That's precisely why we shouldn't be forced to upgrade. Many people can't afford to or need to upgrade, especially since "these TVs aren't obsolete" yet. My grandparents live on a fixed income. Why should they have to buy a new tv or a converter box just to watch the evening news? Pretty stupid if you ask me.
if they're just re-reporting the story I read yesterday over here? If they are, then this is just an April Fools joke.
So many people either forget or don't bother with rebates that Best Buy would be crazy to abandon them. It's easy money in their pockets... not that I'm defending them or anything. Just looking at it from their point of view.
If you need to know whether a new technology is here to stay, go no further than your local cinema. For all its glitz and glamour, Hollywood is a pretty conservative place, so if you see some gadget onscreen it's likely that it already has taken root elsewhere. Take, for example, that well-explored plot device, the Diskette With All the Bad Guy's Secrets on It. In many thrillers, the villain keeps one in a drawer, or chases the good guy to get hold of one, or was unwittingly using one as a coaster. (No one seemed to have thought of making a copy, and everyone seems to have access to a computer that can instantaneously read the disk, irrespective of format or whether it had been dunked in water, blood and acid.)
But in the past few years I've noticed a shift. Hollywood's plot-device data has moved from diskette to small sticks called, variously, key drives, thumb drives or USB drives. These devices, like diskettes, store data, but they do it on a small rewritable memory chip, called flash. In the 2003 thriller, "The Recruit," starring Al Pacino and Colin Farrell, for example, one character smuggles data out of the CIA on a USB drive. More recently in "Collateral," Tom Cruise jabs one into the taxi cab's guidance display to find out who else he has to rub out after his tablet personal computer containing his hit list is crushed under a truck. It's official: Key drives have arrived.
That's a good thing because they've actually been around a while. At least one company, Singapore's Trek 2000 International Ltd., has been making them for five years. Indeed, they're easier to find nowadays than the floppy disks they have pretty much replaced (I tried to buy a floppy in several computer stores recently and was laughed out of each shop). They come in all shapes and sizes, from small-capacity freebies given away at expos to sticks no bigger than your little finger that can hold up to four gigabytes of data (that's about 3,000 floppies' worth). Some double as MP3 players, others as Wi-Fi hubs. Some can also take photographs; some are shaped like rubber duckies. And, crucially, prices have fallen as capacities have risen. Five years ago you would have paid nearly $2 per megabyte of storage. Nowadays it's about 10 cents. Expect it to drop further this year.
Pocket Rockets
These drives are versatile too: Plug them into a Mac, a computer running Microsoft Windows XP or even a Linux machine and they're ready to go. Use them to keep backup copies of valuable files, move stuff between one computer and another, or store favorite music files or photos.
But why stop there? Key drives are fast (well, faster than a floppy drive). They're reliable. And most important, the key drive is the first bit of cheap(ish) hardware we can actually put in our pocket while leaving room for other stuff, like handkerchiefs, real keys and coins. People are beginning to figure out that instead of just storing files on them, why not whole programs? As long as there is a computer within reach, you use your own e-mail program, your own browser, even your own word-processing program, along with all your customized settings and files. Think of it as PC Piggybacking for the Peripatetic.
That isn't all. Programs that run from the key drive needn't leave any footprints on the host computer, so when you leave the building, your data goes with you. This is especially useful for public computers at Internet cafes, in libraries, at work or at your Mom's house.
In fact, all this isn't that new an idea. Some programs designed specifically to run off a key drive have been around for a while: E-mail program PocoMail PE, from Poco Systems Inc. (www.pocosystems.com), is now into version number three and works like a dream. Adventurous people have developed versions of the popular open source browser Firefox, its sister e-mail program Thunderbird, as well as whole operating systems, to run off key drives (for an attempt at a full list, see my blog loosewireblog.com).
"Many users don't know the difference between Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office."
When I used to work retail, I'd aways get customers who'd come in thinking that Office was a part of Windows since their computers came with so much software already (e.g. Internet Explore, Windows Media Player, Outlook Express, Solitaire, free internet trials, etc.).
They get a big shock when I tell them that it's two separate programs and that it'll cost them $400 for the standard (full) version of Office, unless they're a student or teacher, in which case it'd be ~$140.
The point of the $10 fee is that it's used to run the recycling program. If you get the $10 deposit/fee back, then where's the money going to come from to run the program?
"That the government is going to pocket the $10 per system,..."
I was just thinking that the other day. In my city, we already have a recycling center run by the city. I feel like I'm being charged for something I'm probably never going to use.
From the article, "LightScribe blanks will cost more than ordinary discs, but Verbatim says the difference will be less than the price of a sticky label and the ink needed to print on it...."
Not really a scroll "wheel," but this H.P. model and this Toshiba model have what you can call scroll pads. On the H.P. unit, it's the bunch of horizontal lines running up and down along the right side of the trackpad. The Toshiba model actually has both an up-down and a right-to-left scroll pad (represented by the dotted lines). And finally, this Acer unit has a 4-way scroll button. It's that little concaved square button between the left and right mouse buttons.
Slashdot Mirror
It runs Windows?
Unless you capture the streaming audio
That's precisely why we shouldn't be forced to upgrade. Many people can't afford to or need to upgrade, especially since "these TVs aren't obsolete" yet. My grandparents live on a fixed income. Why should they have to buy a new tv or a converter box just to watch the evening news? Pretty stupid if you ask me.
Maybe not for you, but you're forgetting that many household have more than 2 televisions (we have 6). At $70 each, that's $420.
Even if prices were to drop to, say, $50 each, that's still $300.
I say wait until these devices are less expensive to manufacture first, like when they're closer to $20.
Are you serious? That's like asking the /. editors to proof read, check for grammar/spelling errors, and to check to make sure the post isn't a dup.
So many people either forget or don't bother with rebates that Best Buy would be crazy to abandon them. It's easy money in their pockets... not that I'm defending them or anything. Just looking at it from their point of view.
No. It's amazing considering Apple only has ~3 percent market share.
Seriously though, if you really want to preorder right now, you can do so through Amazon.com and get a $35 rebate too.
If you need to know whether a new technology is here to stay, go no further than your local cinema. For all its glitz and glamour, Hollywood is a pretty conservative place, so if you see some gadget onscreen it's likely that it already has taken root elsewhere. Take, for example, that well-explored plot device, the Diskette With All the Bad Guy's Secrets on It. In many thrillers, the villain keeps one in a drawer, or chases the good guy to get hold of one, or was unwittingly using one as a coaster. (No one seemed to have thought of making a copy, and everyone seems to have access to a computer that can instantaneously read the disk, irrespective of format or whether it had been dunked in water, blood and acid.)
But in the past few years I've noticed a shift. Hollywood's plot-device data has moved from diskette to small sticks called, variously, key drives, thumb drives or USB drives. These devices, like diskettes, store data, but they do it on a small rewritable memory chip, called flash. In the 2003 thriller, "The Recruit," starring Al Pacino and Colin Farrell, for example, one character smuggles data out of the CIA on a USB drive. More recently in "Collateral," Tom Cruise jabs one into the taxi cab's guidance display to find out who else he has to rub out after his tablet personal computer containing his hit list is crushed under a truck. It's official: Key drives have arrived.
That's a good thing because they've actually been around a while. At least one company, Singapore's Trek 2000 International Ltd., has been making them for five years. Indeed, they're easier to find nowadays than the floppy disks they have pretty much replaced (I tried to buy a floppy in several computer stores recently and was laughed out of each shop). They come in all shapes and sizes, from small-capacity freebies given away at expos to sticks no bigger than your little finger that can hold up to four gigabytes of data (that's about 3,000 floppies' worth). Some double as MP3 players, others as Wi-Fi hubs. Some can also take photographs; some are shaped like rubber duckies. And, crucially, prices have fallen as capacities have risen. Five years ago you would have paid nearly $2 per megabyte of storage. Nowadays it's about 10 cents. Expect it to drop further this year.
Pocket Rockets
These drives are versatile too: Plug them into a Mac, a computer running Microsoft Windows XP or even a Linux machine and they're ready to go. Use them to keep backup copies of valuable files, move stuff between one computer and another, or store favorite music files or photos.
But why stop there? Key drives are fast (well, faster than a floppy drive). They're reliable. And most important, the key drive is the first bit of cheap(ish) hardware we can actually put in our pocket while leaving room for other stuff, like handkerchiefs, real keys and coins. People are beginning to figure out that instead of just storing files on them, why not whole programs? As long as there is a computer within reach, you use your own e-mail program, your own browser, even your own word-processing program, along with all your customized settings and files. Think of it as PC Piggybacking for the Peripatetic.
That isn't all. Programs that run from the key drive needn't leave any footprints on the host computer, so when you leave the building, your data goes with you. This is especially useful for public computers at Internet cafes, in libraries, at work or at your Mom's house.
In fact, all this isn't that new an idea. Some programs designed specifically to run off a key drive have been around for a while: E-mail program PocoMail PE, from Poco Systems Inc. (www.pocosystems.com), is now into version number three and works like a dream. Adventurous people have developed versions of the popular open source browser Firefox, its sister e-mail program Thunderbird, as well as whole operating systems, to run off key drives (for an attempt at a full list, see my blog loosewireblog.com).
Iomega Inc. has been peddling its own Active Disk
That's because Microsoft waits to see what new feature(s) Apple puts into its next OS release and then MS takes that long to copy it.
And here come the jokes about his site being hosted by the wooden computer, the site being /.ed, and the wooden computer burning in flames...
George Lucas is such a fan of the latest 3-D technology that he is planning to remaster all of the "Star Wars" films for rerelease in 3-D."
should probably have read:
"George Lucas is such a fan of money that he is planning to remaster all of the "Star Wars" films for rerelease in 3-D.
That is, until you get to the 60GB iPod photo...
So, this is kinda like LoJack, but for people, right?
allofmp3.com? MP3search.ru?
When I used to work retail, I'd aways get customers who'd come in thinking that Office was a part of Windows since their computers came with so much software already (e.g. Internet Explore, Windows Media Player, Outlook Express, Solitaire, free internet trials, etc.).
They get a big shock when I tell them that it's two separate programs and that it'll cost them $400 for the standard (full) version of Office, unless they're a student or teacher, in which case it'd be ~$140.
Unless there's a mutual understanding/agreement that PC stands for Piece of Crap.
The point of the $10 fee is that it's used to run the recycling program. If you get the $10 deposit/fee back, then where's the money going to come from to run the program?
I was just thinking that the other day. In my city, we already have a recycling center run by the city. I feel like I'm being charged for something I'm probably never going to use.
How about a museum? They could call it the Googleheim.
Of course nobody will read it. This is /. afterall.
From the article, "LightScribe blanks will cost more than ordinary discs, but Verbatim says the difference will be less than the price of a sticky label and the ink needed to print on it...."
Not really a scroll "wheel," but this H.P. model and this Toshiba model have what you can call scroll pads. On the H.P. unit, it's the bunch of horizontal lines running up and down along the right side of the trackpad. The Toshiba model actually has both an up-down and a right-to-left scroll pad (represented by the dotted lines). And finally, this Acer unit has a 4-way scroll button. It's that little concaved square button between the left and right mouse buttons.
I'd have never recognized her from that pic.
From the article, "Gillian Anderson who played Dana Scully hasn't signed yet..."