One day. Sheer flexibility in licensing and usage. Loading up Windows 7, it doesn't even want to pretend that you might want to dualboot. No repartitioning of existing partitions or anything.
Linux is the equivalent of a contortionist acrobat and Windows is a quadriplegic that makes everyone's life hell if you don't accomodate it's needs just right. Which would you rather marry and hang around all day?
I doubt that the final price is about a device with a 5" OLED screen, I think the final price is about having a collector's item, a rare prototype. As rare as it is, I would think it would fetch a much higher price.
Rare != Desirable. For an item to fetch a higher price than its normal counterparts, it needs both components.
Lots of rare things out there that aren't desirable. Also, the brand isn't that big. This also isn't a major milestone tech item. The first iPod(s) (by serial number, not just model), or iPhone... those and their prototypes probably will fetch money in years. Maybe even the first razr, if that phone is still remembered.
But the other billions of phones and mp3 players around? Not so much.
I think $6k for this device is plenty in that regard. Perhaps devices like it (the next Zune will be Oled too) will be around come Xmas from another competitor.
Takes about an hour, less if you're skilled at it. With that much access to the actual machine... this is nothing but a proof of concept, as there are easier ways to do it, imo.
FISA - Wiretapping. No longer was probable cause criminal wrongdoing suspicion, had to show special court that person was maybe foreign agent. Originally made so that evidence collected was not used in criminal prosecutions. Right to Financial Privacy Act (1978) - Transfers the ownership of financial records from person to the bank. National Security Letter (1978) - Self-written search warrant (no judge). Allows government to go to financial institutions, ie bank to get the records the bank now "owns". Also put a gag order on bank from telling you (although that was overturned in Doe vs Ashcroft in 2008). May have been circumvented by now (shrugs). Carter ordered it may not be used in criminal prosecution. US Patriot Act - Changes definition of Financial Institution to include Post Office, your lawyer, your doctor, etc. Anybody served a national security letter put under gag order.
If you buy an illegal item, it could theoretically be repossessed.
The police come and take it, with warrant. Not the person who sold it to you - they would be charged with trespassing/theft if they did. And if the police confiscate it, you'll have your day in court if you want it back.
Amazon isn't the police. It does not have the right to act as if were.
OK, Amazon trespassed on your device and stole a book (or two) from you... if you took them to court could you substantiate a claim for any monetary damages other than the price you paid for the book(s)?
You don't seem to understand, breaching a computer system, unauthorized access to a computer through a network is a felony. I doubt any of the Kindle owners ever signed an Eula (at purchase????) and authorized Amazon to take the book off. Maybe I'm wrong, and at the purchase of every book there is an Eula that says they get to fuck you in the ass and have the resulting baby from it too.
All I know is if a private person were to do the same, they'd be headed to jail if caught.
The Kindle's not a computer system where you could (try to) put forward a claim that the intrusion required you to audit everything you kept on it to determine what other damage the trespassor did.
I'm sure the flash drive has definite traces, unless they took care to explicitly overwrite the memmory it occupied(which I doubt).
Amazon has refunded their customers according to the article, but if I was halfway through a book and it got deleted from my device I would be very annoyed. To me it seems that the better solution would be for Amazon to arrange the correct rights from the copyright holder and arrange some form of deal to make sure that those who have a copy of the book on their Kindle can continue to use it or receive a new copy with the proper rights and at no cost. In the end, the material was offered through their service and they do have responsibility to their customers, even if it is not illegal for them to use this solution.
I would be beyond fucking annoyed -- I would call it what it fucking is: tresspassing. In U.S. Law - if someone ships you an item, on purpose or by accident, they can't demand it back (only unless a contract was signed beforehand hand and purchase doesnt fulfill it). It could be a thousand dollar ring, shipped to you by accident, doesn't matter. It's yours.
Amazon shipped the item. You, as the user of the device, purchased it, with your consent, and it went on the device. And then when Amazon found out it shouldn't have done that, did they pay the consequences to the copyright holder? No, without notice, they trespassed on your device to steal it back.
That's what it was. I don't care if it's covered by some unsigned EULA and just because it's on the digital world. The corporates made plenty sure that Congress covered their ass with computer laws. We as private citizens should have the same rights.
This is hacking and trespassing in it's most basic fucking form.
[quote]The apology posted from Mr. Bezos sounds heartfelt indeed.[/quote] If Gandhi had #1 product on Amazon get a slew of hundreds of 1 star ratings in days, a good 10% of the ratings that were already posted over months, killing sales, he too would be able to do some convincing crocodile tears.
The DS is indeed awesome, I had my first encounter this year with it by buying a DSi for myself with several games for an extended work trip with many hours (with a colleage) in a car. I recall the days of the original game boy and how it didn't change for an entire decade, and this is light years from that... However, do you use something else to browse besides the opera DS browser? That is one software I found severely lacking on the DS. On a fast wifi connection, it's just painful.
And yes, I further set it so it doesn't download pictures, etc. And consider the latest DSi has 4x ram (and more CPU power) than the original DS/DSLite - 16mb vs 4. Maybe we go to different pages, but if Nintendo spared an extra dollar, it probably could have been bumped to 64-96mb ram and been a much better and actually viable browsing experience.
Wouldn't have though that it's slower. Cursive also isn't interesting if you want other people to be able to read it. Perhaps teachers are patient/studied enough to do it quickly, but for the rest of us, it's a puzzle. And the only teachers interested in my cursive were the ones who taught it (elementary school), I don't remember what happened in middle school, but all my high school teachers (in my area 8-12 grade) wanted TYPED reports. They would have laughed if I mentioned cursive.
Consider all that, if they wanted to teach you a system to take quick notes that no one else needed to read, a much better system is shorthand. It also used to be more commonly taught: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand
Simultaneous worldwide release is nice if you know the game will be a hit, otherwise it's doubling down your gamble needlessly, imo. Besides, if the foreign gamers are so desperate to pirate it by downloading it, might as well just offer it for sale (download) to all takers the way things are going with digital media. Only problem with that is if your game runs afoul of some laws in country X - say Germany's ban on blood in video games.
Also their government has a strong push towards using Linux.
They are being smart in that case. The Chinese, too, have their own Linux Distro (Red Flag) -- which government really wants the foundation of their computers (the OS) to be dependent on an American company, not to mention all the possible backdoors built for the FBI/NSA/CIA/etc. OTOH, many agencies of the US Government force you to use Windows in order to deal with them, rather than having an open standard.
I WANT to buy a Linux-based netbook. EEEPC, used to have a model which they upgraded with an SSD drive if you chose the linux option. But the netbook world moves fast, and that model is 6-9 months out of date although still offered. It might not sound like a big deal, but there are netbooks coming on the market with ~1300 x ~750 resolution (good for today's websites) instead of just 1024x600 and capable of actually playing HD video with the upgraded chipsets. But no linux version is offered. Has been that way with any new models released since February as far as I can tell. That's too bad.
And my local Walmart doesn't seem to care. Been offering the same Acer Aspire model (1GB ram and all) since the beginning of the year with no changes.
backlit keyboards that have a sensor to automatically come on - My Thinkpad has an overhead light so I can read papers as well as the keyboard.
I find a backlit keyboard more useful for finding the key I want in a dim room (in case I'm trying for an esoteric keybinding). People who aren't touch typists may find the feature much more useful (and laptop keyboards always have different layouts than fullsize ones anyway). If I have papers, I'm usually in a lit room anyway.
automatic screen dimming at low light levels - My iPhone has the same feature. I don't think I've ever been in a situation where it's been useful.
It saves battery life. Not something someone would notice but it's there.
On my desktop, my sceens don't dim, so at night, I can't take the brightness in a dark room and always have to switch a single 23w (100w eq) CFL on somewhere in the room to compensate. That feature would be useful there.
Microsoft-hating is a disease that you catch from doing business with Microsoft.
So you're saying it's an STD you catch after getting shafted by Microsoft a few times? Still, if it's an STD, it doesn't explain how it's so prevalent in the/. community:)
I suppose it's true to the idea that 7 is "just a Vista service pack," but still seems odd.
Not at all. Vista has taken the punches, got a fat lip and two black eyes - so Microsoft rebrands it and it loses the bad name of Vista. I just installed Windows 7 RC - and it's nicer. There is new programming under the hood, particularly the UI and feels speedier - although I have to question whether that speed was all a result of improved programming or attribute some to the fact that it was a clean install of Windows erasing a cluttered and used OEM Vista install.
But given the driver model is the same, the lack of noticeable bumps on the alpha, beta, and RC compared to Vista woes - I can only assume it's really a service pack with an UI overhaul. Which is okay; Ubuntu and OS X both operate on the idea of short upgrade cycles that allows them to focus on goals and be a lot more evolutionary in a short time instead of trying to be revolutionary (longhorn) and failing miserably.
I just don't like paying full price as if this were brand new windows. Ubuntu is free and OS X license is relatively cheap, especially family packs. I'll pay $50 for Windows 7 as a 2-3 year upgrade to Vista, but don't forsee $100 as being inherently fair at all.
So why would anyone buy a more expensive USB stick to "extend their notebook" when they can do so internal to the notebook, for cheaper, and have all the benefits of a SSD drive?
Why does Bob's insurance cost almost as much as Jim's, currently?
It probably doesn't, but are there things like comprehensive attached to the bill? If a tree falls on the car, is it covered? In that case, it doesn't matter how much the car is driven, both cars exist and thus have relatively the same chance of something happening to it while parked.
Second of all, what good games have come out recently?
I like Knights in a Nightmare (KiaN), although it's not for everyone.
Other than that, crap has and will always be released.
And to add to the cost, so many consoles (especially the Wii) require buying extra peripherals, which will also end up going to the wayside. It's just not worth it anymore.
Well, I just bought a Nintendo DSi after not playing games for years since the original Game Boy/PS1 - Metal Gear Solid 1 being the last game I played. I'm happy with it, although what got me in again were flash games like dogfight 2/robokill from rocksolidarcade.
I got out on hiatus because the games weren't fun anymore, and back then it seemed everyone was going into 3D/FPSers that I couldn't control that well and didn't like. Of course, that wasn't the case, and FPS is still a big chunk of the market -- but things like the DS and flash games are delightful because it's like old school gaming in a way - a lot of the games I choose to play now are pick up and play (except KiaN). But even back then, there was choice - although the Wii and DS built-in controls make games more intuitive.
AT&T even has some BS verbage on their statements that says charges not disputed within 60 days can't be disputed. So they can ream someone for years, and then if the company finds out, they can only recoup the last 60 days worth of over charges.
Just because it's in the fine print doesn't make it so. Overcharged party can sue, and with evidence, probably win.
hardware company and not like a software company. Clones aren't necessarily bad as long as they can build superior devices (or have the image for it) and where they would still make money on every sale. They could make decent money being the #1 music site on the web. So what the device isn't an iPod?
I wonder how many people care about iTunes connectivity when they buy an mp3 player? Is it a requirement or afterthought? If it becomes a requirement, that would promote more lock-in for Apple than sabotaging their software against other devices.
Despite what many believe, a CS degree is not about learning to program. A CS degree is about learning the theoretical and mathematical constructs that programming is based on.
Learning to program is a great way to apply the theoretical.
As for all the people saying that the language isn't important, I have a different approach: learn a functional language like a lisp variant (common, scheme, etc) or haskell, etcetera. They are different enough from the C derived languages to let you think outside the box later on (after all, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail....)
At one time it did, but now there are limits to free speech. Both in the UK and USA now.
While the USA is getting there, it's still easily the best, any laws on the books probably will be struck down before the Supreme Court (although having that as my last line of defense does not reassure me).
Most countries with "Freedom of Speech" have so many exceptions to the rule that it's worthless, see Germany. Popular speech doesn't have to be protected but that's all they seem to try to protect. That is pretty ironic as the terrible parts of their history was not due to Freedom of Speech, but slavish adherence to the state, which is still ingrained in the national attitude.
It's ironic that the Founding Fathers were considered "liberals" in their day (look up the term classical liberal) but both sides of the political spectrum would love to censor speech at any opportunity, just for different reasons.
Slashdot Mirror
One day. Sheer flexibility in licensing and usage. Loading up Windows 7, it doesn't even want to pretend that you might want to dualboot. No repartitioning of existing partitions or anything.
Linux is the equivalent of a contortionist acrobat and Windows is a quadriplegic that makes everyone's life hell if you don't accomodate it's needs just right. Which would you rather marry and hang around all day?
Is this getting anyone else worried?
Don't worry, corporate lawyers are working on that.
Rare != Desirable. For an item to fetch a higher price than its normal counterparts, it needs both components.
Lots of rare things out there that aren't desirable. Also, the brand isn't that big. This also isn't a major milestone tech item. The first iPod(s) (by serial number, not just model), or iPhone... those and their prototypes probably will fetch money in years. Maybe even the first razr, if that phone is still remembered.
But the other billions of phones and mp3 players around? Not so much.
I think $6k for this device is plenty in that regard. Perhaps devices like it (the next Zune will be Oled too) will be around come Xmas from another competitor.
I don't know if it's still applicable to the new MacBooks, but on my 3-4 year old G4s, reinstalling the keyboard is a ton of work (I assume the keyboard cable has to be taken out to reprogram it???):
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-PowerBook-G4-Aluminum-15-Inch-1-1-5-GHz-Keyboard/223/1
Takes about an hour, less if you're skilled at it. With that much access to the actual machine... this is nothing but a proof of concept, as there are easier ways to do it, imo.
No we don't.
FISA - Wiretapping. No longer was probable cause criminal wrongdoing suspicion, had to show special court that person was maybe foreign agent. Originally made so that evidence collected was not used in criminal prosecutions.
Right to Financial Privacy Act (1978) - Transfers the ownership of financial records from person to the bank.
National Security Letter (1978) - Self-written search warrant (no judge). Allows government to go to financial institutions, ie bank to get the records the bank now "owns". Also put a gag order on bank from telling you (although that was overturned in Doe vs Ashcroft in 2008). May have been circumvented by now (shrugs). Carter ordered it may not be used in criminal prosecution.
US Patriot Act - Changes definition of Financial Institution to include Post Office, your lawyer, your doctor, etc. Anybody served a national security letter put under gag order.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Financial_Privacy_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Letter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2659761702659115038&ei=tMZuSp_4CJXnlQffprFu&q=napolitano&hl=en
The police come and take it, with warrant. Not the person who sold it to you - they would be charged with trespassing/theft if they did. And if the police confiscate it, you'll have your day in court if you want it back.
Amazon isn't the police. It does not have the right to act as if were.
You don't seem to understand, breaching a computer system, unauthorized access to a computer through a network is a felony. I doubt any of the Kindle owners ever signed an Eula (at purchase????) and authorized Amazon to take the book off. Maybe I'm wrong, and at the purchase of every book there is an Eula that says they get to fuck you in the ass and have the resulting baby from it too.
All I know is if a private person were to do the same, they'd be headed to jail if caught.
I'm sure the flash drive has definite traces, unless they took care to explicitly overwrite the memmory it occupied(which I doubt).
I would be beyond fucking annoyed -- I would call it what it fucking is: tresspassing. In U.S. Law - if someone ships you an item, on purpose or by accident, they can't demand it back (only unless a contract was signed beforehand hand and purchase doesnt fulfill it). It could be a thousand dollar ring, shipped to you by accident, doesn't matter. It's yours.
Amazon shipped the item. You, as the user of the device, purchased it, with your consent, and it went on the device. And then when Amazon found out it shouldn't have done that, did they pay the consequences to the copyright holder? No, without notice, they trespassed on your device to steal it back.
That's what it was. I don't care if it's covered by some unsigned EULA and just because it's on the digital world. The corporates made plenty sure that Congress covered their ass with computer laws. We as private citizens should have the same rights.
This is hacking and trespassing in it's most basic fucking form.
[quote]The apology posted from Mr. Bezos sounds heartfelt indeed.[/quote]
If Gandhi had #1 product on Amazon get a slew of hundreds of 1 star ratings in days, a good 10% of the ratings that were already posted over months, killing sales, he too would be able to do some convincing crocodile tears.
The DS is indeed awesome, I had my first encounter this year with it by buying a DSi for myself with several games for an extended work trip with many hours (with a colleage) in a car. I recall the days of the original game boy and how it didn't change for an entire decade, and this is light years from that... However, do you use something else to browse besides the opera DS browser? That is one software I found severely lacking on the DS. On a fast wifi connection, it's just painful.
And yes, I further set it so it doesn't download pictures, etc. And consider the latest DSi has 4x ram (and more CPU power) than the original DS/DSLite - 16mb vs 4. Maybe we go to different pages, but if Nintendo spared an extra dollar, it probably could have been bumped to 64-96mb ram and been a much better and actually viable browsing experience.
Otherwise, I'm happy.
Just before the netbook explosion too... which started out Linux... until MS squashed that threat... in America at least.
Wouldn't have though that it's slower. Cursive also isn't interesting if you want other people to be able to read it. Perhaps teachers are patient/studied enough to do it quickly, but for the rest of us, it's a puzzle. And the only teachers interested in my cursive were the ones who taught it (elementary school), I don't remember what happened in middle school, but all my high school teachers (in my area 8-12 grade) wanted TYPED reports. They would have laughed if I mentioned cursive.
Consider all that, if they wanted to teach you a system to take quick notes that no one else needed to read, a much better system is shorthand. It also used to be more commonly taught:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand
If you really want to get into that type of thing, there is stenotype as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenotype
Simultaneous worldwide release is nice if you know the game will be a hit, otherwise it's doubling down your gamble needlessly, imo. Besides, if the foreign gamers are so desperate to pirate it by downloading it, might as well just offer it for sale (download) to all takers the way things are going with digital media. Only problem with that is if your game runs afoul of some laws in country X - say Germany's ban on blood in video games.
They are being smart in that case. The Chinese, too, have their own Linux Distro (Red Flag) -- which government really wants the foundation of their computers (the OS) to be dependent on an American company, not to mention all the possible backdoors built for the FBI/NSA/CIA/etc. OTOH, many agencies of the US Government force you to use Windows in order to deal with them, rather than having an open standard.
I WANT to buy a Linux-based netbook. EEEPC, used to have a model which they upgraded with an SSD drive if you chose the linux option. But the netbook world moves fast, and that model is 6-9 months out of date although still offered. It might not sound like a big deal, but there are netbooks coming on the market with ~1300 x ~750 resolution (good for today's websites) instead of just 1024x600 and capable of actually playing HD video with the upgraded chipsets. But no linux version is offered. Has been that way with any new models released since February as far as I can tell. That's too bad.
And my local Walmart doesn't seem to care. Been offering the same Acer Aspire model (1GB ram and all) since the beginning of the year with no changes.
I find a backlit keyboard more useful for finding the key I want in a dim room (in case I'm trying for an esoteric keybinding). People who aren't touch typists may find the feature much more useful (and laptop keyboards always have different layouts than fullsize ones anyway). If I have papers, I'm usually in a lit room anyway.
It saves battery life. Not something someone would notice but it's there.
On my desktop, my sceens don't dim, so at night, I can't take the brightness in a dark room and always have to switch a single 23w (100w eq) CFL on somewhere in the room to compensate. That feature would be useful there.
So you're saying it's an STD you catch after getting shafted by Microsoft a few times? Still, if it's an STD, it doesn't explain how it's so prevalent in the /. community:)
Not at all. Vista has taken the punches, got a fat lip and two black eyes - so Microsoft rebrands it and it loses the bad name of Vista. I just installed Windows 7 RC - and it's nicer. There is new programming under the hood, particularly the UI and feels speedier - although I have to question whether that speed was all a result of improved programming or attribute some to the fact that it was a clean install of Windows erasing a cluttered and used OEM Vista install.
But given the driver model is the same, the lack of noticeable bumps on the alpha, beta, and RC compared to Vista woes - I can only assume it's really a service pack with an UI overhaul. Which is okay; Ubuntu and OS X both operate on the idea of short upgrade cycles that allows them to focus on goals and be a lot more evolutionary in a short time instead of trying to be revolutionary (longhorn) and failing miserably.
I just don't like paying full price as if this were brand new windows. Ubuntu is free and OS X license is relatively cheap, especially family packs. I'll pay $50 for Windows 7 as a 2-3 year upgrade to Vista, but don't forsee $100 as being inherently fair at all.
Pricewatch has 64GB usb sticks at $150 at cheapest (happens to be a kingston now too):
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/flash_card_memory/usb_64gb
and that's not even the sweetspot of GB/$$ because the 32GB usb sticks are around $60, much less than half that despite being only half the capacity.
Also, a 2.5" 256 SSD drive that can be put into most notebooks starts at $608:
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/hard_removable_drives/ssd_256gb
So why would anyone buy a more expensive USB stick to "extend their notebook" when they can do so internal to the notebook, for cheaper, and have all the benefits of a SSD drive?
It probably doesn't, but are there things like comprehensive attached to the bill? If a tree falls on the car, is it covered? In that case, it doesn't matter how much the car is driven, both cars exist and thus have relatively the same chance of something happening to it while parked.
The government can and should mandate insurance on PUBLIC roads.
But to make travel affordable, it should have more public transit.
I like Knights in a Nightmare (KiaN), although it's not for everyone.
Other than that, crap has and will always be released.
Well, I just bought a Nintendo DSi after not playing games for years since the original Game Boy/PS1 - Metal Gear Solid 1 being the last game I played. I'm happy with it, although what got me in again were flash games like dogfight 2/robokill from rocksolidarcade.
I got out on hiatus because the games weren't fun anymore, and back then it seemed everyone was going into 3D/FPSers that I couldn't control that well and didn't like. Of course, that wasn't the case, and FPS is still a big chunk of the market -- but things like the DS and flash games are delightful because it's like old school gaming in a way - a lot of the games I choose to play now are pick up and play (except KiaN). But even back then, there was choice - although the Wii and DS built-in controls make games more intuitive.
Just because it's in the fine print doesn't make it so. Overcharged party can sue, and with evidence, probably win.
hardware company and not like a software company. Clones aren't necessarily bad as long as they can build superior devices (or have the image for it) and where they would still make money on every sale. They could make decent money being the #1 music site on the web. So what the device isn't an iPod?
I wonder how many people care about iTunes connectivity when they buy an mp3 player? Is it a requirement or afterthought? If it becomes a requirement, that would promote more lock-in for Apple than sabotaging their software against other devices.
Learning to program is a great way to apply the theoretical.
As for all the people saying that the language isn't important, I have a different approach: learn a functional language like a lisp variant (common, scheme, etc) or haskell, etcetera. They are different enough from the C derived languages to let you think outside the box later on (after all, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail....)
While the USA is getting there, it's still easily the best, any laws on the books probably will be struck down before the Supreme Court (although having that as my last line of defense does not reassure me).
Most countries with "Freedom of Speech" have so many exceptions to the rule that it's worthless, see Germany. Popular speech doesn't have to be protected but that's all they seem to try to protect. That is pretty ironic as the terrible parts of their history was not due to Freedom of Speech, but slavish adherence to the state, which is still ingrained in the national attitude.
It's ironic that the Founding Fathers were considered "liberals" in their day (look up the term classical liberal) but both sides of the political spectrum would love to censor speech at any opportunity, just for different reasons.