Seriously, if you're going to sell sex, create your own currency that you can later exchange for real currency. Yakuza owned pachinko parlors in Japan have been doing this for a long time. You win "prizes" at the pachinko parlor (stuffed animals, etc...), then leave with the prizes, and go to a building a few blocks down where some friendly folks will "buy" your prizes, where each prize has a set exchange rate. These folks then "sell" the "prizes" back to the parlor.
Everybody wins, no laws are actually "broken", it's simply an exchange of good of perceived equal value.
It really makes me wonder if Amazon could fight this via something like the Americans with Disabilities Act. After all, should publishers get an extra kick-back just because a third party helps someone else to read a book they've already paid for?
Keep in mind that there are very distinct differences between text-to-speeching an actual book versus listening to an audio book. For example, can you specify an audio book to only play back a particular sentence from a particular paragraph on a particular page? Also, how does an audio book allow you to see content like photos or diagrams?
In short, it's very unlikely that anyone using this text-to-speech feature has any plans to buy an audio-book anyway. The only thing this text-to-speech function does is provide added value to a publishers end product.
Much like many computer keyboards, gaming controllers tend to be extremely unsanitary to handle... perhaps even more so because the user constantly rubs against the controller while gripping it tightly, resulting in a large amounts of skin flakes and sweat getting into these devices.
It's possible that such sores aren't exclusively caused simply by gripping a game controller over an extended amount of time, but that the left over crud from previous uses is being forced into the skin, setting the stage for infection and other nastiness.
So, if you're finding your game controllers are covered in a film of grey-to-black gunk that flakes off like scratching off an instant lottery ticket, it might be time to clean that thing.
I'm not suggesting it isn't real. I used to get failing grades in high school all the time until I was placed on a beta blocker as a preventative measure for a genetic condition I have. Finished out my junior and senior years as a straight A student.
I'm somewhat surprised that a company like this would be so quick to second guess such a policy change. Most americans would still continue to use it despite the privacy issues simply to avoid the hassle of either convincing their entire network of people also using the service to relocate elsewhere, or losing a majority of their most commonly used contacts over principles alone.
Too bad too... there's probably tons of money that could be made off such information had they stuck to their guns and simply waited out the brief backlash.
This is a topic that has popped up on Slashdot several times in the last year alone... a beta-blocker somehow altering mind function to improve concentration, increase cognitive abilities, recreational "doping" of the brain, etc...
It seems far more likely, that this isn't actually "removing" anything from the brain in terms of bad thoughts, but instead is making the brain better able to cope with a bad experience by improving it's ability to reason it's way through it using common sense and logic.
Likewise, it could also be argued that people who can't normally focus on a simple task at will often end up going off on wild tangents at random instead, and will ultimately go insane trying to consciously resolve whatever scenario pops up in their mind at any given moment, only to shift the workload over to resolve a completely separate scenario brought on by attempting to resolve the previous one. Since this accomplish nothing but large amounts repetitive thinking on the same overall theme, while generating no useful information or solutions, it's not surprising that someone locked in such a state would be depressed and believe themselves to be "traumatized".
I suppose a beta-blocker might help a case like this, but it seems like this is simply restating the obvious to make whichever drug company did this study seem more "profitable" through sensationalism.
At one point, newsgroups used to about as relevant we the web is now to most internet users up to the end of the 90s. Now, newsgroup servers are a barren wasteland of spam, porn and a few remnants of piracy before P2P file sharing became common-place. Most ISPs have all but abandoned newsgroups, treating such services as a lost cause.
Ten years later, the web is starting to look a lot like most newsgroups did shortly after the turn of the millennium. Many of the web-based communities powered by blogging or forum software are in a state of declining user, while at the same time, under constant attack from spam bots, turning many of these sites into ghost towns. Based on what happened to the newsgroups within the last decade, it's no surprise what fate will soon await the web.
That said, it's a bit ridiculous to say the internet itself is somehow "broken" or needs to be replaced. The internet will be fine. Our habits, on the other hand, need to change. Rather than relying upon a pack-rat mentality, where every user requires an ever increasing amount of publicly accessible storage, we need a system which intelligently weeds out redundant data, so only a few copies of the same image/video/audio/etc... exist on the internet and can be referenced by anyone using a local copy of that particular file as an "alias" until the system recognizes it as a duplicate upon uploading. This will reduce the amount of "net junk" floating around, making the entire network much more efficient.
(Likewise, this will probably be what finally leads us into the age of cloud computing, where p2p like functions are simply a normal function of the OS and networking software, as needed.)
I would think setting up a headless box within the US controlled via VNC for iTunes purchases by another machine running outside the region would be enough to get around this, assuming the out of region machine was also authorized with itunes ahead of time on the same account for playback. Then all you'd have to figure out is a method of transfer.
If your ISP has a fit about it, I hear pen drives are fairly easy to ship...
I've always wondered what was up with the center of Cadbury's cream eggs that makes them so addictive and yet so rare that they can only be harvested once per year...
It'll be interesting to see how they, in software, prevent modifications to the hardware needed to emit the "click" noise in question.
Maybe what they should do is have the phone spew out paper chaff similar to tasers every time a shot is taken. Just match the chaff to a phone, and suddenly you know where and who took a photo with their device.
This sounds like it might be similar Nickelodeon's ChalkZone series. (almost too similar, actually...)
I'm somewhat amazed and disappointed they never gave ChalkZone its own game though. Something in a vein similar to Drawn to Life, Magic Pengel or the upcoming Scribblenauts. (That honor went to Spongebob Squarepants, instead.)
It's too bad, since the show itself is basically a detailed manual for designing a very cool game concept. Crayon Physics definitely comes close to the idea, but would simply need to add a few elements of platform gaming to pull off a decent ChalkZone title, versus the current "Incredible Machine" approach. (Not that I don't love The Incredible Machine, of course!)
While there may be some truth to region locking on games being done for the sake of price discrimination, the situation is nowhere near as severe as it is for DVDs (at least, outside of the anime industry).
In a lot of cases though, there are legitimate reasons for region locking games. Mostly due to the additional work involved in localization. This includes not only translations of text and audio, but also making sure the context of these translations are both kosher within the cultural values of a particular region and make sense to the end consumer. This can include not only altering onscreen text or spoken words, but also body movement, scene layout and even background props. (This is a common issue when attempting to localize certain kinds of content between countries like the US and Japan, where context of words and actions are translated versus what's actually being said and done.)
The process of localization in this manner can often be time consuming and costly to do adequately. The quality of a title's localization efforts can mean the difference between the success or failure of the title itself within a given region.
It's not a huge stretch to suggest that mass importing of a foreign title could potentially prevent future out of region titles from being localized if that title's localized counterpart doesn't sell well. At best, a future title might still be localized, but at a far lower quality due to budget concerns.
Personally, I like my games to be localized at the best quality possible.
This type of testing is probably worthwhile for markets were dealing with the customer directly is vital for success. However, I think there's little to fear for those looking to work in the background with a strong portfolio backing them up.
Besides, who do you think is more likely to get laid off first in a corporate downsizing? The "people person"... aka the "middle man".
As long as you are personally vital to the success or failure of a project, your personality isn't really that important to the equation.
Should be interesting to see how this plays out with the MPAA and the television networks in regards to their content. I can't imagine this applying to anything else, except maybe live events like contact sports, where such a message must be stamped on the back of every audience members' hands before they are permitted to enter.
A much greater concern is that this exposes a serious flaw in the security of communication services we have all been taking advantage of for decades. There are simply too many individuals out there attempting to adopt new technologies into their homes who either aren't aware of the potential risks involved in using such equipment, or simply don't care.
If the individual users aren't willing to accept the consequences of haphazardly using technology capable of communicating over an external connection, without first educating themselves on how to prevent such problems (where possible), then the companies who provide these services will have no choice but to contractually demand that the user does not connect any hardware to their system that the provider don't completely control by themselves, such as how cable companies require a converter box of their own to use their television services.
It's really difficult to find middle ground on this issue that completely absolves the end user from responsibility when such things happen without sacrificing convenience in the process. The service was provided to a device the end user was supposed to be in control of... therefore the service was carried out as requested.
For that matter, the interface itself could be the line you want spoken, with a series of adjustable curve editors underneath for making minor real-time adjustments to the voice itself.
You know, it's surprises me that we haven't looked toward more analog methods of preserving a certain person's voice, aside from splicing and disassembling audio recordings.
For example, has there been any attempts to actually model the entire vocal system of a human (ie, a physical "mouth", "tongue" "nasal path", "trachea", "lungs", "diaphragm", etc) based on CT scans, then linking these elements to a computer in order to control them via a MIDI interface to form the various base phoneme ranges combined with pitch shifts?
If we could manage that much, it doesn't seem all that far fetched to attach a special text-to-MIDI application to make it speak words and lines with tweaking options to adjust the inflection of each word relative to the others.
Should be interesting to see how they handle that whole FTP and HTTP stuff next. After all, it's not like anything illegal hasn't ever been transferred this way as well.
After that, maybe they can start suing carrier pigeons. You know you can't trust *those* little bastards... just look at New York!
About how long have we been listening to the ravings of content publishers claiming financial losses as a result after-market resale of console games by companies like GameStop? Is it any wonder that they would want to force console owners to give up physical media in favor of a download-only distribution system? As it is, we're already seeing this creeping in with game content and features accessible only through a one-time voucher system.
Before long, our games are going to start becoming more like Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, where you effectively buy the game engine alone and download the content needed to completely use it after purchase. At some point, this, like the current voucher system, will become a one time only deal.
Eventually, users are going to get pissed off over this set-up. At which point, the content publishers will graciously offer to let a user simply download an entire game without any disc an unlimited number of times on any pre-authenticated system. Hell, they may even offer discounts to owners of more than one console looking to have LAN parties without each player having to provide a disc.
The entire time, completely oblivious to the fact that they've just made a "deal with the devil" in which they can never sell any part of their ever-growing collection of games. Hard-earned money, that once spent, can never be recovered again, even in the tiniest amount.
When the day comes where everything is download only, the very concept of trade that has sustained humanity for thousands of years will grind to a screeching halt. We'll happily buy ourselves into poverty only to learn decades later just how wrong we really were.
Normally, when someone mentions a touch interface for computers, most people instantly think of an incredibly clunky kiosk setup... a system with a normal display and touch sensors added only as an after-thought.
The problem, however, is that this type of interface doesn't lend itself well for lengthy interaction. Sure, there is a brief cool factor to devices like this, but that wears off quickly if the user is forced to deal with it for very long. Too much physical movement combined with awkward positioning puts a lot of strain on the body. Most users simply aren't going to put up with that, especially for hours on end.
What's needed here, is major form factor change, where a user's primary computer display is designed to be as portable and lightweight as a folder, and handled in the same manner as a book. This means a return to concepts like hand-writing recognition directly on the display, combined with new concepts like multi-touch set up in a way that allow immediate interaction with any onscreen object.
For example, items like the "desktop" presented to the user should vary in size automatically as per the user's needs, to prevent overlap onscreen, while at the same time, offering instance access to any content current available to the user without any interference what-so-ever, simply by touching it.
Next, everything onscreen should move as easily as sliding a piece of paper off to the side at any time... meaning at no point, should the interface presented to the user ever become "modal" in nature.
Finally, the most important factor is to make the user experience as physically comfortable as possible. This means we need to let go of our ties to the aging mouse/keyboard concept, as though the user will literally reach "into" the computer screen and begin physically handling all onscreen data. The user should have the impression that are in absolute and total control of everything they see, rather than being secondary to the application over what happens next.
Anything less will only be an exercise in futility and frustration.
Sadly, this probably wouldn't have stopped the drunken teen driver who literally drove into the oncoming lane of stopped traffic head on into my family's car a while back. (which left me with a broken neck and paralysis on the left side of my body...) But hey, I'm sure it would've at least ensured I'd be dead by preventing anyone else nearby from actually being able to call 911.
Yes, cellphone's are annoying... especially in the hands of those irresponsible enough not to obey the laws or observe social etiquette in using them. But this idea that we should have the right to jam a cellular signal just because we can do it is just trouble waiting to happen. As it is, we already have enough dead zones for the things... why add to them and further harm the usefulness of a potentially life-saving device?
You know what does make sense to me though? A car setup that can identify whether or not you're too drunk to drive and act in response it!
One problem I foresee, is that even if a large number of quality developers suddenly become able to unload iPhone/iPod Touch apps for over $10, the lower quality developers would suddenly rush in to increase their own prices. Once again, the market would return to being flooded with both good and bad quality apps, causing a slowdown in overall sales back to current rates, but at a higher minimum price point. The end result... the lower quality developers benefit more from the market's price increase, while higher quality developers end up reliving the same problem of diminished sales and recognition apart from the rest of the "me too!" crowd.
Didn't they do something like this on Fox's Fringe series as a plot device?
For anyone unfamiliar with the show, it's basically Fox's response to Eureka on the SciFi channel, only much, much darker and probably unlikely to last more than one season...
Slashdot Mirror
Finally, sailing ships can resolve their stowaway rat problems simply by strapping freakin' lasers to the sharks' heads!
Seriously, if you're going to sell sex, create your own currency that you can later exchange for real currency. Yakuza owned pachinko parlors in Japan have been doing this for a long time. You win "prizes" at the pachinko parlor (stuffed animals, etc...), then leave with the prizes, and go to a building a few blocks down where some friendly folks will "buy" your prizes, where each prize has a set exchange rate. These folks then "sell" the "prizes" back to the parlor.
Everybody wins, no laws are actually "broken", it's simply an exchange of good of perceived equal value.
... the display touches itself?
It really makes me wonder if Amazon could fight this via something like the Americans with Disabilities Act. After all, should publishers get an extra kick-back just because a third party helps someone else to read a book they've already paid for?
Keep in mind that there are very distinct differences between text-to-speeching an actual book versus listening to an audio book. For example, can you specify an audio book to only play back a particular sentence from a particular paragraph on a particular page? Also, how does an audio book allow you to see content like photos or diagrams?
In short, it's very unlikely that anyone using this text-to-speech feature has any plans to buy an audio-book anyway. The only thing this text-to-speech function does is provide added value to a publishers end product.
Much like many computer keyboards, gaming controllers tend to be extremely unsanitary to handle... perhaps even more so because the user constantly rubs against the controller while gripping it tightly, resulting in a large amounts of skin flakes and sweat getting into these devices.
It's possible that such sores aren't exclusively caused simply by gripping a game controller over an extended amount of time, but that the left over crud from previous uses is being forced into the skin, setting the stage for infection and other nastiness.
So, if you're finding your game controllers are covered in a film of grey-to-black gunk that flakes off like scratching off an instant lottery ticket, it might be time to clean that thing.
I'm not suggesting it isn't real. I used to get failing grades in high school all the time until I was placed on a beta blocker as a preventative measure for a genetic condition I have. Finished out my junior and senior years as a straight A student.
I'm somewhat surprised that a company like this would be so quick to second guess such a policy change. Most americans would still continue to use it despite the privacy issues simply to avoid the hassle of either convincing their entire network of people also using the service to relocate elsewhere, or losing a majority of their most commonly used contacts over principles alone.
Too bad too... there's probably tons of money that could be made off such information had they stuck to their guns and simply waited out the brief backlash.
This is a topic that has popped up on Slashdot several times in the last year alone... a beta-blocker somehow altering mind function to improve concentration, increase cognitive abilities, recreational "doping" of the brain, etc...
It seems far more likely, that this isn't actually "removing" anything from the brain in terms of bad thoughts, but instead is making the brain better able to cope with a bad experience by improving it's ability to reason it's way through it using common sense and logic.
Likewise, it could also be argued that people who can't normally focus on a simple task at will often end up going off on wild tangents at random instead, and will ultimately go insane trying to consciously resolve whatever scenario pops up in their mind at any given moment, only to shift the workload over to resolve a completely separate scenario brought on by attempting to resolve the previous one. Since this accomplish nothing but large amounts repetitive thinking on the same overall theme, while generating no useful information or solutions, it's not surprising that someone locked in such a state would be depressed and believe themselves to be "traumatized".
I suppose a beta-blocker might help a case like this, but it seems like this is simply restating the obvious to make whichever drug company did this study seem more "profitable" through sensationalism.
At one point, newsgroups used to about as relevant we the web is now to most internet users up to the end of the 90s. Now, newsgroup servers are a barren wasteland of spam, porn and a few remnants of piracy before P2P file sharing became common-place. Most ISPs have all but abandoned newsgroups, treating such services as a lost cause.
Ten years later, the web is starting to look a lot like most newsgroups did shortly after the turn of the millennium. Many of the web-based communities powered by blogging or forum software are in a state of declining user, while at the same time, under constant attack from spam bots, turning many of these sites into ghost towns. Based on what happened to the newsgroups within the last decade, it's no surprise what fate will soon await the web.
That said, it's a bit ridiculous to say the internet itself is somehow "broken" or needs to be replaced. The internet will be fine. Our habits, on the other hand, need to change. Rather than relying upon a pack-rat mentality, where every user requires an ever increasing amount of publicly accessible storage, we need a system which intelligently weeds out redundant data, so only a few copies of the same image/video/audio/etc... exist on the internet and can be referenced by anyone using a local copy of that particular file as an "alias" until the system recognizes it as a duplicate upon uploading. This will reduce the amount of "net junk" floating around, making the entire network much more efficient.
(Likewise, this will probably be what finally leads us into the age of cloud computing, where p2p like functions are simply a normal function of the OS and networking software, as needed.)
I would think setting up a headless box within the US controlled via VNC for iTunes purchases by another machine running outside the region would be enough to get around this, assuming the out of region machine was also authorized with itunes ahead of time on the same account for playback. Then all you'd have to figure out is a method of transfer.
If your ISP has a fit about it, I hear pen drives are fairly easy to ship...
I've always wondered what was up with the center of Cadbury's cream eggs that makes them so addictive and yet so rare that they can only be harvested once per year...
It'll be interesting to see how they, in software, prevent modifications to the hardware needed to emit the "click" noise in question.
Maybe what they should do is have the phone spew out paper chaff similar to tasers every time a shot is taken. Just match the chaff to a phone, and suddenly you know where and who took a photo with their device.
This sounds like it might be similar Nickelodeon's ChalkZone series. (almost too similar, actually...)
I'm somewhat amazed and disappointed they never gave ChalkZone its own game though. Something in a vein similar to Drawn to Life, Magic Pengel or the upcoming Scribblenauts. (That honor went to Spongebob Squarepants, instead.)
It's too bad, since the show itself is basically a detailed manual for designing a very cool game concept. Crayon Physics definitely comes close to the idea, but would simply need to add a few elements of platform gaming to pull off a decent ChalkZone title, versus the current "Incredible Machine" approach. (Not that I don't love The Incredible Machine, of course!)
While there may be some truth to region locking on games being done for the sake of price discrimination, the situation is nowhere near as severe as it is for DVDs (at least, outside of the anime industry).
In a lot of cases though, there are legitimate reasons for region locking games. Mostly due to the additional work involved in localization. This includes not only translations of text and audio, but also making sure the context of these translations are both kosher within the cultural values of a particular region and make sense to the end consumer. This can include not only altering onscreen text or spoken words, but also body movement, scene layout and even background props. (This is a common issue when attempting to localize certain kinds of content between countries like the US and Japan, where context of words and actions are translated versus what's actually being said and done.)
The process of localization in this manner can often be time consuming and costly to do adequately. The quality of a title's localization efforts can mean the difference between the success or failure of the title itself within a given region.
It's not a huge stretch to suggest that mass importing of a foreign title could potentially prevent future out of region titles from being localized if that title's localized counterpart doesn't sell well. At best, a future title might still be localized, but at a far lower quality due to budget concerns.
Personally, I like my games to be localized at the best quality possible.
This type of testing is probably worthwhile for markets were dealing with the customer directly is vital for success. However, I think there's little to fear for those looking to work in the background with a strong portfolio backing them up.
Besides, who do you think is more likely to get laid off first in a corporate downsizing? The "people person"... aka the "middle man".
As long as you are personally vital to the success or failure of a project, your personality isn't really that important to the equation.
Should be interesting to see how this plays out with the MPAA and the television networks in regards to their content. I can't imagine this applying to anything else, except maybe live events like contact sports, where such a message must be stamped on the back of every audience members' hands before they are permitted to enter.
A much greater concern is that this exposes a serious flaw in the security of communication services we have all been taking advantage of for decades. There are simply too many individuals out there attempting to adopt new technologies into their homes who either aren't aware of the potential risks involved in using such equipment, or simply don't care.
If the individual users aren't willing to accept the consequences of haphazardly using technology capable of communicating over an external connection, without first educating themselves on how to prevent such problems (where possible), then the companies who provide these services will have no choice but to contractually demand that the user does not connect any hardware to their system that the provider don't completely control by themselves, such as how cable companies require a converter box of their own to use their television services.
It's really difficult to find middle ground on this issue that completely absolves the end user from responsibility when such things happen without sacrificing convenience in the process. The service was provided to a device the end user was supposed to be in control of... therefore the service was carried out as requested.
For that matter, the interface itself could be the line you want spoken, with a series of adjustable curve editors underneath for making minor real-time adjustments to the voice itself.
You know, it's surprises me that we haven't looked toward more analog methods of preserving a certain person's voice, aside from splicing and disassembling audio recordings.
For example, has there been any attempts to actually model the entire vocal system of a human (ie, a physical "mouth", "tongue" "nasal path", "trachea", "lungs", "diaphragm", etc) based on CT scans, then linking these elements to a computer in order to control them via a MIDI interface to form the various base phoneme ranges combined with pitch shifts?
If we could manage that much, it doesn't seem all that far fetched to attach a special text-to-MIDI application to make it speak words and lines with tweaking options to adjust the inflection of each word relative to the others.
Should be interesting to see how they handle that whole FTP and HTTP stuff next. After all, it's not like anything illegal hasn't ever been transferred this way as well.
After that, maybe they can start suing carrier pigeons. You know you can't trust *those* little bastards... just look at New York!
About how long have we been listening to the ravings of content publishers claiming financial losses as a result after-market resale of console games by companies like GameStop? Is it any wonder that they would want to force console owners to give up physical media in favor of a download-only distribution system? As it is, we're already seeing this creeping in with game content and features accessible only through a one-time voucher system.
Before long, our games are going to start becoming more like Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, where you effectively buy the game engine alone and download the content needed to completely use it after purchase. At some point, this, like the current voucher system, will become a one time only deal.
Eventually, users are going to get pissed off over this set-up. At which point, the content publishers will graciously offer to let a user simply download an entire game without any disc an unlimited number of times on any pre-authenticated system. Hell, they may even offer discounts to owners of more than one console looking to have LAN parties without each player having to provide a disc.
The entire time, completely oblivious to the fact that they've just made a "deal with the devil" in which they can never sell any part of their ever-growing collection of games. Hard-earned money, that once spent, can never be recovered again, even in the tiniest amount.
When the day comes where everything is download only, the very concept of trade that has sustained humanity for thousands of years will grind to a screeching halt. We'll happily buy ourselves into poverty only to learn decades later just how wrong we really were.
Normally, when someone mentions a touch interface for computers, most people instantly think of an incredibly clunky kiosk setup... a system with a normal display and touch sensors added only as an after-thought.
The problem, however, is that this type of interface doesn't lend itself well for lengthy interaction. Sure, there is a brief cool factor to devices like this, but that wears off quickly if the user is forced to deal with it for very long. Too much physical movement combined with awkward positioning puts a lot of strain on the body. Most users simply aren't going to put up with that, especially for hours on end.
What's needed here, is major form factor change, where a user's primary computer display is designed to be as portable and lightweight as a folder, and handled in the same manner as a book. This means a return to concepts like hand-writing recognition directly on the display, combined with new concepts like multi-touch set up in a way that allow immediate interaction with any onscreen object.
For example, items like the "desktop" presented to the user should vary in size automatically as per the user's needs, to prevent overlap onscreen, while at the same time, offering instance access to any content current available to the user without any interference what-so-ever, simply by touching it.
Next, everything onscreen should move as easily as sliding a piece of paper off to the side at any time... meaning at no point, should the interface presented to the user ever become "modal" in nature.
Finally, the most important factor is to make the user experience as physically comfortable as possible. This means we need to let go of our ties to the aging mouse/keyboard concept, as though the user will literally reach "into" the computer screen and begin physically handling all onscreen data. The user should have the impression that are in absolute and total control of everything they see, rather than being secondary to the application over what happens next.
Anything less will only be an exercise in futility and frustration.
Sadly, this probably wouldn't have stopped the drunken teen driver who literally drove into the oncoming lane of stopped traffic head on into my family's car a while back. (which left me with a broken neck and paralysis on the left side of my body...) But hey, I'm sure it would've at least ensured I'd be dead by preventing anyone else nearby from actually being able to call 911.
Yes, cellphone's are annoying... especially in the hands of those irresponsible enough not to obey the laws or observe social etiquette in using them. But this idea that we should have the right to jam a cellular signal just because we can do it is just trouble waiting to happen. As it is, we already have enough dead zones for the things... why add to them and further harm the usefulness of a potentially life-saving device?
You know what does make sense to me though? A car setup that can identify whether or not you're too drunk to drive and act in response it!
One problem I foresee, is that even if a large number of quality developers suddenly become able to unload iPhone/iPod Touch apps for over $10, the lower quality developers would suddenly rush in to increase their own prices. Once again, the market would return to being flooded with both good and bad quality apps, causing a slowdown in overall sales back to current rates, but at a higher minimum price point. The end result... the lower quality developers benefit more from the market's price increase, while higher quality developers end up reliving the same problem of diminished sales and recognition apart from the rest of the "me too!" crowd.
Didn't they do something like this on Fox's Fringe series as a plot device?
For anyone unfamiliar with the show, it's basically Fox's response to Eureka on the SciFi channel, only much, much darker and probably unlikely to last more than one season...