The difference here is that market share is much more self-reinforcing in the computer industry. BMW can survive forever on 3% market share. I hope that it doesn't happen but I fear that Apple will become less relevant over time and that its market share will continue to decline.
This article also seems to contradict the notion that the high profit margin on their hardware is contributing to the bottom line.
Very true. What percentage of people aren't going to "cheap out" though? Yeah I know about the comparisons to BMW and such, but selling cars and selling computers are two different things because of two words:
software compatibility
and that on top of price frightens lots of people.
They don't need an upgrade as much as they need a price cut. Yes, I know it won't happen.
People buying low-end computers who are not computer-savvy would love to get the pretty Mac that they see at CompUSA, but they see an eMachines box for 1/3rd the price and don't understand why the Mac might be worth it. The masses don't understand the benefits of a G5, OS X, or any of that. They are looking at price tags.
I would be interested in knowing what Apple's share of the low-end laptop market is. The iBook is actually very price-competitive. If they didn't purposely hobble it I would buy one.
It isn't clear that he is much of a seller. The article caused me to think that his attempts at selling were rather pathetic.
The item that I noticed that I think supports your case is that he states a preference for "small sellers" as opposed to corporations. You could say that he is trying to paint spammers as the "little guys" using spam as a equalizer against giant corporations.
Maybe this guy is a plant, but the impression I got from the article is that he is mentally ill. He is purchasing things in order to feel "blessed". He should seek professional help. Prozac has been shown to improve the lives of shopaholics.
I'm not joking here. I'm just surprised that his wife puts up with it. He is buying junk that he doesn't use because it makes him feel good to purchase things. That is messed up.
Trying to be leading edge a digital signature law was passed that was basically written by a company that had started up doing what? Digital signatures! Oddly this company was spun off of the bank that the speaker of the house (Marty Stephens) works for.
Lets think about what you've said. Obviously some of these teams are using state of the air equipment and technology. Any time you push the limits of what you can do you come away with data. I don't see how giving groups an incentive to do something outside of the lab is a waste of money. I also don't see how a "flashy race" as you call it is a bad thing. It is great to attack these problems from multiple angles and a flashy race is just one way of doing it.
Or we'd never have found out about this. Leavitt recently left to head the EPA, which is odd since I seem to remember that his family has run a business that caused polution and killed a bunch of fish at some point.
When he left for EPA his Lt. Gov, Walker took over and found out about this MATRIX stuff and told the public. I hope Walker or Matheson gets elected next time around.
I think it might have been possible to win the game without hunting, but I could be wrong. Hunting well was certainly the easiest way to have plenty of food.
Did Frontier House do well? It was a major hit for PBS and a minor phenomenon in the larger media. Entertainment shows that usually only feature commercial network fare mentioned it. My wife found out about it from Oprah.
The thing about reality TV is the the investment is minimal, especially in this situation in which the event will occur anyhow.
Frontier House on PBS two years ago featured normal people and was less manufactured than more reality fare. I think there is a market for a DARPA Challenge show. Another poster said NOVA was going to do a show on it, which would be great. Now I just need a Tivo so I can make sure to catch it.
Having been in and lived near favelas I can tell you that automated home construction is not the solution to the problem. In Campinas, Brazil they tried to make the favelas nicer by adding pavement and other ammenities and now the city is one of the most violent in the western hemisphere because people from all over the country flocked to the slightly nicer favelas there. Now they are hotbeds of criminal activity and kidnappings.
According to this several other teams did qualify yesterday.
From the press release:
The results of the attempts of today's group break down as follows:
SciAutonics II, Team Cal Tech and Virginia Tech completed the course.
Team CIMAR , Team ENSCO, TerraMax nearly completed the course.
Axion Racing, Digital Auto Drive, The Golem Group, Palos Verdes High
School, Team CajunBot, TerraHawk partially completed the course.
The Blue Team, Rover Systems, SciAutonics I and Team Phantasm
terminated their attempts.
In any case there isn't much harm in allowing anyone to compete. It looks like many of them will fail in the first few minutes leaving it to Red Team.
I was checking out where my video game, "Ultimate Blaster" was ranked on Google. To my surprise I found that it was ranked quite highly, but when I click on the link it wasn't my URL, but it was my site.
The entire site had been copied and then some text added claiming that someone else was the author. I did some more Googling and found that the theif was a 15 year old in England and got his email address and the name of his school.
I emailed him and offered to tell the school's head master what was going on. The site was down in hours and he replied saying how sorry he was.
I explained that I didn't mind him offering a download of the game, but that I did mind him claiming credit for it.
I have ordered from them twice. I ordered a 512 MB and then got a 128 MB one for my mom. There was a problem with the original order and they called me on the phone within 30 minutes. They seem to be out of stock frequently, but they gave me great service.
The device itself seems to have no brand name. It has functioned perfectly though and I have no problems.
I was (and am) asking seriously: What experience do you have with this technology? Have you worked with it? Do you know its limitations? This was not meant as a personal attack and I'm sorry if it came off as such.
There are lots of people on/. that know enough to be concerned about and complain about RFID but not enough to suggest solutions beyond sticking the tag in a microwave. This leads to the people who have worked with the technology being drowned out.
Slashdot Mirror
This article also seems to contradict the notion that the high profit margin on their hardware is contributing to the bottom line.
software compatibility
and that on top of price frightens lots of people.
People buying low-end computers who are not computer-savvy would love to get the pretty Mac that they see at CompUSA, but they see an eMachines box for 1/3rd the price and don't understand why the Mac might be worth it. The masses don't understand the benefits of a G5, OS X, or any of that. They are looking at price tags.
I would be interested in knowing what Apple's share of the low-end laptop market is. The iBook is actually very price-competitive. If they didn't purposely hobble it I would buy one.
I used to overclock it to 475 but it was unstable.
You don't get karma on +Funny moderations because Taco hates Funny. You do lose it though when it is modded down from +5 Funny to +4 Funny.
The item that I noticed that I think supports your case is that he states a preference for "small sellers" as opposed to corporations. You could say that he is trying to paint spammers as the "little guys" using spam as a equalizer against giant corporations.
I'm not joking here. I'm just surprised that his wife puts up with it. He is buying junk that he doesn't use because it makes him feel good to purchase things. That is messed up.
We could tell by the liters! However, you are still "North American", which (too bad for you!) is still a form of American.
Lick your monitor and Steve Jobs will think it is because of how nice Aqua is.
At least thats how I remember it.
Hopefully they'll put the 6 minutes of IIci produced work on the DVD so we can all see it.
If they held it again next week all of the teams would do much better. I hope that they hold it again sooner than 2006.
Lets think about what you've said. Obviously some of these teams are using state of the air equipment and technology. Any time you push the limits of what you can do you come away with data. I don't see how giving groups an incentive to do something outside of the lab is a waste of money. I also don't see how a "flashy race" as you call it is a bad thing. It is great to attack these problems from multiple angles and a flashy race is just one way of doing it.
When he left for EPA his Lt. Gov, Walker took over and found out about this MATRIX stuff and told the public. I hope Walker or Matheson gets elected next time around.
I think it might have been possible to win the game without hunting, but I could be wrong. Hunting well was certainly the easiest way to have plenty of food.
The thing about reality TV is the the investment is minimal, especially in this situation in which the event will occur anyhow.
Doesn't that apply to intentional crushing of other competitors rather than crushing of obstacles? The mini-van wasn't competing so it was fair game.
?But that isn't g-rated since you can kill Bambi.
Given that they are letting everyone participate now without passing the qualifier do you regret not entering, just to get some race experience/data?
Frontier House on PBS two years ago featured normal people and was less manufactured than more reality fare. I think there is a market for a DARPA Challenge show. Another poster said NOVA was going to do a show on it, which would be great. Now I just need a Tivo so I can make sure to catch it.
Having been in and lived near favelas I can tell you that automated home construction is not the solution to the problem. In Campinas, Brazil they tried to make the favelas nicer by adding pavement and other ammenities and now the city is one of the most violent in the western hemisphere because people from all over the country flocked to the slightly nicer favelas there. Now they are hotbeds of criminal activity and kidnappings.
From the press release:
The results of the attempts of today's group break down as follows:
SciAutonics II, Team Cal Tech and Virginia Tech completed the course.
Team CIMAR , Team ENSCO, TerraMax nearly completed the course.
Axion Racing, Digital Auto Drive, The Golem Group, Palos Verdes High School, Team CajunBot, TerraHawk partially completed the course.
The Blue Team, Rover Systems, SciAutonics I and Team Phantasm terminated their attempts.
In any case there isn't much harm in allowing anyone to compete. It looks like many of them will fail in the first few minutes leaving it to Red Team.
The entire site had been copied and then some text added claiming that someone else was the author. I did some more Googling and found that the theif was a 15 year old in England and got his email address and the name of his school.
I emailed him and offered to tell the school's head master what was going on. The site was down in hours and he replied saying how sorry he was.
I explained that I didn't mind him offering a download of the game, but that I did mind him claiming credit for it.
The device itself seems to have no brand name. It has functioned perfectly though and I have no problems.
There are lots of people on /. that know enough to be concerned about and complain about RFID but not enough to suggest solutions beyond sticking the tag in a microwave. This leads to the people who have worked with the technology being drowned out.