This is the reason why I read slashdot: totally clueless people getting all high-and-mighty to funny/sarcastic/etc. comments in the most embarrassing way imaginable and outing themselves as having the reading comprehension skills of a pre-schooler.
I know cheating is something of a sport these days, often performed almost competitively and without second thought to ethics. But when all the highest rated replies to this story are people defending the actions of those students who gained unauthorized access to that information, that's too much.
What these (prospective) students did was wrong. Period. They willingly and knowingly gained unauthorized access to information that was not theirs to access. I generally hate analogies but here goes: if these students found a key to their professor's room and snuck in to check on their exam results, do you think there'd be a furor as to whether they are guilty of cheatin or not?
Now, whether that access gives them an unfair edge like cheating in exams does is irrelevant. Also, whether these students knew they were "hacking" or not is irrelevant. I am positive every single one of them knew of how the status of their application was to be informed to them, and I'm positive that didn't include manipulating the URL or getting instant messages from friends about how to do it. Just the act of getting access to these records is the offense.
The conclusion is that these students deserved the punishment they got. I am also very happy to learn that there are other schools than my alma mater which take honor of their students (and faculty) seriously.
I'm afraid the reaction to this story on/. is a reflection of the corrupted morals of western nations (and increasingly elsewhere). For many of you cheating through life is an easy way out and a deliberate choice, but I know I will be a better man if I go through my life honorably.
I agree totally. I understand that 99+% of all shots involving actors were done on bluescreen. Only the 2nd unit used real-life backdrops. The actors have complained on several occasions that it's really hard to get into character in front of a bluescreen when you're supposed to be facing the equivalent of Niagara Falls.
Further, as an amateur photographer I was really dismayed by the clutter of the visual landscape. In still photography you (usually) try to eliminate all extraneous elements from the photograph. This is to bring focus to what is important which makes the photo so much stronger. Mr. Lucas seems to have forgotten this tenet altogether and fills his frames with "stuff," making every shot a visual scrapyard or even a busy nightmare at times. He works under the impression that the more details you have, the stronger the physical composition is. Yet another reason why Mr. Lucas shouldn't be sitting on as many chairs on the production as he does.
Natural Selection is one of the best mods for any game out there. For those unfamiliar with it you play with two teams, aliens and marines (think Aliens the movie). One of the marines plays a commander just like any RTS out there. But instead of computer-controlled drones he commands real players. He can give them orders to build resource towers or group them to attack an alien hive. Of course players can choose to ignore such orders but NS shines in teamplay since the superior aliens will literally shred you to pieces if the marines don't play as a team.
I've played it since 0.9 days and it has gotten really good along the years. Game balancing has been difficult do to differences in marines and aliens but it's mostly settled now. The aging engine started to make the game look outdated but it's still great fun. I'm sure the developers will be able to port all the greatness of NS to the new engine since NS's allure is in its unique gameplay. I can't wait to get back to NS to kick some alien butt!
This practice puzzle is a typical example of what you might expect to see at the Championship. There are other types of puzzles in the test, so if you don't score well on this don't lose all hope!
The following might sound easy but it's harder than it sounds. The hardest puzzles are always the ones with the fewest rules!
PRACTICE PUZZLE
Join the dots with a line. There are only four rules:
1. Only straight lines are to be used (no curves, bends or corners) 2. These straight lines must start and end at a dot 3. You may only go through a dot one time 4. You may NOT intersect lines 5. You may NOT lift the pen from the paper during the process of solving the puzzle once you have laid it on the paper
Are you ready?
Here's the puzzle:
..
(NOTE: If you run out of ink once you start the puzzle you will be disqualified)
(NOTE 2: this is a 2-dimensional puzzle. Any attempts to solve this puzzle in three-dimensional space will result in disqualification.)
Scoring:
less than 3 minutes - Incredible! We recommend you take part in the competition. May we commend your parent's rearing skills!
3-6 minutes - Pretty good. If your skills in other types of puzzles are at this level or higher, we recommend signing up! You might have been deficient in some nutrients as a child.
6-12 minutes - Decent. If this type of puzzle is not your forté and you are better at others you might still have a chance.
12-20 minutes - Poor. Sorry, but your dot-connecting skills are not up to par with our competition. This is probably because you were dropped on your head as a baby.
Over 20 minutes - Abysmal. Your parents must have a postgraduate degree in any social sciences subject. Thus is life.
Your description of yourself is right on spot: that's what I am, too. And I'm INTP, as well. I'm currently 29 and will go to grad school in the fall. And I sounded a lot like you when I was your age. And what I've heard from friends I've gotten a lot better over time. This is mostly due to input from friends, often highly critical in no uncertain terms ("you soulless fuck") and objective self-evaluation of my strengths and weaknesses.
I know it's hard to change when you think you are The greatest in the world. But when you see and realize YOUR life will be much better when you don't act like an asshole all the time and pick your fights (verbal and physical) you'll become an even better person. I still don't possess "empathy," but I can consciously avoid hurting other people's feelings. This is especially important with point #2 below.
Here's my experiences:
1. Don't let people know how bright you are. No, really. They don't want to hear it for various reasons. It will only alienate/intimidate/annoy them and might actually cost you some very good potential friends.
2. Cherish friendships, girlfriends and other relationships. In the end the world is a very lonely place if you're out there alone with your brightness. Seriously, if you already have good friends, keep in touch with them and TAKE TIME TO ACTUALLY BE A GOOD FRIEND. If not, join a martial arts club, debate team, whatever rocks your boat. There are very good people out there. They are not necessarily as bright as you are but that doesn't mean they will not be valuable, good friends for you.
3. Find something you really, reallllly like and try to turn that into a career. If you pick a major that slightly interests you you will get bored to death real fast. Imagine how it'll be when you graduate and you actually have to earn a living doing that same shit. It doesn't work.
4. Since you've probably picked up your school it might be late, but get to a school that makes you study. That means either a very expensive, top-tier highly competitive private school or a military college. Otherwise you'll end up partying and blowing your parents money off for four years with nothing to show for it. I went to a military college myself and graduated on Dean's List. Now I'm going to a "regular" grad school (although it's the best one in Europe in my discipline) so I'm pretty worried whether I can focus myself with all the girls and booze out there.
5. I don't know if you are on a high horse, but if you are, get off it. No one likes an arrogant prick. People detest arrogant and intelligent pricks even more. Your life will be much more fun, easier and interesting if you treat other people with respect regardless of their mental or physical capabilities. Also refers back to point 2.
I hope that answers some of your questions. Life can be really hard for people like us because there just isn't enough interesting stuff to do and the world is full of stupid people. But I feel the above five points should get you ahead to a good start in an interesting adult life.
In the end, listen to your own feelings. Feelings means how you feel, it's a tough concept (at leat for me), but you'll get better over time. Also, make concious effort to gauge how other people feel about others and especially you. If you hurt your friend's/loved one's/etc. feelings, acknowledge that out loud to them at the spot and apologize or make it up. Most people "out there" care a lot about that kind of crap. About emotions and stuff like that. But when you realize that you have the power to make other people feel as good as you feel about yourself, it will come back to you in a good way, with interest.
Also, observe your own behavior and how you react to different situations or people objectively. This way you can adjust your behavior to within norms if that is necessary. This is to make your life easier and to not make you stand out like a sore thumb from the grey masses. Pick the times when you stand out. And strive to stand out in posit
Some advanced veteran players (ahem) chuckle at questions about 'which rules are the best.' In experienced hands (GM and players alike) it doesn't matter what rules you use as long as you're having fun. Some of the best games I've played had no rules at all. The GM (sometimes me, sometimes a friend) just winged it, threw some dice, etc. As long as the setting and campaign had a compelling premise, you're good.
Of course this calls for a lot of blind reliance on the GM and his abilities to keep the game balanced. So although the free reign games have been some of the most memorable, they also resulted in the juiciest fights:D
Ok, I tested the current version and was extremely impressed. The radio stations are customizable and they will implement unlimited burning in the next version I'm sold.
Only problem is, according to the FAQ the service is only available in the US. I wonder if this will change with the next version, and if not, when will it be available elsewhere?
>...but those first 2 shots of the "arcs" from >his "Tesla coils" look a hell of a lot like the >lightning effect from Photoshop...or the lightning effect from Photoshop looks a hell of a lot like the arcs from a Tesla coil.
This is a good idea which has to be used with caution in real life: it makes people complacent about security. People using this technology will naturally expect to be secure, which is not the case because defeating it is trivial for those in the know.
I'm sure this technology works 99,9% of the time. But the 0,1% of the time when there is someone using a similar device or just circumventing it (for example by using the 3d-classes mentioned in the article) is exactly the worst time for security to fail. Just because your wearing an asbestos suit doesn't mean you should run into a fiery building!
In the end, without proper paranoia and training this technology might make security _worse_ because it gives people a false sense of security, therefore putting sensitive information in the reach of the enemy who might not have access to it if this tech was not used because people would be more careful.
Curiously, the nuts at Muropaketti (a pun for those who know Finnish) noted that the test setup became more stable after the LN2 warmed up a bit. If the picture is related to this, it would mean -192.9 Centigrade as opposed to -196 C.
An indication of how cold it gets in Finland is that these guys are referring to the vat being 192.9 below zero as "not completely frozen.":-)
I'll be modded to oblivion for saying this, but any movie list that puts Star Wars even near such masterpieces as Casablanca, Godfather and Dr. Strangelove is invalid, IMNQSHO.
Although I don't think FotR belongs in the #1 slot (and it'll come down, I'm sure), it does look much more at home with the three movies I mentioned, unlike Star Wars. I haven't experienced such emotional response to a movie since seeing the Green Mile, and I've read the book, twice, so I knew what was coming.
Peter Jackson et al. gave us a masterpiece that is not put to shame when compared to classics. It is always an exhilarating experience to see someone produce a movie with such uncompromising passion and pure fervor in times where bottom line is usually the only thing that matters.
As other posters have pointed out, Sony is in legal squabbles with Aibo hacking sites. A POV that paints a rather disturbing (if one can use such a word in the context of a robot pet dog) picture of Sony's tactics can be found here. After reading the above, I'd like to urge people to sign a petition to send a message to Sony so people could customize their Aibos. (And signing the petition also helps Red Cross, which actually is something that matters.)
Universities already customize their Aibo software to participate in Robot Cup, and I don't see why individual users shouldn't be allowed to do the same. Sony will probably use the same prohibitive pricing as it currently uses with all Aibo software, but it would be a start.
>Second, I'm not convinced that much of the
>laundry list in the second paragraph qualifies
>as "intelligence" instead of merely "appropriate
>algorithms". (Are we going to have to call
>MATLAB an intelligent agent because it's good at
>certain kinds of math problems?)
This reminds me of something I read about AI: us (humans) constantly move the threshold of intelligence according to how far we've gone.
ie. first we had chess-playing AI. When that was done, it was said "this is not AI, but if it can beat a master-level player, then...". It beat the master-level player. "Still not AI, but if it beat the world champion...". It beat the world champion.
As AI nears 'wet' intelligence, the definition of intelligence drifts farther away. I'm wondering if it's too late to realize true intelligence is here when that happens...
How much is that service? ie. if it's less than $150/year (not actually using it, only to sign up and stay on to fill the contract), it would be better to buy it and piggyback on it...
As another poster pointed out, 1800MHz is generally available where 900MHz is. So in effect, the 900/1800 version (sold in Europe and Asia, not in the US) does _not_ work in the US, therefore it is definitely _not_ a worldphone.
OTOH, the 900/1900 version (which is sold in the US only, AFAIK) works in Europe, Asia _and_ the US. Therefore the 900/1900 US version of Treo is a world phone. Only a few people in Europe and Asia with existing 1800MHz-only plans will be affected (ie. they have to change their plan or carrier, not a major issue).
This leads to the conclusion that I want the US version since it works pretty much everywhere (1800 would be a nice addition, but just that). According to the US FAQ I can only buy the US version if I get a friend to send it overseas. Ok, fair enough.
But Treo costs $549 without a service plan, $399 with a service plan. Again, according to FAQ, I can buy the phone in the US online, and then it is up to me to activate the plan. So, I'd like to know if I can buy the "with plan" version for $399, "forget" to activate the plan, ship it to the fatherland and use it happily with my existing SIM-card. This way I would have Treo with worldwide capability for $399 plus shipping. I'd like to know if the $150 difference is via a rebate, or if Handspring trusts its online clients to activate the plan (not likely). Anyone know how they do these things in the US?
I can't believe Handspring Europe doesn't offer the 900/1900 version in Europe (AFAIK). I have to go through all this trouble to get a Treo with worldwide capability. Typical, a company cripples a good product (perfect for me) with crappy distribution (see DVD players).
Of course, if I can get it for $399 from US, it'll be cheaper than what they would sell it over here even if it was available. As most Europeans know, shipping products over the pond raises the price of electronic products 50-100%. Amazing, isn't it?
I guess I'll write a letter to Handspring Europe...
Slashdot Mirror
This is the reason why I read slashdot: totally clueless people getting all high-and-mighty to funny/sarcastic/etc. comments in the most embarrassing way imaginable and outing themselves as having the reading comprehension skills of a pre-schooler.
Is there a downloadable trailer? Can I please be one of the cool guys who's "abuzz" about Black?
I know cheating is something of a sport these days, often performed almost competitively and without second thought to ethics. But when all the highest rated replies to this story are people defending the actions of those students who gained unauthorized access to that information, that's too much.
/. is a reflection of the corrupted morals of western nations (and increasingly elsewhere). For many of you cheating through life is an easy way out and a deliberate choice, but I know I will be a better man if I go through my life honorably.
What these (prospective) students did was wrong. Period. They willingly and knowingly gained unauthorized access to information that was not theirs to access. I generally hate analogies but here goes: if these students found a key to their professor's room and snuck in to check on their exam results, do you think there'd be a furor as to whether they are guilty of cheatin or not?
Now, whether that access gives them an unfair edge like cheating in exams does is irrelevant. Also, whether these students knew they were "hacking" or not is irrelevant. I am positive every single one of them knew of how the status of their application was to be informed to them, and I'm positive that didn't include manipulating the URL or getting instant messages from friends about how to do it. Just the act of getting access to these records is the offense.
The conclusion is that these students deserved the punishment they got. I am also very happy to learn that there are other schools than my alma mater which take honor of their students (and faculty) seriously.
I'm afraid the reaction to this story on
I agree totally. I understand that 99+% of all shots involving actors were done on bluescreen. Only the 2nd unit used real-life backdrops. The actors have complained on several occasions that it's really hard to get into character in front of a bluescreen when you're supposed to be facing the equivalent of Niagara Falls.
Further, as an amateur photographer I was really dismayed by the clutter of the visual landscape. In still photography you (usually) try to eliminate all extraneous elements from the photograph. This is to bring focus to what is important which makes the photo so much stronger. Mr. Lucas seems to have forgotten this tenet altogether and fills his frames with "stuff," making every shot a visual scrapyard or even a busy nightmare at times. He works under the impression that the more details you have, the stronger the physical composition is. Yet another reason why Mr. Lucas shouldn't be sitting on as many chairs on the production as he does.
As you can see on the video, the floor surface was thoroughly stress-tested by a 300-pound hippopotamus on high heels doing the macarena.
Natural Selection is one of the best mods for any game out there. For those unfamiliar with it you play with two teams, aliens and marines (think Aliens the movie). One of the marines plays a commander just like any RTS out there. But instead of computer-controlled drones he commands real players. He can give them orders to build resource towers or group them to attack an alien hive. Of course players can choose to ignore such orders but NS shines in teamplay since the superior aliens will literally shred you to pieces if the marines don't play as a team.
I've played it since 0.9 days and it has gotten really good along the years. Game balancing has been difficult do to differences in marines and aliens but it's mostly settled now. The aging engine started to make the game look outdated but it's still great fun. I'm sure the developers will be able to port all the greatness of NS to the new engine since NS's allure is in its unique gameplay. I can't wait to get back to NS to kick some alien butt!
And we should care, because...?
In case you're sarcasm-detection-deficient, DON'T ANSWER, we don't care about anyone else's little John than our own!
This practice puzzle is a typical example of what you might expect to see at the Championship. There are other types of puzzles in the test, so if you don't score well on this don't lose all hope!
.
The following might sound easy but it's harder than it sounds. The hardest puzzles are always the ones with the fewest rules!
PRACTICE PUZZLE
Join the dots with a line. There are only four rules:
1. Only straight lines are to be used (no curves, bends or corners)
2. These straight lines must start and end at a dot
3. You may only go through a dot one time
4. You may NOT intersect lines
5. You may NOT lift the pen from the paper during the process of solving the puzzle once you have laid it on the paper
Are you ready?
Here's the puzzle:
.
(NOTE: If you run out of ink once you start the puzzle you will be disqualified)
(NOTE 2: this is a 2-dimensional puzzle. Any attempts to solve this puzzle in three-dimensional space will result in disqualification.)
Scoring:
less than 3 minutes - Incredible! We recommend you take part in the competition. May we commend your parent's rearing skills!
3-6 minutes - Pretty good. If your skills in other types of puzzles are at this level or higher, we recommend signing up! You might have been deficient in some nutrients as a child.
6-12 minutes - Decent. If this type of puzzle is not your forté and you are better at others you might still have a chance.
12-20 minutes - Poor. Sorry, but your dot-connecting skills are not up to par with our competition. This is probably because you were dropped on your head as a baby.
Over 20 minutes - Abysmal. Your parents must have a postgraduate degree in any social sciences subject. Thus is life.
Your description of yourself is right on spot: that's what I am, too. And I'm INTP, as well. I'm currently 29 and will go to grad school in the fall. And I sounded a lot like you when I was your age. And what I've heard from friends I've gotten a lot better over time. This is mostly due to input from friends, often highly critical in no uncertain terms ("you soulless fuck") and objective self-evaluation of my strengths and weaknesses.
I know it's hard to change when you think you are The greatest in the world. But when you see and realize YOUR life will be much better when you don't act like an asshole all the time and pick your fights (verbal and physical) you'll become an even better person. I still don't possess "empathy," but I can consciously avoid hurting other people's feelings. This is especially important with point #2 below.
Here's my experiences:
1. Don't let people know how bright you are. No, really. They don't want to hear it for various reasons. It will only alienate/intimidate/annoy them and might actually cost you some very good potential friends.
2. Cherish friendships, girlfriends and other relationships. In the end the world is a very lonely place if you're out there alone with your brightness. Seriously, if you already have good friends, keep in touch with them and TAKE TIME TO ACTUALLY BE A GOOD FRIEND. If not, join a martial arts club, debate team, whatever rocks your boat. There are very good people out there. They are not necessarily as bright as you are but that doesn't mean they will not be valuable, good friends for you.
3. Find something you really, reallllly like and try to turn that into a career. If you pick a major that slightly interests you you will get bored to death real fast. Imagine how it'll be when you graduate and you actually have to earn a living doing that same shit. It doesn't work.
4. Since you've probably picked up your school it might be late, but get to a school that makes you study. That means either a very expensive, top-tier highly competitive private school or a military college. Otherwise you'll end up partying and blowing your parents money off for four years with nothing to show for it. I went to a military college myself and graduated on Dean's List. Now I'm going to a "regular" grad school (although it's the best one in Europe in my discipline) so I'm pretty worried whether I can focus myself with all the girls and booze out there.
5. I don't know if you are on a high horse, but if you are, get off it. No one likes an arrogant prick. People detest arrogant and intelligent pricks even more. Your life will be much more fun, easier and interesting if you treat other people with respect regardless of their mental or physical capabilities. Also refers back to point 2.
I hope that answers some of your questions. Life can be really hard for people like us because there just isn't enough interesting stuff to do and the world is full of stupid people. But I feel the above five points should get you ahead to a good start in an interesting adult life.
In the end, listen to your own feelings. Feelings means how you feel, it's a tough concept (at leat for me), but you'll get better over time. Also, make concious effort to gauge how other people feel about others and especially you. If you hurt your friend's/loved one's/etc. feelings, acknowledge that out loud to them at the spot and apologize or make it up. Most people "out there" care a lot about that kind of crap. About emotions and stuff like that. But when you realize that you have the power to make other people feel as good as you feel about yourself, it will come back to you in a good way, with interest.
Also, observe your own behavior and how you react to different situations or people objectively. This way you can adjust your behavior to within norms if that is necessary. This is to make your life easier and to not make you stand out like a sore thumb from the grey masses. Pick the times when you stand out. And strive to stand out in posit
>Because not all men think with their dicks, and :-)
>ATI knows this?
Riiight, ATI concentrates their marketing on a little-known marketing segment with lots of disposable income: eunuchs.
Some advanced veteran players (ahem) chuckle at questions about 'which rules are the best.' In experienced hands (GM and players alike) it doesn't matter what rules you use as long as you're having fun. Some of the best games I've played had no rules at all. The GM (sometimes me, sometimes a friend) just winged it, threw some dice, etc. As long as the setting and campaign had a compelling premise, you're good.
:D
Of course this calls for a lot of blind reliance on the GM and his abilities to keep the game balanced. So although the free reign games have been some of the most memorable, they also resulted in the juiciest fights
Ok, I tested the current version and was extremely impressed. The radio stations are customizable and they will implement unlimited burning in the next version I'm sold.
Only problem is, according to the FAQ the service is only available in the US. I wonder if this will change with the next version, and if not, when will it be available elsewhere?
>...but those first 2 shots of the "arcs" from ...or the lightning effect from Photoshop looks a hell of a lot like the arcs from a Tesla coil.
>his "Tesla coils" look a hell of a lot like the
>lightning effect from Photoshop
This is a good idea which has to be used with caution in real life: it makes people complacent about security. People using this technology will naturally expect to be secure, which is not the case because defeating it is trivial for those in the know.
I'm sure this technology works 99,9% of the time. But the 0,1% of the time when there is someone using a similar device or just circumventing it (for example by using the 3d-classes mentioned in the article) is exactly the worst time for security to fail. Just because your wearing an asbestos suit doesn't mean you should run into a fiery building!
In the end, without proper paranoia and training this technology might make security _worse_ because it gives people a false sense of security, therefore putting sensitive information in the reach of the enemy who might not have access to it if this tech was not used because people would be more careful.
Curiously, the nuts at Muropaketti (a pun for those who know Finnish) noted that the test setup became more stable after the LN2 warmed up a bit. If the picture is related to this, it would mean -192.9 Centigrade as opposed to -196 C.
:-)
An indication of how cold it gets in Finland is that these guys are referring to the vat being 192.9 below zero as "not completely frozen."
I can understand when /. editors double up on stories from long ago and other editors (!). But this is not exactly the case here.
>Dial-up users beware - this is broadband
>territory!
Broadband is overrated: I get a timeout at exactly 90 seconds using either a 56k at home or T1 at work.
I won't be upgrading to broadband anytime soon!
I've heard of LUGs, and even know a couple, but I've never heard of VanLUGS. Do they have something to do with Volkswagens?
Now, if I could get my hands on hardcopies of these pictures (ie. quality posters) or at least extremely high resolution TIFFs...
Yes, I know they have 400+MB TIFF versions of some of the images available, but those are only of the hemispheres, not the flat projections.
And no, I don't mean the old pictures, I've seen the posters, but these new, higher resolution ones.
I'll be modded to oblivion for saying this, but any movie list that puts Star Wars even near such masterpieces as Casablanca, Godfather and Dr. Strangelove is invalid, IMNQSHO.
Although I don't think FotR belongs in the #1 slot (and it'll come down, I'm sure), it does look much more at home with the three movies I mentioned, unlike Star Wars. I haven't experienced such emotional response to a movie since seeing the Green Mile, and I've read the book, twice, so I knew what was coming.
Peter Jackson et al. gave us a masterpiece that is not put to shame when compared to classics. It is always an exhilarating experience to see someone produce a movie with such uncompromising passion and pure fervor in times where bottom line is usually the only thing that matters.
Produce some content that people actually _want_ to read/watch/listen to. It's easy to blame someone else for one's problems and shortcomings.
So remember, 90% of everything is shit. 99.999% of everything on the web is shit. Beat the odds and people will flock to your site.
As other posters have pointed out, Sony is in legal squabbles with Aibo hacking sites. A POV that paints a rather disturbing (if one can use such a word in the context of a robot pet dog) picture of Sony's tactics can be found here. After reading the above, I'd like to urge people to sign a petition to send a message to Sony so people could customize their Aibos. (And signing the petition also helps Red Cross, which actually is something that matters.)
Universities already customize their Aibo software to participate in Robot Cup, and I don't see why individual users shouldn't be allowed to do the same. Sony will probably use the same prohibitive pricing as it currently uses with all Aibo software, but it would be a start.
>Second, I'm not convinced that much of the
>laundry list in the second paragraph qualifies
>as "intelligence" instead of merely "appropriate
>algorithms". (Are we going to have to call
>MATLAB an intelligent agent because it's good at
>certain kinds of math problems?)
This reminds me of something I read about AI: us (humans) constantly move the threshold of intelligence according to how far we've gone.
ie. first we had chess-playing AI. When that was done, it was said "this is not AI, but if it can beat a master-level player, then...". It beat the master-level player. "Still not AI, but if it beat the world champion...". It beat the world champion.
As AI nears 'wet' intelligence, the definition of intelligence drifts farther away. I'm wondering if it's too late to realize true intelligence is here when that happens...
How much is that service? ie. if it's less than $150/year (not actually using it, only to sign up and stay on to fill the contract), it would be better to buy it and piggyback on it...
As another poster pointed out, 1800MHz is generally available where 900MHz is. So in effect, the 900/1800 version (sold in Europe and Asia, not in the US) does _not_ work in the US, therefore it is definitely _not_ a worldphone.
OTOH, the 900/1900 version (which is sold in the US only, AFAIK) works in Europe, Asia _and_ the US. Therefore the 900/1900 US version of Treo is a world phone. Only a few people in Europe and Asia with existing 1800MHz-only plans will be affected (ie. they have to change their plan or carrier, not a major issue).
This leads to the conclusion that I want the US version since it works pretty much everywhere (1800 would be a nice addition, but just that). According to the US FAQ I can only buy the US version if I get a friend to send it overseas. Ok, fair enough.
But Treo costs $549 without a service plan, $399 with a service plan. Again, according to FAQ, I can buy the phone in the US online, and then it is up to me to activate the plan. So, I'd like to know if I can buy the "with plan" version for $399, "forget" to activate the plan, ship it to the fatherland and use it happily with my existing SIM-card. This way I would have Treo with worldwide capability for $399 plus shipping. I'd like to know if the $150 difference is via a rebate, or if Handspring trusts its online clients to activate the plan (not likely). Anyone know how they do these things in the US?
I can't believe Handspring Europe doesn't offer the 900/1900 version in Europe (AFAIK). I have to go through all this trouble to get a Treo with worldwide capability. Typical, a company cripples a good product (perfect for me) with crappy distribution (see DVD players).
Of course, if I can get it for $399 from US, it'll be cheaper than what they would sell it over here even if it was available. As most Europeans know, shipping products over the pond raises the price of electronic products 50-100%. Amazing, isn't it?
I guess I'll write a letter to Handspring Europe...