Mac Minis are a good option. For me, it would depend on my environment. If it's Windows, then a few business-class workstations for administrative access and monitoring tools. If it's Unix or Linux, use the same class hardware (or even less for display-only devices) running whatever enterprise OS we're using. For OSX (are there any?) I'd go with Mac Minis or iMacs, but realize I could go the *nix route of my tools aren't OSX specific. I've read a few postings saying "just toss 'em all into a few VMs" and I agree, but for the administrator level access. When the proverbial stuff hits the fan, you need a few good standalone devices to remote or console in to these virtualized towers and figure out what the heck is going on.
I tried esxi on my NL40, but it doesn't see the mothebaord RAID and I didn't want to shell out $$$ for an add-in RAID card that costs nearly as much as the server. So I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and I'm running KVM to my virtualized boxes.
1 - Windows XP instance for iTunes
2. ??? Not sure yet.
The rest of my services: samba, ssh, DNS, DHCP, Plex, are running on the host OS and I'm not seeing a need to run them within a VM. I'm using "fake" RAID for my four 1TB drives backed up to a USB 3.0 (via add-in card) external HD and I couldn't be happier.
Like the printing press, government is both a benefit and a hazard. Taking down mafia style botnets and guarding against attacks on our interconnected and networked physical infrastructure is a good thing. Using the Patriot Act to snoop on our communications looking for keywords or suspicious activities is a bad thing. How this evolves requires constant monitoring by an informed voting populace.
At my birthday celebration, every mother at the event (okay 2), agreed that a sub-dermal implant would be a great addition to their children and a great comfort to mommies everywhere. It creates the kind of false sense of security which re-elected Bush then elected Obama. When I asked them how they felt about encouraging a 1984-style information society they said "well they can just have the chip removed when they are out of college." I said "what adult wants to give up a 22 or 25 year old security blanket?" I also pointed out that being trackable by GPS does not prevent sociopaths from using that same trackability to stalk and abduct children. If the GPS chip is in a standard place, any potential kidnapper will remove the offending bit of technology rendering the child invisible to easy location and recovery operations. The response? Nothing. I voided their emotions and made them think instead. Mission accomplished, and all before my third beer.
Ever hear the phrase "Pop will eat itself?" It stems from hatred of so-called "Pop" or "popular" music. What it means is this: Popular music or what is popular will fall out of favor and be discarded for the new, shiny "Pop" music. It will "eat" itself.
The same holds true for capitalism. I mean, when was the last time you used anything made by Acorn Computers? Or Aston-Tate? Or logged into Novel Netware? Each instance was eaten by another corporation. The same thing will happen to Google and Apple. Nokia was once the undisputed king of the cell phone and PalmPilot was the only "smart" phone to have if you wanted apps.
You're right about one thing. Corporations are corrosive to society. So is government. All of these things are eventually replaced by our actions and our choices. So don't worry about such things. Look for the change, or be part of the change. Just don't be flattened by the change.
Your instincts are right. You'll find that arrogance comes from those who lack self esteem or a healthy sense of self worth. They act superior to keep people at arms length, lest we find out their skill set is all they have. Widen your friend circle and avoid the real idiots. Draw off those CS major who are just "going along to get along" and form your own group. Let yourself fall to group think and you'll fall on your face.
That is the ugliest seagoing thing I have ever seen. Job's design taste obviously didn't come from Jobs himself. He should've had his designers build models (for him to poop on) until he found one that was sleek and attractive.
The #1 thing I've always wanted to do is put the whole entertainment system behind glass and give it muffled fans and intake filters. I'd really like to eliminate every little bit of noise finally, even the TV has a hum to it. And then there's the dust, which could be all but eliminated by using the right materials for building the enclosure, and the use of the aforementioned filters. I'd give it its own system for control of temp and humidity too, since that's relatively easy if you have all the other parts.
If warranties aren't an issue. Break the consoles apart and water cool everything.
I'm doing the same thing, only on a smaller budget, with different needs. Here's what I have so far:
Ubuntu 12.04 server running Plex media server and (soon) an XP VM running iTunes.
An Apple TV (for living room iTunes) and a Roku box on my TVs for every other steaming service you can think of, including Plex. I have an AirPort Express in the master bedroom for iTunes audio streaming.
Oh and my server runs Netatalk for TimeMachine backups, and a backups share under a specific user to accept Windows backup via Acronis TrueImage.
That's it. Most of my needs are taken care of. Don't forget to set up your own DNS and DHCP servers -- why remember silly IP addresses? For the kitchen, I'd mount a tablet to a cabinet or the fridge door. Maybe a custom under counter space to mount and charge the tablet. Then you have your recipes, audio and video at your finger tips. Both the iOS and Android platforms have audio search integration so doing conversions shouldn't be an issue. Set up some wireless bluetooth speakers for sound and your kitchen is complete.
PS3 anywhere -- that's a tough one. You can route the video easily enough, but the bluetooth controllers are gonna be a challenge. Hopefully the slashdot braintrust has an idea.
We share a lot of resources, power grids, transportation networks, and airspace. We formed NORAD 60 years ago to defend North America from air attacks across the North Pole and to manage airspace along our border. Today we work to patrol North American airspace whenever we have a lot pilot or a hijacked airplane. It only makes sense to build a united front against digital attacks on our infrastructure.
Everyone is complaining about so many things. Primarily things that are concerned with Citizen's United, corporate citizenship, overbearing government, corrupt politicians, and institutions we no longer believe in.
So what do We The People do? 40 years ago, we'd organize and take action. Today we whine online, fearful the Man is watching us. So how about it slashdotters -- any ideas?
So NASA has created an autonomous robot with nacent thinking capabilities. Did I mention the laser? Good thing this is on Mars! Robocolipses start this way.
One more reason why I'm not voting. At this point I'm not choosing, I'm enabling.
Obama says he supports Net Neutrality, then gives cart blanche to the well funded carriers. Landline Internet? Ha! One of my techs found out his Comcast service is capped at 200GB per month.
At least Romney is honest about his corporate ties, which is the biggest reason not to vote for him or any Republican. The other being they are on a similar Moral Crusade just like the Democrats. Unless you buy that "only sensible/intelligent/reasonable people would think the way I do bent of the current D-P leadership.
Are the libertarians bothering to put up an also-ran candidate this year?
For straight through reading, I'd go with an e-ink display like a Kindle. Use the rest of the money for a tablet. A keyboard interface, even a touch one, will make searching your technical PDFs a lot easier. Keep the Kindle for straight through reading. Less eye strain and it's cheap enough to toss into your bag. Ditto for a $200 tablet like the Nexus 7 or a Kindle Fire.
Good article. Summarizes what most people in enterprise IT think of radical UI changes. So for those in corporate IT, I have an idea. If you could virtualize IE dependent or de-facto standardized apps like MS Office using a platform like Citrix would you switch the desktops to a Linux distro like RedHat? I'm seeing several Server 2008 platforms providing single-sign on and LDAP to RedHat installations pop up making me wonder if we need Windows on the desktop in a corporate environment.
Let me share my experience with "listening to the customer" from a different perspective. In the 90s I was in the Air Force. I joined after the Tailhook scandal but it's impact left a mark on service culture. No one wanted to hang out after work lest their behavior be deemed offensive in any way, no matter how remote. Before this, most young and single personnel would party in the dorms (barracks) or at the base NCO club. Back in the 80s they even had Airmen's Clubs. The more senior people could provide rides home and deal with potential scuffles internally. Was it perfect? No. But it didn't involve permanent legal actions and it didn't have to negatively impact anyone's careers. If you lived on base (dorms) hit the base club and got drunk so what? You walked home. In some ways the old military base culture was like my college experience. I never drove to drink because everything was close.
As the service culture changed, more people went off post to party and base clubs started closing. So to counter this, base leadership created councils to "give the people what they wanted." What they got was a wish list that didn't translate into an increase in business. Those who choose to participate didn't understand customers or how to run a Club so things got worse instead of better.
Then we had a new Club manager. A civilian who didn't care what these "councils" said. He knew how to run a Club and that's what he did. He reached out to Wing leadership and obtained the flexibility to change the clubs, then he showed up at the clubs on Friday nights and built support with his customers. Suddenly families were going to the NCO club (all ranks in the restaurant) for Friday dinner. The enlisted-only bar side had a brisk Friday business and a decent turnout on Sundays for football. Delivery and take out service was started and it proved successful, especially when we burned the midnight oil. No need to meet the pizza guy at the gate. The Pizza guy was on base.
My point? The problems with Gnome 3 aren't about customer feedback. Customer feedback can kill. This boils down to guidance and how change is implemented. Gnome 3 was a bigger departure than DOS to Windows or OS 9 to OS X. A completely different interface. No cues or guides to direct new users. Just a blank slate. Windows 8's opening screen is similarly flawed. Apple may be slowly merging OS X and iOS, but over a period of years, not in one release. Apple, out of all OS vendors, has managed to replace core components of its OS and change its user interface without large scale demolition. Gnome's governing council could learn a lot from Apple's example. It's too late for Gnome 3 to go back. Now it's time to heal the wounds with the user base. Time to show them they can do better. Gnome is in a "Vista" state. They need to implement a "Windows 7" initiative.
Isn't the purpose of publishing your research to open it up to scrutiny, and yes validation of your results? In college I read a few dozen papers which merely validated the results of another paper.
If the Sauds want to regulate society, would these top-level domains make it easier for them to filter out objectionable material ala "Great Firewall?"
The first toilet that requires regular updates and is incompatible with your butt!
Re:They have lost all trust, but they retain distr
on
In Nothing We Trust
·
· Score: 1
Until we have a different choice, yes nothing will change. One odd thing about America. We love an underdog unless that dog is running for office. Then we only want the most popular and prettiest winner.
There virtually no interest in anything that isn't personally and obviously of benefit to Joe Average these days. If it isn't a new iPhone app or a new GPS option in their car, or a simpler way to get bigger breasts, or an indisputable cure for baldness, crow's feet, or liver-cancer, Joe Average doesn't want to hear about it and CERTAINLY won't want to pay for it.
Ignorance is bliss, and as long as the digital TV signal carrying Jersey Shores is nice and strong, that's all the technology most people care for.
It's the specials, the freaks, the weirdos who insist on dreaming and asking "what if". We read science fiction and speculative fiction, and we play games that model hypothetical situations and we desperately want to know MORE about many things. Even if human teleportation devices can't be invented in our lifetime, we want to see the steps as the precursor technology is built. But we're not normal.
Funny that you mention the iPhone. A product that "Joe Average" never needed or wanted until it was available. I think future governments, liberal or conservative, won't have the will to fund serious space exploration. Government's new role is that of providing over priced and under funded services to a vast entitlement class. No, the duty for producing "Great Things" will fall to private citizens with deep pockets. We are seeing the first forays into private space launches. If this drops the price per pound, some current or future citizen will fund and change deep space exploration in the same way that Bill Gates is changing philanthropy. Who knows what Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page will do once they reach Bill Gates' age?
Agreed. It is a shame that that we spend so much on mindless violence. It's an even bigger shame how many jobs and bi-partisan economic stimulus dollars all of this spending represents.
I'd argue that the consensus built by the current crop of Democrats is more of a monotone than a considered debate. The same holds true for the GOP. The Heritage Foundation didn't achieve its successes without first building a set of core beliefs and a dogma.
So what have we gotten? A Healthcare Reform Bill which is more concerned about the Healthcare industry and the idea of "profits are privatized, losses are socialized." I have no idea what the new state-run insurance companies are going to charge per month, nor do I know if I'll qualify for the tax code hand outs that are designed to ease the pain from paying for healthcare. I guess we'll see in 2014. 2014. Why did we wait so long to implement change? That's another question the Administration failed to answer, and no one was willing to ask. Previously GW Bush, a "conservative," made the largest "free healthcare" expansion since LBJ created Medicare.
Back to GOP vs DNK. Obama was elected partly because "he got it." Candidate Obama could send a text message and update his Twitter account. He also supported Net Neutrality. That was big four years ago. Now we have a Comcast/Verizon/ATT/ETC driven broadband policy and a lukewarm Net Neutrality policy. President Obama bowed down to corporate interests just as GW Bush did when he was President. There are more examples, like the on-going budget crisis and the impending Super Committee's upcoming Final Failure 2 release. I think I've made my point. It's getting hard to identify what each party and politician supports. Both parties are so close in action, yet so far apart in dogma I get a 1K mile stare whenever I encounter someone who clings to dogma and ignores action.
The original poster's question stands: How can we choose, when you can't identify real and meaningful differences between the candidates and the parties?"
As with any war, maneuvers lead to counter maneuvers. Escalation leads to further escalation. The only way to end a war is either by choice (as we did in Vietnam and now in Afghanistan), out maneuvering your enemy (siege of Stalingrad, battle of the Bulge), or if the enemy destroys its own credibility with the people (Iraq insurgency movement).
So good going China, you've managed to shut down TOR. I'm sure you have shared your successes with other "Great Firewall" regimes and those who desire "Great Firewall" status. But those who created TOR gained legitimacy, so they will be back with better weapons and in greater numbers.
Here's the way I see it. If I can download my content apps: Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon On-Demand, Pandora, etc from the Marketplace and get TV screen sized content from the Android Marketplace I'm buying.
Now if Google TV acts as a content organizer ACROSS these apps and marketplaces, then Google TV provides something I can't get from any other set top box - Integration. I want the couch friendly schedule, but I don't want to jump between apps to view my content. If the price is right, you'll blow competitors like Roku (which I own) out of the water.
Here's how you do it: Get the content delivery companies to allow you to grab the customer's content listings and the providers' catalogs and sort them into Google TV's database. Customers can search the new, bigger catalog and choose the most competitive price (don't mention competition to content providers, it makes them cry). Give customers a day-by-day listing of new subscribed content, replicating the look-and-feel from current set top boxes.
Include your YouTube rentals and users' subscriptions and user's podcast subscriptions and now you have something I saw when I was a kid and they talked about "the future." Now if Hulu can't cut a deal with USA Network to stream TV shows to set top boxes, it won't matter. I can get them from my Cable or Satellite providers' On-Demand service. If I change providers, I don't have to completely re-program a new set top box or deal with ugliness that is the Comcast/Cox interface.
Slashdot Mirror
Mac Minis are a good option. For me, it would depend on my environment. If it's Windows, then a few business-class workstations for administrative access and monitoring tools. If it's Unix or Linux, use the same class hardware (or even less for display-only devices) running whatever enterprise OS we're using. For OSX (are there any?) I'd go with Mac Minis or iMacs, but realize I could go the *nix route of my tools aren't OSX specific. I've read a few postings saying "just toss 'em all into a few VMs" and I agree, but for the administrator level access. When the proverbial stuff hits the fan, you need a few good standalone devices to remote or console in to these virtualized towers and figure out what the heck is going on.
I tried esxi on my NL40, but it doesn't see the mothebaord RAID and I didn't want to shell out $$$ for an add-in RAID card that costs nearly as much as the server. So I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and I'm running KVM to my virtualized boxes.
1 - Windows XP instance for iTunes 2. ??? Not sure yet.
The rest of my services: samba, ssh, DNS, DHCP, Plex, are running on the host OS and I'm not seeing a need to run them within a VM. I'm using "fake" RAID for my four 1TB drives backed up to a USB 3.0 (via add-in card) external HD and I couldn't be happier.
Like the printing press, government is both a benefit and a hazard. Taking down mafia style botnets and guarding against attacks on our interconnected and networked physical infrastructure is a good thing. Using the Patriot Act to snoop on our communications looking for keywords or suspicious activities is a bad thing. How this evolves requires constant monitoring by an informed voting populace.
At my birthday celebration, every mother at the event (okay 2), agreed that a sub-dermal implant would be a great addition to their children and a great comfort to mommies everywhere. It creates the kind of false sense of security which re-elected Bush then elected Obama. When I asked them how they felt about encouraging a 1984-style information society they said "well they can just have the chip removed when they are out of college." I said "what adult wants to give up a 22 or 25 year old security blanket?" I also pointed out that being trackable by GPS does not prevent sociopaths from using that same trackability to stalk and abduct children. If the GPS chip is in a standard place, any potential kidnapper will remove the offending bit of technology rendering the child invisible to easy location and recovery operations. The response? Nothing. I voided their emotions and made them think instead. Mission accomplished, and all before my third beer.
Ever hear the phrase "Pop will eat itself?" It stems from hatred of so-called "Pop" or "popular" music. What it means is this: Popular music or what is popular will fall out of favor and be discarded for the new, shiny "Pop" music. It will "eat" itself.
The same holds true for capitalism. I mean, when was the last time you used anything made by Acorn Computers? Or Aston-Tate? Or logged into Novel Netware? Each instance was eaten by another corporation. The same thing will happen to Google and Apple. Nokia was once the undisputed king of the cell phone and PalmPilot was the only "smart" phone to have if you wanted apps.
You're right about one thing. Corporations are corrosive to society. So is government. All of these things are eventually replaced by our actions and our choices. So don't worry about such things. Look for the change, or be part of the change. Just don't be flattened by the change.
Your instincts are right. You'll find that arrogance comes from those who lack self esteem or a healthy sense of self worth. They act superior to keep people at arms length, lest we find out their skill set is all they have. Widen your friend circle and avoid the real idiots. Draw off those CS major who are just "going along to get along" and form your own group. Let yourself fall to group think and you'll fall on your face.
That is the ugliest seagoing thing I have ever seen. Job's design taste obviously didn't come from Jobs himself. He should've had his designers build models (for him to poop on) until he found one that was sleek and attractive.
The #1 thing I've always wanted to do is put the whole entertainment system behind glass and give it muffled fans and intake filters. I'd really like to eliminate every little bit of noise finally, even the TV has a hum to it. And then there's the dust, which could be all but eliminated by using the right materials for building the enclosure, and the use of the aforementioned filters. I'd give it its own system for control of temp and humidity too, since that's relatively easy if you have all the other parts.
If warranties aren't an issue. Break the consoles apart and water cool everything.
I'm doing the same thing, only on a smaller budget, with different needs. Here's what I have so far:
Ubuntu 12.04 server running Plex media server and (soon) an XP VM running iTunes. An Apple TV (for living room iTunes) and a Roku box on my TVs for every other steaming service you can think of, including Plex. I have an AirPort Express in the master bedroom for iTunes audio streaming. Oh and my server runs Netatalk for TimeMachine backups, and a backups share under a specific user to accept Windows backup via Acronis TrueImage.
That's it. Most of my needs are taken care of. Don't forget to set up your own DNS and DHCP servers -- why remember silly IP addresses? For the kitchen, I'd mount a tablet to a cabinet or the fridge door. Maybe a custom under counter space to mount and charge the tablet. Then you have your recipes, audio and video at your finger tips. Both the iOS and Android platforms have audio search integration so doing conversions shouldn't be an issue. Set up some wireless bluetooth speakers for sound and your kitchen is complete.
PS3 anywhere -- that's a tough one. You can route the video easily enough, but the bluetooth controllers are gonna be a challenge. Hopefully the slashdot braintrust has an idea.
We share a lot of resources, power grids, transportation networks, and airspace. We formed NORAD 60 years ago to defend North America from air attacks across the North Pole and to manage airspace along our border. Today we work to patrol North American airspace whenever we have a lot pilot or a hijacked airplane. It only makes sense to build a united front against digital attacks on our infrastructure.
Everyone is complaining about so many things. Primarily things that are concerned with Citizen's United, corporate citizenship, overbearing government, corrupt politicians, and institutions we no longer believe in.
So what do We The People do? 40 years ago, we'd organize and take action. Today we whine online, fearful the Man is watching us. So how about it slashdotters -- any ideas?
So NASA has created an autonomous robot with nacent thinking capabilities. Did I mention the laser? Good thing this is on Mars! Robocolipses start this way.
One more reason why I'm not voting. At this point I'm not choosing, I'm enabling.
Obama says he supports Net Neutrality, then gives cart blanche to the well funded carriers. Landline Internet? Ha! One of my techs found out his Comcast service is capped at 200GB per month.
At least Romney is honest about his corporate ties, which is the biggest reason not to vote for him or any Republican. The other being they are on a similar Moral Crusade just like the Democrats. Unless you buy that "only sensible/intelligent/reasonable people would think the way I do bent of the current D-P leadership.
Are the libertarians bothering to put up an also-ran candidate this year?
For straight through reading, I'd go with an e-ink display like a Kindle. Use the rest of the money for a tablet. A keyboard interface, even a touch one, will make searching your technical PDFs a lot easier. Keep the Kindle for straight through reading. Less eye strain and it's cheap enough to toss into your bag. Ditto for a $200 tablet like the Nexus 7 or a Kindle Fire.
Good article. Summarizes what most people in enterprise IT think of radical UI changes. So for those in corporate IT, I have an idea. If you could virtualize IE dependent or de-facto standardized apps like MS Office using a platform like Citrix would you switch the desktops to a Linux distro like RedHat? I'm seeing several Server 2008 platforms providing single-sign on and LDAP to RedHat installations pop up making me wonder if we need Windows on the desktop in a corporate environment.
Let me share my experience with "listening to the customer" from a different perspective. In the 90s I was in the Air Force. I joined after the Tailhook scandal but it's impact left a mark on service culture. No one wanted to hang out after work lest their behavior be deemed offensive in any way, no matter how remote. Before this, most young and single personnel would party in the dorms (barracks) or at the base NCO club. Back in the 80s they even had Airmen's Clubs. The more senior people could provide rides home and deal with potential scuffles internally. Was it perfect? No. But it didn't involve permanent legal actions and it didn't have to negatively impact anyone's careers. If you lived on base (dorms) hit the base club and got drunk so what? You walked home. In some ways the old military base culture was like my college experience. I never drove to drink because everything was close.
As the service culture changed, more people went off post to party and base clubs started closing. So to counter this, base leadership created councils to "give the people what they wanted." What they got was a wish list that didn't translate into an increase in business. Those who choose to participate didn't understand customers or how to run a Club so things got worse instead of better.
Then we had a new Club manager. A civilian who didn't care what these "councils" said. He knew how to run a Club and that's what he did. He reached out to Wing leadership and obtained the flexibility to change the clubs, then he showed up at the clubs on Friday nights and built support with his customers. Suddenly families were going to the NCO club (all ranks in the restaurant) for Friday dinner. The enlisted-only bar side had a brisk Friday business and a decent turnout on Sundays for football. Delivery and take out service was started and it proved successful, especially when we burned the midnight oil. No need to meet the pizza guy at the gate. The Pizza guy was on base.
My point? The problems with Gnome 3 aren't about customer feedback. Customer feedback can kill. This boils down to guidance and how change is implemented. Gnome 3 was a bigger departure than DOS to Windows or OS 9 to OS X. A completely different interface. No cues or guides to direct new users. Just a blank slate. Windows 8's opening screen is similarly flawed. Apple may be slowly merging OS X and iOS, but over a period of years, not in one release. Apple, out of all OS vendors, has managed to replace core components of its OS and change its user interface without large scale demolition. Gnome's governing council could learn a lot from Apple's example. It's too late for Gnome 3 to go back. Now it's time to heal the wounds with the user base. Time to show them they can do better. Gnome is in a "Vista" state. They need to implement a "Windows 7" initiative.
Isn't the purpose of publishing your research to open it up to scrutiny, and yes validation of your results? In college I read a few dozen papers which merely validated the results of another paper.
If the Sauds want to regulate society, would these top-level domains make it easier for them to filter out objectionable material ala "Great Firewall?"
The first toilet that requires regular updates and is incompatible with your butt!
Until we have a different choice, yes nothing will change. One odd thing about America. We love an underdog unless that dog is running for office. Then we only want the most popular and prettiest winner.
There virtually no interest in anything that isn't personally and obviously of benefit to Joe Average these days. If it isn't a new iPhone app or a new GPS option in their car, or a simpler way to get bigger breasts, or an indisputable cure for baldness, crow's feet, or liver-cancer, Joe Average doesn't want to hear about it and CERTAINLY won't want to pay for it. Ignorance is bliss, and as long as the digital TV signal carrying Jersey Shores is nice and strong, that's all the technology most people care for. It's the specials, the freaks, the weirdos who insist on dreaming and asking "what if". We read science fiction and speculative fiction, and we play games that model hypothetical situations and we desperately want to know MORE about many things. Even if human teleportation devices can't be invented in our lifetime, we want to see the steps as the precursor technology is built. But we're not normal.
Funny that you mention the iPhone. A product that "Joe Average" never needed or wanted until it was available. I think future governments, liberal or conservative, won't have the will to fund serious space exploration. Government's new role is that of providing over priced and under funded services to a vast entitlement class. No, the duty for producing "Great Things" will fall to private citizens with deep pockets. We are seeing the first forays into private space launches. If this drops the price per pound, some current or future citizen will fund and change deep space exploration in the same way that Bill Gates is changing philanthropy. Who knows what Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page will do once they reach Bill Gates' age?
Agreed. It is a shame that that we spend so much on mindless violence. It's an even bigger shame how many jobs and bi-partisan economic stimulus dollars all of this spending represents.
I'd argue that the consensus built by the current crop of Democrats is more of a monotone than a considered debate. The same holds true for the GOP. The Heritage Foundation didn't achieve its successes without first building a set of core beliefs and a dogma.
So what have we gotten? A Healthcare Reform Bill which is more concerned about the Healthcare industry and the idea of "profits are privatized, losses are socialized." I have no idea what the new state-run insurance companies are going to charge per month, nor do I know if I'll qualify for the tax code hand outs that are designed to ease the pain from paying for healthcare. I guess we'll see in 2014. 2014. Why did we wait so long to implement change? That's another question the Administration failed to answer, and no one was willing to ask. Previously GW Bush, a "conservative," made the largest "free healthcare" expansion since LBJ created Medicare.
Back to GOP vs DNK. Obama was elected partly because "he got it." Candidate Obama could send a text message and update his Twitter account. He also supported Net Neutrality. That was big four years ago. Now we have a Comcast/Verizon/ATT/ETC driven broadband policy and a lukewarm Net Neutrality policy. President Obama bowed down to corporate interests just as GW Bush did when he was President. There are more examples, like the on-going budget crisis and the impending Super Committee's upcoming Final Failure 2 release. I think I've made my point. It's getting hard to identify what each party and politician supports. Both parties are so close in action, yet so far apart in dogma I get a 1K mile stare whenever I encounter someone who clings to dogma and ignores action.
The original poster's question stands: How can we choose, when you can't identify real and meaningful differences between the candidates and the parties?"
As with any war, maneuvers lead to counter maneuvers. Escalation leads to further escalation. The only way to end a war is either by choice (as we did in Vietnam and now in Afghanistan), out maneuvering your enemy (siege of Stalingrad, battle of the Bulge), or if the enemy destroys its own credibility with the people (Iraq insurgency movement).
So good going China, you've managed to shut down TOR. I'm sure you have shared your successes with other "Great Firewall" regimes and those who desire "Great Firewall" status. But those who created TOR gained legitimacy, so they will be back with better weapons and in greater numbers.
Here's the way I see it. If I can download my content apps: Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon On-Demand, Pandora, etc from the Marketplace and get TV screen sized content from the Android Marketplace I'm buying.
Now if Google TV acts as a content organizer ACROSS these apps and marketplaces, then Google TV provides something I can't get from any other set top box - Integration. I want the couch friendly schedule, but I don't want to jump between apps to view my content. If the price is right, you'll blow competitors like Roku (which I own) out of the water.
Here's how you do it: Get the content delivery companies to allow you to grab the customer's content listings and the providers' catalogs and sort them into Google TV's database. Customers can search the new, bigger catalog and choose the most competitive price (don't mention competition to content providers, it makes them cry). Give customers a day-by-day listing of new subscribed content, replicating the look-and-feel from current set top boxes.
Include your YouTube rentals and users' subscriptions and user's podcast subscriptions and now you have something I saw when I was a kid and they talked about "the future." Now if Hulu can't cut a deal with USA Network to stream TV shows to set top boxes, it won't matter. I can get them from my Cable or Satellite providers' On-Demand service. If I change providers, I don't have to completely re-program a new set top box or deal with ugliness that is the Comcast/Cox interface.