There's a very big reason why they should care. It costs money to run an online store. If people don't shop at their online store, they lose money.
It costs money to run a physical store as well. You think the teenagers in red shirts are there for their health? Labor, building leases, and utilities are present in various levels for all types of business. If Target.com was canablizing sales from the local Target stores, that wasn't much better. The goal is to get people who aren't local to a Target or can't find the item they want in the store.
NAFTA covers a very limited range of trade. We're really only talking about automotive, textile, sporting good, and entertainment industry equipment. Even then, it is about business to business transactions, not business to consumer. If Ford Motor Company buys shocks assembled in Mexico, they don't pay an import duty. If you buy that shock from Ford and have it shipped to Canada, you will pay the duty.
The consumer is the one paying the taxes. We're not talking about taxes being legitimate or even if they should be collected. All that is happening is that the resposibility for submitting the tax payment to the state is shifting from the consumer (as is the current situation with most mail order) to the vendor.
The myth of no taxation on mail-order is only around because most states never bothered to procescute people that skipped out on $12 worth of sales tax per year. Michigan for one has started to look into enforcing the law in hopes that they can scare most of the dodgers into paying up (at least partially).
We've been charged sales tax from online shops that have a physical presence here for years. Eddie Bauer, Victoria's Secret, REI, Apple Store, CompUSA, and others have all been collecting sales tax. You know what? It still works out for the consumer in some cases. Often these stores have discount shipping for large orders, flexible return policies, a larger stock of items, and easier to shop with (especially during the holidays).
Besides, why should Target care if you buy from them online or down the street as long as you buy from them? All they need to worry about is you going to "just-like-target-but-no-tax.com".
Wide Open West offers a "limited" broadband option for $15/month on top of your cable service. You're limited to 150Kbps, but your ping times are still good so it isn't that bad.
I don't know what it is like in your area, but around here (Detroit, MI) broadband is starting to become assumed in the "technology-minded" house holds.
Ahhh Alpha World
on
Sim-Dud?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Execellent point. Alpha world blew because you had to walk around to find someone to chat with (more work than IRC) and there wasn't any interesting or useful interaction with the world around you. Sims Online seems to be just a better implementation of the same sucky idea.
And yes, I'm bitter that no one ever enjoyed the house I had built out of rectangular blue blocks.
So how do you fit custom sound tracks onto those 8MB cards? Oh wait a second.;)
Seriously though, a hard drive is a "Good Thing" and if the PS2 had made it standard, the games would take advantage of the increased flexibility. You can make the argument that there are few decent games for the XBox, but you can't argue that the hardware isn't the best among the current consels.
The quality of the grammar was part of the intended humor. If you were going to spoof a Slashdot post, would you spell and punctuate correctly or would you "misspell"?
Not to be rude, but you're coming across as the kind of person who turns his nose up at crass humor, but loves Shakespeare (as if that isn't full of crass humor).
Just so you know, X-10.COM is not the only place that sells X10 devices. Radio Shack and Leviton both make their own X10 devices and don't employ the same advertising campaign.
Only it would work without having to plug in modules through out the house and with much greater intelligence. Forget scanning the milk, how about the fridg lets me know when it has been standing open for 15 minutes because someone in the house can't seem to shut it. I'd also like to know when the coffee is done brewing. Just send a IM to me so I can go to the kitchen. You don't need to be rich to make use of this kind of tech, just lazy.
That's because the decoder for DivX is software based rather than dedicated hardware. Give the player a dedicated chip and it'd be easy... kinda the same way they all handle the MPEG-2 on DVDs.
Reset button. Dialog boxes can be reset to their state before you started adjusting without having to hit cancel and re-open the dialog. That's just one thing. It is simple, yet necessary and missing on the Windows version. You don't actually use Photoshop on both platforms, do you? If you did, you'd know the differences. Most professionals that use both platforms will tell you the MacOS version has many additional features as well as fewer annoyances (like stupid grey borders).
Sorry, but I am OS agnostic. I develop on Win2k, Linux, SunOS, AIX, HP-UX, and MacOS. I try to always use the right OS for the job. If there's a stench you smell, it may be time to change your socks.
There are subtle differences in what you can control minor things that are available (such as a Pantone library was available one version earlier for Mac). Not enough to really stop you from getting the job done on a PC, but enough to kill your boss if they don't buy you a Mac sooner or later.
~13GB per hour. At which rate you'll be able to get less than 40 hours on to one of these drives. Or less than the amount of video a film student can shoot in a semester.
Billion so it was more like $2 billion a year. Does that make you blink? Personally, $1 billion a year is enough to make me care about how we're spending it.
For the record, the next best thing to a big-brain, all-remembering wife is a big-brain, all-remembering secretary.:)
Oh, and my boss could give a darn if I'm personally organized or not so long as the code I produce is clean and functional. (Wife never helped with that)
but a question of style. My style used to be to rely upon my wife for tracking every bit of important info. Phone numbers, dates, to do lists, she had it all up in her head. Sound weird? Well, maybe it was.
The point is, some people don't like to be organized and others do. If you like to be organized, the first trick is to find a system that works for you. Any time management class will teach you that. What works for 95% of the world may not work for you which is why we have options.
Charging every night isn't a big deal to many users. My personal belief is that cell phones have trained people to plug in electronic devices regularily and/or buy "travel" chargers. Even people that own units with AAA batteries seem to use NiMH more than alkaline.
Personally, I'd really like a hi-res color display (as opposed to the 160x160 gray scale on my m125) and that is the only compelling reason to upgrade right now.
While not an Xbox exculsive, it is definately a great game. It was part of the XBox Live Beta and it quickly became a favorite amoung the testers. Whatever system you have, you must play this game. Online is ten times better than solo.
After having played online on a PC and online on a console, I think its safe to say that broadband console games will put gamers into heaven. Forget PC games and forget dial-up (sorry, but its true).
Slashdot Mirror
It costs money to run a physical store as well. You think the teenagers in red shirts are there for their health? Labor, building leases, and utilities are present in various levels for all types of business. If Target.com was canablizing sales from the local Target stores, that wasn't much better. The goal is to get people who aren't local to a Target or can't find the item they want in the store.
NAFTA covers a very limited range of trade. We're really only talking about automotive, textile, sporting good, and entertainment industry equipment. Even then, it is about business to business transactions, not business to consumer. If Ford Motor Company buys shocks assembled in Mexico, they don't pay an import duty. If you buy that shock from Ford and have it shipped to Canada, you will pay the duty.
The consumer is the one paying the taxes. We're not talking about taxes being legitimate or even if they should be collected. All that is happening is that the resposibility for submitting the tax payment to the state is shifting from the consumer (as is the current situation with most mail order) to the vendor.
The myth of no taxation on mail-order is only around because most states never bothered to procescute people that skipped out on $12 worth of sales tax per year. Michigan for one has started to look into enforcing the law in hopes that they can scare most of the dodgers into paying up (at least partially).
We've been charged sales tax from online shops that have a physical presence here for years. Eddie Bauer, Victoria's Secret, REI, Apple Store, CompUSA, and others have all been collecting sales tax. You know what? It still works out for the consumer in some cases. Often these stores have discount shipping for large orders, flexible return policies, a larger stock of items, and easier to shop with (especially during the holidays).
Besides, why should Target care if you buy from them online or down the street as long as you buy from them? All they need to worry about is you going to "just-like-target-but-no-tax.com".
Wide Open West offers a "limited" broadband option for $15/month on top of your cable service. You're limited to 150Kbps, but your ping times are still good so it isn't that bad.
I don't know what it is like in your area, but around here (Detroit, MI) broadband is starting to become assumed in the "technology-minded" house holds.
Execellent point. Alpha world blew because you had to walk around to find someone to chat with (more work than IRC) and there wasn't any interesting or useful interaction with the world around you. Sims Online seems to be just a better implementation of the same sucky idea.
And yes, I'm bitter that no one ever enjoyed the house I had built out of rectangular blue blocks.
Why is the penguin on their website stoned? Was he making one of the switch ads too?
So how do you fit custom sound tracks onto those 8MB cards? Oh wait a second. ;)
Seriously though, a hard drive is a "Good Thing" and if the PS2 had made it standard, the games would take advantage of the increased flexibility. You can make the argument that there are few decent games for the XBox, but you can't argue that the hardware isn't the best among the current consels.
What? You can't read GIF or JPEG files? Loser.
Not to be rude, but you're coming across as the kind of person who turns his nose up at crass humor, but loves Shakespeare (as if that isn't full of crass humor).
Read the article, people. It is humor. Laugh, don't make serious rebuttals or get defensive.
Personally, I love joke about the new "better colors".
Just so you know, X-10.COM is not the only place that sells X10 devices. Radio Shack and Leviton both make their own X10 devices and don't employ the same advertising campaign.
Only it would work without having to plug in modules through out the house and with much greater intelligence. Forget scanning the milk, how about the fridg lets me know when it has been standing open for 15 minutes because someone in the house can't seem to shut it. I'd also like to know when the coffee is done brewing. Just send a IM to me so I can go to the kitchen. You don't need to be rich to make use of this kind of tech, just lazy.
That's because the decoder for DivX is software based rather than dedicated hardware. Give the player a dedicated chip and it'd be easy... kinda the same way they all handle the MPEG-2 on DVDs.
Reset button. Dialog boxes can be reset to their state before you started adjusting without having to hit cancel and re-open the dialog. That's just one thing. It is simple, yet necessary and missing on the Windows version. You don't actually use Photoshop on both platforms, do you? If you did, you'd know the differences. Most professionals that use both platforms will tell you the MacOS version has many additional features as well as fewer annoyances (like stupid grey borders).
Sorry, but I am OS agnostic. I develop on Win2k, Linux, SunOS, AIX, HP-UX, and MacOS. I try to always use the right OS for the job. If there's a stench you smell, it may be time to change your socks.
Photoshop on PC != Photoshop on the Mac
There are subtle differences in what you can control minor things that are available (such as a Pantone library was available one version earlier for Mac). Not enough to really stop you from getting the job done on a PC, but enough to kill your boss if they don't buy you a Mac sooner or later.
~13GB per hour. At which rate you'll be able to get less than 40 hours on to one of these drives. Or less than the amount of video a film student can shoot in a semester.
Billion so it was more like $2 billion a year. Does that make you blink? Personally, $1 billion a year is enough to make me care about how we're spending it.
For the record, the next best thing to a big-brain, all-remembering wife is a big-brain, all-remembering secretary. :)
Oh, and my boss could give a darn if I'm personally organized or not so long as the code I produce is clean and functional. (Wife never helped with that)
Must remember to surf with IE rather than a browser you prefer.
Must remember to download tracks only while sitting on a machine with a CD-R or CD-RW
Must remember to never let your machine die or be replaced. If you do, you'll never be able to reburn the audio.
Thanks, I'll stick with Slamjamz
but a question of style. My style used to be to rely upon my wife for tracking every bit of important info. Phone numbers, dates, to do lists, she had it all up in her head. Sound weird? Well, maybe it was.
The point is, some people don't like to be organized and others do. If you like to be organized, the first trick is to find a system that works for you. Any time management class will teach you that. What works for 95% of the world may not work for you which is why we have options.
Charging every night isn't a big deal to many users. My personal belief is that cell phones have trained people to plug in electronic devices regularily and/or buy "travel" chargers. Even people that own units with AAA batteries seem to use NiMH more than alkaline.
Personally, I'd really like a hi-res color display (as opposed to the 160x160 gray scale on my m125) and that is the only compelling reason to upgrade right now.
MotoGP. Definately not a US centric game. Added bonus: it is actually fun and works well online. What a concept!
While not an Xbox exculsive, it is definately a great game. It was part of the XBox Live Beta and it quickly became a favorite amoung the testers. Whatever system you have, you must play this game. Online is ten times better than solo.
After having played online on a PC and online on a console, I think its safe to say that broadband console games will put gamers into heaven. Forget PC games and forget dial-up (sorry, but its true).