Because it wasn't flat when you removed it from your apartment.
What's a flipphone, are you talking about the Galaxy Fold?
No. I'm talking about cheap, basic phones with a comparatively tiny flip-up screen and a physical numeric keypad that can only make calls, receive calls, send texts, receive texts, and edit contacts. You may have heard them referred to as "burner phones." Parents buy these for children because service on a flip phone is cheaper per month than service on a smartphone, or because parents don't want children installing and running apps that could get them in trouble.
Well just use a normal debit card.
How would a child go about getting one of these? I thought a debit card required a bank account, and a bank account had to have a grown-up's name on it.
I was aware of patches needed to add things like multiplayer. But I wasn't aware that disc games' single-player or couch co-op campaigns would fail to run if inserted into an offline console.
True, vanilla Half-Life 2 eventually became no longer exclusive. But not all publishers of other games have the money to make that leap. And which mods of that game worked on PlayStation 3?
Rereleases on PlayStation Store help a few gamers. But they don't help those who own a disc and don't feel they ought to have to re-buy every 6 years when the new console comes out, or those who own a copy of a game that happens not to have been rereleased, or those who have a metered Internet connection due to living outside the fiber, cable, and DSL service footprint. (Viasat still sells 12 GB/mo Internet plans.)
Or your phone doesn't have Internet (flip phone). Or your phone doesn't have Internet away from hotspots (pay-as-you-go plan with only voice and text).
And a lot of banks' websites are in fact "absolute shit." Chase.com's JavaScript is particularly heavy on the slower CPUs of phones and compact laptops.
The Visa/MasterCard "Tax" is something like 30cents
Credit card fees are 3%
You're both half right. The credit card processing fee is 30 cents per transaction plus 3 percent of the total. For a $1 transaction, this totals 33 cents, which is why some shops that deal in mostly small transactions don't take plastic. By contrast, debit card processing fees on the ATM networks (Cirrus/Maestro for Debit MasterCard or Interlink for Visa Debit) are on the order of 30 cents.
And there are people who buy a Nintendo Switch just for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. But I don't see how your PS4 will help you play any PS3, PS2, or PS1 exclusives.
[A PlayStation 4 console is] not even that much cheaper than a decent gaming PC that will blow it out of the water.
True, an original PS4 is essentially a dual AMD 5150. But the parts of a PC that aren't so cheap are the living room friendly case and the Windows license ($120). Install Windows, and you're already up to nearly half the $269 price of a PS4 Slim.
In addition, disc-based consoles tend to be friendlier to rural gamers. As of this week, Viasat (formerly Exede) was offering a $50/mo satellite Internet plan with 12 GB/mo, a $75/mo plan with 25 GB/mo, or a $100/mo plan with 50 GB/mo, though the meter doesn't run from 3 AM to 6 AM local time. Some games were already bigger than 25 GB back in the PS3 era. Or can Steam (or PlayStation Store for that matter) be set to pause a download at 6 AM and resume it at 3 AM?
PC exclusives outnumber PlayStation 4 exclusives. Practically all fan-made mods to a game's single-player or co-op campaign, such as quality-of-life mods and total conversion mods, are PC exclusive as well.
I agree that tracking need not exist. But one of the following must exist: A. payment, B. tracking, or C. lowering production values to those of a hobbyist in his free time.
Exactly. When ads that respect your privacy became no longer economically viable, the industry switched from ads that respect your privacy to ads that track you.
I wrote a few years ago about why people submit to console inflexibility. The reasons I came up with include these:
- Less chance of ending up with "fake game" shovelware even worse than E.T., Chase the Chuck Wagon, and other poster children of the 1983 crash - No worry about reading the tea leaves that are PC game system requirements - Little variation among PCs in an online multiplayer pickup group of strangers giving nobody an unfair competitive advantage - Less cheating in an online multiplayer pickup group of strangers due to no mods - No need for antivirus - Offline use of disc games is more convenient for gamers in rural areas or deployed on military bases - Less hardware variation means less chance of driver conflicts - Living room friendly case by default
You do have to worry about compatibility in the sense of whether a particular game is ported or not. There are more PC exclusives than PS3 exclusives or PS4 exclusives. And even when a game is on both PC and PS3 or PS4, the fan-made quality-of-life mods to the single-player tend to be PC exclusive.
Comparing Ps3 to Ps5, you think there's consistency there?
Yes. There are consistency among PlayStation 3 consoles, consistency among PlayStation 4 consoles, and consistency among whatever Sony decides to call the next generation.
"This article is available to subscribers. For a free day pass, opt in to all tracking providers."
Tracking would default off. The article would display once the viewer makes a choice to pay or be tracked. Close the tab, click the next search result, and the next website would also offer the viewer a choice to pay or be tracked.
surely, you would prefer paying pennies for articles
A 36 cent charge for an article means 31 cents would go to the credit card processor and a nickel to the publisher. How would you propose to improve the efficiency of micropayments?
Why would any internet user want to accept tracking by a computer company, ad company?
Because the viewer finds ads less inconvenient than having to key in a credit card number and pay $5 for a month's subscription to view one document on a website that put up a paywall once privacy-respecting ads became no longer viable. Ads based on each viewer's inferred interests pay three times as much as ads based solely on the document's context.
Without adding some way for publishers and advertisers to identify whether a user has already seen a particular ad, Apple would have bled developers to Android even faster.
OR I can rewrite whatever functionality the webapp provides using Apple's own development tools and package it as an app in iTunes, which more than doubles maintenance costs
Offer the WebGL version without charge and charge for the iOS version. Every year or so, a story comes out that iOS users are still far more likely to pay for nice things, to the tune of 9 times the revenue per user for paid apps and IAPs compared to an Android user.
Slashdot Mirror
If you own [a mobile phone in the first place]
We do.
Even children?
Why would I carry around a flat phone?
Because it wasn't flat when you removed it from your apartment.
What's a flipphone, are you talking about the Galaxy Fold?
No. I'm talking about cheap, basic phones with a comparatively tiny flip-up screen and a physical numeric keypad that can only make calls, receive calls, send texts, receive texts, and edit contacts. You may have heard them referred to as "burner phones." Parents buy these for children because service on a flip phone is cheaper per month than service on a smartphone, or because parents don't want children installing and running apps that could get them in trouble.
Well just use a normal debit card.
How would a child go about getting one of these? I thought a debit card required a bank account, and a bank account had to have a grown-up's name on it.
I was aware of patches needed to add things like multiplayer. But I wasn't aware that disc games' single-player or couch co-op campaigns would fail to run if inserted into an offline console.
True, vanilla Half-Life 2 eventually became no longer exclusive. But not all publishers of other games have the money to make that leap. And which mods of that game worked on PlayStation 3?
Rereleases on PlayStation Store help a few gamers. But they don't help those who own a disc and don't feel they ought to have to re-buy every 6 years when the new console comes out, or those who own a copy of a game that happens not to have been rereleased, or those who have a metered Internet connection due to living outside the fiber, cable, and DSL service footprint. (Viasat still sells 12 GB/mo Internet plans.)
Or your phone doesn't have Internet (flip phone). Or your phone doesn't have Internet away from hotspots (pay-as-you-go plan with only voice and text).
And a lot of banks' websites are in fact "absolute shit." Chase.com's JavaScript is particularly heavy on the slower CPUs of phones and compact laptops.
The Visa/MasterCard "Tax" is something like 30cents
Credit card fees are 3%
You're both half right. The credit card processing fee is 30 cents per transaction plus 3 percent of the total. For a $1 transaction, this totals 33 cents, which is why some shops that deal in mostly small transactions don't take plastic. By contrast, debit card processing fees on the ATM networks (Cirrus/Maestro for Debit MasterCard or Interlink for Visa Debit) are on the order of 30 cents.
take out mobile phone
If you own one, and if it's compatible, and if it's charged.
Online purchases are as simple as pointing my mobile phone at the barcode on screen here.
Does this work with flip phones, or only smartphones? Is this payment feature worth an upgrade from a flip phone to an entry-level smartphone?
And there are people who buy a Nintendo Switch just for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. But I don't see how your PS4 will help you play any PS3, PS2, or PS1 exclusives.
[A PlayStation 4 console is] not even that much cheaper than a decent gaming PC that will blow it out of the water.
True, an original PS4 is essentially a dual AMD 5150. But the parts of a PC that aren't so cheap are the living room friendly case and the Windows license ($120). Install Windows, and you're already up to nearly half the $269 price of a PS4 Slim.
In addition, disc-based consoles tend to be friendlier to rural gamers. As of this week, Viasat (formerly Exede) was offering a $50/mo satellite Internet plan with 12 GB/mo, a $75/mo plan with 25 GB/mo, or a $100/mo plan with 50 GB/mo, though the meter doesn't run from 3 AM to 6 AM local time. Some games were already bigger than 25 GB back in the PS3 era. Or can Steam (or PlayStation Store for that matter) be set to pause a download at 6 AM and resume it at 3 AM?
Sony puts out great [exclusives]
PC exclusives outnumber PlayStation 4 exclusives. Practically all fan-made mods to a game's single-player or co-op campaign, such as quality-of-life mods and total conversion mods, are PC exclusive as well.
I agree that tracking need not exist. But one of the following must exist: A. payment, B. tracking, or C. lowering production values to those of a hobbyist in his free time.
Exactly. When ads that respect your privacy became no longer economically viable, the industry switched from ads that respect your privacy to ads that track you.
Installing drivers is 2 clicks.
Plus how many more clicks when a driver has a regression? The reduced variety of console hardware reduces the chance of regressions.
Games still have to support at least the non-Pro version.
just wait a year or 2 for a GOTY edition or the game +DLC to go on sale for a significant discount, and buy it then.
Provided the online multiplayer's matchmaking server hasn't already been turned off.
I wrote a few years ago about why people submit to console inflexibility. The reasons I came up with include these:
- Less chance of ending up with "fake game" shovelware even worse than E.T., Chase the Chuck Wagon, and other poster children of the 1983 crash
- No worry about reading the tea leaves that are PC game system requirements
- Little variation among PCs in an online multiplayer pickup group of strangers giving nobody an unfair competitive advantage
- Less cheating in an online multiplayer pickup group of strangers due to no mods
- No need for antivirus
- Offline use of disc games is more convenient for gamers in rural areas or deployed on military bases
- Less hardware variation means less chance of driver conflicts
- Living room friendly case by default
I don't have to worry about compatibility
You do have to worry about compatibility in the sense of whether a particular game is ported or not. There are more PC exclusives than PS3 exclusives or PS4 exclusives. And even when a game is on both PC and PS3 or PS4, the fan-made quality-of-life mods to the single-player tend to be PC exclusive.
Comparing Ps3 to Ps5, you think there's consistency there?
Yes. There are consistency among PlayStation 3 consoles, consistency among PlayStation 4 consoles, and consistency among whatever Sony decides to call the next generation.
I was attempting to describe my theory about how it came to be that "the consensus word became 'digital'."
Well, then make it Opt-In for everyone.
"This article is available to subscribers. For a free day pass, opt in to all tracking providers."
Tracking would default off. The article would display once the viewer makes a choice to pay or be tracked. Close the tab, click the next search result, and the next website would also offer the viewer a choice to pay or be tracked.
surely, you would prefer paying pennies for articles
A 36 cent charge for an article means 31 cents would go to the credit card processor and a nickel to the publisher. How would you propose to improve the efficiency of micropayments?
The iPhone currently commands 13.2% of global smartphone market share, vs. 86.8% android market share.
Though the iPhone has a smaller user base, iOS users tend to have more money per user than Android users. Users of iOS spend more not only on paid apps and in-app purchases but also on physical products. (Source: "Survey: iPhone owners spend more, have higher incomes than Android users" by Robert Williams)
And "global" reach matters little to an advertiser based in the United States who seeks to reach only viewers in the United States.
Why would any internet user want to accept tracking by a computer company, ad company?
Because the viewer finds ads less inconvenient than having to key in a credit card number and pay $5 for a month's subscription to view one document on a website that put up a paywall once privacy-respecting ads became no longer viable. Ads based on each viewer's inferred interests pay three times as much as ads based solely on the document's context.
Without adding some way for publishers and advertisers to identify whether a user has already seen a particular ad, Apple would have bled developers to Android even faster.
OR I can rewrite whatever functionality the webapp provides using Apple's own development tools and package it as an app in iTunes, which more than doubles maintenance costs
Offer the WebGL version without charge and charge for the iOS version. Every year or so, a story comes out that iOS users are still far more likely to pay for nice things, to the tune of 9 times the revenue per user for paid apps and IAPs compared to an Android user.