I know you are in India, but is $99/year really so much for a hobby? In the US some people pay more for a cell phone plan per month. And most households spend about that much per month for cable. I see your point, but I'm having some trouble getting wound up over a $99 yearly fee when the devices you run on cost 6 times that.
I actually find that I can do a lot of things in Javascript in a way similar to how I do them in Python (which is my favorite). I don't have the strong visceral hatred for PHP that other folks do, but I can definitely see how Javascript and especially Python are superior. Most of the problems I have with JavaScript have to do with how the individual web browsers implement it, the tendency to fail silently, and the looseness of the syntax in general. Python, except for typing, is a much bigger hard-ass - and that's the way I like it!:)
You bring up a topic that I used to think about quite a bit. The logical part of my brain wants me to consider all people equally. But the social part of my brain wants me to value my family more than anyone else. The social and selfish parts make me feel more connected to my neighborhood than my county, my county more than my state, and to some degree my state more than my nation. I guess this makes sense - I have a lot more control over things the closer they are to me. If I want good wages and tolerable working conditions, on some level it makes sense to demand those things locally before attempting to do anything very far away.
It's an interesting situation, and ultimately I seem to have stopped struggling with it - probably because I decided it was not something that one can resolve. As I get older, I realize just how gray the world is.
I have to disagree. I work with some H1B folks, and they are some of the best people to work with. I think tossing out the world's best and brightest after educating them is bad for the country, even if it might help raise my salary a little in the short term.
I can't think of a single one of the many PCs I owned in the past that lasted 5 years without having had to have multiple things replaced and/or repaired.
I definitely like Apple's products. We have some Macs, some older iPhones and a few iPods. We also have a Windows machine and I have an Android phone.
With that as my setup, I have to say that if you buy quality PC components they will last. Yes, my old 2004 G5 is still humming along as the kids' computer. My 2005 iBook G4 is still in use as my father-in-law's computer (with one repair due to baby drool). I haven't even had an itch to replace my 2009 MacBook Pro. But the HP workstation (similar in price to the G5 when new) from around 2006 is now acting as my FreeBSD zfs fileserver with only a fan gone bad. I only just swapped out the guts in a PC I built in 2005 - and the only reason I did that was because of my (bad decision) Windows 8 upgrade. My mother-in-law is still happily using a nice HP laptop that I chose for her from 2004 (with new memory). Sure, my mom blows through a Dell laptop every few years, but that's of the sub-$600 variety. You largely get what you pay for - Apple just doesn't try to compete in the "crappy" category.
Robots are replacing workers everywhere and we need a new economy to deal with the situation.
I don't mean to belittle your concerns, but it's not as bleak as you paint. If the factory is in the US, it is still a net win for employment. Robots need to be manufactured, maintained, and repaired (I work in that industry). This is the kind of high-margin business that US companies can still compete in. The factory needs support services. The factory needs raw materials. The raw materials and finished goods need to be transported. Many of these jobs are much better than the line worker jobs that the robots are replacing.
Sure you have fewer "lose your hand in an industrial accident" kinds of jobs, and that is a problem for people who used to rely on those jobs instead of education. But it's better for the US employment situation than simply hiring a bunch of people in China. And productivity improvements are better for the population as a whole, even if it negatively affects those who end up being replaced by robots. I'm not sure what people with no skills will do when factories become more automated, but holding back productivity is probably not the answer.
It's a pain in the ass, but it has good bones. I'm sure Windows 9 will address the multiple personality disorder somewhat. I'm hoping that Windows tablets don't fall flat in the marketplace so that we have some competition, but I have to admit that they aren't that compelling so it might all just go away.
I just wanted to add that, perversely, the first large cellulosic plants are springing up in corn country and are being setup to use corn waste. So even if we aren't using "corn" ethanol, we will still be using ethanol from corn:)
Corn to ethanol only makes sense if you are trying to build up the ethanol infrastructure in the hopes of more efficient production methods coming down the pike. Already it has displaced chemicals like MTBE, and all cars built since the early 2000s can handle E85, and most service stations seem capable of delivering the now-common 10% ethanol gasoline. But it certainly is a gamble. Dupont is opening up a cellulosic ethanol plant, so the tech may very well become viable.
In that case, the answer at my company is an unqualified "yes". We do a lot of international calling, and cell phones are inadequate. We use Office Communicator for more and more of that, but it's still hooked to a "phone" through the USB port.
Maybe a POTS style receiver attached to the PC via USB or actually into the sound card mic-in and phones-out and the pc app has a speakerphone function.
Basically, that's what the do-dad is. It plugs into the USB port and lets you talk. Some people here have headsets, some have these little handsets that hook to the side of the monitor to "hang up" and others have something that looks like a standard office phone. But they all are just fancy speakers and microphones for Office Communicator. I still have a POTS phone, but it is scheduled to disappear.
The original question was a little ambiguous... do they mean "phone" as in a dedicated chunk of hardware for talking on or do they mean "phone" as in some way to interface with POTS? We are phasing out our POTS phones, but we still have a do-dad hooked up to our computers. Many of us also have company-issued cell phones. The computer do-dad (hooked into Office Communicator) is mostly for making international calls, since no cell carrier sells competitive international service. I personally still have a desk phone for international calls, since they haven't switched me over yet.
I agree that they could have made a better decision, but the problem with my argument is that I don't pretend to be savvy enough in the finer points of constitutional law to say how it could have been made better. I just think the decision should be more of a wakeup call that we need to change the way we use corporations than yet another wedge issue. For me, my initial reaction was "WTF???" and then I read the decision and it was actually pretty reasonable. At that point, I started wondering how the hell we got to such a point and how we could fix it.
My personal view is that corporations are an extension of government, and so it makes little sense to allow them to lobby the government. It becomes a feedback cycle that has gone out of control. Incidentally, it is very similar to requiring government employees to contribute toward their public employees union, which then uses some of the money to lobby the government. These incestuous relationships do not serve the public interest.
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If money is all that you care about, then surely the $25 you sent Google could have been saved?
Also, there is Cydia, which is the main alternative App store for iOS. I don't believe it costs anything to put a free app on Cydia.
I know you are in India, but is $99/year really so much for a hobby? In the US some people pay more for a cell phone plan per month. And most households spend about that much per month for cable. I see your point, but I'm having some trouble getting wound up over a $99 yearly fee when the devices you run on cost 6 times that.
Don't they actually need to charge him with something?
I don't think blasphemy laws really differentiate based on production values.
"Mac" app store? Who the heck cares about that?
$25,000??? Does the Windows App store have that much revenue???
(I keed, I keed...)
I actually find that I can do a lot of things in Javascript in a way similar to how I do them in Python (which is my favorite). I don't have the strong visceral hatred for PHP that other folks do, but I can definitely see how Javascript and especially Python are superior. Most of the problems I have with JavaScript have to do with how the individual web browsers implement it, the tendency to fail silently, and the looseness of the syntax in general. Python, except for typing, is a much bigger hard-ass - and that's the way I like it! :)
That wears off around 30 or so...
You bring up a topic that I used to think about quite a bit. The logical part of my brain wants me to consider all people equally. But the social part of my brain wants me to value my family more than anyone else. The social and selfish parts make me feel more connected to my neighborhood than my county, my county more than my state, and to some degree my state more than my nation. I guess this makes sense - I have a lot more control over things the closer they are to me. If I want good wages and tolerable working conditions, on some level it makes sense to demand those things locally before attempting to do anything very far away.
It's an interesting situation, and ultimately I seem to have stopped struggling with it - probably because I decided it was not something that one can resolve. As I get older, I realize just how gray the world is.
I have to disagree. I work with some H1B folks, and they are some of the best people to work with. I think tossing out the world's best and brightest after educating them is bad for the country, even if it might help raise my salary a little in the short term.
I can't think of a single one of the many PCs I owned in the past that lasted 5 years without having had to have multiple things replaced and/or repaired.
I definitely like Apple's products. We have some Macs, some older iPhones and a few iPods. We also have a Windows machine and I have an Android phone.
With that as my setup, I have to say that if you buy quality PC components they will last. Yes, my old 2004 G5 is still humming along as the kids' computer. My 2005 iBook G4 is still in use as my father-in-law's computer (with one repair due to baby drool). I haven't even had an itch to replace my 2009 MacBook Pro. But the HP workstation (similar in price to the G5 when new) from around 2006 is now acting as my FreeBSD zfs fileserver with only a fan gone bad. I only just swapped out the guts in a PC I built in 2005 - and the only reason I did that was because of my (bad decision) Windows 8 upgrade. My mother-in-law is still happily using a nice HP laptop that I chose for her from 2004 (with new memory). Sure, my mom blows through a Dell laptop every few years, but that's of the sub-$600 variety. You largely get what you pay for - Apple just doesn't try to compete in the "crappy" category.
Robots are replacing workers everywhere and we need a new economy to deal with the situation.
I don't mean to belittle your concerns, but it's not as bleak as you paint. If the factory is in the US, it is still a net win for employment. Robots need to be manufactured, maintained, and repaired (I work in that industry). This is the kind of high-margin business that US companies can still compete in. The factory needs support services. The factory needs raw materials. The raw materials and finished goods need to be transported. Many of these jobs are much better than the line worker jobs that the robots are replacing.
Sure you have fewer "lose your hand in an industrial accident" kinds of jobs, and that is a problem for people who used to rely on those jobs instead of education. But it's better for the US employment situation than simply hiring a bunch of people in China. And productivity improvements are better for the population as a whole, even if it negatively affects those who end up being replaced by robots. I'm not sure what people with no skills will do when factories become more automated, but holding back productivity is probably not the answer.
It's a pain in the ass, but it has good bones. I'm sure Windows 9 will address the multiple personality disorder somewhat. I'm hoping that Windows tablets don't fall flat in the marketplace so that we have some competition, but I have to admit that they aren't that compelling so it might all just go away.
I thought all of his philosophy was discredited when they tore down the wall and started pulling down his statues?
Windows 8 will cure you of that!
It probably would on PPC Linux...
Can you link me to it? I think it is now $35/month.
That plan was also very good, and it includes more minutes (300). The downside is less high-speed data (2.5GB vs 5GB).
I used two iShiny phones on T-Mobile prior to my current Android. You can't beat T-Mobile's $30 5GB prepaid plan.
I'm sorry - I typed that exactly backwards. I meant to type "E15", where it is 85% regular gasoline.
I just wanted to add that, perversely, the first large cellulosic plants are springing up in corn country and are being setup to use corn waste. So even if we aren't using "corn" ethanol, we will still be using ethanol from corn :)
Corn to ethanol only makes sense if you are trying to build up the ethanol infrastructure in the hopes of more efficient production methods coming down the pike. Already it has displaced chemicals like MTBE, and all cars built since the early 2000s can handle E85, and most service stations seem capable of delivering the now-common 10% ethanol gasoline. But it certainly is a gamble. Dupont is opening up a cellulosic ethanol plant, so the tech may very well become viable.
In that case, the answer at my company is an unqualified "yes". We do a lot of international calling, and cell phones are inadequate. We use Office Communicator for more and more of that, but it's still hooked to a "phone" through the USB port.
Maybe a POTS style receiver attached to the PC via USB or actually into the sound card mic-in and phones-out and the pc app has a speakerphone function.
Basically, that's what the do-dad is. It plugs into the USB port and lets you talk. Some people here have headsets, some have these little handsets that hook to the side of the monitor to "hang up" and others have something that looks like a standard office phone. But they all are just fancy speakers and microphones for Office Communicator. I still have a POTS phone, but it is scheduled to disappear.
The original question was a little ambiguous... do they mean "phone" as in a dedicated chunk of hardware for talking on or do they mean "phone" as in some way to interface with POTS? We are phasing out our POTS phones, but we still have a do-dad hooked up to our computers. Many of us also have company-issued cell phones. The computer do-dad (hooked into Office Communicator) is mostly for making international calls, since no cell carrier sells competitive international service. I personally still have a desk phone for international calls, since they haven't switched me over yet.
I agree that they could have made a better decision, but the problem with my argument is that I don't pretend to be savvy enough in the finer points of constitutional law to say how it could have been made better. I just think the decision should be more of a wakeup call that we need to change the way we use corporations than yet another wedge issue. For me, my initial reaction was "WTF???" and then I read the decision and it was actually pretty reasonable. At that point, I started wondering how the hell we got to such a point and how we could fix it.
My personal view is that corporations are an extension of government, and so it makes little sense to allow them to lobby the government. It becomes a feedback cycle that has gone out of control. Incidentally, it is very similar to requiring government employees to contribute toward their public employees union, which then uses some of the money to lobby the government. These incestuous relationships do not serve the public interest.