How much longer do you think we're actually going to have to pay attention to what's happening on the road?
You can do that already. Take a train/bus/taxi. Let someone else drive. If you want to travel in your private cocoon, be prepared to give up a lot of control.
What is needed is some decent car computer software. Stuff to manage the AC and the radio.
Already exists. Quite a few cars have automatic, dual zone climate control. The software especially isn't hard, but it DOES have to interface with the hardware to make things actually happen. And the automatic part of the hardware can't be added later on. Well..it can, but not cheaply.
As far as the radio...how many times do you change the station on a typical drive? I don't. One station in the morning commute, a different one for the drive home. (when I'm not riding my bike). 'Manage' the radio? Manage what?
You don't trust Bush and the current administration. You think you are (and you very well might be) smarter than them. Yet you trust them with your money more than you trust yourself.
Being able to experiment was one of the central themes of the old model of emusic.com. $15/month, all you can eat, no DRM. You could preview and try something new without actually spending $$ on that particular track/album. Too bad they got bought and changed the price/download model.
The only problem is that it's $80 a month. This could be provided by the government for far less, and would be a great advantage to living in the area.
Slightly cheaper to the people who would use it (you and I), infinitely more expensive to those who don't want it.
No city is going to form a bureau of wi-fi-management (ok, maybe they would)
Oh yeah they will. Someone has to have his finger on the pursestrings. Maybe not the technical portion, but you can bet your ass that an office within the city govt. will be set up to administer this thing.
they'll contract the whole thing to the lowest bidder. Hence, competition among network suppliers.
and they'll pay that contract through money collected from everybody, not just people and businesses who wanted it. Like all other WiFi suppliers would have to.
For those who want the service, it may well be cheaper. For those who don't want/need it, no price is too low.
The city is simply a big customer, and market forces rule
The city has the ability to force everyone to be in the market. If TimeWarner could force everybody in town to pay up, they could (theoretically) lower their enduser prices as well.
But payments to the copyright holder are an essential part of the equation.
If Ford found a way to sell new cars for $5000, but the reason they could do that is they neglect to pay the line workers and suppliers, would you say "it's working"?
That works with any business. If you neglect to pay all of your costs to produce, of course you can sell the product much cheaper.
In an ideal world, allofmp3.com would pay the artists some percentage of what they are already collecting. As it is, they are merely keeping all the money for themselves, in collusion with ROMS.
Sure, lower prices would create vastly more legal sales, and far fewer 'illegal' downloads. And quite possibly more profit.
The part of this idea that I have a hard time with is "In addition, a 1 per cent sales tax would be placed on Internet services and new computers". Is there a tax on TV's that goes back to the networks/TV industry? How about stereo equipment? How about if I don't use this particular PC for music? Does that tax apply? What about a PC I built from parts?
Its not just that 'last hour' being unproductive, its the entire shift. Not much more gets done in a 12 hour shift vs an 8 hour one. Especially 12 hours day after day.
But those long shifts look good for the middle manager reporting up the chain. "We're doing everything we can, boss!"
1. Because when this eval and bid process was started, OOo was not really a viable alternative. 2. Support contract. 3. Being able to pay a single source for training materials.
Cost is probably most of it. But we'd have to fully recreate the original tooling to build one. Making a part of dimension xyz is only part of the problem. It also has to be of the same original material. Thermal expansion/contraction would play a big part in it. Part A & B need to work with part C. If C is built of a newer, better(?) alloy, that's not necessarily a good thing, if it expands at adifferent rate than the original...
Could we duplicate a 1972 Pinto? Not a look alike, with a better motor and suspension, but an actual duplicate 1972 Pinto. Sure. But at a cost of 5x the original. Finding that 5x is the problem.
"Although flying in space is the highlight of an astronaut's career, little time is actually spent in orbit. In fact, during a 10- year assignment with NASA, an astronaut will probably fly in space only three times. There is much more to being an astronaut than time spent in orbit. An astronaut's ground duties can be broken down into two major categories: training for space flight and serving as a technical expert in some portion of the space shuttle or space station programs. "
He arranges a drug lord meeting with said phone. Your phone, your connection.
Can the police now bust your house?
No, because no actual crime was committed in the setting up of the meeting. But if said criminal friend used your house for an actual crime, i.e. a drug sale, then yes, you can get busted. You still might get off (you were not actually there, and have an ironclad alibi) , but you're on far shakier ground.
In either case, you're on their radar, and may have to prove your case in court.
So far, we've been talking about the very minor deal of downloading MP3's. What other illicit uses could someone put your freely shared wireless connection to? Do you want to be on THAT radar?
You're correct. The TOS between you and your ISP has little if anything to do with civil law. But that's where they will start.
The MPAA will ask/subpoena the ISP for whose connection is was. That points to you. You might be able to make a case that an unsecured wireless connection might have been used by anyone.
But, I don't have the personal resources to go up against the MPAA and its army of bloodsuckers, just to prove a point. And to defend someone I don't know who is (possibly) performing the heinous crime of copyright infringement. Do you?
Slashdot Mirror
Here, and here. Lin/Win/Mac versions.
You can do that already. Take a train/bus/taxi. Let someone else drive. If you want to travel in your private cocoon, be prepared to give up a lot of control.
Already exists. Quite a few cars have automatic, dual zone climate control. The software especially isn't hard, but it DOES have to interface with the hardware to make things actually happen. And the automatic part of the hardware can't be added later on. Well..it can, but not cheaply.
As far as the radio...how many times do you change the station on a typical drive? I don't. One station in the morning commute, a different one for the drive home. (when I'm not riding my bike). 'Manage' the radio? Manage what?
Let's not. Instead, let's remember that this is a car we're driving, and not a mobile party room. A car with more kinetic energy than a bullet.
I know this sounds boring and pedestrian, but not everything that has a high 'cool factor' is a good idea to put into practice.
For your alarm idea, we already have LoJack.
(e) Activate the IR targeted minigun on the roof.
You don't trust Bush and the current administration. You think you are (and you very well might be) smarter than them. Yet you trust them with your money more than you trust yourself.
Nice disconnect there.
Well....it can, but it's not much good after. Neither is the bullet, but the bullet is less emotionally invested in the process.
Bing's Rule: Don't try to stem the tide -- move the beach.
Music/movie industry - start moving.
Being able to experiment was one of the central themes of the old model of emusic.com. $15/month, all you can eat, no DRM. You could preview and try something new without actually spending $$ on that particular track/album. Too bad they got bought and changed the price/download model.
Slightly cheaper to the people who would use it (you and I), infinitely more expensive to those who don't want it.
Oh yeah they will. Someone has to have his finger on the pursestrings. Maybe not the technical portion, but you can bet your ass that an office within the city govt. will be set up to administer this thing.
they'll contract the whole thing to the lowest bidder. Hence, competition among network suppliers.
and they'll pay that contract through money collected from everybody, not just people and businesses who wanted it. Like all other WiFi suppliers would have to.
For those who want the service, it may well be cheaper. For those who don't want/need it, no price is too low.
The city is simply a big customer, and market forces rule
The city has the ability to force everyone to be in the market. If TimeWarner could force everybody in town to pay up, they could (theoretically) lower their enduser prices as well.
If Ford found a way to sell new cars for $5000, but the reason they could do that is they neglect to pay the line workers and suppliers, would you say "it's working"?
That works with any business. If you neglect to pay all of your costs to produce, of course you can sell the product much cheaper.
In an ideal world, allofmp3.com would pay the artists some percentage of what they are already collecting. As it is, they are merely keeping all the money for themselves, in collusion with ROMS.
You have an odd definition of "it's working".
The part of this idea that I have a hard time with is "In addition, a 1 per cent sales tax would be placed on Internet services and new computers".
Is there a tax on TV's that goes back to the networks/TV industry? How about stereo equipment?
How about if I don't use this particular PC for music? Does that tax apply? What about a PC I built from parts?
But those long shifts look good for the middle manager reporting up the chain. "We're doing everything we can, boss!"
1. Because when this eval and bid process was started, OOo was not really a viable alternative.
2. Support contract.
3. Being able to pay a single source for training materials.
A 'look alike' would need all the testing of the original. Boosting the time and cost even more.
Could we duplicate a 1972 Pinto? Not a look alike, with a better motor and suspension, but an actual duplicate 1972 Pinto. Sure. But at a cost of 5x the original. Finding that 5x is the problem.
A lot of the original tooling is probably gone. And each one is more or less a custom job, not an assembly line duplicate.
Excerpt from RedNova
They are also engineers. Design, test, evaluate other aspects of spaceflight and operations in space.
Can the police now bust your house?
No, because no actual crime was committed in the setting up of the meeting. But if said criminal friend used your house for an actual crime, i.e. a drug sale, then yes, you can get busted. You still might get off (you were not actually there, and have an ironclad alibi) , but you're on far shakier ground.
In either case, you're on their radar, and may have to prove your case in court.
So far, we've been talking about the very minor deal of downloading MP3's. What other illicit uses could someone put your freely shared wireless connection to? Do you want to be on THAT radar?
But, I don't have the personal resources to go up against the MPAA and its army of bloodsuckers, just to prove a point. And to defend someone I don't know who is (possibly) performing the heinous crime of copyright infringement. Do you?
Yes, innocent until proven guilty. But, they have evidence (IP address, times, dates, traffic) that it was you. Show otherwise.
Any use of your connection is your responsibility.