You know what's even scarier? The power held by the man who types the news tickers onto the screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Think about it for a minute. Whoa.
There are two issues (that I see) with this new approach, but neither deals with the fact that AOL/Time Warner is becoming a mega-media giant.
They are doing this at the OEM level, not the OS level. Obviously, MS has made it clear that they are no longer bundling ISP setup files with Windows anymore, unless DOJ forces them to. This won't be an issue with companies like Compaq, that only send a recovery CD with the product --- they don't support consumer/non-factory-installed versions of the OS. But with most other PC companies, a full-featured version of the OS will come along side the machine on a specially marked CD. This will restore the machine to the way Microsoft likes it, so if the person later decides to sign up for AOL, the pc-maker won't get credit. Changing this policy of including OS CD's might hurt the PC company's relationship with Microsoft.
They are trying to capitalize on Microsoft's "tenuous" situation. Did it ever occur to AOL that the entire internet economy is in a tenuous situation, where money from ISP signups/referrals is becoming less and less available? What about if popularity for AOL gets hit, possibly by another weekend outage or something? The PC makers will realize they were just being toyed at by AOL, angry at their current MS business relationships, and very upset that the current position of PC makers in the market right now is NOT what hardware they provide, but the level of user freedom that comes with the package.
Oh yeah, and to touch on Compaq again, I really think their idea of keeping their computers as an overall package of software, hardware, support, etc. is an awful idea. They tried that on me with a laptop I bought from them. I recently dissuaded the purchase of $200,000 of computer equipment from Compaq because of their inflexibility. What a pleasure it was putting a full-featured, factory-provided version of Win2K (without all the company crap) in a brand-new Dell machine, reformatting/reinstalling, and have it still be fully supported!
EVERYONE wants you to see the X-10 camera thing. According to the New York Times, the X10 website was the #2 website visited in the country. That's sad. Here's to worldwide host file editing....
Well, not as much as they used to. New phones in corporate environments display who the caller is, and have little arrows next to specific buttons if the call is from outside the office, transferred from a switchboard (or someone else), or direct from within the office. I work in the MIS department of a company and have never had such an issue arise. Now, the problem with the lack of documentation and the absence of a password on the Primary Domain Controller -- that annoys me.
It wouldn't make sense for smart tags to be a hard-coded feature in the program. There would have to be some way to turn them off. If there is no dialog-box option, then a registry hack will circulate the globe faster than Melissa!
Actually, the "radios" are prerecorded tapes that run through the PA system and are looped for passenger enjoyment. However, as stated in "Turbulence II" the main point that the airlines lobby for the regulations is so that the passengers pay $50/hr to use their phones, and not the passenger's own. etc,etc.
Did it ever occur to either Microsoft and AOL that I am perfectly happy with my present LAN connection, and one should be able to customize his computer without having to uninstall all the junk that comes with it? I won a laptop recently, and VOIDED my warranty by removing the 2 GIGS of OS extras and installing a consumer OS on it. I hope to a high degree that the AOL/MSN strife only occurs at the OEM level. If I ever need to upgrade an office full of W2K computers and then get notices from MIS that people are playing with MSN or AIM because they were installed by default, Linux is just a click away.
User Friendly, a hilarious internet comic strip, had a practical joke played on the cartoonist by the techies who run the site. They had uploaded photographs showing one of his main characters being abducted while requesting a ransom from his recent IPO funds.
I don't really feel comfortable with anyone changing the orbit of my planet. I mean, astronomers are on thing, but imagine the global cooperation involved in doing this. Of course, the good ol' US of A will have to take charge of this operation, and they'll mess things up. Without a doubt. If they can't get their units right on moving an expensive of equipment through space, how are they going to be able to coordinate moving a giant rock close enough to earth.
"Okay, Houston. I've moved the rock 2 thousand kilometers closer to the earth, like you've asked."
"You moron, that was 2 thousand miles. It's too close now. It's being pulled in by the earth's gravity."
The part about Brian being gone and the new techie never hearing about him is very similar to that part of 1984 when Winston's partner at work disappears and his replacement never heard of him---in fact he never existed.
You bring up a very good point. Obviously, you really are not paying for the right to listen to the IP. You are paying for the media, mass-production costs, distribution costs, storage costs, warehouse overhead, sales-rep salaries/commissions, and taxes. IP is only what you think you are paying for. That is why royalties on music/television are only a few cents per song/episode.
With most nationwide providers (Sprint, MCI, Verizon), for $50 you can get about 200-300 minutes per month, 1000 weekend/night minutes, free long distance (no add'l charges), and local service from within your home state. If you find yourself using the phone for more than this on business purposes, I'm almost positive the company will cover almost all of the difference.
Just include collapsable kitchen appliances; that's all that matters. From there, one can survive. What about a rainwater collector that will mix with powdered Jolt and carbonate it. That's good too.
What's really great about this report is that the list has links to the page on C|Net about the phone. So if you're happy with seeing the phone on a top ten radiation list, click it and go ahead and buy it. That's worse than Deja.
Just like an issue previously discussed on/. about cellular phones, the trick will not be convincing people to buy computers, but rather that their old one is inadequate and it is time to buy another.
With all of those devices around my head and waist, some of which possible emitting microwaves, wouldn't there be the same issue as the cellular phone (especially if these things are "connected")?
I for one wouldn't want to wear a computer even if it DIDN'T give me tumors!!! Wouldn't everyone still rather carry one in their back pocket like they do now? What possible practicle use could becoming a computer have over simply sitting down and using/talking/typing to one? Think long-term!
For a while, the University of Texas at Austin (50,000 students---biggest population of any school in the country) had Napster blocked, but since about 2 weeks ago, it has become unblocked. There was no explanation for it on the site that previously stated that it was blocked, but I would assume that because it was only blocked because it was bandwidth intensive, UT would not want to be marked as a school that objects to Napster on account that the RIAA doesn't like it. No complaint here!
Some people bought a PalmVx a few months before OS3.5 came out. Their version is 3.3. However they paid the same amount as the folks who bought the version with 3.5. Will they be charged?
Regardless of what the scientists eventually find out, there is no drawback whatsoever to using a headset for your cell phone. It frees up your hand to do whatever, and for the most part, they are more comfortable (and easier on your neck) than the phones themselves.
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You know what's even scarier? The power held by the man who types the news tickers onto the screens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Think about it for a minute. Whoa.
There are two issues (that I see) with this new approach, but neither deals with the fact that AOL/Time Warner is becoming a mega-media giant.
Oh yeah, and to touch on Compaq again, I really think their idea of keeping their computers as an overall package of software, hardware, support, etc. is an awful idea. They tried that on me with a laptop I bought from them. I recently dissuaded the purchase of $200,000 of computer equipment from Compaq because of their inflexibility. What a pleasure it was putting a full-featured, factory-provided version of Win2K (without all the company crap) in a brand-new Dell machine, reformatting/reinstalling, and have it still be fully supported!
EVERYONE wants you to see the X-10 camera thing. According to the New York Times, the X10 website was the #2 website visited in the country. That's sad. Here's to worldwide host file editing....
Leave it to good ol' ZD to make a claim but not show the text of the license agreement. Does anyone have a copy to post?
Well, not as much as they used to. New phones in corporate environments display who the caller is, and have little arrows next to specific buttons if the call is from outside the office, transferred from a switchboard (or someone else), or direct from within the office. I work in the MIS department of a company and have never had such an issue arise. Now, the problem with the lack of documentation and the absence of a password on the Primary Domain Controller -- that annoys me.
It wouldn't make sense for smart tags to be a hard-coded feature in the program. There would have to be some way to turn them off. If there is no dialog-box option, then a registry hack will circulate the globe faster than Melissa!
Actually, the "radios" are prerecorded tapes that run through the PA system and are looped for passenger enjoyment. However, as stated in "Turbulence II" the main point that the airlines lobby for the regulations is so that the passengers pay $50/hr to use their phones, and not the passenger's own. etc,etc.
Did it ever occur to either Microsoft and AOL that I am perfectly happy with my present LAN connection, and one should be able to customize his computer without having to uninstall all the junk that comes with it? I won a laptop recently, and VOIDED my warranty by removing the 2 GIGS of OS extras and installing a consumer OS on it. I hope to a high degree that the AOL/MSN strife only occurs at the OEM level. If I ever need to upgrade an office full of W2K computers and then get notices from MIS that people are playing with MSN or AIM because they were installed by default, Linux is just a click away.
User Friendly, a hilarious internet comic strip, had a practical joke played on the cartoonist by the techies who run the site. They had uploaded photographs showing one of his main characters being abducted while requesting a ransom from his recent IPO funds.
In a school that is 93% white, you can expect a good deal of censorship over that kind of thing. Look at this: Official Mesa Elementary School Webpage.
I don't really feel comfortable with anyone changing the orbit of my planet. I mean, astronomers are on thing, but imagine the global cooperation involved in doing this. Of course, the good ol' US of A will have to take charge of this operation, and they'll mess things up. Without a doubt. If they can't get their units right on moving an expensive of equipment through space, how are they going to be able to coordinate moving a giant rock close enough to earth.
"Okay, Houston. I've moved the rock 2 thousand kilometers closer to the earth, like you've asked."
"You moron, that was 2 thousand miles. It's too close now. It's being pulled in by the earth's gravity."
The part about Brian being gone and the new techie never hearing about him is very similar to that part of 1984 when Winston's partner at work disappears and his replacement never heard of him---in fact he never existed.
What an aweful-sounding place to work!
You bring up a very good point. Obviously, you really are not paying for the right to listen to the IP. You are paying for the media, mass-production costs, distribution costs, storage costs, warehouse overhead, sales-rep salaries/commissions, and taxes. IP is only what you think you are paying for. That is why royalties on music/television are only a few cents per song/episode.
With most nationwide providers (Sprint, MCI, Verizon), for $50 you can get about 200-300 minutes per month, 1000 weekend/night minutes, free long distance (no add'l charges), and local service from within your home state. If you find yourself using the phone for more than this on business purposes, I'm almost positive the company will cover almost all of the difference.
Good luck.
check it out....i submitted this article!
Just include collapsable kitchen appliances; that's all that matters. From there, one can survive. What about a rainwater collector that will mix with powdered Jolt and carbonate it. That's good too.
What's really great about this report is that the list has links to the page on C|Net about the phone. So if you're happy with seeing the phone on a top ten radiation list, click it and go ahead and buy it. That's worse than Deja.
Just like an issue previously discussed on /. about cellular phones, the trick will not be convincing people to buy computers, but rather that their old one is inadequate and it is time to buy another.
Good luck at that!
you got a point!
With all of those devices around my head and waist, some of which possible emitting microwaves, wouldn't there be the same issue as the cellular phone (especially if these things are "connected")?
I for one wouldn't want to wear a computer even if it DIDN'T give me tumors!!! Wouldn't everyone still rather carry one in their back pocket like they do now? What possible practicle use could becoming a computer have over simply sitting down and using/talking/typing to one? Think long-term!
Try odigo. It isn't feature-rich, but it does the job....I hate running both clients.
-Adam
For a while, the University of Texas at Austin (50,000 students---biggest population of any school in the country) had Napster blocked, but since about 2 weeks ago, it has become unblocked. There was no explanation for it on the site that previously stated that it was blocked, but I would assume that because it was only blocked because it was bandwidth intensive, UT would not want to be marked as a school that objects to Napster on account that the RIAA doesn't like it. No complaint here!
Some people bought a PalmVx a few months before OS3.5 came out. Their version is 3.3. However they paid the same amount as the folks who bought the version with 3.5. Will they be charged?
Regardless of what the scientists eventually find out, there is no drawback whatsoever to using a headset for your cell phone. It frees up your hand to do whatever, and for the most part, they are more comfortable (and easier on your neck) than the phones themselves.