My experience couldn't be more different. Using nVidia's proprietary drivers in my laptop is instability hell. It crashes my mouse and trackpad within seconds of booting up (have to restart them with modprobe), suspend/resume is a crapshoot, and sometimes would just lock randomly (though that might be just general Gnome 3 suckiness). Moreover, desktop animations get progressively slower and choppier.
None of these problems with the open source drivers. Well, Gnome 3 still crashes from time to time, but in a different way. The problem with the open-source drivers is that I can't control the screen brightness, the battery seems to go out a little bit faster, and it crashed when using the new accelerated Google Maps (haven't tried it for a while though).
Caveat: this is on a Sony laptop, which I only learned later, has some of the crapiest Linux support among laptop manufacturers.
Actually Raspberry Pi's server held up pretty well. Granted, they only had to serve a static page, while the vendors didn't have that luxury.
The bottom line is that RPi was expecting this and prepared for it. The retailers were smugly telling everyone who warned them that they were going to be DOS'ed, that their servers could take it no problem. Well, they underestimated the demand by a huge margin and got egg all over their faces.
The problem is that Android offers apps no mechanism to ask for permissions after installation, like there was in, say, J2ME phones.
So apps need to ask upfront for all permissions which they might need to support all of their features, even if some of those will never be used. In your QR code example, if the app features a way to, say add a contact from a QR code, or generate a code for a given contact in your address book, it must have that permission, even if most users will never need it.
As an Android developer myself, I'd love to have a mechanism for asking for new permissions. It'd allow me to ask for fewer permissions upfront and make it clearer for the user why certain permissions are being requested.
You're obviously not an academic. The point of publishing is to let the world know what you're investigating, and the avenues you're taking to do it. This is done so that other researchers in your area don't duplicate your work unnecessarily, and can feed from your results, when they're available.
I've spent the better part of the last 5 years in academia and I published everything from the initial hypothesis, to testing, to results. My papers have always been well received in reputable international conferences, as they should be.
In fact, while I disagree with the metric being employed here, 3 papers in 4 years sounds like a somewhat low number. Of course it depends on the field of study and the nature of the research, but at least in my field, if you're conducting productive research, you'll easilly generate enough knowledge to publish at least two conference papers per year.
But Sony produces more than just CDs. The produce a very large range of consumer devices, and in some of those markets they depend on brand awareness. For example, in the TV or stereo markets the competition is so fierce and the products have so little differentiation that the company image can be a decisive factor for many people.
As someone above said, Sony spends a lot of marketting dollars on improving their brand image, and then pull a stupid move like this and throw it all away.
After hearing the claims, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced plans to introduce legislation that would require the presence of "passenger advocates" at airports to deal with complaints like these.
No, no, no! Just stop with the scans!
The correct solution to this problem isn't to add more and more layers of complexity on top. It's to simply accept that this whole thing was a bad idea and drop it. It's like some bizarro world where the obvious answer is starting everybody in the face but nobody wants to reach for it, so they try to find ways around it.
A private server + rsync may be a great setup, and one which I use myself, but it doesn't come even close to the functionality that Dropbox offers.
With Dropbox you get two-way sync between all of your devices. They have clients for most platforms (including Linux) and the software quality is top notch (at least for the platforms I tried - Ubuntu, Android and Windows). Furthermore, you can easily share folders with other users and have everyone contribute to them. It's a great way to share vacation pictures, or documents with your family.
The only issue I have with Dropbox is that I don't really want to trust all of my data to them, and even if I did, I find the prices a bit steep, especially considering that I already have a server running 24/7 with a high(-enough)-bandwidth internet connection. I'd love to be able to install a private Dropbox server and point my clients to it, but I understand that that would ruin their business model.
Truecrypt has an option (off by default) to update the volume's timestamp when there are changes. It's a better system than periodically touching the file, because then your backup tool doesn't need to waste time looking for changes when there are none.
I use it with a truecrypt volume which is then mirrored using rsync and it works just fine. No experience with Dropbox in that regard, but I suspect it'd work just as well.
This isn't about games being picked out of bargain bin for $5 two or three years after release.
It's about the practice of game stores selling new $60 games, then a couple weeks later buying them back for $8 (or more typically store credit) and re-selling them for $55.
Welcome to capitalism. If you think that the existing 2nd-hand shops are inneficient, then open your own store with fairer prices. You'll help the customer and make a killing while you're at it.
Smart customers have learned not to buy at the used game shop, but rather troll ebay or just buy at a cheap online store. That's the system working, we don't really need the publishers to introduce measures which have "collateral damage".
I can't even understand why some comenters here are defending the game studios who do this. The studios themselves have already come out and stated very clearly that these tactics are designed to lower the value of 2nd hand games. Of course they dress it more nicely, like "to give more value to our customers", but it's really the same thing.
The wierdest thing is that the lump on the bottom, it just feels like it should be at the top and I still take it out of my pocket upside down every time. I'll get over that.
A friend of mine taught me to always keep the phone upside down in the pocket. This way, he said, when you pull the phone out of your pocket it's already upright in your hand. It took me a while to get used to it, but now I can see how it's a more convenient way of carrying your phone.
Oh and thanks for the mini-review. I'm seriously considering getting one for myself or the GF. I've been reading a few reviews online, but it's nice to hear from a regular person.
I couldn't find it, so I had to get the pirate version with lots of OCR errors here and there. The dead-tree book is sitting on my shelf, BTW. As far as I'm concerned, I've already paid for the right to read it, but I was even willing to pay again just to get a corrected version.
The public ridicule of the prime minister is more-or-less unthinkable, and would be widely condemned, possibly in a very ugly manner.
If that's the case, then why make such laws? If someone tries to ridicule authority figures, they'll feel the backlash from the public itself, without the need for the government to be authoritarian.
Most people don't realize that they're paying a very high monthly fee for that cool new smartphone.
Some of my friends cringe when I say my smartphone cost 500€. It's only natural, since they paid 100-200€ for an equivalent device. What they fail to understand is that while they're locked into expensive contracts, I'm paying around 10€ per month (8€ internet + admittedly few calls and SMS) on my prepaid card without any sort of obligations.
It's the same way that printer manufacturers realized that they can lose money on the printer hardware and the make up for it on the cartridges.
I don't know which of these came with Mint and which I got somewhere else. I'm sorry, but I also don't remember where I got them from, but they should be easy enough to Google.
system-monitor-extension replaces the old system monitor panel widget. It includes network speed, so it's a bit better. media-player-extension adds an icon in the panel when you have your media player open (I like to keep mine in the last desktop). alt-tab extension reverts to the alt-tab behaviour from Gnome 2 which switched between windows instead of applications. weather indicator extension adds a weather icon and temperature next to the clock. It's a bit of a bitch to configure because you need to know the weather station code for your city. Also, remember to press enter once you paste the code on the field, otherwise it won't be set. static workspaces extension this is the most valuable of all. I hate the dynamic workspaces in Gnome 3 because my desktops have defined uses: 1 is for browsing, 2 is for programming, 3 and 4 are for documentation and running tests, 5 is for the music player. Besides, I hated the fact that you'd have something on desktop 3, close the last app on desktop 2 and suddenly your windows from desktop 3 get moved to desktop 2, so when you try to go back there, you get an empty desktop.
I think now that extensions are out, and distros can start using them again, Ubuntu will make a comback. But now that I'm switched to Mint, its basically Ubuntu with the better desktop, I might not go back.
The problem with Ubuntu these days is that it's designed for Unity. Sure, people say you're an apt-get install gnome-shell away from a Gnome 3 desktop, but in my experience that's not exactly true. At least in my install there were a few annoyances which always made me feel that I was using the software in a non-approved manner, and because this configuration isn't Ubuntu's focus, it's less likely that those problems will be fixed.
Things like the automatic login always bringing me back to Unity, requiring that I always login manually, and the fact that my windows would open without a menu, which would suddenly flash into existence (because Unity hides windows menus in the top bar).
I moved to Mint and never looked back. I actually like a purer form of Gnome 3 than the Mint guys gave me, but that's the beauty of the shell extensions: I disabled the few I didn't like and installed a few more I wanted. Now I have a desktop customized to my needs without the need to spend hours looking at configuration files/dialogs.
I loaded Android 2.2.2 from the site in a virtual machine in my Asus AMD laptop and found networking (wifi) not working.
(Almost) same here. I loaded a previous version on my Intel/nVidia netbook and it was working very well. Unfortunately, like in your case, wifi wasn't working, so it wasn't much use.
I'm really looking forward to trying ICS, since it's the first Android version which natively supports input devices, including mice. I'd like to try using it as a permanent netbook OS. I think it might make sense there.
It's another form of the lottery, pro-sports, famous actor/actress syndrome.
Difference being that these small companies actually produce something worthwhile while trying to strike gold. And for those that do get lucky, they normally deserve their new found riches much more than a girl with big tits who can emote on camera.
I'm not commenting on your specific example because I don't know any details on it. But the reasons companies go to Asia for manufacturing isn't just the costs of manual vs automatic labour. If it was just that, then most sane companies would take automation as it generates better consistent quality, and don't need to take breaks.
The reasons I suspect are more to do with relaxed environmental laws and worker's rights. Granted that in the end it comes all down to saving money, I just don't believe that the difference is as small as you imply.
You're paying for both. For new books it almost makes sense. I'm seeing the digital versions at about 1~4$ cheaper, which may account for the price difference for trees, ink and shipping.
But for older books (sometimes just 1 year old), the price falls much faster for physical books than for their digital versions. I suspect that it's because digital books don't have to compete with the second-hand market.
Not exactly. The power cable is a standard micro-USB cable which comes with the device. The 10$ part is the USB AC adapter, which frankly seems a bit expensive, but it's not necessary as long you have access to a USB port or a modern cell phone charger.
I don't know the circumstances of their accidents, but I do know that accidents happen even to the best and most cautious of drivers. I don't live in the illusion of being either of those. I certainly consider myself better than most (doesn't everyone?), but I do know that being human, I'm prone to making mistakes from time to time. I also understand that sometimes accidents can occur through no fault of your own.
I wouldn't want to be in a serious accident in a car, but in a bike even a relatively minor accident can disable you for life. I understand that the risk is part of what makes bikes attractive to you, but don't delude yourself thinking that accidents only happen to others.
I've never ridden a motorcycle. I know too many people who died or were permanently incapacitated from driving those things, and a few more who were very, very close to being in the same situation.
I do mountain biking and I like to go fast downhill, so I know that if I ever got on a bike, I wouldn't be a very safe rider.
I'm sorry that you'd rather die than give up on a hobby, no matter how great it is. Fortunately for you, you still have at least about 20 years before you'll be forced to welcome our self-driving overlords.
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My experience couldn't be more different.
Using nVidia's proprietary drivers in my laptop is instability hell.
It crashes my mouse and trackpad within seconds of booting up (have to restart them with modprobe), suspend/resume is a crapshoot, and sometimes would just lock randomly (though that might be just general Gnome 3 suckiness).
Moreover, desktop animations get progressively slower and choppier.
None of these problems with the open source drivers. Well, Gnome 3 still crashes from time to time, but in a different way.
The problem with the open-source drivers is that I can't control the screen brightness, the battery seems to go out a little bit faster, and it crashed when using the new accelerated Google Maps (haven't tried it for a while though).
Caveat: this is on a Sony laptop, which I only learned later, has some of the crapiest Linux support among laptop manufacturers.
Actually Raspberry Pi's server held up pretty well.
Granted, they only had to serve a static page, while the vendors didn't have that luxury.
The bottom line is that RPi was expecting this and prepared for it.
The retailers were smugly telling everyone who warned them that they were going to be DOS'ed, that their servers could take it no problem.
Well, they underestimated the demand by a huge margin and got egg all over their faces.
The problem is that Android offers apps no mechanism to ask for permissions after installation, like there was in, say, J2ME phones.
So apps need to ask upfront for all permissions which they might need to support all of their features, even if some of those will never be used.
In your QR code example, if the app features a way to, say add a contact from a QR code, or generate a code for a given contact in your address book, it must have that permission, even if most users will never need it.
As an Android developer myself, I'd love to have a mechanism for asking for new permissions. It'd allow me to ask for fewer permissions upfront and make it clearer for the user why certain permissions are being requested.
You're obviously not an academic.
The point of publishing is to let the world know what you're investigating, and the avenues you're taking to do it.
This is done so that other researchers in your area don't duplicate your work unnecessarily, and can feed from your results, when they're available.
I've spent the better part of the last 5 years in academia and I published everything from the initial hypothesis, to testing, to results. My papers have always been well received in reputable international conferences, as they should be.
In fact, while I disagree with the metric being employed here, 3 papers in 4 years sounds like a somewhat low number. Of course it depends on the field of study and the nature of the research, but at least in my field, if you're conducting productive research, you'll easilly generate enough knowledge to publish at least two conference papers per year.
But Sony produces more than just CDs. The produce a very large range of consumer devices, and in some of those markets they depend on brand awareness.
For example, in the TV or stereo markets the competition is so fierce and the products have so little differentiation that the company image can be a decisive factor for many people.
As someone above said, Sony spends a lot of marketting dollars on improving their brand image, and then pull a stupid move like this and throw it all away.
After hearing the claims, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced plans to introduce legislation that would require the presence of "passenger advocates" at airports to deal with complaints like these.
No, no, no!
Just stop with the scans!
The correct solution to this problem isn't to add more and more layers of complexity on top. It's to simply accept that this whole thing was a bad idea and drop it.
It's like some bizarro world where the obvious answer is starting everybody in the face but nobody wants to reach for it, so they try to find ways around it.
A private server + rsync may be a great setup, and one which I use myself, but it doesn't come even close to the functionality that Dropbox offers.
With Dropbox you get two-way sync between all of your devices. They have clients for most platforms (including Linux) and the software quality is top notch (at least for the platforms I tried - Ubuntu, Android and Windows).
Furthermore, you can easily share folders with other users and have everyone contribute to them. It's a great way to share vacation pictures, or documents with your family.
The only issue I have with Dropbox is that I don't really want to trust all of my data to them, and even if I did, I find the prices a bit steep, especially considering that I already have a server running 24/7 with a high(-enough)-bandwidth internet connection.
I'd love to be able to install a private Dropbox server and point my clients to it, but I understand that that would ruin their business model.
Maybe someday SparkleShare will be an alternative: http://sparkleshare.org/
Truecrypt has an option (off by default) to update the volume's timestamp when there are changes.
It's a better system than periodically touching the file, because then your backup tool doesn't need to waste time looking for changes when there are none.
I use it with a truecrypt volume which is then mirrored using rsync and it works just fine. No experience with Dropbox in that regard, but I suspect it'd work just as well.
This isn't about games being picked out of bargain bin for $5 two or three years after release.
It's about the practice of game stores selling new $60 games, then a couple weeks later buying them back for $8 (or more typically store credit) and re-selling them for $55.
Welcome to capitalism.
If you think that the existing 2nd-hand shops are inneficient, then open your own store with fairer prices. You'll help the customer and make a killing while you're at it.
Smart customers have learned not to buy at the used game shop, but rather troll ebay or just buy at a cheap online store. That's the system working, we don't really need the publishers to introduce measures which have "collateral damage".
I can't even understand why some comenters here are defending the game studios who do this. The studios themselves have already come out and stated very clearly that these tactics are designed to lower the value of 2nd hand games. Of course they dress it more nicely, like "to give more value to our customers", but it's really the same thing.
This SOPA or a bill like it WILL pass eventually. The sooner the better.
How's that?
By the same logic would you also agree that: "You will die eventually anyway. The sooner the better"?
I certainly wouldn't, but I do enjoy living and would like to continue doing so for as long as that remains true.
The wierdest thing is that the lump on the bottom, it just feels like it should be at the top and I still take it out of my pocket upside down every time. I'll get over that.
A friend of mine taught me to always keep the phone upside down in the pocket. This way, he said, when you pull the phone out of your pocket it's already upright in your hand.
It took me a while to get used to it, but now I can see how it's a more convenient way of carrying your phone.
Oh and thanks for the mini-review. I'm seriously considering getting one for myself or the GF. I've been reading a few reviews online, but it's nice to hear from a regular person.
I guess we were speaking of different discworlds :-)
I meant Niven's one: http://www.amazon.com/Ringworld-Larry-Niven/dp/0345333926/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3
Amazon has Discworld on ebook format?
I couldn't find it, so I had to get the pirate version with lots of OCR errors here and there.
The dead-tree book is sitting on my shelf, BTW. As far as I'm concerned, I've already paid for the right to read it, but I was even willing to pay again just to get a corrected version.
The public ridicule of the prime minister is more-or-less unthinkable, and would be widely condemned, possibly in a very ugly manner.
If that's the case, then why make such laws?
If someone tries to ridicule authority figures, they'll feel the backlash from the public itself, without the need for the government to be authoritarian.
Most people don't realize that they're paying a very high monthly fee for that cool new smartphone.
Some of my friends cringe when I say my smartphone cost 500€. It's only natural, since they paid 100-200€ for an equivalent device.
What they fail to understand is that while they're locked into expensive contracts, I'm paying around 10€ per month (8€ internet + admittedly few calls and SMS) on my prepaid card without any sort of obligations.
It's the same way that printer manufacturers realized that they can lose money on the printer hardware and the make up for it on the cartridges.
I don't know which of these came with Mint and which I got somewhere else.
I'm sorry, but I also don't remember where I got them from, but they should be easy enough to Google.
system-monitor-extension replaces the old system monitor panel widget. It includes network speed, so it's a bit better.
media-player-extension adds an icon in the panel when you have your media player open (I like to keep mine in the last desktop).
alt-tab extension reverts to the alt-tab behaviour from Gnome 2 which switched between windows instead of applications.
weather indicator extension adds a weather icon and temperature next to the clock. It's a bit of a bitch to configure because you need to know the weather station code for your city. Also, remember to press enter once you paste the code on the field, otherwise it won't be set.
static workspaces extension this is the most valuable of all. I hate the dynamic workspaces in Gnome 3 because my desktops have defined uses: 1 is for browsing, 2 is for programming, 3 and 4 are for documentation and running tests, 5 is for the music player.
Besides, I hated the fact that you'd have something on desktop 3, close the last app on desktop 2 and suddenly your windows from desktop 3 get moved to desktop 2, so when you try to go back there, you get an empty desktop.
Agreed.
Gnome 3 + shell extensions = desktop bliss.
It's like Firefox: give the users the basic usability and functionality, and let them enable/disable the parts according to their taste.
I think now that extensions are out, and distros can start using them again, Ubuntu will make a comback. But now that I'm switched to Mint, its basically Ubuntu with the better desktop, I might not go back.
The problem with Ubuntu these days is that it's designed for Unity.
Sure, people say you're an apt-get install gnome-shell away from a Gnome 3 desktop, but in my experience that's not exactly true.
At least in my install there were a few annoyances which always made me feel that I was using the software in a non-approved manner, and because this configuration isn't Ubuntu's focus, it's less likely that those problems will be fixed.
Things like the automatic login always bringing me back to Unity, requiring that I always login manually, and the fact that my windows would open without a menu, which would suddenly flash into existence (because Unity hides windows menus in the top bar).
I moved to Mint and never looked back. I actually like a purer form of Gnome 3 than the Mint guys gave me, but that's the beauty of the shell extensions: I disabled the few I didn't like and installed a few more I wanted.
Now I have a desktop customized to my needs without the need to spend hours looking at configuration files/dialogs.
I loaded Android 2.2.2 from the site in a virtual machine in my Asus AMD laptop and found networking (wifi) not working.
(Almost) same here.
I loaded a previous version on my Intel/nVidia netbook and it was working very well.
Unfortunately, like in your case, wifi wasn't working, so it wasn't much use.
I'm really looking forward to trying ICS, since it's the first Android version which natively supports input devices, including mice.
I'd like to try using it as a permanent netbook OS. I think it might make sense there.
It's another form of the lottery, pro-sports, famous actor/actress syndrome.
Difference being that these small companies actually produce something worthwhile while trying to strike gold.
And for those that do get lucky, they normally deserve their new found riches much more than a girl with big tits who can emote on camera.
I'm not commenting on your specific example because I don't know any details on it.
But the reasons companies go to Asia for manufacturing isn't just the costs of manual vs automatic labour.
If it was just that, then most sane companies would take automation as it generates better consistent quality, and don't need to take breaks.
The reasons I suspect are more to do with relaxed environmental laws and worker's rights. Granted that in the end it comes all down to saving money, I just don't believe that the difference is as small as you imply.
You're paying for both.
For new books it almost makes sense. I'm seeing the digital versions at about 1~4$ cheaper, which may account for the price difference for trees, ink and shipping.
But for older books (sometimes just 1 year old), the price falls much faster for physical books than for their digital versions.
I suspect that it's because digital books don't have to compete with the second-hand market.
Not exactly. The power cable is a standard micro-USB cable which comes with the device.
The 10$ part is the USB AC adapter, which frankly seems a bit expensive, but it's not necessary as long you have access to a USB port or a modern cell phone charger.
It does make you sound like an asshole.
I don't know the circumstances of their accidents, but I do know that accidents happen even to the best and most cautious of drivers.
I don't live in the illusion of being either of those. I certainly consider myself better than most (doesn't everyone?), but I do know that being human, I'm prone to making mistakes from time to time.
I also understand that sometimes accidents can occur through no fault of your own.
I wouldn't want to be in a serious accident in a car, but in a bike even a relatively minor accident can disable you for life.
I understand that the risk is part of what makes bikes attractive to you, but don't delude yourself thinking that accidents only happen to others.
I've never ridden a motorcycle. I know too many people who died or were permanently incapacitated from driving those things, and a few more who were very, very close to being in the same situation.
I do mountain biking and I like to go fast downhill, so I know that if I ever got on a bike, I wouldn't be a very safe rider.
I'm sorry that you'd rather die than give up on a hobby, no matter how great it is. Fortunately for you, you still have at least about 20 years before you'll be forced to welcome our self-driving overlords.