I used my PDA for a little while my freshman year in college (Palm V), I'd take some quick notes on it and use it to store schedules, important dates and addresses. Aside from that I used it for games during boring lectures, or to beam stuff to other classmates about the teacher =]
Now it sits in my deskdrawer and I don't use it anymore. Batteries, syncing, and everything else weren't problems at all. In the end it was too cumbersome to enter data (even if you knew it well), and the software offered was minimal.
I probably would have been happier with a Windows CE device, since they come with a much larger, easier to use range of applications. It's hard to say. But, I don't miss it much.
On that note, how much is someone willing to give me for an old Palm V? =]
I think people are becoming a little too confident in constantly lamenting that current hardware is final, no further word necessary. Let's think back to some hardware changes, big and small, that changed how we use personal computers:
* Broadband Internet connections
* 3D gaming (which literally created a whole market of high-end graphics cards within the PC industry, and continues to push hardware limits and rake in money)
* DVD-ROM (WinDVD continues to sell 1,000,000 more copies each month, not to mention sales of bigger monitors and surround sound speakers)
* LCT flatpanel monitors
* Quiet PC cases
* Distributed computing
Surely there will be more "kiler apps" that will necessitate upgrades!
Consoles really suck when it comes to anything but kiddie games. If you want to play strategies, simulations, first-person shooters, etc., you've gotta get a PC. Besides, PCs have have the more powerful input devices anyway. I can't imagine trying to play a first-person game on a console; it must be a nightmare.
Good point. Adding micropayments onto an existing billing system--say, your Blockbuster account for downloading online media--is a good idea. This would likely avoid extra taxes and the need to sign up for yet another company. I don't know about the rest of you, but adding yet another website to those I use that requires a password is a pain.
You should also thing about size and weight for these safes. The UNIX team stores weekly, differential backups of campus data in safes. One time, we had to haul a safe down stairs--it took three men to do it! This wasn't a big sucker either; maybe a bit bigger than a shoebox. For all its heft, the unit only stored a few tapes. When you consider buying one, remember that the walls of the thing are going to be very thick, and that'll eat up space within.
Micropayments could work this way: You initally deposit $25 into your account and then you micropay... when your $25 gets low, you are automatically charged (on your credit card) for an additional $25.
However, this defeats what micropayments try to solve in the first place: paying for just what you want, like an individual story on Salon.
The same reason they use crufty, old HTML and don't spell- or grammar-check their posts. Because they don't give a shit. Slashdot is only around because of the got-here-first phenomenon. Not because they're innovative or special in any way any longer.
I get bored with music and movies very quickly, so paying a monthly fee to Netflix, or donating monthly to an MP3-streaming radio station makes sense. A lot cheaper and I'm always listening/viewing mostly new material.
(A) Simply deleted the spam, or, (B) had the spam filtered and never saw it or, (C) got suckered into it. This leaves little room for reporting the spammers.
For what it's worth, I used to manually report spam to Yahoo and the like. This closed a dozen or so accounts. Next I stepped up to SpamCop, which went further: they actually help to close open relays. Right now, I'm using Spam Assassin to filter my inbox. It became too time-consuming to forward each message to SpamCop.
I used to be against filtering. I maintained that the best way to fight spam is to report it to administrators, who can then tighten relays, etc. But there's just so much of it: thousands of vulnerable mail servers, many of them offshore.
The best policy I've found is to get a fresh email address and either never post it in a public place online, or spam-armor your address when you post. This worked well for awhile. But then a mailing list I have to be on for work (I'm a computer technician at a university) started receiving spam and forwarding it to me. For a number of reasons, I can't easily change addresses right now.
If anyone wants to discuss anti-spam tactics, I'd love to hear new ideas. I hate spam as much as the next guy, but I guess I got discouraged lately at the sheer size of the problem.
Email me here: ashaver.AT. pdx.DOT. edu (change.AT. and.DOT. to their respective characters)
Oh, and check out my spam traps. Especially if you're a spam bot harvesting from this page. Heh heh.
Slashdot Mirror
I used my PDA for a little while my freshman year in college (Palm V), I'd take some quick notes on it and use it to store schedules, important dates and addresses. Aside from that I used it for games during boring lectures, or to beam stuff to other classmates about the teacher =]
Now it sits in my deskdrawer and I don't use it anymore. Batteries, syncing, and everything else weren't problems at all. In the end it was too cumbersome to enter data (even if you knew it well), and the software offered was minimal.
I probably would have been happier with a Windows CE device, since they come with a much larger, easier to use range of applications. It's hard to say. But, I don't miss it much.
On that note, how much is someone willing to give me for an old Palm V? =]
I think people are becoming a little too confident in constantly lamenting that current hardware is final, no further word necessary. Let's think back to some hardware changes, big and small, that changed how we use personal computers:
* Broadband Internet connections
* 3D gaming (which literally created a whole market of high-end graphics cards within the PC industry, and continues to push hardware limits and rake in money)
* DVD-ROM (WinDVD continues to sell 1,000,000 more copies each month, not to mention sales of bigger monitors and surround sound speakers)
* LCT flatpanel monitors
* Quiet PC cases
* Distributed computing
Surely there will be more "kiler apps" that will necessitate upgrades!
or running some high end graphic or simularion software
Lord of the Rings: Simularion. Coming soon to a theater near you.
Consoles really suck when it comes to anything but kiddie games. If you want to play strategies, simulations, first-person shooters, etc., you've gotta get a PC. Besides, PCs have have the more powerful input devices anyway. I can't imagine trying to play a first-person game on a console; it must be a nightmare.
Good point. Adding micropayments onto an existing billing system--say, your Blockbuster account for downloading online media--is a good idea. This would likely avoid extra taxes and the need to sign up for yet another company. I don't know about the rest of you, but adding yet another website to those I use that requires a password is a pain.
Good. We won't have to deal with his atrocious spelling and grammar.
The one thing those backups contain that might cause a problem for my wife is the MS Money backup.
That and the hardcore pornography, of course.
You should also thing about size and weight for these safes. The UNIX team stores weekly, differential backups of campus data in safes. One time, we had to haul a safe down stairs--it took three men to do it! This wasn't a big sucker either; maybe a bit bigger than a shoebox. For all its heft, the unit only stored a few tapes. When you consider buying one, remember that the walls of the thing are going to be very thick, and that'll eat up space within.
The thing you're missing is that XML is human-readable, and thus it's easy to parse, both for software and people.
Micropayments could work this way: You initally deposit $25 into your account and then you micropay... when your $25 gets low, you are automatically charged (on your credit card) for an additional $25.
However, this defeats what micropayments try to solve in the first place: paying for just what you want, like an individual story on Salon.
Might have affected you.
That's *rationale*, not rational. Rationale is a reason for doing something, whereas rational is something in keeping with reason.
That's "you're", not "your". Better luck next time.
Wrong. Spam is unsolicited. You choose to go to websites that have popups or banner ads. Oh, and it's "argument". Better luck next time.
Amen. Windows "XP" was a lame name too. It doesn't convey information like a year system. And it doesn't even sound cool. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
I'm sure you meant to say UNavoidable. Better luck next time.
The same reason they use crufty, old HTML and don't spell- or grammar-check their posts. Because they don't give a shit. Slashdot is only around because of the got-here-first phenomenon. Not because they're innovative or special in any way any longer.
lies in choice, not lays in choice
You are incorrectly using "I'm" here. "I'm", a contraction of "I" and "am" needs a punctuation mark like so, "'", between the "I" and the "m".
By the way, why did you put me on your Foes list? No one else has except you.
ashaver at pdx dot edu
I get bored with music and movies very quickly, so paying a monthly fee to Netflix, or donating monthly to an MP3-streaming radio station makes sense. A lot cheaper and I'm always listening/viewing mostly new material.
But why can't I get a stand alone unit? What about people who don't own/like/use cars?
ashaver at pdx dot edu if you know how to get one
UNLIKE, not dislike
Or converting their CDs to OGG.
Perhaps most of the people either:
(A) Simply deleted the spam, or, (B) had the spam filtered and never saw it or, (C) got suckered into it. This leaves little room for reporting the spammers.
For what it's worth, I used to manually report spam to Yahoo and the like. This closed a dozen or so accounts. Next I stepped up to SpamCop, which went further: they actually help to close open relays. Right now, I'm using Spam Assassin to filter my inbox. It became too time-consuming to forward each message to SpamCop.
I used to be against filtering. I maintained that the best way to fight spam is to report it to administrators, who can then tighten relays, etc. But there's just so much of it: thousands of vulnerable mail servers, many of them offshore.
The best policy I've found is to get a fresh email address and either never post it in a public place online, or spam-armor your address when you post. This worked well for awhile. But then a mailing list I have to be on for work (I'm a computer technician at a university) started receiving spam and forwarding it to me. For a number of reasons, I can't easily change addresses right now.
If anyone wants to discuss anti-spam tactics, I'd love to hear new ideas. I hate spam as much as the next guy, but I guess I got discouraged lately at the sheer size of the problem.
Email me here: ashaver .AT. pdx .DOT. edu (change .AT. and .DOT. to their respective characters)
Oh, and check out my spam traps. Especially if you're a spam bot harvesting from this page. Heh heh.
http://web.pdx.edu/~ashaver/large.html
(I wrote a simple mIRC script to generate the HTML for that page.
to a large extent, the integration is already there.