No- it's the fact that there are people WILLING to pay for what's advertised through spam that it has proliferated so much. If you can get even a handful of sales from sending out a million spams, you still make a profit. Imagine if doofuses everywhere didn't send money to Nigerian princes promising them wealth, or ignored the viagra/cialis ads that keep appearing.
If there was a way to shutdown the payment gateways for spammers their means of making money would be forced to stop and discourage them from continuing.(maybe VISA/Mastercard shouldn't allow just anyone to act as a payment gateway for them)
Don't go by Nokia's lack of popularity in the US, and the hyperbole of largely American tech news websites, who have never seen a smartphone before 2007. Nokia still has 39% of the smartphone market worldwide
I recently dug out my old copy of Deus Ex- this year marks its 10th anniversary. And there's still nothing like it for putting the player in control, infinite replayability (I discovered a few new areas in the Paris level that I'd missed before),philosophical debate, and a plausible world made real by newspaper commentary, public computer bulletins, hackable workstations and emails etc. The 3 separate endings were not influenced by the gameplay however, you get to choose the outcome only in the very last level. Still- it had satisfying cutscenes and superb ending quotes:
* "It Is Better To Reign In Hell Than To Serve In Heaven" - John Milton, Paradise Lost
* "Yesterday We Obeyed Kings And Bent Our Necks To Emperors. Today We Kneel Only To Truth." - Kahlil Gibran
* "If There Were No God, It Would Be Necessary To Invent Him." - Voltaire
10 years later, nothing, not even its rather poor sequel, matches up to the immersiveness and perhaps also replayability. Go in with guns blazing, or sneak around hacking terminals and disabling security cameras, doing side quests for NPCs who help you out in return etc. etc.
Hogwash. China and India are directly competing with the United States on several levels. China builds weapons specifically targeted at the United States. Frequently, the weapons are based on stolen US technology.
India? What does India compete with the US on? Outsourcing? Your companies are GIVING us the business! It's not like Walmart aisles are crowded with Indian products now are they?
India?? Apple opened a development centre here in Bangalore and shut it down within a year. This was quite some time ago-I daresay before the iPhone was launched.
The 640k quote was relevant in 1981, when it seemed like a lot. It also was due to a limitation of the 8086 CPU's 20 bit address bus.Here's an excerpt from a 1993 interview where Gates clarifies his quote.
In real mode, the 8086 can only address 1 MB of RAM, out of which 384KB is reserved for video RAM. Hence the 640k restriction on memory (640=1024-384). Using extended and expanded memory managers, it was possible for DOS programs on the 286 and higher CPUs to access memory beyond 1 MB by mapping it into pages in the upper memory area.
If you've ever played DOOM or Duke3D back in the day, you might be familiar with these:-)
*Checks calendar* Yup, it's 2009. VOIP still not possible on my smartphone...
You must be in the US!
There are numerous VOIP capable smartphones available as others have mentioned, it's another story if your service provider deliberately disables the feature or blocks it from working on their network.
People forget another point- a modded Xbox for cheats is also unfair to other legitimate paying players who have not modded their consoles in anyway. So to maintain a level playing field, it becomes necessary to block the modders.
When you buy a gaming console, or an Apple product, you are already agreeing to opt into a closed system. This is why the PC platform absolutely rules. There's absolute flexibility in choosing hardware or operating system, and when it comes to games, you can connect to any server (if the game was made that way).
If you want to play an old game like HalfIife 1, or even Doom/Duke 3D/Quake with your friends, you can easily do so. Whereas if you were dependent on the whim of Sony or Microsoft, they would've shut these down long ago, calling them unprofitable.
Give me a PC any day- I can use any hardware/software I want, and play games too without shelling out subscription fees or being at the mercy of a company's ToS.
I think the nostalgia for typewriters has loads in common with that for certain other artifacts - steam locomotives, vacuum tube radios, classic/vintage cars etc. Basically, stuff made before around 1970, what I call the culmination of the Industrial Age (man on the moon in '69 was its greatest achievement). Back then, things were built to last- out of iron and steel, glass and wood. Way before plastics and cheap semiconductor electronics and Moore's law. Take a typewriter, or a rotary telephone or a valve radio- they feel solid and rugged and reliable compared to a laptop, cellphone or mp3 player of today. And they gather value over time as antiques. Modern technology and miniaturization just doesn't have the same appeal, and thanks to engineered obsolescence, your shiny cellphones, laptops and music players won't last beyond 3-4 years.
Can you imagine, for example, keeping a laptop or an iPod to show your grandkids? We live in the time of super short attention spans, the internet has compounded it further. This will have a continuing impact on our collective culture going forward, as we rely more on electronic devices to produce/store our creative works. Simple case- imagine how hard it is to keep track of your digital life over the years- say old/. or Usenet posts. So antique typewriters owned by famous writers will definitely have value...no telling whether the laptops or digital tablets of today's creative people will be relevant 30 years hence.
Warren Ellis thought of this years ago. His epic Transmetropolitan, a dystopian political graphic novel set in the far future- features a company called Longpig that sells cloned human meat in McDonald's style fast food outlets.
Since I live here, I can shed some more light on what's actually going on: 1) Knock off Chinese handsets sell at ridiculously low prices compared to the original phones (yet some have pretty innovative features). For eg, I saw a knockoff of the Nokia N73 about a year ago with TV out and support for dual SIM cards. It ran some Chinese imitation of S60, and had all the usual features- camera, bluetooth, infrared, wifi, and cost about 6000 Rs. (about $130), compared to an original Nokia N73 that cost about 12-13k Rs. at the same time. Quality-wise these phones are quite dubious, they can fail at anytime and/or ship with exploding batteries. They're usually popular among the poorer sections of society (mobile phone penetration is VERY high in India- you will find people living in slums in Bombay/Delhi who don't have proper sanitation, but still have a mobile phone of some sort).
2) As others have mentioned- our mobile market is much freer than the US- operators don't have any say in what phone you use, call rates are the lowest in the world, incoming calls/SMS are free by law. Switching service providers is a breeze, just get a fresh connection and pop in the SIM you want. We also have prepaid SIM cards- so if you're visiting here, you can just buy one for about Rs. 300 ($6) and use it, and pay as you go. These have also been used by terrorists in the past- so now you have to show proof of ID and fill out a form before getting one. (Foreign tourists would have to show their passports).
3) Counterfeit IMEIs are a royal concern for legitimate customers- if an IMEI is blocked it also blocks legitimate users. Also, if your IMEI is being used by a terrorist, it puts you under unnecessary suspicion and subject to inquiry as well.
4) The concept of privacy is alien to a large part of the population. Part of it is cultural, growing up in joint families, living in crowded tenements, and the general gregariousness with which 2 perfect strangers will end up discussing family matters during a long journey. We don't have anything as influential as the EFF in the US, and no one among the educated middle class raised any concerns over the current National ID card being proposed. Many in fact have welcomed it, thinking it will help secure the country against terrorism. This is far more insidious and has more potential for abuse than enforcing use of an IMEI.
and finally, the old proverb- 'Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity' is quite valid for the Indian govt.
Given the above, especially #2 and 3, it's a fairly sensible move to block counterfeit IMEIs and phones that lack them.
FTFA, it says that the star in question is 4900 light years away. To really understand what that means- the image of the star as we see it today left from it close to 5000 years ago, when the career prospects for laying 50 ton stone blocks were quite high in the Nile delta. For all we know, it might have gone supernova already at any point within the last 5000 years, and if we could instantly teleport to its location now we may actually just see the white dwarf remnant. Which means what we're observing may well be what once was, and not what currently is. Starlight is the closest we can get to time travel, in a way. To look at it another way, Betelgeuse is 640 light years away; if anyone could observe Earth from there now with telescopes (!!), they would see us as we were during the middle ages, with the Black Plague sweeping across Europe.
It's understandable from a marketing point of view, but that's not what Slashdot readers, hackers and power users want
Fixed that for you. The vast majority of iPhone users are average folks who aren't going to bother with jailbreak and simply use the phone as Apple intended.
I can do everything listed by the GP and then lots more, with my Nokia N82, without having to hack it or change the firmware. So can users of Sony Ericson, HTC, Samsung, Motorola..in short users of any smartphone other than the hallowed iPhone.
Slashdot Mirror
No- it's the fact that there are people WILLING to pay for what's advertised through spam that it has proliferated so much.
If you can get even a handful of sales from sending out a million spams, you still make a profit.
Imagine if doofuses everywhere didn't send money to Nigerian princes promising them wealth, or ignored the viagra/cialis ads that keep appearing.
If there was a way to shutdown the payment gateways for spammers their means of making money would be forced to stop and discourage them from continuing.(maybe VISA/Mastercard shouldn't allow just anyone to act as a payment gateway for them)
Don't go by Nokia's lack of popularity in the US, and the hyperbole of largely American tech news websites, who have never seen a smartphone before 2007.
Nokia still has 39% of the smartphone market worldwide
If you're not going to rock the boat, why even call it free speech?
"Freedom defined is freedom denied" - from the Illuminatus! Trilogy.
I recently dug out my old copy of Deus Ex- this year marks its 10th anniversary. And there's still nothing like it for putting the player in control, infinite replayability (I discovered a few new areas in the Paris level that I'd missed before),philosophical debate, and a plausible world made real by newspaper commentary, public computer bulletins, hackable workstations and emails etc. The 3 separate endings were not influenced by the gameplay however, you get to choose the outcome only in the very last level. Still- it had satisfying cutscenes and superb ending quotes:
* "It Is Better To Reign In Hell Than To Serve In Heaven" - John Milton, Paradise Lost
* "Yesterday We Obeyed Kings And Bent Our Necks To Emperors. Today We Kneel Only To Truth." - Kahlil Gibran
* "If There Were No God, It Would Be Necessary To Invent Him." - Voltaire
10 years later, nothing, not even its rather poor sequel, matches up to the immersiveness and perhaps also replayability. Go in with guns blazing, or sneak around hacking terminals and disabling security cameras, doing side quests for NPCs who help you out in return etc. etc.
I've never been to the USA, and the current paranoia
and security theater only further reduces the appeal.
You have other options- drive where you need to go, take a cruise, or get your own plane...
What about international travel, do we just hop onto the nearest tramp steamer? And the slight fact that we're not all millionaires with private jets.
Hogwash. China and India are directly competing with the United States on several levels. China builds weapons specifically targeted at the United States. Frequently, the weapons are based on stolen US technology.
India? What does India compete with the US on? Outsourcing? Your companies are GIVING us the business! It's not like Walmart aisles are crowded with Indian products now are they?
Plenty..read this link posted by an earlier commenter:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/global/28return.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
Let's not even think about doing an image search..
India?? Apple opened a development centre here in Bangalore and shut it down within a year. This was quite some time ago-I daresay before the iPhone was launched.
Most of these handsets are sold only unlocked (N900 especially) and thus APPEAR to be costlier than so called operator subsidized handsets.
Unless Americans catch up to the rest of the world by insisting on unlocked handsets without operator interference, this sort of thing will continue.
But we have enough technology to burn a hole through you, meatbags!
The 640k quote was relevant in 1981, when it seemed like a lot. It also was due to a limitation of the 8086 CPU's 20 bit address bus.Here's an excerpt from a 1993 interview where Gates clarifies his quote.
In real mode, the 8086 can only address 1 MB of RAM, out of which 384KB is reserved for video RAM. Hence the 640k restriction on memory (640=1024-384).
Using extended and expanded memory managers, it was possible for DOS programs on the 286 and higher CPUs to access memory beyond 1 MB by mapping it into pages in the upper memory area.
If you've ever played DOOM or Duke3D back in the day, you might be familiar with these :-)
*Checks calendar* Yup, it's 2009. VOIP still not possible on my smartphone...
You must be in the US!
There are numerous VOIP capable smartphones available as others have mentioned, it's another story if your service provider deliberately disables the feature or blocks it from working on their network.
Now, we can respond within seconds of an article being published, vent anger or correct mistakes. Add insight and expand the story
Or, as per Slashdot tradition, dive right into the comments without RTFA!
People forget another point- a modded Xbox for cheats is also unfair to other legitimate paying players who have not modded their consoles in anyway. So to maintain a level playing field, it becomes necessary to block the modders.
When you buy a gaming console, or an Apple product, you are already agreeing to opt into a closed system. This is why the PC platform absolutely rules. There's absolute flexibility in choosing hardware or operating system, and when it comes to games, you can connect to any server (if the game was made that way).
If you want to play an old game like HalfIife 1, or even Doom/Duke 3D/Quake with your friends, you can easily do so. Whereas if you were dependent on the whim of Sony or Microsoft, they would've shut these down long ago, calling them unprofitable.
Give me a PC any day- I can use any hardware/software I want, and play games too without shelling out subscription fees or being at the mercy of a company's ToS.
I think the nostalgia for typewriters has loads in common with that for certain other artifacts - steam locomotives, vacuum tube radios, classic/vintage cars etc. Basically, stuff made before around 1970, what I call the culmination of the Industrial Age (man on the moon in '69 was its greatest achievement).
Back then, things were built to last- out of iron and steel, glass and wood. Way before plastics and cheap semiconductor electronics and Moore's law. Take a typewriter, or a rotary telephone or a valve radio- they feel solid and rugged and reliable compared to a laptop, cellphone or mp3 player of today. And they gather value over time as antiques.
Modern technology and miniaturization just doesn't have the same appeal, and thanks to engineered obsolescence, your shiny cellphones, laptops and music players won't last beyond 3-4 years.
Can you imagine, for example, keeping a laptop or an iPod to show your grandkids? We live in the time of super short attention spans, the internet has compounded it further. This will have a continuing impact on our collective culture going forward, as we rely more on electronic devices to produce/store our creative works. Simple case- imagine how hard it is to keep track of your digital life over the years- say old /. or Usenet posts.
So antique typewriters owned by famous writers will definitely have value...no telling whether the laptops or digital tablets of today's creative people will be relevant 30 years hence.
Warren Ellis thought of this years ago. His epic Transmetropolitan, a dystopian political graphic novel set in the far future- features a company called Longpig that sells cloned human meat in McDonald's style fast food outlets.
Since I live here, I can shed some more light on what's actually going on:
1) Knock off Chinese handsets sell at ridiculously low prices compared to the original phones (yet some have pretty innovative features). For eg, I saw a knockoff of the Nokia N73 about a year ago with TV out and support for dual SIM cards. It ran some Chinese imitation of S60, and had all the usual features- camera, bluetooth, infrared, wifi, and cost about 6000 Rs. (about $130), compared to an original Nokia N73 that cost about 12-13k Rs. at the same time. Quality-wise these phones are quite dubious, they can fail at anytime and/or ship with exploding batteries. They're usually popular among the poorer sections of society (mobile phone penetration is VERY high in India- you will find people living in slums in Bombay/Delhi who don't have proper sanitation, but still have a mobile phone of some sort).
2) As others have mentioned- our mobile market is much freer than the US- operators don't have any say in what phone you use, call rates are the lowest in the world, incoming calls/SMS are free by law. Switching service providers is a breeze, just get a fresh connection and pop in the SIM you want.
We also have prepaid SIM cards- so if you're visiting here, you can just buy one for about Rs. 300 ($6) and use it, and pay as you go. These have also been used by terrorists in the past- so now you have to show proof of ID and fill out a form before getting one. (Foreign tourists would have to show their passports).
3) Counterfeit IMEIs are a royal concern for legitimate customers- if an IMEI is blocked it also blocks legitimate users. Also, if your IMEI is being used by a terrorist, it puts you under unnecessary suspicion and subject to inquiry as well.
4) The concept of privacy is alien to a large part of the population. Part of it is cultural, growing up in joint families, living in crowded tenements, and the general gregariousness with which 2 perfect strangers will end up discussing family matters during a long journey.
We don't have anything as influential as the EFF in the US, and no one among the educated middle class raised any concerns over the current National ID card being proposed. Many in fact have welcomed it, thinking it will help secure the country against terrorism. This is far more insidious and has more potential for abuse than enforcing use of an IMEI.
and finally, the old proverb- 'Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity' is quite valid for the Indian govt.
Given the above, especially #2 and 3, it's a fairly sensible move to block counterfeit IMEIs and phones that lack them.
Why stop at using text editors and commandline C/C++? Take the whole damn argument to its logical conclusion, and use this to do your coding:
http://dougbarton.us/images/supercoder.jpg
FTFA, it says that the star in question is 4900 light years away. To really understand what that means- the image of the star as we see it today left from it close to 5000 years ago, when the career prospects for laying 50 ton stone blocks were quite high in the Nile delta. For all we know, it might have gone supernova already at any point within the last 5000 years, and if we could instantly teleport to its location now we may actually just see the white dwarf remnant. Which means what we're observing may well be what once was, and not what currently is.
Starlight is the closest we can get to time travel, in a way. To look at it another way, Betelgeuse is 640 light years away; if anyone could observe Earth from there now with telescopes (!!), they would see us as we were during the middle ages, with the Black Plague sweeping across Europe.
Unless said press conference was from the 70s, Thomas J Watson hasn't been the CEO of IBM in over 3 decades. The current CEO is Samuel J Palmisano.
It's understandable from a marketing point of view, but that's not what Slashdot readers, hackers and power users want
Fixed that for you. The vast majority of iPhone users are average folks who aren't going to bother with jailbreak and simply use the phone as Apple intended.
I can do everything listed by the GP and then lots more, with my Nokia N82, without having to hack it or change the firmware.
So can users of Sony Ericson, HTC, Samsung, Motorola..in short users of any smartphone other than the hallowed iPhone.