Is there really any reason to buy your own music? With google's video search you can find virtually any song you desire to hear. It's like being your own DJ.
The problem is running Windows 7 on a 1 gigahertz single-core CPU. I thought my brother's PC with 3 gigahertz Pentium was slow..... but this tablet at 1/3rd speed must be a real bear.
The CD was first sold 1982. The IBM PC-compatible iPod, the first popular MP3 player, was not released until 2002. So twenty years, which is pretty long time to wait.
One cable can not carry 50 different companies' CATV options.
Put another way: Comcast's system already uses the frequencies from 0 to 1,000,000 megahertz. So if the government decided to let Cox, AppleTV, and a few others share that line, where would they go? There's not enough room.
>>>Yeah, SG:U, Atlantis, and Caprica are supposed to be examples of good sci-fi?
Actually Caprica is a perfect example of good science fiction. Its ending reminds me of the ending of a classic SF novel, and along the way it explored different issues like religion and humanity. (As for Stargate - nah not really. It's just fun to watch.)
Science Fiction is in decline everywhere. In the world of print, Fantasy is coming to dominate while sci-fi is relegated to a shelf or two. For whatever reason, fantasy is now the preference among readers. So SCI-FI did the natural thing - converted from a sci-fi channel to a fantasy channel - to please the general public.
>>>you've permanently removed yourself from being able to use Skype, and forced yourself to use some half-baked not-as-good alternative
+1 insightful. A lot of the open-source stuff (OpenOffice) simply doesn't work correctly, unless you're doing simple stuff (no tables or images). Hence the need to have MS Office on your machine.
On the other hand, a lot of open-source stuff works GREAT, like firefox, seamonkey, vlc media player, azureus, and so on. So might as well take advantage of it, rather than hand your money to Microsoft or Apple's software division.
Yes rain and snow attenuates radio waves. But not by a huge amount. The human race would likely go extinct from Heat stroke before anybody noticed any real decline in WiFi connectivity. This article smacks of "the sky is falling" fearmongering. Like this:
"On March 20, 2000, The Independent, a British newspaper, reported that the Dr. David Viner of the UK's Climate Research Unit warning within a few years snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event." Indeed, Viner opined, "Children just aren't going to know what snow is." Similarly, David Parker, at the UK's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, said that eventually British children could have only "virtual" experience of snow via movies and the Internet.
"The Union of Concerned Scientists opined confidently in 2004 scientists claim winters were becoming warmer and less snowy. In 2008, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bemoaned that children would be robbed of the childhood joys of sledding and skiing in the DC area due to global warming. A year later, the area set a new seasonal snowfall record with 5 to 6 feet of snow and sleds and skis were the only way to get around." http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/apr/13apr2011a3.html
If the models can not predict snowfall, how can they be counted-upon to predict anything else in future weather?
>>>Old net newsgroups used to be a free-for-all, and look how that ended up.
Fantastic. I love the Usenet's lack of censorship. And of course I always have the option to "ignore" any actual trolls (like Ford Thaxton threatening JMS of babylon 5). I still say no censorship is the way to go, in order to avoid the danger of silencing voices simply because they are unpopular (example: A Ron Paul supporter would probably be modded -1 Terrible Karma here).
Moderation points are also used BY trolls to silence people (or opinions) they don't like. For example, saying that you bought an iPad and didn't like it almost-always results in -2 hits to that post. I'm surprised you've never noticed that?
I think Slashdot's system would be vastly improved if the -1 points were expunged, so this kind of behavior could not happen. Also I think it would be better if everyone was assigned a default 0. Trolls would remain stuck at 0, while insightful posters would be modded-up to 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. The reader could then adjust his reading level to whatever he wishes.
Everyone has a right to speak, even idiots. If you don't like what they have to say, then just add them to your ignore list. Trolls/idiots polluting forums is preferable to censorship like happens on some boards (Sony erasing negative posts about the hacking).
Other ideas: - no point system or post tally. People don't deserve to get points just because they post a lot. People don't deserve to get points at all, for the mere act of expressing an opinion. - threading is essential, so the replies are tied to the original post - keep it simple. Plain text. Uses less bandwidth.
LEDs use a Lot more power. They would not be used during an energy drought. Probably e-ink would be used (like the kindle), although it would cost $50 per battery charge (ouch). Maybe society would revert to paper, since it requires no energy to use a book.
"By the year 2100, old had become so scarce that it was worth more than an ounce of silver, creating an energy drought. Citizens could barely afford to turn-on a 10 watt lightbulb..... forget the high expense of a computer and internet network."
Surely there must be some Science-based fiction that deal with this negative future?
Clearly some people didn't understand my point, so let me boil it down to internet IQ level:
Comcast: "We want your money. Please sign-up for service." ME: "Fuck you." (hangs-up on comcast sales idiot)
Government: "We want your money." ME: "Fuck you." Government: "Wrong answer Mr Anderson. Welcome to prison."
I prefer the freedom that I have with Comcast and other corporations. I don't "have" to deal with them. But I have to deal with the Tyranny known as Congress. As Jefferson remarked, "We would have no government if it were possible. It is only to protect our rights that resort to a small constitutionally-limited one."
>>>That or the government will have to force the companies to share the resources
(1) Why not? Government forces Baltimore Gas&Electric to share its electrical system with other companies, thereby giving me multiple choices. Even before government was involved, the electricity was shared across companies (most of my electric did not come from BGE, but nearby Edison Power's dam). They cooperated with one another.
(2) Or the government could own the 50-fiber bundle itself, in the same way government owns the road and allows multiple companies (toyota, honda, gm, chevy, ford, kia, hyundai, VW, etc) to share the resource. Just as we have a free market with cars, we could have a free market with CATV providers. You just choose which company you prefer.
You don't need to tear-up the streets to snake a 1 cm cable (with 50-100 optical fibers). Cmon people. Don't you ever watch those blue collar wire-layers in action along roads, or snaking internet through office walls? It's not a destructive process.
"My refusal to give General Electric (or any other corporation) my money has zero consequences. They do not send employees with guns to raid my wallet, audit my bank account, or throw me in prison. Furthermore if enough people feel the same as me, the corporation will go bankrupt and disappear (see Montgomery Wards, Commodore, Circuit City, UPN, and so on)."
"Now try that with the Congress or State Legislature. Refusal to give money is not a wise course of action. They have a monopoly over your money, your property, your liberty, your life, and the use-of-force to make you submit to their will.
"I consider corporations to be far more democratic. Every time I spend a dollar (or not) I am casting a vote to keep the corporation afloat, or drive them into nonexistence."
Netflix is decent but I prefer hulu. It's free (well $15 if you include internet hookup). Like having a VCR to catch shows you missed, but without the hassle. ----- And TV is free too (via antenna). Sometimes there's a one year delay, as is the case with Deadliest Catch or SG Universe, but eventually it moves from Pay TV to Free TV.
>>>If netlix dies, I'll throw the TV in the trash
I won't do that because I like shows & movies too much. But I won't go back to cable either. I'll just wait for the season-set DVDs to come out and rent them. ~$5 rental is cheaper than ~$1000/year comcast hookup. Cable makes little economic sense given the other alternatives available.
>>>market forces do not work towards efficiency in situations of "natural monopoly".
I agree with your viewpoint, but Comcast, Cox, et cetera are not "natural" monopolies. They are government-created monopolies. With modern technologies like fiber optics, there's no reason why every home cannot be wired with 50 incoming optical lines (1 cm thick bundle), each one carrying a TV lineup. Then the consumer could choose if they want Comcast or Cox or AppleTV or Verizon and so on.
Water, electricity, sewer are "natural" monopolies due to space limitations (i.e. big fat pipes or poles). CATV has no such limitation and there's no reason for a monopoly to exist.
Well we gave HALF the keys to the content providers (Comcast, Cox, cablevision, etc). The other half of the keys went to the phone company (DSL or fiber) which has always acted as a conduit for information flow, not the content generator. This is why I stick with Verizon, because even though it's slower, they won't do any tricks like Comcast would (i.e. blocking hulu or syfy or tnt.tv).
Slashdot Mirror
Is there really any reason to buy your own music?
With google's video search you can find virtually any song you desire to hear. It's like being your own DJ.
The problem is running Windows 7 on a 1 gigahertz single-core CPU. I thought my brother's PC with 3 gigahertz Pentium was slow..... but this tablet at 1/3rd speed must be a real bear.
>>>".Net is the third largest registry in existence (after .com and .de)"
Why? Germany has a lot of websites for some reason?
The CD was first sold 1982. The IBM PC-compatible iPod, the first popular MP3 player, was not released until 2002. So twenty years, which is pretty long time to wait.
Left off some stuff:
- Amiga mouse (right side) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amiga500_system.jpg
- C=64 mouse: http://www.virtualsky.net/iadoremyc64/gallery/1351_mouse.jpg
- Atari joystick http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01856/media/AtariJoystick.jpg
- Epyx joystick http://mimg.ugo.com/201103/4/5/7/183754/epyx.jpg
- Commodore joystick http://www.itwissen.info/bilder/commodore-joystick.png
- Atari Trakball http://a10.idata.over-blog.com/400x533/1/27/40/16/Joypads-divers/2600-trak-ball.jpg
One cable can not carry 50 different companies' CATV options.
Put another way: Comcast's system already uses the frequencies from 0 to 1,000,000 megahertz. So if the government decided to let Cox, AppleTV, and a few others share that line, where would they go? There's not enough room.
>>>Yeah, SG:U, Atlantis, and Caprica are supposed to be examples of good sci-fi?
Actually Caprica is a perfect example of good science fiction. Its ending reminds me of the ending of a classic SF novel, and along the way it explored different issues like religion and humanity. (As for Stargate - nah not really. It's just fun to watch.)
Science Fiction is in decline everywhere.
In the world of print, Fantasy is coming to dominate while sci-fi is relegated to a shelf or two.
For whatever reason, fantasy is now the preference among readers.
So SCI-FI did the natural thing - converted from a sci-fi channel to a fantasy channel - to please the general public.
>>>Even MSN has a mac client. So does Office.
Where's the Internet Explorer for Mac?
Hmmm.
>>>you've permanently removed yourself from being able to use Skype, and forced yourself to use some half-baked not-as-good alternative
+1 insightful. A lot of the open-source stuff (OpenOffice) simply doesn't work correctly, unless you're doing simple stuff (no tables or images). Hence the need to have MS Office on your machine.
On the other hand, a lot of open-source stuff works GREAT, like firefox, seamonkey, vlc media player, azureus, and so on. So might as well take advantage of it, rather than hand your money to Microsoft or Apple's software division.
So negative. Don't you think Skype will continue providing a linux client program, just like they've always done?
Yes rain and snow attenuates radio waves. But not by a huge amount. The human race would likely go extinct from Heat stroke before anybody noticed any real decline in WiFi connectivity. This article smacks of "the sky is falling" fearmongering. Like this:
"On March 20, 2000, The Independent, a British newspaper, reported that the Dr. David Viner of the UK's Climate Research Unit warning within a few years snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event." Indeed, Viner opined, "Children just aren't going to know what snow is." Similarly, David Parker, at the UK's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, said that eventually British children could have only "virtual" experience of snow via movies and the Internet.
"The Union of Concerned Scientists opined confidently in 2004 scientists claim winters were becoming warmer and less snowy. In 2008, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bemoaned that children would be robbed of the childhood joys of sledding and skiing in the DC area due to global warming. A year later, the area set a new seasonal snowfall record with 5 to 6 feet of snow and sleds and skis were the only way to get around." http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/apr/13apr2011a3.html
If the models can not predict snowfall, how can they be counted-upon to predict anything else in future weather?
>>>Old net newsgroups used to be a free-for-all, and look how that ended up.
Fantastic.
I love the Usenet's lack of censorship. And of course I always have the option to "ignore" any actual trolls (like Ford Thaxton threatening JMS of babylon 5). I still say no censorship is the way to go, in order to avoid the danger of silencing voices simply because they are unpopular (example: A Ron Paul supporter would probably be modded -1 Terrible Karma here).
>>>moderation points stamp out trolls
Moderation points are also used BY trolls to silence people (or opinions) they don't like. For example, saying that you bought an iPad and didn't like it almost-always results in -2 hits to that post. I'm surprised you've never noticed that?
I think Slashdot's system would be vastly improved if the -1 points were expunged, so this kind of behavior could not happen. Also I think it would be better if everyone was assigned a default 0. Trolls would remain stuck at 0, while insightful posters would be modded-up to 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. The reader could then adjust his reading level to whatever he wishes.
Everyone has a right to speak, even idiots. If you don't like what they have to say, then just add them to your ignore list. Trolls/idiots polluting forums is preferable to censorship like happens on some boards (Sony erasing negative posts about the hacking).
Other ideas:
- no point system or post tally. People don't deserve to get points just because they post a lot. People don't deserve to get points at all, for the mere act of expressing an opinion.
- threading is essential, so the replies are tied to the original post
- keep it simple. Plain text. Uses less bandwidth.
9.6 billion terabyte USB drives. ;-)
Better? Oh should I say: Nerdier?
LEDs use a Lot more power. They would not be used during an energy drought. Probably e-ink would be used (like the kindle), although it would cost $50 per battery charge (ouch). Maybe society would revert to paper, since it requires no energy to use a book.
"By the year 2100, old had become so scarce that it was worth more than an ounce of silver, creating an energy drought. Citizens could barely afford to turn-on a 10 watt lightbulb..... forget the high expense of a computer and internet network."
Surely there must be some Science-based fiction that deal with this negative future?
Clearly some people didn't understand my point, so let me boil it down to internet IQ level:
Comcast: "We want your money. Please sign-up for service."
ME: "Fuck you." (hangs-up on comcast sales idiot)
Government: "We want your money."
ME: "Fuck you."
Government: "Wrong answer Mr Anderson. Welcome to prison."
I prefer the freedom that I have with Comcast and other corporations. I don't "have" to deal with them. But I have to deal with the Tyranny known as Congress. As Jefferson remarked, "We would have no government if it were possible. It is only to protect our rights that resort to a small constitutionally-limited one."
>>>That or the government will have to force the companies to share the resources
(1) Why not? Government forces Baltimore Gas&Electric to share its electrical system with other companies, thereby giving me multiple choices. Even before government was involved, the electricity was shared across companies (most of my electric did not come from BGE, but nearby Edison Power's dam). They cooperated with one another.
(2) Or the government could own the 50-fiber bundle itself, in the same way government owns the road and allows multiple companies (toyota, honda, gm, chevy, ford, kia, hyundai, VW, etc) to share the resource. Just as we have a free market with cars, we could have a free market with CATV providers. You just choose which company you prefer.
You don't need to tear-up the streets to snake a 1 cm cable (with 50-100 optical fibers). Cmon people. Don't you ever watch those blue collar wire-layers in action along roads, or snaking internet through office walls? It's not a destructive process.
And I'm going to quote myself:
"My refusal to give General Electric (or any other corporation) my money has zero consequences. They do not send employees with guns to raid my wallet, audit my bank account, or throw me in prison. Furthermore if enough people feel the same as me, the corporation will go bankrupt and disappear (see Montgomery Wards, Commodore, Circuit City, UPN, and so on)."
"Now try that with the Congress or State Legislature. Refusal to give money is not a wise course of action. They have a monopoly over your money, your property, your liberty, your life, and the use-of-force to make you submit to their will.
"I consider corporations to be far more democratic. Every time I spend a dollar (or not) I am casting a vote to keep the corporation afloat, or drive them into nonexistence."
"Nobody" buys Dish?
My brother has dish. $20 a month, plus an antenna to receive locals. That's a lot cheaper than what Comcast costs.
Netflix is decent but I prefer hulu. It's free (well $15 if you include internet hookup). Like having a VCR to catch shows you missed, but without the hassle. ----- And TV is free too (via antenna). Sometimes there's a one year delay, as is the case with Deadliest Catch or SG Universe, but eventually it moves from Pay TV to Free TV.
>>>If netlix dies, I'll throw the TV in the trash
I won't do that because I like shows & movies too much. But I won't go back to cable either. I'll just wait for the season-set DVDs to come out and rent them. ~$5 rental is cheaper than ~$1000/year comcast hookup. Cable makes little economic sense given the other alternatives available.
>>>market forces do not work towards efficiency in situations of "natural monopoly".
I agree with your viewpoint, but Comcast, Cox, et cetera are not "natural" monopolies. They are government-created monopolies. With modern technologies like fiber optics, there's no reason why every home cannot be wired with 50 incoming optical lines (1 cm thick bundle), each one carrying a TV lineup. Then the consumer could choose if they want Comcast or Cox or AppleTV or Verizon and so on.
Water, electricity, sewer are "natural" monopolies due to space limitations (i.e. big fat pipes or poles). CATV has no such limitation and there's no reason for a monopoly to exist.
Well we gave HALF the keys to the content providers (Comcast, Cox, cablevision, etc). The other half of the keys went to the phone company (DSL or fiber) which has always acted as a conduit for information flow, not the content generator. This is why I stick with Verizon, because even though it's slower, they won't do any tricks like Comcast would (i.e. blocking hulu or syfy or tnt.tv).