>> If you had to pay full price for them they'd be hundreds of dollars ($29, which is less than 10% of the price of the latest Android)
Again, not if I just want Internet access.
Today, I can walk into a Walmart, buy a $50-60 Android phone (not $290+) from the pay-as-you-go section, or $50-60 Android tablet, NEVER activate my device with any carrier, and get out to the Internet through any Wifi connection.
>> paying hundreds of dollars (hell, even a hundred dollars) to do it on their phone is madness
You're repeating the "expensive" meme I don't understand. If you want to get on the Internet, brand new devices with 4-8 inch touch screens are available brand new for $50-60 today.
I don't get "smartphones are too expensive." Fifteen years ago people paid $1,000 or more out of pocket just to connect a desktop to the Internet. Today, you can buy a new Android smartphone for $50-60 or 8" Android tablet for the same money. Even if you pay the Apple tax, you're still paying just half what you had to ten years ago to get an ultra-portable, Internet-enabled device.
Furthermore, phone plans with plenty of (non-video, non-streaming) Internet access can be found for something like $25/month from places like Virgin Mobile. (I just moved my wife and kids to one of their shared plans...still only pay about $40 a month for all of them.) If you want more, you still can probably get all the bandwidth you need for less than $100/month. (Again, cheap for those of us who remember agonizing over corporate T1 lines.)
Unless the Nokia 215 is aiming to be the next Obamaphone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio)...what exactly is the point of this?
>> Whether it's an e-mail or a text message you're always on the clock and expected in most cases to be available
That really depends on the job, my friend. I don't have any work email on my mobile devices. I do publish my cell phone number on all my email sigs, at my desk, etc. What happens in practice is this:
1) You send me email when I'm not in the office: I learn about the next time I sit down or RPC in - during business hours. 2) You send me a text: you get "twitter length and quality" answers from me. After every 3-5 messages I'm likely to ask you, "is this something I need to sign on and look at immediately?" If that answer is "no" I'll have you send me an email and I'll look at it during business hours. 3) You call me: OK, you've got my attention, but thanks to recent changes in culture a live phone call is considered invasive and for high-priority stuff only.
The result is that I'm really only pulled into business work about once a week, maybe twice if I'm on vacation.
From a developer's perspective, for 2014 I'd suggest Miguel de Icaza. From his Mono roots he built Xamarin for cross-platform mobile development, and appears to have been a force in the NET Open Sourcing.
>> what you're saying is that you would be willing to page exponentially more money for a vehicle with exponentially less usability than a standard, non automated car (...operates like a train car...occupants at no time would be expected to take control)
I'd pay up to 50% more for a car I didn't have to drive. Maybe more if it took me to work, maybe I could send it home so my wife and/or kids could use during the day when I'm away at work.
What I don't want is to have to share a space I spend up to two hours a day in (commuting) with all the rest of humanity. That's why I buy stuff (house, car, my own seat on an airplane, my own cell phone vs. a public pay phone) in the first place.
>> Someone who, given the choice of spending $30K on a car that they fully control and can go anywhere they want at any speed they want – or another, likely more expensive buggy that will only travel on certain routes at slower speeds and with less options." Which car would you buy?
The Driverless Car - Any Day of the Week.
I commute. I always have. I've been dreaming of my own private "pod" that someone else drove while I read, created, slept or talked for 30+ plus years now. Bring it.
>> appear significantly more expensive than their cell phone counterparts as they are typically sold unsubsidized
I just bought two Android tablets for two of my kids at $70/each and two Android smartphones for another kid and my wife for $70/each. With a pay-as-you-go plan, conveniently hooked up to a credit card, I'm still paying just $55/month for all 3 of my family's connected cell phones.
Subsidized cell phones and high monthly plans are for suckers.
>> maybe Google's willingness to build its own hardware just to get the technology on the road means that its self-driving car team knows something the rest of the industry doesn't
Or...that the rest of the auto industry doesn't want to get tagged with the "first death caused by an automated car."
>> Sir Richard Branson Quietly Shelves Virgin Submarine Plan
"Quietly shelves"...really? From the department of less crappy headlines, here's a couple of freebies:
"Branson Deep Sixes Own Submarine Mission" "What Do Sir Richard Branson and the Red October Have in Common?" "Virgin Dive Aborted Before Anything Gets Wet"
>> Who's old enough to remember when the best technology was found at work, while at home we got by with clunky home computers and pokey dial-up modems?
I'm even older. I remember when the best technology was at home, on our personal computers. From there, PCs started invading the workplace...finally breaking up a lot of the control held by an iron-fisted, non-innovative, mainframe-based IT department.
Slashdot Mirror
>> If you had to pay full price for them they'd be hundreds of dollars ($29, which is less than 10% of the price of the latest Android)
Again, not if I just want Internet access.
Today, I can walk into a Walmart, buy a $50-60 Android phone (not $290+) from the pay-as-you-go section, or $50-60 Android tablet, NEVER activate my device with any carrier, and get out to the Internet through any Wifi connection.
>> paying hundreds of dollars (hell, even a hundred dollars) to do it on their phone is madness
You're repeating the "expensive" meme I don't understand. If you want to get on the Internet, brand new devices with 4-8 inch touch screens are available brand new for $50-60 today.
I don't get "smartphones are too expensive." Fifteen years ago people paid $1,000 or more out of pocket just to connect a desktop to the Internet. Today, you can buy a new Android smartphone for $50-60 or 8" Android tablet for the same money. Even if you pay the Apple tax, you're still paying just half what you had to ten years ago to get an ultra-portable, Internet-enabled device.
Furthermore, phone plans with plenty of (non-video, non-streaming) Internet access can be found for something like $25/month from places like Virgin Mobile. (I just moved my wife and kids to one of their shared plans...still only pay about $40 a month for all of them.) If you want more, you still can probably get all the bandwidth you need for less than $100/month. (Again, cheap for those of us who remember agonizing over corporate T1 lines.)
Unless the Nokia 215 is aiming to be the next Obamaphone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio)...what exactly is the point of this?
>> tax rate...will be determined by where consumers live
Wasn't there some nutjob article here last week about borders disappearing? Not as long as we have taxing bodies...
tldr: if you have to use dice to get a job you're already f***ed
>> Whether it's an e-mail or a text message you're always on the clock and expected in most cases to be available
That really depends on the job, my friend. I don't have any work email on my mobile devices. I do publish my cell phone number on all my email sigs, at my desk, etc. What happens in practice is this:
1) You send me email when I'm not in the office: I learn about the next time I sit down or RPC in - during business hours.
2) You send me a text: you get "twitter length and quality" answers from me. After every 3-5 messages I'm likely to ask you, "is this something I need to sign on and look at immediately?" If that answer is "no" I'll have you send me an email and I'll look at it during business hours.
3) You call me: OK, you've got my attention, but thanks to recent changes in culture a live phone call is considered invasive and for high-priority stuff only.
The result is that I'm really only pulled into business work about once a week, maybe twice if I'm on vacation.
From a developer's perspective, for 2014 I'd suggest Miguel de Icaza. From his Mono roots he built Xamarin for cross-platform mobile development, and appears to have been a force in the NET Open Sourcing.
>> what you're saying is that you would be willing to page exponentially more money for a vehicle with exponentially less usability than a standard, non automated car (...operates like a train car...occupants at no time would be expected to take control)
I'd pay up to 50% more for a car I didn't have to drive. Maybe more if it took me to work, maybe I could send it home so my wife and/or kids could use during the day when I'm away at work.
What I don't want is to have to share a space I spend up to two hours a day in (commuting) with all the rest of humanity. That's why I buy stuff (house, car, my own seat on an airplane, my own cell phone vs. a public pay phone) in the first place.
>> can you take public transit
Unfortunately no. The other problem with public transit is that it's public. (I prefer my house vs. the underpass for the same reason.)
>> Someone who, given the choice of spending $30K on a car that they fully control and can go anywhere they want at any speed they want – or another, likely more expensive buggy that will only travel on certain routes at slower speeds and with less options." Which car would you buy?
The Driverless Car - Any Day of the Week.
I commute. I always have. I've been dreaming of my own private "pod" that someone else drove while I read, created, slept or talked for 30+ plus years now. Bring it.
>> appear significantly more expensive than their cell phone counterparts as they are typically sold unsubsidized
I just bought two Android tablets for two of my kids at $70/each and two Android smartphones for another kid and my wife for $70/each. With a pay-as-you-go plan, conveniently hooked up to a credit card, I'm still paying just $55/month for all 3 of my family's connected cell phones.
Subsidized cell phones and high monthly plans are for suckers.
>> I want to get a jump-start on next year's Christmas by wiring up my mother's gnome garden
This is mom. While you're out of the basement can you take out the trash?
Awfully long summary to say "you can haz 6TB HD"
>> maybe Google's willingness to build its own hardware just to get the technology on the road means that its self-driving car team knows something the rest of the industry doesn't
Or...that the rest of the auto industry doesn't want to get tagged with the "first death caused by an automated car."
>> java infusion can certainly help, but studies also suggest that alcohol can also have a positive impact
A better idea then: mix the two. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...
...there would be no Slashdot summaries.
So this is a call for what - people to use their computer skills to censor viewpoints they don't agree with?
Prehistoric hockey games?
>> Why Didn't Sidecar's Flex Pricing Work?
Because they hired Bennett Haselton to promote it, and the target audience died of thirst waiting for BH to finish his pitch.
>> Sir Richard Branson Quietly Shelves Virgin Submarine Plan
"Quietly shelves"...really? From the department of less crappy headlines, here's a couple of freebies:
"Branson Deep Sixes Own Submarine Mission"
"What Do Sir Richard Branson and the Red October Have in Common?"
"Virgin Dive Aborted Before Anything Gets Wet"
>> business could collect a...card number and use it to make an instant payment...real-time, payment transaction risk-scoring
Congratulations you've invented the credit card!
>> Who's old enough to remember when the best technology was found at work, while at home we got by with clunky home computers and pokey dial-up modems?
I'm even older. I remember when the best technology was at home, on our personal computers. From there, PCs started invading the workplace...finally breaking up a lot of the control held by an iron-fisted, non-innovative, mainframe-based IT department.
I love the source document, but how about a TFA that summarizes what this is all about?
>> Does the FAA know about this?
They probably would after the fried plane drops into the sea.
>> U.S. Navy has declared a "laz-er" ...an operational asset and ...has given permission for the commander of the ship to defend itself with the weapon
Today, we finally begin to close the Shark Gap.