Also the earth's radius is only 6,400 km, so 36,000 km is HUGE. It would be waaaaaay out into space. Closest easily visualized equivalent would be similar to a lolipop, with earth being the candy part and the elevator being the stick. That's ridiculous to the point of absurd, are we sure this is correct? Anything over 500 km really wouldn't make much sense.
Could they have meant 360 km? That would put it at the ISS which makes a whole lot more sense.
Hunters did the right thing and sent the right message. Hope this lunatic anti-hunting group provides future target practice....with the same results.
Message to the group doesn't really matter, it's the fact that that the hunters brought themselves a lot of unwanted media coverage and gave the anti-hunting group some great press.
Had the hunters ignored the drone there would not have been a story to report.
I think the "fees" make following the rules something that they will actually do. Most of the rich little shits I know that go to charter schools just wave their money around and do what they please. Getting sent to the principal means nothing to them, getting their checkbook sent means a whole lot.
Also the "fees" are nothing: $5 for chewing gum? $5 for being tardy to class more than 3 minutes? Completely worth $5, and isn't this more like real life? You're not automatically thrown in jail for minor infractions when you become an adult, the system nickels and dimes you to death. Speeding? $200. Red light camera? $100. etc
How will you feel when your product is flagged by Anti-Virus companies as malicious, and what will the impact be to your reputation?
Why would it be flagged for malicious? A lot of software reports back, that's how you're notified of new updates. Doesn't your firewall tell you when your software attempts to connect to the company's server?
I'd like to add:
4) Along with spying, enable ability to send pop-up to individual users if you notice non-paying business usage, and give them a way to contact you to negotiate. Maybe it's not worth $10,000 to them, but it's probably worth *something*. Maybe $1,000? Maybe $100 a month? Anything would be better than stealing and getting nothing from them.
I have downloaded software in the past and many times I didn't think it was worth full asking price but really wished I could give them some money for it. Unfortunately there's no way to do that right now, it's full price or nothing, and it's even worse when the item is no longer sold because you can't even pay full price for it, you're forced to download
I think every software company should have a "pay us something if you downloaded our software" option on their website somewhere.
Because extortion is always ok as long as the victim can afford it, and in no way encourages someone else to try the same trick again once you make known you'd rather pay an fight. Right?
Right.
What's fair and what's cheapest isn't always the same. Is it fair what they're doing? Maybe, maybe not, but the fastest and cheapest way out of this is just pay the 10 million and call it a day.
That's all well and good, except for the fact that they paid for the trade mark.
They say they paid for the trademark. The court decides whether they legally bought or licensed the trademark.
I think Apple will win this one because they'll be able to show that they really did pay for the trademark in China.
Apple bought iPad from Proview:"Apple says it bought Proview's worldwide rights to the trademark in 10 different countries several years ago, including rights to the iPad name from a Taiwan subsidiary of Proview International.
Back then, the Proview Taiwan unit had sold the rights to IP Application Development Ltd, a London-based company that was set up by Apple, for 35,000 pounds, Proview's executives and lawyers said."
If your wife sells the family car, and you realize later the car's been sold, i think that's between you and your wife, not the buyer's fault.
But since Proview China is suing and blocking sales, can't Apple sue Proview Taiwan for selling something it didn't own? Like if I sued the buyer to get the family car back, the buyer would just sue my wife for selling something she didn't own, so really I'm suing myself.....
this is confusing:-/
But this is funny:Yang said the company had been developing a tablet product called the iPad back in 2000.
"We spent a lot of resources on it. It's the same concept as the iPad today, except that back then, there were practically no LCD screens," Yang said.
LOL an iPad with no LCD? How the hell would that work?
sure during peak hours this in not great for urban traffic but off peak times it would still be very feasible. It's about time Traffic and traffic control started communicating in a smart way. This sort of tech is all precursor to auto drive cars.
can't we do this now with GPS smartphones? Phone could communicate with traffic light system and tell driver "Drive 35 and you will have a green light in 1 mile" and monitor your speed so if you go too fast or too slow it can tell you what new speed to do to reach a green light.
If Apple said "Pay them more, give them less hours and more time off or we'll go elsewhere" Foxconn would, in a heartbeat, because they have no choice, Apple is the majority of Foxconn's business.
I love my iPhone, but this whole mess really has me thinking twice about my next phone. If there was another smartphone that ran IOS and had a more "ethical" factory I'd probably purchase that rather than another iPhone, even if it was a bit more (10%? 20%?).
"develop interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it to act as the soldier's surrogate."
We have that now, it's called a robot. Are robots feasible? Yes. Can I have $7,000,000 now?
Joe says that he plans to have his house built within the next 18 months, at which point his mother will move in upstairs and he will take up residence in the basement with his computer.
Knock him all you want, but at least his hobby/models *do* something. I know tons of guys that spend $$$$$ on RC that do nothing but drive/fly around and crash.
In that interview someone posted he said he doesn't want to stop. Hey Joe, when you run out of dirt in your basement you can use my backyard to dig a hole for an inground pool. At 2-3 cubic yards a year it should take awhile and I'm in no hurry, I won't even charge you much for use of my backyard:)
If it really bothers the poster that much, simply go without the toy.
Well, obviously it doesn't bother you, but it does bother me.
And I have no problem going without the latest pocket-sized Facebook/Google/AngryBirds appliance. The hard part is going without shoes.
I'm not rich, but I have no objection to paying a little extra for stuff that's not made by indentured servants. But most of the time I don't even get that choice.
Speak for yourself. I don't want to go without the latest pocket-sized whatever, but there's lots of choices, and I'm willing to spend an extra $$ knowing I'm not supporting slavery.... actually slaves probably have it better, they didn't commit suicide in record number, at least not according to my public education history book.
And do you take the elevator to the company gym?:P
I laugh the equivalent of 100 stomach crunches everytime I see people drive a mile to the gym to use the running machines...
You say that now, until you hit a jaywalker with your vehicle. Even if it wasn't your fault for the rest of your life you'll have an irrational fear of crossing any road, afraid karma's going to catch up with you.
So yes, I do drive 2 miles to use the treadmills at the gym.
Parents refusing vaccines are misinformed. Doctors are asking parents to do something to save their children's lives and protect their other patients and the parents refuse. I'd tell them not to come back too.
this is some crap Rollercoaster Tycoon-quality(in 2012!) games shop that got rich peddling its lousy wares off of Facebook's back. Zynga is a flea, and FB is the big dog - scratching Zynga off his balls with his muthafuckin' paws --
I don't even understand why a company would bother. Electricity is what, about 8 cents a kw? So powering a 1000w microwave for an entire hour is only 8 cents. Laptop for an hour would probably be less than 1 cent, so why would you put in an expensive outlet when you could just let people charge their devices for a penny?
Also... I'm not sure how this Sony outlet would work. "a new power outlet that can identify who is connecting to it, and therefore allows for an individual to be charged for use. The key to the intelligent outlet is the inclusion of an integrated circuit which communicates over the power line connection. It can check the identity of the device, and therefore the owner of that device before deciding what to do. "
Ok it communicates... with what, exactly? It's copper wire, going into a battery... what's it talking to? It's not ethernet, it's not hacking into my iphone or laptop or whatever, how is it checking the "identity of the device", unless I own a special "smart" power cord that can communicate back.....
Actually that's a good question: since you see UV light, could you use a UV flashlight to walk around in what appears to be almost complete darkness but you see just fine with the UV flashlight? I suppose that would be cool, not sure how useful that would be but interesting anyway.
Apparently not, and honestly I'm having a hard time figuring out what good having UV vision is. What can you do with it? In your last/. post you called it a "superpower". Is it? How is seeing UV "super"? You're not faster or stronger or can fly or move things with your mind or see in the dark, you just see a spectrum of light no one else can. It's like being able to spit 100 yards, what good would that be? In fact I'd think it would be annoying, now I'm seeing things other people aren't, so lights might bother me while everyone else thinks it's fine and I'm the only one having a problem.
Actually that's a good question: since you see UV light, could you use a UV flashlight to walk around in what appears to be almost complete darkness but you see just fine with the UV flashlight? I suppose that would be cool, not sure how useful that would be but interesting anyway.
4. If it sounds too good to be true...
If they're offering a lot for very little it's probably a scam. Recently our local "VC" claims they paid $50,000 for nothing more than a blogspot site of an idea that still says "launching summer 2011". Really? Obviously fake, a real VC doesn't give you 50k without at least a clear idea and a $10 domain.
Let the students tell you where they're going for answers.
Tests are suppose to show that the students are learning, right? Then monitor the internet traffic and see where they're going for answers, that will show you if they've really learned how to find answers to questions or not. And give real life type word questions, not just "1+1 = ?", stuff like "If you have one apple and someone gives you another apple, how many apples do you have?"
If they're going to sites like Openstudy to just ask someone to think for them then block access to that next test or live depending on your lab is setup, but remember sometimes going to forums and such are the best places for answers to real-life problems so I'd be careful trying to decide what sites to block.
Also you didn't really explain how they would have access so I assumed they would be in some sort of school computer lab, not on their personal laptops, and you have access to the network traffic and can restrict access at will.
Need a drive in a hurry? 2tb for $130 at Microcenter,same price as Newegg. Gee, do I wanna wait a week or have the drive in my PC this afternoon? Decisions, decisions.... oh Newegg wants $7.86 shipping? Microcenter it is!
But I guess if the Forbes reporter included Microcenter that would have gone against his 5-page theory generating god knows how many banner ads. Best we just forget Microcenter exists so Forbes can make a few extra $$$ off ads. Selling out journalistic honesty to make a few bucks? You betcha!
Want a new MSI Geforce GTX 580 video card? $500 from Newegg,$520 from Microcenter. Think I'd just pay that extra 4% to have the card TODAY and have a local shop to return/exchange it to if there's a problem and judging from the 13% 1-egg reviews I'd there is a good risk there could be a problem.
And why does the wikipedia article read exactly like this news story?"Androctonus australis is a hardy North African desert scorpion. Unlike Most other animals that live in deserts, Androctonus does not dig burrows to protect itself from a sandstorm. Instead, it can withstand sandstorms powerful enough to strip paint off steel, without any apparent damage."
I wish I could have posted this further up, but this is about as high to the top as I can get.
Doesn't everyone realize the "tom tom pro 3100" won't be able to communicate without some sort of data plan? TomTom offers plans now that will send you traffic information based upon your location but there is a yearly fee for that information. Anyone want to pay to tell the insurance company you were going 10mph over today so your premiums go up? Didn't think so.
Having to pay hundreds for the device and then pay an additional fee for data is killing the stand-alone GPS market. Apps like waze provide GPS routing and real-time traffic information (including location of police speed-traps) for free, all you need is a smartphone. TomTom's grasping at straws with this press release, their market is drying up and they know it. Why pay $300+ and $60+ a year for something that's already free on your phone?
Waze even provides real time road updates by users. For example I can report an accident and the location is marked for other users to see live. TomTom's can't do that.
I have two TomToms. One's an older TomTom ONE and the other is a 5" TomTom XXL. I don't use either one, I use Waze.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow. A week in an elevator.
Yeah, that didn't sound right to me either, and the article doesn't mention the reason why it needs to be 36,000 km. International Space Station is only 200-250 miles, or 320-400 km, so 36,000 km would zoom right past it. Why does it need to be 36,000 km?
Also the earth's radius is only 6,400 km, so 36,000 km is HUGE. It would be waaaaaay out into space. Closest easily visualized equivalent would be similar to a lolipop, with earth being the candy part and the elevator being the stick. That's ridiculous to the point of absurd, are we sure this is correct? Anything over 500 km really wouldn't make much sense.
Could they have meant 360 km? That would put it at the ISS which makes a whole lot more sense.
Hunters did the right thing and sent the right message. Hope this lunatic anti-hunting group provides future target practice....with the same results.
Message to the group doesn't really matter, it's the fact that that the hunters brought themselves a lot of unwanted media coverage and gave the anti-hunting group some great press.
Had the hunters ignored the drone there would not have been a story to report.
I think the "fees" make following the rules something that they will actually do. Most of the rich little shits I know that go to charter schools just wave their money around and do what they please. Getting sent to the principal means nothing to them, getting their checkbook sent means a whole lot.
Also the "fees" are nothing: $5 for chewing gum? $5 for being tardy to class more than 3 minutes? Completely worth $5, and isn't this more like real life? You're not automatically thrown in jail for minor infractions when you become an adult, the system nickels and dimes you to death. Speeding? $200. Red light camera? $100. etc
How will you feel when your product is flagged by Anti-Virus companies as malicious, and what will the impact be to your reputation?
Why would it be flagged for malicious? A lot of software reports back, that's how you're notified of new updates. Doesn't your firewall tell you when your software attempts to connect to the company's server?
I'd like to add:
4) Along with spying, enable ability to send pop-up to individual users if you notice non-paying business usage, and give them a way to contact you to negotiate. Maybe it's not worth $10,000 to them, but it's probably worth *something*. Maybe $1,000? Maybe $100 a month? Anything would be better than stealing and getting nothing from them.
I have downloaded software in the past and many times I didn't think it was worth full asking price but really wished I could give them some money for it. Unfortunately there's no way to do that right now, it's full price or nothing, and it's even worse when the item is no longer sold because you can't even pay full price for it, you're forced to download
I think every software company should have a "pay us something if you downloaded our software" option on their website somewhere.
Because extortion is always ok as long as the victim can afford it, and in no way encourages someone else to try the same trick again once you make known you'd rather pay an fight. Right?
Right.
What's fair and what's cheapest isn't always the same. Is it fair what they're doing? Maybe, maybe not, but the fastest and cheapest way out of this is just pay the 10 million and call it a day.
I wonder how many Yuan it will take to "show" that...
$10 million and they can buy iPad from Proview China "A Hong Kong court document shows that once the dispute arose, Proview demanded $10 million for the iPad name in China."
10 million is what, about what Apple makes in an hour? Just pay it.
That's all well and good, except for the fact that they paid for the trade mark.
They say they paid for the trademark. The court decides whether they legally bought or licensed the trademark.
I think Apple will win this one because they'll be able to show that they really did pay for the trademark in China.
Apple bought iPad from Proview: "Apple says it bought Proview's worldwide rights to the trademark in 10 different countries several years ago, including rights to the iPad name from a Taiwan subsidiary of Proview International. Back then, the Proview Taiwan unit had sold the rights to IP Application Development Ltd, a London-based company that was set up by Apple, for 35,000 pounds, Proview's executives and lawyers said."
:-/
If your wife sells the family car, and you realize later the car's been sold, i think that's between you and your wife, not the buyer's fault.
But since Proview China is suing and blocking sales, can't Apple sue Proview Taiwan for selling something it didn't own? Like if I sued the buyer to get the family car back, the buyer would just sue my wife for selling something she didn't own, so really I'm suing myself.....
this is confusing
But this is funny: Yang said the company had been developing a tablet product called the iPad back in 2000. "We spent a lot of resources on it. It's the same concept as the iPad today, except that back then, there were practically no LCD screens," Yang said.
LOL an iPad with no LCD? How the hell would that work?
sure during peak hours this in not great for urban traffic but off peak times it would still be very feasible. It's about time Traffic and traffic control started communicating in a smart way. This sort of tech is all precursor to auto drive cars.
can't we do this now with GPS smartphones? Phone could communicate with traffic light system and tell driver "Drive 35 and you will have a green light in 1 mile" and monitor your speed so if you go too fast or too slow it can tell you what new speed to do to reach a green light.
It's not Apple's plant.
True, but Apple gives them most of their business, like when Apple bought Samsung's entire supply of ram, almost half of the world's supply of NAND Flash RAM, for the 3GS.
If Apple said "Pay them more, give them less hours and more time off or we'll go elsewhere" Foxconn would, in a heartbeat, because they have no choice, Apple is the majority of Foxconn's business.
I love my iPhone, but this whole mess really has me thinking twice about my next phone. If there was another smartphone that ran IOS and had a more "ethical" factory I'd probably purchase that rather than another iPhone, even if it was a bit more (10%? 20%?).
$7 million to investigate feasibility of what?
"develop interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it to act as the soldier's surrogate."
We have that now, it's called a robot. Are robots feasible? Yes. Can I have $7,000,000 now?
Joe says that he plans to have his house built within the next 18 months, at which point his mother will move in upstairs and he will take up residence in the basement with his computer.
Knock him all you want, but at least his hobby/models *do* something. I know tons of guys that spend $$$$$ on RC that do nothing but drive/fly around and crash.
:)
In that interview someone posted he said he doesn't want to stop. Hey Joe, when you run out of dirt in your basement you can use my backyard to dig a hole for an inground pool. At 2-3 cubic yards a year it should take awhile and I'm in no hurry, I won't even charge you much for use of my backyard
If it really bothers the poster that much, simply go without the toy.
Well, obviously it doesn't bother you, but it does bother me.
And I have no problem going without the latest pocket-sized Facebook/Google/AngryBirds appliance. The hard part is going without shoes.
I'm not rich, but I have no objection to paying a little extra for stuff that's not made by indentured servants. But most of the time I don't even get that choice.
Speak for yourself. I don't want to go without the latest pocket-sized whatever, but there's lots of choices, and I'm willing to spend an extra $$ knowing I'm not supporting slavery.... actually slaves probably have it better, they didn't commit suicide in record number, at least not according to my public education history book.
And do you take the elevator to the company gym? :P
I laugh the equivalent of 100 stomach crunches everytime I see people drive a mile to the gym to use the running machines...
You say that now, until you hit a jaywalker with your vehicle. Even if it wasn't your fault for the rest of your life you'll have an irrational fear of crossing any road, afraid karma's going to catch up with you.
So yes, I do drive 2 miles to use the treadmills at the gym.
Chicken pox tends to be more severe the younger you get it.
Screw Chicken Pox, I'm worried about whooping cough, which is on the rise in the US since 2004, no doubt due to people refusing vaccines. Ten California infants died in 2010 from whooping cough even though we've had a vaccine for whooping cough since the 1920s.
The man that started the whole "vaccines kill", Dr. Andrew Wakefield, lost his medical license when it was discovered Wakefield was paid by lawyers who wanted to sue vaccine manufactures to publish a fake report claiming vaccines kill children.
Parents refusing vaccines are misinformed. Doctors are asking parents to do something to save their children's lives and protect their other patients and the parents refuse. I'd tell them not to come back too.
this is some crap Rollercoaster Tycoon-quality(in 2012!) games shop that got rich peddling its lousy wares off of Facebook's back. Zynga is a flea, and FB is the big dog - scratching Zynga off his balls with his muthafuckin' paws --
They were that, 5 years ago, but now Zynga is it's own thing, they don't need Facebook at all to survive. If Facebook vanished tomorrow Zynga would hardly notice. Zynga already has dozens of iPhone games and bought dozens of companies allowing Zynga to sell games on every platform.
In fact, Facebook relies on Zynga for 12% of it's revenue, taking a 30 percent cut from purchases of virtual goods within Zynga games.
I don't even understand why a company would bother. Electricity is what, about 8 cents a kw? So powering a 1000w microwave for an entire hour is only 8 cents. Laptop for an hour would probably be less than 1 cent, so why would you put in an expensive outlet when you could just let people charge their devices for a penny?
If they're worried about people stealing electricity then install locking electrical boxes that fit over the outlets.
Also... I'm not sure how this Sony outlet would work.
"a new power outlet that can identify who is connecting to it, and therefore allows for an individual to be charged for use. The key to the intelligent outlet is the inclusion of an integrated circuit which communicates over the power line connection. It can check the identity of the device, and therefore the owner of that device before deciding what to do. "
Ok it communicates... with what, exactly? It's copper wire, going into a battery... what's it talking to? It's not ethernet, it's not hacking into my iphone or laptop or whatever, how is it checking the "identity of the device", unless I own a special "smart" power cord that can communicate back.....
Ah, I understand, article is BS
There's no "magic" integrated circuit that can automatically just read anything plugged in and pass on your credit card number, according to Sony you must have a special smart AC charger to communicate with the outlet.
And how many people are going to buy these special smart AC chargers? No one. So how many outlets like this will there be? Zero. Whole idea is a bust. Add this to the long list of failed proprietary Sony formats like MemoryStick, UMD, DAT, Minidisc and ATRAC Audio Compression.
Actually that's a good question: since you see UV light, could you use a UV flashlight to walk around in what appears to be almost complete darkness but you see just fine with the UV flashlight? I suppose that would be cool, not sure how useful that would be but interesting anyway.
Answered my own question: half-way down this page he says he can see light from a 365nm UV flashlight that appears to have no light. So yes, he could light his entire house in 365nm UV light and "see" while everyone else would see pitch black.
That would be neat, but some things that would appear as black to other people actually appear as violet to him. I would find that annoying, I guess technically he's now color blind, "the inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under lighting conditions when color vision is not normally impaired", since now he perceives some black colors as violet.
Think I'll pass on this superpower.
Can you see through clothes?
Apparently not, and honestly I'm having a hard time figuring out what good having UV vision is. What can you do with it? In your last /. post you called it a "superpower". Is it? How is seeing UV "super"? You're not faster or stronger or can fly or move things with your mind or see in the dark, you just see a spectrum of light no one else can. It's like being able to spit 100 yards, what good would that be? In fact I'd think it would be annoying, now I'm seeing things other people aren't, so lights might bother me while everyone else thinks it's fine and I'm the only one having a problem.
Actually that's a good question: since you see UV light, could you use a UV flashlight to walk around in what appears to be almost complete darkness but you see just fine with the UV flashlight? I suppose that would be cool, not sure how useful that would be but interesting anyway.
4. If it sounds too good to be true...
If they're offering a lot for very little it's probably a scam. Recently our local "VC" claims they paid $50,000 for nothing more than a blogspot site of an idea that still says "launching summer 2011". Really? Obviously fake, a real VC doesn't give you 50k without at least a clear idea and a $10 domain.
Let the students tell you where they're going for answers.
Tests are suppose to show that the students are learning, right? Then monitor the internet traffic and see where they're going for answers, that will show you if they've really learned how to find answers to questions or not. And give real life type word questions, not just "1+1 = ?", stuff like "If you have one apple and someone gives you another apple, how many apples do you have?"
If they're going to sites like Openstudy to just ask someone to think for them then block access to that next test or live depending on your lab is setup, but remember sometimes going to forums and such are the best places for answers to real-life problems so I'd be careful trying to decide what sites to block.
Also you didn't really explain how they would have access so I assumed they would be in some sort of school computer lab, not on their personal laptops, and you have access to the network traffic and can restrict access at will.
Need a drive in a hurry? 2tb for $130 at Microcenter, same price as Newegg. Gee, do I wanna wait a week or have the drive in my PC this afternoon? Decisions, decisions.... oh Newegg wants $7.86 shipping? Microcenter it is!
But I guess if the Forbes reporter included Microcenter that would have gone against his 5-page theory generating god knows how many banner ads. Best we just forget Microcenter exists so Forbes can make a few extra $$$ off ads. Selling out journalistic honesty to make a few bucks? You betcha!
Ummm.... doesn't Microcenter count? Guess not according to Forbes, because in 2006 they had 19 stores, 20 in 2007, 21 in 2008, and in 2012 Microcenter has 23 stores. Sure that's slow growth, but still growth none-the-less, and they're much better than CompUSA, Circuit City (is Circuit City "tech"?) and Best Buy because Microcenter actually has competitive prices.
Want a new MSI Geforce GTX 580 video card? $500 from Newegg, $520 from Microcenter. Think I'd just pay that extra 4% to have the card TODAY and have a local shop to return/exchange it to if there's a problem and judging from the 13% 1-egg reviews I'd there is a good risk there could be a problem.
...if scorpions could fly.
G.
Exactly. How exactly does the scorpion using bumps on their skin to be less aerodynamic apply to airplanes? Planes already exist with "shark skin" texture to reduce drag, there was even a Mythbusters episode about it.
And why does the wikipedia article read exactly like this news story? "Androctonus australis is a hardy North African desert scorpion. Unlike Most other animals that live in deserts, Androctonus does not dig burrows to protect itself from a sandstorm. Instead, it can withstand sandstorms powerful enough to strip paint off steel, without any apparent damage."
Really? That's the best first three sentences for a encyclopedia entry of this creature? Other animals include a detailed description and locations they are found. Strange that the Wikipedia entry was created just 6 days ago.
Methinks slashdot and the economist has been duped by this "first time accepted submitter" elloGov
I wish I could have posted this further up, but this is about as high to the top as I can get.
Doesn't everyone realize the "tom tom pro 3100" won't be able to communicate without some sort of data plan? TomTom offers plans now that will send you traffic information based upon your location but there is a yearly fee for that information. Anyone want to pay to tell the insurance company you were going 10mph over today so your premiums go up? Didn't think so.
Having to pay hundreds for the device and then pay an additional fee for data is killing the stand-alone GPS market. Apps like waze provide GPS routing and real-time traffic information (including location of police speed-traps) for free, all you need is a smartphone. TomTom's grasping at straws with this press release, their market is drying up and they know it. Why pay $300+ and $60+ a year for something that's already free on your phone?
Waze even provides real time road updates by users. For example I can report an accident and the location is marked for other users to see live. TomTom's can't do that.
I have two TomToms. One's an older TomTom ONE and the other is a 5" TomTom XXL. I don't use either one, I use Waze.