I live in south america. There's no such thing as a laptop for medical industry here. Even in the most high tech shops, you can only get "good enough". Except, of course, Apple. With a price tag 2x-3x of US price (import tariffs are irrelevant in this case).
TFA was about SCADA hacks. SCADA systems are networks with (usually) remote screens. The point is that you can hack these systems easily with no physical access.
I like to compare the problem in this industry to Powerpoint presentations. If you ever attend a university lecture, you'll see the professor, who is an engineer, doctor, master's, Ph.D or whatever. He has 5 degrees, hundreds of certifications, and thousands of hours of experience in the field or in front of a class. Yet, he cannot be bothered to invest a few hours of his time in learning *GOOD* powerpoint skills. And don't even get me started on "getting your computer hooked up to the projector".
In the automation industry it's the same thing. A very clever engineer, real genius sometimes, comes up with mechanisms you wouldn't even dream of, and designs a machine as big as a building, that works perfectly. The problem is, it's the same guy who programs the PLC, and he likes to do it in Ladder diagram (which has its advantages. I do ladder and i admit it has the benefit that you can "see" the program, and not get losts in semicolons and braces). But, like a rookie programmer, he disables security, releases in debug mode, uses default passwords, and many other "bad practices" that could be easily solvable if he bothered to spend a few hours to learn to think as a software guy. Sure, disabling your firewall isn't harmful if you're testing for a few minutes. But "i can't find the problem so the only workaround i found was to disable the firewall" is pretty much what happens with these guys.
The problem is that the ones with nuclear power get to decide who's stable and mature. And that is nobody but them. And if they are becoming stable and mature, they just stirr things up a little to keep them on a leash. That's modern latin american history.
I live in Argentina. We had nuclear development, weapons factories, aircraft design... all of that was decimated by the US starting in the 60s under the excuse of "communism". One of our generals had to go and explain himself to the US congress (remember that the US doesn't recognize foreign sovereignity), about why Argentina was developing a long range missile.
Today Argentina is a mess, economically and socially. But it wasn't like that before US interventionism in latin america.
I use Firefox and googling for "web browser" with adblock disabled gave me a huge yellow ad on top of the search results, suggesting me to try chrome.
not only that. every time i go go google.com it nags me to install chrome.
and look, now it's the most used browser. oh, google used its dominant position to advertise its own browser! how is it any diferent from microsoft "bundling" a web browser with Windows?
cue in the "durr, durr, google isn't forcing you to install chrome". and MS didn't force you to use IE either.
I replaced one of the porch lights (4x50W MR16 halogens). so now i have 3 x 50W and 1 4W LED. I'm amazed at the light the 4W LED puts out, but it's no match for the incandescents (to be fair, the box said it was a replacement for 35W halogen).
Still, I think LEDs have come a long way in the past 3 years. Back then I wouldn't have even consider them. Now the only thing that keeps me from using them is the VERY steep price, which, by the cost of electricity here, doesn't pay for itself.
You seem to be under the impression that we, non USAians, need to carry ID at all times, and that the police constantly stops you to ask for papers, and that you are "free" because you "don't have an identity paper".
You are just the typical american who has never left the US and think we hunt our own food or something.
Get some lotion for that red neck, buddy. The world isn't a stereotypical movie.
I'm in Argentina and the police here, in some jurisdictions (especially in small towns) still use typewriters for paperwork.
Sure, they have computers, with internet and all. But if a typewriter does the job just fine, why even bother? They use the computer for the tasks that require, for example, reporting to a remote location. But if it's for forms and paperwork, a typewriter is cheaper and much more reliable.
In OP's case a typewriter is just fine. And paper, you can get for really cheap (doesn't have to be brand new reams).
The only problem I can think of is how to deliver the machines. But I'm sure they can manage that. There's another really reliable machine avaliable everywhere: the truck.
US doesn't import beef from Argentina, citing foot-and-mouth disease as the reason. In most areas of the country, this has been almost non-existant in over 20 years. See when you travel overseas and they make you sterilize your shoes at the airport? Well, in some roads they built a shallow pool with disinfectant, after toll booths, so you come out slowly and have to drive throught it, and wash the underside of your car. That's how seriously we take that disease here.
Also: not everyone has their own personal computer. I doubt it's even that common in developed countries. In many households, especially in developing countries, the computer is shared between family members.
I don't know what you got. I got an IBM x3200 M3, quad-core Xeon, IMM (integrated management module), SAS controller, hot-plug bays, 2 gigabit NICs and 2GB RAM for $1000.
If I had gone the route of IBM hard drives and RAM it would have doubled the price, but I just got Kingston ECC memory ($60 for 8GB) and some SATA HDDs (I don't need SAS).
The killer feature for me? the IMM is connected to the serial port. So I can SSH into the IMM and get a Linux console (and also, get to the BIOS -UEFI actually- over Ethernet).
Over here the drivers actively try to avoid reporting to their call centers as much as possible. So it's pretty shitty from their part too. Since they don't own the car and they already get a salary. Not reporting trips is literally stealing.
(Cars here aren't rigged with GPS and pressure sensors on the seats).
I hate Apple. And I think this lawsuit is bullshit, but I try to look at the bright side of things, and I want to believe this lawsuit will mean, finally, innovation in the smartphone market again. A couple of years ago, Motorola had some interesting phones (Backflip, Flipout and the Droid/Milestone series). Nowadays most, if not all, of the smartphones out there are "full touch", thin, rounded edges.
The Galaxy S/S2 were really extreme. Samsung even copied the charger design! I It sounds racist, but the guys at Samsung were acting like typicial asians: cloning the fuck out of everything that makes money.
I hope this lawsuit will mean we'll finally start seeing innovation on the smartphone market again. My theory is that "everything looks like Apple" because manufacturers think it's about *LOOKING* like apple. Yet, Apple is still the king. The key isn't looking like apple, but *being* apple. It's giving you the experience of apple. It's getting a computer, laptop, smartphone, and tablet, and have them all work together. It's not worrying about drivers or compatibility. It's about the "just works".
I got myself an HTC Sensation the other day. I'm very happy with it so far. But I went to connect it to my PC: it required drivers that didn't even came with the phone. I found them on XDA. If I was to download some "suite" for it, it would sure be a 400MB or more download, requiring me to constantly update it. That's the reason why people choose apple. Given the same price and features, the ability for it to "just work" is the dealbreaker.
Sync has been solved by Android, but there isn't yet a *SIMPLE* backup option for my phone like there is with, say, Nokia, which just lets me plug my phone and hit Backup and have a backup file on my desktop. Sure, I modded and rooted my phone and I can do that and more with Nandroid. But to 99% of people that means nothing.
Manufacturers: get it straight, we want things that look like apple, or don't; and have keyboards or don't; and are white, or black, or silver, or red, blue, pink, purple, yellow even. We want colors, we want laser engraving, and replaceable covers. But we also want a plain black plastic phone. Or made with silly kevlar and alluminum alloy. Oh and a 4.3" screen. And also 2.5". And candybar style phones. And clamshell phones. And also slider phones. And blackberry-style phones. We also want to be able to plug to our computer and work nicely with Windows, or mac, or linux. We want full USB mass storage, or MTD. We also want the option to jailbreak/root/mod/S-OFF/unlock (locked bootloader was the reason I didn't get Moto this time). We don't want to be bothered with drivers (come on, it's easy enough for you to standarize on something and have Microsoft ship drivers with windows). Oh and we certainly don't want stuff that slow down our phones and can't be removed/replaced (MotoBlur, HTC Sense...). And we want updates. Get it together against the carriers and GIVE US THE FUCKING UPDATES. Motorola: why did the Backflip only get android 2.1 in the US, and we in the rest of the world got only android 1.6? Why doesn't the HTC Sensation in my carrier get ICS but the "no contract" one does? But any iphone gets all the goodies.
You know what we don't want? That all the phones out there are just clones of the iphone.
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Do a quick search on any of the high profile sites (Newegg) and shady ones (Ebay) and you'll find that none ship outside US. I don't know why.
Also, sending a laptop over DHL or Fedex internationally will set me back $300+
I live in south america. There's no such thing as a laptop for medical industry here. Even in the most high tech shops, you can only get "good enough". Except, of course, Apple. With a price tag 2x-3x of US price (import tariffs are irrelevant in this case).
I want a screen like that, but I don't want a Macbook. What do I do?
TFA was about SCADA hacks. SCADA systems are networks with (usually) remote screens. The point is that you can hack these systems easily with no physical access.
So why do they have passwords if the password is always 1234 and even the janitor knows it?
I like to compare the problem in this industry to Powerpoint presentations. If you ever attend a university lecture, you'll see the professor, who is an engineer, doctor, master's, Ph.D or whatever. He has 5 degrees, hundreds of certifications, and thousands of hours of experience in the field or in front of a class. Yet, he cannot be bothered to invest a few hours of his time in learning *GOOD* powerpoint skills. And don't even get me started on "getting your computer hooked up to the projector".
In the automation industry it's the same thing. A very clever engineer, real genius sometimes, comes up with mechanisms you wouldn't even dream of, and designs a machine as big as a building, that works perfectly. The problem is, it's the same guy who programs the PLC, and he likes to do it in Ladder diagram (which has its advantages. I do ladder and i admit it has the benefit that you can "see" the program, and not get losts in semicolons and braces). But, like a rookie programmer, he disables security, releases in debug mode, uses default passwords, and many other "bad practices" that could be easily solvable if he bothered to spend a few hours to learn to think as a software guy. Sure, disabling your firewall isn't harmful if you're testing for a few minutes. But "i can't find the problem so the only workaround i found was to disable the firewall" is pretty much what happens with these guys.
Ah, the tangential retard.
yes, it can. ditch winphone/maemo/meego/symbian release a good android phone, and a series of ME TOO cheap android phones. profit.
The problem is that the ones with nuclear power get to decide who's stable and mature. And that is nobody but them. And if they are becoming stable and mature, they just stirr things up a little to keep them on a leash. That's modern latin american history.
I live in Argentina. We had nuclear development, weapons factories, aircraft design... all of that was decimated by the US starting in the 60s under the excuse of "communism". One of our generals had to go and explain himself to the US congress (remember that the US doesn't recognize foreign sovereignity), about why Argentina was developing a long range missile.
Today Argentina is a mess, economically and socially. But it wasn't like that before US interventionism in latin america.
I use Firefox and googling for "web browser" with adblock disabled gave me a huge yellow ad on top of the search results, suggesting me to try chrome.
not only that. every time i go go google.com it nags me to install chrome.
and look, now it's the most used browser. oh, google used its dominant position to advertise its own browser! how is it any diferent from microsoft "bundling" a web browser with Windows?
cue in the "durr, durr, google isn't forcing you to install chrome". and MS didn't force you to use IE either.
Sure, AC. Disable adblock and try again.
Microelectronics that are "components of radar, weapons guidance, and detonators". So, a DSP? A microcontroller? FPGAs?
As if none of that shit is manufactured in asia anyway. Conspirancy to smuggle? More like tax fraud under an heroic excuse.
They have 50W LED modules now. Not 50W equivalent, but a 50W LED.
Good look feeding that beast and keeping it cool too.
Then switch to non-indirect lighting.
Or, if you're using a 300W lamp for direct lighting, i'd guess you're legally blind. Or your ceiling is 10M high
I replaced one of the porch lights (4x50W MR16 halogens). so now i have 3 x 50W and 1 4W LED. I'm amazed at the light the 4W LED puts out, but it's no match for the incandescents (to be fair, the box said it was a replacement for 35W halogen).
Still, I think LEDs have come a long way in the past 3 years. Back then I wouldn't have even consider them. Now the only thing that keeps me from using them is the VERY steep price, which, by the cost of electricity here, doesn't pay for itself.
You seem to be under the impression that we, non USAians, need to carry ID at all times, and that the police constantly stops you to ask for papers, and that you are "free" because you "don't have an identity paper".
You are just the typical american who has never left the US and think we hunt our own food or something.
Get some lotion for that red neck, buddy. The world isn't a stereotypical movie.
I'm in Argentina and the police here, in some jurisdictions (especially in small towns) still use typewriters for paperwork.
Sure, they have computers, with internet and all. But if a typewriter does the job just fine, why even bother? They use the computer for the tasks that require, for example, reporting to a remote location. But if it's for forms and paperwork, a typewriter is cheaper and much more reliable.
In OP's case a typewriter is just fine. And paper, you can get for really cheap (doesn't have to be brand new reams).
The only problem I can think of is how to deliver the machines. But I'm sure they can manage that. There's another really reliable machine avaliable everywhere: the truck.
US doesn't import beef from Argentina, citing foot-and-mouth disease as the reason. In most areas of the country, this has been almost non-existant in over 20 years.
See when you travel overseas and they make you sterilize your shoes at the airport? Well, in some roads they built a shallow pool with disinfectant, after toll booths, so you come out slowly and have to drive throught it, and wash the underside of your car. That's how seriously we take that disease here.
Seeing them in movies doesn't count.
There are billions of people on earth that have never used a computer. There are billions with no access to electricity!
Also: not everyone has their own personal computer. I doubt it's even that common in developed countries. In many households, especially in developing countries, the computer is shared between family members.
No, you insenstive first-world clod. There are 7 billion people in this planet. And the "computer market" is for less than the top 2 billion.
Silly unix user, GP was talking about something like VMware Workstation.
I don't know what you got. I got an IBM x3200 M3, quad-core Xeon, IMM (integrated management module), SAS controller, hot-plug bays, 2 gigabit NICs and 2GB RAM for $1000.
If I had gone the route of IBM hard drives and RAM it would have doubled the price, but I just got Kingston ECC memory ($60 for 8GB) and some SATA HDDs (I don't need SAS).
The killer feature for me? the IMM is connected to the serial port. So I can SSH into the IMM and get a Linux console (and also, get to the BIOS -UEFI actually- over Ethernet).
Over here the drivers actively try to avoid reporting to their call centers as much as possible. So it's pretty shitty from their part too. Since they don't own the car and they already get a salary. Not reporting trips is literally stealing.
(Cars here aren't rigged with GPS and pressure sensors on the seats).
I hate Apple. And I think this lawsuit is bullshit, but I try to look at the bright side of things, and I want to believe this lawsuit will mean, finally, innovation in the smartphone market again. A couple of years ago, Motorola had some interesting phones (Backflip, Flipout and the Droid/Milestone series). Nowadays most, if not all, of the smartphones out there are "full touch", thin, rounded edges.
The Galaxy S/S2 were really extreme. Samsung even copied the charger design! I It sounds racist, but the guys at Samsung were acting like typicial asians: cloning the fuck out of everything that makes money.
I hope this lawsuit will mean we'll finally start seeing innovation on the smartphone market again. My theory is that "everything looks like Apple" because manufacturers think it's about *LOOKING* like apple. Yet, Apple is still the king. The key isn't looking like apple, but *being* apple. It's giving you the experience of apple. It's getting a computer, laptop, smartphone, and tablet, and have them all work together. It's not worrying about drivers or compatibility. It's about the "just works".
I got myself an HTC Sensation the other day. I'm very happy with it so far. But I went to connect it to my PC: it required drivers that didn't even came with the phone. I found them on XDA. If I was to download some "suite" for it, it would sure be a 400MB or more download, requiring me to constantly update it. That's the reason why people choose apple. Given the same price and features, the ability for it to "just work" is the dealbreaker.
Sync has been solved by Android, but there isn't yet a *SIMPLE* backup option for my phone like there is with, say, Nokia, which just lets me plug my phone and hit Backup and have a backup file on my desktop. Sure, I modded and rooted my phone and I can do that and more with Nandroid. But to 99% of people that means nothing.
Manufacturers: get it straight, we want things that look like apple, or don't; and have keyboards or don't; and are white, or black, or silver, or red, blue, pink, purple, yellow even. We want colors, we want laser engraving, and replaceable covers. But we also want a plain black plastic phone. Or made with silly kevlar and alluminum alloy. Oh and a 4.3" screen. And also 2.5". And candybar style phones. And clamshell phones. And also slider phones. And blackberry-style phones. We also want to be able to plug to our computer and work nicely with Windows, or mac, or linux. We want full USB mass storage, or MTD. We also want the option to jailbreak/root/mod/S-OFF/unlock (locked bootloader was the reason I didn't get Moto this time). We don't want to be bothered with drivers (come on, it's easy enough for you to standarize on something and have Microsoft ship drivers with windows). Oh and we certainly don't want stuff that slow down our phones and can't be removed/replaced (MotoBlur, HTC Sense...). And we want updates. Get it together against the carriers and GIVE US THE FUCKING UPDATES. Motorola: why did the Backflip only get android 2.1 in the US, and we in the rest of the world got only android 1.6? Why doesn't the HTC Sensation in my carrier get ICS but the "no contract" one does? But any iphone gets all the goodies.
You know what we don't want? That all the phones out there are just clones of the iphone.