I guess "quick" is relative, because the Buzz interface continues to remain terrible.
...People actually use Buzz? I'd expect that if more people started using it they would fix it. Right now, Buzz is simply like Facebook only with a tiny amount of people. Why would I use Buzz when I can use Facebook and find people that I know? Buzz isn't a failure in interface, it is simply a useless product that is attempting to compete with Facebook. Chances are, Google knows this and simply is hosting it to keep their shareholders happy.
Exactly. How hard is it to provide decent data, voice and text communications? Stop trying to get phones and integrations and let customers buy their phones at other places and use their service. You know, for all the money Verizon and AT&T have spent in their dueling ad campaign I think they could buy and deploy several towers to actually give their customers decent service.
...Because it is really that hard to simply get it on the phone? While I do think it could use improving, I'm not seeing the real issue. On both my iPod and Android phone I get all of my apps through the device itself. The fact you have to sync music/videos for my iPod is one of my biggest pet peeves. If a device has Wi-Fi or even better cell service, wouldn't it make more sense to get all the applications through that? Its a bit like downloading a.exe on one machine and transferring it over USB to your laptop to run it when that laptop has internet access.
Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving 'beta' product doesn't cut it
You mean like Gmail, Chrome, and a ton of other products that people use while in beta? Android's main strength is that it is open, cutting edge and changeable. A crappy interface or design on Windows Mobile is going to be slow to change, a crappy interface or design in Android is going to be quick to change.
Don't want something -slightly- unstable? Get a BlackBerry and its outdated architecture. Want something that is going to be nearly the same from beginning to end? Get an iPhone, but don't expect stability.
I had a Windows Mobile phone for a bit, it crashed so often I went back to my "dumb" phone before getting an Android handset that rarely crashes.
Android is doing the most things right at the moment. Windows Mobile is screwing customers by not offering software upgrades, Apple is screwing customers by not allowing them to use their apps, BlackBerry simply is a crappy environment to code for, and despite how much Palm wants WebOS to gain marketshare, it simply isn't happening.
Oh and never, ever allow OEMs, carriers or "trusted publishers" to take over app markets, otherwise you screw your customers even more. I don't want my carrier telling me what I can and can't have on my phone, same with OEMs and I don't want a "trusted publisher" removing all competition to their product.
Chiropractic is not quackery. While I -am- skeptical of all the benefits of it, its pretty common knowledge that if your back goes out of alignment it hurts. When a chiropractor puts it back into place, it stops hurting. Correlation does not imply causation, but when it happens to most everyone, I think it is safe to say that it does help alleviate back pain.
Hate speech, by definition is destroying freedom of speech. Also, note that hate speech is different than threats. No one person is targeted if someone said "I hate Mexicans" but if someone said "I'm going to kill Jose because hes a mexican" that is a threat, and Jose should be allowed to sue if the comment was not said in jest and the person had the means to kill him.
Why should we care what opinions people have? And why waste tax dollars on them? Same thing with "hate" crimes. If someone killed someone, thats bad and you charge them for murder, unless it was on accident. Why does it matter that the person killed them because they were of a different race? They are still just as dead. No one is more dead because someone didn't like their race. Are the Jews in the holocaust more dead than someone who died of old age? I think you will find both are equally dead. Similarly, someone has an equally broken arm if someone broke it in dislike of their race, or if they got into a fight.
The problem isn't for the ordinary citizen during peacetime, but rather when the government decides to go to "war" against their private citizens. From the 1990s onwards, the west has been pretty peaceful. But imagine if we get another wave of Cold War era paranoia? Do you -really- want the government tracking everything you do when that happens? National ID cards aren't terrible during peace where nothing is happening, but a few laws passed on the side can allow the government to easily profile a person as an "enemy"
Imagine this scenario. Your country goes to war with say, Japan for no apparent reason. Everything about Japan is frowned upon, those of Japanese decent are rounded up (similar to what happened in the US), and the government requires IDs to be checked when purchasing goods to "make sure you aren't a spy". Well, all that happens and the government is logging data, profiling you. It sees that you bought a book about the culture of Japan at the local bookstore, some sushi with a friend and a collection of Asian flags. From this information the government decides that -you- could possibly be a spy for Japan trying to overthrow your government so you either have A) your reputation ruined or B) go to a secret prison and are never seen again.
Such things seem unrealistic, but similar things have happened in the past even with no national ID and no standard way of checking people. When hysteria grips the masses, people who say they support freedom change their tone.
Safari is just -great- if you are using OS X. If you are using Windows though... You more or less have to install half of OS X before you can get that to run...
Even if Chrome -was- violating your privacy, why switch to IE? Especially when there is Firefox... Myself I don't like using Chrome because it is not customizable the way Firefox is. You can't even change history settings on Chrome!
Actually, if I remember correctly the fact that Playstations can run Linux is so they can be classified as computers and therefore exempt from taxes in some parts or allow for them to be taxed less heavily.
...Because we all know there haven't been any rebellions in the US (there never was a Confederate States of America, right?) and no riots at all, right?
And of course there have been -no- protests at all. Nope.
I've watched a few interviews with people in North Korea, the people there honestly believe that the rest of the world is filled with starvation and that North Korea is the only place with "plenty" (even though many starve) they are told that their leader is a best selling author (I remember on one of the interviews the Korean asked if they had read Kim-Jung-Il's books because they were said that they were worldwide best sellers) and basically told that Korea is the best place on earth. They have complete isolation (embargoed against most western countries, no internet, no outside TV/radio) and honestly believe the propaganda.
But look at -what- the Chinese government are censoring. Terms like the Tienanmen Square massacre where people died, that can certainly spark protests. Religion is censored, and as we know from history even small differences can lead to large problems.
People would and have risked their lives in the name of religion. People have and would risk their lives in support of those who they believe died for a worthy cause.
If it stayed like this, I doubt it would inspire revolutions. But with all of the talk about it, it is going to make people wonder -what- they are censoring. When they figure out what, they won't understand why. When they finally understand why they will see that the Chinese government is corrupt.
Think about it this way, if you don't know about curse words, there is no need to look them up. But how many of us once our parents told us that one word was a "bad word" tried to look it up in the dictionary? None of us would look it up otherwise, but once we know that it is "forbidden" knowledge we will look it up. The Chinese government and Google are effectively telling us that there -are- "curse words" tempting some of the citizens to look it up.
So apparently, whenever the government attempts to impose / imposes absurd levels of control over its citizens its both "stark raving terrified of its citizens" and yet "no longer fears its citizens".
Um, yes, that is basically it. They are terrified with what its citizens can do with the information. They are scared for their political offices, they realize that an enlightened citizen is a citizen who knows to not trust their government. However, they realize that the fever of revolution has long since passed in America. No one wants to take up arms against tyranny because they can easily take up arms against them. They feel safe. On the other hand in China/Australia there isn't a guarantee to bear arms for the average citizen, therefore governments are not trusting of their citizens because if a small number of citizens can get arms they can quickly overpower other citizens and convert them to their ideology.
Basically, in America if you go out to a street and start shooting in all directions, you are going to be shot. Not by the police, but rather by your neighbor. If you do the same thing in China/Australia, they have to rely on the police. And a rogue police force has no checks and balances by the citizens, so if it acts against the government's wishes, the only hope is the military. When you involve the military in politics... well.. you get what happens in South America: the military takes over the government.
I think it is time that Apple has realized that the more they try to censor, the more people are going to move in force to Android. With Android devices on all 4 of the main US networks, Apple is seeing that they will be overcome soon by the wealth of Android devices. While the unity of the iPhone platform will mean that there will be more commercial game development on the iPhone compared to Android, but with everything else Android is going to quickly take marketshare from the iPhone.
Rejecting what can possibly be a better browsing experience is going to be a blow for Apple. Back in 2007 when the iPhone was the only option if you wanted a smartphone, sure, they could afford to reject it. Today in 2010? Apple not only has to compete with BlackBerry but also the new Windows Mobile 7, Android, WebOS, and other smartphone OSes.
Lets see here, 1.1 billion people against a few million in government.
I think this quote from Samuel Johnson basically sums it up
I consider that in no government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. If a sovereign oppresses his people to a great degree, they will rise and cut off his head. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government.
The masses of China are all dirt poor, they don't know what they are missing. Those privileged few with access to the internet either A) Are underground so Western media doesn't know about them B) Realize that under this oppressive system they can enjoy wealth while others starve and so long as its working for them, why change or C) Don't think China is evil. By censoring they start waking up group C, the natural progress of technology is going to soon give -everyone- in China access to the internet. If they keep showing that they censor, people are going to wake up and overthrow the government. It will happen once technology has improved and the quality of living gives the average Chinese citizen internet access and the knowledge that they won't be starving.
How? It is just like if someone gave away popcorn for free and they are now charging them ten cents. They were the producers, they can change the licensing terms. Anyone is free to do what the GPL allows for the GPL'd licensed source but for the non-GPL'd you follow the proprietary license.
...And how often does the average person do that? For me and most people the answer is... never. If I want to share a link, I copy and paste the address into where I want to share it. It takes, what, 2 seconds more? With all the privacy issues (after all the browser is the number one attack point of the average system) I'm not seeing the benefit.
I doubt it will drop fast. Why? Because a lot of people don't like gambling. When you buy -virtual item- you know you are getting -virtual item- that can do -insert description here-. When you gamble, you -might- get more money, chances are you will have 3 minutes of entertainment then the money goes away from you.
Yeah, because we all know that it is that easy....
Look, even people who A) are qualified B) want to work C) will be good at the job. Still can't get hired. Until we get rid of the 2 parties plaguing the US congress and get a halfway decent president, it isn't going to be much better.
As for starting a business? Forget about it. Even -established- businesses have a hard time getting credit, let alone someone starting a business.
Plus, it is a lot easier to get out of bed, stumble over to the desktop and click buttons for an hour than have to shower, put on nice clothes, do your hair, etc and go to work.
...Yeah, and wait for people to find obscure proxies that log information to get around these blocks and you have worse security problems....
Fact is, Facebook, Myspace, etc. are not security risks. On the other hand, obscurefacebookproxy.ru probably is, if an employee or student can get their work done while using Facebook, Myspace, etc. more power to them. If they can't they get fired/flunk out. It is that simple. Try to block the sites that people want and end up with more security flaws as they go to less reputable sites.
Look, no matter how much we want ISPs to stop malware, botnets, etc. when they start doing that, they are going to start becoming more evil (as in giving out IP addresses and subscriber names, etc). Content-agnostic ISPs are -always- going to be better for the internet. Unless, you want throttling and your ISP to check for "pirated" content.
I know! Can you believe that even now you can go into Borders or Barnes and Nobel and -read- an entire book! And guess what? The employees there think its perfectly natural! There was a man there who said he had spent -3- hours just reading a book and drinking coffee! Talk about outrageous!
...Um... In case you haven't realized it by now, the entire point of every home entertainment company is to put what is in theaters in home. For example, look at the Genesis (MegaDrive) VS NES/SNES war, the entire "war" was fought over which system brought the arcade home. Look at HD-TV and home theater systems, ever notice why they are called home theater systems? Because they aim to have the theater in the home.
3D has advanced pretty far. While I haven't seen Avatar yet, I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D and while it was -slightly- gimmicky, it was far better than any other 3D movie I have seen. (the last one I think I saw was when I had to look after a younger relative and saw something with like a volcano girl and like fish man? There was no color and it was hardly 3D). If 3D technology keeps improving, I might just go to the theater more until home systems catch up (which will be a while).
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I guess "quick" is relative, because the Buzz interface continues to remain terrible.
Exactly. How hard is it to provide decent data, voice and text communications? Stop trying to get phones and integrations and let customers buy their phones at other places and use their service. You know, for all the money Verizon and AT&T have spent in their dueling ad campaign I think they could buy and deploy several towers to actually give their customers decent service.
...Because it is really that hard to simply get it on the phone? While I do think it could use improving, I'm not seeing the real issue. On both my iPod and Android phone I get all of my apps through the device itself. The fact you have to sync music/videos for my iPod is one of my biggest pet peeves. If a device has Wi-Fi or even better cell service, wouldn't it make more sense to get all the applications through that? Its a bit like downloading a .exe on one machine and transferring it over USB to your laptop to run it when that laptop has internet access.
Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving 'beta' product doesn't cut it
You mean like Gmail, Chrome, and a ton of other products that people use while in beta? Android's main strength is that it is open, cutting edge and changeable. A crappy interface or design on Windows Mobile is going to be slow to change, a crappy interface or design in Android is going to be quick to change.
Don't want something -slightly- unstable? Get a BlackBerry and its outdated architecture. Want something that is going to be nearly the same from beginning to end? Get an iPhone, but don't expect stability.
I had a Windows Mobile phone for a bit, it crashed so often I went back to my "dumb" phone before getting an Android handset that rarely crashes.
Android is doing the most things right at the moment. Windows Mobile is screwing customers by not offering software upgrades, Apple is screwing customers by not allowing them to use their apps, BlackBerry simply is a crappy environment to code for, and despite how much Palm wants WebOS to gain marketshare, it simply isn't happening.
Oh and never, ever allow OEMs, carriers or "trusted publishers" to take over app markets, otherwise you screw your customers even more. I don't want my carrier telling me what I can and can't have on my phone, same with OEMs and I don't want a "trusted publisher" removing all competition to their product.
Chiropractic is not quackery. While I -am- skeptical of all the benefits of it, its pretty common knowledge that if your back goes out of alignment it hurts. When a chiropractor puts it back into place, it stops hurting. Correlation does not imply causation, but when it happens to most everyone, I think it is safe to say that it does help alleviate back pain.
Hate speech, by definition is destroying freedom of speech. Also, note that hate speech is different than threats. No one person is targeted if someone said "I hate Mexicans" but if someone said "I'm going to kill Jose because hes a mexican" that is a threat, and Jose should be allowed to sue if the comment was not said in jest and the person had the means to kill him.
Why should we care what opinions people have? And why waste tax dollars on them? Same thing with "hate" crimes. If someone killed someone, thats bad and you charge them for murder, unless it was on accident. Why does it matter that the person killed them because they were of a different race? They are still just as dead. No one is more dead because someone didn't like their race. Are the Jews in the holocaust more dead than someone who died of old age? I think you will find both are equally dead. Similarly, someone has an equally broken arm if someone broke it in dislike of their race, or if they got into a fight.
The problem isn't for the ordinary citizen during peacetime, but rather when the government decides to go to "war" against their private citizens. From the 1990s onwards, the west has been pretty peaceful. But imagine if we get another wave of Cold War era paranoia? Do you -really- want the government tracking everything you do when that happens? National ID cards aren't terrible during peace where nothing is happening, but a few laws passed on the side can allow the government to easily profile a person as an "enemy"
Imagine this scenario. Your country goes to war with say, Japan for no apparent reason. Everything about Japan is frowned upon, those of Japanese decent are rounded up (similar to what happened in the US), and the government requires IDs to be checked when purchasing goods to "make sure you aren't a spy". Well, all that happens and the government is logging data, profiling you. It sees that you bought a book about the culture of Japan at the local bookstore, some sushi with a friend and a collection of Asian flags. From this information the government decides that -you- could possibly be a spy for Japan trying to overthrow your government so you either have A) your reputation ruined or B) go to a secret prison and are never seen again.
Such things seem unrealistic, but similar things have happened in the past even with no national ID and no standard way of checking people. When hysteria grips the masses, people who say they support freedom change their tone.
Safari is just -great- if you are using OS X. If you are using Windows though... You more or less have to install half of OS X before you can get that to run...
Even if Chrome -was- violating your privacy, why switch to IE? Especially when there is Firefox... Myself I don't like using Chrome because it is not customizable the way Firefox is. You can't even change history settings on Chrome!
Actually, if I remember correctly the fact that Playstations can run Linux is so they can be classified as computers and therefore exempt from taxes in some parts or allow for them to be taxed less heavily.
...Because we all know there haven't been any rebellions in the US (there never was a Confederate States of America, right?) and no riots at all, right?
And of course there have been -no- protests at all. Nope.
I've watched a few interviews with people in North Korea, the people there honestly believe that the rest of the world is filled with starvation and that North Korea is the only place with "plenty" (even though many starve) they are told that their leader is a best selling author (I remember on one of the interviews the Korean asked if they had read Kim-Jung-Il's books because they were said that they were worldwide best sellers) and basically told that Korea is the best place on earth. They have complete isolation (embargoed against most western countries, no internet, no outside TV/radio) and honestly believe the propaganda.
But look at -what- the Chinese government are censoring. Terms like the Tienanmen Square massacre where people died, that can certainly spark protests. Religion is censored, and as we know from history even small differences can lead to large problems.
People would and have risked their lives in the name of religion. People have and would risk their lives in support of those who they believe died for a worthy cause.
If it stayed like this, I doubt it would inspire revolutions. But with all of the talk about it, it is going to make people wonder -what- they are censoring. When they figure out what, they won't understand why. When they finally understand why they will see that the Chinese government is corrupt.
Think about it this way, if you don't know about curse words, there is no need to look them up. But how many of us once our parents told us that one word was a "bad word" tried to look it up in the dictionary? None of us would look it up otherwise, but once we know that it is "forbidden" knowledge we will look it up. The Chinese government and Google are effectively telling us that there -are- "curse words" tempting some of the citizens to look it up.
So apparently, whenever the government attempts to impose / imposes absurd levels of control over its citizens its both "stark raving terrified of its citizens" and yet "no longer fears its citizens".
Um, yes, that is basically it. They are terrified with what its citizens can do with the information. They are scared for their political offices, they realize that an enlightened citizen is a citizen who knows to not trust their government. However, they realize that the fever of revolution has long since passed in America. No one wants to take up arms against tyranny because they can easily take up arms against them. They feel safe. On the other hand in China/Australia there isn't a guarantee to bear arms for the average citizen, therefore governments are not trusting of their citizens because if a small number of citizens can get arms they can quickly overpower other citizens and convert them to their ideology.
Basically, in America if you go out to a street and start shooting in all directions, you are going to be shot. Not by the police, but rather by your neighbor. If you do the same thing in China/Australia, they have to rely on the police. And a rogue police force has no checks and balances by the citizens, so if it acts against the government's wishes, the only hope is the military. When you involve the military in politics... well.. you get what happens in South America: the military takes over the government.
I think it is time that Apple has realized that the more they try to censor, the more people are going to move in force to Android. With Android devices on all 4 of the main US networks, Apple is seeing that they will be overcome soon by the wealth of Android devices. While the unity of the iPhone platform will mean that there will be more commercial game development on the iPhone compared to Android, but with everything else Android is going to quickly take marketshare from the iPhone.
Rejecting what can possibly be a better browsing experience is going to be a blow for Apple. Back in 2007 when the iPhone was the only option if you wanted a smartphone, sure, they could afford to reject it. Today in 2010? Apple not only has to compete with BlackBerry but also the new Windows Mobile 7, Android, WebOS, and other smartphone OSes.
I think this quote from Samuel Johnson basically sums it up
I consider that in no government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. If a sovereign oppresses his people to a great degree, they will rise and cut off his head. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government.
The masses of China are all dirt poor, they don't know what they are missing. Those privileged few with access to the internet either A) Are underground so Western media doesn't know about them B) Realize that under this oppressive system they can enjoy wealth while others starve and so long as its working for them, why change or C) Don't think China is evil. By censoring they start waking up group C, the natural progress of technology is going to soon give -everyone- in China access to the internet. If they keep showing that they censor, people are going to wake up and overthrow the government. It will happen once technology has improved and the quality of living gives the average Chinese citizen internet access and the knowledge that they won't be starving.
How? It is just like if someone gave away popcorn for free and they are now charging them ten cents. They were the producers, they can change the licensing terms. Anyone is free to do what the GPL allows for the GPL'd licensed source but for the non-GPL'd you follow the proprietary license.
Yeah, but there is a big difference between being spammed via e-mail (which is generally work related) and Facebook which is home related.
Most people don't really care having what would normally be exposed in a conversation when compared to an e-mail address.
...And how often does the average person do that? For me and most people the answer is... never. If I want to share a link, I copy and paste the address into where I want to share it. It takes, what, 2 seconds more? With all the privacy issues (after all the browser is the number one attack point of the average system) I'm not seeing the benefit.
I doubt it will drop fast. Why? Because a lot of people don't like gambling. When you buy -virtual item- you know you are getting -virtual item- that can do -insert description here-. When you gamble, you -might- get more money, chances are you will have 3 minutes of entertainment then the money goes away from you.
Yeah, because we all know that it is that easy....
Look, even people who A) are qualified B) want to work C) will be good at the job. Still can't get hired. Until we get rid of the 2 parties plaguing the US congress and get a halfway decent president, it isn't going to be much better.
As for starting a business? Forget about it. Even -established- businesses have a hard time getting credit, let alone someone starting a business.
Plus, it is a lot easier to get out of bed, stumble over to the desktop and click buttons for an hour than have to shower, put on nice clothes, do your hair, etc and go to work.
...Yeah, and wait for people to find obscure proxies that log information to get around these blocks and you have worse security problems....
Fact is, Facebook, Myspace, etc. are not security risks. On the other hand, obscurefacebookproxy.ru probably is, if an employee or student can get their work done while using Facebook, Myspace, etc. more power to them. If they can't they get fired/flunk out. It is that simple. Try to block the sites that people want and end up with more security flaws as they go to less reputable sites.
(PS. Sonic Wall is overpriced and sucks)
Look, no matter how much we want ISPs to stop malware, botnets, etc. when they start doing that, they are going to start becoming more evil (as in giving out IP addresses and subscriber names, etc). Content-agnostic ISPs are -always- going to be better for the internet. Unless, you want throttling and your ISP to check for "pirated" content.
I know! Can you believe that even now you can go into Borders or Barnes and Nobel and -read- an entire book! And guess what? The employees there think its perfectly natural! There was a man there who said he had spent -3- hours just reading a book and drinking coffee! Talk about outrageous!
...Um... In case you haven't realized it by now, the entire point of every home entertainment company is to put what is in theaters in home. For example, look at the Genesis (MegaDrive) VS NES/SNES war, the entire "war" was fought over which system brought the arcade home. Look at HD-TV and home theater systems, ever notice why they are called home theater systems? Because they aim to have the theater in the home.
3D has advanced pretty far. While I haven't seen Avatar yet, I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D and while it was -slightly- gimmicky, it was far better than any other 3D movie I have seen. (the last one I think I saw was when I had to look after a younger relative and saw something with like a volcano girl and like fish man? There was no color and it was hardly 3D). If 3D technology keeps improving, I might just go to the theater more until home systems catch up (which will be a while).