..SFX are a dime a dozen. Good stories are much harder to find.
Good stories, hard to find? Let's try to find a few then, shall we?
TOS
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" "The Naked Time"
"The Enemy Within" "Mudd's Women"
"The Corbomite Manuever" "The Galiileo Seven"
"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" "Space Seed"
"Errand Of Mercy" "Operation: Annihilate!"
"Who Mourns for Adonias?" "The City on the Edge of Forever"
"Mirror, Mirror" "Metamorphosis"
"The Trouble With Tribbles" "The Ultimate Computer"
"Assignment: Earth" "The Enterprise Incident"
"And the Children Shall Lead" "Day of the Dove"
"The Savage Curtain" "All Our Yesterdays"
"Turnabout Intruder"
TNG
"Code Of Honor" "Where No One Has Gone Before"
"11001001" "Coming of Age"
"Heart of Glory" "Symbiosis"
"Elementary, Dear Data" "Loud as a Whisper"
"A Matter of Honor" "The Measure of a Man"
"Pen Pals" "Q Who?"
"Peak Performance" "The Survivors"
"Who Watches The Watchers?" "The Bonding"
"The Enemy" "The Price"
"Deja Q" "A Matter of Perspective"
"Yesterday's Enterprise" "The Offspring"
"Sins of the Father" "Tin Man"
"Hollow Pursuits" "The Most Toys"
"Sarek" "The Best of Both Worlds"
I'll stop here, as my point is undoubtedly made. Enterprise, like all the series that preceeded it, has its good and bad stories. To me, more bad than good, but it does have undeniable potential.
TOKYO -- THE biggest pothole on the road to a cashless society has always been coins, those pesky pieces of metal needed to buy everything from bubble gum to bus tickets. Credit cards and checks are fine for bigger-ticket items, but they have never been practical for smaller, faster and more frequent purchases.
Pockets in Japan, however, are getting lighter with the growing use of integrated-circuit smart cards. The size of a credit card, they are packed with thin antennas and an encrypted integrated chip that can be used thousands of times to pay for train fares, meals at restaurants and snacks at convenience stores. In less than two years, nearly seven million people in Japan have started using one of two types of cards, both based on technology developed by Sony.
So far, the main client for the cards is JR East, the largest railway company in Japan. Nearly six million train and bus commuters have started using the first of the two types, known as Suica cards, since they were introduced 18 months ago. Although train riders in Hong Kong and Paris have been using that type of card for several years, Japan is the largest market yet to adopt them.
Their biggest selling point is speed. The card's antenna sends signals to readers at ticket gates, so no card-to-machine contact is needed. The entire transaction takes one-fifth of a second, faster than is possible with similar technology introduced by the Philips group.
"It's a marginal improvement, but our society is wealthy because of millions of these little improvements," said Jeffrey Funk, an associate professor of business at Kobe University who tracks wireless technology. "Taken together, they are part of the elimination of cash from society."
In the United States, toll collection systems like E-ZPass employ similar radio-wave technology, as does the Speedpass system, in which customers can pay for gasoline and convenience-store products at Exxon and Mobil service stations. Procter & Gamble, Gillette and other companies are now using the technology to track products from assembly line to store shelves.
JR East, which operates in the Tokyo area, spent 45 billion yen (about $384 million) to roll out Suica. Its hope is to save money: fewer coins means fewer security guards to haul them away. The card also cuts down on paper for tickets and on repairs to ticket-vending machines.
Suica, which requires a 500-yen deposit ($4.25), is essentially a debit card. Riders take the cards to vending machines and add as much money as they want. If the card is lost, the cash cannot be recovered, but there is no need to call a credit card company to cancel it because it is not linked to a specific account.
Within a year, JR East plans to add card readers to its bullet train ticket gates and to 500 of its fast food and convenience stores.
For the cards to generate more profits, experts say, credit capability would need to be added to allow shoppers to spend more freely. By and large, however, the Japanese prefer cash over credit. The Japanese fear that the government and aggressive marketers could use the cards to track their every purchase, and they like to keep a tight rein on debt.
"With the prepaid cards, I know how much I am spending," said Kotaro Matsuoka, a 22-year-old student who started using Suica last April. "If there was a credit function, I wouldn't know how much I owe. It's scary."
Companies are trying to make it more convenient to add money to the cards. Toward that end, Sony and 28 other companies have formed a joint venture called bitWallet, which created the Edy network. The network is based on the same technology used in the Suica cards, except that readers require contact with the cards. For 2,980 yen (about $25), consumers can buy a small reader that connects to a computer with a U.S.B. cable. They can log on to a secure Web site from home or the office and add money to their cards, sending the bill to their credit card issuer or bank account. The bitWallet venture also plans to l
there are millions of PCs out there... and according to "everyone" (MS, Intel, Dell, Compaq, etc) you need a new one every 2-4 years just to "keep up"... hell they're recommending a Celeron 1.8 as "ideal for light web browsing"...
the old ones are technically hazardous waste and should not be accepted w/ normal trash... it's ok now while it's slow... but it will increase and they will start banning it in cities/towns...
I have to laugh here. A Celeron 1.8 for light web browsing? That's ridiculous!
It must drive the PC companies nuts that so many older PC's are still chugging away, doing exactly what they were originally designed to do, years down the road.
Personally, I have an AMD K6-3/450 as my main machine here. With 192 megs of ram and a 14.2 gig HD, it serves all my needs quite well. With broadband Internet service, most people can't even tell that it's an older computer.
Dropping a few hundred bucks on POS 'entry-level' PC? No thanks. I'd rather spend that money to add worthwhile upgrades to this machine.
Sure, it may top out at 600Mhz (An AMD K6-3+, o/c'ed to 600, 100 Mhz bus x 2.0 multiplier, read as 6.0 by an AMD chip) but clock speed is not all its cracked up to be. A fast processor is nothing without the RAM, hard disks, video, and a host of other subsystems to support it. These critical subsystems are where these POS eMachines, Dells, Gateways, ad numerous others skimp to cut costs.
As a result, these low-quality computers will certainly not last to be in any musuem, at least not in working shape.
From the FAQ page reachable via http://www.yessmoke.com - Click on the 1st of he top 5 questions on the left.
Very important: The cigarettes on sale at Yesmoke.com are for personal use only. Reselling the products may be a criminal offense.
FAQ: Purchasing cigarettes by international mail
Can I buy cigarettes by international mail?
Buying cigarettes by international mail is legal, as long as it is carried out in accordance with international postal regulations and standards. This legislation states that the contents of the parcel must be noted for the postal and the custom authorities of the destination country.
Cigarettes can be sold without import stamps and may carry the wording "duty free sales only" providing that they are sold from a BONDED WAREHOUSE, like in the case of the cigarettes sold at Yesmoke.com.
What is a "bonded warehouse"?
This term is used to indicate goods sold that are not subjected to taxes in the source country. If taxes are required, they can be applied in the destination country where the product is used only. Yesmoke.com is the first web site to implement BONDED WAREHOUSE sales in co-operation with the Swiss Customs Authorities.
Are BONDED WAREHOUSE sales considered DUTY FREE?
A product is "duty free" when it reaches the destination country where tax may be applied at the discretion of the local Customs Authorities. For this reason, the product may not be "duty free" when it reaches the market.
I hope that answers any questions.
As an example of over-taxation, I'll use my sole bad vice I have on hand right now - That being smoking cigarettes.
I smoke Marlboros. Here in FL, I can purchase a carton for $23.99 + 6% sales tax, total of $25.43 (rounding, blah, blah, blah..)
When I travelled to NY for business, The price was an astounding $47.99 for a carton. I forget the tax rate.
Yet, I can go online and order cartons for as low as $14.70. Why so cheaply? You guessed it, no (or severely reduced) taxes.
I don't exactly know how the pending institution of online taxes will affect that, as the cigarettes are shipped from Switzerland (Same ones we get here, just different packaging) but I have a feeling it would increase the price quite a bit. For the curious among you, yes since they are shipped from Switzerland it takes a while to get them (28-30 days) but the shipping is free, and if I order one month in advance, I'm set.
I have to wonder what would happen if every smoker in the US quit smoking for one year (or one day, or one month, etc..) - I bet the US economy would take a massive, possibly killing blow due to the absence of all that revenue.
Having said my piece, please do keep in mind that this post was simply to show the excesses of over-taxation, and not an invitation for people to tell me I should quit smokng, as I already know that.
I can only hope that other states will adopt similar laws - Laws that hopefully will say a disclaimer such as "Not intended for residents of [state here]" are not good enough, and that since a resident of such state received the mail, the spammer's automatically liable.
If wishes were horses though..
"It's not about the copyrights.. as I see it dalnet has a functionality which they offered. Then came along a DoS attack and they lost a lot of hosts who couldn't or didn't want to offer the bandwide used. I assume that filesharing is an other bandwide hog and as such they stopped offering this specific functionality."
Let me take a quick moment here to explain something about DCC file transfers. They do NOT take up a significant portion of the IRC network provider's bandwidth because the transfer itself does not travel through the IRC server's network. The IRC server is used only to sync up the two clients initially, then the transfer proceeds independently of the IRC server.
This is what you get when people assume.
IANAL, so take this post as coming from such.
One, the guy read and agreed to eBay's terms of service when he created an account on their system. In that terms of service agreement, it states:
"Release. Because we are a venue, in the event that you have a dispute with one or more users, you release eBay (and our officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures and employees) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes."
And..
"In no event shall we, our subsidiaries, employees or our suppliers be liable for lost profits or any special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with our site, our services or this agreement (however arising, including negligence).
Our liability, and the liability of our subsidiaries, employees, and suppliers, to you or any third parties in any circumstance is limited to the greater of
the amount of fees you pay to us in the 12 months prior to the action giving rise to liability, and
$100.
Some States do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you."
And...
"Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold us and (as applicable) our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Agreement or the documents it incorporates by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party."
Lastly:
"If you do not agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement, do not use or access our services."
As for the sales tax nonsense, eBay is currently complying with all federal tax regulations governing their conduct, and therefore, cannot be penalized. A lawsuit cannot seek to force an entty to collect and pay sales tax when the laws currently in force do not require that taxes be collected.
The same with being foced to register eBay user ID's as fictitious business names in your state of residence. Since governing law does not require it, a lawsuit cannot seek to enforce it.
Sheesh! I wish that guy would get a life!
The paper proposes that we would be able to set the amount of the token that was required to be sent to cause an interupt. Now, I don't know about you, but my interrupt fee would *not* be five cents. It's be about a dollar or so - Enough to make the spammers hurt if everybody collected the fees, but not too much for a legitimate person or business to put up as as a 'deposit', seeing as if they are legitimate, they'll most likely get their dollar back.
I say, why shouldn't we block ads? They are annoying, they slow down people on dial-ip connections (Who, gods help them, need every bit of speed they can get I would think), most ads are distateful to a majority of users, and finally, when was the last time you saw an ad that related directly to a purchase you were planning to make?
If I use software to block ads, it's my choice. If the webmasters want to put up a pathetic attempt to keep me out, then I don't have to browse their site.
And by the way, I'm going to put out a shameess plug for the shareware author that makes the most awesome ad blocking software on the 'Net in my opinion, Ad Muncher. Thanks, Murray! Ad Muncher (It's *tiny* -Less than 100k- Blocks almost every kind of ad on the 'Net, as well as preventing webmaster from disabling your right mouse button, obscuring the status bar, or moving/resizing the browser window) And it's non-expiring, non-nag shareware. I beta test new versions, so I got a free registration.
If I want to spend my money online, I'll do it when I'm good and ready to. For instance, I'm moving into a new home in January, so I went over to Wal-Mart to browse for, and maybe purchase some items. Why, if I run ad-blocking software, do I shop there and spend money? Because that website relates directly to a purchase (or purchases) that I need or want to make at the moment.
I specifically allow a few sites to send me unobtrusive advertising, and these sites pay me in points that I can accumulate for free items, in cash, or with free DVD's, for example.(MyPoints comes to mind..)
I'll be darned, lol. When I clicked on the story, it had no comments. Thought I was first, but oh well. And yeah, the phone only supporting Windows blows.
Not to mention - Can anyone see a company willing to let you use it as a (nearly) always on connection, without charging you an arm, a leg, and your firstborn child too? I can't.
Woud you want to access the Net over your cell phone? For one thing, signal in most buildings (my home included) is atrocious. And 57.6 kbps? No thanks. My cable modem beats that hands down. Nice concept though.
First post, yeehaw!;)
(But then we'd have to fine AOL too.. Wait.. Maybe that's not such a bad idea...)
Anyway. 3 years or so ago I bougt a Sharp OZ640 organizer from a friend that was upgrading to a Sharp Zaurus. I paid $20 USD for the OZ640, and it had 512k ram if I am not mistaken.
It still serves me today, taking down memos (it has a built in QWERTY keyboard), keeping track of appointments, tracking contact information, and expense reports. It even has a backlight (one of those blue Indiglo ones where the whole screen lights up blue). To sync it, I just plug it into a small base station (which plugs into a 9 pin serial port), open the HotSync software on my PC, and press 'Sync' on the OZ640.
As for durability? It is a clamshell design where the screen folds over the keyboard when not in use. I have yet to damage it after 3 years of use. And here's something that will make those of you that use Palms weep. The OZ640 runs on 2 standard AAA batteries. I change the batteries about once a month when the icon appears at the bottom of the main screen. And that's considering my usage of the machine, which is daily, sometimes several times a day.
It may not be 'upgradeable', but it serves me well as it is now, has done so for years, and hopefully will continue to do so for many more.
Slashdot Mirror
Good stories, hard to find? Let's try to find a few then, shall we?
TOS
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" "The Naked Time"
"The Enemy Within" "Mudd's Women"
"The Corbomite Manuever" "The Galiileo Seven"
"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" "Space Seed"
"Errand Of Mercy" "Operation: Annihilate!"
"Who Mourns for Adonias?" "The City on the Edge of Forever"
"Mirror, Mirror" "Metamorphosis"
"The Trouble With Tribbles" "The Ultimate Computer"
"Assignment: Earth" "The Enterprise Incident"
"And the Children Shall Lead" "Day of the Dove"
"The Savage Curtain" "All Our Yesterdays"
"Turnabout Intruder"
TNG
"Code Of Honor" "Where No One Has Gone Before"
"11001001" "Coming of Age"
"Heart of Glory" "Symbiosis"
"Elementary, Dear Data" "Loud as a Whisper"
"A Matter of Honor" "The Measure of a Man"
"Pen Pals" "Q Who?"
"Peak Performance" "The Survivors"
"Who Watches The Watchers?" "The Bonding"
"The Enemy" "The Price"
"Deja Q" "A Matter of Perspective"
"Yesterday's Enterprise" "The Offspring"
"Sins of the Father" "Tin Man"
"Hollow Pursuits" "The Most Toys"
"Sarek" "The Best of Both Worlds"
I'll stop here, as my point is undoubtedly made. Enterprise, like all the series that preceeded it, has its good and bad stories. To me, more bad than good, but it does have undeniable potential.
Pockets in Japan, however, are getting lighter with the growing use of integrated-circuit smart cards. The size of a credit card, they are packed with thin antennas and an encrypted integrated chip that can be used thousands of times to pay for train fares, meals at restaurants and snacks at convenience stores. In less than two years, nearly seven million people in Japan have started using one of two types of cards, both based on technology developed by Sony.
So far, the main client for the cards is JR East, the largest railway company in Japan. Nearly six million train and bus commuters have started using the first of the two types, known as Suica cards, since they were introduced 18 months ago. Although train riders in Hong Kong and Paris have been using that type of card for several years, Japan is the largest market yet to adopt them.
Their biggest selling point is speed. The card's antenna sends signals to readers at ticket gates, so no card-to-machine contact is needed. The entire transaction takes one-fifth of a second, faster than is possible with similar technology introduced by the Philips group.
"It's a marginal improvement, but our society is wealthy because of millions of these little improvements," said Jeffrey Funk, an associate professor of business at Kobe University who tracks wireless technology. "Taken together, they are part of the elimination of cash from society."
In the United States, toll collection systems like E-ZPass employ similar radio-wave technology, as does the Speedpass system, in which customers can pay for gasoline and convenience-store products at Exxon and Mobil service stations. Procter & Gamble, Gillette and other companies are now using the technology to track products from assembly line to store shelves.
JR East, which operates in the Tokyo area, spent 45 billion yen (about $384 million) to roll out Suica. Its hope is to save money: fewer coins means fewer security guards to haul them away. The card also cuts down on paper for tickets and on repairs to ticket-vending machines.
Suica, which requires a 500-yen deposit ($4.25), is essentially a debit card. Riders take the cards to vending machines and add as much money as they want. If the card is lost, the cash cannot be recovered, but there is no need to call a credit card company to cancel it because it is not linked to a specific account.
Within a year, JR East plans to add card readers to its bullet train ticket gates and to 500 of its fast food and convenience stores.
For the cards to generate more profits, experts say, credit capability would need to be added to allow shoppers to spend more freely. By and large, however, the Japanese prefer cash over credit. The Japanese fear that the government and aggressive marketers could use the cards to track their every purchase, and they like to keep a tight rein on debt.
"With the prepaid cards, I know how much I am spending," said Kotaro Matsuoka, a 22-year-old student who started using Suica last April. "If there was a credit function, I wouldn't know how much I owe. It's scary."
Companies are trying to make it more convenient to add money to the cards. Toward that end, Sony and 28 other companies have formed a joint venture called bitWallet, which created the Edy network. The network is based on the same technology used in the Suica cards, except that readers require contact with the cards. For 2,980 yen (about $25), consumers can buy a small reader that connects to a computer with a U.S.B. cable. They can log on to a secure Web site from home or the office and add money to their cards, sending the bill to their credit card issuer or bank account. The bitWallet venture also plans to l
there are millions of PCs out there... and according to "everyone" (MS, Intel, Dell, Compaq, etc) you need a new one every 2-4 years just to "keep up"... hell they're recommending a Celeron 1.8 as "ideal for light web browsing"...
the old ones are technically hazardous waste and should not be accepted w/ normal trash... it's ok now while it's slow... but it will increase and they will start banning it in cities/towns...
I have to laugh here. A Celeron 1.8 for light web browsing? That's ridiculous!
It must drive the PC companies nuts that so many older PC's are still chugging away, doing exactly what they were originally designed to do, years down the road.
Personally, I have an AMD K6-3/450 as my main machine here. With 192 megs of ram and a 14.2 gig HD, it serves all my needs quite well. With broadband Internet service, most people can't even tell that it's an older computer.
Dropping a few hundred bucks on POS 'entry-level' PC? No thanks. I'd rather spend that money to add worthwhile upgrades to this machine.
Sure, it may top out at 600Mhz (An AMD K6-3+, o/c'ed to 600, 100 Mhz bus x 2.0 multiplier, read as 6.0 by an AMD chip) but clock speed is not all its cracked up to be. A fast processor is nothing without the RAM, hard disks, video, and a host of other subsystems to support it. These critical subsystems are where these POS eMachines, Dells, Gateways, ad numerous others skimp to cut costs.
As a result, these low-quality computers will certainly not last to be in any musuem, at least not in working shape.
FAQ: Purchasing cigarettes by international mail
Can I buy cigarettes by international mail?
Buying cigarettes by international mail is legal, as long as it is carried out in accordance with international postal regulations and standards. This legislation states that the contents of the parcel must be noted for the postal and the custom authorities of the destination country.
Cigarettes can be sold without import stamps and may carry the wording "duty free sales only" providing that they are sold from a BONDED WAREHOUSE, like in the case of the cigarettes sold at Yesmoke.com.
What is a "bonded warehouse"?
This term is used to indicate goods sold that are not subjected to taxes in the source country. If taxes are required, they can be applied in the destination country where the product is used only. Yesmoke.com is the first web site to implement BONDED WAREHOUSE sales in co-operation with the Swiss Customs Authorities.
Are BONDED WAREHOUSE sales considered DUTY FREE?
A product is "duty free" when it reaches the destination country where tax may be applied at the discretion of the local Customs Authorities. For this reason, the product may not be "duty free" when it reaches the market. I hope that answers any questions.
As an example of over-taxation, I'll use my sole bad vice I have on hand right now - That being smoking cigarettes. I smoke Marlboros. Here in FL, I can purchase a carton for $23.99 + 6% sales tax, total of $25.43 (rounding, blah, blah, blah..) When I travelled to NY for business, The price was an astounding $47.99 for a carton. I forget the tax rate. Yet, I can go online and order cartons for as low as $14.70. Why so cheaply? You guessed it, no (or severely reduced) taxes. I don't exactly know how the pending institution of online taxes will affect that, as the cigarettes are shipped from Switzerland (Same ones we get here, just different packaging) but I have a feeling it would increase the price quite a bit. For the curious among you, yes since they are shipped from Switzerland it takes a while to get them (28-30 days) but the shipping is free, and if I order one month in advance, I'm set. I have to wonder what would happen if every smoker in the US quit smoking for one year (or one day, or one month, etc..) - I bet the US economy would take a massive, possibly killing blow due to the absence of all that revenue. Having said my piece, please do keep in mind that this post was simply to show the excesses of over-taxation, and not an invitation for people to tell me I should quit smokng, as I already know that.
I can only hope that other states will adopt similar laws - Laws that hopefully will say a disclaimer such as "Not intended for residents of [state here]" are not good enough, and that since a resident of such state received the mail, the spammer's automatically liable. If wishes were horses though..
Let me take a quick moment here to explain something about DCC file transfers. They do NOT take up a significant portion of the IRC network provider's bandwidth because the transfer itself does not travel through the IRC server's network. The IRC server is used only to sync up the two clients initially, then the transfer proceeds independently of the IRC server. This is what you get when people assume.
IANAL, so take this post as coming from such. One, the guy read and agreed to eBay's terms of service when he created an account on their system. In that terms of service agreement, it states: "Release. Because we are a venue, in the event that you have a dispute with one or more users, you release eBay (and our officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures and employees) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes." And.. "In no event shall we, our subsidiaries, employees or our suppliers be liable for lost profits or any special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with our site, our services or this agreement (however arising, including negligence). Our liability, and the liability of our subsidiaries, employees, and suppliers, to you or any third parties in any circumstance is limited to the greater of the amount of fees you pay to us in the 12 months prior to the action giving rise to liability, and $100. Some States do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you." And... "Indemnity You agree to indemnify and hold us and (as applicable) our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Agreement or the documents it incorporates by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party." Lastly: "If you do not agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement, do not use or access our services." As for the sales tax nonsense, eBay is currently complying with all federal tax regulations governing their conduct, and therefore, cannot be penalized. A lawsuit cannot seek to force an entty to collect and pay sales tax when the laws currently in force do not require that taxes be collected. The same with being foced to register eBay user ID's as fictitious business names in your state of residence. Since governing law does not require it, a lawsuit cannot seek to enforce it. Sheesh! I wish that guy would get a life!
That this ship's 5 year mission can last longer than 3 years ;)
The paper proposes that we would be able to set the amount of the token that was required to be sent to cause an interupt. Now, I don't know about you, but my interrupt fee would *not* be five cents. It's be about a dollar or so - Enough to make the spammers hurt if everybody collected the fees, but not too much for a legitimate person or business to put up as as a 'deposit', seeing as if they are legitimate, they'll most likely get their dollar back.
If I use software to block ads, it's my choice. If the webmasters want to put up a pathetic attempt to keep me out, then I don't have to browse their site.
And by the way, I'm going to put out a shameess plug for the shareware author that makes the most awesome ad blocking software on the 'Net in my opinion, Ad Muncher. Thanks, Murray! Ad Muncher (It's *tiny* -Less than 100k- Blocks almost every kind of ad on the 'Net, as well as preventing webmaster from disabling your right mouse button, obscuring the status bar, or moving/resizing the browser window) And it's non-expiring, non-nag shareware. I beta test new versions, so I got a free registration.
If I want to spend my money online, I'll do it when I'm good and ready to. For instance, I'm moving into a new home in January, so I went over to Wal-Mart to browse for, and maybe purchase some items. Why, if I run ad-blocking software, do I shop there and spend money? Because that website relates directly to a purchase (or purchases) that I need or want to make at the moment.
I specifically allow a few sites to send me unobtrusive advertising, and these sites pay me in points that I can accumulate for free items, in cash, or with free DVD's, for example.(MyPoints comes to mind..)
I'll be darned, lol. When I clicked on the story, it had no comments. Thought I was first, but oh well. And yeah, the phone only supporting Windows blows. Not to mention - Can anyone see a company willing to let you use it as a (nearly) always on connection, without charging you an arm, a leg, and your firstborn child too? I can't.
Woud you want to access the Net over your cell phone? For one thing, signal in most buildings (my home included) is atrocious. And 57.6 kbps? No thanks. My cable modem beats that hands down. Nice concept though. First post, yeehaw! ;)
Palm should be fined for flooding the market.
(But then we'd have to fine AOL too.. Wait.. Maybe that's not such a bad idea...)
Anyway. 3 years or so ago I bougt a Sharp OZ640 organizer from a friend that was upgrading to a Sharp Zaurus. I paid $20 USD for the OZ640, and it had 512k ram if I am not mistaken.
It still serves me today, taking down memos (it has a built in QWERTY keyboard), keeping track of appointments, tracking contact information, and expense reports. It even has a backlight (one of those blue Indiglo ones where the whole screen lights up blue). To sync it, I just plug it into a small base station (which plugs into a 9 pin serial port), open the HotSync software on my PC, and press 'Sync' on the OZ640.
As for durability? It is a clamshell design where the screen folds over the keyboard when not in use. I have yet to damage it after 3 years of use. And here's something that will make those of you that use Palms weep. The OZ640 runs on 2 standard AAA batteries. I change the batteries about once a month when the icon appears at the bottom of the main screen. And that's considering my usage of the machine, which is daily, sometimes several times a day.
It may not be 'upgradeable', but it serves me well as it is now, has done so for years, and hopefully will continue to do so for many more.