Been there, done that. The "Google PC" is nothing more than a typical competitor to what's already there. The Wal-Mart maneuver is going to be a bad one because Wal-Marts are already being actively boycotted due to their Juggernaut marketing practices. I can just as easily stick to the Fry's Electronics "major name brand" computer made by GQ for $179. It runs Lindows out of the box and comes with the basic keyboard, mouse, speakers, and necessary media.
I feel the "Google PC" is going to be a big flop and will only be a hit among those who use gMail. Even then, most of them will realize, they can get the same quality for less; elsewhere, but will end up buying a decent laptop anyway. Perhaps a smarter move would be to purchase Microsoft.
Well, it's true, the iPod is part of everything now. The damned player actually has a DJ mixer docking station now that let's you plug 2 iPods in and even has HiFi speakers/PA speakers available. You've got to be kidding me...
I'm definitely with you on this one. The browser itself should be blamed for automatically assuming the encoding. It's like IE assumes anyone from Mexico is Italian; sure the languages share common words, but it doesn't make them the makers of spicy sausage, shoes, and Ducati motorcycles.
As for Google going the extra 0.621371192 miles to make sure the end user is protected against this, I do praise them for their efforts. The part in the article that caught my eye was the segment near the bottom showing when this problem was fixed (see below). This is hardly news.
--[ Solution
=20
Google solved the aforementioned issues at 01/12/2005, by using=20
Don't get me wrong, I love the Canadians and I think their culture is wonderful, but I don't think they have the work experience to develop a full-scale let's-go-take-over-the-universe space shuttle. I just hope they realize they're on the spot here; on a stage in front of the world as many watch in curiosity to see what's created. I just don't want to see the Canadians shoot themselves in the foot by crapping up a shuttle design with "ergonomic" chairs, iPod docks, and anything else "pop-culture" because the very thing they're designing has an integral purpose and is not for joy-riding.
Of course, something with a variable-phase tractor beam, ion propulsion drives, and a 0-60 time of 0.02 seconds would be nice. I like to feel that backward thrust into my captain's chair every time I lean on the accelerator!
It's like getting financial advice from Martha Stewart or home decorating advice from Ray Charles. It's like getting advice about avoiding sexually trasmitted diseases from Majic Johnson and advice about talking out your problems from Mike Tyson. "Learning to share" lessons provided by George Bush or how to run a successful, stable government by Fidel Castro.
It's like getting advice on how to date someone in your age group by Katie Holmes or getting advice on developing a quality singing voice by Ashley Simpson. Building a hotrod is best advised by the creators of the Sparrow. It's like being advised on making a stable kernel by Bill Gates or building a gaming system by Dell. *ZING!*
Because, with a PC, when the game gets "too advanced" to run and my frame rate lands in the toilet, I can always swap in a bad-ass video card, or more RAM, or a faster CPU, or lights, fans, beer-cooling peltiers, phone chargers, or any other exciting mod/hardware that tickles my pickle, bro. The console is good for gaming, but at least I can still check email, process photos, and draw something pretty on mine.
Open Slashdot->Preferences, then go to the "Homepage" tab, then look under "Customize Stories on the Homepage"
You can disable Zonk right there -- his posts will never reach your browser again. (This is compatible with all web browsers I've tested, though you have to enable cookies. But then cookies are such delicious delicacies, you have to wonder why anyone would want to disable them other than being on a diet.)
After cutting out all my cookies and java, I dropped 40 pounds! Bad part is, I hear someone baking up Krumpet v1.0 and Teacup Runtime Environment v0.8_04 in the background.
String! I knew I was missing something there all along! Who would have thought a $400 computer could be fixed SIMPLY by knotting a piece of string about the power supply? Why didn't _I_ think of that!?!?
I suppose the only real reason I hadn't thought of that was because I don't have the luxury of sitting in a fluorescently-lit room with the air conditioner pushed down to 64F. I live in freakin' TEXAS you dolts! The only cold weather I experience is from my mother-in-law when she visits on holiday! The rest of the year is plagued by blood-sucking mosquitos the size of a Boeing 737 aircrafts, triple digit temperatures, and over one thousand percent humidity.
When one of you God-forsaken engineers at Microsoft comes up with a worthwhile solution to this lackluster power supply design defect, let us know. Until then, my bit of string and perhaps a square of cork are all I need to prop up my unit for optimum functional pleasure.
If I were a spammer, I'd have thousands of new mass-mailing nodes with which to send mail.
If I were a hacker, thousands of different hops to baffle authorities on my wire-transfer scheme.
If I were a virus writer, I'd have that many more infectuous terminals bouncing viruses to a plethora of networks.
If I were a malicious code author, I'd have an army of darkness composed of all your zombified laptops.
Not to mention the amount of support we'd have to give these people when the damned things break. Since most of these people don't even own a car, they have no idea what 'maintenance' is. They'll assume they can use it as a chopping block, doorstop, an object to level a rocking couch, or perhaps just throw it on a pile of old magazines and hope for the best as one of their cats pees on it. The laptop may be $100 or less, but what about that $100 hard drive replacement? Maintaining these machines will be more of a pain than building them. Do you expect people of third-world countries to be perfect computer users? HA! PIBCAK! "Oh, your keyboard won't function? That's $129.99 to repair, but free, under the warranty that just ran out this morning." While we're at it, let's give Corvette keys to chimps. Some would say Chevy drivers ARE chimps...
Well, if you keep exporting our f*cking jobs and keep lowering our pay while the cost of everything else rises, how the hell are we supposed to dress, Geeeeenius? At this rate, in 10 years, I'll be coming to work in a burlap potato sack with holes cut out for my arms to pass through, Wonder Bread bags on my feet, and a used McHairnet for a hat. Thank you so much your majesty for not having me strung up for not finding the email YOU deleted and for providing me $100 for my family's income. My three kids thank you and God for letting them have a slice of bread every two days. My point is, despite higher education, it's the managers' wallets that wind up fatter in the end. You say so yourselves, in order to make money, you have to spend a little first.
...employ these new super-mice in the Army and have the Army show up on Bin Laden's doorstep, dump a crate of these wall-infesting; head-mounted, laser-cannon-sporting mice to crawl through the caves of the middle east. If equipped with small beacons, would be able to radio back to "home base" (your laptop or other system) and show you where they're going topographically, thus rendering a 3-D model of what a cave might look like on the inside. I love ADHD...
No kidding... this is one of THE dumbest ideas I've ever heard. It's right up there with providing Carnival cruise ships for Katrina victims. It's premium bullshit. Do you really think these kids are going to keep a laptop when they can't even remember their lunches for school? Why would they keep something expensive that they can't understand when they can just as easily trade it for a new pair of kicks? (Nikees) *swoosh!*
I know I'm begging to be labeled as Flame-Bait, but they can eat me. I'll let them start dictating when and how I can make my own videos when they start shelling benjamins out to me. It's my hardware, my time, my efforts, and my money. MINE. If they're really all that concerned about protecting their revenue, maybe they should produce something that doesn't suck like stupid movie with that guy wearing a shirt that says, "Vote for Pedro". Is it sad that the shirt has a bigger name in public than the movie itself? I honestly can't remember that movie's name. We'd better keep an eye on this movement because I bet if they win, they'll charge us royalties on amateur movies at film festivals...
What you really need to do, is scout around a bit. Pick someone you know is a low-profile person in the area, but makes a decent amount of money. No point it stealing from the poor, right?;-)
Some paycheck companies still print your SSN on your paycheck, if so, complain about it to your paycheck company/employer. Some companies also mail paycheck stubs home, so be sure to check your victim's mailbox on a Thursday or Friday to get the info. Since you're there, grab his pizza coupons too - you might need them later.
If there's a monthly statement in the mailbox, you're in luck. You can find out what bank he/she goes to, have access to where that person is, how often they frequent the area, and what they like to eat, wear, do, and so forth.
Call the bank. If it's like my bank, you can verify yourself as the account holder just by answering these questions, three. What is your home address? What is your checking account number? What is the airspeed velocity of an unlaiden swallow? Just kidding about the last one.
Once verified, you transfer an unsaid amount to an account of your choice, then withdraw the full amount and close the account when funds are available. Usually, this is done over a 24-hour period. This also works best near the holidays as most people are spending money and wrapping gifts too quickly to balance their checkbooks.
With money in hand, SSN, address, checking account information, and a fistfull of pizza coupons, you can now order a large, hand-tossed pie with sausage and peppers, go on vacation, and be referred to as Angela Veeto. Now that you were clever enough to have the bank issue you another card (which activates upon first use and discontinues the previous card at the same time), and intercepted it at the victim's house, you can finally go on a 24-hour spending spree at the nudee-bar. It's just that easy.
That's a fantastic idea, but the problem is that there are more companies out there tied to Sony! What about BMG? Should we officially cease any future purchases from them? One of the biggest problems in America is that everyone is owned by someone and they still operate under their original name. If we started as Compaq, were bought out by HP, why the hell are we still "Compaq"???
As for Sony devices, I've had nothing but problems and disappointed every time. My DVD drive refuses to read certain CDs and DVDs, my MicroVault fried in my shirt pocket during transport from work to home, and my 5.1MP digital camera with a Carl Zeiss lens still takes blurred pictures despite being in full daylight and ISO-400 mode. It's not like I'm taking pictures of the sun or anything... closing the shutter actually means, "CLOSING THE SHUTTER".
In 1968, there were fast cars, good music, and free sex with hot women. In 2005, there are "sexy" cars, free music, and fast women. In 2042, there will be fast cars, decent music, and remember that woman from back in 2005...?
I just got a raise of a whole buck. Wow. Houston has got to be the worst when it comes to IT jobs. Since this is a two-cow, oil town, no one knows what a computer is and most lack the brain power to understand what one is, how it works, and what it takes to implement it! Problem is, most employers down here skimp on expenses so much that it actually hurts the company. Unfortunately, this is true of it's workers too. The employers pay crap wages, offer crap benefits that change every six months, and usually treat you like crap too since they can't relate to someone of your stature. Let's just say, if INS were here in Houston, they'd have a field day!
It is not the programmer who must make others happy, it is he who must find happiness within others for without their happiness, he will not know himself.
Guns don't kill people, I do - especially before I've had my morning coffee. I'm not a morning person by any means.
This whole law flat-out sucks because it's the government's attempt to control what parents admittedly can't! Have some balls, stand up to your kids and tell them, "NO, you can't have that game, I SAID SO." They don't need a reason, you are the final say in the matter and if your kid turns to your significant other and asks the same question, he/she better be bright enough to examine the product and consult you about it.
Another point that really irks me is that the law is NOT "virtual" by any means, yet the article says it governs "virtual" acts. This is similar to us, Americans, writing a law that prevents elderly German citizens from buying soda with caffeine. Yeah. Pointless. They should know better than to buy something that could potentially harm their health.
This is America dammit. If I wanna sit down in a restaurant with my two women; maybe three, eat a steak the size of Delaware and wash it down with a brewski or six, I will. If I wanna get a big, fat, sloppy burger with cheese oozing out the sides while pulling up to the drive-thru in a pink, sequinned thong while riding my Harley, I will. It may not be pretty, but you know, I don't need laws to tell me how to dress or how to raise my kids. Granted what I do may be embarrassing at times, but it's not illegal.
Besides, there's always the quote from The Terminator...
Terminator: The.45 Long Slide, with laser sighting. Clerk: These are brand new; we just got these in. That's a good gun. Just touch the trigger, the beam comes on and you put the red dot where you want the bullet to go. You can't miss. Anything else? Terminator: Phased-plasma rifle in the forty watt range. Clerk: Hey, just what you see, pal.
Slashdot Mirror
Been there, done that. The "Google PC" is nothing more than a typical competitor to what's already there. The Wal-Mart maneuver is going to be a bad one because Wal-Marts are already being actively boycotted due to their Juggernaut marketing practices. I can just as easily stick to the Fry's Electronics "major name brand" computer made by GQ for $179. It runs Lindows out of the box and comes with the basic keyboard, mouse, speakers, and necessary media.
I feel the "Google PC" is going to be a big flop and will only be a hit among those who use gMail. Even then, most of them will realize, they can get the same quality for less; elsewhere, but will end up buying a decent laptop anyway. Perhaps a smarter move would be to purchase Microsoft.
Well, it's true, the iPod is part of everything now. The damned player actually has a DJ mixer docking station now that let's you plug 2 iPods in and even has HiFi speakers/PA speakers available. You've got to be kidding me...
As for Google going the extra 0.621371192 miles to make sure the end user is protected against this, I do praise them for their efforts. The part in the article that caught my eye was the segment near the bottom showing when this problem was fixed (see below). This is hardly news.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Canadians and I think their culture is wonderful, but I don't think they have the work experience to develop a full-scale let's-go-take-over-the-universe space shuttle. I just hope they realize they're on the spot here; on a stage in front of the world as many watch in curiosity to see what's created. I just don't want to see the Canadians shoot themselves in the foot by crapping up a shuttle design with "ergonomic" chairs, iPod docks, and anything else "pop-culture" because the very thing they're designing has an integral purpose and is not for joy-riding.
Of course, something with a variable-phase tractor beam, ion propulsion drives, and a 0-60 time of 0.02 seconds would be nice. I like to feel that backward thrust into my captain's chair every time I lean on the accelerator!
It's like getting financial advice from Martha Stewart or home decorating advice from Ray Charles. It's like getting advice about avoiding sexually trasmitted diseases from Majic Johnson and advice about talking out your problems from Mike Tyson. "Learning to share" lessons provided by George Bush or how to run a successful, stable government by Fidel Castro.
It's like getting advice on how to date someone in your age group by Katie Holmes or getting advice on developing a quality singing voice by Ashley Simpson. Building a hotrod is best advised by the creators of the Sparrow. It's like being advised on making a stable kernel by Bill Gates or building a gaming system by Dell. *ZING!*
Because, with a PC, when the game gets "too advanced" to run and my frame rate lands in the toilet, I can always swap in a bad-ass video card, or more RAM, or a faster CPU, or lights, fans, beer-cooling peltiers, phone chargers, or any other exciting mod/hardware that tickles my pickle, bro. The console is good for gaming, but at least I can still check email, process photos, and draw something pretty on mine.
After cutting out all my cookies and java, I dropped 40 pounds! Bad part is, I hear someone baking up Krumpet v1.0 and Teacup Runtime Environment v0.8_04 in the background.
String! I knew I was missing something there all along! Who would have thought a $400 computer could be fixed SIMPLY by knotting a piece of string about the power supply? Why didn't _I_ think of that!?!?
I suppose the only real reason I hadn't thought of that was because I don't have the luxury of sitting in a fluorescently-lit room with the air conditioner pushed down to 64F. I live in freakin' TEXAS you dolts! The only cold weather I experience is from my mother-in-law when she visits on holiday! The rest of the year is plagued by blood-sucking mosquitos the size of a Boeing 737 aircrafts, triple digit temperatures, and over one thousand percent humidity.
When one of you God-forsaken engineers at Microsoft comes up with a worthwhile solution to this lackluster power supply design defect, let us know. Until then, my bit of string and perhaps a square of cork are all I need to prop up my unit for optimum functional pleasure.
If I were a spammer, I'd have thousands of new mass-mailing nodes with which to send mail.
If I were a hacker, thousands of different hops to baffle authorities on my wire-transfer scheme.
If I were a virus writer, I'd have that many more infectuous terminals bouncing viruses to a plethora of networks.
If I were a malicious code author, I'd have an army of darkness composed of all your zombified laptops.
Not to mention the amount of support we'd have to give these people when the damned things break. Since most of these people don't even own a car, they have no idea what 'maintenance' is. They'll assume they can use it as a chopping block, doorstop, an object to level a rocking couch, or perhaps just throw it on a pile of old magazines and hope for the best as one of their cats pees on it. The laptop may be $100 or less, but what about that $100 hard drive replacement? Maintaining these machines will be more of a pain than building them. Do you expect people of third-world countries to be perfect computer users? HA! PIBCAK! "Oh, your keyboard won't function? That's $129.99 to repair, but free, under the warranty that just ran out this morning." While we're at it, let's give Corvette keys to chimps. Some would say Chevy drivers ARE chimps...
Bring on the flamebait!
Well, if you keep exporting our f*cking jobs and keep lowering our pay while the cost of everything else rises, how the hell are we supposed to dress, Geeeeenius? At this rate, in 10 years, I'll be coming to work in a burlap potato sack with holes cut out for my arms to pass through, Wonder Bread bags on my feet, and a used McHairnet for a hat. Thank you so much your majesty for not having me strung up for not finding the email YOU deleted and for providing me $100 for my family's income. My three kids thank you and God for letting them have a slice of bread every two days. My point is, despite higher education, it's the managers' wallets that wind up fatter in the end. You say so yourselves, in order to make money, you have to spend a little first.
...employ these new super-mice in the Army and have the Army show up on Bin Laden's doorstep, dump a crate of these wall-infesting; head-mounted, laser-cannon-sporting mice to crawl through the caves of the middle east. If equipped with small beacons, would be able to radio back to "home base" (your laptop or other system) and show you where they're going topographically, thus rendering a 3-D model of what a cave might look like on the inside. I love ADHD...
No kidding... this is one of THE dumbest ideas I've ever heard. It's right up there with providing Carnival cruise ships for Katrina victims. It's premium bullshit. Do you really think these kids are going to keep a laptop when they can't even remember their lunches for school? Why would they keep something expensive that they can't understand when they can just as easily trade it for a new pair of kicks? (Nikees) *swoosh!*
Hey kid, wanna buy some weed? I currently accept cash, baseball cards, and $100 laptops.
I know I'm begging to be labeled as Flame-Bait, but they can eat me. I'll let them start dictating when and how I can make my own videos when they start shelling benjamins out to me. It's my hardware, my time, my efforts, and my money. MINE. If they're really all that concerned about protecting their revenue, maybe they should produce something that doesn't suck like stupid movie with that guy wearing a shirt that says, "Vote for Pedro". Is it sad that the shirt has a bigger name in public than the movie itself? I honestly can't remember that movie's name. We'd better keep an eye on this movement because I bet if they win, they'll charge us royalties on amateur movies at film festivals...
What you really need to do, is scout around a bit. Pick someone you know is a low-profile person in the area, but makes a decent amount of money. No point it stealing from the poor, right? ;-)
Some paycheck companies still print your SSN on your paycheck, if so, complain about it to your paycheck company/employer. Some companies also mail paycheck stubs home, so be sure to check your victim's mailbox on a Thursday or Friday to get the info. Since you're there, grab his pizza coupons too - you might need them later.
If there's a monthly statement in the mailbox, you're in luck. You can find out what bank he/she goes to, have access to where that person is, how often they frequent the area, and what they like to eat, wear, do, and so forth.
Call the bank. If it's like my bank, you can verify yourself as the account holder just by answering these questions, three. What is your home address? What is your checking account number? What is the airspeed velocity of an unlaiden swallow? Just kidding about the last one.
Once verified, you transfer an unsaid amount to an account of your choice, then withdraw the full amount and close the account when funds are available. Usually, this is done over a 24-hour period. This also works best near the holidays as most people are spending money and wrapping gifts too quickly to balance their checkbooks.
With money in hand, SSN, address, checking account information, and a fistfull of pizza coupons, you can now order a large, hand-tossed pie with sausage and peppers, go on vacation, and be referred to as Angela Veeto. Now that you were clever enough to have the bank issue you another card (which activates upon first use and discontinues the previous card at the same time), and intercepted it at the victim's house, you can finally go on a 24-hour spending spree at the nudee-bar. It's just that easy.
That's a fantastic idea, but the problem is that there are more companies out there tied to Sony! What about BMG? Should we officially cease any future purchases from them? One of the biggest problems in America is that everyone is owned by someone and they still operate under their original name. If we started as Compaq, were bought out by HP, why the hell are we still "Compaq"???
As for Sony devices, I've had nothing but problems and disappointed every time. My DVD drive refuses to read certain CDs and DVDs, my MicroVault fried in my shirt pocket during transport from work to home, and my 5.1MP digital camera with a Carl Zeiss lens still takes blurred pictures despite being in full daylight and ISO-400 mode. It's not like I'm taking pictures of the sun or anything... closing the shutter actually means, "CLOSING THE SHUTTER".
In 1968, there were fast cars, good music, and free sex with hot women.
In 2005, there are "sexy" cars, free music, and fast women.
In 2042, there will be fast cars, decent music, and remember that woman from back in 2005...?
...rats decided they had enough of the corporate, bureaucratic bullshit and conspired to tote AK-47 assault rifles to work. :-)
quit hittin' yourself... quit hittin' yourself! *smack, smack, smack* lol
If you're employed by Research In Motion, does that mean you've got a RIM-job?
I just got a raise of a whole buck. Wow. Houston has got to be the worst when it comes to IT jobs. Since this is a two-cow, oil town, no one knows what a computer is and most lack the brain power to understand what one is, how it works, and what it takes to implement it! Problem is, most employers down here skimp on expenses so much that it actually hurts the company. Unfortunately, this is true of it's workers too. The employers pay crap wages, offer crap benefits that change every six months, and usually treat you like crap too since they can't relate to someone of your stature. Let's just say, if INS were here in Houston, they'd have a field day!
It is not the programmer who must make others happy, it is he who must find happiness within others for without their happiness, he will not know himself.
This whole law flat-out sucks because it's the government's attempt to control what parents admittedly can't! Have some balls, stand up to your kids and tell them, "NO, you can't have that game, I SAID SO." They don't need a reason, you are the final say in the matter and if your kid turns to your significant other and asks the same question, he/she better be bright enough to examine the product and consult you about it.
Another point that really irks me is that the law is NOT "virtual" by any means, yet the article says it governs "virtual" acts. This is similar to us, Americans, writing a law that prevents elderly German citizens from buying soda with caffeine. Yeah. Pointless. They should know better than to buy something that could potentially harm their health.
This is America dammit. If I wanna sit down in a restaurant with my two women; maybe three, eat a steak the size of Delaware and wash it down with a brewski or six, I will. If I wanna get a big, fat, sloppy burger with cheese oozing out the sides while pulling up to the drive-thru in a pink, sequinned thong while riding my Harley, I will. It may not be pretty, but you know, I don't need laws to tell me how to dress or how to raise my kids. Granted what I do may be embarrassing at times, but it's not illegal.
Besides, there's always the quote from The Terminator...
Did someone mention porn and a hot meal? :-)