Expansion slots are all well and good, but the problem is that the expansions take up those slots. On the handspring, if you wanted to use a camera expansion, you could not simultaneously use the extra memory expansion. The MP3 modules had to have their own external SD media slots, etc.
Also, the reason it doesn't make sense to have large storage on a PDA today is that nobody does (it's a catch 22 situation - there are no large drives because there are no large apps - there are no large apps because there are no large drives)
But if you think about it, having a gig of storage may let you have enough training data to have a reasonably accurate speech recognition engine, which would solve a lot of input problems on PDAs - and that's just one of the potential applications.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to watch a movie while on the train to work in the morning? Or catch up on last night's Simpsons episode?
For most high-end color devices, it's already there. This is not really too big a deal - the high end PDAs come with cradles that people make a habit of sticking them into every night. Nobody really bitches about the fact that their cell phones need to be charged every evening after work.
Face it, how often is it that you're away from any outlet for over 24 hours? The few people that have these situations can splurge for a replacement battery/addon battery pack/solar panel/hand crank/whatever.
Considering that there are Sony CLIE's that go for around the price of a full-featured desktop (with a monitor) from Dell, I don't see this as a big problem for the high-end market at all...
Consider, the flash memory it would be replacing probably costs around 40-50 bucks, so the price increase would only amount to 50-60 dollars for a tenfold increase in storage capacities.
I can't wait to have these start appearing in all sorts of Palm devices. The processors and screens of these guys have long caught up to the PC's of min 90's, but the sotrage capacities have been hovering around late 80's levels with the micro-drives being too large to fit in.
Finally we may see a handheld where storage is not a limited factor.
Another good application would be digital cameras.
While many people who pirate software can claim that because the publisher suffers no physical loss of product, no actual theft has taken place, phone phreakers of old have no such defense. The global reach of the internet and the falling prices of Long Distance calls have made freaking a thing of the past, but it was quite widespread back in the late 80s and early 90s. Did you (meaning Phreakers in general) have any ethical qualms about stealing service not only from the big bell companies, but also sometimes from their customers who were later forced to pay for the phone charges that were run up?
My ISP has been offering this with all the old consoles for a few years now. And I don't even have to pay anything extra - it's included in the monthly fee I pay.
Though because it's an advanced feature, they don't publicize it. I have to google for these games myself. They even code-named them "ROMZ" so that newbie users don't stumble on them by accident and cause a support nightmare.
Actually, this is a very good move. I'm surprised more companies don't do it. Even if cabinets themselveds make no money, it's like having an ad for your system and games placed where people go to see cool games.
This is probably going to be more effective than any other form of advertising, and all for a price of a monitor and a few plywood panels painted in bright colors. If they're smart, they'll give these owners at low prices, just to get good positioning.
If you bothered to read the article, you would know that the game is divvied up into two campaigns:
The "Good" campaign is about making do mostly with "hero" units, while the "evil" campaign is about massive buildups of force (possibly resulting from resource mining).
Whoa... Don't be knocking Windows software. Whatever issues you may have with the OS and the business model of the company behind it, a quick visit to download.com will show you thousands of useful and stable software. A lot of which you can get for free.
When it comes to desktop apps/utils, the sheer popularity of the Windows system ensures a wide abundance of quality software. Of course, there is also a wide array of crappy software, but I then that's found on any system (just check out perversiontracker.com for some OS X examples).
Given that most of the unwanted mail I get nowadays is the Klez worm and some asshole named "Big Boss", I doubt this legislature will accomplish any meaningful solution to the spam problem. The answer ultimately has to come from the technological front.
It's a little surprising to me that we have not heard anything about a Shuttle equivalent of an airliner's black box. Surely such a thing should exist on the Shuttle, where risk of a catastrophe is much higher, and measures ought to be taken to make sure such things do not happen again.
A better Response to Apple would be if PC laptop manufacturers spent a bit more time disigning the hardware. To most consumers who chose Apple, the appeal is not their software or hardware specs, but the sleekness of their machines.
If someone came out with a decently specced Intel laptop that looked like a Ti-Book, I would go out and buy it the very first day. A friend of mine who is in the market for a laptop spend ten minutes walking though CompUSA's PC notebook section, and said "Why do they all have to be so ugly?"
Following this statement, mr Valenti went on to say that the MPAA is looking into the shady activities of the system administrators worldwide, who persist in regularly backing up untold amounts of data.
"All I am saying," he said, "is that there is currently no oversight over the information that is getting duplicated. In other words, for all we know these people could be backing up my clients' protected material. My clients are simply requesting a reasonable amount of access to this data to verify that it doesn't contain any of our intillectual property."
Mr. Valenti then asked the SysAdmin industry can justify spending so much money on "backing up" untold Terrabytes of content even though the data is in digital, format which does not degrade.
"I'm not accusing them of anything, but I think they are stealing content," he concluded.
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Also, the reason it doesn't make sense to have large storage on a PDA today is that nobody does (it's a catch 22 situation - there are no large drives because there are no large apps - there are no large apps because there are no large drives)
But if you think about it, having a gig of storage may let you have enough training data to have a reasonably accurate speech recognition engine, which would solve a lot of input problems on PDAs - and that's just one of the potential applications.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to watch a movie while on the train to work in the morning? Or catch up on last night's Simpsons episode?
Face it, how often is it that you're away from any outlet for over 24 hours? The few people that have these situations can splurge for a replacement battery/addon battery pack/solar panel/hand crank/whatever.
Consider, the flash memory it would be replacing probably costs around 40-50 bucks, so the price increase would only amount to 50-60 dollars for a tenfold increase in storage capacities.
Now all we have to solve is the battery problem.
Finally we may see a handheld where storage is not a limited factor.
Another good application would be digital cameras.
Imagine a full-blown J2EE app with Enterprise Java Beans on [one/a Beowulf Cluster] of those! :)
Though because it's an advanced feature, they don't publicize it. I have to google for these games myself. They even code-named them "ROMZ" so that newbie users don't stumble on them by accident and cause a support nightmare.
This is probably going to be more effective than any other form of advertising, and all for a price of a monitor and a few plywood panels painted in bright colors. If they're smart, they'll give these owners at low prices, just to get good positioning.
Do I get to "play" till the machine dies?
The "Good" campaign is about making do mostly with "hero" units, while the "evil" campaign is about massive buildups of force (possibly resulting from resource mining).
So no inconsistencies here.
When it comes to desktop apps/utils, the sheer popularity of the Windows system ensures a wide abundance of quality software. Of course, there is also a wide array of crappy software, but I then that's found on any system (just check out perversiontracker.com for some OS X examples).
Is the analysys "excellent yet lengthy" or "lengthy yet excellent"? There is a big difference :)
Blimey!
Given that most of the unwanted mail I get nowadays is the Klez worm and some asshole named "Big Boss", I doubt this legislature will accomplish any meaningful solution to the spam problem. The answer ultimately has to come from the technological front.
Would look cool with a window and neon lights.
It's a little surprising to me that we have not heard anything about a Shuttle equivalent of an airliner's black box. Surely such a thing should exist on the Shuttle, where risk of a catastrophe is much higher, and measures ought to be taken to make sure such things do not happen again.
If Russia is canning space tourism, does that mean we're stuck with Lance Bass?
"Quick, protect the queen"
"Which one is the queen?"
"I am"
"No you're not!"
Apu: "Mister Simpson, please do not offer my GOD a peanut."
Stupud tipo.
APU: "Mister Simpson, please do not offer my got a peanut."
If someone came out with a decently specced Intel laptop that looked like a Ti-Book, I would go out and buy it the very first day. A friend of mine who is in the market for a laptop spend ten minutes walking though CompUSA's PC notebook section, and said "Why do they all have to be so ugly?"
Appearance does matter.
Unless one of them is a Mac.
Not everyone has a CDRW, and not everyone has USB key-drives. But ALL PCs have floppies.
"All I am saying," he said, "is that there is currently no oversight over the information that is getting duplicated. In other words, for all we know these people could be backing up my clients' protected material. My clients are simply requesting a reasonable amount of access to this data to verify that it doesn't contain any of our intillectual property."
Mr. Valenti then asked the SysAdmin industry can justify spending so much money on "backing up" untold Terrabytes of content even though the data is in digital, format which does not degrade.
"I'm not accusing them of anything, but I think they are stealing content," he concluded.