Not sure if you mean that you have to click on stuff to get the entirely new antivirus engine, or just the definitions.
If it's necessary to mess around clicking on stuff then in many cases the thing won't get updated.
If it's the latter, Avast! is a free one which updates automatically, at least once a day. No clicky, no worries. You can even remove the notifications that it's been updated, if grandma can't handle those.
There are good and bad products from this POV. The interesting thing is that price dosn't appear to be a factor here. There are free products which can quietly update and there are expensive products which require manual intervention to do so.
To everyone else offcourse it is obvious, I spend ALL my money in the economy, it does not matter to the economy WHAT it is spend upon. If I don't spend it in shop A I spend it in shop B, shopowner A may not like it but the economy doesn't give a shit, as long as I spend.
Now if you were to present me with figures that show that people nowadays are saving more money then before, then you might have a point, if teenagers start putting their allowances into banks instead of CD's then the world might indeed come to an end (although I am sure an economists could explain how this too would just be another way of spending)
The only way you'd be keeping money out of the economy would be if you were putting cash in a box.
They need a marketing firm, or hell, someone willing to put a link to their MP3s from a popular site. I could see a guy like David Bowie popping a link to a band he thinks is great on a site where he's putting out his own MP3s.
Not unlike a tour having one or more "support bands".
Broadband penetration aside, illegally downloading films poses several practicality problems in and of itself. Not only do you have to worry about poor encoding and weird formats,
You get the "weird formats" issue with "legitimate channels" too. It's also known as "DRM"... Some forms of which have involved putting malware on "CDs", requiring you to use special (and platform specific) software to access content, etc.
I don't see how. If Nokia, Samsung, etc don't have to worry about competing with the iPhone in Europe (thanks to Apple's marketing blunder of signing up with AT&T), what pressure is there for them to make a better product?
They can test the market in Europe then compete with the iPhone (in the US, which may well be its only market).
Because people are apparently incapable of reading the large words that say "If you install this update on a phone with modified software your phone may cease to function."
It's perfectly possible to have a lockable phone where there is no difference in the code between "locked" and "unlocked". The only difference being a data area of non-volatile memory. Indeed this is the way the "BIOS" on computer boards works. If a machine was rendered unbootable because you'd turned off the PS/2 mouse port before doing a BIOS update you wouldn't be too happy. The problem here is that Apple appears to have tried to create an unlockable phone by using (obfuscated) code without separate variables.
However, I doubt Apple will be in trouble for new firmware updates bricking modified iPhones, as
you've tampered with it.
Given strong comsumer protection laws which exist within the EU Apple could find themselves having to explain themselves if simply removing a network lock results in a firmware update "bricking" a phone. i.e. why they wrote the firmware such that this was even possible and why the updater didn't check for such a condition.
Apple have no obligation to support hacked versions of their products.
This isn't actually true even in the US. There's also a difference between "not supporting" and damaging.
Nokia doesn't seem to have a problem making a profit selling unlocked phones, neither does SonyEricsson, Samsung, LG, HTC etc.
Can anyone name a manufacturer who does?
Apple could have sold way more phones if it had been available worldwide, unlocked and without a plan, just like e.g. the iPod.
If AT&T (or whoever) wanted to sell locked IPhones they could have just done what they do with any other locked handset. Make a special order to the manufacturer (in this case Apple) who'd supply them locked, probably with a logo on the case. They'd also need to only have one version of the firmware. As well as keeping themselves on the right side of the law.
We have locked phones too of course, but the providers are required to unlock them if the contract with the customer has expired and the customer asks for it.
Note also that locked phones are sold by the providers. Locked phones only being sold to providers. The only way you, as an individual or a retailer can buy a locked phone is from a service provider. In which case it will come bundled with service. A minimum contract is typically only applicable if the provider is selling the phone below the price they paid for it. If you buy from a manufacturer you get an unlocked phone.
I bet you Apple didn't even know that a few months ago. The European GSM market is at least twice as big as the market Apple will ever reach if they continue the way they are going in America, so I hope they come to their senses soon and start getting their priorities right.
It isn't like the way things are done in the EU (indeed most of the world outside the US) has radically changed recently. If Apple can't be bothered to research a market then they are idiots.
The only reason they have so many problems here is because of the new sophisticated voice mail they have invented. They were too far ahead of the time with that, so why not remove that feature and make the iPhone compatible with all providers?
Can the IPhone really be incompatible with voicemail alerts via SMS? What would happen if someone took the SIM out of an IPhone and put it in another handset?
France has consumer protection laws at least as strong as those in Germany, and most countries here have varying levels of enforcement. The UK has some of the weakest consumer protection laws,
Only in comparison with other European countries. Probably rather stronger than those in the US.
I've been hearing more iPhone rumors this week, the biggest is T-Mobile has put their rollout plans on hold because they could not show the regulator the required unlocking function or unlocked phones. O2 in the UK is safe, because even though they will be violating laws there, the fines will be years down the road and only then a tiny percentage of the profits made.
They may be safe from OfCom, but not safe from phones simply being imported from elswhere in the EU. It's not like with cars where the steering wheel comes on the "wrong side"...
This is why marketing products differently, in different countries, in the 21st Century is stupid to begin with. With the Internet and FedEx, physical location doesn't mean anything in regards to availability anymore.
Considering also that we are talking about a machine intended for people to carry on their person.
This isn't the 1500's where getting electronics from around the world was a months long affair.
People have been travelling (with their personal tools and machines) a lot longer than that:)
Yes, hence the comment about grey-market imports. It's unlikely that AT&T would be happy with the iPhone being sold unlocked in any country, as those unlocked phones could then be imported into the US, despite the exclusivity agreement.
Assuming that it's AT&T driving this exclusivity agreement.
If I were at AT&T and negotiated the deal, I'd have made damn sure that Apple were bound not to sell the iPhone unlocked anywhere, to make it that bit harder to obtain an unlocked one.
A condition Apple would be utterly daft to accept. Since they'd be effectivly locking themselves out of most of their potential markets. N.B. Unless they are prepared to sell unlocked phones they are not locked out of just France and Belgium they effectivly cannot do business anywhere within the EU.
Their main problem at this point is that the illegitimate way is so much more convenient than any of the legitimate ones I've ever seen - you do a quick search, click a link, and you have the show/movie as fast as your bandwidth will allow (assuming we are talking about more or less popular things).
It's also cross platform and you don't need a special player for each "channel".
I think, US TV series usually come to Europe months after they have been broadcasted in the US. And then, at least here in Germany, they are dubbed. So if you want to see them legaly, in the original version, you have to wait until the DVD set of the season comes out.
Even though broadcast television has had the ability to have viewer selected audio tracks subtitling for some time.
If the choice is between spending a couple hours to download something that you can use however you want with no hassle, or paying 10x the value of the product for something you can barely use, piracy is the obvious choice.
There are situations where 10x the value might itself be considered a bargin.
If it was about convenience, people wouldn't be downloading video recorded copies of in-theater movies with an "audience-enhanced" soundtrack.
Being able to watch in your own home at a time of your choosing is about convenience.
They'd just go to the theater. People don't want to pay.
If "just go to the theater" would mean having to travel several thousand miles then not wanting to pay may be part of issue. But even if the travel were free having to spend the best part of a few days in an aircraft hardly qualifies as "convenient". That's before you even consider how many places treat passengers currently.
While TV rips come out about a half hour after the episode is broadcast, it won't have subtitles, and fansubs take at least a day until they have acceptable quality.
Subtitles matter only to people who don't understand the original language. English (and to some extent Arabic) are languages which are understood by many people in many places. Does the official download come with subtitles which can be switched on and off also how do these compare with "fansubs"?
More seriously such fast, world-wide, distribution should be seen as opportunity - a global approach to marketing, an expansion of the audience (which is especially useful for more niche genres). And I'll gladly pay, a reasonable amount,
The current lot wouldn't like any lack of price differentiation though.
As it is the business types mess things up totally and actually end up reducing the potential audience for their product (selling ad slots).
Many ads don't travel well. Even many involving supposedly "global brands".
Then they spend all their time complaining that consumers are pirating when its their own fault for not providing the product in the first place. Consumers are like water. They'll take the path of least resistance when they really want something. The content profiteers need to adapt to the changing technology (I know, preaching to the converted here). Part of the problem is that the new technology undermines certain people's rather entrenched, and often very well paid, positions and they'll do everything possible to hold on to their cushy jobs - doing lunch and brokering deals as if they know something about how to attract consumer eyes yet all the evidence (channel BT et al) is that they don't.
That's the problem they are too concerned about proping up the status quo. Even to point of demanding that new technologies emulate limitations things which have been obsolete for decades.
Uhmm, are you telling me you'd rather pirate it rather than wait 24 hours? Jesus.
Since people are likely to start discussing the episode online as soon as it finishes 24 hours is likely to matter. Since France is several hours ahead of the US a 24 hour delay means that it might be closer to two days after. Whereas with bittorrent someone can set the download going when they wake up and have it ready to watch that evening. Which is before it's even available via the official service.
As sickle cell, thalessemia, reactive airway diseases become more treatable, their prevalence will increase or at least come to a steady state.
Sickle cell persists because there are environments where it makes people "more fit". Those with "sickle cell trait" are resistant to the malarial parasite. It's quite possible that some forms thalessemia may also protect against blood parasites.
Bacteria can't develop resistance to alcohol without becoming something other than bacteria. If they could, humanity would never have become civilized. Much of the problem with living together in large communities is finding clean water. The easiest way to turn infested water into something you can drink is by fermenting it into an alcoholic beverage.
Also a small number of people can produce enough beer for a village/town. This method of water purification has affected human evolution. People who's ancestors drank beer (as their main source of fluid) have a greater ability to detoxify alcohol than those who didn't.
It's more a function of the fact that antibiotics attack a very definite metabolic activity that's vital for the bacterium to survive. The beta-lactams (think penicillin) interfere with the production of the peptidoglycan cell wall, whereas others interfere with bacterial protein synthesis. So, if the cell can come up with something to negate this attack (pumping the antibiotic out before it can do any damage, producing a protein that neutralizes the antibiotic) then it becomes resistant.
Since the action of the antibiotic is specific a single mutation may render a bacterium immune. It can thus reproduce without competition in an antibiotic contaminated environment.
On the contrary, something like bleach or alcohol massively disrupts the cell and kills it in a variety of ways all at once.
Thus making it unlikely that a single mutation could enable a bacterium to survive. The only situation where this is possible is with a dilute solution near the limit of what is generally toxic to bacteria.
Slashdot Mirror
Not sure if you mean that you have to click on stuff to get the entirely new antivirus engine, or just the definitions.
If it's necessary to mess around clicking on stuff then in many cases the thing won't get updated.
If it's the latter, Avast! is a free one which updates automatically, at least once a day. No clicky, no worries. You can even remove the notifications that it's been updated, if grandma can't handle those.
There are good and bad products from this POV. The interesting thing is that price dosn't appear to be a factor here. There are free products which can quietly update and there are expensive products which require manual intervention to do so.
To everyone else offcourse it is obvious, I spend ALL my money in the economy, it does not matter to the economy WHAT it is spend upon. If I don't spend it in shop A I spend it in shop B, shopowner A may not like it but the economy doesn't give a shit, as long as I spend.
Now if you were to present me with figures that show that people nowadays are saving more money then before, then you might have a point, if teenagers start putting their allowances into banks instead of CD's then the world might indeed come to an end (although I am sure an economists could explain how this too would just be another way of spending)
The only way you'd be keeping money out of the economy would be if you were putting cash in a box.
Society still enjoys music, and if you don't pay something for it people won't produce it,
Actually the latter isn't the case, there are people who enjoy producing music. They would continue to do so regardless of financial reward.
As artists.. they've sort of scammed most artists into getting into the "get rich or die trying" mentality.
This is definitly not an exclusive or either...
In a perfect world, Britney Spears would be working in a women's clothing store,
Or maybe sharing a prison cell with Paris Hilton.
They need a marketing firm, or hell, someone willing to put a link to their MP3s from a popular site. I could see a guy like David Bowie popping a link to a band he thinks is great on a site where he's putting out his own MP3s.
Not unlike a tour having one or more "support bands".
Broadband penetration aside, illegally downloading films poses several practicality problems in and of itself. Not only do you have to worry about poor encoding and weird formats,
You get the "weird formats" issue with "legitimate channels" too. It's also known as "DRM"... Some forms of which have involved putting malware on "CDs", requiring you to use special (and platform specific) software to access content, etc.
I don't see how. If Nokia, Samsung, etc don't have to worry about competing with the iPhone in Europe (thanks to Apple's marketing blunder of signing up with AT&T), what pressure is there for them to make a better product?
They can test the market in Europe then compete with the iPhone (in the US, which may well be its only market).
Because people are apparently incapable of reading the large words that say "If you install this update on a phone with modified software your phone may cease to function."
It's perfectly possible to have a lockable phone where there is no difference in the code between "locked" and "unlocked". The only difference being a data area of non-volatile memory. Indeed this is the way the "BIOS" on computer boards works. If a machine was rendered unbootable because you'd turned off the PS/2 mouse port before doing a BIOS update you wouldn't be too happy.
The problem here is that Apple appears to have tried to create an unlockable phone by using (obfuscated) code without separate variables.
However, I doubt Apple will be in trouble for new firmware updates bricking modified iPhones, as you've tampered with it.
Given strong comsumer protection laws which exist within the EU Apple could find themselves having to explain themselves if simply removing a network lock results in a firmware update "bricking" a phone. i.e. why they wrote the firmware such that this was even possible and why the updater didn't check for such a condition.
Apple have no obligation to support hacked versions of their products.
This isn't actually true even in the US. There's also a difference between "not supporting" and damaging.
Nokia doesn't seem to have a problem making a profit selling unlocked phones, neither does SonyEricsson, Samsung, LG, HTC etc.
Can anyone name a manufacturer who does?
Apple could have sold way more phones if it had been available worldwide, unlocked and without a plan, just like e.g. the iPod.
If AT&T (or whoever) wanted to sell locked IPhones they could have just done what they do with any other locked handset. Make a special order to the manufacturer (in this case Apple) who'd supply them locked, probably with a logo on the case.
They'd also need to only have one version of the firmware. As well as keeping themselves on the right side of the law.
We have locked phones too of course, but the providers are required to unlock them if the contract with the customer has expired and the customer asks for it.
Note also that locked phones are sold by the providers. Locked phones only being sold to providers. The only way you, as an individual or a retailer can buy a locked phone is from a service provider. In which case it will come bundled with service. A minimum contract is typically only applicable if the provider is selling the phone below the price they paid for it.
If you buy from a manufacturer you get an unlocked phone.
I bet you Apple didn't even know that a few months ago. The European GSM market is at least twice as big as the market Apple will ever reach if they continue the way they are going in America, so I hope they come to their senses soon and start getting their priorities right.
It isn't like the way things are done in the EU (indeed most of the world outside the US) has radically changed recently. If Apple can't be bothered to research a market then they are idiots.
The only reason they have so many problems here is because of the new sophisticated voice mail they have invented. They were too far ahead of the time with that, so why not remove that feature and make the iPhone compatible with all providers?
Can the IPhone really be incompatible with voicemail alerts via SMS? What would happen if someone took the SIM out of an IPhone and put it in another handset?
France has consumer protection laws at least as strong as those in Germany, and most countries here have varying levels of enforcement. The UK has some of the weakest consumer protection laws,
Only in comparison with other European countries. Probably rather stronger than those in the US.
I've been hearing more iPhone rumors this week, the biggest is T-Mobile has put their rollout plans on hold because they could not show the regulator the required unlocking function or unlocked phones. O2 in the UK is safe, because even though they will be violating laws there, the fines will be years down the road and only then a tiny percentage of the profits made.
They may be safe from OfCom, but not safe from phones simply being imported from elswhere in the EU. It's not like with cars where the steering wheel comes on the "wrong side"...
This is why marketing products differently, in different countries, in the 21st Century is stupid to begin with. With the Internet and FedEx, physical location doesn't mean anything in regards to availability anymore.
:)
Considering also that we are talking about a machine intended for people to carry on their person.
This isn't the 1500's where getting electronics from around the world was a months long affair.
People have been travelling (with their personal tools and machines) a lot longer than that
Yes, hence the comment about grey-market imports. It's unlikely that AT&T would be happy with the iPhone being sold unlocked in any country, as those unlocked phones could then be imported into the US, despite the exclusivity agreement.
Assuming that it's AT&T driving this exclusivity agreement.
If I were at AT&T and negotiated the deal, I'd have made damn sure that Apple were bound not to sell the iPhone unlocked anywhere, to make it that bit harder to obtain an unlocked one.
A condition Apple would be utterly daft to accept. Since they'd be effectivly locking themselves out of most of their potential markets.
N.B. Unless they are prepared to sell unlocked phones they are not locked out of just France and Belgium they effectivly cannot do business anywhere within the EU.
Their main problem at this point is that the illegitimate way is so much more convenient than any of the legitimate ones I've ever seen - you do a quick search, click a link, and you have the show/movie as fast as your bandwidth will allow (assuming we are talking about more or less popular things).
It's also cross platform and you don't need a special player for each "channel".
I think, US TV series usually come to Europe months after they have been broadcasted in the US. And then, at least here in Germany, they are dubbed. So if you want to see them legaly, in the original version, you have to wait until the DVD set of the season comes out.
Even though broadcast television has had the ability to have viewer selected audio tracks subtitling for some time.
If the choice is between spending a couple hours to download something that you can use however you want with no hassle, or paying 10x the value of the product for something you can barely use, piracy is the obvious choice.
There are situations where 10x the value might itself be considered a bargin.
If it was about convenience, people wouldn't be downloading video recorded copies of in-theater movies with an "audience-enhanced" soundtrack.
Being able to watch in your own home at a time of your choosing is about convenience.
They'd just go to the theater. People don't want to pay.
If "just go to the theater" would mean having to travel several thousand miles then not wanting to pay may be part of issue. But even if the travel were free having to spend the best part of a few days in an aircraft hardly qualifies as "convenient". That's before you even consider how many places treat passengers currently.
While TV rips come out about a half hour after the episode is broadcast, it won't have subtitles, and fansubs take at least a day until they have acceptable quality.
Subtitles matter only to people who don't understand the original language. English (and to some extent Arabic) are languages which are understood by many people in many places.
Does the official download come with subtitles which can be switched on and off also how do these compare with "fansubs"?
More seriously such fast, world-wide, distribution should be seen as opportunity - a global approach to marketing, an expansion of the audience (which is especially useful for more niche genres). And I'll gladly pay, a reasonable amount,
The current lot wouldn't like any lack of price differentiation though.
As it is the business types mess things up totally and actually end up reducing the potential audience for their product (selling ad slots).
Many ads don't travel well. Even many involving supposedly "global brands".
Then they spend all their time complaining that consumers are pirating when its their own fault for not providing the product in the first place. Consumers are like water. They'll take the path of least resistance when they really want something. The content profiteers need to adapt to the changing technology (I know, preaching to the converted here). Part of the problem is that the new technology undermines certain people's rather entrenched, and often very well paid, positions and they'll do everything possible to hold on to their cushy jobs - doing lunch and brokering deals as if they know something about how to attract consumer eyes yet all the evidence (channel BT et al) is that they don't.
That's the problem they are too concerned about proping up the status quo. Even to point of demanding that new technologies emulate limitations things which have been obsolete for decades.
Uhmm, are you telling me you'd rather pirate it rather than wait 24 hours? Jesus.
Since people are likely to start discussing the episode online as soon as it finishes 24 hours is likely to matter. Since France is several hours ahead of the US a 24 hour delay means that it might be closer to two days after. Whereas with bittorrent someone can set the download going when they wake up and have it ready to watch that evening. Which is before it's even available via the official service.
As sickle cell, thalessemia, reactive airway diseases become more treatable, their prevalence will increase or at least come to a steady state.
Sickle cell persists because there are environments where it makes people "more fit". Those with "sickle cell trait" are resistant to the malarial parasite. It's quite possible that some forms thalessemia may also protect against blood parasites.
Bacteria can't develop resistance to alcohol without becoming something other than bacteria. If they could, humanity would never have become civilized. Much of the problem with living together in large communities is finding clean water. The easiest way to turn infested water into something you can drink is by fermenting it into an alcoholic beverage.
Also a small number of people can produce enough beer for a village/town.
This method of water purification has affected human evolution. People who's ancestors drank beer (as their main source of fluid) have a greater ability to detoxify alcohol than those who didn't.
It's more a function of the fact that antibiotics attack a very definite metabolic activity that's vital for the bacterium to survive. The beta-lactams (think penicillin) interfere with the production of the peptidoglycan cell wall, whereas others interfere with bacterial protein synthesis. So, if the cell can come up with something to negate this attack (pumping the antibiotic out before it can do any damage, producing a protein that neutralizes the antibiotic) then it becomes resistant.
Since the action of the antibiotic is specific a single mutation may render a bacterium immune. It can thus reproduce without competition in an antibiotic contaminated environment.
On the contrary, something like bleach or alcohol massively disrupts the cell and kills it in a variety of ways all at once.
Thus making it unlikely that a single mutation could enable a bacterium to survive. The only situation where this is possible is with a dilute solution near the limit of what is generally toxic to bacteria.