Oh, you mean like subscribing to a cable channel like ESPN, then "time-shifting" a favorite program/game using a VCR (remember those)? That meets most of the conditions (channel depth was how much unrecorded tape was left on the cassette).
Interesting that you bring those sounds up. The DEC VT52 video terminal actually made sounds like a teletype when characters were being displayed on the screen. I always assumed the sound effect was to help folks with the transition from the ASR33s and such to the wonderful world of video terminals. Modern computers don't have the ability anymore, sadly enough.
It was never illegal in the USA to carry large sums of money, as far as I know. But there were those who assumed such an action was such a blatant indication of criminal activity that the money could be seized as profits of a criminal enterprise. One problem here is that the authorities definition of "large amounts" overlaps significantly with individuals' definitions of "reasonable amounts."
I've flown (domestic USA) with as much as $7,500 in cash with a perfectly good, legal reason for doing so. I would have been very disturbed to be questioned about it, as such questioning would have been an unwarranted intrusion into my privacy. I can imagine similar circumstances to mine with larger sums.
Sometimes civil liberties have to be publicly exercised in order to keep them healthy and alive. I'm grateful that such an exercise was accomplished, and so publicly.
I believe that most government firearms purchases, including the military's, are done through competitions that include function and price. Apparently there weren't "equally good" "American" guns that would do just fine, at least not when measured against the military's stated specifications in the case of the Beretta M9. Incidentally, the Beretta is made in the United States (Maryland, interestingly enough). So "we" (I assume you are a US citizen) *do* have the manufacturing capability, as well as the design, in "our" hot little hands.
Glocks used as police weapons is a bit different. Glock managed to make the first commercially successful polymer frame handgun. That, coupled with certain functional benefits (the Glock's safety devices) made them stand out from other handguns produced by "American" companies. Several companies, including Springfield, make polymer frame handguns now, but didn't at the time that Glocks become popular as a police weapon. And no company at the time made a weapon that was as functionally effective. To understand the benefits of the Glock safeties, you have to do a bit of shooting and a bit of reading up on the practical issues involved with carrying and handling loaded firearms around civilian populations.
(Disclaimer)I personally have a Glock. I purchased it 17 years or so ago, specifically because of its advantages over contemporary products from other manufacturers.
The United States does have manufacturing capabilities, which are used all the time to produce lots of goods, both "low tech" and "high tech." We (speaking as a US citizen) also have an economic system that searches for efficiency. For now, it is more efficient to import many things from other countries where they are made according to our specifications, probably using equipment we designed. I'm certain that when the cost of doing business that way increases beyond the point where it is cheaper, that more products will be manufactured domestically.
No, you don't have to do much of anything to have someone take out a restraining order against you. They merely have to say that they are afraid of you doing something to them, with some circumstances as to why they have this fear. In a divorce situation, it easy for a woman to get a restraining order against a man. There is some good reason for this, but because its so easy, it can be abused. Absent circumstances like a divorce, it may be more difficult, but I think in many cases a judge will agree to the restraining order "just in case" because who is it harming, after all?
You will spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees defending yourself against accidentally breaking a restraining order. Its not a simple thing.
Of course, this gives someone a lot of power when using such orders "offensively." By this, I mean a protective order obtained where the need does not really exist, but which is used to harrass and restrict the actions of the person against whom the order is taken out. Due to the practice of being overly cautious when granting protective orders, and the practice of considering any violation a violation whether intentional or not, a manipulative person can have a field day with protective orders. Get an order, then trick the other person into being in the same place as you... What the heck, just show up at their place of business. Add in secondary effects, such as a loss of firearms rights, and the malicious use of protective orders gives the user quite a bit of power.
This finding underscores the fact that the organizations that don't really verify identity should bear the pain of their mistakes, not the poor slobs whose name was used by the thieves.
If there was support in the legal system that made the burden of proof be on Big Bucks Bank that Joe Schmoe got a credit card, maxed it out, then refused to pay the bill, I bet a lot of so-called "Identity Theft" would disappear quickly. Its a lot less sexy to say that Big Bucks Bank made a poor credit decision than to say that Joe Schmoe suffered from the "theft" of his identify, but it is a lot more accurate.
A shipping product shouldn't suck right out of the box with a problem that needs a firmware or driver update to fix. Sure, its easy for those who know how to fix these things to fix them, but for one who doesn't, the product is bad.
If the person spends hours and hours and never tries to contact the seller or manufacturer for assistance then proclaims the item junk, I shake my head. The vendor should get an opportunity to make it right before they are condemned, especially since it may very well be pilot error on the part of the buyer.
This is an interesting dispute. (Disclosure - I own an iPod, a couple of Macs, and I use iTunes. I don't use the iTunes Music Store except for finding podcasts. I also use iPhoto, iCal, and Address Book).
The two issues being thrown together are orthogonal to each other. First, did Palm violate the USB standard? Apparently so, as indicated by the keepers of the standard. Second, is Apple doing something illegal or at least "wrong" by blocking other vendors devices from interfacing with iTunes as if they were Apple devices? Perhaps - but this issue should be taken through the proper venue to be resolved. In other words, the ends don't justify the means. Palm attempting to right a perceived "wrong" by clearly violating its agreements isn't right. [And please, please, please, lets leave Rosa Parks, civil rights, etc. out of the discussion. I don't think whether Palm can let the their device pretend to be an Apple device to synch with iTunes is anywhere near the level of moral wrong addressed by a human refusing to be treated as subhuman by other humans.]
There are some arguments in favor of Apple's position... perhaps if they don't defend their exclusive use of the "iPod/iPhone interface" they could lose exclusivity here, and ultimately be forced to support other vendors products, or at the least have their hand tied with respect to the flexibility of changes to their interface? If Palm fails to completely and totally emulate the iPhone/iPod, will Apple suffer harm from consumers calling about the iTunes problem when its really a Palm problem? iTunes doesn't just sync music with the iPod, it syncs movies, podcasts, calendars, contacts, photos, games, and music. Did the Palm support all of those, and if not, was it clear to users that the lack of support was Palm's issue and not Apple's? Doesn't Apple have a right to a competitive advantage that they spent many many $$s creating specifically so that they would sell more of their product?
There is an interesting argument against Apple's position: iPhoto works with a wide variety of cameras, not just one or two brands. Apple works hard to make it as compatible as possible with as many different cameras as possible. Apple doesn't make a camera - would they be so generous with iPhoto if they did? (Yes, you can argue that since iPhoto only comes with iLife, which you pay for, while iTunes can be downloaded free its not the same thing, but I would argue back that iPhoto is almost free since it comes free with any Mac you buy.)
Of course, iTunes does work without an iPod. I used it for several years before I bought an iPod. Other vendors figured out how to interface to iTunes without pretending to be an iPod. SlimDevices made the SlimServer capable of integrating with iTunes but didn't "fake out" iTunes. Why couldn't Palm do something like that? Was violating the USB standard the only way they could interface with iTunes?
In the end, as long as Apple isn't breaking any laws, I think they should be free to do as they choose, whether its creating some sort of cozy relationship between iTunes/iPods/iPhones, or making iTunes/iTunes Music Store open and usable with multiple competing music players. If they pick a bad strategy, they will suffer the consequences. If they pick a good strategy, they will benefit from the consequences. And if Palm thinks Apple has created an illegal tie-in, there are venues within which Palm can air that complaint and see if they can get a legal authority with appropriate jurisdiction to agree with them.
This doesn't address your primary thesis of learning not to ask questions in school, but you may be surprised to learn that my children are being taught specifically that multiplying numbers can be done by adding.
I am *amazed* that you got detention in 1st grade asking about the alphabet, however... wouldn't your parents have had something to say about that?
Since the US government was founded on a principle (among others) that all government was or would become corrupt, its no wonder that the American attitute is different than the European attitude. So far I haven't seen anything to suggest that the principle is wrong.
When I owned a house near Knoxville, TN, I had to pay for subscription fire service from "Rural Metro." It was affordable and gave me enough protection that my home owner's insurance rates were reasonable. I'm fairly certain that Rural Metro was a "for profit" fire department. Yep - here they are http://www.ruralmetro.com/. Paying those fees and a few others were preferable to our subdivision being annexed by Knoxville so that we would receive the "free" services in return for paying Knoxville city taxes.
I'm not so keen on the versions of the public "option" that I've heard offered so far. But maybe if they analyze the real problems with the health care system, and present a prioritized list of issues along with non-bullshit documentation making the case, we might be able to start a debate. And then I would be willing to listen.
You won't get any argument from me regarding seemingly inexplicable design choices by manufacturers. However, I've lived long enough to understand that odd behavior on the part of others (both individuals as well as corporations) can become better understood when you are in their shoes. I'm not defending anyone/anything here, just making that observation.
It is true that nothing "just works" and provides absolutely everything I might want. Like you, I have one music library, but I share it among a much smaller group of devices because of the work and/or expense involved in going further. The SLIMP3 server integrated nicely with my iTunes library back in 2003(?) when I bought it. Prior to that I used a Logitech speaker/subwoofer setup to play my iTunes so that I could hear it outside of the immediate environment of my computer (I still use this set up for outdoor parties, but I drive it with my iPod). My attempts to set up an FM transmitter to broadcast to my stereo were less than satisfactory (poor quality). I've toyed with setting up a home NAS to make sharing things easier, but the commercial solutions don't have enough bang for the buck, and the roll-your-own are too much work for my lazy approach. I've planned out a whole-house audio system architecture, but no manufacturer makes all the pieces I need to build it without too much of my own time getting sunk in a dead-end one-off solution that I built myself, although a couple come close. Same thing goes for achieving a home video library capability similar to what iTunes provides for audio. I may consider giving MythTV a try for a limited High-def DVR capability this winter when I don't have to mow the lawn every week.
There is no problem with my story. It is exactly true; it is not a marketing pitch as I'm not marketing anything - I shared my personal experience.
The iPod Touch does not do everything I *want* it to do; I would prefer to have an iPhone on Verizon if I could have it with 64 GB RAM and an inexpensive data plan, I would like it to have a bigger screen but still be uber-portable (a collapsible tablet?). I mentioned iTunes because the previous commentator implied that iTunes was not useful unless you bought music through the iTunes Music Store, which is not true and not how I've been using it.
My wife bought me my 60GB iPod in 2006 for my birthday; I had not decided to buy one on my own because of the cost involved and because previous iPods didn't have enough storage to hold all of my music. I didn't want FM then, still don't (my radio antenna in my vehicle broken when it hit a tree branch 6 years ago and I haven't missed it enough to fix it). I did want the video functionality (which I have) although it has not been as useful as I had imagined except for watching the Onion News Network and TikiBar TV at times. My wife envisioned me listening to music while on the subway; as it turns out I don't use it there because of its affect on my situational awareness in that environment. Instead, I listen to podcasts while driving in the car to the metro station, and I listen to music while at work without disturbing those around me.
I haven't rushed out and bought a new(er) iPod since then because I haven't finished getting my value from the original one, and new(er) ones haven't had enough added features to make it worthwhile. The 64 GB iPod Touch has a) enough flash-based memory to hold my "stuff" (my 55 GB formatted iPod has only 17 GB free, so even 32 GB doesn't fit my needs), b) it has a larger screen that *might* make watching video more appealing, c) it has a better calendar application that will make using the iPod as a PDA nicer for me, d) it has WiFi web browsing capabilities that I can use when surfing in my living room while watching TV so that I don't have to fire up my old IBM 12" superportable IBM Thinkpad that is really supposed to be the "brains" of my ER1 robot, and e) I think it is still small enough that I will be likely to take it with me when I go places, and might even use it to browse the web in other places if they have WiFi available. Having a camera on it might be cool, but since cameras aren't allowed where I work it might be a hassle, too. Its absence isn't a deal-breaker for me, but might be (understandably) for others. Those are my needs that are met by the iPod. They aren't all of my needs, but nothing in life is perfect.
I'm a bit puzzled why you can't understand that I understand my wants/needs in such a device, and that I made an informed choice based on what was available on the open market, and that my choice was the Apple iPod for the reasons that I listed. I don't throw around $300-$400 on frivolous purchases. My home computer is still a PowerMac G4 that I purchased in the spring of 2002 because its not quite run out of steam yet, although it is challenged by my photo library. I run OS 10.4 on it because 10.5 wasn't a compelling upgrade. When I see enough value in upgrading, I upgrade, but not until then.
I don't used web-based e-mail/calendar/contact services because I don't want my personal life stored permanently on someone elses servers; your choice may be different. I don't use my telephone for contacts and calendar because my cell phone has a lousy contacts/calendar interface and it doesn't sync with my Mac (its a Motorola v60p provided by my company - I don't have a personal cell phone).
Having as many of my needs met as I would like, in the priority that I set on them, would require additional hacking around (maybe not serious hacking like writing Linux device drivers) which I'm not willing to do - I'll do without or wait until someone meets my needs at a cost I'm willing to pay. My hassle-factor limit on my current setup wa
I didn't violate copyright, although I can see that my words were ambiguous enough to imply that. Sorry! My daughter used the song to rehearse at home by herself for the performance. The public performance of the song for the dance recital was paid for by the dance studio.
My main point was just that being an iTunes/iPod user doesn't require one to purchase their music through the iTunes Music Store.
Ring tones are purposefully kept expensive by the secret cabal of old men who hate hearing 30 second extra-loud renditions of heinous noise whenever some feeble-minded proletariat with whom they are forced to keep company is contacted by their friends so that they can chat aimlessly about their meaningless social lives. Now get off my lawn.
I have an iPod because I like to listen to my music at work and in my car. I ripped my CDs to iTunes long before I had an iPod, so that I could listen to them using a SLIMP3 on my living room stereo. I like using my Mac to rip and store my music because its my preferred home computer and it works.
Now that my life has become complicated enough to warrant keeping a personal calendar (two kids in elementary school and with extra-curricular activities that need to be coordinated between my wife and myself, my work/activity schedule, my wife's work/activity schedule) and an Address Book (school and business phone numbers) I have found myself using my (older) iPod for its calendar and contacts information as well as for music (I used it for carrying around photos, too, but thats not a significant use for me).
I'm VERY interested in the higher-capacity iPod Touch so that I can a) still carry around all my music on a flash-based music device, b) access my calendar and contacts information in a more friendly fashion, and c) make use of the WiFi-based Internet access; all from a single device that integrates nicely with the home computer that my wife and I use to organize ourselves.
A reference to iTunes and its inflated prices or reduced selection is a non-sequitur; one need not purchase anything through iTunes in order to use iTunes or the iPod. I have over 4,000 songs (all legally purchased) in my library, and I've only ever purchased one song over iTunes - it was a song my daughter needed for a dance rehersal, and I didn't want to buy a whole album for just the one song for a limited time period.
I spend enough time hacking around with computers at work. When I get home, I want my home computer and associated peripheral devices to just work, with no hassles. Apple provides that experience quite well, and has (relative to other choices) done so for me since 1987 when I purchased a Macintosh Plus for school.
If I were younger and had more free time, I would probably really enjoy creating the same type of environment using free and open source software. I'm busy by choice doing too many other things, however, so I buy consumer products that take care of those things for me.
Wait - I knew someone who really had that phone number! I met her during winter break at college. She gave me her number so that I could call her when school was back in session. Something happened, though, and I could never get a hold of her after that... oh, wait... damn.
NetApp provides a function in the storage servers that they sell whereby significant events such as drive failures as well as general health check information can be sent to NetApp if you choose. The information is sent via e-mail or an HTTP POST (if I recall correctly). If you have support services, they monitor your installation via these messages, and will automatically send out a new drive if you have drive replacement services, for example. They do not have remote command access to your storage server (unless you chose to give them that by making the interface available outside of your firewall).
Wireless long-distance communications (radio, television
The Internet
Each one of these vastly improved our ability to communicate for all purposes. Each of these improvements in communication has led to amazing leaps in technology, culture, etc. due to the improved diffusion of knowledge.
Public education, for example, has been around in various forms for along time. What makes it work so efficiently and effectively is the availability of teachers, themselves educated via books, and the books themselves that contain the knowledge to be taught. Without them, we would have an oral tradition. Even that oral tradition would depend on human language.
I think a strong case can be made that revolutions in communications are the driving force behind every other type of revolutionary change.
Yes, but they wait until Friday night to plan Friday night. My wife and I had some friends (younger) who did the whole "instant communications" last-minute planning thing using cell phones... we almost always had to tell them "sorry, can't make it, we already have plans." We figured out in advance what we were going to do Friday night and were already doing it. The instant communications enables last-minute "planning", but is that really a good thing overall for socialization? (That's a real question from me to whoever, by the way.)
I've never even thought of using Twitter because I'm too busy doing things to be sending little infomercials about what I'm doing. Maybe its because I'm old... but maybe its because I'm old enough to not need the constant hand-holding that some folks seem to need, whether by cell phone or by Twitter.
Are we evolving into a society requiring constant validation of our place in the society? Are we becoming that insecure? Or are we evolving into some kind of geographically-disperse human-herd animal now that we have the enabling technology?
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Oh, you mean like subscribing to a cable channel like ESPN, then "time-shifting" a favorite program/game using a VCR (remember those)? That meets most of the conditions (channel depth was how much unrecorded tape was left on the cassette).
Perhaps more like those people who seem to think they can accurately describe an entire group of people with one label like "Republicans"
Interesting that you bring those sounds up. The DEC VT52 video terminal actually made sounds like a teletype when characters were being displayed on the screen. I always assumed the sound effect was to help folks with the transition from the ASR33s and such to the wonderful world of video terminals. Modern computers don't have the ability anymore, sadly enough.
It was never illegal in the USA to carry large sums of money, as far as I know. But there were those who assumed such an action was such a blatant indication of criminal activity that the money could be seized as profits of a criminal enterprise. One problem here is that the authorities definition of "large amounts" overlaps significantly with individuals' definitions of "reasonable amounts."
I've flown (domestic USA) with as much as $7,500 in cash with a perfectly good, legal reason for doing so. I would have been very disturbed to be questioned about it, as such questioning would have been an unwarranted intrusion into my privacy. I can imagine similar circumstances to mine with larger sums.
Sometimes civil liberties have to be publicly exercised in order to keep them healthy and alive. I'm grateful that such an exercise was accomplished, and so publicly.
I believe that most government firearms purchases, including the military's, are done through competitions that include function and price. Apparently there weren't "equally good" "American" guns that would do just fine, at least not when measured against the military's stated specifications in the case of the Beretta M9. Incidentally, the Beretta is made in the United States (Maryland, interestingly enough). So "we" (I assume you are a US citizen) *do* have the manufacturing capability, as well as the design, in "our" hot little hands.
Glocks used as police weapons is a bit different. Glock managed to make the first commercially successful polymer frame handgun. That, coupled with certain functional benefits (the Glock's safety devices) made them stand out from other handguns produced by "American" companies. Several companies, including Springfield, make polymer frame handguns now, but didn't at the time that Glocks become popular as a police weapon. And no company at the time made a weapon that was as functionally effective. To understand the benefits of the Glock safeties, you have to do a bit of shooting and a bit of reading up on the practical issues involved with carrying and handling loaded firearms around civilian populations.
(Disclaimer)I personally have a Glock. I purchased it 17 years or so ago, specifically because of its advantages over contemporary products from other manufacturers.
The United States does have manufacturing capabilities, which are used all the time to produce lots of goods, both "low tech" and "high tech." We (speaking as a US citizen) also have an economic system that searches for efficiency. For now, it is more efficient to import many things from other countries where they are made according to our specifications, probably using equipment we designed. I'm certain that when the cost of doing business that way increases beyond the point where it is cheaper, that more products will be manufactured domestically.
No, you don't have to do much of anything to have someone take out a restraining order against you. They merely have to say that they are afraid of you doing something to them, with some circumstances as to why they have this fear. In a divorce situation, it easy for a woman to get a restraining order against a man. There is some good reason for this, but because its so easy, it can be abused. Absent circumstances like a divorce, it may be more difficult, but I think in many cases a judge will agree to the restraining order "just in case" because who is it harming, after all?
You will spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees defending yourself against accidentally breaking a restraining order. Its not a simple thing.
Of course, this gives someone a lot of power when using such orders "offensively." By this, I mean a protective order obtained where the need does not really exist, but which is used to harrass and restrict the actions of the person against whom the order is taken out. Due to the practice of being overly cautious when granting protective orders, and the practice of considering any violation a violation whether intentional or not, a manipulative person can have a field day with protective orders. Get an order, then trick the other person into being in the same place as you... What the heck, just show up at their place of business. Add in secondary effects, such as a loss of firearms rights, and the malicious use of protective orders gives the user quite a bit of power.
This finding underscores the fact that the organizations that don't really verify identity should bear the pain of their mistakes, not the poor slobs whose name was used by the thieves.
If there was support in the legal system that made the burden of proof be on Big Bucks Bank that Joe Schmoe got a credit card, maxed it out, then refused to pay the bill, I bet a lot of so-called "Identity Theft" would disappear quickly. Its a lot less sexy to say that Big Bucks Bank made a poor credit decision than to say that Joe Schmoe suffered from the "theft" of his identify, but it is a lot more accurate.
A shipping product shouldn't suck right out of the box with a problem that needs a firmware or driver update to fix. Sure, its easy for those who know how to fix these things to fix them, but for one who doesn't, the product is bad.
If the person spends hours and hours and never tries to contact the seller or manufacturer for assistance then proclaims the item junk, I shake my head. The vendor should get an opportunity to make it right before they are condemned, especially since it may very well be pilot error on the part of the buyer.
This is an interesting dispute. (Disclosure - I own an iPod, a couple of Macs, and I use iTunes. I don't use the iTunes Music Store except for finding podcasts. I also use iPhoto, iCal, and Address Book).
The two issues being thrown together are orthogonal to each other. First, did Palm violate the USB standard? Apparently so, as indicated by the keepers of the standard. Second, is Apple doing something illegal or at least "wrong" by blocking other vendors devices from interfacing with iTunes as if they were Apple devices? Perhaps - but this issue should be taken through the proper venue to be resolved. In other words, the ends don't justify the means. Palm attempting to right a perceived "wrong" by clearly violating its agreements isn't right. [And please, please, please, lets leave Rosa Parks, civil rights, etc. out of the discussion. I don't think whether Palm can let the their device pretend to be an Apple device to synch with iTunes is anywhere near the level of moral wrong addressed by a human refusing to be treated as subhuman by other humans.]
There are some arguments in favor of Apple's position... perhaps if they don't defend their exclusive use of the "iPod/iPhone interface" they could lose exclusivity here, and ultimately be forced to support other vendors products, or at the least have their hand tied with respect to the flexibility of changes to their interface? If Palm fails to completely and totally emulate the iPhone/iPod, will Apple suffer harm from consumers calling about the iTunes problem when its really a Palm problem? iTunes doesn't just sync music with the iPod, it syncs movies, podcasts, calendars, contacts, photos, games, and music. Did the Palm support all of those, and if not, was it clear to users that the lack of support was Palm's issue and not Apple's? Doesn't Apple have a right to a competitive advantage that they spent many many $$s creating specifically so that they would sell more of their product?
There is an interesting argument against Apple's position: iPhoto works with a wide variety of cameras, not just one or two brands. Apple works hard to make it as compatible as possible with as many different cameras as possible. Apple doesn't make a camera - would they be so generous with iPhoto if they did? (Yes, you can argue that since iPhoto only comes with iLife, which you pay for, while iTunes can be downloaded free its not the same thing, but I would argue back that iPhoto is almost free since it comes free with any Mac you buy.)
Of course, iTunes does work without an iPod. I used it for several years before I bought an iPod. Other vendors figured out how to interface to iTunes without pretending to be an iPod. SlimDevices made the SlimServer capable of integrating with iTunes but didn't "fake out" iTunes. Why couldn't Palm do something like that? Was violating the USB standard the only way they could interface with iTunes?
In the end, as long as Apple isn't breaking any laws, I think they should be free to do as they choose, whether its creating some sort of cozy relationship between iTunes/iPods/iPhones, or making iTunes/iTunes Music Store open and usable with multiple competing music players. If they pick a bad strategy, they will suffer the consequences. If they pick a good strategy, they will benefit from the consequences. And if Palm thinks Apple has created an illegal tie-in, there are venues within which Palm can air that complaint and see if they can get a legal authority with appropriate jurisdiction to agree with them.
This doesn't address your primary thesis of learning not to ask questions in school, but you may be surprised to learn that my children are being taught specifically that multiplying numbers can be done by adding.
I am *amazed* that you got detention in 1st grade asking about the alphabet, however... wouldn't your parents have had something to say about that?
Since the US government was founded on a principle (among others) that all government was or would become corrupt, its no wonder that the American attitute is different than the European attitude. So far I haven't seen anything to suggest that the principle is wrong.
When I owned a house near Knoxville, TN, I had to pay for subscription fire service from "Rural Metro." It was affordable and gave me enough protection that my home owner's insurance rates were reasonable. I'm fairly certain that Rural Metro was a "for profit" fire department. Yep - here they are http://www.ruralmetro.com/. Paying those fees and a few others were preferable to our subdivision being annexed by Knoxville so that we would receive the "free" services in return for paying Knoxville city taxes.
I'm not so keen on the versions of the public "option" that I've heard offered so far. But maybe if they analyze the real problems with the health care system, and present a prioritized list of issues along with non-bullshit documentation making the case, we might be able to start a debate. And then I would be willing to listen.
You won't get any argument from me regarding seemingly inexplicable design choices by manufacturers. However, I've lived long enough to understand that odd behavior on the part of others (both individuals as well as corporations) can become better understood when you are in their shoes. I'm not defending anyone/anything here, just making that observation.
It is true that nothing "just works" and provides absolutely everything I might want. Like you, I have one music library, but I share it among a much smaller group of devices because of the work and/or expense involved in going further. The SLIMP3 server integrated nicely with my iTunes library back in 2003(?) when I bought it. Prior to that I used a Logitech speaker/subwoofer setup to play my iTunes so that I could hear it outside of the immediate environment of my computer (I still use this set up for outdoor parties, but I drive it with my iPod). My attempts to set up an FM transmitter to broadcast to my stereo were less than satisfactory (poor quality). I've toyed with setting up a home NAS to make sharing things easier, but the commercial solutions don't have enough bang for the buck, and the roll-your-own are too much work for my lazy approach. I've planned out a whole-house audio system architecture, but no manufacturer makes all the pieces I need to build it without too much of my own time getting sunk in a dead-end one-off solution that I built myself, although a couple come close. Same thing goes for achieving a home video library capability similar to what iTunes provides for audio. I may consider giving MythTV a try for a limited High-def DVR capability this winter when I don't have to mow the lawn every week.
There is no problem with my story. It is exactly true; it is not a marketing pitch as I'm not marketing anything - I shared my personal experience.
The iPod Touch does not do everything I *want* it to do; I would prefer to have an iPhone on Verizon if I could have it with 64 GB RAM and an inexpensive data plan, I would like it to have a bigger screen but still be uber-portable (a collapsible tablet?). I mentioned iTunes because the previous commentator implied that iTunes was not useful unless you bought music through the iTunes Music Store, which is not true and not how I've been using it.
My wife bought me my 60GB iPod in 2006 for my birthday; I had not decided to buy one on my own because of the cost involved and because previous iPods didn't have enough storage to hold all of my music. I didn't want FM then, still don't (my radio antenna in my vehicle broken when it hit a tree branch 6 years ago and I haven't missed it enough to fix it). I did want the video functionality (which I have) although it has not been as useful as I had imagined except for watching the Onion News Network and TikiBar TV at times. My wife envisioned me listening to music while on the subway; as it turns out I don't use it there because of its affect on my situational awareness in that environment. Instead, I listen to podcasts while driving in the car to the metro station, and I listen to music while at work without disturbing those around me.
I haven't rushed out and bought a new(er) iPod since then because I haven't finished getting my value from the original one, and new(er) ones haven't had enough added features to make it worthwhile. The 64 GB iPod Touch has a) enough flash-based memory to hold my "stuff" (my 55 GB formatted iPod has only 17 GB free, so even 32 GB doesn't fit my needs), b) it has a larger screen that *might* make watching video more appealing, c) it has a better calendar application that will make using the iPod as a PDA nicer for me, d) it has WiFi web browsing capabilities that I can use when surfing in my living room while watching TV so that I don't have to fire up my old IBM 12" superportable IBM Thinkpad that is really supposed to be the "brains" of my ER1 robot, and e) I think it is still small enough that I will be likely to take it with me when I go places, and might even use it to browse the web in other places if they have WiFi available. Having a camera on it might be cool, but since cameras aren't allowed where I work it might be a hassle, too. Its absence isn't a deal-breaker for me, but might be (understandably) for others. Those are my needs that are met by the iPod. They aren't all of my needs, but nothing in life is perfect.
I'm a bit puzzled why you can't understand that I understand my wants/needs in such a device, and that I made an informed choice based on what was available on the open market, and that my choice was the Apple iPod for the reasons that I listed. I don't throw around $300-$400 on frivolous purchases. My home computer is still a PowerMac G4 that I purchased in the spring of 2002 because its not quite run out of steam yet, although it is challenged by my photo library. I run OS 10.4 on it because 10.5 wasn't a compelling upgrade. When I see enough value in upgrading, I upgrade, but not until then.
I don't used web-based e-mail/calendar/contact services because I don't want my personal life stored permanently on someone elses servers; your choice may be different. I don't use my telephone for contacts and calendar because my cell phone has a lousy contacts/calendar interface and it doesn't sync with my Mac (its a Motorola v60p provided by my company - I don't have a personal cell phone).
Having as many of my needs met as I would like, in the priority that I set on them, would require additional hacking around (maybe not serious hacking like writing Linux device drivers) which I'm not willing to do - I'll do without or wait until someone meets my needs at a cost I'm willing to pay. My hassle-factor limit on my current setup wa
I didn't violate copyright, although I can see that my words were ambiguous enough to imply that. Sorry! My daughter used the song to rehearse at home by herself for the performance. The public performance of the song for the dance recital was paid for by the dance studio.
My main point was just that being an iTunes/iPod user doesn't require one to purchase their music through the iTunes Music Store.
Ring tones are purposefully kept expensive by the secret cabal of old men who hate hearing 30 second extra-loud renditions of heinous noise whenever some feeble-minded proletariat with whom they are forced to keep company is contacted by their friends so that they can chat aimlessly about their meaningless social lives. Now get off my lawn.
I have an iPod because I like to listen to my music at work and in my car. I ripped my CDs to iTunes long before I had an iPod, so that I could listen to them using a SLIMP3 on my living room stereo. I like using my Mac to rip and store my music because its my preferred home computer and it works.
Now that my life has become complicated enough to warrant keeping a personal calendar (two kids in elementary school and with extra-curricular activities that need to be coordinated between my wife and myself, my work/activity schedule, my wife's work/activity schedule) and an Address Book (school and business phone numbers) I have found myself using my (older) iPod for its calendar and contacts information as well as for music (I used it for carrying around photos, too, but thats not a significant use for me).
I'm VERY interested in the higher-capacity iPod Touch so that I can a) still carry around all my music on a flash-based music device, b) access my calendar and contacts information in a more friendly fashion, and c) make use of the WiFi-based Internet access; all from a single device that integrates nicely with the home computer that my wife and I use to organize ourselves.
A reference to iTunes and its inflated prices or reduced selection is a non-sequitur; one need not purchase anything through iTunes in order to use iTunes or the iPod. I have over 4,000 songs (all legally purchased) in my library, and I've only ever purchased one song over iTunes - it was a song my daughter needed for a dance rehersal, and I didn't want to buy a whole album for just the one song for a limited time period.
I spend enough time hacking around with computers at work. When I get home, I want my home computer and associated peripheral devices to just work, with no hassles. Apple provides that experience quite well, and has (relative to other choices) done so for me since 1987 when I purchased a Macintosh Plus for school.
If I were younger and had more free time, I would probably really enjoy creating the same type of environment using free and open source software. I'm busy by choice doing too many other things, however, so I buy consumer products that take care of those things for me.
Wait - I knew someone who really had that phone number! I met her during winter break at college. She gave me her number so that I could call her when school was back in session. Something happened, though, and I could never get a hold of her after that... oh, wait... damn.
Well, at least she didn't say her name was Jenny.
NetApp provides a function in the storage servers that they sell whereby significant events such as drive failures as well as general health check information can be sent to NetApp if you choose. The information is sent via e-mail or an HTTP POST (if I recall correctly). If you have support services, they monitor your installation via these messages, and will automatically send out a new drive if you have drive replacement services, for example. They do not have remote command access to your storage server (unless you chose to give them that by making the interface available outside of your firewall).
Hmmm. I believe that the following developments were revolutionary:
Human speech
Written language
The printing press (Thanks Gutenberg!)
Wired long-distance communications (telegraph, telephone)
Wireless long-distance communications (radio, television
The Internet
Each one of these vastly improved our ability to communicate for all purposes. Each of these improvements in communication has led to amazing leaps in technology, culture, etc. due to the improved diffusion of knowledge.
Public education, for example, has been around in various forms for along time. What makes it work so efficiently and effectively is the availability of teachers, themselves educated via books, and the books themselves that contain the knowledge to be taught. Without them, we would have an oral tradition. Even that oral tradition would depend on human language.
I think a strong case can be made that revolutions in communications are the driving force behind every other type of revolutionary change.
Trying to educate the masses about the difference between "baseband" "broadband" and "wideband" is pretty much useless at this point, IMHO.
Yes, but they wait until Friday night to plan Friday night. My wife and I had some friends (younger) who did the whole "instant communications" last-minute planning thing using cell phones... we almost always had to tell them "sorry, can't make it, we already have plans." We figured out in advance what we were going to do Friday night and were already doing it. The instant communications enables last-minute "planning", but is that really a good thing overall for socialization? (That's a real question from me to whoever, by the way.)
I've never even thought of using Twitter because I'm too busy doing things to be sending little infomercials about what I'm doing. Maybe its because I'm old... but maybe its because I'm old enough to not need the constant hand-holding that some folks seem to need, whether by cell phone or by Twitter.
Are we evolving into a society requiring constant validation of our place in the society? Are we becoming that insecure? Or are we evolving into some kind of geographically-disperse human-herd animal now that we have the enabling technology?
I don't recall specific versions; it was eons ago in IT terms - the 1990s. The two that you mention were from the end of that era.