Hell, if you're in Southern California or Arizona, you can buy one on Monoprice, have it shipped overnight via OverniteExpress, and still have it cheaper than the cheapest cables in most b&m stores. In one case, when I was living in Fullerton (About 25 miles from their warehouse), I ordered some cables at around 5AM, and they had it delivered to me less than 6 hours later.
I've got both at my house, the weasiest way to tell is to look at the remote. The newer version has a full remote with a numeric pad, the older remote is much smaller, and doesn't have the numeric keypad. Yes, the new model is way ahead of the old model, and the old model is pretty good.
I've got two of these hooked to my two tvs, and a linux machine running SickBeard and acting as a file server. It's a great setup.
Your complaint about Android's keyboard is one of its best features. Sure, the stock Android keyboard is just mediocre. It works fine for most people, but for those who want something better, you can easily replace it. I found one that I like, that works really well for me (SwiftKey), so I was able to very easily replace the stock keyboard app with that one. My wife didn't care for the stock keyboard or SwiftKey, so she easily replaced hers with another (Swype, I think?). I can't stand her keyboard, but she loves it. We both can easily type using our onscreen keyboards, and we both routinely use the onscreen keyboard instead of the built in hardware keyboard.
My son has an iPhone, after using SwiftKey, I think his keyboard is horrible. As far as I know he's stuck with it though, there's no way to change the stock keyboard on it. It may be a little better than the stock Android keyboard, but it absolutely blows compared to some of the aftermarket Android ones.
You also made a comment about Samsung just using the free software that's available instead of developing their own. Do you remember just a few years ago, when each phone had its own OS? Those were absolutely horrible. I wouldn't even consider a phone not running Android or iOS any more. I don't think many other people would either.
A 1W laser is about as much of a 'toy' as an AK47 or a flamethrower, and deserves every bit of proper training and handling as those do.
The Wicked Laser 1KW Green Laser, the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to blind every motherfucker in the room; accept no substitutes.
You really expect a PC repair shop to run a full malware scan and reinstall the OS when fixing a broken computer for someone? People take the machine to a repair shop so that they can have it fixed without having to backup/restore their data, reinstall updates, etc...
What the repair shop should have done, is exactly what it sounds like they did. Repaired the laptop so that it's working properly.
Low end laptops often go on sale for $250-$300. It's completely possible that someone would sell a 2-3 year old low end laptop that requires repairs for $60.
There's no such thing as too much data in a case like this, assuming that they can store it all. Even if it's too much to parse now, it won't be in a few years. Get as much data as we can now, while there's funding for it.
Two way syncing of read/unread status. If I read an email on my computer's email client, it would be marked as read on my BB. If I read an email on my BB, it would not be marked as read on the server, so later when I'd check my email I would have to go through all of my messages again and figure out which ones I had already read.
Also, deleting an email from my computer's mail client would not remove it from my BB. So if I went through and removed a bunch of spam, or moved mail to different folders on the server, those changes would not be applied to my BB inbox.
It doesn't sound like a huge issue, but when you've got a ton of email that you're dealing with every day, it became a huge hassle.
Even the email client sucks horribly if you need to use IMAP. Seriously, why can they not implement proper IMAP support in a device that's designed mainly for email? And before anyone suggests it, BES is not a replacement for proper IMAP support.
I switched to an Android phone about 6 months ago, and was immediately blown away by the difference in experiences between the devices.
Who says Amazon is going to be storing every copy that everyone uploads? I would imagine that their file uploader creates a hash of the file before uploading it, and checks if that file has already been uploaded. If it's already been uploaded by another user, no need to waste their bandwidth uploading and storing it again. This is likely a very efficient way for a lot of people to store and access their music.
Welcome to the real world, where most of the IT work people do isn't as hard as they make it out to be. This is evidenced by the fact that people in other countries can do a passable job at it for less money. It's just petty nationalism to assume that the best and brightest minds are in the United States. Our education system isn't magical and neither is our gene pool.
Have you ever actually worked on a job that has been outsourced to a country willing to do the work for less money? Every single time I've seen a company try to save money by outsourcing work, it winds up costing nearly as much, if not more. Usually, the software is not written to the specifications, and needs to be rewritten. Other times the software is poorly written, and is at the point where it is completely unusable for production code. I've NEVER seen an outsourcing project go right, and especially never seen one that actually wound up saving the company money.
There's no need for fancy mirrors like that to eliminate blind spots, assuming you've got your mirrors aligned right (Which most people don't). Here's the proper way to align your mirrors.
1) Start by aligning your rear view mirror. It should give you a clear view straight back when you're sitting in your normal driving position. 2) Align the passenger side mirror. To do this, lean so that your head is directly in the center of the vehicle. Align the passenger mirror so that while your head is in that position, you can barely see the outside edge of your vehicle. 3) Align the driver's side mirror so that you can barely see the outside edge of your vehicle while you're in your normal driving position.
When your mirrors are first aligned this way, it will take a few hours of driving to get used to them being that way. Once you're used to it however, you'll realize how much of the blind spots have been completely eliminated. Most people drive around with their side mirrors aimed so that about half of the mirror is showing the side of the vehicle. That leaves huge blind spots that are completely unnecessary.
Fry's had two Sony readers on sale this past week, one of which was $99 (Not sure of the model #). I picked up the PRS-600 touchscreen model for $129. It's box had three price tags on it. $299, $199, $169. The prices on it dropped 4 times before my particular one was sold. Kindles are down to $139 now.
Reader prices are plummeting, I would imagine that by Christmas there will be several nice models available for less than $100.
On a side note, I typically despise Sony for their proprietary formats, but their ebook readers seem to be the most open. They support epub and pdf out of the box. I've loaded several 1,500+ page tech manuals on mine so now I can carry around my reader instead of thousands of pages of books or having to fire up my laptop.
Books and audio CDs aren't routinely shipped with known defects that affect the product, and their publishers don't have a "Ship it now, we'll patch it later" attitude.
I had a Motorola KRZR for a few years. It survived being frequently left in my truck overnight, in the worst of Montana winters (-30 to -40 degrees). It always worked fine after that it just took a while for the screen to warm up and respond normally. Not too long ago I couldn't find it, and called it from my wife's phone. We heard it ringing, and finally traced it to the clothes dryer, where it was being dried in my pants pocket, on high heat. It had survived a wash cycle, and the dry cycle while powered on, and still worked fine.
My parents have AT&T Uverse, it sucks. Unless it's changed in the last few months, you can't schedule recordings from any TV except for the one that the main box is connected to. Same with deleting recordings. You also can't pause or rewind live tv. These are all basic functionality that are missing, that every other DVR that I've seen supports.
One thing I would surely like to see in email clients however - the gmail like threaded conversation view. It's just so much better and nicer to use, but still many email applications tend to have the plain-list-of-messages view.
I've been using Thunderbird 3 beta for a while, so I'm not sure if this feature is new to Thunderbird 3 or not (I suspect that it was in 2, not sure though), but you can read your email in a threaded view. In Thunderbird 3, on the column headers, there is a Thread View column to the very left. It is next to the Starred column. Click on that to view your emails in threaded view.
Montana code 61-8-303(2) allows you to speed up to 10mph over the limit on two lane highways to safely pass another vehicle.
"A vehicle subject to the speed limits imposed in subsection (1) traveling on a two-lane road may exceed the speed limits imposed in subsection (1) by 10 miles an hour in order to overtake and pass a vehicle and return safely to the right-hand lane."
Of course there are certain publications, like the WSJ that can pull it off, but most can not, and certainly not local newspapers.
On the contrary, I think that local papers are one of the few papers that could pull this off.
For example, searching for news on the Bozeman, MT gas explosion yields results from a handful of local papers (This was a pretty major, although local event that happened earlier this year). There is absolutely no major news coverage, everything is from a handful of local news sites. If they all charged for access, you couldn't get this news online for free.
However, something that a major site like Fox would cover will be available from hundreds of sites, at least one of which will be free.
There's really no point to this new option -- it's just a stripped down 'lite' version of the existing service aimed at drawing in people who were scared off by the "you'll have to change your phone number" nonsense. There's absolutely no reason to choose this option when you sign up. If all you want are the voicemail features, sign up for a "full" account (with a new number), then add your existing phone and switch on voicemail handling. That's it.
It would be stupid to sign up for the "lite" version of this instead of the full version. But being able to forward my existing cell phone # to use google voice for voicemail is huge to me. I no longer have to wade through Verizon's crappy voicemail system (Which has no way of deleting all new messages - I get a ton of spam messages).
Actually, this new option is even worse: once you set it up, you can't go back to your carrier's voicemail system. You're stuck with Google's whether you like it or not.
Maybe it's not enabled for all carriers, but I've got an option on my settings page to revert back to using Verizon's voicemail if I like.
Slashdot Mirror
Hell, if you're in Southern California or Arizona, you can buy one on Monoprice, have it shipped overnight via OverniteExpress, and still have it cheaper than the cheapest cables in most b&m stores. In one case, when I was living in Fullerton (About 25 miles from their warehouse), I ordered some cables at around 5AM, and they had it delivered to me less than 6 hours later.
Like others have mentioned, the ipad will work with a bluetooth keyboard just fine. What I want is an ipad running a full version of OSX, not iOS.
I've got both at my house, the weasiest way to tell is to look at the remote. The newer version has a full remote with a numeric pad, the older remote is much smaller, and doesn't have the numeric keypad. Yes, the new model is way ahead of the old model, and the old model is pretty good.
I've got two of these hooked to my two tvs, and a linux machine running SickBeard and acting as a file server. It's a great setup.
Your complaint about Android's keyboard is one of its best features. Sure, the stock Android keyboard is just mediocre. It works fine for most people, but for those who want something better, you can easily replace it. I found one that I like, that works really well for me (SwiftKey), so I was able to very easily replace the stock keyboard app with that one. My wife didn't care for the stock keyboard or SwiftKey, so she easily replaced hers with another (Swype, I think?). I can't stand her keyboard, but she loves it. We both can easily type using our onscreen keyboards, and we both routinely use the onscreen keyboard instead of the built in hardware keyboard.
My son has an iPhone, after using SwiftKey, I think his keyboard is horrible. As far as I know he's stuck with it though, there's no way to change the stock keyboard on it. It may be a little better than the stock Android keyboard, but it absolutely blows compared to some of the aftermarket Android ones.
You also made a comment about Samsung just using the free software that's available instead of developing their own. Do you remember just a few years ago, when each phone had its own OS? Those were absolutely horrible. I wouldn't even consider a phone not running Android or iOS any more. I don't think many other people would either.
"Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should be a store, not a government agency."
- Stolen from some comedian whose name I can't recall
A 1W laser is about as much of a 'toy' as an AK47 or a flamethrower, and deserves every bit of proper training and handling as those do.
The Wicked Laser 1KW Green Laser, the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to blind every motherfucker in the room; accept no substitutes.
You really expect a PC repair shop to run a full malware scan and reinstall the OS when fixing a broken computer for someone? People take the machine to a repair shop so that they can have it fixed without having to backup/restore their data, reinstall updates, etc...
What the repair shop should have done, is exactly what it sounds like they did. Repaired the laptop so that it's working properly.
Low end laptops often go on sale for $250-$300. It's completely possible that someone would sell a 2-3 year old low end laptop that requires repairs for $60.
There's no such thing as too much data in a case like this, assuming that they can store it all. Even if it's too much to parse now, it won't be in a few years. Get as much data as we can now, while there's funding for it.
Two way syncing of read/unread status. If I read an email on my computer's email client, it would be marked as read on my BB. If I read an email on my BB, it would not be marked as read on the server, so later when I'd check my email I would have to go through all of my messages again and figure out which ones I had already read.
Also, deleting an email from my computer's mail client would not remove it from my BB. So if I went through and removed a bunch of spam, or moved mail to different folders on the server, those changes would not be applied to my BB inbox.
It doesn't sound like a huge issue, but when you've got a ton of email that you're dealing with every day, it became a huge hassle.
Even the email client sucks horribly if you need to use IMAP. Seriously, why can they not implement proper IMAP support in a device that's designed mainly for email? And before anyone suggests it, BES is not a replacement for proper IMAP support.
I switched to an Android phone about 6 months ago, and was immediately blown away by the difference in experiences between the devices.
The vermiform appendix is an organ. It appears that we've evolved in such a way that it is in fact an extra organ at this point.
Who says Amazon is going to be storing every copy that everyone uploads? I would imagine that their file uploader creates a hash of the file before uploading it, and checks if that file has already been uploaded. If it's already been uploaded by another user, no need to waste their bandwidth uploading and storing it again. This is likely a very efficient way for a lot of people to store and access their music.
Welcome to the real world, where most of the IT work people do isn't as hard as they make it out to be. This is evidenced by the fact that people in other countries can do a passable job at it for less money. It's just petty nationalism to assume that the best and brightest minds are in the United States. Our education system isn't magical and neither is our gene pool.
Have you ever actually worked on a job that has been outsourced to a country willing to do the work for less money? Every single time I've seen a company try to save money by outsourcing work, it winds up costing nearly as much, if not more. Usually, the software is not written to the specifications, and needs to be rewritten. Other times the software is poorly written, and is at the point where it is completely unusable for production code. I've NEVER seen an outsourcing project go right, and especially never seen one that actually wound up saving the company money.
There's no need for fancy mirrors like that to eliminate blind spots, assuming you've got your mirrors aligned right (Which most people don't). Here's the proper way to align your mirrors.
1) Start by aligning your rear view mirror. It should give you a clear view straight back when you're sitting in your normal driving position.
2) Align the passenger side mirror. To do this, lean so that your head is directly in the center of the vehicle. Align the passenger mirror so that while your head is in that position, you can barely see the outside edge of your vehicle.
3) Align the driver's side mirror so that you can barely see the outside edge of your vehicle while you're in your normal driving position.
When your mirrors are first aligned this way, it will take a few hours of driving to get used to them being that way. Once you're used to it however, you'll realize how much of the blind spots have been completely eliminated. Most people drive around with their side mirrors aimed so that about half of the mirror is showing the side of the vehicle. That leaves huge blind spots that are completely unnecessary.
I would like to see a train go through the Rockies at 350mph.
Fry's had two Sony readers on sale this past week, one of which was $99 (Not sure of the model #). I picked up the PRS-600 touchscreen model for $129. It's box had three price tags on it. $299, $199, $169. The prices on it dropped 4 times before my particular one was sold. Kindles are down to $139 now.
Reader prices are plummeting, I would imagine that by Christmas there will be several nice models available for less than $100.
On a side note, I typically despise Sony for their proprietary formats, but their ebook readers seem to be the most open. They support epub and pdf out of the box. I've loaded several 1,500+ page tech manuals on mine so now I can carry around my reader instead of thousands of pages of books or having to fire up my laptop.
Books and audio CDs aren't routinely shipped with known defects that affect the product, and their publishers don't have a "Ship it now, we'll patch it later" attitude.
I had a Motorola KRZR for a few years. It survived being frequently left in my truck overnight, in the worst of Montana winters (-30 to -40 degrees). It always worked fine after that it just took a while for the screen to warm up and respond normally. Not too long ago I couldn't find it, and called it from my wife's phone. We heard it ringing, and finally traced it to the clothes dryer, where it was being dried in my pants pocket, on high heat. It had survived a wash cycle, and the dry cycle while powered on, and still worked fine.
I recently replaced it, with another Motorola.
My parents have AT&T Uverse, it sucks. Unless it's changed in the last few months, you can't schedule recordings from any TV except for the one that the main box is connected to. Same with deleting recordings. You also can't pause or rewind live tv. These are all basic functionality that are missing, that every other DVR that I've seen supports.
One thing I would surely like to see in email clients however - the gmail like threaded conversation view. It's just so much better and nicer to use, but still many email applications tend to have the plain-list-of-messages view.
I've been using Thunderbird 3 beta for a while, so I'm not sure if this feature is new to Thunderbird 3 or not (I suspect that it was in 2, not sure though), but you can read your email in a threaded view. In Thunderbird 3, on the column headers, there is a Thread View column to the very left. It is next to the Starred column. Click on that to view your emails in threaded view.
Montana code 61-8-303(2) allows you to speed up to 10mph over the limit on two lane highways to safely pass another vehicle.
"A vehicle subject to the speed limits imposed in subsection (1) traveling on a two-lane road may exceed the speed limits imposed in subsection (1) by 10 miles an hour in order to overtake and pass a vehicle and return safely to the right-hand lane."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6931566.ece
Better luck next time.
Of course there are certain publications, like the WSJ that can pull it off, but most can not, and certainly not local newspapers.
On the contrary, I think that local papers are one of the few papers that could pull this off.
For example, searching for news on the Bozeman, MT gas explosion yields results from a handful of local papers (This was a pretty major, although local event that happened earlier this year). There is absolutely no major news coverage, everything is from a handful of local news sites. If they all charged for access, you couldn't get this news online for free.
However, something that a major site like Fox would cover will be available from hundreds of sites, at least one of which will be free.
There's really no point to this new option -- it's just a stripped down 'lite' version of the existing service aimed at drawing in people who were scared off by the "you'll have to change your phone number" nonsense. There's absolutely no reason to choose this option when you sign up. If all you want are the voicemail features, sign up for a "full" account (with a new number), then add your existing phone and switch on voicemail handling. That's it.
It would be stupid to sign up for the "lite" version of this instead of the full version. But being able to forward my existing cell phone # to use google voice for voicemail is huge to me. I no longer have to wade through Verizon's crappy voicemail system (Which has no way of deleting all new messages - I get a ton of spam messages).
Actually, this new option is even worse: once you set it up, you can't go back to your carrier's voicemail system. You're stuck with Google's whether you like it or not.
Maybe it's not enabled for all carriers, but I've got an option on my settings page to revert back to using Verizon's voicemail if I like.