Verizon better watch it. If the courts accepted the argument that broadband service is like a microphone, any subcribers to Verizon could sue and claim a violation of their free speech if Verizon throttles their speed. That is a truly slipper slope they are working on. Since you are locked in to their service via a contract, you do not have the ability to switch to another microphone. They own and control the microphone. Throttling back the speed could be construed as limiting your use of the microphone and therefore infringing on your, the individual's, excercise of free speech.
Having a personal page is not obsolete. However, Netvibes is much more usefull when configured manually instead of using one of their preset pages. The preset pages give you information overload. My netvibes page has the local weather, USA today, Wallstreet Journal, Slashdot, Stocks, my Google calendar, Gmail and other pop3 accounts, plus FB and a few others. It really looks and acts pretty much like an iGoogle page.
Actually, it doesn't matter if it is paid for or not. The risk still exists. Say for instance your company standardizes on Google Docs (and pays for it) instead of purchasing Microsoft Office. Three years from now Google drops Docs. What do you do? If you had gone with Office, your installed versions are still good (look at all of the businesses still running IE 6, because they depend on it for applications).
Cloud computing, when relying on third parties, is full of risk because you are at the mercy of those third parties. Basically, with the cloud, a business is paying for a service instead of a tangible product. As such, the vendor doesn't need to provide that service indefinitely and when they quit offering it, the business is sol. Sure they could host their own cloud, but what of the millions of small businesses that don't have the resources to do that?
And they are giving you a 1.5 year warning that these non-critical apps are retiring. That should be expected. I don't expect my phone to last 5 years. You shouldn't expect an online service to last more than 5 years. They retire for good reasons. Something else is there.
You miss the point. Yes, these are relatively trivial services, but that doesn't mean that cloud providers can'tor won't drop more important services. You maynot expect an online service to last more than 5 years, but most businesses do.
Cloud computing is always heavily promoted and it does have many advantages. However, it also has one significant disadvantage -- your computing environment is at the whim of whomever is providing said service. If you come to depend on a service and the provider cancels it, you can try and find a substitute or simply accept that you are out of luck.
These services that Google is dropping, are not critical, but they could have been. Not every cloud has a silver lining, or even a chrome one.
Software and hardware are two different things. Will Apple retrofit the new screens to your old iPad? No. Will Ford update it's onboard GPS with new maps? Yes.
Not just newish cars. I had a Buick Century that to change the oil filter you either had to cut a hole in the inside fender well or turn the wheels all the way to the right to get the wrench on the filter and once loosened, turn the wheels all the way to the left to actually have clearance to get the filter out (or use the special wrench that GM had but wouldn't sell except to dealers).
But if a third party makes parts for custom updates of your Ford, guess what: you can use them! Even if that third party is Honda or Toyota by some weird motive.
I agree. On the other hand, replace the camshaft in your Ford and then try and get warranty work done on the engine. At the point you have changed it from being what was approved by Ford, you've taken responsibility for that portion of car and Ford won't cover it. Likewise, there is nothing stopping you from rooting your iPad, but the moment you do you have voided the warranty and Apple is no longer responsible for it, either (same thing with most tablets, phones, etc.).
The correct analogy is Ford and Chevy blocking you from using aftermarket compatible parts that were not purchased at the dealer. They don't do that. Apple on the other hand.......
Another analogy would be ford and chevy forcing you to only purchase gas from the dealer.
No one is trying to install incompatible android apps on apple platform as your analogy suggests. What they are trying to do is install aftermarket compatible apps on the apple platform that does not come from the Apple dealer. get it?
If you buy a new 2012 Ford and pull the heads and replace them with after market parts, same thing with various other components, yes, Ford won't stop you from doing that. On the other hand, just like rooting your iPad, you void your warranty, at least for the parts tampered with.
Actually it works quite well in this case. Like after market parts for cars which are cheaper than OEM, so too are aftermarket parts for Apple products.
Hurricane strength winds, when only rain showers were predicted is a freak event. Part of the recovery problem is that not only were trees and limbs knocked over onto power lines, thus cutting the power, but the power company cannot even get to the lines until the trees that are blocking the roads are cleared. From the pictures, a single chain saw is not going to clear many of those roads or power lines once they can be reached.
This is not the first time a storm has knocked out power in the N.E. It is however, the first time this type of storm, coming from inland has hit the N.E. and caused this type of damage.
You ask why is the level of outage the same? The answer is because in both cases trees were toppled onto power lines and power poles snapped. It is important in analyzing the events of this storm to separate the scope of the damage from the apparent response. It could be that the response has been very good, but the scope of the damage was so great that even with a good response people are still without power, days later. I am not saying that is the case, but without a real comparison between the damage now and the damage 10 months ago, comparing the relative response is like comparing apples and oranges.
As for what could be done differently, definitely buried lines would eliminate the problem of tree limbs falling on them (or even whole trees). It introduces other issues, one being the cost, as it is quite costly to bury lines in already built up areas. Another concern is the height of the water table, the type of soil, freeze/thaw cycles, etc. Basically, anything that is likely to cause the ground to shift can be detrimental to underground cables. Although, even with the under ground concerns, the chief obstacle is cost to install and later maintain.
Industry estimates are that it costs 10x more to bury a cable than to run it above ground. That cost is ultimately passed on to the consumer. Assuming that the ground conditions are even correct to allow for buried power lines, the question is whether the outage causes more financial pain to the local population (not just those without power) versus the added cost of burying the lines.
Not paying dividends could also mean that instead of infrastructure maintenance and improvement, employee bonuses, new offices, new vehicles, etc. None of that would have helped, either. Nor would have burying the lines, unless they were able to forsee where the next storm would have hit. Obviously, in hindsight, it is easy to say they should have done this or they should have done that. Unfortunately, hindsight ignores what a freaks storm this was.
Ford and your air-ride suspension are no different than Apple. Sure the new iPod has more features than the original, but that doesn't mean Apple is going to retro-fit the original. In this sense, Ford and Apple are the same. Once you buy it, you're stuck with it.
I am not defending Apple. I am simply pointing out that as consumers, we have choices. If you don't want lock in, then don't buy it. If enough people don't buy it, then either a) they will open it up or b) lower the price so that the pain of lock in is more than offset by the cost. But, if everybody keeps buying it and only complains, Apple has no incentive to change and instead laughs all the way to the bank.
If millions are without power after a storm, it is because they did not join with modern nations in protecting their power infrastructure.
If millions are without power after a storm, it could also be that nobody was expecting hurricane winds coming from the west. Buried power lines cost about 10 times more than above ground to install. While they do protect against wind, ice and tree damage, they have a problem with flooding, ground water and shifting earth.
When a hurricane hits and millions are without power, nobody cries poor infrastructure is the cause. When a tornado hits and people are without power, nobody cries poor infrastructure is the cause. The sustained high winds that hit the communities without power are a natural disaster just like hurricanes and tornadoes. The recovery delay is not because of poor infrastructure, but because it was unexpected and the damage is great. As with a hurricane, if the utility companies had known a week in advance that the storm was coming, they could have marshaled resources for the recovery. They didn't have time to do that, plus the inland states that would normally help for a hurricane were also hit by the same storm.
The US needs to work on improving its infrastructure, however, we shouldn't lose site that natural disasters are just that -- disasters, and they sometimes take a while to restore things to normal.
Right because they're not paying health dividends instead of paying for regular maintenance....
"...recent Public Service Commission investigation of Pepco found a years-long pattern of shirking such maintenance (curiously, at the same time that the company was paying its stockholders healthy dividends). The commission handed down a $1 million fine, its largest ever, for what it called a pattern of neglect. "
Moron...
And not paying those dividends would have kept trees from falling on power lines and power poles from snapping how?
It's because we never bother to maintain our infrastructure. We build bridges and let 'em fall down. We hang power lines off wooden poles, and never bother burying them. We sort of fix it when it breaks, but then it breaks again, but we don't really learn from it.
While what you say is true, the real problem this time was that the utilities were caught off guard. When they know a major storm, particularly something with hurricane strength winds, is coming, they marshal their resources ahead of time. Normally for a hurricane they have a week or so to prepare for it and to have extra crews and equipment on stand-by for the repairs/clean up. But this storm came without warning and therefore they are having to repair and marshal resources at the same time. Add to that the problem that most of the states that loan equipment and workers to the east coast for this type of work were also hit by the same storm.
In the end, while improving infrastructure is a needed thing, it isn't the cause of this delay in getting power back on.
> Seriously, though, it seems to me that infrastructure spending is one of those no-brainer things that shouldn't even be a question.
Of course it's a question; why should it be any different just because it's "infrastructure?" If there is demand for it, let the free-market provide it... nothing dictates that "infrastructure" be provided by some entity that maintains a monopoly on the use of force. Note too that "free market" includes voluntarily assembled co-operatives and communes. Communal activity for common good is one thing... forced participation in some initiative, at the point of a gun barrel, is something quite different.
Except that utilities are a regulated industry so free market doesn't apply.
Yeah, well, Microsoft lets you do things with your computer that are UNSAFE
Porsche vehicles have all kinds of features to prevent unsafe driving (ABS, traction control, stability control, etc.) yet we don't hate Porsche like we hate Apple. What's the deal??
Maybe because the safety features on a car are to keep you from dieing, whereas safety features on a Mac are keep Apple from dieing.
Care to point out what the "Apple agenda" is, which you are not buying. And care to point out which freedoms you don't jaÂve on a Mac?
Everyone knows that Apple's agenda is for world domination. Of course so is every other corporation's agenda. It's just that Apple is much better at it and may actually succeed.
Slashdot Mirror
Verizon better watch it. If the courts accepted the argument that broadband service is like a microphone, any subcribers to Verizon could sue and claim a violation of their free speech if Verizon throttles their speed. That is a truly slipper slope they are working on. Since you are locked in to their service via a contract, you do not have the ability to switch to another microphone. They own and control the microphone. Throttling back the speed could be construed as limiting your use of the microphone and therefore infringing on your, the individual's, excercise of free speech.
Having a personal page is not obsolete. However, Netvibes is much more usefull when configured manually instead of using one of their preset pages. The preset pages give you information overload. My netvibes page has the local weather, USA today, Wallstreet Journal, Slashdot, Stocks, my Google calendar, Gmail and other pop3 accounts, plus FB and a few others. It really looks and acts pretty much like an iGoogle page.
Actually, it doesn't matter if it is paid for or not. The risk still exists. Say for instance your company standardizes on Google Docs (and pays for it) instead of purchasing Microsoft Office. Three years from now Google drops Docs. What do you do? If you had gone with Office, your installed versions are still good (look at all of the businesses still running IE 6, because they depend on it for applications).
Cloud computing, when relying on third parties, is full of risk because you are at the mercy of those third parties. Basically, with the cloud, a business is paying for a service instead of a tangible product. As such, the vendor doesn't need to provide that service indefinitely and when they quit offering it, the business is sol. Sure they could host their own cloud, but what of the millions of small businesses that don't have the resources to do that?
Google mini is a paid for service.
Netvibes
And they are giving you a 1.5 year warning that these non-critical apps are retiring. That should be expected. I don't expect my phone to last 5 years. You shouldn't expect an online service to last more than 5 years. They retire for good reasons. Something else is there.
You miss the point. Yes, these are relatively trivial services, but that doesn't mean that cloud providers can'tor won't drop more important services. You maynot expect an online service to last more than 5 years, but most businesses do.
Cloud computing is always heavily promoted and it does have many advantages. However, it also has one significant disadvantage -- your computing environment is at the whim of whomever is providing said service. If you come to depend on a service and the provider cancels it, you can try and find a substitute or simply accept that you are out of luck.
These services that Google is dropping, are not critical, but they could have been. Not every cloud has a silver lining, or even a chrome one.
Netvibes is a much better dash board than iGoogle ever was.
Software and hardware are two different things. Will Apple retrofit the new screens to your old iPad? No. Will Ford update it's onboard GPS with new maps? Yes.
Not just newish cars. I had a Buick Century that to change the oil filter you either had to cut a hole in the inside fender well or turn the wheels all the way to the right to get the wrench on the filter and once loosened, turn the wheels all the way to the left to actually have clearance to get the filter out (or use the special wrench that GM had but wouldn't sell except to dealers).
Did not know that. I stand, or type, corrected.
But if a third party makes parts for custom updates of your Ford, guess what: you can use them! Even if that third party is Honda or Toyota by some weird motive.
I agree. On the other hand, replace the camshaft in your Ford and then try and get warranty work done on the engine. At the point you have changed it from being what was approved by Ford, you've taken responsibility for that portion of car and Ford won't cover it. Likewise, there is nothing stopping you from rooting your iPad, but the moment you do you have voided the warranty and Apple is no longer responsible for it, either (same thing with most tablets, phones, etc.).
Your moronic analogy is well...moronic.
The correct analogy is Ford and Chevy blocking you from using aftermarket compatible parts that were not purchased at the dealer. They don't do that. Apple on the other hand.......
Another analogy would be ford and chevy forcing you to only purchase gas from the dealer.
No one is trying to install incompatible android apps on apple platform as your analogy suggests. What they are trying to do is install aftermarket compatible apps on the apple platform that does not come from the Apple dealer. get it?
If you buy a new 2012 Ford and pull the heads and replace them with after market parts, same thing with various other components, yes, Ford won't stop you from doing that. On the other hand, just like rooting your iPad, you void your warranty, at least for the parts tampered with.
Actually it works quite well in this case. Like after market parts for cars which are cheaper than OEM, so too are aftermarket parts for Apple products.
Hurricane strength winds, when only rain showers were predicted is a freak event. Part of the recovery problem is that not only were trees and limbs knocked over onto power lines, thus cutting the power, but the power company cannot even get to the lines until the trees that are blocking the roads are cleared. From the pictures, a single chain saw is not going to clear many of those roads or power lines once they can be reached.
This is not the first time a storm has knocked out power in the N.E. It is however, the first time this type of storm, coming from inland has hit the N.E. and caused this type of damage.
You ask why is the level of outage the same? The answer is because in both cases trees were toppled onto power lines and power poles snapped. It is important in analyzing the events of this storm to separate the scope of the damage from the apparent response. It could be that the response has been very good, but the scope of the damage was so great that even with a good response people are still without power, days later. I am not saying that is the case, but without a real comparison between the damage now and the damage 10 months ago, comparing the relative response is like comparing apples and oranges.
As for what could be done differently, definitely buried lines would eliminate the problem of tree limbs falling on them (or even whole trees). It introduces other issues, one being the cost, as it is quite costly to bury lines in already built up areas. Another concern is the height of the water table, the type of soil, freeze/thaw cycles, etc. Basically, anything that is likely to cause the ground to shift can be detrimental to underground cables. Although, even with the under ground concerns, the chief obstacle is cost to install and later maintain.
Industry estimates are that it costs 10x more to bury a cable than to run it above ground. That cost is ultimately passed on to the consumer. Assuming that the ground conditions are even correct to allow for buried power lines, the question is whether the outage causes more financial pain to the local population (not just those without power) versus the added cost of burying the lines.
Not paying dividends could also mean that instead of infrastructure maintenance and improvement, employee bonuses, new offices, new vehicles, etc. None of that would have helped, either. Nor would have burying the lines, unless they were able to forsee where the next storm would have hit. Obviously, in hindsight, it is easy to say they should have done this or they should have done that. Unfortunately, hindsight ignores what a freaks storm this was.
Ford and your air-ride suspension are no different than Apple. Sure the new iPod has more features than the original, but that doesn't mean Apple is going to retro-fit the original. In this sense, Ford and Apple are the same. Once you buy it, you're stuck with it.
I am not defending Apple. I am simply pointing out that as consumers, we have choices. If you don't want lock in, then don't buy it. If enough people don't buy it, then either a) they will open it up or b) lower the price so that the pain of lock in is more than offset by the cost. But, if everybody keeps buying it and only complains, Apple has no incentive to change and instead laughs all the way to the bank.
If millions are without power after a storm, it is because they did not join with modern nations in protecting their power infrastructure.
If millions are without power after a storm, it could also be that nobody was expecting hurricane winds coming from the west. Buried power lines cost about 10 times more than above ground to install. While they do protect against wind, ice and tree damage, they have a problem with flooding, ground water and shifting earth.
When a hurricane hits and millions are without power, nobody cries poor infrastructure is the cause. When a tornado hits and people are without power, nobody cries poor infrastructure is the cause. The sustained high winds that hit the communities without power are a natural disaster just like hurricanes and tornadoes. The recovery delay is not because of poor infrastructure, but because it was unexpected and the damage is great. As with a hurricane, if the utility companies had known a week in advance that the storm was coming, they could have marshaled resources for the recovery. They didn't have time to do that, plus the inland states that would normally help for a hurricane were also hit by the same storm.
The US needs to work on improving its infrastructure, however, we shouldn't lose site that natural disasters are just that -- disasters, and they sometimes take a while to restore things to normal.
Right because they're not paying health dividends instead of paying for regular maintenance....
"...recent Public Service Commission investigation of Pepco found a years-long pattern of shirking such maintenance (curiously, at the same time that the company was paying its stockholders healthy dividends). The commission handed down a $1 million fine, its largest ever, for what it called a pattern of neglect. "
Moron...
And not paying those dividends would have kept trees from falling on power lines and power poles from snapping how?
It's because we never bother to maintain our infrastructure. We build bridges and let 'em fall down. We hang power lines off wooden poles, and never bother burying them. We sort of fix it when it breaks, but then it breaks again, but we don't really learn from it.
While what you say is true, the real problem this time was that the utilities were caught off guard. When they know a major storm, particularly something with hurricane strength winds, is coming, they marshal their resources ahead of time. Normally for a hurricane they have a week or so to prepare for it and to have extra crews and equipment on stand-by for the repairs/clean up. But this storm came without warning and therefore they are having to repair and marshal resources at the same time. Add to that the problem that most of the states that loan equipment and workers to the east coast for this type of work were also hit by the same storm.
In the end, while improving infrastructure is a needed thing, it isn't the cause of this delay in getting power back on.
> Seriously, though, it seems to me that infrastructure spending is one of those no-brainer things that shouldn't even be a question.
Of course it's a question; why should it be any different just because it's "infrastructure?" If there is demand for it, let the free-market provide it... nothing dictates that "infrastructure" be provided by some entity that maintains a monopoly on the use of force. Note too that "free market" includes voluntarily assembled co-operatives and communes. Communal activity for common good is one thing... forced participation in some initiative, at the point of a gun barrel, is something quite different.
Except that utilities are a regulated industry so free market doesn't apply.
Porsche vehicles have all kinds of features to prevent unsafe driving (ABS, traction control, stability control, etc.) yet we don't hate Porsche like we hate Apple. What's the deal??
Maybe because the safety features on a car are to keep you from dieing, whereas safety features on a Mac are keep Apple from dieing.
Care to point out what the "Apple agenda" is, which you are not buying. And care to point out which freedoms you don't jaÂve on a Mac?
Everyone knows that Apple's agenda is for world domination. Of course so is every other corporation's agenda. It's just that Apple is much better at it and may actually succeed.