If the iPhone and Android have shown anything it's that there was a hugely underserved portion of the market who were after exactly the sort of games that excel on those platforms.
I replaced the battery on an iPhone 3GS last week - it took me 15 minutes. Not bad, since by having it totally internal the battery can be much bigger (no need for the battery door or battery bay, and you can make the case smaller).
For something you only have to do *at most* every couple of years, I think 15 minutes is a reasonable trade off. The battery in my iPhone 3G is still almost as good as they day I bought it, and it will continue in its 2 year+ service in the hands of a family member.
The replaceable battery issue is an edge case for the vast, vast majority of consumers - batteries are lasting longer (in terms of lifespan) than ever before, and the benefits of making it bigger and not having to compromise to make it possible to remove with a battery door completely outweigh the benefits of being able to swap it without using tools.
You didn't say anything about the cost (and 3x the cost, come on, 1995 called and wants its myth back), you said (and I quote) "When they start making servers and pc's that natively run linux and windows then they can have a bigger piece of the pie."
So, that's right now then. Now you are trying to dig your way out of an ignorant post by trying to retcon in some nonsense about the price.
Yes, you pay a premium for Apple hardware, but that was not the argument at all.
The design is a surface mount connector that holds the plug on with a magnet. Using a thin plug with a flat face, it will sit flush. If you use a standard headphone 3.5mm plug it will stand proud of the surface.
The article does mention very specifically that it is designed to work with existing 3.5mm plugs.
It's also not just a call out on Apple - the article mentions that the request was talking about the whole technology sector, including video games and other things. Typically, as is normal for slashdot, this was reported with as much Apple bashing as possible built into the title and summary.
Apple don't set the prices of the iTunes content - that is all down to contracts with the content owners, who require different agreements in different areas. This is also why DVDs are more expensive in Europe than the US, for example.
As the content providers - they are not known for their consumer-friendly policies. Remember, these are the folks that sued a 90 year old grandma who didn;t even own a computer for "music piracy".
Steve does know it, which is why that's all being fixed in iOS5 (re: messing with cables, needing iTunes as a base etc etc) - and about time. It was one of the annoying things about iOS that I was hoping would be changed. Android had that right from the start.
Suddenly the case is all about the one distorted photo (in pages and pages of documents), rather than the physical examination of the products by a judge - it's not like they showed that one image and said "look! see!" - they may be litigious, but they are not stupid.
Well, clearly yes - hence the patent application for a new port that is thinner and yet still works with standard headphones, rather than simply putting a 2.5mm jack on the new iPhone/iPod/whatever this thing goes on in the future.
They also made themselves look very foolish in the whole "spoofing Apple's USB vendor ID" business to get the Palm Pre to sync with iTunes instead of doing it the proper, documented way like MarkSpace's Missing Sync - a piece of software that has its roots in Palm's early abandoning of the Mac platform leaving some of their users in the cold.
At that point I was starting to wonder, if someone *seriously* suggested deliberately breaking their USBIF contract terms and spoofing a vendor ID rather than devote some resources to actually writing a sync channel for iTunes, or simply licensing The Missing Sync. It's just not something a company with its head on straight should really be putting across as a valid option.
Except, that "master machiavellian plan" of yours to make money by licence fees is totally undone because *the port is designed to be compatible with current 3.5mm plugs* - the reason for the new design is simply to enable thinner devices.
No, the idea is for a surface mount 3.5mm port that a half-width plug will sit in flush, but a normal 3.5mm plug will sit in but be proud of the surface, both held in place by a magnet. The patent also specifies an optional cover to make it look more aesthetically pleasing (or as a structural element of the port, depending on magnet strength).
Slashdot Mirror
"Gaming stinks"
I think you mean "some types of gaming stink".
If the iPhone and Android have shown anything it's that there was a hugely underserved portion of the market who were after exactly the sort of games that excel on those platforms.
Who disables tethering? If you're talking about the iPhone it supports tethering out of the box, always has.
It does need bluetooth file transfer though - OS X can do it, so iOS can, it's just not enabled.
I replaced the battery on an iPhone 3GS last week - it took me 15 minutes. Not bad, since by having it totally internal the battery can be much bigger (no need for the battery door or battery bay, and you can make the case smaller).
For something you only have to do *at most* every couple of years, I think 15 minutes is a reasonable trade off. The battery in my iPhone 3G is still almost as good as they day I bought it, and it will continue in its 2 year+ service in the hands of a family member.
The replaceable battery issue is an edge case for the vast, vast majority of consumers - batteries are lasting longer (in terms of lifespan) than ever before, and the benefits of making it bigger and not having to compromise to make it possible to remove with a battery door completely outweigh the benefits of being able to swap it without using tools.
And in sundumass' post, a clear misunderstanding of high school maths.
So, you picked the "ultra micro portable" vs an 11" laptop - now try speccing it against a Macbook Pro, or find something equivalent to the Air.
You're not comparing equivalent systems - for one thing, the SSD makes a huge difference in the price, as does the form factor of the Air.
You care enough to keep replying. So clearly, quite a bit. You're just sore that you got called on a nonsense argument.
Probably the same sorts of warnings the Lane Departure system gives, if you start to drift over the line.
That's not really the hard part - the effectiveness of the detection is the tricky part.
You didn't say anything about the cost (and 3x the cost, come on, 1995 called and wants its myth back), you said (and I quote) "When they start making servers and pc's that natively run linux and windows then they can have a bigger piece of the pie."
So, that's right now then. Now you are trying to dig your way out of an ignorant post by trying to retcon in some nonsense about the price.
Yes, you pay a premium for Apple hardware, but that was not the argument at all.
That would be right now then. You can natively run Linux and Windows on any current Mac sold since 2005 or so.
Is it? Or is that just baseless rumours?
OS X has been serial number free, encryption free, easy-to-image, and online activation free from the start.
Even the current 10.7 Lion, which is distributed online, is simply an unencrypted disk image with no serial or activation nonsense.
I don;t think Apple cares that much - they realise that it's wasted effort trying to secure the install DVD - they make the money on the hardware.
Why would a sane person live in an area controlled by an HOA?
I thought America was all about freedom?
GSM. Texts are 99.997% profit for carriers that use GSM.
Did you look at the picture in TFA? Clearly not.
The design is a surface mount connector that holds the plug on with a magnet. Using a thin plug with a flat face, it will sit flush. If you use a standard headphone 3.5mm plug it will stand proud of the surface.
The article does mention very specifically that it is designed to work with existing 3.5mm plugs.
Hardly bending reality.
It's also not just a call out on Apple - the article mentions that the request was talking about the whole technology sector, including video games and other things. Typically, as is normal for slashdot, this was reported with as much Apple bashing as possible built into the title and summary.
Apple don't set the prices of the iTunes content - that is all down to contracts with the content owners, who require different agreements in different areas. This is also why DVDs are more expensive in Europe than the US, for example.
As the content providers - they are not known for their consumer-friendly policies. Remember, these are the folks that sued a 90 year old grandma who didn;t even own a computer for "music piracy".
Steve does know it, which is why that's all being fixed in iOS5 (re: messing with cables, needing iTunes as a base etc etc) - and about time. It was one of the annoying things about iOS that I was hoping would be changed. Android had that right from the start.
Suddenly the case is all about the one distorted photo (in pages and pages of documents), rather than the physical examination of the products by a judge - it's not like they showed that one image and said "look! see!" - they may be litigious, but they are not stupid.
Well, clearly yes - hence the patent application for a new port that is thinner and yet still works with standard headphones, rather than simply putting a 2.5mm jack on the new iPhone/iPod/whatever this thing goes on in the future.
Yes, I transposed the terms in my comment.
The proposed design is compatible with older style plugs - they will just not sit flush with the surface when connected.
They also made themselves look very foolish in the whole "spoofing Apple's USB vendor ID" business to get the Palm Pre to sync with iTunes instead of doing it the proper, documented way like MarkSpace's Missing Sync - a piece of software that has its roots in Palm's early abandoning of the Mac platform leaving some of their users in the cold.
At that point I was starting to wonder, if someone *seriously* suggested deliberately breaking their USBIF contract terms and spoofing a vendor ID rather than devote some resources to actually writing a sync channel for iTunes, or simply licensing The Missing Sync. It's just not something a company with its head on straight should really be putting across as a valid option.
Except, that "master machiavellian plan" of yours to make money by licence fees is totally undone because *the port is designed to be compatible with current 3.5mm plugs* - the reason for the new design is simply to enable thinner devices.
No, the idea is for a surface mount 3.5mm port that a half-width plug will sit in flush, but a normal 3.5mm plug will sit in but be proud of the surface, both held in place by a magnet. The patent also specifies an optional cover to make it look more aesthetically pleasing (or as a structural element of the port, depending on magnet strength).
Pointing out where factually incorrect information is presented as truth is being a fanboy?
Ok.
There are plenty of very powerful, very small permanent magnets already in existence. That's the easy bit.