I bought the 'Chinese knockoff' you speak of from DealsTime for around $70; if the Kindle is remotely as bad as this device then Amazon will find themselves as Apple's best salesman for the iPad. Otherwise, it appears that now $200 is the rock-bottom price for a decent pad computer.
That's why there's CrunchyRoll. I'm not sure how having a ton of streams to subscribe to just for content is going to turn out, but I'm very glad to have some choice for a change. Comcast, DirectTV and many of the networks there (USA et al) started out being subscription TV w a good signal and no commercials, then after we were locked in they hiked prices and the damned commercials. Unfortunately for them they've 'trained' me into the belief that my monthly TV budget is about $60-70, and since Netflix ($8) and CrunchyRoll/Anime ($6) is WAY under that, I still feel like I have a few bucks to throw at a couple of other channels if I find any that catch my fancy (SF channel with epic 3D animated series based on stories by the giants like Asimov, Heinlein, et al) then I'll subscribe and nary a commercial or 15 channels of HSN to be seen.
When I see smoke again pouring from the stacks at the Packard plant on Grand Blvd, I'll believe manufacturing 'has returned'. From the evidence, it'll just find some 'virgin' ground to exploit outside of China (Brazil, one of the other 'Tigers', manufacturing cities in Somalia surrounded by 25 ft walls...)
> only streaming movel that is really reasonably priced
I think Crunchyroll's $6/mo for streaming subtitled anime a week or so after broadcast in Japan to be reasonable. Less content than NF, but lots of stuff I really want.
Because old VGA monitors can be found in resale shops and garage sales for $5 (or free if someone just put it on the curb with a sign saying as much) I don't think many users of the $25 PC will have to resort to using an old analog TV (and I'd bet an old analog TV is probably much harder to come by these days than an old VGA monitor).
The ex head of GM recently gave a talk about how the advances of the early 20th century are due to the engineers calling the shots at corporations, after MBA's took over the products started to suck. Looking at the design of my Sanyo Zio it appears that there was a REALLY great phone in there during the engineering phase, then the marketing ppl made a bunch of stupid-ass decisions (pertaining mostly to battery life and those ridiculous little doors all over the sides, I expect Scooby and the gang to chase monsters in and out of them while I'm not looking). With as tiny as the battery is, I'd bet a 1/2 centimeter of depth would've given this phone 30+hrs of additional standby; now I'm charging the damn thing about every 6-8hrs. An ENGINEER would have called this a good idea; the MBA's would say 'but it's not as thin as the eye-phone'
I think the idea of 'trucking around hydrogen' is akin to the idea we'll never have truly portable computers because nobody wants to carry around a power cord that long. Hydrogen should be produced at the station, possibly using one of these nifty techniques being developed @ MIT like this or this or this
> $26k.. mpg in the 30's
My wife's gas powered Kia gets 40mpg and was $10K less. With diesel costing at least 30% more than gas I don't see why so many get a hard-on for diesel on passenger cars. Now, if I could cheaply swap in a diesel in my 95 Wrangler, I'd really see some worthwhile fuel efficiency.
A 'bit less corrupt'? Dude, the last mayor's day job was corruption, he saved mayoral duties for off-hours. Bing may still be getting his 'sea legs' but so far he's a FAR better mayor.
I know; I know, or at least unfold that empty Cheerios box with the solar panel printed on the inside and put it on your roof. Like PopSci,./ is quite the repository of 'in just 5 yrs'-tech, but at least it has an active comments section where people can post add'l info that lets you read something besides the publicity fluff that the former prints w/o any additional scrutiny.
> i already have a smartphone
So do I, and the battery life already sucks so much ass that people across the room butt-pucker when I walk in. That and I've got a nine year old boy and no way in HELL do I want him to start looking at my x-hunnert dollar Android like it's a gameboy.
> MD5 hashes
That was my thought; why not have some standards bureau that's already responsible for things like measurements and such keep all the hashes for books? Still, living here in my progeny's past I can't say for certain that they won't wish I'd kept paper backups.
I believe the Basic Stamp is being kept on life support by F.I.R.S.T. Robotics and if they ever truly open up the permitted hardware then yes, stamp is toast.
Never had a problem with my Kroger card info; I guess having mined my data for the last two decades they now know that usually 80-90% of what's in my cart is what's on sale with the card, I'm 'name brand' averse, and thus their profit on me is insanely small and I'm not worth marketing to.
I purchased a car recently; after the sale the dealer emailed and asked for my tax id (i.e. SSN) because he had to fill out some IRS form (830 or some such) re: large cash purchases. Called him back and he explained 'they always need it'. Rather than immediately giving it up I went to the IRS site which surprisingly had a concise explanation of this form which I forwarded to him and my bank as it wasn't a cash purchase but a bank loan paid with a cashiers check. Not sure what scam they were trying to run (unauthorized credit app for some kickback from manufacturer's credit arm?) but I agree; don't be sheep; ask *why* they need your important private info and many times the retailer will back down, and if not, go elsewhere.
The salvation of 'Big Sci-Fi' will come when some production groups get a clue and start selling subscriptions. Nerds buy subscriptions (see tech magazines; XM, HBO/Showtime signups/drops tracking specific series, etc). TV needs 30M sets of eyeballs to get Proctor/Gamble to pay for the show;.5M subscribers could have kept 'Firefly' on the air - hell, there were at least that many fans who wanted to BUY the show from the producers.
When I can subscribe to as many shows as I actually watch per month for around the same price as Netflix (which already has MORE tv than I can (want to) watch per month for a fraction of what I used to pay DirecTV). we'll all have our Big Sci-Fi w/o the constant worry that it will be cancelled because it doesn't draw nearly as many eyeballs as those dumb-assed Kardashians.
Download the free Netflix app on the Wii and watch movies again on the TV which I assume is bigger than your laptop screen. I've been doing just this for months tho the physical therapist I saw today admonished me to start using the Wii Fit attachments again.
How many of that '70% are thieves' are people who 'steal' extra bbq packets from Wendy's when they only bought a 99 cent french fries, and how many of that 70% rob banks and break into homes to cart off their neighbor's plasma TV? My guess is your criminology books lump them into the same group; thank FSM the criminal justice system doesn't work that way.
Slashdot Mirror
I bought the 'Chinese knockoff' you speak of from DealsTime for around $70; if the Kindle is remotely as bad as this device then Amazon will find themselves as Apple's best salesman for the iPad. Otherwise, it appears that now $200 is the rock-bottom price for a decent pad computer.
If we had a pay-per-channel system, even with advertising, it would provide better incentives for smaller market programming.
Sounds like a KickStarter proposal. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
> prejudiced against content
That's why there's CrunchyRoll. I'm not sure how having a ton of streams to subscribe to just for content is going to turn out, but I'm very glad to have some choice for a change. Comcast, DirectTV and many of the networks there (USA et al) started out being subscription TV w a good signal and no commercials, then after we were locked in they hiked prices and the damned commercials. Unfortunately for them they've 'trained' me into the belief that my monthly TV budget is about $60-70, and since Netflix ($8) and CrunchyRoll/Anime ($6) is WAY under that, I still feel like I have a few bucks to throw at a couple of other channels if I find any that catch my fancy (SF channel with epic 3D animated series based on stories by the giants like Asimov, Heinlein, et al) then I'll subscribe and nary a commercial or 15 channels of HSN to be seen.
> where manufacturing is done...
When I see smoke again pouring from the stacks at the Packard plant on Grand Blvd, I'll believe manufacturing 'has returned'. From the evidence, it'll just find some 'virgin' ground to exploit outside of China (Brazil, one of the other 'Tigers', manufacturing cities in Somalia surrounded by 25 ft walls...)
> only streaming movel that is really reasonably priced I think Crunchyroll's $6/mo for streaming subtitled anime a week or so after broadcast in Japan to be reasonable. Less content than NF, but lots of stuff I really want.
Because old VGA monitors can be found in resale shops and garage sales for $5 (or free if someone just put it on the curb with a sign saying as much) I don't think many users of the $25 PC will have to resort to using an old analog TV (and I'd bet an old analog TV is probably much harder to come by these days than an old VGA monitor).
The ex head of GM recently gave a talk about how the advances of the early 20th century are due to the engineers calling the shots at corporations, after MBA's took over the products started to suck. Looking at the design of my Sanyo Zio it appears that there was a REALLY great phone in there during the engineering phase, then the marketing ppl made a bunch of stupid-ass decisions (pertaining mostly to battery life and those ridiculous little doors all over the sides, I expect Scooby and the gang to chase monsters in and out of them while I'm not looking). With as tiny as the battery is, I'd bet a 1/2 centimeter of depth would've given this phone 30+hrs of additional standby; now I'm charging the damn thing about every 6-8hrs. An ENGINEER would have called this a good idea; the MBA's would say 'but it's not as thin as the eye-phone'
> how can Khan ever fund videos...
Kickstarter.
The web is man's greatest invention.
I think the idea of 'trucking around hydrogen' is akin to the idea we'll never have truly portable computers because nobody wants to carry around a power cord that long. Hydrogen should be produced at the station, possibly using one of these nifty techniques being developed @ MIT like this or this or this
> $26k .. mpg in the 30's
My wife's gas powered Kia gets 40mpg and was $10K less. With diesel costing at least 30% more than gas I don't see why so many get a hard-on for diesel on passenger cars. Now, if I could cheaply swap in a diesel in my 95 Wrangler, I'd really see some worthwhile fuel efficiency.
A 'bit less corrupt'? Dude, the last mayor's day job was corruption, he saved mayoral duties for off-hours. Bing may still be getting his 'sea legs' but so far he's a FAR better mayor.
I know; I know, or at least unfold that empty Cheerios box with the solar panel printed on the inside and put it on your roof. Like PopSci, ./ is quite the repository of 'in just 5 yrs'-tech, but at least it has an active comments section where people can post add'l info that lets you read something besides the publicity fluff that the former prints w/o any additional scrutiny.
> i already have a smartphone So do I, and the battery life already sucks so much ass that people across the room butt-pucker when I walk in. That and I've got a nine year old boy and no way in HELL do I want him to start looking at my x-hunnert dollar Android like it's a gameboy.
> MD5 hashes That was my thought; why not have some standards bureau that's already responsible for things like measurements and such keep all the hashes for books? Still, living here in my progeny's past I can't say for certain that they won't wish I'd kept paper backups.
Maybe this is the wall-wart killer.
I believe the Basic Stamp is being kept on life support by F.I.R.S.T. Robotics and if they ever truly open up the permitted hardware then yes, stamp is toast.
create an organic renewable fuel
Jay Keasling attempts to rewrite DNA on eColi to make them eat switchgrass and piss biofuel
Then tell all your Facebook friends to tell all *their* Facebook friends to sign over this year's tax-refund check to Chang-Diaz to fund his Vasimir engine that will take us all to the solar system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Specific_Impulse_Magnetoplasma_Rocket
Reagan wasn't a lawyer.
Only if you define "a long while" as "somewhat less than a century"
Never had a problem with my Kroger card info; I guess having mined my data for the last two decades they now know that usually 80-90% of what's in my cart is what's on sale with the card, I'm 'name brand' averse, and thus their profit on me is insanely small and I'm not worth marketing to.
I purchased a car recently; after the sale the dealer emailed and asked for my tax id (i.e. SSN) because he had to fill out some IRS form (830 or some such) re: large cash purchases. Called him back and he explained 'they always need it'. Rather than immediately giving it up I went to the IRS site which surprisingly had a concise explanation of this form which I forwarded to him and my bank as it wasn't a cash purchase but a bank loan paid with a cashiers check. Not sure what scam they were trying to run (unauthorized credit app for some kickback from manufacturer's credit arm?) but I agree; don't be sheep; ask *why* they need your important private info and many times the retailer will back down, and if not, go elsewhere.
The salvation of 'Big Sci-Fi' will come when some production groups get a clue and start selling subscriptions. Nerds buy subscriptions (see tech magazines; XM, HBO/Showtime signups/drops tracking specific series, etc). TV needs 30M sets of eyeballs to get Proctor/Gamble to pay for the show; .5M subscribers could have kept 'Firefly' on the air - hell, there were at least that many fans who wanted to BUY the show from the producers.
When I can subscribe to as many shows as I actually watch per month for around the same price as Netflix (which already has MORE tv than I can (want to) watch per month for a fraction of what I used to pay DirecTV). we'll all have our Big Sci-Fi w/o the constant worry that it will be cancelled because it doesn't draw nearly as many eyeballs as those dumb-assed Kardashians.
Download the free Netflix app on the Wii and watch movies again on the TV which I assume is bigger than your laptop screen. I've been doing just this for months tho the physical therapist I saw today admonished me to start using the Wii Fit attachments again.
How many of that '70% are thieves' are people who 'steal' extra bbq packets from Wendy's when they only bought a 99 cent french fries, and how many of that 70% rob banks and break into homes to cart off their neighbor's plasma TV? My guess is your criminology books lump them into the same group; thank FSM the criminal justice system doesn't work that way.