At this price point, it's more of a wallet killer than an iPod killer. Isn't the iPod's high price it's main criticism? If this were priced at $199, I'd believe it was a threat. At the cost of a *nice* new computer, though - not a chance.
Been using Vonage for 4 months. I have a 678 Atlanta #, and a 321 Orlando virtual #.
Problems: 1) Voicemail quality is often horrid. Suspect their voicemail system is overloaded.
2) 321 # broke twice ("this number has been disconnected", not my cable box going down). Fixed within a day each time.
3) 678 # broke once ("this number has been disconnected", not my cable box going down). Fixed overnight.
4) They 'upgraded' the voicemail system with only a couple days of e-mailed warning once, resetting my greeting and password and wiping my old voicemails after a short period of time. If I had been on vacation, it would have upset me greatly to come home and find no voicemail greeting and all my old messages expired.
5) The call forwarding for when your net connection is out doesn't work reliably. Sometimes my calls forward, sometimes they go to voice mail, sometimes my phone doesn't answer, and sometimes callers get a weird "unable to reach this person try again later" sort of error message.
In short, it's not quite there yet, and avoid the voicemail, but it's cheap unlimited calling with cool features like extra incoming phone numbers in different area codes. I expected and found more problems than with the traditional phone service - chiefly because I expect traditional phone service to just always work.
The Vonage box puts out 5 RENS. Traditionally, 1 phone used to take 1 REN, so you would expect that should power 5 phones. These days, phones often run on 0.0 to 0.2 RENS, so you would expect that to power every phone you could possibly plug in. All phones have their REN value on a sticker on them somewhere, check the bottom.
Just make sure you don't accidentally jack the Vonage box directly into the POTS network - disconnect your outside phone connection wherever it comes in, and you're set.
They are very different. Don't record suggestions does not stop the TiVo from recording the ads, it just keeps it from recording other shows it thinks you might like.
Easy. Traditional company, you get a phone line and you pay taxes/regulatory fees on the phone line. VoIP company, you get a cable connection and you pay taxes/regulatory fees on the cable connection. The idea to tax VoIP separately is double-taxing and double-regulating; the cable connection on your end is already taxed and regulated; the POTS connection on their end is already taxed and regulated; the additional tax and regulation for VoIP is just extra burden that shouldn't be required, unless they're willing to remove the taxes and regulations for the cable connection I already have.
Taxing VoIP separately would be like charging extra for hooking a camera or scanner up to your PC - it's one more device that uses existing equipment and infrastructure that has already been paid for. You shouldn't have to pay extra depending on what services you use that equipment for.
Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Largest military aviation museum in the world. Best memory I had: One plane had tires with a radius taller than me; the weight distribution broke too many runways so they had to replace the landing gear. That, and an SR-71.
Blue Man Group, any city they perform in.
Beyond that, I'd spend all my time at the Smithsonian and not worry about the fact that I was spending all my time in one place.
Get something now so that you have some success, some revenue, and some shot at being around for version 2.
Sure, overall it's slower to do something quick and dirty then go back and revise. But, the difference is that someone else is paying you while you revise, and marketing has something to work with, and sales has something to sell; rather than having all of the time funded by your own investors and marketing/sales left with nothing to work with.
There are many parallels; note that successful businesses (barring the recent few high-profile 'first movers') started out as small shops that worked on getting income, then getting something right, then expanding. You have to still be around next month, and next year.
Or, until you buy a new computer and you have to call the 800 number and waste 10 minutes of your life. Oh, and that doesn't work if the activation servers are down too.
There is no reason I should have to beg permission to be allowed to use a legally purchased product. There is no reason that the manufacturer should be able to determine, AFTER the sale, what I personally do with that product. There is no reason that the doctrine of first sale should not apply to software, other than this 'because we can get away with it' garbage.
Generous? Our employers are all required by law to pay for this insurance. So, we all have insurance, but it's been paid for. Personally, I would rather have just been given the extra money up front. But, that's just me.
In networks protected by firewalls, it is axiomatic that all attackers are on the outside of the firewall. Therefore, hosts inside the firewall MUST NOT set the evil bit on any packets.
Our IT group must have contributed to this RFC! Now I know exactly what to think of it...:)
'k, I can buy that. I just wanted to say there can be other real reasons to have a public journal and it isn't necessarily dumb, so don't dismiss them all outright.
I find it surprising that you dismiss all possible alternative explanations as simply being hidden glory-seeking.
For a counter-example to your argument, I write publicly rather than privarely so that if a friend wants to understand me better but is too shy to ask or doesn't know to ask, they can go browse. It seems like a valid enough reason to me, and wholly distinct from the general glory-seeking you claim is universal.
You have divide by zero code that will take down a whole entire box, while running as a normal app (not root, not a driver), on any Unix based OS? Really? I'd love to see it.
I saw a site for William Shatner's Spplat Attack, and it occurred to me that you have an amazing knack for selling out *well*, picking stuff where my first reaction is 'wow that's cool' rather than 'man what a pathetic sell-out'. Heck, even the priceline ads are entertaining, even if priceline isn't my favorite business ever. So, how do you pick so well?
What do you value? The ability to sit on hold only to not have your problem solved or to be told that the 'work-around' is to reboot? Or the ability to actually be able to dig into the code and change something if you really and truly need it to work?
I'm just jaded on the value of support, it seems like you end up figuring out/fixing/working around anything with your own staff *anyway*, so you might as well give them something they can work on if they have to.
This was nothing but one big giant rant. No inside information, no facts, no research, no speaking to people involved, no looking at numbers, nothing more than one guys opinions and complaints and armchair quarterbacking. How is this worthy of the front page, other than sheer gee-it's-long-enough-it-must-be-good?
No you idiot. The GPL only requires that, if you got the binary, you get the source w/ it, *and* you then have the right to pass it along yourself.
Nothing says the person who provided it to you has to give it away to all takers. But, once you get it, *you* then have the right to give it away. *They* don't have to help you, but they can't stop you either.
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At this price point, it's more of a wallet killer than an iPod killer. Isn't the iPod's high price it's main criticism?
If this were priced at $199, I'd believe it was a threat. At the cost of a *nice* new computer, though - not a chance.
Been using Vonage for 4 months. I have a 678 Atlanta #, and a 321 Orlando virtual #.
Problems:
1) Voicemail quality is often horrid. Suspect their voicemail system is overloaded.
2) 321 # broke twice ("this number has been disconnected", not my cable box going down). Fixed within a day each time.
3) 678 # broke once ("this number has been disconnected", not my cable box going down). Fixed overnight.
4) They 'upgraded' the voicemail system with only a couple days of e-mailed warning once, resetting my greeting and password and wiping my old voicemails after a short period of time. If I had been on vacation, it would have upset me greatly to come home and find no voicemail greeting and all my old messages expired.
5) The call forwarding for when your net connection is out doesn't work reliably. Sometimes my calls forward, sometimes they go to voice mail, sometimes my phone doesn't answer, and sometimes callers get a weird "unable to reach this person try again later" sort of error message.
In short, it's not quite there yet, and avoid the voicemail, but it's cheap unlimited calling with cool features like extra incoming phone numbers in different area codes. I expected and found more problems than with the traditional phone service - chiefly because I expect traditional phone service to just always work.
The Vonage box puts out 5 RENS. Traditionally, 1 phone used to take 1 REN, so you would expect that should power 5 phones. These days, phones often run on 0.0 to 0.2 RENS, so you would expect that to power every phone you could possibly plug in. All phones have their REN value on a sticker on them somewhere, check the bottom.
Just make sure you don't accidentally jack the Vonage box directly into the POTS network - disconnect your outside phone connection wherever it comes in, and you're set.
They are very different. Don't record suggestions does not stop the TiVo from recording the ads, it just keeps it from recording other shows it thinks you might like.
The theater gets a cut of the ticket sales. It's a sliding scale, very little during the first two weeks, much more when they keep the film longer.
Switch anyway. The wonderous happiness of Vonage is worth the hassle of telling people you have a new phone number.
Easy. Traditional company, you get a phone line and you pay taxes/regulatory fees on the phone line. VoIP company, you get a cable connection and you pay taxes/regulatory fees on the cable connection. The idea to tax VoIP separately is double-taxing and double-regulating; the cable connection on your end is already taxed and regulated; the POTS connection on their end is already taxed and regulated; the additional tax and regulation for VoIP is just extra burden that shouldn't be required, unless they're willing to remove the taxes and regulations for the cable connection I already have.
Taxing VoIP separately would be like charging extra for hooking a camera or scanner up to your PC - it's one more device that uses existing equipment and infrastructure that has already been paid for. You shouldn't have to pay extra depending on what services you use that equipment for.
Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Largest military aviation museum in the world. Best memory I had: One plane had tires with a radius taller than me; the weight distribution broke too many runways so they had to replace the landing gear. That, and an SR-71.
Blue Man Group, any city they perform in.
Beyond that, I'd spend all my time at the Smithsonian and not worry about the fact that I was spending all my time in one place.
Get something now so that you have some success, some revenue, and some shot at being around for version 2.
Sure, overall it's slower to do something quick and dirty then go back and revise. But, the difference is that someone else is paying you while you revise, and marketing has something to work with, and sales has something to sell; rather than having all of the time funded by your own investors and marketing/sales left with nothing to work with.
There are many parallels; note that successful businesses (barring the recent few high-profile 'first movers') started out as small shops that worked on getting income, then getting something right, then expanding. You have to still be around next month, and next year.
Sure, unless the activation servers are down.
Or, until you buy a new computer and you have to call the 800 number and waste 10 minutes of your life. Oh, and that doesn't work if the activation servers are down too.
There is no reason I should have to beg permission to be allowed to use a legally purchased product. There is no reason that the manufacturer should be able to determine, AFTER the sale, what I personally do with that product. There is no reason that the doctrine of first sale should not apply to software, other than this 'because we can get away with it' garbage.
Logging should be off because you can't trust your friends?
Get better friends and/or speak more carefully.
Generous?
Our employers are all required by law to pay for this insurance. So, we all have insurance, but it's been paid for.
Personally, I would rather have just been given the extra money up front. But, that's just me.
If one TiVo-type product is available in the store with ad-skipping, and the other without, sure, there'll be a preference.
Nope.
There was, it was called ReplayTV. And, people still preferred TiVo. I can't explain it, but there you have it.
Anyone know if the lack of a 'pause live radio' feature is due to something like the Pause Technologies patent for TV pausing?
www.google.com had no trouble finding one, "refurbished tivo" immediately yields http://www.tivo.com/2.7.asp
Don't pay extra for more space, swapping the hard drives or adding a second drive is tremendously easy.
I love my TiVo, but I get the impression ReplayTV is more of a geek's toy. I'm surprised they are always mentioned less in these PVR articles.
Our IT group must have contributed to this RFC! Now I know exactly what to think of it...
Ditto. I'm also 25 now; Tradewars and MajorBBS chat got me through middle school, but 'kids these days' can't even picture it.
Cheers, and thanks for the memories.
'k, I can buy that. I just wanted to say there can be other real reasons to have a public journal and it isn't necessarily dumb, so don't dismiss them all outright.
I find it surprising that you dismiss all possible alternative explanations as simply being hidden glory-seeking.
For a counter-example to your argument, I write publicly rather than privarely so that if a friend wants to understand me better but is too shy to ask or doesn't know to ask, they can go browse. It seems like a valid enough reason to me, and wholly distinct from the general glory-seeking you claim is universal.
You have divide by zero code that will take down a whole entire box, while running as a normal app (not root, not a driver), on any Unix based OS? Really? I'd love to see it.
Consider spending time working on Star Control 2. It is similar, at least equally well done, free and now open source:
2 22 5&mode=thread&tid=127
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/30/222
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/index.html
I saw a site for William Shatner's Spplat Attack, and it occurred to me that you have an amazing knack for selling out *well*, picking stuff where my first reaction is 'wow that's cool' rather than 'man what a pathetic sell-out'. Heck, even the priceline ads are entertaining, even if priceline isn't my favorite business ever. So, how do you pick so well?
What do you value? The ability to sit on hold only to not have your problem solved or to be told that the 'work-around' is to reboot? Or the ability to actually be able to dig into the code and change something if you really and truly need it to work?
I'm just jaded on the value of support, it seems like you end up figuring out/fixing/working around anything with your own staff *anyway*, so you might as well give them something they can work on if they have to.
This was nothing but one big giant rant. No inside information, no facts, no research, no speaking to people involved, no looking at numbers, nothing more than one guys opinions and complaints and armchair quarterbacking. How is this worthy of the front page, other than sheer gee-it's-long-enough-it-must-be-good?
No you idiot.
The GPL only requires that, if you got the binary, you get the source w/ it, *and* you then have the right to pass it along yourself.
Nothing says the person who provided it to you has to give it away to all takers. But, once you get it, *you* then have the right to give it away. *They* don't have to help you, but they can't stop you either.