To this day, that image scares me shitless of airbags.
I'd expect more reasoning skills on/. -- Did you notice that your friend was not severely injured after the accident? You can argue that in his particular case he would have been okay without it (depending on the speed the lady was driving), however, you ignored the fact that his face wasn't bleeding all over and in pain, which would suggest to me that the airbag IS HARMLESS*. Stop worrying and focus on not getting in accidents for a different reason!
Also i can attest, it definitely did not hurt me in my (head-on) accident.
*Except to babies in rear-facing seats with idiot parents who didn't read that warning about the front seat.
Are you insane? I was in an accident with an airbag and getting "hit in the face" by the airbag as you put it didn't even leave a bruise. The steering wheel, now, that would have been far more severe. I mean, I know it's not technically "air" in the "bag" but do you know what an airbag is at all? It's not a fist. It's a BAG OF AIR.
So anyway:
that can detect your position and avoid punching you in the face
What would you prefer for this new smart airbag to do? Go above your head? Below it? Nudge you and remind you quietly not to impact the windshield and dash??
There will never be a Verizon cdma iPhone. And trying to use Verizon's promised LTE network is going to suck because for its first 5 or so years of existence, you'll either STILL have to have stupid proprietary (dual-radio CDMA+LTE) phones, OR have spotty service that makes AT&T's 3G network look lovely.
I don't think the Fair Tax will accomplish anything you're trying to bring about. First off, it won't simultaneously make American factory workers competitive with the third world laborers they compete with for jobs, AND give them a living wage!
The only way we would ever get manufacturing back in the US is by repealing every state's minimum wage law as well as the federal one. Then, yes, folks without enough education and/or luck to find a good-paying job could beat out foreign labor in the labor market--and work for $10 a month at shiny new factories that would spring up throughout the land, instead of working for $6.55 an hour at Wal-Mart like they do today. Anyway, see China for a preview of this path. I don't think that's what you want. But under no other circumstances but this one does it make financial sense to a corporation to hire us to assemble things instead of our third world counterparts. (Okay, I lied. If somehow all other world governments imposed and effectively enforced a minimum wage, then we would be competitive too. Like that could happen.)
Also, doing anything other than zero taxes on corporations won't stop them from hiding their money abroad instead of investing it here. And doing that would destroy Medicare and Social Security (as in eliminate it completely), which would unleash a revolutionary horde of old people the likes of which you have never seen. See the South Park episode "Red Dawn" for an example of this.
Every citizen in the US has access to health care, it just isn't subsidized. Whether your employer subsidizes it or your government does, it still comes out of your pockets. Subsidization just adds more paperwork and middle men, driving up the cost that we all must bear.
This sounds like a great argument for single payer. By contrast, Insurance (our current system) is just a massive game to make insurance executives rich. Without this asinine system where the doctors and hospitals have to fight insurance companies over the cost of EVERY procedure, billions would be saved.
Besides, insurance is for managing risk. There is risk involved in some health care. Catastrophic illness like cancer or AIDS -- this is a case where an insurance policy makes sense. But on what planet does it make sense to "insure against" the possibility that you'll need a dental checkup? That a woman will need an OB/GYN appointment? That you'll decide to have kids?? Most medical care is routine and predictable. Insurance for that stuff drives the cost up INSANELY.
Our system makes as much sense as me buying hunger insurance and oil-change insurance--at ten times the true cost of food and oil changes. And, then of course, still paying "co-pays" whenever I eat lunch or get an oil change.
A plan to force you to buy insurance, at your own expense, from the same assholes who are refusing you coverage and/or raping your wallet today, is hardly an entitlement program. There is no public option. Government subsidies for the poor to buy this insurance from private companies have been proposed, and the subsidies already exist today -- see medicaid -- and this program will only result in the same people being covered as are already covered on medicaid programs. Maybe a few more people. It may even end up being cheaper per person than paying for medicaid directly is, since the commercial insurance the government will buy for the poor will probably be dicks about it and not cover much.
> against a party that has barely any political control whatsoever?
Um, the party with filibuster ability has ALL the political control . They dictate all policy. In case you weren't paying attention, if the Republicans in the Senate don't agree with something, it can't get done. Because of the filibuster.
Now if the republicans were below 40 seats -- substantially below -- and Glenn Beck won't let that happen, even if he has to start stabbing Democrats himself -- then you can start saying Dems are in control.
I remember when the R's were in power they wanted badly to kill the filibuster -- this initiative was referred to as "the nuclear option" because obviously it would change the ball game forever.
I think a system of government where neither side gets to implement their system properly because the other guys will sabotage it before the bill can even be passed, kinda sucks. See healthcare reform for a great example.
Dude, it's not a tiny area. Grow up. Just because VZW has towers in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean anything to the 95% of people who DO live in an AT&T 3G area. What the Verizon ads are doing is hilariously the same as the people in 2000 who waved the red/blue maps around and said, LOOK! A SEA of red! when in fact only about 30% of the people in this country live in "red states." Similarly, only a vanishingly small fraction of cell subscribers live or work outside the AT&T 3G areas. This is a fact. Verizon ignores that fact.
Also, Verizon's map is lies. My area is red on those maps but around my house, Verizon phones are not on EV-DO.
I feel your pain. I'll never go back to CDMA. But it would be nice to have more choices. I can't wait for LTE... but I'm sure in America we'll get f**d in some way that will still prevent us from just buying a phone and carrying it to whatever provider we want (and by whatever i mean "more than just 2 choices").
Fortunately i am one of the silent majority who don't ever have serious issues with my iPhone on AT&T.
LOL. Your story is hella cute, at least up until the part where you compared Verizon Wireless to something besides a nasty, controlling, ass-rapist who would stab his own mother to make a buck.
Too bad that on the "dual radio" phones, Verizon locks the GSM radio to only work with its own overpriced roaming SIM cards... which aren't even included, you have to BUY one from Verizon and then pay Verizon through the nose for roaming. (the same way you pay for everything with Verizon, usually described as either "pay through the nose" or "pay out the ass").
Real GSM carriers will unlock your phone for you if you tell them you need it unlocked for travelling, and then you have the option of getting a cheap prepaid SIM with minutes wherever you are visiting, and then you don't pay roaming.
Huh? Google has had a few days where Gmail service went down for a bit in those 5 years. I actually don't recall any outages of AOL's email service, which has been around a lot longer than 5 years. That bullet point sounds like marketing speak and doesn't seem to contain any actual benefits. Oh, and if you mean "service" as in someone who will respond about an outage or bug, you must be joking. It's a free service, and definitely comes with zero support. Just like every other free service, including AOL.
"One of the first to bring IMAP and SSL connections to everyday email"
Gmail was about the LAST provider to implement IMAP. Until about 2008 you were stuck with their horrible, totally nonstandard, POP3 implementation (or, of course, their web interface). AOL started offering IMAP (with no fanfare) about 2005, around the same time they started offering free @aol.com accounts.
Drive-up ATMs. Do you really not have those where you live? Every bank here (except in the inner city*) has one ATM on the side of the building adjacent to a driveway. You just drive up, hang your arm out the window and use it. They even converted some of the old tube kind to have a second ATM at the outer lane too.
At that point ($200+ hardware outlay + Windows license + significant setup time) why wouldn't you just buy an Ooma? At least their device would "just work" when plugged in, rather than needing someone to log into the PC and update the MJ software now and then.
FYI, that's not what they're doing. I have plenty of doubts myself about MJ's profitability...especially given that they blow so much money on tv ads, just like Vonage (yuck!) does.
However, they offer you a "local" phone number and do in fact have an extensive selection of local numbers. Back in the day when I first got mine, the choices were not numerous, but were not weighted toward rural. Just the opposite. My first number was from Washington DC and when they added a lot more numbers, they gave everyone who wanted one, a free number change. I went for Newport Beach, CA.
So it's not the free conference call scam, for what it's worth.
I still quit paying for mine after 2 years because I never used it, even though in those days I left my pc on 24/7. Also the call quality was total crap. Mainly because it was echo-y and there was a noticeable delay.
"The femtocell will also use the PC, but it will let users make calls with their cell phones instead of wired phones."
still stupidly tied to an always-on pc. it would be an awesome thing (both the old and femtocell variety), but with the pc requirement it relegates it to a novelty for gabby business travelers with not enough cell minutes.
No, you're wrong, and i'm too lazy to google it for you... Go search for it though. They actually STARTED doing prorated ETF about a year ago, but it was only for contracts signed from that day forward. I know because ours were from before and there's no pro-rating those. If we signed a new contract then the prorating would happen.
Sprint's policy historically has been that the phone *has to be a sprint model* -- not that it *can't be from another carrier*.
They have a whitelist of all ESNs (serial numbers) they've ever sold, and will activate only those specific phones.
Will they reconsider this policy, though? Perhaps. They, like T-Mobile, are interested in competing on value, so offering you more choices seems to be in line with that.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd expect more reasoning skills on /. -- Did you notice that your friend was not severely injured after the accident? You can argue that in his particular case he would have been okay without it (depending on the speed the lady was driving), however, you ignored the fact that his face wasn't bleeding all over and in pain, which would suggest to me that the airbag IS HARMLESS*. Stop worrying and focus on not getting in accidents for a different reason!
Also i can attest, it definitely did not hurt me in my (head-on) accident.
*Except to babies in rear-facing seats with idiot parents who didn't read that warning about the front seat.
Are you insane? I was in an accident with an airbag and getting "hit in the face" by the airbag as you put it didn't even leave a bruise. The steering wheel, now, that would have been far more severe. I mean, I know it's not technically "air" in the "bag" but do you know what an airbag is at all? It's not a fist. It's a BAG OF AIR.
So anyway:
What would you prefer for this new smart airbag to do? Go above your head? Below it? Nudge you and remind you quietly not to impact the windshield and dash??
There will never be a Verizon cdma iPhone. And trying to use Verizon's promised LTE network is going to suck because for its first 5 or so years of existence, you'll either STILL have to have stupid proprietary (dual-radio CDMA+LTE) phones, OR have spotty service that makes AT&T's 3G network look lovely.
Actually, they (Google Voice) would just call you. (as opposed to your phone placing an outbound call).
As far as I know, at least.
I don't think the Fair Tax will accomplish anything you're trying to bring about. First off, it won't simultaneously make American factory workers competitive with the third world laborers they compete with for jobs, AND give them a living wage!
The only way we would ever get manufacturing back in the US is by repealing every state's minimum wage law as well as the federal one. Then, yes, folks without enough education and/or luck to find a good-paying job could beat out foreign labor in the labor market--and work for $10 a month at shiny new factories that would spring up throughout the land, instead of working for $6.55 an hour at Wal-Mart like they do today. Anyway, see China for a preview of this path. I don't think that's what you want. But under no other circumstances but this one does it make financial sense to a corporation to hire us to assemble things instead of our third world counterparts. (Okay, I lied. If somehow all other world governments imposed and effectively enforced a minimum wage, then we would be competitive too. Like that could happen.)
Also, doing anything other than zero taxes on corporations won't stop them from hiding their money abroad instead of investing it here. And doing that would destroy Medicare and Social Security (as in eliminate it completely), which would unleash a revolutionary horde of old people the likes of which you have never seen. See the South Park episode "Red Dawn" for an example of this.
This sounds like a great argument for single payer. By contrast, Insurance (our current system) is just a massive game to make insurance executives rich. Without this asinine system where the doctors and hospitals have to fight insurance companies over the cost of EVERY procedure, billions would be saved.
Besides, insurance is for managing risk. There is risk involved in some health care. Catastrophic illness like cancer or AIDS -- this is a case where an insurance policy makes sense. But on what planet does it make sense to "insure against" the possibility that you'll need a dental checkup? That a woman will need an OB/GYN appointment? That you'll decide to have kids?? Most medical care is routine and predictable. Insurance for that stuff drives the cost up INSANELY.
Our system makes as much sense as me buying hunger insurance and oil-change insurance--at ten times the true cost of food and oil changes. And, then of course, still paying "co-pays" whenever I eat lunch or get an oil change.
A plan to force you to buy insurance, at your own expense, from the same assholes who are refusing you coverage and/or raping your wallet today, is hardly an entitlement program. There is no public option. Government subsidies for the poor to buy this insurance from private companies have been proposed, and the subsidies already exist today -- see medicaid -- and this program will only result in the same people being covered as are already covered on medicaid programs. Maybe a few more people. It may even end up being cheaper per person than paying for medicaid directly is, since the commercial insurance the government will buy for the poor will probably be dicks about it and not cover much.
> against a party that has barely any political control whatsoever?
Um, the party with filibuster ability has ALL the political control . They dictate all policy. In case you weren't paying attention, if the Republicans in the Senate don't agree with something, it can't get done. Because of the filibuster.
Now if the republicans were below 40 seats -- substantially below -- and Glenn Beck won't let that happen, even if he has to start stabbing Democrats himself -- then you can start saying Dems are in control.
I remember when the R's were in power they wanted badly to kill the filibuster -- this initiative was referred to as "the nuclear option" because obviously it would change the ball game forever.
I think a system of government where neither side gets to implement their system properly because the other guys will sabotage it before the bill can even be passed, kinda sucks. See healthcare reform for a great example.
For $0.99? Hell, a lot of used books there sell for $0.01! I think the shipping allowance is 2.99 or something.
Seems like that is enough to be profitable or it wouldn't happen all the time...
> they couldn't figure out how to be successful.
That's because they put all their effort into patent suits instead of innovation and/or partnerships
Dude, it's not a tiny area. Grow up. Just because VZW has towers in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean anything to the 95% of people who DO live in an AT&T 3G area. What the Verizon ads are doing is hilariously the same as the people in 2000 who waved the red/blue maps around and said, LOOK! A SEA of red! when in fact only about 30% of the people in this country live in "red states." Similarly, only a vanishingly small fraction of cell subscribers live or work outside the AT&T 3G areas. This is a fact. Verizon ignores that fact.
Also, Verizon's map is lies. My area is red on those maps but around my house, Verizon phones are not on EV-DO.
I feel your pain. I'll never go back to CDMA. But it would be nice to have more choices. I can't wait for LTE... but I'm sure in America we'll get f**d in some way that will still prevent us from just buying a phone and carrying it to whatever provider we want (and by whatever i mean "more than just 2 choices").
Fortunately i am one of the silent majority who don't ever have serious issues with my iPhone on AT&T.
LOL. Your story is hella cute, at least up until the part where you compared Verizon Wireless to something besides a nasty, controlling, ass-rapist who would stab his own mother to make a buck.
Too bad that on the "dual radio" phones, Verizon locks the GSM radio to only work with its own overpriced roaming SIM cards ... which aren't even included, you have to BUY one from Verizon and then pay Verizon through the nose for roaming. (the same way you pay for everything with Verizon, usually described as either "pay through the nose" or "pay out the ass").
Real GSM carriers will unlock your phone for you if you tell them you need it unlocked for travelling, and then you have the option of getting a cheap prepaid SIM with minutes wherever you are visiting, and then you don't pay roaming.
I was so excited to see the first part of that sentence, and then... ARGH!
God damn it Adobe. You sure know how to make Mac users hate you.
O/T PS: Stop having Acrobat products force-install an inferior, broken PDF reading plugin. We like the fast one that works that came with Safari.
"5 years of excellent service"
Huh? Google has had a few days where Gmail service went down for a bit in those 5 years. I actually don't recall any outages of AOL's email service, which has been around a lot longer than 5 years. That bullet point sounds like marketing speak and doesn't seem to contain any actual benefits. Oh, and if you mean "service" as in someone who will respond about an outage or bug, you must be joking. It's a free service, and definitely comes with zero support. Just like every other free service, including AOL.
"One of the first to bring IMAP and SSL connections to everyday email"
Gmail was about the LAST provider to implement IMAP. Until about 2008 you were stuck with their horrible, totally nonstandard, POP3 implementation (or, of course, their web interface). AOL started offering IMAP (with no fanfare) about 2005, around the same time they started offering free @aol.com accounts.
Drive-up ATMs. Do you really not have those where you live? Every bank here (except in the inner city*) has one ATM on the side of the building adjacent to a driveway. You just drive up, hang your arm out the window and use it. They even converted some of the old tube kind to have a second ATM at the outer lane too.
This is in California btw.
At that point ($200+ hardware outlay + Windows license + significant setup time) why wouldn't you just buy an Ooma? At least their device would "just work" when plugged in, rather than needing someone to log into the PC and update the MJ software now and then.
FYI, that's not what they're doing. I have plenty of doubts myself about MJ's profitability...especially given that they blow so much money on tv ads, just like Vonage (yuck!) does.
However, they offer you a "local" phone number and do in fact have an extensive selection of local numbers. Back in the day when I first got mine, the choices were not numerous, but were not weighted toward rural. Just the opposite. My first number was from Washington DC and when they added a lot more numbers, they gave everyone who wanted one, a free number change. I went for Newport Beach, CA.
So it's not the free conference call scam, for what it's worth.
I still quit paying for mine after 2 years because I never used it, even though in those days I left my pc on 24/7. Also the call quality was total crap. Mainly because it was echo-y and there was a noticeable delay.
I expect it to work buy tapping directly into my broadband--via ethernet, like every other voip service lets you do. The usb thing is a nuisance.
This is still a USB device. From TFA:
"The femtocell will also use the PC, but it will let users make calls with their cell phones instead of wired phones."
still stupidly tied to an always-on pc. it would be an awesome thing (both the old and femtocell variety), but with the pc requirement it relegates it to a novelty for gabby business travelers with not enough cell minutes.
no, it's still a usb thing that needs a powered-on computer.
I found out mine was costing me over $9 a month (Thanks, Kill-a-watt!) to leave on. Now, I keep it off and ditched the MJ.
Clearly it's an old secondhand laptop, you pedant.
No, you're wrong, and i'm too lazy to google it for you... Go search for it though. They actually STARTED doing prorated ETF about a year ago, but it was only for contracts signed from that day forward. I know because ours were from before and there's no pro-rating those. If we signed a new contract then the prorating would happen.
Sprint's policy historically has been that the phone *has to be a sprint model* -- not that it *can't be from another carrier*.
They have a whitelist of all ESNs (serial numbers) they've ever sold, and will activate only those specific phones.
Will they reconsider this policy, though? Perhaps. They, like T-Mobile, are interested in competing on value, so offering you more choices seems to be in line with that.