That's why you need two parents working at Wal Mart. Even at the base wage, they can probably earn enough to cover gas, housing, healthcare, and food. They can probably also save some (not much) for retirement and/or their child's education. Oh, and probably enough to get cable TV, full phone service, cable internet, and cellphones for each of them.
Yeah, living on 2 wages at Wal-Mart is tough. It's especially tough because you need to find supervision for the child - when both parents are working. But it's doable. It may not be the most comfortable living, but it will do.
1: The G4 cube is nowhere near "totally silent" for one reason: hard drive noise. The only reason we don't hear the spinning in most PCs is because of the fans.
2: HDD noise will decrease over time; I have two Samsung Spinpoint P40 drives which have a DSP designed to reduce seek noise. So the objective should be to make fan noise less loud than the HDD spin noise. Many of the HP Compaq workstations accomplish this with quiet, thermally managed fans.
So, completely passive cooling is nice. Heck, I have a Zalman in my system. But I also have 3 Panaflo L1A fans and an Alpha 8045. The're all thermally managed and monitored. Thus, fan noise is not an issue. My two HDDs are far louder.
"as Apple seems to have kept the native resolutions lower compared to PC's"
You can buy plenty of 15" PC notebooks with a 1024x768 LCD display. Dell sells them, HP sells them. You can even find them at Best Buy or Fry's. Heck, most PC laptops use XGA resolution.
"The fonts often seem either rough edged or blurred or both."
Use GNOME2 or KDE2/3. They both have good antialiasing support.
I'd rather see neither the iTMS or this new service. I want a service which uses standard HTTP as a transport (no application required, works on Windows/Mozilla/IE/Linux/Mac/Safari/etc.), with MP3 as a file format (works on almost every portable player, DVD player, etc.).
My copy protection solution? Encode the owner's credit card number and SSN (or other personal numbers) into the MP3 file using an encoding method that is inaudible but hard to remove. Few people will want to distribute such files to friends or on p2p services - and programs that remove the private information are just as likely to transmit this information to criminals or fail to remove it than to actually do the job.
"do you have a problem with people preferring Apple's?"
No, I was just saying that the grandparent was dismissing this service because of it's non-standard format (which iTMS has also), DRM (which iTMS has), and requirement of IE (iTMS requires a Mac and iTunes). The iTMS looks like a good service with not-too-restrictive DRM. I'm just saying that it's too early to pan this service.
A "standard" is based on what is actually used. For example, although Microsoft Word has a closed file format, it is the "standard" for business correspondence. Although MP3 may not be a "standard", it is the most widely used digital music format. It's what everything plays.
Oddly enoguh, WMA is more the standard than AAC. There are many DVD and MP3/CD players that play WMA. There's only one portable player that plays AAC to my knowledge.
I've always wanted to own a Mac, but was always put off by the price and the fact that I couldn't build one from scratch. Well, now I need a laptop, which you can't really build from scratch anyway. At $1600, the PBG4 was a bit excessive. I looked at the $1200 iBook but with a 900mhz G3 and 128M of memory it's a little pokey. Not to mention the size and weight (not bad, but it's not exactly a PBG4 either). The PBG4 @ $1400 is really attractive. I may just get one. Of course, I'll dual boot Jaguar (Panther) and Gentoo.
MP3 is the standard for digital audio. Vorbis, WMA, AAC, or anything else is non-standard.
"iTunes lets you transcode into MP3. Does WMP?"
iTunes does not allow you to transcode into MP3. iTunes does allow you to burn the audio and then rip that to MP3. Depending on the restrictions in the Buy system, it may allow burning as well.
"iTunes is out for Windows later this year. Is MS porting full WMP to MacOS?"
First, Apple has not announced iTunes for Win32. Second, it doesn't matter if Microsoft ports WMP to MacOS. Most users could care less. After all, it's hard to argue with 94% marketshare.
"Does the fact you were modded up as insightful prove that slashdotters are idiots?"
No. I was actually modded down by Mac zealots who were too blind to see that Apple's store really isn't all that different. Both stores require specific software (iTunes4 vs. WMP9 and IE5). Apple's store requires a Mac. Both stores do not release content in standard MP3 without DRM. Both stores allow you to download to a portable player (Apple = iPod; Buy = Nomad). Both are selling an actual track instead of a subscription.
Apple didn't bring the iTunes store to the masses. Buy.com is doing that now.
You'd rather have DRM restricted non-standard audio files with a service that works on 5% of computers (AAC+iTunes+Macs) than DRM restricted non-standard audio files with a service that works on 94% of computers (WMA+WMP9+IE5)?
So is the HP XW4100, which is really just a single P4 processor system with a standard Canterwood board - the same things you could find in a PC at Best Buy.
There really isn't a difference between a "workstation" and a "desktop" anymore.
Also, it doesn't matter if "anyone has heard of them". Apple is claiming that they have created the world's first 64-bit personal computer. It is extremely arguable that BOXX's 64-bit Opteron system for around $2200 is a personal computer. It has AGP, it comes in a desktop box. It's clearly not intended as a server.
From m-w.com:
"Personal Computer: a general-purpose computer equipped with a microprocessor and designed to run especially commercial software (as a word processor or World Wide Web browser) for an individual user"
So, the BOXX system is general purpose (you can play games, surf the net, edit photos, do music, and a lot more - hell, it's standard IA-32 compatible). It is designed to run commercial software too, Office + Internet Explorer + Windows is about as commercial as you can get. It has a microprocessor too. And it's designed for an individual user as well (not a server).
So, the BOXX system is a "personal computer". It's $2200. And it has 64 bit Opterons.
Sorry... just wanted to dispel some of the myths of the US as a "backwards" country with no GSM or GPRS.
Anyway,
It's a T-Mobile Color Sidekick. If you're in Europe, well, sorry - the Sidekick is a single band phone and won't work in Europe (different frequency). They are planning on introducing a tri-band model.
The Sidekick is actually a rebranded version of a device called the Hiptop from a company called Danger, Inc.
http://www.danger.com
I hear that the Nokia 3650 is quite nice as well, but that the keyboard layout sucks.
The US is 3x the size of Western Europe, with roughhly the same number of people. So, it's not hard for us to have "the most GSM towers". Per capita, nearly every European country has far more than the US. The EU has far more towers as well.
Second, Remember the size difference here. For reference, France is about 2/3 the size of Texas. Germany+France would fit nicely into Alaska, with room to spare.
Take, for example, Wyoming. Wyoming has 200,000 people in an area only marginally smaller than France. It's just not sensible to cover that area with 16km GSM cells. That's why AMPS coverage is so good - cells can be 50km or more. CDMA technologies (as are used by Sprint and Verizon in the US, and soon Cingular - WCDMA) also allow for larger cell sizes.
Another note: all major areas of population are covered, as are airports, and all major roads. No, you can't get service in the Wyoming wilderness. But you can get service in practically every city (of 2,000 people or more).
My point was not that the US GSM network is so great. It's not. That's partially because of demographics. It's partly because CDMA is far more popular over here (Verizon, for example, has excellent coverage). By area, GSM coverage in the US is probably 80% what it is in Western Europe. The problem is that the US isn't 80% of Western Europe's size, it's 300%.
My point was that the US *does* have GSM coverage, we *do* have GPRS, our phones *do* have SIM cards, and there *is* a healthy GSM industry over here. We also have a healthy CDMA industry. Heck, we even have 3G CDMA everywhere (1xRTT barely qualifies as 3G, but it does qualify - and both Sprint and Verizon have very large 1xRTT networks). Cingular just implemented EDGE. AT&T will begin WCDMA (3G CDMA GSM) in early 2004.
So, next time someone tells you that the wireless system in the US is antiquated, or that there's no digital coverage, or that we don't have GPRS, or that we don't have SIM cards, remember this:
- Our system is the same GSM the rest of the world uses (OK, different frequency, but you get the point). Not to mention the (barely) 3G CDMA coverage. EDGE too. And, coming soon, WCDMA.
- Everyone uses digital phones in the US. Less than 1% of all cellphones are analog. Many have an analog mode, however, so they can roam onto analog service. Remember that analog cell sizes are not limited by slot delay (as is GSM). Regardless, analog is usally only needed when you are in Wyoming or another sparsely populated area.
- We do have GPRS. Three networks, in fact. They all have roaming agreements, too. T-Mobile offers unlimited GPRS for $20 a month. Sprint offers unlimited 3G CDMA (144kbits/sec) for $10 a month with any plan. Other providers also have plans.
- Not all phones here have SIM cards, but all of the GSM phones do. If it's an important feature, buy GSM.
- CDMA sounds better than GSM. It's less compressed and has less noise. If that's your main criteria for buying a phone, buy CDMA.
I have an excellent GSM phone. It's a 2.5G GPRS device. It takes photos, albeit low-resolution ones. It has a nice color screen. It has AIM and SMS. It has a great microbrowser. And, to top it all off, it has an excellent *real* QWERTY keyboard. None of that "T9 predictive text entry" garbage... I can type 20 WPM on this thing. Think Blackberry, but spaced more. It runs a custom Java OS with a nice SDK. And the user interface is excellent.
Add to that the fact that I get 200 voice minutes, 1000 weekend minutes, no roaming (anywhere in my country), no long distance (anywhere in my country).
I also get unlimited GPRS data. Yeah, that's right. Last month I transferred 130MB of data.
Oh, yeah, of course, and I can roam onto any GSM/GPRS network in my country (there are three major ones) and not pay roaming. And, of course, I can also switch to a different phone and keep my SIM card. Or switch to a different provider and keep my phone.
All for about $40 per month. I paid nothing for the phone, but I had to sign up for a year.
Any guesses where I live? It's the country with the first EDGE service. It's also the country with the most GSM towers.
The sender pays for a local call (free from a landline, uses plan minutes from a cellphone) and the reciever pays with plan minutes. I have 1000 anytime minutes (that's over 10 hours a month) + unlimited minutes 9PM-6AM, as well as no roaming and long distance. I NEVER exceed my plan and NEVER worry about my minutes.
T-Mobile and AT&T just signed a roaming agreement, which greatly improves GSM coverage throughout the US.
It's still not good enough, but it's getting there. Look at Verizon CDMA if you want great coverage.
The problem is not so much the carriers as GSM. GSM has a 16 kilomiter HARD cell size limit. It is impossible to use a GSM phone more than 16km from the tower (it's called slot delay) even if you can get signal. CDMA cells can be two or three times bigger.
Covering the entire US (remember, Western Europe + Korea + Japan + Vietnam + Laos would all fit into the US with room to spare) with 16km cells is a challenge. In Europe, one GSM cell could cover several hundred times more people than a single GSM cell in the rural US. In Europe, there is no such thing as a nearly uninhabited 400x300 mile landmass (Wyoming).
"It is pretty embarrassing to be technologically inferior to third-world countries like Cambodia!"
Technology does not equal coverage. From that point of veiw, we are actually superior, as we developed CDMA to combat the cell-size and capacity problems with GSM.
Look at Legend of Zelda: Wind Walker. It came with a free disc containing an N64 emulator that runs on the 'Cube and a copy of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
"It might be due similar reasons why the Mobile Phone systems in Europe and Japan are so much better than in North America."
Oh, right. You mean that you have SIM cards. Well, so do we. Or maybe you meant that you use GSM? We have that too - three major providers who all have roaming agreements. Or maybe that you have GPRS? We have that too. T-Mobile charges $29 over here for unlimited nationwide GPRS.
So, we have 3G CDMA, GSM, GPRS, interoperable SMS. Why is the European system so much better?
There are low power x86 processors. The Opteron, for example, draws around 55W for the high-end model. The Athlons aren't so bad either - around 65W depending on the model. P4 ranges from 60 to 100W, also depending on model.
Remember, electricity is pennies a KWh. Now, there are cooling considerations too, but even those are managable. In general, the highest operating expense of a company is not cooling or electricity but other factors like the facility, staff, or bandwidth.
Around here (Colorado), electricity is seven cents a kilowatt hour. Say a P4 @ 90W does the same work as a G5 @ 30W. That's a savings of 60W. Imagine the computer is on 10 hours a day, five days a week. That's a savings of 3000Whr (3KWh) or 21 cents a week. You save a total of $10.92 per year. Or, say the computers are on 24/7. That's a total of $36.69 per year.
Say an HP XW4100 system (P4 3.2CGhz) system does the same work in a CAD app as a dual 1.6GHz G5 system (remember, most CAD apps are not dual-processor optimized). The XW4100 is around $1500; the "low-end" G5 is $2000. At $36.69 per year (running 24/7), the G5 will pay for itself in 13.62 years.
That is quite cheap compared to Europe, but over here in the US it's $29 for unlimited GPRS, or $20 with any voice plan (T-Mobile). Sprint also offers unlimited 3G data service (well, 144Kbps) for about $50 per month (you get 500 voice minutes and unlim weekend/long distance/roaming included, though).
1024/320 = 495EEK = 38$
I'm with Comcast and I pay about $55 per month for 2048/256K cable service. It's only $42 if you subscribe to cable TV (I have satellite).
64/32 = 149EEK = 11$ = 10
That's quite nice. I wish there were a cheaper cable/DSL plan here in the US - everyone wants $40 per month or more and they only offer 640K and up.
"All of my friends have internet access. Only one of them has dialup."
All of my friends are on Comcast. I hate the company but love the service. I don't feel bad downloading insane amounts of data (usually 90+ gigabytes a month).
Welcome to.NET - I know I'll be flamed, but this is what Microsoft's new technology is about: bringing Java-like security to every application (Microsoft calls it "Managed" code).
Slashdot Mirror
That's why you need two parents working at Wal Mart. Even at the base wage, they can probably earn enough to cover gas, housing, healthcare, and food. They can probably also save some (not much) for retirement and/or their child's education. Oh, and probably enough to get cable TV, full phone service, cable internet, and cellphones for each of them.
Yeah, living on 2 wages at Wal-Mart is tough. It's especially tough because you need to find supervision for the child - when both parents are working. But it's doable. It may not be the most comfortable living, but it will do.
If you have a Danger Hiptop (T-Mobile Sidekick), the developer's kit has a SSH client in it.
Two things:
1: The G4 cube is nowhere near "totally silent" for one reason: hard drive noise. The only reason we don't hear the spinning in most PCs is because of the fans.
2: HDD noise will decrease over time; I have two Samsung Spinpoint P40 drives which have a DSP designed to reduce seek noise. So the objective should be to make fan noise less loud than the HDD spin noise. Many of the HP Compaq workstations accomplish this with quiet, thermally managed fans.
So, completely passive cooling is nice. Heck, I have a Zalman in my system. But I also have 3 Panaflo L1A fans and an Alpha 8045. The're all thermally managed and monitored. Thus, fan noise is not an issue. My two HDDs are far louder.
Huh?
"as Apple seems to have kept the native resolutions lower compared to PC's"
You can buy plenty of 15" PC notebooks with a 1024x768 LCD display. Dell sells them, HP sells them. You can even find them at Best Buy or Fry's. Heck, most PC laptops use XGA resolution.
"The fonts often seem either rough edged or blurred or both."
Use GNOME2 or KDE2/3. They both have good antialiasing support.
I'd rather see neither the iTMS or this new service. I want a service which uses standard HTTP as a transport (no application required, works on Windows/Mozilla/IE/Linux/Mac/Safari/etc.), with MP3 as a file format (works on almost every portable player, DVD player, etc.).
My copy protection solution? Encode the owner's credit card number and SSN (or other personal numbers) into the MP3 file using an encoding method that is inaudible but hard to remove. Few people will want to distribute such files to friends or on p2p services - and programs that remove the private information are just as likely to transmit this information to criminals or fail to remove it than to actually do the job.
"do you have a problem with people preferring Apple's?"
No, I was just saying that the grandparent was dismissing this service because of it's non-standard format (which iTMS has also), DRM (which iTMS has), and requirement of IE (iTMS requires a Mac and iTunes). The iTMS looks like a good service with not-too-restrictive DRM. I'm just saying that it's too early to pan this service.
A "standard" is based on what is actually used. For example, although Microsoft Word has a closed file format, it is the "standard" for business correspondence. Although MP3 may not be a "standard", it is the most widely used digital music format. It's what everything plays.
Oddly enoguh, WMA is more the standard than AAC. There are many DVD and MP3/CD players that play WMA. There's only one portable player that plays AAC to my knowledge.
I've always wanted to own a Mac, but was always put off by the price and the fact that I couldn't build one from scratch. Well, now I need a laptop, which you can't really build from scratch anyway. At $1600, the PBG4 was a bit excessive. I looked at the $1200 iBook but with a 900mhz G3 and 128M of memory it's a little pokey. Not to mention the size and weight (not bad, but it's not exactly a PBG4 either). The PBG4 @ $1400 is really attractive. I may just get one. Of course, I'll dual boot Jaguar (Panther) and Gentoo.
Yes, MPEG-4 is non-standard.
MP3 is the standard for digital audio. Vorbis, WMA, AAC, or anything else is non-standard.
"iTunes lets you transcode into MP3. Does WMP?"
iTunes does not allow you to transcode into MP3. iTunes does allow you to burn the audio and then rip that to MP3. Depending on the restrictions in the Buy system, it may allow burning as well.
"iTunes is out for Windows later this year. Is MS porting full WMP to MacOS?"
First, Apple has not announced iTunes for Win32. Second, it doesn't matter if Microsoft ports WMP to MacOS. Most users could care less. After all, it's hard to argue with 94% marketshare.
"Does the fact you were modded up as insightful prove that slashdotters are idiots?"
No. I was actually modded down by Mac zealots who were too blind to see that Apple's store really isn't all that different. Both stores require specific software (iTunes4 vs. WMP9 and IE5). Apple's store requires a Mac. Both stores do not release content in standard MP3 without DRM. Both stores allow you to download to a portable player (Apple = iPod; Buy = Nomad). Both are selling an actual track instead of a subscription.
Apple didn't bring the iTunes store to the masses. Buy.com is doing that now.
Look at the Slahdot article: it specifically says that it can be played on the Nomad IIc and Nomad zen.
Oh, I see
You'd rather have DRM restricted non-standard audio files with a service that works on 5% of computers (AAC+iTunes+Macs) than DRM restricted non-standard audio files with a service that works on 94% of computers (WMA+WMP9+IE5)?
Oh, right, this is Apple we're talking about.
So is the HP XW4100, which is really just a single P4 processor system with a standard Canterwood board - the same things you could find in a PC at Best Buy.
There really isn't a difference between a "workstation" and a "desktop" anymore.
Also, it doesn't matter if "anyone has heard of them". Apple is claiming that they have created the world's first 64-bit personal computer. It is extremely arguable that BOXX's 64-bit Opteron system for around $2200 is a personal computer. It has AGP, it comes in a desktop box. It's clearly not intended as a server.
From m-w.com:
"Personal Computer: a general-purpose computer equipped with a microprocessor and designed to run especially commercial software (as a word processor or World Wide Web browser) for an individual user"
So, the BOXX system is general purpose (you can play games, surf the net, edit photos, do music, and a lot more - hell, it's standard IA-32 compatible). It is designed to run commercial software too, Office + Internet Explorer + Windows is about as commercial as you can get. It has a microprocessor too. And it's designed for an individual user as well (not a server).
So, the BOXX system is a "personal computer". It's $2200. And it has 64 bit Opterons.
Sorry... just wanted to dispel some of the myths of the US as a "backwards" country with no GSM or GPRS.
Anyway,
It's a T-Mobile Color Sidekick. If you're in Europe, well, sorry - the Sidekick is a single band phone and won't work in Europe (different frequency). They are planning on introducing a tri-band model.
The Sidekick is actually a rebranded version of a device called the Hiptop from a company called Danger, Inc.
http://www.danger.com
I hear that the Nokia 3650 is quite nice as well, but that the keyboard layout sucks.
Yes,
The US is 3x the size of Western Europe, with roughhly the same number of people. So, it's not hard for us to have "the most GSM towers". Per capita, nearly every European country has far more than the US. The EU has far more towers as well.
Second,
Remember the size difference here. For reference, France is about 2/3 the size of Texas. Germany+France would fit nicely into Alaska, with room to spare.
Take, for example, Wyoming. Wyoming has 200,000 people in an area only marginally smaller than France. It's just not sensible to cover that area with 16km GSM cells. That's why AMPS coverage is so good - cells can be 50km or more. CDMA technologies (as are used by Sprint and Verizon in the US, and soon Cingular - WCDMA) also allow for larger cell sizes.
Another note: all major areas of population are covered, as are airports, and all major roads. No, you can't get service in the Wyoming wilderness. But you can get service in practically every city (of 2,000 people or more).
My point was not that the US GSM network is so great. It's not. That's partially because of demographics. It's partly because CDMA is far more popular over here (Verizon, for example, has excellent coverage). By area, GSM coverage in the US is probably 80% what it is in Western Europe. The problem is that the US isn't 80% of Western Europe's size, it's 300%.
My point was that the US *does* have GSM coverage, we *do* have GPRS, our phones *do* have SIM cards, and there *is* a healthy GSM industry over here. We also have a healthy CDMA industry. Heck, we even have 3G CDMA everywhere (1xRTT barely qualifies as 3G, but it does qualify - and both Sprint and Verizon have very large 1xRTT networks). Cingular just implemented EDGE. AT&T will begin WCDMA (3G CDMA GSM) in early 2004.
So, next time someone tells you that the wireless system in the US is antiquated, or that there's no digital coverage, or that we don't have GPRS, or that we don't have SIM cards, remember this:
- Our system is the same GSM the rest of the world uses (OK, different frequency, but you get the point). Not to mention the (barely) 3G CDMA coverage. EDGE too. And, coming soon, WCDMA.
- Everyone uses digital phones in the US. Less than 1% of all cellphones are analog. Many have an analog mode, however, so they can roam onto analog service. Remember that analog cell sizes are not limited by slot delay (as is GSM). Regardless, analog is usally only needed when you are in Wyoming or another sparsely populated area.
- We do have GPRS. Three networks, in fact. They all have roaming agreements, too. T-Mobile offers unlimited GPRS for $20 a month. Sprint offers unlimited 3G CDMA (144kbits/sec) for $10 a month with any plan. Other providers also have plans.
- Not all phones here have SIM cards, but all of the GSM phones do. If it's an important feature, buy GSM.
- CDMA sounds better than GSM. It's less compressed and has less noise. If that's your main criteria for buying a phone, buy CDMA.
I have an excellent GSM phone. It's a 2.5G GPRS device. It takes photos, albeit low-resolution ones. It has a nice color screen. It has AIM and SMS. It has a great microbrowser. And, to top it all off, it has an excellent *real* QWERTY keyboard. None of that "T9 predictive text entry" garbage... I can type 20 WPM on this thing. Think Blackberry, but spaced more. It runs a custom Java OS with a nice SDK. And the user interface is excellent.
Add to that the fact that I get 200 voice minutes, 1000 weekend minutes, no roaming (anywhere in my country), no long distance (anywhere in my country).
I also get unlimited GPRS data. Yeah, that's right. Last month I transferred 130MB of data.
Oh, yeah, of course, and I can roam onto any GSM/GPRS network in my country (there are three major ones) and not pay roaming. And, of course, I can also switch to a different phone and keep my SIM card. Or switch to a different provider and keep my phone.
All for about $40 per month.
I paid nothing for the phone, but I had to sign up for a year.
Any guesses where I live? It's the country with the first EDGE service. It's also the country with the most GSM towers.
It's the USA.
Yes, but:
The sender pays for a local call (free from a landline, uses plan minutes from a cellphone) and the reciever pays with plan minutes. I have 1000 anytime minutes (that's over 10 hours a month) + unlimited minutes 9PM-6AM, as well as no roaming and long distance. I NEVER exceed my plan and NEVER worry about my minutes.
T-Mobile and AT&T just signed a roaming agreement, which greatly improves GSM coverage throughout the US.
It's still not good enough, but it's getting there. Look at Verizon CDMA if you want great coverage.
The problem is not so much the carriers as GSM. GSM has a 16 kilomiter HARD cell size limit. It is impossible to use a GSM phone more than 16km from the tower (it's called slot delay) even if you can get signal. CDMA cells can be two or three times bigger.
Covering the entire US (remember, Western Europe + Korea + Japan + Vietnam + Laos would all fit into the US with room to spare) with 16km cells is a challenge. In Europe, one GSM cell could cover several hundred times more people than a single GSM cell in the rural US. In Europe, there is no such thing as a nearly uninhabited 400x300 mile landmass (Wyoming).
"It is pretty embarrassing to be technologically inferior to third-world countries like Cambodia!"
Technology does not equal coverage. From that point of veiw, we are actually superior, as we developed CDMA to combat the cell-size and capacity problems with GSM.
Look at Legend of Zelda: Wind Walker. It came with a free disc containing an N64 emulator that runs on the 'Cube and a copy of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
"It might be due similar reasons why the Mobile Phone systems in Europe and Japan are so much better than in North America."
Oh, right. You mean that you have SIM cards. Well, so do we. Or maybe you meant that you use GSM? We have that too - three major providers who all have roaming agreements. Or maybe that you have GPRS? We have that too. T-Mobile charges $29 over here for unlimited nationwide GPRS.
So, we have 3G CDMA, GSM, GPRS, interoperable SMS. Why is the European system so much better?
AT&T Wireless offers a similar service in the US that can locate you on a cell-level.
Windows (since 2000) allows you to run any process with elevated permissions (as another user).
Windows XP allows you to have multiple users logged on at once, switching back and forth in a few seconds.
Yes, but you need an ISP for that DSL line, which can be $1000 to $2000 depending on how much data transfer you want.
There are low power x86 processors. The Opteron, for example, draws around 55W for the high-end model. The Athlons aren't so bad either - around 65W depending on the model. P4 ranges from 60 to 100W, also depending on model.
Remember, electricity is pennies a KWh. Now, there are cooling considerations too, but even those are managable. In general, the highest operating expense of a company is not cooling or electricity but other factors like the facility, staff, or bandwidth.
Around here (Colorado), electricity is seven cents a kilowatt hour. Say a P4 @ 90W does the same work as a G5 @ 30W. That's a savings of 60W. Imagine the computer is on 10 hours a day, five days a week. That's a savings of 3000Whr (3KWh) or 21 cents a week. You save a total of $10.92 per year. Or, say the computers are on 24/7. That's a total of $36.69 per year.
Say an HP XW4100 system (P4 3.2CGhz) system does the same work in a CAD app as a dual 1.6GHz G5 system (remember, most CAD apps are not dual-processor optimized). The XW4100 is around $1500; the "low-end" G5 is $2000. At $36.69 per year (running 24/7), the G5 will pay for itself in 13.62 years.
from ~2.5 to ~0.7 $/ per MB!
That is quite cheap compared to Europe, but over here in the US it's $29 for unlimited GPRS, or $20 with any voice plan (T-Mobile). Sprint also offers unlimited 3G data service (well, 144Kbps) for about $50 per month (you get 500 voice minutes and unlim weekend/long distance/roaming included, though).
1024/320 = 495EEK = 38$
I'm with Comcast and I pay about $55 per month for 2048/256K cable service. It's only $42 if you subscribe to cable TV (I have satellite).
64/32 = 149EEK = 11$ = 10
That's quite nice. I wish there were a cheaper cable/DSL plan here in the US - everyone wants $40 per month or more and they only offer 640K and up.
"All of my friends have internet access. Only one of them has dialup."
All of my friends are on Comcast. I hate the company but love the service. I don't feel bad downloading insane amounts of data (usually 90+ gigabytes a month).
Except the Itanium 2. Madison eats everything else for breakfast in FP.
Welcome to .NET - I know I'll be flamed, but this is what Microsoft's new technology is about: bringing Java-like security to every application (Microsoft calls it "Managed" code).