You've got to understand that in Japan, the keitai (the web-enabled cellphone) is not just a product, but rather a phenomenon that has given rise to its own user-culture of "thumb tribes" -- eighty percent of the people 1,500 people who walk across Shibuya Crossing at every light change carry a mobile phone.
Japan's primary cellular network service was reengineered in the mid-90's to a digital model that freed up so much bandwidth that it left the company with the challenge of coming up with new services that consumers would be willing to pay for. Their target market, primarily young women, were not already Internet users through desktops and PCs; furthermore, the kind of web content that would appeal to this particular demographic was not as readily accessible as it is today. Knowing this, the company opted to actually sell people content such as horoscopes and dating sites rather than advertise keitai as an explicitly technological product. This, in turn, allowed keitai to be viewed as the kind of fun, convenient, and easy-to-use product that can be flipped out of your pocket and used any day, any time, anywhere. The product was a success, because, as one of its designers notes, "Our time is so limited. During the few minutes of waiting for someone or a train, people loved being able to do something - and so much - in that tiny space of time."
Hence, while you might use your phone strictly for making voice calls, the advent of new technologies like miniaturized cameras or video streaming only further the ability of the keitai to carry out its particular purpose.
They're, like, the Oscars of sci-fi. They're pretty popular; last year, I went out to my local Chapters branch to pick up a copy of Robert J. Sawyer's "Homonids", a recent Hugo Award winner. It turns out that a few days prior, some nutter had been to every major Chapters location in the city and had bought out their entire stock of the book. As the clerk helping me out sighed, "The Hugo Awards make people do strange things."
Check out Safeware.com. For under a hundred bucks a year, they'll give you $2000's worth of insurance coverage that includes theft and accidental damage (such as spilling coffee all over your keyboard or dropping your laptop on the bus and acquiring a hefty dent), neither of which are covered by warranty.
I've got a 17" Powerbook G4, Rev. B and a blue iPod Mini -- little did I know when I purchased these items that I was also laying down the cash for their built-in sex appeal.
Honestly, how many laptops have guys sending you pick-up lines over the local coffee shop's Wi-Fi?
If you really want to go all out, get a computer carrying case that doesn't really look like a computer carrying case at all (for example, one that looks like a knapsack). SpireUSA, for example, has some decent options.
With a quick read over your post I can see why you had issues with the test. I'll agree that it'd be more realistic to have the headers and the real links, but there's one detail in most of the fraudulent emails that makes them stand out from the rest... in the same way that my post differs from yours.
Spelling and *over-emphasis* hurt your credibility....Then again, I'm sure you spell better than most Americans. And that's one reason the scams work.
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Say, any word/rumours on the iPod Mini receiving this upgrade?
Why Atlanta?
You've got to understand that in Japan, the keitai (the web-enabled cellphone) is not just a product, but rather a phenomenon that has given rise to its own user-culture of "thumb tribes" -- eighty percent of the people 1,500 people who walk across Shibuya Crossing at every light change carry a mobile phone. Japan's primary cellular network service was reengineered in the mid-90's to a digital model that freed up so much bandwidth that it left the company with the challenge of coming up with new services that consumers would be willing to pay for. Their target market, primarily young women, were not already Internet users through desktops and PCs; furthermore, the kind of web content that would appeal to this particular demographic was not as readily accessible as it is today. Knowing this, the company opted to actually sell people content such as horoscopes and dating sites rather than advertise keitai as an explicitly technological product. This, in turn, allowed keitai to be viewed as the kind of fun, convenient, and easy-to-use product that can be flipped out of your pocket and used any day, any time, anywhere. The product was a success, because, as one of its designers notes, "Our time is so limited. During the few minutes of waiting for someone or a train, people loved being able to do something - and so much - in that tiny space of time." Hence, while you might use your phone strictly for making voice calls, the advent of new technologies like miniaturized cameras or video streaming only further the ability of the keitai to carry out its particular purpose.
Dude. Take a cue from the Japanese and slip on a lenticular privacy screen, and you're all set.
For those of us who get our music from less-than-legit providers, where can I download high-quality Album Art?
Yeah, but what if you've got a kid playing on their parents' computer? How would their age be displayed then?
They're, like, the Oscars of sci-fi. They're pretty popular; last year, I went out to my local Chapters branch to pick up a copy of Robert J. Sawyer's "Homonids", a recent Hugo Award winner. It turns out that a few days prior, some nutter had been to every major Chapters location in the city and had bought out their entire stock of the book. As the clerk helping me out sighed, "The Hugo Awards make people do strange things."
Check out Safeware.com. For under a hundred bucks a year, they'll give you $2000's worth of insurance coverage that includes theft and accidental damage (such as spilling coffee all over your keyboard or dropping your laptop on the bus and acquiring a hefty dent), neither of which are covered by warranty.
I've got a 17" Powerbook G4, Rev. B and a blue iPod Mini -- little did I know when I purchased these items that I was also laying down the cash for their built-in sex appeal. Honestly, how many laptops have guys sending you pick-up lines over the local coffee shop's Wi-Fi?
If you really want to go all out, get a computer carrying case that doesn't really look like a computer carrying case at all (for example, one that looks like a knapsack). SpireUSA, for example, has some decent options.
Good point. Kind of like Japanese Dating Simulations, eh?
With a quick read over your post I can see why you had issues with the test. I'll agree that it'd be more realistic to have the headers and the real links, but there's one detail in most of the fraudulent emails that makes them stand out from the rest... in the same way that my post differs from yours.
...Then again, I'm sure you spell better than most Americans. And that's one reason the scams work.
Spelling and *over-emphasis* hurt your credibility.