It's not the technology upgrades which will engender longer tweets, it's profitability.
When the new subscription rate slows and Twitter decides that promotion/advertising revenue isn't enough, I expect the ability to tweet longer will be a "premium" (paid) enhancement. 140 char tweets stay free, but if you load up your account with Twitter credits ("Twedits"?), every block of 70 extra chars costs you x twedits...
Hmm... $7.74 split between charity and developers evenly equals $3.87 to developers, split among five development outfits equals 57 cents per developer. Sounds like "jack squat" to me.
$0.57 × 7169 = $4086.33... Other benefits aside, I'd certainly be happy with a low-cost word-of-mouth promotion allowing me to pick up four grand that was otherwise unlikely to come my way...
I find Teracopy to be an excellent Windows copy dialog replacement. Gives you per-file and per-batch progress bars, better filename collision options, and a status list. Good from XP through to Win7.
When I'm using any app the only thing I want interrupting me is a phone call.
Me too, with one important modification: I want the app I'm using to be able to wait in the background until the phone call is done, then bring me right back to where I was (ie mid-calculation/-level/-video) without delay.
The phone app should be one that executes "over top" of the others, causing the other apps to pause, rather than quit.
because I can't set up a simple config file or bother to google how to set up config file.
While Ubuntu was installed and running on the laptop well within an hour, the extended time trawling through forum posts and help pages to try and figure out things like to generate the xorg.conf file, the X server needs to be stopped or the X server runs in the service called 'gdm' or sudo is your friend, once you know about Ubuntu 9.10* meant that the net time investment on the WinXP setup (including driver downloads) was lower.
Your comment ignores the fact that with a similar time investment, WinXP achieved the desired result (and I knew that it would); Ubuntu did not achieve the desired result (and when I gave up, I still didn't know whether it could).
* It takes a while to discover that the password entered during setup isn't the root password, and in fact, that Ubuntu 9.10 does not have a user-set root password after installation. Might be obvious to others, but to the Ubuntu 9.10 newbie, it was baffling...
Yes, I made an xorg.conf, but wrangling with drivers, text files and unanswered forum posts of others trying to do the same thing quickly became tiresome. It's the same old issue: desktop Linux configuration is too much for Everyman. I'm technically capable and not averse to troubleshooting, but still couldn't readily identify what to do to get it to work (or even whether it could be done at all). To search the net for desktop Linux configuraton advice is to trawl a wasteland of old information, misinformation and absent information.
Why are you using s-video in 2010?
S-video because it's an old rear projection TV, and I've got no money for upgrades. The point is that I've done it on the cheap, but not by using Ubuntu.
I recently installed Ubuntu 9.10 on an Acer Aspire 3680, to use as a basic HTPC with Boxee. I was impressed with the overal finish of the OS and initially was glad I could use open source software. At least, that was until I tried to get s-video working, with either the laptop screen at native res, or the same res as s-video but in the correct aspect ratio (4:3 on 16:9).
After discovering that Ubuntu now believes Xwindows to be so good at autodetect that it no longer requires xorg.conf, and then wrangling with various configuration options for hours, I gave up, found the WinXP disc and had everything up and running in short order. No voodoo magic workarounds, no text file configs to create, and dual video output with native res on each.
TL;DR: Ubuntu's good looks and neat UI effects are fine, but when It Just Won't Work, people jump ship - fast.
Heh - without having read the Ars guide, I recently built a system including either the recommended parts or a mentioned alternative from their Budget Box spec. The parts I got came to $1080 Australian, which is ~$850 USD. Not bad at all.
An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped.
Having trouble visualising... Seriously guys, we've already established Libraries of Congress as the arbitrary measure of choice, why introduce the size of Jamaica now?
Gotta wonder if that's fair use of the NewYorkCountryLawyer brand... Heck, I know I was looking for it, being an out-of-NewYorkCountry-lawyer myself...
But seriously (to remain on-topic), this really is a tail of woe. I can see the PRS riding this poor woman all the way to the bank. If the shoe was on the other foot they'd have to act differently.
I will miss there little maze trivia game whatever it was called. But then again, I guess I haven't used encarta in years, so maybe I won't really miss it.
Slashdot Mirror
... There's medicine. And there's stuff that doesn't work.
Never thought this would happen, but: obligatory on-topic Tim Minchin 10-minute beat poem:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U
âoeWhere the bloody hell are ya?!â
It's not the technology upgrades which will engender longer tweets, it's profitability.
When the new subscription rate slows and Twitter decides that promotion/advertising revenue isn't enough, I expect the ability to tweet longer will be a "premium" (paid) enhancement. 140 char tweets stay free, but if you load up your account with Twitter credits ("Twedits"?), every block of 70 extra chars costs you x twedits...
The unslashdotted original interview is here: http://www.bricksabillion.com/interviews/interview-with-angus-maclane-about-cubedudes/
Glass Invisibility Cloak Shields Infrared
You know you've been coding too much when the brain reads that as "noun noun noun noun noun" and throws a parse error expecting a verb...
This is a great sign that the NBN won't be scrapped by any upcoming parties.
Coalition to halt NBN-Telstra deal (if elected later this year).
FFS.
Who the hell has numbers in there name?
Oh, the irony.
Ubuntu Gaming Edition?
Marketing opportunity: Hardcore Ubuntu Gaming Edition - "It's HUGE".
Hmm... $7.74 split between charity and developers evenly equals $3.87 to developers, split among five development outfits equals 57 cents per developer. Sounds like "jack squat" to me.
$0.57 × 7169 = $4086.33... Other benefits aside, I'd certainly be happy with a low-cost word-of-mouth promotion allowing me to pick up four grand that was otherwise unlikely to come my way...
I find Teracopy to be an excellent Windows copy dialog replacement. Gives you per-file and per-batch progress bars, better filename collision options, and a status list. Good from XP through to Win7.
When I'm using any app the only thing I want interrupting me is a phone call.
Me too, with one important modification: I want the app I'm using to be able to wait in the background until the phone call is done, then bring me right back to where I was (ie mid-calculation/-level/-video) without delay.
The phone app should be one that executes "over top" of the others, causing the other apps to pause, rather than quit.
because I can't set up a simple config file or bother to google how to set up config file.
While Ubuntu was installed and running on the laptop well within an hour, the extended time trawling through forum posts and help pages to try and figure out things like to generate the xorg.conf file, the X server needs to be stopped or the X server runs in the service called 'gdm' or sudo is your friend, once you know about Ubuntu 9.10* meant that the net time investment on the WinXP setup (including driver downloads) was lower.
Your comment ignores the fact that with a similar time investment, WinXP achieved the desired result (and I knew that it would); Ubuntu did not achieve the desired result (and when I gave up, I still didn't know whether it could).
* It takes a while to discover that the password entered during setup isn't the root password, and in fact, that Ubuntu 9.10 does not have a user-set root password after installation. Might be obvious to others, but to the Ubuntu 9.10 newbie, it was baffling...
xorg.conf will still be used if you make one.
Yes, I made an xorg.conf, but wrangling with drivers, text files and unanswered forum posts of others trying to do the same thing quickly became tiresome. It's the same old issue: desktop Linux configuration is too much for Everyman. I'm technically capable and not averse to troubleshooting, but still couldn't readily identify what to do to get it to work (or even whether it could be done at all). To search the net for desktop Linux configuraton advice is to trawl a wasteland of old information, misinformation and absent information.
Why are you using s-video in 2010?
S-video because it's an old rear projection TV, and I've got no money for upgrades. The point is that I've done it on the cheap, but not by using Ubuntu.
WinXP Just Worked, and Boxee runs fine.
Warning: anecdote follows.
I recently installed Ubuntu 9.10 on an Acer Aspire 3680, to use as a basic HTPC with Boxee. I was impressed with the overal finish of the OS and initially was glad I could use open source software. At least, that was until I tried to get s-video working, with either the laptop screen at native res, or the same res as s-video but in the correct aspect ratio (4:3 on 16:9).
After discovering that Ubuntu now believes Xwindows to be so good at autodetect that it no longer requires xorg.conf, and then wrangling with various configuration options for hours, I gave up, found the WinXP disc and had everything up and running in short order. No voodoo magic workarounds, no text file configs to create, and dual video output with native res on each.
TL;DR: Ubuntu's good looks and neat UI effects are fine, but when It Just Won't Work, people jump ship - fast.
http://img21.imageshack.us/i/youwouldntdlacar.jpg/
On the basis of this post, I propose a new IM-style abbreviation: COL (Chuckle Out Loud).
As in, I just COL'd (because I just did).
Good form, sir!
I agree. As always, attentiveness is key; if you consider all the angles acutely, none of your complements could possibly be obtuse.
Heh - without having read the Ars guide, I recently built a system including either the recommended parts or a mentioned alternative from their Budget Box spec. The parts I got came to $1080 Australian, which is ~$850 USD. Not bad at all.
Randall, is that you? :)
Having trouble visualising... Seriously guys, we've already established Libraries of Congress as the arbitrary measure of choice, why introduce the size of Jamaica now?
Gotta wonder if that's fair use of the NewYorkCountryLawyer brand... Heck, I know I was looking for it, being an out-of-NewYorkCountry-lawyer myself...
I bet you were champing at the bit to say that.
But seriously (to remain on-topic), this really is a tail of woe. I can see the PRS riding this poor woman all the way to the bank. If the shoe was on the other foot they'd have to act differently.
I think I can confirm your guesstimate...
... 24/M/Australia/Jedi?
I was going to reply about mixing metaphors, but then I lost my train of thought.