I am imagining a sketch of a man, with an old style telephone. A wire is drawn, and on the other end, there is a large carrot, or perhaps an ear of corn. In the text, the inventor's frustration is palpable.
"Exchange of voice via galvanic intermediate is straightforward enough, but who are you speaking with? Produce experiments have FAILED as have tests with furniture, livestock. I fear the problem may be insolvable. There appears to be no use for this technology."
He did not yet see what we take for granted today, that the phone is to be used for speaking with cheese, or Dell sales reps.
With their "monopoly" on gathering this data, their marketing possibilities by far exceed that of any competitor.
I think that would only apply if there were such competitors, or if they were trying to emerge. You can't be busted for cornering the market on a market that doesn't exist yet.
(Anyway, I feel like I should say that this result sucks, but it sounds like it was arrived at by the rules, which means fundamentally that the rules sucked first.)
I do my reading on a Pocket PC, with uBook, which is great software. I haven't used FBReader but it looks good from afar. Can anyone compare them?
When I saw the tiny Asus machine, "ebook" was the first thing I thought of. Battery life is not great, but I'd be willing to plug it in on the couch/in bed, reserving battery power for being away. My Pocket PC only runs for a few hours too, and it's almost always enough to get me back to a charger-YMMV.
In the US, the law seems increasingly designed not to merely punish wrongdoing, but to remove the capability for wrongdoing. I'm surprised these things are still legal.
Cold, dead hands, and all that... I love my high frequency assault laser.
It's too bad that we are too dumb, as a society, to take a helping hand when it's offered, just because it's encased in a bright orange, rad-proof glove. Nookyoolar is scary! People don't want, uh, atoms in their hot water!
I am just about to declare, "ok, America, we are now so stupid, as a generalization, that we deserve whatever we get."
The FTC essentially blew off the privacy concerns about the merger, saying it lacked the legal authority to block the deal on any grounds except antitrust.
So... working within what you perceive as the legal limitations of your office is just "blowing off" the problem. You're right--we need more people in government seizing power for our own good.
There was an ep of ST Voyager where one of the characters fell for a holodeck construct.
It was neat that in the context of the show, the characters discussed how that was a hazard. It seemed entirely reasonable to me. Hey, it's some of that thinking about the future stuff that ST used to be known for!
Really, is it just my perception or has the number of stuff that was made a law only to be killed by the courts as unconstitutional skyrocketed?
Some nations actually review new laws for legality before passing them, instead of knowingly passing bad laws and taking advantage of them for years while it gets fought out in court. Jebus, I wish we could do that here. And if it slows down the legislative process... GOOD.
Legislation like this shows that the lawmakers have absolutely no clue how the internet works.
This all makes me as sick as anyone here but in our system of government I don't see a way to prevent this from happening.
Changes in government happen more slowly than changes in, uh, reality. The people making the laws are by and large, old and ignorant and the important thing is that I was wearing an onion on their belt because that was the style at the time. There is no way to change the kind of people in government quickly. At least, no way that one would discuss on a clear channel.
50 years from now, our government will be full of people with more of a clue. I doubt they will be more honest, but at least they will have grown up with the internet tubes instead of vacuum tubes.
50 years after that, the legal landscape might make some more sense, in tech matters anyway. (Assuming there isn't some other kind of massive change to screw things up! IMAGINE IP/DRM laws if we had "Diamond Age" matter printers... DRM on every physical item!)
Unfortunately, by then everyone will be in jail. It will take another 50 years for related important cases to make it to the Supreme Court where they will get shot down by... Justice Torvalds IV, or someone like that.
I reckon we'll be living in a land of tech freedom and sensibility in 150 years. The system works; be patient and try not to end up as a test case in the meantime.
(Of course, just when things get better, the aliens will come, or a comet will nail us.)
In all seriousness, I weep for the future. The best way I can summarize my feelings is this: I feel like we have reached a point where most changes in our lives, as Americans, are not for the better.
A book by itself is something that holds more than enough for you to read for a few hours, and you get the smell and feel of the paper, the binding, the immediacy, history and intimacy. An e-book is just another plastic appliance, lacking in craft.
Speaking as a published author, one who has owned a publishing company, a reader, and PDA user I will opine that the tradition, history, and intimacy of physical books can get stuffed.
The true craft is in the CONTENT, not the delivery device. Who cares what the glue smells like?
I will always appreciate a book in an abstract way, similar to what you are saying. And, given the choice, I'll leave it on the store shelf, and read it on my PDA.
There are exceptions, of course. The layout of some books translates poorly to the screen--textbooks for example. And a book of photos needs to be seen printed on paper, for the art of printing does still have a place in my sterile electronic world. But if we're talking about a novel, it only becomes BETTER to me when I can read it electronically.
I realize the e-ink thing is new hotness and therefore expensive. And having seen one of the Sony readers, it IS pretty cool. Reality aside... It's still too expensive for what it is.
I think it would be a mistake to make a reader without having some form of wireless. Having to tether it to a PC one or two times a day makes it far less practical.
My GOD man, how fast do you read? I put a dozen books on my PDA at a time and that lasts me a good while. Though if you were getting daily content, sure, ease of sync is great.
Ebooks will not become practical for most people until the reader costs little enough that you won't cry if you forget it on the bus.
At $400, you are trying to train people to carry around something more valuable than their cell phone. Unless this thing is supposed to stay home, out of harm's way. Which would be lame. $400? You can buy a portable DVD player for half that. Less than half, even! I understand about economy of scale and all that. But this is the kind of comparison Joe Blow is going to make.
I am already an ebook guy. I use uBook on my Pocket PC. (Great software, btw: http://www.gowerpoint.com/. Fan, used it forever.) Sure, the screen is smaller, but at 640x480 it's plenty sharp. OK, the battery doesn't last as long, but it makes up for that by being a PDA/web browser/media player too.
For $400, you may as well buy yourself a nice new PDA phone and buy a copy of uBook for it. Or get one of those new $400 mini laptops. There must be some free reader software for linux? Or move a Windows license to it, and use the desktop version of my preferred app.
But that's still only a solution for techies. Give the world a $100 reader, with no wireless BS.
This doesn't even address the media cost issue, but other posts have nailed that.
Why did a script writer keep rights to any of the characters he made for a TV show? That is madness. What a racket the WGA must have going! I assume that the Trek producers had their arm twisted in some way for that to happen.
I'm a commercial writer. As in, a writer for commerce, not of commercials. I do not work in a union. Anything I write on the job--my salaried day job, or some contract on my own time--belongs to the company I wrote it for.
If I need some more characters and plots, I WILL MAKE THEM UP. No idea is so precious that it can't be sold!
Hollywood should can those union crybabies. There are plenty of people who can do the job.
So, if I can hardly tell the difference and I'm fully invested in the system... What about normal people?
I've got bad news... If you can hardly tell the difference, you ARE the normal people.;)
The difference is hugely apparent to me and it is worth paying more for--just not as much as they are asking for HD media right now...
To other people, there isn't much of a difference. And there are even weirdos who perceive a massive difference in HD but don't really appreciate it. Well, OK, I'll not make it a holy war. Let's save that for operating systems.
With so much of the market being a tough sell it's no wonder HD penetration is taking so long. Honestly, most people don't seem to care. Too bad for people like me--we'd like a buzzing market and $12 movies.
Re:Glad to see Whedon is doing something new...
on
Joss Whedon Back on TV
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· Score: 3, Funny
Ack, why Faith? There's good slutty, and there's bad slutty...
ABSURD. The wax cylinder was always superior to 8-track. The popularity of digital downloads, and the rising popularity of the Edison phonograph in the club scene means that CDs are dead in the water.
Slashdot Mirror
Some dreams have obvious causes. Some may even have a purpose, though I think that would be part to prove rigorously.
And maybe some of them are just useless oddities. What purpose does the static in between radio stations serve?
Not everything in your body is there for a perfect and beautiful reason, meatbag.
How does he define "optimal?" The Ars summary doesn't make that clear.
Optimal for society, or optimal for the entity which stands to profit?
I am imagining a sketch of a man, with an old style telephone. A wire is drawn, and on the other end, there is a large carrot, or perhaps an ear of corn. In the text, the inventor's frustration is palpable.
"Exchange of voice via galvanic intermediate is straightforward enough, but who are you speaking with? Produce experiments have FAILED as have tests with furniture, livestock. I fear the problem may be insolvable. There appears to be no use for this technology."
He did not yet see what we take for granted today, that the phone is to be used for speaking with cheese, or Dell sales reps.
With their "monopoly" on gathering this data, their marketing possibilities by far exceed that of any competitor.
I think that would only apply if there were such competitors, or if they were trying to emerge. You can't be busted for cornering the market on a market that doesn't exist yet.
(Anyway, I feel like I should say that this result sucks, but it sounds like it was arrived at by the rules, which means fundamentally that the rules sucked first.)
I do my reading on a Pocket PC, with uBook, which is great software. I haven't used FBReader but it looks good from afar. Can anyone compare them?
When I saw the tiny Asus machine, "ebook" was the first thing I thought of. Battery life is not great, but I'd be willing to plug it in on the couch/in bed, reserving battery power for being away. My Pocket PC only runs for a few hours too, and it's almost always enough to get me back to a charger-YMMV.
In the US, the law seems increasingly designed not to merely punish wrongdoing, but to remove the capability for wrongdoing. I'm surprised these things are still legal.
Cold, dead hands, and all that... I love my high frequency assault laser.
I bet California bans 'em first!
If you had a newsletter, I would subscribe.
It's too bad that we are too dumb, as a society, to take a helping hand when it's offered, just because it's encased in a bright orange, rad-proof glove. Nookyoolar is scary! People don't want, uh, atoms in their hot water!
I am just about to declare, "ok, America, we are now so stupid, as a generalization, that we deserve whatever we get."
The FTC essentially blew off the privacy concerns about the merger, saying it lacked the legal authority to block the deal on any grounds except antitrust.
So... working within what you perceive as the legal limitations of your office is just "blowing off" the problem. You're right--we need more people in government seizing power for our own good.
There was an ep of ST Voyager where one of the characters fell for a holodeck construct.
It was neat that in the context of the show, the characters discussed how that was a hazard. It seemed entirely reasonable to me. Hey, it's some of that thinking about the future stuff that ST used to be known for!
There, that's my one good memory of Voyager.
Really, is it just my perception or has the number of stuff that was made a law only to be killed by the courts as unconstitutional skyrocketed?
Some nations actually review new laws for legality before passing them, instead of knowingly passing bad laws and taking advantage of them for years while it gets fought out in court. Jebus, I wish we could do that here. And if it slows down the legislative process... GOOD.
Legislation like this shows that the lawmakers have absolutely no clue how the internet works.
This all makes me as sick as anyone here but in our system of government I don't see a way to prevent this from happening.
Changes in government happen more slowly than changes in, uh, reality. The people making the laws are by and large, old and ignorant and the important thing is that I was wearing an onion on their belt because that was the style at the time. There is no way to change the kind of people in government quickly. At least, no way that one would discuss on a clear channel.
50 years from now, our government will be full of people with more of a clue. I doubt they will be more honest, but at least they will have grown up with the internet tubes instead of vacuum tubes.
50 years after that, the legal landscape might make some more sense, in tech matters anyway. (Assuming there isn't some other kind of massive change to screw things up! IMAGINE IP/DRM laws if we had "Diamond Age" matter printers... DRM on every physical item!)
Unfortunately, by then everyone will be in jail. It will take another 50 years for related important cases to make it to the Supreme Court where they will get shot down by... Justice Torvalds IV, or someone like that.
I reckon we'll be living in a land of tech freedom and sensibility in 150 years. The system works; be patient and try not to end up as a test case in the meantime.
(Of course, just when things get better, the aliens will come, or a comet will nail us.)
In all seriousness, I weep for the future. The best way I can summarize my feelings is this: I feel like we have reached a point where most changes in our lives, as Americans, are not for the better.
A book by itself is something that holds more than enough for you to read for a few hours, and you get the smell and feel of the paper, the binding, the immediacy, history and intimacy. An e-book is just another plastic appliance, lacking in craft.
Speaking as a published author, one who has owned a publishing company, a reader, and PDA user I will opine that the tradition, history, and intimacy of physical books can get stuffed.
The true craft is in the CONTENT, not the delivery device. Who cares what the glue smells like?
I will always appreciate a book in an abstract way, similar to what you are saying. And, given the choice, I'll leave it on the store shelf, and read it on my PDA.
There are exceptions, of course. The layout of some books translates poorly to the screen--textbooks for example. And a book of photos needs to be seen printed on paper, for the art of printing does still have a place in my sterile electronic world. But if we're talking about a novel, it only becomes BETTER to me when I can read it electronically.
To each his own.
...I know of no reason to create it this way other than to extract ongoing revenue from those who don't know better.
Making something easy for someone and charging them for the privilege isn't evil.
Using dyndns and an open port will let you get to your files reliably from anywhere.
Some people do not know what those things are. Fortunately, there is a service they can choose to purchase.
Too bad it sucks, but that's another issue.
Pretty soon, we'll see news posted here that ends with, "Does anyone know how they can sell REAL Viagra so CHEAP?"
Sadly those are not liquor bottles. They are flavored syrups for the coffee. We have them at my workplace too, I recognize them.
(And where I work, you keep your liquor at your desk, which is where you'll need it most.)
Sleep derivation is torture. Loud music for long periods of time is torture.
Or college.
I realize the e-ink thing is new hotness and therefore expensive. And having seen one of the Sony readers, it IS pretty cool. Reality aside... It's still too expensive for what it is.
I think it would be a mistake to make a reader without having some form of wireless. Having to tether it to a PC one or two times a day makes it far less practical.
My GOD man, how fast do you read? I put a dozen books on my PDA at a time and that lasts me a good while. Though if you were getting daily content, sure, ease of sync is great.
Ebooks will not become practical for most people until the reader costs little enough that you won't cry if you forget it on the bus.
At $400, you are trying to train people to carry around something more valuable than their cell phone. Unless this thing is supposed to stay home, out of harm's way. Which would be lame. $400? You can buy a portable DVD player for half that. Less than half, even! I understand about economy of scale and all that. But this is the kind of comparison Joe Blow is going to make.
I am already an ebook guy. I use uBook on my Pocket PC. (Great software, btw: http://www.gowerpoint.com/. Fan, used it forever.) Sure, the screen is smaller, but at 640x480 it's plenty sharp. OK, the battery doesn't last as long, but it makes up for that by being a PDA/web browser/media player too.
For $400, you may as well buy yourself a nice new PDA phone and buy a copy of uBook for it. Or get one of those new $400 mini laptops. There must be some free reader software for linux? Or move a Windows license to it, and use the desktop version of my preferred app.
But that's still only a solution for techies. Give the world a $100 reader, with no wireless BS.
This doesn't even address the media cost issue, but other posts have nailed that.
It's like that, but we are in the house too.
It is unpossible to refute that.
Why did a script writer keep rights to any of the characters he made for a TV show? That is madness. What a racket the WGA must have going! I assume that the Trek producers had their arm twisted in some way for that to happen.
I'm a commercial writer. As in, a writer for commerce, not of commercials. I do not work in a union. Anything I write on the job--my salaried day job, or some contract on my own time--belongs to the company I wrote it for.
If I need some more characters and plots, I WILL MAKE THEM UP. No idea is so precious that it can't be sold!
Hollywood should can those union crybabies. There are plenty of people who can do the job.
So, if I can hardly tell the difference and I'm fully invested in the system... What about normal people?
;)
I've got bad news... If you can hardly tell the difference, you ARE the normal people.
The difference is hugely apparent to me and it is worth paying more for--just not as much as they are asking for HD media right now...
To other people, there isn't much of a difference. And there are even weirdos who perceive a massive difference in HD but don't really appreciate it. Well, OK, I'll not make it a holy war. Let's save that for operating systems.
With so much of the market being a tough sell it's no wonder HD penetration is taking so long. Honestly, most people don't seem to care. Too bad for people like me--we'd like a buzzing market and $12 movies.
Ack, why Faith? There's good slutty, and there's bad slutty...
ABSURD. The wax cylinder was always superior to 8-track. The popularity of digital downloads, and the rising popularity of the Edison phonograph in the club scene means that CDs are dead in the water.
I'm generally for the advancement of science, but in this case, we're coming a bit too close to "playing God" for our own good.
You have to play at being God before you can get good at it.