"Ya but at 10 000 pages per set of batteries, it'll pay for itself in energy savings!
Well ok, probably not."
decided to do a little math... assuming your device uses two AA batteries that's roughly 5.4 watts (right? two 1.5v AA @ 1800mAh each?). Most people pay less than 10 cents for a kilowatt/hr, so that's charging the batteries 185 times for less than 10 cents.
Let's assume you get 4 hours of battery life from your device (although the last PDAs to use AAs, the Palms, usually got 20+ hours), and you read a "page" every 2 minutes. That's 120 pages between charges. x185 = 22,200 pages for 10 cents (if I did my math right).
for a 7.5" by 5" device with 800x600 4-tone grayscale and 10 megs they want how much??? Damn thing probably doesn't even have a decent processor, can't do 1/10th the things a 5 yr old Palm could do and they're charging $400?!? Did I warp back to 1984? Sure it's not a Mac?
"The battery in your palm m515 is probably 1/2 the size of the entire toshiba pda-watch."
how do u figure, considering the picture of the toshiba looks far smaller than the m515?
If anything the Toshiba is half the size.
"If the unit has an instant-on-time-only button/feature (press a button to see the time for 15 seconds), perhaps the battery life might be as much as 12 hours."
that'd annoy the heck out of me, I'd have to press a button to see the time? Two hands to check the time, whatever happen to "glacing"? Maybe they can shove a small clock in the corner.
"Undergraduates in U.S. universities are starting to abandon their studies in computer technology..."
Sounds like just like me, quit after 70 credits. What pushed me over the edge? Last job I had I was sitting next to CS graduates, making the same $9.25/hr ($19,000/yr before tax) I was...
"We are sorry, but we have more than 800 (potential customers trying to purchase merchandise) at this time."
I know they're being/.ed but it's a business, can't they just suck up the bandwidth bill to make money? I mean what if they were posted on some computer geek news site... oh, wait....
I held my Ipaq 1945 up to my wrist and it looks a lot like the photos of that Toshiba "Wristwatch" (when are they going to stop calling them watches? that's more like a arm band) except the 1945 has a longer display.
I'm not really concerned with input, PDA users have used styluses with great success for years now. My concern: battery life. How long would it last with that huge display? 3 hours tops? My 1945 would die in 3 hours if I left it on, and being a watch I'm guessing that Toshiba display would have to be on 24/7. Even my "old" Palm m515 wouldn't last 5 hours if kept on, so how is this going to be powered?
"Although, GW and Michael Moore are still planning their miserable failure lawsuits!"
miserable failure google bombing: "The trick is possible because Google searches more than just the contents of web pages - it also counts how often a site is linked to, and with what words. Newsday newspaper says as few as 32 web pages with the words "miserable failure" link to the Bush biography. "
just another reason I don't have a personal website...
considering it's one of the best drives on the planet at any price I'm not sure if "settled" is the right word...
"Then upgrade to a dual-layer from Pioneer when they are released and eventually hit the $150 mark."
Wanna wait to see what media sells for first? $1 each for DVD-+R media is killing me already, I'm used to 10 cents or free with rebate CD-Rs. Once dual-layer media is $1 or less AND it's actually compatible with something besides itself then I'll save my pennies for dual-layer, otherwise why buy the drive when I won't buy the media and I can't find anything to play it? I'm already upset enough with a 8x DVD burner that I can't find reasonably priced 8x media for, but I calm myself knowing I wouldn't have saved much going with a 4x burner.
"Look around. See anybody in the "market" deciding? The market is too scared to buy any DVD writer, precisely because there's no standard. "
since when? any walmart, compusa, office depot, staples, etc now cares drives that record in BOTH formats. That's right, you heard me, + and -. And those drives are usually the same price as the + only or the - only drives if not cheaper. Why? Because that's what the public is buying! We got fed up with the - only and the + only and refused to buy, so now that their are drives that do both they're actually selling well.
Case in point: I bought a drive that does +R and -R at 8x for $100 shipped recently. No, not with rebates or coupons or other crap, that's regular price.
Imagine what would have happened if they would have made machines that played Beta and VHS AND it was cheaper than the beta only or VHS only machines? I'd imagine we'd still have Beta around.
"As of Monday, my company is initiating a 'no cell phone' policy at all of our offices..."
I don't think they really mean no cell phones, I think they really mean don't let us see you using your cellphone. What probably happened is some jackass couldn't shut his yap at work and gabbed for hours on the cell instead of working, and management being the freakin' geniuses they are decided to punish everyone instead of just firing the guy.
If it was my job and I was considering quitting over this issue (as you are) I'd put my cell on extreme-quiet-low-vibrate mode, shove it in my pocket and keep my mouth shut. I'd also tell kids/wife/etc to not call me at work unless an emergency.
Emergency example? A school bus recently overturned containing a bus load of kids. If I had a child on that bus I'd want to know ASAP, not 8 hours later when I got out of work, especially if injured, and "no cell" policy be damned!
from article: "But it's the bargains that keep him devouring spam, including a $150 metal detector he recently bought."
is this a joke? Could a person this stupid really exist? There was a story about a guy who replaced $3000 worth of dual processor G5 Mac with $300 worth of PC parts that turned out to be a hoax so that's why I'm doubtful. Could this just be another prank to get hits? I mean the story did end up on slashdot, and I know it's the Wall Street Journal but I've learned no one is above scams for advertising dollars.
"don't vote for my competitors, they fell for the H20 prank!"
and for those of you who say "it's the dumb paralegal's fault" remember someone had to approve the study to schedule it for a vote.
"For those of us that live in the this world, not on Enterprise few hundred years into the future, that's first used by Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes "
Wow, you mean like it says on the linked page? And i'm sure Spock made the quoute more popular than Sherlock Holmes ever did, so does it really matter that Holmes said it first? If you made up a witty joke and told it to a few of your friends, then a famous celebrity said the same joke on TV/Movie a few months later, who's getting credit?
And since when did someone have to live in a fantasy world on Enterprise to be a fan of the show or remember interesting quotes? I've been known to quote Simpsons too but I don't live in Springfield USA.
After seeing that video I'm shocked anyone on/. actually believes this is real! The thing moves with the greatest of ease, yet it's what, a good 1500-2000 lbs? Give me a break! Remember the Walking Dinosaur At Disney Park? Even with a car sized "basket" of electric equipment and power, with Disney's funding and talent the thing did little more than walk, and it didn't even do that fluidly.
So now you expect me to believe some guy, alone, built a 1,500 robot that bends over and stops a car as easily as I'd bend over to tie my shoe? Come on guys, you can't be that gullible... actually no, wait... yeah, it's real, and I'm taking orders! Only 10 grand each, 5 grand if you supply your own car or SUV. Must be a new model though, 2000 or better, V8s preferred, leather and DVD navigation a plus, so the robot can have GPS of course. There's a backorder, so please allow... 6 to 18 months for delivery. You can send payment through Paypal to... >;-)
Where's the Star Trek fans?? Haven't you learned anything from Spock?
"An ancestor of mine maintained, that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
So what's more likely:
A) it's CGI
B) it's a real 10 foot robot that moves with the grace of a ballerina
So yes, actually you can play Legend of Zelda, 4 Final Fantasy games and 3 Dragon Warrior games on your Palm. However, having played Final Fantasy III on a m515 clocked at 45mhz I can tell you it's still no were near as fast as a real Gameboy and the sound sucks, so I recommend a PocketPC @ 200mhz or better running Morphgear for real GB framerates with good sound.
But that's not the point, you obviously didn't RTF post. My point is MD existed long before iPods or even mp3 players, was sexier than CD players at the time and held far more music, yet they never got near as much publicity as iPods get. Now MD is hopelessly outdated, but even in their hey-day you heard very little about MD. If you read the news, even slashdot, you'd think everyone owns a iPod and iPod is the only mp3 player that exists. That couldn't be further from the truth.
"With my iPod, I can copy music to it whenever I want (in seconds), and copy music off it just as fast."
Sounds like nearly every other hd mp3 player in existance.
"iPods shouldn't be compared to anything else, as they're so different."
besides appearance, they're really not much different than any other hd mp3 player... oh, I forgot the incredibly high prices.
I have a friend with a iPod, know what he uses it for? To exercise a few hours a week. Just a 10 gig hard drive would hold 166 hours worth of music (@ 1 min/mB) and he only uses it a few hours a week! Waste of money? I'd say so. If you only use it say, 7 hrs a week on average (1 hr/day), I don't see the point of having anymore than, oh, 20 hours worth of music, which is 1.2gig @ 1min/mB. That 20 hours would last you 3 weeks before you heard a song repeat at your average useage.
Would it be fun to have 40gigs in my pocket? Of course! But if I pay for 40 gigs and I only use 1.2 gigs, I think I wasted some money wouldn't you agree?
"More like every company trying to find every single thing that isn't patented.. then patent and sue!"
Actually it seems like more companies are looking for obvious things that already exist (usually for many years) and have not been patented and patenting them. What ever happened to inventing something new and getting a patent on it? Why do these companies feel the need to patent obvious "inventions" (like hyperlinks) that they didn't invent in the first place?
"That said, the iPod is far superior to other offerings. Why? It's smaller than any other HD player."
Not true: it's smaller than any other HD player for it's capacity. The Rio Nitrus is smaller and nearly 1/4th the weight of the lightest iPod, but it only has a 1.5gig hard drive compared to iPod's 10+ gig.
"Compared to other HD based players? Christ have you seen those ugly fuckers?"
I have never understood why the appearance is so important: my hd based mp3 player (which shall remain anonymous) never leaves my pocket, so why do I care what it looks like? It's not a laptop or PDA that people will actually see, if the mp3 player is doing it's job properly you'll fiddle with it very rarely, so why is beauty so important if it only sees the inside of your pocket?
You: "wow look at that it's soooo purdy!" snatches iPod and shoves in pocket, never to see the light of day again
Me: "damn that's ugly!" snatches iPod-wannabe and shoves in pocket, never to see the light of day again, next to $$$$ saved
Screw my karma: someone please explain why the iPod is so revolutionary? We have a device that holds thousands of mp3s.... and? Any other reason why there's a iPod story on slashdot at least 3 times a week? Sony's MD players held hundreds of songs for years, but they almost never appeared in the news. And now they're claiming there's a "social impact" from iPods? Please.
Ok so I don't own a iPod, I own a competeing product that's similar in size and capacity, and I only use it about an hour a day whenever I'm exercising. It's not attached to my head 24/7, and I don't understand how a simple mp3 player can have any impact on society. Cellphone sure, but mp3 player?
"I'm still jonesing for a PSP, but the GBA will hold me off until then I'm sure."
screw it: I went with a GBA emulator for PocketPCs. For the price of a GBA SP (~$100) you can buy a used 200mhz iPaq 1910 which is all it takes to run every NES, SNES, GB and GBA game. Tired of shuffling cartridges or having to carry a GBA and a PocketPC everywhere, now everything is in one portable device.
Huh? Don't they have a right to track inventory?
on
BudNet Tracks Your Suds
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
"...Anheuser servers most likely recorded what you paid, when that beer was brewed, whether you purchased it warm or chilled, and whether you could have gotten a better deal down the street.' Frankly, I don't want Budweiser knowing when I choose to buy their beer versus another brands." "
um, why not? Don't they have a right to know what people are paying for their beer, or where it's purchased from? That's incredibly valueable information to determine where advertising dollars should go, if prices are competitive, what types of beer customers prefer, and a long list of other factors I couldn't even dream of. If anything this is a very good thing as it can only help Anheuser determine what to do to get you to purchase there products by giving you what you want, and to figure out what you want they must first determine if you like your beer warm or chilled, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Walmart already sells them. $30 and only a few inches larger.
Wonder if the Israeli military shops at Walmart?
decided to do a little math... assuming your device uses two AA batteries that's roughly 5.4 watts (right? two 1.5v AA @ 1800mAh each?). Most people pay less than 10 cents for a kilowatt/hr, so that's charging the batteries 185 times for less than 10 cents.
Let's assume you get 4 hours of battery life from your device (although the last PDAs to use AAs, the Palms, usually got 20+ hours), and you read a "page" every 2 minutes. That's 120 pages between charges. x185 = 22,200 pages for 10 cents (if I did my math right).
Yeah, I'd say not even close.
for a 7.5" by 5" device with 800x600 4-tone grayscale and 10 megs they want how much??? Damn thing probably doesn't even have a decent processor, can't do 1/10th the things a 5 yr old Palm could do and they're charging $400?!? Did I warp back to 1984? Sure it's not a Mac?
Let Dell copy it and sell them for $149.
how do u figure, considering the picture of the toshiba looks far smaller than the m515?
If anything the Toshiba is half the size.
"If the unit has an instant-on-time-only button/feature (press a button to see the time for 15 seconds), perhaps the battery life might be as much as 12 hours."
that'd annoy the heck out of me, I'd have to press a button to see the time? Two hands to check the time, whatever happen to "glacing"? Maybe they can shove a small clock in the corner.
Sounds like just like me, quit after 70 credits. What pushed me over the edge? Last job I had I was sitting next to CS graduates, making the same $9.25/hr ($19,000/yr before tax) I was...
I know they're being /.ed but it's a business, can't they just suck up the bandwidth bill to make money? I mean what if they were posted on some computer geek news site... oh, wait....
Obviously you're not including all the US IT jobs that have recently moved to India...
I'm not really concerned with input, PDA users have used styluses with great success for years now. My concern: battery life. How long would it last with that huge display? 3 hours tops? My 1945 would die in 3 hours if I left it on, and being a watch I'm guessing that Toshiba display would have to be on 24/7. Even my "old" Palm m515 wouldn't last 5 hours if kept on, so how is this going to be powered?
miserable failure google bombing:
"The trick is possible because Google searches more than just the contents of web pages - it also counts how often a site is linked to, and with what words. Newsday newspaper says as few as 32 web pages with the words "miserable failure" link to the Bush biography. "
just another reason I don't have a personal website...
"Current Pioneers are great, better than the 2500 and almost as cheap."
sure about that?
"Amazing write quality and the (Nec ND-2500A is the) first DVD-Writer to support 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW, at a low cost". Due to the low price we do also hand out our "Best Value" award.
"The drive is currently availiable on the market at the price of around 100. At such a low price, with the performance we saw and 8x dual DVD recording, we feel that the NEC ND-2500A is a very good purchase, being better than other, more expensive recorders."
"(The Pioneer DVR-107D is) A fast DVD-Writer that needs a lot of firmware improvements".
"Pioneer DVR-107D is available in the market for 150-200. The price is reasonable for an 8x dual DVD burner, although competition is very tough in the market."
"So, you settled for the 2500?"
considering it's one of the best drives on the planet at any price I'm not sure if "settled" is the right word...
"Then upgrade to a dual-layer from Pioneer when they are released and eventually hit the $150 mark."
Wanna wait to see what media sells for first? $1 each for DVD-+R media is killing me already, I'm used to 10 cents or free with rebate CD-Rs. Once dual-layer media is $1 or less AND it's actually compatible with something besides itself then I'll save my pennies for dual-layer, otherwise why buy the drive when I won't buy the media and I can't find anything to play it? I'm already upset enough with a 8x DVD burner that I can't find reasonably priced 8x media for, but I calm myself knowing I wouldn't have saved much going with a 4x burner.
You mean they had a website ;) and we probably just cost them a 10x increase on their hosting bill this month!
since when? any walmart, compusa, office depot, staples, etc now cares drives that record in BOTH formats. That's right, you heard me, + and -. And those drives are usually the same price as the + only or the - only drives if not cheaper. Why? Because that's what the public is buying! We got fed up with the - only and the + only and refused to buy, so now that their are drives that do both they're actually selling well.
Case in point: I bought a drive that does +R and -R at 8x for $100 shipped recently. No, not with rebates or coupons or other crap, that's regular price.
Imagine what would have happened if they would have made machines that played Beta and VHS AND it was cheaper than the beta only or VHS only machines? I'd imagine we'd still have Beta around.
can you please add NightShot for those "special" moments?
I don't think they really mean no cell phones, I think they really mean don't let us see you using your cellphone. What probably happened is some jackass couldn't shut his yap at work and gabbed for hours on the cell instead of working, and management being the freakin' geniuses they are decided to punish everyone instead of just firing the guy.
If it was my job and I was considering quitting over this issue (as you are) I'd put my cell on extreme-quiet-low-vibrate mode, shove it in my pocket and keep my mouth shut. I'd also tell kids/wife/etc to not call me at work unless an emergency.
Emergency example? A school bus recently overturned containing a bus load of kids. If I had a child on that bus I'd want to know ASAP, not 8 hours later when I got out of work, especially if injured, and "no cell" policy be damned!
"But it's the bargains that keep him devouring spam, including a $150 metal detector he recently bought."
is this a joke? Could a person this stupid really exist? There was a story about a guy who replaced $3000 worth of dual processor G5 Mac with $300 worth of PC parts that turned out to be a hoax so that's why I'm doubtful. Could this just be another prank to get hits? I mean the story did end up on slashdot, and I know it's the Wall Street Journal but I've learned no one is above scams for advertising dollars.
"don't vote for my competitors, they fell for the H20 prank!" and for those of you who say "it's the dumb paralegal's fault" remember someone had to approve the study to schedule it for a vote.
Wow, you mean like it says on the linked page? And i'm sure Spock made the quoute more popular than Sherlock Holmes ever did, so does it really matter that Holmes said it first? If you made up a witty joke and told it to a few of your friends, then a famous celebrity said the same joke on TV/Movie a few months later, who's getting credit?
And since when did someone have to live in a fantasy world on Enterprise to be a fan of the show or remember interesting quotes? I've been known to quote Simpsons too but I don't live in Springfield USA.
So now you expect me to believe some guy, alone, built a 1,500 robot that bends over and stops a car as easily as I'd bend over to tie my shoe? Come on guys, you can't be that gullible... actually no, wait... yeah, it's real, and I'm taking orders! Only 10 grand each, 5 grand if you supply your own car or SUV. Must be a new model though, 2000 or better, V8s preferred, leather and DVD navigation a plus, so the robot can have GPS of course. There's a backorder, so please allow... 6 to 18 months for delivery. You can send payment through Paypal to... >;-)
Where's the Star Trek fans?? Haven't you learned anything from Spock? "An ancestor of mine maintained, that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
So what's more likely:
A) it's CGI
B) it's a real 10 foot robot that moves with the grace of a ballerina
"Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Warrior were all NES games. A Game Boy emulator does nothing to help you play those."
Nothing could be further from the truth. Nintendo made Final Fantasy Adventure, Final Fantasy Legend, Final Fantasy Legend 2, Final Fantasy Legend 3, Legend of Zelda, Dragon Warrior I & II, and Dragon Warrior III all for the Gameboy & Gameboy Color.
So yes, actually you can play Legend of Zelda, 4 Final Fantasy games and 3 Dragon Warrior games on your Palm. However, having played Final Fantasy III on a m515 clocked at 45mhz I can tell you it's still no were near as fast as a real Gameboy and the sound sucks, so I recommend a PocketPC @ 200mhz or better running Morphgear for real GB framerates with good sound.
Wrong: with compression they hold much, much more, several hours worth. "Minidisc "Long Play" = 320 minutes stereo ("LP4")"
But that's not the point, you obviously didn't RTF post. My point is MD existed long before iPods or even mp3 players, was sexier than CD players at the time and held far more music, yet they never got near as much publicity as iPods get. Now MD is hopelessly outdated, but even in their hey-day you heard very little about MD. If you read the news, even slashdot, you'd think everyone owns a iPod and iPod is the only mp3 player that exists. That couldn't be further from the truth.
"With my iPod, I can copy music to it whenever I want (in seconds), and copy music off it just as fast."
Sounds like nearly every other hd mp3 player in existance.
"iPods shouldn't be compared to anything else, as they're so different."
besides appearance, they're really not much different than any other hd mp3 player... oh, I forgot the incredibly high prices.
I have a friend with a iPod, know what he uses it for? To exercise a few hours a week. Just a 10 gig hard drive would hold 166 hours worth of music (@ 1 min/mB) and he only uses it a few hours a week! Waste of money? I'd say so. If you only use it say, 7 hrs a week on average (1 hr/day), I don't see the point of having anymore than, oh, 20 hours worth of music, which is 1.2gig @ 1min/mB. That 20 hours would last you 3 weeks before you heard a song repeat at your average useage.
Would it be fun to have 40gigs in my pocket? Of course! But if I pay for 40 gigs and I only use 1.2 gigs, I think I wasted some money wouldn't you agree?
Actually it seems like more companies are looking for obvious things that already exist (usually for many years) and have not been patented and patenting them. What ever happened to inventing something new and getting a patent on it? Why do these companies feel the need to patent obvious "inventions" (like hyperlinks) that they didn't invent in the first place?
Not true: it's smaller than any other HD player for it's capacity. The Rio Nitrus is smaller and nearly 1/4th the weight of the lightest iPod, but it only has a 1.5gig hard drive compared to iPod's 10+ gig.
"Compared to other HD based players? Christ have you seen those ugly fuckers?"
I have never understood why the appearance is so important: my hd based mp3 player (which shall remain anonymous) never leaves my pocket, so why do I care what it looks like? It's not a laptop or PDA that people will actually see, if the mp3 player is doing it's job properly you'll fiddle with it very rarely, so why is beauty so important if it only sees the inside of your pocket?
You: "wow look at that it's soooo purdy!" snatches iPod and shoves in pocket, never to see the light of day again
Me: "damn that's ugly!" snatches iPod-wannabe and shoves in pocket, never to see the light of day again, next to $$$$ saved
Ok so I don't own a iPod, I own a competeing product that's similar in size and capacity, and I only use it about an hour a day whenever I'm exercising. It's not attached to my head 24/7, and I don't understand how a simple mp3 player can have any impact on society. Cellphone sure, but mp3 player?
screw it: I went with a GBA emulator for PocketPCs. For the price of a GBA SP (~$100) you can buy a used 200mhz iPaq 1910 which is all it takes to run every NES, SNES, GB and GBA game. Tired of shuffling cartridges or having to carry a GBA and a PocketPC everywhere, now everything is in one portable device.
um, why not? Don't they have a right to know what people are paying for their beer, or where it's purchased from? That's incredibly valueable information to determine where advertising dollars should go, if prices are competitive, what types of beer customers prefer, and a long list of other factors I couldn't even dream of. If anything this is a very good thing as it can only help Anheuser determine what to do to get you to purchase there products by giving you what you want, and to figure out what you want they must first determine if you like your beer warm or chilled, etc.