They live in households for 6.9 years -- the average lifetime of a Vizio TV is 6.9 years.
That's way to damn short. I've never bought a Vizio, and now know that I probably never will. I'd rather pay more and keep it for much longer. Why do I need to send a TV to the landfill every 7 years anyhow?
You would probably be amazed at the number of people come up to me saying, "I love Vizio TVs,
I probably would be.
I have one" and it's 11 years old. I'm like, "Dude, that's not even full HD, that's 720p."
So what? Perhaps they should look at the quality of the programing instead of the resolution. I'd rather watch standard definition reruns of All in the Family than most of what I saw the last time I watched broadcast TV several years ago. Even if it is in "Super Ultra Double Plus Good 27.53K with HDR".
I currently have a 1080P projector in my media room. Sure 4K is nice an all, but my current projector works just fine. My eyesight isn't getting any better as the years go by anyhow. And for a lot of people, upgrading from a 40 inch 720P TV that they are watching from a 14 foot viewing distance, is 4K really going to be much of an improvement if they go to a 50 inch TV? Plus they will probably need other new equipment to get the most out of it anyhow. If they are using cable, then they're not getting much in 4K anyhow.
We always picture this worse case scenario of some sort of EMP taking us back to the 1800's. However from my experience. Where I was working, a lightning bolt struck my companies power supply, and fried some equipment up from the ground wires, which created a major outage event, we still had limited damage, we replaced a couple power supplies, replace a couple of fuses in the electronics, and needed to move some cables on a networking switch, as some modules were burned out. We lost about 4 hours worth of work, and the customers average downtime was about 2 hours. It sucked, but it was far from total system loss.
You're comparing a lightning strike on a single location to a CME that would hit around half the planet at arrival. If we're lucky the power companies will be able to disconnect the critical infrastructure from the grid before it hits. And If we're even luckier, the least populated half of the planet will be facing the sun when it hits.
Even in a scenario similar to what you described, can you imagine the shortage of all of those parts when that much stuff gets fried on half the planet? Not to mention vehicles with ECM modules getting cooked. If a section of the power grid doesn't get it's large power transformers disconnected in time, then that part of the power grid will be down for a long time. Currently it takes 6 to 24 months to get one built and installed. They're custom built, so you can't just grab a spare, or borrow them from someone. The larger ones weigh over 400 tons and can cost as much as $10 million. The majority of the large transformers in the US are over 40 years old. So it's not like they don't already have some wear on them. But what's the wait time going to be if suddenly 10 of them need to be replaced immediately? Or 50 of them?
Even if only 1/4 of the cars are affected, can you imaging what the roads will be like if this occurred during rush hour? The highways will be shut down until all of those vehicle can be moved. Then you could end up with issues getting fuel out of the stations if there's no power. And getting fuel to the stations will be an issue. So moving food into the larger cities will become a big problem. Larger metropolitan areas will have the worst time with it. How many days can they go without water or working sewage treatment? Or without power and food? When there's a water main break or a pump goes down in a city, they have the manpower and parts in place to fix it. But if it's a city wide issue, then what's going to happen? And if the streets are clogged with cars that can't move, they'll be in the way too. You also won't be able to bring in help from other cities, as they will have the same issue too.
Look up the Carrington Even from 1859. There was a similar CME in 2012, but we were fortunate that it didn't strike the earth. If it had occurred 9 days earlier, then the earth would have been directly in it's path. It was estimated in 2013 that such an event would have cost the US alone between $600 billion to $2.6 trillion.
Don't fuckin say "Don't make a copy Not via DVD, CD, tape, vinyl, wax cylinder, papyrus, stone slab, nor via hard disk, SSD, Ethernet, Fibre Channel,...".
Just fuckin say "Don't make a copy!"
While I agree with you, the issue is that lawyers are very pedantic. So in the case of software, just stating "don't make a copy" becomes a big issue. Once you put a CD in the drive and install the software, you're copying the data from the CD to the hard drive. Which wold be a problem if you actually want to, you know, use what you purchased. So everything has to be explained in such a way.
The other issue is that lawyers have to make their money. And since virtually all judges are lawyers too, the system is kinda stacked in their favor. To make matters worse, currently 55% of the senate are lawyers and it was about 40% of the house the last time I checked.
Not quite. My new Vapor phone crosses that line and then some. The Vapor not only does away with all ports and buttons, it removes the phone itself! No more interruptions by telemarketers, no more nagging alerts, no more anything, just nothing! Now available for preorder at a discount price of only $1,995. It's so sleek and stylish that you won't even notice that it's there. Packaging is 100% eco-friendly and shipping is free! Experience the disconnected life with the only phone that offers you true freedom - Vapor.
You forgot to add that only people that are smart enough to see it can do so.
...Why would anyone spend close to $1k on something that could stop working at any time?
Because like most other products, the non-cloud version (if available) would cost $15K, making the cloud version seem like a bargain.
That's why.
It would be nice if that was an option. Some of us would rather spend $15K for some things now and keep them until we decide to replace them, or not. Rather than spend $1K now and again and again every couple of years because a company decides they're sick of keeping a server running, or the CEO blew all of the money on cocaine and hookers.
Obviously I'm in the minority these days, but a lot of stuff I buy I pay quite a bit more for with the expectation of keeping of for a long time. 30 or 40 years ago, I loved checking out every feature of a new product. Now, I just want it to do what I need it to. So I find it a pain in the ass when I have to figure out a new GUI on a new phone, computer, etc.
ItÃ(TM)s like how in order to fly though the literal clouds you donÃ(TM)t need to own your own airplane, you just buy a seat for a single trip.
Yes, but the plane doesn't just fall out of the sky because someone 5000 miles away decides to turn off the servers.
So if you have space and money for a server rack next to your social robot that would totally work but really no-one wants that.
That should be a choice for the consumer. If they want to kill a product that was purchased, then give the consumer the code to set up a server if that's what they want to do. I have an Escient FireBall connected to 3 DVD changers. Since the company went under years ago, I can't change anything. At least they had the decency to not brick the damn thing. But there are a lot of owners out there they would be happy to set up servers to take over for the ones the company shut down.
I would be interested in having a "smart speaker" if it didn't have to be connected to company controlled servers and I had complete control over it. But as it is, I find them creepy as hell.
I guess I'm old. I remember when the population feared" big brother's eye in the sky" being forced on us. Now people not only desire this, they actually pay to have devices listening to them in their own homes.
Aren't the Emmy's for 1/2 or 1 hour TV shows with multiple episodes? That's a little different than a movie. I don't pay attention to any of the award shows, but I'd guess that the Emmy award also has a category for made for TV movies. But traditionally, those have been much lower budget than what a Netflix movie can be.
Then there's the reality that a 28 inch 4:3 CRT isn't on the high end of TV sizes any longer. At a 7 foot viewing distance you can get a 70 inch TV that will take up 40 degrees of your FOV, which is considered "cinematic". A 70 inch 4K TV can be easily be found for under $1K these days.
Nor is everyone at home listening through stereo speakers that are built into the TV. 5.1, 7.2, Atoms, etc. systems can be put together for a reasonable price, up to insane amounts of money.
So the lines that separate the movie theater experience and what can be viewed at home are not nearly as clear as they were 20, 30, or 50 years ago. Mr. Spielberg may have a point, or he may be stuck in the past.
Maybe the price dropped off after competition came out, but on first release the walkman cost more than the first car I purchased (also with paper route money).
The original Walkman was $150. I've bought a couple of $100 dollar cars in my day, but they also weren't even close to new, or in great shape. If you bought your first car in 1950, when the average price for a new car was about an order of magnitude more I can believe it. So you probably could get a pretty nice car for that much then.
Perhaps it depends on how you look at it. I have Dobermans, and they are fairly needy dogs when it comes to attention. But they save me a lot of time too. I never have to fill out police reports or worry about my house getting broken into. I also rarely have to worry about talking to door to door sales people or politicians. In fact, I sometimes wonder if my doorbell is broken. There's almost never anyone at my door by the time I get to it. And if someone is there, they usually apologize and leave right away anyhow. The neighbor kids never ask for their toys back if they go over my fence after the first time, since there's nothing left to ask for. All of the rabbits, ground hogs and squirrels have abandoned my yard, or were removed from the gene pool. So no more holes to worry about. While they're actually very friendly when we're out, a lot of people go to the other side of the street when we go out for a walk. So it cuts back on the idle chitchat with strangers about the weather.
Kodak designed the first digital camera, but it was also at least 5 years too early.
Actually it was because Kodak was afraid that it would cut into their film business. At that time Kodak sold film, developing chemicals, paper and had their own processing labs. They also had cameras and flash cubes. So they shelved digital.
And meanwhile folks here playing victim will be foaming at the mouth when July hits blaming Microsoft instead of themselves for refusing to turn Windows update on.
To be fair, a lot of folks didn't upgrade to Win10 because of telemetry. When Microsoft decided to add it into a Win7 update, that was when a lot of people turned off automatic updates.
First it was zombies, then came the comic book super-heroes. I'll be glad when Hollywood gets back to making more movies that actually have stories and quality acting.
Keep dreaming. The way things are going, that's not happening. I think the top grossing movie of all time will be out in another 10 to 15 years. It'll be called. "Majik, Esplosions, Gunn fites, and Hawt Chics!" It'll be 119 minutes of ridiculously attractive people with perfect hair and 7% body fat, that never workout or eat anything remotely healthy. And the women will all have a minimum of a D cup breast size, even with 7% body fat. Even after a Tsar Bomba explosion at ground zero their hair will not be more than mildly messed up and their makeup will remain perfect except for a few strategically placed smudges that will wipe away. Of the 119 minutes, there will be 5 minutes of total dialog. Everything else will be a CGI fest of cut scenes and what's in the title.
You can't patent something and then expect the government to pay your patent licensing fees.
I wonder how many lawyers working in the military defense industry read your comment. How many do you think spit out their beverage laughing at your comment?
While the US government can revoke and take the IP of a patent under national security measures, that doesn't mean they can simply take any and all patents they want to. Or not pay a licensing fee for anything. If you patent a new stamp adhesive, I don't think the government is going to take if from you. If you patent a working teleportation machine, that's a different story.
I can't say I went to your link, but I'm assuming you are saying Norway is a successful socialist country. If so, you are wrong. Norway is a capalialist country with high taxes and a generous amount of entitlements. Unless socialism has a different definition than it used to, you may want to Google the definition of socialism.
This is why we need new drugs to target stupid faggots like the moron I'm replying to. I want a drug that cuts their tongue out and allows me to fry it in butter.
Ad hominem, homophobia, threat of violence, cannibalism, general insults, and unhealthy eating in the span of two sentences. It's too bad you didn't Godwin this thread as well.
Slashdot Mirror
They live in households for 6.9 years -- the average lifetime of a Vizio TV is 6.9 years.
That's way to damn short. I've never bought a Vizio, and now know that I probably never will. I'd rather pay more and keep it for much longer. Why do I need to send a TV to the landfill every 7 years anyhow?
You would probably be amazed at the number of people come up to me saying, "I love Vizio TVs,
I probably would be.
I have one" and it's 11 years old. I'm like, "Dude, that's not even full HD, that's 720p."
So what? Perhaps they should look at the quality of the programing instead of the resolution. I'd rather watch standard definition reruns of All in the Family than most of what I saw the last time I watched broadcast TV several years ago. Even if it is in "Super Ultra Double Plus Good 27.53K with HDR".
I currently have a 1080P projector in my media room. Sure 4K is nice an all, but my current projector works just fine. My eyesight isn't getting any better as the years go by anyhow. And for a lot of people, upgrading from a 40 inch 720P TV that they are watching from a 14 foot viewing distance, is 4K really going to be much of an improvement if they go to a 50 inch TV? Plus they will probably need other new equipment to get the most out of it anyhow. If they are using cable, then they're not getting much in 4K anyhow.
Can you imagine being in transit for eight months on the way to Mars only to get severely toasted in the middle?
I think I'd prefer that to finding out the earth got hit while I was half way to/from Mars.
We always picture this worse case scenario of some sort of EMP taking us back to the 1800's. However from my experience. Where I was working, a lightning bolt struck my companies power supply, and fried some equipment up from the ground wires, which created a major outage event, we still had limited damage, we replaced a couple power supplies, replace a couple of fuses in the electronics, and needed to move some cables on a networking switch, as some modules were burned out. We lost about 4 hours worth of work, and the customers average downtime was about 2 hours. It sucked, but it was far from total system loss.
You're comparing a lightning strike on a single location to a CME that would hit around half the planet at arrival. If we're lucky the power companies will be able to disconnect the critical infrastructure from the grid before it hits. And If we're even luckier, the least populated half of the planet will be facing the sun when it hits.
Even in a scenario similar to what you described, can you imagine the shortage of all of those parts when that much stuff gets fried on half the planet? Not to mention vehicles with ECM modules getting cooked. If a section of the power grid doesn't get it's large power transformers disconnected in time, then that part of the power grid will be down for a long time. Currently it takes 6 to 24 months to get one built and installed. They're custom built, so you can't just grab a spare, or borrow them from someone. The larger ones weigh over 400 tons and can cost as much as $10 million. The majority of the large transformers in the US are over 40 years old. So it's not like they don't already have some wear on them. But what's the wait time going to be if suddenly 10 of them need to be replaced immediately? Or 50 of them?
Even if only 1/4 of the cars are affected, can you imaging what the roads will be like if this occurred during rush hour? The highways will be shut down until all of those vehicle can be moved. Then you could end up with issues getting fuel out of the stations if there's no power. And getting fuel to the stations will be an issue. So moving food into the larger cities will become a big problem. Larger metropolitan areas will have the worst time with it. How many days can they go without water or working sewage treatment? Or without power and food? When there's a water main break or a pump goes down in a city, they have the manpower and parts in place to fix it. But if it's a city wide issue, then what's going to happen? And if the streets are clogged with cars that can't move, they'll be in the way too. You also won't be able to bring in help from other cities, as they will have the same issue too.
Look up the Carrington Even from 1859. There was a similar CME in 2012, but we were fortunate that it didn't strike the earth. If it had occurred 9 days earlier, then the earth would have been directly in it's path. It was estimated in 2013 that such an event would have cost the US alone between $600 billion to $2.6 trillion.
Don't fuckin say "Don't make a copy Not via DVD, CD, tape, vinyl, wax cylinder, papyrus, stone slab, nor via hard disk, SSD, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, ...".
Just fuckin say "Don't make a copy!"
While I agree with you, the issue is that lawyers are very pedantic. So in the case of software, just stating "don't make a copy" becomes a big issue. Once you put a CD in the drive and install the software, you're copying the data from the CD to the hard drive. Which wold be a problem if you actually want to, you know, use what you purchased. So everything has to be explained in such a way.
The other issue is that lawyers have to make their money. And since virtually all judges are lawyers too, the system is kinda stacked in their favor. To make matters worse, currently 55% of the senate are lawyers and it was about 40% of the house the last time I checked.
Not quite. My new Vapor phone crosses that line and then some. The Vapor not only does away with all ports and buttons, it removes the phone itself! No more interruptions by telemarketers, no more nagging alerts, no more anything, just nothing! Now available for preorder at a discount price of only $1,995. It's so sleek and stylish that you won't even notice that it's there. Packaging is 100% eco-friendly and shipping is free! Experience the disconnected life with the only phone that offers you true freedom - Vapor.
You forgot to add that only people that are smart enough to see it can do so.
and influenced a generation of people who plan cities for a living.
Then why don't they turn off disasters IRL?
...Why would anyone spend close to $1k on something that could stop working at any time?
Because like most other products, the non-cloud version (if available) would cost $15K, making the cloud version seem like a bargain.
That's why.
It would be nice if that was an option. Some of us would rather spend $15K for some things now and keep them until we decide to replace them, or not. Rather than spend $1K now and again and again every couple of years because a company decides they're sick of keeping a server running, or the CEO blew all of the money on cocaine and hookers.
Obviously I'm in the minority these days, but a lot of stuff I buy I pay quite a bit more for with the expectation of keeping of for a long time. 30 or 40 years ago, I loved checking out every feature of a new product. Now, I just want it to do what I need it to. So I find it a pain in the ass when I have to figure out a new GUI on a new phone, computer, etc.
ItÃ(TM)s like how in order to fly though the literal clouds you donÃ(TM)t need to own your own airplane, you just buy a seat for a single trip.
Yes, but the plane doesn't just fall out of the sky because someone 5000 miles away decides to turn off the servers.
So if you have space and money for a server rack next to your social robot that would totally work but really no-one wants that.
That should be a choice for the consumer. If they want to kill a product that was purchased, then give the consumer the code to set up a server if that's what they want to do. I have an Escient FireBall connected to 3 DVD changers. Since the company went under years ago, I can't change anything. At least they had the decency to not brick the damn thing. But there are a lot of owners out there they would be happy to set up servers to take over for the ones the company shut down.
I would be interested in having a "smart speaker" if it didn't have to be connected to company controlled servers and I had complete control over it. But as it is, I find them creepy as hell. I guess I'm old. I remember when the population feared" big brother's eye in the sky" being forced on us. Now people not only desire this, they actually pay to have devices listening to them in their own homes.
I want my car's speed to be governed just like I had it on the NES Rad Racer... 0 or 255mph with no acceleration time.
I feel bad for the person that will be cleaning you out of the passenger compartment,
we consume 100% at home or friends.
Don't your unconsumed friends ever get suspicious?
Aren't the Emmy's for 1/2 or 1 hour TV shows with multiple episodes? That's a little different than a movie. I don't pay attention to any of the award shows, but I'd guess that the Emmy award also has a category for made for TV movies. But traditionally, those have been much lower budget than what a Netflix movie can be.
Then there's the reality that a 28 inch 4:3 CRT isn't on the high end of TV sizes any longer. At a 7 foot viewing distance you can get a 70 inch TV that will take up 40 degrees of your FOV, which is considered "cinematic". A 70 inch 4K TV can be easily be found for under $1K these days.
Nor is everyone at home listening through stereo speakers that are built into the TV. 5.1, 7.2, Atoms, etc. systems can be put together for a reasonable price, up to insane amounts of money.
So the lines that separate the movie theater experience and what can be viewed at home are not nearly as clear as they were 20, 30, or 50 years ago. Mr. Spielberg may have a point, or he may be stuck in the past.
I always buy CDs from my local music shops because online shops only carry mainstream or indie garbage.
So you only like music that is not extremely popular, but not quite so esoteric as to be considered indie?
Maybe the price dropped off after competition came out, but on first release the walkman cost more than the first car I purchased (also with paper route money).
The original Walkman was $150. I've bought a couple of $100 dollar cars in my day, but they also weren't even close to new, or in great shape. If you bought your first car in 1950, when the average price for a new car was about an order of magnitude more I can believe it. So you probably could get a pretty nice car for that much then.
I swear, if the first moon base is not called "Moonbase Alpha" I'm going to be really pissed off.
How about we don't. I'm not too excited about the prospect of the earth losing the moon. We kinda need it.
But no pets is no maintenance
Perhaps it depends on how you look at it. I have Dobermans, and they are fairly needy dogs when it comes to attention. But they save me a lot of time too. I never have to fill out police reports or worry about my house getting broken into. I also rarely have to worry about talking to door to door sales people or politicians. In fact, I sometimes wonder if my doorbell is broken. There's almost never anyone at my door by the time I get to it. And if someone is there, they usually apologize and leave right away anyhow. The neighbor kids never ask for their toys back if they go over my fence after the first time, since there's nothing left to ask for. All of the rabbits, ground hogs and squirrels have abandoned my yard, or were removed from the gene pool. So no more holes to worry about. While they're actually very friendly when we're out, a lot of people go to the other side of the street when we go out for a walk. So it cuts back on the idle chitchat with strangers about the weather.
Traditional Fencing is an expensive sport to learn. There is a lot of safety equipment that needs to be tailored to you
I usually buy my fencing supplies from Home Depot. Safety glasses are about $10 and seem to fit well off the shelf.
This bill isn't going to fly.
Of course not. Sounds too much like illegal search and seizure.
I'd agree with you if it wasn't for the TSA and everything that started with "the war on drugs" and has escalated since 9-11.
Kodak designed the first digital camera, but it was also at least 5 years too early.
Actually it was because Kodak was afraid that it would cut into their film business. At that time Kodak sold film, developing chemicals, paper and had their own processing labs. They also had cameras and flash cubes. So they shelved digital.
And meanwhile folks here playing victim will be foaming at the mouth when July hits blaming Microsoft instead of themselves for refusing to turn Windows update on.
To be fair, a lot of folks didn't upgrade to Win10 because of telemetry. When Microsoft decided to add it into a Win7 update, that was when a lot of people turned off automatic updates.
"You have just been erased"
Wrong Arnold movie. That one was called "Eraser".
First it was zombies, then came the comic book super-heroes. I'll be glad when Hollywood gets back to making more movies that actually have stories and quality acting.
Keep dreaming. The way things are going, that's not happening. I think the top grossing movie of all time will be out in another 10 to 15 years. It'll be called. "Majik, Esplosions, Gunn fites, and Hawt Chics!" It'll be 119 minutes of ridiculously attractive people with perfect hair and 7% body fat, that never workout or eat anything remotely healthy. And the women will all have a minimum of a D cup breast size, even with 7% body fat. Even after a Tsar Bomba explosion at ground zero their hair will not be more than mildly messed up and their makeup will remain perfect except for a few strategically placed smudges that will wipe away. Of the 119 minutes, there will be 5 minutes of total dialog. Everything else will be a CGI fest of cut scenes and what's in the title.
You can't patent something and then expect the government to pay your patent licensing fees.
I wonder how many lawyers working in the military defense industry read your comment. How many do you think spit out their beverage laughing at your comment?
I guess you missed the story about Bitmanagement suing the US Navy.
While the US government can revoke and take the IP of a patent under national security measures, that doesn't mean they can simply take any and all patents they want to. Or not pay a licensing fee for anything. If you patent a new stamp adhesive, I don't think the government is going to take if from you. If you patent a working teleportation machine, that's a different story.
Let give you a concrete example: Norway. https://theweek.com/articles/7...
I can't say I went to your link, but I'm assuming you are saying Norway is a successful socialist country. If so, you are wrong. Norway is a capalialist country with high taxes and a generous amount of entitlements. Unless socialism has a different definition than it used to, you may want to Google the definition of socialism.
Not offended. I just didn't see the point in hurling a bunch of insults. Perhaps you can explain as you seem to be of a similar mind.
This is why we need new drugs to target stupid faggots like the moron I'm replying to. I want a drug that cuts their tongue out and allows me to fry it in butter.
Ad hominem, homophobia, threat of violence, cannibalism, general insults, and unhealthy eating in the span of two sentences. It's too bad you didn't Godwin this thread as well.