They would complain loudly that the goose must be ripping them off for the amount of food it took to produce each golden egg. They'd put the goose on a strict diet that would result in its inevitable death and explain to the goose that it was only fair since they'd taken the risk of continuing to feed it and you never knew when it would have dropped its last golden egg. And then when the death occurred they'd loudly proclaim that a developer of an evil P2P network had snuck in and poisoned the poor thing. They'd take the carcass and have it stuffed and mounted, then parade it around the country to demonstrate the evils of P2P file sharing. Eventually it would wind up decaying in a land fill somewhere after an employee of the limo company discarded it after finding it lying abandoned in the trunk of a rental limo.
Guangzhou indeed has a population of 10M but as big as that number sounds to American's, the majority of China's population 1B of 1.3B lives as peasants eking out a living in rural squalor with no cell phones and barely enough to eat.
To such people concepts like "democracy" are meaningless, concepts like more protein in their diets, education and medical care have meaning.
If you want to see why China keeps such a tight control on their population, just look a bit north to Russia. I'm sure the recent rapid descent of Russia into the open rank poisonous sewer of humanity it is now has been an ample shock rod to the gonads of the Chinese government.
I doubt many of those decrying Google et al realize that China just recently became self sufficient for feeding its own people. And by self sufficient, I don't mean to an American standard of diet. I mean just enough food so people don't die, not enough food for everyone to thrive and grow to their full genetic potential. The Chinese government has been rapidly, extremely rapidly, opening itself to a "Market Economy". But to continue that growth they MUST maintain stability. With out stability Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, et al will not establish themselves. And with out their help China's desperately over heated economic growth will collapse. And along with it every Chinese citizen's best hope at a future democracy.
China needs our help and we need China's cheap consumer goods to fill our modern version of "Bread and circuses". We are at present as two one legged individuals supporting each other as we hobble down the street together, each needing the other's support to stay upright.
RIght now the biggest obstacle to ebooks is the book publishers themselves, just like it was with music before Steve Jobs.
Some of the publishers are just as crazy as the music publishers with license terms like "You can't lend this, you can't re-sell it, if our DRM keeps your from reading it too bad boo hoo hoo!"
Right now eBook customers are for the most part treated as thieves out on parole with extreme conditions on their paroles.
Rather than take advantage of the new capabilities of the digital format to benefit customers: we can replace your ebooks when your computer dies or was soaked by Hurricane Katrina, But instead we get DRM that keeps you from loading it on your new computer, as they'd rather just sell you a new copy. As you get older your eyes get weaker, but rather than support changable font sizes for older readers they'd rather just turn that feature off. Rather than focus on customers needs they'd rather focus on things like "For years book buyers have been ripping off authors by lending or re-selling their books." now the authors (and publishers) can get theirs back for centuries of abuse at the hands of immoral book buyers!
For years publishers have been doing first runs as "Hardback editions" and charging 5 to 10 times as much for these editions. Readers were supposed to rationalize this as needing to pay for the extra expense of a hardback vs a soft book. So along come ebooks and they want to charge $15 to $20 for "first release" editions and folks like Gem Star would never reduce that "first release" price and would try to keep charging $15 to $20 for the ebook forever! Then their ebook division was killed and sent a chill over the industry even though they died for very good reasons that they did unto themselves.
Amazon the seller will sell an ebook for MORE than the paper back version!!! That always makes me NOT want to buy the ebook from them when I catch them doing that. So some times even the 3rd party ebook sellers are asinine. Once I asked Amazon how they could sell a downloadable ebook for more than a paperback they'd have to deliver for free (if I bought $25 worth), they never even bothered to write me back.
Blame the technology if you want, but publishers could solve technical issues as well if they weren't standing around pissing their pants in fear of how everyone whom has been ripping them off for centuries: "criminals" that lend books to friends, "criminals" that sell books rather than burn them after reading them, "RICO" organizations like libraries and Universities could really steal everything if they're stupid enough to release their catalogs as ebooks.
My other favorite are clueless publishers that can't decide what format to release ebooks in. So to figure out which format to use they take a trilogy and release book 1 only on MS Reader, book 2 only on Adobe, and book 3 only on Mobipocket. Absolutely clueless! That kind of thing really helps launch the ebook industry.
And of course, just like with audio, you have authors that get up on the ol' soap box and make public stands again ebooks: J.K. Rowling for example. She also says her books are about getting kids to read, yet while she won't release her books as ebooks, will release them as audio books (including to Steve).
The problem is a Steve Jobs to stand up to the publishers, stare them in the eye and tell them you can't treat your customers like criminals and you have to give customers the perception of a fair value for their hard earned dollars.
I'm hoping that when Sony brings the Librie to the US they will take their recent corporate revitalization about open formats and DRM and be the Steve Jobs of ebooks. Just please fix the AAA battery hungry nature of the Librie please? I know you all make AAA batteries but the Nano has proven you can put a rechargeable battery in a thin format, no need to get greedy eh?
If Bill will personally donate $5B USD cash to schools in China I'll buy two copies of WIndows Vista Full Tablet PC Super Duper Non-Upgrade Edition (or whatever they're calling it) at Full Retail.
Any one else?
The real reason is very simple and easy to understand.
China has 1,000,000,000 peasants and 300,000,000 urban dwellers with about 20 years experience of not being peasants.
If China allowed dissenters to utilize high technology to whip up discontent in even 1% of that peasant population it would seriously destabilize the country.
The Chinese government is roundly criticized for growing their economy at 20% to 25% per year. But even if they manage to maintain that rate it will be decades before a large portion of those 1,000,000,000 peasants can have access to modern housing, enough electricity to run a light in the evening so their children can study and a higher protein diet that would still only have half the protein a poor American has in their diet.
If China lost control the way Russia did, the resulting civil chaos would result in more deaths than all the people that died in WWI and WWII combined.
And we are no longer the bright torch of freedom we once were. CALEA, PATRIOT I, PATRIOT II, DMCA, RICO, TSA (remember when you could move state to state on an airplane with no government issued travel documents? Well you can now in Russia, but not here) have taken our freedoms one acronym at at time. Systems like Carnivore and what-ever-the-hell-its-called-at-the-NSA snoop all our emails, phone calls and web surfing habits. Cities are installing 10,000's of cameras with facial recognition software and microphones with voice recognition systems to watch and monitor citizens every public move and utterance. The Chinese wish they had such technologies!
Some American's sit back and condemn China for human rights abuses and arrogantly extend a ruler to measure Chinese progress in reforms against. The reality is that China's constitution is in many ways more modern than our own, not surprising considering ours is over 200 years old and theirs isn't even 60. But the American constitution was implemented on a population that wouldn't even fill a small city in urban China.
To make progress on a population the size of China's at the rate demanded by some here in America would result in a Chinese government that those very same people would then accuse (justly) of genocide due to all the peasant's they'd have to kill to achieve the rapid social change to generations of folks that were raised and indoctrinated as peasants.
If you want to help China become a bastion of freedom the path doesn't run down blasting them for blocking Skype calls. What they need are schools, textbooks, teachers and money to operate the schools and pay the teachers. Helping them to better educate their children will help them build their freedom. And while you are at it, don't forget money for food so the families could still feed themselves while their children were in school instead of helping raise food to feed themselves.
Your average American can not picture what a difference this would make, now, give us a few more decades to destroy our public education system and we'll have a better idea...
However, in America the norm is for a child to have access to schools, books, teachers, at least one nutritious hot meal a day and no need to miss school in order to help grow food. In China the norm is no school, no textbooks, no teachers, no guarantee of a nutritious hot meal every day for their children, and a desperate need to help grow food.
Even your average Chinese citizen can't grasp how large the challenge is for their government. Last year I was in China and heard one of their urban citizens grumble about the waste of their government spending $500,000,000 USD on hosting the 2008 Olympics. I asked that person "Do you realize that even if your government took every dollar of that Olympic money and used it to buy text books they couldn't even buy every school child in China one text book?"
The only person in the world that could help China meet the ruler of progress held up for them is Bill Gates. But even if he woke up one morning and decided he was going to cash in all hi
My Chinese fiancee told me a joke one time (I never knew China was so varied in its population that they told jokes about various parts of it, in this case the Cantonese...)
Q: Why are there still Great Pandas in China? A: They taste so bad even a Cantonese won't eat them.
So I present...
Q: Why did the Neanderthal die out after co-existing with homo sapiens for a thousand years? A: Roasted Neanderthal tastes good!
I present as backing present day evidence the reports from Africa about "bush meat" a.k.a. Monkey and Gorilla roasted over an open fire. In my opinion the African's are making excellent progress at a modern day recreation of the death of the Neanderthals.
No need to invoke God or intelligent design, just simple every day human nature can explain it.
It has been my observation that the HDD based HFS+ formatted iPod's I've owned, which I spend more time with than iTunes, seem to employ a Brownian Motion to their random/shuffle play.
Few digital devices have a true white random number generator. The best they can generally achieve is a sequence that when observed for a certain period of time will average out to being white.
In my case I generally only ever listen to the first 150 steps along the "random" sequence that the iPod constructs for me each morning when I get to the office. I submit that this observation period is too short to average out to white.
Further, I submit that the sequence generated is very Brownian in the way it selects the next tune to play. My theory is that Apple does this to boost battery life as picking closer neighbors in the sequence reduces energy consumption and heat build up in the iPod's HDD.
I've also submit that the sequence is based in part on the structure of the HFS+ file system. If I add more music to my iPod I've noticed the tunes being selected for the first 150 slots gets re-shuffled. A handy feature for the iTMS.:-)
Your business will only go bankrupt if you are unethical and allow your business to operate at a loss.
My Grandfather was set for life with a very respectable steady job: manager of the local ice house. Then one day along came refrigerators.
If you have the common sense God gave a horse you'll close the business and move on. If you are slightly less ethical you'll sell the business to someone, possibly a family member and see how much common sense they have.
If you are assaulting your customers in the manner you relate in your posting, you need to close your business before one of them has you prosecuted and thrown in jail.
It sounds like to me they should use this stuff to wrap the foam insulation onto the space shuttle external tank so it won't fall off. Then they can think about using it for space elevators.
I agree, I try their search tool at www.ibm.com every so often and I still to this day have to use Google to find anything on their web site. My money is on them donating it to FOSS so someone can fix it for them.
Patents are intended to help the public by creating an environment in which those who develop ideas can recover money from their inventions thus there is an economic incentive to those inventors to develop new inventions. In this case DLO clearly spent $5K (if that much) on molds for their design and they clearly feel the PodBuddy would out class their product. If I was their attorney I'd advise them to license the patent and use the money from the PodBuddy license fees to develop new products, and be able to spend maybe $20K on their next design off the backs of the PodBuddy sales.
So does this prove we should replace ICANN with the UN in order to halt progress in the Internet's development?
Or does it prove that if we replace ICANN with the UN that I need to go polish up on writing UN grant proposals?
I wonder if we have any more Al Gore "I invented the Internet" brand pork still waiting to be served up?
Where is the hack to buy his book as a LIT via FF?
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Firefox Hacks
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· Score: 1
So far I haven't been able to "convert" to FireFox because I can't buy.lit files using FireFox. I even ponied up my $$$ to get the support folks to help me out and they gave up.
As sad as Microsoft Reader is, it truly re-flows text when I pick a large font unlike Adobe's piece of crap.
You all are missing the point!
Microsoft is not delaying patches to everyone else for a month so they can kiss the DoD's huge ass to prevent future Justice Department action against them for their crappy security.
Microsoft has to test their patches, often for months, before releasing them. What they are doing is releasing patches to the DoD before they have finished testing them.
The sad part is the DoD will think Microsoft is kissing their huge ass but in reality Microsoft is getting a US Government subsidy to assist them in testing their security patches.
I don't have much problem with my tax money being used to shoot Iraq's begging to be killed. But I'm damned if I'm happy to have my tax money being used to subsidize Microsoft! They're already rolling in cash! Let them spend MORE OF IT on testing their code.
I will happily PayPal $1 per episode to download HDTV LOL XVID of Battlestar, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis. Which is far more than DirectTV is giving them on my behalf right now.
Please note that's download, not stream you ignorant broadcasters! And content in a real format, not Real format. Real is a bigger sell out than even Microsoft when it comes to hurting the consumer in order to brown nose the MPAA/RIAA.
And why PayPal? Because I wouldn't trust any broadcaster with my credit card. They're technical idiots and would be handing all my info out to any 13 year old script kiddie.
As it stands, this is just one more sad pitiful example of how broadcasters really really really just don't get it!
If they keep blowing it like this, when the revolution comes, Sci Fi is going to be standing there with their back against the wall along with NBC et al. I really don't think the current broadcasters know how to adapt, even to save their corporate existence.
Here's the real scoop on the whole IonXR technology.
You will notice that there is no patent claim made on the revolutionary IonXR technology.
Thats because they are still working on the tedious patent paper work but needed money to continue funding further research. So they've chosen to release the product with a hocus-pocus explanation of "IonXR technology".
The real technology behind this product is easily determined through analysis of the electromagnetic field generated around the sticker while the phone is drawing current to/from the battery.
The IonXR lie is, like all good lies, based partly in fact. The actual technology does indeed work through manipulation of the inherent electromagnetic field produced by any battery as current is drawn to/from the battery.
But as others have pointed out, manipulation of this inherent electromagnetic field to produce changes in the crystalline structures that form in the separator is obviously rubbish to anyone that understands the energy levels involved in such manipulations of a crystallization process!
The sticker is actually far closer in actual operational theory to the cell phone antenna stickers that boost cellular reception. Again the IonXR claims draw upon truth, but unlike the antenna stickers, the BatMax technology utilizes the latest nanotechnology theories to exploit naturally occurring nano-sized particles (which are cleverly employed to keep costs for this incredible product low enough for your average cell phone user in the developed world to be able to purchase it) to subtly influence the electromagnetic environment inside the battery as it is charged or discharged.
Simply put these subtle influences cause the battery to produce an electromagnetic field with the correct harmonic nuances to tap into zero point energy. By tapping into zero point energy the sticker extends the apparent capacity of the battery and reduces the time required to charge it as well! Very clever that last part I think!
How do I know all this?
They were unable to stably produce the needed electromagnetic field with their prototype stickers. I was at a local Tully's drinking a steamed rice milk with double shot vanilla when I first encountered the primary designers.
They had been (and are still continuing their research into) developing the stickers to extend the range of their Segways. When the stickers worked they would be able to get from their offices to the Tully's and back again (a truly astounding accomplishment considered the reduced range of a Segway after its battery pack begins the natural aging process) but when the stickers didn't work, as they hadn't that day, they needed to recharge at the Tully's before returning to their office.
As they waited for their Segways to recharge they discussed what might have changed to prevent their stickers from working this time. This allowed me to analyze the basic operational nature of their stickers along with them and realize where their stickers were most likely failing them.
I introduced myself, presented my business card and proposed a "back of the napkin deal" to help them out. At first they were very nervous and distraught over their carelessness at discussing the fundamental operational details where a fellow Tully's patron could overhear them. They obviously wanted to hurry off but alas their Segways were still not ready.
The problem was so obvious, but they were unable to see it. In order to affect the subtle magnetic manipulations required to achieve the harmonic needed to tap into zero point energy you must have a very stable physical structure to properly align the nano-sized particles. When I first met them they were using a simple cellulose and aluminum foil structure to support the nano-sized particles in the proper structure.
I pointed out to them that the electromagnetic field from the battery wasn't just being manipulated by the sticker, but was in itself affecting the sticker itself! Yes, the electromagnetic fi
Maybe OReily can document how to DL LIT files
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Firefox In Print
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· Score: 1
Everyone is all crazy crazy for Firefox but there are a few practical limitations on Firefox. The most annoying to me is that I can't download from my digital locker at Amazon when I buy secure ebooks in LIT format. You still have to use IE to handle that. Even the new $5 a hit support folks gave up and gave me my $5 back. Maybe Amazon could lean on Microsoft but I don't know to talk to there. Maybe these new books can give clues.
Capslock is used for non-English input
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Is Caps Lock Dead?
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· Score: 2, Informative
The capslock key is used by some non-English input methods to switch back and forth between English entry and the other language.
I found out about this when I kept noticing that my fiancee left the caps lock key on for me when I would use her laptop. In Traditional Chinese entry mode the caps lock being on puts you back into English entry mode.
So I very much doubt, since the Chinese make um what 99.99% of all keyboards, that they will be removing the capslock key.:-)
Yes, it's the new "Just say No!" campaign brought to you by the President. Only this time rather than being asked to say no to drugs to protect ourselves, we are being asked to say no to being around the president to protect ourselves.
GWB chose not to attend his daughters graduations due to the extensive security protocols required to be anywhere near the President. He didn't want to distract from the event.
More than one government has fallen when the leaders of the government no longer felt safe to be amongst those it ruled. The isolation of those ruling from those being ruled inevitably lead to the fall of the governments.
And as tighter security systems for cars inevitably lead us from coming back to find our unsecured car missing to coming back to our secure cars and being killed for them after we turned off the security systems to use them. The more we secure the president the more likely it is that larger numbers will die when someone decides they want him badly enough to escalate violence to the levels required by those security systems to kill him.
Our form of government abhors prior restraint. The more it violates this concept to protect one man the more the enemies of our government make our government over into their image of our government.
My Fiancee and I rode the MagLev Jan 3, 2004 from our Executive Suite at the St. Regis Shanghai to the Airport (confirming one opinion I read here on whom would be using it.)
We paid $55 RMB each for an 8 minute ride that no taxi, including a SH taxi was going to come even close to matching in speed or comfort.
Yes, at 430Kph it is wobbly but not any more wobbly than the new HKG airport train at it's top speed. And considering the difference in top speeds I'm highly impressed with the stability of the SH train.
As with the HKG train, baggage space is a joke. Whom ever designed both these train systems clearly didn't think about the fact that they were going to and from airports (or Chinese air travelers must travel with just the clothes on their backs.)
The HKG train though kicks the SH trains butt when it comes to the stations. HKG has staff with carts ready for your bags, and elevators to move you and your bags quickly and efficiently up and down.
With the SH system they totally forgot about baggage. You get to the elevated train via two sets of back to back escalators and there was no elevator in sight. I'm guessing that since there was no elevator that explains the lack of friendly staff with a cart to put your baggage on.
One interesting thing about the train though? Your bags have to be screened before you can take them up the escalators. They don't run you through an arch, but your bags go through a machine resembling a conventional airport X-ray screening device (you then still had to clear full airport security once you reached the airport.) I don't know what that was about.
The train had many staffers on it. Each cabin has its own female attendent and they have 3 male "porters" running up and down the train during it's 8 minute trip. I have no idea of the function of these people other than to look pretty as that's basically all they did the entire time (they certainly didn't help with baggage.)
If you are day tripping into SH for business with just your laptop in a briefcase this train is wonderful! The station is a 5 minute taxi ride into the heart of SH's financial and VC sector. It gives you back a solid 1.5 hours of time for meetings/lunch (figuring 45 minutes each way saved off a taxi ride).
If you are traveling with large bags it's platform design is a major pain in the butt.
But once you are in your seat and zipping down the track it is quite definitely one of those "I'm living the good life" moments as you watch all those taxi cabs making the run to the airport fall away behind you as if they are running full speed in reverse.
As a symbol of China's technological prowess (German assistance hidden carefully away) it is quite powerful and compelling.
As a symbol of China's need to make more progress in the ergonomics of baggage handling, it is equally powerful and compelling.:-)
All in all though, my Fiancee and I both thought we got our $110RMB's worth out of it as we got to spend an extra hour in Shanghai than we otherwise could have spent.
I am at the Bellevue Apple Store (in the dark shadow of the evil empire, hark there is a point of light). I was having the genius install the airport card and ram into the new 12" Powerbook and this man was here with a 10GB gen 1 iPod.
He was using it with a PC and just today it stopped working.
THe genius pretended like he was stumped, but I was technical enough to know he was pulling the wool out.
However, this genius though is replacing the man's iPod for him!
You see what I mean by the point of light? Guy is a PC user here in the heart of darkness and this guy is doing the right thing by him .:)
Of course Apple will read this posting and start a witch hunt for this genius but...
I say bravo, there are some good people left working for Apple.
AT&T thinks they have this capability today in the US with their GSM based GPRS service. But as I see it AT&T has two challenges with customers using something like a QT6 player on a Tungsten via Bluetooth to watch movies.
1. Their GPRS network has still never delivered even 57,600 bits per second to me.
2. At $0.01 per 1024 bytes a two hour movie delivered via their network would cost me around $500 if they were capable of delivering 57600bps!
It used to be that Bell Labs would announce something and I would take it at face value. But lately they've had some trouble with verification of claims. Does anyone know if there has been any outside verification of this work?
Slashdot Mirror
As has been proven time and time again, having a "man" in the loop doesn't keep your own people from getting killed.
The best way to not get killed by accident in a war zone is to stay home and make babies.
They would complain loudly that the goose must be ripping them off for the amount of food it took to produce each golden egg. They'd put the goose on a strict diet that would result in its inevitable death and explain to the goose that it was only fair since they'd taken the risk of continuing to feed it and you never knew when it would have dropped its last golden egg. And then when the death occurred they'd loudly proclaim that a developer of an evil P2P network had snuck in and poisoned the poor thing. They'd take the carcass and have it stuffed and mounted, then parade it around the country to demonstrate the evils of P2P file sharing. Eventually it would wind up decaying in a land fill somewhere after an employee of the limo company discarded it after finding it lying abandoned in the trunk of a rental limo.
Guangzhou indeed has a population of 10M but as big as that number sounds to American's, the majority of China's population 1B of 1.3B lives as peasants eking out a living in rural squalor with no cell phones and barely enough to eat.
To such people concepts like "democracy" are meaningless, concepts like more protein in their diets, education and medical care have meaning.
If you want to see why China keeps such a tight control on their population, just look a bit north to Russia. I'm sure the recent rapid descent of Russia into the open rank poisonous sewer of humanity it is now has been an ample shock rod to the gonads of the Chinese government.
I doubt many of those decrying Google et al realize that China just recently became self sufficient for feeding its own people. And by self sufficient, I don't mean to an American standard of diet. I mean just enough food so people don't die, not enough food for everyone to thrive and grow to their full genetic potential. The Chinese government has been rapidly, extremely rapidly, opening itself to a "Market Economy". But to continue that growth they MUST maintain stability. With out stability Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, et al will not establish themselves. And with out their help China's desperately over heated economic growth will collapse. And along with it every Chinese citizen's best hope at a future democracy.
China needs our help and we need China's cheap consumer goods to fill our modern version of "Bread and circuses". We are at present as two one legged individuals supporting each other as we hobble down the street together, each needing the other's support to stay upright.
RIght now the biggest obstacle to ebooks is the book publishers themselves, just like it was with music before Steve Jobs.
Some of the publishers are just as crazy as the music publishers with license terms like "You can't lend this, you can't re-sell it, if our DRM keeps your from reading it too bad boo hoo hoo!"
Right now eBook customers are for the most part treated as thieves out on parole with extreme conditions on their paroles.
Rather than take advantage of the new capabilities of the digital format to benefit customers: we can replace your ebooks when your computer dies or was soaked by Hurricane Katrina, But instead we get DRM that keeps you from loading it on your new computer, as they'd rather just sell you a new copy. As you get older your eyes get weaker, but rather than support changable font sizes for older readers they'd rather just turn that feature off. Rather than focus on customers needs they'd rather focus on things like "For years book buyers have been ripping off authors by lending or re-selling their books." now the authors (and publishers) can get theirs back for centuries of abuse at the hands of immoral book buyers!
For years publishers have been doing first runs as "Hardback editions" and charging 5 to 10 times as much for these editions. Readers were supposed to rationalize this as needing to pay for the extra expense of a hardback vs a soft book. So along come ebooks and they want to charge $15 to $20 for "first release" editions and folks like Gem Star would never reduce that "first release" price and would try to keep charging $15 to $20 for the ebook forever! Then their ebook division was killed and sent a chill over the industry even though they died for very good reasons that they did unto themselves.
Amazon the seller will sell an ebook for MORE than the paper back version!!! That always makes me NOT want to buy the ebook from them when I catch them doing that. So some times even the 3rd party ebook sellers are asinine. Once I asked Amazon how they could sell a downloadable ebook for more than a paperback they'd have to deliver for free (if I bought $25 worth), they never even bothered to write me back.
Blame the technology if you want, but publishers could solve technical issues as well if they weren't standing around pissing their pants in fear of how everyone whom has been ripping them off for centuries: "criminals" that lend books to friends, "criminals" that sell books rather than burn them after reading them, "RICO" organizations like libraries and Universities could really steal everything if they're stupid enough to release their catalogs as ebooks.
My other favorite are clueless publishers that can't decide what format to release ebooks in. So to figure out which format to use they take a trilogy and release book 1 only on MS Reader, book 2 only on Adobe, and book 3 only on Mobipocket. Absolutely clueless! That kind of thing really helps launch the ebook industry.
And of course, just like with audio, you have authors that get up on the ol' soap box and make public stands again ebooks: J.K. Rowling for example. She also says her books are about getting kids to read, yet while she won't release her books as ebooks, will release them as audio books (including to Steve).
The problem is a Steve Jobs to stand up to the publishers, stare them in the eye and tell them you can't treat your customers like criminals and you have to give customers the perception of a fair value for their hard earned dollars.
I'm hoping that when Sony brings the Librie to the US they will take their recent corporate revitalization about open formats and DRM and be the Steve Jobs of ebooks. Just please fix the AAA battery hungry nature of the Librie please? I know you all make AAA batteries but the Nano has proven you can put a rechargeable battery in a thin format, no need to get greedy eh?
If Bill will personally donate $5B USD cash to schools in China I'll buy two copies of WIndows Vista Full Tablet PC Super Duper Non-Upgrade Edition (or whatever they're calling it) at Full Retail. Any one else?
The real reason is very simple and easy to understand.
China has 1,000,000,000 peasants and 300,000,000 urban dwellers with about 20 years experience of not being peasants.
If China allowed dissenters to utilize high technology to whip up discontent in even 1% of that peasant population it would seriously destabilize the country.
The Chinese government is roundly criticized for growing their economy at 20% to 25% per year. But even if they manage to maintain that rate it will be decades before a large portion of those 1,000,000,000 peasants can have access to modern housing, enough electricity to run a light in the evening so their children can study and a higher protein diet that would still only have half the protein a poor American has in their diet.
If China lost control the way Russia did, the resulting civil chaos would result in more deaths than all the people that died in WWI and WWII combined.
And we are no longer the bright torch of freedom we once were. CALEA, PATRIOT I, PATRIOT II, DMCA, RICO, TSA (remember when you could move state to state on an airplane with no government issued travel documents? Well you can now in Russia, but not here) have taken our freedoms one acronym at at time. Systems like Carnivore and what-ever-the-hell-its-called-at-the-NSA snoop all our emails, phone calls and web surfing habits. Cities are installing 10,000's of cameras with facial recognition software and microphones with voice recognition systems to watch and monitor citizens every public move and utterance. The Chinese wish they had such technologies!
Some American's sit back and condemn China for human rights abuses and arrogantly extend a ruler to measure Chinese progress in reforms against. The reality is that China's constitution is in many ways more modern than our own, not surprising considering ours is over 200 years old and theirs isn't even 60. But the American constitution was implemented on a population that wouldn't even fill a small city in urban China.
To make progress on a population the size of China's at the rate demanded by some here in America would result in a Chinese government that those very same people would then accuse (justly) of genocide due to all the peasant's they'd have to kill to achieve the rapid social change to generations of folks that were raised and indoctrinated as peasants.
If you want to help China become a bastion of freedom the path doesn't run down blasting them for blocking Skype calls. What they need are schools, textbooks, teachers and money to operate the schools and pay the teachers. Helping them to better educate their children will help them build their freedom. And while you are at it, don't forget money for food so the families could still feed themselves while their children were in school instead of helping raise food to feed themselves.
Your average American can not picture what a difference this would make, now, give us a few more decades to destroy our public education system and we'll have a better idea...
However, in America the norm is for a child to have access to schools, books, teachers, at least one nutritious hot meal a day and no need to miss school in order to help grow food. In China the norm is no school, no textbooks, no teachers, no guarantee of a nutritious hot meal every day for their children, and a desperate need to help grow food.
Even your average Chinese citizen can't grasp how large the challenge is for their government. Last year I was in China and heard one of their urban citizens grumble about the waste of their government spending $500,000,000 USD on hosting the 2008 Olympics. I asked that person "Do you realize that even if your government took every dollar of that Olympic money and used it to buy text books they couldn't even buy every school child in China one text book?"
The only person in the world that could help China meet the ruler of progress held up for them is Bill Gates. But even if he woke up one morning and decided he was going to cash in all hi
My Chinese fiancee told me a joke one time (I never knew China was so varied in its population that they told jokes about various parts of it, in this case the Cantonese...)
Q: Why are there still Great Pandas in China?
A: They taste so bad even a Cantonese won't eat them.
So I present...
Q: Why did the Neanderthal die out after co-existing with homo sapiens for a thousand years?
A: Roasted Neanderthal tastes good!
I present as backing present day evidence the reports from Africa about "bush meat" a.k.a. Monkey and Gorilla roasted over an open fire. In my opinion the African's are making excellent progress at a modern day recreation of the death of the Neanderthals.
No need to invoke God or intelligent design, just simple every day human nature can explain it.
It has been my observation that the HDD based HFS+ formatted iPod's I've owned, which I spend more time with than iTunes, seem to employ a Brownian Motion to their random/shuffle play.
:-)
Few digital devices have a true white random number generator.
The best they can generally achieve is a sequence that when observed for a certain period of time will average out to being white.
In my case I generally only ever listen to the first 150 steps along the "random" sequence that the iPod constructs for me each morning when I get to the office. I submit that this observation period is too short to average out to white.
Further, I submit that the sequence generated is very Brownian in the way it selects the next tune to play. My theory is that Apple does this to boost battery life as picking closer neighbors in the sequence reduces energy consumption and heat build up in the iPod's HDD.
I've also submit that the sequence is based in part on the structure of the HFS+ file system. If I add more music to my iPod I've noticed the tunes being selected for the first 150 slots gets re-shuffled. A handy feature for the iTMS.
Your business will only go bankrupt if you are unethical and allow your business to operate at a loss.
My Grandfather was set for life with a very respectable steady job: manager of the local ice house. Then one day along came refrigerators.
If you have the common sense God gave a horse you'll close the business and move on. If you are slightly less ethical you'll sell the business to someone, possibly a family member and see how much common sense they have.
If you are assaulting your customers in the manner you relate in your posting, you need to close your business before one of them has you prosecuted and thrown in jail.
It sounds like to me they should use this stuff to wrap the foam insulation onto the space shuttle external tank so it won't fall off. Then they can think about using it for space elevators.
I agree, I try their search tool at www.ibm.com every so often and I still to this day have to use Google to find anything on their web site. My money is on them donating it to FOSS so someone can fix it for them.
Patents are intended to help the public by creating an environment in which those who develop ideas can recover money from their inventions thus there is an economic incentive to those inventors to develop new inventions. In this case DLO clearly spent $5K (if that much) on molds for their design and they clearly feel the PodBuddy would out class their product. If I was their attorney I'd advise them to license the patent and use the money from the PodBuddy license fees to develop new products, and be able to spend maybe $20K on their next design off the backs of the PodBuddy sales.
So does this prove we should replace ICANN with the UN in order to halt progress in the Internet's development?
Or does it prove that if we replace ICANN with the UN that I need to go polish up on writing UN grant proposals?
I wonder if we have any more Al Gore "I invented the Internet" brand pork still waiting to be served up?
So far I haven't been able to "convert" to FireFox because I can't buy .lit files using FireFox. I even ponied up my $$$ to get the support folks to help me out and they gave up.
As sad as Microsoft Reader is, it truly re-flows text when I pick a large font unlike Adobe's piece of crap.
You all are missing the point! Microsoft is not delaying patches to everyone else for a month so they can kiss the DoD's huge ass to prevent future Justice Department action against them for their crappy security. Microsoft has to test their patches, often for months, before releasing them. What they are doing is releasing patches to the DoD before they have finished testing them. The sad part is the DoD will think Microsoft is kissing their huge ass but in reality Microsoft is getting a US Government subsidy to assist them in testing their security patches. I don't have much problem with my tax money being used to shoot Iraq's begging to be killed. But I'm damned if I'm happy to have my tax money being used to subsidize Microsoft! They're already rolling in cash! Let them spend MORE OF IT on testing their code.
I will happily PayPal $1 per episode to download HDTV LOL XVID of Battlestar, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis. Which is far more than DirectTV is giving them on my behalf right now.
Please note that's download, not stream you ignorant broadcasters! And content in a real format, not Real format. Real is a bigger sell out than even Microsoft when it comes to hurting the consumer in order to brown nose the MPAA/RIAA.
And why PayPal? Because I wouldn't trust any broadcaster with my credit card. They're technical idiots and would be handing all my info out to any 13 year old script kiddie.
As it stands, this is just one more sad pitiful example of how broadcasters really really really just don't get it!
If they keep blowing it like this, when the revolution comes, Sci Fi is going to be standing there with their back against the wall along with NBC et al. I really don't think the current broadcasters know how to adapt, even to save their corporate existence.
Here's the real scoop on the whole IonXR technology.
You will notice that there is no patent claim made on the revolutionary IonXR technology.
Thats because they are still working on the tedious patent paper work but needed money to continue funding further research. So they've chosen to release the product with a hocus-pocus explanation of "IonXR technology".
The real technology behind this product is easily determined through analysis of the electromagnetic field generated around the sticker while the phone is drawing current to/from the battery.
The IonXR lie is, like all good lies, based partly in fact. The actual technology does indeed work through manipulation of the inherent electromagnetic field produced by any battery as current is drawn to/from the battery.
But as others have pointed out, manipulation of this inherent electromagnetic field to produce changes in the crystalline structures that form in the separator is obviously rubbish to anyone that understands the energy levels involved in such manipulations of a crystallization process!
The sticker is actually far closer in actual operational theory to the cell phone antenna stickers that boost cellular reception. Again the IonXR claims draw upon truth, but unlike the antenna stickers, the BatMax technology utilizes the latest nanotechnology theories to exploit naturally occurring nano-sized particles (which are cleverly employed to keep costs for this incredible product low enough for your average cell phone user in the developed world to be able to purchase it) to subtly influence the electromagnetic environment inside the battery as it is charged or discharged.
Simply put these subtle influences cause the battery to produce an electromagnetic field with the correct harmonic nuances to tap into zero point energy. By tapping into zero point energy the sticker extends the apparent capacity of the battery and reduces the time required to charge it as well! Very clever that last part I think!
How do I know all this?
They were unable to stably produce the needed electromagnetic field with their prototype stickers. I was at a local Tully's drinking a steamed rice milk with double shot vanilla when I first encountered the primary designers.
They had been (and are still continuing their research into) developing the stickers to extend the range of their Segways. When the stickers worked they would be able to get from their offices to the Tully's and back again (a truly astounding accomplishment considered the reduced range of a Segway after its battery pack begins the natural aging process) but when the stickers didn't work, as they hadn't that day, they needed to recharge at the Tully's before returning to their office.
As they waited for their Segways to recharge they discussed what might have changed to prevent their stickers from working this time. This allowed me to analyze the basic operational nature of their stickers along with them and realize where their stickers were most likely failing them.
I introduced myself, presented my business card and proposed a "back of the napkin deal" to help them out. At first they were very nervous and distraught over their carelessness at discussing the fundamental operational details where a fellow Tully's patron could overhear them. They obviously wanted to hurry off but alas their Segways were still not ready.
The problem was so obvious, but they were unable to see it. In order to affect the subtle magnetic manipulations required to achieve the harmonic needed to tap into zero point energy you must have a very stable physical structure to properly align the nano-sized particles. When I first met them they were using a simple cellulose and aluminum foil structure to support the nano-sized particles in the proper structure.
I pointed out to them that the electromagnetic field from the battery wasn't just being manipulated by the sticker, but was in itself affecting the sticker itself! Yes, the electromagnetic fi
Everyone is all crazy crazy for Firefox but there are a few practical limitations on Firefox. The most annoying to me is that I can't download from my digital locker at Amazon when I buy secure ebooks in LIT format. You still have to use IE to handle that. Even the new $5 a hit support folks gave up and gave me my $5 back. Maybe Amazon could lean on Microsoft but I don't know to talk to there. Maybe these new books can give clues.
The capslock key is used by some non-English input methods to switch back and forth between English entry and the other language. I found out about this when I kept noticing that my fiancee left the caps lock key on for me when I would use her laptop. In Traditional Chinese entry mode the caps lock being on puts you back into English entry mode. So I very much doubt, since the Chinese make um what 99.99% of all keyboards, that they will be removing the capslock key. :-)
Yes, it's the new "Just say No!" campaign brought to you by the President. Only this time rather than being asked to say no to drugs to protect ourselves, we are being asked to say no to being around the president to protect ourselves.
GWB chose not to attend his daughters graduations due to the extensive security protocols required to be anywhere near the President. He didn't want to distract from the event.
More than one government has fallen when the leaders of the government no longer felt safe to be amongst those it ruled. The isolation of those ruling from those being ruled inevitably lead to the fall of the governments.
And as tighter security systems for cars inevitably lead us from coming back to find our unsecured car missing to coming back to our secure cars and being killed for them after we turned off the security systems to use them. The more we secure the president the more likely it is that larger numbers will die when someone decides they want him badly enough to escalate violence to the levels required by those security systems to kill him.
Our form of government abhors prior restraint. The more it violates this concept to protect one man the more the enemies of our government make our government over into their image of our government.
My Fiancee and I rode the MagLev Jan 3, 2004 from our Executive Suite at the St. Regis Shanghai to the Airport (confirming one opinion I read here on whom would be using it.)
We paid $55 RMB each for an 8 minute ride that no taxi, including a SH taxi was going to come even close to matching in speed or comfort.
Yes, at 430Kph it is wobbly but not any more wobbly than the new HKG airport train at it's top speed. And considering the difference in top speeds I'm highly impressed with the stability of the SH train.
As with the HKG train, baggage space is a joke. Whom ever designed both these train systems clearly didn't think about the fact that they were going to and from airports (or Chinese air travelers must travel with just the clothes on their backs.)
The HKG train though kicks the SH trains butt when it comes to the stations. HKG has staff with carts ready for your bags, and elevators to move you and your bags quickly and efficiently up and down.
With the SH system they totally forgot about baggage. You get to the elevated train via two sets of back to back escalators and there was no elevator in sight. I'm guessing that since there was no elevator that explains the lack of friendly staff with a cart to put your baggage on.
One interesting thing about the train though? Your bags have to be screened before you can take them up the escalators. They don't run you through an arch, but your bags go through a machine resembling a conventional airport X-ray screening device (you then still had to clear full airport security once you reached the airport.) I don't know what that was about.
The train had many staffers on it. Each cabin has its own female attendent and they have 3 male "porters" running up and down the train during it's 8 minute trip. I have no idea of the function of these people other than to look pretty as that's basically all they did the entire time (they certainly didn't help with baggage.)
If you are day tripping into SH for business with just your laptop in a briefcase this train is wonderful! The station is a 5 minute taxi ride into the heart of SH's financial and VC sector. It gives you back a solid 1.5 hours of time for meetings/lunch (figuring 45 minutes each way saved off a taxi ride).
If you are traveling with large bags it's platform design is a major pain in the butt.
But once you are in your seat and zipping down the track it is quite definitely one of those "I'm living the good life" moments as you watch all those taxi cabs making the run to the airport fall away behind you as if they are running full speed in reverse.
As a symbol of China's technological prowess (German assistance hidden carefully away) it is quite powerful and compelling.
As a symbol of China's need to make more progress in the ergonomics of baggage handling, it is equally powerful and compelling. :-)
All in all though, my Fiancee and I both thought we got our $110RMB's worth out of it as we got to spend an extra hour in Shanghai than we otherwise could have spent.
Scotty
I am at the Bellevue Apple Store (in the dark shadow of the evil empire, hark there is a point of light). I was having the genius install the airport card and ram into the new 12" Powerbook and this man was here with a 10GB gen 1 iPod. He was using it with a PC and just today it stopped working. THe genius pretended like he was stumped, but I was technical enough to know he was pulling the wool out. However, this genius though is replacing the man's iPod for him! You see what I mean by the point of light? Guy is a PC user here in the heart of darkness and this guy is doing the right thing by him . :)
Of course Apple will read this posting and start a witch hunt for this genius but...
I say bravo, there are some good people left working for Apple.
AT&T thinks they have this capability today in the US with their GSM based GPRS service. But as I see it AT&T has two challenges with customers using something like a QT6 player on a Tungsten via Bluetooth to watch movies. 1. Their GPRS network has still never delivered even 57,600 bits per second to me. 2. At $0.01 per 1024 bytes a two hour movie delivered via their network would cost me around $500 if they were capable of delivering 57600bps!
It used to be that Bell Labs would announce something and I would take it at face value. But lately they've had some trouble with verification of claims. Does anyone know if there has been any outside verification of this work?