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User: sean.peters

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  1. What's painful about it? on Microsoft Out of Favor With Young, Hip Developers · · Score: 1

    Process for other players: 1) get music into your computer 2) plug in device 3) drag files to device. Process for iPod: 1) get music into your computer 2) plug in device 3) There is no step 3. If you only want certain songs on the iPod, you do have the extra step of making a playlist, but that's no harder than selecting and dragging files into folders on other devices.

    There are some legit criticisms of the Apple method of doing this - but you've got to admit that it's not any HARDER to get music on and off an iPod than any other device. In fact, I can't imagine how it could be any easier.

  2. No such thing? on Microsoft Out of Favor With Young, Hip Developers · · Score: 1

    In fact, there's no such thing as almost free, it's like being pregnant. It either is or it isn't, and free will always be cooler than not free.

    Um, no, it's really not like being pregnant at all. Being pregnant truly is a yes/no proposition - you are or you aren't. The cost of something, however, is not binary - it's a continuous variable. And demand for products varies pretty smoothly with price per Econ 101. Sure, free is marginally cooler than $.01. $.01 is marginally cooler than $.02. But it's certainly not the case that free == totally cool and $.01 == totally uncool.

    As to the specifics here: if a startup really has so little money that they can't come up with $200 after two years in operation, they might as well throw in the towel. I'm entirely onboard with the idea that you shouldn't spend money for something if you don't need to, but come on - this really is essentially free. How is a company with finances that tight making payroll?

  3. The 60 Hz scare is still going strong... on Study Hints Ambient Radio Waves May Affect Plant Growth · · Score: 1

    Some makes of electric blanket now have rectifier/transformers built in, so that the blanket is heated by DC currents (to be sure, this is also good for safety: the voltage and current through the blanket are quite a bit lower) rather than 60Hz AC. I don't have the heart to tell these people that if they really want to avoid exposure to 60Hz radiation, they'll have to secure power to their houses... as they're soaking in it all day long otherwise.

  4. Re:A word on simple experiments... on Study Hints Ambient Radio Waves May Affect Plant Growth · · Score: 1

    Iron, for one thing, is notably deficient in seawater. One of the plans for scrubbing excess CO2 from the atmosphere was to seed the oceans with iron - the idea is that you'd then get an immense algae bloom, and the algae would then die and sink to the bottom, sequestering a lot of carbon. It hasn't been implemented because 1) it's expensive and no one knows whether it would really work, and 2) fear of unintended consequences.

  5. On bottlenecks on Study Hints Ambient Radio Waves May Affect Plant Growth · · Score: 1

    There is a steady increase in C02 Levels in the atmosphere. This should result in a corresponding increase in plant growth since plants are largely bottlenecked by the relatively low C02 levels in the modern vs the 1500ppm that existed when they evolved.

    Unless, of course, there are other bottlenecks such as nutrient availability that are holding them back. And there are - this experiment has already been done. Several varieties of plants were exposed to a set of conditions: normal (control), increased CO2, and increased CO2 plus soil amendment with certain minerals (iron, if I remember correctly, was one of them), and increased minerals alone. The plants exposed to increased CO2 alone and fertilizer alone showed increased growth, but not that much. Those exposed to both grew significantly more. I don't think you can conclude that because plants aren't going crazy with growth from increased CO2, that it must be because of exposure to RF - there are a lot of other issues that could cause this.

  6. Absolutely ridiculous on AU Band Men At Work Owes Royalties On 'Kookaburra' · · Score: 1

    I was an avid listener of this kind of music when "Down Under" was released, and it the sequence in question was clearly recognizable to me. And if an American college student recognized this riff at first hearing, it's absolutely freakin' impossible to believe that the Australian band who performed it didn't recognize it. Again, I'm not saying I agree with the way copyright law is being used here, but come on. This bit was CLEARLY copied from the "Kookaburra" piece.

  7. I find it absolutely impossible to believe... on AU Band Men At Work Owes Royalties On 'Kookaburra' · · Score: 1

    ... that the composer of a song entitled "the Land Down Under" just happened to come up with a series of notes that are nearly an exact duplicate of a phrase from one of Australia's iconic songs. I'm sorry, but that absolutely beggars belief. Don't get me wrong, I'm as riled up about copyright abuse as anyone else, but let's not pretend this riff wasn't copied lock, stock & barrel from the "Kookaburra" piece.

  8. I don't think so on AU Band Men At Work Owes Royalties On 'Kookaburra' · · Score: 1

    Copyright violation requires that you take someone else's copyrighted material and distribute it as your own (with or without modifications). None of the steps outlined above have anything to do with distributing these works - he/she is just trying to register copyright for them. If you try to register a copyright on something that's already registered, that's not illegal, and you can't be sued for it. You just might not get the copyright, or for a derived work, might get a copyright be still not be able to sell the work (because portions of your work belong to someone else).

  9. I don't think this would work on AU Band Men At Work Owes Royalties On 'Kookaburra' · · Score: 1

    In this situation, if you had a trial, lost, and the court awarded millions of dollars to the original artist, it wouldn't matter if the original artist mysteriously died - the award would still stand and would be paid to his estate. Now, if the OA were to mysteriously die before the trial was over, that would be another story, but... it would be awfully hard to get away with this. The first question the police are going to ask when someone dies in suspicious circumstances: "who would have wanted him dead?" - you'd find yourself under a microscope pretty quickly.

  10. Note that it's ethanol we're talking about... on Doubled Yield For Bio-Fuel From Waste · · Score: 1

    Although this stuff is made from wood, it's not "wood alcohol" (methanol). No doubt they'll denature it, though, to avoid drinking alcohol taxes.

  11. Gin and tonic, baby... on Doubled Yield For Bio-Fuel From Waste · · Score: 1

    Man, you don't know what you're missing. Glass full of ice, a little Tanqueray, a squeeze of lime, top off with (diet, for me) tonic water == the most refreshing drink on the face of the earth. Vodka & tonic ain't bad either, but that "pine needle" (juniper) taste mixed with the tonic and lime... is it quitting time yet? I'm thirsty.

  12. Look, I'm not keen on Apple's policy myself, but on Apple Hires Antenna Engineers. Really. · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We already had this discussion here, folks...don't use "just hack the device" as support for an iPhone when you can do the same thing with an unmodified Android device. I'm all for modifying my gadgets, but not when I can buy a gadget that does what I want right out of the box.

    Quite clearly, the Android DIDN'T do what the GP want right out of the box, as evidenced by the overclocking, rooting, loading custom roms, etc. This is neither a hit against Android nor iPhone - practically every device needs some degree of customization to make it fit a particular user's needs.

    I'm not sure where you're coming from on the jailbreaking-terminates-your-warranty thing either. The sequence of events goes like this: 1) jailbreak 2) discover problems 3) restore to factory settings 4) get warranty service 5) jailbreak again.

    I agree that Apple's control freakery over the iPhone is a bad thing. But you certainly can achieve all the same geeky stuff on an iPhone that you can on Android, which requires only a jailbreak, and that's really not that hard.

  13. The thing that really floors me on "David After Dentist" Made $150k For Family · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Dad gave up his real estate job in favor of... selling t-shirts about this? How long does he think America is even going to REMEMBER this whole silly thing?

  14. I can't figure out what is hard about this on The State of iPad Satisfaction · · Score: 1

    Majority: (n) a number greater than 50% of a population. 41% think it's a minor problem, 16% think it's either a major problem or unacceptable. In other words, 57% think it's a problem to one degree or another. But in your version of math, the 16% don't count because they're only stupid developers, and the 41 percent who think it's a minor problem really meant that it's not a problem at all. How does the rest of the subject of mathematics work on your planet?

  15. Do you have a dictionary handy? on The State of iPad Satisfaction · · Score: 1

    In this case well over 40% have no problem with the ITMS approval proces, and another well over 40% think it is only a minor issue. This can hardly be said to a majority having a problem with ITMS, meaning that such an approval process significantly negative impacts there experience.

    I think you need to look up the word "majority". Because quite clearly, a majority of people surveyed DO have a problem with the App Store (not iTMS) approval process. Most of those do think the problem is minor. But that's not the same as "not a problem".

  16. Hmmm. on The State of iPad Satisfaction · · Score: 1

    I see it every time someone uses an Android phone (myself included): click, click again because it didn't give you immediate feedback or response. Turn the device sideways, wait a couple seconds, flip it back and forth a couple times because the display didn't rotate.

    Actually, you're describing my experience with the iPhone pretty well too. Although to be fair, mine's a 3G and I suspect the issue is that it's just too slow - I do plan to upgrade to an iPhone 4, which I suspect will solve the problem. But still, it's not like iDevices are immune to this kind of thing.

  17. Umm... on The State of iPad Satisfaction · · Score: 1

    Because he wants to give the directions to someone (say, to put in an invitation or something)? Wants to be able to refer to the directions while driving, without the distraction of fiddling with his iPad? Needs to mark up a document with pen? Needs to pass the e-mail to someone who doesn't have a mobile computer handy? The peripheral manufacturers of the world still sell a metric buttload of printers - people aren't buying them as art objects. There are all kinds of reasons why people still need paper copies of stuff. This is not a hard concept.

  18. Did you actually read it? on The State of iPad Satisfaction · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The conclusion of the article is that people really, really love their iPads for a whole bunch of reasons, and that they're less than completely delighted with a few aspects, one of which was the App store issue (and the biggest single response there was "it's a minor problem"). Anti-Apple article? Not hardly.

  19. Actually it sounds like we're in violent agreement on Best Phone For a Wi-Fi-Only Location? · · Score: 1

    Since iPhones are locked (in the US) to AT&T, activated phones command a premium, even used. (A glance at eBay shows them steadily going for $200-$400, depending on condition, capacity, and accessories.)

    So, "commanding a premium" means they're not cheap, right? I think that's what I said. Although I will admit that I was wrong about only the rabid fanboys dumping their 3GSs :) ... so I guess they are at least plentiful. I've got a 3G and I'm going to be dumping that as soon as the crush dies down a little, so I'm not immune either.

    But my original point remains - buying a used 3GS is not necessarily going to be all that cheap.

  20. Re:Why not? Receiving calls... on Best Phone For a Wi-Fi-Only Location? · · Score: 1

    I'm not quite sure I understand your point. As you say, unlocking won't help, because you still can't get on the CDMA Verizon network anyway. And relying on jailbreak to get multi-tasking, to in turn get Skype to work... let's just say I'm not convinced. There was a reason Apple didn't enable multi-tasking on the 3G - it doesn't have the hardware to support it correctly. Might not be a big deal if you're just running Pandora in the background or something, since if the iPhone dies because of that, oh well. Having the iPhone die in the middle of a phone call is a lot more problematic. It's one of those things where you might get it to work, but you'll never get it to really work well enough to depend on.

  21. This sounds like a great idea, but... on Best Phone For a Wi-Fi-Only Location? · · Score: 1

    ... you need to be careful. Neither the 3G nor original iPhone will multitask, even with iOS 4 installed (in the case of the original iPhone, I don't think you can even install it). And if it doesn't multitask, you can't receive calls (Skype won't continue running when the screen is shut down). You would need at least a 3GS, and those are neither as plentiful nor as cheap as the earlier phones, as they're all only about a year old... only the most rabid iPhoneboys are dumping their 3GSs.

  22. Why not? Receiving calls... on Best Phone For a Wi-Fi-Only Location? · · Score: 1

    He doesn't have AT&T cell service available, so WiFi is the only option. And even with iOS 4, you can't multitask on a 3G. Meaning that when the screen is off, Skype's not running. Meaning that you can't receive calls. So this might work if you call other people, but they never call you. Otherwise... not so much.

  23. He could get even cheaper... on Best Phone For a Wi-Fi-Only Location? · · Score: 1

    ... if he reverted to using smoke signals - you can get a good signal fire going with surplus college newspapers for free. Dude, come on. He didn't come right out and say it, but clearly the desired solution is a MOBILE phone.

  24. This is my usual experience with Belkin devices on Best Phone For a Wi-Fi-Only Location? · · Score: 1

    I've gotten to the point where I completely avoid anything with their name on it, as it's almost universally crap. From car power adapters for various devices that don't provide power, to USB hubs that refuse to work, I've had bad luck with it all. Save yourself some trouble and just avoid them.

  25. Two things: on High Depreciation May Slow Electric Car Acceptance · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1) If the battery really is fully functional per the test stand at the battery swap out place, I don't really care what it looks like. It's not like I'm going to be looking at it all that much.

    2) The battery swap-out model is usually discussed in the context where you lease rather than own the battery. So you turn in a brand new one and get one that's two years old (and presumably has less remaining life). Who cares? You're going to be turning it in pretty soon anyway for a replacement, fully charged one.

    I really don't see this as a serious objection to the battery swap plan.