I watched the driver in front of me smash his car through a fence into someone's backyard. He'd been on the phone. If someone had been in the way at the time, they'd be dead.
So someone else being too stupid to pull their car over to talk on the phone means I can't be trusted to pull over before answering, or have someone else answer for me? I won't be able to use my phone's GPS to direct me to where I'm going? I can't use a handsfree set?
Well hey, some people yell fire in crowded theaters, so therefore I think we should gag everyone everywhere. Some idiots choke on solid foods, so clearly we need to ban solid foods etc.
I said nothing of the kind, only that you should read agreements before signing them. The section that talks about indoor wireless service is not written in any form of legalese and should be easy enough to comprehend for anybody that is capable of reading the written word.
No, what you said was "Did you even bother to read the contract you signed," implying that he should have read the contract, when the most important bits are, in fact, intentionally obscured, and if you're buying any cell phone you're agreeing to basically the same things.
That section was written plainly, but that was also one of the least important parts of it for the consumer: it should be obvious.
Indeed, who does say this is a left-leaning website? If submissions tend to be left-leaning and comments tend to be left leaning, that might indicate most users here are left-leaning. The question then is not "Why is slashdot left-leaning" but "Why aren't there more right-leaning people coming to slashdot?"
Too few fat men crying into a camera about how the parts of the constitution they like are being ignored while the parts they don't like aren't being changed?
Windows retains a lot of very insecure backwards compatibility cruft
"Oh, geez, I guess I can support that. I mean I did before, so it must be up to my own standards, but I'm so stupid that doesn't mean much. Oh god, I just get so nervous about people not liking me because of some backwards compatability issue... and then I eat my feelings away by taking up more and more ram..."
Did you even bother to read the contract you signed?
You make it sound like reading through a contract is trivial, and what is written is reasonable because it is written. The things are ubiquitous and intentionally incomprehensible. Every time I've tried to read such service contracts, what I've come away with is "We reserve the right to do whatever we want, and by buying a cell phone you agree to this."
Especially when it does, in fact, have extra frills and features!
John Doe also provides a small paper-based address book and a pen for storing contacts. They can be slid into the back of the phone. Other features include a 1200 mAh battery with three weeks stand-by time, a single ringtone, speed dial with enough memory to store ten numbers and a hands-free kit
If I were going to have the "worlds simplest phone", I would want it to have buttons, reciever and speaker, service, a battery, a place to charge up the battery, be nearly indestructible, and nothing else. A pen and paper pad on the back is a physical frill that would actually annoy me as the case fails to close, the pad and pen get lost, and add space to it.
The manual would be one sheet with one line:
"To make a call, dial the number and push the green button. To hang up, push the red button. When the phone no longer works, plug it into a wall."
I know that if there was a simple phone number to call, and all I had to do is call in and say "Hi, I live here, don't bring me a phonebook, thanks" I would do that and be done with it.
I haven't tried to opt out of a phone book because when they come to my apartment complex, it's pretty clear they would give me one no matter what. The phone book looks like it's about 50% ads so it's either free to the company or they actually make money. They undoubtedly give a high school kid a stack to drop on every door as well. Some of my neighbors never picked up their phone book, 6 months later a new phone book was delivered on top of the old one. If an old rotting phone book doesn't tell them to stop delivering a phone book, I doubt an opt out is going to do anything.
I too could not get through that small old wall of text. They sould have broken it up into millimeter sized paragraphs. Maybe I'll have my browser read it out loud with the volume set really really low.
The current method of doing that (child porn) was creeping out even the Evil Organization to Neuter the Internet, so they decided to buy a less disgusting alternative.
The truth is that the security theater has been embraced by both parties.
Yes, it gets votes because the voters are gullible and apathetic about the privacy concerns. Talking about partisan politics misses the point and the cause, which is the voters. A party that embraces security theater has an advantage over a party that doesn't when so few people are thinking critically about it. It's like how both parties enjoy little plastic flags: no one is really opposed to it, so they both do it. As long as that's true, no party is going to be voted in that is opposed to security theater or crap like this.
Blame the voters instead. Politicians, parties and governments aren't going to stand up for their rights if voters don't.
Why surgically? This could easily be worn all the time like a collar.
Two potential reasons, neither great:
1. Honesty. With it surgically implanted, you -know- it's going to stay on him. He can't take it off to go to a whorehouse in Mexico, for example. That said, he could easily say it malfunctioned during that time, and anyway, who cares if he does?
2. Other people can't easily compel him to take it off. In theory anyway. When entering the country, he'll get to photograph that holy sanctum of customs that no one else is allowed to (since if terrorists knew what color the carpet was in those places, they'd totally win.) At least until customs agents arrest him and take the memory card and then detain him for a year suspecting he has a bomb surgically implanted.
I'd settle for getting rid of websites that insist you use internet explorer version 6 or above. I mean, sure we all know how much better IE6 or above is than any other browser out there, and how if you use anything other than internet explorer, you're asking for identity theft...
Actual reason for braile on drive up ATMs: it's cheaper to make one model of ATM buttons and have some that don't get fully used than to make two molds for ATM keys, one without braille. To use the analogy backwards from how I originally heard it, it's like male nipples. Nipples start developing before sex determination, and it's simpler just to leave them there but unused than to come up with a system to remove them in males.
I agree. Vending machines are everywhere in Tokyo. You'll find a row of vending machines across the street from a row of vending machines, you then walk around the corner and there will be another row of vending machines. Vending machines equipped with this have tripled sales, you can't tell me that's new customers. Look at sales from surrounding, normal vending machines (and there will be other vending machines nearby.) They'll have decreased sales: people who were going to buy a drink bought it from that one because of the gimmick.
If a company were to put this on all of their vending machines they'd do more business, until their competitors put it on theirs, at which point no one would see increased sales, just increased prices, and with capitalism the way it is in Japan, I'm guessing it's really only one or two competing vending machines in most areas.
Regardless of your age, sex, or other characteristics, the machines always produce a beverage almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
Or actual green tea, which you find in more vending machines than plain water over there. There are in fact vending machines which serve nothing but various brands of green tea. It will be funny if and when they put this technology on those machines. "Determining height and weight.... calculating drink demographics... comparing to available products... suggestion: buy some green tea or GTFO."
I am a little surprised that there's not already a story about how this will lead to massive privacy breaches. Whether that's because facebook is getting better about privacy, getting better about avoiding bad press about privacy breaches, or whether that's because everyone who would have written an article about the privacy breaches gave up assuming anything facebook does will have the same effect, I don't know.
A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.
I found myself surprised that Palestine is so easy to troll. Then I was even more surprised that I was surprised even for a second.
Many in this conservative Muslim town say that isn't enough, and suggested he should be killed for renouncing Islam. Even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.
I have never respected trolls before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. If he does get executed, someone should really saint him. Pastafarians maybe.
The 2 parties have primary goals is to oppose whatever the other proposes...except for going to war !
I believe "pretend terrorists are attacking us because of envy of our 'freedom' rather than our foreign policy, and pretend that we can stop them by sacrificing your rights" is the other movement with broad bipartisan support (bipartisan among the elected, that is).
The Democrats have proven themselves to be just as guilty in this regard so please refrain from the partisianship.
I think the summary implied partisanship, not actual ideological differences, could kill this. Maybe the atmosphere will be calmer now, but I suspect if Obama were to endorse trickle down economics, prayer in schools, and outlawing abortion, some republicans would try to block it out of pure spite.
Slashdot Mirror
I watched the driver in front of me smash his car through a fence into someone's backyard. He'd been on the phone. If someone had been in the way at the time, they'd be dead.
So someone else being too stupid to pull their car over to talk on the phone means I can't be trusted to pull over before answering, or have someone else answer for me? I won't be able to use my phone's GPS to direct me to where I'm going? I can't use a handsfree set?
Well hey, some people yell fire in crowded theaters, so therefore I think we should gag everyone everywhere. Some idiots choke on solid foods, so clearly we need to ban solid foods etc.
I said nothing of the kind, only that you should read agreements before signing them. The section that talks about indoor wireless service is not written in any form of legalese and should be easy enough to comprehend for anybody that is capable of reading the written word.
No, what you said was "Did you even bother to read the contract you signed," implying that he should have read the contract, when the most important bits are, in fact, intentionally obscured, and if you're buying any cell phone you're agreeing to basically the same things.
That section was written plainly, but that was also one of the least important parts of it for the consumer: it should be obvious.
Indeed, who does say this is a left-leaning website? If submissions tend to be left-leaning and comments tend to be left leaning, that might indicate most users here are left-leaning. The question then is not "Why is slashdot left-leaning" but "Why aren't there more right-leaning people coming to slashdot?"
Too few fat men crying into a camera about how the parts of the constitution they like are being ignored while the parts they don't like aren't being changed?
Windows retains a lot of very insecure backwards compatibility cruft
"Oh, geez, I guess I can support that. I mean I did before, so it must be up to my own standards, but I'm so stupid that doesn't mean much. Oh god, I just get so nervous about people not liking me because of some backwards compatability issue... and then I eat my feelings away by taking up more and more ram..."
year of linux on the desktop is YOU.
Did you even bother to read the contract you signed?
You make it sound like reading through a contract is trivial, and what is written is reasonable because it is written. The things are ubiquitous and intentionally incomprehensible. Every time I've tried to read such service contracts, what I've come away with is "We reserve the right to do whatever we want, and by buying a cell phone you agree to this."
Especially when it does, in fact, have extra frills and features!
John Doe also provides a small paper-based address book and a pen for storing contacts. They can be slid into the back of the phone. Other features include a 1200 mAh battery with three weeks stand-by time, a single ringtone, speed dial with enough memory to store ten numbers and a hands-free kit
If I were going to have the "worlds simplest phone", I would want it to have buttons, reciever and speaker, service, a battery, a place to charge up the battery, be nearly indestructible, and nothing else. A pen and paper pad on the back is a physical frill that would actually annoy me as the case fails to close, the pad and pen get lost, and add space to it.
The manual would be one sheet with one line:
"To make a call, dial the number and push the green button. To hang up, push the red button. When the phone no longer works, plug it into a wall."
I know that if there was a simple phone number to call, and all I had to do is call in and say "Hi, I live here, don't bring me a phonebook, thanks" I would do that and be done with it.
I haven't tried to opt out of a phone book because when they come to my apartment complex, it's pretty clear they would give me one no matter what. The phone book looks like it's about 50% ads so it's either free to the company or they actually make money. They undoubtedly give a high school kid a stack to drop on every door as well. Some of my neighbors never picked up their phone book, 6 months later a new phone book was delivered on top of the old one. If an old rotting phone book doesn't tell them to stop delivering a phone book, I doubt an opt out is going to do anything.
As requested, I am writing up a cease and desist letter telling microlith to cease and desist ceasing or desisting to buy an iphone.
I too could not get through that small old wall of text. They sould have broken it up into millimeter sized paragraphs. Maybe I'll have my browser read it out loud with the volume set really really low.
True. We should work on lopping off all of our senators' hands and giving them all laryngitis the day of the vote.
The current method of doing that (child porn) was creeping out even the Evil Organization to Neuter the Internet, so they decided to buy a less disgusting alternative.
The truth is that the security theater has been embraced by both parties.
Yes, it gets votes because the voters are gullible and apathetic about the privacy concerns. Talking about partisan politics misses the point and the cause, which is the voters. A party that embraces security theater has an advantage over a party that doesn't when so few people are thinking critically about it. It's like how both parties enjoy little plastic flags: no one is really opposed to it, so they both do it. As long as that's true, no party is going to be voted in that is opposed to security theater or crap like this.
Blame the voters instead. Politicians, parties and governments aren't going to stand up for their rights if voters don't.
That summary and article didn't report the .mil or .gov traffic.
I guess we just assumed it was only youtube videos or pokes on facebook.
Why surgically? This could easily be worn all the time like a collar.
Two potential reasons, neither great:
1. Honesty. With it surgically implanted, you -know- it's going to stay on him. He can't take it off to go to a whorehouse in Mexico, for example. That said, he could easily say it malfunctioned during that time, and anyway, who cares if he does?
2. Other people can't easily compel him to take it off. In theory anyway. When entering the country, he'll get to photograph that holy sanctum of customs that no one else is allowed to (since if terrorists knew what color the carpet was in those places, they'd totally win.) At least until customs agents arrest him and take the memory card and then detain him for a year suspecting he has a bomb surgically implanted.
Oops, how could I forget about USB drive nipple piercings?
I'd settle for getting rid of websites that insist you use internet explorer version 6 or above. I mean, sure we all know how much better IE6 or above is than any other browser out there, and how if you use anything other than internet explorer, you're asking for identity theft...
Actual reason for braile on drive up ATMs: it's cheaper to make one model of ATM buttons and have some that don't get fully used than to make two molds for ATM keys, one without braille. To use the analogy backwards from how I originally heard it, it's like male nipples. Nipples start developing before sex determination, and it's simpler just to leave them there but unused than to come up with a system to remove them in males.
I agree. Vending machines are everywhere in Tokyo. You'll find a row of vending machines across the street from a row of vending machines, you then walk around the corner and there will be another row of vending machines. Vending machines equipped with this have tripled sales, you can't tell me that's new customers. Look at sales from surrounding, normal vending machines (and there will be other vending machines nearby.) They'll have decreased sales: people who were going to buy a drink bought it from that one because of the gimmick.
If a company were to put this on all of their vending machines they'd do more business, until their competitors put it on theirs, at which point no one would see increased sales, just increased prices, and with capitalism the way it is in Japan, I'm guessing it's really only one or two competing vending machines in most areas.
Regardless of your age, sex, or other characteristics, the machines always produce a beverage almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
Or actual green tea, which you find in more vending machines than plain water over there. There are in fact vending machines which serve nothing but various brands of green tea. It will be funny if and when they put this technology on those machines. "Determining height and weight.... calculating drink demographics... comparing to available products... suggestion: buy some green tea or GTFO."
Is anyone surprised?
I am a little surprised that there's not already a story about how this will lead to massive privacy breaches. Whether that's because facebook is getting better about privacy, getting better about avoiding bad press about privacy breaches, or whether that's because everyone who would have written an article about the privacy breaches gave up assuming anything facebook does will have the same effect, I don't know.
Oracle recently acquired the rights to chisels and stone tablets, but quills and papyrus are yet another alternative.
A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.
I found myself surprised that Palestine is so easy to troll. Then I was even more surprised that I was surprised even for a second.
Many in this conservative Muslim town say that isn't enough, and suggested he should be killed for renouncing Islam. Even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.
I have never respected trolls before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. If he does get executed, someone should really saint him. Pastafarians maybe.
The 2 parties have primary goals is to oppose whatever the other proposes...except for going to war !
I believe "pretend terrorists are attacking us because of envy of our 'freedom' rather than our foreign policy, and pretend that we can stop them by sacrificing your rights" is the other movement with broad bipartisan support (bipartisan among the elected, that is).
The Democrats have proven themselves to be just as guilty in this regard so please refrain from the partisianship.
I think the summary implied partisanship, not actual ideological differences, could kill this. Maybe the atmosphere will be calmer now, but I suspect if Obama were to endorse trickle down economics, prayer in schools, and outlawing abortion, some republicans would try to block it out of pure spite.