As a direct result of the renewables, the cost of power in South Australia is one of the most expensive rates in the world. I commonly have power bills exceeding ~US$300 per month.
There is a lot of dissatisfaction from many people over on the Oculus forums due to lack of information and shipping delays. Many who ordered within the first 48 hours after orders opened on March 19th have not received units or even an update other than "we're working real hard to ship orders as quickly as possible".
Based on comments from the forums, information given about how many were sold how quickly and feedback from the oculus forums, about the only way they could claim that 20k were shipped is if they were shipped from the manufacturer to the distribution centers, not the customers.
Oculus has had my money from March 20th and I'm yet to receive any kind of shipping confirmation. They did not sell 20k in the first 24 hours.
Good grief, I think most of you mustn't have even read the article.
It's Opt-out. The only people affected by this are the ones who don't have the authority to opt-out... ie: under 18s. While kids are under the protection of their parents, it is up to the parents to decide if they are happy for their children to be able to access pornography.
Sure, some of the smarter kids will bypass it but just because the filters will occasionally be ineffective doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I don't want my kids viewing porn intentionally or unintentionally until I deem it is time to remove those filters. I am responsible for the well being of my children and it is my responsibility that they come to no harm while using the internet.
I own one of DLO's TransPods. I have used it lots despite its flaws simply because there is nothing better out there. I have found that although the TransPod is good in theory it has the following problems:
The mounting system puts too much stress on your car's power socket. In one car the socket actually came out with the TransPod and had to be repaired.
The mounting system is poor and too inflexible as far as layout is concerned. I have tried it in a Subaru Outback (Legacy), Nissan Pathfinder, Holden Monaro (Pontiac GTO) and Mazda 121 and none have sufficient room to mount the TransPod without it flying all over the place when going around corners. The best one has been the outback where I can wedge it between the dashboard and the cupholder.
The power supply is not suffiently filtered to allow use without having interference from the car's alternator
The output volume is very very low compared to radio stations (as it draws from line out, the iPod volume control has no effect)
Now that it is out of warranty I may open it up and try and "fix" the problems myself by replacing the power supply with a filtered one and boosting the output volume pre-transmission to improve the signal to noise ratio.
Because it is surprising that BigPond is doing anything proactive in the customer support area given its horrible customer service track record. Although, I guess their goal is to save money, not help its customers.
Personally, I'd have to think twice before buying another HP device. Since Compaq was bought, their support has gone down the toilet IMHO. (Except for their oh-so-valuable corporate customers)
I've had a 6820 for about 4 months now and I can honestly say that it has reduced my phone bill as far as calls are concerned. The downside that my costs for messaging and data have skyrocketed because I'm sending heaps of text messages and spending heaps of time on IRC using WLirc. It certainly has the geek factor to be on the bus or train using IRC.
As far as email goes, I havn't tried it because it seems that the IMAP4 client for the phone is broken. I'm still able to check my mail via IMAP4 on my Pocket PC when connected via the phone using Bluetooth.
The keyboard is excellent for it's size but I fear about getting RSI in my thumbs.:)
I certainly get a lot of looks when I whip it out and fold the keyboard open. It is highly common to get the "what on earth is that?!?" comment from some... ahhh back to the days when I had my first US Robotics Pilot 5000 and the continual praise heaped upon one for having such a unique device.
I find that I'm almost never using my Pocket PC anymore because I can download all my calendar, contacts, etc into this one.
I don't believe the US version has the Blackberry client but the Australian version sure does. I'm hesitent to get it activated because of the AU$50 (US$35) per month fee that Telstra charge.
This is a massive leap ahead over the 6800 and when Nokia inevitably release a followup to this one I'm not hesitating in getting it.
Things I'd love to see in the next iteration of this phone:
Series 60 OS (and the associated higher resolution screen)
I read Angst Technology every day, in fact, when I started reading it I spent the good part of 3 hours reading all the strips from when it started.
No matter which way you look at this cartoon it is damn funny. Most people in the IT industry will get the jokes. As far as reusing whole cells is concerned I don't think it happens. He may reuse drawings of individual characters but I have not noticed and has not detracted from how good the strip is.
I find it just as funny as User Friendly but with better cartooning.
Friends on the edge make it difficult to say no.
on
Helping Your Ex-Employer?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I worked for 14 months for a friend of the family. They guy's business wasn't going so well so he had to lay me off. (I looked at the books, they were really against the wall) I was upset at this, especially concidering I was getting married less than 2 months later, so I had more right than most people to be highly critical of him in the future.
Having said that, I still call him a friend and he does have a lot of contacts in the industry that will help me in the future. So I do a bit of help here and there, including emergencies when the server goes down or he needs some DNS records changed etc.
In my previous 5 jobs, I have maintained a good friendship with my ex-employer and benefited from it.
The point I am trying to make is that the only thing that will benefit if you refuse your ex-employer is your ego and that is only in the short term. Being nice to your ex-employer can result in better references (ie: when you are looking for work) and perhaps even recommendations to industry friends. Think long term and get the most out of the situation.
Okay here is what happened: The Australian government gave Telstra and Optus permission to install overhead cables without having to gain permission from the local goverments (councils).
The councils wanted to get money out of Telstra and Optus for installing them so they started a big PR campain with the basic aim of getting the general public to not want to have these "ugly cables" destroy the skyline. (Never mind that there were already power cables on those polls). The councils ended up taking Telstra and Optus to court to stop it and in the mean time got protesters to blockade the cable people from doing their job.
The end result was that Telstra and Optus offered the councils about A$20 per power pole but they wanted more so both Telstra and Optus ended up telling the councils where they could put their power poles. (at this stage amost all of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were cabled but Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Hobart and Darwin were not)
The end result: The councils charge their council rates based on the value of the property. They are now finding that the values for the property are going down because of no cables and they are getting less rates because of it. They suffer, the consumer suffers, Telstra and Optus suffers.
Slashdot Mirror
As a direct result of the renewables, the cost of power in South Australia is one of the most expensive rates in the world. I commonly have power bills exceeding ~US$300 per month.
There is a lot of dissatisfaction from many people over on the Oculus forums due to lack of information and shipping delays. Many who ordered within the first 48 hours after orders opened on March 19th have not received units or even an update other than "we're working real hard to ship orders as quickly as possible".
Based on comments from the forums, information given about how many were sold how quickly and feedback from the oculus forums, about the only way they could claim that 20k were shipped is if they were shipped from the manufacturer to the distribution centers, not the customers.
Oculus has had my money from March 20th and I'm yet to receive any kind of shipping confirmation. They did not sell 20k in the first 24 hours.
I drive a 10 year old car that has supercar-class performance with the fuel consumption of an economy car.
The Lotus Elise weighs under 700kg (approx 1500lbs) does 0-100km/h (0-60mph) in about 4.5 seconds and uses only 8.5 liters per 100km (27mpg).
Its not a new idea but its an awesome idea. Imagine adding this level of weight reduction to something like a Toyota Camry or a Subaru Impreza.
Qantas never crash... on linux
Good grief, I think most of you mustn't have even read the article.
It's Opt-out. The only people affected by this are the ones who don't have the authority to opt-out... ie: under 18s. While kids are under the protection of their parents, it is up to the parents to decide if they are happy for their children to be able to access pornography.
Sure, some of the smarter kids will bypass it but just because the filters will occasionally be ineffective doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I don't want my kids viewing porn intentionally or unintentionally until I deem it is time to remove those filters. I am responsible for the well being of my children and it is my responsibility that they come to no harm while using the internet.
- The mounting system puts too much stress on your car's power socket. In one car the socket actually came out with the TransPod and had to be repaired.
- The mounting system is poor and too inflexible as far as layout is concerned. I have tried it in a Subaru Outback (Legacy), Nissan Pathfinder, Holden Monaro (Pontiac GTO) and Mazda 121 and none have sufficient room to mount the TransPod without it flying all over the place when going around corners. The best one has been the outback where I can wedge it between the dashboard and the cupholder.
- The power supply is not suffiently filtered to allow use without having interference from the car's alternator
- The output volume is very very low compared to radio stations (as it draws from line out, the iPod volume control has no effect)
Now that it is out of warranty I may open it up and try and "fix" the problems myself by replacing the power supply with a filtered one and boosting the output volume pre-transmission to improve the signal to noise ratio.Personally, I'd have to think twice before buying another HP device. Since Compaq was bought, their support has gone down the toilet IMHO. (Except for their oh-so-valuable corporate customers)
As far as email goes, I havn't tried it because it seems that the IMAP4 client for the phone is broken. I'm still able to check my mail via IMAP4 on my Pocket PC when connected via the phone using Bluetooth.
The keyboard is excellent for it's size but I fear about getting RSI in my thumbs.
I certainly get a lot of looks when I whip it out and fold the keyboard open. It is highly common to get the "what on earth is that?!?" comment from some... ahhh back to the days when I had my first US Robotics Pilot 5000 and the continual praise heaped upon one for having such a unique device.
I find that I'm almost never using my Pocket PC anymore because I can download all my calendar, contacts, etc into this one.
I don't believe the US version has the Blackberry client but the Australian version sure does. I'm hesitent to get it activated because of the AU$50 (US$35) per month fee that Telstra charge.
This is a massive leap ahead over the 6800 and when Nokia inevitably release a followup to this one I'm not hesitating in getting it.
Things I'd love to see in the next iteration of this phone:
The low points of this phone are:
I have read several times of Lucas stating that he will not be making any more Star Wars films after episodes 1 - 6 are complete.
I do hope he does though, or at least licences someone to.
I read Angst Technology every day, in fact, when I started reading it I spent the good part of 3 hours reading all the strips from when it started.
No matter which way you look at this cartoon it is damn funny. Most people in the IT industry will get the jokes. As far as reusing whole cells is concerned I don't think it happens. He may reuse drawings of individual characters but I have not noticed and has not detracted from how good the strip is.
I find it just as funny as User Friendly but with better cartooning.
I worked for 14 months for a friend of the family. They guy's business wasn't going so well so he had to lay me off. (I looked at the books, they were really against the wall) I was upset at this, especially concidering I was getting married less than 2 months later, so I had more right than most people to be highly critical of him in the future.
Having said that, I still call him a friend and he does have a lot of contacts in the industry that will help me in the future. So I do a bit of help here and there, including emergencies when the server goes down or he needs some DNS records changed etc.
In my previous 5 jobs, I have maintained a good friendship with my ex-employer and benefited from it.
The point I am trying to make is that the only thing that will benefit if you refuse your ex-employer is your ego and that is only in the short term. Being nice to your ex-employer can result in better references (ie: when you are looking for work) and perhaps even recommendations to industry friends. Think long term and get the most out of the situation.
Okay here is what happened:
The Australian government gave Telstra and Optus permission to install overhead cables without having to gain permission from the local goverments (councils).
The councils wanted to get money out of Telstra and Optus for installing them so they started a big PR campain with the basic aim of getting the general public to not want to have these "ugly cables" destroy the skyline. (Never mind that there were already power cables on those polls).
The councils ended up taking Telstra and Optus to court to stop it and in the mean time got protesters to blockade the cable people from doing their job.
The end result was that Telstra and Optus offered the councils about A$20 per power pole but they wanted more so both Telstra and Optus ended up telling the councils where they could put their power poles. (at this stage amost all of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were cabled but Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Hobart and Darwin were not)
The end result: The councils charge their council rates based on the value of the property. They are now finding that the values for the property are going down because of no cables and they are getting less rates because of it. They suffer, the consumer suffers, Telstra and Optus suffers.
-TheScream