One of the reasons that BB's are so popular with the corporate crowd - despite lacking some of the "nifty" features of other phones - is that they're really good on security. BES allows the corp to do a lot of things to a lost/stolen/etc phone. The data on the handset is supposed to be encrypted, and can easily be reset or wiped. Most apps have varying levels of security that *ASK* the first time (to access the internet, or whatever) whether they should be allowed a one-time or consistent access to various permissions.
I don't see why Android couldn't use a similar model, as it does this for "root" (su) access when it's unlocked. Just keep a small DB listing what apps are allowed to access what features. The problem with the current coarse controls is that they don't really say what access is needed for. Sure, a VOIP app might need your phonebook for making calls, and internet access to do so. How about a game needing internet access to update high-scores (just deny that part if you don't trust the app not to send important data home), or the almighty "can change data on the storage card" access...
It seems odd to claim that somebody who wants to essentially *share* the credit is acting in an egotistical manner. Some people have different values, and perhaps it was a point of principles for him to have Miller have fame for his own work. Just like the concept of "activist judges" that's come up a few times when a judge makes an unpopular decision, sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong, and sometimes it's the right thing for the wrong reason (or vice-versa).
Well, actually first they tried sending the Spanish Inquisition, for surely nobody would expect that! However, the inquisition got bogged down in a dialogue about their diverse weaponry and fancy red uniforms... so Telecinco decided to take it to the courts instead.
Since pretty much *anyone* can send a fax and claim it was from somebody else, then the first step would, in fact, likely be to confirm that the information is actually coming from the claimed source...
I could send a fax right now with the return # of Obama's press agent and claim that I'm implementing a new 15% sales tax to fund healthcare, and the press would be *fools* if they didn't at least check with the real press agent (or whatever the equivalent position is actually called)
1. Why isn't something this widely useful (publish/subscribe messaging) a protocol - logically, an SMTP extension - rather than a proprietary web application?
Probably because nobody has made one, or at least not one that was as easily adoptable.
2. Why does it have to be limited to 140 characters? People who want publish/subscribe also want to send arbitrary files to all their friends, not just tiny snippets which can't even store a Web-standard URL. Since most people on mobile devices now use data services, there seems to be no reason to hamstring serious computer users just to keep up compatibility with a broken historical text-messaging limit.
It appears to be the standard limit for the size of a text-message... (http://www.140characters.com/2008/11/13/hello-world/)
How about it the camera senses no motion for awhile, it blanks the screen, but on motion it unblanks. That could be useful for a screen that "un-sleeps" when you come back into the room,etc, rather than waiting on a screensaver timer.
Just out of curiosity, what did you find so terrible about X? X-2 was obviously a POS, but I know a number of people (myself included) who rather liked X, and found of all the FF's that it was one of the better ones for introducing newbies to the concept of RPG's
I can think of a lot of good Japanese studios which consistently make quality games, Namco, Square-Enix, Nintendo, Sony, etc.
---
Square-Enix? You haven't played some of the more recent Final Fantasy titles - their flagship series - then, I take it? FFXIII is pretty lame in terms of dialog and the story progression is often just sad. FFXII was promising but the ending gave it a cut-off-at-the-knees feeling. FFX-2 was just disgusting, and more like a sailor-moon fanboy game than anything. I can't comment on the MMORPG's as I haven't played them.
Things have gone fairly downhill since the FF heydays, and there's nothing that quite matched up to previous titles. Titles like "Lost Odyssey" from other companies still have a strong feel of quality about them (and I believe that LO involved some of the old Square team), but Sony/Square seems to be fading fast. I just wish I knew other titles that were worth playing, as it used to be that a new Square RPG was worth waiting for, but it's hard to know what's good these days.
a) wanna see a movie b) when? a) 7pm b) which one? a) moviename b) theatre? a) downtown multiplex b) ok if I bring bobby? a) sure b) OK, cya later a) cya
Count=6 each. I don't do near 50 messages in a day, but a lot of the ones I have are just to the effect of "lunch" or "ok" or "I'm in", etc
Even if traffic fines were a serious source of income, as in not just meeting the costs of police but deliviring more! then who cares? What do I care for a tax for assholes. Don't be an asshole and you are not taxed.
Except that when something becomes a source of revenue, then the standards for the actual "offence" often start sneaking lower. I'm Canadian - so I'll use KM's for reference - and we have similar issues with limits here, perhaps even moreso in my province as the laws just got "revised" again.
Limit starts out at 100 (110km=90 miles). Revenue is low, so the limit gets lowered to 90. Then to 80. This is a complain I often hear about from south of the border. I don't see that as much here, but what I *do* see is construction zones everywhere (where fines are double), with crazy limits. 100, then 80, then 100, then 70, then 90, etc, etc. I can live with that as I tend to know the zones by now, but it tends to cause a lot of snarl-ups and confusion when the limits change every 5 minutes or less for large stretches of highway (in areas where the "construction" hasn't yet started or is finished).
What I worry about most is the broad powers of digression in handing out tickets. The "legal limit" has dropped down to near about 1 beer (depending on your BMI). If you squeal your tires, that might be considered "stunting." And the scariest part is in passing.
If you're passing and the "other guy" blocks your pass, you may end up with a "street racing" charge for accelerating to complete the pass. This is the scariest one to me, as there are plenty of your "assholes" here that happily go 20 under until they hit the passing area, then speed up and block passing. Worse, you often get the variety who see somebody engaging in a pass, and speed up when the passer is trying to get by in the oncoming lane. Now in addition to having your heart hammering as you just slip in before an incoming car comes up, you can get nailed with a ticket for street-racing and have your car impounded...
Cannot is pretty much impossible without royally impeding one's ability to do one's job. I can read anyone's email where I work, even the big bosses. In fact, this has been the situation anywhere I've worked. I don't because I: a) Have morals/integrity b) Don't feel like being shitcanned and being locked out of my job market c) Have better things to do with my time
But, even in systems where the password is encrypted (ours our), the emails/chats are encrypted (ours are), etc, it's not hard. Almost any password system will have a reset-by-admin function. So the original password hash gets dumped somewhere safe, the password is changed (and the rogue admin can take the role of the user, doing whatever). When done, the password is reset. Of course, in a more secure system there may not be direct access to the password hash (and thus it can't be reset), but the excuse of "oops, the system messed up and the account logins were messed, don't worry I'll reset your account/password" would probably get one past that.
Maybe a two-factor system where two admin ID's are needed for significant account changes might work, but then again a little shoulder-surfing would work. Logging works up to the point where the admin may be able to alter the logs (or use another's ID, create a dummy account, whatever).
I guess the big point is that a company should be able to trust its admins. An admin violating that trust without a very, very good reason *deserves* to be fired.
Or you could just restrict it to devices that are approved. A list of approved devices, and an allowance for "other devices intended for the purpose of translation, as pre-approved by the professor/institution"
A dictionary device doesn't seem unreasonable (unless it's an English exam or something of the like that tests vocabulary). An iPod or other like device, not quite so reasonable. This seems much like the "no pets allowed, trained service animals OK" type rules. Having somebody's yappy dog in a food court is a lot different from a trained animal *needed* by a person with a special disability.
Do you use maps, etc? I use a few hundred MB on my phone each month, and I don't do anything silly like downloading music/video or even tether my phone. 1GB for a year sounds fairly low, but being able to roll-over data sounds quite nice as at that point it'll last a few months.
Uh, and where exactly are the local cellular retailers? For anyone who ever guys outside of their home-town... the options are pretty much all on a national level.
I live in a small city, and one thing that doesn't often factor into the story is that - for a long time - local retailers made big bucks fleecing the local populace, often at quality not much better (if at all better) than Walmart. Lack of options means that a certain portion of the populace is at your mercy.
That's not to say that I haven't seen *GOOD* businesses get flushed as well, but there were plenty that were happy to pay their employees minimum dime, charge exorbitant prices (even with low costs), and generally do everything Walmart is reviled for. The good thing about Walmart is that it creates other options, the *bad* thing is that it eliminates them. Choice is always a good thing.
Walmart wants money. Money comes from (within a certain margin) sales. Most consumers want cheap, though many of the rest of us think on quality and some on moral grounds. More consumers = more more.
I doubt I'd buy a Walmart phone, but I would absolutely relish watching the downward forces on other greedy telcos to give the customer a better rate and stop screwing us for each penny. That being said, what I *wouldn't* like is if hits the point where quality suffers, but that's a consistently dropped call is a bit more visible than an easily-worn piece of clothing, hardware, etc.
Now only that, but if somebody got cancer or some other illness at a younger age due to a genetic predisposition, then in the "olden days" it was more likely that person would have died.
In modern times, medicine may be able to cure you of your malady, but then you're able to pass the genetics onto your offspring. Maybe one of the reason we're seeing more of various conditions is that people *aren't* dying from them (or at least not until a more advanced age).
Except that, unless they can make water-sealable battery compartments (maybe like a watch that's good to 50m), then we'll end up with devices that are all like iPods/iPads. One of the reasons I *hated* my iPhone was that I couldn't swap the battery. When the existing battery starts to suck, you have to pay up to replace it. It also negates the possibility of having a backup-battery kicking around in your bag etc.
I wonder what it costs to sell a game with steamworks. It says there are no licensing/bandwidth/etc fees, but I'm assuming there's *some* charges involved. However, steam would likely result in added sales, and get past the nastiness of dealing with paypal.
They also seem to scam a bit on the conversion fees/rates. For example, as a Canadian buying from a non-CA seller (or sometimes even from one), the price is listed in USD. On the eBay.ca site, it also lists that price converted to CAD.
However, the CAD price is *ALWAYS* higher when you go to paypal and it does the actual conversion.
Still, despite the bad rep that the profession often has, there are many lawyers out there who are truly decent people and are willing to offer advice for a reasonable fee. I've dealt with some who are pretty reasonable, and the fee is probably as useful at dissuading the "oh, you're a lawyer, can I ask you about..." types as it would be with the "oh, you work with computers, my home computer has been..." types:-)
I agree that a consultation is likely worth it... I'd just caution against the "both guns blazing" approach that some people recommend when it comes to an actual lawsuit, those cam get nasty - and expensive - quite quick.
Geeze man. Lawyers are expensive. Maybe the answer is "too poor" rather than "too cheap", especially depending on the circumstances. I make a decent wage and a long court case would stretch my budget, I'd imagine that if the author of TFA is working at Best Buy or somewhere similar then a lawyer would be similarly expensive.
Winning one's job back isn't much of a victory if it costs more than a year's wage was worth... unless he makes big bucks suing the company or domain registrants (and it's more likely he'll just bleed cash whilst the company strings out the lawsuit).
I can see a few things that would be an advantage. - One you've already mentioned, that this would hopefully constitute a "global standard" so that any device that wants to charge wireless would have to support it, and to heck with the Apple/Sony/Samsung type companies that seem to want to use their own proprietary connector
- Being universal-like, these could be incorporated into all sorts of different places or items. I could have a pad on my desk at work that I drop either my personal or work phone, mp3 player, whatever for charging. They could have them in hotels, or as a little slot in cars (as long as it's wide enough for the phone, it doesn't have to consider other things like the location of the damn jack on the phone, etc). Wouldn't it be nice just to drop your stuff on the nightstand at the hotel and it *works*?
- No more damaged connectors. I know a lot of people who have had the connector(s) on their phone/device wear out, cords break, etc. The newer micro-USB or WTF it's called seems especially fragile, and I cringe when plugging in cords for those.
- A "dock" could become rather universal. Wireless charging, and bluetooth for data synchronization, or media streaming (especially BT3.x, which I believe does video as well as the BT2.x AD2P audio).
- Charging in-case. I've seen a variety of nice cases I'd like to use for my phone, however most wouldn't allow it to charge in the dock because they've a bit bulky, and it's a PITA to remove it constantly and wears out the case faster. Induction/wireless charging = no problem there as long as it can penetrate the case.
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One of the reasons that BB's are so popular with the corporate crowd - despite lacking some of the "nifty" features of other phones - is that they're really good on security. BES allows the corp to do a lot of things to a lost/stolen/etc phone. The data on the handset is supposed to be encrypted, and can easily be reset or wiped. Most apps have varying levels of security that *ASK* the first time (to access the internet, or whatever) whether they should be allowed a one-time or consistent access to various permissions.
I don't see why Android couldn't use a similar model, as it does this for "root" (su) access when it's unlocked. Just keep a small DB listing what apps are allowed to access what features. The problem with the current coarse controls is that they don't really say what access is needed for. Sure, a VOIP app might need your phonebook for making calls, and internet access to do so. How about a game needing internet access to update high-scores (just deny that part if you don't trust the app not to send important data home), or the almighty "can change data on the storage card" access...
It seems odd to claim that somebody who wants to essentially *share* the credit is acting in an egotistical manner. Some people have different values, and perhaps it was a point of principles for him to have Miller have fame for his own work. Just like the concept of "activist judges" that's come up a few times when a judge makes an unpopular decision, sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong, and sometimes it's the right thing for the wrong reason (or vice-versa).
I know somebody it's happened to. The hard part is getting the money for the lawyer and enough proof that it's police harassment, but it can be done.
Well, actually first they tried sending the Spanish Inquisition, for surely nobody would expect that!
However, the inquisition got bogged down in a dialogue about their diverse weaponry and fancy red uniforms... so Telecinco decided to take it to the courts instead.
Since pretty much *anyone* can send a fax and claim it was from somebody else, then the first step would, in fact, likely be to confirm that the information is actually coming from the claimed source ...
I could send a fax right now with the return # of Obama's press agent and claim that I'm implementing a new 15% sales tax to fund healthcare, and the press would be *fools* if they didn't at least check with the real press agent (or whatever the equivalent position is actually called)
1. Why isn't something this widely useful (publish/subscribe messaging) a protocol - logically, an SMTP extension - rather than a proprietary web application?
Probably because nobody has made one, or at least not one that was as easily adoptable.
2. Why does it have to be limited to 140 characters? People who want publish/subscribe also want to send arbitrary files to all their friends, not just tiny snippets which can't even store a Web-standard URL. Since most people on mobile devices now use data services, there seems to be no reason to hamstring serious computer users just to keep up compatibility with a broken historical text-messaging limit.
It appears to be the standard limit for the size of a text-message... (http://www.140characters.com/2008/11/13/hello-world/)
How about it the camera senses no motion for awhile, it blanks the screen, but on motion it unblanks.
That could be useful for a screen that "un-sleeps" when you come back into the room,etc, rather than waiting on a screensaver timer.
Perhaps we need a "timing" section on the website? I tend to be more interested in low-power machines.
---
1.5Ghz single-core C7 CPU (while some other stuff is running)
time ./c2enc ../raw/hts1a.raw hts1a_c2.bit
real 0m0.566s
user 0m0.560s
sys 0m0.004s
time ./c2dec hts1a_c2.bit hts1a_c2.raw
real 0m0.495s
user 0m0.328s
sys 0m0.004s
---
And here's an Acer Apsire with an ATOM N450 (1.66Ghz single-core CPU, 512MB Cache, some other stuff is running)
time ./c2enc ../raw/hts1a.raw hts1a_c2.bit
real 0m0.451s
user 0m0.420s
sys 0m0.004s
time ./c2dec hts1a_c2.bit hts1a_c2.raw
real 0m0.251s
user 0m0.244s
sys 0m0.004s
Just out of curiosity, what did you find so terrible about X? X-2 was obviously a POS, but I know a number of people (myself included) who rather liked X, and found of all the FF's that it was one of the better ones for introducing newbies to the concept of RPG's
I can think of a lot of good Japanese studios which consistently make quality games, Namco, Square-Enix, Nintendo, Sony, etc.
---
Square-Enix? You haven't played some of the more recent Final Fantasy titles - their flagship series - then, I take it? FFXIII is pretty lame in terms of dialog and the story progression is often just sad. FFXII was promising but the ending gave it a cut-off-at-the-knees feeling. FFX-2 was just disgusting, and more like a sailor-moon fanboy game than anything. I can't comment on the MMORPG's as I haven't played them.
Things have gone fairly downhill since the FF heydays, and there's nothing that quite matched up to previous titles. Titles like "Lost Odyssey" from other companies still have a strong feel of quality about them (and I believe that LO involved some of the old Square team), but Sony/Square seems to be fading fast. I just wish I knew other titles that were worth playing, as it used to be that a new Square RPG was worth waiting for, but it's hard to know what's good these days.
a) wanna see a movie
b) when?
a) 7pm
b) which one?
a) moviename
b) theatre?
a) downtown multiplex
b) ok if I bring bobby?
a) sure
b) OK, cya later
a) cya
Count=6 each. I don't do near 50 messages in a day, but a lot of the ones I have are just to the effect of "lunch" or "ok" or "I'm in", etc
So how long until there's a virus that disables the cores on your "unlocked" CPU's?
Even if traffic fines were a serious source of income, as in not just meeting the costs of police but deliviring more! then who cares? What do I care for a tax for assholes. Don't be an asshole and you are not taxed.
Except that when something becomes a source of revenue, then the standards for the actual "offence" often start sneaking lower. I'm Canadian - so I'll use KM's for reference - and we have similar issues with limits here, perhaps even moreso in my province as the laws just got "revised" again.
Limit starts out at 100 (110km=90 miles). Revenue is low, so the limit gets lowered to 90. Then to 80. This is a complain I often hear about from south of the border. I don't see that as much here, but what I *do* see is construction zones everywhere (where fines are double), with crazy limits. 100, then 80, then 100, then 70, then 90, etc, etc. I can live with that as I tend to know the zones by now, but it tends to cause a lot of snarl-ups and confusion when the limits change every 5 minutes or less for large stretches of highway (in areas where the "construction" hasn't yet started or is finished).
What I worry about most is the broad powers of digression in handing out tickets. The "legal limit" has dropped down to near about 1 beer (depending on your BMI). If you squeal your tires, that might be considered "stunting." And the scariest part is in passing.
If you're passing and the "other guy" blocks your pass, you may end up with a "street racing" charge for accelerating to complete the pass. This is the scariest one to me, as there are plenty of your "assholes" here that happily go 20 under until they hit the passing area, then speed up and block passing. Worse, you often get the variety who see somebody engaging in a pass, and speed up when the passer is trying to get by in the oncoming lane. Now in addition to having your heart hammering as you just slip in before an incoming car comes up, you can get nailed with a ticket for street-racing and have your car impounded...
Cannot is pretty much impossible without royally impeding one's ability to do one's job. I can read anyone's email where I work, even the big bosses. In fact, this has been the situation anywhere I've worked. I don't because I:
a) Have morals/integrity
b) Don't feel like being shitcanned and being locked out of my job market
c) Have better things to do with my time
But, even in systems where the password is encrypted (ours our), the emails/chats are encrypted (ours are), etc, it's not hard. Almost any password system will have a reset-by-admin function. So the original password hash gets dumped somewhere safe, the password is changed (and the rogue admin can take the role of the user, doing whatever). When done, the password is reset. Of course, in a more secure system there may not be direct access to the password hash (and thus it can't be reset), but the excuse of "oops, the system messed up and the account logins were messed, don't worry I'll reset your account/password" would probably get one past that.
Maybe a two-factor system where two admin ID's are needed for significant account changes might work, but then again a little shoulder-surfing would work. Logging works up to the point where the admin may be able to alter the logs (or use another's ID, create a dummy account, whatever).
I guess the big point is that a company should be able to trust its admins. An admin violating that trust without a very, very good reason *deserves* to be fired.
Or you could just restrict it to devices that are approved. A list of approved devices, and an allowance for "other devices intended for the purpose of translation, as pre-approved by the professor/institution"
A dictionary device doesn't seem unreasonable (unless it's an English exam or something of the like that tests vocabulary). An iPod or other like device, not quite so reasonable. This seems much like the "no pets allowed, trained service animals OK" type rules. Having somebody's yappy dog in a food court is a lot different from a trained animal *needed* by a person with a special disability.
Do you use maps, etc? I use a few hundred MB on my phone each month, and I don't do anything silly like downloading music/video or even tether my phone. 1GB for a year sounds fairly low, but being able to roll-over data sounds quite nice as at that point it'll last a few months.
Uh, and where exactly are the local cellular retailers? For anyone who ever guys outside of their home-town... the options are pretty much all on a national level.
I live in a small city, and one thing that doesn't often factor into the story is that - for a long time - local retailers made big bucks fleecing the local populace, often at quality not much better (if at all better) than Walmart. Lack of options means that a certain portion of the populace is at your mercy.
That's not to say that I haven't seen *GOOD* businesses get flushed as well, but there were plenty that were happy to pay their employees minimum dime, charge exorbitant prices (even with low costs), and generally do everything Walmart is reviled for. The good thing about Walmart is that it creates other options, the *bad* thing is that it eliminates them. Choice is always a good thing.
Walmart wants money. Money comes from (within a certain margin) sales. Most consumers want cheap, though many of the rest of us think on quality and some on moral grounds.
More consumers = more more.
I doubt I'd buy a Walmart phone, but I would absolutely relish watching the downward forces on other greedy telcos to give the customer a better rate and stop screwing us for each penny. That being said, what I *wouldn't* like is if hits the point where quality suffers, but that's a consistently dropped call is a bit more visible than an easily-worn piece of clothing, hardware, etc.
Now only that, but if somebody got cancer or some other illness at a younger age due to a genetic predisposition, then in the "olden days" it was more likely that person would have died.
In modern times, medicine may be able to cure you of your malady, but then you're able to pass the genetics onto your offspring. Maybe one of the reason we're seeing more of various conditions is that people *aren't* dying from them (or at least not until a more advanced age).
Except that, unless they can make water-sealable battery compartments (maybe like a watch that's good to 50m), then we'll end up with devices that are all like iPods/iPads. One of the reasons I *hated* my iPhone was that I couldn't swap the battery. When the existing battery starts to suck, you have to pay up to replace it. It also negates the possibility of having a backup-battery kicking around in your bag etc.
I wonder what it costs to sell a game with steamworks. It says there are no licensing/bandwidth/etc fees, but I'm assuming there's *some* charges involved. However, steam would likely result in added sales, and get past the nastiness of dealing with paypal.
They also seem to scam a bit on the conversion fees/rates.
For example, as a Canadian buying from a non-CA seller (or sometimes even from one), the price is listed in USD. On the eBay.ca site, it also lists that price converted to CAD.
However, the CAD price is *ALWAYS* higher when you go to paypal and it does the actual conversion.
Still, despite the bad rep that the profession often has, there are many lawyers out there who are truly decent people and are willing to offer advice for a reasonable fee. I've dealt with some who are pretty reasonable, and the fee is probably as useful at dissuading the "oh, you're a lawyer, can I ask you about ..." types as it would be with the "oh, you work with computers, my home computer has been ..." types :-)
I agree that a consultation is likely worth it... I'd just caution against the "both guns blazing" approach that some people recommend when it comes to an actual lawsuit, those cam get nasty - and expensive - quite quick.
Geeze man. Lawyers are expensive. Maybe the answer is "too poor" rather than "too cheap", especially depending on the circumstances.
I make a decent wage and a long court case would stretch my budget, I'd imagine that if the author of TFA is working at Best Buy or somewhere similar then a lawyer would be similarly expensive.
Winning one's job back isn't much of a victory if it costs more than a year's wage was worth... unless he makes big bucks suing the company or domain registrants (and it's more likely he'll just bleed cash whilst the company strings out the lawsuit).
I can see a few things that would be an advantage.
- One you've already mentioned, that this would hopefully constitute a "global standard" so that any device that wants to charge wireless would have to support it, and to heck with the Apple/Sony/Samsung type companies that seem to want to use their own proprietary connector
- Being universal-like, these could be incorporated into all sorts of different places or items. I could have a pad on my desk at work that I drop either my personal or work phone, mp3 player, whatever for charging. They could have them in hotels, or as a little slot in cars (as long as it's wide enough for the phone, it doesn't have to consider other things like the location of the damn jack on the phone, etc). Wouldn't it be nice just to drop your stuff on the nightstand at the hotel and it *works*?
- No more damaged connectors. I know a lot of people who have had the connector(s) on their phone/device wear out, cords break, etc. The newer micro-USB or WTF it's called seems especially fragile, and I cringe when plugging in cords for those.
- A "dock" could become rather universal. Wireless charging, and bluetooth for data synchronization, or media streaming (especially BT3.x, which I believe does video as well as the BT2.x AD2P audio).
- Charging in-case. I've seen a variety of nice cases I'd like to use for my phone, however most wouldn't allow it to charge in the dock because they've a bit bulky, and it's a PITA to remove it constantly and wears out the case faster. Induction/wireless charging = no problem there as long as it can penetrate the case.