If Dell wants to play games with pricing, I say there's nothing wrong with playing. You the consumer can be manipulative as well. Sometimes they'll win, and sometimes they'll lose, that's the nature of dynamic pricing. There's nothing unethical about it.
You violated the number one rule in corporate America. Never make a VP feel threatened. Someone who goes around shaking things up and pointing out mistakes, even if they are trying to make things better for everyone, is going to get canned. What those VPs were thinking is, "what if he starts doing this with MY project? What if he proves that MY job isn't necessary anymore?" Many large corporations that are no longer run by the founders are not run in the best interests of the company as a whole, but instead to protect the mini-empires of the various executives. Turf wars are common, and sometimes innocent employees are fired when an executive loses a power struggle and is punished by having his entire department eliminated. It's a sad state of affairs, but this is why the big shots wanted you gone rather than some do-nothing asskisser who praised all of their half-baked schemes.
Copyright infringement carries heavier penalties than theft in the traditional sense. If you are ever unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of a copyright infringement lawsuit, you'll be wishing you had just been caught stealing a movie from Best Buy and got off with probation and a small fine, rather than a civil suit which will bankrupt you even if you ultimately prevail.
Re:Extras we don't need?
on
Just a Phone?
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· Score: 1
My brother recently picked up one of the "Razr" models, and honestly, I was shocked to see how poor the menu layouts, font rendering, and input response time were on a phone that has supposedly been the subject of so much development and engineering. That's because the "engineering" was done almost entirely by Marketroids looking for only the flashiest features. Its rather depressing to see this happen to a company that was once a technology leader. I hope the shareholders and board members realize what this type of shortsighted planning will do to the future of Motorola if they don't demand changes soon.
I noticed that back in the 90s when CR would always recommend Sears Kenmore products which for the most part are a steaming pile of dung. They couldn't possibly be the best in their category, but CR always scored them highest. I know the official policy is to not accept advertising or sponsorship from a corporation, but perhaps Sears was rewarding them in some other indirect way. I've always been suspicious of this magazine ever since, but they do serve a good purpose overall. And luckily they don't just roll over at the first sign of a lawsuit, or they would probably not be in business today.
I just hope they're able to effectively keep hackers out. Imagine what a goatse troll could do if they were able to hack into a virtual sex session. Wow, that thought just made internet sex a lot less appealing.
ADT, right? Their scam has been going on for quite some time, and several of my relatives have been sucked into it. They try to closely guard the secret about their alarm service, which is that you can get the same thing with $100 worth of Radio Shack parts and a few hours of your time, and with no contract or reoccuring fees.
I've always found it interesting that cellphone providers aggressively market themselves and seem to try very hard to sign up new customers, and then treat the existing ones like crap. Memo to cellphone company executives: If you want to have an edge on your competitors (all of them), start offering decent customer service! Since none of them currently do, your company will be the first. Now that people are finally waking up and realizing that there's more to a cellphone plan than a glitzy phone with low prices, I'm surprised no company has yet capitalized on what could be a very significant competitive advantage.
Unfortunately, the New York Times is not the only newspaper with underhanded methods of running a website. The Chicago Tribune spams it's members too (based on the added spam to my junk hotmail account). And if you try to use the Tribune's website on IE without SP2 and no ad blockers, the page has more advertising than espn.com. They have the really abusive ads too, like those 2 MB full screen ads that can't be stopped unless you really try. When will these guys ever get a clue?
Putting terms in an agreement is not the same as having them accepted into law, not even close. Many agreements and contracts contain illegal clauses that would never be upheld in court, which is one reason why so many lawsuits are settled out of court. Generally, you cannot use contracts or legal agreements to facilitate illegal activity, so inserting language like this would not make the spyware company suddenly compliant with the law. For example, employers must follow employment law and cannot simply make employees sign an agreement waiving all rights. Some rights can be waived if the law allows for it, but otherwise an agreement cannot contradict the law.
Especially when the proposed solution has been debunked numerous times and is completely Redundant. Too bad entire topics can't be moderated. In this case, the only way such a scheme could work is for spammers to cooperate and pay to send mail. Given their propensity to not even pay for internet access (like the guy sent to prison for obtaining Earthlink accounts with stolen credit cards), I don't know how anyone with a spare brain cell could ever think this scheme would work. Unless this is just a backdoor way to tax email, which is entirely possible.
Too bad nobody could ever prove anything about voter irregularities in Florida or Ohio, despite all the allegations. I guess the hardcore Democrat supporters think that if they say it enough, it will become true in peoples' minds anyway.
I agree with what you're saying, but unfortunately corporate recruiters do not. The kids that graduate from a "pure software engineering" CS program will get passed over for jobs by the MIS grads that have.net on their resumes. Sad but true. What is really needed for practical reasons is a mix between the two. Luckily most curriculums do not just teach a product like Java or C#, but the concepts behind it that would apply to other situations as well. As for the trade schools that only teach the current fads, you are correct in that their grads will become obsolete within a couple of years when those are no longer the latest and greatest things. In order to stay current, you must know how to learn new concepts on your own.
Up to this point, the reason has been that the bean counters at the cable company and TV production studios decided they would get more dollars per channel by featuring the BBQ network as opposed to an anime channel. Hopefully services like this will make it easier and more affordable for a company to put together a TV lineup, which means that something like an anime channel that may not have been profitable before would become profitable now. Not to mention, there won't be a cable company monopoly anymore with multiple networks available to each house.
You're correct in assuming that manufacturers want to maximize profits, and they would be stupid to sell something for less than people are willing to pay. But this only lasts until competition enters the picture. If you're selling TVs for $5000 and they cost you $100 to make, I'll figure out how to make them for the same price and sell them for less than you. A $4000 selling price on a $100 part would still be a very nice profit. You would either lower your price or watch me take your business. But I would only be able to do this until the next guy came along and sold the same thing for $3000, and the cycle continues. That is how capitalism works. I wouldn't worry about prices staying high for too long, since historically that has never happened with electronics. CDs are a different story, since they are produced by near-monopoly companies. And when these new TVs come out and are the latest and greatest expensive status symbol, the price of the current plasmas will drop like a rock, much like it has for the tube-based projection TVs.
This being Slashdot, you're required to post his name, home address and phone number. You know, so we can call and "ask him some questions". Maybe send him some helpful products he might find interesting.
Actually, this is a case of the workplace regulating itself. Employees are leaving due to the actions of an asshole manager. When the company has a hard time retaining or replacing people, they'll eventually realize why and the asshole will get the boot. However, this kind of "self-regulating workplace" works best in a good economy, since employees can be held as virtual hostages in a bad job if there is nothing else available. Rather than relying on unions, if it is even possible, it is better to be marketable enough that a job change is possible should it become necessary.
I don't think it will be a big deal. He obviously got this new job without a reference from the psycho manager, so he will have the new manager (hopefully not a psycho) as reference for his next job. He can still list the old place, and if someone wants a reference contact in the future, give them someone other than the psycho manager, who hopefully would have been fired by that point anyway. In summary, you don't necessarily need a reference from your manager to be able to list a job on your resume. Some companies don't even allow managers to give references, so HR departments are used to encountering situations where they can't get a reference from someone's current or previous manager. Just use someone else.
Here is a great example of automation gone overboard. The McDonalds automated kitchen. Considering what all the machines and maintenance must cost, would it really save money compared to paying minimum wage employees? Maybe so, but I'd be surprised to see the savings pay off anytime soon. In countries with lower labor costs, like many in South America, almost nothing is automated. Parking lots have attendants, subway and bus fare cards are sold by humans and not machines, there is no self-checkout, and most gas stations are full service. Automation can be a good thing, but it is not always the best solution.
It's a different story when a family of 5 gets wiped out in a car crash. No amount of money can buy a company out of that mess. The emotional appeals to the jury can't be canceled out by bribes. As of yet, Microsoft doesn't have any human blood on their hands, and if they do at some point in the future, their legal luck will change. Besides, Eolas might very well kick their butts in a patent case depending on how the appeals go.
Slashdot Mirror
If Dell wants to play games with pricing, I say there's nothing wrong with playing. You the consumer can be manipulative as well. Sometimes they'll win, and sometimes they'll lose, that's the nature of dynamic pricing. There's nothing unethical about it.
Now let's just hope they don't rush out and patent this "new idea" of theirs.
Wow, I didn't realize there were Backdoor Boys fans on Slashdot with mod points tonight. I must have struck a nerve.
You violated the number one rule in corporate America. Never make a VP feel threatened. Someone who goes around shaking things up and pointing out mistakes, even if they are trying to make things better for everyone, is going to get canned. What those VPs were thinking is, "what if he starts doing this with MY project? What if he proves that MY job isn't necessary anymore?" Many large corporations that are no longer run by the founders are not run in the best interests of the company as a whole, but instead to protect the mini-empires of the various executives. Turf wars are common, and sometimes innocent employees are fired when an executive loses a power struggle and is punished by having his entire department eliminated. It's a sad state of affairs, but this is why the big shots wanted you gone rather than some do-nothing asskisser who praised all of their half-baked schemes.
Better than Preparation H.
Yep, its pretty accurate. I called them up, farted into the phone, and it gave the name of some Backstreet Boys song.
Copyright infringement carries heavier penalties than theft in the traditional sense. If you are ever unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of a copyright infringement lawsuit, you'll be wishing you had just been caught stealing a movie from Best Buy and got off with probation and a small fine, rather than a civil suit which will bankrupt you even if you ultimately prevail.
My brother recently picked up one of the "Razr" models, and honestly, I was shocked to see how poor the menu layouts, font rendering, and input response time were on a phone that has supposedly been the subject of so much development and engineering.
That's because the "engineering" was done almost entirely by Marketroids looking for only the flashiest features. Its rather depressing to see this happen to a company that was once a technology leader. I hope the shareholders and board members realize what this type of shortsighted planning will do to the future of Motorola if they don't demand changes soon.
I noticed that back in the 90s when CR would always recommend Sears Kenmore products which for the most part are a steaming pile of dung. They couldn't possibly be the best in their category, but CR always scored them highest. I know the official policy is to not accept advertising or sponsorship from a corporation, but perhaps Sears was rewarding them in some other indirect way. I've always been suspicious of this magazine ever since, but they do serve a good purpose overall. And luckily they don't just roll over at the first sign of a lawsuit, or they would probably not be in business today.
I just hope they're able to effectively keep hackers out. Imagine what a goatse troll could do if they were able to hack into a virtual sex session. Wow, that thought just made internet sex a lot less appealing.
ADT, right? Their scam has been going on for quite some time, and several of my relatives have been sucked into it. They try to closely guard the secret about their alarm service, which is that you can get the same thing with $100 worth of Radio Shack parts and a few hours of your time, and with no contract or reoccuring fees.
I've always found it interesting that cellphone providers aggressively market themselves and seem to try very hard to sign up new customers, and then treat the existing ones like crap. Memo to cellphone company executives: If you want to have an edge on your competitors (all of them), start offering decent customer service! Since none of them currently do, your company will be the first. Now that people are finally waking up and realizing that there's more to a cellphone plan than a glitzy phone with low prices, I'm surprised no company has yet capitalized on what could be a very significant competitive advantage.
Unfortunately, the New York Times is not the only newspaper with underhanded methods of running a website. The Chicago Tribune spams it's members too (based on the added spam to my junk hotmail account). And if you try to use the Tribune's website on IE without SP2 and no ad blockers, the page has more advertising than espn.com. They have the really abusive ads too, like those 2 MB full screen ads that can't be stopped unless you really try. When will these guys ever get a clue?
Putting terms in an agreement is not the same as having them accepted into law, not even close. Many agreements and contracts contain illegal clauses that would never be upheld in court, which is one reason why so many lawsuits are settled out of court. Generally, you cannot use contracts or legal agreements to facilitate illegal activity, so inserting language like this would not make the spyware company suddenly compliant with the law. For example, employers must follow employment law and cannot simply make employees sign an agreement waiving all rights. Some rights can be waived if the law allows for it, but otherwise an agreement cannot contradict the law.
Especially when the proposed solution has been debunked numerous times and is completely Redundant. Too bad entire topics can't be moderated. In this case, the only way such a scheme could work is for spammers to cooperate and pay to send mail. Given their propensity to not even pay for internet access (like the guy sent to prison for obtaining Earthlink accounts with stolen credit cards), I don't know how anyone with a spare brain cell could ever think this scheme would work. Unless this is just a backdoor way to tax email, which is entirely possible.
Too bad nobody could ever prove anything about voter irregularities in Florida or Ohio, despite all the allegations. I guess the hardcore Democrat supporters think that if they say it enough, it will become true in peoples' minds anyway.
I agree with what you're saying, but unfortunately corporate recruiters do not. The kids that graduate from a "pure software engineering" CS program will get passed over for jobs by the MIS grads that have .net on their resumes. Sad but true. What is really needed for practical reasons is a mix between the two. Luckily most curriculums do not just teach a product like Java or C#, but the concepts behind it that would apply to other situations as well. As for the trade schools that only teach the current fads, you are correct in that their grads will become obsolete within a couple of years when those are no longer the latest and greatest things. In order to stay current, you must know how to learn new concepts on your own.
Up to this point, the reason has been that the bean counters at the cable company and TV production studios decided they would get more dollars per channel by featuring the BBQ network as opposed to an anime channel. Hopefully services like this will make it easier and more affordable for a company to put together a TV lineup, which means that something like an anime channel that may not have been profitable before would become profitable now. Not to mention, there won't be a cable company monopoly anymore with multiple networks available to each house.
You're correct in assuming that manufacturers want to maximize profits, and they would be stupid to sell something for less than people are willing to pay. But this only lasts until competition enters the picture. If you're selling TVs for $5000 and they cost you $100 to make, I'll figure out how to make them for the same price and sell them for less than you. A $4000 selling price on a $100 part would still be a very nice profit. You would either lower your price or watch me take your business. But I would only be able to do this until the next guy came along and sold the same thing for $3000, and the cycle continues. That is how capitalism works. I wouldn't worry about prices staying high for too long, since historically that has never happened with electronics. CDs are a different story, since they are produced by near-monopoly companies. And when these new TVs come out and are the latest and greatest expensive status symbol, the price of the current plasmas will drop like a rock, much like it has for the tube-based projection TVs.
This being Slashdot, you're required to post his name, home address and phone number. You know, so we can call and "ask him some questions". Maybe send him some helpful products he might find interesting.
Actually, this is a case of the workplace regulating itself. Employees are leaving due to the actions of an asshole manager. When the company has a hard time retaining or replacing people, they'll eventually realize why and the asshole will get the boot. However, this kind of "self-regulating workplace" works best in a good economy, since employees can be held as virtual hostages in a bad job if there is nothing else available. Rather than relying on unions, if it is even possible, it is better to be marketable enough that a job change is possible should it become necessary.
I don't think it will be a big deal. He obviously got this new job without a reference from the psycho manager, so he will have the new manager (hopefully not a psycho) as reference for his next job. He can still list the old place, and if someone wants a reference contact in the future, give them someone other than the psycho manager, who hopefully would have been fired by that point anyway. In summary, you don't necessarily need a reference from your manager to be able to list a job on your resume. Some companies don't even allow managers to give references, so HR departments are used to encountering situations where they can't get a reference from someone's current or previous manager. Just use someone else.
Maybe they're just graduates of public schools that taught "phonetic" spelling.
Here is a great example of automation gone overboard. The McDonalds automated kitchen. Considering what all the machines and maintenance must cost, would it really save money compared to paying minimum wage employees? Maybe so, but I'd be surprised to see the savings pay off anytime soon. In countries with lower labor costs, like many in South America, almost nothing is automated. Parking lots have attendants, subway and bus fare cards are sold by humans and not machines, there is no self-checkout, and most gas stations are full service. Automation can be a good thing, but it is not always the best solution.
It's a different story when a family of 5 gets wiped out in a car crash. No amount of money can buy a company out of that mess. The emotional appeals to the jury can't be canceled out by bribes. As of yet, Microsoft doesn't have any human blood on their hands, and if they do at some point in the future, their legal luck will change. Besides, Eolas might very well kick their butts in a patent case depending on how the appeals go.