to the point where even "Nikon Pros" - pros who exclusively use Nikon gear and evangelize for the company for free
There is ABSOLUTELY NO SUCH THING. Most of the pros you see are GIVEN Nikon equipment. That's why.
While Canon and Nikon best each other in different arenas, show me a pro who yaks loudly enough about either, and I'll show you someone who gets free equipment. Why? Because they're both very, very good- and as long as you buy the model intended for what you're trying to do (ie, you don't buy the 1DS if you're a sports or news photographer, you probably buy the 1D, because the 1DS is mainly aimed at studios).
Nikon isn't alone- Canon has a "professional" "club" which gets you expedited repairs (ie, 1-2, maybe 3-4 days instead of 3-4 weeks), loaners while stuff is getting repaired...or just if you ask for it. Want a lens that costs more than two G5's put together, like one of the big, fast prime telephotos with image stabilization like the 400/2.8 L IS? Why, just ring 'em up and say "hey, I'd like to borrow one next week". "Yes sir!"
If you think the people who talk loud enough for you to hear get service or support that even approaches what you will get as a consumer (or even a professional, just not at their level), you're absolutely, 100% fooling yourself. These companies are in it purely for the people who are highly visible, or for major corporate customers. For years, Canon and Nikon have been releasing models in time for the olymics, for example.
Oh- and while we're on the subject of customer serivce...if the Nikon camera, flash, or lens you're holding in your hand wasn't imported by Nikon into your country and sold to you by a Nikon dealer- instead of say, you buying it from a grey-market importer or buying it while on vacation...Nikon won't service it.
Let me be absolutely clear about that. Nikon won't just charge you for servicing it, they flat out will not service it period; you'll get the camera back in the mail, still broken. Worse, if you're buying a camera used, you can't call Nikon to check if the serial number is grey market or official USA import. This is why used Nikon gear is almost worthless, and new Nikon gear costs a fortune. Canon will not only service a grey-market import as long as it has an international warranty (some do, some don't)...they'll service it free as long as it's under warranty!
Last but not least, Nikon warranties are not transferrable- Canon's, and most other camera companies, are. If I turn around and sell my Nikon D2H the second I bought it, it's still sealed, warranty card not filled out- too bad. Why? Because the original sales reciept with your name and address has to be sent in to Nikon with the warranty card. God help you if it wasn't sold to you by an authorized Nikon dealer.
FYI, the photos taken with the flash-drive/camera were right on the Charles River, for the most part. The first building is (I believe) the Biogen building right by Alliston Mass Pike exit. The Trader Joe's happens to be in the same parking lot as (ahem) a Microcenter computer store (gee, wonder where everything was bought..) The red building is right near/behind the Central Square T stop. The last photo looks to be taken right after pulling out of the parking lot of the Microcenter/TJ's.
I opened that page up accidentally in Safari instead of Firefox, and man, now I remember why I installed Flashblock. Ow. Ow. OW OW OW. 3/4 of the page is flash advertisements!
I've recently downloaded them and have been listenning to two episodes per day.
OK, I give up. From where? Nothing on the HHGTTG Audio show homepage except for a "buy episodes online" link. Isohunt returned a fat goose-egg for torrents...
I had a conversation with a VP of marketing at a former employer.
"Clickthrough rates are typically (insert some number under 10) per thousand views."
He got very angry when I told him that sounded like people accidentally clicking on the banner, and said I had no idea what I was talking about.
I countered that the only time I had ever clicked a banner ad while surfing the web was completely by accident. Stuff like my mouse falling off the desk, or my hand slipping.
a few that are interesting, mostly security related features
I think a lot of network admins will breath a sigh of partial relief when they see the Password Helper. There will always be the "[kids_name]123" password people, but there are a decent number of users who want something secure but easy to remember, and to know roughly how secure a particular password is.
they have to handle the logistics of roads, libraries, health services, schools, etc. --- a task which in my totally uneducated opinion appears to be substantially more complicated than running a wifi network.
Most town and city governments are barely able to manage this much. Quite a number of them don't manage to do it.
Sorry, but while I agree WiFi shouldn't be banned from municipal operation, most municipalities need to focus on those pesky problems like education and emergency services...none of which are being handled very well on average around the US.
Trent Reznor, great musician, got his idea from David Bowie
I don't suppose it occured to anyone that the whole thing is just a publicity stunt cooked up by Apple and Nine Inch Nails (which, last I checked, was popular about 10 years ago when I was in high school).
Intersting but wouldn't it be great to place a wireless node on every telephone pole? Just a public accessable wireless network that was free to use.
Smashing idea! Because after all, it's cheaper to put two electronic boxes on top of two poles than to run a wire between the two poles. Geez, those silly phone companies, what were they thinking.
When corporations see things happening that they don't like, they call the congressmen that they've bought and paid for and tell them to fix it.
Can't buy an congressman that isn't elected. Guess who can vote? Guess who can't?
Look at the bankruptcy bill. Nothing could more blatantly tell the American public that our lawmakers are only concerned with the interests of large corporations and the ultra-wealthy.
Well, that's what happens when the south and midwest allow themselves to get scared into polarizing the electon on god, gay marriage, and other shit that really don't matter one bit when it comes to putting bread on the table at the end of the day.
Then again, I guess expecting intelligence at the voting booth from people who are more than happy to throw the Constitution and Bill of Rights out the door whenever it suits them...is expecting too much.
Apple fans are like Cubs fans. Everyone is routing for them at one point, and pretty much hates them the rest of the time.
Meh. I don't think this is the greatest analogy.
The best way to summarize my attitude about Apple (as an owner of almost 8 Macs now, starting with the LC) is "love the product, hate the company". Namely, service and support- which are the worst in the industry, and always have been. They're advanced machines, a great operating system. The company itself though, clearly does not subscribe to the "don't be evil" philosophy Google's PR department has been expousing.
My PB 1400 kept crashing while sleeping. I sent it in for repair to TEXAS, the only place you can get it repaired. Each time it came back, the HD was wiped, and on the second trip, they broke the 3rd party ethernet card's jack. On my third attempt to get it serviced, the Apple "customer relations" agent who was supposed to hear out my side of the story...started screaming at me.
My Powerbook Lombard had a screen clutch fail. Like many other Lombards, this causes the video screen cable to get chewed up. Before this, a thick white line suddenly appeared down one side. Apple wouldn't fix any of it.
My Powerbook 17" makes crackling and squealing noises with CPU activity. The hinges loosened up during the warranty period, and when I went into the apple store, the guy said "oh, well, ours in the store does it too." How does a retail demo unit's condition become acceptable...wait a sec, how does "ours fails the same way" suddenly not make it "normal" and not covered by warranty? Then I found out the little power plug on the A/C adapter, called a "duckbill", isn't covered by Apple. "We don't cover that part." "My warranty covers everything. It doesn't say, 'does not cover the power adapter'." "We DO NOT cover THAT PART. They break a lot." "On a three grand laptop you're going to tell me a $10 part isn't covered because it wasn't designed properly and breaks?" Then there was getting the little rubber feet replaced(those are covered, yay!)- I spent 20 minutes waiting for the guy to finish doing PAPERWORK to replace $2 in parts, and I had to initial and sign 5 different "invoices" and statements that I had -actually- received the service in question.
I had a friend who couldn't return her powerbook after 12 days because, despite clear proof on the Apple Store homepage, the customer service reps claimed shipping time was included in the 14 day evaluation period. Slimy. Needlessly so. Guess what? She hates Apple with a passion now, and tells everyone who will listen about how they're a bunch of crooks and liars. She's right.
As impressive as the system was, there's something (irrational) in my mind that just gets nervous about things like that. I'm worried that the... juice... will leak out onto the mobo.
The motherboard is vertical and like many components these days, has a conformal coating.
Furthmore, do you really think Apple and Delphi would be stupid enough to use conductive coolant?(no) Does the system pass UL & CE safety standards, among others? (yes).
Imagine that : religions appear and mutate randomly, and only the liveliest branches, the ones most able to hold out against reality and other religions gain followers and thus multiply...
Why do you think the Catholic Church(incidentally, the richest organization in the entire world, aside from Harvard University, which just took the #1 spot) has banned all forms of birth control?
On a less dramatic note- look at most religious edicts on subjects of how the house should be kept, how food is prepared, etc. In a way religion, science, and public safety did kind of end up in bed together, and if you think about it, back in the day, "because God said so" was a lot more understandable to the Unwashed Masses than "because we think these tiny little things you can't see can be living inside and will make you sick..."
I swear to god, when I heard about this (several days ago, btw, on my local nightly news program- Slashdot is a little slow on the uptake), the newscaster said something along the lines of "Al Gore isn't stopping with the internet, now he's doing his own TV channel!"
I always assumed that everyone got that the whole "I invented the internet" stuff was a bunch of crap, but now I'm starting to have my doubts- I think a lot of people DO think he "invented the internet".
She wrapped it up with "however, Gore will not appear on the channel himself." Thank god- we've have an epidemic of people falling asleep from Instant Boredom.
Only reason, is because they BUY THEIR OWN HARDWARE:)
Given that Ars Technica probably then would like to sell what they've bought, there's still conflict of interest. If you buy a $2k system and say "ugh, it's junk", you're not going to have much luck selling it, are you?
If they sell the stuff before the review is published, fine...
I'll read multiple reviews and, if available, end-user experiences as well before making a serious buy decision.
What good is reading multiple reviews if they're all crap? What good are end-user experiences posted on the net, if companies are posting fake reviews, which they are?
News flash- even if they're not getting "payola" (let's call it what it is- bribe money/gear), they're controlled quite effectively by hardware companies because everyone wants to be the first site with a review of Hot Product X to drive hits to their site to earn advertising revenue. Write something bad about a product, and that company will drop you to the bottom of the list.
Let's not forget that most of these guys litter their sites with advertisements for the very product they are reviewing, too. Bob's Extreme Hardware isn't going to be very happy if young Johnny says the PC case Bob just stocked is crap- and he's going to tell young Johhny that.
Why is any of this a surprise to any reasonably intelligent individual?
This means that if you produce regulated 5V at one side of your datacentre, by the time it's reached the other side it's not 5V any more. But it should be easy to get round this by producing 6V and having DC regulators; they're very small and extremely efficient these days.
...aaaaaand where do you think that energy goes?
[DING] "Heat, Alex" "Correct, for $100."
...aaaaaand what do you think that energy loss thanks to high current means?
[DING] "Efficiency less than a modern AC->DC power supply" "Correct, for $200."
Anyone particpating in the "DC versus AC" discussion would do well to pick up a history book and read about Westinghouse and Edison. There's a reason we use A/C everywhere except for very short hauls. Modern switching power supplies are very efficient and still the best choice for this sort of stuff.
. And your battery backup infact does not convert AC to DC then back again, it has two seperate paths a direct AC path then another path for AC to DC, yes it does have a DC to AC converter, but that is only used during power failure.
Many UPS's DO convert to DC and back again- they're called "on line" UPS's, and they are by far the dominant type of UPS.
Of course, you'd know this if you had any datacenter/IT experience, instead of being a college student.
Stand by for 300 "I for one welcome our new robot overlords" comments,
Did you notice the TV screengrab in the bottom left corner on the page about the robot itself? The P-n-P next to the woman looks very much like the HKR-1 holding a long gun to someone's head. Sounds like they're already here!
why so everyone can have their identity stolen after they graduate from college?
No. So that the US Armed Forces can recruit (or, if you want to be even more cynical, draft) who they please.
Military recruiting is an an all-time low despite rather large bonuses for signing up, re-enlistment, and so on. If Iraq doesn't wrap up soon, the military will simply run out of people who want to be in the military.
Rumsfield keeps telling us how they prefer a volunteer military, but if it comes down to "needing a soldier for that gun", they'll put anyone there.
Slashdot Mirror
There is ABSOLUTELY NO SUCH THING. Most of the pros you see are GIVEN Nikon equipment. That's why.
While Canon and Nikon best each other in different arenas, show me a pro who yaks loudly enough about either, and I'll show you someone who gets free equipment. Why? Because they're both very, very good- and as long as you buy the model intended for what you're trying to do (ie, you don't buy the 1DS if you're a sports or news photographer, you probably buy the 1D, because the 1DS is mainly aimed at studios).
Nikon isn't alone- Canon has a "professional" "club" which gets you expedited repairs (ie, 1-2, maybe 3-4 days instead of 3-4 weeks), loaners while stuff is getting repaired...or just if you ask for it. Want a lens that costs more than two G5's put together, like one of the big, fast prime telephotos with image stabilization like the 400/2.8 L IS? Why, just ring 'em up and say "hey, I'd like to borrow one next week". "Yes sir!"
If you think the people who talk loud enough for you to hear get service or support that even approaches what you will get as a consumer (or even a professional, just not at their level), you're absolutely, 100% fooling yourself. These companies are in it purely for the people who are highly visible, or for major corporate customers. For years, Canon and Nikon have been releasing models in time for the olymics, for example.
Oh- and while we're on the subject of customer serivce...if the Nikon camera, flash, or lens you're holding in your hand wasn't imported by Nikon into your country and sold to you by a Nikon dealer- instead of say, you buying it from a grey-market importer or buying it while on vacation...Nikon won't service it.
Let me be absolutely clear about that. Nikon won't just charge you for servicing it, they flat out will not service it period; you'll get the camera back in the mail, still broken. Worse, if you're buying a camera used, you can't call Nikon to check if the serial number is grey market or official USA import. This is why used Nikon gear is almost worthless, and new Nikon gear costs a fortune. Canon will not only service a grey-market import as long as it has an international warranty (some do, some don't)...they'll service it free as long as it's under warranty!
Last but not least, Nikon warranties are not transferrable- Canon's, and most other camera companies, are. If I turn around and sell my Nikon D2H the second I bought it, it's still sealed, warranty card not filled out- too bad. Why? Because the original sales reciept with your name and address has to be sent in to Nikon with the warranty card. God help you if it wasn't sold to you by an authorized Nikon dealer.
Wait- wasn't some slashdot reader lecturing me recently about how ArsTechnica guys "buy all their stuff" so they're impartial?
So much for that, you're just like the rest. Samples samples samples. Whee.
I opened that page up accidentally in Safari instead of Firefox, and man, now I remember why I installed Flashblock. Ow. Ow. OW OW OW. 3/4 of the page is flash advertisements!
OK, I give up. From where? Nothing on the HHGTTG Audio show homepage except for a "buy episodes online" link. Isohunt returned a fat goose-egg for torrents...
User friendly:
I had a conversation with a VP of marketing at a former employer.
"Clickthrough rates are typically (insert some number under 10) per thousand views."
He got very angry when I told him that sounded like people accidentally clicking on the banner, and said I had no idea what I was talking about.
I countered that the only time I had ever clicked a banner ad while surfing the web was completely by accident. Stuff like my mouse falling off the desk, or my hand slipping.
OH MY GOD MY LIFE IS... oh wait, no. Anyone else have an image of your stereotypical over-25 Star Wars fan screaming this?
Caps lock, people. It's a privledge, not a right.
Being both a Mac User and a Command LIne Junky. This makes me happy.
Ditto here!
(ducks, runs for cover)
I think a lot of network admins will breath a sigh of partial relief when they see the Password Helper. There will always be the "[kids_name]123" password people, but there are a decent number of users who want something secure but easy to remember, and to know roughly how secure a particular password is.
Most town and city governments are barely able to manage this much. Quite a number of them don't manage to do it.
Sorry, but while I agree WiFi shouldn't be banned from municipal operation, most municipalities need to focus on those pesky problems like education and emergency services...none of which are being handled very well on average around the US.
I don't suppose it occured to anyone that the whole thing is just a publicity stunt cooked up by Apple and Nine Inch Nails (which, last I checked, was popular about 10 years ago when I was in high school).
Smashing idea! Because after all, it's cheaper to put two electronic boxes on top of two poles than to run a wire between the two poles. Geez, those silly phone companies, what were they thinking.
Can't buy an congressman that isn't elected. Guess who can vote? Guess who can't?
Look at the bankruptcy bill. Nothing could more blatantly tell the American public that our lawmakers are only concerned with the interests of large corporations and the ultra-wealthy.
Well, that's what happens when the south and midwest allow themselves to get scared into polarizing the electon on god, gay marriage, and other shit that really don't matter one bit when it comes to putting bread on the table at the end of the day.
Then again, I guess expecting intelligence at the voting booth from people who are more than happy to throw the Constitution and Bill of Rights out the door whenever it suits them...is expecting too much.
Meh. I don't think this is the greatest analogy.
The best way to summarize my attitude about Apple (as an owner of almost 8 Macs now, starting with the LC) is "love the product, hate the company". Namely, service and support- which are the worst in the industry, and always have been. They're advanced machines, a great operating system. The company itself though, clearly does not subscribe to the "don't be evil" philosophy Google's PR department has been expousing.
My PB 1400 kept crashing while sleeping. I sent it in for repair to TEXAS, the only place you can get it repaired. Each time it came back, the HD was wiped, and on the second trip, they broke the 3rd party ethernet card's jack. On my third attempt to get it serviced, the Apple "customer relations" agent who was supposed to hear out my side of the story...started screaming at me.
My Powerbook Lombard had a screen clutch fail. Like many other Lombards, this causes the video screen cable to get chewed up. Before this, a thick white line suddenly appeared down one side. Apple wouldn't fix any of it.
My Powerbook 17" makes crackling and squealing noises with CPU activity. The hinges loosened up during the warranty period, and when I went into the apple store, the guy said "oh, well, ours in the store does it too." How does a retail demo unit's condition become acceptable...wait a sec, how does "ours fails the same way" suddenly not make it "normal" and not covered by warranty? Then I found out the little power plug on the A/C adapter, called a "duckbill", isn't covered by Apple. "We don't cover that part." "My warranty covers everything. It doesn't say, 'does not cover the power adapter'." "We DO NOT cover THAT PART. They break a lot." "On a three grand laptop you're going to tell me a $10 part isn't covered because it wasn't designed properly and breaks?" Then there was getting the little rubber feet replaced(those are covered, yay!)- I spent 20 minutes waiting for the guy to finish doing PAPERWORK to replace $2 in parts, and I had to initial and sign 5 different "invoices" and statements that I had -actually- received the service in question.
I had a friend who couldn't return her powerbook after 12 days because, despite clear proof on the Apple Store homepage, the customer service reps claimed shipping time was included in the 14 day evaluation period. Slimy. Needlessly so. Guess what? She hates Apple with a passion now, and tells everyone who will listen about how they're a bunch of crooks and liars. She's right.
The motherboard is vertical and like many components these days, has a conformal coating.
Furthmore, do you really think Apple and Delphi would be stupid enough to use conductive coolant?(no) Does the system pass UL & CE safety standards, among others? (yes).
Why do you think the Catholic Church(incidentally, the richest organization in the entire world, aside from Harvard University, which just took the #1 spot) has banned all forms of birth control?
On a less dramatic note- look at most religious edicts on subjects of how the house should be kept, how food is prepared, etc. In a way religion, science, and public safety did kind of end up in bed together, and if you think about it, back in the day, "because God said so" was a lot more understandable to the Unwashed Masses than "because we think these tiny little things you can't see can be living inside and will make you sick..."
I swear to god, when I heard about this (several days ago, btw, on my local nightly news program- Slashdot is a little slow on the uptake), the newscaster said something along the lines of "Al Gore isn't stopping with the internet, now he's doing his own TV channel!"
I always assumed that everyone got that the whole "I invented the internet" stuff was a bunch of crap, but now I'm starting to have my doubts- I think a lot of people DO think he "invented the internet".
She wrapped it up with "however, Gore will not appear on the channel himself." Thank god- we've have an epidemic of people falling asleep from Instant Boredom.
Given that Ars Technica probably then would like to sell what they've bought, there's still conflict of interest. If you buy a $2k system and say "ugh, it's junk", you're not going to have much luck selling it, are you?
If they sell the stuff before the review is published, fine...
What good is reading multiple reviews if they're all crap? What good are end-user experiences posted on the net, if companies are posting fake reviews, which they are?
News flash- even if they're not getting "payola" (let's call it what it is- bribe money/gear), they're controlled quite effectively by hardware companies because everyone wants to be the first site with a review of Hot Product X to drive hits to their site to earn advertising revenue. Write something bad about a product, and that company will drop you to the bottom of the list.
Let's not forget that most of these guys litter their sites with advertisements for the very product they are reviewing, too. Bob's Extreme Hardware isn't going to be very happy if young Johnny says the PC case Bob just stocked is crap- and he's going to tell young Johhny that.
Why is any of this a surprise to any reasonably intelligent individual?
...aaaaaand where do you think that energy goes?
[DING] "Heat, Alex" "Correct, for $100."
...aaaaaand what do you think that energy loss thanks to high current means?
[DING] "Efficiency less than a modern AC->DC power supply" "Correct, for $200."
Anyone particpating in the "DC versus AC" discussion would do well to pick up a history book and read about Westinghouse and Edison. There's a reason we use A/C everywhere except for very short hauls. Modern switching power supplies are very efficient and still the best choice for this sort of stuff.
Many UPS's DO convert to DC and back again- they're called "on line" UPS's, and they are by far the dominant type of UPS.
Of course, you'd know this if you had any datacenter/IT experience, instead of being a college student.
Did you notice the TV screengrab in the bottom left corner on the page about the robot itself? The P-n-P next to the woman looks very much like the HKR-1 holding a long gun to someone's head. Sounds like they're already here!
What is the matter with you people? This story has been up for hours and there still isn't a overlord joke.
Do I have to do everything around here?
Very clever. They'll sell millions! I want one too, actually.
Availability is listed at 1-3 weeks, indicating an imminent release."
Oh, you devil you. Happy April 1st to you too. You had a complete fool here until I saw that 1-3 week availability for a new Apple product.
No. So that the US Armed Forces can recruit (or, if you want to be even more cynical, draft) who they please.
Military recruiting is an an all-time low despite rather large bonuses for signing up, re-enlistment, and so on. If Iraq doesn't wrap up soon, the military will simply run out of people who want to be in the military.
Rumsfield keeps telling us how they prefer a volunteer military, but if it comes down to "needing a soldier for that gun", they'll put anyone there.