What's astonishing to me is that *nobody* mentions that the only reason he's so far ahead of previous records is that in all previous seasons you were booted after 5 wins.
Actually the article mentions this, did you read it? Another person pointed out that the doubled the value of the questions also this season (when they did away with the 5 day limit). That wasn't mentioned in the article.
I dunno, but maybe this talk down to the customer thing is just the way of life over there. Maybe you guys are all as tough as nuts and don't get easily offended - but the ordeals were a bit uneccessary. Everybody seems to be competing to be the alpha-male... for some reason.
Unfortunately this is pretty common and it seems to be more common in larger cities where you probably encountered it (International flights tend to go to the large airports in major cities.) It can be a lot better in small towns, but business travelers especially don't get to see those places much.
I got to take a vacation to Japan about 3 years ago. I'm a big anime & manga fan so I did quite a bit of shopping for that as well as some electronics and other general stuff. I was stunned at my experience in the stores and resteraunts. Walking into a smaller place especially and having every employee in sight greet you (generally in unison) was just too cool. They also thank you when you leave, even if you don't buy anything. You'll be thanked at the register when you pay as well. Personally I liked it and wish things were more like that here in the US.
But on a note of fairness, I have yet to encounter rudeness on the level of the Parisians I met the one time I was in Paris. I've sworn never to go back. In fact it was beyond snooty employees in stores and resteraunts, the freaking police wouldn't help me and a friend who were lost, in the rain. We eventually found help at a tavern run by an Englishman. Sad you have to find someone from Britain to get help in Paris. Out in the countryside in France though the people were quite nice and very friendly. I guess it's just a Paris thing.
Sony is hoping these things will sell to adults (that's how they get around not supporting MP3's) that having jumped on the digital music boat.
Then they need to make their software easier to use than the MD player software was. I decided to try a MD player a few months back since I'd kinda wanted one for years. The software was hideous, it was a total pain to get music onto it, and I even had to read the manual to figure out HOW. Needless to say the software was uninstalled and the MD player returned quite quickly. If they have the same experience in store for buyers of their hard-drive based Walkman it'll be a quite spectacular dud.
The iPod will only be forgotten if Apple stops innovating with the design and features. As you can see with the introduction of the mini, this is not about to happen. Say what you will about the iPod, but the clickwheel is absolutely ingenious.
That is very debatable. Despite hearing so many people talk about how simple and easy the iPod is to use, my personal experiences have been nothing but. In fact they were so furstrating I refuse to ever buy one. (And I kinda liked the styling.)
Its becuase of Apples focus on making things as simple as possible that the iPod is selling well. Its not a coincidence that players with more features are unable to make a dent in the iPods market share. People don't give a damn if the player has a mic or not. They want to use it to listen to music, they want it to be styligh, and they want it to be as simple to use as possible. Nobody has come close to Apple in these three prime areas. If someone wants to compete with Apple, it has to be in these three areas. Features be damned. (PS. not many players have integrated PDA functionality and built in games like the iPod.)
Now I think you're quite wrong. Personally I have what is the perfect Mp3 player for me. It's a CD-based one, but that's great since I can have as many CDs as I want. I couldn't tell you how well or poorly it navigates the directory (although I know it does) because I never listen to it except in random play order (not out of necessity but because I prefer it). I find it much simpler to deal with than my experiences with an iPod. It's also 100 times simpler than a Sony MD player. (Incredibly ironic since it's a Sony Mp3 player.) I have a nice cigarette lighter power adaptor, a pair of recharageable AAs so it remembers its place and it's all I need.
Apple's done nice with the iPod but it's not the be-all, end-all of Mp3 players. They can be beat. A lot of people might prefer the route I've gone, it cost a hell of a lot less for the player, and since the battery's not built in it'll likely outlast an iPod (without maintenance) by a long shot. I can also change my playlist by just changing CDs, I doubt it's quite that quick on the iPod.
Anyone who asks me whether they should buy a Sony portable music device will get a resounding "NO!"
One note, Sony at least did sell CD-based Mp3 players that play standard Mp3s. Those work quite well as long as you're not dead-set on a hard-drive based player. I have one and love it, it cost me several hundred less than an iPod would too.:)
I pointed out that the PSP Ibought does not have that wording and I was told "we change the terms and wording all the time, and we reserve the right to do so without notification." and had it pointed out to me...
Get a lawyer fast. I know that in the US law specifically forbids this type of clause in a contract. You simply cannot change the terms of a contract without the consent of the other party, period. If you're not in the US it may be different, but I really doubt it. A contact that one party can rewrite at will is simply NOT a contract, it's a joke.
When it's all an video, it's all nice and clear cut.
The only problem is not all of those supposed video camera holders actually have a security camera in them running. In this case I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't one watching where the two thugs pulled their act, that way they knew it was the customer's word against theres.
why can't these music stores use a more superior format. they can then give more bang for your bitrate. they still stick with the old mp3.
there are portable vorbis players out there, we need more online stores now.
well, if they don't want to, nothing we can do about it.
First of all Mp3 is the format with the widest support -- period. You may not like this but it's reality. Secondly this is a small store run by the group, it's a bit unrealistic to expect them to support multiple formats. Thirdly we should be thankful they're releasing them in a format that doesn't have DRM restrictions. If they were using DRM restricted files I'm quite sure everyone would be complaining about that instead.
Ogg's a nice format (for audio, I have had nothing but problems with it in video files) but it's support is still limited. You really can't expect a small store like this to support it. (Well you can expect it but realistically it's probably not going to happen). There's nothing wrong with promoting the format and hoping it's more widely adopted but until it is online music stores won't support it. It's a bit of a chicken or the egg problem.
The console industry is in a sad state, and the GameCube and GBA are the only "consoles" I currently am enjoying because Nintendo puts fun games onto them.
Then you're missing a hell of a lot of fun titles. Just for the PS2 I can think of Disgea, Final Fantasy X and X-2, Onimusha (all three main series games), Xenosaga, and there's plenty more. Frankly I've seen less fun games on the Gamecube than on the PS2 and Xbox. I've yet to see a single GBA game that makes me even consider buying one.
I'll even take a port of the original Zelda over "GTA: Kill hookers in LA rather than Miami" or whatever they're calling the next GTA game.
I'll give you that one, I liked GTA3 better than Vice City. I really am doubting that the next one (called San Andreas) will be worth renting.
Iwata doesn't appear insane in his well-edited interviews, but even he's starting to slip. I probably would too if the company I was managing has been eating it's tail since 1999.
I think it's telling that Nintendo has repeatedly said (although I'm not sure if it was Iwata-san who said it specifically) that the day they stop selling consoles is the day they quit the game industry. Talk about sour grapes, it's like a threat: "You better buy our console or we'll take our 1st party titles and kill them all off." I know that Nintendo fans will want to burn me in effigy for this but I really believe Nintendo could become a very powerful player in the console (or even PC gaming market) by starting to develop for other consoles. Let the other guys waste their time and money fighting the console wars and ride on their coattails to success. I'd buy Nintendo games to play on my PS2, but I'm far less inclined to buy a Gamecube just so I can play them.
It's just not the same without real people, face to face jumping up and yelling across the room at each other. Sorry, online is a subpar experience in my book. Online gameplay for console games totally uninterests me for any reason. Online gameplay for PC games is only necessary for a LAN. I've tried a large number of games over the years and am fairly conclusive in my position.
I'll agree except that LAN play for consoles could also be great. You still get to play with others, but you can do so together in person. Nintendo seems determined that ANY kind of network play is useless, only linking between GBAs or between the GBA and Gamecube are useful to gamers. To me that's contradictory to some of what Iwata-san said. GBAs sell more to kids than adults, adults just don't have to time to play games on the go like kids do. In pushing GBA to GBA and GBA to Gamecube linking in games Nintendo's really pushing those games at kids instead of a general audience. I know I was interested in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles until I read about all the linking and how you really need to have three friends all with GBAs to get the most out of it. No thanks, not for me, I prefer single player experiences that aren't crippled plus as an adult I just don't have the time (nor do my friends) to try to get four people together to play a game regularly (as you'd need to go through the game cooperatively). Hell it took a friend and me about 6 months to get through Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on PS2 because we could only find time to play it every other month or so.
Also, the not-a-Game-Boy DS will have wireless connectivity, so it's not as if they're abandoning the Internet altogether...
Actually given Nintendo's huge push for linking (GBA to GBA and GBA to Gamecube) that's probably there just to make linking easier (no need to buy a link cable). I doubt it's intended for Internet at all.
I mostly agree, but just because the business model is lousy doesn't mean that Nintendo should shun online games altogether. They could instead come up with a better business plan (like free or very cheap online access, or open source game servers)
I think Nintendo's insistance on linking (only between GBA and Gamecube) is hurting them as well. They have had many titles that would have easily worked as local-network multi-play games, but they pushed the GBA/Gamecube linking instead. As an older gamer (32) I know I don't have 3 friends with GBAs (hell I don't even have one). I might be able to round up 3 friends to come play some network multiplayer, but not for a linking option.
What's the grand total of network enabled Gamecube games now? Last I heard it was 2 (one was Phantasy Star). I think Nintendo's so insistant that online play is unwanted that they're shooting themselves in the foot. No I don't want to pay to play a game online (like most MMORPGs), but I can deal with paying a yearly fee like Xbox Live so I can play games online with my friends. I like the PS2's version even better, no additional cost past the network adaptor.
Actually not true since your IP will now be "static" and can be almost guaranteed to point to you. If anything this will make the RIAA's life easier since they will only need to do a name lookup against the DNS (or whatever protocol gets created to manage this) to find out who owns the IP.
But considering the core routers will probably have melted down due to all the extra lookups it won't matter. DNS and P2P both will be non-functional (as well as E-mail, the WWW, etc...)
Hands up who understands the legal concept of a temporary restraining order?
Answer : It's temporary, to make sure neither party suffers to greatly until the Actual Judgement gets made.
Yes, but they generally aren't issued unless the judge feels there is some merit to the claims of the party asking for the temporary restraining order. In other words this judge feels the idiots wanting to keep their IP space have a fair chance of winning their case at trial.
So yeah, it's worth worrying about. It's not the end of the world/Internet yet, but we need to take this very seriously and prepare to fight it.
They need to keep the cash flow going in the name of a good economy. Why should they be force to forever ponder the future fate of capital based on 25 year old gift cards?
Because some of them market the gift cards as essentially cash replacements. If they're going to market it that way, then they need to treat it that way. I don't mind a gift certificate that expires when it's marketed that way, but I do think charging fees and taking the money and running when you tried to convince me it was just a convenient cash replacement is quite wrong.
That said I use Wal-mart's gift cards to budget my gas purchases each month (the 3 cent discount is nice too, makes the gas the cheapest in town). I keep the money running in and out though so there's no concerns about it ever expiring. I also tend to use any extra leftover for a month to buy myself something to clear the card out each month.
Why do we need goverment to get involved on the expiration date for gift certificates? If some store sells gift certificates that expire within a month we have the option of not buying it! I know that is a novel concept for some people, but no one is obligated to purchase gift certs at any given store.
The law's more to protect the recepient of the gift card, NOT the buyer. As a recepient you don't have a choice to avoid a store that has shady gift card practices. I know I lost $30 in Amazon gift cards once because of their flakey rules, I don't particularly think Amazon deserved to keep that money either.
Hell, I am pissed that my webserver is constantly hit by Comcast IP ranges and Comcast does nothing about it when I *KNOW* that they have the ability to scan and disable the users (at least on ATTBI's existing network).
This is the same Comcast who's E-mail service for subscribers has gone completely to hell in the last month. I don't know what the reasons are (I wouldn't be surprised if it was spam-related) but lately I'm lucky if 80% of my E-mail make it. That's both E-mails sent to me, and E-mails sent by me. I've had to switch to my Gmail account simply so that I can get my E-mail reliably.
So basically I wouldn't expect them to do anything about IPs on their network attacking, spewing spam or anything else. They don't seem to concerned to keep basic services functional, why would they go further? *sigh*
Perhaps you might want to (anonymously) remind them that by assuming management of individuals computers (not uni. owned) like that, they are also assuming some liability. Who gets sued, if they miss a virus or something, and it eats your term paper... theoretically you could sue them... I bet they haven't thought of that.
Very good point, as well there are patches that sometimes break the computer in other ways, or altogether. What will the University do when they force a patch onto the entire student body's computers and it causes them to fail to boot into Windows afterwards? Can you imagine the sheer enormity of suddenly having the University IT staff responsible for re-installing and doing data recover on thousands of student's PCs. Even if they didn't get sued, they'd have to hire additional help to fix the mess in any reasonable time frame.
Sounds to me like this University is an accident waiting to happen!
That has a lot of disadvantages because many legit buyers look for "instant delivery" and "24/7 service."
So you allow instant delivery for them with a service that doesn't have the problems Paypal presents or fraud. It's an unfortunate truism that the legit people end up having to endure extra hassles thanks to all the crooks and jerks in the world though.
That does sound might impressive but then again the xbox 2 or next or whatever you wanna call it, is how far away?
Many game insiders expect to see the next Xbox in 2005, Microsoft seems to have it in their heads that they MUST be the first to market in the next generation of consoles, so it may be showing up sooner than we think.
Granted the companies are already losing money on the consoles but you cannot expect it to all be made up for on games. Especially when you are M$ and you have a hard time selling your console outside the US. If they cannot win over console gamers in another country then they will always be playing 2nd or 3rd fiddle behind those boys at Sony and Nintendo.
Actually Microsoft's the only company losing money on the console hardware. Sony's been making a profit for some time, and Nintendo pretty much refuses to sell at a loss.
Slashdot Mirror
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Disable Active Scripting.
Set it to prompt to see where all it's used, amazingly every single page on-
What's astonishing to me is that *nobody* mentions that the only reason he's so far ahead of previous records is that in all previous seasons you were booted after 5 wins.
Actually the article mentions this, did you read it? Another person pointed out that the doubled the value of the questions also this season (when they did away with the 5 day limit). That wasn't mentioned in the article.-
I dunno, but maybe this talk down to the customer thing is just the way of life over there. Maybe you guys are all as tough as nuts and don't get easily offended - but the ordeals were a bit uneccessary. Everybody seems to be competing to be the alpha-male... for some reason.
Unfortunately this is pretty common and it seems to be more common in larger cities where you probably encountered it (International flights tend to go to the large airports in major cities.) It can be a lot better in small towns, but business travelers especially don't get to see those places much.I got to take a vacation to Japan about 3 years ago. I'm a big anime & manga fan so I did quite a bit of shopping for that as well as some electronics and other general stuff. I was stunned at my experience in the stores and resteraunts. Walking into a smaller place especially and having every employee in sight greet you (generally in unison) was just too cool. They also thank you when you leave, even if you don't buy anything. You'll be thanked at the register when you pay as well. Personally I liked it and wish things were more like that here in the US.
But on a note of fairness, I have yet to encounter rudeness on the level of the Parisians I met the one time I was in Paris. I've sworn never to go back. In fact it was beyond snooty employees in stores and resteraunts, the freaking police wouldn't help me and a friend who were lost, in the rain. We eventually found help at a tavern run by an Englishman. Sad you have to find someone from Britain to get help in Paris. Out in the countryside in France though the people were quite nice and very friendly. I guess it's just a Paris thing.
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Sony is hoping these things will sell to adults (that's how they get around not supporting MP3's) that having jumped on the digital music boat.
Then they need to make their software easier to use than the MD player software was. I decided to try a MD player a few months back since I'd kinda wanted one for years. The software was hideous, it was a total pain to get music onto it, and I even had to read the manual to figure out HOW. Needless to say the software was uninstalled and the MD player returned quite quickly. If they have the same experience in store for buyers of their hard-drive based Walkman it'll be a quite spectacular dud.-
The iPod will only be forgotten if Apple stops innovating with the design and features. As you can see with the introduction of the mini, this is not about to happen. Say what you will about the iPod, but the clickwheel is absolutely ingenious.
That is very debatable. Despite hearing so many people talk about how simple and easy the iPod is to use, my personal experiences have been nothing but. In fact they were so furstrating I refuse to ever buy one. (And I kinda liked the styling.)-
Its becuase of Apples focus on making things as simple as possible that the iPod is selling well. Its not a coincidence that players with more features are unable to make a dent in the iPods market share. People don't give a damn if the player has a mic or not. They want to use it to listen to music, they want it to be styligh, and they want it to be as simple to use as possible. Nobody has come close to Apple in these three prime areas. If someone wants to compete with Apple, it has to be in these three areas. Features be damned. (PS. not many players have integrated PDA functionality and built in games like the iPod.)
Now I think you're quite wrong. Personally I have what is the perfect Mp3 player for me. It's a CD-based one, but that's great since I can have as many CDs as I want. I couldn't tell you how well or poorly it navigates the directory (although I know it does) because I never listen to it except in random play order (not out of necessity but because I prefer it). I find it much simpler to deal with than my experiences with an iPod. It's also 100 times simpler than a Sony MD player. (Incredibly ironic since it's a Sony Mp3 player.) I have a nice cigarette lighter power adaptor, a pair of recharageable AAs so it remembers its place and it's all I need.Apple's done nice with the iPod but it's not the be-all, end-all of Mp3 players. They can be beat. A lot of people might prefer the route I've gone, it cost a hell of a lot less for the player, and since the battery's not built in it'll likely outlast an iPod (without maintenance) by a long shot. I can also change my playlist by just changing CDs, I doubt it's quite that quick on the iPod.
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Anyone who asks me whether they should buy a Sony portable music device will get a resounding "NO!"
One note, Sony at least did sell CD-based Mp3 players that play standard Mp3s. Those work quite well as long as you're not dead-set on a hard-drive based player. I have one and love it, it cost me several hundred less than an iPod would too.-
I pointed out that the PSP Ibought does not have that wording and I was told "we change the terms and wording all the time, and we reserve the right to do so without notification." and had it pointed out to me...
Get a lawyer fast. I know that in the US law specifically forbids this type of clause in a contract. You simply cannot change the terms of a contract without the consent of the other party, period. If you're not in the US it may be different, but I really doubt it. A contact that one party can rewrite at will is simply NOT a contract, it's a joke.-
When it's all an video, it's all nice and clear cut.
The only problem is not all of those supposed video camera holders actually have a security camera in them running. In this case I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't one watching where the two thugs pulled their act, that way they knew it was the customer's word against theres.-
Then he asked if I could fix it...
Did you tell him that while medical science was searching for a cure, currently the one D ten T problem was incurable? (That's 1D10T.)-
why can't these music stores use a more superior format. they can then give more bang for your bitrate. they still stick with the old mp3.
First of all Mp3 is the format with the widest support -- period. You may not like this but it's reality. Secondly this is a small store run by the group, it's a bit unrealistic to expect them to support multiple formats. Thirdly we should be thankful they're releasing them in a format that doesn't have DRM restrictions. If they were using DRM restricted files I'm quite sure everyone would be complaining about that instead.there are portable vorbis players out there, we need more online stores now.
well, if they don't want to, nothing we can do about it.
Ogg's a nice format (for audio, I have had nothing but problems with it in video files) but it's support is still limited. You really can't expect a small store like this to support it. (Well you can expect it but realistically it's probably not going to happen). There's nothing wrong with promoting the format and hoping it's more widely adopted but until it is online music stores won't support it. It's a bit of a chicken or the egg problem.
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Having 4 people sitting around 1 monitor (even a 19inch) all haveing their quarter screen....I can't see where this becomes productive.
You obviously didn't RTFA. It's one computer with 4 monitoes, mice ad keyboards.-
The console industry is in a sad state, and the GameCube and GBA are the only "consoles" I currently am enjoying because Nintendo puts fun games onto them.
Then you're missing a hell of a lot of fun titles. Just for the PS2 I can think of Disgea, Final Fantasy X and X-2, Onimusha (all three main series games), Xenosaga, and there's plenty more. Frankly I've seen less fun games on the Gamecube than on the PS2 and Xbox. I've yet to see a single GBA game that makes me even consider buying one.-
I'll even take a port of the original Zelda over "GTA: Kill hookers in LA rather than Miami" or whatever they're calling the next GTA game.
I'll give you that one, I liked GTA3 better than Vice City. I really am doubting that the next one (called San Andreas) will be worth renting.-
Iwata doesn't appear insane in his well-edited interviews, but even he's starting to slip. I probably would too if the company I was managing has been eating it's tail since 1999.
I think it's telling that Nintendo has repeatedly said (although I'm not sure if it was Iwata-san who said it specifically) that the day they stop selling consoles is the day they quit the game industry. Talk about sour grapes, it's like a threat: "You better buy our console or we'll take our 1st party titles and kill them all off." I know that Nintendo fans will want to burn me in effigy for this but I really believe Nintendo could become a very powerful player in the console (or even PC gaming market) by starting to develop for other consoles. Let the other guys waste their time and money fighting the console wars and ride on their coattails to success. I'd buy Nintendo games to play on my PS2, but I'm far less inclined to buy a Gamecube just so I can play them.-
It's just not the same without real people, face to face jumping up and yelling across the room at each other. Sorry, online is a subpar experience in my book. Online gameplay for console games totally uninterests me for any reason. Online gameplay for PC games is only necessary for a LAN. I've tried a large number of games over the years and am fairly conclusive in my position.
I'll agree except that LAN play for consoles could also be great. You still get to play with others, but you can do so together in person. Nintendo seems determined that ANY kind of network play is useless, only linking between GBAs or between the GBA and Gamecube are useful to gamers. To me that's contradictory to some of what Iwata-san said. GBAs sell more to kids than adults, adults just don't have to time to play games on the go like kids do. In pushing GBA to GBA and GBA to Gamecube linking in games Nintendo's really pushing those games at kids instead of a general audience. I know I was interested in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles until I read about all the linking and how you really need to have three friends all with GBAs to get the most out of it. No thanks, not for me, I prefer single player experiences that aren't crippled plus as an adult I just don't have the time (nor do my friends) to try to get four people together to play a game regularly (as you'd need to go through the game cooperatively). Hell it took a friend and me about 6 months to get through Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on PS2 because we could only find time to play it every other month or so.-
Also, the not-a-Game-Boy DS will have wireless connectivity, so it's not as if they're abandoning the Internet altogether...
Actually given Nintendo's huge push for linking (GBA to GBA and GBA to Gamecube) that's probably there just to make linking easier (no need to buy a link cable). I doubt it's intended for Internet at all.-
I mostly agree, but just because the business model is lousy doesn't mean that Nintendo should shun online games altogether. They could instead come up with a better business plan (like free or very cheap online access, or open source game servers)
I think Nintendo's insistance on linking (only between GBA and Gamecube) is hurting them as well. They have had many titles that would have easily worked as local-network multi-play games, but they pushed the GBA/Gamecube linking instead. As an older gamer (32) I know I don't have 3 friends with GBAs (hell I don't even have one). I might be able to round up 3 friends to come play some network multiplayer, but not for a linking option.What's the grand total of network enabled Gamecube games now? Last I heard it was 2 (one was Phantasy Star). I think Nintendo's so insistant that online play is unwanted that they're shooting themselves in the foot. No I don't want to pay to play a game online (like most MMORPGs), but I can deal with paying a yearly fee like Xbox Live so I can play games online with my friends. I like the PS2's version even better, no additional cost past the network adaptor.
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My hamster says he'll be happy if you could hide his porn photos too:
Wow and here I thought the hamster sex newsgroups only contained spam! Glad I never looked in them.-
Actually not true since your IP will now be "static" and can be almost guaranteed to point to you. If anything this will make the RIAA's life easier since they will only need to do a name lookup against the DNS (or whatever protocol gets created to manage this) to find out who owns the IP.
But considering the core routers will probably have melted down due to all the extra lookups it won't matter. DNS and P2P both will be non-functional (as well as E-mail, the WWW, etc...)Bet that'd make the RIAA really happy!
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Hands up who understands the legal concept of a temporary restraining order?
Yes, but they generally aren't issued unless the judge feels there is some merit to the claims of the party asking for the temporary restraining order. In other words this judge feels the idiots wanting to keep their IP space have a fair chance of winning their case at trial.Answer : It's temporary, to make sure neither party suffers to greatly until the Actual Judgement gets made.
So yeah, it's worth worrying about. It's not the end of the world/Internet yet, but we need to take this very seriously and prepare to fight it.
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They need to keep the cash flow going in the name of a good economy. Why should they be force to forever ponder the future fate of capital based on 25 year old gift cards?
Because some of them market the gift cards as essentially cash replacements. If they're going to market it that way, then they need to treat it that way. I don't mind a gift certificate that expires when it's marketed that way, but I do think charging fees and taking the money and running when you tried to convince me it was just a convenient cash replacement is quite wrong.That said I use Wal-mart's gift cards to budget my gas purchases each month (the 3 cent discount is nice too, makes the gas the cheapest in town). I keep the money running in and out though so there's no concerns about it ever expiring. I also tend to use any extra leftover for a month to buy myself something to clear the card out each month.
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Why do we need goverment to get involved on the expiration date for gift certificates? If some store sells gift certificates that expire within a month we have the option of not buying it! I know that is a novel concept for some people, but no one is obligated to purchase gift certs at any given store.
The law's more to protect the recepient of the gift card, NOT the buyer. As a recepient you don't have a choice to avoid a store that has shady gift card practices. I know I lost $30 in Amazon gift cards once because of their flakey rules, I don't particularly think Amazon deserved to keep that money either.-
Hell, I am pissed that my webserver is constantly hit by Comcast IP ranges and Comcast does nothing about it when I *KNOW* that they have the ability to scan and disable the users (at least on ATTBI's existing network).
This is the same Comcast who's E-mail service for subscribers has gone completely to hell in the last month. I don't know what the reasons are (I wouldn't be surprised if it was spam-related) but lately I'm lucky if 80% of my E-mail make it. That's both E-mails sent to me, and E-mails sent by me. I've had to switch to my Gmail account simply so that I can get my E-mail reliably.So basically I wouldn't expect them to do anything about IPs on their network attacking, spewing spam or anything else. They don't seem to concerned to keep basic services functional, why would they go further? *sigh*
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Perhaps you might want to (anonymously) remind them that by assuming management of individuals computers (not uni. owned) like that, they are also assuming some liability. Who gets sued, if they miss a virus or something, and it eats your term paper... theoretically you could sue them... I bet they haven't thought of that.
Very good point, as well there are patches that sometimes break the computer in other ways, or altogether. What will the University do when they force a patch onto the entire student body's computers and it causes them to fail to boot into Windows afterwards? Can you imagine the sheer enormity of suddenly having the University IT staff responsible for re-installing and doing data recover on thousands of student's PCs. Even if they didn't get sued, they'd have to hire additional help to fix the mess in any reasonable time frame.Sounds to me like this University is an accident waiting to happen!
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That has a lot of disadvantages because many legit buyers look for "instant delivery" and "24/7 service."
So you allow instant delivery for them with a service that doesn't have the problems Paypal presents or fraud. It's an unfortunate truism that the legit people end up having to endure extra hassles thanks to all the crooks and jerks in the world though.-
That does sound might impressive but then again the xbox 2 or next or whatever you wanna call it, is how far away?
Many game insiders expect to see the next Xbox in 2005, Microsoft seems to have it in their heads that they MUST be the first to market in the next generation of consoles, so it may be showing up sooner than we think.-
Granted the companies are already losing money on the consoles but you cannot expect it to all be made up for on games. Especially when you are M$ and you have a hard time selling your console outside the US. If they cannot win over console gamers in another country then they will always be playing 2nd or 3rd fiddle behind those boys at Sony and Nintendo.
Actually Microsoft's the only company losing money on the console hardware. Sony's been making a profit for some time, and Nintendo pretty much refuses to sell at a loss.