Was there somebody who didn't know this was going on? Petrochemical plutocrats were obviously behind this. In many cases they didn't even bother to hide.
Airlines make all their profit from a tiny sliver of their customer-base who decide to be brand loyal.
The airlines themselves are always going bankrupt because it's nearly perfect competition. Most people just buy the cheapest ticket from A to B, with no second thoughts. These programs help create a small number of customers who fly a specific airline or alliance, which gives them a slight edge.
I won't take an extra trip because I'm Premier 1K, but it does make me more likely to book on United than US Airways, since in the one case I'm likely to get upgraded and in the other case I'm not.
Oh give me a break. You're in a dying business and you're blaming others for the fact that your services aren't as valuable as they used to be.
Desktop PCs used to be quite expensive, now they're not. Now they're so cheap that most people wouldn't even think about repair.
The shift to cloud services adds pressure to this. If your QuickBooks computer died, you had a huge problem. But if your QuickbooksOnline.Intuit.Com computer dies, you just get another web browser.
The shift to lightweight/mobile adds pressure to this as well. Desktops are now the exception, not the rule. The rule is now phones, laptops, and tablets in that order. Devices that are hard to service because making them serviceable would add weight and cost to every unit sold.
You need a new business model. That happens. Stop blaming Intel for the fact that it's not 1995 anymore.
Thanks for Chips n' Dips, and Slashdot. I hope you enjoy a little bit of respite while you discover what you want for the next step in your career. You started out with a big, highly influential bang, and I'm glad you're getting a bit of rest now.
All the best, - some asshole on the internet who you don't actually know, but who is glad you did what you did.
Yeah... If I was Michael Dell, I'd be working to sell the idea that Windows 7 is going to make you love a PC too. Especially if you bought a lot of other expensive shit.
Before I got an iPhone, I had a GSM BlackBerry 8800 on T-Mobile. The experiences were not similar.
BlackBerry -- I use a third party sync software that does a really mediocre job of syncing contacts from my address book to my phone and back. It routinely creates double-entries of existing contacts. It's so bad at merging information that I have to use it as a one-way sync, either going only from phone to computer, or only computer to phone. When I try to do both ways at once, it constantly munges things.
iPhone -- I add or update somebody's phone or email address to my address book, and within a few minutes that contact is synced into my phone, over the air. If I do it on the phone, my address book on my computer syncs within a few minutes as well. It's all seamless.
----
BlackBerry Media Player -- LOL horrible.... just completely and totally horrible. Sync was a pain in the ass. The usability bad, but the battery life was complete shit if I tried to use it for a day.
iPhone Media Player -- Works pretty well. Sync is easy. Menus are easy. I can listen to music all day, and not run out of battery.
On top of reliability, I vote for pointless complexity.
Just because something *can* be configurable doesn't mean it must be. In most cases I'd be happier with some reasonable defaults.
Also, if you have lots of esoteric features that are meant for 5% of your users, please design your user interface accordingly, so that the other 95% of us can easily ignore that functionality.
Had you read their research, you'd know that they tested this, and found it was not the case.
Sadly, it's a lot easier to post snarky comments than it is to do the 3 minutes of research required to determine that the snarky know-it-all was, in fact, wrong.
If you want to do *exactly this* for the rest of your life, say no.
But if you're like most entrepreneurs I know, that's not the case. It's likely that you could take the money, and pursue a new idea, developing another company, new employees, etc... and having some extra money in the bank will make all that a LOT easier.
As somebody who has done a few startups now, I can assure you that money matters. Because more money means you can chase bigger ideas with less pressure.
I'd like it even more if they included a wind-down clause in which the city agreed to sell the network if a carefully designed measure of efficiency and reliability stopped being met. This way if private firms demonstrated that they had become superior to the city, there would be an automatic end of the government's venture.
> "That's great, but why don't they make it affordable for me?"
$50k is pretty damned affordable. I mean, it's not dirt cheap, but the roads are full of cars and trucks that cost that much and aren't nearly as innovative.
My car has RFID keys, with doors that can be unlocked via proximity. (There's a button on the door handles, and on the trunk, that unlock things if the key is in range.)
The range is actually pretty short. Maybe 3-4 feet. Also, it's directional. If you're behind the car, you can pop the trunk, but you need to be beside the door to unlock the doors.
If you're inside the car, then the outside sensors don't work, because the key isn't in the right spot. It's inside the car. As such, you can lock the car, and the outside buttons won't function, since the key is not in the correct position, outside the door.
The thing with audio is that you quickly reach a point of greatly diminishing returns. The gap between $50 and $500 headphones is enormous, but at levels above that, I struggle to hear a difference outside of contrived tests.
I have Senn HD650s and Shure SE530s, and would recommend either without hesitancy.
I deposit checks electronically to both my personal and business bank accounts. The advanced equipment to do this? A $50 scanner.
Scan the front, scan the back, and the money is credited to my account the next day. No requirement to keep the check, no possible way to examine for UV, or paper stock, or anything else at all.
For my business, I actually have the option to just do an ACH withdrawal instead of presenting the check at all. It's completely legal for me to just look up the numbers on the the bottom of your check, and then ACH your account for the amount of your paper check.
There's essentially no security in checks, at all. please don't fool yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
Was there somebody who didn't know this was going on? Petrochemical plutocrats were obviously behind this. In many cases they didn't even bother to hide.
Airlines make all their profit from a tiny sliver of their customer-base who decide to be brand loyal.
The airlines themselves are always going bankrupt because it's nearly perfect competition. Most people just buy the cheapest ticket from A to B, with no second thoughts. These programs help create a small number of customers who fly a specific airline or alliance, which gives them a slight edge.
I won't take an extra trip because I'm Premier 1K, but it does make me more likely to book on United than US Airways, since in the one case I'm likely to get upgraded and in the other case I'm not.
Oh give me a break. You're in a dying business and you're blaming others for the fact that your services aren't as valuable as they used to be.
Desktop PCs used to be quite expensive, now they're not. Now they're so cheap that most people wouldn't even think about repair.
The shift to cloud services adds pressure to this. If your QuickBooks computer died, you had a huge problem. But if your QuickbooksOnline.Intuit.Com computer dies, you just get another web browser.
The shift to lightweight/mobile adds pressure to this as well. Desktops are now the exception, not the rule. The rule is now phones, laptops, and tablets in that order. Devices that are hard to service because making them serviceable would add weight and cost to every unit sold.
You need a new business model. That happens. Stop blaming Intel for the fact that it's not 1995 anymore.
Rob-
Thanks for Chips n' Dips, and Slashdot. I hope you enjoy a little bit of respite while you discover what you want for the next step in your career. You started out with a big, highly influential bang, and I'm glad you're getting a bit of rest now.
All the best,
- some asshole on the internet who you don't actually know, but who is glad you did what you did.
Revenue Q2 2008: $14,147m
Revenue Q2 2009: $10,623m
Profit YTD 2008: $1,400m
Profit YTD 2009: $762m
Yeah... If I was Michael Dell, I'd be working to sell the idea that Windows 7 is going to make you love a PC too. Especially if you bought a lot of other expensive shit.
I use it on 8 and 12 systems, under constantly high load, and haven't experienced instability.
Not saying it doesn't exist, but this is the first I've even heard of such a problem.
For the cell phone, maybe they're concerned about China pushing out OTA firmware upgrades?
I just wish Apple would sell a desktop keyboard with a multi-touch pad attached to it.
I really like it on the laptop, but then I switch to my desk, and... nada.
Before I got an iPhone, I had a GSM BlackBerry 8800 on T-Mobile. The experiences were not similar.
BlackBerry -- I use a third party sync software that does a really mediocre job of syncing contacts from my address book to my phone and back. It routinely creates double-entries of existing contacts. It's so bad at merging information that I have to use it as a one-way sync, either going only from phone to computer, or only computer to phone. When I try to do both ways at once, it constantly munges things.
iPhone -- I add or update somebody's phone or email address to my address book, and within a few minutes that contact is synced into my phone, over the air. If I do it on the phone, my address book on my computer syncs within a few minutes as well. It's all seamless.
----
BlackBerry Media Player -- LOL horrible.... just completely and totally horrible. Sync was a pain in the ass. The usability bad, but the battery life was complete shit if I tried to use it for a day.
iPhone Media Player -- Works pretty well. Sync is easy. Menus are easy. I can listen to music all day, and not run out of battery.
It's a feature, not a bug.
You carry an iPhone, and you drive away bigoted retards who judge people on pathetically stupid stereotypes.
On top of reliability, I vote for pointless complexity.
Just because something *can* be configurable doesn't mean it must be. In most cases I'd be happier with some reasonable defaults.
Also, if you have lots of esoteric features that are meant for 5% of your users, please design your user interface accordingly, so that the other 95% of us can easily ignore that functionality.
I have a glass desk. It'd be nice to be able to mouse on it directly.
I've never used them for banking.. BUT for insurance.. they are by far the best i've ever seen
I've had pretty much every possible kind of account with USAA, and they're completely top notch.
I just tried out the updated app, and the Deposit@Mobile feature worked perfectly. I'm a fan.
Had you read their research, you'd know that they tested this, and found it was not the case.
Sadly, it's a lot easier to post snarky comments than it is to do the 3 minutes of research required to determine that the snarky know-it-all was, in fact, wrong.
Zones are like jails... if jails had something resembling resource management.
If you want to do *exactly this* for the rest of your life, say no.
But if you're like most entrepreneurs I know, that's not the case. It's likely that you could take the money, and pursue a new idea, developing another company, new employees, etc... and having some extra money in the bank will make all that a LOT easier.
As somebody who has done a few startups now, I can assure you that money matters. Because more money means you can chase bigger ideas with less pressure.
I really like this idea.
I'd like it even more if they included a wind-down clause in which the city agreed to sell the network if a carefully designed measure of efficiency and reliability stopped being met. This way if private firms demonstrated that they had become superior to the city, there would be an automatic end of the government's venture.
Nonsense. Mistakes can happen on the other 364 days, but on April 1st they are all purposeful pranks!
> "That's great, but why don't they make it affordable for me?"
$50k is pretty damned affordable. I mean, it's not dirt cheap, but the roads are full of cars and trucks that cost that much and aren't nearly as innovative.
My car has RFID keys, with doors that can be unlocked via proximity. (There's a button on the door handles, and on the trunk, that unlock things if the key is in range.)
The range is actually pretty short. Maybe 3-4 feet. Also, it's directional. If you're behind the car, you can pop the trunk, but you need to be beside the door to unlock the doors.
If you're inside the car, then the outside sensors don't work, because the key isn't in the right spot. It's inside the car. As such, you can lock the car, and the outside buttons won't function, since the key is not in the correct position, outside the door.
It's a reasonably well thought-out system.
The thing with audio is that you quickly reach a point of greatly diminishing returns. The gap between $50 and $500 headphones is enormous, but at levels above that, I struggle to hear a difference outside of contrived tests.
I have Senn HD650s and Shure SE530s, and would recommend either without hesitancy.
Well, from my personal account I can just scan the check. USAA offers this.
From my business account, I don't even need to bother with the scanning, if I don't feel like it.
LOL. No.
I deposit checks electronically to both my personal and business bank accounts. The advanced equipment to do this? A $50 scanner.
Scan the front, scan the back, and the money is credited to my account the next day. No requirement to keep the check, no possible way to examine for UV, or paper stock, or anything else at all.
For my business, I actually have the option to just do an ACH withdrawal instead of presenting the check at all. It's completely legal for me to just look up the numbers on the the bottom of your check, and then ACH your account for the amount of your paper check.
There's essentially no security in checks, at all. please don't fool yourself.
If we want to stop spam, we need to remove the economic incentive. And throwing spammers in jail does not accomplish that.
It adds significant risk and potential complexity to their operating activities. As such, it reduces the economic incentive significantly.
After all, most people look at risk-adjusted returns. And potentially losing your freedom and forfeiting your assets is a whole hell of a lot of risk.
Since when is a firewire card two grand?
Looks to me like they're cloesr to $30.