I don't think you're delusional. I remember things being this way pre-world wide web. Newspapers had a very pronounced effect on regional cultural such that newspaper distribution was a worthwhile subject of study by people studying the influence of cities. There are cities in Minnesota with readership that is split between Wisconsin local papers and Minneapolis local papers. I've read the New York Times for years despite being in Chicago. I liked Chicago local news. WGN has been very responsive to my needs for local news. I don't really know what more people require out of local news. I can do without a lot of national coverage because I expect that from the national news programming and from my own Internet reading. I truly despise cable news. I think cable news is the death of local news. Cable news turned news into a mix of day time television and late night trash TV when they came up with the so-called 24-hour news cycle, which in reality, has never ever been 24 hours of actual news. In the ratings game, Americans found that preferred having their news read to them and analyzed for them. They didn't want to have to read multiple articles and draw the connecting lines. They didn't want to continue following stories after they ceased being headlines. So they let the pundits do it. And the pundits did it very well. It was good television, but it was poor news. And then the need to having breaking news made matters worse. Now, realizing that they will not report 24 hours worth of up-to-the-minute news, the cable news companies recycle and revisit previous stories but amplify them with some new detail or angle. And each time this is done, the story must told with more conviction and more intensity. Suddenly a Page 6 story is a dramatic leading headline. This is why the end is always fucking nigh on cable news no matter what the article. In order to combat this, network news has had to adopt this strategy, but with only 30 minutes to an hour of air-time, and of that, no more than 45 minutes of actual broadcast, local news has to settle for merely being more stylistically like cable news.
And note, this isn't a comment about one particular cable news company over another. They are bad in one or more aspects, and they are all destructive to the actual profession of journalism as a whole.
So you're saying, aside from the genocide, the only reason the Nazis were bad was because the Allies won the war; thus, they won the right to tell the history of the war and the history of the Nazis?
The U.S. remained in the war because the U.S.'s war with Germany was a consequence of its war with Japan. You're incorrect about the propaganda machine's depiction of Nazis as monsters. The Nazis were depicted as we depict Star Wars' stormtroopers, yes -- as formidable, highly organized, threatening foes, but not as monsters. The U.S. and U.K. press didn't discuss genocide. In fact, most American soldiers fighting the war had no idea about the genocide of Jews until near the end of the European campaign. Much of the American press seemed to bury the stories as rumors. There's even been some accusations that American finance companies like Citicorp had deliberately worked to bury stories of Nazi atrocities.
In reality, the Nazis got a pretty fair shake for a number of years after the war.
A few months ago I began receiving all sorts of Vonage account information. I thought someone had opened an account in my name, but in reality it was a type in the subscriber's email address. I contacted to Vonage to clarify the error, also just to make sure I was correct. I continued to receive account-sensitive email and digitized voicemails until I contacted the account holder directly at his email address. I made sure to explain what I was sent to me, how I responded, and such. It gave the person some ease knowing the extent of any privacy invasion. Very recently, I received a sensitive attorney-client email. I had absolutely no idea why my email address ended up in cc: but I didn't know of the parties involved. The moment I realized I was reading an attorney-client message, I stopped reading, then immediately contacted the sender to let them know. Again, I explained how far I read and reassured the sender. Neither episode went beyond the initial contact, so there's no guarantee the response will be hostile.
This should be modded up, but I'll reiterate it since the poster was an AC. The parent wanted to gain the ability to claim business expenses. Having been an S-corp myself, I know the hassle of filing quarterly taxes and then doing personal on top of it. But I still came out ahead. I love the concept of an S-corp. I love that I get business expense deductions, not to mention the limited personal liability in the advent of my company being sued. I wouldn't say California is not business friendly. Many businesses thrive in California. I will accept some alternative reasons though such as: life is hard, paying taxes is a bitch no matter where you live, things cost more in California, and my favorite the Franchise Tax Board seems to be run by incompetent monkeys that really make the experience rougher than it has to be.
I know that the White House has called that bill a distraction. I'd like to read it first to see what's in the language. If there are any social riders in it of any kind, that would show that the GOP only used military pay as an enticement to get the President to sign off on social measures. If there are no social riders, and the White House and Senate are just arbitrarily leaving military families to drown, then that will be a very different matter.
We're better at airstrikes than France and the UK. That is a fact. It's our expertise. The British and French deferred to us for that. $1.5 million per missile is small change compared to the cost of a pilot crew and their aircraft. The UK and France will be doing more, according to the President. Thus, our role will be cheaper. If you want hard numbers on the cost of doing nothing and letting Libya settle itself, you'll have to wait. You're requesting an estimation of a future cost with a lot of variables and intangibles.
By the way, you're implying that I'm a BHO supporter, and for no reason. Should I assume you're a Tea Party anarchist who's too stupid to know that you benefit from Obama's tax policies at my expense as someone who makes a considerable amount of money? No, I shouldn't. I'm a supporter of my sitting President, whomever he is. Right now, it's BHO.
Actually, and this is an area were too many people are absolutely clueless, the military incurs costs whether its engaged in a war or not. Obviously, the military doesn't sit conveniently in a cabinet until the president is ready to pop open the DVD case and load the game. Also, the assumption people make regarding Libya is that the choice we faced was either spend zero money dealign with the Libyan situation or spend a lot of money. I believe the President and his Chiefs have more and better information than any Slashdotter. The President's choice, for all any outsider knows, may have been the least expensive option. Finally, the fact that Libya is a third hot spot means nothing. You didn't bring that up, but others did. The US military is more than capable of being in three places at once. In fact, we're not just in three places. What the military cannot handle is a government shutdown that results in military families not getting the money they need to live on. Most of the military lives paycheck to paycheck in communities that have survived only because of military bases. Often these communities are part of the Republican base. A government shutdown will quickly kill local economies that rely on the military. Ironically, if Republicans give in to the desires of the Tea Party, much of the ordinary Republican base will be hurt.
That a Democrat did it before doesn't mean that a Republican president couldn't do it now, especially given that such an act would gain a President, any President, a lot of points from the far right of the political spectrum. Having followed McCain for many years, his last failed bid for the presidency really showed a side of him I didn't like. McCain is more interested in point scoring now in his twilight days than anything else, and given the stranglehold the Tea Party has over Republicans, I can easily imagine McCain openly talking up this possibility just for applause. I wouldn't suggest McCain would actually round up Arabs though. These days, it's about the dog and pony show. It's a bit like TV wrestling. The audiences want to see these politicos get in the ring and engage in absurd bravado.
Right. And they are hardly fucked. For every consumer getting over 70% of their broadcast entertainment from streaming media, how many more will continue to use a traditional television and cable subscription? Broadband isn't in every American household, and most broadband consumers are likely getting their connection via a cable subscription, one that couples their digital TV into a package . In time, perhaps a majority of Americans will stream their entertainment, but for right now and many year to come, they won't.
Most because this is 4chan's/b/ we're talking about. And ultimately, their desire to be entertained with Sony products wins over any real political statement Anonymous wants to make.
I think I'm misunderstanding you. Are you suggesting $1,000 is the approx cost of rent for a studio apartment in DC? In my experience, most of the studios in DC itself run from around $1,800 to $9,000 a month. And in Arlington, VA it drops to around $1,500 to $3,000.
Neither IBM nor HP are remotely comparable to Red Hat or other companies that focus on FOSS. HP and IBM develop complete software systems that include hardware they design. IBM has chip development. HP has imaging, printers, etc..
One of my favorites is the "secret video", a trope device used commonly in '80s and early '90s era action TV shows to that wraps a clip show around a new plot. The way it works is that a new character is introduced, usually a future arch nemesis, who has been secretly observing the show's protagonists over at least a season. The character watches a video of the protagonists. The video also shows full clips from previous episodes. Where things get insane is that the clips always include scenes which couldn't logically have been secretly videotaped by an outside observer without that observer having been embedded within the protagonists, or because the original camerawork in the clips makes it impossible to believe there's a secret observer there.
It's always implied that high tech computer and video technology was used to make the recordings.
SMS remains because not everyone can access Twitter from a mobile. You need constant data access which will likely be paid for unless you have free uninterrupted wi-fi, otherwise you're stuck using SMS to send or receive tweets. I'm paying both for a data plan and unlimited messaging on top of that. I'm in the same camp with you, personally. My Twitter languished for years as I tried to figure out what the hell to use it for. I really should try to adopt your strategy.
Are you a heavy SMS/MMS user? I average about 3,500 a month. I use Google Voice as well though it lacks MMS, something I really need. It's my understanding that TextFree gives you a phone number to use for texts. Are you basically juggling a minimum of three telephone numbers just for texts? I mostly give out my GV number now, but often I'm asked whether I got an MMS, and of course I did not, so I'm back to handing out my main phone number too.
Thank you, really. That's the best explanation I've gotten so far after asking about. I've gotten really canned responses like: "Apple will likely give that feature when they figure out how to make it perfect", and "Bluetooth file-sharing is a bad paradigm. MMS pics and videos, email the rest, share between clouds", etc.
Just a correction: bluetooth file transfers is something that Apple arbitrarily opted *not* to provide. This iPhone 4 is my first iPhone, and I ignored the platform before this one, so I don't know why the 4th iteration of this phone still doesn't allow this.
No, I wasn't trolling, otherwise why would I even say anything positive about Android? In the case of my original Droid and my Droid X, I was able to run a backup copy the Tetris clone BitBlocks after it was no longer available in the market. Definitely a plus for Android since I only needed to run a backup app on my installation in order to create a new.APK and then reinstall as needed after checking to enable non-market apps. I need to root, however, in order to take advantage of some of AutoKiller Memory Optimizer's advanced features, otherwise I have to manually kill processes I don't want running on my non-rooted Droid. I realize I misstated the issue about rooting in my earlier response. I haven't need to root in order to install certain apps, just in order to use advanced features.
I'd also be interested in learning for sure whether the original Droid can be used as a hotspot. Verizon says it can't, but then Verizon is known for disabling features native to phones and then charging for them. My Droid X is an example. It can become a hotspot if I pay for the service. Unless I'm mistaken, I need to root in order to unlock that feature. I agree that Android is the more robust platform overall, but in my case, and my case alone, I feel iPhone provides a more satisfactory experience in total. I'm not saying Android is bad, and I'm not saying iPhone is perfect. I mentioned bluetooth file transfers. That's something that Apple arbitrarily chose to provide, and it just mystifies me that I have to go through so much trouble to get custom ringtones and sounds onto the phone. I'm fully aware of what I'm missing with iPhone. I own three different Androids, the latest HTC Evo 4G being the most recent. For me, it ultimately comes down to the quality of the phone and the quality of the apps, and the iPhone is great by both measures.
I bought my 16GB iphone for about $189 at my Apple Store. I renewed my 2-yr contract with Verizon and got an additional discount which I assume was for customer loyalty. Hopefully, you have an option like that available to you. I initially bought a Droid X full price. I don't think the iPhone is that much more expensive than full retail price I paid for my Droid.
The one thing I do love about Android phones is that I can write my own app and put it onto my phone. I need only checkmark a setting that lets me load non-market apps at my own risk. I don't have that ability with iPhone. I'm still waiting to get listed as an iPhone dev, but once that happens I believe it will mean I can live test my own homegrown apps on iPhone after (at least if my reading of Apple's terms is correct).
I believe we're giving undue credit to Android for being open. Android itself is open and free. But from what I've seen on the various HTC and Motorola Androids I've bought in the last year, each vendor's specific Android is not that open. Is Moto's Blur not proprietary? What about HTC's Sense UI? I've been told countless times to stop supporting Motorola because Motorola locks down their phones, thus taking away from that openness that is Android. Is it all a lie? People are telling me to buy HTC because they play well with modders.
I wasn't able to install all I wanted on my Droid. I was told I needed to root the phone. I had to wait until someone found a way to, and then risk following the steps. So, if at the end of the day, I'm still forced to root rather than jailbreak, how exactly am I realizing the difference between free and proprietary software? I haven't jailbroken my iPhone yet. I likely won't until I decide I absolutely need to have a bluetooth file transfer (something iPhone lacks), but until I do, I can at least enjoy an app market that is better for my needs.
You can't always walk away. Case in point: I've recently been dealing with a troll on Twitter. I had been tweeting about the Egyptian revolution actively. Some tweets I made regarding media comments on the assault of a female journalist in Egypt sparked the troll's interest. She forwarded me a link to an op-ed piece from a liberal writer whom she really had it in for. Upon reflection, the troll seemed to think I might be in agreement with her -- on what, I don't know. A few back and forths later, the troll was calling me out as a left, British academic elitist, antisemitic, techno thug, and she labelled me and another journalist as techno-communists. It was annoying, and I remained respectful despite calling her out on her attacks. After some research, I learned that my troll is actually a somewhat infamous second life crackpot who has a deep hatred for most journalists, all techies, FOSS, communists, progressives, etc. And she's quite known for her conspiracy theories involving communists. I even had the displeasure of hearing her scattered screaming rants.
The only proper way to deal with her, I found, was to address her directly and with both barrels loaded. The thing is, you have to be aware of your surroundings. Twitter is a public place. If Twitter or your blog, is an extension of your professional persona, you can't just walk away from certain trolls. It might work if you're dealing with some 4chan troll from/b/, but it doesn't work if your troll truly hates you. You have to attack back sternly, but you have to also keep your cool so that you don't embarrass yourself in front of your peers and your readers.
And honestly, publicly nailing her on the crazy conspiracy-laden things she's written and having her respond with lines that validate my points, was really satisfying.
Fine, anonymous coward, have it your way... It is impossible that China could be responsible for the cyber attacks against Canada. The peace-loving citizens of the great People's Republic of China could never do such a thing to our dear friends in the West with whom we enjoy a strong bond of friendship and belief in the one country-two policy system. If Chinese were responsible, they must surely have been corrupted by the decadent ways of the enemies of our peaceful nation in the West. There, better?
Because, obviously it cannot for a moment be likely that China could have done this, because FTA says we cannot know for sure, and because TFA says it, surely we must throw out past history. It must be 4chan.
That's possible, but with the number of Windows volume licenses in extraneous use, I'd bet that those machines aren't having such a difficult time being upgraded. It is known that China is aggressive in staging cyber attacks. We might not have absolute proof, and I mean "we" as in/. readers. I bet the U.S. and Canadian governments' own cyber warfare specialists have a fairly good idea of whether they're facing Chinese agents or dealing with zombies computers.
"Public sentiment towards China is getting very, very testy" That sounds racist and jingoistic to you? You're kidding right? I mean, "China replacing all Canadian government documents with takeout menues" would at least sound somewhat racist. The Chinese hackers leaving a calling card in the form of an animated takeout box would too. And jingoistic, well "Oh, Canada uber alles, eh!" would sound jingoistic. Canadians marching in the street screaming, "Take off you pandas!" would be both racist and jingoistic.
This is probably a true story though. Chinese hackers have been very aggressive in the last couple of years. One suggestion I've heard was that China wants to test its limits, find vulnerable infrastructure, and so on.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think you're delusional. I remember things being this way pre-world wide web. Newspapers had a very pronounced effect on regional cultural such that newspaper distribution was a worthwhile subject of study by people studying the influence of cities. There are cities in Minnesota with readership that is split between Wisconsin local papers and Minneapolis local papers. I've read the New York Times for years despite being in Chicago. I liked Chicago local news. WGN has been very responsive to my needs for local news. I don't really know what more people require out of local news. I can do without a lot of national coverage because I expect that from the national news programming and from my own Internet reading. I truly despise cable news. I think cable news is the death of local news. Cable news turned news into a mix of day time television and late night trash TV when they came up with the so-called 24-hour news cycle, which in reality, has never ever been 24 hours of actual news. In the ratings game, Americans found that preferred having their news read to them and analyzed for them. They didn't want to have to read multiple articles and draw the connecting lines. They didn't want to continue following stories after they ceased being headlines. So they let the pundits do it. And the pundits did it very well. It was good television, but it was poor news. And then the need to having breaking news made matters worse. Now, realizing that they will not report 24 hours worth of up-to-the-minute news, the cable news companies recycle and revisit previous stories but amplify them with some new detail or angle. And each time this is done, the story must told with more conviction and more intensity. Suddenly a Page 6 story is a dramatic leading headline. This is why the end is always fucking nigh on cable news no matter what the article. In order to combat this, network news has had to adopt this strategy, but with only 30 minutes to an hour of air-time, and of that, no more than 45 minutes of actual broadcast, local news has to settle for merely being more stylistically like cable news.
And note, this isn't a comment about one particular cable news company over another. They are bad in one or more aspects, and they are all destructive to the actual profession of journalism as a whole.
I would argue that not all tyrants are the same, and some forms of tyranny are perhaps better than others.
So you're saying, aside from the genocide, the only reason the Nazis were bad was because the Allies won the war; thus, they won the right to tell the history of the war and the history of the Nazis?
The U.S. remained in the war because the U.S.'s war with Germany was a consequence of its war with Japan. You're incorrect about the propaganda machine's depiction of Nazis as monsters. The Nazis were depicted as we depict Star Wars' stormtroopers, yes -- as formidable, highly organized, threatening foes, but not as monsters. The U.S. and U.K. press didn't discuss genocide. In fact, most American soldiers fighting the war had no idea about the genocide of Jews until near the end of the European campaign. Much of the American press seemed to bury the stories as rumors. There's even been some accusations that American finance companies like Citicorp had deliberately worked to bury stories of Nazi atrocities.
In reality, the Nazis got a pretty fair shake for a number of years after the war.
A few months ago I began receiving all sorts of Vonage account information. I thought someone had opened an account in my name, but in reality it was a type in the subscriber's email address. I contacted to Vonage to clarify the error, also just to make sure I was correct. I continued to receive account-sensitive email and digitized voicemails until I contacted the account holder directly at his email address. I made sure to explain what I was sent to me, how I responded, and such. It gave the person some ease knowing the extent of any privacy invasion. Very recently, I received a sensitive attorney-client email. I had absolutely no idea why my email address ended up in cc: but I didn't know of the parties involved. The moment I realized I was reading an attorney-client message, I stopped reading, then immediately contacted the sender to let them know. Again, I explained how far I read and reassured the sender. Neither episode went beyond the initial contact, so there's no guarantee the response will be hostile.
This should be modded up, but I'll reiterate it since the poster was an AC. The parent wanted to gain the ability to claim business expenses. Having been an S-corp myself, I know the hassle of filing quarterly taxes and then doing personal on top of it. But I still came out ahead. I love the concept of an S-corp. I love that I get business expense deductions, not to mention the limited personal liability in the advent of my company being sued. I wouldn't say California is not business friendly. Many businesses thrive in California. I will accept some alternative reasons though such as: life is hard, paying taxes is a bitch no matter where you live, things cost more in California, and my favorite the Franchise Tax Board seems to be run by incompetent monkeys that really make the experience rougher than it has to be.
I know that the White House has called that bill a distraction. I'd like to read it first to see what's in the language. If there are any social riders in it of any kind, that would show that the GOP only used military pay as an enticement to get the President to sign off on social measures. If there are no social riders, and the White House and Senate are just arbitrarily leaving military families to drown, then that will be a very different matter.
We're better at airstrikes than France and the UK. That is a fact. It's our expertise. The British and French deferred to us for that. $1.5 million per missile is small change compared to the cost of a pilot crew and their aircraft. The UK and France will be doing more, according to the President. Thus, our role will be cheaper. If you want hard numbers on the cost of doing nothing and letting Libya settle itself, you'll have to wait. You're requesting an estimation of a future cost with a lot of variables and intangibles.
By the way, you're implying that I'm a BHO supporter, and for no reason. Should I assume you're a Tea Party anarchist who's too stupid to know that you benefit from Obama's tax policies at my expense as someone who makes a considerable amount of money? No, I shouldn't. I'm a supporter of my sitting President, whomever he is. Right now, it's BHO.
Actually, and this is an area were too many people are absolutely clueless, the military incurs costs whether its engaged in a war or not. Obviously, the military doesn't sit conveniently in a cabinet until the president is ready to pop open the DVD case and load the game. Also, the assumption people make regarding Libya is that the choice we faced was either spend zero money dealign with the Libyan situation or spend a lot of money. I believe the President and his Chiefs have more and better information than any Slashdotter. The President's choice, for all any outsider knows, may have been the least expensive option. Finally, the fact that Libya is a third hot spot means nothing. You didn't bring that up, but others did. The US military is more than capable of being in three places at once. In fact, we're not just in three places. What the military cannot handle is a government shutdown that results in military families not getting the money they need to live on. Most of the military lives paycheck to paycheck in communities that have survived only because of military bases. Often these communities are part of the Republican base. A government shutdown will quickly kill local economies that rely on the military. Ironically, if Republicans give in to the desires of the Tea Party, much of the ordinary Republican base will be hurt.
That a Democrat did it before doesn't mean that a Republican president couldn't do it now, especially given that such an act would gain a President, any President, a lot of points from the far right of the political spectrum. Having followed McCain for many years, his last failed bid for the presidency really showed a side of him I didn't like. McCain is more interested in point scoring now in his twilight days than anything else, and given the stranglehold the Tea Party has over Republicans, I can easily imagine McCain openly talking up this possibility just for applause. I wouldn't suggest McCain would actually round up Arabs though. These days, it's about the dog and pony show. It's a bit like TV wrestling. The audiences want to see these politicos get in the ring and engage in absurd bravado.
Right. And they are hardly fucked. For every consumer getting over 70% of their broadcast entertainment from streaming media, how many more will continue to use a traditional television and cable subscription? Broadband isn't in every American household, and most broadband consumers are likely getting their connection via a cable subscription, one that couples their digital TV into a package . In time, perhaps a majority of Americans will stream their entertainment, but for right now and many year to come, they won't.
Most because this is 4chan's /b/ we're talking about. And ultimately, their desire to be entertained with Sony products wins over any real political statement Anonymous wants to make.
I think I'm misunderstanding you. Are you suggesting $1,000 is the approx cost of rent for a studio apartment in DC? In my experience, most of the studios in DC itself run from around $1,800 to $9,000 a month. And in Arlington, VA it drops to around $1,500 to $3,000.
Neither IBM nor HP are remotely comparable to Red Hat or other companies that focus on FOSS. HP and IBM develop complete software systems that include hardware they design. IBM has chip development. HP has imaging, printers, etc..
That's pretty bad, but this is CSI. Notice the constant use of little flashlights even when the room lighting doesn't require it? Love it.
One of my favorites is the "secret video", a trope device used commonly in '80s and early '90s era action TV shows to that wraps a clip show around a new plot. The way it works is that a new character is introduced, usually a future arch nemesis, who has been secretly observing the show's protagonists over at least a season. The character watches a video of the protagonists. The video also shows full clips from previous episodes. Where things get insane is that the clips always include scenes which couldn't logically have been secretly videotaped by an outside observer without that observer having been embedded within the protagonists, or because the original camerawork in the clips makes it impossible to believe there's a secret observer there.
It's always implied that high tech computer and video technology was used to make the recordings.
SMS remains because not everyone can access Twitter from a mobile. You need constant data access which will likely be paid for unless you have free uninterrupted wi-fi, otherwise you're stuck using SMS to send or receive tweets. I'm paying both for a data plan and unlimited messaging on top of that. I'm in the same camp with you, personally. My Twitter languished for years as I tried to figure out what the hell to use it for. I really should try to adopt your strategy.
Are you a heavy SMS/MMS user? I average about 3,500 a month. I use Google Voice as well though it lacks MMS, something I really need. It's my understanding that TextFree gives you a phone number to use for texts. Are you basically juggling a minimum of three telephone numbers just for texts? I mostly give out my GV number now, but often I'm asked whether I got an MMS, and of course I did not, so I'm back to handing out my main phone number too.
Thank you, really. That's the best explanation I've gotten so far after asking about. I've gotten really canned responses like: "Apple will likely give that feature when they figure out how to make it perfect", and "Bluetooth file-sharing is a bad paradigm. MMS pics and videos, email the rest, share between clouds", etc.
Just a correction: bluetooth file transfers is something that Apple arbitrarily opted *not* to provide. This iPhone 4 is my first iPhone, and I ignored the platform before this one, so I don't know why the 4th iteration of this phone still doesn't allow this.
No, I wasn't trolling, otherwise why would I even say anything positive about Android? In the case of my original Droid and my Droid X, I was able to run a backup copy the Tetris clone BitBlocks after it was no longer available in the market. Definitely a plus for Android since I only needed to run a backup app on my installation in order to create a new .APK and then reinstall as needed after checking to enable non-market apps. I need to root, however, in order to take advantage of some of AutoKiller Memory Optimizer's advanced features, otherwise I have to manually kill processes I don't want running on my non-rooted Droid. I realize I misstated the issue about rooting in my earlier response. I haven't need to root in order to install certain apps, just in order to use advanced features.
I'd also be interested in learning for sure whether the original Droid can be used as a hotspot. Verizon says it can't, but then Verizon is known for disabling features native to phones and then charging for them. My Droid X is an example. It can become a hotspot if I pay for the service. Unless I'm mistaken, I need to root in order to unlock that feature. I agree that Android is the more robust platform overall, but in my case, and my case alone, I feel iPhone provides a more satisfactory experience in total. I'm not saying Android is bad, and I'm not saying iPhone is perfect. I mentioned bluetooth file transfers. That's something that Apple arbitrarily chose to provide, and it just mystifies me that I have to go through so much trouble to get custom ringtones and sounds onto the phone. I'm fully aware of what I'm missing with iPhone. I own three different Androids, the latest HTC Evo 4G being the most recent. For me, it ultimately comes down to the quality of the phone and the quality of the apps, and the iPhone is great by both measures.
I bought my 16GB iphone for about $189 at my Apple Store. I renewed my 2-yr contract with Verizon and got an additional discount which I assume was for customer loyalty. Hopefully, you have an option like that available to you. I initially bought a Droid X full price. I don't think the iPhone is that much more expensive than full retail price I paid for my Droid.
The one thing I do love about Android phones is that I can write my own app and put it onto my phone. I need only checkmark a setting that lets me load non-market apps at my own risk. I don't have that ability with iPhone. I'm still waiting to get listed as an iPhone dev, but once that happens I believe it will mean I can live test my own homegrown apps on iPhone after (at least if my reading of Apple's terms is correct).
I believe we're giving undue credit to Android for being open. Android itself is open and free. But from what I've seen on the various HTC and Motorola Androids I've bought in the last year, each vendor's specific Android is not that open. Is Moto's Blur not proprietary? What about HTC's Sense UI? I've been told countless times to stop supporting Motorola because Motorola locks down their phones, thus taking away from that openness that is Android. Is it all a lie? People are telling me to buy HTC because they play well with modders.
I wasn't able to install all I wanted on my Droid. I was told I needed to root the phone. I had to wait until someone found a way to, and then risk following the steps. So, if at the end of the day, I'm still forced to root rather than jailbreak, how exactly am I realizing the difference between free and proprietary software? I haven't jailbroken my iPhone yet. I likely won't until I decide I absolutely need to have a bluetooth file transfer (something iPhone lacks), but until I do, I can at least enjoy an app market that is better for my needs.
You can't always walk away. Case in point: I've recently been dealing with a troll on Twitter. I had been tweeting about the Egyptian revolution actively. Some tweets I made regarding media comments on the assault of a female journalist in Egypt sparked the troll's interest. She forwarded me a link to an op-ed piece from a liberal writer whom she really had it in for. Upon reflection, the troll seemed to think I might be in agreement with her -- on what, I don't know. A few back and forths later, the troll was calling me out as a left, British academic elitist, antisemitic, techno thug, and she labelled me and another journalist as techno-communists. It was annoying, and I remained respectful despite calling her out on her attacks. After some research, I learned that my troll is actually a somewhat infamous second life crackpot who has a deep hatred for most journalists, all techies, FOSS, communists, progressives, etc. And she's quite known for her conspiracy theories involving communists. I even had the displeasure of hearing her scattered screaming rants.
/b/, but it doesn't work if your troll truly hates you. You have to attack back sternly, but you have to also keep your cool so that you don't embarrass yourself in front of your peers and your readers.
The only proper way to deal with her, I found, was to address her directly and with both barrels loaded. The thing is, you have to be aware of your surroundings. Twitter is a public place. If Twitter or your blog, is an extension of your professional persona, you can't just walk away from certain trolls. It might work if you're dealing with some 4chan troll from
And honestly, publicly nailing her on the crazy conspiracy-laden things she's written and having her respond with lines that validate my points, was really satisfying.
Fine, anonymous coward, have it your way... It is impossible that China could be responsible for the cyber attacks against Canada. The peace-loving citizens of the great People's Republic of China could never do such a thing to our dear friends in the West with whom we enjoy a strong bond of friendship and belief in the one country-two policy system. If Chinese were responsible, they must surely have been corrupted by the decadent ways of the enemies of our peaceful nation in the West. There, better?
Because, obviously it cannot for a moment be likely that China could have done this, because FTA says we cannot know for sure, and because TFA says it, surely we must throw out past history. It must be 4chan.
That's possible, but with the number of Windows volume licenses in extraneous use, I'd bet that those machines aren't having such a difficult time being upgraded. It is known that China is aggressive in staging cyber attacks. We might not have absolute proof, and I mean "we" as in /. readers. I bet the U.S. and Canadian governments' own cyber warfare specialists have a fairly good idea of whether they're facing Chinese agents or dealing with zombies computers.
"Public sentiment towards China is getting very, very testy" That sounds racist and jingoistic to you? You're kidding right? I mean, "China replacing all Canadian government documents with takeout menues" would at least sound somewhat racist. The Chinese hackers leaving a calling card in the form of an animated takeout box would too. And jingoistic, well "Oh, Canada uber alles, eh!" would sound jingoistic. Canadians marching in the street screaming, "Take off you pandas!" would be both racist and jingoistic.
This is probably a true story though. Chinese hackers have been very aggressive in the last couple of years. One suggestion I've heard was that China wants to test its limits, find vulnerable infrastructure, and so on.