But there is a *reason* for this. As a person who is often an early adopter of technology, and also an Apple fanboy, I can tell you that quite often you buy some new piece of technology, especially bleeding edge tech, and it doesn't "fit into" your lifestyle or doesn't work correctly. You buy something and you just don't end up using it, or it doesn't really work correctly.
And frankly, I used to sometimes have this problem with Apple. I can't say that I have rave reviews about the QuickTake 200 camera I have. It doesn't have USB, but that isn't it the problem. It uses hi energy lithium batteries (very expensive ones), and it chews through them. It just isn't better than a film camera - so it is no wonder that digital photography didn't really take off until after the cameras improved.
But Apple today has an excellent track record. Their products really work and I find that I buy them and really get my money's worth. I bought an iPod a long time ago and I still use it all the time. It works better and fits into my life much better than my old Rio 500 player that I had before.
Well, I'm not at home right now, so it only updated the album artwork from songs I had actually purchased on iTMS. However, it did that job perfectly with no mistakes. We'll see what happens when I try it at home with all my songs - I've got songs on there that are demo tapes from bands I was in HS/College and songs that I ripped from vinyl that is out of print and never released on CD, so we'll see if it is smart enough to not place any artwork on those.
I love that somewhat Orwellian slide that Engadget has from the presentation:
Apple is in your den
Apple is in your living room
Apple is in your car
Apple is in your pocket
What's next?
Strength Through iTunes
iTunes Through Apple
Apple Prevails
It's always like that. Apple is going along, brainwashing people. Things are great. And then when we are watching a Steve Jobs special event presentation on a giant screen in an auditorium some athletic chic from IBM comes running in and throws a big hammer at the screen. Bummer.
I just downloaded iTunes 7 and pluged in my 20 GB 2nd Gen iPod (probably the same one you have - the first one with the non-turning wheel). I was pretty impressed that it copied the music from the iPod to my work Mac and pulled down the album cover art and things look really nice. I'm impressed.
I think this (along with enviromental pollutants) is the main cause of the dramatic rise in autism, asperger syndrome and a host of other problems.
I read the same article in Slate that you did. It was, as the author admitted, pure speculation. What I was annoyed about (though not surprised) was that he didn't bother doing a review of the scientific literature before penning the article. When you have an idea like that, a trip to a research library and a review of the scientific literature is generally a good starting point. What the article did was basically say, let's pass the bong around and expand on my idea and write an article on it. Adding the disclaimer that it was "pure speculation" was just the icing on the cake.
So, let me ask you what have you done to try to gather any evidence about your hypothesis?
Of course no one wants to live in a society where the government censors information
Actually, I think if you did a survey you'd find that most people WANT their government to censor information. Try asking the average person if they think the government should censor websites that contain instructions on how to make bombs or hijack airplanes, or send Anthrax through the mail.
Or ask them if the gov should censor websites that give you instructions on how to find a drug dealer. Or how to hide things from parents. Or pretty much anything unpopular.
Most people consistantly answer yes if asked if they are willing to trade freedom for safety in the surveys I have seen since 9/11/2001.
If the chinese people have google, yahoo, msn, then why do they need a censored wikipedia? Is it not better to have an absense of Wikipedia so that the absense itself gives information (that they aren't free)?
Are you suggesting that the Palestinian government should let Israel, who openly wants to destroy Palestine
I think you have it the wrong way around. If Israel wanted to destroy Palestine, they would have done it already instead of spending years and countless lives trying to make peace (and in the process proving you can't make peace with terrorists).
I would have predicted this company to drop in value after Apple went x86 architecture
While I'm sure Apple is a nice customer to have, I can't imagine that their business would have been more than a tiny fraction of Freescale's business. Also, apple was not buying all their processors from Freescale - the G5s were from IBM.
I wouldn't mind this so much as long as I can also run a credit check on the company and perhaps some of its officers. Too often companies go under and employees don't get paid. If I'm going to take a job, then I need to verify that the company can meet its financial obligations to pay me.
I completely agree with you on this. The fact is that the government is taxing us - its our money. I'd prefer they keep it to just the essentials and then let me keep some for my own spending priorities. There are many programs that are extremely wasteful and stupid in the federal budget: NASA, AmTrak, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, Foreign Aid, UN dues, Department of Education, Medicaid, unnecessary weapons systems like the Comanche and the F-22, rebuilding iraq, etc. I could probably think of many others.
WTF is up with "rebuilding iraq"? Why do we want to rebuild it for? We should just smash it up real good and then leave so that the arabs know not to fuck with us. Instead, if we defeat you in a war its like you won the fucking lottery because we will come rebuild everything for you. Pretty soon Iran and North Korea will want in on the deal.
We have a huge debt. It needs to be paid off. A large chunk of our taxes go just to pay interest on debt. WTF? Why aren't they investing our tax dollars into an endowment and let congress just spend the interest? That would make a lot more sense than just borrow, borrow, borrow.
Landfills in China must be cheap. Why dont we ship all garbage there?
Don't count on it. China has a huge population. Labor is cheap there, but land isn't. Land in the US is actually not terribly expensive unless it is in a city.
Everyone knows the best thing to do with garbage is to attach a rocket to a large ball of it and fire it directly into space.
It might return to earth one day, but those fears were dismissed as "depressing". At least when it comes back, a cryogenically frozen guy and a robot can create a second garbage ball to knock the first one into the sun.
Slashdot Mirror
Where does all this money come from?
The investors in eDonkey?
But there is a *reason* for this. As a person who is often an early adopter of technology, and also an Apple fanboy, I can tell you that quite often you buy some new piece of technology, especially bleeding edge tech, and it doesn't "fit into" your lifestyle or doesn't work correctly. You buy something and you just don't end up using it, or it doesn't really work correctly.
And frankly, I used to sometimes have this problem with Apple. I can't say that I have rave reviews about the QuickTake 200 camera I have. It doesn't have USB, but that isn't it the problem. It uses hi energy lithium batteries (very expensive ones), and it chews through them. It just isn't better than a film camera - so it is no wonder that digital photography didn't really take off until after the cameras improved.
But Apple today has an excellent track record. Their products really work and I find that I buy them and really get my money's worth. I bought an iPod a long time ago and I still use it all the time. It works better and fits into my life much better than my old Rio 500 player that I had before.
they changed the color of the music note! It is blue now! How could they destroy tradition like that!
You mean the tradition of changing the color of the music note for every new version of iTunes?
Well, I'm not at home right now, so it only updated the album artwork from songs I had actually purchased on iTMS. However, it did that job perfectly with no mistakes. We'll see what happens when I try it at home with all my songs - I've got songs on there that are demo tapes from bands I was in HS/College and songs that I ripped from vinyl that is out of print and never released on CD, so we'll see if it is smart enough to not place any artwork on those.
I love that somewhat Orwellian slide that Engadget has from the presentation:
Apple is in your den
Apple is in your living room
Apple is in your car
Apple is in your pocket
What's next?
Strength Through iTunes
iTunes Through Apple
Apple Prevails
It's always like that. Apple is going along, brainwashing people. Things are great. And then when we are watching a Steve Jobs special event presentation on a giant screen in an auditorium some athletic chic from IBM comes running in and throws a big hammer at the screen. Bummer.
I just downloaded iTunes 7 and pluged in my 20 GB 2nd Gen iPod (probably the same one you have - the first one with the non-turning wheel). I was pretty impressed that it copied the music from the iPod to my work Mac and pulled down the album cover art and things look really nice. I'm impressed.
And I'm seriously considering the 80GB model...
My daughter had slashdot as the home page in her browser for a while. I was worried.
Good for you. My daughter has MacOS X and we don't have TV at all, but we do have a VCR and some videos. Her favorite is old Dr. Who.
I think this (along with enviromental pollutants) is the main cause of the dramatic rise in autism, asperger syndrome and a host of other problems.
I read the same article in Slate that you did. It was, as the author admitted, pure speculation. What I was annoyed about (though not surprised) was that he didn't bother doing a review of the scientific literature before penning the article. When you have an idea like that, a trip to a research library and a review of the scientific literature is generally a good starting point. What the article did was basically say, let's pass the bong around and expand on my idea and write an article on it. Adding the disclaimer that it was "pure speculation" was just the icing on the cake.
So, let me ask you what have you done to try to gather any evidence about your hypothesis?
Of course no one wants to live in a society where the government censors information
Actually, I think if you did a survey you'd find that most people WANT their government to censor information. Try asking the average person if they think the government should censor websites that contain instructions on how to make bombs or hijack airplanes, or send Anthrax through the mail.
Or ask them if the gov should censor websites that give you instructions on how to find a drug dealer. Or how to hide things from parents. Or pretty much anything unpopular.
Most people consistantly answer yes if asked if they are willing to trade freedom for safety in the surveys I have seen since 9/11/2001.
If the chinese people have google, yahoo, msn, then why do they need a censored wikipedia? Is it not better to have an absense of Wikipedia so that the absense itself gives information (that they aren't free)?
aren't you supposed to give the $100 to the police first, and wait to see if anybody claims the money?
That's exactly why every morning I go down to the police station to try to identify any lost money.
Yeah, officer - it was green and it had a President on it...
I think that is unlikely to happen given how easy it would be for people to migrate to another search engine if they did.
Are you suggesting that the Palestinian government should let Israel, who openly wants to destroy Palestine
I think you have it the wrong way around. If Israel wanted to destroy Palestine, they would have done it already instead of spending years and countless lives trying to make peace (and in the process proving you can't make peace with terrorists).
This isn't about predicting the weather. It is more similar to predicting that summer will be hot in Texas.
My favorite comic doesn't violate the laws of physics.
all black holes are the same size
Isn't the "size" of a black hole the size of its event horizon? IANAP, but don't more massive black holes have larger event horizons?
Just saying his story still holds together, if you want to believe it.
Oh, I want to alright!!
I would have predicted this company to drop in value after Apple went x86 architecture
While I'm sure Apple is a nice customer to have, I can't imagine that their business would have been more than a tiny fraction of Freescale's business. Also, apple was not buying all their processors from Freescale - the G5s were from IBM.
I wouldn't mind this so much as long as I can also run a credit check on the company and perhaps some of its officers. Too often companies go under and employees don't get paid. If I'm going to take a job, then I need to verify that the company can meet its financial obligations to pay me.
Jeez, while I was asleep, Patrick Buchanan started reading slashdot. Just wow.
Read the wikipedia entry on Reductio_ad_Hitlerum. You've made the same kind of attack except using Pat Buchanan instead of Hitler.
I completely agree with you on this. The fact is that the government is taxing us - its our money. I'd prefer they keep it to just the essentials and then let me keep some for my own spending priorities. There are many programs that are extremely wasteful and stupid in the federal budget: NASA, AmTrak, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, Foreign Aid, UN dues, Department of Education, Medicaid, unnecessary weapons systems like the Comanche and the F-22, rebuilding iraq, etc. I could probably think of many others.
WTF is up with "rebuilding iraq"? Why do we want to rebuild it for? We should just smash it up real good and then leave so that the arabs know not to fuck with us. Instead, if we defeat you in a war its like you won the fucking lottery because we will come rebuild everything for you. Pretty soon Iran and North Korea will want in on the deal.
We have a huge debt. It needs to be paid off. A large chunk of our taxes go just to pay interest on debt. WTF? Why aren't they investing our tax dollars into an endowment and let congress just spend the interest? That would make a lot more sense than just borrow, borrow, borrow.
They could charge extra for "discreet body disposal"?
Landfills in China must be cheap. Why dont we ship all garbage there?
Don't count on it. China has a huge population. Labor is cheap there, but land isn't. Land in the US is actually not terribly expensive unless it is in a city.
Everyone knows the best thing to do with garbage is to attach a rocket to a large ball of it and fire it directly into space.
It might return to earth one day, but those fears were dismissed as "depressing". At least when it comes back, a cryogenically frozen guy and a robot can create a second garbage ball to knock the first one into the sun.