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User: jtownatpunk.net

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  1. Tom Sawyer Plan on Using QR Codes To Save Lives · · Score: 1

    Way to make something needlessly difficult. If you've got some complicated medical issues, write them on a piece of paper and laminate it. Keep the paper in your pocket. Keep another copy in your wallet. If you're really paranoid, keep a third copy in a waterproof pouch on a necklace under your shirt. That will work anywhere.

  2. Misty water-colored memories... on Sprint To Shut Down Nextel iDEN Network Next Year · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This takes me back. My first data-capable phone was a Motorola on Nextel's network. It was also my first "nationwide" phone where all of my services were included in my plan no matter where I was. If I got a signal, I was on my home network. No more roaming! And I had data service at a blazing 9600 bits per second thru the proprietary serial cable. I'm trying to remember if I needed my own dialup ISP to get the Jornada 690 online or if that was included in Nextel's data service. Can't remember. It was 12 years ago.

    I'm a little surprised there are still iDEN phones in the wild.

  3. Sorry, can't resist. on Volunteers Use Annular Eclipse To Measure Sun More Accurately · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's a relatively open weave and I can still see your... annular area.

  4. Simple solution on Apple and Samsung Ordered Talks Fail - Trial Date Set · · Score: 0

    Stop selling them parts for their iPhones!!!

  5. Re:A problem bigger than getting your data on ... on Mega-Uploads: The Cloud's Unspoken Hurdle · · Score: 2

    We've already seen the unsinkable cloud get sunk. Amazon's never-down cloud has rained out at least once in some regions. Another problem is the cloud provider making changes to their services that impact the way your company operates. My last company was in the process of Googleizing when I left a year ago and Google's already made changes that must have required training and documentation updates. And they can remove apps and services at any time so some unpopular product that happens to be very useful to your company could disappear because it's not profitable for the hosting company to continue to support it. At best, you might be able to keep the service until your contract renewal date.

    Then what do you do? Take everything to another cloud? Good luck with that.

  6. Snail mail FTW! on Mega-Uploads: The Cloud's Unspoken Hurdle · · Score: 1

    I got my first linux distribution (I don't remember if they were called distributions back then) shipped on tape to the campus computer lab where a group of us brought our computers to copy the files.

  7. Re:We do it at our store for $65 plus tax. on MS Will Remove OEM 'Crapware' For $99 · · Score: 2

    You're undervaluing your service, friend. If I was going to pay someone to deliver a clean and/or custom build, I would pick you over whatever random pimply-faced kid is working at the Microsoft Store over summer break. If M$ can get away with charging $100 for this service (probably just running uninstalls rather than doing a clean install), someone who actually knows what the heck they're doing and is building a clean install from scratch with optimal driver selection should be able to charge more.

  8. Re:Who buys automobiles based on nationality? on Jaguar and Land Rover Angle For Production In China · · Score: 1

    I bought my car based partly on its country of origin. More accurately, one of the contenders was eliminated because it's made in Mexico and I didn't feel the company had been building cars there long enough to have a proven track record. If they'd been building the car in their home country, it would have stayed on the list longer and may have been my final choice.

  9. Re:Where's the economics? on Comcast To Remove Data Cap, Implement Tiered Pricing · · Score: 1

    Last I checked, Comcast's rate for a la carte internet service started at $60/month at the lowest speed tier. The only way to get it lower is to catch a promotional or package price. Yes, you can get it cheaper but it'll either be a temporary price or require bundling of services, sometimes with a minimum commitment and often the price goes up after 6-12 months. So they're charging "full retail" for additional blocks of data.

  10. Re:This is relevant to my interests on Comcast To Remove Data Cap, Implement Tiered Pricing · · Score: 1

    "Up to" 3mbit. Their range is 1.1-3mbps for $30/month with a 1 year contract. $35/month without contract. And that's way too slow to be streaming HD and other regular burst use at the same time I'm moving chunks of data so I'd still have to...want to...keep my cable service for interactive use. I wasn't expecting to be around more than a few months so I decided to just deal with Comcast's cap.

  11. This is relevant to my interests on Comcast To Remove Data Cap, Implement Tiered Pricing · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comcast put me on probation last year. I move a lot of data. All non-commercial. I asked if there was a service plan that would allow me to move more data. The conversation went something like this:

    "No."
    "I'm willing to pay more money to be able to move more data."
    "That isn't an option."
    "What about business service? I know you also provide service to businesses and charge more for the SLA and heavy traffic."
    "I don't have any information about the caps on business service plans but you can't change your plan or open a new account when you're on probation. In six months, you can inquire about business service."
    "That's ridiculous. I didn't know there was any problem with my usage until 15 minutes ago. That's the first I heard that there was an issue. I'm offering to give you more money for a higher level of service. You're in business to sell the service I'm that I'm trying to buy. Why would you not want to take my money?"
    "I'm sorry, sir, you cannot change your service while on probation. If you go over the 250 gig limit at any time while you're on probation, your account will be closed and you won't be able to open another account for 12 months."

    It baffles me. If they'd offered me 50 gig chunks of data at $10, I would have taken it. It's not cheap but it's not outrageous and it's better than being banned from purchasing their services for a year. My only other options here are "up to" 3 meg DSL and satellite. Oh, and 3G cellular. Hell, they would have made a lot of money from me because I would have said, "Screw it, it's only another $10." Probably would have been paying an extra $20-40 every month.

  12. Re:Congratulations, Verizon on Verizon To Kill All Unlimited Data Plans · · Score: 1

    I think he means his anus will be thoroughly reamed out.

  13. Re:Slippery slope on Verizon To Kill All Unlimited Data Plans · · Score: 1

    And, after looking at it, I'm not clear whether this is only 3G unlimited data plans or all unlimited data plans, including grandfathered 4G plans.

  14. Re:Slippery slope on Verizon To Kill All Unlimited Data Plans · · Score: 1

    Hey, if they'll honor the terms for the remainder of my contract, I'll stay at least that long. If not, I'm gone. Verizon's expensive but I'm willing to pay the premium price for my unlimited data plan (topped out at 8.7 gigs one month!) and decent coverage. But I'm not going to keep paying well over a hundred bucks a month to a company that won't give me the service they sold me. I made a commitment to pay them $$$.$$/month for 24 months and I expect them to provide no less than the level of service I was promised when I made that commitment for the duration of that contract.

    It used to be that service got better over time. My first cell phone plan back in the 90s just got better and better. When I signed up, it was 60 minutes in a 3-county area. Then it was half the state. Then they doubled the minutes. Then my home area was the entire state. By the time I moved to another carrier, my home area was 3 states. The new carrier gave me 240 minutes, free evenings (6pm) and weekends, and 5 states as my home area plus free long distance. All for $10/month less.

    Somehow, it's gotten all flipped around the last few years and carriers are constantly finding ways to reduce the level of service they're offering.

  15. Re:live launch tours from $5000 to $20000 on Star City and the Baikonur Cosmodrome · · Score: 0

    They should charge extra to not go in the spinny/pukey thing.

  16. Re:Don't do this! on Ask Slashdot: How To Secure My Life-In-A-Briefcase? · · Score: 5, Funny

    Duh. You hire three ninjas and give each of them a briefcase. Only one is the real briefcase. The others are full of ninja-style weapons.

  17. Re:Consumers need to do some research too ... on Apple Gives In, Drops iPad '4G' Tag To Avoid Lawsuits · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's one thing to advertise a feature a person might be able to use and to advertise a feature that a person will never be able to use. I live in an area where I only have 3G service but I often travel to areas less than 10 miles away where 4G service is available. It's reasonable to think that I would be interested in having the potential to use 4G service.

    However, when selling a device where such a feature can't be used anywhere on the entire continent and will never be of use on that continent, advertising said feature could be considered intentional fraud.

  18. Re:Better than the last place I worked at on Ask Slashdot: Open Source Multi-User Password Management? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I once had a job where the list was kept on a printed page stored in a locked filing cabinet (no, it wasn't in the basement).

  19. I'm torn. on Netherlands Cements Net Neutrality In Law · · Score: 2

    On the one hand, net neutrality would be great. On the other hand, our (American) politicians don't have a snowball's chance in Hell of getting the legislation right. [sigh]

  20. Re:Heh on A Boost For Quantum Reality · · Score: 2

    If there's nothing to observe reality, does it still exist?

    Yes.

    Moving on.

    I said moving on!

  21. Shenanigans! on Researchers Create Life-sized 3D Hologram For Videoconferencing · · Score: 3, Funny

    That, sir, is no holodeck! Where am I supposed to put my penis?

  22. Re:FreeNAS or Unraid. on Ask Slashdot: DIY NAS For a Variety of Legacy Drives? · · Score: 3, Informative

    unRAID does not support unlimited drives in any version. It comes in 3 (free), 6, and 21 drive versions.

    I've been using it for a year or two and, while it's got some limitations, it's a good choice for this application. Mostly because the guy's using a random collection of old drives and is likely to have bad sectors across multiple drives at some point. There is no striping with unRAID so the worst thing that can happen is he'll have to mount the drives individually and copy the data to a new array.

  23. Re:WebOS versus Android Round 2, Fight! on RIM's Future Hangs On Developer Support For 'New BlackBerry' · · Score: 2

    In what world is Microsoft pushing Windows Phones? They've got the most pathetic lineup of any platform. A grand total of one (1) phone on Verizon's network.

  24. Re:This is hardly new on Apple and Google Face Salary-Fixing Lawsuit · · Score: 2

    It's a slippery slope. You've gotta nip this crap in the bud before it has a chance to grow.

  25. This is hardly new on Apple and Google Face Salary-Fixing Lawsuit · · Score: 5, Informative

    My grandpa had to move clear across the country back in the 50s because of "no poaching" deals in the aircraft industry on the east coast. The only way to advance was for someone above you in your company to retire/die/quit/get fired then they'd fill the gap. And no worries for the company about having to provide competitive wages. If they caught someone sniffing around another company, the person was fired and blacklisted. If someone from another company came sniffing around, they'd call the other company and the person would be fired and blacklisted. It's pretty close to creating a slave labor force. Sure, the shackles are padded but it's very demoralizing to know that trying to advance your career could end it.