"...the NSA runs Echelon jointly with Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. And European experts acknowledge that France, Germany and Russia routinely engage in industrial espionage to ferret out the commercial secrets of other countries."
Remember the Cold War, when the Soviets were 10-foot-tall super soldiers who could read your mind and fart atomic infernos out of their asses? Everything was thought to be a commie conspiracy. Is this happening again, but now we are instead fearing the Chinese?
So, there really are only two main features that the Zune HD has that my original, first-generation Zune does not: HD video and HD radio. Why should I care about HD video? I only use my media player for music, and even if I did use it for video, 32GB would run out pretty quick if I wanted to store HD movies on it. HD radio is far inferior to satellite radio, such as Sirius. Sure, you get a high-quality digital signal, but it's only in one area, just like an analog radio signal. If I move too far from the broadcasting tower, I can't pick up the station. But with satellite radio, I can drive all over the country and still get my awesome CD-quality digital audio. Sorry, Microsoft, I love my Zune (especially with the "Zune Pass"), but I'm not going to shell out $300 just for a touch screen. I've got my iPhone for that, and it has cool applications to boot.
At the very least, minimum wage should be decided at the state or local level. What constitutes a "fair" minimum wage in B-F-Nowhere, Ohio sure as hell isn't a "fair" wage in New York City.
Completely true. Americans want cheap; they don't want quality. How else does Wal Mart make so much money? Most of its products are cheap, not of high quality. Everything is disposable, like a Bic razor. You pay next to nothing (relatively speaking) for it, so when it breaks, you just buy another one. The problem is that labor is now being viewed the same way.
The article says the toys were confiscated at security. That means the kid's toys weren't in his checked baggage.
So, the brat puts his carry-on bag--which contains things that look suspiciously like weapons--through the baggage screening x-ray machine, and now the dumbass mother is complaining about having the toys taken away? Everyone knows how careful TSA must be today, so she should have known better than to not put those toys into a checked bag.
TSA is doing its job. I'm not saying that it's right, but toy weapons have been illegal on planes for a LONG TIME now, even before 9/11.
On the one hand, texting while driving is about as dangerous as drinking and driving. It takes eyes and concentration off the road and puts everyone else at risk. It is an activity that ought to be illegal.
Actually, it's worse.Car and Driverdid a test comparing the two, and they found that text messaging while driving is worse than driving while intoxicated.
The reason? My guess is that when you're driving buzzed, at least you're (hopefully) giving the road your undivided attention.
Many cell phone companies (Sprint included) price phones in such a way that the only way one can afford to get service with them is to sign their 2-year contract, which subsidizes the phone. Then, if you are unhappy with the service, you're stuck doling out a large sum of money just to switch to another carrier that might be even worse.
I understand that the company must recoup the money they spent on subsidizing the phone to you, but having to pay the full termination fee whenever you've already fulfilled part (or most) of the contract is absurd.
...is pro-rated fees for breaking a contract early. If I decide Sprint sucks and break my 2-year contract after 18 months, I should have to pay the full $200 fee. I should pay $50.
No, it wasn't. Mass Effect was rated "M" and can be purchased just about anywhere that sells video games.
The controversy that surrounded that game alleged that there was rape and other sexual disturbing scenes, which was completely false. There exists one (1) "bed scene" that is more tame than what you see on TV.
...A game with great graphics and poor gameplay will have decent early sales, but these will drop off quickly as people discover the bugs or design errors in the gameplay....
This has happened far too often. The most recent example I can think of is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, which has amazing graphics but gameplay that is nearly broken. (How the bloody hell am I supposed to shoot my gun and hit something in a third person game if there's no auto aim and not even a freaking targeting reticle?!) Without that problem, I think the game would have sold well.
This comes shortly after news that the new PSP Go will be open to "non-gaming applications."
The homebrew folks have been making non-gaming applications for quite a while now, but Sony, for some stupid reason, keeps trying to make the PSP harder and harder to "hack." I'm not sure why this is, since a hacked PSP can do a lot more things than a stock one can do, most notably allowing just about anybody to write an application that will run on it. For instance, you can get eBook readers and calendar applications for a "hacked" PSP. That right there makes the device a heck of a lot more useful. Heck, I know of people who bought a PSP simply because it could be hacked; they wanted the greatly increased functionality of it. . Sony seems to think that homebrew = pirating games, but this simply isn't the case.
You're right. This bill should really be called "A Tax Increase For All Americans." The estimated tax revenue the government expects to extract from the population from the passage of this bill is huge.
How is this different from the difficulty slider in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion? If I get to a part that is particularly pissing me off, I drop the slider all the way down to easy and kill those pesky Dremoras with one swipe of my Sword of the Divine Crusader.
There are those of us that do not want to be overly frustrated with video games; we simply want to have fun. While I enjoy a bit of a challenge, it's nice to know that if I fail at something 5, 10, or 25 times, I can just click a button and make it easier (or skip it).
Need for Speed Prostreet already allows you to do just that. You can play through the entire game to unlock all the cars, or you can pay an extra fee to unlock all the cars at the start.
This is a problem with one satellite. ONE. The problem is with a brand new generation of satellite created by Lockheed Martin. Boeing is also producing new-generation GPS satellites. It stands to reason that the first of any new production run might have a glitch or two that didn't show up in developmental testing. (I'm not defending their shoddy testing procedures, mind you.) The remaining next-generation satellites haven't been completed yet, so it's probably safe to assume that these glitches will be fixed before launch.
The sky is not falling, and GPS will still be around.
Slashdot Mirror
PS the US has used Echelon to get Boeing a european contract by finding out the figure they had to bit under to get the contract.
This was a claim made by Europe (specifically France) and never proven.
Take a look at this article, quoted here for your convenience:
"...the NSA runs Echelon jointly with Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. And European experts acknowledge that France, Germany and Russia routinely engage in industrial espionage to ferret out the commercial secrets of other countries."
Remember the Cold War, when the Soviets were 10-foot-tall super soldiers who could read your mind and fart atomic infernos out of their asses? Everything was thought to be a commie conspiracy.
Is this happening again, but now we are instead fearing the Chinese?
So, there really are only two main features that the Zune HD has that my original, first-generation Zune does not: HD video and HD radio.
Why should I care about HD video? I only use my media player for music, and even if I did use it for video, 32GB would run out pretty quick if I wanted to store HD movies on it.
HD radio is far inferior to satellite radio, such as Sirius. Sure, you get a high-quality digital signal, but it's only in one area, just like an analog radio signal. If I move too far from the broadcasting tower, I can't pick up the station. But with satellite radio, I can drive all over the country and still get my awesome CD-quality digital audio.
Sorry, Microsoft, I love my Zune (especially with the "Zune Pass"), but I'm not going to shell out $300 just for a touch screen. I've got my iPhone for that, and it has cool applications to boot.
At the very least, minimum wage should be decided at the state or local level. What constitutes a "fair" minimum wage in B-F-Nowhere, Ohio sure as hell isn't a "fair" wage in New York City.
Completely true. Americans want cheap; they don't want quality. How else does Wal Mart make so much money? Most of its products are cheap, not of high quality. Everything is disposable, like a Bic razor. You pay next to nothing (relatively speaking) for it, so when it breaks, you just buy another one.
The problem is that labor is now being viewed the same way.
Why can't I see who this post is by? Stop hacking my eyes!
The article says the toys were confiscated at security. That means the kid's toys weren't in his checked baggage.
So, the brat puts his carry-on bag--which contains things that look suspiciously like weapons--through the baggage screening x-ray machine, and now the dumbass mother is complaining about having the toys taken away? Everyone knows how careful TSA must be today, so she should have known better than to not put those toys into a checked bag.
TSA is doing its job. I'm not saying that it's right, but toy weapons have been illegal on planes for a LONG TIME now, even before 9/11.
And why isn't this thing electrified?
On the one hand, texting while driving is about as dangerous as drinking and driving. It takes eyes and concentration off the road and puts everyone else at risk. It is an activity that ought to be illegal.
Actually, it's worse. Car and Driver did a test comparing the two, and they found that text messaging while driving is worse than driving while intoxicated.
The reason? My guess is that when you're driving buzzed, at least you're (hopefully) giving the road your undivided attention.
Many cell phone companies (Sprint included) price phones in such a way that the only way one can afford to get service with them is to sign their 2-year contract, which subsidizes the phone. Then, if you are unhappy with the service, you're stuck doling out a large sum of money just to switch to another carrier that might be even worse.
I understand that the company must recoup the money they spent on subsidizing the phone to you, but having to pay the full termination fee whenever you've already fulfilled part (or most) of the contract is absurd.
...is pro-rated fees for breaking a contract early. If I decide Sprint sucks and break my 2-year contract after 18 months, I should have to pay the full $200 fee. I should pay $50.
...if your job involves working with sensitive information.
RIGHT?!
No, it wasn't. Mass Effect was rated "M" and can be purchased just about anywhere that sells video games.
The controversy that surrounded that game alleged that there was rape and other sexual disturbing scenes, which was completely false. There exists one (1) "bed scene" that is more tame than what you see on TV.
...A game with great graphics and poor gameplay will have decent early sales, but these will drop off quickly as people discover the bugs or design errors in the gameplay....
This has happened far too often. The most recent example I can think of is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, which has amazing graphics but gameplay that is nearly broken. (How the bloody hell am I supposed to shoot my gun and hit something in a third person game if there's no auto aim and not even a freaking targeting reticle?!) Without that problem, I think the game would have sold well.
...I can't help but wonder if this was all some ploy to discredit renewable energy.
That's a possibility, considering Pickens is defined as an "oil tycoon."
Is it really necessary to write a 200+ page book on how to write 140-character "microblog" posts?
This comes shortly after news that the new PSP Go will be open to "non-gaming applications."
The homebrew folks have been making non-gaming applications for quite a while now, but Sony, for some stupid reason, keeps trying to make the PSP harder and harder to "hack." I'm not sure why this is, since a hacked PSP can do a lot more things than a stock one can do, most notably allowing just about anybody to write an application that will run on it. For instance, you can get eBook readers and calendar applications for a "hacked" PSP. That right there makes the device a heck of a lot more useful. Heck, I know of people who bought a PSP simply because it could be hacked; they wanted the greatly increased functionality of it.
.
Sony seems to think that homebrew = pirating games, but this simply isn't the case.
To this day, I think of the buttons on my PlayStation or XBOX in terms of the SNES layout. "Hit the Y button! I mean the Square one!"
You're right. This bill should really be called "A Tax Increase For All Americans." The estimated tax revenue the government expects to extract from the population from the passage of this bill is huge.
The Wall Street Journal would certainly agree with you.
Britain did something similar, and the average family is paying an extra $1,300 (USD) in taxes per year.
How is this different from the difficulty slider in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion? If I get to a part that is particularly pissing me off, I drop the slider all the way down to easy and kill those pesky Dremoras with one swipe of my Sword of the Divine Crusader.
There are those of us that do not want to be overly frustrated with video games; we simply want to have fun. While I enjoy a bit of a challenge, it's nice to know that if I fail at something 5, 10, or 25 times, I can just click a button and make it easier (or skip it).
Need for Speed Prostreet already allows you to do just that. You can play through the entire game to unlock all the cars, or you can pay an extra fee to unlock all the cars at the start.
This is a problem with one satellite. ONE. The problem is with a brand new generation of satellite created by Lockheed Martin. Boeing is also producing new-generation GPS satellites. It stands to reason that the first of any new production run might have a glitch or two that didn't show up in developmental testing. (I'm not defending their shoddy testing procedures, mind you.) The remaining next-generation satellites haven't been completed yet, so it's probably safe to assume that these glitches will be fixed before launch.
The sky is not falling, and GPS will still be around.
Yes, telephone conversations are unencrypted and sent over a semi-private network.
But the Internet isn't private. In fact, I would argue that there is an expectation of privacy on the phone network but not on the Internet.
Remember, email is sent in cleartext, unless it's encrypted, which most of us don't actually do.