My point is that without subsidies nuclear power would be prohibitively expensive. Construction of new nuclear power plants is significantly more expensive than other forms of electricity generation, and this is even without taking into account decommissioning and waste disposal costs. Add to that the astronomical costs incurred by cleanup every time there's an accident (for reference, the cost of the Fukushima nuclear disaster is estimated at $250 billion US dollars) and anyone would understand how nuclear isn't cheaper.
And all nuclear power companies.
The only reason nuclear power is cheaper than renewable energy is because of huge government subsidies. Studies have shown that nuclear is still not viable without subsidies.
You need an Apple ID to install apps and sync data with your computer, but I'm pretty sure that buying an iPhone doesn't require creating an account on iTunes. Naturally, an iPhone without apps is kind of pointless but eh.
It depends really on what these business users work on. Widescreen monitors are great for people using spreadsheets, audio video editing software, people such as translators who need to display 2 -or more- Word documents side-by-side, etc.
Regarding Google Maps, I found that their quality depend entirely of who they're getting their mapping data from.
In Japan, they're getting it from the biggest local mapping company there is, and as a result Google Maps are way ahead of OpenStreetMap/Apple Maps, and even other companies that use the same base data (Bing, Yahoo!, etc.).
I would still need to give them my credit card info.
Also yeah, buying completely new devices and having to deal with a hair pulling interface only to be able to read comics sounds completely crazy.
It's a lot of work because ComiXology's website requires my credit card info, which I'm not giving to them (or Apple, for that matter) and that I pay for the exchange rate on top of that (I live abroad). With IAPs I don't need to give my credit card info to anyone and there's no exchange rate fees either.
For all current customers on iOS, here's the fix:
1: Install the new ComiXology app.
2: Leave a one star review in the App Store.
3: Launch the app, go to Purchases and hit Restore in the purchases tab to sync Apple purchases with the web
3: Log into comixology website to use the $5 voucher they gave you.
4: Download Marvel https://itunes.apple.com/en/ap..., Image https://itunes.apple.com/jp/ap... and DC https://itunes.apple.com/en/ap... apps. Check purchases have synced to those.
6: Delete both ComiXology apps and Use Image / Marvel / DC instead.
That's how the whole retailing and distribution business has been working for centuries. The device and IAPs are the only reason I started spending money on ComiXology and a number of other services.
The mobile site requires your credit card info, the App Store and IAPs don't. I've spent hundreds of dollars at ComiXology so far, and they won't see another dollar from me.
They should consider creating making a LAN version of game streaming, you have a small thin client hooked up to your TV but all all the work is done by your beast desktop in the next room. The biggest hindrance to their current setup is that most people don't have their computer hooked up to their TV because they use it for other things than just gaming. They could call it Steaming (Steam + Streaming).:)
The whole point you are making happened many years ago, arguably before Steve came back. Every "innovation" Apple has had over the past ten years was someone else's idea given just enough refinement and advertising to get consumers to like it.
Smartphone, that was IBM, Microsoft, Sony, and RIM long before Apple. Apple just managed to consumerize ideas from the corporate tool world. The same goes for tablets. Microsoft never moved their primary UI to be compatible before now with touch and stylus interaction, but Gates kept evangelizing the concept until Jobs actually went and had a regular OS trimmed and locked down to where touch was easy for the uninitiated. Even the iPod was nowhere near the first or best MP3 player, but Apple managed to leverage iTunes and advertising, never superior hardware, to sell lots of hardware. Ultrabook (MBA)? Fujitsu, Sony, NEC, and Toshiba had powerful fully spec'd ultra compact laptops available overseas for 5 or 6 years prior (Dynamism was the primary importer for US buyers).
Apple is not losing their edge, they are simply having to compete now that other OEMs and software developers have had time to develop consumer, rather than professionally oriented products, in markets which have been gestating for several years. Apple has never done well competing on even ground.
The innovation is that Apple takes an existing product that hasn't found its market, refines it and turns it into something that consumers want.
This is what they've done since the original iMac, and what -I believe- most Apple users expect from the company.
Although to be honest the day when machine translation can be considered a viable tool is not even close, particularly when you deal with non-latin languages like Japanese.
If you add to this fact that speech recognition software is still far from perfect, human translation is not going to be replaced by software for at least a few more decades.
Fees, not taxes. Fees are much more fair then taxes as everyone pays the same. And fees aren't taxes so you can raise funds in a fair manner without raising taxes.
If everyone has to pay $10,000 in fees then that's 2.5 trillion raised, all fairly.
$10,000 is chump change for the very wealthy.
A $10,000 fee would push millions of people under the poverty line.
And what will we do with the last third of the population who isn't able to pay $10,000 in the first place?
The problem with Apple Maps is not the UI.
The maps themselves are completely inaccurate: missing buildings (including major landmarks), missing roads, rivers/lakes shown as terrain, misspellings, mixed-up languages (some locations in Japan are shown in Korean and others in Simplified Chinese), etc.
Except that at least one of the people interviewed had the current 4S, and was still blown away by the weight, look, and performance of the identical phone handed to him. These weren't people unfamiliar with iPhones.
Jimmy Kimmel's show is not a news show. They do this kind of staged video all the time, because obviously interviewing people on the street saying "nope, it's not the iPhone 5" isn't that entertaining.
Slashdot Mirror
It's funny to see all the comments dismissing the all article without even reading it. Oh wait, I forgot this is Slashdot after all.
My point is that without subsidies nuclear power would be prohibitively expensive. Construction of new nuclear power plants is significantly more expensive than other forms of electricity generation, and this is even without taking into account decommissioning and waste disposal costs. Add to that the astronomical costs incurred by cleanup every time there's an accident (for reference, the cost of the Fukushima nuclear disaster is estimated at $250 billion US dollars) and anyone would understand how nuclear isn't cheaper.
And all nuclear power companies. The only reason nuclear power is cheaper than renewable energy is because of huge government subsidies. Studies have shown that nuclear is still not viable without subsidies.
Tax avoidance is immoral but legal. Tax evasion is both immoral and illegal.
You need an Apple ID to install apps and sync data with your computer, but I'm pretty sure that buying an iPhone doesn't require creating an account on iTunes. Naturally, an iPhone without apps is kind of pointless but eh.
I wish I had mod points for +5 funny.
On the other hand, the guy is in his seventies and is one of the richest actors in the world; he probably doesn't need to pander to anyone anymore.
It depends really on what these business users work on. Widescreen monitors are great for people using spreadsheets, audio video editing software, people such as translators who need to display 2 -or more- Word documents side-by-side, etc.
Regarding Google Maps, I found that their quality depend entirely of who they're getting their mapping data from. In Japan, they're getting it from the biggest local mapping company there is, and as a result Google Maps are way ahead of OpenStreetMap/Apple Maps, and even other companies that use the same base data (Bing, Yahoo!, etc.).
I would still need to give them my credit card info. Also yeah, buying completely new devices and having to deal with a hair pulling interface only to be able to read comics sounds completely crazy.
It's a lot of work because ComiXology's website requires my credit card info, which I'm not giving to them (or Apple, for that matter) and that I pay for the exchange rate on top of that (I live abroad). With IAPs I don't need to give my credit card info to anyone and there's no exchange rate fees either.
For all current customers on iOS, here's the fix: 1: Install the new ComiXology app. 2: Leave a one star review in the App Store. 3: Launch the app, go to Purchases and hit Restore in the purchases tab to sync Apple purchases with the web 3: Log into comixology website to use the $5 voucher they gave you. 4: Download Marvel https://itunes.apple.com/en/ap..., Image https://itunes.apple.com/jp/ap... and DC https://itunes.apple.com/en/ap... apps. Check purchases have synced to those. 6: Delete both ComiXology apps and Use Image / Marvel / DC instead.
That's how the whole retailing and distribution business has been working for centuries. The device and IAPs are the only reason I started spending money on ComiXology and a number of other services.
The mobile site requires your credit card info, the App Store and IAPs don't. I've spent hundreds of dollars at ComiXology so far, and they won't see another dollar from me.
We Need To Go Deeper.
Since Apple Maps uses OpenStreetMap, I'm not really surprised of the jump in user numbers.
They should consider creating making a LAN version of game streaming, you have a small thin client hooked up to your TV but all all the work is done by your beast desktop in the next room. The biggest hindrance to their current setup is that most people don't have their computer hooked up to their TV because they use it for other things than just gaming. They could call it Steaming (Steam + Streaming). :)
Apple TV
The whole point you are making happened many years ago, arguably before Steve came back. Every "innovation" Apple has had over the past ten years was someone else's idea given just enough refinement and advertising to get consumers to like it.
Smartphone, that was IBM, Microsoft, Sony, and RIM long before Apple. Apple just managed to consumerize ideas from the corporate tool world. The same goes for tablets. Microsoft never moved their primary UI to be compatible before now with touch and stylus interaction, but Gates kept evangelizing the concept until Jobs actually went and had a regular OS trimmed and locked down to where touch was easy for the uninitiated. Even the iPod was nowhere near the first or best MP3 player, but Apple managed to leverage iTunes and advertising, never superior hardware, to sell lots of hardware. Ultrabook (MBA)? Fujitsu, Sony, NEC, and Toshiba had powerful fully spec'd ultra compact laptops available overseas for 5 or 6 years prior (Dynamism was the primary importer for US buyers).
Apple is not losing their edge, they are simply having to compete now that other OEMs and software developers have had time to develop consumer, rather than professionally oriented products, in markets which have been gestating for several years. Apple has never done well competing on even ground.
The innovation is that Apple takes an existing product that hasn't found its market, refines it and turns it into something that consumers want. This is what they've done since the original iMac, and what -I believe- most Apple users expect from the company.
Although to be honest the day when machine translation can be considered a viable tool is not even close, particularly when you deal with non-latin languages like Japanese. If you add to this fact that speech recognition software is still far from perfect, human translation is not going to be replaced by software for at least a few more decades.
Thanks for your comment putting this into perspective.
Fees, not taxes. Fees are much more fair then taxes as everyone pays the same. And fees aren't taxes so you can raise funds in a fair manner without raising taxes. If everyone has to pay $10,000 in fees then that's 2.5 trillion raised, all fairly.
$10,000 is chump change for the very wealthy. A $10,000 fee would push millions of people under the poverty line. And what will we do with the last third of the population who isn't able to pay $10,000 in the first place?
The problem with Apple Maps is not the UI. The maps themselves are completely inaccurate: missing buildings (including major landmarks), missing roads, rivers/lakes shown as terrain, misspellings, mixed-up languages (some locations in Japan are shown in Korean and others in Simplified Chinese), etc.
Except that at least one of the people interviewed had the current 4S, and was still blown away by the weight, look, and performance of the identical phone handed to him. These weren't people unfamiliar with iPhones.
Jimmy Kimmel's show is not a news show. They do this kind of staged video all the time, because obviously interviewing people on the street saying "nope, it's not the iPhone 5" isn't that entertaining.
Isn't that what the iOS app does? http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bbc-iplayer/id416580485?mt=8
How much are MySpace and Digg worth now?
Digg was bought a month ago for $500,000. To put things in perspective, back in 2008 it was valued at $200 Million.