Even if you dismiss the app store as being completely due to the iphones head start, Androids advantages are all subjective and nearly all are trade offs. Androids interface can be very nice and very configurable but isn't nearly as simple to use for the non technical. With iOS you dont have to depend on the phone manufacturer to feel generous and give updates, unless the hardware simply cannot support the new features with apple you just get them. With an apple device you know exactly what your going to get there is no consistent experience across android every phone manufacturer seems to do just do their own thing. As last week showed the "openness" of the platform makes it a target for malicious apps, I saw a quote last week that sums it up...Apple has a walled garden but its a nice garden with lots of pretty plants and no snakes.
I have a client stuck with IE 6 due to being stuck with a program that wont run on anything newer than windows 2000 and a reluctance of the client to have to buy and learn another system just to be able to upgrade their browser.
No real surprise there, just verification. SCO got itself in a tight spot financially and was looking for a scapegoat, with many SCO contributors moving to linux at the time linux made it convenient to blame, the backing of big companies contributing to Linux made them perfect target to get money. Their entire case was based on the theory that if people who used to work on SCO were now working on Linux then they must copied code...it sounded feasible to them and I assume their hope was that it would be seen feasible enough to slip through without much investigation.
Its mostly open and unlike linux which has even with the best distro has an at least slight learning curve an android phone is pretty much just pick up and go. With the availability of Android phones on carriers from prepay and even free with contract and no vetting system for apps its a very easy and logical target for those wanting to do harm.
Is anyone surprised? Christopher tried his hand at continuing his fathers legacy but despite turning anything written by his father be it incomplete manuscripts or scribbles on a napkin into publishing deals he has shown he is nothing but a pale shadow...milking his fathers legacy is all he has left.
Last time I checked the SciFi channel had been replaced by the Wrasslin, Fortunetelling and wannabe Ghostbusters channel. I cant remember the last time I turned it there, I know it was sometimes shortly after Battlestar Galactica ended.
Sorry didn't mean to imply that they came anywhere close in the 80's and 90's I was trying to state that in the 80's and 90's the difference was so drastic that it wasn't even close, by the time the 2000's rolled around...not so much.
The last time I was in Japan (3 years ago) most of the arcades I went to were full of more gachapon, pachinko and simulators than actual video games, all of which are found in those ticket redemption places like Dave & Busters, Chuck E Cheese, etc which seem at least in my area to be doing fine. I just think that most given the choice of playing say Beatmania at $1-$2 a pop vs Rock Band for free as much as they want will choose Rock Band, the same goes for DDR, most gun games, etc.
And when was the last time you visited one? I have great memories of arcades when I was kid as well I used to go weekly often several times a week, but I can admit I haven't been in one in about 2 years...the last one I went to was a Dave & Busters and it was for a party. As for the sticky floors comment, the few remaining arcades in my area are run down, over priced and poorly maintained, maybe its different somewhere else but from people I have talked to its more then norm than the exception.
No online gaming doesn't recreate the experience but with chat and video becoming more and more common its a common substitute that is far more accessible and convenient for many.
Unfortunately this is inevitable. With the exception of few places like Dave and Busters, amusement park midways and kids places like Chuck E Cheese which are more event and party locations than standalone arcades there just isn't much need for them anymore. In the 80's and 90's arcade machines easily surpassed home video gaming graphically, immersiveness and socially. First graphics were matched if not surpassed, then the social aspects of multiplayer gaming were surpassed with online play and finally the immersiveness was matched with addon peripherals like guitars, guns, dance pad and motion sensing. At this point the only thing traditional arcades can really offer are lines at more popular games, sticky floors, crime and empty pockets. I constantly hear fellow gamers lament the demise of the arcade but truthfully most of them would only frequent one when feeling nostalgic. Its the inevitable evolution of the medium, the same thing is happening with record stores, video stores and I fully expect other staples of society like book stores and casinos to follow eventually. Its sad but if the only time people patronize those types of establishments are when they feel like going "old school" its simply not a sustainable business.
I think your missing the point but actually to get to/. i use a bookmark I created...my own "address book" not googles or yahoo's or msn's. I just dont want to see the internet becoming the internet as filtered and extrapolated by your start page. URL's are technical information only in the sense that your street address is technical information...would it preferable if gps's were programmed to only show directions to places the gps manufacturer wanted you to see and gave priority to places that paid up to get higher ranking? My concern is simply that the continual dumbing down of the internet is causing an unnecessary erosion of net equality that favors nothing but old business models that rightly should be allowed to become obsolete.
Anyone else find this disturbing, while I know there is a push to merge the web with one way media consumption like radio and tv but this is a bit much IMHO. No it wont hurt those that know better and have some tech savvy but for the masses its basically going to cause people to be led around the internet by the nose. I really dont want to see the internet become a corporate main street while the rest of things get relegated to red light districts and dark alleyways.
Maybe I need a foil hat but it just seems like ideas like the push to get a convergence device is more a push to get rid of the riff-raff (aka indie, amateur and non commercial) content on the internet, its as if the major media groups have recognized they are loosing control of their particular money trains and there is collusion between conglomerates of the past and the conglomerates of today to reduce the risk of the web allowing an equal presence.
Last year I actually lost a client for being too security conscious. They were a part-time client and only usually called me when it was an absolute emergency...most of the time when a problem happened they would try and fix it themselves, make it worse then call me. I tried to talk them into letting me come in once a month to patch and update on a scheduled basis. I was told I was trying to fleece them and pad my hours and that they felt they needed to take IT in another direction.
Nearly a year later I am still receiving backup notices, a few,months back I found out accidentally that the root password hadn't changed when I ran a maintenance script that I used to do a resources audit, forgot to change the account info to a different client. I called them right away and instead of "thanks we will take care of it" I was told that I was hacking and that if I didn't stop they would report it to the police. I even tried talking to their new IT guy (one of the owners nephews) but he told me he was not allowed to speak to me and hung up.
I'm actually worried about the former client but am completely at my wits end about what I can do about it and frankly i'm worried that when the inevitable happens the first person they will attempt to blame for any disaster is going to be me. For now all I have been able to do is document my efforts to get them to fix the issue.
The only problem I have had is the damn trackball, with my first curve the ball actually fell out and with my second it just stopped working...overall though the rest of the phone was great..I did notice the new ones ditched the trackball for a joystick so im assuming I wasnt the only one with trackball problems.
Oh please, having a digital device like an ebook reader or ipad is no different than brining a newspaper, magazine or paperback book which has been done far longer than I have even been alive. It is by all means the owners right to ban whatever they want as long as they are willing to accept the consequences of their actions and not whine about it. I have a feeling this has far less to do with "ambience" than it does with not wanting to pay bandwidth bills and not wanting seats occupied for longer periods of time. Im just curious if pushing your business to "order and get out" will actually increase sales...I would bet not.
What I find remarkable is that so many parents got upset its like they picked on and noticed her comment matched their kid. You would would think most parents would just wonder who the heck she was talking about and assume it wasnt their child.
This is the first case like this where I can honestly say I'm on the MPAA's side. Though I have seen some like rapidshare that get used for legitimate purposes, the vast majority exist simply to shuffle around pirated crap. When its a pay for use scheme like this it cant be more blatant, in fact i'd put it on the same level of piracy as running a disk duplication shop. I dont really care what people do on their own time and can even deal with the "information wants to be free" crowd, but it takes alot of nerve to basically put up a warez site and then have a toll gate leading to it.
I actually think it may be safer, they already have reams of documentation detailing procedures and precautions, whoever does get the contracts is going to be insanely aware that the eyes of the world are on them and its pretty much assured that everyone involved will be on their toes.
People around me did...hell if you look in this thread people are still whining about "why not just use a $399 netbook". I think most it stems from the "its just a bit ipod touch" crowd...though anyone who uses a tablet thinks otherwise very quickly.
Really? I find resting a tablet on my lap and navigating with a finger a hell of alot more comfortable than trying to balance a notebook while scrolling a mouse along my pants leg. Its also pretty difficult to find an instant on notebook (ssd comes almost close but those aren't going to be in $399 netbooks). I find myself pulling out my iPad for all sorts of stuff that I would just not bother with if I had to boot up a notebook to do it....things like looking up something on wikipedia or imdb, checking the weather, browsing the news headlines, its really a different type of device, when they mention media consumption they mean it...no one I know that doesn't have a tablet seem to understand until they have one either android or ipad and once they get one none act like they could live without it.
Surely that has to be for some high end iteration of the Xoom, otherwise that thing is doomed. People balked at the iPad's price even with a $499 option, I just cant see this one doing much especially if the 3g activation required part is true. I really dont understand the push for every device to have 3g it almost seems like a conspiracy with the cell phone providers. I have a mifi router with an unlimited play (clear) that is around the same price as the 2gb data plans offered by the major telcos, I have no use for 3g device but it seems thats the only choices I am seeing that are truly capable of competing with the iPad, are they really that delusional to think that the market for non 3g devices dont exist...the last stats I saw showed the wifi versions of the iPad far outselling the 3g ones. I just see trying to force 3g on potential customers as a very stupid move.
The PC manufacturers are paid to include the "bloatware" on their systems, its a rather lucrative way to offset costs. I dont think anyone wants to see the low end of laptops going for $700 again...its those subsidies that make the $300-$400 laptop possible.
Thats not likely to be an issue though, ever see an nfl sideline in direct sunlight? I sure havent, usually with outdoor stadiums the bowl's height is enough to shade the sidelines unless the sun is directly overhead, so the number of games affected would those with outdoor stadiums on sunny days with the 1 o'clock start window on the east coast. As for weather proofing...considering the roughness of the game to start with I would imagine they would be keeping then in something like an otterbox anyway.
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Even if you dismiss the app store as being completely due to the iphones head start, Androids advantages are all subjective and nearly all are trade offs. Androids interface can be very nice and very configurable but isn't nearly as simple to use for the non technical. With iOS you dont have to depend on the phone manufacturer to feel generous and give updates, unless the hardware simply cannot support the new features with apple you just get them. With an apple device you know exactly what your going to get there is no consistent experience across android every phone manufacturer seems to do just do their own thing. As last week showed the "openness" of the platform makes it a target for malicious apps, I saw a quote last week that sums it up...Apple has a walled garden but its a nice garden with lots of pretty plants and no snakes.
I have a client stuck with IE 6 due to being stuck with a program that wont run on anything newer than windows 2000 and a reluctance of the client to have to buy and learn another system just to be able to upgrade their browser.
No real surprise there, just verification. SCO got itself in a tight spot financially and was looking for a scapegoat, with many SCO contributors moving to linux at the time linux made it convenient to blame, the backing of big companies contributing to Linux made them perfect target to get money. Their entire case was based on the theory that if people who used to work on SCO were now working on Linux then they must copied code...it sounded feasible to them and I assume their hope was that it would be seen feasible enough to slip through without much investigation.
Its mostly open and unlike linux which has even with the best distro has an at least slight learning curve an android phone is pretty much just pick up and go. With the availability of Android phones on carriers from prepay and even free with contract and no vetting system for apps its a very easy and logical target for those wanting to do harm.
Is anyone surprised? Christopher tried his hand at continuing his fathers legacy but despite turning anything written by his father be it incomplete manuscripts or scribbles on a napkin into publishing deals he has shown he is nothing but a pale shadow...milking his fathers legacy is all he has left.
Last time I checked the SciFi channel had been replaced by the Wrasslin, Fortunetelling and wannabe Ghostbusters channel. I cant remember the last time I turned it there, I know it was sometimes shortly after Battlestar Galactica ended.
Sorry didn't mean to imply that they came anywhere close in the 80's and 90's I was trying to state that in the 80's and 90's the difference was so drastic that it wasn't even close, by the time the 2000's rolled around...not so much.
The last time I was in Japan (3 years ago) most of the arcades I went to were full of more gachapon, pachinko and simulators than actual video games, all of which are found in those ticket redemption places like Dave & Busters, Chuck E Cheese, etc which seem at least in my area to be doing fine. I just think that most given the choice of playing say Beatmania at $1-$2 a pop vs Rock Band for free as much as they want will choose Rock Band, the same goes for DDR, most gun games, etc.
And when was the last time you visited one? I have great memories of arcades when I was kid as well I used to go weekly often several times a week, but I can admit I haven't been in one in about 2 years...the last one I went to was a Dave & Busters and it was for a party. As for the sticky floors comment, the few remaining arcades in my area are run down, over priced and poorly maintained, maybe its different somewhere else but from people I have talked to its more then norm than the exception.
No online gaming doesn't recreate the experience but with chat and video becoming more and more common its a common substitute that is far more accessible and convenient for many.
Unfortunately this is inevitable. With the exception of few places like Dave and Busters, amusement park midways and kids places like Chuck E Cheese which are more event and party locations than standalone arcades there just isn't much need for them anymore. In the 80's and 90's arcade machines easily surpassed home video gaming graphically, immersiveness and socially. First graphics were matched if not surpassed, then the social aspects of multiplayer gaming were surpassed with online play and finally the immersiveness was matched with addon peripherals like guitars, guns, dance pad and motion sensing. At this point the only thing traditional arcades can really offer are lines at more popular games, sticky floors, crime and empty pockets. I constantly hear fellow gamers lament the demise of the arcade but truthfully most of them would only frequent one when feeling nostalgic. Its the inevitable evolution of the medium, the same thing is happening with record stores, video stores and I fully expect other staples of society like book stores and casinos to follow eventually. Its sad but if the only time people patronize those types of establishments are when they feel like going "old school" its simply not a sustainable business.
I think your missing the point but actually to get to /. i use a bookmark I created...my own "address book" not googles or yahoo's or msn's. I just dont want to see the internet becoming the internet as filtered and extrapolated by your start page. URL's are technical information only in the sense that your street address is technical information...would it preferable if gps's were programmed to only show directions to places the gps manufacturer wanted you to see and gave priority to places that paid up to get higher ranking? My concern is simply that the continual dumbing down of the internet is causing an unnecessary erosion of net equality that favors nothing but old business models that rightly should be allowed to become obsolete.
Anyone else find this disturbing, while I know there is a push to merge the web with one way media consumption like radio and tv but this is a bit much IMHO. No it wont hurt those that know better and have some tech savvy but for the masses its basically going to cause people to be led around the internet by the nose. I really dont want to see the internet become a corporate main street while the rest of things get relegated to red light districts and dark alleyways.
Maybe I need a foil hat but it just seems like ideas like the push to get a convergence device is more a push to get rid of the riff-raff (aka indie, amateur and non commercial) content on the internet, its as if the major media groups have recognized they are loosing control of their particular money trains and there is collusion between conglomerates of the past and the conglomerates of today to reduce the risk of the web allowing an equal presence.
Last year I actually lost a client for being too security conscious. They were a part-time client and only usually called me when it was an absolute emergency...most of the time when a problem happened they would try and fix it themselves, make it worse then call me. I tried to talk them into letting me come in once a month to patch and update on a scheduled basis. I was told I was trying to fleece them and pad my hours and that they felt they needed to take IT in another direction.
Nearly a year later I am still receiving backup notices, a few ,months back I found out accidentally that the root password hadn't changed when I ran a maintenance script that I used to do a resources audit, forgot to change the account info to a different client. I called them right away and instead of "thanks we will take care of it" I was told that I was hacking and that if I didn't stop they would report it to the police. I even tried talking to their new IT guy (one of the owners nephews) but he told me he was not allowed to speak to me and hung up.
I'm actually worried about the former client but am completely at my wits end about what I can do about it and frankly i'm worried that when the inevitable happens the first person they will attempt to blame for any disaster is going to be me. For now all I have been able to do is document my efforts to get them to fix the issue.
Suddenly that 30% bite from apple doesn't sound half bad.
So did he get added to the "no fly" and terrorist watch lists?
The only problem I have had is the damn trackball, with my first curve the ball actually fell out and with my second it just stopped working...overall though the rest of the phone was great..I did notice the new ones ditched the trackball for a joystick so im assuming I wasnt the only one with trackball problems.
Oh please, having a digital device like an ebook reader or ipad is no different than brining a newspaper, magazine or paperback book which has been done far longer than I have even been alive. It is by all means the owners right to ban whatever they want as long as they are willing to accept the consequences of their actions and not whine about it. I have a feeling this has far less to do with "ambience" than it does with not wanting to pay bandwidth bills and not wanting seats occupied for longer periods of time. Im just curious if pushing your business to "order and get out" will actually increase sales...I would bet not.
What I find remarkable is that so many parents got upset its like they picked on and noticed her comment matched their kid. You would would think most parents would just wonder who the heck she was talking about and assume it wasnt their child.
This is the first case like this where I can honestly say I'm on the MPAA's side. Though I have seen some like rapidshare that get used for legitimate purposes, the vast majority exist simply to shuffle around pirated crap. When its a pay for use scheme like this it cant be more blatant, in fact i'd put it on the same level of piracy as running a disk duplication shop. I dont really care what people do on their own time and can even deal with the "information wants to be free" crowd, but it takes alot of nerve to basically put up a warez site and then have a toll gate leading to it.
I actually think it may be safer, they already have reams of documentation detailing procedures and precautions, whoever does get the contracts is going to be insanely aware that the eyes of the world are on them and its pretty much assured that everyone involved will be on their toes.
People around me did...hell if you look in this thread people are still whining about "why not just use a $399 netbook". I think most it stems from the "its just a bit ipod touch" crowd...though anyone who uses a tablet thinks otherwise very quickly.
Really? I find resting a tablet on my lap and navigating with a finger a hell of alot more comfortable than trying to balance a notebook while scrolling a mouse along my pants leg. Its also pretty difficult to find an instant on notebook (ssd comes almost close but those aren't going to be in $399 netbooks). I find myself pulling out my iPad for all sorts of stuff that I would just not bother with if I had to boot up a notebook to do it....things like looking up something on wikipedia or imdb, checking the weather, browsing the news headlines, its really a different type of device, when they mention media consumption they mean it...no one I know that doesn't have a tablet seem to understand until they have one either android or ipad and once they get one none act like they could live without it.
Surely that has to be for some high end iteration of the Xoom, otherwise that thing is doomed. People balked at the iPad's price even with a $499 option, I just cant see this one doing much especially if the 3g activation required part is true. I really dont understand the push for every device to have 3g it almost seems like a conspiracy with the cell phone providers. I have a mifi router with an unlimited play (clear) that is around the same price as the 2gb data plans offered by the major telcos, I have no use for 3g device but it seems thats the only choices I am seeing that are truly capable of competing with the iPad, are they really that delusional to think that the market for non 3g devices dont exist...the last stats I saw showed the wifi versions of the iPad far outselling the 3g ones. I just see trying to force 3g on potential customers as a very stupid move.
The PC manufacturers are paid to include the "bloatware" on their systems, its a rather lucrative way to offset costs. I dont think anyone wants to see the low end of laptops going for $700 again...its those subsidies that make the $300-$400 laptop possible.
Thats not likely to be an issue though, ever see an nfl sideline in direct sunlight? I sure havent, usually with outdoor stadiums the bowl's height is enough to shade the sidelines unless the sun is directly overhead, so the number of games affected would those with outdoor stadiums on sunny days with the 1 o'clock start window on the east coast. As for weather proofing...considering the roughness of the game to start with I would imagine they would be keeping then in something like an otterbox anyway.