[My favorite speakers are] utterly compatible with everything from an original Walkman to an iPhone, because everything still uses that headphone jack.
Being small little speakers, they have the benefit that in a relatively short distance you can't hear them at all. Which means the wife and I can have music that people 30 feet away can't even hear -- which is a bonus when you're in the back yard or lounging by a pool and don't want to disturb other people.
Know what else has great sound, can't be heard from a short distance away, and sells for $50? Koss Porta Pro.
while the worst-case battery life (with one of those hundred minor background daemons sitting in a tight loop using 100% of one CPU) continues to decline.
I thought 100% CPU loops in a background application were exactly what the App Store review process was designed to prevent.
Apple makes a Lightning to USB adapter. Or is your complaint that it supports too few device classes, or that its implementation of USB mass storage class supports too few file systems and too few file types?
And if it's actually the content cartels making them do this, well fuck them. I've stopped subscribing to their services and stopped handing them my money.
You're always free to start your own movie studio, produce your own films comparable in production values to those of the major studios, and then offer them for streaming with full preroll.
Second if they could/wanted to wait for as little as half an hour, the customer would have gone outside and headed to their nearest Redbox or even (gasp!) brick and mortar store to get the DVD/Bluray themselves.
Brick and mortar DVD rental is dead, and Redbox carries only new releases, not the back catalog. Besides, buses to and from the store don't run on Sundays (source: fwcitilink.com).
OS X, Solaris, IRIX, AIX, have turned a profit for a long time without [product activation] in place.
That's because these proprietary UNIX systems are meant to run on computers sold by the operating system publisher. Authentic hardware activates the operating system. "Don't Steal Mac OS X.kext" anyone?
a LTS release.
This already exists, provided that by "LTS" you mean something like Canonical providing security updates for each LTS release of Ubuntu for five years or Red Hat supporting RHEL for ten years. Microsoft has been providing extended support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8/8.1 for ten years after release or seven years after the successor release, whichever is longer.
For one thing, a completely unpowered computer cannot wake on LAN. For another, a physical switch is too easy to accidentally put in the wrong position: lose unsaved changes if suddenly turned off, or cause an expensive tech support call when the novice user cannot quickly find it to turn it on.
But can consoles play anything but the vanilla version of a game? Many PC games have plenty of community-made mods that extend the game's replay value.
i.e. game developers are constantly raising the bar on PC games
But you can turn down the detail level in options. The effort to also sell on PS3 was encouraging developers to make available settings suitable for a 2006 GPU, and this is continuing on PS4 which has essentially a laptop chipset.
NO language needs a garbage collector, though an option to use one selectively would be nice.
Let's split the difference and say a language needs a garbage collector in its standard library that a programmer can choose to enable. C++ calls its reference-counting garbage collector std::shared_ptr.
I slowly started to install some Ubuntu (for ease of use) on my parents' computers, and that fits most of the requirements they have: internet, flash games, video, music.
After you have defenestrated a PC in this manner, how do you handle it when someone asks for help getting suspend to work again? "I closed the lid and opened it again, and now it's stuck on a black screen."
Paradoxically, if you want a reasonable number of HDMI ports (so you can attach your own devices) you have to get a smart TV.
Or a dumb TV and an external HDMI switch. You need an external switch anyway if you have a lot of legacy devices with composite, S-Video, or component outputs, such as retro video game consoles or a VHS player for those movies that haven't yet been rereleased on Blu-ray.
The mouse and keyboard are far superior as controls [to what is available for a console]
I wouldn't be so sure. Though a lot of PS3 and PS4 games support a USB mouse and keyboard, an analog joystick offers finer control of movement speed and direction than WASD, which are equivalent to the 8-way directional pad that's been around since the NES. And what do players 2 through 4 use, especially in games where sharing doesn't mean splitting?
and the processor speed and graphics are superior to any console.
But at what cost? Say you want to build a gaming PC so that it can be used in the living room while someone else in the household is using the PC at the computer desk. Can you build a PS4-equivalent second PC for $400?
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[My favorite speakers are] utterly compatible with everything from an original Walkman to an iPhone, because everything still uses that headphone jack.
Not for long though. Apple wants to phase out 3.5 mm.
Being small little speakers, they have the benefit that in a relatively short distance you can't hear them at all. Which means the wife and I can have music that people 30 feet away can't even hear -- which is a bonus when you're in the back yard or lounging by a pool and don't want to disturb other people.
Know what else has great sound, can't be heard from a short distance away, and sells for $50? Koss Porta Pro.
troll on, linux for everyone right?
As if OK Google in Android, Google's Linux-based mobile operating system, is any better.
while the worst-case battery life (with one of those hundred minor background daemons sitting in a tight loop using 100% of one CPU) continues to decline.
I thought 100% CPU loops in a background application were exactly what the App Store review process was designed to prevent.
Bluetooth sync is just to press sync on both buttons, and it just works after that without ANY hazzle.
Including the hassle of security breach when it turns out you accidentally synced to the attacker's device?
Apple makes a Lightning to USB adapter. Or is your complaint that it supports too few device classes, or that its implementation of USB mass storage class supports too few file systems and too few file types?
I can tell if it's working by having internet or not!
But if you lose Internet, how do you tell whether it's your computer, router, or modem that's at fault?
The "preference" is for films published by the content cartel, as opposed to more obscure films with (on the whole) lower production values.
And if it's actually the content cartels making them do this, well fuck them. I've stopped subscribing to their services and stopped handing them my money.
You're always free to start your own movie studio, produce your own films comparable in production values to those of the major studios, and then offer them for streaming with full preroll.
Second if they could/wanted to wait for as little as half an hour, the customer would have gone outside and headed to their nearest Redbox or even (gasp!) brick and mortar store to get the DVD/Bluray themselves.
Brick and mortar DVD rental is dead, and Redbox carries only new releases, not the back catalog. Besides, buses to and from the store don't run on Sundays (source: fwcitilink.com).
OS X, Solaris, IRIX, AIX, have turned a profit for a long time without [product activation] in place.
That's because these proprietary UNIX systems are meant to run on computers sold by the operating system publisher. Authentic hardware activates the operating system. "Don't Steal Mac OS X.kext" anyone?
a LTS release.
This already exists, provided that by "LTS" you mean something like Canonical providing security updates for each LTS release of Ubuntu for five years or Red Hat supporting RHEL for ten years. Microsoft has been providing extended support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8/8.1 for ten years after release or seven years after the successor release, whichever is longer.
SSH.
Coming.
I can't login quickly because I have to wait for a text, and if I lose my phone I can't login to anything.
And in the US, I have to either pay per incoming text or pay per month for unlimited texts.
Windows 95 likewise had an annoyingly loud chime composed by Brian Eno.
For one thing, a completely unpowered computer cannot wake on LAN. For another, a physical switch is too easy to accidentally put in the wrong position: lose unsaved changes if suddenly turned off, or cause an expensive tech support call when the novice user cannot quickly find it to turn it on.
But can consoles play anything but the vanilla version of a game? Many PC games have plenty of community-made mods that extend the game's replay value.
i.e. game developers are constantly raising the bar on PC games
But you can turn down the detail level in options. The effort to also sell on PS3 was encouraging developers to make available settings suitable for a 2006 GPU, and this is continuing on PS4 which has essentially a laptop chipset.
And don't let the wildebeest trample you on the way out.
NO language needs a garbage collector, though an option to use one selectively would be nice.
Let's split the difference and say a language needs a garbage collector in its standard library that a programmer can choose to enable. C++ calls its reference-counting garbage collector std::shared_ptr.
well... when the sky falls, then chickenlittle should worry
In this model, I've spotted the pieces of camouflage that the aliens are assembling.
my sources in the security community get those new adserver names as the pop up easily too.
Not if they're like a328bc97.someadnetwork.example. Even eight hex digits would require four billion lines in a hosts file.
Someone with DSL is probably getting 1. slower speeds and 2. charged a line fee for not having a land line.
I slowly started to install some Ubuntu (for ease of use) on my parents' computers, and that fits most of the requirements they have: internet, flash games, video, music.
After you have defenestrated a PC in this manner, how do you handle it when someone asks for help getting suspend to work again? "I closed the lid and opened it again, and now it's stuck on a black screen."
Just leave it disconnected from your network and the internet, and it stays "dumb".
I seem to remember reading somewhere that some models of "smart" TV will freeze on a "Please connect to the Internet to activate this TV" screen.
I've been off any signal provider (cable, dish, whatever) for 15 years: best $$$ ever not spent !
Your ISP is likely still charging you a "line fee" for Internet without TV, probably roughly the same price per month as its lowest TV package.
That's right, we watch them ... TV, movies, maybe video games.
I don't want my big TV replaced with anything which is "cleverly redistributed to smaller screens".
So do you want to make it that much easier to give away your position in a first-person shooter to your screen-peeking competitors?
Paradoxically, if you want a reasonable number of HDMI ports (so you can attach your own devices) you have to get a smart TV.
Or a dumb TV and an external HDMI switch. You need an external switch anyway if you have a lot of legacy devices with composite, S-Video, or component outputs, such as retro video game consoles or a VHS player for those movies that haven't yet been rereleased on Blu-ray.
The mouse and keyboard are far superior as controls [to what is available for a console]
I wouldn't be so sure. Though a lot of PS3 and PS4 games support a USB mouse and keyboard, an analog joystick offers finer control of movement speed and direction than WASD, which are equivalent to the 8-way directional pad that's been around since the NES. And what do players 2 through 4 use, especially in games where sharing doesn't mean splitting?
and the processor speed and graphics are superior to any console.
But at what cost? Say you want to build a gaming PC so that it can be used in the living room while someone else in the household is using the PC at the computer desk. Can you build a PS4-equivalent second PC for $400?
But one thing I'll grant to PC gaming is mods.