My thoughts exactly. Google is pushing Chromebooks heavily right now.
I suspect the people predicting the demise of netbooks are working from a very narrow definition of these devices, and excluding from that definition tablets, (with or without keyboards), or those netbooks that are running web browsers as their only operating system.
In general, I agree, but robots don't have to "conceive" of decommissioning people in order to be dangerous.
The default state in robots is that they have no concept of saving human life. You virtually never see humans working near robots in industry, its just too dangerous.
So we have the opposite of "conception" as the default, and nobody seems to worry about mandating safety of life as the starting point, or even recognizing it as a need, except when reading science fiction, where is is merely hand-waved into existence. Industrial systems today rely on humans shutting off the robots when there is a need to approach them, not the other way around.
The military is actually ahead of industry in this regard. The US Defense department is worried that autonomous weapons might be developed with no human decisions in the loop, and has preemptively banned such.
I've never understood this tendency to post some commercial source when there is a free one with better and more pictures. Someone always pimps for Space.com when NASA give you a much better view.
Prejudice as has been explored in such science fictional characters...
Prejudice is a odd choice of words, and suggests you've already equated (non-existent) robots with humans in your mind.
That is exactly what sane people fear. That tech-enthusiast will decide that robots are people too. Laws will be passed. And when a human no longer serves any purpose to anyone else, they will be "decommissioned" and "parts-ed out".
Once you decide machines are the same as you, you've disavowed your own human-ness, and accepted the fact that you are just another purpose built device which no intrinsic or unique value.
I guess if that's how you feel, the best that humanity could do to preserve the human race is to parts you out before you replicate.
Agreed, this has to be aimed at the toy market, or the self centered parent market looking for a playmate for their real child, or to substitute for that real child they haven't got time to actually have.
Childless couples are already unable to distinguish their dogs from children. This will go further to enhance that psychosis.
Worse yet is the fact that Lego can reintroduce any of these collectible sets at any time. (Possibly owing a tied-in movie some additional revenue).
These sets are the ultimate in abandon-ware. Created for a short run, then the company moves on to some other fad, but always using the same parts.
The kids that find them under the Christmas tree could care less if its StarWars, or Dinosaurs, because they are only going to make little houses out of them, and become bored with them quickly.
Its easy to put inflated prices for particular sets on a web page, but who actually seeks these things out and spends good money on them?
Are there no weather stations or buoys near Greenland? How much earlier did the Satellites show the high pressure ridge prior to Sandy Turning, and how long before landfall was that? Would it have mattered in the end?
The best tools are the ones you want, but to run around predicting death tolls just because you don't have all your best tools is the very definition of fear mongering.
If no settlement is reached on the fiscal cliff, taxes go up for everyone. So why the boogie-man mask?
Agreed. Now that the major carriers have all agreed to kill phones that are reported stolen (like most European carriers) , the in-country black market value should drop to zero. There is still the export option for stolen phones.
But to a certain extent the price of the phone sets the black market value as well. And that price is just too high.
And further, I have my doubts about the claim at the bottom of the summary:
The U.S. phone subsidy model reportedly adds $400+ to the price of an iPhone.
According to Apple's own web page the cost of an unlocked an contract free iphone5 (cheapest model) is $649. ($849 for the one with the big GBs).
So how does the subsidy enter into that equation?
It shouldn't unless Apple is propping up the price to support Carrier subsidy plans.
But why would Apple do that? The carriers make every cent of that subsidy back and never reduce the price of your monthly bill. Apple could sell at 100% markup and still beat carrier pricing. Instead Apple sells at well over 200% markup even when you buy direct with cash up front. No other manufacturer rakes in that much cash.
T-Mobile is ending subsidization of phones. (You can still buy it on time, but its a separate contract that has an end date).
And part of preparation includes warning people before the storm strikes so they can protect their property and evacuate safely.
Which has been done for much longer than there were satellites. You remember airplanes? Hurricane Hunters?
If all that stands between us and destruction is 8% of NOAAs budget, then perhaps we would be able to find that much crurft laying around within the agency or some other agency.
Bear in mind there was (allegedly) going to be a one year satellite gap anyway. Now, maybe its two years. If one year didn't constitute a major emergency, why does two years?
There is nothing but open field and forest behind the plant.
There are houses and a softball field next to the plant but these are not along the portion of the creek downstream of the plant. All there is out there is power lines. You do realize that water flows towards the river right? It won't flow upstream.
So you issue evac alerts earlier, rather than waiting till the last possible 15 minute period. If you need updates every 15 minutes you're calling it too close anyway.
Are the Orions still flying? Yup. Good. Gas them up, send them out.
If you have a better idea, please elaborate. For some reason completely oblivious to you, preparation against catastrophic events costs money.
Preparation against catastrophic events? So these satellites are able to turn back the storm, and prevent damage?
If they are so essential, why is there ALREADY a planned one year satellite gap? Did they shut down the Hurricane Hunters as well?
Look, its obvious that this is a posturing scare tactic, but if you can't see that and are content to be whip-sawed by bureaucratic scare mongering, just call your congressman and tell him to knuckle under and tax you more.
Exactly. When local governments have a shortfall the first to go is police officers and school teachers and firemen. Bureaucrats seem to hold on to their jobs some how. Rat hole money sponge projects seem to linger on forever.
When the federal government has a shortfall (don't they always), its more of the same, with each agency finding the biggest scaremongering headlines they can possibly put forward.
8% isn't that big, you can find that much fat in any departmental budget, and money can be siphoned off of other projects and moved to these satellites at a moment's notice. Worst case, take the money out of FEMA or the TSA and save everybody some suffering.
Get your facts right. They weren't an activist group. They were drone enthusiasts. Activists would have just walked across the field, or paddled a canoe across the river into the stream mouth.
Neighbors were complaining about the smell. Any time you bring in live animals for slaughter it stinks. There were zero complaints about blood in the creek. USDA inspectors were visiting that plant regularly, as were Texas Meat Safety Assurance Unit inspectors. There were no activists. Stop making things up.
I'm sure the meat packing inspectors were in that plant regularly. But prior to this accidental drone photograph there wasn't a clue that they were discharging into a stream. Apparently only a few company execs knew where that drain line went. Those are the ones that got indicted.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is that the hardware companies allowed Microsoft to define what a netbook was and not the market.
Not sure Google is allowing Microsoft to define very much regarding their Chromebooks.
My thoughts exactly.
Google is pushing Chromebooks heavily right now.
I suspect the people predicting the demise of netbooks are working from a very narrow definition of these devices, and excluding from that definition tablets, (with or without keyboards), or those netbooks that are running web browsers as their only operating system.
In general, I agree, but robots don't have to "conceive" of decommissioning people in order to be dangerous.
The default state in robots is that they have no concept of saving human life. You virtually never see humans working near robots in industry, its just too dangerous.
So we have the opposite of "conception" as the default, and nobody seems to worry about mandating safety of life as the starting point, or even recognizing it as a need, except when reading science fiction, where is is merely hand-waved into existence. Industrial systems today rely on humans shutting off the robots when there is a need to approach them, not the other way around.
The military is actually ahead of industry in this regard. The US Defense department is worried that autonomous weapons might be developed with no human decisions in the loop, and has preemptively banned such.
I've never understood this tendency to post some commercial source when there is a free one with better and more pictures.
Someone always pimps for Space.com when NASA give you a much better view.
Whoosh.
Prejudice as has been explored in such science fictional characters...
Prejudice is a odd choice of words, and suggests you've already equated (non-existent) robots with humans in your mind.
That is exactly what sane people fear. That tech-enthusiast will decide that robots are people too. Laws will be passed. And when a human no longer serves any purpose to anyone else, they will be "decommissioned" and "parts-ed out".
Once you decide machines are the same as you, you've disavowed your own human-ness, and accepted the fact that you are just another purpose built device which no intrinsic or unique value.
I guess if that's how you feel, the best that humanity could do to preserve the human race is to parts you out before you replicate.
Agreed, this has to be aimed at the toy market, or the self centered parent market looking for a playmate for their real child, or to substitute for that real child they haven't got time to actually have.
Childless couples are already unable to distinguish their dogs from children. This will go further to enhance that psychosis.
Worse yet is the fact that Lego can reintroduce any of these collectible sets at any time. (Possibly owing a tied-in movie some additional revenue).
These sets are the ultimate in abandon-ware. Created for a short run, then the company moves on to some other fad, but always using the same parts.
The kids that find them under the Christmas tree could care less if its StarWars, or Dinosaurs, because they are only going to make little houses out of them, and become bored with them quickly.
Its easy to put inflated prices for particular sets on a web page, but who actually seeks these things out and spends good money on them?
Mod parent up.
Words have meaning, and I like descriptive product names.
So Katrina was prior to weather Satellites then?
Thanks for correcting my mistaken historical timeline.
How did we survive before satellites with people who reason like you?
Are there no weather stations or buoys near Greenland?
How much earlier did the Satellites show the high pressure ridge prior to Sandy Turning, and how long before landfall was that?
Would it have mattered in the end?
The best tools are the ones you want, but to run around predicting death tolls just because you don't have all your best tools is the very definition of fear mongering.
If no settlement is reached on the fiscal cliff, taxes go up for everyone. So why the boogie-man mask?
The purported manufacture price is estimated at $207. See link in summary.
Apple sells from their website with zero subsidy for &649.
100% markup over cost would be $414.
200% markup over cost would be $621.
Lets blame the victim, eh Mr Mayor?
Agreed.
Now that the major carriers have all agreed to kill phones that are reported stolen (like most European carriers) , the in-country black market value should drop to zero.
There is still the export option for stolen phones.
But to a certain extent the price of the phone sets the black market value as well. And that price is just too high.
And further, I have my doubts about the claim at the bottom of the summary:
The U.S. phone subsidy model reportedly adds $400+ to the price of an iPhone.
According to Apple's own web page the cost of an unlocked an contract free iphone5 (cheapest model) is $649. ($849 for the one with the big GBs).
So how does the subsidy enter into that equation?
It shouldn't unless Apple is propping up the price to support Carrier subsidy plans.
But why would Apple do that? The carriers make every cent of that subsidy back and never reduce the price of your monthly bill. Apple could sell at 100% markup and still beat carrier pricing. Instead Apple sells at well over 200% markup even when you buy direct with cash up front. No other manufacturer rakes in that much cash.
T-Mobile is ending subsidization of phones. (You can still buy it on time, but its a separate contract that has an end date).
And part of preparation includes warning people before the storm strikes so they can protect their property and evacuate safely.
Which has been done for much longer than there were satellites. You remember airplanes? Hurricane Hunters?
If all that stands between us and destruction is 8% of NOAAs budget, then perhaps we would be able to find that much crurft laying around within the agency or some other agency.
Bear in mind there was (allegedly) going to be a one year satellite gap anyway. Now, maybe its two years.
If one year didn't constitute a major emergency, why does two years?
There is nothing but open field and forest behind the plant.
There are houses and a softball field next to the plant but these are not along the portion of the creek downstream of the plant. All there is out there is power lines. You do realize that water flows towards the river right? It won't flow upstream.
If people's wages remain static, then it means 8% of adults (and some similar percentage of families) without an income.
Well that only works if you believe that EVERYBODY works for the federal government.
A lot of people in this country took pay cuts over the last several years, I'm sure NOAA can as well.
So you issue evac alerts earlier, rather than waiting till the last possible 15 minute period.
If you need updates every 15 minutes you're calling it too close anyway.
Are the Orions still flying? Yup. Good. Gas them up, send them out.
If you have a better idea, please elaborate. For some reason completely oblivious to you, preparation against catastrophic events costs money.
Preparation against catastrophic events?
So these satellites are able to turn back the storm, and prevent damage?
If they are so essential, why is there ALREADY a planned one year satellite gap?
Did they shut down the Hurricane Hunters as well?
Look, its obvious that this is a posturing scare tactic, but if you can't see that and are content to be whip-sawed by bureaucratic scare mongering, just call your congressman and tell him to knuckle under and tax you more.
Give us more money, or people die.
Exactly.
When local governments have a shortfall the first to go is police officers and school teachers and firemen.
Bureaucrats seem to hold on to their jobs some how. Rat hole money sponge projects seem to linger on forever.
When the federal government has a shortfall (don't they always), its more of the same, with each agency finding the biggest scaremongering headlines they can possibly put forward.
8% isn't that big, you can find that much fat in any departmental budget, and money can be siphoned off of other projects and moved to these satellites at a moment's notice. Worst case, take the money out of FEMA or the TSA and save everybody some suffering.
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/400-Irish-Facebook-staff-set-for-windfall-several-hundred-thousand-euro-each-as-stocks-go-public---VIDEO-152143895.html?mob-ua=Y
The country goes by the name of Ireland, it's part of the UK.
Get your facts right. They weren't an activist group. They were drone enthusiasts.
Activists would have just walked across the field, or paddled a canoe across the river into the stream mouth.
Neighbors were complaining about the smell. Any time you bring in live animals for slaughter it stinks. There were zero complaints about blood in the creek.
USDA inspectors were visiting that plant regularly, as were Texas Meat Safety Assurance Unit inspectors.
There were no activists. Stop making things up.
Yes, I can, can you see those little house looking things that show they aren't in a deserted area like you claimed?
There are no houses near the half mile of stream between the plant and the river. What kind of crack are you smoking anyway?
I'm sure the meat packing inspectors were in that plant regularly. But prior to this accidental drone photograph there wasn't a clue that they were discharging into a stream. Apparently only a few company execs knew where that drain line went. Those are the ones that got indicted.