Yes, a la carte *individual programs*, not channels. I too have a kajillion channels, and I don't watch 17 of them. Rather, I pick and choose the programs I want to watch in the channels that have a vague chance of not sucking 100% of the time.
But then, since I happen to like documentaries better than movies or shows, I already have a la carte programs - it's called Youtube...
When you win a virtual war, you gain virtual territories and virtual natural resources. Also, in a virtual war, you don't have real innocent civilian casualties, which is what's so much fun with wars.
The NSA has its grubby little paws everywhere. Whether the company is in bed with them willingly is another matter.
I know a many European business owners who think twice or more before doing business with *any* US company, just because the US surveillance state isn't far behind.
Insofar as the dirt isn't harmful to my car (salty grime in the winter for instance), I keep my car dirty on purpose. Nothing better than a really dirty car to prevent it from being broken into or stolen when I leave it parked downtown. I just clean the door handles and the license plates.
where you can find TV set the size of the Berlin wall with a resolution so high you can't see the pixels up close, so thin they can be hung on the wall and look like paintings, able to display movies in 3D, almost affordable by ordinary people, and that display content controlled by cartels who decide who can watch what, where, how and for how much, like in the middle ages.
Tesla is the Apple of the electric car world: even if Nissan comes up with equivalent models for cheaper, people will still prefer Teslas because they're perceived as hip or upmarket.
What I get out of this story is that, if you're lucky enough to survive the trip in the wheel well, it's much more convenient to travel this way than doing it the regular way: no queuing, no overcharging from the airlines, no restrictions on the amounts of liquids you can carry, no getting your gonads showered with x-rays, no groping from TSA perverts... and of course, no arbitrary, secret no-fly list that prevents you from boarding the plane in the first place.
The airport security theater almost makes me want to risk my life as a stowaway.
Glad to see there's someone out there that cares about privacy and is looking to do something about it!
Unless this was irony, no: Bill Gates doesn't care about privacy. He cares about profits.
All I see here is one company - Google - bringing misery to people with their surveillance equipment in disguise, and an individual trying to profit from the coming backlash. All in all, both are out to profit from you, but none have your interests at heart.
Flying cars however are not desirable for everyday drivers: they have a hard enough time managing 2 dimensions, we don't need them to occupy a third. So unless they're fully automatic in flight mode (with manual control disabled), flying cars can only be flown by trained pilot.
The market for pilots who want a plane that turns into a car is very small. That's why flying cars won't happen - not enough money in it.
I wish those so-called "artists" practised their art on canvas at home or something, instead of ruining cityscapes and costing taxpayers millions for cleanup.
Number of times google has fucked ME over so far... zero
Millions of Youtube account holders who were forced to get a G+ account and divulge their true identity or give up the ability to comment beg to differ.
Number of times google has demanded payment for services or my credit card info. zero
Try using Google Play to get a for-pay Android app.
Number of annoyances google shoves in my face. zero
Try using an Android app - ads. Try searching something on google.com - more ads. Try *not* giving in to the constant G+ nagging.
Saying there is no conspiracy involved generally leads people to believe there is one.
Aaw man, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't aren't I?:)
Okay look, Google is a company that scares the bejesus out of me, and I believe the things they develop and invest in lead the world to a dangerously slippery slope. I also think they don't publicize all the things they do because they believe people aren't ready to hear what they have in store for them. But I *emphatically* don't believe there is ANY conspiracy involved.
Google lets you close your account and delete it, leaving no traces
How do you know that? Did Google offer you to audit their systems to verify what you believe?
More likely, Google, being an enormous information gathering company that live off that information, keep all your data and add a new tidbit of information to your file mentioning that on date D, you closed your account and deleted it.
If you truly believe Google's data retention policy is any different from Facebook's, you're delusional. And even if they say they do delete your data, they're so big and loaded with cash that nobody can ever check they really do.
Facebook is nasty, but at least they're clean nasty. Google cloaks in a good-corporate-citizen "do no evil" bullshit but is in the same business space - massive information gathering and monetizing.
So the best way to be sure Google has no information on you (or rather, as little as possible) is to not give them any whenever possible.
Realistically, Google wasn't founded by a guy who stole passwords to read other people's email.
Google may have been founded by people with the best of intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Google believes in a panopticon world in which anonymity and the right to privacy has disappeared. They may believe it's for my own good, but their dream world is my nightmare.
Google doesn't (as far as I know) sell user information to advertisers
If you really believe this, I'll tell you a little story:
A few years ago, I was working for a manufacturer in R+D, developing an accessory for one of our products. One of the parts of that accessory required a plastic part with very specific features (it was a living hinge, but with certain requirements that made polypropylene unsuitable).
I used Google to find out what other types of plastics might be suitable, and quickly finally found a material that would work. A rather obscure, rather expensive plastic with a barbaric name. I Googled some more about that plastic, then called it a day and went home.
The VERY NEXT DAY, I got a spam in my work mailbox from a Chinese manufacturer of that very plastic, offering me prices by the ton.
I had never heard of that plastic before Googling it.
Slashdot Mirror
Where you outlaws get those guns?
What a silly question. Cocaine is outlawed too: how come there are so many junkies?
Because when guns are outlawed, only outlaws have guns.
I believe a la carte is the future
Yes, a la carte *individual programs*, not channels. I too have a kajillion channels, and I don't watch 17 of them. Rather, I pick and choose the programs I want to watch in the channels that have a vague chance of not sucking 100% of the time.
But then, since I happen to like documentaries better than movies or shows, I already have a la carte programs - it's called Youtube...
When you win a virtual war, you gain virtual territories and virtual natural resources. Also, in a virtual war, you don't have real innocent civilian casualties, which is what's so much fun with wars.
Maybe the F35 flies faster than a tank and needs a stricter latency.
The NSA has its grubby little paws everywhere. Whether the company is in bed with them willingly is another matter.
I know a many European business owners who think twice or more before doing business with *any* US company, just because the US surveillance state isn't far behind.
Insofar as the dirt isn't harmful to my car (salty grime in the winter for instance), I keep my car dirty on purpose. Nothing better than a really dirty car to prevent it from being broken into or stolen when I leave it parked downtown. I just clean the door handles and the license plates.
where you can find TV set the size of the Berlin wall with a resolution so high you can't see the pixels up close, so thin they can be hung on the wall and look like paintings, able to display movies in 3D, almost affordable by ordinary people, and that display content controlled by cartels who decide who can watch what, where, how and for how much, like in the middle ages.
This is the greatest thing I've seen all year,
Really? Life must be pretty boring for you I guess...
Tesla is the Apple of the electric car world: even if Nissan comes up with equivalent models for cheaper, people will still prefer Teslas because they're perceived as hip or upmarket.
What I get out of this story is that, if you're lucky enough to survive the trip in the wheel well, it's much more convenient to travel this way than doing it the regular way: no queuing, no overcharging from the airlines, no restrictions on the amounts of liquids you can carry, no getting your gonads showered with x-rays, no groping from TSA perverts... and of course, no arbitrary, secret no-fly list that prevents you from boarding the plane in the first place.
The airport security theater almost makes me want to risk my life as a stowaway.
What happens when the militia itself needs disposing of?
Nuff said.
Glad to see there's someone out there that cares about privacy and is looking to do something about it!
Unless this was irony, no: Bill Gates doesn't care about privacy. He cares about profits.
All I see here is one company - Google - bringing misery to people with their surveillance equipment in disguise, and an individual trying to profit from the coming backlash. All in all, both are out to profit from you, but none have your interests at heart.
Flying cars are technically possible.
Flying cars however are not desirable for everyday drivers: they have a hard enough time managing 2 dimensions, we don't need them to occupy a third. So unless they're fully automatic in flight mode (with manual control disabled), flying cars can only be flown by trained pilot.
The market for pilots who want a plane that turns into a car is very small. That's why flying cars won't happen - not enough money in it.
I know them all. They all work in Marketing.
More graffitis in cities...
I wish those so-called "artists" practised their art on canvas at home or something, instead of ruining cityscapes and costing taxpayers millions for cleanup.
what on earth does that sentence mean?
What do you mean what on earth does that sentence mean what on earth does that sentence mean - the haves?
Number of times google has fucked ME over so far... zero
Millions of Youtube account holders who were forced to get a G+ account and divulge their true identity or give up the ability to comment beg to differ.
Number of times google has demanded payment for services or my credit card info. zero
Try using Google Play to get a for-pay Android app.
Number of annoyances google shoves in my face. zero
Try using an Android app - ads.
Try searching something on google.com - more ads.
Try *not* giving in to the constant G+ nagging.
Saying there is no conspiracy involved generally leads people to believe there is one.
Aaw man, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't aren't I? :)
Okay look, Google is a company that scares the bejesus out of me, and I believe the things they develop and invest in lead the world to a dangerously slippery slope. I also think they don't publicize all the things they do because they believe people aren't ready to hear what they have in store for them. But I *emphatically* don't believe there is ANY conspiracy involved.
Well, it's just that I can't remember the name of that plastic. It's been a few years. No conspiracy involved :)
Cookies are disabled on all my browsers, except on certain whitelisted sites I trust, and Google sites aren't on it.
Also, I got a spam mail, not an ad on a webpage.
Google lets you close your account and delete it, leaving no traces
How do you know that? Did Google offer you to audit their systems to verify what you believe?
More likely, Google, being an enormous information gathering company that live off that information, keep all your data and add a new tidbit of information to your file mentioning that on date D, you closed your account and deleted it.
If you truly believe Google's data retention policy is any different from Facebook's, you're delusional. And even if they say they do delete your data, they're so big and loaded with cash that nobody can ever check they really do.
Facebook is nasty, but at least they're clean nasty. Google cloaks in a good-corporate-citizen "do no evil" bullshit but is in the same business space - massive information gathering and monetizing.
So the best way to be sure Google has no information on you (or rather, as little as possible) is to not give them any whenever possible.
Realistically, Google wasn't founded by a guy who stole passwords to read other people's email.
Google may have been founded by people with the best of intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Google believes in a panopticon world in which anonymity and the right to privacy has disappeared. They may believe it's for my own good, but their dream world is my nightmare.
Google doesn't (as far as I know) sell user information to advertisers
If you really believe this, I'll tell you a little story:
A few years ago, I was working for a manufacturer in R+D, developing an accessory for one of our products. One of the parts of that accessory required a plastic part with very specific features (it was a living hinge, but with certain requirements that made polypropylene unsuitable).
I used Google to find out what other types of plastics might be suitable, and quickly finally found a material that would work. A rather obscure, rather expensive plastic with a barbaric name. I Googled some more about that plastic, then called it a day and went home.
The VERY NEXT DAY, I got a spam in my work mailbox from a Chinese manufacturer of that very plastic, offering me prices by the ton.
I had never heard of that plastic before Googling it.
Coincidence?
How quaint...