You keep referring to the CDC in this and other child posts - to back your claims. I'm in extremely strong opposition to your view on both the danger of the MMR vs the diseases it protects us from, as well as the autism claims. Let me call out a few which may be of interest;
From the CDC page entitled "Top 4 Things Parents Need to Know about Measles" http://www.cdc.gov/measles/abo...
- About 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who get measles will be hospitalized
- 1 out of every 1,000 people with measles will develop brain swelling, which could lead to brain damage
- 1 or 2 out of 1,000 people with measles will die, even with the best care
From the CDC page entitled "Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism" http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafe...
- well, suffice to say they have a different world-view to yourself
Please feel free to reply to this post with peer-reviewed medical evidence which articulates why countries where immunisation is low or non-existent are in less danger than those who have a high immunisation level, or alternately cite your source on the autism to MMR link.
We read those two numbers clear as day, but we are not allowed to look at vaccines as a possible cause? Are you kidding me?
If you're so willing to disregard the study linked in the topic which clearly addresses exactly that point comprehensively, and categorically denies it i know, RFTA, how gauche) then I assume you have an empirical model you can clearly articulate which shows the link? Or is it correlation == causation, facts be damned?
I have to chime in and recommend EVE University as the first corp to join once you've done your tutorial, had a quick putter around and are ready to really learn how to play the game.
I have no affiliation with the corp, but know more than a few people The corp is 100% player run by experienced players who teach everything from PVP skills, ship fittings, industry, mining, missions, working as a team, etc. Their core purpose is to help noobs get in and up to speed, and will give you a huge leg up. I now fly with in 0.0 who have been in the corp, and have nothing but positives to say about them.
Another option if PVP is your thing is to get into a Faction Warfare NPC corp, get some cheap disposable fully insured frigates or cruisers, join some gangs and learn. Go onto BattleClinic forums and read up on the "cheapfleet challenges" for some VERY cheap solid PVP fitouts. You will pop, multiple times - but every lost ship is another "ah, so if I had" or "i see what they did there" that builds your knowledge, and being around a FC and gang who know what they are doing is an excellent springboard.
From a personal perspective, I started as a miner in a mining corp about 4 1/2 years ago, and got so disenchanted I quit the game (and the lesson there is don't join the first group who invites you!). 2 1/2 years later, I came back to check out the new graphics (released a little over 1 year ago), bumped into some Aussies who took me for a spin in low-sec space for some PVP fun, and worked out what I REALLY wanted to be doing in game. Now live in 0.0, participate in PVP from solo through to 500v500 fleets, dabble in industry to keep some isk rolling in and to provide cheap goodies for myself and my corpmates, and enjoying my play time immensely. Sure the action isn't constant like a FPS - but I find PVP with real consequence (you die and the ship is gone - rather than just "meh, I die I'll just respawn and my gear comes back") gives you a real rush.
As a counterpoint to this - I love my MythTV, and learned Linux building my original one 4 years ago; but it is a family device sitting in the lounge room, so it has to appeal to the rest of the family. My brother in law runs Windows MCE and the "bling" factor is a real drawcard. If it wasn't for auto-ad skipping and overlapping recording on the same card for the same channel working so well in MythTV (and being non-existant in Windows MCE), I would have lost the argument ages ago. Getting a shinier interface will just bolster the competitiveness of MythTV.
As for alternative configuration options, MythWeb has some nifty configuration features available - after the initial scan in setup, I do all my channel configuration and key setup there. I also find a remote X session to a laptop makes configuration a breeze - nothing worse than plugging a keyboard into the PC sitting under your TV and working on a 42" screen from 4 feet away:-)
I had it communicated to me succinctly as "keeping your inner geek on a leash" - able to keep it in check when with the suits, but able to unleash it when required.
How about something more fundamental, and doesn't need any extra layers by the end user - public/private encryption and one way hashes of the PIN?
PIN in the clear = breach waiting to happen.
As per a note I posted previously in this topic, the PSP can be an eBook (TXT and PDF) reader if you don't mind swapping the firmware over. Agree 100% that it should have been out-of-the-box enabled though!
My PSP *is* my eBook reader and I swear by it. Of course, I had to go off the reservation and mod the firmware, but with bookr installed (search google for bookr-0.7.1-fw15.zip if you have a slim), the unit is perfect as a PDF and TXT book reader. Combine this with being a gaming rig and being able to watch (converted) movies and listen to MP3's - the PSP is the ultimate train commuters tool. Shame it didn't come out of the box like that though!
This comment is spot on - see also EVE Online releasing Trinity late last year (yes, the boot.ini release....) - new graphics engine, swathe of tweaks and changes, but the same underlying game. Launching a new game which resets everyone to 0 might be good to attract new blood, but when you have a successful game already you will disenfranchise the existing players who have put in the hard work to get to where they are, and won't want to start again from 0.... and they are your proven bread and butter.
Not always the case - but I'm guessing the country/jurisdiction/workload play a major part. Before we begin, this occured in Melbourne, Australia (my home digs). A week ago I intervened in a road rage incident on my way home from work - I saw a bloke standing at the window of a car, punching through the window. Ran over, yelled at the guy to stop and talked him down out of the "red haze" (and kept him at the scene) until the cops turned up and took over. I've since been called in for a formal statement, and have been told I'll be called in as a witness for the trial and/or sentencing depending on the outcome.
We are not talking a shooting, murder, etc, but a (very low speed/minor) traffic accident and a road rage/assault type situation, and the officer in charge of the investigation spent two hours with me taking a sworn statement, and I would guess there would have been half a dozen additional witnesses not including the two directly involved in the incident. Now we aren't talking tv-drama CSI level investigation, but lets face facts - the CSI shows (especially the spinoff versions) are the crime/drama version of star-trek when it comes to invent-a-tech solutions (I'll see you a reversed tacheon flux, and raise you a numberplate read off the reflection of someone's eyeball in a low-res security camera photo after it has been 'image enhanced').
In Australia, I've been using reliably for over 2 years (it has been around longer) the OztivoTV Guide data, which is community created, supported and maintained. It was originally set up by a group of people who imported Tivo devices to Australia, where there is no Tivo data available. This data has been extended so there are now Mythtv and MCE scripts to allow access to the data. I've found the data to be better than some of the Aussie pay-services, purely because the guys who maintain the data are using it as well, so have a vested interest in making it as useful as possible. This service supports TV across all the states and regional centers in Australia, as well as the cable and satellite channels.
I'm guessing it's down to a need - in the US, there has not been a need for this kind of community data source, as Zap2It has been a free source. Now that it's gone, I'd be guessing there will be multiple US community based solutions springing up within weeks, and within 6-12 months most will fall away or aggrigate, leaving one or two that everyone uses.
Check out the ozTivo group. Depending on the Tivo model you have, you might still be in luck. And if you don't have the right model but someone else you know state-side does, you might want to organise a swap before you come over here:-).
... and even with 1000 hours, you never would have - in an unmodified version of the game. The "hot coffee" content is not accessable from the game without a patch to enable access to it. So although the code was in the game, it was not available - effectively a private function() with no calls to it. Thus, the "hot coffee mod" was born to re-enable the links into the game to make the content available. A great writeup of the hot coffee mod and contoversy surrounding it can be found at the wikipedia.
That is the important differentiation - ensuring people with a critical need to contact you call rather than email. Unfortunately there is a prevailing assumption that if someone is packing a blackberry, an email = an instant notification and they are aware. As soon as you break that preconception, the device becomes a truly useful piece of kit - being called with a critical issue, and the person being able to say "I've just sent you an email with the details" makes life significantly easier.
At a previous job, I had a pro-forma email I'd send out about every 6 months to remind people of the paths of communication, their optimal uses and expected responsiveness. The general gist was email --> IM --> text message --> call --> in person. If you need someone but its not important, start at the left. If it is critical, start at the right. Follow up with slower technologies to keep record of important points or clarify details once engaged. And use your judgement to escalate - the excuse "i IM'ed you about the server room being on fire" doesn't hold water!
Although that logically makes sense, I'm not sure how 100 hours of gameplay is any different to a video of gameplay - as long as all functional areas of the game are shown. This bill is calling to play through the games - not just a representative section.
The real issue is that no matter how much gameplay occurs (1, 100 or n-1 hours) issues such as the "hot coffee mod" where the player had to download a patch to get access to the content, and there was absolutely NO way of accessing the content without the patch. And MMORPGs etc where content is both added or generated by the users - absolutely impossible, as the landscape is continuously changing. Classic example of that is second life (although many would argue it's not a game) - there is some seriously nasty stuff in there, but its all user generated, and none of it was in the initial build deployed by linden labs.
I see this as a way of adding complexity to the process and address the WSTOTC angle (Won't Somebody Think Of The Children!) without actually adressing any of the (already quite well addressed and managed IMHO) problems - classic politicking.
It's also possible that the root servers were just a test target, that once they're ready, they'll go after their *real* target.
To extend that thought a little bit - being able to show potential clients that your botnet has taken down the DOD and ICANN DNS servers would be a real sweet selling proposition....
In regards to CRM - I've been using sugarCRM for about 6 months and its been rock solid, with pretty much everything I need to run a quickly growing business. Nice and robust, good forums of users willing to help, and a number of hosters offer it as a one-click include. I found it via the magic google query of ["open source" crm] - just like I found the reporting tool (jasperReports) via ["open source" reporting].
I only ever search through sourceforge, freshmeat etc when I have a name of software that I am specifically searching for - otherwise I find you end up wading through 100's of apps that are abandoned, alpha, etc. I do believe those sites serve a useful purpose, just not as the first point to search.
Ah yeah - score me "-1 Cant parse english". Still, hack xs4all and get system admin privs and individual user accounts are effectively yours. And it then comes down to if you share the hack info with xs4all or not.
I'm a bit concerned about that - basically anyone can hack away, safe in the knowledge that they can claim "I am within the rights of the 4.3 clause!" - until they manage to get administrator access. Once there, the decision can be made to either reveal the details and score 6 months free access.... but what if using the access for malicious purposes is worth more financially?
Additionally, does this extend to allow attack techniques such as DOS/man in the middle/ARP poisoning style attacks? Because they can ruin your day even if unsuccessful.
Marketing is all about positive publicity and MS recognizes that their bread and butter is evolving into the large, medium, and small corporate entities that are locked into their OS and apps...not the everyday home end user.
I think it goes a little deeper than that - as another reply points out, they are spending buckets of cash on heart-and-minds right now (anyone else notice the slew of Vista ads on slashdot?). I believe they recognise people prefer to use a single system across all their computing, and if they can get Vista in homes, there will be more pressure for it to be running in the office.
Additionally, corperate users are generally slower adopters (or at least should be!) - validation of existing software on new plaftorms, cost/benefit analysis, beta testing etc. And most corp IT shops have learned to wait for SP1 before giving software a good shake anyway. So for now the majority of Vista uptake will be home users. In 3-6 months, the corps will start coming online with their purchases and the balance will swing.
I've been noticing a strange trend that mirrors this - I'm getting about 20% of visitors to my web page are click-throughs from google with people searching for my domain name - both with and without the.com.au extension. I don't know the rationalle, but I do know that you want to make damn sure your domain name rates highly with the search engine!
Queue thousands of "640k is enough for anyone" and "I remember when my IBM XT had a 10 MEGABYTE hard disk" rejoinders....:-)
Seriously though, a mobile with 20Gb of storage - potentially the phone can continue its trend to replace every pocket-based device under the sun. Obviously it would replace the ubiquitous USB stick, but could then compete as an integrated iPod style device, have enough storage to be a graphical GPS/google earth (yum), digital camera, etc. I already run a truecrypt'ed 1Gb usb stick as a permanent pocket filler, and find I could use more storage space but can't be bothered carrying an external 2.5" USB HDD. This would be perfect integrated with my phone, for this reason alone.
Unfortunately eBay has 2 features that make shill bidding a very usable strategy - bid retraction and second chance offer.
Bid retraction is the more obvious method (and completely insane from the perspective of an auction system - imagine a house auction if it got down to the "going once, going twice" stage and the highest bidder suddenly said "oops my bad, I don't really want to pay that much"). Now that they know the max bid the item has on it, they bid up to $1 below that amount.
Second chance offer allows you to sell an additional item of the same specification to the second highest bidder at their maximum price - and pay an additional fee to eBay. Say I've got an item that is sitting at $50 and I use a shill to bump it up to $75 (and end up winning the auction), the eBay fees for 2x sales is more than offset by the $24 additional I've scammed out of the second highest bid (at $74). As an added advantage, I get 2x feedback for the item, helping make me look even better for future sellers.......
Bluetooth might be designed as a short range communications protocol, but that doesn't mean it can't be used over longer distances..... Very similar to the pringles directional antenna boost people use to hook into 802.11 networks from afar.
Slashdot Mirror
You keep referring to the CDC in this and other child posts - to back your claims. I'm in extremely strong opposition to your view on both the danger of the MMR vs the diseases it protects us from, as well as the autism claims. Let me call out a few which may be of interest;
From the CDC page entitled "Top 4 Things Parents Need to Know about Measles" http://www.cdc.gov/measles/abo...
- About 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who get measles will be hospitalized
- 1 out of every 1,000 people with measles will develop brain swelling, which could lead to brain damage
- 1 or 2 out of 1,000 people with measles will die, even with the best care
From the CDC page entitled "Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism" http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafe...
- well, suffice to say they have a different world-view to yourself
Please feel free to reply to this post with peer-reviewed medical evidence which articulates why countries where immunisation is low or non-existent are in less danger than those who have a high immunisation level, or alternately cite your source on the autism to MMR link.
We read those two numbers clear as day, but we are not allowed to look at vaccines as a possible cause? Are you kidding me?
If you're so willing to disregard the study linked in the topic which clearly addresses exactly that point comprehensively, and categorically denies it i know, RFTA, how gauche) then I assume you have an empirical model you can clearly articulate which shows the link? Or is it correlation == causation, facts be damned?
Might want to update your metadata on that page....
<META name="Keywords" content="humor, humour, click the president, click, w, george w bush, bush, w. george, president">
I have to chime in and recommend EVE University as the first corp to join once you've done your tutorial, had a quick putter around and are ready to really learn how to play the game. I have no affiliation with the corp, but know more than a few people The corp is 100% player run by experienced players who teach everything from PVP skills, ship fittings, industry, mining, missions, working as a team, etc. Their core purpose is to help noobs get in and up to speed, and will give you a huge leg up. I now fly with in 0.0 who have been in the corp, and have nothing but positives to say about them.
Another option if PVP is your thing is to get into a Faction Warfare NPC corp, get some cheap disposable fully insured frigates or cruisers, join some gangs and learn. Go onto BattleClinic forums and read up on the "cheapfleet challenges" for some VERY cheap solid PVP fitouts. You will pop, multiple times - but every lost ship is another "ah, so if I had" or "i see what they did there" that builds your knowledge, and being around a FC and gang who know what they are doing is an excellent springboard.
From a personal perspective, I started as a miner in a mining corp about 4 1/2 years ago, and got so disenchanted I quit the game (and the lesson there is don't join the first group who invites you!). 2 1/2 years later, I came back to check out the new graphics (released a little over 1 year ago), bumped into some Aussies who took me for a spin in low-sec space for some PVP fun, and worked out what I REALLY wanted to be doing in game. Now live in 0.0, participate in PVP from solo through to 500v500 fleets, dabble in industry to keep some isk rolling in and to provide cheap goodies for myself and my corpmates, and enjoying my play time immensely. Sure the action isn't constant like a FPS - but I find PVP with real consequence (you die and the ship is gone - rather than just "meh, I die I'll just respawn and my gear comes back") gives you a real rush.
As a counterpoint to this - I love my MythTV, and learned Linux building my original one 4 years ago; but it is a family device sitting in the lounge room, so it has to appeal to the rest of the family. My brother in law runs Windows MCE and the "bling" factor is a real drawcard. If it wasn't for auto-ad skipping and overlapping recording on the same card for the same channel working so well in MythTV (and being non-existant in Windows MCE), I would have lost the argument ages ago. Getting a shinier interface will just bolster the competitiveness of MythTV. As for alternative configuration options, MythWeb has some nifty configuration features available - after the initial scan in setup, I do all my channel configuration and key setup there. I also find a remote X session to a laptop makes configuration a breeze - nothing worse than plugging a keyboard into the PC sitting under your TV and working on a 42" screen from 4 feet away :-)
I had it communicated to me succinctly as "keeping your inner geek on a leash" - able to keep it in check when with the suits, but able to unleash it when required.
How about something more fundamental, and doesn't need any extra layers by the end user - public/private encryption and one way hashes of the PIN? PIN in the clear = breach waiting to happen.
As per a note I posted previously in this topic, the PSP can be an eBook (TXT and PDF) reader if you don't mind swapping the firmware over. Agree 100% that it should have been out-of-the-box enabled though!
My PSP *is* my eBook reader and I swear by it. Of course, I had to go off the reservation and mod the firmware, but with bookr installed (search google for bookr-0.7.1-fw15.zip if you have a slim), the unit is perfect as a PDF and TXT book reader. Combine this with being a gaming rig and being able to watch (converted) movies and listen to MP3's - the PSP is the ultimate train commuters tool. Shame it didn't come out of the box like that though!
This comment is spot on - see also EVE Online releasing Trinity late last year (yes, the boot.ini release....) - new graphics engine, swathe of tweaks and changes, but the same underlying game. Launching a new game which resets everyone to 0 might be good to attract new blood, but when you have a successful game already you will disenfranchise the existing players who have put in the hard work to get to where they are, and won't want to start again from 0.... and they are your proven bread and butter.
Not always the case - but I'm guessing the country/jurisdiction/workload play a major part. Before we begin, this occured in Melbourne, Australia (my home digs). A week ago I intervened in a road rage incident on my way home from work - I saw a bloke standing at the window of a car, punching through the window. Ran over, yelled at the guy to stop and talked him down out of the "red haze" (and kept him at the scene) until the cops turned up and took over. I've since been called in for a formal statement, and have been told I'll be called in as a witness for the trial and/or sentencing depending on the outcome.
We are not talking a shooting, murder, etc, but a (very low speed/minor) traffic accident and a road rage/assault type situation, and the officer in charge of the investigation spent two hours with me taking a sworn statement, and I would guess there would have been half a dozen additional witnesses not including the two directly involved in the incident. Now we aren't talking tv-drama CSI level investigation, but lets face facts - the CSI shows (especially the spinoff versions) are the crime/drama version of star-trek when it comes to invent-a-tech solutions (I'll see you a reversed tacheon flux, and raise you a numberplate read off the reflection of someone's eyeball in a low-res security camera photo after it has been 'image enhanced').
In Australia, I've been using reliably for over 2 years (it has been around longer) the Oztivo TV Guide data, which is community created, supported and maintained. It was originally set up by a group of people who imported Tivo devices to Australia, where there is no Tivo data available. This data has been extended so there are now Mythtv and MCE scripts to allow access to the data. I've found the data to be better than some of the Aussie pay-services, purely because the guys who maintain the data are using it as well, so have a vested interest in making it as useful as possible. This service supports TV across all the states and regional centers in Australia, as well as the cable and satellite channels.
I'm guessing it's down to a need - in the US, there has not been a need for this kind of community data source, as Zap2It has been a free source. Now that it's gone, I'd be guessing there will be multiple US community based solutions springing up within weeks, and within 6-12 months most will fall away or aggrigate, leaving one or two that everyone uses.
Check out the ozTivo group. Depending on the Tivo model you have, you might still be in luck. And if you don't have the right model but someone else you know state-side does, you might want to organise a swap before you come over here :-).
Yes - plenty of people. It was quite intentional. Parker and Stone discuss it on the (IIRC) 5th Series DVD commentary.
... and even with 1000 hours, you never would have - in an unmodified version of the game. The "hot coffee" content is not accessable from the game without a patch to enable access to it. So although the code was in the game, it was not available - effectively a private function() with no calls to it. Thus, the "hot coffee mod" was born to re-enable the links into the game to make the content available. A great writeup of the hot coffee mod and contoversy surrounding it can be found at the wikipedia.
That is the important differentiation - ensuring people with a critical need to contact you call rather than email. Unfortunately there is a prevailing assumption that if someone is packing a blackberry, an email = an instant notification and they are aware. As soon as you break that preconception, the device becomes a truly useful piece of kit - being called with a critical issue, and the person being able to say "I've just sent you an email with the details" makes life significantly easier.
At a previous job, I had a pro-forma email I'd send out about every 6 months to remind people of the paths of communication, their optimal uses and expected responsiveness. The general gist was email --> IM --> text message --> call --> in person. If you need someone but its not important, start at the left. If it is critical, start at the right. Follow up with slower technologies to keep record of important points or clarify details once engaged. And use your judgement to escalate - the excuse "i IM'ed you about the server room being on fire" doesn't hold water!
Although that logically makes sense, I'm not sure how 100 hours of gameplay is any different to a video of gameplay - as long as all functional areas of the game are shown. This bill is calling to play through the games - not just a representative section. The real issue is that no matter how much gameplay occurs (1, 100 or n-1 hours) issues such as the "hot coffee mod" where the player had to download a patch to get access to the content, and there was absolutely NO way of accessing the content without the patch. And MMORPGs etc where content is both added or generated by the users - absolutely impossible, as the landscape is continuously changing. Classic example of that is second life (although many would argue it's not a game) - there is some seriously nasty stuff in there, but its all user generated, and none of it was in the initial build deployed by linden labs.
I see this as a way of adding complexity to the process and address the WSTOTC angle (Won't Somebody Think Of The Children!) without actually adressing any of the (already quite well addressed and managed IMHO) problems - classic politicking.
<offtopic> I love this quote from Sen. Brownback "I encourage everyone to visit our nation's capital, and please stop by my office on Thursdays for a visit and some hot coffee.". Why Senator, I didn't know you had the patch installed! </offtopic>
In regards to CRM - I've been using sugarCRM for about 6 months and its been rock solid, with pretty much everything I need to run a quickly growing business. Nice and robust, good forums of users willing to help, and a number of hosters offer it as a one-click include. I found it via the magic google query of ["open source" crm] - just like I found the reporting tool (jasperReports) via ["open source" reporting].
I only ever search through sourceforge, freshmeat etc when I have a name of software that I am specifically searching for - otherwise I find you end up wading through 100's of apps that are abandoned, alpha, etc. I do believe those sites serve a useful purpose, just not as the first point to search.
Ah yeah - score me "-1 Cant parse english". Still, hack xs4all and get system admin privs and individual user accounts are effectively yours. And it then comes down to if you share the hack info with xs4all or not.
I'm a bit concerned about that - basically anyone can hack away, safe in the knowledge that they can claim "I am within the rights of the 4.3 clause!" - until they manage to get administrator access. Once there, the decision can be made to either reveal the details and score 6 months free access.... but what if using the access for malicious purposes is worth more financially?
Additionally, does this extend to allow attack techniques such as DOS/man in the middle/ARP poisoning style attacks? Because they can ruin your day even if unsuccessful.
I think it goes a little deeper than that - as another reply points out, they are spending buckets of cash on heart-and-minds right now (anyone else notice the slew of Vista ads on slashdot?). I believe they recognise people prefer to use a single system across all their computing, and if they can get Vista in homes, there will be more pressure for it to be running in the office.
Additionally, corperate users are generally slower adopters (or at least should be!) - validation of existing software on new plaftorms, cost/benefit analysis, beta testing etc. And most corp IT shops have learned to wait for SP1 before giving software a good shake anyway. So for now the majority of Vista uptake will be home users. In 3-6 months, the corps will start coming online with their purchases and the balance will swing.
I've been noticing a strange trend that mirrors this - I'm getting about 20% of visitors to my web page are click-throughs from google with people searching for my domain name - both with and without the .com.au extension. I don't know the rationalle, but I do know that you want to make damn sure your domain name rates highly with the search engine!
Queue thousands of "640k is enough for anyone" and "I remember when my IBM XT had a 10 MEGABYTE hard disk" rejoinders.... :-)
Seriously though, a mobile with 20Gb of storage - potentially the phone can continue its trend to replace every pocket-based device under the sun. Obviously it would replace the ubiquitous USB stick, but could then compete as an integrated iPod style device, have enough storage to be a graphical GPS/google earth (yum), digital camera, etc. I already run a truecrypt'ed 1Gb usb stick as a permanent pocket filler, and find I could use more storage space but can't be bothered carrying an external 2.5" USB HDD. This would be perfect integrated with my phone, for this reason alone.
Unfortunately eBay has 2 features that make shill bidding a very usable strategy - bid retraction and second chance offer.
Bid retraction is the more obvious method (and completely insane from the perspective of an auction system - imagine a house auction if it got down to the "going once, going twice" stage and the highest bidder suddenly said "oops my bad, I don't really want to pay that much"). Now that they know the max bid the item has on it, they bid up to $1 below that amount.
Second chance offer allows you to sell an additional item of the same specification to the second highest bidder at their maximum price - and pay an additional fee to eBay. Say I've got an item that is sitting at $50 and I use a shill to bump it up to $75 (and end up winning the auction), the eBay fees for 2x sales is more than offset by the $24 additional I've scammed out of the second highest bid (at $74). As an added advantage, I get 2x feedback for the item, helping make me look even better for future sellers.......
Bluetooth might be designed as a short range communications protocol, but that doesn't mean it can't be used over longer distances..... Very similar to the pringles directional antenna boost people use to hook into 802.11 networks from afar.