>>>Why didn't you list out those titles that you found at $20-$55 like you did with the iPhone titles?
Because that wasn't his point. If you read the NEXT paragraph (which I suspect you did not), he says the titles from "traditional" developers will continue to be 30-60 dollars but they will need to compete against those 1-5 dollar games, programs, et cetera from iOS competitors. Therefore the expensive titles will be largely skipped-over by customers looking for a bargain.
Basically it's the "invisible hand" in action, driving down prices.
Yeah but you can't label Harry Potter in 2100 AD a space opera can you? It's 'future fantasy' which is an all-encompassing term that includes both HP of the Future and Star Wars.
>>>Yeah, we should stop them from regulating anything
Strawman argument. He did not say the government should not regulate all things - only that speech should not be regulated. Nor did he say the world is black-and-white, and that one must always assume the extremist viewpoint without nuance..... as you have done.
Top of the spelling bee. Top of the geography bee. Top in their college classes. I think "idiots" is a poor choice of words. In fact most of the great people in history were homeschooled. And I'm not sure why you bring-up "rapture" - what's that have to do with anything?
I've started calling it Science-based Fiction versus Futuristic Fantasy (like Star Wars). A lot of people call stuff set in the future "sci-fi" even if there's not an ounce of science in it. If Harry Potter had been set in the year 2100 instead of now, would people be calling that science fiction too? Most likely. That's silly.
Oh look! I have an Anonymous Coward stalking me. He collects my posts like I collect nudie pics. And no it's not theft. I paid $530 for the phone in that example.
Sounds like a good argument Not to use cloud software. Keep your documents stored in your home where you have constitutional protection, rather than on GoogleDocs or MSNdoc or AppleDocs where cops/FBI/DHS can snoop anytime they feel like it.
In fact, I think I'll yank my resume and other documents off yahoomail later tonight.
Right, because nobody who is innocent ever gets arrested or jailed. (sarcasm) BTW that saying works both ways: "If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't mind government snooping on your internet usage or phone or personal effects." "If you have nothing to hide, then you politicians shouldn't fear wikileaks or other online press."
Correct. And when I tell people I refused to let the TX Homeland Security search my car's trunk, they think I'm wacko. No. I am trying to stop the inexorable march towards the society described in 1984. Never, ever, never consent to a search of your car, your home, your laptop, or your person/papers/effects. "No warrant; No search." - ACLU of DC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLpSY8d3gRc
Also worthy of watching is the "Don't Talk To Police" video uploaded by a law professor and a Virginia cop. A lot of people have spent 20-30 years in jail, because they said the wrong thing to a cop, and it was used to convict an innocent person.
>>>Why don't they take this one step further and start scanning records from the wireless carrier?
They can. Read the recently-passed Financial Reform bill which gives police new powers to obtain records/user logs from any US-ISP and not need a warrant for either the user, or the company. They can just walk-in, take what they want, and walk out. They also have this same power with banks.
Thank you Democrat Congress of 2007-2010. Thank you Republicans for cooperating. Thank you for reaffirming that you are in fact ONE party, merely with different divisions.
It's probably a bad idea to put a lot of information into a cellphone anyway. It's too easy to lose, or get pickpocketed. I'd rather keep my information secure in my house and only use the phone's storage sparingly (or not at all).
BTW in the UK refusal to provide a password or passkey to decode an encrypted device is punishable with several years in jail. You have no right to remain silent in the UK, and it's beginning to look like the US is headed down the same path.
Here's what a German pastor said after he was released from a Nazi jail cell:
"It was the year 1933, and the people who were put in the camps then were Communists [and drug dealers]. Who cared about them?..... Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables. I remember a conversation I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: 'Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money, they are just a burden to themselves and to others.'..... The persecution of the Jews, the way we treated the occupied countries, or the things in Greece, in Poland, in Czechoslovakia or in Holland, that were written about in the newspapers.
"I ask myself again and again, what would have happened if, in the year 1933 or 1934 - all Protestant communities in Germany had defended the truth until their deaths? If we had said back then, it is not right when Hermann Göring simply puts 100,000 Communists [and drug dealers] in the concentration camps, in order to let them die. I can imagine that perhaps Protestant Christians would have had their heads cut off, but I can also imagine that we would have rescued 10 million people, because that is what it is costing us now."
Cops don't know the difference. They might even say "Well that iPad is LIKE a phone," and justify scanning it for porn or whatever else they want to nail you with.
I have DSL at home. And high-speed at work. Only when I'm stuck in a hotel do I have to downgrade to dialup. So when I'm at home (or work) I watch an episode off syfy.com
>>> it's about stifling an alternative distribution network.
Is that why I have to wait 30 days before I can see the latest SGU or Caprica episode on syfy.com? Yep. Well if they think I'm going to pay to subscribe to Comcast and Syfy Channel, then they can just think again. I can wait a long, long time until I can see it for free or cheap (DVD rental).
You said no such thing. You claimed the price "has nothing to do with cost" as if pricing is pulled out of thin air. That is false. The price is set by company vs. company competition that slowly-but-surely drives it down to the level of actual cost for said product.
I don't know why you are surprised. Not all plans include unlimited texting. VirginMobile used to have a "Texter's Delight" plan for ~2 pennies per text, but they eliminated it cause they claimed to be losing money. I honestly don't see how. I suspect an untruth.
>>>The value of a text message is what ever the customer will pay for it. It has nothing at all to do with cost.
That's only true to a point. As companies compete with one another, the tendency will be for Company 1 to drop the price to 15 cents/text. Company 2 will undercut them and drop it to 10 cents. Company 3 will observe this and say, "We can beat all of you," and drop it to 5 cents. Eventually competitive price pressure will lower the customer's fee to just above the actual cost. Say... 1/10th of a penny.
The Scotsman Smith called this the invisible hand.
If you read the website (I linked to it), the author says texting costs 109 cents per kilobyte sent. But Verizon's data cost is only.015 cents per kilobyte. So do some quick math and it's a HUGE markup in cost. 109 divided by.015 == 7300 markup according to the website.
Actually that's not correct. It's actually a 109/.015 times 100 == 730,000% markup. And also my math says Verizon Data costs $40/5 gigabyte == 0.0008 cents per kilobyte. But it doesn't really matter. The point is the amount charged for sending 160 characters is ridiculous. It should be a fraction of a penny not 20 cents. Even Congress noticed this and did an investigation for possible price collusion between the companies: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10037221-38.html
Software should be free. Texts should be free. Free, free, free (or almost free).
"When phones are on, they are ALWAYS connected to the cell phone tower. The phones and cell phone towers exchange little packets worth of information back and forth so when ever a call comes it, they can find you straight away. Can anyone guess how big the packets are? If you guess 160 characters, you are right." In other words they are charging for a service that should be free, because the phone and tower are *already sending* Texts to one another. It costs nothing for the company to append that Text to the outgoing packet.
To summarize: Phones are "texting" towers constantly as part of the cellular standard. The appending of a personal message costs nothing extra for the company. The rates are outrageously high for the minuscule data passed.
I don't understand what the big deal is about Cellphone plugs? Every appliance I own has a different plug. My two laptops have different plugs. My Sears brand versus GE brand toasters have different plugs. Ditto my various computers (a PC cord does not fit an Amiga), and game consoles (can't use a Sony plug with a Nintendo), and portables (PSP and DS charge differently).
What is so special about cellphones that politicians have to mandate a "standard plug" while all the other appliances use a wide variety of shapes and styles. Seems like a bureaucrat trying to justify his existence & paycheck.
Opening my car's trunk and letting the cops rifle through the luggage? Walk into the concentration camp like a 1940s American who had a grandfather who was japanese? I would feel like a slave if I did that. Might as well get on my knees and polish the cop's penal knob.
Slashdot Mirror
>>>Why didn't you list out those titles that you found at $20-$55 like you did with the iPhone titles?
Because that wasn't his point. If you read the NEXT paragraph (which I suspect you did not), he says the titles from "traditional" developers will continue to be 30-60 dollars but they will need to compete against those 1-5 dollar games, programs, et cetera from iOS competitors. Therefore the expensive titles will be largely skipped-over by customers looking for a bargain.
Basically it's the "invisible hand" in action, driving down prices.
>>>space opera
Yeah but you can't label Harry Potter in 2100 AD a space opera can you? It's 'future fantasy' which is an all-encompassing term that includes both HP of the Future and Star Wars.
"Rules do not include any clauses restricting freedom of speech"
So why do I need to get a license before I can speak on my blog? That alone implies a restriction (no licence - no blog permitted).
>>>Yeah, we should stop them from regulating anything
Strawman argument. He did not say the government should not regulate all things - only that speech should not be regulated. Nor did he say the world is black-and-white, and that one must always assume the extremist viewpoint without nuance..... as you have done.
>>>2010 was a dogs breakfast
The movie was lousy, but how was the book? Good I hope.
I didn't think 2061 was terrible. Pretty standard fare for the SF of its day.
Never read 3001.
>>>homeschooled idiots
Top of the spelling bee.
Top of the geography bee.
Top in their college classes.
I think "idiots" is a poor choice of words. In fact most of the great people in history were homeschooled. And I'm not sure why you bring-up "rapture" - what's that have to do with anything?
>>>Sci-Fi, and then we have Sci-Fantasy
I've started calling it Science-based Fiction versus Futuristic Fantasy (like Star Wars). A lot of people call stuff set in the future "sci-fi" even if there's not an ounce of science in it. If Harry Potter had been set in the year 2100 instead of now, would people be calling that science fiction too? Most likely. That's silly.
Oh look! I have an Anonymous Coward stalking me. He collects my posts like I collect nudie pics. And no it's not theft.
I paid $530 for the phone in that example.
Sounds like a good argument Not to use cloud software. Keep your documents stored in your home where you have constitutional protection, rather than on GoogleDocs or MSNdoc or AppleDocs where cops/FBI/DHS can snoop anytime they feel like it.
In fact, I think I'll yank my resume and other documents off yahoomail later tonight.
Right, because nobody who is innocent ever gets arrested or jailed. (sarcasm) BTW that saying works both ways: "If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't mind government snooping on your internet usage or phone or personal effects." "If you have nothing to hide, then you politicians shouldn't fear wikileaks or other online press."
Correct.
And when I tell people I refused to let the TX Homeland Security search my car's trunk, they think I'm wacko. No. I am trying to stop the inexorable march towards the society described in 1984. Never, ever, never consent to a search of your car, your home, your laptop, or your person/papers/effects. "No warrant; No search." - ACLU of DC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLpSY8d3gRc
Also worthy of watching is the "Don't Talk To Police" video uploaded by a law professor and a Virginia cop. A lot of people have spent 20-30 years in jail, because they said the wrong thing to a cop, and it was used to convict an innocent person.
>>>Why don't they take this one step further and start scanning records from the wireless carrier?
They can. Read the recently-passed Financial Reform bill which gives police new powers to obtain records/user logs from any US-ISP and not need a warrant for either the user, or the company. They can just walk-in, take what they want, and walk out. They also have this same power with banks.
Thank you Democrat Congress of 2007-2010. Thank you Republicans for cooperating. Thank you for reaffirming that you are in fact ONE party, merely with different divisions.
It's probably a bad idea to put a lot of information into a cellphone anyway. It's too easy to lose, or get pickpocketed. I'd rather keep my information secure in my house and only use the phone's storage sparingly (or not at all).
BTW in the UK refusal to provide a password or passkey to decode an encrypted device is punishable with several years in jail. You have no right to remain silent in the UK, and it's beginning to look like the US is headed down the same path.
Here's what a German pastor said after he was released from a Nazi jail cell:
"It was the year 1933, and the people who were put in the camps then were Communists [and drug dealers]. Who cared about them? ..... Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables. I remember a conversation I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: 'Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money, they are just a burden to themselves and to others.' ..... The persecution of the Jews, the way we treated the occupied countries, or the things in Greece, in Poland, in Czechoslovakia or in Holland, that were written about in the newspapers.
"I ask myself again and again, what would have happened if, in the year 1933 or 1934 - all Protestant communities in Germany had defended the truth until their deaths? If we had said back then, it is not right when Hermann Göring simply puts 100,000 Communists [and drug dealers] in the concentration camps, in order to let them die. I can imagine that perhaps Protestant Christians would have had their heads cut off, but I can also imagine that we would have rescued 10 million people, because that is what it is costing us now."
Pastor Martin Niemöller
Cops don't know the difference. They might even say "Well that iPad is LIKE a phone," and justify scanning it for porn or whatever else they want to nail you with.
I have DSL at home.
And high-speed at work.
Only when I'm stuck in a hotel do I have to downgrade to dialup. So when I'm at home (or work) I watch an episode off syfy.com
>>> it's about stifling an alternative distribution network.
Is that why I have to wait 30 days before I can see the latest SGU or Caprica episode on syfy.com? Yep. Well if they think I'm going to pay to subscribe to Comcast and Syfy Channel, then they can just think again. I can wait a long, long time until I can see it for free or cheap (DVD rental).
You said no such thing. You claimed the price "has nothing to do with cost" as if pricing is pulled out of thin air. That is false. The price is set by company vs. company competition that slowly-but-surely drives it down to the level of actual cost for said product.
>>>When i had to switch in the UK from analog, there was no charge made on SMS.
Precisely.
SMS texting used to be free because it didn't cost the company anything.
Now it isn't.
I don't know why you are surprised.
Not all plans include unlimited texting. VirginMobile used to have a "Texter's Delight" plan for ~2 pennies per text, but they eliminated it cause they claimed to be losing money. I honestly don't see how. I suspect an untruth.
>>>The value of a text message is what ever the customer will pay for it. It has nothing at all to do with cost.
That's only true to a point. As companies compete with one another, the tendency will be for Company 1 to drop the price to 15 cents/text. Company 2 will undercut them and drop it to 10 cents. Company 3 will observe this and say, "We can beat all of you," and drop it to 5 cents. Eventually competitive price pressure will lower the customer's fee to just above the actual cost. Say... 1/10th of a penny.
The Scotsman Smith called this the invisible hand.
If you read the website (I linked to it), the author says texting costs 109 cents per kilobyte sent. But Verizon's data cost is only .015 cents per kilobyte. So do some quick math and it's a HUGE markup in cost. 109 divided by .015 == 7300 markup according to the website.
Actually that's not correct. It's actually a 109/.015 times 100 == 730,000% markup.
And also my math says Verizon Data costs $40/5 gigabyte == 0.0008 cents per kilobyte.
But it doesn't really matter.
The point is the amount charged for sending 160 characters is ridiculous. It should be a fraction of a penny not 20 cents. Even Congress noticed this and did an investigation for possible price collusion between the companies: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10037221-38.html
Software should be free.
Texts should be free.
Free, free, free (or almost free).
"When phones are on, they are ALWAYS connected to the cell phone tower. The phones and cell phone towers exchange little packets worth of information back and forth so when ever a call comes it, they can find you straight away. Can anyone guess how big the packets are? If you guess 160 characters, you are right." In other words they are charging for a service that should be free, because the phone and tower are *already sending* Texts to one another. It costs nothing for the company to append that Text to the outgoing packet.
"When you think of it on a kilobyte level it costs us $1.09 per text message Kilobyte. The markup for costs is 7300%." So using an typical 2000 messages/month, that's just 320,000 characters or 0.00032 gigabytes. It shouldn't cost 25 dollars (what VirginMobile charges me). Continued here: http://www.spoiledtechie.com/post/The-Actual-Cost-of-Texting2c-Short-Codes-and-a-731425-Mark-up.aspx and here: http://www.google.com/search?q=cost+of+texting
To summarize: Phones are "texting" towers constantly as part of the cellular standard.
The appending of a personal message costs nothing extra for the company.
The rates are outrageously high for the minuscule data passed.
I don't understand what the big deal is about Cellphone plugs? Every appliance I own has a different plug. My two laptops have different plugs. My Sears brand versus GE brand toasters have different plugs. Ditto my various computers (a PC cord does not fit an Amiga), and game consoles (can't use a Sony plug with a Nintendo), and portables (PSP and DS charge differently).
What is so special about cellphones that politicians have to mandate a "standard plug" while all the other appliances use a wide variety of shapes and styles. Seems like a bureaucrat trying to justify his existence & paycheck.
Opening my car's trunk and letting the cops rifle through the luggage?
Walk into the concentration camp like a 1940s American who had a grandfather who was japanese?
I would feel like a slave if I did that. Might as well get on my knees and polish the cop's penal knob.