And someone willing and ready to clean them every few hours. Those gamers that are able to place a round into the head of another player within 50 ms from 1000 feet are commonly unable to get their piss into a foot wide hole right in front of them.
If there is even one woman there, make sure there is a bathroom designated 'women only'. There's no need to dunk her into the filth of gamers on a weekend marathon.
People who live in rural areas generally move there to get away from other people, enjoy a life not driven by technology, and own large tracts of land at rates next to nothing.
This means they have to pump their own water, dispose of their own trash, take care of the septic tank, drive on gravel, cut wood, fill the propane tank and sometimes even generate their own electricity. This is the price of living on land that only costs $2000 per acre instead of $200000 per acre. If their only internet connection is 256k via sattelite with a half second latency, then boo-hoo. If they want convience, they would live within 10 miles of a Walmart, not 100.
When I can pick up a quarter acre worth building a house on in the city for $5000, then I'll feel sorry for the people out in the boonies.
For now, I pay the extra to live in the city (and thus alot more property taxes too). I like being near a 15 screen theater, amusement parks, hundreds of restaurants, multiple shopping malls with 100+ stores each and a gas station or grocery store on every corner. I like being able to meet people that care about more than hunting and tractor pulls. But I think I pay quite enough as it is.
A USF for people in the ghetto, maybe. Country life is quite cheap enough as it is.
Considering that the only moving parts are the hard drive, hinge for the display and maybe a cpu fan (no CDrom or floppy), I wouldn't expect to have it serviced often.
Did I miss any mention of a NIC being integrated? One of these with 802.11b built in would be awesome. I'd jump on an english language version of this in a second if it came ready to plug into my LAN and download apps from the net.
" Makes me wonder why medical care costs so much.:)
A few people will complain about doctors charging/making so much money. It takes a minimum of 11 years of education past high school (where you are spending money rather than making it) to become a doctor. Obviously doctors aren't overpaid, because we have a glut of computer programmers and a shortage of doctors. Enginers (4 years post high-school) are typically making $100k/year by the time a doctor has just gotten a decent practice started at $150/year. The engineer is leagues ahead on the savings at this point and didn't have to spend a year cutting open dead bodies.
When you go to see a doctor, their salary makes up less than 25% of what you pay. There are tons of other things digging into your wallet:
1. Malpractice insurance. Every person or company that ever has anything to do with your treatment in the hospital bears a liability. All the way down to the company that services the elevators and makes the brakes on the ambulance. An ECG failure can result in death because nobody realized that a patient's heart stopped. A motorized wheelchair that breaks could leave you stranded in the middle of the road. A dirty room could give you a nasty infection.
The people in Nevada have been especially nasty to their Ob\Gyns with lawsuits and now even the most competent doctors are refusing to deliver babies. Stupid juries award multi-million dollar awards for stillborn babies. It used to be very common for the baby or even the mother to die in childbirth. Modern medicine is reducing that. But many people pay tens of thousands of dollars just to get pregnant, and then want compensation when it doesn't turn out ok.
Malpractice should be completely done away with, except in cases of criminal negligence. People should have to pay out of their own pockets for malpractice insurance (just like car insurance) on any procedure they have done. Any settlements against a doctor should be public record. If you think your baby-on-the-way is worth 5 million dollars, then get a policy for that amount. If you really think that your eyes are worth 10 million, then get a policy for that amount before getting LASIK surgery. There's an inherent risk to any medical procedure. Americans seem to think that seeing a doctor is like buying a VCR.
2. Health insurance packages breed an I-want-it-all mentality.
My family's current medical coverage is 100% free as long as I get treatment at the local (largest in the state) hospital. I don't pay a penny for prescriptions. I got LASIK surgery for free. I've been to the emergency room twice in 3 years and didn't even have to pay for parking. Needed an MRI, took the CT too. I used a medication that costs twice as much as the default one just because I didn't want to remember to take it twice a day. Other people on the same plan go through $20-50k trying to concieve a baby via artificial insemination or in-vitro. Then the delivery is free (another $10k min). Viagra is free to the old folks. Women depressed about their small breasts get free boob-jobs. Free organ transplants up to $100k. 'Free' is the new codeword for 'everyone pays for it'. Socialism.
3. People think that HMOs and medicaid qualify as medical insurance. They will keep you alive, but not healthy.
4. Cheap/poor people abuse medicaid for free medical care. Developing asthma? Wait until after clinic hours and go to the emergency room. State owned hospitals cannot refuse you, and they can't effectively bill you either. Some people bring their accutely sick children to the emergency room with fake problems to get them admitted overnight rather than paying for a babysitter who knows how to take care of them. $1000 of tax money down the hole so the parents can go see a movie.
5. No-shows for appointments. People who don't pay for their own health care are least likely to show up for it. Clinical doctors alone bill at $400-800/hour. If someone doesn'
Can TIVO play video across a LAN? Can you edit out commercials and burn the video to CD or DVD? Doesn't TIVO transmit your viewing habits back to the manufacturer? If the TIVO maker goes out of business, can you still get any use out of your machine without the program guides? I suspect that most of these questions have answers that aren't very reassuring.
'"More Americans have used file-sharing software than voted for the President."
What's the point here? People are apathetic to politics, but they are passionate about sharing files..'
And more people voted for the-other-guy, than the president. Also, you may call it apathy, but many people just think that both candidates were horrible choices who only care about the interests of a very vocal minority.
I'm amazed that anyone from the EFF is advocating a royalty on internet access like what Canadians pay on CDRs. Even if the record companies distribute the money to the artists, it's only after they take their 80+% portion first.
People who still make jokes about confusing the PS2 with the PS/2 should be banned from posting them. It was funny when they announced the successor to the playstation. Years later, the joke is worn out. Move on. Try something involving the French. It's an easy way to practice being funny.
Doctors on home-call call through the hospital switchboard to hide their home phone number from patients. Otherwise the occasional nutcase (I want fucking antibiotics now or I'll sue you!!!!) would harrass doctors in the middle of the night and when they're off duty.
I think this law is more aimed to ease the government with their warrantless searches of your e-mail, phones and web surfing habits. I suppose tht big brother gets pissed when he's not sure who he's watching.
Actually, Microsoft did. [90% of market] X [number of potential users] X [$0 per item] - [development costs] = RED INK EVERYWHERE
Despite having conquered many markets (disk compression, web browsing, media playing, e-mail readers, etc), the only part of Microsoft that has ever turned a profit is the OS and Office divisions. Microsoft has made dozens of aplications free for Windows users, thus putting hundreds of companies out of business and giving them 90+% market share. But you don't make money charging nothing for a product that you are distributing to hundreds of millions of people. Even if you're the only seller.
In the non-profitable areas where they actually charge for their products, MS rarely breaks 1/4 market penetration, even in the rare cases where they have the best product. Just look at all the money they are losing on the Xbox. They'll probably have pissed away $3 billion by the time the next generation of consoles comes out.
is that they don't really even seem interested in Sci-Fi. John Edwards, Scare Tactics and the bounty of 'B' quality horror movies make up the majority of their lineup. They only seem to put up 2 hours of quality sci-Fi per week. Babylon 5, Stargate SG1, Farscape, Outer Limits... In the past 5 years they have had very few good Sci-Fi shows considering that they are called the Sci-Fi Channel.
I think if they had any real sense, they would negotiate hard for syndication rights for good, recent Sci-Fi shows that started on broadcast TV, or recent quality movies. How come TNN can get Star Trek:tNG, and the best that the 'Sci-Fi' channel can do is the ancient original with Kirk? They never seem to get a movie less than 10 years old that grossed more than 10 million in the theaters. In fact, alot of the movies they show had to bypass the theaters because they're so bad.
Sci-Fi's problem is that they think only single, dateless dorks would like Sci-Fi. They usually only have 2-3 hours of programming each week to promote their good shows in (on good weeks, no less). This is their 7-10 slot on Friday, the no-date loser slot where regular networks put their crappy shows. Sci-Fi thinks this is the best time to run their top-notch programming. There really isn't any reason to tune in any other time, so you only find out about their new shows if you are already very into one of their current shows.
MS is the king of wasting money. They would happily pay 8 figures to make sure the most highly anticipated game around doesn't get released for the PS2 or Gamecube. Microsoft cares far more about 90+% market shares than profit. They never make money on anything until they reach that kind of market penetration
Let me get in line first to laugh at the idiot who puts his ultra nasty porn collection on this and finds out the cops downloaded the entire thing as evidence using a laptop and van parked across the street. You know, after your neighbor's 12 year old kid cracks your network password and downloads it all first. You'll get as far in your 'illegal search' argument as the rare idiot drug dealer who openly discusses his product on a cordless phone.
The quality of LDs over VHS was very noticable, even on a poor TV. Enough that people would pay 2X+ for LDs over VHS.
The main problem with LDs was manufacturing cost. The additional cost over VHS to make and ship a LD was about +$10, vs. maybe $3 total for a VHS tape. This means that the minimum that most LDs sold for was $25-30, when you could get the same item on VHS for $10-15. A good movie would typically run you $40-50, and a boxed CAV (half hour per side with easy pausing, or reverse playback.. instead of 1 hour CLV) set with extra discs of content could cost $100 easily. That's $100 for the content that you get in most DVDs now for $20 or less. And the ugly part is that the $100 set cost $30 or more just to press it.
Size was certainly an issue, weight to be more precise. Even if you wanted to purchase LDs used from someone, the shipping costs would rarely be less than $10. Thats up against $3-4 for VHS tapes.
LD players never dropped much below $300, even after 10 years on the market. You can get a DVD player for less than the price of a VCR after 5 years on the market. That's a huge factor.
In the end, all-around insane costs prohibited mainstream buyers from getting into LDs. It really didn't have anything to do with VHS already being out, or having to flip the disc halfway through (auto flipping models were available), or even having to change discs after 2 hours. You could flip/change the disc a few times in less time than it takes to rewind a VHS tape.
BTW, all of my price information for LDs are from 5+ years ago. Adjust it upward for inflation.
LDs use a laser to read a videostream that is written in ANALOG format. The only thing digital about LDs is a late extension to the format that allows a digital audio track to run alongside the video.
DVDS are a higher density of VCDs (video Compact Discs), or a storage shift from Digital VHS. But they have more in common with CDs than LDs. And CDs are rarely even used in the US as a video distribution method.
Regarding increases beyond DVD video quality... This will mostly be of interest to people after they can buy high definition TVs. Most people who get a HDTV will want to buy a new DVD player with higher quality component outputs on it anyway, so getting a new DVD player won't be a major hassle anyway, whether it uses blue-ray technology, or some new compression scheme. The real hurdle will be getting both formats into the same packaging (DVD one side, blue-ray on the other) so that people don't feel like they will have to choose between campatibility and quality.
It didn't clearly state whether they checked if the unauthorized connections were actually sending bulk e-mail (spam), or just normal users using the open net connection to send out their e-mail. I could see people writing e-mails and saving them for when they happen by an open wlan.
Do any e-mail programs automatically send out pending messages as soon as a network connection is detected?
Any plan that includes adding fees to everyone's internet costs will never be allowed. We need to punish spammers where it hurts. They are usually based or routed through foreign countries, so suing them is costly. Once they have sent their million e-mails, they don't care if you managed to track down the service that sent the e-mails and lock them out. The only thing of value left is the website included in the e-mail that they want people to click on.
This is where DDoS comes in. Spammers usually hope for just a few hundred buys out of millions of e-mails sent out. If the website is getting pounded down by thousands of hits per minute, potential suckers won't have a chance. Or at a minimum, the spammer will get clobbered by a massive bandwidth bill. The best case would be that the ISP quickly sees what a loser site they are hosting and deletes the account. American ISPs already refuse to relay spam. It's about time they stopped hosting the websites as well.
Hopefully as ISPs get used to spammer websites killing their bandwidth and causing outages, they would add provisions to the user agreements charging penalties for massive bandwidth spikes that bring the rest of their network down. Most spammers would probably stop if they were facing a $1000 fine from their ISP just for trying to hawk their penis cream, herbal breast remedy, viagra knockoffs, russian brides, lose 20 pounds this weekend, teen sex, online casino, cable descrambler, DVD copier and special mortgage rates.
Mass mailers, such as junk mailers or your credit card company that mails out hundreds of thousands of statements each month, get a discount of around 1/4 to 1/3. They get this because their addresses are typed (easier to sort), they usually put on special sort codes at the bottom of the envelope, and most importantly, they pre-package the items by zone so that the USPS just has one big piece to send from, say, California to Idaho. When it gets to it's destination state, the package is opened and the mail is further sorted.
Everyone wants more useless junk ferried into orbit abord the shuttle on every trip. They can re-task our millitary spy sattelites to do the same thing. It's been done before. They decided against it because they felt that even if there was damage to the underside of the shuttle, they couldn't do anything about it anyway.
The FAA and NTSB don't stop commercial flights after a crash do they?
Not all flights, but they do have a track record for grounding all flights using the same model aircraft. Look at the Concorde track record as an example.
*ALL* future shuttle flights should be equipped with a Canadarm, ISS docking ring, EVA packs, and enough fuel to get to the ISS.
No matter what. If that means we have to cut back on the payloads, well, too bad.
This is totally ignorant. Every man and woman who goes into orbit knows that their life is in serious danger from the moment mission control says '3, we have main engine ignition....' to the point where the front wheel touches pavement again. They detonate a million pounds of propellant to accellerate them to 20000+ miles per hour into a vaccuum where they live for a week hoping that an errant screw moving at 25000 mph doesn't smash through the hull and depressurize the whole cabin. You bet your ass that everyone going into space draws up their last will and testament.
We could make a vehicle that is safer to get to orbit in. But if the only cargo is the crew, it's just a sighseeing expedition. And I think we should leave sighseeing to the Russians.
Now if you want to talk about a rescue system, then that would be a better idea. We should have a heavy lift rocket capable of being fueled and sent to the ISS within 48 hours (no matter where it is) to pick up and return a full station crew.
It also seems that the shuttle would benefit greatly from a warmed up enclosure for those cold January launches. Something like the world's largest tent that falls away a minute before launch, but keeps the shuttle warmed to 70 degrees until then. The Challenger and Columbia accidents both occured with launches that were just a few degrees above their cutoff point.
Very doubtful. The ISS loses altitude every day due to drag. Each shuttle mission to the ISS includes the chore of boosting it back to a higher altitude by several miles. It's unlikely that they would be willing to add a few hundred tons of dead weight to the ISS just for the convienence of the astronauts. And since the shuttle costs half a billion dollars per trip to run, more than a few extra trips to repair a stranded shuttle would be a poor return on investment.
True, but until about 150 years ago, 'concrete' was not as durable and rarely reinforced with steel. It's like comparing a Goodyear Radial to a wagon wheel.
When concrete was first invented, someone built a bunch of houses with it as a proof of concept.
They were about twice the price of a house of similar size, but required hardly any maintenance, and were inexpensive to heat and cool. Though they are a bit unattractive, almost all of them of them are still standing now, in excellent condition.
Modern concrete homes benefit from preformed window and door holes making them just as livable as conventional houses. They are still much cheaper to heat and cool, and things like brick veneer or vinyl siding make them hard to distinguish from other houses. They also use regular wood for walls and floors, so if you feel the need to remodel, or add wiring, it's just as easy as with a regular house. The only abnormal thing is having to bring new wiring in through a predetermined location.
Termites are a much lower concern, since the steel reinforced concrete has to crack enough for termites to get through. By the time a crack gets big enough for termites to get through, it's probably time to remodel the inside anyway (every 35-50 years). This is a good time to seal the cracks up. Even if they get in before you want to remodel, you can rest well knowing that they aren't eating the expensive outer shell of your house.
The real problem with concrete houses is that they still carry a significant price premium of at least 30%. They are somewhat popular as a hybrid though. Fully finished walk-out 'basements' are very popular nowadays. An entire floor with bedrooms and other living space lets out directly onto ground level in back of the house with lots of windows, and has concrete walls. Ground level for the front of the house is at the second floor.
Slashdot Mirror
bathrooms...
And someone willing and ready to clean them every few hours. Those gamers that are able to place a round into the head of another player within 50 ms from 1000 feet are commonly unable to get their piss into a foot wide hole right in front of them.
If there is even one woman there, make sure there is a bathroom designated 'women only'. There's no need to dunk her into the filth of gamers on a weekend marathon.
People who live in rural areas generally move there to get away from other people, enjoy a life not driven by technology, and own large tracts of land at rates next to nothing.
This means they have to pump their own water, dispose of their own trash, take care of the septic tank, drive on gravel, cut wood, fill the propane tank and sometimes even generate their own electricity. This is the price of living on land that only costs $2000 per acre instead of $200000 per acre. If their only internet connection is 256k via sattelite with a half second latency, then boo-hoo. If they want convience, they would live within 10 miles of a Walmart, not 100.
When I can pick up a quarter acre worth building a house on in the city for $5000, then I'll feel sorry for the people out in the boonies.
For now, I pay the extra to live in the city (and thus alot more property taxes too). I like being near a 15 screen theater, amusement parks, hundreds of restaurants, multiple shopping malls with 100+ stores each and a gas station or grocery store on every corner. I like being able to meet people that care about more than hunting and tractor pulls. But I think I pay quite enough as it is.
A USF for people in the ghetto, maybe. Country life is quite cheap enough as it is.
Considering that the only moving parts are the hard drive, hinge for the display and maybe a cpu fan (no CDrom or floppy), I wouldn't expect to have it serviced often.
Did I miss any mention of a NIC being integrated? One of these with 802.11b built in would be awesome. I'd jump on an english language version of this in a second if it came ready to plug into my LAN and download apps from the net.
" Makes me wonder why medical care costs so much. :)
A few people will complain about doctors charging/making so much money. It takes a minimum of 11 years of education past high school (where you are spending money rather than making it) to become a doctor. Obviously doctors aren't overpaid, because we have a glut of computer programmers and a shortage of doctors. Enginers (4 years post high-school) are typically making $100k/year by the time a doctor has just gotten a decent practice started at $150/year. The engineer is leagues ahead on the savings at this point and didn't have to spend a year cutting open dead bodies.
When you go to see a doctor, their salary makes up less than 25% of what you pay. There are tons of other things digging into your wallet:
1. Malpractice insurance. Every person or company that ever has anything to do with your treatment in the hospital bears a liability. All the way down to the company that services the elevators and makes the brakes on the ambulance. An ECG failure can result in death because nobody realized that a patient's heart stopped. A motorized wheelchair that breaks could leave you stranded in the middle of the road. A dirty room could give you a nasty infection.
The people in Nevada have been especially nasty to their Ob\Gyns with lawsuits and now even the most competent doctors are refusing to deliver babies. Stupid juries award multi-million dollar awards for stillborn babies. It used to be very common for the baby or even the mother to die in childbirth. Modern medicine is reducing that. But many people pay tens of thousands of dollars just to get pregnant, and then want compensation when it doesn't turn out ok.
Malpractice should be completely done away with, except in cases of criminal negligence. People should have to pay out of their own pockets for malpractice insurance (just like car insurance) on any procedure they have done. Any settlements against a doctor should be public record. If you think your baby-on-the-way is worth 5 million dollars, then get a policy for that amount. If you really think that your eyes are worth 10 million, then get a policy for that amount before getting LASIK surgery. There's an inherent risk to any medical procedure. Americans seem to think that seeing a doctor is like buying a VCR.
2. Health insurance packages breed an I-want-it-all mentality.
My family's current medical coverage is 100% free as long as I get treatment at the local (largest in the state) hospital. I don't pay a penny for prescriptions. I got LASIK surgery for free. I've been to the emergency room twice in 3 years and didn't even have to pay for parking. Needed an MRI, took the CT too. I used a medication that costs twice as much as the default one just because I didn't want to remember to take it twice a day. Other people on the same plan go through $20-50k trying to concieve a baby via artificial insemination or in-vitro. Then the delivery is free (another $10k min). Viagra is free to the old folks. Women depressed about their small breasts get free boob-jobs. Free organ transplants up to $100k. 'Free' is the new codeword for 'everyone pays for it'. Socialism.
3. People think that HMOs and medicaid qualify as medical insurance. They will keep you alive, but not healthy.
4. Cheap/poor people abuse medicaid for free medical care. Developing asthma? Wait until after clinic hours and go to the emergency room. State owned hospitals cannot refuse you, and they can't effectively bill you either. Some people bring their accutely sick children to the emergency room with fake problems to get them admitted overnight rather than paying for a babysitter who knows how to take care of them. $1000 of tax money down the hole so the parents can go see a movie.
5. No-shows for appointments. People who don't pay for their own health care are least likely to show up for it. Clinical doctors alone bill at $400-800/hour. If someone doesn'
Add '00' to the end of each of your estimates.
Is that you, dad?
Can TIVO play video across a LAN? Can you edit out commercials and burn the video to CD or DVD? Doesn't TIVO transmit your viewing habits back to the manufacturer? If the TIVO maker goes out of business, can you still get any use out of your machine without the program guides? I suspect that most of these questions have answers that aren't very reassuring.
'"More Americans have used file-sharing software than voted for the President."
What's the point here? People are apathetic to politics, but they are passionate about sharing files..'
And more people voted for the-other-guy, than the president. Also, you may call it apathy, but many people just think that both candidates were horrible choices who only care about the interests of a very vocal minority.
I'm amazed that anyone from the EFF is advocating a royalty on internet access like what Canadians pay on CDRs. Even if the record companies distribute the money to the artists, it's only after they take their 80+% portion first.
People who still make jokes about confusing the PS2 with the PS/2 should be banned from posting them. It was funny when they announced the successor to the playstation. Years later, the joke is worn out. Move on. Try something involving the French. It's an easy way to practice being funny.
[making caller-id blocking illegal....]
Doctors on home-call call through the hospital switchboard to hide their home phone number from patients. Otherwise the occasional nutcase (I want fucking antibiotics now or I'll sue you!!!!) would harrass doctors in the middle of the night and when they're off duty.
I think this law is more aimed to ease the government with their warrantless searches of your e-mail, phones and web surfing habits. I suppose tht big brother gets pissed when he's not sure who he's watching.
Actually, Microsoft did. [90% of market] X [number of potential users] X [$0 per item] - [development costs] = RED INK EVERYWHERE
Despite having conquered many markets (disk compression, web browsing, media playing, e-mail readers, etc), the only part of Microsoft that has ever turned a profit is the OS and Office divisions. Microsoft has made dozens of aplications free for Windows users, thus putting hundreds of companies out of business and giving them 90+% market share. But you don't make money charging nothing for a product that you are distributing to hundreds of millions of people. Even if you're the only seller.
In the non-profitable areas where they actually charge for their products, MS rarely breaks 1/4 market penetration, even in the rare cases where they have the best product. Just look at all the money they are losing on the Xbox. They'll probably have pissed away $3 billion by the time the next generation of consoles comes out.
is that they don't really even seem interested in Sci-Fi. John Edwards, Scare Tactics and the bounty of 'B' quality horror movies make up the majority of their lineup. They only seem to put up 2 hours of quality sci-Fi per week. Babylon 5, Stargate SG1, Farscape, Outer Limits... In the past 5 years they have had very few good Sci-Fi shows considering that they are called the Sci-Fi Channel.
I think if they had any real sense, they would negotiate hard for syndication rights for good, recent Sci-Fi shows that started on broadcast TV, or recent quality movies. How come TNN can get Star Trek:tNG, and the best that the 'Sci-Fi' channel can do is the ancient original with Kirk? They never seem to get a movie less than 10 years old that grossed more than 10 million in the theaters. In fact, alot of the movies they show had to bypass the theaters because they're so bad.
Sci-Fi's problem is that they think only single, dateless dorks would like Sci-Fi. They usually only have 2-3 hours of programming each week to promote their good shows in (on good weeks, no less). This is their 7-10 slot on Friday, the no-date loser slot where regular networks put their crappy shows. Sci-Fi thinks this is the best time to run their top-notch programming. There really isn't any reason to tune in any other time, so you only find out about their new shows if you are already very into one of their current shows.
MS is the king of wasting money. They would happily pay 8 figures to make sure the most highly anticipated game around doesn't get released for the PS2 or Gamecube. Microsoft cares far more about 90+% market shares than profit. They never make money on anything until they reach that kind of market penetration
Let me get in line first to laugh at the idiot who puts his ultra nasty porn collection on this and finds out the cops downloaded the entire thing as evidence using a laptop and van parked across the street. You know, after your neighbor's 12 year old kid cracks your network password and downloads it all first. You'll get as far in your 'illegal search' argument as the rare idiot drug dealer who openly discusses his product on a cordless phone.
The quality of LDs over VHS was very noticable, even on a poor TV. Enough that people would pay 2X+ for LDs over VHS.
The main problem with LDs was manufacturing cost. The additional cost over VHS to make and ship a LD was about +$10, vs. maybe $3 total for a VHS tape. This means that the minimum that most LDs sold for was $25-30, when you could get the same item on VHS for $10-15. A good movie would typically run you $40-50, and a boxed CAV (half hour per side with easy pausing, or reverse playback.. instead of 1 hour CLV) set with extra discs of content could cost $100 easily. That's $100 for the content that you get in most DVDs now for $20 or less. And the ugly part is that the $100 set cost $30 or more just to press it.
Size was certainly an issue, weight to be more precise. Even if you wanted to purchase LDs used from someone, the shipping costs would rarely be less than $10. Thats up against $3-4 for VHS tapes.
LD players never dropped much below $300, even after 10 years on the market. You can get a DVD player for less than the price of a VCR after 5 years on the market. That's a huge factor.
In the end, all-around insane costs prohibited mainstream buyers from getting into LDs. It really didn't have anything to do with VHS already being out, or having to flip the disc halfway through (auto flipping models were available), or even having to change discs after 2 hours. You could flip/change the disc a few times in less time than it takes to rewind a VHS tape.
BTW, all of my price information for LDs are from 5+ years ago. Adjust it upward for inflation.
LDs use a laser to read a videostream that is written in ANALOG format. The only thing digital about LDs is a late extension to the format that allows a digital audio track to run alongside the video.
DVDS are a higher density of VCDs (video Compact Discs), or a storage shift from Digital VHS. But they have more in common with CDs than LDs. And CDs are rarely even used in the US as a video distribution method.
Regarding increases beyond DVD video quality... This will mostly be of interest to people after they can buy high definition TVs. Most people who get a HDTV will want to buy a new DVD player with higher quality component outputs on it anyway, so getting a new DVD player won't be a major hassle anyway, whether it uses blue-ray technology, or some new compression scheme. The real hurdle will be getting both formats into the same packaging (DVD one side, blue-ray on the other) so that people don't feel like they will have to choose between campatibility and quality.
It didn't clearly state whether they checked if the unauthorized connections were actually sending bulk e-mail (spam), or just normal users using the open net connection to send out their e-mail. I could see people writing e-mails and saving them for when they happen by an open wlan.
Do any e-mail programs automatically send out pending messages as soon as a network connection is detected?
Any plan that includes adding fees to everyone's internet costs will never be allowed. We need to punish spammers where it hurts. They are usually based or routed through foreign countries, so suing them is costly. Once they have sent their million e-mails, they don't care if you managed to track down the service that sent the e-mails and lock them out. The only thing of value left is the website included in the e-mail that they want people to click on.
This is where DDoS comes in. Spammers usually hope for just a few hundred buys out of millions of e-mails sent out. If the website is getting pounded down by thousands of hits per minute, potential suckers won't have a chance. Or at a minimum, the spammer will get clobbered by a massive bandwidth bill. The best case would be that the ISP quickly sees what a loser site they are hosting and deletes the account. American ISPs already refuse to relay spam. It's about time they stopped hosting the websites as well.
Hopefully as ISPs get used to spammer websites killing their bandwidth and causing outages, they would add provisions to the user agreements charging penalties for massive bandwidth spikes that bring the rest of their network down. Most spammers would probably stop if they were facing a $1000 fine from their ISP just for trying to hawk their penis cream, herbal breast remedy, viagra knockoffs, russian brides, lose 20 pounds this weekend, teen sex, online casino, cable descrambler, DVD copier and special mortgage rates.
Mass mailers, such as junk mailers or your credit card company that mails out hundreds of thousands of statements each month, get a discount of around 1/4 to 1/3. They get this because their addresses are typed (easier to sort), they usually put on special sort codes at the bottom of the envelope, and most importantly, they pre-package the items by zone so that the USPS just has one big piece to send from, say, California to Idaho. When it gets to it's destination state, the package is opened and the mail is further sorted.
Everyone wants more useless junk ferried into orbit abord the shuttle on every trip. They can re-task our millitary spy sattelites to do the same thing. It's been done before. They decided against it because they felt that even if there was damage to the underside of the shuttle, they couldn't do anything about it anyway.
The FAA and NTSB don't stop commercial flights after a crash do they?
Not all flights, but they do have a track record for grounding all flights using the same model aircraft. Look at the Concorde track record as an example.
*ALL* future shuttle flights should be equipped with a Canadarm, ISS docking ring, EVA packs, and enough fuel to get to the ISS. No matter what. If that means we have to cut back on the payloads, well, too bad.
This is totally ignorant. Every man and woman who goes into orbit knows that their life is in serious danger from the moment mission control says '3, we have main engine ignition....' to the point where the front wheel touches pavement again. They detonate a million pounds of propellant to accellerate them to 20000+ miles per hour into a vaccuum where they live for a week hoping that an errant screw moving at 25000 mph doesn't smash through the hull and depressurize the whole cabin. You bet your ass that everyone going into space draws up their last will and testament.
We could make a vehicle that is safer to get to orbit in. But if the only cargo is the crew, it's just a sighseeing expedition. And I think we should leave sighseeing to the Russians.
Now if you want to talk about a rescue system, then that would be a better idea. We should have a heavy lift rocket capable of being fueled and sent to the ISS within 48 hours (no matter where it is) to pick up and return a full station crew.
It also seems that the shuttle would benefit greatly from a warmed up enclosure for those cold January launches. Something like the world's largest tent that falls away a minute before launch, but keeps the shuttle warmed to 70 degrees until then. The Challenger and Columbia accidents both occured with launches that were just a few degrees above their cutoff point.
Very doubtful. The ISS loses altitude every day due to drag. Each shuttle mission to the ISS includes the chore of boosting it back to a higher altitude by several miles. It's unlikely that they would be willing to add a few hundred tons of dead weight to the ISS just for the convienence of the astronauts. And since the shuttle costs half a billion dollars per trip to run, more than a few extra trips to repair a stranded shuttle would be a poor return on investment.
True, but until about 150 years ago, 'concrete' was not as durable and rarely reinforced with steel. It's like comparing a Goodyear Radial to a wagon wheel.
When concrete was first invented, someone built a bunch of houses with it as a proof of concept. They were about twice the price of a house of similar size, but required hardly any maintenance, and were inexpensive to heat and cool. Though they are a bit unattractive, almost all of them of them are still standing now, in excellent condition.
Modern concrete homes benefit from preformed window and door holes making them just as livable as conventional houses. They are still much cheaper to heat and cool, and things like brick veneer or vinyl siding make them hard to distinguish from other houses. They also use regular wood for walls and floors, so if you feel the need to remodel, or add wiring, it's just as easy as with a regular house. The only abnormal thing is having to bring new wiring in through a predetermined location.
Termites are a much lower concern, since the steel reinforced concrete has to crack enough for termites to get through. By the time a crack gets big enough for termites to get through, it's probably time to remodel the inside anyway (every 35-50 years). This is a good time to seal the cracks up. Even if they get in before you want to remodel, you can rest well knowing that they aren't eating the expensive outer shell of your house.
The real problem with concrete houses is that they still carry a significant price premium of at least 30%. They are somewhat popular as a hybrid though. Fully finished walk-out 'basements' are very popular nowadays. An entire floor with bedrooms and other living space lets out directly onto ground level in back of the house with lots of windows, and has concrete walls. Ground level for the front of the house is at the second floor.