Whats that? Hmmm? "but but but....USA...."We Are The World...."? Theres more than one country on this planet, and the iPhone has tethering, USB or Bluetooth...Hmm, you know, if I didnt have work in a few minutes, I'd connect my iMac to my iPhone and post this just to show you.
Yes, $100 USD extra for White (unless its a MacBook, and then its about $200 USD for Black) and another couple hundred for the Anti-glare option:)
I say this despite knowing I'm a day one buyer of the next iPhone, I'd even import it to NZ to jump the queue here (I imported my Original iPhone, and my iPad...meanwhile, NZ *STILL* doesnt sell the iPad)
What an absolutely harrowing experience. The mention of light bulbs brightened before popping, computer screens blowing out, and then 3 inch thick steel "fire proof" door being blown off its SIX hinges by the sudden explosion...pinning one of the survivors. To escape from this situation, to jump into the water, and risk being burnt by burning oil on the surface...just awful.
It sounds like there were failures on multiple levels, but perhaps all caused by drilling through a rubber seal?
I wish the people working to fix this the best of luck
I run Duke Nukem 3D on my iPhone. I still cant believe how small the entire game is! And its sold on the App Store http://kotaku.com/5334823/a-first-look-at-iphones-duke-nukem-3d I simply CANNOT get used to the controls, oh gawd they are awful! I cant even really move , see an enemy, aim and shoot! I've never bothered getting past the first MINUTE of the game...This is in no way the fault of the hardware, its the soft control setup!
I still think its cool in theory, well done Microsoft, but look at the execution! Its sort of Newton-esque, ahead of its time, at least for its maker. How did Microsoft use touchscreen technology? They made a big plastic coffee table, about a hundred will be made? Look at Apple, they gave us the iPhone, which has spawned iPod Touch and iPad. It seems EVERYONE has an iDevice, it seems NOBODY has a Surface.
Really, Microsoft needs to work on execution. I think Dvorak had it right when he mentioned the company needs Gates back, remember the days when Microsoft shipped a quick knockoff for Product X, and it was successful? Now what do we have? The Zune? Windows Phone 7? Vista?
I do laugh at the use of marketing terms, but certainly, the iPhone was a major "revolution" or whatever trumped up term you'd like to call it. Look at phones before the Original iPhone, look at them now. It remains to be seen if Android will kill the iPhone, the major thing it has seems to be "its open", which matters to...5% of the population at best? I am excited about the EVO 4G though.
I imported an iPad, couldnt wait for it to be released in my country, and I would actually use the term "magical" to describe it! It feels like I've had an iPad all my life, I actually feel like my iPhone is the odd new device! I truly think that multi touch etc was always envisioned as being on a larger platform, the iPhone was just a stepping stone. Watching Iron Man 2, I was quite nonplussed by the computer interfaces. Essentially, his all glass screens are just larger iPads, and there are laser projected holograms. Big deal! I interact with touch screen multi touch bits of glass every day!
Even if you personally choose to use other devices, the "iDevices" have influenced history, and I expect the 2000's will be remembered for Y2K, September 11th, and Apple products. Your results may vary!
I would strongly protest any idea of so called "humane" killing. There can surely be no way to "humanely" kill an animal, for our pleasure, just as there can be no "humane" rape, or "humane" child slavery.
I promote Veganism through creative, and nonviolent means. I want no part of PETA's sexist stunts, and single issue campaigns. I still cannot believe they give awards to slaughterhouse designers! http://www.peta.org/feat/proggy/2004/winners.html Temple Grandin is mentioned as a "visionary".
I am a Vegan who does NOT support PETA. I once joined a protest against circus animals, and we succeeded in having the last circus elephant in Australasia freed to a sanctuary. Now I wouldnt focus on a single issue, I promote Veganism.
I've never "went after" children, I do think thats rude. I never normally bring up Veganism in public, if people notice what I eat, I'll tell them the truth, but otherwise I'm nonagressive about the issue.
Frankly though, I think children SHOULD know the truth about what they eat. We shouldnt tell them some fantasy tale of "and then Mr Pig said to Mrs Pig, "gee Gladice, I sure would like to be humanely slaughtered and turned into Jerky!".
If children asked me why I was vegan, I'd tell them the truth. But I've never brought it up, and have absolutely no plans to show children gory images, even though that is the reality of killing animals.
There is so much more to Animal Rights than bloody PETA. We dont have PETA where I live, although of course I know of them through popular culture. Its like ads for Apple products, if you are annoyed by them, by all means move to New Zealand:)
If you want to support a legitimate group with the same or very similar goals, support the SPCA I'm all about reducing suffering and cruelty, in animals and humans. But animals are delicious. An animal, raised right by humans for food, suffers FAR LESS than its wild counterpart. Being raised by a good rancher is a great bargain for a cow. A pleasant life with plentiful food and no predation, in exchange for a quick and painless death. If I were a cow, I'd take that over constant fear of predators and the threat of starvation.
The SPCA is *VERY* far from an Animal Rights position. SPCA is a Welfare initiative. For example, promoting so called "humane" animal products. In NZ, a recent news story was how the "free range" label is meaningless http://coexistingwithnonhumananimals.blogspot.com/2010/05/no-actual-free-range-standard-for-nz.html
Indeed, many Vegans, such as myself, are VERY critical of PETA. I *hate* when they raise false choices, between "have the animals suffer" or "lets kill animals but maybe make the cages an inch bigger". I promote actual Veganism, true Animal Rights.
Animals are delicious? Well...I would disagree, but I guess taste is subjective, taste is what you grow up with. If you live in an area where you eat X, you will most likely enjoy it, no matter what other cities/countries/continents think.
I find it hard to believe in any situation that a wild animal "suffers" more than an animal stuck in a cage for its whole life. Its somewhat like saying an animal with one of his or her legs stuck in a trap is suffering far less...
Lets put the choice into the outside world. Lets say that people would all live to be 100 if we lived inside our whole lives. I'd even expand it beyond "a cage", lets go with a whole building. Would you choose that situation? Or would you rather be outside, able to live wherever you wish? To be able to eat whatever you wish? To listen to music you choose, to drive a car...its just silly to continue on this chain of thought! Especially if you knew you were being slaughtered while still being a child by choosing the confined option!
If you truly believe being farmed for your organs is "a pleasant life with plentiful food and no predation", then by all means turn yourself in to some cannibals! I liked when you said "no predation", ha, human beings are surely one of the most dangerous predators in the world! Think of a pig, what would eat the majority of pigs in the world? I'd assume people.
From the Vegan groups I know, the majority of Vegans seem to be in the field of Tech! I have a podcast about Animal Rights, and I was getting many messages from Linux using Vegans, who couldnt use iTunes to subscribe. You will notice on stories such as this, there will be regular/. users who mention their veganism. They dont scream it at you in every one of their posts, but there must surely be many vegans using Slashdot.
Frankly, I cannot stand PETA, I hate their position of Welfare reforms and sexist stunts. There are many true AR groups, such as The Abolitionist Approach http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/
What are consumers meant to do to avoid this? I would gladly pay whatever extra for my devices, if I knew the people making them had a decent standard of living. But its not an option. It's not something that can be like those phony "carbon credits" I've heard airlines offering http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080321_437700.htm . I dont think the solution is to "ask for a tip" just as you walk out the door with your iPad.
See, we complain about laws "arrgh, the government has all these regulations and red tape..." but living without them seems just awful.
What can the world outside China (and similar countries mind you) do to help the workers? We cant just make up some "weapons of mass destruction" and invade the joint. Do we just have to keep putting up with these shame stories? "Oh look! You know how popular and cool Apple are with their hit products! Look at the workers! Shame on Apple! Yeah, yeah, Apple is bad, oooh, they are evil!"
I'm a Playstation fan from Day One, but I think its fair to say that Xbox Live has *ALWAYS* been "better" than Sony's offerings. I may not like the interface, design, hardware....of the Xbox 360, but its just a given that it has the better online services. And get this, *gasp* it has a paid service widely used!:)
You could argue the same about game prices, "waaa, games should cost ~10% less because at this current price its all profit going towards buying Porsches". Do you expect Sony and Co. to turn over their bank statements to every customer? So we can see exactly what they buy?
C'mon, lets not be cheap here, if better online capabilities cost a COUPLE BUCKS A MONTH, who are we to whine?
Well, what do you think it costs to have a single server running for a couple hundred hours? In terms of power, and bandwidth. I know that in NZ, we have bandwidth caps (for home and business plans generally), I get 10GB of internet use a month. After that, and 10GB goes by quickly, I am reduced to about 10KB per second, its inhumane!
My point is, its different when you buy a game like Metal Gear Solid (ignoring MGO like most people) for 120 NZD, and play it just for the singleplayer, and buying another game for the same 120 NZD, and *also* costing the company in terms of servers for a couple hundred hours of multiplayer!
Servers dont provide themselves, if I had to pay a couple bucks a month, why bother getting upset?
As a consumer I resent this, but cmon. There *IS* a cost to having servers running 24/7. I loved playing Battlefield Bad Company (1) with my friend, we must have racked up a COUPLE HUNDRED hours playing it online, and we were almost always on full teams of 12 a side, 24 in total. What does that cost? Certainly more than what he paid for his secondhand copy of the game! I paid full price, but even $120 NZD (~$85 USD) for the game is not really that much with development costs on top of A COUPLE HUNDRED HOURS playing it online.
It reminds me of my student friends who have always grown up using P2P and Bit Torrent to download music, now movies, games. They complain that hit songs on iTunes cost a whopping COUPLE BUCKS NZ. The kind of money you can find between couch cushions, even at a student flat. They always say "it should cost less, if it were 20cents a song I'd buy it". Yeah right, so all those top notch (or not, depending on your view of current music!) producers and "musicians" should work for free? They should make the final sale price go from $2 for hours of their work, to 20 cents? But then you'd just complain that it should be FIVE cents!
I'm 22, I feel that as an adult, there comes a time when you have to stop whining over a buck or two here, or ten dollars a month, whatever something like this *MIGHT* end up costing. "Value for Value", my friends have all gotten many, MANY hours of entertainment out of this single game, why shouldnt the companies get a steady drip of a few bucks to help out with costs? We never had a problem with one of us paying $6 NZD (~$4USD) a month for unlimited calls (and txts) to a cellphone number so we could always talk while playing.
I'm a consumer, I dont have a well paying job, I'd rather *everything* was free online! But the fact is, there are COSTS, and if I enjoy the end result, whats a couple bucks? And dont give me the old "boiling a frog slowly so it doesnt notice" routine, not only because I like animals, but because its not like "we give in to paying a whole two bucks a month, and then its 20 bucks a month, and then its 100 a month, and then its your firstborn..."
There are costs to providing us all with entertainment, 24/7, worldwide. We are all (mostly) adults, whats a couple bucks to you for all those hours of enjoyment?
If you mean mine, thank you:)
I know I am an "Apple Fanboi", I dont feel a compulsion to defend American Billionaires, but really, I hate the general online culture thats sprung up in the last decade or so, of being vocally opposed to others. Just look at YouTube comments! One example that springs to mind, I loved Iron Man 2, someone sent me a link of the Iron Man, War Machine friendly fight, I was so happy to hear Daft Punk "Robot Rock" in the movie!
Obviously someone had smuggled in a camera to get the clip, and the sound was fairly poor. Still, hey, its better than nothing! And, predictably, many people complained "hey d00d, sound sucks moron" etc. Well, why dont the whiners go and secretly film blockbuster movies for themselves eh? On their parents HD camera, if its so easy!
If it bothers you to type on an iPad, try using a Bluetooth Keyboard. I was AMAZED at how fun, yes fun, it was to use it with my Apple Wireless Keyboard (just wanted you to know I've drunk the kool aid).
I seriously believe the iPad could be a great gaming device, if you prop the "screen" up somewhere, and use a bluetooth control. I would love it if Apple would let you use Playstation 3 etc controllers with it, or even if they sold their own. I'm sure there will be hacks to get that sort of thing working.
Funny, my iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac...no LED's screaming at me, unless you count the LED backlit screens on some Apple products?
Funny, before I switched to a Mac, I would black out any activity indicator LED lights on my computers. ESPECIALLY on my NEC laptop, that thing drove me nuts with its constant amber and green lights...and the BLINKING! ARRRRGH!
LED lights are incredibly tacky, look at many of the off-the-shelf PC laptops that cover every millimetre of plastic with flashing lights. Even Macs that have LED lights have ONE, to represent the device being on (Macs are generally fairly quiet, you might not realise otherwise) and its WHITE. I always thought that was rather classy.
"unresponsive piece of glass"? What have you been smoking? Have you even seen or used an iPad?
One of the things that all reviewers of the iPad have agreed upon is its "snappiness". Its a VERY fast device to use! Webpages, apps, photos, movies, songs...they all POP up and "Just Work"(tm).
I imported an iPad and love it. Its one of the most beautiful devices I own, it feels lovely in my hands. I do find it weird that it rocks on flat surfaces, but the curved back is no doubt to make it more comfortable to hold in your hands...thats the point. It is not a device designed to be chained to a desk (well, AFTER release to the public). Its meant to be held.
Try putting up with an uncomfortable, buggy lump of plastic sometime, I imagine many people will replace their ancient computers and use an iPad. I have a new 27 inch iMac, if it was not for the difference between a 10 and 27 inch screen, I'd use the iPad for *ALL* my web browsing.
See, this is exactly what he meant. I hate how online commenting is this massive shitstorm of people hiding behind made up names such as "bigdik69" and "cooldood1987" (guess when they were born), who are we to constantly pick at what others do? If you dont like Apple products, dont buy them, its simple. Can you imagine if people were this way with the world outside tech? Example, everyone knows that US cars have this stigma of being crap, but would every car fanatic spend their every waking hour to mail postcards saying "hey Ford, ur cars suck!!!111!!!"? More than any modern company (straight research facilities aside), perhaps Apple has given the world the most in terms of everyday technology.
By all means resent the horrors of the iPod, iPhone, iPad. I know our lives have been ruined by their success. I rue the day Jobs and co decided to put a 5GB hard drive in a plastic and metal casing, I cant sleep at night over the iPhones refusal to play my.mkv warez, and the iPad and its mono speaker make me irritable to everyone around.
I'm a proficient Apple user, I have seemingly iEverything, and am quite happy. Of course I understand why some (a small percent of the market) refuse to have something that is "closed", I enjoy the Apple products I have.
I have a healthy respect for Android, I hope it does very well. As far as I know, not a single Android device has been sold in New Zealand. I've seen one or two of the crappier models at stores, but none of my friends have one. I cannot wait for the EVO 4G to arrive (for my American friends).
I think companies competing with Apple should focus on the things that Apple DOESNT do, on the things they provide. I think "droid does" was a good idea, although it was a little...geeky? By all means continue this line of ads! Many "Apple Haters" mention "oh that Apple, its all marketing". Well, if Apple supposedly makes up a tiny 5% of the PC market, how come they have such mindshare? Hey Dell, Microsoft, HP, get off your butts, spend some bucks on ads eh? They have the money to compete, yet they DONT.
Put yourself in Steve Jobs shoes (New Balance 991's, do you know the uniform of any other CEO, past or present?), he must receive thousands of emails a day from ingrates, "how cum da Iphone is not on Verizon? LAAAAAAAAAME!". Computer companies dont owe us diddly. Either support a company who makes choices you AGREE with, or even better, start your OWN company, in your parents garage, with a close friend. Who knows, perhaps you will one day have a private jet, billions in the bank and an army of jackasses hounding you day and night.
Hmm, not sure. I see it more that the USA has insanely CHEAP prices! Everywhere else has more "normal" prices, although some are more "normal" than others:) I believe its South Africa where for the cost of ONE 17 inch MacBook Pro you could buy....TWO in America:)
I'm very jealous of the whole "99c" thing for songs and apps, here its 1.29c NZD, not quite the same ring to it:) The more expensive stuff (that the record labels managed to get away with) is $2.39 odd.
And yet, everyone in America is always complaining of their high taxes!:)
Hmm, I bought mine from someone who had bought it back from Florida. There are some advertising their iPads as bought from the Fifth Avenue store, hey, now thats a bonus, I may never get to visit "The Temple" myself, but I could have a sacred object that had:)
I try not to talk about my iPad all the time, although I do feel like its a part of my life already, and I've had it less than a month! I cant wait until iBooks are out worldwide, I was dissapointed the app does NOT come with the iPad...I wanted to read Winnie The Pooh!
I learnt with my imported iPhone, when you have shiny new things, especially shiny new things "you shouldnt have in your country yet", its best not to brag in public. It would be like leaving a Lamborghini out on the street in a bad neighbourhood.
I hope you get an iPad to call your own:) I love browsing the web on it, and email is actually fun! I totally imagine people having an iPad, just for on couch browsing, and its amazing in bed (just wanted to say that). Perhaps it would be good with a camera or two, although being honest, it would be a terrible view, looking up at your nose, and that I find it difficult to type either orientation. I find the iPad too wide for portrait keyboard, it works on an iPhone, and the landscape is good, but I cannot touch type, my fingers are blocking my view! Hey, you can always use bluetooth keyboards with it if you want an iPad as a serious typing device.
Slashdot Mirror
Drop the attitude, dont you have better things to be doing that posting snarky (and wrong) comments all day?
Check *this* out,
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/tethering.html
Whats that? Hmmm? "but but but....USA...."We Are The World...."? Theres more than one country on this planet, and the iPhone has tethering, USB or Bluetooth...Hmm, you know, if I didnt have work in a few minutes, I'd connect my iMac to my iPhone and post this just to show you.
I know you guys in the US see the iPhone as not tethering...but cmon, its just that crappy network...nothing to do with the iPhone itself.
Yes, $100 USD extra for White (unless its a MacBook, and then its about $200 USD for Black) and another couple hundred for the Anti-glare option :)
I say this despite knowing I'm a day one buyer of the next iPhone, I'd even import it to NZ to jump the queue here (I imported my Original iPhone, and my iPad...meanwhile, NZ *STILL* doesnt sell the iPad)
I listen to American 60 minutes through the podcast audio edition, a quick Search brought up this clip http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6503436n&tag=contentMain;contentBody
What an absolutely harrowing experience. The mention of light bulbs brightened before popping, computer screens blowing out, and then 3 inch thick steel "fire proof" door being blown off its SIX hinges by the sudden explosion...pinning one of the survivors. To escape from this situation, to jump into the water, and risk being burnt by burning oil on the surface...just awful.
It sounds like there were failures on multiple levels, but perhaps all caused by drilling through a rubber seal?
I wish the people working to fix this the best of luck
Oh come now, running shoes, jeans and a black (mock) turtleneck are the higheth of fashion!
I run Duke Nukem 3D on my iPhone. I still cant believe how small the entire game is! And its sold on the App Store http://kotaku.com/5334823/a-first-look-at-iphones-duke-nukem-3d I simply CANNOT get used to the controls, oh gawd they are awful! I cant even really move , see an enemy, aim and shoot! I've never bothered getting past the first MINUTE of the game...This is in no way the fault of the hardware, its the soft control setup!
Think about things like Surface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface
I still think its cool in theory, well done Microsoft, but look at the execution! Its sort of Newton-esque, ahead of its time, at least for its maker. How did Microsoft use touchscreen technology? They made a big plastic coffee table, about a hundred will be made? Look at Apple, they gave us the iPhone, which has spawned iPod Touch and iPad. It seems EVERYONE has an iDevice, it seems NOBODY has a Surface.
Really, Microsoft needs to work on execution. I think Dvorak had it right when he mentioned the company needs Gates back, remember the days when Microsoft shipped a quick knockoff for Product X, and it was successful? Now what do we have? The Zune? Windows Phone 7? Vista?
I do laugh at the use of marketing terms, but certainly, the iPhone was a major "revolution" or whatever trumped up term you'd like to call it. Look at phones before the Original iPhone, look at them now. It remains to be seen if Android will kill the iPhone, the major thing it has seems to be "its open", which matters to ...5% of the population at best? I am excited about the EVO 4G though.
I imported an iPad, couldnt wait for it to be released in my country, and I would actually use the term "magical" to describe it! It feels like I've had an iPad all my life, I actually feel like my iPhone is the odd new device! I truly think that multi touch etc was always envisioned as being on a larger platform, the iPhone was just a stepping stone. Watching Iron Man 2, I was quite nonplussed by the computer interfaces. Essentially, his all glass screens are just larger iPads, and there are laser projected holograms. Big deal! I interact with touch screen multi touch bits of glass every day!
Even if you personally choose to use other devices, the "iDevices" have influenced history, and I expect the 2000's will be remembered for Y2K, September 11th, and Apple products. Your results may vary!
I would strongly protest any idea of so called "humane" killing. There can surely be no way to "humanely" kill an animal, for our pleasure, just as there can be no "humane" rape, or "humane" child slavery.
I promote Veganism through creative, and nonviolent means. I want no part of PETA's sexist stunts, and single issue campaigns. I still cannot believe they give awards to slaughterhouse designers! http://www.peta.org/feat/proggy/2004/winners.html Temple Grandin is mentioned as a "visionary".
There is simply no moral justification for the slaughter of 56 billion land animals a year. http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/
I am a Vegan who does NOT support PETA. I once joined a protest against circus animals, and we succeeded in having the last circus elephant in Australasia freed to a sanctuary. Now I wouldnt focus on a single issue, I promote Veganism.
I've never "went after" children, I do think thats rude. I never normally bring up Veganism in public, if people notice what I eat, I'll tell them the truth, but otherwise I'm nonagressive about the issue.
Frankly though, I think children SHOULD know the truth about what they eat. We shouldnt tell them some fantasy tale of "and then Mr Pig said to Mrs Pig, "gee Gladice, I sure would like to be humanely slaughtered and turned into Jerky!".
If children asked me why I was vegan, I'd tell them the truth. But I've never brought it up, and have absolutely no plans to show children gory images, even though that is the reality of killing animals.
If you want to support a legitimate group with the same or very similar goals, support the SPCA I'm all about reducing suffering and cruelty, in animals and humans. But animals are delicious. An animal, raised right by humans for food, suffers FAR LESS than its wild counterpart. Being raised by a good rancher is a great bargain for a cow. A pleasant life with plentiful food and no predation, in exchange for a quick and painless death. If I were a cow, I'd take that over constant fear of predators and the threat of starvation.
The SPCA is *VERY* far from an Animal Rights position. SPCA is a Welfare initiative. For example, promoting so called "humane" animal products. In NZ, a recent news story was how the "free range" label is meaningless http://coexistingwithnonhumananimals.blogspot.com/2010/05/no-actual-free-range-standard-for-nz.html Indeed, many Vegans, such as myself, are VERY critical of PETA. I *hate* when they raise false choices, between "have the animals suffer" or "lets kill animals but maybe make the cages an inch bigger". I promote actual Veganism, true Animal Rights.
/. users who mention their veganism. They dont scream it at you in every one of their posts, but there must surely be many vegans using Slashdot.
Animals are delicious? Well...I would disagree, but I guess taste is subjective, taste is what you grow up with. If you live in an area where you eat X, you will most likely enjoy it, no matter what other cities/countries/continents think.
I find it hard to believe in any situation that a wild animal "suffers" more than an animal stuck in a cage for its whole life. Its somewhat like saying an animal with one of his or her legs stuck in a trap is suffering far less...
Lets put the choice into the outside world. Lets say that people would all live to be 100 if we lived inside our whole lives. I'd even expand it beyond "a cage", lets go with a whole building. Would you choose that situation? Or would you rather be outside, able to live wherever you wish? To be able to eat whatever you wish? To listen to music you choose, to drive a car...its just silly to continue on this chain of thought! Especially if you knew you were being slaughtered while still being a child by choosing the confined option!
If you truly believe being farmed for your organs is "a pleasant life with plentiful food and no predation", then by all means turn yourself in to some cannibals! I liked when you said "no predation", ha, human beings are surely one of the most dangerous predators in the world! Think of a pig, what would eat the majority of pigs in the world? I'd assume people.
From the Vegan groups I know, the majority of Vegans seem to be in the field of Tech! I have a podcast about Animal Rights, and I was getting many messages from Linux using Vegans, who couldnt use iTunes to subscribe. You will notice on stories such as this, there will be regular
Frankly, I cannot stand PETA, I hate their position of Welfare reforms and sexist stunts. There are many true AR groups, such as The Abolitionist Approach http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/
I dont think killing 56 billion living beings, excluding aquatic animals*, for our pleasure is morally justifiable. *PDF of UN statistics from 2007 http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/media/pdf/2007-glipha-stats.pdf
What are consumers meant to do to avoid this? I would gladly pay whatever extra for my devices, if I knew the people making them had a decent standard of living. But its not an option. It's not something that can be like those phony "carbon credits" I've heard airlines offering http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080321_437700.htm . I dont think the solution is to "ask for a tip" just as you walk out the door with your iPad.
See, we complain about laws "arrgh, the government has all these regulations and red tape..." but living without them seems just awful.
What can the world outside China (and similar countries mind you) do to help the workers? We cant just make up some "weapons of mass destruction" and invade the joint. Do we just have to keep putting up with these shame stories? "Oh look! You know how popular and cool Apple are with their hit products! Look at the workers! Shame on Apple! Yeah, yeah, Apple is bad, oooh, they are evil!"
I'm a Playstation fan from Day One, but I think its fair to say that Xbox Live has *ALWAYS* been "better" than Sony's offerings. I may not like the interface, design, hardware....of the Xbox 360, but its just a given that it has the better online services. And get this, *gasp* it has a paid service widely used! :)
You could argue the same about game prices, "waaa, games should cost ~10% less because at this current price its all profit going towards buying Porsches". Do you expect Sony and Co. to turn over their bank statements to every customer? So we can see exactly what they buy?
C'mon, lets not be cheap here, if better online capabilities cost a COUPLE BUCKS A MONTH, who are we to whine?
Well, what do you think it costs to have a single server running for a couple hundred hours? In terms of power, and bandwidth. I know that in NZ, we have bandwidth caps (for home and business plans generally), I get 10GB of internet use a month. After that, and 10GB goes by quickly, I am reduced to about 10KB per second, its inhumane!
My point is, its different when you buy a game like Metal Gear Solid (ignoring MGO like most people) for 120 NZD, and play it just for the singleplayer, and buying another game for the same 120 NZD, and *also* costing the company in terms of servers for a couple hundred hours of multiplayer!
Servers dont provide themselves, if I had to pay a couple bucks a month, why bother getting upset?
As a consumer I resent this, but cmon. There *IS* a cost to having servers running 24/7. I loved playing Battlefield Bad Company (1) with my friend, we must have racked up a COUPLE HUNDRED hours playing it online, and we were almost always on full teams of 12 a side, 24 in total. What does that cost? Certainly more than what he paid for his secondhand copy of the game! I paid full price, but even $120 NZD (~$85 USD) for the game is not really that much with development costs on top of A COUPLE HUNDRED HOURS playing it online.
It reminds me of my student friends who have always grown up using P2P and Bit Torrent to download music, now movies, games. They complain that hit songs on iTunes cost a whopping COUPLE BUCKS NZ. The kind of money you can find between couch cushions, even at a student flat. They always say "it should cost less, if it were 20cents a song I'd buy it". Yeah right, so all those top notch (or not, depending on your view of current music!) producers and "musicians" should work for free? They should make the final sale price go from $2 for hours of their work, to 20 cents? But then you'd just complain that it should be FIVE cents!
I'm 22, I feel that as an adult, there comes a time when you have to stop whining over a buck or two here, or ten dollars a month, whatever something like this *MIGHT* end up costing. "Value for Value", my friends have all gotten many, MANY hours of entertainment out of this single game, why shouldnt the companies get a steady drip of a few bucks to help out with costs? We never had a problem with one of us paying $6 NZD (~$4USD) a month for unlimited calls (and txts) to a cellphone number so we could always talk while playing.
I'm a consumer, I dont have a well paying job, I'd rather *everything* was free online! But the fact is, there are COSTS, and if I enjoy the end result, whats a couple bucks? And dont give me the old "boiling a frog slowly so it doesnt notice" routine, not only because I like animals, but because its not like "we give in to paying a whole two bucks a month, and then its 20 bucks a month, and then its 100 a month, and then its your firstborn..."
There are costs to providing us all with entertainment, 24/7, worldwide. We are all (mostly) adults, whats a couple bucks to you for all those hours of enjoyment?
If you mean mine, thank you :)
I know I am an "Apple Fanboi", I dont feel a compulsion to defend American Billionaires, but really, I hate the general online culture thats sprung up in the last decade or so, of being vocally opposed to others. Just look at YouTube comments! One example that springs to mind, I loved Iron Man 2, someone sent me a link of the Iron Man, War Machine friendly fight, I was so happy to hear Daft Punk "Robot Rock" in the movie!
Obviously someone had smuggled in a camera to get the clip, and the sound was fairly poor. Still, hey, its better than nothing! And, predictably, many people complained "hey d00d, sound sucks moron" etc. Well, why dont the whiners go and secretly film blockbuster movies for themselves eh? On their parents HD camera, if its so easy!
Have a great day tyrione
If it bothers you to type on an iPad, try using a Bluetooth Keyboard. I was AMAZED at how fun, yes fun, it was to use it with my Apple Wireless Keyboard (just wanted you to know I've drunk the kool aid).
I seriously believe the iPad could be a great gaming device, if you prop the "screen" up somewhere, and use a bluetooth control. I would love it if Apple would let you use Playstation 3 etc controllers with it, or even if they sold their own. I'm sure there will be hacks to get that sort of thing working.
Thank you for my heartiest laugh of the day :)
Using the iPad as a terminal is not so terribly different than connecting to an internet server you know :)
Nice username BTW.
....yes....why wouldnt they?
And this is in New Zealand, a country that doesnt even HAVE the iPad on sale yet....
http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/press-release-2009-iphone-users-rush-to-experience-airnzs-new-mpass-technology-13mar09
I imported an iPad, and I've already used the app on my iPhone.
Funny, my iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac...no LED's screaming at me, unless you count the LED backlit screens on some Apple products?
Funny, before I switched to a Mac, I would black out any activity indicator LED lights on my computers. ESPECIALLY on my NEC laptop, that thing drove me nuts with its constant amber and green lights...and the BLINKING! ARRRRGH!
LED lights are incredibly tacky, look at many of the off-the-shelf PC laptops that cover every millimetre of plastic with flashing lights. Even Macs that have LED lights have ONE, to represent the device being on (Macs are generally fairly quiet, you might not realise otherwise) and its WHITE. I always thought that was rather classy.
"unresponsive piece of glass"? What have you been smoking? Have you even seen or used an iPad?
One of the things that all reviewers of the iPad have agreed upon is its "snappiness". Its a VERY fast device to use! Webpages, apps, photos, movies, songs...they all POP up and "Just Work"(tm).
I imported an iPad and love it. Its one of the most beautiful devices I own, it feels lovely in my hands. I do find it weird that it rocks on flat surfaces, but the curved back is no doubt to make it more comfortable to hold in your hands...thats the point. It is not a device designed to be chained to a desk (well, AFTER release to the public). Its meant to be held.
Try putting up with an uncomfortable, buggy lump of plastic sometime, I imagine many people will replace their ancient computers and use an iPad. I have a new 27 inch iMac, if it was not for the difference between a 10 and 27 inch screen, I'd use the iPad for *ALL* my web browsing.
See, this is exactly what he meant. I hate how online commenting is this massive shitstorm of people hiding behind made up names such as "bigdik69" and "cooldood1987" (guess when they were born), who are we to constantly pick at what others do? If you dont like Apple products, dont buy them, its simple. Can you imagine if people were this way with the world outside tech? Example, everyone knows that US cars have this stigma of being crap, but would every car fanatic spend their every waking hour to mail postcards saying "hey Ford, ur cars suck!!!111!!!"? More than any modern company (straight research facilities aside), perhaps Apple has given the world the most in terms of everyday technology.
.mkv warez, and the iPad and its mono speaker make me irritable to everyone around.
By all means resent the horrors of the iPod, iPhone, iPad. I know our lives have been ruined by their success. I rue the day Jobs and co decided to put a 5GB hard drive in a plastic and metal casing, I cant sleep at night over the iPhones refusal to play my
I'm a proficient Apple user, I have seemingly iEverything, and am quite happy. Of course I understand why some (a small percent of the market) refuse to have something that is "closed", I enjoy the Apple products I have.
I have a healthy respect for Android, I hope it does very well. As far as I know, not a single Android device has been sold in New Zealand. I've seen one or two of the crappier models at stores, but none of my friends have one. I cannot wait for the EVO 4G to arrive (for my American friends).
I think companies competing with Apple should focus on the things that Apple DOESNT do, on the things they provide. I think "droid does" was a good idea, although it was a little...geeky? By all means continue this line of ads! Many "Apple Haters" mention "oh that Apple, its all marketing". Well, if Apple supposedly makes up a tiny 5% of the PC market, how come they have such mindshare? Hey Dell, Microsoft, HP, get off your butts, spend some bucks on ads eh? They have the money to compete, yet they DONT.
Put yourself in Steve Jobs shoes (New Balance 991's, do you know the uniform of any other CEO, past or present?), he must receive thousands of emails a day from ingrates, "how cum da Iphone is not on Verizon? LAAAAAAAAAME!". Computer companies dont owe us diddly. Either support a company who makes choices you AGREE with, or even better, start your OWN company, in your parents garage, with a close friend. Who knows, perhaps you will one day have a private jet, billions in the bank and an army of jackasses hounding you day and night.
Hmm, not sure. I see it more that the USA has insanely CHEAP prices! Everywhere else has more "normal" prices, although some are more "normal" than others :) I believe its South Africa where for the cost of ONE 17 inch MacBook Pro you could buy....TWO in America :)
:) The more expensive stuff (that the record labels managed to get away with) is $2.39 odd.
:)
I'm very jealous of the whole "99c" thing for songs and apps, here its 1.29c NZD, not quite the same ring to it
And yet, everyone in America is always complaining of their high taxes!
Hmm, I bought mine from someone who had bought it back from Florida. There are some advertising their iPads as bought from the Fifth Avenue store, hey, now thats a bonus, I may never get to visit "The Temple" myself, but I could have a sacred object that had :)
:) I love browsing the web on it, and email is actually fun! I totally imagine people having an iPad, just for on couch browsing, and its amazing in bed (just wanted to say that). Perhaps it would be good with a camera or two, although being honest, it would be a terrible view, looking up at your nose, and that I find it difficult to type either orientation. I find the iPad too wide for portrait keyboard, it works on an iPhone, and the landscape is good, but I cannot touch type, my fingers are blocking my view! Hey, you can always use bluetooth keyboards with it if you want an iPad as a serious typing device.
I try not to talk about my iPad all the time, although I do feel like its a part of my life already, and I've had it less than a month! I cant wait until iBooks are out worldwide, I was dissapointed the app does NOT come with the iPad...I wanted to read Winnie The Pooh!
I learnt with my imported iPhone, when you have shiny new things, especially shiny new things "you shouldnt have in your country yet", its best not to brag in public. It would be like leaving a Lamborghini out on the street in a bad neighbourhood.
I hope you get an iPad to call your own