Yeah, I'd gladly pay them a couple of bucks a month because they're great at the basic job of replicating my files, and I'll occasionally check their site to see what the lowest paid tier is. But it's just not a unique enough service that I'll pay $8/mo.
I like my toaster fine, but if it started demanding $8/mo I'd chuck it and make do with the oven or cold bagels. Well, not cold bagels, but at least I'd lose some weight.
Onavo is probably using the standard VPN APIs and just inferring what apps are installed by watching the network traffic. Many apps have a server component they talk to, so that's not too difficult.
There are network APIs on iOS (Content Filter, Per-App VPN) that will let you directly associate network traffic with apps, but they're targeted for enterprise security products and require supervised devices and/or MDM to get set up, so it isn't something you see typical consumer apps like this using.
The Dutch have a word "gezellig" that doesn't have a direct English translation but essentially means "comfortable" or "homey". It's used to describe a place that just feels right, like the unnamed "quality of place" discussed in Christopher Alexander's "Timeless Way of Building" and "A Pattern Language".
I walked into this really cool bar with some friends and one of them said "Ah...gezellig!" and it just fit. IANAL(inguist) but it seems to me having a word for an idea like that gives one a better understanding of it. Not that an American wouldn't appreciate the same space as much, but I think there's a subtle difference in understanding something (and perhaps appreciating it) when you can say "gezellig" rather than stumbling for words that talk around the idea.
Anyone know of a resource for words that have no English equivalent? It's be interesting to see what we're missing out on.
The best-case scenario is a year from now. Pessimistically, two years from now.
I can't see myself paying $30 a month for cafe and hotel coverage in two years even if the roaming is seamless. EDGE is available nation-wide now (at ~168kbps its perfectly fine for email), EV-DO and EV-DV will up the speeds further, and then there's WiMax coming along with city-wide range for broadband. My hope is in a few years I'll just pay my garbage/sewer/WiMax utility and the roaming agreements will be between cities. Then I'll ditch the DSL and cell phone.
The Wrights also realized that everyone else was working with the wrong data about lift and drag, which led them to build their own wind tunnels to get it right. Hard to dismiss them as tinking bicycle mechanics.
I disagree with the VCR analogy. VHS rentals provided people with a form of entertainment that didn't really exist before - the ability to watch movies any time they wanted, at home. This created a brand new market that supplemented, not supplanted, the movies-in-theaters business.
mp3's are creating a new market for things like mp3 players and online music stores, but those are just replacements for CD players and Tower Records. Nobody believes CDs will stick around after mp3s et al are ubiquitous (except for maybe the audiophiles of 2023 who claim its just not the same without the pop and crackle...oh wait, wrong extinction).
I completely agree with your assessment of RIAA though - they exist solely to make money off of other peoples' creativity. Either the industry will come up with a truly new product or service and continue for a while longer, or (better) the artists will realize en masse that they can give away and/or sell their music online and have a shot at making a decent living playing gigs, selling products (limited edition CDs anyone?), selling commerical rights to their music, etc., keeping 100% of the profits (and getting laid regularly, which is the #1 reason people are in bands in the first place).
Don't forget drug testing. When I worked at IBM during college in the 80's and 90's I had to pee in a cup. Not sure if that's still going on but back then it was a big topic in the news. The lack of discussion about it is ironic considering the advances in genetic testing have made it more of a big deal. Makes listening to my phone seem kinda trivial.
Yeah, I'd gladly pay them a couple of bucks a month because they're great at the basic job of replicating my files, and I'll occasionally check their site to see what the lowest paid tier is. But it's just not a unique enough service that I'll pay $8/mo. I like my toaster fine, but if it started demanding $8/mo I'd chuck it and make do with the oven or cold bagels. Well, not cold bagels, but at least I'd lose some weight.
Onavo is probably using the standard VPN APIs and just inferring what apps are installed by watching the network traffic. Many apps have a server component they talk to, so that's not too difficult. There are network APIs on iOS (Content Filter, Per-App VPN) that will let you directly associate network traffic with apps, but they're targeted for enterprise security products and require supervised devices and/or MDM to get set up, so it isn't something you see typical consumer apps like this using.
I walked into this really cool bar with some friends and one of them said "Ah...gezellig!" and it just fit. IANAL(inguist) but it seems to me having a word for an idea like that gives one a better understanding of it. Not that an American wouldn't appreciate the same space as much, but I think there's a subtle difference in understanding something (and perhaps appreciating it) when you can say "gezellig" rather than stumbling for words that talk around the idea.
Anyone know of a resource for words that have no English equivalent? It's be interesting to see what we're missing out on.
I can't see myself paying $30 a month for cafe and hotel coverage in two years even if the roaming is seamless. EDGE is available nation-wide now (at ~168kbps its perfectly fine for email), EV-DO and EV-DV will up the speeds further, and then there's WiMax coming along with city-wide range for broadband. My hope is in a few years I'll just pay my garbage/sewer/WiMax utility and the roaming agreements will be between cities. Then I'll ditch the DSL and cell phone.
The Wrights also realized that everyone else was working with the wrong data about lift and drag, which led them to build their own wind tunnels to get it right. Hard to dismiss them as tinking bicycle mechanics.
mp3's are creating a new market for things like mp3 players and online music stores, but those are just replacements for CD players and Tower Records. Nobody believes CDs will stick around after mp3s et al are ubiquitous (except for maybe the audiophiles of 2023 who claim its just not the same without the pop and crackle...oh wait, wrong extinction).
I completely agree with your assessment of RIAA though - they exist solely to make money off of other peoples' creativity. Either the industry will come up with a truly new product or service and continue for a while longer, or (better) the artists will realize en masse that they can give away and/or sell their music online and have a shot at making a decent living playing gigs, selling products (limited edition CDs anyone?), selling commerical rights to their music, etc., keeping 100% of the profits (and getting laid regularly, which is the #1 reason people are in bands in the first place).
Don't forget drug testing. When I worked at IBM during college in the 80's and 90's I had to pee in a cup. Not sure if that's still going on but back then it was a big topic in the news. The lack of discussion about it is ironic considering the advances in genetic testing have made it more of a big deal. Makes listening to my phone seem kinda trivial.