I think this includes a grand total of one smart phone - the Sony Ericsson Xperia. Xperia also has a version with a slide-out keyboard if that's your thing
The market is so incredibly vibrant and diverse, that there is exactly one viable small-screen smartphone (that I know of).
The problem isn't Bush or Obama - it's the system.
Well, Obama is actually part of the problem here.
The same Goldman Sachs that just got cleared of the sub-prime mortgage issue provided a good part of Obama's administration. A conflict of interest is absolutely guaranteed.
I would not be at all surprised to see younger, more Internet-connected respondents have a more negative view of the TSA, while the Fox News generation
Hardly. More likely the opposite
Younger generation (early to mid 20s) barely remembers life without TSA.
I at least remember not having to take off my shoes/throw away liquids (not to mention the choice between x-ray-like machines and groping).
Older generations remember being able to go through security in minutes and being able to use someone else's flight ticket without a problem.
The difference here is that I am not allowed to opt-out of the government's system. I am able to choose whether I want to allow the private sector to know where I am by not buying a cell phone.
Also, the private sector uses that information to serve me. The cell phone company knows where I am because they need to connect my calls.
If you walk around with a cell phone, the cell phone company knows where you are
And if I have a bank account, then the bank knows how much money I have or what all my transactions are. That doesn't mean police gets to use that information indiscriminately/without a warrant.
You're right, Dotcom only robbed people of millions, not tens of millions - insider trading and embezzlement
Of course that may be true, but it is also completely irrelevant. According to wikipedia : "Dotcom also pleaded guilty to embezzlement in November 2003 and received a two-year probation sentence."
I find it amazing that the most common reaction is -- "yes, what happened would have been normally wrong/unlawful, but since Dotcom is a sleazebag, then it's ok. He had it coming." Laws should be applied the same way regardless of how much of an asshole the particular person happens to be.
With young people it's paying extra for things like Apple hardware when equivalent or better alternatives are cheaper.
I am definitely not a fan of Apple. But this statement deserves a response. Apple has a number of products that DO NOT have viable competition. And all the hipster condescension is not going to change that fact.
For a while, nothing competed with iPhone (I did my research couple years ago and many of competitors at the time were announced products with no set specs). I don't know what the current state of android-based competition is.
Today (afaik) there is barely any competition to mac book air. I am only aware of one laptop line - Sony Z Vaio, and it certainly costs more than mac book air.
The President doesn't make laws, he signs them (or vetoes them).
Even more importantly, a 2/3 majority of Congress can override the veto. So if the law had 66.6% support when it passed, there is little point in veto-ing it (besides making a statement) and presidents don't always bother.
This ruling is proof that the government is in fact above the law.
That is indeed a very new development. Quite a step above the usual "Dismiss this lawsuit, because otherwise we'll have to reveal state secrets and the terrorists will kill everyone". Perhaps because this particular lawsuit is the only challenge that survived the old argument?
Any chance SCOTUS may reverse this?
I am not entirely sure why you would conclude that. I'd blame the court here
IANAL, but I think I would have heard that every law has to have an extra note that says "oh, and government is not immune to this law". And if Congress forgot to add that note - too bad, better luck next time.
Maybe the SCOTUS will take this one for review?
to get me off my Grandfather Plan, they are going to have to offer something better
I am sure they will eventually force-upgrade you. The only real cost for them is your lock-in. Once your 2-year contract runs out, there will be little to stop them
I had left AT&T many years ago, after they offered me to "upgrade" me to one of the new crappier plans early as a "courtesy". I was told that within a year upgrade will be forced anyway.
T-Mobile is still the lesser evil, particularly as they do not charge you for running over their bandwidth cap (they do throttle you quite a bit after you reach it).
If Samsung can make a phone and sell it to a carrier at $300 bucks, and apple charges $600 for their phone
This might be a little offtopic, but how about offering cheaper plans when I bring my own phone? I can buy an unlocked iPhone and then I'll pay the same monthly amount at Verizon/AT&T. So I get the "subsidized" plan whether I buy the subsidized phone or not.
That must be helpful for the profit margin - the phone is always subsidized by the plan, even if it was cheap or free (for the carrier).
TL;DR: Windows took twice as much time to install, cost me 200 times as much money, and provided about 10% of the software.
I always get modded as troll here, but understand that experience with Linux really, really varies. I will avoid discussion about cost/software, but Linux may easily fail to install depending on your hardware
Last time I needed to install Linux on a desktop, it took 3 different distros (settling on OpenSUSE, actually), before I could get it to work. The first two distros hit a wall somewhere along the install process and could not be finished.
And, according to my research, default installation of OpenSUSE (with whatever window manager system that is included) cannot properly support two-monitor desktop (at least that's how far I got trying to get 2 monitors to work so far - it doesn't work and I have seen many others complain about it)
Linux can be surprisingly frustrating.
Content providers keep adding more and more commercials to content,
Hear, hear!. It is quite amazing, actually. It turns out that old shows from 70s-80s used to be around 26.5 minutes per half-hour slot. Most of what you see today is around 22.5-23 minutes at best. They have at least doubled the commercial duration in a few decades.
at least the petition system at whitehouse.gov will require *some* action from the administration.
Have you read the response to the last ban-TSA petition that already succeeded? It was almost like the poster below suggested ("'The administration has taken note of your concerns, and is entirely dedicated to protecting the American people.'")
Except that they didn't feel the need to pretend that they have "taken note" of any "concerns". The answer was written by the TSA director and has outlined two things a) why TSA is awesome and b) what are the TSA's expansion plans for next 10 years
I didn't expect them to dismantle TSA or do anything, really, but you'd think they would say "we are working on addressing your concerns". But no one is even pretending to listen.
Something that can be dangerous when grossly misused can be outright banned.
They also spend quite a bit of resources confiscating Kinder egg surprise (50,000 a year according to an article I read), because there is an "unintuitive" toy inside the chocolate egg and a child may swallow it
That's the real measure of the effectiveness of a lock. I.e., an expensive lock that can be picked in an inexpensive manner is an ineffective lock.
Locks can also be changed once someone steals and duplicates your key. Even the crappiest lock can be replaced.
Good luck replacing your iris once a copy is out in the wild.
reduce unemployment benefits to six months instead of two years. Sorry, if you haven't worked in your field for about two years you don't have a career in it anymore.
So if someone can't find a job in six months - screw them? Or are you suggesting to replace the other 18 months by government-sponsored courses to re-train the unemployed into another career?
Anyway, as I understand it, unemployment benefits go right back into economy since 100% of them are actually spent right away.
Slashdot Mirror
What if I want a smartphone with a small screen
I think this includes a grand total of one smart phone - the Sony Ericsson Xperia. Xperia also has a version with a slide-out keyboard if that's your thing
The market is so incredibly vibrant and diverse, that there is exactly one viable small-screen smartphone (that I know of).
What next? Penny stocks? Canadian pharmacy stories?
Well, timothy covered the exciting 10% Nook discount just a few hours ago.
Next would be "FriendOfSlashdot" coupon offers...
I have a pretty high tolerance for irrelevant articles, but really? /. go?
An article about a 10% discount on a product? How low can
The problem isn't Bush or Obama - it's the system.
Well, Obama is actually part of the problem here.
The same Goldman Sachs that just got cleared of the sub-prime mortgage issue provided a good part of Obama's administration. A conflict of interest is absolutely guaranteed.
I would not be at all surprised to see younger, more Internet-connected respondents have a more negative view of the TSA, while the Fox News generation
Hardly. More likely the opposite
Younger generation (early to mid 20s) barely remembers life without TSA.
I at least remember not having to take off my shoes/throw away liquids (not to mention the choice between x-ray-like machines and groping).
Older generations remember being able to go through security in minutes and being able to use someone else's flight ticket without a problem.
54% is LOW: If 54% think it's doing a 'good job', that means that 46% of Americans DON'T think it's doing a good job.
And yet, Congress would love to even approach TSA approval ratings (it's around 17% now).
The difference here is that I am not allowed to opt-out of the government's system. I am able to choose whether I want to allow the private sector to know where I am by not buying a cell phone.
Also, the private sector uses that information to serve me. The cell phone company knows where I am because they need to connect my calls.
If you walk around with a cell phone, the cell phone company knows where you are
And if I have a bank account, then the bank knows how much money I have or what all my transactions are. That doesn't mean police gets to use that information indiscriminately/without a warrant.
You're right, Dotcom only robbed people of millions, not tens of millions - insider trading and embezzlement
Of course that may be true, but it is also completely irrelevant. According to wikipedia : "Dotcom also pleaded guilty to embezzlement in November 2003 and received a two-year probation sentence."
I find it amazing that the most common reaction is -- "yes, what happened would have been normally wrong/unlawful, but since Dotcom is a sleazebag, then it's ok. He had it coming." Laws should be applied the same way regardless of how much of an asshole the particular person happens to be.
With young people it's paying extra for things like Apple hardware when equivalent or better alternatives are cheaper.
I am definitely not a fan of Apple. But this statement deserves a response. Apple has a number of products that DO NOT have viable competition. And all the hipster condescension is not going to change that fact.
For a while, nothing competed with iPhone (I did my research couple years ago and many of competitors at the time were announced products with no set specs). I don't know what the current state of android-based competition is.
Today (afaik) there is barely any competition to mac book air. I am only aware of one laptop line - Sony Z Vaio, and it certainly costs more than mac book air.
Credit card transactions with no audit trail: what could possibly go wrong?
Hah! If it's good enough for our democratic elections, it's good enough for buying coffee!
The President doesn't make laws, he signs them (or vetoes them).
Even more importantly, a 2/3 majority of Congress can override the veto. So if the law had 66.6% support when it passed, there is little point in veto-ing it (besides making a statement) and presidents don't always bother.
This ruling is proof that the government is in fact above the law.
That is indeed a very new development. Quite a step above the usual "Dismiss this lawsuit, because otherwise we'll have to reveal state secrets and the terrorists will kill everyone". Perhaps because this particular lawsuit is the only challenge that survived the old argument?
Any chance SCOTUS may reverse this?
conclude that Congress is, in fact, the enemy.
I am not entirely sure why you would conclude that. I'd blame the court here
IANAL, but I think I would have heard that every law has to have an extra note that says "oh, and government is not immune to this law". And if Congress forgot to add that note - too bad, better luck next time.
Maybe the SCOTUS will take this one for review?
Is Wiretapping Legal Now?
Why, that depends. It would still be illegal for you to do it. Laws that can be enforced selectively are the most convenient!
to get me off my Grandfather Plan, they are going to have to offer something better
I am sure they will eventually force-upgrade you. The only real cost for them is your lock-in. Once your 2-year contract runs out, there will be little to stop them
I had left AT&T many years ago, after they offered me to "upgrade" me to one of the new crappier plans early as a "courtesy". I was told that within a year upgrade will be forced anyway.
T-Mobile is still the lesser evil, particularly as they do not charge you for running over their bandwidth cap (they do throttle you quite a bit after you reach it).
If Samsung can make a phone and sell it to a carrier at $300 bucks, and apple charges $600 for their phone
This might be a little offtopic, but how about offering cheaper plans when I bring my own phone? I can buy an unlocked iPhone and then I'll pay the same monthly amount at Verizon/AT&T. So I get the "subsidized" plan whether I buy the subsidized phone or not.
That must be helpful for the profit margin - the phone is always subsidized by the plan, even if it was cheap or free (for the carrier).
TL;DR: Windows took twice as much time to install, cost me 200 times as much money, and provided about 10% of the software.
I always get modded as troll here, but understand that experience with Linux really, really varies. I will avoid discussion about cost/software, but Linux may easily fail to install depending on your hardware
Last time I needed to install Linux on a desktop, it took 3 different distros (settling on OpenSUSE, actually), before I could get it to work. The first two distros hit a wall somewhere along the install process and could not be finished.
And, according to my research, default installation of OpenSUSE (with whatever window manager system that is included) cannot properly support two-monitor desktop (at least that's how far I got trying to get 2 monitors to work so far - it doesn't work and I have seen many others complain about it)
Linux can be surprisingly frustrating.
Content providers keep adding more and more commercials to content,
Hear, hear!. It is quite amazing, actually. It turns out that old shows from 70s-80s used to be around 26.5 minutes per half-hour slot. Most of what you see today is around 22.5-23 minutes at best. They have at least doubled the commercial duration in a few decades.
at least the petition system at whitehouse.gov will require *some* action from the administration.
Have you read the response to the last ban-TSA petition that already succeeded?
It was almost like the poster below suggested ("'The administration has taken note of your concerns, and is entirely dedicated to protecting the American people.'")
Except that they didn't feel the need to pretend that they have "taken note" of any "concerns". The answer was written by the TSA director and has outlined two things a) why TSA is awesome and b) what are the TSA's expansion plans for next 10 years
I didn't expect them to dismantle TSA or do anything, really, but you'd think they would say "we are working on addressing your concerns". But no one is even pretending to listen.
I mean really, what possible purpose could understanding the topic of conversation possibly contribute?
Nothing at all, clearly.
The debate about "truth vigilantism" taught me that much.
This was not flamebait (well, not meant as one).
Although the actual number of confiscated Kinder Eggs is 25,000 in 2011. Illegal candy...
Something that can be dangerous when grossly misused can be outright banned.
They also spend quite a bit of resources confiscating Kinder egg surprise (50,000 a year according to an article I read), because there is an "unintuitive" toy inside the chocolate egg and a child may swallow it
That's the real measure of the effectiveness of a lock. I.e., an expensive lock that can be picked in an inexpensive manner is an ineffective lock.
Locks can also be changed once someone steals and duplicates your key. Even the crappiest lock can be replaced.
Good luck replacing your iris once a copy is out in the wild.
reduce unemployment benefits to six months instead of two years. Sorry, if you haven't worked in your field for about two years you don't have a career in it anymore.
So if someone can't find a job in six months - screw them? Or are you suggesting to replace the other 18 months by government-sponsored courses to re-train the unemployed into another career?
Anyway, as I understand it, unemployment benefits go right back into economy since 100% of them are actually spent right away.