What you have described is modern day bartering... everyone has their own unit of measurement and everyone is willing to negotiate.
Until the marketplace demands a standard, businesses will continue this behavior because it is more profitable in the near term... individuals almost always pay more than conglomerates which is the nature of a trading company who can with 'purchasing power' lower the price for goods or services. So as long as the companies are dealing 'direct' with you the consumer, they can ask for whatever service charge you can bare as an individual... compared to credit unions who get much much better deals as an organization.
So basically it's in all companies best interest to avoid organized clientelle or employees as long as possible in order to maximize profits from low overhead and high margins. Information technology doesn't change this strategy it just adds new levels of complexity.
I just use Googles new service, Google News Alerts... it lt lets you put in any keywords and all news items with that keyword in it get sent to you in an email. It's still beta so it doesn't have any scheduling or fine tuning available but still nice.
Is it possible that part of Everquest's continuing success is that it was made for hardware at the time and has maintained compatibility with it going forward? Many of the newer games lock out huge numbers of consumers who just don't feel like upgrading their machines to play the latest game. There's your installed customer base if nothing else.... and of course it doesn't stop anyone from playing who has newer hardware.
Not just Japan, also China soon, Germany now and others on the way to be sure. It's not the money. It's the lack of interest from those who have the money. 14 million is nothing. MagLev won't happen until a big project calls for it., a big project with a big budget and a big return on investment.
Could this be why big animals roam the earth in cycles? Less gravity... bigger animals? First big insects (dragonflies with two feet wingspans), big saurians, big mammals... what's next? Shaq?
Finding music in a music store is much more difficult than you describe and in addition you deal with finding a parking spot, waiting in line, and waiting for the transaction to occur... while at home, searching is faster, no parking issue, no waitng in line and you can move on to other things while the transaction is happening (which means you can be making money while you wait).
Also don't compare your ten minute bike ride to a 90% fictitious 24/7 music store to the average american experience. MOST americans don't live ten minutes from this magical music vendor you describe. I'd 'posit' that MOST americans live somewhere more than a half hour or more DRIVE to the nearest music store 24/7 or otherwise.
The surest way to gaurantee involvement in a project is to create a community around it. Forums, user/contributor publishing, blogs. Anything that will let your contributors express themselves regarding the project.
Let people get involved, encourage them, provide a forum.... hopefully provide the tools (sourceforge) but also provide a unique community experience. Create a brand (read a book on marketing) and you will reap the rewards for years... think about Aibo for instance...
You are describing harassment and invasion of privacy. Send a hard copy letter of cease and desist care of their legal department. Add a clause that you will place a lean on their assets for damages, you don't have to specify how much... unspecified damages. That should get their attention. If it doesn't, go ahead and file the lean with your local county judge... w/ copies sent to the same address. Collecting is never easy but the threat is usually enough to get action.
What if it was a 20 legged dog? or a cat with two heads? Although given the state of genetic engineering in our livestock I don't think this guy has a leg to stand on... as far as values go.
I think his reason is the best reason possible... to approve this would be setting a precedent for genetically engineered pets. Where does it stop?
he's still a hypocrite though. "Oh yeah it's fine for the animals we eat but you better not do anything to poor defenseless pet animals.."
Ahem, well you should have stated you were speaking of "world population in terms of service oriented skilled labor"..;-p
My comment stands and to clarify I will state that USA may be the next 'sleeping giant' but it still has the best overall infrastructure and political climate for massive economic growth... if we'd all just get off our collective ass (or else we'll end up the way China has been for the last century or two, remembering the golden days).
The recent generations and several following simply have little incentive, collectively, to do so. Standard of living in USA has got to be highest ever (I'm talking real standard of living, not income vs expense version) in that we have the easiest most convenience based lifestyle ever.
"Why should we invent or innovate, our parents did it for us."
"Let the rest of the world shoulder the burden of progress for a while. We want to be lazy sons-a-bitches for a while."
Doesn't mean individuals aren't still working hard just that welfare is rampant and US society is 'okay' with it for now.
Any good Interface Designer could take your requirements and make this vehicle work within them.
In fact to pare down that list of expected interface items:
Steering wheel Gas pedal Break pedal Speedometer
Let's see what other interfaces people have adapted to their normal driving routines though... just to see how adaptable they really are.
- Radio with tuning knobs then sliders then up/down buttons plus presets, volume, bass, treble, balance - Tape deck/CD deck with programming buttons - Air conditioning / heater interface with climate control - Various cruise controls, etc - Shortwave radio - Cellphones - all the other meters on the dash and more lately, heads up displays
- plus all the other random gadgets they use while driving
I think people can handle a few new interface extras, though safety is becoming the biggest concern.
Most of the new modes demonstrated by this vehicle are special circumstance or automatic adjustment modes which don't require manual interfaces anyways. Some terms for these modes would be, parallel parking, driving up an incline, 3-point/u- turn, all-terrain... as in; parallel park: you pull up to the spot get into position then pull a trigger on the wheel... the vehicle pivots all wheels and pulls into the space sideways; or driving up an incline: obvious, it's all automatic... car adjusts as you drive based on a sensor; all-terrain: etc. you get the idea.
As for manual? No such thing, why would you want it for a vehicle like this?
Your statements are true for now. BUT we ended up bipedal right?
The question is how much does it cost to lease or maintain established methods.... for most cases current solutions are more economical, given... not really my point. My point was to point out that there are plenty of situations where having a two wheeled payload carrier would be beneficial (as well I believe many small contractors would love to rent or own a sub $50,000 transport for moving heavy loads).
It's not about cooler, or reinventing the wheel so to speak... it's about providing a more intelligent solution to current problems. In fact this uses the wheel and uses it effectively.... carts, wheelbarrows, buggies, Uhaul, boat lifts, etc all use a two wheel approach to improve and optimize previous solutions of four wheels... what gyroscopic stabilization provides is independence from their carriers...
Certainly it's not for creating in-ground pools but for more more sensitive applications, it may have a purpose... in any case there is bound to be a good use... I mean WE ended up bipedal afterall right?
How fast can you carry 700 lbs of concrete in a wheelbarrow? Without tipping it over? It's harder and more exhausting work than you think... 4 wheels? Your turning radius just shrunk to well below that required to get around a normal construction site, especially if it's rated for that amount of weight. There are plenty of situations where having a very agile durable payload carrier could increase efficiency well beyond the expense, plus with economies of scale price would become moot.
Yes those devices are genius and have been used successfully for centuries. One question... do you own a horse? How about a hand drill? They both served their purposes admirably in their day but when new technology comes about that improves a workers turn around time... you use it.
The only problem is that the bad guys aren't nearly as interested in Peace as the rest of us.
Look at the African warlords as the best example of what happens when power gets into the hands of a few bad guys and there's no one around to shut them up. How long would it take the US or Europe to devolve into similar madness if our strong military/police backed governments were to fall? It's not as if there aren't strong man tactics already being used in first world countries; gangs, drug cartels, organized crime, if not for police and military who would keep them in check? Militia? that's just a disorganized version of the police...
Who would protect natural resources for plunder? You think the logging companies are bad now... imagine if they had no incentive to follow the rules and simply sold their proceeds to the highest bidder. Now apply that to Everything(TM)
Solar collectors, generators? What are you talking about... our whole military depends on electricity in one form or another.
In any case by the time they decide to use this batteries will be much improved and who says they can't load them up with 5 times the number the consumer model uses? These are supposed to be autonomous so they could instead carry the weight of a passenger in batteries minus the new surveillance equipment, whatever else.
Sounds like a question about energy and infrastructure but then you go off on the 'enemy'... which problem are you addressing?
Segway technology applied to new hi-tech wheelbarrows, shopping carts, toy wagons, wheelchairs, etc.. anything that currently carries weight, needs to remain upright and is manpowered 90% of the time. Segway's gyro-motor controls would make these tools 1000% more useful and convenient.
I can easily see a wheelchair at the price point. Some redundant non-electric safety would need to be implemented.
I can also see a severly dumbed down version used for shopping carts, generic wagons of all sorts... two-wheeled payload carriers. You have a device that's only purpose is to keep itself upright. The cheapest version just does that. A more expensive one would have a motor for forward motion. More expensive would have a proximity monitor and could follow you at an exact distance and have collision detectors to avoid running into things.
I always wondered why there wasn't a sandbox approach to this automatic networking stuff... something to the tune of:
Plug new PC in, a daemon listens/pings for DHCP, LDAP, whatever... and if it finds it, politely asks the user if he/she would like to enable the service. If you have admin privileges you get to authenticate and proceed to register with the service or if in an untrustworthy environment you can choose to leave them disabled. If a new server is found at any time the process is repeated... though you could set a preference to ignore new servers as well.
See, sandbox. Requests are let in automatically but service must be opted into manually.
"about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; about two and a half times the size of Western Europe"
"world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India); Mt. McKinley is highest point in North America and Death Valley the lowest point on the continent"
Slashdot Mirror
What you have described is modern day bartering... everyone has their own unit of measurement and everyone is willing to negotiate.
Until the marketplace demands a standard, businesses will continue this behavior because it is more profitable in the near term... individuals almost always pay more than conglomerates which is the nature of a trading company who can with 'purchasing power' lower the price for goods or services. So as long as the companies are dealing 'direct' with you the consumer, they can ask for whatever service charge you can bare as an individual... compared to credit unions who get much much better deals as an organization.
So basically it's in all companies best interest to avoid organized clientelle or employees as long as possible in order to maximize profits from low overhead and high margins. Information technology doesn't change this strategy it just adds new levels of complexity.
I just use Googles new service, Google News Alerts... it lt lets you put in any keywords and all news items with that keyword in it get sent to you in an email. It's still beta so it doesn't have any scheduling or fine tuning available but still nice.
http://www.google.com/newsalerts
Is it possible that part of Everquest's continuing success is that it was made for hardware at the time and has maintained compatibility with it going forward? Many of the newer games lock out huge numbers of consumers who just don't feel like upgrading their machines to play the latest game. There's your installed customer base if nothing else.... and of course it doesn't stop anyone from playing who has newer hardware.
Not just Japan, also China soon, Germany now and others on the way to be sure. It's not the money. It's the lack of interest from those who have the money. 14 million is nothing. MagLev won't happen until a big project calls for it., a big project with a big budget and a big return on investment.
My girlfriend told me her bosses son, who plays ball for USC , got a private screening along with the rest of the team...
;-(
what I'm more jealous of is that they also get a private screening of the Playboy mansion later this year
If only I'd gone to University maybe I could've been a walk on or something...
Could this be why big animals roam the earth in cycles? Less gravity... bigger animals? First big insects (dragonflies with two feet wingspans), big saurians, big mammals... what's next? Shaq?
I thought for an hour there you were making a joke about Polish people, but I digress...
Finding music in a music store is much more difficult than you describe and in addition you deal with finding a parking spot, waiting in line, and waiting for the transaction to occur... while at home, searching is faster, no parking issue, no waitng in line and you can move on to other things while the transaction is happening (which means you can be making money while you wait).
Also don't compare your ten minute bike ride to a 90% fictitious 24/7 music store to the average american experience. MOST americans don't live ten minutes from this magical music vendor you describe. I'd 'posit' that MOST americans live somewhere more than a half hour or more DRIVE to the nearest music store 24/7 or otherwise.
The surest way to gaurantee involvement in a project is to create a community around it. Forums, user/contributor publishing, blogs. Anything that will let your contributors express themselves regarding the project.
Let people get involved, encourage them, provide a forum.... hopefully provide the tools (sourceforge) but also provide a unique community experience. Create a brand (read a book on marketing) and you will reap the rewards for years... think about Aibo for instance...
You are describing harassment and invasion of privacy. Send a hard copy letter of cease and desist care of their legal department. Add a clause that you will place a lean on their assets for damages, you don't have to specify how much... unspecified damages. That should get their attention. If it doesn't, go ahead and file the lean with your local county judge... w/ copies sent to the same address. Collecting is never easy but the threat is usually enough to get action.
What if it was a 20 legged dog? or a cat with two heads? Although given the state of genetic engineering in our livestock I don't think this guy has a leg to stand on... as far as values go.
I think his reason is the best reason possible... to approve this would be setting a precedent for genetically engineered pets. Where does it stop?
he's still a hypocrite though. "Oh yeah it's fine for the animals we eat but you better not do anything to poor defenseless pet animals.."
Ahem, well you should have stated you were speaking of "world population in terms of service oriented skilled labor".. ;-p
My comment stands and to clarify I will state that USA may be the next 'sleeping giant' but it still has the best overall infrastructure and political climate for massive economic growth... if we'd all just get off our collective ass (or else we'll end up the way China has been for the last century or two, remembering the golden days).
The recent generations and several following simply have little incentive, collectively, to do so. Standard of living in USA has got to be highest ever (I'm talking real standard of living, not income vs expense version) in that we have the easiest most convenience based lifestyle ever.
"Why should we invent or innovate, our parents did it for us."
"Let the rest of the world shoulder the burden of progress for a while. We want to be lazy sons-a-bitches for a while."
Doesn't mean individuals aren't still working hard just that welfare is rampant and US society is 'okay' with it for now.
Any good Interface Designer could take your requirements and make this vehicle work within them.
In fact to pare down that list of expected interface items:
Steering wheel
Gas pedal
Break pedal
Speedometer
Let's see what other interfaces people have adapted to their normal driving routines though... just to see how adaptable they really are.
- Radio with tuning knobs then sliders then up/down buttons plus presets, volume, bass, treble, balance
- Tape deck/CD deck with programming buttons
- Air conditioning / heater interface with climate control
- Various cruise controls, etc
- Shortwave radio
- Cellphones
- all the other meters on the dash and more lately, heads up displays
- plus all the other random gadgets they use while driving
I think people can handle a few new interface extras, though safety is becoming the biggest concern.
Most of the new modes demonstrated by this vehicle are special circumstance or automatic adjustment modes which don't require manual interfaces anyways. Some terms for these modes would be, parallel parking, driving up an incline, 3-point/u- turn, all-terrain... as in; parallel park: you pull up to the spot get into position then pull a trigger on the wheel... the vehicle pivots all wheels and pulls into the space sideways; or driving up an incline: obvious, it's all automatic... car adjusts as you drive based on a sensor; all-terrain: etc. you get the idea.
As for manual? No such thing, why would you want it for a vehicle like this?
You don't mind waiting for heaven right? Flying cars? Despite the misnomer or maybe because of it... never happen. No traffic lights... duh....
Your statements are true for now. BUT we ended up bipedal right?
The question is how much does it cost to lease or maintain established methods.... for most cases current solutions are more economical, given... not really my point. My point was to point out that there are plenty of situations where having a two wheeled payload carrier would be beneficial (as well I believe many small contractors would love to rent or own a sub $50,000 transport for moving heavy loads).
It's not about cooler, or reinventing the wheel so to speak... it's about providing a more intelligent solution to current problems. In fact this uses the wheel and uses it effectively.... carts, wheelbarrows, buggies, Uhaul, boat lifts, etc all use a two wheel approach to improve and optimize previous solutions of four wheels... what gyroscopic stabilization provides is independence from their carriers...
Certainly it's not for creating in-ground pools but for more more sensitive applications, it may have a purpose... in any case there is bound to be a good use... I mean WE ended up bipedal afterall right?
This is incredibly funny for all the wrong reasons.... Mr. Toad's Wild 'Rice' indeed!
How fast can you carry 700 lbs of concrete in a wheelbarrow? Without tipping it over? It's harder and more exhausting work than you think... 4 wheels? Your turning radius just shrunk to well below that required to get around a normal construction site, especially if it's rated for that amount of weight. There are plenty of situations where having a very agile durable payload carrier could increase efficiency well beyond the expense, plus with economies of scale price would become moot.
Yes those devices are genius and have been used successfully for centuries. One question... do you own a horse? How about a hand drill? They both served their purposes admirably in their day but when new technology comes about that improves a workers turn around time... you use it.
If I'm off-topic, then so is the parent post...
The only problem is that the bad guys aren't nearly as interested in Peace as the rest of us.
Look at the African warlords as the best example of what happens when power gets into the hands of a few bad guys and there's no one around to shut them up. How long would it take the US or Europe to devolve into similar madness if our strong military/police backed governments were to fall? It's not as if there aren't strong man tactics already being used in first world countries; gangs, drug cartels, organized crime, if not for police and military who would keep them in check? Militia? that's just a disorganized version of the police...
Who would protect natural resources for plunder? You think the logging companies are bad now... imagine if they had no incentive to follow the rules and simply sold their proceeds to the highest bidder. Now apply that to Everything(TM)
Solar collectors, generators? What are you talking about... our whole military depends on electricity in one form or another.
In any case by the time they decide to use this batteries will be much improved and who says they can't load them up with 5 times the number the consumer model uses? These are supposed to be autonomous so they could instead carry the weight of a passenger in batteries minus the new surveillance equipment, whatever else.
Sounds like a question about energy and infrastructure but then you go off on the 'enemy'... which problem are you addressing?
Segway technology applied to new hi-tech wheelbarrows, shopping carts, toy wagons, wheelchairs, etc.. anything that currently carries weight, needs to remain upright and is manpowered 90% of the time. Segway's gyro-motor controls would make these tools 1000% more useful and convenient.
I can easily see a wheelchair at the price point. Some redundant non-electric safety would need to be implemented.
I can also see a severly dumbed down version used for shopping carts, generic wagons of all sorts... two-wheeled payload carriers. You have a device that's only purpose is to keep itself upright. The cheapest version just does that. A more expensive one would have a motor for forward motion. More expensive would have a proximity monitor and could follow you at an exact distance and have collision detectors to avoid running into things.
I always wondered why there wasn't a sandbox approach to this automatic networking stuff... something to the tune of:
Plug new PC in, a daemon listens/pings for DHCP, LDAP, whatever... and if it finds it, politely asks the user if he/she would like to enable the service. If you have admin privileges you get to authenticate and proceed to register with the service or if in an untrustworthy environment you can choose to leave them disabled. If a new server is found at any time the process is repeated... though you could set a preference to ignore new servers as well.
See, sandbox. Requests are let in automatically but service must be opted into manually.
"After all one of them is 1/6th of the world and the other 1/5th."
i nt /us.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/pr
"about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; about two and a half times the size of Western Europe"
"world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India); Mt. McKinley is highest point in North America and Death Valley the lowest point on the continent"
Don't forget that Apple PCs use OpenFirmware too.
http://bananajr6000.apple.com/
Not in Japan!
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