no idea on how well.
Sorry, I've read the article, I've watched the video but I still fail to see what "SoulPad" is in a product sense. Sure, I can see it being a concept but... well, they use Knoppix booting from an external device, that then fires off some HDD encryption program that allows access to a VMWare VM.
This is all stuff that is available right now... where's the innovation?
I am currently "researching" something similar, although I'm trying to not need to reboot the host PC. Stuff I'm looking at is Qemu and VMWare ACE with Truecrypt handling the encryption. Hardly/. worthy though.
Ok, I'll bite but only cuz it's a slow work day......but my "palm product" has a 400mhz processor, 64mb of ram a 64k 480x320 colour screen and support for bluetooth... and if sandisk engineers / lawyers pull their heads outta their ass I'd get wifi too!!!
All that and I don't need to soft-reset it every day either!
I'm actually the opposite. I got fed up with the P800 crappy excuse for a sync package - I kept getting my numbers screwed up or suddenly find contacts with no numbers or numbers with no names against them.
I had a PalmIIIx about 5 years ago, a Casio E115 and a Jornada 720. I bought the P800 thinking I was in gadget heaven but the lack of decent software, especially something like Avantgo, combined with the problems with sync'ing had me looking for another solution.
I evaluated an iPaq with Bluetooth for a while (39xx series I think) but even with Windows Mobile 2003 I was tired of the cludgy interface and the constant soft-resetting. My pal turned up at my door with a Tungsten T3 and I was smitten.
So, now I've got a T3 and a SonyEricsson T610. I've got loads of games, mp3's, movies and doc's sync'ed up, a REALLY cool hi-res screen and the bluetooth link to my mobile works perfectly!
Oh, yeah... it does something with calendars and to-do's or sommat, but who uses those anyway??:)
I certainly agree it is a citizens responsibility to a degree (i.e. running up and down the street shouting about and waving a shiney new iPod around is plain dumb). But surely using the device while having it secured in your inside pocket is not exactly being cavalier and you should be able to expect others to respect your and your right to privacy/freedom from crime.
If I see someone driving down the road in a new Ferrari/Porsche/whatever then sure, my first thought is "bastard!" however, my second thought is not to carjack them at the next set of lights! It's their stuff, and no matter how much I want/need it, it's not mine to take. Any other line of thought is just plain wrong otherwise we'd have the Red Cross mugging people in Hollywood. "Hand over the Rolex, it's for a good cause... slowly... slowly... hands off the mace man! Millions are starving dammit!"
Best advice is to be prepared to defend yourself, or to not get into those situations. Your safety and your security are ultimately your responsibility. And that is probably the way it should be.
I made fun of this earlier but it's a serious point. In Britain (not sure where you're from) if I punched a mugger then chances are I'm up on an assault charge while his legal-aid funded lawyer tries to convince the jury that his client was asking me for the time when I jumped him. I'm forking out a small fortune for my lawyer because I work and therefore do not qualify for legal aid. Meanwhile the jury just wants to be let out and get back to their regular lives, sod all this "fulfilling your civic duty" crap.
And if finally the mugger is found guilty he may be fined + costs payable to me at 50 pence per month for the rest of his life, I go on his "I'm gonna git you sucka" hit list as he is given a "pick up garbage for six weeks" community sentance as our jails are fit to burst as it is!
A citizens safety and security are things that the government is supposed to guarantee.
IIRC the American consitution says something about this:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Whereas us Brits have only those assigned by the European Court of Human Rights:
The governments signatory hereto, being members of the Council of Europe, Being resolved to take steps to ensure the collective enforcement of certain rights and freedoms... *snip* Section 1: Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.
Ergo, Tony Blairs fault, possibly David Blunkett too.
It doesn't matter how hard working or well paid you are, if you stop to enjoy the fruits of your labour then shame on you and you deserve all the beatings that the mugger will give you, after all, you can afford a crack habit, he can't!
And don't expect any sympathy or help from the police, so what you pay your taxes and therefore their wages, if you're stupid enough to buy cool stuff then it's your fault! It's up to you to protect yourself from crime and criminals, not the newly named Police Advisory Helpline and (insert name of your deity here) help you if you ever fight back, that mugger will be on legal-aid and have your ass in court on assault charges before you can say "WTF?"
Meanwhile your friendly local copper can't catch criminals as he has been downgraded to replacing film in speed cameras, lawyers use their clients drug dependency as an excuse rather than the cause of the crime, the courts waste their time deciding whose side of the boundary your neighbours fence is *REALLY* on and judges are caught with kiddie-pr0n/prostitutes/copies of "Justice for Dummies(c)"
Well, I unfortunately currently work there, so give us a shout before you go poking around with a Cotton-bud!
My drive to work takes me past Jodrell Bank every day. It's a fantastic sight and comforting to know that some of mankind is still searching for answers to questions that most of us don't even consider during our daily lives.
I once bought a pirated CD in a pub, can the landlord be sued?
Actually, thinking further... if I didn't work then I couldn't afford to buy the pirate CD so surely my employer is ultimately responsible, after all they gave me the money to commit this foul act... I'm going to sue my employer for making me a criminal!!!
Or, should I quit my job, become unemployed, claim state benefits, buy a pirate CD and then sue the government?!?!?
When will people learn, the internet is neither inherently good nor evil... it's just a new medium... if kids weren't inside on their PC's pirating CD's they'd be out in the playground trading CDR's stuffed full of music... you gonna sue the school at that point?
You forgot to add that your Minidisc player will run for (depending on model) 86 hours without charging or changing batteries... very handy if you're miles from civilisation but still like to listen to your tunes.
That was a big plus for me recently in choosing between iPod and Minidisc... minidisc won.
But...... surely if loads of PC user download iTunes and Quicktime and install those, they use 'em and like 'em and ditch all the competing applications, then next time they come to purchase a computer they might just think "well, I use an Apple product to listen to music and an Apple product to watch my movies... do I really need a PC or should I buy a Mac?"...
Apart from the real geeks who don't like Macs cuz you can't build 'em yourself...
think this one looks better..
on
Alien Case Mod
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I remember seeing one that looked better...
Go here (http://www.lanlab.co.uk/frms/frmsmain.asp) and then click on Articles / Alien Case Mod... (dumb site won't let me link directly.
This girls' (yes, it was confirmed on a UK forum that the modder was female) case shows much more talent (and restraint) I think...
I find London pretty horrible too... I go there as little as possible. The unfortunate thing is the IT market is so flat right now in the UK(*) that's it's pretty much the main source of work.
As for the "there is no countryside" comment, I couldn't disagree more. Once you've escaped Londons gravitational forcefield (i.e. the M25, Englands largest carpark) the surrounding area features some really pleasant greenery. The further north you go the better it gets, the Peak District and the Lakes are really tranquil!
*If anyone can prove me wrong on the job front I'm desperate to get out of the hell hole that is IBM!!!
The Dilbert that it reminds me of is the one where Diblert asks the Pointy-hair Boss if he can work from home, the Pointy-haired Boss replies "But if you're not here, how can I manage you?" and Dilbert comes back with the corker "You're managing me right now and all you're doing is stopping me from working"...
There is so much truth in every Dilbert strip it's frightening! A cow-orker of mine once started carrying a copy of the Dilbert Principle around at work, it featured a table listing the 10 most stupid things managers do, he checked 8 off the list before handing in his resignation!
Nokia 9210: +Word & Excel Document Editing +Fax capable +Memory Cards available upto 256Mb and beyond -Size -Slow, can't run mp3's properly -Limited Memory to run apps in -No GPRS support -No Bluetooth
P800: +Size vs. functional display size +Touchscreen & excellent HWR (even reads my scrawl!) +Opera with Small Screen Rendering (This is FANTASTIC!) +Excellent inbuilt speaker, mp3's sound good +FAST! +Better video support (mp4) +GPRS +Bluetooth -No Word or Excel editing - can only view (and then some fonts are not supported) -No fax! -Sony (gosh-darn-em) Memory Stick DUO... currently only 64Mb sticks (128mb soon it seems) but EXPENSIVE! Plus specs states 256Mb MAX! -Sync with Outlook misses a lot of features (anniversaries and birthdays not supported!)
Gotta confess I don't see how spending close to $300 on PC hardware, countless hours on fudging software together and getting LESS functionality and quality than a Tivo box can be considered worthwhile?!!?
Man, I'd write in and post about how lame this questions is, but I'm far too busy to spend my time writing to slashdot, I HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE. [/sarcasm]
For gods sake, answer the guys question or don't, but just posting about how this kid should get high/wasted/laid instead isn't really constructive, you know?
Shame on you anonymous cowards...
Oh, and another vote for keeping the original box... it may be big but it's more or less guaranteed to keep it safe, unless of course a courier firm get their hands on it...:-/
Hell no... but then again, ask a Brit with a net connection when was the last time he/she trusted good ol' BT anyways?
"I'm sorry your unmetered internet connection wasn't properly registered, so we charge you £14.95 a month plus £450 a month for your phone bills" or the absolute classic of "well, it's like this, when we said 'unlimited internet access' we didn't really mean it..."
Slashdot Mirror
Personally, I think you've nailed it here.
Every Apple show or product announcement shows some improvement in the iChat(AV) software... so it's not really a big leap for Apple to market a device that uses Wi-Fi (even just your home wifi) and allows you to speak with your iChat contacts for free and away from your computer, merge in the iPod (so every person in your house needs their own), add nice-to-haves like e-mail alerting/forwarding from your Mac and you could be onto a winner.
Like others have posted, I don't see the logic in Apple releasing a product to a market that is tightly controlled by other companies (the wireless carriers). Apple will want to show that they can innovate in an existing market but the cellphone market at the moment provides what carriers want to provide (and bill for) not what customers want.
It is interesting that they worked together on the product.... however, most rumors on the internet were mentioning Apple were developing the Nano around that time... so didn't want the ROKR to be *too* sucessful.
Or, perhaps once they saw the (lack of) ingenuity that seems to go into cellphones these days they thought "We can do better than that, and we don't need to share the spoils."
Who knows?
N-Gage (and it's sucessor) was a Nokia product, not Nintendo.
And I'm in the queue right behind you.
I used to play WoW on my Pentium M 1.3Ghz laptop and it ran ok... nothing to write home about, but it was playable.
Later I upgraded it to a Pentium M 1.6Ghz and performance improved quite a bit.
Of course (there's always a 'but' isn't there?), my laptop had an ATi Radeon 9000 Mobility with 32Mb of RAM and while not exactly cutting edge, it seemed to get the job done for PvE at least. I have heard rumours on the WoW forums that the integrated Intel graphics will run WoW... but I've little to no idea on how well.
Sorry, I've read the article, I've watched the video but I still fail to see what "SoulPad" is in a product sense. Sure, I can see it being a concept but... well, they use Knoppix booting from an external device, that then fires off some HDD encryption program that allows access to a VMWare VM.
/. worthy though.
This is all stuff that is available right now... where's the innovation?
I am currently "researching" something similar, although I'm trying to not need to reboot the host PC. Stuff I'm looking at is Qemu and VMWare ACE with Truecrypt handling the encryption. Hardly
And how much is VAT in Belgium? Try comparing the price without VAT to the USA price which is without their sales tax...
Ok, I'll bite but only cuz it's a slow work day... ...but my "palm product" has a 400mhz processor, 64mb of ram a 64k 480x320 colour screen and support for bluetooth... and if sandisk engineers / lawyers pull their heads outta their ass I'd get wifi too!!!
All that and I don't need to soft-reset it every day either!
I'm actually the opposite. I got fed up with the P800 crappy excuse for a sync package - I kept getting my numbers screwed up or suddenly find contacts with no numbers or numbers with no names against them.
:)
I had a PalmIIIx about 5 years ago, a Casio E115 and a Jornada 720. I bought the P800 thinking I was in gadget heaven but the lack of decent software, especially something like Avantgo, combined with the problems with sync'ing had me looking for another solution.
I evaluated an iPaq with Bluetooth for a while (39xx series I think) but even with Windows Mobile 2003 I was tired of the cludgy interface and the constant soft-resetting. My pal turned up at my door with a Tungsten T3 and I was smitten.
So, now I've got a T3 and a SonyEricsson T610. I've got loads of games, mp3's, movies and doc's sync'ed up, a REALLY cool hi-res screen and the bluetooth link to my mobile works perfectly!
Oh, yeah... it does something with calendars and to-do's or sommat, but who uses those anyway??
Ack, missed a paragraph!
I certainly agree it is a citizens responsibility to a degree (i.e. running up and down the street shouting about and waving a shiney new iPod around is plain dumb). But surely using the device while having it secured in your inside pocket is not exactly being cavalier and you should be able to expect others to respect your and your right to privacy/freedom from crime.
If I see someone driving down the road in a new Ferrari/Porsche/whatever then sure, my first thought is "bastard!" however, my second thought is not to carjack them at the next set of lights! It's their stuff, and no matter how much I want/need it, it's not mine to take. Any other line of thought is just plain wrong otherwise we'd have the Red Cross mugging people in Hollywood. "Hand over the Rolex, it's for a good cause... slowly... slowly... hands off the mace man! Millions are starving dammit!"
I made fun of this earlier but it's a serious point. In Britain (not sure where you're from) if I punched a mugger then chances are I'm up on an assault charge while his legal-aid funded lawyer tries to convince the jury that his client was asking me for the time when I jumped him. I'm forking out a small fortune for my lawyer because I work and therefore do not qualify for legal aid. Meanwhile the jury just wants to be let out and get back to their regular lives, sod all this "fulfilling your civic duty" crap.
And if finally the mugger is found guilty he may be fined + costs payable to me at 50 pence per month for the rest of his life, I go on his "I'm gonna git you sucka" hit list as he is given a "pick up garbage for six weeks" community sentance as our jails are fit to burst as it is!
A citizens safety and security are things that the government is supposed to guarantee.
IIRC the American consitution says something about this:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Whereas us Brits have only those assigned by the European Court of Human Rights:
The governments signatory hereto, being members of the Council of Europe, Being resolved to take steps to ensure the collective enforcement of certain rights and freedoms... *snip* Section 1: Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.
Ergo, Tony Blairs fault, possibly David Blunkett too.
Yeah, what he said.
It doesn't matter how hard working or well paid you are, if you stop to enjoy the fruits of your labour then shame on you and you deserve all the beatings that the mugger will give you, after all, you can afford a crack habit, he can't!
And don't expect any sympathy or help from the police, so what you pay your taxes and therefore their wages, if you're stupid enough to buy cool stuff then it's your fault! It's up to you to protect yourself from crime and criminals, not the newly named Police Advisory Helpline and (insert name of your deity here) help you if you ever fight back, that mugger will be on legal-aid and have your ass in court on assault charges before you can say "WTF?"
Meanwhile your friendly local copper can't catch criminals as he has been downgraded to replacing film in speed cameras, lawyers use their clients drug dependency as an excuse rather than the cause of the crime, the courts waste their time deciding whose side of the boundary your neighbours fence is *REALLY* on and judges are caught with kiddie-pr0n/prostitutes/copies of "Justice for Dummies(c)"
Three cheers for the British legal system!
just strangely pointless and in need of a clean.
Well, I unfortunately currently work there, so give us a shout before you go poking around with a Cotton-bud!
My drive to work takes me past Jodrell Bank every day. It's a fantastic sight and comforting to know that some of mankind is still searching for answers to questions that most of us don't even consider during our daily lives.
I once bought a pirated CD in a pub, can the landlord be sued?
Actually, thinking further... if I didn't work then I couldn't afford to buy the pirate CD so surely my employer is ultimately responsible, after all they gave me the money to commit this foul act... I'm going to sue my employer for making me a criminal!!!
Or, should I quit my job, become unemployed, claim state benefits, buy a pirate CD and then sue the government?!?!?
When will people learn, the internet is neither inherently good nor evil... it's just a new medium... if kids weren't inside on their PC's pirating CD's they'd be out in the playground trading CDR's stuffed full of music... you gonna sue the school at that point?
You forgot to add that your Minidisc player will run for (depending on model) 86 hours without charging or changing batteries... very handy if you're miles from civilisation but still like to listen to your tunes.
That was a big plus for me recently in choosing between iPod and Minidisc... minidisc won.
But... ... surely if loads of PC user download iTunes and Quicktime and install those, they use 'em and like 'em and ditch all the competing applications, then next time they come to purchase a computer they might just think "well, I use an Apple product to listen to music and an Apple product to watch my movies... do I really need a PC or should I buy a Mac?" ...
Apart from the real geeks who don't like Macs cuz you can't build 'em yourself...
I remember seeing one that looked better...
Go here (http://www.lanlab.co.uk/frms/frmsmain.asp) and then click on Articles / Alien Case Mod... (dumb site won't let me link directly.
This girls' (yes, it was confirmed on a UK forum that the modder was female) case shows much more talent (and restraint) I think...
um, the "linux girl" is actually British actress Lisa Faulkner. http://us.imdb.com/Name?Faulkner,+Lisa
I find London pretty horrible too... I go there as little as possible. The unfortunate thing is the IT market is so flat right now in the UK(*) that's it's pretty much the main source of work.
As for the "there is no countryside" comment, I couldn't disagree more. Once you've escaped Londons gravitational forcefield (i.e. the M25, Englands largest carpark) the surrounding area features some really pleasant greenery. The further north you go the better it gets, the Peak District and the Lakes are really tranquil!
*If anyone can prove me wrong on the job front I'm desperate to get out of the hell hole that is IBM!!!
The Dilbert that it reminds me of is the one where Diblert asks the Pointy-hair Boss if he can work from home, the Pointy-haired Boss replies "But if you're not here, how can I manage you?" and Dilbert comes back with the corker "You're managing me right now and all you're doing is stopping me from working" ...
There is so much truth in every Dilbert strip it's frightening! A cow-orker of mine once started carrying a copy of the Dilbert Principle around at work, it featured a table listing the 10 most stupid things managers do, he checked 8 off the list before handing in his resignation!
Nokia 9210:
+Word & Excel Document Editing
+Fax capable
+Memory Cards available upto 256Mb and beyond
-Size
-Slow, can't run mp3's properly
-Limited Memory to run apps in
-No GPRS support
-No Bluetooth
P800:
+Size vs. functional display size
+Touchscreen & excellent HWR (even reads my scrawl!)
+Opera with Small Screen Rendering (This is FANTASTIC!)
+Excellent inbuilt speaker, mp3's sound good
+FAST!
+Better video support (mp4)
+GPRS
+Bluetooth
-No Word or Excel editing - can only view (and then some fonts are not supported)
-No fax!
-Sony (gosh-darn-em) Memory Stick DUO... currently only 64Mb sticks (128mb soon it seems) but EXPENSIVE! Plus specs states 256Mb MAX!
-Sync with Outlook misses a lot of features (anniversaries and birthdays not supported!)
Because in a week or so Connectix is releasing the debut of VirtualServer ... read the Connectix homepage!
Well said...
Gotta confess I don't see how spending close to $300 on PC hardware, countless hours on fudging software together and getting LESS functionality and quality than a Tivo box can be considered worthwhile?!!?
Man, I'd write in and post about how lame this questions is, but I'm far too busy to spend my time writing to slashdot, I HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE. [/sarcasm]
:-/
For gods sake, answer the guys question or don't, but just posting about how this kid should get high/wasted/laid instead isn't really constructive, you know?
Shame on you anonymous cowards...
Oh, and another vote for keeping the original box... it may be big but it's more or less guaranteed to keep it safe, unless of course a courier firm get their hands on it...
Hell no... but then again, ask a Brit with a net connection when was the last time he/she trusted good ol' BT anyways?
"I'm sorry your unmetered internet connection wasn't properly registered, so we charge you £14.95 a month plus £450 a month for your phone bills" or the absolute classic of "well, it's like this, when we said 'unlimited internet access' we didn't really mean it..."