>"If someone steps out from between two cars and you hit them, you were going too fast."
In your example, they were jaywalking, which is illegal. If you hit them in a crosswalk, there would be far less question about liability. But you are not automatically at fault when someone just pops out in front of you elsewhere.
The sad part is that "Under the Dome" really does SUCK. I am hooked and want to know what is happening, but the whole "drama" part is so horrible, I am fast forwarding through at least half of each show now.
And yet no-name 50GB bluray writable discs still cost $4 EACH! And it wasn't long ago that it was many times that, and remained that for years. THAT is why it had no future as a general file storage medium. Not enough bang for the buck.
Meanwhile, blank NAME BRAND 4.7GB DVD's are $0.22 Even per GB, that is still half the cost. New formats need to be at least as cheap on a per GB, if not significant less expensive. Plus they need to be much faster and at least as reliable.
I suspect if Sony is involved in this new "next gen" crap, it will contain tons of artificial DRM licensing crap (even if not used for plain data storage) and industry price-fixing to keep the price up and it will fail, again.
I agree with you. I would never say anything if I thought the person in question were a non-native English speaker. But the TYPE of mistake made in this case seems more like a classic "ignorant American" mistake than a generic one. And it was certainly not a typo.
This is sad in so many ways. Primarily that there has to be such lock-in with public funds and on such an overpriced device. No need to go into ALL the details, it has already been hashed out on Slashdot before regarding price, toyness, theft, maintenance, battery wear, lack of E-Ink, lockdown, spyware, compatibility, damage, serviceability, insurance, attention span reduction, etc, etc.
Love technology, but sometimes it seems like it is not moving things forward, just sideways.... especially when it gets political.
Oh, and 30 million dollars for 31,000 tablets comes to $968 each. And that is supposed to be some special deal discount??? Meanwhile, the smaller, lighter, faster, higher res, second iteration of the Nexus 7 releases for $229 WITHOUT discount.
I can't believe how sad it is that such a letter would ever be necessary coming from the USA. I am so ashamed to be an American since 9/11. A land where everyone is treated as a potential terrorist and the government has destroyed the Constitution the country was built on.
>You open it, take your parcel, and lock the key inside. Awesome.
Yeah, but what is even more awesome is that at my house, the carriers drop the package at my door. No walking blocks. No messing with keys, no hauling something back home.
I would rather have less deliveries per week than dealing with a cluster F***... I mean cluster box, or even street/curb box.
>"Few special features" --- really stretching there to come up with criticisms. Worried?"
Worried??? Of course not. Want more examples?
GS4 has temp and humidity sensors. Evo 3D has 3D display and cameras. Evo LTE has a kickstand and camera button. One has ultrapixels for better night vision. GS4 has "hover". Evo 3D & LTE and GS3 & 4 all have SD slots. Evo LTE, One, and One X all have HD voice.
None of those are just software gimmicks, there is hardware behind it. I am sure there are many more, just picking some I can think of off the top of my head.
>"Please do not conflate screen size with "superphone" status."
Screen size is but just one factor among many (which I provided). Of course, screens are getting crazy big now, and not everyone wants a large screen. But it is not the typical hallmark of a high-end phone to be small right now.
>"This is Microsofts attempt to move their monopoly to a new computing sector. It won't work. People don't want to use their software."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Microsoft simply does not understand that their "popularity" in the computing market is mostly due due to their proprietary lock-in, and not due to free market choice and preference.
I bet if they offered IDENTICAL hardware to all the Android and IOS tablets for an IDENTICAL price, they still would not be able to sell enough to matter.
>"Moto X Demo Video Reveals Google's Android Superphone"
Superphone? Hardly. Compare to the HTC One/OneX/EvoLTE or the Samsung Galaxy S4/S3 or several other high-end models from other companies (LG, Sony) and it loses in most categories we know about so far.
*Smaller display. *Lower resolution *Slower processor *Less storage (and I am assuming no SD slot either) *Few special features *No front speakers
So it is a somewhat midrange phone by the already set high-end standards. And even LESS attractive if you find Google Now" creepy, and REALLY less attractive if you find a phone listening to you all the time and linked into Google, Google Now, and probably Google+ even more creepy. And what does listening all the time and using the main screen for notifications do to the battery life?
It is nice to see Motorola getting back into the game, but let's not go ga-ga over the presented leaks because so far, they just don't look all THAT impressive. I am sure there is a market for a non BEASTLY phone, but this is not the "ultimate" phone, nor the solution for everyone (of course, no one phone is).
If you saw my other post, I think another suitable idea would be to have a second, east coast transmitter and then have it alternate transmission with the west coast transmitter every minute or so. That way we could retain compatibility with all existing equipment and yet have MUCH better coverage.
Most stations in most areas of the USA moved to UHF during digital conversion. Even in your area, you have only 4 stations on 13 VHF channels, leaving 9 free.
Thank you for that wonderfully informative post! I thought I was crazy when one of my clocks syncs and it is exact 20 minutes TO THE SECOND off. It is probably a flipped bit and without any checksum, there you have it.
I agree with you also on the last part- it is not like it would be difficult to build a little smarts into a clock so it will reject something that seems wrong and try again. Also, if it would just store a step adjustment, it could, theoretically, "learn" to tell correct time to within one second per year, even without syncing for a year.
Yes, I know. There would have to be a presence at nearly every TV station. Or they could use a tiny bit of UHF and get the TV stations to do it for them. At lest it would then get "everywhere" in each market.
Either that, or add an a single 60Hz east coast transmitter and alternate transmissions every minute between the two.
>"Operating at 60kHz, the signal actually follows the curvature of the Earth via a trick of electromagnetics, allowing nearly the entire globe to receive an accurate time signal"
Except it doesn't. It depends on time of day, weather, season, exact location, how much local interference, building construction, elevation, and many other factors.
I really WISH it were as strong and wonderful as implied in the summary, but it is not. I have used radio controlled, WWVB clocks for many years and one thing they are NOT is "reliable", at least not where I live. Of the dozens of clocks I have used over 20+ years, NONE of them could get a reliable signal anywhere I have lived in the Mid Atlantic coast of the USA.
I am lucky to have it sync several nights in a row and then go weeks without a signal (sometimes even a month). Unfortunately, none of the clocks I have seen will store a step adjustment, so they drift just like any other quartz clock- some are even worse than just a cheap $15 non-radio-controlled clock.
Having to constantly set and sync clocks on everything (except my computer equipment and SOME of the radio clocks) is really annoying in 2013. With all that freed up VHF TV, why couldn't the government have set aside just a tiny blip that could be used for another time sync that could penetrate buildings and work in the daytime and regardless of weather?
>" But what if you could enjoy all the benefits of a dual-monitor configuration from a single monitor?"
Sorry but a 29" 2560x1080 is not a suitable replacement for my two 19" 4:3 1600x1200 monitors (3200x1200) on my Linux workstation. Not only do I get much more resolution but much more real-estate and I can angle the panels a bit to me so it is easier to see them both. I don't game or watch movies on it, so that part simply doesn't matter to me.
Maybe that product is a replacement for two tiny/cheesy 15" 1024x768 monitors.
>"It is probably to get away from their parents so that they can text in peace. . . : )"
And now we have come full circle. The teens (and even young adults) don't NEED to get away from their parents to text in peace, they text constantly, all the time, regardless. And they do it at the dinner table, while you are trying to talk to them, in the car while driving, in the classroom, at a wedding, in a theater, in church, just about anyplace they want and often where it is rude and/or unsafe.
And that is not a matter of just having a different set of values". Most of them KNOW it is rude or unsafe and just do it anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
>"If someone steps out from between two cars and you hit them, you were going too fast."
In your example, they were jaywalking, which is illegal. If you hit them in a crosswalk, there would be far less question about liability. But you are not automatically at fault when someone just pops out in front of you elsewhere.
>"But Honda is working on a way to use smartphones to protect pedestrians from bad drivers"
Bad *drivers*???
Um, no. How about idiot pedestrians who walk into the road without looking because they are too busy with their damn phones.
It is called a "DVR"
http://www.tivo.com/
The sad part is that "Under the Dome" really does SUCK. I am hooked and want to know what is happening, but the whole "drama" part is so horrible, I am fast forwarding through at least half of each show now.
And no, I don't pirate the video, it is on Cox.
And yet no-name 50GB bluray writable discs still cost $4 EACH! And it wasn't long ago that it was many times that, and remained that for years. THAT is why it had no future as a general file storage medium. Not enough bang for the buck.
Meanwhile, blank NAME BRAND 4.7GB DVD's are $0.22 Even per GB, that is still half the cost. New formats need to be at least as cheap on a per GB, if not significant less expensive. Plus they need to be much faster and at least as reliable.
I suspect if Sony is involved in this new "next gen" crap, it will contain tons of artificial DRM licensing crap (even if not used for plain data storage) and industry price-fixing to keep the price up and it will fail, again.
>"Apparantly the orange industry isn't on speaking terms with the banana industry."
LOL!!
OK, that isn't quite what I meant, but very funny
>"Florida orange crop is threatened by an incurable disease"
And perhaps that is because they plant millions of the same species/strain with no natural variation? Haven't we learned yet how bad that is?
I agree with you. I would never say anything if I thought the person in question were a non-native English speaker. But the TYPE of mistake made in this case seems more like a classic "ignorant American" mistake than a generic one. And it was certainly not a typo.
>"The Ph.D took longer than expected, so before finishing *me* and three others were able to code an entirely new editor"
A Ph.D that makes a mistake that glaring is a sad thing.... we are talking very basic English.
This is sad in so many ways. Primarily that there has to be such lock-in with public funds and on such an overpriced device. No need to go into ALL the details, it has already been hashed out on Slashdot before regarding price, toyness, theft, maintenance, battery wear, lack of E-Ink, lockdown, spyware, compatibility, damage, serviceability, insurance, attention span reduction, etc, etc.
Love technology, but sometimes it seems like it is not moving things forward, just sideways.... especially when it gets political.
Oh, and 30 million dollars for 31,000 tablets comes to $968 each. And that is supposed to be some special deal discount??? Meanwhile, the smaller, lighter, faster, higher res, second iteration of the Nexus 7 releases for $229 WITHOUT discount.
>"US Promises Not To Kill Or Torture Snowden""
I can't believe how sad it is that such a letter would ever be necessary coming from the USA. I am so ashamed to be an American since 9/11. A land where everyone is treated as a potential terrorist and the government has destroyed the Constitution the country was built on.
>You open it, take your parcel, and lock the key inside. Awesome.
Yeah, but what is even more awesome is that at my house, the carriers drop the package at my door. No walking blocks. No messing with keys, no hauling something back home.
I would rather have less deliveries per week than dealing with a cluster F***... I mean cluster box, or even street/curb box.
>"Few special features" --- really stretching there to come up with criticisms. Worried?"
Worried??? Of course not. Want more examples?
GS4 has temp and humidity sensors.
Evo 3D has 3D display and cameras.
Evo LTE has a kickstand and camera button.
One has ultrapixels for better night vision.
GS4 has "hover".
Evo 3D & LTE and GS3 & 4 all have SD slots.
Evo LTE, One, and One X all have HD voice.
None of those are just software gimmicks, there is hardware behind it. I am sure there are many more, just picking some I can think of off the top of my head.
>"Please do not conflate screen size with "superphone" status."
Screen size is but just one factor among many (which I provided). Of course, screens are getting crazy big now, and not everyone wants a large screen. But it is not the typical hallmark of a high-end phone to be small right now.
>"This is Microsofts attempt to move their monopoly to a new computing sector. It won't work. People don't want to use their software."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Microsoft simply does not understand that their "popularity" in the computing market is mostly due due to their proprietary lock-in, and not due to free market choice and preference.
I bet if they offered IDENTICAL hardware to all the Android and IOS tablets for an IDENTICAL price, they still would not be able to sell enough to matter.
>"Moto X Demo Video Reveals Google's Android Superphone"
Superphone? Hardly. Compare to the HTC One/OneX/EvoLTE or the Samsung Galaxy S4/S3 or several other high-end models from other companies (LG, Sony) and it loses in most categories we know about so far.
*Smaller display.
*Lower resolution
*Slower processor
*Less storage (and I am assuming no SD slot either)
*Few special features
*No front speakers
So it is a somewhat midrange phone by the already set high-end standards. And even LESS attractive if you find Google Now" creepy, and REALLY less attractive if you find a phone listening to you all the time and linked into Google, Google Now, and probably Google+ even more creepy. And what does listening all the time and using the main screen for notifications do to the battery life?
It is nice to see Motorola getting back into the game, but let's not go ga-ga over the presented leaks because so far, they just don't look all THAT impressive. I am sure there is a market for a non BEASTLY phone, but this is not the "ultimate" phone, nor the solution for everyone (of course, no one phone is).
If you saw my other post, I think another suitable idea would be to have a second, east coast transmitter and then have it alternate transmission with the west coast transmitter every minute or so. That way we could retain compatibility with all existing equipment and yet have MUCH better coverage.
About TV- yeah, I know what you mean.
Most stations in most areas of the USA moved to UHF during digital conversion. Even in your area, you have only 4 stations on 13 VHF channels, leaving 9 free.
Thank you for that wonderfully informative post! I thought I was crazy when one of my clocks syncs and it is exact 20 minutes TO THE SECOND off. It is probably a flipped bit and without any checksum, there you have it.
I agree with you also on the last part- it is not like it would be difficult to build a little smarts into a clock so it will reject something that seems wrong and try again. Also, if it would just store a step adjustment, it could, theoretically, "learn" to tell correct time to within one second per year, even without syncing for a year.
Yes, I know. There would have to be a presence at nearly every TV station. Or they could use a tiny bit of UHF and get the TV stations to do it for them. At lest it would then get "everywhere" in each market.
Either that, or add an a single 60Hz east coast transmitter and alternate transmissions every minute between the two.
>"Operating at 60kHz, the signal actually follows the curvature of the Earth via a trick of electromagnetics, allowing nearly the entire globe to receive an accurate time signal"
Except it doesn't. It depends on time of day, weather, season, exact location, how much local interference, building construction, elevation, and many other factors.
I really WISH it were as strong and wonderful as implied in the summary, but it is not. I have used radio controlled, WWVB clocks for many years and one thing they are NOT is "reliable", at least not where I live. Of the dozens of clocks I have used over 20+ years, NONE of them could get a reliable signal anywhere I have lived in the Mid Atlantic coast of the USA.
I am lucky to have it sync several nights in a row and then go weeks without a signal (sometimes even a month). Unfortunately, none of the clocks I have seen will store a step adjustment, so they drift just like any other quartz clock- some are even worse than just a cheap $15 non-radio-controlled clock.
Having to constantly set and sync clocks on everything (except my computer equipment and SOME of the radio clocks) is really annoying in 2013. With all that freed up VHF TV, why couldn't the government have set aside just a tiny blip that could be used for another time sync that could penetrate buildings and work in the daytime and regardless of weather?
Oh well. WHEN it works, it is nice.
What he should do is be thrown in jail for outright lying to Congress. The end.
"Misspoke", my ass.
>" But what if you could enjoy all the benefits of a dual-monitor configuration from a single monitor?"
Sorry but a 29" 2560x1080 is not a suitable replacement for my two 19" 4:3 1600x1200 monitors (3200x1200) on my Linux workstation. Not only do I get much more resolution but much more real-estate and I can angle the panels a bit to me so it is easier to see them both. I don't game or watch movies on it, so that part simply doesn't matter to me.
Maybe that product is a replacement for two tiny/cheesy 15" 1024x768 monitors.
>"It is probably to get away from their parents so that they can text in peace. . . : )"
And now we have come full circle. The teens (and even young adults) don't NEED to get away from their parents to text in peace, they text constantly, all the time, regardless. And they do it at the dinner table, while you are trying to talk to them, in the car while driving, in the classroom, at a wedding, in a theater, in church, just about anyplace they want and often where it is rude and/or unsafe.
And that is not a matter of just having a different set of values". Most of them KNOW it is rude or unsafe and just do it anyway.
+1
And also the "instant gratification" factor where they seem to expect and demand everything instantly, with no effort, no waiting, and no research.