How do I loan my car to a friend? I might not be near enough to it to reprogram it for them. What if I sit differently? What if my 2% error butt is a car thief? Why would anyone pay for this bullcrap?
Quite, there are times when you need someone else to drive your car. Mechanics are obvious one, but how many times has a car needed to moved for some reason by a friend. This is a dumb idea.
And 98% when I imagine all the testers are engineers wearing regulation smart trousers, now go for the real world. Does a thick heavy pair of combats work the same as a 3 piece suit. A long coat in the winter, wallet or keys in your back pocket, the list of real life variables goes on and on.
Even if you might not use it often, it's the fact that you could do things like:
* check out a price on the internet without having to drive home from the store to check it on you pc
And if its cheaper to reserve online for collection, order it and go and get a coffee for half an hour (PC World are wise to this and build in a delay before you are allowed to collect.
* Re-read the email with the friends address because, although it was super easy to remember, you can't seem to remember it now
Also good for booking references at the cinema, or collection references for goods you have reserved.
Drive OpenStreetMap and easily spot areas that need attention.
And one I did yesterday was to google the polish word for horseradish (Polish horseradish sauce is stronger) so that I could select the correct jar from the Polish Section of a local supermarket.
I'd like my android phone with NO data plan. There are enough wireless networks around that I don't need a data plan. Unfortunately you can't seem to get the cool phone without a data plan. And no, I'm not going to carry a dumb phone and another device;-)
Can you not just buy the phone and get a SIM only deal thats suits you, or just pick up a pay-as-you-go sim?
Where I live (and in many places in Europe) using the data plan for VoIP is actually a violation of the operator's contract. I guess in other places it is the same, but people really don't bother reading the fine print.
Its available here in Europe, just choose you operator/plan carefully. Plus smartphones have wifi.
Except that as soon as you make a purchase with a credit card they not only know who you are
How do they know who you are?
If you pay by debit or credit card they only have another anonymous number with which to track you. Unless you ask for delivery the store will not even know your name, let alone your address.
nobody in the developed world *needs* a mobile phone, since there are payphones and landlines.
The birth of the mobile phone era has killed payphones.
When I was growing up in the 1970s I was always encouraged to carry 2p to use a payphone. Nowadays there are fewer payphones, and when I recently used one I was shocked at how expensive they are to use. Outside built up areas many no longer accept coins, and require a credit/debit card, which children don't normally have.
Why would the tunnel be longer than the Chunnel? According to Wiki, the Chunnel is ~53 miles, which is about the distance from San Francisco to San Jose.
Going to that supermarket in the flesh is a strange experience: there are more teenagers running through the aisles like crazy to fulfill the web orders than there are live customers.
Must admit, I have never seen a teenager doing web orders in the UK, usually they are 30s-40s women. Teenagers just don't have the life experience to make a sensible substitution.
Whether it makes sense for Amazon is less clear. As others have pointed out, books can be posted from a central warehouse while groceries need a local distribution infrastructure - hence why Amazon has only trialled this in Seattle instead of nation-wide. The supermarket chains have an established distribution network, and all it needs is a website and local delivery vehicles. Amazon also needs to put in place a whole new system of sourcing and distribution, and I can't see how they can compete with supermarkets on that.
I am amazed that the US isn't doing this already. Would have expected it to be Walmart, rather than Amazon though. What percentage of the US population live more than 20 miles from a Walmart?
Pretty much. The UK has 12 times the population density we have in the US. Not only are the customers further apart, but also almost everyone has a car. Home delivery can probably work in a handful of denser US metro areas (some of them already have it), but I'll be shocked if anyone ever makes it work in the smaller cities or suburbs.
Where I live in the UK, car ownership is pretty high. The ones that don't are generally those older people who are also unlikely to be on the internet.
Deliveries I have seen certainly don't go to carless households, but those who have better things to do with their time. Tesco deliverys here are between 3GBP and 6GBP (5-10 USD)
Having to stop at traffic lights as the cars aren't synchronized
A good start would be to synchronise the traffic lights, like they used to do.
Whatever happened to the 'Green Wave'? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_wave
Oh I forgot, councils need to create congestion to justify workplace parking and congestion charges.
World travellers might have a whole pocketful of SIMs as they go to a different country every day, but that's more of an unusual edge case moreso than common behavior. For a very large majority of people, the SIM is handled twice per phone - once to insert it, once to remove it to be inserted into a new phone.
SIM cards are on sale in every corner shop/convienience store/supermarket, not to mention specialist phone shops. I don't know what the market is, but judging by the display positions used, clearly displayed by the cashier I suspect there is a profit and therefore a market.
A car is a not a good analogy as you do have a power source, try bus, train or just walking and then a 2nd battery can be very useful.
Some trains have mains sockets, but far from all, and then only if you get a window seat.
According to the gp poster we're on a freeway. Assuming we're in a car is the logical choice. It's generally not legal to walk on freeways. Trains don't run on freeways. And, much like a train, on a bus you are merely a passenger in a vehicle following a predetermined route, so you have little opportunity to do any "navigating".
If you wanted to navigate while on a bus then using a paper bus route map, which are often available in holders on the bus, is more useful, since it shows you were the bus is actually going to be making stops so you can map your path from your disembark point.
If we're on the freeway and it's not our own car we're in it's a taxi, where navigating is also not going to be your job.
Try again.
Not just navigation, but there are plenty of times when you are away from a source of power to plug your phone into and carrying a spare battery is the only way the phone will survive the day.
You may want to surf the net whilst on the train or bus, or listen to music, then use the phones navigation whilst you walk to your final destination.
Yes, but you can carry a replacement battery in your pocket so when your battery is flat, you are not stuck on the freeway with no navigation.
If you're in your car, why can't you just plug in your mobile charger?
A car is a not a good analogy as you do have a power source, try bus, train or just walking and then a 2nd battery can be very useful.
Some trains have mains sockets, but far from all, and then only if you get a window seat.
I would have been 9 or 10 at that time, I used to walk to school and can remember all the fuss but I am pretty certain I never walked to school in the dark.
But maybe living 10 mins walk from the school was the reason for that.
The rental car companies will deal with this the same way that they deal with parking tickets and red light tickets. Forward the bill/ticket to the person who had rented the vehicle on that particular day.
A few motorways in the UK have variable speed limits, enforced by speed cameras.
When the limit drops, there is a slight delay to allow vehicles that are too close to slow down can get through.
If the lead vehicle passes just before the limit changes, the first few cars will get through, but will everyone else not get a ticket?
They will follow the speed limit so you won't have any reason what so ever to overtake them, besides not following the speedlimit yourself.
If the lead vehicle is a truck, its speed limit is lower usually lower than that of a car.
In the EU trucks have speed limiter fitted that are set to 100kmh, and in the UK many are (legally) restricted to 40mph. Cars can travel at 60mph on these roads.
Apparently in the EU at least, the analogue TV spectrum about to be freed up will solve the problem for the next few years.
Nothing will be freed up. The digital MUXs operate on the same channels as analogue.
At present they are, in most places, running in parallel with the digital MUXs on reduced power to avoid interfering with the analogue signals.
When analogue is switched off the digital power will be wound up.
Slashdot Mirror
How do I loan my car to a friend? I might not be near enough to it to reprogram it for them. What if I sit differently? What if my 2% error butt is a car thief? Why would anyone pay for this bullcrap?
Quite, there are times when you need someone else to drive your car. Mechanics are obvious one, but how many times has a car needed to moved for some reason by a friend. This is a dumb idea.
And 98% when I imagine all the testers are engineers wearing regulation smart trousers, now go for the real world. Does a thick heavy pair of combats work the same as a 3 piece suit. A long coat in the winter, wallet or keys in your back pocket, the list of real life variables goes on and on.
Even if you might not use it often, it's the fact that you could do things like:
* check out a price on the internet without having to drive home from the store to check it on you pc
And if its cheaper to reserve online for collection, order it and go and get a coffee for half an hour (PC World are wise to this and build in a delay before you are allowed to collect.
* Re-read the email with the friends address because, although it was super easy to remember, you can't seem to remember it now
Also good for booking references at the cinema, or collection references for goods you have reserved.
Drive OpenStreetMap and easily spot areas that need attention.
And one I did yesterday was to google the polish word for horseradish (Polish horseradish sauce is stronger) so that I could select the correct jar from the Polish Section of a local supermarket.
My N900 portable computer have phone functionality.
So does my N9 tablet computer
My N900 portable computer have phone functionality.
So does my N9 :)
I'd like my android phone with NO data plan. There are enough wireless networks around that I don't need a data plan. Unfortunately you can't seem to get the cool phone without a data plan. And no, I'm not going to carry a dumb phone and another device ;-)
Can you not just buy the phone and get a SIM only deal thats suits you, or just pick up a pay-as-you-go sim?
Where I live (and in many places in Europe) using the data plan for VoIP is actually a violation of the operator's contract. I guess in other places it is the same, but people really don't bother reading the fine print.
Its available here in Europe, just choose you operator/plan carefully. Plus smartphones have wifi.
Where can I make a reservation!!! ooooohhhh momma!!!
Shouldn't really have to tell a slashdoter this, but you type 'kismot edinburgh' into google :)
Think I will check it out next time I'm in Edinburgh.
Except that as soon as you make a purchase with a credit card they not only know who you are
How do they know who you are? If you pay by debit or credit card they only have another anonymous number with which to track you. Unless you ask for delivery the store will not even know your name, let alone your address.
nobody in the developed world *needs* a mobile phone, since there are payphones and landlines.
The birth of the mobile phone era has killed payphones.
When I was growing up in the 1970s I was always encouraged to carry 2p to use a payphone. Nowadays there are fewer payphones, and when I recently used one I was shocked at how expensive they are to use. Outside built up areas many no longer accept coins, and require a credit/debit card, which children don't normally have.
Why would the tunnel be longer than the Chunnel? According to Wiki, the Chunnel is ~53 miles, which is about the distance from San Francisco to San Jose.
According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_tunnel, the Channel Tunnel is 50.5 km, not miles.
Really? Where? Where can you choose between more than one or two ISPs?
Anywhere in the UK, except for Hull. You have a choice of 100s.
Going to that supermarket in the flesh is a strange experience: there are more teenagers running through the aisles like crazy to fulfill the web orders than there are live customers.
Must admit, I have never seen a teenager doing web orders in the UK, usually they are 30s-40s women. Teenagers just don't have the life experience to make a sensible substitution.
This doesn't save you the time of shopping, as you still have to select what you want.
There is a big difference between doing so by walking around the aisles with a shopping cart vs clicking on pictures on a website.
And the system will store your preferences, so you wont see what you are never going to order. Tesco are masters at targeted marketing.
Whether it makes sense for Amazon is less clear. As others have pointed out, books can be posted from a central warehouse while groceries need a local distribution infrastructure - hence why Amazon has only trialled this in Seattle instead of nation-wide. The supermarket chains have an established distribution network, and all it needs is a website and local delivery vehicles. Amazon also needs to put in place a whole new system of sourcing and distribution, and I can't see how they can compete with supermarkets on that.
I am amazed that the US isn't doing this already. Would have expected it to be Walmart, rather than Amazon though. What percentage of the US population live more than 20 miles from a Walmart?
Pretty much. The UK has 12 times the population density we have in the US. Not only are the customers further apart, but also almost everyone has a car. Home delivery can probably work in a handful of denser US metro areas (some of them already have it), but I'll be shocked if anyone ever makes it work in the smaller cities or suburbs.
Where I live in the UK, car ownership is pretty high. The ones that don't are generally those older people who are also unlikely to be on the internet. Deliveries I have seen certainly don't go to carless households, but those who have better things to do with their time. Tesco deliverys here are between 3GBP and 6GBP (5-10 USD)
Having to stop at traffic lights as the cars aren't synchronized
A good start would be to synchronise the traffic lights, like they used to do. Whatever happened to the 'Green Wave'? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_wave Oh I forgot, councils need to create congestion to justify workplace parking and congestion charges.
World travellers might have a whole pocketful of SIMs as they go to a different country every day, but that's more of an unusual edge case moreso than common behavior. For a very large majority of people, the SIM is handled twice per phone - once to insert it, once to remove it to be inserted into a new phone.
SIM cards are on sale in every corner shop/convienience store/supermarket, not to mention specialist phone shops. I don't know what the market is, but judging by the display positions used, clearly displayed by the cashier I suspect there is a profit and therefore a market.
A car is a not a good analogy as you do have a power source, try bus, train or just walking and then a 2nd battery can be very useful.
Some trains have mains sockets, but far from all, and then only if you get a window seat.
According to the gp poster we're on a freeway. Assuming we're in a car is the logical choice. It's generally not legal to walk on freeways. Trains don't run on freeways. And, much like a train, on a bus you are merely a passenger in a vehicle following a predetermined route, so you have little opportunity to do any "navigating".
If you wanted to navigate while on a bus then using a paper bus route map, which are often available in holders on the bus, is more useful, since it shows you were the bus is actually going to be making stops so you can map your path from your disembark point.
If we're on the freeway and it's not our own car we're in it's a taxi, where navigating is also not going to be your job.
Try again.
Not just navigation, but there are plenty of times when you are away from a source of power to plug your phone into and carrying a spare battery is the only way the phone will survive the day. You may want to surf the net whilst on the train or bus, or listen to music, then use the phones navigation whilst you walk to your final destination.
Yes, but you can carry a replacement battery in your pocket so when your battery is flat, you are not stuck on the freeway with no navigation.
If you're in your car, why can't you just plug in your mobile charger?
A car is a not a good analogy as you do have a power source, try bus, train or just walking and then a 2nd battery can be very useful. Some trains have mains sockets, but far from all, and then only if you get a window seat.
This is not easy to say. But US companies wish they could do this to make their employees more productive
Believe it or not, but this is where British licensing (pub opening) laws started http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_licensing_laws_of_the_United_Kingdom#History. Basically to make sure munitions workers in World War 1, were at work on-time and sober.
I would have been 9 or 10 at that time, I used to walk to school and can remember all the fuss but I am pretty certain I never walked to school in the dark. But maybe living 10 mins walk from the school was the reason for that.
or a rental car?
The rental car companies will deal with this the same way that they deal with parking tickets and red light tickets. Forward the bill/ticket to the person who had rented the vehicle on that particular day.
After adding a massive handling charge.
A few motorways in the UK have variable speed limits, enforced by speed cameras. When the limit drops, there is a slight delay to allow vehicles that are too close to slow down can get through. If the lead vehicle passes just before the limit changes, the first few cars will get through, but will everyone else not get a ticket?
They will follow the speed limit so you won't have any reason what so ever to overtake them, besides not following the speedlimit yourself.
If the lead vehicle is a truck, its speed limit is lower usually lower than that of a car. In the EU trucks have speed limiter fitted that are set to 100kmh, and in the UK many are (legally) restricted to 40mph. Cars can travel at 60mph on these roads.
Apparently in the EU at least, the analogue TV spectrum about to be freed up will solve the problem for the next few years.
Nothing will be freed up. The digital MUXs operate on the same channels as analogue. At present they are, in most places, running in parallel with the digital MUXs on reduced power to avoid interfering with the analogue signals. When analogue is switched off the digital power will be wound up.