Meanwhile, FM radios bought in the '70s still work (and work well).
Even earlier - my FM tuner was made in the 60s and still works well, it even has stereo (Leak Troughline Stereo). Another radio also works well, but it was made in the USSR where they used a different frequency range for FM (~65-75MHz) so I needed to make a frequency converter. Still, the radio made in 1964 sounds quite good.
Granted, if the signal is weak I'll hear noise, but I'd rather hear some noise than artifacts produced by the codec, they annoy me more.
The only advantage to DAB is the fact that it would allow more stations to fit in the frequency range, but at lower quality, so this becomes the choice between quantity and quality - I choose quality.
The need to have multiple programs for basically the same function. Skype can do text chat, file transfer (not great, but still), voice calls, video calls. You can also find new contacts by their username or email.
If you needs 3 different programs to achieve that then it is likely that you and your friends will start using different possible incompatible programs which will end up with people installing multiple programs because various people will use different programs.
I now use Google Talk and Skype because some of my contacts prefer one or the other. It would suck if I needed to use 3 different types of programs programs (1 for chat, 1 for file transfers and 1 for voice) but my contacts chose different incompatible programs (as it is now with Skype and GTalk).
There is also the issue of convincing my contacts to move to another program (and in turn convince their contacts to do the same) especially if Skype and Google Talk are "good enough". That's the difference between these programs and some other software like an office suite or internet browser. Opera, Firefox and OpenOffice (with.doc support) are just as useful even if I am the only one of my acquaintances using them. SkypeReplacement1 - not so much.
Does it support text chat? I use Skype mainly for text chat, but sometimes I also call and use it as voice chat for games (not having the voice chat app and the game on the same computer is helpful).
Why? Man-in-the-middle is not trivial on SSL links.
So, you do not intercept the connection from the user to thebank.com, but ask the user to connect to thebank.phishing.com which has a valid SSL certificate or does not use SSL at all. That server then connects to thebank.com. This requires cooperation from the user, but that's why it's called phishing and not hacking.
Technically, yes, a gaming console is a Personal Computer, though not a fully functional one, since you are very limited to what software you can use on it. Also, even Apple, which makes Personal Computers but with different OS, wants to make a distinction between Windows PCs and their "Macs", though technically a Windows PC and a Mac are both Personal Computers.
Anyway, current consoles are limited to what games they support and who is allowed to make games for them. Anyone can make and sell a program (game or not) for Linux, Windows and MacOS, but if you want to make and sell a game that works, on, say, the Playstation, you have to get a license from Sony, who can choose to charge you as much as they want or refuse to give it to you at all for any reason.
Also, AFAIK, you have to pay money to be able to play online on top of whatever you paid for the console, game and your internet connection. On a PC you do not have to do that, but the developer of a specific game can charge you for playing online, but you can just play another game, while if you want to play a PS3 game online you have to pay for the online service and there is no other option.
Too bad it's only 6MW and probably much less efficient than newer versions, but at least we know, that if we used technology available in 1951 and built a power plant like that now, it would work for 60 years, assuming we did not start using such stupid things like computer control (software is always buggy), video cameras that provide the crane operator (who loads the fuel) with clear image of what he is doing (hey, radiation can affect cameras in weird ways), instead using a 50cm thick glass window.
Since a newer version of that reactor was RBMK, we know that trying to improve older technologies will always end in disasters.
Hmm... my PC is flaky again, I think one of the relays in the FPU has failed, I'll just grab a spare and replace it, oh and while I'm at it, I'll add some coal to the furnace, I don't want to run out of power, restarting a steam engine can be a long process.
The only way to avoid it is putting the scammers behind bars.
Not really, and here's why:
1. The justice system is not perfect, so there will always be some criminals who manage to get away from the law. 2. Somebody will try to commit the crime thinking that they will also manage to get away. 3. Even if all scammers were arrested, they probably do not keep records indicating who was scammed for how much, so not all victims will get their money back.
Putting scammers behind bars would only prevent those scammers from scamming for the amount of thime they were sentenced to serve (and maybe not even them, if they manage to obtain a cell phone while in prison).
The same as putting murderers behind bars does not eliminate murder - yes, those who are behind bars will most likely be not able to murder more people until they are released, but others still can.
What I don't understand is why people lock their doors, have car alarms, why banks keep money in safes, also why a lot of people want to have a gun for protection. Do they live in countries where theft, robbery and murder are not crimes?
(for those who do not understand sarcasm - the fact that something is a crime does not mean that it will never happen, so you should be able to protect yourself and not just rely on the law and hope that cops arrive soon enough. This also applies to scams.)
1) Windows, ~90% market share and a lot of clueless users or 2) Linux, 3% market share, incompatibilities between distributions, 90% of users know what they are doing?
The context for evaluating trust includes the medium of delivery. In this case it's the phone and the internet. And people are new to the internet. They haven't figured out the patterns for evaluating the trustworthiness of electronic events (if you will.) That's why this scam works in the first place. It's not just praying on those who fall for any old lie, but those who are feel confused about computers.
Still, if someone wants me to give them a lot of money (and 180GBP is a lot) I won't blindly do it without any verification, no matter the medium.
In my country there are telephone scams that work on stupid people. Basically someone calls you and says that your kid/spouse/etc got in an accident or was arrested and needs a lot of money right now. In cash. If they manage to guess the right person (obviously you won't believe that your son got in an accident if you don't have kids/have only daughters/all your sons are at home with you) then usually the person called runs to a bank, takes out the sum asked and delivers it. Stupid.
Well, if someone said that my family member got into an accident, I would first call the said family member. I would also try to figure out if the call is a scam by trying to trip the caller up ("Really? What if I told you that I do not have a son?"). If someone called and said that my family member was arrested that I would call the police to verify.
Yes, stealing is stealing, rape is rape etc and the criminal is to blame, but:
If I left a lot of cash in my car (plainly visible) and the doors unlocked and the money got stolen then a lot of people would ridicule me for doing it even though the thief is to blame because he still broke the law, but I should have anticipated it and hid the money or taken it with me. There is a reason why a bank keeps the money in a safe and why the clients would blame the bank if it kept the money in an unlocked box and the money got stolen.
I, for one, don't want to have to carry around a huge 80+ watt brick, simply because that is the standard and my netbook only needs a tiny 30 watts.
They could be standard in everything except power, so you can have a smaller power supply for your netbook, but if you go somewhere you can use a bigger power supply that's available there and not have to carry yours at all. Or if you also have a bigger laptop and want to take them both, then you can just take the bigger power supply.
Look at desktop power supplies. All ATX power supplies output the same voltages, have the same connectors and are the same physical size, but you can get a more powerful one if you have a lot of hard drives and/or multiple video cards or a cheaper less powerful one if your PC does not need that much power.
The laptops could be the same - all power supplies output, say, 24V and have the same plugs but are of different power and the power requirement is clearly labeled on the laptop, so if my laptop needs 100W, I can use a 100W power supply or a 150W one. Very powerful laptops (that need more current than the plug can handle) could have multiple connectors and use multiple smaller power supplies or one big that has multiple connectors.
For example, let's say the standard plug can handle up to 7A (=168W at 24V), but the laptop needs 300W (12.5A at 24V). It could have 2 power connectors (any laptop that needs this much power will be big enough) so it an be connected to 2 power supplies (at least 150W each) or one 300W PSU that has three connectors. That 300W PSU could be also used to power 2 laptops provided their total power requirements do not exceed 300W.
Also, a very powerful laptop could have an internal power supply and a 220V connector. Those laptops are usually big and heavy enough to fit the power supply inside.
That could be easily done. For example, your laptop could have more than one power connector, so you could use multiple of the standard adapters to achieve the power required or buy one big adapter that can power your laptop alone, or a few smaller laptops.
If the power adapters are standardized in such a way that they only differ by their current it would still be much better than it is now. ATX power supplies are standard in their size and connectors, but you can still buy a 300W or 1kW power supply depending on your needs.
Either the build quality has dropped recently (after I bought my current laptop) or your parents have special abilities that let them do it. Basically I have never seen the power connector come off the motherboard of a laptop, or at least have bad connection. The plug from the cable, sure, but not the socket.
Why? Didn't the EU force (or at least tried to) cell phone manufacturers to standardize the power connector on the phones to micro USB and the voltage to 5V (so it's compatible with USB)?
The highest voltage in a desktop PC is 12V, others can be made using DC-DC converters that are pretty efficient and negative voltages (-5V and -12V) are low power and can also be made using DC-DC converters.
There are ATX power supplies that take in 12V so you can use the PC in your car, or make a cheap on-line UPS (A 12V battery and a charger powerful enough to power the PC and charge the battery at the same time) since you do not need the (expensive) inverter.
Laptops usually use higher voltages than 12V, but those are most likely used to power internal DC-DC converters which convert them back to 3.3V, 5V and 12V. This is done so that the battery can be of higher voltage and a DC-DC converter can be used to stabilize the voltage as the battery is discharged and the voltage decreases. For example, my laptop uses 19V DC input, but the battery is only 14.8V.
Even cars don't have standardized batteries. Ok, they do, but there are something like 20-30 different standardized car battery types.
Really? Do you mean electric/hybrid cars or regular ones? If regular ones, then I have only seen two versions of the batteries, with the only difference being the polarity. Sure, there are different capacity versions available, but usually more than one version works in a given car (bigger batteries may not fit in the compartment while smaller ones may not be able to provide enough power to start the car).
As for laptops, most of them use standard Li-ion cells with a controller chip, you could make the cells replaceable or even standardize the controller chip so the laptop could use different batteries.
An example where this was done right is the standardization of alkaline and NiMH batteries - if a device uses these batteries, it most likely needs AAA, AA, C, D or 9V batteries depending on the size and power of the device. In most devices you can use rechargeable NiCd or NiMH batteries instead or alkaline ones. It's not like every TV remote control needs a special kind of battery that is made only by the manufacturer of that remote control.
I think the power supply on my netbook is nearly as big as the netbook itself. WHY OH WHY!!!
Simple - making the power supply smaller, yet having the same power would make the power supply really expensive. There are some physical limits, for example the size of the transformer inside depends on the power (more power = bigger core), current (more current = thicker wires) and operating frequency (lower frequency = bigger core). If you want to increase the frequency, the switching transistors, rectifiers and the core of the transformer will be more expensive or your power supply will run much hotter. Since you do not want to have a fan on the power supply, it also has to be big enough to cool itself even if you place it wider side down (less area available to heat the air around the PSU) on a carpet (good heat insulation, so the power supply cannot transfer some heat to the floor) in a room that's 40C hot.
And you still want to be able to use your netbook at full load while simultaneously recharging the battery, so the power supply cannot be made less powerful (for example so you can either charge the battery or use the netbook at full power).
I don't want my laptop to be 1 cm thicker just because you need a slot or a socket to do upgrades.
How about two versions of the laptops. The small, thin ones are not upgradeable, but if I buy a laptop that weighs 6kg and has a 19" monitor and two hard drives then it should also have replaceable CPU and GPU. Especially since manufacturers sometimes offer stupid options, like a laptops with fast CPU but crap GPU or a laptop with good GPU but crap CPU. I could buy whichever and replace the crap part, or I could buy a laptop with a cheaper video card and CPU and upgrade them a few years later, instead of buying a laptop that has the best CPU and GPU so that thoy wuld last longer.
Isn't it possible to manufacture helium with fusion? I mean fusion is still not good enough for producing electricity, but it should be able to make helium using hydrogen and electricity.
English is not my native language and the sentence was a bit convoluted, so I misunderstood it.
However, I have read other comments (on other articles) where people think that DRM adds value because without DRM you would not be able to do such wonderful things as back up your games and/or install them to more than one PC which is not true.
There's constantly something good for sale for $5.
I stopped buing from Steam when they made it so that prices in Euros are the same as prices in dollars, that is if a games costs $5 for someone who lives in the USA, it would cost 5EUR to me, which would be $6.2, 25% more. So I'm waiting until the Euro drops below the dollar, maybe then I'll buy some games.
Also, the game store does not advertise full prices for the games. It advertises the prices without VAT, however, I still have to pay it, since I am not a company. When I go to a physical store, all prices there are full, the sum that is written on the price tag is the sum that I'll pay for it. I may pay less than that if the store offers discounts, but usually I pay the exact amount.
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Meanwhile, FM radios bought in the '70s still work (and work well).
Even earlier - my FM tuner was made in the 60s and still works well, it even has stereo (Leak Troughline Stereo). Another radio also works well, but it was made in the USSR where they used a different frequency range for FM (~65-75MHz) so I needed to make a frequency converter. Still, the radio made in 1964 sounds quite good.
Granted, if the signal is weak I'll hear noise, but I'd rather hear some noise than artifacts produced by the codec, they annoy me more.
The only advantage to DAB is the fact that it would allow more stations to fit in the frequency range, but at lower quality, so this becomes the choice between quantity and quality - I choose quality.
The need to have multiple programs for basically the same function. Skype can do text chat, file transfer (not great, but still), voice calls, video calls. You can also find new contacts by their username or email.
If you needs 3 different programs to achieve that then it is likely that you and your friends will start using different possible incompatible programs which will end up with people installing multiple programs because various people will use different programs.
I now use Google Talk and Skype because some of my contacts prefer one or the other. It would suck if I needed to use 3 different types of programs programs (1 for chat, 1 for file transfers and 1 for voice) but my contacts chose different incompatible programs (as it is now with Skype and GTalk).
There is also the issue of convincing my contacts to move to another program (and in turn convince their contacts to do the same) especially if Skype and Google Talk are "good enough". That's the difference between these programs and some other software like an office suite or internet browser. Opera, Firefox and OpenOffice (with .doc support) are just as useful even if I am the only one of my acquaintances using them. SkypeReplacement1 - not so much.
Does it support text chat? I use Skype mainly for text chat, but sometimes I also call and use it as voice chat for games (not having the voice chat app and the game on the same computer is helpful).
Why? Man-in-the-middle is not trivial on SSL links.
So, you do not intercept the connection from the user to thebank.com, but ask the user to connect to thebank.phishing.com which has a valid SSL certificate or does not use SSL at all. That server then connects to thebank.com. This requires cooperation from the user, but that's why it's called phishing and not hacking.
Technically, yes, a gaming console is a Personal Computer, though not a fully functional one, since you are very limited to what software you can use on it. Also, even Apple, which makes Personal Computers but with different OS, wants to make a distinction between Windows PCs and their "Macs", though technically a Windows PC and a Mac are both Personal Computers.
Anyway, current consoles are limited to what games they support and who is allowed to make games for them. Anyone can make and sell a program (game or not) for Linux, Windows and MacOS, but if you want to make and sell a game that works, on, say, the Playstation, you have to get a license from Sony, who can choose to charge you as much as they want or refuse to give it to you at all for any reason.
Also, AFAIK, you have to pay money to be able to play online on top of whatever you paid for the console, game and your internet connection. On a PC you do not have to do that, but the developer of a specific game can charge you for playing online, but you can just play another game, while if you want to play a PS3 game online you have to pay for the online service and there is no other option.
On the other hand, one of the first nuclear power plants in Russia, operated for almost 60 years without blowing up. So, this means that this model is the only one that is safe enough.
Too bad it's only 6MW and probably much less efficient than newer versions, but at least we know, that if we used technology available in 1951 and built a power plant like that now, it would work for 60 years, assuming we did not start using such stupid things like computer control (software is always buggy), video cameras that provide the crane operator (who loads the fuel) with clear image of what he is doing (hey, radiation can affect cameras in weird ways), instead using a 50cm thick glass window.
Since a newer version of that reactor was RBMK, we know that trying to improve older technologies will always end in disasters.
Hmm... my PC is flaky again, I think one of the relays in the FPU has failed, I'll just grab a spare and replace it, oh and while I'm at it, I'll add some coal to the furnace, I don't want to run out of power, restarting a steam engine can be a long process.
The only way to avoid it is putting the scammers behind bars.
Not really, and here's why:
1. The justice system is not perfect, so there will always be some criminals who manage to get away from the law.
2. Somebody will try to commit the crime thinking that they will also manage to get away.
3. Even if all scammers were arrested, they probably do not keep records indicating who was scammed for how much, so not all victims will get their money back.
Putting scammers behind bars would only prevent those scammers from scamming for the amount of thime they were sentenced to serve (and maybe not even them, if they manage to obtain a cell phone while in prison).
The same as putting murderers behind bars does not eliminate murder - yes, those who are behind bars will most likely be not able to murder more people until they are released, but others still can.
What I don't understand is why people lock their doors, have car alarms, why banks keep money in safes, also why a lot of people want to have a gun for protection. Do they live in countries where theft, robbery and murder are not crimes?
(for those who do not understand sarcasm - the fact that something is a crime does not mean that it will never happen, so you should be able to protect yourself and not just rely on the law and hope that cops arrive soon enough. This also applies to scams.)
Which is more profitable for the malware writers:
1) Windows, ~90% market share and a lot of clueless users
or
2) Linux, 3% market share, incompatibilities between distributions, 90% of users know what they are doing?
The context for evaluating trust includes the medium of delivery. In this case it's the phone and the internet. And people are new to the internet. They haven't figured out the patterns for evaluating the trustworthiness of electronic events (if you will.) That's why this scam works in the first place. It's not just praying on those who fall for any old lie, but those who are feel confused about computers.
Still, if someone wants me to give them a lot of money (and 180GBP is a lot) I won't blindly do it without any verification, no matter the medium.
In my country there are telephone scams that work on stupid people. Basically someone calls you and says that your kid/spouse/etc got in an accident or was arrested and needs a lot of money right now. In cash. If they manage to guess the right person (obviously you won't believe that your son got in an accident if you don't have kids/have only daughters/all your sons are at home with you) then usually the person called runs to a bank, takes out the sum asked and delivers it. Stupid.
Well, if someone said that my family member got into an accident, I would first call the said family member. I would also try to figure out if the call is a scam by trying to trip the caller up ("Really? What if I told you that I do not have a son?"). If someone called and said that my family member was arrested that I would call the police to verify.
Yes, stealing is stealing, rape is rape etc and the criminal is to blame, but:
If I left a lot of cash in my car (plainly visible) and the doors unlocked and the money got stolen then a lot of people would ridicule me for doing it even though the thief is to blame because he still broke the law, but I should have anticipated it and hid the money or taken it with me. There is a reason why a bank keeps the money in a safe and why the clients would blame the bank if it kept the money in an unlocked box and the money got stolen.
I, for one, don't want to have to carry around a huge 80+ watt brick, simply because that is the standard and my netbook only needs a tiny 30 watts.
They could be standard in everything except power, so you can have a smaller power supply for your netbook, but if you go somewhere you can use a bigger power supply that's available there and not have to carry yours at all. Or if you also have a bigger laptop and want to take them both, then you can just take the bigger power supply.
Look at desktop power supplies. All ATX power supplies output the same voltages, have the same connectors and are the same physical size, but you can get a more powerful one if you have a lot of hard drives and/or multiple video cards or a cheaper less powerful one if your PC does not need that much power.
The laptops could be the same - all power supplies output, say, 24V and have the same plugs but are of different power and the power requirement is clearly labeled on the laptop, so if my laptop needs 100W, I can use a 100W power supply or a 150W one. Very powerful laptops (that need more current than the plug can handle) could have multiple connectors and use multiple smaller power supplies or one big that has multiple connectors.
For example, let's say the standard plug can handle up to 7A (=168W at 24V), but the laptop needs 300W (12.5A at 24V). It could have 2 power connectors (any laptop that needs this much power will be big enough) so it an be connected to 2 power supplies (at least 150W each) or one 300W PSU that has three connectors. That 300W PSU could be also used to power 2 laptops provided their total power requirements do not exceed 300W.
Also, a very powerful laptop could have an internal power supply and a 220V connector. Those laptops are usually big and heavy enough to fit the power supply inside.
That could be easily done. For example, your laptop could have more than one power connector, so you could use multiple of the standard adapters to achieve the power required or buy one big adapter that can power your laptop alone, or a few smaller laptops.
If the power adapters are standardized in such a way that they only differ by their current it would still be much better than it is now. ATX power supplies are standard in their size and connectors, but you can still buy a 300W or 1kW power supply depending on your needs.
Either the build quality has dropped recently (after I bought my current laptop) or your parents have special abilities that let them do it. Basically I have never seen the power connector come off the motherboard of a laptop, or at least have bad connection. The plug from the cable, sure, but not the socket.
Smelling another lawsuit opportunity?
Why? Didn't the EU force (or at least tried to) cell phone manufacturers to standardize the power connector on the phones to micro USB and the voltage to 5V (so it's compatible with USB)?
The highest voltage in a desktop PC is 12V, others can be made using DC-DC converters that are pretty efficient and negative voltages (-5V and -12V) are low power and can also be made using DC-DC converters.
There are ATX power supplies that take in 12V so you can use the PC in your car, or make a cheap on-line UPS (A 12V battery and a charger powerful enough to power the PC and charge the battery at the same time) since you do not need the (expensive) inverter.
Laptops usually use higher voltages than 12V, but those are most likely used to power internal DC-DC converters which convert them back to 3.3V, 5V and 12V. This is done so that the battery can be of higher voltage and a DC-DC converter can be used to stabilize the voltage as the battery is discharged and the voltage decreases. For example, my laptop uses 19V DC input, but the battery is only 14.8V.
Even cars don't have standardized batteries. Ok, they do, but there are something like 20-30 different standardized car battery types.
Really? Do you mean electric/hybrid cars or regular ones? If regular ones, then I have only seen two versions of the batteries, with the only difference being the polarity. Sure, there are different capacity versions available, but usually more than one version works in a given car (bigger batteries may not fit in the compartment while smaller ones may not be able to provide enough power to start the car).
As for laptops, most of them use standard Li-ion cells with a controller chip, you could make the cells replaceable or even standardize the controller chip so the laptop could use different batteries.
An example where this was done right is the standardization of alkaline and NiMH batteries - if a device uses these batteries, it most likely needs AAA, AA, C, D or 9V batteries depending on the size and power of the device. In most devices you can use rechargeable NiCd or NiMH batteries instead or alkaline ones. It's not like every TV remote control needs a special kind of battery that is made only by the manufacturer of that remote control.
I think the power supply on my netbook is nearly as big as the netbook itself. WHY OH WHY!!!
Simple - making the power supply smaller, yet having the same power would make the power supply really expensive. There are some physical limits, for example the size of the transformer inside depends on the power (more power = bigger core), current (more current = thicker wires) and operating frequency (lower frequency = bigger core). If you want to increase the frequency, the switching transistors, rectifiers and the core of the transformer will be more expensive or your power supply will run much hotter. Since you do not want to have a fan on the power supply, it also has to be big enough to cool itself even if you place it wider side down (less area available to heat the air around the PSU) on a carpet (good heat insulation, so the power supply cannot transfer some heat to the floor) in a room that's 40C hot.
And you still want to be able to use your netbook at full load while simultaneously recharging the battery, so the power supply cannot be made less powerful (for example so you can either charge the battery or use the netbook at full power).
I don't want my laptop to be 1 cm thicker just because you need a slot or a socket to do upgrades.
How about two versions of the laptops. The small, thin ones are not upgradeable, but if I buy a laptop that weighs 6kg and has a 19" monitor and two hard drives then it should also have replaceable CPU and GPU. Especially since manufacturers sometimes offer stupid options, like a laptops with fast CPU but crap GPU or a laptop with good GPU but crap CPU. I could buy whichever and replace the crap part, or I could buy a laptop with a cheaper video card and CPU and upgrade them a few years later, instead of buying a laptop that has the best CPU and GPU so that thoy wuld last longer.
Isn't it possible to manufacture helium with fusion? I mean fusion is still not good enough for producing electricity, but it should be able to make helium using hydrogen and electricity.
English is not my native language and the sentence was a bit convoluted, so I misunderstood it.
However, I have read other comments (on other articles) where people think that DRM adds value because without DRM you would not be able to do such wonderful things as back up your games and/or install them to more than one PC which is not true.
but it's honestly a DRM that I can tolerate and even like, since it adds value.
DRM does not add value. Honestly, what can you do now with DRM that you would not be able to if the game was released without DRM?
Yea, since without DRM all games would be pirated, oh wait, they are now, even with DRM.
There's constantly something good for sale for $5.
I stopped buing from Steam when they made it so that prices in Euros are the same as prices in dollars, that is if a games costs $5 for someone who lives in the USA, it would cost 5EUR to me, which would be $6.2, 25% more. So I'm waiting until the Euro drops below the dollar, maybe then I'll buy some games.
Also, the game store does not advertise full prices for the games. It advertises the prices without VAT, however, I still have to pay it, since I am not a company. When I go to a physical store, all prices there are full, the sum that is written on the price tag is the sum that I'll pay for it. I may pay less than that if the store offers discounts, but usually I pay the exact amount.