Visions of Ernestine: "Please deposit one die-yimm."
Seriously, I'd love to see $0.35 for the first 15 minutes and $0.25 for each 15 minutes thereafter.
Most airports/greedy hotspots charge $10 for 24 hours of wireless access when you're only in the fricken terminal for 90 minutes. Starbucks charges the same as some ISPs ($30/month). No, thanks. Really.
Things will only change if you actually do something about it. I *always* complain if I have the time, I will mail the webmaster and point out that there is an HTML standard, point them at a dodgy validation of their site via validator.w3.org [w3.org], and point out that they lose money, one way or another.
So get off your ass, knock up a form letter, keep it handy, and complain!
I understand the urge toward vitriol, but remember that carrots work, too. If your on-line banking service does support multiple browsers, write them a nice "thank you" note. Your mother would be so happy. Go. Do.
"The real killer with this whole genre of device is cost and confusion."
Based on a wide sample (here, me), merchants are doing nothing to reduce confusion. I bought a TiVo at Best Buy two weeks ago. They were boxed on a shelf. No demo unit was set up. No remote was available to touch and use. They had the cables baggie lying out, so I was able to see that I didn't need to buy any, but that was it.
The reason TiVo rocks is its functionality, interface, and ease of use. I heard about it from fellow geeks. If you're not showing those features to Joe and Jane Consumer, why would they be interested?
... Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly, and 27 Other Saturday Science Projects by Neil Downie. $13.27 at Amazon and it ships in 24 hours.
The book is chock full of science-geekly fun. The demonstrations are clear and exciting. Kids will love them. The accompanying explanations are in-depth. If you do them all and learn why they work, you'll soak up a fair amount of physics.
Listen to Ookla the Mok while you read. Their tune "View Master" is a great piece of pop culture nostalgia.
I can't believe it's been so long
Since I stayed up past my bedtime just to play a game of Pong My Sit and Spin has got me in a whirl Was it twenty years ago That I'd get up once a week to watch the Krofft Supershow With Electra Woman and Dynagirl?
According to Danger's FAQ, "Initially, the hiptop device will provide for importing of contacts from most PIM applications." [emphasis mine]
Importing is a one-way street; it's not the same as syncing. Third party sync solutions are expected in early 2003. Like I said, this is incredibly cool tech. I'm still waiting awhile before I plunk down my hard-earned bucks.
Beware, though. It acts like a PDA, but it's missing a vital piece of functionality. There's no way to share information with other devices. Sidekick gives you a calendar all right, but you can't sync it with your desktop. Ditto for the ToDo and Address Book.
I'm waiting till it plays nice with other hardware before I plunk down my money.
This device is unutterably Cool. I played with a working prototype more than a year ago. I'll buy one when it plays nice with others.
Right now, once you put data in, there's no easy way to get it back out. The OS is proprietary and there are no Palm or PC conduits to sync data with your favorite PIM.
Without synchronization, you might as well go back to pen and paper. Your traveling address book will never match your home book either way.
And I hate tabs. They are annoying in the photoshop toolsets, *snip* I like having pages in seperate windows so that I can resize them however I feel apropriate for comparing the data I'm looking at.
Uh, newsflash: You don't have to use tabs in Mozilla. It's perfectly happy to open new windows if that's what you want. So far, the best thing about Mozilla is that I can make behave as I want it to.
That being said, I'm going to grab the spiffy new version of Opera and play with it lots.
The Edmonton Journal article says that GRACE's handlers used hand signals and voice cues to help her navigate and perform. That makes her registering for the conference merely interesting, not jaw-dropping amazing.
Those saying "just use books" haven't been reading education research. People, not just kids, learn best when they can get at concepts through multiple modalities: type, graphics, animations, sounds, music. It's not just for fun, people. Take a look at the math and science tools near the bottom here.
And speaking of fun . . . everyone learns more when they're engaged and having fun. Surprise, surprise, kids are more likely to retain concepts and actually stay in school if they have enjoyable, relevant experiences. They see technology as relevant to their lives in ways that dry textbooks aren't.
For those concerned about price and durability, there are cheap, durable PDAs coming to market. Alphasmart's Dana was recently discussed here on Slashdot.
How appropriate . . . finding out early on a Saturday morning.
My parents always hated how I would cheerfully get up at 6:45 a.m. on a Sataurday to watch Bugs & Daffy, but had to be dragged out of bed kicking and screaming on school days.
I miss the explosive (sometimes literally) creativity of those early years of studio animation. Chuck Jones was at the heart of it.
They say you're old when your childhood icons begin to die. This morning, I feel a lot older.
Have fun rescripting the afterlife, Mr. Jones. I'm sure heaven will never be =quite= the same.
Why not combine your cell phone and PDA in one convenient package? I got tired of toting around all the bits and pieces for both and got a Visorphone. It integrates it all painlessly.
Even that will be trailing edge tech by Xmas. Look for all the major players to come out with some spiffy, new combination PDA/phones with a good form factor.
Use a Visorphone. *poof* Your cell phone, PDA, and alpha pager are one device.
Or, you can wait till someone comes up with a slicker merging of those functions.
Me, I want my toys NOW.
Slashdot Mirror
Most airports/greedy hotspots charge $10 for 24 hours of wireless access when you're only in the fricken terminal for 90 minutes. Starbucks charges the same as some ISPs ($30/month). No, thanks. Really.
Karma is what happens zwischen posts.
Karma is what happens between posts.
The reason TiVo rocks is its functionality, interface, and ease of use. I heard about it from fellow geeks. If you're not showing those features to Joe and Jane Consumer, why would they be interested?
Karma is what occurs between posts.
The book is chock full of science-geekly fun. The demonstrations are clear and exciting. Kids will love them. The accompanying explanations are in-depth. If you do them all and learn why they work, you'll soak up a fair amount of physics.
The full lyrics are here.
Karma is what happens between the posts.
Karma is what happens between the posts.
I love the look and user interface.
Beware, though. It acts like a PDA, but it's missing a vital piece of functionality. There's no way to share information with other devices. Sidekick gives you a calendar all right, but you can't sync it with your desktop. Ditto for the ToDo and Address Book.
I'm waiting till it plays nice with other hardware before I plunk down my money.
This device is unutterably Cool. I played with a working prototype more than a year ago. I'll buy one when it plays nice with others.
Right now, once you put data in, there's no easy way to get it back out. The OS is proprietary and there are no Palm or PC conduits to sync data with your favorite PIM.
Without synchronization, you might as well go back to pen and paper. Your traveling address book will never match your home book either way.
Uh, newsflash: You don't have to use tabs in Mozilla. It's perfectly happy to open new windows if that's what you want. So far, the best thing about Mozilla is that I can make behave as I want it to.
That being said, I'm going to grab the spiffy new version of Opera and play with it lots.
The Edmonton Journal article says that GRACE's handlers used hand signals and voice cues to help her navigate and perform. That makes her registering for the conference merely interesting, not jaw-dropping amazing.
. . . an epistolary novel. Look it up.
Aargh. For that last paragrah, sub "durable Palm OS-based devices" for "durable PDAs.
And speaking of fun . . . everyone learns more when they're engaged and having fun. Surprise, surprise, kids are more likely to retain concepts and actually stay in school if they have enjoyable, relevant experiences. They see technology as relevant to their lives in ways that dry textbooks aren't.
For those concerned about price and durability, there are cheap, durable PDAs coming to market. Alphasmart's Dana was recently discussed here on Slashdot.
. . . because they haven't released a final version for Mac OS X. It's been in fourth effin' beta for months, now. When is the fat lady gonna sing?
Fortunately, Mozilla rocks.
Dear Bill:
I think Sony has a great idea here. Why don't we open the source for Clippy?
Your friend,
Steve
it's the partitioning (umm . . . mostly). Other comments about usability and feature sets are valid, too.
Joe User is terrified about messing around with the overall layout of his harddrive. J.U. also probably hasn't done a full backup in months.
If OEMs could provide alternative operating systems pre-installed, a lot of this barrier would vanish.
How appropriate . . . finding out early on a Saturday morning.
My parents always hated how I would cheerfully get up at 6:45 a.m. on a Sataurday to watch Bugs & Daffy, but had to be dragged out of bed kicking and screaming on school days.
I miss the explosive (sometimes literally) creativity of those early years of studio animation. Chuck Jones was at the heart of it.
They say you're old when your childhood icons begin to die. This morning, I feel a lot older.
Have fun rescripting the afterlife, Mr. Jones. I'm sure heaven will never be =quite= the same.
Why not combine your cell phone and PDA in one convenient package? I got tired of toting around all the bits and pieces for both and got a Visorphone. It integrates it all painlessly.
Even that will be trailing edge tech by Xmas. Look for all the major players to come out with some spiffy, new combination PDA/phones with a good form factor.
Use a Visorphone. *poof* Your cell phone, PDA, and alpha pager are one device. Or, you can wait till someone comes up with a slicker merging of those functions. Me, I want my toys NOW.