That sounds terribly shortsighted by the insurance companies. I have understood that dental care is one of those areas where you can save a lot by early treatment before the problems grow bigger. Or do they not cover even serious dental problems?
It is way too easy to let your teeth go unchecked even if it does not cost you that much to visit a dentist. Last year I finally visited a dentist after 7 years since the last visit so I know that from personal experience. And that did not cost me more than a nominal price (12 EUR or 17 US$) in public dental care (I live in Finland). At that time I promised to myself that I would get my teeth checked yearly, but this was year and a half ago...
Unbundling would probably mean that the seller would have to list the price of the operating system separately and that there would have to be an option to pick only the computer or only the operating system (for the listed separate price). It would not mean that you could not get the computer preinstalled with the operating system. However, pricing would probably change because the computer store could not list artificially low or high prices for the operating system component (otherwise the consumers would pick only one or the other). The real price of the operating system would become more visible and hopefully also more reasonable. So it would be good also for the Windows using population.
This is how anti-bundling regulations have been used in case of GSM phones and GSM subscriptions here in Finland. Of course you can buy them from the same place at the same time, SIM card preinstalled, but you also have the option to search for the best price for them separately (they must have a separate price plan and you must be able to buy them separately). Bundling was only recently allowed for 3G phones to offset their higher cost.
I think that anti-bundling would merely mean that the price of the operating system would have to be listed separately and that you would have to be able to buy the same computer without one. That way you can compare operating system products and make an informed decision about which OS to choose.
This is not different from how anti-bundling regulations for GSM phones and GSM subscriptions work here in Finland. Recently they allowed bundling for 3G phones but for 2G phones it is still illegal to sell a phone and a subscription as a bundle. Of course, you can buy both at the same time but the seller must list a separate price plan for them and you must have an option to pick only the phone or only the subscription. This has been a very successful strategy for boosting up competition in the area of GSM subscriptions.
But would not the availability of free energy eventually cause people to use huge amounts of energy? Sooner or later we would have the new problem of efficiently radiating all that extra heat (the energy would turn into heat sooner or later) off this planet.
Just wondering... I agree that fusion energy would solve many environmental problems and it should be definitely seeked.
Here in Finland we have a society called Internet Users Forever IKI. It provides permanent e-mail and web forwarding services for its members (only private individuals in Finland, sorry) and it has been quite popular among students since it was founded in 1995. I think it was originally founded by students who realized their university mail account would be gone after they finished their studies.
I have been very happy with their service. It is a non-profit organization so you are generally paying for what it takes to run the service and no more. In fact, the costs have been covered by new joining members paying their initial membership fee (30 EUR at the moment). Notice that they are only providing forwarding services, not e-mail accounts. But it is all you need to have a lifetime e-mail address.
IKI member count has been growing at rather constant rate and they now have some 15000 members. They forward more than 1.2 million mails per month.
Couple of weeks ago I saw a short data-over-power-grid demonstration in Finnish television. They demonstrated how you could connect an IP telephone to power outlet and make a phone call through power grid. I think their idea was that it is easier for them to provide functionality similar to the telephone network than vice versa (when talking about last mile solutions).
The topic has been quite frequently up in Finnish media because Turku Energia (home page in Finnish) has been selling their new data-ower-power-grid product to consumers since January.
Turku Energia (a local energy company in Finland) also
announced (link in Finnish) a similar product couple of days ago.
They are offering a 1.125 Mbps Internet access and they are planning for a product including a telephone line (VoIP), electricity and broadband Internet access all from a single electricity outlet. The service would also make it possible to introduce LANs into old buildings without installing any cables.
In the testing phase they had some problems with interference but they report those problems being solved now.
The parent company of Agenda Computing, Kessel International Holdings, had severe financial problems. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong suspended trading in Kessel shares on 23rd May 2001.
Agenda US was said to be "temporarily closed" because Agenda Germany (Agenda Computing GmbH) as an independent company was planning to establish an office in US (which would have become the new Agenda US). Apparently they were never able to come up with sufficient funding for that (at least not yet).
This is what we have heard from an ex Agenda employee Shane on the Agenda mailing list (I hope I got it right).
The financial problems might have been one reason why they started selling Agenda VR3 when it was still way too unfinished as a product. But there were also some technical problems such as not having enough available RAM. It made it harder to quickly come up with usable set of PDA applications. I guess it was the result of trying to push for a too low price point.
Anyway, I continue using my VR3. It is a nice device and certainly has been one step forward for Linux PDA devices. I am just sad that the step didn't carry very far.
Slashdot Mirror
That sounds terribly shortsighted by the insurance companies. I have understood that dental care is one of those areas where you can save a lot by early treatment before the problems grow bigger. Or do they not cover even serious dental problems?
It is way too easy to let your teeth go unchecked even if it does not cost you that much to visit a dentist. Last year I finally visited a dentist after 7 years since the last visit so I know that from personal experience. And that did not cost me more than a nominal price (12 EUR or 17 US$) in public dental care (I live in Finland). At that time I promised to myself that I would get my teeth checked yearly, but this was year and a half ago...
Unbundling would probably mean that the seller would have to list the price of the operating system separately and that there would have to be an option to pick only the computer or only the operating system (for the listed separate price). It would not mean that you could not get the computer preinstalled with the operating system. However, pricing would probably change because the computer store could not list artificially low or high prices for the operating system component (otherwise the consumers would pick only one or the other). The real price of the operating system would become more visible and hopefully also more reasonable. So it would be good also for the Windows using population.
This is how anti-bundling regulations have been used in case of GSM phones and GSM subscriptions here in Finland. Of course you can buy them from the same place at the same time, SIM card preinstalled, but you also have the option to search for the best price for them separately (they must have a separate price plan and you must be able to buy them separately). Bundling was only recently allowed for 3G phones to offset their higher cost.
I think that anti-bundling would merely mean that the price of the operating system would have to be listed separately and that you would have to be able to buy the same computer without one. That way you can compare operating system products and make an informed decision about which OS to choose.
This is not different from how anti-bundling regulations for GSM phones and GSM subscriptions work here in Finland. Recently they allowed bundling for 3G phones but for 2G phones it is still illegal to sell a phone and a subscription as a bundle. Of course, you can buy both at the same time but the seller must list a separate price plan for them and you must have an option to pick only the phone or only the subscription. This has been a very successful strategy for boosting up competition in the area of GSM subscriptions.
Some images are now available here!
So all we need is to have some high voltage circuitry integrated into the keyboard.
Your computer got a virus! Zap!
You just started Internet Explorer! Zap!
You just installed a spam zombie! ZZZZZZAP!
It would be a killer feature, I tell you!
But would not the availability of free energy eventually cause people to use huge amounts of energy? Sooner or later we would have the new problem of efficiently radiating all that extra heat (the energy would turn into heat sooner or later) off this planet.
Just wondering... I agree that fusion energy would solve many environmental problems and it should be definitely seeked.
Here in Finland we have a society called Internet Users Forever IKI. It provides permanent e-mail and web forwarding services for its members (only private individuals in Finland, sorry) and it has been quite popular among students since it was founded in 1995. I think it was originally founded by students who realized their university mail account would be gone after they finished their studies.
I have been very happy with their service. It is a non-profit organization so you are generally paying for what it takes to run the service and no more. In fact, the costs have been covered by new joining members paying their initial membership fee (30 EUR at the moment). Notice that they are only providing forwarding services, not e-mail accounts. But it is all you need to have a lifetime e-mail address.
IKI member count has been growing at rather constant rate and they now have some 15000 members. They forward more than 1.2 million mails per month.
Even so, you could argue that the writers must read too, so they are included the group of readers.
Doesn't Slashdot demonstrate that writers do not have to read anything at all? :)
Realistic firearms training?
"Oops! Sorry, I didn't know you were behind that screen."
There is less interference if you limit the data transmissions to underground power lines only. But it is not a perfect solution to the problem.
Couple of weeks ago I saw a short data-over-power-grid demonstration in Finnish television. They demonstrated how you could connect an IP telephone to power outlet and make a phone call through power grid. I think their idea was that it is easier for them to provide functionality similar to the telephone network than vice versa (when talking about last mile solutions).
The topic has been quite frequently up in Finnish media because Turku Energia (home page in Finnish) has been selling their new data-ower-power-grid product to consumers since January.
Turku Energia (a local energy company in Finland) also announced (link in Finnish) a similar product couple of days ago.
They are offering a 1.125 Mbps Internet access and they are planning for a product including a telephone line (VoIP), electricity and broadband Internet access all from a single electricity outlet. The service would also make it possible to introduce LANs into old buildings without installing any cables.
In the testing phase they had some problems with interference but they report those problems being solved now.
The parent company of Agenda Computing, Kessel International Holdings, had severe financial problems. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong suspended trading in Kessel shares on 23rd May 2001.
Agenda US was said to be "temporarily closed" because Agenda Germany (Agenda Computing GmbH) as an independent company was planning to establish an office in US (which would have become the new Agenda US). Apparently they were never able to come up with sufficient funding for that (at least not yet).
This is what we have heard from an ex Agenda employee Shane on the Agenda mailing list (I hope I got it right).
The financial problems might have been one reason why they started selling Agenda VR3 when it was still way too unfinished as a product. But there were also some technical problems such as not having enough available RAM. It made it harder to quickly come up with usable set of PDA applications. I guess it was the result of trying to push for a too low price point.
Anyway, I continue using my VR3. It is a nice device and certainly has been one step forward for Linux PDA devices. I am just sad that the step didn't carry very far.