What really let the internet take off was the fact that people could easily create their own content.
And, by "content", you mean porn.
Seriously, tho, I had an account on Delphi back in the mid 80s and it had all of this stuff and a much wider footprint. You could connect from any Tymnet node. In fact, I found the manual for it recently so I can look at the node list...11.5 pages of phone numbers with 41 numbers per page. And 3 pages of Datapac numbers for Canadians. Delphi had bulletin boards, chat/conferencing, financial services (banking, bill paying, brokerage services, etc.), games,marketplace, information, a library, email, calendar, travel services, and a few other things.
What really held it back, IMHO, is the cost. It cost $6/hr evenings/weekends and $16/hr during business hours. Plus any long distance charges. Who the heck wanted to pay $6/hr to play Colossal Cave?
That was my first thought. Especially since the results being returned are accurate information. This doesn't even rise to the level of a Santorum situation where irrelevant and/or unrelated results are being provided.
And how are you going to hold a bezel-less touch screen without touching it? There has to be a border of some sort. If they get rid of the bezel, they'll have to leave a margin around the screen that's not touch sensitive. Which pushes menus and icons in from the edges. Which shrinks the usable portion of the screen. Which defeats the purpose of eliminating the bezel.
It's about time someone started working to improve call quality on cell phones. I'm relieved when I call someone and get them on a land line because it means I'll be able to understand them. If both people on a call have cell phones, it always sounds like crap. That's why people talk so damn loud when they're on a cell phone. They're trying to overcome the crappy codec with volume.
Well the question is, how can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem? And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it? I mean, you have plants in this building that are poisonous. You picked them because they look good. But these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're in, and they'll defend themselves, violently if necessary.
Their sovereignty is only as strong as their ability to defend it. McHale's navy could take this place down. Heck, Gilligan and the skipper would have a good shot with the professor providing coconut bombs.
Best Buy has figured this out recently and got my business when I was shopping for a DSLR last year. I set up a package deal with camera, lenses, bag, SD card, etc. for about 3% more than the best NYC camera shop deal and I could pick my stuff up locally (and return it locally if necessary) and I didn't have to worry about getting grey-market stuff. Worked well for both parties. The comfort level of buying camera gear locally was worth the slight extra cost. They made a bit of money and got me to recommend them to people who I think will be capable of bargaining without getting suckered into buying Monster Cables and other overpriced add-ons.
I think they've realized that it's better to make $50 on a thousand dollar deal than have that profit walk out the door.
Not really ok. Iris is like an updated version of Eliza with reverse Tourette's where it occasionally spits out a random nugget of information that almost has something to do with your inquiry.
"Where can I get good Italian food?" "The best Italian food near is Palermo No 2...Covina, CA."
Yeah, thanks. That's 3 hours away if I don't hit traffic. Maybe something a smidge closer.
The usual response is something along the lines of:
"That's not something I get asked all the time." "You tell me." "What's your sign?"
Someone needs to develop an app that automatically runs a phone's data usage up to within 100 megs of the monthly cap on the last night of the billing cycle. If you're paying for 2, 4, 5, 10 gigs of data per month and it doesn't roll over, you may as well run it right up to the limit every month.
Sure, it's childish but these ridiculously low caps on 4G data plans is stupid. I'd rather be childish than stupid.
Real people don't do that. I got rear ended at a stop light by some ditzy woman. The light turned green but I didn't proceed into the intersection because I could hear a siren and knew it wasn't behind me because there were no flashing lights to the rear. [bump] "I didn't see you weren't moving because I was looking for the fire truck." Fortunately, she just cracked my bumper cover and bent the mount a little and her insurance covered the bill 100%.
But, back to the main point, human drivers have a piss-poor record when it comes to following the laws/regulations of the road. OTOH, computers are only as "smart" as their programming. They're completely incapable of using reasonable judgement to assess a situation. I'll trust even the crappiest human driver to navigate a construction zone better than a computer. To me, that defeats the purpose of having a computer-driven car. How am I supposed to sleep if the damn "Construction Zone Ahead" alarm keeps going off?
I finally figured this out last fall when Comcast came down on me for going over their cap. "This is the first I've heard of any problem. Can I pay a higher rate to have a larger data allowance?" "No. Absolutely not. And if you go over 250 gigs in any of the next six months, your account will be closed and you won't be able to apply for service with Comcast again for 12 months." I pondered that for a while. It just didn't make sense. They're offering a product. I like their product. I like it so much I'm willing to pay additional money to get more of their product. They refuse to let me pay for additional product.
THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO PAY FOR THE DATA YOU TRANSFER. THEY WANT YOU TO PAY FOR DATA THAT YOU DON'T TRANSFER.
I don't think enough people have had that light bulb moment yet.
The cable company's favorite customers are grandparents paying for 250 gigabytes of data every month and only firing up the computer once a week to look at the latest pictures of their grandkids. They use maybe 0.1% of their allotment and that's the way the cable company likes it.
I bought a game this month that was 22 gigs. That's almost 9% of my data allowance. I pay $55/month for my internet connection so it cost me an extra $4.84 to buy that game thru Steam. These days, 250 gigs is nothing for people who actually use their tubes.
Cellular data plans are even worse. In Q4 2010, Verizon started an advertising campaign telling people all of the wonderful things they'd be able to do with a 4G connection. Then they rolled out service with 5 and 10 gig caps. You couldn't do ANY of those wonderful things with a cap like that. Download HD movies? Sure. One at a low bitrate. Then you can't use that 4G data connection for the rest of the billing cycle. The funny thing is this action has had the effect of locking in the very customers they don't seem to want. Old-timers with unlimited data plans were able to keep those unlimited plans and roll them over to 4G phones. Not only that, my unlimited data was only good for the phone, not tethering. That had a 5 gig limit. Now it's unlimited across the board. Oh, and I've noticed that, rather than offer larger data plans as they roll out media-centric mobile devices, Verizon is chopping the pricing plan into smaller and smaller slices. And they keep changing what they offer like they're trying to fine-tune it. Right this very moment (it could change any second), they're offering 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 12 gig data plans. And $10/gig for overages.
I suggest everyone make a point of using 99% of your "allowance" every single billing cycle. Run that shit right up to the limit every single month. Maybe that will skew the data enough to make data providers come up with a more logical billing method for consumers.
It's like some sort of corporate schizophrenia where the policies being implemented are completely disconnected from what marketing promises and the reality of consumers.
I remember back when the TSA was being rolled out, I ran into a guy I'd known for years who was a total clusterfuck of a person. Totaled a good half-dozen cars in single vehicle accidents, rarely made it a year at a job before getting fired for mistakes and screwups, eviction after eviction, etc. He couldn't wait to apply for a TSA job. "If I can get in on the ground floor of this shit, I'm set. They'll never stomp out 'terror' and if I screw up, they'll just move me to another location."
...but I don't have the technical knowledge to fully appreciate a DSLR...
What the heck? Read a book. It'll take all of a couple hours to learn the basics of how cameras work. There are three core variables. If that's too much trouble, stick with a fully automated point-n-shoot.
Not everybody wants to roll their own. Some people (yes, even geeks) like it when Shit Just Works. Open the box, plug it in, use it. We're not talking about something that costs thousands of dollars. To me, saving $25-75 isn't worth the hours it would take to make a general purpose device do the same thing. I've got other stuff I could be doing with my time that would either be more fun or bring in more money than I'd just "saved".
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it'll be as simple as a power injector like current MHL to HDMI adapters use to connect some cell phones to TVs. Slip it between your MHDL dongle and the HDMI port on your TV and you're set. Or they'll just put a power port on the dongle that can tap a USB port for juice. Many TVs have USB ports. Limiting their customer base to a small percentage of flat panel owners would be ridonkulous.
Slashdot Mirror
Thank God you're not correcting an English test.
With all the effort and work that went into this thing, he could have built a legitimate business offering legal goods and services.
That's what I read. I was very confused by the article.
Dude, I totally misread the headline. Thought it was something about joints that multiply. Bummer, man.
What really let the internet take off was the fact that people could easily create their own content.
And, by "content", you mean porn.
Seriously, tho, I had an account on Delphi back in the mid 80s and it had all of this stuff and a much wider footprint. You could connect from any Tymnet node. In fact, I found the manual for it recently so I can look at the node list...11.5 pages of phone numbers with 41 numbers per page. And 3 pages of Datapac numbers for Canadians. Delphi had bulletin boards, chat/conferencing, financial services (banking, bill paying, brokerage services, etc.), games,marketplace, information, a library, email, calendar, travel services, and a few other things.
What really held it back, IMHO, is the cost. It cost $6/hr evenings/weekends and $16/hr during business hours. Plus any long distance charges. Who the heck wanted to pay $6/hr to play Colossal Cave?
Terrible ergonomics.
That was my first thought.
Yep. Other than the fact that a bunch of campers who were camping at the camp were killed, the disaster had no connection to the camp. Camp.
That was my first thought. Especially since the results being returned are accurate information. This doesn't even rise to the level of a Santorum situation where irrelevant and/or unrelated results are being provided.
And how are you going to hold a bezel-less touch screen without touching it? There has to be a border of some sort. If they get rid of the bezel, they'll have to leave a margin around the screen that's not touch sensitive. Which pushes menus and icons in from the edges. Which shrinks the usable portion of the screen. Which defeats the purpose of eliminating the bezel.
It's about time someone started working to improve call quality on cell phones. I'm relieved when I call someone and get them on a land line because it means I'll be able to understand them. If both people on a call have cell phones, it always sounds like crap. That's why people talk so damn loud when they're on a cell phone. They're trying to overcome the crappy codec with volume.
Well the question is, how can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem? And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it? I mean, you have plants in this building that are poisonous. You picked them because they look good. But these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're in, and they'll defend themselves, violently if necessary.
That was my first thought. First line tech support has serious churn.
I can get 100Mbps from the cable company no problem and I live out in the sticks. Trouble is I can't use it with their lame cap.
Their sovereignty is only as strong as their ability to defend it. McHale's navy could take this place down. Heck, Gilligan and the skipper would have a good shot with the professor providing coconut bombs.
Best Buy has figured this out recently and got my business when I was shopping for a DSLR last year. I set up a package deal with camera, lenses, bag, SD card, etc. for about 3% more than the best NYC camera shop deal and I could pick my stuff up locally (and return it locally if necessary) and I didn't have to worry about getting grey-market stuff. Worked well for both parties. The comfort level of buying camera gear locally was worth the slight extra cost. They made a bit of money and got me to recommend them to people who I think will be capable of bargaining without getting suckered into buying Monster Cables and other overpriced add-ons.
I think they've realized that it's better to make $50 on a thousand dollar deal than have that profit walk out the door.
Not really ok. Iris is like an updated version of Eliza with reverse Tourette's where it occasionally spits out a random nugget of information that almost has something to do with your inquiry.
"Where can I get good Italian food?"
"The best Italian food near is Palermo No 2...Covina, CA."
Yeah, thanks. That's 3 hours away if I don't hit traffic. Maybe something a smidge closer.
The usual response is something along the lines of:
"That's not something I get asked all the time."
"You tell me."
"What's your sign?"
Someone needs to develop an app that automatically runs a phone's data usage up to within 100 megs of the monthly cap on the last night of the billing cycle. If you're paying for 2, 4, 5, 10 gigs of data per month and it doesn't roll over, you may as well run it right up to the limit every month.
Sure, it's childish but these ridiculously low caps on 4G data plans is stupid. I'd rather be childish than stupid.
Real people don't do that. I got rear ended at a stop light by some ditzy woman. The light turned green but I didn't proceed into the intersection because I could hear a siren and knew it wasn't behind me because there were no flashing lights to the rear. [bump] "I didn't see you weren't moving because I was looking for the fire truck." Fortunately, she just cracked my bumper cover and bent the mount a little and her insurance covered the bill 100%.
But, back to the main point, human drivers have a piss-poor record when it comes to following the laws/regulations of the road. OTOH, computers are only as "smart" as their programming. They're completely incapable of using reasonable judgement to assess a situation. I'll trust even the crappiest human driver to navigate a construction zone better than a computer. To me, that defeats the purpose of having a computer-driven car. How am I supposed to sleep if the damn "Construction Zone Ahead" alarm keeps going off?
Yeah, my brain started playing the theme song about halfway thru the summary.
I finally figured this out last fall when Comcast came down on me for going over their cap. "This is the first I've heard of any problem. Can I pay a higher rate to have a larger data allowance?" "No. Absolutely not. And if you go over 250 gigs in any of the next six months, your account will be closed and you won't be able to apply for service with Comcast again for 12 months." I pondered that for a while. It just didn't make sense. They're offering a product. I like their product. I like it so much I'm willing to pay additional money to get more of their product. They refuse to let me pay for additional product.
THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO PAY FOR THE DATA YOU TRANSFER. THEY WANT YOU TO PAY FOR DATA THAT YOU DON'T TRANSFER.
I don't think enough people have had that light bulb moment yet.
The cable company's favorite customers are grandparents paying for 250 gigabytes of data every month and only firing up the computer once a week to look at the latest pictures of their grandkids. They use maybe 0.1% of their allotment and that's the way the cable company likes it.
I bought a game this month that was 22 gigs. That's almost 9% of my data allowance. I pay $55/month for my internet connection so it cost me an extra $4.84 to buy that game thru Steam. These days, 250 gigs is nothing for people who actually use their tubes.
Cellular data plans are even worse. In Q4 2010, Verizon started an advertising campaign telling people all of the wonderful things they'd be able to do with a 4G connection. Then they rolled out service with 5 and 10 gig caps. You couldn't do ANY of those wonderful things with a cap like that. Download HD movies? Sure. One at a low bitrate. Then you can't use that 4G data connection for the rest of the billing cycle. The funny thing is this action has had the effect of locking in the very customers they don't seem to want. Old-timers with unlimited data plans were able to keep those unlimited plans and roll them over to 4G phones. Not only that, my unlimited data was only good for the phone, not tethering. That had a 5 gig limit. Now it's unlimited across the board. Oh, and I've noticed that, rather than offer larger data plans as they roll out media-centric mobile devices, Verizon is chopping the pricing plan into smaller and smaller slices. And they keep changing what they offer like they're trying to fine-tune it. Right this very moment (it could change any second), they're offering 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 12 gig data plans. And $10/gig for overages.
I suggest everyone make a point of using 99% of your "allowance" every single billing cycle. Run that shit right up to the limit every single month. Maybe that will skew the data enough to make data providers come up with a more logical billing method for consumers.
It's like some sort of corporate schizophrenia where the policies being implemented are completely disconnected from what marketing promises and the reality of consumers.
I remember back when the TSA was being rolled out, I ran into a guy I'd known for years who was a total clusterfuck of a person. Totaled a good half-dozen cars in single vehicle accidents, rarely made it a year at a job before getting fired for mistakes and screwups, eviction after eviction, etc. He couldn't wait to apply for a TSA job. "If I can get in on the ground floor of this shit, I'm set. They'll never stomp out 'terror' and if I screw up, they'll just move me to another location."
...but I don't have the technical knowledge to fully appreciate a DSLR...
What the heck? Read a book. It'll take all of a couple hours to learn the basics of how cameras work. There are three core variables. If that's too much trouble, stick with a fully automated point-n-shoot.
Not everybody wants to roll their own. Some people (yes, even geeks) like it when Shit Just Works. Open the box, plug it in, use it. We're not talking about something that costs thousands of dollars. To me, saving $25-75 isn't worth the hours it would take to make a general purpose device do the same thing. I've got other stuff I could be doing with my time that would either be more fun or bring in more money than I'd just "saved".
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it'll be as simple as a power injector like current MHL to HDMI adapters use to connect some cell phones to TVs. Slip it between your MHDL dongle and the HDMI port on your TV and you're set. Or they'll just put a power port on the dongle that can tap a USB port for juice. Many TVs have USB ports. Limiting their customer base to a small percentage of flat panel owners would be ridonkulous.