I must confess, I've always wondered about the legality of foreign manufacturing - after all, what is the point of having labor laws at all if you can simply have things built abroad and legally ignore them?
Especially when we're talking about Apple pricing, where one could assume the high cost was due to local manufacture (but of course, the real reason is as you say - greed)
Those labor (and environmental) laws are pretty much the driver behind inequitable free trade, the attacks on unions, etc. etc. etc. The right is truly trying to run the clock backwards to the days of Hoover and even before...
Way back; back to when they could use workers up (or literally destroy them) in any way they pleased and then dispose of them without any further thought. Same goes with the environment...the right truly believes that they are entitled to destroy in order to self-enrich and "labor" (a.k.a. the American people) should be powerless to protest the harm that they inflict, whether that harm comes in the form of premature death from overwork, being crushed in unsafe machinery, lack of health care, malnutrition because what they are paid doesn't cover what the corporate infrastructure charges them for energy, food, and housing, or from being poisoned at work or at home by toxic emissions and waste products.
Hence their multipronged attack of inequitable free trade and production in countries which lack environmental laws and worker and consumer safety laws combined with the use of their wealth to corrupt our government from the governorships of too many states to Congress and even the Supreme Court (witness Citizens United).
To the right (or Corporate America, if you'd prefer; the terms are nearly interchangeable if you include those "conservatives" who typically have a significant financial interest in Corporate America), inequitable free trade is only a tool; a hammer with which to pound down the American people's ability to say "No!" to abysmal wages, unsafe working conditions, and a toxic environment.
They'd far rather produce in this country both because the additional transportation expenses are dependent upon oil prices and can dig into their profit margins and also (and importantly) because it is difficult to revel in your ability to terrorize your workers when they are so far away. But for now the rigged currency exchange rates offset transportation expenses and make producing offshore more lucrative. Add to that the fact that offshore production is so useful as a weapon with which to crush unions and exert downward pressure on wages across the entire labor force....well, the right flat out lies when they say they want to create jobs here.
Putting the American people into direct competition with offshore labor forces who can have the same standard of living as Americans for 1/5th the wages - in dollars - because of bogus currency exchange rates was a stroke of evil genius on the part of the right and neoliberal Democrats.
Most of all, do not underestimate the damage that greed at the top is causing. The physical disconnect - the separation; the lack of timely feedback and input from production workers - between the R&D labs in America and the plant floor way over in China alone is a huge disadvantage that we voluntarily inflicted upon ourselves...all because "workers" were transformed by "flood-up/trickle-down" economics into a "cost" that should be eliminated.
To expand upon that a little: The plant floor provides great feedback if you're willing to listen; from there comes the "This doesn't work so well." and the "Wouldn't it be better if we did it this other way?" feedback that transforms a good product into a great product.
At this point you should be thinking: "Huh...now why would Chinese workers provide that feedback to absentee American "owners" (itself a lie)? If they're good little capitalists, they'll keep those ideas to themselves until they can turn to the state for financing to build a competing product that incorporates all of those improvements. If they're good little communists, they'll keep those ideas to themselves in order to use them to advance China to their plainly obvious goal: Global supremacy."
That is what you should be thinking, and that is what our wealthy few should be thinking. But either the latter are blinded by their greed or they just don't care if they destroy America as long as they get wealthier.
Me, I have no evidence to support the hypothesis that our wealthy few are blindly stupid - but I have plenty to support the hypothesis that they see the destruction of America not as a risk to themselves but as the infliction of pain upon the American "worker" (a.k.a. the American people) - and that is something that they equally plainly approve of.
Intel's plants in China build 65 nm technology with plans to move to 45 nm. Sure, Intel is holding the 32 nm and smaller stuff out (hopefully), but riddle me this: If high school and college teach you the basic skills needed to make advancements upon your own, then why wouldn't being inside of Intel's 65 nm plants provide China with the skill sets they need to launch development of their own chips?
What placing manufacturing in China did was provide them with the opportunity to skip right on past the "Hey, look what germanium does if you put a bias current on it..." grunt work of the R&D we Americans invested in.
And please don't forget that the prevailing attitude in Corporate America is that every penny spent on R&D is a penny that could have gone into the CEO's paycheck...
Most of all, do not underestimate the damage that greed at the top is causing. The physical disconnect - the separation; the lack of timely feedback and input from production workers - between the R&D labs in America and the plant floor way over in China alone is a huge disadvantage that we voluntarily inflicted upon ourselves...all because "workers" were transformed by "flood-up/trickle-down" economics into a "cost" that should be eliminated.
Not much you can't do, if somebody is providing you with all of their technology and manufacturing expertise even as they shovel money in faster than you can spend it. It is too bad the Republicans and neoliberal Democrats so hate "labor" (while somehow trying to differentiate between "labor" and the American people each election cycle); without the blind spot about the capabilities of "workers" that hatred creates, they might not have made so many stupid assumptions as they were selling America out to the Chinese.
What is funniest of all to me is the masters of the aforementioned politicians are still formulating policy based upon a couple of amazingly stupid assumptions: That the dollar will always be king and that they will always control the dollar - and so control America and the world.
The dollar is just a figment of the human imagination; true wealth are resources and the ability to transform those resources into useful things. The Republicans and neoliberal Democrats have given such real and tangible assets away for great piles of an imaginary substance whose value is dependent upon whether or not those with real and tangible assets accept it.
Now that is leadership.
On the bright side, at least in continually attacking our education system the Republicans are doing what they can to ensure that we won't have to worry about catching back up with the Chinese in science.
Actually that's just about right...since nothing resembling the movie's China Syndrome could in fact happen in the real world.
Additionally, I'm here to tell you that you live on a planet that had several hundred nuclear weapons detonated on its surface...amazing eh? Some of them were very large, to boot. Yet somehow the human race went on, with hardly a hiccup.
Easy enough to say, since there is no way as yet to link, say, cancer rates to radiation that has been artificially injected into the biosphere.
Although I do admit that I wonder how the the physicists and other rah-rah boyz of the nuclear "family" can tell us to freak out over radon in the basement yet conclude their conversation about airborne radiation with "Suck it up and quit complaining!".
Especially since every time I see one of the nuclear rah-rah boyz working around contained and shielded radioactives they're suited up like they're going "outside" to unplug the HAL 9000.
The difference being that BB licensed Java. Google did not.
I see you've already created a weapon for my proposed "game": A legal logic bomb, wherein one side's lawyers claim that something is "open" and available for one and all to use - and then when the game's opposing lawyers permit their side to use it, it blows right the hell up.
How'd you manage to type that? Looked like your hands were tied up, and I find it hard to believe that you could even see a keyboard after pulling your head out of that.
So if it can run Android and Java, its first game should be lawyers who can never die trying to waste each other...might call it something like "Oracle Vs. Google".
That is a tragic story...both DEC's (oh, sorry...that sorry Compaq's) Alpha and SGI's MIPS processors were killed off by corporate decisions to run in fear from what turned out to essentially be vaporware.
As someone who has an affection for VMS - albeit I haven't touched it in a decade - I still get ticked off when I recall what the CEO breed did to DEC and their hardware.
Their stuff worked...and the ability to control users and running images with such granularity...sigh...the original "Set it, and forget it.".
Programming water sprinkler heads (probably require an additional misting head) to puff water into the air on a random pattern and then you use readily-available motion detection software to look for the laser scanner beam.
Then, of course, you send your battlebot out...
lollll...sounds like fun. I hope the g'ment/private industry go as nuts as they typically do trying to use these things.
It is my observation that, quite often, those who set out to ruin the lives of many, many others on the off chance that they can turn a profit from an act that many would term to be malicious money-grubbing are just expanding a pattern of behavior that equally as typically extends years and even decades in their past. Hence my use of the word "probably"...and my ignoring of your article's origination on the time-line of events.
Blah, blah, attempted post hoc justification, blah.
Perchance do you still get royalties for that article? You seem quite eager to get people to read it...even providing a link when it could be argued that said link has nothing to do with this slashdot article and was unnecessary in your original comment given that the claim of having written it means nothing on the web...i.e. I could as easily have claimed to have written it and included a link so as to harvest the click-profits for myself.
No, I don't get royalties for that story. You obviously don't understand how freelance writing works... as only one of myriad things you obviously don't understand.
Go away, you dickless troll.
Oh, I know how freelance works...once you went off the deep end in your first reply to me, I took it upon myself (I am easily amused) to see how far you would go to demonstrate the quality and balance the reading public and prospective buyers could anticipate from one of your submissions - to include the one you quite generously associated this thread with.
I believe that we have both succeeded in our intentions.
Wasn't trying to imply IBM shipped jobs to Korea...their workers are too expensive for IBM's tastes, too.
I.e., I understand that these days IBM is just another Sino-Indian corporation that enjoys enormous competitive advantages due to currency exchange rates and the differing values nations put on the quality and duration of human life.
It is my observation that, quite often, those who set out to ruin the lives of many, many others on the off chance that they can turn a profit from an act that many would term to be malicious money-grubbing are just expanding a pattern of behavior that equally as typically extends years and even decades in their past. Hence my use of the word "probably"...and my ignoring of your article's origination on the time-line of events.
Perchance do you still get royalties for that article? You seem quite eager to get people to read it...even providing a link when it could be argued that said link has nothing to do with this slashdot article and was unnecessary in your original comment given that the claim of having written it means nothing on the web...i.e. I could as easily have claimed to have written it and included a link so as to harvest the click-profits for myself.
Given your closing line, I will close by saying that I am amused that you find the use of words in strict compliance with their dictionary definition to be "sheer semantic handwaving" while claiming that taking a financial position in RightHaven in order to harvest "a share of the profits" does not represent a business transaction that specifically endorses what RightHaven does. So in the interests of semantic clarity, I will not tell you to "go fuck yourself"; I am aware that it is nearly physically impossible and I do not wish to learn of cases where it is not.
Yes, the 911 feature working no matter what is definitely a lifesaver...'cept folks who get cut off from service in a dispute or whatever typically let the cell phones gather dust uncharged. But even that service - assuming their cells are charged - doesn't help the handicapped and older folks whose life is equally contingent upon being able to arrange transportation to various doctors for appointments, pharmacies for the picking up of prescriptions, and so on.
And in this little town I'm staying in at the moment, the older folks got pride up the wazoo...dangerously so. They'd rather pull that "I don't want to be a bother." trick and call a relative or a neighbor - or just put their symptoms off until it is too late - instead of calling 911.
So I hate to see anything come along that presents the opportunity - the monopolistic opportunity - to put price pressure on them. They went to prepaid cells and such because Social Security doesn't stretch far enough in a time of soaring energy prices...they're under enough pressure already when they can see that the Republicans have all social safety nets in their gun sights as well as anybody else can.
Uh, that's certainly VERY "little research". Essentially, it's an opinion piece that includes two quotes - one from a Stephens Media rep who expresses hope that the lawsuits in question will result in more linkbacks to LVRJ articles online (and, by implication, fewer cops of LVRJ content), and the other from the slimebag that runs Righthaven. Now, since Stephens Media does NOT own Righthaven, I fail entirely to see how this "suggests" in any way, shape, or form that Stephens Media is "probably a lot slimy."
Which brings up the question of why you believe that a freelance writer (i.e. - me) selling a story to a weekly magazine whose editorial management is (as is the case with EVERY ethical news operation) completely divorced and firewalled from the business management side of the operation is in any way unethical, immoral, or "slimy".
Especially if the reader knew the definition of "grubstake".
.And I said the money they paid you was likely slimy; I did not say you were slimy for accepting it - rather, you chose to interpret it that way. Or perhaps, rather unusually for a freelance writer in America, English is your second language?
compared to the literally life and death necessity of a phone
Any credibility you once had. Gone.
lolllll....I daresay your being unaware that people use cell phones to dial emergency medical, fire, and police services in order to protect their own or other lives while both at home and away is incredibly helpful to your credibility.
Don't think the Alltel acquisition fits your "population density of at least 10/sqMi" criteria. I.e., if you had coverage before that acquisition in those areas, it is highly unlikely that AT&T could screw it up by piping more traffic through those towers.
Also don't think that saying "I did not ever say there are only two providers." when you admit to saying "I said there are at least two providers." does a very good job of ruling out areas where there are only two providers...else you'd have said "at least three providers", eh?
And as far as those other prepaid providers? Coverage isn't as nearly as universal across America in the prepaid arena as it is in the traditional contract arena....they haven't attained the monopolies the mainstream cell carriers are working on - which is why prepaid is still a viable and economical alternative. (For now, anyway...but after a Tmobile/AT&T merger? Maybe not.)
And seriously...using SiriusXM as an example of how good monopolies are for people? A purely entertainment choice - meaning that people can dump them without any hesitation or qualms whatsoever should their service start sucking or they start charging outrageous fees...as compared to the literally life and death necessity of a phone? lollll....SiriusXM's Karmazin knows he better keep a handle on his greed, or people will pop out to FM and/or their CD collection and/or their 32 Gb SD card. That ain't the case with the CEOs of the major cell providers.
If that helps to keep my job here in the United States then frankly, I couldn't care less what goes on in Korea.
It is highly unlikely that IBM's goal was or is to keep your - or any other American's - job here in the United States. You cost too much - given currency exchange rates.
You conveniently dodged the question there. Everywhere I have ever been in the last 5 years (and I've been deep in the boonies on several occasions) had coverage from at least one cellular provider on CDMA and at least one provider on GSM. That makes at least two. Everywhere.
I didn't dodge anything. As you are very well aware it is very difficult to determine coverage overlap simply by looking at the maps. What I did do, however, is point out that this is further consolidation that does not in any way, shape or form preclude even more consolidation - and as you yourself note, there are many places where there are only two providers.
Your differentiation between CDMA and GSM technologies as your gambit, though, does allow me to point something else out: This merger of Tmobile and AT&T will snare Tracfone users, as "over 90% of Tracfone customers will use one of these two carriers"; the two carriers in question being Tmobile and AT&T.
In this economy that increasingly favors only the well-heeled, the new ability AT&T will have to put the squeeze on Tracfone could - and likely should - be considered to be a threat to those Americans who cannot get a cell phone any way other than through "no-contract" companies. And since that slide out of the middle class has achieved the status of an economic trend in this Republican economy, that is likely to be a significant - if not the - driver behind AT&T's decision.
That would be good for sales of AT&T's "Go Phone", wouldn't it, if suddenly Tracfone was unable to be cost-competitive?
Slashdot Mirror
Warning: Following this link may result in your taking actions that benefit the human race. The range of potential negative consequences include a decline in the frequency of Middle Eastern wars due to a lack of interest, a dramatic reduction in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and the defunding of America's Republicans.
A shameless plug that's sorta-kinda on topic.
Based on the article, it's only 5.5% efficient, so meh.
So do something to help solar energy capture R&D...
Warning: Following this link may result in your taking actions that benefit the human race. The range of potential negative consequences include a decline in the frequency of Middle Eastern wars due to a lack of interest, a dramatic reduction in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and the defunding of America's Republicans.
I must confess, I've always wondered about the legality of foreign manufacturing - after all, what is the point of having labor laws at all if you can simply have things built abroad and legally ignore them?
Especially when we're talking about Apple pricing, where one could assume the high cost was due to local manufacture (but of course, the real reason is as you say - greed)
Those labor (and environmental) laws are pretty much the driver behind inequitable free trade, the attacks on unions, etc. etc. etc. The right is truly trying to run the clock backwards to the days of Hoover and even before...
Way back; back to when they could use workers up (or literally destroy them) in any way they pleased and then dispose of them without any further thought. Same goes with the environment...the right truly believes that they are entitled to destroy in order to self-enrich and "labor" (a.k.a. the American people) should be powerless to protest the harm that they inflict, whether that harm comes in the form of premature death from overwork, being crushed in unsafe machinery, lack of health care, malnutrition because what they are paid doesn't cover what the corporate infrastructure charges them for energy, food, and housing, or from being poisoned at work or at home by toxic emissions and waste products.
Hence their multipronged attack of inequitable free trade and production in countries which lack environmental laws and worker and consumer safety laws combined with the use of their wealth to corrupt our government from the governorships of too many states to Congress and even the Supreme Court (witness Citizens United).
To the right (or Corporate America, if you'd prefer; the terms are nearly interchangeable if you include those "conservatives" who typically have a significant financial interest in Corporate America), inequitable free trade is only a tool; a hammer with which to pound down the American people's ability to say "No!" to abysmal wages, unsafe working conditions, and a toxic environment.
They'd far rather produce in this country both because the additional transportation expenses are dependent upon oil prices and can dig into their profit margins and also (and importantly) because it is difficult to revel in your ability to terrorize your workers when they are so far away. But for now the rigged currency exchange rates offset transportation expenses and make producing offshore more lucrative. Add to that the fact that offshore production is so useful as a weapon with which to crush unions and exert downward pressure on wages across the entire labor force....well, the right flat out lies when they say they want to create jobs here.
Putting the American people into direct competition with offshore labor forces who can have the same standard of living as Americans for 1/5th the wages - in dollars - because of bogus currency exchange rates was a stroke of evil genius on the part of the right and neoliberal Democrats.
Most of all, do not underestimate the damage that greed at the top is causing. The physical disconnect - the separation; the lack of timely feedback and input from production workers - between the R&D labs in America and the plant floor way over in China alone is a huge disadvantage that we voluntarily inflicted upon ourselves...all because "workers" were transformed by "flood-up/trickle-down" economics into a "cost" that should be eliminated.
To expand upon that a little: The plant floor provides great feedback if you're willing to listen; from there comes the "This doesn't work so well." and the "Wouldn't it be better if we did it this other way?" feedback that transforms a good product into a great product.
At this point you should be thinking: "Huh...now why would Chinese workers provide that feedback to absentee American "owners" (itself a lie)? If they're good little capitalists, they'll keep those ideas to themselves until they can turn to the state for financing to build a competing product that incorporates all of those improvements. If they're good little communists, they'll keep those ideas to themselves in order to use them to advance China to their plainly obvious goal: Global supremacy."
That is what you should be thinking, and that is what our wealthy few should be thinking. But either the latter are blinded by their greed or they just don't care if they destroy America as long as they get wealthier.
Me, I have no evidence to support the hypothesis that our wealthy few are blindly stupid - but I have plenty to support the hypothesis that they see the destruction of America not as a risk to themselves but as the infliction of pain upon the American "worker" (a.k.a. the American people) - and that is something that they equally plainly approve of.
Intel's plants in China build 65 nm technology with plans to move to 45 nm. Sure, Intel is holding the 32 nm and smaller stuff out (hopefully), but riddle me this: If high school and college teach you the basic skills needed to make advancements upon your own, then why wouldn't being inside of Intel's 65 nm plants provide China with the skill sets they need to launch development of their own chips?
What placing manufacturing in China did was provide them with the opportunity to skip right on past the "Hey, look what germanium does if you put a bias current on it..." grunt work of the R&D we Americans invested in.
Don't forget that technology is like sex: It ain't how big it is, it is how well you use it.
And please don't forget that the prevailing attitude in Corporate America is that every penny spent on R&D is a penny that could have gone into the CEO's paycheck...
Most of all, do not underestimate the damage that greed at the top is causing. The physical disconnect - the separation; the lack of timely feedback and input from production workers - between the R&D labs in America and the plant floor way over in China alone is a huge disadvantage that we voluntarily inflicted upon ourselves...all because "workers" were transformed by "flood-up/trickle-down" economics into a "cost" that should be eliminated.
Not much you can't do, if somebody is providing you with all of their technology and manufacturing expertise even as they shovel money in faster than you can spend it. It is too bad the Republicans and neoliberal Democrats so hate "labor" (while somehow trying to differentiate between "labor" and the American people each election cycle); without the blind spot about the capabilities of "workers" that hatred creates, they might not have made so many stupid assumptions as they were selling America out to the Chinese.
What is funniest of all to me is the masters of the aforementioned politicians are still formulating policy based upon a couple of amazingly stupid assumptions: That the dollar will always be king and that they will always control the dollar - and so control America and the world.
The dollar is just a figment of the human imagination; true wealth are resources and the ability to transform those resources into useful things. The Republicans and neoliberal Democrats have given such real and tangible assets away for great piles of an imaginary substance whose value is dependent upon whether or not those with real and tangible assets accept it.
Now that is leadership.
On the bright side, at least in continually attacking our education system the Republicans are doing what they can to ensure that we won't have to worry about catching back up with the Chinese in science.
it was a bug http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/26/microsoft_https_hotmail_syria/
Everyone can unwad their panties now.
My panties? Not mine...I steal 'em from the neighbor's clothesline.
Wait...is this an https connection? Oh, chit...
"Hysterical fear-mongering", apparently.
Actually that's just about right...since nothing resembling the movie's China Syndrome could in fact happen in the real world.
Additionally, I'm here to tell you that you live on a planet that had several hundred nuclear weapons detonated on its surface...amazing eh? Some of them were very large, to boot. Yet somehow the human race went on, with hardly a hiccup.
Easy enough to say, since there is no way as yet to link, say, cancer rates to radiation that has been artificially injected into the biosphere.
Although I do admit that I wonder how the the physicists and other rah-rah boyz of the nuclear "family" can tell us to freak out over radon in the basement yet conclude their conversation about airborne radiation with "Suck it up and quit complaining!".
Especially since every time I see one of the nuclear rah-rah boyz working around contained and shielded radioactives they're suited up like they're going "outside" to unplug the HAL 9000.
The difference being that BB licensed Java. Google did not.
I see you've already created a weapon for my proposed "game": A legal logic bomb, wherein one side's lawyers claim that something is "open" and available for one and all to use - and then when the game's opposing lawyers permit their side to use it, it blows right the hell up.
The blood...the gore...the squandered wealth...
Lovely idea.
How'd you manage to type that? Looked like your hands were tied up, and I find it hard to believe that you could even see a keyboard after pulling your head out of that.
So if it can run Android and Java, its first game should be lawyers who can never die trying to waste each other...might call it something like "Oracle Vs. Google".
"Hysterical fear-mongering", apparently.
That is a tragic story...both DEC's (oh, sorry...that sorry Compaq's) Alpha and SGI's MIPS processors were killed off by corporate decisions to run in fear from what turned out to essentially be vaporware.
As someone who has an affection for VMS - albeit I haven't touched it in a decade - I still get ticked off when I recall what the CEO breed did to DEC and their hardware.
Their stuff worked...and the ability to control users and running images with such granularity...sigh...the original "Set it, and forget it.".
So of course DEC had to die.
Programming water sprinkler heads (probably require an additional misting head) to puff water into the air on a random pattern and then you use readily-available motion detection software to look for the laser scanner beam.
Then, of course, you send your battlebot out...
lollll...sounds like fun. I hope the g'ment/private industry go as nuts as they typically do trying to use these things.
It is my observation that, quite often, those who set out to ruin the lives of many, many others on the off chance that they can turn a profit from an act that many would term to be malicious money-grubbing are just expanding a pattern of behavior that equally as typically extends years and even decades in their past. Hence my use of the word "probably"...and my ignoring of your article's origination on the time-line of events.
Blah, blah, attempted post hoc justification, blah.
Perchance do you still get royalties for that article? You seem quite eager to get people to read it...even providing a link when it could be argued that said link has nothing to do with this slashdot article and was unnecessary in your original comment given that the claim of having written it means nothing on the web...i.e. I could as easily have claimed to have written it and included a link so as to harvest the click-profits for myself.
No, I don't get royalties for that story. You obviously don't understand how freelance writing works ... as only one of myriad things you obviously don't understand.
Go away, you dickless troll.
Oh, I know how freelance works...once you went off the deep end in your first reply to me, I took it upon myself (I am easily amused) to see how far you would go to demonstrate the quality and balance the reading public and prospective buyers could anticipate from one of your submissions - to include the one you quite generously associated this thread with.
I believe that we have both succeeded in our intentions.
...the hydrocarbons for use in plastics and fertilizer...
Wasn't trying to imply IBM shipped jobs to Korea...their workers are too expensive for IBM's tastes, too.
I.e., I understand that these days IBM is just another Sino-Indian corporation that enjoys enormous competitive advantages due to currency exchange rates and the differing values nations put on the quality and duration of human life.
It is my observation that, quite often, those who set out to ruin the lives of many, many others on the off chance that they can turn a profit from an act that many would term to be malicious money-grubbing are just expanding a pattern of behavior that equally as typically extends years and even decades in their past. Hence my use of the word "probably"...and my ignoring of your article's origination on the time-line of events.
Perchance do you still get royalties for that article? You seem quite eager to get people to read it...even providing a link when it could be argued that said link has nothing to do with this slashdot article and was unnecessary in your original comment given that the claim of having written it means nothing on the web...i.e. I could as easily have claimed to have written it and included a link so as to harvest the click-profits for myself.
Given your closing line, I will close by saying that I am amused that you find the use of words in strict compliance with their dictionary definition to be "sheer semantic handwaving" while claiming that taking a financial position in RightHaven in order to harvest "a share of the profits" does not represent a business transaction that specifically endorses what RightHaven does. So in the interests of semantic clarity, I will not tell you to "go fuck yourself"; I am aware that it is nearly physically impossible and I do not wish to learn of cases where it is not.
Yes, the 911 feature working no matter what is definitely a lifesaver...'cept folks who get cut off from service in a dispute or whatever typically let the cell phones gather dust uncharged. But even that service - assuming their cells are charged - doesn't help the handicapped and older folks whose life is equally contingent upon being able to arrange transportation to various doctors for appointments, pharmacies for the picking up of prescriptions, and so on.
And in this little town I'm staying in at the moment, the older folks got pride up the wazoo...dangerously so. They'd rather pull that "I don't want to be a bother." trick and call a relative or a neighbor - or just put their symptoms off until it is too late - instead of calling 911.
So I hate to see anything come along that presents the opportunity - the monopolistic opportunity - to put price pressure on them. They went to prepaid cells and such because Social Security doesn't stretch far enough in a time of soaring energy prices...they're under enough pressure already when they can see that the Republicans have all social safety nets in their gun sights as well as anybody else can.
Uh, that's certainly VERY "little research". Essentially, it's an opinion piece that includes two quotes - one from a Stephens Media rep who expresses hope that the lawsuits in question will result in more linkbacks to LVRJ articles online (and, by implication, fewer cops of LVRJ content), and the other from the slimebag that runs Righthaven. Now, since Stephens Media does NOT own Righthaven, I fail entirely to see how this "suggests" in any way, shape, or form that Stephens Media is "probably a lot slimy."
Which brings up the question of why you believe that a freelance writer (i.e. - me) selling a story to a weekly magazine whose editorial management is (as is the case with EVERY ethical news operation) completely divorced and firewalled from the business management side of the operation is in any way unethical, immoral, or "slimy".
Huh....actually, I chose to use the link to techdirt's piece 'cuz using Wikipedia is often considered to be "too easy" while I figured including a link to the statement of the President and CEO of Stephens Media announcing that Stephens Media had "grubstaked and contracted with a company called Righthaven" and filed 22 lawsuits as merely their opening salvo was likely to bias the reader.
Especially if the reader knew the definition of "grubstake".
.And I said the money they paid you was likely slimy; I did not say you were slimy for accepting it - rather, you chose to interpret it that way. Or perhaps, rather unusually for a freelance writer in America, English is your second language?
compared to the literally life and death necessity of a phone
Any credibility you once had. Gone.
lolllll....I daresay your being unaware that people use cell phones to dial emergency medical, fire, and police services in order to protect their own or other lives while both at home and away is incredibly helpful to your credibility.
Don't think the Alltel acquisition fits your "population density of at least 10/sqMi" criteria. I.e., if you had coverage before that acquisition in those areas, it is highly unlikely that AT&T could screw it up by piping more traffic through those towers.
Also don't think that saying "I did not ever say there are only two providers." when you admit to saying "I said there are at least two providers." does a very good job of ruling out areas where there are only two providers...else you'd have said "at least three providers", eh?
And as far as those other prepaid providers? Coverage isn't as nearly as universal across America in the prepaid arena as it is in the traditional contract arena....they haven't attained the monopolies the mainstream cell carriers are working on - which is why prepaid is still a viable and economical alternative. (For now, anyway...but after a Tmobile/AT&T merger? Maybe not.)
And seriously...using SiriusXM as an example of how good monopolies are for people? A purely entertainment choice - meaning that people can dump them without any hesitation or qualms whatsoever should their service start sucking or they start charging outrageous fees...as compared to the literally life and death necessity of a phone? lollll....SiriusXM's Karmazin knows he better keep a handle on his greed, or people will pop out to FM and/or their CD collection and/or their 32 Gb SD card. That ain't the case with the CEOs of the major cell providers.
If that helps to keep my job here in the United States then frankly, I couldn't care less what goes on in Korea.
It is highly unlikely that IBM's goal was or is to keep your - or any other American's - job here in the United States. You cost too much - given currency exchange rates.
You conveniently dodged the question there. Everywhere I have ever been in the last 5 years (and I've been deep in the boonies on several occasions) had coverage from at least one cellular provider on CDMA and at least one provider on GSM. That makes at least two. Everywhere.
I didn't dodge anything. As you are very well aware it is very difficult to determine coverage overlap simply by looking at the maps. What I did do, however, is point out that this is further consolidation that does not in any way, shape or form preclude even more consolidation - and as you yourself note, there are many places where there are only two providers.
Your differentiation between CDMA and GSM technologies as your gambit, though, does allow me to point something else out: This merger of Tmobile and AT&T will snare Tracfone users, as "over 90% of Tracfone customers will use one of these two carriers"; the two carriers in question being Tmobile and AT&T.
In this economy that increasingly favors only the well-heeled, the new ability AT&T will have to put the squeeze on Tracfone could - and likely should - be considered to be a threat to those Americans who cannot get a cell phone any way other than through "no-contract" companies. And since that slide out of the middle class has achieved the status of an economic trend in this Republican economy, that is likely to be a significant - if not the - driver behind AT&T's decision.
That would be good for sales of AT&T's "Go Phone", wouldn't it, if suddenly Tracfone was unable to be cost-competitive?
Before, or after this merger? And then there is always the next merger...entirely predictable, since competition inhibits profits.