It's worth mentioning that most of their loss came from a long lived asset impairment charge of 500 million, not inventory write down. Most articles are insinuating that handsets are the cause of their losses by lumping it in the same headline which is inaccurate. They did only sell around 500k devices this quarter which is low for any smartphone company. However, the CEO has gotten the cost of the handset business to be break even at 3 million phones. If you contrast that with the billions Blackberry was writing down on handsets alone a few years ago, you can see why it's not a horrible decision. Besides, it sounds like they want to start licensing out their software like the HUB and BBM to other manufacturers, and I don't know who would take them up on that unless they could prove their own users are installing/using it.
Cesspool? Where do you live? Philly is frequently rated as one of the best places to visit in the U.S, has some of the best restaurants/chefs in the world, and has a thriving tech scene. If you can't understand the probability of having someone vandalize something in a big city on the side of the road for the lulz then you are clueless.
I don't believe that for a moment. It's foolish to think an opportunity to grow in a different area is a sign of warning. They have tons of cash and are preemptively trying to find new markets before the stockholders bleed the company's profits dry because they aren't consistently beating estimates by huge factors anymore. Apple has almost 50% of their revenue coming from iPhone, that is a huge amount of risk for a company to have in an ever increasing market. It was only a matter of time.
A great example is google. Google is in tons of different industries and started in 1 major one. Do they look like they're failing anytime soon?
I think at this point you might argue that all of their products and services are similar or at least align with one goal. To which id say, cars are the next thing to be bombarded with tech that's now affordable for even the cheapest models. Gone to a car show lately? Every damn car has a damn back up cam and some form of a HUD. I think it only makes sense that they buy a successful company who already put up most the risk by starting a new company in a market place dominated by old hats. Tesla is now reasonably successful. Why not buy a car company and spread the brand to the auto industry, god knows apple would rather have huge margins and an extended brand rather than selling their software to gm for pennies on the dollar.
It's also important to note that reverse discrimination can occur in the corporate world for 'techie' people who look the part. Being too technical can be a great reason for a unsupportive manager to prevent one from getting higher leadership roles:(
I expected these comments to be littered with panacea and hyperbole... I was right
It's interesting that you all share the same mentality as the market, or so you say. Was it not long ago that Apple was being traded for whatever the amount of current assets they had at that given time?
Surely everyone will reply, well blackberry is no apple. I see no visionaries or wow-inspiring products. They are indubitably a sinking ship.
And so the short sellers went on their avaricious steeds to the slaughter and did what they could to behead the revenue. It lasted a while but then Blackberry, the knight that didn't play dead nicely, went to his dagger and took his life into his own hands, away from the sword that almost meant certain death.
The timid ran and caused a stir in the cynics, philosophers went to their chairs and gossiped, wealthy men sat on their credited thrones, the general public scratched their heads.
They're all watching now, waiting for death or a miracle to happen.
Yet the men who rode in strongly with such great vigor, must now fight on the ground, watch out for someone who really believes in Sir Berry,
For if someone swoops in to surprise us all, to guide the wounded home, the pride in him will be restored again, sending away the evil men.
The stock might fall or grow again, most of them do in the end. Expect bad news and good articles too.
Sir Berry is tired of having his will questioned, his armor tattered from the storm of abuse, now he stands on the battlefield, meticulously judging his value.
Oh all he needs is a savior, but I only care about me.
The question is - how long will I still have faith?
Schools often do get grants for whatever computers they want. My public school in the US had a good portion of mac desktops and a whole lot of apple laptops. The only problem is that a lot of software (10 years ago, can't speak to it now because I would imagine things are more web-app based) only ran on windows and therefore became a crux for adopting both PC and Mac, especially when PCs are great when it comes to bulk pricing. The mixture of OSs also led to a problem because apparently Macs and PCs do not play well together on the same network which would require an even bigger investment considering the IT team was maybe 3 people max. (This is anecdotal evidence of course. It's hard to find a source online for anything other than getting grants for technology. Apparently Ipads are being donated to schools though in place of textbooks which I think is a grand idea...and you know how well Apple products play with other Apple products so I wouldn't be surprised if they are attacking via this route instead.
They have a good system set up. They release new products every year. It would be more expensive, I'm assuming, to sell newly designed laptops or accept recalls and pay for the labor.
People will still buy it anyway.... But will people keep buying the iPhone, apples biggest moneymaker? The answer to that question could significantly drop apple's value.
Money has replaced God, even in churches where the preacher stands in a 1000 dollar suit asking for cash
Money aint a score in some kind of game, you have a whole society who thinks "get rich or try dying" was a prophecy not a ignorant statement from an ex-drug dealer you have entire TV culture based on how much you can earn (auctions/antiques/cars/houses/music), shows that glorify money, hell even some people here dont primarily choose their careers on what they will be doing, but how much its worth in cash and then openly mock Arts students and the like for their "worthless" choices while the best minds on the globe are figuring out how to get more people clicking on adverts for shitty companies with shit ideas.
may you get whats coming
"get rich or try dying" is actually "get rich or die trying"
Avarice has pervaded pretty much every country that has money so I'm not sure I'd agree with your sensationalism regarding "may you get whats coming".
I'm American, I live in Philadelphia. My girlfriend is an Arts student whose career I cherish very highly. I think the government is flawed but I also think people like you and me are to blame. I hate to be cynical but governments are the way they are because of what people have done. Saying it was the government is an amorphous scape-goat.
Not everyone gets to pick their dream job, come back to reality please. Even if you do find something you love doing, chances are you're going to have to sell it at one point or another so it kind of takes away from the innate pleasure of the job. People value cash because cash gives them power. Maybe you should look at America objectively by comparing it to every other contemporary culture. I'm presuming you don't know them that well though because it seems like your education has come primarily from the tv and the news (oh, the irony).
By the way, stop being so rude. It's one thing to buy into these crappy statistics, but it's a whole other thing if you forget what those so called 'worthless' companies do indirectly. On the contrary, I think your opinion is worthless.
I use BTGuard; I might be a noob because I haven't done much research on the company but I always get about 1MB ps dl from their netherland's server (i live in PA, USA)...they also have servers in the US, France, and Germany I think??
it's 9.95 a month, and it does allow you to just pay once if you'd like so you don't get stuck with bothering about ending the subscription come end of the month.
I can't speak for all US universities but it would seem Information Systems and Technology degrees are suited toward practical programming jobs.. I don't really see IS*T majors doing research for comp sci specific fields but that's not to say they don't exist. In my program, I learned databases, java, c#, vb.net, and the agile development process which will basically get you a job in the US as a front-end or mid-tier developer.
The problem is most people want to come to IST because they don't want to program but find out that they should have just majored in business or MIS. This is only for certain schools however.. I have met some programmers who were better at coding than comp sci people because they have a better sense of scope...
Which brings me back to your point... Comp Sci from my experience gears you toward PHD or masters programs where you will be doing a lot of theoretical work. They don't teach them mandatory database classes or networking which is very important in today's coding world... they also don't teach you anything about how coding fits into the business world. That's not to say you couldn't get any programming job you want.. But honestly, if you live in the US, it doesn't really matter for most companies if you got a comp sci or IST degree so long as you can prove that you know what you are doing in the domain of what they need you for. It's basically just a formality now, they check you off whether or not you got a degree... I think they frown on Votech schools over conventional bachelor's programs, but if you can prove you're proficient, they will give you the chance regardless.
I know this is a little off-topic but doesn't anyone feel the same way as I do when I proclaim that one of the biggest pushers for youtube's adoption was its uncanny amount of pirated movies / songs? I know, I know, the interface and streaming quality also made it a big selling point but I think the only reason I went to youtube around 2006 was for streaming, pirated material.
This might be a business model for a lot of companies out there, start illegal, make enough money, higher competent lawyers and pay some people off.
Sounds good to me.
omg, *hire*.
My apologies, I'm going to go sit in a corner and cry over that typo.
I know this is a little off-topic but doesn't anyone feel the same way as I do when I proclaim that one of the biggest pushers for youtube's adoption was its uncanny amount of pirated movies / songs? I know, I know, the interface and streaming quality also made it a big selling point but I think the only reason I went to youtube around 2006 was for streaming, pirated material.
This might be a business model for a lot of companies out there, start illegal, make enough money, higher competent lawyers and pay some people off.
Have fun getting only 100k or less of your retirement account back:)
Retirement accounts were not protected by FDIC insurance, since they are invested in various mutual funds and such. Most people have lost a significant fraction of their 401k despite any bailouts. Unlike financial sector salaries, I don't think 401K accounts have rebounded much, either.
The FDIC already had that covered and actually makes banks LESS in need of protection, since their most important creditors, the american people who have deposits with them, can't get shafted if the bank goes bankrupt.
Just let the banks fail already. Having the FDIC cover deposits is all the bailout we need.
I like how this got promoted to level 5 even though anyone who has taken a brief course in remedial business knows that the FDIC does NOT guarantee insurance on all funds, and for those funds, it is only insured up to 100,000$.
Have fun getting only 100k or less of your retirement account back:)
Your country as a whole will have a heavier emphasis on foreign policy which can lead to bad situations like China or any other country getting into a war, which inevitably makes their problems ours.
So then we have a bunch of smart people trying to manage something we don't have and our economy tanks until we can find someone who can sustain our demand.
Pros/Cons with either situation, but that's politics
They'll bump up the datacaps when they get enough money from the people that go over the limit and then complain enough to clog up their customer support lines.
Let me first begin by saying, let's have some foresight here fellow Slashdot readers. If the DVD business has been increasingly difficult for Netflix to maintain, and considering when they did change the price plans, most people dropped the DVD package but kept the instant video. Why would you try to push a market that is doomed to fail especially with the rise of instant media players for the TV and applications for phones/tablets?
I would bet they have enough subscribers on their own right now to push this idea... considering they already have. I like how you all are trying to criticize a CEO for his business strategy but I think you should let their business speak for it first.. I think this is a good idea and only time will tell, I'm sorry if you're hurt that you'll have to go to another website for your DVD shipping service, but in all honesty, the DVD is dying market. Why should I ship myself a DVD if I can buy a media streamer where I can also rent or buy movies? (waiting for every angry technologist to tell me I'm wrong. meanwhile, not realizing that they're the minority in the market... especially the minority that's smart enough to pirate something if it really wants it)
This is how I look at it... you may have to sign up with two different webpages to have them hit your credit card but in return it's cheaper than having the combined Netflix instant/dvd package. ALSO, you're getting the option to combine a gamefly like service with a movie rental service. And, as the CEO said in the article, they'll be able to focus on using their capital for more movie licenses for the people (majority) who use Netflix for their streaming services.
Having said all this, Quixster is still a lame name.
Will further hype the tablet craze.... however, I am very curious as to what they could add to a tablet now to make it more appealing to everyone else (people who type) which is how I could see the Acer CEO saying such a thing... but since Google/Apple/Samsung have and will keep investing in tablets, I wouldn't be surprised to see the hype at least stay around until something better comes out. (folder pcs? I forget how you refer to them, basically 2 tablets that fold together... pretty much like a laptop >_)
You know what else I find fascinating? Apple products do extremely well in recessions... I went to the mall the other day in King of Prussia and it was like a ghost town EXCEPT for the Apple Store which was about to bust from so many people fiddling with their products...
I'm surprised by the amount of different viewpoints represented by tech-geeks here. However, having said that, it's ultimately unsettling because it would seem most people have no idea about concepts in macro-economics. So, I thought I'd compile a few points for people to take into account before they make a final conclusion about this situation we're in (No, not just America, the world) 1. This is NOT the first time we’ve raised the debt ceiling. 2. Most countries peg their currency off of ours, which allows us a lot of freedom when it comes to dealing with debt. We may owe a lot of money but there are countless countries who owe AMERICA a lot of money. So for instance, China is so successful when it comes to cheaper prices because it will lower their prices based on our dollar so that they can keep the same level of competitive advantage. China does own a lot of our deficit but without our demand they are worthless (for the time being) 3. We have done a lot of favors. Most notable mentions are to Japan, Germany, and China after World War 2 because the United States paid for most of the rebuilding and aid that went into reestablishing these great nations. (and must I mention, we didn’t ask for that back yet) 4. Back before World War 2, we originally got off the gold standard for multiple reasons but the biggest one being, A DEBT THE US COULD NOT COVER that includes, social programs like SOCIAL SECURITY, and I don’t know, a more well known problem, World War 1. Germany got off the gold standard a long time ago because they needed to pay for WW1 and because they were already in a deficit. 5. Adding more debt is a bad thing, AU CONTRAIR my lads, if you look at history, it would seem most times we needed to spend money to get out of a recession but we have a tough time dealing with after-effects, or basically, inflation. The way we’ve dealt with it is basically by sitting still, we haven’t done anything. We’re supposed to reduce the budget but we never do, no one really ever does by that much. Think about it, my grandfather always said blablabla icecream use to be 5 cents, well now it’s 2 dollars but our quality of living is still the same if not higher.
A final, moot point.
We will never rid ourselves of debt, especially with a system that makes money out of thin air by adjusting credit regulations. It is inevitable; we cannot and will not go back to a gold standard When it comes down to it, we can borrow as much money as we’d like so long as the US still stands as the international market-place for the world. We no longer are a manufacturing nation credit has become our bread and butter. It all just comes down to whether the bank will give us more credit should they, no.. Will they? Yes. Why? Because the United States with a limited budget is bad for everyone. People pay us to police the world
There are just a lot of well-informed nerds in the universe now, especially with the development of web pages like slashdot, arstechnica, gizmodo, wired, lifehacker exc exc.
And so, it's a good product. Yeah. Google + has a couple of bugs, but it is getting tons of publicity....and there are a lot of tech geeks out there
and if they have a couple friends,
and those friends have a couple more friends,
if one goes, two will too. Eventually.
Maybe a celebrity,
that's 100,000 more.
To be truly exclusive,
it must have an awesome fan-base.
Let's see if it breaks 50 million.
Another second-rate product just to tap a market they're not in yet...
I love their business model.../ends sarcasm
I think the zune is pretty good now though, can anyone confirm/deny?
Slashdot Mirror
It's worth mentioning that most of their loss came from a long lived asset impairment charge of 500 million, not inventory write down. Most articles are insinuating that handsets are the cause of their losses by lumping it in the same headline which is inaccurate. They did only sell around 500k devices this quarter which is low for any smartphone company. However, the CEO has gotten the cost of the handset business to be break even at 3 million phones. If you contrast that with the billions Blackberry was writing down on handsets alone a few years ago, you can see why it's not a horrible decision. Besides, it sounds like they want to start licensing out their software like the HUB and BBM to other manufacturers, and I don't know who would take them up on that unless they could prove their own users are installing/using it.
Cesspool? Where do you live? Philly is frequently rated as one of the best places to visit in the U.S, has some of the best restaurants/chefs in the world, and has a thriving tech scene. If you can't understand the probability of having someone vandalize something in a big city on the side of the road for the lulz then you are clueless.
Wolfenstein is 40 gigs for ps4 as well. It just downloads in chunks so that users can play while the rest downloads. Just an FYI
What every COMPUTER SCIENTIST should know about floating point math. Oops :)
"What every programmer should know about floating point math"
I don't believe that for a moment. It's foolish to think an opportunity to grow in a different area is a sign of warning. They have tons of cash and are preemptively trying to find new markets before the stockholders bleed the company's profits dry because they aren't consistently beating estimates by huge factors anymore. Apple has almost 50% of their revenue coming from iPhone, that is a huge amount of risk for a company to have in an ever increasing market. It was only a matter of time.
A great example is google. Google is in tons of different industries and started in 1 major one. Do they look like they're failing anytime soon?
I think at this point you might argue that all of their products and services are similar or at least align with one goal. To which id say, cars are the next thing to be bombarded with tech that's now affordable for even the cheapest models. Gone to a car show lately? Every damn car has a damn back up cam and some form of a HUD. I think it only makes sense that they buy a successful company who already put up most the risk by starting a new company in a market place dominated by old hats. Tesla is now reasonably successful. Why not buy a car company and spread the brand to the auto industry, god knows apple would rather have huge margins and an extended brand rather than selling their software to gm for pennies on the dollar.
It's also important to note that reverse discrimination can occur in the corporate world for 'techie' people who look the part. Being too technical can be a great reason for a unsupportive manager to prevent one from getting higher leadership roles :(
I expected these comments to be littered with panacea and hyperbole... I was right
It's interesting that you all share the same mentality as the market, or so you say. Was it not long ago that Apple was being traded for whatever the amount of current assets they had at that given time?
Surely everyone will reply, well blackberry is no apple. I see no visionaries or wow-inspiring products. They are indubitably a sinking ship.
And so the short sellers went on their avaricious steeds to the slaughter and did what they could to behead the revenue. It lasted a while but then Blackberry, the knight that didn't play dead nicely, went to his dagger and took his life into his own hands, away from the sword that almost meant certain death.
The timid ran and caused a stir in the cynics,
philosophers went to their chairs and gossiped,
wealthy men sat on their credited thrones,
the general public scratched their heads.
They're all watching now,
waiting for death or a miracle to happen.
Yet the men who rode in strongly with such great vigor,
must now fight on the ground,
watch out for someone who really believes in Sir Berry,
For if someone swoops in to surprise us all,
to guide the wounded home,
the pride in him will be restored again,
sending away the evil men.
The stock might fall or grow again,
most of them do in the end.
Expect bad news and good articles too.
Sir Berry is tired of having his will questioned,
his armor tattered from the storm of abuse,
now he stands on the battlefield,
meticulously judging his value.
Oh all he needs is a savior,
but I only care about me.
The question is -
how long will I still have faith?
For I've already got his horse and mate.
Schools often do get grants for whatever computers they want. My public school in the US had a good portion of mac desktops and a whole lot of apple laptops. The only problem is that a lot of software (10 years ago, can't speak to it now because I would imagine things are more web-app based) only ran on windows and therefore became a crux for adopting both PC and Mac, especially when PCs are great when it comes to bulk pricing. The mixture of OSs also led to a problem because apparently Macs and PCs do not play well together on the same network which would require an even bigger investment considering the IT team was maybe 3 people max. (This is anecdotal evidence of course. It's hard to find a source online for anything other than getting grants for technology. Apparently Ipads are being donated to schools though in place of textbooks which I think is a grand idea...and you know how well Apple products play with other Apple products so I wouldn't be surprised if they are attacking via this route instead.
I'm 90 % sure they only dropped the price for the 13 in model. The other model's specs were bumped up by a little for the same price.
They have a good system set up. They release new products every year. It would be more expensive, I'm assuming, to sell newly designed laptops or accept recalls and pay for the labor.
People will still buy it anyway. ... But will people keep buying the iPhone, apples biggest moneymaker? The answer to that question could significantly drop apple's value.
Money has replaced God, even in churches where the preacher stands in a 1000 dollar suit asking for cash
Money aint a score in some kind of game, you have a whole society who thinks "get rich or try dying" was a prophecy not a ignorant statement from an ex-drug dealer
you have entire TV culture based on how much you can earn (auctions/antiques/cars/houses/music), shows that glorify money, hell even some people here dont primarily choose their careers on what they will be doing, but how much its worth in cash and then openly mock Arts students and the like for their "worthless" choices while the best minds on the globe are figuring out how to get more people clicking on adverts for shitty companies with shit ideas.
may you get whats coming
"get rich or try dying" is actually "get rich or die trying"
Avarice has pervaded pretty much every country that has money so I'm not sure I'd agree with your sensationalism regarding "may you get whats coming".
I'm American, I live in Philadelphia. My girlfriend is an Arts student whose career I cherish very highly. I think the government is flawed but I also think people like you and me are to blame. I hate to be cynical but governments are the way they are because of what people have done. Saying it was the government is an amorphous scape-goat.
Not everyone gets to pick their dream job, come back to reality please. Even if you do find something you love doing, chances are you're going to have to sell it at one point or another so it kind of takes away from the innate pleasure of the job. People value cash because cash gives them power. Maybe you should look at America objectively by comparing it to every other contemporary culture. I'm presuming you don't know them that well though because it seems like your education has come primarily from the tv and the news (oh, the irony).
By the way, stop being so rude. It's one thing to buy into these crappy statistics, but it's a whole other thing if you forget what those so called 'worthless' companies do indirectly. On the contrary, I think your opinion is worthless.
expect nothing
I use BTGuard; I might be a noob because I haven't done much research on the company but I always get about 1MB ps dl from their netherland's server (i live in PA, USA).. .they also have servers in the US, France, and Germany I think??
it's 9.95 a month, and it does allow you to just pay once if you'd like so you don't get stuck with bothering about ending the subscription come end of the month.
I can't speak for all US universities but it would seem Information Systems and Technology degrees are suited toward practical programming jobs.. I don't really see IS*T majors doing research for comp sci specific fields but that's not to say they don't exist. In my program, I learned databases, java, c#, vb.net, and the agile development process which will basically get you a job in the US as a front-end or mid-tier developer.
The problem is most people want to come to IST because they don't want to program but find out that they should have just majored in business or MIS. This is only for certain schools however.. I have met some programmers who were better at coding than comp sci people because they have a better sense of scope...
Which brings me back to your point... Comp Sci from my experience gears you toward PHD or masters programs where you will be doing a lot of theoretical work. They don't teach them mandatory database classes or networking which is very important in today's coding world... they also don't teach you anything about how coding fits into the business world. That's not to say you couldn't get any programming job you want.. But honestly, if you live in the US, it doesn't really matter for most companies if you got a comp sci or IST degree so long as you can prove that you know what you are doing in the domain of what they need you for. It's basically just a formality now, they check you off whether or not you got a degree... I think they frown on Votech schools over conventional bachelor's programs, but if you can prove you're proficient, they will give you the chance regardless.
I know this is a little off-topic but doesn't anyone feel the same way as I do when I proclaim that one of the biggest pushers for youtube's adoption was its uncanny amount of pirated movies / songs? I know, I know, the interface and streaming quality also made it a big selling point but I think the only reason I went to youtube around 2006 was for streaming, pirated material.
This might be a business model for a lot of companies out there, start illegal, make enough money, higher competent lawyers and pay some people off.
Sounds good to me.
omg, *hire*.
My apologies, I'm going to go sit in a corner and cry over that typo.
I know this is a little off-topic but doesn't anyone feel the same way as I do when I proclaim that one of the biggest pushers for youtube's adoption was its uncanny amount of pirated movies / songs? I know, I know, the interface and streaming quality also made it a big selling point but I think the only reason I went to youtube around 2006 was for streaming, pirated material.
This might be a business model for a lot of companies out there, start illegal, make enough money, higher competent lawyers and pay some people off.
Sounds good to me.
Have fun getting only 100k or less of your retirement account back :)
Retirement accounts were not protected by FDIC insurance, since they are invested in various mutual funds and such. Most people have lost a significant fraction of their 401k despite any bailouts. Unlike financial sector salaries, I don't think 401K accounts have rebounded much, either.
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2006/pr06029.html
try again.
We don't need our deposits protected.
The FDIC already had that covered and actually makes banks LESS in need of protection, since their most important creditors, the american people who have deposits with them, can't get shafted if the bank goes bankrupt.
Just let the banks fail already. Having the FDIC cover deposits is all the bailout we need.
I like how this got promoted to level 5 even though anyone who has taken a brief course in remedial business knows that the FDIC does NOT guarantee insurance on all funds, and for those funds, it is only insured up to 100,000$.
Have fun getting only 100k or less of your retirement account back :)
GG, better start reading other blogs
Your country as a whole will have a heavier emphasis on foreign policy which can lead to bad situations like China or any other country getting into a war, which inevitably makes their problems ours.
So then we have a bunch of smart people trying to manage something we don't have and our economy tanks until we can find someone who can sustain our demand.
Pros/Cons with either situation, but that's politics
They'll bump up the datacaps when they get enough money from the people that go over the limit and then complain enough to clog up their customer support lines.
Business as usual...
Let me first begin by saying, let's have some foresight here fellow Slashdot readers. If the DVD business has been increasingly difficult for Netflix to maintain, and considering when they did change the price plans, most people dropped the DVD package but kept the instant video. Why would you try to push a market that is doomed to fail especially with the rise of instant media players for the TV and applications for phones/tablets?
I would bet they have enough subscribers on their own right now to push this idea... considering they already have. I like how you all are trying to criticize a CEO for his business strategy but I think you should let their business speak for it first.. I think this is a good idea and only time will tell, I'm sorry if you're hurt that you'll have to go to another website for your DVD shipping service, but in all honesty, the DVD is dying market. Why should I ship myself a DVD if I can buy a media streamer where I can also rent or buy movies? (waiting for every angry technologist to tell me I'm wrong. meanwhile, not realizing that they're the minority in the market... especially the minority that's smart enough to pirate something if it really wants it)
This is how I look at it... you may have to sign up with two different webpages to have them hit your credit card but in return it's cheaper than having the combined Netflix instant/dvd package. ALSO, you're getting the option to combine a gamefly like service with a movie rental service. And, as the CEO said in the article, they'll be able to focus on using their capital for more movie licenses for the people (majority) who use Netflix for their streaming services.
Having said all this, Quixster is still a lame name.
Will further hype the tablet craze.... however, I am very curious as to what they could add to a tablet now to make it more appealing to everyone else (people who type) which is how I could see the Acer CEO saying such a thing... but since Google/Apple/Samsung have and will keep investing in tablets, I wouldn't be surprised to see the hype at least stay around until something better comes out. (folder pcs? I forget how you refer to them, basically 2 tablets that fold together... pretty much like a laptop >_)
You know what else I find fascinating? Apple products do extremely well in recessions... I went to the mall the other day in King of Prussia and it was like a ghost town EXCEPT for the Apple Store which was about to bust from so many people fiddling with their products...
I'm surprised by the amount of different viewpoints represented by tech-geeks here. However, having said that, it's ultimately unsettling because it would seem most people have no idea about concepts in macro-economics.
So, I thought I'd compile a few points for people to take into account before they make a final conclusion about this situation we're in (No, not just America, the world)
1. This is NOT the first time we’ve raised the debt ceiling.
2. Most countries peg their currency off of ours, which allows us a lot of freedom when it comes to dealing with debt. We may owe a lot of money but there are countless countries who owe AMERICA a lot of money. So for instance, China is so successful when it comes to cheaper prices because it will lower their prices based on our dollar so that they can keep the same level of competitive advantage. China does own a lot of our deficit but without our demand they are worthless (for the time being)
3. We have done a lot of favors. Most notable mentions are to Japan, Germany, and China after World War 2 because the United States paid for most of the rebuilding and aid that went into reestablishing these great nations. (and must I mention, we didn’t ask for that back yet)
4. Back before World War 2, we originally got off the gold standard for multiple reasons but the biggest one being, A DEBT THE US COULD NOT COVER that includes, social programs like SOCIAL SECURITY, and I don’t know, a more well known problem, World War 1. Germany got off the gold standard a long time ago because they needed to pay for WW1 and because they were already in a deficit.
5. Adding more debt is a bad thing, AU CONTRAIR my lads, if you look at history, it would seem most times we needed to spend money to get out of a recession but we have a tough time dealing with after-effects, or basically, inflation. The way we’ve dealt with it is basically by sitting still, we haven’t done anything. We’re supposed to reduce the budget but we never do, no one really ever does by that much. Think about it, my grandfather always said blablabla icecream use to be 5 cents, well now it’s 2 dollars but our quality of living is still the same if not higher.
A final, moot point.
We will never rid ourselves of debt, especially with a system that makes money out of thin air by adjusting credit regulations. It is inevitable; we cannot and will not go back to a gold standard When it comes down to it, we can borrow as much money as we’d like so long as the US still stands as the international market-place for the world. We no longer are a manufacturing nation credit has become our bread and butter. It all just comes down to whether the bank will give us more credit should they, no.. Will they? Yes. Why? Because the United States with a limited budget is bad for everyone.
People pay us to police the world
There are just a lot of well-informed nerds in the universe now, especially with the development of web pages like slashdot, arstechnica, gizmodo, wired, lifehacker exc exc. And so, it's a good product. Yeah. Google + has a couple of bugs, but it is getting tons of publicity. ...and there are a lot of tech geeks out there
and if they have a couple friends,
and those friends have a couple more friends,
if one goes, two will too. Eventually.
Maybe a celebrity,
that's 100,000 more.
To be truly exclusive,
it must have an awesome fan-base.
Let's see if it breaks 50 million.
Another second-rate product just to tap a market they're not in yet... I love their business model... /ends sarcasm
I think the zune is pretty good now though, can anyone confirm/deny?