GMX, a German ISP and free e-mail service, is offering 1GB for free. Bump that to 5GB for 3 EUR/month or 10GB for 5 EUR/month.
However the fun doesn't end here, as they also offer automatic POP/IMAP e-mail retrieval, custom filters for automatic redirection, SMS/MMS alerts, up to 15 aliases...
Oh, and did I mention you can use your capacity as an iDisk-like network disk and share your files with other GMX members? I think they even have a Windows plug-in to mount your storage account as a network drive in the Explorer.
Alas, AFAIK it's in German only. I for one, welcome our new German overlords...
... until you have seen a Godfrey Ho ninja movie. Godfrey Ho's business plan: 1/ Take random unknown unfinished Asian kungfu movie 2/ Add Western actors in ludicrous ninja suits 3/ Try and connect the two totally disconnected storylines (hilarity ensues) 4/ ??? 5/ Profit!
For starters, Ninja Terminator and Ninja Thunderbolt are true classics. Nothing can beat Richard Harrisson using a Garfield-shaped phone or throwing shuriken at crabs in his kitchen, not to mention Jaguar Wong kicking a 4-inch stone 300 yards away at the baddies;p Words aren't enough to describe them. They aren't mere movies: they are a life-redefining experience. Go rent the DVDs and experience them yourself!
Do not however make fun of ninjas - for they are the one true Real Ultimate Power!
As a Frenchman myself, I have to agree. When I was in high school in Germany, we had French school books (designed by French people to teach French to foreigners) that were basically saying France is not only about pleasure of all kinds, it also is a major hi-tech nation They went on showing major French tech achievements: the TGV (French bullet train), the Airbus, and the Ariane rocket.
Not a single word was spoken about the fact that THREE OTHER NATIONS were involved in the Airbus project, not to mention SIXTEEN in the Ariane project.
On that very day, it finally dawned on me why so many people hated us and yet most of us didn't even know it.
Or consider the French European policy. The French government has grown so used to treating the EU as a modern-day colonial empire that it was shocked when most European governments turned their back to it at the first chance they could get - namely supporting the Iraq war, even though it'd mean contempting international law and alienating voters.
OTOH, quite the same thing can be said about the USA. I guess it is related to the fact both countries consider themselves as models to be followed.
Information Week had an article last week about banks urging IT companies to take security seriously, or else...
Security-related claims are estimated to cost up to $1bn a year to the financial industry. No wonder they were getting pissed.
Which is a good thing, because MS is a 800lb gorilla in the IT industry, but a midget compared to Bank of America or Citigroup. Hence MS has got to listen when their industry-wide e-commerce arm (the BITS) speaks up.
Where I work (Porsche, Germany. Ok, not this large a corporation, but still larger than a mom-and-pop company), using IE is deemed a major security risk and thus forbidden. We are all using Netscape 7 as our main browser.
So yes, sensible corporations have been listening.
I'm not sure publishers will be joining in droves. Yes, this system does extend the commercial lifespan of games, but do they really want it?
Need For Speed: Porsche 2000 runs perfectly on all the (windows) computers I have at home. And it's better than both NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 and NFS: Underground. If I can get it easily online, why would I need to buy NFS: Underground?
Game companies that are living off the "Update roster, add minor upgrade, repackage. Rinse, repeat next year" business model will hate this. Those companies want short product cycles so consumers have to pay the full price every year. No wonder EA is the only major company missing on the Exent service...
Guess what, Europe (and Australia . . . and Canada . ..)? You're next. Don't think for a second that storebought government officials are unique to the US.
About 2 weeks ago, the French Industry minister caused quite a ruckus by officially blaming declining music sales on poor quality, lack of diversity and outrageous prices, exhonarating p2p.
Moreoever, he urged the record industry to move away from the CD and give legal music download sites their chance, instead of clinging to obsolete technology and business models.
Quite a U-turn for our government, as it used to go the usual canned lawsuit route until recently.
I am astounded that the news never made it out of France: wasn'it the first time a G7 government told the record industry to quit whining and adapt? Or was it because the US goverment was too busy surrendering to the RIAA?;p
... until terrorists or pirates start stealing other people's irises to bypass iris scanning devices?
Or maybe I watched Minority Report one time too many...;p
The first advantage of security systems such as passwords or smart cards is that you can change them. Which means that it isn't such a big deal if you happen to lose them, since they can be replaced.
Whoever came up with the idea of scanning the eyes of visitors to the US deserves to have their eyes ripped off with a wooden spoon and then be sent to Gitmo. It does not / will soon not prevent terrorists from entering the US. I only pisses visiting tourists and businessmen off, and will cost hundreds of people their eyes.
You mean...
- that you actually managed to get a GF?
- that you're not afraid to show her that you still live in your parents' basement?
- that your room looks like a room, and not the storage area of a 2nd hand computer store?
Damnit, I'm getting old, slashdot has been changing lately.;p
Yet another GNAA troll. The sig exploit is getting old.
Luckily I happened to be there before he removed the GNAA link in his sig, then watched him put it and pull it back again:D
It is very sad that in the countries I've heard about (France and Germany: I am French but happen to be living in Germany atm), only two parties (the Liberals and the Greens) have a solid European platform.
Those are not mainstream as they usually hover between 5 and 10% of the vote. The larger Socialist and Conservative Parties never seriously dealt with Europe in their campaign - it was rather all about bashing the other party on a strictly national basis. No wonder voter turnout is going to be dismal once again:(
I originally intended to vote for the (German) Liberal Party. Out of habit maybe, since I usually vote for its French sister party, the French Democratic Union (UDF).
Then I saw their voting record on the software patent issue. Screw them, I'm going with the Greens this time.
A previous poster was modded down as offtopic for this, but offtopic it sure was not. Indeed, the Greens are the only party that has consistently opposed any kind of software patents on a European basis. Besides, by voting for the Greens because of software patents, you are also rewarding one of the very few parties that actually care about Europe.
Come to think of it, anyone know what happened to the voting records on the FFII website (http://www.ffii.org.uk/votes/swpat/)?
The URL now returns 404 Errors at this very crucial time!
I think the future is rather networks where hijacked computers on broadband host files (whereby none of them has the entire file). Since the RIAA is going after uploaders, it's only a matter of time before pirates happily transfer legal risks to clueless Joe Sixpack.
This said once this shows up in the mainstream press, everyone is going to go the "hackers ate my homework" route. If this works, I can't wait till the RIAA/MPAA starts suing Microsoft for letting the hijacking happen in the first place. (assuming the **AA will happlily dismiss the legal discharge clauses in Windows' EULA)
If they are going after uploaders, I wonder how long it'll take before a network where all files are being hosted on zombie computers over a hijacked home DSL connection. Call that Bot Torrent or something;p K3v|N B14cKh47 wins. Joe Sixpack loses. Later on, as the trick gets widely known, people use the "crackers ate my homework" defense until either RIAA/MPAA or Microsoft get burned real hard.
I for one know that the friend who's providing me with the latest movies did not pay for his FTP server;)
I wonder what impact it will have on the likelihood of teenagers releasing viruses just to have something to brag about.
As we all know, bragging rights do matter for many a teenager. Yet, if bragging about writing a virus gets you nailed, this might remove an "incentive" to write viruses.
Or will it really? It's not like most teens really cared about risk/reward before doing stupid stuff that they think is "cool";p
Running a bit OT, but the grandparent poster is actually correct. Part of the ethnic conflict in Rwanda is related to the fact that the Belgian government promoted one minority group (Tutsis) at the expense of the majority (Hutus). Actually, those groups were stricly defined by the Belgians themselves, not by the locals. Moreover, the French government did give them guns and train them although it knew they were planning a genocide, and kept doing so after it started. The French government has also been accused of actually protecting the militias when French troops were deployed in the country, instead of civilians as they were supposed to be doing.
The reasons for this are geopolitical: the Tutsi rebellion (and current government) was backed by the US, while the Hutu government at the time was backed by France. Since the French government was deeply scared of losing its influence on its former colonies, it decided to protect it at all and any cost. Even though it meant turning a blind eye, and even lending a hand to the biggest genocide in recent history.
To return a tad more on topic, I doubt the appearance of unlimited energy will end all conflicts. After all, the was nothing worth bothering in Rwanda. No resource whatsoever. You seem to be trying to push back most of the blame on local dictators. Yet, while they sure are responsible for the mismanagement of their countries, the First world is not clear of any moral stain. The sad truth is that as long as they can make up a good excuse, big players will find something to wage war on, and local dictators will always be happy to be their puppets as long as they're paid. After all, W did go to Iraq to remove WMD that he knew did not exist... not to mention that French pride will never be in short supply;p
(btw I'm French, and so must be the grandparent (given his name). So it's not like we were just here to make fun of the frog cowards...)
... is not "gray goo", but the collapse of our economic system.
Think about it. Right now the objective value of music, movies and software is nil. After all, you can get an exact copy for the mere cost of its material substrate (ie at under $1 per Gb, not much).
(now if you really like an artist and are willing to buy the original CD and go to her/his concert to support her/him, this is another matter. But I'm talking about objective value, not subjective value here. Nothing prevents me but morals from downloading her/his works off Kazaa although I do really love them after all!)
Fast forward to 2050. As the first company starts mass-marketing home universal replicators, hardly anyone remembers of those petty cartels known as the **AA. Hardly anyone expects the turmoil ahead.
Just as the **AA failed to realize it was doomed because what the objective value of what it was selling suddenly dropped to zero (or to rather the mere cost of its material substrate, which is -> 0 with infinite recycling), every industrial company on the planet goes Chapter 11 as the concept of rarity vanishes with them.
While the collapse of our current economic system wouldn't necessarily be a Bad Thing, it would definitely be to Big Business and Big Government... Thus I expect such breakthroughs to be swept under the rug in any manner deemed necessary (buy-out, assassination...;p), just as oil companies routinely do.
Or it could happen, provided the **AA manages to pull off a massive and effective DRM scheme which would then be reused to prevent you from building your own Ferrari in your garage for $100 worth of aluminium... or was it your own Flying Anthrax Spreading Device? (sound of black helicopters hovering nearby)
For some reason I don't believe in the technical efficiency of DRM - every Maginot line has its flaw that will eventually be found out. The **AA will die a painful and well-deserved death. To put it in a nutshell, I for one do not yet welcome our new nanobot overlords.
In France where I used to live, crime is high in the suburbs. Living in the city is for the upper middle class.
(well, of course there are some rundown popular areas downtown, and a couple upper middle class suburbs, but you get the picture).
Yes, real estate is more expensive downtown than in suburbia, BUT living next to every theater / museum / school / park / night-club you'll ever need, or going to work without having to get into the damn car every time definitely is worth the premium.
Granted, it is an expensive luxury to live in the city, and many lower middle class families were forced out by rising real estate prices. Yet the reason the upper middle class is still there is that it's so much more convenient to live in the city. I for one cannot even imagine not living there.
And you know what? Maybe the fact that you're never more than 5 minutes away from the underground is the key. Right now I'm living in Stuttgart, Germany, a city of 700,000, and they've got over 20 underground / light rail lines. Even in this relatively small city I know I can be in any other city area within 20 minutes, only through public transportation. In a much larger city such as Paris, one is never more than 30 minutes away from any other city area (unless you're living in a galaxy far, far away). Because city planners did their job right, a car is not needed. (ok I've still got to rent a van whenever I've got to move bulky stuff around but other than that...)
Higher taxes? Maybe. But I'm actually saving money since I don't need a car.
Next time you blatantly copy-paste a post from someone else, please make sure the post you stole from isn't in the very same thread, and already modded up at +5.
And while we're at it please refrain from deleting the link to the original message in a vain attempt to get some free mod points.;p
Apart from the horrendous price tag and the questionable need for suche a device...
... what the hell were they thinking, using legacy ports only? It's not like aiming at an ever shrinking customer base (laptops or Macs come to mind as machines w/o legacy ports) was bad business...;p
Nanotech if it takes off like predicted will basically change society like electricty did.
Want a new car?
br>
Dump some scrap metal in the factory, load up the car image you torrented off the internet last night, and in a few hours you have your new ferrai.
We might start getting beer that is free as in software.:)
If you hated the reaction from the RIAA/MPAA, wait for the reaction of lobbyists for the entire industrial sector.
The objective value of any good is only the cost of making an identical copy. Which, in the case of the home entertainment industry, boils down to the cost of the mere material support, which amounts to jack sh#t nowadays ($.60/GB atm and dropping).
With nanotech, the very same phenomenon will happen: the objective value of every tangible good will drop to virtually nothing - especially with easier-than-ever recycling (which would definitely be a Good Thing). Companies will never manage to recoup development and trial-and-error costs, and might even be eventually replaced with an even larger version of what we currently know as the Open/Free Source movement.
Our entire society, which is based on the concept of scarcity and of a chain of accumulated added value, would crumble instantly.
However, while there have been some individual or short-term cases of utter stupidity among large corporations (SCO anyone?:D), over the long term don't think one single minute they would sell the nano-communists the rope they would use to hang them.
Big Business knows and wants one thing: to keep its current position sustainable.
This is the reason I don't see this happening without some _MASSIVE_ DRM. Digital music is but the very first battle.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for the tip, didn't know about this. They only provide a Windows WebDAV client IIRC.
Good news for the MS-free crowd (/eyes his iBook)...
GMX, a German ISP and free e-mail service, is offering 1GB for free. Bump that to 5GB for 3 EUR/month or 10GB for 5 EUR/month.
However the fun doesn't end here, as they also offer automatic POP/IMAP e-mail retrieval, custom filters for automatic redirection, SMS/MMS alerts, up to 15 aliases...
Oh, and did I mention you can use your capacity as an iDisk-like network disk and share your files with other GMX members? I think they even have a Windows plug-in to mount your storage account as a network drive in the Explorer.
Alas, AFAIK it's in German only. I for one, welcome our new German overlords...
... until you have seen a Godfrey Ho ninja movie.
;p
Godfrey Ho's business plan:
1/ Take random unknown unfinished Asian kungfu movie
2/ Add Western actors in ludicrous ninja suits
3/ Try and connect the two totally disconnected storylines (hilarity ensues)
4/ ???
5/ Profit!
For starters, Ninja Terminator and Ninja Thunderbolt are true classics. Nothing can beat Richard Harrisson using a Garfield-shaped phone or throwing shuriken at crabs in his kitchen, not to mention Jaguar Wong kicking a 4-inch stone 300 yards away at the baddies
Words aren't enough to describe them. They aren't mere movies: they are a life-redefining experience. Go rent the DVDs and experience them yourself!
Do not however make fun of ninjas - for they are the one true Real Ultimate Power!
Why are laptops going widescreen? Shouldnt PCs be streaching the other way.
[...]
What way up to we normally edit a page? Portrait, not landscape.
How about you display two pages at once? It often makes more sense to be able to see odd and even pages together.
Btw this is exactly how Apple markets its widescreen displays.
As a Frenchman myself, I have to agree. When I was in high school in Germany, we had French school books (designed by French people to teach French to foreigners) that were basically saying France is not only about pleasure of all kinds, it also is a major hi-tech nation
They went on showing major French tech achievements: the TGV (French bullet train), the Airbus, and the Ariane rocket.
Not a single word was spoken about the fact that THREE OTHER NATIONS were involved in the Airbus project, not to mention SIXTEEN in the Ariane project.
On that very day, it finally dawned on me why so many people hated us and yet most of us didn't even know it.
Or consider the French European policy. The French government has grown so used to treating the EU as a modern-day colonial empire that it was shocked when most European governments turned their back to it at the first chance they could get - namely supporting the Iraq war, even though it'd mean contempting international law and alienating voters.
OTOH, quite the same thing can be said about the USA. I guess it is related to the fact both countries consider themselves as models to be followed.
To Ken Brown, what matters is not what you give to MS, but what MS gives you! ;p
Information Week had an article last week about banks urging IT companies to take security seriously, or else...
Security-related claims are estimated to cost up to $1bn a year to the financial industry. No wonder they were getting pissed.
Which is a good thing, because MS is a 800lb gorilla in the IT industry, but a midget compared to Bank of America or Citigroup. Hence MS has got to listen when their industry-wide e-commerce arm (the BITS) speaks up.
Where I work (Porsche, Germany. Ok, not this large a corporation, but still larger than a mom-and-pop company), using IE is deemed a major security risk and thus forbidden.
We are all using Netscape 7 as our main browser.
So yes, sensible corporations have been listening.
I'm not sure publishers will be joining in droves. Yes, this system does extend the commercial lifespan of games, but do they really want it?
Need For Speed: Porsche 2000 runs perfectly on all the (windows) computers I have at home. And it's better than both NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 and NFS: Underground. If I can get it easily online, why would I need to buy NFS: Underground?
Game companies that are living off the "Update roster, add minor upgrade, repackage. Rinse, repeat next year" business model will hate this. Those companies want short product cycles so consumers have to pay the full price every year. No wonder EA is the only major company missing on the Exent service...
Guess what, Europe (and Australia . . . and Canada . . .)? You're next. Don't think for a second that storebought government officials are unique to the US.
;p
About 2 weeks ago, the French Industry minister caused quite a ruckus by officially blaming declining music sales on poor quality, lack of diversity and outrageous prices, exhonarating p2p.
Moreoever, he urged the record industry to move away from the CD and give legal music download sites their chance, instead of clinging to obsolete technology and business models. Quite a U-turn for our government, as it used to go the usual canned lawsuit route until recently.
I am astounded that the news never made it out of France: wasn'it the first time a G7 government told the record industry to quit whining and adapt? Or was it because the US goverment was too busy surrendering to the RIAA?
... until terrorists or pirates start stealing other people's irises to bypass iris scanning devices?
;p
Or maybe I watched Minority Report one time too many...
The first advantage of security systems such as passwords or smart cards is that you can change them. Which means that it isn't such a big deal if you happen to lose them, since they can be replaced.
Whoever came up with the idea of scanning the eyes of visitors to the US deserves to have their eyes ripped off with a wooden spoon and then be sent to Gitmo. It does not / will soon not prevent terrorists from entering the US. I only pisses visiting tourists and businessmen off, and will cost hundreds of people their eyes.
Wait a minute...
;p
You mean...
- that you actually managed to get a GF?
- that you're not afraid to show her that you still live in your parents' basement?
- that your room looks like a room, and not the storage area of a 2nd hand computer store?
Damnit, I'm getting old, slashdot has been changing lately.
It's not like trying to con people into clicking a Last Measure link in one's sig counted as real Linux knowledge credentials ;)
Yet another GNAA troll. The sig exploit is getting old. :D
Luckily I happened to be there before he removed the GNAA link in his sig, then watched him put it and pull it back again
His posting history is full of links to GNAA sites.
It is very sad that in the countries I've heard about (France and Germany: I am French but happen to be living in Germany atm), only two parties (the Liberals and the Greens) have a solid European platform. :(
Those are not mainstream as they usually hover between 5 and 10% of the vote. The larger Socialist and Conservative Parties never seriously dealt with Europe in their campaign - it was rather all about bashing the other party on a strictly national basis. No wonder voter turnout is going to be dismal once again
I originally intended to vote for the (German) Liberal Party. Out of habit maybe, since I usually vote for its French sister party, the French Democratic Union (UDF).
Then I saw their voting record on the software patent issue. Screw them, I'm going with the Greens this time.
A previous poster was modded down as offtopic for this, but offtopic it sure was not. Indeed, the Greens are the only party that has consistently opposed any kind of software patents on a European basis. Besides, by voting for the Greens because of software patents, you are also rewarding one of the very few parties that actually care about Europe.
Come to think of it, anyone know what happened to the voting records on the FFII website (http://www.ffii.org.uk/votes/swpat/)?
The URL now returns 404 Errors at this very crucial time!
I think the future is rather networks where hijacked computers on broadband host files (whereby none of them has the entire file). Since the RIAA is going after uploaders, it's only a matter of time before pirates happily transfer legal risks to clueless Joe Sixpack.
This said once this shows up in the mainstream press, everyone is going to go the "hackers ate my homework" route. If this works, I can't wait till the RIAA/MPAA starts suing Microsoft for letting the hijacking happen in the first place.
(assuming the **AA will happlily dismiss the legal discharge clauses in Windows' EULA)
If they are going after uploaders, I wonder how long it'll take before a network where all files are being hosted on zombie computers over a hijacked home DSL connection. Call that Bot Torrent or something ;p
;)
K3v|N B14cKh47 wins. Joe Sixpack loses. Later on, as the trick gets widely known, people use the "crackers ate my homework" defense until either RIAA/MPAA or Microsoft get burned real hard.
I for one know that the friend who's providing me with the latest movies did not pay for his FTP server
I wonder what impact it will have on the likelihood of teenagers releasing viruses just to have something to brag about.
;p
As we all know, bragging rights do matter for many a teenager. Yet, if bragging about writing a virus gets you nailed, this might remove an "incentive" to write viruses.
Or will it really? It's not like most teens really cared about risk/reward before doing stupid stuff that they think is "cool"
Running a bit OT, but the grandparent poster is actually correct. Part of the ethnic conflict in Rwanda is related to the fact that the Belgian government promoted one minority group (Tutsis) at the expense of the majority (Hutus). Actually, those groups were stricly defined by the Belgians themselves, not by the locals.
;p
Moreover, the French government did give them guns and train them although it knew they were planning a genocide, and kept doing so after it started. The French government has also been accused of actually protecting the militias when French troops were deployed in the country, instead of civilians as they were supposed to be doing.
The reasons for this are geopolitical: the Tutsi rebellion (and current government) was backed by the US, while the Hutu government at the time was backed by France. Since the French government was deeply scared of losing its influence on its former colonies, it decided to protect it at all and any cost. Even though it meant turning a blind eye, and even lending a hand to the biggest genocide in recent history.
To return a tad more on topic, I doubt the appearance of unlimited energy will end all conflicts. After all, the was nothing worth bothering in Rwanda. No resource whatsoever.
You seem to be trying to push back most of the blame on local dictators. Yet, while they sure are responsible for the mismanagement of their countries, the First world is not clear of any moral stain.
The sad truth is that as long as they can make up a good excuse, big players will find something to wage war on, and local dictators will always be happy to be their puppets as long as they're paid. After all, W did go to Iraq to remove WMD that he knew did not exist... not to mention that French pride will never be in short supply
(btw I'm French, and so must be the grandparent (given his name). So it's not like we were just here to make fun of the frog cowards...)
... is not "gray goo", but the collapse of our economic system.
;p), just as oil companies routinely do.
Think about it. Right now the objective value of music, movies and software is nil. After all, you can get an exact copy for the mere cost of its material substrate (ie at under $1 per Gb, not much).
(now if you really like an artist and are willing to buy the original CD and go to her/his concert to support her/him, this is another matter. But I'm talking about objective value, not subjective value here. Nothing prevents me but morals from downloading her/his works off Kazaa although I do really love them after all!)
Fast forward to 2050. As the first company starts mass-marketing home universal replicators, hardly anyone remembers of those petty cartels known as the **AA. Hardly anyone expects the turmoil ahead.
Just as the **AA failed to realize it was doomed because what the objective value of what it was selling suddenly dropped to zero (or to rather the mere cost of its material substrate, which is -> 0 with infinite recycling), every industrial company on the planet goes Chapter 11 as the concept of rarity vanishes with them.
While the collapse of our current economic system wouldn't necessarily be a Bad Thing, it would definitely be to Big Business and Big Government... Thus I expect such breakthroughs to be swept under the rug in any manner deemed necessary (buy-out, assassination...
Or it could happen, provided the **AA manages to pull off a massive and effective DRM scheme which would then be reused to prevent you from building your own Ferrari in your garage for $100 worth of aluminium... or was it your own Flying Anthrax Spreading Device? (sound of black helicopters hovering nearby)
For some reason I don't believe in the technical efficiency of DRM - every Maginot line has its flaw that will eventually be found out. The **AA will die a painful and well-deserved death. To put it in a nutshell, I for one do not yet welcome our new nanobot overlords.
In France where I used to live, crime is high in the suburbs. Living in the city is for the upper middle class.
(well, of course there are some rundown popular areas downtown, and a couple upper middle class suburbs, but you get the picture).
Yes, real estate is more expensive downtown than in suburbia, BUT living next to every theater / museum / school / park / night-club you'll ever need, or going to work without having to get into the damn car every time definitely is worth the premium.
Granted, it is an expensive luxury to live in the city, and many lower middle class families were forced out by rising real estate prices. Yet the reason the upper middle class is still there is that it's so much more convenient to live in the city. I for one cannot even imagine not living there.
And you know what? Maybe the fact that you're never more than 5 minutes away from the underground is the key. Right now I'm living in Stuttgart, Germany, a city of 700,000, and they've got over 20 underground / light rail lines. Even in this relatively small city I know I can be in any other city area within 20 minutes, only through public transportation. In a much larger city such as Paris, one is never more than 30 minutes away from any other city area (unless you're living in a galaxy far, far away).
Because city planners did their job right, a car is not needed. (ok I've still got to rent a van whenever I've got to move bulky stuff around but other than that...)
Higher taxes? Maybe. But I'm actually saving money since I don't need a car.
I'm afraid your price estimates come $699 short ;)
oh, wait...
Next time you blatantly copy-paste a post from someone else, please make sure the post you stole from isn't in the very same thread, and already modded up at +5.
;p
And while we're at it please refrain from deleting the link to the original message in a vain attempt to get some free mod points.
A 20-channel serial port device costs $269
... what the hell were they thinking, using legacy ports only? It's not like aiming at an ever shrinking customer base (laptops or Macs come to mind as machines w/o legacy ports) was bad business... ;p
Apart from the horrendous price tag and the questionable need for suche a device...
Nanotech if it takes off like predicted will basically change society like electricty did.
:)
:D), over the long term don't think one single minute they would sell the nano-communists the rope they would use to hang them.
Want a new car?
br> Dump some scrap metal in the factory, load up the car image you torrented off the internet last night, and in a few hours you have your new ferrai.
We might start getting beer that is free as in software.
If you hated the reaction from the RIAA/MPAA, wait for the reaction of lobbyists for the entire industrial sector.
The objective value of any good is only the cost of making an identical copy. Which, in the case of the home entertainment industry, boils down to the cost of the mere material support, which amounts to jack sh#t nowadays ($.60/GB atm and dropping).
With nanotech, the very same phenomenon will happen: the objective value of every tangible good will drop to virtually nothing - especially with easier-than-ever recycling (which would definitely be a Good Thing). Companies will never manage to recoup development and trial-and-error costs, and might even be eventually replaced with an even larger version of what we currently know as the Open/Free Source movement.
Our entire society, which is based on the concept of scarcity and of a chain of accumulated added value, would crumble instantly.
However, while there have been some individual or short-term cases of utter stupidity among large corporations (SCO anyone?
Big Business knows and wants one thing: to keep its current position sustainable.
This is the reason I don't see this happening without some _MASSIVE_ DRM. Digital music is but the very first battle.