Re:commercialization of teenagers
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From what I just saw when I looked it up on site where I buy books is that is was listed as 320 pages in paperback, age target was 11-13 year olds and it had the following annotation:
This satiric novel tells the story of Titus, a teenage boy living in a futuristic society where most people are controlled by a vast computer network which they connect to via electronic feeds in their heads. Titus is perfectly happy with his world, a world where his every need and want is suggested and met by his "feed." But then he meets Violet who, although she too is hooked up to a "feed," is nonetheless a free thinker who awakens him to the dangers of living in a computer-controlled society. Nominated for the 2002 National Book Award in the young people's literature category. Named one of the Best Children's Books 2002 by Publishers Weekly. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.
So, it would fit with your read of it as about 8th grade level
I would say that I have bought at least one of each of the biggies in the last six months, Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate and WD. I dislike the WD drives since they seem to run hotter than the others. And their warranties are 1 year from date of manufacture, not purchase and that bites. Plus, I lost one late last year after less than 24 hours. It was totally dead. I have lost two Maxtors in the last five years, but they went slowly and there was no data lost.
The Hitachi and Seagate drives are pretty recent, but they seem good. I like the Seagate 160GB and 200GB drives quite a lot.
True, but it has to be relatively 'idiot proof' as well. And since, at least at this point, there is no corellation between IP addresses and location, you have to have some way to determine location. It could be done by making a user enter the appropriate data before they could use such a phone, but then again you are subject to the user getting it right. Maybe we just need cheaper GPS hardware with an appropriate interface. Clearly, massive quantities would help in this respect.
I think what they are probably going to want for this, is something that will be mandatory and automatic. In other words, you will have it whether you really want it or not. And it will have to detect your location and update the info to the PSAP. Vonage doesn't do either of these today and I think it will be a bit spendy to do it. I know I have talked to people about the concept of having some sort of GPS device in a phone that could auto-update the location when it network connects. The problem is that an IP phone and easily move and I can take my phone a go to the neighbors or take it to a hotel that has high-speed Internet in another state and use it.
It is not unlike states like Illinois that require a company with a large facility to track the location of PBX extensions for 911 purposes. This has been a bit of a headache when people go to do VOIP in those settings. Imagine that on the Internet and there are definitely some issues to resolve.
But, without problems like that, from where would innovation come?
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From what I just saw when I looked it up on site where I buy books is that is was listed as 320 pages in paperback, age target was 11-13 year olds and it had the following annotation:
This satiric novel tells the story of Titus, a teenage boy living in a futuristic society where most people are controlled by a vast computer network which they connect to via electronic feeds in their heads. Titus is perfectly happy with his world, a world where his every need and want is suggested and met by his "feed." But then he meets Violet who, although she too is hooked up to a "feed," is nonetheless a free thinker who awakens him to the dangers of living in a computer-controlled society. Nominated for the 2002 National Book Award in the young people's literature category. Named one of the Best Children's Books 2002 by Publishers Weekly. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.
So, it would fit with your read of it as about 8th grade levelI would say that I have bought at least one of each of the biggies in the last six months, Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate and WD. I dislike the WD drives since they seem to run hotter than the others. And their warranties are 1 year from date of manufacture, not purchase and that bites. Plus, I lost one late last year after less than 24 hours. It was totally dead. I have lost two Maxtors in the last five years, but they went slowly and there was no data lost. The Hitachi and Seagate drives are pretty recent, but they seem good. I like the Seagate 160GB and 200GB drives quite a lot.
True, but it has to be relatively 'idiot proof' as well. And since, at least at this point, there is no corellation between IP addresses and location, you have to have some way to determine location. It could be done by making a user enter the appropriate data before they could use such a phone, but then again you are subject to the user getting it right. Maybe we just need cheaper GPS hardware with an appropriate interface. Clearly, massive quantities would help in this respect.
I think what they are probably going to want for this, is something that will be mandatory and automatic. In other words, you will have it whether you really want it or not. And it will have to detect your location and update the info to the PSAP. Vonage doesn't do either of these today and I think it will be a bit spendy to do it. I know I have talked to people about the concept of having some sort of GPS device in a phone that could auto-update the location when it network connects. The problem is that an IP phone and easily move and I can take my phone a go to the neighbors or take it to a hotel that has high-speed Internet in another state and use it.
It is not unlike states like Illinois that require a company with a large facility to track the location of PBX extensions for 911 purposes. This has been a bit of a headache when people go to do VOIP in those settings. Imagine that on the Internet and there are definitely some issues to resolve.
But, without problems like that, from where would innovation come?