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User: Farmer+Pete

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  1. Re:Great! on Microsoft Mulling Smaller Windows 8 Tablets · · Score: 2

    I don't know what Microsoft charges for their Windows 8 RT OS, but I'm guessing it's a large chunk of that $200 price target you think would be compelling. Even if the OS could run on the same hardware as a $200 android tablet, you're price is going to be $250-$300 to account for license costs. Of course, I would be very surprised if Windows 8 RT didn't need substantially more power to operate well.

  2. Re:IMEI on Microsoft Mulling Smaller Windows 8 Tablets · · Score: 1

    Are you sure the carrier won't detect your device's IMEI as a "smartphone" and slam you onto a smartphone plan? Some U.S. GSM carriers have been reported to do that.

    The standard USA Postpaid carriers do that. That's why you go with a prepaid plan. Apart from saving you a bundle of money, prepaid plans have a lot more flexibility in price structure. If you want to use a smartphone for just talking and texting, you don't need to pay for a costly data plan.

  3. Re:Great! on Microsoft Mulling Smaller Windows 8 Tablets · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't know how much you want to spend, but the obvious choice would be going with a Nexus 4. It is a phone, but at $300-$350, it's pretty cheap. Also, you can pop in a pay as you go, talk only SIM card and get real cheap service. Then you can just use the WiFi for data. So you can use it for your phone, but do so without paying the large fees that VZ, ATT, and Sprint charge.

  4. Re:Yes, I'm sure that will do on Microsoft Mulling Smaller Windows 8 Tablets · · Score: 1

    I know right? I'm already saving my monies so I can have enough to buy the smaller tablets when they are released. I was going to hack a Kindle Fire to load Windows 8 RT on it, but then I got bored so I stopped.

  5. Re:Wonderful, but see it for what it is on Solar Impulse Airplane To Launch First Sun-Powered Flight Across America · · Score: 1

    Just wait for their return flight...Oh wait, they go so slow that they couldn't fly it east to west. I can see it now. A flight from Vegas to LA would take 2 months, since they'd have to take the long way around the earth.

  6. Great! on Microsoft Mulling Smaller Windows 8 Tablets · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Finally, I can get a smaller Microsoft tablet. I did think that Microsoft's tablet idea was complete garbage, and I had no intention of buying one ever. Now that they might have a smaller one, I have done a complete flip flop. I think these new smaller tablets could be the best thing ever! I mean, the fact that they still have the application ecosystem problems and that Windows really is a crappy tablet OS no matter what size may still be true. But if I could just get it a little smaller, I'd be SOOO happy!!!!!!!!

    Seriously, Microsoft should just give up. Stop wasting money. If you want to make money, create a tablet to go after the XBOX crowd, since that's the only thing you can do that's remotely right.

  7. Re:BitTorrent on Botnet Uses Default Passwords To Conduct "Internet Census 2012" · · Score: 0

    There is no justice system that has 0% chance of convicting an innocent person. I'd love to see it, but it does not exist. Having said that, I don't want to live in a country that refuses to prosecute the guilty for fear of convicting the innocent. I'm saying that it's wrong to do illegal things, and if something is being used primarily for illegal things, than we have problems. You can argue the merits of the laws all you want, because quite frankly, I don't care. It is illegal today, and bittorrent is being used primarily for illegal things. I am not in favor of the lawsuits and crap from the record companies, but I do think that there needs to be a way to stop the IP theft.

  8. Re:As a tax payer, don't waste my money on Botnet Uses Default Passwords To Conduct "Internet Census 2012" · · Score: 1

    I would say that about 50% of your tax money could be literally burnt in a fire and no one would notice a change in the services provided. Of the remaining 50%, I would guess that half of that is used for programs the government has no business dealing with. So I'd guess that only about 25% of the total you pay in taxes is really necessary. The number would be incredibly less if you aren't considering SS.

  9. Re:BitTorrent on Botnet Uses Default Passwords To Conduct "Internet Census 2012" · · Score: 1

    I agree that it's better to watch 9 guilty men go free than convict one single man who is innocent, but that argument is flawed. Given the opportunity, I would come up with a new system to convict the 9 guilty men and let the one innocent go free. Or in this case, if BitTorrent is 95% used for illegal activity, there is no reason that bittorrent can't be made illegal, as long as a suitable replacement for the 5% legal use of Bittorrent.

  10. Re:Mr President on U.S. Calls On China To End Hacking; Start Cyberspace Dialogue · · Score: 1

    More like they'll find the hackers petabyte pr0n collection.

  11. Re:Biosphere? on Mars One Contracts Paragon To Investigate Life Support Systems · · Score: 1

    They made more than one of those? The first one was so awful. I wanted to gouge my eyes out while I was watching it....Oh wait, you're not talking about the movie with Pauly Shore. Continue on then.

  12. Re:Mr President on U.S. Calls On China To End Hacking; Start Cyberspace Dialogue · · Score: 1

    I propose that we find 200,000 hackers and barricade them inside a giant command center. From there, they will fight our enemies! Of course, the command center would be stocked with a high female-to-male ratio....wait, who am I kidding. More like 199,900 men and 100 women.

  13. Good Luck With That on U.S. Calls On China To End Hacking; Start Cyberspace Dialogue · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hope this ends well, but I have a feeling that either nothing will come out of this, or the Chinese will ramp up efforts since they don't have to worry about hiding their efforts.

  14. Re:don't rule out on Ask Slashdot: Building a Cheap Computing Cluster? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But you're missing the biggest reason to do this...The older hardware is already purchased. New hardware would be an additional expense that requires an approval/budgeting process. Electricity costs lots of money, but depending on the company, that probably isn't directly billed to the responsible department. Again, it's hard to go to your management and say that you want them to spend X thousand dollars so that they will save X thousand dollars that they don't think they need to spend in the first place.

  15. Re:GPUs on Ask Slashdot: Building a Cheap Computing Cluster? · · Score: 1

    That's because it's a hell of a lot faster to use a GPU. The problem is that a decent GPU uses a lot more power than those PSUs can probably support, but even a semi-proficient GPU may be a wise investment.

  16. Re:Well, of course China wants to keep NK as it is on North Korea Kills Phone Line, 1953 Armistice; Kim Jong Un's Funds Found In China · · Score: 1

    That's pretty harsh any way you look at it. I'm all for freedom, but I don't think you can volunteer other people for death like that.

  17. Re:China misrepresented overfishing w/ similar rea on China Using 'State Secrets' Label To Hide Pollution · · Score: 1

    Thanks. I'm sure I was just one of many Slashdot readers who was really interested in manually looking up those references. I mean, reading TFA may not be common on Slashdot, but we all enjoy a good trip to the library to sift through aisle after aisle of dead paper books. I'm on my way there now!

  18. Re:Rule #1 on Ask Slashdot: Dealing With Flagged Channels For XBMC PVR? · · Score: 1

    You must not watch sports...which is fine. But your whole strategy blows up for half the population that sees the primary purpose of a TV being for sports.

    We have an antenna and ESPN 3 for sports. Sure, we don't get every sporting event, but we get enough. Besides, with all of the money I'm saving, I can afford to go to a bar with a friend or three a few times a month.

  19. Re:Very VERY stupid idea... on Dennis Tito's 2018 Mars Mission To Be Manned · · Score: 2

    Did you just say that alcohol was non-essential? What the hell?

  20. Re:I can think of a few rea$on$ on Time Warner Cable: No Consumer Demand For Gigabit Internet · · Score: 1

    People always want faster. Until you can download the 4k HD video in 2 seconds, people will always want it faster.

  21. Re:I can think of a few rea$on$ on Time Warner Cable: No Consumer Demand For Gigabit Internet · · Score: 1

    I'd love to move out of the city. I like the idea of having 10 acres of land. Having outbuildings, raising some livestock (chickens, goats, lambs), and having a nice garden. Having a wooded area that my kids can go build forts in. It all sounds great. Here in mid-michigan, land is cheap. However, after having worked with several people who lived just outside the reach of DSL and Cable, I don't think I'll even consider moving until there is some form of cheap, fast, unlimited broadband available there. My old boss was 200 feet from Comcast, but they couldn't cross the township line. He was 1000 feet from WOW cable, but they wouldn't run the line to him since it wasn't economically feasible for them (1000 feet and it would only reach a max of 3 more houses). He was forced to use a Verizon card, and was paying $80 for 10GB of data a month. He would often hit that just from downloading patches and whatnot for games he played.

  22. Re:I can think of a few rea$on$ on Time Warner Cable: No Consumer Demand For Gigabit Internet · · Score: 1

    Maybe they use lots of text messages to transfer the data on foreign networks. Of course at $24.48 per MB, that is quite the discount from the more typical $1,250 per MB they charge for text messaging in the USA if you don't have a texting plan.

    My favorite was when Verizon charged $0.50 per MB for going over the 5GB limit on a cell card. 5 years ago, we gave all of our sales staff (who worked from home) Verizon cell cards. Some of them had never had a high speed connection at home. A few broke company policy by allowing their families to use the card. As you can imagine, the 5 GB limit was surpassed. The sick thing is, once you hit 5GB, it's really not that hard to rack up another 1-5 GB of traffic in a month. Verizon charged $500 for each extra GB. We had a couple users with $1000 bills from Verizon. It was not pleasant. Luckily, because of our purchasing power with Verizon (we had 250-300 cell cards and at least that many phones as well), we were able to get a lot of the charges dropped.

  23. Re:I can think of a few rea$on$ on Time Warner Cable: No Consumer Demand For Gigabit Internet · · Score: 1

    If you want to get anywhere with the big ISPs, you'll have to threaten to cancel.

  24. Re:I can think of a few rea$on$ on Time Warner Cable: No Consumer Demand For Gigabit Internet · · Score: 1

    I was pretty seriously looking into ISDN, but the #!$( telco charged way too much. I always figured it should be competitively priced with a second phone line and an ISP fees. ATT didn't agree with me.

  25. Re:not like google is doing it either on Time Warner Cable: No Consumer Demand For Gigabit Internet · · Score: 2

    Apple could foot that bill in cash. Their sitting on more dough than Pillsbury. Maybe we should all write a petition to Apple asking them to create a free fiber network for everyone.