I hope that Steve Jobs' thermonuclear approach to Android will backfire on an epic level: once the patent wars leave the shell of dead corporations strewn all over the landscape, people will huddle together and promise themselves "never again" And the only way to do that: no more patents.
That is not the only way. The more probable approach is that the next round of "standards" won't be, that corps involved (e.g., Motorola, Samsung, Sony, and others who are usually involved in actual R&D) will patent the hell out of everything, and this time no Mr. FRAND Nice Guy. Everyone will know Apple is the enemy unwilling to share its toys in the sandbox, and no one will let Apple play. Apple gets squashed out of the market, and it's a lesson to the next company who wants to try the same approach.
You are dreaming - anything that's standards based, as something like a cell phone network has to be, will never be allowed to lock itself down in that fashion. And Steve had every right to be pissed considering that Schmidt was on Apple's board and privy to much more than a normal outsider. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a lawsuit against Schmidt at least considering that he had to violate part of his terms to serve on Apple's board.
"Adding all kinds of tracking" sounds ominous, but in reality Google asked for Latitude to be included. This is an opt-in service that enables people to publish their location to each other, either manually or automatically. So it's not like Google wanted some spyware to be installed into iOS that would keep tabs on every single user - only those who specifically ask for it get it.
Where Google's concerned - tracking information is tracking information, and you can probably ascribe the most evil of intentions to it. Ironic considering their initial stance as a company.
Except for the areas where Apple map imagery is some ancient crappy black-and-white satellite photos. Or where the entire area is covered by clouds (including some major cities). And so on.
So, yes, it's very easy to argue that the new map imagery is not in any noticeable way better than what Google offered, and in many areas, it's actually worse.
I recall Google having some of the same issues, even for places in N. America in major metro areas, not too long ago. My house, for instance, was incorrectly located until about 4 or 5 years ago. Roads in the area were mapped badly, in some cases not at all, as the map images were so out of date that the entire road system had changed, due to construction that lasted 3 years. (i.e., not like it was a secret, nor not well known for a considerable period of time)
So Apple's maps recently came out. They worked fine in several major metro areas I was in, although I did notice issues with GPS (not making apologies for it) but it did locate me near enough to where I was that with rudimentary map reading skills I could get to where I needed to go.
I also note that the Apple map app has forced Google to create a real map app. And that might be the biggest win for everyone involved.
Human ingenuity, as you put it in this scenario, becomes the cause for any one of many dystopian futures depicted in various (currently) sci-fi novels/movies/TV shows. If robots can do all sorts of work and provide enough for everyone, the net outcome will be a large segment of the populace that has no motivation to work, or no work to do. Agriculture - pretty much automated. Food service - automated. Janitorial/cleaning services - automated. Drivers/pilots - automated. Control systems - automated. Construction/repair of pretty much anything - automated. Shopping - largely or completely automated.
So what's left? Entertainment is one segment, and the creation of new items is another. You don't need 4+B people doing those things.
The points made about preferences etc applying to people's desires will be the only motivation for wealth exchange, and only for limited items. Most of those will be location things - I want to live 'x', I want to see 'y', or I want to do 'z'. For the rest, owning material things like a device, food, whatever, will be next to meaningless, as a robot somewhere will pump it out if you want it. Note that this does imply that things have progressed far beyond where they are today, but it is the natural end to which we're working. I just cannot posit what occurs once we get there, or if we'll make it there given the large upheaval in current society and societal functions that will occur on the way to that point in history.
First on tax avoidance: no one wants to pay taxes, but if everyone is taxed fairly, then this sort of nonsense resulting from favoritism in the tax code would not happen.
On the robot overlords commeth comment: Just about any halfway intelligent person can see that we're entering the phase of robot factories that produce products and that can repair themselves. Even factories producing robots.... These factories will take orders of magnitude fewer labor hours, and this movement will spread to other typically high labor industries, such as agriculture. Once those are converted, what then? A service economy can only employ so many, and food and basic foodstuff will wind up being almost free, other than energy costs (which could also be virtually free in this scenario) So what's left? Academia will only hold so many, and you only need so many managers/troubleshooters.
my problem is there's a group of solicitors that apparently call from a range of numbers in WA state, among others. It's probably these folks. We can only hope they'll get pounded into sand.
We are most decidedly not metric. However, if we could get new speed limits with slightly higher values in km, I'd be willing to bet people would be happy to convert. Add in standard world wide recognized signage, and we'd be off to a great start. (a nice red circle sign instead of a B&W huge square sign that also has many many other uses)
In that case - I'm telling the phone company who cannot call me - they're taking direction directly from me. That's different than the telco deciding who can and cannot call me.
What there is is a statement against being tracked
You have no such right. The police can still "tail" you without the little black box in your car. So can crooks. Anyone can sit and track your day to day movements with as much precision as they're willing to put the effort into obtaining.
You are absolutely, 100%, incorrect. This would be called stalking, or official harassment. If you're semi-intelligent, it would quickly result in a restraining order, keeping said "tracker" far away from the victim. Yes, even the police.
Love your TBBA - zero risk of abuse? Really? So you won't mind that you're broadcasting to everyone exactly where you are every moment you're in your car?
I already am, via a technological marvel called a license plate. Combined with another technological marvel called the database, at any time anyone, friend or foe, can find the address belonging to this license plate. If you think this information is lawfully restricted only to police or other government agencies, you are mistaken. If you think the private companies that have access to it never abuse it, you're doubly mistaken.
I have a license plate, I have a DB. Gee - I can't see where I am today, much less yesterday. You glossed over about a million other details that are needed to provide what can be provided by those little black boxes. Things like networks, cameras, software, etc etc etc.
In any event, it was a simple example of extrapolation. There is no call by anyone for the little black boxes to transmit anything. The interface will be hardwired (well until the geeks whip up a device to let you send the information to your iphone) and the data on it only available to people with physical access -- you know, like police or insurance adjusters doing an accident investigation. Or crooks with a slimjim.
You made the statement, I asked a question. You respond with an incorrect statement that you already are. The proof that it is not so is that known criminals are still out and about doing their daily lives without any interruption, and that crimes even caught on camera remain unsolved.
Yet its Xbox 360 beat Wii U this past Black Friday. So at least someone is profiting from a system even more closed than iOS. How has Sony Computer Entertainment been doing?
Man on Titanic merrily waves to man in leaking tub....
Look at MS's financials, it doesn't matter if they outsell the Wii U. Sony has been reaping its due rewards. A long time ago I pondered which company was worse - Sony or MS, and decided that Sony was by far worse. Apparently I'm not alone in thinking Sony doesn't deserve my money. I'm only hopeful that MS follows their lead.
Per earlier comments, there is no statement supporting anarchy. What there is is a statement against being tracked. What I'd rather see is cameras on every police car, recording the activities of the police, streamed live. Why? Because we're paying them to police, and there have been far too many cases of abuse of authority documented. You don't like that? Why not? I actually had no issue with the black box in the government car. It's the government's car. I also don't mind that work monitors all network activity - it's their network. Heck, they probably won't let you throw a rave in their warehouse on Friday nights either.
Love your TBBA - zero risk of abuse? Really? So you won't mind that you're broadcasting to everyone exactly where you are every moment you're in your car?
Robber 1: "fool" is 10 minutes out, we can easily grab this big screen TV!
Robber 2: Awesome, gee, that only took 6 minutes, and "fool" got stopped at that 3 minute light, let's take the stereo and all the cookware too!
The ACs are out today. Who said anything about anarchy? All that black boxes in cars recording everything do is enable tracking and tracing of people. I do not see the need for this to exist at all. Now if you wish to install one by choice, but even that has severe negative connotations, because if you do not have one, then are you automatically guilty? It's much like having to carry papers everywhere and showing them before being allowed to do 'x', with 'x' being anything you can imagine, from leaving a street to entering a building, to buying a newspaper. (Yes - exaggeration to make a point, at least I hope it's exaggeration....)
Nintendo, last report I saw was running out of steam. MS has well-documented issues, they are shrinking and just raised business prices across the board to remain even. It'll be interesting to see where they go next. They peaked in 2002 or 2003, more or less, and everything since has been one blunder after another. Win7 was just not a misstep, for a change, it certainly wasn't a great product. Win8 - check the sig....
That's because we spend billions on the "war against drugs" and incarcerate anyone that walked by a pot plant.
We should be doing the opposite - the government should be selling drugs, the only legal seller, and put all the pushers, dealers, and cartels out of business. It'd make money, and save lots of lives in the process, with the added bonus of removing the pushers from the scene so there would hopefully be fewer kids on drugs (selling drugs would still get you landed in jail) At least in theory that would work. Certainly better to try than the current wasted effort.
Right now, between 401Ks and savings, it's close to 50% of income. I have 0 intention of working my present job past 60, and would prefer something closer to 55, although 50 would be better. That doesn't mean I'd stop working, I'd just stop running on the treadmill.
Texas is allowed to split into 5 states, more or less, depending upon whom you listen to. Prior to 1861, yes, they could, and there was no diversity clause.
FYI - you signed for telephone, cable, and internet, whether you still have the paperwork or not, your provider does. Warranties and return policies are subject to the seller, and in case of a dispute, you again will need the receipt - proof.
The greatest weakness of EULAs are that there is no signature or other record that a EULA was consented to. The weak boilerplate of "By opening and/or using" fails, because Joe could have opened the box and thrown away the EULA, and then given it to me. He didn't use it, I didn't consent, or even know one existed.
Rationing occurs. However - instead of calling it rationing, we should just limit national health care to a set of health issues that are relatively fixed cost. Yes, that means cancer, HIV, and other "expensive" diseases are not covered. Too bad. There's health insurance for that.
I can assure you this is already in progress and that OTR encryption, for example, is quite functional. The days of services like Skype for IM that hold records of messages in unencrypted form on servers are numbered. This was happening not so much to hurt law enforcement, but more to keep hackers away from secrets (oh - you've never passed credentials across IM?)
For other things, I use ssh/scp extensively for example, and even my test servers run self-signed certs.
Slashdot Mirror
Hopefully the posting, not the underwear.
That's rich, and this is more valid than the much maligned "rounded corners design patent" how?
That is not the only way. The more probable approach is that the next round of "standards" won't be, that corps involved (e.g., Motorola, Samsung, Sony, and others who are usually involved in actual R&D) will patent the hell out of everything, and this time no Mr. FRAND Nice Guy. Everyone will know Apple is the enemy unwilling to share its toys in the sandbox, and no one will let Apple play. Apple gets squashed out of the market, and it's a lesson to the next company who wants to try the same approach.
You are dreaming - anything that's standards based, as something like a cell phone network has to be, will never be allowed to lock itself down in that fashion. And Steve had every right to be pissed considering that Schmidt was on Apple's board and privy to much more than a normal outsider. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a lawsuit against Schmidt at least considering that he had to violate part of his terms to serve on Apple's board.
Try annoying 1 out of 3 or 5, all that will be needed to run an entire factory.
"Adding all kinds of tracking" sounds ominous, but in reality Google asked for Latitude to be included. This is an opt-in service that enables people to publish their location to each other, either manually or automatically. So it's not like Google wanted some spyware to be installed into iOS that would keep tabs on every single user - only those who specifically ask for it get it.
Where Google's concerned - tracking information is tracking information, and you can probably ascribe the most evil of intentions to it. Ironic considering their initial stance as a company.
Except for the areas where Apple map imagery is some ancient crappy black-and-white satellite photos. Or where the entire area is covered by clouds (including some major cities). And so on.
So, yes, it's very easy to argue that the new map imagery is not in any noticeable way better than what Google offered, and in many areas, it's actually worse.
I recall Google having some of the same issues, even for places in N. America in major metro areas, not too long ago. My house, for instance, was incorrectly located until about 4 or 5 years ago. Roads in the area were mapped badly, in some cases not at all, as the map images were so out of date that the entire road system had changed, due to construction that lasted 3 years. (i.e., not like it was a secret, nor not well known for a considerable period of time)
So Apple's maps recently came out. They worked fine in several major metro areas I was in, although I did notice issues with GPS (not making apologies for it) but it did locate me near enough to where I was that with rudimentary map reading skills I could get to where I needed to go.
I also note that the Apple map app has forced Google to create a real map app. And that might be the biggest win for everyone involved.
Human ingenuity, as you put it in this scenario, becomes the cause for any one of many dystopian futures depicted in various (currently) sci-fi novels/movies/TV shows. If robots can do all sorts of work and provide enough for everyone, the net outcome will be a large segment of the populace that has no motivation to work, or no work to do. Agriculture - pretty much automated. Food service - automated. Janitorial/cleaning services - automated. Drivers/pilots - automated. Control systems - automated. Construction/repair of pretty much anything - automated. Shopping - largely or completely automated.
So what's left? Entertainment is one segment, and the creation of new items is another. You don't need 4+B people doing those things.
The points made about preferences etc applying to people's desires will be the only motivation for wealth exchange, and only for limited items. Most of those will be location things - I want to live 'x', I want to see 'y', or I want to do 'z'. For the rest, owning material things like a device, food, whatever, will be next to meaningless, as a robot somewhere will pump it out if you want it. Note that this does imply that things have progressed far beyond where they are today, but it is the natural end to which we're working. I just cannot posit what occurs once we get there, or if we'll make it there given the large upheaval in current society and societal functions that will occur on the way to that point in history.
First on tax avoidance: no one wants to pay taxes, but if everyone is taxed fairly, then this sort of nonsense resulting from favoritism in the tax code would not happen.
On the robot overlords commeth comment: Just about any halfway intelligent person can see that we're entering the phase of robot factories that produce products and that can repair themselves. Even factories producing robots.... These factories will take orders of magnitude fewer labor hours, and this movement will spread to other typically high labor industries, such as agriculture. Once those are converted, what then? A service economy can only employ so many, and food and basic foodstuff will wind up being almost free, other than energy costs (which could also be virtually free in this scenario) So what's left? Academia will only hold so many, and you only need so many managers/troubleshooters.
my problem is there's a group of solicitors that apparently call from a range of numbers in WA state, among others. It's probably these folks. We can only hope they'll get pounded into sand.
We are most decidedly not metric. However, if we could get new speed limits with slightly higher values in km, I'd be willing to bet people would be happy to convert. Add in standard world wide recognized signage, and we'd be off to a great start. (a nice red circle sign instead of a B&W huge square sign that also has many many other uses)
And, yes, the telcos definitely filter calls - every time you block a number, you are requesting the phone company to filter that call.
In that case - I'm telling the phone company who cannot call me - they're taking direction directly from me. That's different than the telco deciding who can and cannot call me.
You have no such right. The police can still "tail" you without the little black box in your car. So can crooks. Anyone can sit and track your day to day movements with as much precision as they're willing to put the effort into obtaining.
You are absolutely, 100%, incorrect. This would be called stalking, or official harassment. If you're semi-intelligent, it would quickly result in a restraining order, keeping said "tracker" far away from the victim. Yes, even the police.
I already am, via a technological marvel called a license plate. Combined with another technological marvel called the database, at any time anyone, friend or foe, can find the address belonging to this license plate. If you think this information is lawfully restricted only to police or other government agencies, you are mistaken. If you think the private companies that have access to it never abuse it, you're doubly mistaken.
I have a license plate, I have a DB. Gee - I can't see where I am today, much less yesterday. You glossed over about a million other details that are needed to provide what can be provided by those little black boxes. Things like networks, cameras, software, etc etc etc.
In any event, it was a simple example of extrapolation. There is no call by anyone for the little black boxes to transmit anything. The interface will be hardwired (well until the geeks whip up a device to let you send the information to your iphone) and the data on it only available to people with physical access -- you know, like police or insurance adjusters doing an accident investigation. Or crooks with a slimjim.
You made the statement, I asked a question. You respond with an incorrect statement that you already are. The proof that it is not so is that known criminals are still out and about doing their daily lives without any interruption, and that crimes even caught on camera remain unsolved.
You can't argue that trickle-down economics has been a raging success. The flow of wealth to the masses has slowed to a trickle.
Yet its Xbox 360 beat Wii U this past Black Friday. So at least someone is profiting from a system even more closed than iOS. How has Sony Computer Entertainment been doing?
Man on Titanic merrily waves to man in leaking tub....
Look at MS's financials, it doesn't matter if they outsell the Wii U. Sony has been reaping its due rewards. A long time ago I pondered which company was worse - Sony or MS, and decided that Sony was by far worse. Apparently I'm not alone in thinking Sony doesn't deserve my money. I'm only hopeful that MS follows their lead.
Per earlier comments, there is no statement supporting anarchy. What there is is a statement against being tracked. What I'd rather see is cameras on every police car, recording the activities of the police, streamed live. Why? Because we're paying them to police, and there have been far too many cases of abuse of authority documented. You don't like that? Why not? I actually had no issue with the black box in the government car. It's the government's car. I also don't mind that work monitors all network activity - it's their network. Heck, they probably won't let you throw a rave in their warehouse on Friday nights either.
Love your TBBA - zero risk of abuse? Really? So you won't mind that you're broadcasting to everyone exactly where you are every moment you're in your car?
Robber 1: "fool" is 10 minutes out, we can easily grab this big screen TV!
Robber 2: Awesome, gee, that only took 6 minutes, and "fool" got stopped at that 3 minute light, let's take the stereo and all the cookware too!
The ACs are out today. Who said anything about anarchy? All that black boxes in cars recording everything do is enable tracking and tracing of people. I do not see the need for this to exist at all. Now if you wish to install one by choice, but even that has severe negative connotations, because if you do not have one, then are you automatically guilty? It's much like having to carry papers everywhere and showing them before being allowed to do 'x', with 'x' being anything you can imagine, from leaving a street to entering a building, to buying a newspaper. (Yes - exaggeration to make a point, at least I hope it's exaggeration....)
Nintendo, last report I saw was running out of steam. MS has well-documented issues, they are shrinking and just raised business prices across the board to remain even. It'll be interesting to see where they go next. They peaked in 2002 or 2003, more or less, and everything since has been one blunder after another. Win7 was just not a misstep, for a change, it certainly wasn't a great product. Win8 - check the sig....
That's because we spend billions on the "war against drugs" and incarcerate anyone that walked by a pot plant.
We should be doing the opposite - the government should be selling drugs, the only legal seller, and put all the pushers, dealers, and cartels out of business. It'd make money, and save lots of lives in the process, with the added bonus of removing the pushers from the scene so there would hopefully be fewer kids on drugs (selling drugs would still get you landed in jail) At least in theory that would work. Certainly better to try than the current wasted effort.
So you're willing to give up your freedom for security? Ben Franklin had a saying for you.
Right now, between 401Ks and savings, it's close to 50% of income. I have 0 intention of working my present job past 60, and would prefer something closer to 55, although 50 would be better. That doesn't mean I'd stop working, I'd just stop running on the treadmill.
Texas is allowed to split into 5 states, more or less, depending upon whom you listen to. Prior to 1861, yes, they could, and there was no diversity clause.
So when it comes time for a dispute - prove it.
FYI - you signed for telephone, cable, and internet, whether you still have the paperwork or not, your provider does. Warranties and return policies are subject to the seller, and in case of a dispute, you again will need the receipt - proof.
Thanks for playing.
The greatest weakness of EULAs are that there is no signature or other record that a EULA was consented to. The weak boilerplate of "By opening and/or using" fails, because Joe could have opened the box and thrown away the EULA, and then given it to me. He didn't use it, I didn't consent, or even know one existed.
Rationing occurs. However - instead of calling it rationing, we should just limit national health care to a set of health issues that are relatively fixed cost. Yes, that means cancer, HIV, and other "expensive" diseases are not covered. Too bad. There's health insurance for that.
I can assure you this is already in progress and that OTR encryption, for example, is quite functional. The days of services like Skype for IM that hold records of messages in unencrypted form on servers are numbered. This was happening not so much to hurt law enforcement, but more to keep hackers away from secrets (oh - you've never passed credentials across IM?)
For other things, I use ssh/scp extensively for example, and even my test servers run self-signed certs.