The best thing you can do is to get an unlocked GSM phone. With an unlocked GSM phone, you can insert any SIM card from any carrier and then just start talking.
I am personally a fan of Nokia's Maemo offerings (e.g. Nokia N9) because they are descended from internet tablets and are designed to operate without mobile data service. There are also unlocked Android phones (e.g. Google's Nexus line), which I am sure are fine if you are interested in Android. Even Apple now sells unlocked iPhones.
As for service, if you are looking to switch, I highly recommend T-Mobile's pre-paid service. It is very good value, and I have found that the coverage in my area is pretty comparable to Verizon and AT&T.
There are two things that you are forgetting. First one gallon of crude oil does not make one gallon of gas. That, and all of the energy that is required to turn the crude oil into gas makes gas much more expensive than crude oil. Secondly, corn, and by extension, corn oil, is highly subsidized in the US. Corn is a major ingredient in most "vegetable oil" and fuel grade ethanol in the US. Please note, I do not know whether or not you are right. I just had to make those two points.
I use some really old Windows programs that have a minimum amount of time that the splash screen will appear. For example, Paint Shop Pro 5 will actually let you start using the program while the loading splash screen is still visible. I am convinced that many splash screen slow program loads, either because the splash screen uses up valuable system resources that should go towards loading the program, or because they have a minimum display time requirement and won't let you use the program until the timeout. Down with splash screens!
Have you tried the PC version of L.A. Noire? It makes GTA IV good like pretty good port. Some highlights are that it is capped at 30fps, requires admin rights to even launch, and crashes instead of exiting. And that is just the beginning...
Exactly. Just because you have a smart phone does not mean that you need expensive service. An unlocked GSM smartphone with prepaid cell service does not need to be expensive. It is easy to find prepaid cell service for ~$100/yr which is a little over $8/mo.
T-Mobile even offers a 24 hour "unlimited" data plan for $1.50 on their prepaid service. That way you can have data service when you get need it and can't find wifi.
Personally, I use my smartphone for email and web browsing WAY MORE than I use it for "phone" stuff like making calls or SMS. I easily spend hours using the internet on my phone most weeks, but only spend a few minutes making calls. In fact, I refused to get a cell phone until the Nokia N900 came out because I wanted that extra thing I have to worry about to be useful. I would give up my cell service long before I would give up my pock-sized internet device.
"Evil crowdsourcing on a very large scale." Influencing public opinion with fake "grassroots" activity is known as astroturfing, leading Zhao to coin the term "crowdturfing," since it is done via large crowdsourcing sites.
Why does everyone keep saying that resistive touch screens don't work with fingers? I can tell you first hand that they work with fingers, stylus, or anything else vaguely pointed. My phone (Nokia N900) has a resistive touch screen, and I use my fingers on it every day. Sure, fingernails or a stylus work better than finger tips, but there isn't anything stopping you from using your finger tips. I personally consider a resistive touch screen to be a feature, not a disadvantage.
Using a stylus makes a small screen seem larger because you aren't covering up such a large portion of the screen with a fat finger. This also allows for smaller user interface elements which increases screen real estate for content.
Capacitive touch screens are the ones with limitations. You can't use a normal stylus on a capacitive touch screen.
I have had the same experience. The three features missing from Chrome that really kill it for me are recently closed tabs (Opera had this before Firefox), good proxy support (Under Windows, Chrome's proxy configuration is shared with IE), and good add-on support (as far as I know there still isn't an ad blocker that prevents ads from being downloaded).
Until they fix those three things, my interest in Chrome will go no further than testing to make sure my websites display and work correctly in Chrome.
The iPad is not a great product, nor are any of the other tablets out there. TFA claims that the iPad is so good that none of the Android tablets can compare. That is wrong.
The real problem is the version of tablet form factor made popular by the iPad. It is just plain useless. The iPad can get away with it because Apple made it a fashion assessory, but Android tablets aren't fashion assessorys. People actually expect them to be useful, but they aren't, so no one wants one. I have read that most people who bought an iPad set it aside after just a few months and then almost never use it again.
Now, I know that someone will try to use the fact that the iPad 2 sold well as proof that I am wrong. The iPad 2 sold well to people who hadn't bought an iPad already, and to those who convinced them selves that there was something resolved in the second generation model that would make them want to use it more than the original. Sure there are a few people who continue to use it for longer, but only because they think it makes them seem cool. Everyone else uses a laptop when they want to get something done or a smartphone when a laptop isn't convenient.
Tablets have historically been data input devices. They were until recently almost always bundled with a stylus. These new media consumption tablets are a fad which will die away eventually. Only Apple will make any money on them because fads are Apple's game.
Android was able to succeed in smartphone space because smartphones are actually useful. Very few people bought Android phones as a fashion assessory.
Sorry, but I don't understand how this could possibly be any better than combining existing password and CAPTCHA systems, which I am fairly certain has been done before. If the CAPTCHA and password didn't have a link between them it would likely be more secure. Their system only provides some benefit until someone leaks the algorithm for generating the CAPTCHA.
Maybe.
I am not familiar enough with racing rules, but it seems to me that it might be possible to just swap out the battery pack in a similar amount of time to refueling. Many new electric cars, including the Tesla Model S, have swappable batteries. While it would likely be prohibitively expensive for a home user to have sever batteries, it would likely be in the scope of a racing budget.
Have you ever used a clean install of Windows? I don't think you will find anyone else's products bundled with it. Sure, Sony will bundle a bunch of crap with their computer, but that isn't Microsoft, that is Sony.
As others have said, the main reason that Windows is so popular is that it has great legacy support. In fact, I find it a refreshing change compared to Apple who completely changed platforms requiring everything to be recompiled. Now that is fragmentation.
Anandtech has done this before. They found that Firefox + AdBlock Plus yielded the best browsing battery life because Flash Ads are a huge power drain. It doesn't matter how good IE or Chrome get, I am still going to use Firefox because of NoScript and AdBlock Plus. Yes, I know that Chrome has AdBlock, but it doesn't really block the ads; just hide them, which completely defeats my goal; using less bandwidth. As sad as it is, not everyone can get unlimited internet.
Almost all consumer laptops are terrible. Get a business laptop if you want something that is any good. Some examples are HP's EliteBook and ProBook lines, Dell's Precision and Latitude lines, and Lenovo's ThinkPad line. Generally speaking, if a laptop doesn't have a trackpoint/pointing stick, it isn't worth having. It doesn't matter if you want to use it or not, it is a good indication of the quality of a laptop.
Business laptops generally have:
Better Battery life
Better reliability
No crapware
More durable designs
Higher performance
Better keyboards and Anti-Glare screens
Better conductivity and support for a docking station
Better and longer warranties
The GSM Nexus S comes to mind. It has Android 2.3, GMS support (should work in both the US and UK), and one of the fastest ARM A8s available. It costs $529.99 at Best Buy. I don't think that is millionaire class spending, but I guess the definition might vary a bit. GSM pre-paid data should be available in much of the world.
File compression. Many ISPs today do file compression on your traffic, and good encryption makes the data effectively incompressible. Not only do ISPs not like encryption for this reason, but they sometimes it encrypted traffic to lower priority making encrypted sessions doubly slow for their users.
Slashdot Mirror
Sure you can get an N9. The 16GB models go for ~$400 unlocked on ebay. I picked one up, and I can tell you that it is, indeed great.
The best thing you can do is to get an unlocked GSM phone. With an unlocked GSM phone, you can insert any SIM card from any carrier and then just start talking.
I am personally a fan of Nokia's Maemo offerings (e.g. Nokia N9) because they are descended from internet tablets and are designed to operate without mobile data service. There are also unlocked Android phones (e.g. Google's Nexus line), which I am sure are fine if you are interested in Android. Even Apple now sells unlocked iPhones.
As for service, if you are looking to switch, I highly recommend T-Mobile's pre-paid service. It is very good value, and I have found that the coverage in my area is pretty comparable to Verizon and AT&T.
There are two things that you are forgetting. First one gallon of crude oil does not make one gallon of gas. That, and all of the energy that is required to turn the crude oil into gas makes gas much more expensive than crude oil. Secondly, corn, and by extension, corn oil, is highly subsidized in the US. Corn is a major ingredient in most "vegetable oil" and fuel grade ethanol in the US. Please note, I do not know whether or not you are right. I just had to make those two points.
I use some really old Windows programs that have a minimum amount of time that the splash screen will appear. For example, Paint Shop Pro 5 will actually let you start using the program while the loading splash screen is still visible. I am convinced that many splash screen slow program loads, either because the splash screen uses up valuable system resources that should go towards loading the program, or because they have a minimum display time requirement and won't let you use the program until the timeout. Down with splash screens!
Have you tried the PC version of L.A. Noire? It makes GTA IV good like pretty good port. Some highlights are that it is capped at 30fps, requires admin rights to even launch, and crashes instead of exiting. And that is just the beginning...
Exactly. Just because you have a smart phone does not mean that you need expensive service. An unlocked GSM smartphone with prepaid cell service does not need to be expensive. It is easy to find prepaid cell service for ~$100/yr which is a little over $8/mo.
T-Mobile even offers a 24 hour "unlimited" data plan for $1.50 on their prepaid service. That way you can have data service when you get need it and can't find wifi.
Personally, I use my smartphone for email and web browsing WAY MORE than I use it for "phone" stuff like making calls or SMS. I easily spend hours using the internet on my phone most weeks, but only spend a few minutes making calls. In fact, I refused to get a cell phone until the Nokia N900 came out because I wanted that extra thing I have to worry about to be useful. I would give up my cell service long before I would give up my pock-sized internet device.
No, one slit (or door) will cause diffraction. You can read about it on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction#Single-slit_diffraction
"Evil crowdsourcing on a very large scale." Influencing public opinion with fake "grassroots" activity is known as astroturfing, leading Zhao to coin the term "crowdturfing," since it is done via large crowdsourcing sites.
Mittens have a thumb. I frequently use my thumb on the restive screen on my phone.
I thought a resistive touch screen solved that problem.
You don't need an add-on. You can just use about:config in Firefox to setup the proxy. That way you can do http or https proxys too.
Why does everyone keep saying that resistive touch screens don't work with fingers? I can tell you first hand that they work with fingers, stylus, or anything else vaguely pointed. My phone (Nokia N900) has a resistive touch screen, and I use my fingers on it every day. Sure, fingernails or a stylus work better than finger tips, but there isn't anything stopping you from using your finger tips. I personally consider a resistive touch screen to be a feature, not a disadvantage.
Using a stylus makes a small screen seem larger because you aren't covering up such a large portion of the screen with a fat finger. This also allows for smaller user interface elements which increases screen real estate for content.
Capacitive touch screens are the ones with limitations. You can't use a normal stylus on a capacitive touch screen.
I have had the same experience. The three features missing from Chrome that really kill it for me are recently closed tabs (Opera had this before Firefox), good proxy support (Under Windows, Chrome's proxy configuration is shared with IE), and good add-on support (as far as I know there still isn't an ad blocker that prevents ads from being downloaded).
Until they fix those three things, my interest in Chrome will go no further than testing to make sure my websites display and work correctly in Chrome.
It doesn't really matter much. 2^61 = 2.305843009213693952 × 10^18 = 2305843009213693952 or 2 quintillion, 305 quadrillion, 843 trillion, 9 billion, 213 million, 693 thousand and 952.
I think that will still be enough for quite a while.
The iPad is not a great product, nor are any of the other tablets out there. TFA claims that the iPad is so good that none of the Android tablets can compare. That is wrong.
The real problem is the version of tablet form factor made popular by the iPad. It is just plain useless. The iPad can get away with it because Apple made it a fashion assessory, but Android tablets aren't fashion assessorys. People actually expect them to be useful, but they aren't, so no one wants one. I have read that most people who bought an iPad set it aside after just a few months and then almost never use it again.
Now, I know that someone will try to use the fact that the iPad 2 sold well as proof that I am wrong. The iPad 2 sold well to people who hadn't bought an iPad already, and to those who convinced them selves that there was something resolved in the second generation model that would make them want to use it more than the original. Sure there are a few people who continue to use it for longer, but only because they think it makes them seem cool. Everyone else uses a laptop when they want to get something done or a smartphone when a laptop isn't convenient.
Tablets have historically been data input devices. They were until recently almost always bundled with a stylus. These new media consumption tablets are a fad which will die away eventually. Only Apple will make any money on them because fads are Apple's game.
Android was able to succeed in smartphone space because smartphones are actually useful. Very few people bought Android phones as a fashion assessory.
Overclocking is generally harmless. It is overvolting your brain. Overclocking likely won't kill something, overvolting will.
I wouldn't mind renting someone's Linux computer.
Sorry, but I don't understand how this could possibly be any better than combining existing password and CAPTCHA systems, which I am fairly certain has been done before. If the CAPTCHA and password didn't have a link between them it would likely be more secure. Their system only provides some benefit until someone leaks the algorithm for generating the CAPTCHA.
Is there something that I am missing?
Maybe.
I am not familiar enough with racing rules, but it seems to me that it might be possible to just swap out the battery pack in a similar amount of time to refueling. Many new electric cars, including the Tesla Model S, have swappable batteries. While it would likely be prohibitively expensive for a home user to have sever batteries, it would likely be in the scope of a racing budget.
Have you ever used a clean install of Windows? I don't think you will find anyone else's products bundled with it. Sure, Sony will bundle a bunch of crap with their computer, but that isn't Microsoft, that is Sony.
As others have said, the main reason that Windows is so popular is that it has great legacy support. In fact, I find it a refreshing change compared to Apple who completely changed platforms requiring everything to be recompiled. Now that is fragmentation.
Anandtech has done this before. They found that Firefox + AdBlock Plus yielded the best browsing battery life because Flash Ads are a huge power drain. It doesn't matter how good IE or Chrome get, I am still going to use Firefox because of NoScript and AdBlock Plus. Yes, I know that Chrome has AdBlock, but it doesn't really block the ads; just hide them, which completely defeats my goal; using less bandwidth. As sad as it is, not everyone can get unlimited internet.
Source:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2834/5
Almost all consumer laptops are terrible. Get a business laptop if you want something that is any good. Some examples are HP's EliteBook and ProBook lines, Dell's Precision and Latitude lines, and Lenovo's ThinkPad line. Generally speaking, if a laptop doesn't have a trackpoint/pointing stick, it isn't worth having. It doesn't matter if you want to use it or not, it is a good indication of the quality of a laptop. Business laptops generally have: Better Battery life Better reliability No crapware More durable designs Higher performance Better keyboards and Anti-Glare screens Better conductivity and support for a docking station Better and longer warranties
The GSM Nexus S comes to mind. It has Android 2.3, GMS support (should work in both the US and UK), and one of the fastest ARM A8s available. It costs $529.99 at Best Buy. I don't think that is millionaire class spending, but I guess the definition might vary a bit. GSM pre-paid data should be available in much of the world.
File compression. Many ISPs today do file compression on your traffic, and good encryption makes the data effectively incompressible. Not only do ISPs not like encryption for this reason, but they sometimes it encrypted traffic to lower priority making encrypted sessions doubly slow for their users.
I can only hope that OCZ changes their mind and decides to at least offer a more expensive 34nm version.
Is a 32nm version good enough for you? They are going to offer one of those called the Vertex 3 Pro. Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4186/ocz-vertex-3-preview-the-first-client-focused-sf2200/2