>>>>>>They removed an app that violated the terms of service. >>>> >>>>Without asking me. >> >>They asked you in the Terms of Service you agreed to when you used the Android Market for the first time.
Yeah well that's what Amazon did about half a year ago, and they got into serious trouble. A lot of people that downloaded the application (book) to their Kindle were using it for class notes, and when Amazon yanked the book the notes disappeared too, costing the customer hours or days worth of lost work. Companies should not uninstall apps without user permission.
Also the U.S. DOJ already ruled in the Paypal case that a TOS does overrule congressional or state law. The US then nullified Paypal's TOS and forced paypal to refund all the customers whose accounts had been closed (and money stolen). i.e. Customers can not sign away their legally-protected rights.
It's a little-known fact that silicon bags amplify radio waves and improve reception. No doubt this brilliant young(?) lady is using her iPhone with the speakerphone on and getting perfection reproduction.
Also you have to remember "voluntary" doesn't mean the same to us and to Rahm Emmanuel. I have a video where he is discussing a Fairness Doctrine for the Net, where popups would appear on foxnews.com to encourage people to go read a liberal website instead, and he talks about "voluntary compliance" by the internet company.
But then he immediately followed it up with, "And if they don't do it voluntarily we can compel them with laws. Sometimes you have to MAKE people do the right thing." - So for him the word voluntary only applies if you agree with him, and if you don't agree, then he'll use the force of government (law) to compel you.
>>>Imagine if GPL, CC, APL, and many other licenses were deemed to be invalid as a result of ASCAP and similar lobbying. All that work you and I have put into creating a free software ecosystem are for nought >>>
Basically like unpaid labor. You contribute all that effort into Linux or whatever, only to have it taken away from you (like Google did with Taco when they turned it commercial). I'd be angry first, and I'd get even with the ASCAP and RIAA CEO just the same way I got even with my ex-california boss after he did not pay my last week of work. BANG.
The savings come from 1/6th or 16% less gasoline burned each week by suburban and rural delivery. Even if they don't cut labor hours, they'll still be saving a huge chunk of money.
Almost everything is a political matter. You can't even plant corn in your own backyard without tripping-over some local, state, or union law.
As for the argument the post office should be burning my (and my neighbors') money to provide Saturday at a loss? I disagree. The retail store flyers and other crap isn't sooo important that I can't wait until Monday. I'd rather have no weekend mail service, than throw-away the money I sweated and labored to earn.
I bend-over backwards to save my money (cheap cellphone, cheap internet, and no cable), and then politicians come-along and waste it.
Summary read: Amazon has argued that it should not have to help support public services in states in which it has no physical presence
What does that have to do with anything? Plus it's completely false. Amazon says it should not have to pay a tax to support New York's private government ~2500 miles away, but it still DOES support public services. It pays a toll for the roads (gas tax) and it pays a toll for the public mail (the postage tax) and it files income taxes with the U.S. and the California governments. I don't think a Slashdot summary should be stating politically-biased falsehoods like it did above.
Because people rely on Saturday delivery, just as they rely on the banks and stores being open Saturday, I think the post office should eliminate the second-slowest day of the week, Mondays. That too would help this government monopoly to return to a profitable status.
In the U.S. amazon delivers for free, if you buy $25 or more. I can't remember ever having to pay postage on my amazon purchases.
As for international, they have to charge for delivery confirmation otherwise Aussies, Canadians, and so forth could claim they did not receive the package. (I know - experienced it myself.) Int'l delivery confirmation costs at least $20 even for something lightweight like a DVD or book.
You're not correct either. I don't know what modulation SMS uses, but let's just assume 4 bits per symbol to keep the math simple. So 20 bytes == about 200 bits / 4 bits per symbol == 50 symbols sent every second. i.e. 50 Baud.
For comparison a 300 bps modem uses 300 baud, a 2400 bps modem is 600 baud, a 28k modem is 3200 baud, and a 56k modem is 8000 baud in digital mode and 3429 baud in analog mode (33.6k).
I agree. SMS data transmission is blase'. With my superduper speedy 56k modem (upgraded from the old 28k model) I can download an entire episode of Stargate in just over 3 hours! Amazing.
On what? (googles). Oh continuous wave. Using morse code I presume. Like in the old days of the Titanic, before humans learned to transmit audio. There is one place CW can't reach - under the ocean. Which is why submarines carry ELF receivers that can penetrate a few hundred feet before attenuating to nothing. Since the frequency is so low, they can only send a few characters per minute.
A wee bit off laddy. 20 bytes/second == about 200 bits per second, which is ancient technology. More like 1979 - break out the disco and the polyester pants!
I'd sooner use a 56k dialup modem, even if the noise on the lines only let me do 24,000 bits per second (as has happened in some low-budget motels). Or a wireless modem. It's a lot faster than the text 0.2k SMS messaging method.
MS is growing more slowly than Apple, therefore Apple is catching-up and will eventually pass. Or so the thinking goes. I have my doubts Bill Gates could make any difference though, since Microsoft's problems are a result of the changing marketplace.
MS was a middling company through most of the 80s, but they scored big when competition like Atari and Commodore died out, and Apple almost died as well (early 90s), leaving only the IBM PC as the key platform. Since the PC won, Microsoft won. But now new platforms have arisen to challenge that, including revitalized Macintosh and Linux computers, plus cellphones.
MS is starting to fall back to its position in the 80s - just one of many players.
The one question nobody has asked in this whole thread:
- Where did the U.S. Constitution give authority to suspend an industry like this?
It isn't the executive branch. It's the legislative branch. Obama exercised a power that he was never given. Perhaps in time of declared war the president could claim extra emergency powers, but not in a time of peace. A suspension on deep-water drilling can only be done by the U.S. Congress via passage of a law.
Well even if the company doesn't claim the item is working, but the customer discovers the thing leaks oil all over the floor, the law will protect the customer. "As is" laws included a presumption that the item is functional, and it is the company or seller's responsibility to reveal all the flaws upfront.
The law almost always sides against the seller and in favor of the buyer.
>>>they were the ones who had bundled it -- they said it was my responsibility to verify that it was compatible
Sounds reasonable to me. When I encounter asshole sellers like that, where they want to charge me 15% restocking or shipping fee for THEIR error, I then return a trackable envelope that's empty. Then I file a chargeback. I figure people who treat their customers that poorly deserve to lose money .
>>>You don't have a Constitutional or Natural Law right to a fair returns policy at Wally World
That would be fine if you had a real choice, but no store anywhere let's you return a CD or DVD that you did not like. And it isn't their fault. The record companies refuse store sendbacks, just the same way they forced stores to sell CDs for $12 minimum (from late 80s through 2000). The government stepped-in and charged the record companies with price-fixing, and I think the government should make a similar maneuver to require record companies to accept store sendbacks regardless of the store's reason.
And mass media doesn't? Look how people react around celebrities. Religion. The record company would do just fine if they gave stuff away online, because there are still enough people who want to buy CDs, DVDs, posters, and other crap (i.e. own a "piece" of a singer or actor) that they would stay in business.
And then you pay an additional $30,000 per semester in heavy taxation. The cost has to come from somewhere, and in your case it's merely been deferred to your working years and your paycheck.
Also there are people paying for your college, who never went to college themselves. That doesn't seem fair that non-college people should have to support college people. Talk about the poor subsidizing the upper class! Bogus.
Not in my experience. My college's tuition has remained the same since I first showed up in 1990, after adjusting for the paper dollar's devaluation (aka inflation). My State's public-owned university also followed the inflation curve, and has not changed its rate in Real value. .
>>>students graduating with $50k, $100k, and even $550k in debt
$550,000? Only if they paid $100,000 a year at some overpriced med school. That's not the experience of most 4-year students that pay between $15 and $30 thousand. ----- I had about $60,000 when I graduated, which is equivalent to $100,000 in today's paper. Things really haven't changed that much.
Slashdot Mirror
>>>>>>They removed an app that violated the terms of service.
>>>>
>>>>Without asking me.
>>
>>They asked you in the Terms of Service you agreed to when you used the Android Market for the first time.
Yeah well that's what Amazon did about half a year ago, and they got into serious trouble. A lot of people that downloaded the application (book) to their Kindle were using it for class notes, and when Amazon yanked the book the notes disappeared too, costing the customer hours or days worth of lost work. Companies should not uninstall apps without user permission.
Also the U.S. DOJ already ruled in the Paypal case that a TOS does overrule congressional or state law. The US then nullified Paypal's TOS and forced paypal to refund all the customers whose accounts had been closed (and money stolen). i.e. Customers can not sign away their legally-protected rights.
>>>What are your customers gonna do? "Vote with their wallet?"
(lists Apple on ebay). Hell yeah!
>>> http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/worldcup_06_25/w18_24042095.jpg
It's a little-known fact that silicon bags amplify radio waves and improve reception. No doubt this brilliant young(?) lady is using her iPhone with the speakerphone on and getting perfection reproduction.
Also you have to remember "voluntary" doesn't mean the same to us and to Rahm Emmanuel. I have a video where he is discussing a Fairness Doctrine for the Net, where popups would appear on foxnews.com to encourage people to go read a liberal website instead, and he talks about "voluntary compliance" by the internet company.
But then he immediately followed it up with, "And if they don't do it voluntarily we can compel them with laws. Sometimes you have to MAKE people do the right thing." - So for him the word voluntary only applies if you agree with him, and if you don't agree, then he'll use the force of government (law) to compel you.
>>>Imagine if GPL, CC, APL, and many other licenses were deemed to be invalid as a result of ASCAP and similar lobbying. All that work you and I have put into creating a free software ecosystem are for nought
>>>
Basically like unpaid labor. You contribute all that effort into Linux or whatever, only to have it taken away from you (like Google did with Taco when they turned it commercial). I'd be angry first, and I'd get even with the ASCAP and RIAA CEO just the same way I got even with my ex-california boss after he did not pay my last week of work. BANG.
Ooops I've said too much
.
>>>The death throws of an obsolete industry are amusing and sad
Perhaps but it will make great footage for the TV news! (hops into airplane). Say goodbye to ASCAP and RIAA! (flies plane into building)
The savings come from 1/6th or 16% less gasoline burned each week by suburban and rural delivery. Even if they don't cut labor hours, they'll still be saving a huge chunk of money.
Almost everything is a political matter. You can't even plant corn in your own backyard without tripping-over some local, state, or union law.
As for the argument the post office should be burning my (and my neighbors') money to provide Saturday at a loss? I disagree. The retail store flyers and other crap isn't sooo important that I can't wait until Monday. I'd rather have no weekend mail service, than throw-away the money I sweated and labored to earn.
I bend-over backwards to save my money (cheap cellphone, cheap internet, and no cable), and then politicians come-along and waste it.
Totally unnecessary.
Summary read:
Amazon has argued that it should not have to help support public services in states in which it has no physical presence
What does that have to do with anything? Plus it's completely false. Amazon says it should not have to pay a tax to support New York's private government ~2500 miles away, but it still DOES support public services. It pays a toll for the roads (gas tax) and it pays a toll for the public mail (the postage tax) and it files income taxes with the U.S. and the California governments. I don't think a Slashdot summary should be stating politically-biased falsehoods like it did above.
IMHO
Because people rely on Saturday delivery, just as they rely on the banks and stores being open Saturday, I think the post office should eliminate the second-slowest day of the week, Mondays. That too would help this government monopoly to return to a profitable status.
In the U.S. amazon delivers for free, if you buy $25 or more. I can't remember ever having to pay postage on my amazon purchases.
As for international, they have to charge for delivery confirmation otherwise Aussies, Canadians, and so forth could claim they did not receive the package. (I know - experienced it myself.) Int'l delivery confirmation costs at least $20 even for something lightweight like a DVD or book.
>>>"What the hell is a U rating?"
Some kind of kinky Uterus subcategory?
>>>You're still wrong
You're not correct either. I don't know what modulation SMS uses, but let's just assume 4 bits per symbol to keep the math simple. So 20 bytes == about 200 bits / 4 bits per symbol == 50 symbols sent every second. i.e. 50 Baud.
For comparison a 300 bps modem uses 300 baud, a 2400 bps modem is 600 baud, a 28k modem is 3200 baud, and a 56k modem is 8000 baud in digital mode and 3429 baud in analog mode (33.6k).
>>>Beats transfering 15mb in 14 hours
I agree. SMS data transmission is blase'. With my superduper speedy 56k modem (upgraded from the old 28k model) I can download an entire episode of Stargate in just over 3 hours! Amazing.
>>>less than 5 watts of radio power on CW
On what? (googles). Oh continuous wave. Using morse code I presume. Like in the old days of the Titanic, before humans learned to transmit audio. There is one place CW can't reach - under the ocean. Which is why submarines carry ELF receivers that can penetrate a few hundred feet before attenuating to nothing. Since the frequency is so low, they can only send a few characters per minute.
>>>send data like it's 1989!
A wee bit off laddy. 20 bytes/second == about 200 bits per second, which is ancient technology. More like 1979 - break out the disco and the polyester pants!
I'd sooner use a 56k dialup modem, even if the noise on the lines only let me do 24,000 bits per second (as has happened in some low-budget motels). Or a wireless modem. It's a lot faster than the text 0.2k SMS messaging method.
MS is growing more slowly than Apple, therefore Apple is catching-up and will eventually pass. Or so the thinking goes. I have my doubts Bill Gates could make any difference though, since Microsoft's problems are a result of the changing marketplace.
MS was a middling company through most of the 80s, but they scored big when competition like Atari and Commodore died out, and Apple almost died as well (early 90s), leaving only the IBM PC as the key platform. Since the PC won, Microsoft won. But now new platforms have arisen to challenge that, including revitalized Macintosh and Linux computers, plus cellphones.
MS is starting to fall back to its position in the 80s - just one of many players.
The one question nobody has asked in this whole thread:
- Where did the U.S. Constitution give authority to suspend an industry like this?
It isn't the executive branch. It's the legislative branch. Obama exercised a power that he was never given. Perhaps in time of declared war the president could claim extra emergency powers, but not in a time of peace. A suspension on deep-water drilling can only be done by the U.S. Congress via passage of a law.
>>>There was also a short, and very deep recession immediately after the second world war.
Which was merely a small piece of the much great Depression. The stock market and the GDP did not return to 1928 levels until the early 1950s.
Well even if the company doesn't claim the item is working, but the customer discovers the thing leaks oil all over the floor, the law will protect the customer. "As is" laws included a presumption that the item is functional, and it is the company or seller's responsibility to reveal all the flaws upfront.
The law almost always sides against the seller and in favor of the buyer.
>>>they were the ones who had bundled it -- they said it was my responsibility to verify that it was compatible
Sounds reasonable to me. When I encounter asshole sellers like that, where they want to charge me 15% restocking or shipping fee for THEIR error, I then return a trackable envelope that's empty. Then I file a chargeback. I figure people who treat their customers that poorly deserve to lose money
.
>>>You don't have a Constitutional or Natural Law right to a fair returns policy at Wally World
That would be fine if you had a real choice, but no store anywhere let's you return a CD or DVD that you did not like. And it isn't their fault. The record companies refuse store sendbacks, just the same way they forced stores to sell CDs for $12 minimum (from late 80s through 2000). The government stepped-in and charged the record companies with price-fixing, and I think the government should make a similar maneuver to require record companies to accept store sendbacks regardless of the store's reason.
>>>To be honest: Alex Jones created a religion.
And mass media doesn't? Look how people react around celebrities. Religion. The record company would do just fine if they gave stuff away online, because there are still enough people who want to buy CDs, DVDs, posters, and other crap (i.e. own a "piece" of a singer or actor) that they would stay in business.
>>>I pay about $1000/semester
And then you pay an additional $30,000 per semester in heavy taxation. The cost has to come from somewhere, and in your case it's merely been deferred to your working years and your paycheck.
Also there are people paying for your college, who never went to college themselves. That doesn't seem fair that non-college people should have to support college people. Talk about the poor subsidizing the upper class! Bogus.
>>>rates had gone up
Not in my experience. My college's tuition has remained the same since I first showed up in 1990, after adjusting for the paper dollar's devaluation (aka inflation). My State's public-owned university also followed the inflation curve, and has not changed its rate in Real value.
.
>>>students graduating with $50k, $100k, and even $550k in debt
$550,000? Only if they paid $100,000 a year at some overpriced med school. That's not the experience of most 4-year students that pay between $15 and $30 thousand. ----- I had about $60,000 when I graduated, which is equivalent to $100,000 in today's paper. Things really haven't changed that much.