Bullshit. The first cars of this type will be utilitarian, sure. But when they become ubiquitous, different styles will develop to attract the consumers. Your basic car is, after all, a platform with wheels and seats bolted to it. How pretty could that become? Turns out, there are a lot of great designs.
I don't know how the NY Constitution is set up, so he may not have powers in this area, but Gov. Spitzer is not one to be pushed around. I hope he tells the DOJ where they can shove it.
Two Bloggers are heavy guns? Maybe you want to ask the boys over at Digital Research what it means to have the heavy guns come at you from Redmond. Writing snarky articles in a blog hardly counts.
People are now surrounded by PC's that are "good enough". They will be with us, however, until the display issues and crappy input modes are resolved on mobile platforms. The iPhone may be good, but it doesn't solve either of those issues. When we have virtual keyboards, or some other form of input, half the problem will be solved. When the people working on wearable displays get their technology perfected, then the other half will come into place. At that point, mobiles and PCs will merge. Did PDAs die? No, their functionality was taken over by smartphones. The same thing will happen to PCs when the time is right. Until then, you will see slow and steady PC sales, with ups and downs, as people replace their current models at the end of their natural life. I won't upgrade to get a dual core PC until my current laptop dies, or I drop the thing and it breaks.
No one "defined" consumption as an economic process. People were bartering for items that they need for thousands of years before economists came on the scene. Buying, selling, and trading was a natural outgrowth of that barter. Soon, people found out that they could make more money through triangle trade over great distances. They also worked out that symbols for the value of goods and services were more secure to and convenient to deal with at a distance. Thus trading houses emerged. They weren't designed, and they weren't defined. They just happened. As the cost of trading over those distances went up, the people naturally sought ways to reduce that cost. The most cost effective method for trading the symbols for goods and services over the past century or so has been petroleum. Now that the cost of that is going up, people are looking for other ways to fuel their economic activity over distances.
The only people who try to "define" or "design" economic processes are usually power hungry and dangerous. Let the process play out and some clever person or group of people will devise an alternative to petroleum that will be less harmful to the environment and cost effective.
Municipalities have limited resources. They need to be marshaled wisely. Investing in widespread WiFi is a bad idea. They will always be behind the technological curve. Maintenance and support will chew up more resources. As soon as a widespread vulnerability is discovered, they will have to spend again to put in emergency fixes. When someone who hates porn takes over, that will be censored. When someone else who hates gays takes over, any material that is ruled "objectionable" will be censored. Think they don't have the right to do that? Someone else will, too. They will sue. And the municipality will blow more resources on lawsuits that they may or may not win.
Let the private sector in. Let them compete on price and quality. Do you think your city would be offering you a free 2 year cell phone for a contract? Or a low-cost one for pay as you go service? Nope. If your municipality was handling cell service, you would be stuck with a 3 pound brick from the 80's. Do you think a municipality could have kept up with all the network upgrades that have happened in the past 20 years? They would be bankrupt. Most are close to it anyway.
So let's avoid the whole scenario where some technologically illiterate councilperson hands the contract to their brother-in-law so the bum can have a job. Let's avoid the inevitable censorship and hassles and property tax increases. Let the private sector in to do it better, faster, and cheaper.
"Stuck" may be a good thing. From a historical perspective, XML has a huge benefit. We have data tapes going back 50 years, but don't know the format of the data. 50 years from now, when researchers want to read what data we're processing, they'll have a much easier time of it because of XML. It's not perfect, but they will be able to take a stab at what the data means just by looking at it.
As for a party, what the hell, any excuse is fine by me!
We are the top official of the treasury of the thrid grade student government who are interested in importation of goods into our school with funds which are presently trapped in Nigeria. In order to commence this business we solicit your assistance to enable us to transfer into your account the said trapped funds...
This is a bad idea masked as a good idea. What happens when they need a massive upgrade of the technology in 10 years? Or some hacker figures out how to own the entire network?. Taxes will go up and service will suffer. Ann Arbor already has horrible taxes, this will make it worse. Someone who doesn't want or need wifi access now is forced to pay for everyone else. They take what people are willing to pay for, and turn it into a cost center, meaning that they will now get the least-cost service instead of the best service they are willing to pay for. What incentive will private companies have to come in to deliver unique and innovative services if they will just get undercut by the county government? What happens when the folks running Washtenaw County decide to censor websites or emails or blogs that they decide sexist or racist or bigoted? U of M had one of the most restrictive speach codes in the nation, until it was struck down in the courts. Now folks with that same sensibility will have a hand on your access to the internet. I just think this is a bad idea.
Apparently the Indian government isn't going to bow to what the white folks think is best for them. Good for India! Negroponte has deigned to create a solution in search of a problem, but his "beneficiaries" have other ideas.
Your comments are interesting, but don't address the one item I see as the largest hurdle to change: No state is going to give up the current system if they suspect it will decrease their power. Yes, you say that the small-state bonus is illusory, but convincing the governors of those states is a much different prospect. Until the states can be enticed to switch voluntarily, it won't happen.
Reminds me of all the college kids that were going to vote for Kerry and kick Bush out of office. How many voted? Less then 20%? That's pathetic, even by US standards. I suspect that most gamers are politically apathetic, so I doubt that many candidates will be intimidated by, or court, the Gamer vote.
Though It will be cool to see the first candidate to make an appearance in WOW. Any guess as to who it might be?
Great. Good for you. If you can't, then you won't get it. Just ranting on the internet that "I deserve this" and "I should get that" is only effective at generating conversation. Your best shot is at forming a union, but that will only work if you can restrict the supply of labor until the companies cave. Good luck, we're all behind you.
a conservative company won't hire you. Just common sense. Then again, if you want a job running a body-mod shop, don't show up in a 3 piece suit. The same bit of common sense.
The technology sector has been cyclical for quite a long time. No one can predict the future. In the long run, all things being equal, then IT spending will spread out evenly over a market with perfect competition. But all things will never be equal, and you will have booms & busts along the way. Oh, and "in the long run, we're all dead" (John Maynard Keynes).
Find something you like doing and do it. If IT turns your crank, then stick around. You will get better at it and be rewarded appropriately. If you are not, seek a new employer or start your own business. If the entire industry dries up & moves offshore, then work on FOSS projects as a hobby and find a new line of employment. When you're feeling bitter, call the helpdesk hot line and demand that they ship you an "Any" key via FedEx immediately.
Bingo. I was about to write a similar post when I read yours. This isn't a tax on iPods, it's a sop to the public transportation system. Travel over the border on a Saturday, visit a shopping center, purchase an iPod and save a few hundred Euros, buy your sweetheart dinner, and head home. Sounds like a nice afternoon.
Hull # 2, please. Ok, might be a bit big for a daily commute for one person, but what the heck. It comes with OnStar and XM. Or is that General Motors?
Slashdot Mirror
I have a couple of old 700mhz laptops I want to get rid of. How do I get them into this auction?
Bullshit. The first cars of this type will be utilitarian, sure. But when they become ubiquitous, different styles will develop to attract the consumers. Your basic car is, after all, a platform with wheels and seats bolted to it. How pretty could that become? Turns out, there are a lot of great designs.
Oh, you meant video game. Well, even than, this one was pretty damned good.
I don't know how the NY Constitution is set up, so he may not have powers in this area, but Gov. Spitzer is not one to be pushed around. I hope he tells the DOJ where they can shove it.
Two Bloggers are heavy guns? Maybe you want to ask the boys over at Digital Research what it means to have the heavy guns come at you from Redmond. Writing snarky articles in a blog hardly counts.
People are now surrounded by PC's that are "good enough". They will be with us, however, until the display issues and crappy input modes are resolved on mobile platforms. The iPhone may be good, but it doesn't solve either of those issues. When we have virtual keyboards, or some other form of input, half the problem will be solved. When the people working on wearable displays get their technology perfected, then the other half will come into place. At that point, mobiles and PCs will merge.
Did PDAs die? No, their functionality was taken over by smartphones. The same thing will happen to PCs when the time is right. Until then, you will see slow and steady PC sales, with ups and downs, as people replace their current models at the end of their natural life. I won't upgrade to get a dual core PC until my current laptop dies, or I drop the thing and it breaks.
so they can look good in music videos?
I thought the "God Helmet" was another Apple product.
No one "defined" consumption as an economic process. People were bartering for items that they need for thousands of years before economists came on the scene. Buying, selling, and trading was a natural outgrowth of that barter. Soon, people found out that they could make more money through triangle trade over great distances. They also worked out that symbols for the value of goods and services were more secure to and convenient to deal with at a distance. Thus trading houses emerged. They weren't designed, and they weren't defined. They just happened. As the cost of trading over those distances went up, the people naturally sought ways to reduce that cost. The most cost effective method for trading the symbols for goods and services over the past century or so has been petroleum. Now that the cost of that is going up, people are looking for other ways to fuel their economic activity over distances.
The only people who try to "define" or "design" economic processes are usually power hungry and dangerous. Let the process play out and some clever person or group of people will devise an alternative to petroleum that will be less harmful to the environment and cost effective.
Municipalities have limited resources. They need to be marshaled wisely. Investing in widespread WiFi is a bad idea. They will always be behind the technological curve. Maintenance and support will chew up more resources. As soon as a widespread vulnerability is discovered, they will have to spend again to put in emergency fixes. When someone who hates porn takes over, that will be censored. When someone else who hates gays takes over, any material that is ruled "objectionable" will be censored. Think they don't have the right to do that? Someone else will, too. They will sue. And the municipality will blow more resources on lawsuits that they may or may not win.
Let the private sector in. Let them compete on price and quality. Do you think your city would be offering you a free 2 year cell phone for a contract? Or a low-cost one for pay as you go service? Nope. If your municipality was handling cell service, you would be stuck with a 3 pound brick from the 80's. Do you think a municipality could have kept up with all the network upgrades that have happened in the past 20 years? They would be bankrupt. Most are close to it anyway.
So let's avoid the whole scenario where some technologically illiterate councilperson hands the contract to their brother-in-law so the bum can have a job. Let's avoid the inevitable censorship and hassles and property tax increases. Let the private sector in to do it better, faster, and cheaper.
OK, I'm done with my free-market rant.
"Stuck" may be a good thing. From a historical perspective, XML has a huge benefit. We have data tapes going back 50 years, but don't know the format of the data. 50 years from now, when researchers want to read what data we're processing, they'll have a much easier time of it because of XML. It's not perfect, but they will be able to take a stab at what the data means just by looking at it.
As for a party, what the hell, any excuse is fine by me!
I can't wait to get my first bit of spam:
Request for Urgent Scholastic Relationship
We are the top official of the treasury of the thrid grade student government who are interested in importation of goods into our school with funds which are presently trapped in Nigeria. In order to commence this business we solicit your assistance to enable us to transfer into your account the said trapped funds...
This is a bad idea masked as a good idea. What happens when they need a massive upgrade of the technology in 10 years? Or some hacker figures out how to own the entire network?. Taxes will go up and service will suffer. Ann Arbor already has horrible taxes, this will make it worse. Someone who doesn't want or need wifi access now is forced to pay for everyone else. They take what people are willing to pay for, and turn it into a cost center, meaning that they will now get the least-cost service instead of the best service they are willing to pay for. What incentive will private companies have to come in to deliver unique and innovative services if they will just get undercut by the county government? What happens when the folks running Washtenaw County decide to censor websites or emails or blogs that they decide sexist or racist or bigoted? U of M had one of the most restrictive speach codes in the nation, until it was struck down in the courts. Now folks with that same sensibility will have a hand on your access to the internet. I just think this is a bad idea.
I wish I had mod points right now, you hit it dead on.
Apparently the Indian government isn't going to bow to what the white folks think is best for them. Good for India! Negroponte has deigned to create a solution in search of a problem, but his "beneficiaries" have other ideas.
Your comments are interesting, but don't address the one item I see as the largest hurdle to change: No state is going to give up the current system if they suspect it will decrease their power. Yes, you say that the small-state bonus is illusory, but convincing the governors of those states is a much different prospect. Until the states can be enticed to switch voluntarily, it won't happen.
Reminds me of all the college kids that were going to vote for Kerry and kick Bush out of office. How many voted? Less then 20%? That's pathetic, even by US standards. I suspect that most gamers are politically apathetic, so I doubt that many candidates will be intimidated by, or court, the Gamer vote.
Though It will be cool to see the first candidate to make an appearance in WOW. Any guess as to who it might be?
I'll bet you are single, or unhappy in your relationship. And you probably wonder why.
and that they can get up at 1 AM for a consultation.
Great. Good for you. If you can't, then you won't get it. Just ranting on the internet that "I deserve this" and "I should get that" is only effective at generating conversation. Your best shot is at forming a union, but that will only work if you can restrict the supply of labor until the companies cave. Good luck, we're all behind you.
a conservative company won't hire you. Just common sense. Then again, if you want a job running a body-mod shop, don't show up in a 3 piece suit. The same bit of common sense.
The technology sector has been cyclical for quite a long time. No one can predict the future. In the long run, all things being equal, then IT spending will spread out evenly over a market with perfect competition. But all things will never be equal, and you will have booms & busts along the way. Oh, and "in the long run, we're all dead" (John Maynard Keynes).
Find something you like doing and do it. If IT turns your crank, then stick around. You will get better at it and be rewarded appropriately. If you are not, seek a new employer or start your own business. If the entire industry dries up & moves offshore, then work on FOSS projects as a hobby and find a new line of employment. When you're feeling bitter, call the helpdesk hot line and demand that they ship you an "Any" key via FedEx immediately.
Bingo. I was about to write a similar post when I read yours. This isn't a tax on iPods, it's a sop to the public transportation system. Travel over the border on a Saturday, visit a shopping center, purchase an iPod and save a few hundred Euros, buy your sweetheart dinner, and head home. Sounds like a nice afternoon.
And I just used my last mod points! Too bad. You have my vote for funniest post.
Hull # 2, please. Ok, might be a bit big for a daily commute for one person, but what the heck. It comes with OnStar and XM. Or is that General Motors?