I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99
on
Gmail Addresses For Sale
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I see all of the posts about "why would anyone pay for a free email account?", etc. I got mine about 5 minutes after that CNET story first hit on Friday. I immediately went to Ebay and searched for "gmail." After several screen refreshes, a "Buy It Now" listing for $19.99 popped up. I snapped it up immediately.
Why? Even though my name is not that common, someone already has it registered on Hotmail and Yahoo. So I have to add numbers, etc., to my name and I have never liked that. It was worth $20 for me to get my own name at Gmail.com.
The question about couldn't Google wipe out the Gmail accounts when it's out of beta is ridiculous. The first people they gave Gmail accounts to were Google employees and "friends of the company." Why would they piss those people off by canceling the beta accounts and making them then compete for usernames with the rest of the unwashed masses? They could, but they won't.
Finally, if you have used Gmail, it is a damn good email service. There are few tweaks they need to make - the contacts management functions lags far behind Yahoo and Hotmail, for example, and, to my knowledge, there is no way to have desktop email alerts such as you get with Yahoo Messenger or Microsoft IM - but there is no question that they will fix these.
Flame on, but I think that Gmail will ultimately surpass Yahoo and Hotmail for web-based email.
I was looking for a BikeE recumbent bike. There weren't any on Ebay. I tried "Bike-E" with a hyphen. There was an almost brand new demo model listed for $500. (They retailed for about $1200 at the time, I think.) I bought it, didn't even take it out of the box, relisted it with the correct spelling, and sold it for $850 seven days later. (I did have to pay for the bike to be shipped to me, which was about $35, I think.)
I have also found that you can buy items that are poorly described and relist them with more thorough descriptions, links to the manufacturer's website, better photos, etc., and they will typically sell for higher than you paid for them.
I have heard the $50 price differential - to the downside when compared with the flash MP3 players and to the upside when compared with the 15GB iPod - argued to death. (Personally, I side with the argument that being able to buy an additional 11GB of memory for only $50 more makes it a no-brainer to go with the 15GB iPod. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I have the 40GB 3G iPod, which I love.)
In my opinion, the problem with the Mini iPod is not the price, it is the design. First, the look itself is, in my opinion, very staid and ho-hum. When I first saw the iPod, or the silver G4, or the Cube, or the flat panel iMac, I was completely blown away because each design was so different and better than anything else out there (even if the products themselves, such as the Cube, left something to be desired). I don't feel that in the slightest with the Mini iPod. It doesn't even look as good as the original iPod - as if Apple has taken a step backward rather than forward. There is nothing really novel or unique about its design other than its size - and it is really not that much smaller than the 3G iPod (especially the 15GB and 20GB models). Second, the brushed aluminum looks dated to me, especially in the colors they offer it in. Why not offer a Mini iPod in the same-colored white enclosure as the original iPod? You know you have a huge market for the original iPod, why not exploit those in that market who love the original iPod but would prefer the smaller form factor? Second, does anyone remember the infamous "black iPod" that was actually a photo of the white iPod in the dark to show the backlighting? Personally, I would love to have a black iPod. Apple had to be aware of the rumors about that black iPod and the excitement about it. Why no black Mini iPod? Third, as others have pointed out, you're not really talking about spending $250, you're talking about spending $350 or $400 to get the armband, dock, remote, and case you really need to get the most out of the Mini iPod. Maybe that's not technically a design issue and more of a packaging issue, but if they had included all of that stuff it would be a more complete "design" or "package" - whatever you want to call it.
Some people will prefer the Mini iPod just because of the smaller form factor. However, if they had simply made it cooler looking and an clear forward design evolution from the original iPod, they probably would have had a huge hit on their hands. These things may still sell well due to the Apple market's loyalty and the disposable income of people who will want a Mini iPod in addition to their larger original iPods, but I think Apple missed a golden opportunity here. Either improve the design and sell it at $250 or put out a lackluster design like this one and sell it at the $100 or $150 the rumor sites were talking about. Add support for other music compression formats and you are talking domination of the MP3 market for the foreseeable future. Hell, Apple has never gotten it 100% right in the past, why should anyone expect them to now?
...to individual games. Kind of flies in the face of the whole Doom spirit of "let's release the code and let the gamers develop their own levels, etc."
I have my doubts about this unit. In my opinion, the days of the flash-based MP3 (ogg, etc.) players are numbered for one simple reason: they don't hold enough music. Even if it's relatively simple to sync the device with the computer, it's still a pain to have to do that every time you want to listen to new music. I own the 15GB Archos Jukebox Recorder, which I got on sale for $150 (including rebate) a couple of months ago. I was able to put all of the songs I'd downloaded from my desktop and laptop - about 10GB worth of music - on it, and a bunch of my CDs as well. Now I don't have to take a bunch of CDs around with me, as the player can hook up to my home stereo, car stereo (it's a newer stereo that has an MP3 port and I use a cable to connect the player to the port - with the Neuros you could broadcast over the stereo's FM frequency), and also at work (I hook my computer's speakers up to the player). For me, it's a much better option than the flash-based players because I can fit so much more music on it. My only complaint is that there is so much music on it that it is sometimes hard to navigate around the HD to find exactly what you're looking for, especially if you don't take the time to really organize your music by folder, track number, etc., before you upload it to your player. I have heard that the user interface for the iPod solves some of these problems, so I am hoping that Archos comes out with a software fix soon. Anyway, the bottom line is that I would go with the 20GB option here - I guess my only concern about that in this instance is that the 20GB "backpack" looks huge, and might add a lot of weight to the unit and make it bulky. The Archos I have is a little heavier than I would prefer, but really not that bad. I am still able to jog with it, which is key. I carry it in my left arm now and for the first time in years, my left arm is the same size as my right arm. Just kidding.
I am constantly amazed at how people continue to be surprised when our government acts to promote the interests of big corporations over those of small companies and/or individuals. I am in no way a communist, but Karl Marx called this one over a hundred years ago in the "Communist Manifesto" when he wrote that government exists for one purpose: to serve the interests of the ruling class. In his day, maybe the ruling class was Russian royalty and, globally speaking, foreign imperialists. In our day, the ruling class is clearly large, and especially multinational, corporations such as Disney. As a matter of principle, I side 100% with the plaintiffs, but as a matter of reality, I knew that Lessig et al. never really had a fighting chance. Say I'm a Supreme Court justice and my choices are: (a) overturn the lower courts so that the tiny "Eldritch Press" convert works protected by the copyright extension into HTML, thereby perhaps making a tiny profit (or perhaps going belly up like many internet ventures); or (b) take the safe route by affirming the lower courts and allowing Disney (and other similarly situated corporations) to continue to earn billions of dollars from these protected works. Keep in mind that all of this occurs in the context of continuous, extremely heavy lobbying by Disney and other corporations, with millions of dollars flowing into Washington D.C. on a yearly basis. Imagine the fallout from Congress and the Executive Branch if we take this copyright protection away from colossal Disney in favor of these little pissant companies on principle. It's a no brainer. As tough as it may be to swallow, we have a military-industrial cabal running this country. One which was literally appointed by the Supreme Court rather than being elected by the popular vote. And yet we act surprised when the very Supreme Court justices who placed Bush, who is really nothing more than a lackey for the oil industry - witness the impending war on Iraq, in office rules in favor of the multinational Disney corporation over a bunch of small bullshit companies no one has ever heard of. Get real.
This concept will really take off when the PDA itself serves as the "MetaPad" or whatever you want to call it. In other words, when I've got a PDA running at 1ghz with a 20gb hard drive, 256mb of RAM, etc., what I've really got is a mini-computer masquerading as a PDA (you don't have to dock it with a PDA cradle, it is the PDA). I could then dock the "PDA" with my desktop docking station, or with a laptop-like docking station with a bigger screen, keyboard, etc. - or I could just use the thing as a PDA. Add 802.11b, 3G cellular, or some other wireless connectivity, and you would have, in my opinion, the new killer app of PCs, PDAs, Cell phones, Blackberry devices, etc., all in one. That's what all of this is really aiming toward - the form factor is just not quite there yet.
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I see all of the posts about "why would anyone pay for a free email account?", etc. I got mine about 5 minutes after that CNET story first hit on Friday. I immediately went to Ebay and searched for "gmail." After several screen refreshes, a "Buy It Now" listing for $19.99 popped up. I snapped it up immediately. Why? Even though my name is not that common, someone already has it registered on Hotmail and Yahoo. So I have to add numbers, etc., to my name and I have never liked that. It was worth $20 for me to get my own name at Gmail.com. The question about couldn't Google wipe out the Gmail accounts when it's out of beta is ridiculous. The first people they gave Gmail accounts to were Google employees and "friends of the company." Why would they piss those people off by canceling the beta accounts and making them then compete for usernames with the rest of the unwashed masses? They could, but they won't. Finally, if you have used Gmail, it is a damn good email service. There are few tweaks they need to make - the contacts management functions lags far behind Yahoo and Hotmail, for example, and, to my knowledge, there is no way to have desktop email alerts such as you get with Yahoo Messenger or Microsoft IM - but there is no question that they will fix these. Flame on, but I think that Gmail will ultimately surpass Yahoo and Hotmail for web-based email.
I was looking for a BikeE recumbent bike. There weren't any on Ebay. I tried "Bike-E" with a hyphen. There was an almost brand new demo model listed for $500. (They retailed for about $1200 at the time, I think.) I bought it, didn't even take it out of the box, relisted it with the correct spelling, and sold it for $850 seven days later. (I did have to pay for the bike to be shipped to me, which was about $35, I think.) I have also found that you can buy items that are poorly described and relist them with more thorough descriptions, links to the manufacturer's website, better photos, etc., and they will typically sell for higher than you paid for them.
I have heard the $50 price differential - to the downside when compared with the flash MP3 players and to the upside when compared with the 15GB iPod - argued to death. (Personally, I side with the argument that being able to buy an additional 11GB of memory for only $50 more makes it a no-brainer to go with the 15GB iPod. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I have the 40GB 3G iPod, which I love.) In my opinion, the problem with the Mini iPod is not the price, it is the design. First, the look itself is, in my opinion, very staid and ho-hum. When I first saw the iPod, or the silver G4, or the Cube, or the flat panel iMac, I was completely blown away because each design was so different and better than anything else out there (even if the products themselves, such as the Cube, left something to be desired). I don't feel that in the slightest with the Mini iPod. It doesn't even look as good as the original iPod - as if Apple has taken a step backward rather than forward. There is nothing really novel or unique about its design other than its size - and it is really not that much smaller than the 3G iPod (especially the 15GB and 20GB models). Second, the brushed aluminum looks dated to me, especially in the colors they offer it in. Why not offer a Mini iPod in the same-colored white enclosure as the original iPod? You know you have a huge market for the original iPod, why not exploit those in that market who love the original iPod but would prefer the smaller form factor? Second, does anyone remember the infamous "black iPod" that was actually a photo of the white iPod in the dark to show the backlighting? Personally, I would love to have a black iPod. Apple had to be aware of the rumors about that black iPod and the excitement about it. Why no black Mini iPod? Third, as others have pointed out, you're not really talking about spending $250, you're talking about spending $350 or $400 to get the armband, dock, remote, and case you really need to get the most out of the Mini iPod. Maybe that's not technically a design issue and more of a packaging issue, but if they had included all of that stuff it would be a more complete "design" or "package" - whatever you want to call it. Some people will prefer the Mini iPod just because of the smaller form factor. However, if they had simply made it cooler looking and an clear forward design evolution from the original iPod, they probably would have had a huge hit on their hands. These things may still sell well due to the Apple market's loyalty and the disposable income of people who will want a Mini iPod in addition to their larger original iPods, but I think Apple missed a golden opportunity here. Either improve the design and sell it at $250 or put out a lackluster design like this one and sell it at the $100 or $150 the rumor sites were talking about. Add support for other music compression formats and you are talking domination of the MP3 market for the foreseeable future. Hell, Apple has never gotten it 100% right in the past, why should anyone expect them to now?
...to individual games. Kind of flies in the face of the whole Doom spirit of "let's release the code and let the gamers develop their own levels, etc."
I have my doubts about this unit. In my opinion, the days of the flash-based MP3 (ogg, etc.) players are numbered for one simple reason: they don't hold enough music. Even if it's relatively simple to sync the device with the computer, it's still a pain to have to do that every time you want to listen to new music. I own the 15GB Archos Jukebox Recorder, which I got on sale for $150 (including rebate) a couple of months ago. I was able to put all of the songs I'd downloaded from my desktop and laptop - about 10GB worth of music - on it, and a bunch of my CDs as well. Now I don't have to take a bunch of CDs around with me, as the player can hook up to my home stereo, car stereo (it's a newer stereo that has an MP3 port and I use a cable to connect the player to the port - with the Neuros you could broadcast over the stereo's FM frequency), and also at work (I hook my computer's speakers up to the player). For me, it's a much better option than the flash-based players because I can fit so much more music on it. My only complaint is that there is so much music on it that it is sometimes hard to navigate around the HD to find exactly what you're looking for, especially if you don't take the time to really organize your music by folder, track number, etc., before you upload it to your player. I have heard that the user interface for the iPod solves some of these problems, so I am hoping that Archos comes out with a software fix soon. Anyway, the bottom line is that I would go with the 20GB option here - I guess my only concern about that in this instance is that the 20GB "backpack" looks huge, and might add a lot of weight to the unit and make it bulky. The Archos I have is a little heavier than I would prefer, but really not that bad. I am still able to jog with it, which is key. I carry it in my left arm now and for the first time in years, my left arm is the same size as my right arm. Just kidding.
I am constantly amazed at how people continue to be surprised when our government acts to promote the interests of big corporations over those of small companies and/or individuals. I am in no way a communist, but Karl Marx called this one over a hundred years ago in the "Communist Manifesto" when he wrote that government exists for one purpose: to serve the interests of the ruling class. In his day, maybe the ruling class was Russian royalty and, globally speaking, foreign imperialists. In our day, the ruling class is clearly large, and especially multinational, corporations such as Disney. As a matter of principle, I side 100% with the plaintiffs, but as a matter of reality, I knew that Lessig et al. never really had a fighting chance. Say I'm a Supreme Court justice and my choices are: (a) overturn the lower courts so that the tiny "Eldritch Press" convert works protected by the copyright extension into HTML, thereby perhaps making a tiny profit (or perhaps going belly up like many internet ventures); or (b) take the safe route by affirming the lower courts and allowing Disney (and other similarly situated corporations) to continue to earn billions of dollars from these protected works. Keep in mind that all of this occurs in the context of continuous, extremely heavy lobbying by Disney and other corporations, with millions of dollars flowing into Washington D.C. on a yearly basis. Imagine the fallout from Congress and the Executive Branch if we take this copyright protection away from colossal Disney in favor of these little pissant companies on principle. It's a no brainer. As tough as it may be to swallow, we have a military-industrial cabal running this country. One which was literally appointed by the Supreme Court rather than being elected by the popular vote. And yet we act surprised when the very Supreme Court justices who placed Bush, who is really nothing more than a lackey for the oil industry - witness the impending war on Iraq, in office rules in favor of the multinational Disney corporation over a bunch of small bullshit companies no one has ever heard of. Get real.
1ST P?
This concept will really take off when the PDA itself serves as the "MetaPad" or whatever you want to call it. In other words, when I've got a PDA running at 1ghz with a 20gb hard drive, 256mb of RAM, etc., what I've really got is a mini-computer masquerading as a PDA (you don't have to dock it with a PDA cradle, it is the PDA). I could then dock the "PDA" with my desktop docking station, or with a laptop-like docking station with a bigger screen, keyboard, etc. - or I could just use the thing as a PDA. Add 802.11b, 3G cellular, or some other wireless connectivity, and you would have, in my opinion, the new killer app of PCs, PDAs, Cell phones, Blackberry devices, etc., all in one. That's what all of this is really aiming toward - the form factor is just not quite there yet.