Neither the iPad Mini nor the iPad fully function as a mobile phone. You haven't offered an alternative, you've completely ignored a key factor and still not accounted for calligraphy.
The iPhone 5 has a 4" screen, but with weird dimensions of 640x1136. That's pretty narrow, though I'll readily admit I used to read on my iPod Touch with a very small font. Still, I find it an odd design move.
I currently have the Google Galaxy Nexus at 4.65" with the movie friendly 720x1280 that's wider in portrait mode, the way most people would read on a mobile phone. It's not an unwieldy pocket-choking phone, especially when not in a third party protective case.
The S4 at 5" with a true-to-pixel HD 1080x1920 comes next in size. Having played with one, I find it still doesn't feel to unwieldy at only.35" bigger than my Nexus.
Finally for that next step up - and note it is a fully functional mobile phone and not a tablet with Skype to make it a "phone" - is the Samsung Note II. This time with a resistive screen that is better suited for use with a stylus - which comes with it's own spring-loaded dock within the casing of the phone. Now, that does feel big. Kinda like those big wide men's wallets that are meant for big trenchcoat pockets or a briefcase. Also dangerously close to that Nokia N-Gage "side-talking" feeling when used as a phone. No argument there, it's on the big side. But you know what? Those bluetooth earpieces are all over Singapore and I imagine China and Taiwan are no different.
I was struck by this particular bit in the summary:
With the growing problem of gang violence in major U.S. cities...
Wait a sec. Weren't they saying the Crips and Bloods were a growing problem back in the late 80s/early 90s?
Funny how the same record gets played over and over. I'd wager the amount of gang violence has remained about the same, and in relation to a growing population i.e. per capita, has actually shrunk.
Found it while scouring for surge-protected multi-plugs with good reviews. The really good quality multi-plugs were already pretty pricey, so going for the UPS seemed logical. Based on its specs, I'll get about 8 minutes to shutdown my PC safely. Not too shabby for less than £100.
Thanks for that link. Unfortunately it seems the video player is broken. Appears to be some sort of Windows Media plugin that none of my browsers play nice with.
Ask anyone who has watched BBC for the last 10 years, and they'll tell you that BBC News has gone down the toilet of "entertainment as news/news as entertainment" and is pretty much exactly the British equivalent of CNN. The accents don't actually mean it's better.
Al Jazeera is a great choice mostly because it's not a Western viewpoint. Same with Russia Today who will happily poke at topics BBC and CNN dropped very quickly or never discussed at all, and it streams live online 24/7. If it isn't blocked, there is also PressTV which is the Iranian CNN, certain to have a different point of view of the same global topics. All three broadcast in English.
I would love it if China had an English language news channel, just to hear their angle on the same major topics.
Sounds similar to a concept in Iain M. Bank's "Culture" novels where the gigantic AIs have portions of their hardware or "brains" in hyperspace to overcome the limitations of physics. Apparently they were way past the point where an electron travelling at close to the speed of light in a near-perfect conducting medium going from one end of a circuit to another in meatspace was causing a bottleneck!
I'm going to invalidate my mod points but screw it, this is too fascinating to reply to.
What you just described is exactly what Philip K Dick was fascinated by and put into his writing with regards whether or not any of us really know, really know, when we are "sane" and when we are not.
I am OK with this as long as Lucas doesn't write ANY of it. If they could somehow merge the Zahn Trilogy and Dark Horse's first Expanded Universe comic Dark Empire into a credible 9-hour long 3 feature film set, I would be a very happy man.
Glen Cook's The Black Company series from start to finish. He really got his shit together for this series and it all comes through. Also one of the more satisying endings for a saga of this length.
Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos , I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Follow it up with the Ilium/Olympos duology.
It's been a while since I finished it, but I really loved David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series. In short, China wins WW3 and it's nanotech grey-goo, Imperial Cyber-China, Finland's Kalevala myth-cycle and gene-tailored water buffalo shock troops.
Answering to an AC but so very much agreed I had to comment. It really stinks. It just doesn't flow when you say it. It makes you think of food. It just doesn't have a cool "STAND BACK! I'M USING SCIENCE!" name.
I'm assuming it refers to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory?
That's a fair point. My guess is there is already entrenched prejudice against Hinduism (i.e. the wonderful history they have with their neighbour India) and illiteracy takes care of everything else.
Why would a country so paranoid about having bad things said about the Prophet Mohammed only include Jesus Christ on the list as a blasphemy
Ummm...because if they censored the words "Prophet" and/or "Mohammed", that would be censoring a pillar of the Muslim faith? How would the righteous and moral doublegood citizens of Pakistan discuss the most important person in their lives? Or is this a test....?
Jesus is a prophet but not THE Prophet in Islam, so that's OK to make sure the infidels don't get to sell that silly concept outside of their strange cult.
More importantly though, this is actually a good thing. Why? Because we can look to Urdu - the national language of Pakistan - becoming the source of an entirely new and titillating orgy of euphemisms and slang that will defeat this list and that can never adapt effectively to counter it. The authorities have unwittingly introduced chaos and creativity into the very evolution of their national language. In less than a year, I make a gentlemen's bet that there will be their equivalent of the Number 1 Top 40 hit by their equivalent of Justin Bieber or Duffy belting out lyrics about "big tracts of land" and "brown roses with small petals" that will have the older generation pleased at the agricultural bent of the song.....and the young'uns practically creaming themselves in laughter.
It wouldn't hurt to email the makers of the GPU or the promoters of the offer and explain your issue. They may be kind enough to send you the DVD or BRD (sans any packaging, just the disc). Just ask nicely and don't expect too much and you might get sorted.
This. Absolutely this. It's called "Disruptive Technology" for a reason.
I figure robots and AI skilled enough to take-over low-level administration in everything from Accounts & Payable to Legal Services just proves to me that the current model of...um...what do I call it? Skill Topology? Career Pyramid?...is beginning to show it's age. It's obliquely considered in Iain M. Banks "Culture" novels and in Dan Simmons "Ilium" that I am currently reading: They present societies that are post-scarcity and have every imaginable "job" administered by a far superior AI. The "traditional" 9-to-5, expense account, vacation days job for a corp is totally unviable.
On the other hand, this may inspire a second Arts & Crafts Movement which brings back the small business/small skills trade (a good source of employment too). An AI will never replace the concept of another human making that pair of boots, jewelry or that dress for you. Just look at how succesful a company like Shapeways is.
None of this will happen tomorrow though. Unfortunately - or fortunately - I get to see the very early beginnings involving the birth pangs of a new structure of labour. You just know it deep in your heart, this annoys somebody who has something to lose, and they will hamper every step of it to make sure their millions and their mansions are untouched. But that's true of any age. Somebody just has to hoard the cookies and step on others to do it.
Red Letter Media definitely mentioned this in that brilliant cathartic hour of critique. It is the finest motion picture and character evisceration I have ever been privileged to enjoy.
Would you mind expanding on the Tom Clancy reference? Are you saying Tom Clancy's early works were some sort of group effort or had a strong editor to guide him? But when he got famous and got more clout, he started to ignore good advice?
Parasites giving you the ability to hurl objects with your mind
The Force was never really specified and was kept mysterious which I thought was the point, the beauty of Marcia Lucas' woefully unsung influence. It wasn't attached to anything physical, anything ethnic (as in one species better than another) and for me at least tapped into a lot of that Bruce Lee/Alan Watts kung-fu mysticism zeitgeist floating around at the time.
Turning the Force into Pan-Species-AIDS-with-magickal-powers-LOLZ was for me, the worst thing to ever be done to the canon in Phantom Menace. It hamstrung the entire mystic element for the entire series and reduced it to some bland, soulless CDC bollox. For me, there is no stronger evidence that George Lucas did not actually understand what he was "fixing". This was a beautifully done storyteller's gift of defining a critical spiritual story concept just enough so that each audience member could fill in their own blanks. It is quite literally, George using bright red crayon and yellow Stabilo highlighter on the Mona Lisa to "fix" it.
Slashdot Mirror
Neither the iPad Mini nor the iPad fully function as a mobile phone. You haven't offered an alternative, you've completely ignored a key factor and still not accounted for calligraphy.
The iPhone 5 has a 4" screen, but with weird dimensions of 640x1136. That's pretty narrow, though I'll readily admit I used to read on my iPod Touch with a very small font. Still, I find it an odd design move.
.35" bigger than my Nexus.
I currently have the Google Galaxy Nexus at 4.65" with the movie friendly 720x1280 that's wider in portrait mode, the way most people would read on a mobile phone. It's not an unwieldy pocket-choking phone, especially when not in a third party protective case.
The S4 at 5" with a true-to-pixel HD 1080x1920 comes next in size. Having played with one, I find it still doesn't feel to unwieldy at only
Finally for that next step up - and note it is a fully functional mobile phone and not a tablet with Skype to make it a "phone" - is the Samsung Note II. This time with a resistive screen that is better suited for use with a stylus - which comes with it's own spring-loaded dock within the casing of the phone. Now, that does feel big. Kinda like those big wide men's wallets that are meant for big trenchcoat pockets or a briefcase. Also dangerously close to that Nokia N-Gage "side-talking" feeling when used as a phone. No argument there, it's on the big side. But you know what? Those bluetooth earpieces are all over Singapore and I imagine China and Taiwan are no different.
I was struck by this particular bit in the summary:
With the growing problem of gang violence in major U.S. cities...
Wait a sec. Weren't they saying the Crips and Bloods were a growing problem back in the late 80s/early 90s?
Funny how the same record gets played over and over. I'd wager the amount of gang violence has remained about the same, and in relation to a growing population i.e. per capita, has actually shrunk.
Totally off-topic, but I would love to hear your rant on Square Enix. Is it in written form somewhere?
Woops! Got it wrong. Don't know how to edit my old comment. Out of 8 sockets:
Ah right. Well the way this particular model seems to be set up is out of 8 sockets:
Hope that clears things up
I've just bought one of these for personal use in anticipation of my new gaming PC I'm building this weekend: APC Back UPS ES8 Power Saving Outlet 700VA
Found it while scouring for surge-protected multi-plugs with good reviews. The really good quality multi-plugs were already pretty pricey, so going for the UPS seemed logical. Based on its specs, I'll get about 8 minutes to shutdown my PC safely. Not too shabby for less than £100.
Thanks, I've sent along an email.
How about making a new friend who'd be interested in your point of view? Is there a PM in this thing?
Thanks for that link. Unfortunately it seems the video player is broken. Appears to be some sort of Windows Media plugin that none of my browsers play nice with.
Ask anyone who has watched BBC for the last 10 years, and they'll tell you that BBC News has gone down the toilet of "entertainment as news/news as entertainment" and is pretty much exactly the British equivalent of CNN. The accents don't actually mean it's better.
Al Jazeera is a great choice mostly because it's not a Western viewpoint. Same with Russia Today who will happily poke at topics BBC and CNN dropped very quickly or never discussed at all, and it streams live online 24/7.
If it isn't blocked, there is also PressTV which is the Iranian CNN, certain to have a different point of view of the same global topics. All three broadcast in English.
I would love it if China had an English language news channel, just to hear their angle on the same major topics.
Sounds similar to a concept in Iain M. Bank's "Culture" novels where the gigantic AIs have portions of their hardware or "brains" in hyperspace to overcome the limitations of physics. Apparently they were way past the point where an electron travelling at close to the speed of light in a near-perfect conducting medium going from one end of a circuit to another in meatspace was causing a bottleneck!
I had to Google "Hastur", but when I realised who It was; Sir, I applaud your diabolical pranksterism.
I'm going to invalidate my mod points but screw it, this is too fascinating to reply to.
What you just described is exactly what Philip K Dick was fascinated by and put into his writing with regards whether or not any of us really know, really know, when we are "sane" and when we are not.
I am OK with this as long as Lucas doesn't write ANY of it. If they could somehow merge the Zahn Trilogy and Dark Horse's first Expanded Universe comic Dark Empire into a credible 9-hour long 3 feature film set, I would be a very happy man.
But it's not going to happen.
Glen Cook's The Black Company series from start to finish. He really got his shit together for this series and it all comes through. Also one of the more satisying endings for a saga of this length.
Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos , I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Follow it up with the Ilium/Olympos duology.
It's been a while since I finished it, but I really loved David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series. In short, China wins WW3 and it's nanotech grey-goo, Imperial Cyber-China, Finland's Kalevala myth-cycle and gene-tailored water buffalo shock troops.
Answering to an AC but so very much agreed I had to comment. It really stinks. It just doesn't flow when you say it. It makes you think of food. It just doesn't have a cool "STAND BACK! I'M USING SCIENCE!" name.
I'm assuming it refers to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory?
That's a fair point. My guess is there is already entrenched prejudice against Hinduism (i.e. the wonderful history they have with their neighbour India) and illiteracy takes care of everything else.
Why would a country so paranoid about having bad things said about the Prophet Mohammed only include Jesus Christ on the list as a blasphemy
Ummm...because if they censored the words "Prophet" and/or "Mohammed", that would be censoring a pillar of the Muslim faith? How would the righteous and moral doublegood citizens of Pakistan discuss the most important person in their lives? Or is this a test....?
Jesus is a prophet but not THE Prophet in Islam, so that's OK to make sure the infidels don't get to sell that silly concept outside of their strange cult.
More importantly though, this is actually a good thing. Why? Because we can look to Urdu - the national language of Pakistan - becoming the source of an entirely new and titillating orgy of euphemisms and slang that will defeat this list and that can never adapt effectively to counter it. The authorities have unwittingly introduced chaos and creativity into the very evolution of their national language. In less than a year, I make a gentlemen's bet that there will be their equivalent of the Number 1 Top 40 hit by their equivalent of Justin Bieber or Duffy belting out lyrics about "big tracts of land" and "brown roses with small petals" that will have the older generation pleased at the agricultural bent of the song.....and the young'uns practically creaming themselves in laughter.
It wouldn't hurt to email the makers of the GPU or the promoters of the offer and explain your issue. They may be kind enough to send you the DVD or BRD (sans any packaging, just the disc). Just ask nicely and don't expect too much and you might get sorted.
Good luck.
This. Absolutely this. It's called "Disruptive Technology" for a reason.
I figure robots and AI skilled enough to take-over low-level administration in everything from Accounts & Payable to Legal Services just proves to me that the current model of...um...what do I call it? Skill Topology? Career Pyramid?...is beginning to show it's age. It's obliquely considered in Iain M. Banks "Culture" novels and in Dan Simmons "Ilium" that I am currently reading: They present societies that are post-scarcity and have every imaginable "job" administered by a far superior AI. The "traditional" 9-to-5, expense account, vacation days job for a corp is totally unviable.
On the other hand, this may inspire a second Arts & Crafts Movement which brings back the small business/small skills trade (a good source of employment too). An AI will never replace the concept of another human making that pair of boots, jewelry or that dress for you. Just look at how succesful a company like Shapeways is.
None of this will happen tomorrow though. Unfortunately - or fortunately - I get to see the very early beginnings involving the birth pangs of a new structure of labour. You just know it deep in your heart, this annoys somebody who has something to lose, and they will hamper every step of it to make sure their millions and their mansions are untouched. But that's true of any age. Somebody just has to hoard the cookies and step on others to do it.
Agreed. Glen Cook's Black Company series was pleasure to read.
C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy as well for a very clever mix of Fantasy and SF
"Hogel" was the cowardly goblin that betrayed Sarah to the Goblin King (Oh he of the glorious traumatizing tights)
That's a shame. Must have been a chore to force yourself to finish it.
Red Letter Media definitely mentioned this in that brilliant cathartic hour of critique. It is the finest motion picture and character evisceration I have ever been privileged to enjoy.
Would you mind expanding on the Tom Clancy reference? Are you saying Tom Clancy's early works were some sort of group effort or had a strong editor to guide him? But when he got famous and got more clout, he started to ignore good advice?
Parasites giving you the ability to hurl objects with your mind
The Force was never really specified and was kept mysterious which I thought was the point, the beauty of Marcia Lucas' woefully unsung influence. It wasn't attached to anything physical, anything ethnic (as in one species better than another) and for me at least tapped into a lot of that Bruce Lee/Alan Watts kung-fu mysticism zeitgeist floating around at the time.
Turning the Force into Pan-Species-AIDS-with-magickal-powers-LOLZ was for me, the worst thing to ever be done to the canon in Phantom Menace. It hamstrung the entire mystic element for the entire series and reduced it to some bland, soulless CDC bollox. For me, there is no stronger evidence that George Lucas did not actually understand what he was "fixing". This was a beautifully done storyteller's gift of defining a critical spiritual story concept just enough so that each audience member could fill in their own blanks. It is quite literally, George using bright red crayon and yellow Stabilo highlighter on the Mona Lisa to "fix" it.