Well, the 17" Powerbook goes for around NZ$6800, maybe he added maximum RAM?
Apple products are hugely overpriced in New Zealand. The base 12" model alone goes for over NZ$3600 (US$2400). I have a 12" Powerbook + 20GB ipod, software and case waiting for me in Australia and the whole package cost less than the Powerbook alone in New Zealand.
With regard to your comment, "Every other nation that existed in 1788 has either ceased to exist, seen its government overthrown, or seen it morph into something else." If a government has not changed in the past 200 years, it doesn't make it perfect, it makes it stagnant.
Actually, this morning I printed a copy of the computer crimes amendments to the NZ Crimes Act. This probably falls under section 251 - "Making, selling, or distributing or possessing software for committing crime".
Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years who invites any other person to acquire from him or her, or offers or exposes for sale or supply to any other person, or agrees to sell or supply or sells or supplies to any other person, or has in his or her possession for the purpose of sale or supply to any other person, any software or other information that would enable another person to access a computer system without authorisation
(a)the sole or principal use of which he or she knows to be the commission of a crime; or
(b)that he or she promotes as being useful for the commission of a crime (whether or not he or she also promotes it as being useful for any other purpose), knowing or being reckless as to whether it will be used for the commission of a crime.
So, I guess it is legal to buy software for ripping CDs, just not legal to sell or provide it.
The whole downsizing thing really pisses me off. I saw at least three cycles of it when I worked for EDS.
They would lay off a bunch of staff, then be forced to hire replacements just a few months later when sales picked up again. It is incredibly short term thinking. IMHO layoffs should be the last resort, in the long term it is a highly inefficient cost cutting measure.
For many corporations it is the first and easiest option, it's like they are stuck in the 80s.
You touched a nerve with me there. Whenever I set up a sun box I wonder why the hell it needs to listen on all the RPC ports just to run a fucking GUI.
One reason for this is the fact that voice calls can be compressed and carried over VoIP very cheaply, but data calls are generally already compressed and therefore there are no efficiency gains to be made.
Reminds me of one of my favourite Terry Pratchett quotes from Good Omens.
Two farthings = One Ha'penny. Two ha'pennies = One Penny. Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit. Two Thrupences = A Sixpence. Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob. Two Bob = A Florin. One Florin and one Sixpence = Half a Crown. Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note. Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). One Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea.
The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.
Oh my god, on a hunch I just checked out prices for freight forwarding from the US.
I can buy a 20GB iPod, 12" Powerbook and 2 sets of international power adapters, and the price including setup fees, freight, insurance and the GST customs will charge here is STILL NZ$100 less then the cost of the powerbook alone here in NZ. Anyone have any experience with the company USABox.com? Powerbook here I come!
Exactly. You think you get screwed. I suggest you go to MagnumMac and see how bad it is over here. Low end powerbook is NZ$3655 (AU$3255 or US$2576). So, we pay around US$1000 more for the same machine.
Apple in NZ sucks (it is run by a distributor called Renaissance). If I wasn't leaving, there is no way I would be switching, and I'm not going to line their pockets more.
Reminds me of when Panther came out, the local Mac reseller here in Wellington closed for the weekend because it was a public holiday on Monday. Real dedicated.
I wandered past it, thinking it would be a good day to check out what was available. I saw 4 people approach the door and read the sign saying they were closed in the space of a couple of minutes. Great way to lose sales. Personally, I am buying my powerbook & ipod in Australia in a couple of months, much cheaper, and you get the GST (Goods and Services Tax) back when you leave.
Christ, is the US really that backwards? I guess you probably have to pay to receive text messages and have fixed term, locked in mobile contracts as well.
Maybe NZ isn't as bad as I thought, except for the obscene price of broadband (if you can call what we get offered broadband).
Oh for gods sake, wearing an attractive watch is neither vain nor an affectation, and there is a special place reserved in hell for those who invented and use the term 'metrosexual'.
A good analog watch is also a piece of mechanical craftsmanship that any man should be able to appreciate.
My current analog watch has been running for over 10 years now (except for battery changes) and shows little wear, I hope one day to pass it down to my children. All the digitals I have had have broken down.
I purchased this set from Amazon and am using them (passed Intro exam, studying for ICND). I couldn't believe the sheer number of errors and agree with the reviewer about the CD. There is an 8MB patch on the cisco press site for the CD and that still does not fix all the problems. The errata for the book is large (I have the first printing) and most of the errors I have noticed are not on them.
If I hadn't been studying at the time I would have documented them and sent them to Cisco. Come on Cisco, consumers of books are not free proofreaders. Although most of the content is pretty good, it is badly presented, and does not flow well (the labs should really be integrated with the relevant chapters).
Please, if you need a study guide, buy something else (Sybex are usually OK). The only reason I bought these is that they were the only books available for the new exams. I will not be buying Cisco Press books again.
Bullshit. This comment is about agriculture subsidies, which are just good old fashioned protectionism in action. They are not required to ensure food is available at a reasonable price, just to make sure inefficient US producers can compete with imported products.
The ship was not Naval. It was a NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) vessel. Rescuing morons with too much time/money on their hands is not part of NIWAs job. They were guided there by an Air Force plane. NZ's overstretched and underfunded Air Force has enough on their plate and finding the 'adventurer' was scarcely a challenging training exercise for them (especially seeing as he phoned for help on a satellite phone and had a GPS on him).
The idiot had no business being there and was previously warned not to attempt his expedition due to the high risk (he had already been rescued once).
It is getting ridiculous, his expedition cost NZ$500,000. Couldn't the money used by these ballooning/rowing/dogsledding/flying dickheads be used for useful purposes instead?
We saw a lot of coverage of this in NZ. He struck head winds soon after he left NZ, and would have known very early on that there was no way he was going to make it to Argentina. He planned to land at Scott Base the whole time.
Also, he was scarcely stranded. He had been offered a ride back to NZ in an Air Force Hercules, and he could have arranged to have the plane shipped back later.
When he did get the fuel, it is telling that he did not continue on to Argentina as per his 'plan', but went straight back to NZ. I had no sympathy for this individual and applaud the stance of the NZ and US governments.
I am sick and tired of so-called 'adventurers' depending on other people to help when they almost invariably get into trouble (another adventurer recently got into trouble and had to be rescued by a NZ government ship at considerable taxpayer expense).
Sorry, I have to agree with the original poster with regard to the technologist label.
I have a Bachelor of Technology and would never call myself a technologist. I am also entitled to call myself an engineer but don't bother thanks to IT companies ruining the term (would you like fries with your MCSE?).
Slashdot Mirror
Apple products are hugely overpriced in New Zealand. The base 12" model alone goes for over NZ$3600 (US$2400). I have a 12" Powerbook + 20GB ipod, software and case waiting for me in Australia and the whole package cost less than the Powerbook alone in New Zealand.
Oh no, what we have here is not supersizing. Supersizing a fast food meal in NZ gets you a medium size meal in US terms.
I think you must have been in Sydney.
Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years who invites any other person to acquire from him or her, or offers or exposes for sale or supply to any other person, or agrees to sell or supply or sells or supplies to any other person, or has in his or her possession for the purpose of sale or supply to any other person, any software or other information that would enable another person to access a computer system without authorisation
(a)the sole or principal use of which he or she knows to be the commission of a crime; or
(b)that he or she promotes as being useful for the commission of a crime (whether or not he or she also promotes it as being useful for any other purpose), knowing or being reckless as to whether it will be used for the commission of a crime.
So, I guess it is legal to buy software for ripping CDs, just not legal to sell or provide it.
When I worked for EDS I was always amused to get company-wide emails from "Brown, Dick".
They would lay off a bunch of staff, then be forced to hire replacements just a few months later when sales picked up again. It is incredibly short term thinking. IMHO layoffs should be the last resort, in the long term it is a highly inefficient cost cutting measure.
For many corporations it is the first and easiest option, it's like they are stuck in the 80s.
You touched a nerve with me there. Whenever I set up a sun box I wonder why the hell it needs to listen on all the RPC ports just to run a fucking GUI.
We would be without Slashdot though. Good god, productivity could skyrocket!
One reason for this is the fact that voice calls can be compressed and carried over VoIP very cheaply, but data calls are generally already compressed and therefore there are no efficiency gains to be made.
Two farthings = One Ha'penny. Two ha'pennies = One Penny. Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit. Two Thrupences = A Sixpence. Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob. Two Bob = A Florin. One Florin and one Sixpence = Half a Crown. Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note. Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). One Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea.
The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.
I can buy a 20GB iPod, 12" Powerbook and 2 sets of international power adapters, and the price including setup fees, freight, insurance and the GST customs will charge here is STILL NZ$100 less then the cost of the powerbook alone here in NZ. Anyone have any experience with the company USABox.com? Powerbook here I come!
Apple in NZ sucks (it is run by a distributor called Renaissance). If I wasn't leaving, there is no way I would be switching, and I'm not going to line their pockets more.
I wandered past it, thinking it would be a good day to check out what was available. I saw 4 people approach the door and read the sign saying they were closed in the space of a couple of minutes. Great way to lose sales. Personally, I am buying my powerbook & ipod in Australia in a couple of months, much cheaper, and you get the GST (Goods and Services Tax) back when you leave.
Maybe NZ isn't as bad as I thought, except for the obscene price of broadband (if you can call what we get offered broadband).
A good analog watch is also a piece of mechanical craftsmanship that any man should be able to appreciate.
My current analog watch has been running for over 10 years now (except for battery changes) and shows little wear, I hope one day to pass it down to my children. All the digitals I have had have broken down.
If I hadn't been studying at the time I would have documented them and sent them to Cisco. Come on Cisco, consumers of books are not free proofreaders. Although most of the content is pretty good, it is badly presented, and does not flow well (the labs should really be integrated with the relevant chapters).
Please, if you need a study guide, buy something else (Sybex are usually OK). The only reason I bought these is that they were the only books available for the new exams. I will not be buying Cisco Press books again.
It gave me the location of the nearest McDonalds (around 10 kilometres away). Whoopdy fucking do.
Yes, if a Christmas tree tastes like cheap aftershave.
Bullshit. This comment is about agriculture subsidies, which are just good old fashioned protectionism in action. They are not required to ensure food is available at a reasonable price, just to make sure inefficient US producers can compete with imported products.
I have a four year old Nokia that I just replaced that battery in and am still very happy with (and I know many others in the same position).
Usability on many of the newer cellphones sucks ass, particularly since they started throwing every useless function under the sun onto them.
The idiot had no business being there and was previously warned not to attempt his expedition due to the high risk (he had already been rescued once).
It is getting ridiculous, his expedition cost NZ$500,000. Couldn't the money used by these ballooning/rowing/dogsledding/flying dickheads be used for useful purposes instead?
Also, he was scarcely stranded. He had been offered a ride back to NZ in an Air Force Hercules, and he could have arranged to have the plane shipped back later.
When he did get the fuel, it is telling that he did not continue on to Argentina as per his 'plan', but went straight back to NZ. I had no sympathy for this individual and applaud the stance of the NZ and US governments.
I am sick and tired of so-called 'adventurers' depending on other people to help when they almost invariably get into trouble (another adventurer recently got into trouble and had to be rescued by a NZ government ship at considerable taxpayer expense).
I have a Bachelor of Technology and would never call myself a technologist. I am also entitled to call myself an engineer but don't bother thanks to IT companies ruining the term (would you like fries with your MCSE?).