My brother worked on the Iridium satellite phone project back in the day. It seems to me that it's just as effective as ever and would be superior to this in almost every way.
I'm curious now as to how much houses go for in the UK. My elderly mother lives in a smallish-average size house about 50 years old, 1700 sq ft (160 sq meters), 3 bedroom. Real estate varies wildly in the US, but this is a small middle-class, suburbish town outside a major city and it would sell for about $350,000.
I know you were joking, but the museum and paper examples are not at all representative. Just the first things that popped into my head.
More realistically, my boy gets offered a choice in most things. If he doesn't want to take his lunch to school (generally whatever he wants), he can buy it from the hot lunch caterer. I won't buy candy. At all. But he can if he wants to. That kind of thing.
The fact that he saved up his money specifically for a PS2 for such a long time made me quite proud.
My kids get a dollar a week for each year of age. Six years old == six dollars. Out of their allowances, they have to pay for most school activities and supplies that other parents typically pay for themselves (within reason. Construction paper for a craft project? Buy it yourself. Field trip to the museuem? Pay or don't go. As an added bonus, for every dollar they put in the bank, I match fifty cents.
I'm scratching my head over the two-thirds of console owners that _aren't_ adults - what kid can afford $150-$500 for a console? My son saved up for almost two years to buy a PS2. He started when he was six and got it just after his seventh birthday.
This is a cool thing, but I wonder about the lag time. First, there is the typical lag you get on a mobile phone, and added to it is the lag time you will get from VOIP.
TV is less and less important to me with each passing day. About a year ago I realized that I had come to watch almost no TV. I never made any conscious decision to do so. It's just been a gradual progression. I do have Tivo and a lifetime subscription to it, and about the only thing I now watch is Lost, and only if my wife happens to be watching it at the same time. I tried watching Battlestar Galactica, and enjoyed it, but just couldn't keep up with the episodes and gave up on it.
I get my news from XM radio during my commute, and, besides, both national and local news broadcasts are almost embarrasingly awful. I enjoy comedy shows, but it's not worth the effort to search out the good ones. Your typical TV drama or mystery bores the crap out of me.
There are simply too many other things that I would rather do during my too-short leisure time than watch television. I play with my kids. Surf the net. Cook and eat. Talk to my wife. There's not enough time to do as much of any of these things as I would like.
The "technical flaw" that you refer to, the iPod interface, is almost universally agreed upon as outstanding and instrumental in the Ipod's massive success.
That it is mildly inconvenient to use while performing certain other tasks is not quite what I would call a "flawed platform". Sure it's not perfect. It's just really, really good.
Personally, I would like something iPod specific. Right now, the touch wheel pad thingy (that really is the technical term, believe it or not) isn't that great for navigation while driving. You hit a bump, and bang! Now you're listening to some crappy 80's song that you never deleted.
While driving, I would rather use knobs and buttons to navigate my iPod menu. Obviously, others will have different preferences.
Though it's nice to have all these gadgets and options, I worry about upgrades. For example, I specifically didn't get a navigation system because I don't want to be locked in to something that costs more to upgrade in the future (if it's possible at all).
An audio jack though, should be available in every new car. I don't see the minijack going away anytime soon.
...the list of companies sponsoring kernel development has a surprise or two.... a number of the widely-expressed opinions about kernel development turn out to be true.
Between work and home I have two Win2000 boxes and two XP boxes (and a Redhat as well). I remember still running NT when XP was introduced.
Unless you have an application that can't be run on an older system, and by then you usually need a newer computer anyway, is upgrading really worth the hassle? A workstation for me becomes like an old pet. You're used to it. You know how what its quirks are.
Personally, I've never felt a compelling reason to upgrade. I like shiny toys as well as the next person, but I have never upgraded a Windows OS in my life.
This was my first thought. I generally upgrade my main software tools every four years or so. I can't imagine paying $15 per month for this. Certain high price, specialized tools or enterprise software, maybe, but not for a basic office suite when there are so many alternatives.
On a semi-related note, about ten years ago I bought a cable-modem when they were first becoming commonly available for consumers. $200. Everybody else I knew leased theirs for $5 a month. I just replaced it last week. Savings: $400.
I hear what you're saying, and it sounds great in theory. I've attended a lot of meetings that were organized around exactly what you just stated. Without exception, they have all been a colossal waste of time. Eventually, some have eventually arrived at something useful, but invariably, they could have been handled more efficiently by other means. Why not have people submit their ideas ahead of time to someone that could organize and collate them?
There are few things more frustrating to me than so-called "brainstorming sessions". "Let's get a bunch of smart, creative people together and bounce ideas off each other." It never works. Never.
Anytime you have more than two people at a time trying to go through this process, you invariably get tied up in social motivations that are detrimental to the outcome. People are afraid to offend. People try to impress. People are afraid of sounding stupid.
The best and most useful creative ideas always come from individuals or occasionally pairs. Not committees.
Slashdot Mirror
Take Two is filing suit to ban Jack Thompson from filing suit against them?
Is it even possible to be disallowed from filing lawsuits.
Just wondering.
My brother worked on the Iridium satellite phone project back in the day. It seems to me that it's just as effective as ever and would be superior to this in almost every way.
That's okay, I guess. Personally, I really liked the totally rad volcano that used baking soda and vinegar to actually erupt!
Okay, to get even more off topic...
I'm curious now as to how much houses go for in the UK. My elderly mother lives in a smallish-average size house about 50 years old, 1700 sq ft (160 sq meters), 3 bedroom. Real estate varies wildly in the US, but this is a small middle-class, suburbish town outside a major city and it would sell for about $350,000.
What's it like on your side of the pond?
You have some real good points.
I know you were joking, but the museum and paper examples are not at all representative. Just the first things that popped into my head.
More realistically, my boy gets offered a choice in most things. If he doesn't want to take his lunch to school (generally whatever he wants), he can buy it from the hot lunch caterer. I won't buy candy. At all. But he can if he wants to. That kind of thing.
The fact that he saved up his money specifically for a PS2 for such a long time made me quite proud.
OT, but who cares?
My kids get a dollar a week for each year of age. Six years old == six dollars. Out of their allowances, they have to pay for most school activities and supplies that other parents typically pay for themselves (within reason. Construction paper for a craft project? Buy it yourself. Field trip to the museuem? Pay or don't go. As an added bonus, for every dollar they put in the bank, I match fifty cents.
His allowance, BTW, was $6 per week.
This is a cool thing, but I wonder about the lag time. First, there is the typical lag you get on a mobile phone, and added to it is the lag time you will get from VOIP.
I get my news from XM radio during my commute, and, besides, both national and local news broadcasts are almost embarrasingly awful. I enjoy comedy shows, but it's not worth the effort to search out the good ones. Your typical TV drama or mystery bores the crap out of me.
There are simply too many other things that I would rather do during my too-short leisure time than watch television. I play with my kids. Surf the net. Cook and eat. Talk to my wife. There's not enough time to do as much of any of these things as I would like.
Imaging all the new ways to spell bank0famerlca.com.
Please move along.
Appetizers. Cartoon characters. And now, electronics!
Do I need to upgrade to IPv6 to use web 2.0?
I think that's why it's called Web 2.0. Because it's two more than IPv4.
It's just part of an overall "bad boy" campaign that MS is using to try to seem cool.
Go ahead and buy from us. IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS.
Well here's the thing...
The "technical flaw" that you refer to, the iPod interface, is almost universally agreed upon as outstanding and instrumental in the Ipod's massive success.
That it is mildly inconvenient to use while performing certain other tasks is not quite what I would call a "flawed platform". Sure it's not perfect. It's just really, really good.
If you don't record violence, then it never happened.
Right?
Hey! NO CARRIER
Personally, I would like something iPod specific. Right now, the touch wheel pad thingy (that really is the technical term, believe it or not) isn't that great for navigation while driving. You hit a bump, and bang! Now you're listening to some crappy 80's song that you never deleted.
While driving, I would rather use knobs and buttons to navigate my iPod menu. Obviously, others will have different preferences.
Though it's nice to have all these gadgets and options, I worry about upgrades. For example, I specifically didn't get a navigation system because I don't want to be locked in to something that costs more to upgrade in the future (if it's possible at all).
An audio jack though, should be available in every new car. I don't see the minijack going away anytime soon.
a virus dedicated to the eradication of Symantec from the known world
That's not a virus. That's a feature.
...the list of companies sponsoring kernel development has a surprise or two.... a number of the widely-expressed opinions about kernel development turn out to be true.
So... the surprise is that there is no surprise?
The participants needs to trust and respect each other first.
That's probably it then. I don't trust anyone, and nobody respects me.
I don't get it.
Between work and home I have two Win2000 boxes and two XP boxes (and a Redhat as well). I remember still running NT when XP was introduced.
Unless you have an application that can't be run on an older system, and by then you usually need a newer computer anyway, is upgrading really worth the hassle? A workstation for me becomes like an old pet. You're used to it. You know how what its quirks are.
Personally, I've never felt a compelling reason to upgrade. I like shiny toys as well as the next person, but I have never upgraded a Windows OS in my life.
This was my first thought. I generally upgrade my main software tools every four years or so. I can't imagine paying $15 per month for this. Certain high price, specialized tools or enterprise software, maybe, but not for a basic office suite when there are so many alternatives.
On a semi-related note, about ten years ago I bought a cable-modem when they were first becoming commonly available for consumers. $200. Everybody else I knew leased theirs for $5 a month. I just replaced it last week. Savings: $400.
I hear what you're saying, and it sounds great in theory. I've attended a lot of meetings that were organized around exactly what you just stated. Without exception, they have all been a colossal waste of time. Eventually, some have eventually arrived at something useful, but invariably, they could have been handled more efficiently by other means. Why not have people submit their ideas ahead of time to someone that could organize and collate them?
Your mileage may vary.
There are few things more frustrating to me than so-called "brainstorming sessions". "Let's get a bunch of smart, creative people together and bounce ideas off each other." It never works. Never.
Anytime you have more than two people at a time trying to go through this process, you invariably get tied up in social motivations that are detrimental to the outcome. People are afraid to offend. People try to impress. People are afraid of sounding stupid.
The best and most useful creative ideas always come from individuals or occasionally pairs. Not committees.