We had our house wired with cat5 cabling for a network when it was built. They also used cat5 for the phone lines (it was easier for them than having two sets of wires). It's great!
Adding this to a one story home would not be too hard. You pull the wires through the basement, crawlspace or attic. You'd just need to check carefully for where you would feed the wires up the walls to the outlets. It's not hard, I had to drop a coax cable into my office at home for the cable modem.
We have a cable modem hooked to a router and hub, so all the computers can connect to the net at high speed. The cable modem slows at times, so I'm looking at going to ADSL, now that it's finally available here. I'm in Atlanta, Vinings area.
If you can't find a house that has one, change the one you're in. If you're renting you may need to get that ok'd first, but that shouldn't be a problem as it's a low voltage line and it's an improvement.
Whether you like it or not, what Amazon is doing (varying prices) has been done by many businesses for many years. Changing prices helps a business know which price to offer a product for the maximum profits. It's just easier to see that online than at Wal-mart. Both do it.
Products have price elasticity. And different people have different demands for products. You might _love_ CD's and buy a dozen of them a week, whereas another person may buy one or two a month at most. Which customer does Amazon (or any retailer for that matter) want? So, maybe it would be in the retailer's best interest to offer that big buyer a better price. As long as they are still making money it certainly would. And I know I'd want to get a discount if I bought at those quantities on a regular basis.
Come on people, this is simply! Even Subway has a buy 10 get one free card at many of their stores.
Ever ride the Metro in DC? The price is higher during rush hour than during non-peak hours (or at least it was the last time I was there).
I've seen restaurants offer deals for families Monday through Thursday nights. Business is slow, and they are trying to bring in customers to help keep themselves in business. Are these restaurants "dirty rotten scoundrels" for not offering the same deal all of the time? No, and neither is Amazon (although I'd like to see them drop the 1-click patent).
eBooks are a great concept, and could have a lot of benefits over paper books, but they don't right now. I wish they did. I would love to try this out.
I can carry a paper book anywhere and not worry about the batteries running out. I do need light though, which an eBook could provide itself.
I don't have to worry about turning off my paper book during take-off or landing on an airplane.
I can drop a book and pick it back up knowing that it's fine. Drop an eBook and it could well be junk.
People love books. Why do you think there are so many bookshelves with dusty books that don't get read more than once at so many homes?
The biggest problems with eBooks lie in the consumer. One is getting the consumer to change, that is often very difficult (a fact that the automatic billing companies use to their advantage).
Another is "borrowing". Yes, I can loan my paper book to a friend, but only to one at a time and I can not read it while they have it. With an eBook I could "loan" it to millions of people; hopefully that's obviously wrong to you. Somewhere in between should be a good compromise, but where?
I love good books. I expect the authors of good books to make a good living so they will keep writing; for my self-centered enjoyment. I would be more than happy to pay for an eBook, but how many people would get it without paying?
Yes, you could go to the library and read it for "free". The library paid for it though, and if it's really popular you will have to wait, sometimes weeks. Don't want to wait? Buy it.
So, are they selling convenience? The physicaly book? The author's work, advertising and distribution costs? Then there's the retailers costs and profits.
eBooks will have a cost, and we'll need to pay for them, or it will be theft. And that is one of the things that the publishers are concerned about.
I'm concerned that they'll still want $7.95 for a "paperback" book.
Slashdot Mirror
We had our house wired with cat5 cabling for a network when it was built. They also used cat5 for the phone lines (it was easier for them than having two sets of wires). It's great!
Adding this to a one story home would not be too hard. You pull the wires through the basement, crawlspace or attic. You'd just need to check carefully for where you would feed the wires up the walls to the outlets. It's not hard, I had to drop a coax cable into my office at home for the cable modem.
We have a cable modem hooked to a router and hub, so all the computers can connect to the net at high speed. The cable modem slows at times, so I'm looking at going to ADSL, now that it's finally available here. I'm in Atlanta, Vinings area.
If you can't find a house that has one, change the one you're in. If you're renting you may need to get that ok'd first, but that shouldn't be a problem as it's a low voltage line and it's an improvement.
Wayne
Whether you like it or not, what Amazon is doing (varying prices) has been done by many businesses for many years. Changing prices helps a business know which price to offer a product for the maximum profits. It's just easier to see that online than at Wal-mart. Both do it.
Products have price elasticity. And different people have different demands for products. You might _love_ CD's and buy a dozen of them a week, whereas another person may buy one or two a month at most. Which customer does Amazon (or any retailer for that matter) want? So, maybe it would be in the retailer's best interest to offer that big buyer a better price. As long as they are still making money it certainly would. And I know I'd want to get a discount if I bought at those quantities on a regular basis.
Come on people, this is simply! Even Subway has a buy 10 get one free card at many of their stores.
Ever ride the Metro in DC? The price is higher during rush hour than during non-peak hours (or at least it was the last time I was there).
I've seen restaurants offer deals for families Monday through Thursday nights. Business is slow, and they are trying to bring in customers to help keep themselves in business. Are these restaurants "dirty rotten scoundrels" for not offering the same deal all of the time? No, and neither is Amazon (although I'd like to see them drop the 1-click patent).
Wayne
eBooks are a great concept, and could have a lot of benefits over paper books, but they don't right now. I wish they did. I would love to try this out.
I can carry a paper book anywhere and not worry about the batteries running out. I do need light though, which an eBook could provide itself.
I don't have to worry about turning off my paper book during take-off or landing on an airplane.
I can drop a book and pick it back up knowing that it's fine. Drop an eBook and it could well be junk.
People love books. Why do you think there are so many bookshelves with dusty books that don't get read more than once at so many homes?
The biggest problems with eBooks lie in the consumer. One is getting the consumer to change, that is often very difficult (a fact that the automatic billing companies use to their advantage).
Another is "borrowing". Yes, I can loan my paper book to a friend, but only to one at a time and I can not read it while they have it. With an eBook I could "loan" it to millions of people; hopefully that's obviously wrong to you. Somewhere in between should be a good compromise, but where?
I love good books. I expect the authors of good books to make a good living so they will keep writing; for my self-centered enjoyment. I would be more than happy to pay for an eBook, but how many people would get it without paying?
Yes, you could go to the library and read it for "free". The library paid for it though, and if it's really popular you will have to wait, sometimes weeks. Don't want to wait? Buy it.
So, are they selling convenience? The physicaly book? The author's work, advertising and distribution costs? Then there's the retailers costs and profits.
eBooks will have a cost, and we'll need to pay for them, or it will be theft. And that is one of the things that the publishers are concerned about.
I'm concerned that they'll still want $7.95 for a "paperback" book.
Hopefully there's a good middle ground.
Wayne