By both Microsoft and this apparently paid-off IT analyst. They might as well come right out and explain to us that continued Windoz torture is good for us somehow. It's all the rage these days anyway.
Enjoy.
The debris in space is not automatically going to increase. It's automatically going to decrease because gravity is working on it. I have also read where there is work underway to build a satellite that uses water jets (or other means) to 'nudge' larger bits into re-entry.
Now that scientists are aware of the problem, they are undoubtedly going to much greater lengths not to increase the danger, and given enough time the older stuff will clear.
Enjoy.
Absolutely, but it seems like it's being promoted a little too 'front row, center' and leaves a different impression in the minds of many consumers than I'm sure GM intended. On the other hand, feel free to invest heavily in American auto companies right now. I hear they're doing quite well. Enjoy.
Had a boss who was thought he was client-server saavy and that he could save the company time and money if he ran customer care through 'dumb' terminals that only got loaded with the applications necessary for each customer service agent to do their jobs. He figured he would stop all the CS agents from playing solitaire, recreational browsing, etc.
At the start of each shift, the CS person put his/her card in a slot on the PC (think it was Sunfire stuff) and it loaded the necessary apps onto ram into the desktop from a remote server. It was a fairly large organization with CS personnel in several different cities. Result of this implementation was a total failure because boot time was HORRIBLE and our staff were paid from a time-clock on the wall, not the PC login times. Looking back, I'm sure the Achilles heel was that not only data, but entire applications had to be pushed and loaded to each desktop and it probably did take 15 minutes or more because I remember the CS reps complaining (and they were getting paid!). I'm sure there are easier/better ways of doing that now, but on-topic....pay the workers you greedy corporate pigs. Enjoy.
Some truth in there, but I believe that, from my perspective of having switched from 98 to OS/X a couple years ago, the major 'feature' is not having to piss with the O/S every other week or reboot the machine three times a day.
Another feature is being able to look at my friends, who see me as a computer geek, and honestly say: "I wish I could help you with your, old, buggy, slow, POS, FITB Windows problem, but it's been years since I messed with them and I really don't have a clue......and without your original install CD.....sorry."
Another evening saved from the tedium of birthing yet another complete Windows rebuild. Priceless.
Enjoy.
Microsoft might be looking for a bailout right after Congress gets through with Detroit?
Makes sense if you think about it. Both Microsoft and Detroit have (or should have known) for many, many years what was wrong with their products. Detroit ignored the fuel crises of the 70's and Microsoft ignored the instability and increasing difficulty users had keeping their systems stable.
Other similarities exist between Detroit and Redmond, in that both seem unable to properly address the known issues in their product offerings. Vista puts a flashier face (lipstick on a pig - too soon?) on a flawed O/S and GM gives us a freakin' hybrid Tahoe?
Yeah, and the people who made those craptastic decisions receive HUGE financial compensation and really don't give a rat's behind what you and I think.
Don't worry though. I'm being a tad bit melodramatic. Microsoft, (like GM at one time...) has more money than God and is, in the current venacular...too large to fail.
Enjoy.
In the mid nineties at Jackson State, I took a course on marketing ethics that highlighted some prominent examples of large corporate malfeasance in relation to marketing. A noted example was marketing of high priced baby formula to third world countries by Bayer. I also had a post-grad class on management ethics that highlighted a case where a large defense contractor deliberately downsized the brakes on a military jet to save a few dollars, thereby knowingly risking the lives of the flight crews.
The troubling thing about these courses was the emphasis on how the whistle blowers always ended up suffering. It was STRESSED that you should NOT be a whistle blower. I was specially critical of this message, given by a white life insurance agent (doubling as college instructor) to a predominantly black audience (graduate class at Jackson State University). As the only other white guy in the class (of 20), I questioned this teacher's ethics in carrying such a message. His answer to my concerns? "These young black people have a hard enough time in business without going on a crusade of justice and righteousness within the business community". He was right I suppose. The young black students needed to be indoctrinated with the idea that white folks have set-up a business ethic that believes it's only illegal if you get caught, and then, we'll have our cronies cover the mess you make.
American business schools seem to be in the business of making sure that you can suppress whatever humanist values you hold that would be a hindrance to the organization. They teach that the values of top management are loyalty over all. I wonder how many of my black classmates got suckered off to Arthur Andersen when they were heavily recruiting minority employees way back then? LOL.
Enjoy.
When faced with situations of moral or legal ambiguity on a personal basis like this, your decision to 'go along' with the scheme will be influenced by multiple factors. Many companies try to instill a large bit of 'team spirit' into the operation as a binding agent. Seems to be specially prevalent among the shysters.
Cue the Enron employee conversation regarding screwing over "Grandma Millie" on her electric bill and remind yourself that there was an entire corporate mindset that involved thousands of people, all pretty much resolved that it was a noble mission to screw people over as badly as possible (with special glee reserved for those most damaged). What more would they have done, and how far would they have gone in pursuit of money and career position if they were already laughing at the suffering they were inflicting on OLD PEOPLE???
Business ethics like that result in individuals robbing the entire nation's (world?) banking and finance industry, and then for kicks getting the government to hand over the treasury as a 'reward'. You pull off something that crass and evil in the business world and they'll fly you and your minion off to a half million dollar holiday weekend in the Bahamas.
It often boils down to how much internal dissonance you can tolerate versus your ability to otherwise provide an alternative for providing Maslow's basic hierarchy of needs and what level of suffering you are willing to go to in regards to your personal integrity.
Enjoy.
Absolutely the best solution I have heard here in regards to personal security. I'd be interested to know what the stats are on rape and burglary of pet owners. Willing to bet it's really a huge deterrent. Pet owners live longer healthier lives as well, so that TCO argument isn't as cut and dried as you might think. Enjoy.
Am I allowed to express my pleasure in both the move to Mac (from Windoz) and the purchase of a 60g VIpod last year? Would that be considered appropriate around here or is that like farting in public?
I read these comments and everybody bashes Apple and the Ipod-Itunes stuff because Apple wants to restrict how their product is used. Apparantly, the Apple product ONLY becomes crappy when it can no longer be hacked to work with....fill in the blank. Then the commenter goes on some Archos or Sandisk tirade. Makes me wonder why they bought the 'crappy' Ipod in the first place if all those other players are so superior!
Here's a newsflash to my Slashdot brethren. It's not about how much Apple charges for their stuff. It costs more but it works as advertised. I'd be pissed if I'd bought an Ipod and it didn't work with my Linux box only IF APPLE HAD EVER PLEDGED that it would in the first place. Was it somewhere under systems requirements that I didn't see?
Enjoy.
Tracking every call and email but STILL not properly tracking aircraft?
Somebody remind Bush that we weren't attacked by email or phone on 9-11.
Enjoy.
2001 called and it wants it's WHITE back. Only after focusing for a moment did I realize you were not talking about the Ipod and it's color choices. I saw the Nano's are available in color, but I don't remember seeing anything other than Black for the new VIpod.
For the record, I think we all have a little sympathy for the comment regarding the takeover of MP3 file structure, but like you point out, Itunes does have the best sorting/interface bar none and handling stuff manually is so 1950's
Then we'll get to deal with ex-military MP's whose sensitivity training on handling combative 'citizenry' starts appearing in towns and villages all around us. Sad thing about this equation is that these will be the vets most lauded, the 'good' vets.
The 'other' vets, the 'bad' ones, disallusioned by the lies of leadership and lack of VA services might be expected to go all Tim McVeigh. When this occurs, Bush will claim that history has redeemed him since he's been worried about bringing terrorism over here for a long time.
Enjoy.
Yes, get everybody pissed off about IMPLANTING said chips.
Next week when the 'compromise' is rolled out nobody will say squat.
The compromise will be that the chip is implanted in (e.g.) some article
of clothing that is necessary for your job. It'll be implanted in your ID
card, or some piece of non-optional clothing necessary for your job.
The company will still get what it wants, which is to track you 100%
of the time you're on the company premises.
Enjoy.
Comments supportive of this bill are presumed to be from the government task force created and funded to provide paid government bloggers who will spread disinformation into the blogosphere. It's a frontpage story now,:
but it's been going on to some extent for a long time. It's a little hard to spot sometimes, but in instances like this, where there is such an obvious potential for abuse and you see so many 'seemingly' oblivious posters supporting such calamity, it only stands to reason where it's coming from. After all, the slashdot crowd is generally a lot smarter than that.
I think you're spot on with your observation. Might I point to the submission in total for a moment though? I expect a slashdot audience to get the sarcasm, if not earlier in the piece, then certainly where I juxtapose the AT&T rant with the need to rush out and get an Iphone.
The only Iphone provider in the US is AT&T. I believe that phone will be so hot that if AT&T required both a technical and BIOLOGICAL probe as a requirement for purchase there would still be no dearth of customers. Matter of fact, by the end of the first week, the only thing you'd be hearing in the mainstream media was how good a thing the probing really was. A colonic for both man and machine.
Enjoy.
This attempt by the banking industry to shift transactional liability away from their servers and onto the backs of the consumers is what I'd expect from the ruthless rat bastards. Don't think something like this would fly in the U.S. Notwithstanding the fact that our government is spending a king's ransom getting all up in our computers already (NSA-FBI), our citizenry would be OUTRAGED and OFFENDED if they thought their bank was all up in their hard drives! Pity the bank that tried to pull that chicanery over here in our independent, democracy minded, privacy loving people.
We, (as normal lucid citizens) don't seem to have the ability to do anything about all the government spying and abuse because, among other things, corporate interests are aiding and abetting in this effort (who's to say the New Zealand pc 'scanning' doesn't have the ability for abuse/misuse by some corporate spy or government fascist?).
Here in America, we have the ability on the personal level to avoid those corporation who facilitate and profit by working with the government in mass producing the technical equalivent of Zyclon B. We'd avoid any online banking that required our PC's be probed. Just like we're avoiding AT&T right now for helping our government spy on us while no doubt contracting for the service (private mercenary telecom army). Enough on my rant against AT&T, and the many evil corporate minions who are enabling the commander in thief. I've got other things to do.
My Iphone awaits.
Enjoy.
What is the big deal? Does anybody believe that these restrictions will hold over the long haul? I love Apple. Own a Macmini, a Video Ipod and a shuffle for the wife. But I didn't jump on board the Apple train until LAST YEAR. I'm not sure what generation Ipod I've got, but it's close to the most current one. The newest and baddest toys are always overpriced at first to squeeze money out of people who have too much of it. Apple will have plenty of competition, and even without it, the market for folks willing to pay the kind of money this phone will require is too small to support in the long run. If you can wait two years (I will), the situation will be much improved.
Enjoy.
I have a Benq 6200 FP DLP with about 700 hours on it in two years now (I am not the earliest adopter...that goes to the Infocus X1 crowd). Paid $1150 for it. Best electronics investment
I've ever made. Bulb life expectency 2000 hours at a cost of replacement near $400. That works
out to twenty cents an hour or FORTY CENTS per average movie. I also use my projector for over the air
HD (USDTV OTA tuner - Walmart) and DVD's. Mostly CSI and sports OTA.
Bottom line: I was aware of the bulb cost and life expectency when I bought the unit. If you don't
understand the technology and it's costs you should avoid. But let's look at the ALTERNATIVE of
buying a 'smallish' 60" plasma. They gotta still be getting three grand for those??? I will be
cashing out my social security before I buy enough replacement bulbs to get to THAT pricepoint and
in the meantime I'm watching tv at a MINIMUM of 80 inches.
OTA HD tuner: $200
FP DLP: $1150 (much cheaper now)
Having your own home THEATER ----- PRICELESS.
Enjoy.
I haven't upgraded to HD on my satellite connection, but I did buy an OTA (over the air) USDTV box from WalMart two years ago along with a DLP front projector. At that time I paid about $1300 for the setup.
Now you can get a DLP front projector for even less. I am unsure where the market is for freestanding OTA tuners, but I can tell you that I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of the OTA box (paid $200 for it). Plenty of HD being broadcast (hell I'm in JACKSON freakin' Mississippi and we're almost totally HD OTA now. Planning on getting a HD-DVD to go with my Xbox360 and using my Netflix account for the software (HDDVD's).
It won't be too long before the satellite and cable providers (I use SD Directv DVR) won't be able to charge a premium for the HD service because it will be the defacto STANDARD.
For anybody thinking of upgrading their old SD viewing habits and wanting a truly LARGE FORMAT (80 plus inches) there is no better value than a DLP FRONT PROJECTION UNIT. The only caveat is LIGHT CONTROL in the room it's used for. Screens are optional. My unit does fine projecting straight onto the wall.
I've got TWO YEARS of experience with this HD technology. When I first bought this stuff two years ago a forty inch plasma was still THREE GRAND. They're half that now, but even at half price you're still pegged into a DINKY 40 INCH SCREEN.
Enjoy.
Slashdot Mirror
By both Microsoft and this apparently paid-off IT analyst. They might as well come right out and explain to us that continued Windoz torture is good for us somehow. It's all the rage these days anyway. Enjoy.
The debris in space is not automatically going to increase. It's automatically going to decrease because gravity is working on it. I have also read where there is work underway to build a satellite that uses water jets (or other means) to 'nudge' larger bits into re-entry. Now that scientists are aware of the problem, they are undoubtedly going to much greater lengths not to increase the danger, and given enough time the older stuff will clear. Enjoy.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/timtimes/2009/03/wormy-meat-is-cheaper.php Enjoy.
Absolutely, but it seems like it's being promoted a little too 'front row, center' and leaves a different impression in the minds of many consumers than I'm sure GM intended. On the other hand, feel free to invest heavily in American auto companies right now. I hear they're doing quite well. Enjoy.
Had a boss who was thought he was client-server saavy and that he could save the company time and money if he ran customer care through 'dumb' terminals that only got loaded with the applications necessary for each customer service agent to do their jobs. He figured he would stop all the CS agents from playing solitaire, recreational browsing, etc. At the start of each shift, the CS person put his/her card in a slot on the PC (think it was Sunfire stuff) and it loaded the necessary apps onto ram into the desktop from a remote server. It was a fairly large organization with CS personnel in several different cities. Result of this implementation was a total failure because boot time was HORRIBLE and our staff were paid from a time-clock on the wall, not the PC login times. Looking back, I'm sure the Achilles heel was that not only data, but entire applications had to be pushed and loaded to each desktop and it probably did take 15 minutes or more because I remember the CS reps complaining (and they were getting paid!). I'm sure there are easier/better ways of doing that now, but on-topic....pay the workers you greedy corporate pigs. Enjoy.
Some truth in there, but I believe that, from my perspective of having switched from 98 to OS/X a couple years ago, the major 'feature' is not having to piss with the O/S every other week or reboot the machine three times a day. Another feature is being able to look at my friends, who see me as a computer geek, and honestly say: "I wish I could help you with your, old, buggy, slow, POS, FITB Windows problem, but it's been years since I messed with them and I really don't have a clue......and without your original install CD.....sorry." Another evening saved from the tedium of birthing yet another complete Windows rebuild. Priceless. Enjoy.
Microsoft might be looking for a bailout right after Congress gets through with Detroit? Makes sense if you think about it. Both Microsoft and Detroit have (or should have known) for many, many years what was wrong with their products. Detroit ignored the fuel crises of the 70's and Microsoft ignored the instability and increasing difficulty users had keeping their systems stable. Other similarities exist between Detroit and Redmond, in that both seem unable to properly address the known issues in their product offerings. Vista puts a flashier face (lipstick on a pig - too soon?) on a flawed O/S and GM gives us a freakin' hybrid Tahoe? Yeah, and the people who made those craptastic decisions receive HUGE financial compensation and really don't give a rat's behind what you and I think. Don't worry though. I'm being a tad bit melodramatic. Microsoft, (like GM at one time...) has more money than God and is, in the current venacular...too large to fail. Enjoy.
In the mid nineties at Jackson State, I took a course on marketing ethics that highlighted some prominent examples of large corporate malfeasance in relation to marketing. A noted example was marketing of high priced baby formula to third world countries by Bayer. I also had a post-grad class on management ethics that highlighted a case where a large defense contractor deliberately downsized the brakes on a military jet to save a few dollars, thereby knowingly risking the lives of the flight crews. The troubling thing about these courses was the emphasis on how the whistle blowers always ended up suffering. It was STRESSED that you should NOT be a whistle blower. I was specially critical of this message, given by a white life insurance agent (doubling as college instructor) to a predominantly black audience (graduate class at Jackson State University). As the only other white guy in the class (of 20), I questioned this teacher's ethics in carrying such a message. His answer to my concerns? "These young black people have a hard enough time in business without going on a crusade of justice and righteousness within the business community". He was right I suppose. The young black students needed to be indoctrinated with the idea that white folks have set-up a business ethic that believes it's only illegal if you get caught, and then, we'll have our cronies cover the mess you make. American business schools seem to be in the business of making sure that you can suppress whatever humanist values you hold that would be a hindrance to the organization. They teach that the values of top management are loyalty over all. I wonder how many of my black classmates got suckered off to Arthur Andersen when they were heavily recruiting minority employees way back then? LOL. Enjoy.
When faced with situations of moral or legal ambiguity on a personal basis like this, your decision to 'go along' with the scheme will be influenced by multiple factors. Many companies try to instill a large bit of 'team spirit' into the operation as a binding agent. Seems to be specially prevalent among the shysters. Cue the Enron employee conversation regarding screwing over "Grandma Millie" on her electric bill and remind yourself that there was an entire corporate mindset that involved thousands of people, all pretty much resolved that it was a noble mission to screw people over as badly as possible (with special glee reserved for those most damaged). What more would they have done, and how far would they have gone in pursuit of money and career position if they were already laughing at the suffering they were inflicting on OLD PEOPLE??? Business ethics like that result in individuals robbing the entire nation's (world?) banking and finance industry, and then for kicks getting the government to hand over the treasury as a 'reward'. You pull off something that crass and evil in the business world and they'll fly you and your minion off to a half million dollar holiday weekend in the Bahamas. It often boils down to how much internal dissonance you can tolerate versus your ability to otherwise provide an alternative for providing Maslow's basic hierarchy of needs and what level of suffering you are willing to go to in regards to your personal integrity. Enjoy.
Spot on. This is a shifting of fiduciary responsibility on a massive scale. Total bullshit. Enjoy.
Absolutely the best solution I have heard here in regards to personal security. I'd be interested to know what the stats are on rape and burglary of pet owners. Willing to bet it's really a huge deterrent. Pet owners live longer healthier lives as well, so that TCO argument isn't as cut and dried as you might think. Enjoy.
Am I allowed to express my pleasure in both the move to Mac (from Windoz) and the purchase of a 60g VIpod last year? Would that be considered appropriate around here or is that like farting in public? I read these comments and everybody bashes Apple and the Ipod-Itunes stuff because Apple wants to restrict how their product is used. Apparantly, the Apple product ONLY becomes crappy when it can no longer be hacked to work with....fill in the blank. Then the commenter goes on some Archos or Sandisk tirade. Makes me wonder why they bought the 'crappy' Ipod in the first place if all those other players are so superior! Here's a newsflash to my Slashdot brethren. It's not about how much Apple charges for their stuff. It costs more but it works as advertised. I'd be pissed if I'd bought an Ipod and it didn't work with my Linux box only IF APPLE HAD EVER PLEDGED that it would in the first place. Was it somewhere under systems requirements that I didn't see? Enjoy.
Tracking every call and email but STILL not properly tracking aircraft? Somebody remind Bush that we weren't attacked by email or phone on 9-11. Enjoy.
2001 called and it wants it's WHITE back. Only after focusing for a moment did I realize you were not talking about the Ipod and it's color choices. I saw the Nano's are available in color, but I don't remember seeing anything other than Black for the new VIpod.
For the record, I think we all have a little sympathy for the comment regarding the takeover of MP3 file structure, but like you point out, Itunes does have the best sorting/interface bar none and handling stuff manually is so 1950's
Enjoy.
Then we'll get to deal with ex-military MP's whose sensitivity training on handling combative 'citizenry' starts appearing in towns and villages all around us. Sad thing about this equation is that these will be the vets most lauded, the 'good' vets. The 'other' vets, the 'bad' ones, disallusioned by the lies of leadership and lack of VA services might be expected to go all Tim McVeigh. When this occurs, Bush will claim that history has redeemed him since he's been worried about bringing terrorism over here for a long time. Enjoy.
Yes, get everybody pissed off about IMPLANTING said chips. Next week when the 'compromise' is rolled out nobody will say squat. The compromise will be that the chip is implanted in (e.g.) some article of clothing that is necessary for your job. It'll be implanted in your ID card, or some piece of non-optional clothing necessary for your job. The company will still get what it wants, which is to track you 100% of the time you're on the company premises. Enjoy.
Comments supportive of this bill are presumed to be from the government task force created and funded to provide paid government bloggers who will spread disinformation into the blogosphere. It's a frontpage story now,:
p _Pentagon_0717.html
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Nowhere_to_go_but_u
but it's been going on to some extent for a long time. It's a little hard to spot sometimes, but in instances like this, where there is such an obvious potential for abuse and you see so many 'seemingly' oblivious posters supporting such calamity, it only stands to reason where it's coming from. After all, the slashdot crowd is generally a lot smarter than that.
Enjoy.
....simultaneously wet themselves. Enjoy.
I think you're spot on with your observation. Might I point to the submission in total for a moment though? I expect a slashdot audience to get the sarcasm, if not earlier in the piece, then certainly where I juxtapose the AT&T rant with the need to rush out and get an Iphone. The only Iphone provider in the US is AT&T. I believe that phone will be so hot that if AT&T required both a technical and BIOLOGICAL probe as a requirement for purchase there would still be no dearth of customers. Matter of fact, by the end of the first week, the only thing you'd be hearing in the mainstream media was how good a thing the probing really was. A colonic for both man and machine. Enjoy.
This attempt by the banking industry to shift transactional liability away from their servers and onto the backs of the consumers is what I'd expect from the ruthless rat bastards. Don't think something like this would fly in the U.S. Notwithstanding the fact that our government is spending a king's ransom getting all up in our computers already (NSA-FBI), our citizenry would be OUTRAGED and OFFENDED if they thought their bank was all up in their hard drives! Pity the bank that tried to pull that chicanery over here in our independent, democracy minded, privacy loving people. We, (as normal lucid citizens) don't seem to have the ability to do anything about all the government spying and abuse because, among other things, corporate interests are aiding and abetting in this effort (who's to say the New Zealand pc 'scanning' doesn't have the ability for abuse/misuse by some corporate spy or government fascist?). Here in America, we have the ability on the personal level to avoid those corporation who facilitate and profit by working with the government in mass producing the technical equalivent of Zyclon B. We'd avoid any online banking that required our PC's be probed. Just like we're avoiding AT&T right now for helping our government spy on us while no doubt contracting for the service (private mercenary telecom army). Enough on my rant against AT&T, and the many evil corporate minions who are enabling the commander in thief. I've got other things to do. My Iphone awaits. Enjoy.
What is the big deal? Does anybody believe that these restrictions will hold over the long haul? I love Apple. Own a Macmini, a Video Ipod and a shuffle for the wife. But I didn't jump on board the Apple train until LAST YEAR. I'm not sure what generation Ipod I've got, but it's close to the most current one. The newest and baddest toys are always overpriced at first to squeeze money out of people who have too much of it. Apple will have plenty of competition, and even without it, the market for folks willing to pay the kind of money this phone will require is too small to support in the long run. If you can wait two years (I will), the situation will be much improved. Enjoy.
Why not add a few other links in the conversion process just to sound even sexier? Efficiency is so pre 9-11. Enjoy.
Are you serious?? They'd have to let pot smokers out of jail to make room for the mother stabbers and father rapers.
I have a Benq 6200 FP DLP with about 700 hours on it in two years now (I am not the earliest adopter...that goes to the Infocus X1 crowd). Paid $1150 for it. Best electronics investment I've ever made. Bulb life expectency 2000 hours at a cost of replacement near $400. That works out to twenty cents an hour or FORTY CENTS per average movie. I also use my projector for over the air HD (USDTV OTA tuner - Walmart) and DVD's. Mostly CSI and sports OTA. Bottom line: I was aware of the bulb cost and life expectency when I bought the unit. If you don't understand the technology and it's costs you should avoid. But let's look at the ALTERNATIVE of buying a 'smallish' 60" plasma. They gotta still be getting three grand for those??? I will be cashing out my social security before I buy enough replacement bulbs to get to THAT pricepoint and in the meantime I'm watching tv at a MINIMUM of 80 inches. OTA HD tuner: $200 FP DLP: $1150 (much cheaper now) Having your own home THEATER ----- PRICELESS. Enjoy.
I haven't upgraded to HD on my satellite connection, but I did buy an OTA (over the air) USDTV box from WalMart two years ago along with a DLP front projector. At that time I paid about $1300 for the setup. Now you can get a DLP front projector for even less. I am unsure where the market is for freestanding OTA tuners, but I can tell you that I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of the OTA box (paid $200 for it). Plenty of HD being broadcast (hell I'm in JACKSON freakin' Mississippi and we're almost totally HD OTA now. Planning on getting a HD-DVD to go with my Xbox360 and using my Netflix account for the software (HDDVD's). It won't be too long before the satellite and cable providers (I use SD Directv DVR) won't be able to charge a premium for the HD service because it will be the defacto STANDARD. For anybody thinking of upgrading their old SD viewing habits and wanting a truly LARGE FORMAT (80 plus inches) there is no better value than a DLP FRONT PROJECTION UNIT. The only caveat is LIGHT CONTROL in the room it's used for. Screens are optional. My unit does fine projecting straight onto the wall. I've got TWO YEARS of experience with this HD technology. When I first bought this stuff two years ago a forty inch plasma was still THREE GRAND. They're half that now, but even at half price you're still pegged into a DINKY 40 INCH SCREEN. Enjoy.