Correctamundo! I'm not a Vonager yet but soon shall be. One of the first questions my wife had, who happens to work in law enforcement, was what where their provisions for 911. The information on 911 was quite clearly posted under and easy to find link and was well written and easy to follow. My wife is no techie and had no problem understanding it and found their offering to be sufficient.
Hmmmm, so, now we sue for the inability of some jackasses to... READ? I smell scam or possibly scamola! I wonder if this guy knows anyone important who's working for a telco? Just my $0.02
For the love of whatever! Is nothing sacred? I finaly found something, a nice combo of BSD/Linux/OS X over various devices that returned a bit of control to my computing experience. Mind you, I've been into this since the very begining of PC use. And now, some greedy fuck (whom is OS specific none the less) needs to step in and take advantage of one of the most chiken-shit money grabs in the known world, the USPTO. Sigh... Yeh, yeh, prior art, blah blah. There's plenty of flesh-eating lawyers out there for MacFuckify to employ and possibly make this a pain in the ass for some time to come. Goddamn you windoze and all the leaches on your digi-herpies infested ass. If this flys, I'm going ludite right down to the use of an abacus. Fuck it, I'm tired...
Uhhhh, yeh. I like already had myself to all that Mac Mini pr0n, smoked a cig, cleaned up, asked my computer if things were gonna get all wierd now and moved on to the next thing say, two days ago?
Eh, yup! Not that my $0.02 amoounts to $0.02 around here... But said as a fellow mechanic. That being said, whatever happened to the pat on the back and "nice job dude! How'd you accomplish x?", eh? I sometimes see a bit too much of the "yeh, so, BFD. Compared to human genome decoding or solving cold fusion..." What the hell are some of you guys? A bunch of jealous little turds? I can't believe you were taught to be that desparaging. Damn I'm sounding old and grumpy now eh?;-)
Very cool clock. I like Legos. I like clocks. A lot. Therefore, very cool clock.
Even more kewl, this mirrordot.org. I really like their logo "Solving the slashdot effect". I started bitching about this here almost four years ago but I was pennyless and counting my days at the NOC and so was fairly powerless to do anything. But I had a nefarious plan to take over a pair of live but forgotten in the fray, abondoned net 450's and I and my not-so-merry band of fellow screw-ball, late/grave shift sysadmins had set out to do such a thing on the sly only to become some of the 3200 downsized/slain that same weekend. And if it hadn't been for those meddling bean counters and HR-Units we'd have gotten away with it! Curses to you XO! Muwahahaaaaa!
Noooo, nononono. Nothing like that, assure you my obviously pedigreed chum. I just pose here. I hardly ever read that strip, took my chances at making a Dilbert (or is that DeelBurt?) reff for good geek-poser measure and honestly the last time I saw Catburt, or Catbert (or was it a Cat's butt? Dunno, was all strung out on a Perl Drink::Guinness coding binge at the time)spelled out was, eh, many long and hazy weeks ago. I could give a cat's butt! Or a cat's burt. Or bert. That is if in fact cats have burts or berts. Come to think of it Cat=~/whateverthefuck.+/ probably was betterskewld than I as is evident within my prose. But who cares, I'm having a blast, unlike you whom is most likely sitting in his/her parent's basement/garage/what have you and obscessing over the spelling of a cartoon cat's name... Sincerely yours,
A bit off the subject but you mentioning that brings to mind my experiences with my Minidisc and Mac. Not analog but definitely a 1x transfer via optical input. Basically, I cobbled together a good playlist to start and let it run as my soundtrack Du-Jour. After about three hours of that I was left to just picking songs on the fly. In the end I had my 5-hr disc O' tunes and ended up having fun with it. Kinda like when I was a kid putting together mix cassettes. The only tedious part was titling the tracks. I've not found the right wizardry for that yet. Just some freeware app that works over USB. I'll hafta take a look at the source and perhaps get into applescript a bit more. Hmmm...
Anyway, something along the same lines could apply to this bit of XM giz. If it was good enough to save and replay later then why is it not good enough to listen to as you spool it into your 'puter, perhaps whilst screwing around on/. anyway? Sometimes I wonder if we use these devices and the convenience of digital media transfers to just accrue as much shit as we can, wether or not we'll actually use it. Just my $0.02.
First off, all of the services you mentioned DO work under Linux. In fact, Earthlink is just repackaged VZW 1X data services.
VZW/Earthlink: The Audiovox 3220 and 5220, the later being an EVDO (320 Kbps) device, both work well under Linux and OS X (I've used the 3220 my last job working for VZW supplied me on both) and information on how-to is easily found via our pal Google. Tethering (using a data cable or bluetooth to establish a PPP connection, much like a dial-up modem), for the most part, seems to work well on Linux and OS X with most handsets. On LG phones beware the straight USB cable and go for the USB-serial converted type. $20 at Radio Shack or less on line from Futuredial dealers./dev/ttyUSBx is your device. Also set the handset for serial and not USB data. The LX3100 is serial only. Motorola is the exact opposite and uses the acm module. The V710 supposedly tethers fine under bluetooth and can also use the acm module and a cable. Samsung, Sanyo and Audiovox all do acm for the most part unles your handset is beyond two years old. As for support from VZW, they can barely do it right on windbloze. Don't say Linux or Mac OS X in their presence or you may give them fits or get some government agency called upon you under suspicion of terrorist activities. VZW has great coverage and their 1X service feels about as good as 56k dial-up. All-you-can-eat is $80/mo. They have the faster EVDO up in 11 US markets and all international airports and at no additional cost.
T-mobile, my carrier or choice, works as well. YMMV handset to handset but there's TONS of stuff out there on how to tether GSM handsets to most OSes. They offer GPRS service at $20/$30 per mo. unlimited web and mail only/full unblocked usage respectively. It's a bit slower than 1x - feels about like 33.6 dial-up. Honestly, sometimes, it can feel excruciatingly slow. Try killing the connect and redialing. That often cures it. But hey, it's ALL YOU CAN EAT at dial-up prices almost and not $80 a month. I use it with my ibook or pda on the train from San Bernardino area of SoCal to LA on my daily commute and can reliably stream 24k music streams and surf and email just fine. As for tethering, to date I've used an S/E T68i, unlocked S/E 637, Nokia 3650 and now I'm trying a Motorola unlocked V551. I've used them all via bluetooth on both OS X and Linux and a couple of those on windows. Also on Palm and PPC. As for support Tmobile has a fairly knowledgeable group. They seem to work both state-side and off-shore using a tier system. The t1-t2 group seems to be off-shore, are very helpful, still hard to understand at times and the t2's seem very knowledgeable. None of them will ever hesitate to escalate your call. The T3's will basically go to all ends to solve something. I know, I stumped one. I figured it out myself and called him back and gave him my findings. He seemed happy to hear it. Basically, they seem to honestly care about customer service. As for Linux support I think if you push the issue you might get help. Just go in with the ability to help them help you. Make them feel confident that you can translate the Mac and windows way of doing things into what you need. Their coverage isn't as good as VZW but is good enough where I use it. Farthest I've tried it was Cedar City, UT with decent coverage from here to there.
Most important thing to remember. If you're going to get on a contract I strongly suggest that you do all of your research for the how-to's up front. Get the equipment all at once and get it going as fast as you can. The reason I say that is most carriers give you a roughly 15 day try-out before you must commit. Getting it all to work is half the battle. The user experience with the working product and getting comfortable with that is the rest of it. You may also want to consider Cingualr. Good network but they also charge $80/mo. for all-you-can-eat. However, they do support data useage over pre-pay. Only one I know of in the states. It's $0.02/kb though so be careful. A $50 card will be good enough to get
Pal, NOTHING is too absurd for Verizon. I used to work for them and I brought that to a close because I could no longer look customers or the employees I was in charge of straight in the eye and purvey their bullshit.
I hate to sound like a flamer but get this straight. VZW is about one thing and one thing only: $$$ Well, that and don't piss on my turf. I have watched them time and time again waste more money on that last principle. They really have no interest in their customers other than how to get the last few dimes from their pockets and doing anything to give a customer a warm and fuzzy feeling is subvertly unencouraged. I could give many examples I'm just not supposed to speak about right now. As for their competition, well, best not get in the way unless you're headstrong and well funded.
I had to laugh about that one bit in the article wherein Sharron touts the $8.5B spent in infrastrructure in PA. If that were spent in towers alone then it would equate to about 500-700 going up. But then there's plenty more to be spent between towers and the PTSN. Hell, a few MTSOs (Mobile Telephone Switching Offices, the CO's of wireless) would need to go into that and they're a few million apiece. Then there's probably a great deal of that money most likely spent in retail stores, kiosks, affiliates etc. and all of the inventory, training and personel. They call that "support". Once all the nickle and diming is done there was probably more like a couple hundred towers, a MTSO or two, network hubs and then a bunch of retail (advertising too) roll-out and there's your $8.5B. That's my best and educated guess at where the money went. I wouldn't know directly though. I worked in CA and am just using what I'm familiar with as an example. I'm told by my equals back East that it's much the same out there. Infrastructure can be a very flexible word with them.
Okay, time to put down my shit-spoon. People in PA, how great is your network out there? Please let us know. Here in CA we can make calls in the most unlikely of places. That is as long as the crappy phones VZW foists upon the masses are in working order. But also keep in mind that all-you-can-eat data plans are $80/mo for dial-up speed and EVDO if you're one of the lucky 11 markets or live near an international airport (you need a special device for EVDO. Right now, they offer just a PC card at $300 on two year contract and no handsets yet so no tethering your phone as a modem. Gotta have at least a $30/mo contract for that PC card...). I think PA got no EVDO on the last roll-out. N'way, $80/mo is a far cry from the $15-$20 the Muni in Philly was/is looking to offer. I find it truly obscene that VZW is lobbying a bill in hopes of stiffling competition. Screw them! I vote with my wallet and feet. I've used Tmobile all along. Can't make calls from under a rock but it gets the job done for me where I need to use it. I suggest you do the same. Find a carrier that meets your needs where you use it the most. And if you're happy with VZW then so be it. Enjoy.
Swell. We'll soon be inundated by those things here in Southern California. Yup, all in custom colors with 29" aluminum stylized wheels (because 29" is bigger and better than 22"), complete with multi-monitor audio/video spoiled brat back seat package, one spoiled brat in the back seat to make it all carpool lane legal and one ditzy pilot behind the wheel with the cellphone pasted to their fucking ear (ever hear of a handsfree kit or a headset?). (s)He'll be running into/over whatever gets in the way too whenever the freeway speed gets above 3.2 MPH. Oh, and that diesel-electric hybrid powertrain? GONE! Replaced with twin 250hp/1200ft/lbs torque Cummings Tubodiesel power plants at a stately 2 MPG. Other than all that it is a pretty damned cool truck;-)
I miss Frank. I really relate to Frank having most recently worked as a manager of managers in the muck of electronics retail. Except that I was making more "Franks" out of my managers. That most unholy of unholies of retail seasons is just around the corner. I know you will be writting another Frank episode soon, hmm? Perhaps something about Frank stuffing complimentary banannas and oranges down the pants of unruly customers, stapling them to trees and setting the Fruit Fucker 2K upon them? You fine boys will do this for all of the real life Franks in your fan base now won't you? Thanks, I knew you'd be good little customers and see things Frank's way...
Ahhh yes, the FruitFucker 2000... Did you know those cockmongers also market T-shirts and even a little video game of the little robot whom rapes fruit and makes girls drink his juice? They are most truly visionaries. I tip my hat to them with insubstantial exuberance!
Eh, Denny Striegel of Verizon Wireless has a HUGE proverbial dick and he's out to fuck the planet along with anyone gullible enough to work for VZW and that eventually trancends to the customers. Credit where it's due though. His network is an extention of his penis. Someday, VZW will be the largest in the world - perhaps the solar system. Oh, and I also predict that at that time "candy bar" phones will become stylish again and strangely phalic. "Can you feel, er, hear me now? Good!"
That's very nice indeed. However, I'd like to see it have host USB abilities so that one can attach it directly to their digital camera. There seems to be a few different schemes out there for this, one I know of directly is my Olympus simply shows up as a flash drive. I think it would be a nice addition and there's still the Belkin media reader thingie, assuming that is still suported.
Um, what's up with iPhoto integration? I see iTunes 4.7 does the transfer but I'd think that if it were on a Mac vs. PC that iPhoto with an autosync system like iTunes would be the way to go. Perhaps that's coming later.
Finally, it comes with a dock. It can do slideshows. How about throwing in a wireless remote? Just a thought.
I think LG electronics should go back to calling themselves "Lucky Goldstar" And open up some LG stores here in the center of the univer... er, I mean USA. And no, not to be flamish here, I truly want there to be lots of Engrish about the place. I truly love that stuff. Lets one in the US know that perhaps there is another part of the world out there which does well with/without us and who could give a rats ass about the cheeseburger. Well, that and I think those new LG LCDs are too pimp to grace the shelves of Bestbuy and it could generally put a bug up Sony's ass...
Yeh, what's next, thought? Someone, most likely a large record label at the urging of the RIAA will patent... free thought.
"OMG! I just got a subpoena! Seems I'm being sued by the RIAA and BigFatGreedy records for sharing my thoughts with you about that new CD you bought last week! SHIT! BASTARDS"
If I knew I had to show up for a meeting with one of those contraptions I'd appear wearing all my mountain bike gear - clipless pedal shoes, helmet, camelbak, shorts the works. I'd be all hammering away furiously and leaning back trying to pull wheelies and just making it go way too fast for everyone else. I'd be fired for sure!
True dat, tis just a music player. And I own one. The original 5GB in fact. I wanted an HDD based player at the time to replace my dead Creative Nomad. That was probably most of my drive to the iPod, having started out with that POS Nomad. The first Nomad. The non-USB DRM windoze only always hanging Nomad. Sigh... shoulda got the Rio back then.
Oh, anyway, back to the point. I do much driving for my job and so am fairly reliant on audible entertainment. I've had my share of CD changers - done with that. I've had my share of CDs in the car, period. They get thrashed too easily. I bough a cig adaptor and installed a permanent RF modulator so all I have is one cable showing and if I need a charge only then do I use the cig-adapt. And being a Mac user it all works well for me. But my needs are specific.
If someone came to me price concious and interested in a basic digital portable I think I'd steer them towards a nice, inexpensive and non-DRM-ed 512MB or so flash player. Something like the iRiver or one of the many Rio's. I've borrowed a few and they work well and can hold enough tunes for a trip to the gym, an afternoon in the car, doing the yard work, etc. Just about right for the same crowd who used portable CD players all the time and didn't find themselves carting around their entire music collection.
As for me, I'm getting a 4th gen iPod and finally handing down the old 5GB to the wife. She too works on the road quite a bit and although I drug her in kicking and screaming I now have her hooked on digital music. The old 5GB works fine except it's getting a bit crowded. That and the fact that the 4th gen iPods can be conected to certain Alpine head units for an audio path, controll AND remote display. The head unit in my truck is on it's way out and what with me being an old installer and having a buddy who works for Alpine it just seems like the only right thing to do is upgrade that ipod;-)
Point to my diatribe, there's lots of different gizmos out there to suit everyone. I'll swear by my iPod but then I do have the good sense to consider that it may not be for everyone when asked about it. Oh, and as for the Virgin offering (Pun?) screw that thing! Did you see the little boombox tube speakers they have? That's what I want! To hook upto my 'pod;-)
Agreed! The one I've had for about 1.5 years now looks just like the model called Citygear at the link provided. It's been quite handy, comfortable and durable. It even has som weather resistance to it. I'd not intentionaly take it out uncovered and into a downpour with the precious in it but I have been caught in a few rains while on my bike and my lappy and often accompanying O'Reilly bible d'jour were still snug and dry when I arived at point B.
I've toted a 14" Dell and currently a 12" iBook for some time now with it and never damaged one or the other. I tend to be rough on portable goods.
I also do many a bike trip to the "coffee office" as well as many a road trip and that means bringing along all sorts of Giz - the peripherals change along with the excursion. Digital cam, USB cables, cantenna, dongles, patch cable, iPod, charger(s) and perhaps a book or two. It can all be stuffed in there, not put undue presure on the LCD side and even though it can get hefty it wears nice for long periods of time. Mine even has a belt strap and a big n' beefy handle at the top with a good rubber grip. And yes, it's done double-duty as a generic back-pack sans lappy. Best $70 American I've spent in a long while.
1) Well less than 1% and most of that was replacing old favorites from vinyl/cassette/dammaged CDs. The last little handful I ended up buying the CD or deleting what I had because it sucked ass. I used it kind of like preveiwing.
2) I'm probably just getting to 10%. Only been on iTMS for about a bit less than a year and my overall collection is old. For that year I've not seen the inside of a brick n mortar music store. Mostly bought CDs online or tracks from iTMS.
3) well less than one percent. I'm still looking for something I like.
4) 90%. 'Nuff said.
5) Easy. 0%. My friends and I haven't shared musical tastes for about 5 years.
I've said it before and I'll say it again to you Balmer
Eat a dick monkey-boy!
Goddamnit! it must be nice to have enough money to create artificial realities like these M$ ass-clowns do. Then again, maybe not because everyone hates you. Oh, but then why would one in said position care. Hrrrmmm...
IMHO, iTMS/iPod isn't the perfect solution but it is pretty damned good. I think it's much better than anything else I've tried. I think it would be perfect if Apple were to start licensing their codec and DRM more. I say more because of the Motorola thing. We're gonna be stuck with DRM of some sort wether we like it or not. That cat is already out of the bag and far too many of the unwashed, un-teched masses have gotten their hands on it to ever take it back. Say what you will about voting with your feet, but it ain't gonna happen. No one's gonna listen to the prosteletising of the geek on the soap box to throw down your iPods. So yes, the second part of perfection would be loosing the DRM.
Sorry for the rant. Anyway, it works for me. My 'puter count now is two OS X boxen, two Linux boxen (one desktop for dev work and one server. Okay, three, WRT54G with Sveasoft on it...) and unfortunately one windoze box. Heh, my employer... Well, given that mix iTunes works good for me and I'm in process of turning the Linux server into the mega storage RAID beastie. Once I have that rub a little NFS on the entire mess and store music over there.
Now, for those of you who want to yell and say "It needs to be FREE! ALL OPEN! well, not really. There's nothing wrong with making a buck on software/hardware. Apple ain't perfect but they do what they say they're gonna do for the most part. You can read all about it BEFORE you lay down your $$$. As for linux on the desktop, I certainly hope it makes it and stays put. What I've seen over the past ten years has been nothing short of amazing. I've never been an Apple fan pre OS X. Without the BSDs, Linux and all the other great OSS works I'd not have what I do now.
Finally, Gates, Balmer and company it is wrong to make a shitty product, weasel the world into relying on it, abandoning your customers and then ultimately exalting yourself to a force of cultural influence and someone world governments should listen to. Denis Miller had it right when he said Bill Gates was just a monocle and a white cat away from world domination. You, sirs are criminals in every sense of the word. Just where in hell do you get off calling me a thief, you fat, dirty, arrogant, evil POS?
When you ask? WHEN?!? NEVER! That is unless you want to give your firstborn unto the infinitely evil wireless carier who's name should not be uttered *cough* verizon *cough* and agree to be indentured to them for a few hundred dollars a month for a few years.
EVDO won't be the last big speed-hop from them for awhile. I'm pretty certain that within the next ~5 years they'll muscle LG and Moto into making handsets and NICs based on some new tech and declare CDMA 1X/EVDO dead. Then the 1 - 2 years of "conveinient customer upgrades" mayhem will ensue and even newer service plans with more loopholes and pratfalls that the U.S. taxcodes will also ensue. I work for them and have seen it all before.
One thing is for certain. "Cellular" as we know it will go away soon and both voice and all other datas will become one, at least from the technical overview. Actually, that's already happened from the network standpoint in some cases. Look at the VOIP techs used for PTT (annoying walkie-talkie like services like Nextel) by Sprint, VZW and soon Cingular/Tmo. However, as long as a distinction between voice usage and other data services can be made in the Joe Common Customer mind then there will be endless, confusing and overpriced plans to give these things to the customer. Nevermind the little man behind the curtain, just worship and obey the great wizard!
Something else to mention on that note, as sysadminery becomes more advanced (well, when they start to get a clue...) these wireless cariers will be better suited to restricting unpaid services. Gone will be the days of unlimited 1x (and soon EVDO data) on Sprint's network by signing up for a particular plan and purchasing a $20 data cable.
My apology for getting a bit off-topic there but that is my forecast of high-speed wireless data in the U.S. based on current business practices. The wireless cariers have found their new cash cow and it involves we customers chasing a carrot on a stick. It's far too late to vote with our feet IMHO. That is unless Tmobile keeps up their great service. But that's just how I see things.
LOL! Sweet fancy moses! THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout! Where in the hell are my meta-mods when I need 'em. Somebody mark this cat up, please.
K, all kidding aside, someone further up the thread made the point of Smith being great with dialogue. I must agree, he kicks ass there. It's also been said he won't go near SW. All I personaly want to see is someone who can interject some good dialogue into the acting, dialogue that builds a good story. Think old 'Trek vs. New 'Trek. For it's time I think the dialogue caried the show. By todays standards the effects just sucked those things that ought not to be sucked. I think they even sucked back then but we never realized it because we usually had a good story to listen to and let our little brains fill in the rest. That made it fun.
I see the same thing developing here. The money guys are probably just going to dictate some flashy CGI crap to apeal to the ADD in us all with a bunch of name-brand actors standing around spewing superflous dialect to support the pretty, flashy effects.
I'm no rabid fan of SW, I like 4-6 and grew up with it and I just want to see something to give me interest in TV again and to not see it die an early death. Kinda like Firefly was. Damn the big $$$ plan, just give us some good entertainment for once and the ca$h will come around in due time. Hollywood, put it back in your pants please...
Slashdot Mirror
Hmmmm, so, now we sue for the inability of some jackasses to... READ? I smell scam or possibly scamola! I wonder if this guy knows anyone important who's working for a telco? Just my $0.02
For the love of whatever! Is nothing sacred? I finaly found something, a nice combo of BSD/Linux/OS X over various devices that returned a bit of control to my computing experience. Mind you, I've been into this since the very begining of PC use. And now, some greedy fuck (whom is OS specific none the less) needs to step in and take advantage of one of the most chiken-shit money grabs in the known world, the USPTO. Sigh... Yeh, yeh, prior art, blah blah. There's plenty of flesh-eating lawyers out there for MacFuckify to employ and possibly make this a pain in the ass for some time to come. Goddamn you windoze and all the leaches on your digi-herpies infested ass. If this flys, I'm going ludite right down to the use of an abacus. Fuck it, I'm tired...
Uhhhh, yeh. I like already had myself to all that Mac Mini pr0n, smoked a cig, cleaned up, asked my computer if things were gonna get all wierd now and moved on to the next thing say, two days ago?
Eh, yup! Not that my $0.02 amoounts to $0.02 around here... But said as a fellow mechanic. That being said, whatever happened to the pat on the back and "nice job dude! How'd you accomplish x?", eh? I sometimes see a bit too much of the "yeh, so, BFD. Compared to human genome decoding or solving cold fusion..." What the hell are some of you guys? A bunch of jealous little turds? I can't believe you were taught to be that desparaging. Damn I'm sounding old and grumpy now eh? ;-)
Even more kewl, this mirrordot.org. I really like their logo "Solving the slashdot effect". I started bitching about this here almost four years ago but I was pennyless and counting my days at the NOC and so was fairly powerless to do anything. But I had a nefarious plan to take over a pair of live but forgotten in the fray, abondoned net 450's and I and my not-so-merry band of fellow screw-ball, late/grave shift sysadmins had set out to do such a thing on the sly only to become some of the 3200 downsized/slain that same weekend. And if it hadn't been for those meddling bean counters and HR-Units we'd have gotten away with it! Curses to you XO! Muwahahaaaaa!
Noooo, nononono. Nothing like that, assure you my obviously pedigreed chum. I just pose here. I hardly ever read that strip, took my chances at making a Dilbert (or is that DeelBurt?) reff for good geek-poser measure and honestly the last time I saw Catburt, or Catbert (or was it a Cat's butt? Dunno, was all strung out on a Perl Drink::Guinness coding binge at the time)spelled out was, eh, many long and hazy weeks ago. I could give a cat's butt! Or a cat's burt. Or bert. That is if in fact cats have burts or berts. Come to think of it Cat=~/whateverthefuck.+/ probably was betterskewld than I as is evident within my prose. But who cares, I'm having a blast, unlike you whom is most likely sitting in his/her parent's basement/garage/what have you and obscessing over the spelling of a cartoon cat's name... Sincerely yours,
ChuqBurt, er, Bert, er, mystr...
Catburt received his degree? My bad, couldn't resist...
Anyway, something along the same lines could apply to this bit of XM giz. If it was good enough to save and replay later then why is it not good enough to listen to as you spool it into your 'puter, perhaps whilst screwing around on /. anyway? Sometimes I wonder if we use these devices and the convenience of digital media transfers to just accrue as much shit as we can, wether or not we'll actually use it. Just my $0.02.
T-mobile, my carrier or choice, works as well. YMMV handset to handset but there's TONS of stuff out there on how to tether GSM handsets to most OSes. They offer GPRS service at $20/$30 per mo. unlimited web and mail only/full unblocked usage respectively. It's a bit slower than 1x - feels about like 33.6 dial-up. Honestly, sometimes, it can feel excruciatingly slow. Try killing the connect and redialing. That often cures it. But hey, it's ALL YOU CAN EAT at dial-up prices almost and not $80 a month. I use it with my ibook or pda on the train from San Bernardino area of SoCal to LA on my daily commute and can reliably stream 24k music streams and surf and email just fine. As for tethering, to date I've used an S/E T68i, unlocked S/E 637, Nokia 3650 and now I'm trying a Motorola unlocked V551. I've used them all via bluetooth on both OS X and Linux and a couple of those on windows. Also on Palm and PPC. As for support Tmobile has a fairly knowledgeable group. They seem to work both state-side and off-shore using a tier system. The t1-t2 group seems to be off-shore, are very helpful, still hard to understand at times and the t2's seem very knowledgeable. None of them will ever hesitate to escalate your call. The T3's will basically go to all ends to solve something. I know, I stumped one. I figured it out myself and called him back and gave him my findings. He seemed happy to hear it. Basically, they seem to honestly care about customer service. As for Linux support I think if you push the issue you might get help. Just go in with the ability to help them help you. Make them feel confident that you can translate the Mac and windows way of doing things into what you need. Their coverage isn't as good as VZW but is good enough where I use it. Farthest I've tried it was Cedar City, UT with decent coverage from here to there.
Most important thing to remember. If you're going to get on a contract I strongly suggest that you do all of your research for the how-to's up front. Get the equipment all at once and get it going as fast as you can. The reason I say that is most carriers give you a roughly 15 day try-out before you must commit. Getting it all to work is half the battle. The user experience with the working product and getting comfortable with that is the rest of it. You may also want to consider Cingualr. Good network but they also charge $80/mo. for all-you-can-eat. However, they do support data useage over pre-pay. Only one I know of in the states. It's $0.02/kb though so be careful. A $50 card will be good enough to get
I hate to sound like a flamer but get this straight. VZW is about one thing and one thing only: $$$ Well, that and don't piss on my turf. I have watched them time and time again waste more money on that last principle. They really have no interest in their customers other than how to get the last few dimes from their pockets and doing anything to give a customer a warm and fuzzy feeling is subvertly unencouraged. I could give many examples I'm just not supposed to speak about right now. As for their competition, well, best not get in the way unless you're headstrong and well funded.
I had to laugh about that one bit in the article wherein Sharron touts the $8.5B spent in infrastrructure in PA. If that were spent in towers alone then it would equate to about 500-700 going up. But then there's plenty more to be spent between towers and the PTSN. Hell, a few MTSOs (Mobile Telephone Switching Offices, the CO's of wireless) would need to go into that and they're a few million apiece. Then there's probably a great deal of that money most likely spent in retail stores, kiosks, affiliates etc. and all of the inventory, training and personel. They call that "support". Once all the nickle and diming is done there was probably more like a couple hundred towers, a MTSO or two, network hubs and then a bunch of retail (advertising too) roll-out and there's your $8.5B. That's my best and educated guess at where the money went. I wouldn't know directly though. I worked in CA and am just using what I'm familiar with as an example. I'm told by my equals back East that it's much the same out there. Infrastructure can be a very flexible word with them.
Okay, time to put down my shit-spoon. People in PA, how great is your network out there? Please let us know. Here in CA we can make calls in the most unlikely of places. That is as long as the crappy phones VZW foists upon the masses are in working order. But also keep in mind that all-you-can-eat data plans are $80/mo for dial-up speed and EVDO if you're one of the lucky 11 markets or live near an international airport (you need a special device for EVDO. Right now, they offer just a PC card at $300 on two year contract and no handsets yet so no tethering your phone as a modem. Gotta have at least a $30/mo contract for that PC card...). I think PA got no EVDO on the last roll-out. N'way, $80/mo is a far cry from the $15-$20 the Muni in Philly was/is looking to offer. I find it truly obscene that VZW is lobbying a bill in hopes of stiffling competition. Screw them! I vote with my wallet and feet. I've used Tmobile all along. Can't make calls from under a rock but it gets the job done for me where I need to use it. I suggest you do the same. Find a carrier that meets your needs where you use it the most. And if you're happy with VZW then so be it. Enjoy.
Swell. We'll soon be inundated by those things here in Southern California. Yup, all in custom colors with 29" aluminum stylized wheels (because 29" is bigger and better than 22"), complete with multi-monitor audio/video spoiled brat back seat package, one spoiled brat in the back seat to make it all carpool lane legal and one ditzy pilot behind the wheel with the cellphone pasted to their fucking ear (ever hear of a handsfree kit or a headset?). (s)He'll be running into/over whatever gets in the way too whenever the freeway speed gets above 3.2 MPH. Oh, and that diesel-electric hybrid powertrain? GONE! Replaced with twin 250hp/1200ft/lbs torque Cummings Tubodiesel power plants at a stately 2 MPG. Other than all that it is a pretty damned cool truck ;-)
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Ahhh yes, the FruitFucker 2000... Did you know those cockmongers also market T-shirts and even a little video game of the little robot whom rapes fruit and makes girls drink his juice? They are most truly visionaries. I tip my hat to them with insubstantial exuberance!
-A VZW vet.
Um, what's up with iPhoto integration? I see iTunes 4.7 does the transfer but I'd think that if it were on a Mac vs. PC that iPhoto with an autosync system like iTunes would be the way to go. Perhaps that's coming later.
Finally, it comes with a dock. It can do slideshows. How about throwing in a wireless remote? Just a thought.
I think LG electronics should go back to calling themselves "Lucky Goldstar" And open up some LG stores here in the center of the univer... er, I mean USA. And no, not to be flamish here, I truly want there to be lots of Engrish about the place. I truly love that stuff. Lets one in the US know that perhaps there is another part of the world out there which does well with/without us and who could give a rats ass about the cheeseburger. Well, that and I think those new LG LCDs are too pimp to grace the shelves of Bestbuy and it could generally put a bug up Sony's ass...
"OMG! I just got a subpoena! Seems I'm being sued by the RIAA and BigFatGreedy records for sharing my thoughts with you about that new CD you bought last week! SHIT! BASTARDS"
That is unless they blow lots of things up like Adam and Jamie do on Mythbusters.
If I knew I had to show up for a meeting with one of those contraptions I'd appear wearing all my mountain bike gear - clipless pedal shoes, helmet, camelbak, shorts the works. I'd be all hammering away furiously and leaning back trying to pull wheelies and just making it go way too fast for everyone else. I'd be fired for sure!
Oh, anyway, back to the point. I do much driving for my job and so am fairly reliant on audible entertainment. I've had my share of CD changers - done with that. I've had my share of CDs in the car, period. They get thrashed too easily. I bough a cig adaptor and installed a permanent RF modulator so all I have is one cable showing and if I need a charge only then do I use the cig-adapt. And being a Mac user it all works well for me. But my needs are specific.
If someone came to me price concious and interested in a basic digital portable I think I'd steer them towards a nice, inexpensive and non-DRM-ed 512MB or so flash player. Something like the iRiver or one of the many Rio's. I've borrowed a few and they work well and can hold enough tunes for a trip to the gym, an afternoon in the car, doing the yard work, etc. Just about right for the same crowd who used portable CD players all the time and didn't find themselves carting around their entire music collection.
As for me, I'm getting a 4th gen iPod and finally handing down the old 5GB to the wife. She too works on the road quite a bit and although I drug her in kicking and screaming I now have her hooked on digital music. The old 5GB works fine except it's getting a bit crowded. That and the fact that the 4th gen iPods can be conected to certain Alpine head units for an audio path, controll AND remote display. The head unit in my truck is on it's way out and what with me being an old installer and having a buddy who works for Alpine it just seems like the only right thing to do is upgrade that ipod ;-)
Point to my diatribe, there's lots of different gizmos out there to suit everyone. I'll swear by my iPod but then I do have the good sense to consider that it may not be for everyone when asked about it. Oh, and as for the Virgin offering (Pun?) screw that thing! Did you see the little boombox tube speakers they have? That's what I want! To hook upto my 'pod ;-)
I've toted a 14" Dell and currently a 12" iBook for some time now with it and never damaged one or the other. I tend to be rough on portable goods.
I also do many a bike trip to the "coffee office" as well as many a road trip and that means bringing along all sorts of Giz - the peripherals change along with the excursion. Digital cam, USB cables, cantenna, dongles, patch cable, iPod, charger(s) and perhaps a book or two. It can all be stuffed in there, not put undue presure on the LCD side and even though it can get hefty it wears nice for long periods of time. Mine even has a belt strap and a big n' beefy handle at the top with a good rubber grip. And yes, it's done double-duty as a generic back-pack sans lappy. Best $70 American I've spent in a long while.
It's "Pillars of Power" NOT a bed of nails! RTFA! man RTFA!
2) I'm probably just getting to 10%. Only been on iTMS for about a bit less than a year and my overall collection is old. For that year I've not seen the inside of a brick n mortar music store. Mostly bought CDs online or tracks from iTMS.
3) well less than one percent. I'm still looking for something I like.
4) 90%. 'Nuff said.
5) Easy. 0%. My friends and I haven't shared musical tastes for about 5 years.
I've said it before and I'll say it again to you Balmer
Eat a dick monkey-boy!
Goddamnit! it must be nice to have enough money to create artificial realities like these M$ ass-clowns do. Then again, maybe not because everyone hates you. Oh, but then why would one in said position care. Hrrrmmm...
IMHO, iTMS/iPod isn't the perfect solution but it is pretty damned good. I think it's much better than anything else I've tried. I think it would be perfect if Apple were to start licensing their codec and DRM more. I say more because of the Motorola thing. We're gonna be stuck with DRM of some sort wether we like it or not. That cat is already out of the bag and far too many of the unwashed, un-teched masses have gotten their hands on it to ever take it back. Say what you will about voting with your feet, but it ain't gonna happen. No one's gonna listen to the prosteletising of the geek on the soap box to throw down your iPods. So yes, the second part of perfection would be loosing the DRM.
Sorry for the rant. Anyway, it works for me. My 'puter count now is two OS X boxen, two Linux boxen (one desktop for dev work and one server. Okay, three, WRT54G with Sveasoft on it...) and unfortunately one windoze box. Heh, my employer... Well, given that mix iTunes works good for me and I'm in process of turning the Linux server into the mega storage RAID beastie. Once I have that rub a little NFS on the entire mess and store music over there.
Now, for those of you who want to yell and say "It needs to be FREE! ALL OPEN! well, not really. There's nothing wrong with making a buck on software/hardware. Apple ain't perfect but they do what they say they're gonna do for the most part. You can read all about it BEFORE you lay down your $$$. As for linux on the desktop, I certainly hope it makes it and stays put. What I've seen over the past ten years has been nothing short of amazing. I've never been an Apple fan pre OS X. Without the BSDs, Linux and all the other great OSS works I'd not have what I do now.
Finally, Gates, Balmer and company it is wrong to make a shitty product, weasel the world into relying on it, abandoning your customers and then ultimately exalting yourself to a force of cultural influence and someone world governments should listen to. Denis Miller had it right when he said Bill Gates was just a monocle and a white cat away from world domination. You, sirs are criminals in every sense of the word. Just where in hell do you get off calling me a thief, you fat, dirty, arrogant, evil POS?
EVDO won't be the last big speed-hop from them for awhile. I'm pretty certain that within the next ~5 years they'll muscle LG and Moto into making handsets and NICs based on some new tech and declare CDMA 1X/EVDO dead. Then the 1 - 2 years of "conveinient customer upgrades" mayhem will ensue and even newer service plans with more loopholes and pratfalls that the U.S. taxcodes will also ensue. I work for them and have seen it all before.
One thing is for certain. "Cellular" as we know it will go away soon and both voice and all other datas will become one, at least from the technical overview. Actually, that's already happened from the network standpoint in some cases. Look at the VOIP techs used for PTT (annoying walkie-talkie like services like Nextel) by Sprint, VZW and soon Cingular/Tmo. However, as long as a distinction between voice usage and other data services can be made in the Joe Common Customer mind then there will be endless, confusing and overpriced plans to give these things to the customer. Nevermind the little man behind the curtain, just worship and obey the great wizard!
Something else to mention on that note, as sysadminery becomes more advanced (well, when they start to get a clue...) these wireless cariers will be better suited to restricting unpaid services. Gone will be the days of unlimited 1x (and soon EVDO data) on Sprint's network by signing up for a particular plan and purchasing a $20 data cable.
My apology for getting a bit off-topic there but that is my forecast of high-speed wireless data in the U.S. based on current business practices. The wireless cariers have found their new cash cow and it involves we customers chasing a carrot on a stick. It's far too late to vote with our feet IMHO. That is unless Tmobile keeps up their great service. But that's just how I see things.
K, all kidding aside, someone further up the thread made the point of Smith being great with dialogue. I must agree, he kicks ass there. It's also been said he won't go near SW. All I personaly want to see is someone who can interject some good dialogue into the acting, dialogue that builds a good story. Think old 'Trek vs. New 'Trek. For it's time I think the dialogue caried the show. By todays standards the effects just sucked those things that ought not to be sucked. I think they even sucked back then but we never realized it because we usually had a good story to listen to and let our little brains fill in the rest. That made it fun.
I see the same thing developing here. The money guys are probably just going to dictate some flashy CGI crap to apeal to the ADD in us all with a bunch of name-brand actors standing around spewing superflous dialect to support the pretty, flashy effects.
I'm no rabid fan of SW, I like 4-6 and grew up with it and I just want to see something to give me interest in TV again and to not see it die an early death. Kinda like Firefly was. Damn the big $$$ plan, just give us some good entertainment for once and the ca$h will come around in due time. Hollywood, put it back in your pants please...