If governments can produce such powerful systems, as they claim, why cannot they do something as simple as stopping spam, which, by the way, really hurts economies.
My guess is that these systems suffer from the usual contracts' weaknesses: kickbacks, wow-presentations, bugs, etc.
How exactly does spam hurt the economies?
First some history: Junk mail, you like it? you probably get a lot of it. I do. Funny thing about junk mail, is that it has a cost. yet that doesn't stop us from getting a ton of it. Spam? Doesn't cost very much to send, thus we get a shitload of it.
Okay, back to today. That spam has made jobs for programmers and IT. yep, it gives people job security. Much like the paper junk mail gives printers, and paper makers and ink makers and the fracking post office jobs.
At $5 per disk, I would not have them because of the player cost, unless I find a great price on a used one somewhere.
I made the mistake of buying a Laserdisk player. The disks were supposed to be cheaper than videotape because they could be easly mass produced. Video tape prices fell and laserdisk remained expensive. DVD's filled the promise with many titles in the bins under $5.
Blue-ray started at a higher price and remain at a higher price for the player and content. No thanks.
Blueray players are under $100. (https://encrypted.google.com/#q=blu+ray+player&hl=en&prmd=imvnsra&sa=X&ei=M8hsT_T6AceXiALWqpGDBQ&ved=0CC4QpwUoAA&tbs=cat:388%2Cpdtr0%3A711982|711983%2Cprice%3A1%2Cppr_min%3A1%2Cppr_max%3A100&tbm=shop&tbo=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=99016be44ce470d6&biw=1257&bih=849)
I'm disabled and on a fixed income and I can afford to get a blue ray player if I wanted. So I'm not sure how much more they need to come down for you to consider them priced good.
Of course, the Blue rays aren't $5, so it probably doesn't matter...
I hate seeing compression artifacts in so-called high def video - it causes me to think about the display rather than the story. The same thing happens to music when processed with Autotune. To my ear, it sounds like a machine - not a human. The same thing happens with poorly remastered CDs. I've pretty much given up buying new CDs or any modern digital music from big companies because the sound grates my ears.
You should (maybe you have) seen the HDTV that Comcast puts out. If there is no action, it looks great, but as soon as people start moving? I'll swear i'm watching a 640x282 divx, instead of whats supposed to be a HD 720p signal.
The Ultimate Fighter is a great example of how horrible it is. Because of this, I download all of my TV shows, because I have a 1080p TV and I can't stand to see compression artifacts. And yes, I have an HDTV tuner. (i know someone would say something stupid like, your probably using the wrong tuner. comcast shill)
The truth is, some corporation is going to fuck up what you like, some way or another.
I wonder if I bitched at the people who produce the shows I like, and let them know (not that it does any good) that Comcast is purposely screwing up the quality of their show and making me now wanting to watch it, if that would do anything?
I highly doubt they will unveil plans for a new device before the holiday shopping season is over - otherwise a potential consumer might hold off on making a purchase until the new system is out. Chances are they will wait until the after major retail outlet return policy has expired before they make their next-next gen plans known...
I think that depends on Nintendo. If they actually get a device out by xmas, MS would want to rain on their parade by "announcing" their next console, and saying how much better it is going to be and how many magic ponies it has.
360 was pretty dumb as well, it puts you in the same place you started.
Yeah, its a terrible name. But what else would they have named it? Xbox 2? That would be really bad, because the general public would see the choice between "Xbox 2 or Playstation 3". They'd read it as, "3 > 2, why should I buy the system with the lower number, its obviously worse," and buy PS3 instead.
I agree consumers are stupid, but not as stupid as the corporations who think this shit up.
Never understood the naming problems we run into. Have to change naming, because using normal numbers confuses the customers. Using a number and a period, followed by more numbers really confuses customers, so can't do that either.
Seriously, look at Firefox version numbers. they had to change it.
Look at Nvidia/ATI's version numbers for their video cards. I guess they sort of follow a pattern, shit, it's easy to tell whats better, right?
And BBC 4 is better then BBC 3 because it's bigger!!!
anyways, i'm tired and stoned and don't have anymore examples i feel like throwing out, but i'm sure you get the gist of whatever i'm saying. Any confusion isn't because of customers, it's because of corporations not keeping to any regular sort of naming conventions.
You mean, if you bought it and avoided the RRoD (which my friend just encountered after three years with his machine) *AND* avoided the E74 error (which I ran into several 360s ago) *AND* avoided the optical drives that fail and stop reading DVDs so you can't play games anymore (just happened to me for the second time), then you're still good to go. Assuming you also aren't tired of looking at increasingly tired graphics and goofy looking models of human beings that animate poorly (yes, PC PC PC -- but no matter how powerful my computer is, I don't want to play *all* my games hunched over a desk *all* the time).
I am currently on my fifth or sixth 360.
First one died after 100hrs of use (but those 100hrs took more than the year of warranty). The optical drive stopped reading discs. Not covered. This is a VERY common failure of 360s. Google it.
Second one died of an E74 error after almost no use over the period of a year or so. Not covered.
Third system stolen in a home invasion.
Fourth system just stopped turning on. Even with another power brick.
Fifth system just recently died of another failed optical drive. It would only recognize games about 25% of the time -- and when it would read the discs, it would make a horrible noise and also scratch the disc.
So, I'm personally on my sixth machine. My fifth due to Microsoft. And on top of that, I've bought a 360 for a family member, bought one for a friend, and bought another for a random person who was on hard times that I read about in a news paper that had all their shit stolen.
In this same time? My original PS3 is still kicking ass. So is my PS3 Slim. In fact, my PS2 and PS1 also work. So does my GameCube, N64, SNES, NES, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Lynx, Nomad, GameBoy, GBA, Atari Jaguar. In fact, all of my Atari's and my Odyssey II still work (Atari 2600 dating back to 1977).
But I'm on my sixth 360.
Yes, I'd post Anonymous also if i was admitting to something like buying 6 Xbox 360's and apparently still willing to buy more.
Dude, give it up, the "collection" you have amassed is not going to be any good because you will NOT find an xbox 360 that can still play the disks in 5 years, let alone 10...
My guess? The new Xbox isn't backward compatable with the 360.
The 360 was released in 2005 and still going strong. If you bought one then and avoided RROD, you're still good to go. Meanwhile ipods from then have been thrown away, your computer from 2005 is a dinosaur that you keep to run Linux on, your cell phone from 2005 has been somewhere in the back of your closet since 2006, your TV from 2005 needs a digital tuner, your DVD player from 2005 won't play Blu-Ray...
You do realize that the Xbox 360 doesn't play Blu-Ray either, right?
The company should be fined and their head of legal sent off to federal "pound you in the ass" prison for even attempting to put this in an EULA. How can an EULA supersede law?
Because Corporations are more important then people in the governments eyes?
I don't know about the might Dutch, but we can do Citizen arrests here in the fuckup land of the hyprocrits, i mean, the USA.
Get your friends, go to where the iPad is, do your best to figure out exactly who has it, wait, when you can get them alone, preferbly with the ipad, then "arrest" the fool.
Yes, I have a lot of spelling errors in this post, don't care.
You know why MS can't break it into the markets that Apple is dominating?
They have no commitment, no follow thru. None at all.
Zune? gone. Windows Mobile shit? gone. each generation didn't work with the next, and since they have no problem scrapping things, no one wants to commit.
MS Kin? Not supported when released.
MS tablets? they have those? rofl!
The only thing MS has had any commitment to is their main software. Windows OS and Windows Office. If MS showed the sort of commitment they put to those items in any other market, they might actually do okay.
At first, they were held like normal phones, up to your ears.
Then came text messaging, and everyone was typing on a keypad.
Then came little keyboards, so were weren't using the number pads.
Then we got rid of the keyboards and used the screen for typing.
Now they want us to hold the phone in front of us with 1 hand,while waving our hand (like a magician or something) in front of the phone.
Wtf happened to using a phone like a fucking phone?
Though I have to give props to google here, chasing a patent before everyone else, since this is the next step.
but what happened to voice control? It's a phone, we talk into it, why not actually control it with our voice? Shit, i better get that idea patented...
Seriously, I tried to read the damn wiki on NP hard and it makes no fucking sense.
so NP hard is well, NP hard.
I know we got some really smart people here to probably use NP hard in every day conversation, but i'm guessing, you could easily say, that a lot of old nintendo games are pretty fucking challenging and hard to get a high score on.
But wtf is Pokemon doing in that list? That game isn't hard, it's fucking easy as all hell. It's a memory game. You got to remember what a pokemons weakness and strength is. Even if you don't, the game isn't hard to play. at all. Donkey Kong, sure, that gets hard. Pacman, yes, unless you memorize the patterns, which then makes the game easy and boring as all hell.
Well, whatever. Next time, maybe the explantion of NP hard shouldn't be, well, NP hard.
woot! Lazy piggies cost SF a lot of money during a recession!!!!
The person who should be fired, is the Police Chief. He may of not been directly responsible for checking the Breathalyzers, but he is responsible for the Police Department, and since he didn't do his job, or check up on his staff to make sure they were doing his.
The officers in charge of the Breathalyzers should be canned also, and any cop that used the control sample number should be fined and suspended and made to do police training all over again.
Look, the person in charge is supposed to be in charge. It don't fucking matter if he did shit or not, he's the boss, and he should pay. Not sure why we think the people in charge shouldn't ever bear responsiblity for the people under them, but isn't that what we pay them the big bucks for?
Lazy pigs should be cut up for bacon and ham. Just saying.
Man, those were the good old days, when acid was plentiful (the 80's). I really miss taking acid. They said I'd get flashbacks when I got older, which I am still waiting for. I mean, free acid trips? I'm down. Except they aren't happening.
I want some mother loving acid, LSD, shit, i'll even eat the brown acid from woodstock. Prefer liquid, but I'll take blotter, 4 way, gels, whatever you got.
Tune in, Turn on, Drop out.
One of my best trips was when I took some liquid acid, 2 drops, and 20 mins later, i'm watching these crab aliens rip up my ceiling, while blood was dripping down the wall. Not only was I not scared, I was loving it. I don't lose reality on acid, and this was by far the best show ever. I kept thinking my roommate wanted to sleep with (like I really want to have sex on acid, not!), she thought I was the devil, and we were really fucked up.
I would love to take acid again, but I have no idea where to get it. Guess I can go find some hippies somewhere...
While acid isn't for everyone, 'cause some of you are crazy upstairs, most everyone should take it. It opens your mind to other ways of thinking, and honestly, most the world needs to open their minds and wake the fuck up.
Fox News editorials are bullshit, but their news reporting is no less accurate than WaPo. I can imagine a known conservative news outlet being able to establish deeper sources within law enforcement than their more liberal counterparts, hence their scoop on the exclusive info. I'm not a conservative btw, and posting anon for obvious reasons.
Slashdot Mirror
apparently get you imprisoned and kicked out of school just short of graduating.
I wonder what would of happened if he had just walked up to dude and hit him with a stick or thrown a rock at him?
Probably be graduating and paying a small fine, or a few days in jail.
If governments can produce such powerful systems, as they claim, why cannot they do something as simple as stopping spam, which, by the way, really hurts economies.
My guess is that these systems suffer from the usual contracts' weaknesses: kickbacks, wow-presentations, bugs, etc.
How exactly does spam hurt the economies?
First some history: Junk mail, you like it? you probably get a lot of it. I do. Funny thing about junk mail, is that it has a cost. yet that doesn't stop us from getting a ton of it. Spam? Doesn't cost very much to send, thus we get a shitload of it.
Okay, back to today. That spam has made jobs for programmers and IT. yep, it gives people job security. Much like the paper junk mail gives printers, and paper makers and ink makers and the fracking post office jobs.
Welcome to America, where the state is a Corporation
Welcome to the United* Corporations of America.
*United only in the idea that people live to make them profits.
TFA:
Microsoft has conducted physical seizures
Since when can a CORPORATION perform seizures of private property???
When it gets a court order and has proper officials (in this case, US Marshals) with them, like it appears happened.
At $5 per disk, I would not have them because of the player cost, unless I find a great price on a used one somewhere.
I made the mistake of buying a Laserdisk player. The disks were supposed to be cheaper than videotape because they could be easly mass produced. Video tape prices fell and laserdisk remained expensive. DVD's filled the promise with many titles in the bins under $5.
Blue-ray started at a higher price and remain at a higher price for the player and content. No thanks.
Blueray players are under $100. (https://encrypted.google.com/#q=blu+ray+player&hl=en&prmd=imvnsra&sa=X&ei=M8hsT_T6AceXiALWqpGDBQ&ved=0CC4QpwUoAA&tbs=cat:388%2Cpdtr0%3A711982|711983%2Cprice%3A1%2Cppr_min%3A1%2Cppr_max%3A100&tbm=shop&tbo=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=99016be44ce470d6&biw=1257&bih=849)
I'm disabled and on a fixed income and I can afford to get a blue ray player if I wanted. So I'm not sure how much more they need to come down for you to consider them priced good.
Of course, the Blue rays aren't $5, so it probably doesn't matter...
I hate seeing compression artifacts in so-called high def video - it causes me to think about the display rather than the story. The same thing happens to music when processed with Autotune. To my ear, it sounds like a machine - not a human. The same thing happens with poorly remastered CDs. I've pretty much given up buying new CDs or any modern digital music from big companies because the sound grates my ears.
You should (maybe you have) seen the HDTV that Comcast puts out. If there is no action, it looks great, but as soon as people start moving? I'll swear i'm watching a 640x282 divx, instead of whats supposed to be a HD 720p signal.
The Ultimate Fighter is a great example of how horrible it is. Because of this, I download all of my TV shows, because I have a 1080p TV and I can't stand to see compression artifacts. And yes, I have an HDTV tuner. (i know someone would say something stupid like, your probably using the wrong tuner. comcast shill)
The truth is, some corporation is going to fuck up what you like, some way or another.
I wonder if I bitched at the people who produce the shows I like, and let them know (not that it does any good) that Comcast is purposely screwing up the quality of their show and making me now wanting to watch it, if that would do anything?
An Xbox 360 with Kinect built in?
Truthfully, Microsoft quietly released their new console, the Kinect, when nobody was looking.
It got my sister to buy an Xbox... my sister.
She wasn't even interested in the Wii!
one question. Is your sister hot?
I highly doubt they will unveil plans for a new device before the holiday shopping season is over - otherwise a potential consumer might hold off on making a purchase until the new system is out. Chances are they will wait until the after major retail outlet return policy has expired before they make their next-next gen plans known...
I think that depends on Nintendo. If they actually get a device out by xmas, MS would want to rain on their parade by "announcing" their next console, and saying how much better it is going to be and how many magic ponies it has.
360 was pretty dumb as well, it puts you in the same place you started.
Yeah, its a terrible name. But what else would they have named it? Xbox 2? That would be really bad, because the general public would see the choice between "Xbox 2 or Playstation 3". They'd read it as, "3 > 2, why should I buy the system with the lower number, its obviously worse," and buy PS3 instead.
I agree consumers are stupid, but not as stupid as the corporations who think this shit up.
Never understood the naming problems we run into. Have to change naming, because using normal numbers confuses the customers. Using a number and a period, followed by more numbers really confuses customers, so can't do that either.
Seriously, look at Firefox version numbers. they had to change it.
Look at Nvidia/ATI's version numbers for their video cards. I guess they sort of follow a pattern, shit, it's easy to tell whats better, right?
And BBC 4 is better then BBC 3 because it's bigger!!!
anyways, i'm tired and stoned and don't have anymore examples i feel like throwing out, but i'm sure you get the gist of whatever i'm saying. Any confusion isn't because of customers, it's because of corporations not keeping to any regular sort of naming conventions.
You mean, if you bought it and avoided the RRoD (which my friend just encountered after three years with his machine) *AND* avoided the E74 error (which I ran into several 360s ago) *AND* avoided the optical drives that fail and stop reading DVDs so you can't play games anymore (just happened to me for the second time), then you're still good to go. Assuming you also aren't tired of looking at increasingly tired graphics and goofy looking models of human beings that animate poorly (yes, PC PC PC -- but no matter how powerful my computer is, I don't want to play *all* my games hunched over a desk *all* the time).
I am currently on my fifth or sixth 360.
First one died after 100hrs of use (but those 100hrs took more than the year of warranty). The optical drive stopped reading discs. Not covered. This is a VERY common failure of 360s. Google it.
Second one died of an E74 error after almost no use over the period of a year or so. Not covered.
Third system stolen in a home invasion.
Fourth system just stopped turning on. Even with another power brick.
Fifth system just recently died of another failed optical drive. It would only recognize games about 25% of the time -- and when it would read the discs, it would make a horrible noise and also scratch the disc.
So, I'm personally on my sixth machine. My fifth due to Microsoft. And on top of that, I've bought a 360 for a family member, bought one for a friend, and bought another for a random person who was on hard times that I read about in a news paper that had all their shit stolen.
In this same time? My original PS3 is still kicking ass. So is my PS3 Slim. In fact, my PS2 and PS1 also work. So does my GameCube, N64, SNES, NES, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Lynx, Nomad, GameBoy, GBA, Atari Jaguar. In fact, all of my Atari's and my Odyssey II still work (Atari 2600 dating back to 1977).
But I'm on my sixth 360.
Yes, I'd post Anonymous also if i was admitting to something like buying 6 Xbox 360's and apparently still willing to buy more.
Dude, give it up, the "collection" you have amassed is not going to be any good because you will NOT find an xbox 360 that can still play the disks in 5 years, let alone 10...
My guess? The new Xbox isn't backward compatable with the 360.
The 360 was released in 2005 and still going strong. If you bought one then and avoided RROD, you're still good to go. Meanwhile ipods from then have been thrown away, your computer from 2005 is a dinosaur that you keep to run Linux on, your cell phone from 2005 has been somewhere in the back of your closet since 2006, your TV from 2005 needs a digital tuner, your DVD player from 2005 won't play Blu-Ray...
You do realize that the Xbox 360 doesn't play Blu-Ray either, right?
Death Magnetic did indeed sound terrible, which is sad since it's Metallica's best album in 15 years. ...
God punishes those who cut their hair.
The company should be fined and their head of legal sent off to federal "pound you in the ass" prison for even attempting to put this in an EULA. How can an EULA supersede law?
Because Corporations are more important then people in the governments eyes?
Wonder what sort of damage losing your phone could do to your business with this?
I don't know about the might Dutch, but we can do Citizen arrests here in the fuckup land of the hyprocrits, i mean, the USA.
Get your friends, go to where the iPad is, do your best to figure out exactly who has it, wait, when you can get them alone, preferbly with the ipad, then "arrest" the fool.
Yes, I have a lot of spelling errors in this post, don't care.
Do NOT carry anything illegal into the country you are going into.
Chances are you will be caught, and you do NOT want to get caught.
They are going to blame it on piracy, or terrorism. I know it.
So they can make a profit off it. Blame it on the Sun and it's an act of god! (notice, i didn't capitalize god. good, it don't exist.)
my internet provider isn't a big media player.
Fuck them and the lobbiest sluts the senators fucked to get us to this point.
so then we can have replies.
You know why MS can't break it into the markets that Apple is dominating?
They have no commitment, no follow thru. None at all.
Zune? gone. Windows Mobile shit? gone. each generation didn't work with the next, and since they have no problem scrapping things, no one wants to commit.
MS Kin? Not supported when released.
MS tablets? they have those? rofl!
The only thing MS has had any commitment to is their main software. Windows OS and Windows Office. If MS showed the sort of commitment they put to those items in any other market, they might actually do okay.
Poor cellphones.
At first, they were held like normal phones, up to your ears.
Then came text messaging, and everyone was typing on a keypad.
Then came little keyboards, so were weren't using the number pads.
Then we got rid of the keyboards and used the screen for typing.
Now they want us to hold the phone in front of us with 1 hand,while waving our hand (like a magician or something) in front of the phone.
Wtf happened to using a phone like a fucking phone?
Though I have to give props to google here, chasing a patent before everyone else, since this is the next step.
but what happened to voice control? It's a phone, we talk into it, why not actually control it with our voice? Shit, i better get that idea patented...
NP hard. I got your hard hanging.
Seriously, I tried to read the damn wiki on NP hard and it makes no fucking sense.
so NP hard is well, NP hard.
I know we got some really smart people here to probably use NP hard in every day conversation, but i'm guessing, you could easily say, that a lot of old nintendo games are pretty fucking challenging and hard to get a high score on.
But wtf is Pokemon doing in that list? That game isn't hard, it's fucking easy as all hell. It's a memory game. You got to remember what a pokemons weakness and strength is. Even if you don't, the game isn't hard to play. at all. Donkey Kong, sure, that gets hard. Pacman, yes, unless you memorize the patterns, which then makes the game easy and boring as all hell.
Well, whatever. Next time, maybe the explantion of NP hard shouldn't be, well, NP hard.
woot! Lazy piggies cost SF a lot of money during a recession!!!!
The person who should be fired, is the Police Chief. He may of not been directly responsible for checking the Breathalyzers, but he is responsible for the Police Department, and since he didn't do his job, or check up on his staff to make sure they were doing his.
The officers in charge of the Breathalyzers should be canned also, and any cop that used the control sample number should be fined and suspended and made to do police training all over again.
Look, the person in charge is supposed to be in charge. It don't fucking matter if he did shit or not, he's the boss, and he should pay. Not sure why we think the people in charge shouldn't ever bear responsiblity for the people under them, but isn't that what we pay them the big bucks for?
Lazy pigs should be cut up for bacon and ham. Just saying.
Man, those were the good old days, when acid was plentiful (the 80's). I really miss taking acid. They said I'd get flashbacks when I got older, which I am still waiting for. I mean, free acid trips? I'm down. Except they aren't happening.
I want some mother loving acid, LSD, shit, i'll even eat the brown acid from woodstock. Prefer liquid, but I'll take blotter, 4 way, gels, whatever you got.
Tune in, Turn on, Drop out.
One of my best trips was when I took some liquid acid, 2 drops, and 20 mins later, i'm watching these crab aliens rip up my ceiling, while blood was dripping down the wall. Not only was I not scared, I was loving it. I don't lose reality on acid, and this was by far the best show ever. I kept thinking my roommate wanted to sleep with (like I really want to have sex on acid, not!), she thought I was the devil, and we were really fucked up.
I would love to take acid again, but I have no idea where to get it. Guess I can go find some hippies somewhere...
While acid isn't for everyone, 'cause some of you are crazy upstairs, most everyone should take it. It opens your mind to other ways of thinking, and honestly, most the world needs to open their minds and wake the fuck up.
Fox News editorials are bullshit, but their news reporting is no less accurate than WaPo. I can imagine a known conservative news outlet being able to establish deeper sources within law enforcement than their more liberal counterparts, hence their scoop on the exclusive info. I'm not a conservative btw, and posting anon for obvious reasons.
WaPo? That you Taco?