I just want to know why they come in nonrecyclable plastic blister packs.
To heck with the environmental factors -- have you ever noticed how easy it is for bulbs in plastic blister packs to get accidentally broken on the shelf, or on the way home?
Generally, n(k) = 2 * n(k-2) for even values of k and 3 * n(k-3) for odd values of k.
So mathematically, Apple needs to release a n(9) = 3 * n(6) = 120 GB iPod next (followed by 160 GB and, wow, 240 GB) and skip the 100 GB iPod altogether.
'I don't really know that anybody's proven that a random collection of people doing their own thing actually creates value.' -- Google is not a random collection.
Both the building and the astronaut's rubber buddy have one big flaw which I'm hoping I'm just missing in all this......namely, where are they going to get the air to inflate them?
arms are one of the key features of human balance, but then again they do make for more variables.
Yes and no. You could probably walk or run perfectly well around your house if your arms were completely limp at your sides, or tied tight behind your back, or bound to your sides somehow.
Arms CAN improve balance by shifting your center of gravity quickly, but they're absolutely not involved in locomotion.
"A capitalist will sell you the rope you will hang him with if he can make profit on it." - Lenin
"I'm sorry, but the knot you're tying in that noose is copyrighted and patented by my corporation, and in any event the end user license specifically forbids using it to hang their employees or those of organizations doing business with them. I have a cease-and-desist order right here, and I'm afraid I'll need to ask for the names, addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers of all your executioners past and present to ensure they're not in violation of our intellectual property."
The killer problem with the iPhone in my book, and it seems to get knocks from others I know as well, is the fact it doesn't have a battery you can changeout on the fly.
The non-changeable battery makes the entire package smaller, even if only by a couple millimeters. Apple likes that kind of thing in its designs.
Batteries are a funny thing. We have a digital camera we take with us lots of times, and since it runs on AA-size, I try to keep one rechargable set in the camera and one ready to replace. Unlike my phone, though, this camera doesn't tell me the battery is low until it's almost too late.
Our cell phones, on the other hand, rarely use up a full charge in a single day and always tell us if they're half-empty or nearly empty. It's easier to just plug it in and recharge it overnight as needed, even though we COULD by an expensive spare battery and charger. With the camera, I couldn't imagine using one that has a built-in non-standard rechargable battery.
I've never known a teenager with a cell phone to care about spare batteries, and they probably get at least as much use out of their phones as any businessperson. As long as normal usage (read: not watching videos or playing games all day long in between calls and text messages) won't drain the iPhone's battery, most users will be happy to just recharge it once a day. If that's not good enough for you, Apple is willing to concede defeat in your case. But I doubt the majority of iPhone users will be complaining about it.
The iPhone shares with the Newton a hefty starting price, and Joe Public may not be so keen on the cost
So did the Apple II and the Macintosh. So did the iPod. So did the Palm Pilot, for that matter--which, unlike the iPod, enjoyed phenomenal immediate acceptance because it was one-of-a-kind and later faded away as imitators caught up to and surpassed it.
The main thing that was wrong with the Newton is that it was a product ahead of its time, with poor handwriting recognition and none of the PC-sync features that made the Palm Pilot such an open-ended hit. The iPhone is just right for its time--if anything, it's a little late to the game, like the first iPod was.
If there's one thing that will hinder the iPhone's initial acceptance, it will be the lack of third-party apps. The Palm Pilot encouraged third-party programming and still does; Apple wants to restrict third-party apps to those it approves as safe. This is reasonable to me, especially since the iPhone is several degrees of complexity above and beyond the Palm Pilot, but if a competitor can match the iPhone on features and style and provide better third-party support--like, say, Windows did with the original Macintosh--the iPhone will fail.
Heh. I came here just to mention Robin Williams' "Non-Designer's Design Book", and find that someone's beaten me to it. Guess that just goes to show how useful it is.
Seriously, any programmer who has to do ANY work outside of the command line can benefit from this book. It's about general design, not "just" web design, and can improve everything from your paper resume to your personal homepage. You can read it front to back in half an hour. Half the principles are so basic you wonder why you never thought of them yourself, and once you've learned what they are you'll never forget them again.
About 90% of the crap that is already available from cable, satellite, internet I don't watch anyway and can't see Apple offering ANYTHING that would prompt me to pay them.
I think that's exactly the reason: with iTunes you only buy the songs, tv shows, or movies you want to watch, not the 90% crap that you don't.
It has indeed been over 2 years since this was announced. I wonder what is going wrong ? Are these displays too expensive ? Too many patents ? Difficulty in designing ? What is going wrong here ?
They're not expensive compared to LCDs, but they're expensive compared to paper. Since e-ink is supposed to make cheap and portable e-books a reality, you need to have an e-book that's cheap enough for consumers to want--the technology isn't well-suited to anything but static text and images, so you can't try to sell an e-book that, for example, also plays video games.
Since more people want to make phone calls than read books, e-books need to be pretty darned cheap to sell well (schools could be a prime market, but they're all broke, too). Personally, I wouldn't buy one until it broke the $99 barrier AND was as small and portable as a paperback book, and they haven't gotten to that point yet.
For low end phones it will be useful, it will also be good for devices where colour isn't really needed.
Like a book, you mean?
The idea of e-ink isn't that it's b&w, but it's very low-power -- you only need to use electricity to update the screen, and after that whatever's "written" on the "page" is permanent until it's updated again. Very useful for e-book readers, not very useful for phones or much of anything else.
The new Apple TV media extender is supposed to ship this month, perhaps even by the time you read this column, and if you are like me you are wondering what that 40-gig hard drive is doing inside.
Um, it's called "caching". From Apple's own website:
Open iTunes and Apple TV appears in your devices list, ready to sync. Set iTunes to sync unwatched TV shows, movies, and podcasts. Set it to sync new purchases. Or manually select what you want to watch. Set your syncing preferences once and Apple TV automatically updates as your iTunes library changes.
Apple TV streams as well as it syncs, so you can pair up to five additional computers and let friends and family stream their iTunes libraries to your TV. Apple TV stores up to 50 hours of video, ready to watch when you are.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, and when you can buy a song for what it's actually worth.
/Still buys CDs anyway, so don't actually wake me up even then
Well, that was nice and specific.
The record labels love you for wasting money needlessly on their behalf.
I just want to know why they come in nonrecyclable plastic blister packs.
To heck with the environmental factors -- have you ever noticed how easy it is for bulbs in plastic blister packs to get accidentally broken on the shelf, or on the way home?
Their entire catalog [zunior.com] is in non-DRM format and they have been doing it this way for a lot longer than Apple.
Your argument is significantly undermined by the fact that their entire catalog consists of artists and labels I've never heard of before in my life.
They could price their albums at $1.25 apiece, and most people still wouldn't be interested.
The 100GB video iPod - duh. iPods have gone from 5 GB to 10 to 15 to 20 to 30 to 40 to 60 to 80. And CNet.uk is predicting 100 GB will be next?
Hmm. Let:
n(0) = n(1) = 5 (GB) Then:
10 = n(2) = 2 * n(0) and
15 = n(3) = 3 * n(0).
Likewise,
20 = n(4) = 2 * n(2) and
30 = n(5) = 3 * n(2).
Continuing,
40 = n(6) = 2 * n(4) and
60 = n(7) = 3 * n(4),
while
80 = n(8) = 2 * n(6).
Generally, n(k) = 2 * n(k-2) for even values of k and 3 * n(k-3) for odd values of k.
So mathematically, Apple needs to release a n(9) = 3 * n(6) = 120 GB iPod next (followed by 160 GB and, wow, 240 GB) and skip the 100 GB iPod altogether.
You do not have the freedom
to discuss/debate Time Cube.
The Second Rule of Time Cube is, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE FREEDOM TO DISCUSS/DEBATE TIME CUBE.
What am I missing?
The brick wall, with your forehead. A little more damage to your frontal lobes will do wonders for your audiophile logic.
It's a myth that we waste energy.
Actually, it's a law.
'I don't really know that anybody's proven that a random collection of people doing their own thing actually creates value.' -- Google is not a random collection.
I think he was referring to the Internet.
... that two college students think they're smarter than a bunch of politicians?
At least the politicans knew enough to hold their debate before the law was enacted.
Its clear the old Captain America doesn't really symbolise what America stands for any more.
Sarcasm aside, you do understand that was the whole point of the character?
Like Superman, he stands for an ideal holding the line against reality.
I heard he died of breast cancer.
Basically, you would inflate a mold for the structure and then pour concrete over it.
Creating pourable concrete requires water, something not found on the Moon and which is much too heavy to import from Earth.
Both the building and the astronaut's rubber buddy have one big flaw which I'm hoping I'm just missing in all this... ...namely, where are they going to get the air to inflate them?
arms are one of the key features of human balance, but then again they do make for more variables.
Yes and no. You could probably walk or run perfectly well around your house if your arms were completely limp at your sides, or tied tight behind your back, or bound to your sides somehow.
Arms CAN improve balance by shifting your center of gravity quickly, but they're absolutely not involved in locomotion.
"A capitalist will sell you the rope you will hang him with if he can make profit on it." - Lenin
"I'm sorry, but the knot you're tying in that noose is copyrighted and patented by my corporation, and in any event the end user license specifically forbids using it to hang their employees or those of organizations doing business with them. I have a cease-and-desist order right here, and I'm afraid I'll need to ask for the names, addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers of all your executioners past and present to ensure they're not in violation of our intellectual property."
I dont know who this Newton guy is,
Your geek license has been revoked. Please contact CowboyNeal about trading your five-digit Slashdot ID in for something much longer.
Kinda shameful that untrained hand writing recognition is still shit.
Good thing the iPhone doesn't use any, then.
The killer problem with the iPhone in my book, and it seems to get knocks from others I know as well, is the fact it doesn't have a battery you can changeout on the fly.
The non-changeable battery makes the entire package smaller, even if only by a couple millimeters. Apple likes that kind of thing in its designs.
Batteries are a funny thing. We have a digital camera we take with us lots of times, and since it runs on AA-size, I try to keep one rechargable set in the camera and one ready to replace. Unlike my phone, though, this camera doesn't tell me the battery is low until it's almost too late.
Our cell phones, on the other hand, rarely use up a full charge in a single day and always tell us if they're half-empty or nearly empty. It's easier to just plug it in and recharge it overnight as needed, even though we COULD by an expensive spare battery and charger. With the camera, I couldn't imagine using one that has a built-in non-standard rechargable battery.
I've never known a teenager with a cell phone to care about spare batteries, and they probably get at least as much use out of their phones as any businessperson. As long as normal usage (read: not watching videos or playing games all day long in between calls and text messages) won't drain the iPhone's battery, most users will be happy to just recharge it once a day. If that's not good enough for you, Apple is willing to concede defeat in your case. But I doubt the majority of iPhone users will be complaining about it.
The iPhone shares with the Newton a hefty starting price, and Joe Public may not be so keen on the cost
So did the Apple II and the Macintosh. So did the iPod. So did the Palm Pilot, for that matter--which, unlike the iPod, enjoyed phenomenal immediate acceptance because it was one-of-a-kind and later faded away as imitators caught up to and surpassed it.
The main thing that was wrong with the Newton is that it was a product ahead of its time, with poor handwriting recognition and none of the PC-sync features that made the Palm Pilot such an open-ended hit. The iPhone is just right for its time--if anything, it's a little late to the game, like the first iPod was.
If there's one thing that will hinder the iPhone's initial acceptance, it will be the lack of third-party apps. The Palm Pilot encouraged third-party programming and still does; Apple wants to restrict third-party apps to those it approves as safe. This is reasonable to me, especially since the iPhone is several degrees of complexity above and beyond the Palm Pilot, but if a competitor can match the iPhone on features and style and provide better third-party support--like, say, Windows did with the original Macintosh--the iPhone will fail.
And, I'm afraid, drag the iPod with it.
This is the first time I've heard mention of Web Design since the 90s. Maybe I'm oblivious, but I was beginning to think people forgot it existed.
If you've spent any amount of time on MySpace, nobody's going to blame you.
Heh. I came here just to mention Robin Williams' "Non-Designer's Design Book", and find that someone's beaten me to it. Guess that just goes to show how useful it is.
Seriously, any programmer who has to do ANY work outside of the command line can benefit from this book. It's about general design, not "just" web design, and can improve everything from your paper resume to your personal homepage. You can read it front to back in half an hour. Half the principles are so basic you wonder why you never thought of them yourself, and once you've learned what they are you'll never forget them again.
About 90% of the crap that is already available from cable, satellite, internet I don't watch anyway and can't see Apple offering ANYTHING that would prompt me to pay them.
I think that's exactly the reason: with iTunes you only buy the songs, tv shows, or movies you want to watch, not the 90% crap that you don't.
It has indeed been over 2 years since this was announced. I wonder what is going wrong ? Are these displays too expensive ? Too many patents ? Difficulty in designing ? What is going wrong here ?
They're not expensive compared to LCDs, but they're expensive compared to paper. Since e-ink is supposed to make cheap and portable e-books a reality, you need to have an e-book that's cheap enough for consumers to want--the technology isn't well-suited to anything but static text and images, so you can't try to sell an e-book that, for example, also plays video games.
Since more people want to make phone calls than read books, e-books need to be pretty darned cheap to sell well (schools could be a prime market, but they're all broke, too). Personally, I wouldn't buy one until it broke the $99 barrier AND was as small and portable as a paperback book, and they haven't gotten to that point yet.
For low end phones it will be useful, it will also be good for devices where colour isn't really needed.
Like a book, you mean?
The idea of e-ink isn't that it's b&w, but it's very low-power -- you only need to use electricity to update the screen, and after that whatever's "written" on the "page" is permanent until it's updated again. Very useful for e-book readers, not very useful for phones or much of anything else.
The new Apple TV media extender is supposed to ship this month, perhaps even by the time you read this column, and if you are like me you are wondering what that 40-gig hard drive is doing inside.
Um, it's called "caching". From Apple's own website:
Open iTunes and Apple TV appears in your devices list, ready to sync. Set iTunes to sync unwatched TV shows, movies, and podcasts. Set it to sync new purchases. Or manually select what you want to watch. Set your syncing preferences once and Apple TV automatically updates as your iTunes library changes.
Apple TV streams as well as it syncs, so you can pair up to five additional computers and let friends and family stream their iTunes libraries to your TV. Apple TV stores up to 50 hours of video, ready to watch when you are.