Pre-emptive war: Good idea. Pre-emptive regulation of the Interent: Bad idea.
On the other hand, this congresscritter does have a good point here.
"In fact, any significant discriminatory behavior on the part of broadband service providers (BSPs) would generally be financially counterproductive considering that BSPs make more money by carrying more traffic."
Look at all the people who were crying foul when BellSouth supposedly blocked MySpace and YouTube in Florida. I suspect a number of customers switched to cable after that. The potential for customer revolts may be enough to keep the BSPs in line. AOL's "walled garden" didn't work. Neither will AT&T's.
Let's see -- 4GB hard drive, MP3 playback, Wi-Fi and 3G support on the go, standard 3.5mm headphone adapter...
Is it just me, or is this the perfect device for listening to podcasts?
Think about it. If someone built an iPodder for Symbian -- and really, how hard would that be -- this phone could go out and get new podcasts at a designated time, then have them ready for your morning or evening commute, or whenever you listen. There would be a short burst of "data time" in fecthing the podcasts, of course, but at 3G or Wi-Fi speeds, it wouldn't be more than a few minutes at a time, and if the battery were as solid as a new iPod mini, it could stand up to a full day of listening and talking.
That Archos PMA400 that's going to be introduced at CES is really going to be more than just a PVP. It's going to be a full-fledged PDA with a built-in hard drive. You'll be able to keep your calendar and contacts on it, check your email on it via Wi-Fi (or via Bluetooth, if your cell phone lets you do that), and possibly do some web surfing as well.
So why don't we see more PDAs with built-in hard drives?
Seriously, is it a battery life issue, or is it just that nobody else has thought of it yet? It seems to me that if a Palm or PocketPC device came out with even a 5GB microdrive inside, it would cause real problems for a lot of MP3 players that aren't iPods. Plus, PDAs with built-in hard drives would automatically have an advantage over most smartphones in terms of storage. Add in a faster processor and some extra memory, and now you're talking about something as close to a PC as you can get in your pocket. (Assuming your pockets aren't quite big enough for that OQO, of course...)
Personally, I'd be all over something like that Tapwave Zodiac if it could hold 20GB of my music collection, too. Wouldn't you?
And none of that she-ain't-blonde nonsense from you purists out there. Her hair color changes every other week on Alias. She's proven that can be sexy and tough simultaneously. Find me someone better.
Well, poker is a zero-sum game that doesn't really involve betting against "the house." That's one reason why poker is legal in California. Online poker sites, like casinos, make their money through pot rakes (taking a small percentage of the pot, usually no more than 3%) and tournament entry fees, so ultimately, they aren't inclined to care who plays or wins, so long as they can get as many people playing as possible without crashing their servers.
It's not impossible to "cheat" people in online poker, but it's more difficult than with other online games like, say, blackjack and slots -- games I wouldn't play in a REAL casino, let alone online -- and it seems counterproductive for an online poker site to try and cheat.
Not that any of this ever stopped me from losing money playing online poker, but hey, no one's ever mistaken me for Howard Lederer...
An old girlfriend of mine used to work in internal customer service for a major pharm company. She dealt with a lot of reps who kept doing the wrong thing and blame the CS people for it. The motto around her office was, "It's not my fault that you're stupid."
A lot of people here are complaining about their Archos MP3 players, so I feel the need to offer a contrasting opinion. I've owned an Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20 for the last nine months, and while it's needed a firmware update or two over that time, it's been a pretty reliable little MP3 and movie player.
The 1" screen is generally too small for watching most movies, but it passes in a pinch on an airplane, and I can plug it into a TV and watch it there if I want. Somewhere in my video folder you'll find a couple dozen Looney Tunes classics, a couple of movies and a handful of Firefly episodes, all in DivX format and ready to play at a moment's notice.
The camera attachment is crap -- 1 megapixel, no flash -- but I find use for it anyway, because I like the novelty factor and don't do much with pictures beyond posting them to the web.
So while Archos may not be the best company out there, their multimedia players are still pretty nifty, and if nothing else, a device like the AV500 -- which is definitely on my radar now -- might push the bigger players in the PDA and PocketPC market to add hard drives to their own units. There's obviously a market here for convergence in PDAs, or we wouldn't see devices like this. Hopefully, we'll start seeing more of them.
(And yes, hopefully we'll see better batteries to power them, too...)
I hope Apple isn't betting the company on the iPod, because I don't see a long-term future in standalone music players. I'm in the market for a new cellphone and find that even on the cheapest contract deals I can get a free phone with a built-in MP3/AAC player. Some even include video players. OK so most have limited flash memory for now, but it can't be long until they start integrating gigabyte drives.
And such a device will have a battery life of about 6 hours -- less if you plan to use your cellphone as an actual phone, too.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for convergence, but cellphones can only do so much. My 20GB Archos Multimedia Jukebox can go about 7 hours before it needs a recharge, less if I use it to play video or take pictures with that crummy camera. If I try to integrate something like that into my cellphone, it's not going to get me through the day, and that won't do.
One gadget that can do it all is cool, but it's going to need one hell of a battery to do the job. Personally, I can live with two gadgets that can do it all if it means I don't have to recharge them every 6 hours.
Okay, so they're not all in HD. The point is that you can still watch any game you want if you get the receiver. That alone will spur sales during college basketball season.
Never underestimate the value of cheap ESPN. If you tell a sports junkie that he can get an HDTV receiver for $100, then get ESPN and ESPN2 for only $19.95 a month, he'll cut his cable and ask where he can sign up.
WRAL-TV in Raleigh is broadcasting every game of the this year's NCAA Tournament over the air in HD. But you still need the receiver to get it...
Dude, the market is flooded with basic phones. Have you seen the Verizon catalog lately? They have a huge selection of basic phones for $30 or less. So if you "just want a fricken phone + phone # storage", hey, knock yourself out.
Second, what makes you think bells and whistles automatically make for a bad phone? I can use my phone for a lot more than just calling people, and you know what? It's still a really good phone. Don't knock it till you try it.
Even Ditka's pitch wasn't bad as hearing that Cialis ad. "If you develop an erection that lasts longer than 4 hours, consult your physician immediately." Memo to networks: I do not need to hear that!
Of course, Bill Maher said it best when he said, "It's more than a little ironic that, just a week after the President uses the State of the Union Address to rail against performance-enhancing drugs, we hold a Steroid Bowl brought to you by - you guessed it - performance enhancing drugs."
5. A Post Picard Setting way way into the future, jump forward 100-200 years (Leaves lots of room for back story) set on the the Enterprise - L. Perhaps things are very different in this age, the Romulans, Klingons and Cardasians are Full Memebers of the Federation, perhaps the Enterprise is even Commanded by a Klingon...
A good premise for a ST series would be similar to what you were saying about the "verge of collapse". Have a disaster that renders... computer technology useless...
They have to retrofit what ships they have with older technology. The plot of the series can be discovering what went wrong, and defending the federation from the minor races who now have the technological advantage.
Kind of similar to the new version of Battlestar Galactica, no?
They'd be better off still making it and selling it for syndication to whomever wants to broadcast it. Of maybe SciFi channel will pick it up. WOuld make a far better choice than continuing the 'battlestar galactica' kitch-remakes!
Please. Enterprise wishes it was as compelling as the Battlestar Galactica remake. That new mini-series actually had intriguing characters and gave some real drama and gravity to the survivors' situation. It rang a lot truer to me than Enterprise's tired, formulaic approach.
Whatever sense of wonder Enterprise tried to instill in its viewers had disappeared well before Season 1 had ended. This was supposed to show humanity's first trip into deep space. There should have been a lot more to see out there.
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So, to review the GOP position...
Pre-emptive war: Good idea.
Pre-emptive regulation of the Interent: Bad idea.
On the other hand, this congresscritter does have a good point here.
"In fact, any significant discriminatory behavior on the part of broadband service providers (BSPs) would generally be financially counterproductive considering that BSPs make more money by carrying more traffic."
Look at all the people who were crying foul when BellSouth supposedly blocked MySpace and YouTube in Florida. I suspect a number of customers switched to cable after that. The potential for customer revolts may be enough to keep the BSPs in line. AOL's "walled garden" didn't work. Neither will AT&T's.
Let's start with Robert Novak!
Oh, wait...
Let's see -- 4GB hard drive, MP3 playback, Wi-Fi and 3G support on the go, standard 3.5mm headphone adapter...
Is it just me, or is this the perfect device for listening to podcasts?
Think about it. If someone built an iPodder for Symbian -- and really, how hard would that be -- this phone could go out and get new podcasts at a designated time, then have them ready for your morning or evening commute, or whenever you listen. There would be a short burst of "data time" in fecthing the podcasts, of course, but at 3G or Wi-Fi speeds, it wouldn't be more than a few minutes at a time, and if the battery were as solid as a new iPod mini, it could stand up to a full day of listening and talking.
Maybe Nokia's on to something here...
You'll have to speak up. We can't hear you over the bandwidth.
That Archos PMA400 that's going to be introduced at CES is really going to be more than just a PVP. It's going to be a full-fledged PDA with a built-in hard drive. You'll be able to keep your calendar and contacts on it, check your email on it via Wi-Fi (or via Bluetooth, if your cell phone lets you do that), and possibly do some web surfing as well.
So why don't we see more PDAs with built-in hard drives?
Seriously, is it a battery life issue, or is it just that nobody else has thought of it yet? It seems to me that if a Palm or PocketPC device came out with even a 5GB microdrive inside, it would cause real problems for a lot of MP3 players that aren't iPods. Plus, PDAs with built-in hard drives would automatically have an advantage over most smartphones in terms of storage. Add in a faster processor and some extra memory, and now you're talking about something as close to a PC as you can get in your pocket. (Assuming your pockets aren't quite big enough for that OQO, of course...)
Personally, I'd be all over something like that Tapwave Zodiac if it could hold 20GB of my music collection, too. Wouldn't you?
Just one virus, and your porn CAREER is finished...
Jennifer Garner.
And none of that she-ain't-blonde nonsense from you purists out there. Her hair color changes every other week on Alias. She's proven that can be sexy and tough simultaneously. Find me someone better.
From IMBD.com's memorable quotes file:
Wash: Psychic? Sounds like something out of science fiction.
Zoe: We live on a spaceship, dear.
Wash: So?
Well, poker is a zero-sum game that doesn't really involve betting against "the house." That's one reason why poker is legal in California. Online poker sites, like casinos, make their money through pot rakes (taking a small percentage of the pot, usually no more than 3%) and tournament entry fees, so ultimately, they aren't inclined to care who plays or wins, so long as they can get as many people playing as possible without crashing their servers.
It's not impossible to "cheat" people in online poker, but it's more difficult than with other online games like, say, blackjack and slots -- games I wouldn't play in a REAL casino, let alone online -- and it seems counterproductive for an online poker site to try and cheat.
Not that any of this ever stopped me from losing money playing online poker, but hey, no one's ever mistaken me for Howard Lederer...
I find it sad the Monty Python would try and cash in like this.
Good thing you never saw the "Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python" show when it was on tour a few years ago. Or Idle's more recent Greedy Bastard Tour.
What, New Zealand didn't get enough thanks from the LOTR cast and crew during the Oscars? It's already looking for more?
An old girlfriend of mine used to work in internal customer service for a major pharm company. She dealt with a lot of reps who kept doing the wrong thing and blame the CS people for it. The motto around her office was, "It's not my fault that you're stupid."
I think that motto applies here.
A lot of people here are complaining about their Archos MP3 players, so I feel the need to offer a contrasting opinion. I've owned an Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20 for the last nine months, and while it's needed a firmware update or two over that time, it's been a pretty reliable little MP3 and movie player.
The 1" screen is generally too small for watching most movies, but it passes in a pinch on an airplane, and I can plug it into a TV and watch it there if I want. Somewhere in my video folder you'll find a couple dozen Looney Tunes classics, a couple of movies and a handful of Firefly episodes, all in DivX format and ready to play at a moment's notice.
The camera attachment is crap -- 1 megapixel, no flash -- but I find use for it anyway, because I like the novelty factor and don't do much with pictures beyond posting them to the web.
So while Archos may not be the best company out there, their multimedia players are still pretty nifty, and if nothing else, a device like the AV500 -- which is definitely on my radar now -- might push the bigger players in the PDA and PocketPC market to add hard drives to their own units. There's obviously a market here for convergence in PDAs, or we wouldn't see devices like this. Hopefully, we'll start seeing more of them.
(And yes, hopefully we'll see better batteries to power them, too...)
I hope Apple isn't betting the company on the iPod, because I don't see a long-term future in standalone music players. I'm in the market for a new cellphone and find that even on the cheapest contract deals I can get a free phone with a built-in MP3/AAC player. Some even include video players. OK so most have limited flash memory for now, but it can't be long until they start integrating gigabyte drives.
And such a device will have a battery life of about 6 hours -- less if you plan to use your cellphone as an actual phone, too.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for convergence, but cellphones can only do so much. My 20GB Archos Multimedia Jukebox can go about 7 hours before it needs a recharge, less if I use it to play video or take pictures with that crummy camera. If I try to integrate something like that into my cellphone, it's not going to get me through the day, and that won't do.
One gadget that can do it all is cool, but it's going to need one hell of a battery to do the job. Personally, I can live with two gadgets that can do it all if it means I don't have to recharge them every 6 hours.
Okay, so they're not all in HD. The point is that you can still watch any game you want if you get the receiver. That alone will spur sales during college basketball season.
Never underestimate the value of cheap ESPN. If you tell a sports junkie that he can get an HDTV receiver for $100, then get ESPN and ESPN2 for only $19.95 a month, he'll cut his cable and ask where he can sign up.
WRAL-TV in Raleigh is broadcasting every game of the this year's NCAA Tournament over the air in HD. But you still need the receiver to get it...
Dude, the market is flooded with basic phones. Have you seen the Verizon catalog lately? They have a huge selection of basic phones for $30 or less. So if you "just want a fricken phone + phone # storage", hey, knock yourself out.
Second, what makes you think bells and whistles automatically make for a bad phone? I can use my phone for a lot more than just calling people, and you know what? It's still a really good phone. Don't knock it till you try it.
Maybe we'll get lucky and the movie will be the "final episode."
Or maybe they'll turn the whole franchise into a series of flicks, like the X-Files should have done years ago before it jumped the shark.
I'd rather take a floppable booty, thanks.
Motorola tried Microsoft, decided they did not like it, and started to build Linux phones.
Really? Is that why Motorola is releasing three new Microsoft Smartphone models this year?
Source, please.
Even Ditka's pitch wasn't bad as hearing that Cialis ad. "If you develop an erection that lasts longer than 4 hours, consult your physician immediately." Memo to networks: I do not need to hear that!
Of course, Bill Maher said it best when he said, "It's more than a little ironic that, just a week after the President uses the State of the Union Address to rail against performance-enhancing drugs, we hold a Steroid Bowl brought to you by - you guessed it - performance enhancing drugs."
Lets see, I want Cinderella in Vanilla Please!
Um, I think you're looking for the porn shop next door...
5. A Post Picard Setting way way into the future, jump forward 100-200 years (Leaves lots of room for back story) set on the the Enterprise - L. Perhaps things are very different in this age, the Romulans, Klingons and Cardasians are Full Memebers of the Federation, perhaps the Enterprise is even Commanded by a Klingon...
We are the Federation. Resistance is futile.
A good premise for a ST series would be similar to what you were saying about the "verge of collapse". Have a disaster that renders... computer technology useless...
They have to retrofit what ships they have with older technology. The plot of the series can be discovering what went wrong, and defending the federation from the minor races who now have the technological advantage.
Kind of similar to the new version of Battlestar Galactica, no?
They'd be better off still making it and selling it for syndication to whomever wants to broadcast it. Of maybe SciFi channel will pick it up. WOuld make a far better choice than continuing the 'battlestar galactica' kitch-remakes!
Please. Enterprise wishes it was as compelling as the Battlestar Galactica remake. That new mini-series actually had intriguing characters and gave some real drama and gravity to the survivors' situation. It rang a lot truer to me than Enterprise's tired, formulaic approach.
Whatever sense of wonder Enterprise tried to instill in its viewers had disappeared well before Season 1 had ended. This was supposed to show humanity's first trip into deep space. There should have been a lot more to see out there.