I've always been fascinated by people's fixation on the share price when it means absolutely NOTHING in the grand scheme of things.
A stock's value is calculated by the share price times the total number of shares outstanding. Now, Hemos was quick to comment on the share price, but lacks the understanding to figure out just how much cash the company is raising and what the total value of the company will be at these levels.
But who cares?
It really doesn't matter because the average investor doesn't know any better. This is the same reason that stocks go up when the company announces a stock split. The idiots eat these stocks up because they think that there's something magical about owning a stock through the split. "The company gives you more shares", responded an ignorant investor after I queried him on his voracious appetite for buying companies that are ripe for splitting. What he failed to realize is that the price drops proportionally - the value of the company (and each investor's holdings) is the same before and after the split. But nevertheless, owning these companies through the split is often a very profitable method of investing simply because of all the ignorance out there. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large quantities.
What if Real didn't reverse engineer the iPod but, rather, simply came up with a file format that is identical to Apple's own? This would be perfectly legal as long as Real licensed things properly (unlikely that Apple would allow this, however).
Your VoIP phone is sitting right there for any spammer to call. Now, there is no cost "barrier" for them to call you from outside the country. Now, most slashdotters will respond that they are l33t enough to create a whitelist-only calling system but the average Joe generally isn't offered this luxury and wouldn't be technical enough to understand how to implement it.
The iPod is very successful. Right now, the people that are buying them are going to pay a premium. When this market is saturated, they can then sell lower priced versions. This is pretty straight forward economics.
I'll be one of the first to buy the cheap version that comes out around Christmas time.
Consider that a chocolate bar or a can of Coke costs $1cdn here and when across the border the same candy or Coke costs $1usd, that alone accounts for the cost of living savings.
It should be noted that Questar is loading Linux on these Dell "white boxes". Dell has nothing to do with this decision. FWIW, Dell offers a "white box" service to mom&pop shops that don't want to build their own PCs. Once you become a distributor, you simply roll your own packages and sell the PC as your own brand. Questar is simply a white box distributor.
ANYONE can go out and do this. It doesn't mean that Dell has anything to do with selling Linux. This is secondary.
At this point, the Personal Server becomes feasible. A specification for "personal server compliant" operating systems helps any compliant PC in the world "log on to you", as they say in Soviet Russia. All of your preferences down to the last minute detail (wallpaper, favorites, browsing history, etc) will immediately be transferred to this particular PC and it will be as if it were your own.
This is close. Since Microsoft will try to "embrace and extend" this to the point that we can't use these devices without Windows, the open-source community will need to rapidly develop this into an open, robust standard that will work with all PCs. I give it two years... Power consumption will be the biggest issue. Otherwise, you could stick a WiFi link on an iPod and do it now (though I suppose it could be done with a cable that also supplies power).
I should point out that it is possible to set your caller ID to 5318008. It was fun on an inverted calculator and I don't see how inverted caller ID is any different.
I'm still wondering why the governments don't require free and "open source" text for public schools. In college, the professors used to change the text every semester so that the students couldn't sell the books back at the end of the semester (likely getting kick-backs from the text manufacturers, no doubt).
If just one state would sit down and even purchase some good works and make them freely available for modification and distribution, then the cost of education would be greatly reduced. Profs would be free to make changes at it fits their style so long as those changes are re-posted to the public. Students could read the texts online and/or print them.
A child post indicated what I am doing - as long as they are good, you can wipe 'em and reuse them later on. You just need an initial batch to start the business.
Right now, on-site repairs are handled mostly by independent certified techs. People call in for repair, the parts are sent to the tech who then drives out to the end-user and fixes the PC. UPS would simply hire these guys. Since the techs would all be lumped into a big building... it would be much cheaper than having them drive around indpendently (which UPS will probably do with these guys - offer both "depot" and on-site service).
It also makes it easier to deal with unhappy customers. Just reinstall the old drive. I keep 'em for a week because there's the occasional unhappy camper (usually some idiot who copied their buddy's MS Office or TurboTax and doesn't have the install anymore).
Most PCs only have a 1-year warranty and if someone is going to pay for an extended warranty, then they generally would rather sit for hours on the phone with Dell than bring the PC my way. But I do disclose that I'm replacing the hard drive and give the user the option to keep their stocker for an extra $15.
What I've found is that, for the most part, the users that come to me are fed up with non English-speaking tech support monkeys who can't fix their PC. They couldn't care less about the warranty.
It really is too bad that Apple won't release an operating system for Intel hardware. I mean, I know that Steve Jobs was paid off to drop the project.
A pity, really. I would have paid lots for an Apple-on-Intel OS. I still think that they should still do it, though this would likely result in the assasination of most of Apple's management.
They could auction off the first few hundred thousand copies as "collectors editions". I'd probably pay a few hundred.
Why are they scared of working towards a standardized future?
Microsoft would rather have Windows-only spyware.
MS don't like anything "cross-platform". Witness the whole java fiasco that took 10 years to sort out.
But back to the spyware thing.
What is needed is a "standard working set" of open, cross-platform plug-ins for all browsers. Now, they don't have to be mandatory of default but we have to STOP PROMPTING JOE USERS with ActiveX security warnings because THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS.
But, in the mean time, I would suggest to everyone in need of a few bucks to start their own "Windows Reinstall" business. Simply put up a few flyers at grocery stores (sometimes, even word of mouth is enough to get you more than enough business). You'll be bombarded with boxen that need a simple Windows reinstall. What I have been doing is simply swapping hard drives, throwing down a standard Windows image (you'll have to accumulate them as you get different hardware along the way) and then bring everything back over into a backup folder and let the user sort it out (or charge more to make it nice).
I do it for $50 a pop which might seem low but once you get a system down, it takes no time whatsoever. Just buy a bunch of cheap, refub drives of various sizes to keep handy. Provided the user's hard drive doesn't have any bad sectors (extra money here as well), there's really nothing to it. Oh - and make sure that the PC has a valid Win2K or XP license sticker on it before accepting it.
I do about 20/month which works out to about an extra grand in spending cash for approximately 2 hours per night that I'm usually just watching TV anyway. This is strictly drop-off and pick up service. Everything else extra.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't Laugh (sorry for the RM file - use if you don't have it already).
MSN!?
That does NOT make sense.
I've always been fascinated by people's fixation on the share price when it means absolutely NOTHING in the grand scheme of things.
A stock's value is calculated by the share price times the total number of shares outstanding. Now, Hemos was quick to comment on the share price, but lacks the understanding to figure out just how much cash the company is raising and what the total value of the company will be at these levels.
But who cares?
It really doesn't matter because the average investor doesn't know any better. This is the same reason that stocks go up when the company announces a stock split. The idiots eat these stocks up because they think that there's something magical about owning a stock through the split. "The company gives you more shares", responded an ignorant investor after I queried him on his voracious appetite for buying companies that are ripe for splitting. What he failed to realize is that the price drops proportionally - the value of the company (and each investor's holdings) is the same before and after the split. But nevertheless, owning these companies through the split is often a very profitable method of investing simply because of all the ignorance out there. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large quantities.
It makes me want to shoot myself in the face.
What if Real didn't reverse engineer the iPod but, rather, simply came up with a file format that is identical to Apple's own? This would be perfectly legal as long as Real licensed things properly (unlikely that Apple would allow this, however).
Big Media
Isn't that redundant?
Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul for us TMBG/Gentoo fans.
And what about voice spam?
Your VoIP phone is sitting right there for any spammer to call. Now, there is no cost "barrier" for them to call you from outside the country. Now, most slashdotters will respond that they are l33t enough to create a whitelist-only calling system but the average Joe generally isn't offered this luxury and wouldn't be technical enough to understand how to implement it.
VoIP will become a new conduit for spam.
Why do they refuse to offer an iPod for $200?
Umm... Marketing?
The iPod is very successful. Right now, the people that are buying them are going to pay a premium. When this market is saturated, they can then sell lower priced versions. This is pretty straight forward economics.
I'll be one of the first to buy the cheap version that comes out around Christmas time.
Triangle, man
Triangle, man
Triangle man hates DRM man
They have a fight, triangle wins
Trinagle man
Consider that a chocolate bar or a can of Coke costs $1cdn here and when across the border the same candy or Coke costs $1usd, that alone accounts for the cost of living savings.
You must be a sugar fanatic.
Seriously.
Well, check out the article text once again:
Ever wondered if that expensive low latency memory was worth the cash?
Shouldn't that be cache ?
It should be noted that Questar is loading Linux on these Dell "white boxes". Dell has nothing to do with this decision. FWIW, Dell offers a "white box" service to mom&pop shops that don't want to build their own PCs. Once you become a distributor, you simply roll your own packages and sell the PC as your own brand. Questar is simply a white box distributor.
ANYONE can go out and do this. It doesn't mean that Dell has anything to do with selling Linux. This is secondary.
1) Cut old laser gun exactly in half (longitudinally)
2) Discard both halves
3) Replace with this.
Nobody'll be the wiser!
I don't see what the big deal is here.
The big deal is making it easy for Joe User to do it every day without thinking. I should remind you that Joe User is no scripting wizard.
Intel's Digital Briefcase will be realized with the introduction of the following technologies:
1) High-density, low-power, nonvolatile memory
2) Integrated logic & wireless
At this point, the Personal Server becomes feasible. A specification for "personal server compliant" operating systems helps any compliant PC in the world "log on to you", as they say in Soviet Russia. All of your preferences down to the last minute detail (wallpaper, favorites, browsing history, etc) will immediately be transferred to this particular PC and it will be as if it were your own.
This is close. Since Microsoft will try to "embrace and extend" this to the point that we can't use these devices without Windows, the open-source community will need to rapidly develop this into an open, robust standard that will work with all PCs. I give it two years... Power consumption will be the biggest issue. Otherwise, you could stick a WiFi link on an iPod and do it now (though I suppose it could be done with a cable that also supplies power).
So what?
I should point out that it is possible to set your caller ID to 5318008. It was fun on an inverted calculator and I don't see how inverted caller ID is any different.
I'm still wondering why the governments don't require free and "open source" text for public schools. In college, the professors used to change the text every semester so that the students couldn't sell the books back at the end of the semester (likely getting kick-backs from the text manufacturers, no doubt).
If just one state would sit down and even purchase some good works and make them freely available for modification and distribution, then the cost of education would be greatly reduced. Profs would be free to make changes at it fits their style so long as those changes are re-posted to the public. Students could read the texts online and/or print them.
What am I not seeing here?
What is the best brand of tinfoil for [anti-]radar?
It is called, "Foiled Again" and it is made by Hannah-Barbera.
This stuff will never penetrate my Tin Foil Apartment!
A child post indicated what I am doing - as long as they are good, you can wipe 'em and reuse them later on. You just need an initial batch to start the business.
Would the repair be done at the depot?
Right now, on-site repairs are handled mostly by independent certified techs. People call in for repair, the parts are sent to the tech who then drives out to the end-user and fixes the PC. UPS would simply hire these guys. Since the techs would all be lumped into a big building... it would be much cheaper than having them drive around indpendently (which UPS will probably do with these guys - offer both "depot" and on-site service).
Best of both worlds. Very smart.
These cells on light trucks can do slightly less than 62 - most of them only 45.
They're known as COLT45s!
*Ba-dop*
Thank you! I'll be here in Vegas until the 14th. Try the veal.
It also makes it easier to deal with unhappy customers. Just reinstall the old drive. I keep 'em for a week because there's the occasional unhappy camper (usually some idiot who copied their buddy's MS Office or TurboTax and doesn't have the install anymore).
Certainly...
Most PCs only have a 1-year warranty and if someone is going to pay for an extended warranty, then they generally would rather sit for hours on the phone with Dell than bring the PC my way. But I do disclose that I'm replacing the hard drive and give the user the option to keep their stocker for an extra $15.
What I've found is that, for the most part, the users that come to me are fed up with non English-speaking tech support monkeys who can't fix their PC. They couldn't care less about the warranty.
It really is too bad that Apple won't release an operating system for Intel hardware. I mean, I know that Steve Jobs was paid off to drop the project.
A pity, really. I would have paid lots for an Apple-on-Intel OS. I still think that they should still do it, though this would likely result in the assasination of most of Apple's management.
They could auction off the first few hundred thousand copies as "collectors editions". I'd probably pay a few hundred.
Why are they scared of working towards a standardized future?
Microsoft would rather have Windows-only spyware.
MS don't like anything "cross-platform". Witness the whole java fiasco that took 10 years to sort out.
But back to the spyware thing.
What is needed is a "standard working set" of open, cross-platform plug-ins for all browsers. Now, they don't have to be mandatory of default but we have to STOP PROMPTING JOE USERS with ActiveX security warnings because THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS.
But, in the mean time, I would suggest to everyone in need of a few bucks to start their own "Windows Reinstall" business. Simply put up a few flyers at grocery stores (sometimes, even word of mouth is enough to get you more than enough business). You'll be bombarded with boxen that need a simple Windows reinstall. What I have been doing is simply swapping hard drives, throwing down a standard Windows image (you'll have to accumulate them as you get different hardware along the way) and then bring everything back over into a backup folder and let the user sort it out (or charge more to make it nice).
I do it for $50 a pop which might seem low but once you get a system down, it takes no time whatsoever. Just buy a bunch of cheap, refub drives of various sizes to keep handy. Provided the user's hard drive doesn't have any bad sectors (extra money here as well), there's really nothing to it. Oh - and make sure that the PC has a valid Win2K or XP license sticker on it before accepting it.
I do about 20/month which works out to about an extra grand in spending cash for approximately 2 hours per night that I'm usually just watching TV anyway. This is strictly drop-off and pick up service. Everything else extra.