I think you misunderstand what perfect pitch is. It's not the ability to associate a note name with a pitch. Though, that may be a side effect given proper practice. Perfect pitch is the ability to recognize a given tone/pitch without relationship to a previous tone. Most people don't know if they hear an A or an E without something before it that is identified.
More practically, most people could listen to a song's melody played in a specific key, then hear the same melody in another key the next day, and never know there was a difference. Those with perfect pitch would know there was a difference even if they weren't musicians and didn't know the letters assigned to those pitches. The fact that most of these people don't care plays into the perceived rarity of the ability. I, however, having perfect pitch, have made it a point to discover this quality in people I know. I find many people can do this and it's not as rare as often stated.
I've had a toothache for the last week (seeing the dentist tomorrow alright?) and I've been reading Slashdot every day. Must be Slashdot causing my toothache because my friend, he doesn't read Slashdot and he doesn't have a toothache.
Science ftw.
I almost believed you, until I read the word friend.
This ruling would affect nothing if it didn't preclude the requirement of a media to store the data on. These devices support standard memory card formats (usually micro or mini sd) and the more standard cameras are usually requiring a DVD-RW or a tape of some kind if they don't have a HDD already.
I recently moved and Comcast, for whatever reason, insisted I needed an onsite installer for the new location. Shockingly, they were correct as the cables had all be severely damaged and new ones were needed. I didn't feel so dumb about the fee after I watched them do all this work.
At any rate, the time came to provision the modem and I just said "I don't have a computer." You can imagine the sideways look THAT got me. The truth was, my computer had not been moved in yet. I did, however, have a Wi-Fi enabled cell phone (Nokia E70). I said "I'll just be connecting a router anyway." So the tech went about her business, pulled out her own laptop, setup the modem and everything was ready to go. I then proceeded to plugin the Airport Express I had brought with me, waited a few moments for it to boot up, then connected and successfully tested the connection with my phone.
I guarantee you I did not need Internet Explorer for that:)
They are citing "after" effects without any "before" status. I only started using gadgets to assist in memorization tasks in the last 2-3 years. Prior to this time if I was asked my home phone I would know it, and now, I still know it. I know my work phone number too, which oddly enough, I have never known at any previous job or prior to my usage of PIM.
If they asked me birthdays of anyone, I would have trouble remembering. I remember about 5 birthdays, and even those I have trouble recalling at will. I don't know why, except that maybe I don't care. I think birthdays are silly things to celebrate except perhaps those of your own children.
The fact of the matter is that the majority of things I can recall by pulling out my smartphone are things I simply would not have known at all before. And there are no cases where something I would've known before is something I do not know now. I have never dialed my wife's cell phone number without the address book but I can recite it no problems, because I've watched the # pop up on the phone screen 10000 times.
And what the article is ignoring, at least in my case, is that some information I actually remember better because of the time I took to acquire it and record it in my database. I felt it would be useful and since I didn't have to try and memorize it, I'd actually save it instead of the usual ignorance of the information. And the result is that I've memorized some of that info on accident. Darn.
Finally, I wonder why, if these effects were real, they would be considered ill? Humans are creatures who define themselves over time through technology. We cannot continue denying that the tech we invent and use to live is not part of our species domain of evolution. As technology becomes more prevalent it becomes part of ourselves. If we have opened our mind for more important tasks by reducing what it must contain by moving that information into portable devices, or highly accessible central databases, then we have evolved as a species. Currently there are "holes" in this plan but as we move forward they will be plugged. Someday when you find yourself stranded in a forest for some reason, you'll be able to subvocalize a request for a map to be projected into your visual cortex and send a request for assistance to the nearest forestry service through satellite links. When this happens, who will care if you could or could not memorize uncle Jim's anniversary?
What will it matter when in your satiating state of serenity you are reminded subconsciously that you decided that you cared about someone's going away party to which you were invited 9 months earlier.
I guess what I'm saying is, let the gadgets take over our menial mental tasks. Let us follow up on the technology to fix its critical flaws so that we can rely on it. Let our minds work on the immediate projects that are of the most importance and leave this obnoxious set of tasks to the domesticated wafers of silicon that we have created.
The fear that this technology will weaken our minds is as irrelevant as the fear that wearing shoes will weaken our feet.
I wonder, if one were to send a one minute stream of uncompressed video data, would more photons be required for the transmission over the fiber, or in the final display to the user/viewer?
But, the real question is if these cables ran under water could we consider each packet a photon torpedo?
When I'm rebooted into Windows instead of using Fusion
When I'm testing my website for compatibility at work
When I'm writing AJAX applications targetting the iPhone at work
When I don't feel like waiting for another browser to load, as Safari is coming up and loading pages faster than any competitor on my machine. YMMV obviously
For the sake of comfort, I (unlike much of the/. crowd apparently) really appreciate a simple browser like Safari, and like FF was back in the day
It doesn't have to be a killer app. It's just another option, and I think it's fairly obvious that it's to assist people who want to develop applications that are likely to work on the iPhone.
Further evidence indicates it may have come to the point where so much of Safari was already included in iTMS support in iTunes that they "may as well" release the whole browser, and see how people react.
I find it endlessly amusing how Slashdot is repeatedly posting Apple bashing articles since WWDC. It looks like Jobs spit on taco's car or something. There has to be some kind of grudge here. And as for the rest of you, why do you complain about a free product like this? Are you Apple investors or something?
Before you go all blood-eye over this, why don't you do five minutes of research to find out what those fees are used for?
You'll find that much of that sum goes to supporting connectivity for those who cannot afford it. Generally it's paying for internet access in libraries and schools.
Of course, before you can do that you'll have to learn to add and realize your taxes on your phone bill are closer to $7 or $8 than $25. But flailing exaggerations are what make this Slashdot:)
No, common mistake. The notice is that one line, if it was the old BSD thing, it would require you to recite every author along the hierarchy of change in every revision.
If 10 people made changes, the final version would have 10 author names listed.
The notice in this case is just like the one required explicitly by the GPL actually:)
While I'm reading all of these amusing comments in regards to an issue in Inida, I found it especially amusing that slashdot's current "quote" at the bottom of the page is:
I recently asked the same questions as I decided my system was beginning to age. I wanted to look forward and Windows Vista was not on the... vista.
The only difference here is that I wasn't concerned that my software be free. I don't mind paying a few bucks here and there if it's good quality software.
So after spending several weeks trying to pin down a comfortable desktop linux distribution, and learning no such thing exists yet (close, seriously, but linux will need to get over its anti-cooperative attitude about commercial products and software before it's viable for a regular desktop like mine) I decided to go with OS X. I bought a new computer and haven't been happier in all of my 17 years of computing.
I did spend a year working with an OS X machine several years ago, so it wasn't like I jumped in cold turkey, but I hadn't actually owned a Mac myself until now. Also I used Linux without worrying about ease of use, and compatibility for a long time, at least 6 years, and I can tell you that OS X gives me everything I enjoyed having from Linux.
I just can't take reconfiguring my X server every time an update comes along and breaks it, horrible power management, and all the rest of the excess management that goes into making a Linux system work well and work with all of my random hardware and devices.
When I'm at home I'm a user, and I want my machine to serve me, not the other way around which is what Linux ultimately demands.
I was worried about this. I was worried that when I stopped paying $65/mo. on cable tv and started spending it on season passes on iTMS instead, that I would have issues with comcast squelching my line or cutting me off entirely. Up until now I rarely downloaded much at once. I mainly wanted broadband for the low latency and occasional high throughput it provides.
Now I find I've downloaded 20 Gigabytes in less than one month, and haven't heard a single complain from my ISP.
I'm not sure how long this will last, and I do intend to get a better ISP as soon as fibre becomes an option for me, but until then, I will just hope comcast is turning a blind eye to iTMS peered connections.
On my desk, I have one LED for my monitor, it's always on even if the monitor is off (totally unnecessary, imho). One on my external MyBook HDD that pulses when it's "off." One on my Mac mini the pulses when it's off. One on my belkin usb hub / iPod dock that is always on, and one that is on when the ipod's plugged in even if it's not in use (come on, like I need an led to tell me I have a device sticking out of the top of the hub!).
Before I switched to the mini I had a regular desktop which had an LED on the motherboard that was always on and shined through the case window (I guess that's the point of the windows, but, whey shine while off?) it has a power indicator that when the machine is in suspend-to-ram mode, BLINKS. Furthermore I have a cable modem and a router, both with blinking lights always going even when I don't care (which is 99.9% of the time).
And the worst one, I have these philips speakers and the volume control is surrounded by what must be the brightest blue LED circle ever made, it lights up my whole room.
So to deal with most of these useless LED's, I've taken to taping tin foil over them. Yes tin foil. Paper doesn't work, even relatively thick paper doesn't block the brighter LED's. But no light is coming through the tin foil.
What I'd like to see are no LED's for the really obvious things (like the light on my speakers, what good is that doing me?) and lights that can be switched on when necessary on things that may occasionally be interesting like my routers. Oh and the LED's all over the plugs and power strips have to go.
I have one example of a good LED, that's on my Logitech G5 laser gaming mouse. It has an led indicating which step is currently selected in the DPI setting on the mouse itself. When the computer goes to sleep, that light goes out. It's only on when I care that it's on, and even then it's dim. Another example is the Nintendo DS. This is a no brainer it seems, but, it only uses its LED when it's on, it blinks when it's in suspend mode, also it will blink to show wi-fi activity, and light red when the battery is low. It also lights up while charging but shuts that light off when the charging is complete. Basically it means the DS isn't annoying me with lights unless it's actively in use or in a state where it's reminding you of useful or important info (i.e. it's in sleep mode and dying so it's blinking red, time to plug in or you'll lose your progress).
The pulsing lights I mentioned are not terribly annoying, especially the mini's light since it isn't very bright when pulsing, but the always-on lights of the hub and the speakers are just unaccaptable, and useless decoration.
A) You got a newer treo, not 650 or earlier, and the rules have changed. However, with the 650, the light blinks ALWAYS when the phone is within range of a network. The most moronic decision on a status indicator "blinking when everything is normal" exists on this phone.
or
B) You got one of the 100's of free software addons that will allow you to adjust how the LED works, which is what I did when I got the 650. It was the first thing I did when I noticed the light would blink because the network was connected.
I'm guessing A here since you seem unaware of the issue.
This comment is on the slashdot post, if found. It's not intended to address the article itself, if found. Also it is not intended to address the subject, if found, of the article, if found.
Mainly, if found, what I'm saying, if found, is that if you should feel the need to complain about this post you can shove the complaint in your ear, if found.
Clearly you have been misinformed. Due to the nature of dual layer dvd technology, the second layer is too obscured to be used completely, which is why you get so much loss of space. The 9.4GB size is double sided single layer per side. So that's 9.4GB for the whole DVD not one side.
Mostly I agree, but there are a few things you've missed or mistakened...
Gmail - disk space of 2.6G versus 2G
I currently show 2,849MB of space. It goes up all the time. It's not a static limit. This is important to note because over time hotmail will remain at 2G and google mail will soon reach 3 gigs.
Gmail - cross platform support. Gmail works the same way with Safari and Opera, while Hotmail degrades to the old interface in them.
While this is certainly close to true, it's not entirely accurate. GMail works very similarly across browsers, furthermore, not all features are supported on Safari or Opera, et al. The built-in google talk client does not work on Safari, for example.
Tie - I know Gmail has no ads and someone is claiming Hotmail has removed them now too for the free accounts. Can anyone confirm this?
This is definitely not true, at least on the gmail front. I haven't used HoTMaiL in a long time. But I can attest to gmail, and let me tell you, there are definitely ads. They are context sensitive text ads that use the contents of your email to choose which ads to show. They show up on the right side in a column next to the email you are currently viewing.
I can't imagine anything HoTMaiL does will ever draw me back to their service. I've used a number of email providers over the years and nothing has ever come close to the mass spam attraction that HoTMaiL sustains. And the kind of vendor lock-in they provide just isn't attractive at this point in the history of the internet. Yahoo! has provided a more interesting interface with arguably better usability than gmail, but still it won't draw me in. I won't pay Yahoo! to get rid of 8cm*cm ads when gmail will give me the same features for free. and only some minor text ads to support it. Besides, anymore I'm just forwarding my gmail mail to an IMAP server:)
Fortunately the telecom industry is a far cry from the pathetic copper strips looped house to house that it was back in the Ma Bell days. Don't forget about our friends T-Mobile (Deutcsh Telecom, largest mobile provider worldwide) and Verizon. And don't forget about the various attempts at VoIP.
Hopefully the market truly has advanced and diverisified enough that the reconstitution of Ma Bell will be irrelevant. I try to think positively about these things:)
To look at it another way, in my area I have the following choices for telephone service: Qwest, Comcast, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, plus any number of VoIP providers if I don't need 911 support, on top of a variety of the same companies providing internet access plus some other great ISP's in the area (UTOPIA fiber to the home, for example).
When the original Ma Bell was broken up, your ONLY choice for telephone service was AT&T, copper POTS lines.
I realize some other areas might not have the same number of choices, but at least there still remains multiple choices. Even after AT&T was split up, each region had only one choice due to the lines being controlled in a form of natural monopoly. And even when deregulation occurred hardly any companies offered service, besides the vultures who would let you pay 3 times as much as the regular company if you were disconnected for whatever reason.
Apple's iPod + iTunes + Airport Express covers all of your needs.
One iTunes installation streaming to several AirPort Express base stations (connectable via wifi or ethernet) provides just what you need, including synchronized output. I was really surprised when I discovered the output was synchronized, despite being streamed as data and decoded at the express device itself.
Furthermore, if you have several iPods it's trivial to synchronize them all with the same iTunes installation, in fact, it's kind of the entire point and reason behind the iPod's success isn't it?
It's not like the iPod is that great of a player, and people can quit pretending the scroll wheel was a good idea because it's not (my sore thumb joint...) but the software to manage the things, that's the golden feature right there.
I'm sorry to be the one that pimps Apple on this, but son... they've got you pegged.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you misunderstand what perfect pitch is. It's not the ability to associate a note name with a pitch. Though, that may be a side effect given proper practice. Perfect pitch is the ability to recognize a given tone/pitch without relationship to a previous tone. Most people don't know if they hear an A or an E without something before it that is identified.
More practically, most people could listen to a song's melody played in a specific key, then hear the same melody in another key the next day, and never know there was a difference. Those with perfect pitch would know there was a difference even if they weren't musicians and didn't know the letters assigned to those pitches. The fact that most of these people don't care plays into the perceived rarity of the ability. I, however, having perfect pitch, have made it a point to discover this quality in people I know. I find many people can do this and it's not as rare as often stated.
Is this some kind of huge dork gossip column here?
Seriously, can you possibly get any more canonical in the world of nerd-dom than roleplaying.
Remember to roll to determine whether to mod me down, and again to determine in which way!
I almost believed you, until I read the word friend.
This ruling would affect nothing if it didn't preclude the requirement of a media to store the data on. These devices support standard memory card formats (usually micro or mini sd) and the more standard cameras are usually requiring a DVD-RW or a tape of some kind if they don't have a HDD already.
Nokia has several models that would fall into this category if their resolutions was slightly higher.
N95,E90, and possibly some others can do VGA @ 30fps, and fill up a 2gb memory card with it.
No doubt in a year or so, at the rate nokia releases new handsets, they will qualify.
I recently moved and Comcast, for whatever reason, insisted I needed an onsite installer for the new location. Shockingly, they were correct as the cables had all be severely damaged and new ones were needed. I didn't feel so dumb about the fee after I watched them do all this work.
:)
At any rate, the time came to provision the modem and I just said "I don't have a computer." You can imagine the sideways look THAT got me. The truth was, my computer had not been moved in yet. I did, however, have a Wi-Fi enabled cell phone (Nokia E70). I said "I'll just be connecting a router anyway." So the tech went about her business, pulled out her own laptop, setup the modem and everything was ready to go. I then proceeded to plugin the Airport Express I had brought with me, waited a few moments for it to boot up, then connected and successfully tested the connection with my phone.
I guarantee you I did not need Internet Explorer for that
They are citing "after" effects without any "before" status. I only started using gadgets to assist in memorization tasks in the last 2-3 years. Prior to this time if I was asked my home phone I would know it, and now, I still know it. I know my work phone number too, which oddly enough, I have never known at any previous job or prior to my usage of PIM.
If they asked me birthdays of anyone, I would have trouble remembering. I remember about 5 birthdays, and even those I have trouble recalling at will. I don't know why, except that maybe I don't care. I think birthdays are silly things to celebrate except perhaps those of your own children.
The fact of the matter is that the majority of things I can recall by pulling out my smartphone are things I simply would not have known at all before. And there are no cases where something I would've known before is something I do not know now. I have never dialed my wife's cell phone number without the address book but I can recite it no problems, because I've watched the # pop up on the phone screen 10000 times.
And what the article is ignoring, at least in my case, is that some information I actually remember better because of the time I took to acquire it and record it in my database. I felt it would be useful and since I didn't have to try and memorize it, I'd actually save it instead of the usual ignorance of the information. And the result is that I've memorized some of that info on accident. Darn.
Finally, I wonder why, if these effects were real, they would be considered ill? Humans are creatures who define themselves over time through technology. We cannot continue denying that the tech we invent and use to live is not part of our species domain of evolution. As technology becomes more prevalent it becomes part of ourselves. If we have opened our mind for more important tasks by reducing what it must contain by moving that information into portable devices, or highly accessible central databases, then we have evolved as a species. Currently there are "holes" in this plan but as we move forward they will be plugged. Someday when you find yourself stranded in a forest for some reason, you'll be able to subvocalize a request for a map to be projected into your visual cortex and send a request for assistance to the nearest forestry service through satellite links. When this happens, who will care if you could or could not memorize uncle Jim's anniversary?
What will it matter when in your satiating state of serenity you are reminded subconsciously that you decided that you cared about someone's going away party to which you were invited 9 months earlier.
I guess what I'm saying is, let the gadgets take over our menial mental tasks. Let us follow up on the technology to fix its critical flaws so that we can rely on it. Let our minds work on the immediate projects that are of the most importance and leave this obnoxious set of tasks to the domesticated wafers of silicon that we have created.
The fear that this technology will weaken our minds is as irrelevant as the fear that wearing shoes will weaken our feet.
But, the real question is if these cables ran under water could we consider each packet a photon torpedo?
It doesn't have to be a killer app. It's just another option, and I think it's fairly obvious that it's to assist people who want to develop applications that are likely to work on the iPhone.
Further evidence indicates it may have come to the point where so much of Safari was already included in iTMS support in iTunes that they "may as well" release the whole browser, and see how people react.
I find it endlessly amusing how Slashdot is repeatedly posting Apple bashing articles since WWDC. It looks like Jobs spit on taco's car or something. There has to be some kind of grudge here. And as for the rest of you, why do you complain about a free product like this? Are you Apple investors or something?
:wq!
Based on the way it is blindly worshipped, I would have to guess it long ago passed sentience and arose to the level of Deity.
Before you go all blood-eye over this, why don't you do five minutes of research to find out what those fees are used for?
:)
You'll find that much of that sum goes to supporting connectivity for those who cannot afford it. Generally it's paying for internet access in libraries and schools.
Of course, before you can do that you'll have to learn to add and realize your taxes on your phone bill are closer to $7 or $8 than $25. But flailing exaggerations are what make this Slashdot
No, common mistake. The notice is that one line, if it was the old BSD thing, it would require you to recite every author along the hierarchy of change in every revision.
:)
If 10 people made changes, the final version would have 10 author names listed.
The notice in this case is just like the one required explicitly by the GPL actually
While I'm reading all of these amusing comments in regards to an issue in Inida, I found it especially amusing that slashdot's current "quote" at the bottom of the page is:
I recently asked the same questions as I decided my system was beginning to age. I wanted to look forward and Windows Vista was not on the... vista.
The only difference here is that I wasn't concerned that my software be free. I don't mind paying a few bucks here and there if it's good quality software.
So after spending several weeks trying to pin down a comfortable desktop linux distribution, and learning no such thing exists yet (close, seriously, but linux will need to get over its anti-cooperative attitude about commercial products and software before it's viable for a regular desktop like mine) I decided to go with OS X. I bought a new computer and haven't been happier in all of my 17 years of computing.
I did spend a year working with an OS X machine several years ago, so it wasn't like I jumped in cold turkey, but I hadn't actually owned a Mac myself until now. Also I used Linux without worrying about ease of use, and compatibility for a long time, at least 6 years, and I can tell you that OS X gives me everything I enjoyed having from Linux.
I just can't take reconfiguring my X server every time an update comes along and breaks it, horrible power management, and all the rest of the excess management that goes into making a Linux system work well and work with all of my random hardware and devices.
When I'm at home I'm a user, and I want my machine to serve me, not the other way around which is what Linux ultimately demands.
I was worried about this. I was worried that when I stopped paying $65/mo. on cable tv and started spending it on season passes on iTMS instead, that I would have issues with comcast squelching my line or cutting me off entirely. Up until now I rarely downloaded much at once. I mainly wanted broadband for the low latency and occasional high throughput it provides.
Now I find I've downloaded 20 Gigabytes in less than one month, and haven't heard a single complain from my ISP.
I'm not sure how long this will last, and I do intend to get a better ISP as soon as fibre becomes an option for me, but until then, I will just hope comcast is turning a blind eye to iTMS peered connections.
On my desk, I have one LED for my monitor, it's always on even if the monitor is off (totally unnecessary, imho). One on my external MyBook HDD that pulses when it's "off." One on my Mac mini the pulses when it's off. One on my belkin usb hub / iPod dock that is always on, and one that is on when the ipod's plugged in even if it's not in use (come on, like I need an led to tell me I have a device sticking out of the top of the hub!).
Before I switched to the mini I had a regular desktop which had an LED on the motherboard that was always on and shined through the case window (I guess that's the point of the windows, but, whey shine while off?) it has a power indicator that when the machine is in suspend-to-ram mode, BLINKS. Furthermore I have a cable modem and a router, both with blinking lights always going even when I don't care (which is 99.9% of the time).
And the worst one, I have these philips speakers and the volume control is surrounded by what must be the brightest blue LED circle ever made, it lights up my whole room.
So to deal with most of these useless LED's, I've taken to taping tin foil over them. Yes tin foil. Paper doesn't work, even relatively thick paper doesn't block the brighter LED's. But no light is coming through the tin foil.
What I'd like to see are no LED's for the really obvious things (like the light on my speakers, what good is that doing me?) and lights that can be switched on when necessary on things that may occasionally be interesting like my routers. Oh and the LED's all over the plugs and power strips have to go.
I have one example of a good LED, that's on my Logitech G5 laser gaming mouse. It has an led indicating which step is currently selected in the DPI setting on the mouse itself. When the computer goes to sleep, that light goes out. It's only on when I care that it's on, and even then it's dim. Another example is the Nintendo DS. This is a no brainer it seems, but, it only uses its LED when it's on, it blinks when it's in suspend mode, also it will blink to show wi-fi activity, and light red when the battery is low. It also lights up while charging but shuts that light off when the charging is complete. Basically it means the DS isn't annoying me with lights unless it's actively in use or in a state where it's reminding you of useful or important info (i.e. it's in sleep mode and dying so it's blinking red, time to plug in or you'll lose your progress).
The pulsing lights I mentioned are not terribly annoying, especially the mini's light since it isn't very bright when pulsing, but the always-on lights of the hub and the speakers are just unaccaptable, and useless decoration.
One of two things are happening for you:
A) You got a newer treo, not 650 or earlier, and the rules have changed. However, with the 650, the light blinks ALWAYS when the phone is within range of a network. The most moronic decision on a status indicator "blinking when everything is normal" exists on this phone.
or
B) You got one of the 100's of free software addons that will allow you to adjust how the LED works, which is what I did when I got the 650. It was the first thing I did when I noticed the light would blink because the network was connected.
I'm guessing A here since you seem unaware of the issue.
This comment is on the slashdot post, if found. It's not intended to address the article itself, if found. Also it is not intended to address the subject, if found, of the article, if found.
Mainly, if found, what I'm saying, if found, is that if you should feel the need to complain about this post you can shove the complaint in your ear, if found.
I'm sorry but you are wrong, please refer to the charts on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd#Dual_layer_record ing
Clearly you have been misinformed. Due to the nature of dual layer dvd technology, the second layer is too obscured to be used completely, which is why you get so much loss of space. The 9.4GB size is double sided single layer per side. So that's 9.4GB for the whole DVD not one side.
Mostly I agree, but there are a few things you've missed or mistakened...
I currently show 2,849MB of space. It goes up all the time. It's not a static limit. This is important to note because over time hotmail will remain at 2G and google mail will soon reach 3 gigs.
While this is certainly close to true, it's not entirely accurate. GMail works very similarly across browsers, furthermore, not all features are supported on Safari or Opera, et al. The built-in google talk client does not work on Safari, for example.
This is definitely not true, at least on the gmail front. I haven't used HoTMaiL in a long time. But I can attest to gmail, and let me tell you, there are definitely ads. They are context sensitive text ads that use the contents of your email to choose which ads to show. They show up on the right side in a column next to the email you are currently viewing.
I can't imagine anything HoTMaiL does will ever draw me back to their service. I've used a number of email providers over the years and nothing has ever come close to the mass spam attraction that HoTMaiL sustains. And the kind of vendor lock-in they provide just isn't attractive at this point in the history of the internet. Yahoo! has provided a more interesting interface with arguably better usability than gmail, but still it won't draw me in. I won't pay Yahoo! to get rid of 8cm*cm ads when gmail will give me the same features for free. and only some minor text ads to support it. Besides, anymore I'm just forwarding my gmail mail to an IMAP server :)
You must be referring to Robert Gates, since Bill Gates would definitely know that DVD's limit is 8.5GB per side.
Fortunately the telecom industry is a far cry from the pathetic copper strips looped house to house that it was back in the Ma Bell days. Don't forget about our friends T-Mobile (Deutcsh Telecom, largest mobile provider worldwide) and Verizon. And don't forget about the various attempts at VoIP.
:)
Hopefully the market truly has advanced and diverisified enough that the reconstitution of Ma Bell will be irrelevant. I try to think positively about these things
To look at it another way, in my area I have the following choices for telephone service: Qwest, Comcast, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, plus any number of VoIP providers if I don't need 911 support, on top of a variety of the same companies providing internet access plus some other great ISP's in the area (UTOPIA fiber to the home, for example).
When the original Ma Bell was broken up, your ONLY choice for telephone service was AT&T, copper POTS lines.
I realize some other areas might not have the same number of choices, but at least there still remains multiple choices. Even after AT&T was split up, each region had only one choice due to the lines being controlled in a form of natural monopoly. And even when deregulation occurred hardly any companies offered service, besides the vultures who would let you pay 3 times as much as the regular company if you were disconnected for whatever reason.
Apple's iPod + iTunes + Airport Express covers all of your needs.
One iTunes installation streaming to several AirPort Express base stations (connectable via wifi or ethernet) provides just what you need, including synchronized output. I was really surprised when I discovered the output was synchronized, despite being streamed as data and decoded at the express device itself.
Furthermore, if you have several iPods it's trivial to synchronize them all with the same iTunes installation, in fact, it's kind of the entire point and reason behind the iPod's success isn't it?
It's not like the iPod is that great of a player, and people can quit pretending the scroll wheel was a good idea because it's not (my sore thumb joint...) but the software to manage the things, that's the golden feature right there.
I'm sorry to be the one that pimps Apple on this, but son... they've got you pegged.
Have you ever looked at a credit card and noticed how nearly every one has visibly obscured the numbers?
An ancient theft attack vector is photography. Your bar code would be even easier to steal than a credit card number.
Don't underestimate the thieves.