No, that's the way business works when they don't have a monopoly or anti-competitive oligopoly.
When there's adequate competition and businesses need to win customers over by product and service quality, then yes, they can do a whatever they want to maximize profits, because any steps they take towards such ends are offset by the pressure of competition. One business gets too greedy, another one will swoop in and eat their lunch.
Monopolies (and oligopolies) are supposed to play by different rules. They have no competitive pressure to prevent them from becoming abusive towards their own customers, so they need regulatory pressure. But in the good ol' US of A, when businesses become big enough, they just get rid of those pesky regulations by buying off politicians and regulators through legalized bribery and revolving door jobs. They're free to bend their own customers over a barrel and there's fuck-all you can do about it.
But, hey, that's just the way business works, right?
Or perhaps dip into that $200 billion of public money they received over a decade ago to build that nation-wide fiber network that still doesn't exist.
Hmm, now that I've read through some more information and other comments, it seems that what I described is pretty close to what's actually happening. This only affects crowdfunded projects with an "investor tier" and life goes on otherwise.
Wow, how about that? Government making sensible regulatory changes and not stomping on the little guy... I gotta mark this day on the calendar.
There is one good thing that can come of this, which is that crowd funding can accept actual investors if regulated under the SEC. That means you get more than just a copy of the product or some silly vanity gig with the producer -- you have the opportunity to share in the profits, which is something that the likes of Kickstarter and IndieGoGo aren't legally allowed to offer at the moment.
However, subjecting *all* pitches to oversight, including dinky $500 projects and anything without the "investor tier", is asinine, overreaching and ruinous.
Really, there should be two obvious exceptions: the SEC should only be regulating crowdfunding if a project goal and per-sale cost exceeds a very high floor; or if it offers an "investor tier" for a share in the profits. Everything else is basically just buying and selling products on spec and none of the SEC's business.
I've thought about doing something like this. I'm sure something could be rigged up with a few Raspberry Pis along with sufficient tinkering and script fu.
Setup a number of them with camera modules and wifi adapters. Each camera Pi has a cron job to take pictures as frequently as you want and uploads them to a "master" Pi that acts as a web server for remote access and uploading to a remote server outside your home (in case it's stolen, you have captures to potentially identify burglars)
I know I've seen motion detection utilities available for Linux. Set a cron job to switch on motion detection and alerts overnight. The server Pi could run apache to host a secured, web-based control and viewing system (there's your remote access). This can easily include controls for configuring any part of the system, ie.: toggling motion detection.
Find out your cell phone carrier's SMS email gateway (they all have one) and have it send you a text when it detects motion that breaches your configured threshold.
No, it doesn't have home integration or break-in detection. Maybe there's something that could be done with the Pi's GPIO, but I have no idea.
Anyway... state of the art / DIY & cheap / easy setup. Pick two.
Yeah, but *those* violations don't give them the opportunity to puff up their feathers and act all sanctimonious in the public eye to prove their dedication to their bearded sky friend.
This freebie is an absolute gem. It can synchronize your Android device (calendar, notes, to do list, contacts/calls/texts if applicable) with its own built-in PIM software, Outlook or Thunderbird/Lightning via USB/ADB, wifi or Bluetooth. It includes a notes and to do list app.
I've only used it with phones, but I can't see any reason it shouldn't work on a tablet.
Uh, yeah, I'm gonna need some proof on that. Everything I've read about US prisons have indicated that they're a barbaric hell of inhumanity and sadism. Given the current political and legal climate, that's what I'm inclined to believe until evidenced otherwise.
How many samples of each model did you test? Did you purchase them from different vendors to increase the odds of serial randomness? Was the failure rate consistent for across the same models?
If you want to introduce them to games, use board games. At least that requires some imagination, strategy and actual thought process.
I bought Robot Turtles for my niece. It claims to teach the fundamental thought constructs for programming, which may be true, but really, it's just basic logic, critical thinking and forethought in general -- important life skills that everyone should be taught from a young age.
My sister is a rarity these days -- she is a stay at home mom of two kids, her husband earns a modest salary and they are careful budgeters. She spends a ton time with her kids and loves it. She teaches them to be independent and play on their own with real toys and outdoor activities. Screen time is extremely limited.
Do you really need to be introducing them to anything video game or computer related? They'll discover them on their own soon enough.
You're extrapolating the principle to an extreme and incomparable context.
Let me lay it out for you:
1) Helicopter parents become extremely restrictive and surveillant of their childrens' activities because of irrational fears provoked and perpetuated by a shock-based, fear-is-gold media and equally fear-mongering politicians.
2) People, especially children and teens, need socialization to function properly in society. That much we know. And they want it. And they will find it any way they can.
3) With no other options, they turn to social media and spend time there that they would otherwise spend mostly on actual socialization (which involves face-to-face interactions with tone, inflection, body language and all that important stuff that social media lacks or can only convey in a very rudimentary manner)
So, ask yourself again... who bears the majority of the blame here?
...and then realize that the "other side" that America unwaveringly accepted was an absolutely evil, freedom-hating actor is now responsible for securing the freedom of someone who exposed America's absolutely evil, freedom-hating actions.
Preventing the need to open up devices to swap a SIM could be easily resolved by using a simple spring-loaded insert/eject slot for SIM cards (the same way most SD card slots work). That this is because of the "Internet of Things" is a cover story, and a weak one. What's more of a hassle? Spending 30 seconds to swap SIM cards or spending 30 minutes on hold before mentally parsing the unintelligible engrish of a slave-wage phone drone?
This is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. The only "problem" this solves is enabling the carriers to revert to the abusive and restrictive CDMA model.
When I rent a movie from the local rental place (yeah, we actually still have one), they can't come to my house and take it back whenever they damn-well please, much less within the specified rental period.
Disney et al, on the other hand, can revoke any privileges you've already paid for because of the one-sided, bullshit clickwrap "agreements" that you "accepted" when you signed up for the service.
Slashdot Mirror
That's the way business works.
No, that's the way business works when they don't have a monopoly or anti-competitive oligopoly.
When there's adequate competition and businesses need to win customers over by product and service quality, then yes, they can do a whatever they want to maximize profits, because any steps they take towards such ends are offset by the pressure of competition. One business gets too greedy, another one will swoop in and eat their lunch.
Monopolies (and oligopolies) are supposed to play by different rules. They have no competitive pressure to prevent them from becoming abusive towards their own customers, so they need regulatory pressure. But in the good ol' US of A, when businesses become big enough, they just get rid of those pesky regulations by buying off politicians and regulators through legalized bribery and revolving door jobs. They're free to bend their own customers over a barrel and there's fuck-all you can do about it.
But, hey, that's just the way business works, right?
Or perhaps dip into that $200 billion of public money they received over a decade ago to build that nation-wide fiber network that still doesn't exist.
Woah... using an analogy containing an analogy of an analogy to explain why analogies are flawed.
Yo dawg.
I'd rather have an even better improvement that no smart TV will ever trump: a dumb TV with a smart box.
This is a primarily US site. Most people here don't expect their cars to last that long.
I'm sorry, I can't accept any argument that lauds the US healthcare sys^h^h^h business as being worthy of comparison.
Hmm, now that I've read through some more information and other comments, it seems that what I described is pretty close to what's actually happening. This only affects crowdfunded projects with an "investor tier" and life goes on otherwise.
Wow, how about that? Government making sensible regulatory changes and not stomping on the little guy... I gotta mark this day on the calendar.
There is one good thing that can come of this, which is that crowd funding can accept actual investors if regulated under the SEC. That means you get more than just a copy of the product or some silly vanity gig with the producer -- you have the opportunity to share in the profits, which is something that the likes of Kickstarter and IndieGoGo aren't legally allowed to offer at the moment.
However, subjecting *all* pitches to oversight, including dinky $500 projects and anything without the "investor tier", is asinine, overreaching and ruinous.
Really, there should be two obvious exceptions: the SEC should only be regulating crowdfunding if a project goal and per-sale cost exceeds a very high floor; or if it offers an "investor tier" for a share in the profits. Everything else is basically just buying and selling products on spec and none of the SEC's business.
I've thought about doing something like this. I'm sure something could be rigged up with a few Raspberry Pis along with sufficient tinkering and script fu.
Setup a number of them with camera modules and wifi adapters. Each camera Pi has a cron job to take pictures as frequently as you want and uploads them to a "master" Pi that acts as a web server for remote access and uploading to a remote server outside your home (in case it's stolen, you have captures to potentially identify burglars)
I know I've seen motion detection utilities available for Linux. Set a cron job to switch on motion detection and alerts overnight. The server Pi could run apache to host a secured, web-based control and viewing system (there's your remote access). This can easily include controls for configuring any part of the system, ie.: toggling motion detection.
Find out your cell phone carrier's SMS email gateway (they all have one) and have it send you a text when it detects motion that breaches your configured threshold.
No, it doesn't have home integration or break-in detection. Maybe there's something that could be done with the Pi's GPIO, but I have no idea.
Anyway ... state of the art / DIY & cheap / easy setup. Pick two.
I think *this* April would be equally appropriate.
Yeah, but *those* violations don't give them the opportunity to puff up their feathers and act all sanctimonious in the public eye to prove their dedication to their bearded sky friend.
OK, so it means it was less of a pain to fight his dirt bag ISP than to switch to the one that is inherently shitty.
Yes, that's how shitty wireless ISPs are.
This freebie is an absolute gem. It can synchronize your Android device (calendar, notes, to do list, contacts/calls/texts if applicable) with its own built-in PIM software, Outlook or Thunderbird/Lightning via USB/ADB, wifi or Bluetooth. It includes a notes and to do list app.
I've only used it with phones, but I can't see any reason it shouldn't work on a tablet.
http://www.fjsoft.at/
Uh, yeah, I'm gonna need some proof on that. Everything I've read about US prisons have indicated that they're a barbaric hell of inhumanity and sadism. Given the current political and legal climate, that's what I'm inclined to believe until evidenced otherwise.
How many samples of each model did you test? Did you purchase them from different vendors to increase the odds of serial randomness? Was the failure rate consistent for across the same models?
If you want to introduce them to games, use board games. At least that requires some imagination, strategy and actual thought process.
I bought Robot Turtles for my niece. It claims to teach the fundamental thought constructs for programming, which may be true, but really, it's just basic logic, critical thinking and forethought in general -- important life skills that everyone should be taught from a young age.
My sister is a rarity these days -- she is a stay at home mom of two kids, her husband earns a modest salary and they are careful budgeters. She spends a ton time with her kids and loves it. She teaches them to be independent and play on their own with real toys and outdoor activities. Screen time is extremely limited.
Do you really need to be introducing them to anything video game or computer related? They'll discover them on their own soon enough.
You're extrapolating the principle to an extreme and incomparable context.
Let me lay it out for you:
1) Helicopter parents become extremely restrictive and surveillant of their childrens' activities because of irrational fears provoked and perpetuated by a shock-based, fear-is-gold media and equally fear-mongering politicians.
2) People, especially children and teens, need socialization to function properly in society. That much we know. And they want it. And they will find it any way they can.
3) With no other options, they turn to social media and spend time there that they would otherwise spend mostly on actual socialization (which involves face-to-face interactions with tone, inflection, body language and all that important stuff that social media lacks or can only convey in a very rudimentary manner)
So, ask yourself again... who bears the majority of the blame here?
We finally have a new picture of him.
Wolves vote to keep eating sheep for dinner.
...and then realize that the "other side" that America unwaveringly accepted was an absolutely evil, freedom-hating actor is now responsible for securing the freedom of someone who exposed America's absolutely evil, freedom-hating actions.
How times have changed.
Preventing the need to open up devices to swap a SIM could be easily resolved by using a simple spring-loaded insert/eject slot for SIM cards (the same way most SD card slots work). That this is because of the "Internet of Things" is a cover story, and a weak one. What's more of a hassle? Spending 30 seconds to swap SIM cards or spending 30 minutes on hold before mentally parsing the unintelligible engrish of a slave-wage phone drone?
This is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. The only "problem" this solves is enabling the carriers to revert to the abusive and restrictive CDMA model.
It's called a Milgram Experiment
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
That's not DRM being abused, that's DRM being used for exactly the purpose it was designed.
Soap and water is so effective at removing bacteria that adding a microbial agent to the soap has no benefit
Nonsense, it's of excellent benefit to many marketing departments.
No, you don't rent it either.
When I rent a movie from the local rental place (yeah, we actually still have one), they can't come to my house and take it back whenever they damn-well please, much less within the specified rental period.
Disney et al, on the other hand, can revoke any privileges you've already paid for because of the one-sided, bullshit clickwrap "agreements" that you "accepted" when you signed up for the service.
This is not a rental, this is ... shit.