VOIP is OK if you really, really need to save money, but often it's more important to be able to reach somebody immediately on a line where you can actually understand each other, all of the time.
It's a similar problem with the deep discount long distance carriers in the US and elsewhere. Usable if you don't expect it to work all the time, and if you don't mind delays, echos and so on, but even for personal calls it's often better to pay the extra for a proper carrier, just to save the wasted time from having to repeat things and call back.
So, there's a market for VOIP at the cheap end of the market, and it's hurting the really low-cost carriers already, but there will remain a much bigger market for phone service that just works, all the time, has proper capacity engineering, and has a high quality connection.
It's more of a problem for domain admins than individual users. For example, one of my domains gets over 300 spam messages an HOUR (and has done for over a year) - nearly all to non-existant addresses (addresses that have never existed).
Sure I bounce bounce them, but that leads to the next problem - all return addresses on spam are forged, so hundreds of random people elsewhere are getting bounce messages from my server every hour.
Another of my domains has been used by a spammer to generate random forged reply addresses - that one gets hundreds of bounces a day, and those are harder to filter.
It's a serious proplem that is killing email, but having draconian penalties in the US is pointless when most spam is sent from (and to) other countries.
A used modular home is good value - like a used car, sombody else has already paid much of the depreciation. Any local mobile home showroom should have some "trade-ins" to get rid of.
A couple of other advantages: there's been time for the chemicals used in the construction to air out (some new homes have really unbreathable air), and last but by no means least the depreciated value should be used for the property tax calculations. It's not just the cost of a house that's important, but the running costs also.
Looked after, late 70's doublewides are hard to tell from the current product and are are a very cheap way to get a sizable home.
Note though that many lots have restrictions in the deeds stopping you from moving older homes on to them.
The list reveals unlisted numbers to anybody who is an exempt caller, such as charities and (shudder) politicians.
For them it's a valuable source of numbers, some of which are not available elsewhere.
It doesn't often make sense to form a standard company/corp in a country other than the one you live in full-time (or, in the US, outside the state you live in).
This is because most countries have a "control" test - if the shareholders/directors of a company live in that country, the company can be taxed there.
For example if you have a UK co and live full-time in France, the French authorities (as well as the UK!) can tax it. Nightmare of paperwork. Of course they have to find it but nowadays any arrangement that relies on secrecy is doomed to failure, eventually.
But the lower tax solution: incorporate offshore and then live in a country which does not have such rules, or live in multiple countries for part of the year without being a resident in any of them (a great lifestyle which I did for years).
Note that many clients would have problems paying some of the more "offshore" places like Nuie, Vanuatu etc. The Isle of Man is the best place to form a company for European Union people (in fact best for most).
I don't see what's so accessible about a design that uses fixed text sizes. Seems to be an attempt to do page layout, rather than page markup.
To be properly accessible, it should (amongst other things...) be possible to easily change the displayed font size to suit your preference.
With the default MSIE settings it can't be done when the stylesheet specifies fixed pixel font sizes. I realise that most of the size specifications in css are broken in some way in some browser, but just assuming that everybody uses the exact same screen DPI and has the exact same eyesight isn't the answer.
From that point of view, the winning design is a big step backwards from the existing site (and no less cluttered and confusing).
I don't see what's so accessible about a design that uses fixed text sizes. Seems to be an attempt to do page layout, rather than page markup.
To be properly accessible, it should (amongst other things...) be possible to easily change the displayed font size to suit your preference.
With the default MSIE settings it can't be done when the stylesheet specifies fixed pixel font sizes. I realise that most of the size specifications in css are broken in some way in some browser, but just assuming that everybody uses the exact same screen DPI and has the exact same eyesight isn't the answer.
From that point of view, the winning design is a big step backwards from the existing site (and no less cluttered and confusing).
Slashdot Mirror
However, it looks like it might (somehow) eventually be limited to education users only: http://www.bl.uk/collections/britishnewspapers1800 to1900.html/
which would be crazy.
A land line without service (i.e. no dial tone) can't call 911 or anything else.
It's a similar problem with the deep discount long distance carriers in the US and elsewhere. Usable if you don't expect it to work all the time, and if you don't mind delays, echos and so on, but even for personal calls it's often better to pay the extra for a proper carrier, just to save the wasted time from having to repeat things and call back.
So, there's a market for VOIP at the cheap end of the market, and it's hurting the really low-cost carriers already, but there will remain a much bigger market for phone service that just works, all the time, has proper capacity engineering, and has a high quality connection.
Sure I bounce bounce them, but that leads to the next problem - all return addresses on spam are forged, so hundreds of random people elsewhere are getting bounce messages from my server every hour.
Another of my domains has been used by a spammer to generate random forged reply addresses - that one gets hundreds of bounces a day, and those are harder to filter.
It's a serious proplem that is killing email, but having draconian penalties in the US is pointless when most spam is sent from (and to) other countries.
A couple of other advantages: there's been time for the chemicals used in the construction to air out (some new homes have really unbreathable air), and last but by no means least the depreciated value should be used for the property tax calculations. It's not just the cost of a house that's important, but the running costs also.
Looked after, late 70's doublewides are hard to tell from the current product and are are a very cheap way to get a sizable home.
Note though that many lots have restrictions in the deeds stopping you from moving older homes on to them.
The list reveals unlisted numbers to anybody who is an exempt caller, such as charities and (shudder) politicians. For them it's a valuable source of numbers, some of which are not available elsewhere.
This is because most countries have a "control" test - if the shareholders/directors of a company live in that country, the company can be taxed there.
For example if you have a UK co and live full-time in France, the French authorities (as well as the UK!) can tax it. Nightmare of paperwork. Of course they have to find it but nowadays any arrangement that relies on secrecy is doomed to failure, eventually.
But the lower tax solution: incorporate offshore and then live in a country which does not have such rules, or live in multiple countries for part of the year without being a resident in any of them (a great lifestyle which I did for years).
Note that many clients would have problems paying some of the more "offshore" places like Nuie, Vanuatu etc. The Isle of Man is the best place to form a company for European Union people (in fact best for most).
Rob
To be properly accessible, it should (amongst other things...) be possible to easily change the displayed font size to suit your preference.
With the default MSIE settings it can't be done when the stylesheet specifies fixed pixel font sizes. I realise that most of the size specifications in css are broken in some way in some browser, but just assuming that everybody uses the exact same screen DPI and has the exact same eyesight isn't the answer.
From that point of view, the winning design is a big step backwards from the existing site (and no less cluttered and confusing).
To be properly accessible, it should (amongst other things...) be possible to easily change the displayed font size to suit your preference.
With the default MSIE settings it can't be done when the stylesheet specifies fixed pixel font sizes. I realise that most of the size specifications in css are broken in some way in some browser, but just assuming that everybody uses the exact same screen DPI and has the exact same eyesight isn't the answer.
From that point of view, the winning design is a big step backwards from the existing site (and no less cluttered and confusing).