I was also disappointed that they didn't cover pre-pays. I have a couple of unlocked GSM phones that I use on Cingular. We don't use more than 50 mins a month so when the contract is up I'm going to a pre-paid option.
In Europe, everyone buys a phone and then buys a sim card from any one of many dealers. You may have several sims that are used for various purposes. Maybe one sim is cheaper for local calls, another is good for traveling and a third one is a backup in case of bad reception with the others. Sims are cheap and 'top -up' (adding minutes) is easy.
Example: I arrived in Venice on a Sunday during August. Many shops were closed but I had no problem buying a sim for $15 with $10 worth of credit on it. Slipped it into my phone and I was in business. Try that in the U.S.
The U.S. business model for cell phones is simply to lock you into a contract to get more cash from you than they would under the EU model.
My Cingular bill is about $75/month. Even with a U.S. style prepaid account I should be able to drop my cost to about $20/month.
Now that unlocking is legal, I'm waiting for some smart company to offer a free unlock and cheap sims to owners of GSM phones (Cingular, Tmobile). It is already possible to buy a sim only account on Oxygen http://www.ecallplus.com/cellular/Oxygen-GSM-Kit.h tml for $25 with 50 minutes on the sim.
I've used Sun Rocket for two years. Never had problem one. Just like my anlog phone. Everyone I've tipped to this company has had the same experience. VOIP can be done right. SR is also cheaper than Vonage ($199/year full service - $10/month limited service) Two numbers, web configuration, all the bells and whistles.
Your 'homeschooled' kids will learn all that stuff anyway as soon as they escape from the house and get that job at Mickey D's because they can't get into college and aren't qualified for a real job.
I've been using Citibank/ATT Universal Card for online purchase. You can download an application that will let you generate a unique card number for each purchase. You can also limit the amount and set the expiration date. After the purchase you can modify the amount or date and even cancel the number. It won't stop you from making a dumb purchase but it will prevent excessive charges and unauthorized addtional charges to your credit card.
PIcassa http://picasa.google.com/index.html I put it on the machine of every new digital camera owner in my family. None of them have a problem working with it. Does whatever they need to do. I've never had anyone ask me how to do something Picassa won't do so I guess it has the right tools. Best of all it's free.
I've been using Sun Rocket http://sunrocket.com/ for about 6 months. The service is superb. First outage was for about 30 minutes a couple of weeks ago. This is the email they sent to all subscribers. Never got one of these from SBC - and I've had outages with them. ===================== Dear SunRocket Member,
On behalf of SunRocket and all of our dedicated employees, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience that resulted from a SunRocket network disruption that occurred on Monday, July 11. The disruption was caused by recent surges in subscribers and call volumes. Unfortunately, one of the partitions in our network was unable to handle the demand, and it took several hours for our engineers to fully restore the network. While thousands of subscribers remained in service during the disruption, we failed to meet our reliability standards. Last week, we activated a new partition that doubled our capacity, but we had not begun the process of rebalancing the system load between the partitions prior to Monday's disruption. While that rebalancing is now underway, we will be activating a third partition within the next week to further augment our system capacity and improve the reliability of the SunRocket network.
We also recognize that we need to improve our ability to provide real-time status and notices during network disruptions, though our primary goal is to ensure that our network is fully operational at all times. You expect and deserve reliable phone service, and SunRocket remains committed to providing exceptional service at an exceptional value.
As an expression of our regret for any inconvenience you may have experienced, we will add 10 points into your RocketRewards account. Thousands of SunRocket members have taken advantage of the RocketRewards Referral Program, and we greatly appreciate your contributions in spreading the word about SunRocket to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues. We are also expanding your opportunities for earning RocketRewards points, as well as introducing more redemption choices. You can learn more about RocketRewards at www.sunrocket.com/community/referrals.
We are continuously striving to improve your service and enhance our ability to serve you better. Thank you for being a valued SunRocket member.
It's only going to get bigger if they make it easy for newbies. FTP options, downloader accelerators, XML code does not make it easy. If I can send my wife there and she can get the tunes with one click then I'll say it works . Otherwise, too geeky.
I guess Win2k users are out of luck. Why do I think that any new software or new versions of existing software will be 'XP or higher' for all future releases?
"My desktop is not for sale as advertising space. If it were, then the revenue generated from it should be MINE, not Googles." So let me get this straight. You want to use Google tools for free and when they post ads TO YOU you want them to pay your for the privelige? So don't use Gmail or Google search. Not sure what search engine you will use though. I don't know of a subscription based model with no ads.
Unfortunately the IRiver H320/340 sold in the U.S. does not have USB On-The-Go. Don't know why but that makes it a deal breaker. I'd love to find a reliable source for the international version
WurldMedia partners with StreamCast Networks, Inc., developers of Morpheus. A download of Morpheus will result in the installation of components associated with AtomWire and other browser helper objects. Components within a Morpheus installation will carry a variety of developer names within the code, including ESD Technologies, Inc., John Marshall, My Way, Summit Software Company, Wurld Media Inc., and XMLAuthor Inc.
Gattaca is one of the most underrated SF movies ever made. It's easy to show the distant future (or past) but the near future is much more difficult. Sadly, Gattaca probably got it close to right. Very scary. The scariest movie I remember was Forbidden Planet. Way ahead of it's time. I saw it recently and it's still scary. Even though the ID monster now reminds me of the Tasmanian Devil.
How on earth does it help the RIAA that I had to search for 15 years to get a legal copy of this album? The reason that you and I can't find (name your old artist here) CD's is simple. If they were available then no one would buy the new stuff. Every buck spent on out of print CD's is a buck they won't get for Brittany.
One trick is to NOT sign the back of your credit card. Instead, write the words, "Please ask for ID". Some clerks won't bother to look for the signature but most will check and ask you for ID. This may also make your stolen card less likely to be used or sold.
IBM has an ad featuring just this scenario. A sinister looking dude strolls through a store, puts something in his pocket and walks out the door. Just as he gets outside a security guard stops him and says, "Excuse me sir, you forgot your receipt". His purchase was automatically recorded by RFID when he walked through the door.
From the website..... Does the DVD player provide any special features (such as multi-zone, progressive scan, etc.)?
If you were to attach a progressive scan monitor to the SVGA connector, you have progressive scan DVD playback. The TV output is interlaced to work with normal television sets.
Take a look at http://www.spamgourmet.com. You can make up email addresses on the fly and limit the number of replies to any quantity you like. When the number is exceeded the email is eaten.
Remind me of the official sizes of olives: 1. Super Mammouth 2. Mammouth 3. Super Colossal 4. Colossal 5. Giants 6. Extra Jumbo 7. Jumbo 8. Extra Large 9. Large 10. Superior 11. Brilliant 12. Fine 13. Bullets
I must disagree with the VB bashers here. Our shop builds test equipment with lots of analog and digital I/O - some of it high speed. We started off 20 years ago using C but switched to whatever-the-current-version of Microsoft's BASIC was at the time. Each system was unique and you can't beat VB for fast coding/debugging. In the beginning we had to write assembler code to access the hardware regs on the acq boards for speed but when DLL's began to be supplied with the hardware things got much easier. The huge library of controls and DAQ add-ons for VB just cannot be ignored. For a laboratory the advantages would be similar - fast prototyping and debugging for unique applications with lots of off-the-shelf code and low labor costs. VB has it's faults but for this kind of work it is well suited. There is really no economic advantage to using free software in this instance.
I've often thought that a person's value should be determined by how soon that person would be able to go to work and contribute if civilization had to start from scratch (stone age). Farmers, tool makers, carpenters, doctors, nurses, weavers, warriors, hookers and teachers would be examples of most valuable people. Pilots, truck drivers, manufacturing workers etc. would not go to work very quickly. Bottom of the list would be TV personalities, sports figures, advice columnists, salesmen, lobbyists and lawyers. These folks wouldn't be back to work for a long time.
Maybe geeks like lost skills because they want a better spot on the list.
"A scenario could be imagined where an attacker would do this to delay the arrival of an important letter...." I don't know about you but I haven't trusted an important letter the the USPS for many years. Tax returns etc. go Certified or Fedex only. The USPS is just not reliable any more when the mail item is important.
I didn't mention what was on the tapes. The tapes belong to a friend of mine who is obviously a golf nut. They are complete recordings of every major professional golf tournament that was televised for the last 20 years. There are tapes of all 4 days of each tournament, all the commercials, interviews etc. For personal viewing only of course. Lots of great ideas here. This will take some thought.
When he finally wins his case? "Jon, now that you have been cleared in Norway, where are you going to go? I'm going to DISNEYWORLD! Oh wait. uhhh.... maybe not."
Slashdot Mirror
I was also disappointed that they didn't cover pre-pays. I have a couple of unlocked GSM phones that I use on Cingular. We don't use more than 50 mins a month so when the contract is up I'm going to a pre-paid option. In Europe, everyone buys a phone and then buys a sim card from any one of many dealers. You may have several sims that are used for various purposes. Maybe one sim is cheaper for local calls, another is good for traveling and a third one is a backup in case of bad reception with the others. Sims are cheap and 'top -up' (adding minutes) is easy. Example: I arrived in Venice on a Sunday during August. Many shops were closed but I had no problem buying a sim for $15 with $10 worth of credit on it. Slipped it into my phone and I was in business. Try that in the U.S. The U.S. business model for cell phones is simply to lock you into a contract to get more cash from you than they would under the EU model. My Cingular bill is about $75/month. Even with a U.S. style prepaid account I should be able to drop my cost to about $20/month. Now that unlocking is legal, I'm waiting for some smart company to offer a free unlock and cheap sims to owners of GSM phones (Cingular, Tmobile). It is already possible to buy a sim only account on Oxygen http://www.ecallplus.com/cellular/Oxygen-GSM-Kit.h tml for $25 with 50 minutes on the sim.
I've used Sun Rocket for two years. Never had problem one.
Just like my anlog phone. Everyone I've tipped to this company has had the same experience.
VOIP can be done right. SR is also cheaper than Vonage ($199/year full service - $10/month limited service)
Two numbers, web configuration, all the bells and whistles.
Your 'homeschooled' kids will learn all that stuff anyway as soon as they escape from the house and get that job at Mickey D's because they can't get into college and aren't qualified for a real job.
I've been using Citibank/ATT Universal Card for online purchase. You can download an application that will let you generate a unique card number for each purchase. You can also limit the amount and set the expiration date.
After the purchase you can modify the amount or date and even cancel the number.
It won't stop you from making a dumb purchase but it will prevent excessive charges and unauthorized addtional charges to your credit card.
PIcassa http://picasa.google.com/index.html
I put it on the machine of every new digital camera owner in my family. None of them have a problem working with it. Does whatever they need to do. I've never had anyone ask me how to do something Picassa won't do so I guess it has the right tools.
Best of all it's free.
I've been using Sun Rocket http://sunrocket.com/ for about 6 months. The service is superb. First outage was for about 30 minutes a couple of weeks ago. This is the email they sent to all subscribers.
Never got one of these from SBC - and I've had outages with them.
=====================
Dear SunRocket Member,
On behalf of SunRocket and all of our dedicated employees, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience that resulted from a SunRocket network disruption that occurred on Monday, July 11. The disruption was caused by recent surges in subscribers and call volumes. Unfortunately, one of the partitions in our network was unable to handle the demand, and it took several hours for our engineers to fully restore the network. While thousands of subscribers remained in service during the disruption, we failed to meet our reliability standards. Last week, we activated a new partition that doubled our capacity, but we had not begun the process of rebalancing the system load between the partitions prior to Monday's disruption. While that rebalancing is now underway, we will be activating a third partition within the next week to further augment our system capacity and improve the reliability of the SunRocket network.
We also recognize that we need to improve our ability to provide real-time status and notices during network disruptions, though our primary goal is to ensure that our network is fully operational at all times. You expect and deserve reliable phone service, and SunRocket remains committed to providing exceptional service at an exceptional value.
As an expression of our regret for any inconvenience you may have experienced, we will add 10 points into your RocketRewards account. Thousands of SunRocket members have taken advantage of the RocketRewards Referral Program, and we greatly appreciate your contributions in spreading the word about SunRocket to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues. We are also expanding your opportunities for earning RocketRewards points, as well as introducing more redemption choices. You can learn more about RocketRewards at www.sunrocket.com/community/referrals.
We are continuously striving to improve your service and enhance our ability to serve you better. Thank you for being a valued SunRocket member.
Sincerely,
Kevin Bennis
Chief Executive Officer
It's only going to get bigger if they make it easy for newbies. FTP options, downloader accelerators, XML code does not make it easy. If I can send my wife there and she can get the tunes with one click then I'll say it works . Otherwise, too geeky.
hot-deals.org
Kinda like Fat Wallet without the frills. Just a text based site with anywhere from 1 or 2 to a dozen deals a day. Most are very good.
I guess Win2k users are out of luck. Why do I think that any new software or new versions of existing software will be 'XP or higher' for all future releases?
"My desktop is not for sale as advertising space. If it were, then the revenue generated from it should be MINE, not Googles."
So let me get this straight. You want to use Google tools for free and when they post ads TO YOU you want them to pay your for the privelige?
So don't use Gmail or Google search. Not sure what search engine you will use though. I don't know of a subscription based model with no ads.
Unfortunately the IRiver H320/340 sold in the U.S. does not have USB On-The-Go. Don't know why but that makes it a deal breaker. I'd love to find a reliable source for the international version
From Pest Patrol http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/w/wurldmedia.as p#Overview
WURLD Media, Inc.
WurldMedia partners with StreamCast Networks, Inc., developers of Morpheus. A download of Morpheus will result in the installation of components associated with AtomWire and other browser helper objects. Components within a Morpheus installation will carry a variety of developer names within the code, including ESD Technologies, Inc., John Marshall, My Way, Summit Software Company, Wurld Media Inc., and XMLAuthor Inc.
Gattaca is one of the most underrated SF movies ever made. It's easy to show the distant future (or past) but the near future is much more difficult. Sadly, Gattaca probably got it close to right. Very scary.
The scariest movie I remember was Forbidden Planet. Way ahead of it's time. I saw it recently and it's still scary. Even though the ID monster now reminds me of the Tasmanian Devil.
How on earth does it help the RIAA that I had to search for 15 years to get a legal copy of this album?
The reason that you and I can't find (name your old artist here) CD's is simple. If they were available then no one would buy the new stuff. Every buck spent on out of print CD's is a buck they won't get for Brittany.
One trick is to NOT sign the back of your credit card. Instead, write the words, "Please ask for ID". Some clerks won't bother to look for the signature but most will check and ask you for ID. This may also make your stolen card less likely to be used or sold.
I'm sure NASA would have offered him a seat on the next shuttle coming back. Oh well.....
IBM has an ad featuring just this scenario. A sinister looking dude strolls through a store, puts something in his pocket and walks out the door. Just as he gets outside a security guard stops him and says, "Excuse me sir, you forgot your receipt". His purchase was automatically recorded by RFID when he walked through the door.
From the website.....
Does the DVD player provide any special features (such as multi-zone, progressive scan, etc.)?
If you were to attach a progressive scan monitor to the SVGA connector, you have progressive scan DVD playback. The TV output is interlaced to work with normal television sets.
Take a look at http://www.spamgourmet.com.
You can make up email addresses on the fly and limit the number of replies to any quantity you like. When the number is exceeded the email is eaten.
Remind me of the official sizes of olives:
1. Super Mammouth
2. Mammouth
3. Super Colossal
4. Colossal
5. Giants
6. Extra Jumbo
7. Jumbo
8. Extra Large
9. Large
10. Superior
11. Brilliant
12. Fine
13. Bullets
I must disagree with the VB bashers here.
Our shop builds test equipment with lots of analog and digital I/O - some of it high speed.
We started off 20 years ago using C but switched to whatever-the-current-version of Microsoft's BASIC was at the time. Each system was unique and you can't beat VB for fast coding/debugging.
In the beginning we had to write assembler code to access the hardware regs on the acq boards for speed but when DLL's began to be supplied with the hardware things got much easier. The huge library of controls and DAQ add-ons for VB just cannot be ignored. For a laboratory the advantages would be similar - fast prototyping and debugging for unique applications with lots of off-the-shelf code and low labor costs. VB has it's faults but for this kind of work it is well suited.
There is really no economic advantage to using free software in this instance.
I've often thought that a person's value should be determined by how soon that person would be able to go to work and contribute if civilization had to start from scratch (stone age). Farmers, tool makers, carpenters, doctors, nurses, weavers, warriors, hookers and teachers would be examples of most valuable people. Pilots, truck drivers, manufacturing workers etc. would not go to work very quickly.
Bottom of the list would be TV personalities, sports figures, advice columnists, salesmen, lobbyists and lawyers. These folks wouldn't be back to work for a long time.
Maybe geeks like lost skills because they want a better spot on the list.
"A scenario could be imagined where an attacker would do this to delay the arrival of an important letter...."
I don't know about you but I haven't trusted an important letter the the USPS for many years. Tax returns etc. go Certified or Fedex only. The USPS is just not reliable any more when the mail item is important.
I didn't mention what was on the tapes. The tapes belong to a friend of mine who is obviously a golf nut.
They are complete recordings of every major professional golf tournament that was televised for the last 20 years. There are tapes of all 4 days of each tournament, all the commercials, interviews etc. For personal viewing only of course. Lots of great ideas here. This will take some thought.
When he finally wins his case?
"Jon, now that you have been cleared in Norway, where are you going to go?
I'm going to DISNEYWORLD!
Oh wait. uhhh.... maybe not."