I remember lusting after one of these, but, as with many things Apple, it was pricey. Several years back I worked for a company which had some great vision and was going to go 100% NeXT. Sadly, leadership changes and whatnot make it like many companies out there, a Frankenstein IT; a little of this, a little of that, and trying to keep it all going happily if the power goes out or someone kicks a network connector out of the wall.
While I tend to agree that Meijer is only a couple steps above a Super Walmart, you're completely full of shit here.
rant rant rant rant etc
It's pretty disappointing how you and a couple other posters could read that completely wrong and then launch into some garbage about better service or mom/pop or downtown. Then again, if I were going to be both stupid and obnoxious I'd probably post anonymously, too.
FWIW Downtown was pretty dead long before the first spade was turned for Meijer or the Mall. The impact of Meijer was considerable, most groceries around town renegotiated pay, sold or closed. Any Saturday morning you could stroll into Michael's, Kroger or Farmer Jack and find short lines, while Meijer was a madhouse with lines at 20 or more registers. The primary reason some of these stores survive is because they carry things you can't get a Meijer. Meijer works in volume, not variety. Other stores are closer to residential areas, which has helped them. When my parents need a loaf of bread or gallon of milk they go to the closest store, but when they go to buy a weeks groceries, they're off to Meijer, just like much of the rest of the town.
That 'wetland' was nothing compared to the land south of US 10 and Wackerly, which was once littered with ponds, now littered with houses and duplexes.
No x-box for you -- I am guessing that Meijer stores will no longer be selling x-box related materials.
Meijer, for those unfamiliar is a BIG BOX store chain which probably moves a significant portion of video games.
The chain started, ages ago in the Holland/Grand Rapids area as Meijer Thrifty Acres, with a dutchboy in wooden shoes and pageboy haircut nicknamed Thrifty, as the mascot. It's like pairing Safeway and Target stores, food and general merchandise.
When they built one of these in my former home town of Midland, MI, it nearly killed all the other grocery stores in the city.
Don't kid yourself that Meijer would suffer some injuction. They're simply so big the left hand and right hand don't quite reach each other.
Those prices are low for a lot of reasons, including support, warranty, and quality. I've bought my share of low-priced memory through Pricewatch, and I've also had to return several of them. Never buy memory that doesn't have a lifetime warranty.
There was a story a year or two back with a disconcerting phrase 'Acceptable Rate of Failure'. The context was CD ROM drives, IIRC, which are manufactured at such a volume that 15% failure is acceptable... which should worry you a bit about how good, really, are the drives that actually passed Q/A.
The profit goes out of doing business this way when you (as a manufacturer) have to foot the bill for replacement parts, manuals, shipping and logistics.
The family that spams together..
Goes to the slammer together.
How about another cliche?
In one month alone, Jaynes received 10,000 credit card orders, each for $39.95, for the processor.
In other words, stupid is as stupid does.
10,000 people fell for it. Isn't that rather depressing? Ok, we probably saw vote counts for the election and wondered how so many people could be so wrong, but 10,000 people trying to order something for $40 advertised in spam, that tells you this isn't exactly a nation of rocket scientists.
You can't seriously fight spam until people stop being so damn stupid.
don't they already have a nic. inhaler? called nicotrol, if im not mistaken
Some people find they have to occupy their fingers and mouth when they stop smoking (why some chew gum, I guess.)
Keep in mind this is in Suisse and Deutschland, where I personally have no idea what's over the counter vs. prescription.
Nicotine inhalers made cheap and widely available may turn non-smokers into nicotine addicts (which would help move product, right?) Where smoking burning leaves probably has some limiting factor on how much nicotine you get in your blood, you could probably really work yourself over with these things without turning green from too much smoke or passing out from CO and CO2.
We might get a whole 18 dollars back. While the lawers get millions.
Not likely. Microsoft Home Entertainment Division will probably offer coupons for exchanges and a free game or something. Once they've got you hooked, you think they're going to let you get away?
Also, this is the kind of pre-Christmas advertising lots of money can't downplay.
"mom, my xbox brokeded... *sniffle* I can't kill people in games now. *whimper*"
"WELL! We'll just sue that Mr. Gates, how dare his company sell a shoddy product!"
Various articles mention these finds were made over the past year, starting Sept of 2003, with the find of the female, 3 foot tall, skeleton. Other bones have been found in the cave which indicate this was not a unique person, but typical stature.
While I haven't seen a map, where Flores exactly is, it's was struck by a tsunami in the early 90's and it wouldn't be beyond the possibility a typhoon wiped them out. Also possible on such a small island that disease or inbreeding finished them off.
And the Indian doctors are probably at least as good as those one is likely to get in the U.S.
The surgeons may be almost as good, but how good are the hospitals? Where's your recourse if they fsck you up? Sue for malpractice internationally for a pittance?
Things may be bad in the US, but not that bad, I hope.
Didn't the consumer market decide that it didn't want this type of thing before? What was that thing that Be INC made again? (besides failure)
There have been a number of these things over the past several years. Usually self contained, no user serviceable software, portable, sorta... expensive... yes... what the world really needs? Maybe yes, maybe no.
That it comes armed with Infection Exposure is a bit of a strike against it. Some CEO types will think that's all fine, but those of us who wouln't touch it with a ten furlong pole would rather hack it and install something else. I wonder how firm the software is that comes on the device.
I think a PDA will smoke this thing for the money anyway.
I think AMD is about to re-visit Failureland -- the land where stupid ideas live short lives and leave some consumers stranded.
No, because IBM, Dell, and HP will all just use convoluted supply and manufacturing chains, and guard their supplier's identities as best they can.
Why? Obfuscation and "plausible deniability".
Sure. I worked in the logistics industry, I know how this whole thing works with supply chain management, etc. i.e. Cabinet: Made in china, Mobo: Made in Taiwan, PSU: Made in Korea, Keyboard: mMde in China, DVD/CD drive: Made in China, HD: Made in Singapore, Mouse: Made in Thailand, Monitor: Made in Korea -- all shipped to Compton, CA and assembled by minimum wage foreign workers, BUT IN THE USA!
We need human rights laws, both nationally and on an international level- backed up by hard monetary sanctions scaled so that they make it completely unprofitable, not just a slap on the wrist. The world court should be able to command banks of UN member nations to seize the assets of the company involved so they can't hide behind foreign incorporation (and most major US companies now do- they're incorporated out of a PO box in the islands- also handy for getting out of taxes, and they do that too; current corporate share of tax burden is about 2%; in 1950 it was 50%).
Whoa! You are NOT a friend of President Bush, are you? A court made up of foreigners and OUR banks (which are mostly offshore anyway, but still...) being held to standards of foreigners, which could affect Americans and their jobs and -- good gosh amighty -- next they'll be telling us what flag to wave and what kinda fruit we should put in our pies!! Blasphemy!
Actually, I'm all for it, but as you can imagine, the above overboard reaction is something you can easily find throughout the USA today, particularly on the part of people who are inbred and never get outside of their own country to have a look around.
There are and have been trade laws. Notice many people in SE Asia actually obeying them? It was rather impressive that PRC finally refused to accept anymore high tech trash from the USA (which was polluting streams and ground water), but I'm hearing quite a bit in news how little control the central govt of even that country has on every little enterprise. Taiwan has major problems with metals in their well water (I think they import most of their drinking water now, sucks to be poor there and have kids develop brain damage) Most other countries are so eager to get business they overlook pollution and working conditions as merely a minor side effect of the capitalism they so badly want (even those countries which professed to be communist or socialist before.) Makes me wonder what the Nepalese Maoists really think they're going to end up with in 10 years if they succeed.
What will they think of next? I guess that the dollar isn't worth as much as it once was, as it seems to take more of 'em to buy out these corp's ethics.
The almighty buck is weaker than you think. There was an interesting discussion going on on alt.fan.pratchett regarding where books are coming from. Even Euro booksellers are shipping US printed copies of Going Postal (the latest book) because they can get them cheaper than the UK editions. A big clue as to which you have is the cover (US: Arm reaching out of a stack of envelopes, UK: A central man in a gold uniform in a scene reminiscent of the Star Wars Ep:IV poster)
So we're exporting some things, thanks to Europe getting their sh!t together and developing a strong Euro. They can feel good about buying from us for taking care of our environment, even if many workers are now in parttime jobs w/o healthcare, pension, etc. Maybe this is the way to get our manufacturing base back together? Let the dollar slide some more.
Something tells me that their 'envirnomental' protections they are agreeing to would get them thrown into prison if used in Europe or America.
Remember when Wal-Mart would carry American Made goods? That lasted how long after Sam Walton died? Fifteen seconds?
In America (even under King George) companies must respect the environment, but you can't stem the tide only with manufacturers, you have to hold the retailers up to scrutiny.
With a well, nature filters it out using the soil.
Which works well for particles, but not so for anything in solution. Los Angeles water from Owens River is high in salts and is run through ground wells to remove some of it, but the wells are overused and the salt content of the city's water is increasing. Saline content of Colorado River water is on the rise, too, as the water has been reused many times, some for agriculture which means trace amounts of pesticides.
A side note... I used to live in Midland, Michigan, years ago and the director of the water treatment plant had the last name of... Filter. Not making it up, it's true.
"NEWater... it gushes from the toilets of Singapore instead of a bubbling spring.
New meaning for Eau de Toilette
NEWater is the product of Singapore's new water-treatment system, and it's wastewater that's been purified through advanced synthetic membranes called ZeeWeed, which could help 20% of the world's population that doesn't have easy access to clean water."
You see where this is going, right? You find some damn way to purify pee and poop water (along with the odd cigarett butt and chunder) and everyone will have cheap water. And as human nature goes, they'll consume it to the limit, futher putting strain on ZeeWeed and toilets.
Heck, you'll probably be required to flush your toilet in the event of a national water shortage...
Their online stores have done very while. I am surprised that people shop online and pay retail prices when I am used to shopping online in order to get a discount. They have great brand recognition and people, by and large, believe Sony to be a high quality electronics provider. I think they have a good shot at being successful.
They've had these stores for years, I first walked into on in Chicago back about 1992 and looked at most of what they had, because I was looking for a model of portable stereo only available in Europe and Japan (which internet dealers are only too happy to sell you, where once you were pretty denied, thanks to their bizarre marketing.) I don't know how much they sold, as they were usually a bit above what you'd pay at discount stores, but were placed in the fashionable downtown areas.
AAC and WMA are on the rise, and that makes sense given the current marketing trends with these two codecs. Does that mean mp3 is dying? Hardly. It will be around for quite sometime, despite development of superior codecs.
And SO much MP3 music is done under the radar how the fsck would they know... unless it's on of those "studies" conducted by an interested party to show trends they would like to project as "real" Considering this is on MSN...
MusicWatch Digital who track the contents of people's hard drives,
OK, just how are they supposed to know what's on people's hard drives? Are they running a bunch of zombies or something? Sorry, man, but this sounds like shlock.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember lusting after one of these, but, as with many things Apple, it was pricey. Several years back I worked for a company which had some great vision and was going to go 100% NeXT. Sadly, leadership changes and whatnot make it like many companies out there, a Frankenstein IT; a little of this, a little of that, and trying to keep it all going happily if the power goes out or someone kicks a network connector out of the wall.
Same here. Usually every three years or when I get tired of waiting for things which I believe should get done quicker.
rant rant rant rant etc
It's pretty disappointing how you and a couple other posters could read that completely wrong and then launch into some garbage about better service or mom/pop or downtown. Then again, if I were going to be both stupid and obnoxious I'd probably post anonymously, too.
FWIW Downtown was pretty dead long before the first spade was turned for Meijer or the Mall. The impact of Meijer was considerable, most groceries around town renegotiated pay, sold or closed. Any Saturday morning you could stroll into Michael's, Kroger or Farmer Jack and find short lines, while Meijer was a madhouse with lines at 20 or more registers. The primary reason some of these stores survive is because they carry things you can't get a Meijer. Meijer works in volume, not variety. Other stores are closer to residential areas, which has helped them. When my parents need a loaf of bread or gallon of milk they go to the closest store, but when they go to buy a weeks groceries, they're off to Meijer, just like much of the rest of the town.
That 'wetland' was nothing compared to the land south of US 10 and Wackerly, which was once littered with ponds, now littered with houses and duplexes.
Meijer, for those unfamiliar is a BIG BOX store chain which probably moves a significant portion of video games.
The chain started, ages ago in the Holland/Grand Rapids area as Meijer Thrifty Acres, with a dutchboy in wooden shoes and pageboy haircut nicknamed Thrifty, as the mascot. It's like pairing Safeway and Target stores, food and general merchandise.
When they built one of these in my former home town of Midland, MI, it nearly killed all the other grocery stores in the city.
Don't kid yourself that Meijer would suffer some injuction. They're simply so big the left hand and right hand don't quite reach each other.
There was a story a year or two back with a disconcerting phrase 'Acceptable Rate of Failure'. The context was CD ROM drives, IIRC, which are manufactured at such a volume that 15% failure is acceptable ... which should worry you a bit about how good, really, are the drives that actually passed Q/A.
The profit goes out of doing business this way when you (as a manufacturer) have to foot the bill for replacement parts, manuals, shipping and logistics.
is there a vast sea of bad DIMMs out there?
Maybe so, the HP Compaq laptop I'm typing on had 1G of RAM replaced several months back.
As for slashdot editting, though, the memory isn't the only thing DIMM.
How about another cliche?
In one month alone, Jaynes received 10,000 credit card orders, each for $39.95, for the processor.
In other words, stupid is as stupid does.
10,000 people fell for it. Isn't that rather depressing? Ok, we probably saw vote counts for the election and wondered how so many people could be so wrong, but 10,000 people trying to order something for $40 advertised in spam, that tells you this isn't exactly a nation of rocket scientists.
You can't seriously fight spam until people stop being so damn stupid.
Some people find they have to occupy their fingers and mouth when they stop smoking (why some chew gum, I guess.)
Keep in mind this is in Suisse and Deutschland, where I personally have no idea what's over the counter vs. prescription.
Nicotine inhalers made cheap and widely available may turn non-smokers into nicotine addicts (which would help move product, right?) Where smoking burning leaves probably has some limiting factor on how much nicotine you get in your blood, you could probably really work yourself over with these things without turning green from too much smoke or passing out from CO and CO2.
Not likely. Microsoft Home Entertainment Division will probably offer coupons for exchanges and a free game or something. Once they've got you hooked, you think they're going to let you get away?
Also, this is the kind of pre-Christmas advertising lots of money can't downplay.
"mom, my xbox brokeded... *sniffle* I can't kill people in games now. *whimper*"
"WELL! We'll just sue that Mr. Gates, how dare his company sell a shoddy product!"
I'm confused why we need another name for a known plague. Spam is Spam.
imSpam, spam i am
i'd like to sell you
c1al1s and a s3x cam
While I haven't seen a map, where Flores exactly is, it's was struck by a tsunami in the early 90's and it wouldn't be beyond the possibility a typhoon wiped them out. Also possible on such a small island that disease or inbreeding finished them off.
The surgeons may be almost as good, but how good are the hospitals? Where's your recourse if they fsck you up? Sue for malpractice internationally for a pittance?
Things may be bad in the US, but not that bad, I hope.
There have been a number of these things over the past several years. Usually self contained, no user serviceable software, portable, sorta... expensive... yes... what the world really needs? Maybe yes, maybe no.
That it comes armed with Infection Exposure is a bit of a strike against it. Some CEO types will think that's all fine, but those of us who wouln't touch it with a ten furlong pole would rather hack it and install something else. I wonder how firm the software is that comes on the device.
I think a PDA will smoke this thing for the money anyway.
I think AMD is about to re-visit Failureland -- the land where stupid ideas live short lives and leave some consumers stranded.
Why? Obfuscation and "plausible deniability".
Sure. I worked in the logistics industry, I know how this whole thing works with supply chain management, etc. i.e. Cabinet: Made in china, Mobo: Made in Taiwan, PSU: Made in Korea, Keyboard: mMde in China, DVD/CD drive: Made in China, HD: Made in Singapore, Mouse: Made in Thailand, Monitor: Made in Korea -- all shipped to Compton, CA and assembled by minimum wage foreign workers, BUT IN THE USA!
We need human rights laws, both nationally and on an international level- backed up by hard monetary sanctions scaled so that they make it completely unprofitable, not just a slap on the wrist. The world court should be able to command banks of UN member nations to seize the assets of the company involved so they can't hide behind foreign incorporation (and most major US companies now do- they're incorporated out of a PO box in the islands- also handy for getting out of taxes, and they do that too; current corporate share of tax burden is about 2%; in 1950 it was 50%).
Whoa! You are NOT a friend of President Bush, are you? A court made up of foreigners and OUR banks (which are mostly offshore anyway, but still ...) being held to standards of foreigners, which could affect Americans and their jobs and -- good gosh amighty -- next they'll be telling us what flag to wave and what kinda fruit we should put in our pies!! Blasphemy!
Actually, I'm all for it, but as you can imagine, the above overboard reaction is something you can easily find throughout the USA today, particularly on the part of people who are inbred and never get outside of their own country to have a look around.
There are and have been trade laws. Notice many people in SE Asia actually obeying them? It was rather impressive that PRC finally refused to accept anymore high tech trash from the USA (which was polluting streams and ground water), but I'm hearing quite a bit in news how little control the central govt of even that country has on every little enterprise. Taiwan has major problems with metals in their well water (I think they import most of their drinking water now, sucks to be poor there and have kids develop brain damage) Most other countries are so eager to get business they overlook pollution and working conditions as merely a minor side effect of the capitalism they so badly want (even those countries which professed to be communist or socialist before.) Makes me wonder what the Nepalese Maoists really think they're going to end up with in 10 years if they succeed.
The almighty buck is weaker than you think. There was an interesting discussion going on on alt.fan.pratchett regarding where books are coming from. Even Euro booksellers are shipping US printed copies of Going Postal (the latest book) because they can get them cheaper than the UK editions. A big clue as to which you have is the cover (US: Arm reaching out of a stack of envelopes, UK: A central man in a gold uniform in a scene reminiscent of the Star Wars Ep:IV poster)
So we're exporting some things, thanks to Europe getting their sh!t together and developing a strong Euro. They can feel good about buying from us for taking care of our environment, even if many workers are now in parttime jobs w/o healthcare, pension, etc. Maybe this is the way to get our manufacturing base back together? Let the dollar slide some more.
Remember when Wal-Mart would carry American Made goods? That lasted how long after Sam Walton died? Fifteen seconds?
In America (even under King George) companies must respect the environment, but you can't stem the tide only with manufacturers, you have to hold the retailers up to scrutiny.
And they'll be clobbered by the scumbags who undercut them on price by sh!tting on the rest of the world for a buck.
(Ok, I'm a bit down right now, because I was just looking for a jersey on eBay and see they sell tonnes of knockoffs straight out of SE Asia.)
Which works well for particles, but not so for anything in solution. Los Angeles water from Owens River is high in salts and is run through ground wells to remove some of it, but the wells are overused and the salt content of the city's water is increasing. Saline content of Colorado River water is on the rise, too, as the water has been reused many times, some for agriculture which means trace amounts of pesticides.
A side note... I used to live in Midland, Michigan, years ago and the director of the water treatment plant had the last name of ... Filter. Not making it up, it's true.
New meaning for Eau de Toilette
NEWater is the product of Singapore's new water-treatment system, and it's wastewater that's been purified through advanced synthetic membranes called ZeeWeed, which could help 20% of the world's population that doesn't have easy access to clean water."
You see where this is going, right? You find some damn way to purify pee and poop water (along with the odd cigarett butt and chunder) and everyone will have cheap water. And as human nature goes, they'll consume it to the limit, futher putting strain on ZeeWeed and toilets.
Heck, you'll probably be required to flush your toilet in the event of a national water shortage...
They've had these stores for years, I first walked into on in Chicago back about 1992 and looked at most of what they had, because I was looking for a model of portable stereo only available in Europe and Japan (which internet dealers are only too happy to sell you, where once you were pretty denied, thanks to their bizarre marketing.) I don't know how much they sold, as they were usually a bit above what you'd pay at discount stores, but were placed in the fashionable downtown areas.
And SO much MP3 music is done under the radar how the fsck would they know ... unless it's on of those "studies" conducted by an interested party to show trends they would like to project as "real" Considering this is on MSN ...
MusicWatch Digital who track the contents of people's hard drives,
OK, just how are they supposed to know what's on people's hard drives? Are they running a bunch of zombies or something? Sorry, man, but this sounds like shlock.